AN: I don't own Star Wars as everyone knows. This was written for a Clone Wars themed contest at DeviantArt and it takes place shortly before the Lost Missions episode "The Unknown."
"Good Soldiers Follow Orders"
By EsmeAmelia
It always came in the night, lingering just on the edge of sleep, a whisper in his mind, something so still and silent that his conscious mind almost never registered it.
"Good soldiers follow orders . . ."
In those hazy, mostly asleep moments, it never felt threatening. It was almost a lullaby, soothingly repeating itself in his mind.
"Good soldiers follow orders. You know that, Tup."
Of course he did. He'd known it ever since the trainers on Kamino drilled it into him. No, even before that. The philosophy had been part of his very being since before he could remember.
"Good soldiers follow orders. Remember that."
Yes, they did, and he was a good soldier. He trusted the Jedi to make the right decisions to end the war.
Jedi . . .
Why did the word sound sinister during these moments? Of course he trusted the Jedi . . . of course . . .
He saw them in his mind, their bright green and blue blades piercing the dark, searching for an unknown enemy.
"Jedi . . . enemy . . ."
Was he asleep or awake? It was as though he was floating through a haze, waiting for the Jedi to do something or order him to do something.
Order him . . .
What was he supposed to do? Just watch them? Help them? Why weren't they giving him any orders?
He needed orders.
"Jedi . . . enemy . . . good soldiers follow orders . . ."
He was a good soldier, he would follow orders . . .
"Jedi . . . enemy . . ."
"Jedi . . . ENEMY!"
"Enemy . . . KILL."
The order didn't come from the Jedi - instead it was a hissing scream inside himself, penetrating every cell in his body. "Kill . . . kill . . . kill . . ."
It didn't take any thought for him to raise his blaster like an animal about to strike its prey out of pure instinct. "Jedi, enemy, enemy, kill . . ."
He fired.
Once, twice, again and again, always hitting his mark. The Jedi went down one after the other – the same Jedi who had once given him the orders he was so proud to follow, but he felt no remorse, didn't even consider that these Jedi were once his commanders – maybe some of them could have even been called friends.
"KILL!"
The Jedi were the enemy and the enemy had to be destroyed. The blades went flying out of their hands as they fell, streaks of blue and green spinning in the dark and humming in the silence.
Finally it was done. The enemy was vanquished.
"Good soldiers follow orders. Remember that, Tup."
He would remember it. The next morning when he awoke he would remember nothing of the incident and the only abnormality he would feel would be a headache, but he would remember what good soldiers did. He would go proudly into battle, prepared to be a good soldier and ignoring the twitch in his head that something was wrong. No, no, the headache would pass. Things were normal and there was a battle to be won, though the words were still buried within his mind, threatening to break through the barrier between his consciousness and subconscious.
"Good soldiers follow orders."
THE END