A/N: The theme of this story comes from the old Clone Wars novel, The Cestus Deception, and the characters of Jangotat/Nate, Sheeka Tull and Glorii Profus are also from that novel; they are not OCs.
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Dave Filoni and Disney do, and I also do not own The Cestus Deception, its author, Steven Barnes, does.
"It is the proudest duty of a trooper to serve and seek a good death."
Those were the words of Glorii Profus, a Kaminoan mentop to the Grand Army of the Republic. A mentop was a part psychiatric/part spiritual advisor to the clones of the GAR from Kamino, and Profus, along with the clone project coordinator, Taun We, had taught the young cadets that the best way for a clone trooper to live was to serve a higher cause than himself and to die a good death. As their spiritual advisor, Profus also said to them what he believed would happen to their souls after death while he toasted them with the finest Tallian wine. He said, "From water you are born. In fire you die. Your bodies seed the stars." And the troopers always responded, "We seed the stars!" as they toasted him in return.
And Jangotat, formerly known as Nate, an ARC trooper who bravely sacrificed his life to save many others on a mission to Ord Cestus early in the Clone Wars, had done his duty very well. Not only had he died a good death, but he had learned from his lover, freedom pilot Sheeka Tull, that there was a lot more to life than just fighting, and that, while obeying orders is good in a society with reciprocal obligations, to obey all of them without question was to be a machine, not a living being. As a result, instead of following his orders to the letter at the end of the mission, he followed the spirit of his orders, resulting not only with a better outcome, but with a clone who could think and figure out his own way to obey the orders of his superiors. And now, as Glorii Profus had told him and his fellow clone troops, and as he told himself would happen after death with his last words, he had "seeded the stars." But afterwards, he discovered that there was something after death for clones; by seeding the stars, he had joined with them, in spirit, and he could see that so many clone troopers had achieved the same good death he had.
Two other ARC troopers, Echo and Fives, the latter of whom was also a clone who preferred the spirit of his orders to the letter, had received valiant deaths at the weapons of the Separatist Droid Army, and they had been exalted very highly here, in the spirit realm. Jangotat had also learned that there was a hierarchy here in this heavenly netherworld for clones, because a voice speaking through the Force (though he didn't realize it was through the Force), had declared him to be one of the greatest of all Fett clones who would ever live. He had been surprised at this high praise, and tried to deny it, but the Force told him that he had learned and accepted several invaluable lessons that most other Fett clones would never learn or accept, like there being more to life than just fighting, obeying orders but not to the letter all the time, and love for others besides his clone brothers. He was also told that Fives was a highly exalted clone there for serving and dying a good death while refusing to comply completely with the norms of his brothers and his superiors, while Echo was slightly lower for his firm commitment to orders, though he too died well.
Many other clones had come to the netherworld with varying degrees of pride and shame. Hevy, one of the squad brothers of Echo and Fives, and a maintenance clone called 99, had died valiantly in service to their brothers and their Republic, and that was especially good for 99, because he was a deformed clone with a few handicaps whom other troopers sometimes looked down on, but while he felt regret for never getting his chance to become a full-fledged soldier, he never felt self-pity or hated himself, and was determined to prove himself and finally got his chance during the third Separatist invasion of Kamino. Droidbait, another of their brothers, was shot before he even had the chance to fight his first real battle, while Cutup, their last brother, a trooper with a cute sense of humor, died an embarrassing death at the jaws of a Rishi Eel, but they still seeded the stars for their spirit as soldiers when they were training back in Tipoca City. And most significant of all, Captain Rex of the 501st died to save someone he cared about, the Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, during Order 66.
Then there was Hardcase, a heavy weapons handler who had admired Hevy. He, too, had sacrificed his life for the 501st, when he and his brothers couldn't shoot their torpedoes through a Sep supply ship's ray shields. And brave commandos like those of White Squad and Blue Squad had died defending the Republic. Sadly, however, not all clones died a good or honorable death. In fact, some even died dishonorable deaths, to his disbelief. One scenario that had sickened him to no end was when a corrupt Jedi General named Pong Krell set his own troops and those of General Obi-Wan Kenobi against one another. Numerous troops succeeded in killing each other, and General Kenobi's platoon leader, Waxer, a very warm and good-hearted trooper, felt so guilty for doing such a terrible thing, even if it was more Krell's fault than his, that he soon died of grief. Jangotat supposed that if there was a hell for Fett clones, then Waxer must be in it, because he hadn't been able to find the poor guy or any other of those deceived brothers having seeded the stars. He hoped to goodness, though, that he was wrong, and that he just had to keep looking.
He had seen many more clones come and go over the months, like Waxer's friend, Boil, the treacherous Sergeant Slick and his squad, Tango Company, Delta Squad, Aiwha Squad, Jesse, Kix, Tup, Dogma, and Commander Thorn. But now, his brothers had been "reprogrammed" to serve a monstrous replacement for the dying Republic called the Galactic Empire, and they though about absolutely nothing except how to serve Emperor Palpatine by obediently following his atrocious campaigns until death.
Even now, though, some of them still remembered their lessons from Glorii Profus, about seeking a good death and serving well. Commander Gree, who Jangotat thought should have gotten a better chance to study alien life, died on Kashyyyk trying to execute General Yoda. Commander Appo also died on Kashyyyk while helping Darth Vader to subjugate the Wookiee population. Commander Voca, who served with Vader on Atoa while looking for Moff Tarkin's son, fought to the end against the traitors to the Empire. Commander Vill, though, was murdered by Vader when he couldn't tell Vader whether or not there was a contingeny order to kill him, due to Vill's loyalty to the Emperor. Vill had wanted to seed the stars like the rest of us, but because of Vader's selfishness, he had faded into oblivion instead.
Now, while Jangotat didn't approve of what the Empire was doing to the galaxy, considering what he had done at the end of his own life to save lives rather than destroy them, he was glad to see that many of his brothers, even some of those who went on to serve the Empire, lived up to Glorii Profus' spiritual advice we all received while serving the Republic. He found his spirit life amongst the stars to be a rather pleasing one. The brothers of Domino Squad, especially 99, Hevy, and Fives, were among his heroes, and they got along like the best of friends. Rex was almost like a father figure to Jangotat, and he had many conversations with Gree, who couldn't believe that the Empire was so anti-alien. Gree said that if he were there, he wouldn't serve such a regime, even if the Jedi hadn't betrayed the Republic. Jangotat got along quite well with Commander Voca, too, saying that the commander served the Empire with the same bravery and conviction that he served the Republic. As for the rest of the clones, he was friends with all of them, from Hardcase to Thorn to Appo, but from time to time, he (and they) mourned the loss of dishonored troopers like Waxer and Commander Vill.
And as time passed on into eternity for them, they all knew that, as Profus also told them, "You will die. But the GAR goes on forever."
And they knew that it would, even if they all became extinct.
"We seed the stars!"