Admiral Mardici Guro paced the bridge of his ship, staring down at the planet before him, or rather, the moon. The fourth moon of the gas giant planet called Yavin. Why the Republic and the CIS fought over it was anyone's guess, it was on the edge of the galaxy, not really important for any reason. The only thing he knew was a group called 'Massassi' used to live there, but were now long extinct. Also the Jedi Master that was currently leading the clone army on the moon said that there was a lot of dark force energy on the moon. This didn't mean anything to Mardici. All he knew was the Force was the thing Jedi got their power from.
To keep himself from dwelling on either confusing subject, he thought back on his planet and his own history. 13 years previously, the Trade Federation had blockaded Naboo. His planets leaders feared the same thing happening to them and instantly began building up its military. After the Trade Federation was beaten, they worried some other group might bully them and continued to arm themselves. He had been in the very small military of the planet had beforehand and quickly rose to the rank of Captain. 3 years ago, war broke out. His leaders offered Supreme Chancellor Palpatine whatever forces from the planet he wanted. Palpatine told them to keep everything in case the CIS attacked them, but did ask they send their best Captain to him, so he had been sent. He refused the clone crew offered and kept his crew from home. He also refused the ARC-170 fighters offered and kept his Z-95 Headhunters since his pilot's were trained for them. In the three years he had gained an exemplary record and had reached the rank of Admiral in no time. He had destroyed every ship he engaged with the exception of one which had fled the battle leaving all its star fighters behind to be mopped up by his elite pilots. He had been rewarded with a newly built Republic Attack Cruiser after his next victory. He trained his crew for a month on it, then rejoined the war. Most recently, he destroyed the CIS cruiser guarding the Yavin 4, then assisted landings.
"Sir, we're receiving a transmission from Coruscant." His communications officer said, breaking into his thoughts.
"Thank you, officer." Mardici turned to the communications screen as the image flashed on. It was Chancellor Palpatine, but he looked different, he was wearing a black hood which partially hid his face, which looked about 20 years older then the last time he'd seen him. What happened to him? He thought. "Supreme Chancellor." he said, bowing.
"Admiral, transmit this message to the planet. I don't need a reply." He nodded to his communications officer. "Commander, execute Order 66." The Supreme Chancellor signed off.
"What the heck is Order 66?" his second mate asked.
"I have no idea." He replied, turning back to the moon.
About a half-hour later, his sensor's officer turned to him. "The sensors detect 6 star-fighters approaching from the planet, sir."
"It's a moon, officer. Friend or foe?"
"Friendly, but something's wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"The front two are in evasive maneuvers, the other 4 are chasing them. The sensors indicate all 6 have life-forms aboard them, so none have been captured by the droids."
Mardici looked out in the direction of the moon, sure enough, lasers flickered. It looked like two Jedi star-fighters being chased by 4 ARC-170's. The Jedi star-fighters suddenly pulled up and slowed, causing the ARC-170's to overshoot. They both fired on one ARC-170, destroying it. The other 3 looped behind them and started shooting again. One fired a pair of Proton Torpedoes at the Jedi fighters, but they missed and headed straight for his cruiser. "Shields up!" he yelled. The torpedoes hit his shields harmlessly.
"Shields at 98 percent, sir." His damage control officer said.
"I don't know what's going on." He said shaking his head. "Fire on the ARC-170's."
"Sir?" his gunnery officer said.
"Those Jedi star-fighters don't stand a chance against the ARC-170's, the Jedi in them are going to die if we stand by."
"Yes, sir." A second later he said. "Anti-fighter guns not recognizing fighters as a target, switching to manual control."
Mardici watched as the anti-fighter guns fired. The ARC-170's, not expecting to come under attack by there own ship, reacted slowly, 2 were destroyed, the 3rd banked away from the ship, the Jedi quickly fell on its tail and destroyed it. They both banked in the direction of the hanger. "Make sure the hanger doors are open, I'm going to go meet them." He turned to his first mate. "The bridge is yours."
He raced to the hanger, the Jedi fighters were in the middle of the hanger, both Jedi were out of their cockpits, lightsabers ignited. Several of Mardici's marine's were watching them warily, some had their blaster rifles partially raised. "Stand down!" he yelled. "Master Jedi, you can lower your weapon. Nobody on this ship will harm you, and don't forget we just saved your lives."
"The clones have saved our lives in the past and they just tried to kill us." Jedi Master Kalana Sonter replied, she wore her blonde hair at shoulder length and had a stern face. Her apprentice, Jenso Alinin, by his master's side, had a scar from a blaster burn on his cheek from his first mission in the Clone Wars. His hair was short save a tightly braided ponytail in the style of a Jedi apprentice.
"What happened?"
Kalana hesitated, then deactivated her lightsaber. Jenso did so a second later. "Is there somewhere private we can talk?"
"The Galley should be empty."
Before they could leave, the ships loudspeaker said "Admiral, your presence is required on the bridge immediately."
He turned to a marine. "Lead them to any open cabin, then take them to the Galley. Give them anything they want."
"Yes, sir." The marine replied.
He raced to the bridge. "What's going on?" Then he noticed someone was on the communications screen. The all too familiar face of a clone soldier looked out at him.
"Admiral, did you happen to see who won the dogfight?"
"Yes. May I ask why you tried to kill two Jedi?"
"The Jedi have betrayed the Republic. What happened to them?"
"After they shot down your fighters, I destroyed them."
"Understood. You made the right choice." The clone signed off.
"Admiral, you made the wrong choice, we have two traitors on board." His second mate said.
"I don't believe it. Besides, how exactly did they betray the Republic? They're fighting on some planet hundreds of parsecs from Coruscant. I'm going to hear their side of the story."
"And if you're wrong?"
"Then I guess the Jedi rebellion has a ship of its own. We don't have the means to resist them."