Skiv flopped onto his bunk in the barracks, heaving a sigh of relief. They were back from another mission, protecting the galaxy from the separatists and their droids. The rest of his squad followed suit, laughing with exhaustion as they told their stories to each other.
"And then the Clanker started up again!" Hotshot laughed.
"You're joking!" Taurus exclaimed.
"No, I'm serious! The wiring must have short circuited so the droid started shooting again."
"And this one almost got his head blown off," Twitch said, gesturing to Skiv.
"Well," Skiv started. "I wasn't exactly expecting the shooting to be coming from behind me." The clones all chuckled in agreement.
"So then General Shong showed up just in time to destroy that lousy Clanker and save our Captain's life." The boys cheered their faces lit with excitement at the name of their Jedi general. Skiv's squad loved the Nautolan Jedi. He had saved their lives on countless occasions and made the effort to know every single one of them. While most Generals couldn't tell them apart without their armor on, Kee Shong could.
The clones all dispersed to their separate bunks, relaxing. Taurus began listening to the holonet as he always did after a battle. Twitch began cleaning his blaster like he always did. Hotshot took off his armor and went into the showers. Everything was as it should be. Skiv closed his eyes.
"What…" Skiv was interrupted by the quiet question.
"What's going on, Taurus?" he asked with a sigh.
"It's… It's the Jedi…"
Skiv groaned and rose from his bed, looking up at Taurus' holonet transmitter. A familiar figure was being displayed lying on the ground, appearing to be dead. Skiv recognized the figure as General Mace Windu. The image changed to show smoke rising from the Jedi Temple. A voice was describing what was happening at the Jedi temple while images of dead jedi filled the scene.
"What?" Skiv gasped quietly.
"They're… They're all dead."
An unfamiliar memory rose into Skiv's mind. The confused look on the General's face as he raised the blaster. The flash of light as his battalion opened fire. The smell of scorched flesh rising from the holes in the Jedi's body. Skiv had walked away. There was no guilt. There was no remorse. There was only a sense of relief, like the feeling after a battle was over.
"We… killed them," Twitch said quietly.
Skiv took his helmet off, stumbling into the side of his bunk. He sank to his knees, holding his helmet in both hands. The image of Kee Shong's cold, dead face filled his mind and he wretched, heaving the contents of his stomach into his helmet. It burned his throat as it came, but Skiv was glad for the pain. Nothing he could ever do would make up for what he had done. The Jedi were his leaders. The Jedi were his friends. And he had betrayed them. They hadn't even made the effort to bury him. They left him lying in the dirt with holes in his chest.
"What have we done?" Taurus whispered, holding his head in his hands.
"Good soldiers follow orders," Skiv said, standing up. All feelings of remorse were gone, leaving only an emptiness in its place. "Good soldiers follow orders."