Plot: The life of a Clone is simple: serve your Emperor! Many follow blindly into the flames of a new saga without a second thought. Clone No.184 is a killing machine. He has no emotions, no free will; he will lay down his life without question. Now on a plot to take out the Queen of Naboo, he must face his greatest challenge yet. This takes place ten years after ROTS.

Author's notes: I do not own any of the characters that are from the movie; such as Obi-Wan, Yoda, Anakin, and such. People that have never been seen before were made up from my own mental world. Again I say, if there are any problems containing my fic then don't hesitate to make your thoughts known. I am a big girl and am up for criticism. I truly hope you enjoy this fic as much as I did writing it!

The swamps of Naboo were always a place of peace for as long as anyone could remember. Many claimed since it had been thirty years that the droid invasion of the Trade Federation had taken place, it was reason enough to say they were safe. Even with the passing of the Great Jedi Purge, the people of Naboo never thought much of the Clone Wars. It was a shame most were kept in the dark. It was a shame that their Queen had other plans in mind.

One quite step after another, a cluster of Clone Troopers came closer to the city of Theed. They had a mission: to crush any form of treason. Confident were they and with Darth Vader their chief and commander, who wouldn't be.

Of course Darth Vader was not on the ground with them. The dark Jedi had to run things back on the ship which was secretly docked a couple hundred meters away. This was nothing more then a suicide mission. Race blindly into the palace and kill the Queen and her subordinates. That seemed simple enough for the 501st division. Too bad there were masses of Jedi hidden away on this planet. They had escaped Order 66 and fled to Neutral ground, only to mass together a plan to overthrow the growing Clone Army.

A snapping sound woke Gunner from the cause of this mission. He was adorned in the apparel of the Clone Army though he wasn't enjoying it. The new uniforms they had for them were quite uncomfortable! Some even murmured about them being unstylish, though it wasn't spread around. He did have a different uniform then the rest; all snipers did.

"Get down," bounded a hushed voice of their leading Clone officer.

Gunner didn't even crouch. Yes, clones were thought to be a bunch of mindless drones but that's where people were wrong. Each one had formed their own personalities. Ginner was one who preferred to be his own man at times. "It was only me, Kurt."

The clone with yellow markings upon his shoulders rose and shook his head. He didn't like the name assigned to him, but it was better then Clone No.8163. Turning his blaster settings to manual, the commander signaled them all to move along. "Don't talk to me like that. I am over you now!"

"What? You are promoted just because Vader doesn't want to get his cape dirty?" Gunner began to walk with Kurt not to far behind him. "I am getting sick of his fucking orders."

"Well, I would rather be down her fighting then sitting around and guarding a giant ball in the sky." Kurt added.

The two grew silent for a time. There was nothing left to say on that matter. Kurt was right whether Gunner wanted to admit it or not. The 501st was the best of the best. Any battalion that could fight without mercy or a second thought was number one in any blood sucking Imperialist's book.

"You know…"

Gunner raised his hand. The sudden movement caused Kurt's voice to vanish into the wind. Both of them crouched into the greenery. Where had their men gone? Had they been so engrossed in their conversation that they lost track of them?

Just as a bird flew off into the abyss of the night, blaster fire lit up the clearing. Kurt could hear the cries of his fellow comrades. Dashing off into the distance, the commander was also gone from Gunner's vision. He set his sniper rifle to auto and ran toward the fighting.

When he came to a halt behind a massive truck of a tree, he raised his gun. The scope revealed not only the Naboo guard but also the Jedi which were rumored to be present.

Voices of men groaning mingled with the blaster fire and saber crackling. The thirty clones had been reduced to ten in only a few minutes. Like always, Kurt was the center of attention but he deserved it. A man who fought without a flinch was quite a man indeed.

Gunner focused. There was not a hint of sweat on his forehead as he pulled the trigger. One Jedi down and seven left to go. He took aim and fired once more but this time a Jedi had evaded the shot.

There was no grunt or curse under his breath. Too many times had this scenario happened to him but it was all part of his subconscious battle tactics. When you spent most of your life fighting everything that was dubbed the enemy, one never forgot old habits. He was, how do you say, a killing machine.

Quite a distance from where the small battle was taking place, Gunner crouched to one knee behind a shrub. His movements were graceful. Rising up his sniper rifle, he could hear the sounds of his pursuer. It wasn't long before a man came bounding his way. He wasn't a Jedi and for a flicker of an instant, Gunner was happy for that. Taking out guards were easier then Jedi.

Five, four, three, two: Gunner counted in his head. He shot at the man though there was something that troubled the clone. Why did it sound like there were two shots fired. He was the only one.

The sizzle of his helmet caused Gunner to turn his attention to the left. He spotted another guard. It seemed these Naboo hicks were more intelligent then he thought. They must have known that one man couldn't take down a sniper.

Shots were continuously fired by the guard and so the clone decided that a sniper rifle was not needed here. He slung rifle over his shoulder. With his blaster in hand, Gunner began to fire rapidly. This was going to prove to be trouble for him in the end. If the enemy caught wind that there was more fighting then just the masses of clones and guards, then he would have no cover.

Gunner reached for his comlink. "We have a problem down here boys! We need…"

Suddenly there was a silver ball that flew to his side. Red lights flashed around it. It didn't take him long to figure out that this was a grenade! The clone dropped his comlink and leapt out of the way. The flames from the blast licked his suit, causing it to turn black.

The problem was not over. In fact, the worse case scenario had happened upon the clone. His suit had caught on fire. He could feel the flimsy material began to melt and mold to his body. There was a protective black jump suit under his amour but in time it wouldn't help.

He rolled franticly, his hands scurrying to release himself from his burning inferno. The foot steps of the guard had halted. Gunner didn't take notice. He didn't even feel the ground disappear beneath him for he could feel his arms begin to burn.

A refreshing wave of awkwardness came over him. Water was all he could see from his goggles. Still, the air in his helmet had diminished. He tried to lift it from his head but it was all in vain. Coming to the surface, his eyes glanced in every direction for a way to escape his prison.

His arms began to move in tune with his legs as he reached a rocky wall. Without any more thoughts, Gunner began to smash his head against the rocks. Pain throbbed through his temples but he needed to be free. Never had he felt such insanity. Over and over again his head would move toward the rocks until a crack sounded. He couldn't hear it over the roar of the waterfall. The only signal for him to halt was when cool air began to leak in from a crack by his ear.

White covered fingers reached to a crack on the very top of his helmet. The muscles in his arms began to burn from the pressure. With a grunt, his helmet split in two. Gunner choked and coughed as he now gripped tightly upon a rock. His dark hair was wet with water and his eyes red from smoke but he was alive.

The pain that coursed through his body only heightened when he gazed upward. How high was the elevation that he fell from? His brown eyes squinted. He nearly fell back into the water when he realized what he had lived through. Surly that fall would have killed a man! Gunner rolled onto his back.

He was exhausted! There was no telling where he was since he had gone quite a distance to lead some of the guards away from his fellow clones. Suddenly a grunt came from him. Kurt! What had happened to Kurt?

A long groan came from his lips. He was going to have to get back to the ship! There was no way that he could go back up that cliff!

Legs that were once sturdy shook like leaves in autumn. He slowly went from rock to rock until his feet were planted on the river bed. Theed was right in front of him but he could not enter. Failure was all that the clone could think of; he had failed. This feeling was not for the empire but for the men he served with. How could he tell them that he fell from a cliff, leaving the men with no back up? His stomach turned. Now the Queen would be on alert. Theed would be imperturbable.

This thought and many others continued to haunt him. He had walked quite a distance with nothing more then shrubbery and more shrubbery to gaze upon. Where was he? There was no way he would admit to being lost but there he was, lost without a hope.

He considered long and hard on whether or not he should rest for the night. Wounds were all over his body. It was going to be hard to carry on without a single moment of sleep.

As if it couldn't get any worse, trouble seemed to raise its ugly head. Gunner reached for his blaster when a body suddenly appeared in front of him. It wasn't the enemy and it sure as hell wasn't one of his men. He aimed for the boy. "Don't move kid."

Eyes of blue locked with the man adorned in white. The child was no older then twelve and what he was doing out here was far beyond Gunner's mind. With a body set to quivering, the boy raised his hands into the air.

"I said don't move!" Gunner thought it silly to be pointing a blaster at a child but maybe there could be a ray of hope for the clone. "You shouldn't be out here all alone. Bad things can happen."

Still, the boy did not reply. Gunner took the opportunity to take a few steps closer. He was tired and could feel his body falling into numbness. Whatever he was going to do he was going to do it fast. "Alright kid, turn around."

Gunner reached to his belt and opened a small box attachment. He took out a long metal wire that looked very much like string. More so, it was used for holding together a mobile suit that was falling apart on the battle field, but it would have to do for tying up this boy. The last thing Gunner needed was a kid screaming that there was a clone in the swamps.

He could feel the shaking of the boy. Did he strike that much fear into people and aliens alike? If that was the case, he was doing his job well. "Sit down."

The boy continued to be obedient, even as he was tied to the trunk of a tree. He had no idea what to expect. There was no moment to run though he should have tried. "Are you going to kill me?" his voice was no more then a muffled squeak.

Gunner knitted his brow. "Sure, why not."

The clone rose to his feet and reached to his belt once more. He would come back for the boy when he had a good rest. Gunner had no idea of this area and this boy was going to help him find his way back to his group. A small device was fastened against the bark of a tree.

"What's… that?" the boy asked.

"It's a monitoring turret." He put his blaster in the holster on his thigh. "You move out of a thirty inch radius… you'll be blasted into tiny pieces."

The boy's eyes over flowed with fear. He watched the clone begin to leave. "You're not going to leave me here!"

There was no response from Gunner as he disappeared into the masses of trees. He wiggled for a moment. Now he turned his eyes back onto the turret. His feet came out from underneath him only to press against his chest. He kicked a stick that was at his feet. The stick rolled away from him only to be shot three times.

With a gulp, the boy gazed at the dust upon the ground. He wasn't going to make any movements. He just prayed that someone would discover him or the clone would come back.

This is a first chapter to a story that could blossom into an epic adventure. Please tell me what you think of it so far. Flames are welcomed.