19 BBY

Two Venator-class star destroyers moved slowly towards the orange planet, each was escorted by two Acclamator I and II class Frigates, which were also escorted by two Carrack-class light cruisers. In the center of all this was the Imperator-class star destroyer Executrix which was, at the moment, holding a meeting.

Onboard, in the meeting room, dozens of Republic command staff were centered around a holographic projector. There were variations in the clones' armor due to the fact there were three legions. Standing in the center was a clone commander wearing typical white armor, had a black shoulder pauldron and kama, along with a pair of helmet-mounted electrobinoculars.

"Ok, now. Welcome everybody to the Executrix, the Republic's newest battleship." He began. No one said anything.

"I am Commander CC-1025, or if you prefer nicknames, Bob." He said. There was a snicker in the back.

"Uhh, who did that?" He said, almost trying to be polite. He zeroed in on a teenager, about 16 with long black hair that covered his eyes. Totally un-jedi-like.

"Oh I see, 208th's padawan's the funny one. Ms. Jedi, I don't want people interrupting my-" He began to explain to the female Jedi sitting next to him.

"Done." She interrupted. He glared at her.

"Anyway, we are going to be working on a tough assignment today. That is why we need the cooperation of the 208th, the 32nd, and 489th legions." Someone raised their hand.

"Yes, question?" He said. Another teenager stood up.

"How much experience does your legion have again?" The girl asked, she was human and had blonde hair tied into the typical braid, unlike the last one. She also had big blue eyes. She seemed about 17. Bob opened his mouth to speak when another padawan got up.

"None, they just got out of training. They are a replacement for the old 489th." This one was not human. He was 15 and human from the waist up, but from the waist down he had legs of a goat. He also had pointed ears and curly brown hair that matched his legs. On the other side of the room, a green female twi'lek got up next to the girl.

"What happened to the old 489th?" She asked.

"They underestimated a CIS force and were wiped out by a giant robot." A male Nautolan spoke up next to the Satyr/Faun.

"Ok, I think that's enough." The Jedi Knight from the 208th said. She motioned for them to sit down, they did so.

"Thank you Ms. Jedi. Now we are going to be attacking a separatist research facility on the surface of Laikar, which is a medium-sized desert planet. Now, there are some colonies here and are close to the facility; so we won't get to destroy the base with turbolaser fire from our new ship." He said.

"So we are going to have to do this the old fashioned way. The legions and the Jedi Knights will advance on the base while the padawans and a squad of troops attack it from the inside. It's foolproof!" He said. The Twi'lek got up from her seat.

"And you are going to send them in there alone?" She asked.

"Well, most the droids will be on the battlefield. The organic commanders will be demoralized by the death of Dooku. Plus it worked at the Second Battle of Geonosis." He said.

"Just as long as we get some backup, we might be able to handle it." The black haired padawan said.

"Good, anyone else in?" He asked. The other two padawans stood up.

"Yes." The girl said.

"Sure." The Satyr said.

"Ok, let's make this work people!" He yelled.

The flight deck was a buzz, several Nu-class attack shuttles were loading troops and equipment. The 208th clone troopers wore typical armor with black and red stripes, the 32nd had green and gold stripes, and the 489th just had typical white armor. The black haired padawan ran up to one of the 208th's shuttles, one of them looked over to him.

"Cao, when is Jeniqua going to pay me those 100 credits she bet for the 489th to win the Battle of Calatia?" He asked.

"Jedi don't typically carry money, Reech, so…" He said "Anyway, there was an accident involving a paper shredder and one of the 'elite' 489th troopers is incapacitated. They need someone to fill that spot."

"So you want me to fill it?" Reech asked.

"Yes, I've been fighting with you for three years. And you're my first choice." He pushed his hair away from one of his eyes, it was an abnormal gold color. "Plus I don't think those guys in white have what it takes." He said.

"I will be honored sir." He said and they walked towards the shuttle with the other two padawans.

"…so then this giant robot comes along and just steps on Commander Dave, the rest of the troops just scatter in all directions as this robot starts firing missiles at them." The satyr was telling the 489 troops and the blonde padawan.

"Then Qin runs at it and tries to dice it to pieces, but it just swatted him away. We were the only two to walk away." He continued. Cao walked over with the clone trooper.

"Did you feel bad about what happened?" She asked.

"No, not too much. The original 489th were complete jerks."

"Richo, I brought a replacement." He said.

"Oh, Yune this is Cao, Cao this is Yune." He said. They shook hands.

"You human?" She asked. Cao paused.

"Yes." He said quickly.

"You know each other?" She asked Richo.

"Yeah, his master lost a bet saying whether or not the 489th would emerge victorious." He said.

"And she still hasn't paid me back." Reech said. Suddenly Bob's voice came over the intercom.

"Attention, the confederate defense fleet as taken interest in us, and… that's not good. All pilots please go to your ships." At that moment an explosion rocked the ship. Pilots hopped into their ships and took off.

"We need to go!" One of the clone troopers yelled. They all ran aboard the shuttle.

The space above Laikar was filled with battling ships and starfighters. Of the chaos, dozens of shuttles and LAATs flew towards the planet. Beside the elite shuttle, two V-wings fought off attacking tri-fighters. Once they were in the atmosphere, they landed in a large desert. The LAAT/cs began deploying AT-TEs, AT-XTs, UT-ATs, AT-OTs, and TX-130S fighter tanks. Away from all this, the elite shuttle landed and the troops and the padawans climbed out.

"Their base is just due south." Reech said. Laser blasts in the distance signified the beginning of the battle.

Jeniqua hid behind a large rock, purple lightsaber in hand and clone troopers in tow. Ahead, thousands of B1 battle droids emerged from the partially underground base. However, these had different color schemes. Instead of the typical tan, they were glossy black with red shoulders and rear plates, and had menacing glowing red eyes. The same was with the AATs that followed them out.

"Ouch time." She said to Qin, who came up next to her.

"I'll try to flank them, make them draw their fi-" He began. The AT-TE behind them exploded.

"What was that?!" She yelled. They looked around the rock, one of the AATs fired another shot from its main cannon and took out another AT-TE.

"Great, so that's what they've been working on: tanks on steroids." One of the troops said and they jumped out and charged.

Cao, Richo, and Yune looked over the cliff down at the back door. Two black and pink security droids stood guard.

"Doesn't look too hard." Richo said. They moved towards a more hill-like drop that would put them at the corner of the base. After lining up there, a clone sniper came forward. He quietly aimed up the sight and shot a beam that went straight through both their heads. They ran up to the door, next to it was a small control panel.

"Anyone know how to hack one of these?" Cao asked. Richo stepped forward.

"I do, I don't think this will be har-." He began when suddenly Reech shot it with his DC-15 blaster rifle, the door opened.

"Hacked." He said and they went inside.

The interior was completely white. It reminded the clones so much of Kamino. But this wasn't the time for reporting for Better Homes and Gardens, this was a CIS base. After all 13 of them entered, they shut the door.

"So now what?" Yune asked.

"I suppose we just find out how to destroy this place." Cao said. Upon walking down the hall, they came to a corner, peeking around it, Reech saw two black and red super battle droids holding what appeared to be coffee mugs.

"There's just two, shouldn't be a problem." He said. Cao stepped forward and pulled out two lightsabers and ignited them, one blue and one red.

"Why do you have a red lightsaber?" Yune asked.

"Look, I think it's a bit stereotypical that Sith only have red lightsabers." He said. "Plus, I want to have a little variety." He slipped around the corner and dashed at the super battle droids at extreme speeds. They were scrap metal before they could take another sip of the hot oil they had in mugs. He turned around and pushed the hair out of his eye again.

"Why are your eyes yellow!?" She yelled at him. She ran over to him and ignited her blue lightsaber. She held it to his throat.

"Come on, I think you're overreacting." Richo said.

"No, I'm not. Yellow eyes, red lightsaber; those sorts of things yell Sith."

"I have worked with Cao my whole military career, and he is not a Sith." Reech said.

"You know, I think this is all a ruse, and he is-" She stopped.

"What?" Cao asked. Behind him, a black and green droid assassin loaded a sniper rifle and prepared to take aim. Reech shot it before it could shoot.

"Look, I think we should just forget this and continue on." One of the clones said.

"Yeah, we have a job to do, and I doubt that-" Richo began. Suddenly the hallway was filled with red and black commando droids. They pointed their E-5 blasters at them.

"Drop the weapons." One said. Not only did it have black and red plating, it also had yellow trimming. They put their weapons on the ground and put their hands on their heads.

"Commander, we have captured three Jedi-" The lead one said into a commlink.

"That hasn't been verified yet." Yune said, glaring at Cao.

"…And ten clone troopers." It finished.

"Good, bring them to the main floor." A robotic voice said over the commlink. Cao looked over to Reech and nodded, Reech in turn nodded. Suddenly he threw his robe off and pulled out a second pair of lightsabers grasped by a second pair of arms. The second two ignited two green and yellow blades each. The first pair of lightsabers flew up to the first pair of hands and also ignited into double bladed lightsabers. What happened next was a flurry of lightsaber blades cutting down the hordes of droids, putting tons of smoke into the air. When the smoke cleared, all the droids were tiny bits and Cao was standing, holding four double bladed lightsabers. For a minute everyone was speechless.

"What-" Yune began.

"I imagine no one has seen a Codru-ji before." He said. He deactivated the lightsabers and crossed his arms.

"Ok, I'm sorry. I guess it's normal for you to have yellow eyes." She apologized.

"Apology accepted, now let's blow this thing and go home." He said and they walked down the hall.

They eventually came across a door that said Power and Maintenance in aurebesh. Richo shrugged and they went in. The entire room was a lined with control consoles. At the far side, a black and grey engineer droid was slumped in an office chair, on it was a sign that said in sleep mode, do not disturb. The Jedi ran to a console as the clones stood guard at the door. Richo sat down and activated the console.

"Ok, now I just need to find the code to shut down the droids." He said and began going through commands and files. Suddenly a communicator rang on Reeche's belt, he pulled out a holographic disk and the Supreme Chancellor appeared.

"Yes, Chancellor?" He answered. The other troops gathered around him.

"Troops, the time has come. Execute Order 66."