Author's Notes

- Hi! Welcome to my new fanfiction! This is set during the early stages of the Clone Wars and will follow the 501st and various clone troopers! This is a SYOC, but in this stories case, it is a Submit Your Own Clone. So, clone troopers only, please! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy! Later!

- If you're looking to submit your clone, please answer the following in a PM. Clone trooper designation and name, weapon, appearance (hairstyle, armor pattern), personality, and misc. By misc., I would be talking about certain attributes to make your clone stand out – such as the Scottish accent that Cutup has. Thank you!

Not Clones, but Men

Chapter 1 – First Battle of Felucia

"Rex, get those troopers up here now!" General Skywalker yelled, waving his hand in the air.

"You heard the man, boys! Up there on the double!" Captain Rex shouted, relaying General Skywalker's orders as he pushed forward, firing his dual DC-17's at the wave of incoming droids.

"Right! Shock, let's go!" Jesse said as he ran past me, firing his DC-15s.

I looked down and gripped onto my own DC-15s before I ran after Captain Rex and Jesse, with several of my own brothers by my side. I found Tup and Kix to my left and Echo and Fives to my right, checking behind to find Dogma bringing up the rear.

Looking ahead, I found General Kenobi and Commander Cody fighting against droids, with the four remaining AT-TE's forming a circular perimeter around our forces.

"Incoming droids! Blast 'em!" Tup shouted as we all came to a screeching halt once we reached the front lines, with AT-TE's by our side, firing into the masses of droids.

"Now this is more like it!" Fives laughed as he fired his DC-15s. "Hey, Echo, bet I can get more than you can!"

"You really need to take this more seriously, Fives…" Echo sighed. "I think the General's wearing off on us…"

"Oh, come on! Afraid you'll lose?" Fives chuckled.

"I'm afraid you will."

"There's too many of them!" a trooper shouted.

"Tank! Bring up the launcher!" Captain Rex ordered. I found a trooper running towards us with an RPS-6 slung over his right shoulder.

Before the trooper could reach our position, I watched as he was gunned down by droids, dropping the RPS-6 onto the grounds of Felucia.

"I got it!" I shouted back before I dashed towards the RPS-6. Once I reached it I swiftly picked it off the ground and turned around, aiming the launcher at the AAT before squeezing the trigger, feeling the recoil of the rocket firing from the launcher.

I watched as the AAT was hit by a rocket and exploded into what seemed to be a million pieces. I could hear cheering come from my fellow brothers and found them celebrating from the destruction of the AAT.

"Yeah, Shock!" Echo shouted.

"That's the stuff!" Fives balled his hand into a fist and shook it in the air.

"Second wave! Second wave!" Commander Cody yelled out as I found more battle droids emerge from the Felucian forest.

"Incoming!" Echo shouted.

I tuned to my left and found fellow troopers being shot down by the newly-shown droids.

"Anakin, I've radioed for extraction from the fleet above!" General Kenobi said as he ran up to General Skywalker's side, deflecting incoming blaster fire with his light saber.

"Look! In the sky!" Kix pointed out.

I looked to the sky and found a pair of droid vultures chasing down a Republic V-19. Turning back to the battle at hand, I continued firing my DC-15s at the droids, hitting a battle droid in the head and a super battle droid right in between its eyes.

"Look out!" General Kenobi's voice caught my attention and as I redirected my attention towards the General's, I found General Kenobi pulling General Skywalker out of the way before one of the vultures spun through and crashed into one of the AT-TE's, knocking the tank over to its side.

"That was close," General Skywalker said as he faced General Kenobi.

"If those fighters got through, then our gunships can't be far behind," General Kenobi said as he glared out into the battle. "Prepare the troops to evacuate!"

"Tup, to your right!" I said to my comrade and he killed the droids that were about to flank him.

"Extraction's here!" Dogma yelled as he looked to the skies.

Before I knew it, the sound of gunships landing behind us rang through my helmet. I turned and found four gunships landing.

"Come on, grunts!" Captain Rex shouted towards us. "We are leaving!"

Along with everyone else, we made our way to the gunships, slowly backing up while we continued to engage the advancing droids. A trooper to my left fell from a droid blast as I backed up, with a few more kills adding to my growing list before I found myself aboard one of the gunships.

"Ashoka should be back from her jungle patrol by now," General Skywalker said as he deflected blaster fire.

"I'll try to contact her again," General Kenobi said as he too deflected blaster fire, bringing up his left arm with his comlink on it towards his mouth. "Ahsoka, where are you? Ahsoka, what is your location?"

"Go, go!" I shouted to the troopers that were still running towards the gunships.

"They're here to extract us. We're leaving!" General Kenobi said into his comlink, backing into the gunship.

"Move it, trooper! Come on, double time!" General Skywalker shouted to the last of the troopers as they entered the gunship.

"We're outnumbered! You must evacuate, that is an order!" General Kenobi pleaded with Commander Tano over the comlink. "They are running back here to regroup with the main force!"

General Skywalker deflected the last of the blaster fire before he entered the gunship, the doors closing behind him and the gunship taking off from the surface of Felucia.

"Hey, Shock," I found Jesse's hand on my shoulder. "Good job with that AAT. You really had our backs there, brother."

"He's right," Captain Rex nodded.

"I'm just doing my job, sir," I said, returning the nod. "It's what a good soldier does."

"Too right," Kix said.

"You are putting your troops' lives in danger, young one. You will get on the gunship when we arrive," General Kenobi sternly said.

"Where's Ahsoka?" General Skywalker asked.

"Following your teachings," General Kenobi answered him.

"Is she winning?"

"For now."

The gunship came to a stop and the left side slid open, revealing Commander Tano down below with her own troopers, fighting off droids as she stood on top of a Juggernaut, deflecting blaster fire.

"She's not stopping," General Kenobi frowned as he watched the battle rage on down there.

"Land in front of them," General Skywalker ordered the pilot.

"Get ready, boys," Captain Rex said as he equipped his dual DC-17's.

"I'm always ready," Fives said with a nod.

The gunships landed and both sides opened, revealing the advancing droids in front of us and Republic forces to our rear.

"Fire!" Captain Rex ordered as we opened fire onto the droids, knocking down the first wave of advancing droids.

In a split second, I found Commander Tano and additional troopers in the gunship with us, before the gunships took off and hovered in the sky. I looked down and found more droids coming from all directions on the position where Commander Tano once was, engaging the deserted vehicles and blowing up the remaining AT-TE's and the Juggernaut.

"I wouldn't want to be there right now," Kix said, shaking his head.

Jesse whistled. "And there she blows."

"How many did you get, Echo?" Fives asked him, nudging Echo with his elbow.

"I told you, Fives, I don't want to –"

"Ep, ep, ep! Come on now, CT-21-0408. How many?"

"Fine…24."

"Ha! Beat you! I got 27."

"Congratulations, Fives…"

I cleared my throat, attracting the attention of the pair.

"What is it, Shock?" Fives asked.

"32."

"Eh…what?"

"I got 32 kills," I grinned underneath my helmet. "Beat you, Fives."

There was scattered chuckling coming from surrounding troopers as I turned away from Fives and Echo, diverting my attention towards General Skywalker and Commander Tano.

"Pilots, take us home..." General Skywalker sighed as he shook his head towards Commander Tano. "I'm disappointed in you, Ahsoka…"

"Master, please…" Commander Tano looked up at General Skywalker with a saddened look on her face.

"You disobeyed a direct order, Ahsoka. You put the lives of your men in risk," General Skywalker turned towards us troopers.

"But, Master, I thought I could win this battle…so Felucia would be under our control."

"Take it from one of the men. Rex?"

"A good soldier always does what they're ordered to," Captain Rex said before turning towards me. "What do you think, Shock?"

I looked at the young Commander Tano.

"I think a good soldier does what'll keep his comrades alive – no matter the cost."

Not Clones, but Men

Author's Notes

- Hey everyone! I just wanna say thanks for reading this first chapter and don't forget to submit your clone! Those clones will be written in the next chapter, so until then! Bye!