Commander Bly paused over the remains of a battle droid he had destroyed just seconds ago. Where its elongated, skull-like head should have been was a mess of tangled and charred wiring – its head blown clean away by Bly's well-placed blaster bolt.

Their scout patrol had been ambushed by a squad of Separatist B1 battle droids. Poor soldiers though they were, the sheer size of the droid army had allowed the Separatists to stand toe to toe with the Grand Army of the Republic for three years now. If it weren't for the Jedi the Republic probably wouldn't even be winning, Bly reflected.

With deadly accuracy, General Secura threw her lightsaber at the final two droids, destroying them in one clean motion. The lightsaber returned to her hand almost instantly. Inside his helmet the Commander sighed. After three years fighting alongside Jedi he was well aware of their powers, throughout the war General Secura had saved Bly's life many times, but he never ceased to be amazed by these 'acts of the impossible' as he liked to call them.

Suddenly, the General was by Bly's side. "Bly, report" she said. Her accent was rich, exotic. Much like her aqua-blue skin - a good deal of which was visible due to her practical, albeit rather revealing, clothing. General Secura was a Twilek, a humanoid species. The Twilek's main distinguishing features were their twin 'lekku' or head tails and their colourful skin tones. Bly didn't mind being under the command of an alien but, understandably in an army composed entirely of cloned humans, some of the men were uneasy about it.

Bly snapped to attention. "All droids in the area have been destroyed General. No deaths on our side, two wounded. Captain Red reports that his patrol has encountered no resistance so far."

"Very good Commander" replied the General. "Have the wounded taken to the forward base. We must move fast if our force is to reach the water facility by dawn."

"Yes General."

Bly's expression turned sour. Shu Mai, head of the Commerce Guild and commander of the Separatist presence on Felucia had decided to poison the planet's water supply in an attempt to hold back the Republic advance. Or to give her enough time to escape more like. Bly's thoughts drifted. He was starting to wonder whether wanted the war to end. Because clearly it would end, and sooner rather than later. Republic propaganda was not to be trusted of course but recently Bly felt he was starting to detect desperation on the part of the Separatists. Droids were being used even more wastefully than before - as if it was the last throw of the dice. But what would a clone, genetically altered to be the perfect soldier, do in a galaxy devoid of war and the Separatists? Abruptly, the war put an end to Bly's musings.

"Ambush!" screamed Secura.

Without thinking, Bly dropped into cover behind a giant mushroom of the type that littered the surface of Felucia. Bly's HUD showed 35 droids – 30 B1's and five 'Supers.' Bly fired three shots in rapid succession. Three droids down. Well he was supposed to be elite! One of the Super Battle Droids fired a rocket into the fray. Bly was blasted off his feet. Blackness nibbled at the edges of his vision...

"Commander. Commander Bly. Can you hear me?" It was the General. She was leaning over him and the concern in her voice was real. Bly wondered why. Soldiers were always replaceable and clones even more so. Bly groaned. His head pounded and he felt sick. Bly struggled upright.

"I, I can hear you General." Bly muttered thickly.

The General seemed to read his mind. "I value the life of every man in the Grand Army, Commander. And I do not believe you are replaceable."

Perhaps the Jedi had read his mind thought Bly with a wry smile. Anyway, it was nice to be called a man instead of a clone for a change. Lost for words Bly opted for a salute. He looked around. This attack had hit the patrol harder. Of the 20 clones that had set out from the forward base they were down to twelve. Two wounded, two were escorting the wounded back to base and it looked like four were dead. Bly couldn't recall their names. The Grand Army worked its way through clones all too quickly these days.

The General was doing some quick thinking. "There are too many droid patrols" she announced. "We'll never get the rest of the army through here. Set up camp. I'll take a trooper with me and try to find another route to the water facility."

Bly was the first to reply. "I'll go with you General."

"Are you sure you're feeling well enough Bly?"

Through the channels in his helmet comlink Bly could hear various clones employ their choice swear words. The men were offloading their stress and adrenaline onto Republic Intelligence – an institution the men thought particularly poorly of. With good reason. Republic Intelligence had a long list of failures, and not an awful lot else, to their name. Even the Jedi, hell, even Grand Master Yoda himself had criticised Intelligence. Bly shut the chatter off."I'm fine General" he said, feeling anything but fine. But Bly liked to accompany his General. He was increasingly finding that he was more comfortable around the General than among his men. Bly shrugged the uneasy feeling off. It was natural for an officer to be somewhat distant from his men.

"Very well. The Commander and I should be back by 2300 hours."

"Acknowledged General" replied Lieutenant Saps.

Bly and Secura set off into the gloom, their silhouettes were soon swallowed up by the giant fungi structures that were so uniquely Felucian. It didn't take long for Bly's helmet to be filled with the sounds of Felucia's many nocturnal creatures. Somewhere in the distance an Acklay uttered it's grating scream. It had to be an Acklay. There was nothing else in the Galaxy that sounded like the scream of an Acklay. They had almost been more effective at draining the ranks of the Republic on Felucia than the Separatists. "Well General. Looks like we've given the droids the slip" remarked Bly with some satisfaction.

He looked over at his General and could instantly tell something was wrong. She was gazing at the sky, mouth slightly open, her right hand resting on the hilt of her lightsaber. "I sense something" she murmured. "Pain. Terrible evil."

Bly's comlink beeped. "I have a communication" he announced.

Secura looked at Bly, as if only just noticing he was there. She remained silent.

Bly activated his holo-communicator and was greeted by a hologram of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Bly had never so much as been on the same planet as the Chancellor but he had seen enough clips on the holonet to know that the Chancellor was now horribly disfigured. His twisted and warped face was half shrouded by a dark cowl and the shadows that clung to him gave him an aura of menace so powerful that Bly had to resist the urge to take a step back. The Chancellor spoke. "Commander Bly, execute Order 66." The Chancellor's voice had changed as well. Once it had been soft, indulgent kind of voice. The voice of a grandfather. A grandfather of the Republic. But now it was deeper, harsher and grating. It was the voice of a monster.

Bly acknowledged crisply "Yes my lord" and shut off the communication. It took a second for Bly to work out what he meant but he realised that the Chancellor was referring to the Grand Army's 150 contingency orders, orders that were to be used only in the most dire of emergencies. They would be never be used Bly had been told. Ah yes. Order 66 was to be executed in the event of a rebellion by the Army's Jedi officers. The Jedi were to be eliminated using lethal force. Absently, Bly's hand drifted towards the safety catch on his rifle...

- Notes:

The story starts on Felucia around the time of Revenge of the Sith. Order 66 is not dealt with like it is in ROTS as the scene in the film does not give enough scope for change in my opinion. None of the clone names are canonical. Bly, Secura and Palpatine are the only canonical characters here. This is my first fanfic. I hope you enjoy it!