Author's Note: Okay, I neglected to introduce this story in the first chapter, but I'm sure people got the drift. This chapter is a little slow, I'm trying to move from point A to point B while not skipping out on important details, but it ends up a bit jumbled together. I may even re-write this chapter in the future, after the other chapters are written. In any case, here you go:

Chapter 2: Decisions

"No," Hawk replied, surprising even himself, despite the fact that he had already decided to disregard Order 66.

"What?" Peek shouted, looking to his CO incredulously.

"At least, not immediately," Hawk amended. "Not until we know the whole story. Pidge, did Palpatine say why he was ordering 66?"

"No, he didn't, but he clearly stated," Pidge began, but was interrupted.

"I want you to get on the holonet," Hawk ordered. "Find out why 66 was ordered. If I'm going to kill my CO, I want to know why!"

"It's probably a Seppie trick!" Sparrow put forward, as reluctant to target the General as Hawk.

"Find out!" Hawk barked.

"May I remind the Captain that the reason the Contingency Orders are in place is so that we don't need to confirm orders!" Peacock insisted stubbornly, still pointing his weapon at Jade.

"I don't need any reminders from you, Peacock!" Hawk replied savagely. "Put your weapon down!"

"If you won't kill him, I will!" Peacock shouted, moving his trigger finger. But before he could fire, the blaster was shoved towards the sky and a stun bolt knocked him unconscious in the blink of an eye. Nobody had noticed as Night Owl leapt from one side of Jade to the other, firing a weapon set to stun at his fellow Clone...

"Thank you, Owl," Jade said resignedly. Owl nodded. "You can consider us even, now. I don't hold you or any of the others responsible for my death. I can feel your sincerity, even Peek's. You're only doing your duty."

Owl shook his head vehemently at this and threw his blaster to the ground.

"Nobody's dying!" Hawk shouted, feeling he was losing control of the situation. "Crow, stun Rellik too. Put him aboard the ship and Peek in the Command tent. Maybe by the time they regain consciousness, we'll have sorted the situation out!"

Crow complied, and, without so much as reaching for the two lightsabres still clipped to his belt, Jade fell to the ground.

8888888888888888888

The next few hours didn't resolve anything. Pidge found that the holonet was flooded with confusing data, people reeling from the announcement that Palpatine had been attacked by the Jedi, and the Separatists had been defeated, and the Republic was being replaced with an Empire, and… the details went on and on. Finally, though, they found a recording Palpatine had shown as "proof" of the Jedi's betrayal: an assassination attempt by Master Mace Windu and three others.

"Wait a minute!" Pidge said suddenly, stopping the video. The others watched silently as Pidge replayed the shocking video.

"Something's not right here!" he said abruptly. He stopped the video once more, reversed it, and then played it at half speed. "Look at the Jedi's lips! They're inconsistent with the audio! I mean, the parts you can hear match up, mostly, but there's more!"

"Ah, so Palpy's only telling his side of the story!" Sparrow observed.

"What's he actually saying?" Hawk asked Pidge, who he knew could read lips.

"Windu says 'In the name of the Galactic Senate of the Republic, you're under arrest, Chancellor,'" Pidge revealed.

"Windu was arresting Palpatine?"

The video continued, and out loud, they heard Palpatine.

"Are you threatening me Master Jedi?"

Again, the response was muted, but Pidge translated:

"The Senate will decide your fate." Pidge paused the video. "Here the recorded audio doesn't match up with the video, from the perspective facing Palpatine."

"Where are you getting this footage?" Hawk asked.

"Blue Jay dug it out of a blocked holonet archive- this was one of the first videos released, and it didn't last long. One of Palpatine's minions must have noticed the lip-reading angle too."

"So what does Palpatine say?" Dove asked.

"The recorded audio has him feigning innocence of any charge," Pidge replied. "But what he actually says is: 'I AM the Senate!'"

"Palpatine said that?" Hawk reacted.

"There's more," Pidge added. "Windu says 'Not yet,' and then you hear out loud Palpatine accusing the Jedi of treason. Windu accuses Palpatine of being a Sith Lord, of all things, but Palpatine brushes this aside as a mere 'philosophical difference.'"

That brought a snort from Eagle, who knew just as well as the rest of them that there was more than a "philosophical difference" between Jedi and Sith. After all, hadn't it been the Sith Lord Dooku who ordered Night Owl's torture?

"What follows is an obviously cut and pasted fight between Palpatine and the four Jedi, where suddenly three are inexplicably dead and Windu is forcing Palpatine back on a ledge," Pidge continued, now narrating events as they passed, rather than what each individual was saying. "You hear Palpatine begging Anakin Skywalker, who just happens to be present, for help, claiming he's too weak. The video shows Windu trying to convince Skywalker that Palpatine is a traitor, while Palpatine does the opposite. The next thing you know, Windu raises his sword to strike, and Skywalker jumps in and 'saves the day.' The next thing you see is Windu's dead body on the ground, and Palpatine declaring the formation of a Galactic Empire for a 'safe and secure society.' He then elaborates on the 'Jedi Plot' to destroy the Republic and take all of the power for themselves."

"You mean like he just did?" Dove scoffed.

"What if Palpatine's telling the truth, and the rest of it is just irrelevant conversation," Crow proposed.

Suddenly, before any of them could react to Crow's suggestion, he collapsed to the ground, gripping his arm.

"I'm free!" he shouted.

"What?" Hawk exclaimed, perplexed. "Free from what?"

"Sidious!" Crow replied.

"As in Darth Sidious?" Hawk clarified.

"As in Palpatine!" Crow continued.

"You're not making any sense Crow," Dove explained.

"Palpatine is Sidious!" Crow said, stunning the others. "Two years ago, I stumbled upon Palpatine in conversation with Count Dooku!"

"What?" Hawk exclaimed.

"Palpatine turned to me, and I raised my blaster as I recognized his treachery. He simply laughed and thrust me back with the Force. He called a surgeon in, who implanted something into my arm, and I suddenly lost all control over my actions. Doing anything outside of what Palpatine wanted me to do resulted in anguish! He used me as a spy! He transferred me to this unit, to get a broader view of the war on the frontlines. But now, for some reason, I don't know what, his hold on me is broken!"

"I'm hearing reports of a fight between Palpatine and Yoda in the Senate Chambers over the 'net," Pidge broke in. "Maybe he had to break his concentration on Crow to fight Yoda!"

"Quick! Get whatever's in his arm out of there!" Dove yelled. Blue Jay rummaged through his gear, then ran some sort of medical scanner over Crow's arm. He stopped at the joint between upper and lower arm.

"Here!" he said.

Eagle grabbed a knife from his kit and dug into Crow's arm, tearing through the mesh beneath his armor. He pulled a small transceiver from it, and threw it to the ground. Drawing his blaster, he fired at the device, vaporizing it.

As Dove wrapped a bandage around Crow's arm, the others absorbed this new information.

"The entire war was a sham!" Hawk was the first to angrily realize. "Not only is Palpatine a Sith like Windu said, he's the Sith Lord himself!"

"Sir," Pidge interjected suddenly, cupping his hand to his ears. "We're receiving a recall order from Coruscant. We're being ordered to rejoin the 552nd Battalion at 'Imperial Center,' which is Coruscant's new moniker, or so I gathered, to be processed as Stormtroopers in the new Imperial Army. Center also requests a report on the status of Jade Rellik. Should I acknowledge?"

"Negative," Hawk replied. "I've made my decision. Since the Republic no longer exists, the Grand Army of the Republic no longer exists either. And if that's the case, we have no need to follow its contingency orders! You're all welcome to join me or stay put, like I'm sure Peek will be doing, but either way, I'm taking the Nest- and General Rellik- with me."

"Where too, sir?" Eagle asked.

"I'm with you, Cap," Dove added.

The others also confirmed their assent, save Sparrow.

"Personally sir, I have no loyalty to Rellik," he said. "I think we should just obey orders and leave Rellik here to fend for himself, alive, we do owe him that much at least. But whatever you choose sir, I'll go along with it. My loyalty is to you."

Hawk considered this. None of them, except for Peacock, wanted to kill Rellik. But leaving with him, as he'd already decided before, was another. But, as he said, the decision was already made, had been made the instant they received the recall order.

"Like I said, Sparrow, I'm sticking with the Jedi.," Hawk confirmed. "Like it or not, we're now all that's left of the Republic Army."

AN: I hope you liked it, though it was definitely not my best work. I eagerly await reviews/criticism/recommendations for this and future chapters! I have a frame in mind, but I'm flexible. Tell me: What do you think should happen? I'll try to work recommendations in, within reason, of course.

Thanks to Sachariah and Jadedsnowtiger for their reviews! It really means a lot to me to know that this is being read and appreciated!

Thanks again for all who read!