More Than Just A Clone

Chapter Seven

Aayla sat cross-legged on the floor, and watched Bly sleep. Aayla was pleased that he was resting now for such long periods of time. Except for his arm, everything was healing nicely.

When Bly finally awoke, Aayla changed all his bandages again. Bly still had no feeling at all in his lower arm or hand. He'd reassured Aayla it was a small price to pay for keeping her alive. But, it still pained her greatly to know he might be permanently maimed as a result of saving her.

She helped Bly up and into the refresher so he could shower. His leg was healing, but he was still unsteady on his feet when he walked. While he was in the refresher, she decided to surprise him by wiring the back cabin for HNN. Bly had already volunteered to do it, but the last thing she wanted was him up and about prying open panels and rewiring circuits. She directed her attention back to the task at hand, and focused on tying in what was supposed to be a communications screen to the front cabin, to also show entertainment programming. She finished the re-wiring, and then tested her work. The screen booted right up. One of the obnoxious newscasters from HNN popped right up on the screen.

The big news story had shifted slightly from 'the Great Jedi Betrayal,' to news of the newly formed 'Empire.' The 'Emperor' had a new enforcer called 'Vader,' but no one knew who he really was, or where he came from. Coruscant was being renamed as 'Imperial City.'

"You take a little vacation in the Outer Rim, and they change everythingwhile you're away!" came a chipper voice from the entrance of the refresher.

"Bly," Aayla said, turning and smiling at him. She helped him limp back to bed.

Aayla went and retrieved two meals from the galley. They ate together and watched HNN.

"I could get used to this," Bly said, leaning companionably up against Aayla as he chewed his food and watched the news, "if you had a million sisters, morale in the Grand Army would go way up."

Aayla laughed, "Well, there's only one of me, so the rest will just have to find their own mates."

It felt so natural to curl up next to Bly now, as if they'd always co-habitated this way.

"How long was I out?" Bly asked, attacking his food with considerable enthusiasm.

"A long time. You needed the rest."

Bly chuckled. He then gestured toward the screen, "You've been busy."

They finished their meals as HNN recapped various sports highlights, including inter-galactic Bolo championships. It seems life in the galaxy went on without the Jedi.

"Rex always wanted to form an Inter-Army Bolo League, but we could never get it going," Bly said, gesturing at the screen, as they showed Bolo scores and highlights. "Our schedules were always too erratic, and our turnover rate was just too high. Rex especially was constantly losing guys in the 501st."

Bly shook his head.

"Ah, speak of the devil," Bly said, gesturing with his spork.

With a great deal of drama and excitement, almost like announcing the score of a sports event, the newscaster announced that an uprising against the legitimacy of 'Emperor' Palpatine had just been quelched. 'Vader' had been sent to handle the matter, and accompanying Vader was the 501st Legion.

As the two HNN news hounds discussed the story, both clearly excited at having a new bit of something to chat and speculate about, they showed multiple shots of Vader and the 501st. News holocams were swarming all over the place, so obviously they were not trying to keep the operation a secret.

"I still don't see Rex, do you?" Bly said outloud to Aayla, although he did not really expect an answer. "Why isn't he with the 501st?"

The 501st marched behind Vader with perfectly crisp military precision. It was an awe-inspiring sight, even to someone like Bly, who'd spent his life around nothing but military. One of the newscasters excitedly dubbed the 501st "Vader's Fist." From that point on, every time the cams zoomed in on the 501st, it had the subtitle: "Vader's Fist" on it in bright lettering.

"They look good," Bly murmured, taking another bite of his food. Aayla could tell there was a part of him that wanted to be there with his brothers. The lines of the 501st just kept coming, in perfect crisp military precision. They were truly awe-inspiring.

"Who is - 'Vader?' " Aayla puzzled out loud, but, more to herself, as she tried to figure out who the Emperor's new dark enforcer was.

At first, Bly had wondered why the newscams were even being given such unrestricted access to a military operation, but it all made sense as everything unfolded.

UPRISING AGAINST EMPEROR PALPATINE ON THETA IV

"Oh, no..." Aayala said in shock and horror as she watched the news story unfold. Bly took the tray of food out of her hands, and set it aside. She was staring at the screen in wide-eyed shock, her meal totally forgotten.

Vader and the 501st thundered into the city. The citizens made a small show of trying to shoot at them, and defend themselves, but they never stood a chance. It was clear that no oppositio to Palpatine's new rule would be tolerated. All opposition would be summarily executed - using clone troops as the military might to suppress the civilian population. The civilian population was human, farmers mainly, the population of a small city, of about 50,000 people. Bly watched his brothers carry out their duties with perfectly crisp military precision - exactly like they had been drilled on Kamino.

They truly were perfect killing machines. No one escaped from Vader and the 501st - whole families were wiped out together as they tried to flee.

A tear slipped down Bly's cheek.

He didn't even realize it was there, until he felt Aayla's fingertips on his face. He couldn't remember ever having cried before in his entire life, not even as a child.

Startled, he turned toward her.

"What did we even fight the war for?" he whispered in a tortured voice, "We fought to uphold the Republic! Two million of my brothers died to uphold the Republic! And, after all of that, it comes to this?"

Bly pointed vaguely to the screen.

HNN was now re-showing the 'best' clips of the news story, interspersing it with commentaries from 'experts.'

"I was worried they were going to terminate all my brothers now that the war was over," Bly whispered, "but, instead, they're using my brothers as butchers of those we thought we were dying to defend!"

Bly turned to Aayla, fervor shining in his glistening eyes, "This is going to kill them, Aayla! We spent ten years being trained to fight, to follow orders, and, to protect civilians."

Bly shook his head, as his eyes strayed back to the screen. The 'battle' was over. LAAT-i's were swooping in to pick up the troops. But, Bly could tell from the body language of his brothers that all was not well. His brothers' heads were down, and not with post-battle wearinesss. Their body language said it all.

"Think about it! Being ordered to slaughter civilians? It places two parts of our training directly in conflict with each other. You don't see it from watching this," Bly gestured helplessly at the screen again, "but, beneath the helmet, Aayla, this is doing terrible things to my brothers. This will destroy the clones a lot faster than anything Grievous ever dreamed up."

Bly shuddered as a holocam zoomed in on the visage of Vader.

"And, who the frak is that guy? Weren't all Jedi just ruled to be traitors?"

The holocam pulled back, showing a red light saber clasped in his black-gloved hand.

Aayla gasped, not having noticed the red light saber before. She decided that now was not the time to have a lengthy talk with Bly about the distinction between a 'Jedi' and a 'Sith.'

"Turn it off," Bly said.

He used his good arm and pulled the blanket completely over his head, shutting himself off from the world.

A Sith leading the clone army to slaughter civilians? The state of the galaxy was even worse than she'd thought. Everything had always seemed so vibrant and alive, brimming with force energy.

Aayla sighed, realizing she was letting the disturbing image of the Sith get to her.

She got up, stopped staring at the ugly, dead little planet, and went into the back cabin.

Bly's figure was still huddled completely under the blanket.

Aayla got completely undressed and slipped into the bed. She carefully lifted up part of the blanket and slid underneath.

Bly had fallen asleep again, his face tear-stained and troubled, even in sleep.

Aayla's heart ached just looking at him. She'd never known him to be depressed like this before. It was so out of character for him that it truly frightened her. She carefully curled up against his uninjured side, and fell asleep, hoping things might appear more hopeful after a few hours rest. When she woke up, Bly had wrapped his good arm around her, and was holding her gently against his chest.

She could tell from her force senses that he was awake. She breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't cut himself off from her completely in his grief and mourning.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked softly.

"It was all a lie from the beginning, wasn't it?" Bly said softly, in a tortured voice, "my brothers and I, we were created, under false pretenses. Our whole existence is one big galactic lie. There is no honor in being a clone. We weren't created to save the Republic. We were created to destroy it. To shoot people in the back without honor. Three million men- no honor. None of us."

Aayla rolled over so she could look in Bly's eyes.

His eyes were red-rimmed, and she could see the pain, the misery, the doubt and the self-loathing echoing every word he said.

Aayla took his face between her hands.

"Bly, even though the Jedi are dead, I'd like to believe some of the things they stood for will survive," she put a hand over Bly's heart, "I judge you Bly by your heart. Whatever their original intent, you proved that there is so much more. You are not just a clone, Bly. You are not just a copy of a man. You must see that now. That is what I see when I see you. That is why I love you. Trust that the brothers you left behind will discover this in themselves, too."

Bly took a deep, steadying breath.

"I want to be with my brothers again, Aayla. I needto be with my brothers."

Aayla looked at Bly shocked.

"You want to go back?" she tried to comprehend what Bly was proposing, "we can't go back! We'll be killed..."

"Not Felucia, Aayla," Bly paused for emphasis, "Mandalor."

Aayla studied Bly, trying to take in what he was saying. She knew the clones, particularly the ARC Clones, strongly identified themselves with being Mandalorian. Most were fluent in the language and preferred to speak it when they wanted to vent privately. Aayla had been tempted to spend some time learning Mando'a, but decided against it. She felt her troops deserved some privacy, and this extended to being able to vent freely, if needed.

"But, you've never been to Mandalor," she said, cautiously.

"Do you have a better alternative?" Bly asked, his face taking on the characteristic stubborness it always did when he was challenging her about something.

Aayla wracked her brain, thinking of all the places she'd been, and people she'd known. She had no idea who was still alive, how'd they'd been affected by the changes of the past few days, and if she'd be placing their lives at risk by contacting them.

"No," Aayla admitted.

Bly gripped her hand with his one good one, "I don't know what we'll find there. But, let's check it out, shall we?"

His eyes took on that same gleam that they always did when he was starting to work out the logistics of planning a mission. Bly was particularly good at planning and details.

"Can you get me a datapad? I want to write down what I know, combine it some further research, and then come up with several possible plans for you to review."

Aayla chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Bly asked, reaching a hand out to idly caress her hip.

She shook her head, then ran a hand through his thick, luxurious hair. She didn't think she'd ever tire of the way the silky strands felt against her fingertips.

Bly sighed in pleasure and closed his eyes, enjoying the simple pleasure of the scalp massage.

"I'm glad you don't shave your head," she murmured in admiration, "you've got great hair."

"I do," he said, contentedly, "I really do."

After another minute had passed, his eyes lazily drifted open. "Could you get me that datapad so I could work while you do this?"

Aayla laughed, smacking him in his good shoulder.

"What?" he said, innocently.

"I'm young. I have a lot of energy," Bly said in his defense. "I excel at multi-tasking."

Aayla rose up and searched around for a datapad. Bly watched her, staring fondly at her profile as she bent over to search through a lower cabinet. He sighed happily, and just enjoyed the view.