"Not all scars are on the surface."

Padawan Jalaina Sapphire, when addressing the Jedi Council on the matter of clones unable to continue fighting.

6

Memories of a troubled man

Cassus walked to the mess hall in full body armor. He thought it was good for the clones to see him as their commander. He barely knew anyone in here besides his squad. After getting a bowl of nerf stew, he sat alone in a corner table. That was his first mistake.

Jalaina walked to the mess hall with a few of the troopers. They were shy at first, but after about a day the men seemed to be opening up to her. They were two days out from the planet Ren Sier. She had gotten to know the specialist squad pretty well, but the commander always seemed to find a way out of a conversation with her. She walked into the mess hall to a chaos of force signatures.

Cassus, at least Jalaina thought that was his name, was sitting alone in the corner. She grabbed her meal and started walking towards him. As she approached, the commander replaced his helmet and stood with his tray to leave. He probably thought she wouldn't notice he had barely touched his food. He was obviously avoiding her. His anger spiked. He seemed to have a deep hatred for her, no, not her, her kind.

"Please sit down trooper." She said. He said something like 'Osik' under his breath. He sat down across from her. "You should remove your helmet." She said lightly.

"Ma'am, I would rather not. " He exclaimed venomously. She sensed his anger again. No, it wasn't anger, it was fear.

"Its okay trooper. I don't see what the big deal is. Just do it. " Jalaina insisted. With shaking hands, he pulled off the black and red helmet. Jalaina gasped in disbelief. She had seen injured clones before, but never to this extent. Cassus' face was a crisscross of scars and injuries. His nose was crooked, and he had a half a dozen holes in his ears. They were all small, but still large enough to be visible. His left eye was all silver, a prothstetic, and his right eye was completely red besides the pupil.

"Not what you expected?" He said viciously. "This is what you people do to clones."

"A Jedi did this to you?" Jalaina couldn't believe it.

"Not all of it. But I'm not the worst. You claim to be so righteous, but really, you and your kind are killers." On that note, Cassus stood and left, replacing his helmet as he walked out the door.

xxxXxxx

Cassus swung his training saber in a downward arc towards Solomon. This was the twentieth session in ten days. He parried two blows from Solomons left, then shoved his practice shield forward. Solomon had two durasteel bars strapped to his arms. He slid underneath the shield on his knees, attempting to "Cut off" Cassus' legs. The commander jumped over and spun, bringing his bar to bear between Solomon's shoulders. The assassin doged. Cassus began pushing him back, fighting relentlessly, letting the anger of his earlier conversation drive him forward.

Solomon backpedalled, falling victim to the constant strikes. He dropped to his knees. Cassus swung as hard as he could in a diagonal upward arc. There was a sickening 'thwack' . The melee specialist collapsed.

xxxXxxx

Jacob reassembled his M-6. They would be deployed in two hours. Equipment had to be in prime condition. He was sitting on one of the large support beams on the roof of the hangar bay. He had seen a few clones point, but none had asked him to leave yet. Then again, Jacob didn't know many people willing to mess with an ARC. He looked down the scope. After picking out every individual in the hangar bay twice, he was satisfied. Boaz was talking with some clones of the 3rd when he looked up at Jacob. Then he jumped the massive distance and landed next to the astonished ARC.

"Are you ready for your first assignment with the battalion?" Boaz asked.

"I am." Jacob whispered, giving away nothing.

"Do you think the squad is ready? You're the only one I can ask. Please be honest. Most of the men are crazy. Cassus is a whirlpool of hate and regret. Solomon and John both want to fight I can barely keep them from shooting at each other or anything else that moves. Can you do this?"

"We will perform to expected standards." Jacob believed it to. No other unit was like theirs.

"Then let's take a planet."

xxxXxxx

John put on his armor and stared at his bucket. How many clones had died behind that anonymous mask? Enough to make most men think twice about going to war. John wasn't most men. Putting on his helmet, he grabbed the DC-15a. Time to fight.