Hello, my lovelies! Next chapter will be delayed. My mother isn't feeling well, so I want to spend some time to take care of her and help around the house. This chapter was one of the more difficult chapters for to write. You'll see why later. Enjoy! :)

Good Soldiers (Final pt7)

Good soldiers fighting alongside each other, against each other…

Kal powered forth with nothing but the strength of pure adrenaline. He had no idea of the layout of this laboratory. He had no weapon other than a handheld blaster he snatched off of a tabletop. He wasn't sure what he was thinking when he chokeheld that doctor who was gonna put him back to sleep.

This was by far, the most reckless he's ever been. Maybe this was a bad idea…

"Look! There he is!"

A couple of droids appeared from behind a door that opened in front of him. Kal immediately turned down the other, emptier, hallway. He never felt this lightweight before. Behind him, one of the B1 units was about to raise its blaster to shoot before being stopped by one of Dr. Elav's assistants.

"No! We need him alive!" The medical assistant ordered. "Do NOT harm him!"

Amidst all the chaos and mass-panic, Trench stormed into the bridge of the lab, yelling at every guard and droid in sight. "Don't just stand there like idiots! Close down every exit to this ship! Now!"

Everyone in the room did as told. Trench began speeding through every camera angle from the surveillance system, searching for the exact location where the clone ran off to. He eventually found him running down the halls of the outer lab section.

"There you are," Trench said under his breath. He proceeded to call Dr. Elav of the clone's whereabouts.

Kal kept running down the winding halls of the lab. Which oddly reminds him of the interior of a military fleet. Just what kind of lab is this? He took a leap of faith through a closing doorway. But on the other side, he was greeted with a small group of B1s.

"Hey, it's that clone—!"

Without thinking, Kal rummaged into the closest droid, knocking both it and himself over. For some reason, he felt little to no pain upon hitting the clanker. Was it a side-effect of the alertness drug?

Taking advantage of both the fact these droids can't shoot to kill and that pain was practically non-existent, Kal rammed down a few more B1s in front of him and disarmed one of them—greatly confusing the droids. He turned the weapon away from stun-mode and started shooting the still-shocked clankers behind him. His body shook with every movement he made, every step he took. It was unexplainable.

At last, Kal took down the last confused droid. He was tired, he was jittery, and he was feeling dangerously unbalanced. He wobbled on his feet, on the verge of topping over. What was in that drug—

"—Mmmmppphhh!"

Kal felt a gloved hand cover his mouth, then something sharp prick his neck. All the adrenaline rush he was feeling began to drain out of his system. And his vision became hazy. Right before he passed out completely, he could see the silhouette of a large male Twi'lek behind him.

"Sorry." Dr. Elav whispered before he gently placed an unconscious Kal onto the ground. Not a second later, more folks came into the scene. All of them in awe of the sight before them.

"Dr. Elav, you got him!" One of the medical workers exclaimed.

"Great work!" Another nodded.

Though nodding nonsensically, Dr. Elav had an urge to pull out his pipe, but he decided against smoking his stress away this time. Besides, he'll be needing it after finishing explaining this incident to Trench.

One of the superdroids raised its arm. "Contact the Admiral, immediately. We've re-obtained the clone."

Perhaps he'll need two pipes.

~ O O O ~

To say Trench was mad about this incident would be an understatement. He was absolutely furious. The line-up of medical team researchers trembled in fear before him. All except for their lead doctor, Rol Elav.

"Crofinil," the Twi'lek said. "Nicknamed the alertness drug. It's not meant to be used on already-awake patients, that explains why he was so jittery during his escape tonight. One of my workers must've accidentally injected him with that instead of the tranq."

"I do not care for why or what the reason was for his escaping, but the fact is: he attempted to escape!" Trench stopped pacing and towered over Dr. Elav. "You may not have been the one to make the careless mistake tonight but a team is only as competent as their leader! From now on, I'm in charge of the experiments!"

Dr. Elav's eyes grew wide. "What—"

"You'll be working directly under my orders!" Trench barked. "I've given you too much independence, and this is the result of it! I can tell you've become sympathetic towards the subject, if it wasn't for you catching him, I would've thought you helped him escape. Starting tonight, the subject is to be kept in the containment pod at all times! Minus the times where he must be moved out for experiments! I'm assigning you, medical researchers to this task!"

"Yes, Admiral," the line-up of doctors shakily answered. They were dismissed out of the bridge while Dr. Elav was left behind. Trench wasn't finished with him yet.

"As for you. Perhaps a bit of time outside would do you good. Head to the export center and pick some supplies up for me. You can take a few of my droids for protec—"

"No thanks," Dr. Elav cut-off. "I can go there myself."

He walked out of the bridge and pulled out his smoke pipe…to throw it down a nearby disposal bin. It would take a lot more than a smoke to take away his stress this time. In the back of his head, he could see Kal being hooked up roughly and painfully to the pod that would completely restrict his mental and physical capabilities. Essentially, reducing him to barely a human being. How much longer can a doctor tolerate this? A 'real' doctor at least.

~ O O O ~

Lux and his search party consisting of personal guards and clone troopers kept looking for the missing first battalion. It was difficult searching in the dark of night, but they'd rather search now than wait until morning—when they were more vulnerable to be spotted.

"Anything there, Captain Cleaver?" Lux called out to the clone captain.

Cleaver shook his head. "Not yet sir."

Lux held his forehead and sighed. "I'm sorry. This is taking longer than I thought."

"Nah don't be. You're helping and we appreciate that. Besides, I've sent out a branch of my men to scout further ahead in the direction you suggested. They should be reporting back any minute now," Cleaver said.

Just then, one of the troopers Cleaver sent out ahead appeared from the darkness. He seemed rather ecstatic. "Sir! We found them! The missing battalion!"

Everyone perked up from the news. They were about to become a whole legion again. The trooper who just made the announcement gestured for everyone to follow, "This way! We found them near a clearing along the edge of the forest! Hurry!"

At the location where the branch team found the first battalion, things were beginning to calm down after the initial hype. And the search party troopers began to notice something strange about the clones of the missing battalion.

"How'd you get this lost?" One trooper asked Coal, as he was helping him up.

"The map provided to us was about as clear as a philosopher's journal," Coal said in a monotone voice. "I imagine yours was clearer?"

The trooper shook his head. "No, we were just as lost as you were until the Separatists found us."

"Separatists are our enemies," Coal insisted.

"I know, but these guys are exceptions," the trooper insisted back. "They're helping us get Captain Kal back."

The entire first battalion still looked dubious. It was as if they were a whole new lot of people. Then Coal spoke again. "We think we might've found the place where the captain is being held."

"Really?" All the troopers of the branched search team were intrigued. "Where?"

"Follow me." Coal led them to the rocky clearing where the oddly shaped building was spotted earlier. And where his holopad started mysteriously beeping.

It took a few minutes, but the rest of the search party including Lux, Cleaver, and everyone else reached the area where the first battalion was found. They found the entire group sitting amongst the vegetation, patiently waiting for them.

"You guys! We finally found you!" Cleaver exclaimed. The rest of the troopers went up to eagerly reunite with their lost comrades, who returned their enthusiasm at half-best. They were more focused on the fact that Separatists were here amongst them.

"So you really are consorting with the enemy…" one of the first battalion troopers, Mercury said. He looked directly at Lux. "Former member or not, I'm afraid you're still a threat to the Republic." He raised his blaster towards him.

"No—wait! Mercury!" Cleaver immediately knocked the weapon of his fellow comrade's hand as Lux's personal guards raised theirs. Tensions spiked. The trust these former Separatist forces were building towards the clones were threatening to break down. But Cleaver quickly alleviated the situation.

"These guys are our allies! Didn't they tell you?" Cleaver gestured to the branch team he sent out. Mercury wasn't affected at all by Cleaver's insistence.

"Then you're a threat to the Republic as well. And will need to be dealt with—"

"—What's gotten into you?" Cleaver shook Mercury's shoulders, trying to sanitize him. "The Republic royally screwed us over! They're probably the ones who got Kal in this predicament in the first place! And we're all trying to get him back! Isn't that what you want too?"

Mercury and the first battalion—and the branch search party team—were quiet. Too quiet. It was starting to get concerning. Right as Cleaver was about to say another word, Coal said, "We do. And we think we found the place where Captain Kal is being kept. It's in the rocky clearing not too far ahead. We can show you right now."

"Now's not a good time," Cleaver said. "We need to get you back to the rendezvous point. You can inform the general of this once we return."

"The general…the Jedi?" Another trooper of the first battalion asked.

"Yes. General Korentayer, Jedi Knight—ok, what happened to all of you?" Cleaver was confused, concerned, and a little bit scared. "Did your ship crash or something? Did you all hit your heads?"

Even Lux, after telling his guards to calm down from the sudden blasterpoint, was beginning to see something was off. He offered to call Aliyah back at the rendezvous base and let her know the situation. Cleaver let him do that while he focused on trying to find out what happened to his fellow soldiers.

Coal said something very quietly, almost like he was afraid to say it. "…We just want to be good soldiers."

"You are," Cleaver said. He felt hurt hearing these tried and proven clones were questioning this fact. "Now c'mon. Let's take you home."

He and the remainder of the search party rounded up the battalion members, and led them back towards the rendezvous point.

~ O O O ~

At the base setup at the rendezvous point, the majority of the legion were taking a much-needed break. The ones who couldn't sleep yet chatted up a storm with their new Separatist allies, telling them of how much they've diminished from their view of the Republic since their sudden imprisonment. And their fears of what may come out of this rescue mission.

Their new allies sympathized with them. Telling them of the lies Dooku made them believe, promises of a government less corrupt than the Republic. But it was just as bad.

"So what are you gonna do after helping us?" Compass asked one of the Separatist Senators, tall male humanoid, Gyro Huskin. They were sitting on a couple of rocks, outside the shelters that have been setup for sleeping.

"Probably going to pay a visit to my homeworld first," Senator Huskin said. "I need to make sure my family's safe. Dooku knows how to hurt people, and so does Palpatine."

Compass nodded sadly. "Agreed."

Over at the section where the large holomap table was setup alongside some of the Separatist's communications equipment, Aliyah was answering an incoming call from Lux. They've found the missing battalion and were on their way back now.

"But there seems to be something off about them," Lux added. "They're suspicious to trust us, which is completely understandable, but they don't seem to entirely accept your men either. Going as far as to call Captain Cleaver a threat to the Republic because he's working with me."

"I see." Aliyah ran some possibilities for why the first battalion members were behaving like this. She stopped on one. "Well, thanks so much for helping us find them. I'm glad they're safe. Bring them back to base and we'll smooth everything out later."

"Already less than a quarter back to where you are, general," Lux answered. "See you soon."

The call ended and Aliyah couldn't stop thinking about what Lux said about the first battalion's behaviour. She looked down at the powered-off holomap table, thinking urgently.

"What's wrong?" Steele stepped into the zone. "They didn't find them?"

"No, they found them," Aliyah said.

"They did!? That's—" Steele's joy quickly turned to fear when he saw Aliyah's still-troubled face. "Then what's wrong?"

"Lux said they were acting strangely. They had a hard time trusting them, and called Cleaver a threat to the Republic." Aliyah held her arms and shuddered despite the air not being that cold. "I may be thinking too much into this. Let's just be happy that they're found. Or…" She turned towards him. "You don't think that they could've—"

Steele stopped her right there. He knew what she was going to say. "I'll go wake the rest of the men. Stay here, and stay alert."

Vito and Dogma walked in as soon as Steele walked out. They too, noticed their general's worried expression.

"You alright, general?" Vito asked in concern.

"Yeah," Aliyah immediately changed her attitude for the sake of her soldiers. "Senator Bonteri said the first battalion's been found. They're on their way here right now."

"That's great! Soon, we'll be able to plan a rescue for Kal!" Dogma cried enthusiastically. "So, what do you have in mind?"

Outside, Steele made his way to where clusters of his men were soundly sleeping. He walked to each shelter, waking up the exhausted troopers inside and notifying them of their found comrades. That woke them up well enough. They were excited to see their missing brothers again.

Steele eventually came across Compass who was still sitting with Senator Huskin. The two waved him over to talk. "Commander, I heard the battalion's been found," Compass said. He held up an imaginary glass. "Cheers!"

"Cheers!" Steele did the same to entertain his injured soldier. "Don't celebrate too early, though," he added.

Compass laughed and nodded. Then he turned serious. "Well. Are you…going to tell everyone about the o-r-d-e-r?"

Right. It was almost time to inform everyone the truth. The truth of why they were here right now. Of what Palpatine intends to do to them—to all of them—by the end of the war, or earlier if they fail to rescue Kal. Steele nodded.

"Yeah. I will."

Compass could imagine the fear in his commander's eyes. There was so much to be revealed in so little time. Not to mention part of the revelation will be admitting the two of them, Dogma and Egad, had a part to play in their being here.

Not a moment later, light and the sound of rustling came from the darkness of the forest. The search part was finally back, with the first battalion following them close behind. Lux was at the front of the group, waving his hand at the entirety of the people at the base. The awakened clones eagerly watched as their comrades entered the light of the base, along with their Separatist allies, all of them looking relieved.

Suddenly, Steele felt something off in the air. It happened as soon as one of the first battalion troopers at the front stepped into the light. Behind Steele at the communications section, Aliyah and Vito were just stepping out.

That's when Coal pulled up his blaster and took two shots directly at the Jedi dressed in blue.

The next few events happened in the blink of an eye. Passing by so fast. Barely anyone had enough time to properly react. Aliyah pulled out her lightsaber and deflected one shot. But she was so taken by shock that she failed to deflect the second one. It missed her by a few inches, and went clean through Vito's lower chest instead.

Vito gasped in shock from the plasma bolt, stumbling back a few inches, before falling unceremoniously onto the ground. His eyes terrifyingly wide in shock.

"V—Vito…" Dogma stuttered.

Coal's initial shock of what he had just done erased away as the Order took control of him once again. He attempted to shoot again, but this time Steele was ready to react. The 304th commander almost forgot to switch to stun-mode before raising his blaster at his gone soldier. But due to the shock and confusion of what just happened, one of the clone troopers behind Steele tackled him down right as he took the shot. He couldn't comprehend why the commander would raise his gun at one of their own. Just like he couldn't comprehend why one of their own soldiers shot another one of their own.

The stun shot missed Coal, who missed his aim on Aliyah due to the attempted stun.

"GET THE JEDI!" Coal yelled at the top of his lungs.

He and his members of the first battalion, along with the clones who were part of the branched off search team, split apart and charged forward. Mass confusion spread across the place like wildfire. The Separatists and their personal guards prepared to fight back while the 304th clones were torn between doing the same or stopping them.

Taking charge of the situation best he could, Steele shouted to everyone, "Don't shoot! DON'T SHOOT, damn it! Stunners and mild firearms only! I repeat, DO NOT SHOOT TO KILL!" He looked to Aliyah, who was calling for a medic to attend to Vito. "DOGMA! GET HER AND THE SENATORS OUTTA HERE! GO!"

The clones who were still armed and armoured did as their commander told, as quickly as they could, as efficiently as they could, reluctance in their every move. The Separatist guards, after some convincing from their associating Senators, did the same. The rest of the troopers who woke up moments ago, went to gear themselves up before the joining the fight.

Back at the communications section, Aliyah was attempting to talk to a barely conscious Vito. "Vito…? Hey Vito! Can you hear me?"

…H—have we rescued Kal yet…?" Vito slurred as the medic Aliyah called over broke open his armour and cut the underlying black insulator clothing.

Dogma couldn't look at the ugly burn mark sinking through the skin. He knelt down next to Vito with his eyes closed and said something inaudible. Then he stood back up and insisted on all of them moving to another place to perform first aid.

"General, Senators, we need to get outta here!" Dogma barely recognized his own voice. Keeping control of her mind and her stomach, Aliyah agreed. The years of training as a Jedi to stay calm no matter the situation were now being put to the test.

"Yes. Let's go!"

Together with the medic, Aliyah picked up the nearly unconscious Vito and began making their escape into the woods, the Senators were close behind. Dogma and a few of the Separatist's personal guards made sure no one followed them.

Back at home base, Steele, Compass, and the others continued fighting—disabling—their former comrades. They barely had the heart to use heavy violence on them. These soldiers…whom they've always fought side-by-side with…now forced to fight against. What kind of sick joke was the galaxy pulling on them?

Out of the masses of fighting and shouting, Egad emerged, running towards Compass. "Brother!" He nearly sighed in relief. "You're safe!"

Compass nodded, out of breath from all the dodging and shooting and dodging. He fell forth into Egad's arms.

"Compass!"

"I…I don't believe this…" Compass said, shaking on every syllable. "Have we failed the mission already…?"

"Not yet, brother," Egad pulled Compass to his feet. "Now stand!"

Suddenly, a first battalion trooper charged at the two of them. "TRAITORS!" He shouted at he raised his blaster.

Not thinking twice, Compass stunned the trooper down before he could take a shot. He looked even worse than he did before. Egad half-pulled, half-carried him out of the area.

Steele felt the weight of a thousand planets crush upon him with every soldier he stunned, every brother he knocked unconscious. The guilt was becoming too much to bear. What the hell, Palpatine? He thought as he fought another trooper lost to the protocol. We had a deal! This isn't part of anything I agreed to!

Eventually, he caught sight of Coal, who was about to run into the area of the forest where Aliyah and the Senators have escaped to. He rushed after him. "COAL!"

Coal turned around, ready to shoot. Suddenly, several strange canisters were tossed about across the ground of the base. Green odourless gas began emitting from those canisters. Steele felt faint upon breathing it in. He felt an arm grab him and pull him aside to the forest where the air was cleaner. The person who pulled him was Lux.

"Senator Bonteri…" Steele coughed.

"These canisters should knock them out for an hour maximum. Enough time for us to disarm and find a safe place to keep them to be held," Lux said.

The sound of a lightsaber activating made Steele look up again. He could see the faint glow of the blue plasma weapon in the haze of the green fog. Aliyah stood in the middle of the gas-filled rendezvous point, wearing a protection mask given by Lux.

"Hey! The Jedi's right here! Come get me!" She shouted.

That did the trick. Immediately, all the protocol-affected clones rushed towards the densest part of the gas, following the glow of the blue lightsaber. While the unaffected ones made their way towards the edge of the base, where they could breathe properly again.

It didn't take long for the affected clones to fully pass out, while the rest of them regrouped inside the forest. Aliyah watched in agony as the last trooper fell to the ground, fully unconscious. She whispered a painful apology before running back towards the area where the Senators have relocated.

Lux and some of his guards were escorting Steele and the remaining 'sane' clones of the 304th towards the same place. They were all helping each other walk forward, being gentle with the troopers from the horrific event they just encountered.

"What happened back there?" Lux asked as he helped Steele along. "Can you tell me?"

"A protocol…" Steele reluctantly coughed.

"What?" One of the other clone troopers who overheard asked. "What are you saying, sir?"

"It's a protocol, made by the Chancellor and instilled into the entire clone army by the Kaminoans," Steele explained without giving too much. He'd rather explain better when he was in an improved state. "It was meant to be kept secret from the rest of the Republic. Top secret."

The depressed and demoralized clone troopers couldn't believe what they were hearing. Lux began putting two and two together and came to a conclusion. "So…the reason the Chancellor had you all arrested was because you found out about this? Is that it?"

"Yes," Steele was about to say, but didn't get the chance to. Before the entire group, Dogma suddenly appeared, looking as if he went to hell and just came back. Despite the night's darkness, they could all see the reflection of tears in his eyes. He finally spoke.

"Sir…Vito is dead."

Vito had died, not too long after being transported away from the rendezvous base. His injury was simply too mortal to be healed, even if they had a specialized surgeon with them. Aliyah received the news minutes earlier, as she managed to reach the new safety zone first. The medic working on bringing him back nearly broke down telling her this. All the years of Jedi teachings went out the window as she attempted to shake her long-since dead soldier awake. But it was no use. There was no way to bring back the dead. No moral way at least.

As soon as Dogma said the news, a range of reactions came from the legion. Some burst into tears, some screamed in agony, and some did not show any reaction at all. They were simply too shocked. Steele was amongst those.

"Did he say anything, Dogma?" Steele muttered.

"What, sir?"

"His last words? Do you know?" Steele repeated, a little more audibly this time.

"He asked if we've rescued Kal yet…" Dogma said, he nearly choked on his words. "I told him 'yes.'" He finally broke down crying.

Steele's been in this war since day one. He has been through the best and the worst, he has served and survived Krell, he had fought and survived through hopeless situations. He had lost good men left and right. But never. Had he lost a good man in this manner. Being killed by one of their own…finally. Steele finally understood what the men on Umbara gone through. And how awful it was for Dogma to be forced to live through something similar all over again.

He could imagine Palpatine standing so smugly by the window his office. Knowing detail by detail, the hell he was putting all of them through. Which wasn't too far from what was actually happening on Coruscant right of this moment. Palpatine sat at his desk, knowing full-well, that something like this would happen.

Steele too, began to cry.

Next time on The Clone's Hero, the remaining soldiers of the 304th recuperate from the events of this night, and discover the exact place where Kal is being held. But difficulties still stand in their way, luckily, another unexpected ally comes to their aid…

A/N. Well, folks. The first showcase of Order 66. Well, parts of it anyways. Don't worry, there's still more chapters like this to come down the line. We're not done the Final arc yet. So brace yourselves. ;_;

Anyways, next chapter will be delayed. I don't what it is my mother came down with, but she hasn't been feeling well since this morning, and I'm worried. So, please. If you could all be patient and wish her better health, I would greatly appreciate it! Also, please fav, follow, or review if possible! :D

See you all next time! :)

- MiraLake