Smash tried not to squirm in his AT-RT walker, but he couldn't help it. Things had gone from dire, back to normal, and now straight to insanity. He had thought the Twi'lek's bioweapon would be the tensest situation of his life, but now the Jedi and Skull were traitors? Even though he would follow orders from Kyle and Convor, who were now in command of the 197th, he still didn't like it. And what was that Order 66 that Palpatine had screamed at him in his brief message to Smash? He tilted his helmet and scratched at where the chip had been taken out of him. Hopefully things would get better after this.

But as his walker clomped down the street alongside the AT-TE, his unease grew. Many of his fellow clones were dragging the newly returned civilians out of the buildings, or were preventing them from leaving the planet in their ships. None of them looked happy about it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chant in his own AT-RT come alongside his. "What are Kyle and Convor thinking?" Chant muttered to him. "I thought we were here to save these people, not subjugate them. I feel like a Separatist."

Smash looked around to make sure nobody had heard him. "Stow it. You want to get branded a traitor too? I don't like it either, but orders are orders. As long as they don't start shooting at us, this should be over before you know it."

It felt like Chant was glaring at him behind his helmet. "I caught some of that rant Palpatine gave to some of the other troopers. Somehow I doubt this will end well—"

Smash's comm went off. "Change of plans," said Kyle's voice curtly. "Smash, bring the rest of AT-RTs back to the medical facility. The AT-TEs will be more than enough to handle this."

He could hear the whir of the AT-TE's cannon as it moved, but Smash ignored it. "Handle what, Kyle?"

And then the AT-TE cannon fired straight into one of the buildings.

Debris flew through air. The crowds of civilians erupted into screams.

Smash pulled his walker around and leapt onto the AT-TE. As the gunner attempted to shoot Smash with his own blaster, Smash leapt off the AT-RT, and dove right into the gunner. He knocked him out of his seat and towards the front of the walker. The gunner tried to shoot him again, but one punch from Smash's gauntlets, and the gunner was out cold. Not dead though; until he knew what was going on, Smash wasn't prepared to kill his own brothers.

He darted toward the front hatch of the tank, yanked it open, and landed right on top of the very surprised pilot. Before the rest of the crew inside could reach their weapons, Smash fired off a series of stun blasts, stunning them all.

Smash started to feel some relief, when the entire walker rocked and keeled over from a sudden impact. Sparks and smoke filled the tank, which went well with the stars that Smash saw upon getting thrown around. He did his best to ignore the pain, stumbled back to the front, and got out of the hatch as another blue burst hit the AT-TE.

One of the other AT-TEs marched towards him from behind the downed walker. Smash didn't fancy his chances against a tank that was ready for him, but luckily, Chant's walker raced towards him, and Smash leapt and grabbed his outstretched hand. "I made contact with Skull," Chant replied, as Smash tried to hold on as best he could to the walker. "The clones who still have chips in their heads—they're under some kind of brainwashing!"

V-wings cut through the sky above them and fired ion torpedoes at the AT-TE, which immediately crippled it on impact. LAAT gunships followed behind them, the crews inside fired stun blasts at clones who were trying to fire at them or the civilians. "So," said Smash, desperate to make some kind of sense out of this, "does that mean the Kaminoans are behind—?"

A rocket came out of nowhere and hit the AR-RT's leg. The duo flew across the ground, until Smash skidded to a halt. Thankfully, the armor had taken the worst of it. As he got up, he saw a clone with a Mandalorian symbol on his helmet approach Chant. "Banter," coughed Chant, as he tried to get his feet. "Come on…we have to—"

Banter's rifle fired a shot right into Chant's chest.

With a sudden burst of adrenaline, Smash drew his pistol and fired a stun blast, but Banter dodged it and fired again. Thankfully, it missed his vitals, but it still clipped Smash's side and he stumbled down again. As he tried to raise his blaster again, a bolt shot it out of his hand, and a boot slammed into Smash's chest. He looked up at Banter, who held his rifle with a slight tremor. "Don't," Smash groaned, as he tried to reach his brother. "Banter…this isn't you…"

Banter stared blankly at him. Despite all their missions before this, it was only now that his expressionless helmet made Banter look like one of those soulless battle droids. "Good…" Banter ground out. "…soldiers…follow or—"

A stun blast hit Banter and he collapsed. Smash turned around to thank his rescuer and his jaw dropped.

"You are injured," said the B1 droid, who helped him to his feet with an identical droid. "Do not be alarmed, we are here to help."

More clone troopers rushed towards them, their blasters at the ready, when a set of droidekas rolled up in front of them. Thanks to their shields, the clones shots couldn't get through them. More B1s passed Smash, who entered the droideka's shields, and fired stun blasts. Smash's brainwashed brothers began to fall, and then a pair of commando droids acrobatically flipped past them like mechanical Jedi. Soon the rest of the squad were stunned, and the droids rushed off to join the gunships subduing the rogue clones.

"Get off me," Smash snarled, as the shock wore off. He'd be damned if he let droids carry him, even if they did save him.

He rushed over to Chant, who lay still on the ground. Smash grabbed his hand and tried to shake him awake. "Chant…Chant, brother, speak to me!"

Chant's head lifted an inch in the air. Smash took off his helmet; Chant's face looked so weak, but he did his best to try and speak. "Sm…Smash," he wheezed, and tears began to trickle down his face. "Please…B-Banter…not his…fault…look after…him."

Smash removed his own helmet, and tried to fight back the tear threatening to form in his own eyes. "I will," he swore. "I promise, Chant."

His brother tried to give him a grateful smile, but instead, his face loosened, and he closed his eyes for the last time. More explosions caused Smash to look up. He saw so many of the turned troopers opening fire at their brothers and the people they had come to protect. More droids came to their defense, firing stun blasts back, as Smash's brothers did their best to get the civilians to safety, who looked at their protectors with fear and mistrust, as if they were afraid these clones would turn on them as well. Screams of pain, fear, and grief melded together with the blasterfire and explosions. Smash felt so distraught and lost that he almost didn't feel the hand on his shoulder. He snapped out of it and turned to see a familiar Dug looking at him.

"I feel your pain, Smash," said Tenjarah, his normally stern face surprisingly understanding. It was so surreal seeing the droids flank him instead of trying to fruitlessly shoot the Jedi. "But we must grieve later. Right now, Cylanar needs us. They, the clones, and the rest of us are still in grave danger."

A flurry of lasers pelted in Skull's direction. Normally, he'd treat this as simply another distraction that came with the mission, but because it was his own brothers firing, his fingers gripped the controls tighter than ever before as he dodged. Without returning fire, he shot past the gunships that had fired at him, and he mentally berated himself. They couldn't keep this up forever, but Skull didn't know how to stop his fellow pilots without killing them.

Then he saw the gunships head straight for a group of LAATs gathering up civilians. Skull grit his teeth and chased after them. When he was in range, and was sure his allies were clear, he fired. Thankfully, the gunships dispersed to avoid getting shot down, but Skull knew it was only a matter of time before they called his bluff.

His comm went off and he answered it. "Skull," said Mahi's voice, "more gunships are heading your way!"

"I'm open to ideas," he replied, as he swerved around to face the gunships again. "But unless you got something that can ground these gunships, I don't see how we're supposed to stop my brothers without killing them."

There was a pause. Fervently, Skull begged for the Force to give them some way out of this. "Alright, I think I have an idea. Be ready, I'm en route to your position—"

More lasers interrupted her, and Skull pulled off every maneuver to dodge them. His astromech squealed abuse at him, but he ignored it. He tried to scare the gunships with his own laserfire, but they held firm as his lasers flew by them. Skull braced himself to get incinerated by his own brothes—

A LAAT hurled past him towards the gunships. This time they scattered. Skull was about to call Mahi when he noticed something falling at him from above. Before he could react, it landed on his V-wing, and Mahi's voice sounded through the comm. "Before we get started, I need to know…do you trust me, Skull?"

If anything, that almost unnerved him more than his brothers trying to kill him. "…I guess I trust you enough. Why?"

"Because," Mahi answered, sounding tense herself, "I'm going to have to trust that you're the best pilot we've got."

Traitors. All of them. Kill them. The Jedi, Skull, their mutinous brothers. All of them. This was what they were born to do. To wipe out any and all threats to the Republic…every single one of the Chancellor's enemies.

So far, Jargon and the rest who hadn't fallen for the Jedis' lies, had carried their orders out to the letter. From his position on the medical facility's roof, Jargon picked off every enemy who was stupid enough to try and get in. All he had to do was shift his rifle a few inches, sometimes a little more, pull the trigger, and crossed one more enemy off the list. Every time he found a clone or droid in his crosshairs, he fired, and down they went.

Occasionally, something tried to fight him…memories? But then his head ached and forced it down, but he was glad for it. More lies…of course, Jedi mind tricks. It had to be. Jargon wouldn't fall victim to it. He would follow orders—

The sight of LAATs and civilian ships flying towards the Venator distracted him. If only he had something that packed more of a punch and had longer range than his sniper rifle, but he had his orders. Protect the facility while Kyle and Convor readied the power plant to blow. One way or another, they would eliminate those cowardly Jedi. He saw more of their own gunships start to follow the fleeing enemies out of the city, and was certain they wouldn't last long.

And then a V-wing towards them.

And on top of it was Mahi Rasharic.

"Sir, it's the Jedi!" said one of the clones next to him.

"What are we supposed to do, genius?!" Jargon snapped. "They're out of range! Keep firing on those traitors below us, or so help me, I'll—!"

Jargon saw the V-wing swerve around the nearest gunship.

One slash from Mahi's lightsaber later, the gunship began to drop like a deactivated droid, barely keeping control as it fell.

Jargon's rifle clacked against the edge of the roof as his aim slackened. He didn't notice.

But the traitors weren't done. As the V-wing overtook a group of gunships, Mahi leapt off onto the lead gunship. Sparks flew as she cut along the gunship, then she jumped to the other one, and did the same thing again. All too soon, the gunships dropped out of the sky, and Mahi was freefalling. Before Jargon could even hope that she'd fall to her death, the V-wing caught her, and flew after the few remaining gunships.

"You think Skull's a Jedi too?" said another clone, resentful awe in his voice.

Jargon whirled on him in a rage. "Shut it! Who cares how good a pilot he is, all we have to do is hold the facility and the power plant! Then the traitors will come to us!"

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed one of their gunships flying towards the facility from the city…only it was going too fast…Jargon looked through his crosshair, and sure enough, its sole occupant was the Dug.

"Rogue gunship!" Jargon bellowed, and opened fire. "Take out that damn Dug!"

The Dug managed to dodge his shot, but then the other clones joined him. Their blasterfire peppered the ship, and one of the clones fired a rocket launcher. Unfortunately, the rocker missed the cockpit, and hit the side of the ship. It fell towards them like a giant missile and they all scrambled to get out of the way as it crashed onto the roof. Sparks flew everywhere as it screeched across the rooftop and came to a sudden stop as it smashed into the entrance leading back down into the facility.

Jargon gestured towards the downed ship. "Slow and steady," he muttered. "If you so much as see his ugly snout…"

But as he got closer, he saw that the cockpit was empty. Using more hand signals, Jargon walked past the wreckage, and into the hole the ship had made in the wall. He quickly brought his rifle up, but saw the stairwell was empty, and no sign of the Jedi down below through the gap in the stairwell. Remembering what his former superiors could do, he also looked up at the ceiling. Thankfully, nothing. He resisted the urge to remove his helmet to wipe the sweat away. Jargon continued to go down the stairs, the troops right behind him, and as he cleared the first landing, he started to quicken his pace, certain that the Jedi was on his way to free the hostages—

He had just enough time to see Tenjarah's overly long legs whip out and bash his helmeted head against the wall, as the Dug leapt over the railing. If he wasn't trying to kill the Dug, Jargon would have been impressed. Miserable runt had to have been clinging onto the stairs' underside like a mynock. As Jargon tried to clear the stars out of his vision, he saw the other clones trying to rush him. Half of him was thankful they didn't try shooting the Dug; at this close range, they would have cut each other to ribbons. The other half of him was seething.

For some reason, the Dug wasn't using his lightsaber on them. It was like he wasn't trying to kill them, which baffled Jagon. Regardless, he flipped and hopped all around them, like an uglier version of Yoda, his limbs shooting out like beige colored lightning bolts. And every time the Dug punched or kicked, there was either a groan or yelp of pain, or the sound of armor hitting the floor and walls. In one impressive move, Tenjarah grabbed a clone's shoulders, leapt over him, and used his free limbs to smash two other clones in the face. As the Dug beat down the last few clones, Jargon raised his rifle. All he needed was a clear shot, and the traitor was dead—

He heard the door below them open and he glanced down. It was the traitor commando, Ace. In that instant, Jargon knew he had two choices, both would probably end up with him on the floor. He turned back to shoot the Jedi—

The last thing he saw was Tenjarah's hand jab out, as the Jedi used the Force to smash him into the wall. As Jargon's sight went black, he mentally begged the Chancellor to forgive him.

Ace sighed with relief as the last clone crumpled to the floor. "General Tenjarah," he greeted with a salute. "It's good to see you still in one piece."

Tenjarah raced past him in the ever-bizarre way Dugs walked, but Ace saw him give a quick salute all the same. "Likewise," Tenjarah grunted when Ace caught up to him, "it's nice to run into a clone that isn't trying to kill us. Where are the hostages?"

"I'm afraid I have bad news about that. Kyle and Convor have taken some of the hostages with them to the power plant. The other medical staff have either been taken to the mess hall, or are finishing up the procedures on the clones who were having their chips removed before this mess happened."

They stopped at an intersection, and checked to make sure no clones were heading their way. The way was clear, but the Dug still growled in frustration. "Perfect. We'll have to let Mahi know about this." Then much to Ace's surprise, Tenjarah gave a grim smile. "But you'll be pleased to know we'll have some help saving the hostages."

He raised his wrist and spoke into his comm. "Gorgon, what's the status on the roof?"

A mechanical voice answered him. "Your unorthodox distraction worked, Tenjarah. We've managed to get one team in there with you."

Ace took off his helmet, so Tenjarah could see his revulsion. "General, you can't be serious."

Tenjarah glared back. Ace was amazed at how much presence such a short creature could possess…but then again, he had seen such a thing with Master Yoda, so he shouldn't have been too surprised. "Commander, we'll be lucky if the city isn't wiped out in an hour. So spare me your petty grudges; those hostages are depending on us."

With an effort, Ace swallowed his pride and nodded. "Yes, General."

The Dug gave him a small but sincere grin. "Don't worry, Commander. We still have a trick or two up our sleeve…"

"Any sign of the Jedi?"

Jengu resisted the urge to glare at their captors, as he and the rest of the medical staff huddled together in the middle of the mess hall, with the tables flipped on their sides to act as barricades. Besides the inner circle, the rest of the main floor, as well as the upper balconies, were crawling with clones, so there was no chance of making a run for it.

"Not yet, sir," said the clone, as he spoke to the holograms of Kyle and Convor.

"Don't let your guard down, lieutenant," growled Convor. "They'll be coming soon enough."

"We have some new orders for you," Kyle added. "We've destroyed a good chunk of the civvies ships, but we need more air support." He shook his head. "That damn Devaronian took out so many of our gunships…I knew she was good, but I didn't think she was that good."

Convor elbowed his comrade. "Stow it, Kyle! Anyway, you heard him, get any gunships you have left into the air!"

The holograms vanished, and the clone spoke into his comm. "Alright men. We need more pilots on the double. Anyone with flying experience, head to the—"

The main entrance opened. In an instant, every weapon was pointed at it. "I'll keep an eye on them," volunteered one of the clones, and he walked over to Jengu. None too gently, the clone pressed his rifle against Jengu's montrals. "If any of you so much as twitches, then this will be the second boss you've lost this week."

Many of his coworkers clenched their fists, but Jengu shook his head. He didn't want any of them dying for him.

"This is General Tenjarah!" said a familiar baritone. "I'm hear to negotiate a prisoner exchange."

Another clone snorted. "Can you believe him? Typical Jedi, always trying to use diplomacy first instead of action."

"Quiet," growled the lieutenant. "Come on out. Hands up."

From around the edge of the door, an alien hand jabbed an accusing finger at him. It was the Jedi alright. "How do I know you won't blast me?"

The clones steadied their aim at the entrance. Jengu's eyes flicked from the clones to where there was soon to be a dead Jedi. "You have our word," the clone lied calmy. "We'll have to use you to lure your Master here, of course, but you'll be unharmed…until we can kill the both of you at once."

Jengu couldn't watch. He looked up to try and spare himself the massacre—

He stopped. The balconies were empty. The clones were gone.

"Why must this end in death?" Tenjarah continued. "Surely we can solve this without blood on either of our hands?"

The lead clone snarled in frustration. "That's it, kill the Togruta, that'll send a—"

Dark shapes flew off the balconies, and blue stun blasts shot after them, each hitting a clone. Before their captors could even begin to react, the commando droids went to work on them with near Jedi-like agility. "What are you doing?!" the lieutenant snarled at his lackey, as he tried to fend off the droids. "Start killing the—!"

Jengu's captor suddenly fired a stun blast at his leader. The clone fell to the ground, and the other clones' confusion bought the droids more opportunities to stun the clones. A few of the droids stood in front of Jengu and the others, and activated hand held energy shields. One of them turned to their ex-captor, and said, "CT-1641, take the medical personnel and follow us."

The clone accepted a shield offered to him, but groaned, "Please don't use my number, droid. My name is Shrike." Shrike turned to Jengu and the others as the droids cleared the way. "Alright, stay right on my tail, unless you like getting shot."

Jengu would have made a smart remark, but as he saw Tenjarah enter and battle the clones himself, any urge to insult his saviors died. Instead, he and the others hurried after Shrike and the droids as they made their way to the entrance. The sooner they were putting distance between them and the power plant, the better.

"I just heard from Tenjarah," said Mahi's voice on the comm. "Thanks to Shrike, the hostages from the medical facility are safe for now."

Despite everything, Shrike managed a small smile. Their youngest member had a lot to learn, but he continued to prove himself. "Drop me off at the Judicial," she continued. "I need to help coordinate the neighboring cities' evacuations. And Serket says her project is ready and will need you to deliver it to the power plant."

Skull whirled around towards the Venator, but a twinge of unease began to gnaw at him. "General…before I run any errands for her, please make sure that tailhead isn't going to stab us in the back."

"Don't worry, Skull. That's the first thing I'll do when we get there."

Serket was waiting for them when Skull landed in his normal spot. Whether it meant she was sincerely on their side (for the time being) or was a master Sabacc player, Skull couldn't tell. Several of her battle droids were there as well, either preparing a set of missiles, or attaching a new arm for Gorgon. "Rasharic," the Twi'lek greeted. "It's ready, but the power plant's turrets are tearing our fighters—droid and clone—to pieces. I suggest Skull take them out first before we send out the missiles—"

A clone rushed up to them. "Forgive the intrusion," he huffed, "but we have an urgent transmission from the power plant. You need to see this."

He held out a holoprojector and holograms of two clones and a hostage appeared. "This is a message," growled Kyle, "to the Jedi, and the former Captain, CT-9397. You think you've got the advantage since you freed the hostages at the facility…you're wrong."

Then Convor held up his blaster. Skull turned away, unable to see what his brothers were being forced to do, but unable to block out the sound of blasterfire, or the body crumpling to the floor. He looked back to see everyone, including the Twi'lek, stare at the hologram in horror. "Turn yourselves in!" Convor snarled. "You Jedi have done enough damage to the Republic already; how many more have to die for your traitorous cause?"

The hologram vanished. Mahi was already talking into her comm, doubtlessly contacting Tenjarah, but there was no time. "Twi'lek," Skull demanded. "Get the missiles loaded now!"

Serket opened her mouth to argue, but Skull interrupted her. "This isn't a request, Twi'lek! But don't worry; I'll have those turrets down in a Coruscant minute."

"Do as he says," said Mahi. "Meanwhile…I heard from Shrike. He says he can help buy us some time."

Serket looked like they had asked her to work for Orn Free Taa. "That novice who was with your captain? I hope he's a better distraction than he is a co-pilot."

Skull glared at her so intently he could have drilled holes into her pretty face. She sighed and waved at the droids, who quickly went to work. "In all seriousness," said Mahi, as Skull got back into his ship, "please don't get shot down before unloading those missiles."

"You're all clear, Captain!" said the battle droids, as they stepped back to Mahi, and gave him a salute.

Skull was momentarily speechless. Life and death battles in the air and in space, he could handle. This…he would never really get used to. Remembering what was going on, he gave the trio a salute, and took off.

As he approached the power plant, Skull could understand why Serket had wanted to wait. Even moreso than the medical facility, the plant was covered in turrets, which were laying waste to their fighters. Putting all power into his engines, Skull shot down towards the plant, and barely dodged the barrage sent his way. The moment he was in range, he fired a spread of lasers, and took out several turrets as he whirled around the plant. Skull gave a tight grin; no matter how bad the situation was, all of his problems went away in the cockpit.

And then his ship's comm went off. Fearing the worst, but not knowing why, he switched it on.

It was Palpatine. Though the hologram was smaller than the one on the bridge, it did nothing to diminish the malevolence emanating from him. "Skull," he rasped with transparent politeness. "I hear you've almost turned the tide on Cylanar without the majority of your forces."

Skull ignored him as he dodged the incoming fire from the plant's defenses. "Normally," he grunted, "when the enemy gives me a call, they're yelling threats at me."

The Chancellor's laugh cut through him like a vibroblade. Skull's eyes went back to the hologram, and he saw that Palpatine genuinely did look amused. "I am not like the spineless opportunists of the Separatist Alliance, Skull. I rarely have need for threats; when something…or someone, stands in the way of my visions of the future, I simply have them removed."

Skull chuckled back. "Too bad I'm not so simple to get rid of."

"Of course not," Palpatine replied calmly. "In fact, I believe it would be a loss if you weren't part of my Empire."

Trying very hard to make sure he wasn't in danger of being shot down, Skull's eyes found Palpatine's again. "Empire?"

Palpatine smiled, his unsettling teeth on full display. "Yes, Skull. The Republic has been dying a slow miserable death for a thousand years. For years now, I have been purging the weakness from it, along with the Jedi. And now, it is ready to be reborn into something greater. An Empire, broken free from the chains of diplomacy, unburdened from the morals of the Jedi, and no longer to be weighed down by the self-interests of the Senate."

Skull blew up another turret to spite the old man. "Yes, I'm sure your needs outweigh the rest of the galaxy's."

To his surprise, Palpatine's smile grew bigger. "Naturally, Skull. I doubt the Jedi made you aware of it, but the Republic was responsible for the Separatist crisis in the first place…which of course sparked the Clone Wars. Under my rule, I will eliminate threats to the galaxy before they can take root. I will bring order where crime and corruption thrived under the Republic."

Outside his V-wing, Skull could see the aftermath of the battle. Fires still burned across the city. The smoking wreckages of many gunships and walkers. And who knew how many dead innocents littering the streets. "And," Palpatine's voice interrupted, "you can still be a part of it."

Skull's eyes locked back onto Palpatine's; he thought the old man had been kidding before, but unless Skull was mistaken, the Chancellor was serious. "What? You want to recruit me…after all of this?"

The old man waved an airy hand. "Why not? If nothing else, you've proven yourself to be a step above most of your brethren, Skull. Even before this, you survived where most clones would have perished…an event, I hope you remember, that was caused by one of the many culprits plaguing the Republic."

For the first time, Skull couldn't disagree with him. Palpatine's hologram raised an outstretched hand. "I would go so far as to make you a member of my personal guard…but I know such duties would not suit you. You belong out among the stars, if not one of the leaders of the fleets that will bring the galaxy to heel, then leading your own personal squadrons into battle against criminal and terrorist pilots who threaten the people.

"And all you would have to do," said Palpatine, his eyes fixed intently on Skull, "is follow my orders…the first of which, would be to kill the Jedi."

Quite abruptly, Skull remembered a person who made a similar gesture to him…back on Devaron.

The Jedi, who had no desires of conquest or domination.

Mahi, who had looked at him with understanding and compassion…and who had simply wanted to help him.

"Frag your orders!" snarled Skull, and turned off the hologram.