****Warning! Descriptions of Gore!****
CHAPTER 5
Rex and his men were all brought to their knees with their hands cuffed behind their backs. The entire group of creepy white-masked men surrounded them with their guns pointed on them. One man walked forward. Rex watched him as he walked forward, his posture was so calm and strong that it reminded him of General Skywalker. He must be the leader. Rex thought.
The man walked up to the five clones kneeling on the guard. "Don't be afraid." He stated in a smooth calm collected voice. "We don't want to hurt you."
Rex squinted at the man, the man's voice sounded so calm and gentle that it made Rex uneasy. He didn't trust him. How could someone be that calm in a situation like this? Sure he wasn't in any danger, but it just didn't feel right. He had never even seen a Jedi be that calm while negotiating or giving briefings.
"I don't trust you," Rex stated aggressively.
The man walked up to him, with such light footsteps he barely even made a noise. "And why is that?"
"I don't trust anyone who tries to steal our ship, especially some creep hiding behind a mask!" Rex was aggressive.
The man walked up to Rex and squatted down to his level, in one swift motion he removed his mask and showed his face.
Rex blinked for a moment because he was surprised by the face that laid behind the mask. He was young, probably a few years older than Anakin. But his age did not disturb Rex after all Rex was fighting a war with a fifteen-year-old. What disturbed him was how normal the man looked, not only that the man had this certain charm about him that Rex knew would make any woman go crazy about him. He had crystal sky blue eyes, with perfectly trimmed rectangular eyebrows. His long dirty blond hair sat neatly around his symmetrical forehead, in fact, his whole face was almost perfectly symmetrical, except he had a scar line that ran vertically over his left eye.
"My name is Phoenix Impetu." Phoenix said so calmly. "What is your name?"
Rex didn't answer.
"CT-7567," Phoenix responded. "Your clones?"
Rex looked up. "The name is Captain Rex!"
"My apologies, Captain Rex." Phoenix looked at the rest of the men. "Well it looks like we have a very special guest, if you are all clones of the Republic, you are the Captain, then where is your General?"
"They're not here right now!" Fives yelled. "But when they come back, all of you will be sorry."
"Oh, we will?" Phoenix asked. "And why is that?"
"They are very powerful!" Jesse grunted.
"They wouldn't happen to be Jedi would they?" Phoenix stated very calmly.
None of the clones said anything. Rex just stood there shocked. Do these people know what Jedi are?
A wide smile spread across Phoenix's face revealing perfectly straight white teeth. He turned around so that his back would face the troopers then he took a very dramatic deep breath in. He grew silent for a moment. Silence fell among the entire group, only the sound of wind rustling the leaves of the nearby oak could be heard.
After a few moments, Phoenix let out his breath and broke the silence. "There are three of them. One is perceived as a Master, the other is a knight but he is very young for a knight…. He is hurting, he has much guilt in his heart from loss perhaps, this has made him stronger than the perceived Master…. And oh the other, is very young, she...I believe is the knight's apprentice… the knight must care deeply for her, all three have strong bonds to each other, almost too strong to be just training bonds."
Rex's eyes opened and he looked at fives and Jesses to his right. Fives gave Rex a look that said How did he do that? Rex then looked at Nox and Red, the two looked very confused.
Phoenix then opened his eyes and sharply turned around to face the troopers. "All of them are strong with the force but none of them seem to be able to have access to it, the radiation must be blocking their connection." Phoenix's face then dropped as he looked at the clone's faces. He began laughing almost hysterically.
Rex felt himself get agitated at this laugh especially since it was so abrupt and loud that it had to be fake. "What could be so funny!" Rex felt his words leak through his teeth.
"Your faces, all of you must be so confused right now." Phoenix started composing himself.
"You are a Sith Scum!" Fives yelled.
"No, I can assure you I am no Sith," Phoenix stated. "The Sith believe that passion is the key to balance, that passion will set them free from their chains that bind them to their bodies!" "But passion only blinds them." "The Jedi have a much more understanding of what will bring balance."
Rex looked up at him, he had really never heard the difference between the Sith and the Jedi. He knew the Sith were bad and the Jedi were good, but that was it no one had really explained to him the difference, so Rex found himself listening to Phoenix even though every cell in his body was telling him not to. He looked at the other clones, they seemed to be listening as well.
Phoenix realized he had their attention carried on. "Gentlemen, did you know that the first force wielder was actually here on this Planet?"
They stayed silent but Phoenix knew he had their attention.
"A very long time ago, before any Jedi or Sith Order was created there was a peaceful man who walked this planet. His mission was to bring peace to people and civilizations around him so he would often interact with the dirtiest scum, teaching them how to better themselves and most importantly let go of their unnecessary desires. You see the reason for their scummery was because they had a great yet horrible passion for these desires. In a lot of ways, you could call him the first Jedi because he shared many of their beliefs with the exception of what he called the force. You see what the Jedi call the force he would call the father. Through the father, he would perform many miracles such as call upon food from the planet to appear and heal the sick."
Rex looked more intently at Phoenix as he walked back and forth among the clones. He was wearing all black and Rex hadn't noticed this before but he was wearing one glove on his left hand. His long dark Trench coat was covering his body.
"Do you know what happened to this man Captain?" Phoenix asked.
Rex looked up. "I have never even heard of this story."
"It's not a story, it is truth. But what happened is the rulers of the land got mad. They got mad that he was teaching people the truth of peace. They got mad that he was helping the weak and they got mad that he was capable of such powers." "So you know what they did Captain?"
"Did they kill him?" Rex then mentally kicked himself for responding.
"No, killing is where you kill guilty people, people who don't deserve to live. They murdered him! And they didn't just murder him they tortured him, beat him! And then made him drag his own crucifixion through the streets too embarrassed him! Then they nailed him up on a pole and left him with just enough life in him to suffer horribly for just a few more remaining hours!"
Rex and his men shivered that did not sound like the best way to go.
"The interesting part, however, is that he could have easily killed everyone around him. He could have illuminated all those who hurt him, had let passion blind their judgment. However, he didn't." "Instead he did something much more tasking." Phoenix then began to smile again. "He came back!" "Back from the dead to show to everyone just how strong he truly was! He proved to everyone that not even death can destroy his ways! He beat the body, unlike the Sith who are trapped in it. And the reason why he endorsed all of that pain was to show to the world that the path to Salvation is filled with much destruction. Much like the Jedi do nowadays…"
Rex found himself getting slightly offended. The Jedi want Peace, not Destruction. He thought but before he could say anything Jesse beat him to it.
"The Jedi are Peacekeepers! They don't cause destruction!"
"Well, that is where you are wrong my friend. It is true they are peacekeepers." Phoenix continued. "You see we are peacekeepers ourselves!" "This is why the Jedi and our little group would get along. The Jedi know, like this man and us that to reach the road to salvation one must endor hell." "Like your war, right now." "This is why the Jedi have no problems becoming generals because they KNOW the path to peace is filled with destruction." "However, the Jedi fail to see is the same thing this man failed to see. That the only way to peace is to illuminate those who stand before it blinded by passion!" "
Rex's and the other clone troopers' eyes widened. Oh no!
"I don't blame them for their ignorance, this planet left the Republic many years ago, perhaps if we stayed the Jedi would have learned of the story of this man and learned from his mistakes. So you see this is why we must take your ship. It's nothing personal. We just need its parts for our ship so we can return to the Republic and bring peace to this galaxy by doing the same thing that these people of this planet did to themselves. In a more controlled environment of course."
"You are a mad man." Rex gritted.
"Oh no if I were mad, all of you would be dead by now," Phoenix stated.
"You won't get away with this!" Jesse yelled. "The Jedi are more powerful than you can possibly imagine!" "They will stop you!"
"Oh, will they… I think you underestimate our power. Perhaps a demonstration is an order."
Phoenix looked at Red and then nodded at his men. Some of the men in masks ran to Red and brought him in front of the clones but behind his men.
"Now I am a big exception, because quite a few of my men don't have my power, but they are still highly trained. So don't underestimate them either." He said while putting his hands behind his back in a resting clasping position.
Red looked up at Phoenix showing no fear. "I am not afraid of you."
Phoenix looked back and smiled "Now that's unfortunate."
Phoenix didn't even move a muscle. He didn't even blink. The only thing he did was focus on Red for a moment.
Red all of a sudden felt his insides begin to heat up. Then he felt his stomach begin to turn. His body began to get really hot as sweat began to trickle down his forehead.
"Red?" Rex questioned. "Red are you okay?"
"I...I...do.. don't know sir," Red stated. "I...I feel hot. Oh...oh Kriff I am so hot I need to get out of my armor!" Panic began to stir in his voice.
"Red don't panic just breathe!" Rex yelled
"Sir! I can't breathe. Oh, it SO HOT!" Red fell to the ground and began trying to strip his uniform. "IT'S COMING FROM MY INSIDES!"
"RED!" Rex yelled trying to reach toward him but a strong mask man grabbed him. "NO!" Rex yelled as he began struggling, but with all his might could not break free and was forced to watch Red.
"AHHHH!" Red began screaming as he began throwing his armor off. Then he stopped and grabbed his head. "AHHH AHH MY HEAD!" He clenched his fingers into his hair as he felt what he thought was his brain pushing violently against his skull. "AHHH MAKE IT STOP!"
He screamed so much louder than any clone has ever seen a clone scream before. Rex continued to struggle while the rest of the clones just stared in shock at Red who was ripping his hair out so violently that pieces of his scalp were torn off. Red then began throwing his hair that had skin patches attached to it dripping a dark red liquid.
Rex then looked at Phoenix who had his eyes closed and was intently focusing. Realizing that Phoenix was the one causing this pain onto Red Rex began exasperatedly yelling at him "LET HIM GO! STOP!" but Phoenix didn't even fletch.
"AHHHHHHH!" Red screamed so loud but his voice was then muffled as blood began to pour from his mouth. His eyes slowly rolled back into his head-turning red as more blood began to drain from the corners of his eye sockets, his ears, and his mouth. And then he stopped. His arms dropped to his side, his face relaxed and he fell flat on the ground and it was silent.
Silence once again filled through the area, until again Phoenix broke it. He opened his eyes and looked at Rex who was heavily breathing from the shock of what had just happened. "Now I am almost certain you have never seen a Jedi do that." Phoenix looked around at his men. "Load these men up onto the truck, we shall take them back to base with us. Keep them safe." "Kerny!" Phoenix yelled.
"Yes, boss!" Another masked man walked up to him very casually.
"You and your squad stay here, wait for the Jedi to get here, make sure they give us their ship," Phoenix stated.
"Of course!" Kerny stated excitedly as if he hadn't just seen a man get murdered. "But I am a little confused can't we just take it?"
"Yes, that is a good question! We could but if we do that their security alerts would be activated, so we need to make sure they shut it off. Jedi are very smart, don't underestimate them! Also, it will be good to show them who we are so they 'stay' out of our way. Use any means necessary!"
"Yes, boss!" Kearny stated. "Alright, boys! Let's get ready!"
Rex felt himself get dragged by the man, but he was in so much shock he didn't care, he just kept his eyes on Red. He still couldn't believe how his life was taken away so easily.