A/N: Yay! I got a signed review! Many thanks to Anna and Jackarcher for encouraging me that somebody cares! I will try to make the chapter longer this time! I have to type it directly on because my Microsoft Word is being a butt. Anyway, thanks again to Anna, and also Jackarcher!

Pure Force Chapter 4

Their battle crusades over the next few months were preformed with increasing ease. Ar'an Sympatha begain to feel most alive and the closest she could get to being happy when she was with the Delta Squad (for that was their name). She new that this was what she was born for, what she had trained for, how she was supposed to live: a commander of the clones. A member of the elite, but still incapable of true emotions that regular humans had. Or was she really? At night, when she was sitting pensively in her room, there was often an empty space that no thoughts of fighting could dispell...

It was in the weeks before the war's end, before the collapse of the Galactic Republic, before the new life Ar'an had grown accustomed to as Commander Sympatha abrubtly ended, that she felt the most connection to it, thus increasing her "dispair" at its end. It happend in this way...

It was hard enough as it was. The squad had just lost Sev, and without him, there was a whole part missing. Then the squad recieved orders that Three-Eight was to go with Commander Sympatha ona secret mission of utmost importance. Fixer and Scorch were to go on a different mission with a different Jedi commander. They were all angry and wondered why did this have to happen? That question was not answered, not yet, and by the time it was answered, it was too late to matter. Ar'an found later, though she didn't know it then, that when she and Three-Eight bid farewell to Four-Oh and Six-Two, that it was for the last time. But that is for later.

Right now she and 38 were assigned to go to Degobah for a special reconnaissance mission. Supposedly, there was a Sepratist spy base on the planet. It must have been pretty important, because they got the orders from Master Yoda himself. They landed on the swampy planet and set up base for the long time they had anticipated to be there.

Coruscant: Jedi Temple

Masters Yoda and Windu were having a private conference. This event, which was really quite rare before the war, was becoming more and more alarmingly frequent. This time, their conference was on the subject that perhaps Supreme Chancellor Palpatine was plotting against them.

"His actions have been growing more and more liberal as the war goes on," commented Mace Windu. "If we don't set a stop to his power, then he could end up overtaking democracy in this republic."

"Right, you are," agreed Master Yoda. "Put a stop to this, we must. But how?"

"We must be prepared for the eventuality that he might attack the Jedi order itself," said Mace. "Do you know of a planet where some of our order could hide if worst comes to worst, where they could live without fear of detection?"

"Hmm... perhaps, such a planet, I know of," said Yoda. "But hospitiable, it is not, and far out in the Outer Rim, it is."

"All the better to avoid detection," said Windu. "We should send a reconnaissance team to seek it out, but under the guise of another mission. Whom should we send?"

"Know just the right people, I do," said Yoda. "Commander Sympatha and the leader of the Delta Squad, to Dagoba, shall go."

Ar'an Sympatha was sitting on a rock in one of Dagoba's many swamps. Actually, that statement would be inaccurate, because the whole planet is a swamp. Anyways, she was meditating. Kind of. She didn't really know what meditating what, Jango had never taught her that, but he did tell her that sitting down and thinking calmly could resolve many dilemmas. And she sure was in a dilemma now.

She had the feeling that the other members of the Delta Squad were in trouble, and that if she didn't go to them now, they wouldn't ever be saved. To complicate this dilemma, she knew that she couldn't leave the planet, because she had been assigned to so servailence there. What if she missed something? Add to this mix the fact that she didn't know how she was sensing these things, or how she knew them to be undeniably true, and you have yourself one hell of a muddle.

She shifted positions on the rock and thought harder. The smells of the swamp were getting to her. Usually, when one has been in a place for a while, they gradually get used to its unsatisfactory charachteristics. But with this place, Sympatha felt that the stench of decaying animal and plant matter was growing stronger. It really was rather unpleasant. Usually she could ignore things like this, but her mind was so fraught with confusing thoughts that she was having trouble blocking anything out.

Three-eight approached her with some news. "I surveyed the area and didn't find anything." Okay, so maybe this wasn't news. They had been here for three months, and still hadn't found anything.

Ar'an sighed and turned to look at him. "I'm beginning to wonder if we were ment to find anything here, or if we were sent for another purpose entirely. Maybe we were just sent here so we would be out of the way."

"Hm..." 3-8 said shifting. "Perhaps. But that doesn't change what we have to do here."

Ar'an yawned and streached, getting down from the rock. "Maybe it does. But it isn't something to worry about now. Come on, let's go inside."

Three-eight was starting to get uneasy. True, he had seen much more formidable creatures that this little commander of his, but she still scared him sometimes, in a different way. Her eyes were unnatural, being so clear. Granted his whole existance was unnatural, but still, he had never seen any creature with eyes like hers. Eyes that could see the past and future at the same time. He shifted in cleaning his weapon. He never needed it anymore, but it was probably a good idea to keep it polished just in case.

He started with his armor next. Before he started cleaning it, he made sure that his door was securely fastened. No need for Commander Sympatha to see him without his armor on. He started wiping it methodically, getting into all of the nooks and crannies that the swamp mud had penatrated. It was tough working on such a planet, and even tougher working without a team. Sympatha was a good commander, but she wasn't much one for a conversation.

Three-eight stood up. He couldn't stand it. They had been doing nothing on this planet! They could be out doing something useful for the Republic, but they were stuck here, sqatting in the mud! He sighed angrily and went to sleep.

Supreme Chancellor Palpatine,also known as Darth Sidious, lord of what little Sith there were left, was debating with himself in his private chambers. The cause of his deliberations was the non-Jedi commander, Ar'an Sympatha. They said she wasn't a Jedi, and she hadn't been trained as one, but there was definately a force around her, albeit it was different from the one most he and the Jedi had around them.

Maybe she wasn't a Jedi, but she was still a commander. Should she be included in the Jedi purge? Sidious mulled it over. There was no reason she could be of any consequence after her Jedi superiors were gone. However, there was no reason to leave her alive, he had no use for her. Or maybe she could prove useful...

He decided to send the transmission to the clone with Commander Sympatha. "Excecute order 67."

Three-eight was on a routine patrol when he recieved the order. He was startled; which he shouldn't have been, even if this was the communicator that had a direct line to the Supreme Chancellor. The hologram of the forboding man appeared. "Excecute order 67,"the hologram man said. Three-eight was confused, but did not hesitate. "Yes, sir." He replied. The transmission ended. He put the communicator away and went back to base to find Commander Ar'an Sympatha.

A/N: Sorry it took so long! This story is challenging to write, because I don't know as much about Star Wars as I do about some other things. And I've had to work more on my story on Quizilla, because my reviewers keep badgering me to update it. Wink, wink. Sorry again about the spelling! I'll try to get a new version of Word soon!