Chapter XIII

Escen Outpost, Oscura, 19 BBY

"Execute Order Sixty-Six."

Suddenly, everything froze. There was no denying it. His helmet's security encryptions verified that the source of the transmission was the office of Chancellor Palpatine.

Rays couldn't move. Palpatine's voice seeped into his cognitive workings, into the deepest recesses of his mind. A strange parlor clouded the commander's thoughts and numbed his emotions. He had a thousand questions, a million protests, but none of them came to light. Instead, he gave a response that felt as automatic as the message:

"Yes sir."

Around him, the sounds of festivities died down. He was vaguely aware of discussions breaking out amongst the ranks of his troops…

"What's Order Sixty-Six?" Xhalleen asked.

"Contingency order," Cypher explained, "In the event the Jedi Order turns against the Republic, we have to execute our Jedi commanders."

"The Jedi betrayed the Republic…"

"How? Why?"

"Raarrgghhh!" Gala shouted, unwilling to take Palpatine for his word.

"It's a Seppie trick!" Rikks yelled.

"It was the Chancellor himself!" Neville protested.

"You're sure this is the case?" Nav asked, "I mean, every Jedi betraying the Republic. Sounds crazy."

"Does it, Lieutenant?" Creed replied.

"We have our orders, we know what we need to do," Splinter declared.

Rays felt trapped within his armor. He couldn't move, he couldn't think…

"Rarrgh! Aarrrghhhh!" Gala declared.

"Then stay here. Guard the outpost," Splinter ordered, "We don't need you." He turned to his superior officer, "What are your orders, Commander?"

The Commander's response was just as automatic as the last. Emotionally, Rays was shut down, a lifetime of training and conditioning taking over. He had a duty, a mission, and his purpose was to fulfill it.

"Our target is meditating on the ridge," CC-4242 declared, "We can surprise him. We'll take up various positions around the cliff, stand by to fire in sync on my command."
"Rgh? Errrrgggghhhh…!" Gala put her paw on Rays' shoulder.

"Get off me, Captain," CC-4242 swatted her arm away. Beneath his helmet, his eyes were welling up.

As the troopers grabbed their blasters, checked their ammunition, put on their helmets, and moved ahead to the ridge, a sick, nauseating feeling pounded in Rays' stomach as he loaded his rifle's ammunition.

He's telling me to kill Kallie…

These orders are straight from the top, the Chancellor himself…

He finished replacing his clip, his rifle was fully loaded. He jogged with his fellow troopers towards the plateaus.

Who cares about the Chancellor's orders?

CC-4242 activated his helmet's vocal scrambler, only his troops would hear his words.

The Jedi betrayed the Republic…

Kallie would never betray the Republic…

"We're in position, Commander," Splinter reported.

Rays, alongside Neville, Foe, Second Lieutenant Marks, and Sergeant Dozer, stood behind a boulder fifty meters from their target, within his rifle's range. Just from the sounds he heard around him, he could tell that Neville was loading his rocket launcher, Dozer's chaingun was fully charged, Marks and Foe aimed their sniper rifles at the target's position.

Ignoring his personal feelings, CC-4242 trained his rifle in the target's direction, yet from this distance, he could only make out a robed figure meditating on the plateau, all of the Jedi's finer details invisible by the limits of human vision.

I'm being ordered to kill Kallie.

Rays lowered his helmet's attached macrobinoculars, attempting to get a good look at his target.

Perched on the plateau's surface, Kali'sto was trembling, almost as if in shock. His lips were moving, he was saying something. Rays enhanced his helmet's auditory sensors, hoping to pick up Kali'sto's whispers.

"No," Kali'sto was weeping, "No!"

Good soldiers follow orders.

"Ready to fire on your command," Splinter reported.

His tactical instincts told him that now would be the perfect time to fire, while the target was distracted.

CC-4242 raised his rifle. Rays' finger twitched on the trigger, his arm trembling.

"I'm sorry, Rays," Kali'sto apologized, "I'm sorry."

A strange, ethereal presence suddenly permeated through Rays' thoughts, breaking the mental dam that kept CC-4242 focused. Rays snapped back to his senses in a flood of emotion. Through sheer force of will, he threw his rifle down.

"Wait!" Rays ordered, "Don't kill him!"

He grabbed Foe's rifle and pushed the barrel downward, "We'll bring him in. He could tell us more about the Jedi plot."

"Sir, our orders…!" Splinter chimed in.

"We've reinterpreted orders before, ner vod," Rays interrupted, "For all we know, the assassins were a rogue group."

"Rays," Splinter responded, "If we don't do this, we'll commit treason, and we'll all face the consequences."

"Splinter," Rays responded, "You just volunteered to return to camp and inform High Command we're taking Kali'sto prisoner."

"Sir…"

"That's an order, Captain. Anyone else willing to join him?"

"With all due respect," Neville responded, "It's too risky to try capturing him…"

"It's no riskier than trying to kill him."

"This was the Chancellor's direct order…"
"Trooper, he could be wrong about the scale of the coup. We'll hold off an execution until we understand the full details of the Jedi plot. Who knows what Kali'sto could tell us."

"Sir, it's our orders…"
"Neville," Rays said, straining against that voice in his head that was raging for him to finish his mission, "Please. Think about this. We've been given faulty orders before. We have an opportunity to secure a valuable asset. We can't waste it."

The comms were silent for twenty-seven seconds. Rays deeply hoped this meant his troops were considering his logic. Both Neville and Splinter had sounded as...shocked as Rays did, as if they were fighting their own instincts, base desires even. Rays couldn't explain it, and it almost felt disturbing to him.

Around him, Neville, Marks, Foe, and Dozer still had their blasters pointed towards Kali'sto, even if they weren't firing.

"Sir," Marks, peering through the scope of his sniper rifle, reported, "Splinter's quite the firebrand."

"What?" Rays realized what Marks was saying, "Give me your rifle!"
Rays took Marks' DC-15x, training it on Splinter's position. Instead of leaving, the captain was loading a rocket launcher, his narrow visor trained on Kali'sto's position.

"No!" Rays fired.

Splinter's yell reverbated over the comms as the bolt hit him in the thigh, causing him to trip right as he fired the rocket launcher. Instead of hitting Kali'sto, the rocket missed by several feet.
Kali'sto leapt to his feet and ignited his lightsaber. All hell broke loose as the troopers instinctively opened fire. With chainguns, carbines, rifles, and even pistols, they unleashed hell upon the previously peaceful cliff, Kali'sto becoming the eye of the storm as he darted and deflected, struggling to protect himself.

"NO!" Rays deactivated his helmet's vocal scrambler and, dropping the rifle, ran into the storm.

"CEASE FIRE!" Rays yelled, "DON'T KILL HIM! CEASE FIRE! CEASE FI…!"
Rays' pleas were silenced as bolts hit him in the side and leg. Shocked by an inferno of pain, he fell to the ground, barely registering the impact of the fall.

"Commander down!" Rays heard Neville shout through the comms.

"I surrender!" Kali'sto yelled over the storm. Rays could just barely hear it, but it was clear.

"He's surrendering!" Rays yelled through the pain, "Cease...fire!"

The frequency of the bolts decreased. Within a minute, Rays stopped seeing blue flashes.

"Rays!" Kali'sto's voice jarred Rays out of his reverie. Before he knew it, his helmet was being lifted off his head, and he was staring right at Kallie's face.

It was over, they were going to be okay…

"Step away from him, Kali'sto," Cobalt ordered.

"Cobalt…" Kali'sto began to say.

"Stand down," Cobalt instructed, "Give us a reason to take you in alive."

He almost sounded like he was pleading with the general.

Kali'sto was silent as the troopers slowly advanced upon his position. Rays lay prone upon the ground as Kali'sto held his lightsaber defensively.

Suddenly, the young Jedi deactivated his lightsaber, took his blaster off his belt, and set them down near Rays' prone form, walking away from him with his hands up.

"You should count yourself lucky," Neville remarked, "I think we're all in trouble, now."

As Mosaic injected Rays with a painkiller and began to load him onto a gurney, the injured commander could hear Kali'sto say, "I know, Neville. I know."