Princess Ashira: I do love my cliffhangers! I had want to get a new chapter out each week, so I could move on to some other stories I've had lying around but as you've probably gathered that's really not working right now! Thanks for the comments on my writing, I do hope the typos aren't too jarring! I am usually so excited to get the chapter up I tend to miss the odd spelling mistake! My apologies!
JediAngel001: We shall have to see how it all pans out for them, including the outcome of that guard! (Evil laugh ensues!)
Michelle Erika: 'I'm so glad you're here to tell us these things.' But seriously, thanks for that, my spelling really does leave a lot to be desired! Yes, and the gnome thing, didn't catch that either! Oops!
Anna Camp aka Obi-quiet: Yeah, things ain't great for our heroes! I hope the Palpatine explode is plausible, I think he's just both thrown off guard with Obi being present and also arrogant enough to think he has the situation completely under control that he'd think he could handle Obi's attack and not over do it, but re-reading the chapter I have to wonder if that's come across enough.
So, this is a shorter chapter again, but I really wanted to get something out as I hadn't written in a while and this was bugging me on my desktop all weekend. I tried to use actual trooper names from the show, but I'll apologize now if folks don't like the personalities they have here, I would just like to remind readers that this is an Alternate Universe story so expect differences. I have one more short chapter I hope to post by next weekend and then it's back to Obi's troubles. Hope the Obi-philes aren't too disappointed! As always, it's great to receive reviews, as it gives me a chance to explain stuff.
Anyway, here we go again!
"You still got issues over that 'cloud', Echo?" Commander Cody looked over at the trooper huddled over the sonar screen and its controls.
"It's not a cloud, I swear, there's something odd about it, sir, it's moving far too regularly for a cloud. I'm sure it's a ship, sir," replied Echo, continuing to adjust his readings to get a better look at the object of his concern.
"A ship! In Coruscant air space, goodness, what a surprise!" came Fives from across the control room of the Republic Arquitens-class light cruiser. The skeleton crew that was left on board now that most of the clones were on shore leave were simply maintaining the ship in high orbit until called to retrieve their comrades. All fighters had been requisitioned by ground security to cover peace talks and only one battalion of troopers remained in the living quarters. It's not like anything was expected to happen.
"It's far too big to be your average atmo-transport and I thought there was a no fly zone around the Senate and Jedi Temple today. It's well within that vicinity's air space." Another adjustment of the controls didn't allay any of Echo's fears. The last thing he wanted was to cause a false alarm that would ruin the peace talks, but there had been an uncomfortable feeling hanging in the air all day and this unexplained reading was really bugging the usually un-phased clone.
"Probably just a flock of Dovraci gulls. You know how they play havoc with the sonar," said Commander Cody over Echo's shoulder, becoming more interested in the strange collection of blotches on the troopers screen.
"But, sir, with all the security around the place right now, shouldn't we at least check it out?" asked Echo, looking over his shoulder to his commander.
"Agreed, Trooper Echo, we'll take a closer look and –"
"It's starting," interrupted trooper Hevy, "the transmission is coming in from the Senate, wait, isn't that ..?" Everyone's attention was suddenly drawn to the holo-vid transmission of Dooku and Palpatine's joint address. The order had come from Master Yoda himself, that every clone would have access to the transmission and Commander Cody had kept the feed open since the dignitaries had begun to arrive.
"Turn up the sound! He's going to say something," said Trooper Droidbait moving to the screen for a closer look at the face of the boy at the podium of microphones. He was barely visible over the array of mics, but it was clear to every clone in the room exactly who that boy was, despite his slightly older looking face. Facial recognition order 1101 introduced by their father had kicked in by now and the control room was hushed as the image fluctuated briefly before Boba's words were spoken.
"Did he just say what I think he said?" asked Fives as the boy moved away from the mics.
"Of course he did, we all heard it!" Dooku's words were completely lost to them all as the realization of Boba's brief speech sunk in.
"But what does that mean? Is the war over?" asked Echo, his cloud problem ignored for now.
" For us it is. We're free, my brothers! No more rules, no more regulations, no more Jedi on our backs and talking down at us. Come on! " came Hevy's words as he moved to leave the control room of the ship.
"What are you doing?" demanded Commander Cody, confused by the boy's words and Hevy's sudden actions. "Remain at your post, trooper!"
"No, sir, with all due respect. I don't have to follow your orders, Sir! I know exactly where I'm going," continued Hevy as he moved to the exit.
"Kamino," said Fives almost too quietly for anyone to hear, even though many of them were thinking the exact same thing.
"Who's with me?" asked Hevy, turning back to his brothers as the doors opened in front of him.
"Wait, we can't just abandon our posts like that, we'll leave the planet vulnerable," said Commander Cody.
"Vulnerable to what? The droids are all off, remember, it's over, this awful war is over and we don't have to take orders from anyone ever again," said Hevy, standing his ground against his commander.
"Then why do we have to go to Kamino, anyway?" asked Droidbait.
"To free father, of course. He found a way just as he promised he would and now it's done. We are all free men," said Hevy, surprised that his brothers hadn't already sided with him.
"Free to do what? We've been bred for two simple purposes, to fight and follow. How can you think it's so simple to just leave that behind?" asked Cody, feeling somewhat lost with the sudden change in command structure the current situation seemed to be evolving before him.
"Because I've seen the galaxy and I want in, not as just another face through the haze of white armor, I am my own man and I choose to free my father," said Hevy, desperately trying to keep the ripple of doubt he suddenly felt from contaminating his words.
"Doesn't sound like you're the one doing the choosing if you're just going after father," came the voice of Cutup from the gunners position.
"He did this, he deserves the same freedom we've been given. He's no different from any clone to the Kaminoans, he's just a living source for our DNA," continued Hevy.
"He's a criminal," said Cutup and everyone present either gasped at the pronouncement or simply glared at their fellow clone.
"What did you say?" demanded Hevy, his patience quickly deteriorating with these so called brothers of his. How could they not be rallying to his side on this?
"I said the truth, you can't deny it." They all knew what Cutup said was true, but it didn't make it any less shocking to hear it from the lips of their brother. "He's a criminal who abandoned us and was forced back to us, not because he wanted to but because he was made to. If I'm a free man now then I have the right to speak my mind, and that's how I feel about father. Look how he used Boba to get to us. He used a child to free us."
"'By any means necessary'," said Hevy, quoting their father's words to them on attaining victory hoping this would go some way to explain their father's actions.
"Well I say it's Boba who deserves our loyalty here," said Cutup, looking back at the holo-vid hoping the boy's face was still visible. "He spoke the words, he's the one to rally to right now."
"And he'd say 'get father'," came Hevy's reply to that.
"Fine, we'll get Boba and then get father," said Fives, trying to calm the heated conversation.
"I'm not going with any of you. I don't see why we should have any loyalty to any of them," said Trooper Slick from his position at the helm. He had remained silent up until this point, but had to speak out now before his fate was decided by the others present.
"You can't be serious!" exclaimed Hevy.
"Yes, I can, that's also part of this freedom we've been given and I choose to just get away and out from all this." Slick gesticulated his arms around them and to each of them, indicating their conflicting feelings on the subject of what to do with their new found freedom.
"What's one less brother, there are over a million of us!" said Fives, standing to side with Hevy.
"My cloud, it's moving! That's definitely not a cloud!" exclaimed Echo, his attention brought back to his station by Slick's movements.
"What does it matter now, let's get Boba and go," called Hevy as he and Fives were already heading out of the door to get to one of the small speeders they had on board to ferry men to the planet's surface.
"It's moving to the Senate building, something is happening there," continued Echo, not listening to Hevy at this point. He dashed to Slick's station and shoved the trooper out of the way, almost knocking him down.
"What are you doing?" asked Slick, recovering from the shove.
"I'm trying to get a signal to the Senate to warn them, but our communication frequencies are being jammed." His efforts were becoming frantic as realization set in that his actions were futile.
"That's strange, the holo-vid transmissions are fine, it's just our comms that are down," said Cody, checking the control systems for the ship.
"What the - !" came Cutup's voice, the trooper having taken over the interest Echo had instilled in him over the sonar readings. "Those are Separatist droid fighters, heading right for us from your phantom ship, Echo! Fighters one through four are breaking off from the main group!"
"What's the Chancellor doing!" exclaimed Slick as he was transfixed by the events now playing through the continued holo-vid feed. The Chancellor seemed to be vibrating from what he could see.
"Ooh, what is going on!" All the troopers watching saw how the man behind Palpatine had been impaled on the Republic guard's pike and now writhed on the floor as what looked like lightening ripped through his body from Palpatine's fingers.
"Boba!" exclaimed Cody as the horrified face of the boy flashed over the transmission before the feed finally went dead.
"Try to raise anyone at the Senate, warn them about the ship and those fighters," called Cody to Echo.
"That's what I've been trying to do!" exclaimed Echo, still working on communication.
Ignoring Echo's declaration, Cody looked over to Slick. "Maneuver to intercept those fighters!"
All thought of leaving left the thoughts of Hevy and Fives as their warrior instincts and training flipped back on at the thought of Boba in trouble. Every man returned to his appropriate station and the sync of the group slipped easily back over the room.
"We're not going to be fast enough!" exclaimed Slick, the ship sluggish even under his skilled manipulation of the controls.
"Target the fighters!" called Cody.
"They-re splitting up, two headed for the Senate, two for the Jedi Temple," said Echo. "Where are the fighters we sent down?"
"Probably coming out of their sudden confusion, just as we were," said Cutup. "They'll get here."
"Damn, this ship is too slow for my taste. Head for the Senate building and Boba, the Jedi can fend for themselves," said Cody.
"But they have children in that temple!" said Fives.
"And plenty of older heads to take care of them," replied Cody.
"We have to warn them!" said Echo.
"And just how do we do that with all the comms down?" asked Slick, the ship finally moving as he wanted it to.
"They've hit the Senate building! It's in flames! Where's Boba!" demanded Echo.
"I managed to get the holovid feed open again," called Cutup. "It seems he and three others made it to a speeder before the missile hit the building. Looks like they're heading for the Temple."
"The Temple's been hit, too! It looks really bad! What do we do?" cried Echo.
"Get to that shuttle. Save Boba at all costs," said Cody.
"The Separatist ship is already on them, it's pulling them in." noted Hevy.
"Well, get us to it! Ram it if you have to, I don't care, it's not leaving with Boba!" Commander Cody suddenly sounded very desperate and all the men looked over at him after hearing his orders.
"You can't be serious, you'll destroy this ship!" exclaimed Slick.
"I'm not letting Boba fall into Separatist hands. Do any of us want that?" The low murmur of a negative was all he needed. "Alright then. Now, get us on that ship!"