I do not own Star Wars Rebels

Chapter 5 – Order 66

News was already spreading far and wide about Obi-Wan Kenobi and his stunning final defeat of General Grievous. Most now expected with Dooku and his psychopathic cyborg general dead the war would soon be over. There was a brief feeling of optimism about the future again amongst nearly everyone who had heard the news.

The Jedi Order however was not as positive about the future as they rushed in response to the information they now had about the clones and their hidden secret command, not to mention that both the Republic and the Separatists were under the control of the same sith lord who had been manipulating them all from the start. Master Windu and a small party of Jedi masters had already gone to arrest Palpatine. While the members of the Jedi Order that knew the situation hoped that they would succeed they knew they had to be ready if they failed.

On the Star Destroyer commanded at present by Jedi Master Depa Billaba there was a rush to get things done. Clone technicians had nearly finished work on getting the hyperdrive and long range communications system fixed while the medics in the infirmary worked at a frantic pace to remove the control chips from as many of their clone brothers as they could. Many of the clones were now free of the chips and none the worst for having them removed. On Felucia like many other Jedi generals Aayla Secura was having her own clones of the 327th Star Corps removed their chips but it was slow going, so the blue skinned Twi'lek woman had prepared her Starfighter just in case she needed it and was planning her escape if she had to run as was Master Saras Loorne with his own clones of the 22nd Air Combat Wing some of the best pilots in the whole Clone Army. It scared them how close they might still be from disaster if Order 66 went out now and despite a frantic number of holocalls they still hadn't managed to reach every Jedi across the galaxy yet.

On Coruscant Shaak Ti was just seeing off the transports containing the younglings and junior knights along with some senior masters like Cin Drallig the current battlemaster of the order when suddenly she went a painful tremor in the force as did Master Depa Billaba lightyears away. Depa who was walking the corridor towards the cell block at the time stopped and her head fell in grief when she recognised the sensation. The last time she had felt something like this was when her sister Sar Labooda had been killed in the opening battle of the Clone Wars but this time it was her former master and surrogate father figure Mace Windu that had fallen.

Pushing aside her grief as did Shaak Ti on Coruscant the pair both realised that they were running out of time.

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Rushing into the brig Depa hit the cell release on all cells, dropping the security fields. Seeing the force fields drop the three Rebels from the future all moved slowly to the entrance of their cages and stepped out and saw Depa Billaba opening a sealed storage container.

"Come quickly." She urged them and they moved over to see all of their weapons and equipment that the clones had taken lying there. Wasting no time they grabbed their gear and Depa told them.

"I have managed to warn some of the Jedi but I know that the masters who went to confront Palpatine have failed, we may only have minutes before Order 66 is triggered and I don't know how many of my clones still have their chips so I have to get you out of here. Your droid is already on your ship and your Twi'lek friend is still in the infirmary, I have my apprentice watching her till we get there. Now come on time is short." She said without missing a beat setting off a fast run through the ship. The speed at which the Jedi master moved astounded them all and they were barely able to keep her in sight as they ran after her.

In the ship's infirmary Caleb Dume was following his master's orders to stand by and protect the green skinned Twi'lek that had come from the unidentified freighter, his teenage hormones made him blush at how pretty she was despite all his attempts to suppress it. She had come around a few times but had swiftly fallen back into unconsciousness. The medics had diagnosed her with a concussion bad but not life threatening, she would be fine given time to heal. Caleb still did not understand why his master would give him such orders when she was here in the perfectly safe infirmary but he did as he was told and actually distracted himself by practicing his Form three sequences wondering if and when his master might teach him Vaapad the powerful variant of Form seven her own master had invented and taught to her the only other person in the order who had been granted permission.

He smiled as he saw Captain Styles the second most senior clone officer on the ship enter the infirmary presumably to have his chip removed. Styles smiled at the teenage boy that he had grown to like when suddenly his holocommunicator signalled. A blue image of the Chancellor appeared on the display and gave a brief but grim message.

"Execute Order 66."

Styles did not have a second to think about what the Chancellor was saying to him before the chip that was still in his head kicked in. He was like a machine; unfeeling and unthinking as he raised his blaster and pointed it at Caleb who nearly froze when he saw the blaster being pointed at him by a man that he not only respected but considered a friend. Only instinct and the fact that he had his lightsaber already in hand saved him, igniting it by reflex and moving into his defensive posture just as he had been practicing moments before. He held him off for a moment still in shock over Styles sudden attack when he saw the clone captain reaching for a grenade and not thinking only trusting the force to guide his actions he moved forward batting aside the blaster bolts that were still being fired at him and impaled Styles through the chest with his lightsaber.

Caleb's eyes were frozen with unshed tears as Styles fell to the floor dead with a hole in the centre of his chest. He could not understand what had just happened, a clone that had served and fought alongside the Jedi for years had just turned and betrayed them trying to kill him for no apparent reason and with no warning. His saber still lit he swung around to the side when he heard the door open expecting to see more clones trying to kill him only to breathe a sigh of relief at the sight of his master and the other people from the light freighter enter the room at a run. His master stopped when she saw Styles lying dead at her apprentice's feet whose lightsaber was still lit.

Her heart clenched at the sight in front of her and what it meant and in a quiet mournful voice she said.

"It has begun."

"What has Master?" Caleb asked upset and not understanding what was happening. Her answer only served to scare him more.

"Maybe the end of the Jedi." She said in barely a whisper and tuning herself in to the force she allowed them to see what she was seeing and feeling at that precise moment.

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On Mygeeto Ki-Adi-Mundi was leading his Clone marines on their charge through the war torn city as the howling wind and rain whipped around them. His attention solely on the battle he had not heard the message that the rest of the Jedi were so desperate to tell him. He ran forward with his saber high until he saw his troops stop and had only seconds to act when they attacked him. As good a Jedi as he was even he was not able to fend off the attack and was cut down mercilessly by his own troops.

Master Ferroda on Cato Neimoidia was able to injure the clone X1 before he was cut down his identical brother X2.

On his star destroyer above Ragmar V Master Sev managed to hold his own for a while before the clones overwhelmed him and then went in search of his padawan Joc Sah who was able to defend himself long enough to escape the unexpected attack.

Nem Bees was leading an assault on a Separatist prison when his clones turned on him and cut him down without him even having a second to realise that he was now in danger from his own troops. And it was the same across the galaxy as countless Jedi were cut down by the soldiers that had served alongside them for so long. The images brought immense grief to those watching through Depa Billaba's powers as they shared the vision.

But then as it all seemed so dark and hopeless they saw Jedi escaping their execution; they saw Obi-Wan Kenobi fall into a pool of water on some planet after nearly being blasted by a tank's cannon, shaken but alive allowing him to slip away from his clones. They saw Master Yoda behead two clone troopers that had tried to sneak attack him and retreat into the forest with the help of two wookiees. Bultar Swan stealing a Starfighter and escaping the medical station where she had been working when the attack came. Master Plo Koon having been warned about the attack beforehand dodged the fire of his clone wingmen and shot both down before flying off to safety. Aayla Secura on Felucia looking to her troops as they heard the order but now without their chips refusing to attack her, those that still had their chips being stunned by their own comrades until they too could be freed from the Sith's control.

Rahm Kota was standing with his own militia none of whom were clones so although they had received the order none reacted to it with anything other than confusion.

Master Tsui Choi doing much as Yoda had done and beheading the squad of clones that came after him and as the montage ended they saw Jedi Master Shaak Ti on Coruscant leading a valiant rear guard action against the clones as the last of the transports under the protection of Jedi flown Starfighters fled the now burning temple on Coruscant. As the last knight at her side fell, Shaak Ti having known this would happen already had her escape planned and led the clones out onto the edge of the balcony of the temple's highest tower before locking eyes with the one leading this assault on the temple…Anakin Skywalker.

Shaak Ti sensed the dark side in him and his desire to kill every single Jedi that had been here, even the younglings and had no guilt about doing it in the slightest. Her eyes locked with his and she glared at the traitor and told him in no uncertain terms.

"You think that the dark side will bring you what it is you want? Then you are a fool Skywalker, you have learned nothing. You had everything and now you have thrown it all away on the words of a revolting old demon that has been lying since you first met, all I see in your future now is loss, deception, misery and pain. Sith always betray one another, but I expect you will learn that soon enough." And before he had a chance to respond Shaak Ti leapt from the balcony where she had apparently been cornered onto a waiting Starfighter piloted by her own astromech droid. She slid into the cockpit and flew away with the still glaring now yellow eyes of Anakin Skywalker following her.

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As the vision ended a clone ran into the room, everyone present picked up their weapon and aimed it at the intruder. The clone was Commander Grey who saw the armed reception committee and placed his hands up so they could see that he was not armed. The patch on his forehead evidence to the fact that his own chip had been removed.

"General." He told Master Billaba nervous at the suspicious and trigger happy looks he was getting despite his training and experience. "Most of the troops are free of the chip and have rejected the Chancellor's order but several of the troops still have the chip and fights are breaking out all over the ship."

Depa Billaba stared at the man that had stood at her side throughout the whole of the war and sensed his feelings clearly. He was telling the truth her abilities told her and shining through was his loyalty to the woman that had led him and his men through some of the hardest combat imaginable. So she lowered her blade and seeing the Jedi Master's actions the rest of the people in the infirmary followed suit. Depa turned to face the three Rebels and told them.

"Let's get you back to your ship." They nodded wanting to get out of here, Zeb picked up the still unconscious Hera and carried her as the rest of them now accompanied by Commander Grey started towards the hanger bay where the Ghost was waiting for them. Along the way a squad of clones rushed to meet them with weapons pointing straight at Master Billaba and Caleb Dume, the rebels and their allies did not even have an opportunity to fight them as Master Billaba leapt ahead of them with a force powered leap and her saber a blazing storm of green faster than their eyes could follow she cut down the enemy clones leaving them all dead at her feet in a blink of an eye and she kept on running without breaking a sweat and the rest of their group struggling to keep up as they stared at her in awe. The Rebels were astonished at how good the Jedi Master was and it made Ezra wide eyes at how much a fully realized Jedi was capable of when they were really focused and resolved to train harder with Kanan when they got back to their own time. Speaking of Kanan as they were running along the corridors towards the hanger bay his eyes were drawn to the apprentice of Depa Billaba. His name was Caleb Dume but although he had never heard that name before he felt that he knew this teenager that was a year or two younger than himself. Likewise Caleb turned to look at Ezra who he felt a strange connection with, he did not understand it…but it felt like an echo of the bond between Master Billaba and himself.

Both young men were distracted from this strange exchange when they arrived at the hanger bay and saw a small battle raging between clones that still had their chips in their heads and those who were now free of its control. Seeing a box of grenades to her left, Master Billaba levitated a group of stun grenades and hurled them with the force over to the clusters of enemy clones who had no warning as the small bombs came from nowhere and hit them with a blast of blue light knocking them unconscious hopefully long enough to have the chips removed. This created a momentary break in the fighting and Depa Billaba turned to the small band of the rebels whose intervention had brought all this about.

"Get to your ship and go back wherever you came from, while you have the chance."

"We can't just leave you like this!" Sabine said as she looked around the hanger bay where the small clusters of enemy clones were fighting the free clones but Depa told them.

"You have given the Jedi a chance to survive this disaster and if Palpatine thinks that everything will go his way then he has another thing coming, any Jedi which survive this will see to that. You have done your part, the rest is up to us. Now go!" She told them firmly and with feelings of guilt the Ghost crew rushed onto their freighter where they saw a deactivated Chopper sitting in the corner. Zeb gave him a quick kick as they passed to wake up the grumpy astromech, Chopper woke with a quick start and jumped around with his small metal arms almost in a fighting stance but Ezra shouted back to him.

"No time to explain Chopper just get ready to take off."

They arrived in the cockpit where Sabine sat in the pilot's seat while Ezra leap into the co-pilot's position and strapped themselves in while Zeb carefully put Hera into one of the rear seats to keep her safe before strapping himself in. They switched on the ship's shields and watched out of the cockpit window as Master Billaba, her apprentice and Commander Grey charged into the thick of the action with weapons blazing. Putting aside their concern for them the Ghost was navigated out of the hanger bay and at that moment Chopper arrived in the cockpit and Sabine thinking back on how they had gotten into this mess told him.

"Chopper plot a hyperspace jump back in the opposite direction from where we came, it we hit that weird energy again then hopefully it will send us back to our own time."

"If it's still there." Zeb added quietly although Sabine and Ezra ignored it. Chopper went to work and plugged himself into the navicomputer and whistled a second later as the ship leapt into hyperspace. It did not take long for them to encounter the strange green energy field again and closing their eyes and putting their hands over their ears they were better prepared this time for both the intense green light and the terrible noise as it hit before they passed out.

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When the crew regained consciousness they were greeted by clear and empty space. Breathing a sigh of relief that they were not going to be captured by another ship they accessed the holonet and checked the date.

"It's the day we left." Ezra said as he saw the time and date displayed on the hologram.

"But what are we going to find here?" Sabine asked with concern written all over her face, mirrored by the expressions on all their faces.

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