Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed or Star Wars. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not created with commercial aim. I make no money from it.

Phase 10: Thy brother's blood

=RK=

Part 3

=RK=

Loyalist positions

Senate Building

Coruscant

Long rows of identical boys walked down well lit corridors. They wore a sensibly designed blue garb that said safety and brotherhood. It was an old and familiar scene; it was also wrong. Those days were recently gone.

He blinked away the memory. An echo of a distant thunder rang in his ears making sure he couldn't hear a thing. The world spun and blurred into another memory. It was his first taste of combat with one of his brothers. RN-442 was in a sparing ring facing off a fellow boy. He knew their identical faces were scrunched in the same expression of deep concentration as they slowly advanced upon each other under the observation of their Mandalorian instructors.

Ren heard an impatient clearing of a throat and his opponent took that as a signal to spring forth. His training kicked in and he acted without consciously thinking. The rushing boy executed right yet hasty jab at his throat that made it easier than it should to block. That nicely flowed into a counter-strike at a suddenly off balance Clone and before he knew it, Ren stood above the prone form of his brother ready to deliver a disabling strike.

But if that was what happened, why did he have the familiar coppery tang of blood in his mouth? For that matter why did Ren feel like he went all out against all his instructors and predictably got his ass handled to him? His whole body felt like one giant bruise and this was when he figured it out? Did he hit his head too?

All he could see was grey; blinking didn't really help and turning his head... Pain lanced through his neck and down his spine, the world tilted and blurred again. His mind must be playing tricks on him and that was a sure strike in the head-hurt column.

A third memory swam in front of his eyes. For some arcane reason, it was of conflict with his brothers again – this time during a simulated combat back home, on Kamino... Why did he feel such a longing at that thought, as if he knew he wouldn't see home again?

Thinking about it hurt, but it was important. A part of Ren knew it was the reason why he felt as if a walker platoon took a turn stepping on him for being a clueless crunchie as some armour guys liked to joke around, the bastards.

That particularly memory came in blurry in a contrast to the perceived precision of the last two. Perhaps it was the contests – simulated or not, a fight was an inherently chaotic place. Fake blaster bolts flew in all directions, smoke billowed obscuring the vision modes of their training helmets and suddenly figures wearing the same light armour as Ren's own walked like ghosts from the concealment – if ghosts moved low and fast and could shoot at you. Max, the squad-leader fell first after taking a burst into the chest and helmet, Benny, the XO fell a moment later before he could even shout a warning, much less an order.

What was left of the squad scattered, leaving another two behind and the other team vanished back into the smoke before wild counter-fire could find its mark. It was only after the survivors regrouped that any of them noticed that their opponents were a head taller – a tell-tale sign an older generation of their brothers. With age came experience and all else being equal that was what usually let one side in these exercises win.

They lost that simulation – as it usually happened once in a while when the instructors put an older unit to prove a point, in that case to illustrate that all their training had a very good reason behind it but showcasing a little bit of the results.

Six months later, Ren and company fought that same older Clone unit again and that time they eked out a bloody draw. A month before the war began, they met again in another exercise and this time it was they who won.

Why any of that did matter? Why did his mind bring back up those memories?

It took him a few minutes before his mind could clear enough so he could think more or less straight. There were no more such vivid recollections, just dull hum in his ears and that weird grey haze in front of his eyes. At least as long as he didn't try to move and concentrated on something else – like remembering the kriff happened, somewhat distracted him from the pain.

Was there an accident or did he get wounded in combat?

The ground below him shook. Something dull tried to pass through the distracting sound in his ears. It was combat then, still ongoing.

Not good at all. He had to get moving, but even attempting it led to debilitating pain. Damn it, he was messed up all right!

How did he end up in this mess?

This time thinking about it hurt less, at least as far as his head was concerned. A pretty nasty concussion then, if he was lucky at that. He thought so anyway – it wasn't like he had the misfortune of suffering one before, but occasionally they tended to lead to weird experiences or so the scuttlebutt claimed.

Ren was on Coruscant, that much he knew. His whole unit, along with the whole legion and the army they were nominally assigned to got sent there to maintain order in the wake of the Chancellor's assassination.

That wasn't fun. Seeing the Republic they were bred and raise go to hell on their watch, all the while they were helpless to really do something about it was frustrating for the Clones. What they saw since their arrival on Coruscant was seldom the same they were taught about the Republic. To be fair, for those like Ren who went about the galaxy fighting all over the place ever since the war began, he saw things in a perspective – the Republic was huge. It was a miracle it worked as well as it did and a lot of what he saw he actually liked, especially during his brief free time when he had as close to unrestricted access to the holonet as regulations and local infrastructure allowed.

Soon enough, he was convinced that what he was taught was indeed true. That while it had its share of problems, the Republic was worth protecting. That was what made the constant bickering among the Senate, their unwitting refusal to elect a new Chancellor on top of a never-ending string of illicit activities coming to life over the past month were so hard on him. Ren's whole being screamed that he had to do something, to protect the Republic! However, he was bound by his training, the person he was and his belief that orders and procedures should be followed. As far as he knew, as long as that was happening, no Clone had the right to tell the Senate how to do their jobs. He didn't like it but that was how it should be. That's why, when General Kenobi finally chose to do something, even if it was perhaps not according to all the procedures set in place, Ren had no problem following the man. He was the Supreme Commander of the Army. Without a Chancellor, General Kenobi's authority was almost absolute as long as it didn't infringe on any lawfully given contingency orders that came through proper channels.

What followed... Ren froze as a lance of pain struck through his brain. He could make bits and pieces now. Some of his brother had other ideas about General Kenobi's actions. They declared them illegal and the same was true about the unorthodox election of Chancellor Satine. It was true she wasn't elected by the Senate, but in the end that was a lesser sticking point that it should have been. Ren's loyalty was to the Republic. The Republic was made up by its member states and ultimately it was run according to their will. So when all was said and done, the Senate wasn't strictly speaking necessary for there to be a Chancellor, right? Perhaps it was a rules layering, some of his brothers called it splitting hairs. It might have been his frustration with the situation on Coruscant and the perceived failure of the Senate to do their jobs. In the end, a good Clone had to acknowledge a dully elected Chancellor as the supreme authority. As far as Ren was concerned, the support of Kuat and the biggest relevant systems that made up the Republic was good enough even if enough Senators disagreed to block a more... formal election. That was good enough for him, though it was occasionally hard to exactly make such a view match as how his mind told him the Republic had to run.

In the end it was good enough. He had enough experience away from Kamino to make up his mind about that.

Unfortunately... Why was his mind shifting away from thinking about what exactly put him in this mess?

There was a battle, one still ongoing at that. That much was nothing new for the veteran.

It was the enemy, wasn't it? That would explain why his concussed mind continued to jump to when he had to fight his brother in the past even if it was all a mock-up until... Ah. Thinking about it hurt and not only his head. Nevertheless, he could finally... All that came to him were jagged images. Some had sounds he could recall but that was it. A weird slide show was all he could recall.

Ren professing his unflinching loyalty to the Republic and support for the new Chancellor along with most people in his unit. The dissenters weren't particularly happy but were convinced. Besides, they didn't really want to fight their brothers either.

The Commander entering a briefing room, expression grim.

Stunned realisation that a significant number of their brothers were opposed to the change of guard in the Republic, some of them violently.

Setting up positions around the Senate and quietly hopping that the world would suddenly begin making sense again. They were brothers! They shouldn't be fighting each other, especially when they all wanted the best for the Republic as they saw it!

Then the attack came. No artillery or orbital support, which given where they were was a good news for everyone involved. Still, it was bad enough. Enough LAATs and fighters to blot the sun clashed in the skies. Walkers advanced through the open plaza in a suicidal charge...

For a brief moment, Ren wasn't sure if he could shoot at his advancing brothers. That much he clearly remembered. Yet, it was a fleeting thought. Parts from exploding gunships and transports fell like a fiery rain, then AA emplacements opened up and chaos reigned.

Everything was a fog deeper than whatever surrounded him, making it impossible to see.

Mercifully, that meant Ren couldn't recall actually shooting and killing some of his brothers. Would that last?

=RK=

AN: This is for the this update. Now a few questions about some of the feedback I got about the problems with RK.

Some of the things you don't like about my handling of Veil, besides him proving that he can be as nasty as any Sith: it needed a better foreshadowing I guess? The same goes for other things in the story, thought in hindsight most of that could only be fixed with a partial rewrite. It wasn't like I had solid plans for most of the story arks until the time I went into them and got to do some research. While I do know how the CW ends, how we get there is very much in the air, something that in a lot of respects made properly foreshadowing some events, especially in the earlier parts of the story hard to impossible. How to imply things I'm not sure would happen or hadn't planned yet?

Delktar's internal monologues is something that unfortunately makes sense - until Bo an Zash came to the stage and even now, they aren't exactly the kind of people he has the opportunity or the trust required to really talk things through with them. In a hindsight, I should have gone the way I'm doing it with KotF and brought someone who he trusts with him so they could talk in private about various things. That's a missed opportunity to flesh up the character and better show through discussion if nothing else the lengths Delkatar could go to if he sees no other acceptable alternative.

Now, the thorny problem of how I handled him in the last acts of RK beyound the fact that Veil is very much a murderous Sith when he thinks it suits his purposes. It's correct that until he is back in the Core, his opportunities to directly affect actions there are close to non-existent, though as pointed out it does happen, mainly through CIS propaganda over his latest exploits. He might as well be dead, right? That was kinda the point, but I see why some of you don't like it. It's the same general strategy that Palpatine used against the Jedi over the course of the Clone Wars - keep as many of them away from the most important place in the galaxy - Coruscant, where the future of the Jedi, the Republic and more or less everyone would be decided. When Sidious set up the stage for Order 66, most members of the Jedi Council were away.

Yoda - helping the Wookies. Obi-Wan - going after Grievous and thus, Anakin was left without the best people to turn around given the situation. With any of those two back on Coruscant, history might have turned different.

Even without the whole Crimson fiasco, doing similar would have been an excellent way for Palpatine to ensure he got the breathing space he needed with Veil away and so he engineered that Delkatar would be away for the duration of the CIS offensive and potentially for some time after that. It makes sense narratively, considering how Sidious was constrained by the greatly increased levels of security and scrutiny he was under. It's a logical way to handle a character most people simply can't face in open confrontation and win. However, that also means that for most of the last few story arks, Delkatar is stuck doing things that would have little direct effect on strategic level as far as the war is concerned. That alliance he helped Tarkin built - potentially politically, economically and military very useful, in a few years if they survive the war.

For me that's a great way to allow other people to shine away from the Sith, though I can see why some won't see it that way. While Delkatar began as the protagonist of RK, focus gradually shifted sidelong to help me tell a grander story spanning the galaxy and he simply can't shine everywhere. He in fact should't even if it was feasible.

Thoughts?