Kix and Rex were walking back to the RMSU, heads still bent together in conversation, when movement from the edge of the camp caught his eye.

Rex frowned as he realized the source of the disturbance. "Go on, Kix. We'll continue our conversation later."

Kix glanced over at what had caught Rex's attention and then gave him a sympathetic pat on the pauldron. "Right. I'll be in the RMSU*, then."

Fives and Echo were trying to sneak back into camp, but considering they were towing a sizable grav-sled behind them, their attempts at stealth were failing miserably. Two of the patrol guards on duty moved to intercept the wayward ARCs, but Rex waved them off. Fives and Echo were completely focused on pulling in their oversized load and did not noticed Rex's approach. He waited in the shadows until the ARCs passed his location. "Troopers, I assume you have a valid reason for leaving camp without permission?"

Fives and Echo jumped at Rex's voice. The grav-sled lurched off-course before Fives made a grab for it.

"Rex!" Fives greeted, overly cheerful, as he struggled to stabilize the load. Rex reached out a helping hand and pulled the emergency brake on the sled. "Eh... thanks... And, uh... of course, we have a suitable explanation for ... our... eh... well... Echo will explain."

"Thanks for throwing me under the shuttle," Echo hissed, jabbing an elbow into Fives' side. He straightened up and addressed Rex. "Captain, we felt badly about the CyberCenter-"

"Very badly," Fives interjected. "Ooooofff." He doubled over as Echo elbowed him again. "Right, go on. You tell him." Before Echo could get a word in, Fives started up again. "Just want to reiterate, though, we were not the ones who blew up the CyberCenter."

"Yes, noted." He gestured to Echo, who gleefully gave Fives a good jab again for interrupting once again. "Is there a point to this story?"

"Right… yes, sir," Echo hooked a thumb over his shoulder and indicated the grav-sled, "we wanted to make amends. We're not in a position to help Commander Cody at the moment, but thought perhaps could even up the odds for our second battle of Anaxes."

Rex tilted his head. "You have my attention."

"We went out in the battlefield and collected Seppie weapons," Fives blurted out enthusiastically, stepping back and covering his ribs protectively. "We spotted 'em when we were flying over here. They may have gotten some good shots in during that first battle, but our boys certainly did some damage. We spotted an intact vulture droid and a transport ship. We thought it might be worth checking out."

Rex peeled back the tattered sheet covering the sled. "Are those… sonic dets?"

"More than a dozen of them," Fives reached in and picked one up carefully. "We found them in a downed vulture droid." He handed it over to Rex, who also handed it gingerly, giving the dangerous weapon the reverence it deserved. He handed it back to Fives. "We also found some RPS-6 rocket launchers, thermal annihilator bombs with remote detonators... those are important... some repeater rifles... and vibroblades and elctrostaffs."

"Electrostaffs?" Rex frowned, peered over the edge of the grav sled to see the contents more clearly. "Those are commando weapons. Why would... you said you found a transport ship... what type of transport ship?"

"Commando droids," Echo said, without preamble. "Look, Captain, I know you hate them-"

"After all, they shot you twice-" Fives chimed in.

Echo shot Fives a look. "But, we deactivated this group the moment we found the ship. Took out the master control."

"Well, once we are on the move again, we are putting a t-det right through the middle of that ship," Rex stated without preamble.

"Now, Captain, Echo and I had an idea-" Fives started.

"No."

"Rex, you haven't even heard what-"

"If it involves commando droids, the only answer you're going to get from me is feedback on how we're going to blow them up. That's it. End of discussion."

"But, if we reprogram them, imagine the havoc they could wreak upon their own-"

Rex's blood went cold as he relived memories of the assault on Cut's farm and the feeling of being targeted and shot by those droids. They hunted him down on Salecumai and on TriLuna. He hated the farkin' things.

Fives was not as emotionally clueless as he wanted people to believe. He changed his tone, picking up on Rex's discomfort. "I get that these droids are nasty business. But, if we could get them working for us, they could be a powerful ally."

"No. And, I'm putting the two of you in charge of making sure that ship goes away. I want that ship to be nothing but scraps. Is that understood?"

Fives and Echo exchanged a look and they both mumbled an affirmation.

"Good. Beyond the issue of the transport ship, these armaments could make a difference in our second assault. Since we are still cut off from the Resolute and resupply, this puts us in a much better position for the second assault." He let the two bask in their moment of glory for a moment. "However, it does not change the fact you left camp without permission. When we return to the ship, you are both volunteering extra shifts in the medbay, mess hall or engineering, wherever you are needed, for the next two weeks."

"But Captain-" Fives protested.

"Three weeks," Rex said calmly.

"Shut it, Fives," Echo hissed.

"But, we-" Fives sputtered, pointing to the gravsled full of armanents.

"Four weeks," Rex said calmly. There was a slight crackle in his com, and he smiled to himself as he knew somehow Echo had done a manual override of Fives' com system. "If you had asked for permission to leave camp, I would have granted it. I may have sent a few more troopers with you, but I would have sanctioned your mission. However, you assigned yourself a mission and took off without letting anyone know of your whereabouts. That makes you AWOL. What if we'd come under attack while you were gone? What if you'd gotten captured while you were on enemy territory? None of us even knew you'd left camp."

Fives started squirming again and with good reason. Rex knew that the new Phase II armor had some capabilities not built into the old kit and the ARC kit was especially enhanced, including geo-location on the armor. However, that wasn't the point, geo-location in their kit did not mean Fives and Echo had a different set of rules than other troopers. He already gave them more leeway because of their status as ARCs, and because, well, he had a known softspot for the two di'kuts. But, he did have to keep them in-line sometimes otherwise he was worried his favorite two idiots were going to get themselves killed. He softened his voice, not used to getting overly sentimental in front of the men. "I'm glad you're alright."

Fives leaned his head in to touch helmets with Rex and Echo joined in a moment later.

"We'll always make it back from our missions, right Echo?" Fives said, squeezing an arm both around the pauldroned shoulders of both Rex and Echo for a quick hug. But, his voice rang hollow and cracked slightly. His bravado didn't hold out. They'd all lost too many brothers to believe any of them were invincible. Rex knew that at their core, none of them believed they were going to survive the war. He sometimes allowed himself to dream of a future "after the war." But, there was another part of him that didn't think soldiers were allowed such futures. So many brothers had died in front of him, he assumed that would be his fate, too. He would catch a blaster bolt sometime, somewhere and that would be it. He would be there one moment and gone the next.

Fives' firestorm of energy pulled Rex from his thoughts. The ARC had already seemingly forgotten about his punishment for leaving camp and was moving on. "You finish the assault plans for Phase II yet?"

Rex nodded, and gestured for a nearby trooper to take the grav-sled over to the armory. He hopped up onto a nearby crate and Fives and Echo sat down next to him. "But, General Krell is not going to like what I have in mind for the second assault."

Fives tugged off his helmet and rolled his eyes in a manner Rex could only think he picked up from Wolffe. "We're worried about the strategic opinion of the General," Fives said the word like it was almost a curse, "who sent two of our squads straight into the firing lines of the Seppie tanks? This guy obviously doesn't know his shebs from his-"

"Fives."

"What? His plan was flawed and we all know it. He's issuing bad orders and we are expected to follow them. It's a bunch of bantha fodder."

Rex could always rely upon Fives to deliver it straight up. And, it was exactly what Rex was thinking, but he didn't have the luxury of criticizing the General like Fives did. "Yes, well, Krell is still our commanding officer until General Skywalker returns. I'll deal with him- somehow. You're right in that we need a different approach for the second battle." Rex projected a schematic off of his helmet. "Here's what I have in mind."

Echo leaned in over Fives' shoulder and studied the plan. "You're dividing the men into four groups."

"A pincer manuever. I like it," Fives nodded approvingly.

"Yes, so we can prevent any reinforcements from coming out of the base, and continue to poke at weaknesses until we can take down the force shield protecting the place."

Fives chewed at his lip thoughtfully. "It's a good plan, but you should adjust the groups. The forward group needs more tanks. If we are fortunate enough to get some air support, they could reinforce the forward group. Otherwise, we could figure out a way to provide our own air support using the sonic dets. Echo and I have an idea for getting them airborne."

"As long as it doesn't blow up the camp, you have my approval. Work on it."

"The side group needs more scouts," Echo chimed in.

"If we put a small group of troopers atop this cliff face here," Fives pointed into the map, "we could do a lot of damage with the rocket launchers."

"Make it happen," Rex approved.

Fives grew more and more excited as he studied the plan and made more revisions to it. "We could use the sonic dets here, here and here."

"You're as bad as Hardcase," Rex grumbled good-naturedly, but Fives' ideas were very good. "Fives, you're in charge of the rear division. Take Echo as your second."

Fives' eyes widened and he breathed out. "My first command." He nodded. "I won't let you down."

"I know you won't, Fives." Rex gave his brother a brief shoulder squeeze.

"Has there been any more news on Commander Cody?" Fives asked gently.

Rex grimaced, willing to let his guard down around Fives. "No." He checked his chrono, doing a mental calculation of how long it had been since he'd received word Cody was trapped underground. "If anyone can get him out, it's the Wolfpack." The slight tremor in Rex's voice betrayed his deepest worry.

There were limits to what even Wolffe and his search and rescue team could do. Surely if there'd be any news- anything at all- Wolffe or Ponds would call him. Rex almost didn't want to get a call. What if he received a comm from Wolffe starting with 'I'm sorry, Rex...'

"Echo and I didn't get a chance to debrief you on what we found in the CyberCenter," Fives blurted out. Somehow, he was always good at picking up when Rex was spiraling.

Rex jumped on the opportunity to focus his mind on something else. "Mmmm... yes... this discovery of yours that prompted you to disobey a direct order to evac."

"I'll apologize to Commander Cody once he is rescued. I believe in our commander." The ARC spoke with confidence and aan absolute belief in Cody that Rex wanted to believe, too. Fives led them away from the main area of the bustling mechanics' bay and over to to a quieter spot, in the shade cast by an AT-AT. "We found a key, Rex."

"An encryption key," chimed in Echo.

"A cyberkey," argued Fives.

"It's an encryption key," Echo insisted.

"More of a master key," Fives countered.

"I get it! It's a key. Get on with it."

Echo glared at Fives so he'd let him speak. "It allows us to retrieve Separatists' documents even after they've erased them, as they always do when they abandon a base. Or, when they've encrypted then. Until they figure out we have this key, we could unlock... well, just about anything we can hack our way into in their database."

Rex closed his eyes for a moment, as he thought through the implications of the discovery. "That's... very good work."

Fives looked smug. "Does that mean you forgive us?"

Rex glared at him. "No. You still broke tons of regs. But, this is very well done. This could possibly turn the tide of the war."

Fives and Echo grinned at each other.

"For now, I want you to keep this discovery between us." He tilted his head, as he reconsidered. "I'll probably broaden it to the group we have researching Echo's anomaly."

Echo smacked the side of his bucket. "Right. The… er… " he looked around to make no one was in hearing range before continuing, "... souvenir I got on our jungle vacation."

Rex studied the two ARCs thoughtfully.

Fives leaned into Echo and muttered: "I don't like it when he gives us that look."

Echo leaned his head in and responded: "Nah... that is just the look meaning he has an interesting side project for us."

"Echo, I'd like you to continue investigating this master key. Find out what we can unlock with it. But, make sure you don't tip our hand."

"Understood. Permission to get started?" Echo asked eagerly, already bouncing up on the heels of his feet.

"Dismissed." Rex turned his attention to Fives. "I have need of your special skills."

# # #

Mic, the comms officer, signaled to Rex from across the camp. Like all 501st troopers, he was now proficient in the advanced sign language started by the troopers at ArmyMed and perfected by the troopers on Ando. The Andoan Legion used this form of silent communication to great advantage during the Battle of Darkknell. Now, it was a convenient secondary way to communicate for all troopers.

Incoming Transmission. Command level.

Mic added in the hand signal the troopers had adopted to signify "Krell." It wasn't a flattering gesture. But, Krell wasn't here. And, in the unfortunate event he did make it dirtside at some point, he likely didn't speak clone sign language. Rex signaled back to Mic he was on his way.

"Lucky us," muttered Fives, from where he was walking next to Rex. "Our favorite General is calling to check up on us again."

"Temporary General."

Rex reminded himself constantly he only needed to put up with Krell for the short term.

They arrived at the entryway to the comms center and Fives jerked his chin toward the interior. "How long do you need before my special services?"

Rex signaled for Fives to sync up a timer on his wristcomm. "Two minutes. On my mark."

"Respect," Fives dipped his chin, "that's a long time to talk to that-"

"Not helping. Just make it convincing, alright?"

"Don't I always?" Fives plugged his datapad into an exterior access port. His hands flew across the keys. He nodded with satisfaction and gestured for Rex to go in.

"Thanks, Mic," Rex said as he entered, nodding to the other troopers on duty. He walked over to the corner area set aside for communications. Not that there was any sort of privacy in the GAR. Every trooper in the command center would hear his conversation. "Patch it through."

Out of sight of the video range, he reached down and tapped his wrist comm, starting a countdown.

Rex slid his bucket on as the Besalik Jedi shimmered to life in front of him. It was easier to 'face' the General with the protection of his bucket. "General Krell, sir, how goes the repairs?"

"CT-7567," he enunciated each letter slowly, and somehow managed to make Rex's designation sound like an insult. "I am not interested in small talk. Your lack of progress is a disgrace, as is your slow response time. I have been on hold now for almost three minutes."

"Apologies, sir, I was working with the men to-"

"I am not interested in excuses! What I need are some answers. Why are your men still resting when your mission is as yet uncompleted?"

Before Rex could respond, Krell barreled on. "Has Fort Anaxes been taken?"

Rex held his temper. Krell knew fekkin' well they hadn't taken the fort. They'd agreed on a previous call (after much arguing on Rex's part) the men could not go straight into a second battle. Why did the General find it necessary to berate him on every call? "No, General, sir. The men are still being treated in the RMSU. We are repairing the tanks, and regrouping our forces to-"

"More excuses! You admit both you and your men have been lounging around?"

Rex gripped the sides of his thigh plate and imagined different responses. 'Yes, General, sir, we are just lounging around the camp shining our blasters…'. He held his tongue while the oversized Jedi continued to berate him.

"You have not provided an adequate explanation of why you went against my explicit orders during the last battle. You rearranged the forward forces at the last minute-"

Alright. Fek it. I've had enough of holding my tongue. General Skywalker always encourages me to speak my mind.

"If I hadn't rearranged the forces, the entire battalion would've been wiped out. I told you before we started your plan would not work. We can't simply rush the guns. It's a surefire way to get cut down. And, that is exactly what happened. If we-"

Krell wagged a threatening finger at him. "CT-75-"

"It's Rex, sir. Captain Rex. You may call me refer to me as Captain or Captain Rex." His voice took on the same authority he did when dressing down Fives. It wasn't the tone he used with shinies. No, that would be pushing it and he didn't need another court martial. This was his /do-I-make-myself-clear/I'm-the-Captain-and-you-will-respect-me voice. "It's more efficient than citing all those Kaminoan numbers and it is my name."

Fek. That felt good.

Krell was momentarily stunned into silence. But, it didn't last long.

"How dare you-" The large Jedi's face immediately darkened with anger. He almost looked like he was having some kind of seizure. No, that wasn't it. He was gathering up to totally lay into Rex again.

"Sir, you best let me finish. We don't know how long the lines will remain open. Admiral Trench is nefarious for jamming comms. I am continuing to reorganize our forces while we make repairs and await supplies-"

"Reorganize?" Krell burst in. "I sent over new plans. Are you deficient?! You will organize our forces exactly as I laid out. There is no re-organizing. The second assault will proceed exactly as I dictated."

"With regards to your updated plans, sir, I did received them. However, the formation is nearly identical to what we used in our first assault. The only difference is you suggested we move the tanks in a slightly less vulnerable position onto the right flank-"

Krell's face again turned an alarming shade of– was that green? Were besaliks supposed to be that color? He'd have to ask Kix. "Suggested?"

Rex ignored him and continued on. "-and while your plan could possibly work on a theoretical battlefield with unlimited tanks and unlimited troopers, it will not work here. It is not viable with the remaining forces we have left-"

OK, that is a most unattractive shade of green. That can't be healthy.

"You will-"

Rex calmly depressed the mute button, ignoring the slight burst of amusement from Mic, and continued on. "-as the first battle cut through our new troopers and left us short in numbers. We also lost two tanks and their crews, and four more tanks were more damaged. Your plan is not viable. I have taken your suggestions, General, and-"

Rex had become adept at lip-reading from his time living with Travis. He could easily read Krell's 'How dare you' and the string of obscenities about his lineage.

OK, that last insult was definitely not true. Jango had no shortcomings in that area. It was a topic of much debate in the barracks and the general conclusion was Jango and his millions of offspring were somewhat generously endowed.

He tried not to completely focus on the General's lips, but he'd have to play back the HUD recording later. For a Jedi, he had an impressive command of insults.

OK, that last one was just disgusting. And, Rex had heard some awful language as a soldier.

Using the crisp give-the-report voice they'd been taught at command school, he continued on. "I amended the plans to fit our current situation. I am transmitting the new plans I wrote for re-taking Fort Anaxes to you now, sir. Please confirm receipt of transmission."" He made a show of slowly pulling a data chip from his belt and inserting into the control panel. He unmuted the call with a slap of his wrist, twisting his hand enough he could double-check his chrono again.

"-filthy bunch of lab experiments and you will regret the day you were ever decanted!" The Besalik General was so enraged, spittle was running down his chin in a steady stream.

That's… an unappealing sight.

Mic raised up an eyebrow at his comm monitoring station, but did not turn around. He was sure some version of this story would be making the rounds of the mess hall by evening meal. And, a bootleg version of the General's spit-covered face would likely be passed back and forth, as well, (most likely by Fives.) As usual, Rex would pretend not to notice.

"General, sir, I cannot stress enough that time is of the essence. I'm reading a completed data transfer on my end, so if we could review the plans-"

As Rex had anticipated, the General made no effort to even check for receipt of the file or attempt to open it and look at the 'revisions.' Of course, he wouldn't. He had no respect for the ideas of a clone.

"Revised?!" Krell's wattle was inflating and deflating and he was outright growling now. It would all be very intimidating if he wasn't stuck on an asteroid light years away.

Rex owed a debt of gratitude to the 793rd Regiment. They'd been terrorized by Krell, but still managed an act of rebellion as he left. "It wasn't me– all credit goes to my deck crew," Fill admitted. "I'm promoting the whole lot of them. "They did what I should have done long ago– taken action on that…. 'Jedi.'" Fil had spat the last word out with such anger and contempt it sent a shiver down Rex's spine. It spoke of a trust broken and a new hatred for the Jedi sewn among Fil and all his men.

As Fill explained, Krell's ship was 'repaired' in such a way it would malfunction en route. It was his personal ship and he always insisted on doing the repairs on his own. However, he did not have the correct parts on board to repair it himself. His personality was such it would be quite a while before he would admit defeat and call for help... from clones.

Rex didn't understand at first what Fill had meant when he said Krell had "a thing against clones."

He now understood. All too well.

The General's signal distorted and then began breaking up into pixelated triangles. The signal was degrading worse by the second.

Excellent, Fives. Right on time.

The dancing triangles were mesmerizing to watch.

Fives was good. Very good.

"Deck Officer Mic, I'm experiencing signal interference. Can you boost the signal?"

Out of comms range, Rex signaled to the trooper to do no such thing. Mic immediately understood.

"Yes, Captain," out of sight of the holo, the comms officer signed back a quick acknowledgment to Rex, and then made a good show of flipping switches. "Sir, I'm trying to boost the signal, but there is a lot of interference."

"Do what you can." Rex turned his attention back to Krell. "Sir, can you hear me?... Sir, your signal is breaking up. If you have any changes to the revised plans, I'll need them now-"

"I– will– not… you…. insolent–" The last two words were barely audible although Krell's rage was evident, even though the rapidly decaying signal. And, even with the signal interference, his colorful insults against anyone of Fett lineage were clear.

OK, now that was just cruel. I don't even have a mother. But, if I did, I think I'd be very insulted.

"Are you confirming your approval of the new plans? Is that correct, sir? I see a head nod there, General."

Actually, that looks more like another Huttese obscene gesture.

Do what now with a hammer? Is that even possible?

He looked over to his Mic, his comms officer, who seemed now to be enjoying the show immensely. He bobbed his head enthusiastically. The rest of the command center crew had given up any pretense of working and now bobbed their heads in agreement.

"Alright, then, General, that definitely does look like approval. Thank you, sir."

Rex hadn't actually sent revised 'plans.' He didn't want to risk even a highly encrypted document getting into Separatist hands. He'd taken the shab Krell had written, (which they most definitely would not be following), corrected the grammar, and sent them back. He also included a 'beginner's guide to wartime strategy' they all listened to as bedtime audio (on a continuous loop) as year 2 cadets on Kamino. It even included a catchy tune entitled: "Know Your Enemy" that got so stuck in Rex's head as a cadet he was humming up until he was a Year 4, (when the song "Break Through the Center and Encircle Their Forces" got stuck in his head.)

There was nothing in the transmission resembling their actual strategy. But, since he didn't believe Krell would open the document anyway, it didn't matter.

He checked his chrono. He was 15 seconds over his two-minute time. He was done here.

"Any luck cleaning up that signal?"

His comms officer flipped through all his switches again. The backup comms officer, Bit, came over and flipped over a few more switches. They both shook their heads. A third deck officer, Fizz, joined them, also making a great show of flipping switches.

The command center crew was enjoying this way too much.

They were good troopers– all of them.

Out of comms range, Rex subtly signaled to cut the call.

"We've lost him, sir," Mic reported, straight-faced and appropriately sorrowful, "appears to be another…."

"...comms irregularity," filled in Bit.

"Yes, I'll make a note of it in the log." Fizz made a show of typing on his datapad.

"You spelled 'wattle' wrong," Bit muttered, looking at Fizz's screen.

"That's the way I spell it," Fizz insisted.

"Shall I try to raise him again?" Mic's voice was polite and professional and held none of the conviction he thought this was a good idea.

"No. We concluded our meeting." Rex turned to go." If he calls again, route it up to Commander Appo."

"Very good, Captain." Mic, and his entire squad, had been rescued from Darkknell. They'd all suffered significant injuries and Rex, Kix and Coric had fought to keep them with the 501st. Mic had suffered injuries to both legs that impeded his walking, but he was still an excellent comms officer. Bit had suffered a head injury. Coric was worried he wouldn't pass evals if he was examined at a Kaminoan facility. Fizz had lost several fingers.

Rex had signed off on every (slightly falsified) medical document that Coric passed away in order to ensure Mic's squad was able to stay with the 501st.

All of these men were solid troopers and belonged with their brothers.

He'd done right by Mic's squad. He only wished he could've saved more men in the first assault on Fort Anaxes. Their losses had been too heavy. Now, he needed to figure out how to have complete control over the second battle with no interference from Krell.

Rex tugged off his helmet and scrubbed at his face as he left the command center.

"That good, huh?" Fives said, unplugging his datapad from the access port. He shoved his datapad back into his belt pouch pocket.

Rex signaled to Fives to walk with him. "No. It went OK." He slanted a look at Fives. "But, I know you. You listened in on the whole thing."

Fives grinned and shrugged. "I learned some new vocabulary. Did you hear what he told us to do with our-" He stared down speculatively at his codpiece. "I mean, is that even possible? That Krell has an imagination– I'll give him that! My favorite was when he…"

Rex tuned Fives out as he enthusiastically recounted Krell's vicious tirade.

"...and if you hadn't taught us all to read lips so well I wouldn't have caught half of what he was saying…"

Rex cast another pointed look at Fives. That wasn't what he'd had in mind when he insisted all troopers in the 501st learn advanced sign. Cody loved the idea and expanded the advanced sign program to the entire Open Circle fleet.

"... these skills are so useful I think Alpha should incorporate advanced clone sign into ARC training program. But, back to Krell, where does a Jedi learn a phrase like mother…"

Rex tuned out the rest so he could reflect privately on the call. Fives would probably be raving on about Krell's tirade for hours to come. But, it was easier to walk around with Fives chattering away beside him as it kept anyone else from coming up and demanding his attention.

I should feel guilty for foisting Krell off on Appo. But, I tried working with him on our first attempt to take the Fort and it was a disaster. I'm not making that mistake again. I won't let the men pay for such a mistake, even if I have to deal with the consequences later. I'll deal with Krell when the time comes. But, for now, we'll focus on the mission.

Appo would have to take one for the team if Krell called again.

# # #

* RMSU- Republic Mobile Surgical Units—RMSUs (pronounced "Rimsoos") Also called written as RIMSU (Republic In-Theater Mobile Surgical Unitss.) I've included some concept drawings (done by Dave Filoni and his team) on my Tumblr, (longlivetheclones.)

A/N: Hello All! A little fun with Krell. Carnage of Krell is a very important arc, but the idea of a malicious, deliberately cruel Jedi is still very difficult to take. Seeing him sabotage the battles and set troopers upon each other is awful. It's also terrible to witness himself slicing troopers up with his double blade. I wanted to write an encounter with Krell where the clones see him for what he is a little earlier and triumph in their own unique way.