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Wrong
Ace ducked behind a support pillar, reloading his DC-17m as blaster bolts rained down around him for a few seconds. Then, as the Trandoshans and Battle Droids began to reload, he stepped out, his blaster lighting up as he slaughtered them all. He walked to the next door and opened it, a Trandoshan on the other side yelping in fear and scrambling across the control room away from him, Ace quickly slaughtering all of the other Trandoshans in the room before they could draw their own blasters.
"It was just business!" the Trandoshan who had replaced the previous Houk leader shouted desperately. "The Separatists paid us a fortune plus Battle Droids for one kid! It was never personal, just a job!"
"You chose the wrong job!" Ace snarled, drawing his DC-15s and blasting the Trandoshan through the head just as he peeked out to see where Ace was.
As he holstered his pistol again, a door off to the side opened, Battle Droids and Trandoshans rushing in, only to die in a stream of blaster bolts and a single thermal detonator. Once the door was clear, Ace headed through it. It had taken them a month of false leads and dead ends, but they'd finally found the last surviving Trandoshan slavers. And under Asha's orders, they were to wipe them out. And so they would. And so they did. It took nearly an hour of the four of them winding their way through the facility on Coruscant that the Trandoshans had been hiding in, but with the lifts disabled and no stairs in the entire building, there was nowhere for the slavers to run, so Ace and the others had spread out over all four levels of the facility and began to wipe the Trandoshans from existence. The Battle Droid reinforcements were a surprise, but not one they couldn't handle. And after the hour, the four of them had gathered on the roof of the facility for a gunship to pick them up.
"Good work, squad," Skipper commended them as they flew away from the facility. "Boomer, if you would."
Boomer held up a detonator switch and pressed it. A moment later, explosions bloomed all through the facility they'd just left, and after a second's delay, in a roar of deforming and grinding metal, the facility collapsed into itself.
"Now I can go give Camren the good news," Ace smiled, just as a transmission appeared, their assigned intel officer speaking instantly and quickly.
"Good work, squad, but you're not done yet. The slavers sent a group of Commando droids after Camren. Intel confirms that they've already taken out the Clone Trooper security detail and donned their armor. Separatist forces are enroute to acquire the Padawan. Get in there, kill those clankers, and save the boy. Remember, they may be disguised as Clones, but those are not your brothers. Exercise extreme prejudice."
"En route," Skipper said, the gunship turning toward Camren's apartment instantly. "Alright, pilot, you'll drop us off three blocks away and we'll close to the location on foot to avoid alerting them."
"Yes, sir," the pilot confirmed.
"Ace and Crosshair, you two will take the guards at the door," Skipper continued. "If there's only one, Crosshair will take the shot. When we breach, Boomer will take the lead with his minigun."
"Minigun's empty," Boomer spoke up.
"Then Ace will take the lead. I'll be second, then Boomer and Crosshair will take up rear guard," Skipper altered the plan. "Discretion is non-negotiable in this mission. No one can see us coming or going. Ace, what's the layout of the apartment?"
"A long hallway, storage room on the left, right turn, forty-five-degree angle, maintenance room on the right, plumbing access on the left, door into the apartment," Ace recalled. "Large square room, modestly furnished, door into the bathroom on the right-hand side."
"Understood," Skipper nodded. "Should be easy."
"It'll be cramped," Ace warned. "We'll need our personal energy shields."
"Understood," Skipper nodded, reaching into a crate and passing out shield projectors, which they all immediately stuck to the backs of their belts. "We'll activate them once we're on the ground."
The devices were small, white ovals with a switch on the face of them that would glow blue once pressed and an energy shield would form around their bodies like an extra layer of armor to deflect blaster bolts. And a few minutes later, once they were on the ground and standing in the pouring rain, they'd activated the energy shields and started forward. It was dark already, darker still with the rain, and the dull, red lights spread through the city did very little to illuminate the space around them. They activated their night vision, moving quickly and silently through the deserted streets, weapons up and ready. Finally, Ace, who was leading them to the apartment, motioned for them to take cover, then looked out carefully.
"There's one guard," he muttered into his commlink.
"Crosshair, you're up," Skipper said. "When you take the shot, we'll infiltrate, so let me know when you're set up."
Crosshair nodded and backtracked a ways before using his ascension gun to get on a tall building in the distance. "In position."
"Copy," Skipper said. "Ready in three...two...one...fire."
Just as Crosshair took his shot, hitting the disguised Commando Droid in the head, Ace, Skipper, and Boomer all sprinted to the door into the apartment. Boomer shot out the controls on the way, the door opening instantly, and Ace led the charge into the apartment. The disguised Commando Droids spun toward them instantly, raising their stolen DC-15A blaster carbines, only for Skipper to step up beside Ace just as both opened fire, careful shots and burst dropping the Commando Droids rapidly as they rapidly cleared their way down the hallway. More disguised droids stepped out of the storage room, only for Boomer to slaughter them.
Ace stopped at the corner with Skipper, both nodding. Then, they rounded the corner together, both dropping into a knee, and as the disguised droids blaster bolts flashed over their heads, their own returning fire slaughtered the droids. Several ducked back into the two doors ahead of them, but Ace and Skipper continued forward, ducking into the door on the right as Boomer and Crosshair, who'd rejoined them, headed to the door to the left. There were several bursts of blaster fire before everyone returned to the hallway, Ace once again taking the lead. Then, as they reached the last door, Skipper nodded to Ace and opened the door. Ace stepped through, and his personal energy shield immediately began to block a storm of blaster bolts as he advanced into the room, rapidly gunning down the disguised droids. Skipper and the others followed him in, and within seconds, the last of the Clones collapsed.
"Ace?" Camren asked, voice trembling in terror. "Why?"
"It's alright, Camren, you're safe," Ace said. "Intelligence caught wind of a plot to kidnap you by the Separatists. But the slavers are gone, and we're here now, so we're gonna get you to safety, just like before."
"Well, hopefully not just like before," Boomer said, smiling wryly.
"Alright, fine, not exactly like before, but we're going to get you to safety," Ace promised.
"But...why would you kill them?" Camren asked.
"They weren't Clones," Ace shook his head. "Intelligence told us they were Commando Droids who had killed and replaced all of the Clones."
"Uh...guys?" Crosshair called out, standing over one of the deceased Commando Droids.
Except, the helmet had fallen off when the body had fallen, and it wasn't a Droid's head underneath.
"They weren't droids," Crosshair realized. "Intelligence was wrong."
"No, they lied to us," Boomer realized.
"But...I don't...understand," Ace breathed, his DC-17m falling to the ground. "Why would they...I don't..."
Just then, Skipper's commlink chirped, and he answered it.
"Mission complete," Skipper reported. "But sir, there's something wrong here. They weren't droids. They were Clones. Intel was wrong, sir." He fell silent for several long moments before seeming to sag as though exhausted. "Yes, sir. I understand, sir. It will be done."
"What's going on?" Boomer asked, Ace picking his blaster back up.
"We've...received new orders," Skipper said, turning to them, looking clearly exhausted now. "This...This was to be a Separatist attack."
"What?" Ace wheezed, feeling like he'd just been punched in the gut.
"What does he mean?" Camren asked, shaking.
"Sir, what do you mean a Separatist attack?" Crosshair asked.
"Commando Droids infiltrated Coruscant and conducted a raid on this apartment," Skipper said. "No survivors."
"What!?" Ace yelped.
"No!" Camren shrieked. "Please!"
"Skipper, he's just a kid!" Boomer said.
"I won't let you!" Ace snarled, stepping in front of Camren.
"Ace..." Skipper sighed heavily.
"Skipper, this is wrong!" Ace snapped. "He's a child! He's innocent!"
"You're right," Skipper sighed. "This is wrong. But they're our orders. I told you when we met, we follow orders. That is our only purpose in life. We get our hands dirty so that the rest of the Republic doesn't have to."
"Damn the orders!" Ace snapped. "I won't let any of you hurt him!" He raised his DC-15s and his kal, glaring around at all three of them.
"I'm sorry, Ace," Skipper said. "Boomer."
Ace spun toward Boomer, only for Crosshair to be the one to shove Ace. Ace staggered forward just as a burst of blaster fire rang out. He spun instantly, only to stare at Camren, who lay on the floor, the blaster wounds in his torso still glowing and his eyes wide and terrified, staring lifelessly at the ceiling. Ace went numb, falling to his knees beside the boy and staring at him hollowly.
"I...I'm so...sorry, Camren," Ace apologized, voice wavering and frail. "I'm so sorry!"
"Boss..." Boomer began but trailed off.
"Never again," Skipper growled. "I'm done." He walked over to Camren and knelt, picking up the broken hilt of Camren's lightsaber, which had been blasted when he'd tried to draw it. "I'm retiring as a Commando. I will never be used for murder again. Ace, I'm so sorry. If I hadn't done it, we'd have been accused of treason and killed, and then no one would know about this." He held the lightsaber out to Ace. "Take this. After the war ends, when it's safe to begin punishing war crimes, you'll be able to show the senate and the Jedi Council this as evidence. The orders came from the highest authority in the Republic. The entire top is rotten, so it won't matter which they go for, they'll get there eventually."
"They'll execute us, too," Crosshair warned.
"We deserve it," Ace said, accepting the lightsaber. "We're murderers. We killed a child. We deserve to die."
He picked up his pistol and kal, only to put them away. "I'm done being a commando, too."
"So am I," Boomer nodded.
"All of you?" Crosshair asked. "One tough mission and you throw in the towel?"
"Tough?" Ace scoffed. "Tough!? Tough is going four on four hundred infiltrating a Droid Factory! Tough is fighting a Houk with a neuronic whip using only a pair of knives! This isn't tough! This is fucking wrong! This is us committing murder! This is us murdering a child! This is so far beyond tough!"
"Look, I just meant..." Crosshair sighed heavily. "Look, I just meant that this is what we were made for. We do the things they can't trust to normal Clones, even if that means that we have to get our hands dirty."
"You can get your hands dirty all you want," Ace said. "I'm done."
Crosshair remained silent, and they all made their way out of the apartment. None of them had it in them to actually be careful not to be seen, but it didn't matter. It was still pouring rain, and the streets were still deserted. Ace stopped, taking off his helmet, and stared at it for a few moments before casting it aside. He sobbed silently, and Skipper set a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Ace," Skipper said. "I couldn't risk you being killed."
Ace didn't respond, instead heading toward their exfil location. The ride back to their cruiser was silent and uncomfortable.
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