Coruscant
Hela's
Hela leaned her head on Mayday's shoulder, struggling to stay awake. The way his arm wrapped around her holding her close to him made her feel so warm, safe and loved, so that no one could ever hurt her. It was a feeling she sank into at this moment; she needed it.
Mayday turned and placed a kiss on her hair.
"Zur's sleeping it off." He explained, "Apparently Anoon had been thinking about leaving Coruscant, for a long time but he hesitated because of Zur. He wanted him to come with him."
"I thought something was happening. I like Anoon. He was good for Zur. Understood him."
"Zur said he couldn't leave with him— there was something he was doing— for you?"
He asked the question, wondering what it was and if she knew because he could see from the look on her face that she was considering it.
"Zur isn't just a dresser or my personal assistant. He's Republic Intelligence." Hela confessed.
"What has that got to do with you?" He snapped.
Hela didn't seem angry about this, "Not entirely sure. He was allocated to me years ago, when I first started performing. He reports to his superior on my movements but not everything, he tells me."
"And you believe him?" Mayday stood up and paced, "I knew there was something off about him." He turned back to Hela, "He was just too good at self defence."
"Yes, I do. He's always been there for me and just telling me about Republic Intelligence was a risk in itself. He wasn't supposed to. And he volunteered it."
She didn't tell him about the other parts Zur mentioned; she didn't want him to worry. He had enough to worry about.
"So he didn't leave because of Republic Intelligence or because of you?"
"I would never stop him, if that's what he wanted."
"You probably can't retire from the Intelligence service." Mayday observed.
Hela watched his face; she knew what he meant.
.
Mayday blinked, he was awake and be alert within seconds, hearing his com buzz. He moved Hela's arm gently from across his chest, they had made up for lost time earlier, and he leaned over to pick up his com, clearing his throat before he answered.
"Mayday here."
He didn't recognise the voice but on checking the ID, it was valid. These orders came directly from High Command; he listened.
"Yes sir! Immediately sir!" He was automatically standing to attention, listening to the unknown voice on the other end.
"My squad?" he asked.
"Yes sir. Thank you sir."
The Admiral spoke again.
"Top Secret. Need to know. I understand." He was trying to keep his voice low, so as not wake Hela but couldn't really, without it appearing odd to the Admiral he was speaking to. He wasn't a Jedi General but a human Republic Navy Admiral, he would hear any hesitation. Not one that Mayday knew personally but…
He read the Orders.
"Yes sir. Understood sir. Consider it done."
The com link closed.
He read the orders on his com again; full details sent to his datapad.
'Assigned to garrison a supply depot on the planet Barton IV. The inventory on the planet and all new imports are to be fully defended. It is of the utmost importance that no insurgents or enemies of the state gain access to the said supplies.'
It was a new Company. He had never heard of it before and was surprised he had heard nothing from Cody regarding it. He would have contacted him but for the orders he stared at in front of him.
He felt Hela's arms snake around him, as she leaned against his back.
"Problem?" She asked, her voice still husky with sleep.
He twisted around to face her, cupping her face, he kissed her. When he pulled away, she said, "You have to leave now don't you?"
"Yes. Special orders from top brass. Higher even than Cody."
"Higher? Ben?"
He shook his head, "I can't really say."
"Where?"
He shook his head again.
"Just let me know you're okay, that you're safe." She had a bad feeling about this. Everything seems to be coming to a head. First Yerbana with the 212th then he came back after Palpatine's kidnapping and fought in the Battle of Coruscant with only snatched conversations for them in between.
But they had both survived.
And now finally finding Grievous, Dooku destroyed, Ben was already heading out and Cody was following.
These last few hours together had to be enough.
She hoped that this was the end of the war, or near to it. She knelt on the bed, her arms still around him, head resting on his back for one last time before he left. In a few hours he would be in hyperspace.
.
Republic Ship Nexu
Hyperspace Enroute to Barton IV
Naval Commander Prakas, Officer in charge of the Republic cruiser, Nexu, checked their progress and status.
Several hours out of Coruscant and all was well.
He stood on the bridge with the Clone Commander next to him. They watched hyperspace streaming by as they sped to their destination.
He had worked with clones the whole of the war and had no problem with them. They were the perfect soldiers and followed orders readily and to the letter. And this run was delivery only.
The Coms Lieutenant stepped up beside them.
"Sir!" He addressed only the Naval Commander.
"We've received a distress call." He handed a datapad to Commander Prakas.
Mayday looked at him, having overheard them and ignoring the jibe that the subordinate officer had given him.
Prakas turned to him.
"Normal protocol is that we stop and give assistance, Commander. Your orders?"
Prakas treated Mayday as an equal and this was his mission, not Prakas'. The Clone Commander knew what he was doing which was more than could be said about some of his new staff.
Mayday hesitated, his Orders were to reach his destination asap.
"Any planets or other ships nearby that could render assistance?" He asked.
"No Commander and no one else appears to have answered his call. He's drifting, dead in space, life support failing."
"Do we have an ID?"
"It's a Jedi cruiser, identified as being piloted by Baylan Skoll."
Mayday smiled, "Render assistance Commander. I'll head down to the hangar to meet him."
.
Baylan stepped off his damaged cruiser, the rogue Separatist ship had surprised him dropping out of hyperspace immediately in front of him, but it was now destroyed. All this fighting was wearing despite the fact that he knew he was good at it. It was not what he was brought up to believe, what he expected to be doing when he was an adult.
"General!"
Baylan recognised the clone voice greeting him.
"Commander! It's good to see you. Surprised, this far out, but good." He held out a hand in greeting.
Mayday grasped it, on the forearm. Baylan understood that the clone template was of the Mandalorian culture but he had never felt Mayday was overtly Mandalorian, perhaps it was in their genes.
"Good to see you too, General. Glad we could be of help."
"Where are you heading?" Asked Baylan.
"Sorry General but that's on a need to know basis but we can probably drop you off somewhere. I'll get the Engineers to look at your cruiser in the meantime."
Baylan frowned before asking, "Can you get me to the nearest Republic base so I can get more repairs done there? It's in pretty bad shape."
Mayday recalled his orders, as much as he wanted to help the Jedi, he had his orders, "I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, let's get a medic to check you over and then some food."
Baylan followed the Commander, noting how his rank sat well with him.
"I heard about Plug and Wings. My condolences." He didn't mention about them now being one with the Force, not everyone appreciated that sentiment and he knew from experience that it could sound callous to those who didn't believe.
"Thank you sir. They are missed; Plug was a good Medic and Wings a good pilot."
Baylan felt the flare of sorrow from him. These men may appear to simply fight, die and move on but he knew better than most what feelings they were capable of.
"And friends?"
Mayday didn't answer straight away, "Yes. Good friends."
They reached Medbay.
A clone medic came over, armour all white, only identified as a medic simply by the badge on his shoulder armour.
Baylan looked at Mayday.
"We've had many new troops join us, sir. The new medic can check you over."
He looked at the soldier sitting on one of the bunks, "Tank? Have you got a problem?"
"Just a headache that I can't shake. Had it for a couple of days now but the medic," he didn't sound particularly happy with him, "says there's no problem. Possibly stress. I've told him I don't suffer from stress. I'm not a shiny."
"Tank—"
"I'm so laid back, I'm almost horizontal." He growled at the medic.
"Tank. Just take the painkillers, we can work on this later."
Tank stretched his neck out grumbling and stormed out. Mayday watched worried, this wasn't like him. He'd talk to him; he needed him at full strength with the number of shinies they had now. They all felt a little on edge with this secrecy they had been ordered under.
"The General's fine, sir." The medic piped up, "No injuries. Blood sugar a little low but that's all."
Baylan watched the new clones, they felt different to the older ones, more insular, focused but not like the innocent men that were deployed at the beginning of the war. These were more closed off. The Kaminoans must have changed the training or it was Shaak Ti's influence but it didn't feel like it. There wasn't the awe the original troopers felt when they first met a Jedi, not that he wanted that for himself. He preferred a good grounded soldier any day.
"Ready for something to eat sir?" Mayday asked, his own stomach was rumbling at the thought of it.
"I thought you'd never ask. After you! It's been a while but we can use the Force to subsist but it's not the same and it's draining."
"I would imagine so."
"Have you seen Ms Nim recently?"
Baylan sensed tension at the mention of her name but he waited patiently for the reply.
"A little while ago. She's well."
"Good! Let's get that food, old friend." He put his hand on Mayday's arm, "Do they have any Tibanna Splits here?"
He laughed, "Not so lucky sir. This way."
Mayday led the way.
.
"Hela! Wake up!"
A distant voice called to her.
"Hela! Now!"
A hand roughly shook her by the shoulder.
She felt she had only been asleep a few hours, blinking awake, she looked at the chrono. She had only been asleep a few hours; unable to get to sleep as she hadn't heard anything from Mayday, nothing, no holo, audio or text message. She pushed herself up and rubbed at her eyes, struggling to wake up.
"Zur? What's wrong?"
"The Jedi have staged a coup or tried to."
"A coup? Who?" Now she was waking up.
"Some Jedi are dead and Palpatine was attacked in his office but he survived. Some say he was badly injured, burnt, in the attack. We're still waiting for more Intel to come in." He had his hand to his ear; he obviously had his com unit in.
Hela sat there in shock, unable to take in the information he was feeding her.
"Here!" He pushed a Caf at her, "It looks like it was targeted, only the Chancellor. Most of the Jedi died, we don't know who yet!"
She took a drink of the scalding, strong caf; her brain desperately struggling to catch up.
"The GAR has been mobilised."
She followed him from the bedroom, watching how he paced back and forth in the living area; he had fallen back on his training and was following orders now. He pulled up some details on the Holoscreen.
Hela watched, in horror, as hundreds of clones with blue markings on their armour strode into the Jedi Temple.
"The 501st are entering the Temple!"
"Why them?"
"There's someone leading them—another Jedi."
She stared at the figure dressed in black.
Then the picture disappeared.
The screen went black.
.
Mayday stood on the bridge, at ease, watching hyperspace streak by.
"How long now Commander?"
"The nearest Republic world is two hours away."
"We'll stop and arrange for Jedi Skoll to go there."
Commander Prakas nodded; he had no problem with that and he personally hadn't been happy working with any Jedi.
A silent buzzing vibration came from a compartment concealed in Mayday's armour. It held a secure comlink, frequency-locked to a channel reserved for the commander in chief.
He had received it on his promotion.
Mayday opened it up, for the first time, a holo message displayed. A hooded figure.
"Commander Mayday!"
He knew the voice immediately, even though he had never spoken to him in person.
"It is time," the figure said. "Execute Order Sixty-Six."
Mayday responded as he had been trained. "It will be done, my lord."
The image vanished and he stuck the comlink back into its concealed recess.
Mayday acted automatically, he couldn't stop himself.
There was only one Jedi nearby. He opened up his comlink.
"Find the Jedi. Execute Order 66!" He ordered before turning to face the Commander.
Prakas nodded.
Mayday strode off the bridge, as the Naval Commanders eyes followed him; he then checked his own coms.
The Jedi, the Coup. Orders— leave it to the Clones. It was what they were trained for. He passed those orders on to his staff.
"Keep out of the Clones' way."
.
Mayday met Tank at the end of the Corridor leading to Baylan's quarters, having passed through a corridor manned by clones shiny and old; they had him boxed in. Tank had come well prepared; they knew how the Jedi fought.
"Is he still in there?" He asked, seemingly rational with his orders. He served the Jedi no longer.
They were traitors.
They were the enemies of the Republic.
They had to be exterminated.
"Yes sir. He hasn't moved."
"Blasters ready. We'll need to overwhelm him with firepower. Watch out for the return fire. They practised batting away blaster bolts, when they were younglings, the same as we practised with our blasters."
"Yes sir!" They replied.
"Have we got back up?"
"Yes sir. Splicer has a lock on him, to track him, if he escapes. All the other corridors are manned."
Mayday raised his hand in anticipation to give the order.
.
Baylan sat in meditation; he had struggled more and more since the outbreak of the war. As a Padawan, he had struggled, thought about leaving the Order, blamed Hela but it wasn't her fault, she had been hurt in the fallout. His fallout. His Trials.
He stood up, uneasy. Something was happening and he couldn't work out what but the Force was in turmoil.
Pouring himself some water, he resolved to try and meditate again.
He had studied the lives of Dooku, Sifo Dyas and Qui Gon Jinn. They had all seemed linked to this turmoil in the past but then he had been called to fight, his studies put on the back burner.
He stood preparing himself, centering himself, ready to sink back into the force, when the enormous bolt of pain erupted in the Force itself. He didn't need to sink back into it, it hit him full blast and he dropped to his knees with the excruciating pain.
He could not believe what he felt and on his knees searched frantically for his lightsaber. He would need it.
The pain dissipated, slightly, then he felt them, the Clones, they were outside, in the corridor.
They wanted to kill him but there was no malice, just orders.
He put his hand out and his lightsaber floated to him.
He had felt all the deaths in the Force, people he knew. Friends he had grown up with. This was worse than Geonosis.
He wasn't ready to die, not yet. He had work to do and the Force was still telling him that.
He lit his lightsaber and pressed the door mechanism.
The blaster bolts came through thick and fast, he blasted many away but he was caught by a few. Using the Force he pushed the pain away.
He focused on the clones and Force pushed a hole in their defences, knocking them sdeways. He ran. He wouldn't have time to finish them off; he needed to get off this ship. It wasn't safe.
He raced down the corridor, his arm and side bleeding. He pushed the pain out of his mind and concentrated, slowing down, as he sensed clones at the other side of the door.
He batted away the blaster bolts, first he had tried not to hit the clones. He had worked with them but these were different and he didn't know them.
They stopped firing, he turned, as he sensed the two clones behind him.
"Mayday! Tank!"
"Skoll! There's no escape." Mayday said with certainty. If it was the last thing he did it would be to kill the traitor.
"This isn't about Hela, is it?"
"This is about treason. The Jedi are traitors. All of them." Mayday instinctively knew that and raised his hand.
"Traitor!" Growled Tank.
Baylan frowned; he sensed they truly believed that.
Mayday's hand went down again and Baylan Skoll had to use all his skills to fight for his life, again.
Using the Force, Baylan anticipated the trajectory of the bolts; these clones were new and their aims were not true. He force pushed them away, they were in his line of sight, which made it easy and he leapt over the bodies; using the force to enhance his speed, he ran for the hanger bay, the clones could not keep up with him. He swept any newcomers aside, hoping he would reach his ship soon. He couldn't keep this up indefinitely, he needed to get off this ship.
He saw his ship, with an engineer, just closing the hatch.
A quick force push removed him.
Baylan jumped in the cockpit and started her up and brought her around, to face the force field.
Moving slowly he fired, targeting the Force field emitters; finally there was a gap and he raced for it. A few clones were pulled through the gap as others held on.
It was now or never.
He pushed his ship through the gap.
.
The flames flared up from the asteroid, as Mayday stood and watched. In the vacuum of space only ignited fuel could cause that colour and ferocity and they had destroyed all the escape pods the Jedi had released to mask his escape.
"Any trace?" He asked the Squad Leader.
A few seconds passed before he answered, "None, Sir. He couldn't have survived that."
"Are you certain?"
"Yes sir. Certain."
"Make another pass and record it."
"Yes sir."
"Commander? We need to resume our course." Prakas finally interrupted.
"Yes. A few minutes. Then we go!"
The pilot came back, "A quarter of the asteroid was blown away. No sign of any ship sir!"
"Return to base."
"Be ready to enter Hyperspace, as soon as he lands."
Mayday turned back to look through the bridge viewscreen his duty done. He had followed his orders.
.
Baylan sat half meditating but cut off from the Force, using it only to reduce his heart rate and breathing; his ship, scorched and battered, with minimum life support, sat in the underground cavern in the middle if what was left of this asteroid. The clones had partially repaired it. He only hoped, the fuel pack he ejected hit the raw coaxium in the asteroid and gave an appropriately large explosion, enough to give the appearance of an explosion the size of his starfighter. He certainly felt the backlash, it had been a risk but the other way was certain death.
He felt it.
He found his Jedi beacon and was about to activate it but decided against it, instead he tried to pick up any messages from other Jedi, and struggled.
He could see the lights from the star fighters; they were still searching for him. It made sense Commander Mayday was thorough, he was a Clone, a good Commander.
He finally found a frequency that worked and listened. A message played on a loop
"This is Master Obi Wan Kenobi. I regret to report that both our Jedi Order and the Republic have fallen with a dark shadow of the Empire rising to take their place. This message is a warning and a reminder for any surviving Jedi. Trust in The Force. Do not return to the Temple…that time has passed. And our future is uncertain. We will each be challenged. Our trust. Our faith. Our friendships. But we must persevere. And in time, a new hope will emerge. May the Force be with you, always."
Baylan sank into a healing trance.
.