» Band of Vat-brothers: The Campaigns of Alpha Squad

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Dramatis Personae:

Alpha Squad:
- Josh: RC-928 Alpha leader
- Jake: RC-999 Alpha munitions
- Ari: RC-226 Alpha computer expert
- Steve: RC-434 Alpha sniper

On Kamino:
- Kal Skirata: commando trainer
- Taun We: Prime minister's aide

On Geonosis:
- Poggle the Lesser: Archduke of the Stalgasin hive
- General Grievous: commander of the droid armies
- Battlefront commander OOM-9: Frontline droid commander

On Coruscant:
- Palpatine: Supreme Chancellor of the Republic
- Mace Windu: Jedi Master
- Yoda: Grand Master of the Jedi Order
- Various Jedi Knights and apprentices
- Anakin Skywalker: Sith apprentice to Darth Sidious
- Commander Appo: Leader of the 501st legion
- Commander Aleph; leader of the Coruscant Home Defense Force

On Kashyyyk:
- Commander Gree: leader of the Republic 41st elite corps
- Delta Squad: Republic Commando squad


Chapter 1: Training
Location: Kamino

When I got back to my quarters after weapons training with Kal Skirata, I was just about to pick up one of my favorite holobooks when I heard boots thudding outside. I furtively poked my head out of my quarters. A squad of ARCs was walking down the corridor. If anything on our side scares us commandos, it's ARCs. We don't talk to them; they don't talk to us. But even so, there is still tension between us. I heard about a commando named Taler who was found hanging off the edge of a landing platform. His helmet recorder had shown ARCs doing it. Several ARCs were killed in a live ammo training exercise when a commando's anti armor attachment "misfired."

I was pulling my head in when I heard someone shout. "Hey, Jake!" It was Josh, our squad leader, running down the hall; out of all of us, he's the one who can't wait to get into battle the most. Ari's our tech expert, he trains with Walon Vau, and he can make a computer dance like a scalded Ronto. Steve is our sniper; he's a quiet one, and gets on well with Josh. I'm the munitions trooper, which means I'm in charge of the explosives. I'm also the unit's smart mouth. Anyhow, I called back. "What's up?"

"Skirata wants us in his quarters."

"So long as we don't get busted by Taun We, I'm fine."

Shortly before this, Theta Squad's party with Kal got cut short when Taun We walked in on them. I heard from a commando named Darman that they had clean out the aiwha stables for a week. Oy.
When we got there, good old Kal broke out the uuj cake. The rich, sweet cake crumbled in my mouth. My god, how can Walon Vau's crew survive without this? Anyhow, we talked for a little bit about the Mandalorian culture. We were just discussing the good points of their armor when the door chime rang. Kal shot to his feet, hiding the uuj cake before opening the door. Taun We stood outside. Crud.

"Skirata," said Taun We in that melodious voice of hers. "What is Alpha Squad doing here?"

Kal may have been old, but he was quite sharp. "We were discussing the high points of Mandalorian culture."

"Indeed. Were you providing refreshments as well?" said Taun We, with a meaningful glance at us. As one, we looked down at our tunics. We evidently hadn't been as clean as we had thought.

"You know the rules, Skirata. The clones' caloric intake is strictly regulated." Kal rolled his eyes. "Two weeks cleaning out the aiwha stables ought to give you time to reflect on your misdeeds."

"Two!!" I sputtered. "Theta squad only got one." "Taun We looked at me. "You will get a week. Skirata will get two since he is a repeat offender." With that, Taun We walked out.

"Grey jerks," growled Kal. We cracked up.


Next morning, I woke up with an ARC trooper's helmet right in my face. I screamed and stumbled out of bed. I saw the helmet's owner, in full armor, sans helmet, standing nearby. He chuckled. "This punk's up. Take him to his friends," he spoke. I now saw the helmet was red, hanging on a string; this guy must be a commander. Several blue-armored ARCs moved forward, but instead of grabbing me, they handed me some armor. The commander jerked a thumb behind him. "Move it punk, your friends are waiting."

I walked in a daze, until I saw my squadmates ahead, strapping on their armor. I realized where we were headed: the Killing House!

The Killing House was where the toughest training on Kamino took place. The enemies were captured CIS combat droids with live ammo; our ammo was live as well, a single misfire could kill one of your teammates. I heard a rumor that Alpha, the best of the ARC troopers, had to rescue his instructor from two MagnaGuards in the Killing House.

It was the Kaminoan's way of culling the weak clones from the strong clones, despite the fact only ARCs and Commandos trained there.

I strapped on my armor, activating my HUD. I threw a punch with my left arm. Thaang. The vibroblade within my knuckleplate extended and retracted. Josh addressed us. "Our mission is to rescue Kal. He is being held in the top of the tower. Our enemies are Super Battle Droids, Battle Droids, a Droideka or two, and a MagnaGuard guarding Kal."

Then we yelled our rallying cry: "An army of one man, but the right man for the job!!" With that, we walked in.

Upon entering, we were greeted by a fusillade of laserfire from two battle droids. Ari and Steve scattered for cover, while Josh and I whipped out our guns. My DC-15 joined his DC-17 in nailing the droids. The first one was decapitated by my barrage; it spun around firing at random locations, while its head lay on the ground, repeating," Roger roger, roger roger..."

The second one's power cell was hit, and it detonated. Steve and Ari got out from under cover, with Ari knifing the decapitated droid's power cell.

The door was locked. Ari wanted to slice the terminal; I wanted to blow the door up. We wound up compromising. I would blow this one, with Ari slicing the one after that and so on. I planted my charge while the squad got under cover. I joined Steve on the left side of the door and blew the charge. Josh heaved an BMP (electromagnetic pulse) grenade in, a good thing, as three Super Battle Droids waited, ready to blow us to bits. Upon entering, I whipped out my DC-17, jammed on the anti armor attachment, and plugged away. The first SBD was hit in its head and went down; the second one was nailed in the chest by a sniper shot from Steve, exposing circuitry. Ari raced forward and knifed the exposed circuitry. The SBD gave a cry of "No!" and pitched forward. During all this, Josh had been blasting away at the third one, blowing off the armor on its chest and head areas, exposing computers in both. I almost casually let a grenade fly from my anti armor attachment, catching it right in the head.

There was another door ahead, but it was not locked. We charged through, skidding to a halt as two droidekas rolled up and unfolded. We scattered, but Ari wasn't fast enough; he got caught in a barrage, getting hit in the shoulder. Steve provided medical help, while I heaved four EMP grenades. One was to take down their integrated shields, another to finish them off. The strategy worked.

Ahead was a door. Ari sliced it, revealing our objective... and his guard. The MagnaGuard moved into action, whirling his electrostaff to block our shots.

He charged towards Josh, who was keeping up a steady stream of laserfire, and was about to nail him when an RPG from my Anti-Armor attachment nailed him in the chest, knocking him down.

The stun cufis imprisoning Kal broke off. Kal smiled. "Endex, Boys," he said. "I have no doubt you will do great in the field."


Chapter 2: Operation Bug Hunt
Location: Geonosis

We were standing on an attack gunship waiting to be launched from a Republic Assault ship's hanger bay. The holoprojecter was lit up with an image of the Adviser, a clone commander who coordinated commando operations. "Alpha squad, our intelligence has shown that Poggle the Lesser's hive is the main one cooperating with Dooku. If we eliminate Poggle, we stand a good chance of getting the geonosians to pull out of the Separatists."

Josh spoke: Where is this guy, and who is guarding him?"

To the extent a guy wearing a helmet could, Adviser looked sheepish. "Well... we're not really sure, but we have a pretty good idea. The Stalgasin Hive's territory is mainly in sector two, so that's where you'll search. We'll comm you if we find anything new. Good luck. Adviser out."

"Pilot!" called Josh up to the cockpit. "Launch us!"

"Yes sir," said the pilot.

As the gunship descended towards Geonosis, I turned to Josh.

"Sir."

"Yes?"

"I've been thinking about that MagnaGuard we faced on Kamino. I think it was dumbed down for our exercise."

Josh looked at me. "You're not the only one. Ari sliced some files. He found out it had been made less deadly and tactically adept."

I swore. "So that really isn't what a MagnaGuard can do."

"Nope."

"Sirs," called up the pilot. "We're entering the atmosphere now, you may want to strap in."

"Right," said Josh.

As we accelerated for Geonosis, the gunship shook with turbulence. As soon as we breached the atmosphere, we headed for the landing zone. As we did so, the pilot opened the doors. As one, our jaws dropped. Clone trooper phalanxes led by Jedi, lightsabers ignited, ran towards an army of droids so large, you couldn't pick out individual units. Steve nodded. "So that's why so many rank and file troopers were created." Ari nodded grimly.

The pilot spoke, "Sirs, we're approaching the landing zone. Stand by."

Suddenly an explosion rocked the gunship. "Pilot!" I yelled. "What was that?"

"Flak guns, sir. I don't think we're going to make the landing zone. Wait a minute... oh fierfek." There was an enormous explosion, and the pilot screamed, "Yaaaah!"


"Pilot? Pilot!"

There was no response.

Josh swore. "He's dead, and we're on a ballistic course. Prepare to bail out."

Steve walked over to the door. "We won't need to."

"Why?"

"Because we'll be crashing about... now."

I nodded. "Those repulsor packs they gave us sure were a waste of credits."

Josh looked at me. "Shut up."

The gunship's cockpit whammed into the ground, skidding along into a back over front somersault. Fortunately, we managed to jump out before it hit. Unfortunately, a squad of Battle Droids had come to check out the crash site, and they were not there to take any prisoners. How did we know? Because they came at us with guns blazing, that's how.

I whipped out my DC-17, jamming the blaster attachment on, and plugged away. Josh had done the same. Steve and Ari were flanking us, providing pistol fire. There were ten droids. There were four of us. They didn't stand a chance. The droids were blasted to rubble. One was carrying a comlink that was saying: "New orders from General Grievous to Battlefront commander OOM-9: Report to escort the general and Poggle the Lesser to the Invisible Hand's shuttle."

Josh commed Adviser. "We just got a comm intercept. Can you make any sense of it?"

Adviser responded. "Yep. Stand by." A pause. "Oh, fierfek."

"What?" asked Steve.

"I guess you got a bad briefing. OOM-9, according to our intel, is a frontline droid commander and the shrewdest of the Separatist tacticians. For a droid, that is. He commanded the invasion of Naboo."

I snorted. "And he's proud of that?"

"Quiet," said Josh. "And the rest of the transmission?"

"We don't know who Grievous is, but you must intercept Poggle before he reaches his ship. Good luck. Oh, and if you see this Grievous person, try to get a holo. Adviser out."

We crept through the entrance the droids had been defending, entering the Separatist facility. We walked unseen until we reached the executive area. We heard voices. One was speaking the guttural Geonosian language; the other was a harsh, grating synthesized voice.

The Geonosian was saying. "<I don't care how many commandos are coming after us, General. I am not leaving until Sun Fac is clear; he has all my data files.>"

The synthesized voice said. "Sun Fac is dead. I just got word his ship was destroyed."


The two continued to talk. Ari aimed a wafer-thin holocam around the corner to get a look at our quarry. One was a Geonosian leader, with four wings, and with enough golden bracelets on his arms to gold leaf a republic assault ship. The other was a cyborg monstrosity. It was two meters high, with feet equipped with claws, and a barrel chested body. At his hips started a set of reverse ribs and body armor. His head nearly touched the ceiling, made of interlocking bands of metal, culminating in a nightmare face mask from which peered two sallow, yellow reptilian eyes. Beside this horror stood two MagnaGuards, their round crimson eyes methodically scanning the corridor for intruders. I looked closer at this monstrosity. Holstered at his hip was a DT-56 Annihilator blaster pistol, but that wasn't the worst of his weaponry: on his waist hung several lightsabers. This could only be one person. The general of the droid army, Grievous!

Ari hurriedly transmitted this image to Adviser. I looked at Josh, wondering what to do. Josh didn't say anything. He launched himself around the corner, and opened fire! I thought, When on Coruscant, do as the Coruscanti do. I jammed on my anti armor attachment, and turned the corner. Josh had taken out one MagnaGuard though sheer surprise, but Grievous, Poggle and the surviving MagnaGuard were not taking any more casualties. The MagnaGuard that had survived Josh's onslaught charged for Steve and Ari, who promptly extended their vibroblades to duel the deadly droid, and Josh had gotten into a fight with Poggle, who had produced a sonic pistol.

Which left Grievous.

The General's reptilian eyes locked onto me. I tensed, waiting. The General moved with blinding speed, drawing his pistol, twirling it on his forefinger as he brought it up, and blazed away. I let fly a grenade, which missed as the General sidestepped away from it, quickly resuming fire in his new position. I jammed on my blaster attachment. Grenades were too inaccurate and had too slow a rate of fire. I plugged away, scoring grazes on Grievous's arms, and hits on his chest armor. The General's eyes narrowed. I saw a seam opening on his arms as they split in half, the two new ones drawing two of the General's multiple lightsabers. The General did not charge me, instead he continued firing with his blaster pistols. When I resumed fire, he blocked the shots with his lightsabers.

"Run," said Grievous to Poggle. "Get to the shuttle."

Poggle fired off one last shot at Josh, and flew off down the corridor. Josh had taken the shot full in the face. He was not moving. The MagnaGuard had taken down Steve and Ari. The guard turned its attention to me, but Grievous motioned it back. The General spoke. "You are all valiant warriors. I will let you live to revive them. But mark my words: you will be dead the next time I see you." With that, Grievous and the surviving MagnaGuard walked out.

I raced over to my fallen comrades, reviving them. Josh's helmet had fallen off, and there was a dangerous glint in his eyes. "There will be a day of reckoning for you, Grievous. You have my word," vowed Josh. Ari nodded grimly. "So there may be, but we need to get out of here.

Two hours later, we were debriefed. I walked into the quarters I shared with Josh. I spoke, deadpan. "If every mission is like that one, I quit."

Josh snorted. "Sure you do." Two minutes later, we were fast asleep.


Chapter 3: Surprise Attack
Location: Coruscant

I was resting in my quarters on Coruscant, reminiscing on the war, and how it had changed us. Josh had gone from the young clone eager to get into combat, to being a commando who was just doing his job, no longer yearning for the thrills of battle. None of us were. Steve was pretty much the same: still of few words, still the same cold-blooded efficiency, still the same lack of hesitation to pull the trigger when he got someone dead center in his sights. Ari was a bit different, he wasn't as eager to slice computers, or blast droids or Geonosians or Trandoshans or whatever else the Separatists might throw at us. Even I, the wiseacre quintessential to any military unit, wasn't as quick with jokes; or, for that matter, grenades or rockets or explosives anymore.

Whoever first said war is hell had no idea how right they were. I thought about the battles we had participated in. It had all gone downhill from Geonosis. We were at Karnino, defending the cloning facility; we were at Tibrin, Skor II, Praesitlyn, Antar 4, and others.

Fortunately, a Jedi had suggested keeping an RC squad at Coruscant in case of an attack. We were, as so colorfully expressed by the men of Omega Squad, the "lucky di'kuts" who got picked. Ostensibly, we were here to keep the peace. In reality, it was a lot like a break, except we toted our weaponry around.

I was going to get up to head to Josh's quarters (we had our own rooms now) when a clone commander named Aleph burst in. Aleph was known as "the crazy commander". This was because he had been shunted, starting at Geonosis, from division to division to division, until receiving a unit of the CHODEF, the Coruscant HOme DEfense Force. One of his units had been Commander Cody's squad. As a result he wore armor identical to one of the men in the 212th, except he wore a rocketpack, and it was blue, the color of most squads based on Coruscant, such as the 501st. "We're under attack!" Aleph exclaimed. "Come with me. I've been put in command of your squad."

I shot out of my bunk and had my armor on in a flash. I jammed my blaster attachment onto my DC, bolstered my pistol, and threw some extra ammo into my backpack. Aleph and I alerted Josh, Steve, and Ari. We raced onto our garrison's landing platform, and into our gunship, the pilot of which was taking off even as we jumped in. Aleph promptly contacted Thire, another CHODEF commander. "The situation is bad," said Aleph. "Sectors 1, 2, and 3 are holding, but 4 and 5 need reinforcements, Commanders Fordo and Appo gave us communications."

I didn't hear what Thire said, but Aleph spoke. "Right, we'll reinforce Sector 5." Aleph turned to us. "Sector 5 is being manned by Commander Appo and the 501st legion. Once you land, make contact with Appo and his squad. I will join you shortly."

"Where are you going?" inquired Ari.

"I'm heading out to see the situation in sector 4. Good luck." Thus saying, Aleph triggered his jetpack and rocketed away.

When we landed at Sector 5 Appo's squad wasn't hard to find. White armor with blue stripes really stands out. The commander walked over, his troops providing covering fire. "We're holding off the Seps for now, but I don't know how much longer we can hold out."

Josh thumbed to the gunship. "The gunship can provide air support. We'll see how we can help on the front lines."

Appo looked at the gunship. He had grown pale behind his helmet. "Get that gunship out of there. Now!"

Josh motioned some hand signals to the pilot, who nodded, pulling the gunship out, firing his lasers as he went. Several Separatist-fired rocket propelled grenades slammed into the gunship. The pilot and copilot ejected, but the ball turret gunners went down with the ship. The pilot ran up to us.

"Guess I'm with your legion now, sir."

Appo nodded. "You and your copilot can form up with the firing line." He turned to us. "Come with me. Platoons 5 and 6 are going to make a push at their right flank."

Ari spoke. "Why not make it a pincer strike. Have two other platoons attack their left flank."

Appo considered it. "Sure, but two of you will have to oversee the other two platoons."

Josh nodded. "Ari, Steve: you're heading up the right pincer. Appo, Jake, and myself will oversee the left pincer."

Ari and Steve nodded and ran off. Appo turned to us. "Right, let's go."

At our platoons, we fired like mad; I soon lost count of how many droids I killed. Appo suddenly cocked his head, then nodded. "The right pincer is set. Let's go!"

Screaming battle cries, we jumped over the mound of downed droids providing us cover. We charged, our blasters blazing. Smoke soon began to curl off my blaster barrel. Josh spotted a downed Gatling gunner. Waving hand signals, he indicated for me to get his gun. I nodded, grabbed the gun, and opened fire. As we charged, we began to turn to the right, encompassing the Separatist's right flank. We heard whoops and cheers indicating Ari and Steve's group had done the same.

The droids caught in the middle did not stand a chance. We tore into them like a howlrunner tears into its prey. My Gatling gun was soon overheated. Ari and Steve joined up with us, while Appo excused himself.

We had just eliminated the last SBD when Commander Aleph appeared, flying towards us on his rocket pack. "Good job boys. Sector Four is clear. Commander Fordo has General Windu and Master Yoda assisting him."

I sighed wistfully. "Some clones get all the luck." Appo, who had returned, shook his head. "I got a transmission from the temple. They're seeing if they can spare someone."

Aleph spoke. "There's only girls at the temple. Couldn't Fordo spare Master Windu? We could use a male."

Ari and I looked at him, and chorused: "Chauvinist."

Josh snorted. "Yeah, right there are. You wouldn't be saying that if we got Aayla Secura."

I pointed out: "Say anything? He'd be too busy staring at her."

"Oh yeah?" said Aleph. "Well I'd... Ooooh! Uuuuh." Aleph pitched forward like a sack of potatoes. Only then did we see the homing laser burning through the back of his helmet.

"Otuctaparra droids!" exclaimed Appo. The newest addition to the droid army, Otuctaparra droids, also called Multi-gun droids by us clones, consisted of a base of multiple legs, a pole that could extend or retract, with blaster nozzles around the middle, and a fat head studded with red eyes. Multi-guns could fire regular blaster shots, or homing lasers like the one that had taken down Aleph.

I swore, "Fierfek!" Then I opened fire, blowing the head off of one. I knelt on one knee, blowing another in half.

When the Multi-gun squad had been demolished, we got a transmission from Master Windu: "Attention all Republic ground forces: the conflict is over. On the ground, at least." I looked around. Not one Separatist droid was standing. We cheered, not hearing the rest of the message: "But Palpatine has been captured."


Chapter 4: Furball Wars
Location: Kashyyyk

We stood in the loading bay of our gunship, waiting. The image of Commander Gree, leader of the Republic forces on Kashyyyk, sprang to life. Gree didn't waste time with greetings. "Alpha squad, the battle will start soon. The 41st Elite is manning the front lines. You, along with Delta Squad, will head behind Separatist lines and sabotage as many vehicles as you can. Good luck." The image faded.

Josh turned to us. "Since sabotaging the Sep droids and tanks involves planting charges, we'll have to cover Jake as best we can."

Ari sighed. "Some clones get all the luck."

"Cut the chatter," said Josh. "Pilot, head in."

As our gunship lifted off, we spotted another one with similar markings moving to flank us. "That'll be the Deltas," said Steve.

The gunship's comm crackled and buzzed: "This is RC-1138, Delta Leader, calling RC-928. 928 please respond."

I pressed the send button, and made my voice an imitation of Josh's. "This is RC-928. I don't think we'll be needing your help, so fierfek off, di'kut."

Josh plucked the comm out of my hands. "This is RC-928. Go, Delta Lead."

On the other end, we could hear a voice saying: "Looks like you've found a kindred spirit, Scorch." Then a different one: "Shut it Sev." Then Delta Leader's: "We're going to transfer over to your gunship. It'll minimize collateral damage."

When the Deltas came aboard, we just stood there until their leader introduced them. "Greetings, ner vod. My name's Boss, I'm squad leader." He gestured to a commando with a flame on his helmet. "That's Sev. He's our sniper." He pointed at the one wearing a backpack like Ari's. "That's Fixer. He's our tech expert." He then pointed out the final one, who was practically salivating at the sight of the rocket launcher I had acquired. "That's Scorch. He's munitions."

Josh introduced us. That was when the pilot called, "Sirs, we're approaching the landing zone."

Boss called up, "Commence approach."

"Sir."

I looked at my fellow munitions trooper. Scorch had quite a comprehensive set of explosives. I gestured at one. "Is that a MerrSonn munitions sticky bomb?"

Scorch perked up. "You sure bet it is. It'll stick to anything. Droids, vehicles, Trandoshans, you name it, it'll stick."

I looked at him incredulously. "You've tried it on Trandos?"

"Yep."

We were off chatting about explosives until the pilot called up: "Sirs, we're coming up on the landing zone, hold tight."

"We'll try not to lose our lunch," I called up.

The pilot set us down, and we climbed out, Josh telling the pilot we'll call when we needed to be pulled out. We jumped out, blasters blazing blue bolts, blowing sentry droids to bits. Scorch and I got to work right away. Scorch raced over to a dormant HMP droid gunship, while I got to work on an NR-N99 tank droid. Both our squads shifted restlessly, looking for droids. Scorch had finished on the HMP, having mined its thrusters, and had gotten to work on an AAT tank. That was when two droidekas arrived. We got under cover and blazed away, soon overwhelming their shields and blowing them to bits. If I hadn't been wearing a helmet, I might have mopped my brow. I punched in the arming code on the charge on the NR-N99, and rushed over to two thankfully offline dwarf spider droids. They didn't take too long, and soon I was working on a homing spider droid. That was when servos whined and engines powered up: the droid army was in motion. We got under cover, and Ari sent a quick transmission to Commander Gree, giving him the frequencies and detonation codes for the charges.

Josh put out the comm call for the gunship to pick us up. We waited. It wasn't a gunship that picked us up, but a Theta-class shuttle. Two of the Chancellor's Red Guards exited, and told us to come with them. When the Chancellor's personal bodyguards ask you to go somewhere, you go.

When Boss asked what to do, one of the Red Guards jerked a thumb back to the gunship landing behind the shuttle. We said our farewells, and clambered aboard. As the shuttle took off, the droid army powered up its generators, and rumbled off towards Commander Gree's forces. The Battle of Kashyyyk had begun, but we would not be there to see it.

The Red Guards informed us that we had to return to Coruscant. We were to be assigned a gunship, and patrol the Jedi Temple from the air. So it was that we were on Coruscant when Order 66 was given.


Chapter 5: Order 66
Location: Coruscant

Steve, being equipped with a sniper rifle, was the first to spot the signs of Order 66. He motioned us over to his side of the gunship's open personnel bay. "Sir," he said to Josh. "Isn't that General Skywalker and the 501st? They're heading for the Jedi Temple."

Josh peered through Steve's scope. "You're right, it is."

Ari took a look. "They look they're ready for battle, not to protect the Temple. Appo's got his rifle held in an aiming position."

I nodded. "This sure is strange."

Suddenly, the comm beeped. We all ran over. Josh hit the receive button. The image of a hooded man appeared. We knew who he was. "My lord," said Josh.

The man spoke, "Alpha squad, the time has come. Execute Order 66."

I remembered one of the lessons Kal had given us: "The Jedi may say they are for the Republic, but there will come a time when they turn against it. When you receive a directive called "Order 66", that time will have come. You will protect the Republic. You will eliminate the Jedi." I considered our Standing Orders. Number One was to achieve the Objective. We would do it. I said, "It will be done, my lord."

The pilot had also received the order. He brought us towards the Temple, attempting to blow out a window. The windows were shielded, but Ari managed to remote slice the computer system, and bring them down. A single laser volley from the gunship blew one in. As we entered, a laser volley from the Temple's defense systems brought it down.

I sighed. "What is it with us and gunships? Every time we use one, it gets shot down. That is, except on Kashyyk." Steve told me to shut up.

That was when a Jedi dropped down from above, lightsaber ignited. I didn't waste any time. I drew my rifle and let loose a volley of shots, the Jedi blocked them. I hesitated for a second, then extended my vibroblade and charged. The Jedi, a Gand, hadn't expected it. Green Blood spattered across my helmet, before being removed by the laser wiper. I looked at the body. My first kill against the people I had once proudly served. Josh motioned us into the next room.

The Jedi within evidently had not heard us enter. One was saying in a voice that loudly proclaimed his lunacy and arrogance: "Bring on the clones. My new lightsaber will kill 'em all." Another said: "You do that David. There's a squad in the room right now."

"Oh goody!" Our adversary jumped out from cover. He spoke. "If you surrender now, I will not have to use this lightsaber with against you."

I looked at the rest of my squad, then stared in disbelief at the Jedi. As one, we raised our rifles and opened fire. The thing was, we didn't hit any vital areas. That was why he was still alive, albeit with bolt holes in his arms and legs, when a voice behind me said, "Leave him to me." I looked behind me, and there was Anakin Skywalker, flanked by Commander Appo and the Five-Oh-First. So he had remained loyal to the Chancellor. We watched in horror as he asphyxiated the Jedi, and set to work methodically exterminating the younglings. When he was done, he turned to us. "I want you four to sweep the building, don't leave a single Jedi unharmed."

As he finished saying that, a Twi'lek raced for Skywalker, but was stopped by a barrage from my rifle. I stared in stunned disbelief at the body of El'iana Tromm'er, who had worked with us on Antar 4. She had been my friend. A sister, practically. Josh nodded. We moved out.

As we walked down the hallway, I spoke. "Does anyone think what we are doing is wrong? That the Chancellor is wrong?" My squadmates nodded.

Then: "I heard that." Skywalker. "You are with us. Or you are against us."

Josh spoke. "Then we are against you."

"I thought so." With that, Skywalker hurled his lightsaber. Steve and Ari bought it before they realized what had happened. Josh didn't last too much longer. He got stabbed in the chest. Skywalker turned to me, and his face was the scariest thing I have ever seen. It was a mask of rage, pain, and betrayal. "I will let you live. To learn your lesson."

I never understood why he did that singular act of mercy. The rest of that night is a blur; memories of killing one Jedi after another, seeing their bodies hit the ground, remembering my comrades, both Clone and Jedi. I was retired from the service not too long after Order 66, due to my advanced age. I miss my comrades, and, to this day, have never forgotten that night at the Temple, the night of Order 66.

Memoirs of RC-999, known as Jake to his Squadmates.