On the northern plains of the backwater planet of Nokoi Mindar, a fresh rain had fallen on the grassy region. A light mist had settled near the ground, and it was a dreary, gray day. Four ARC Troopers, led by Jedi Master Thaiman Arcain made their way across the land en route to a Speratist cell believed to be terrorizing the locals.
******************************************
"Sir, how much farther? It's starting to get dark."
Master Arcain replied without even looking back. "Our informant said our target is about 3 klicks north of our base camp. I think we might still have another kilometer to go, one a half tops."
They were walking in a loose line, with Arcain on point and Captain Bowman on rear guard.
Capt. Bowman called out from the back of the line. "Spar, I can't believe you LOST your Deece. You're lucky Retalid has an extra blaster pistol, or you would've been SOL."
"I know, captain," Spar replied. The squad's field medic and radio man, Sgt. Spar wasn't especially good with a weapon, but he still could shoot relatively well.
Sargeant Fallon spoke up. "You better not lose that one either, Spar, or Retalid's gonna have your head on a silver platter," he joked.
"Yeah, what he said," Retalid added. "And I'm not even joking."
"Quiet back there," Arcain said firmly. "We're getting closer to our target, and the last thing we need is a Sep picking up your useless conversations. I want no more irrelevant chatter from here on out."
Suddenly Spar stopped, pressed a button on a pair of headphones, and put them on. The 3 men in front of him paid no notice and continued walking. However, Bowman did and walked up behind him.
"Who's it from, Sargeant?" Bowman asked, careful to keep his voice low so as not to bother Arcain again.
"The Supreme Chancellor, sir," Spar replied and lowered his voice to a mere whisper. "It was short and simple." He bent over close to Bowman.
"The time has come, Commander Bowman. Execute Order 66." The Chancellor's voice had a much more sinister tone to it.
"
Fierfek," Bowan thought. "
I really don't want to do this. Of all times, and of all places, why NOW?" He called out to Arcain, now considerably ahead of him.
He turned around. "Yes?" he called out.
"Some new tactical information was just relayed to us," he lied. "We've confirmed that there are 10 Seperatists located in the cell." "I have some additional target information for my troops."
"Very well," Arcain replied. "I'll wait here."
Spar, Retalid, and Fallon walked up to Bowman and formed a loose huddle around him.
"What is it, Captain?" Fallon asked.
Bowman sighed. He really didn't know how to say this. They had became attached to Arcain in their last 2 months of service. Their tour of duty was to expire in 3 weeks.
"Men, I just recieved a urgent message from the Supreme Chancellor. Order 66 has just been activated. I trust that you all know what to do."
The soldier's faces took on somber looks. They all knew what to do, and were slightly hesitant about it. Infantry clones would have carried it out without a thought, but they weren't infantry. They were ARCs, still bred to listen, but able to think more freely. However, orders were orders, and if their Captain was willing to carry it out, then so be it.
They quietly drew their weapons and prepared to fire. "On my mark," Bowman whispered.
Arcain felt a huge rupture in the Force. He sensed that thousands of his brothers and sisters were being cut down by those they had sworn to work alongside. He managed to whip around just as Bowman gave the order to fire.
The Jedi Master parried their shots with ease.
Arcain unleashed a Force push in Spar's direction, knocking Spar on his feet, dumbstruck.
Realizing that if he continued to attempt to make a stand here, he will surely fall, Arcain launched himself into a graceful backflip and ran off into the heavy Nokoi Mindar foliage.
Watching his new target escape into the high grass, Bowman barked an order to his squad.
"Cease fire," he said, exhausted. "Shooting blindy into the woods will only waste ammo." "Fallon, go check on Spar."
"Dumb Jedi," Spar said, lifting himself to his feet. "I never saw that coming."
"I want you to radio in to Command, Sergeant." "Tell them we attempted to carry out Order 66, but our target escaped. Ask them what they want us to do."
"Yes sir," Spar said. He activated his radio phones and walked away from the group.
"Command, this is Sergeant Spar from Kilo Squad. Master Arcain has escaped in our attempt to carry out Order 66. We request advice on what to do." There was a pause as the radio technician asked the officer on the other end of his line.
"
You have orders to NOT return to base camp until you have confirmed to us that Arcain has been killed, Kilo Squad. We are requesting a holo vid of his body."
"Yes, sir," Spar replied, killing the connection.
Spar walked back to Bowman and relayed the information to him. "Command told us to not return until we can provide holo proof of his death."
"Well, sir, what do we do?" Fallon asked.
Bowman looked him straight in the eye. "What else is there to do?"
"We listen to them."
TO BE CONTINUED...
*******************************************
Well, this was kind of a suprise. This idea popped into my head a couple days ago and I just had to go with it. I apologize for the lack of blaster effects. I don't have Photoshop and didn't want to risk looking cheesy with MS Paint.
I hope you like it. LMK what you think. Thanks for looking.
