Star Wars: Executing The Order (306th Anthology Part 4)

Chapter 3

The ride over to the outpost was a long and solemn one for Aurora. On their approach, Sierra had gotten in to a freak skirmish with the Separatists. He'd lost three men and his medic, Kit. He and General Redath along with a few reinforcements were now on their way to assist in the mission. Aurora left his sergeant in charge of the legion whilst he relieved Sierra of his command. The shock of losing another clone dear to him made him unfit for command. Aurora understood. It had happened to him before as well.

The gunship set down closer to the outpost than the first, but the clones unloaded and the gunship was on its way before anyone else knew. Aurora could see the clones milling across the plain, headed towards the outpost. General Redath gestured to Aurora and his men to follow him. They met up with the first group moments later.

"Sierra," Aurora beckoned for him to come. "You're out. Get on the transport. I'll take over from here,"

And in a single moment, Aurora pulled out a now beeping holopad. Chancellor Palpatine's deformed and mangled face shrouded by his flowing black cloak appeared on the pad. The words the Chancellor spoke rung in Sierra's ears, "Execute Order 66,"

Aurora replied without hesitation, and with no thought raised his blaster towards the unsuspecting Jedi, along with the rest of the clones around him. Sierra did not however, for his chip did not activate. He watched in horror as the first clones let out a salvo of laser fire. The general, in a split second flare of the reflexes, brought his lightsaber to his hands and ignited it, only nearly managing to deflect the shots. Then he charged the nearest clone, Livewire.

Sierra couldn't tell if he screamed or not. He couldn't hear, or breathe, or taste. He couldn't do anything but watch absently while his men turned on the Jedi. He watched as the general's green blade sunk deep into Livewire's chest. The general then cut down two more clones before being hit once in the abdomen by the general's next target, Aurora. Redath slumped to his knees. Another shot hit the Weequay. His dormant lightsaber hilt slipped from his limp grasp and dropped to the Saleucami dirt. A third shot caught the general's forehead, taking his life. The clones did not cease firing. More and more the clones pumped blue lasers into the Jedi's corpse. They showed no remorse for him. They just followed orders.

The final blaster went silent and the clones reverted back to being themselves again, or at least the ones that survived. Aurora dropped to his knees in front of the dead Jedi. He craned his neck to look at Sierra, an utterly bewildered look plastered across his chiseled face. "What happened? Why is he dead?"

Sierra could not bring himself to speak. His mouth hung open like the cargo ramp of a ship. Aurora looked to Livewire and the other dead clones, the cause of which being very clear. "Did he turn on us?"

Sierra found a little bit of movement. He shook his head weakly. His gut quivered at the thought of what happened.

"Tell me what happened!" Aurora cried, the pain welling in his voice. "Why are three of my men dead and why is the Jedi dead with them!"

"The Chancellor... and the Order... and... you turned on him... I..." Sierra struggled through short and light breaths. He blacked out and slumped to the dirt.

The next time he was relatively normal was when he awoke aboard the Acclamator. Please tell me that was a dream! he cried to himself. He looked around the quarters. Troops were conducting tasks as normal, but there were no signs of Kit or Livewire, let alone the Jedi. He rose from his bunk, slowly and painfully. His body was numb but in pain at the same time. His heart sunk when he overheard two of his men discussing the elimination of Jedi across the galaxy.

Oh hell! Why did it have to be real?!

Sierra slammed his palm against his bunk, shooting pain through his hand and startling the troopers around him. He yelled at himself for being so foolish and not trying to stop anything. He knew there was nothing he could have done, which made him feel even worse.

In a rash decision, a stupid, impulsive decision Sierra bolted to the end of his bunk and opened up his footlocker. In it lay a blaster pistol. Sierra grabbed the weapon and held it against his head. He cried out, and he was about to pull the trigger when he was tackled from behind. His assailant was Aurora, who rolled him over and knocked him out with a solid punch to his jaw.

Sierra was only out for a couple seconds. He regained his conciousness to Aurora still sitting over him. "You are not killing yourself. Not on my watch,"

Sierra squirmed under the oppression of Aurora. He didn't want to deal with the loss of men anymore. He didn't want to deal with war, or pain, or suffering. He wanted it to be over. Aurora wouldn't let him do it. The blaster was too far out of his reach.

"The Emperor is giving you a choice, Sierra. One I wouldn't want to turn down," Aurora spoke, a hint of condesention in his voice. "He wants you to be a commander for his new stormtrooper legion. He says if you deny you run the risk of being hunted down by the Empire. You have a simple choice. Join or die,"

Sierra lashed out as best he could from his prone position. He caught Aurora square in the throat with his fist, sending his commander toppling off of him, gasping for air. The other clones stared in awe at him. He was about to run when a clone, probably Aurora's sergeant, barked at the shocked men to detain him. Sierra grabbed the pistol that lay on the barracks floor and aimed it at the nearest clone. The troop dropped with one squeeze of the trigger. Two more of Sierra's brothers followed suit leaving him and the sergeant remaining.

Im his haste, the sergeant jumbled words into his comm, attempting to alert the cruiser to Sierra's betrayal. Sierra let off a shot straight into the sergeant's helmet before he could get his words out straight.

"I'm sorry, brethren," Sierra turned and exited the barracks, leaving four dead clones and an injured commander in his wake.