Final Wars

by FourShadow

Chapter 3: Shattered

With the battle having been won, Republic gunships came flying down to the surface to help with the cleanup operation. They moved captured Stormguards and Stormtroopers to be sent off to a brig somewhere, and even hauled away the Flim Flam Brothers. Derpy's attention then wandered to the innocent villagers who were relieved to see the Storm Army being captured, no longer held hostage and breathing down their necks. Royal Pin, some Yakyakiees, Draconoids, Rodians, Ithorians, Twi'leks, more mixed species.

Derpy felt a little proud as she watched the clones take the rest of the army into transport truck, driving away to meet up with another legion of troops for travel to Coruscant. By her side was Bubbles, Mohawk, Patch, and Mix as they watched everything happen.

"Did we win?" Mix asked. "Really win?"

"I think so, Mix," Derpy smiled. "Which means no more fighting, no more war. Which means...?"

"Celebration?" Mohawk grinned.

"Celebration," Derpy squeed.

He did a little fist pump, grinning with joy to hear that single word. Just the thing he had been hoping to hear for a long time. Even Patch and Mix looked excited as well.

"I bet the rest of the clones across the universe will be happy to hear of our push," Mix nodded.

"They all would," Bubbles nodded.

"... Well what are we standing around for? Come on, let's pack our stuff!" Derpy squeaked.

"Shouldn't we have something other than rations and coffee to celebrate?" Mix asked.

"Ah, oh! Good point. Uhhh, wait. Step into the village, maybe they have some food markets, something we could use as a starter for the celebration, I'll call Pinkie Pie, maybe we can get a cake or something--ohh, that reminds me, I should call the others, I'll be right back!" And Derpy skipped away, happy as a clam. Bubbles and his brothers chuckled at Derpy's act of silliness.

Derpy skipped over to a command center, sitting in a chair to contact the Jedi Temple back on Equestria. And probably, just, well, any friends or allies that were in any neighboring systems. Coil and Fuse were nearby, monitoring transmissions and other signals that were on their scope.

“If anyone is hearing me, I have great news. We have taken the Storm Army capital here on Nevarro, we finally have an upper hand on the Storm King and his army, I repeat, we have taken the Storm Army capital! We are close to winning the war!”

She was hoping to hear someone reply back, or someone to eventually reply on the holograms. The only replies she got were strange bits of static on the receiver. Derpy slapped the side of the console, hoping that would do the trick. But still nothing.

“General, is everything okay?”

“Fuse, something’s wrong. I’m not getting a signal from the Jedi Council back in Equestria,” Derpy inquired.

“That’s weird. Hang on, let me see if I can fix the problem.”

Fuse opened up the panels, exposing all of the wires and cables. “Hmm… everything seems to be intact. Maybe they’re having some communication issues back home.”

“I would hope not unless someone started a fire by accident. But how could anyone not remember the last time someone put metal in the microwave?” Derpy pouted.

Bubbles chuckled. “General, I’m sure it’s nothing to be worried about. Maybe we’ll get a response once we head off to Arvala-7.”

“No, hang on…” Derpy raised her hands up. “Something doesn’t feel right… Let me try contacting someone else.”

Derpy typed up another piece of code into the transmitter, this time attempting to contact Jedi outside of the Equestrian temple. Maybe someone on another planet could answer her call?

"Octavia, come in. Octavia?"

Once again, nothing.

"Vinyl? Vinyl are you there?"

And nothing. Thinking about other options, Derpy tried another set of coordinates, hoping to find to contact their Jedi friends back on Coruscant. “Master Kolar, are you there?” Nothing. Just another burst of static. “Master Tinn?” Derpy tried every code and contact information she could to see if someone, anyone would reply. But with every Jedi she called… she just got continuous static. No one answered. No one replied. Not a single Jedi answered her call.

“Master Fisto, are you there? Come in!”

“Master Plo, I have great news, please respond!”

“Master Unduli, I know things are rough with Barriss… wait, why did I bring that up, ohhh!”

“Master Secura, are you there!”

“… Ahsoka, you don’t find me annoying, do you?”

It didn’t matter. Every transmission was the same, with nothing but short static bursts.

“Okay, now I’m worried,” Derpy feared. “Bubbles, are you and your men ready to depart?”

“Yes General,” Bubbles nodded.

“Good. Let’s get back to the Axiom and go to Arvala-7 as scheduled. Maybe we can get some answers from the troopers there… I hope,” Derpy whimpered, leading her men back to the Venator.

Derpy looked around her, seeing a few of the inhabitants of Nevarro waving them goodbye, thanking them for freeing them from the tyranny of the Storm Empire. The wall-eyed Jedi felt some relief, knowing that she helped these people. But there was something still inside that made her skin cold and shiver.

“How are Bolt and Vargas, are they any better?" Derpy asked.

"Unsure, General. But I'm still keeping them under observation. They're good soldiers. They'll pull through, I’m sure of it,” Patch said with some hope.

“Yeah…” Derpy said solemnly, looking back at her battalion of clones walking with them. “I hope so…”

---

Once everyone was onboard, the ship’s hatch closed, now sealing all of their walkers and ships and men inside. It was time to leave for Arvala-7. With a loud rumble, the Axiom moved off the ground and into the air, getting ready to depart into space.

Inside the ship, the boys were getting ready for some well-deserved relaxation and celebration for their victory. Derpy however had other thoughts. Something just did not feel right. She should be happy, she should be glad that she and her boys finally got a leg up on the Storm Army. But something just didn’t feel right. First Twilight went missing, then the loss of contact with the rest of the Jedi Council, and now Jedi spread across the galaxy couldn’t have been contacted? And what about what happened with Bolt?

Her worries kept up, even as she investigated the medical bay, seeing Bolt and Vargas lay there in the beds. She hoped that neither of them had serious injuries and wished that neither of them was dead. She lost a lot of men today; she was not about to lose any more. And more importantly, was Bolt’s attack going to rise again and come back? Was something inside that made him snap, or was it something the Storm Army had done?

Brushing through another hallway, she waved at some more clones who were going to go off and do their own little leisurely activities. She stopped momentarily, worried for a second. None of the men seemed concerned too much; okay, they did have some concerns, but they rarely showed it unless there was something super serious. Yet in the back of her head, something didn’t feel right.

She turned around and bumped into someone, making her yelp.

“Oh, sorry General,” Mohawk apologized.

Derpy put her hand over her chest, feeling her heart race mildly. “It’s okay Mohawk. Sorry, I’ve been distracted recently.”

“Is everything alright?” Mohawk expressed with some concern.

“I… I don’t know,” Derpy stuttered. “Anyways, um, we should be on our way to Arvala-7, right?”

“Right,” Mohawk nodded. “So… what do we do until then?”

“Just relax and have fun. Celebrate. You deserve it,” Derpy smiled, giving a small but adorable hug to the ARC trooper. Mohawk couldn’t resist hugging her back. Derpy was so warm and accommodating, it was hard not to hug her back.

Around the corner, she bumped into Bubbles and Mix who were about to walk towards the elevation doors to the bridge. Derpy was about to speak to them, but she was soon distracted, her head looking behind her at her surroundings. Just clone troopers walking about, minding their own business, nothing to worry about.

But Bubbles could sense something was wrong, even though he wasn’t a Jedi. “Something on your mind?”

Derpy finally brought her attention back to the commander. “Oh, I… I don’t know. I just have this feeling that something is wrong. I should be happy we’re victorious, but I keep feeling something bad. I mean we won but… I just hope our victory finally mattered something. All I’ve known my whole life is just… fighting.”

Bubbles and Mix shared glances, nodding with some understanding.

“Well, I’ve known no other way. I mean, all my brothers and I known is just the war. I know many people wish it never happened, but without it… we clones would never exist.”

Derpy finally smiled back. “Well, if anything good came from the war… it’s all of you.”

She pulled Mix and Bubbles into a group hug, and they too, hugged her back. “I couldn’t have asked for a better family.”

“Say um, General? We were going to check on the situation up and the bridge, and maybe later, join the others for celebration later. You wanna join?”

“I’ll join you later, I… I think I need to clear my head for a bit.”

“Okay General,” Bubbles nodded, letting Derpy go about her business.

Derpy's boots dragged along the hallway as she went to her quarters, passing by a few more clones who waved here and there.

"Hey General," one of them called.

"O-Oh, Spartan, hey," Derpy froze.

"Me and the boys were planning on joining the others for celebration. Want to join us? We're going to pull out the sabaac cards and maybe some karaoke?"

"Um, maybe later. I need to clear my head right now," Derpy said.

"Understood. We'll see you later," Spartan nodded, passing by.

The doors to Derpy’s quarters opened, and she walked inside, letting the doors slide behind her. Slowly, she sat down on the floor, crossing her legs to try and mediate again. Her eyes closed, she breathed in slowly, and let only peace and quiet come as she started to calm herself once again…

--

The Axiom continued on it’s course to Arvala-7. The crewmen on board who were operating the ship still kept things in control. Some of the crew were partying, playing some games, drinking some champagne or wine as a way to celebrate. The only ones who weren’t was the commander who stood on the bridge of the ship, and the Jedi general in the lower decks.

Derpy had some peace and quiet inside her cabin. The silence was deafening, even with the low but soft rumble of the ship's travel through hyperspace. But something was still wrong.

Suddenly, without any warning, she heard a voice. And then pain exploded inside her head, and she was almost knocked over by the sudden, awful feeling of wrongness in the Force. She heard voices: multiple ones this time. She only recognized two of them; the third speaker was unknown to her.

"Don't listen to him!" the first speaker said, their voice full of anger.

"This is not the Jedi way. He must live!" the second voice argued. It sounded desperate.

"He has killed how many of your friends!?" the first voice demanded.

"He should face trial!" begged the second voice.

"Do you want to save your family!?"

“Have mercy!” the third voice pleaded.

And then, there was laughing – cruel, wicked, utterly evil laughter, as the feeling of wrongness grew and grew until it was overpowering. Overwhelming.

“UNLIMITED POWER!!!” thundered the voice, glorying in the screaming of the Force--

Derpy’s eyes widened and for a rare moment they were both facing the right direction, but she felt like her heart was going to burst out of her chest. Her eyes set back to the walleyed position as she nearly collapsed, just managing to keep herself up on her hands and knees. Slowly, she pulled herself up, head ringing all over.

“What have I done?” the second speaker’s voiced whispered, heavy with remorse.

“Oh no…” a gasp forced itself from Derpy’s mouth, and she took a heavy breath to try and steady herself. “Twilight’s in trouble…”

She pushed herself to stand up.

“I have to help her.”

She bolted out of her quarters with a scared look on her face, pushing past some of the clones who were just walking by in the hallway. She made a jump around the corner, seeing Mix up ahead who was just standing, looking for something to do.

“General, are you okay?” Mix asked.

“I, no. We need to turn this ship around, something’s wrong. Where’s Commander Bubbles?”

“He’s on deck, keeping an eye out for any transmissions,” Mix answered.

“Okay, thank you. I, uh, I’ll be back!”

Derpy ran through the halls some more, running past more concerned clones.

“General?”

“Are you alright?”

“Can’t talk now, I’ll explain later!” Derpy said, jumping into the elevator. Her heart was racing, pounding against her chest. She didn’t want another second wasted, she had to get there, now!

The elevator doors opened and she watched as the main doors slid open into the control deck. She saw the ship was still running through hyperspace, and a few troopers standing in guard positions. Commander Bubbles was standing there, in front of the holoprojector with his helmet off, staring intently at the projection before him.

“Commander, thank goodness. Listen to me, we need to turn this ship around, now! I’ll explain on the way!”

But the Commander wasn’t looking at her. He didn’t move his eyes away from the projection, which looked more than concerning to Derpy. His eyes were glued to the projection, intensely. A hooded figure was on the table, but she couldn’t tell who it was, didn’t help that the figure was looking at Bubbles instead of Derpy. Whoever it was, she could tell it was feminine, but a bit raspy.

“Commander Bubbles. The time has come…”

Derpy listened carefully, but she could not understand the voice that came through. Whoever was speaking sounded a little distorted, but he still listened to it.

"Execute Order 66."

Author's Note:

And now, shit has hit the fan.

Comments

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

Oh damn. That cliffhanger you dropped on us was *evil*.

[Shadowsnake89]

Wow, and now it begins. If I haven't said it before, Derpy was an interesting choice for the lead and it fits amazingly somehow. You write her in a way that is cute, goofy and endearing all at the same time and it really works.

Also, maybe it's the Fallout fan in me but Nevarro sounds like Navarro, one of the Enclave's last holdouts in Fallout 2.

[FourShadow]

10817254

Aww, thank you

[Optimus0301]

¿And what happend with Anakin Skywalker?
He's not on the Dark Side?