Star Wars: Clones (Joev14 series)/Book 5: Consequences

 Recommended Age Rating: PG-16 (Extensive Violence/Blood) Written: August 2012 Series: Star Wars: Clones Previous book: Book 4: Decisions</dd> Next book:</dt> Book 1: Lone Wolf (Generations)</dd> </dl>

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Chapter 1: Modifications
Ace stood aboard the Devastator, Darth Vader’s previous flagship. Due to much damage being done to the Thrush, Ace was forced to move to this ship while the Thrush received repairs. Ace stared into the lifeless helmet he had worn during the battle of Bespin. He tossed it away and pulled out his old Phase II helmet, and Hammer’s Phase I Commando Helmet. He found the stormtrooper helmet to be far inferior to both of these, and would have preferred to wear one of them. He grabbed his tool set, and began to weld together Hammer’s helmet and his old Phase II helmet, taking the best from both of the two to create an even better helmet. Ace couldn’t use most of the Phase II helmet, since its shape was totally different from the Phase I Commando helmet, but he managed to move over the fin, his custom Telescopic sensor, and several of the internal components like the auto-lock, water-adapt HUD, and a little bit of the breathing equipment. He also gave it a new paintjob with his signature dark purple paint. Ace admired the helmet, though it looked like the standard Phase I Commando helmet, he knew underneath was a bunch of his own custom technology. He dubbed the helmet “Phase III.5” and put it back into his backpack. He pulled out Hammer’s DC-17m. For some reason, the people at BlasTech had decided to build the blaster with the clip load from the side, which, while it was useful for you if you only fired with your right hand, it made it difficult in tight spaces. Ace had made a mental note during the battle on Hoth to mod the clip slot down once he got the chance, and decided that this would be a good time to do so. While he worked on pulling out the internals, he thought about what had happened in the recent past. He had lost several of his teammates, including his medic. He still didn’t understand what Greeneye had meant, why had he run into that tunnel like that, it wasn’t like him to go off without orders. It didn’t make sense. Ace slid the internals of the Deece out and set them on the desk next to him, then began cutting away the space where the clip would now slide in. He remembered even farther back, when Circuit had died at the hands of a Jedi youngling during Order 66, Ace had removed the helmet from his decapitated head, and had seen a dried tear that had gone down his face in the last moments of his life, he hadn’t wanted to kill the Jedi Youngling, and had given his life rather than follow his orders. Ace thought about Hammer, the clone commando who had saved his life multiple times, and eventually gave his life to save Ace one final time. As Ace thought about it, he realized that Hammer would have never followed Order 66, and would have questioned it even if it cost him his life. Ace thought about Raun Seguri, a Jedi who had managed to escape the order, and had gone into refuge on Rhen Var. Ace thought about what Seguri had said before Ice had killed him, “You have a choice Ace, you can choose to follow those you know you can trust, or those who are stronger than you.” Ace thought about the Rebels, who had fought so bravely in the battle of Hoth, and had almost won even against unbelievable odds. Ace didn’t want to be a member of a group that would be slaughtered, and simply entered into a casualties list with less than a line of noted text, somebody who couldn’t add to his equipment because it would be too hard to replace if lost, he wanted to live on in a legacy, one where his name would be read aloud to children, read as a symbol of freedom, somebody who if had gone down another path, would have caused the world to fall into chaos. Ace decided right then and there, that he would no longer follow the Emperor and those who wanted to bring death and slavery to the galaxy; he wanted to be a Rebel. Ace closed up the last of the DC-17m, and slid a clip into it. It fit perfectly. Ace smiled at his work, he would be an invaluable asset to the Rebel army…

Chapter 2: Revelations
Ace waited until the rest of his team was there, and then he closed the door and began. “Alright guys, I’ve come to a decision.” Ice rolled his eyes and said, “Oh you and your decisions, can’t it wait?” Ace ignored Ice, giving him a glare as he continued, “I’ve watched the Rebels, their fighting tactics, their skill, and most importantly, their spirit. Ever since Order 66, I’ve felt like we’ve become the bad guys” Ice jumped in again, “Fantastic, you’ve gone completely crazy, that’s it, I’m going to go tell Lord Vader that you’ve lost it and to have you replaced.” Ice began to walk towards the door, and Jolt stepped in front of him. Ice towered over him as he said, “Get out of my way! You’re such a pain! You’re almost as annoying as that Green-eyed freak. Too bad you’re not as gullible. Ha, that idiot would believe anything so long as he thought he was pleasing Ace.” Spike moved to stand beside Jolt and said, “Wait, Greeneye said he was sorry that he failed Ace’s last order. Are you saying that you told him to run off like that?!” Ice spat in Spike’s face, “So what if I did? You’re all traitors, once I tell Vader what you’ve been talking about, he won’t listen to anything you have to say!” Spike and Jolt draw their blasters, aiming them at Ice. Ice just laughs and says, “You think I’m that dumb? No ammo!” He continues to laugh as he holds up three clips that he had taken from his teammates’ blasters. Ace slowly comes up behind Ice, holding his newly modified DC-17m. He speaks in a cold tone, “Yes Ice, you are dumb. And what’s more, you’re a coward, and more of a traitor than any of us.” Ice turns to face Ace. Ace looks Ice right in the eye, and pulls the trigger of the Deece, spattering Ice’s blood over the back wall. Jolt and Spike drag him underneath the bed and Jolt says, “I don’t fully agree with you on the switching sides part, but that guy needed to go.” Spike turned and nodded in agreement, and Ace continued, “Guys, in a place like this we’ll just be killed to try and achieve slavery, if we join the Rebels, we’ll atleast be remembered for trying to achieve the goal of freedom.” Spike nodded his head and said, “I’m with you Ace, whatever you decide, I’ll follow you, none of us can fight alone, we have to fight as a team.” Jolt looked like he was in deep thought, and then nodded his head as well. The three of them walked down towards the Armory, and loaded up with loads of explosive equipment. Ace grabbed four Detpacks and a Detstick, as well as four Thermal Detonators, two in his backpack, and two on his belt. He also put two AAGL rounds, two sniper clips, and three blaster clips for his DC-17m in his pack. He tossed in Hammer’s Vibroblade, and the Vibroblade he had gotten from Gesko, the Bounty Hunter, as well as his TD2.3 Electrobinoculars, and lastly a Smoke Grenade which he put on his belt. The team then headed for the hangar, and Ace said to one of the pilots, “Lord Vader has requested that we be brought down to the planet, to up security measures.” Ace held his breath underneath his helmet, hoping that the pilot wouldn’t ask for proof of this, and Ace was relieved when he didn’t. The team piled into the Lambda-class Imperial Shuttle, and it zoomed out of the hangar down towards Endor. Ace switched over to silent communication, making it so only Spike and Jolt could hear him, “Alright guys, when we get down there, I’m going to tell the pilot to head back up to the Devastator. Spike, when we get down there, we’re going to get inside that last AT-AT, and I need you to rig it to blow. We’ll set it off, and then head for the Shield Bunker, on speeder bikes if possible.” Jolt and Spike nodded their heads, and the ship landed a few moments later. Ace put his DC-17m into his pack, and pulled out his standard E-11, so as not to seem suspicious. The three of them stepped out, and Ace said to the pilot, “Thanks for the lift; you should probably head back to the Devastator.” The pilot said, “Naw, I’ll just wait here for you guys.” Ace glanced at Spike, and said, “That was an order pilot.” The pilot said, “Oh, sorry sir.” The ship took off, and Ace let out his breath; he hadn’t wanted to have to kill the pilot. The team headed towards the massive AT-AT, and Ace said to one of the troopers guarding it, “Vader sent us to inspect the AT-AT.” The guard nodded, and Ace was once again relieved as the platform came down to lift them up to the bay door. The door opened, and Ace stepped inside the small battle station. The door closed again, and Ace glanced back at Spike, who nodded as he pulled twelve Detpacks out of his backpack. Ace helped plant them on the ship, two on the bay door, two on the ground, and two on the ceiling, as well as four in the cockpit. Suddenly an Imperial Officer came into the room and said, “Good, I was just looking for you guards, your shift is-” The Officer stopped and looked at the three clones, then at the explosives, then back at the clones, he opened his mouth, but before he could sound the alarm Ace fired at him. The Gunner and the Pilot came into the back of the ship saying, “What’s going on back there, I thought I heard blaster shots.” Ace shot both of them as well, and looked sadly down at the pilot, who had been a clone. Ace grabbed the four remaining Detpacks, and placed two on the control panel, and two in the neck of the walker. He shouted to Spike that they were planted, and the bay doors opened again…

Chapter 3: Sabotage
Ace put on his customized Phase III.5 helmet, and pulled out his DC-17m, there was no point in disguising himself anymore, his cover would be blown in a few seconds, literally, and he didn’t want to be caught with weaker armor and weapons. The three of them ran away from the Imperial Walker, and Ace nodded his head to Spike, who slammed his hand down on the Detstick in his hand. Ace was already a good fifty yards from the AT-AT when it exploded, but he was still almost knocked off his feet. He glanced back to see the head explode in a massive display of fireworks, and the main bay area blow up, causing the entire walker to come toppling down in a third explosion that rocked the forest floor. Four of the eight guards had been killed in the explosion, and Jolt shot another down as he made a dash for a speeder bike. Ace jumped onto another one next to Jolt, and they both zoomed off towards the Shield Bunker. Ace glanced back, expecting to see Spike following, and his heart skipped a beat as he saw the Speeder bike Spike had gotten onto explode from a blaster shot in the fuel tank. A tear slipped from Ace’s eye, yet another brother had been lost. Ace glanced back again as he heard the sound of more bikes, and saw the three remaining guards zooming up behind them. Ace threw his bike to the left as a blast came whizzing past, right where he had been moments before. Ace desperately tried to fire over his shoulder, but he couldn’t hit them and pay attention to the forest ahead at the same time. He yelled over his comm, “Jolt! Follow my lead, I’m going to try and lose them!” Ace swerved to the right, heading down a narrow path dotted with more dense trees. Ace glanced over his shoulder to see one of them miss the turn and go zooming off in the other direction, but the other two were still on his tail. Ace slammed on the breaks, hoping upon hope that neither of the two bikers would react in time and kill him. Ace let out his breath once again as the two bikers zoomed past, glancing back at him. Ace sped forward, opening fire on the two unprepared troopers, downing one. The trooper yelled as his bike burst into flames, crashing into a tree nearby and causing it to come down, almost falling on top of Ace. Ace swerved again, following the other biker, who was now trying to lose Ace. Ace smiled as he took aim and fired at the trooper, hitting him in the back, and causing his bike to go flying off into the forest to collide with a tree a hundred yards ahead. Ace glanced around, trying to find Jolt. His heart pounded as he thought of the possibility that Jolt had been killed, but his voice came over the comm, “Ace, I took out the third biker, did you handle the other two?” Ace replied with a voice riddled with relief, “Yeah, where are you now?” Jolt said, “About a hundred yards from the Shield Bunker.” Ace said, “Alright, stay put, I’ll come to you.” Ace sped off towards the Shield Bunker, spotting Jolt right where he said he was. Ace stepped off the bike and said, “Alright, we’ll head in, and open fire on the nearest troopers, you cover me, and I’ll get inside and plant the explosives, once I’ve gone inside, you follow me and plant the ones you’ve got, then we’ll make a break for the woods and blow the place sky high. Jolt nods, and they both reload their weapons. Ace snaps on the Sniper Attachment, firing two laser bolts into the two guards directly next to the Shield Bunker’s doors. Four more guards go over to check why their comrades had fallen, and Ace and Jolt take advantage of the confusion to charge in. Ace switches to his Blaster Attachment, firing at the four guards and downing two of them. Jolt picks off another, and the fourth turns to look Ace in the eye. Ace is about to shoot him, but he pulls off his helmet and says, “Wait! I’m your brother, don’t shoot!” Ace lowers his Deece, and looks at him; he was in fact a clone. The clone says, “Are you trying to blow up the bunker? I can help you, I know the codes!” Ace is a little suspicious at first, but then realizes that a clone would never lie to another clone. Ace watches as he types a number into the keypad, and the blast doors open. The three of them walk inside, and the clone shoots down an Officer who is standing in the middle of the room. Ace throws a Thermal Detonator into a group of Stormtroopers who are just coming out of a room, laughing about how this is the safest place in the battle. Suddenly another group of stormtroopers come in from the entrance, and one of them says, “Why is the blast door open? Lord Vader said we had to keep it closed at all times unless he personally said other-” The stormtrooper stopped as he saw Ace and the dead stormtroopers, and he yelled, “They’re traitors, open fire!”…

Chapter 4: Outnumbered
Ace and Jolt ducked behind a computer, and Ace watches with sorrow as the clone who had opened the door is shot down. Ace pulled out his Anti-Armor Attachment, firing the shot in the attachment at the stormtroopers, killing seven of them. The remaining three scatter, trying to find cover, and Jolt picks off another one. Ace puts the AAGL attachment back in his backpack, deciding to conserve his grenades for as long as possible. He switches to his Blaster Attachment, and fires at one of the Stormtroopers as he tries to run out the main entrance. The second one peeks out, and fires at Ace, but misses. Jolt summersaults to the left, and fires in mid-roll at the Stormtrooper. Another group of stormtroopers enter the room from the other side, this time there are atleast twenty of them, and Ace and Jolt are forced outside. Ace fires into the group of stormtroopers that were forcing him out, picking of five of them. Ace and Jolt rush back towards the cover of the trees, and Ace takes the moment to reload his clip. The fifteen remaining stormtroopers fire towards Ace, and he ducks back behind a tree, switching to his Sniper Attachment. He fires two shots, which pass through a total of five stormtroopers, thanks to them being all bunched into one area. He aims carefully, he only has one shot left on this clip, and he wanted to save the second clip for later. He fires the shot, and it passes through two more of the stormtroopers, leaving only eight. Jolt rushes forward, giving Ace a chance to switch to his Blaster Attachment, and then he helps Jolt pick off the rest of them. All of a sudden, there’s a loud stomping noise and Ace turns to see an AT-ST come into view. Ace’s heart beats faster, how could they fight against a vehicle like that when it was fully armed? He grabs two of his detpacks, rushing forward and placing them on the walker’s feet, and setting them off as he goes by. The walker is offset, just long enugh for Jolt to place his own four detpacks and set them off, causing them to completely explode and topple the walker over. But it’s far from the time to celebrate. Ace watches as yet another walker comes into view, followed by around a hundred ground troopers, they were doomed…

Chapter 5: A New “Order 66”
Ace watched as the hundreds of stormtroopers surrounded him and Jolt. There was no way out, in a few moments, he and Jolt would be executed for treason, and that would be the end. Suddenly Ace remembered how eager the clone who was guarding the generator had been. Hope filling him, Ace gave it a shot and said, “Clones, what have we become?” a stormtrooper nearby exchanged looks with the one next to him, and Ace continued, “We were once symbols of peace, of honor, of freedom! Now we are symbols of war, distrust, and death!” One of the stormtroopers removed his helmet, to reveal the face of Jango Fett. Ace realized he was getting through to them, “We were ordered to kill our Jedi Generals, on the claim that they were traitors.” Another clone removed his helmet. “Clones, we were fooled into thinking the Jedi had turned on us, they were our friends, and we were tricked by the Emperor into thinking they were our enemies.” One of the clones let out a cheer of agreement. “That very person who lied to us, has now become our master. Clones, we may have been bred for war, but we are not mindless drones to be ordered around, and expected to follow orders even when they don’t make sense!” Several clones cheered, “We have souls, personalities, and most importantly, the ability to choose. Clones of trust, Clones of Honor, Clones of Freedom, to me! To me, Clones of the Republic!” A cheer sprang up, and several clones threw down their helmets, opening fire on their non-clone teammates. Ace dropped to the ground to avoid being shot, and he crawled into the crowd to join the fight. Chaos erupted around him, as a group that had once been made up of clones and non-clones split, resulting in an all-out battle between seemingly identical sides. Even though the Imperial Troopers had the AT-ST, the clones had the advantage of around thirty percent more troopers. Ace barely even got in a shot as the battle waged on, he saw Imperials and Clones locked in deadly battle, and the clones were winning. Ace shouted a battle cry and several clones rallied behind him as they ran into the Shield Bunker. Ace pulled out his last two Detpacks, and placed them in the most strategic places, then rushed out and detonated them. Ace’s spirits plummeted when he saw that it wasn’t enough to cause a chain-explosion, and he was out of explosives, save for a single Thermal Detonator on his belt, which wouldn’t nearly be enough. As he headed back outside, he noticed something had gone horribly wrong. A Significant number of the clones had been killed, and Ace nearly died right there with grief when he saw that Jolt was among them. He looked around, trying to find the source of his partner’s death, and spotted an Imperial Scout Trooper with a Grenade Launcher. Ace shouted his battle cry and ran towards the Scout, who jumped back and tried to use his Grenade Launcher as a melee weapon, unable to reload while Ace was attacking him. Ace ducked and grabbed the Scout around the midsection, swinging him around and using him as a shield. He opened fire on several Imperials, who didn’t fire back for fear of hitting their teammate. After killing five or so, they opened fire, realizing that it was impossible to save the Scout. As blaster shots pierced the Scout’s armor, Ace threw him into a group of Stormtroopers, who were bowled over by the Scout’s body. Ace aimed for the ones who were stunned by the Scout, and managed to pick off three more, leaving about thirty troopers left on each side. Ace threw his Thermal Detonator, killing another two troopers. Ace forced his way through the crowd, shooting down several stormtroopers in his way, and jumped up onto the leg of the AT-ST. He climbed upwards, and was almost shot down by an Imperial who had spotted him. Ace fired at him and killed him with his free arm, then continued climbing. He reached the top, and pulled out one of his Vibroblades, using it to cut through the hatch. He dropped into the cockpit area, and killed both of the pilots. He reached for the controls, and found that he had destroyed them in killing the pilots. He silently cursed, and climbed back out, shooting the main control panel as he did so, causing the vehicle to explode. Ace would have preferred to use it, it would have been far more helpful in the battle, but there was nothing he could do now that the controls were ruined. Ace landed on the ground, and turned to shoot an Imperial, but was hit in the arm while trying to do so, he howled in pain and fell to the ground. He glanced up, and yet again his heart was plummeted into despair as the other two AT-STs came walking out of the forest…

Chapter 6: A Symbol of Freedom
Ace stared up as the two walkers surrounded the groups of troopers. I quickly put on my Stormtrooper helmet so I would blend in, and I saw several other clones do the same. An Imperial Officer stepped out of one of the AT-STs, and he yelled, “Alright, everyone line up in rows of ten!” the fifty remaining Stormtroopers stood in lines, and I headed towards the back. The Imperial Officer came to the first trooper, and said, “Remove your helmet.” The trooper did so, and revealed that he was a clone. The Imperial Officer pulled an E-11 off his back, and shot the clone in the head, spattering his blood all over the ground. I gasped in horror; the Officer was going to go through each row, and execute all the clones on the spot! I put my DC-17m in my pack, and pulled out my own E-11, so as not to be noticed. The Officer killed eighteen more clones, each one screaming as the blaster came up to his face. I noticed that even the non-clones seemed a little afraid when the Officer passed over them, and were just as horrified by the slaughter of the clones as I was. I watched as the Officer came to the fourth row, the one right before me. The Officer shot a clone that was right in front of him, and I had to step back so as not to get spattered with blood. I stared down at the clone in silent grief, and then turned to look at the Officer; he was almost to me. I reached back behind my belt, gripping a smoke grenade that I had attached to it. The Officer walked up to stand in front of me, and said, “Remove your helmet.” I grabbed my helmet, and began to lift it off, but suddenly I threw the grenade, causing a cloud of smoke to surround me and the Officer. I shot the Officer, and ran to stand in place of the clone that had died. When the smoke cleared, I yelled, “There! He went that way!” I ran towards a speeder bike, zooming off towards where I had pointed, where the ‘traitor’ had gone. I glanced back to see that I was being followed by another bike, and fell back behind the other bike, and aimed carefully, shooting at it. The pilot looked back at me and yelled, “What are you doing?!” I smiled and pulled the trigger again, hitting the stabilizer and causing it to crash into a tree. I stared forward, towards freedom. I grabbed my Stormtrooper helmet, and threw it over his head onto the ground, it would make it look like I had died, and I had my custom helmet anyways. Suddenly I felt light headed, I stared at my leg; it had begun to bleed again from the blaster wound. I felt the world around me growing dim, and I struggled to hold on to the bike, inside I was yelling, “No! Not when I’m close! Not now!” My vision began to close around me, I shook my head back and forth, and put my hand over the wound trying to keep more blood from seeping out, but it did no good. My vision grew slimmer, and slimmer, and I lost consciousness. Ace’s bike zoomed off into the forest, and crashed into a tree in a massive explosion that shook the forest floor and the trees…

THE END...

'''Well...not really. To be continued in Star Wars: Generations, Book 1: Lone Wolf (Link at the top of the page)'''