In the Absence of Man/ Chapter 5: Darkness and Retribution

Commander Ponds closed his eyes as the blast from Commander Fil’s pistol went right passed him and hit a reprogrammed battle droid of Clyde’s. There were more of them coming. “What just happened?”

“I made a mistake, Ponds. But I am not going to make another by letting you die,” Fil responded. More battle droids with specialized assault rifles approached both Fil and Ponds.

“Hands up,” a droid commanded.

“You better do it, losers. Or they will kill you, obviously,” Clyde intervened.

There was a short hesitation. Fil looked up to the speaker and camera and removed his phase one clone trooper helmet. Fil’s helmet consisted of darkesh red stripes going down right in the front of it. “I have made some mistakes in my time, Burrell. Though, I don’t know how you got a hold of it, I will do what I must for my brothers to survive. I know what you’re trying to do, playing with us in with your little mental games; but it won’t work. In fact, you have taught me to grasp the meaning of what war really is, solely based on your entire viewpoint. So I thank you,” Fil explained.

There was yet another pause as Clyde’s face reddened up as if it were a ripe, fresh tomato. He pressed on the intercom button. “You know what, clone? You idiots have evaded me for the last time-”

“Are you going to come down here and finally show us your evil face?” Fil interrupted.

“Not to you. I’m going to kill Keeli and Carg. But don’t worry, they will have a semi-painless death… maybe. Droids, kill those two!”

By then, Ponds got out his own DC-17 pistols and started to use his finger to rapidly and repeatedly keep on pressing the trigger. Fil also shot down a few battle droids, which enraged Clyde to a point where he left his computer room for the first time all day. The last droid was already almost dead but a swift kick in the head by Ponds finished him off. “How do you like that, Burrell? Huh?” Fil shouted at Clyde, yet there was no response.

Eagerly awaiting for at least the littlest thing to happen, First Lieutenant Keeli and Advanced Recon Captain Carg out of the blue heard a noise from a corridor ahead of them. To their perception, that noise resembled fast-paced footsteps. “What was that?” Keeli promptly questioned.

“I don’t know but I am not taking any chances. It has to be Clyde,” Carg replied as he willingly rushed into the corridor where the noise of footsteps were supposedly taken place.

“Captain, wait. It’s a trap!” Keeli hurried to catch up with Carg and both noticed a dead end. Just a plain and grey wall made out of steel. Due to their instincts, both clone troopers turned around and spotted Clyde with a special type of darksaber in his grasp.

“Lookie who we have here. The two expendables who are not yet effected by me. Let’s see, here. I took care of both Crane and Fil and got an extra point for also taking care of Ponds. That’s because they had something to hide or wanted to forget, but not you two. That is why I personally came down here to hurt you two. BAD,” Clyde described the current situation to the soldiers.

“Giving us our weapons back was a foolhardy move. Captain, do I have permission to take this jerk out?” Keeli said.

Carg smiled. “Don’t need my permission.” With that, Keeli shot a couple of blasts at Clyde but he menacingly blocked them.

Clyde laughed. “Funny, you need my permission.”