Order 66

They were saying that the Clone War was finally coming to an end.  Any day now, the Seps would be surrendering, and with good reason.  Count Dooku was dead at the hands of the Jedi, and General Kenobi was hot on the trail of Grievous.  Troopers under Sadheis’s command were even placing bets on how long it would take the General to make short work of the cyborg that had killed so many of their brothers across the galaxy.

Ridge was looking forward to the end, but for entirely different reasons.  

He and Sadheis had made plans to bang out when the Seps would be forced into a ceasefire.  Their daughter was waiting for them back on Onderon under the protective care of General Mareen, a friend Sadheis had made when she had been stationed there to assist with the guerrilla efforts.  That had been the cover story at least.  She had really gone there to accelerate the growth of the child developing in her womb without troopers being there to pick up on the signs of her pregnancy.

When she returned to resume control of her legion, there wasn’t even the smallest hint of her having carried and birthed a child within the span of her absence.  She formally greeted her troops and let them know that Onderon was doing far better than before, and that the Separatists would soon be driven off that world, maintaining her professional composure until that evening when Ridge had slipped into her tent.  Aside from the highly affectionate welcome back that he gave her, they were able to view holophotos of their daughter Sadheis had hidden away on her datapad.  

“Babies at this age are pretty ugly,” Sadheis had said with a chuckle while thumbing through the pictures of the scrunch-faced infant.  Ridge begged to differ.  

“Oh, I’m sure others are ugly as womp rats, but she’s beautiful,” he remarked, pecking Sadheis on the end of her nose. “But that might be my bias.  She’s got a beautiful mother.”

Mud sucked at the soles of Ridge’s boots as he trooped towards their makeshift campsite, reminding him that they weren’t at the point where they could leave just yet.  They had achieved a victory with minimal losses, a Separatist general in their custody and his complement of battle droids, SBDs, and droidekas littering the hillside.  There was white plastoid armor mixed in with the fallen too, but not as much as there could have been.  Sadheis looked out for her men.

They had managed to push back several tinnies just over the lip of a hillside, both sides having a fair amount of losses.  The organic general was trying to use droidekas and SBDs as a shield, throwing the remaining battle droids at the Republic troops.  This had seemed like a last ditch effort on his part, having recognized that he was losing.  Ridge had to wonder what the general intended on doing once his expendable droids were exhausted.  He wasn’t in the most talkative mood about his tactics, being unconscious from a concussion.

Sadheis had arranged for several squads to work their way around to the back of the Sep lines, penetrating in far enough to take out his “bodyguards” guerrilla style before drawing back then pushing in to tackle more.  Once his bodyguards were whittled down to half strength, then the legion initiated a full on attack to mow down what remained.  They made quick work of the general’s forces.  Ridge, as expected, took point with the squads that had crossed into enemy territory.  The Sep general hadn’t been very keen on coming along nicely, which had forced Ridge to bash him in the head.  He might have hit him a little too hard, but it was better than shooting him in the face.  They still needed intel from him, and a living, breathing body to try for war crimes, otherwise he would have been more than happy to turn the general’s head into a crater.

The tension that had wound up the troops was now releasing as they reveled in their victory.  Ridge let the boys have their fun, they’d deserved it.  He found Sadheis at the cluster of tents that they called their temporary communications center, speaking with some flickering holograms of Jedi Masters about what had taken place, and asking for instructions on what to do next.  Ridge hung back, his helmet clipped at his side.  This was the sort of stuff he tended to tune out, especially when they started up on their Jedi jargon.  

The call came to an end with Sadheis’s “May the Force be with you too, Masters,” the sound of the transmission winking out.  Ridge stepped around the tent to catch her running her hands over her head with a sigh, swinging her gaze his way.

“Marching orders?” he asked.

“Wait for the LAATs to come in and pick us up.  They’ve got a Cruiser on its way, should be here in under forty-eight hours.”

Ridge nodded, shifting his weight to one leg while he watched Sadheis drop down to sit on one of the many boulders littering the campsite.  A smirk had shifted into place on his mouth too.

“And in the meantime?”

Sadheis had dug a nutrient bar out of one of the pouches on her belt, peeling it open.  She looked over at Ridge with an arched brow.

“In the meantime we start packing up and getting ready to push out,” she said.  Her voice dropped as a smile curved her lips. “We can consider other things once we’re on that Cruiser and in my cabin.  I thought you’d like to know that Mareen sent a few pictures of our new little friend while we were busy.”

Ridge crossed to her, sitting on a slab-like boulder in front of her as he laced his hands between his legs, eagerness on his face.

“What’s stopping you from showing what she sent now?”

“Prying eyes, for one,” Sadheis replied, shifting her shoulder towards the silhouettes of men moving around the camp. “She looks a little too much like you for it to be passed off as coincidence.”

“She’s a baby.”

“There’s still that off chance…”

Quiet, or what passed for it, descended between them while Sadheis nibbled at her bar.  Ridge’s fingers were restless as he twisted them in his grip.

“When will we be able to see her?” he asked softly.

She looked up, probably sensing his longing to finally meet his daughter in the flesh.  Sadheis wore a sympathetic look.

“Soon, Ridge.  With the way things are going, maybe even a matter of days.  You know, I was thinking, I know that this wasn’t planned, but--”

Ridge’s comlink chirruped, causing him to glance down.  He hit the button to open the channel.  

“Execute Order 66.”

“--I wouldn’t mind adding more to what we’ve got so far.  Later on, I mean, after things have settled down--”

Something both alien and familiar pressed on his mind, pushing out any other thoughts as a long dormant switch flicked over aggressively.  Ridge drew the blasters from his holsters in a single, fluid move, aiming them at Sadheis, at The Enemy.  The Jedi had betrayed the Republic.  They were to be exterminated with extreme prejudice.  She looked up with a start, eyebrows lifting as she began to rise to her feet.

“--Ridge, what’s--?”

It was fortunate that she saw him as someone she trusted.  Fortunate for him.  She wasn’t even considering drawing her weapon just by her posture.  He might have viewed her with love in the past, but it had been a lie on her part, another feint for her to use against him as she coordinated with the Jedi to overthrow the Chancellor.  That’s what the alien, buzzing part of his mind screamed.

“Good soldiers follow orders,” he murmured, then fired on her repeatedly.

She didn’t even have time to grab her lightsaber off her belt.  The first bolt caught her in the chest, jerking her.  The second two painted over her torso before she was falling backwards, landing in a contorted heap.  She gasped for a few moments, fingers twitching spasmodically, then stilled as a death rattle emanated from her parted mouth.  It was over within a matter of seconds.

The smell of burned flesh filled the air, biting into Ridge’s nostrils, seemingly waking him up from a dream.  As he stared at the body, he realized it was more of a nightmare.

“No…”

The blasters he had been wielding dropped from his grip, hitting the dirt with a twin set of muted thunks as he felt his hearing growing muffled, his legs propelling him towards the smoking corpse.  Every step was as if his legs were mired in mud, wanting to keep him from getting closer.  Ridge dropped down by the body.  Chaos could be heard around the camp, men shouting about a Jedi plot.  He reached a suddenly shaking out towards her, hoping maybe it wasn’t real.  Charred flesh flecked up from the still-glowing burn holes, twisting in the air.  Her eyes were glazed, staring up at the overcast sky in confusion.

“Sadie?” he asked, voice cracking.

There was, of course, no reply.  She was dead by his hands.  He was gathering up the corpse into his arms, holding it tight while the shaking that had started out in small waves grew, forming into gasping sobs.  Just like that, he had killed his future.