ladyofleithian | Chapter Twenty Five: Execute Order 66

In which shit gets real.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Notes: First, I'm going to say this is probably the most ironic Christmas update ever. Second off, I hope everybody had a very merry Christmas! Mine went okay, and on another note, my family might be getting together to watch DOCTOR WHO either this evening or tomorrow evening. To quote a certain Time Lord, "Fantastic!"

Even long after sending the message to Master Yoda and getting back to Commander Cody, Padmè could not help but feel a sense of relief in her after the fight, and yet at the same time, a strange sense of emptiness. Almost, she thought, as if she could have done a lot more. Found a way to save Dooku and Grievous. She could still remember how they had looked in their final moments; Grievous hadn’t looked like the monster she had been accustomed to seeing in her nightmares when the younglings were threatened, or when her friends were threatened, or the Jedi or the Republic were threatened. If anything, Grievous seemed oddly empty in this armor. This bizarre armor.

And Dooku – the worst thing about it, Padmè mused, was the fact that to the end he thought he was doing the right thing. Even now, she couldn’t even know what to make of it. The fact that he thought that everything he was doing was for the good of the Republic. What was there to make of it? What was there, truly, to make of it?

“Hey, boss.” Commander Cody, this time, his voice cutting into her thoughts.

“Hello, Cody,” Padmè said, smiling almost in spite of everything. “What’s the status on the upper levels.”

“We’re having a bit of trouble with the battle droids, boss,” Cody said wryly. “It seems they’re getting smarter.”

“I’d best go up and help then.”

“You’d better,” Cody said, with a slight laugh in his voice. Padmè had to laugh as well, almost in spite of everything.

After all, as long as Cody was with her, as long as the clones were working together, they were up for anything.

***

It was long after they had cleared out at least one level of droids that Cody got the transmission from Darth Sidious. It was a message that he was already accustomed to, because in a sense, he had been programmed it since he was first made from the DNA of Jango Fett.

There was something about Darth Sidious, really, that gave Cody the creeps. Something about his dark hood covering his face, the fact that he seemed to be in shadows now. The sound of his voice – it sounded almost, Cody mused, like a hiss.

“It is time,” Sidious said, in that same hissing voice, “Execute Order 66.”

Cody never thought that the day would come. After all, the day that he would end up firing on one of his superiors...she wasn’t just his superior, really. If anything, she was his friend. All the Jedi were, at least to some extent, friends with the clones. It wasn’t really a matter of rank, but of brotherhood. Loyalty.

And yet at the same time, even that, Cody thought, couldn’t really stop them in the end from what was to come. He could only pray that Padmè would forgive him for what he was about to do. Because though he cared for her, the needs of the Republic outweighed any personal attachment. It was a kill of duty, after all – should he kill her.

“It will be done,” Cody said, “My lord.”

Once the transmission ended, Cody turned towards the other clones. “Open fire.”

***

All across the galaxy, the transmission was broadcast. To every clone on every planet, every moon, and so many other places. Every clone on every planet and every system and every star and moon – every clone fighting battles throughout the galaxy. Every clone under Sidious’ command. And even sitting in his office, Sidious could not help but smile, if only a little. The plan had gone perfectly. Far too perfectly. He almost didn’t have to do any manipulating, he mused. If anything, the Jedi had made it far too easy for them to be manipulated. So stuck in their own customs. So stuck in their own beliefs. Unable to adapt and change – and most of all, unable to see what was directly in front of them the whole time.

The idea of playing the devil in plain sight, so to speak, had been too easy. And Obi-Wan Kenobi, one of the finest Knights in the Order – Obi-Wan Kenobi had fallen. It had been too easy now, just to manipulate the Jedi Master’s ideas of helping the Republic. Just like Dooku. Fitting, Sidious thought, considering that Dooku had been Master to Obi-Wan’s Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. The only thing missing was Padmè. She was his child, after all – at least from a certain point of view. He had created her. He had manipulated the midichlorians in Jobal’s blood if only to create her. She was his by right. And he would have her under his thrall, no matter what the cost.

There was also the matter of declaring the Empire. Once the Empire was declared and the Jedi defeated, and Padmè at his side, then Plagueis’ work would be truly done. And that was the greatest reward of all.

Not revenge, really – although it was a pity that he wasn’t there to watch the Jedi die, if one was to be completely truthful – but, in all honesty, just the idea of completing Plagueis’ work.

For all across the galaxy, the Jedi now knew that this was not the end.

This...this was only the beginning.