Chapter 1: Chapter 1
CT-6566 or "Six" as he was nicknamed by his brother clones awoke with a start. Last thing he remembered was an ambush, and being surround by B1 droids. As always the damned clankers, as they called the things, were near useless in combats, but there were so many and like one of their instructors liked to say, quantity had a quality of its own.
"You're awake." a warm voice with the precise accent of the Core Worlds said.
"Commander Sinara?" he said.
"I'm sorry, I was too late to save all of you..." she began, her eyes scanning his face before she stopped herself. "But I did find you alive. and I have a feeling that it was destined by the Force." She gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder before she turned away.
He sat up, brushing the dirt from his underclothes, and wincing at the pain in his back. His wounds had been covered with Bacta bandages, guaranteeing a quick recovery, and his armor and weapons were collected to the side.
"Commander, how many survivors of my unit?" he asked, although he feared he already knew the answer.
"...No one else. I'm sorry, Six." she said, "We also fell in an ambush, and they ended blowing their own ship and themselves with it to try to take us out. If Master Kine hadn't thrown me out with the Force in the last moment, I wouldn't be here."She turned back to him, her eyes lingering on his face for a moment before she faced the horizon again.
"So what do you think happened, Commander?" he said, trying not to sound as though he didn't believe her.
"I think that the Force wanted me to live." she said, her eyes turning back to him. "And I think that the Force wants you to live."
"Me? But why?" he said, his brows furrowed with confusion. He knew that the war was nearly over, that the Separatists had lost, but still...
"Because," she said, her eyes turning back to him, "you are the last living member of your unit. You survived the blast, and you are the last hope for the Republic."
"The last hope?" he repeated, his jaw clenching. How could she know that? He'd seen other units fall, other commanders fall, but he was the last one standing. It was his destiny, he knew it. It had to be.
"Yes, the last hope,"she said again, her eyes turning back to him. "Now, I need you to stay calm while I check your injuries. I need you to stay still while I do my job."
He nodded, and she began her examination. First she checked his back, then his legs, and finally his arms. All of his wounds were healed, and his armor and weapons were in good condition.Finally she looked at him, her dark eyes meeting his.
"Do you feel alright, trooper?" she said. Her voice sounded strained, and he wondered if she was sick.
"Fine," he said, his voice sounding strained, "Why?"
"I need you to stand up."
He stood, and she took note of his height before she stepped back.She then turned to look at him again, her eyes lingering on his face for a moment before she turned away again.
"Can you walk?" she said.
He felt a little dizzy, but otherwise he felt alright. "What's the matter, Commander? Did you manage to contact the Republic at least?"
"Not at all, this planet atmosphere is too ionized for field comm units to punch through, and well, you know what happened to our shipboard one."
"Gone with the ship, and I assume that your forces couldn't send a message from the Separatist ship."
"Not at all. We were herded into one ambush after another inside the ship, until they blew it when we were about to gain access to the bridge." Sinara said, "Captain Calhoun died in my arms, just before Master Kine threw me..." she interrupted herself as her voice started to break and tears started to well in her eyes.Commander Sinara took a few deep breaths to steady herself before continuing the tale."'Somebody has to live' she said, before she pushed me with the Force through a broken bulkhead, before falling unto a pile of bushes, and I lost consciousness."
Her eyes watered at the memory, she had been Master KIne's Padawan for many years, and her becoming a Jedi Knight was a very recent affair, just a matter of weeks. That's why she had been still with Master Kine, despite qualifying for her own command.
Well, that, and her own doubts about the war. Jedis were supposed to be keeper of the peace, not soldiers, but for the last three years they had become the Generals and Commanders of the greatest army the Republic had fielded since the last Sith Wars, a thousand years ago. That the war was close to a Republic victory was a miracle, despite all the problems there was... or maybe that was the plan all along, a part of her mind said that talked with a voice very much like Master Kine.
Master Kine had pondered for years the events that had led to the war and the course to the war itself, and had shared her insights with her. It sounded a lot like paranoid ramblings, and maybe they were, but she thought that both the Republic and the Separatists had been pushed to a confrontation by a third party hidden in the shadows, a reborn Sith Empire waiting to take the weakened victor of the war from the inside.
But enough of paranoid ramblings, they had one last thing to do, bury their dead. The dead from the crash had been buried earlier, before Kine's ill-fated expedition to the somewhat more intact Separatist ship, but Six unit had been the last fatalities in this forgotten planet.Now, under heavy rain, darkness setting in early, a few mounds of earth marked where the last casualties of this battle, that for all that they know, could perfectly be the last casualties of the Clone Wars. From Clone Sergeant Duvall, a veteran all the way from the beginning of the war at the Battle of Geonosis, to Rookie Private Rix, who had just come directly to the Cloning facilities in Kamino two days before they fought the Separatist ship over this Force-forsaken planet in the middle of nowhere. Now they were all laid to rest, their helmets marking their graves.A small comfort, perhaps, for the Clone Troopers that many people, even some Jedi, saw as little more than organic droids, but that she, Alura Sinara, former Padawan and now Jedi Knight, had seen as individuals, their moments of joy and sadness, the celebration of victories and the mourning of the losses of friends in the battlefield. She looked at Six, who had closed his eyes. Pretty much the same face as in all his brothers, after all they were Clones, but being a Jedi you learnt by feeling it that every individual is different, even the Clones.
Six, CT-6566, a good friend, or as a good friend as a Jedi and one of the Clone Troopers could be. He had always had patience with her sometimes bratty behavior and had helped her to cope with the Hell of war. It was a surprise that she felt attracted to him? But the Jedi Order forbid attachments, so she had suppressed her feelings. But now without nobody else here, could she keep herself away from Six?
Unknown to her, Six thoughts, ran in the same direction to hers.
First helping her as he would have helped any rookie, but later discovering the absolutely wonderful person she was. It was no wonder he would ended finding himself attracted to the beautiful Commander, but that was not allowed in any military, but now, they were alone, would military discipline be enough?Would he really be able to keep his feelings to himself? Or would he end up telling her how he felt?. They looked at each other.
"It's time to go to sleep, Commander." he finally said.
"Yes, it is." she answered after a pause.
Each one took a sleeping sack and took refuge in a different part of the wrecked ship, alone with their thoughts. Neither of them could sleep much that night.
The next week was spent in a routine of gathering of supplies, talking about the weather, oppressive silences, and insufficient sleeping. Everything came to a head when the Fall of the Chosen One and the death of so many Jedi when the Emperor made his play reverberated in the Force.
They were bringing some material from the wreck to make a better refuge in some caves they had discovered up in a nearby mountain, when Alura felt it, it was like when Master Kine had died in the explosion of the Separatist ship, but faraway and multiplied by many.
She lost her footing and slipped down the mountainside, Six quickly climbing down after her. She hadn't fallen down much, but she seemed to have twisted an ankle.
"Let me help you. Commander." he said, as he helped her stand up. "What happened?"
"I felt something terrible happen, Six. Many Jedi are dead, and I fear that the Republic may have fallen." Alura said said, as Six helped her go back to the path.
"That's crazy, the Separatists were all but defeated when we crashed here." Six said while they walked thee path toward the caves.
"Not by the Separatists. By the Sith, the ancient enemies of the Republic and the Jedi.", Alura said, closing her eyes, "The Jedi Council and the High Command knew that they were behind the Separatists, and some of the Jedi, Master Kine included, thought that they had deeply infiltrated the Republic too. I wouldn't be surprised if they were right and had tried to do something, failed, and the Sith used that as an excuse to take over and exterminate the Jedi."
"The Clone Army would never turn..." Six started to say.
"Even if they invoked the Special Orders, due to a supposed coup attempt by the Jedi Order?" Alura said, referring to the set of orders that were ingrained on all Clone Troopers to be obeyed supposedly without question. To that Six didn't have an answer.
They walked in silence until they reached the cave and Alura sat down in her makeshift bed, little more than a mattress removed from the ship, covered by a few sheets.
"Now, let's see how bad is your ankle." Six said, "While I'm not a doctor, all Troopers got some formation on how to deal with small things like twisted ankles."
"...Okay." she said, "But I'll probably can save some time of whatever estimate with a Healing Trance. I'm a Jedi after all." she said with a weak smile.
He nodded and removed her boots, and looked at her feet. They were surprisingly dainty, for a woman who was her same height, roughly six feet, and apparently, the Commander, liked to paint her toenails, if the remains of nail polish was any indication.
Keeping the smile off his face, he focused in the ankle. It was already partially purple and swollen, but it didn't look that bad, considering the time that had passed and the activity we had done. In fact..
"You have been trying to heal it all the way here, right?" Six asked.
"More like trying to keep it of getting worse. Master Kine drilled into me not trying to heal something like this while moving." Alura answered, with a bit of a smile, "Don't use one of the Bacta patches, keep it for something more serious, as I said, I can use the Healing Trance to heal this... but tomorrow, when I have my head clearer. Feeling what I felt, I'm not exactly in my best shape, Force-wise."
"Okay." Six said, as he used some rags to make tight bandages that would help to immobilize the ankle, "Did you found your armored boots?"
"Yes, my quarters were in surprising good shape." Alura said, as she retrieved two white boots from her stuff, not very differents from teh ones that Six was wearing, "I know that Jedi were discouraged from wearing armor some time ago, but I kept mine just in case."
"Good." Six said, as he put the boot on her foot and fiddle with something and suddenly there was a faint noise from the boot. "Now it is blocked. The boot should kept you from moving the leg and foot during the night."
"Thanks, Six." Alura said, with a full smile this time.
"Very well. I'll let you..." Six said, starting to leave.
"No..., please, Six. Stay here, , it was... it was..., I don't know how to explain what feeling all of that death, all that... darkness have done to me. But I need a friend to hold me during the night, somebody who I trust with my life." Alura said, "You, Six. I... I love you... I have loved you for a long time."