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One moment, Fives was doing his best to tell Rex and General Skywalker about the plot against the Jedi, and the next he was being ordered to stand down by Commander Fox. If it had only been Fox he might have run. The contingent of Coruscant Guard shock troopers behind Fox with blaster rifles Fives could be sure weren’t set to stun convinced him otherwise.
Time.
He needed time.
Just enough to organize his chaotic thoughts into some order so he could verbalize what General Skywalker and Rex needed to know about Tup, the inhibitor chips implanted in all of his brothers, and Palpatine’s involvement in it.
Desperate, he lurched over and grabbed Rex’s pistols from where the captain set them.
He wasn’t planning to actually use the pistols.
He just wanted to buy enough time to tell Rex and General Skywalker everything he found out.
I have to make them believe me.
To see he wasn’t the traitor he had been branded as.
Everything became a blur as he snapped those DC-17s up.
He could hear Rex and General Skywalker shouting but the roaring in his ears made it impossible for him to make out their words.
The air around Fives crackled with electricity.
A chill tingled along his spine.
His blood boiled beneath his skin.
Anxiety churned in his gut.
Something slammed into Fives with enough force to propel him backwards.
He figured he had been shot by either Fox or one of the shock troopers.
Only… there was no blinding bite of pain.
No sizzle across his chest from where the blaster bolt pierced his chest plate.
A pair of sinewy arms caught him and gently lowered him to the ground.
What the kriff? Fives wondered as he pushed himself into a seated position.
Had he fallen through the floor?
A look up revealed no hole in the ceiling.
That he could see, anyway.
That was a blessing in and of itself since it meant Fox and his troopers couldn’t try and shoot him again.
An inspection of the area around him revealed no discernible shapes or objects among the swirling shadows.
No thin beams of light indicated doors or windows.
It was as if he had fallen into a deep, dark pit.
Fives gut clenched at the thought he might be trapped in this place.
Alone.
Forever.
Suddenly, an archway formed across from him. What the…? His brow furrowed. Where did that come from? A better question, he quickly realized as the lines began to pulse and glow brighter than the flashes of lightning that often skewered the stormy skies over Kamino, was where did it lead?
Before he could get up to find out, however, more lines appeared. These, Fives saw, formed a path beneath him.
At least, he thought it was a path.
Fives followed the lines to where they intersected before splitting off to create a dozen more archways.
Forming a long, winding hallway of sorts.
Where the kriff am I?
“Hello?” His voice echoed through the corridor. “Is anyone here?”
His only answer was a series of voices.
Generals Skywalker, Kenobi, Plo Koon.
Tano, Master Yoda, Alpha, Wolffe.
Rex, Cody, Jesse, Tup.
Echo.
The last hurt most to hear.
He and Echo were not simply the surviving members of Domino Squad.
They were more than squad mates, in fact.
Echo was his best friend.
His brother.
Who he lost during a failed rescue mission.
Eyes open or closed didn’t prevent Fives from seeing Echo grab the commando droids discarded shield and advance towards their shuttle, blocking shots as he went. Fives followed after him, providing cover fire, but stopped when the turret pivoted towards their shuttle.
Aiming at the droid behind the turret would serve no purpose. Even if he got the shot off, it wouldn’t stop the commando droid from firing those cannons.
Taking out the shuttle and the man trying to gain access to it.
“Echo,” he cried in desperation. “Look out!”
His warning came half a click too late.
Fives was flung backwards by the force of the explosion. He scrambled back to his feet, gazing at the burning wreckage as fear churned in his gut.
Of Echo, however, there was no sign.
“Echo!”
There had been no time to check and see if maybe, just maybe he survived the explosion.
Nobody could’ve survived a blast like that.
Even General Skywalker wouldn’t have walked away completely unscathed.
The only thing that remained of Echo was his bucket.
Left behind on a smoldering landing platform.
Forgotten.
As so many of his brothers were.
They seeded the stars…
As good soldiers were supposed to do.
“Fives.”
Startled, Fives spun around. From the archway a new shadow formed and became a woman. Beautiful and bone-white with eyes like the fog on that dark rock, Umbara.
“Ge-General Kazzarin?” Confusion swam through him as he stared at the Jedi General. “Is it really you?”
“Yes, Fives.”
“But…” He shook his head to clear the confusion. “How?”
“I brought you here.” The general indicated the murky corridor with a wave of one small hand. “To the World Between Worlds.”
“The World Between Worlds?” Fives never heard of such a thing. “I’m sorry, sir, I-I don’t understand.” He wasn’t sure he was meant to understand. “What is the World Between Worlds?”
“It is a mystical plane that serves as a pathway for all time and space.” One tattooed hand waved to the archways shimmering around them. “All the moments of time can be found here.”
“I’m just a simple soldier, sir,” Fives told her. “I don’t know anything about planes and doorways.” His training hadn’t included lessons in mysticism or Jedi beliefs. “None of this makes any sense to me.”
Not that much had made sense since Ringo Vinda. Everything got turned upside down the moment Tup turned on Jedi General Tiplar. Fives soon found himself fighting to keep the longnecks from wiping his memory and avoiding the Coruscant guard ordered to either bring him in or terminate him.
“I know nothing makes sense to you right now.” The Jedi General floated towards him. “You have been thrust into a situation you were never trained for, dismissed by those you turned to for help, and branded a traitor and enemy of the Republic you were trying to warn.”
Fives breath hitched. “Yo-you know about the inhibitor chips?”
“Yes.” Her hand settled gently on his arm. “I do.”
“You believe me then?” He clutched her arms in a hard, desperate grip. “About the chips? And the plot against the Jedi?”
“I would have always believed you, Fives,” she said softly. “Because I know you are levelheaded, loyal, and unfailingly honest.” Those soft gray eyes met his. “You wouldn’t make up such a story if it were not true.”
All his tension and anxiety melted from him at having someone finally believe him.
“Tha-thank you for believing me, General.”
“You’re a good man, Fives.” General Kazzarin extricated herself from his grip and stepped back. “And a good soldier.” She held out a hand tipped with quick, clever fingers to him. “Now, come. There’s something I need to show you.”
Fives allowed her to guide him towards an archway. He trusted the Jedi General. She was one of the few who didn’t see him or his brothers as a commodity.
Didn’t accept the commonly held theory that clones were merely trainable, dependable, expendable, and above all else, replaceable.
General Kazzarin confronted General Krell after he told her about the generals sending them on that suicide mission.
She spoke in defense of Dogma after Krell was revealed a traitor of both the Republic and Jedi Order.
Convinced the Chancellor to transfer him into her River Squad.
She came to a stop in front of an archway.
“A series of events unfolded after your meeting with Captain Rex and…” Fives swore he glimpsed a flash of pain and something more on her tattooed face. It was gone before he could be sure he had seen it. “General Skywalker.”
“Events?” His brow creased. “What events?”
“See for yourself…”
Fives watched as the dark portal started to swirl. Shapes appeared in the mist but he couldn’t make out what they were. Next came color. Oranges, yellows, whites, browns, and blacks. Then came the reverberations of proton torpedoes and blaster rifles. Battle, he realized, nerves tingling at the familiar sounds. It’s a battle.
Where, though?
Images slowly started to take form. Fives saw clankers and members of the 212th fighting on some rocky planet. What one, he didn’t know. Cody was there, talking to General Kenobi who was seated atop a lizard-like creature. A veractyl he believed.
Grime covered the Jedi General from head to foot. His tunic had scorch marks in it.
Not an unusual occurrence with General Kenobi.
He nor General Skywalker could get through a battle without their clothing being scorched, coated in muck or ripped.
General Kenobi waved a hand towards the intense battle as he said to Cody, “Let’s finish this so we can return home.”
A brief smile touched Cody’s lips. “With pleasure, sir.”
Cody turned to signal to the men behind him but stopped suddenly. A frown creased his brow. As if he thought of something. The only words he spoke to the Jedi General were, “You go on ahead, General. My men and I’ll be right behind you.”
General Kenobi nodded and spoke softly to his mount. The varactyl issued a shrill cry before leaping off the platform. Cody reached into a compartment of his armor and withdrew a comlink. A holoscan appeared in the palm of his hand of a hooded man who uttered three words: “Execute Order Sixty-Six.”
Fives didn’t have to guess about what that order was intended to do.
Chancellor Palpatine told him in their private meeting how Order Sixty-Six was the protocol he had the longnecks implant inside he and his brothers.
It identified the Jedi as traitors to the Republic.
To the Supreme Chancellor, himself.
Traitors his brothers were to execute on sight.
As Fox and his shock troopers were supposed to have executed him.
And would have if General Kazzarin hadn’t brought him to this strange place.
“Cody won’t do it,” he said, tone firm. “He’s served under General Kenobi since the beginning of the Outer Rim sieges. They’ve fought in over a dozen campaigns together. Survived hundreds of battles. He’d never follow such an order.”
“Good soldiers follow orders.” Sadness filled the Jedi General’s voice. “And Commander Cody is and always will be a good soldier.”
“No.” Fives refused to believe Cody would act on those orders. “He won’t do it.”
Cody raised his comlink. Fives stepped forward, intending to reach out and grab him before Cody could issue the order that’d send General Kenobi to his death, but General Kazzarin’s hand on his arm stopped him.
“Execute General Kenobi on my command.” Dozens of T-21 muzzles swung as shoulder-fired torps locked onto the back of the unsuspecting general. Proton grenade launchers angled to precisely calibrated elevations. Cody’s face, like Fives own save for the scar over his left eye became a hard, cold mask. Ruthless determination. In a brusque voice he said, “Fire.”
Fives shouted, “No!” as a grenade struck the rock above General Kenobi, splintering it. Man and lizard plummeted before his eyes, disappearing into a pool of water at the bottom of a gorge.
“Order Sixty-Six echoed across the galaxy.” The emotion in General Kazzarin’s voice throbbed in Fives heart. “Clone commanders on Kashyyyk, Felucia, Mygeeto, Tellanroaeg all gave the same order.” She closed her eyes. More a long blink than anything. “Across the galaxy, Jedi died.”
“No,” Fives managed around the lump in his throat. “No no no… this shouldn’t have happened!”
“It did, though.”
“But you knew about the inhibitor chips! You could have stopped my brothers from turning on the Jedi!”
“I didn’t know about the inhibitor chips until after Order Sixty-Six was executed. You never revealed what you knew to Captain Rex or General Skywalker.”
“I failed.” Fives sunk to his knees. His shoulders bowed. Eyes closed. Head dipped forward until it rest against the generals side. A horrible breach of protocol. He was an ARC soldier and she a Jedi General. Everything inside him hurt, though. “Everything I did ended up being for nothing. The chips were activated and Jedi died.”
“You couldn’t have stopped these events from happening.” A hand gently rest atop his head. “None of us could.”
“You’re a Jedi.” Bands formed around Fives head, his chest. Tightening, tightening until he could barely draw a breath. “Can’t you do something to undo what happened?”
“I could use the World Between Worlds to change those events,” the general said. “Undo what happened. Save the people I care about. Prevent the galaxy from falling into the hands of the man who manipulated each and every event that happened.”
“Do it then.” His breath came in tattered gasps. He feared he’d really disgrace himself by passing out at the generals feet. “Please.”
“I wish I could, Fives.” Her hand stroked over his head. Offering something he never had before: comfort. “But I cannot.”
Fives angled his head back to look at the Jedi General. Nothing showed on her flawless face but a weariness he understood all too well.
“Why can’t you change this?”
“Because the Force decided this would happen long before either you or I were born.”
“Bantha piss!” The vulgarity was inappropriate but Fives didn’t apologize. Not this time. Not when everything could be made right. “My brothers killed people because they had no choice!”
“Yes,” General Kazzarin agreed with a slight nod. “And wrong as that is, I still cannot alter the events. Not without the possibility of something far worse happening.”
“What could be worse than this?”
“The end of all life.” The hand that stroked his head moved to his cheek. Her thumb wiped away the tears Fives hadn’t been aware he had shed. “Time is fragile, Fives. Change one thing and you risk changing everything.”
“Why bring me here then?” He demanded. “Why show me these events if we aren’t meant to stop them from happening?”
“I needed you to see them so you’d understand the importance of why I brought you here. Especially as they relate to the tasks I will assign you.”
“Tasks?” Fives frowned at her. “What tasks?”
“The first will be to travel to my village and guard someone dear to me.”
“Who?”
“My daughter.”
Fives jaw dropped. “Your daughter?”
The General’s lips twitched. “Yes, my daughter.”
Fives wasn’t sure how to respond to that. He hadn’t thought Jedi were allowed to have children. The General wasn’t a Jedi, though. She had left the Order. To have her daughter maybe? he found himself wondering.
“I want you to watch over her until Order Sixty-Six is executed,” the general continued. “Then I want you to travel with her to the Smuggler’s Moon where you will wait for a weary traveler who you will aide in reaching his final destination.”
“Why am I to help to this weary traveller?”
“Because the future depends on the child he will have with him.”
Fives head spun from a mixture of confusion, nerves, and whatever the kriff that longneck injected in him.
“I-I don’t understand.” He waved a shaky hand to the now dark archway. “The Jedi… my brothers…”
“Have all been used as pawns by a powerful force in control of the galaxy.”
“Who?” Even as he asked, Fives suspected he knew the answer. “Who was behind all this?”
“A man who wanted to become Emperor.”
There was only one person he could think of who could make himself Emperor.
The same man who told him about his involvement in the inhibitor chips placed in the brains of he and his brothers.
“The Chancellor.”
A faint smile touched her lips.
The only confirmation the Jedi General offered.
“It’s time to go back, Fives.”
“Back?” She couldn’t be serious. “I can’t go back! I’ll be killed soon as I step through that archway!”
“No, you won’t be.” General Kazzarin guided him to another door. “I brought you here to the World Between Worlds to make sure you weren’t killed.” The hand on his arm trembled for less than a click. “It is the one wrong I have chosen to make right.”
“The one wrong…” His breath whooshed out of him as realization dawned. “I was killed.”
“Yes.”
Fives couldn’t claim he was surprised. He suspected Fox shot him before finding himself in this World Between Worlds. Still, knowing he’d be dead if not for the Jedi General electing to save him shook him in the same way facing that firing squad on Umbara had.
Only…
“If changing events can have a negative outcome…” Fives said slowly, brow furrowed. “Why save me?”
“Because the Force decided you could serve a greater purpose than the one you already served.”
Fives didn’t understand the mystic thinking of the Jedi but he was profoundly relieved to have been spared his intended fate.
“How am I to avoid Fox and his Coruscant guard?”
“When you return you will be on a landing platform. My starfighter is there waiting to take you to Dathomir. From there, you will keep a low profile until it is time for you to help the traveler.”
“How? I’m a soldier. I’ll be easily recognized.”
“Not anymore, Fives.” General Kazzarin placed her hand on his chest plate. “You’re an outcast now. An enemy of the Republic. You will need to adapt to survive.”
Fives wanted to ask her if any of his brothers defied the order.
If they fought the inhibitor chips.
Something told him the Jedi General wouldn’t answer if he did.
“Will I know this traveler when I see him?”
Will I see you again? he asked silently.
He figured she wouldn’t answer that, either.
“You’ll know him the moment you see him.” General Kazzarin waved then towards the glowing portal. “Now go. And remember that you can say nothing of what you learned here to anyone.”
“I won’t tell anyone.”
Not that anyone was likely to believe him.
They hadn’t about the inhibitor chips or the plot against the Jedi.
And look how well that turned out.
Fives stepped towards the archway.
“May the Force be with you, Fives.”
He didn’t know why but he said, “May the Force be with you,” back to her before stepping through the archway.