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Commander Cody was having a perfectly nice day, just minding his own business when his comm started ringing. Glaring, he prepared to curse out whatever kriffhead decided to interrupt him when the holo flickered to life, revealing the Chancellor. Internally grateful that his bucket blocked the expression on his face, he straitened to attention, ready to listen for any commands. The Chancellor cleared his throat, and Cody idly noted that it sounded raspier than usual. He was also wearing a frankly quite ugly robe, but Cody just assumed it was some kind of Nabooan fashion thing and ignored it.
“Commander Cody, the time has come. Execute Order Three.”
Cody’s eyes widened as he nodded.
“Right away, sir.”
The holo disappeared as he started pondering. What had happened to cause a total Order Three situation? He shook his head as the distant ringing of voices saying ‘good soldiers follow orders’ and ‘execute Order Three’ flashed through his mind. He could wonder about this later. For now, he needed to notify his brothers. He was about to message all troops at once, but he realized that would be inefficient. Instead, he flipped open the chat he had with the other Clone Commanders.
Commanding Hell
CO-Don’t trY it | CC-2224: @all attention. Order Three has been issued by the Chancellor. We are to comply as soon as possible.
tyranasorus REX | CT-7567: Are you serious? Why bow?
tyranasorus REX | CT-7567: now
BLY Bye Bye | CC-5052: All of us?
FOXy a**hole | CC-1010: kriff yeah finally
CO-Don’t trY it | CC-2224: enogh. Our orders are final. You should all remember what to do, we were all briefed in case of this.
WOLFish smilE | CC-3636: alright. lets all follow our orders as quickly as possible. bly if i have to do this so do you
BLY Bye Bye | CC-5052: :’(
GREEn with envy | CC-1004: boo
With notifying the others taken care of, Cody prepared to follow the Order himself. Entering his room, he quickly grabbed all of his weapons, as well as a small bag of the few personal belongings he was permitted to keep. Double checking his armor, his hand reached the clip he had installed to hold his General’s lightsaber. He supposed… he wouldn’t be needing this anymore, would he. He dropped it the small desk, on top of the pile of flimsiwork he wasn’t sad to be leaving behind. He just hoped that Obi-Wan would forgive him for what he was about to do…
Commander Cody boarded the fastest shuttle the 212th had, and charted a course for Coruscant. He had to arrive as fast as possible to fulfill Order Three.
Commander Rex grumbled as he packed his stuff. Glancing across the room, to where Ahsoka was snoring in her bunk and Anakin was off ‘protecting’ Senator Amidala, he decided he could afford to pack a bit quieter, even if it was slower. He didn’t know what his vod had done to deserve an Order Three, but he knew that he would miss his Jedi—even with Skywalker’s terrible lack of subtlety and tendency to cause massive headaches.
His belongings packed, Rex found a speeder that should get him across the planet quickly. He didn’t have very long before he had to reach the other side of the planet, after all.
Commander Bly quickly nudged Aayla awake from where she was sleeping. His General grumbled sleepily, and Bly felt a pang of sorrow about how this was likely the last time he would see her beautiful face in a while.
“Wha- what ‘r you waking me up for now, Bly? It’s… too early to deal with not an attack.”
“Aayla. I have to go.”
This woke the sleeping Jedi up.
“What? What’s wrong?”
Her hand flew to the lightsaber on her bedside table as she spoke.
“Nothings wrong, I just… I have to leave. I’m sorry… I just wanted to say goodbye before I go, love.”
“Bly…”
“Goodbye, Aayla. I hope I’ll see you again, some day.”
Bly turned around and began walking out. Behind him, he could hear Aayla scrambling to get up, to follow him, but he was already leaving. He had to. He was already wasting too much time, and the voice was ringing in his head, trying to force him to follow the Order. He didn’t have a choice. He had to go. Now.
Across the galaxy, all of the various Clone Commanders behaved in a similar manner, either throwing belongings into bags or whispering goodbyes before getting in the fastest ship their unit had to offer. They all hurried to execute Order Three, just as they had been ordered to. The fact that all of the Clones were ordered to execute Order Three instead of Order Sixty Six because the Sith Lord can’t read will definitely have no effect on the galaxy whatsoever, and will not cause major changes for every branch of the GAR.
— — — THE NEXT DAY, THE 212TH — — —
“Cody, have you seen the forms for the supplies incom- oh, hello there Commander Rex. What are you doing here?”
Rex looked up from where he was sitting surrounded by piles of Cody’s flimsiwork.
“Hello, sir. I reorganized the datapads and flimsi into stacks based on what they’re about. Did you know that the 212th only has an incredibly low number of incident reports? There have only been two counts of uncontrolled arson in the last week, according to the datapads.”
Obi-Wan gave Rex a long, curious look at the fact that he had said ‘only’ at that unusually high number, before thinking back to his own days as Anakin’s master and deciding not to ask. He shook his head.
“Right. Sorry, Commander Rex, but could I ask-”
“Right! Supplies. The forms for incoming supplies are right here. Do you need anything else, General?”
Obi-Wan picked up the tablet he had come for, and almost left before remembering why he had been so taken aback.
“Commander, why are you here?”
“What?”
“Sorry, I don’t mean to cause offense, and having worked with you many a time, I know that you are a more than capable commander. However, I do need to discuss with my Commander what the attack strategy on our next raid of the Seperatist stronghold will be, so if you could point me in the direction of Commander Cody…”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible, sir.”
“Why not?”
“Orders, sir. Effective as of last night, Commander Cody is no longer the leader of the 212st. I am.”
Obi-Wan stared at Rex with a face that was very unbecoming of the famed Negotiator as he processed the clone’s words.
“What do you mean, Cody is no longer the commander of the 212st?”
“Orders, sir-”
“Whose orders?”
“Classified, sir.”
“Where’s Cody?”
“Classified.”
“If you’re here, whose in charge of the 501st?”
“Fox.”
“How’s… that going to work?”
— — — WITH THE 501ST — — —
“Rex! Rex! Where are you?”
“Rex! We need you to do something that definitely does not involve covering up the fact that we did- um, didn’t blow up a shuttle.”
“That I was absolutely not modifying into a podracer so that Ahsoka could see how good I am at flying.”
“Yep! We are completely innocen- you aren’t Rex.”
The trooper currently sitting in Rex’s office chair slowly turned to glare down at the two Jedi.
“No. No I am not.”
Ahsoka spoke, looking a little confused and a little nervous.
“Do you know where Rex is? We… kind of need to see our commander.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”
“Why not?”
“Because as of last night, I am the 501st’s commander. Indefinitely.”
As Anakin and Ahsoka stared with shock, Fox grinned evilly(he’d deny it to no end later) under his helmet as he turned to face the people who technically outranked him but didn’t actually have any power over him.
“Now, what were you saying about destroying a shuttle?”
— — — LATER — — —
Commanding Hell
tyranasorus REX | CT-7567: so hoe’s it going
tyranasorus REX | CT-7567: *how’s although it was still accurate.
FOXy a**hole | CC-1010: I’m going to kill skywalker
FOXy a**hole | CC-1010: I mean it was still better than my job but still
FOXy a**hole | CC-1010: I got to scare a Jetii tho so like I had a good day
FOXy a**hole | CC-1010: the 501st pain tolerance is very low tho I barely started putting them thru the guard training and most of them passed out.
FOXy a**hole | CC-1010 u would think they would have a better tolerance to being electricuted
tyranasorus REX | CT-7567: Fox what the kriff
rose without THORNs | CC-1210 :bly ur girlfriend misses you
rose without THORNs | CC-1210: also fox is right. I don’t think any of the 327th could withstand Stewjoni water torture
FOXy a**hole | CC-1010: pathetic. my shinies could do that
BLY Bye Bye | CC-5052: she’s not my girlfriend!
WOLFish smilE | CC-3636: congrats on the wedding, vod
WOLFish smilE | CC-3636: you should have invited us
BLY Bye Bye | CC-5052: kark you
tyranasorus REX | CT-7567: are we just ignoring the torture thing? ok
WOLFish smilE | CC-3636: my day was fine, thanks for asking, the men are good but not my pack
WOLFish smilE | CC-3636: also I miss my buir
WOLFish smilE | CC-3636: *general stupid autocorrect
tyranasorus REX | CT-7567: they share literally one letter
BLY Bye Bye | CC-5052: it’s okay Wolffe he already said he would adopt me too.
BLY Bye Bye | CC-5052: he filled out a form and everything. he wrote my last name down as Secura for some reason tho idk why
WOLFish smilE | CC-3636: we all know why
tyranasorus REX | CT-7567: we all know why
rose without THORNs | CC-1210: we all know why
FOXy a**hole | CC-1010: we all know why
POND hopper | CT-401: we all know why
BLY Bye Bye | CC-5052: I hope all of you die. Painfully.
CO-Don’t trY it | CC-2224: @CC-1010 what the kriff if wrong with the Corries
CO-Don’t trY it | CC-2224: How are you more traumatized than the vod I’ve met in the front lines?
FOXy a**hole | CC-1010: the senators don’t like us
rose without THORNs | CC-1210: what happened to you today
CO-Don’t trY it | CC-2224: a senator kriffing took me to some kind of illegal underground betting pool and used me as a living shield. I got stabbed, shot, and two pieces of my armor are broken. What the kriff
FOXy a**hole | CC-1010: tuesdays amiright
rose without THORNs | CC-1210: damn it was supposed to be Hounds turn to be a meatsheild this week that sucks for you
FOXy a**hole | CC-1010: I had to do a double last week you don’t get to talk thorn
FOXy a**hole | CC-1010: @CC-2224 look on the bright side at least you haven’t gotten chancellor duty yet. Being electrocuted sucks
CO-Don’t trY it | CC-2224: IM SORRY WHAY MOW?
tyranasorus REX | CT-7567: *I’M *WHAT * NOW
FOXy a**hole | CC-1010: yknow how the chacellor gets bored and starts electrocuting you with his wierd hand lighting
rose without THORNs | CC-1210: you gotta judge his face tho cause sometimes he wants you to scream but sometimes he doesn’t
CO-Don’t trY it | CC-2224: ARE YOU SAYING THAT THE CHANCELLOR CAN SHOOT LIGHTNING FROM HIS HANDS?
FOXy a**hole | CC-1010: yeah y?
CO-Don’t trY it | CC-2224: I need to go talk to the Jedi
FOXy a**hole | CC-1010: why what are they gonna do
CO-Don’t trY it | CC-2224: shooting lighting is a Sith power fox
FOXy a**hole | CC-1010: oh
FOXy a**hole | CC-1010: oh shit
WOLFish smilE | CC-3636: the Chancellors a Sith?
FOXy a**hole | CC-1010: would explain some things
rose without THORNs | CC-1210: like how ugly he is
FOXy a**hole | CC-1010: noice
FOXy a**hole | CC-1010: can I kill him then?
CO-Don’t trY it | CC-2224: we’ll talk to the Jedi
— — — ELSEWHERE, A BIT LATER — — —
Palpatine street in confusion in his office. He had ordered the blasted Clones to kill the Jedi already, so why couldn’t he taste their deaths and suffering in the Force? Why couldn’t he feel their infernal life forces snuffing out?
The Clones must have been defective. There was no other reason that they would disobey him in this manner. In his annoyance, Palpatine crossed the room to begin digging through the piles of papers, and eventually found the Clone control manual from the Kaminoans. He flipped through it.
There, written in the page, clear as day: The Jedi have are considered traitors to the Republic. Eliminate as soon as possible. It was the third Order in the book, it was- Order 66? What? Who the hell lables a book like that? Palpatine growled with frustration. Furiously, he opened his communicator, about to order those incompetent clones to kill the Jedi, once and for all, when the door to his office slammed open, revealing the entire Jedi council.
“Chancellor Palpatine—or should I say, Darth Sideous—you are under arrest for crimes against the Republic.”
Too angry at the failure of his plans to attempt to verbally defend himself, Palpatine drew his lightsaber, lighting already sparking from his fingertips. He was holding his own against the Jedi when he heard the sound of a blaster fire, and the world faded to black.
The assembled Jedi masters looked up, over the Sith Lord’s dead body, at the back of the room. There stood a clone, holding a blaster which was still smoking. He looked blankly down at the body and said one thing:
“Fox is going to kill me for stealing his chance.”