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The call from the Chancellor came totally unexpected in the middle of battle. Cody had just returned his General’s lightsaber when he heard the ringing indicating that an urgent message had just come in. Quickly ordering some of his men to cover for him, he answered the call.
“Commander Cody, the time has come. Execute Order 69.”
Cody stared at the image hovering just above his hand for probably a few seconds longer than he should have, processing the words he had just heard and running it through his mind against his memorized list of orders repeatedly. Had the Chancellor actually, genuinely, just told him to execute the order that’s been the subject of countless jokes since the day that they were taught the full list on Kamino? Hesitantly, Cody responded to the man.
“Y-yes sir. May I know… why?”
The Chancellor shook his head, as if annoyed.
“The Jedi are traitors to the Republic. Execute the order now, Commander. I expect the traitor to be taken care of.”
With that, the Chancellor hung up before he could process his words. Cody took a deep breath to stabilize himself. He had his orders. Good soldiers follow orders. Alright. He can- he can do this. For the Republic. No other motivations whatsoever. Cody raises his com to his mouth, setting it to the private line.
“General. Status report.”
After a few seconds, the channel crackled to life, letting his General’s smooth, silky Coruscanti accent wash over him.
“Grievous has been dealt with, and the rest of the battle droids are being taken care of as we speak. Is there something you needed, my dear?”
Yes. Yep. he needs to follow orders. There is no other reason for calling General Kenobi right now. Wow, Utapau sure was hotter than he’d expected, huh? Clearing his throat, he responded,
“Yes, actually. As soon as you can, come back. There’s something I… need to tell you. In private.”
Cody didn't need to be Force-sensitive to be able to hear the slight tone of confusion in his General’s response, or see the way that he smiled that made Cody feel… like he was doing a good job of following his orders from the Chancellor. Yep nothing else.
“Alright then. I’ll be seeing you shortly, my dear Commander.”
Cody did not bury his helmet in his hands and scream from the sheer embarrassment, because he was a Marshal Commander and that would not be the proper thing for him to do. He did, however, seriously consider it.
— — —
After around an hour, the sounds of fighting had died out as the last of the droids were destroyed, and General Kenobi was finally returning. All around him, he could hear his vod celebrating the end of the war. However, all of that seemed to fade as Cody’s sight caught on a figure approaching. Highlighted by Utapau’s setting sun, Cody’s General almost looked ethereal, hair and robes disheveled but with a small smile still on his face. Cody stiffened, fixing his posture and his armor as he approached.
“General.”
“Cody.”
He cleared his throat, staying casual as he asked,
“Would you follow me into my tent? I have… something I need to ask of you, sir.”
“Of course.”
General Kenobi followed him into the tent, and Cody reminded himself that this was for the mission, good soldiers follow orders, he wouldn’t be breaking regs if it was for a mission. The rule against relationships with superior officers wasn’t valid in the face of orders from the Chancellor.
“What did you need to ask me, Commander Cody?”
He considered the issue for a moment. He couldn’t just outright ask General Kenobi about the Jedi’s treason. Alright. Direct action it was.
“Cody?”
He heard the General ask as he grabbed his arm, pulling him towards him. Before the General could question him further, he had locked his lips against his. The General let out a surprised noise before returning the action. Internally, Cody let out a pleased smile. Yeah. He was great at this whole ‘seduce the Jedi to learn about their plot against the Republic thing’.
— — —
“General?”
“Yes, my dear?”
General Kenobi responded, rolling over in bed so that their faces were even closer. Cody leaned over, whispering into his ear.
“What do you know about the Jedi treason plot?”
“What?”
Damn. The General hasn’t cracked yet. Looks like he’ll just have to keep trying to seduce answers out of the General. Oh well.
— — —
“Commander Wolffe, the Jedi are traitors. Execute Order 69.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Good soldiers follow orders.
Even ones that feel absolutely horrifying.
CC-3636 must have some kind of defect, with how much he was attempting to resist his orders. He had an order from the Emperor, he has to follow it…
As CC-3636 rose to his feet, preparing to find his General and follow the order, one of his feet managed to hit a loose piece of armor plating, and not even all of his command training could stop his head from hitting the wall. As his vision began darkening, he realized that he could not follow orders at the moment. Probably not even once he woke up, as he would be on medical leave. What a shame.
— — —
“Ahsoka? Ahsoka, you’ve gotta help me.”
“Why? What’s wrong? I’m kind of busy, Caleb. We’re about an hour from Mandalor.”
“Cal wouldn’t pick up, and there’s a situation. We have a…”
The boy cautiously glanced from side to side before speaking in a low voice into the communicator.
“A Code Pink.”
Ahsoka stared at him, judgmental, from her holographic projection.
“Really? That’s why you’re calling me? I’m kind of busy here, Caleb!”
“I need help! It’s super weird!”
“We are literally in a war. People could die.”
“I’m dying here! Specifically, my eyes. And my ears. And my soul.”
Ahsoka sighed.
“Fine. I have like, two hours. Tell me what happened.”
“Okay, so, we were just minding our own business , chilling, after the battle, right? Me, my Master, and Commander Grey were just chilling. Grey stepped out to take a call, then came back into the room and started he started… it was horrible, ‘Soka! He started doing some of the worst flirting I’ve ever seen!”
A snort interrupted Caleb’s dramatic and very much justified crash out. He paused to glare at the Togruta, who held her hands up in a sign of very obviously mocking surrender. He rolled his eyes before returning to his rant.
“Which, it was suuuuper weird! Not to mention gross. But then, the worst part is, my Master started flirting back! Which is, frankly, disgusting.”
“Don’t get me started on it! I swear, every time that Skyguy and Senator Amidala were within 50 feet of each other, they would start flirting. At least your master’s never made you keep watch outside of a closet before so that he could have a ‘private and strictly professional conversation’ with the Senator.”
Caleb made a face of pure disgust at Ahsoka. Never before was he more glad to not have Anakin Skywalker as a master.
“Alright, that’s terrible. But, that doesn’t help me with my current issue.”
“Which is?”
“They kicked me out of the room because they wanted… privacy. So now I need to figure out how to put a restraining order on someone for someone else.”
At this, Ahsoka started full-on laughing, which, rude. Could she not see how this was a serious issue?
“Alright. Caleb, Imma have to let you go now. I frankly think that it’s hilarious that you have to deal with this.”
“Aren’t you going to help me? I thought we were friends, ‘Soka!”
“To quote something that Cal once told me-”
“Why would you literally ever do that?”
“-And like, eight other Masters also told me when I asked for help with Skyguy and Master Kenobi: ‘Not my circus, not my loth-cats’.”
“Ahsoka!”
“Sucks to suck, Caleb. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go prepare for a fight that they probably should have sent an actual master to, but sent me instead for some reason. Byyyyyyeee.”
Ahsoka then cut the call connection halfway through the word, leaving Caleb alone. Abandoned. Completely. How could Ahsoka do this to him? He thought they were friends. Cal wouldn’t do this to him… yes he would. Caleb was well and truly alone. His friends had abandoned him, he couldn’t go to any of the clones, and his Master was unavailable for obvious reasons. Was there no one else he could call? Well, there was one person…
“Grandmaster! I’m so glad you picked up. I need your he-”
Caleb cut himself off as he took in the area around his Grandmaster from the call. Was that? He recognized that vent from somewhere.
“Why are you in the supply closet by the Council Chambers?”
Master Windu stared at him for several seconds, before proceeding to pointedly ignore the question.
“Was there something you needed, Grandpadawan?”
Alright. He could work with this.
“It’s my Master! Her and Commander Grey are, they were… it was super gross! And then they kicked me out of the room, but the walls are so thin, and…”
“Caleb, your master is a grown woman, despite some of the way she chooses to act sometimes, and can make her own choices.”
“But, but, it’s gross!”
Master Mace sighed.
“Later, when you return to the temple we can talk. Unfortunately, right now, you’ve caught me in the middle of something. I’ll see you at that point, Caleb. May the Force be with you.”
With that, Caleb’s Grandmaster hung up, but not soon enough for Caleb to miss a trooper in familiar brown and white armor move towards his Grandmaster’s face in a decidedly not-innocent way.
Caleb is giving up. He’s going to go hide and the vents and cry until all of the adults in his life go back to normal.
— — —
Ahsoka hung up the phone, still laughing. Seriously, Caleb? Had he never seen Master Depa and her commander making eyes at each other before? Sometimes, it felt like there was a way larger year gap than there actually was between the two crechemates.
The sound of a door opening and closing was enough to distract her from her thoughts.
“Rex.”
She greeted, ready to tell him all about Caleb’s ridiculous call—seriously, whatever Grey and Master Billaba had going on physically could not possibly be as bad as Skyguy and Senator Amidala—but something seemed off.
“Commander.”
Rex greeted, sounding… strained. Outwardly, he looked fine, but something behind his eyes was off. She watched as he took a deep breath, as if about to fight something, before speaking again.
“Do you have a map?”
“There should be one if Mandalore in the ship’s-“
“Because I just got lost in your eyes.”
What.
“What?”
There was no way that Rex had just… the man who had told her that she was the closest thing he had to a sister just…
“Your hand looks heavy, Commander. Could I… hold it for you?”
She stared at him, gaping. Genuinely, what the kark.
“Rex, what the kark.”
He blinked again, and although his body language seemed almost too natural, his eyes were still screaming. And his Force presence was… murky.
“No idea what you mean, Commander. Just thought that I’d… tell you how I… really feel.”
“Are you being forced to do this.”
“No.”
It didn’t register as a lie, but it didn’t register as true, either. It was almost like…
“Oh my Force. Rex, stay here. That’s an order.”
“Good soldiers follow orders.”
Fuck. Ahsoka sprinted down the ship, yelling.
“Fives! Fives! What was your clone mind control conspiracy theory again?”
— — —
Command Chat
For Glory: So, that happened.
Tyrant Lizard King: I can’t believe Fives cospiracy theory was right
Tyrant Lizard King: I mean, he did get Tup involved, but I thought that they were just commiting to the bit
Turtle Pond: That was an… interesting experience
Rosethorn: lmao imagine having been mind controlled by a Sith Lard couldbt be me
Furry #2: Thank you for volunteering for Senate duty for until the Jetti can sort everything out thorn
Rosethorn: Fuck.
For Glory: The experience was… interesting
Turtle Pond: It wasn’t the worst experience ever.
Blinding Lights: I think that my chip might have not worked
Tyrant Lizard King: no, your just like that around your general full time, Bly
Black+White: Me and my Jetti traumatized our Commander.
Black+White: After they deactivated the chips, I found him crying being comforted by the big member of Force 99.
Black+White: They’re shockingly good with children.
Turtle Pond: I don’t think that I helped with that situation
Turtle Pond: was funny, tho
Furry #1: it was a kriffing nightmare, that’s what it was
Furry #1: I managed to knock myself out, but if I hadn’t…
Tyrant Lizard King: I feel you, Wolffe.
Tyrant Lizard King: At least my commander knows me well enough that she could tell something was wrong
Furry #2: so did everyone who received the order go on a date with a Jedi
For Glory: …something like that.
Turtle Pond: I just made out with mine.
Furry #2: We did not need to know that ponds
Turtle Pond: You literally asked.
Furry #2: Whatever at least Vos and I got to shoot the Chancellor with a slugthrower.
Furry #2: It was therapeutic
Furry #1: Ik that it ended with the Sith dead and the war over, but that was still one of the worst things to happen EVER.
Green Kindness: None of you kriffers can talk.