87 Interlude: At the mouth of hell

Tipoca city

Kamino

"Come with me!" 99 waved at all cadets he managed to gather after the evacuation order came in.

He glanced behind the his younger brothers. The far end of the corridor was mostly blocked by a barricade made of whatever the oldest cadets could get their hands on. Those boys had chosen to stay behind and buy the rest of them as much time as they could.

99 was proud of them. Sounds of blaster fire and explosions had been creeping closer and closer in the last ten minutes. All reports coming over the comms were grim – there was no stopping the Jedi working for the Separatists. All the Clones could do was slow them down and if very lucky – extract a pound of flesh in return. As if that wasn't bad enough, Order 66 came in almost an hour ago.

Every Clone knew what that meant – the Jedi had betrayed them all in when they were needed most.

99 shook his head and began running towards the landing pads – those were still secured, he hoped. For his brothers sake, not his; 99 didn't intent to leave his home. He knew that the fleet couldn't possibly take everyone with them and he wasn't going to take the place of one of his whole brothers, much less than a seat which could hold one of the kids.

Rapid fire erupted from behind and 99 redoubled his efforts.

"Go, go!" He waved again. The older cadets couldn't possibly succeed where the trained soldiers failed. Fortunately, they didn't need to. They just had to buy a bit of time.

99 and his charges got out straight into the raging storm when a loud explosion shook their barracks building. The cadets had no explosives and were likely dead now.

"I'll hold them off!" 99 shouted. "Go! That way!" He pointed in the direction of the pads. They weren't particularly far, yet he couldn't see them through the sheets of rain falling from the skies.

99 waited for all the cadets to go past him then took cover behind the wall next to the door. A content smile appeared on his face. While he hated the clankers and traitors who successfully attacked his home, he was oddly grateful too. They gave him the chance to go out like a real soldier, just like the rest of his brothers!

99 glanced down the corridor and saw a pair of flimsy B1 droids move through the smoke. He took careful aim and gently pressed the trigger just like his favorite brothers taught him so long ago. His first shot flew true and the closer clanker flew apart. 99 grinned and shot the other machine too.

Two minutes later, when a Commando droid finally took down the crippled clone, the cadets were already on an assault shuttle boosting for the heavens.

Among them was a youth calling himself Boba.

They were the last flight to make it off Kamino before the orbital bombardment struck.

=RK=

Republic assault ship "Tarsis"

High orbit over Kamino

"Move it people!" Rex shouted.

He and the few remaining survivors of the 501st were in the hangar busying themselves by helping with the evacuation. There were a lot of wounded to move to either the overworked med-bays for the critical cases, a nearby first aid station… or the back of the cavernous hold for those who didn't look like they would make it.

There weren't a lot of the latter. Most of the mortally wounded were left behind – something that made Rex's blood boil. Kamino was their home! They were born and raised there!

"Those are the last transports! Prepare to clear the deck!" Someone shouted.

LAATs and assault shuttles came in at speeds that were anything but safe. One of the small gunships couldn't properly brake and skid across the deck. It was a pure miracle that it barely missed the dying clones before it slammed into the far wall.

"What are those maniacs thinking?!" Rex exclaimed. The anger in his heart suddenly died and he was thinking clearly again.

"Get on that LAAT and make sure it won't burn. Medic too!" The commander ordered briskly. "Move it people!"

Something made him look at the open end of the hangar where his home could clearly be seen. Rex frowned when he felt a pang of regret immediately followed by anticipation.

It was then when he knew what was about to happen. Rex could swear that he could sense the gunnery officers across the fleet give targeting orders, could almost see gunners aiming their weapons. There was something wrong. He knew this wasn't merely orbital support. The whole thing felt wrong…

Rex's eyes widened when he saw the first salvo. There were hundreds of turbolaser bolts raining upon Kamino.

Before his mind could properly register what he saw, Rex knew what was happening. He could somehow sense it in the back of his head. Whatever this madness was, it was happening all over Kamino.

Then the bombardment struck.

Rex lacked words to describe what he experienced. It was death itself that manifested in the hangar bay. He was screaming – just a single damned soul among so many.

He felt them – his brothers abandoned to burn on the surface. Clone Masters dying by their millions as well. They were all screaming in pain and anguish. They were dying and a part of Rex went with them.

The second barrage hit and somehow the death became more intense, even more real. Rex knew he was dead and this had to be the nastiest Corellian hell.

The next salvo went in.

Rex was wrong. After all things apparently could get even worse. The commander could feel his own mind unravel. So much pain – it should have knocked him off. It should have killed him. But of course the torture was without end.

He was in hell.

Death stripped Rex to his very core. It washed everything else away with an ocean of blood and when it was about to consume his very soul, something shifted. The agony was still the same – that of billion dying souls. The madness was clawing at his mind and Rex knew he was already over the edge, when he felt a familiar presence.

At least he would be in good company.

Rex felt a gentle embrace. He laughed, shrieked and cried when his general dragged him back over the edge of madness. The onslaught continued, yet Rex was no longer alone. Veil was beside him, using his own body to shield the Clone from the worst of the onslaught. The General was the spark of reason which kept him from sliding back into madness.

When Rex's home howled accusations as it was murdered, when it condemned the sons who failed it, Veil was there to convince him he wasn't a wretched failure of a man.

When Rex believed he was one of the monsters responsible for torching Kamino, his general was there to tell him it wasn't his fault. That he could still look himself in the mirror.

The General was the only light in a sea of never-ending darkness. He was the only thing standing between Rex and the abyss.

Veil didn't need to ask for anything. He was Rex's unmovable pillar of strength and he gleefully bound his very soul to it.

AN: This part of the update was inspired by Uriel on the space battle forums. Thank you very much!

=RK=

CIS Shuttle 988-56L

High orbit over Kamino

"Get us away faster!" Jedi Knight Denii Strum shouted at the droid pilot. "We need to get everyone off planet!" She continued to frantically plead at the soulless machine.

"This is TK-51. Explain yourself, Jedi!" A Tactical droid's image appeared on the right side of the cockpit and an angry mechanical voice snapped like a whip.

"The Republic is about to bombard Kamino!" Denii spat. "You need to get everyone out now..." She trailed off. "It's too late…"

This wasn't the first time Denii felt a world die. Not even the first time it happened in this era. Yet even before the first shot hit the surface, she already knew things were going to be different this time. The Force was going wild. Its literally shrieked its warning for the whole galaxy to hear.

Denii blanched when she felt so many people die. Their dying cries merged into one with the screams of the Force itself and the Jedi joined them.

This was so much worse than anything she had experienced before. There were no words in any language to give voice to the agony Denii felt when the Force itself was torn asunder. She howled as wave upon wave of pure darkness spilled from the abomination that used to be Kamino. That corrupting darkness drenched the very essence that made Denii Sturm the woman she was.

It drowned her. It murdered her. It made the pain go away. It embraced her into a sheathe of welcoming darkness as it washed all of her concerns away.

Jedi Knight Denii Strum was no more.

She was something less, yet more. She was home and free.

Denii opened her eyes and awoke to an endless sea made of welcoming darkness. It was as much a part of her as she was a part of it.

This was the Dark Side. She was magnificent – more beautiful and powerful than Denii could have ever imagined.

The former Jedi frowned. There was something wrong nearby. She could see the breach which let the Dark Side pour all over Kamino. How could she not, when it was the whole planet?!

Yet, there was another breach nearby. It was so similar yet different. It was drinking from the Dark Side like it was a fountain sprinkling crystal water.

Denii looked at the anomaly and frowned. She knew it, no him. It was Vael – the man who murdered her master.

The Dark Side was with him and Denii was torn between fascination and boundless fury.

=RK=

Flag Bridge

Corellian cruiser Freedom

the abyss between the stars

I let the Battle Meditation go only when we were three jumps out of Kamino. Only a quarter of the fleet was with us, however I was hopeful. Thanks to my Battle Meditation, two thirds of the fleet that was still operational when the orbital bombardment began managed to leave the system. They would be joining us soon.

I made sure of it.

A tired sight escaped my lips and I looked around. Everyone was looking shell-shocked and I knew they were feeling so much worse.

Joanna turned to look at me. There was both hatred and devotion in her eyes. She slid to her knees and began to sob soundlessly and she wasn't the only one. At least half the people in the compartment were in the same state and most of the rest could simply stare in empty space.

They were all broken and it would take time to heal.

I went to the admiral and sat down on the deck next to her.

"Why?" Joanna asked and turned her tear stained face away from me.

"Shh..." I brought her into one handed embrace.

For a moment Joanna shook with revulsion, before she relaxed and her head fell upon my shoulder.

"Why did you did this to us?!" She asked in a tone fit for a lost little girl, which right now wasn't far from the truth.

"Because I need you all." I told her the truth.

That simple admission sent a spike of pride and warm fuzzy comfort through her heart. She loved it and loathed it in the same time.

"You broke us."

"And I will put you back together."

"In your own image?" Anger and longing were so thick in her tone that it was painful to listen.

"Yes."

"Thank you." Joanna said.

I was sure she also damned me in her mind. A small part of me loathed what I did, what I was still doing. The rest – I was ready to pat myself on my back for a job well done. Then there was the smugness coming from the Dark Side.

I had my fleet. I had my people who were closer to me than anyone but my two dead wives could ever hope to be.

I finally had an army on which I could count on no matter what and for the first time since arriving in this mad future I felt completely safe.

AN: Well, this covers the Kamino ark. Now I'll be dealing with the other consequences of the Jedi coup and after that I intent to begin RK's sequel which will cover the rest of the Clone Wars and their explosive conclusion.