[fic][SW:RC/CW, Darman, Niner, Ahsoka, Rex, PG-13] Divergence

[ajremix]

What is this? A non-DCU fic? C-c-c-combo breaker!

Title: Divergence
Fandom: Star Wars: Republic Commando/Clone Wars
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1435
Characters: Darman, Niner, Ahsoka, Rex, Ennen, Rede
Summary: Takes place some time in Imperial Commando. Squad 40 chases down a Jedi.



“/We’ve got a positive id,/” Niner’s voice echoed in Darman’s helmet, rough with exertion, “/target is Commander Ahsoka Tano, former padawan of General Skywalker./”

“/Perfect,/” Ennen snarled, “/if she’s as crazy as her master, this is going to go down harder than the mission with Camas./”

“He still died in the end,” Darman retorted, darting around civilians who scrambled to get out of his way.

“/Yeah. At the cost of Bry./”

The tightness in Ennen’s voice made Darman think it prudent to keep quiet. Instead, Rede picked up the slack.

“/I think she’s got a buddy. I can see someone following, but I can’t get a good visual./”

“/Dar, you keep on Tano, try herding her to either the southeast or southwest corridor so Ennen or I can cut her off. Rede, watch her shadow- if it’s another Jedi, notify us and keep your distance. All of you- do not engage alone./”

The three commandos snapped off “Understood,” before dropping off the active line, focusing on cornering the Jedi. Within two corners, Darman managed to get Tano into view, the white and dark of her head tails tangling in the hood of her cloak. She was fast, but obviously hurting from some earlier injury. She kept to the crowds, hoping the civilians would keep him from shooting though their presence also kept her from drawing her lightsaber.

Well, if she wasn’t willing to put civilians at risk... Darman lifted his deece, firing a short burst at the Jedi’s heel’s, making a cacophony of shrieks go up around them. He saw the Torgrutan glance over her shoulder as if shocked that he actually fired, then made a sharp turn down an alley way.

“Niner,” Darman snapped into his comm, “she’s heading your way!”

“/Negative on that,/” Niner replied, voice suddenly straining, “/she’s turned into a deadend! Darman, hold back until Ennen and I-/”

“We are not losing this Jedi, Niner! I can hold her there!”

“/Dar-/”

He clicked off the line, a red haze creeping through his brain and the only think Darman could think was that the Jedi was to be killed. The Jedi needed to die.

Darman turned into the alley just as Tano skidded to a stop by the far wall, trapped. Her lightsaber flickered to life before she turned, before she even heard the next set of blaster bolts being fired at her. He needed to get her off balance, he needed to get in close, keep her from running. He needed to get that lightsaber away from her.

One of her hands waved out and a crate hurtled at him. Darman rolled to the side, came up on his knee firing and Tano inched along the back wall, trying to get an open path to the mouth of the alley again. Darman saw a flicker of movement off to the side, saw a door open by Tano’s shoulder, saw her almost eviscerate the Neimoidian that had come to see what was going on. Tano froze in panic and fear and that one moment was all Darman needed.

He scored a hit through her hand, lightsaber blasted across the alley and before she could reorient herself, before she really felt the pain that shot through her arm, Darman was on her. She ducked his punch and managed to deflect a knee to the chest, but her legs faltered and a backhand caught her across a montral, knocking her off her feet. When Tano attempted to reach out for her lightsaber, Darman stepped on her wrist, grinding his boot into bone and raised his deece to her head, pointblank.

Two shots pounded into Darman’s back, crackling over the light shielding of his armor. He turned reflexively and the butt of a pistol smashed into the side of his helmet. Dazed, Darman stumbled back, only just able to keep his feet and his weapon trained on his target. A body slid into the space between Darman and the Jedi- a human male, so unkempt and wild-eyed that if Darman wasn’t so intimately familiar with the face he might not have recognized him as a fellow clone.

A sense of betrayal roiled in Darman’s stomach. “Stand down, traitor!” He snarled at the intruder.

The other clone’s eyes narrowed, blocking Tano with his own body. “Never.”

It was only one word, one low, growled out word but Darman heard it as clearly as he saw it in the clone’s eyes and stance, in the way Tano briefly touched his elbow before pulling her lightsaber back to her. Darman saw it all and his betrayal turned to nausea, to a twisting coil of pain and devastation and fury.

His eyes darted between the two, unwilling to believe what was before him. “No,” the barrel of his deece shook, just barely keeping on target. “No. Nonononono!” His finger ached over the trigger but all Darman could see in the clone was himself protecting his Jedi, his wife. But it wasn’t and it made him want to be sick, to do nothing but scream until he was too tired to even breath.

Quietly Tano reached up to her clone, “Rex,” she touched his wrist to get him to lower his weapons. Darman could do it. He could kill them both with one shot. Neither of them were in a position to defend themselves. He could kill them right now.

His hands refused to work properly, his mind screaming at him ‘yes’ and ‘no’ and Darman let out a lost, desperate sound. Then another body stood in his way and Darman’s composure shattered. “Niner...”

“I know, ner vod.”

“It’s not fair.”

“I know,” Niner’s hands went up, one switching the safety back on Darman’s deece, the other grazing the tight clench of a fist around the weapon’s grip. Even through his armor he could feel Niner trembling.

“Why do they get to have each other?” Darman wailed, voice cracking with loss and unshed emotion. “That should’ve been us! Why does his girl get to live and mine didn’t? It’s not fair!”

“I know, vod, I know.” Niner pulled Darman to him, arms wrapping tightly around his distraught brother as he sobbed. Niner turned to the clone and Jedi, his hand anchored on hers as the reality of his luck- of having the one loved still by his side -set in.

“There’s two more commandos coming,” Niner told them, “if you don’t want to fight, leave now.”

The clone looked to Tano, then back at Niner. “We should make this believable,” he said. The Jedi looked to Niner, waiting for a nod before she closed her eyes, lifted a hand and pushed Darman’s mind. He went limp in Niner’s arms and Niner gently slid his brother to the ground.

He turned, pulling out a datachip and entering a short line of information into it. “Get off station,” he told them bluntly, “and when you get a secured line, get on this frequency. Ask for Jaing. He can help you.” When the other clone moved to take the chip, Niner gripped his arm in a vice-like fist. “Protect her,” he ordered. “If I hear she died, I will hunt you down.”

“If she’s dead,” the clone responded evenly, “I already died trying to protect her.”

Satisfied, Niner let go and stepped back. Tano pushed out with the Force and slammed Niner into a pile of crates. He’d been thrown far harder by Super Battle Droids, but the way the crates fell and crumpled around him made an impressive impact. By the time he managed to get back on his feet, the two had disappeared and Ennen and Rede ran in.

“Sergeant,” Rede grabbed Niner’s elbow, steadying him. “Are you okay?”

“Fine. Dar-“

“Unconscious, but he doesn’t look hurt,” Ennen growled. He looked around at the mess of the alley, then kicked at a twisted sheet of metal, sending it clanging down the way. “Dammit! Didn’t you say wait to engage?”

“You were late,” Niner said flatly. “Did you see which way they went?”

“No.” Ennen cursed and punched at the wall, unable to properly vent his rage without a Jedi there to vent it on.

“Grab Darman,” Niner told Rede. “We’ll have to call this in.” The young clone pulled Darman across his shoulders and Ennen picked up Darman’s fallen weapon. Niner led them out of the alley and back to the command center, hoping the Jedi and her clone could get off the station safely. When he had time later, Niner would let Jaing know to expect the call. He hoped, after what happened today, that Darman could keep himself together.

Comments

[chameleon-irony.livejournal.com]

Very nice! I liked all the emotional intensity in this fic.

[idiosyn.livejournal.com]

Thank you^^

[dunmurderin.livejournal.com]

Nice, very nice. You captured the characters' voices -- both for the RC books and the Clone Wars cartoon -- well. Especially nice to see the new members of Omega featured. Yay Rede!

[idiosyn.livejournal.com]

Thanks^^ And I will admit that I have such a soft spot for Ennen and Rede has such potential. If only more books were being made :/

[kinofsimon.livejournal.com]

As disappointed as I am that Darman didn't blast the living pulp out of that little Jedi whelp, I am really impressed with how well you captured the characters of Omega. Darman's outburst is perfect and embodies exactly what was going on in his mind in the novel, Niner is in control, Ennen's furious...very, very good.

On another note, its also very cool to see a fic placed in the more recent RC canon. I was happy to see Ennen and Rede brought in for once.

[idiosyn.livejournal.com]

With Ashoka I go through cycles of 'she's got sass' and 'argh!'. It all depends on whose writing the episode, I think. But then I also tend to have a problem with Jedi as a whole, but that's a rant for later.

Anyway, as I said on the comment above- I do like Ennen and Rede and I wish we'd get to see more of them. Or got to see more of Ennen, as the case may be.

[kinofsimon.livejournal.com]

I'm actually quite curious to hear your opinion on Jedi, if you don't mind. I think the concept for them is very cool, but their portrayal over the past decade, the way authors seem to try to make them gods and yet continually make mistake after mistake, pisses me off to no end.

[dunmurderin.livejournal.com]

There is, according to Wookiepedia, going to be an Imperial Commandos II in February, 2012. It's not going to be written by Karen Traviss (woe!) but it will apparently end the storyline so *fingers crossed*

[idiosyn.livejournal.com]

Ho boy, do they have an author lined up for it? Man, if I wasn't apprehensive about how it could possibly end before, I very much am now. *is eternally pessimistic*

[idiosyn.livejournal.com]

Haha, oh boy- rant ahead. I've actually had a bit of a problem with the Jedi back in the original trilogy. Ben and Yoda were, for the most part, cool old guys, but Luke ended up turning into a durpy dude who had to do everything on his own even though it's really stupid for him to do so. And now, with all the recent stuff, the universe seems extremely classist to me.

For example, the ones that lead all military operations are the Jedi. Yes, Jedi are typically trained from a young age in the ways of the Force, but Force training =/= military training. It doesn't teach you the logistics of sustaining an army or maneuvering tactics or things like that. And yet, these Jedi are put in command of basically everything- even above the non-clone military who had to have years of experience IN ACTIVE MILITARY SERVICE in order to get ranks like 'admiral', it's less likely it was given to them just because of mystic forces.

And then they have Ashoka- a Padawan who's sixteen or whatever -who is given command of a platoon or more of clones. Clones who are LITERALLY breed and trained to fight and win wars, have to defer to a child with little to no military training. Not to mention when Senate members are given command of clone troops in a few episode. Yes, the clones are supposed to guard them, they should, for the most part, defer to them. However, when the situation changes to that of a battlefield or a firefight, WHY is some politician with no fighting experience still giving orders? If the politician's safety is paramount, then the guards are supposed to override them for their own protection.

And then you get into the issue of how the Jedi Order preaches detachment and basically grooms themselves as the 'peacekeepers of the galaxy' and yet being detached means you can't connect with the people you're trying to help because you can't understand their problems. Compounded by the fact that the Jedi are taught not to have attachments or strong emotional ties or worldly possessions- that's basically the exact OPPOSITE of human nature. Our instinct to socialize and hoard evolved with us and is what allowed us to survive among creatures with far better equipment to hunt and defend themselves. So between the solitary Jedi Order and creatures that need to be social, there's a huge empathic dissonance. And I don't know about you, but have you had someone being distant and aloof telling you what to do because they know better because of their beliefs or their training? Most people don't take it too well, but here in the Star Wars universe, the Jedi are like holy men (or whatever) because of their supernatural abilities. And that doesn't jive with me at all. I'm more 'dude, it's awesome that you can do all this cool stuff, but you don't know my life, so butt out'.

And then there's the problem of the Jedi using a slave army to begin with. I'm former military and my family has been a military one for a long time, so having an army without any rights, any choices and- as shown in several episodes -used without disregard (seriously, you know it's a trap and yet you still send your troops straight up the middle? wth is wrong with you?) and having wave after wave swathed down just to show how badass the Jedi are tend to enrage me. Also every time a Jedi jumps in front of their troops' line of fire to wave their lightsaber around makes me go 'ARGH!' out loud every time.

tl;dr- my problem with Jedi is part of why I like these novels so much. Because not everyone believes that the Jedi are as great and powerful as every other source tries to make them and the Jedi that are in the book knows they're not as great and powerful as others want them to be and wrestle with their own personal conflicts.

[kinofsimon.livejournal.com]

I definitely see what you are saying, and I wholly agree on most issues (except the Luke bit - In some instances with the Jedi, only rarely do I condone the act of going out in the galaxy and being a little stupid, getting your hands wet to see what you can and can't do)

I hate that they just give Jedi military command, when, exactly as you pointed out, they may have no field experience and end up getting their troops killed due to their pride (Ashoka), or they do have field experience but are certainly in no way military commanders (Kenobi). It's one thing to lead a mentor with you, but its entirely another to have thousands upon thousands of troops under your command that you need to feed, get to know, etc.

And like you said, when Jedi live yet their army dies, and they take down tons and tons of battle droids (like Mace Windu on Dantooine), it's like "you should have died out there with them."

Then, like you mentioned, they are a slave army and some of these twerps probably get a huge ego boost out of it. I remember this one instance from one of the RC novels, where Jusik is walking around Coruscant in his Mando armour, and some Jedi looks at him with disgust, like "you've gone native!" As if the clones and their Mandalorian training sergeants are second class, beneath "noble and mighty" Jedi. I know we weren't talking about Karen Traviss, but I gotta praise her for subtle critiques of the Jedi.

I haven't read the recent novels, not because of the characterization of Jedi but because of the plot and story. In any case, great rant.

[idiosyn.livejournal.com]

Definitely agree with you (really, it was just luke's actions at the end of empire that gets to me the most). And it's also the fact that- okay, so you didn't know this army was being trained, you don't personally approve of it and yes, they were trained, given no alternative and essentially programmed into doing your dirty work for you. Beyond all that, beyond their being cloned and their accelerated aging, THEY ARE STILL HUMAN BEINGS. They are not droids. They are not emotionless. They have wants and needs, albeit different from most peoples and yet they rarely get treated that way- not just by the Jedi or Republic, but by the way they're depicted in EU. That's the reason why Ennen is one of the few suicides that I approve of- because he snapped, because he was depressed and angry, he felt useless, frustrated and isolated. He had nothing left and he was never GOING to get anything for as long as he lived and that kind of thing can break you and he took the only out he could.

I wish he was still alive, I think he would've been a lot of fun playing off other characters, but at the same time it shows something I don't recall hearing in any other depiction of clones doing. War devastates people. Physically, mentally and emotionally. And in their world, none of the clones are ever shown having anyone caring for their mental state.

Granted, you could say Slick was a variant of this in the show, but asides from him mentioning it, the subject was never brought up again. And then the entire message (in my eyes) was ruined by Anakin and Obi-Wan telling him 'We're very disappointed in you'. Like Slick just took a speeder for a joyride without permission and not caused the death of dozens of clones, or destroyed their equipment or jeopardized the entire mission. They berated him like a kid and it just about drove me sideways.

So... yeah. Thanks for listening to rant 2.0? XD;;

[kinofsimon.livejournal.com]

Totally man. The EU authors and Lucas deserve criticism for their portrayal of clones. Because just as you mentioned, sure they are different from humans because they're clones, but war does indeed take it's toll, and if that side is never seen, then no matter which side wins, more harm is done than good.

[raidersecho.livejournal.com]

So, can this become canon please?

PLEASE? This was...just amazing. AMAZING.

Commandos meet TCW

[snootiegirl.livejournal.com]

Poor Dar. He really hasn't the emotional maturity to deal with Etain, Kad, and everything that comes along with a family. In some ways, Kal's was right to be very angry at Etain for getting pregnant so quickly. She should have let their relationship mature at least.

I would say that Etain was my least favorite character in KT's novels. She was so darn wishy-washy about the Order and the war. Annoying with so many people of strong convictions around her. And then they mourned her so much . . .