Star Wars Collab

"Execute Order 66....."  

Those words rang endlessly in Alpha-17's head.  It had been 18 years since that day, since his life had changed dramatically, and yet he remembers it all too well.  Watching as his troopers slaughtered his Jedi General before his eyes; the horrifying act of killing his men, his brothers, for what they had done, and running from the Empire that he had been born and bred to protect.  Now, however, it seemed what he had known had all but been washed away.

22 years later and he still wore his armor

Spoiler:

with pride.  He was one of the few Advanced Recon Commandos, or ARC troopers.  The blue markings on his armor identified him as a Lieutenant, but they meant nothing anymore.  

"Alpha-14, are you listening to me?" A voice spoke to him, bringing him back to reality.  Standing in front of him was one of the generals of the Alliance to Restore the Empire, or the Rebels as they were commonly called.  He was standing inside what was now the hanger of the Rebel base located inside the Great Temple on Yavin 4.  

"My apologies sir, must have zoned out" he responded.  "Continue."  

"*Sigh* You are beginning to make me question why we would allow a Clone to fight for us! I was telling you that your orders are to travel to our abandoned base on Dantooine and meet up with a bounty hunter we have hired."

Though the general could not see his face, 14's eyes had sunken.  "If he's trying to kill me off, might want to pick a more subtle way of doing it," he thought.

"We've contacted him with a special assignment, and informed him that he is to meet with someone at this location to receive further details.  Details I informed you of earlier in my office.  You will fly there alone, so as to not arouse suspicion.  Now GET GOING!!"

Yes Sir!" 14 responded and slowly found his way to the one vessel that had been prepared for him, an old G9 Rigger.

"Jesus, these were old when I first got commissioned" he said, catching the attention of one of the ground crewmen.  

"Yeah, well be happy we are giving you anything clone!!!!"

"Look I'm on your side here," 14 responded, only to be harshly brushed aside by the crewman

"Prove it!"

Ignoring the sneers of those he was here to serve, he climbed into the cockpit of the freighter and slowly piloted the ship outside the planet's atmosphere and engaged the hyperdrive, setting a course for Dantooine.

"Let's hope this mercenary is the only person who turns up"

Unbeknownst to the approaching clone, and against all odds, the Mercenary HAD shown up. Early, in fact.

In front of the abandoned, overgrown base on the edge of a wide, sweeping hillside of grass, A heavily modified Amphibious Interstellar Assault Transport sat, its engines deactivated. On top of the left bulbous turbine, a human lazily laid back.

His jetpack was detached and laying beside him. He was wearing his Mandalorian light armor. Most of it, unlike most mandalorian suits, was a grey, flexable material. His helmet, gauntlets, and boots were hard, brown armor, and a torn, battered scarf hung from his neck, burned by blasterfire.

His helmet, the T shape of all his mandaloran countrymen, had a scar over the right eye, a hit he'd taken from his most potent living foe. Mercenaries and soldiers of the empire had been taking pot-shots at him for the past year. His ship was pockmarked by thousands of tiny blaster-shots.

Tiliq DiRoy, or "Roy" as he preferred, waited patiently for his clone contact. He had little intention of taking the job.

He had a proposition of his own.

A few days after leaving Yavin 4, and with a Class 3 hyperdrive they couldn't have gone by any slower, 14 reached the planet of Dantooine.  Knowing that contacting command to inform them of his situation, he maintained absolute radio silence as he descended towards the overgrown base.

"Hmmmm, wait a minute," 14 thought to himself as he noticed the large ship sitting a midst the crumbling ruins. "That should be the bounty hunter, and a Mandalorian at that.  Maybe him and me will have more in common tan I thought."  The thought made him laugh, knowing damn well it wouldn't make any difference.  Setting the ship down gently a few yards away from the bounty hunter's, he exited the ship and walked towards his contact, who appeared to be asleep.

"You there," he said as he drew close, his hand on his DC-17 hand blaster, just in case.  "I take it you're the bounty hunter I'm supposed to meet.  Name is Alpha-14, or "Six" if you will.  We've got a job for you, and the pay is damn well good."

The Mandalorian sat up, and swung his legs over the side of the ship's wing, looking down at Alpha-14. "I know who you are, Six. You're a relic from a better time."

Grabbing his jetpack, he hopped down from the wing of the ship. He didn't have his hands on his weapons, as he tucked the jetpack under his arm, taking his helmet off with one hand.

His face was youthful, but scarred. He exuded honest friendliness. Reverence, even, as he looked over his senior. "...You're a clone. A clone of Jango Fett, slayer of the Death Watch. Leader of the True Mandalorians. The Mandalore himself, for a time."

Roy dropped his jetpack, and looked Alpha-14 in the eye. "I didn't come here to accept your job, or the rebel's money. I've been ignoring their desperate offers for weeks. I'm here because I have an offer for you. Work with me, and ditch 'em. It's that simple. My old partner is dead, and I could use a good man."

Roy folded his arms across his chest, his helmet attached to his hip beside his gun. "What do you say? We'll halve our earnings. You can learn to live the way you were meant to. Like a Mandalorian."

Six stood motionless for a few moments as the Mandalorian spoke. When he finished, Six hesitated a moment and then spoke up.

"You know who I am, then you should know that my former brothers would have me dead on sight. I....I've got nothing left." He took off his helmet, revealing the face that countless other had shared. "I have my orders, bounty hunter. And the rebellion is the only way I can see my brothers unclouded by the Emperor. But, as you can see by my standing here, I'm a bit different than most. Sometimes it's better off saying to hell with my orders."

He pulled out a small holochip and threw it to the Mandalorian warrior. These are the orders that I was sent here with. Someone the Rebellion wants alive." He slipped his helmet back on, "I guess you can say I'm with you."

Roy took the chip, disgusted by Alpha's beaten attitude. "...You have nothing? You have your armor. You have the eyes and hands of one of the greatest Mandalorians to have ever lived." Roy pinched the chip between his fingers, looking closely at it. "You have real power, Alpha. Don't forget that."

Roy stepped a few feet away, palming his helmet. "...They want me to find someone. This is a different job from the usual smash and grabs they send me on. I wonder who this guy is."

He flicked the chip over his shoulder and back to Alpha. "Don't need it. I'll follow your lead. Your boss wants him alive. Either he's off the radar, and your people don't have enough information to catch him, or they're scared that he'll eliminate anyone that they send. If they wanted a simple mercenary, they would have called me, or sent you." Roy grinned. "I want to see who they're so desperate to bring into the fold. Let's move out."

Roy scooped up his circular, four thrustered jump pack, tucking it under his arm and walking towards his ship. "Go as fast as you want. My ship's not built for chasing, but the old girl can follow."