The Return Of Cutup

by NintendoRod484

Summary:

After being carried off by the Rishi Eel whilst escaping the base after it had been taken over by CIS Commando Droids, clone trooper Cutup is still alive. Forgotten by his teammates with no supplies, Cutup must try to find a way to get off planet and abandon this forsaken place.

Chapter 1: Survival

Summary:

Cutup desperately tries to escape from the Rishi Eel as it tries to devour him and take him to its den. He also gets a badass chainsaw!

Cutup emerges from a ventilation tunnel and begins gathering his bearings after the devastating attack on the base which left their sergeant, O’Niner dead. Cutup was happy that his fellow Domino Sqaud members Hevy, Fives, and Echo survived with him although he is upset that Droidbait and the others didn’t make it. Cutup thinks nervously about what they will do next without their sergeant to direct them.

 

Hevy seems to know what he is doing. Hevy always seemed different to Cutup in the best of ways. It was as if he was a natural born leader, someone with extraordinary skills and courage who could find unorthodox ways of winning a battle. Cutup felt lucky that Hevy was his brother. He had been integral in helping them finally complete their training, but now it all seemed meaningless in the face of the recent massacre by Separatist Commando Droids.

 

“What do we do without the Sarge?” Fives asked the others as they emerged. Echo begins reciting regulation manuals but Hevy cuts him off when they hear some sort of noise. “Did you hear that?” Hevy asks before Fives responds “Yeah what is that?”. Cutup looks around confused “It doesn’t sound like droids.” He says. The sound grows closer but before he can even react he is snapped up in the jaws of a massive Rishi Eel. He feels its jaws tightly hold him in place, as he tries to struggle free. He screams out in agony as the Eel begins to carry him off. From outside he hears Fives firing off his blaster but it does no good as he stays firmly in the eels mouth.

 

As the eel descends into the tunnels it tries to swallow him, Cutup pulls out his utility knife from his belt and begins slashing at the eels inner mouth. He manages to stop himself from slipping down its throat by staking his knife firmly into the side of its mouth. The eel screeches in pain and spits him out. From up above he hears one of his clone brothers say “Poor Cutup.”. This sends a panic through his mind. ‘Wait no! I’m not dead!’ he thinks ‘They can’t leave without me!’.

The eel lunges at him and he tries to escape. He runs deeper into the tunnels but quickly realizes his mistake. The creatures den is further down the tunnel. He turns to run back the way he came only to remember the eel is still behind him. Before he can react the eel snatches him up again but this time he doesn’t let it get him fully in its mouth. Nonetheless it carries Cutup into its den and leaves him there so it can devour him later. As the creature leaves Cutup tries to think of what to do and remembers some advice that 99 gave him back on Kamino: “If you ever get in a tight spot out there, remember all your brothers back home. Promise you won’t give up, for me Cutup.”. Cutup begins thinking about his brothers back on Kamino.

 

He digs through the den and finds leftover tools from explorers that came to the planet many years ago who were eaten by the eel. Apparently it vomited up their tools in its subterranean den since it couldn’t digest them. From these tools he is able to create a makeshift chainsaw and leaves the den to try and escape. As expected he finds the eel in the surrounding tunnels and it tries to snap him up again. He leaps into its mouth and activates his chainsaw. Suddenly the eel drops dead as cutup slices its throat in half before sawing his way out, covered in the creatures blood. “I guess that’s why they call me Cutup!” He shouts in triumph before making his way to the exits.

 

As he tries to leave the tunnel several other Rishi Eels burrow into the tunnel and try to attack him. He activates the chainsaw and shouts at the creatures to stay back “Alright boys let’s not cause a ruckus. I know you all want a piece of me but unfortunately I have places to be and clankers to destroy!” He chuckles before jumping out of the tunnel and sliding down the slope into the crater. That’s when he begins to feel tired and realizes he has lost a lot of blood when the eel originally bit him. The adrenaline he felt while desperately trying to escape has worn off and blood loss has begun to take its toll. He knows that he needs medical attention as soon as possible otherwise he might die.

 

He begins making his way towards the base only for it to suddenly explode, the flames dancing across his visor as he looks on in disbelief. The last thing he thinks as he limps into the still intact maintenance tunnel ‘I hope my brothers weren’t in there. I hope they are still outside.’ Before he passes out.

Notes:

The scene in which Cutup saws through the Rishi Eel is based on a scene from the infamously terrible movie Sharknado in which the lead character activates a chainsaw and throws himself into the mouth of a shark before he then slices the shark in half and emerges covered in blood.

Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Defiance

Summary:

Cutup finds himself in the hands of the separatists who seem to be fixated on the events of the Rishi Outpost Massacre. He discovers that Droidbait is still alive and that a bigger conspiracy may be afoot…….

A brilliant white light shone in Cutup’s eyes as he came back to consciousness and he instinctively brought his arm up to cover his eyes only to find that it wouldn’t move. He writhed to try and free himself but only heard laughter echoing in his mind. Suddenly he heard a voice “It appears that the clone is awake sir. What should I do? I heard these guys like shredding droids for fun” Before the light suddenly went away and he could see again. He suddenly realized that the laughing noise wasn’t in his mind. It was all too real. His vision started out blurry but as he looked around things began to come into focus.

 

He was strapped to a table and his arms and legs were bound by durasteel cuffs. Standing over him was a battle droid holding a light in one hand and a datapad in the other. The droid turned aside as a human dressed in robes with a long flowing cape approached, his white beard and hair partially obscured by a hood. “Count Dooku….” Cutup said aloud, realizing that the man standing before him was in fact the commander of the entire Separatist army. “CT-4040, if my sources do not lead me astray, I understand that you are a part of the Rishi Outpost station crew, correct?” the dark lord of the Sith questioned. Cutup glanced around before resting his eyes on the dark lord, a sneer coming across his face as he laid down in stunned silence.

 

“W-what are you doing here?” Cutup stuttered but the Count simply ignored his question, questioning him again “I do not think you understand, clone. I am Darth Tyranus, commander of the Confederacy Of Independent Systems and a dark lord of the sith. It would be in your very best interests to answer my inquiry.” He wasted no time in igniting his crimson red lightsaber blade and bringing it mere inches from Cutup’s neck. He could feel the hot energy of the kyber on his throat knowing it could slice him up and end his life in mere seconds, all his work to survive the Rishi Eels rendered void and moot. He swallowed hard. For what felt like an eternity the only sound that Cutup could hear was his shallow breathing and the crackling of the lightsaber blade as it hung there at his throat and then suddenly Dooku’s booming voice “I said answer me clone or you will quickly learn that I do not take prisoners!!! Were you or were you not stationed on the Rishi Moon Outpost?!” Cutup felt the blade moving closer and stuttered out a response “y-well-uh. I-Y-y-yes. Y-yes sir I was.” He finally managed.

 

He felt the blade recede as Dooku deactivated it and put it-the lightsaber-back in its hilt. “Perfect! What is the status of the other clone from Domino Squad? CT-00-2010?” Dooku turned and asked the battle droid. “His life signs are all normal. Our Commando Droids who took the base reported that they had shot CT-00-2010 along with another clone when they first entered but that the wound was not fatal and that he had been protected by his armor. Before the base was destroyed they reported that all the clones there had been killed save for CT-00-2010, the two commanders, and of course the rest of Domino Squad who had managed to escape but of course that was intended.” The droid reported before handing Dooku the datapad. Almost instantly a furious look crossed his face after the droid stopped speaking “The orders were to kill all the clones save for Domino Squad and the Sergeant. Why then did you say that all the clones were killed except Domino Squad, the Sergeant was to be kept alive. This data confirms his death” He angrily asked the Droid. He turns back to Cutup, a fury visible on his face. “Tell me clone, what your Sergeant said before his death. I want to know every word out of his mouth.” He demanded.

 

Cutup, though internally terrified, tried to keep a stoic expression. “I won’t betray my brother's secrets to the likes of you. Kill me if you want but you won’t get any satisfaction out of it.” He asserted. Contrary to what he expected Dooku did not angrily pull out his lightsaber, rather the Sith kept a neutral expression. “Very well. If I cannot get any information out of you I will simply question the other clone. Besides I have ideas of making you feel pain in ways that you have never experienced before.” He smiled. The Sith Lord turned his back, cape swishing, and walked away before disappearing out of a door.

 

The droid who Cutup had forgotten about suddenly said “Finally he’s gone! Don’t worry soldier I’ll get you out.” Cutup looked at the droid confused. What in the name of Jango Fett did the blasted Droid mean? Suddenly the Droid picked up a blaster and aimed it toward Cutup. Eyes wide, Cutup braced himself for the inevitable. His last thought was the hope that Droidbait was safe as the blaster fired and the laser soared towards him.

Notes:

The idea that the commando droids shooting Droidbait did not kill him was inspired by an idea I saw in a YouTube video discussing whether or not clone armor protected the wearer from blaster shots. The video was taking about how it was possible that many clones seen being shot actually survived and although I didn’t initially plan to include Droidbait I decided that this would be the perfect way too retcon his survival. The idea for the Republic scavengers was also scrapped and replaced with a mysterious new conspiracy similar to the clone wars season 6 arc where Fives finds out about order 66.

Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Reenergized

Summary:

When Count Dooku suddenly senses a disturbance in the force he finds that several droids have been hacked and are freeing the captured Domino Squad members who are essential to his latest schemes. Meanwhile Cutup comes face to face with Commando Droids, the very same type of droid who had killed many of his brothers on the Rishi Moon.

Dooku walked through the halls of the Separatist Dreadnought, making his way toward the room containing the captured clone trooper CT-00-2010. His cloak flowed behind him and his signature look of superiority spread out across his face, his features twisting into a grin. Suddenly he felt a disturbance in the force, emanating from the exact same room he was headed too. Unfazed, his expression remaining an unbroken grin, he began to run in a full on sprint.

 

He soon arrived at the door and broke it open with the force. CT-00-2010 stood in the room, his cuffs laying shattered on the floor as a droid stood next to him offering him a blaster. Before they even had a chance to turn around Dooku sent a blast of force lightning curling up from his fingertips and careening at the droid whose circuits were fried in an instant. The droid dropped to the floor and the clone stood frozen in fear. Dooku used the force to grab his lightsaber from his hilt and simultaneously activate it as it came into his hand. He kicked the clone to the floor before using the force to open the vents causing another clone who had been hiding to tumble out, a device in his hand being used to hack the droids. He brought his saber down on the clone that had fallen from the vents and slammed CT-00-2010 into a wall before constructing new restraints out of the broken door using the force, trapping CT-00-2010 against the wall. Suddenly the ship itself began to rumble and Dooku instantly sensed that they were under attack. He contacted the captain telling him to order the other droids to man the battle stations.

 

Cutup stood up shocked, as his cuffs fell away and the droid in front of him suddenly toppled over. He was alive. The droid hadn’t meant to shoot him but rather had shot the less durable clasps on the durasteel cuffs. He poked at the droid with his foot but it didn’t get up. He ran for the door but soon recognized his armor on another table across the room, still stained with the blue blood of the Rishi Eel he had sawn through. His chainsaw which he used to do it was there too, similarly stained with blue. He put the armor on as fast as he could and started up the chainsaw before he turned to the door.

 

Before he could make a break for it, the door opened and three Commando Droids entered the room. They immediately jumped at him and though he swung his chainsaw the droids were able to dodge with their excellent agility. They leapt at him with their blades drawn and though he was able to dodge, one of the Commando Droids kicked him into a wall with its foot. Another swung its blade towards him but he countered with his chainsaw and the two became engaged in a deadlock between the chainsaw and the blade. Another Commando Droid sweeped his legs out from under him, a well placed kick before he could get the advantage in the deadlock, and attempted to stab its sword into his chest.

 

Luckily he was able to block it by grabbing the arm of the b1 battle droid from earlier which was then cut in half but at least it stopped the blade from hitting him. He then grabbed the b1 battle droid's blaster and began unloading rounds into the commando droid's chest but it just would not go down and instead attempted to stab Cutup again just as the other two came at him. He grabbed the still spinning chainsaw with his foot and flung it at one of the commandos landing it right in the droid’s processor splitting open its head. He then threw aside the other Droid who he had blasted in the chest, grabbing its blade, and ran full speed at the other commando advancing towards him and tackled it to the ground.

 

He sliced the arm in which the commando droid had been holding a blaster clean off before grabbing the blaster and shooting the droid point black in the head and flinging the blade straight into the spot he had just blasted, managing to take the droid down. A sense of relief passed over him and he turned to leave only to remember the droid he had shot that hadn’t gone down. It sprinted towards him, another blade in hand, with nothing to defend himself.

 

He quickly slid on the floor and grabbed the datapad which he used to block the blade, it became embedded in the data screen. He grabbed the droid holding it still and inched toward the blaster he had just used to kill the other commando droid but before he could do so the droid pushed him aside and grabbed its blade off the floor. He flinched as the droid brought its blade down on him only for him to hear a blaster sound and the droid went crashing to the ground, a gaping blaster shot right through its head. He turned to see a woman in clone armor holding a smoking DC-17 pistol. “Come with me brother!” She said before turning toward the open door.

 

An impressed Cutup didn’t hesitate to follow. She led him past a trail of dead battle droids toward a ship docked in a nearby hangar. A clone clad in normal white armor gestured at them to get on the ship. Before Cutup could do so the woman suddenly fell backwards and began being pulled back by an invisible force. Cutup looked over and saw Count Dooku using the force to drag her towards him. He shot at Dooku using the blaster he got from the Commando Droid but Dooku simply deflected it with his lightsaber. Cutup ran at him with chainsaw only for Dooku to snatch it out of his hands.

 

The Sith Lord regarded the chainsaw now in his hand for a minute. “Hmmm, an impressive weapon. Well crafted, but futile!” He put the chainsaw down and prepared to execute the woman but before he could do so Cutup shouted orders at the clone in the ship to fire its blasters. The clone seemed to shout something at an unseen pilot and the blasters fired forcing Dooku to use both hands to freeze it in midair. Cutup grabbed the woman along with his chainsaw and ran to the ship which took off as soon as they got aboard. Cutup saw Dooku out the window looking darkly as the ship escaped the hangar and jumped into hyperspace.

 

Cutup took off his helmet and turned to attend to the woman and make sure she wasn’t injured only for his face to connect with a punch thrown by a fist. Cutup grabbed his nose as blood began to gush out and felt a blow to the stomach although not nearly as hard. He doubled over in pain clutching his nose but another clone wearing medic gloves eased his hands off his nose and pressed a tissue like material to his nose to stop the bleeding. He looked up and saw that his attacker was another clone, clad in the same white armor that the rest of the clones in the ship wore. “You let Tapper die! Blasted Domino Squad clowns!” The clone yelled at him.

 

The woman grabbed his attacker hard enough for him to stumble a little before she shoved him to the side. “It wasn’t his fault Cross. Dooku was there, asshole. The poor man has been through a lot. He didn’t even know that Tapper was there much less that Dooku would get him.” She shouted at him in anger. The clone who had punched Cutup in the face threw off his helmet to the ground and fell to his knees in grief. He muttered to himself and Cutup could see tears rolling down his cheeks. The woman, still dressed in clone armor came and placed her hand on his back but he shrugged her hand off. “Leave it, Prix. I won’t sympathize with a Domino Squad member. Not after what he did, whether it was his fault or not.” She let him be and he stayed crumpled to his knees whispering to himself, clearly greiving.

 

Another clone holding a small wood board carved a check into it and Cutup noticed that it had a larger row of X’s. Cutup saw that despite the fact that they had escaped there was an air of melancholy solemness that hung about the ship. Cutup counted four clones in the ship including the one crumpled on the floor, Cross the woman had called him. The only others that were in the ship were the pilot who was a non clone Rodian in a Galactic Republic uniform plus the woman and himself. He noted with disappointment that Droidbait was not among them meaning they hadn’t also been able to rescue him. He suspected that it had something to do with why Cross was having a breakdown.

 

The woman pulled Cutup aside and began to explain what had happened. Cutup took the tissue off his nose, the bleeding having stopped and began to listen as the exposition unfolded from the woman’s mouth.

Notes:

The female clone trooper that rescues Cutup was based on an idea for female clone troopers that seems to be popular among many fans. Perhaps more will be revealed later about the nature and origin of these troopers. Also the reason the clone named Cross is mad at Cutup is because the unnamed clone killed by Dooku at the beginning of the chapter, later identified as Tapper, was one of his friends and he blames Cutup for his demise. In case it wasn’t obvious.

Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Truth

Summary:

Cutup find out that he has been rescued by the Domino Squad’s old rivals, Bravo Squad led by a mysterious new commander named Prix. He also discovers the fates of the other Domino Squad members and comes face to face with General Grievous’s Separatist Dreadnaught.

Chapter 4: Truth

The woman finally introduced herself as Commander Prix and explained to Cutup that he was being rescued by the notoriously bad Bravo Squad. Cutup instantly thought back to his days as a cadet not so long ago when they had been ridiculed by that very same squad. The commander explained that despite the squad doing well at the academy they struggled by the time they actually made it to the battlefield and without the same kind of independent thinking the Domino squad had developed, they soon became one of the worst squads in the army, happening to be at every losing battle in the war so far, with minimal successes. They eventually lost their commander in battle and she was assigned to replace him. Under her leadership the squad has been improving and just might be able to redeem themselves.

All of this information was starting to give Cutup a headache. After all, he had almost died several times in the past few hours and he desperately needed a moment to recuperate. Before he could get the attention of the clone woman, who was starting to ramble, a thought struck him. He knew where Droidbait was, in the hands of Dooku, but he still didn’t know what the fates of his other brothers on the Rishi Moon were. He was confident however that Hevy had somehow found a way to get in contact with the Republic but he was very confused about why the base had suddenly exploded. Could that be a bad sign?

 

“Are you even listening?” Prix scoffed, causing Cutup to snap back to reality from his thoughts.

 

“Look lady, I don’t mean to offend but my squad might still be out there. I need to know what happened to them and why Dooku was after us.” Cutup explained, wary that the rest of Domino Squad might not have made it.

 

“Intel says that your squad was able to make it off the moon after blowing up the base to destroy the arriving droid invasion force sent by General Grievous, at the cost of your squad leader who stayed to manually detonate the bomb.” A clone in white armor interrupted, Prix shaking her head at him in disbelief.

 

“Mainframe! I thought I told you not to tell him just yet! He’s already been through enough, but hearing about the death of Hevy will not help. Too late now I guess.” Prix sighs.

 

The revelation of Hevy’s death hit Cutup like a bullet, he felt a pain in his chest, just as he did when the Rishi Eel had sunk its teeth into his torso. He sat down and tried to process what he had just heard. A bomb? Cutup felt a sense of knowing at that moment and realized that this is exactly something Hevy would do. He had always known that Hevy was brave enough to sacrifice himself for his comrades, no, not just that, to sacrifice himself for his brothers. It made him admire his brother even more.

 

By the time Cutup managed to come to terms with his thoughts, Prix had already moved into the cockpit where she was directing the Rodian. She turned to look at Cutup and gestured for him to come to the cockpit. As he did so he noticed that the other troopers were gathering as well and that it must be time for some sort of briefing. Cross in particular seemed ready for a fight, likely still grieving the loss of Tapper, and he gave Cutup a disdainful look as he passed. When Cutup reached the cockpit, Prix took off her helmet, revealing her to be a blonde young lady with a similar face shape to the clones. It reminded him somewhat of the Duchess Satine of Mandalore. However, something else was familiar.

 

At that moment it struck him that she looked exactly like Arla Fett, the sister of his genetic template, Jango Fett. Ever since his death the Jedi had been searching for her to see if she was alive due to the fact that she was the last of the Fett’s and thus the only other source for Fett dna in the entire galaxy besides Boba Fett. Although Jango himself had believed her dead, the Jedi were not so sure. So far they had found no success, but even so, Cutup had seen a picture of her, and the woman before him was almost an exact replica, except that she was an adult like the rest of the clones, while Arla had only been a teen when she was last seen some time ago.

 

Commander Prix started off by congratulating the squad for their second successful mission under her leadership and recapping a basic summary of what had happened. She went on to explain that the republic has ordered them back to Kamino in order to help combat CIS forces after they managed to breach the Rishi Moon facility and that investigating Dooku’s conspiracy will have to wait as Kamino needs all the clones they can get to stage a successful defense. She informs the squad that Cutup has temporarily been placed under her command due to the limited number of reserve troops to replace Tapper. He is now a member of the squad, at least for a little while.

 

At first Cutup is excited to be a part of the squad so he can prove his worth and show the Bravos that Domino Squad is pretty awesome but then he remembers how much Cross seems to hate him. Maybe this won’t be as easy as he thought. He doesn’t have long to think about it before the pilot suddenly shouts out that there is some sort of hyperspace disruption and that he has to take the ship out of hyperspace. The ship appears out of hyperspace right into the path of a massively damaged fleet of Republic Venators. The pilot narrowly weaves the shuttle in and out to avoid the ravaged obstacles of the battlefield.

 

Cutup braces himself as lasers fly at the ship and hit it square on the nose causing it to shake and creak. The pilot is able to activate the shields just in time to stop them from being absolutely shredded. As the ship avoids the lasers, Cutup notices that the design of the Separatist ship matches General Grievous's and he tries to warn the commander but she is much too busy directing the pilot as the battlefield becomes more and more chaotic. Luckily another clone, the one named Mainframe, notices Cutup’s panic and asks him what’s wrong. Before he can answer, the laser fire stops suddenly and Grievous massive Separatist Dreadnought looms above the ship, the Republic fleet all but destroyed, save for one lone command cruiser which a small Separatist shuttle docks too.

 

“That’s what’s wrong. It’s General Grievous. I can tell by the markings on the ship. He always puts those on his ships.” Cutup frantically explains.

 

“Well then, I have a bad feeling about this.” Mainframe craoked.

 

“We have to dock at that republic command ship and look for survivors. There could be good men on board.” Replies one of the clones whose name Cutup hadn’t got.

 

“Are you crazy? That would be suicide! That ship is going down and it’s going down hard. Plus I doubt anyone could have survived that kind of destruction unless they were a Jedi.” Mainframe commented.

 

“Last I checked you're not the commander. If you can’t follow orders I could always straighten you out!” Threatened Cross, who seemed to be living up to his name.

 

“Well good news is that we won’t have to make a decision because it looks like the Jedi are coming to us on a ship. Look!” The pilot replied in a thick rodian accent. Cutup could see that he had a plaque slapped on his uniform which read “Dworbow Goakcybo” which was presumably his name.

 

Cutup peaked out the ship's window and saw a Republic shuttle approaching but something didn’t seem right. The ship had flames running down one side and one of the boosters was trailing smoke. Cutup turned his head to warn the others about the danger of letting a damaged ship dock alongside them, as he was doing so he noticed that Commander Prix saw it too. Her eyes lit up and in an instant she was shouting orders at the pilot to avoid the other ship before activating the comm and telling the ship to abort docking as they are coming in too fast and it may cause a collision.

Cutup stood frozen for a second, shell shocked, until he heard something over the comms.

 

“This is Jedi Master Sora Bulq, everything’s up in flames! I can’t control the ship! All I can do is use the force to create a controlled collision. Brace for impact!” A gruff voice shouted over the comms as the Jedi ship careened toward the shuttle.

 

“Turn turn turn Dworbow! Do anything you can to avoid a collision. I’ll prep the harpoons and we’ll try to snag it with them. That will hopefully slow it down and allow the survivors to board. Cutup, Cross, and Mainframe, you’re with me.” Prix ordered, Cutup clumsily shrugging off his shell shock, running to help her. The two of them grabbed a set of harpoons and harnesses which hooked them to the docking station.

 

Cutup, finally understanding what they were trying to do, loaded a harpoon gun and prepared to open the hatch. The ship narrowly swerved to the side allowing the Jedi shuttle to pass right by the docking station where Cutup, Prix, Mainframe, and Cross opened the hatch and fired their harpoons. The first set of harpoons acted as cables and latched onto the ships engines, pulling them off, which stopped the ship in its tracks, allowing the second set to latch onto the ship itself and the clones to reel it in. The ship smoothly slotted into the docking station and the clones dropped their harpoons in exhaustion.

 

Suddenly a loud sound came from the ceiling of the ship causing debris to go flying. A warning flashed up on the shuttle's monitors. The ship began blaring an automated message. Cutup covered his ears and after adjusting to the noise he listened to the message.

 

“Warning: Hull Breach detected! Incoming enemy forces detected!” The monotone voice of the warning system declared. That’s when Cutup noticed a Droch class boarding ship, the primary vessels with which the CIS armies raided other vessels, lodged in the ceiling of the corridor, super battle droids already emerging. Cutup grabbed his chainsaw off of its holster on his back and activated it.

Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Destruction

Summary:

When Cutup finally meets Jedi Master Sora Bulq, all is not as it seems. The attack by the confederacy seems like a setup so that the clones will be captured. Meanwhile Grievous is on a rampage but as it turns out, he too may discover that his timing seems all too suspect.

Chapter 5: Destruction

 

As a flaming Republic Command Cruiser rapidly begins to sink, 10 Jedi desperately try to make it to the escape pods. They dash through the now molten hallways as corridors explode and combust around them, loose wires and other debris blocking their path at every turn. But they are Jedi. Strong in both mind and spirit, they leap, twist, and duck under every obstacle they encounter and easily make their way through the dying spaceship to what they hope is salvation. But even Jedi have flaws, and with it, fears.

 

Suddenly the laser fire that could be heard coming from outside the ship went silent. The Jedi skidded to a halt. Something was not right. They could feel it around them. Another noise suddenly penetrated the quiet hum of the lights, a clunk on the side of the ship. Grievous's landing ship no doubt. The lights suddenly began to dim, then flicker, and then finally they blinked out. The ship went dark, the hum of the ship’s power generator slowing to a halt.

 

The Jedi slowly began moving again, using the force to feel their way through the dark, their footsteps hushed and inaudible. They cautiously maneuvered through the dark corridors, their faces concealed by their hoods. Suddenly, a massive creak resounded throughout the hallway and the Jedi leapt out of the way sensing a pile of debris, which came crashing down from the ceiling, leaving the Jedi trapped on two sides. The two groups signal to each other with their hands and the lead jedi nods, pulling out his lightsaber and cutting through the debris allowing the other Jedi to get through. The lead Jedi, an Aleena Jedi Master named Tsui Choi, begins leading them forward with his lightsaber. Other lightsabers ignite in the dark at varying intervals and the Jedi continue to walk forward under the guidance of their light.

 

Tsui Choi slows down a ways, matching pace with four other lightsabers only to look to his right to see General Grievous’s face looking at him. He stumbles back in shock and suddenly the power generator revs up and the red emergency lights of the ship illuminate the hallway, revealing the bodies of four Jedi on the ground, their place taken by General Grievous who tricked them into thinking the other Jedi were alive using his own lightsabers which he notoriously obtained from other Jedi he killed. The cyborg general menacingly stares at the remaining six Jedi, Tsui Choi, Bultar Swan, Pablo Jill, Roth-Del Masona, Kalla Carlon, and former Jedi council member Yarael Poof before the lights go out again.

 

The Jedi begin running as fast as they can to escape knowing that General Grievous is an unstoppable force for most Jedi. They make it to the escape pods but find the controls won’t respond. The power is out and thus the electricity is not running. Pablo Jill starts panicking and attempts to pry open the doors with the force but before he can do so, a voice rings out.

 

“You must realize, you are doomed! You’ve got nowhere to run, you’ve got nowhere to hide!” A raspy voice, that of Grievous, calls out. The emergency lights come back on, finally, and Bultar Swan spots Grievous’s shadow, illuminated under the red lights, limping down the corridor, coughing madly. She immediately begins working on the controls to get the pods open and tells the others to cover her.

 

On the Bravo Squad shuttle, Cutup and the others are pinned down by super battle droids, one of which has a rocket launcher arm that sends volleys of missiles at them.

 

“So what’s your brilliant plan to get us out of this, or was this intended?” Commander Prix jokingly asks Cutup.

 

“Yeah this whole situation is bad, but I believe that anyone can be a hero, even a maintenance clone like my friend 99 back on Kamino.” Cutup reaffirmed, confident that they would get out of this. He had already defied death too many times lately to let this be the end.

 

“Aw crikey, I’m out of ammo over here!” One of the clones in white cried out. Cutup could tell it wasn’t Cross or Mainframe.

 

“Here Coil!” Dworbow shouted, throwing another pack of ammo at the clone, apparently named Coil, from where he was sitting in the cockpit, trying to keep the ship steady.

 

“Hey who’s that?” Mainframe asked. Cutup looked over to see a Weeqauy in robes dash into the cockpit and throw Dworbow off the seat. He sat down and started doing something with the controls.

 

“What the hell are you doing?” Dworbow shouted, confused at what kind of crazy person would throw a pilot out of the cockpit. “You're insane!”

 

“Step out of the pilot's seat and identify yourself! NOW!” Commander Prix shouted, getting up from her cover and putting a gun to the Weeqauy’s head.

 

“You don’t understand. Grievous is a killing machine. This is our only chance to defeat him, we must blow up that command cruiser with him on it” The Weeqauy explained, calm despite the fact that Commander Prix could shoot him if she wanted.

 

“Wait guys, I know him. Your Sora Bulq. I recognize you from the holo feeds about the war.” Coil piped up and Prix lowered her gun in embarrassment, not knowing she had accidently threatened a Jedi master.

 

“That I am. And Here I thought you clones were bright, guess I was wrong. ” Sora Bulq responded with disgust, seemingly distracted by whatever maneuvers he was doing with the ship.

 

“What about the droids? They are still coming toward us!” Cutup panicked as more super battle droids marched forward and the one with a rocket launcher reloaded.

 

“I’ve directed us on a flight path out of here. Get ready to take over again, Rodain. I’ll handle the droids.” Sora Bulq stated, hopping out of the pilot's seat after a few last button clicks, and drawing his lightsaber. “Let’s crack open these insufferable bastards!”

 

Sora Bulq charged down the droids, slicing and dicing them with his lightsaber and even kicking them apart with his lightning fast reflexes, leaving the clones staring at him in awe from the cockpit.

 

“Heck yeah! This Jedi seems to know what he’s doing! I like him.” Coil roared excitedly before following Master Bulq’s in his charge. Cutup did the same, leaping onto a battle droid and sawing through him. The others followed their lead and layed down some covering fire, allowing for Cross to load up a rocket launcher and send a missile flying straight at the boarding ship, causing it to explode and sending heaps of damaged droids flying.

 

“Well that felt good! For Tapper!” Cross whooped before pulling out a Z-6 Rotary Cannon, the same model that Hevy used to use and began laying down a storm of lasers.

 

Within minutes, the droids were decimated allowing the group to finish them off pretty easily. As he cut through the last droid, Cutup noticed that the Jedi Master was admiring his work. He seemed to have some sort of realization at that moment, as Cutup could see his eyes gleam with a sort of hunger. A hunger for power. Cutup was suspicious but he kept it to himself. After discarding the damaged republic shuttle docked to their own shuttle, Dworbow brought them close to the nearly sunk Republic Command Vessel so that they could plant explosives and blow it up without being on it. He turns around and tells the others that he can’t get any closer to the ship without crashing only to be cold-cocked by an unseen figure.

 

Back on the command ship itself, Grievous was keeping Yarael Poof, Pablo Jill, Roth-Del Masona and Tsui Choi on their toes as he dueled the four of them whilst Bultar Swan and Kalla Carlon fiddled around trying to get the pods to open. Grievous easily kills Poof, as the Jedi Master was not as agile in his old age, cutting off his arms and then his head in quick succession. Pablo Jill charged at him but he grabbed the Jedi master with his foot and crushed his back, crippling him, slammed him into the wall and floor which hurt his face, and finally tossed him into a pile of flaming debris. Roth-Del Masona dove aside to rescue Pablo Jill leaving Tsui Choi as the only Jedi standing in Grievous's way.

 

Grievous was poised to kill the Jedi master, having disarmed him, but suddenly Bultar Swan began attacking him, haven given up on opening the pods. She slammed Grievous into a wall with the force and crushed some of his armor, badly damaging him. Grievous grabbed a gas canister attached to the wall and threw it at Swan but she ducked causing it to hit the vents which began leaking coolant into the room, blinding Swan. She looked around, trying to locate Grievous in the haze but all she could hear was his wheezing laugh echoing in every direction.

 

Tsui Choi finally got back on his feet and saw that Grievous was hanging on a wall, about to strike down Bultar Swan and dove to tackle her out of the way, narrowly avoiding Grievous's blade himself. Tsui Choi flung debris at Grievous using the force and managed to incapacitate him. Bultar Swan ran to help Roth-Del Masona with Pablo Jill but it was too late, he had already succumbed to his wounds. Kalla Carlon quickly ignited her lightsaber and attempted to strike Grievous down but Bultar Swan stopped her, restraining her with her arms as Grievous lay on the ground. “Stop it Kalla!! This isn’t the Jedi way. You know we cannot kill him, it would make us no better than him.” Swan explained to Kalla as she loosened her grip. “This is a mistake! I’ve seen what he’s able to do!” Kalla yelled, struggling to shove her way out of Swan’s arms. She slackened in Bultar Swan’s arms leading the Jedi master to think she had given in to her orders but suddenly Kalla shoved Bultar Swan aside and ran toward Grievous, intending to kill. Before anyone could do anything else, Grievous pulled out a secret gun in his cloak and shot Bultar Swan straight through the chest before grabbing Kalla and locking her in a chokehold with his bare hands.

 

Tsui Choi notices Bravo Squad's shuttle arriving out the window and tells Roth-Del Masona to run and get to the shuttle. Masona refuses to abandon the Jedi Master and ignites both his and Pablo Jill’s lightsabers and gets into a defensive stance, ready to free Kalla Carlon. Grievous crushes Kalla’s throat while Masona screams out in anger. Masona hurls one of his lightsabers at Grievous but the general catches it. Before the battle can continue Sora Bulq arrives at the helm of Bravo Sqaud’s shuttle and Choi tries to signal him to pick them up. “It seems Master Bulq was able to survive and it looks like he has backup.” Choi hesitantly said, a bit of hope returning to his voice. “I’ll hail him. Hopefully that will indicate to him to dock so that you can escape. I want you to run as fast as you can Choi! You’re one of the Republic’s best Jedi Masters and you’re going to become a council member next week, your survival is much more important than mine.” Roth-Del Masona ordered. Before anything else could be said the wall was suddenly blasted open by Sora Bulq which sucked Master Choi into space but not Grievous since he latches onto the floor with his clawed feet. Masona screamed out Master Choi’s name, struggling to not get sucked into space as the air begins ripping away around him. He notices a dark shadow just outside the ship, resting on a chunk of debris. The shape seemed familiar, large, with what looked to be some sort of helmet. And then it hit him what he was looking at and the panic began flowing through his mind. Before he could form another thought, the shape shifted, and he found himself impaled with a lance, dying soon after.

 

Grievous leaped toward the Bravo Sqaud Shuttle but before he could get on someone slammed into him and smashed him into the side of the republic command vessel with a jet pack. Grievous looked up, revealing his attacker to be the indestructible Gen’Dai Bounty Hunter, Durge, the one who had just killed Masona, who attaches a bomb to Grievous and flies off before it detonates in a huge explosion which engulfs the republic command vessel and seemingly kills Grievous. Sora Bulq opens the doors for Durge to land on the shuttle, and notices Cutup coming up behind him with his chainsaw. Bulq knocks him into a wall and Durge lands on his chainsaw, crushing it under his heel. The two of them look over the defeated clone who glances to the side of the room where his comrades lay, taken down by Sora Bulq.

 

“Well it looks like your little gambit worked, Bulq. I gotta say, working with you hasn’t been nearly as fun as when me and Asaj are partnered up. We better blow this joint before the droids on Grievous’s command ship figure out what’s what. ” Durge chuckled, grabbing the unconscious clones and tossing them into a pile.

 

“We must eliminate all witnesses first, I can’t have the Republic learning of my deceit quite yet. Except this clone over here, don’t kill him.” Sora Bulq said gesturing at Cutup. “Apparently Dooku needs him for a scheme of his, so I thought it would be best to kill two birds with one stone. That will surely cement my place at Dooku’s side as his primary general.”

 

“All I care about is killing clones.” Durge responded. “When they finally die, I will have destroyed Jango Fett’s legacy and extinguished an integral piece of Mandalorian history.”

 

As Sora Bulq and Durge pilot the ship through the debris field Cutup notices a battle damaged Grievous clinging to the side of the hull, collecting the lightsabers of the fallen Jedi Masters and adding them to his belt. Cutup observed as Grievous scuttled into a crevasse on the ship and tore open a part of the armor allowing him to slip inside the airlock where he would be safe when they jumped into hyperspace. Cutup glanced over at Sora Bulq and Durge, who were still discussing their plans, and evidently had not seen Grievous. Cutup thought that maybe he would be able to get out of this when Grievous attacked but then again maybe Grievous would kill all his friends too.

 

‘I have a bad feeling about this’ Cutup thought just as the ship jolted forward and entered hyperspace.

Notes:

There is a lot to unpack in this chapter in terms of references to other Star Wars media. Any avid Star Wars fans who are familiar with Legends material may know that Sora Bulq turned to the dark side in the Republic comic series and served as one of Dooku’s primary agents. This story takes his character in a similar direction. Additionally the other Jedi that Grievous murders throughout the story are all characters that were prominent in Republic era Legends stories except Kalla Carlon who is an original character. Pablo Jill and Roth-Del Masona we’re both characters that were killed by Grievous in Legends, Tsui Choi was a Jedi council member in Legends and he ended up surviving order 66 and actually doing some damage to Darth Vader until he was killed by the 501st, Bultar Swan was similarly a survivor of order 66 that assisted Tsui Choi but was killed by one of her fellow Jedi survivors, and finally Yarael Poof, who although present in canon, had a much more significant role in Legends. The horror aspect of Grievous as well as his badassery in this story again comes from Legends Grievous who was a Jedi killing machine and monstrous cyborg beast. The scene with him killing the Jedi in various brutal ways is partially a reference to the 2003 Clone Wars series by Gennedy Tarkovsky in which Grievous slaughtered a group of Jedi in similar brutality, as well as the Star Wars: Purge comic in which Darth Vader kills Tsui Choi and other prominent Legends Jedi as mentioned above. The bounty hunter Durge is yet another legends character who as noted in the story is a Gen’Dai that is pretty much indestructible due to the fact that his species is basically made up of only nerves with no destructible organs of any kind. His hatred of clones stems from his background with Mandolorians and his jealousy toward Jango Fett being declared the best bounty hunter in the galaxy. Last but not least, the scene in which Sora Bulq uses his fast reflexes to destroy super battle droids is a reference to Mace Windu doing exactly that in the 2003 Clone Wars series.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of The Untold Survival Of Domino Sqaud