Cad Bane's Apprentice

Plan of Dissent [2]

"Those missiles have a 100-megaton yield." Skysati warned Rex "We won't even make it to the delta,"

"What can I do? I've tried to reason with him," Rex said. "Those are the orders,"

"Great, another suicide mission," Hardcase said "The capital is too well-armed,"

Why does it seem like he has it out for clones?" Fives questioned.

"I think you're all overreacting," A clone said "Obviously, General Krell knows what he's doing. Do you really think he doesn't care if he loses men?"

"I'm not saying that," Hardcase said "but I do think his desire for victory has blinded him to the fact that there are lives at stake,"

"I've never seen a General with these kinds of casualties," Skysati pointed out.

"He's out of control." Fives proclaimed "He is not acting like the other Jedi. He has no respect for us or Skysati,"

"Listen, I don't agree with him either," Rex said "but I don't have a better plan,"

"Well, what about using these starfighters to destroy the supply ship?" Fives suggested.

"Our fleet has been trying. The Umbarans have it as protected as the capital,"

"But we've got their access codes and their own hardware," Skysati pointed out.

"You were able to crack it?"

Skysati shrugged "Like it's hard. I learned to hack to see if there was any way to bypass the chip in my neck."

Fives gratefully took the spotlight from Skysati as he continued with a plan "We can sneak right past their blockade, get where our ships can't,"

Rex pondered in thought.

"If we take out that supply ship, then we cut off arms to the capital,"

***

Skysati and Rex walked into the tower where general Krell stood over a holo map of the capital.

"Master, with all due respect," Skyasti said, "might I suggest another option to help us secure the capital?"

"What would that be, Padawan?" Master Krell asked, his eyes never leaving the map.

"My men have cracked the Umbaran codes." Rex said "With the starfighters, we could sneak past the supply ship's defenses. We take it out, we cut off the arms to the capital,"

"And who do you propose would fly these starfighters? Are your troops now pilots?"

"My men may not be pilots, sir, but they are able to learn and adapt quickly,"

"A few of them have already demonstrated that," Skysati added.

"I'm afraid I can't afford to waste any clones on frivolous adventures." Master Krell proclaimed. "We're going to need everyone to take the capital,"

"Sir," A trooper said "incoming. Sector delta. Long-range missiles!"

***

The 501 looked over as Rex and Skysati walked into the sleeping quarters. They didn't have to ask how the meeting went, seeing as Skysati had a bitter look on her face with her arms crossed.

"The assault on the capital will continue as planned," Rex announced to the troops.

"So that's it?" Hardcase asked, "We just march into those missiles?"

"Oh, there's another option," Fives argued. "We go ahead with our plan and suffer the consequences,"

"You would be court-martialed," Rex exclaimed. "If it were up to me and we had the time and the training, I would say do it. But it's out of my hands. And the truth is, you are no pilots,"

"Come on, if Hardcase can fly one of these things, we all can,"

"Yeah, he wasn't really flying more like avoiding crashing. We'll be blasted out of the sky before we get anywhere,"

"Not if we're in their fighters." Fives said "No one's gonna be shooting at us,"

Skysati looked away when Dogma entered the bunker.

"Uh, what's going on?" Dogma asked.

"Eh, nothing."

Skysati huffed as she followed after Rex "This is about more than just following orders,"

"It is. It is about honor," Rex argued.

"Where is the honor in marching blindly to your deaths?"

"It is not our call. We are part of something large. We are not independent of one another,"

"I'm sorry. I cannot just follow orders when I know they're wrong, especially when lives are at stake,"

"Just like you followed Cad Bane's orders?"

Skysati took a shocked step back. She glared at Rex and shook her head as she headed into the bunks.

Fives looked up when she came back into the room and walked over cautiously seeing the look in her eyes "Skysati?"

Skysati looked up at Fives "Round up some pilots, Fives. The plan's still on,"