The Clone Wars: One-shots

Gone Too Far

Timeline: After the Battle of Umbara (20BBY)

Context: Jedi General Pong Krell split the clone battalion under his command on Umbara into two groups, and made them fight by convincing each side that the other was the enemy and had stolen clone armor from the fallen.

Barriss was in the medical wing tending to the injured soldiers from Umbara. Many had died on the planet, but she was going to ensure that those who came to her care wouldn't see the same fate. She sped around the patient beds to assist various clone troopers by wrapping bloody wounds, providing anesthetics, and injecting medicines along with the medical droids stationed beside each bed and bacta tank.

She was trying to focus on the task at hand, but her mind was racing. How could a Jedi command his own troopers to fight one another, knowing that both sides thought they were fighting the enemy? Did he even think about how those clones would feel when they found out they were attacking their own brothers? Did he even care? The whole situation made her sick. She hoped the council would make some kind of statement or gesture to those affected by Krell's actions.

This was exactly why Barriss didn't go on many missions with Master Unduli; she preferred to stay at the Jedi Temple's medical center where she could truly help those in need. Without unnecessary violence. The Jedi were supposed to be keepers of the peace, yet the council swiftly joined the galactic conflict, forcing the rest of the Jedi to follow suit if they wanted to stay in the Order. Wars like these cause Jedi, even Jedi Masters like Pong Krell, to fall to the dark side.

Barriss refused to go down that path.

Just as she finished tying up an unconscious clone's gash, she sensed her master enter the room. Barriss turned around and bowed to her overseer, her dark blue hood almost covering her eyes, to which Master Unduli bowed back.

"Master," she addressed.

"My Padawan," the master stated, returning the gesture. "The council has assigned me a mission and demands that you must accommodate me," she explained.

"But Master, these men need my-"

"That is an order, Barriss," she said in a cold tone. "The medical droids can watch over them while your gone."

Master Unduli turned around and started for the exit, hands behind her back. Barriss was forced to follow her master to the mission briefing.

^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^

Barriss, Master Luminara Unduli, and a small battalion of the 41st landed in the plains of Serenno, a lush planet controlled by Separatists and Count Dooku's home world. Their mission was simple: slip into the Separatist outpost, plant the thermal detonators the Grand Army provided, then sneak back out. A quick, silent, stealth mission.

But once they made it through the thick woods and had a view of the outpost, the Jedi and troopers saw that there weren't any droids guarding the massive military structure- only Serennian people. If the place was to be bombed, they would go along with it.

"The council never mentioned that there would be sentient beings!" Barriss whispered, a sense of betrayal and fear building up in her chest. "We have to find a way to save them."

"No, we don't," Master Unduli retorted. "Our mission is to destroy the outpost without being seen. Those are Separatists, Barriss. We cannot help them."

Barriss's jaw hung open and her brows furrowed with anger, but she quickly hid her emotions with the Force. She knew her master was very obedient, always suppressing her emotions and following orders with no questions asked, but she never knew she would be willing to kill those stuck working under the Separatists so easily. What made it worse was that the council must have known that there would be real people protecting the building, yet they didn't inform them of this in the briefing.