Wait
Execute Order 66. The three words that ended the war, almost annihilated the Jedi Order and spelled the true doom of the Republic. It was the order that turned millions of clones across the galaxy from free thinkers to robotic killers, human droids. The order forced the clones to turn on their friends in the Jedi and murder them under the guise they were protecting the republic, a republic that no longer existed. It was the order that sealed their fates and traumatized every clone apart of it, far more than anything than being on the front lines of the war could have thrown at them.
For Wolffe, the worst was yet to come. He’d gotten away from the Empire after breaking free from the inhibitor chip control, he couldn’t say for sure what had broken its grasp on his mind, one minute the part of himself created as part of the Sith Lord’s plan was in control, he was in the back seat screaming for it to stop, fighting to stop what he was seeing. And the next he was in control, the voice repeating Good Soldiers Follow Orders had ceased, the dream-like state had faded, and the bubble had burst. Reality had hit him far worse than anything he had seen on the battlefield.
But nothing could have prepared him for the overwhelming feelings of guilt, regret, and the crushing loss that hit him like a ton of bricks, just hours after he had settled with the relief of being free. Even now Wolffe couldn’t tell you which of the three feelings was worse. The guilt was overpowering the best of time, but it was what motivated him to help the band of Rebels when they needed help taking Lothal back from Imperial control. He had to make up for his past doings, he had to make those mistakes right, no matter the cost to himself.
The regret for the things he wished to have done differently were things that constantly plagued him, the little things he should have done differently. Like being kinder to the shinnies when they came off the line, or telling Comet well done after a difficult job being completed. The missed opportunities to tell each of his brothers how much they meant to him, especially the ones who survived the war, but suffered a far worse fate. He truly did regret a lot of things, among them was not telling (Y/N) he loved her one last time, and not being able to truly save her from her broken mind.
By far the loss was the worst part of it all. Waking up from the chip’s control to find the Republic was gone and he had helped to bring about its doom. To discover the Jedi Order had been destroyed, and he as well as his brothers had been the reason for it, the unwilling executioners that were forced to turn on and betray their friends and loved ones, only to further the revenge plot the now Emperor had been working from the shadows to see finished. The loss of Plo had hurt, knowing his last thoughts were questioning what was happening as his loyal troopers turned on him and shot him out of the sky, but the loss of his brothers was something else.
Those who got away from the Empire were met with two fates. Either they were left to fend for themselves in a galaxy that despised them and blamed them for what happened or they were hunted down and recaptured by those working in the Advanced Science Division. Either way, fate had cruelty in store for them. Either way, more trauma awaited.
Wolffe’s fate after abandoning the empire was to be hunted down, as was Gregor’s when he got away, and eventually those a part of the enhanced unit Clone Force 99, when their value to the Empire was truly discovered. At first, the battle-worn commander had gone out there alone, with one purpose. Find his beloved Jedi Knight, (Y/N) (Y/L/N). He’d heard the rumors of her survival, the stories on the lower levels of Coruscant of civvies taking pity on an injured Jedi, matching her description, they’d helped her flee the core world, to somewhere in the outer rim, and a few senators had aided in her escape.
Eventually, he found her, working with Rex to sow the seeds of what would eventually become the rebellion that fought against the Empire. A rebellion built on hope and sacrifice for a better future. A future she’d never get to see. Like with him, fate was cruel to (Y/N). It would answer her question about what truly happened to her best friend Anakin Skywalker in the worst way possible. A fate no one would ask for and was arguably worse than his own.
“What’s wrong with him?” asked Zeb, gesturing towards the old mismatched-eyed Commander. Wolffe appeared to be staring off into space, not paying any attention to what was going on around him. Rex and Gregor had turned to their brother shortly after, Gregor noticing he held on to (Y/N)’s duel-bladed lightsaber, while Rex took notice of the hologram alight in front of Wolffe. The Jedi Knight and once hero of the republic who had stolen his heart. Both men knew Wolffe had lost his way when (Y/N) had been taken from him the first time, but he hadn’t been the same since he had lost her for the second and final time.
“Give him time, he’ll be okay” replied Rex, a sigh escaping him as he remembered (Y/N). She’d taken many secrets to her grave, unbeknownst to the Captain of the 501st, one of them she kept to protect him. The truth on who Vader truly was. “Sometimes the past gets to him, what the empire did and took away still haunts him. He’s never gotten past losing the woman he loved” he worded, recalling when Clone Force 99, or the Bad Batch as they preferred finally found where Dr. Hemlock was stationed, when they infiltrated the base, hoping to find both Omega and Crosshair.
What they discovered was terrible, to say the least. Clones that once served the republic strapped down onto tables, tortured, tormented, and forced to suffer all in the name of science. Some were in tanks, others were left to die a slow and likely painful death. Others had been incorporated into Phase 1 of the Death Trooper program, to which the constant torture would have been far kinder. Among those rescued that day were Crosshair, Omega, Tech who had survived his fall, Cody, Wolffe, and Comet. Despite the best efforts, both Cody and Comet passed on shortly after returning to Pabu.
“That’s (Y/N)” whispered Kanan, upon glancing to the hologram. She was one of the few Jedi the people of the Empire hadn’t forgotten, remembered along with Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Plo Koon, Yoda, and Mace Windu. She was supposedly killed during Order 66 but eventually reappeared, being captured and taken Nur, nobody truly knows what happened to her there. For months many theorised she’d been killed by Vader or one of the inquisitors after being tortured for information.
In reality, the constant torment and suffering had done something far worse, it had broken her mind and shattered her will to continue fighting until she found strength in the dark side. Until she had willingly joined the inquisitors as the First Sister, second only to the Grand Inquisitor. She wasn’t sent out to hunt very often, but when she was she never failed. More often than not (Y/N) was the one whom Vader called upon when he needed assistance with his mission to destroy what remained of the Jedi.
“Where is she now?” asked Ezra, not quite putting two and two together, or catching on to what haunted Wolffe every waking moment. Rex and Gregor could only share a common glance, knowing losing her once was bad enough for Wolffe, but twice was nothing less than cruel. Even when he’d spared her more suffering.
“Gone” grumbled Wolffe, his voice resembling that of a growl upon the memories he tried so hard to bury over the years came back. How his heart sank when he was rescued, learning (Y/N) hadn’t been found since both of them had been captured. His refusal to give up hope had paid off, but it hadn’t lasted long. When he was reunited with her, her once pretty eyes were the orange/red of the Sith, her mind twisted by the dark side and all she had learned to rely on was constant suffering. Her mind had become so twisted she no longer knew the difference between good and bad, and no longer recognized herself.
“When she was captured, the empire corrupted her mind via torture. She became an inquisitor” voiced Rex, recalling Wolffe’s refusal to believe she couldn’t be saved as others stated. Instead, he tracked her wherever she went, and became a thorn in her side even at the risk of his own life. When the opportunity arose to capture her again, he took it. Bringing her aboard the ship, he, Rex, and Gregor shared at the time, determination alight in his mismatched eyes, he was going to save her and help her heal, he wasn’t going to fail her again.
“She’s one of them?” accused Zeb, recalling his encounters with the pests known as Inquisitors. Although he’d admit he didn’t know who they were before, just that they were out hunting for his friends, his family in Kanan and Ezra. Thrust they were his enemy.
“Was” corrected Rex, not taking any notice when Zeb fell into silence and Sabine glanced to Kanan and Ezra, seeing their surprise upon hearing one could stop being an inquisitor. “Wolffe refused to give up on (Y/N). When he had the chance to get her away from the Empire he took it, we tried for months to help her, and it worked for a time until it became clear they wouldn’t let her go” he added, shivering at the memory of Vader hunting them, of the villages and towns he burnt and the innocents who were slain just to get to her.
“They killed her” guessed Sabine, not seeing any other fate that could have been waiting for the former Jedi Knight. Although the Mandalorian could only assume her death if it was at the hands of the empire, wouldn’t have been quick. They would have seen her as a threat to them, those who rebelled against their iron fist rule would have seen her as a beckon of hope.
“No, I did” growled Wolffe, standing briefly before slumping back into his chair again. (Y/N)’s lightsaber tightly in his grasp, the only thing he truly had left of her now. A stray tear slid down his cheek upon remembering the day burnt into his memory. The four of them were on the run, looking for a way to lose Vader, and the Inquisitors hunting them, looking for a way to get off the planet. When it became clear they had no way out, when they became cornered, (Y/N) fought Vader and the Inquisitors off for as long as she could, all but ordering Rex, Wolffe, and Gregor to go.
But Wolffe had refused to leave, he couldn’t bear to lose her again, lose another he loved. So he stayed at her side until she used her power to push him away. Speaking the haunting words of I Love You beforehand. The moment the former Commander of the 104th Battalion realized the inquisitors intended to turn her to the dark side again, he made the hardest choice. Once again he aimed his blaster, but this time at (Y/N), he closed mismatched eyes and pulled the trigger. He saved her from further torment, assured she would finally be at peace, but at the cost of shattering his own heart and being forced to live without her.
“It was the only way to save her” whispered Wolffe, knowing she was still with him. He felt her there during the moments when his PTSD got the better of him. He felt her hand on his shoulder and could swear sometimes he heard her voice willing him to continue his fight. He sensed her there during the toughest moments when he struggled with the past.
“That’s why you went into hiding” commented Ezra, figuring the trio of clones hadn’t just decided to “retire” due to their accelerated aging. They were among some of the best battle-tested minds there was. The rebellion needed them to survive, but it was becoming clear at least Wolffe needed a reason to fight. He’d lost his will the day he had to kill (Y/N) to save her from repeating the cruelty of being broken and twisted again until she lost herself once more.
“We know (Y/N) would have taken the opportunity to stick it to the empire if she was here” laughed Gregor, his golden eyes glued to the hologram of the Jedi Knight in question. To the hologram of the friend waiting for them. “She was a fighter, a shining light of hope we needed during the darkest days of the war. Let’s not let her down now by sitting by and doing nothing”
“So you’ll fight with us” questioned Zeb
“Yup” replied Gregor. “It’s about time we remembered who we are, right Wolffe?” he added, nudging Wolffe who had since stood, the old Commander didn’t pay much attention though, instead looking to the back door of the old walker. Where he could have sworn he’d seen a figure bathed in a blue glow standing. Where he saw (Y/N) standing, nodding with a proud grin, as if she was finally answering his call to see her again. As if she was encouraging them to fight for something they chose to believe in rather than something forced upon them like the Republic and Empire.
“You see her right?” asked Wolffe, too afraid to look away in case she disappeared again. Rex only offered a small soft smile upon seeing (Y/N), a guiding angel for them to follow, as she had been once before in what felt like a lifetime ago. A life that seemed far less complicated than the one they had now. Back then they were soldiers created to fight a war, to sacrifice. Now they were relics of the same past as the Jedi and the Republic. They survived the horrors the empire threw at them, abandoned and left to fend for themselves, broken and forgotten by the galaxy around them.
But now, it was time to rise and fight once again. Remind the Emperor why clones were created in the first place and remind him why they were better than the conscripted troopers he relied on to defend the weakening empire. This time they weren’t going to be soldiers of the republic, commanders in a war they didn’t choose. They would be beacons of hope amidst the shadow the empire cast across the galaxy, they were going to fight and sacrifice for a cause they chose to fight for.
