Death by fire. Live to fight, fight to preserve, die to protect. We live by these words. We die by these words. They teach us that to die in battle is a glorious death, full of honor. I don't remember the last time I or one of my brothers laughed. I don't remember the last time we smiled. All I remember is the death. The droids are nothing but metal and circuit. They don't feel pain. They get shot, they shut down. The droids don't die. My brothers. Can I say the same about them? Emotionless to the end. But, they are only muscle and sinew. They feel pain. They get shot, they scream. My brothers die. I will die. Die by fire. Am I ready?

My designation is C3-X13-12. I am a soldier of the Galactic Alliance and Chancellor Palpatine. I am a clone. My pod mates call me " Short." It means " short circuit." They consider me to be inferior to them, because I don't think like them. I follow orders. They live for the orders. But, I know the truth. They are conditioned to think that way. A Jedi told me. Master Kit Fisto. He stopped me once. Said he felt something different about me. An individuality. He ran tests on a blood sample and told me something odd. I have a midichlorian count. I'm Force Sensitive. Not as much as a Jedi Knight to be sure, but its there. He thinks the midichlorians leveled out the conditioning. Making me normal. Why was I given this curse? Why? All I want is to be like the others. Like my brothers. ..... like my brothers.

I've worn my armor four times. Once in battle, where they decided I was unfit for combat, and three times in parade. That's why I was so surprised when I was ordered to " suit up." Normally, I have the most boring and.... looked down upon, job, that you can gibe to a clone trooper. I clean the weapons, " spit shine " the armor, and am basically the all-around janitor for my squad. I don't even get to target shoot with the weapons I trained with. My DC-15 that was assigned to me, I have never even fired it. I never expected to get my death by fire, instead expecting a dishonorable death, such as old age, or sickness. But, when my superior officer stepped through the door and told me to prepare for battle, I did so.

The entire flight, no one said a word. I was the only one who moved at all, glancing back and forth, trying to figure out what was going on. Everyone was stiff. More than one trooper was trembling. I wasn't sure, but I could have sworn that I heard someone swear under their breath. Something to do with
" ....hell with Order 66." Then they shut up. Now I knew what was going on. Now I felt the same way. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was on the same wavelength with my brothers. Order 66. The Jedi have rebelled against the Chancellor and the Republic. I had nearly forgotten this directive. But it seems, it had not forgotten us. After about eight minutes of flight, a small speeder pulled alongside the transport. A Jedi speeder. It seemed I was the only one uninformed of something important, as no one even acknowledged its presence. I mean, after all, the Jedi were supposed to be traitors now. I couldn't help but feel a sense of evil, anger and sadness coming from the speeder. I don't know how I felt it, but I did. I felt that pilot's feelings for a period of several seconds, and then it was gone, the speeder shooting on up ahead. Nervously I checked my weapon for the ninth time. It was still there. Its weight felt almost unreal against my shoulder.

" Attention, troops." I looked up to see a commander with red pauldrons on his armor, standing at the front of the transport. " Lord Vader will be commanding this mission. Follow his orders as you would Chancellor Palpatine's." All around me, clone troopers snapped to attention and shouted, " SIR, YES, SIR!"" Today, many of you, shall earn your death by fire. " the commander said softly, and then turned away. I don't know if anyone else knew, but I didn't yell. I didn't speak. I didn't even whisper. Lord Vader was evil. I could see it in the stance he took, standing on the Jedi Temple's landing platform, a tiny figure far down below. When we landed, and the transport's doors opened, pure waves of malice rolled in at us. I was the only one who felt it. Of all of my brothers, I was the only one. Again, I am alone. Lord Vader stood in the doorway, dressed in full Jedi Robes, the hood of his cloak pulled up over his head. As we filed past him, I was able to see beneath the hood. Anakin Skywalker, the man who had led us.... my brothers, to victory after victory, the man who had single handedly slain Count Dooku, the man who gave his hand for our cause, the man.... who wanted to kill every last one of his kind. I felt... I don't know what I felt. Betrayal? Disappointment? Resignation? Despair? I felt his eyes follow me down the ramp, and then he turned away, beginning the long walk up the temple steps. We fell into formation, following him, in ranks, marching in step, up the stair way. I was near the very end of the formation, I guess they wanted the weakest clone there, back where he couldn't do any damage. At the front of the formation, I heard the snap of a lightsaber igniting, then the hum of several others. The crackle of blades together, and then a crescendo of blaster fire. Amid screams of pain, the blaster fire slowed to a trickle, moving to other parts of the temple. I and seven others were ordered to stay and guard the temple entrance. After nearly an hour, another troop ship arrived and most of the clones went in. As they passed, a commander jerked his head at us and motioned for us to follow.

Death was everywhere. At first, we saw bodies of clones and Jedi alike, but later, it seemed that all we saw was Jedi. My brothers had learned from the first few encounters, how to fight Jedi and now they were killing them with minimal casualties. I had seen battle only once before, and mere minutes into the battle, I had been wounded, so I had never seen the aftermath of war. Now, I saw it, and I didn't like it. Bodies were everywhere. The beautiful, ornate stone floors, the carved pillars, the paintings on the walls, everything was pitted with blaster fire, and scarred by lightsabers. Blood pooled around the dead and the stench of burned flesh filled the air. I nearly threw up in my helmet when I saw the most gruesome sight I would ever see. Children. Jedi children. They lay inside a sleeping room, their bodies mangled by multiple lasers. Just inside the doorway, an elderly Rodian woman lay dead, her lightsaber still in her hand. My brothers had killed the guardian, and then... exterminated the younglings. My brothers had killed children. My hands tightened on my blaster. They didn't need to kill the children. I whirled around, ready to scream at the top of my lungs at them, and froze. My brothers saw this and whirled around also, to see the Jedi standing there. He didn't have his lightsaber, he didn't even appear to have one, but he soon proved himself to be dangerous without one. With one wave of a hand, three of my brothers went flying off and smashed into a wall. They fell and didn't get back up. Another wave and two of my brothers, their armor just smashed in on them. They died too. The rest of my brothers instantly started shooting, their aim impeccable, but it didn't help. He held up a single hand and every blaster shot just flew off to the side. Finally, another one of my brothers pulled out another gun. A big gun. Rocket Propelled Grenade. Anti personal type. The Jedi saw it, and if anything, looked more determined. But the grenade struck him and threw him back against the wall in a small, contained explosion. He had his death by fire.

" WHY?" Everyone of my brothers looked around and then at me, and only then, did I realize that I was the one who had screamed. " WHY ARE WE DOING THIS? FOR WHAT CAUSE?" I shouted. " We were ordered." a clone said, as if that made all the sense in the world. I couldn't stop myself, I ran over, grabbed him by the neck, and shook him as hard as I could. " WHY?" Within half a second he had thrown me away and his blaster was pointed at my heart. " What in the name of Palpatine do you think you're doing? " he demanded. In the corner of my eye, I could see that the rest of my brothers were holding their weapons on me as well. " This is wrong." I said softly, my voice quavering with rage. " This is our duty." my brother said, his voice no longer emotionless, but torn between his orders, and brotherhood. " Our duty is to the Republic, not to some DECREPIT OLD MAN WITH DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR!" I shouted back in his face. Instantly, my brothers went stiff. The clone I had grabbed, glanced once at our brothers and then back at me. " For treason to the Republic and words of insult against Emperor Palpatine, I sentence you to death." and he shot me. Once, with no hesitation, in the chest. Blinding pain flashed through me and I was thrown backwards. My armored body hit the floor with a clatter and everything went black.

I woke, I don't know how long, later. The life signs indicators in my helmet indicated that while I had lost some blood, I was still capable of movement and 38% of normal clone parameters of combat. Slowly, I pulled myself to my feet and leaning on my blaster rifle, made my way down the hall. Once again, I walked through the valleys of the shadows of death. But now, I feared that evil. I only saw one of my brothers, for nearly half an hour. Quickly, I ducked into a class room. I didn't feel right, hiding behind the bodies of younglings, but I had no choice, no chance against one of my combat hardened brothers. Waiting until my sensors told me the coast was clear, I edged out of the class room, pausing a minute to lean against the door frame. When I moved on, I didn't look back to see the bloody smear where I had touched the door.

I followed the scattered sound of blaster fire down the halls, and into one of the turbolifts. I knew that using this was bad, that either my brothers, or the Jedi would have ambushed at least one of the floors, but I knew I couldn't manage on the stairs. Stopping at the floor where the shots were the loudest, I opened the door. Instant, " oh poodoo " moment. One of my brothers stood right outside the door, and was walking toward me. When he saw I was wounded, he started moving faster, but the instant he realized I was shot with a blaster, he started to stop, his weapon swinging up. I killed him. Three shots. Stomach, chest, and head. I stood there for several minutes, my rifle still trained on his corpse. I couldn't believe what I had done. Sure, he would have killed me, wouldn't have felt regret, but he was my brother. I didn't move until I heard the clatter of clone boots on the stone floor just down the hall way. Again I ducked into a class room. But this time, there were no bodies lying on the floor. This time, there was an angry old woman wielding a sky blue lightsaber, with half a dozen younglings gripping the skirts of her robes.
" How dare you...." she started, but I snapped a finger up to my mouth, and she was quiet., a variety of emotions flying over her face. Fully expecting a laser sword in my back, I turned and faced the door. Two of my brothers appeared at the door, flecks of blood and carbon scoring marring the smooth white finish of their armor. By some miracle of the Force, I out ranked them. " I have this room secured." I snapped in my best order voice. " Go see if Lord Vader requires assistance. " The two clones glanced at each other, and then back at me. " Sir, there are 7 Jedi still in this room. Are you sure you do not need back up. You are wounded. " one asked, his weapon starting to come up. " I gave you an order soldier. " I gritted my teeth. The two clones started to turn away, and then suddenly turned back, just as I felt short arms wrap around my leg and a tiny body leaned up against me. I looked down to see a small Devaronian boy, hiding his face in my leg. My first thought was, " what is he doing?" and my second thought was, Poodoo. The two clones started to raise their weapons, but I raised mine first. Two shots, two targets, two results. Target number one. The space in between their heads. Result number one. Both clones dive to opposite sides. Target number two. The computer panel across the hall. Result number two. An explosion that hurled the two clones up against the walls of the hall. I couldn't stop myself. I hobbled over and checked life signs. They would both live. I turned slowly, leaning on my rifle like a crutch. I barely crossed the threshold before I passed out.

When I woke up, the Jedi were still in the room with me, the old woman standing guard just inside the doorway. The younglings were all grouped around me, raining sabers gripped in hands and claws, dangling from belts, or discarded on the floor. Tears were running down cheeks and thumbs were secured in mouths. When I sat up, they moved back a little bit in fear, all but one. A tiny Devaronian boy, the one who had grabbed my leg. He sat right next to me, and when I looked at him, leaned up against me. I put an arm around him and picked him up with me when I stood. I limped up beside the old Jedi and looked over at her. " My sensors are damaged. Can you tell if anyone is coming?" I asked. She looked over at me, anger and fear still in her eyes. " I might." she answered. I nodded and limped back over to the kids. Setting the Devaronian child down, I pulled my helmet off. Somehow, its sensors had gotten scrambled and its system had been fried. It wouldn't have saved me from a head shot anyways. The old woman raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, while the children stared at me. I could tell that they had never seen a clone without his helmet before.

Suddenly, the old woman went stiff, her face going rigid with fear. I knew with one look what she felt. Because I could feel him too. They were coming. I dragged myself over to the doorway and looked both ways down the hall. Nothing yet. I checked the ammo in my blaster and the detonation packs on my belt. Not full, but enough. Just in case, I took the activation key to one of the det packs and armed it, leaving it on my belt. If bad got worse, I would charge my brothers and take them with me. I could hear them now. Boots hitting the floor in a sharp staccato beat. They must have sent twenty of them. I leaned against the door frame, gasping for breath. The closer they got, the harder it seemed to resist their iron will, that firm belief that what they did was right. They knew by now, that I was not one of them any longer, for I leaned my head out, and half a dozen blaster bolts whizzed past my face. I had one grenade in addition to my det packs. I must have lost my other explosives when I was shot the first time. I activated it, and rolled it out into the hallway. In the resulting BOOM, I felt three of my brothers die. I nearly threw up when I felt this, our mind link that we clones shared, severed in an instant. There were too many of them. I knew this, and the Jedi felt it. I could only see one way for the Jedi and her younglings to escape. I checked the det pack with one hand and then hurled myself out into the hall. I could see them now. Covered with dust from the explosion, my brothers grouped together in a small alcove, taking cover from any more possible grenades. I sprinted at them, my gun firing as if in slow motion. They shot back, hitting me several times, I couldn't feel my feet hit the floor, but I could hear the clatter of my boots and could see them impact the stone. I couldn't feel my brothers any more, just pain and fear. I reached for my belt, as fast as I could. It felt like I was moving underwater. Finally, my hand reached my belt..... my empty belt. No grenades, no detonator. Poodoo. Then I saw him. The little youngling that grabbed my leg, he had a new toy. A nice shiny new detonator. The clones pounding on my body, only registered as dull thuds, happening to someone else. My eyes met the youngling's, and I silently begged him Hit the button. Hit the big red button. He looked down, his thumb found the button, and he looked back up. Those big brown eyes, were the last thing I ever saw. Death by fire.