Where Loyalties Lie...

A few days after his conversation with Maz, Patriot was picked up by a nearby Republic fleet that was passing through. After debriefing the Commander on his mission there, he was dismissed to a vacant sleeping quarter. He was ready to rest too; he had to deal with the equivalent of a whole platoon of droids that had somehow survived the factory's destruction. That's not an easy job considering he was on his own, but he got it done, and was ready to relax on the way back to Coruscant. He was almost at his designated quarters when a voice spoke through the earpiece in his helmet. It was a raspy and creepy voice; one he had not heard before. What it said would end up haunting him for the rest of his life: "The time has now come. Execute Order 66…"

Immediately, something clicked in Patriot's mind. He had never heard of this order, yet he knew exactly what to do. Joining a small group of passing clones, he ran to find the Jedi. Soon, they came across one of the masters, an Ithorian and his human youngling in a nearby training room. The master noticed their approach, and by the way he warily eyed them, he knew something was up. He stood in front of the youngling: "Tay, stay behind me," he said, taking out his lightsaber. Just in time too, because as soon as he did, three of the clones raised their blasters and opened fire on the Jedi.

Patriot had his rifle raised too, but before he pulled the trigger, something inside him stopped him. Maz' voice could be heard in his memory: 'Remember what is truly good.' He became hesitant, every single fiber of his being told him to shoot, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. That one voice was stopping his finger from pulling the trigger. As he continued to remember Maz' words, something began to snap inside of him: he knew what he had to do. He pulled the trigger…and the three clones he accompanied fell to the ground, dead.

The Jedi was shocked at what just happened, but he kept his lightsaber out, just in case Patriot turned on him as well. Instead, he saw Patriot drop his rifle and begin clutching his head in agony: the conflict inside if him, telling him to kill these Jedi, had grown to a painful level after he shot the clones. He knew that he had to, but his feelings were holding him back.

"Go! Get out of here!" Patriot shouted at the Jedi, "I don't want to hurt you!"

The Jedi's expression softened and, deactivating his lightsaber, he calmy approached Patriot. Then, he reached out and calmly touched Patriot's head. Instantly, Patriot felt a surge of relief as the conflict subsided and the peaceful energy that the Jedi was passing into him took over. Patriot breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, but why did you do that?" he asked the Jedi, "I could turn on you at any second just like they did."

The Jedi smiled, as best as an Ithorian could smile: "I have a feeling that you are different than the others. You did just save us, after all."

Patriot chuckled: "I guess so."

"What's going on? Why are the clones turning on us?"

"I don't know. We all got some order over our coms and then just like that, me and these guys came looking for you with the intent to kill. I can only assume that this same thing has happened to all the clones."

Patriot picked up his rifle and continued: "However, I've learned to put my loyalty to what is good, not just to the Republic. Right now, the good thing to do is to get you and the youngling out of here. Now come on, I know the quickest way to the escape pods."

"The escape pods?" asked the Jedi, "Why not take a shuttle?"

"Unfortunately, we can't. With that order given, you can bet, they've locked down the hangar to stop any escaping Jedi. They can't do the same thing to the escape pods as it's against protocol to lock them down. They may be guarded, but it's our best chance at getting out of here. Now come on, there's no telling how many clones on their way here right now!"

The Jedi nodded, then turned to the youngling: "Tay come on. Follow us and stay close."

With the youngling, Tay, following behind, the three ran out of the room and into the hallways, Patriot leading the way to the escape pods. Occasionally they would stop as Patriot checked around a corner for clones and, if there were, either divert their attention, or just shoot them if distraction did not work. Sometimes, the Jedi would help by luring clones away with a mind trick that Patriot wasn't quite sure how it worked, but at least it did work.

Finally, they reached the hallway leading to the escape pods, with an open pod directly in front of them.

"We're almost there, come on!" Patriot said. Just as they reached the pod, they heard a voice yell: "Traitor!" turning around they saw the ship's clone commander with a squad of clones behind him, all of them had their guns raised.

"CT-1776, you are hereby accused of conspiring with Jedi traitors and are under arrest."

Patriot had his gun raised as well, nudging the Jedi with his elbow to get in the pod: "Traitors? What have they ever done to deserve that title?"

"That is no concern of yours. By issue of clone Order 66 by Lord Sidious, all Jedi are to be marked as traitors and killed on sight."

"Who's Lord Sidious? Why should I listen to him? Why should any of us listen to him?"

"Your place is not to ask questions, trooper! It is to obey whatever command you are given! Now surrender, let the Jedi be killed, and maybe we will show you mercy."

Patriot looked behind him; the Jedi and the youngling were both in the pod. Then he looked back at the clones. The ones he had called brothers in arms ever since his deployment, and yet here he was opposing them. This was the very thing Maz had warned him about, that he might end up fighting those close to him. Yet the rest of what she had said also came to his mind, he knew what he had to do; rifle still raised he began to step backwards into the pod.

"CT-1776!" the commander shouted, "This is your last chance! Surrender now!"

Patriot stared the commander in the eyes, a fierce determination flaring in his own under his helmet.

"No. These Jedi are under my protection. My loyalty is what is truly good in this galaxy, which this order is not a part of. And my name is not CT-1776." Then, with his hand raised over the pod controls: "My name…is Patriot."

Patriot opened fire on the clones, killing the commander and a few others, and then proceeded to slam his hand down on the controls, closing the pod doors. Before he could, however, a bolt from the clones returning fire hit him in the shoulder, knocking him down and forcing him to drop his gun. With the Jedi deflecting the bolts with his lightsaber, Patriot picked his rifle back up, continuing his own barrage as he got back up and went to the controls. He slammed his hand on the button, closing the doors and jettisoning the pod just a bolt caught him in the leg. The pod rocked violently as it dropped out of the cruiser's lightspeed, but then calmed down as it fully exited in one piece with minimal damage. They had finally gotten away.

As the pod flew away from the cruiser, the Jedi helped prop Patriot onto the bench.

"How are your injuries?" he asked Patriot.

Patriot faintly groaned: "It's fine, nothing I haven't taken before."

"Let me help." The Jedi put a hand on Patriot's wounded shoulder and another on his wounded leg. Patriot breathed a sigh of relief as the pain subsided in both.

"Thank you." He said. The Jedi looked at Patriot: "No. Thank you. You saved the lives of both me and my youngling, Tay. We both owe you a great debt."

"Look!" Tay shouted, pointing out the viewport. The two looked to see where he was pointing and saw a tan colored planet.

"Lothal." Patriot said, "I've read about it in the star charts. We must have dropped out of hyperspeed close to it when we jettisoned. It's a good enough planet to live, and should be distant enough to make a good hiding place."

It took a few minutes, but Patriot and the Jedi were able to successfully navigate the pod through Lothal's atmosphere and land, relatively safely, in an empty field. Leaving the pod, the trio began making a trek through the field until, after about an hour of walking, they spotted a small town. The Jedi turned to Patriot: "Tay and I can take it from here. You need no longer burden yourself with protecting us."

Patriot nodded: "It was never a burden. It was an honor."

The Jedi nodded back: "So, what will you be doing?"

Patriot shrugged: "Just try and make a living and stay low until I can fully figure out what's going on, I guess. You?"

"To be honest, I was thinking the same thing. Tay will also have to continue his training too, so we may be more isolated than most."

"Well, you know where to find me if you need anything."

"Indeed." Then, turning to leave, "May the Force be with you, Patriot."

Patriot nodded, "And to you to, Jedi…"

"Shin Yang. And my apprentice is Tay Bartel."

The youngling, which Patriot now realized that, despite being human, had oddly zigzagging tattoos on his face and neck, smiled and shyly waved back. Waving back to Tay, Patriot turned towards the city while Shin and Tay went into the wilderness of Lothal. Each of them knew they were going to have to get used to a new galaxy, but they had no idea of what was truly in store for any of them…