Chapter Seventeen

Two weeks passed, and the LAATs finished being built. The clones learned from Commander Indigo to not question it when stuff appears from nowhere.

A few of the clones sat around a fire, talking, eating, and laughing. One of them spoke when the laughter died down. "Hey, did you guys see that black figure jump from the top of the temple a few weeks back?"

The other clones looked at each other and back at him. "Listen, Chorus. We know you had a leak in your tank during creation, but you're stories are getting out of hand."

Indigo walked up to the group. "Chorus isn't make stuff up, Blade." The clones all jumped and stood at attention. "At ease, men. That figure was Lord Thane. Our General, and the reason we exist. It's a strange name, but he created us, so we respect it."

The clones looked at each other as one spoke up. Indigo. "Commander, if I may speak, what's the General like?"

Indigo rubbed his chin. "Hyper Drive, right?"

"Just call me HD, sir."

Indigo nodded. "Well, HD, let's just say you don't want to be an enemy of the General. When we pulled our first operation, it was to get a girl. I looked back, and just as a message to not follow us, the General killed a soldier."

The clones eyes were filled with admiration and respect. "Bad-ass, commander. Got any other stories?"

"No, Blade. He does though. If you ever see him."

Indigo looked at the top of the temple.

———

John sat in a dark room underneath the temple. He held the Sith holocron in his hand, and he intended to learn all it had to teach. He breathed in, and used the force to open the holocron, flooding his mind with information about two Sith Lords, Darth Plagueis and Darth Revan.

He sighed as the information came into his mind. 'Their names are so much cooler than mine...'

He learned of both Revan and Plagueis' stories. About Revan's turn to the dark side and back to the light. He learned of Plagueis' ability to save the ones he lived from dying. He sat for hours learning, before a map flooded his mind.

The holocron closed, but the map stayed.

[Main Quest Discovered: The Sith's past; Go to the place marked on the map, and discover what the Sith left behind for their future successor. The fate of the galaxy lies within the map.]

[Reward: 100,000 Experience, 75,000 Gold, 10x slots ticket, 3x Random item, 50 skill points.]

John rubbed his chin as he walked out of the room. He put on his helmet and used his comms to speak to Indigo.

"Yes, Lord Thane?" Indigo said. Hearing this, the other clones around him quieted down.

"Get Dex. You two will lead 50 men to an area on a map I will show you later. We do not know what lies in wait, so be prepared, and take the best among you."

"Yes, sir!" Indigo turned to the clones sitting around the fire. "Alright, men! Get ready, we're leaving as soon as we get our orders!"

The clones stood and saluted before running to ready their equipment in the barracks.

A few minutes passed and John gave Indigo and Dex copies of the map in his mind.

When Indigo asked Well(that former village chief) about the location, the Man's face was in shock. "You want to break into the Advanced Elf Democracy?"

Indigo removed his helmet and stared at the man. "What do you mean by calling them 'advanced'?"

Well shook his head. "If it's one thing my father taught me, it's that the elves are not a people to mess with. Now they've even got a branch of those Jedi sided with them." He sighed. "I would say those elves have technology that rivals Lord Thane. Whatever you do, you can not let them find out you're there."

Indigo nodded. "Understood." He turned to the 50 clones standing around them. "All right, boys! Once the sun begins to set tomorrow, we'll load up and ship out!"

"Yes, Commander!"

———

Hours passed and the sun rose, John with it. He got dressed and went down the central elevator to the training floor, a floor that was for nothing but honing your abilities and fighting styles.

He walked in and saw Chris and Charlotte fighting with their sabers. It seemed Chris was using Form 4 while Charlotte used Form 5.

She swung aggressively, and Chris would jump back just in time to dodge. They were doing surprisingly well for the little amount of time they'd been practicing them.

"It seems the power is becoming addictive, wouldn't you say, Charlotte?" John spoke, causing her to lose focus. The voice that leaves his helmet is always a calm and intimidating one.

Chris Landed a hit, striking her wrist, leaving a shallow cut, and the smell of burning flesh in the room.

She looked at him. "I'm only doing this to protect Chris."

John pointed to her hand. "It seems like you're the one that needs protecting, my apprentice." He thought for a moment. 'System, can I buy a force healing skill?'

[Force Healing: 10 skill points to buy. Starts at level 0 and has 20 levels.]

'Buy it, and max it out as much as possible.'

[Force Healing: Level 0 -> 19/20]

John walked over to the siblings and grabbed Charlotte's wrist, using his new power. The shallow cut disappeared quickly as he took a few steps back.

He grabbed his lightsaber and sent it to a table against one of the walls. "I want both of you to attack me, and don't hold back."

The siblings looked at each other and activated their lightsabers. A yellow and green blade rushed him. He raised his hands and flung them each across the room.

"If you can get me to use my saber, you've won."

The two tried for a while, but were unable to get John to use his saber. They ended up tiring themselves out. Somehow by training, the two had managed to raise themselves to level 31 and level 24. Chris being the former and Charlotte the latter.

———

In a super advanced monitoring room, multiple elves tapped on buttons and sorted paperwork. They continued in this manner until the globe on the desk in the middle of the room flashed red.

"Private, what the hell was that?" An old elf said.

"Commander, it's seems that there's been an emergence of advanced tech in the Medieval lands. The Jedi there have tried to stop it, but have had no success."

The commander rubbed his white beard. "Contact the Grand Master of the Jedi. They need to be on standby in case we call for them."

"But, sir..." the private sighed. "...the Jedi have said they don't want anything to do with politics."

"I don't care. Send a scout party to the ruins. I don't want that new power coming too deep in our territory. Remember what happened last time."

———

Indigo held on to one of the straps inside the LAATs gunship as they flew high in the atmosphere. They flew in silence few a few minutes, before they suddenly began to descend.

Indigo raised his right arm to his face, speaking into his comms. "Pilot, are we about to land?"

"Yes, Commander. We'll land at the site marked on the map, dropping everyone off. Me and the other pilots will then fly around the area and report if anything is wrong." The doors of the gunships opened up as they landed, and all 52 clones, including Indigo and Dex, got off.

Indigo looked towards the rising moon. "Alright boys, we've got 4 hours to find something the General would be interested in. Let's go!"

———

The next morning, John awoke and looked at the sun from his balcony. He stood with only pants on, his saber on his waist as the sunlight reflected off his red skin. Suddenly, a random system notification popped up.

[Recommendation: Buy new skills for the future.]

'System, I can't buy skills without at least one skill point.'

[...New recommendation: Build up your army as quickly as possible.]

John sighed. 'System, what's going on with you?'

[...]

He walked over to his set of armor, putting it on. 'Make 400 clones then.'

[Deducting 40,000 gold... 25,000 gold left.]

'Also, make 6 gunships.'

[WARNING: This will leave you with: 1,000 gold coins. Are you sure you would like to continue? Y/N]

"Yes. This may seem dumb system, but I guarantee I'll need them soon based on your recommendation..." he rubbed his chin before putting his helmet on, making his voice more intimidating. "...or you just want me to waste money."

He went down the tower and walked out the front, going down the stairs, shocking the clones under Fix and Jinx. "Clone, where are your superiors?" John asked a clone standing at the base.

"General, they're in the clone facility, said a massive number of clones and gunships are being made."

John nodded. "The 4 of you come with me." The 5 walked into the facility, and up to Fix. "Fix, I need you to do something for me."

Fix saluted. "What is it, General?"

"These 4. I selected them at random, but..." he turned to them. "...I've got a feeling they're different from the rest."

Fix nodded. "Squad 22, yes..." he walked up to the one with black markings on his armor. "Led by this clone, Matrix. It consists of him, Rookie, Lesion, and Hinge."

Rookie had an R tattooed on his face, and Lesion had a blinded eye, along with some of his face tissue being damaged by a genetic disease that was a malfunction in his pod.

When John looked at Hinge, there was nothing different about him. "Why's your name Hinge?"

"Because without me, this squad would probably fall apart. Other than that, I'm a great shot, and I like the name Hinge."

John nodded. "Okay then. Fix, I want you to make these troopers new armor and weapons. We'll deploy them behind enemy lines to see if they fit all the reports of their training."

"Yes, sir! Come with me, Squad 22."

Matrix and the others mouths hung open as they put on their helmets. 'How'd this happen?'