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Execute Order Sixty-Six.
No. He couldn't.
He wouldn't, even if he knew full well that the ARC trooper beside him had heard the order too. Bly needed to act in an instant, needed to make time slow down so that he could save his general, his friend, the woman he irrefutably loved from an unjust execution. He hadn't kept her alive this long just to let her die in this jungle, by his brothers' own hands.
The other clone shot a second before he did, catching Aayla's bare shoulder from behind and Bly watched her body jerk forward as he thumbed his weapon to stun and aimed for the centre of her back. She crumpled, dropping hard to the ground and he raised an arm to gesture the men to continue forward.
"Keep going. We're finishing the mission."
If he kept them moving, maybe none of the others would realize that she wasn't dead or what he'd done. Maybe she would be alright.
They finished the mission. They set up camp. Bly sent coordinates to Aayla's comm and hoped she survived to get them, to get there where he could see her again, to where he could protect her. He kept his orders calm and even, not acknowledging the general's absence, her supposed betrayal and execution, as he ordered scouts out of camp, packing a supply pack full of rations and medical supplies for himself and announcing he was taking the more difficult recon route.
(Alone. No, Captain, he'll be fine. You just watch camp.)
He found Aayla where he had told her to go and approached with his hands held up, understanding why her hand flew to the lightsaber at her waist even before she was on her feet. Bly had shot her only two hours earlier, after all.
"Please trust me, General," he said as gentle as he could with the amount of raw emotions coursing through him. "I'm not here to finish the job and I'm alone."
She froze, then lowered herself back down on the fallen tree trunk she'd been seated on when he first spotted her. She looked… shell shocked, Bly realized, and it wasn't a look he had ever seen on a Jedi before.
"What happened?"
Bly counted that as permission to approach, moving slowly and deliberately to take his pack off and kneel in front of his beloved general to open it and hand her a canteen of water.
"The Chancellor issued officer clones the order to execute all Jedi, as the result of an attempted coup on Coruscant," Bly explained, watching Aayla take a slow drink from the canteen. "Kors didn't have a choice, you can't hold this against him. He shot you before I could stun you."
"But you did have a choice?" Aayla asked.
"We… had control chips implanted as we were being mass produce. To make up where training and loyalty to the Republic might fail."
"Why haven't I heard about this?"
"It's not common knowledge," he continued, cursing himself for not revealing this threat to her when he'd first learned of it. "I heard about it from Wolffe. Ahsoka told him. Rex's men figured it out."
Aayla's eyes narrowed as she watched him for a long moment, trying to make sense of all this. "You were able to deactivate it somehow."
"I had it removed, yes. I was going to try to do the same with the men, but it turns out there isn't time."
She didn't have anything more to say to that. Bly let his guilt overwhelm him for a long moment, then took a deep breath and removed his helmet. Aayla let him clean and dress the wound on her shoulder, silent, only speaking when he sat down beside her to apply bacta to an ugly, raw scrape on her cheek from where she had hit the ground.
"The Jedi are mostly gone."
It wasn't a question, but Bly answered anyway: "Yes, sir."
"Do you know of any other troopers who would have disobeyed that order?"
"We can't exactly talk about that on official channels."
"Of course."
He finished with the bacta, putting everything away, letting silence settle between them, letting Aayla take her time.
"You will be punished if it comes to light you've spared me, Bly," she finally said, his name gentle and soft on her lips. It had always been a treat to hear it from her without his title. The gift was bittersweet now.
"I don't intend on sticking around to be shot for protecting you, sir," he said bluntly. "Consider this my declaration of intent to defect."
"That is not a choice to make lightly."
"And I don't make it lightly. The men will be fine."
"A Jedi can survive a hostile galaxy alone if she must."
Bly shook his head, trying to be firm but not overly emotional. That wouldn't do either of them any good. "But you don't have to. I've told you before and I'll tell you again: you're not going anywhere I can't protect you."
"Bly…"
The emotion on her face - something like concern or confusion, he wasn't entirely certain - made his heart ache.
"I can't love the Republic or my brothers the way I love you. I'm staying."
The silence between them was suddenly heavy, but Bly didn't try to take his honest words back, just kept looking at Aayla, waiting for her reaction. Finally, she reached out to put her hand on his cheek and he found himself turning his face into her palm.
"I won't make you leave."
Her gentle assurance was all he needed. Getting off Felucia would be a challenge. Getting far away from the Republic and everyone who would feel obligated to execute both of them for treason would be an even greater one. But she didn't have to do it alone and right now, that was all he could ask for.