Chapter Text
Sheev Palpatine sat in his office and brooded. Everything had been going so well. Skywalker had been easy to manipulate for years. But now, something had changed. The boy had begun to turn to his master instead of Palpatine. The clones had been an unexpected complication as well. Anakin had grown to care for them far more than Palpatine had anticipated. That could prove disastrous once Order 66 was executed and they were all under Palpatine's control. Skywalker might view it as some sort of slavery.
The light was just growing too strong in Skywalker. He was turning away from the Dark before he'd even gotten a chance to touch it.
But Palpatine had a plan. He pulled a drawer out of his desk and removed an ancient book. It was a real book, made with flimsy pages. They were brittle and he had to take care not to tear them. But the Sith tome had exactly what he needed.
Flipping through the pages, he found the rituals that would do the deed. So simple, really. One would be the physical transformation, the other a mental transformation. Skywalker would be a young, trusting boy. It would be easy to keep him away from the Jedi and mold him into exactly what Palpatine wanted him to be.
However, he was a little bit worried about the rituals themselves. They were complex and unlike anything he'd ever attempted before. If he got it wrong, it could cause damage to Skywalker or possibly even kill him. And that wouldn't do at all.
But not to worry. There were plenty of test subjects he could test it on. Just to decide who...
Palpatine smiled as a thought came to him. Yes, he would do quite nicely.
He activated his comm. "Commander Fox. I would like to see you in my office immediately."
Fox's heart dropped. "Yes sir." He sighed as he hung up from the call.
Thorn frowned at him. "Thought you weren't going to have to see him today."
"Wouldn't that have been nice." Fox grabbed his helmet. "I'll be back soon."
He tried to push back the feeling of dread settling in the pit of his stomach. There was nothing to worry about. Just a meeting with the Chancellor. And while he hated those meetings, nothing had ever gone wrong. Well, the Chancellor did have a tendency to treat him as nothing more than a droid, but most senators did anyway. That was nothing new.
Still, there was something about the Chancellor...something Fox had never been able to name. Like a slippery black mass that enveloped him every time he was in the man's presence.
While his vode didn't like the man, none of them had ever felt something like that. So Fox always ignored it. Probably no different from the feelings he'd gotten when he was a cadet on Kamino, the voice that would occasionally whisper to him. Thankfully, that had eventually faded away. Oh, it had seemed helpful at first. Knowing when not to annoy a trainer or where to hide Rex when Cody was worried he'd get decommissioned. But he knew they also made him different, and that scared him.
While they'd never gone completely, the voice had been silent since he was a cadet and the feelings had gone enough to make him pass as normal. That is, they did until he first found himself in the same room as the Chancellor. The voice had remained quiet, but he'd never been able to shake the horrible feeling he got around the man.
But Fox pushed such thoughts aside as he took the lift to the Chancellor's office. He was probably just paranoid. That's what Wolffe told him. Still, it didn't change the fact that he didn't like the Chancellor one bit.
The door opened and Fox walked into the office, quickly coming to attention. "You wanted to see me, sir?"
It took a moment for him to notice the Chancellor. He was wearing a black cloak and hood. And when he slowly turned to face Fox, he was sure the man's eyes glinted yellow.
"Commander." The Chancellor smiled, but not in that grandfatherly way he usually did. No, this was different. This was...creepy.
"I have need of your assistance." He quickly activated a holorecorder on his desk. "Please, take off your helmet."
Fox reluctantly did as he was told. He'd much rather have kept his bucket firmly over his face.
"I have a problem," Palpatine said.
"How may I help, sir?" Fox swallowed. That slick black mass seemed to be drowning him, and he could hardly get the words out.
"Well, it's like this." Palpatine started circling around Fox like a predator. "I had a plan, you see. A plan to have the most powerful Jedi in the universe turned to my side."
Fox frowned. His side? Wasn't he on the Jedi's side?
"Sadly, I fear I am too late. Kenobi has had too much influence on Skywalker. But I have a simple solution." Palpatine came around to face Fox again. "As a child, Skywalker will be much easier to bend to my will."
"Sir?" Fox was at a loss. Something inside was screaming for him to get away from the man, but his limbs felt like lead.
Palpatine raised a hand and Fox's mouth snapped closed. His eyes then widened as a red mist began to envelop him.
"However, I can't risk my prize being damaged in the process. You, however, will make a fine test subject."
Ropes of red light wrapped around Fox's wrists, and he found himself being dragged into the air until he was hanging by the strange ropes. He tried to call out, but his mouth remained closed as the pressure on his wrists increased. As if from a great distance, he heard the Chancellor laughing. It was a cold, humorless laugh that made Fox want to squirm. But he couldn't move, couldn't speak.
Pain ripped through Fox's body, and he tried to scream. Still, no sound escaped his lips. The pain grew greater until it felt like he was being compressed on all sides. He could hardly see, but the sensation was the strangest he'd ever felt. It was as if he was shrinking, his body compressing in on itself.
Then the pain somehow doubled, and he finally managed a scream before everything went white from the pain.
When he came to, he was relieved to find he was lying on the ground instead of floating. The red-hot pain had gone as well, but his body was achy. With a shake of his head, he tried to get up only to find his limbs trapped in...armor plates? His armor plates, to be exact. But they were way too big. Just what had Palpatine done? And...how exactly had he done any of that anyway?
"Oh, good. You're alive."
Fox jerked his head around to find Palpatine looming over him with a malicious grin. There was no longer any doubt the man's eyes were bright yellow. It was then that Fox came to a disturbing realization: his armor wasn't big, he was small! He risked a glance at his tiny hands and saw their rough callouses had been replaced by soft skin that he hadn't had since he was a cadet.
"Tell me Commander, how are you feeling?" There was no concern in Palpatine's voice, only amusement.
"What did you..." Fox's eyes widened as his voice came out sounding way too young, washing away the last of his disbelief. Palpatine had, somehow, turned him into a kid.
"Yes...yes..." Palpatine was saying, now ignoring Fox. "This is good. This will work perfectly! Once he's a child again, Skywalker will be easy to seduce to the Dark Side."
He kept talking, but Fox tuned him out after that. The Dark Side was what the Sith used...Palpatine was a Sith! The Jedi had no idea! And Skywalker, that was Rex's Jedi general. Rex had often spoke highly of him. He could be reckless at times, and sometimes harsher than most Jedi. But never with his men. He treated them like equals. All things considered, Fox had decided Skywalker was a good Jedi, especially since he'd risked his life to save Rex's on more than one occasion.
This demagolka was going to do this to Skywalker too, turn him into a little kid. And then he was going to make him become a Sith. Fox couldn't let that happen! But...what could he do?
Let me help...
He blinked. That was definitely not Palpatine's voice. He'd retreated behind his desk and was examining a flimsy book, muttering to himself.
You must hurry...
Then Fox recognized the voice. Just like he used to hear as a cadet. The voice that he had feared, despite how it had seemed to be trying to help him. It had returned. And it was offering to help him now.
How? he asked.
Give me all your fear and pain. I will bring it to those who can help.
And somehow, Fox knew exactly what to do. He'd been suppressing his terror, but now he let it build. He imagined it forming a cloud within him, and then let his pain join it.
Give it to me.
So Fox did. The voice took it and, somehow, Fox could feel a responding horror from somewhere...someone...
"Okay Commander." He brought his eyes back to Palpatine as the Sith approached him. "That was only the first step."
Fox snorted. "What more could you do to me?" He struggled to his feet, letting the comically large armor plates slip to the floor. His blacks hung off him as well and he couldn't help but find himself annoyed with the whole situation.
"Such defiance." Palpatine grabbed Fox's chin and turned his head to meet his yellow eyes. "Not to worry. That will be gone soon. I'll have no need for you after the process is complete."
Fox ripped his face from Palpatine's grasp with a snarl, but Palpatine raised his other hand to Fox's forehead and muttered something unintelligible. Fox's eyes widened as his memories began to flit around him. Of course. Just having a young body wouldn't make Skywalker listen to Palpatine, his mind needed to be truly young as well. Palpatine was taking Fox's memories!
Tears welled in his eyes as he felt his memories fading away. Late nights of paperwork with Thorn and Thire...meeting his batch at 79's...joining Hound to play with the new litter of massif puppies...
For a moment, everything went blissfully blank. No pain...no guilt from having to send shinies to their deaths...nothing.
CC-1010 blinked as a voice shouted and he was dropped to the ground. His mind was so fuzzy...what had happened? Where was he? What sounded like a battle was raging around him, but he couldn't seem to comprehend what was happening. He needed to get up! If he was in a simulation, he needed to start fighting before the Kaminoans noticed.
With a groan he sat up. But his eyes then widened at the sight before him and the realization that he was definitely not on Kamino. A black-cloaked man with two red laser swords was fighting off two others with similar swords. No...not swords. Lightsabers. These were Jedi! Both were human, one with a purple lightsaber and the another with a blue lightsaber and a beard.
"You have lost, Sidious!" The man with the purple lightsaber pointed it at the black-cloaked man. "Surrender."
"How is this possible!" Sidious snarled. "There was no way for you to know!"
Then, they were all fighting again. Should '10 help? They were made for the Jedi, after all. Was he supposed to help them fight against this Sidious?
He glanced around for a weapon, realizing he was standing in a pile of armor plates and wearing blacks big enough for a full-grown clone trooper. But there was also a blaster, lying innocently amongst the armor.
Hurry!
It was the voice again! He hadn't heard it much lately, but it would help him sometimes. And right now, it was telling him exactly what he had to do.
He grabbed the blaster and quickly aimed it at Sidious. Both he and the Jedi were fighting so hard they didn't even notice '10. Then, he had a clear shot. Blaster fire rang out and Sidious slumped to the ground, a glowing orange hole in his chest.
At that moment, several adult clone troopers ran in, shouting to one another and leveling their blasters at the still form. Where had they come from? These couldn't all be Alphas, could they? As far as he knew, they were the only ones older than the CC batches. But even they weren't this old yet.
"General!" A trooper with gold markings on his armor ran to where the bearded Jedi was sagging against the wall. "Are you okay?"
"Fine, Commander." The Jedi's shaky intake of breath told '10 that he was very much not fine. But '10's attention had fixed on the commander. He seemed...familiar somehow.
"I don't understand." The other Jedi glanced around. "What happened? Who called for us?"
"Very strange, the Force is here." Clones and Jedi alike parted as a small green being with large ears walked in. He took in the collapsed form of Sidious before turning to '10.
"Greetings, young one." He smiled. "A great service to the Republic, and to the Jedi, you have done."
'10 couldn't help but feel a rush of pride at that. He had done good!
Very good, the voice whispered.
The familiar feeling commander with gold armor passed his general off to two other troopers and turned to '10. He probably made a strange sight, too big blacks and a pile of armor plates around him. And he had no idea how to explain any of that, they'd just been there.
"Cadet!" the commander snapped. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you on Kamino?"
"I...I don't know sir." '10 swallowed, but managed to stand at attention despite the large blacks hanging off him. "I...I think I was in my bunk. Then I was here."
"Curious." The little green being examined '10 closely. "Strong with the Force, this one is."
Clones and Jedi alike muttered in disbelief. '10 wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but he thought he remembered that the Force had something to do with the Jedi. Was that the voice?
The commander stared at him a moment longer. "What's your name cadet?"
"I don't have a name. My designation is CC-1010."
The commander made a pained sound and ripped his helmet off to meet '10's eye. '10 just stared back, wondering what he'd done wrong, when the commander unexpectedly dropped to his knees and pulled '10 into a hug.
"Fox." He whispered. "Fox...I don't believe it! What did he do to you!"