Saga Due Process (Order 66 Challenge response)

Title: Due Process
Author: _JM_
Timeframe: RotS
Characters: Gilad Pellaeon, Nejaa Halcyon, some Clones
Genre: Angst
Keywords:
Summary: A third Order 66 Challenge Response. Nejaa Halcyon escapes Order 66, but produces wider consequences.
Notes: Hopefully this will not step on anyone?s toes, as I?m sure other people have had their own theories for tying things together. Working on the basis that the Pellaeon seen in the Clone Wars comic was Gilad (he?s just about old enough to have gone grey by then), and that therefore he must have been demoted at some point rather than only having a very slow rate of promotion.

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Death flooded through the Force and into Nejaa Halcyon?s thoughts. Visions of Jedi dying, struck down from behind, slaughtered by those they trusted blurred Nejaa?s vision. It was impossible to see details in the rush of images, and almost as hard to not let himself be swept into unconsciousness by their sudden impact. Even with Nejaa?s ability as a Jedi Master to focus his mind against a threat it still caused him to stagger slightly before he regained his physical, if not entirely his mental, balance.

Captain Gilad Pellaeon glanced up from the datapad a Lieutenant had handed him, across the bridge of his Acclamator-class troop/assault ship towards the titular commander of their expedition. Most of their Clonetrooopers had been deployed to the surface and were holding tactically advantageous positions. The Separatists had been divided into small pockets of troops and wardroids against each of which it would be easy to concentrate the reserve forces in turn. As each pocket was overrun there would be more forces available for the next attack and the enemy would have even less chance of resistance.

Pellaeon had agreed with General Halcyon that it was worth a delay to give the Separatists a chance to accept their situation and surrender, though he had strongly and successfully recommended that any attempt to reinforce the pockets be met with immediate attack. Unfortunately a significant part of their ability to detect an attempt to reinforce was General Halcyon?s own Jedi senses. The way the General had explained it was that although the individual minds would blur together he would be able to sense if the organic commanders and soldiers started feeling more optimistic.

Nejaa opened his eyes, which he had squeezed shut in reflex under the mental assault, as he heard footsteps approaching and recognised them. It had been a surprise to find a fellow Corellian as the senior military officer. With the retreat from Republic affairs the Corellian Sector had attempted many Corellians had returned home and many military officers had transferred to CorSec. Pellaeon?s attitude had been similar to Nejaa?s own though. Whether you were a Jedi or a Soldier, whether you still called it the Judicial Department or you acknowledged that it had returned to its roots to once more become the Starfleet of the Republic, it didn?t matter what the Corellian Sector did. Once you had made the choice to serve then you served until your services were no longer required.

?Are you well, General?? Pellaeon asked, making the expression of concern sound like a request for a status report.

?It?s passing,? Nejaa replied, rubbing one temple, ?my shields were wide open to try to sense the situation on the planet, so I was overcome for a moment.?

?Overcome by what, sir,? Pellaeon enquired, ?if I may ask??

Nejaa looked at Pellaeon for a moment, he had a great deal of respect for the Captain but there had been feelings of treachery in the images. Did he trust Gilad Pellaeon enough to share with him that he had sensed the deaths of many Jedi, or would that be giving information to a potential enemy? He trusted him enough to give a partial truth, and little enough to want to see Pellaeon?s reaction.

?Death,? Nejaa said. ?Destruction. Images of far off worlds, nothing directly relevant to our mission.?

?Aye sir,? Pellaeon replied, nodding slightly absent-mindedly. Something else had caught his eye.

A grou

 

WOW! Not only can you not post a short reply but you can't post a short response to a challenge! I started and realized how long this is. Loved it so far so I've printed it out. Will give a better review later

 

Incredible! What a response! I bow before your excellence...

I love Neeja so it was even better for me!

 

TKeira_Lea: Actually the other two responses I did were only 1060 and 755 and the fourth one I have planned would be under 2000 words, so I can write normal length responses as well as lengthy ones. Glad you enjoyed it, and enjoyed it enough to want to print it out.

VaderLVR64: Not really sure how to respond to that. It?s a good job you are my most regular reader (though if Mjsullivan replies to this he?ll draw level again) or I?d be worried you were being sarcastic in your over enthusiasm. Thanks for the kind comments though.

 

No sarcasm here! I assure you. I love your writing!

 

I'm with Vadey on this one. This was a very, very good piece. I liked the various EU characters brought into it, made it more interesting. I say "GOOD JOB" on this!

 

VaderLVR64: As I said, I realised you weren?t being sarcastic. Just seemed a little surprisingly enthusiastic, especially coming from someone with your level of ability since talented people are normally harder to impress and very talented people even more so.

BrokenNoseOfQui-Gon: My first reaction was slight surprise as I?d only used two (Nejaa and Pellaeon), but then I realised I?d mentioned Rostek Horn and had the brief appearances by Armand Isard and Ylenic It?kla as well. Glad you liked the use of the existing characters and that you liked it.

 

Finished and wanted to come back for some thoughts. Really great idea. I sort of fell out of love with Star Wars' EU in college but I, Jedi caught my eye in a bookstore and it brought me back. So I loved all the links back to Neeja. He's a great character, and you did him justice with your great knowledge of his traits and abilities.

I loved the tie to Paelleon too. What a great supposition for what fate had fallen upon him, and it ties in so well with what we do know about him.

Fun read.

 

Wonderful Job! I was excited when I heard you were planning on doing a Challenge Response using Nejaa and Pelleon, and now that you've done it I see my excitement was duly rewarded. You did a wonderful job of tying up everything surrounding Nejaa and the good Captain. And that last part with Palpatine was perfect! Again great job!

 

Wow, I really enjoyed this!

I especially liked your characterizations of Nejaa, Gilad, and the clones. Pellaeon always struck me as a man of great honor, so I appreciated seeing that here. Interesting parallel in the way he treats Nejaa to the deference he shows to Thrawn years later.

Also have to say I enjoyed the very last scene just because there's a nice irony to the fact that Pellaeon's integrity is what in essence makes him a "good guy" in the SW canon - so his career and life far outlast the villains like Isard and Palpatine.

Thanks for writing this. Great job.

 

Ooh wow, excelellent viggie JM! I too love your characterization of Nejaa, right on, I think. Also Pellaleon as well, I've always liked the guy. Absolutely loved it.

 

TKeira_Lea: Glad you liked how I treated Nejaa as I didn?t think I had a great knowledge of him. Took me most of the story to realise I was misspelling his name, and I?d actually finished before it occurred to me that dipping back into Jedi Trial might have been useful.
So used to the FanFic idea of Corellian and Coruscanti Jedi being separate the Nejaa Halcyon who was bound by the no-attachments rule felt almost like a different character.

DCWiz00: Happy you liked it, and that you liked the last bit. Although it seems fair to suppose that Pellaeon had to have been blacklisted somehow, and that (like other Imperial officers) it could have been for refusing to carry out a dishonourable order it was more of a stretch to suggest he was prominent enough to be used as an example (though fortunate enough to be used as a living example).

Darth_Lex: Parallel? I hope you mean contrast as I wanted Pellaeon to come across as being willing to take General Halcyon?s orders, but not very deferential (sort of like a grizzled old Sergeant with a green Lieutenant, take the orders but keeping an eye out for the mistakes).

Glad you appreciated Pellaeon?s integrity, agree that his willingness to follow the rules and laws the Empire created (follow Due Process instead of a summary execution) rather than regarding those as only applying to others is what helped him last so long.

padawan lunetta: Isn?t it fun how typing a read-and-reply gets someone else to reply while you are typing, same principle as putting on headphones being a sure fire conversation starter, or needing to go to the loo getting a cat to sit on your lap.

Pleased that you, the master of Halcyon / Horn stories, liked the characterisation of Nejaa.