“Thirty-One-Twenty-Six,” a very familiar voiced shouted into the dank catacombs, “By order of the Empire, you are to surrender yourself at once! Come out now and make this easy on yourself!” The voice was his own, but it didn’t come from his mouth. In fact, it had been the voice of hundreds, if not thousands of the men that he served shoulder-to-shoulder with. The gruff tone of it is what really stood out. That was no doubt the voice of Coruscant Guard’s distinguished commander.

Noble’s armor was looking more black than blue now. It had been ripped to shreds mere days prior with blaster fire. If he had been wearing it at the time, it wouldn’t matter if the rounds were ion-charged or how durable it was. He could feel it falling apart, and he cursed himself for making himself stand out in such a way. But had he presented himself in any other way, his brother wouldn’t pay him any mind.

“Thirty-One-Twenty-Six!” he heard again. This time there had somehow been more authority in its tone.“Surrender yourself now! This is your final warning!”

He knew Commander Fox’s strategies by now. By the time the shock trooper would say ‘last warning’, there would already be a small platoon of red armor heading in his direction. They had for sure already breached the front gate by now. He began to run, picking up into a sprint and nearly tripping as his ankle plating had split apart; revealing the open black body glove beneath. Recovering from his stumble, he slammed his palm onto a nearby button, opening a heavy blast door in front of him.

A set of bright monitors illuminated the room as its power flickered on automatically. The transparisteel window ahead gave outlook to a dark hangar bay, a civilian transport freighter sitting there for his taking. The Coruscant Guard couldn’t be on his tail for much longer, and he was already this close to getting away for good.

The first part of his plan was in motion: he had to steal the freighter and then meet up with her on something she called ‘the wandering planet’. They would locate the Captain together and he could finally try and reason with him personally. If it couldn’t be done, then he always had a Jedi to back him up, and a place to go should he have to prolong the life of a fugitive.

As Noble slammed his hand against a button, the very same blast door sealed shut with magnetic locks, keeping him secure for now in the overlook. This would for certain keep the Shocks at bay for now, and it was a good thing he had acted when he did -- he could hear the rumbling clicks of their boots stampeding down the hallway towards him. They would have to breach the door in order to apprehend him; plenty of time for the Clone Trooper to make his escape.

All Noble had to do was hit a few buttons and the magnetic boots on the freighter’s landing gear would be released, just a bit of more time is all he needed, and he had plenty of it-

“No…” Noble muttered under his breath, “Not you again, not now…” It didn’t take him long to notice the quieter, but closer footsteps that were nearing him. The war had made his senses much more keen. Since the battle aboard the Inspired, he had learned to be more focused on his surroundings. The metallic scurrying of Magna Guards made sure of that.

“Sure hope you didn’t think it’d be that easy…”

It was the voice of another clone, one just like Noble -- but he knew exactly which clone he was. He heard the cloaking device deactivate next. When the battered trooper turned around, he saw the vantablack armor of a Shadow Company trooper, more specifically; SC-1109, “Dog”.

Light seemed to stop at the touch of this trooper’s armor, looking upon him was like staring into the end of the universe itself. It was no wonder Shadow Company had gotten the nickname of “black hole troopers”, because that, in essence, was exactly what they were. The only thing that slightly stood out where a few worn scratches on Dog’s chest plate and shoulder pads -- and of course his scarlet visor.

“I thought you agreed you would leave me alone…” Noble grumbled.

“That was before, around others. You know by now. Operate in secret. All of us.” Dog spat back, distinctively taking a breath between each lightning fast statement.

“But you knew what I was going to do. I had to. I thought I could trust you, Dog. You were on board with the whole thing!”

“Trust? No… there is no trust. No trust for those who put brothers in danger.”

“You know for a fact that I would never do that, Dog. Use your head. You’re one of the smartest troopers I know!” Noble extended his arms out wide, trying to reason with the trooper. But he didn’t need to see Dog’s face to know that such a feat would be impossible. Dog was notorious for isolating his thoughts, often thought to have a one-track mind.

“Actions prove otherwise” Dog mumbled matter-of-factly, “Darter? Gone. You did it. He was in  your armor. You knew.” The trooper reached towards his blaster pistol, causing Noble to tense up some, but instead, Dog pulled out a small match, swiping it against his vambrace and causing a small flame to spark to life. It was an action Noble saw Ash do often.

“And Ash…” Dog continued, “Don’t know where he is. No one does.” The trooper pinched the flame, snuffing it out and tossing the spent match onto the floor, stepping on it afterwards for good measure. “Bet you do.” This time Noble truly didn’t know, but he felt as if Dog was aware of that. The shadow was bluffing him, just as he always did. If it was to get under Noble’s skin, it was working.

“Dog, let me explain. It was Darter’s decision to do that, I tried to stop him, but his mind was already made up. Everyone thinks I’m a traitor now, that I purposefully got him gunned down, all because of that one order. It had to be a mistake, Dog!” Noble was shouting now, loud enough for the Shocks to hear for sure. But for some reason, he didn’t hear their thunderous footsteps anymore. That either meant that they were called off… or right behind that blast door. Noble didn’t want to find out.

Dog’s visor was slowly shifting away from Noble’s glare, as if he was reflecting deep in thought. If there was any convincing Dog, that had all gone away when Noble discretely tapped in the codes to release the magnetized boots. The visor very quickly recentered itself towards Noble and he snapped into action, most definitely reaching for the pistol this time.

Burning blaster bolts left carbon scoring on the transparent pane behind Noble, a few more frying the console that the 501st darted away from. Dog reached for a tube-like attachment that was stored in his other holster, clicking it into place over the blaster pistol and now holding it like it was a rifle. The shots got harder to dodge from there, they were coming out in good five-round bursts; the sound not even as loud as the typical blaster with the silencer that was connected to the very end.

Noble had one chance to close the distance in between himself and Dog, then took it as soon as it arised. Right as Dog was letting hot gas expel from his blaster, Noble had thrown his entire body weight into the trooper with all his might. This made Dog stumble for a moment, only to grab Noble and bring his armored knee to the trooper’s abdomen. Noble hit the ground in that instant, Dog’s heavy boot slamming down towards him only to hit the ground as Noble rolled out of the way.

Slowly rising to his feet, Noble held up his hand, recovering from the air suddenly being taken out of him. “Dog, please. Just let me go, okay? Hell, you can come with me. I’ll explain everything on the trip. Just be reasonable.”

“Reason, out the door a long time ago” Dog responded emotionlessly, “This is my job. I hunt down and eliminate traitors. It’s my purpose. You had a purpose too, one you left behind a long time ago.” He had long finished reloading, unleashing several more bolts of plasma. Noble could just barely dodge them all, thanking the Force for his reflexes.

He had to somehow disarm Dog. Despite everything, Noble could only dodge for so long. He made another lunge, grasping at the barrel of the rifle and trying to fight it away from his adversary with all he had. Dog held on tight though, each yank forward being met with a greater yank back. The 501st knew exactly how to end the struggle; the blaster didn’t need to be reloaded yet, so a premature cracking open of the canister would thicken the gas that came out. And that’s exactly what the trooper had managed, blinding his opponent with dusty blue fog and now holding the weapon that was being used against him.

Noble looked away for a moment to wait for the gas to subside, this being a clear mistake as a black gauntlet soon found itself uppercutting its target. It sent Noble’s already broken helmet flying off and plummeting to the floor, along with the weapon he had tried so hard to get. Popping his jaw back in place, he looked at the Shadow Trooper with narrowed eyes. Readying his stance, he prepared himself to put that elite training to the test.

The shadow soon followed and the two encircled one another before the first punch was thrown, causing Noble to duck right under it and bringing his armored forearm to Dog’s visor. Bits of the red glass sprinkled onto the floor, a cold eye piercing right through Noble’s glare as a swift kick sent him flying into the wall. Noble tried his best to recover again, feeling a severe, sharp pain on the back of his head. His fingers ran through his hair, and as he pulled it back, his blurry vision glanced down at a crimson splatter that was now decorating his glove.

Dog stood tall, popping his neck and striding towards his opponent with haste. Another punch was being thrown, but this time, it was caught by Noble. He yanked Dog closer, slamming his head right into the smoking console, sending buttons and various switching flying all around. Dog started to push himself back up, but his visor quickly got another up close view of the dent he had made with his skull. Each time Dog tried to make a move, the machinery would quake beneath the impact his helmet.

Noble finally decided the deed was done as soon as Dog stopped moving, the shadow just slouched over into the broken console. The 501st took another look at the literal blood on his hand, slumping against the wall and trying to catch his breath as he took another look at Dog. The thought had crossed his mind to just turn himself in, but the only method of doing so was smashed to pieces purely out of self-defense. Nevertheless, it was the second time that Noble had been responsible for a brother getting hurt. He had broken the golden rule -- arguably twice. It was surely the way everyone else was going to see it. It was the way the way Ratio was going to see it.

He thought of the old days, when things were so much easier. He always remembered the exact line up, everyone together: Ratio, Ash, Blue, Darter, himself, and finally, Wings. Commander Taur would always be walking in front of them, pacing and shouting out his speech before each deployment. A favorite phrase for him, one that made both the Commander and everyone in the squad raise their fists in unison: “You are Anima Company, and you cannot be broken!”

“But you can sure break every gearhead in your warpath…” Noble muttered the following phrase to himself before burying his face into his hands. He couldn’t live by that truth anymore, he was more than broken. Shattered, pulverized. He couldn’t bring himself to move for the longest time. He just wanted the Shock to come breaking through and unload into him.

Throughout his grief, he hid his face for the longest time, verbally kicking himself: “It’s all my fault!” he cried out, “I caused all of this… I’m so sorry, Darter. I’m so sorry, Dog…”

“Forgiven.”

Noble looked up at the sound of that voice. He only got a split second of what was in front of him: absolutely nothing. The cloaking device discharged directly next to the 501st, the static of it a punishment to his ears so up close. But it meant nothing when compared to the blue ring that flew into Noble at point blank range.

Dog caught Noble just as his body went limp, adjusting him against the wall as the shadow stumbled back up to his feet, nearly tripping as he shook his head to free his vision of the obstructing stars. “Job’s done, Hornet” he spoke into his wrist.

“Good to hear, Dog! I’ll let Commander Blackout know right away.” the voice said on the other end, “So… guess we’re an Empire now?”

“Yeah… got some things to talk about, sir.”

“Should I bring the rest of Shadow Company? I could hold a gathering as soon as possible.”

“Yep.” Dog replied, “Bring as many of them as you can. This trooper has a hell of a lot of talking to do.”