Code Caf
Time ticked by, neither man seemed to be willing to break first. Each leaning against his side of the metal table, with their hands clasped in front of them. The only difference was the metal binders attaching the one to the table.
The dim light flickered in the tiny room, enough to drive a lesser man mad, as was the point. The walls were bland grey durasteel, with a mirror, that was a surely a one-way window, beside the only door. What completed the room was the bolted down metal table and chairs.
"I'll ask you again," the unbound man spoke, voice full of contempt, "Why did you shoot that woman?"
The other man made no move to respond, only watching the other passively, completely unfazed.
"You're not going to get away with it, clone, there are multiple witnesses, including CSF officers."
"I never denied it," the clone said, scowling at the officer.
"But you won't tell me why," the officer snarled.
"I did."
"You expect me to believe that harebrained story?"
The clone just shrugged, mind clearly on something else. The interrogator, fed up with the trooper, stood abruptly, slamming his hands onto the table.
"We've already used your identification chip to ID you, your command will be here any second. I'm just trying to make this easier on you."
As if summoned by the officer's words, the door swung open, admitting a fully armored clone. The dim lighting gave the man an eerie look, as he stood before the room's occupants. Arms crossed, back straight, feet shoulder length apart. The armored man gave off every appearance of a pissed off Captain.
Responding to this, the clone bound to the table straightened in his seat, coming as much as he could to attention.
"I take it you're this trooper's commanding officer?" the non-clone asked, causing the Captain to turn his helmeted head toward the man, blue jaig eyes flashing in the light.
"Unfortunately," the Captain growled, glaring through his visor at the trooper, who, surprisingly, didn't cow under his furious Captain's gaze.
"And you know the charges against him?"
"Yes, though I don't understand how he, out of all my men, could have done something like that," the Captain's gaze never left the stoic trooper, "Especially, when he wasn't cleared to leave the barracks."
The Captain stepped closer to the table, removing his helmet to look the trooper in the eye.
"What happened, Echo?"
No, Echo hadn't been cleared to leave the barracks after their last tussle with the clankers, though it was more that Echo wanted an excuse not to go out partying with Fives, and had Kix obliged. He would much rather spend his few days of rest relaxing and reading.
And that was exactly how he'd planned to spend his day, but of course things never go as planned.
He had gone to the mess hall to grab lunch, after doing a brief workout to keep his nearly fully healed shoulder from tightening. The mess was practically deserted, with only one table occupied with a game a sabacc.
Grabbing a tray, he moved to the table, and sat beside Kix. He noted that everyone –including himself– had forgone the armor and were wearing their grey fatigues.
"Who's winning?" he asked, between mouthfuls of food.
"Take a guess," Jesse grumbled.
"The one that looks like a stuffed nexu?"
"Got it in one," Kix mumbled, tossing down his cards in defeat.
"I wasn't expecting you to still be here, Fives," Echo said, as his brother pulled his winnings toward him.
"Well, considering Kix still has you on lock down, for reasons I still don't understand since your injury could barely count as an injury. I decided I would keep you company, at least until the clubs open."
"How kind of you," Echo replied sarcastically, before raising an inquiring brow at the other two men at the table.
"We were supposed to go out, but Hardcase seems to have disappeared and we promised not to leave without him," Kix said, as he reshuffled the cards and dealt another game, including Echo this time.
"Well, if he doesn't get his shebs here soon I'm leaving," Jesse huffed, sending a glare toward the door.
"Come on, brother, let's show this shiny assed ARC who taught him how to play," Kix said, giving Fives a glare.
"Those sound like fighting words, Kix," the tattooed ARC grinned.
Echo's food was quickly forgotten as the game progressed, and after a good thirty minutes Echo looked at his hand with immense satisfaction. He'd win the whole pot.
Of course, before he could lay down his hand and claim it a shiny came skidding through the door. The younger man stood there panting, eyes wide with horror. The game was momentarily forgotten as they turned to look at him. Echo didn't know him, but Kix seemed to as he addressed the man.
"Thirty-seven, what's wrong?"
"I– I– We, we didn't…" the young trooper stuttered.
"Spit it out, lad," Jesse snapped.
"We didn't mean to! We didn't know!" came the rushed reply.
A heavy sense of foreboding came over the gathered troopers, each glanced at the others before looking back at the petrified shiny.
"What did you do, shiny?" Fives asked, as he stood.
"We didn't know!" Thirty-seven squeaked.
"What? What didn't you know?" the ARC pressed.
"Hardcase, he… we were drinking caf and he wanted some… we knew he wasn't allowed any, but he made it sound like it was a joke…"
The trooper found himself suddenly surrounded by his seniors, as cards fluttered to the ground, including Echo's winning hand.
"Listen to me very carefully, Thirty-seven, where is Hardcase now?" Kix stressed, hands clenched around the trooper's arms.
"He took off towards the entrance," the man gasped out, before finding himself alone in the mess.
"Fool-headed shinies, sir," Echo's reply was crisp and to the point.
"Echo, all shinies are fool-headed, that's what makes them shinies." Rex grumbled, "I'm asking you why you shot that woman."
Echo pushed through Coruscant's crowed street. This couldn't be happening, they couldn't have unleashed him on to the unsuspecting people of Coruscant. Hardcase was hyperactive on a good day, but there was a reason medical had banned him from consuming caf. A damn good reason.
A shout drew Echo's attention and he was off sprinting in that direction.
They had to find him, before he hurt himself or someone else. But finding one man in a place like Coruscant was nigh impossible. And as Echo was lead down increasingly packed streets he was growing desperate.
They had split up when they realized their quarry had escaped the barracks, and were hoping to flush him out. Echo hoped the others were having an easier time than he was.
His pace was slowed as the crowds grew thicker, he was forced to shove people out of the way in his attempt to gain as much ground as he could. This earned him several scathing looks and biting words, especially when people realized he was a clone. But Echo was deaf to the abuse, his mind solely focused on his task.
This isn't working, at this rate we'll never find– what was that?
Echo's eyes narrowed on the brief flash of grey before him, the one that had drawn a crowd. Moving swiftly, he gained a better vantage point. It was him.
"I've got eyes on the target," he said into his comm, "Take my coords. I'm going to take the shot."
"Understood, use precaution, don't let the target see you. I'm closing in on your position now," Jesse's voice crackled from his wrist.
Echo pulled his blaster, taking careful aim of where Hardcase was attempting to juggle a number of fruits all while standing on one leg. Echo had to admit, he was quite good, unfortunately, his fans would have to be disappointed.
As his finger was compressing the trigger, honey-brown eyes met his own. Streams rose around him, and when he lowered the blaster a woman lay on the ground. Not his brother.
As he stood their gaping, a body slammed into him, wrestling him to the ground. He instinctually fought back, throwing the man, but he was soon joined with another, and having been taken by surprise he was quickly subdued. He was pressed into the ground with a knee on his back as his hands were roughly pulled behind him and bound.
As the CSF officers pulled him up, something in the distance caught his attention. Hardcase stood at the far end of the plaza, watching with a concerned expression, but after looking behind Echo disappeared again.
"Hey! Are you even listening?" One of the officers shouted, shaking him.
"He's a clone, Jol, they're soft in the head," the other said, and Echo shot him a quick scowl.
Before he could report, however, movement caught his attention. Jesse was running toward them, worry sketched onto his face. Echo caught his eyes, and jerked his head toward the street Hardcase disappeared down. The other trooper hesitated for a second, but realized there had to be priorities and took off after his squadmate.
"As I told Officer Mir'sheb, I didn't mean to shoot her," Echo said, sending a glare toward said officer, who returned it full force, "Besides, they're over exaggerating, it was a stun bolt, she's fine."
"You still fired a weapon –which you weren't permitted to carry– into a crowd of civilians," the officer snapped.
"He's right Echo, this doesn't look good," Rex said, recrossing his arms, "The General's not happy, neither am I, for that matter. Who were you trying to hit, anyway?"
"Hardcase."
"Hardcase, why were you…" the Captain trailed off, a look that could only be called fear crossed his face, "Echo, no."
"Sir, we have a Code Caf," Echo deadpanned, immensely enjoying the look of confusion on the non-clone's face as the Captain paled.
"Release him," Rex ordered briskly, as he pulled on his helmet.
The officer gaped at him, and started protesting, but the Captain cut him off with a stern glare.
"Sir, he hasn't been released, yet, Mrs. Delcorr may want to press charges," the officer pressed on, even as he released the binders.
"Tell her to take it up with the GAR or General Skywalker, we have more pressing matters right now."
Captain Rex turned on his heel, moving swiftly out of the interrogation room, Echo a step behind, with the officer trailing after them unsure.
"What does a Code Caf mean?" the man finally asked, and the Captain sighed.
"It means you have to be prepared for a number of calls involving a crazy man, that you will be hard pressed to find since he never stays in one place very long. Don't worry he's fairly harmless to people."
"I disagree with that, Captain," a voice called from down the hall.
Turning the group was met with the sight of Jesse being lead down the hall by two officers. The clone was bruised and bloodied, he walked with a slight limp and had a crooked nose.
"Kriff! What happened to you?" Echo gasped, looking his brother over.
"The shabuir jumped me!" Jesse squawked, aghast at the idea of it, "Then these di'kutla officers decide to arrest me!"
Rex sighed in agitation, taking in his battered trooper.
"Let him go," the Captain told the two officers, who looked at him like he'd sprouted two heads.
"Do as he says, Jol, Tenu," the officer following Echo ordered.
"But, Detective…" the one that Echo deduced to be Tenu protested, he was also the one who insulted Echo earlier.
"Now, Tenu!" the now identified Detective snapped.
Like that Jesse was released. The tattooed trooper rubbed his wrists as he stepped up to the Captain.
"What's the plan, sir?"
"Who else is out there?"
"Kix and Fives, Captain."
"Alright, you two get back out there, I'll rally the men, be prepared for your comms to be tied into the control center," the Captain said, nodding to himself.
"Understood, sir," Jesse said, snapping to attention along with Echo, "Just what the men needed, another game of 'hide and go stun'."
"Very funny, Jesse," the Captain groaned, "Get going!"
The two troopers loped off, well one did, the other just kind of limped in a fast manner. Watching them go, Rex couldn't help the grin forming under his helmet, they were good men. Even when they were up to no good.
Giving a brisk nod to the CSF agents, Rex moved down the hall in a more ordered fashion. As he did so he patched his bucket through to his second's comlink. It took the other clone a moment to answer, and Rex couldn't help the slight feeling of guilt for having to ruin his men's day.
'Coric here,' came the hesitant reply.
"Coric," Rex greeted, "Are you still at the barracks?"
'We were just leaving, sir.'
"I'm afraid you're going to have to cancel your plans, I need you to gather as many men as you can."
'But, sir, why?' Coric was clearly upset, and Rex remembered him saying he had a date tonight.
"I'm sorry, Coric," Rex sighed, "But we have a Code Caf."
The line was silent for a long few moments, as Coric seemed to be wrapping his head around what he'd just been told.
'Understood, sir, I'll sort everything here, can I safely assume that you're going to be staying out there and searching?'
"That's the plan."
'Understood, happy hunting, sir.'
The comlink cut out, and Rex was left on his own in the large, crowed, city world.
Coric felt like cursing up a storm, out of all the days it had to be the one that he had plans. That twi'lek was wonderful, soft in all the right places, and a personality to match, it had taken all his courage to ask her to meet him tonight, and now this.
With a defeated sigh, he turned to the three men he was with, all had heard the Captain's call and had varying expressions of unease.
"You know the drill, Link start setting up a control center in the rec. room; Ultra, Rig, start recalling men that have left in the past fifteen minutes," the medic ordered.
As the men parted, Coric moved toward Rex's office, there he could sound the tone that signaled a meeting. Hopefully there were still a good number of men here.
Anakin Skywalker was not happy, first he had a council meeting, then he'd learned that Padme was off planet, next he received a report that one of his men had shot a civilian, and now… Now he had his former Master following him around like a lost kath pup, with his second in Command following him.
He stalked the barracks waiting for Rex's return, and Echo's verdict. Out of all the men, Echo was the one he'd least expect this kind of behavior from. The trooper was about as soft-spoken and docile a clone trooper could get. He actually hadn't believed it, which is why he hadn't gone down to CSF's headquarters himself. But Rex had commed him, confirming Echo's identity.
He'd told Rex to find out all he could then report back, with what information he was given, Anakin would decide what to do.
He turned on his heel and nearly walked headfirst into Obi-wan. Anakin jumped, having forgotten his Master was there.
"Is there a reason you're following me?" he snapped, and the bearded Jedi and gold-trimmed Commander shared a look, before turning back to him.
"No."
Anakin would have screamed if not for a familiar pinging filling the hall, providing a much-needed distraction.
"That's the tone to summon the men for a meeting, isn't it?" Obi-wan asked, and Anakin gave a slow nod in return, "I thought Rex was out."
"He is."
"Then who called a meeting?"
"Good question."
The Chosen One strode down the hall toward the rec. room with purpose. Thoughts wildly spinning, as he tried to determine the reason behind this meeting. The 212th's command stared after him for a moment, before dutifully following.
Reaching the rec. room the found a surprisingly decent amount of men there, all in varying states of composure. A good number looked as if they had just been on a run, others looked like they had just woken up. With them being on leave, Anakin couldn't fault those men. The entire 501st wasn't there, there was maybe just enough men to fill a company. And they all looked as confused as Anakin felt.
"General Skywalker," Knife greeted, "Are we shipping out, sir?"
"Not that I'm aware of, Knife," Anakin responded, looking around at the men gathered.
Knife frowned, obviously, he'd been hoping to get some clarification from the General, but said nothing more and moved back to his group.
Then, someone started shoving their way to the front of the room, drawing everyone's attention and the room quieted. Soon, Coric stood in front of everyone, he looked the men over, pausing when his eyes met Anakin's but the trooper just gave him a respectful nod and continued.
"Alright, listen up!" Coric called out, "We're short on time and manpower, but this will have to do. I apologize for interrupting your leave, but this is important."
Coric sighed as if trying to find the best way to put his thoughts into words.
"Well I'm not going to beat around the bush," he said decisively, "We have a Code Caf."
It seemed as if every man in the room stopped breathing, as they processed those words. They stared at Coric as if hoping it was a joke, but when the medic said nothing else, pandemonium filled the rec. room. Every trooper was shouting some sort of profanity, or variations of 'this can't be happening'.
The 212thers looked horribly confused and when glancing at each other yielded no answers, they turned to Skywalker. Who was just standing there with a look of horrified realization.
"Anakin–" Kenobi started but Coric cut him off.
"Enough!" the medic shouted, bringing order to the room once more, "You all know the drill, get into your squads, check-in with the control center and see where we need you. This is going to be the hardest one yet, boys, we've never had a Code Caf on planet before, let alone a planet like Coruscant. Like I said before, we're undermanned and running out of time, we need to catch him before CSF does, or worse the Guard."
Coric surveyed the crowd once more, before nodding to himself.
"Everyone clear with what needs to be done?"
"Yes sir!" the chorused reply was nearly deafening.
"Good, happy hunting boys!"
The gathered men, immediately broke into groups, moving to a table in the center of the room where a single clone sat with a map of the surrounding city. A few joined him at the table, while others spoke a few words, and gathered some supplies before leaving. To an outsider this seemed like absolute chaos but with an experienced eye you could tell it was all very controlled.
Coric was making his way toward the Jedi, with an exasperated look on his face.
"Generals, Commander," the Lieutenant said, coming to attention before them.
"Coric," Anakin replied, "Is this what Echo got involved in?"
"Sir, I wasn't aware Echo was involved in anything, the Captain just commed me a few minutes ago. Kix, Jesse, Fives, Echo, have checked in with control though," Coric replied with a look of confusion, and an undertone of eagerness for a new juicy bit of gossip.
"Never mind, it's not important," Anakin said dismissively, "I'm going to head to CSF headquarters to intersect any calls that may be our man, as well as keep too many troopers from being arrested."
"Understood, sir, I'll stay here, try to keep things running smoothly."
"Good man."
As Anakin turned to move out of the rec. room he found himself facing the wall that was General Kenobi and Commander Cody. Neither seemed willing to let him pass.
"Mind telling us what's going on, Anakin?" Obi-wan asked, brow raised in speculation.
"Five-oh-first business, sorry, Obi-wan," the younger man said, pushing past the other two men and disappearing out the door.
The two then turned to Coric, who paled, then pretending to hear someone calling him extracted himself from the questioning looks. Both stared after him for a long moment before stepping out of the rec. room.
"The five-oh-first are a strange bunch," Cody said, as the moved down the corridor.
"Indeed," Kenobi agreed, a contemplative look on his face, "So, Commander, who should we torment now?"
The 501st systematically spread out from the target's last know position, with regular check-ins with control to ensure no one was unaccounted for. Most worked in pairs or groups of three, as it was unwise to work alone.
'Tack is down.'
'Control, I just found Feather and Q, requesting pick up.'
'Uh, Control, the Captain's down, and in bad shape too, how soon can a retrieval team be here?'
'The target's been spotted in–'
'Oz is down, and so's Ringo, Control.'
After a long time without sightings of the target, the search teams were authorized to question civilians on sightings. But the clones were very uneasy, while they might not have seen him, a number of teams had already been taken out. And the civilians weren't very helpful, more often than not, they were downright nasty to the clones.
So, when Knife saw a group of clones and CSF officers relaxing outside a food-joint he decided to ask them, despite the fact that the vast majority of the clones were commandos and ARCs. He was desperate.
As he approached the group looked up, and conversations ceased. Knife could help but shift in discomfort from the amount of unfamiliar eyes on him. But he steeled himself, this was an important mission, one where failure wasn't an option.
"Can we help you, lad?" one of non-clone, non-uniformed men asked, drawing Knife's gaze to him. The man was older, with deep lines on his face, but there was nothing to identify him other than a brown jacket.
"Uh, I hope so," the 501st trooper replied nervously, "Have you seen this clone?"
As he asked the question, Knife drew out a small holoprojector, one of the ones that Coric had been passing out to all the teams, and activated it. Hardcase's face appeared and rotated slowly above his hand. The man took it from him and passed it around the group, but Knife only received negative responses.
"Sorry, what's he done?" one of the black armored commandos asked, as he handed the projector back to Knife.
"Five-oh-first business, sorry," Knife replied, refusing to allow his disappointment to show, "But, thanks anyway."
As Knife moved away he couldn't help but feel anxious, like someone was watching, and several someones were watching he knew, but… A flicker of movement to his left made him pause.
What was that? His hand slowly moved toward his blaster. His heart pounded in his ears, he was here.
Thud!
The heavy weight of a body slammed into him, causing him flail in an attempt to regain his balance. But that moment of unbalance was all his attacker needed to wrestle him to the ground, knocking his blaster away in the process.
They scuffled for a moment, but the other was much faster than Knife and seemed to have inhuman strength. Knife quickly found himself flattened into the ground, he tried going limp to fool his brother into letting him go, but instead felt something that made his blood run cold.
The prick of a hypo at his neck. He didn't have time to try and fight it before the world went dark.
The twang of a stun bolt cut through the air causing, the crazy man to jump off his victim and with crazed laughter disappear down the street. Two other clones pursued, until they reached their downed brother's side.
"Kriff! He's fast," the younger of the two said, gasping for breath.
"Obviously, rookie, if he wasn't fast we would've caught him already!" his elder snapped, as he knelt next to Knife, "Knife's out."
"What'd he do? I didn't hear any blaster fire."
The older clone picked up the discarded hypo and rolled it between his fingers.
"Looks like he got ahold of someone's sedative."
"Now what?"
The other trooper didn't respond right away, rather he threw Knife over his shoulder and moved him off the street. Coming to a corner, beside where CSF/commando group was sitting, he placed the trooper on the ground.
"Control, this is Dart, over?" the trooper –Dart- said into his comm.
'We read you, Dart, go ahead,' a voice crackled in response.
"Target spotted at these coords., and I also need a retrieval team for Knife. Be advised the target seems to be stealing from the men he drops, Knife was taken down with a hypo."
'Understood, Dart, all teams will be notified, and a retrieval team is en route to Knife's position.'
"Thank you, Control, we'll continue our pursuit, Dart out."
Dart stood, giving a respectful nod to the commandos, and moved in the direction Knife's attacker went. The rookie hesitated, looking a Knife with uncertainty.
"We can't just leave him, sir," he protested.
"We don't have a choice, rookie, our top priority right now is getting our target. Control knows where Knife is and has sent a team out for him, they shouldn't be long. Now let's go!"
When he finished, Dart took off in a swift jog down the street, and, after another moment of hesitation, the rookie followed.
Neither noticing Knife's blaster was gone.
They left a group of GAR and CSF officers staring between them and the trooper near their feet.
"What just happened?" one of the clones asked slowly, looking at his squadmates.
"Five-oh-first business, obviously," the one who had handed Knife the holoprojector back chirped.
"Those boys are insane," the one non-spec ops clone muttered.
"Not yours I take it, Kal?" one the CSF officers grinned.
"I can't take credit for them, Obrim," the older man that first talked to Knife responded.
A little time passed and the group had turned back to their food, drinks, and conversation. Seemingly forgetting the clone passed out beside them. They barely noticed the speeder landing beside them, until two clones jumped out.
And they were certainly attention grabbing. Feature wise they were seemingly inverted, one with a stock of white hair and dark brown eyes, the other with dark brown hair and blue eyes. But they moved as one being, nodding in sync at the group before picking up Knife and tossing him in the back of their speeder, where another man sat. Then giving them a wave farewell, the hopped back into their speeder and left.
"Okay, the regs are the strangest beings I've ever seen, and I live with these psychopaths," the commando with yellow trimmed armor said, jerking his hand in the direction of his squad.
"I'd have to agree with you," someone else agreed.
"Hey, we're not all like that," their reg protested, "the five-oh-first are just semi-insane, we all know and accept this fact."
"What is going on?" one of the ARCs mumbled, clearly disturbed by his brothers' strange behavior.
"I don't know but I intend to find out," the other ARC grumbled, eyes narrowing on another trooper moving down the street, one he recognized.
"Echo!"
The trooper jumped a foot in the air, skittering to a halt in order to find who called him. Eyes resting on the group in front of the food-joint, his face became resigned.
"Front and center, trooper!"
Slowly, the younger clone crossed the street and stood at attention.
"Captain Maze, sir!"
"Care to explain what's going on, trooper?"
"Five-oh-first business, sir."
"We've heard that before," one of the black armored commandos muttered.
"And yet, correct me if I'm wrong, you answer General Zey and I," Maze said, ignoring the commando.
"Yes, sir, though my quarters are in the five-oh-first's barracks–"
"By your request only," Maze interrupted.
"And me being from the five-oh-first, originally," the trooper continued, unfazed, "And having been part of their last mission, I currently answer to Captain Rex and General Skywalker. So, as I said it's five-oh-first business."
Maze leveled the trooper with a glare, one that was met with a face of pure professionalism. The other men looked between the two, curious as to who would win this stare down. Though most of the other clones were silently rooting for the stranger. The stare down, unfortunately, didn't receive a true end as Echo's eyes widened.
Twang!
The young ARC dropped like a sack of bricks. Maze blinked in surprise at the sudden lack of trooper before him, before glance down at the man who had busted open his chin on the way down. He then looked up at where the shot had come from to see the same man from before slowly edging his way onto the street.
"Sorry to interrupt, sir!" the trooper snapped a quick salute, before kneeling next to the downed man.
"ARCs always have the best stuff, you know? All shiny and new, things that make bigger bangs!" the man chattered at a speed where his audience could barely understand a word he said.
As he went on the faster he seemed to talk, and it soon got the point they were convinced he wasn't actually speaking. But he didn't seem to be looking for a response, as he crouched next to Echo and started ruffling through his pockets. Then his head snapped up and he looked at them as if waiting for an answer.
"Uh…"
But the sound of another blaster going off saved Maze from answering. The tattooed trooper slumped forward slightly, as the stun bolt connected with his back. But then he surged to his feet, spinning to face the new threat.
A trooper with a close shaven head, with a very strange pattern stood there with his blaster raised. Though as the man stood, he lowered his blaster, as if unwilling to blast him again.
"Kix, that's cheating!" the first man wailed, "You can't shoot someone in the back!"
"Then what do you call what you've been doing?" the clone –Kix– asked.
"Neutralizing the greater threat," he quipped.
"Alright, Hardcase, whatever you say," Kix said, holstering his blaster and raising his hands in a placating manor, "How 'bout we call it quits? Get some drinks."
Hardcase seemed to consider this for a moment, as Kix approached, but then his eyes narrowed dangerously.
"This is a trick, isn't it?"
Kix lunged, as Hardcase spun with inhuman speed in the other direction. But he tripped over Echo and was held up long enough for Kix to get his arms around him. It then dissolved into a full-blown wrestling match.
"Should we do something this time?" someone asked, but Maze grinned.
"It's five-oh-first business."
So, they sat back and watched the two men wrestle around on the ground, before finally the new one, Kix, got Hardcase in a headlock. Straining to hold him there, the man pulled something from his belt, and stabbed it into his prisoner's neck. The man below him froze for a brief moment before he surged upward, breaking out of the hold. Then he was gone.
"Control, I got a full dosage of sedative into the target, pursuing now," the man said into his comm, as he sprinted after Hardcase.
At the same time the trooper rounded the corner, two younglings rounded the corner at the other end of the street.
"Ahsoka, why are we down here?" the dark haired one asked, as they approached.
One was a Togruta, the other Mirialan. Both had lightsabers hanging from their belts. Both were Jedi. Some of the men in front of the building scowled in distaste.
"I don't know, Barriss, I have a feeling is all," the Togruta responded.
"Feelings are a very important part of being a Jedi, young one."
The two jumped, with the Togruta shrieking.
"My apologizes, I didn't mean to startle you."
"Master Kenobi, Commander Cody," the Togruta wheezed.
"We did not sense you, Master," Barriss said bowing.
"We noticed."
"Right, can we help you, Master?" Ahsoka asked slowly.
"Not at this moment, thank you, but back onto your feeling."
"Uh… yeah, I don't know I just have one, leading me down here."
"And the Jedi are known for their reliable feelings," someone whispered snidely.
It was obvious the comment was heard as the group snapped in their direction, but as they did the Togruta gasped.
"Echo!"
She was kneeling beside the downed man in a heartbeat. Rolling him over, and checking him for injures.
"Do you know this clone?" Barriss asked, approaching at a more dignified pace.
"Echo's one of my men," Ahsoka responded distractedly, finally she looked up at where Maze was sitting, "What happened?"
"Five-oh-first business, whatever that means, sir," the ARC Captain responded dutifully.
Ahsoka frowned in confusion, but as she looked down at Echo's battered form, a look of horror crossed her face.
"No…" she whispered, before pulling out her comlink and keying in a frequency.
'Control, here,' the device said, within seconds.
"Link?" the Togruta asked.
'Commander?'
"Don't tell me there's another unwanted game of 'hide and go stun'"
'Uh… Sorry, Commander.'
"It's not your fault –at least I hope it's not your fault," she joked, "Where the target now?"
'Kix is in pursuit, he's just ahead of you, down two streets.'
"Understood, thanks, Link," the Togruta cut the link and stood.
"Sorry, Barriss, it's ah…" everyone leaned forward for the response, "Five-oh-first business."
There was a collective groan as the Jedi took off leaving her friend behind.
Barriss stared after her, before shaking her head and turning. She flinched when she nearly walked into Kenobi, edging around him, she headed back the way she came. Picking up speed as she noticed the two men from the 212th following her.
It took the 501st another two hours to finally capture Hardcase, with over half of their numbers taken out. By the time they had, everyone was too tired to do anything else that night and were barely able to drag themselves to the rec. room when a meeting was called.
"First off," General Skywalker said, as everyone settled, "I'd like to tell everyone they did an excellent job today, especially in the face of a seemingly impossible task. Coric, Link, thank you for keeping the control center running so smoothly."
The two troopers smiled at the praise.
"Yin, Yang, great work at retrieving all those that met a rather unfortunate fate. Kix, Jesse, Ahsoka, great job of keeping track of him. And the rest of you, you earned a good night's rest. Make sure your brothers –those that managed to avoid this trying event– don't disturb you. To those of you that are responsible for this, there will be words and punishments, but I'll leave that for tomorrow. But let this go as a reminder to you all, there is a reason those rules are there, even if they don't make sense to you, or they sound silly, obey them."
The General gave each man a sharp look as he said this, as if daring them to try anything.
"Well that's all I have to say, though I believe Rex has a few things to add."
The General stepped back allowing the Captain –who looked a little battered– to be the center of attention.
"As the General said, you all performed admirably to today, so don't think my next words to be a punishment on you all. This is, however, the only solution I can come up with. To prevent today's events from ever happening again, caf will be banned when we're planetside."
If Rex said anything else it was drowned out by the outcries from the men. The thought of no caf was horrifying, how could they possibly function without it? It was their lifeblood; how could he take it away from them?
"Hey, I have to suffer right alongside you, so quit your complaining!" Rex snapped, but retreated to his seat known this meeting wasn't going to go anywhere else.
"They… they can't do this!" Jesse gaped, looking at the two men next to him.
"I agree with the Captain, something had to be done, besides it's bad for your health," Kix responded.
"I vote we move back into the Arca barracks, Echo," Fives stated, turning to his brother, only to blink owlishly at the empty seat, "Where's Echo?"
Jesse shrugged helplessly, while Kix frown before his eyes widened.
"Oh… I knew I was forgetting something."
"Are we just going to leave him here?"
"They know where he is, they'll pick him up at some point."
"But, it's getting dark, and he's been lying there for hours."
"If they don't pick him up, then he'll wake up on his own soon enough, he's an ARC, stop worrying."
The group left, leaving the unconscious body of Echo behind. And he was soon found by two rather familiar CSF officers.
"Well, look who it is, Jol."
"He's that clone from before, isn't he, Tenu?"
"That he is, and sleeping in the street is public hazard, we'll have to bring him in."
Just like that Echo was hauled off, back to CSF's prisons.
All in all, it was a very bad day for him.
Around that same time, a scream echoed down the halls of the Jedi temple, causing many of its occupants to startle. Though none could place the voice, the last person they would suspect would be quiet and respectful Padawan Offee.
But it was.
The young woman's eyes were wild and her neatly tired up hair had escaped her bun, giving her a rather disheveled appearance.
"Stop following me!" she screeched, as she slammed her door shut, locking it.
Those that she slammed her door on looked quite affronted.
"That was rude," Obi-wan said, with a frown.
"Very," his Commander deadpanned, throwing one last glare at the door as the turned away.
"Well that was fun, same time tomorrow, Commander?" the Jedi asked, looking at his companion with a grin, "I hear the Wolfpack will be arriving."
"Wouldn't miss it, General," Cody replied, with a grin of his own.
And that's that. Don't ask where this came from, lack of sleep and the stress of upcoming finals is finally getting to me.
Ok a few things, first: this might turn into a series of one-shots centering around this theme, let me know if you'd be interested. It wouldn't be updated often, but whenever the muse hits me.
Second: I've noticed a lot people moving over to AO3, I'm curious if it's worth it. I looked into it before and wasn't too impressed. If anyone could let me know if it's worth going through the hassle to get an account, it'd be appreciated. I'll still update here, that's one of the reasons I'm even considering it, is that some great stories are only being continued there and without an account I end up losing track of them. So I still plan to update here, even though it takes rough an hour to get one document uploaded.
But enough of that, thanks for reading.