Sorry for making you wait. 3

The anxiety was palpable. When the ship landed, there was something in the air quite unsettling. Rost disliked it immediately. Kamino was not supposed to feel like that. It was not the cheeriest place in the Galaxy, but from his experience it was by far the best around. Following the General Kenobi closely, Rost could not wait to be at the hospital. Rima was attacked. She was attacked. The clues were saying that a clone did it. A brother attacked a woman, a civilian, a doctor. And not just any doctor: the best in the whole army! Well… as far as the 501st was concerned anyway. She sure has a strong personality and sometimes a bad attitude, but to go that far? To try to kill her? Something must have happened.

to get to the hospital, they had to go through a despressed group of cadets. They had the insignia of medics in training. rima's students? They looked worried. Once at the hospital, a Kaminoan showed the Dr Rima's room. there was a window to make sure nothing would go wrong. Rost's heart sank.

Rima was lying on a bed. Her head tentacles were stitch and wrapped in bandages. One had pins to keep it together. Her right eye (the only Rost could see from where he was standing) was painfully swollen. Her hand was broken, her elbow kept together with pins, stitches, and thick bandages. Her foot was no better.

"I sense greater wound." General Kenobi commented, with a low voice Rost never heard from the Jedi.

"Indeed." The Kaminoan doctor said. "She was stabbed. We had to operate on her for several hours."

They hid the rest of her body for intimacy; but Rost could almost guess her abdomen was not pretty to look at.

"Who did it?" He asked, barely keeping his rage to himself.

"Cadet 25897. His brothers call him "Grey", we arrested him for interrogation. Until now, he hasn't said a word."

"Of course, not…" Mutter Rost.

"If you'll allow it, we would like to meet this Grey." General Kenobi said.

The Kaminoan was not too happy to show a "flawed" clone, but the local government needed answers. Jedi were good at getting them. Rost followed Kenobi to the room in which "Grey" was locked up. The chock was great when they saw a child sitting on a chair in the middle of the room. He was looking at the invisible, with a neutral face and seemed awfully calm. Rost just wanted to throttle the little fucker. But Kenobi was here, so the Commander remained calm. He stood in a corner and observed the boy carefully.

"I am Obi-Wan Kenobi." The Jedi said with his usual gentle and polite voice. "Are you the one they call "Grey"?"

"Yes, sir."

"Did you try to kill the civilian doctor? a woman, nautolan, named Rima?"

The boy said nothing.

"Are you sure remaining silent is your best option?" Asked Kenobi. "Silence is not always the answer."

"It is here."

"Why?"

"None of your business, sir."

"You are suspected to have tried to kill one of my agents. I believe it is my business." Replied Kenobi very calmly.

"Even clones can have a bit of privacy."

"Not in a case where a civilian was targeted by a murderer." Kenobi said. "But I see your point."

"No clones can trust strangers to the family." Grey commented.

Obi-Wan, who was turning around the boy, looked at Rost from behind the suspect's back.

"That is matter of debate." He said. "But if you are more comfortable with your brothers, I'll go fetch one that will get the truth out of you. In the meanwhile, Commander Rost, here, will stay with you."

Kenobi left the room. Rost was alone with Grey; also with a written message in his helmet's visor: "I'm off for tea, don't hurt him too much. K." What was this? The General was allowing him to interrogate the boy? The Jedi knew the Commander just wanted to kill the little brat. However, orders are orders and Rost was happy with it.

He shifted on his feet and took his helmet off. Grey looked at him and seemed to recognise him.

"You're the doctor's friend." He said.

"You know of me?"

"She has a picture of you."

"And you know that because…"

"She showed it to me."

The boy had a small hesitation, barely noticeable. Separatists do the same when they make up a story. The boy was lying. Rost decided to play nice for now. The little "brother" was weary and seemed to like playing chess.

"I'm Rost. Your name is Grey?"

"Yeah." The boy said. "You're quite famous."

"How so?"

"Rima often talked about you."

"We used to work together."

"Sure…" The boy muttered. "I also know you murdered civilians."

Rost remained quiet. How did the little fucker know about that? Rima and the Generals were the only to know. The rest only knew he disobeyed orders and was court martialled.

"How do you know?" He simply asked.

"I just don't understand how me killing a woman is any different."

Grey flew across the room when Rost's fist landed in his face. The ones Rost murdered were killers, rapists, corrupted politicians and sometimes all three at once. Was the little fucker really comparing Rima to these sick bastards? Rost felt ill at the idea. He effortlessly grabbed the boy by the shirt and slammed him against the wall; high enough the young clone could no longer feel the floor underneath his feet.

"You tried to kill her." He growled. "Why?"

"I'm one of your brothers! You can't hurt me!"

"You're claiming you tried to murdered Dr Rima. Uou're no brother of mine."

"But…"

"Wake up! The world is bigger than you! She is a civilian! She's the best thing that happen to the Legion! What is it you think you're doing?!"

"She was nosy and rude!" Exclaimed the boy. "A danger to the Republic!"

What…? Rost though. He backed off, letting Grey go and fall on the ground. Was he… serious? Because Rima has a temper, he tried to murder her? That could not be the reason. the story had to be bigger than this. It had to be. Rage was boiling inside him. His foot found the boy's jaw violently. Grey flew again, spitting blood and a tooth. Rost grabbed him by the neck and threw him in the chair.

"We are killers." The boy said. "that's what we do: we protect the Republic by eliminating the potential threat."

"And when did Rima endanger the Republic's safety? When she brought me back from the dead? When she saved a brother from terrible abuse? When she saved half a company by getting useful remedies?"

"you murdered people…"

"I'm no example nor model to follow. I did what I did knowing what could happen to me. I chose my targets carefully and it's the only thing that saved me. Rima is not those fuckers who let their men rape young girl or ask insanely high protection fees to people who can barely feed themselves. If a clone trooper would do something of the sort, I would shoot him in the head without second thought, brother or not. Don't idolise me. Don't you dare justify your action against Rima by saying you did it because of people like me. Now speak: who told you to do it?!"

The boy remained silent. Rost slapped him. But he bite his lip immediatly. He had to calmed down. As far as Rima was concern, the boy was just a child. therefore he was not to be treated like an adult. Rost did not want her to think bad things about him... But it was difficult to contained his furry. The little shit tried to kill his civilian.

"You said you did as I did." Rost said slowly. "Then you want to be treated like an adult, right?"

"Yes sir."

"Here it is. When a clone attacks a civilian, his brothers are allowed to get information by every means necessary; except on cadets. But no cadets tried to murder someone before. Speak. Make it easier for the both of us."

"Salaven."

"Who's that?"

"One of the trainers."

"Why he told you to kill her?"

Grey avoided Rost's eyes. The Commander had a bad feeling as he saw the boy lose his composure. Rost sat on his heels. He was so tall his head was still higher than the boy's.

"What did he do to you?" Rost asked, his heart hurting as his uneasiness grew and grew.

"He promised he would stop."

"Stop what?"

"The Doctor… She saw."

"Rima cannot speak, Grey. What did he promise?" Insisted Rost as gentle as possible considering his anger. "What did he do to you?"

"Things."

Rost had to know. Overwise he won't be able to help neither Rima nor Grey. He studied the little brother carefully.

"How did you get the scars?" Grey asked.

Here was an opportunity Rost was willing to use. He ran his fingers on the side of his face. Despite the gloves, he could feel the burnt flesh underneath.

"A bomb." He said. "A brother walked on one, I was far away but it got to me."

"Is it the only one you have?"

Rost took off the armour on his right forearm and rolled the black sleeve underneath it. On the skin were scars: bullets, cuts, burns…

"Even my heart is scared." He commented, remembering that one time a bullet came way too close.

"How did you survive?"

"A medic was there. Later Rima used her needles to make it better."

"She did?"

"Aye."

"Why?"

Rost did not have an answer for that. Why was Rima doing all she was doing? He had small answers, but they were only pieces of a large puzzle. Rost did not have all the clues to complete it.

"What about you? Got any scars?"

"I'm just a cadet."

"And? I used to get into fights all the time."

"You did?"

"I did."

The boy looked around nervously, as if he feared someone else might be watching: Salaven maybe? Then he rolled his sleeves and showed his wrists. The marks Rost saw were awfully familiar. Sometimes, Separatists uses handcuffs to keep prisoners under control during questioning. To find such marks on a cadet's wrists was so wrong.

"Did Salaven do that to you?"

"Maybe…"

There was a long silence. Rost had to find a way to get a clear answer from the boy. "Maybe" was useless in court; and Rima desperately needed to be safe right now. The sooner the truth was known the better.

"You don't have to say it if you don't want. But you have to answer me clearly." Rost sighed. "If you want to get out of here alive, find a way to make me understand."

The boy nodded. Rost cleaned his bloody nose with a gesture. they were no brothers. There was no way in hell he could consider this being as a brother. Maybe he was sent by someone else, but he butchered Rima. Despite being a grown woman, the nautolan was no fighter. Even against a Cadet she had only little chances to get out in one piece. Rost wondered what could have made

"Did Salaven hurt you?"

Grey took a moment before rising his thumb. Damn… Thought Rost.

"During training?"

Grey turned his thumb down.

"Outside of class?"

Thumb's up.

"Did he… tortured you?"

"Sometimes." Grey answered.

"Did he forced you to do… to sleep with him?"

"There was no sleeping involved." Grey said before rising his thumb.

The boy could not look at Rost. He was ashamed. For what? Being the victim of someone abusing his power? Using the social gap between clones and the rest of the world? Or perhaps it was for not doing anything against it. rost could remeber the time he spent here: the boys' heads were filled with stories of heroes; and were expected to be ones. He let out a sigh.

"He promised he would leave you alone if you killed Rima?"

"Aye."

"Why her?"

"She… saw. Us. She was running to tell someone. I had orders. He ordered me… so I ran too and..."

"Why did you butcher her?"

Grey rose immediately his eyes, surprised and worried.

"Butchered, sir? I did not. I just stabbed her in the back."

Rost looked at the young clone carefully. No lies there. He was telling the truth. If he did not hurt her so badly, then it must have been Salaven. the Commander had a sudden anxiety growing inside him. Salaven raped Grey. Did he…?

"You stay there." He ordered.

The man immediately exited the room. Kenobi was waiting outside, of course. He went back in while Rost was running to the hospital. Rima's room was there. Rost grabbed the holographic folder and read it carefully. Working with the woman, he learned how to decipher medical words. His tension sank into oblivion when it was reported no sign of sexual abuse. But she had other problems. It will take her months before standing on her own, and years probably before experiencing a full recover. The Commander looked around. There was no one. So, he pushed the door and entered the room.

Rima was hooked to so many machines. It reminded him how much life was fragile. clone heal so fast in comparison… He sat on a stool and looked at her. He looked terrible. Her skin was dry with all sorts of abnormal colours. Nautolan's blood was not red, so the bruises, with her skin tone, looked different too.

Rost took off his glove and touch her hand. She was not as warm as he expected her to be. But the machines were saying her temperature was normal. That was a good thing, right? Her skin was so dry… It was almost painful to feel and to see. The clone could imagine if she moved her fingers, her skin would make cracking noises.

Her eyes were closed. Somehow, he missed them. The way they looked at him either disapproving or trying to understand how he was thinking… Despite being completely black, Rost liked those eyes.

If only she could wake up… Rost wanted to touch her face, to make sure she was still breathing; somehow he did not trust the machines as much as she did. However, he stoped his gesture: first, he might hurt her. She was incredibly fragile and vulnerable right now. Secondly, there was someone else in the room.

"Oh? I thought there was no one here." A man said.

He was wearing a doctor's uniform. However, Rost could tell something was off. The man was standing like a clone.

Like a killer.

Good Lord, hopefully I'll find time to write the next chapter soon.