Chapter 12 — The Dark Side

From the first day, it was clear that Dooku didn't trust them. Kasey was given a room of his own "room", which was scarcely more than a guarded cell beside his brothers. Fury was given a prosthetic arm that was purposely outdated, prone to malfunction, and which he claimed to be incessantly itchy and painful.

On the bright side, Kasey found himself trained by Dooku alongside Ventress throughout the majority of the day and night. It was brutal, to say the least, but Kasey was managing to keep himself sane throughout the training—Torture, however, seemed to be a more appropriate word.

The Force had suddenly become painful to access as he attempted more feats than ever before. Lifting many heavy objects and suspending them (once for an entire hour), using his lightning for minutes a time and, above all, resisting the constant pressures put onto him by Dooku and Ventress. His body, he soon discovered, was covered in numerous scars and bruises and to say he was falling apart was an understatement.

Above all, his hatred of Dooku and Ventress seemed to plateau. During his time of rest, which was minimal, he could converse with his brothers and found himself commenting on how he despised them. Kenobi's training was beginning to fall apart. He wasn't sure how long he spent trying to hold onto the Jedi's principles, but it was becoming nearly impossible.

The Dark Side was encroaching on his mind.


It was taking too long.

He had wasted his time praying for Kenobi's help which never came, for Dooku's mercy, which was nonexistent, or his freedom, which was never going to be granted. Undoubtedly, this wasn't going to work. If he was going to escape, he needed a time when he wasn't under unending surveillance.

He wasn't sure how long he had been training with Dooku when, early one morning, Dooku had sent a droid to rouse him from his slumber. Since sleep was becoming a rarity, even with his brothers, who were kept alive (Kasey knew) to guarantee his loyalty, Kasey's first instinct was to dismantle the droid through the Force, but he stopped himself. This droid, he recognized, was one of Dooku's personal aides.

"Count Dooku requests your presence immediately."

"What's going on?" Kasey asked.

"I do not know. Count Dooku has simply asked for your presence alongside General Grievous."

Dooku was waiting for them when he arrived, escorted (as he always was) by a small group of droids. They were armed, when Dooku had not permitted Kasey to carry any kind of weapon. Once in Dooku's office (which was more like a throne room, now that Kasey looked at it), the droids left. Grievous turned and let out a mechanical growl upon sight of Kasey.

"Why are you here?" Grievous snarled. "I was told I was meeting with Count Dooku's apprentice!"

"He is my apprentice," Dooku countered. "I have a task for you, Kasey. And you know the price of failure, do you not?"

"Yes, my master," Kasey replied mechanically, automatically. He had said it so much that the words now lacked any kind of meaning.

"You and your brothers will go with General Grievous to an important Republic outpost, currently protected by the Jedi. My first apprentice, Asajj Ventress, is already there. She has reported to me that their defenses are weak enough for us to take it over."

"Who guards it?" Kasey demanded, hoping to hear Kenobi's name.

"Master Luminara Unduli and her padawan, Barriss Offee."

Kasey's heart sank, but he didn't let it show.

"And what of Ventress?"

"She has failed me one too many times in the past. I feel that you, Kasey, would be a more faithful, stronger assassin than she ever was. But, before you take her place, you must—"

"Kill her," Kasey realized.

"Yes. But before you leave, you must understand one thing. Your brothers lives are completely dependant on your performance," Dooku stated. "There's a poison that was hidden in a capsule form in your brothers' food. The capsule is specially made. Should you fail, I—or Grievous—will press this button."

Dooku held out a small cylinder, a reddish-brown button below his finger.

"The capsule will have dissolved by now, flooding their bodies with microscopic bombs. Once this button is activated, each of those bombs will detonate, turning your brethren into dust. Once activated, it is irreversible."

"It will not be a problem, my master," Kasey murmured. "I will see that Asajj Ventress is dead."

"Your brothers are to infiltrate the facility and lower their defenses from within."

"Am I to tell them of their... affliction?" Kasey asked.

"Yes. Tell them that Grievous and I hold the key to their lives."


By the time they'd left the planet, Kasey could scarcely believe that they were leaving. He looked over at his brothers as they sat in the small ship's cockpit, with Grievous's armada quite a distance behind them. They had a short window of time to lower the defenses of the facility before Grievous arrived. If they failed...

"Well," Fury scoffed, "this is just fantastic. WATCH IT!" he shouted at the droid who was cutting his hair back to regulation length for a clone trooper. "And there's no way this'll work. We've been gone too long. We'll probably be classified as 'MIA' or maybe even 'KIA' after we disappeared. How do you expect us to explain that?!"

"They'll call us MIA until they have proof we're dead," Goth remarked.

"This trick is only going to work once," Kasey interrupted, "and I know how you guys have to be feeling after spending all that time trapped in your cell."

"At least you got your cell to yourself," Barker joked. "Fury smells like a Hutt's backside!" He needed to joke as the stress was starting to get to him. Childish as he was, Kasey knew that Barker was probably going to be a liability on a mission like this.

"Shut up! You don't smell that pretty either, Barker!" Fury snarled.

"Kasey, do you understand the gravity of what's going on right now? We're betraying the very thing we've been designed to protect—the Republic!" Murk shouted. "And not only that, but you'll be betraying the Jedi Order!"

"I need to play Dooku's game for now."

"This isn't just a game you're playing. You're changing, I can see it in your eyes," Murk continued. "You're not the same guy you were when we got captured."

"I am."

"Really? You seem awfully unconcerned about all this! Are you going to be this callous when we're slaughtering our brothers?!"

"I won't hurt another clone."

"Then what about the Jedi? Are you going to kill General Unduli and Commander Offee?"

"Doing this is going to save our lives!" Kasey countered. "I'm doing this to keep you guys alive! We're not going to be killing our brothers!"

"We're making them vulnerable!" Murk retorted. "We're just as guilty as the droids who pull the trigger! I'd rather die than betray my people!"

"Then kill yourself now!"

The words echoed strangely and Goth, who was piloting, jerked slightly and they all lost their balance. All eyes stared at Kasey who seemed even more shocked by his words than they were. He looked like he was about to fall apart.

"I can't do this... I can't keep this game up forever," Kasey admitted. "I feel like I'm going insane! I'm a Jedi and I'm acting like a Sith! I'm a clone and I'm acting like a Jedi! I'm sorry, Murk. I didn't mean it. But I feel like I'm just too powerless! I can't even save my squadron's life! If I hadn't let myself get captured, then—"

"Kasey, shut up, you're rambling," Fury scoffed. "We all knew there were risks when we were cadets. The risks might've changed slightly, but we're not cowards. We're not backing down."

"And I've got a plan to save our lives!" Barker announced. Those words were beyond shocking and they stared at him with such surprise that he looked embarrassed.

"Um, I have a phobia of any plan Barker comes up with," Goth stated.

"Let him talk," Kasey said, chortling slightly. "This is a moment that'll never come again."

"Hey, I'm a genius! I can come up with good plans!"

"Less whining, more strategizing," Goth said.

"Okay, hear me out. We're not supposed to kill anyone, but what if we sent them a warning and pretended to lower their defenses. They can organize their troops to repel Grievous's droids."

"What about Ventress?" Murk asked.

"I'm not strong enough to take her down right now. I'm too distracted," Kasey admitted. "If I attack her, she'll beat me. If I can force her to retreat, she'll try to reach Dooku or at least get an explanation. Either way, she'll never be able to return to the Separatists. That only leaves Grievous."

"We haven't been ordered to return immediately after our mission's finished. We're technically one of the Separatists now," Barker continued. "We can board Grievous's ship and steal the detonator. If Goth can get an analysis of the detonator and the mini-droids inside of us, we can think of some kind of antidote or neutralizer!"

They paused.

"That's..." Murk began.

"A..." Fury continued.

"Smart..." Goth breathed.

"Plan," Kasey continued.

"I know, right? I even amaze myself," Barker said proudly.

"Then let's try it," Kasey offered. "Stick to the plan and try not to make mistakes. One misstep could kill all of us."


Here's the next chapter. By the way, applause to anyone who can guess which personalities the Beta Squad were based on.