CHAPTER TWO

WHEN THE SOLDIERS COME HOME

"The Emptiness cried out for a Voice."

– Sith teachings, Marked Year 66503KE in the Jedi Archives

(Translated from temple inscriptions.)

"And the Wilderness cried out "Who is my Master?""

– Eth'lani proverb, unattributed.

And at last he discovered the true secret. The master trooper had been orchestrating events all along. Perhaps he even intended to clone himself his own personal squad. And now, he was an enemy of the Republic through pure mis-chance, believing himself betrayed and targeted as a betrayer. All this, Obi-Wan had plucked from his mind, although he could not follow the reasoning, or detect what had happened to cause this change of loyalty.

The trooper had escaped as Obi-Wan's Republic squad stormed the facility, swiftly bringing down the droids with well aimed ion blasters, blowing open the reinforced doors with explosive charges. Atlo, for such was the trooper's self-given call-sign, had recognised the untenable position and had immediately enacted what seemed to be another well prepared plan. Obi-Wan heard the faint sound of an engine as the trooper apparently climbed into a small hidden vehicle of some kind. From the sound, it had transported him some distance and very fast.

Obi-Wan had sabotaged the defences before being captured, being sure it was the wise move, in case something precisely like this happened – and, doubly fortuitous, he had been able to make a quick call to inform his troops of what had occurred, a transmission that apparently had not been blocked, and he had wondered why. At times you had to take the small steps while stepping into the large risk of the unknown. A Jedi's foresight was a protection only when armed with wisdom. That was why he had sent Anakin off to sabotage the secondary defences, and block off the most likely avenue of retreat – but apparently not the right one.

He was so well prepared that Obi-Wan suspected that the lack of communications interference was not a lack of equipment, but a deliberate choice. He chuckled to himself. Much as he had used the Force to "listen" in to the Trooper's thoughts, the Trooper must have been using their communications frequencies to monitor their own movements. Not a bad feat considering the techs had especially altered all such equipment precisely for that reason.

Obi-Wan wasted no time in freeing himself, just as his troopers appeared, crashing into the room. They held back their blaster rifles as they recognised him. "Sighted the Jedi, confirmed." The first one said. "No sign of the rebel."

They did have such odd nomenclature at times, Obi-Wan thought. But their training and organisation was above reproach, except for this very peculiar lapse no-one could have anticipated.

It was strange. He thought he had felt another presence, a lingering shadow still. But there was no sign of someone else being present, although he had used all his senses as a Jedi. Very peculiar. Compounding the mystery.

(*)

Soon, they were back in the jungle, following the signs of the feeling rebel's flight. He took one of the troopers, in order to have a scout to send back if needed. Sometimes you needed to see something yourself rather than a radio transmission, and it was likely the rebel was monitoring all communications, which would make him more difficult to catch.

He was having a most curious conversation with his soldier on the way, as they discussed it.

The trooper looked at him. "It looks like he's obtained free will, sir." It was the way the cloned trooper said it that was the most disconcerting of all.

"That's very disconcerting, soldier." He voiced the thought.

"It's a one-time occurrence, sir – most defective clones are usually caught in the first phase," the man said, as if apologetic. Obi-Wan concealed his thoughts. Despite being clones, many soldiers displayed traits of individuality that he might have found fascinating. Certainly it would be of interest to debate under less trying circumstances. Including this one's odd detachment from the notion.

"Do you believe you're no better than a droid, then?"

The trooper stopped as if stunned. "That's – uh – not what I meant, sir."

"Good." I should certainly hope not.

'Free will in a clone?' Obi-Wan thought to himself. Was that a troubling thought? All sentients had a right to free will – but the clones were designed to be… soldiers. They had free will, but it was governed in a sense by their design, within the purview of the life created for them. He hadn't seriously wondered what might happen if a clone wished to live a life apart from being a soldier.

He had simply found a weapon, and had used it the way it was intended. Whatever his doubts at the time, they were superseded by the immediacy of the moment. They were here, it was a fact – and the time for considering whether they had to remain in use would be after the war for peace had reached its conclusion.

But it seemed one clone trooper was already trying to master his fate. Very curious problem, if indeed it was one. He stroked his chin, where a short beard had grown over the years. Obi-Wan might be inclined to let him go his own way, if he were a normal man, but the Cloners were right in one respect, a defective clone was dangerous. It was questionable whether that was the case, or this trooper had simply managed to leap beyond his programming, with a foresight that was uncommon.

It seemed almost as strange that a Clone Trooper would cease being a Clone Trooper, as it would for Obi-Wan to cease being a human. Thus, although the question had cropped up, it hadn't been entirely for serious debate. Problems would be dealt with as they arose – but the Cloners seemed very confident in their work. But it seemed one such problem had arisen and now he had to deal with it.

(*)

Two more of his scouts had been discovered, after communication had ceased – stunned. The rebel had escaped again. Obi-Wan sighed. The Trooper they were chasing was highly intelligent, he wished the clone had at least been able to infer his own good sense had gone awry. But perhaps… perhaps there was something deeper at work here.

"It's the sentient's will to survive, trooper," he told his accompanying soldier. "Something we should all be very proud of." But also very problematic right now.

The trooper shifted his blaster rifle on his baldric. "Well sir, if we see him, we'll still have to shoot him down. He's disrupted our entire operation here. That alone would get him rewiped, but he's been attacking and trapping every patrol we send in to recover him."

Non-lethally, Obi-Wan thought.

"Yes." He agreed plainly, and said nothing more.

(*)

"He still has those reprogrammed droids out there, too – he's covering his tracks well." The Clone Trooper had said. Obi-Wan had become separated. He looked around, searching for signs, and then struck off seemingly at a random direction. If the troops had still been with him, his meandering course would seem utterly without purpose.

He had ordered most of his troops to take the speeders and get to their ships, create a blockade if the rebel should try to get off-world. The hunt would go better for the Jedi than even the whole Republic army, through these forests. Personally, Obi-Wan wondered at their chances of stopping him – despite his illness, this trooper was proving difficult to pin down, he seemed phenomenally well prepared. In more way than one.

Anakin's voice came in suddenly. "Master, we've run into trouble – we could use your help."

Well that was a rare occurrence. And it would give him time to think.

(*)

The troop patrols passed him by – they hadn't seen him. Quickly he moved through the trees, and under a burrow, following a route he had already planned – it would keep him out of sight for as much as possible, while allowing him to make good time. Even if he was spotted, his own Republic armour would make it difficult for them to identify him as the enemy – he had taken advantage of this many times already, and had changed his identifier several times from downed troopers. He had several advantages and made as much use of them as possible.

He smiled. They wouldn't catch him. He had already arranged a way off-world. He saw another patrol, and avoided them too. The last one he would encounter for a while. He escaped through the brush. He was free…

Obi-Wan watched him go.

(*)

Anakin appeared shortly after – perhaps sensing the disturbance. "What happened? Where is he, master?"

Obi-Wan calmly reattached his lightsaber to his belt. "He escaped."

Anakin watched his master for a moment, and then nodded. "Well, he shouldn't get too far, I'll get the troops ready to pursue him."

Obi-Wan said nothing.

THE END