Hello, my dear readers. I've returned. It's been a very hectic month-long hiatus for me, which is contradictory since it was supposed to be a chance for me to relax and recuperate. (More on endnotes)

I hope that some of you are still around. The last thing that I want is to lose your faith and interest. So it truly means a lot if you can give me a pm or leave a review to let me know you're here. Thank you, and enjoy the chapter.

Stolen Info (Clone Force 99 pt1)

You got to play with the cards you're dealt with

"Get the medics!" Steele shouted at Wolffe.

Wolffe ran off to do just that while Steele rushed into the interrogation room. Their prisoner, a male Trandoshan, was painfully writhing on the floor.

"Hey! Hey!" Steele knelt next to the Trandoshan and tried to force out whatever it was he swallowed.

But it was fruitless.

"In here!" Wolffe guided the medics into the room.

They immediately went up to the Trandoshan whose condition had worsened. They opened up their kits and got started on reviving him.

"We'll take over from here, sir! Don't worry!" One of the medics assured the two commanders.

Steele took another look at the now unconscious Trandoshan before leaving.

~ O O O ~

Night has fallen. Steele was in the meeting room building with Wolffe, Plo and Aliyah. They had to discuss today's event.

Wolffe started the talk. "He didn't make it."

He was talking about their Trandoshan prisoner. Everyone shook their heads in distraught while Wolffe kept speaking.

"He was our only lead, and he's dead."

"How did he kill himself?" Plo asked.

"Suicide pill," Steele answered.

"We failed to check him properly," Wolffe quickly apologized. "I'm sorry, sir."

Plo rubbed his forehead. "First of all, I don't blame you for what happened. Instead of lingering on the events of today, we should take it as a stepping stone. Our prisoner was willing to kill himself to avoid interrogation. That says a lot about the contents of the Separatists' datachip."

"But is sensitive Republic information really worth killing yourself for?" Aliyah questioned.

"It might be if it's something that could change the tide of this war," Steele pointed out.

"But if that's true. Then the Republic should be more willing to share what they know with us!" Wolffe crossed his arms. "Instead of making us go on a wild goose chase."

Everyone agreed with him. Plo especially.

"I hear you. But there's only so much we can pry before it starts resembling treason. For now, let's make do with our circumstances."

Wolffe looked like he was closing on stressville. "We've been at this for a week and a half. And so far, we have nothing, except for the Trandoshan who just killed himself today."

Steele nodded bitterly. Wolffe had just voiced all of his building frustrations over the past week.

Sensing the growing irritation in their commanders, Plo and Aliyah decided to cut their meeting short.

"We'll contact the Council again," Plo said. "You two take a rest, alright? Get some early sleep tonight."

"Thank you, general." Wolffe meant it.

The two commanders walked towards the exit. Aliyah went up to Steele as soon as they stepped outside.

"Here." She handed him a cold bottle of water. "To cool your head."

"Thanks."

~ O O O ~

The base the two clone divisions had up was clean and organized. It wasn't as large as one would expect but that's because this combination was only made of a handful of their forces.

Smaller than two battalions put together but larger than three companies.

Steele looked around as he walked across the compound.

A couple of medics were cleaning up the interrogation room. Some nightshift guards were on duty. And in the distance, he could see Dogma enter a building with Egad and Comet. They were going to examine the Trandoshan's belongings for any potential leads. Everyone else was asleep.

Steele kept walking until he reached outside the base. Wolffe was already there, sitting on a crate.

"What a great night," Steele muttered.

"It's a shame. Because this really is a great night." Wolffe turned around. "Hey, can I have some water?"

"Sure." Steele splashed Wolffe in the face.

"I meant for drinking!" Wolffe sputtered.

"General Korentayer said this is for 'cooling your head'," Steele replied. "Besides, you looked like you needed it."

Wolffe wiped his eyes. Once he could see properly again, he felt a lot better. "I guess I did. Losing our first and only lead since the start of this hunt really sucks."

"Yeah, especially since it was so preventable."

"Doesn't make the generals look good. But still, this whole thing is weird. Couple of rogue Separatists stole some top-notch Republic secret and stored it via datachip. Now, the Republic's crying for it back but they refuse to give out anything that's potentially useful. It's like—being told to go from Coruscant to Tatooine without a nav-computer! Sigh. If we weren't so conveniently in the same system as these thieves, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"True, true. I completely agree." Steele pulled up a crate next to Wolffe. "Besides, I'm really not cut out for this. Covert operation with a huge infantry tagging along? It's just contradictory!"

"Eh, what can we do about it? The Republic wants what it wants. And they want these gutsy thieves annihilated."

"But at this rate, I doubt we'd be able to do that," Steele countered. "I dunno about you, but I'd like more time to think, examine, and evaluate our known bits of info. But I can't do that because to get that info, we need to go out in the field. And that means days of planning, fighting, and searching. Days we could be using to figure out where these thieves are holding out."

Suddenly Wolffe sprang up. He looked like a Jedi who just had a Force vision. "That's it! Steele, you're a genius!"

"I am?"

"Yeah. You said going out into the field takes away time for examination and analysis. So, why don't we call in some folks to do that for us instead?"

Now Steele is beginning to understand. "Are you suggesting calling in a commando squad?"

"Yes," Wolffe confirmed. "And, I already have one in mind, but I'll need to run it by the generals first."

"Who are they?"

"They're a squad of specially mutated clones, I've heard from Cody that they're efficient, reliable, and most importantly have a near-perfect success rate, exactly what we need! Their official name is Clone Force 99 but they call themselves 'the Bad Batch'."

~ O O O ~

The next day, Wolffe presented his idea to Plo and Aliyah. They were open to it. But they needed to make sure the Council and the Chancellor were open to it too. So another meeting was held.

And turns out, Chancellor Palpatine wasn't too keen on this idea.

"Generals, there's a reason why I chose not to send commando units after the rogue Separatists," the hologram of Palpatine patiently explained. "Yes, it's partially because your forces were already close to the system they're currently hiding at. But it's also because this stolen info is extremely sensitive. And commandos can be known to operate quite…freely."

Plo politely disagreed. "Chancellor, with all due respect. You haven't been very fair to us since assigning this task. I understand the need for confidentiality and I respect that. But this utter lack of transparency has been severely hindering our progress."

Several holograms of the Council Masters hesitantly agreed. Including Yoda.

"Apologies, on our part," Yoda spoke. "Difficult, this must be, for all of you."

"Difficult or not, we got to play with the cards you dealt us with," Aliyah replied. "And right now, our best bet of getting the datachip back is by recruiting Clone Force 99."

"Provided that they'll understand the sensitivity of the information contained inside," Mace Windu reminded.

"I'm sure they'll operate more under control since they'll be reporting to us on-site, instead of remotely," Plo argued.

After a moment of silent deliberation, Palpatine let in. "Alright, Masters Jedi. I authorize you to recruit this commando squad you speak of. Find the datachip and bring it back to us."

~ O O O ~

Dogma threw away another old trinket from the Trandoshan's belongings. "Ugh. Does this guy collect garbage for souvenirs?"

"Well, least you're finding something," Comet muttered at the table across from Dogma.

"I'd feel better if these somethings show us where the datachip is located!"

"But these somethings do show us he was a hardcore Cantina band fanboy," Egad pointed out. "Half of those trinkets you dug out were autographs, Dogma. Heh, they were so faded, it took me a good 2 hours to polish each and every one of them. Thought they could've been coordinates to a location or something."

All three clones sighed in disappointment. They didn't get a wink of sleep last night. They were so sure they could find something useful after the loss of their Trandoshan prisoner. Comet especially, since he was the one who captured and brought him in.

But that was just wishful thinking. The clones continued to work in peace and quiet until Egad suddenly groaned.

"Oh, great."

"What?" Dogma asked. He looked up through the opened door, in time to see Compass dash inside.

"Guess what!" Compass slammed his hands down on Egad's table.

"Get your evidence-destroying hands off my table!" Egad howled.

Compass shrivelled back. "Ok. Fine, sheesh. Dogma! Guess wha—"

"—Pay him no attention," Egad cut in. "Until he learns what it means to not disturb others at work."

Dogma smiled and gave Compass an apologetic shrug. Compass didn't know what to say to that.

"Hey, I'm all ears," Comet offered from his table. "Talk to me."

"Thank you, my friend," Compass went over to Comet's table. "How is it that you're more of a brother to me than the ones in my own division?"

Egad and Dogma looked at Compass with blank faces.

"Honestly, if everyone is like you in the 104th, I think I'll transfer over! You hear me, you two?" Compass looked over at Egad and Dogma. "From now on, Commander Wolffe's my officer!"

Once again, Egad and Dogma looked at him with blank faces. Though it was obvious to Compass that Dogma was trying not to guffaw.

Comet also smiled a tiny bit. He felt his previous frustrations with the lack of good evidence disappear. "Alright, Compass. Back on topic, what were you going to say?"

"Right!" Compass returned on track. "So, I heard from Sinker, who heard from Kal, who heard from the commanders, who discussed it with the generals, that we're recruiting a commando squad to come help us!"

Everyone was shocked. They didn't hear anything about this. Was it a recent decision? Or have they just been so hard at work that they completely tuned everything else out?

Compass looked at each of the three clones. "Well? What do you think?"

"I think," Dogma began, "I'd like to see them once they arrive."

"Oh, you will. I heard they might be arriving today," Compass revealed.

~ O O O ~

It was mid-morning to noon when the ship carrying Clone Force 99 flew within sight. The entire base was curious to see what their special reinforcements would be like. They sparsely gathered behind the landing zone where they'll be arriving. Steele and Wolffe were already there.

"You never worked with them before, right?" Steele asked.

Wolffe shook his head. "No."

"So we're just gonna go by the word of Cody?"

"I trust him. What about you?"

Before Steele could say anything, the ship landed in front of them. And the door opened, revealing the soldiers of Clone Force 99. Everyone behind the two commanders was shocked.

"They don't seem like regular clones," Dogma remarked.

"Mutations. Probably desirable mutations," Kal suggested. "Makes sense, considering their squad name."

Compass rolled his eyes. "Can you please stop being smart for 5 minutes?"

"Captain, can you please stop being smart for 5 minutes?" Kal corrected.

The first clone who stepped out of the ship was the closest one to resembling an average-bred clone. He made his way towards the commanders.

"Sergeant Hunter, head of Clone Force 99, sirs."

"Good to finally meet you, sergeant," Wolffe returned the greeting. "I'm Wolffe, commander of the 104th Battalion and direct-report to General Plo. This is Steele."

"I command the 304th Legion, under the jurisdiction of General Korentayer," Steele explained.

Hunter nodded in response. Behind him, his three other squadmates stepped out of the ship. Each one had something physically unique about them.

Hunter turned to the side. "Allow me to introduce everyone, commanders."

The first clone Hunter walked up to was one who wore a large set of goggles and had a portable computer attached to his front. "This is Tech, our information specialist. Any problem you need solving, he'll do it in a couple of seconds."

"Considering that the problem is within the realm of solvability," Tech added.

"Well, let's hope our current mission is, then," Steele puts in.

Hunter goes up to the next clone. A giant who easily towered over them. "This is Wrecker. He can handle just about any obstacle you throw at him. Best analogy: if Tech is our brain, Wrecker is our muscle."

Wrecker eagerly agreed. "I'm ready to blow up the enemy base, sir!"

"Still in the process of searching for the enemy base. But, the enthusiasm's appreciated."

Wrecker seemed to be a little upset but Hunter patted him back to his senses. He made his way to the last clone. A quiet sullen one who held his sniper rifle like it's his treasure.

"And this one's Crosshair. Tell him to shoot something within 10 kliks and he'll do it without missing every single time. Sharp shooter but not a great talker unfortunately."

"Is there a particular reason for that?" Steele asked upon seeing Crosshair staring at him intensely. "Besides intimidation?"

"Maybe. You'll just have to find out yourself, sir," Hunter answered. "Anyways, that's enough for introductions. What are we here for?"

Wolffe gestured for them to follow him. "We'll show you in the briefing room."

~ O O O ~

In the briefing room, the Bad Batch met Plo and Aliyah. They apologized for not greeting them on arrival due to a last-minute Council meeting.

But they didn't seem to mind much. "It's alright, generals," Hunter said. "All that matters is we're here and we're gonna do our jobs."

"Great. Well, here's the overview of the mission," Wolffe turned on the holotable.

Hunter and the entire squad began reading the text and diagrams. Which didn't take long because there wasn't much to read.

Hunter read the entire thing again to see if there were any 'continued on the next page' or 'please see page X for more details', but there weren't. He looked at Wolffe in confusion.

"Is this seriously it?"

"Yes, that's it," Wolffe answered.

"What?!" Wrecker exclaimed. "I was hoping for a short read but I wasn't hoping for anything this short!"

"Commander, this is extremely difficult to work with," Tech confessed. "We don't even have the names of these Separatists. Which eliminates us of the opportunity for background checks."

"Yeah, we already know," Steele said. "But we can't get any more info on this stuff, we really can't."

"What progress have you made so far?" Hunter demanded.

The room fell silent.

Plo spoke first. "We captured someone who was suspected to be in league with them. But he killed himself before we got the chance to interrogate."

"So in other words, you made no progress at all," Hunter stated bluntly.

"Not yet. But we're about to," Wolffe stepped in to defend his general. "Now that you lot are here, we can start closely examining what little information we do have. And if we find anything potentially be useful, you will be sent out to look more into it."

"Essentially, we're gonna be your errand boys," Hunter summarized.

"Huh, what do you know?" Crosshair unexpectedly joined the conversation. "We're gonna be treated like regs for this job."

"I dunno what you mean by 'regs'. But look at me when I'm talking to you!" Steele snapped his fingers. "The Chancellor didn't want you guys here. The Council didn't want you guys here. You're here nonetheless. So is it too much to ask for a little cooperation?"

"'Regs' stands for regular clones," Hunter explained. "And we appreciate you arguing for our participation but if you want us to stay, you'll have to accept the fact we do things a certain way."

"We didn't call you in to investigate on your own," Wolffe reminded.

Crosshair huffed. "Seems awfully suspicious. You're not hiding anything from us, are you, commanders?"

"Excuse me?" Wolffe was in disbelief.

Crosshair ignored him and turned to Plo and Aliyah. "What about you, generals? I trust you're transparent with us?"

"Watch yourself," Steele warned.

"Don't try and pin the fault on any of us." Wolffe put his hand down. "We're all in the dark here."

"You're telling me, in all honesty, that none of you have anything more to show us?" Hunter asked—borderline interrogated—the four leading figures.

A dispute erupted between the two parties. Outside, several clones gathered to hear what's going on in there.

Aliyah put an end to the spat. "Alright, alright, that's enough! Please, we need to work together."

"Exactly," Plo stepped towards the Bad Batch. "I understand your suspicions towards the uninformative overview, but trust me when I say: 'we're not hiding anything from you.'"

After a long while, Hunter let up. "Fine, sorry for the accusations. We just prefer knowing exactly what we signed up for. But I guess we'll have to make do."

The Bad Batch left the briefing room, leaving the two commanders alone with their respective generals. They sighed in frustration.

Plo went up to Wolffe. "Take a breath, Wolffe. I understand your discontent, but this is only the first day."

"They've got some nerve to accuse us of being dishonest!" Wolffe pinched his forehead.

"Well, Cody did say they're a bit blunt," Plo reminded.

"Yes. But this is something else."

"I'm sure they have their reasons," Aliyah said. "Besides, questioning orders isn't necessarily a bad thing."

After a long time, Steele lets out a sigh of submission. "Well, I'm willing to put aside differences for work's sake. But I sure as hell ain't gonna risk my life for one of them."

Next time on The Clone's Hero, tensions rise between the Bad Batch and the two battalions as they try to work together to find the Separatist thieves…

Review responses~

KarajeJinsta: You have no idea how much your words meant to me the first time I read them, and when I read them again when I was sitting in the waiting tent of my local COVID testing facility. Thank you for reading thus far, and I hope you're still here. :)

Valentina1105: Your welcome for the descriptions of the next arcs. I always have an overarching idea of how I want my stories to go before I start writing them. I feel the same about the clones of Clone Force 99, however due to the fact they're only shown briefly, and this arc takes place before S7, I have very little to work with. Nonetheless, I will do my best to write them, just as I do with any of the characters in my story. Thanks for being faithful with my story. :)

Starpottergeek: Your welcome for giving you an estimate of the next arcs' release dates. I, personally, am very glad I was able to meet the earlier of the two estimated dates. I hope you're still around! :)

Tsutayo77: Thank you for enjoying my writing/work so far! Steele and Aliyah's relationship will definitely hit a turning point in this arc and even more so in the next arc. I can't go into details about how it happens, just keep reading. :)

Akira-Hayama: I can always count on you to bring about reviews that even gets me reflecting on my own characters! You definitely captured Steele's dilemma, especially after the talk with Anakin. I'm actually glad you don't know what Aliyah's feeling for sure right now. Due to her upbringing and current responsibilities, she can only show so much. But I do plan on making her thoughts more known by this next arc and completely known by the next arc. As for Steele, let's just say his thoughts will become known before hers. And don't worry about their ending, I'm not going to go the cheap way out. Anyways, I hope you're still here and reading this. :)

Kobk: Oh no! XD That would be very, very precarious. I checked past reviews and I think you were the one who requested the idea for Steele walking in on Anakin and Padme. Correct me if I'm wrong. :)

DojoYoyo: Thank you, thank you. I look forward to writing it. May the Force be with you too, in this time of uncertainty. We are now in the second half of 2020, and I hope you're still here. :)

CuriousKatt: Thank you! I don't write about romance a lot (writing something about two characters you ship and two characters you completely made up, are two very different skillsets) so this reaffirmed my confidence in how I'm going about Steele and Aliyah's relationship. I'm a romance reader, but a drama writer (if that made any sense lol). Thanks for your review on the last chapter and I hope you're still here! :)

Radicalewe3: Oh, don't apologize for not reviewing! You're not obligated too. But if you do, I can assure you it absolutely brightens up my day. Especially now, when everything seems to be collapsing around me. I'd say the romance might hit a turning point somewhere in this arc and surfaces more in the next arc. I hope you're still around and reading this. :)

MisterStarWarsFans: Oh dear. I'm sorry! I hope you managed to find something else to do in your spare time. Watch a good movie, read a good comic, talk to some old friends? Anyways, I'm back now and I hope you are too! :)

TobiasTheClone: I see. Well, you'll just have to wait until we get to the final arc. And 'canonly speaking', as in Disney or Legends? Because I'm not sure if the biochips allow for much free-thinking ability (other than the brief moments when Rex tried to go against it). Speaking of biochips, I will definitely be touching upon the topic of Order 66 as this story progresses. Maybe you'll see some of it in this arc. :)

Liam: Thank you! And don't worry about sounding pushy, it's fine. I write in my own time, and your reviews only encourage me, never shy me away. Last chapter was indeed a joy to write, and the last chapter for anything remotely lighthearted. From here on out, I'm going to take things down a serious road. We're in the halfway arc of this entire story, which means there'll be some developments and introducing of endgame material. :)

RyanSquad: Well, in that case. I hope you'll stick around until the final arc! :)

A/N. For the past month, I've been swamped with assignments, labs, and culminating projects one after the other. My hiatus began with me opening my closet of fallen behind schoolwork, only for it to fall all down on me. And while I'm trying to dig myself out, I get hit with an age-old drama between two of my mutual friends who had some bad blood between them. That led to me confiding in another friend whom I thought I could trust with my feelings. I truly thought I could trust him...guess I've been watching too many movies.

All of the stress got to me and began taking a toll on my health, or at least I thought it was stress. Two days ago, I went to my local hospital to get tested for COVID-19. I'm still waiting for my results.

Sorry for dumping all that, I just feel like it's better to be transparent with all of you. Anyways, please favourite, follow, and review if you can.

See you all next time.

- MiraLake