Wrote my last exam this morning. I'm free! Hip hip hooray! :D
Please enjoy this chapter.
Separatist Hideout (Clone Force 99 pt5)
Take the second chance for compatibility
"Kerch Kushi. Former Separatist Senator," Hunter explained as he displayed the holographic image of a green-skinned humanoid. "He's the mastermind behind this."
"Is that what you got from the triggered room?" Aliyah asked.
"Yes, general."
"What do we know about him so far?"
Tech took over. "He's an idealist and joined the CIS before the war's outbreak. But somewhere between the event of the failed peace initiative and now, he left the Separatists. And stole the information we're currently trying to retrieve. That's about as far as I could retrieve from the databanks."
"That's more than enough. We'll handle the rest of it," Aliyah said. She then turned to Steele. "Bring up the image."
Steele nodded as he switched the table to display the image of the facility the Bad Batch obtained from their last raid. "Wolffe and I scoured the metadata earlier this morning. Turns out, this building is where the Separatists are currently hiding out. Dug a little further and we now got the coordinates to this place. It's on the planet literally next door to us."
The batch took the reveal with surprise and a hint of satisfaction. They were here for 2 days, and already, they managed to help find the hideout. It's a new record for them.
"However before we launch a full-scale attack, I want to make sure this facility is absolutely legitimate," Plo explained.
Hunter knew what was coming next. "So you're gonna send us in to check it out?"
"Not quite," Wolffe answered for Plo. "You're gonna be sent in. But Steele and I will be coming along. Can't have a repeat of what happened last time."
The batch members looked at each other. None of them said a word—out of consideration for Crosshair, who hasn't made eye contact with Steele since this meeting began.
Finally, Hunter shrugged and answered, "I guess we kinda had it coming. But it shouldn't be a problem. Compromise requires giving in a little after all."
~ O O O ~
The entire base was silent as the Bad Batch boarded their ship with the commanders. They still haven't entirely forgiven them for what happened yesterday but were willing to give them a second chance.
The ride to the Separatist hideout was long and awkward. Mainly due to the tension between Crosshair and Steele.
"Think we'll meet a lot of adversaries?" Hunter asked, trying to lighten the mood.
"We'll see once we get there," Steele answered.
Crosshair remained silent. Either because he doesn't want to speak or his jaw prevents him to speak.
Hunter was about to find out. "Crosshair, you can still shoot straight, right?"
Crosshair turned his head to Hunter. Looked at him with a dead-pan expression. And nodded once. The tension got tighter.
Wolffe internally sighed. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to accompany them. Oh well, too late now.
~ O O O ~
Plo and Aliyah were in midst of a call with the Council and the Chancellor. Informing them of the discovery of Senator Kerch Kushi, and attempting to pry for anything related to this guy. But as usual, the Chancellor refused to let up.
"Senator Kushi was never largely involved in any major campaigns. Thus, we never had to closely monitor his actions."
"But his actions were still monitored, correct?" Plo asked.
"Master Jedi—"
"—Your Excellency," Plo replied in the same tone Palpatine uses on him whenever he attempted to diverge the topic. "We have managed to find the one behind this whole debacle, which is a sure thing we're nearing the end of this hunt. Perhaps now, would be a good time for cooperation."
The Council members stood in shock and Palpatine, who had on a calm-facade this entire time, shifted ever-so-slightly in his stance. His expression turned hard.
"Considering you've made it this far without cooperation, I have no doubt you'll be able to continue down, using the same methods as you always have, Master Jedi."
Neither Plo nor Aliyah had the composure to attempt at persuasion again. Luckily, their expressions had not gone unnoticed by a watchful Obi-Wan, in the corner of the holotable.
~ O O O ~
Finally, the ship reached the destination of the coordinates. The facility building that the Separatists using as their hideout was built on a steep cliffside. Only a couple of damaged bridges extended from the building, connecting it to more stable ground.
The clones landed a safe distance away before coming out.
"Place looks kinda rundown," Wolffe remarked.
"Still looks better than that mountain resort," Hunter said. "Anyways, how are gonna enter?"
Steele pointed at a battered bridge that led to a non-prominent gateway. "Back entrance. When we go in, we stay low and stay hidden. Our objective is to see whether or not the Separatists are here."
"And the datachip?" Wrecker asked.
"If the Separatists are here, then the datachip should be here too," Steele answered. "Hopefully."
The clones made their way down to the bridge and carefully walked across it. The walk was daunting due to how unstable the bridge was. However, things got worse when they entered the building.
The inside of the building was hollow and messy. Almost like a storm had raged through the halls of it.
"Looks like the Separatists aren't clean freaks," Wrecker observed as they walked about.
Everyone was on edge as they went down the halls. Fingers on trigger and ducking every corner to every sound they heard. However, so far they've encountered nothing.
Not a single lifeform or machinery. It was suspicious. And nerve-wracking. Every time they entered a new area, they didn't know what to expect.
"You sure this is the Separatist hideout, sir?" Hunter asked Steele.
"Unless the metadata is wrong, then yes."
"So do you think the metadata was wrong?"
"I dunno you tell me," Steele retorted as he pried open another door. "You were the ones who downloaded it."
The clones walked through the door and into another corridor. Tech answered Steele's last response, "The metadata should be fine. I ran a check on the downloaded image file for any corruption after we left the resort. So whatever info you got from it should be untampered with."
"But this place looks deserted." Wrecker brought up a hand to show emphasis.
Steele didn't deny it. "You're right. It's too quiet. We should've come across someone or something by now."
They continued to explore around. Trying to find anything related to the Separatist thieves or the datachip.
~ O O O ~
Ever since the Council call finished, Plo and Aliyah busied themselves with aiding their men around the base. So much needed to be dealt with after the attack. Last night only handled the tip of the iceberg.
Suddenly, they were approached by Kal. "Generals, you have an incoming call…from General Kenobi."
The two Jedi immediately returned to the communication tent. Sure enough, a hologram of Obi-Wan greeted them upon arrival. But what surprised them was the hologram of Senator Padme Amidala standing next to him.
"Master Jedi, I hope it hasn't been too unpleasant for you lately," she politely said.
"Senator Amidala, Master Kenobi." Plo gave them his full attention. "What is this call about?"
"The matter surrounding Senator Kerch Kushi," Obi-Wan answered. "I'll be frank, I haven't been too fond of the way the Chancellor's been acting with this whole thing. This datachip needs to be found, whether he wants it to be done rightly or not."
"Well, it'd really help if we had some political assistance," Aliyah said.
"That's why I brought in Senator Amidala." Obi-Wan gestured to Padme who took over the talk.
"I know some facts about this Senator Kushi. I'm not sure if they'll help or not, but knowing how closed you've been from the upper echelon of the Senate, I think it's better than nothing."
~ O O O ~
The clones broke into a room that appeared to be the place where the datachip was being kept. Marked evident by an opened safe with the label '66' on it.
"'66?' Think it could've been a codeword for the datachip?" Wolffe remarked.
"Maybe." Hunter shrugged. "Who'd want to yell 'secret Republic info' all the time?"
Next to the safe was a collection of surveillance computer screens. It was situated in front of a tinted window that overlooked a large open area of the building.
Steele went up to the main computer and attempted to turn it on. "Blast it, it requires a passcode."
"Here. Let me, commander," Tech offered. He took over the keyboard and within a minute, he successfully got into the system.
"Well done," Steele commended.
"Thank you. Though it's kinda strange that the Separatists didn't bother wiping out these security recordings."
"Probably slipped their mind in their rush to get outta here," Hunter reasoned.
"Perhaps." Steele pointed at a file on the screen. "Bring up that recording, it's the most recent one dated yesterday."
Tech did as told. And seconds later, a hologram projection of a couple of well-dressed people appeared before the clones.
"...Honestly, does he think having all those arms is intimidating?" A man in a guard uniform asked another guard standing nearby.
"You might say otherwise if he manages to find us," his friend warned. "There's a reason why even the Jedi fear him."
"Skip," Steele ordered. Tech pressed the fast-forward command until a new group of people appeared.
"...of all the Jedi you know, which one would you like to have a one-nighter with?"
"Obviously Master—"
"—Skip!"
"Awww c'mon!" Wrecker complained.
This time, Tech held the fast-forward command even longer. He didn't release until Steele saw a flash of Senator Kerch Kushi's holographic body pass by.
"Stop here!"
Tech immediately released. And the recording played as normal.
"...need to leave now, By," Kushi said to a male Leyakian. "Some clones broke into our branch at the mountain resort and has triggered the fail-safe system. They know where we are and more importantly, they know who I am. It's only a matter of time before they're on our doorsteps."
"You're positive they survived our fail-safe?" The Leyakian—By, asked.
"The fail-safe was never meant to wipe them out. Just slows them down long enough, so we can return to our previous base."
"The one back on the next world over?"
"Yes, that one."
By shook his head. "Things have really gone downhill since Grov got himself captured by clones."
Kushi put a comforting arm on By's shoulder. "Doesn't matter. So long as we hold this datachip, the galaxy has a future. Now hurry! We don't have a lot of ship fuel to waste!"
The two ran off-camera.
Tech stopped the recording. The clones now know where and why the Separatists left. But they don't have the specifics.
"So they returned to their previous base…on the next world over," Wolffe repeated.
Wrecker didn't like the sound of that. "That's really vague. Should we keep looking around?"
"No. This is good enough. They don't have a lot of fuel, which means they don't have a lot of options. We should be able to figure out their new location easily back at base."
"But shouldn't we—"
"—Quiet," Hunter suddenly said. He looked around, his eyes darting uneasily.
"What is it?" Steele demanded.
"I'm not sure," Hunter answered. "It felt like a bunch of entities suddenly coming up from underground. Almost like…"
The sight of a small red dot dancing on Wrecker's chest silenced Hunter. He immediately pushed him down before the sniper's blaster bolt broke through the window.
"Crosshair!" Hunter shouted.
Crosshair didn't need to be told twice. He immediately pulled up his rifle, aimed in the area where the shot came from, and pulled the trigger.
The sound of plasma bolt hitting metal echoed through the building. Followed by the sound of more metal hitting the ground in a marching sequence.
"Looks like we can't look around even if we wanted to! Let's get outta here!" Steele nodded towards the door.
Everyone prepared for battle as they headed out of the room and into the halls. The marching of the reprogrammed droids got closer.
~ O O O ~
"Look, ma'am!" The pilot shook awake Gossam Separatist Senator, Amita Fonti. "We have clones in the building."
Fonti looked at the scanner the pilot pointed to. "Just like Kerch predicted."
"Shall we try and execute plan B?"
Fonti was quiet for a second. Then she nodded. "Let's execute plan B."
~ O O O ~
Back at the base camp, the call from Obi-Wan and Padme was still going on. Padme was explaining to Plo and Aliyah, her knowledge of Kerch Kushi.
"He was a good colleague of an old friend of mine, the late Senator Mina Bonteri."
"Senator Bonteri? Separatist Senator of the failed peace-initiative?" Aliyah asked.
"Yes, that's right." Grief underlay Padme's voice, but she kept speaking. "Anyway, Kushi was one of the main supporters for the initiative, defending it firmly during its formulation, Padawan Ahsoka Tano and I were witnesses to that. The Separatist Parliament was in favour of ending the war peacefully. But as you all know how things turned out…"
"...Senator Bonteri was untimely killed before you and your colleagues could conclude the peace offer," Plo finished.
"By order of Count Dooku," Padme added. "And I'm very sure, that this was something known—if not suspected—among the Separatists. If her son, Lux Bonteri knows of Dooku's involvement, I'd say her closest friends and colleagues might've also known. Kushi could've very well left the Confederacy, because he saw what Dooku does to followers who don't share his ideals."
Plo and Aliyah took note of that. Everything that's been said about Kushi so far, made him seem morally-ambiguous. He has no love left for the CIS, but continues to despise the Republic. And so, he made his own side.
"And one more thing!" Padme suddenly said. "When you do find him…unless it'll get you in too much heat with the Chancellor, please just apprehend him. Him and his allies. They should at least be given a fair trial."
"We'll…do what we can. Thank you for your assistance, Senator Amidala, Master Kenobi," Plo said.
"It is my pleasure." Padme smiled.
"Just remember that on the report level, this conversation never happened," Obi-Wan reminded Plo and Aliyah. "May the Force be with you."
He ended the call.
~ O O O ~
Down the halls of the building, the clones struggled through the debris and droidfire to make it to the exit. Regular reprogrammed droids were bad enough to deal with. But combine twitchiness and the agility of commando droids, and that was a recipe for disaster.
It was near impossible to shoot them when they were coming down headfirst. Even Crosshair was having some trouble. The only way to take them down for sure was via grenades. But they only had so many grenades.
"The clankers seem to be ganging up!" Wrecker said as he and Crosshair worked together to keep them at bay.
"Well are you low on power?" Hunter asked.
"No."
"Then blast them harder!"
Nodding in obedience, Wrecker cranked up the intensity setting on his blaster. Crosshair did the same. Every shot needed to count now. Whether it hit them or grazed them.
It took the clones a couple of minutes, but they managed to reach a familiar area. And before long, they made it back out onto the bridge.
But the bridge wasn't in the same condition as when they first crossed.
"What the—" Wolffe was flabbergasted.
The middle of the bridge was destroyed. A large gap replaced what was the once crossable beam, with the remaining intact ends of the bridge sloping down towards it.
Hunter stood next to Wolffe and examined the gap. "We can jump it. It's not that far."
"Length isn't what I'm concerned about," Wolffe confessed. He looked behind him, the droids were still following them. "Ah, what choice do we have. Tech!"
Tech went up to Wolffe. "Yes, commander?"
"You get across first. Out of all of us, you're the one who can give the generals the best description and analysis of what we found here. Now go!"
Though a bit hesitant at first, Tech listened to Wolffe's order. Taking a couple steps back, he ran forward and jumped across the gap, landing safely on the other side. Much to everyone's relief.
Behind them, Wrecker's endless firing at the droids suddenly came to stop. "I'm overheating! Gonna take a quick break!"
As soon as he said that, a lucky blaster bolt grazed his shoulder and flew past him to graze Wolffe's arm as well. They both cried out in pain.
"Argh!" Wrecker nearly dropped his rotary blaster.
"This is not my day!" Wolffe seethed.
Crosshair immediately took care of the droid responsible for that lucky shot, while the rest tended to the two injured clones.
"You two need to get over there now!" Steele insisted as he helped Wrecker towards the edge of the gap.
Hunter agreed with Steele while holding Wolffe up. "Don't try and argue. Jump!"
With the help of Steele and Hunter, Wrecker and Wolffe managed to make it across the gap. Tech immediately addressed their wounds. Luckily it wasn't anything too serious.
Hunter turned to Steele. "You next, commander."
"No, you go. You've been hiding your injury well." Steele pointed at the burn mark on Hunter's left abdomen.
Hunter gently touched his wound, shaking his head. "A little something from that sniper. Fine, I'll see you and Crosshair on the other side."
With that, Hunter made the gap as well. By now, the ends of the other side began to buckle a bit. Its structural integrity was being pushed by the clones' constant landing. This was exactly what Wolffe was concerned about.
"Hurry up!" He shouted at the two remaining clones on the droid end of the bridge.
Crosshair nodded in response. He planned to move back right after shooting one last droid. But when he pulled the trigger for that, nothing came out. His rifle was jammed.
"Kriff," Crosshair softly swore as he attempted to unjam his rifle.
The droid commando he was going to shoot, took this chance to jump on him. Crosshair was pushed to the ground, his rifle acting as the only piece of defense between him and the droid. But the impact caused his jaw and head to throb again, and his vision to blur.
Suddenly, the droid was forcefully kicked off of him and met its end with a blaster to the head
"C'mon!" Steele seethed as he yanked Crosshair up.
The two made their way to the edge of the gap. The droids coming in behind them. Seeing that Crosshair was still a bit disoriented, Steele practically threw him over to the other side before preparing to jump himself.
Taking out his last grenade, Steele removed the pin and rolled it behind him. The blast took out the remaining droids as he leapt across the gap.
But then fate decided to play a cruel joke. The bridge end decided to finally give way the second Steele landed. He ran as fast as he could to safety but missed it by an inch.
"Steele!" Wolffe rushed in to catch Steele by the arm.
Wrecker was about to go in to help but Hunter stopped him. "No, don't! Take out the syntherope instead!"
The ends of the bridge were starting to slope down even more and Wolffe's wounded arm was pounding in pain. But he wasn't about to leave his friend behind. Steele held for dear life on Wolffe's hand.
"Don't let go!" Steele grunted.
"It's ok, it's ok! I got you!" Wolffe assured. "I got you, buddy!"
Behind them, Hunter had hooked himself onto one end of a syntherope and gave the other to Wrecker. "Hang onto this, I'm going out there."
"Be careful, Sarge!" Wrecker warned as Hunter made his way down the bridge.
Turning his head around, Wolffe could see Hunter cautioning towards him. He nodded in thanks and began putting every ounce of his energy into pulling Steele up.
Then out of nowhere, a blast hit the bridge, completely severing its remaining loose ends.
Wolffe lost his grip on Steele and nearly fell into the abyss with him. Hunter managed to quickly grab onto Wolffe, and Wrecker—despite the pain in his shoulder—immediately pulled the two back in with the help of Tech and Crosshair.
That's when a ship suddenly appeared. It the ship carrying Senator Fonti and her pilot. They flew in under the falling Steele, opened a latch on their roof, and caught him with perfect precision.
Wolffe and the batch watched in disbelief as the ship disappeared into the distance. He couldn't believe it. Steele was now in enemy hands.
Next time on The Clone's Hero, Wolffe and the Bad Batch return to base, with news of the Separatists' relocating and of Steele's capture…
Review responses~
Starpottergeek: He will be wrecking things, by the end of this arc. ;)
Lau-SR: Sending best of luck to you with your classes! I've been taking online classes all summer (finally got a break now) and let me tell you, it's really REALLY easy to procrastinate. Don't fall into that hole, my friend. :)
Katie L: Haha, I guess so. At the very least, that was a warning bell. And you'll see more of her feelings later down the line. I think I made her stance pretty obvious last chapter. :)
RyanSquad: With enough beer cans and margaritas, I shall believe that's the canon ending to the clone wars! Lol XD
KarajeJinsta: Oh that's ok! I understand when reviews come in a little slow, I'm just glad you did in the end! That punch more or less knocked some sense in EVERYBODY, we'll see more cooperation down the line from there. Yeah, the talk they had definitely smoothed some rough patches and it'll only improve. :)
Femke-the-lotus: OMG, I MISSED YOU! Welcome back, my friend! Don't worry about not reviewing on every chapter, all I care about is that you're here again! And lmfao at that 'smack on Crosshair's other cheek'. Soooo happy you're back! *Gives a big virtual hug :D
Akira-Hayama: The shots at Krell definitely hit a sensitive spot, but you're right about the shots at Aliyah. Things hit the ceiling but it managed to cool down pretty fast too. I hope I did manage to make things more clear as to where Aliyah currently stands with her feelings. It'll become more clear by next arc. :)
lionkingfactsguy3 (Ch. 34): Oh no, are you alright? I hope whatever at your college isn't affecting too negatively on your life. I myself haven't been too affected by this pandemic's impact on post-secondary (other than needing to take everything online and soon, attending co-op job interviews online) but I know many people who are. I wish you the best of luck in your studies! *Gives comforting virtual hug :)
rudebeast1234: They're close due to the events of the first arc with Krell and trying to remove him from his position of leadership. Since then, Aliyah's been helping Steele and the others move on from the early days of serving Krell. And their relations only kept improving. :)
lionkingfactsguy3 (Ch. 33): I wonder too. Pretty sure they did, maybe off-screen? :)
MisterStarWarsFans: Lol, no no no! I'm flattered but no! Thanks for the compliment though! XD
A/N. I finished my exams. I kinda-sorta fixed the bad blood between my two friends. I cut off ties with that friend who betrayed my trust (and then tried to blame it completely on the fact he was drinking during our chat-session). I don't have COVID. And I'll be going to a cottage retreat for an entire week! Yay! :D
PS. Because I'm not sure how good internet will be at the cottage, so there may or may not be a delay in the next chapter's release.
Anyways, as usual. Please favourite, please follow, please review. Thanks for reading.
See you all next time! :)
- MiraLake