Happy almost back to school, everyone. Are most of you taking online courses? Anyone taking the in-person option (if it exists for you)?
There are two more parts for this arc, then I will be going on hiatus until the upcoming winter break. :(
Calm before the blow (Clone Force 99 pt7)
Things are most quiet, before chaos strikes
The clone forces tore down what remained of their base and packed up at early dawn. They immediately boarded the ships and flew out to the planet where the thieves are currently located.
The journey didn't take long. It was quiet and dark when they landed at their destination. Everyone worked in silent efficiency as they took out the necessary equipment, arms, and temporary setup.
After a week and a half and a couple more quarrelsome days, they finally reached this stage of the hunt-and-retrieval.
Plo and Aliyah got the holomap set up. They, Wolffe, and the batch gathered around it, determining the exact location of the Separatist base, which Hunter managed to pinpoint within a minute.
The sky began to brighten when Aliyah finally began to feel somewhat at ease.
~ O O O ~
Kushi left the interrogation room in irritation. He couldn't get another word out of Steele all night. And as much as he'd like for a two-person conversation, he didn't have the heart to resort to more extreme methods on a clone who's been on the receiving end of Krell's fists.
"Kerch!" Senator Voe Atell and By Bluss walked up to him with a small company of their underlings. "You've been in there all night. Anything new?"
Kushi shook his head. "I'm not interrogating him for the whereabouts of his forces. We were just having a conversation. That's all."
Atell walked beside him. "Why?"
"He's a victim in this. They all are."
"Say that when they're barging in through our front door, holding us at blaster point." Atell scowled. "It's easy to sympathize with them when they're locked up and restrained at the moment. But remember this: they're engineered to be undeniably loyal to the Republic—to anyone associated with the Republic. No questions asked."
But Kushi was skeptical. "Then explain to me why after I spent an entire monologue challenging his life's purpose and insulting the people he fights for, he responds with this: 'I'm an idiot.'"
Bluss and Atell were stunned for a moment. Then the former quickly answered, "Why, Kerch. I think you broke him."
Atell made a tiny smirk. "It was only a matter of time. Maybe if we were to release him now, he'd turn on his own general without any interference from us. Wouldn't that be extremely convenient?"
"I'm not taking chances here, Voe," Kushi reprimanded harshly. "We're going to do this safe, and we're going to do this right."
~ O O O ~
The three Senators kept talking until they entered a restricted area, causing their following company to split up. They went to work in their respective locations. Most went to their offices to update their current status.
The remaining two went out to the hangar for fresh air. There, they talked about the conversation the three Senators just had.
"Do you think Kushi really broke that clone?"
"Not really. I mean, think about it. He already doesn't think very highly of the side he's fighting for, Krell made sure of that. Why would he break after Kushi brought to light what he already knows? He must've called himself an idiot for other reasons."
"Huh. What other reasons would he have?"
"I dunno. I'm ain't a Kaminoan doctor."
Suddenly the lights in the hangar went out. The two of them jumped in alarm, but then quickly realized it was only a local power outage.
The underling who initiated the conversation smirked at his colleague. "Well, Mr. 'I'm ain't a Kaminoan doctor', please do the work you do specialize in."
With that, the first underling went back into the building. The second one shook his head as he walked across the hangar towards its opened gateway. The local power box was located a couple steps outside the base.
"'Please do the work you do specialize in,'" he muttered to himself. "Hmph. This kind of work is beneath my qualifications."
He stepped out of the hangar and approached the power box. The box was forced open with a couple of loose fuses hanging out. Odd, but easily fixable.
A few seconds later, the lights came back on. The man sighed in relief.
"There, all done—MMPH!"
A gloved hand covered his mouth, muffling his screams. The hand belonged to Wrecker. He held the man tightly while Crosshair swiftly bound, gagged, and blindfolded him.
Tech put the power box back in mint condition. As if they never tampered with it in the first place.
"Coast is clear!" Hunter whisper-shouted. "Let's go!"
Wrecker picked up their freshly-caught captive and the four clones ran out of the area, heading back to base-camp.
~ O O O ~
Fonti entered Steele's interrogation room with a tray of food. A minute later, she walked back out and made her way down to the meeting room where she is due to attend.
Kushi and all the allied renegade Separatists were there, along with a few of their most trusted assistants. They needed to talk about their next moves.
"We've got ourselves a clone!" Bluss began. "Now we just need a Jedi, and someone with the authority to trigger the protocol!"
"Why specifically someone with authority?" One of the assistants asked.
"Yeah." Atell agreed. "Shouldn't it work if any one of us said it?"
"Again, I'm not taking chances." Kushi reiterated. "If one of us were to say the order and the clone doesn't execute it, then it would be all for nothing. Besides, I'm very sure it has to be someone with authority—someone like the Chancellor—who can trigger it. This protocol would be too dangerous if it's accessible by anyone with basic literacy."
All the heads in the room nodded. Once again, Kushi made sense to them. Just he did when convincing them to leave the CIS and join him.
"Fine, moving on from person of authority. How are we supposed to get a Jedi?" Atell asked.
"She's right, Kerch," Fonti stated. "Masters and Knights are either too dangerous or will cost us a fortune in hiring an able mercenary. And if you're suggesting we take a Youngling, you can count me out of this."
Kushi looked at her. Then at the rest of the people in the room. "A few days ago, we thought 'this was it' after our listening branch in the resort got raided. We thought it was the end of all of this. Now, we have a clone commander in our custody." He gave everyone assuring glances. "Maybe opportunity will present itself to us again."
He stood up, causing everyone to stand up as well. "For now, let's focus on what we have now: our captive clone. Voe, By, go to him in the interrogation room and see if he knows anything regarding ingrained protocols."
"Yes, Kerch." Atell replied.
"The rest of you, start looking into a potential person of authority. Once we have a target, we'll figure out how to obtain them. Then we'll worry about getting a Jedi."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Kushi was glad to see that. "Sooner or later, the entire galaxy will see just how true this 'democracy' is. Alright, dismissed!"
~ O O O ~
The clones back at base were more than prepared for when the batch returned. They had the interrogation tent and all other necessary equipment set up.
Plo, Aliyah, and a couple of their men awaited them inside their designated tent. The batch entered with their captive.
Wrecker set the still-struggling man down and Dogma and Compass got to work with untying him and strapping him to a bolted-down chair. As soon as they were done, they removed his gag and blindfold.
"Kriff you bastards!" The man spat as soon as the pieces of cloth were removed from his eyes and mouth. "Kriff you! I ain't a Separatist alright?"
"Then what are you?" Plo demanded as he took a seat at a small table in front of the man.
"I'm an engineer. I reprogram the droids, that's all I do for them!"
"So you do work for them."
"Yeah? Why does that matter?"
"You know the layout of their current headquarters." Plo placed both hands on the table in a delicate manner. "You're going to describe it to me in extreme detail."
"As if."
"Please collaborate with us while we still have patience."
The engineer just shook his head while laughing. He seethed at Plo. "Senator Kushi was right. You Jedi have become a band of hypocrites. Using an army of preprogrammed sentient beings to fight for the greed of a corrupted government."
Everyone in the tent felt the temperature drop a couple degrees down. Just as Plo was about to proceed to the next step of his interrogation plan, his commlink went off.
Slowly, he raised his arm to answer the call. "Wolffe?"
"General, we've scaled the clifftop and are currently evaluating it for advantages. I think it's best if you stay on-call with us so we can paint you a clear picture of the entire setting."
Plo sent Wolffe and a squad of his men to scale the cliff the Separatist's building was pressed up against. To see if it could be of use to them for their invasion.
"Alright. Give me a moment." Plo stood up from the table and turned around. "Aliyah, you're in charge of this now. Remember: keep control."
"I will." She nodded genuinely.
Sensing traces of tranquillity in her tone, Plo walked out of the tent to continue his call with Wolffe. As soon as he was gone, Aliyah took his seat at the table in front of the tied-up engineer.
"Dogma, is the holo-recorder on?" She asked.
"On and ready, general," Dogma answered.
"Good." Aliyah the rest of the troopers next to him. "Everyone, take out your datapad. Write down everything he says and I mean everything." She turned to the batch members. "You guys too, grab a datapad from the table over there."
The four of them did as told. Soon enough, everything was ready. The recorder was recording and the clones were a touch away from their screens.
Aliyah commenced interrogation, via the Force.
"You will tell me what you know about their hideout.."
"I…will tell you what I know about their hideout…"
The clones began typing away.
~ O O O ~
"When I say 'contingency orders,' does it ring a bell at all?" Bluss asked Steele.
He, Atell, and a couple of guards stood in the interrogation room, trying to pry something useful out of Steele. The clone wasn't giving them the silent treatment, but he wasn't giving them helpful answers either.
"No," Steele replied in a monotone voice.
"Really? What about your training years? Tell me about what you've went through, maybe there was a moment when you were subjected to a bunch of orders you needed to memorize without a reason why."
"You seem pretty interested in my training years…" Steele remarked. "And no, there was never a moment when I subjected to a bunch of orders which required me to memorize without a reason why. Every moment in my training years required me to do just that. If you want to know whether or not I've been exposed to what you call 'contingency orders', you're gonna have to be more specific."
Seeing that he wasn't going anywhere with this questioning, Bluss let Atell takeover, which she was more than happy to.
Atell signalled for one of the guards to come up. Without warning, she had the guard strike Steele in the abdomen with his staff. That caused Steele to double forward and gag loudly.
Bluss winced at the sight of that. "Voe…Kerch will not approve of this—"
"Think back to your training years. And this time, think harder," Atell demanded, ignoring Bluss's comment.
"I don't recall anything about contingency orders…" Steele coughed.
"Perhaps this will help you remember."
Atell had the guard strike Steele again. And again. And again. But it didn't jog any memory in his head. Nor did it put him in immense pain. Because unfortunately for them, Krell already set the pain-inflicting bar to unreachable heights.
~ O O O ~
"We're sending another image right now, general. You should be able to see it in a moment," Wolffe spoke to Plo via comm.
Just as said, Sinker successfully sent a holoimage of the anterior cliffside which led down to the building top. Another angle of several images taken before.
"Got it," Plo's voice confirmed from the other end.
"How's the overall diagram coming along?" Wolffe asked.
"More or less finished. Will you be willing to get a few more sideview angles?"
"Yes, of course."
"Thank you." Plo pulled up the unfinished design layout of the clifftop base view. Made from the images and descriptions Wolffe and his men had sent him. "Keep observing, I'll be right back."
Plo muted the call for now and walked out of the tent. He proceeded across camp towards the interrogation tent where Aliyah and the captive engineer was.
Inside the interrogation tent, Aliyah was still holding the engineer in Force-control. "Have you encountered anyone from the CIS yet? Such as Separatist Council Heads, Grievous, or even Dooku himself?"
"No…we left Raxus in a hurry, so that's all we worried about in the first few days: evading those from the CIS who wanted us dead. Then after we got hold of the advantageous information and copied it to a datachip that we were on the run from the Republic as well…"
Everyone in the tent wrote that down. By now, they had pages upon pages of info from this man. This session of questioning so far was very productive, but they were far from finished.
Nonetheless, Aliyah decided it was almost time to take a break. She just wanted to ask one more question.
"The clone you captured about a day ago…how is he?"
Everyone in the tent paused their typing upon hearing her ask that. They too, wanted to know the state of their captured friend and commander. The engineer spoke.
"Alive. Unharmed for now. Kushi has…certain uses for him…"
Hearing that put all of them slightly at ease, though it scared them thinking about what 'uses' the engineer was talking about. But still, Aliyah stuck by her decision and concluded this session.
"Alright, let's stop for now. Put him to sleep."
Dogma put down his datapad to get the tranquilizer needle and then applied it to the engineer's arm. It took effect almost immediately. Compass paused the recording. Everyone else prepared their notes for addition to the planning table.
"Out of curiosity, general," Tech asked Aliyah. "Why can't you keep this going until we get everything we need, perhaps more?"
"Keep this going without rest, and his mind might turn into mashed pudding," Aliyah explained. Traces of fatigue were present in her voice. "Besides. It's mentally exhausting for me too."
The entrance to the tent flapped open and Plo walked in. "Aliyah, go speak with Wolffe, he'll catch you up on the clifftop developments. I'll take over the next session."
"Yes, Plo."
Aliyah walked out of the tent and Plo went up to the company of notetakers, eager to learn what they've written so far. They were eager to share.
~ O O O ~
Fonti and the remaining Separatists, excluding Kushi, Bluss, and Atell, were evaluating on a potential candidate that could trigger the desired protocol.
"So we have Mas Amedda, Senator Burtoni, and the entire legislative branch that concerns itself in the war effort," Fonti summarized to the entire table. "Chancellor Palpatine is a guarantee, but it's also a guarantee that we'll be caught or killed trying to get him."
"Forget about the Chancellor," Kushi suddenly entered the room.
Everyone looked at him in confusion. Kushi explained himself.
"I bet our remaining ship fuel that he's somewhat in league with Count Dooku. Subtly playing out both sides of this war for his own benefit."
"It does seem that way," one of the assistants agreed.
The door opened again, this time, Atell and Bluss entered. Kushi looked at them expectantly, needing to know what they got out of their captive clone.
"Well?"
"It appears that he's completely unaware of any emergency protocol," Bluss answered.
"Huh."
"That or, he has an extremely high tolerance for pain," Atell added.
That made Kushi's head snap up. "I thought I told you to not use excessive methods!"
"He's a soldier of the Republic, how many of us has he or his copies killed? Victim or not, do you think he'll spare you if you put a blaster in his hands again?"
"Ok, ok!" Kushi held up a hand, not wanting to argue. "I'll talk to him. The rest of you, help out with the current issue we're facing here."
"What current issue?" Fonti asked.
"Apparently, the guards reported that chief engineer, Keemon Tille, is missing," Kushi explained, his tone uncertain. "We're currently searching the base and camera feeds for him, but it seems like he just…vanished."
~ O O O ~
At the base camp, several clones gathered around the holotable. The interrogation with the engineer was over, Wolffe and his team has returned, and the layout of the renegade Separatists' hideout was finished. So now, they were being briefed on their plan of invasion.
"From what we've gathered from the engineer, there aren't many escape exits in this building," Plo explained while pointing at the diagram. "There's the front entrance, the back side exits, and the hangar. What we're going to do, is try and trap them in the middle. Aliyah and her forces will attack from the front. I will go in from the back with some of you, we'll drop down from the clifftop and cut our own entrance through the roof. Once we got everyone subdued, we'll demand where the datachip is."
"What of our commander?" Vito demanded.
"Don't worry. He's alive and well," Aliyah answered, much to Vito's and several other's relief. "That's what our captive says and that's what I want to believe. Anyways, don't concern yourself with his rescue, Clone Force 99 will take care of that."
"That's right." Hunter revealed a map on his datapad. "Mr. Engineer man was so generous to have drawn us a route directly to him."
Everyone was amazed by that. Plo quickly called for their attention again.
"We need to make sure we get ALL the involved Separatists. Because more than likely, a lucky few will manage to evade us and attempt to escape via the hangar."
Aliyah looked directly at Kal. "Kal, I'm putting you in control of the hangar. Make sure no one tries to fly away."
"Yes, general."
They were nearing the end of the briefing. Plo recalled something Senator Amidala asked of him and Aliyah a day ago. "One more thing, everyone. Unless absolutely necessary. Please refrain from using lethal fire on the Separatist Senators."
Though a little confused at first—since it was heavily implied in the overview that the Republic wants these thieves annihilated—the clones complied. They trust that Plo knew what he was doing.
"Alright. Let's wrap this up."
Plo ended the meeting. Everyone left to prepare and gear up for the upcoming attack.
~ O O O ~
"I must apologize for Voe's earlier treatment. She was a strong follower of Dooku and even sided against the peace-initiative during its discussion. Initially, she believed that his involvement with Mina Bonteri's death was Republic gossip until I convinced her otherwise. I guess she's still not over that harsh truth," Kushi said to Steele.
The latter wasn't moved much by the apology. "Then why's she taking it out on me?"
"Unfortunately the saying 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' isn't something she believes in."
"It's not something you believe in either."
Kushi nodded. "No. You're right, it's not."
He leaned back against the wall adjacent to Steele's chair. He wondered what was going on inside the clone's mind right now.
"You really don't know anything about contingency orders, do you?"
Steele didn't answer his question. Instead, he asked another one. "Is that what's held inside in the information you stole?"
"Perhaps."
"Well, it's driving the Chancellor nuts."
"Good."
"Where are you keeping it?"
"—I'm the one asking questions here."
"Right…Sorry."
Kushi backed off from the wall. "Be honest with me. If we're caught by your forces, how likely will we be spared?"
Steele paused for a moment, thinking.
"More likely than being spared by General Grievous. Less likely if you decide to go down the route of no cooperation. Either way, it really depends on what you decide to do if they ever arrive."
That answer didn't sit well with Kushi. It added to an ever-growing sense of dread that's been building since the minute he learned of their missing engineer. Perhaps it was this feeling of doom that made him ask this next question.
"What's your name?"
"Steele."
"Well, Steele…I'm sorry you were born into this war."
Steele looked at Kushi without a single trace of hostility or regret and replied, "I'm not."
Kushi couldn't believe what he heard. Has this clone found new purpose in his life other than the one dictated for him at birth?
Suddenly, the alarms went off. Outside, screaming and shouting we're coming from all directions. And droids were sent out to deal with the invaders.
The attack has begun.
Next time on The Clone's Hero, the clone forces storm the hideout, bringing about a (hopefully) swift conclusion to this unnecessarily drawn-out mission...
Review responses~
KarajeJinsta: Yes, he finally admits to himself he loves her (but he won't be acting upon it anytime soon). And yeah, the nicknames were supposed to be kept within the legion, or so that was quietly agreed upon. The chips will be mentioned more next arc, not this one. Kay? :)
Starpottergeek: Go back to the first arc, Steele always had goggles. Read chapter 11 for why he does. :)
Lau-SR: Steele's ok for now, some of the Senators are nice and others aren't as much. But it'll be fine, help's on the way. And I'd say that he called himself an idiot because he isn't able to deny those feelings any longer, but he won't be acting upon it (at least he doesn't plan to). :)
Femke-the-lotus: Yeah, it took awhile, but we got there! Well, beers on you after this arc ends! Lucky, you don't have school anymore. I'm still a couple of years away from graduation then I'll be looking for a real-world job. I personally LOVED my previous co-op workterm so I'm really looking forward to being able to work again. The nickname will be something that'll never die, unfortunately. :)
StarSerene: One of them has admitted, and the other has probably already admitted too, or will admit (much more vocally) in the future chapters. :)
Age of Maul: Yes, he did. :)
Akira-Hayama: Compass is not stupid enough to say it within proximity to the Temple, he doesn't plan on getting his general removed from the Order (which by proxy means getting removed as their general) anytime soon. I'm glad you took notice of the Plo, Wolffe, and Aliyah interaction last chapter. That's exactly the kind of vibe I wanted to give off. And I'm also glad you liked how I portrayed Kushi. He's actually a canon character from the tv show (appeared in 'Heroes on Both Sides' episode) who doesn't get a lot of screentime and his fate is left unknown. It was a lot of fun trying to get into the head of a former member of the CIS, who's become disillusioned with the way Count Dooku operates things. :)
CotyT232: I'm not telling you otherwise. I'm just saying that neither are brave or foolish enough (yet) to do anything about it. :)
CuriousKatt: Awww, I'm glad it made you smile. I smiled quite a lot while typing that part. What a coincidence that you went kayaking this summer too! :)
feryromerosal : OMG is right. :)
Katie L: Well...Order 66 will have some part to play in the future arcs. Will it destroy their relationship? We'll see. :)
MisterStarWarsFans: When he sees her again...nothing dramatic will happen. Or will it? ;)
Guest: No. He will not say it to her (yet). :)
MandyAndyLandyPanda: LOL. I think maybe quite a few people? XD
A/N. Just an FYI, Kerch Kushi and a lot of the named Separatist Senators in this arc ARE present in the tv show. However, not much is shown of them after the two-episode arc featuring Padme trying to achieve a peaceful resolution to the war. So I took the liberty of fleshing them out more in this fanfic. :)
Anyways, please remember to favourite, follow, and leave a review!
See you all next time! :)
- MiraLake