Hello, everyone! My internet's been acting up weird lately, so uploading this chapter took longer than expected. Sorry about that!
Preparations (Final pt4)
You can never be prepared enough to die
Wolffe entered the apartment he was lending to Steele during the course of the investigation. It felt dark, almost lifeless, this place was now. Not wasting a second on unnecessary pondering, he went up to a seemingly normal drawer in the corner of the living room. There was a hidden combination lock under the handle. He took out his datapad displaying the instructions from the chip Plo had given him a day ago.
Go to the apartment I got for you near Temple district. There's a drawer with a hidden lock that contains something beneficial. Its passcode is 2759.
After punching in the numbers and opening the drawer, Wolffe was surprised to find a strange relic of sorts. It looked like a toddler's playtoy of some sort. Next to that, was a digital note inscribed into the bottom of the drawer.
I apologize, Wolffe. The Temple doesn't allow for personal artifacts. So I've been putting this little possession of mine wherever was safe on Coruscant until I got this place for you. Please keep this safe, it's important to me.
"Sure thing, general," Wolffe said softly as he picked up the artifact with gentle fingers and placed it in a secure pouch. He locked the drawer back up and left the apartment.
The next thing on Plo's set of instructions: Find Ahsoka Tano. I believe she is still on Coruscant. Show her the artifact, and tell her what's happening right now. I trust her more than I trust anyone within the military or even the Jedi. It shames me that I'm now counting on her to help me, Aliyah, and the others, out of this situation. If she refuses, please do not push her. Just let fate handle whatever future is coming for me. Apologize to her, Wolffe. Apologize on my behalf, I didn't believe in her enough during her time of need.
"Will do, general," Wolffe promised aloud. He owed that Togruta Jedi an apology as well. "Will do."
~ O O O ~
"The first battalion will be dropped off here. The next will be dropped on the far side of the moon, and will regroup with their allies at this exact location. We'll keep sending more of you in, in this order until everyone is landed on the moon. You and all your arrested officers here on Coruscant will be arriving there last. Is that clear, commander?" Judicial Wilhuff Tarkin asked a quiet and solemn Steele, who stood across from him on the other side of the large-scale holomap.
They were going through the entirety of the transport and regroup side of the rescue operation. Amongst the attendees in the room, there were Lama Su, a couple of Council Masters, Aliyah, and Palpatine himself.
Steele nodded in response to Tarkin's question. "Yes."
"Any concerns?" Tarkin asked sarcastically.
"You're sending in portions of my men in without a proper leader, since you've got all the commanding officers locked up here with me." Steele looked at Tarkin, but was really eyeing Palpatine, who stood directly behind the man. "I'm flattered. You must really trust our organizational skills."
Palpatine knew that jab was meant for him. But he simply smiled and ignored it. Tarkin on the other hand, did not follow in his Chancellor's footsteps. The Judicial held back a scowl and continued on with the discussion.
"Any other concerns?" He looked to the rest of the room, implying that this question was for all of them. When nobody answered immediately, Tarkin singled out Aliyah from the group. "What about you, Korentayer? Any objections?"
"May I speak freely, about my thoughts on this?" Aliyah asked with mild distaste.
"You may speak freely, or you may speak conservatively, my answer will not change either way." Tarkin circled the holomap's table in the direction opposite her. "Say what you may, but I do, in fact, hope you'll get CT-7701 out of Trench's hands before he could do something beneficial with him."
Aliyah—along with the majority of the entire room—looked at Tarkin questioningly. Tarkin expected as much. "We may not see eye-to-eye on many things, but I trust we share the same amount of loyalty and dedication to the Republic. Now, what are your thoughts on this?"
Pushing back the fact that Plo Koon's now locked up in the most secure cell in the prison block, Aliyah said, "I'm just wondering, how it's possible our spies knew my captain is on this Raxan moon, without knowing exactly where he is."
"Word of mouth," Palpatine answered in place of Tarkin. "Did you really think our espionage agents would risk going so close to our enemy's capital? They tracked down your captain's planetary location by word of mouth. But I assure you, we've sent in troops before trusting this method, and it never failed before."
"Sent in troops to battlegrounds that were neither conquered by us nor the Separatists, never to predominantly claimed Separatist worlds," Aliyah argued.
"Once you get there, you can work on tracking down where exactly Trench is keeping CT-7701," Tarkin argued back. "It shouldn't be that difficult—"
"—I have another concern now," Steele suddenly said. Tarkin pinched the bridge of his nose before giving the clone commander his attention. "What exactly constitutes a 'failure?' Failure of planning or failure of performance?"
"What do you mean?" Tarkin asked.
"Let's say we all arrive safe-and-sound. We scour every inch of that moon, but we can't find Kal nor Trench. Your spies' information turn out to be wrong." Steele could see the attending Council Masters listening attentively to what he had to say. Palpatine could see that too. "Would that still call that mission failure?"
All Council Masters' heads turned to Palpatine. The Chancellor of the Republic now knew what was up. Steele and Aliyah…those two were trying to expose him for how variable this rescue plan was. The Jedi Council would not want the mission to fail for the sake of Plo Koon. If they saw how utterly set up this whole thing was for failure, they'd have second thoughts about this. It was the pair's last attempt at a cry for help. Palpatine had to tread these waters lightly.
"Seeing that Admiral Trench is more than likely in a hold-out made for quick transportation, combined with the fact that I trust my spies more than I trust you right now, I'd say that the only reason you don't find him on the moon is because you drove him off. So yes, I'll call that a mission failure," Palpatine reasoned.
And with that, the last bit of hope to get out of this mess was snuffed out. Steele kept his grief hidden. He's turned the tables against us. Again. We just can't win against him it seems…
"With that said, are there any more questions or concerns right now?" Palpatine asked in finale. Nobody said a thing. "Good, then this planning session is adjourned."
"I'll relay this to the clones at HQ," the hologram of Lama Su said.
"And I'll relay this to the rest them here," Steele added after.
Palpatine was pleased to hear that. Everyone started heading for the exit. That's when Obi-Wan decided to finally speak up. "Hold on, I'm actually concerned about something as well."
"It's a little late to say so, Master Kenobi," Palpatine remarked.
"Better late than never, won't you agree, Chancellor?" Obi-Wan calmly threw back. "Anyways, what I'm concerned about is the amount of attention this rescue could possibly receive. If the 304th does find Trench on the moon but he contacts nearby allies on Raxus for help, are we willing to send in reinforcements to get the legion out of the system? I mean, we do want the captured clone back safe-and-sound, right?"
Palpatine was about to have it with these attempts to throw him off. He leniently nodded. "Yes, of course. But first, the legion would need to find and secure their captured comrade. Or there will be no additional help."
~ O O O ~
Now that Plo Koon had officially swapped places with the 304th, Aliyah, Steele, and the rest of the arrested clones on Coruscant, were let out of their cells. But they were still being kept under heavy watch. As soon as they left the discussion room, Steele went to the facility where the released clones were now staying at for preparation. He had to inform them of the plan thus far.
"I'll come with you," Aliyah offered.
"No, wait, Aliyah. I'd you to come with me, just a for a few minutes." Obi-Wan suddenly said. He ignored the suspicious looks from the accompanying Senate Guards and tried to give Aliyah an assuring look.
Aliyah tentatively agreed. "…Sure thing, Master Kenobi."
"Great. Well come along, I won't take up too much of your time." Obi-Wan gestured for Aliyah to follow him out of the building.
~ O O O ~
Wolffe got members of his own squad to help him look for Ahsoka, wherever she may be on Coruscant. They had to be discrete though. The Chancellor's already on sky-high surveillance for anyone seemingly out-of-place ever since the whole Fives's incident and even more so now. What they had going for them, was a string of hearsays based on the question of seeing a female teenaged Togruta as of late, and retracing the source of those rumours.
And after just a few hours of doing that, Wolffe's reached the industrial district of the planet. Specifically the level just below the main surface. He was following a drunk man's lead of a runaway Togruta making home here.
"I never understand runaways, what are they even thinking? Coruscant ain't friendly to those without firm roots at least somewhere," was what the drunk man told Wolffe.
The man was right. Coruscant was not the least bit friendly to people in unfortunate circumstances out of their control. Scouting around the level he was on, Wolffe wondered how the former Togruta Padawan was surviving day-by-day. She had no job, no home, no family. No way of getting off this planet—
"Get out of here, Wolffe."
Slowly, and gently, Wolffe turned around to see the very person he's been looking for. Ahsoka Tano, stood before him, in casual attire and had a tired but dead-serious expression on her face. She repeated what she had just said.
"You need to leave, alright? It's futile. My master already tried, it'll be no different with Plo Koon." Ahsoka insisted as she walked past Wolffe.
"I'm not here for that," Wolffe called after her. "I've come to apologize."
Ahsoka stopped in her tracks. Wolffe continued speaking, "You saved my life. Two of my best men's lives, and my general. And I helped to innocently convict you. I'm sorry."
Though she tried to put the entire Temple bombing incident behind her, Ahsoka was acknowledgeable of the apology. At the very least, not everyone thought bad of her after leaving. She turned around to see Wolffe reveal the artifact Plo regarded of high importance.
"That's—!"
"General Plo wanted me to show you this, and to apologize on his behalf. He regrets not being there for you, when you needed him most." Wolffe handed over the small relic to Ahsoka, who examined it dearly. "He said you'd know what this is."
"I do…" Ahsoka smiled genuinely for the first time in a long one. "I didn't think he'd keep it after all these years though."
"What is it?"
"The first thing I lifted using the Force." Fond memories stirred within Ahsoka. She didn't recall them herself, but he did recall Plo telling her of this event. "Apparently, I nearly dropped this toy right over Master Plo's head. That's when he discovered I was Force-sensitive and brought here to the Temple. I was really upset when I couldn't bring along the toy, Jedi rules that nothing of attachment to their previous life could be kept after joining the Order, but Plo made an exception for me. He didn't tell anyone and he kept the toy hidden in places only he knew. But knowing it wasn't left behind helped me calm down and integrate into my new life. And after the years, I eventually let go of it. Didn't think Plo was still keeping it safe in his possession this whole time. I guess even the grandest of Masters aren't perfect."
No. They really aren't. And I'm glad about that. Wolffe thought. "General Plo's in trouble right now."
"What? What happened?" Ahsoka exclaimed.
"He's got himself caught in a web of lies. The Chancellor, the Kaminoans, they know something they don't want the rest of us to know, especially the Jedi, for some reason." Wolffe wondered how this all came to be as he explained the best he could to Ahsoka. "What's started as a simple reclaiming mission led to one clone going insane, another one becoming too curious, and more and more following in his footsteps. Plo put his life up for gamble for Korentayer's and her men's sake."
It was a lot to take in, Wolffe understood that. He gave Ahsoka some time to process everything as best as she could. "Now the only way he can be freed, is if the 304th are successful in rescuing their kidnapped captain from Admiral Trench."
Ahsoka slowly nodded in understanding. "Why are you telling me all of this?"
"Because General Plo said to find you for help. He didn't say anything specific as to how or why, he just said to find you." Wolffe pleaded with the former Jedi Padawan and 501st commander. "You're the only one he trusts right now."
~ O O O ~
Obi-Wan led Aliyah to a secluded section of outside just out of the Senatorial district. There, he greeted his fellow attendee for this short private little session, Anakin Skywalker.
"Obi-Wan! Took you long enough, Kix and I've been waiting for quite some time." Anakin held up his holopad displaying the hologram of Kix, one his best medical officers.
"Show a little more appreciation will you? It's already difficult enough for us, think about how difficult it already is, for Aliyah here." Obi-Wan brought forth the Jedi recently accused of treason forward.
"Aliyah," Anakin greeted politely. He looked at her sympathetically. "How've you been?"
"…I've been better," Aliyah answered.
"I can see. Anyways," Anakin cleared his throat, "my medic here, Kix, told me that Dogma was asking him some things about Fives a few days ago. He wanted to know what happened with him, starting from Ringo Vinda all the way to Coruscant. Days later, Dogma and all of you are arrested for treason against the Republic. Kix doesn't believe this is a coincidence. He has a theory in mind, but he wants a little confirmation from someone in the 304th. Are you able to provide that?"
Aliyah lifted her forearm and pulled down her sleeve. Revealing a small listening comm that doubled as a tracker on her wrist. This little thing will stay on her until the rescue mission tomorrow.
She shook her head sadly, "I cannot. I'm sorry."
Obi-Wan understood how difficult of a place he and Anakin were currently putting Aliyah in. He was about to put an end to this little meeting before Kix spoke up. "General Korentayer. Fives, Dogma, everyone that's involved, were they good soldiers?"
"No. No, they weren't." Aliyah said while nodding directly at the hologram, contradicting her statement. "They never wanted to do what's right, and they never wanted to free their brothers. We've something horribly wrong, and now we must face the consequences for it."
Kix took note of that. It was time he started looking into this as well. Obi-Wan escorted Aliyah back to the rest of her legion.
~ O O O ~
It has been 30 seconds since Steele went over the entirety of the transport and drop-off plan with everyone at the planning facility. And as expected, none of them were happy with how it was all laid out for them.
"At the very least, they can send some of us back to HQ to round up the different battalions they'll be sending in," Vito muttered. "Sending them in leaderless is a recipe for disaster."
Several of the surrounding clones nodded and vocalized their agreement. Steele understood their feelings, he felt this too when Tarkin was explaining this to him back in the discussion place.
"There's not much we can do about this," he tried reasoning with his officers. "We're backed in a corner with no way out but to accept the help of those against us. Once we have a better plan on the Raxan moon, we'll stick with that. But until then, we need to believe in our brothers, that they have the skills and the companionship, to carry themselves to survival."
Everyone in the room could hear the reluctant confidence their commander was putting on for their sakes. He knew how shitty their situation was. But he wasn't backing down in this face of hopelessness. They only had each other right now, and if they stopped trusting in each other, any chances of their victory would be crushed.
They hoped. They hoped that right now at Kamino HQ, the rest, and the majority of their legion's forces, were thinking of this as well. And sure enough, they were. Lama Su hoped that after learning of the plan would taint their morale drastically, but it did the exact opposite. Even without their commanding officers, the soldiers of the 304th would continue moving forward.
They'll continue moving forward, until their kidnapped brother is back. And until their adversaries are gone.
"This'll likely be our last mission." Steele acknowledged every person he's fought beside in this room. From the days of Krell to the days of Aliyah, to these final days. "DON'T ANY OF YOU DARE DIE ON ME!"
Instantly, the entire room erupted in a loud cry. It was so great that it shook the floors, the walls. Even Compass, whose leg was finally healed enough to stand properly, threw away his crutches and shouted at the top of his lungs. Next to him, Egad and Dogma held onto him for support. Out of everyone here, they and the commander were the ones who knew why they were in this situation. They cried louder than anyone in this room.
They will get Kal back. They have to. Or else…
Aliyah entered the cheering room and was shook by what she saw. She joined in on the cries.
~ O O O ~
Inside the bridge of his lab-ship, Trench just got off a call with Count Dooku. He summoned Dr. Elav to the bridge.
"You wanted to see me, Admiral?" Dr. Elav asked as he walked up towards him.
"It seems that there will be a rescue after all, for our clone subject," Trench explained.
The doctor did best to hide his relief. "Oh? Should we leave?"
"Count Dooku wants us to remain here. We'll only leave when there's no other choice." Trench put his hands together and rested his mandibles against it thoughtfully. "Let the clones come to us. We'll greet them with a grand welcome party."
Next time on The Clone's Hero, the rescue mission is underway, and but there are more players than just the legion and Trench's forces…
A/N. I know I took a long hiatus between chapters 2 and 3, but I just want everyone to know I'm back! And I'm trying to be back for good. If you're still here, please let me know with a review or a pm. To those who reviewed last chapter, thanks! I now know that you're still here. This is the final arc of this story, so I'd really like it if you guys can stick with me. It'd mean a lot. Thanks!
I hope you liked this chapter and would be willing to leave a review, fav, or follow, if you can!
See you all next time! :)
- MiraLake