Hello! Yes, I'm still alive. I've been slowly digging myself out of the grave over the past week+couple of days. Trust me, you do NOT want to know what I've been through. *Shivers*. But I'm very happy to finally be back and present to you chapter 3 of the final arc! Happy reading! :D

Exchange of Positions (Final pt3)

Sometimes, there isn't a way out and we just make do with what we can, until a new path comes through

Trench was getting impatient. It had an entire day since the initial body scans on the clone and they were barely getting any progress done. He blamed this fully on his head scientist. In fact, he was going to see him right this instant.

"DR. ELAV!" Trench boomed as he entered the break room of the laboratory building.

The middle-aged male Twi'lek—Dr. Rol Elav—looked up from his table where he was smoking his pipe. "What?" He vexingly asked.

"Why are you taking a break right now!?" Trench demanded. "I thought I told you I wanted some updates on the clone!"

"You can't rush science, Admiral," Dr. Elav explained while relighting his pipe. "The subject's body needs rest after everything that's happened. Otherwise, we risk killing him." He took a long puff from his pipe and blew out.

That only made Trench angrier. "And no smoking here!"

"Why not?" Dr. Elav put away his pipe, clearly pissed off at this point. "This is my lab!"

"This is my ship!" Trench retorted.

"Which is currently being used as my lab!"

Trench had had enough. He walked up to Dr. Elav's table and leaned down, menacingly towards him. "Remember who's in charge here," Trench reminded in a low voice "If you can't do your job right. I'll find someone who can."

"Good luck finding that someone," Dr. Elav said, unmoved by the display of intimidation. Trench had no words for that. Truth was, Rol Elav was one of the best of the best amongst the CIS scientific community, and Dooku would be far from pleased if he were to suddenly drop from this project.

The renowned Separatist Admiral was silent as the distinguished Separatist doctor stood up from the table. "Fine. I'll go check on the clone subject. Perhaps that would put your mind to ease, Admiral?"

Dr. Elav walked out of the room.

~ O O O ~

The conversation with Palpatine was still fresh in Steele's mind after he was escorted back to his cell and left alone once again. "Whether you fail or succeed in retrieving CT-7701 in time will determine how much the Jedi have left to live. Best start deciding now"…"Plo Koon shall be detained in you and your men's stead and suffer the consequences should you all fail."

How am I supposed to choose when all you give me are lose-lose options?

Steele forced himself to keep himself awake. The last thing he wanted to do was sleep on this. This crossroad offered by Palpatine was just a two-way path to the same destination. The only difference was that one's longer than the other. But that didn't matter. At least to Steele it didn't. Because in both paths, Aliyah would end up dead, most likely by his hands.

He barely had time to think more before the guards came in again. "You have a visitor."

The only thing Steele had in mind when the guard said that was, I'm allowed visitors?

~ O O O ~

Steele soon understood why the concept of visitors was even considered for the likes of him. The place where the guards took him was heavily monitored. There was a single chair for him to sit, along with a comm receiver and a transparent screen separating him from his visitor: Wolffe.

"You two have up to an hour," one of the guards on duty said. He turned on the monitoring system. "Say anything out of bounds and you'll wish you didn't."

The guard walked out of the room before Steele sat down in front of the screen and turned on the comm receiver. Wolffe was the one to initiate the conversation.

"Hey, it's good to see you still in one piece."

"Depends on your definition of 'one piece,'" Steele said without going into too much detail.

Wolffe looked tentatively at a camera lens on his side of the room. It was watching him closely, very closely. He wondered if what he was about to discuss counted as 'out of bounds'. It was a hassle just to make this visit happen. And now that it was happening, the last thing Wolffe wanted to get Steele into more trouble.

"Do you have any idea what my general's doing right now? To get you guys all outta here?" Wolffe finally asked.

Both he and Steele waited a few seconds to see if the guards monitoring this room were going to do anything. Nothing happened. So both assumed it was alright to continue this topic.

"I have some notion," Steele answered half-truthfully. If Wolffe really did know what deal Plo's made with Palpatine, he didn't need him to repeat it again here. It was painful enough as it was.

"So you know that he's willing to swap places with all of you so you could save your kidnapped captain?" Wolffe added.

Steele slowly nodded. "…Yeah."

"You're going to save him, right?"

"Who are you referring to—"

"—Your captain!" Wolffe sharply cut Steele off mid-question. "And my general, by extension of that. He'll only be released if you get your captain back."

Steele was brought back to the dilemma he was going through before coming here. Except this time, he had to say something. For Wolffe's sake. "I'd be playing right into the Chancellor's hands."

"You'd be playing into his hands, either way!" Wolffe tried to convince. He knew just as well as anyone that Palpatine had something sinister whether or not Steele and co. succeeds in rescuing Kal. "Look, I'm not telling you to trust the Chancellor or anything, but right now. Too many people I care about are either behind bars or are about to be! There doesn't seem to be much for any of us to do in this situation!"

It was true. This was a shitty situation. And Wolffe and everyone else outside doesn't even know half of it. Steele took a good measure of his friend, his colleague, his same-blood brother. "What are you asking of me?"

"I'm asking, if I can put my trust in you to succeed, just as my general has done." Before Steele could say something, Wolffe lightly tapped the bottom of the stand separating the two of them with his foot. It was soft enough to avoid being picked up by mics, but hard enough for Steele to realize he was being relayed a message. From the way the stands were set up, any activity below their chairs was hidden away from the cameras.

The message: And I'm asking, that you put your trust in me too.

Steele understood. Perhaps sometimes, there really was no choice but to choose from the pit of bad options. But that didn't mean hope won't come later down the road. And with the promise of outside help or potential allies, he decided it'd be best to choose the path of longer distance.

"You can trust me to get Kal back," Steele answered. Wolffe took note of that.

As soon as the visit was over, Steele asked the guards to relay a quick message to the Chancellor. He needed to inform him of his final decision: they were going to rescue Kal.

What the Chancellor didn't know was that they were going also going to rescue themselves.

~ O O O ~

The Jedi Council members were called to a sudden meeting with the Chancellor in their tower. He had some urgent announcements to tell all of them. Even before entering the room for the call, the Masters knew what Palpatine had come to conclude.

"I have decided, to accept your offer, Master Plo Koon," the hologram of Palpatine announced to Plo—and the entirety of the Council. "As agreed upon, you shall be detained, and the arrested legion shall be released to remove the compromised CT-7701, from Confederacy hands."

The entire Council was disturbed by this update—save for Plo Koon. He merely nodded in response, like the Jedi Master he's expected to live up to be. "Of course. Just as we agreed upon. Nothing out of the discussed matters."

It was barely a call-out, but Palpatine knew Plo was far from not suspecting him. Luckily, the Kel Dor Master's own conflict between his Jedi morals and undeniable attachment to his former apprentice, kept Palpatine safe from the accusatory zone.

"You said the arrested legion would be released to rescue CT-7701," Mace Windu pointed out. "I'm assuming that you've already found where his location is?"

"I have, yes," Palpatine confirmed, he swiftly replaced his hologram self with a detailed map of the very system Kal was located on. "My spies have informed earlier today that the clone has been found in the Tion Hegemony sector. Just a couple of parsecs away from Raxus Secundus on a sparsely-populated moon."

Immediately the entire Council sat straight. Raxus Secundus was the capital planet of the Separatists. And ever since the failed peace negotiation, planetary defence and security increased. Whatever covert or reconnaissance missions that were once possible to make there would be nearly impossible now—forget about a full-fledged rescue.

Yoda was no fool. He could see this was something the legion would likely not walk out of alive. And that would translate to Plo Koon surely getting the consequences originally meant for them.

"How to transport the legion to the Raxan moon, mind I ask, will you?" The elder Jedi Master questioned.

"The same way you Jedi managed to transport Republic weapons onto the former Separatist world of Onderon," Palpatine explained with slight disdain, "the pirates. Provided that Master Kenobi can convince our on-again-off-again Florum allies, to do this job for us? It is still possible, right, Master Kenobi?"

Obi-Wan mentally prepared himself for another future conversation with the morally questionable Pirate Captain. "Yes, Hondo can indeed be persuaded for the job…'for the right price', is what he'd might add."

Palpatine waved his hand in dismissal. "Price is no concern of ours. When it comes to patching potential leaks, the Republic must put that above all else."

However, Plo was more so concerned with the execution of this rescue. And the preparation going into it. "How long will Aliyah and her men get for preparations? Are they even aware of this deal being made between the two of us?"

"No, not yet. The only one I've discussed this with, is the arrested commander, CC-3484," Palpatine explained.

"How come?" Plo asked.

"For the rescue to succeed, I'd need the legion's compliance, which means I'd need their commanding officer's compliance."

"Aliyah is their general—"

"—and a Jedi," Palpatine crisply added. "Who seems a bit emotionally unstable as of late." Plo was quiet, he knew if were to try and defend Aliyah's actions—whatever they may be—he'd be put on the spot by the entire Council. Palpatine knew that too. "I'm not saying that I don't trust her enough to lead. I'm saying that I trust her commander to make the bigger decisions that will affect the mission's outcome, in a positive way."

Because her life is precious to him, he'd do whatever it takes, to succeed in rescuing his fellow brother-in-arm, and delay Order 66. Palpatine mentally added. "As for preparations, I'm afraid I can't trust any of them enough to make the entire plan from start-to-finish themselves. So here's what I have in store. I'll have my personal military advisors and tacticians make the plan for transporting the legion there and how they'll meet up once on the moon. After that, it'll be up to them to pinpoint where CT-7701 is being held, and how they're going to get him out."

But that still didn't answer Plo's initial question of how long the legion will get for preparations. "So how many days exactly?"

"One," Palpatine answered immediately, to the silent shock of the Council Masters. "They'll get exactly one day for preparations. Starting tomorrow."

Tomorrow. That was too soon. Plo leaned forward in his seat and rested his arms against his lap, a million thoughts racing through his mind. How in the galaxy did they get into this mess?

"Enjoy today while it lasts, Master Plo Koon," Palpatine said in false comfort. "It might as well be your last night of freedom."

The hologram of Palpatine dissipated. The call was over.

~ O O O ~

Hours after the call with the Chancellor, the Council Masters tried again to talk Plo out of this sentence exchange.

"It's not too late to change the Chancellor's mind, Master Plo!" Kit Fisto pleaded. "Please, listen to us."

Behind him, the majority of Jedi Masters gave Plo the sympathetic yet demanding look. But Plo wasn't in the mood for any more disagreeing. "I don't want to spend my last night of freedom arguing with any of you. Please."

"Then what do you want to do?" Mace carefully asked.

Plo was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "Have a private chat, with my former Padawan."

~ O O O ~

In the same cell holding Compass and his fellow brother-in-arms, a silent game of Sabaac was going down. Ever since the verbal hassle with the PA guard, the sympathetic Coruscant Guard tried to make things slightly easier for them. Including giving them the card game.

It wasn't much to deter the clones from their current situation, but it was enough.

Just as Compass was about to make another risky bet, the door to their cell unlocked. Everyone tensed. Looks like it was time for another one of them to go to the interrogation block again. They each prayed that they wouldn't get paired with Tarkin.

But when the door opened, it wasn't just an entourage of guards standing there. It was an entourage, with Steele standing at the front.

"Commander…"

Compass and several others stood up simultaneously. It felt almost surreal seeing their commander standing well-and-alive before them.

"I've got some major updates for all of you," Steele announced, sounding cautious due to the intense stares of the guards behind him. He took a deep breath. "We're going to rescue Kal."

The Sabaac cards all unceremoniously fell to the floor. A mixture of shock and excitement filled the room, sprinkled on top with a little bit of fear.

"It's been decided already," Steele explained further. "General Plo is going to take our place and we'll have until an unforeseen time to get Kal out of Trench's hands, otherwise things will just get much worse for us. More will be discussed starting tomorrow. So get a good night's rest and don't stress too much about what'll happen, it'll all make sense sooner or later."

The guards took Steele back from the door and locked it again. Leaving the clones inside to their thoughts.

That was only the first of several other cells Steele was escorted to visit. Each time, he'd announce this new development. And each time, he'd get responded with the same expression—just a few notches of difference in between. He even had to make a call to Kamino, where the rest of his men were being kept under 24/7 surveillance by the Republic, and inform them of their assigned rescue mission. All the clones of the legion were thinking the same thing: ecstatic that they'll be going to free their kidnapped comrade, scared that the Chancellor was freely allowing this to happen.

The last place Steele was escorted to visit was Aliyah's cell. This time, instead of being led in by the entourage of guards, Steele was escorted by none other than Palpatine himself.

Steele could barely breathe when Palpatine slowly unlocked the door to Aliyah's cell and gestured for him to enter. He swore, he saw another flash of a smirk from that monstrous man before the door closed behind him as soon as he entered the cell. In front of him was an unkempt Aliyah, lying on the elevated metal bench. He swiftly made his way towards her and attempted to help her up.

But Aliyah wasn't exactly bright-eyed upon seeing who it was in front of her. "No…I don't need any more of these stupid 'prophetic' visions."

"Not a vision," Steele answered softly, he helped her into an upright sitting position. "I'm really here."

"…Steele…"

Aliya's eyes gradually regained its usual lustre. And she felt a faint bloom of joy she hadn't felt in awhile. But that joy was quickly demolished upon feeling the dark sinister presence of Palpatine just outside the door. She tried hard to direct all her attention to the man kneeling before her.

"What are you doing here? How've you been—how have any of you been?"

"Don't worry about that right now," Steele assured as best as he could. It was difficult sounding calm when there was a popper-sized lump in one's throat. "I'm here to tell you we're being released soon."

"What?"

"We're being sent out to retrieve Kal wherever he is. And General Plo will stay here…until we do so."

Aliyah looked at him closely. Her mind and ears weren't fooling her. As painful as it was hearing what fate Plo Koon had put himself to for their sake, she kept it bottled. "Who's telling me this? You, or the Chancellor?"

The door behind them opened and Palpatine looked in menacingly.

~ O O O ~

Dr. Elav picked up a finished syringe filled with clear-viscous liquid. He made his way towards the chair where his clone patient was tied upon. His fellow colleagues and assistant med-droids watched closely.

"Now hold still," Dr. Elav ordered while positioning the needle above the clone.

But Kal resisted, causing the doctor to miss. The doctor tried again. And the clone resisted again. This went on for a couple of seconds more. The other medical workers were starting to get concerned and Dr. Elav was starting to get impatient. He forcefully put a hand on the clone's jaw.

"I said, hold still—!"

Crash!

Kal pulled back from Dr. Elav's grip, which inadvertently caused the syringe to fall out of the Twi'lek's hands and onto the floor. It shattered into a mass of pieces. Rol Elav tore his eyes away from the liquid formula spilling around the broken syringe glass and turned back to his clone patient, who seemed a bit shocked—but nevertheless, determined.

The entire room went silent. All the medical workers waited for their chief experiment officer to make an order of sedation. But that didn't happen. Instead, Dr. Elav removed his gloves, his safety goggles, and protective coat. He ordered everyone to leave.

"Enough for today," Dr. Elav announced while taking out his pipe and lighter. "Chem-team, go back to the procedure room and make another batch of that formula. Follow my recipe exactly and nothing should go wrong." He looked at the shattered syringe on the floor. "Make 6 extra batches just in case."

The referenced team members nodded and left the room. Along with the rest of the staff and helper droids. Soon, it was just the Twi'lek doctor and the clone subject. The doctor soon left, but returned with a set of safety disposal tools. He began cleaning up the broken syringe glass.

"Kriffing hell…" Dr. Elav muttered as he carefully put away the sharp shards. Hearing that triggered some painful memories for Kal. That was something the commander often said. He turned his head away despite being strapped and restrained tightly.

As soon as the floor was cleaned and spotless, Rol Elav took a seat at a table just across where Kal was being held. He attempted to make conversation for reasons not clear to even himself. "It'd be easier on all of us if you had just stayed still."

"'All of us?'" Kal muttered incredulously under his breath. He glowered at the doctor. "No. Just you."

Dr. Elav took a long draw from his pipe and shook his head in response. "That formula was something akin to surgery sedatives. It numbs your body from reception to pain while not knocking you out to sleep. An invention of my own if I may add, and it would've given you an easier time if Trench ever wants more injective experiments to be done to you while you're awake and conscious."

To say Kal was moved would be a lie. But it would also be a lie to say he wasn't the least bit relieved that someone was decent enough to take his feelings into consideration. Genuine or not.

"If you're that disturbed by what happened on the first day, why not just let me go?" Kal asked. He knew it was a stupid request, but it was worth a shot.

"And bring the entire Republic here? I'm sympathetic, not suicidal," Dr. Elav seethed. "Doesn't matter what you say about me, I'm a Separatist by all of their definitions, so it'll be the shooting block by the end of the day."

Kal remembered what happened to the ex-Separatists they brought in from the datachip heist. None of them lasted a week. Dr. Elav was right in assuming he'll get the same treatment as Trench if the Republic does come to retrieve him. He moved on from that topic.

"Ryloth is a Republic World, why are you working for Trench?"

A flittering sadness filled Rol Elav's eyes. He shook the painful memories away. "Ryloth is just another front for war. While the Republic fights the CIS, the freedom fighters fight the loyalists. Funny, how one war come bring along more wars." The Twi'lek finally put his pipe away. "I became a doctor to help people. When I couldn't help the people of my homeworld, I left. When I couldn't help the people of the Republic, I left. And here I thought, in the allegiance where people promise fair governance and equality, I could finally help someone's life for the better. A fool I am."

Kal was speechless. He wasn't entirely sympathetic to the one who caused him undisputable pain but he could see where he was coming from. "Doctor…"

"'Doctor.' I've relinquished all rights to that title the day I allowed Trench to go through with this experiment." Elav stood up from the table and checked the time. Trench would be wanting updates soon. He prepared to move Kal back into the hibernation chamber.

"CT-7701 is my number, Kal is my name."

"Why are you telling me this?" Elav asked as he moved Kal from the chair to the automated machine that would put him into the pod for hibernation.

"Doctors have a right to know their patient's name."

~ O O O ~

Palpatine didn't have much to say after opening the door to Aliyah's cell. He had the guards take Steele back to his while he himself, escorted the Jedi to a different block in the building. Aliyah was surprised to pass by a number of Council Masters as she and Palpatine walked towards their final destination.

"Here we are," Palpatine stopped in front of a more elaborately decorated cell door. He gestured for the nearby guards to unlock it. "Master Plo Koon is inside. He wishes to have a private chat with you before he is locked away for good tomorrow. Because of everything he's done for the Republic and the war effort, I've removed all listening comms from this cell. Feel free to talk to your heart's contente."

Aliyah wasn't given the chance to get a word in before she was shoved into the cell where her former Master was currently residing. Plo was sitting on a cushioned bench and gestured for Aliyah to come next to him.

"Sit. Let's talk."

The young Jedi tentatively took a seat beside the Kel Dor Master. She wasn't too sure how to initiate the conversation. Luckily for her, Plo did.

"I remember when I first took you in. Wandering and confused, unsure of how the world is supposed to work, let alone the world of the Jedi. And now I see you here, accused of treason against the Republic." Plo leaned down a little. "What happened?"

Despite what Palpatine told her of removing all listening comms, Aliyah knew he was still listening on them somehow. There was no way he wouldn't be. "I wandered too far, I questioned too much. I've become too confused."

"Confused in what way?"

"Every way possible for a Jedi."

"Because of someone you've become attached to?" Plo suddenly brought up. "Someone in your legion, perhaps?"

Aliyah looked away, further cementing the tiny speculation Plo had let grow ever since the night Wolffe confessed the truth to him. "…And General Korentayer…I got her involved by telling what Steele's been up to…I thought she'd be able to talk some sense into him. Because he's important to her."

The key word in the sentence was 'important', otherwise Wolffe would've left it out. He knew what was up. And now, Plo had an idea of it too.

"Aliyah, I need you to look at me in the eye and tell me. Do you love him?"

There was a brief flicker in the Jedi's eyes and a slight downward glance, as if she was about to recoil back to the doctrines that were pushed into her at an early age. But she resisted and looked up at Plo in the eye, and nodded. She loved Steele. She loved him…so much. It was the kind of love that would get her expelled if the rest of the Council knew.

Plo sat back in their shared seat and let this slowly sink in. "I see…"

Aliyah wasn't sure what she heard in Plo's voice. Was it disappointment? Conflict? Sympathy? Whatever it was, she wasn't going to let it affect her resolve from here on out. Plo put himself in this position to give her a chance. To give her and her men a chance. It was an opportunity to save all those she cared about, and she intended to. Everyone, she cared about.

She moved forward and took Plo's hand in both of hers. Away from the prying eyes of the Jedi and the Republic, she finally released her deep emotional tie to her former Master—surrogate-father.

"I'm going to get you out of here. I promise."

Plo put his free hand on top of Aliyah's and nodded. "Don't die while doing it."

Next time on The Clone's Hero, preparations for Kal's rescue is being done…by everyone who is involved…

Review responses~ (For some reason, I was unable to send pm's over the past couple of weeks, so I was unable to reply to any review made by a non-guest. But it's working again now, so I'll be replying to EVERYONE's reviews tonight! Hooray!)

Radicalewe3: I'm so glad to hear the break did wonders to you! I only hope that I can get a break soon too! (Not from writing but from work :P)

DojoYoyo: Plo is gonna gamble, but knowing this story follows canon timeline, you can guess his outcome. :)

A/N. That was the longest non-in-between-arc hiatus I've probably taken. Now that things at work have settled down a leeeeeeetttttle bit, I hope to get back on schedule for writing and releasing chapters. Thank you all for being so patient and understanding! And even more so to those of you who left such lovely reviews! *Hugs and kisses to you all*

See you all next time! And don't forget to fav, follow, or review if you can! :)

- MiraLake