Holy Hell, that was one damn long hiatus. I can only apologize really, there are just too many reasons as to why it's been so long (University, new full-time job, house renovations, etc.) Now though, things are starting to calm down and I am finally able to write this story again.
Just for this one chapter and maybe the next one, I ask you to forgive any minor continuity errors since it has been such a long time since I wrote the last whole chapter there will probably be some small things I do by mistake. Anyway, we are now back in and I hope you all enjoy it. Just a note though that I am working on this and A New Path at the same time so I will probably alternate between which one I write and post.
The replies section for this will be a bit longer for obvious reasons.
Replies to CH20 -
PM - Can't tell you what is going to happen to Fives or Kix, I do know that in Canon, Kix ends up frozen in some kind of cryo tube and woken up many years later after the clone wars have long sinced passed but considering how much of this story has differed from the main plotline I can say with certainty that, that will not happen.
Guest - Yeah I know how long the story has gone without an update and I hate that I let it go so far, I promised myself that I wouldn't become what I hated the most on this site (People who write large stories like this and then just leave them unfinished) I'll try to not let it happen again.
DCDGojira - Thanks a lot
Chadbunger - Cheers for the feedback, it's just an idea I had while reading through some other Halo stories.
Heart of Shepard - Thank you and when it comes to Halo and Mass effect crossovers it would be a bit of a challenge since I am not as knowledgeable in that as I am in Halo. I'll think about that once MOR is done.
WPUchezem23 - Somewhat valid point but I would say they didn't have enough time and there was no way the UNSC was about to just back down and turn tail after everything they just discovered. Also since this was the rewrite of the awful first opening, I am not changing it again.
Eduardobarroso050 - Yo también, pero la historia de Halo tendrá que continuar como lo está haciendo actualmente con Infinite.
DojoYoyo - Well it depends on how the UNSC would even view the chips from an ethical standpoint, would they use them, destroy them, expose them...who knows, well I do of course but I can't reveal it until I do.
Chronus1326 - Thank you and the disarmament of the halo arrays of course wasn't my decision but I still believe it is the right thing to do because unlike before the firing, the forerunners were the top species and there was no thought or risk of somebody else stumbling across them and using them as weapons in their own wars...mostly. So the UNSC can't risk them falling into and being used by anybody else no matter their intentions.
The Dark Sapphire - Yeah well I can only apologise for that, that whole chapter was only meant to be a sort of mini-chapter to fill in the time between 2 and 4. That actually will come up later with the UNSC intelligence noticing that the tactics and units used by the CIS are not as sloppy and useless as when the war first started for them.
SonicStreak5344 - Sorry, no chief in this one. There are already a lot of those so I wanted to do one with OG halo characters and less-known ones whose history isn't fully explained.
Borg Collective - Mate, the war ended years ago and also, no part of the Cole Protocol specifies that Human history can't be revealed. Its only purpose is to make it as close to impossible to locate Earth or any of her colonies. As well as that, they were there at the senate trying to create an alliance and grow an inter-government relationship.
TheRightPrice - I know about that, it was one of my regrets when I first wrote them, I tried to extend in the 1st and 2nd chapter re-writes but with the next few chapters in a similar style, it would have required redoing at the latest half of the entire story.
Scarease - Quite possibly but the clone army was nowhere near the size of the Empire's since the former took 8-10 years for a single solider to grow train while the latter used countless humans both volunteers and conscriptions so I think in the clone war period, the UNSC outnumbers the Clone Army.
Aisen546 - Cheers mate, knowing what I know now, I'd go back and change a shit ton but I'm glad that some people still like it.
Kirosyamcha - Right, should have expected this given the appalling regular and Geopolitical knowledge most of you Americans have. The reason why most of us (British and European) were interested and then happy about it is that it is better to have a senile old man in charge instead of a literal fucking child. Don't worry though, we still have our daily sigh of relief when we remember we're not American.
No offence to the Americans on here that are actually intelligent, I know you're not all like this.
Chapter Twenty-One: Trust
Multiple warnings and sensor readings flickered through the control panels as the incoming enemy blaster fire gnawed away at the standard energy shielding of the Condor. Captain Jack had quickly taken control of the main forward cannon and pulled up the tracking systems for it before calling out targets to Jun and Cadmon who were already pulling several back-breaking manoeuvres to try and avoid the incoming fire with the shields taking the brunt of it.
"I count four modified Super battle droids and a single missile droid gunship," He started as he opened fire with the near thousand rounds per second canons.
With a tracer round placed every three bullets in the ammunition belt the space between them at the advancing enemy was filled with golden light blazing towards the droids at the drag-free super high velocity. He only managed to eliminate one of the four droids though, with the stream of bullets that looked several meters long, before the other three started moving evasively at random intervals with small but powerful micro boosters.
As they got closer and closer to the ship, Jun noticed from the cockpit that they were not heading directly for the Condor but as an escort. "Condor to escort, B2's are heading straight for you, take evasive action!" He warned
The fighter pilots in their ARC-170's all banked out of the way once they heard the warning, rolling in rapid succession they nearly all dodged the incoming droids by less than a meter. Unfortunately, the Clone fighter closest to the front of the formation was a half-second too slow and caught the droid on his right side wing, destroying the droid but also shearing the wing from its mounting. In a blind second of luck, the fighters' fuel and the magazine didn't ignite and the cockpit was still safe from the vacuum of space.
The droids were down to two but once they had passed the Condor and the three remaining ARCs were out of the way, the two automated blaster cannons at the rear of the ship finally had a target and the near-smart AI-level targeting system picked up the two droids and tracked them to within a millimetre and created a firing solution all within the same nanosecond. It fired at the needlepoint laser pulse was fired, lighting up the end of the barrel and travelling close to the speed of light, they went right through the droid's shell and then some before dissipating, all before they even had a chance to recognise the ordnance.
There was still the threat of the gunship however and as the two ships' distance from each other shrank from one another being barely visible to seemingly right on the edge of colliding in a demolishing strike, within the cockpit of the Condor both Jun and Cadmon were about to bail out of there forward manoeuvre as hard as they could, preparing themselves to push there own limbs and the ship's hydraulics to breaking point when all of a sudden, from the centre console of Cadmons panel surface the amber, LED indicator for the slipspace drive navigation computer switched to green.
"Lieutenant, slipspace drive is-" Cadmon attempted to inform Jun of the development but his comrade in arms had seen it too and accessed the ship's engine systems as he shouted midway through Cadmons notice, "Jump now!" He yelled.
Cadmon lunged for the activation control of the drive and did so simultaneously as Jun overrode the safety mechanisms of the engines thrusters and increased their power by nearly double, the effects were felt almost instantly as the two pilots were momentarily pinned to the back of their seats in a move that any UNSC pilot or engineer would call suicide. Concurrently with their temporary newfound speed, the portal to slipstream space opened just a few dozen meters ahead of them and before either Jun or Cadmon could even see it for a full second they had blazed right through the portal into the relative safety of slipspace.
Unable to reduce its speed or change its course in time, the droid gunship was swept right into the slipstream gateway as it snap shut on them, sending half the gunship into empty space and the other half into pure oblivion.
On the Condor, once they had escaped the battle Jun re-engaged the ship's engines' safety which brought the thruster output back down to their standard cruising speed. Upon checking the ship's systems, Jun opened the main ship comm, "Captain, we've entered slipspace, is everyone okay back there?" He asked.
"Affirmative, Jun" Captain Jack responded back with a slight groan.
"Brace warning might have been nice," Jun heard one of the clones say.
"Ship status?" Captain Jack asked.
"Standby…Minor hull damage sir, the shields took the brunt of it though, all other subsystems are fully operational sir, ETA to Kamino is three hours twenty-seven minutes,". Jun reported
"Understood, notify me of any further developments," Captain Jack ordered.
"Yes Sir," Jun replied.
Having evaded the attack and reaching safety the clones and portion of fireteam Resolute inside the fuselage lowered their guard and took up various positions while still keeping their eyes on Tup who was still sedated on the hover-stretcher.
Kix detached the medical tablet from the side of the stretcher to monitor Tup's vitals, as he went over them Captain Jack approached him from the central command console, "Any breakthroughs?" He asked somewhat hopeful.
"No Sir," Kix said shaking his head.
Jack sighed and turned to the unconscious clone, "What happened to you?" He asked rhetorically.
"If anyone can find out it'll be the Kaminoans," Kix said.
From what he had been told and from what he had seen, Jack wasn't the most cheerful person when it came to the clone army's creators. "What's your opinion of them?" He asked.
Kix turned to him, "The Kaminoans Sir?" He said nonplussed.
Jack nodded confirmingly, "Well they're our creators, without them, we wouldn't be here". Kix replied.
"Yes but it's not like any of you had the choice, they made you as soldiers to fight for the Republic whether you like it or not, a droid army is one thing but myself and even quite a few UEG senators have less than praiseful thoughts about it," Jack responded.
"I'm…not entirely sure sir, it's not something the Republic or the Senate wants to talk about," Kix said apprehensively.
Jack crossed his arms and briefly looked towards Jesse and Fives, "One day soon Kix this war is going to end, they won't have much choice but to address it then". He said.
Three and a half hours later
The three and a half hours went by quickly and before long Cadmon altered the crew as to their impending destination, "Captain, we're only a few minutes out".
"Copy that" Captain Jack acknowledged through the open comm.
The attending clones stood back in their original positions around Tup while Jesse, Rookie and Kix retrieved their gear and prepared to move Tup off the ship.
"Fives?" Jack said getting his attention.
Fives instinctively stood to attention and dropped the tablet he was currently reading from to one side. "Something wrong?" He asked.
"No, Sorry Sir I was just reading a message from command" Fives responded.
"Our Command?" Jack asked.
"Uh Yes, Sir, it had Admiral Lasky's and Musa Ghanem's signature, I'm not familiar with him but it was addressed to me only sir," Fives said slightly withdrawn.
Jack raised one of his eyebrows, "Only you? I trust you as my second in command Fives but I'm starting to wonder if there's something Highcom knows that I don't," Jack pondered
"It's classified to anyone else sir, I don't know why," Fives said.
"Very well, If Admiral Lasky or anyone else had something to tell me, they'd do so, get your gear Fives, we're moving out momentarily," He ordered.
Fives dropped his stance and deactivated the tablet before rejoining his team and retrieving his weapons and gear.
Captain Jack followed him soon after now wondering if something was going on between his second in command and his superiors that they didn't want him to know about. All he knew for sure was that Fives looked concerned about whatever information he had just received.
Preparing to come out of slipspace, everyone inside the ship went over their equipment and stood in their position at the ready to remove Tup from the ship once they had arrived. As the team leader and highest-ranking officer on board, Spartan Captain Jack was no exception, he went over all of his hardlight weapons and checked his armours status via the internal computer systems he accessed with his neural implant, a feature that was not present in his clone comrades armour due to the lack of a UNSC neural implant.
He knew he would have to approach the cockpit momentarily to check on the status of both the ship and their travel progress, for now though, he took one of the free seats that would normally be used to secure a person in for travel and caught his breath. Despite being in slipspace travel and out of any serious danger for many hours now, Spartans never really had any real time to rest as there were just too many places they needed to be and too few of them to be there.
Allowing himself just a few minutes of actual rest, he let his guard down against his Spartan instincts that had been branded into his brain during countless days, weeks and months of specialist training. On a few occasions such as this when he did manage to get a few precious moments, he felt a sensation of both fear and relaxation. Fear that he had let his guard down and that at any moment there would've been rouge sniper round or an incoming artillery strike. Relaxation did come to him, in the way that he could breathe and think at a normal rate that didn't involve combat.
Jack still felt exhausted though. Even though he was accustomed to it as a super soldier, fighting and running all over the place for weeks on end then suddenly resting for just a moment was like he had gone from falling through a planet's atmosphere to crashing into it at a million miles an hour.
Throughout his rest, Jack kept his helmet on as he didn't want his own men and the clones around him to see him with his eyes shut, as a high-ranking soldier it felt wrong to him. Forcing himself up from the seat, he walked towards the cockpit. Passing several clones as he did, Jack made sure to keep alert.
He opened the top cockpit door, the one where Cadmon was currently sitting. While an ODST at heart, he was the main designated pilot and made sure to take great care of their ship, a trait that was obvious by the high number of checks he was conducting on nearly every single system of the ship, from the weapons and shields to the lights and waste disposal.
"Status report, officer," Jack ordered, not being entirely sure if the officer in front of him had even heard him enter the cockpit.
"Yes Sir," Caedmon said as he turned the pilot's seat around, "No major damage to any of our systems and hull integrity is ninety-eight percent," Lasky reported.
"Ninety-eight? They must have dented a wing or something," Captain Jack summarised.
"Most likely Sir," Lasky responded.
"ETA to Kamino?" Jack asked.
Only needing it to give his ship's systems monitors a quick glance he turned back to his Captain, "ETA is two minutes Sir," He reported.
"Understood, carry on," Jack dismissed.
Turning around, Jack reached for the door controls but hesitated. He turned back around to Caedmon who by this point had turned back around to continue his last few diagnostics of the ship after they had escaped their last hostile encounter.
"Cadmon, have you received any communications from NAVCOM?" Jack asked.
Half turning around, Cadmon gave his superior officer a look of confusion, "No Sir, should I have?" He asked.
"No idea…just something else," Jack said as he turned and walked to the door.
He opened it and headed back down towards the main fuselage where he could now see the clones lined up in standard VIP guarding positions around Tup, all facing front towards the exit of the ship. With Cadmon and Jun in the ship's two cockpits, he approached the rest of his team but made sure to activate his comm so that his two absent members would hear what he was saying.
"Alright, we'll be making our arrival shortly, I'll go down with Fives and Rookie, Kix I think they'll need you to come along as well, you were the first medical officer to review Tup's condition," Kix, Fives and Rookie all nodded in confirmation, "Jesse, once we land I want you, Jun and Cadmon to stay with the ship," Jack said, assigning all of fireteam Resolute their various positions.
Jesse too gave a nod of confirmation while Jun and Cadmon confirmed through their commas, "Understood Sir," June said.
"Acknowledged Captain, I'll go over the damage to the ship when we land on Kamino," Cadmon informed.
"Visual inspections only, the damage is only minor and I don't want us to be stuck here any longer than we need to," Jack countered.
There was a slight pause, "Acknowledged Captain," Cadmon said.
In addition to the slight pause, Captain Jack noticed Fives and Rookie give each other a slight glance. They were both obviously perplexed at his uneasiness regarding staying at Kamino. Without an explanation, Jack knew his behaviour would seem odd, especially since there was both the regular Republic fleet guarding the planet as well as a UNSC fleet that was taking part in regular training with the Republic ships.
He knew that both of these fleets were present, Jack remembered reading the military brief that had been sent out as standard, that in addition to a large amount of other smaller Republic planets, the UNSC had stationed a fleet above the clone homeworld of Kamino.
It had surprised him at first since their alliance was still so new and Kamino was such a vitally important planet, only being able to summarise that the UNSC must have been the Republics' most powerful ally in the war and they were becoming spread more and more thin that allowing a UNSC fleet above the planet was a necessary decision. While there weren't any official reports, he was certain at the time that none of the commanding officers on the Republic side had been happy about the decision.
Captain Jack was brought out of his recent memories by Cadmon over the ship's internal speakers, "Exiting slipspace in thirty seconds," He announced.
The four members of fireteam Resolute that were about to leave the ship, moved forward to the back withdrawing their weapons in standard practice when guarding an item or person of high importance. In an even line, they spread out in front of the clones bringing forth the hover-stretcher with Tup still lying on it completely unconscious.
From inside the ship and with no windows in the fuselage, it would have been almost impossible to tell when the ship had actually left slipspace if not for the heads-up-display within each of the supersoldier's helmets that allowed them to see various updates of the current status reports of the ship while they were inside and automatically linked up to the AI of the ship.
Monitoring every aspect of their mission, Jack knew that they had now exited slipspace and were getting closer to Kamino as well as the allied fleets above, protecting it.
Still feeling something off about their mission, Jack opened his team comm, "Cadmon, make sure that the UNSC fleet in orbit knows we're here as well as the Republic one," He ordered.
"Understood Sir, should I alert them to the reason why we're here?" Cadmon asked through the channel.
"Negative, just make sure they know that UNSC assets are heading planet side," Jack clarified.
"Copy that Sir," Cadmon said before he closed the communication channel.
Not turning to look and see if any of his team had a visual reaction to his additional order, Jack kept his head and eyes facing forward. Through his neural implant, he kept the indicator showing how close they were to the planet and the Kaminoan city they were fast approaching.
Second by second, through their HUD the altimeters that had been resynced and set for Kamino, showed them getting closer and closer. Even without it though, Jack and the rest of the clones inside the Condor could tell they had broken through the planet's atmosphere due to the shaking and jostling the ship was experiencing that came from the near-constant storms on the aqua planet.
Ships that were anything less than a corvette would feel the vibrations and have increased difficulty seeing where they were going while inside the planet's atmosphere. The heavy storms that fed the almost infinite ocean would hardly ever stop, something that Spartan Captain Jack knew well after having to jump out of a pelican and fall directly towards the planet during the UNSC's rescue operation of the planet, a battle that seemed many years old by this point.
Now that they were descending, Jack could feel through their movement and momentum, the ship slowing down and turning around so that they were moving forwards but facing backwards. He didn't need to check the altimeters in his suit, he knew that the Condor was in the process of landing on one of the exterior landing zones.
Only moments later, his assumption was proven correct when the engine noises the ship had been making in its standard operations ceased, as did the vibrations. Seconds later, the rear access ramp that acted as the door, opened and started to lower to the ground outside. Even without a bright sun-filled sky, the light pierced the ship and lit up the room which had previously only been illuminated by the small dim internal ship lights.
As the ramp came down, Jack and the other 3 of his team that stood at the front looked down at the group of people that were there to meet them. There were several clone soldiers along their pathway but this was nothing that Jack or his team had not been expecting, standing directly in front of their ship exit though was a Jedi that Jack remembered, Shaak Ti.
Though he had not fought alongside her at any given point, Jack did remember the briefing details all of the Spartans involved had been given. Details they had achieved through spy drones and prowlers, one of which included the Jedi General stationed at Kamino both then and now, which was Shaak Ti.
Alongside her, were two Kaminoans that Jack did not have much success in recognising, he thought to ask either Kix or Fives as they were more than likely to know who they were, unfortunately, there was no time as the ship's ramp was down and they started their march down it, followed behind them by the clones guiding the still unconscious Tup.
Diverting from their straight path, both Jack and Fives approached the Jedi and a pair of Kaminoans, "Captain, welcome back to Kamino," The Jedi greeted him.
From behind the two of them, the small convoy of clones as well as Kix and Rookie continued forward, he gave it a slight glance over his shoulder before addressing the Jedi General. "Thank you, Ma'am, I haven't been back since the defence of the planet, I wish it was under better circumstances the second time around," Captain Jack said.
Shaak Ti looked over to Tup as he was still being moved away, "An act that we are still eternally grateful for and we are going to do everything we can to find out what is wrong with Tup," She said.
It was then threat one of the two Kaminoans stepped forward, "Greetings Captain, I am Lama Su, Prime minister of Kamino," He introduced himself. "I am certainly glad you were able to bring back CT-5385 alive, our chief medical scientist, Nala Se, has already begun summarising a possible theory as to the cause of this…unfortunate event," He explained.
Nala Se took the moment to walk forward at a single pace, "Please, if you would follow me and Master Ti," She asked.
"After you, Ma'am," Captain Jack said as both he and Fives started walking behind them.
Walking down the metal walkway, suspended hundreds of metres above the sea and the violent crashing waves, they followed the Kaminoan doctor and Jedi Master inside the building and out of the everlasting rain.
Once inside, Jack took note of the immense amount of rain that had built up on their armour was now dripping onto the floor of one of the city buildings floor. He felt the urge to apologise for the mess yet held himself back as he knew this had to be a normal occurrence on a planet that hardly ever had a day without heavy rain storms.
Having been used to darker lighting on UNSC ships and planetary installations, Jack partially increased the polarisation of his visor as the bright lights and pure white walls made for a vaguely disoriented motion. Slowly though he would reduce it and allow himself to become better adjusted to the bright interior atmosphere.
Ahead of them, the clones moving Tup had been moving slowly enough that they caught up to them just as they changed direction and once more moved out of view. Neither Jack nor Fives felt too much concern though as even though Fives' helmet was off and by his side, they could see how close he was based on the trackers on both Kix and Rookie.
Captain Jack turned his attention away from Tup and the clones as well as Nala Se who had followed them through into what he assumed to be an examination room of some sort. Instead, he focused it on Master Shaak Ti who had moved ahead of them and in front of Fives.
"Fives, am I correct?" She asked.
"Yes General," Fives answered respectfully.
"You've served with Tup?" Shaak Ti asked, continuing her questioning.
"Yes General," Fives answered again.
"You will have to come with me," She said.
Five's face changed from concern to hesitation "With all due respect General, I can't just abandon him now,"
"You must let the doctors do their work, do not be afraid, your friend is in quite capable hands, Doctor Nala Se is the Chief Medical Scientist on Kamino, she was one of the primary engineers of all the clones, now we must take care of you," She said.
Internally Jack's ears rang, anytime somebody said something that referred to the clones as property or machines it involuntary made his ears ring like the aftermath of a close explosion.
However, it was her last sentence that caught both Fives and Jack by surprise, "Me? There's nothing wrong with me General, I'm perfectly fine," Fives assured.
Jack let his suspicions rest and tried to continue to listen to what the Jedi was saying, "We can't be sure of that until we've completed a full exam, If a virus was the cause of Tup's breakdown, you have more than likely been exposed to the contagion, you haven't entered the advanced stages yet as Tup has but any information we can gather from you could help to find a cure for Tup" She explained.
To the Spartan Captain, he felt there were some flaws in her reasoning, "General Ti, I'm not a medic or a scientist but I must disagree, my team had their helmets on and sealed for the duration of the mission and all three clones under my command have been on UNSC rations, I don't know how a virus could have been transmitted from Tup to Fives if it exists at all," Jack said, trying to voice his concerns as respectfully as he could.
Shaak Ti didn't seem too persuaded "You may be right Captain but if it is not a virus, then that is something that we can rule out but in order to do so, we must run the necessary tests," She countered.
"Sir, it's fine, If it will help Tup in some way then I'll do it," FIves said before Jack could put forward any more objections.
Unlike Master Ti, Jack changed his mind though somewhat reluctantly, "Alright then, I'll come with you while Rookie and Kix stay and watch over Tup, I'll radio Jun to return your armour to the ship while you do these…tests," He said.
Truthfully, he would have rather asked Jesse to come down as he knew that both Jun and Cadmon would likely be making sure the ship was ready to fly the moment he needed to. However, for now, he wanted to keep Fives, Kix and Jesse where they were, but something still felt off.
With both of the clones being tested in joined but closed-off rooms, Captain Jack waited for the arrival of Jun and stood guard in between the two doors to Tup and Fives'room. While he waited, he kept his eye on every single person droid that walked passed, while it was unlikely that anybody was there with the intent on causing harm, he didn't want to take any chances.
Despite the UNSC and the Spartans having been involved in the war and the galaxy as a whole for quite some time, there was something that Jack still found somewhat amusing. A few small groups of clone cadets walked through the hallways and past him, the first few looked up at him with wide eyes and bewilderment due to his height and incredible-looking weapons and armour.
Looking down at them, Jack's head tilted and the young cadets noticed him looking at them and quickly found their heads turned back forward but their eyes still darting side to side, looking at the super soldier. Secretly, Jack let a small smirk appear inside his helmet as he remembered how once upon a time, he too was just like them.
Having still been relatively young when the Human-Covenant war started, it was 22 years into it when the Office of Navel intelligence officially unveiled the SPARTAN-II program. As a young soldier who originally joined the military to help in the noble quest of saving humanity, it was a breathtaking experience when he first saw a legendary Spartan in the flesh.
The first time he had seen one was during a battle, multiple SOEIV rained down on a battle they were losing, at first he expected them to be ODSTs coming down to save them. However, when they plunged down and slammed into the ground with a thunderous bang, what came out was something he never expected.
Giants, clad in armour that shone like the sun, burst out of the pods and charged through the enemy mass like it was made of paper, slaughtering the enemy force that had pushed him and tens of thousands of soldiers to the brink. At the time and in that moment he had a look of pure child-like astonishment, the very same one he had just seen on those young cadets' faces.
Up until that point, whenever he had seen a clone cadet, Jack could only feel pity and resentment at the thought of these young children having to be raised to become soldiers. Forced from birth to never question orders and pledge loyalty so something they have never experienced. He was glad that just this once it was something else.
Emerging from the same corridor he and Fives had, Jun came from around the corner and approached Jack. He gave a quick formal salute which his superior returned. "So…they're testing on Fives?" Jun asked.
Giving a quick sigh, Jack stepped forward and turned his head towards the door Fives was behind, "Yeah, I tried to tell that Kaminoan doctor that if it was a virus, there was no chance it was transmitted to Fives," He said.
"What about the rest of us?" Jun asked.
The question was something Jack had thought of while waiting for Jun to arrive, "No way the UNSC would hand over jurisdiction to let them test on any of us, they don't seem interested in Kix though." He said.
"And Jesse?" Jun asked.
"Why do you think I asked you to come down instead of him? The last thing I need right now is another member of my fireteam at risk of being nicked," Jack said, casually looking at an unaware Kaminoan walking past the two of them.
"You think they're unaware of how many clones are assigned to the team?" Jun asked.
Jack shook his head, "I don't know, they know about Kix but so far they only seem to have an interest in Tup and Fives," Jack replied.
Jun's silence indicated to Jack that he had no more questions or at least none that he could answer. The two of them walked towards the examination room door with Captain Jack leading point. Luckily, after having been ordered to fight in an entirely new war in a new galaxy, he made sure to make himself acquainted with all the new types of technology it had to offer which included the door controls of every main Republic and CIS installation.
Instantaneously upon pressing the button, the slim metal door parted ways. Inside the mostly dark room, part for the examination table with an overhead light, there was very little inside except for a droid that didn't seem too fazed by their entrance.
Sat upright on the flat metal table was Fives, beside him was his armour. Fives had adorned a set of matching red clothing that Jack assumed was whatever was worn on Kamino by medical patients. Never one to waste time, Jun walked through and picked up the armour. Even though he cared for his comrade, he knew that his captain needed him back on the ship.
Jun approached and picked up the armour, even though the armour had been made with extensive care out of a rare forerunner alloy, it was still visually clear that Jun's Spartan III augmentations were assisting him somewhat in carrying the heavy armour. Without saying a word, he departed the room, leaving only Fives and Jack.
The Spartan Captain walked over to the clone who appeared to be in the middle of a thought when the droid that had been the only other occupant of the room, turned around "Ah, Greetings Spartan A-127, Your presence will not be required for the following procedure," The droid said.
"I'm afraid I won't be leaving, Fives is one of my men," Jack said, determined not to leave.
The droid, who was hovering in the air at this point, turned to look at the clone, "I am unaware as to what a Fives is, are you referring to ARC-5555?" The droid asked.
"My name is Fives, let's just get these tests over with," Fives said before Jack could say the same thing.
Laying down on the table, the small droid approached Fives and reached out to his arm with some sort of cylindrical tube device that Jack thought to be a scanner of some kind but couldn't know for sure. After all, he himself had not been a subject of testing on Kamino and did not know what their level of technology was when it came to discovering certain ailments.
Left of the table and behind Jack was a window from where the two of them could see the opposite exam room, the one that Tup was currently in. Unconscious still due to the anaesthesia coming from his mask, both Kix and Rookie were inside the room, at opposite ends of the soldier. General Shaak Ti, who was also in the room, was clearly speaking to Nala Se though they couldn't be heard through the window.
Captain Jack stood with his arms crossed as he watched the droid in front of him examine Fives. He turned his head just enough to see what was going on in the room beside them, the Jedi master seemed to show some concern while talking to the Kaminoan doctor. Knowing that two of his own team members were inside with him though, Jack turned back to watch over the droid.
So far, the tests seemed to be just as standard as ones he himself had been through in the past, with some basic scans performed by multiple medical professionals, though they had been considerably more human instead of a droid.
The droid was in the middle of whatever test he was doing when unexpectedly, Fives pulled off the part of the droid that was administering a scan of his arm and swung himself over the side of the bed.
Walking forward in an attempt to calm him down, Jack walked forward with his arms out until he too looked to where Fives' attention was drawn to.
"What're they doing to Tup?" Fives asked in alarm.
In Tup's exam room his mask had been removed and whatever sleep-inducing chemicals he was inhaling had ceased. He was awake but from what both Jack and Fives could see, he was highly agitated and muttering gibberish that neither of them could make out without hearing it.
In a blind panic, Fives started pounding on the window with his fists. "What's going on? General!" He shouted, trying to get her attention.
Eventually, he did get the Jedi's attention but only for a few seconds as she lowered the large metal shutters down and blocked the view between the two rooms. Captain Jack attempted to intervene, Fives started bashing the button on one of the control panels for the window and its shutter but nothing happened.
"Fives! You need to calm down, freaking out like this isn't going to help you or Tup," Jack said to Fives, bringing himself closer.
Resting his head against the now-blackened window, Fives stopped in his attempt to find out what was happening on the other side. "I know Captain," He said defeatedly.
Jack put an arm over Fives' shoulder "I wish I could say I was just as worried about Tup, but I know that I wasn't born alongside my troops and raised with them as soldiers from the moment I opened my eyes, that's not something I can even try to understand but if we are going to find out if the entire Republic army is compromised then we need to do it together just like any other mission," He said, trying to come to an understanding with the clone.
Fives seemed to calm down, "You're right Captain, I know, let's just get these tests over with," He said as he returned to the examination table.
Meanwhile, Jack opened a channel to both Kix and Rookie, "Guys, what's going on in there? I need an update." He ordered.
He didn't have to wait long for a response, he soon heard the familiar voice of his teams medic, "Sir, Tup's convulsing has somewhat subsided and they've tested his blood, so far there seems to be no sign of any viral infection," Kix briefed him.
"Nothing at all?" Jack asked.
"Affirmative Captain, though there was something I thought to be of mention," Rookie spoke up.
"Go on," Jack said, his curiosity heightened.
"At first I thought it might have been from some head trauma but when Tup came back around, he was muttering about killing the Jedi and following orders," Rookie recalled.
Jack took a second, "Hmm no doubt he probably would have attacked master Shaak Ti if he wasn't restrained but Rookie that doesn't make any sense, his commander at the time was Spartan Locke, he wouldn't have given such an order and even if he had…look I know clones are loyal in following orders but executing a Jedi is just one step too far," Jack said, trying to figure out if anything would come of his soldier's recollection.
"I know Sir, I just thought it might be relevant perhaps the CIS found a way of giving clones orders as though they came from a superior," Rookie Said.
"Even then, don't forget the clones aren't droids, they have free will and wouldn't do something like Tup did if it was just an order from a commander," Jack said as he closed the comm channel.
"Ow!" Jack heard from behind him, he turned to see the droid hover away from Fives who was now rubbing his neck. He assumed the droid had drawn some blood for testing.
"Anything from Kix or Rookie, Sir?" Fives asked.
"Well, there was no trace of a virus in his fluids so we'll have to wait for these…hypertests to come back," Jack replied.
"Speaking of which," The droid interrupted, "Everything within your blood and cells appears to be normal," The droid said.
It sounded like good news to both soldiers, "Great, then that means they can let me out," Fives said optimistically.
"I'm afraid that is not possible, you must remain quarantined until we have pinpointed the exact cause of the other clones' breakdown, we cannot risk any further casualties," The droid said to both Fives and Jack's dismay.
"Look! I am not a threat, neither is Tup," Fives said, insistingly.
"Are you certain?" The droid asked with a hint of curiosity in its voice.
"Eh, you're just a droid, you don't know about real duty, about what it's like to have a brother," Fives said deflated.
While Jack was also annoyed that the clear test results meant he couldn't leave, it did mean that it was one more thing eliminated from the list of possibilities. He didn't bother trying to go through the list of possible causes himself, he wasn't a doctor or scientist and even now wondered why he had been ordered to investigate a mystery instead of being told to go assassinate an enemy general or infiltrate a hostile settlement.
Several minutes later though, Kix and Rookie were both back on comms and they sounded concerned Captain Jack played the audio both internally and externally so Fives could hear.
"Captain, there might be a development," Rookie said.
"That was quick, report," Jack said.
"General Ti and Nala Se seem to be in disagreement over the cause of Tup's breakdown but one of the droids suggested some kind of advanced-level brain scan to try and find something out," Rookie reported.
"Well that's good isn't it?" Fives asked, standing in front of Jack.
Kix responded, sounding more concerned by the minute, "Ordinarily yes but as Nala Se said while we were in there, Tup is too weak for a proper mind scan to learn anything new," He said.
"And they're going to do it anyway?" Jack asked, understanding that it would be a decent reason for their concern.
"No Sir, the General went to talk to the Jedi council about the scan while Nala Se has gone to talk to the Prime minister," Rookie reported.
"You sounded a lot more worried," Jack commented.
"Sir…Nala Se suggested terminating Tup and doing a molecular-level autopsy," Kix reported.
The blood drained from Fives and Jack's faces until it returned moments later ten times hotter, "Like hell that is happening!" Jack shouted out.
"I'll be dammed if I let them kill my brother and treat him like some kind of malfunctioning droid!" Fives shouted out.
"And neither will I," Jack said before responding to his two other soldiers, "Kix, tail Nala Se and try and find out if this damn execution is authorised and Rookie, stick close to General Ti," Captain Jack ordered.
"Yes Sir," The two of them said back in unison.
Captain Jack closed the channel and turned to Fives.
"What are we going to do? We can't just sit here and wait for them to kill TUp Captain," Fives said.
"You're godamned right we're not," Jack said determinedly.
"We need to get the results of that brain scan," Fives said.
"Grab that droid on the way unless you know how to perform one of these scans," Jack said as he and Fives left for the door.
Wanting to use as much discretion as possible, Captain Jack activated his active camouflage and then opened the door, he knew that at the very least, they would be much less noticeable walking the few feet across to Tup's room if there wasn't a giant Spartan soldier walking alongside the two of them.
Going out solo, Jack made it halfway and was standing in the hallway until it eventually became clear, he whispered over to Fives, "Clear," He said.
Fives and the medical droid quickly paced out of the room and hugged the walls until they reached the door to Tup's examination room. Fives opened the door and made it inside, just barely escaping the glaring view of two passing clones of the Kamino security team. Sticking next to the wall, Jack waited for them to pass before he too entered the open room and deactivated his camouflage.
"Okay, let's get to work," FIves said as the droid seemingly went to it straight away, preparing a very large ring-shaped device that would be used to perform the scan.
While Fives and the droid prepared the scanning machine and started to move Tup's upper half into it, Captain Jack received an audio message from Kix, he was curious as to why he had not just opened a channel with him directly but he played the message nonetheless.
"Sir, I caught up to Nala Se and tailed both her and the prime minister to a communication room but it was sealed off, I definitely heard the prime minister tell her to terminate Tup though, my way back has been cut off, I'm gonna have to take a different route, whatever you and Fives are doing, do it fast," The message ends.
Immediately, Captain Jack turns to Fives, "We need to hurry, that damn Kaminoan is on her way back with orders to kill Tup and dissect him," Jack said concerningly.
"The scan is almost complete though everything appears to be normal," the droid said, adding confusion to their slight panic, "Wait a second…" The droid said as it hovered over to a table.
"What, What is it?" Fives asked impatiently.
"It appears this clone has developed a tumour," The droid said while looking at the finished scans.
"Is that even possible?" Fives asked, walking over to also view the results of the test.
"I thought the Kaminoans engineered the clones perfectly," Jack said, feeling disgusted having used the word 'engineered' to refer to them.
"Your friend is mostly right though I must say, I have never seen this in your kind before, we won't know what it is for sure though without a biopsy," The droid said.
"You're gonna take it out of him-" Fives was in the middle of saying when he misplaced his arm and tipped over a tray of medical tools onto the floor. The tray and utensils clattered on the floor giving of a loud metal bang. Jack squinted as he knew that somebody close by will have heard it.
"Do you think anybody heard that?" Fives asked, picking up the items from the floor.
"The probability that someone heard that is high, yes," The droid said.
"Forget high, try confirmed" Jack warned, "I've got movement heading this way, followed by even more further out,"
"How much time do we have?" Fives asked.
Just then, the two of them could hear the familiar voice of Nala Se, Jack didn't even have time to respond and once again, activated his active camouflage while Fives attempted to hide underneath the hover bed just out of view from the door. Right then the door opened and the light came into the room from outside just as the last visible part of the Spartan, vanished.
Nala Se walked into the room, the droid had made no effort to hide and greeted the Kaminoan, "Hello Doctor," The droid said.
"What do you think you're doing?" Nala Se asked.
"I was only following protocol, save the patient, The droid said as Nala Se reached down to pickup one of the fallen tools that was lying on the floor, Jack became ten times more worried, luckily though, Fives noticed her movement and darted away at the last second behind one of the large medical devices.
"Doctor, I have found something unusual in this scan, it appears to be a tumour," The droid said as Nala Se came back up, "Perhaps you should take a look,"
Upon hearing this, Nala Se became increasingly agitated, "You performed a second scan without my authorisation," She accused.
"As I stated, I was following my programming," The droid said.
"Then you are as this clone is…defective, you will be put on report for deactivation," Nala Se said as she moved over to the controls for the medical machines inside the room.
Parts of the room started to move around, making it increasingly difficult for Fives to keep hiding, "But the tumour, it seems to be blocking neural impulses from communicating within the brain, we should scan the rest of the clones to see if this is a problem with their base generic model or a mutation with the current models," The droid explained to her.
Jack and Fives made sure to move about the room and stay out of both the Kaminoan and droids pathway, "There is no tumour, your scan is incorrect," Nala Se said abruptly.
Nala Se's readiness to reject the results of the scan caught both Fives and Jack's interest as they continued to hide, "But-" The droid tried to interject but was cut off immediately.
"This clone clearly has a virus that remains undetected but I will find the cause once he's terminated, now leave," She said
Both Jack Fives took that as their opportunity, rushing behind the droid, Jack making sure to let Fives go first and not run right into him, the two of them made out of the room with the droid following slowly behind them.
To their luck once more, the hallway was completely empty and they regrouped back inside the room where Fives had been examined by the droid. In frustration upon entering, Fives pushed the hoverbed against the wall. "I can't believe it, they're going to kill him," He said
"In a case like this, it is the logical course of action," The droid said.
"To hell with logic, that doctor ignored the tumour almost immediately so either she knows something or would rather just kill Tup and find out the same thing her own way," Jack said, only deactivating his camouflage once the coast was clear and the door fully shut.
"We were not created to be disposed of like this!" Fives said.
"Perhaps you were" The droid replied
Fives bashed down on the exam table, "CT-5385 will be terminated so that others like him could survive," The droid tried to explain.
"There aren't others like him!" Fives said, he gave a sigh before turning back to the droid and Spartan Captain standing alongside.
Tup doesn't have to die, you found the tumour, I'm sure that's the cause of all this, it's the only thing that makes sense" Fives reasoned.
"I'm not arguing that point, so far it's all we've got to work with,"
"Perhaps but how can we proceed?" The droid asked.
"Do your biopsy, I'm sure what you'll find will prove that Tup does not have to die," Fives said adamantly.
"If it's all we can do then let's do it," Jack said agreeing, getting ready to follow Fives back out.
"But Nala Se does not bel-" The droid tried to say before Fives interjected.
"We're not going to Nala Se with whatever you find, We'll go to the General, to Shaak Ti, she helped me once when I was a cadet I know she values the life of a clone," Fives said.
"Are you sure though, I know some Jedi do care about their men but to the Republic, they still just see the army as property and not something to give a damn about," jack said, vaguely angry.
"Trust me, Sir, General Ti is one of the good ones," Fives said.
"But we will be disobeying direct orders," The droid said concerningly.
"Yep for the second time today," Fives Commented sarcastically.
"Probably the tenth time this week as well," Jack added.
Fives focused on the droid, "We need a way to get access to Tup, can you hack into the medical centers mainframe?" He asked.
"I do possess this ability, yes," The droid responded.
"Oh boy, well I can see where this is going," Jack said as he rolled his eyes.
On his HUD, Jack saw the incoming comm channel opened by Kix, he made sure to only play it through his helmet speakers. "Go ahead Kix," He said.
"Captain, I've tracked Nala Se back to the exam room with Tup, glad you got out of there in time, by the way, she's preparing some kind of medicine and the prime minister just walked in, I think something really bad is about to happen, do we have a plan?" He asked.
"That we do Kix and trust me you'll know it when you hear it, for now, though I need you to regroup with Rookie and keep an eye on Shaak Ti, inform me if there is anything to be of concern," Captain Jack ordered.
"Concern Sir?" Kix asked perplexed.
"Anything that would make you think we couldn't trust her," He specified.
"I think that's unlikely with Shaak Ti, Captain, but I'll keep watch," Kix said, closing the channel.
Captain Jack turned to Fives "Alright now is it-"
'INTRUDER ALERT INTRUDER ALERT ALL NON-ESSENTIAL PERSONAL REPORT TO AA SAFEROOM FOR LOCKDOWN!"
The alert came loudly across the whole building, "I guess that answers that," Jack said.
"Hallways are filled with Kaminoan security forces, how are we supposed to get in the other room?" Jack asked, assuming stealth with still the primary objective.
"Follow me," The droid said, hovering over towards the window that had been blacked out, taking out a small metal cylinder from his array of internal tools, a small flame was produced and the droid went to work cutting a perfect circle in the glass and metal.
"That's a useful medical tool," Jack commented,
"I find it works more effective on cauterizing wounds," The droid said, completing the circle, it pushed through and caught the metal disk before it hit the floor.
Approaching Tup, the droid wasted no time and switched to the tools he would need to perform the biopsy, "You might want to turn away for this part," The droid said as he stared the biopsy.
Fives and Jack took his advice. Captain Jack made sure to keep an eye on his motion tracker, reducing the range to just a few meters in order to differentiate between the guards that were patrolling and monitoring the rooms and anything that looked as though it was moving towards their location.
"Sir! General Shaak Ti knows the alarm is false, she's on her way with multiple clone forces," Rookie said through the comm, not wasting any time.
"Understood, you and Kix stay on their six and stay hidden!" Jack ordered.
Ahead of him, the high-pitched whine from the droid's tools seemed to diminish, "Is it done?" Fives asked.
"It better be, the general is on her way here right now!" Jack said urgently.
Pulling what appeared to be a small rectangular container from Tup's head dressing, the droid handed it to Fives, "It is now,"
Jack moved forward to try and examine the extracted tumour but before he had even taken a single step, more movement appeared on his HUD's tracker, "I'll keep on your six," He said to Fives who had a look of confusion before Jack re-activated his active camouflage.
The hiss of the door opening was heard and Nala Se walked in, "What have you done?" She asked.
"We've saved my friend's life, this tumour is the cause of his illness," Fives tried to explain
"Give me that!" Nala Se said in a raised voice as she grabbed the container vial and tried to pull it out of Five's hand.
Standing next to both of them and hidden in plain view, Jack was ready to help intervene and had one hand on his sidearm, ready for action and was about to deactivate his camouflage when again the door opened, this time with General Shaak Ti and several clones.
"General! I have evidence, it's right here," Fives said, still keeping one hand on the vial.
He let go of it though when beside him, he heard Tup's voice, he had regained consciousness but didn't seem agitated or destructive, only confused and tired. Tup was muttering still, though as he got clear, what he was saying could truely be heard.
"The mission…free…the mission," Tup said in a nearly whispered tone.
"Tup" Fives said in concern.
"What is he saying?" Shaak Ti asked as she and several more clone security walked in.
"Brother, what mission?" Fives asked, putting his head on Tup's chest.
Tup's response came back slowly "You…You know the one, the mission, the one in our dreams that never ends," Jack tried to understand what he meant while keeping his distance in the now crowded room.
"Oh brother, this is the end…forget the mission, oh the nightmare…I'm free," Tup said in the same tone of voice falling into what looked to be a deep sleep until the flatline tone of the heart monitors signalled that Tup was gone.
Now more than ever, Jack wished he could have dropped the camouflage but held it over fears that it would start something much force.
"No…no, I thought I saved him," Fives said in despair.
After a short moment, Shaak Ti spoke, "Nala Se and I will report this to the Supreme Chancellor," She said. The Kaminoan and her walked out of the room, the Jedi stopped just short of the door and addressed one of the clones, "In a moment, please escort ARC trooper Fives back to his examination room," She ordered.
The clone nodded in a sign of understanding, Once the room had been cleared and Fives was walked out of the room, Captain Jack took up position behind the clones escorting him back to his room and making sure to give them enough space that his physical presence wouldn't be detected.
When Shaak Ti was in the room, he was worried that her abilities in the force would have revealed him to the master Jedi. Even with his extensive time in this new galaxy, the lack of anything to do with the force in his home galaxy still left him almost invisible to the force and the Jedi unless a very well-trained one were to focus only on locating a hidden presence.
Following them back, Jack opened a comm channel to the whole team, "Jun, will you please report to Admiral Lasky…and Commander Locke that Tup has unfortunately died," He said.
There was an eerie silence on the other end until Jun confirmed his orders, "Yes Sir, shall I inform them of the cause?" He asked.
"As of now, unknown," He said. While Jack suspected that it was probably the act of removing the tumour in his weakened state that killed Tup, he knew it was still too early to make assumptions.
"Our orders, Sir?" Rookie asked.
Jack let out a quiet sigh, "Nala Se and General Shaak Ti will be making a report to chancellor Palpatine, if you can listen in on it, do so," He instructed.
Silently, Captain Jack closed the line. Now the clones had taken up guard positions and Fives entered the room, Jack made sure to step in right as the door closed. Fives walked forward and sat on the table in the middle of the room. "I know you're there Sir," He said.
Jack deactivated his active camouflage, "I'm sorry Fives, I wished we could have saved him," Jack said empathetically. "There's nothing to be done now except wait to see what happens to that tumour, no doubt they won't even bother trying to ask for the Admiral's opinion let alone anyone from the UNSC or ONI," Jack guessed.
"Do you really think they'd be able to find anything?" Fives asked.
"I don't know, maybe but it's bad enough that this whole thing happened while Tup was working with fireteam Osiris so even under ideal circumstances, the chances that the Jedi or Kaminoans would let our own scientists interior is minimal,"
"Surprised they haven't tried to accuse that Spartan commander of doing anything suspicious yet," Fives commented.
"I promise Fives, Tup had nothing done to him while he was working with the UNSC," Jack said, trying to assure his friend that Tup's death wouldn't have been because of some pestering ONI scientist or a curious doctor.
"It's okay Sir, you don't have to convince me unless UNSC food rations can cause sudden tumour growth then there isn't anything Tup went through that was different from any other clone," Fives said.
"Huh, don't tempt me to look at the ingredients on those things," Jack said sarcastically.
For a moment Fives gave a small grin, "Still a lot better than ours, that's for sure, don't think I could go back to them now," Fives joked.
Captain Jack was glad for a stage, "Yeah, I've heard some of you boys have a sweet tooth for peaches," He said.
For several more minutes, their conversation went on and the two seemed to be equally distracted from the series of events that had led to their current circumstances. They were only interrupted when both Nala Se and Master Shaak Ti entered the room.
Both of them turned to the two entering the room and their focus immediately diverted from a few time-passing remarks, back to the mission and investigation.
"General, what did the Chancellor say?" FIves asked.
General Shaak Ti gave a brief glance over to Captain Jack whom she had not seen for a while, Jack became slightly nervous as even though it was only for a second, he would have described the look as somewhat suspicious. She turned back to Fives to answer his question.
"Supreme Chancellor Palpatine wants the tumour and all of the intel gathered sent to the Grand Republic Medical Facility on Coruscant," Shaak Ti answered him.
"So then I'll be going to Coruscant as well? Fives asked.
"As will I, if that is where Fives is going," Captain Jack stated, as though anything else wasn't an option.
Nala Se answered Fives' assumption herself "Neither of you was part of the Chancellor's request," She told them.
Analysing the glass chip containing the tumour, Shaak ti placed it inside a medical case on a table beside her. "I'm sorry Fives but this is a matter best left to the medical professionals, there is still so much we do not know," She said, closing the case.
"Perhaps we would have known more if this clone had not taken matters into his own hands," Nala Se said antagonistically
"Listen! I was trying to save my friend," Fives pointed out.
"And yet perhaps by removing this tumour, it was you who killed him," Nala Se replied.
"That's a bold statement doctor," Captain Jack said, "Especially since you were so adamant on executing Tup like some lab rat," He said, standing with his arms crossed, glaring at the Kaminoan through his intimidating helmet.
"My actions would have more than likely led to the discovery of what is actually behind this clones breakdown, molecular dissection would have revealed more than your poor attempt to save its life," Nala Se said back to him.
Jack kept his fists hidden as he clenched them in anger.
Fives stood up off the table and started shouting aggressively, "He was a soldier, he deserved better than to be killed and treated like that," He shouted.
Shaak Ti interjected, "Stand down Fives, you too Captain, your presence in the force may be minuscule but I can still sense your anger," She said, "Doctor, there is no proof of your claim,"
Fives calmed and sat back down, Jack too letting his anger subside, "I want this specimen and all the data prepared for transit to the Jedi temple," Shakk Ti demanded.
Nala Se seemed irritated by the Jedi's request, "The Chancellor said the tumour and data were to be sent directly to the Medical Facility on Coruscant, not the Jedi Temple," She reminded the Jedi.
"And it will get there but after the Jedi have run an analysis on it first," She said.
"I protest, I must personally deliver the tumour to the chancellor as ordered," Nala Se said.
"You can protest all you want, my word is final," Shaak Ti said, silently gaining back a small shred of Captain Jack's respect.
Nala Se remained silent, at that very moment, however, two clones headed by Lama Su entered the room. General Ti seemed to already be aware of his intentions, "You have one more physical to pass, if you are cleared, you will be sent back to the 501st," She said.
"Excuse me!" Jack said in alarm, drawing both Lama Su and Shaak Ti's attention, "All clones including Fives are to be removed from active service inside of any UNSC teams, just as a precaution as I'm sure you can understand Captain," Shaak Ti clarified to the Spartan.
"There is no way the UNSC would give authorisation for that this quickly and not without notifying me first," Jack stated.
Lama Su answered Jack's pseudo allegation, "The UNSC holds no jurisdiction over the clones or where they are posted, we have notified your High Command and I'm sure the message will reach you shortly, but this is not a negotiation," He said quietly but affirmatively.
Fives and Jack looked at each other, not knowing if there is anything to be done, "So much for those peaches, Sir," Fives stood up and followed Lama Su.
"Very well then, I'll accompany Fives until his last physical is completed then I'll report back to my ship for further orders," Jack informed them.
Lama Su reached out with his arm in front of Captain Jack, "That will not be necessary, we have already sent for ARC-5597 and CT-6116 to be retrieved," He said.
Not taking no for an answer, the Spartan addressed him, "As his team leader, it is my duty to ensure his transfer is completed properly and that is what I intend to do, THIS is not a negotiation," Captain Jack said as he made his way past the Kaminoan who made no further objections.
With an escort of clone troopers in their armour, similar to that of the Coruscant guard yet grey in colour, the small group walked down the long white and bright corridors of the Kaminoan buildings.
"Not like this is the end Fives, I'm sure we'll be fighting those droids all the way to Raxus," Captain Jack said in a small attempt to increase Fives' morale.
"I'm sure we will Sir," Fives said in a nearly toneless way.
Down their pathway, Fives and Jack passed a droid that seemed very familiar, "AZI-3," Fives called out.
Jack wasn't aware that was the droids designation, he had been more focused on their plan and saving Tup rather than bonding with a droid.
"Hello, ARC trooper Fives," AZI-3 said, greeting the clone. "I regret that we were unable to heal your friend,"
"Yeah, me too," Fives said.
"Are you going to be reprogrammed as well?" AZI-3 asked, reminding Jack that Nala Se had reported the droid and it was to be reprogrammed.
"No AZI, I've been reassigned back to front with the 501st," Fives answered.
"That is not what I heard," AZI-3 said, picking up Jack and Fives' ears, "I heard that your mind was going to be wiped and that you would be reassigned here and placed on sanitation detail,"
Alarm bells went ringing in Jack's head as the droid continued, "We can still be friends, assuming we both remember each other after our memories have been erased," AZI-3 said.
Blood rushed to Jack's fists, "Let's go CT-5555," Lama Su said.
Captain Jack had worked and fought alongside Fives for long enough to know where this was going and didn't even bother to look at him for any confirmation, "Worthless lying bastards!" Jack shouted as he thrust his right elbow back into the helmet of one of the clone guards, sending him tumbling backwards.
Before the one that was next to him even had a chance to do more than move his DC-15S a few inches, Jack had grabbed his arm holding the weapon and pulled the clone forward several feet, causing him to lose balance and fall forward where Captain Jacks armoured knee impacted him right in the middle of his chest. He lay on the floor with the wind knocked out of him and in great pain.
Meanwhile, at the split second Jack had let loose his first punch, Fives had yelled out "No!" and shoved Lama Su heavily into two clones ahead of him. They barreled down to the ground and immediately, Fives went for the clone that was to his left and the biggest threat, putting both his hands on the clone's carbine rifle and struggling for control.
Kneeing him to the side, the clone lost strength in his weapon allowing Fives to pull it out of his hand and bring it back down violently on his helmet, the trooper fell unconscious to the floor.
Just as he had sent one down, one of the troops that had fallen under Lama Su got up and had his weapon nearly pointed at Fives before the ARC trooper lunged at him and managed to swipe the end of the barrel away in the opposite direction.
Slowly, the barrel of the heavier DC-15A started to drift back in the direction of Fives when from behind him, a DC-15S carbine thrown by Captain Jack, flew right into the face of the Kamino guard clone, causing him the stumble backwards and lose grip of the weapon and ending up on his knees. Fives quickly took the opportunity and use the stock of the long rifle to bash him in the head, sending him down and out to the floor.
"Look what you did, I cannot believe what you did," AZI-3 said in disbelief.
"Neither can I," Captain Jack said as he looked around at the numerous unconscious clones laying on the floor.
"I am not getting my mind erased and neither are you," Fives said to the droid when suddenly alarms started blaring. Fives and Jack looked behind them to see Lama Su's hand on a large red button. Clearly, one used for intruders or emergency alerts.
"Time to go," Jack said as he withdrew his hardlight rifle from his back and started running away from the area with both Fives and AZI-3 in tow. "I'm following you Fives, you're the only one that properly knows this place,"
As they were running Captain Jack opened the channel comm for the team, Cadmon spoke before Jack even opened his mouth, "Captain, is that you? We just had a squad of clones say that Jesse had to come with them and asking where Kix is and now there are sirens all over the damn place," He said.
"Slight problem, they tried to wipe Fives' mind and have apparently ordered all clones working in UNSC fireteams to be reassigned back to their battalions, there is something going on here and we're going to get to the bottom of it," Jack said.
"And the Sirens?" Jun asked.
"I wasn't just going to let them wipe his mind Jun, Kix, I need you to get back to the ship and don't let anybody see you, Jun and Rookie, get in here and give us cover but don't do anything unless I give the order!" Jack told them.
"What about the rest of us Sir?" Cadmon asked.
"Keep Jesse and Kix on the ship and make sure she is ready for take-off on the chance we have to come back with these guys shooting at us," Captain Jack ordered.
Closing the comm channel, Jack turned to Fives, "Alright Fives, your on-point for now, you lead and I'll follow," Jack said.
"Thank You, Sir," Fives said.
The two of them continued sprinting down the halls, desperate to find what they needed, with an entire city's worth of clone troopers looking for them.
Okay, I am glad I actually managed to finish a chapter for this story, I started the first thousand or so words like half a year ago so if there is any kind of style difference between that and the rest of the story then I do apologise.
I think we can all agree though, things are definitely starting to get interesting with the plot to kill the Jedi having more light shed on it at every moment. Of course, one of the most gut-wrenching parts of the war is coming up soon and I'll leave it up to you if anything different will happen and if so by how much.
Anyway, as usual I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I actually have some time off in a week so maybe you guys won't actually have to wait an entire year or more for another chapter update/release. Leave a review to let me know what you think.
Note: Still working on A New Path as well.
