"This is Hound, we're watching the shift change as we speak. If you're gonna go, you need to go now." The former guard informed his brothers as he used his scopes to watch the three hooded figures and a little Twi'lek girl make their way across the bridge on the back of a cargo speeder.
"Did they make it across?" Barriss asked over her shoulder as she kept watch.
"They're on their way to do their job, now we have ours." Hound said before he placed his fingers to his helmet. "Sev, how're we lookin?"
"Two troopers on patrol just around the corner. Colours looking like the 212th." The commando informed them.
"Perhaps this will be an opportunity for me to remove their chips!" AZ chirped as he began to hover towards the path leading to the patrol, only to be held back by Barriss.
"One clone, you can handle. Two? You won't be fast enough. Best thing we can do is take them out with stun rounds." She commanded.
"You got a weapon, little lady?" Hound then asked as he held out a blaster pistol and offered it to her.
Barriss' eyes wondered towards Hound's belt, particularly the stun baton. "Actually, I was wondering if I could borrow that?" She then pointed.
Hound gave a small chuckle before grabbing the baton and tossing it to the young Jedi. "Heheh. Figured this is more your style."
Barriss switched on the stun baton, almost mesmerised by the electrified coil at the tip of the weapon, its gentle blue glow reflecting off of her skin. Suddenly, a distorted transmission through the comms caught her off guard.
"Sev? Sev!" She hissed, trying bit to cause too much noise, but received no reply. "Comms are jammed."
"Think they know we're here?" Hound asked, concerned.
"We have to assume that they do." She said cautiously.
"They're coming down the corridor!" AZ alerted them as they took cover from the oncoming blaster fire.
"I can't get a clear shot!" Hound shouted as he attempted to return fire.
Barriss then took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I am one with the force and the force is with me." She said quietly as she gracefully emerged from cover, dodging the oncoming blaster fire in a fluid motion with ease. Her mind focused on a singular blaster bolt coming her way, sure to hit her dead center. She quickly brought her stun baton up and took the defensive position of form III, soresu. Raising the weapon above her head and aiming it downwards to block the oncoming blaster bolt, only for the baton to be sent flying out of her hands.
Stunned at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation, both adversaries stopped firing in a brief moment of confusion. "Was she trying to block it with a baton?" One clone asked the other.
"IT AIN'T A LIGHTSABER, MISSY!" Hound shouted in frustration.
To this, Barriss' cheeks turned a shade of pink that was alien to her biology in embarrassment before sidestepping back into cover. "Sorry! Force of habit!" She shouted back at the Coruscant guardsman.
"They are getting closer! I fear we will not gain any ground from this position." AZ said with worry.
Suddenly, a bright blue ring sped across the sky, landing on one of the attacking clones. The second trooper noticed his brother stunned and tried to take cover from the sniper fire, but in doing so, he left himself open to an attack from the group. Barriss reached out with the force and with a mighty effort, she pulled him towards her, causing him to fly in their direction, right into the butt of Hound's rifle, knocking him unconscious.
"Guess Sev still has our backs." The Sergeant then grumbled.
"Comms or not, he's in the best possible position to help us. Come on, there has to be a power grid somewhere that we can tap int-" Barriss was then cutoff by the grinding sound of alarms blasting throughout the city.
"We've been made!" Hound shouted as he fired a round into the loudspeaker in the top corner above his head.
Suddenly, the open windows overlooking past the city limits began to dim as steel shutters came down, blocking any access from the outside. Another clone slowly emerged from cover, coloured in the 212th pattern with a small upside down red triangle above the visor and a strange black symbol on the right of his helmet. He wielded a Z-6 rotary blaster and began firing at the trio as they took cover.
"Kriff! We're pinned down and Sev and back us up." Hound screamed as he tried to return fire.
Barriss used all of her might to force push the soldier off his feet, but the sheer weight of the clone an his weapon ensured that he merely stumbled back before returning fire once again. "Ugh! It's no use! He's too heavy to knock down."
"I've got this, kid! You fall back and find another way around." The Sergeant shouted back before clarifying. "Me and the droid'll be alright. Now go!" He ordered and Barriss used what little energy she had left to propel herself backwards, darting left and right between cover as the 212th lieutenant fired upon her until she made a direct jump upwards into an open ventilation shaft.
The soldier continued to fire up at the ceiling, hoping to kill her while she couldn't dodge, until a stun blast narrowly missed his face.
"Over here, fatty!" Hound shouted as he threw a smoke grenade and fired blindly at the soldier.
Alphard had just finished putting on his gear when his holo link chimed, he answered and a hologram of General Cody set his office alight with the pale blue glow. Alphard saluted. "Sir!"
"Status report, Agent." Cody said quickly and bluntly.
Alphard shared a video recording showing one of the surrounding hallways of the complex. "A small group of rebels have infiltrated the facility, I imagine to rescue Captain Howzer. One appears to be either another clone defector or someone wearing clone armour, but I don't recognise these markings. If you're going to infiltrate somewhere, the goal is to blend in, not… whatever this guy appears to be doing."
Cody raised one arm to his abdomen and used it to rest his other elbow upon it as he looked upon the security footage, deep in thought. "That looks like… Sergeant Hound?"
"So he's a clone?"
"He was declared M.I.A not long after the raid on the Jedi Temple. The question is how did he get here?" Cody asked aloud.
Alphard brought up a current feed of the footage. "It appears that your lieutenant has him pinned and they're not far from my position. I'll head down to assist-" He began before being cut off by Cody.
"Negative, Agent! Boil can handle himself. For now, remain in a position where you can monitor the situation. I'm in a shuttle heading towards you. ETA eight minutes. Cody out."
Despite the alarms echoing throughout the city, between two rings of the sirens, Alphard's ears perked up upon hearing a creak in the ventilation shaft and immediately aimed his pistol up and fires at the hinges. The shaft collapsed and down from the ceiling dropped Barriss Offee, her mask still covering her face.
The Naboo native kept his pistol aimed towards her and she slowly stood on her feet, her arms raised in surrender. "Those are some pretty good reflexes. You sure you're not a Jedi?" She joked in an accent similar to Hound's in an attempt to disguise her voice.
"Are you?" Alphard responded flatly as he slowly made his way to the main holotable and brought up the footage he had shown General Cody not a mere minute ago.
"Look at you. The way you brought up that baton in a defensive position to block a blaster shot, amazing! Now, I imagine that was just your instincts kicking in with a melee weapon, but there's no denying your training. What I want to know is who are you? And how you stopped him from killing you?" He asked as he pointed to Hound in the video.
Barriss knew she had been discovered, literally and figuratively. With her arms still raised in surrender, she began to explain. "The clones. They're not just soldiers, they're slaves. They have control chips inside their heads that the Emperor uses to keep them under his control. You remove the chip, you give back their free will."
"And Captain Howzer and his men?" The agent followed up as he raised an eyebrow.
"I… I don't know. I can only assume that specific circumstances cause some of the chips to become defunct. We're trying to save them and find out why."
Alphard's weapon lowered slightly, his head turned just as much to the floor, showing he was deep in thought about the information presented to him. "You've… given me much to think about, Miss Offee. The left corridor will be clear in the even of a capitol alarm, a good opportunity to slip away… If you're smart, you'll take it." He said as a friendly warning.
Barriss tensed as she studied the agent's body language. "You know who I am. I can't just leave you be." She said as she tried to reason with him.
Alphard raised his weapon once more. "Then I'm afraid you'll have to kill me. A shame, really."
Before the Naboo agent could even pull the trigger, the young Jedi was already behind him. An ancient technique in the force that used much if her energy, but allowed her to move faster than human eyes could follow was what allowed her to get the jump on him. As Alphard turned to swing his weapon towards her face in hopes to land a critical hit, she ducked just as quickly, grabbing his closest arm and pulling him down over her back as she rolled on top of him, causing him to hit his head on the floor. Barriss gathered herself and picked up the agent's pistol and aimed it at his head ready to pull the trigger.
Something stopped her though. She remembered who she was, the things she had done, the things she had sacrificed to get to this point. She remembered everything she did wrong and remembered how she vowed to make everything right again. In that moment, she switched the weapon to stun and fired down at Alphard's head, rendering him unconscious. She then ran to his computer terminal and turned off the alarms before opening her comms. But before she could, she noticed an incoming message on the central terminal. An encoded message carrying the 212th signature identification, an RC number.
Barriss chose to take a moment to listen to the broadcast, upon doing so, she realised that Howzer and his men weren't the only clone detectors with their inhibitor chips still active. "Slick will want to hear this." She muttered to herself before extracting the data drive. She then proceeded to open up her short range comms.
"Slick! The alarms are disabled and it looks like you're on the right way to the prison complex. But I have some bad news… Cody is heading towards your location."
"Copy that. Head back to the ship, we can handle it from here." Slick responded as he grabbed Rex to stop him.
"What's wrong? Who was that?" Rex asked rather quickly.
"Ba- Uh, Hound. He's taken care of things on his end. But Rex, I have to warn you. Cody is here."
Rex paused, looking at Slick in an attempt to read his body language. He always found it easier with clones, seeing as they almost always wore their armour, it was the only way when you couldn't see each others faces, no matter if they're all the same face. There was something Slick wasn't telling him, something personal. For now, the captain chose to adress the matter layer so long as it didn't interfere with the mission. "…We'll deal with him when the time comes. Right now, we need to get Howzer and his men out of here."
Dogma pointed down the hall. "More bad clones!" He whispered.
Rex and Slick readied their weapons. "Right everyone, set blasters to stun. We don't want to kill our brothers if we don't have to." The former captain looked directly at Slick when he said that.
Slick shook his head slightly. "Believe it or not, I have actually learnt from my mistakes, Sir."
"Alright then. Let's move!" Rex whispered as he and Slick charged towards the two 212th clones standing guard over the detention facility entrance, knocking them out within seconds of each other as Dogma and Numa followed close behind.
As the trio entered the complex, Slick, Numa and Dogma kept close to the walls while Rex rounded the corner, mere feet away from their target. "Captain Howzer?"
"Captain Rex? I heard you were dead." His fellow captain answered in surprise.
Rex removed his helmet. "Being dead in the eyes of the empire has it's advantages." He smiled before turning back to his companions. "Slick! There's probably an external communications jammer. Find it and take it offline. We're gonna need your ship to get these clones out of here." He commanded as the He and Dogma began deactivating the Rayshields keeping the half dozen clones in captivity.
"You can trust me, Rex. I'll get it done" Slick nodded, eager to redeem himself.
Before he left, he turned to Dogma. "Hey buddy, listen to me. You stay close to Rex, okay? He'll keep you safe, brother. You too, kid." He said to Numa as he placed his hand on her head. The young girl simply smiled and nodded.
"Okay!" Dogma replied in a chipper tone, clearly happy being around the many other clones who didn't want to shoot him.
Slick then left the room and made his way down the halls, quickly peering in several rooms, scouting for the signal jammer.
"Rex. It's Slick. Haven't found the jammer yet, but I haven't met any resistance either. Somethings not ri-" Slick was then cut off by General Cody sweeping put from around the corner he had just passed, pressing his rifle into the back of the traitor's head. Causing him to stop in his tracks.
"Hello, Slick. This feels somewhat familiar, doesn't it?" Cody asked rhetorically, almost taking delight in the poetic situation he found himself in.
"Commander-" Was all Slick could say before feeling a sudden blow to the back of his head.
He was only out for a few seconds. He wondered why Cody hadn't just killed or even stunned him, but then he remembered everything that he had done. This was personal. The commander obviously wanted to make him suffer before whatever came next. Slick's ears were ringing, he could barely make out the words coming from Cody's mouth. He thought he heard Boil's name being mentioned, but he wasn't sure.
In a way, it was lucky that his hearing was muffled as it dampened the sound of blaster fire. Slick's blurred vision made it difficult to make out what was happening. He saw an orange and white blur which could easily be Cody firing down the hallway. Bright blue rings came flying back towards the commander, they must be the stun shots from Dogma and Rex, he thought.
His vision and hearing slowly eased back into clarity as he saw Cody aim his wrist towards his attackers, a small rocket fired from his greave and an explosion ensued. The smoke from the blast seeped down the hallway, only for Dogma to emerge from the blast and tackle Cody to the ground before the commander rolled back and used the momentum to pull the young brother back with him. "Stay away from my brother!" Dogma shouted as he tried to get back up, only to be held down by Cody's knee on his abdomen.
Cody rolled back onto his feet and stood tall over the 501st trooper. "Traitor." Was all he said before extending a blade from his other greave and driving his fist down onto Dogma's chest.
Slick grunted as he tried to get to his feet. "Nnnrgg! No!" He barely shouted, spitting out blood. He must have bitten the inside of his cheek when he fell.
As Cody turned to Slick, he slowly pulled the blade from Dogma's chest. His fallen brother screaming through gargled blood in his throat before he exhaled. Dogma looked to his teammate with a look in his eye that Slick could only assume was a look of content. But how? How could a man feel nothing but satisfaction at the moment if his death? Why did he feel that way when he looked at him of all people? Slick didn't know the answers, and he feared he never would as he collected his thoughts and looked up to a rifle in his face.
"I've wanted to do this for years. What you did… you never really were one of us. Goodbye, traitor."
"CODY!"
The name echoed through the room and down the halls. The commander turned to the doorway to see the origin of the noise.
Rex stood tall, weapons drawn in both hands, set to stun. "Cody… it's me. Its Rex. Cody, listen to me. Nobody else has to die today. You're sick, Cody. You need help. Let me help you." He said calmly as he attempted to slowly step towards his brother.
The General's eyes darted back and forth, his willingness to stop this madness overwhelmed by his control chip. With one hand on his rifle still aimed at Slick, he changed targets and now aimed at the brother who he had fought beside for all of his life. His other hand was now brought up to steady his weapon. "Stay back! I… I have to do this. Traitors to the Republic must be executed!"
Rex continued to take another step towards him. "Cody… the Republic is gone. Let's leave here, brother… together." The captain lowered his pistols slightly, keeping one of them at waist level while he holstered the other and held out his hand.
Cody was physically shaking, his eyes darting between Rex and Slick before they rolled back like some sort of possessive trance before adjusting once more. "No…"
Before the leader of the 212th could pull the trigger, he was pulled to the floor by his legs. Slick landed a punch on Cody's kneecap, then one on his cheek as he fell before the General struck the Sergeant with his elbow. As the brunt force knocked Slick off, he rolled towards Dogma's body. He desperately kicked Cody while they were still on the floor, struggling to catch his breath. Whatever he kicked set Cody's jetpack off as he went flying towards Rex, which the captain dodged, dragging him down the hallway.
As the room suddenly fell quiet, Slick crawled to Dogma to remove his helmet and close his fallen troopers' eyes for the last time. "I'm sorry brother… I couldn't protect you…" He lowered his head as tears dropped onto the young troopers chest.
Suddenly, Dogma twitched as he coughed up more blood. Slick jumped in shock. "Kriff! He's still alive! Rex! I need bacta spray!"
Rex quickly knelt down hand handed Slick a small container from his belt. Commanding officers and ARC troopers often carried a small supply of bacta on them. Luckily for Dogma, Rex was both.
The trooper's breathing began to slow as the adrenaline wore off and his vital signs stabilised. "Slick… I…"
Slick place his finger on Dogma's lips. "Save your strength, brother." He said calmly as he turned to see Howzer and his men enter the room, fully armoured and weapons ready. He then pointed at two of his men. "You two! Carry him. The rest of you, you're gonna cover us as we make our way out of here. We don't know where Cody ended up, he's probably on his way back here so we need to move now!"
The two clones briefly looked as Howzer before the captain gave a quick nod and motioned for them to help the young brother to his feet. The captain then looked Slick in the eyes.
"You have a problem with me giving your men orders, Captain?" Slick asked in a defensive tone.
Howzer briefly shook his head. "No. Its just that I had heard stories about you. Its nice to see that they might not be true."
Rex looked on at the two, having to agree with his fellow captain. "Let's go." He said as he readied his pistols.
"Just a sec." Slick answered as he brought up his wrist and opened his comms to both Hound and Barriss. "We have the target, but Dogma is badly hurt. Long range comms are jammed so someone is gonna have to get word to the doctor. How soon can you be back at the ship?"
"Kinda hard to say!" Hound responded as blasterfire could be heard over the radio.
"Do you need help?" Slick asked.
"Don't you worry about us, son. The floating medic and I have got this fat son of a-" Hound had to stop himself as narrowly dodged another blaster bolt.
"Hey! AZ! New plan. I distract him, you charge for his head and get that helmet off."
"Sergeant, I must inform you that even at my full speed, the odds of your plan succeeding are four point seven seven two to one!" The droid said in panic.
"Don't tell me the odds, just do it! Now!" He shouted as he emerged from cover, relentlessly firing shot after shot at the 212th lieutenant.
"I don't want to do thiiiiiiiis!" AZ shouted as he flew directly towards the trooper, catching a blaster bolt to the lower left of its body but not stopping. He hit the soldier and knocked him to the ground, sending his helmet off simultaneously.
Hound rushed over. "See? I told ya it'd work, heheh." He chuckled before continuing. "So, can you get his chip out, or what?"
AZ's lights in its eyes began to flicker. "While this is not an ideal not sterile situation, I can perform the emergency surgery… Though it will be the last I ever perform." The droid said as it motioned for the Sergeant to look down at its damaged body. Dark blue coolants began to ooze onto the floor, spreading quickly over the flat surface.
Just as Hound was about to drop to one knee to inspect the damage, he was shot in the shoulder, causing him to fall onto his back in pain. AZ turned to see that the soldier had regained consciousness before he used his pistol to strike the droid in the head.
As the 212th heavy weapons soldier pointed his weapon at Hound to land the final blow, a familiar voice caused him to pause.
"Nera?"
A young girls voice drew his attention to his left. A young twi'lek girl looked upon him, surrounded by several clones, one of them wore 501st colours and was bleeding heavily.
"N-Numa?" The clone said as he recognised the girl.
Rex then emerged along with Slick, he instantly recognised the trooper as Boil. This wasn't just some shiny, not some rookie. This was someone he had fought beside time and time again. He did him a favour and fired a stun round, knocking him out.
Two more of Howzer's men rushed over to Hound to help him up. "I'm fine! The droid…" He protested as he pointed towards AZ.
Slick knelt down to inspect their robotic comrade. "AZ? You still with us?" He asked as he gently smacked the side of the droids head until the optical lights flickered once again.
"A-A-Affirmat-ti-ti-tive." It spoke as it began to float towards Boil. "C-commencing su-su-su-surgery."
Everyone watched uncomfortably as they all seemingly knew that this would be the last thing the droid ever did. As the chip was extracted into the vile, AZ dropped to the floor and its power went out. Everyone watching took a moment of silence for their fallen companion. Despite being made of steel, he shared their blood.
Numa then rushed over to Boil, grabbing his head with both hands as she tried to wake him up. "Nera? Nera!" She cried.
His eyes slowly began to open, darting around the room, trying to gather his surroundings until they fell on the young girl kneeling over him. "Numa…" He smiled. "Look at you… you're all grown up." He chuckled as she dived into hug him. "Hey, I've missed you too, kid."
Rex and Slick looked at each other in confusion. It was clear that they knew each other, though they weren't sure how or when. But it wasn't a question that would be answered quickly. Rex then stepped forward. "Boil. Are you alright?" He asked.
The lieutenant looked up at the captain, still holding the twi'lek girl in his arms. "Y-yes, sir. I'm alright. I'm… sorry."
"It wasn't you, soldier." Hound then spoke up, clutching his shoulder. "It was your programming."
Boil placed his hand on his head and winced at the pain from his recent surgery. "Programming? I-"
"We'll explain later. Right now, we have wounded men and we need to leave. Do you know a way out of here that isn't heavily guarded?" Slick then butted in.
"We still haven't been able to find the jammer and disable it." Howzer added.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it… After we cross that bridge." Rex tried to joke.
Ignoring Rex, Boil nodded as he stood up on his feet, still holding Numa. "The main hangar will be on lockdown, but they won't expect everyone to cross that bridge on foot. Follow me!"
As everyone followed the 212th soldier, Slick waited to fall behind and cover the rear while also taking it as an opportunity to contact Barriss. "Kid, we have Hound. Looks like we're walking to the Silver Lining from here. What's your position?"
Barriss huffed and grunted as she carried the unconscious Naboo native over her shoulder, struggling to bring up her wrist comm. "I'm close, don't worry. But I don't think you'll be able to hide me from Rex for very long."
Slick sighed. "Fine. Its not like much else has gone right today. How soon can you be at the hardlight bridge?"
"Five… Maybe ten minutes?" She answered with zero certainty.
"What's the holdup?" Slick then followed up.
Barriss groaned as she hoisted Alphard up again, adjusting him so that he rested a little more comfortably on her shoulders. "I'll tell you later. Just… wait up for me… please?"
"I'm not leaving you behind, I promise." Her oldest friend reassured her before disengaging.
Just as she was about to press on, she heard the words "Freeze!" and stopped in her tracks, slowly turning to see a squad of four 212th soldiers aiming their weapons at her.
"Carefully place the Agent on the ground and put your hands in the air." One of the troopers commanded.
Barriss only half obeyed. She dropped Alphard in the least carful manner possible, the sudden thud as he hit the ground caused the troopers to jump slightly. "Alright. Now raise your hands. Slowly." Now this order, she had no problem following.
The commanding soldier then pressed his fingers on the side of his helmet. "Sir, we've apprehended one of the infiltrators. Not a clone, but not one of the locals either. They were trying to kidnap Agent Alphard."
"Oh, useless- Execute them both." Cody's voice could be heard even from where Barriss was standing.
She didn't have the energy to perform the same maneuver she used on Aplhard, she was already exhausted from carrying him. Before she could figure out her next move, a blaster shot could be heard, causing her to squeeze her eyes shut, only she didn't feel any pain. She hesitantly opened her eyes so see all four clones dropping to the floor dead. A single shot had been fired through their heads at once. Sev then slowly entered the room.
"Having a bad day, commander?" He tried to joke.
Barriss slumped her shoulders and heavily sighed. "The worst. Help me with this, would you?"
Sev nodded and rushed over to lift the unconscious man up across both of his shoulders. "Who's this?"
"Imperial Agent. He knew who I was." She answered swiftly.
"Why didn't you kill him?"
Barriss stopped in her tracks and looked the commando in the eyes. "Because he wouldn't kill me."
"That was nice of him." Sev joked again. "External communications are still jammed. Luckily, while you guys had everyone distracted, I brought a speeder over. We just have to hope that the others can buy us the time we need to get back to the Silver Lining."
"Hold it!"
The pair stopped and turned to see a clone in dark turquoise armour aiming his rifle at them. "Please… put Agent Alphard down."
Sev and Barriss looked at each other before the commando spoke up. "We can't do that."
The clones rifle was visibly shaking in his hands. Sev could already tell that this was a shiny, fresh off Kamino, never seen a battle until today, most likely. He remembered how Fixer once told him that the Jango Fett DNA had been stretched, for lack of a better word. He couldn't remember all the details, but he remembered it had something to do with the kaminoans adding in something called 'junk genes' to compensate. That lead to newer clones becoming less and less like their donor, under normal circumstances, a clone wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger, but this one was struggling.
"What's your name?" The commando asked as he took a step forward.
"Stay back! I'll shoot!" He all but screamed.
Sev slowly lowered Alphard onto the floor and just as slowly brought his hands up, he looked at Barriss and nodded for her to do the same. Reluctantly, she surrendered once again. "Okay, kid. Your friend is safe and we're unarmed. What now?"
"I… I don't know, just… don't come any closer!" The young clone was literally trembling.
Sev removed his helmet, revealing his face covered in scars, despite only being no more than three or four years apart, he looked like he had decades on this young man. "You don't have to do this. Take it from a brother when I say that following orders doesn't make them right… We're fighting for the freedom of clones… You could come with us. You wouldn't have to fight." He said with empathy as he held out his hand.
The clones gun lowered slightly. "I'm… My name is Mustard…"
"Mustard, brother… please. I'm asking you to come with us." Sev tried again and held up his hand.
"I… Okay…" The weapon finally dropped and Mustard slowly made his way towards them. "I-"
Sev fired a stun round at Howzers soldier. "I know you are, brother." He said as he hoisted Mustard over his shoulders. "Sorry, commander. We're gonna have to take them both."
Barriss didn't say anything at first, she focused on lifting Alphard over her shoulders the same way as the commando. It was only when they began walking towards the speeder Sev had stashed away behind several crates that she began to address the situation. "You stunned him but not the others."
That was a question, though it wasn't asked like one, more as a confrontation. "They didn't hesitate, so neither could I… He did." The commando explained.
"Oh no…" Slick muttered as he looked towards the hardlight bridge as it shut down. Through a set of night vision goggles, he looked down at the control panel linked to the bridge to see a 212th recon trooper leaving his post.
"What do we do now?" Howzer asked, looking to Rex.
"We can just charge him and reactivate the bridge. Only trouble is that we'd be completely in the open. Cody and his men could surround us at any second." The captain commented.
"It's Woolley." Boil said, causing everyone to look at him. "He doesn't know I'm free. I'll go down there." He announced as he emerged from cover and approached his fellow soldier.
"Boil? What are you doing here? I thought you were patrolling the senatorial building." Woolley asked, dropping his guard upon seeing a familiar face.
"At ease, Woolley. General Cody sent orders to guard this post. The fugitives are likely to use this walkway as their primary means of escape."
The Recon trooper looked even more alert as Cody then emerged from behind a large boulder near the cliff edge. Boil stood stiff, unsure of how the next few minutes would play out. "Funny…" Cody said menacingly. "I don't recall giving such orders, lieutenant." He almost spat.
In a split second decision, Boil chose to rush for Woolley, wrapping one arm around him as he brought his brother forward and held a pistol to his head, using him as a human shield. The rest of the renegades took this as an opportunity to emerge from their hideout and surround the General.
"Please stop this, sir." Boil pleaded, clearing uncomfortable holding Woolley hostage.
"Cody, listen to me. Come with us. It's not too late to stop this from becoming something we'll all regret." Rex said slowly as he stowed his weapons and tried once again to get close to his oldest friend.
A Jedi would say that there's no such thing as luck, that every outcome in life is the will of the force. Slick had to disagree. This was extremely unlucky. Just when they had Cody surrounded, just when it seemed like he would come around, just when they could see him physically fighting the urges implemented by his control chip, the Silver Lining flew down in full force.
Cody quickly turned to see the medical frigate hover majestically, occupying the space that the hardlight bridge would take. In an instant, in a moment of panic, he turned back to his men and pulled the trigger. Sending a blaster bolt through Woolley and hitting Boil in his left arm. The lieutenant almost screamed in pain as his brothers lifeless corpse dropped dead in front of him.
Just as Cody had acted on instinct, Boil acted on his, though his instincts were driven by vengeance. He threw his brothers body to the side and rushed for his commanding officer, tackling him in the process, Rex rushed in to help hold the General down. Slick saw an opportunity while Cody was distracted and ordered Howzer and his men to carry the clones into the ship while he stayed behind to aid Boil and Rex.
The 212th leader rolled upon impact and threw both clones off of him towards Slick before getting to his feet and aiming his wrist at the trio. Another rocket fired from his greave, causing a small explosion that knocked Boil and Rex over the edge and Slick unconscious, still on the cliff edge. Rex was able to grab Boil by his boot with one hand while grabbing onto the ledge with the other. He looked down at the lieutenant who was knocked unconscious as he also saw his blaster fall into the chasm below, he then looked back up at his hand holding onto the end of the cliff, only to see Cody staring down at him, his blaster raised to the captain's face.
"Commander Rex, I hear by charge you with treason against the Empire. You will be stripped of all rank and subject to execution." He said coldly as he began to press his boot on Rex's hand. He was terrified, not only for his life and that of Boil's, but the vivid memory of Jesse saying those very similar words stuck him, it broke his heart to leave all of his brothers to die.
Suddenly, a single shot could be heard. Rex's ears were never mistaken when it came to the sound of a blaster being fired, a DC-17 much like his own. The all too familiar sound echoed in Rex's head as he looked up at Cody who had a burning hole in his chest. The commander looked down in shock, then slowly turned to the origin of the shot.
Slick.
Slick had fired. He shot Cody right through the chest in a split second decision upon regaining consciousness, no tome to check to see if the weapon was set to stun nor was there time to set it himself. Cody stumbled at first, attempting to keep his footing, to keep on fighting, he looked back down at Rex and shakily raised his blaster once more, but he didn't have the strength to meet Rex's head. Instead, the General collapsed and fell over the edge, his body disappearing into darkness. Rex could only watch his brother's lifeless corpse fall into the depths before he felt a pair of hands wrap around his wrist and pull him up along with Boil still unconscious.
"I had to, Rex. I-" Slick tried to say.
"I know." Was all he could muster in response. "Let's just go."
Another squad of 212th soldiers began firing at the trio as well as the ship as they boarded and the doors closed behind them. Slick raised his hand to his helmet and contacted the bridge. "Doctor. Get us out of here. Activate the hyperdrive while still in atmosphere, it'll throw them off." He spoke, sounding defeated himself.
One hour later…
Faun Shae looked upon Dogma suspended in Bacta, on track to make an incredibly slow recovery. He then turned to Slick, who returned a look that couldn't resemble how sorry he was even if he tried. This was his biggest fear and it came to be, Dogma was hurt, he could still die if conditions don't improve. Slick knew the uncomfortable conversation was coming, but he couldn't predict when, there were too many matters to attend.
Thankfully, the mission overall was a success. Howzer and several of his men were now chipless and free, including the young clone Mustard. Boil and Hound both had similar injuries in their arms but most clones would tell you its nothing. Boil himself had discarded his old scorn armour upon his left arm and replaced it with armour from a fresh set found in storage, he then gifted his old armour to the young Twi'Lek the crew had in their possession before engraving his own name into the old armour.
"This is so you'll never forget me, kid…" He smiled at Numa before continuing. "Because I'm never going to forget you." He explained as he pointed to his new armour, still coloured in 212th orange but with "Numa" engraved on his left wrist.
She smiled upon seeing her name at first, then looked up at him with a look of sadness and confusion. Her basic was still a long way from being fluent, but she had asked why he would need to remember her. "Where going?" She asked innocently.
Boil smiled at her, then looked back to his brothers. "Call it a gut feeling, but I think this is where I'm needed. My family needs me… You… Your family needs you." He smiled once more as he gently ran his hand over her left Leku. He then turned his attention to Howzer, Rex and Sev.
"Are you sure about this?" The commando asked, visibly distressed.
"We're sure." Howzer stated as Rex stood to attention before following up.
"The technology to remove the chips is already in the database of every ship that served in the war. The loss of the AZ unit is less than ideal, but we can free more brothers down the line." Rex clarified.
"We survived one war, Rex. You don't have to drag yourself into another… Too many of us have died already…" Slick then came in and pleaded, the guilt of killing Cody burning a hole in his chest.
Despite everything he did, everyone he put in harms way, everyone he killed, Rex played a hand on his brother's shoulder and gave a genuine affirmative nod. "Slick, I don't think my war will ever end. But that doesn't mean yours can't. Take Boil and Mustard, carve out a place in the stars for us clones. And maybe somewhere down the line, when the war is really over, tell me where to find you. For the time being, we need to free more of our brothers."
"Then I know somewhere you can start." A female voice came from behind him. Rex turned in surprise to see Barriss Offee stood before him, holding out a data chip.
His instinct was to go for his weapon, but before he could even reach his pistol, he felt a firm grasp on his wrist. He looked up at Slick who held him in place, looking into his eyes, pleading with him to let this go. Rex looked at his brother and saw something eerily familiar, Slick looked at Barriss the same way he looked as Ahsoka, they were bonded in a way that only he could understand. She saved him.
Rex finally released his weapon as Slick relaxed his grip on his arm. The captain then slowly held out his hand to receive the data chip, which Barriss gracefully sent floating over through use of the force. "Appreciated." He said bluntly, followed with a nod of approval. "Hunter knows where Cham Syndulla is located, we'll drop the girl off there then rendezvous with Wolffe in the Bahahk system."
As the group left Howzer, Rex Numa and several clones on the hidden Twi'lek colony world, Barriss could only look out into the stars, deep in thought. Slick slowly approached her, trying best not to startle her.
"So… an Imperial Agent is taking up space in the brig, huh?" He said as he tried to make conversation.
"Sorry about that, didn't realise you needed the room for something." She smirked, clearly messing with him.
While the atmosphere seemed lighthearted on the surface, Slick could feel something more urgent growing from within. "What are we going to do with him, Barriss?"
"He was going to let me go, but if I had just left, he'd let the Empire know how to find me." She explained.
"I know I said I don't want to fight the Empire, but I will if I have to. Let them come, we'll face them together." Slick responded with encouragement, trying to place a hand on Barriss' shoulder put of solidarity, only for it to be pushed away as she spun to face him.
"You don't understand! It's not just clone troopers or storm troopers… The inquisitors are relentless. The fact that so many Jedi turned to the dark side so quickly, eager to hunt us down… We can't face them. I barely got away last time."
Slick could see the fear in her eyes, he knew her well enough not to push on this sensitive subject. He supposed the Imperial Agent would have to be dealt with later, for now, they needed somewhere to rest. "Alright then." He gave her a reassuring nod before joining her in her observation. "It's a big galaxy out there. Where should we go?"
Barriss took in a deep breath before answering. "I… actually might know somewhere. I promised someone that I'd keep it a secret, but we don't really have many options." She then turned to Slick who gave her a look of frustration and confusion, as if to say 'just tell me already!'
"What do you know about the Czerka corporation?"
Deep in space near the Balmorra run, the pirate ship Tremonious, Callidus the conqueror stewed in anger. Bested by a random assortment of renegade clones and that troublesome Jedi traitor. He looked over at his men, mostly trandoshans, they were tired, hungry,and worst of all, bored.
He watched as two of his more recent additions to his crew began to wrestle with one another over something which was probably not worth the effort. Callidus lazily made his way over to the two lizards and held them against the wall. "Trix! Smaug! Enough of this petty squabbling or I swear to the great score keeper, I'll throw you both back on that hunting moon where I found you!" He snarled.
The two former Jedi hunters hissed in anger, but quickly subjected to their new leader. "Forgive us, mighty Callidus." Trix hissed.
Callidus made his way over to the life support reader nearby before responding. "Oxygen is already low. We don't need to waste anymore because you two can't cooperate. We are the Banished clan, we are Banished together, we are Banished strong!" He shouted, causing a loud ensemble of chants and cheers from his men. Despite being on a new derelict ship with limited resources, Callidus knew how to keep his men focused.
As if the Banished leader could command the galaxy itself, his word became true as the whole ship jolted, causing many to stumble and fall. The sound of scraping metal and marching footsteps echoed down the hallways until a squad of eerily humanoid looming droids entered the bridge where Callidus and the last few dozen of his men had taken refuge. The charismatic tradesman took a defensive stance against the droids, prepared for an eventual attack. "What do you want?" He spat.
The sound of scraping metal became louder as a gargantuan creature eclipsed the hallway emergency lights. It was only when the creature squeezed its way into the bridge that the crew could see that this was a Hutt. The largest Hutt that anyone had ever seen, towering over twelve feet tall and an unfathomable number of feet wide. The lifeless eyes of this enormous space slug suddenly switched to Callidus, the movement was so sudden, it looked almost droid like. "Greetings. I am the great Manus the Hutt… and I have a proposition for strong, resourceful men such as yourselves."
Callidus was skeptical, but slightly lowered his axe nonetheless. "What sort of work do you have in mind?"
The Hutt didn't give any body language for him to read, he barely looked like he was breathing. "Several groups of rebels are causing issues with some of my production lines. See these droids? Well, they're good, but they can never truly counteract the impulsive nature of organic beings. I need men who are quick on their feet and able to maintain security over my property."
This had to have been the easiest job offer the Banished had ever received. Callidus looked around at his men, a mischievous grin took over his face. "How could we possibly refuse?"
Chapter end.
Hey guys, been a while since I posted. I've been travelling to see my wife and the plane ride is the only time I actually get any time to myself to work on my fic. Hope you're enjoying so far but I wanted to clarify some things because I don't know how I could carry it across in this chapter.
The 212th distress call that Barriss found on the terminal was from Gregor. I'm trying to incorporate my fic without diverting from Canon. seeing as there's no explanation as to how Gregor knew to call Rex or even how he made his way back to the Republic, I've taken it upon myself to fill in some of the gaps.
Trix and Smaug are supposed to be the two trandoshans that Ahsoka, Chewie and the padawans knocked out to steal their vehicle in season 3. I like making use of characters who are usually just one offs or forgotten about.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter.