Chapter 6: Second Times A Charm?
Back in her room, SAC-1's dead, bloodshot eyes stared blankly into the large, round mirror hanging on her right wall.
Hunters berate was whirling through her mind at a million miles per second, blaring and hateful.
'You screwed up the mission, that's what happened!'
'The Chancellors safety is at risk because of your mistakes!"
'You just made us fail the mission and nearly killed off half our men -'
Nala Se's parting words were next, soft but threatening.
'If you are returned to Kamino, we will be forced to rethink your usefulness to the army.'
Her face contorted in ferocity, and tears of pain came out of the corners of her squeezed eyes. "WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU?!" She shrieked, then once again hurled a punch at whatever was in front of her, which happened to be the mirror this time. It shattered under her fist, shards shot in any and every direction upon impact, and unfortunately the pieces of broken glass that remained under her fist severed through her glove and sliced into her knuckles but she didn't feel the sting. All she felt was the crushing weight on her chest of guilt and impending doom.
Once Nala Se found out about her failure she'd be executed on the spot for sure, and while it would be just... SAC-1 didn't want her life to end so shortly after being introduced to the amazing wonders of the vast galaxy.
(Day 4 w/ the Bad Batch)
Tech heeded to Hunter's curt order that they leave SAC-1 alone... at first. But as the night dragged on his anxiety over the situation steadily increased.
I know why SAC-1 failed, but no one wants to listen to me!
It was the bitter story of his life.
More than once, Crosshair in the bunk above above him hissed for him to stop shaking his leg or he would come down there and make him stop as Tech's nervous habit so fiercely shuddered the bunk frame that it made Crosshair feel like he was in the middle of an earthquake.
This made Tech even more anxious as it was a part of his thinking process!
Then, a bright light bulb appeared over his head as his exceptional mind did come up with a solution: Commander Tano would listen!
Instead of elaborately explaining his (almost) scientifically proven ways to ensure a brilliant idea every time, to his grumpy little brother, Tech shot out of his bunk and bolted out of the barracks. Thankfully Hunter was out wandering the cruiser, too worked up to sleep, so Tech could easily slip away - Wrecker was a heavy sleeper, unlike the Sergeant, and Crosshair just muttered a 'Good riddance' under his breath before falling into a deepest peaceful slumber be could under the circumstances, being surrounded by filthy, underhanded regs and all.
Halfway through his sprint to the medical bay, Tech realized that he forgotten his armor - he had taken it off so he could sleep more comfortably - and was just in his black body glove, but he quickly pushed that impropriety aside - There are more important things to worry about! Once he barreled into the medical bay, he beseeched a perturbed clone doctor for the location of Commander Tano as he had urgent business to discuss with her.
The doctor was surprisingly friendly to the defective clone despite his crazed eyes and disheveled blacks and hair, "You're in luck - Commander Tano just came out of the bacta tank, so she should still be awake." He motioned for Tech to follow him with a bob of his head, "I'll take you to her."
Tech found Ahsoka thankfully up and alert in her hospital bed, the bacta speeding up the healing process of the blaster wound, and she was dressed in a simple white hospital robe and pants.
She was confused at Tech's presence, but set aside the datapad she was looking at to give him her full attention anyways. "What are you doing here?" She wondered.
Tech tugged up a chair next to her bed and promptly sat down before leaning forward slightly in eagerness and spilled his guts out to the young Jedi. "I needed to speak with you, Commander, because I think you are the only one who will listen to me." Ahsoka raised a figurative eyebrow, silently urging him to go on. "I know what happened to SAC-1 on Silva: she experienced a sensory overload, which happens when something around us overstimulates one or more of our senses. That could be a crowded room for example, or in SAC-1's case, an explosion. There is suddenly too much information coming in through our senses for our brain to process. It can happen to new soldiers on the battlefield but I have found that it definitely happens to clones who have enhanced senses, like SAC-1. The explosion was too much for her unnatural hyperawareness to handle so she became disoriented thus subjecting her to erratic, uncontrollable movements and actions that caused you and I and Crosshair to be injured."
It took Ahsoka a few seconds to process all that rather heavy hypothesis he laid out for her seemingly in one breath. I guess all clones with enhanced minds do this? "But shouldn't her training have helped her deal with bombs?" She argued once his speculative words did register.
"The Kaminoan training program does not include bombs, so SAC-1 had never experienced an explosion until Silva." Tech recited knowingly and grimly.
Understanding softened Ahsoka's features. "So it wasn't her fault she messed up... She had no way of knowing the bomb would affect her."
Tech's shoulders relaxed when FINALLY someone was sensible enough to actually listen to him. "Exactly. So she does not deserve to be returned to Kamino."
Ahsoka became distressed at this news. "She's being sent back?" If there was one thing she understood about their conversation earlier is that SAC-1 received punishments for trivial things... So what sort of repercussions were in store for her for a failed mission and an injured Commander?
"Hunter has asked Commander Cody to find her transportation back to Kamino first thing in the morning." Tech explained mournfully.
Ahsoka heavily sighed, which irritated her still tender wound but she sucked it up and then, to Tech's discomfit, swung her legs off the bed. "Then that doesn't give us much time." She slowly raised from her bed, albeit a little shakily.
Tech's eyes became the size of saucers as he shot up from his chair, holding his hands out as if to catch her. "W-what are you doing?! You should not be exerting yourself!"
Ahsoka gripped the bed rail to steady herself then gave Tech a serious look. "My friend is in trouble for something she couldn't control." She placed her other hand on his shoulder and firmly requested, "Take me to her, and the three of us can work out a plan to rectify this."
Tech sputtered for a moment - he had planned to retrieve SAC-1 himself - but the determination in the young Jedi Commanders eyes told him that she wasn't going to sit around and do nothing, so he reluctantly obliged and helped Ahsoka remain steady as they trudged to the Havoc Marauder II.
SAC-1 was hunched over against the wall, fragments of broken glass surrounding her huddled figure in a semicircle as her arms were limply around her knees and her heavy head set against them, mind racing about how probably by the end of today she'd most likely be executed in the most painful way possible. Nala Se took a sick pleasure in seeing how much pain the female clone could take before passing out anyways - she'd be thrilled to see what it would take for her to actually perish after all that endurance training.
No longer would she Special Agent Clone-1, but Failed Cloning Experiment- 59.
A timid knock suddenly sounded on her door, but SAC-1 didn't stir. Ignoring it, she hoped whoever was behind it would just leave her be... The female clone didn't think she could endure more shrieked reprimands.
After ten seconds, whoever was behind the door knocked again, more persistently, causing her to sigh in exhaustion. "Go away." She whisperedly pleaded in a hoarse voice.
Well, of course they didn't hear her, and they probably wouldn't have listened to her anyways. Tech pressed the access button, letting them both in, and he and Ahsoka gasped when the lights they had turned on outside illuminated her pitch-black dark room and the broken glass and blood were manifested.
"Agent, are you alright?!" Ahsoka fretted as, with Tech's help, she rushed as best she could to get friends' side, making SAC-1 raise her tear-stained face and furrow her eyebrows.
"What are you doing here?" The Clone Agent asked hoarsely as Tech then moved Ahsoka to sit the bed and once she was steady, then grasped SAC-1's arms and raised her from the mess with such strength that she wasn't expecting. She was gently led to her bed, where she was briefly examined for the extent of her injuries and then deposited before Tech rushed off to the medbay to retrieve supplies for her cuts.
Like Ahsoka had don't several times the day before, she a placed a friendly hand on SAC-1's shoulder in an attempt to soothe her, sensing her emotional and mental spiral. "Tech explained to me what happened out there on Silva - I know mine and the Bad Batches injuries aren't your fault."
SAC-1 shook her head in confusion. "What do you mean it's not my fault, sir?" She pushed Ahsoka's hand away, not thinking she deserved the gift of physical reassurance. "I knocked you over and threw that shock grenade at Tech and Crosshair, so I did in fact cause your injuries. It's as plain and simple as that."
"You couldn't control your actions." SAC-1 knew this was true, but couldn't fathom it.
How could someone not be in control of their actions? It didn't compute.
Tech returned and plopped down on the other side of SAC-1 and took her cut up hand, carefully removing the shredded glove, then ripped open a small packet that contained an antiseptic wipe and applied it to her bloody hand without warning, the sting causing her to take in a sharp wince, but honestly she had been through worse pain in her short four years.
After the sting subsided, she tried apologizing to her commanding officer but kept her eyes trained on Tech's adept and quick moving fingers as it now applied a grafting patch to her clean cuts, "Look, Commander, I don't understand what happened on the battlefield -"
"You had a sensory overload." Tech interrupted with this fact, now moving on to swaddling her hand up with a white cloth bandage strip.
SAC-1 met his gaze confusedly. "A what?"
Releasing her now mended hand, he began moving his hands animatedly as he explained his long conclusion all over again. "A sensory overload, which happens when something around us overstimulates -" By the time he was finished, SAC-1 certainly didn't have any questions, but still felt conflicted.
"So you see, none of this is your fault." Ahsoka reassured her.
"That's not how everyone else sees it." Was SAC-1's jaundiced mutter, Hunter's rage replaying in her mind.
"It does not matter what they think right now." Tech stated rigidly. "What matters now is: how exactly are we going to rectify the situation and reclaim your honor?"
"'We?'" SAC-1 repeated suspiciously.
"Yes."
"Why are you helping me?" Tech opened his mouth to reiterate the fact that it was not her fault, but SAC-1 held up a hand to silence him. "I know about your deal with Nala Se, Tech." He frowned in discontent, now understanding why her mood flipped the day before yesterday. "I know that if I failed this mission, I'd be sent back to Kamino, and I know you all agreed to this."
Tech held up his pointer finger. "Yes I agreed 'to' it, but I did not agree with it." She quirked a brow, "I always supported the idea of you joining the squad, and made my position exceedingly clear to everyone."
"You... did?" Tech nodded fervently, and warmth began to thaw the ice that had formed in her heart. So Tech was really being sincere all this time, not playing with my emotions. The beam of light he had thought a breath of fresh air finally returned to her face, but almost as soon as it was there it was gone as she then got back to the consequential issue at hand. "I have an idea on how to fix this, but I'll need your help and trust."
"You have both." Ahsoka guaranteed.
"You did WHAT?!" Was Hunter's aghast response at 0800 when Tech commed the Bad Batch, Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Cody and requested that they meet him and Commander Tano at the bridge and once they did, he informed them that the two had helped SAC-1 commandeer a Y-wing starfighter so she could go back to Silva and use her original plan to sneak into the Separatist Command Center to retrieve the hologram with minimal resistance.
Tech misunderstood Hunter's tone and tried repeating it for his benefit, "I helped SAC commandeer a Y-wing starfighter so she could -"
In reality, Hunter was just so utterly gob smacked that he gave Tech a chance to change his statement before the Sergeant throttled him without the least bit of regret, "No, no, don't say it again, I heard it right the first time!"
"Are you insane?" Crosshair hissed tempestuously from his spot next to Hunter, himself wanting to asphyxiate his apparently stark-raving mad older brother.
Wrecker massaged the back of his neck nervously, not liking the tense situation one bit.
Tech remained firm though, making one of the higher ups, Cody, query the loony commando in a serious tone, "Tech, how could you do something so reckless? She'll never be able to sneak into that base after we've tried invading it twice. Not to mention, she's unreliable - this is suicide!"
"I have this under control." Tech replied simply but confidently.
Hunter threw his hands up in exasperation and halfway turned away from the not-so-brainy clone to pinch the bridge of his nose as a stress migraine started forming while Anakin looked disappointedly at his young padawan, who was occupying a chair by a computer because she was physically drained from being up all night. "Ahsoka, how could you support this crazy plan, after what she did to you?"
Ahsoka firmly stood by her fellow schemer, "Master, what happened to me wasn't her fault."
"She knocked you off your feet and left you vulnerable." Anakin retorted. "How is that 'not' her fault?"
Ahsoka looked to Tech to explain it better than she ever could.
"SAC-1 experienced a sensory overload when the bomb went off."
Time stopped for Hunter, and remained speechless throughout Tech's explanation. He had heard this term and rant before, and memories resurfaced came in flashes about a day he had so desperately tried to repress.
"So you see, SAC-1 couldn't control her actions, therefore she should not be punished." Tech concluded, then noticed Hunter's now rigid form.
"She still screwed up the mission." Crosshair pointed out distastefully, there perfect record now mucked.
Tech's eyes didn't leave the frozen Sergeant, his words devoid of all emotion but at the same time still accusatory, "Hunter did the same two years ago on our very first mission -" Hunter's eyes snapped to attention in his direction but Tech still finished his hard-bite-to-swallow sentence, "- when he experienced his sensory overload, and yet we forgave him after we realized what had happened and righted the wrong... did we not, Hunter?"
Everyone now regarded Hunter with inquisitiveness, and his droopy eyes focused his boots in shame. He had tried so hard to suppress the memory of their first mission, hating the feelings of humiliation it gave him, and tried proving to himself and everyone else that he was the strong leader of the Bad Batch.
And now, thanks to Tech's lack of tact, he had another emotion to associate with the memory - crushing guilt. How could I not see it before?! I should have known that was what happened with her! Kamino didn't use bombs in their training, so there was no way she could control what happened to her with intensified hyperawareness! His mind was whirling with self-reprimanding. You were so wrapped up in your hate for the situation that you didn't even warn her about what bombs could do to people like us! You left her to fend for herself and then went off on her when it could have been prevented in the first place!
Suddenly, the holoprojector on Tech's right gauntlet beeped as a comm came in, and he was lightning quick to answer it. A small blue projection of SAC-1 appeared, taking off a helmet she must have grabbed from the armory and appeared surprisingly calm for someone on a suicide mission.
"Tech, I've managed to sneak into the tower without alerting the entire base of my presence, and I followed your instructions to block the Separatists from seeing this signal, so tell me how to find the hologram."
Hunter (and everyone else) was floored that she got into the base by herself - and very impressed and curious as to how she even managed it - but then Hunter took the two long strides to get next to Tech and tell SAC-1 to stop this madness. "Agent, forget this crazy scheme and get out of there! Tech told us what happened, so you don't need to prove yourself."
SAC-1 frowned at him and dismissed his order. "Sergeant, this isn't about proving myself, this is about completing the mission. We need to know who's scheming to kidnap the Chancellor."
"But -"
"With all due respect, I don't have time to argue with you about this." She focused her attention on the expert slicer. "Tech, walk me through this."
Tech began frantically pacing circles around the round holotable in the middle of the room and painstakingly explained every detail of what the Clone Agent needed to do to expose the encrypted hologram that revealed who was behind the plot and with equally fraught movements she began furiously pressing buttons on the mainframes keypad to keep up with his fast-paced speech.
Hunter lips were nervously pressed into a firm line as he tried to contain his agitation - which rarely happened on missions - but he still caught the attention of Ahsoka, cursed Jedi-Force abilities and all.
"Don't worry." She tried soothing him, and his dilated eyes passed a glance at her warm smile. "With Tech guiding her, she'll be in and out in no time."
He acknowledged her attempt at comforting with a curt nod, but still felt unsure, walking up and grasping the back of a nearby chair.
Thirty seconds passed and she found nothing.
A minute - nothing
Minute and a half - still zilch.
At the two-minute mark everyone was becoming incredibly antsy.
"Teeeech." Hunter growled anxiously over his shoulder at his squadmate.
He was unnaturally calm, cool, and collected, "This is a complicated process but she's nearly there -"
"I found the hologram!" SAC-1 proclaimed triumphantly.
"Perfect, now record it onto the holodisk." Tech instructed.
"And then get out of there!" Hunter said through gritted teeth.
"Transferring onto the holo -" Her eyes suddenly widened as a strange beep sounded and her mouth became agape at whatever it meant.
Hunter suddenly felt a pit in stomach - something went wrong. He stepped up to her holographic figure. "What's going on? What's happening?"
She merely began furiously typing again, maintaining her composure. "Change of plans: I'm going to find out the name of the person now and tell you who it is."
"You've been discovered?" Tech asked worriedly.
Fifty-five seconds
Her eyes flitted back and forth as she desperately tried to find the pertinent information, "The base has been rigged to explode if there's unauthorized access to the mainframe so once I broke through the encryption, the unauthorized access triggered the alarm. I've got less than a minute to find the name of this person."
Everyone - even Crosshair - felt a wave of dread prickle their skin and a gasp even escaped Ahsoka's lips.
"Forget the hologram, just get out of there!" Hunter insisted, but she stubbornly kept typing. "That's an order, soldier!"
Thirty five seconds
She remained focused on the task, but still calmly said, "Sergeant, Clone Force 99 is known as the squad that doesn't follow orders, but still has a one hundred percent success rate. I intend to uphold its reputation."
Twenty-five seconds
Fifteen seconds
She suddenly perked up. "The mastermind's name is Moralo Eval, a male Phindian who's currently on planet Denon!"
Ten seconds
"Alright, now get out of there!" Hunter practically yelled.
Seven seconds
SAC-1 flashed a glance at the door. "The exit is blocked!"
Five seconds
Hunter's heart sank as she whipped her head right and left for a way out.
Three seconds
SAC-1 darted from the holodisk. They heard a crash of glass, then -
Flash!
BOOM!
The hologram went dead.
Tech rapidly pressed the keys on his comlink to access her channel. "Agent, come in!" Silence was his only answer and he fretfully to his - unfortunately - distressed Sergeant before, trying again not knowing what else to do. "Agent, are you there?!"
There was no reply.
