Chapter One

Yes, he has his chip removed. Fox scheduled his own surgery when medic clones began to disappear. Found an unattended med bay. Set up the scanners and the med droid.

He remembers Fives words.

After Rex filed his grievance report, Fox realized he needed to look into the chips. He couldn't afford to trust anyone, not even Stone and Thire. They would not believe him, they had no reason whatsoever to believe him, someone they obeyed but despised because of Fives. So he kept quiet and he kept watch.

When he discovered what those chips could do, parts of his life started to make sense. That is, the missing parts, the missing time. Times where he woke up, looked at the blood on his hands and wondered how it got there. Times where he couldn't remember how he got back to the barracks after meeting with the Chancellor.

Before he could tell anyone what he discovered the order was issued. He pretended to comply in order to get out of there. He walked away from everything. Even her and the life they were making for themselves.

The first few weeks after the order were the longest of Fox short life. He kept wanting to go home. But he had to stay away to keep her safe.

He had always kept to himself, perfectly aware of his precarious position both within the GAR. While he had his brother commanders, he was a Marshal Commander and was held to a different standard. He could not even relate with his own batchmates fighting out on the front lines. The moment he shot ARC Trooper Fives everything changed. He probably would have acted the same way in their place.

Fox thought he had stunned Fives. He was sure he had the blasters set to stun when his office when the call came out. But the when Fives fell to the ground there was a hole in his armor.

Now two years later Fox was alone. Fox was paranoid, and obsessive, and drowning in a mix of guilt and shame and frustration.

Well not entirely alone. He has spent those two years working with Vos, finding Jedi and de-chipping clones and getting them out of Corsucant. This is his way of making amends.

When he gets home to the little apartment that he has managed to make his and that he'll soon have to abandon, there's already a message from Vos waiting for him.

The place is small, but it's also warm and clean. There's a fresher, kitchenette, the cot where he sleeps, and he found the little desk and the chair under the boarded-up window.

Fox takes out the datachip from his pocket and inserts it in the pad before even reading the message, and then sits down on his chair and waits while the decryption program does its job.

When it ends the pad pings. Fox puts his feet back on the floor and swipes at the screen to turn on the small holoprojector.

The kid must have been around twelve when that holo was taken. They look between sulky and awkward, their serious little face full of impatience. Fox cannot see a Padawan braid anywhere, but that doesn't mean anything--the robes are unmistakable.

Vos has found another one.

Fox's days go like this: He wakes up. He drinks some water and then goes down to the cellar and works out for two hours. He then goes up back to his room, where he eats his breakfast of stale caf and ration bars and has a shower.

What he does afterwards changes depending on the day. Sometimes he stays in the undercity, following leads and talking to contacts and trying not to get into trouble with the gangs. Other times he stays at home, in one of his safe houses, slicing into Imperial databases and updating his security protocols.

He has to be careful when he ventures to the surface. Up there he can be recognized. It requires a lot of preparation, a lot of planning. He has a suit of stormtrooper armour in a safe house that's near the surface, but he knows sometimes it's not enough.

As much as he wants to he cannot go to the Senate building. He wants to check on Thire. While he cannot get close, he needs to know if his vod is still breathing. But this is not the right day. This is the day he checks on her.

The one who loved him before the order, one he still loves...

When it's near sunset he ascends to the surface, first to one safe house to change into the armor and then on to the one in the building across from her, their apartment. He knows her schedule well. She'll be back to her apartment shortly. She's still in the Senate. He doesn't know why she's still here, pretending. Pretending since she has been his connection for helping "them" get off planet.

So he sets up his watch. He is to meet her closer to midnight to set up the next transport. For now he watches her wishing he was not a building away.

It's the same every time he watches. She comes home and starts her routine. She changes while the housekeeping droid cook her dinner. She then enters that room. It's the only room that he can't see through the windows. When he lived there it was her office. Something is in there she doesn't want anyone to see. She spends a lot of time in there and when he sees her emerge she is always smiling.

She does something different tonight, she walks out to her balcony and leans on the railing. There's a drink in her hand. She looks out across the sky towards the building he's in like she knows he's there, smiles and raises her glass.

She has a sad look in her eyes as she walks back inside.

He hopes she is remembering him.