Chapter 12: Fen Kar'fon (CT-0099 'Buzz'

Murkhana

Vasa Ro'val's so-called "confluence" made some sense to Fen. At least until the point where Palpatine pulled a Permissive Action Link out of nowhere—shutting down the droids and rendering all of the work the Spynet had done to help the Republic win on Murkhana utterly pointless.

The notion that Palpatine might have his own Separatist authorisation profile, with top level access to all Separatist droid commands was as baffling as it was terrifying. Had Fen known that Pax knew anything about this, he would have extracted the Duros off Murkhana himself. The importance of Tarkin or destroying the Shadowfeeds paled in comparison to this new information.

"Erz-shlesk tag." ["This is bad,"] Fen whispered once again under his breath. He cautiously looked across the room to Tarkin, then slipped out into the hall. "Erz-shlesk tag."

While only Tarkin had a direct line of communication with the fleet in orbit, after the Liberator ascended, it would be possible to piggy-back on his communication line by plugging directly into the transceiver junction.

Carefully stepping over the bodies of executed Separatists, Fen leaned up against the wall and took off his helmet, trying to make it look like he needed a drink of water. Grimacing from the stench of death, he plugged his commlink into the wall, connected to his datapad, which began uploading its pre-programmed slice of the Republic subspace communications. The datapad's fan worked hard, cooling the device as it tapped into the system.

A typical being, even a typical non-Clone soldier, would have found the multispecies bloodbath all around Fen deeply unsettling. Fen however, was only shaken by Pax. Allowing Pax to die was clearly the wrong thing to do.

Fen took a sip of water, glancing back towards the doorway, imagining Tarkin might show up at any moment. Then a chime. All right, we're in business. He sighed nervously as he entered in the sequence for Jazal's Shadowsync.

"Jazal here, I haven't heard—"

"—Buzz here," Fen whispered, then began muttering in his perfect Clone accent. "General, I don't have much time. Tarkin… He's gone completely mad. Gave us this order called 'order 37.' He had us kill civilians to lure Pax out."

"I don't understand," Jazal said in a somewhat concerned voice. "Please start from the beginning."

"Don't have time. He's executed Zuro Pax and dozens, maybe thousands of—"

"—What?!" Jazal gasped in alarm. "I am… I am coming down there. Where is Itoll?"

Fen frowned. Jazal did not sound out of control at all. Fen's understanding was that Ro'val's plan hinged on Jazal descending into a bout of psychosis, thereby massacring Tarkin and everyone within a hundred yards of him. "He's in West Murkhana."

"Good," Jazal sighed in relief. "Wait for me and don't let Tarkin kill anyone else."

"Copy that." Buzz looked up, a wrinkle of concern creased onto his forehead. What if Jazal doesn't kill Tarkin?

Putting his helmet back on, he jogged as quickly as he could back to Tarkin, careful not to drip over any bodies.

"General," Tarkin's voice carried a slight tone of worry, "your arrival is inadvisable. There is a high risk for your personal safety. If both of us were to be killed—"

"—Oh, that won't be an issue," she retorted testily, voice echoing out of the intercom from several speakers. "You are relieved of command, Governor."

"Relieved of command?" Tarkin scoffed. "Our ranks are equal!"

"I have heard concerning reports that you have executed hostages, something called 'Order 37'? Do you care to enlighten me?"

Fen was sweating nervously under his helmet as he walked into the centre of the room. Relieved of duty? She is going to relieve him of duty? Like that? No bloodbath?

Miralo's rat-like eyes began darting from Tarkin, back up to the nearest intercom speaker, back to Tarkin. The rest of team Cresh shifted nervously.

Tarkin sighed wearily. "I knew you would react this way were you to ever learn of the Amedda Directive."

"The Amedda Directive?"

"Indeed," Tarkin explained casually. "Should the need arise, provisions were established to encourage the whereabouts of high value targets to be divulged. I have the paperwork right here. Mas Amedda authored the directive himself, under Contingency Order Number Thirty-Seven."

"Ah I see," Jazal said serenely and calmer than ever. "I am coming down there to relieve you of duty and haul you back to Coruscant in an orange jumpsuit. I suggest you comply, Governor. Miralo?"

"Yes, General?" Miralo croaked.

"Place Tarkin under arrest in preparation for my arrival."

"HE WILL DO NO SUCH THING!" Tarkin hissed, pulling out a blaster.

Miralo held up his hands placatingly. "Uncle, please! You're right. I wouldn't."

Buzz beckoned to the rest of his Clone commandos, then muttered quietly into his helmet comm. "Thoughts?"

"This whole op has been skrogged to hell," Mesh muttered quietly, raising his blaster.

"Tell me about it," Buzz croaked, unable to so much as formulate a plan to deal with this unexpected situation. Where the kriff are Sey'les and Itoll? Maybe the confluence needs them here to kill Tarkin.