Chapter 6

Unmasked?

"One of the major roles of the 66th Slaughter Corps with be their skills with torture and interrogation. If an interrogation is ever needed, contact any clones who are assigned to the 66th Slaughter Corps to take over the prisoner. They will be back with information faster than you can feel bad for the guy being interrogated."

-Marshal Commander Dunkel

Blackout continued dragging the Shadow's corpse to the cell block. Dunkel and Kicker flanked his right, while Kira and Sky took his left. They needed the information from this bounty hunter about why the Separatists seem to want Sala'kun more than any other Jedi youngling. They went up to the first cell block they saw empty and slung the Shadow into the back of it, which woke him up.

"Huh? What the? Ah... crap," the Shadow noted his surroundings. He then glared up at the clones and the Jedi, but kept his eye mainly on Sala'kun. "Hey... Is it alright if I can choose who interrogates me?" the Shadow shot back and forth from the faces of those on the other side of the orange force field that stands between them.

"No. I will choose who will interrogate you myself. Blackout, come with me," Dunkel ordered. Sky sighed and Kicker remained motionless, aiming more to make sure Sala'kun is safe then if he gets chosen to go with the Commander into the prison. "I will only ask this once, Shadow. And once should be enough," Dunkel paused and pulled out his electric staff, then continued, "Am I clear?" He didn't wait for an answer, and instantly went on to the questioning, "Why do the Sith want Sala'kun so badly?"

The Shadow stared at the Commander's electric staff and laughed, "You are a bluffing old clone. You'd never want to hurt a prisoner with that." He immediately regretted saying that, as Dunkel stabbed the Shadow's arm with the electric staff, not only paining his arm, but jolting his whole entire body, "Okay! I can see you are more serious than I thought."

"What were you saying earlier?" Dunkel's grin showed as he was not wearing a helmet on his head. He had slick black hair and an eye patch. Other clones thought Dunkel was the only one who could pull off that type of hair style without looking like a fool, but very few of their reasons could of also been that they didn't want to be the one who Dunkel interrogates.

"The Separatists... Want him for..." Shadow took too long, as he got another jolt that spread all over his body in less than a second, "They want him for an experiment! A Sith lord said he would pay me handsomely! That's all he told me, I promise!"

Dunkel became bored and stabbed the Shadow with his staff again, but then he bluffed so it seemed like he didn't believe him, "They would of told you more. What did they tell you?!" Blackout blurted before Dunkel could bluff his way to finding the real truth.

"There is no more to the story! I promise you!" Shadow pleaded for mercy again. Dunkel found that odd, and kept that in mind. "Please, just let me rot in this cell peacefully, huh?"

"No promises," Dunkel shot Shadow's foot with his DC-17 hand blaster. There was no way he would let opportunities to interrogate like this go to waste. He loved doing it, and it was one of the duties of a 66th Slaughter Corps soldier.

While Blackout and the Commander interrogated, Sky, Kicker, Kira, and Sala'kun waited outside, with somewhat blocking Sala'kun's view of what was happening, but not all of it. "Excuse me, ma'am?" Sala'kun tugged a bit on Kira's robes. Her eyes lowered down to him and she bent down to be around the same level as Sala'kun.

"Yes, what is it?" Kira was only slightly more polite with Sala'kun then how she was with the troopers with her.

Sala'kun tried to look his toughest so Kira would respect him more, but the question he asked lost some points in that area, "What are they doing in there?" Sala'kun questioned. He looked as Dunkel shot the man in the foot with a blaster.

"Well... You see..." Kira hesitated at the question, then she truthfully answered, "they are hurting the bounty hunter for information on why they the Sith wanted you a lot more than a usual force-sensitive child."

Sala'kun looked down at the ground for a while, holding back the tears from the fear of being hunted, then he looked back at Kira in the eye and nodded in response to her answer. "There is also, another man who I heard was trying to find me... a Terrorly..." Sala'kun informed. Kira's eyes widen slightly by the last name of the feared bounty hunter. They must of wanted him badly if they hired HIM to find this boy, Kira thought to herself.

Sky turned to Dunkel and Blackout who just went back to the door, "This is as much as we'll be able to juice out of him for today..." Dunkel frowned. "Open up, we are ready to... Blackout wake up."

The clones turned at Blackout, who started napping while standing up. He woke up a bit, rubbing his eyes. "Time to go to the Mess hall? Oh... wait... I forgot, we are still here," Blackout almost fell back to sleep when Dunkel kneed his gut.

"Ummm... Sirs..." Sala'kun attempted to say.

Sky started laughing. None of the clones heard what Sala'kun said, "Man Blackout, no wonder why they named you that!"

"Sirs..." Sala'kun spoke again.

"Shut up, Sky. It is because I knock people like you to sleep," Blackout shot back.

"Sirs, sirs!" Sala'kun spoke slightly louder.

"Will both of you shut up? Just open the door..." Dunkel became annoyed.

"SIRS!" Sala'kun shouted. That finally caught their attention, but Sala'kun felt weird for shouting that. "The bounty hunter is getting away!"

Dunkel and Blackout turned around, and they saw the Shadow sealed a hole in the roof back shut and was no longer in his cell.

"Hey where did my fusion cutter go?!" Blackout finally noticed.

"I want every man in this base to find that hunter!" Dunkel ordered, "Put the base on lock down! We can't have him get away!"

Suddenly, Sala'kun was taken away with the Shadow, and Kira attempted to get him back as the clones rushed out of the cell block and began firing upwards, unaware of Sala'kun's capture.

Kira ran down the hall with her lightsaber out, trying to track there the Shadow was going with Sala'kun the best she could. "He tricked us all into thinking he was weak, and all to kidnap this poor kid," she thought out loud, "So now it is up to us to save him from his clutches." Clones all around her were running to get to positions and do their duty to stop the bounty hunter from escaping the base. Dunkel decided to tag along behind Kira since he was allowed to do whatever he pleased to stop anyone from escaping.

"Sir, where are we headed?" Dunkel quickly asked her. This situation was dire.

Kira slightly looked at Dunkel, then answered, "I think I know where the hunter is going. Just stay behind me Comma-" she was cut off when she ran into someone else. They had armor, but she didn't believe it was a clone. She looked up at the figure.

"Oh! Sorry about that Kira... Here, let me help you up," Galen Malor aided her to her feat.

Galen Malor wore dark brown robes and had clone armor with red markings to show he is a part of the 77th ARC Unit. Although it is hidden, under his robes he has a red bear symbol. His hair was brown and shined against the lighting slightly.

"Oh... Hey Galen," she replied, not giving much of a thank you or anything. She swiftly ran past him, leaving him with Dunkel.

"I'll need to get going, sir. She thinks she knows where the hunter is going and I am to follow her," Dunkel started running back to Kira in the middle of his explanation, and he almost couldn't hear what he said. Galen decided he should follow them as well, so he chased after Dunkel and Kira.

"Dunkel, wait up! I'm going with you both!" Galen called ahead. Dunkel didn't slow down, but that didn't matter, Galen was able to force dash to catch up to him.

Kira, Dunkel, and the newcomer Galen began running down the halls. At last, they heard the bounty hunter had stopped moving. However, it was because he knew he was being followed. He began to shot down at them.

"Kira! Dunkel! Help me!" They heared Sala'kun cry out.

"Shut up, kid! You are my pay!" the Shadow was heard punching Sala'kun.

"Kid...?" Sala'kun repeated, "I'm a... kid?" Sala'kun began to sound angry.

"Wait for it..." Kira began a countdown, "Wait for it..."

"I. AM. NO. KID!" Sala'kun shouted. The Shadow tried to speak, but he couldn't. Sala'kun held his neck with the force.

"Now Dunkel!" Kira ordered. Galen was about to stop him, but Dunkel shot above him and the Shadow didn't make a sound, except his lifeless body falling over in front of Sala'kun.

"You killed him!" Galen couldn't believe what Kira had Dunkel do.

"He's down, sir," Dunkel put his gun down, ignoring what Galen began to revision out loud.

"He won't be a problem anymore... Dunkel, get to work and maybe get some other clone troopers to help you," Kira stared at Dunkel while speaking to him about her command.

"Yes general," Dunkel nodded. He showed no mercy of killing the bounty hunter.

"I understand you needed to shoot him," Galen glared at Kira when Dunkel rushed back down the hall, "but you could of done it earlier! I fear the dark side is going in to him this very instant."

"Well excuse me, Galen, I didn't want to shoot the kid," she slightly lied. She didn't want Sala'kun to go completely to the dark side, however she is slightly teaching him that sometimes you can't be all Mr. Nice guy. You gotta released your anger on occasion or else it will get worse in the future.

"Sky, Blackout, come with me, Kicker you can go back with your Generals if you want. We are going to go do something," Dunkel ordered the trio. They opened up a vent shaft.

"Problem sir, you're too muscular to fit," Sky informed Dunkel.

"All of us are, Sky. You think I haven't thought about our armor, either? I am doing something else," Dunkel took off his helmet and located his head inside of the vent, "Hey, kid. Over here!" Dunkel shot a blaster fire up so Sala'kun could see where here was. Sala'kun crawled towards the shot's location, and stopped just because Dunkel shot it again.

"I am right here! Stop firing!" Sala'kun shouted down. Dunkel placed his gun down and caught Sala'kun with one of his hands in the vent and pulled him out back into the hallway. Clones began to go back their normal duties.

Dunkel pulled out his comlink and clearly stated, "Clean up in ventilation shaft."

Galen ran up to Sala'kun and bent down to be on his level, "What do you did in there, never do it again! Killing leads to the path of the dark side. We don't want that to happen," Galen was not pleased at all. Sala'kun's smile went back to a straight line with his mouth slightly opened up.

"Galen, can I see you for a second? Dunkel you come, too," Kira requested.

"Fine by me. Sky, Blackout, you are babysitting," Dunkel ordered them both. Both he and Kicker laughed, then afterwards Dunkel put his helmet on and followed Kira and Galen, leaving Kicker with nothing to do.

"Galen... Galen... Galen..." Kira began, "Do you know what Corps this is? Do you? Because I know, this is the 66th Slaughter Corps. Do you know why it is called that?!" Kira started to fuel up rage.

"But what Sala'kun did back there was not the Jedi way!" Galen objected, "Jedi are peacekeepers, not war goers!"

"This is a time of war, Galen. The Jedi need us to end the war before they send us 'cruel' Jedi away. Why were you of all people chosen to be a Slaughter Corps General again? All you want is to make peace! We are a Corps that should strike fear into our opponents, not " Kira shouted. Dunkel stood in-between them, moving his head back and forth to each person who spoke.

"Both of you, calm down!" Dunkel finally broke free of a shut mouth and glared at the two of them, which was not visible due to his helmet covering his face.

Suddenly, Dunkel's hologram went off. "Hold on, I have a call coming in," Dunkel spoke and stepped away from the Jedi, who remained silent. "This is RC-6603 of the Grand Republic. This is also a restricted channel, so get off of it," Dunkel spoke to the figure, whose image was currently fuzzy. Then it finally came clear. It was Zerd.

"Ah, greetings Commander," Zerd smirked under his mask, "I have a deal to make with you. I hope you enjoy it..." Dunkel growled hostilely at Zerd, but that didn't even make him flinch. Zerd then revealed someone on the chair beside him, it was Senator Darlin Masino himself. "Now, let's start making the agreement, shall we?" Zerd pointed a DC17 hand blaster at Darlin's face, who was tied to the chair and his mouth was taped. Zerd also put a bag on his head so Darlin wouldn't be able to do anything with his eyes.

Dunkel was not amused at Zerd's actions in the slightest. He finally sighed after a few seconds and asked, "What do you want for him?"

Zerd looked dead where Dunkel's eyes would be, and stated, "The boy... You know which I mean."

Galen started to go pale, but Kira just stood there. She didn't seem to care that much about it.

Dunkel thought on it, then he said, "Fine," Galen was now as pale as a a silver lightsaber, "where do you want us to do the trade?"

Zerd was pleased with this, "I'll send you the coordinates. Meet me there tomorrow, or this Senator will thrown off this building," Zerd signed off of the hologram.

"This is obviously a trap," Dunkel muttered to himself.

Kira, hearing what Dunkel muttered, stated, "We should get some of the Corps ready for departure. We can't walk in blind with Sala'kun. Zerd will obviously have his crew, and possibly his employers waiting for us to take the leaders of the 66th Slaughter Corps down."

"I agree. Zerd isn't the man to keep his word. I've learned that," Dunkel replied. Galen finally snapped out of what he heard earlier, and looked at them both.

"You two are insane..." was all he let out. He gave up on arguing quickly, knowing it would most likely not get him anywhere when dealing with both Dunkel and Kira.

"I'm going to make a call myself. Get Kicker, Sky, and Blackout and get some of our finest ready," Dunkel turned his hologram back on and contacted Captain Bullseye. After a few seconds, he answered.

"Hello, sir. What can I help you with?" Captain Bullseye questioned. He was glad that at last he would be put to use besides being on guard duty.

"Bullseye, what is the current state of the Chancellor?" Dunkel asked him.

"He's fine," Bullseye went on hold for a few seconds, "And he also wants to me tell you that he wants me to be the official adviser of the 66th Slaughter Corps. He finally figured out I am more useful doing more than just sitting around doing nothing."

"Wise man the Chancellor is, Captain. We are going on a little 'trade' to this location..." Dunkel sent Bullseye a map of the area they are to meet Zerd at, "I need you to be the eye in the sky and tell me what happens during that."

"I'll be on it, sir," Bullseye was slightly excited under his helmet to finally be doing more than he does, "Bullseye out!"