Chapter 2: In the Dark

Cuyan's presumption of an awkward trip back to the headquarters had been incorrect: it had been worse than that. Not a single word had been spoken the whole way there. Even now as they were sat waiting to be admitted into a meeting with a Republic Intelligence agent, none of them were speaking. It was as if the petty arguments that had occurred earlier on had opened up a gulf that had been lying dormant until now. Did they really have issues with each other that they had kept hidden all this time?

He looked up from the holozine that he was reading and rolled his eyes a few times to end up with a display on his HUD that showed the views from the cameras in his brothers' helmets. Firstly, he concentrated on Adenn's icon. The young soldier was staring down at a piece of flimsi that had barely intelligible writing on it. Ah, so he was writing a letter to Raikia. He never wrote messages to her using a datapad and a stylus, apparently she preferred the "personal" touch if he wanted to contact her. As far as he could tell, his brother was ranting about their current situation.

Their current situation was something that they never mentioned now-a-days, it was just too depressing to discuss. They hadn't had a days worth of leave since the start of the war. That was unheard of amongst Republic Commandoes, although it wasn't uncommon within the regular clone troopers. Time and time again they had heard other squads talking about the time they had enjoyed back on Coruscant, sampling a life style that was so alien to them. Some had been thrilled by it, whereas others had been terrified by the experience and longed to be back doing what they knew best. But the Vod squadron had no opinion on the subject either way. Even after the loss of their brother, RC-1548 or Besbe, they had been back in action the next day. They had received messages time and time again from their training sergeant, Mandalorian mercenary Kal Skirata, that he would get them some leave; but the Chancellor kept demanding more and more time out of them. It sucked no matter what way they looked at it, but that wasn't their only problem.

Fortunately, Adenn hadn't written any spiteful comments about his brothers, except a few complaining about Orar's attitude towards them recently. Well, that was something that had been bothering them all not just him, and it wasn't surprising that he was venting his anger into another outlet - namely Raikia - apart from his other squad mates. However, towards the end of the letter that he was checking over, a concluding sentence caught Cuyan's eye. It read:

I really miss you - but soon we can be together permanently - like I promised.

Like he promised? Oh boy, not Adenn too. What secrets was he hiding from them all? There had been a time when the squad would have told each other everything, but there seemed to be less chance of that happening as the days passed. What the blazes had he sworn to Rais? That he would have her become a full member of the squad? Retire when the war was over and run away with her? Marry her and have a family with her in the near future? Cuyan felt a shudder ripple down his spine and it caused him to fidget around uncomfortably in his chair. Things like that were totally confusing to him. How could a clone have a normal life? No way, that was out of the question as far as he was concerned. He couldn't imagine himself with a wife, children and a regular job. It wasn't because he didn't want those things - oh no, every human being wanted commitment on some level - but it was due to the fact that he didn't know how he could have one. Sergeant Kal's lessons hadn't extended that far.

Shaking his head to rid himself of his thoughts, he looked away from Adenn's icon and focused on Aran's. He instantly bypassed Orar's out of an unresolved anger towards him. Before his eyes, a non-moving, white sheen took up the whole of the icon. It took a couple of seconds before he realised that the camera in the Vod leader's helmet was looking down at the floor. That should have only been a little unusual, but the view showed that he was completely unmoving, not even the slight bobbing as his brother breathed. Frowning a little, he moved his eyes to switch back to a view of just his own POV, and was about to turn his attention back to his holozine when a voice interrupted him,

"You could have asked me what I was doing, Cuy. No need to spy on me."

Cuyan cursed under his breath. His brother had known that he was watching him. He must have put his helmet back on. Confused as to why he had taken it off in the first place, he fumbled with a reply, "I'm sorry, Sir. I wasn't -"

"Want to know what's going on, ner vod?" Aran asked quickly and bluntly, cutting him off. A blast of white noise throttled his ears a moment later, and he realised that he was being connected to an open 'link with all of the squad.

"'Lek, ner vod, I do want to know," Cuyan answered him, mainly so that the others would know why they had been summoned onto the com. "Tell us what's bothering you."

"Firstly, I need to apologise to you." Aran's voice was full of tension, as if he was dreading their reaction to his words. He carried on despite of this, speaking much more slowly and carefully. "We've just been so busy and I couldn't find the right time to -"

"Sir, Republic Intelligence could be calling us in at any minute now," Adenn interjected, cutting him off and sounding more than a little annoyed. "Just get to the point, ner vod."

"Alright; alright, udessii. I received a message from Captain Ordo about a year and a half ago. He said that it was to be kept on the quiet, but passed on to as many brothers as I could find. I haven't done that request yet, but he recommended that I start with you lot, and then branch out. I wanted to tell you as soon as I had heard, but he sounded so serious that I thought I should wait until we could discuss this properly." He paused, and then forced himself to laugh. "Now seems as good a time as ever, seeing as the RI take forever to fuss over things.

Kal'buir has been doing a lot of personal errands in the past year or so, and although he wouldn't go into too much detail on how this came about, he said that he has set up a trust fund for brothers that want to have a normal life outside of the GAR."

"And he told you this, a year and a half ago?" Adenn asked with a fire in his voice that made Cuyan jump. "You've kept this secret all this time? How dare you? We had a right to know!"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't find the right time. And Captain Ordo was really serious about this not reaching other peoples' ears." Aran's sigh of exasperation was very audible, and it sounded like he knew this had been coming.

"Why are you so bothered about this, Ad'ika? It's not a big deal. It's nice of Kal'buir, sure, but we know that our place is here: in the GAR," Orar added into the conversation. He sounded extremely naïve as he spoke.

An awkward silence fell over the com-link. Cuyan could almost sense the confusion, and eventually the realisation that must have crossed his brother's face as the collective quiet continued. A few moments passed, and then Orar spoke once again, "Don't tell me you're all considering what Kal'buir's suggesting..?"

The boys had no time to answer him as the doors that they had been waiting outside of slowly glided open. A female Rodian with bright red, pursed lips stood in the doorway, her scaly green arms folded across her chest. Apparently she did not approve of the lax positions that the clone commandoes were adopting. Neither did they. They all leapt up to their feet, Cuyan's holozine plopping to the floor with a slight clatter. Had they been more prepared for her sudden appearance, they wouldn't have looked so sloppy. What a great first impression to make for their meeting with a Republic Intelligence official.

"General Minor will see you now," the Rodian muttered and turned to walk down the corridor away from them.

"Won't we be meeting with Master Zey...?" Aran asked her, pausing as she turned back around to look at him in irritation. Cuyan could barely hold back a laugh as the Vod leader suddenly remembered that she was a female and ended with, "...Ma'am?"

The stout woman puckered up her lips into what could have been the Rodian's version of a snarl, but it just made her look all the more comical. Maybe even...constipated. The squad had often been reprimanded for being straight to the point about things, but Aran was always blunt with people when he needed to know things. It would have made more sense if they were going to report to a Jedi about matters that concerned the Jedi Temple. Her reply was sharp and short, matching his abrupt question with an equally frank answer, "The General is busy with more pressing matters. Now make your report, Clone."

The name may have been degrading in most contexts, but it just sounded all the more amusing coming from the distractingly unattractive woman. She stormed off down the corridor, leaving Aran to make an uncharacteristic, rude gesture at her retreating back. "Well, lads, you heard the wo - whatever it was. Let's move."

Cuyan lurked behind as they all entered the office ahead of him. He paused, not knowing whether he should retrieve his dropped holozine or not. A sharp tug on his arm from Orar made up his mind for him and he stumbled after them a second later. Upon entering the room, he found himself to be pleasantly surprised by the lack of grandeur that was on display. There were no trophies or other signs of opulence that normally decorated the office of a high ranking, Republic official. A few holographs lined the walls in strategically placed positions, creating a mosaic effect. Other than that, then main thing that dominated the floor space before them was a large, wooden desk; piled high with neatly stacked holodiscs. It took Cuyan by surprise to think that each disc represented a mission just like theirs: and that in turn involved more people than he cared to think about. And there were hundreds of discs! That totalled to possibly loads of people working for the ideals of one government.

And that got him thinking. If they did leave the army after the war was finished, how much of an impact would their retirement have on the Republic? Not much of one, he would have guessed, but there were so few Republic Commandoes around nowadays. They were needed for all sorts of things: intelligence, assassinations, infantry work. They were like mini ARC-Troopers, just with better manners and people skills. So maybe there would be one day. And maybe he and his brothers would receive the recognition that they so deserved if they left the army? But why should it have to take such a dramatic act to achieve something so...trivial? He didn't need to be lorded as a hero - Mandalorians didn't believe in them - but a little admiration of his work and skills would help to boost his waning morale.

"I am sorry for the delay," a voice apologised, drawing his attention up to the man that was sat at the desk in front of them. I presume that you are...Vod squadron?"

Oh dear, bad start. The man pronounced the word as "Vod", clearly showing his ignorance of the culture that had formed amongst parts of the clone army. Aran gave him a stiff salute, and he could tell that the Vod leader wanted to correct him to the real pronunciation of "vohd". "Yes, Sir. We have the data concerning the alleged attack on the Jedi Temple."

General Minor looked up, astonishment playing through his amber-brown eyes as he locked onto Aran's T-slit in his white buy'ce. Due to the rare sight of Republic Commandoes around the Galactic city, the boys had adopted white, regular meat can armour for their current mission. The Vod squad leader was really playing with fire when he emphasised the word "alleged". It was a politician's trick, something akin to what the Chancellor might use in a difficult negotiation. What Cuyan couldn't understand, however, was why Aran had done it. Was it a ploy to try and get the General to admit that there was a real threat against the Jedi Temple? Or was he simply showing that he believed the mission had been a waste of their time and skills? Well, whatever it was, the Republic Intelligence official had certainly taken note of the attempt. Now it was just a question of whether he was going to humour him, or reprimand him for speaking in such a way to a higher ranking official. Cuyan couldn't stop a feeling inside of him that suggested Aran was bordering on insubordination for some deeper reasons that just the pointlessness of their mission.

He didn't know whether the General thought that too, but the answer that he gave left little to the imagination. How had Aran even contemplated the thought of getting information out of someone from Republic Intelligence? "Yes, quite. May I see the data that you have collected?"

Aran handed over the data-chip full of all of their collated data without hesitation. He was still playing some kind of game with the General; perhaps it was a fight for who had control over the conversation: he didn't know. And all it took was a switch from subtle prompts to being the obedient clone to do this. It was a side of their leader that Cuyan had never seen before, and being honest: it scared him. "Yes'sir!"

General Minor accepted the 'chip with a nod and then loaded the data into a datapad on his desk. The boys were forced to stand patiently as they waited for the RI officer to read through their findings. Seeing as he hadn't dismissed them immediately, Cuyan presumed that he wanted more of their opinions on what they had observed. That was strange in itself, considering the fact that no one ever wanted to consult with them on matters of a high importance. Normally they were just the pawns in a much larger game, the ones who carried out the wishes of those without so much as blinking.

The RI officer read the data for about six minutes - Cuyan got bored and timed it - then he looked up and scanned over each of them in turn. He must have been reading their armour tallies, to see who was who. He'd get confused by his armour, then. Cuyan had lost his armour after his near death at Geonosis, and so he had started to wear the armour of their lost brother - RC-1548 or "Besbe". To honour his memory, he had also left the armour tally from Besbe's armour on it whilst adding his own one above it. Even now when they were wearing regular trooper armour, he had removed both tallies from his usual armour and placed it upon the one that he had borrowed for now. After a few minutes of deliberation, the Republic official settled his gaze on him.

"RC-4376, you noted that there was only one exit in and out of the Jedi Council chamber. Are you certain of this?" Minor asked him, resting his hands on the table top in front of him. They turned a luminous blue in colour as the light from the holoprojector bathed them in an eerie glow.

Cuyan nodded his head, but his helmet just remained in one position. Cursing his beskar'gam's design a little, he activated his bucket's microphone and spoke out loud to the General, "I wasn't certain, Sir, because I couldn't get a clear view from my observation post. It was mainly a presumption..." He paused, not knowing if he should add any more. "...Sir."

General Minor looked a little; exasperated. Clearly that wasn't the answer that he had been looking for. "I need you to be certain, Trooper. This data could be the make or break of the war."

And without even realising it, Cuyan had just received the information that Aran had been fishing around for at the start of the mission. The make or break of the war? This was sounding less and less hypothetical with each passing moment. What would happen if there really was a threat towards the safety of the Jedi? "I'm sorry, Sir. I can't be any more certain unless we go back out for another op."

It took a moment for the RI officer to understand the military slang that had been used, and then a few more after that before he spoke again. Maybe he had been debating whether to do just that: send them back out again. Eventually, he made his mind up. "Very well, you are dismissed, but the Chancellor wants to see you."

"Well I don't want to see him," Adenn hissed over their private com-link, inaudible to anyone but the rest of the squad.

"The Chancellor?" Aran asked out loud, unable to mask his surprise.

"Yes, there is a speeder waiting for you at the main entrance," General Minor explained dismissively. He wasn't at all bemused by the strange request, it seemed. "Best not keep him waiting."

They all saluted him as one and then marched out of the room in a single filed line. They held a cautious silence until they were away from the office, and then Adenn was the first one to break it, "What do you think he wants?"

"I have no idea," Aran replied honestly as they arrived at the main entrance and spotted their transport. "But there's only one way to find out."

Yes, one way indeed. It seemed like today was going to be a day where they were going to be kept in the dark about lots of things. They boarded their allocated speeder and shot off for a meeting with a man who rarely had time for social matters...