I can't believe it… I actually managed to make a decently long chapter! *Cheers* almost 11 pages all for you. :) A lot is going to happen in this chapter so here's some info you might need (in the first section of this chap the events leading up to a certain scene will be shone from 3 different perspectives. These perspective changes will be marked by 'X-X-X' and it will basically mean your being set back in time by 5-10 minutes. The second thing you should know is that anything written like this is thoughts; anything written like this is an individual voice in the thought. And anything written "-like this-" is talk over a COM link. Now enough of my rambling enjoy :)
Ahsoka stood a couple of feet behind her master as he briefed the men on their latest mission. Captain Rex stood next to him. There was something different in the way he stood though…. Almost as if any second he would pull out his blaster and shoot all of there heads off.
The padawan stared intensely at Rex's back. He had been acting strangely ever since they had landed on Coruscant for refueling and re-briefing 3 days ago.
He had been avoiding her. Rex never avoided her. If anything he went out of his way to be with her, especially since… no, she wouldn't think about that. Master Skywalker would easily be able to follow her thoughts if they went down that road. And Ahsoka had no interest in her master finding out about those things. Everyone had secrets right?
Ahsoka wanted desperately to peak into his thoughts. Get an idea of what was bothering him. Something must be bothering him right? She wanted to help. But Rex didn't like mind scans, he had made her promise not to try it on him. She had given her word as a Jedi that she wouldn't. Stupid Jedi word.
Ahsoka forced herself to pay attention to the briefing if only for a moment.
"-We are not expecting heavy resistance but be prepared in case we meet hostiles when exiting hyperspace." Skywalker was just finishing up the briefing. "Anything to add Rex?" he turned to his second in command.
A strangely demonic smile passed Rex's lips. Ahsoka felt a chill run through her spin.
"Forgot one thing sir." His hand was on his blaster.
X-X-X
Chopper wasn't really paying attention to the briefing. He could always get Echo to fill him in on what Skywalker had gone on about later. Instead he decided to play a little… game.
Chopper knew his limits. He knew he couldn't go pulling and prodding and snooping through people's minds without direct eye contact. But he had discovered (only a couple of weeks ago actually) that if he really focused on one person alone, he could get just enough of a connection to follow a thought or two along the surface of there minds, nothing major, he couldn't influence them in anyway, but it was something. Though his own physical reaction was the same to when he went in 'through the front door' as he put it. He had his helmet on and no one would notice.
Chopper focused his gaze on Gus who was seated directly in front of him, and carefully he pushed open the 'back door' and let himself peak at the others thoughts.
He had never been more shocked in his entire life.
Chopper imagined the thought process as an interplanetary switchboard of sorts, one which correctly matched up all ideas, memories, and stimulations with the correct emotional responses. It was supposed to have an order, a sort of mental system to work out each individual meaning.
It would seem Gus's interplanetary switchboard was… broken. It was as though his mind had all but abandoned the process of sorting and synthesizing the data it was given and had instead just begun plugging random emotions, thoughts, and ideas to wrong and even inappropriate stimuli.
At that very moment behind the safety of his helmet Gus was trying not to break down laughing. As if their latest mission specs where the funniest thing he'd ever heard.
Chopper pulled out. Thanking the force that he could only go so far, he was sure if he had taken the 'front door' he would have been sucked into the heart of the sergeants madness. That was a place Chopper had no interest in going. He valued his sanity.
Chopper shook his head slowly. Trying to clear the confusion from his mind. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Echo.
Osik… this was bad. Not here. Not now… that look had returned to Echo's eyes. But it wasn't like the time on coruscant. That had been trivial, less dangerous. Now fear seemed to emulate from every atom of Echo's being.
All at once the trooper seemed to crash back to reality.
"NO!" Echo leapt forward as a blaster shot range through the briefing room.
X-X-X
Something felt off.
Echo pushed the feeling to the back of his mind and tried to focus on the briefing. They where headed back to the outer rime to liberate some still unnamed separatist planet. Echo's eyes wandered to the captain standing behind Skywalker. There was something different about him.
Not for the first time Echo wished he could read minds. Though Chopper had told him it was not a fun experience it still would have come in handy. Something wasn't right here…
Every molecule in Echo's body froze and images flashed through his mind.
Fresh blood spattered the off white walls. The screams of children echoing through his consciousness, ringing true to his name. Echo could do nothing as he watched the massacre unfold in front of him.
He was in a room he recognized from holovids as the Jedi council chambers, everything was dark, terrified emotions hanging in the air like a convict at the gallows. A small group of younglings huddled in the corner, shaking with fear.
An ominous swish sounded behind him as the blast doors opened and closed. Echo's vision shifted giving him a view of the new comers.
He knew them. There faces where covered in shadows, dark hoods pulled over there heads. Something evil surrounded them, chilling the bone more than the frozen fields of Hoth ever could.
"Master?" a small boy stepped forward from the group, walking slowly toward the two dark figures. "Master there are so many of them." His voice held desperation a child should never feel. "What should we do?"
A dark mist faded over the image leaving Echo with the sickening sound of a light saber activating, blaster fire, and children's screaming.
It was then that he felt it. That invasive, mind-consuming greed that seemed to burrow its way to the very deepest reaches of Echo's soul. It pushed on his barriers and he pushed back. Fighting not only the images but his own vocal cords as well. He couldn't scream. A small part of him still remembered the consequences that would bring.
Something snapped and Echo felt himself being hit by a tidal wave of information.
Captain… imposter… Skywalker…
Echo crashed back to reality.
"Forgot one thing sir." Rex's hand was on his blaster.
"NO!" Echo dove forward tackling Rex to the ground and knocking the pistol out of his hand. But not before a shot was fired.
Skywalker's entire body twisted as the plasma bolt meant for his heart crashed with a sickening squitch into his shoulder. He hadn't seen the attack coming, hadn't sensed it. It was as though Rex's actions had been cloaked from anyone's detection.
Anakin's body crumbled to the ground.
Rex delivered a solid kick to Echo's jaw before taking off out the door. Echo was after him in an instant.
The group remained frozen for a few precious milliseconds as they tried to take in what had just happened. Ahsoka reacted first taking off after the two troopers shouting Commands over her shoulder. Chopper took off after her and he heard the sound of several of his brothers following him. Accompanying the shouts of anger, orders and cursing. He could have sworn he heard Gus's laughter chasing him down the hall, but maybe it was just in his head.
Osik! Hevy's mind was running faster than his feet ever could. That little chakaar ruined everything!
You where supposed to kill Skywalker! The voice snarled demanding an explanation, angered by it's being denied more power to feed on.
I know! Hevy pushed against the ground on force heightened feet. With each step getting farther and farther ahead of the trooper chasing him. He had seemed familiar… dozens of voices chastised him for not focusing on getting away.
Hevy vaulted himself over the heads of several troopers who had tried to block the hall. He landed on the balls of his feet and kept going, he rounded the corner and nearly ran into the wall. He turned to find the glowing tip of a green light saber blade pointed at his throat. Of course the Jedi would be the fastest.
"Why Rex?"
Hevy lifted his gaze from the light saber to meet the big blue eyes of the trogruta holding it. There was sorrow in her eyes, pain. Something deep inside of him pitied her.
"I'm sorry." Hevy mumbled almost to himself.
Don't be.
The sound of a dozen blaster safeties clicked off and Hevy raised his eyes once again to see a hand full of his brothers with weapons pointed at his chest.
"End of the line." A trooper he recognized as Denel growled. "Hands in the air traitor." A dark smile formed on the Hevy's lips as he slowly raised his hands over his head.
This may work to our advantage. The voice was thoughtful this time, sinister.
Skywalker was stable. Kix had told Echo that much. Though Kix had been tight lipped when he said it. He, like all of them, where having a hard time believing there captain would do this.
Echo had just exited the med bay from getting his jaw checked out when Chopper came to find him.
"General Kenobi is boarding the ship now. He wants to interrogate Rex." His voice was hard and filled with anger. "I can't kriffin believe the captain would do this."
"I don't think he did." Echo mumbled thoughtfully.
"What the phwoar are you talking about?" Chopper raised an eyebrow at him skeptically. "Everyone saw it. Of coarse he did."
"No you don't understand." Echo glanced around nervously. He noted several troopers mulling through the hall, going about there duties. "Call it a hunch." Chopper froze mid stride.
"You know what they say about following your gut." He slid open their barracks door and peered inside, no one. He practically pulled Echo into the room. "All right start talking. What did you see?" His voice was hard and demanding. Echo avoided eye contact.
"A massacre..." he shook his head. "But the important part right now is that I saw an imposter attempt to assassinate general Skywalker."
"Why?" Chopper had that look on his face again. The one that meant he was up to something.
"You know I don't know that." Echo looked him hard in the eye as if to say 'don't even think about it'. Unfortunately for Echo, Chopper either couldn't tell or didn't care.
"You don't know, I'll find out." The scarred trooper turned briskly for the barracks door.
"Chopper." Echo placed a hand on his shoulder, successfully stopping him. "The general will be interrogating him soon. Don't do anything stupid." Chopper turned his mismatched eyes on him.
"Thanks for the idea." A scare crinkling grin spread across his face.
"Oh no don't you even-" Echo stopped talking abruptly when the barracks doors slid open and Jester, Punch, and Sketch filled in heading for there bunks.
Chopper glanced at the others and noticed to his relief Gus wasn't among them; he couldn't look at the sergeant the same way anymore.
"Can you believe this?" Punch asked, jumping up onto his bunk. "And ya think ya know somebody."
"He's a traitor." Sketch shook his head, setting his focus on the data pad in his hand.
"And they figured we would be the next ones to step out." Punch scoffed. "I hope that hut'unn gets what he deserves." Chopper and Echo exchanged glances before exiting the barracks without a word.
Gus rocked himself slowly back and forth, trying desperately to calm his nerves.
The sergeant sat in the corner of an empty storage room. His knees were drawn up to his chest; his arms rapped around his stomach and held himself in a defensive manner. His helmet had been discarded. If he kept it on they could use it to tap into his brain frequencies... They would steal his thoughts, use them against him and his brothers…
"Not right…" he whispered. "Not right, the captain, not right, CO's don't turn, not right, it doesn't work like that, it doesn't." His words were broken, trying desperately to convey to himself the thoughts he couldn't understand. Voices he had come to know as well as those of his brothers spoke to him. Taunting him, mocking him, scolding him for his weakness.
Hut'unn you just sit here and let them use you like this.
You should be more careful.
You're useless. They're all going to turn if you don't stop them.
It could have been anyone.
Or maybe your goanna be next.
"N-no." Gus stammered.
What's to stop you?
A danger to everyone.
Sergeants can't be trusted.
You wantto kill you brothers?
Gus's hand shook as he reached for his viro-blade.
Protect them.
A menace.
No better than Slick.
Gus pressed the serrated metal edge of the blade to his exposed wrist, watching, his breath raged, as the crimson trickle of blood ran down his arm and splattered onto his thy plate.
No better than Slick.
"-Sergeant Gus-"
The blade dropped out of Gus' hand has Commander Cody's voice echoed over his COM unit.
"Yes sir?" he managed to answer without his voice shacking to badly. They can't know. They'll do terrible things to you if they know.
"-Report to the bridge. I have some questions for you about the incident. -" Cody's voice was harder than usual, angrier.
"But sir-"
"-That's and order sergeant-" Cody cut him off harshly. Something deep inside Gus' head clicked. You didn't go against orders.
"Yes sir." Gus deactivated his COM and stared at the cut on his arm before pulling his wrist gantlet back on to hide the evidence. He ran his hand through his greasy unkempt hair in an attempt to clear his head. He'd once prided himself in a clean-shaven head and a well-kept appearance, but it didn't seem to mater now, nothing seemed to mater now.
Reluctantly Gus stumbled over to where his helmet lay discarded on the floor. He stared at it nervously for a moment before gingerly placing it on his head. Like he was handling a live boom. He took a deep breath, in and out, trying to silence the constant sneering of voices that surrounded him, told him things… awful things.
Gus shook his head slowly and began walking in the direction of the bridge.
I've put a lot of research into this story. (Particularly into the developments I'm making with Gus, don't want to say to much and give it away) and I hope it's paying off. Please PM me if you have any questions or are confused by anything, the plot is thickening and I need all the help I can get in making sure this is understandable. So ya, review, PM, the works. Things should become clearer and clearer as time goes on. (And to those of you reading 'all Ends' I'm about half way through the next chapter, but was hit by a vicious case of writers block D:)
So ya Review as always. :) please?