Emperor Palpatine was extremely displeased when Lady Melinoe delivered the news of the Rebels escape. As she had expected he assaulted her with Force lightning for her failure. But when she revealed the capture of the clone trooper, his anger slightly abated. Though this clone was not the prize he had expected, he did allow his youngest apprentice to explain her motives.
"Tell me Lady Melinoe, why I should have any interest in a former soldier of the Grand Army. They served their purpose in helping me to destroy the Jedi. This one is of no use to me. You should have killed him for his incompetence."
"He has value Master. He may have let the rebels escape before I was able to stop them, but there is another clone trooper among them now. This one claims to have the tracking signal of his former ally."
"Does he? And why would you betray your friend in such a manner?"
Wolffe looked up as the question was addressed to him. He knew that any answer could lead to a painful death, especially since he came so close to it on Jakku. But his fear kept him silent, and that silence only served to anger Melinoe further.
"You will answer my Master. Or I will finish what I started on the planet."
The clone still remained silent, refusing to speak until he felt his body being levitated again. The same pressure from before was close to crushing him, but this time it was also enhanced by Palpatine as well. With his body immobilized he then felt a small amount of pressure, almost a tickle entering his mind. While the Sith Lady held him aloft with the Force, the Emperor sneered from his throne as he forcefully probed further through his captive's memories.
"You refused to betray the Jedi during the war. Your control chip was removed. How clever of you Commander Wolffe. How do you now feel knowing that your friend; Captain Rex will no longer trust you? I'm afraid you should have agreed to join the Rebel Alliance. Now you will simply become a loyal soldier of the Empire."
Wolffe's worst nightmares were about to become reality. He had only wanted a life away from war, and his fear spiked again. Both Palpatine and Melinoe could feel his emotions radiating, and reveled in sinister laughter. While her laughter continued, the Emperor spoke again after his own ceased.
"Oh don't worry Commander, you will retain most of your memories. You will remember Captain Rex's tracking signal and provide it to your new superior officer when you have finished being reconditioned. You will also receive a new control chip, making you completely subservient to her will. All traces of individuality will be erased from your being, your free will a distant memory. Take him away."
Wolffe was escorted from the throne room by Palpatine's loyal guards. The Emperor knew the question was burning in the back of his apprentice's mind. She knew she deserved the punishment he had delivered for failing to capture the Jedi, but she was still hesitant to actually voice her query.
"Something is troubling you, Lady Melinoe. You may speak your mind."
"Master, are you giving me another chance? I failed you."
"One failure is not the end for you, my apprentice. You have come closer to bringing the Rebels and Jedi to me than Lord Vader has thus far. And you have brought me someone who can lead us directly to them. But the clone Captain Rex, you knew him in your past."
"I did, Master."
"Do you fear him?"
"No Master."
"I sense conflict in you. You must not let your feelings get in the way. Remember what the Jedi did to you. Remember that you told me Rex was part of the team assigned to hunt you down for a murder you did not commit. Now is your chance to make him pay for that injustice."
"I will, Master."
"And the other Jedi he is assisting?"
"I will kill them if you so desire."
"Good, for all the remaining Jedi must be hunted down and eliminated. For too long have they continued to plague me. I know you will do what must be done. For now, return to your shuttle. I will have Commander Wolffe report directly to you when he has been thoroughly reconditioned."
"As you wish; Master."
While Lady Melinoe waited in her shuttle, Wolffe was being subjected to torture at the hands of Palpatine's loyal guards. Two of them were Force adept, an extension of the Emperor's own power and used their abilities to tear his mind asunder. His brain was filled with dark imagery that skewed his memories. Everything he had been was being erased, his free will, his independence. He wasn't aware of it, but Palpatine was secretly assisting his agents. Every recollection of the Jedi being noble and protective was changed. Through the manipulation of the clone's mind he was shown images of Jedi Knights slaughtering clone troopers, he was also shown an image of the Jedi forcefully taking crying children from their parents. As these images were becoming all Wolffe knew, he was beginning to believe everything he was being shown, and the final image was the one that made the most impact. Palpatine forced a manipulated image of the fight in the Supreme Chancellor's office into his victim's mind. It showed four Jedi Master's attacking him, with only a figure shrouded in black coming to his aid. After the assault on his mind, the clone passed out from the pain, allowing the medical droid to reinsert a control chip. When the operation was completed, the guards forced him back into consciousness.
"Commander Wolffe, Lady Melinoe is waiting for you."
As the clone regained awareness, his eyes burned with a dangerous glint. The reconditioning he had endured was complete and so effective he knew he would willingly lay down his life for the Sith lady. Nothing remained of the honorable soldier he had been, all that was left was a cold, merciless warrior.
"Milady has a mission for me?"
"Yes, you are going to provide her with the tracking signal for CT-7567. By order of Emperor Palpatine you are to aid Lady Melinoe in hunting down the Rebel crew and Jedi he is assisting."
"CT-7567, Captain Rex. I knew him during the Clone Wars. He betrayed the Republic by assisting the Jedi rebellion. It will be my honor to terminate him. When do we leave for the mission?"
"You are due to leave immediately. However, Milady has sent these for you."
Palpatine's guards remove the covering from the table situated on the other side of the room. In doing so they revealed a new suit of Storm-trooper armor. It shared the same design as the other trooper's suits of armor, except it was all black with red accents emblazoned on the arms and legs. All of Lady Melinoe's troopers were given these upgraded suits. While Darth Vader's 501st intimidates through sheer numbers, Melinoe preferred stealth and psychological intimidation. Her detachment of Storm-troopers may be smaller but are deadlier by comparison. When Wolffe finished donning his new armor, he strode purposefully from the room to the waiting shuttle, helmet under his arm. When he arrived he immediately dropped to one knee in front of the Sith lady.
"Lady Melinoe, I have come at your orders."
"Rise then, Commander Wolffe. You remember our mission?"
"Yes Milady, I am to provide you with the tracking signal of the traitor Captain Rex, and we will destroy him and the Rebels he is assisting."
"Excellent, your men await you inside my shuttle. You are free to use any means necessary to eliminate the Rebels, but by order of Emperor Palpatine, the Jedi with them are mine."
"As you command."
While the Imperials boarded their shuttle, the Ghost was light-years away from Jakku. Rex knew that Wolffe still had his tracking signal and the Empire would use whatever means necessary to get the information from him. The only option was to deactivate the beacon before it was traced. So he, Andros and Chopper worked feverishly to do just that.
"We don't have much time, how long do you think Wolffe can withstand the torture the Empire will use to get this information?"
"We clones were tough Andros, but the right amount of torture would eventually make one of us crack. While that may be what they start with, it won't last long when the Emperor has other means of making him talk."
"Like what?"
"Reconditioning. It was rumored that any time a trooper questioned orders, their control chips were activated by remote, sending five hundred volts of electricity through their bodies. That was a supposed first offense."
"And none of you saw this as a problem? Seems to me that the Empire was already playing its' hand with you and your men."
"Yeah, why do you think I removed my chip? We may have been programmed to follow orders, but we weren't droids. We could think for ourselves, imagine, and improvise. That made us dangerous, and the Chancellor wasn't going to have dissension in his ranks."
"Obi-Wan was right, I did miss a lot in that last year of the Republic."
"You've seen General Kenobi? He's still alive? Where?"
"I can't tell you. Master Kenobi was very clear on that point. In fact, the less all of us know, the better."
"I suppose you're right. Here, one last connection to sever and we should be in the clear."
While Lady Melinoe knew she could track the Ghost and the Jedi through the Force, she also knew that doing so would alert them to her presence. So her decision was to test her new Commander's loyalty. Even though Rex had deactivated the tracking unit, it still sent one signal before powering down, giving Wolffe a direction the ship was heading.
"Milady! Milady I have…"
Melinoe turned to face her subordinate with a furious glare. The look in her eyes was so cold and unforgiving that Wolffe took a step back in fear. Her voice on the other hand was calm, and collected. But it did nothing to reassure the nervous storm-trooper.
"You are a Commander in the Imperial Army. Storm-troopers do not shout at their superiors. You would be wise to remember that for the next I will not be so kind. Now; deliver your report."
"Yes; Milady. I was able to detect Captain Rex's tracking signal. It was on-line only for a brief moment, but they are traveling at light-speed towards Takodana."
"What do you mean: 'On-line only for a brief moment' and for your sake, you should have an excellent answer."
"The signal seemed to cancel itself. I can only surmise that Rex deactivated his tracking unit."
"Rex always was clever. And you are more of a fool than I thought to not have anticipated that. Perhaps he will serve me better as Commander of my Storm-troopers."
"Milady, I know their destination. Rex was a traitor to the Supreme Chancellor. If I kill him for you, will that prove my loyalty?"
Instead of answering, she just turned back towards the controls of her shuttle. Takodana is a small, out of the way planet. Currently the Empire has no presence there, and it was rumored to be the site of a legendary battle between the Sith and the Jedi thousands of years ago. Setting the course, she engages the hyper-drive engines, knowing that this is her chance to wipe out the Jedi permanently, and then take her place at Palpatine's side instead of Darth Vader.
On Takodana, the Ghost set down to repair damage taken from the forced jump to hyperspace. Luckily the damage was only to the exterior of the ship, and she was still flight worthy for the trip back to the Rebel Alliance. Repairs were well underway when Andros and Kanan both felt the Dark Side of the Force nearing the system.
"Andros we've got trouble. Chopper detected an Imperial shuttle entering the atmosphere."
"I know, Rex. I sensed her, I knew she wouldn't hesitate to follow us here."
"But we disabled my…,"
"Doesn't matter. We may not have disabled it fast enough, and even if it didn't send out a signal, Ahsoka would just have used the Force to track us. She knew there were Jedi on the Ghost, and from what Kanan says, she knew the tracking signal for the ship also."
"So this was just a futile effort at escape? You knew this all along?"
"I knew she wouldn't give up. Master Togar told me I would have to make a decision to face her. He knew this day was coming, he knew it would be my time to face a Sith. The difference in the battle I will have with her is that I'm not alone."
Rex heard the confidence in Andros' voice. Even if he had thought this was a futile escape attempt, he admired the Jedi standing with him. The situation may not be favorable for the Rebels, but the fight does need to end. His own confidence was bolstered and showed no fear at the coming confrontation.
"Then we end it, here and now."
As Rex reentered the ship to gather his men, Andros watched as the Imperial shuttle crested the horizon. The ship itself was menacing in appearance, but what lay inside was far more of a danger to them all.