Until the End: It's been three years and Hunter can't get the kid out of his head. The general had trusted him to keep her padawan safe, and instead he nearly got the commander killed. So now they have to find him.
But nothing could prepare him for what happens because of that...
. . . . . . . . . .
He's going to get his squad killed one of these days.
Hunter forces that thought from his mind as he fires another round, sending the stormtrooper sprinting at him to the ground. This mission is too important.
He feels the pull of more electronics; four comlinks headed his way. Taking advantage of the brief lapse of enemies, he activates his own comm. "Tech, tell me you got news on the commander."
"Negative." Tech, as always, sounds calm, which is frustrating, given how deep inside Imp territory they are. "I should have something soon."
Maybe. Or maybe this'll be a bust like the last ten ops. But Hunter owes it to the kid.
It's been three years since Clone Order 66, and Hunter still can't get the kid out of his head. General Billaba had entrusted the commander to their care, and the Jedi had nearly been killed by Crosshair. So Hunter owes him; owes the general.
They have to find Commander Dume. They have to keep him safe.
No matter what.
The sealed blast door begins to slowly open, and Hunter refocuses on the moment. Even if there are just four stormtroopers here, there will be more soon.
They have to go.
"Tech, tell me you got something."
"Negative. There is nothing on Commander Dume in any of these files." Now Tech sounds frustrated, which Hunter appreciates. At least it's not just him. "Hunter, four squads are headed to your position."
Hunter grimly accepts this op as another bust and activates his comlink. "Omega, I need a pick-up at the south landing pad."
"On my way."
Hunter nods and tenses as the white profile of the stormtroopers appear. "Copy."
A single shot takes down the first stormtrooper, and Hunter watches as another falls from a blaster bolt to the neck. That hadn't been his shot.
"Got your back, Sarge."
Hunter relaxes minutely and begins backing up to where Echo is crouched behind cover. Wrecker has taken Omega's spot as their overwatch for this mission. "Thanks, Wrecker." As red blaster bolts streak towards him, he dives down next to Echo. "Omega will be here soon; get ready."
. . . . . . . . . .
'Master!'
'You must run!'
Caleb awakes with a scream still on his lips, and he nearly falls off his bunk as he tries to get his bearings. He's not on Kallar. He's not being hunted by Clone Force 99. He's safe.
Sorta.
Caleb sits up and groans softly, running his hands over his face. Nightmares at 0300 weren't uncommon, sadly, but it's gonna affect his performance tomorrow. But he knows from experience that he's not just going to fall back asleep.
Not when he can still hear his Master's screams as she-
Caleb slips off his bunk, cautious not to wake the rest of his squad. He lands on the floor as quietly as he can, bare feet nearly silent as they hit the durasteel floor. But his squadmates are still sleeping.
Great.
Caleb pads silently to the refresher, shutting and locking the door before turning to his reflection in the mirror. Three years. Three years since Kallar; since his life was destroyed by something he doesn't understand. Three years since he joined the newly-formed Imperial Army, the ultimate desperate move to not be found.
Since it's been three years, he's starting to think he's gotten away with that deception. After all, who would look for a former Padawan in the Imperial Army.
Not the Inquisitors, apparently. He's had three separate missions that have been commanded by a member of the Inquisitorius, and since he's still alive…they must be none the wiser.
That…or they're planning an elaborate trap that will kill him. One of the two.
Caleb stares at his reflection. Gone is that naive kid who thought war was exciting. That stupid kid who trusted soldiers designed to kill them; that kid who saw them as family. As his own brothers.
They aren't. Clone Order 66 proved that.
'Hey, kid, you ready for this? We move fast.'
'Good. That's the only way I know.'
His padawan braid is gone; cut off hours after narrowly escaping Sergeant Hunter on Kallar. He burned his Jedi robes and modified his lightsaber so it could separate into two different pieces.
Then he joined the army.
That's what's changed him the most, he thinks. His face is more weathered; more serious. He's done things that his younger self would have recoiled from. Taken over planets; burned homes. He hasn't killed anybody, but how long can that last?
But what does it matter? He's not a Jedi; not anymore.
'Come on down, kid! We're here to help!'
'You killed her!'
'The others did. I don't know why.'
Caleb lets out a shaky breath and presses his forehead against the cool transparisteel of the mirror. He's fine; he's okay. Clone Force 99 isn't here; there aren't even clones in the Imperial Army. Not anymore. So he's fine. He can relax.
Maybe one day he'll actually believe that.
. . . . . . . . . .
Hunter slides his helmet off as the Marauder jumps to hyperspace. Another busted op. Another dead end. At least there were no injuries this time around.
Setting his helmet on the table, he glances at Tech. "Did we find any usable intel?"
"We did not." Tech looks up from his datapad, a slight frown on his face. "Just like we have found nothing on every other mission."
So they can add this op to the list. Utapau, Mygeeto, Coruscant. Now Christophsis.
Hunter blows out a breath and looks away. "We'll keep looking. Someone out there will know something."
"Hunter, it's been three years." He doesn't like the note of disapproval in Echo's voice. "We don't even know if the kid made it off Kallar."
Hunter turns away and shakes his head. "The kid had a good chance. The regs gave up and Crosshair came back with us. He could have made it away."
"And what then?" He doesn't have to look at Echo to see the scowl on the reg's face. "A Jedi Padawan's gonna have a hard time surviving after the Purge. He could be long dead."
"Or he could be alive." Hunter turns back and stares at Echo. The ARC has always been the best at letting go. "We were supposed to protect the kid. And we failed. If he's alive, we have to find him."
Echo doesn't move. "And if he's dead?"
Hunter glares at the reg for a few moments before shaking his head. He doesn't… have a good answer. Finding Commander Dume has been his purpose since the Fall of Kamino. He doesn't know what to do if the kid's really gone.
So he leaves the commons and heads for the cockpit.
Hunter sits down in the pilot's chair and stares at the blue whirls of hyperspace. He owes the kid. Not only did he nearly get the commander killed, the entire situation alerted him to the change in the regs and in Crosshair. If it had never happened, they could be fighting for the Empire right now.
Commander Dume saved their lives. More than anything, Hunter wants to return that favour.
The cockpit stays in relative silence, but Hunter knows instantly when he's no longer alone. And he knows who it is. Sighing softly, he turns in his chair to face Omega, who's sitting quietly in the copilot's chair. "What?"
Omega simply looks at him for a few moments before speaking. "Echo isn't wrong, you know."
Hunter scoffs and raises an eyebrow. "Thought I told you not to eavesdrop on our conversations."
The teenager leans back in her seat, a distinctively smug expression on her face. "Yeah, well, you also taught me how to eavesdrop on conversations. I was just practising."
Hunter huffs and looks away, unable to hide the proud smile that appears for a moment. Kid's good. "Right."
There's comfortable silence in the cockpit for a while before Hunter eventually sighs and turns back to the viewport. "How do you think Echo's right?"
Omega hums softly. "You've made Commander Dume your personal mission. And I get why," she quickly states as he opens his mouth to refute that idea, "you were there when Protocol 66 was triggered. You want to save him now because you couldn't save him then."
Hunter glances at her reflection in the viewport. "Anything wrong with that?"
There's a sad smile on Omega's lips. "What if Echo's right? What if the commander's dead? It's been three years." She leans forward in her chair. "Hunter, we've been on twenty-six separate missions in the past four months. Nearly half of them have been failed attempts at locating Commander Dume." She stands and briefly rests a hand on his shoulder. "We're not invincible. I know you don't want to lose one of us trying to finish your mission."
She leaves after that, and Hunter returns to staring at the whirls of hyperspace. Kid's got a point. The squad isn't invincible; he learned that after the Dantooine Op, when Omega took a blaster bolt to the side.
What happens if he pushes this too far?
A soft beeping draws him out of his introspection, and he straightens as Rex's profile appears. "Captain."
The reg nods at him. "Sergeant. You boys free? I might have a mission for you."
Hunter leans forward. "What do you need, Rex?"
. . . . . . . . . .
"Hey, Cal!" He twists at the waist to catch the hydrospanner Prauf threw his way. "Hurry up! Heard there's a special assembly today!"
"Great," Cal murmurs as he finally pulls that loose plate off the Venator. "What's this one about?"
His friend shrugs. "No clue. But there's a Lambda on approach!"
Cal frowns and glances behind him at the white speck in the distance. Lambda shuttles were almost exclusively used by higher-ups in the Empire. "Wonder what that's about," he mutters, absently wiping grease off his gloves.
"Who knows," Prauf gripes. "Probably another pay cut." As much as Cal tries to keep him silent, his friend just can't seem to shut up about the issues with the Empire. Cal's a Jedi Survivor; he knows how bad the Empire is! Prauf's complaints will only get him killed one of these days.
He's tempted to ignore all this and just fall back into the familiar cycle of dismantling ships, but Prauf elbows him lightly. "Hurry up; we don't want to be late! Gonna get stuck scraping carbon scoring for an entire cycle!"
Cal sighs and pockets the spanner. "Fine." Standing slowly, he turns to watch the Lambda, flanked by two of those new TIE fighters, land on the shuttle bay. "Let's just make it fast."
. . . . . . . . . .
He fires another shot, nodding in grim satisfaction as the rebel went down. They'll still be alive; Caleb makes sure he fires for non-lethal targets like shoulders and legs. Maybe it'd be tough for a stormtrooper, but he's a Jedi.
Training had been ridiculously easy. As a commander in the Grand Army of the Republic, Caleb had skills that took the recruits months to learn. After all, what was hand-to-hand training when he had spent hours sparring with Grey and Styles? What was blaster practice when Stance had taken hours teaching him how to shoot?
It was easy. Like these missions are easy.
The Force calls out a warning, and Caleb drops as three blaster bolts sail over him. He hears cries of pain behind him, and he pops up to fire two precise shots that down their attackers.
He sprints for cover and looks behind him. Two of the stormtroopers that had been beside him are dead on the ground now.
Better them than him.
"TK-147, await further reinforcements."
Caleb nods. "Understood." He kneels in the mud and sticks his hand in the air, pulling it back down as five blasters fire. "I'm pinned down."
"Await further reinforcements." The clipped, cold tone of the Imp in charge annoyed Caleb, since he couldn't help but contrast it with the concern the clones always had for their brothers. But that was fake; the clones didn't care about anything but their mission.
And now they're gone. And he's still here.
Caleb adjusts his grip on his blaster. "Copy."
. . . . . . . . . .
'Good soldiers follow orders! Every choice you've made since Kallar has been wrong! First the Padawan, then Gerrera.'
"Hunter, we need a real job. Something different from hunting ghosts."
'You're becoming a liability.'
Hunter sighs and drops a bounty puck onto the table. "We have one. Rex contacted me; said he got an op from Fulcrum."
Echo scowls. "And he didn't say who Fulcrum is?"
"No." Hunter looks away and fiddles with the puck. "But Fulcrum wants us to locate a missing general from the War."
"Hold on." Echo held out his hand. "We're looking for two Jedi now?"
Hunter shrugs. "The job pays."
He can hear Wrecker's grin. "That's good enough for me!"
Hunter tosses the puck to Tech. "The general's name is Plo Koon, and we-"
"Wait. General Plo Koon." There's something almost like excitement in Echo's voice and the reg actually grins. "We're being hired to track General Plo?"
Hunter's eyebrows raise as he stares at Echo. "You knew him?"
"Commander Tano did." Echo's grin keeps growing; spreads to Wrecker and Omega too. "Took a few missions with him, me and… Fives…" he goes quiet and his grin fades. After a moment, he looks back at Hunter, completely serious. "General Plo was reported dead after the Order."
"Fulcrum thinks he isn't." Hunter leans against the holoprojector. "Got any info on him?"
Echo frowns and glances away for a moment. "No… nothing that'll help us find him. But I know someone who might." He looks over at Tech. "I need you to get me in contact with CC-3636."
"Commander Wolffe?" Omega looks at Echo, and Hunter briefly wonders how she knows the reg's name. "Why him?"
"Wolffe was General Plo's second," Echo explains. "And last I heard, he's still with the Empire."
"Doesn't that mean we shouldn't contact him?"
"I trust Wolffe." Echo smiles at Omega. "He's loyal to General Plo. And the Order's no longer active." He looks back at Hunter. "I get it's risky, but Wolffe is our best shot at finding General Plo."
Hunter sighs and looks at the bounty puck. For there to be a bounty on the general, there must be some proof he's still alive. And he'd like to find the general before some hunter does.
Hunter glances at Tech and nods. "Let's do it."
. . . . . . . . . .
Cal stills as he sees the figure in black armour, flanked by troopers in similar black armour. Something tells him this isn't just a pay cut.
"We seek a dangerous fugitive." The figure's voice, garbled by their mask, makes Cal's stomach drop. He has a bad feeling about this.
The figure begins to pace back and forth, moving the length of their group before moving back. "Jedi, are you willing to let all these people die to save yourself?"
The black troopers aim their weapons, and Cal tenses. This is it. The moment he had known about, and feared, ever since fleeing that Venator. He was found out.
This was it.