Barriss couldn't hold back her tears any longer, the smoke from the Jedi temple engulfed the sky above, casting a shadow that spanned for miles. This had been her home for nearly fifteen years of her life, now it was a battleground. Slick took the gunship controls and landed further back from the position of the other LAATs already parked in the courtyard. Their signature blue markings indicated that they belonged to the 501st clone battalion.
"Rex… you'd better not be down there." He quietly said to himself.
When they emerged from the cockpit, they hid inside the troop carrier compartment to check on Hound. "He's fine, still unconscious." Slick commented as he fired another stun round at the Sergeant. "Just making sure." He said coldly.
"Slick, I need you to stay here in case I need an escape. We'll have no chance of getting out of this if we're both caught inside, plus your armour is a bit of a give away." She gestured to his helmet.
"Come on, kid. Let me help." He protested.
"You can help by staying with the gunship. We can't help each other if one of us is dead. Besides, you still have to teach me sabaac." She smiled as she placed a hand on his shoulder.
Slick took in a deep breath, followed by a long exhale. "Alright. Just- Just be careful, alright?"
With a firm nod, Barriss had quickly departed. As much as Slick initially hated the Jedi for their use of clones in the war, he couldn't help but admire their agility, speed and strength. On Chrostophsis, he watched in awe at General Kenobi deflecting blaster bolts as if they were some balls from a sports game, or how General Skywalker darted across several feet in mere seconds before he could even blink.
Now though, peering through the shutters of the gunship, Slick could see one lone Jedi being mowed down effortlessly by dozens of his brothers, some of them were wearing Jedi robes over their armour, a poor attempt to entice them into a trap. From the distance he looked from, they appeared humanoid, their green lightsaber barely had a chance to shine before the light was snuffed out. The 501st quickly grabbed the weapon and moved on, leaving the corpse to rot in the courtyard. The Sergeant knew his orders, stay in the shuttle, but there was something inside of him that told him to at the very least, check on the Jedi, and then he saw it.
Movement, very slight, but a definite movement, a blue hand with fingers stretched out. He could see the Jedi reaching… towards him. How did he know he was there? Could he sense him? Could he see him? He quickly looked back at Hound who was still unconscious and restrained, he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. He then opened the shuttle door slightly, just enough for him to squeeze through, he looked left and right and saw no one, he ran to the downed Jedi with a small flicker of hope, maybe he could save him.
It wasn't until he was standing over the Duros Jedi that he realised that he couldn't save him. It was already too late, the man's breaths were shallow, quick, he didn't have long. Maybe a few seconds, maybe even a minute, but that would be it. Slick knelt down, the Jedi looked up at him and struggled to lift his hand, but Slick grapes it and held it in both of his.
"It's alright." He said quietly. "You'll… be one with the force soon enough." He tried to sound sincere, but if he was being honest with himself, he wasn't even sure if that was the right thing to say to a Jedi. It sounded right in his head, and from what Barriss had told him, the Jedi believe that when they die, they become one with the cosmic force.
The Jedi's grip softened until his arm went limp. He was gone. Slick sighed, he knew there was nothing he could have done, but he realised that he was here comforting a Jedi in his final moments. For years he had hated them, believed them to be the cruel masters of war, but that girl that he spent months getting to know had made him see another side to the Order. A side that was flawed, a side that was human. Even in his head, he wanted to correct himself, the term human was so vague now that it applied to all species. When he looked at the Duros on the floor before him, he thought on that, how despite being a Jedi, he was scared, he wanted comfort, he didn't seem to care that it was from a man with the same face as those who killed him. He just didn't want to be alone when it happened.
He reached down and slid the alien's eyes shut with his fingers, his ice blue skin seeming ever colder now that he was gone, Slick wouldn't forget. But now wasn't the time to mourn, even the man he never knew, he had to move. He respectfully took the robes from the fallen Jedi and adorned the cloak over his armour as he had seen the 501st do when they landed.
Slick began to make his way back to the shuttle when he was stopped dead in his tracks by a squad of his brothers emerging from around the corner. "Hold it, trooper. Where's the rest of your squad?" One of them asked.
Slick had to stop himself from raising his hands in surrender, he had to remind himself, he was one of them. "The Jedi put up more resistance than anticipated… I'm the only one left." He lied through his teeth, still facing the gunship, his hood covering his helmet.
The squad leader lowered his weapon. "I see. Well, you can join with us. Lord Vader is engaging Cin Drallig as we speak and will need reinforcements." He motioned for him to fall in line.
"Vader?" Slick muttered under his breath. "Y-yes, sir." He quickly answered as he pulled his hood lover over his helmet, hoping the other clones wouldn't see anything out of the ordinary.
"Is that a phase 1 helmet?" One of the other clones asked.
'Kriff!' He thought, but said nothing, deciding to continue walking towards the squad.
"Hey, you're right. Hold it right there, soldier." The leader spoke and raised his weapon once more. "Show me your helmet." He ordered.
He couldn't move, he was terrified, he knew then and there that he was going to die.
"Trooper! I am ordering you to remove your cloak!" The lieutenant repeated, readying his blaster.
As Slick slowly raised his hands to his hood, the sound of a lightsaber igniting caught everyone by surprise as a slim hooded figure somersaulted through the air and landed in the middle of the squad, quickly spinning in place and cutting the weapons in half before letting out a powerful force push with one hand, knocking them all back. Slick focused on the Jedi and saw that they had something wrapped in one arm while using the other to fight.
The sound of a plasteel boot standing on the concrete floor behind him had alerted Slick to another clone trooper behind him. He quickly spun in place, swinging a closed fist and knocking the blaster to his left but the trooper held on regardless. Slick took the opportunity and grabbed the weapon with both hands, as did the 501st soldier, as they wrestled for the DC-15, he pressed his fingers on two different points of the weapon, triggering a barrel release, causing the weapon to begin falling apart. He grabbed the main barrel as it fell with one hand and quickly brought it up in a powerful swing, cracking the attacker's visor and knocking him out.
He then turned to the Jedi just in time to witness the last clone hit the floor unconscious, they were still alive. The Jedi pulled back their hood to reveal Barriss, with her original blade in one hand and a small oval shaped object wrapped in cloth in the other.
"Kid!" He shouted as he rushed over.
"I asked you to stay in the ship!" She spoke back, clearly frustrated and exhausted.
"I- I was! But then…" He trailed off as he gestured to the fallen Duros behind him
Barriss' look of frustration and disappointment turned to one of empathy and sadness and she walked over to the corpse.
"Friend of yours?" He asked.
"No… not really. Hynn Ocassin, he was a training instructor for the younglings." She looked back at him.
"He wasn't alone. I was there when he-" Slick began to explain.
"I believe you." She said as she gave him a small smile before continuing. "We need to find a way off world."
"Sure, kid… Did you find what you were looking for in there?" He asked, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.
She stopped just next to him, closing her eyes for a brief moment before looking towards the rest of the city. "No, I didn't. But that's not important now, what's important is that we find a ship and get somewhere safe. I know somewhere where we can start. I need you to hold this." She said as she handed him the small ball wrapped in cloth.
It felt warm, even through his armour. Then it began to move slightly. Slick peeled away a small layer of fabric near the top of the object to reveal a small sleeping creature, who's long green ears stretched further than his own hands.
"Is this a baby?!" He asked, clearly unsure of what to do.
"He was stuck under another Jedi who died to protect him. I couldn't save everyone else, but I know I can do something to keep Grogu safe right now."
Slick looked back down at the child. "Grogu." He repeated, the child slowly opened his eyes and looked up at him, the first thing he saw was his phase 1 helmet.
They arrived at the shuttle and squeezed through the gap in the doors, checking on hound and firing another concussive blast at him just to be sure. "That's probably not going to be any good for him." Barriss commented.
"Well, until we can figure out what's making the clones do this, we need to be careful." Slick replied.
The four then made their way to the great descent, as many on Coruscant would call it, a giant tunnel into the ground that served as the link to hundreds of the city planet's lower levels, making their way to level 1312, they stopped at a warehouse not far from the platform.
Outside the wear house were a pair of repurposed B2 battle droids, custom painted in various colours. Barriss mentioned a phrase which allowed her and Slick to enter, carting Houndand Grogu in on a floating medical bed, another cloak draped over his body to hide them from plain view. "What is this place?" Slick began to ask.
Without having to say anything, his question was answered as soon as they entered the building. A large arena in the center, holding young, but still large Ranchors fighting against each other. The surrounding crowds were cheering and booing at the events unfolding within the ring, obviously there was a lot of money involved in fights like these. Barriss lead them behind the crowds and into a back room, waving her hand across the rodian bouncers face, clearly using a Jedi mind trick to influence his thoughts.
"How'd you even know this was here?" Slick continued to ask questions.
"Me and my master once had to infiltrate a crime syndicate in order to find some missing children. I was hurt, it was bad… but my master brought me here to receive medical care from a togruta who fixed up the fighters." She explained.
"And you're sure this guy is still here? Or that he'll even help us?"
"I don't know, Slick. But there's medical equipment here, so that's a start. Hopefully we'll find out what's wrong with Hound and the other clones."
When the final door opened to the infirmary, the overseeing doctor was not the togruta that Barriss had been expecting. Instead, the man that stood before them was Doctor Nuvo Vindi. His eyes widened upon realising who stood before him.
"Jedi!" He shouted as he panicked and attempted to flee through the back exit.
Barriss was too fast for him, she darted around in the blink of an eye and stood between him and the door. "Where's Doctor Persh?"
Vindi kept his arms raised up in surrender. "The togruta? He was killed. Gardulla the Hutt doesn't take kindly to her employees giving away free medicine."
Slick approached the doctor from behind. "How'd you escape prison? You're supposed to be behind bars!"
"As are you." He returned with a sly smile before continuing. "Ze truth is that I escaped months ago. I was part of a prisoner exchange with Lok Durd. Ze deal fell through and we escaped in ze confusion. I've been here ever since."
Slick kept his weapon raised at the doctor's, but Vindi didn't seem intimidated, he seemed intrigued. His eyes then darted down to the body beneath the sheets. "Who do we have here?"
Reluctantly, the clone stepped aside so that the doctor could inspect his brother. "Somethings happened to all the clones. They've been ordered to execute the Jedi for treason, but it's as if they're in some sort of trance."
"Hmm… I see. Move him to ze brain scanner!" He ordered with the snap of his fingers.
Barriss begrudgingly complied and lifted Hound into the scanner while Slick picked up Grogu and held him in his arms. Vindi then removed Hound's helmet, revealing his silver dyed buzz cut and short stubble across his face. He then brought down the large circular scanner over his forehead. "I shall be performing a sub atomic brain scan. It's not unusual for clones to be mentally conditioned to obey their creators, but that can just as easily be overcome due to extreme stress… Why are you so different?" He then turned to Slick.
"I uh… I don't know. I was ordered to kill her and I just couldn't." The clone said, nodding his head over towards Barriss.
"Hmm. It could be that your heightened adrenaline levels counteracted any sort of programming, but- wait. What's this?" Vindi stopped himself as he inspected the monitor, showing a large red circle in the upper left side of Hound's head.
"Zis clone… has a tumor."
Slick ran over to the console to inspect the scan himself. "Well, get it out!" He demanded.
"Zis is not a surgical suite, Clone. I don't have ze equipment necessary for such a procedure!" The doctor retaliated.
"Then were would we find such a facility?" This time, it was Barriss who spoke, hoping to find some sort of answer.
"Aside from Kamino where ze clones were bred, zere was one laboratory where I studied basic cell cloning as part of my research into recreating ze blue shadow virus. A planet called Rogato, bordering ze Unknown Regions of galactic space." Vindi explained.
Slick looked to the young Jedi and held out the child for her to hold. "I have to go there. I need answers." He said, almost as if asking.
Barriss looked back at him, then down at Grogu in her arms. "I can't go with you, Slick. I… I have to protect him. I need to find more Jedi who can help keep him safe… I need to find my master."
He paused for a moment, clearly irritated, he then looked at Hound, he gently ran his fingers through his brother's silver hair as he thought on what to do next. He had hoped that Barriss would help him, in the past few weeks before all of this, he had come to care for the girl and thought that it would be them against the galaxy... Together. "You know, I really thought I could rely on you, kid… but perhaps I was wrong. Why would you even care about the Jedi? What have they ever done for you?" He asked as he began to break into a rant.
"Slick… You can't think about it like that..." She pleaded quietly, hoping to reason with the clone.
The Sergeant stepped back and raised his hands. "No, no. I completely understand. You look after your people. I'll look out for mine." He grumbled as he picked up his brother and placed him on the floating stretcher before aiming his weapon at the doctor. "Where is your ship?"