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4 weeks after the Jedi purge
Everything that happened should be screaming the message that the clones betrayed their Jedi comrades.
But that message still leaves several things unexplained.
If the clones were created to be our enemy, how could they have been the most loyal soldiers the galaxy has ever known? I was always impressed by their deep, unwavering loyalty to their comrades, clone or otherwise.
No amount of deception can stay hidden behind such character. The clones had absolute trust in their brothers and Jedi comrades. Such faith can only be legitimate. No amount of deception can imitate it. And the clones were never good at lying anyway.
I’m still not sure how I’ve managed to survive the last 4 weeks. I still can’t explain how I managed to make it off the Constitution after the order was declared.
However I managed it, I know it’s far from over. I’d tried my best to fake my death and the destruction of the Prometheus as I escaped. But I know that it wouldn’t be convincing enough. At best, it would give me a slight head-start over their tracking efforts.
But no one has come after me since. No clones, no local security, no bounty hunters.
The clones are still the soldiers of the new Imperial army. But I know they are more than capable of tracking me down. Such hasty escapes mean you can never cover all of your tracks.
So I had to find out why they hadn’t found me, or even looking for me.
Only a clone can answer that question.
1 week later, Ferrix.
Finding, let alone capturing an off duty clone was very hard. Shore leave doesn’t appear to exist in the imperial army. Fortunately, while I was looking for some spare power couplings, I got a lead. A girl (about 10 years old) who introduced herself as Bix showed me the selection of available parts and mentioned “a clone without armor” visiting the shop earlier that day. After asking a couple more questions, I got a decent description of his appearance.
Now, I have no idea why an off-duty clone trooper would be shopping for spare ship parts. But a bad lead is better than no lead.
Mina-Rau
Nothing could have prepared me for who I found.
Rex.
I wasn’t sure if any random trooper would know the information I needed. So finding Rex was a big score. But I knew that his disappearance would be less likely to go unnoticed by his brothers, which is why I left Ferrix as soon as I captured him.
So right now, I’ve parked the Prometheus in a narrow gully between some buttes sticking out of the plains. I tied Rex to a chair and blindfolded him. He was armed when I captured him, but was carrying no tracking device, homing beacon, or even comlink. That was very strange.
“Uuuggghh,” Rex groaned as he regained consciousness. “Wha-what the?!” He quickly started struggling against the restraints.
“Nap time is over,” I said icily. “I don’t want you wasting any more of my time, CT-7567.” I couldn’t bring myself to use his actual name.
“Who are you talking about?” Rex countered. “I don’t even know who you are or where I am.”
I figured I could let him know one of those things. I used the force to remove his blindfold.
Nothing could have prepared me for the look of shock on his face when he saw me.
“J-Jonah,” he whispered. “You’re alive…thank the force you’re alive!”
“Spare me the theatrics,” I snapped, not looking at him. “I need you to tell me why you and your fellow clones are after me! Or more specifically, why they appear to not be after me.”
Rex’s answer was quick and practiced. “It’s not their fault,” he said, desperation leaking into his voice. “They’ve been programmed to hunt down all the Jedi. But they can’t control-”
“-Can’t control themselves?!” I snapped, staring down at him. “The main advantage you clones had over droids was your ability to think,” I seethed. “I want you to use that ability and think about this.” I took a deep breath and continued.
“Do you know how it feels to be betrayed by someone you mutually owe your lives to? How it feels when the man who has always had your back turns on you?” Before I knew it, I was shouting.
“Commander Mamba was assigned to me a week into the war! I treated him as a living being from day 1! I asked him his name, when he replied with his CT number, I told him that people have names, not designations! He saved my life more times than I can count, I saved his life just as many times! He was like a brother to me! I told him that! HE TOLD ME THE SAME!!!”
I took another deep breath to calm myself before finishing. “And then he tried to kill me, along with everyone else… try to imagine how that feels.”
Silence. I couldn’t look at Rex.
“I hope the words ‘execute order 66’ didn’t turn you into unfeeling flesh droids.”
“I-I…Jonah,” Rex gasped.
My gaze was forced back onto him when he broke down into tears.
“Glad to see I’m wrong about that,” I mused. “Unless your acting skills have suddenly improved.”
“I know how it feels,” Rex cried. “I know exactly how it feels!”
This made me pause, I looked back at him. He wasn’t struggling against the restraints any more, he wasn’t even trying to hide his tears.
Intrigued, I reached out to feel his emotions through the force. I expected rage, hatred, contempt, and loathing.
What I found was grief, pity, and loneliness.
And loss, so much loss.
Just like me.
“Rex,” I whispered. “What happened?”
Rex took several deep breaths to compose himself before beginning.
“When I heard the order, I didn’t really feel unusual. But when Ahsoka walked in…everything suddenly made horrible sense.”
He looked back at me. “You heard about what happened to Fives, didn’t you?” he asked.
I nodded. “Anakin told me what Fives said, wondering if it made any sense to me. I didn’t understand, but it was…disturbingly intriguing.”
Rex relaxed a bit and continued. “Fives was right about the inhibitor chips. They took complete control of all of our minds when Sidious gave the order. But I only realised this when Ahsoka approached me, she felt like something bad happened to Anakin. I then felt like I was just watching myself through some very immersive holofilm. I couldn’t stop myself drawing my guns on her. I tried to snap out of it, turn my blasters on myself instead of her but…the only thing I could do was tell her to find Fives. Then I opened fire. Thank the force for Anakin’s training, because she managed to hold us all off and escape. I don’t remember much after that until I woke up in the Tribunal’s medbay with blaster bolts whizzing past me. I shot the trooper trying to get through the door so one of the droids could reseal it. I then saw Ahsoka and realised she had removed my inhibitor chip.” He turned his head so I could see the scar that marked the extraction point.
“She let Maul out to cause some chaos. He destroyed the hyperdrive and we barely managed to fight our way off the Tribunal as it made an uncontrolled atmospheric reentry.”
He paused, grief returning to his face.
“We then buried everyone at the crash site,” he finished. “We split up soon after.”
I was silent for a while as I processed his story.
Fives was right.
“When Anakin told me about Fives, I didn’t understand what he said, but it was…disturbingly intriguing,” I mused.
“Yeah,” Rex replied. “It’s honestly still hard to believe now.”
“I was certain there was more to Fives’ story. I had planned on conducting several investigations when the war was over. Including further investigation of the inhibitor chips.” I huffed in frustration.
“Why didn’t I do that sooner?”
“Don’t kick yourself for not seeing it,” Rex reassured me. “I don’t think anyone could have seen it.”
I nodded, letting go of the matter.
“Thank the force I found you, Rex,” I breathed. “Where’s Ahsoka? Is she ok?”
“I don’t know where she is,” Rex said sadly. “But she was ok when we split. Could you…please untie me?”
“Sorry about the hostility,” I apologized as I untied him. “Do you want me to take you back to Ferrix?”
“No thanks,” he said, standing up. “I had to land on Sesid after my Y-wing was damaged. I was looking for some replacement parts on Ferrix.”
“Sesid it is then,” I agreed. “I can help you repair your ship too.”
Later, on Sesid.
“You talked about conducting several investigations after the war,” Rex said, fitting a new fuel injector to the Y-wing’s left engine.
“Yeah, what about them?” I asked.
“What else did you want to investigate?” he asked.
“My biggest concern was the way the Kaminoans treated you,” I said. “I was far from the only Jedi to suspect that there had been major violations of sentient being’s rights in your creation and training.”
“They seemed to often treat us as droids,” Rex said with a hint of anger.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I wanted to find out more about the development and alterations of your DNA. More specifically, I really wanted to find out what the deal was with the child they had in the secure labs.”
That got Rex’s attention. “You knew about Omega?” he asked.
“Who?”
“The child in the secure labs,” Rex prodded. “When and how did you find out about her?”
I was unsure exactly what Rex was getting at, but I recalled the story.
“When I arrived at the battle of Kamino, the 329th were ordered to secure the lower levels and sweep for remaining separatist forces. While I was down there, we found a girl in one of the secure labs, short blonde hair, 8 years old at most. She was absolutely terrified, too much so to even talk to me. I ended up ordering 2 troopers to stay there and keep her safe while we finished clearing out the lower levels. But when Mamba and I returned, she was gone. The troops I left there said 2 senior Kaminoan scientists came and took her with them. I never saw the girl again.”
I looked back at Rex, confused. “Why?”
“Do you remember clone force 99?” he asked.
I thought back. “The Bad Batch? Yes, I never worked with them, but I knew of them.”
“They deserted soon after the republic fell,” Rex revealed. “I met with them last week and…they have a 10 year old blonde girl with them. Her name is Omega, she’s also a clone.”
I was silent as I processed the information.
“I would very much like to meet them,” I said. “Omega in particular.”
Rex smiled. “We can do that,” he assured. “I’m meeting them on Bracca in 5 rotations.”
“Thank you Rex.”
The force will be with you, always.