Star Wars - Jedi Fugitive

Chapter 13

The Twi'lek, Mersie'Ashbhold, had indeed given her husband the data card.

He did seem to be a master slicer and had set to work as soon as it was in his hands.

He was human, with greying hair and stubble. Not exactly what Jethro expected from a slicer, but he certainly knew his way around encryptions.

When he emerged from his seclusion, Daneran Ashbhold had proven his skill.

"Well, it was one of the toughest slices I've pulled in some time, but I've got it all right here." He laughed. "Gotta hand it to CIS encryption..."

"What does it say?" Jethro asked, still confined to the floor.

"Who says you get to know?"

"Dan..." Mersie said, trying to calm him.

"You know, if it weren't for her, I would have shot you and dumped the body."

"Dan..."

"She thought you might be useful though."

"Daneran!" He flinched a little. "What does it say?"

"I can't make heads or tails of most of the scientific jargon, but what I can understand seems to be talking about a chip inside the clones' heads and behavioral control."

"That's it," Jethro said. "That's why they turned on me."

"For any of this to be true," Mersie said, "that would mean that whoever commissioned the clones, planned for them to turn on the Jedi."

"Who would do that, and why?"

Jethro laid there on the floor thinking. He didn't know who would have done that. Wasn't it a Jedi who had commissioned the army in the first place?

"If there's now an Empire, who's calling themselves emperor?"

"Who else? Your precious Palpatine," Daneran spat.

Was it possible? Had Palpatine known about all this? Had he orchestrated all this? That seemed unlikely, but so did all of this.

"What do we do with this information?" Mersie asked.

Daneran snorted.

"What can we do with it?"

He was right. If that supposed chip was implanted in the entire army, there was nothing they could do.

"We run."

"Excuse me?" Daneran said. "We run? My wife and I will run. You can stay laying right there for them to find you, a blaster bolt in your head if I'm feeling generous."

"We can't just leave him here," Marsie objected.

"Sure we can. He's the enemy."

Jethro knew that if the entire army had been controlled and Palpatine really was emperor, then the war was over, and no one was safe.

"The old lines just got erased," he said. "We need to stick together now, or the Empire will get each of us one by one."

"We don't need you..."

There was a knock on the door. Everyone froze.

"Open it," Jethro whispered.

"And get us killed?" Daneran hissed back.

"Trust me..."

"Give me a reason."

"In the name of the Galactic Empire, open this door!"

Marsie krept towards the door and opened it just a crack.

There were three clones standing outside, blasters drawn.

"This is a foreclosed apartment. You can't be here."

Daneran stood, flattened against the wall next to the door, his blaster pistol drawn, ready to open fire."

"I am placing you un..." the clone paused, head turning slightly as if his focus was slipping elsewhere. He shook his head slightly as it came back.

"I am giving you a warning."

With that he turned and left, his two companions in tow.

"What the kriff was that?" Daneran asked, before seeing Jethro.

His eyes were squeezed shut with concentration; his whole body tensed to the point of shaking.

He gasped for breath, his head dropping back to the ground and his body relaxing.

Breathing heavily, he looked Daneran in the eye.

"Still think you won't need me?"