The Clone's Hero (Star Wars: The Clone Wars)

Calm before the blow (Clone Force 99 pt7)

Things are most quiet, before chaos strikes

The clone forces tore down what remained of their base and packed up at early dawn. They immediately boarded the ships and flew out to the planet where the thieves are currently located.

The journey didn't take long. It was quiet and dark when they landed at their destination. Everyone worked in silent efficiency as they took out the necessary equipment, arms, and temporary setup.

After a week and a half and a couple more quarrelsome days, they finally reached this stage of the hunt-and-retrieval.

Plo and Aliyah got the holomap set up. They, Wolffe, and the batch gathered around it, determining the exact location of the Separatist base, which Hunter managed to pinpoint within a minute.

The sky began to brighten when Aliyah finally began to feel somewhat at ease.

~ O O O ~

Kushi left the interrogation room in irritation. He couldn't get another word out of Steele all night. And as much as he'd like for a two-person conversation, he didn't have the heart to resort to more extreme methods on a clone who's been on the receiving end of Krell's fists.

"Kerch!" Senator Voe Atell and By Bluss walked up to him with a small company of their underlings. "You've been in there all night. Anything new?"

Kushi shook his head. "I'm not interrogating him for the whereabouts of his forces. We were just having a conversation. That's all."

Atell walked beside him. "Why?"

"He's a victim in this. They all are."

"Say that when they're barging in through our front door, holding us at blaster point." Atell scowled. "It's easy to sympathize with them when they're locked up and restrained at the moment. But remember this: they're engineered to be undeniably loyal to the Republic—to anyone associated with the Republic. No questions asked."

But Kushi was skeptical. "Then explain to me why after I spent an entire monologue challenging his life's purpose and insulting the people he fights for, he responds with this: 'I'm an idiot.'"

Bluss and Atell were stunned for a moment. Then the former quickly answered, "Why, Kerch. I think you broke him."

Atell made a tiny smirk. "It was only a matter of time. Maybe if we were to release him now, he'd turn on his own general without any interference from us. Wouldn't that be extremely convenient?"

"I'm not taking chances here, Voe," Kushi reprimanded harshly. "We're going to do this safe, and we're going to do this right."

~ O O O ~

The three Senators kept talking until they entered a restricted area, causing their following company to split up. They went to work in their respective locations. Most went to their offices to update their current status.

The remaining two went out to the hangar for fresh air. There, they talked about the conversation the three Senators just had.

"Do you think Kushi really broke that clone?"

"Not really. I mean, think about it. He already doesn't think very highly of the side he's fighting for, Krell made sure of that. Why would he break after Kushi brought to light what he already knows? He must've called himself an idiot for other reasons."

"Huh. What other reasons would he have?"

"I dunno. I'm ain't a Kaminoan doctor."

Suddenly the lights in the hangar went out. The two of them jumped in alarm, but then quickly realized it was only a local power outage.