Project Ares

Conspiracy

"It's okay ma'am, the Master Chief is with me." Commander Fox said as he approached the entrance to the restricted medical wing. Letting the two of them through and closing the blast door behind them, Chief stared at the commander. "Look Chief, I'm sorry about what happened with the spies and everything, I was just following orders. I should have given you a heads up or just said no."

"It's alright sir, you were placed in a compromised position." Chief replied, now understanding why Fox had ordered the spies to follow him. As the two entered the observation window, they watched as Fives was escorted in by a group of Coruscant Guard clones and General Shaak Ti along with Nala Se, head Kaminoan researcher. As Fives was left alone with the Chancellor, the only ones in the room were the pair and six guards.

Unfortunately the observation room could not listen in to the conversation but all of a sudden the guards pointed their rifles at Fives and the ARC trooper jumped at the Chancellor in response. As Shaak Ti entered the room again, she Force pushed Fives off Palpatine, causing Fives to run out of the room.

Watching this all unfold, Chief and Fox awkwardly looked at each other. In that moment their loyalties could not be further apart, but being professionals, they didn't fight. Instead, Chief went after Fives and Fox ran to the Chancellor's side. But even with his augmented speed and power armour, Chief was just too late to stop Fives from stealing a BARC speeder and blasting off into the night.

Calling the trooper on his comm, Chief told Fives to meet him at the shipyards on the Spirit of Fire. Hesitantly agreeing, Fives said that he'll just have to steal a fresh armour before cutting the comm. Getting in touch with Blue Team immediately, Chief ordered everyone back to the Spirit of Fire under the orders to not inform anyone.

"Chief, it's Fox. Fives is now officially the most wanted man on the entire planet, the standing order is kill or capture. Listen Chief, I know we both saw the same thing back in that room soI'm giving you this heads up. If you want to go after him on your own, I won't try to stop you unless I have to, but my orders are straight from the Chancellor. If I don't comply..."

"You'll be eliminated instead, I understand. Thank you Fox, Chief out."

Time skip

Coruscant - Spirit of Fire

Once everyone was back an atmosphere of confusion set in around the ship. No one knew why Chief had asked them to all come back and why all the secrecy. They assumed it was either a top secret mission from up top or it was something to do with Fives being in trouble. It was the latter, with Chief and a bald Fives in red Coruscant Guard armour entering the room soon after.

"As you all know, Fives has been condemned as a traitor and a rogue clone. The kill capture order still stands and to my knowledge, every clone except you guys is currently out there looking for him. So if any of you have a problem with him being here, leave now." Chief spoke calmly but very sternly. And to no one's surprise, everyone stayed. "Alright then, Fives take it away."

"Alright, alright, okay... Midas, I was injected with something that is making me this hyperactive. Do something about this please, I'm losing my mind here." Fives spoke erratically, his abnormal behaviour causing unease amongst everyone in the room. After taking Fives to the medical room and examining him, Midas gave the trooper an injection that worked almost immediately. Coming back into the room, Fives already was looking more like himself.

"Fives vod, what is going on?"

Fives started explaining a detailed conspiracy against the Jedi about how all the clones had bio-chips implanted in their brains and how Chancellor Palpatine was behind it all. He explained what happened with Tup on Ringo Vinda and how the chip made him lose all self-control, how he executed a Jedi point-blank with no remorse before going completely insane. Fives then continued to recall how the Chancellor tried to have him silenced in the medical wing and how he was framed for the attempted assassination.

"We need to get this information to the Jedi, before it's too late."

"No Thermos, the Coruscant Guard will be waiting for him to appear there, we need to get Fives off the radar. If he's gone for long enough this whole thing will be forgotten and Palpatine will have to resort to bounty hunters and black ops to go after Fives."

"So what do you want us to do?" Jesse asked grimly, there was no doubt that every clone in the room was not happy with how this situation. Asking if Fives could show Midas and Jester where the implants are, Fives replied by saying that he could even help them remove it.

"So that's the first step, remove the chips from every clone in this room. Then we make Fives disappear." Chief instructed and the team got to work. Soon all of them had massive headaches and Chief was piloting the Spirit of Fire up through the atmosphere. By inputting his special forces clearance codes, Chief was able to quickly get the ship into hyperspace and on its way to the middle of nowhere.