Afterglow | The Clone Wars

25 | The Unspoken

"You called them here?" Slick asked in an anxious tone. Dakota made a mental note of the Sergeants behavior, something in her gut twisted in an odd way. Her facial expression remained neutral.

"Of course we did. We're getting to the bottom of this. Now" Rex said sternly, his Captain-like voice beginning to make an appearance.

"Look, let me have a few minutes with them first. It's gonna hit them hard" Slick explained "They trust each other, and if one of our own betrayed us"

"I don't think that's necessary" Rex cut him off. The Captain began to walk in front of the men who were standing up-right at attention, and he was scanning their facial expressions and postures with his hands linked together at his back  "Your men are tough, right? Take a seat, gentlemen. We have a turncoat in our midst, and we think it's one of you" Dakota closed her eyes to listen.

"Let's start with you, Jester. What were you doing after the battle today?" Commander Cody questioned the young soldier who sat separate from the rest of the group.

"I don't know, I was doing the things I always do after a mission" the trooper replied nervously.

"Things like what?"

"U-uh, I'm sorry, sir" he apologized, fiddling with his fingers "I'm just a little nervous. You're my C.O..." he glanced between the two clone officials.

"The way I figure it, you tell the truth, you got nothing to be nervous about"

"Jester is telling the truth" the trooper who sat a few feet away from him spoke up in his defense "He cleans his weapon after every mission. First thing, every time. He's kind of obsessed that way"

"Is that right? - You were cleaning your weapon?" Cody asked.

"Yes, sir"

The next few clones gave honest enough answers. Two were in the mess hall getting some food, and there were other clones present on the base to vouch for them. The fourth trooper had been in the infirmary because of an arm injury that he received from earlier in the day. However, the last trooper did cause for Dakota's eyebrows to raise "So, Chopper, old boy, - what's your alibi?" Rex went to the last trooper who sat in the darkest area of the barracks. Scars were scattered along the side of his face, and up the sides of his head which was fully shaved.

"I was in the mess hall" he replied gruffly in an unconvincing manner. Dakota pushed off from the wall and walked a few steps closer, stopping five feet behind Captain Rex.

"No, you weren't!" the trooper named Sketch stood up swiftly, pointing out the lie "Chopper came in a lot later. After everyone else"

"Where were you before you went to the mess, Chopper?"

"Nowhere. Walking around" he said, not meeting their eyes. Dakota separated herself from the group, hanging back by the wall as the clones began to circle up around Chopper. That feeling in her gut wasn't going away. While everyone was focusing on Chopper, she was staring at the back of Sergeant Slick's head.

"Son" Cody shook his head "you know we'll need a better answer than that"

Chopper sighed, seeming to give up his little act of playing dumb "I was hiding at the south exit" he admitted, then reached under the bed that he sat on, pulling out a necklace string with various metal parts attached to it "I didn't want anyone to see me string these together" he showed the group.