บท 51: Chapter 50
"No more clones. Stop the fighting...." The crowd kept chanting.
There was a large crowd gathered in front of the temple steps. Most of them were relatives of those caught in the explosion at the hanger. To hold them back there was a small force of riot troopers and Jedi temple guards were deployed. Leading them was Cin Drallig, the battle master of the Jedi.
"Master Cin. They all family and friends?" asked Anakin skywalker.
"Yes. Looking for answers" replied Cin.
"So am I. This is the man we suspect is behind the bombing. Keep an eye out for him and inform me if he is spotted" said Anakin showing a holo projection of Jakhar.
Just as he was about to leave a woman rushes out from the crowd shouting "That is Jakhar"
"Do you know this man?" asked Anakin.
"That is Jakhar. He is my husband. I have been trying to reach him since I heard of an explosion. Where is he?" explained the woman.
"I need you to come with me," said Anakin. Escorting the woman into the temple.
(Infirmary)
"Lean back. You will be all patched up soon" said Ahsoka to a wounded maintenance worker as she helps him find a place to rest.
"Hello Ahsoka," said Tal Devin.
"What brought you here Tal," asked Ahsoka.
"I had been helping with the wounded at the other infirmaries. I came here to offer them my help but didn't expect to run into you here" said Tal.
"Well, I initially came as a part of the investigation into the bombing. But stayed to provide what little help I can till my Master calls" explained Ahsoka.
"Made any progress?" asked Tal.
"Not much. Just a single lead. A guy named Jakhar seems to be involved somehow. If you see him inform us immediately" said Ahsoka showing Tal a holo of Jakhar.
"I will keep an eye open for the suspect," said Tal.
Just then Ahsoka's communicator beeps "Looks like my master is calling. See you around Tal," said Ahsoka leaving.
(BOMBED TO SHIT HANGAR)
"From the trajectory, the blast came from there," said Ahsoka while going through data from the scene.
"But why isn't there any bomb residue?" asked RUSO.
"So, you think whoever did this triggered a ship to explode?" asked Anakin.
"We think so. RUSO is trying to analyze the shrapnel to piece this together. The witness says he saw Jakhar working in that area. Maybe Jakhar planned this and kept quiet. Or, this was really done by a Jedi" explained Ahsoka her tone becoming melancholic towards the end.
"I found something. AN anomaly. Something that should not be here" said RUSO walking through the debris while analyzing data "These pieces come from the blast origin. They are covered by microscopic droids of a highly volatile nature" he explained.
"Nano droids?" asked Anakin.
"Yes. Nano droids" confirmed RUSO.
"Great now we are chasing NANO droids," said Ahsoka.
"Go through security footage. See if Jakhar visited other parts of the temple. We will go and see how he got his hands on these nano droids" said Anakin leading Ahsoka out on their investigation.
The two walked into the nearby control room. A droid handed them the required data.
"He was an ammunition expert," said Ahsoka.
"Jakhar was the foreman of all the gunships bombs and weapons. His specialty was nano weaponry" said Anakin in an exasperated voice.
"We have to find this guy," said Ahsoka.
They approached RUSO accompanied by a new droid processing videos at very high speed.
"Who is that RUSO?" asked Anakin.
"New series of droids sold to the temple at cheap prices. Performs multiple tasks from data analysis, maintaining framework to handling security infrastructure. They are advance and can perform many more functions. At this speed, they can go through thousands of recordings in half the time we older versions can" explained RUSO.
"That's impressive," said Ahsoka genuinely impressed.
"Has he found Jakhar yet?" asked Anakin.
"No," said RUSO.
"SIGH. I will gather some Jedi and search the temple" said Anakin.
"Instead of Jedi, I will send droids. They are much faster" said RUSO while talking to a group of droids.
(lower districts)
Anakin and Ahsoka finally found the bomber. Or at least a part of him. The unfortunate soul was the bomb. The nano droids were in his bloodstream. Now they search his apartment for any clues.
"This is not the nicest place," said Anakin looking around.
"I would have thought working for the Jedi paid better," said Ahsoka with a bit of concern in her voice.
They knocked but no one answered. They knocked again. Still, no one answered. Finally, Anakin used the force to unlock the door.
"Letta. Are you here?" called Anakin as they entered the rundown apartment. No one answered.
"Look around for the droids. But remember, he was an ammunition expert. I rather not set off another explosion today. I will search if he left any notes or documents" said Anakin.
They continue searching. Ahsoka scans room by room corridor by corridor. Till she finally stumbles on something.
"Master!" calls out Ahsoka. Anakin runs over. "The sensors are picking up signals from the disposal. The droids were in the food" said Ahsoka.
"Now the question is, did he eat them willingly? Or did someone feed them to him?" said Anakin.
"What are you doing here?" asked Letta who was surprised by their presence.
"We learned Jakhar was involved in the bombing," said Anakin.
"That can't be true," said Letta in denial.
"See if she has any nano droids on her Ahsoka" commanded Anakin.
"Nano droids?" asked Letta. Ahsoka proceeds to scan her.
"She is clean" confirms Ahsoka.
"What do you mean nano droids?" asked a confused Letta.
"We believe someone set Jakhar up and made him the bomb" explained Ahsoka.
"I don't understand," says Letta in confusion.
"Letta, we want to bring you in for some questioning. Maybe you can help make sense out of all this" said Anakin slowly walking up to her.
"I will answer any question I can," she says and accompanies Anakin and Ahsoka.
As soon as they are out Letta makes a break for it. The chance continues for a few blocks. She is then cut off in an alley as Ahsoka drops down in front of her (AN: Spiderman would be proud).
"Letta stop!" shouts Ahsoka.
Letta slowly tries to back away but is blocked by Anakin.
"Running means, you know more than you are telling us," said Ahsoka.
"Let me go. Jakhar is dead now you are trying to blame his murder on me?!" she exclaims.
"Nobody ever said he was dead," says Anakin slowly stepping up.
"But running proves you had something to do with the bomb" accuses Ahsoka.
"You don't know what you are talking about," Letta says with scorn.
"People blamed Jedi because of you. People were killed because of you!" Ahsoka points at her in anger.
"You can't prove anything" defends Letta.
"Did you feed the nano droids to Jakhar? You will answer me. Now!" snarls Anakin who was becoming angrier by the minute.
"I did feed the nano droids to Jakhar" Letta finally admits.
"You set up your own husband to die?!" snarls and angry Ahsoka.
"You are dealing with things you don't understand" defends Letta.
"Ho. Where you are going you will have plenty of time to explain everything" said Ahsoka with a huff before grabbing Letta.
(Jedi temple)
"We have Letta locked in the cells below awaiting further questioning" Anakin explains to master Windu and Yoda.
"I have further good news. After thorough scanning, no further traces have been found in the temple. Plus, after going through the recording Jakhar Bomani was found to have acted alone. That means no Jedi was involved" explained RUSO.
"Thanks, RUSO. Good Job." said a pleased Ahsoka.
"Did this woman say what her reasons were for attacking us?" asked master Windu.
"Not yet. But we are working on that" explained Ahsoka.
"I think we can guess her motives easily enough. Public opinion is swinging against the Jedi. That is becoming clear. This war is becoming less and less popular every day it persists" explained master Windu. He and Master Yoda then walked away to do their duties.
"I wouldn't know what to think if it was Jedi master?" said Ahsoka in a downcast tone.
"There will always be Jedi who disappoints us Ahsoka. But as long as there are good Jedi who fight the good fight. It makes it all worthwhile" said Anakin in a serious tone and starts walking away. Ahsoka stands there with a worried and contemplative expression for a few seconds before she runs to catch up with her master.
(Quesaya system)
Palpatine has sent his hounds to snoop around in this border system.
A squad of black-ops clones had landed on this planet with a shuttle. These are among the most elite troops trained by GAR. They answer only to Palpatine and do his bidding without question.
They have been here for more than half a day. They had gotten a lead saying that an informant wants to receive asylum. The informant carried sensitive information.
"Do you think this lead is legit?" asked black four.
"It has to be. Either way, we got direct orders to secure the asset. If the intel proves useful, we will have an edge over the Mandos" replied Black one.
"Hope this pans out," said Black two.
"I have got movement," said Black three "Seems like it's our target. And she seems to be running from something," he said.
"Wasn't she coming in her shuttle?" asked Black two
"The keyword here is she 'was' supposed to. Something doesn't seem right. Be on guard" said Black one.
They slowly descended into the small valley while on high alert. Their nerves were on the edge as they weren't the top hunters in this part of the galaxy. They slowly came in front of the defector.
"Halt. State the password or we will open fire" said Black one.
"hah…. Hah… please wait. Don't shoot. The password is 'The darkness is eternal'…. Hah…. hah… get me out of here. We are not safe" she said panting. She had a ragged appearance. Like she had been on the run for a few days without any rest.
"Her voice and the password check out," said Black two.
"What happened to you? You are late. And you were supposed to arrive on a shuttle" asked Black one.
"I was shot down by a cloaked ship. I never saw it coming. I was on the run non-stop for the past three days. We have to get out there. I feel like we are in trouble" said the woman.
"You 'feel like' we are in trouble? Lady this simple pickup mission just went FUBAR!" said Black three.
"He is right we have to extract now," said black one before going for his coms "Black five get the ship here pronto" ordered Black one. But he was met with static. "Black five do you read?" he asked again.
"This doesn't feel right," said Black two. Just then they heard a large explosion from a short distance away.
"Isn't that where our ship is?" asked Black four.
"Yes. Everyone double time. We have to try and salvage the long-range coms equipment if we want to call for a ride out" said Black one.
"You want to go towards the explosion?" asked the woman incredulously.
"We have no choice. This is an off the books operation. There won't be rescue unless we explicitly ask for it. And this is an uninhabited planet. There are no ships to steal" explained Black one.
"Plus, we need to get out of this open valley or we will get kriffed," said Black two "I will take point," he said slowly getting up from the kneeling position. Just as he starts walking a high-velocity slug round shatters his helmet and burros through his head. The high-velocity round blows up his head throwing skull fragments and brain matter on the others behind him. The round also clips the woman on her shoulder after passing through Black two.
"Hostiles!" shouted Black one going prone behind a nearby rock cropping. He looks over to see the woman crawling on the ground while screaming in pain. Half her shoulder missing. Black two a few meters away missing almost the entirety of his head.
"Anyone sees where that shot came from?" asked Black three.
"No clue. They took out our recon first to blind us. They are even using slug rounds" said Black one.
"Well, this mission is Kriffed," said a Black four in a monotonous tone.
"We need to break out if we want to complete the mission. Three lay down covering fire in that general direction. I will drag this woman, four run to the entrance of the valley pass and secure it" explained Black one.
"Roger," said black three. He gets up and starts putting down a wide arc suppressive fire. Black one carries the lady while Black four runs towards the farthest cover. Just as he reaches halfway he gets nailed by a high-velocity sniper round and is rag dolled backward. The round left a bloody hole in his chest. Just as one duck behind cover as another round zip by nailing three in the head. He suffers the same fate as Black two.
"SHIT! This mission just got botched hard" said a frustrated Black one. He turned to the woman and said "You have to escape back to the Republic. I will distract them as much as possible. When I draw their fire run" the woman could only nod. She could only continue running. Even with bacta closing the wound on her shoulder she was still in no condition to run. But that was her only hope.
They looked at each other and remained quiet for a few minutes. They could hear movement coming towards them.
"Now!" shouted Black one slowly getting up and laying down covering fire. The woman starts running as fast as she could.
She keeps running for a few dozen meters before getting shot in the leg. She tumbles to the ground and starts crawling. She looks back to see Black one take a couple of blaster round to the chest and fall.
She leans against a rock and just sits there. Black one could be seen slowly crawling away from the place he was downed.
Then slowly out of the darkness four armored figures de-cloak. One makes his way towards Black one and looms over him. He then put a few stunner rounds into the back of the downed clone.
"Status report?" asks the leader of this group.
"All hostiles eliminated. One enemy unit captured and our oh so lovely HVT is also here" said another.
"Good," said the leader turning on his coms "This is Omega-1 package secured. We have an additional prisoner as well, Requesting pickup ant my pos"
"You can't stop the inevitable Mando," said the woman.
"The Mand'alor knows of your kind intruder. You can hide from the rest of the galaxy and scheme. But you can't hide from us. You might think of yourself as a hunter. But you are just prey" said Omega-1 Shooting the woman with stunner rounds "Patch them up and prep for transport" he ordered.
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