Chương 277: Slaves Of The Republic

In a room at the headquarters of the Clone Army on Coruscant, an important meeting was happening. What was being discussed in this meeting was at the same time huge, and secretive.

Clones from the Coruscant Guard, the 501st Legion, the 212th Legion, the 187th Attack Legion, the 91st Reconnaissance Corps, the 327th Star Corps, the 84th Legion, and their respective Jedi generals were all there.

Currently, General Kenobi was explaining their plan to attack Fondor. Of course, they wouldn't use that many legions to attack just one planet, but using the excuse that they needed to discuss their strategies for a number of systems, a large group of over ninety clones had been put together.

On the surface, they were all there because of the meeting, however, the truth was that they were all there so Dageer could look at the faces of his brothers, and discover which one of them was a spy.

He and Hell Squad were standing against a wall, overseeing the meeting. With their status as a special unit, and considering how their missions were mostly top-secret, they rarely said anything on this kind of meetings.

So, now Dageer was scrutinizing the faces of his brothers, watching their reactions. Most of the clones in the room had access to the information which led to some of the most humiliating and painful defeats the Republic had. And it was Dageer's job to discover who amongst them was a traitor.

He knew almost every single clone in the room. He had trained with them, fought by their side, and faced death with them. They had been to countless battles together, and he knew them as well as he knew any clone. They were all brothers. But no matter how hard he wanted to believe otherwise, one of them was a spy.

He couldn't describe how painful it was, and he still hoped to prove the Jedis wrong. He hoped that there were no spies, and that the Republic only lost because they fought poorly. But, as the meeting went on, he caught sign of one clone in particular.

Under his helmet, his expression grew serious, and he couldn't help but clench his fists. Taking deep breaths, he concentrated on that brother of his, and his suspicions grew stronger.

As soon as the meeting ended, and they were dismissed, Dageer left the room, followed by Hell Squad. He found a quiet spot, from where he could keep an eye on the communications center, and waited. Hell Squad, behind him, was confused, but they knew when Dageer was angry, and they didn't want to provoke him, so they said nothing.

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Inside the communications room, a clone typed a series of codes as fast as he could without alarming the other troopers. He had to get this intel to the Separatist quickly, otherwise they would suffer a major defeat.

Ever since that day, he had realized that the Republic was corrupted, and didn't care about it's own army. To the powerful people who spent their days safely on the Senate, clones were no more than numbers.

But he endured it. For weeks and months, he endured it. He saw even more of his brothers die, lost in foreign planets, and saw their names be erased, substituted by numbers that the clones had long left behind.

He understood that they meant nothing, and that they were just tools, but still, he fought. He fought, and he fought again, and he fought again, and again, and again. He was hurt, he almost died several times, but that didn't bother him. He had been created and trained for that. He could withstand the pain. He could withstand being disposable.

What he couldn't withstand was watch his brothers die to protect a man who, on that very same day, had pushed two clones to their certain deaths.

And so, one day, he decided it was enough. The Republic didn't deserve to win this war. They were corrupt bastards that would never give the clones the freedom that they had been promised. For him, the way the Republic treated the clones was no different than slavery.

He found a way to contact the Separatist through a Rodian Separatist captain he and his unit had captured, but were forced to let go. He waited days, regretting his decision, thinking that he had been too harsh. His nightmares grew worst and worst, and he felt dizzy all day. He couldn't look at his brothers without feeling ashamed.

However, he received an answer. More importantly, he received a promise. A promise that when this war was over, and the Separatist won, the clones would be truly free. No more orders, no more needless sacrifices, no more deaths. True freedom.

The price of that freedom was steep, and he knew that. He hesitated to take on the offer, but not for long. He started gathering classified intel, and sending it to the Separatist through especial means. To be sure he wouldn't be caught, he made it look like normal communications being sent to somewhere in the galaxy. It worked quite well.

Soon, he started seeing the results of his treason. The Republic lost battle after battle, system after system. Their support around the galaxy was undermined, and more planets joined the Separatist.

He took pleasure in seeing all that. He knew he was on the right path to free all his brothers from the tyranny of the Republic. But with each news of a defeat, came the number of his brothers that lost their lives because of him.

The nightmares were now unbearable. He barely slept, and the voices in his head kept screaming for him to kill. Kill the Jedi, kill the Republic, kill the people that made his brothers suffer.

And so, he closed his mind to those numbers. He told himself that it wasn't him who caused the death of his brothers, but the Republic. That helped to ease the pain, even if just a little.

Today he was weirdly happy. He knew that by sending the battle plans made today to the Separatist, the Republic would suffer another crushing defeat, one that would put it a step closer to it's end.

He was so focused on what he was doing that he didn't notice seven clones stop right in front of him. Only when all the noise in the communications center died down, and all the troopers there were looking at his direction, did he notice something.

Looking up, he almost stepped back in surprise and fear, but he controlled himself, and said in his head that there was no way Dageer and Hell Squad knew what he was doing. Quickly, he saluted his old commander.

"Commander, sir. What do you need?"

Dageer looked deep into his eyes, and saw the proof that he needed. The spy, on the other hand, could only see the black of Dageer's visor, so he had no idea of the dilemma that was going on the commander's mind.

He saw Dageer's chest go up, and fall down as the clone sighed, and, to his surprise, he saw a blaster being aimed at him. He wasn't the only one shocked by the words that left Dageer's mouth in the next seconds.

"Lieutenant Shield, you are under arrest for treason against the Republic."

// AUTHOR'S NOTE //

Decided that was as good of a chapter as any other to drop some truth bombs about the Republic. The more you watch the series, read the books and the comics, the more you notice they weren't anywhere near the perfect organization they try to pass as.

I struggled a long time to decide who would be the traitor. I had over five people who had just as many reasons as Shield. However, I think we can all agree that few clones would have more impact on Dageer than someone from the 303rd.