Alternate Start (ARCHIVE)

Chapter Nineteen: Secrets

Satahl nodded her head as Tup read out the information on her datapad. She couldn't see like him or Dogma, not in the typical way. She'd learned to see electrical connections, like nerves and circuits, and see Force signatures. She felt the buzzing of his nerves as he pressed a hand to his head, stopping in his tracks mid-sentence. He made a very soft grunt of confusion, and she tilted her head. "Tup? Are you alright?"

He shook his head and pressed the heel of his palm against his temple, "I dunno Sat'ika, my head feels off." It'd been a couple of months since Kamino, and today was the worst his Force signature's small flickers of blankness had gotten. It'd happened on occasion, since he had taken that hit to the head from the B2, but never like this. "Tup you can go lay down if you need to, I can ask Echo for help."

"No sir, honestly, I'm alright." He got up, stepping around the couch and towards the kettle of still warm tea. Something felt deeply wrong in that moment.

Duck!

Satahl obeyed her instincts, a blaster bolt flew over her head as she did so. The padawan scrambled to her feet, heart beginning to race. Tup's signature had gone from blank to straight forward murderous. "Tup?"

"Good soldiers follow orders." He mumbled back. Satahl backed up, fumbling to get her lightsaber off her belt. She felt out the electrical circuits of the room and sprang the lock on the door, giving Tup a force push and bolting into the hallway. She had to get to the bridge, but her legs were small, and she was in the emptiest part of the ship. Everyone was either working, in medbay, in the barracks, or  in the mess. Tup was gaining on her, she could hear it. Each blaster bolt she deflected only made him draw closer.

She ran face first into another clone in grays, Satahl was quick to recognize the signature. "Dogma! Dogma something's wrong with Tup!"
"Whoa whoa— Commander slow down what's—" Dogma was silenced by a blaster bolt hitting the floor as Satahl deflected it, and he saw his only batchmate running full sprint with a deadly look in his eyes.

"No time! Come on!" She cried, grabbing his hand and sprinting towards the bridge. As they burst onto the bridge, she accidentally let loose a wave of fear that caused everyone to take a step back, especially her master.

"Satahl? Satahl what's going on?" He said carefully, tilting her head to look up at him as she gripped onto his robes for dear life. "Master it's Tup! Something's wrong, his signature turned bad!"

Dogma stepped closer protectively, "General, Tup was trying to shoot Commander Cahlay."

As Tup sprinted onto the bridge, in the blink of an eye, Master Sunna had knocked Tup to the ground, disarmed him, and slammed his head against the floor. "Tup! What's the matter with you?!"

"G— Good soldiers... follow orders..." he mumbled, beginning a cycle of whispers until he snapped out of it and tried to fight back. Master Sunna gripped Tup's wrist tightly and yanked back, pinning one of his legs with a clawed foot, the other with his own leg. He winced as he heard a crack, realizing he put too much pressure down.

"Sleep." He said forcefully, Tup seemed to be trying to resist, but caved as he said it a second time. Master Sunna picked up the unconscious trooper. "Sparkler, follow me. We have to get Tup to medbay."
"Sir he just—"
"Now!"

Everyone in the room jumped at the sharp toned snarl. Master Sunna wasn't taking no for an answer here.

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Kaar came storming into medbay setting Tup onto a biobed as Bones approached. "Bones, level five atomic scan on Tup and a diagnostic, I want to know what I broke."
"General what—"
"Now."

Bones furrowed his brow, nodding, "Right away sir."

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Kaar paced impatiently, furrowing his brow. "Gods above... what could have caused this? It's too early..." Sparkler's head snapped up, "What do you mean too early? You knew about this?"

"Yes. I did. I know why Tup tried to kill Satahl." He sighed, "Fives discovered this too, after Tup shot and killed Master Tiplar on Ringo Vinda. It was a chip in the head of every single clone, Tup's had malfunctioned and triggered early because of deterioration, with a contingency order that caused them to be obedient and..." he swallowed a lump in his throat, "Despite Fives trying to warn everyone, and despite him being right, almost every Jedi in the galaxy was exterminated. Even the younglings."

Sparkler looked horrified. He slowly brought his hand up and pressed at his skull, searching for something he wouldn't find. "You knew but you... you still trust me with your life? With your back? When at any moment I could suddenly turn and kill you in cold blood? You knew and you didn't say a word?"

Kaar sighs, "Yes. I'm sorry I didn't tell you Sparkler. I didn't expect my padawan's life to be endangered. Now we can get to work. You, the ARCs, and Krayt squadron will be dechipped first. We'll make our way through the battalion and any new shinies we receive. Write a report on this incident so I can present it to the council and we can get a move on."

"General!"
Kaar's head snapped up as he saw Krayt squadron charge into the medbay, "General, Dogma told me that Tup tried to kill Sat'ika!" Kaar sighed, crossing his arms, "Bones should tell us what's up soon."

"You're right. I got the diagnostic and the scan." Bones said, walking over, "General, in stopping Tup, you cracked his skull, fractured his jaw, pulled his shoulder from the socket, broke his wrist, gave him a hairline fracture on his fibula— seriously sir, I understand fear for your padawan but Tup's going to be in recovery for quite a while. That isn't even mentioning the growth found on the scan! How did you know it would be there?"

Kaar looked away, "Call it intuition." He mumbled, "Remove it as soon as possible Bones. I want that thing out of Tup's head. I have to go make sure Satahl is alright."

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Satahl couldn't meditate. In the privacy of her room, she had removed her veil. She paced the length of her room, following a trail of electrical signals. She gripped her sleeves with trembling hands, trying to make sense of what had happened.

She turned as she felt Master Sunna walk in. He sat her down silently, reaching out and holding one of her hands, curling his tail around her and letting her cry into his chest. He didn't say a word, simply letting her bleed her emotions into the Force surrounding them. His purr wasn't a happy one, but a comforting one. Master Sunna allowed her to curl in, and let herself feel emotional. He made a soft cooing noise alongside his rumbling purr, smiling as Satahl's tears fell down to frightened sniffles.

"It'll be alright Sat'ika, it'll be alright now. Bones is fixing Tup, and he'll be back to his old self again, I promise." He whispered, pressing their foreheads together and rubbing circles into her back. He undid her bun, letting her orange hair fall down to her shoulder blades. Her padawan braid, of course, was longer than that, with teal thread wrapped around a part of it. Master Sunna tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, letting a purr echo in his chest again.

"It'll be alright, Padawan mine, I promise."

•—END OF CHAPTER—•