Only Love can Save them

Chapter 4

As the Imperial officer fell to the ground and shook Cody out of his trance, he finally remembered how to breathe properly. He inhaled, slowing his heart rate to a normal pace. "Get someone to clean this up," Rask snapped, before turning back to the hologram of the rebel attack. 

Offee. Barriss Offee. Cody thought as two sanitation troopers hurried in and removed the dead body. I thought she was dead. Killed in the Jedi Purge.

"Troopers, dismissed," Rask said to Cody and Rex. Cody sighed inwardly and quickly left the bridge to go to his quarters.

As soon as he was in the relative safety of his bland grey quarters, he removed the white helmet and placed it down on a cold table. He stared at himself in the mirror and traced the scar above his eye. 

He remembered the bright-eyed young woman. She was gorgeous, her eyes a warm hazel and her voice soft and sweet. He had assumed that she had slaughtered like most Jedi in the Jedi Purge. 

He felt responsible for her death. Even though he served the Empire loyally, he doubted their ways sometimes whenever Barriss had entered his mind. He heard screams as he slept. He saw the terror in her eyes as she desperately tried to fight off the overwhelming number of clones.

But he had to kill the Jedi. They were traitors to the Republic. They deserved to be dead. All thoughts of Barriss faded with a knock on the door. Cody scooped up his helmet in his hands in case it was a commanding officer. 

"Come in," he said, preparing to stand and salute. The door slid open. It was just Rex. "Captain, why are you here?"

Rex sighed and removed his helmet, before running his fingers through his short blonde hair. "I had... questions. I keep hearing this voice in my head and seeing the color blue," he explained, rubbing his neck and looking at the ground. 

Oh no. Cody thought. The traitor. Ahsoka Tano had slipped through the inhibitor chip once again, muddling his brother's thoughts. He had to stop this.

"When you were a clone trooper for the Republic," Cody began carefully, "you had blue paint on your armor. That must be it."

Rex nodded, before slipping his helmet on and leaving. Cody sighed. He felt the smallest amount of sympathy for his brother, but it disappeared with the common reassurance that the Jedi were traitors and the Empire reigned supreme. 

Good soldiers follow orders. he told himself. Good soldiers follow orders. 

The comlink implanted in his helmet beeped and the stormtrooper pulled the glistening white helmet on. "Cody, I mean CC-2224 here," he said, correcting himself to the new Imperial protocols. 

"Commander, the Fourth Sister requests your presence at the bridge," Admiral Yularen said. 

"Be there right away, sir," Cody replied, heading out the door. "CC-2224 out."

He left his quarters and passed by the troopers onto the grey bridge. The black-clothed Inquisitor stood over a holoprojector, the wreckage of a new battle flickering from it. "They have recaptured the Jedi and killed the Grand Inquisitor," she said, her voice echoing.

Rask looked up to see Cody and quickly explained the situation. Rebels had destroyed Governor Tarkin's Star Destroyer and taken a Jedi prisoner, as well as killed the Grand Inquisitor. "They were given reinforcements out of nowhere. It seems the rebels have a liking for Alderaanian ships," Rask observed as he pointed out the support ships. 

"Yes, however we cannot prove that Alderaan is providing the rebels their ships," the Fourth Sister said. "They must have a weakness or a base that we can attack and destroy, weakening them further. We must crush them. You, clone, you fought beside the Jedi, correct?"

"Yes, ma'am," Cody replied, standing straighter. 

"Do you know of any Clone Wars bases that could be used?" she asked, her eyes sharp. 

"Well, there are several scattered throughout the Outer Rim, but none with the tactical advantage needed. One on Ryloth, and I believe they established one on Kiros towards the end of the war. The others at too exposed and destroyed," Cody reported. 

"Kiros," muttered the Fourth Sister. "I sense there are two powerful in the Force that lead the Rebellion. We must find them."

"Jedi?" asked Rask carefully. 

"Perhaps," the Inquisitor said. There was the sound of metal scraping across glass as the red-tinted  glass covering her eyes slid open. Her eyes were a sickly Sith yellow and chilled Cody to the bone. "But we must make them come to us."

"How, ma'am," Cody asked. 

The Fourth Sister stared into the distance. "Make course for Kiros. Slaughter the Togruta colonists. All of them. Send a message to the rebels," she ordered. 

"Surely not every single one," gasped Rask. 

"Do I need to question your loyalty, Admiral?" asked the Fourth Sister, a hiss cutting off her tone. 

"No, my lady," Rask said quickly. "It will be done."

"The Jedi will be dead, the rebels destroyed and the Empire will rule the galaxy once again." declared the Inquisitor. "The Jedi will pay for what they did."