Betrayal (Star Wars Fanfiction)

Planning and suspicions

Coruscant, Jedi Temple

"Reporting in, sir," Wooley's hologram said, saluting to Cody, "We've stored everything we could in the barracks. We're preparing to come back to the Temple now."

At the Commander's nod, Wooley stopped the transmission and his blue glowing figure vanished again.

"We've covered everything for now." Cody said, reaching for a transmitter and a holopad. "It's not perfect, but the best we can do under these circumstances."

"It still doesn't feel right," Grey muttered, leaning heavily with his elbows on the table.

Wolffe huffed a humorless laugh: "'Course it doesn't, but it's better we keep the stuff safe and hidden from these sleemos than them getting their hands on it and doing Force knows what with it."

When Hyrlell had offered them the Jedi Temple as a new base, it was for the best they were in the know of where the most important things left in it were and how to keep away from him and his underlings. Perhaps he wasn't force-sensitive, but even without it, people could be plenty dangerous if given Jedi artifacts to play around with. The clones didn't want the Senate exploding before they got the chance to do it themselves due to unfortunate accidents.

And so, all of the things left in the temple which were important to the Jedi and were movable had been taken to the clone barracks with a guard patrolling them at all times, but in a way that wouldn't be too obvious. They were hoping to convince outsiders that they were merely cherishing their privacy and didn't want anyone else to just waltz in.

"What now?" Neyo asked. "We can't just sit around here and do nothing. We gotta find the Jedi!"

"And we've got to get ourselves out of this situation," Doom said, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair, keeping an eye on the two lightsabers hanging from his belt.

"Right. So, any ideas?"

"I have one!" Hardcase declared immediately. He put his hands up to mimic the steps of his plan. "We go to the barracks, grab the explosives left over from the war, go to the Senate building–"

"I thought we agreed on not blowing it up." The unspoken yet was very clear in Rex's voice as he stared at his trooper with barely hidden amusement. "No matter how much I'm in agreement, I don't think the Jedi would like that."

"You didn't let me finish," Hardcase insisted, grinning wildly, "I was gonna say we scare the lot so badly they let the Jedi come back without a fuss. Of course, we won't blow the Senate up." His grin widened. "Well, maybe we could set fire to the paperwork. Purely an aesthetic choice."

Several cheers could be heard from the 501st. And the 212th. And every other battalion.

"Not that I wouldn't march on the Senate with you, but that wouldn't exactly solve the major issue," Gree said. "It wouldn't bring the Jedi back here, nor would it guarantee their safety. Or ours, for that matter."

At that, Fox suddenly stood up and rushed out of the room, leaving some to stare after him in confusion.

"What's with him?"

Some of the troopers, especially from the Guard itself, made to follow their commander, but Ponds signaled them to sit back down with a wave of his hand.

"Don't worry. I'll go after him."

"Sir." Ponds turned to look at Jek, the man holding a datapad close to his chest. "He's been closed off lately, well, more so than usual. You should probably try to be tactful."

"He shouldn't try it," Thire muttered next to him, "he should do it."

Ponds barely kept from rolling his eyes, but nodded anyway before walking out of the room, hoping to catch up to the wayward commander of the Coruscant Guard before something happened.