𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐃𝐒 ( THE BAD BATCH )

III. CONFLICT

Dr. Aria Paris smoothly manoeuvred her slim fingers across the transparent screen on a desk in front of her, without missing a single beat, with ease as if her fingertips knew the way they had to travel without a single thought. Multiple parameters flashed in front of her as she studied them closely. She glided her pointing finger from the top to the bottom of the screen, switching to the scan of a clone's head. The said clone lay on a bed that lowered him into a circle-shaped device, which allowed her and Nala Se to take a close look at his vitals and, most importantly, his brain.

Aria narrowed her eyes as she slouched a little bit, as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. A cold shiver ran up her spine at the realization that she had seen this before.

"That looks like... A tumor," she spoke hesitantly, lifting her gaze so Nala Se could see her perplexed stare.

"It's the inhibitor chip," Nala Se explained calmly. "It is important for us to have full control of our clones' minds if they were ever to disobey orders."

Shaking her head, Aria looked back down to the red-marked spot on the side of the clone's brain.

"Why didn't you tell me before? We've been here already. One of the general Skywalker's troopers had killed a Jedi. You tried to tell them it was a virus spread by the Separatists to sabotage our army."

Aria couldn't hide how betrayed she felt, how awful she thought it was. Not just the cruel lie that fell from Nala Se's mouth so easily while looking into master Shaak Ti's eyes, but because Kaminoans were in full control of the soldiers since the very beginning. They could do everything, anytime they wanted. Back then, Aria could only stare from afar without anything to do to help. She had no reason to think that Nala Se would lie. After all, the Republic did pay for their services. Even when Shaak Ti seemed to be wary about the explanation, Aria didn't suspect it'd be justified.

"It was classified," Nala Se said calmly. "If it wasn't for the inhibitor chips, our clones wouldn't complete Order 66. They developed an attachment to their Jedi generals. Emperor Palpatine had to take precautions."

Her heart dropped to her stomach. She swallowed with trouble because her throat clenched with sorrow. It wasn't fair with them. They had no control over their actions. How must they feel now? Knowing that they've killed the ones they trusted the most? Jedi that they fought with for so long?

"Why am I looking at it, then?" Aria asked bitterly.

"CT-8330 showed disobedience following the Emperor's order. We must assume his inhibitor chip has been damaged."

With something heavy grasping at her chest, Aria zoomed in to see the results of the chip's scan. She saw a lot of parameters she hadn't seen before, but she could read what they said regardless. It was nothing new. Apart from medical tests, she ran countless times in a room like this.

She looked up at the trooper behind the glass, who was nothing but clueless as to what she was discussing with Nala Se.

"The signal it's supposed to send into his brain is weak, almost reaching zero," Aria exclaimed. "My guess is it was broken for a longer time. Perhaps from a fall? Nonetheless, his neurons aren't getting the command they should."

"Our instructions are clear. We must terminate him."

Aria snapped her head to Nala Se, her breath hitched in her throat.

"We can't do that─"

"We have to. That's the wish of admiral Tarkin. We need to eliminate the risk of clones like CT-8330 raising a mutiny against the Empire."

Aria scoffed at the ridiculous situation she found herself in. She was just told to kill an innocent soldier just because the Kaminoans' mind-controlling device didn't work on him.