Wartorn

Chapter 21 - Bombing

Author's Note: Thoughts or predictions anyone? ;)

~ Amina Gila

Investigating the bombing is getting both somewhere and nowhere at once. They know nanodroids were used, and they arrested Letta Turmond who apparently fed them to her husband so he could be the bomb. Luke is still appalled at even hearing that. Because okay, he gets that apparently spouses can have a lot more problems than he thinks any family member ought to – he wouldn't know what that's like and doesn't really care to; he has his sister and parents and that's all he needs – but turning them into a bomb is a whole new level of crazy.

Datapad held in one hand, Luke steps into Letta's cell at the Republic prison. Letta claims a Jedi was involved and that she'd been partly mind-tricked into going as far as she did, which... would make sense to a point, if she's telling the truth. She said she doesn't know who it was, that they were hooded, so they have a list of potential suspects – it's mostly just speculation but they picked Jedi who've been struggling with the Dark Side or who happen to work closely with those in the hangar, since they're most likely – to show her and see if she recognizes them.

Luke still doesn't know how to feel that a Jedi's involved in the first place, though.

So many of their members are falling. How does he know how many he can trust? How does he know what else they might be capable of next?

"Letta –" he starts, pausing when he sees her pressed in the corner, radiating a strange amount of fear, "What?"

"You have to listen to me," she says, glancing around nervously.

"That's what I'm here to do. We need to discuss who else was involved," Luke replies, dubiously. What's her deal suddenly?

Letta shakes her head, jumping to her feet. "I know who did it. It – But they'll be able to get to me if you don't protect me from them."

... She's been lying about not knowing all this time? He's not surprised to hear that, even if it's more than annoying. But the rest... "Who did it?" Luke demands, "You have to tell us, Letta. If we know if who it is, we can stop them."

She looks her around again fearfully, almost as though expecting something to happen. "It was –"

Her voice suddenly cuts off there in a strangled gasp, her hands flying to her throat as she lifted off the ground, desperately struggling against an unseen force.

What?!

Luke looks around wildly, frantically. What's happening?

That – Someone's using the Force against her, and he doesn't know what to do, or – He reaches out almost frantically with the Force, trying to see if there's a way that he can break it or something but then the sound of bones snapping rings through the room, and Letta's lifeless body falls the floor.

What – How –

Luke sprints to her side, dropping down next to her just to check and see if she's really dead, even if he already knows that. His heart is hammering, and he's certain he can feel traces of the Dark Side but it's too elusive to feel any specific presence. And it doesn't even make sense because there should only be clones here.

The door snaps open only seconds later, Fox and several others hurrying inside.

"I don't know what happened," Luke says, standing.

"She's dead, Commander," reports one of the other clones, ignoring him entirely.

And then, Fox raises his blaster to point at... Luke?