Star Wars The Clone Wars: Cuy'Val Dar#Wattys2016

Thirteen

Courascant, 1600 hours (Couruscanti Time)

Null sat right behind the padawan, Bly Doon, he believed the boy's name was. The kid looked no older than thirteen, and a little too eager for a fight as they approached the site of the riot. The ARC's eyes were quickly diverted to the ground as the speeder descended to the ground again. There were clear signs of a riot, broken signs, and stains on the sidewalk and buildings from whatever had been thrown. However, whatever people had been there had cleared out days ago. Null frowned, a day old site was not the best place to gather clues, but he wasn't about to argue with the Jedi. AS the speeder landed, the Jedi padawan perked up a bit and once the speeder was stopped, the kid jumped out. Null got out as well, checking his blaster. The others soon followed and Null spotted Sarge with the other half of the team, with General Fas, waiting for them up ahead. The kid ran up to his master and Null followed, slower. The kid was a bouncy one for sure, and a little too energetic for the ARC's taste.

"I want all of you to spread out and find whatever clues you can as to where our two hostages were taken," General Fas was saying as Null approached.

"Excuse me, General," Sarge said, standing behind Fas, reaching up as she started walking away. Null frowned, not particularly fond of the tall Dathomirian woman.

"What is it, Sergeant?" Fas asked, stopping and looking halfway over her shoulder.

Sarge lowered his hand to his side again, "Ma'am, this site is old and many "clues" as to where the separatists may have taken the hostages would have been scoured away or taken care of."

"Are you questioning me, Sergeant?"

"No, ma'am, I'm simply mentioning that this site is not a good place to start. And, considering one of the Separatist's identified, any clues we might find here wouldn't be much help either way."

Fas put one hand on her hip, raising what should have been her eyebrows, but was really just gray tattoos as she turned and looked down at Sarge.

"And what would you suggest we do, Sergeant? Wander around until we happen to see a droid so you and your soldiers can shoot it?"

Sarge moved his jaw a little bit in annoyance and took a moment before answering. "General, me and my men know quite a bit about one of the kidnappers and I can assure you nothing you find here will help you find those hostages."

"Then I will assume you have a plan," Fas said.

"I know where to start looking."

Fas mockingly bowed and put one hand to the side. "Then by all means, sergeant, impress me," she said sarcastically.

Sarge crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. "Apologies for my interruption, ma'am," he muttered. Fas straightened up.

"As I thought. Now, have your men spread out and look for any evidence," she ordered. Sarge nodded, repeating her order over the comm's system. His men spread out quickly and the Jedi called in the Coruscant guard to rope off the area until they were done. Nearly an hour of searching went by and only a few pieces of evidence were found, none of which pointed in any specific direction. Sarge reported to the General, who gave only a disapproving frown at the findings. Inside, the sergeant felt a bit of triumph at being right but showed nothing. Fas spoke with her padawan for a while afterward before returning to the group of clones, who had continued to analyze the evidence just in case they had missed anything. Finally, the Jedi walked up.

"Sergeant, you mentioned that you and your men know something about one of the separatist kidnappers."

"Yes, ma'am," Sarge stated. The Jedi nodded.