Chapter 17 - ch15

Chapter 15: Special Episode 3: Paperwork with Barriss and Cal! (KMN)Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter TextThis time, when the camera focused in on the next group of hosts, the audience was surprised to see that it wasn't two troopers who were sitting in front of the camera, but two children. Likely padawans.

Two troopers were playing Dejarik behind them. One had a yellow V painted on the body of his armor while the other had green on his.

One was a mirialan girl with diamonds across her nose and a black hood over her head. "Hello," She said, "My name is Padawan Learner Barriss Offee." She bowed to the camera slightly. Her back was straight and her shoulders were squared and pulled back into a perfect posture.

There was a human next to her, younger than she was, with reddish hair. He waved to the camera with a bright smile on his face. "And I'm Padawan Cal Kestis. We're helping out with Ahsoka. We thought that since, ya know, this whole thing was originally to help out the initiates transition from the creche to the command – Hey! I just got the title!"

Barriss rolled her eyes. "Yes, very good. Anyways, as Cal was saying we thought this video could be a bit more educational than some of the other videos. At least, from the perspective of what will be expected of you when you take command."

Cal let out a groan and slumped back in his chair. "I wish we were doing something else. This episode is so boring."

Barriss seemed to sit up just a bit straighter. "It's not boring. It's necessary. Paperwork is a very important part of the job and much different than writing essays."

The yellow trooper snorted.

"Is something wrong, Commander Ironside?" Barriss asked, turning to face the trooper.

"Cal's right. It is a  very boring topic." Ironside said.

The other trooper glared at him and then kicked his chair out from underneath him, causing him to fumble on the panel which lost him the game.

"What'd you do that for, Gree?" Ironside shouted.

"My foot twitched. Sorry," Gree said. He didn't sound very sorry.

"Gree, be nice," Barriss scolded gently.

"See! Ironside agrees with me," Cal groaned. "It is boring. This topic is so boring. Why couldn't you pick something more interesting? Like slang! Slang is fun."

"Second Lieutenant Jesse already tackled that topic," Barriss replied.

"Things to do when you've got nothing else to do?"

"Fives and Hardcase, remember? It ended with a love confession to Marshal Commander Cody."

Gree snickered. "We still make fun of him for that to this day."

"Oh, Commander! Your cerulean eyes sparkle like diamonds!" Ironside said in a high-pitched voice, throwing a hand over his heart dramatically. "Wonder if he would have reacted the same way if someone  else gave him that love confession."

Gree howled with laughter.

Barriss turned back to them, a questioning look on her face before she seemed to decide that she didn't want to know, and turned back to the camera. "Cal, please, let's just get started."

"No, no! I can figure out something fun for us to talk about! Something other than paperwork!" He said the word  'paperwork ' as if it were the most disgusting swear word he had ever come across. "Oh! What about the different colors of lightsabers and what they mean? That could be fun. Like, why does Master Windu have a purple lightsaber?"

Barriss crossed her arms and quirked a brow. "Why does Master Windu have a purple lightsaber?" She asked this in a way that suggested that she knew the answer and Cal did not.

"Um… because Master Windu wanted a purple lightsaber?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Do you even know what the different colors mean?"

"Yes! Of course, I do," Cal said.

Barriss continued to look at him.

He crumbled relatively fast. "No." He admitted slumping forward in defeat. "Look, the lesson was boring and I wanted to get to the part of actually making my lightsaber. Okay?"

Gree let out a whistle. "Damn, you're good at that look. Barriss, you are never allowed to learn anything from Cody."

"Why?" Barriss asked.

"Cause you're already too good at breaking people down. You and him team up, you'd be unstoppable."

"We'll put it to a commander's vote," Ironside said.

"Commander's Vote?" Cal asked, happier now that they weren't talking about paperwork.

"Anytime we think something will impact the  vode  we put it to a vote," Gree explained. "Past issues have included: Wolffe getting a fade, Clone Force 99 and 501st teaming up, is Fox drinking too much caffeine, and whether or not Bly was an obvious simp."

"No, no, yes, and yes," Ironside said.

"What's a simp?" Cal asked.

"I'll tell you when you're older," Ironside said.

"Fantastic. Can we please get back to the paperwork?" Barriss said. "It is important."

"Man, I thought you would have forgotten about that," Cal grumbled.

"Unlikely," Barriss responded primly.

"Oh!" He lit up. "We don't have to talk about paperwork! I got something much cooler."

She looked at him skeptically. "What?"

"How to make a taser out of scrap parts!"

Gree looked to Ironside. "What?"

Ironside shrugged. "It was a project."

"One that was very successful." Cal grinned. "There were a bunch of droids standing in like ten inches of water so I chucked the taser in and electrocuted all of them in one go."

"It also electrocuted the entire ground around us," Ironside shuddered. "Trying to get out of there was a nightmare."

Cal winced. "Sorry about that."

"Eh," Ironside shrugged. "At least we know that it is an option."

Barriss winced. "Maybe teaching the initiates how to make tasers is not the best idea. Besides, once again I must stress that paperwork is important and you'll be doing a lot of it."

"Ugh," Cal groaned, leaning back in his chair. "Tell me about it. You would think that war would have tons of non-stop action. Just constant battles and droids and slicing them with your lightsaber. Instead, it's like 90% paperwork."

Cal finally seemed to realize that Barriss was going to keep pulling them back to paperwork and decided to accept it instead of fight it.

"Yup," Ironside said.

"Tell me about it," Gree groaned.

"But it is important work," Barriss said, trying to keep them on topic and from complaining too much. "Because paperwork is essential for getting you the rations you need, or helps you count the dead, or assign troops to where they need to go for a campaign, and the like."

"Yeah, I know." Cal sighed. "Very important. Still very boring."

"And that is why," Barriss continued, "we are going to tell you how to fill out some essential forms today as well as go over all the different forms you'll be seeing as a commander. It'll help get you the supplies you need for a successful campaign."

"If the Senate decides to send us what we need," Ironside grumbled.

" Vod," Gree said in a warning tone.

"What? Can you blame me? They only ever seem to send us half the medical supplies that we need and this last batch of munitions barely covered my campaign. How are we supposed to win the war if we don't have supplies?"

This was not the first time the audience heard the clone troopers complaining about the lack of supplies. And that was odd to them. The war budget seemed astronomical. Surely it was enough for some decent medical supplies and weapons. The number of protests that were pro-clone but anti-war were starting to grow. Every day billions of people called their senators asking why the troopers still seemed to have so few supplies. The tides of war were shifting.

"We could steal it from the Separatists," Cal suggested.

"We are not stealing anything from the Separatists! Besides, I have discussed things with Commander Thorn and hopefully, after the Senate gets back from its recess, they can review the war budget and find room for more medical supplies."

"Yeah, sounds like a plan," Cal said. He didn't sound convinced. "Alright, Barriss, this is your stupid and boring episode. Lead the way."

"Thank you." She paused and turned back to him, eyes narrowed. "You're not going to do anything weird when editing this, correct?"

Cal shook his head. "I promise I will not do anything weird when editing this."

"Perfect!" She smiled brightly and turned back to the camera. "Now then, let's start with one of the easier forms to fill out: Form Number 13240-GHT5-J392-453-"

ONE ETERNITY LATER 

The video cut back in to see Cal, Ironside, and Gree all passed out. Gree was asleep on the dejarik table, arms pillowing his head. Cal and Ironside were sleeping on the floor, shoulder to shoulder, with Cal drooling all over his armor. Only Barriss was still awake, talking excitedly about her forms. The room also seemed to be much darker. Just how much time had passed?

"And those," Barriss said, "are all the forms you'll need to fill out as a padawan commander! Right Cal?"

Cal didn't answer.

"Cal?"

She turned to see that he was no longer seated next to her. She scowled when she saw that everyone else in the room was asleep. She flicked a wadded-up ball of paper at Cal.

He jerked awake, elbowing Ironside in the stomach as he did so. Gree also jerked awake.

"I'm up, I'm up," Cal grumbled, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"Where are we?" Ironside grumbled, squinting at the bright lights of the room.

"What time is it?" Gree asked, fumbling for a clock. "Did we miss our deployment?

"Well you lot were helpful this episode," Barriss said, hands on her hips.

"Sorry,  vod'ika," Gree said, yawning. "Paperwork's just so boring to talk about."

"Finally he agrees with me," Cal groaned, pushing off of Ironside and slinking back to his chair. "Alright, I've got a piece of advice."

"About paperwork?" Barriss asked, sounding incredulous.

"Yes. It's the only reason I can get through it most days. And that piece of advice is to make filling out the forms more fun. Give them funny names. Play games with them. Things like that."

"Fun?" Barriss said, shifting from incredulous to scandalized. "I much prefer to make the process of filling out forms a meditative exercise. One that focuses your mind and gives you the ability to work through complex tasks that require a great amount of mental effort."

"Jeez, Ahsoka was right. You really can turn anything into a meditation," Cal said, wrinkling his nose. "You can try the meditation thing, I guess. But I prefer to give the forms funny names. It makes me smile."

Barriss crossed her arms and glared at him. "And what 'funny names' do you give these forms?"

"Well, one example is the munitions form we got to check over. I call it the 'Pew Pew Form'."

"The 'Pew Pew Form'?" Barriss sounded insulted just saying those words.

"Yeah, 'cause that's the sounds the blasters make." Cal doubled down.

"That is not what they sound like," she scoffed.

Cal crossed his arms. A challenge burning in his eyes. "Oh, yeah? And what do you think they sound like?"

"Obviously like 'Shew Shew'," she made little finger guns and pretended to fire them. The audience liked this less stiff and formal version of Barriss.

"That is not what they sound like either," Ironside groaned. "Clearly, they sound like 'zhoo zhoo'." He held up his own finger guns and pretended to fire them.

"You're all wrong. They sound like 'pachew pachew'." Gree said, also mimicking finger guns.

All four of them stared at each other finger guns drawn and unwilling to be the one that admitted defeat.

"You know," Ironside said, finger guns pointed to the sky as he glanced at Cal to his left and Gree to his right. "There's only one way to settle this."

For a beat, no one said anything. It was like watching a standoff. The audience swore they could hear wind rustling in the distance.

Gree and Ironside locked eyes for a good amount of time. And then, almost as if they were communicating telepathically, they nodded at one another.

"I'll go get the live rounds," Ironside said, dropping his finger guns and darting out of the room.

"I'll go get the training room set up," Gree said, rushing out of the room as well.

"Alright!" Cal cheered. "Can we shoot them too?" He trotted after Gree.

"Hell, yeah you can, kid!" The audience was unsure which trooper said this as both of them were out of the room.

"Master Kenobi says blasters are uncivilized," Barriss said. She made a strangled sound in the back of her throat, torn between staying out of whatever Cal, Gree, and Ironside were doing but also wanting to be a part of the mischief. Finally, the desire to be part of the mischief won and she chased after them.

"General Kenobi can suck it!" A trooper said.

"Don't let Cody hear you say that. But, I agree. Blasters are awesome." Another said.

The video ended with Barriss failing miserably to hit a target and Cal laughing at her from the side. In the end, the comments were rife with arguments over what the blasters sounded like. Not a single person asked about the paperwork. 

*****

Ahsoka bit back a grin as the initiates shifted around nervously, hands clasped behind their back and staring wide-eyed up at Thorn and Stone. She realized, as the younglings craned their necks back to get a good look at the two troopers, that this was probably the first time any of them had seen a clone trooper in person. She could imagine how they felt. When Ahsoka first met a trooper in person, she couldn't help but stare at him too. There was something weird about knowing that the man in front of her shared the same face with millions all over the galaxy.

She was glad that Thorn and Stone had removed their helmets, though. Even if their faces looked the same. Unlike most troopers who would remove their helmets whenever they weren't actively being shot at, the Corries kept them on constantly. Even in the base. She had to assume that was because of whoever was hurting them.

Maybe they kept them on to avoid getting punished for being out of uniform. Or maybe they kept them on so they could talk to each other over the private comm and not have anyone listen in. Or maybe they kept them on because it made them feel safer. It masked their emotions better and gave them some protection from whoever was making their lives miserable. Whatever the case, Thorn and Stone didn't have their helmets on now and that was a good thing. It showed the younglings that they were human and not to be feared.

Thorn looked the same as always: severe and strict in a way that reminded Ahsoka of Cody when he was trying to wrangle rowdy men. Stone on the other hand….

"They're so tiny," he whispered to Thorn.

Ahsoka swallowed down the urge to snicker. She was pretty sure Stone had hearts in his eyes the second he saw the initiates. The only thing that kept him from cooing was some vague sense of professionalism that told him it was a bad idea.

Thorn sighed, looking exhausted. "Stone, we talked about this."

"Their fingers are so small. How can they hold anything?" Stone said. It sounded almost like he was choking back tears.

The initiates just stared at him with wide eyes. The two creche masters that accompanied them laughed softly behind their hands. Barriss's face betrayed no emotion, though Ahsoka did not doubt that she was finding this as amusing as Ahsoka did. Cal seemed distracted.

The Creche Masters were odd. Ahsoka was expecting them to sense the wrongness of the Corries and act quickly. There was no way they'd want the initiates, who had more trouble shielding themselves from other people's emotions around this sort of misery. And Ahsoka was also hoping that the creche masters themselves would try and help the Corries. But, from what they could tell, they weren't reacting to the exhaustion and uneasiness of the base. Master Luminara did say she would talk to the council, but Ahsoka hadn't heard anything else from her since then. Did she talk to the council and they decided not to intervene and told the creche masters as much? She hoped not. She wanted to believe that the Jedi would not let people needlessly suffer, especially when they could help.

"Focus, Stone," Thorn growled.

"I want one."

"No."

"Please."

"No. If you can't be a professional, I'll have Thire do this instead."

Stone gasped and looked at Thorn as if he had just betrayed him. "Don't you dare."

"Then promise me you won't smuggle a baby Jedi back to the barracks."

Stone groaned. "Fine. I promise I will not smuggle a baby Jedi back to the barracks."

The whole exchange was adorable. Ahsoka had heard once from Wolffe that Mandalorians were rumored to have a gene that made them want to adopt any child left alone for more than ten minutes. And, try as they might, the Kaminoans couldn't quite get rid of the gene in the troopers. While she doubted there was something as literal as an 'adopt a child' gene in the DNA structures of the clone troopers, she did know that they liked children. It was practically common knowledge at this point that the troopers were very protective of their padawan commanders and seemed to gravitate towards kids while on planet. This was a good thing for the initiates to see. To sense that the troopers didn't hate them but instead wanted to keep them safe and comfortable. It made them far more approachable and less scary, in her opinion.

"Alright," Thorn said, seemingly content with Stone's promise, "your duties for today will include—"

Before he could finish, the door to Fox's office opened. This time, it didn't slam open as he face-planted into the ground while simultaneously trying to drink an energy drink, take off his armor, put on his greys, and type out messages on his datapad. Instead, he was walking. Tired as usual, but not falling over himself in a desperate attempt to do all the things at once. He had a datapad in one hand and an energy drink in the other.

Everyone (well, every Force Sensitive) in the room immediately turned towards him, no doubt overwhelmed by his exhaustion and stress. Ashoka was used to it now. She could block it pretty easily.

Fox almost walked by the group without looking up. But he did. And when he did, he came to a dead stop in front of the initiates. He stared at them.

The younglings all stared back.

Did… did Thorn ever tell him that they were doing this? If he did, was Fox awake enough to remember the conversation?

"Um… Thorn? Did the Kaminoans start cloning other species? Are these new troopers?"

"What? No!" Thorn said, pinching his brow.

"Huh," Ahsoka whispered to Barriss and Cal. "That was not the explanation I would have thought of."

"Maybe he doesn't know what adults look like in the various species," Barriss whispered back.

"Yeah, but there's a couple of humans in there. Surely he knows what an adult human looks like. He is one!" Cal said.

"Oh," Fox said. He didn't stop staring at the initiates. "Are drug smugglers using kids now? That might be a good idea. People aren't going to suspect kids are dealing or smuggling drugs."

Thorn shook his head, put his hands and Fox's shoulders, and directed him towards a meeting room. "Don't worry about it, sir. We have everything under control."

Okay, so, they just weren't going to explain to Fox what was going on. Maybe later.

Besides, Fox didn't seem too bothered by the unexplained appearance of a dozen or so children. Once he was secure in the meeting room, Thorn turned back to all of them.

"That is Representative Commander Fox. And the number one rule we have here is 'do not bother him'. Furthermore, do not drink what he drinks. Do not try to get him to sleep. Other Jedi have tried. He had made them cry. Yes, we know he's exhausted. We have a system. Do not worry about it. Understood?"

The initiates all nodded, but Thorn wasn't looking at them. He was looking at the creche masters.

"Yes, we understand, Commander Thorn," one of them said. She looked worried, though, eyes darting to the door Fox was behind. She so desperately wanted to reach out and soothe Fox's tired mind, but Thorn was right. That was a bad idea. If a master healer couldn't do it, then a creche master couldn't either. Although… they were knowledgeable in the ways of making children who didn't want to sleep go to sleep. Maybe they would be better at knocking Fox out.

"I'm serious. Do not knock him out. It messes with our schedule," Thorn said.

Well, there goes Ahsoka's thoughts that the Creche Masters could do what the healers couldn't. Thorn seemed like the kind of person who absolutely would send everyone home the second he got a whiff of Force shenanigans from anyone.

When no one argued with his demands to not mess with Fox's sleep schedule, he nodded.

"Great. Now the initiates will be going with Commander Stone to start on filing and organization." He gestured to Stone, who still looked like he wanted to cry because of how small and cute the initiates were.

"Follow me, baby Jedi," Stone said, gesturing to them and turning to walk further into the base.

The initiates scrambled after him, herded by the creche masters and chattering amongst themselves excitedly. A few other Corries followed the group to help Stone. Ahsoka hoped that this would actually help them and not just add more of a burden to their already overstuffed workload.

Ahsoka also needed to figure out how to start her investigation. Archer and Sol seemed to be less… hover-y when in the Corrie base, but Ahsoka wasn't stupid to think she'd just be allowed to wander wherever she pleased. Besides, she wanted to hear from the Corries directly about what was making them so afraid. And that meant she needed to build up a rapport with them. She hadn't conducted many interrogations in her life, but she had a feeling sliding next to a random Corrie and asking, "So, who's making you afraid of everything?" wouldn't give her the intel she needed.

She should probably wait for a council to meet and come to a decision, but she had no idea how long that would take. She didn't know how long she was going to be stuck on Coruscant. And, once she left, she wasn't sure another padawan or creche master would take this seriously. Which meant she needed to start acting and start acting fast.

While she liked Fox well enough, he was so busy, exhausted, and terrifying she doubted she'd get much out of him. Thorn was also out. He seemed like the kind of guy who could withstand torture and not give up anything. Archer and Sol she had a better relationship with, but they were still her assigned guards and were good at their job. They likely wouldn't break and answer some of her more personal questions.

She decided to use today to get to know the group of men she would be working with. There had to be a shiny somewhere in there that wasn't as strong-willed as the older troopers. She felt bad saying it, but it was true. Shinies, especially those fresh off Kamino, were easier to manipulate than the more battle-hardened warriors. They didn't know the subtle and unspoken rules of a place just yet. Often, they were much more likely to follow the reg manual to the letter because it was fresh in their heads. They didn't know what they could and couldn't get away with. And they might still be getting used to their treatment on Coruscant, meaning they didn't know what was considered 'normal' here.

She could use that to her advantage and wear down a new recruit until they let something slip. They may not let everything slip, but if they gave her one piece of information, she could take that to Thorn or Fox for leverage in a more detailed interrogation. Who knows, maybe the shiny that had the 'blackout' mission would be in her group. She could probably break him.

It did make her feel bad to think in these terms. She didn't want to be manipulative or 'break' anyone down to help them. But she knew these guys were stubborn. They wouldn't talk to her unless she tricked them into doing so.

Thorn, satisfied that Stone wouldn't try to steal an initiate, turned back to Ahsoka, Barriss, and Cal. "Now, you three," he said, causing Cal to snap to attention, shaking the glazed look off his face, "any particular preferences as to what you want to do?"

Cal turned to Barriss with a shit-eating grin. "Well, you did say evidence sorting sounded meditative. I'd hate to take that experience away from you."

"I think it will be quite meditative," Barriss said, back ram-rod straight as always.

"Fine, then Offee, you go with Cutthroat to evidence sorting. Kestris, you go with Livewire to start reviewing paperwork."

Cal's smile dropped and his shoulders slumped forward. "Even on Leave, I can't escape paperwork."

Livewire patted his shoulders. "Welcome to bureaucracy, kid."

Barriss trotted up to Cutthroat, who looked down at her and grinned with a wolfish smile. "Want to see all the sick-ass illegal weapons we confiscated last week?"

"Yes!" Cal cried.

"Sorry, kid, you're mine for the next eight hours," Livewire said, grabbing Cal the by arm and dragging him away.

"I changed my mind! I'll meditate and do evidence sorting!" he cried.

Ahsoka bit the inside of her cheek so she wouldn't laugh.

"You've made your decision, Cal, live with it," Barriss said primly as she and Cutthroat left to begin their work.

"If we've got time after illegal weapons, I'll show you the droids we got from an illegal fighting ring last week. We have no idea what to do with the suckers. One's got chainsaws for hands." Cutthroat said.

Cal let out a wail. "Barriss! Please! I'll do anything!"

Livewire finally managed to pull Cal into a room and shut the door. Ahsoka could still feel his despair, though, and finally let loose with the laughter.

"Watch the droids. Make sure Ironside's men and his baby Jedi don't steal any of them," Thorn said to a trooper.

"Cal's so dramatic," Ahsoka gasped, clutching her stomach and doubling over. Already, she could feel the mood in the Corrie base lighten considerably.

It had been tense when they first showed up, with troopers craning their necks to get a glance at the creche masters, initiates, and padawans made their way through the base. But slowly, as Stone cooed over the initiates and Cal, Barriss, and Ahsoka bickered with each other, the mood relaxed. It was probably the first time Ahsoka had felt that they felt at ease. Safe. That alone was worth this little experiment. Though she was still going to try and break a shiny down until they gave her some idea as to what was really going on here.

Thorn shook his head and turned to her. "Done laughing at your friends?"

"You have to admit, it's pretty funny." She straightened up and wiped a tear from her eye. "What do you want me to do? Maintenance? Guard duty? Front desk work? None of those sound fun but I did volunteer."

"Actually," Thorn said thoughtfully, "I was thinking you could help Cage with his work."

"Cage?"

"He's one of Fox's main political aides. He helps him research issues, writes talking points, and talks to other troopers about what they'd like to see happen. Things like that."

"And you think I'd be useful there?" Ahsoka asked, her cheeks heating up. Yes, she was trying to use Creche to Command for more political reasons, she didn't think anyone else would notice, though. Or that she was particularly good at it.

Thorn shrugged. "Fox seems to think so. He said you'd be a good fit and I've heard Kenobi is pretty good at politics. You have to have learned something from him."

The fact that Fox thought so highly of her once more made her face heat up.

"You know Master Obi-Wan is my grandmaster, not my master. My master is Anakin Skywalker. Does he really strike you as the kind of person who's good at politics?"

Thorn winced. "Good point. I suppose if there's ever a question as to what you should do, do the opposite of whatever General Skywalker would do."

"Got it!" Ahsoka said brightly, giving him a thumbs up. "I would be more than happy to help Cage with his work."

"Great," Thorn said. "Felix, can you go see if Cage is available?"

The door burst open.

Everyone was on their feet in an instant. Sol and Archer had materialized next to her and pulled her to the ground. Thorn had pulled out his blaster, ready to shoot at whoever dared enter the Corrie Base without permission.

"What up, people?"

Ahsoka recognized that voice and shook off Archer enough to look up. "Master Vos?"

"Who the fuck are you?" Thorn asked, still not lowering his blaster.

Master Vos didn't answer. Instead, he zeroed in on Ahsoka, letting out a cry of delight and rushing towards her. He swept her up in his arms in a great big hug, spinning her around the room while everyone stared, wondering what they should do.

"There's my best friend's favorite grand padawan!"

She laughed. "Master Vos, I'm Master Obi-Wan's only grand padawan."

Her laughter and familiarity with Master Vos seemed to put the Corries somewhat at ease. Thorn was still holding his blaster up, but it was now pointed slightly downward at the ground.

"Yes, but even if he had hundreds of grand padawans, you'd still be the favorite." He spun her around a few more times before setting her down on the ground.

"You're… a Jedi?" Thorn asked, flickering the lightsaber on Master Vos' belt.

Master Vos flashed him a big smile. "Yup! Quinlan Vos, Jedi Shadow, at your service." He stuck out his hand.

Thorn hesitated, then put away his blaster and shook it cautiously. "Um, why are you here? We were only supposed to have three padawans, two creche masters, and a dozen initiates. We didn't get any word about a… Jedi Shadow? What exactly is that?"

"Oh, you know I deal with more covert operations. Tracking down the scum of the criminal underworld, and bringing them to justice!" Master Vos wrapped an arm around Thorn's very stiff shoulders and held out his hand.

Ahsoka noticed his smile dropped just a bit.

"You're covert?" Thorn asked. His eyebrow raised and his face pinched as if Master Vos had just told him he was now King of the Galaxy.

"That's right, baby!" Vos said, letting go of Thorn and hopping back to Ahsoka's side. "And I am here because—"

Another door slammed open and Fox stumbled out. "What. The. Fuck. Is. That. Noise?" he growled. "I have ten meetings going on at once and if you people do not shut up, I will make you clean the SCUBA troopers' kits with your toothbrushes!"

"Aw, but they're so slimy," a trooper groaned.

"Exactly," Fox hissed.

Master Vos did not take this threat seriously and brightened up once more. "Ah! There's the Marshal Commander!" He practically skipped to Fox's side and stuck out his hand. "Jedi Shadow Quinlan Vos. Nice to meet you."

Fox looked at Master Vos' hand with an expression Ahsoka was pretty sure was only reserved for Orn Free Taa. "What are you doing here?" He didn't shake his hand.

Master Vos sighed dramatically and slumped against the door. "So, I've been chasing this huge crime organization for months now," he said, waving his hands dramatically. "But I am super stuck."

"The Pykes?" One trooper asked.

"No, not the Pykes."

"The Black Sun?"

"Not them either. You haven't heard of them," he said. "And that's the problem. They've been running circles around me for months. I can't get anything on these mother—" He stumbled over his words and looked to Ashoka.

"You can curse," she said. "I live with like, a thousand men who curse in all sorts of languages. And Jesse knows the best curse words in fifty-six languages."

"Good to know." He nodded and then turned back to Fox. "I can't get anything on these motherfuckers. They're like ghosts! Here today, gone tomorrow! And it is making my job really super hard. If you know what I mean?" He slapped Fox's shoulder playfully.

Fox was not amused. If anything, his scowl deepened. "That still doesn't explain why you're here."

Okay, Ahsoka was starting to understand what Cody meant when he said 'You'll know if Fox doesn't like you'. If this is how he treated people he didn't like, then he must  love  Ahsoka. Because he looked like he was actively plotting Master Vos' murder and the longer Master Vos talked, the more grisly the murder became.

"Because!" Master Vos said, sighing dramatically and throwing his head back against the wall. "I've been hitting dead end after dead end. These guys are good at covering up their tracks and that makes my life a living hell. I was about ready to throw in the towel. To switch focus to another crime group and maybe let someone else take a crack at it. But!" He wrapped an arm around Fox's shoulder.

Fox's scowl deepened even more and Ahsoka was worried he'd kill Master Vos if this went on for much longer. Once more, Master Vos' smile dropped before he plastered it back on.

"But! I remembered the Coruscant Guard have their own little crime-fighting division. You guys do a lot of work taking down gangsters and you know how to file a report. So, I thought I could use your guys' resources and see if you caught anything. Isn't that great? We'll be partners in crime! Well, not partners in crime. Partners in anti-crime. You know what, forget about the partners in crime thing. That was stupid."

Fox's eyes narrowed. "What exactly does this crime family do?"

"Hmm? Smuggling, mostly," Master Vos answered.

"Smuggling? What do they smuggle?" Fox asked.

"Everything."

"Everything?"

"Everything." Master Vos nodded.

"Drugs?" Fox asked.

"Oh yeah."

"Weapons?"

"So many weapons. Like an obscene amount of weapons. Like, to the point where you start to wonder how many weapons are  too many weapons."

"Children?"

"Eh, not that dark." Master Vos said. "But definitely an endangered species or two. You ever hear of the three-spined wallow-back lizard?"

Fox did not shake or nod his head.

Master Vos forged ahead regardless. "Super profitable on the black market. Anyways, to make a long story short, I'm stuck trying to figure out who's running this crime syndicate and I'm hoping your resources will help me. So, I wanted to introduce myself and let you know that I'm going to be hanging around. But, I am  not  your general. You do not have to call me 'sir' or come to me for orders. I'm just here to use your shit and get my job done. Y'all have a desk I can use?" Master Vos said, finally pushing off the wall and stepping away from Fox.

He wandered to a corner. "You know what? I don't need a desk. I'll use this corner. Is this corner okay? It looks like a prime napping spot and I don't want to take that away from y'all?"

"Sir," Thorn said, sounding like he was choking, "we can get you a desk. You don't have to sit on the floor."

"Or he can work back at the temple instead of here," Fox grumbled.

Master Vos shook his head. "Nope! I once wrote a report in a cave while some drug smuggler fought with pirates just outside. It was a blood bath! And I was bruised for weeks after sitting on those rocks. This corner is downright amazing!"

"Sir—" Thorn started to say.

But, Master Vos was done talking to them and had a different goal in him. He whipped back towards Ahsoka. "Now, favorite grand padawan, let's catch up. I'll get you some ice cream."

Before Ahsoka could blink, Master Vos scooped her up and bounded towards an open window in the meeting room Fox had been occupying. He leaped out of it and plummeted towards the manufactured ground below. She heard Fox shout for Archer and Sol to go after her as the rest of the Corries panicked.

He landed on the street below and darted a few blocks away, setting her down right in front of a sweets stan.

"As promised, ice cream," he said, holding out a cone for her.

Ahsoka crossed her arms and quirked an eyebrow. As entertaining as it was watching Master Vos annoy Fox, something was fishy about his appearance. "Why are you here, Master Vos?"

He chuckled and pulled her a bit further into the alleyway, where there was no one around. "Can't get anything past you, eh?"

"I know you don't pop up for no reason," she said, finally taking the ice cream from him. "Besides, you went through a lot to get me alone. If you weren't up to anything, you would have let Archer and Sol come with me."

"Smart. Observant. I like that." He leaned against the wall. He looked at ease here, but the way his vision tracked the various speeders and pedestrians walking about told Ahsoka that he was watching for anyone who might be listening in.

Once he seemed to determine that they were clear, he spoke. "Obi-Wan wanted to let you know that the Council is taking your concerns seriously. And I will be investigating the Coruscant Guard to see what's up with them. You're right. Something is wrong."

"Really? You're looking into it?" She said, relief washing over her. "Thank you so much."

"Of course," he said. "But, you can't tell anyone about it. Luminara will probably tell Barriss but no one else should know."

Just like that, the relief was gone. "Why not?"

"Because we don't need to scare the troopers or spook whoever's hurting them. It stays with the council and the council alone. Obi-Wan knows cause he's on the council. And you know because we know you'd investigate if you weren't told. But other than that, it needs to stay between us for now."

She didn't like that. She didn't like the fact that something was wrong with Rex and Cody's brothers, but she wasn't allowed to talk to them about it. If someone was hurting Barriss or Caleb or any of the other padawans, she'd want to know. Hiding it felt wrong. Especially since Cody and Rex might be able to help.

"But, the troopers trust other troopers," She said. "Wouldn't it be useful to have them speak?"

"If you thought that was a good idea, then why didn't you immediately take it to your captain or Obi-Wan's commander? Or Master Koon's Commander? Or any trooper, for that matter. Force knows you're close with many of them."

Her shoulders slumped. She didn't go because she was worried Fox might ice out Cody and Rex. He was already hiding this from them. Who's to say he'd confess when confronted?

"Exactly," Master Vos said. "If we thought that plopping Commander Thorn in front of Commander Monnk would yield us results, we'd do it. But we can't be sure of that. So, they can't know."

She didn't respond.

"Look, kid, I don't like asking you to keep a secret like this, but the council is right," Master Vos sighed. "If a Senator is the one behind this, we need to wait until we have proof. If we move too fast or let our investigation into their treatment be exposed too soon, we could lose the actual culprit forever. Okay?"

That made sense. An unpleasant feeling curled in Ahsoka's gut. "What if we've already lost them, though? Now that the creche masters are here, and you are too, what if they never come back?"

Master Vos grinned at her. "Ever notice how many cameras there are in the base?"

Ahsoka paused and thought about it. No. No, she hadn't.

His grin widened. "Exactly. I'm guessing our rogue senator wouldn't notice as well. Besides, they don't need to come to us. I wouldn't be a very good investigator if I required all the delinquents to come to me."

"So why expose yourself, then? Why not just stick to the shadows?"

"Because a big problem is the Coruscant Guard doesn't have a Jedi assigned to them. There's no one looking out for their well-being. I'm hoping that if I hang around the base, they'll trust me. Maybe I can get them to open up. Maybe I can get them to testify. Who knows?" He shrugged. "But they need someone there who is on their side who they aren't afraid will hurt them."

"I think that's a lost cause with Fox," Ahsoka said. "I think he's planning your murder now."

Master Vos laughed. "Commander Fox will warm up to me. I'm impossible not to love."

"He's very stubborn, though," she said. "So, there is no crime family of drug and rare lizard smugglers?"

"Oh, there definitely is, but that's just a cover story. A reason for me to slice into their records and observe them at their home base. My focus is on the Coruscant Guard first and foremost. Is there anything else you can tell me that might help me? I know you haven't spent a lot of time at the base, but every little bit helps. No matter how small."

Ahsoka's mind immediately went to the 'blackout' missions. She hesitated to tell him, though. She wanted to help the Corries, but if they were doing something illegal, then what would happen? Would Vos arrest the shiny for what he did? Would he be forced to punish them?

"Ahsoka," Master Vos said, putting his hand on her shoulder, "I'm there to help them. Okay? If something is going on, I need to know about it."

She relented. "I overheard one of the troopers talking about a 'blackout' mission. It doesn't sound like any mission I've ever been on. And something about it makes me nervous." She proceeded to give him the details. The time, the date, distinguishing marks on the armor so he could figure out who had gone on the mission, and the troubling detail that they didn't need to fill out a report.

After she was done, Master Vos' face darkened. "That is concerning. I don't like the sound of that. Thanks for letting me know."

Ahsoka nodded. "Of course. Now, what can I do to help? I was thinking of trying to get in with a shiny and break them down so they can tell me—"

"Woah, woah, woah," Master Vos said, holding up his hands. "Slow down there.  You are not going to do anything."

Ahsoka bristled. "What? Why?"

"You've done enough. Let us handle it. Let me handle it. Focus on your series and keeping Cal and Barriss on track. Well, mostly Cal."

"I can help though!"

Seriously, she had been the one that figured out something was going on with the Corries. She had been the one to learn about the blackout missions. She had been the one to bring it up with Master Luminara.

More importantly, Master Vos didn't know the first thing about clone troopers! He didn't work with them or know them. He didn't know their quirks or their culture. They were  her brothers and not only did she have to keep this from Cody and Rex, but he didn't even want her to try, and she if she could get a shiny to talk?

"I know you can," Master Vos said. "But you don't need to. Besides, you're still recovering."

"I'm fine!" She said, once more slapped in the face with just how weak and useless she had become in such a short amount of time. She had let Bane shoot her. She had worried everyone in the 501st and 212th. She was cutting Fox's manpower by requiring Archer and Sol to be with her at all times. She was the one that couldn't even look at her scar in the mirror without getting sick. And now she couldn't even be trusted to talk to a trooper?

"That's not the issue here," Master Vos said. "Investigations like this need to be tight and contained. Besides, with your guards trailing after you wherever you go, it'll be hard for a debrief. And, you're not going to be here forever. You might leave before the investigation is over. I'm serious, Ahsoka, don't go looking into this anymore. I've got it covered."

He put a hand on her shoulder and led her out of the alleyway. She didn't respond. His words made her feel like a little kid. Like she was someone who couldn't even be trusted to complete the mission she started. And the worst part? She couldn't complain to anyone about it. If this was a normal mission she'd call Fives or Boost and bitch to them about how unfair it was. A vindictive part of herself wanted to, just to spite Master Vos.

However, the need to help the Corries came first and she shoved down that desire.

"Ah, there's your guards. They're fast," Master Vos said, smiling and waving as Archer and Sol sprinted towards them.

"Sir, please, don't take her anywhere without us," Archer panted, head whipping every which way as he quickly looked for any potential snipers hiding in the bustling streets of Coruscant.

"And please, please, never jump out of a window again. I think you gave Thorn a heart attack," Sol said, coming up to flank Ahsoka, ready to pull her to the ground if someone tried to take her out.

"My bad," Master Vos said. "Guess I got a little over-excited. Shall we go back to the Corrie base?"

Ahsoka nodded and walked back towards the base, scowling even though she was eating ice cream.

"Are you okay?" Archer whispered to her.

She ached to tell them, to help them, to investigate on her own. "I'm fine," she said back.

There had to be something she could do. Something that she could help with. She wasn't a little kid. And she wasn't useless. She just had to figure out a way to prove it.

*****

"Is he breathing? A trooper asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, he is. I think. I can see his chest moving in and out." Another whispered.

"He hasn't moved in like an hour, though. What's he doing?"

"Meditating."

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah. That's what Commander Offee said he was doing. She said Jedi meditate all the time. They sit just like this and breathe."

"Breathe? For an hour? What's the purpose of that?"

"Clears their mind or something."

"What's he got to clear his mind for?"

"I don't know. Maybe about that group of smugglers, he's catching. Maybe he's trying to clear his mind so he can focus on them."

"Is that how meditation works?"

"I don't know. That's just what Commander Offee said he was doing. She'd know a lot more about Jedi osik than we would."

"Maybe he's asleep."

"Idiot." It sounded like he had whacked his brother upside the head. "You can't meditate if you're asleep!"

"How do you know? You've never meditated in your life."

"I know that sleeping isn't meditating."

"That you know of," the other grumbled.

Quinlan fought to keep his lips from twitching into a smile as the two troopers in front of him continued to observe him, bickering amongst themselves like unruly initiates. While Quinlan did appear to be meditating, eyes closed, legs crossed, one hand cupped in the other, he wasn't. At least, he wasn't properly meditating. Instead, he was only appearing to do so to observe the guard without them knowing he was observing them. If he had been up and about, walking around, he might be bombarded with questions or discomfort as the guard struggled to figure out how to act around him. This way, he created a scenario where they could get back to work and wouldn't bother him, while also allowing him to simply reach out with the Force and see what it brought back.

Of course, he seemed to be a source of great curiosity amongst the guard as even after an hour, the troopers still seemed drawn to him. Gathering around him like he was a sideshow attraction and whispering amongst themselves as they tried to get a feel for him. It was amusing, to say the least.

"Are you sure we shouldn't get him a desk?" A new trooper said. Ahsoka was right, even though they all sounded the same, in the Force, they were all so blindingly different. Each with different auras that marked them as distinct people with distinct souls.

"He said he didn't want a desk. Besides, can he meditate at a desk?"

"If he can meditate on the floor, he can meditate at a desk. I think." The trooper shifted closer to observe him. "Can't be good for his back to sit like that. We should ask Commander Fox if we can get him a desk."

"Commander Fox hates him. He was really going to shoot him after he kidnapped Ahsoka."

"Did he kidnap Ahsoka? Are Jedi allowed to jump out of windows like that?"

"Not sure. Surprised he didn't break a leg."

Yeah, these troopers definitely weren't around Jedi very often. Otherwise, they'd know that jumping off tall things and  not breaking legs was perfectly normal Jedi behavior.

"Maybe we can ask Commander Thorn, then? He doesn't seem like he wasn't to kill the Jedi. And I'm worried about his back. Do we need to talk to Dice about how to keep the Jedi alive?"

"I don't think so. He's human, right?"

"Don't know. He's got markings on his face. Maybe he's a different species? And the other troopers talk about all the  osik  they got to go through to keep their Jedi alive. Something about shielding their emotions so the Jedi don't get too sad or something?"

"What happens if he gets too sad?"

"Don't know. But it must be bad if it's something the other  vode  gotta worry about."

Once more, Quinlan fought to keep himself from smiling. Alright, he got it now. He understood why the other Jedi had gotten so attached to their troopers so quickly. He had barely been here an hour and already the troopers were fussing over him like mother tookas. This conversation about the state of his back (which was more than capable of sitting up straight for meditation) and whether or not their feelings could make him too sad was just the most recent worry to come up in the hour he had been sitting here.

Previous worries included: whether or not they needed to feed him (they decided he could feed himself but they'd watch to make sure he was feeding himself), if he was unaware enough for the Corrie CMO named Dice to do a quick medical scan since, apparently, it was common knowledge that Jedi hid their injuries (he wasn't unaware enough, but he let Dice scan him anyways to show that no, he wasn't hiding any injuries), if he needed a place to sleep at the barracks (they decided he would probably sleep at the Temple), and should they try to wrestle him into some armor (it was decided that they should wait until he 'woke up' and then they'd have a conversation about armor).

It was endearing, to say the least. And it also went a long way to explain why his fellow Jedi knights were so enamored with their troops. From Obi-Wan and Aayla drunkenly rambling about their commanders to him on more than one occasion, to Plo Koon's barely concealed desire to adopt all his troopers, to Ahsoka being so steadfast in their welfare and protecting them, he got it now. He got why it was so important to help these men. And why it was so shocking that the Corries felt so alone and scared.

Ahsoka had picked up on the general feeling of uneasiness thanks to her empathy, but it sounded like she hadn't gotten much farther. Likely due to her age and lack of training. That's where Quinlan came in. He was well-trained. He was good at sniffing out conspiracies. And he had more than just empathy to help guide him.

He had attempted to use psychometry on Fox and Thorn's armor but had surprisingly come up with very little. Actually, that was a lie. He had come up with nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Not even a vague sense of emotion. It was… strange. And spoke of something else interfering with the Coruscant Guard. Something much more powerful than a mere senator looking to use and abuse some clones.

Thankfully, his meditation had yielded some more substantial results.

Their shields were almost all weak and were broadcasting their emotions like fog horns directly into his ear. He felt  everything, from the sense of hopelessness that permeated the air to the fear of punishment should they so much as sneeze in front of the wrong person. These men were on high alert, constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop and afraid of what would happen when it did. There was also a great sense of camaraderie amongst them that he sensed. The idea that no matter what happened, they'd give whatever support they were able to give. They'd do everything in their power to spread out the misery so it didn't crush one person in particular.

The only group of people who Quinlan had a harder time reading were the commanders. He hadn't met Thire yet, he was off for the day and worked the night shift, so he couldn't get much off of him. Stone and Thorn's shields, while rudimentary, did do their job and kept the majority of their emotions shut tight behind a door. Quinlan could probably break the door down easily, but he likely wouldn't get anything that he didn't already know.

Fox, on the other hand, had shields so strong, Quinlan wondered if he had secretly trained under a Jedi. He was a brick wall wrapped in lead and buried under six feet of concrete at the bottom of the ocean. Maybe his lack of emotion was because he was determined to stay awake no matter what, and it kept him from thinking about anything else, but Quinlan didn't think so. Fox was shielding on purpose. Fox was shutting him out of his mind on purpose. And he was damn good at it. Once more, something that made Quinlan worried.

Why would Fox need to have such tightly controlled shields if most of his day was spent surrounded by non-Force users?

Once more, this whole thing seemed to imply that something much more sinister was going on here. If Quinlan could just break down Fox's shields or get something off his armor, then he might get somewhere. But, for now, he had the rest of the Coruscant Guard to give him intel.

And the intel he was getting was very troubling. Underneath the fear and the exhaustion was a sort of brain fog. Something so subtle he wasn't surprised that Barriss and Ahsoka (he hadn't asked Cal yet) hadn't picked up on it. At first, he wanted to pass off the brain fog as a side-effect of the exhaustion. But, the longer he sat with his feelings, the more he probed into that specific aspect of the Coruscant Guard, the more he realized that theory was incorrect. This felt too deliberate, too purposeful to be the result of overworking and stress. Someone was manipulating the minds of these men. And it was his job to figure out who was doing it, how they were doing it, and why.

Well, technically he just needed to figure out who was abusing them. He had a handful of senators that were suspects that he could just focus on. Get some proof that they were hurting the guards and then skip off on his merry way to other jobs. But, let it never be said that Quinlan was nothing if not an overachiever.

Senators were small fish. Inconsequential to the greater scheme of things. He wanted the big fish. He wanted to know what was causing the brain fog and what was up with the 'blackout missions' Ahsoka described.

Those blackout missions alone were reason enough for Quinlan to sneak about and spy on the Corries. From Ahsoka's account, it seemed clear that this was normal enough for the guard to have some sort of a protocol when dealing with them. His first, immediate reaction was that this was some sort of stress-induced or PTSD-related blackout. Maybe after a particularly rough mission, a few members of the guard would lose themselves for a period of time. He had thought about calling Obi-Wan to ask if any of his men ever blacked out.

But, the more he thought about it, the more that didn't make sense. The term 'mission' made it feel more purposeful. Someone wanted these men to black out. Just like someone wanted them to be wrapped up in some sort of brain fog and just like someone wanted him to keep from learning anything by touching Fox and Thorn's armor.

What's more, these 'blackout missions' seemed to just exist within the Coruscant Guard.

He had stumbled onto a clone command chat last night in preparation for his mission. Or, rather, he purposefully sought out any chatlogs that Commander Fox, Thorn, Stone, and Thire participated in or were a part of to see if they had spoken to any of their brothers about it.

He hadn't seen anything about a blackout mission (though at the time he was unaware they existed). The chats seemed 'clean'. And by clean he meant they didn't seem like the troopers were conspiring with one another. He had learned way more about Commander Wolffe's sex life than he would like. He had also learned that Commander Gree seemed to have a proclivity for breaking the kneecaps of the people he didn't like. And he learned that Commander Cody seemed to be the one everyone went to when there was trouble brewing among the ranks. But he also learned that the troopers had their own language.

No, not mando'a.

Codes.

They spoke in clear coded language much of the time. Quinlan had stumbled on at least three separate forms of coded communication, though he had yet to break any of them (give him a break, he only learned about this last night). Commander Blitz and Commander Fox had used the typo 'ON iN' more than once. There was a very simple 'take the first letter of each sentence to spell out a word or words' though these were usually coded themselves or so vague Quinlan didn't know what they were about.

And it wasn't just written codes either. He had watched a couple of hours of security footage to get a sense of how the Guard acted when they weren't being watched.

Ah, but that was the catch, wasn't it? They were always being watched.

And the troopers knew it. This was why even in private chats that didn't have their nat-born commanding officers present, they still spoke in code. And that code extended to the physical world as well.

The most blatant one Quinlan spotted was what he dubbed the 'two taps system'. This happened when a trooper tapped something twice. He had found instances of tapping on the thigh, bicep, temple, chin, caf cups, and desks. Though, it was unclear if these taps all meant the same thing or different things based on the placement.

There were probably more that he missed in his brief skim. And he was willing to bet that other battalions had their unique codes, but it was fascinating the lengths these men went through to keep things from coming out. It was also worrying and did prove that at least on some level, no clone trooper fully trusted the Jedi and natborn officers they worked for.

He'd have to decode the various codes just to be sure they hadn't discussed 'blackout missions'. But there were other things he could do in the meantime. He had a description of the trooper from Ahsoka. It was time to see what had happened to him. Something told him that if he could just figure out what was going on with these 'blackout missions', other things would reveal themselves.

The path forward was now mapped; he opened his eyes. His audience had grown from two troopers to six, and all of them jumped back.

"Sorry, sir. Did we disturb you, sir?" one asked. He was the one who was worried about his back.

"Not at all!" Quinlan said cheerfully. "I once meditated during a turf war between the Pykes and the Hutts. You guys are downright peaceful."

"If you say so," another said, skeptical of his stories.

"Um, sir, are you sure you don't need a desk?" another asked.

"Nope! I'm good." He hoped to his feet. "Now, if you'll excuse me, this smuggling crime family isn't going to catch itself." He started heading down toward where they kept the recordings from the security cameras.

"Do you need help, sir?" a Corrie asked, trailing behind him. Damn, these guys were persistent.

"No. I think I know my way around some evidence. I'll ask if I need anything."

"Are you sure? I can show you around. It's no problem," he said.

Quinlan winced and turned to the Corrie. He waved a hand in front of his face. "You do not need to show me around the base."

The corrie's face went slack. "I do not need to show you around the base."

"You need to get back to work before Commander Thorn thinks you're slacking off."

"I need to get back to work before Commander Thorn thinks I'm slacking off."

With that, the Corrie turned and headed back up the stairs.

Quinlan wasn't thrilled about having to use the Force to wipe away the free will of a man he was starting to suspect didn't have much in the first place, but he could not do his job with a shadow.

No other Corries followed him, thankfully, which gave him the freedom to finally, formally, start his investigation. He started by slicing into the Coruscant Guard Personnel Records. Thankfully, Ahsoka's description of his armor and facial markings made it easy to track him down. It had been a recent update with the Post-Humous Clone Name Act. Instead of just including the number and rank, they now included distinguishing characteristics to make them easier to identify.

The trooper in question was named 'Grav'. He was shiny, barely two months off Kamino. And he was a slicer. From his file, he seemed to be a pretty standard clone. Smart, hardworking, no records of disciplinary action either at the base or on Kamino as a cadet. Nothing, in particular, stood out about him. He seemed to have settled into his role with the Coruscant Guard with relative ease and had a few friends with other troopers.

"Maybe that's the point," he said as he switched over to the security cameras. "Someone like him wouldn't draw attention the same way Fox would."

He rewound the feed until he hit the approximate time that Ahsoka told him and then rewound a bit further, tracking him through the base until he reached the moment he stepped within the range of the first camera.

Point reached, he let the recording play at regular speed.

Quinlan frowned as he watched the Coruscant Guard, some leaving the night shift, others beginning the day shift. Most of the troopers came from or headed to the west, where the barracks were located. But Grav and another trooper came from the east.

"Someone else went on the mission with him?" he murmured. It made sense. Troopers were often found in teams of two or more for safety reasons. He made a note of the other trooper's armor marking (a painting of a tree) and then kept his eyes on Grav. Both troopers stopped at the door.

For a beat, neither moved. They were like statues as the rest of the guards filed in and out of the base.

The one with the tree symbol shuddered, then looked around. He sighed. "Not again," he said before shuffling through the door.

"So this happened more than once with him," Quinlan mused, watching Grav to see if he would do the same thing.

He didn't. He stood there, frozen in place while his brothers all got to their posts. Quinlan wondered if he was still in 'blackout' mode or something.

A second lieutenant noticed him. "Trooper, get to your station," he barked.

This caused Grav to jump. He turned towards the man and, in almost a pleading, begging tone, asked, "What day is it?"

This got the second lieutenant to freeze in his tracks. Something about his stance softened. "What's the last thing you remember, son?"

"I… leaving here? I think. I was at my desk. We were going to leave. Our shift was over. It was dark out… I… I don't remember walking out the door though. No, wait, I do… but I don't… I… what day is it? Why is it morning already? I just left my desk." The more he talked, the closer to tears he sounded.

Quinlan couldn't blame him. That must be one hell of a thing to try and piece together. Not only that, but it did confirm that at least on some level the troopers going on these missions were experiencing amnesia.

"Looks like you only lost about twelve hours. Not bad." The second lieutenant put a hand on Grac's shoulder and led him inside.

"Twelve hours of lost time is bad in my book," Quinlan muttered. Seriously, how much more time did one have to lose before it was considered  bad? 

The second lieutenant looked Grav up and down. "Not covered in blood. That's good."

"That's a concern?" Grav cried.

Yeah, Quinlan agreed with his sentiment. The fact that someone could wake up, missing hours, covered in blood should be raising all the red flags. But these guys were acting like it was normal.

"Don't worry about it too much."

Oh, but Quinlan was worried about it. Very worried about it.

"I'm going to send you to medical for a scan. Don't fight Dice. Just accept it," the second lieutenant continued.

"But… work. I have to get to work."

Quinlan felt another wave of protectiveness wash through his body. This kid had just lost twelve hours of his life, had no idea what he had done, and was being told now that next time he might lose more and be covered in blood (either his own or someone else's, it was unclear at this point) and he still was worried about doing his job. What the hell had the Republic ever done to deserve clone troopers?

The second lieutenant shook his head. "I'll let your supervisor know you're running a bit late. He'll understand."

The rest of the conversation played out much like Ahsoka had described. No one asked the trooper what he had done and they made it clear he did not have to submit paperwork on the incident. That was worrying too. That meant that it would be impossible to track who went on blackout missions and when.

Unless… there were codes. Maybe Fox wasn't keeping track of  what was going on with these blackout missions but was keeping track of when and who. That might be useful information. It could help him determine any particular patterns. Of course, if Fox was smart enough to know that his chat logs were being monitored, then he was smart enough not to keep such a thing on his datapad. He'd need to figure out where he was keeping the information. If he was keeping it at all.

Oh, who was he kidding? Fox was definitely keeping track somewhere with something.

For now, though, he was going to focus on Grav and what he was doing. He searched through the recordings until he found one from the night before since that was the last thing Grav remembered.

Grav was laughing with some friends, packing up his things, and acting normal. Then, right as he was about to get to the door, something in his posture changed. He stood up a little straighter. His walk turned into more of a march. It took a second for Quinlan to realize what he was looking at.

"He looks like a proper soldier," he said. "Like they bled all the personality out of him. He's almost more like a droid than a person." He shuddered at the implication.

The trooper with the tree painted on his armor joined him and marched with him to the door. They both turned east, their steps in sync. One of Grav's friends called out to him. Grav didn't acknowledge him in any way.

Grav and the other trooper disappeared off the camera and into the night. Quinlan flicked through a few more of the outside cameras before the two men were completely lost in the streets of Coruscant.

He had gotten all that he needed from Grav for now. It was time to turn to the other trooper. This one was named Drillbit. He was older than Grav by about a year and worked in maintenance. Specifically droid maintenance.

"A slicer and a droid mechanic leave on a secret mission that none of them can remember," Quinlan muttered to himself. "That's suspicious."

What was even more suspicious was the fact that Grav and Drillbit didn't seem to interact with each other at all. They ran in completely separate circles of friends. They were housed in different barracks. They even had different lunch times. Other than being Corries and working the same shift, Quinlan couldn't find any evidence that the two had ever even talked to each other.

He flipped through the rest of the security footage of the day, trying to see if there was any overlap with them at all. He couldn't find a single piece of evidence. Their supervisors hadn't talked to one another. There was no indication a special mission had been given to these two. Thorn, Fox, Stone, and Thire hadn't had a meeting to discuss the two of them. It was as if these two men independently and randomly decided they needed to head east instead of west.

It made him think of mind control. A part of him scoffed at the ridiculous notion. Yes, Jedi could temporarily override free will and make someone do something they otherwise wouldn't, but this was temporary. And you needed to be looking at the person. And you had to relatively simple orders and be very careful with your wording. And a person with a strong enough mind could fight against the mind trick. Also, there were no Jedi in the building at the time.

Also, why was he even suspecting a Jedi was behind this?

It probably wasn't a Jedi mind trick. There was no indication of that. But something had happened in the minds of those two men that drained them of all personality and seemed to be giving orders without speaking directly to them.

Unless…

"They didn't take off their helmets," Quinlan realized.

He had been stupid to miss such an obvious sign. Fox didn't need to directly talk to the two of them to give them orders. He could do so over the comm system in the helmets. Anyone with access to the comm system could.

And those comm channels, like everything else the troopers had, were all monitored and recorded.

He sliced through the database once more, looking for anything that had come through Drillbit's or Grav's helmets around the time of their mission.

And…

Nothing.

"Nothing?" He reeled back at the giant blank screen in front of them. "How could there be nothing?"

Did he slice wrong? Were the troopers wearing someone else's helmet?

He tried again.

Still nothing.

"Okay, either they didn't use the comm channel, or it was wiped." He groaned. And here he was thinking all he'd have to do is listen in, match the voice, and be done. Of course, his job couldn't be easy.

He looked back to the security footage, still frozen on Drillbit and Grav walking to the East. The last known frame from the Corrie database before they were out of sight of the cameras.

"What were you two doing that night?" he asked.

It seemed clear that there was some sort of amnesia going on, whether that happened during or after the mission was unclear. And because the troopers couldn't fill out a report, that meant that there was no way to track who was doing what. This meant that there was the potential to have these highly trained men do a ton of illegal shit, all under the radar, and there would be no evidence of it. The fear they felt, the brain fog that settled over them, these blackout missions, it all spoke to something much more worrisome happening in the GAR.

He shut off the video and pulled out his datapad. He thought about reaching out to Shaak Ti to see if perhaps the Kaminoan records suggested an ability to essentially turn the troopers into droids that obeyed all orders, but he stopped himself.

"You ever notice how many cameras there are in the base?" 

The troopers noticed. They were intimately aware that everything they did was being monitored. More than once in his research he had come across troopers using one word:  GAR . It was the one code Quinlan was confident he had cracked. Time and time again they used it to remind themselves that someone was always watching. Hell, Quinlan got access to the Command Chat legally and easily. He could also access the comms in the helmets legally and the only reason he didn't was because he didn't want people to know he was onto them. There was no way he could reach out to Shaak Ti, who had a datapad given to her by the GAR and was currently in Tipoca City likely surrounded by just as many cameras as on any venerator ship or base.

He cursed under his breath. These idiots had talked about this mission using GAR equipment. Obi-Wan was on his ship, in a meeting room that was run on the GAR network when the meeting was held! And they likely all chatted on the network as well. This meant that every detail was probably recorded and readily seen by whoever the Guard and the rest of the troopers were so careful to avoid. He was going to have to request Master Yoda to keep any further discussions about this investigation offline until they could guarantee everyone had access to a secure channel.

Quinlan wasn't exactly hiding that he was here. He wouldn't be surprised if word spread to the rest of the GAR the second he set foot on the base given his entrance. But if someone had enough power to turn sentient men into fleshy droids, then they had access to the GAR network and  everything that had been recorded on it. Most small-time senators didn't have that power. He could bitch all he wanted about those people. They wouldn't have access to the network unless they specifically submitted a subpoena for it.

But there were a few people in the Republic that didn't need to formally request access.

People like—

"What are you doing?" A sharp voice asked, cutting him from his thoughts.

Quinlan looked up to see Fox standing in the room, scowling like always. "My job." He said with a smile.

Fox's eyes narrowed. You didn't have to be a Jedi to see he didn't trust him.

"You never did give the name of the group you're chasing."

"They don't have a name," Quinlan replied.

"Everyone has a name."

He chuckled. Maybe he should come clean to Fox. The mission was already karked the second any discussion of it was held on the GAR network. It might be nice to have an ally. Plus, the man was clearly going to start investigating him the second he had free time.

But, Quinlan still didn't know who was giving out the orders for the blackout missions. He didn't know how much Fox was or was not complacent in their use. His mind was locked up tight. For all Quinlan knew, Fox was fully on board with the blackout missions and had no problem assigning them. It might explain why he never brought them up to the Jedi or senators.

"Let me rephrase, then. I don't know what their name is." He stepped closer to Fox, trying to see if anything broke through his shields. "They're not the Pykes, or the Black Sun, or the Hutts. They're something else entirely. A much more powerful, dangerous, crafty entity that needs to be stopped."

 Especially now that Quinlan discovered they may have the ability to mind control some of the best warriors in the galaxy.

Fox's mind did not betray anything. He did not fold to Quinlan or treat him like a superior officer.

"And you think my band of trooper misfits caught such a big fish?" he asked.

It was telling that he didn't tack on 'sir' at the end of any of his sentences.

"Not necessarily," Quinlan said. "An organization like this, an operation of this size and scale, needs a lot of hands to keep it running. A lot of levels. A chain of command. You're familiar with those, I assume."

He swore Fox growled at him. Interesting.

He continued. "So, while I don't think you caught a big fish, I'm sure you've caught several little fish. And those little fish are useful to me. I can use them to track the chain of command. I can follow the trails they lead. I can use them to draw out their boss, and their boss's boss, and their boss's boss's boss, and so on and so forth until I eventually get to the top."

"You still haven't told me what you're doing here," he said.

"Getting to know the layout of the base. Looking through the security footage to see what little fish you've caught lately and if any of them catch my interest. You're a soldier. I'm sure you of all people can appreciate taking your time to gather intel and make a plan."

"I can," Fox said. "But don't get in the way of my work."

"I don't plan on it," Quinlan said. "You won't even know I'm here."

"Doubtful," Fox muttered.

"Is there anything else I can help you with, Representative Fox?"

"Take Ahsoka away from her guards again and we're going to have a problem," Fox said.

There, right there, briefly, there was a crack in his shields. A surge of protectiveness, not just towards Ahsoka, but towards all his men and brothers, strong enough to seep through and blind Quinlan for a second.

"Sorry about that. It won't happen again." Quinlan said, sincere in his words. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to the temple."

He swept past Fox and stepped outside. He paused for a moment, before turning and heading East.

That one crack in Fox's shields told him that even if he was complicit in the blackout missions, he wasn't happy about it. No one that protective of his brothers sent them to be covered in blood, missing hours of their lives, happily. But, Quinlan still couldn't bring Fox in on his investigation. There was no telling how strong of a hold the mastermind behind all of this had on him. He might be mind-controlling Fox right now. Or otherwise was such a terrifying figure that Fox didn't dare go against him.

But Quinlan's investigation had yielded a few small fish for him.

You ever notice how many cameras there are? 

Not just in the base, but in Coruscant in general. Sure, Grav and Drillbit were no longer being monitored by the base's security cameras. But, between police droids, cameras on speeders, people taking photos, and security cameras on every street corner and building, there were likely more than enough cameras to follow Drillbit and Grav each step of their journey.

He slipped into the shadows, moving amongst the crowd to keep the number of cameras that spotted him to a minimum.

Eventually, he came upon a park. A rare sight in the bustling world of Coruscant, but one that served its purpose beautifully. He slipped amongst the foliage until he eventually found who he was looking for.

Tera Sinube sat much like Quinlan had in the Coruscant base, appearing to meditate as children ran around, laughing and playing in the grass and their parents watched on.

"Have you found anything?" Master Sinube said.

Quinlan settled into the shadows of the tree, completely blocked from the world. "Possibly. Padawan Tano told me about something called a 'blackout mission'. There are no records of these missions and the troopers involved, at least the two I know of, seem to have some sort of amnesia that stops them from recalling the events of the mission.

"I see. That is troubling," Master Sinube said.

"What's more, I suspect that whoever is behind the abuse, is also behind these missions. Or connected to them in some way. And they might know we're investigating them."

"How would they know that?"

"Because we told them," Quinlan said. "The GAR network records everything. Every call, every chat log, every transmission. Right now, they think we're just investigating the abuse. And I'm sure that we can find a couple of senators involved that aren't involved in the blackout missions. But, I think for now we need to keep all talk of those missions and our investigation off the network. Our big fish might panic if he knows we're onto him."

"How do you know it's a he?" Master Sinube said.

Quinlan paused. "Just a hunch."

"You think you know who the big fish is?"

"I think that the number of people who have unrestricted access to the GAR network's recordings is small. And that small number is mostly male. Statistically speaking, it's probably a him."

Master Sinube hummed thoughtfully. "You do not speak your mind. You are careful with your words."

Quinlan nodded. "If this is bigger than a few senators who use the troopers as punching bags, then we cannot reveal how much we know."

"Indeed. Move carefully through the criminal underworld is a must. Is there anything you require from me or the other shadows?"

"Two troopers, one named Drillbit and the other named Grav, were sent on a blackout mission for approximately twelve hours two nights ago. I've tracked them through the Corrie Base and know that they headed East. I lost them after that. I need someone to use the other cameras in Coruscant to see where they were headed. If that's possible. I want to know what they were doing."

"Of course. I will see what I can do to help. Focus on the senators. If our big fish knows we are hunting him, then let us distract him by catching a few smaller fish to put his mind at ease. Men who think they have the upper hand are more likely to fail, after all."

"Yes, Master Sinube. I'll let you know if any other troopers go on blackout missions. I think Fox has a way to track them, but I don't know what it is yet."

"Of course. Do not spread yourself thin for this investigation. The other shadows can focus on the blackout missions. You should gain their trust and find those senators."

"Yes. I will. Thank you, master." Quinlan slipped away from him and back into the shadows.

Gaining the trust of the Corries was easier said than done. Especially since Fox seemed to despise his guts. Maybe he shouldn't have jumped out a window with Ahsoka. Okay, so, not one of his better moves. But how else was he supposed to get her away from the guards?

That was fine, he could work with this. He could work with Fox. In the end, he did want to help the Corries. He did want them to be safe. And he wanted to bring down whoever was sending them on missions that took away their minds and covered them in blood.

*****

CommanderCody: Hey, Rex, done with your campaign? How was it? 

CaptainRex: Awful. We lost a lot of men. Jesse's in bacta. 

CommanderWolffe: Shit. Is he going to be okay?

CaptainRex: Yeah, Kix says he'll make a full recovery. 

CaptainRex: Luckily we got a resupply of medical supplies. I think Ahsoka's injuries were bad optics and they don't want a repeat.

CommanderBacara: How're you doing with everything 

CaptainRex: Fine. 

CaptainGray: Well I don't believe that for a second. 

CaptainRex: I'm fine. Soka's fine. Jesse's fine. Everything is fine. 

CommanderBly: It's okay not to be fine, Rex. You've been through a lot in a short amount of time. 

CommanderWolffe: Jesse and Ahsoka are pretty close, right? 

CaptainRex: yeah

CommanderJet: Have you told her about him

CaptainRex: No. I don't want to worry her. 

CommanderCody: Rex

CaptainRex: I'm not in the mood for a lecture right now

CommanderCody: She's going to find out 

CommanderWolffe: And she's not going to be happy

CaptainRex: She doesn't need to worry about this right now. 

CommanderCody: That's not how this works, vod'ika. You know that. 

CaptainRex has left the chat. 

CommanderCody: Shit. 

CommanderWolffe: I'm in Coruscant now. You want me to tell her? 

CommanderCody: No, not yet. 

CommanderCody: I'm looking through incident reports now. It only happened a few hours ago. 

CommanderCody: Let's give him a chance to cool off. 

CommanderWolffe: Alright. Get some rest, brother. 

CommanderCody: You too.

Notes:Quinlan: Hmm, I don't know about these clones, Obi. Why are you so attached to them?

Spends 1 hour with the Coruscant Guard

Quinlan: I've only had the Corries for a day, but if anything happened to them, I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.

Man, this fic started as me trying to make everyone happy through fun little videos. Somehow, it has transformed into me finding new and creative ways to torture Fox without ever so much as pinching him. Quinlan's going to break this man. I just know it.

Now, what do you think Fox is using to keep track of who's going on blackout missions and when? ;)

Couple notes on the codes because I'm not sure this will come up, but I have this idea that now that Gree's men are all being crafty bitches with their knitting, crocheting, sewing, and embroidering, they've started using those as a form of code. Specifically using different stitches while knitting to spell things out.

Heads up, probably won't be posting the next few weeks. I got a lot going on (hence why this chapter took forever to get out).