I was frustrated, nine hells I was angry when I decided we’d offer the brain scans to a mentally scarred and clearly … damaged individual. An individual who’s very humanity seemed to be slipping through his fingers like sand in a clenching fist. He had asked for it, begged for it, even after I and Doctor Tevre had separately informed him of the possible downsides and the risk.

  Tevre was sure the flagship medical facilities of the Little Revenge would ensure his survival, the scan wasn’t exactly invasive after all. But it would not be easy to cover up. Four arms-men had witnessed the debriefing and though I was certain of their loyalty, I feared what could be revealed by the Jedi. Krell had managed to loosen my tongue and subvert my mind at more than one occasion. Maker keep me, the devil had managed to do it for over a week!

  I slowly exhale as I watch Doctor Tevre continue the brain scan, slowly, as to not damage anything or cause need of a repeat. Chain and R4 stood beside me as the procedure continued, silently watching, waiting. Soon enough the chief medical officer removes themselves and a datapad from the room as the medical droids begin returning the bed to its usual state. The Togruta removes his mask once more and adjusts his posture as he reads through the datapad’s readouts. Soon enough the datapad is revealed to myself, Chain and R4 and I almost flinch.

  “That’s a tumor, isn’t it?” I ask.

  “Yes, it … doesn’t appear overtly harmful. I’d go so far as to say it’s inert.” Doctor Tevre says.

  “Is it possible that the tumor is the source of the … maledictions?” I ask hesitantly.

  “Possibly, it doesn’t appear to be functioning as a usual tumor would, as I’ve said it appears almost inert.”

  “How dangerous would its removal be?” Chain asks.

  “Not too dangerous. I could probably work something out sooner than later. Either way it should be removed. It is standard practice.” Officer Tevre answers easily, “Even with the mixed heritage of the Clone template it is too abnormal for it to be a natural biological occurrence.”

  “Do you think this tumor may appear in other Clones?” I ask.

  “Well, in human twins it varies between thirty and fifty percent if one already has cancer. Then there’s the fact that Clones are of Mandalorian stock so there’s a bunch of vestigial characteristics from other species that are in their ancestry. I … I believe we should begin scanning the recent casualties from the boarding action as a test batch while I inform Trooper Tup.” Tevre decides.

  “I shall submit to your expertise, Doctor.” I reply.

  In the end, during a moment of lucidity, Tup decides to take up Doctor Tevre’s offer on the surgery.

  I take the offered datapad from Mi-Kus. Both ARC Trooper Fives and the Kaminoan convoy would meet us over Jabiim. I suppress the urge to throw the datapad against something.The last thing we needed was a Maker forsaken time constraint on this thing. There were further tests to run. We still needed to compare the various tumors to one another more thoroughly and Chain wanted to get whatever it was out of his head.

  And wasn’t that the real kicker. One hundred percent of Hope Company and the couple dozen Clone pilots and technicians aboard the Little Revenge had the tumor. Every single one of them. Fifty percent would have been acceptable, if worrisome, seventy I might be able to accept as a genetic mutation, but all of them? Every single one? Without question? That was undeniable proof that something was deeply wrong.

  I was keeping comms silence for now. Other than agreeing to rallying with the Kaminoan convoy I wasn’t even allowing chatter between ships, unless it was an adjustment to our course. It was almost overkill, but if the Jedi or some other chucklefuck was behind this, secrecy was our best defense. The Clones had been commissioned by the Jedi, but … whatever this was could easily be a Kaminoan conspiracy as well. A possible way for the longnecks to force the Clones into doing their bidding by holding some sort of tumorous killswitch over their heads.

  The bridge doors open to reveal Doctor Tevre alongside Captain Chain, both of them quickly rushing towards me. Both stop barely a step away from me and Mi-Kus and salute promptly before the Doctor fishes something from his lab-coat. The Togruta holds out three small microscope slides between his pinched fingers. I take them from the offered hand and inspect them. One looked … rotten, as if it had infected or become gangrenous from a wound. The others looked healthy, pink.

  I raise my brow expectantly as the Doctor answers my silent question: “The … damaged one is from Trooper Tup, the healthy ones from recently deceased Trooper Snow and Trooper Seacole.”

  I nod before handing them back: “Understood. Have any others managed the procedure?”

  “I’ve only done it three times myself, since we’re keeping this close to chest and are limited in the number of operating tables, never mind that the first two were technically autopsies. Doesn’t help that we’re keeping this off the books right now.” The Doctor answers.

  “We’ll need to figure out a schedule.” I mutter quietly, “And get these into the hands of trusted and experienced cloners.”

  “There are no trusted and experienced cloners.” Mi-Kus objects, “Closest thing are the Arkanian purebloods and I wouldn’t trust them if I had to choose between them and a Separatist. They’ re discriminatory at the best of times and outright genocidal at the worst.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Then who do we karking contact? Clearly this has implications. Either the Kaminoans have purposefully engineered a flaw into the Clones, or something more sinister is afoot.” Doctor Tevre asks.

  I hesitate. I wouldn’t trust the Jedi with this, or the Kaminoans. My instinct says to pass it up to Fleet Admiral Honor, but … could she be trusted in this? As far as I know everyone in High Command knows. Solomahal … was still in recovery and out of action. A slow inhale, a slow exhale. Then another slow inhale and exhale as I try to recenter myself.

  “We are open with the Kaminoans and Skywalker’s liaison. We inform them about the tumors. We act as if we know more than we do and add any intel they give us to our knowledge. Begin … no, once the Kaminoans have Tup and our two samples start removing the tumors of consenting troopers. Until then, perform the procedures on the other dead troopers we have aboard.” I order.

  “They’d be happy to help, sir.” Chain says, backing me up.

  I clear my voice as I speak up so the entire bridge can hear me clearly: “This could be dangerous. We might’ve stumbled on something bad here, folks. But remember, we fight for more than the reunification of the Republic, the elimination of various war-criminals the Seps harbor and the defense of home and hearth. We fight for the Republic’s very ideals. We will not compromise on them. Long live the Republic.”

  “Long live the Republic.” Echoes the bridge.

  It’s a bit of an odd group assembled in the medbay. Obviously there’s my person and R4, alongside Doctor Tevre and Captain Chain, but we’re joined by ARC Trooper Fives, a Kaminoan Senior Captain, a Kaminoan Doctor and the increasingly healthy looking Tup, now not even strapped to his medical bed.

  “In case it wasn’t obvious, we have discovered some … disturbing things these last few days.” I start, keeping my eyes fixed on the Kaminoans, “Trooper Tup appeared to have a tumor in his head, which we believed lead to his manic episodes.”

  The Kaminoan Doctor’s eyes widen minutely and his mouth opens as if to object, but I continue speaking: “Obviously it was removed, as is standard practice with any brain tumors within a human to near human patient. Once this was done, his condition improved remarkably. However we were concerned about the possibility that the cancer may also exist within other Clones. I am not entirely sure if you are aware, but we’ve found every single Clone within my ship has this inert tumor. Every single one. Do you know how taxing it will be to remove them? How much this will effect our supply chains? How expensive this will be? In fact, I think I should send an inquiry to the Senate about this defect in your so called product, I wonder how long they’ll support your prices when that becomes known. Not to mention the short term issues. I’m going to have to put my two companies of elite boarding troopers, over a hundred pilots and some five dozen Clone techs and crew on medical leave! And that’s only in my personal formation! It’ll be millions of Clones undergoing this operation soon enough! Do you know what that will do to morale? Especially during this phase of the war? Would you like to explain yourselves!?”

  I quickly glance around the room as I try to catch my breath. Tup looks suspicious of the Kaminoans, Fives looks almost murderous, meanwhile the two longnecks look … maybe nervous. It is rather hard to tell with the fish-like fucks.

  It takes a moment longer than is strictly polite for the Doctor to speak: “You … removed the inhibitor chip from CT-5385?”

  “I removed the tumor from him, yes. Even if it had nothing to do with his manic episodes, I believed it would be best for his health. Trooper Tup agreed to it during one of his lucid moments.” Doctor Tevre says.

  “That’s what you’re focusing on?” I ask the Kaminoan incredulously.

  “And he has not become more … aggressive? Manic? Unrestrained?” The Kaminoan Doctor asks, almost afraid.

  “Not during our supervision. We also removed the tumors from a recently deceased member of Hope Company to compare them.” Doctor Tevre says, revealing the two tumors between his fingers, though keeping them well out of reach of the long armed Kaminoans.

  “So, I ask again,” I interrupt the Kaminoan Doctor from speaking, “Do you wish to explain yourselves?”

  The two Kaminoans exchange a glance before the Doctor answers: “These … tumors as you call them, are what we call inhibitor chips. They are a part of the Kaminoan cloning process. They lessen the unrefined aggression, the possibility of ptsd and increase the performance of the clone product. The fact that you tampered with a clone unit’s chip without it going berserk is … unusual. We will need to conduct our own research on CT-5385 and see what deviations it may hold to allow it to appear functional without its chip.”

  I nod along as if agreeing: “So they aren’t dangerous?”

  “No, Admiral.” The Senior Captain says, “They should be completely harmless and never be removed, unless prompted by a Kaminoan Doctor or Cloner.”

  “Then what do you believe to be the cause of Trooper Tup’s manic episode on Ringo Vinda?” I press.

  “That will be revealed once we’ve finished our research, Admiral.” The Doctor says.

  I consider the answers a moment and exchange a quick glance with Doctor Tevre. He looks … worried.

  “Can you guarantee the survivability of your experiments?” Doctor Tevre asks.

  “Dear Doctor, as a fellow medical practitioner I guarantee CT-5385’s existence while it remains in my care. It will not be exposed to anything more dangerous than what you have done in removing its inhibitor chip during a state of weakness and vulnerability. Even if it leaves my care.” The Doctor replies.

  I nod along as if agreeing. I’ll need to talk with Tevre and ensure him that his medicinal oath hadn’t been infringed upon these last few days. Finally I speak: “Very well, but I would like to be kept up to date with your findings. The last thing we need is whatever happened to Trooper Tup being repeated or turned into something more sinister.”

  “Of course, Admiral. I will make sure of it myself.” The Senior Captain replies serenely.

  “Then I believe we can give Trooper Tup into your care.” I say, looking towards Doctor Tevre as I do. He hesitates before very slowly nodding, as if doing so was physically paining the Togruta.

  “Then we shall bring the clone unit to our ship and make haste to Kamino.” The Senior Captain says, “Thank you, Admiral, for your understanding.”

  I wave the thanks off as the Kaminoans escort the Trooper out of the room. The ARC moves to follow, but I place a hand on his shoulder to keep him back. The doors close behind the Kaminoans and I wait a moment longer until R4 confirms they’re out of earshot with a quick whistle.

  “Alright, we all agree that sounds like major lizardshit.” I start, exchanging a grim glance with Captain Chain and Doctor Tevre, taking my hand off of the ARC’s shoulder as I do.

  “And you’re still giving Tup to the Kaminise?” Fives asks, a hint of anger hidden in his tone.

  “What choice do I have? We don’t have enough intel.” We never do, “Which is why I want you reporting to me whatever findings you plan to report to General Skywalker.”

  “Sir?” Fives asks.

  “We need to ensure the information the Kaminoans are giving us is true. We need to make sure these … inhibitor chips, weren’t what caused Trooper Tup’s manic episodes. I may not trust the Jedi, but I trust soldiers. Wildhog has reported favorably of you, Clover and the rest of my former men too-”

  “Wait, Wildhog and Clover have been spying for you?”

  “Of course not!” I say, halting that idea in its tracks, “But they keep correspondence with Captain Chain here and he passes anything of note along to me. When we learned you were to be Skywalker’s liaison he got me a dossier on you.”

  “No offense, sir, but that’s kinda creepy.” Fives replies to the revelation.

  “Intelligence wins wars, Trooper.” I counter, “I don’t expect the same loyalty from you as you show your General, but I am still asking for whatever findings you can get. Will you do that for me, soldier?”

  Fives hesitates a moment, considering his options. Finally he nods: “Sir, yes, sir.”

  “Good,” I reply before offering the soldier a comlink, “This has the codes for a couple of my Marshal’s Agents. If you can’t contact me for some reason, send one of them the intel and they’ll get it to me with some minor delay.”

  “Sir?” Chain asks, “I don’t think the Marshal’s Agents are supposed to be used for internal investigations.”

  “Of course they’re not.” I agree, “But this is too suspicious to be coincidence. This is very likely hostile action from the Kaminoans or someone colluding with them. We need more intel and if a handful of my agents can get it, then all the better.”

  I breathe in once more before thrusting out the commlink again towards the ARC Trooper. This was big, I knew it was big, he knew it was big, everyone in this room knew it was big. The only question was, would we be able to stay under the radar for long enough to get to the bottom of it?

  I lock eyes with the man who would take all the risks and get none of the rewards: “So, will you let me help you?”

  The Clone takes the commlink.