"Good Soldiers Follow Orders...": A Bad Batch Story

C H A P T E R T H R E E

ECHO'S POV

No, of course I didn't know how to track down Jedi and other Force-sensitive users. Though I was aware of what the Jedi called holocrons, I also knew that their information could only be accessed by using the Force.

So I was in a bind. But I had also bought myself some time to roam around Tipoca City without my squad breathing down my neck in suspicion. Hunter had allowed me to go alone since, it seemed, this operation was now a private one. And I wasn't complaining.

As I walked down the corridors, I passed by many clones, officers, and Kaminoans. No one paid me a second glance. However, I still had that paranoid feeling I was being watched. But if I was constantly looking over my shoulder, then I would look suspicious. To avoid that, I continued my way towards the medical records room. I figured that was a good place to start. I recalled the time, not long after I was rescued by the Bad Batch, General Skywalker, and Rex from Skako Minor, when the latter took me aside and told me about Tup and Fives...

The memory sent a chill down a spine as I began to wonder if Rex was now under the influence of Order 66. Last I'd heard from him, Commander Ahsoka Tano had returned and needed help taking down the dark lord Maul on Mandalore. Rex and his regime were reassigned under her and had taken off. I then wondered if...since Commander Tano was surrounded by her trusted clones... I shook my head violently. There's no use worrying about that. Focus on the now.

I finally reached the medical records room. Subtly checking my surroundings, I slipped in and searched for Tup's records first. The files were organized by clone numbers. Tup's number was CT-5385...

I fiddled through each file, and eventually found mine. I skipped on passed it and continued to search. When I did, I sighed in relief. Opening up his file, I was met with several documents, including rankings, medicals, and a death certificate. "Cause of death..." I traced my finger looking for the key words. "Here it is...Cause of death: forced removal of subject's inhibitor chip? What's an inhibitor chip? Fives."

I returned Tup's file back in its place and began looking for Fives'. "CT-5555...Here you are. What is this?!" My eyes widened as I found an additional document—one stating Fives had a criminal record. "Oh, Fives..." I read the reports on how my old friend had accused the former Chancellor Palpatine of conspiring against the Jedi Order, involving these inhibitor chips, that, at the command of Order 66, would initiate all clones to execute every single Jedi. Fives was even accused of being the bringer of Tup's death when he and a medical service droid removed his inhibitor chip surgerically...

What are these inhibitor chips? I pondered. From the context clues in both Fives' and Tups' records, they were linked to the clones' brain activity, which would make it dangerous to remove, and frankly impossible to resist the obligations of Order 66. And if every clone had one of these chips... I gulped nervously.

Then, perhaps... I sighed again. What I had claimed back in the barracks wasn't so far off after all...Perhaps my chip was completely fried when I was a prisoner on Skako Minor... And that's why my chip never activated. I then began to wonder if I was the sole clone who was left unscathed...Was I the only one who knew the truth? Who was still conscious and contained my free will? Who saw the Emperor and the Galatic Empire as they truly were?

I thought about the other members of the Bad Batch. The smart thing to do would to get off Kamino as soon as possible with the new information I've obtained. But then I'd be alone and at risk of being deemed as a traitor. I would be hunted down and killed for sure. I couldn't leave Hunter and the others to this fate, either. My conscious wouldn't allow it. They were my family, and I needed to save them.

But how...

Feeling defeated, I placed Five's file back to the drawer and closed it. Leaning on the drawer, I breathed in and out, trying to gain my composure before I headed back to my helpless brothers. But before I could react, two hands clamped down over my mouth and nose.

"Mmph!" I grasped my attacker's wrists and my immediate first thought was, These are not men's wrists or hands. They were too small.

"Echo, it's me. I'm not like the others." A female voice whispered in my ear and she slowly lowered her hands when I stopped struggling. I rotated to face her and my eyes widened.

"Fern?"

I didn't quite believe it at first, but there she was, the sole female clone, defected just like Clone Force 99. Her long raven hair was braided over her shoulder. A grey head band with the Republic's emblem on it wrapped around her hairline. She wore a skin-tight black bodysuit under a grey tunic snatched at her petite waist by a belt that held her blaster and vibro-knife. Her weaponized gauntlets were strapped to her forearms. Her dark eyes gleamed. Her grin still contained her mischievousness, but at this moment, also relief.

"Boy, you have no idea how glad I am to see you not brainwashed." she laughed. "Sorry for the sneak attack, but I had to make sure you weren't. I figured if you responded to your name, I was in the clear."

"Fern, I am just as estatic as you." I nodded, and I couldn't help to smile. "What are you doing here?"

"Same as you, I would think." Fern looked passed me and patted the top of the drawer. "I need answers, and I figured I would only find them on Kamimo. It looks like you beat me to it."

"Where were you before?"

"Utapau." Fern's smirk disappeared, her face turned white. "I was on Utapau when Order 66 was initiated."

"Utapau..." I vaguely recalled Tech mentioning Utapau while we were on Kaller. Something about General Grievous getting cornered by... "General Kenobi?" I gasped. Fern nodded. "Did he...?"

"I don't know." Fern shook her head. "I watched Cody order to shoot him down and he disappeared. I'm not sure if he survived...Jeez, how did this happen?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well, at least there's you, me, and the rest of the Bad Batch." Fern crossed her arms and shrugged.

"Well..." My eyes averted to the side, and Fern's lips parted. "No...Them, too? Hunter?"

I nodded slowly. "It's a bit more complicated, but yeah, Crosshair and Wrecker killed a Jedi padawan on Kaller."

"I had hoped since I was not affected, that the other defected clones would not have been, too." Fern then threw up her arms in frustration. "Gah! What are we going to do?!"

"Listen, Fern," I held my hands out to her to calm her down. We needed to stay quiet if we were to avoid getting caught. "Like I said, it's complicated with the others. But I've sort of came up with a plan to buy us time and—"

"Alert! Unauthorized takeoff in Hangar 4! Alert! Unauthorized takeoff in Hangar 4!"

Fern and I looked at each other in confusion. Then, it hit me on whose ship was docked in that hangar.

"Oh no...Hunter!"