Half-Moon Glow

Traitorous Truth

It was safe to say that shore leave on Naboo had been ruined.

The obvious tension lingering in the rooms whenever Crosshair and Aurora found themselves in the same spot would only dissipate when one of them left, and despite the anger reflected within the medic, Hunter couldn't ignore the heartbreak in her eyes.

Everyone had gone their separate ways. Tech stuck to his own prototypes, valuing progress in his projects above whatever else could have gone wrong regarding personal relations. It was simply safer. Wrecker and Aurora bonded over the heartbreak they'd both felt, spending most of their time in one tavern or another drinking away, not quite bringing themselves to finding someone new even for a meaningless rebound.

Hunter could tell they'd both broken.

Meanwhile, the sniper was either resting in his room or off on his own, and no one quite knew where he was. Perhaps he'd found a corner on the higher levels of the building where no one would disturb him, a place perfect for sniping if the war were to reach Theed, or perhaps he'd found a more obscure bar where none of his squad mates or even fellow troopers would go. Crosshair was as avoidant and mysterious as ever.

But perhaps it was for the best.

Hunter was left on his own to observe how those around him tried—and sometimes failed—to make the best of what they went through. From the outside, Hunter could make out a number of details from the way Aurora's eyes were swollen each morning when she woke, no doubt having cried herself to sleep at Crosshair's absence, to the amount of dirty looks that Clone Force 99 was receiving by the time they had to leave Naboo.

Though not unusual, each of the genetically-enhanced clones seemed to be getting more glares than they normally would. The others didn't care; they had too much to deal with on their own, but given recent events, Hunter couldn't afford to let such a blatant change in behavior towards them slip by.

In his investigations, he'd found out another breach of data had occurred at the hands of the spy while they were on their leave, and the breach had been stationed on Naboo.

And once again, their questionable reputation came back to bite them from behind.

"You still there, sergeant?"

Hunter snapped out of his momentary daze and his attention was brought back to the holo comm, where a small version of commander Cody looked up at him, expecting a reply.

"Sorry, commander," Hunter said. "Just pondering on all the coincidences."

"Which are?" Cody prompted.

"Whoever this spy is, they seem to be following us around," Hunter confessed.

"And so, you understand the position your squad is in," Cody replied. "I don't suspect of you or any of your men for a second, so I think we can kill two birds with one stone for this."

"Sir?"

"I have a mission available on Christophsis," Cody began. "Relations haven't been as tight since our battle there, and right now all military operations on Christophsis are under the command of captain Osi Sobeck. He's a tough nut to crack, so I need you to go and negotiate terms with him to hopefully agree on setting up a base there."

Hunter and Tech exchanged a doubtful look—negotiations weren't a strength for Clone Force 99—and Hunter then looked back at Cody.

"We'll do what you ask, commander, but how is this going to help our situation?" Hunter said.

"This mission is new and relatively secret," Cody said. "Only you, me, and Wolffe know about it as of now. If any intel related to your whereabouts were to get out while you're there, we can confirm that this spy has something to do with you, since they'll have had to follow you to get there, and it'll help us direct efforts to stop them. If any intel gets out from anywhere else, we could use that to your defense in the meantime."