Cejanr (A Rexsoka SWTCW Fanfic)

20

"The chips are to subdue the violent nature of the clone physiological, and make them more submissive and amiable to commands." A long neck said. Fives's head hurt from all this excitement so soon after literal brain surgery, but he stood his ground.

"Then why did Tup's chip degrading suddenly make him kill Tiplar? If removing the chip makes us more like Fett, unpredictable and violent, then our loyalties shouldn't change. We wouldn't kill the people we owe our lives to for the heck of it." He spat. "I saw your prognosis, the one you failed to tell the Jedi about. The contingency plan." He growled. Shaak Ti turned to Nala Se.

"Contingency plan? What is this clone talking about?" She asked, her voice cool. The kaminoan tilted his head.

"It was merely a theory of mine, I had no proof or logic for it. The secondary purpose of the inhibitor chips is containing the Contingency of the Republic. One hundred and fifty emergency protocols were coded in. There has never been a need for them, so those particular functions lay dormant. I was writing down the beginnings of a hypothesis that Order Sixty-Six could have been executed through some CIS scheme or another." She supplied. "I was not aware that you had been given no information about this."

Shaak Ti's brows furrowed in a look of anger he had rarely seen on her face. "These chips take away the free will of the clones under their effect?" She asked. Nala Se shivered, a kaminoan version of shaking your head disdainfully.

"Only if the resist the orders. I fear that multiple clones could have been exposed to whatever made CT 5385's chip deteriorate so rapidly. I recommend an extermination of ARC 5555 to examine his neural tissues." It said. Shaak Ti's facial markings took on a greenish hue as her scowl deepened.

"No. I will not permit that. But a medical examination is in order." She relented. Nala Se nodded.

"Very well." Fives opened his mouth to protest, but decided against it. He followed the kaminoan down the hall and out of sight of the jedi, resisting the urge to sulk. Out of nowhere, the kaminoan turned around and jabbed a needle into his neck. He yelped in surprise and pain at being stabbed, but as the plunger of the hypo hit the nozzle, fire raced through his veins. His vision blurred in and out of focus, and all he could feel in his suddenly sluggish mind was an overwhelming sense of panic.

He tried calling for help as Nala Se all but dragged him to the examination room, but his tongue was thick snd clumsy in his mouth. He tried to run, but he only managed to stagger into the wall. He couldn't see. He could think. His pulse was pounding to run, to flee. He shivered in a sudden cold sweat as he struggled against his own reflexes. There was a sudden weight on his chest--

-- And Fives's eyes snapped open, trying to make sense of his surroundings. Every instinct in his body telling him to escape. Agony tore through his middle as he fell off of whatever semi-comfortable surface he had been resting on on to a rough mat over durasteel flooring. Rough, cold hands grabbed him with barely restrained carelessness and flipped him on his back, pinning him down with ease.

The half-blurry figure above him poked at his lower stomach, sending shards of pain up through his head and chest. He cried out a little as the probing fingers hit a particularly sensitive spot, and one of the rough hands clamped over his mouth.

"Quiet! Or you'll wake the others!" It snapped, it's rasping voice little more than a whisper. Something, like a solid breeze, shifted under him and picked him up. It then unceremoniously dumped him on the couch, making him gasp around the hand over his mouth in pain. "Now hold still. Tano will be pissed if you tore anything open."

He slowly remembered where he was, every time Ventress spoke a war waged inside of his head.

Murderer!

Ally.

Brother Killer!

Lifesaver.

Clanker!

The Commander trusts her.

He shied away from her touch. Burying his face into the pillows like a cadet rather than facing her like an ARC. He knew he was shaking, cold sweat trickled down the hollow of his back as he struggled to remember the dream. He knew it was something important, but the only thing he could remember was the number Sixty-Six.

Tears, from both shame at feeling so useless as to now even be able to pick himself up off the floor and from the pain and fear left over from waking up to one of his bitterest enemy's voices, prickled at the back of his eyes. He tried, and failed, to stop the half choked sob in his throat as he curled in on himself as much as he could with such a limited range of motion.

"Vak, coila res pilar het- Why me?" Ventress muttered under her breath, switching from an unknown language as guttural and croaky as her voice normally sounded to basic. There was a scuffle, and a blanket was pulled up carefully to cover him in a soft warmth. She patted awkwardly on his shoulder a few times, and switched between pseudo-fussing over him to sitting close by until he at least stopped shaking.

That didn't mean he couldn't half see the loathing grimace out of the corner of his eye as she pulled a second, heavier blanket over him and tucked it around him in an almost gentle way. Didn't mean he couldn't hear the quiet-impatient sigh.

She had hoped to be underway for collecting her latest bounties by now, but her promise to Ahsoka meant more than a head start to her work. Fives just closed his eyes and prayed that she left soon. As soon as he appeared asleep, he felt her presence retreating and heard the door hiss slightly as she slipped into the early morning light of Corascant.

He curled up a little tighter, unconsciously snuggling a little deeper into the comforting warmth of the blankets as he tried to recall what Sixty-Six meant. It was important. It had to be.