Chapter 242 - Cal Kestis

"Ugh... General?"

Commander Wolffe opened his eyes slightly, and closed then again soon after. He had grown used to the darkness of his cell, and the light hurt his eyes.

After a few seconds, his vision returned, and he sat up. He felt pain all over his body, but especially in his head. The nightmares had been a lot worse recently, ever since...

Suddenly, his memories came back, and he shuddered. Before he could delve too deeply into those memories, though, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and a wave of calmness hit him. Glancing up, he saw the familiar face of his general.

"Stay down, Wolffe. You suffered a lot back there."

Shaking his head, Commander Wolffe frowned. The moment he had put the Force-sensitive child in the escape pod, he knew he would be tortured. That didn't scare him before, and it didn't scare him now. What was important was that he hadn't told Ventress anything, and he knew where the child was.

"Falleen. The child is there."

It was General Plo Koon's turn to frown.

"Falleen is a to-be battleground. Why send the boy there?"

"There wasn't much of an option, sir. It was the closest planet. The only one in range of the escape pod, in fact. I told the child to hide somewhere near where he landed."

General Plo Koon furrowed his eyebrows, pondering. After a few seconds, his complexion eased. He knew Commander Wolffe had done all he could to keep the boy safe.

"I will call General Unduli, sir. We were already thinking of speeding up our plans, this will only confirm it."

"All right. In the meantime, try to contact our troops on the planet. See if they found a human child that fits the description."

Hearing the familiar voice, Commander Wolffe looked up, and, for the first time, noticed that he and General Plo Koon weren't alone. General Secura, Commander Bly, and Dageer were also there.

The one who just talked was Dageer. He nodded at Commander Wolffe, and left the room. The commander knew Dageer was now the leader of a true special unit, so he wasn't surprised they were sent to rescue him.

"Droid, take care of him. Trooper, tell the pilot to change the course to Falleen."

"Yes, sir!"

Although he was a tough soldier, Commander Wolffe didn't complain when General Plo Koon forced him to stay on the bed. He knew he wouldn't be of much help in battle in his current state, so he had to rest and recover.

...

"Commander, there is something you might wanna see."

Commander Bly and Dageer were sitting on a table at the canteen of the ship when a clone ran up to them with a datapad, and gave it to his superior.

"Uhmm..."

"What is it, Bly?"

"I don't know yet. Maybe nothing. Probably nothing. Here, take a look."

He handed over the datapad to Dageer, and he glanced at its contents. It showed the sensors of the cargo bay and hull going off. Scanners revealed a commando droid had entered the ship, but left a few seconds later.

"It probably got in during the battle. But why would it leave?"

"I have no idea. Trooper, get Sergent Sketch. Tell him it's urgent."

"Right away, commander."

After the trooper left, Dageer glanced at his brother.

"What are you thinking?"

"I don't know yet. Sketch was in charge of the ship's defense. If he tells me he saw the commando droid and put it on the run, then nothing. If he didn't, then we might have a problem."

...

Sergeant Sketch gave then a negative answer. The commando droid had entered and left the ship at its own volition. Whatever it wanted, it got.

"We need to talk with the Jedis. Now."

Dageer nodded, and followed Commander Bly. He could think of several reasons why the commando droid entered the ship, and none were good.

They found General Plo Koon and General Secura meditating together. As soon as the two clones entered the room, they opened their eyes, and looked at them.

"You are worried... Why?"

Commander Bly quickly explained what happened, and both Jedis frowned.

"What do you two think the droid was after?"

Dageer looked at the 327th commander, but he shrugged, indicating that Dageer should be the one to talk.

"There are a lot of possibilities, General Secura. Worst-case scenario, he sabotaged the ship, but I don't think that is likely. The hyperdrive is working perfectly, and so are the engines and the main computer."

"Any chances they changed the coordinates without us knowing?"

"No. I already had Tech check it out. No one tapped into the mainframe. In fact, the commando clancker didn't even get to a control panel before he left."

"Uhmm... You said sabotage was the worst possible outcome. What is the second worst?"

"The clancker planted a tracker in the ship, and will know exactly where the youngling is."

"That is most probably what happened. Commander, order the pilot to get out of hyperspace immediately. We need to find and destroy that tracker."

Dageer nodded, but before he could even turn on his comlink, the ship shook slightly, and the hyperspace outside became the black infinity of the void.

Cursing at their luck, and at the fact that they took too long to discover the tracker, Dageer pulled up their coordinates.

"Falleen, generals. We were too late."

General Plo Koon frowned, but then got up. He believed the Force worked in strange ways. If it brought them to Falleen, so be it.

"Aayla, contact Master Unduli. Tell her we need immediate assistance and that the Separatist will attack Falleen. How long do you think we have, commander?"

"They can't follow us through hyperspace. The tracker can only start relaying it's signal now. So, we have anywhere between two and five days before they arrive."

"That is enough. Master Unduli and her fleet should get here before that. While they set up defenses, we will look for the young Cal Kestis."

"Understood, sir."

"This is a race against time. If we don't find the boy without the Separatist interfering, we won't find him when the entire planet is thrown in a war."

Commander Bly and Dageer nodded, and left the room. They had a lot to do before they landed on Falleen.

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"Gene... Ral... Bzzz... We received a response from the... Tracker on the Republic... Bzzz... Ship."

"Cough! Cough... Where? Where?!"

"Falleen system, general. Bzzz... We also detected a Republic fleet moving to jump position. According to our Bzzz... calculations, Falleen is one of the possible destinations."

"That is it. My dear general, I have to admit that, for once, you were more intelligent than a droid."

"Shut up, assassin... Cough... Pilot, plot our course to Falleen."

"Yes, general."

Taking heavy steps towards the window, General Grievous put his hands behind his back, and looked out. A huge fleet with dozens of sh.i.p.s entered hyperspace one after another. Soon, the Clone Wars would arrive at a new planet. Slowly but surely, the entire galaxy was being engulfed in this war.

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Meanwhile, in the planet of Falleen, a young human child, about four or five years old, was crouching in a corner, hiding behind a trash bin.

The young Cal Kestis had no idea a huge battle was about to start because of him. At the moment, all he worried about were the armed men facing him.

"What do we have here?"