Jedi Insurgency 141

Chasing after Jar Jar through the hallway, Hunter internally swore. The chaotic movements of the Gungan meant that getting a clear shot was impossible. Namely, he was worried about hitting the Queen, and with a camera crew in tow, it was virtually impossible to get creative with his methods. 

“Wrecker, fire a concussive round to the left, if we scare the Senator to the right, he'll reach a dead end!” Echo spoke up whilst he was viewing the palace's schematics. 

“Roigt ya are, brother!” Wrecker grinned, and then unslung a grenade launcher. Firing a burst exactly where Echo had directed him, Jar Jar fled to the right. 

“All according to plan.” Echo smiled. 

“Something doesn't smell right.” Hunter muttered to himself. 

“Enemies?” Crosshair-who was jogging to his right-questioned. 

“No, just a feeling. This entire fiasco has been cursed ever since we split from the General.” Hunter shook his head, and explained. 

“I second that. You reckon we might come across those undying, black-veined freaks?” Echo shuddered. 

“Not a chance, General purged the entire city of that scum.” Hunter discounted. 

“I've prepared something special in case we do.” Crosshair darkly patted his sniper.

Hunter raised an eyebrow, and was about to question his brother, when they came to the dead end. 

Arriving at a balcony that oversaw a sharp incline into a river well over 100ft below, Jar Jar had been cornered. 

“Oh ah noo! It'sa dead end!” Jar Jar shouted. 

“Put the Queen down, traitor!” Hunter barked, playing the role of an over zealous Imperial. 

The men of CF-99 fanned out, and approached Binks like the professionals they were. All it would take was a second of intention, and then they'd strike! 

Jar Jar was spooked, and kept retreating until his back was pressed against the railing. 

“Uh oh!” Jar Jar exclaimed as his foot caught on something, and he tripped backwards. 

“Ahhh!” Neeyuntee screamed as she went over. 

“Your Majesty!” Hunter yelled in worry, and ran forward. Deploying a grapple-cable from the top of his wrist, he snagged Neeyuntee's ankle, and slowed her momentum. 

Hunter almost went over, but was caught by Wrecker just in time. As for Jar Jar, he had assumed a divers position, and was all set to escape in the river. 

“Crosshair!” Hunter bellowed. 

“Don't you worry, mate.” 

A second later, the crack of a sniper rifle rang out, and caught Jar Jar midflight. Once the round struck him, he caught on fire, and began to flail all about. The high intensity of the flames caused Jar Jar to smolder, and when he collided with the water, the force of the impact broke his body apart. Attracted by the disturbance, a school of fish swam up to take a bite. 

‘Modified rifle my ass! He knew what he was doing, this was planned!’

Hunter almost dropped Neeyuntee, such was his shock. When he pulled her up, he turned to Crosshair, and was about to bark at him, when the bald sniper tilted his chin towards the camera crew. 

Balling his fists in barely repressed rage, Hunter walked up to the camera, and said the lines according to their premeditated script. 

“All hail Emperor Palpatine. Such is the fate of all traitors.” 

Feeling like worms were in his stomach, he dismissed the camera crew, and handed the Queen off to a group of trailing, irate Royal Guard. Whilst they were walking back to find Corvus, Hunter was stewing. 

“How are you going to explain yourself, Crosshair?” Hunter seethed. 

“What'd ee do? We killed the Senator, simple.” Wrecker asked in confusion. 

“Wrecker is correct, the assignment was completed.” Crosshair agreed. 

“Don't give me any of that Bantha shit! Our orders were clear! We needed a complete corpse! And don't give me any of that crap about your rifle.” Hunter pressed. 

“Lay off him, Hunter. The man lost his head out there thanks to those things. You can’t blame a man for being paranoid. And you, Crosshair, you owe the Captain an honest answer, don't demean us or question our intelligence. We are your brothers.” Echo stepped in between the two, and physically pushed them apart, acting as the mediator. 

“Tch.” Hunter took off his helmet, spat to the side, and mean mugged Crosshair. “Look me in the eye, brother. I want to hear what lies you spin to your own kin.”

“The truth then.” Crosshair icily replied, and gently took off his own helm. 

“Oi, we bout ta fight?” Wrecker ripped off his own helmet, and grinned like a kid about to join in the fun. 

“You could face a court martialed for this. End up in the brig, or worse. You know how the General feels about traitors.” Hunter said in concern. 

“Please. Once he finds out, he'll thank me, and that will be the end of it.” Crosshair confidently replied. 

“Come on, there’s an empty room just ahead. Let's talk there.” Echo spoke up whilst checking his scanners. 

Entering a supply closet full of mops, and other janitorial materials, Hunter kicked a crate directly under the only light in the dim room, and crossed his arms. 

“Is this an inquisition?” Crosshair raised an eyebrow, then took a seat. 

“This isn’t like you, brother. We've done great things in the line of duty. Terrible, but great. I can get why you're bent over the botched mission, but you seem on edge. Are you okay?” Echo placed a hand on Hunter's forearm in worry. 

Hunter raised his arm, knocking Echo back an inch. “I want to believe in the Republic. I want to believe that our brothers can be saved. That we, that Omega can have a future beyond all this slaughter. Killing Binks like that was senseless. I want to know why he did it.” 

Echo nodded, and then glanced at Crosshair. 

The bald man crossed his arms, and wore a toothy grin on his face. “You've fully drunk the Blue Milk. The Republic? Ha. And since when did we care about those numbers. It's always been us against the world.” 

“Enough stalling. I want answers.” Hunter demanded. 

Crosshair glanced up at the dim lightbulb above his head, and seemed to be looking through the ceiling, and out at space with a thousand yard stare. 

“We follow a deranged madman. He's killed more people in five months than the five of us have in five years. He has a pretty face, a pleasing voice, and spins words like they are gold from a spider's arse.” 

“So if I'm getting this right, you killed Binks the way you did…because of the General?” Echo shook his head, and asked confusedly. 

“You can swallow his dialogue all you want, but simply looking at his actions, and you can tell what sort of man he is. Upon our first meeting, he destroyed all of Kamino's habitable structures, subverted an entire Legion of clones, and kidnapped a handful of survivors, practically genociding the Kaminoans. Then, he placed the Grans into internment camps, handing their ultimate fate over to the race that had been oppressed for centuries. Finally, he murdered the ruling class on Eriadu without so much as blinking an eye. All of this, and suddenly we are to believe he has compassion?” Crosshair scoffed, and rolled his eyes. 

“Didn't he say he was innocent?” Echo weakly questioned. 

“He gave our brothers jobs, and freed the oppressed!” Hunter added on, refusing to be swayed. 

“Hah.” Crosshair drily chuckled. “On a mountain of corpses. We brothers were born to kill. Corvus, Revan, Bond, whoever you want to call that masked man, his true face is closer to ours than you would care to admit.” 

“So you took the choice for him. You think that he would've wanted this?” Echo placed a fist under his chin, and questioned. He was slowly coming around. 

“Why did he even ask for our opinions? Deep down, he wanted Binks dead. Securing food, forging an alliance, it was all a justification. No normal person would think to publicize the death of a Senator like that either. In a way, I almost respect him for his maverick ideas.” Crosshair said with a grudging admiration. 

“Ha! Now it's your turn, Hunter. Are you going to start hating the General now that Crosshair likes him?” Wrecker butted in. 

Hunter scowled, and slammed his helmet back on with a thud. 

“Huh? Why aren't you saying anything?” Wrecker scratched his head in confusion. 

“Because he knows I'm right.” Crosshair slowly smirked, and gently placed his helmet back on.

Hunter began to sheathe, and then unsheathe a dagger repeatedly as he was deep in thought. 

Moving down wrecked hallway after wrecked hallway, they eventually came across the carnage that had once been a holo theater. 

“Looks like a hurricane came barreling through.” Echo commented, and toed a clone corpse that had been diced to pieces with pity. 

“Wish I could've done that.” Wrecker added on. 

Surrounded by hundreds of corpses, and battered to hell and back, the unmistakable, black clad of Agent Bond was reclining in the only seat to have escaped destruction. 

Crosshair elbowed him, and nodded meaningfully, as if to say see, that's a madman. 

“Agent, sir.” Hunter snapped to attention, and saluted. 

“Gentlemen, you said something has gone awry?” Corvus lazily saluted back. 

“During the rescue…Crosshair took the shot, except his sniper was equipped with incendiary rounds. The corpse was completely destroyed.” 

“And the Queen?” 

“Safe and sound.” 

“While it's regrettable, these things happen in war. As long as everything was caught on camera, we'll have secured the Gungans' loyalty, and poked the Empire in the eye.” Corvus nodded along, making Hunter somewhat uneasy. 

“Then we'll leave you be, Agent.” Echo, noticing Hunter’s discomfort, placed a hand on his shoulder, and moved to walk away. 

“Hmm? Something bothering you? I know you expressed doubts over Binks's death, but it had to be done. I regret that he couldn't be brought back, but his martyrdom, ultimately, will benefit the Gungans more than if he lived. His fate would have been to become an exiled street performer, whilst the Gungans would face persecution, and enslavement. His death will galvanize them to fight harder than ever. If this continues to weigh on you, my door is always open.” Corvus spoke over the comms. 

‘Damned Jedi.’ Hunter thought to himself. 

However, he did feel somewhat better at the General's words. After all, it was Crosshair who took the shot. It wasn't that he was opposed to causing mayhem…it was just that he aspired to be better. To grow past his murderous upbringing. 

Saluting once more, Hunter walked away. 

“I'll keep that in mind, General. And thank you for being so reasonable, other commanders would have thrown the book at us for a failure of this scale.” 

“You men get some rest. We've got a lot ahead of us.” Corvus tiredly waved them off, and slumped back into his chair. 

Seeing the pale-white moonbeams shining down on top of the General's head, Hunter felt as if he was exhausted. Yet even so, a quiet strength, and a strong will to persevere burned underneath that mask. 

Unknowingly, he found himself admiring the man. Although Corvus undertook actions that he found distasteful, his own hands weren't exactly sparkly clean. Hard men that lived life on the edge, if there was anyone who understood the troubles, and tribulations of trying to be good, it would be him. Hunter empathized with Corvus, and the General's loyalty to his students, to them, and the men was what convinced him. 

The General may be mad, as Crosshair had said, but who wasn't? Only a madman would have the balls to try and patch this broken galaxy together. 

Turning back at the end of the hallway leaving the theater, Hunter saw that dark figure of melancholy, and called out one last time. 

“Take care…old man.” 

~~~~~~~

AN: Thus concludes our Naboo arc. We've got some Interludes to look forward to! A week+-in universe-has passed since the Siege of Eriadu. Vader has just returned to Coruscant, Palpatine is pissed, Maul is on the hunt, and Plagueis has returned to the galaxy! The Sith Lords are in anarchy, whilst Revan’s victory over Eriadu inspires rebellion!