Star Wars: Rise of the Battlemage

After twenty minutes or so of watching multiple people scanning and monitoring the trapped clone troopers, one of the doctors began to guide one of the carbonite slabs out of the large room. Surprisingly, it was the same Mon Calamari who had been in charge of the reception at Thila Command, along with a medical droid. As they moved, Captain Rex followed behind them, and after motioning for Tatnia to stay behind, I did as well. The medical droid of all things, spotted me first and attempted to convince me to return to the rest, but the Doctor, seeming to recognize me, ordered it to let me follow.

As we stepped into a much smaller room, one clearly converted into a sterile operating theater, with a hospital bed and several machines I didn't recognize, the Doctor pulled me aside. Behind them, others began preparing to defrost the trooper.

"I've seen how much good your abilities could do at Thila, so I will allow you to remain in the room. But, for now, I want you to keep your… magic to yourself," He explained, staring me down with the confidence of an experienced doctor in their domain. "We have absolutely no idea how your ability works, so predicting how it will interact with our equipment and treatment is impossible. If the situation spirals out of control, I may call for you to help. You may also help once the patient is calm and capable of giving informed consent. Understood?"

"I understand, Doctor. I'll keep my magic to myself," I said before quickly adding. "I should also say I have a spell that calms an individual, should that be useful."

"I will keep that in mind," He said with a nod before turning back to the rest of the room.

I walked over to stand in a clear corner, out of everyone's way. Once I was sure I wouldn't cause any issues, I gave a nod to General Syndulla, who was standing outside the operating room behind a clear barrier with several other people of various species. I turned back to watch the carbonite slab float down onto a bench of some kind, its onboard repulsors turning off.

"We are deactivating the carbonite slab's repulsors to remove one more complication from the equation," The doctor explained, seeming to treat this like any other operation under observation, dictating his methods and plan. "We will begin the defrosting process, with Captain Rex on standby should the patient awake confused or distressed. Should the patient refuse to calm down, we will administer a sedative. After much discussion, it has been concluded that, due to the non-life-threatening nature and the risk of the procedure, we must ask for consent before attempting to remove the bio-chip."

I looked over at Rex, who caught my look and shook his head.

"Don't look at me. I told them that every single one of them will want it removed," He responded quietly as the Doctor continued to talk. "We may have differing opinions on some things, but not wanting to be mind-controlled slaves is pretty consistent. The only reason they might say no is if the carbonite leaves them confused. It's not a fun process."

"You've been frozen in carbonite?" I asked, surprised.

"A crazy scheme from General Skywalker."

"Ah, yeah, that makes sense."

"The technician will now begin the defrosting process," The Doctor explained before focusing on Rex. "Captain Rex, if you would be so kind as to come closer."

The aforementioned technician leaned closer to the carbonite slab and began taping and shifting the controls along the side of the slab. The temperature control systems built into the frame began to hum, and after a few seconds, the relief of the trooper began to glow red. The controls began a quiet warning whistle before the thing thin-casting encapsulation the cloned warrior began to melt, releasing bright beams of light as it did. It looked almost identical to the process I had seen in the movies. The sound was the same as well, though a bit louder than I remembered, a wet crackling sound that made me think of stepping on something crunch andy goey.

Thankfully, unlike in the movies, the doctors had the foresight not to dump the clone out onto the floor. Instead, they stayed lying in the mold of their body, shivering and twitching.

"Hello!? Who's there?" He called out, reaching out wildly, gripping the edge of the, trying to pull himself out but failing due to the weakness caused by being frozen. "W-whats happening? Anyone?!"

"It's alright, soldier, you're safe," Rex said, stepping closer to take his clone brother's hand. "You're in the medbay now."

"Who are you? What happened?" He asked, no longer flailing around but still on edge, looking around blindly, his eyesight obviously gone.

"We found the station and pulled you and the rest of the survivors out," Rex explained. "My designation is CT-7567. Captain Rex. What is your designation, soldier? You have a name?"

"CT-14-2839, Sir," He responded almost instantly." He responded. "Looker, Sir. How many did you pull out, Sir?"

"... We have fifty-two slabs remaining, Looker, you are the first. Is that everyone?"

"Yes, Sir. That is everyone who was stuck on the station," He answered confidently, the tension he was holding slowly sliding away. "We thought… we had no idea if anyone would ever find us, Sir. How long has it been?"

"It's been a good chunk of time, Looker. Over twenty years. A lot has changed since you went under."

The clone soldier, who was wet and still shivering, stilled as Rex explained how long they had been frozen. Before he could react, Rex continued.

"I know it's a lot to take in, Looker, but there is something very important we need to talk about first. During the time you were asleep, a conspiracy in the Republic was revealed. Certain members of the government conspired with the Kaminoans to have biological control chips placed in our heads. Every clone ever born has them."

"What?" Looker asked, once again trying to push themselves up. "That… What happened?"

"A civil war," Rex answered solemnly. "But luckily, with the right preparation and some more advanced medical technology, the chip is removable. The operation is safe but not infallible, so we need your permission to try."

For a long while, the trooper was silent, their mind working through everything that Rex had just revealed to them. Eventually, after nearly a minute, the trooper nodded, still gripping Rex's hand like a lifeline

"Do it," He said with a nod. "I won't be a threat to the Republic. Not after having sacrificed so much to protect it."

"All right, trooper. A doctor is going to administer some anesthetic, which will knock you out. Next time you wake up, you will control chip-free. Most of your symptoms from the hibernation should have faded as well, so you should feel better."

"Thank you, Captain Rex. I'll see you on the other side."

The older-looking clone trooper reached out and patted the soldier's arm while one of the doctors put an injection tool against his neck and administered the sedative. The soldier was asleep moments later, and Rex stepped back to let the doctors work.

"I would like to note that if that was barely passable as consent," The head doctor said as he confirmed the clone soldier was unconscious. "In any other circumstance, I would have refused to perform the surgery. Unfortunately, we do not have the luxury of being one hundred percent truthful in this circumstance."

As we watched, the clone trooper was transferred to the hospital bed. An expensive-looking machine was wheeled over, the top of which was a plate-sized sensor unit attached by sturdy multi-jointed limb. Over the course of five minutes, the sensor developed a detailed scan of the trooper's brain and identified the bio-chip.

"The location of the chip follows the notes we have from several other procedures performed on other clone soldiers," The Mon Calamari doctor explained. "Which means the standard procedure should work without issues."

Once the scan was complete and the chip located, the Doctor and his aides began preparing the soldier for surgery. They shaved his head, then used a solid-looking contraption to stabilize his head. Once they were ready, they began the procedure, first sterilizing the scalp, then cutting into it to create a flap of skin, and pulling that back to reveal the skull. They then used what almost looked like a miniaturized drill pressed, which attached to the same mount the soldier's head was secured to cut into his skull. Once the baseball-sized hole was cut into his skull, the Doctor used a remote manipulator, the kind that translated large movements into tiny, microscale shifts to perform the actual surgery. I didn't have the best angle to see everything, but I could see when the Doctor pulled out a thin slice of flesh.

It took another stretch of surgery to undo the incision and reconnect the circle of the removed skull, but when his scalp was finally re-attached, the Doctor stepped away from his tools.

"Alright, everyone, that went very well," He said. "But the tide has only begun to rise. One down, fifty-two to go."

The turnaround was rather quick, all things considered. The hospital bed was wheeled away, replaced by another identical one, and the nurses and droids re-steralized the tools. Soon, another slab was on the table, and the process began again.

Over the next three hours, fifteen of the fifty-three soldiers went under the knife with no real abnormalities, save when we stumbled on the highest rank of the survivors, a Lieutenant who went by Rider, CT-4478. He was the only one so far to suspect something was going on beyond what Rex was saying.

"What were they conspiring to do?" He asked when Rex explained why the chip existed, managing to sit up despite his obvious temporary weakness.

"To take control of the Republic and turn it into a dictatorship," Rex explained, wincing but ultimately refusing to lie directly.

"... if they controlled all of the clones, the Republic would have been defenseless," Lieutenant Rider guessed. "They would have taken over in days, weeks at best…"

I could feel the tension ratcheting up, the guards stationed just outside the surgery theater preparing to intervene as the medical staff started to back up. I made a calming gesture, General Syndulla nodding and relaying the order to her men.

"Since you are offering to remove the chip, that must mean you are rebelling against the new dictatorship," He guessed again, proving his intelligence. "Unless this is all an act…"

"Not a ruse Leuitenant. We are part of the Rebellion," I said, getting a look from Rex and a few people behind the protective screen. "We are worried about triggering anything hidden inside the chip. That's why we are feeding you and your men as little information as possible while still giving you enough so you can give informed consent to remove the chip."

"Who are you?" The clone asked, his sightless gaze turning towards my voice.

"My name is Deacon Roy, leader of the Skyforged Vanguard, a rebel-leaning mercenary group. We were part of the group that found you and your men."

"Why are you here?"

"My team found you," I explained. "I didn't want to pass you off to someone else, I needed to see it through."

"... What's going to happen to my men?" He asked after a long pause.

"If you consent to getting the chip removed, you will spend some time recovering, then you can do what you want. Leave, stay, whatever you want," I responded. "You are not going to be held against your will, nor are you going to be forced to join up. Your war is over. What you and your men do is up to you."

"...And if we say no?" He asked, his muscles shaking as he prepared himself to do something stupid.

"Then you can spend some time recovering from hibernation sickness, and I will personally bring you somewhere you can bum a ride," I explained. "We need to keep Opsec, so it might not be a luxury trip, but I promise you, you will be treated humanely. I'll even make sure you have some credits, so you're not just stuck somewhere."

Just like Looker, Lieutenant Rider spent a long while considering the offer before finally nodding. Eventually, his posture shifted and he lay back down in the carbonite mold.

"Fine, I consent to the procedure. I'm trusting you, Deacon Roy, and you, Captain Rex."

Once the officer was under and the procedure began, Rex leaned over to talk to me.

"What was that?" He asked, his voice more curios than accusing.

"He had already caught you trying to hold back the truth," I explained. "He was beginning to question if anything you said was true. I was a different voice, answering his questions fully. Would have preferred it to be someone higher up than me, like the General, but I was here, so what can you do?"

When the Doctor finally called the procedures for the day, Rex headed to the room where the treated troopers were while I headed back to the Chariot. Before I had gotten more than a dozen feet, someone called out for me. General Syndulla, with heard guards nearby, was waving to me.

"General Syndulla, it's good to see you," I said as I made my way to her. "I gotta ask, how did everyone react to the news of the troopers?"

"It certainly threw off everyone's orbit for a moment," She said with a chuckle. "I'm glad we found them. I can't imagine drifting through space for all eternity like that. I wonder if they would have ever been found."

I had to bite my tongue from mentioning that, as far as I knew, they never would have been. My teasing about just knowing things had been fun so far, but I'm not sure how people would react to me having concrete foreknowledge too.

"I just hope that whatever they choose, they can find some peace or at least a place in this world," I said, shaking my head. "What the Republic did to them makes me sick."

"It definitely puts things into perspective," the General admitted, shaking her head. "Unfortunately, besides treating them better, there is not much we can do about it now."

I nodded, and for a second, we both stood silently in the hall. Eventually, she cleared her throat and continued.

"Do you have a moment? We wanted to discuss Omega Station and the preliminary result of the inspection," she explained.

"On an official level?" I asked, getting a nod of confirmation in return. "Because I would prefer to have Tatnia with me if we are going to be shaking hands on deals."

"That's fine, I can have someone escort her to the conference room."

"In that case, lead the way."

She nodded and, with a gesture, headed off down the hall, her guards following behind us. I let out a sigh, knowing that it was very likely this would turn into a long, drawn-out conversation depending on who else was in the meeting. I shook my head, resigning myself to the situation and, with fingers crossed that no politicians would be involved, followed after the Rebel leader.