A sense of betrayal and confusion, confliction and fear, radiated from Mevenn. She trusted Mach with her life, like she had all the other clones. That however did not change the fact that they had turned on her. They had been her brothers in arms, they had served together faithfully throughout the course of the Clone Wars. Then they had just turned on her, as if none of that had mattered. If nothing they had done together mattered, the times they had saved eachothers lives. Lay side by side in the rain, camped down trying to get what little sleep they could while the war marched on around them. All of that was gone.

She took a deep breath, centering herself. "I was in the woods. I was fighting some form of darkside user, he spoke in riddles. The end of the Jedi, that we had already won the war. I didn't think much off it, I just assumed he was some form off new Separatist soldier, some form of adept to counter the numbers of the Jedi. Or maybe some former acolyte of Count Dooku, perhaps his would be replacement?" She shrugged. "Once I was finished with him, the rest of the squad showed up. Without saying anything they attacked me." Mevenn was glad for her helmet at this point, as tears were beginning to form in her eyes. She silently wished she hadn't removed the voice filter on the helmet, as her voice began to crack up.

"It was me or them."

A sob escaped her.

"They were my brothers, and my friends. I had no choice." Mevenns head dropped, shame filling her.

While Mevenn had already mentioned the betrayal before, hearing her describe it again was no less impactful. Kresst had hoped he had misunderstood Mevenn in her initial, panicked state, but the implications of what had transpired were just as troubling as he had initially feared. There was the possibility that Mevenn's squad had somehow went rogue, or that the enemy had somehow found a way to control the minds of their cloned bodies, but Kresst had already begun to piece together the few details he knew to make those possibilities seem less likely. The most disturbing scenario, that it was the Republic that turned against them, was seeming more likely.

The Mon Calamari's already large eyes widened out of shock from Mevenn's description of what happened. Although, it did not take her long to piece together Mevenn's recollection with her own perspective. "Wait, the clones turned on you? That's...I knew they were acting strange, but this is...well, 'bad' is an understatement." She said, pulling out her datapad as she continued. "I got nervous when the Separatists showed up, but I had the clones guarding the ship, and the droids weren't really getting close to us. Then, we picked up a transmission from Coruscant. It had military encryption, and definitely wasn't for me, but the clones got it. Then they just...the way they started acting had me more nervous than the Seps. I know clones are professional soldiers and everything, but I've been around them a lot, and I know they don't usually act like the Human versions of droids. They would hardly even acknowledge me, wouldn't give me a rendezvous point in case I had to take off, they just left me and the ship alone. All without any input from their Jedi commander. Now, C2 saved that transmission. It's encrypted, but you have that clone armor, and the comms the message was meant for. We could probably play it if I send it to you." She offered to Mevenn.

Kresst held up his hand abruptly. "Wait!" He interrupted. His 'shouting' voice was coarse, somewhat high-pitched, and could be hard to take seriously at times, but it could certainly grab one's attention. "This isn't the first I am hearing of that message. Just as we were about to head down into the Sith temple, Mach mentioned that we had received a priority order from Coruscant. But, then we headed underground before he could listen to it. Our communications were cut off while we were down there." He explained as he shifted his gaze towards the clone on the far side of the table. "Mach never heard that order."

Mevenn was about to jump at the chance of listening to the transmission that turned the best people she knew into traitors. She almost winced as Kresst raised his voice, his usual gentle demanour mometarily replaced with a sense of urgency as he described that Mach had been meant to recieve a priority order from Coruscant. Only that the cave system had prevented him from recieving the order, as had the subsequent damage to his helmet. He spoke up first. "I don't see how an order could turn my men into traitors. Maybe it wasn't actually them, we've seen droids wear clone armour before. It's not out of the question."

Mevenn shook her head, fighting to keep her voice even and controlled. "Droids don't have the same presence in the Force, it's harder to gauge their actions than it is of a living organic being. If they had merely shot at me, and I had the chance to retreat without having my hand being forced to..." She fought to pick the right word, a word she could say. "-Go on the offensive. I may have agreed with you." She turned to Kresst. "Do you think that this order could have something to do with it? Mach is the only one out of the squad to not hear it, and he is the only one not to turn on us. Though how could an order do that?"

"I think you're forgetting a possibility Commander." Mevenn turned her head to the Clone, confused.

"What if they weren't the traitors? What if it's you?"

Kresst quickly broke his usual calm, though not out of emotion in this case. This was a situation that could escalate horribly, and quickly, if something was not done right away. "Stop. Both of you need to stop and listen to yourselves. You two know each other better than I ever could, and there are some questions you both need to ask yourselves. You have fought together for years, placed your lives in each other's hands. You have come to know each other as family, closer even, with what you have undoubtedly been through together. If you think back on all of that, all of the battles, and the bonding in between, then answer me this: Mach, if your superiors accused Mevenn of being a traitor, then ordered you to execute her immediately and without trial, would you do it? And Mevenn, with all you know of all of the others in your squad, of all their personalities, traits, flaws, and loyalties, do you honestly believe they would as well?"

Kresst let out a long breath, his eyes shifting slowly between the two of them. "I do not know what, but I believe there is something else sinister afoot. This...darkness I feel, it is everywhere."

Mevenn was silent. Much as she would have hated to actually verbally admit it but Kresst had a point. There was no way the troopers she knew like kin were traitors. No way they would turn on her, she knew better than most the bond that clones shared among one another and she had been lucky enough to become a sister to this band of clones. There was no possible way in which they would betray her, especially not in the way they had. Cooler heads often prevailed, this was an instance of it. She could sense the darkenss Kresst was speaking off as well, something dark was afoot and they had to know what.

Mevenn turned her head to the pilot. "Do it. Relay the message to my helmet." She turned to Kresst before he could counter her argument. "I need to do this Master. I need to know."

Although Kresst was hesitant to agree, he did not feel there would be much success in trying to argue with Mevenn, and it was true that someone would need to listen to this message. After a moment of thought, he slowly nodded. "Very well, Mevenn."

Kresst shifted his attention back towards Mach, who was still silent after Kresst's intervention. "Although, I do feel that I should reiterate: this message, for whatever reason and by whatever unknown means, almost certainly caused your squad to take up arms against one of their closest friends. You should not hear it until we better understand what is happening, and perhaps how to protect you from falling victim to it. Eeruna, please relay the message."

The Mon Calamari nodded and, after a nervous glance towards the clone, brought up the encrypted message on her datapad and transmitted it to Mevenn's helmet. It would take a few moments for her comms to run through the decryption, but after that, it would play for her immediately.

Mevenn touched the side of her helmet as the message relayed into her helmet. The voice was easily distinguishable, that of the Supreme Chancellor. Though something was off, static? It didn't sound quite right. The usual caring, fatherly tone was replaced by something far deeper and slower. It almost sounded menacing. "The time has come. Execute Order Sixty-Six." The message cut off straight after, and Mevenn lifted off her helmet confused. This didn't make sense, while the Supreme Chancellor technically had control over the GRA orders were typically relayed through the Navy or the Jedi Council who were the appointed Generals during the war.

"It's some kind of order, directly from Chancellor Palpatine." Machs expression read as confused as hers. That was at least a somewhat positive note. He didn't seem to be in on the conspiracy, at least not willingly. "Do you think that this order is behind it? If so we need to get back to Coruscant immediately, before any other Jedi are attacked."

Kresst gave a concerned look towards Mevenn. "That was...quick. Whatever was said in that message could not have been any more than just a few words. And yet, it was enough to compel your squad to take up arms against a close friend? This does not bode well. I do feel this should be reported directly to the Jedi Council, but this darkness we have felt, this...pain and suffering seemingly from everywhere. It has me concerned."

"Back to Coruscant...I almost forgot." Eeruna began as she started to search through her datapad once more, along with mumbling under her breath. "Can't believe I almost forgot. Had to be about the best news I'd heard all year, then all this craziness happened..."

Eeruna started to seem mildly frustrated with her datapad, then soon stopped searching through it entirely. "Look, we also started getting another message, not encrypted, from Coruscant. The Jedi Temple, specifically. It's ordering a full retreat for all Jedi back to the Temple, and saying the war is over."

Mevenn clapped her hands together as she stood up. "That must be it. I mean if the War is over that means the Sith Lord who was behind the Separatist Uprising has also been dealt with. I mean there was talk about him being an incredibly powerful Sith Lord, who knows what kind of ripple effect his Death would have on our ability to connec twith the Force. It's probably why we're sensing such darkness and confusion. Maybe the mysterious order that turned the Clones against us was some ploy devised by him to turn the Clones against us should he lose the war, we have no idea what they forced the Chancellor to say before Masters Kenobi and Skywalker managed to rescue him above Coruscant."

Mevenn took off her helmet and flashed a grin at Mach. Everything was going to be okay now. The Clone Wars were over, they won.

Kresst was not nearly as optimistic as Mevenn, though he could understand why she would be. Kresst could not pretend like he had all of the answers, or any of the answers at all, for that matter. He was not sure by what means one could be able to manipulate the clones to betrayal, but it had obviously happened. Just in the short time he had to think so far, there were a myriad of likely and unlikely scenarios he could imagine that could have caused it, from clever sabotage by the Separatists, and even to betrayal from within the Repbulic. All that he was sure of was that he did not know the truth, and that fact pushed him towards caution.

"I cannot deny that as a possibility. We all know the devious nature of the Sith, but I think we should take care to avoid assumptions. The only certainty that we have is that we are in the dark. I propose we take a cautious approach. It can be difficult to get news this far into the Outer Rim, aside from priority military communications. Even then, who knows how long ago those messages were sent? I suggest we head for the nearest civilized planet in the Outer Rim with a functioning communication network and try to establish secure communications with the Jedi Order. Hopefully, the more-informed Jedi back on Coruscant will be able to shed more light on this confusing situation." Kresst suggested.

Mevenn turned on Kresst. "By the time we've made it to a planet with reliable communication back to Coruscant we could have been half way back to Coruscant. I say we just take the straight route, straight on to Coruscant. If you're really nervous we can drop out of hyperspace part of the way there." She sighed in frustration as she sat herself back time. "Why do you temple types always have to overanalyze everything?" A glimmer of her formerself, before the betrayal, began to shine through. "The Separatists managed some form of plot to turn the Clones against us in a last bid attempt at winning the war. It obviously failed, the only reason the squad here was affected was due to us being all the way out of here. The order that no-doubt countermanded the attempt at treachery might not have made it all the way out here."

"You sit in the temple and refuse to take part in the war, and when it's over you want to delay our return to the temple to go to some other backwater world? What makes you so suspicious sitting in the temple all the time?"

Kresst let out a long breath, silently wishing that Mevenn had not returned to her old self quite so quickly. Still, he kept his emotions in-check, even if that meant behaving more like his fellow Jedi back at the Temple than he cared for. Contrary to Mevenn's perception of him, he did not enjoy their often restrictive, close-minded attitudes any more than she did. However, this situation, he felt, was one that demanded clear minds and level-headed thinking.

Kresst's even tone reflected the state of mind he was attempting to employ. "I am a historian, a scholar. One learns eventually not to make assumptions on what they do not know. There is wisdom in recognizing the limits of your knowledge or ability. If your assumptions are correct and this war is over...then we are in no hurry, are we? Perhaps I am wrong, but we stand to gain much and lose little by taking the cautious approach and ensuring we fully understand the situation before going anywhere potentially...dangerous."

"To which I ask you, how could Coruscant and the Jedi Temple be potentially dangerous? The Temple has to be one of the most secure locations in the entire Galaxy." Mevenn raised her arms in surrender. "Have it your way though, you're the master here. Can we at least go core bound? At least that way when there doesn't seem to be anything wrong we can continue on to the temple. I'm sure there's a lot of duties that they need both of us to do now that the War is over, they'll probably even send you out with another team to secure the artifact we just encountered. Then you can have your own research project out in the middle of nowhere, and I'll probably be rounding up separatists that don't realise the war is over."

She stretched and yawned, her muscles starting to ache as she came down from the adrenaline high that had kept her going since the fight with the mysterious Force user out in the forst. "I'm going to hit the refresher and go to bed, unless you need me for anything?"

"Very well, as long as we take an appropriately cautious approach, I suppose we can simply drop out of hyperspace somewhere along the way, without too much of a detour." Kresst agreed.

Kresst did not have anything more to discuss with Mevenn, but he was not finished quite yet. He turned his attention to Mach, taking his time to observe the Human clone's features. "I suppose we could all use some rest, but Mach, you have been mostly silent thusfar. And yet, you are just as bound up in all of this as we are. I would like to hear your thoughts."

"I don't know what to believe Sir." The voice all clones shared, even without the filters in the helmet came out of his helmet. "I can't believe what Mevenn said about my brothers, about-" He looked at Mevenn and she had to look away from him. "-what our comrades did. I believe her though, in fact if you'd permit it sir I'd like to view her helmets footage. To see if they said anything, if so what and more specifically how they acted in the situation. Other than that Sir, what happens next is up to you. You're the General."

Kresst allowed himself a few moments to consider Mach's request, and its potential ramifications. There were some concerns that he did need to weigh in the situation, like the psychological effects such a recording might have on Mach. Clones, bred for war as they may be, were still people, and were still susceptible to mental trauma. But, his squad were his brothers, and he did have a right to know what happened, regardless.

With a long breath, Kresst tapped a claw rhythmically against the table, eyeing down Mevenn's helmet. "There is no good reason for us to deny you that request. Whatever that order was would not have been caught by Mevenn's helmet, so it should be safe. I would say, Mevenn, that you should upload the relevant footage to the ship for Mach to view, if he so chooses. But Mach, I would make sure that this is truly what you want. If what Mevenn says is true, that they attacked and she had to...defend herself, then it will not be easy for you to watch. You should take care that your mind is in the right state to be able to handle it."

The visors for her helmet were blacked out as Mevenn allowed the Force to flow through her limbs. Double vision. Blaster bolt coming to her right shoulder, followed by one to her stomach. She swung her blade around blocking both bolts with a single movement of the blade, the training bolts being absorbed by her lightsaber rather than bounced back against anything. Surrounded by friends, the feeling of victory on her mind. Double Vision. A bolt coming for her left leg, followed by one to her right and then followed with one aimed at her head. She spun the blade down low, in a sweeping arc clockwise, before pulling it counter clockwise to protect her left leg. Friends, brothers. Raised their weapons and fired.

Mevenn gasped as a bolt collided with her helmet, sending her reeling backwards. Off balance and out of focus. Fear surged through her as she lashed out with the Force on the remote. Subsequently the remote exploded in a fiery ball of heat and plasma, the sound echoing throughout the ship as the room was charred from the flames. She pulled her helmet off gasping for air, turmoil crashing through her head as she relived the moment the Clones turned their weapon on her. Not aware as a couple of astromech droids came wheeling into the room to deal with the source of the flames, searching for the damage that had caused the explosion. She was numb to their probing beeping and whistles. How did she do it? How did it get to the point where she had to kill her brothers in arms? Surely there had been another way. She could have cast the grenade away, pinned them to the ground and tried to reason with them. This wasn't the way that it was supposed to be. If the war was over this wasn't fair, she shouldn't be here without them.

Why her? Why Kresst? They made it out alive, was it simply because they were Jedi? Tears welled in her eyes, Mevenn tried to control the fear and the pain that grew within her but the more she tried to control her emotions the more a rage grew within her and so the tears fell. Grasping her knees she sat hunched on the floor, sobbing into her knees as the droids continued their business. The ship rocking through hyperspace. Taking them home.

As much as he tried, Kresst could not quite maintain the sense of calm he was hoping for, so his meditation had been largely unsuccessful. Though, he expected that they would be dropping out of hyperspace sometime soon regardless in order to check what information they could glean about this supposed end of the war, if his reckoning of time was still correct.

Kresst uncrossed his legs and laid back on his bed that was made far too large for himself. He did not feel as much from the rest of the galaxy, but if there was one thing he was able to sense during his meditation, it was the turmoil within his own ship. There was no living being aboard the ship that was not filled with some degree of worry or fear. He would not have been surprised if even the droid was "worried". He had to admit that the prospect of returning home after this whole affair carried a certain optimistic appeal to it, but Kresst still could not shake his doubts. Why would he have felt such intense darkness and despair come over him if the galaxy had finally came to peace. He supposed that Mevenn's theory that the clones had been somehow manipulated by the Separatists, coupled with the dark side presence on the planet, could have explained it, but Kresst still could not shake a persistent sense of dread. Was the source of it his own mind, or perhaps the minds of the others with which he was sharing the ship, or was he still feeling it from the Force itself?

Regardless of what the truth might be, Kresst realized that he would be finding no answers on his own. Once they dropped out of hyperspace, they would be able to get a better sense of the situation. The only things he could influence right now were on the ship, and there was one person whose turmoil he could feel more clearly than anyone else's.

---

The light sound of small claws tapping against the hard floor could be heard after the door to the room opened once more. Even so, Kresst was not even sure that Mevenn had yet noticed him. He politely stepped to the side to make way for one of the alarmed astromechs rolling around in the room, then stepped up close in front of Mevenn. With the way she was sitting curled up on the floor, he was actually close to head height to her for once.

Kresst started right away, skipping any greetings or questioning of her feelings. She was showing them quite clearly. "I know that you are a soldier, as they were. As a soldier and a Jedi, I know you certainly prepared your mind for the possibility that you might lose some of them. Perhaps you already lost some friends in this war, but this? You could not prepare your mind for this. No one, could prepare their mind for this. Whatever...caused it to happen, it was not because of you. And there was nothing better you could be expected to have done."

Flashes of anger and pain. Fighting together on Geonosis, Abafar, Kuat and many other worlds. Time spent in the trenches huddled together for warmth, for safety. Mevenn heard the tiny clawed feet as Kresst entered the hold, likely having been alerted to what was going on by the explosion. Now she couldn't even control her own damned ability, what kind of soldier was she? What kind of Jedi? Kresst didn't understand, saying that she did what she was trained to do. She hadn't, she had defended herself and killed her brothers and her friends. There had to have been another way, some way to break whatever mind control had been used on them. Some way to incapacitate them without killing them. They were her brothers, almost in the way to which they were to eachother.

Mevenn lifted her head, anger came off her in waves, tears still ran down her cheeks. "I did what I had to do?"

She visibly scoffed. "We're trained to be soldiers, peacekeepers. We're meant to be the most honourable and skilled individuals the Republic has to offer. Yet when something happens, something truly awful instinct kicks in and everyone winds up dead." She stood up and began to pace. "I didn't do what I have to do, no. What I had to do was - I had to." She slammed her fist into the wall as she struggled to come up with a solution to what happened. "I had to de-escelate the situation. That's what I had to do, I had to- Find a way to snap them out of it. No. What I did was what I was trained to do."

"Ugh." Mevenn reached down and pulled her lightsaber from her belt, tossing it to Kresst. "Maybe you should hold onto that. Make sure I don't kill you, since apparently that's what I do now. Kill people I work with, people who I trust with my own life."

Kresst paused for just a few seconds as he glanced over Mevenn's lightsaber, which was rather large in his hands. He took another step forward, craning his head up to make eye contact with her. "Those are all very easy words to say right here, in this ship, far from any danger. How many hours have you been here in this room thinking about it? How long have you been imagining all the other ways you could have reacted, all the incapacitating attacks you might have used at different parts in the fight? Now, compare that to how much time you actually had to think in the moment. Seconds? Less? Can you honestly say to yourself that these plans you are coming up with after hours of thought would have been just as reasonable to carry out in the heat of the moment? The clones were professional soldiers too: deadly and efficient. And they were trying to kill you. Just one blaster bolt to the wrong spot is all it would have taken, and they would have known how to punish any mistake you made."

Extending his hands upwards, Kresst offered Mevenn's lightsaber back to her, if for no other reason than to bring her closer to him for a moment. He did not often take any issue with his own height, but if there was one annoyance it caused him, it was that it made him seem more distant, literally and figuratively, during these sorts of conversations. Some of the emotion he might want to convey could be lost. "I haven't seen the recording, but I have to imagine you tried to convince them to stop. And I have to imagine they refused. The men you considered your brothers, who you fought with for years, were not the men who tried to kill you. They would not have done that to you of their own will. Whatever twisted their mind destroyed who they were, and there is no guarantee it was even reversible to begin with. Just take a moment and exchange your roles; pretend that it was you who had lost your rational mind and suddenly tried to kill them without cause. Would you have expected them to take such great risks to incapacitate you, even if it meant their own deaths?"