Chapter Text
“... given their aptitude, I believe an accelerated course of study would be of benefit to Experimental Clone Group Eight.” Frequency repeated, his ear pressed tightly up against the wall.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bozer whispered.
A sound chorus of shushes from the other boys shut him up.
“The accelerated course of study you suggest, Nel Galru, runs high risks.” Frequency continued repeating, this time in a higher-pitched voice, “If Shaak Ti were to discover our intentions with Experimental Clone Group Eight, there is a likely chance that our experimental program will be halted.”
“The rewards would just as high. If we were to succeed, Shaak Ti may find herself wanting more like them.”
“Whose Shaak Ti?” Omen whispered, his fingers tapping yet another new rhythm on the side of his leg, this one nervous and a little bit frantic.
Tech pulled out his datapad, quickly searching for the person in question, “Shaak Ti is the Jedi representative here on Kamino. She was sent here by the Republic and by the Jedi Council to oversee the creation of clones and to ‘make sure that clones are treated with the dignity and care any living being in the galaxy deserves.’ At least that’s what this article says.”
“Great job she’s been doing,” Doc mumbled, waving his cybernetic right arm.
“Why haven’t we met her yet?” Omen asked, “You would think our status as experimental clones would make us directly under her purview.”
“That’s assuming,” Crosshair said dryly, “that this Shaak Ti really cares about what happens here.”
“She’s a Jedi ,” Bozer said like it explained everything.
Crosshair snorted, “And what do you know about the Jedi?”
Bozer opened his mouth to respond, but Frequency whacked him with the back of his hand, making a shushing sound.
“-group eight will be a good starting point. If your plan succeeds, Nel Galru, we will expand to the other experimental groups. I expect a report on how you wish to proceed with their accelerated study by the end of this week.” Frequency said in the higher voice.
“And that’s our cue to leave,” Doc said, grabbing Bozer’s arm and dragging him down the hall at a hurried pace.
Crosshair sighed, moving from his position leaning against the wall, “If they were going for subtle, they seemed to have missed the mark.”
Frequency let out a quiet laugh, throwing his arm around Crosshair’s thin shoulders, “How we are all from the same batch is beyond me, Grumpy.”
“ Don’t call me that!” Crosshair growled, trying to get Frequency’s arm off of him.
Whether Crosshair had meant to start a wrestling match or not, it quickly turned into one. Frequency and Crosshair ended up on the floor, limbs flying in all directions. Tech and Omen easily stepped around them, used to Frequency finding fights wherever he could.
“Fighting right outside their meeting room is also not subtle,” Tech mumbled to Omen, turning the corner just as the doors to the meeting room slid open.
Omen stifled a laugh, “Cross isn’t going to be happy about Frequency getting him into trouble. Again.”
“No. He’s not,” Tech said with a sigh, “He’s not going to be kind during simulations tomorrow.”
Omen rubbed his shoulder unhappily, “At least he’ll be nice enough to shoot me in the shoulder instead of in the knee tomorrow.”
Tech’s finger twitched towards Omen, every part of him desperate to get his hands on Omen’s medical files.
From what Tech understood, from what very little information he had access to, everyone in the experimental batches had mutations that regular clones did not. But Omen was different compared to even the rest of their batch. Frequency had incredible hearing, Crosshair had his marksmanship abilities, Bozer was extremely strong despite his slight stature, Doc’s sense of smell was so good that he could smell the moment someone was getting sick, Tech understood technology in a way others couldn’t, Karma was frighteningly fast, Nova could see patterns like no one else, Loch could hold his breath for ten minutes easily, and Flamer could jump distance was well beyond normal Mandalorian standards.
But Omen? Unlike the rest of them, his natural abilities weren’t enhanced. If Tech hadn’t known better, he would have guessed that Omen was able to see the future.
Since seeing the future was impossible, Tech’s next best guess was that Omen was able to process information faster and more reliably than even he could. But that didn’t explain how Omen could know where Crosshair would shoot him with the stun rounds tomorrow.
Tech wanted the file more than he had ever wanted anything. Most of the Kaminoan’s files were easy to splice into, but the medical files surrounding the experimental batches were so well guarded that Tech would need a much bigger power source than his datapad to break into.
“- and Nel Galru thinks we are good enough to start accelerated training,” Bozer said to the last of their brothers as Tech and Omen entered their shared room.
“Nel Galru doesn’t even like us,” Flamer pointed out, sitting up in his bunk, “I’m sure his goal in life is to make ours miserable.”
Nova snorted, “Nel Galru likes us just fine. It’s you he doesn’t like because you insist on leaping over him every chance you get.”
“Ok, that’s fair, but tell me you wouldn’t leap over Nel Galru if you could?”
“I wouldn’t,” Nova said with a straight face, “because unlike you, I’m not di'kutla.”
“Hey!” Bozer said, coming to Flamer’s defense, “He’s not an idiot! He just likes to have fun!”
“By torturing the Kaminoan’s?” Nova asked.
“Like you don’t try and make their lives miserable!” Flamer pointed out, “How many simulations have they had to put out of rotation because you figured out how the pattern to bearing them?”
“It’s not like I can control it, unlike you-” Nova started, but was cut off when Karma let out a quiet whistle, gesturing towards the door whose light had just turned green.
Everyone scattered, quickly climbing into their bunks or settling on the floor. The fight that had been brewing quickly turned into casual conversation. Karma remained quiet, eyes plastered on the door.
The door opened with a slight whoosh. Crosshair and Frequency walked in, Nal Galru behind them, one hand on each of their shoulders. Frequency had a black eye but was smiling smugly. Crosshair was also sporting a black eye and a bloody nose. He looked absolutely furious.
Everyone rose to their feet as Nal Galru fully entered the room.
“Might I remind all of you,” Nel Galru said slowly, looking over all of them, “That fighting fellow clones is highly discouraged outside designated hand-to-hand combat training classes.”
“Yes, sir,” the batch said in unison, except for Karma, who simply nodded.
“Training will begin at 0600 tomorrow. We will begin with simulation training, and work on perfecting any imperfections I see. Lights will be turned off in ten minutes.” Nel Galru said, nodding his head at the children.
As soon as the door closed behind Nel Galru, the clones dropped from their parade stance. Crosshair immediately turned on Frequency, poking him hard in the shoulder.
Frequency quickly cut in before Crosshair could say anything, “Look, if you get revenge tomorrow, we all suffer, including you. So, let’s just finish this now.”
Frequency leaned forward, turning the unmarked side of his face towards Crosshair in a gesture of goodwill.
“You’re right,” Crosshair said with a devilish smile, gently patting Frequency’s face, “But it will be worth it.”
“Ugh,” Flamer groaned, flopping onto his bed, “Tomorrow is going to suck isn’t it?”
*-*-*-*
“Tech, you are going to want to move to a different cover,” Crosshair said into the comms, firing off another round.
“So you can shoot me too?” Tech mumbled, his neck already aching from the electric volts that the Kaminoans had sent their way each time they failed.
“As much as I would delight in that, Bozer is causing enough pain for me to be satisfied,” Crosshair replied.
“These failures have not been my fault!” Bozer said, sliding next to Tech, panting, “Nova, can you give me and Tech some cover fire, we are surrounded over here.”
“Karma, Frequency, help me out here,” Nova yelled out over the sounds of blasters, “Can you give them any cover fire, Crosshair?”
“Negative,” Crosshair replied, “I’m looking after Flamer, Loch, and Omen.”
Those two were almost directly across from Tech and Bozer. They had managed to catch the attention of most of the bigger droids in the arena, leaving them as pinned down as Tech and Bozer were.
“All of you stay down until you find an opening. Once we get back together we can work on a plan from there.” Nova said, beginning to fire on the endless drones advancing on the rest of his team.
Tech peaked over the edge of his cover, looking for an opening in to make it back to Nova, who was positioned two covers back. Tech took a hold of Bozer’s elbow, knowing that his brother was more likely to see an opening than he was.
Bozer’s impatience made itself known by little flinches every time he saw an opening. But, given how many times they had failed today Bozer wasn’t going to risk it. Everyone was already grumpy, and another round of painful shocks wouldn’t help the situation. Bozer was impatient, but he also wasn’t stupid.
In the end, it was Tech who spotted their opening. He moved quickly, Bozer moving alongside him. They launched themselves over the next barrier, leaving them one away from Nova and the other part of their squad.
“ Haar'chak ,” Doc yelled loud enough to hear out loud over the sounds of blasters, “Nova’s been hit.”
Tech tensed, waiting for the electric shock that came if any of their squad went down.
“I’m good,” Nova gasped over the comms, “Just grazed me.”
Doc snorted, almost hysterically, “ Grazed ? If these were live rounds there would be nothing left of your hand!”
“Good thing they weren’t using live rounds then,” Nova replied, sounding pained, “I think I saw something that might get us out of here though.”
Loch grunted over the comms, “I would suggest we get on with it. I don’t know how much longer we can last out here.”
“Bozer, Tech, do you think you can make it to Crosshair’s tower?” Nova asked.
“Ummm,” Bozer replied, looking over their cover towards Crosshair, “Maybe?”
“What exactly is the plan?” Flamer asked, barely managing to dodge a droid that got too close.
“There are turrets on the towers,” Nova explained, “If Tech can hack into them…”
Omen cut in, “Are you sure they are even functional?”
“I mean,” Frequency pointed out, “they’ve been used in other simulations.”
Loch sighed, “At worst we fail and have to do this again. At best, we finally get to leave. I say go for it.”
“Karma just volunteered us to be a distraction,” Frequency groaned, “We should be able to buy you enough time to get over there. Don’t know how long you’ll have to splice in though.”
“The rest of us will hold them off for as long as possible,” Nova said, “Just try and move quickly.”
Doc quickly clarified, “And by the rest of us, Nova doesn’t mean himself. He can barely move his hand right now.”
“Great,” Bozer mumbled, “this can only end well.”
Bozer took the lead again. He crouched at the edge of their barricade, Tech moved behind him, putting a hand on his very thin shoulder.
“Please work fast,” Bozer muttered to Tech, with a sigh, “I do not want to deal with an even grumpier team.”
Tech nodded, taking a steadying breath.
Bozer blasted forward, Tech barely able to keep up with his fast pace. Bozer whipped around the tower, instantly beginning to lay down fire. Tech slid behind the tower, beginning to unscrew the panel.
“How did you manage to catch the attention of every droid in this place,” Crosshair muttered bitterly over the comms.
Bozer let out a huff of breath, “It’s more fun this way!”
Tech couldn’t see Crosshair, but he could practically hear his eyes roll.
“Tech,” Flamer said, a bit frantically, “You really need to hurry.”
Tech’s fingers flew across the datapad, “I’m going as fast as I can.”
“You might want to go a little faster,” Frequency called out.
“What part of I’m going as fast as I can don’t you understand!” Tech snapped.
There was a cry of pain just as Tech managed to get the turrets up and running.
“I would suggest getting down,” Tech said, switching the turrets on.
Crosshair swung down from his tower, hitting the ground just as Tech turned the turrets on.
Crosshair, Tech, and Bozer huddled together on the opposite side of the tower, the sounds of blasters bringing down the droids.
“Tech, we’re all clear,” Nova said, “turn off the turrets, any remainders we can pick off.”
There were a couple more blasts before there was silence in the arena. The tension finally eased from everyone’s shoulders.
“You know,” Frequency said tiredly, “Karma is right for once. That was brutal.”
Crosshair let out a little chuckle, “Never did get the chance to shoot you Tech.”
Omen flopped down next to Bozer, rubbing his shoulder uncomfortably, “Yet somehow you had time to shoot me. I didn’t even do anything to you!”
“You walked away when Frequency attacked me,” Crosshair explained, a smirk on his face.
“I really dislike you sometimes,” Omen replied, head flopping against the wall in exhaustion.
*-*-*-*
“I am disappointed in each and every one of you,” Nel Galru said in his usual slow voice, walking between the two rows of clones, “It took you nine attempts to complete the simulation today. Two of those failures were due to CT-9904 shooting his own team. This behavior is unacceptable for clones of your age. I hope that your punishment has reminded you of your place in this world. You may rest now. We will begin training again tomorrow morning at 0600.”
The boys waited patiently, still standing in parade stance until Nel Galru had left the training room. As soon as the door closed behind him, the boys tried to relax. But, after standing in their parade stance for over six hours, trying to relax their stiff legs was difficult.
Karma made a noise of discomfort, collapsing to the floor, barely managing to catch himself. The others moved to try and help him, but their shaking legs made any sort of movement slow and arduous.
Loch swayed for a moment before collapsing, much harder than Karma did. Doc changed his course and slowly knelt next to his with a wince.
“How many times were you shocked, Loch?” Doc asked, gently feeling along his neck underneath the collar.
Punishments like this were always hard for Loch. His posture had always been terrible, no matter how hard he worked on it. And this one had been particularly hard on him. After running the simulation all morning in his heavy armor, trying to keep a perfect posture was nearly impossible. And if he did slouch, it was yet another shock from their collars.
Of course, all of them had been shocked over the hours they had been standing there, but Loch had gotten the brunt of it.
Loch shook his head, his voice hoarse, “I-I don’t know.”
“That’s alright,” Doc said gently, then turned his head towards the others, “Can someone go start the showers? Turn them on as warm as possible.”
Frequency and Nova nodded, holding each other up as they stumbled out of the room.
Crosshair knelt down on Loch’s other side, helping him sit up. Despite Crosshair’s usual cold demeanor, he began rubbing circles on Loch’s back. Like he was trying to comfort him.
With Loch looked after, Doc crawled over to Karma, who was struggling to sit up on his own.
“You alright, K?” Doc asked, helping him to sit up fully.
Karma nodded. He tapped his lips with two fingers and then ran his hand down his throat.
“You didn’t drink enough water beforehand, did you?” Doc said with a click of his tongue.
Karma rolled his eyes, making a grabbing motion with his hand.
“Come on, let’s get you and Loch to the showers. We’ll get someone to pick up some water on the way there. Tech, you doing well enough to help me with Karma?”
Tech sighed from his supine position on the ground. He slowly made his way up onto legs that were shaking badly enough he could barely walk straight.
“I don’t think so,” Tech mumbled, moving towards a wall to steady himself.
“That’s alright. Flamer, Omen, Bozer, you guys alright enough to help?”
Omen shook his head from where he was sitting on the ground. Bozer and Flamer made their way to their feet to help the others.
The shower room was full of steam by the time the rest got there. They collapsed in a heap under the too hot water, not bothering to even take off their clothes. Some of the other boys from the other groups came in and out, giving them some strange looks but otherwise not commenting.
It was Crosshair who finally broke the exhausted silence that hung over them, “I must apologize for my behavior today. Had I known the punishment would be so -”
Frequency nudged his shoulder, cutting him off, “Stop stressing. I’m sure this has to do with whatever advanced training Nel Galru was talking about. He just wants us to do our best. Or he really hates us, like Flamer thinks.”
Nova shook his head, “If he hated us, he would have let us stand there all night.”
“I don’t think that shock collars were really necessary,” Loch said, his voice low and scratchy.
“Like I said,” Frequency replied, sounding a bit more excited, “It’s all for the advanced training. How long before you think we get to join the army at this rate?”
“Soon I hope,” Bozer said with a dreamy sigh, “I mean, we are meant to be fighting in the stars, and we haven’t even seen them yet!”
“We should probably start with smaller dreams,” Nova pointed out, “Like seeing the main cloning facility?”
“I bet we’ll see the stars before we see the main cloning facility,” Omen said, tapping his legs again.
“Let’s make it through tonight first,” Flamer said with a sigh, “and tomorrow morning. I can already feel how much I’m going to hurt.”