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dustmusings · 5 months ago

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shadows of kamino, chapter one: catalyst

tags/warnings: discussion of death/loss

a/n: okay, I'm very excited about this. I've been holding off on posting it for ages but I guess idc anymore lol. this is my entry for day one of @clonexocweek, as it is where (most of) the OCs are introduced to their respective clones :) I did a little introduction post about my characters which you can find on the masterlist ! the existing clones are all veryyyy baby in this, apart from Rex maybe. room for growth yanno? forgive them (and me)

next chapter / masterlist / join my taglist / chapter wc: 6.6k

— Indri

22 BBY, Month 9 / Kamino

Indri began her day as she began every day; by watering the flower atop her dresser. It was an Alderaanian flame-lily, given to her by Nala Se as a token of good will a few years ago. Watering the flower afforded Indri a small amount of joy in the monotony of her life on Kamino. It was the only thing in her small bedroom that proved that anyone lived there — otherwise, the room was spotless and sterile. It was customary on Kamino, to make your bed to perfection every day, to make sure nothing was out of place. Indri didn’t mind, she liked a clean space anyway.

Knowing that Nala Se would be along soon, Indri rushed to drag a comb through her hair, and noticed it was getting longer. She made a note of it on her datapad — it was getting to the point where the Kaminoans would start hassling her about unsafe practice in the lab, that she should keep her hair at a tidy length. A soft knock sounded at the door just after Indri had finished buttoning up her pinafore uniform, and she pressed the button to open it, finding Nala Se waiting for her outside.

“Hello Indri, how are you feeling this morning?” She spoke slowly, posing the same question as every other morning.

“I am feeling well” Indri replied with a polite smile.

“Good. Let us begin” The Kaminoan nodded and began to lead Indri towards the lab.

Indri didn’t get to see much of Kamino, apart from those few corridors between her quarters and the lab, as well as the usually miserable weather that went on outside of it. She also took her meals in the lab, despite always wanting to join the other clones in the mess hall. Nala Se forbade it. Indri couldn’t help but feel intrigued by the Jango Fett clones. The lab that she worked in everyday was relatively nearby to where they resided — the rooms where they were developed and trained. Despite the proximity, Indri had never been so fortunate as to see one, not up close at least.

“Your hair is getting long, Indri” Nala Se informed her as they approached the door to the lab, and Indri tried her best not to frown.

“I know, I will cut it tonight” Indri replied curtly, not bothering to turn towards her. She was a little worn down by the passive-aggressive nature of the Kaminoans, particularly when it was directed towards her, someone who adhered to their strict rules.

It wasn’t all bad though — on some days, a clone named Omega would help out in the lab. She was still young and didn’t really understand much of what they did in there, but Indri believed that her sense of wonder made up for it plenty. Indri looked forward to those days the most, but as she and Nala Se stepped into the lab, she realised that today wasn’t one of them. She hid her disappointment well, eating her morning meal before busying herself with her daily tasks. The day dragged on slowly, as always.

In the months prior, Indri had picked up some more tasks around the lab, and while it brought some semblance of accomplishment, it did little to quell her desire to work on more important things. Her goals were lofty, but the youthful positivity she carried with her meant that she hadn’t let Nala Se’s disregard of her own projects get her down just yet. She knew that the work she wanted to do was important, and took the Kaminoan’s comments in stride rather than letting them dissuade her.

By now she knew the nature of the Kaminoans, the people who created and raised her up from just cells. She was thankful for that, of course, but she also wished they could be a little more warm. With no other people but Omega to interact with, and receiving only direction and orders from them, she couldn’t help but feel a little lonely.

Eventually, her lunch hour came. Nala Se had stepped out of the lab, which was not unusual in and of itself, but as they usually took their lunch together, Indri couldn’t help but wonder what was holding her up. She peered out of the large window that lined one side of the room, noting that it was an unusually pleasant day. Leaning against the glass plane, taking in the parts of the city that she could see through it, she noticed that there was a platform not too far away. Indri reckoned she could find her way there easily enough.

She glanced over to the door, watching it for a moment. Her thoughts dwelled on the cold nature of the person she waited for, brows furrowing with frustration at her insistence to not let her outside of the lab. With Nala Se gone, there was a window of opportunity to leave that Indri didn’t often get to see through. Besides, Nala Se said she couldn’t eat in the mess, but she didn’t explicitly say that she couldn’t eat outside the lab. At least, that’s the way that Indri justified scurrying out of the lab and making her way through several halls, before ultimately getting lost.

She huffed out a breath, feeling slightly embarrassed by her poor directional skills, despite how close the platform had seemed. In her defence, there were no windows in the hall she was in, so it was hard to keep track of where it was, and of course there were no sign-posts to let her know.

“Who are you?” a voice called out, and Indri jumped, having thought she was alone in the hallway.

She whipped around to see who had spoken to her, and was shocked to find that it was one of the Jango Fett clones — not that there weren’t many of them, there were millions, but Indri had never actually met one before.

“I never see any girls on Kamino” he drew his eyebrows together slightly, his head dropping to the side to reveal a tattooed aurebesh five at his temple. “Well” he continued, “that’s not true, but I think I would have remembered seeing you here before”

“I— uh… I help Nala Se in the lab” Indri said unsurely, her voice quiet.

“Well… what are you doing here then?” he enquired further, raising an eyebrow and casting a glance around the hallway.

“Um…” she stuttered, a sheepish smile lifting her lips, her cheeks flushing as she clutched her lunchbox, “I was trying to reach the platform, but I got lost”

“Oh. Well then, follow me” the clone said with a proud smile, striding past her. Indri rushed to catch up, her shorter legs carrying her at a significantly slower pace that the man’s. ”What’s your name?” he asked, rounding a corner.

“It’s Indri” she peeped out.

“And what are you doing on Kamino, Indri?”

She realised immediately that this was the first time hearing anyone other than the Kaminoans say her name. She decided right away that she liked the way it sounded when he said it.

“It’s my home” she shrugged, unsure of how else to answer.

“Your home?” he turned to look at her as they walked, his brows drawn together, “where are your parents?”

Indri returned his puzzled expression, “parents?”

The man reached a door and pressed the button on the control panel to open it up. Indri forgot about the conversation as her ears were filled with the sound of the ocean swaying back and forth gently, waves lapping around the base of the city. A smile gradually lifted the corners of her lips, having never heard such a thing before. The only time she’d been able to hear the sea was during the raging storms that would throw waves against the window of the lab. It was never this gentle, this calm. Maybe Kamino wasn’t so bad after all.

“You don’t have parents?” the clone asked her as he lead out onto the platform.

The freshness of the air was startling. Indri had never truly been outside before, the salty taste in the air was so foreign to her, despite having lived a whole life on this planet.

“No, the same way you don’t”

The clone turned to her, “wait, you’re a clone?” he surveyed her face, eyes sweeping across her features “but— you don’t look like me”

It was true, though pointless to mention, Indri thought. Her hair was pin-straight and a light sandy blonde colour, her eyes a fascinating sapphire blue, and her complexion much lighter than his own.

“I’m… I’m a clone of someone else, of course” Indri cocked her head to the side a little, confused at the man’s comment.

“Right, yeah, that makes sense” he muttered, scratching the back of his neck bashfully.

“Thank you for showing me the way” Indri smiled up at him.

The man beamed at the comment, his confidence evidently rushing back to him, ”oh, it’s no problem”

“I didn’t get your name” Indri noted.

“Oh right, it’s Fi-”

“Fives! You’ve got to stop running away or else we’ll all be in trouble”

The attention of the two clones on the platform was drawn to the door as a stern voice called out. Indri turned to see two people, one who looked identical to Fives, and a woman who was dressed in the same red tunic as the two of the,. She had thick red hair that poked out just behind her ears, and sharp green eyes, which were currently darting between her and Fives. “Oh look, Fives actually managed to talk to a girl”

“Stow it, Etta” Fives scowled at her.

“Well, go on… introduce us then” the woman named Etta walked towards them, followed closely by the other clone next to her. From the complexion of the woman it was obvious she was not a Jango Fett clone either, so Indri was doubly confused at Fives’ previous comments.

“This is Indri” Fives begrudgingly told her, then turned to Indri, “and this is Echo and Etta, they’re in my squad”

Echo nodded in acknowledgement, a warm smile directed to the blonde clone before addressing his brother, “speaking of our squad… we’re finally being deployed, and it’s soon”

Indri couldn’t help but chuckle at the specific tone of irritation that his voice carried.

“No way! We‘re actually being deployed?” Fives rushed over to them and Echo took hold of his arm as he turned on his heels to leave, not willing to let him slip through his grasp once more, it seemed.

“It’s almost like we’ve been running around for the last hour to try and tell you that” Etta rolled her eyes, following after the two clones.

“It was nice to meet you Fives” Indri called out, catching his attention before he disappeared through the doorway and smiling at him with an innocence he would only share for so much longer.

“It was nice to meet you too Indri, I hope to see you again!” He called back, waving as he got pulled into the corridor by Echo.

Indri sighed as she came down from the excitement of having met one of the clones. She sat on a supply crate, opening her lunchbox and digging in to the plain food inside. The meal was enjoyable, she hadn’t known food to be any better after all, and particularly as she looked out on the waves with no tinted glass to obscure it like usual. It was breath taking. She chewed on her food slowly, mesmerised by the way the water moved. She wandered over to the edge of the platform after a while, peering over and gulping when seeing how far down it was.

“Indri!” a voice called out to her, “get away from there!”

Indri turned to see Nala Se gliding over to her quickly, and she stepped back from the edge.

“What are you doing? You know you should stay in the lab!” The Kaminoan scolded, the most angry that Indri had ever seen her, perhaps the first time she’d seen her lose her composure.

“I’m sorry, it’s just such a nice day” Indri defended in a quiet voice.

“You are not to leave my side. Ever. Do you hear me?”

”Yes, mistress” Indri hung her head and followed Nala Se as she headed back inside, collecting her lunchbox on the way. Though it had been short lived, Indri had truly enjoyed her time outside. In fact, this was the best day she had had for as long as she could remember.

— Etta

22 BBY, Month 10 / Rishi Moon

Etta felt as if she couldn’t breathe. Although not inflicted by any bodily wound, she gasped for breath, and feared that nothing would go in. Her head spun, eyes watered, and she almost tripped over a part of the wreckage in her daze. All that remained of her squad now was Fives, Echo and Hevy. Droidbait and Cutup were dead. She knew that as soldiers, they had been trained to suffer these heavy losses, but as people, it felt different. They were part of her squad, her family, and now they were gone.

It was almost impossible to process. It didn’t make sense as she was reminded of their absense every second.

The remaining members of the domino squad were traversing the burning wreck of a ship, and the fire was only making Etta’s breathing more unsteady. She linked her hands behind her head and took a few deep breaths, trying to ground herself. Though with the situation she found herself in, it was hard to find something for her mind to cling to. Etta followed her squad forwards, letting her hands hang by her side with one final deep breath.

“Hands above your heads! Take your sun bonnets off” a clone’s voice shouted. It was the inspection team they were expecting, but they were pointing blasters at them. Etta huffed irritatedly. She didn’t have the patience nor the will to be dealing with anybody new at this moment.

“Uh… sir?”

“Take ‘em off! Now”

The freshly graduated clones obliged the man with the painted armour, pulling their helmets off to reveal their faces. Etta knew her face wouldn’t bring much comfort, only confusion, but she went along with her brothers all the same. The clone hidden behind the blue jaig eyes appeared to stare at her, his helmet locked in her direction, but only for a moment before a clamour drew his focus. A creature roared out from behind him, making Etta and her brothers jump back in fear.

The inspection team didn’t seem as phased. The one in front of Etta shot it down with an ease that sent a stroke of sickness through her stomach, her face contorting in a frown as the fear subsided. Cutup had been taken by the eel as easily as the shot had been fired, and for this clone to bring it down just so, she couldn’t help but think how undignified his death now seemed.

“Nice shot” Fives spoke up as the clone took off his helmet and bent down to inspect the eel. Etta immediately noticed that his appearance differed from that of her brothers, the closely cropped blond hair almost as startling as his nonchalance to the beast he’d just taken down.

“The name’s Rex” he stated flatly, holding his hand up to the light of the fire and inspecting the blue liquid that had seeped from the eel’s eye, coating his glove, “but you’ll call me ‘Captain’ or ‘sir’”

“Sir, yes sir!”

“I’m Commander Cody, your new boss” the other clone made himself known.

“My designation is trooper 27-5555, sir”

“We call him Fives. I’m Hevy. This is Echo”

“And who are you?” Rex stepped up to Etta, suspicion overtaking his features. He regarded her with an unwavering seriousness, brows set in a frown that made her straighten her back, the scrutiny making the hairs on her neck stand on end.

“CT-3774, or Etta if you prefer, sir” she replied firmly, praying that she wouldn’t crack under his hard gaze.

“You’re not a clone trooper”

It was clear to Etta what the question he meaned to ask was. His tone was accusing, and it was something she had heard from her betters for as long as she could remember; the specific frequency of suspicion.

“With all due respect sir, I am. I was trained on Kamino just like you” Etta kept her voice steady, not wishing to overstep any boundaries.

Rex’s expression was unreadable as his eyes flicked across her face, taking in her features as if to try and work out the mystery of who she was, albeit something she didn’t know herself. It was evident she wasn’t a clone trooper in the sense that he meant, but she wouldn’t be denied the only semblance of belonging she’d ever known from someone who knew nothing about her. The messy head of red hair, green eyes and freckles littering her pale skin had always made her stand out, but it had been a while since it had felt like it.

“Who are you a clone of?” he asked quietly after a few moments, the roaring of the fire almost drowning him out.

“I’m afraid I don’t know sir. The Kaminoans told me that information is classified” Etta answered to the best of her ability.

“We were confused at first too, but she’s telling the truth sir” Hevy interjected, ever ready to defend his squad.

“Enough. Where’s your Sergeant?” Cody interrupted the conversation to steer it back to the task at hand.

“Dead, sir. We’re all that’s left” Echo replied.

“Looks like we got ourselves a batch of shinies, Commander” Rex said, his eyes still locked with Etta’s. She hadn’t ever been one to defy her superiors, but she wasn’t going to back down from this staring contest first. The incessant need to prove herself as being just as strong as her brothers reared its ugly head, and she hardened her gaze as she replied, her jaw set.

“Shinies, sir?”

“That’s right” Rex broke their eye contact to look her up and down, taking in her modified armour. “Your armour, it’s shiny and new” he commented, then moved over to Echo, placing his hand on his chest to leave behind a handprint of blue liquid from the eel he had slain, “just like you”

Hevy stepped forwards with intention, “sir, me and my batchers are trained and ready. We’ll take back our post, shiny or not”

Rex turned back, the ghost of a smirk on his lips as his gaze lingered on Etta once more, “there’s hope for you yet, rookie”

Etta stood with her hands clasped behind her back as the others moved towards the gunships. Hevy had sacrificed himself for the rest of the squad, and the pain she felt was reflected back to her in the fire that remained in the wake of his efforts. On their first assignment off Kamino, the domino squad was now half the size it was when it left, and Etta felt that half of her missing already. She watched as the flames climbed higher and higher, her resolve crumbling with each tiny flicker.

With a small sigh, she pushed her helmet down from where it rested atop her head, and made her way over to the gunships behind the remainder of her squad. She climbed aboard without a word and took hold of the support up above her head, refusing to meet the visor of anyone around her. On the ride up to the starship, the four other clones engaged in light conversation, but Etta wasn’t tempted. She couldn’t help but feel the hand of guilt wrap around her heart, fingers squeezing and making her chest ache.

Etta’s squadmates knew not to bother her when she was like this, and she was thankful for that. It wasn’t often she got thrown into a stupor like this, but the circumstances were unlike anything she’d ever experienced, and she wasn’t dealing with it well. She hadn’t spoken to anyone since before Hevy had detonated the explosive, and her lips remained in a hard line under her helmet, determined not to let words slip until she got the opportunity to sort out her thoughts first.

A hand was gently placed on her shoulder, and her body went rigid.

“It’s okay to be upset” Rex spoke quietly, below the level of the conversation of the other clones.

Etta ground her jaw, her hands tightening into fists and making the material of the support she held creak under the pressure. “With respect, sir, I am every bit as strong as my squad mates, and I don’t want to be seen as weak just because you don’t think I’m one of you” her voice was ice cold, tinted by indignation and the quick irritability of her fragile state of mind.

“I didn’t mean it like that, Etta” he said softly, and she turned her head a little at the use of her name, “losing brothers is part of the war, always has been and always will be. It doesn’t get any easier, but it’s better to feel the loss than to push it away”

Etta gave him a curt nod as a thank you, and Rex returned to the others. Before she could stop it, a tear slipped from her eye, and she let herself give in. Tears kept flowing silently down her cheeks, her helmet covering the slight quiver in her lip, a though the salty liquid rolled from the bottom of her helmet as she realised this was what the life of a soldier was. Somehow nothing in her training had prepared her for the reality of it. This war would mean the possibility of losing those close to her at a moment’s notice, though because of that it also gave the promise of finding brotherhood among her fellow clones. She decided then to cling to that idea instead.

— Minra

21 BBY, Month 1 / Kamino

“Ah, Minra. It’s good to see you”

Minra stepped into the Prime Minister’s office, cautiously optimistic about her first encounter with him since the end of her training period. She had received specialist training from various bounty hunters, and as far as she understood it, she would go on to be one herself, acting on behalf of the Kaminoans. She hadn’t had the time to think about her place in everything until her training had finished, and now it was as if she were in some kind of limbo, waiting for the relief of knowing what the Kaminoans intended to use her for. She hadn’t stopped once to think about what she was doing, whether anything she would go on to do was something she wanted, but now every possibilty was running through her mind and she couldn’t sort her own will from that of the person before her.

“Please, take a seat” Lama Su gestured to the seat across from him in the bright white room, and she planted herself into it gently, awaiting her host saying anything pertaining to her purpose.

“I understand you have finished the training course we constructed for you” he stated plainly.

“As of two rotations ago, yes” she nodded once, shifting in her seat.

“Good, good”

An uncomfortably long silence hung in the air, and Minra wasn’t sure if there was something else she should have said. Every interaction she’d had with the Prime Minister thus far had been brief, to say the least. Lama Su would ask her how she was getting on, and she would say she was getting on well, no regard for what the truth of the matter was. That was the most it had amounted to, and understandably so. Why would one clone have such a personal relationship with the Prime Minister of Kamino?

“Minra… you are aware of what is expected of you now that your training is complete, are you not?” Lama Su spoke carefully.

Minra kept her expression impassive, “I am not certain of exactly what will be required of me”

Lama Su took a moment to digest her statement, readjusting his posture for a moment. “I have watched your development with great interest, Minra. Myself and Taun We have made sure that you have had access to the very best teachers and resources in order to prime you for a very specific role”

The suspense was killing her. She had a lot of patience for the Kaminoans, after all, they were an incredibly intelligent species, but sometimes their slow speech pattern drove her up the wall.

“Minra, we require you to act as an assassin, by appointment of myself. You are not at the command of the Republic, but solely myself, and by extension, the Kaminoan government”

It was hard for Minra to completely hide her shock. While the leap from ‘bounty hunter’ to ‘assassin’ was more of a step, the title seemed far more significant, and certainly far more illegal. She swallowed the lump that had quickly formed in her throat, forcing a steady breath through her nose.

“This is not what you expected” Lama Su observed.

“Not exactly, Prime Minister, but it is nevertheless an honour. My training has prepared me aptly and I am eager to begin working in this role” Minra spewed out what she figured he might want to hear. It wasn’t necessarily a lie but the words felt strange on her tongue nonetheless.

Lama Su chuckled. He could see right through her.

“There is no need to be so eager, young one. This role will not have you on the go very often. The majority of your days will be spent here on Kamino, training, with check-ins from myself and Taun We. Though I am pleased that you are keen to step into the role”

Minra forced a polite smile, “it’s what I was made to do, sir”

“And you shall get to do it. For now, I want you to rest up. Tomorrow, we shall discuss further. Report back here at 0900” Lama Su slowly stood from his seat and pressed the button to open the door.

“Of course. Thank you for your time Prime Minister” Minra stood and bowed her head to the Kaminoan, exiting the room swiftly.

It was getting towards curfew by the time Minra had made it back to her assigned room. She had been offered an upgrade after finishing her training, but she liked how lived-in her current room felt, and in the end she couldn’t bear to part with it. It wasn’t as if anything particularly special had happened in it, but it had become her sanctuary, a restful space away from the constant scrutiny of the Kaminoans, or her minders, or anyone else that resided on Kamino for that matter.

As she laid down on her bed for the night, Minra allowed herself to dwell on the direction her life was going. She had no control over it, but a comforting thought was that she wouldn’t know what to do even if she did have control, so maybe it was better to just let the Kaminoans do what they wanted with her. Truthfully, she spent a lot of time blocking out thoughts about such things, for fear of the direction it might take her, the conclusions she’d arrive at.

She didn’t have or see reason for any loyalty to the Republic, so it didn’t concern her too much that she’d be operating outside of their bounds, at least in a legal sense. The Republic was heavily involved with Kamino nowadays, but the Kaminoans were still excellent secret-keepers, and Minra was one of those well kept secrets. The thought almost made her chuckle, until her mind brought forth just how many secrets the Kaminoans were keeping from her.

— Nyx

21 BBY, Month 2 / Kamino

“CT-9905, open the door”

Nyx was ignoring whichever Kaminoan was so insistently knocking on her door. She refused to acknowledge them unless they used her name, or at least tried to pretend they saw her as a real human being and not just an experiment.

“CT-9905, you must report to your training facility immediately, or action will be taken”

Nyx rolled her eyes. Action will be taken. That’s what they always said. A few cut meals was the most they would do.

“CT-990—” there was a pause, “Nyx, would you please—”

The Kaminoan was cut off by the door zipping open, and Nyx moving past them without so much as a word.

The facility that Nyx was required to train in was on the other side of the city. The Kaminoans insisted on torturing her by making her train adjacent to the other defective clones, despite not having anything to do with their squad. Nyx was created after the rest of the defective clones — an afterthought, as she was so often reminded by others — and while they were set to graduate any day now, she was still to complete her training. Nyx didn’t necessarily love the idea of being part of a team from a strategy point of view, especially with the type of missions she was designed to do, but she had to admit that she was jealous of them. Only to herself, of course.

The room that Nyx had trained in all her life was separated from theirs, but only by a glass panel, meaning she could watch them, and they could watch her. It made her uncomfortable at first, but she had mostly gotten used to it by now. Although, it was a constant reminder of her misfortune of training with droids, where the others had the luxury of actual company.

After her long morning walk, Nyx arrived late, as usual. She didn’t usually care, and today was no different. As she approached the door to her training room, the adjacent one swung open, and the roaring laughter of Wrecker, the largest of the bunch, rang out in the sterile corridor, livening it up. Nyx knew that only he was capable of such a thing.

“Hey there, baby sister!” Wrecker called out to her as she approached. She hated that he’d call her that, given how untrue it was. It was obvious from the way she looked, with her olive skin and distinctly sharp features, but sometimes she wondered if maybe Wrecker just didn’t realise.

”How many times must I tell you Wrecker? She is not our sister” the intelligent clone, Tech, spoke up with evident irritation in his tone, a long-suffering sigh accompanying his words.

“I know, I know” Wrecker grumbled, directing a wide grin at Nyx. Against her better judgement, she cracked a secret smile as she turned away from them.

Nyx had never actually spoken a word to any of Clone Force 99. Then again, she hadn’t spoken a word to almost anybody apart from Nala Se. The sound of their footsteps receded, and Nyx briefly wondered why they weren’t staying for training today. Perhaps it’s already time for their graduation. She sighed at the thought of it. She didn’t like feeling behind.

“Nyx?” a voice called out as she opened the door to her training facility, causing her to turn in its direction. She saw Tech standing alone in the corridor, his datapad clutched in his hand at his side. Nyx was surprised that he knew the name she had given herself; perhaps he had heard the Kaminoans discussing it. She raised her brows slightly, urging him to continue.

“Um… we are graduating today” he began, eliciting little reaction from Nyx who had already put that much together, “I just wanted to say, I am aware that we haven’t spoken… well, at all— but I wanted to wish you the best with the rest of your training, not that I think you particularly need it”

Nyx didn’t know all that much about her defective counterparts, but she was had been astute enough to realise that the intelligent clone was not the most sentimental of people. The uncharacteristic well-wishing took her aback, though she tried not to let it show in her bearing. She felt a small taste of that bond that permeated through Clone Force 99, the thing she craved above all else, and a warmth spread through her chest, the feeling so uncommon that for a moment she feared she had come down with an illness. For the first time in her life, she felt overwhelmingly compelled to talk to a fellow clone.

“Thank you Tech” she gave a grateful nod, “I wish you the best too, not that you particularly need it either”

Nyx could see Tech’s eyes sparkle with an unknown emotion behind his goggles, which he adjusted as he unexpectedly got a response from the elusive CT-9905. She had to hold herself back from grinning ear to ear at his reaction, she’d be damned to let this break her aloof streak.

“Oh— well, thank you Nyx. Goodbye” he took a step back, surprise colouring his tone, and Nyx favoured him with a short wave as he turned away, walking quickly to catch up with his brothers.

Nyx could imagine that another member of the so-called ‘bad batch’ would boast to their brothers that they finally got her to talk to them, same as any of the other clones might, but she had faith that Tech didn’t care about such things. His goodbye and good luck had felt genuine, so she hoped he wouldn’t say anything — not that it mattered now. She wouldn’t see any of them again, right?

A small part of her hoped she would.

— Tiyunne

21 BBY, Month 2 / Kamino

Tiyunne was making the finishing touches to the attack shuttle that would be being sent into an active war zone before long, no doubt losing its shiny new look all too soon. The clones that would be taking it off her hands were graduating today, so it was safe to say she was behind schedule. She would attest that it wasn’t her fault; mechanics were few and far between on Kamino, so she always had her work cut out.

“Excuse me, are you going to be done soon?” a voice called, and she quickly rolled out from under the ship to see a group of mis-matched clones looking down at her.

“Wow, look at the lot of you” she chuckled as she stood to meet them, “I guess Jango’s DNA really is being stretched nowadays huh?” She smirked at the group of fresh-faced clones with a hand on her hip.

“I’ll have you know that we are actually specially—”

“Special? Is that what they’re telling you?” she countered, laughing heartily at the unimpressed expression of the goggled clone. “I’m kidding” she chuckled, “I’ve heard all about how special you lot are”

Tiyunne assessed the group, her discerning gaze taking in each of their unique appearances before landing on the clone furthest to the right. He looked particularly uninterested in whatever was going on, arms crossed across his chest and what seemed to be a permanent scowl contorting his features. He looked unlike any clone she’d ever met, but more than anything else, it was his tattoo that caught her attention.

“Three guesses which one’s the sharpshooter, right?” Tiyunne smirked at the silver-haired man, but his face remained contorted in a scowl. “Alright alright, no need for all the hostility”

“That’s Crosshair, he’s just… um— like that. I’m Hunter” the shortest clone, with longer hair that was held back by a bandana, held out his hand. Tiyunne took it in her own and chuckled as he shook it.

“You’ve gotta work on that handshake man, no one’s gonna buy into your ‘bad boy’ bit if that’s the strength of your grip” she teased, unable to hold back her grin.

“What? I— I’m not doing a bit” Hunter’s flustered response earned a small smirk from Crosshair, and the two unnamed clones chuckled along with Tiyunne.

“Well, anyway” she drew the focus from the embarrassed clone, “I’m Tiyunne. What are your names?”

“My name is Tech, and this is-”

“I’m Wrecker” the large clone interrupted, evidently excited, “is our ship ready?”

“Sure is” she smiled warmly at him, almost instantly enamoured by the childlike wonder in his eyes, “go and have a look around if you want”

The three most cheery clones of the batch made their way on board, Crosshair hanging back and inspecting the outside of the the ship.

“What? You’re not eager to get in there?” Tiyunne asked, a small smirk winding its way onto her face.

Crosshair just glanced over to her and shrugged slightly. She rolled her eyes to herself, figuring she wasn’t going to get much out of the clone, and began to gather up her tools, putting them back in her toolkit haphazardly. She never much cared for organisation, and she always seemed to know where each tool ended up anyway.

“How did you find yourself on Kamino?” Crosshair asked, his voice a quiet murmur.

Tiyunne looked back at him, surprised that he had actually engaged in conversation. He still didn’t look particularly interested in her answer, but she’d figured that she’d give it nonetheless. Opportunities to tell people of her true nature were few and far between, and she enjoyed the look of surprise when they found out.

“Well” she turned fully, placing her hands on her hips, “truth be told, I’m Kaminoan property”

“You’re a clone?” he raised a disbelieving eyebrow, though otherwise remained unshaken by it.

“Yup” she leaned in, her mouth curling into a grin as she spoke in a hushed voice, “but don’t tell anyone”

Crosshair just hummed in response, tipping his head to the side as he regarded her for a moment. Tiyunne always stood with a certain confidence, her shoulders back, back straight, limbs lose. For the first time in a long time, she felt some of that confidence flicker. She had never cared about the people who judged her, it was not in her nature, but the manner in which Crosshair narrowed his eyes and pressed his lips together with his eyes devoid of emotion, she couldn’t help but put up her guard a little further.

“Well, anyway, have fun with your new ship. She’s a real beauty, so take care of her” Tiyunne poke, her tone light as she picked up her oil-soaked gloves and stashed them in her toolkit. She turned to him once more as she threw her toolkit over her shoulder, a small smile gracing her lips, “it was nice to meet you Crosshair”

Crosshair nodded to her and watched her walk off, taking a toothpick from his belt and placing it between his teeth.

extra a/n: so… the kaminoans are kinda the bad guys of this story if you couldn't tell lol. it’s sort of hard to detangle them from how the clones are raised sooooo yeah. If you don’t vibe with that then don’t read pls :) also you can join the taglist for this here or anywhere else that my taglist form is linked :)

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