Write to a clone day. It was something that Jalena's school had never tried before, but with the Republic just having saved their planet from Separatist occupation, they figured it was the least they could do. Jalena already knew that it would be awkward. What would she write to a clone about anyway?
They were all getting assigned numbers from the 501st Legion, who had provided most of the offense against the Separatists. It was part of the day's events—they would have to research the number in a Republic database, which would provide the nickname of their clone, and the battles that they had been in. After that, they would have to research the battles. To Jalena, it was already starting to sound like the preparations that she would do for a research paper.
The teacher, Mr. Undari, had printed all of the numbers onto slips of paper, cut them up, and put them into a hat. Everyone whispered excitedly, hoping to get one of the more well-known clones.
"I hope I get to write to Captain Rex!"
"Did you hear how he did at the battle of…"
So on and so forth. Naturally, everyone begged for first choice, and when Yarkay got first, everyone looked at him with an envious glare. He read off the designation number, and groaned when he realized that he hadn't heard of the clone behind it. So did most other people after him, but some got clones that they recognized. Clinee yelled that he got Rex and everyone in line behind him groaned, since he was apparently the only clone anyone wanted to contact. Finally, Jalena got to the front, and picked up a slip of paper. ARC-5555. She let out a low whistle. She didn't know much about clones from the tiny unit her class had done about them, but she knew that beginning of the designation number. Her clone was an ARC trooper. Jalena's interest level rose.
As she looked Fives up, she was continually impressed by his battle skills. After trying to not shed a tear after reading his description of the events on the Battle of Umbara, she decided to write him.
Dear Fives,
It's "write to a clone" day at my school, so that was the original reason I was going to write to you. You know, a half-effort "thanks for saving our planet." But that's before I found about your battle skills. You sound amazing! I'll bet it's terrifying out there, but kudos to you for fighting on the front lines a lot (I heard the 501st gets a lot of action).
Now that that's over with, what are you like as an individual? I read your description about Umbara, and you made a point of clones being different people. So, what's there to know about you? Do you have any good friends? See any cute girls (or boys, I dunno) around the galaxy? What do clones do for fun? If you could write back, that'd be awesome.
Sincerely,
Jalena Indiarra.
As Jalena hit the button that would send it to his holomail account, she started feeling stupid. What if Fives thought that she was annoying? What if he didn't respond, or gave her a cookie-cutter response? Her thoughts were cut off by the bell that signified the end of the day, and she walked home, wondering again if she'd get a response from her soldier.