Author's Note: This story is a continuation of "The Jangette Diaries" and does cover questions of out of character actions of some of the canon "Star Wars Clone Wars" characters in the previous story.
Similar to "Jangette Diaries" there are some references and mild descriptions of physical, psychological and sexual abuse. This story does contain one mild to moderate description of a murder scene, one mild to moderate description of a prisoner of war event, one mild to moderate description of a suicide and mild to moderate descriptions of combat. The other psychological topic covered is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder due to war. There is one mild, non-physically descript record of hedro-sexual intercourse, one reference to masturbation and a few references to male prostitution. Though there is no "slash" in this story, there are some jokes and references to homo-sexual behavior. This story contains mild language.
Reviews of all sorts are welcome but not necessary.
This story was written to give a thoughtful perspective on a Christian relationship to God in a science-fiction setting.
I've attempted to remain true to what is currently known of the Star Wars canon and George Lucus's interpretation of "the Force". (The force is not God.)
(This is a Star Wars Fan Fiction Story. I do not own the Clone Wars setting; although most of the main characters are of my own making, as is the alternate universe Shiloh's brothers come from. Star Wars characters that appear, and/or are mentioned in this story are Yoda, Jester, Chopper, Fives, Rex, Cody and Ashoka.)
The Gates of Hell
The Odyssey Begins:
"So Nakam, are you done packing?" Sentury inquired as he finished wiping off the bookshelf.
"Almost." I replied. "Everything is pretty much done, except there's a few things I want to download before we take off."
"Addicted to those ancient war manuscripts aren't you?" Sentury laughed.
"Yeah, I guess I am." I responded. "They're kind of interesting."
"You know where Katook went?" Sentury paused a minute as he picked up some odd little piece of something we both assumed belonged to Katook.
"Not a clue." I laughed. "You know how he is."
"Yeah, I know." Sentury sighed as he set this mysterious artifact on the desk.
"So do you think we're actually going to find Shiloh?" I blew out a long slow breath as I gave Sentury one of those inquisitive looks we all seem to be so good at replicating. One of those quirky mannerisms of being a clone I suppose. Sentury turned around, returning the expression. "Stop that, you're creeping me out!" I laughed. Sentury just shook his head.
"Damn!" He muttered. "Someone's gotta stop cloning me!"
"Well, you're just a great looking guy with such an awesome personality!" I chided.
"Nakam!" Sentury flashed another familiar cast. "Shut up!"
"You guys almost ready!" Katook boisterously squealed as he suddenly came running into our now nearly empty dorm room. "Captain San Wan, Professor Drake and Dr. Salichika are waiting. Not to mention your buddy Japah!" Katook poked Sentury.
"Yes, we're coming." Sentury replied with a playful slap down. "Unlike some clones I know." He gave Katook another couple of wacks. "Some of us had finals this morning." Sentury laughed as he grabbed his gear and continued hassling Katook out the door.
"Hey stop it!" I heard Katook protest as I too shouldered my gear and followed my fellow brothers toward the landing lot.
"Katook!" I hollered as I grabbed his... what ever it was Sentury left on the desk?
"Wah?" Katook swung around as I hurled this crystal looking thing at him. "Oh yeah thanks!" He grinned as he caught his 'lucky charm'. "Don't want to forget this!" He muttered as he stuffed it in his gear and kept walking.
I let out a sigh as we transversed the campus of good 'ol Hopewell University. I'm gonna miss this place. I thought to myself. One college degree, a research project and four years later; my life has changed a lot. I pondered as I observed the differences that had been made manifest between Katook and Sentury these past years.
Sentury had remained pretty much the same as he was upon arriving at the college. Yeah, he too was 4 years older; but he still pretty much hung in precise similitude to every other clone in this army. He was still rather lean, lanky and as flexible as all his other 'unaltered' brothers. His face certainly showed the years of his maturity; but as compared to Katook and myself, Sentury was still rather young looking. I chuckled at such an irony, as he is actually 4 years older than either of us. At 29 and 25 years respectively; we should have traded places with each other.
As for Katook - and 'yours truly' here; well? We certainly look different now and I'm still trying to decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing? I think I feel more for Katook in all this medical research than I do for myself. He was really hoping for the 'magic bullet'; I'd suppose you'd call it. But no, only one it seems had gotten that, at this point - was Track. After all he'd been through though; I think he deserved it. He's very good with his clone babies; very devoted to them, not to mention Katurah. They were both awfully fortunate to find each other. As for the rest of us though; it looks to be that we're just going to have to continue to bestow our affections upon all those hundreds and thousands of baby clones. That's alright too though. They need us. I sort of chuckled to myself. I've enjoyed my rotations in cloning facilities.
I observed Katook a bit longer as he bounced his way along the pathways to the landing lot; waving to fellow classmates and hollering "Good luck!" and "Blessings!" The 'resetting' of his biological chemistry seems to have done wonders for stabilizing his mood swings too. Professor Sha Wii had said that medically, they never expected that to happen; but it didn't surprise her either. I'm just glad he's better though. I haven't seen an 'event' in more than three standard space years now and let me tell you; episodes of mania are real bad news on a battlefield!
"HEY NAKAM!" I heard a familiar voice as I quick turned around to see Annie bounding up to us. She stretched out her long arms, scooped me up and twirled me around a few times. Oh how I hate it when she does that! It's so embarrassing.
"PUT ME DOWN LIZARD LIPS!" I yelled.
"OK!" Annie laughed as she tossed me up in the air a couple of times before she sort of unfurled me out of her arms onto the grass. That's the problem with having alien friends that are 135 kilos and nearly three meters high. But it's the end of the semester; so I suppose Annie's not particularly worried about getting in trouble for picking up a clone soldier.
I peered over at Katook and Sentury who were now just standing there snickering at me. You think that's funny? Well, get 'em Annie! I thought to myself for a moment before I decided that probably wouldn't be the wisest thing to say, since Kamari and clone soldiers don't usually mix well together. Annie was another story though. She'd been orphaned in a Selinium mine and stowed away on a Feorian freighter with half a squadron of sick clones that was left abandon in space. All were infected with the dreaded Kamari syphilis. What a horror story that was; but anyways.
Annie has been on this campus for 6 years now. She'd gotten a degree in multi-species biology and was working on a medical rotation at Hopewell hospital. I think she's done quite well considering her circumstances. She's the only Kamari known to this sector of the galaxy outside of the smugglers, slave traders and sex trafficers. When they'd found Annie with the sick clones; she was only maybe half a meter high, malnourished and sick herself. She didn't have the Kamari syphilis though; she had Selinium mine lung. Annie still has difficulty with the Asthma like condition. Lot of scar tissue in her lungs I guess. She recovered very well though, with the love and care of her Savawarhian adoptive parents. She'd later come to know Shiloh. They'd both been on the same freighter that fateful day, almost 20 years ago now.
"So are you guys leaving soon?" Annie asked, sounding a bit sad as she reached out to help me up again.
"Yeah, we are." I replied as she pulled me to my feet.
"You think you really are going to find Shiloh and the researchers?" Annie asked another tentative question.
"Well we hope so." Sentury responded. "Professor Drake seems to think from all the data he's studied these past 5 or so years, that the Super Warp actually worked. They're out there somewhere." Sentury let out a sigh as his eyes drifted toward the heavens.
"Well I wish you guys all the best of luck and I really do hope you find them." Annie smiled as she dropped to her knees and reached out to hug me. All three of us said our good-byes to Annie before we headed toward the landing lot. I glanced back at her one last time as she stood there in the courtyard waving a mournful farewell. In that instant a cold chill ran up my spine. Where was this journey going to end? Oh God please protect us. I prayed as this miscellaneous Scripture verse floated through my head. "I shall build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
We all climbed into the shuttle where our companions on this odyssey were already waiting. Our next stop was to be the main compound of the Inter-planetary Space Defense on Savawarh. From there we were to get on a transport to Aardat. I let out a little chuckle as I thought to myself how the trip to the Space Defense compound was actually going to take longer than the one to Aardat. Yeah, the planet nearly just "across the street". I laughed to myself as I strapped in while Japah sealed the door. We started to move before Japah was actually in his seat..
"Sorry about that!" Captain San Wan apologized to Katook, who'd suddenly found Japah in his lap. "Ranaka's still gotta get the balance thrusters fixed on this thing." We hovered a moment while Japah scurried over to take his seat next to Sentury.
Savawarh is the neighboring planet to Aardat. The two have an interesting history together. I began to muse as I watched the university campus shrink beneath us. All those very different little people running around down there. These planets are populated by very diverse species of cognizant intelligent life; although now many of the people on this campus are not native to either planet. I noted as I watched mixed clusters of students begin to swarm out from the buildings. Both Aardatians and Savawarhians are life long monogamous species and seem to be genetic cousins of each other. Aardatians are the shorter of the two; standing at 1.3 meters. They are hairless with rather large heads, large eyes, long arms and a sort of terra-cotta orange completion. I giggled as I stared down at a group of them who were waving frantically to us. Katook and I waved back.
One other interesting anatomical feature of Aardatian humanoids is that they don't have thumbs. Odd, yeah I know. How do they pick things up? They have little suction cup looking pads on their fingers and more joints in their hands than Earth humanoids. These appendages are rather amazing feats of engineering to watch. Aardatians have a great love of music and it's not uncommon to see these huge forced air, billow and piped instruments with multiple layers of keyboards in varying public buildings. Get three or four of these little guys lined up on the benches of one of these massive organs and watch their long skinny fingers fly. I've never seen anything quite like it. I chuckled to myself.
Savawarhians on the other hand look a bit more like Earth humanoids. They are taller, have very kinky brown or black hair, and varying shades of brick red skin. The one rather interesting feature of Savawarhians is the shape of their skulls. They have boney ridges framing their faces that make them look like they have sea shells on their heads. They are also a little more robust with thicker bones than their cousins from Aardat. Don't let those Aardatian small frames and rubbery bones deceive you though. I giggled a bit as I watched several packs of students break out running toward the sports fields. Aardatians aren't hardly as strong as we are; but their racers have been clocked at sprints close to 70 kilometers an hour. That's a hell of a lot faster than I'll ever run; even being chased by a Tarillian swamp rat!
We banked sideways and I held onto my stomach as my view suddenly changed from the green campus lawns to the blazing sun shining in my face. Man was that sun hot and bright; especially as we neared the outer layers of the artificial atmosphere. That was another thing about Savawarh; it was basically a desolate planet with the exception of it's bubble colonies. The cabin of the shuttle began to heat up rather quickly until the air temperature and humidity modulator kicked in. Dr. Salichika played with the sensors a bit, until the most comfortable climate for all aboard could be agreed upon. Another oddity about us all. Savawarhians like it dry and hot, Aardatians moist and cool and clone soldiers, somewhere in the middle on the warm side. Than we have poor Professor Drake; a natural born Earth human who always seems to be a bit uncomfortable no matter what the humidity and temperature controls are set at. I don't know if that's typical of all natural born Earthlings or just him. We all chuckled as we watched him peel off another layer of clothing. He turned around and glared at us.
"Hey, just because the inside of your barracks feels like the Amazon Jungle basin doesn't mean we all like it like that!" He chided while everyone else let out a little snicker.
"Now come on; it's not that bad in here." The doctor replied.
"Maybe for you!" Professor drake shuttered. "But they're suppose to be human clones, not Savawarhian clones. They're sitting there in 34 kilo metal alloy suits; they should be hot!" He peered back at us and shook his head.
"Those Paroian DNA strands." Captain San Wan chuckled.
"Metal alloy suits equal air conditioned armor!" Japah added.
"Speak for yourself." Katook mumbled. "I am hot."
"Wooo, you hot clone you!" Sentury teased Katook as he leaned across the isle and made kissy noises at him.
"Yeah, I'm hot and your ugly!" Katook retorted as he reached out and pushed Sentury's face away. "And I can say that because you don't look like me anymore!" He grinned at him.
"No bro; it's you who don't look like me anymore!" Sentury chided as he reached back across the isle and poked Katook a few times.
"Don't get excited boys." Professor Drake cut in. "We can all still tell you're clone soldiers."
"Must be the armor." Katook grinned as he now glanced at me and straitened himself up all nice and proper. "Cause I know I'm way better lookin than you all...ugly clones!"
"Hey, I'm not an ugly clone!" I responded with a few pokes of my own. "Matter of fact; I'm better looking than your whole ugly army!"
"My ugly army?" Katook fell right in line. "It aint my ugly army!"
"Yes it is." Sentury took his turn.
"Cause your in it!" Japah followed suit.
"Who's on first?" Captain San Wan commented rather dryly.
"AHHHHH! Stop It!" The doctor screeched as all the rest of us just burst out laughing. "Clone army Earth humor! Errr!" She shuttered.
"No, seriously though?" Sentury turned back to Katook and myself after all the giggles died down. "Are you guys really hot?" He inquired since we were indeed now chemically different than they.
"Yeah I am." Katook answered.
"I'm a little uncomfortable." I added. "But not too bad."
"Hum?" Sentury sat back in his seat a minute before he turned toward Japah. "That's... fascinating!" He commented.
Yeah, it was kind of fascinating. I thought to myself, still not sure if I was particularly happy with the differences. Having a more 'normal' human chemistry certainly did have it's advantages. I was at present, ...further capable of feeling certain sensations than just about any other clone in this army. I think I now had a better understanding of the other human male students on campus, who just seem to have this need to attempt to copulate with just about every chick they passed. Well, maybe it wasn't that bad; but I could definitely... feel where they were coming from.
"So?" Japah cut in as he leaned over a bit and looked at Katook and I. "Either of you consider going back on the neurotransmitter blockers?"
"Well, probably; but I don't know." I pondered a minute. "I want to give it another six months or so and see how I feel. Besides, where will we end up with this Super Warp thing; who knows? When I go back into the fleet definitely though; it's gotta be awfully hard fighting a war like this." I shook my head.
There was a bit of silence as Japah's attention now shifted to Katook.
"So, how about it?" He inquired.
"I want to have babies." Katook only mumbled rather sadly.
"Oh Katook." I sighed as I slung my arm around his neck and commenced with a couple of good natured noogies. Katook just elbowed me back a couple of times.
"You can babysit once in a while!" He chuckled as he gave me a shove.
"OK, sure." I chuckled as I bounced back into him. "I'd be honored to take care of you clone babies."
"Only if you promise not to make them cry!" Katook wagged his finger at me.
"Oh come on; you know me better than that." I replied as I knocked his scolding hand away from my face. "Remember that day on diaper duty back in CF #26?" I pointed out as everyone began to laugh.
"Only in this army." Captain San Wan chimed in. "Only in this army!"
We banked for one last circle before we took our turn in this bubble's exit shaft. I always liked this part because it was like getting shot out of a cannon. Kind of like those ancient amusement rides we all seem to be so attracted to. What are they called; roller coasters?
"Hey remember that Space Mountain ride." Japah suddenly chimed in as we exited the launch tube. Apparently I wasn't the only one having that thought.
"Yeah, that was kind of fun." Sentury responded. "Yeah, what was it? Replica Disney's Kingdom; something like that?"
"Magic Kingdom - Walt Disney world." I answered.
"Yeah, the ancient Earth history buff here; ask him." Katook laughed as he elbowed me a bit.
"Hey, that stuff is interesting." I elbowed him back.
"Yeah, I like coasters." Sentury added. "You all ever been to that Great Coaster World on Dukalana?" He inquired of us.
"Nope." We all just shook our heads.
"That must have been when you went out on medical leave." Katook replied. "I don't think our unit has ever been close to Dukalana."
"Yeah, he was out on medical leave." Japah answered. "We both were. I was too sick to go though."
"Was that the Kooka virus?" I looked at Sentury.
"No, blue oyster." He replied. "Damn, I'll never eat one of them again!" Sentury cringed.
"Hind sight's always 20/20. Aint it?" Katook nodded.
"Unfortunately yes." Sentury groaned.
"I love blue oysters." Captain San Wan laughed. "And at least I know now, I'm not going to have to compete with this army to get them!" He chuckled.
Sentury and Japah just groaned again.
"Well I've heard blue oysters will grow hair on your chest." Professor Drake looked at Captain San Wan and than peered back at us. "Did it work?" He snickered.
"Why don't you try one and let us know." Captain San Wan interjected as Professor Drake's peering gaze now turned to him. The captain just peered back at the professor and grinned; while the rest of us started laughing. "From one hairless being to another!" He smirked at Professor Drake.
"Well, contrary to popular belief; we aren't entirely hairless." Sentury corrected the Professor's apparent misconception.
"And some of us now are more un-hairless than others." Katook mumbled, though mostly to himself.
"Yeah, I think we are the only two clones in this entire army who now have razors." I grinned at Katook.
"Couldn't they have kept that neuro-blocker?" Katook sighed. "I really miss not having to shave."
"Yeah well, at least they don't make us shave off the hair they can't see." I giggled.
"Thank God for small favors!" Was Katook's only response.
"So how do they do that?" Professor Drake suddenly broke in as he looked inquisitively at Captain San Wan. "Doesn't lack of testosterone negatively impact the body?"
"We have testosterone." Sentury answered. "There's just certain receptors in the brain that are blocked from it's influence."
"Oh." Professor Drake just glanced back at us as he squirmed in his seat a bit.
"And.. And that doesn't bother you guys?" He cautiously inquired.
"Nope." We all shook our heads.
"Even you guys now that are more... 'normal'?" Professor Drake attempted to choose his words thoughtfully as he peered behind his seat at Katook and I.
"Nope." I answered. "What you call 'normal' feels weird to us." I shook my head. "Yeah, it has certain advantages; I guess you'd say." I explained. "But honestly, I'd rather go back to the way I was."
"I still wanna have babies." Katook just sighed while we all, his clone brothers gave him some good natured rustling.
"Hum!" Professor Drake just made a funny face and shook his head. "Well, I hope you do get to have babies some day." He said to Katook before he turned around again.
"Well, we are almost to space dock." Captain San Wan suddenly switched the topic of conversation as we momentarily hovered outside another bubble entrance shaft. We'd soon be on our way to launch to Aardat.