CHAPTER 1: A Special Gift

Rex, Cody, and Star walked down the hallway. They had all passed their tests and were going to find out which squads they were being assigned to.

"I hope I become a commando!"Cody said confidently.

"Cody, I think you'd have better luck becoming a maintenance clone," Star retorted.

Rex laughed at that one. Star had been with them for only a couple months, but she was as battle ready as any of them. Cody, Rex and Star had become really close since Star had been brought to Kamino. But sometimes to Star it seemed that Rex was closer to her than anyone. Maybe it was because he had saved her life when she first showed up. Star brushed the feeling off; they had arrived at the main hanger.

The three of them stood at attention with five other clones: Waxer, Echo, Fives, Boil, and Hevy. The training sergeant addressed each of them individually, giving them their position and armor. He spoke to Waxer and Boil first.

"Waxer, here is your armor. Here is yours Boil. You have both been assigned to the twenty-twelfth battalion. Congratulations." Waxer and Boil high-fived each other.

"Echo, you have been assigned to the Rishi outpost. Hevy, Fives, you have also been assigned to Rishi." They all wore downcast expressions.

The sergeant approached Cody next. "Congratulations Cody, you are the 212th's new commander." Cody's face held a mix of surprise and pride. He received his armor and gazed at the yellow-marked plating in wonder.

Rex was next. "Rex, you will be the captain of the one and only Five-oh-first." Rex stared in disbelief as he received his armor, complete with pauldron and kama. "By the way," the sergeant said to him, "You will also be in command of Torrent Company, a division of the 501st." Star could tell that Rex was trying to hold back a smile and look professional.

Star waited her turn patiently through all of this. She only expected to be given the status of a regular trooper, or even a medic. She figured that she would be given a low rank, seeing as she was a girl. But what the sergeant said next was beyond what she expected. "Star, you have given the rank of lieutenant in the 501st."

The alarm jolted Star out of yet another dreamless sleep. She felt like she was supposed to be remembering something as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. It felt like one of those days where her father was coming home from another ruthless mission. But no, she was fourteen years old, in a pristine white room with clones rushing about.

That was it! Today was the day that she and her brothers were getting shipped out, going to fight the Separatists and restore order to the galaxy. She hurriedly jumped down from her bed and got her new armor on. It fit perfectly, and the helmet was snug on her head. Star rushed out with her brothers to where they would board the ship.

These clones weren't her actual brothers, but they were all the family she needed. She had formed special bonds with several of them, and she knew that they would always have each other's back. Even though some of them were assigned to different legions and companies, they were all family. Star was thinking about how many of them would probably die before they would see each other again when someone shouted her name from behind. "Star, wait up!"

She turned to see Rex running to catch up with her, and from the looks of it he was trying to hide something behind his back. He caught up to her, slightly panting but grinning ear to ear.

"Rex, I thought you would be in line already," Star said.

"I was looking for you, to give you these," Rex replied as he held out what was behind his back. Star could only stare. In Rex's hand was a slender, flattened rod with a disk sticking out from one of the ends. She picked it up, and one of the ends slid off to reveal a gleaming silver blade. "It's a sword," she said.

Star looked back down to see what else was in Rex's hand. There was a curved stick with a string connecting the two ends, and a pouch with sticks that were sharp on one end and had three feathers on the other. Star had heard of these before, a bow and arrows. "But how will these help me fight clankers."

"I took some metal shavings from your knife. The blade and arrow tips are made from the same material." Rex replied. Star sheathed the ninjato and gave Rex a light hug. "Vor entye, ner vod."

Rex looked at her in surprise. "You've been learning Mandalorian?"

Star shrugged, "I pick it up every now and then." She strapped the sword around her waist and slung the bow and arrows over her shoulder. "We better get in line, come on."

The last moment Star remembered of that day was General Tii giving a graduation speech, boarding a ship that would take them to the Resolute, and somehow knowing that Rex was smiling at her under his helmet the whole time.