By Blood and By Bond
Disclaimer: I own zip zero nada nothing,
"There's other love like the love for a brother and there is no love like the love from a brother"- Astrid Alauda
Chapter One: Clone Troopers
The clones were brothers. That was indisputable. After all, the word itself was defined in the Galactic Standard Dictionary as '"a male in relation to other males and females due to shared blood, D.N.A, parentage or heritage."'
Haran, it had been practically made for them. The clones definitely fit all the curricula because technically speaking, they were all the offsprings of Jango Fett; never-minding the fact that the bounty hunter only ever acknowledge one of them as such.
(Which had been a point of envy, and even hatred for some of the earliest clones).
They all shared the same blood -haran the same kiffing D.N.A- no different than any set of identical twins...though admittedly on a much, much larger scale.
(Like three million times larger.)
They knew each other as family, long before they fully grasped the meaning of the word. The root of this phenomenon was rooted in the simple miracle of their biological nature. Humans were in their core, a self social creature who needed something intimate to belong too.
(Something more intimate than an army.)
Family.
Brothers.
They came into the universe either seconds or months apart from each other, and then spent their every wakening moment side by side. Learning, eating, training, fighting. Helping one another develop traits and personalities that set them apart.
The Kaminoans begrudgingly tolerated their creations acknowledging their familial bonds, though of course in the beginning, things were not always so easy.
In the early days of the clone army, it was strictly forbidden, and considered a sign of defect. Their reasoning? Simple. Officially the long-necks declared that units forming personal relations with each others was hazardous to the Grand Army of the Republic as it promoted creative-thinking, and could potentialy divert loyalties away from chain of command.
The unofficial reason?
The long-necks had been caught off-guard at the speed in which their units had used one another to individualize themselves. And they had resented it, fearing the imperfections that could arise from such an anomaly...such as units banding together to assist inferior members in avoiding re-conditioning.
Any transactions from this rule was severely punished. Repeated offenders were terminated.
But this was the one regulation the clones stubbornly-if passively-refused to obey.
The result was an unofficial -but nevertheless lethal- standstill between the cloners and their products. One that lasted for many tension filled months with no end in range. Then the layout of the battle unexpectedly turned in the clones' favor.
One of the bounty hunters hired to train the men picked up on their plight and sympathized with them. Sympathized enough to put together a little experiment and prove that rather than being a liability, the clones' brotherhood would be an asset to them on the field.
It was rather simple really.
There would be two squads assembled: squad 1 who would be permitted for a full week to openly treat each other as brothers; and squad 2 who would not.
Once the week was up, both squads would be put through a level ten simulation. If squad 1 came out on top, the regulation prohibiting personal bonds would be repealed.
The goal was simple: the squads were to defend the Citadel for as long as they could, down to the last unit, according the Kaminoans. (To the last man, according to the bounty hunter.)
Both squads performed adamantly, no one could deny it. Both were among the finest the GAR had to offer at that point in time.
But none could deny that squad 1 demolished 2.
Their vitals and bio-scans had revealed increased alertness and activity in the parts of their brains that were linked with protective instincts. Having one another to fight for rather than some distant Chancellor inspired the most heartfelt performance of excellence the trainers had ever seen. Squad 1 fought longer, harder, more aggressively, and with more passion than any group before them.
After that, not even the Kaminoans could deny that allowing the men to bond (which they had never been fully capable of stopping in the first place) they would get better fighters.
And from then on, there was no stopping the men from forming a complex family hierarchy, expertly woven with the traditional expectations of brothers-in-arms of the military.
A clone's most intimate and immediate family were his squad brothers. It could be augured that these were the most important brothers he would ever have; as they would be the ones who help shape him into his own man. And within these group, a clone would often find his Closest Brother. The one who would know him better than he could ever know himself.
Of course this was a double edge lightsaber...because the closer a trooper got to his squad brothers, and to his Closest Brother, the more it would hurt when he lost them.
That was what his other outer brothers were for.
Outer brothers were any clones outside a trooper's squad. And while their bond may not be as strong as the those of their squad, it was ever present nevertheless. Often it would be one of these who would drag a brother off the battle-field. Due to this outer security net of kinship sanity, and even brief moments of enjoyment, could be had from time to time.
From Geonosis to Umbara, the clone troopers stood side by side. Brothers by blood, by bond, by choice...but moreover they were brothers by necessity and by love.
For without each other, they truly had nothing.
Review make me happy so tell me what you thought and I update sooner.
I'm a life long star wars fan, and this is my first fic for Clone Wars. The clones and their devotion to each other were one of my favorite aspect. In my eyes they are a ture band of brothers and as heroic as the jedi (They defiantly got screwed over like them in the end).
Up next is Anakin and Obi-wan.