Hey, guys, it's me. I had this idea for a story for Star Wars. My brother made me watch it with him and this just kind of struck me. Worry not: Jing will continue to be updated.

Chapter One—CT-8565

CT-8565 relaxed on his bed in the barracks, staring up at the ceiling which was invisible in the darkness. Lights out had been quite some time ago and the majority of the clone cadets were asleep in their own bunks. In another while, they all hoped to be done with their training and off Kamino—CT-8565 personally wanted to be an ARC trooper. After all, the ARCs were the elites.

And yet, somehow, he was afraid. Not that his squadron was doing poorly; the Beta Squad was actually the second-best group of cadets. The only thing that kept them from being number one were two slight errors in judgment during the last training session; Fury had accidently misfired and shot Goth in the back, and Murk had ran into Barker while trying to push through the enemy droids—training droids now, Separatist droids soon enough.

No, what bothered CT-8565 was what the Kaminoan scientists had claimed to find in his body during the previous physical. All cadets were required to do a physical after a certain amount of time has passed. What they had found was important enough to report to Jedi Master Shaak Ti before he was released and he had the fortune of hearing her shocked reply loudly.

They had found midi-chlorians in his body.

He had never heard of midi-chlorians, but they were evident enough and important enough to report. What's more, Shaak Ti had said that the midi-chlorians were what made Jedi what they were. Powerful. These small bits of bacteria—that's what CT-8565 assumed they were—allowed the Jedi their special "abilities" that no ordinary person could even hope to have. Yes, they powered the Sith as well, but CT-8565 was more concerned with the Jedi than the Sith.

He had been ordered not to say anything about this to anyone, especially since no clone had been engineered with the midi-chlorians. And cloning Jedi is supposed to be impossible by all known methods.

Was he born by some different method?

Did that mean that his brothers were not really his brothers?

The questions plagued him deftly, but he knew one thing. Sleep was important now. The Beta Squad had another practice test when the lights came back on. With the final test approaching quickly, the number of practice runs had increased accordingly, in an attempt to get the cadets ready. And as the leader of Beta Squadron—unofficial, but everybody knew he was the leader—he had to be in tip-top shape.

CT-8565 woke last and had to hurry down to get his armor on before the practice test began. He nearly fell from his bunk, but was caught by the "daring" Barker, who flashed his stupid grin, just as he always did. And, as usual, CT-8565 hit him in the jaw, not hard enough to truly hurt, but hard enough to be put down. He truly did not want to hear anything from Barker about how he was the "most heroic" of the clones.

"What's with you?" asked Murk as CT-8565 began to arm himself. "Nightmares?"

"No," CT-8565 replied. "I'm fine."

"It's a bad habit to lie, mate," Murk stated, and Goth looked up from polishing his blaster. "I know when something's bothering you."

"Really, Murk, I'm fine."

"Kasey—" Goth began.

"I don't want to hear any of your condescension either, Goth," CT-8565 answered, "and don't call me 'Kasey'."

"Everyone's got a name," Barker stated. His perpetual good mood was quite annoying. "You should too, Kasey!"

"I'm fine being 'CT-8565'. Besides, it's not like the generals actually care what our names are, Barker," CT-8565 answered. "Quite frankly, we're just numbers. Face it, we're expendable pieces of property that they'll replace the moment we take a bolt out of the blue. It's a sad life, but it's true nonetheless."

"And you call me condescending?" Goth joked.

CT-8565 glared at him, and Goth fell silent.

"It's not about what the higher-ups think of us that matters," said Fury as he approached, his blaster strung across his back. "It's about the fact that your brothers want something to call you."

"Call me—"

"I am going to call you 'Kasey', whether you like it or not. Besides, it's a nice name," Fury continued.

CT-8565 was going to answer, but he stopped himself. Arguing with Fury would go downhill quickly, and he needed his squadron to be at their best; when Fury was angry, he was more reckless than any fresh cadet.

As the platform lifted the squadron up into the training area, CT-8565 took careful notice of the surroundings, calculating carefully each detail. Of course, the room was designed to change to further test their skills, but CT-8565 liked to know how things were. He could adjust to the changes as they came.

"Murk, I want you on the left," CT-8565 ordered. "Fury, on the right. Barker, Goth and I will charge down the middle. Provide what support you can by acting as our impromptu snipers. Keep up with us, but stay a short distance behind. This will give you a wider field of vision, but if you find yourselves cornered, look out for yourselves. Taking the citadel means nothing if we lose a man, is that understood?"

"Yes, sir!" they replied.

"I want no mistakes this time. We charge for the citadel, and I will make the climb alone," CT-8565. "Ensure that the guns are occupied with you guys, destroy them if necessary. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

"And one more thing," CT-8565 said as the starting buzzer began. He smiled and looked back at them. "Let's light 'em up!" It was their battle cry and, as usual, they cheered by repeating the phrase as they began to fire into the mess of droids. CT-8565 ran down to the first "checkpoint", as he called it. It was just a small, raised wall off the floor, but it would provide enough of a barrier to help with their defense.

The fight was on.

Shaak Ti observed carefully. The troopers were moving well, as she expected of them. There was obvious strategy as she watched, with two keeping a short distance behind the advancing three, providing cover fire for their allies. A decent strategy, but she wasn't concerned with the clones' strategizing ability right now.

Her focus was on the one referred to as 'Kasey' by the other clones, even if that was a name he had not wished to use. His midi-chlorians were very evident, almost tangible, to her through the Force. It was clear that this Kasey had an alarming amount of them inside of him, but it was just as clear that he had very little knowledge of them, if any at all. But he was acting just as she would expect a Jedi to, guided by the invisible Force, even if he wasn't sure of it. His aim was far too perfect for him not to be. He had not missed a single shot yet and he'd fired quite a few.

"Bric," she said to the trainer beside her. The trainer turned.

"Yes, Master Jedi?"

"Is it possible to focus the droids on one target?"

"Yes, Master Jedi."

"Focus the droids on CT-8565, the one that they call Kasey," she ordered, pointing. "I want to push that one to his limits."

"At your command," Bric answered, pressing a few buttons on his console. Within a few seconds, the droids straightened and began to focus their fire.

Shaak Ti's observations continued. They were closing in on Kasey, but she noticed the others were interfering. Yet even still, she could see that Kasey was being pushed to his limits. His movements were becoming more frantic and judging by the reactions of his squadron, they were noticing.

The droids were moving closer, and Shaak Ti felt a new kind of feeling; pure fear. Kasey was beginning to panic. Clearly, they had not been prepared for this kind of situation, but Shaak Ti could address that later. There was a droid sneaking up behind Kasey. Now was the perfect time for him to show what he was truly capable of. She could feel it welling inside of him.

We can't do this, CT-8565 began to think as the droids came closer. What had happened? Why were they only targeting him?

"Retreat! Back to the lift!" CT-8565 called. "Hurry! We can't fight them like this!"

The sound of servos behind him made him jump. He turned and saw a droid standing their, aiming, about to fire...

He shouted and it happened. A wave of pressure exploded outward from him, blowing his brothers away and ripping the droids apart in flashes of sparks and electricity. CT-8565's breathing doubled as his fear reached a zenith and steadily started to level. The training room looked damaged, but he was more worried about his brothers. He hurried over to the nearest one, Murk, and looked at him. Murk was breathing, but his breath was ragged. A voice echoed on a loudspeaker and he stiffened.

"We have already called for the medical droids to take care of your brothers," Shaak Ti's voice said, and he sighed in relief. They would be okay, then, if Shaak Ti had asked for the medical droids... but how had she already called for them? "In the meantime, I would like to speak to you alone, Kasey... or do you prefer CT-8565?" Her voice was soft and kind, but he could hear it in her tone.

She had been upset by this whole ordeal. He wondered what would happen now?

As he walked back to the lift, now lifting up the medical droids, he could not quash the fear inside of him? Would they terminate him now and replace him? Or would they simply write this off as some kind of technical failure?

As the lift started to move, he tried to calm his heartbeat. Already waiting for him to disembark from the lift was the Jedi Master, smiling but he could feel that something was bothering her.

"We've never spoken face-to-face, but I'm sure you know who I am," the red-skinned Togruta said.

"Yes, Master Jedi," CT-8565 answered. He could not bring himself to look in her eyes, so instead talked to her feet, hidden beneath her robe.

"You do not need to fear me," Shaak Ti stated simply. "You are not in trouble. I would just like to talk."

"Is this about what happened just now? In the training, I mean."

"Yes, it is."

"Does this have something to do with the midi-chlorians?" he questioned, unable to stop himself. When she frowned, he said, "I overheard you saying it to one of the Kaminoans. I don't know what it means, but am I going to be—"

"What you will be will be in your hands. As I said before, I just wish to talk, Kasey," she explained. Before he could protest, she added, "Kasey. That's a fine name for such a special young man."

She turned and began to walk away. CT-8565 followed... but he would not call himself that anymore. If a Jedi—a real Jedi!—thought his name was good, then he would keep it.

Kasey, he thought. He was starting to like it.

Okay, guys, here's the first chapter of "The Jedi Clone". Enjoy, read, and review if you'd be so kind.

Regards, CaptainKomaCute