A/N: Time to start introducing Legends characters! Who's read/played Republic Commando? You'll fucking love this.

Chapter 7: Kamino

My fighter settled onto its dampers on the rain-soaked landing platform as I shut down flight systems and engaged my security features. Then I looked out the forward viewscreen at the admittedly elegant Tipoca City, though the effect was completely ruined by the torrential downpour. I disembarked my ship just as the doors at the end of the walkway leading from the landing pad to the city swooshed open, and a pair of the tall, graceful, utterly repellent aliens known as Kaminoans came gliding out to meet me. "You must be Mandalorian Greth," the taller one began. "My name is Orun Wa, administrator of this city. This is my assistant, Taun We." The other dipped its head, or I suppose her head, in a sort of bow. "I must attend to other business, but Taun We will show you to your quarters and inform you of your duties." With that, he turned and strode back into the city. Seemed pleasant enough, though using my cultural roots as a title was a bit strange.

I turned to the second alien. "Shall we?" I asked, gesturing inside. While my armor kept me totally dry, standing around with rain hammering down on a metal helmet wasn't exactly what I would call comfortable.

"Do you not need any of your possessions?" she asked, her voice high and fluting.

"What I need, I carry," I responded. I had a rucksack with the bare essentials on my shoulder, and the rest could wait till I figured out what the storage situation in my room was.

"Very well then. If you would follow me," she said, turning and crossing the walkway to the building. As we walked in, I cast my eyes around the outside one more time, just in time to catch a battered freighter slip onto a nearby landing platform. I wonder who that was. Then, I had to turn and hurry to catch up to Taun We's long strides. It was a matter of moments to reach my rooms, walking through stark white and black hallways with no decoration evident. Of course, if I remembered right (and I was pretty sure I did), Kaminoans had heterochromatic vision, so the halls were probably a riot of color to them. But it doesn't matter. Once we reached my quarters and I had dropped my bag and doffed my helmet, Taun We started to talk again despite silence all the way here.

"We did our best to accommodate your species' needs," she said, indicating the couch, couple of chairs and table in one corner of the room. "The refresher station is through that door," here she indicated a door to the left of the one we had come through, "and a closet for all your… equipment here," motioning to a door to the right. "There is a sleeping area just beyond with a bed and dresser. Next door is a kitchen area you will have to share with the other occupants on this hall."

"Other occupants?" I asked. "Can I meet them?"

"Unfortunately, only one other has arrived," she responded. "He should be arriving here with Orun Wa any moment now. If that is all, I will leave you. There will be a briefing our your duties in the conference room two doors down at 1800 hours."

"Thank you," I said. It was currently only 1412 hours, so I had time to kill before the briefing and a new neighbor to meet. I walked out into the hall just in time to see Orun Wa walk out of a room two doors down. I nodded at him, which he returned, then turned and walked off the other way. I took the chance to walk down a bit and knock on the door.

After a moment, it slid open, revealing a man in Mandalorian armor like my own, though his was a sandy gold and even more pitted and scarred than mine. He looked at me for a second, then stood back from the door. "Who are you, ad'ike?" he asked.

I almost bristled, since he had pretty much just called me, a grown-ass man, kiddo, but considering I was almost certain I knew who this was I let it go. "Ryn Greth," I said, reaching out my arm. "You?"

"Kal Skirata," he said, grasping my forearm in Mandalorian greeting. "So you're Jango's kid. Come on in." He turned and walked back into the room, and I followed him as he pulled of his helmet. He turned back around one we reached the chairs in his identical room, revealing a weathered, scarred face with a nose that was broken a few too many times and close-cropped gray hair. He broke the silence. "I already hate those kriffing gihaal," he muttered as I chuckled to myself. I had forgotten that he referred to them as fish meal.

"I'm not a fan either," I commiserated. "Anyways, who do you think we're going to be training? The Kaminoans don't seem the fighting type and I haven't seen anyone else yet."

"This is a cloning facility, from what Jango told me," he said. "I figure we'll be training a clone army for some organization or another. Guess we'll find out at that briefing."

"Guess so," I said. At that moment came another knock on the door, and Kal moved back across the room to open it.

"Priest." The word came out of Kal's mouth in a low growly, and I was confused for a moment before remembering another Mando Jango had brought in.

"Shab," I muttered as I spun and moved to the door, laying a hand on Kal's shoulder to hopefully prevent him from doing anything stupid. Dred Priest, another member of the Cuy'val Dar, or Those Who No Longer Exist, was one of Jango's less inspired choices. I was surprised the manda'lor would even associate with him, considering Priest was about one step away from being Death Watch, y'know, the group that killed Jango's family. Hell, I was tempted to take a swing at the guy myself, but nooooo, I had to be the good guy and restrain Kal from knocking his block off. "Kal, udesii, vod," I said. Calm down, brother.

Kal took a deep breath, and seemed to come back to himself. "What do you want, Priest?" he asked. HIs voice was still more of a growl than anything else, but at least they weren't about to start brawling on the first day.

Priest smiled sarcastically. "Just seeing who the neighbors are," he said. "I know you, of course, but who's the kid?"

I stepped in front of Kal to stare Priest down. "Ryn Greth."

"Jango's kid?" he asked, seeming surprised.

I huffed. "Why do you all immediately think I'm just Jango's kid? I am one of the most lethal mercs in the galaxy, thank you very much! Did either of you infiltrate an enemy base, kill their commander, and exfil without being seen? Did either of you take down and entire company of enemy troops by yourself? Did either of you kill a kriffing Sith?"

I stepped back, breathing a bit hard. Wow. Did not realize that was bothering me that much. Also, did I just give away that I had killed Maul? Shit, only Obi-Wan knew that and I had made sure he wasn't going to tell anyone. Tyranus may have seen my face, but he still had no idea who or what I really was. God damnit. Well, time to move on and hope that doesn't spread. But now Kal was looking at me suspiciously.

"Y'know, I did hear there was a Mando on Naboo during that Trade Federation snafu a couple months back. I also heard that some jetti apprentice was the one who killed the Sith. But if it was you, and you killed the Sith, that makes a lot more sense than some baby Force jockey taking out a Sith," he said. "So why let the jetti take the credit?"

Fuck. "Because there are always two Sith," I said, "and I really don't need to deal with another one. I only killed Sith number one because he was in the way of the job I was being paid to do."

Kal and even Dred were nodding at that. "Makes sense," Priest said. "No sense drawing down heat if you don't have to."

Shab, I love Mandalorians, the wonderful pragmatic bastards. "Exactly," I said. "Now, can we move on?"

Priest glanced at the chrono on his arm plate, then turned away. "I have to go, Isabet should be here very soon." With that, he walked away.

"Oh, shab," Kal said. "Both of them? Why in the nine Corellian hells did Jango get both of them?"

"What's so bad about them?" I said, feigning ignorance. "I mean, sure, Priest seems like a shabuir, but how bad can he be."

"He's a Death Watch wannabe," Kal responded, and I let my face close off entirely.

"As in the bastards that wiped out Jango's family?"

"Yup."

"So why the hell did Jango recruit him?"

"Search me."

I shook my head and sighed. "Look, I've got some tihaar in my room. What say we drink and swap war stories until its time for that briefing?" I asked.

Kal grinned. "Now you're speaking my language."

The next couple hours were a comfortable blur, aided by good stories, strong liquor, and the arrive of Wad'e Tay'haii and Mij Gilamar, with Rav Bralor showing up right as we were trying to sober up enough to make it through the briefing. Cold water wasn't working, so finally I pulled out a set of stims. "What the hell, it's not like we're going to be doing any real fighting for a while," I slurred. "Doc?"

I held out the syringes to Mij, but he waved them off. "I am waaaay too drunk to do that safely," he said. "Rav! A little help?"
The brunette badass grabbed the stims and injected them into us one by one. As she finished me, the last in line, I grabbed hands and dropped to one knee. "You're a life saver, Rav. Marry me?"

She laughed and smacked me in the head. "You're twenty years younger, and I'll probably still outlive you if you fight like you drink!" she said, to general laughter from the other three. I fake pouted for a moment, then grabbed her around the waist and threw her over my shoulder. Between my stats and being only half human, it wasn't much of a strain even with her armor on. "Hey!" she yelled, to more laughter from the rest of the group. "Put me down right now, you kriffing shabuir! Hey!"

She kept yelling until we made it to the conference room and I dropped her into a chair, by which time her yelling was heavily interspersed with laughter. I was pleased to notice that the Kaminoans in the room, Orun Wa, Taun We, and one other who I assumed was Ko Sai, the chief scientist, looked thoroughly discomfited at our antics. After a few moments to let us get settled in, during which time a black armored Mando who I assumed was Walon Vau walked in, and Dred Priest and a woman I assumed was Isabet Reau, his girlfriend, they began the briefing.

The new Kaminoan stepped forward first. "My name is Ko Sai, chief scientist of this facility. I create the products you will be training, and will ensure discipline among the masses through my staff," she said. Then she turned and walked away to stand at a terminal and work on something. I wasn't surprised. Ko Sai had always lacked what few people skills Orun Wa or Taun We had in the books.

Orun Wa now stepped forward. "As you know, this is a cloning facility. We have been asked to create an army for a client, and were in need of trainers for the special forces elements of this unit. Luckily, the genetic template for the army, Jango Fett, had contacts in this field he could reach out to, and now you are all here. You will each be placed in charge of training a company of commandos. You will have Kaminoan assistants to take care of their basic needs, as well as minder droids. However, you will be in sole control of their training. You will be introduced to your men in the next few days."

With that, he turned and left the room, flanked by Taun We and Ko Sai. A voice came from the back of the room. "Alright, you're all dismissed," Jango said. "Kal, Ryn, come with me. We have some business to take care of."

The rest filed out while Kal and I followed Jango through the door the Kaminoans had used. A few minutes of walking, and we were back with Orun Wa and Ko Sai. "We apologize," Orun Wa said to Jango. "These are not suitable soldiers. We will recondition them immediately."

Jango rubbed his face tiredly. I'd be tired too if I had to deal with aiwha-bait all day. "Let us see them," he said. "Maybe we can find a use for them."

We walked into the next room and saw six kids huddled together in the corner. I had been expecting it, but it was still shocking to see two year olds that looked like four or five year olds, especially since the Kaminoans wanted to kill them for not being up to scratch. Kal reacted even more strongly immediately moving to put himself between the clones and the Kaminoans. "We have designated them Null class, and will terminate them as soon as…"

Kal's face turned red. "Null?" he said, his face low and dangerous. "As in no shabla use? And you're going to TERMINATE THEM!?" By then end he was shouting, and in the middle of the noise, one of the Nulls, who had glommed onto Skirata's leg, grabbed the hold out blaster in the older Mando's boot and tossed it to one of his brothers, who aimed it at Orun Wa. A second later, my Verp cleared its holster and was aimed at Ko Sai.

"Kal?" I began. "Take them out of here. Now. Jango and I will sort this."

Skirata ushered the six little soldiers out of the room, N-11 still clutching the blaster and staring daggers at Orun Wa. I stepped back a step so my weapon could cover both Kaminoans, then lowered it a bit so it wasn't immediately threatening.

"I must protest," Orun Wa said. "Those clones are deviant, disturbed, and uncommandable."

"They just need a good leader," I countered, then turned to Jango, never taking an eye off of the kaminii and keeping my pistol ready. "Let Kal train them. You know how he gets."

Jango nodded. "Yes, that's the best decision. Deviant soldiers often make good black ops troops. Kal will take care of them. Understood?"

Orun Wa nodded his acquiescence, and I holsted my Verp as Jango and I strode out of the room. As soon as we were out of earshot, Jango turned on me. "Did you really have to pull your weapon on Ko Sai?" he barked.

"She looked pissed, and I already hate her," I responded. "It was therapeutic, plus I wouldn't put it past her to try something."

"Fine," Jango sighed. "It doesn't really matter. The Kaminoans don't have enough emotion for that to have bothered them unduly. In any case, the reason I brought you with me is so we could talk about what you're going to be doing."

"Since we're having this discussion, I'm guessing I'm not getting a commando company?" I said drily.

A smile quirked Jango's lip. "You'd be right. I want you to take whatever you need to make a variable strike force at battalion strength. You'll have 576 slots to fill with whatever troopers you want, all trained and equipped however you want. The client will foot the bill for whatever kit you need."

My eyes sparkled at what I could do with that many loyal, highly trained clone troopers. I had hoped something like this would happen, though if it hadn't I would have pushed for it, and thanks to my connection to Jango likely succeeded. "Whatever I want?" I asked.

"Whatever you want."

"I'll have a list of what I need made up by morning," I promised.

"Good man," Jango said, then turned and left, leaving me at the door to my quarters.

A/N: Hope y'all enjoyed yet more exposition, not to mention some Legends character intros! (Kal, Mij, Vau, and the Nulls are some of my favorite characters). The next chapter will be a lineup of what exactly Ryn's battalion is going to be!