A/N: I hate not being able to reply to my reviews. Ah, well.

CHAPTER TEN...

REPUBLIC DREADNOUGHT EÄRENDIL'S FLAME

(one and one-half standard weeks earlier)

"They bounce. That's not a good sign."

"What?"

"I mean, what're these things made of that makes them bounce?"

"Max!"

"But Boss-"

"Just eat it already!"

"It smells funny..."

"It's just a ration cube. You've eaten them before."

"They normally don't bounce, Lead."

"Have you ever tried to bounce one before?"

"Well... no."

"So all of them probably bounce!"

"I dunno..."

A new voice entered the conversation, one that was raspier than the others'. "If I bounce one off your head, will that make you eat it?"

"Well..."

"Apollo, you're not helping."

"Sorry, Boss."

"Eat it, Max!"

"Okay."

Pause. "You will?"

"Yup."

"Then why all the...?"

"Because I love you, Lead."

-xXx-

Gamma Squad, thought Zeke with pride. We're an elite force of the Grand Army of the Republic.

Apollo threw a ration cube at Max that bounced off the other commando's forehead.

The elite force... Zeke shook his head. We're doomed.

He and the other three clone commandos of Gamma Squad sat in the center of their assigned quarters. Two military-style bunk beds were the room's only features in a clean, sterile metal finish.

RC-5390 picked up the thrown ration cube and tossed it casually back to Apollo. Max was the squad's demolitions man, and one could tell he enjoyed what he did. He was the heart of the commando team, always having the proper joke or curse as the situation warranted.

If Max was the heart, Apollo was definitely the soul. RC-5392 was a pure killer, and an excellent sniper. His throat had been damaged in the Geonosian arena in the beginning of the Wars, lending his voice the rough sound of rough stones rubbing against one another.

Blaze was team leader. RC-5389 received orders, assigned specific tasks and coordination of movement within a mission. He kept order and gave the team its purpose- to serve the GAR.

And then there was Zeke himself, RC-5391. His preference was slicing into enemy computer systems to determine information or to gain access to secured areas. He received communications while in mission and intercepted enemy transmissions.

Any of the commandos could perform any of the others' specialties, but were not as proficient. They had been given the same training, but due to differences in their initial environment, they tended to gravitate toward specific tasks.

Blaze tossed a datapad into the center of the ring in which the commandos were seated. "Xankatra Four."

"What about it, sir?" Max asked, taking a bite of a ration cube and grimacing at the bland taste.

"Our next assignment."

"Finally," Apollo rasped. "Delta Squad's been getting all the action."

Blaze shrugged at the mention of the other commando team. "They get the high-profile missions, we get the good stuff."

"Define 'good'." Max looked hopeful. "Lots of things go boom?"

"Sorry, Nine-Oh, this should be a quiet, in/out operation."

Max's face fell. "Oh well. Can't have everything."

Zeke laughed along with his brothers. We are the GAR, he thought. We're as good as invincible.

Or so he thought.

-xXx-

TUTAKA ONE SEPARATIST BASE

Jader'hade lifted her head. "Someone is coming."

Barriss frowned. Why hadn't she sensed their approach? She reached out with the Force and-

nothing? Nothing! She gasped in fear, desperately trying to touch the Force in any way...

"What is it?" Jader'hade asked, exchanging a concerned look with Zeke.

The Niemodian commander of the base- Lloyd Dott, if she remembered correctly- entered, flanked by two Super Battle Droids. One had a strange furry creature attached to a nutrient frame strapped to its back...

"You bastard!" Barriss screamed, lunching forward in a vain attempt at attack. "What have you done to me!" Her chest heaved as she tried to break free of her restraints.

"You do not like my ysalamir?" Dott asked, stroking the animal. "My bounty hunter associates," he nodded to Boba Fett and Ona Nobis, "Imported it from Myrkr at great expense. You may find your Jedi powers of little use, my friend. A necessary condition, one that will make your stay here a bit more... compulsory, don't you think?"

"I don't believe you know how to think at all," Barriss bit out, still straining against her bonds. "If I don't send out a message within a week, half the Republic starfleet with be buzzing your door."

"Perfect!" Dott looked delighted. "I will use your vaunted fleet to send my agents to release the virus!"

"You said it was not yet completed," Jader'hade pointed out.

"I lied," he answered easily. "Young Fett here recognized you for what you were. We've been feeding you false information. The biological weapon is quite complete, you see, as Count Dooku ordered us to develop a more, shall we say, long-term weapon of sabotage."

"What do you mean?" Jader'hade narrowed her eyes.

The Niemodian ignored her. "Tell me, clone, how do you feel?"

Zeke stared straight ahead, not acknowledging the query.

"What have you done in your tests?" the Twi'lek demanded.

"Oh, Jader'hade, you have no idea. I have, quite literally, added years to this clone's life!"

"How?"

"To put it crudely, my scientists discovered the gene that forces the bodies of Kaminoan clones to grow at twice the normal rate." Lloyd Dott shrugged. "They have neutralized this gene. Put the pieces together."

Jader'hade's eyes widened. "You plan to introduce this weapon into the Kaminoan cloning system!"

"Precisely!" Dott looked like he was beaming, though with a Niemodian's habitually dour expression it was difficult to tell. "Imagine how much time it will take to discover the deficiency, when their troops no longer grow at twice the normal rate! Just think how much capital the Republic will lose!"

"You're disgusting," Barriss bit out. "These are people's lives-"

Dott shrugged. "They're only clones."

Zeke twitched. On impulse, Barriss looked over and saw a quietlysmoldering fire in Fett's eyes. Interesting.

"Oh, before I forget... Jader'hade, the Confederacy has a way of dealing with traitors," Dott gestured to one of the SBDs.

Barriss's eyes widened as the SBDs blaster arm extended into firing position. "No, wait!" she yelled. "She has information-"

The SBD fired twice, straight ahead. Jader'hade screamed. Barriss turned her head and felt warm droplets of blood spray the side of her face.

Dott shrugged. "Whatever information she may or may not have possessed is of no consequence now," he said confidently. "The Confederacy is quite strict in the elimination of intelligence units." He turned to leave, ordering the SBD with the ysalamir to stand guard by the door. "Do not attempt to escape, Jedi," he warned. "I would like to keep you as a hostage, but have no qualms about killing you or your clone companion."

"You need me," Zeke said, speaking for the first time since the Niemodian entered the room. "If you want me, she stays alive. You kill her, I have the discipline to shut down my heart. I will be of no use to your scientists dead."

"Oh, my dear clone, I actually do not need you any longer. You've served your purpose- go on, kill yourself. I really need not trouble myself any longer until the Republic fleet arrives." Without further words, the commander left, the other SBD and the bounty hunters following him.

Barriss turned her head, trying not to look at the bloody carnage hanging beside her.

"She was a good person," Zeke said softly. "She taught me almost everything I know. She will be remembered."

Barriss nodded silently, breathing shallowly at the smell of singed hair and charred flesh.

"Is that true, what you said about the fleet?" Zeke asked. "My impression was that you were in deep cover."

"I am- was," Barriss corrected herself. "But I have been sending pulse-beam transmissions every week. The fleet should arrive... your presence here is proof of the fact."

Zeke looked puzzled.

"I know that I was not exiled- that the Jedi Council and the Supreme Chancellor assigned me here for a reason. I was beginning to have my doubts, but-"

"I wouldn't be too sure of that if I were you, Jedi Offee," said Zeke quietly. "For what use am I?" he whispered, more to himself than to Barriss. "I am a commando without a team."

­-xXx-

"That was... wasteful," Boba Fett said, walking in stride with the commander. "The Twi'lek may yet have had some use."

"Protocols are quite explicit, Master Fett. Spies are to be executed as soon as the opportunity presents itself."

"You may have been able to use her code to call in the Republic ships sooner," Fett stated. Personally, he knew the operative's code, but was under no obligation to tell his employer. If the Niemodian continued in such foolish behavior, the bounty hunter may soon be in search of another job.

"There is no need. They will come," Dott said.

"And if the Jedi was lying?"

"We shall see in a week."

Fett nodded. "In that case, I would like the rest of my payment now."

"Excuse me?"

"My payment. I want it now."

"Why, pray tell?"

"If anything... unfortunate should happen, I want to ensure I have received what I am due," Fett smiled thinly. "Is that a problem?"

Dott looked shaken. "No... of course not. And what of your partner, the lovely Ona Nobis? Will she be requiring her payment now as well?"

"Nobis may soon find herself in need of a new partner."

"Ah... I see. The credits will be sent to your personal account within a standard Time Part."

"Good. Efficiency is a virtue."

"Yes... yes, it is." Dott turned to say something, only to find that the ever-elusive Fett had seemingly disappeared into thin air. He shook his head. Bounty hunters.

A/N: have nothing to say, except to thank Clone Trooper because he/she is the only person to review of his/her own free will (Had to get on the phone to make random-idiot-v2 read!). Not replying to reviews makes me sad. :( see? sad.