Forty Three


Boil grunted as he hoisted the garbage bin's contents into the back of the truck and slapped it twice. Didge took his cue and moved the vehicle forward a few metres as Boil and Chopper easily jumped onto the back running board.

"We're being followed."

Chopper nodded. He looked more menacing than ever. Wearing nothing but a singlet and long pants, his dark skin glistened with sweat in the early morning light.

The five never knew they hadn't made it to the right planet. For all they knew, this was exactly where Rex had indicated for them to flee too.

What they thought was a besh was in fact a herf on their captain's chest; an annoying scar ran through the last letter, a remnant from the failed mission to Kimora.

Not that they knew that, or that it mattered now.

They had managed to integrate themselves into the large, anonymous community of Pleartha on the very inhabitable world of Barth IV.

Chopper was the most excited about his new home world and beamed when he managed to secure them all a job.

"Environmental control brothers," he said enthusiastically, "we'd be good at that."

And good at it they were.

Arriving to work promptly at 0400 every morning, taking minimal breaks and instructions to the 't', they were every employers dream.

Didge, Boil and Chop would do one day, Whisk, Coric and Chopper again, the next.

They took no chances. Nobody could be trusted and they kept mostly to themselves. Starting work early meant they finished long before the locals would begin their day, then they would steal back into anonymity, happy with their own company.

Their own community.

"What do you want to do?" Boil asked the question as they bounced around another corner.

"You up for it?"

Boil threw his head back and laughed.

Chopper knew his answer.

.

"Thanks Anik, I'll see you in the morning."

Anik smiled as she jumped down from the top of the bar.

"'Night Cariss." Gem still felt bad being deceitful about her real name, but there were some things she had to keep to herself. It had been a fortnight since she had her hair all shaved off and she kept it that way deliberately. The owner of the bar, still furious would think nothing of swinging his arm in her direction as he went about his business.

She didn't mind in the slightest; that physical pain she could endure.

It was the change of season and the patronage of the bar had slumped off, not many new travellers and even the locals were quiet. Gem had been delegated back into the kitchen, washing glasses and dirty plates, only helping out at the bar when busy.

She climbed the stairs slowly, lost in her exhaustion and opened the door to her room.

There he sat, his fat fingers entwined in the ribbon as he swung provocatively the only item more precious that her life.

"Been keeping something from me I see?"

Suddenly everything appeared white as she squinted and refocussed on the man in the leather chair. Gem then saw red, as her eyes flickered from the brilliant blue stone to the pile of tri coloured credits stacked neatly next to him.

He had found the lot.

She then returned to the only thing good in her life that remained.

His medal; the one he lifted over her head the night they made love for the first time.

Rex.

Closing her eyes she was at a loss to reign in her anger as it manifested itself for a second time as a by-product of her disused inheritance.

"I'm going to kill you," she said as her voice began to tremble.

He laughed in her face as he made to stand.

Vomit stung the back of her throat as Gem concentrated her thoughts onto the only connection with her past.

Her old self.

"You're going to give that back," she said calmly as his eyes began to bulge, "and then you are going to forget everything you've seen."

A look of shock covered his face as he put the medal down and moved past her out of the room.

A layer of sweat began to soak through her dress as she raced to get her hands on the medal.

The time had come.

She had to leave and put an end to her self-imposed misery.

She knew that now.

She had reached her tipping point. Quickly Gem hid the medal back inside the mattress and packed her bag.

Tomorrow she would enquire about a passage to Oriis.

Tomorrow she would take charge.

Again.

.

"How long have you known?"

"A couple of weeks."

"Do you want me to check?"

"No. I have all the data." Whisk handed Coric the flimsie and watched as he frowned and ran through the results himself.

"I thought they eliminated all this from our DNA?"

Whisk scoffed and sat back, "how could anyone account for this? Think about it for a sec, sometimes things just go wrong. You know that?"

Coric did, but this was something none of them were trained for.

An innocuous head cold that never seemed to get better. Loss of appetite followed by a loss of weight. Whisk seemed disinterested and tired and it wasn't just the moral logistics of their escape.

Now it all made sense.

An anomaly in the blood work.

No bacta, no therapy available. Whisk was on his own in this battle.

And there wasn't a fekking thing any one of them could do about it.

Everything was moving too fast, just like their metabolism. From an early age the clones were taught what to expect from their bodies, knowing their physical limitations. Their orchestrated cellular regeneration meant that they repaired quicker, aged faster.

But this genetic superiority came at a price. Any deviation from the norm would replicate at a rapid fire pace.

"Things are going to get real messy, real quick."

Coric looked up and took him in.

How did I miss this?

The signs were all there now he knew the truth.

Whisk had deliberately grown a beard; covering most of his face meant that no one noticed his sunken cheeks. His long, loutish hair made him look scruffy and unkempt, but the others just thought it was his way of bucking the system that created them.

Not one of them would have thought of this.

The hardest part for Whisk was leaving Didge behind. Telling him would somehow make it all seem 'real.'

That was the conversation he was dreading, and Coric was all over it.

"You want me to tell Didge?"

Whisk looked up and shook his head. "It's good brother." He saw it then, the sympathy written all over Coric's face, the only part of his situation he was hoping to avoid.

That look.

"I'm going a free man Coric," he said. "Not many can lay claim to that."

"Leave it with me, there must be something I - ,"

"No. You've done enough. Got us all here. Look out that window brother," he said staring past Coric's right shoulder, "look at those green fields and trees. This, this is more than I ever expected. Ever dreamt of. You gave us all that lieutenant."

Coric turned and looked at the same tree line. He knew what Whisk was saying was true. Without bacta and the treatment they were no longer privy too there really was nothing he could offer other than emotional support.

"Didge. You'll look after him for me - ,"

"Of course - ," he replied, the lump in his throat preventing him from finishing the sentence.

There was nothing more to say anyway.

They continued to look out the window in silence as the harsh reality of life outside the army hit home.

.

Gem undressed and washed before slipping under the sheet, only she couldn't sleep; the adrenaline from the altercation keeping her awake, alone reliving the thoughts of the night she was given that medal.

It was once a symbol of his admiration.

A symbol of his love.

She knew at that moment she would have to sell it. Rex never thought anything of the accolades he was awarded as a soldier during the war, so she knew that hanging onto the physical part of a memory that no longer remained was pointless.

Rex wasn't about that.

If he were alive, he would be angry she hadn't used it to better her life.

So that's what she would do. Sell it and head forward alone one last time.

There she could stop, her race against the odds would finally be over.

She would be free.

Home.

.

Chopper slapped the truck again and Didge stepped on the brakes, "what the fek?"

He disappeared around the front as Boil jumped up and whispered to Didge, "hold here for a sec, we have a visitor."

The young sniper's heart skipped a beat at the proximity of Boil's face.

The two had become close in recent weeks. Initially Didge thought he was just idolising his older brother but eventually there was no mistaking the attraction. Boil deliberately kept him at arms length, thinking through the ramifications of showing more than just friendship.

But it felt so good to feel wanted.

Boil remembered the feeling. However this wasn't part of his plan. He always thought that he would just disappear once they had settled somewhere. The job though, was something they all enjoyed and the satisfaction of earning credits to afford to live was a luxury they never dreamed possible.

"Just be careful ok?"

Boil beamed a smiled from ear to ear as Chopper gave him the nod and Didge kept his foot on the accelerator just in case.

The lone figure turned into the alleyway and stopped.

Chopper bent down and pretended to lace his shoe as Boil sprung out of nowhere, grabbing the humanoid from behind and pushing him hard into the wall face first.

The stranger retaliated by flicking his head backwards, taking Boil off guard. Cartilage and pain collided and Boil let out a groan as he released the man and reached up to hold his nose.

That's when Chopper moved in. He showed no mercy as he pushed the man again into the wall, thumping his kidneys and bringing him down to his knees in a heartbeat.

"You 'right?" He said over his shoulder as Boil stood unsteadily. The man moved slightly and Chopper kicked him again, "I didn't mean you," he grunted at the form on the ground.

Didge jumped out of the truck and ran to Boil, holding a handkerchief out to mop up the blood.

"Tanks," Boil muttered into the material.

"Now," Chopper said mildly satisfied by the physical exertion, "just who is so interested in meeting us hey?"

He grabbed the lone figure by the collar of his expensive coat and turned him round to face him.

"What the - ?"

The stranger looked up slowly, the blue inked pattern on his face unmistakeable.

A smile crept across Choppers face. "Well I'll be. Jesse, you old bishwag. It's good to see you brother."

.