Four wandered around the camps searching for the familiar but only the heat and sand was familar as well as the legions of clones. But he didn't recognize individuals - simply the army and, occasionally, the color of a company he could name or the skills of a trooper by the way he moved.

As he walked around, he ran the name 'Slick' cross-referenced with the 501st and the 212th in his helmet database. Classified. Then 'Slick' matched with Chopper then Jester. Classified and again classified. Then the name Slick. Classified. Finally with only his designation, CS-21-8644.

Classified. The only unclassified portion of his designation was his current assignment and his newer designation with that notification of reconditioned.

He saw a few troopers of the 501st. Their armor, once shiny, was newly marked in blue and now dust red from Geonosis. They were no longer shinies or rookies. A thumb mark on their shoulder bells marked them as a squad. One was marked in golden-yellow rather than blue and Four wondered how that had happened.

Though they saluted him as a sergeant, they didn't recognize him as he'd been warned and, when they turned into the main entry of the 501st camp, he continued down the main route. It didn't take long to find the 212th. They were side-by-side, the command tents backing onto each other. For a while, he simply stood and watched the activity, wondering things he couldn't even articulate to himself.

In the distance, overlooking the 501st camp, he caught sight of a trooper on a large, rounded boulder. A trooper in unmarked but hard-worn armor. The trooper who had attacked him with the intention of killing him.

Four wasn't sure what he was thinking, of if he was thinking anything at all. Perhaps merely that this was a piece of the puzzle that would allow Four to piece himself back together.

As he neared the trooper, Four scuff a boot on the sand to alert the other to his presence. Chopper picked up the deece at his side, standing from where he'd been sitting, his gaze catching sight of the sergeant. His face hardened and he shoved his deece into the holster.

Four paused then stopped to a stand still.

"You're not welcome here. Slick."

Four winced at the venom attached to the name. He looked down, wondering how to proceed. "I just came here to ask some questions. I want to understand why you hate me. To know what happened. I've cross-referenced 'Slick' with the 212th and 501st, but it's all classified."

"Doesn't that tell you enough?" The scarred-faced trooper snorted and shook his head. Slowly. As if in pity but his voice was ice-cold. "You want to know who you were so you can bring back your other self from reconditioning. You want to see if that life had meaning."

Four lowered his head as he stared at the ground, not denying anything. Who and what he'd been wasn't as important as the why, but it would be a beginning.

Chopper let out a heavy sigh. "If the reconditioning has worked then you're not who I remember. I won't do that to you. None of us will."

"And what if someday I remember who I was and what I did?"

CS-8644 stood at the edge of light thrown by the nearby med tent - though not the one containing Gus. A couple of troopers, one an ARC, observed them both. Four didn't think his voice was loud enough to be heard by anyone except the trooper he was speaking to, but he had lowered it anyway. Chopper also lowered his voice.

"Then you can have Slick's nightmares. You can look back on the brothers that died because of him and say remembrance for them." The other trooper ran his eyes over CS-R-8644. His voice was not as cold as it had been just moments ago. "If you return to who you were before reconditioning, someone will come kill you or they'll send you back to Kamino again. Or you'll suicide."

"Why?"

"Same question." The scarred trooper snorted then slid back to lean against the boulder. He was quiet for a moment, his eyes searching for something in Four. "I can't forget what you did. To me and the rest of the squad. What you did to everyone else." He paused then shook his head. "I won't forget what Slick did and I won't forgive him. But I won't hate you. Forget trying to go back to your past. Go on from here. And be careful."

His voice was kind and Sergeant Four wanted to cry. He wanted to fall to his knees and beg to understand what had happened. But he knew that Chopper had already told him everything he would tell.

It was past dinner though the mess would have something if he stopped by. He didn't feel hungry or maybe he didn't want to confront Talon. To have Talon ask questions he couldn't and wasn't ready to answer.

It had been a hard, confusing day.

But he had a name.

Two names - his old name, Slick.

And his new name. Redemption.

He sighed. Redemption. It was too strong a name, too telling to anyone who heard it.

Red. That would do.

He reported to Captain Silver, the words of his apology clear in his mind. But those words remained unspoken.

"I would have kept you, Sergeant Four. Whatever you were before, whatever you did before reconditioning doesn't matter to me. You're a good trooper and a good sergeant." He looked down at the flimsi in his fingers. "But this was waiting with today's last comm packet." He handed Four the flimsi. It was an assignment form. He was being sent onward to a new assignment.

Four tilted his head, not entirely surprised that he had new orders. Surprised only that it was a slight promotion from an auxillary sergeant to one with a full squad. Off-planet and into one of the destroyers, sergeant to a bridge crew in charge of logistics.

As if an entire planet wasn't enough to keep him separate from the men who'd once been his squad.