Death's Choice

By Ammie Hawk

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

AN: Please bear with me as I play with the Clone structure on Kamino. I'm making it up as I go along.

Chapter 1: Arrival on Kamino

In a galaxy far, far away, on the rainy ocean planet of Kamino, clone CT-7567, Rex to his brothers and select few of the trainers who cared, made his way quickly through the empty white halls of Tipoca City. It was late, and he theoretically shouldn't be out at this hour, the rest of his squad had gone to their sleeping pods well over two hours ago, but he had been held up by one of the trainers giving him a full dressing down for something or other, and then running drills till he was ready to drop. It wasn't that he had performed any more or less adequately than the rest of his squad, it was just that that particular trainer seemed to not like him and liked to single him out for any imagined slight.

This, unfortunately, was not an uncommon occurrence for him, not since he'd first been dubbed by the Kaminoians as a genetic mutation, an imperfection. Luckily for him, the imperfection was only his hair and the longnecks hadn't felt the need to decommission him for it. But it didn't stop some of the trainers from singling him out for it. It was easier for them to recognize his blond hair in the sea of identical faces and therefore remember him easier. Not that he minded overly much, it got him on the fast track for a position in the ARC Troopers, as well as the added benefit of keeping his other brothers out of trouble.

None of that mattered now though. It was late and he was tired and he would be woken up at the same time he was every morning, which meant not enough sleep, again. Hopefully, one of his squad would notice and possibly keep the more hardnosed trainers off his back.

When he finally reached his sleeping pod, his only plan was to flop into it and catch as much sleep as he was allowed, even skipping first-meal if he could get away with it. All those thoughts and plans flew out of his head, however, when he opened it and found someone already sleeping there. He blinked tiredly as his brain tried to process what it was he was actually seeing.

There, lying curled up, naked, in the middle of his pod was a child. He didn't even look big enough to be one of the cadets. He must be from one of the recently decanted batches. But he was entirely too pale and his hair wasn't right either, it stuck up all over the place, unlike his brothers, which had a bit of a wavy curl to it, if they were allowed to grow it out. He was also entirely too skinny, like he didn't get enough to eat. And the only thing he was wearing were a pair of round black spectacles that were only hooked on one ear and perched on the end of his nose. With all that put together, maybe the kid was slated for decommissioning and had managed to escape somehow, and thought a sleeping pod was a safe place to hide.

With that thought in mind, he carefully lifted the edge of his thin mattress, mindful not to jostle the youngling, and pulled out a small comm device. It wasn't a standard comm, in fact, it was one of many that he and his brothers had pieced together and some of the best slicers among them kept them on a rotating frequency that the longnecks and trainers had yet to find out so they could keep in communication with each other without interference. Which came in handy, especially in times like this when it could mean life or death for one of their own.

He hesitated as his thumb hovered over the button to connect the comm. He could forego using it and wake the rest of his squad and they could deal with it themselves. They would handle it, he knew they were capable enough, but he knew they would be relying on him to figure everything out. And… well… he owed it to the kid to do his best, and that meant calling in someone better.

On that note, he hit the button and sent a message in a code only his brothers knew, an extra safeguard, and waited. He hoped the message would be received and responded to, even with the lateness of the hour. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding when the comm chimed back with an answer. He sank to the floor in relief as he waited for his brother to arrive. Luckily for him, his pod was closest to the floor and he didn't have far to go before he could lean his head against the wall next to the ladder. He let his eyes slip closed, and maybe, just maybe, he could get ten to fifteen minutes of sleep before he had to deal with everything.

About fifteen minutes later, his eyes flew open as he heard the quiet sound of hurrying footsteps. It took a moment for his tired brain to recognize CC-2224 rushing toward him. His brother, dressed in his sleep clothes, slid to his knees in front of him, his hands moving over him, obviously searching for injuries. Not that he could really blame him, the message he'd sent had been urgent but vague on purpose.

"Rex," Kote whispered frantically, "are you hurt? What happened?"

"Kid," he replied just as quietly, jerking his thumb toward the open pod above them. "Newer batch, possible decommission."

Identical brown eyes stared at him in confusion for a moment before shifting to the open pod. Rex watched silently as his brother climbed the steps and those same eyes widened in shocked surprise. Without missing a beat, the brunet was balancing himself on the ladder and reaching for the child. Kote's hands performed the same check over the boy as they had on Rex, his fingers lingering longer at the child's neck, checking the pulse.

"He's not asleep," the other frowned. "He's unconscious. He has a pulse, but it's faint and erratic. We need to get him to medical," he reached over and quickly located one of the blond's sleep shirts and began wrapping it around the small form. "Kix is waiting in med bay three. We'll have to be careful and avoid cameras."

Rex nodded in the affirmative as he pushed to his feet. The brunet carefully cradled the tiny bundle in one arm and made his way down the steps. Once on the ground, he headed in the direction of the med bay. Rex fell into step behind him, covering his six, and together they made their way down the long hallways. Their progress was slow as they had to stop frequently to wait for the cameras to move along their sweeps to avoid being spotted.

When they finally arrived at their destination, they were greeted by another clone, CT-6116, Kix. This particular clone had been training with several others in the medical field and was one of the few all the others trusted with the more serious or clandestine of their treatments.

"What'd you do this time, Rex?" the medic had his back to them as he fiddled with some equipment.

"I didn't do anything," the blond sighed tiredly, "unless you count finding a kid in my bed my fault."

"Kid?" Kix turned with a frown. "What do you mean kid?"

"Rex found this one when he opened his sleeping pod," Kote moved forward and placed his burden on the bed the room sported. "Best we can figure is he was recently decanted and down for decommission. But he's unconscious and unresponsive."

"Let me have a look," the medic sighed, none of the clones liked this unfortunately common aspect of their life on Kamino. "In the meantime, get him," he motioned toward Rex, "into a chair or another bed before he passes out."

"I'm fine," Rex grumbled petulantly, he was tired but he could push on. "Besides, the kid…"

"The kid is gonna take a while," Kix shot back. "Remember, as a medical officer, I can pull rank on both of you. Now, get some shut eye and let me do my job. I'll wake you up when I know something."

The other two had no choice but to acquiesce and moved over to the side of the room out of the way. They settled down on the floor, their backs against the wall, and leaned against each other for support. Rex was the first to fall asleep, his head resting on the other's shoulder. Only after he was sure the blond was fully out, did Kote allow himself to follow suit, laying his own head atop the other's.

A few hours later, Kote's eyes flew open as he felt something nudge his foot. His gaze lifted until it finally landed on the medic standing over them.

"Kix," he said quietly, "how's the kid?"

"Wake Rex up," the medic shook his head. "This is gonna be a lot, and I don't want to explain it twice."

The other nodded before gently prodding the blond into wakefulness. It took longer than it normally would to rouse his brother, but given his exhausted state before all this began, it wasn't surprising. Even with that, it took less than a minute to bring him around.

"Okay," the medic sat down in front of them and pulled out a datapad. "I got him stable, and that's the good news."

"What's the bad news?" Rex frowned.

"The kid's not a clone," Kix sighed.

"How is that possible?" Kote ran his hand through his short cropped hair. "I mean, how could a kid even get to Kamino, much less into one of the sleeping pods, without alerting someone?"

"That I can't answer," the other brunet shook his head. "All I know is that he's not one of us. Here," he handed over the datapad.

Kote took it and the pair of them stared at the screen.

"Explain," Rex huffed irritably. "Not all of us were educated in this medical shit."

"That's our DNA, clone DNA, on the right," the medic answered patiently. "His is on the left."

"I can't see a difference," Kote frowned at the images before him.

"Here," Kix's eyes rolled in annoyance as he hit a few buttons on the device. The images shifted to more simple bar graphs. "It's an over simplification, but there."

"They look nothing alike," the blond scowled.

"Exactly. Which means he's not one of us. Aside from that, there's no sign of physical injury or trauma, though he bares numerous scars, most notably on his forehead and right hand. I managed to fix his eyes, but we should keep an eye on it, just in case. Other than that, he's small for his age, and rather malnourished."

"How old is he?" Kote asked the question plaguing both their minds.

"Five standard," the medic sighed, "judging by the teeth."

"Damn it," Rex cursed quietly. "What are we supposed to do?"

"For now," the CC took a deep, calming breath, "we'll take turns hiding and caring for him. I'll discreetly ask around the alphas and trainers, see if any of them are missing a youngling. None of them have been off world recently, not even Prime, so if he's one of theirs, one of them would know."

"And if he's not?" Kix frowned. "I mean, it's not easy keeping secrets on Kamino. We even know a lot of Prime's, thanks to Boba. Truthfully, the only ones who can keep any kind of secret are the longnecks, and given the state the kid's in, that's not a pleasant thought."

"Okay…" the blond ran his hand over his short hair. "I repeat, what are we supposed to do?"

"We'll handle it, Rex," Kote placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "As I said, we'll keep him hidden and take care of him. We'll take turns having him sleep in one of our pods with us. Of course, we'll have to be sporadic about it, we can't have a set schedule or pattern to it, or it'll be easier for others to figure it out. Then, once Kix gives him the all clear, we can sneak him into some of the younger cadet classes so he can start his training, and we don't fall behind in ours."

"It sounds like a good plan," the medic agreed, and then turned his head to look at the equipment behind him. "But right now, we have something more pressing to deal with."

Two matching confused stares turned in his direction.

"He's waking up."

888888

He was floating in a sea of inky blackness. Surprisingly, it didn't scare him. It was just unexpected and a bit weird. He hadn't expected to end up here, not that he expected anything, or even why he was supposed to be expecting anything. It was all so muddled and confusing. His thoughts were slippery and jumbled, and quite frankly giving him a headache.

Okay, time to take stock. He was alive, which was something. Confusing. Unexpected? Too much. Moving on. He felt smaller than he was supposed to, or should be, maybe? Okay, maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Alright, so he was alive, smaller, and didn't appear to be in any pain, except for his head. These were things he could work with. Guess it was time to open his eyes and find out where he was.

His eyes slowly blinked open and a soft whimper left his throat at the blinding white glare that greeted him. Taking a breath and steeling himself, he tried again, more carefully this time. The room that slowly came into focus was unlike any he had ever seen, or he was pretty sure about that. There were a bunch of machines, maybe? all around him, and he was lying on some sort of cot, that wasn't very comfortable. He was dressed, not sure in what exactly, it was kinda soft but itchy, but at least it was something.

As he continued his sweep of the room, movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned and stared as three men rose from the floor. They all looked similar, almost identical, except one was blond. The two dark haired ones were wearing matching red long sleeved shirts and pants, while the blond was dressed in white armor, maybe? Whatever it was, it was kinda weird looking.

"Hello, little one," the one closest to him said kindly. "My name is Kix, I'm a medic. Can you tell me if you're in any pain?"

"My head hurts," he whined slightly.

Whoa, that was wrong. His voice didn't sound like that, he knew it. He didn't know how he knew that, but it was all wrong. As he thought that, the pain in his head intensified and it felt like it would split in two at any moment. Of their own volition, his hands raised and tangled in his hair, as his breath sped up and tears began to sting the back of his eyes.

"Hey, hey, hey," a different voice than Kix said and he felt himself shift onto a lap, as strong arms wrapped around him. "It's okay. You're safe. We've got you."

He took a shuddering breath as a large hand reached up and pressed his head against a hard plastic? something. He began to relax marginally as fingers began carding gently through his hair. That, along with the concern and genuine care pouring off the man and wrapping around him like a warm blanket, caused him to gain control of his breathing and finally relax.

"There, see, all better," the hand in his hair didn't stop and while he wasn't exactly comfortable against whatever he was leaning on, it wasn't bad. "I've got you, little one. I'm Rex, by the way. And that's Kote. Do you have a name yet, little one, or do we have to wait to find yours?"

He wasn't sure what he meant by that. Of course he had a name. Why wouldn't he have one? He knew he had one, though how he knew that he wasn't… Nope, not going there, his head hurt enough already.

"Harry," he hiccupped slightly.

"Well, Harry," Kix spoke up, "why don't you go to Kote for a bit while I get you some medicine for your head. It's gonna make you sleepy, but we can get Rex out of those regs and he can lay down with you. Sound good?"

Harry seemed to consider it for a moment before giving a small nod. At that acknowledgement, the hitherto silent member of the trio leaned forward and gently lifted him out of Rex's arms. He laid his head on the admittedly more comfortable shoulder as the blond got off the medical cot and moved to the other side of the room with Kix.

"Why'd you pick me?" Rex asked quietly so the kid wouldn't overhear, as he began removing his armor.

"A few reasons, actually," the medic shook his head, pulling out a set of patient scrubs and holding them out. "One, you found him in your bunk. Two, he obviously trusts you, considering you brought him back from the edge of a panic attack in record time, in armor, which couldn't have been that comfortable for him. And three, of the three of us here, you're the easiest one to get a day off for a minor medical reason so you can stay with him tomorrow, while Kote and I work things out."

"Okay, fine," the blond gave in with a sigh, finally taking the proffered clothes.

"Good," the brunet smirked before grabbing a hypo and turning around. "Okay, Harry, I got your medicine. You're gonna feel a little pressure, and then you're gonna get really sleepy. I don't want you to fight it. Rex will be right over, okay?"

Wide green eyes stared at him in trepidation before the little head bobbed once. The medic moved forward and by the time he was done, the blond was finished changing and had joined them by the cot. Kote leaned over to place the youngling, whose eyes were already starting to droop, down. Rex joined him a moment later and wrapped an arm around him when the boy shifted to snuggle against his chest. The other two moved to leave, and on the way out Kix dimmed the lights to almost off before they left.

"We can't do this alone, Kix," Kote said without preamble. "The three of us just aren't going to be able to handle it on our own."

"You're right," the medic sighed tiredly. "We are going to need help. And you and I both know our brothers will be willing. However, we don't want to overwhelm Harry, so for now, I think we should limit involvement to our squads, and maybe a couple of the alphas who oversee the cadet training."

"You're right," the other agreed. "That would be best. So in the morning, I'll tell my squad and since Rex will be out of commission, I'll leave you to tell yours. Then I'll see if I can corner a couple of the alphas, no problem."

"I wish you luck, Kote," Kix chuckled softly. "And good night."

"Good night, Kix."

With that, they split up and headed for their own bunks for the few hours that remained of their night.