22 BBY.
Year 13 after the Great Resynchronisation
Year 978 after the Ruusan Reformation.
Clone personnel have free will, even if they do follow orders. If they couldn't think for themselves we'd be better off with droids—and there a lot cheaper too. They have to be able to respond to situations we can't imagine. Will that change them in ways we can't predict. Perhaps. But they have to be mentally prepared to win wars. Now thaw those men out. They have a job to do.
—Jedi Master Arligan Zey, Intelligence Officer.
.
Jedi Master Arligan Zey, General Special Operations Brigade, reviewed the details in front of him; still astounded by the arrogance of the Kaminoans who had decided which part of the army they released or didn't in the hours of the Republic's greatest need. One hundred of the best soldiers kept back from the initial attack on Geonosis. He was astounded that they withheld the details of the specific skill sets of the differently trained Commandos, who, he acknowledged with hindsight, had been deployed incorrectly. Had the Kaminoans given this information freely at the beginning, the tactics would have, should have been so different and so many Jedi lives could have been saved, so many Clone lives would not have been wasted. The effect in the Force still reverberated within him.
It could have been so different. He closed his eyes to ground himself in the Force yet again. It was getting more and more difficult.
.
Year 13.8 (3 months after Geonosis)
Kamino
Alpha 26 stumbled out of the stasis pod, blinking, unsure how long he had been in stasis. It would be amongst one of the first thing he checks.
He had spent his first ten years on Kamino, as one of the hundred Alpha ARCs, part of the second wave of the clone template, who were each the equivalent of a "one man army". He had been bred and trained to fight with total loyalty to the Republic, to the chain of command. Bred from Jango's DNA and trained by Jango personally. The training was tough, Jango was tough and now Maze and his "Vode" were among the toughest fighters in the Galaxy.
Too tough to be deployed, according to the Kaminoans.
How was the war going?
He knew he was still required, he wouldn't have been revived if he wasn't needed. He grabbed the towel from the droid and rubbed at his stasis stiff body to help revive himself.
Body check.
He spent thirty seconds surveying his body, each element. Another three quarters of a minute and he had completed the full shift from stasis sleep to waking. In an emergency he could complete the shift in seconds, but he heard no alarms, no shouted orders, no hurrying brothers; he had the time and so took a more leisurely transition.
This was ingrained in him. They had done this regularly as part of their training. In stasis. Out of stasis. Training. In stasis. And repeat. Until it was second nature. He looked along the line, all the rest of the Alpha class were being revived. There were already empty tubes, some brothers had already deployed. The war must be going badly, or there is a big push on the cards.
He hated not having the Intel, as bad as it may be.
Self-inspection complete, he visited the communal 'fresher, showering in the scent free PH balanced soap, to remove the remains and smell from the stasis liquid. Washing his hair to remove the liquid which wrecked havoc with your HUD, if left on. He ran his fingers through his hair. He needed a cut, it had grown in stasis. He brushed his teeth at the communal sink; stasis always left an odd taste in his mouth. He retrieved his few belongings in a duffel. Blasters he had modified. His basic kit. It could be swapped with any other ARC, in theory, but it wasn't, the items were personal; they shouldn't be but they were.
According to Code an ARC trooper must be ready to go anywhere, do anything, at the beck of the commanding Jedi or Supreme Chancellor.
Alpha – 26, Maze, was that perfect trooper. There was no other choice, no other existence. He was ready.
The knowledge, pre-stasis memories had come back to him. The line troopers had been deployed, the Commandos, even the Nulls, but not all of his cohort. They had watched, as thousands left Kamino, to fight. They waited but further orders never came, so he obeyed his standing orders, Jango's orders, before he left. Jango had advised that it would happen soon, that they should not rush to that first battle, that they would be required later. They obeyed. They all knew he had left before the deployment; he had taken his son, Boba with him.
He could see the remaining Alphas doing the same as he. He felt the satisfaction of finally being out, being able to do what he had been trained for, what his life was about.
A weapon for the Republic.
.
Three months he had been in stasis; he checked on his datapad the current state of the war. It was not going well and yet it took them until now to awaken all of the Alphas. His orders were relayed to his HUD. He walked the white corridors of Kamino towards the landing platforms, as he blinked activating each aspect in his HUD, as his training dictated. A lot more information flashed in front of his eyes. His HUD had been reconfigured, upgraded; Figures, names of Jedi, planets, logistics, armaments, past battles, current operations. It all scrolled past and with the practice of ten years intense training he assimilated it.
Geonosis!
He stopped walking. He had lived with Jango and his training for nearly ten years and he had not thought to see that. He had not thought what was going to happen to Fett once they went to war. He had assumed….
Fett had made his decision. Chosen his side. Fett was a gun for hire after all and he never pretended to be any thing other than that. Fett moved on. Maze moved on.
His transport orders flashed up.
Special Operations Branch. He stopped again for a few seconds, that information had surprised him, then he continued his walk avoiding the Kaminoans.
His orders were to report to Jedi Master Arligan Zey, Special Operations Branch, as his 'aide'. He hoped that was some kind of euphemism. He was based on Coruscant; his interest piqued, he was just about to catch up on the career of 'his Jedi' when he heard a familiar voice, his own voice with a slightly different inflection.
"Su'cuy gar, ner vod. Are you deployed already?"
A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth, he pulled it in. His brother had adopted a lot of the Mandalorian that had permeated through from some of the Training Sergeants, even if Fett had not pushed it onto them. Maze appreciated the brotherhood part but after what he had just read about Jango at Geonosis—it had been top of his messages—he was going to tone his down. He was getting a bloody Jedi General For Force Sake!
He had read Fett's history.
"Alpha 27, Lieutenant Ne'tra."
"Alpha 26, Captain, Sir." He saluted.
"Only because I took the work more seriously. You could have done it, made Captain. Where's Aven?" He looked beyond his companion, they were usually joined at the hip.
"I've decided it's not all about work. And he's already deployed."
"That attitude will get you killed. Where to?"
"Nah. Still good enough. Don't know hush hush."
"Good enough, shouldn't be your goal. Damn I would've liked to see him before he left."
"Well, perhaps you got my dose of the 'to be the best' serum in your growth tube."
Maze shook his head; try as he might he could not dislike his nearest brother, decanted from the tube next to his, seconds after than him.
"I'm shipping out. SOB."
"Spooks eh? That'll be good fit for you.
"It'd be good fit for any of us. We're adaptable. You?"
"Attached to the 327th, under Bly and a Twi'lek general." His eyebrows wiggled lecherously.
Maze ignored them.
"327th, eh? You should see plenty of action. So you'll be able to show them that you're the best."
"Got to go. Don't want to get on Bly's bad side."
They shook, clasping each other's forearms.
"Be careful." They both said in unison.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do." Ne'tra shouted over his shoulder, he always had to have the last word. Maze left it at that. If he didn't he would be here all day and miss his ride to Coruscant.
He returned to the reports on Geonosis: ill-advised matching of Jedi and troopers, misuse of Republic Commandos expertise. Some of the Jedi were little more than younglings, with no experience of mass warfare, this had resulted in extensive loss of life on both sides. Why would they send children to war, he thought, missing the irony of that as he was only eleven.
He looked at the Geonosis figures, half of the trained Commandos had been lost. Squads had been broken and split up and then put in stasis like himself. It will take time for them to gel again but they will. An incoming message flashed up.
"More orders?" He asked himself. "Report to Fleet Support, Ord Mantell."
Checking the whereabouts of 'his Jedi', currently on Ord Mantell in preparation for a Commando raid, he then checked the troop transports for departures, another hour before anyone going there. He cancelled and rearranged his travel with the few swipes across his datapad.
An hour, he could eat and drink, wouldn't know when he would get any time to do that and be able to replenish his kit. He had only the basics. Check on Fleet Support and Ord Mantell, and his new General. He hadn't actually expected to get a Jedi General.
He walked more quickly towards the nearest Mess Hall, ignoring the Kaminoans and Kamino security staff.
.
He was surprised it was still fairly full, with the familiar buzz of brothers talking. It was a more relaxed atmosphere, compared to training. He filled his tray and sat down at an empty table. He made short work of the nutritionally perfect food in front of him. It didn't taste too bad, as he was older he could take or leave it. He knew he had to eat. He remembered the original food they had, although nutritionally fine it was worse than tasteless and was often left by the younger clones. The Kaminoans realised they would have to change the taste and texture and vary it. To ensure it was fully consumed. To ensure their nutrition was kept up.
Maze completed his checks on General Arligan Zey; there was not a lot of personal details in his history, no image, he entered the Jedi temple etc etc. Maze was more interested in what happened after he was knighted. What campaigns he had fought in if any. He was disappointed, what he actually did, was mostly redacted but it did appear that he had undertaken a great deal of undercover operations working to another knight called Iri Camas. His history was equally sparse.
Zey had a Padawan, a male.
"Oh great a youngling."
He cross referenced where Zey had been, which planets and what had happened on them.
"Hmm." This was more interesting. At least he had some idea of how to wage a war and didn't appear to be an airy fairy mystic like some of them. He was feeling a little more optimistic and admitted to himself that he had been disappointed when he had been classified as and 'aide'. He hoped this Jedi would be open to his suggestions and make use of Maze's expertise, when required. Maze, however, wanted to do what he was trained for and needed missions but it looked as if he was going to be working with a Jedi. At least he had a history of undercover operations with the Jedi, very successfully, it would seem as well.
A message pinged on his datapad. His passage to Fleet Support, Od Mantell would be leaving in fifteen. He drained his water, pulled on his helmet and set off to the Hanger.
He climbed up the ramp of the troop transport and sat himself in the nearest bucket seat. He kept his head straight but activated his HUD to see the troops deploying. A squad of CT shinies by the look of it, their marching totally synchronised. Not one out of step. They were impressive.
By his calculations seventy five percent wouldn't make six months.
This was the life of a soldier.
For the Republic.
.
Fleet Support, Ord Mantell.
Fleet Support was smaller than he anticipated and was teeming with white jobs and some with non regulation colours; he'd noticed, as he walked through, there were more and more colours that didn't show just the rank. There was no indication of where his general may be, in fact it looked chaotic. He searched through the sea of clones, looking for someone to help. A Sargeant with a datapad was the best contender. He walked towards him, dodging the white jobs who didn't seem to be looking where they were going.
"Sergeant!"
"Yes sir." He came to attention and saluted sharply.
"I'm looking for General Zey. Can you point me in his direction?"
"Don't think I know him sir,"
"SOB."
"No…..oh yes, the big lads."
Maze sighed.
"Yes sir. They're in room 314. That way." He pointed down the middle corridor, "Second to the right and straight on till the end. A repurposed cold store. We're a bit short on space, sir."
He saluted again.
Maze returned it and headed in double time to find the cold store.
.
He hadn't reached the end of the corridor when a squad of Republic Commandos bowled out of the said room, saluted as he walked past and then marched on. He knocked and entered, it definitely had been a cold store. It had fleetingly crossed his mind that the Sergeant had been joking, but he wasn't. He saw the Jedi. A little young he thought. He saluted and came to attention.
"Alpha-26 reporting for duty General Zey."
The Jedi blinked at him. He thought it may be the helmet. He removed it as a courtesy.
The young Jedi with the dark blonde hair, shook his head. "I'm sorry, you're mistaken. I'm not the General. I'm his Padawan, Bardan Jusik."
Maze saluted again, "Sir." Then just in the periphery of his vision, something black and silky moved, on instinct, he pulled his blaster and stood in front of the Jedi.
"No, Captain, that's an ally."
Maze's finger was nano seconds from pressing the trigger, when he saw the black mass coalesce into a four legged figure.
"Another one." It's voice bubbled.
"Meet Valaqil."
"A Gurlanin." Maze nodded to the alien, whose shape appeared to be changing all the time.
"You have met one of us before." It asked.
"No, just studied all shape shifters."
"I'm the armourer and logistics." Jusik added "and you're an Advanced Recon Commando?"
"Yes, an Alpha."
The Jedi looked puzzled but did not elaborate.
"Now where is the General sir, I need to report in."
"He's gone to get a caf. Lives on it." He smiled, "Down the corridor, you can't miss it."
Maze saluted sharply and headed off to find his General.