Maze's forehead gently touched Essie's, their perspiration mingling; it wasn't the only bodily fluids that had just mingled. They lay like that for several minutes, both regaining their breaths before he climbed off his wife; it was the first time they had been intimate since the birth of Rex and he savoured their nearness.

There was nothing else like it.

He'll admit his son's blond hair was a shock at first but it was not unknown among clones.

After he had shouted at Jac for the third time yesterday, his brother had said he was cranky through lack of sex.

He won't say that in a hurry again, even if Maze's ear was blue from where Mel had dragged him off.

Perhaps Jac had been right.

Yes he had to admit it, he had a healthy sex life with his wife and he did miss it when it wasn't here. He never really wanted anyone else, although he had fallen to that temptation in the past.

He looked back over to Essie. She was smiling.

He clasped his fist, refraining from punching the air.

"And what are you so smug about?" She asked.

Damn! She'd seen him.

"Nothing."

"Oh, I wouldn't say it was nothing. It was pleasurable as always, big boy."

She turned on her side to face him, her fingers playing with the hair on his chest, it had grown thicker over the last few years.

"What do you want?"

"Gah! You can read me like a book." She turned her head, feigning annoyance.

He lifted her hand from his chest and enclosed it in his.

"What do you want?" He asked again.

"You never said if you found those clones on Seelos. That rumour Ordo asked you to investigate."

Maze tried not to squirm; he had hoped she had forgotten about it, with the baby, and then Mel and Jac. But he should have known better.

He kissed the palm of her hand.

"How's your training going?"

She pushed herself up, straddled him and stared into his face.

"Don't change the subject."

"Just be careful with those!" He said.

She frowned.

"You could poke my bloody eye out with one." He pointed to her breasts, fuller from the breast feeding.

"Maze…" she said, warning him.

"I didn't."

"Didn't find them or just didn't say."

He didn't say anything because he knew he couldn't pass the 'lie' test with his wife and it was nothing to do with her Force sensitivity, although that was helpful in other ways.

"I didn't say because you were busy, preoccupied with 'blondie'."

"Rex!" She corrected him, she didn't like the baby being called 'blondie'.

He sighed.

"We found them." He finally admitted.

Essie rolled over and sat up in bed, eyes bright, "You did? Why didn't you say? Who are they? Do we know them? Do they want the cure? You did tell them about it, didn't you? And Mandalore what they can do…..."

He gently grasped and held her by the biceps, slowing her down.

"Now don't get too excited."

"Why?"

"It was Wolffe, Rex and Gregor."

"That's great! We thought they were all dead."

"Now hold on." Cautioned Maze, "It was all true. They have repurposed an old tank and been living in it, although Force knows where they got it from."

"So what's the problem?" She calmed down.

"They've all aged, like Jac but it's the other stuff. Rex is not too bad. He seems to be keeping them all together." He had admired Rex and not just as a soldier but as as a friend.

Essie closed her eyes not wanting to hear what he had to say. Jac had struggled but was coping with help.

"It wasn't just the War, it was what happened after as well."

Essie pushed herself against him. He was finding this difficult.

"When we arrived, Wolffe took potshots at Zey. He nearly hit him as well, it was lucky he had armour under his cloak. He's scared the Jedi are coming after them and Gregor…."

"He was the Commando, wasn't he?"

"Yes. One of the best. We lost him twice. Head injuries from explosions. He never really recovered. He's not the same man I knew."

"They're that bad?"

He nodded, thankful he had escaped from Coruscant when he did.

"Perhaps we could help." She suggested.

"They don't want to leave there. They're away from the Empire, it's isolated and that's what they want. Keeping a low profile. I think Rex has his own problems but keeping those two alive and on track gives him purpose. I didn't want to take that away from him."

"Oh Maze. It's still so unfair." She laid her head on his chest. "How long have they been there?"

He hated seeing her like this, in some respects she was as bad as Kal Skirata wanting to save any clone she could.

"A few years. Wolffe was with the Empire for a while and Gregor escaped from a training facility, Daro."

They had both heard of that place— it trained stormtroopers— using ex clone commandos.

"And Rex was doing what Rex does—fighting for the Republic."

Essie twisted around, "Rebellion?"

He shrugged, Rex had not gone into great detail, even when pressed but he had mentioned other clones.

Maze could see Essie was still contemplating what they could do.

After a short time he continued. "I gave Gregor Ordo's com number."

"He took it?"

"Yeah."

"So there's hope." She brightened slightly. He would do anything to ensure she was safe and happy, with the rest of their little brood.

"There's always hope." Maze kissed his wife's forehead, "I love you."

"I know."

.

Seven standard weeks earlier.

Seelos

Outer Rim Territories.

The small nondescript craft dropped out of hyperspace.

"All clear!" Confirmed Zey.

Their destination loomed ahead and within a few minutes they were in orbit; a mainly sandy planet was soon below them.

"Seelos. Largely uninhabited except for one spaceport, Seelos City. A few settlements and homesteads. Was designated a mining world but that never materialised."

Maze relayed the information Ordo and Essie had found, whilst Zey was orbiting the planet.

"I need to circumnavigate to the far side, avoid the space port."

Maze found the Spaceport and tapped in the coordinates; Zey avoided it, bringing them in low over the mountains, then an expanse of prairie lay before them before reaching the desert.

"That said it does have a population of exiles such as criminals and marked men, usually living in campsites in the mountains. Main fauna —joopa. Giant sand worms."

Maze looked up at the expanse of desert through the cockpit window.

"Why are there always worms?" Maze shuddered.

Zey suppressed a smile.

"I know this is a long shot but is the tracker working?" Asked Maze.

"Yes. And the one that can detect clone life signs gifted by Jaing." Zey replied, putting a hand on his friend's knee to stop him tapping the floor.

"She will be fine."

"I hope so. It's just, when it's someone else…."

"It's difficult."

Zey received a grunt in reply.

Maze adjusted the settings on his datapad, linked to the scanner.

"Do you think they would be in the mountains?"

"If they are, we'll never find them unless…"

"Unless what?"

"Unless we look for the tank. There can't be many of those still about."

"New parameters set in for a Republic era tank." Confirmed Maze.

He leaned to look through the cockpit window again.

"It's going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack wherever they are."

Zey banked the ship around and made another pass.

"Shields off!" Confirmed Maze, "We'll get better range on the scanner."

"I can't sense anything, apart from those worms. There's a lot. And they're old."

"I suppose they're bloody big as well?"

"Not much data on them but they're classified as dangerous so we can assume so." Zey wanted to smile. There were only two things he knew his friend was scared of: losing his family and worms, of all sizes.

The readout from the scanner pinged.

"Have we got something?" Zey asked.

"Tank. A few klicks ahead!"

Zey pushed the engines and accelerated toward their target.

.

The grey haired clone tapped on his datapad, his cybernetic eye, continually focused and re-focused. His mouth set in a straight line, he read the last entry again, then deleted it.

He touched the vertical scar that bisected his cybernetic eye, then tapped again on the datapad.

"Any sign, Vod?" His own voice, but not his voice, not quite, it was spoken by a shaved headed clone, of a similar age, it broke him out of his thoughts.

"No nothing."

"He'll be back soon, he always is."

"Yeah, but he's never been out of contact for this long without prior warning. It could be Jetii." His paranoia rose, when he was stressed and this was stressing him.

"Unlikely, Vod, they're dead."

Looking around nervously, he answered "I know there are still some around, and the Empire, The Emperor and Vader are still searching for them. If we get caught helping them…if we get in their way."

The shaven headed one stepped up, keeping an eye on his brother, as he had been asked to, they all had their good and bad days.

"Vod. There are none here and that's why we're here; there are hardly any people here. Only those that don't want to be found."

His fellow clone and huffed and stomped off; there was no talking to him now.

"It's up to you, CC5576-39, you need to look after your brothers. Find Captain Rex, find him! That's an order Soldier."

He shook his head trying to get the voice out of it. He failed.

"Yes sir, Colonel Gascon."

He sat down at the data station and expertly changed the parameters of the search programme from the Joopa, the big one, to a Clone Trooper. They had added in that parameter when they were looking for brothers years ago, those who defied Order 66. They hadn't found many; those who deserted had been found quickly by Vader.

"You won't be able to do it, you left us at Sarrish."

"I had no choice."

"Everyone has a choice."

"Who's that? Is that you, Ner Vod?"

Then he heard a soft laugh, the one that he first heard on Abafar, in the Cantina. She came in every day and was kind to him.

Long golden hair.

Smelt of vanilla: she's in his mind.

"Everyone has a choice, you chose to leave her."

"I was going back but …..the Republic …..they wouldn't let me."

"You didn't even try, you chose to remove the chip."

"I went back, after Daro."

"Too late, the Imperials got there first, you were too late."

The ex-Commando sighed, he didn't like listening to the voices; there was only one, the Colonel, who made any sense but some of the others were very persuasive.

She left him a note.

With a number, her number.

"Call me."

He called her.

"Come over to my place!"

He went to her place.

"Sit with me."

He sat next to her.

He could remember it, as if it were yesterday.

The converted clone wars era tank zig zagged its way around the desert of Seelos.

.

They were gaining on the tank; although it appeared to be following a random zig zag path across the desert. There was no way you could even guess where it was going next.

Maze peered out of the cockpit window at what looked to be a ramshackle vehicle below them. He used his binoculars to get a better view.

"They have certainly made some modifications but I'm still surprised it's able to move."

"I'm going to pull back a bit. Don't want to scare them." Zey warned him.

As Zey slowed them; the ship shuddered then screamed as it lurched to one side.

"They're firing on us." Said Zey, stating the obvious. "Strap in. I can bring us down. Hopefully in one piece."

He pulled back on the joystick, and the ship slowed.

"Either they wanted to find out who we were or they're not clones because no clone could shoot like that." Shouted Maze, above the still screeching ship. "Unless they meant to just take out the one engine."

They hit the ground and buffeted along the sand until they finally came to a halt.

"Good landing old man." Deadpanned Maze, checking all his teeth were still there.

"Should think so. I was flying these before you were even thought of."

"Was it the Tank?"

"Looks like it!"

unstrapping themselves they did a systems check.

"Limted damage but were not going anywhere without repairs."

"Targeted strike?"

"Oh yes. They knew what they were doing."

Zey pulled on his cloak.

"Let's be careful out there." Maze drew and primed his blaster.

Standing with his hand on the door release, he said, "Ready?"

"Ready!" confirmed Zey.

Maze hit the open switch and the ramp dropped down. He scanned the area—nothing.

"They're out there but….it's difficult to pinpoint exactly where." Zey had his hand ready on his lightsaber.

Maze knew from past experience he was using the force to try and locate them. He left the ship first, arms extended, blaster pointing ready; they walked down the ramp.

"Jedi!" They heard a clone voice shout out then the blue rings of several stun shots hit them and he thought he heard the sounds of lethal shots.

Maze had hit the sand, luckily it was soft. He felt someone turn him over.

"Fuck! It's a clone."

Another blue ring of blaster fire hit him and his world went black.

.