She knew she was different from the others. For starters, all the others were guys. When she had asked why Taun-We had said, "Because you are something entirely different from them." She had also gotten private training instead of training in the big shooting galleries like the boys did. She was stronger and faster, she had excellent vision and could practically see in the dark. She had asked why. And she got the same answer.

She also had her private quarters and her own gym. Nobody knew about her except the Kaminoans. And there was almost always one around while she was awake. They would glide in and out of her training, meals, asking her questions, being friendly, and taking notes.

At one point, when she was "fifteen" they took her into a lab and did some sort of procedure on her. She had been unable to move properly for a week. She felt as though things were moving too slow. Things seemed lighter and when something fell, it looked at though it was going through water.

"Taun-We," she said one day, two weeks after the surgery. "Can I go and train with the Deltas today?"

Taun-We shook her head slowly. "No, I apologize, One-five." She said in the silky voice that all Kaminoans had. "You can't. You are not fit for battle yet."

One-five pulled a face. "Can I ever go and train with the others?" she asked. Taun-We shook her head again. One-five rolled her eyes. "I know what we are, you know." She said flatly. "I know our purpose. I want to fulfill my destiny. I want to fight."

Taun-We looked at her, her large and luminous eyes sad. "You cannot fight, One-five. I'm sorry." Taun-We stood up and glided away, her silk outfit glimmering as she strode out the door.

"Don't call me One-five if I can't fight." The girl muttered and crossed her arms huffily.

Another Kaminoan, Lin-Yu, strode over to One-five and placed a hand on her shoulder. One-five looked up at him and smiled. Lin-Yu was one of the only Kaminoans that understood the way she thought. He had personally overseen her training and even sat at her bedside after the surgery. "One-five, don't worry," he said. "You will see your day in battle."

One-five nodded, her eyes regaining the spark. She is defiantly different from the other subjects. Lin-Yu thought. Her physical traits are almost completely different. She has the same smirk, but the host for all the subjects had brown eyes, while One-five has those ice-blue eyes. Her hair and facial features… based on that analysis, this girl is not a clone. She is someone different.

One-five tucked her dark brown hair behind her ear and said "Lyn-Yu, sir, I think I need a haircut." She smiled at his expression and followed him out of the room. She followed obediently until there was a distraction. Taun-We had stopped Lin-Yu in the middle of the hallway, and One-five took the opportunity to wander around the facility. She marveled at how many clones there were.

But that's what it takes to build an army… she thought. There were clones of every age possible from able-bodied 'adults' training in the sims, to 'teenagers' studying in the learning center. One-five leaned over the guardrail, fascinated. She tried to count, but they all looked the same. Duh, that's what a clone is you know. She said to herself.

She had gone over every schematic of the facility in her spare time, honing her computer slicing skills and knew this place front to back. After about a week, she was able to slice the main computer in ten seconds flat and cover her footprints so she wouldn't get caught

Turning a corner, One-five entered the armory. There were blasters, sniper attachments, anti-armour attachments, grenades. You name it, it was most likely there. She stood in the doorway then cautiously made her way into the room. One slip and everything went up in a big ball of blue-green flame. She picked up a sniper attachment and ran her fingers over it fondly, smiling to herself.

Placing it down, One-five walked gingerly out the sliding door. If she lingered, she might get caught. And getting caught meant no training. And no training was bad, very bad. She pulled at the sleeve of her blue uniform, nervously looking around and ducked behind a corner as a duo of Kaminoan techs strode by, their soft voices muted by the walls.

Too close, One-five thought. She found her save haven a few moments later. She was sitting outside in the rain, on the roof of the facility. Sitting back, One-five let the rain wash over her face, relishing the cool feeling. She gazed up into the seemingly solid clouds and saw lightning flicker somewhere far above. Her ears pricked as an unfamiliar noise started to drone on.

It was a deep rumbling, quiet at first, but growing louder every second. One-five slid back on the roof, watching a lone red starfighter land on the dock outside the front door. She inched forward again, not caring if her soaking hair got in her eyes. The person in the ship opened the hatch, and pulled on a hood quickly. Interested, One-five was on the very edge of the roof now, leaning over trying to see the person's face.

She hopped down, inadvertently making a splash as her boots hit the deck. The person whipped around, in a fighting stance. "Sorry, sir," One five said, raising her hands slightly to show she was unarmed. "I didn't mean to startle you."

The person eased up and strode under the cover if the overhang before he said anything. "What are you doing out here?" he asked. His voice had a 'British' accent to it.

One-five looked at him, still standing in the rain. "I was thinking." She said, tugging on her soaked sleeve. "What are you doing here?" she asked in kind. "Kamino's a backwater planet-literally. What would a Jedi want with us?"

The Jedi looked at her oddly and said nothing for a moment. Then he opened the door. "You coming in?" he said, holding open the door. One-five nodded and quickly stepped into the building. "What's your name?" the Jedi asked, pulling his hood down, revealing a sandy-haired head. He also sported a short beard.

"I just go by One-five." She responded. "My full number is number SOC- 11748/15. One-five is just shorter, don't you think?" she paused and said, "What's your name? It's only polite."

The man smiled to himself and responded "Kenobi. General Obi-Wan Kenobi."

One-five stared. "General?" she said aloud. "Then, you've got to be with the Republic!" she was getting excited now. Maybe this Jedi could convince Taun-We to let her fight.

"One-five!" someone called out from behind her. Lin-Yu. He hurried over to her and scolded her for running off. Then, noticing she was soaked, scolded her for going out in the rain. And while that was going on, Taun-We was apologizing to the Jedi.

"Please excuse One-five." She was saying. "She is a little over-excited to be out of bed, please, come this way…" she motioned him off to the viewing areas and One-five was hustled off to get into clean clothes.

"Lin-Yu, what's wrong with me?" One-five asked sometime later. Lin-Yu raised a nonexistent eyebrow. "I'm different, Lin-Yu." She started. "First, I'm a girl, second, I've not been taught like the others were, next, people don't even know I exist. Finally, you let everybody else fight, but not me. Lin, what's with that?"

Lin-Yu smiled sadly. "I'm not sure, One-five."

"And stop calling me that!" she said, standing up. "Everyone has a name, a nickname, something. I know, Lin-Yu. I've read the files." She lowered her eyes to the floor. "I've read the files." She repeated. One-five cast Lin-Yu a sad look and walked slowly out of the room. As the door shut behind her, One-five leaned wearily against the wall. That's it; I'm leaving with the next outbound ship.

She headed towards her room, made a U-turn and headed to the holding area for the armor and gear. She explained to the Kaminoan on duty that she wanted a custom-fit suit. She stood there for ten minutes while the Kaminoan did a scan to figure out her size. It took another hour to get the molds made, and another three hours for it to be deemed combat-ready.

The armor was comprised of a thin form-fitting black hydrostatic gel layer that adjusted according to the temperature of the environment, on top of that was a layer of semi-transparent padding, and it went under every piece of the white over-armor. The entire thing was pressure-sealed, and was suitable for EVA maneuvers. One-five had no choice in the color, and ended up with the blue-booted, blue-gauntleted Recon armor.

Once the process had been finished, One-five flexed her hand and stretched. It was all right. Just like wearing a bulky second skin, and that she could get used to. She was given a brief overview of how the shielding system worked, how to apply Bakta- a miracle healer that cured any sort of ailment, cut bruise, etc- and sealing her helmet before going EVA.

One-five nodded and walked out of the room, feeling extremely accomplished. She headed out the nearest exit-she didn't want Taun-We or anybody else to see her sneaking out. She scrambled over the rooftops to the docking bays, and looked around. I finally get my day in battle, she thought as she walked through the lines of minor troops. She was pulled aside once or twice, but was allowed to pass. One told her to head to the ship with the four commandos waiting for dustoff.

She said nothing to the four, and stood there, looking expectantly at the sky. Thank the Gods I have a helmet on… she thought. The four commandos spoke to each other through private COM channels, but One-five could hear every word.

"Hey, Four-oh," one was saying, "You know who the Recon is?"

The commando in green shook his head almost imperceptibly. "No, should we ask?" he paused for a moment.

"What do you think, Boss?" the Yellow one said again, turning to the orange-clad warrior. "We've got the Sniper, the Slicer, yours truly the Demo-man, and you, Three-eight. What good could he do us? We've never trained with him before, so what makes you think he might not be a liability?"

"Shut your mouth, Scorch." The sniper said, his voice deep and almost grating. The paint on his armor stained it like the blood of an enemy. "You just said that on the open channel."

Scorch cocked his head to one side. "Did I?" he said, back on the private channel. "Oops... Let's hope he wasn't paying attention."

One-five had to bite her tongue to keep from snapping at him. The dropship came a few minutes later, and One-five stood as far away from them as possible. She hung onto the grip that was attached to the ceiling as she felt the ship accelerate. She was leaving the only safe haven she had ever known. Death lay before her, that was certain, but she didn't care. She was fulfilling her destiny. She was going to fight. Lin-Yu is going to kill me when I get back…

Scorch looked at the Recon from out of the corner of his eye. He was just standing there, eying the ground moodily. There was something odd about him, just the way he stood, and the way he was built. He was shorter and lankier than everybody else.

I wonder if I should try and say something, Scorch thought. He seems nervous. It might make him feel better… He opened up a private channel to the Ranger. "Hey, buddy, you okay?" The Recon nodded. It was slight, and nobody else caught it but him. But he said nothing. Maybe he's the quiet type that kicks ass out in the field. Scorch said to himself, sighing and clicking off the COM. The Ranger said nothing as they docked with the starship, and he avoided contact with almost everyone.

When they were all grouped together, Sev, Fixer, Boss, the Recon and him, the Recon kept as far away as possible. He's extremely anti-social, that could pose an issue… Scorch thought. Scorch voiced his concern after a mandatory informational meeting.

Sev pulled the Recon aside and said, "What's your deal?" His hand was on the Ranger's shoulder, pinning him to the wall. "You avoid contact with almost everything, don't show up for meals, and never talk. Are you nervous or just stupid?"

The Recon's glare could not be seen, but Sev could feel his eyes boring into his faceplate. "Well?" he persisted. The Recon didn't answer as far as Scorch could tell, but Sev apparently thought otherwise. He released the Recon and said nothing more on the topic.

The Recon hurried off in another direction and rounded a corner. "What's up with you, Sev?" Scorch said testily. "Apparently, he's a rookie. Give him some space would you?" Sev glared at him through the helmet and stalked away in the same direction as the Recon. Jeez, one new addition and everybody's ready to kill each other.

One-five slipped into her quarters and pulled off her helmet. Her eyes were watering with rage and hatred for that sniper. 'Sev' he had been called. A name, One-five thought, he's got a name… that made her even angrier. Names, I have not a one. She thought bitterly. Just a number… a stupid number…

A week later, Delta Squad and One-five were deployed to Geonosis in an attempt to do one thing or another. She hadn't really paid attention to the orders, immersed as she was in her own thoughts. Geonosians are disgusting little insects… One-five thought to herself. And their Elites are no picnic to deal with either… Crossing her arms, she leaned up against the wall of the dropship.

"Alright boys, let's move out!" Three-eight called, waving the other three over. One-five followed, jogging rather than sprinting. She and the others boarded seperate dropships and she was stuck with the sniper. One-five said nothing and kept to herself. It was hard to count how many times she had to stop herself from talking. If she said just one word, everything would go out the window.

The others had become used to her anti-socialism, and the sniper just ignored it as she went to stand by a foot soldier. She grasped the hanging grip tightly as a wind caused slight turbulence. "I'm losing it!" she heard the pilot cry out. "Brace for impact!" One-five hung on for her life as the ship impacted the ground with a bone-crunching thud. She was jolted from her corner and landed on top of the sniper.

She shoved his head to the side and stood up. Rubbing her arm, she walked out of the wrecked ship. There were rock formations everywhere; the planet seemed to be nothing but. One-five quickly surveyed the area for hostiles. Nothing yet, but considering the noise that they had made, there were soon to be those insects crawling all over the place.

She trotted back to the wreckage and pillaged a blaster. There were only a hundred shots left, so she had to be careful not to waste her ammo. She scrounged around for a sidearm as Oh-Seven received orders. She hadn't paid attention and he headed off without her.

"Damn," One-five muttered to herself. Then she mentally slapped herself for speaking. Thankfully, no COM channel was open and her helmet didn't let sound out if the speakers weren't turned on. Looking around, she pulled up a topography map and found the quickest route to the trooper base. It was a half a click way and it would take her about a half hour if she ran into as many enemies as she assumed she would.

"Okay, you're on your own this time," One-five said to herself. It was odd, but it was reassuring. "This is no sim, so no matter what happens, you're not going to die, understand? No dying just yet, One-five. You've got a name to earn." She started off toward the nearest canyon pass and she was off to make a name for herself.

As the Delta squad blasted their way through a few barricades, Scorch smiled to himself. "That blew up real nicely." He said and trotted forward, in the standard formation like he always would. He looked around and thought something's not right here… he paused for a moment and stopped walking. We've got Sev, Fixer, Boss… what's the matter then? Then the thought hit him: the Recon. He had gone with Sev and when Sev showed up, the Recon hadn't been with him.

"Uh, Boss," Scorch said over a team-wide channel. "We've got a minor problem."

Boss turned around, noticed that Scorch had fallen behind and stopped running as well. "What?" he asked, his voice slightly annoyed.

"We're missing one, don't you think?" Scorch hinted. Every head turned to one another as they tried to figure it out.

"The Recon." Fixer said quietly. "We're missing the Recon." He turned to Sev. "Wasn't he with you, Sev?" Sev nodded.

"Yeah, so?" Sev said, his voice cold.

"So, if he gets captured…" Fixer started.

"He wont say a thing." Sev cut him off. "We all know that a squad member would rather die than tell an enemy anything."

Scorch rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but you should've made sure he was behind you. This sounds like you just walked off without him."

"I did," Sev replied flatly. "He wasn't paying attention and I left without

him."

"SEV!" Boss said exasperatedly. He sighed. "There's nothing we can do about it now. We can just hope for the best." Everyone nodded and they continued onward. They had a job to finish; they'd find the Recon later.

Shoot, kill, turn, shoot, kill. It got very monotonous after a while, and One-five soon became numb with the killing. Every once or twice, droid oil or Geonosian blood would splatter on her faceplate and a blue static line would slowly move across it to clear her vision. It was taking too long; she should have reached the base a while ago.

One-five sidestepped and hid behind a rock, pulling out her sniper attachment. She had found the thing on the ground and immediately pilfered it. Zooming in to 20X, she spotted a few lazy droids and Geonosians. Their lives ended within the next few seconds. Patting her weapon and smiling grimly, One-five slowly made her way up a nearby rock formation that had a fairly decent view.

It was an overhang looking out over a facility that had heavy shielding and weaponry. There were dozens of foot soldiers either dead or dying in the thirty-meter stretch between a single pass between two rocks and the facility itself. One-five could hear their moans through the COM and she had to bite her lip to keep from talking to them and reassuring them.

She laid down on the rock and brought her rifle to bear, targeting the turret operators. Four shots rang out, the gun making a slight coughing noise as each shot was fired, and four Geonosian turret operators died. Then she targeted the turrets themselves. It took four rounds each to destroy them. If anybody's coming through here any time soon, they're going to have it easy. One-five thought to herself. 'Cause I did all the work.

She crawled down the formation and tried to make her way as stealthily as possible, sniping at every chanced she got. Sometimes, when she was feeling confident, she would throw a thermal detonator in the midst of a group of enemies then instigate a wild firefight. It was a way for anger management, and after every battle, One-five felt more relaxed. She felt no remorse for killing droids or Geonosians. Droids were machines after all, and Geonosians weren't even humanoid.

It had been twelve hours since the crash landing, and One-five was scanning the topography once more. She had taken a wrong turn about ten hours back and had to turn around. It was that, or go through the underground tunnels that contained more than the occasional Geonosian. There were Super Battle Droids; something not to be messed with when you're low on ammo and grenades, then the Geonosian Elites and their 'Pyro Sticks' would turn you to a cinder before you said "tag, you're toast."

Deciding on making her own path, One-five put the topography map on her HUD and stuck a NAV point on her objective. "Okay, One-five," she said. "This is it, crunch time… sort of… Just get back there in one piece." Gritting her teeth, she hopped down from a rock and onto another a meter below. She climbed, fell, scrambled and scaled over mountainous terrain for about three hours.

"Maybe going this way wasn't the best idea in the world…" she muttered as she hung from one arm over a thousand-meter drop. She grunted as she pulled herself up onto the ledge. She flopped down on the rock for thirty seconds and rested. She needed Bakta, and she didn't have an attachment just in case. Her Achilles tendon on her left leg had torn, she had strained her back in two places, and she thought that her left wrist was sprained.

Standing up, One-five looked over her map for the thousandth time that hour. She saw four FOF tags and noticed the numbers "07", "40", "26" and "38". Delta Squad. They were heading to the same objective point that she was. Good. One-five thought. Maybe they're done with whatever they're doing. And when I see Sev, I'm going to kick his ass so hard… her thought trailed off as a grunt was heard over the COM channel.

One-five looked over the ledge and saw Four-oh hit the dirt, unconscious. She jumped down, guns blazing and shot a few droids that were about to step on Fixer's body. Kneeling down, One-five pulled out 'the Shocker' as it was widely known, and tended to Fixer, ignoring the battle going on. It blipped a few times then sent a jolt through Fixer's body that made him flinch violently. She pulled him to his feet and gave him his blaster back. Fixer nodded to her and they stood back to back, covering each other.

She sent a message via encryption codes to Fixer's helmet. What's going on? I'll help if you need an extra pair of eyes. "Keep shooting." Was all Fixer said. "That would help." One-five nodded and did just that.

Afterward, she stuck around long enough to heal herself and was evacuated as soon as possible to tend to her Achilles and her wrist. As she followed the medic into the ship, Scorch stood there, staring in wonder. "Nice shooting." He said in admiration. "You have a name?" he asked. One-five sent her number to his HUD. "No, I mean a name, not just your number." She shook her head. Scorch crossed his arms. "Not cool. Well, we'll think of something and tell you when you get back."

One-five nodded. She took her pointer finger and middle finger and made a 'smile' on her helmet. Something she had picked up from observing the others train. Scorch did the same and turned away. This team, Delta Squad, they weren't too bad…