MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU! Happy Star Wars Day, everyone!


Hunter held open the door of their quarters, grimacing slightly at the smell perforating the room, for the kid and the rest of his squad. Crosshair stomped in haughtily, heading for his berth. Wrecker and Tech slipped inside next both heading for the table in the center of the room.

Hunter narrowed his eyes when he spotted that another berth had been added to their room. Obviously for the kid.

He turned his head slightly as the kid silently entered the room.

The kid's gaze was downcast, staring at the floor, obviously uncomfortable.

Hunter slipped in behind him and gestured roughly towards the new empty berth. "I guess that one's for you."

The kid looked up then, spotted the berth and quietly headed towards it, eyes going back to the floor.

Hunter glanced over at Tech, who was silently studying the way the kid moved, and Wrecker, who didn't even seem that curious about their new member. Crosshair meanwhile was silently sneering at the kid, obviously unimpressed with him.

Hunter let out a small sigh, before he turned to the kid, who had set his things on the empty berth silently and was now slowly starting to leaf through his bag. He might as well continue the conversation that was started in the hallway.

Hunter headed over to him, the kid looking up when he started to approach.

That caused Hunter to raise an eyebrow.

So, the kid's ability might have to do with soundwaves? Perhaps?

He stopped right in front of the kid as he turned to face him silently.

Hunter cleared his throat. "Do you have a name?"

CT-9922 hesitantly nodded.

That caused Hunter to blink. Usually, brothers named other brothers.

Crosshair sneered out oily. "Were you a part of a Reg squad before?"

The kid's eyes darted over to Crosshair for a moment before he tilted his head to the side. "Reg?"

"Regular clones," Hunter said quickly. "It's what we call them."

The kid nodded slowly before he said, quietly. "Then, yes, I was originally in a Reg squad."

"How long before they figured out you were defective?" Hunter asked.

The kid hesitated. "They found out about three months ago."

That caused Hunter to blink in surprise. That was far less time than he'd thought.

He studied the kid for a long moment before he spoke. "Were you sent to the front before the found you?"

The kid's nose looked broken. And there was a scar along the base of his neck that could have only come from combat.

The kid nodded again. "I was in the 501st before I was sent back to Kamino for decommissioning."

That caused Hunter to suck in a sharp breath. Kriff. This kid had come back here expecting to die. Instead, he had been experimented on when the Kaminii had uncovered that he was defective.

Okay, Hunter was definitely keeping this kid close. He wasn't going to let this one out of his sight for a long while.

Finding out you were defective after so long of believing you were normal was not good. The kid could try to harm himself because of it.

Hunter shook his head and asked, trying to be completely calm, "So what's your name, kid?"

The kid quickly averted his eyes. "Dogma, sir."

Oh. A name clearly given cruelly.

Apparently, even though Dogma's defect hadn't been known his squadmates had given him a cruel name.

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Dogma kept his head down as Sergeant Hunter made a noise in the back of his throat. He couldn't detect what the noise meant, but it could only be that the Sergeant wasn't pleased by what his name was.

His head jumped up when he felt the Sergeant's presence come closer to him.

The Sergeant laid a hand on his shoulder armor and said gently. "Would you like to change it?"

Dogma's eyes widened at that, before he said quietly. "It's my name. My squad wasn't bad."

The Sergeant's gaze softened as he nodded gently.

"How sweet," sneered the gray-haired sniper from another berth.

Sergeant Hunter let out an annoyed sigh, "Crosshair. . . for once in your life, please shut up."

"OUCH!" crowed the huge clone from where he had his feet up on the table. "The Sarge got you there, Crosshair!"

"Shut up, Wrecker," hissed Crosshair, anger clear in his voice. "I can't be the only one who thinks this is ridiculous. A karking Reg joining our squad."

"Nala Se claims that he is not, as you say, a Reg," the clone with the datapad and the goggles pointed out without looking up from his datapad. "His number proves that."

"That doesn't prove anything." spat Crosshair as his eyes fixed on Dogma disdainfully. "What even is your defect, Reg?"

The poison in Crosshair's voice stung but Dogma forcefully held his head high. He was used to being looked down on, after all. But he wanted to flinch away. The poison in Crosshair's tone reminded him strongly of Fi. . . No, he wasn't going to think about him.

I hope you can live with yourself, Dogma.

He responded with almost as much acid in his voice, as he ignored that inner voice. "I have a 16000 midi-chlorian count.

"Huh?" Wrecker said, head tilting to the side, curiously. "What are those?"

"Midi-chlorians," the goggled clone said, finally looking up and fixing Dogma with a curious look. "The microscopic lifeforms that live inside a Jedi's blood stream and allow them to access the Force."

A snort came from Crosshair at that. "Are you kidding me? That's ridiculous. Clones can't be Force-sensitive."

Dogma grimaced. At first, he hadn't believed it either. And then Nala Se had brought him some Jedi books she had stolen from Shaak Ti. After reading them, he had suddenly begun to feel the Force much stronger than he had before.

Before he hadn't known what exactly the mysterious itch was the told him when to duck, that had given him visions in his dreams, or that had made him see things when he touched items without his gloves or someone touched his bare skin with their own.

Now he knew.

And he wasn't exactly happy that he had to prove it to someone else.

He focused his eyes on Crosshair's helmet, his concentration reaching for it.

The warmth that was the Force filled him when he lowered his shields, giving him insight in his new squad's mindscapes.

Leadership, levity, and amicability came from Sergeant Hunter.

Cheer, immaturity, and strength came from Wrecker.

Intelligence, coolness, and wit came from the goggled clone.

And ire, argumentativeness, and waspishness came from Crosshair.

But Dogma ignored all of that, gently pushing away the insight their minds gave him and focused on the helmet.

He knew he succeeded in levitating it when he heard a curse come out of Wrecker.

"HOLY KRIFF! Cross, your helmet!"

A small yelp came from Crosshair, as well as horrified alarm, causing Dogma to lose his concentration.

He winced as he pushed his shields back in place, trying to ignore how the Force screamed at him.

He shook his head and opened his eyes, trying to remember when he'd closed them.

Crosshair looked rather frightened as he stared at his helmet, which was now lying on its side. He jerked his head up to Dogma and stared at him in stunned silence.

"Intriguing," murmured the goggled clone.

Wrecker laughed and came over to Dogma pounding him on the back. "You managed to scare him! I think I like you already, vod'ika!"

Dogma let out a small squeak as he stumbled forward at the strength behind the pound on the back from Wrecker. Sergeant Hunter caught him and steadied him, shooting Wrecker a sharp look. "Be gentle, Wrecker! He's still a kid."

"Ah, sorry 'bout that kiddo." Wrecker said quickly, darting forward to make sure Dogma was alright. "Sometimes I forget my strength."

"It's okay." Dogma said quickly as the goggled clone came up to join them, pulling out a scanner and attaching it to his datapad.

"Hold still," the goggled clone said. "This will not take long."

"Tech handles all of our medical files," explained Sergeant Hunter calmly. "Although technically Crosshair is our field medic."

A snort came from Crosshair at that as he stood up from his bed and crossed over to them, a flat look of dislike on his face as he stepped into Dogma's personal space.

"Any prior debilitating injuries I should know about?" the sour clone grunted.

Dogma silently shook his head, feeling suddenly overwhelmed by having everyone in the squad around him.

And Sergeant Hunter had still not let go of him.

Not that Dogma was complaining about that.

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Hunter continued to hold and steady Dogma's slightly quaking frame. The kid was obviously not used to being cared for or possibly even held by anyone else. A quick look at Crosshair's false grumpiness told him that the sniper had picked up on that.

His brother was feeling guilty for being so snide and cruel before. The kid had clearly never been cared for before he had been sent back to Kamino, even by those Dogma claimed had cared about him.

Hunter cleared his throat, causing the rest of his squad, even Dogma, to look up at him.

He said, sounding calm. "Tech? Wrecker? Would you. . . ?"

A sudden grin broke on Wrecker's face as he said, "Gather all the mattresses together for a cuddle pile?"

"Yes."

"You got it, Hunter," Wrecker said, then he and Tech were off to gather up all their mattresses.

Hunter pulled Dogma down next to him on the window seat they had in front of the huge window in their quarters. Crosshair sat down on Dogma's other side and laid a hand on Dogma's knee.

Hunter rubbed at Dogma's shoulders and murmured, "Relax, kid."

Dogma glanced in between the two of them and muttered, "I'm not that young."

"How old are you then?" Crosshair asked snidely.

"Eight and three-quarters," Dogma muttered finally, sounding nervous.

Hunter froze. Kriff.

Kriff.

Dogma wasn't old enough to have passed the final exams. All clone troopers were supposed to have completed their training at ten.

Hunter was right, Dogma was still physically a teenager, not old enough to be fighting a war.

This wasn't good.

He tightened his grip on Dogma's shoulders, pulling him tighter to his side. And exchanged a look with Crosshair over Dogma's head.

Crosshair's lips had turned down into a sickened frown. His eyes were fixed on Dogma in that way of his that indicated he was concerned.

"It's not that big of a deal," Dogma muttered, scowling at the floor. "I can still fight."

"That's not the problem, vod'ika," Hunter said softly. "You should still be in training. Not fighting a war. I can't believe that your previous commanding officer didn't try to keep them from sending you back to Kamino for decom. What was he thinking?"

Dogma winced. "The Captain tried his best. But the Kaminii wouldn't take 'no' for an answer."

Crosshair snorted. "Sounds to me that he didn't try hard enough."

Dogma huffed and crossly crossed his arms over his chest. Hunter shot Crosshair a sharp look, telling him to 'shut up' with his eyes.

He pulled Dogma even closer to his chest and firmly pushed Dogma's head under his chin.

Dogma made a small noise in the back of his throat as he slowly began to relax against Hunter's chest. A small smile curved across Hunter's lips as the kids breathing slowed and he feel asleep against Hunter's chest.

Hunter petted his back and looked up as Crosshair moved closer to them.

Crosshair's grumpiness had fallen away now, and he was staring down at Dogma with a sad look in his eyes.

"He'll be okay," Hunter murmured softly. "We won't let anything happen to him."

Crosshair looked up at Hunter and responded quietly. "Do you think the Jedi know about him?"

Hunter grimaced. "Probably not. If they did know, they would try to take custody. The Kaminoans wouldn't want that."

"Because through him they can study midi-chlorians," spat Crosshair angrily. "Karking long necks."

Hunter nodded silently in agreement, eyes flicking down towards Dogma as Wrecker and Tech returned.

"We've shoved all the mattresses together, Sarge," Wrecker said cheerfully. "Want me to help you with our vod'ika?"

"I've got him, Wrecker," Hunter said as he scooped up Dogma into his arms carefully, trying to make sure that he didn't wake him.

He led the way over to the mattresses and laid Dogma down in the center, before curling around his back. The rest of his brothers followed him and settled down around him and Dogma.

Hunter could feel a small smile form across his lips as the rest of his vod'ike fell asleep. He remained awake, gently stroking Dogma's head.

Maybe having a new brother wouldn't be as bad as Hunter had feared.