The shuttle broke through the angry storm clouds of Kamino and an endless ocean stretched out below them. This trip to Kamino was vital to Riyo's plans for clone transition to civilian life, but Riyo was having trouble concentrating. This place, out beyond her home galaxy and unknown to the Republic just a few years earlier, was a puzzle to be solved. She stared out the window and wondered how a world without dry land could have produced a man as steady and immovable as Commander Fox.
"Is this the first time you've been back?" she wanted to ask Fox, buit directed her question to Captain Rex instead.
"No, ma'am. I came back to fight in the Battle of Kamino," Rex said.
"Did you ever go back just… to visit?"
"No, ma'am," Rex said with a chuckle. "Wasn't much time for social calls during the war."
"Of course."
The pilot announced the beginning of the landing sequence and Riyo settled back in her seat. Quite unintentionally, her gaze landed on Fox across the aisle from her. He'd been quiet ever since their lockdown together the previous week. Well, quieter. It was as if his confession in the ray-shielded safe room embarrassed him, though to Riyo it only made her respect him more. He had a fortitude and a sense of integrity that was frankly inspiring.
The shuttle touched down on a rainswept platform and Riyo led her small diplomatic entourage out to the Kaminaon welcoming party waiting to meet them. Maja, Fox, and the rest of the security team followed after Riyo and Rex, who would be the official attendants in the negotiations with Prime Minister Lama Su.
Doctor Nala Se stood at the forefront, her wide, cloudy eyes looking down at Riyo as she bowed to her.
"Chancellor Chuchi. We are honored to welcome you to our planet."
"Thank you, Doctor Nala Se. Captain Rex and I are pleased to discuss the future of the Republic's relationship with Kamino and the clone army on your beautiful planet."
Nala Se politely inclined her head in Rex's direction, then turned and led them from the slick landing platform and into the network of vast, disc-shaped structures that floated above the ocean. Inside, no hint of the storm remained. Everything from the glowing soft light to the curved, white walls belied the chaos of the planet's natural state, and Riyo wondered at what else the pristine atmosphere might hide.
"You must be tired from your long journey," Nala Se said. "I can lead you to your quarters now-"
"Thank you, Doctor Nala Se, but I'd prefer to go straight to our tour, as originally planned."
"Of course," Nala Se said, her eyes closing slowly in what Riyo recognized as a sign of acquiescence. She waved open another petal-shaped door and gestured for them to pass. "We'll go first to the nursery."
She led them through a transparisteel-encased walkway to a second structure, and Riyo wondered what this so-called "nursery" would look like. She imagined eager toddlers running and playing, brown hair bouncing with Fox's curls, white teeth grinning with Fox's smile. Fox's smile… Riyo thought to herself. Now that would be a sight to see.
"Our nurseries operate at maximum efficiency, as you will see," Nala Se said, and Riyo remembered that whatever she was envisioning, the nursery was not likely to match her imagination.
The walkway opened up onto a large, domed room filled with rows and rows of pillars of massive, stories-high pillars. Each pillar was studded with transparisteel bubbles that sloshed with liquid inside. Small figures floated in some of the jars, and Riyos eyes went wide. She knew what she must be seeing, but she didn't allow herself to believe it.
"Are those…?"
"These are our decanting jars. Each clone is gestated safely and identically, with maximum nutritional efficiency and quality control," Nala Se said proudly, as if this birthing hive wasn't straight out of some dystopian nightmare.
"Ah…. I see…" Riyo said, struggling to maintain her composure. She should have expected this. How else were clones to be born, after all? And it wasn't the decanting jars that made her want to lose her lunch, exactly. It was the industrial look of it all, the way these fetuses—these children—were treated like products chugging along down the assembly line. It took every ounce of control she'd gained over her brief but turbulent political career to keep the mild smile on her face.
"Our clones go through an accelerated, five-month gestation period. Then after they are decanted they leave the embryo room and are cared for by our state-of-the-art nursing droids," Lama Su said, walking them through heavy-duty security doors and into a hallway lined on either side with row after row of tiny, uniform cribs. The lights were low, bathing chubby, peaceful faces in a dim fluorescence.
Riyo's gaze caught on one particular baby, his round cheeks slack and his mouth open as he lightly snored. She tripped over her feet.
"Oh, damn," she said under her breath.
Fox caught her elbow. "Are you alright, ma'am?"
She waved him away. "I'm fine."
The baby she'd been watching stirred, his serene expression twisting as he started to cry. He brought his tiny fists to his face and rubbed at his eyes, his shrill wails filling the room.
Riyo started for him, but Nala Se pointed across the room. "Don't worry, the nursing droid is already on its way."
Sure enough, a many-armed droid glided on rails hanging above the cribs towards the crying child. One arm sloshed with a nutrient-rich liquid, another was outfitted with scrubbing and drying apparati, and a third and fourth held anthropomorphic hands, presumably for rocking, comforting, or otherwise moving the infants under its care.
"Oh, uh. I'd rather help him myself, since I'm the one who woke him up," Riyo said.
"There's really no need-"
"Please."
Nala Se's blank face stared judgmentally at Riyo, but she waved the droid away and gestured for Riyo to approach the still-crying child.
Riyo walked over to the tiny crib—thankfully near the walkway—and slowly lifted the infant from it, careful to support his neck with one hand. She tucked his tiny, disproportionately large head into the crook of her arm and supported the rest of him with the other arm, then swayed him back and forth. He looked up at her with giant, confused eyes, and it occurred to Riyo that she might be the first sentient being to ever touch him. She pulled him closer to her and his sobs subsided, giving way to a wide, open-mouthed smile that revealed two front teeth. She smiled in return and kept up her swaying, and he turned his head into her chest, closing his eyes and nuzzling closer.
Riyo had never felt particularly maternal. She wanted children some day, in a distant, hypothetical sense, but she'd never felt the same excitement at the sight of a baby on the street that some women seemed to feel. This was different. There was some maternal instinct there, probably, but it was mostly an intense desire to protect. And intense desire to love. Of the thousands of children here, none of them had a single sentient being who cared for them in particular—who was interested in their individual well-being. It broke Riyo's heart.
The baby was soon asleep, and Riyo placed him gently back in his crib and returned to the walkway. Rex and Fox were staring at her—at least, Fox's helmet was turned in her direction—and Nala Se had a blank, bored expression on her face.
"Are we ready to continue with the tour?" Nala Se asked.
"Certainly," Riyo said.
They moved on to a second large, atrium-like room. Thousands of children played below their suspended walkway. At least, Riyo thought it was play at first. When she got a closer look she saw that the children—ages approximately six to twelve adjusted to typical Human standards—were training. They were doing sit ups, pushups, and lunges. They were racing each other, sparring, and practicing rifle drills.
"This gymnasium is where our clones participate in physical training. They are also educated in tactics and the basics of speech, writing, and communication in our flash-classrooms. Clones going into specialties like field medicine or engineering receive additional accelerated training."
Riyo leaned out over the railing of the walkway and some of the children looked back up before being scolded back into line by either an instructor or a captain in their peer group.
"May I speak with some of them?" Riyo asked.
"...Speak with some of them?"
"Yes. They move in classes together, right? I'd like to talk to one."
"Yes, that can be arranged," Nala Se said, typing a few instructions into the comm on her wrist. "We can pull several clones from one of the flash-classes going on up ahead."
She led them through another set of petal-shaped doors. Beyond lay several large, auditorium-style classrooms. Clones sat at their desks with headsets over their eyes, nodding along to their lectures and absorbing everything their sponge-like brains could handle. Nala Se gestured to one of the droid supervisors and the droid flipped a switch that unclicked the headsets of five clones seated at the end of an aisle. The boys looked around in confusion until the droid walked to them and directed them to where Riyo stood.
The boys dutifully filed out of their classroom and moved to stand in front of Riyo and her entourage, their eyes curious and somewhat defiant in the face of strangers.
"Cadets, show some respect," Nala Se said. "This is Chancellor Chuchi, the Chancellor of the Republic."
The boys snapped to attention and saluted sharply.
"Oh, there's no need for that, boys," Riyo said.
"It's an honor to meet you, sir!" one of the boys said, then flushed. "Er… Ma'am… Madam… Chancellor?"
"Ma'am will do just fine, thank you."
One of the other boys sniggered and the red-faced one punched him in the arm.
"Ow! Cut it out, Bugs!" the one who'd laughed said, rubbing his arm.
"Is your name Bugs?" Riyo asked the boy.
Nala Se frowned, and the boy looked out of the corner of his eye at the imposing doctor. "No, ma'am. My designation is CT-122254."
"Oh, I understand you have a designation, but you have a name, too, right? Like Captain Rex and Commander Fox here."
The boy's eyes darted to Nala Se, then back to Riyo. "Yes, ma'am. My name is Bugs."
"What a nice name! How did you get that name, Bugs?" Riyo asked.
The boys flush intensified, and he looked to the ground. "I don't know. It's just something the other cadets started calling me."
The boy who'd sniggered earlier piped up. "That's not true, Madam Chancellor! We call him Bugs because he ate a bug one day in the mess!"
The other boys burst out laughing. Bugs turned back to his brother and punched him in the arm again.
"Enough!" Nala Se said, and the boys snapped back into place.
"It's alright," Riyo said. "I think Bugs is a lovely name."
"Did you say that's Captain Rex and Commander Fox?" one of the other boys piped up. He had short black hair and inquisitive eyes, and Riyo immediately liked him.
"Yes! This is Commander Fox and Captain Rex here behind me," she said, moving to the side. "What's your name?"
"I'm Spinout."
Captain Rex stepped forward, crouching down to get at eye-level with the kids. "It's nice to meet you, Spinout. What a fine-looking group of cadets! It's good to see the future of the GAR is in good hands."
The boys' chests puffed with pride, and Spinout turned to Fox, eyes shining with awe. "That's really Commander Fox? CC-1010? Commander of the Coruscant Guard? Highest-ranking officer in the GAR?"
Fox shifted his weight from one foot to the other, standing there stiffly as if awaiting instructions. Riyo cocked her head to the side and tapped at her temple, shooting him a meaningful look.
He sagged slightly and he raised his hands, lifting his helmet off and clicking it onto his belt. He faced the boys, his discomfort under their adoring gaze obvious in the tension in his shoulders. "Yes, I'm Commander Fox."
"Wow! I never thought we'd meet him in person!" Bugs said.
Rex moved away to give Fox some space and Fox stepped up to the boys, hands dangling awkwardly at his sides. "It's good to, uh, meet the next generation of Republic soldiers."
"What's it like, being a Commander?" one boy asked.
"Is Coruscant really one giant city?"
"What even is a city?"
"Did you really shoot down a super battle droid with just one Deecee?"
"Whoa, whoa, settle down, troops!" Fox said before they could overwhelm him, and the boys stopped their chatter. "I've had my fair share of adventure, but I've always had the Coruscant Guard at my back. The GAR is about working together with your brothers, not about individual glory."
"Will I be able to join the Coruscant Guard?" Spinout asked.
"I, uh, I'm not sure. The war is over and you may not all end up in active service in the GAR-"
"But then what will we do?" asked Bugs, alarmed.
"This is what we were made for!" said another boy.
Riyo's brow furrowed. This was exactly the problem she was trying to tackle right now, and she wondered how Fox would respond. If she couldn't provide a satisfactory answer to these boys, what was she supposed to say to adult clones who'd already sacrificed so much in battle?
"Well, there are a lot of different things you could do," Fox said. "Like… private security. Or bounty hunting." Riyo raised an eyebrow in his direction, and he quickly amended, "Or you could be a musician. Or even a senator."
Spinout frowned. "I don't know anything about being a musician or a senator."
Fox crouched down in front of him, setting his hand on the boy's shoulder. "We're an adaptable bunch. I know whatever you end up doing, you'll do the GAR proud."
"Yes, sir!" Spinout said.
Fox fiddled with the pouch at his waist and pulled out what Riyo recognized as security stickers he used to mark people who'd been cleared as visitors for specific senators. He carefully removed one from the flimsi backing and stuck it to the black-haired boy's chest. "There. That has the logo of the Coruscant Guard on it."
"Wow! Thank you, sir!"
"Do we get one, too?" Bugs asked.
"Sure. You all do."
One by one, Fox affixed a Coruscant Guard security sticker to their blue-grey tunics. They looked at him with awe and admiration in their eyes, and though she could see Fox squirm at their hero-worship, she couldn't find it within herself to disagree with them.
"We really should move on," Nala Se said, gesturing for the supervisor droid to take the boys back to class.
"It was a pleasure to meet you, boys," Riyo said.
"Thank you, ma'am!" the cadets chorused back, turning their heads as they marched back to their seats.
They continued on under Nala Se's watchful eye. Each new sight inspired in Riyo a strange mixture of admiration and horror. Riyo saw more classrooms, a simulation room, a practice range, and the mess—all testaments to the Kaminoans' skill mass producing sentient life.
It was impressive, in a way. It was also barbaric. It hurt to realize how little she'd thought about the clones and their service during the war. She was convinced that if other senators had seen with their own eyes what clone production actually involved here on Kamino they'd never have agreed to conscription of the GAR, but it was impossible to know. Perhaps she was just making excuses for herself and her colleagues.
Nala Se led them to the guest quarters after their tour. The rooms were luxurious in that sterile, Kaminoan way, but the comforts afforded her only increased Riyo's somber mood.
"Prime Minister Lama Su will join you at breakfast in the morning, then after that we can commence with the summit," Nala Se said.
"Thank you, Doctor Nala Se."
Riyo bid the Kaminoan scientist farewell and retreated into her quarters, where porters had already moved her things.
"Wow, I'm beat. I'm going to find my room and get some rest, if that's alright with you," Maja said. "We can go over final notes on the summit tomorrow morning?"
"Yes, that's fine," Riyo said, waving her assistant away. "Everyone get some rest, it's been a long day."
Maja, Rex, and the other security staff dispersed to their rooms, and Riyo dragged her heavy feet to the master suite. Fox followed her, always in her shadow. In the dark corners of the room Riyo thought she saw visions of the past, visions of Fox and Rex growing up here. She saw them being decanted from their birthing jars with no fanfare or celebration, with no warm hands to hold them and snuggle them close, welcoming them to the breathing world. She saw them learning to hold a blaster as soon as they could stand. She saw them pushed to their limits by instructors whose only goal was to mold them into tools. She saw them learn nothing except those things that would make them more valuable sacrifices for the Republic.
She stopped in the middle of the private sitting room and turned slowly, shyly around.
"Fox?"
"Yes, ma'am?"
He stood, tall and correct, a few steps behind her in the darkened sitting room. Riyo knew this might be a bad idea, and that it was probably more for her benefit than his, but she couldn't help it.
"May I hug you?" she asked.
"...Ma'am?"
"I was thinking that maybe only a fellow clone has ever hugged you, and I wanted to thank you and… well… You're a very good bodyguard."
Fox was silent for a long, humiliating length of time. She watched for him to take off his helmet, which she thought would be a sure sign he'd accepted her offer. Or request? She wasn't quite sure which it was, to be honest. But his helmet remained firmly on.
"That's not necessary," he said eventually.
Riyo's cheeks heated. Fox rarely refused anything, but here she was pushing him past his boundaries again. What a trial it must be to guard her constantly like he did. She turned from him and scurried towards her room. "Oh, well, my mistake! I'll see you tomorrow, then."
She slammed the bedroom door behind her and leaned against it. She closed her eyes, unwilling to see a world that had borne witness to her shame. How humiliating.
She wallowed in the embarrassment for a few minutes, then got up. Fox was far from her only responsibility as Chancellor, and she had work to do. What she'd seen today disturbed her, and though she already planned on halting production on future clones tomorrow at the summit, the tour today had convinced her that she needed to do more.
There was still so much to do, she didn't have time for dignity. She changed into her soft nightgown, settled down in the plush chair next to her bed, and got comfortable. She had a lot of holo calls to make.
As soon as Fox's shift ended he went to find Rex. Normally he liked to be well-rested for his next shift, especially when he was on assignment in a foreign system, but they didn't know when they'd next have such a convenient excuse to go to Kamino. They had to take advantage of the opportunity now.
"Captain Rex," Fox said to the clone sitting in the guest suite's main sitting room, "The porters forgot to bring some of Chancellor Chuchi's things to the suite. Can you help me go get them?"
"Sure thing, Commander," Rex said, getting to his feet.
They left together and trekked back through bare, elegant hallways towards where the transport was docked. The white walls were almost hypnotic in their uniformity, and Fox struggled to maintain his focus.
May I hug you?
Chancellor Chuchi's question echoed distractingly in Fox's head while they walked. What kind of a question was that? He thought he knew the Chancellor well enough to trust her intentions, but what possible purpose could she have?
They passed another patrol of Kamino troopers in the hall, and Fox forced thoughts of the Chancellor from his mind. He'd have all the time in the world to think about her later, he just couldn't afford to figure out the mysterious workings of her mind right now.
They reached the landing pad and Rex checked for any patrols before waving Fox onto the dock. Fox keyed them onto the ship and went straight for the storage compartment where he'd stashed armor specially painted to match the Kamino Watch. He pulled out the first set and handed it to Rex.
"Thanks."
Fox shucked his own armor, hating to see his red on the floor, and quickly suited up in the Kamino armor. The grey-and-white plastoid felt strange on his body, and he grimaced at the sight of the emblem of Kamino on Rex's pauldron. Rex caught his expression and shot him a knowing glance.
"Just doesn't feel right, does it?" he said.
Fox shrugged. "I never thought I'd be using my expertise to try to get past security, but this is too important to ignore."
"I agree, brother. Everything'll be fine. We just slip in, get the information on the inhibitor chip, and slip out. If nothing's amiss there's no harm."
Fox's nose wrinkled in distaste. "Let's just get this over with."
Checking first for any patrolling clones, Fox and Rex left the transport and walked casually into the cloning facility. Fox concentrated on the numbering and labels on each door. He'd memorized the path they needed to take ahead of time, but it was a lot to keep in his head and he hadn't been to Kamino since his cadet years.
They passed groups of cadets, a few patrols, droids, and even a few Kaminoans on their way, but nobody gave them trouble. It was late and there was less traffic than normal. And more than that, they blended right in—there were thousands of clones here, all going to and fro for various reasons. Guilt stabbed at Fox for deceiving his brothers like this, but he was doing it for them. He and Rex needed to find out if there was any substance to Fives' accusations, and it was best that they do that involving as few other clones as possible. If they were caught and this went sideways, he didn't want anyone to be blamed for his actions but him.
The first security hurdle was the thick, ray-shielded blast doors that separated the training portions of the facility from the research area. Rex stopped in front of the doors and started talking casually with Fox about training and when the next batch of cadets would be sent out. As they talked, Fox eyed the security panel next to the door. It was a Ralix Systems XII series armored door. Heavy duty stuff. Thankfully he'd brought just the thing to bypass it.
A patrol of troopers passed by the ray-shielded door, and Rex and Fox continued their small talk until they passed. Once they were out of sight, Fox ducked down by the control panel and pulled out one of several specially-prepared scomps links he'd confiscated over the years from various thieves, bounty hunters, and spies. Some of them had been very creative in getting past Republic security.
He inserted the scomp link and quickly got to his feet, resuming his meaningless conversation with Rex and standing strategically in front of the security panel. After another few minutes, the security panel made an audible click and the doors opened.
Fox and Rex casually fast-walked into the research sector before anyone could ask them their business, and Fox closed the door behind them. He looked around the lifeless white walls and oriented himself to the map memorized in his head. He turned right down a narrow, transparisteel hallway and Rex followed after him. They needed to move quickly and purposefully. Kamino Watch troopers did patrol the research side of the facility, but not as many and their designations were checked regularly. They needed to avoid attracting any kind of attention and finish their business fast.
After a few more turns down identical hallways, they were to the embryo room. With his practiced purposeful stride, Fox walked through the cavernous chamber towards a smaller laboratory in the back, where any processing on embryos before decantation took place. Based on his research and what Rex had heard from Fives, this was the most likely stage during which the inhibitor chips were placed.
The glowing wombs of the decanting jars cast an azure glow over Fox and Rex. Fox chanced a glance up into the honeycomb of embryos and glimpsed a curled up, floating body above him. It was so small and vulnerable, just trying to grow big enough to make it on its own. Fox felt a surge of protectiveness over these beings—his brothers. Whatever it took, he'd try to keep them safe.
The lab that abutted the embryo room was small but stuffed with high-tech equipment and automated processes. Embryos were sucked into the main processing chamber, poked and prodded by an embedded surgery droid, then sucked back into the colony of decanting jars in the primary embryo room.
Fox could see how much their tour earlier had upset Riyo, but until this moment he hadn't fully understood why. The way the clones were raised was normal to him. It was the only youth he had ever known, something he and millions of his brothers had experienced in exactly the same way. But this, seeing the embryos tweaked with needles and scalpels, being molded into a predetermined destiny—this was something he doubted more than a handful of clones had ever seen before. It shook him, realizing how much the Kaminoans viewed the clones as a commodity.
Anger blurred Fox's vision, but he shook it away. He couldn't afford to get distracted. He signalled for Rex to stand watch at the door and approached the large computer next to the processing chamber.
The computer was locked, of course. Fox pulled out an encryption scomp from his belt—a particularly advanced one he'd confiscated from a notorious hacker—and inserted it into the computer's port. The scomp link immediately hissed and made several loud, grating sounds, black smoke pouring out the back. Well, that didn't work.
He had a few other tricks up his sleeve, but that encryption scomp had been his best bet. Except for… But that wouldn't do. It wasn't even really an option.
Fox tried a few other things—another scomp link, a passcode he'd caught from one of the guards earlier, General Skywalker's password, which Rex had helpfully provided—but none of it worked. Cursing under his breath, he pulled his last resort out from where he always kept it—hidden in a secret compartment in the heel of his boot.
It was a slim disc of Haysian smelt with the cog of the Republic engraved across it. It was one of those pieces of ostentation that liked to pretend at humility, just like the Chancellor to whom it had belonged. He opened a tiny keypad on the back side of the disc and keyed in Chancellor Palpatine's code, a set of numbers that, now that Palpatine was dead, he was the only person living who knew. An advanced micro link whipped out the side of the disc and Fox inserted it into the port and crossed his fingers.
Chancellor Palpatine had had his grasping fingers in many things, and Fox knew he'd arranged for all kinds of security systems and computers to contain a bypass accessible only by his personal key. It was just one more of the many signs Fox should have understood revealed his corruption. He probably should have destroyed it after Palpatine's death, or at least handed it over to someone in authority, but he hadn't. That didn't mean he didn't hate using it.
The computer beeped cheerily at Fox and dozens of data files popped out of the computer, protruding just far enough for eager fingers to grab. Each file was neatly labelled, and Fox's eyes scanned over them until they landed on the one that said "inhibitor chip."
"Bingo."
"You found it?" Rex asked from the doorway.
"Yeah. I wanted to copy it, but…"
"You'd better just grab it, sir. We're already pushing our luck."
"Hmm," Fox said in agreement. Assuming they made a clean exit, the Kaminoans would discover the file was gone but wouldn't know who had taken it. It wasn't perfect but it was what they could manage.
He tugged the file free of the computer, logged out, and stuck the hateful disc of Haysian smelt back into his boot. He managed to fit the datafile in next to it, worried that if he and Rex were questioned it would be easily discovered. Then he stood and headed for the door.
Rex and Fox walked briskly back through the embryo room, and Fox was somehow even more on edge than before. They made it through the embryo room without incident, then it was on to the warren of narrow passageways connecting the various parts of the research wing. A right turn, two lefts, and three more rights. Then they were to the ray-shielded exit.
The door was primarily secured in one direction, so going out would be simple. Fox allowed himself a generous breath of air, his shoulders easing slightly, then he ran right into a clone in Kamino Watch grey.
"Whoa there, soldier," the clone said, grabbing Fox's shoulders to steady him. "There aren't any other patrols scheduled through here right now. What are you doing here?"
Fox looked up into a yellow-and-grey helmet. The clone in front of him had yellow pauldrons marking him as an ARC trooper, which was just Fox's luck. A trooper who'd spent his entire active duty on Kamino he might be able to fool, but a Rancor Battalion ARC trooper?
Then it hit Fox that he knew this clone. It was Blitz, one of the trio of clone commanders first sent to oversee Kamino's protection. The only one remaining of the three. Fox had eaten meals with this man, had learned side-by-side during commander training.
"Commander Blitz! Sir! Nerf and I were just coming back from an errand for Nala Se. She's doing some kind of research on space worms," Fox said. This was stupid, but all he had left were stupid ideas. He stared into Blitz's visor through his, willing him to understand though their eyes couldn't meet through the thick, polarized material.
Blitz stared back soundlessly for a long moment, then nodded. "Space worms, you say? What kind of nightmares has Nala Se dreamt up this time?"
Nightmares… It looks like he got the message, Fox thought. "I'm not sure, sir, but I'm grateful I don't have to find out."
Blitz stepped to the side and swiped the door open for them, making their escape even easier than anticipated. He jerked his head, motioning them through. "I'll expect a full report on this space worm incident later, trooper."
"Of course, Commander," Fox said, resisting the urge to sprint through the door.
"Space worms? What the kriff was he talking-?" Fox heard one of Blitz's companions begin to ask him, but the question was cut off by the shutting of the blast doors behind him.
Fox and Rex continued onwards, Fox's heart still racing from their near miss.
"What was that all about?" Rex asked through their in-helmet comms. "Space worms?"
"Blitz and I were in commander training together. One night when we were still little cadets, I woke up screaming from a nightmare. Blitz was in the bunk above me, so he checked on me to see if I was alright. The nightmare… It was about getting eaten by a space worm," Fox said sheepishly.
A few choked off chuckles sounded through Rex's comm, and Fox rolled his eyes. "Laugh if you want. It saved our sorry hides back there."
"And nerf?" Rex asked once he'd gotten his fill of laughter. "Why was I trooper Nerf?"
"Nerf was Blitz's nickname for me."
"I can see why you went for Fox in the end."
"Yeah. It took a few bruises, but I made sure Fox was the name that stuck."
They passed through the next few hallways in silence, how close they'd come to getting caught still settling in Fox's mind.
"Blitz must trust you a lot, to let you pass like that," Rex said as they finally approached the shuttle.
"Yeah. I had to take a gamble, but I was hopeful. We clones, we have to watch out for each other. We don't have anyone else."
"Well, now we have Chancellor Chuchi, too," Rex said.
Fox keyed in the passcode for the shuttle where they'd stow their grey armor and stolen data file. The gangplank lowered and he followed Rex up it, one ankle stepping slightly differently from the other due to the materials hidden in the heel.
"Yeah," he said, his thoughts straying to the lilac-haired Chancellor who'd asked permission to hug him earlier that day. "Yeah we do."
