Chapter One.

Rahn exhaled loudly as he made his way down one of many halls within the training facility on Kamino. His gray officer uniform clashed with the bright white halls of the grand facility. A look of discomfort displayed on the Zabrak's face as he rarely wore the uniform, especially not when surrounded by so many military personnel. He slowly rolled his right wrist as the constant return of salutes to lower ranking troopers had agitated it, a smirk creeping upon him face as even hours of typing reports didn't even do that. Reaching the end of the hall and his temporary assigned office he inhaled loudly, while he wasn't always the biggest fan of long distance business trips this was one he was eager about. Ever since he was assigned as the psychologist that would be evaluating the clones he had yet stepped foot on their home world. He had heard stories, but had yet seen the cloning facilities or even seen the troopers at their younger stage. After a couple days of touring the facility he was granted a single session with a newly graduated training squad before they depart. However, from what he had read these clones weren't like the other squads. One of their instructors called them undisciplined failures while the other reserved a sense of hope in their untapped potential. Regardless of their personal opinions of the clones the squad had graduated earlier today, showing great potential and teamwork. Inhaling deeply he made sure his rank insignia was straight and puffed his chest out, even after several years in the military the uniform always felt so foreign.

"Squad attention!" A voice rang loudly, as the doors hissed alive and in the bland white room stood five clones. Dressed in their training fatigues and all of them sporting the basic standard haircut of a trooper. Their posture was impressive and they all puffed their chests out with pride, Rahn gestured for them to be at ease and take a seat. The Zabrak sighing lowly as he joined the clones in sitting in the unusually uncomfortable circular chairs, just from looking at the clones he could tell at least two of them were uncomfortable by his rank displayed on his chest.

Rahn cleared his throat lowly, "No worries you men aren't in trouble or anything."

"That's a relief." One muttered, running his hand across his forehead.

"Your instructor didn't tell you why you're here?' Rahn asked slightly surprised.

"He tells us nothing." One clone responded rather sternly, a look of annoyance mixed with pride displayed on his face.

"Then he gets mad when we don't don't know things." Another clone snickered, this one had a rather unusual accent compared to most clones. Rahn took note of this and assumed it was a slight defect in his cloning process, regardless the Zabrak liked it as it made the clone different.

"So you boys are Domino Squad." Rahn smiled warmly, gesturing with his hands towards the five cadets.

"The one and only." Another trooper responded, a hint of embarrassment and pride mixed within his voice.

Rahn nodded as he took note of their expressions, "Why not introduce yourselves then."

"I'm CT-1409, sir." One clone snapped out firmly, his days of training paying off as his personal introduction was firm and assertive.

"Please I'm not one of your normal officers, all ranks off this is a relaxed environment." Rahn chuckled as he waved his hand for a more casual environment, "You boys got nicknames?"

"I'm Fives and that's Echo." A trooper spoke up, motioning towards the clone who had just spoken up.

"Don't mind protocol over there, if he spent less time reading and more training we'd be ARC Troopers by now." Another trooper laughed as he playfully nudged the clone with the accent, "I'm Hevy."

"The names Cutup, I'm kinda the leader around here." The clone with the accent laughed, playfully flexing his arm as it was obviously a joke. The Zabrak shifted his eyes towards the last clone and as if he spotted this Cutup roughly wrapped his arm around the last clone, "Mister talkative is named Droidbait."

"Droidbait?" Rahn repeated, his tone curious and yet hurt for the poor clone with the unusual name.

Hevy shook his head, "Use to always gets hit first."

"I'm guessing you gave him that name?" Rahn asked, curious of the origin.

Hevy shrugged casually, "Called him that in training once and it stuck."

"So I reviewed your old training records before this session." Rahn explained, as he was rather surprised from what he found. One of the lowest ranked squads in their training course and yet their final test had some of the most impressive remarks. The squad went from disorganized and transformed into a well oiled war machine, becoming creative thinkers under fire and working together. Rahn couldn't deny they seemed like an interesting group.

Fives chuckled softly, "Not the most impressive records."

"The start seemed rough." Rahn laughed softly, "However it's the ending that really counts sometimes."

Cutup grinned wide, "We graduated regardless."

"Barely." Droidbait corrected him, sighing as he was simply happy the training was over.

Rahn chuckled as he was glad the environment was more casual, this wasn't his usual type of session as he was simply here to study the young clones. He wanted to meet newly graduated cadets and possibly even meet them again down the line. He wanted to see the effects that combat had and a group like these five seemed perfect candidates. Once the bottom of their class they not only graduated on their final try, but they did it such a creative way they Rahn was sure they'd flourish in real combat. Nodding as the clones bickered for a bit he pulled up their newest assignment, "Your squad got orders for the Rishi Moon Outpost?"

"Correct." Fives responded proudly, he knew it wasn't the most exciting outpost but he was ready to do his part.

Echo smiled happily, "It'll give us time to catch up on regulations so we can be ready for real orders."

Hevy groaned annoyingly, "Can't you see they're sidelining us."

"He'll never understand." Cutup snickered lowly.

"I agree." Droidbait surprisingly agreed with Hevy, "We finally prove we're ready and they give us garrison duty over being assigned to an actual unit."

"Even Droidbait sees it!" Hevy laughed as he threw his arms down, "The 41st is docked here for the next few days and they won't even assign us to that unit."

"The 41st Elite Corps doesn't just take anyone." Echo corrected him, Rahn taking note of the clone's logical and by the book thinking.

"We just need to do our time on Rishi and in a few months they'll assign us a real unit." Fives nodded in agreement, as Rahn took note that the two of them seemed to stick together.

Cutup chuckled as he playfully slapped Hevy on the shoulder, "By that time the war will be over."

Hevy groaned out of frustration, "I was bred to blast clankers."

"You feel like your talents are wasted on Rishi?" Rahn asked curiously, as he thought it was interesting that Domino Squad was so different in so many ways. Fives saw an opportunity to serve as a honor, Echo was by the books so he'd never argue orders, Hevy was a straightforward fighter, Cutup seemed to enjoy stirring the pot, and Droidbait seemed like he wanted to be useful to make up for the past.

"Assign someone from the support division for that type of job." Hevy groaned, annoyingly folding his arms as he rolled his eyes.

Fives sighed slightly defeated, "I can't argue that men from the intelligence or maintenance divisions could do the job just as easily."

"If not better." Cutup added on, playfully pointing at the hot headed Hevy implying the clone was incapable of that type of work.

"Echo, Droidbait." Rahn turned his attention towards the more reserved members of the squad, "Do you feel like your talents are being wasted."

Echo was hesitant for a moment, "Not at all."

"Be honest, remember rank is off here." Rahn reminded him.

Echo looked uncomfortable as this was obviously his first time breaking what he saw as protocol, "I do feel like the training instructors placed us on garrison duty on purpose."

"Maybe they think we're not combat ready and they think garrison duty with mature us." Droidbait added on, his eyes shamefully glaring at the ground. Looking up he noticed the Zabrak was watching him carefully, "I just want to feel useful."

Hevy seemed surprised by the comment, as it was obvious the squad never talked about their feelings. A look of regret filled his face as he realized his constant teasing might of effected his squad mate. Swallowing hard Rahn was surprised as it seemed Hevy was about to break out of his comfort zone, "You were pretty helpful on that final exam."

"You exposed yourself for us." Fives took his lead, "If you hadn't done that we'd never be able to get clear shots at the gun placements."

"Acted like real Droidbait drawing their fire." Cutup laughed, roughly shaking the clone who couldn't help and smile.

Rahn smiled as no matter how unusual this squad was they all cared for each other, "I don't doubt after Rishi you five will get to see some real action."

"Until then we use that time on garrison to train." Five encouraged the squad.

Cutup chuckled harshly, "Hevy can maybe try out meditating to calm his anger."

"Always the comedian I see." Rahn chuckled, "Every group needs one."

"We got Echo the brains, Hevy the muscle, Cutup the comedian, and Droidbait the peacekeeper." Fives chuckled, a hint of humor in his voice as it was obvious this wasn't the squad he expected when he was first cloned. Fives came off to Rahn as a level headed trooper who carried a little of each clone inside of him. He seemed intelligent enough, strong enough, had a few jokes, and cared for his brothers.

"What about you Fives?" Rahn asked, tilting his head out of curiosity.

Fives chuckled as he had no desire to dive deep into his emotions on such a casual session, "I'm the ARC Trooper of course."

"Get out of here!" Cutup laughed loudly.

Hevy shook his head, "In your dreams!"

"I hate to interrupt, but we need to get moving." Echo called out, reminding his squad of the time.

Rahn smiled as the l,ones all groaned annoyingly, "It was a pleasure meeting you Domino Squad."

"Same, hopefully we see you again." Droidbait smiled warmly as he walked out.

Rahn nodded as he called back, "I will plan another session after you boys leave Rishi!"

"Hopefully we progress enough for you." Fives smiled, as he shook the Zabrak's hand.

"Captain." Echo nodded sternly, following Fives out of the room.

"First time talking to a Zabrak." Cutup chuckled as he padded the doctor on his shoulder, "You were a lot nicer than I expected."

"Keep the jokes up Cutup." Rahn smiled, "The squad will need them."

"Well doc." Hevy grunted as he got up with a grin, "Next time you see me I'll be a war hero."

Rahn chuckled as they shook hands, "I look forward to seeing that."

"Maybe even an ARC Trooper." Hevy shrugged, as the clone playfully flexed his muscles before leaving with Cutup.