Last chapter for Clone Cadet's episode, and then it's onto an in between chapter and then onto Rookies. I also want to thank you for all the support for this. So far I got 6 reviews, 17 favs and 16 follows, and I hope to see more soon, it helps with writing.
EroSlackerMicha: Well, I always give people a chance, so we just have to wait.
eecobeo: Yeah, that would be interesting to see. X-23 comparison, alright.
Kondoru: Well, Jango Fett was male and I don't think Sifo-Dias asked for female clones.
rmarcano321: Sure thing, but I don't know if I will or not.
Now, onto the story.
I own nothing.
Clone Cadets (2)
Just like every day, Tessa was the first one to always wake up. The others weren't particularly keen on her eagerness to wake up early. And they found themselves sometimes woken up by their only sister, even though they wanted to sleep until they were supposed to wake up.
Tessa found it funny how her squad gave her death glares, and she always looked innocent when she did wake them up. And today was one of those days.
"Get up you lazy heads! Our test is today!" She said as she opened all of their pods.
CT-782 groaned from the light and said," Haar'chack! Will you let us sleep for once!?"
Tessa gave him an innocent look and said," I don't what you're talking about. I do let you all sleep."
The all got up, while grumbling about her. Tessa was already in her armor, and she had a smug look on her face.
Later, Domino Squad and the other squads were in formation in one of the hangers. As usual, Kamino was raining, and Tessa sighed in annoyance. She was getting sorta bored with all the rain; she was ready to go to other terrain across the galaxy.
Sure, this was her home, but she had seen enough of the Holo's in the library about different planets that she was excited to go off world.
But she knew she would have to pass this test first. She hoped she and the others won't mess it up. She had overheard from the Kaminoan's that they would reassign her, even if Domino Squad failed. In a way it made sense, she was the only female clone, and she needed to be tested on the battlefield, but she couldn't do it without her squad.
A Gunship landed and three ARC Troopers came out. Tessa could feel a sense of awe, and nervousness. She hoped she would wear that armor someday, and make the Republic proud.
Bric approached the squads while El-Les and the three ARC-Troopers stood behind.
"Gentlemen!" He said.
Tessa would've taken offense to that, but she knew she was the only girl and unless there were more, then she would've heard 'ladies'.
"Who wants to be an ARC Trooper?" Bric said.
"I do, sir!" Every Cadet all said at once, while stomping a foot on the ground.
"You have to pass your final test first!"
'Oh really, who would've thought.' Tessa sarcastically thought.
"I want you to meet Commander Colt, of the Rancor Battalion!" Bric said as he stepped aside and Colt stepped up.
Tessa grinned, thinking about wearing that armor someday, she could hardly wait!
"I want you Troopers to remember: We're shoulder to shoulder on those front lines, brothers! And sometimes, we may quarrel, but no matter what, we are united! Rule one: We fight together! So who's ready to step up first?"
Tessa really wanted to move up, and tell him that she and Domino Squad would. She had a feeling CT-782 would do the same. But that would be out of line.
"Let's start with the unit who ran the practice test in record time; ARC Trooper time!" Colt finished
Tessa knew it didn't need to take a droid or a genius to know that it wasn't going to be them.
"You think he means 'us' boys and lady?" Echo optimistically said.
Tessa rolled her eyes and whispered," In your dreams, brother."
"Bravo Unit, step up!" Colt said the red armored team, and they stepped forward and stood at attention."
"Well, bravo for Bravo Squad." CT-4040 sarcastically said.
"Show an ARC Trooper how it's done." Colt ordered.
Bravo squad slid on their helmets, and walked out. Tessa watched them, thinking how they were better than them. But, she knew thinking down about themselves was a bad idea.
"C'mon, you guys. Maybe we can learn something." Echo remarked.
"Shuddup, Echo." CT-782 said.
Later, they found themselves watching Bravo Squad go through the course without a problem. She was feeling sorta jealous at that, they were working well together, while Domino couldn't do it without something going wrong in under a second.
"Something on your mind, Tess?" CT-00-2010 asked.
"Eh, it's nothing Droidbait." She absentmindedly said.
He blinked and said," What did you call me?"
Tess realized what she said and said," Oh, sorry I-"
Droidbait grinned at her and said," Don't be, I like it."
Tessa grinned back with a nod, and was about to say something when CT-4040 said.
"He's gonna make it!"
Tessa looked down to see a member of Bravo Squad removing the beacon from the top. It turned from red to green, and Tessa hadn't seen that happen when she had done the practice tests, maybe it will change today.
They were then called down to the practice course, and Tessa fixed her hair and placed her helmet on. As they were going down on the lift, Tessa checked her weapon, and the familiar grooves and weight of it. Nothing seemed to be out of order.
"So Tess, when are you going to take your weapon out on a date?" Fives joked.
Tessa's answer was to lightly hit Fives on the head with the butt of her Rifle. He yelped in pain and glared at her while he rubbed the back of his head.
The others laughed at him with Echo muttering," So, after all this time, she finally did it."
Tessa gave him an innocent look and said," I'm sorry, did I hurt you."
As they entered the area they passed by Bravo Squad. And it didn't help Tessa's war of nerves when the first clone in line said.
"Check it guys; time to watch the dominoes fall."
Tessa glared at their heads and weakly said," Well yeah, you won't hear any bravo's from us!"
Her squad mates groaned at that remark, while she blushed.
"That's telling them, Tess, good work." Fives sarcastically said.
'Not my best work.' She thought.
Back up at the viewing podium, Commander Colt noticed the squad and said," How come there are six in the squad? Normally there's supposed to be five."
"CT-2008, or how the other cadets call her, Huntress." El-Les said.
He handed Colt the datapad that had her file.
"First female clone created, was supposed be terminated, but General Ti insisted on keeping her alive. Passed all tests with flying colors, and is an excellent shot. Huh, the kid has potential. Sure hope she makes it, hate to send her down to maintenance or worse." Colt said.
El-Les casted a worried look at Bric, who just ignored him.
"Tess, guard towers first. We'll cover you." Fives said.
Tessa checked her rifle, took a breath and hummed in acknowledgement.
"Uh oh, she's in the zone, you know things are about to get serious." CT-782 said to Droidbait, who rolled his eyes.
As soon as it began, Tessa sprinted and hid behind the nearest barrier. She noticed CT-782 actually giving them covering fire, instead of going off on his own, and she smirked. She took out the four guard towers with relative ease, and moved to another location.
She noticed that they were getting farther ahead than normal and weren't arguing. Maybe they will make it this time.
Tessa fired a couple of more times, but she saw in the corner of her eye Droidbait wasn't watching his flank. She then saw a droid coming near her. She debated it for a second and set her sights on the one that was about to get her.
She then heard a grunt and saw the droid had hit Droidbait and he was down.
"Blast!" She said and got the droid before she went to check on Droidbait.
She wasn't a medic, but telling by his labored breathing and slight groaning, he was hurt. And she found out his was his shoulder
"Guys! Man down, he's injured!" She said.
"Forget him! I'm breaking for the citadel!" CT-782 said.
Tessa couldn't believe what she had heard, who in their right minds would want to leave someone behind? She was pretty sure they wouldn't leave if it was her.
They promised they would look after her.
"Guys, he's hurt! It could be bad!" Tessa said.
She had to duck when a blaster bolt near got her in the head, and she took that droid out.
"Tessa, c'mon!" Fives said, and left with the others.
Tessa bit her lip and knew what she had to do. Before she got the chance to move him, a blaster shot went past her head. She aimed and fired, she was about to move him, but she saw two more droids come towards her.
She lifted her Rifle and was about to fire, when they all powered down. Which meant that the session at ended. A small part of her hoped that they had passed and they had all shutdown, but that was wishful thinking.
"Broke formation, disobeyed orders, and you left two troopers behind! You broke rule number one." Tessa heard Colt's disapproving voice said to the others across from her.
"I'm sorry, Domino Squad… this is an automatic failure." El-Les regretfully said.
"Did we win?" Droidbait asked.
Tessa helped him up, and he grimaced a bit.
"Fraid not." She muttered.
She then saw Commander Colt walk up to her, she stood up a little more, along with Droidbait.
"You did well Trooper, you followed rule one, and I saw your shooting, not bad, you probably should've signed up for the Sniping Corp's. I'm sorry you and your squad failed, but you all had issues." Colt said.
"I understand sir." Tessa said, feeling happy for the praise and sad about the disproval.
"You should take him to medical." He said and walked off.
"Is he ok?" Echo asked.
"Something's wrong with his shoulder. I'm taking him care of him by taking him to the Infirmary. No thanks to CT-782." Tessa said.
"Me? What did I do?" He said.
"You just had be so impatient, and leave him and me! I know we fight, and we have our differences. Is it that you don't like me or something? That I'm inferior and should fail! So I won't be a Trooper?" She said in anger and sadness.
Everyone else was taken aback by that. CT-782 had a sad look and said," That's not true."
"Save it, I'm taking Droidbait to a medic." Tessa seethed and walked off with him.
Later, Tessa found herself sitting in her bunk, she had taken Droidbait to a medic, and she had angrily taken off her armor, and threw her gun into her locker. She was feeling guilty about what she said, sure it was true CT-782 always did as he pleased and they fought. But she knew he cared for her.
'First female clone and I didn't pass the test. Great." She thought and sighed.
"Hey Tessa, you alright?" She heard someone say.
She got up and looked down to see Fives and Echo, who were giving her concerned looks.
"Yeah never better." She sarcastically said.
"Look, we're going to talk to General Ti, and we believe you need to be there. Do you want to come?" Echo said.
Tessa sighed, feeling there wasn't anything else to do, and said," Fine, just don't repeat it."
Echo rolled his eyes and said," Sister, shut up."
The three of them found Shaak Ti overlooking an area. Tessa wasn't sure how this was going to play out. Fives and Echo had told her that they were planning on asking her if they could be moved to a different squad.
Which was due to the three of them always working together. Tessa found that to be true, but knew it wasn't right to leave the others, even CT-782, who she wanted to apologize to.
"General, may we have a word?" Fives said.
"You are here to discuss your squad, aren't you?" She said.
Tessa was surprised and said," How did you know?"
Fives placed a hand on her shoulder and said," She's a Jedi, little sister."
General Ti turned around and said," One doesn't need to be a Jedi to feel the stress on your mind."
"General, we would like to make a request for Huntress to be transferred to another squad."
Tessa's eyes widened and looked at Fives, as if he was crazy.
"Wait, what?"
"Bravo Squad, perhaps? She's the only female clone ever made, and we are holding her down due to our incompetence. We're just looking out for her." Echo said, and looked at Tessa with sad look.
"Wait, don't I have a say in this. I'm not leaving you guys. We brothers or family, and I would never think you guys as worthless. General Ti, I am grateful for what you have done for me so far, but, I respectively refuse to be transferred." Tessa said.
General Ti walked over to her, placed her hand on Tessa's shoulder and said," I admire you for sticking with your brothers, Tessa. I wasn't planning on too anyway, even though there has been a request for you to be transferred."
Tessa was relieved and was glad she wasn't going to be transferred. But there still was a problem.
"But, there's still the problem of us failing, and not being able to communicate. If you don't me saying General."
General Ti then had her arms behind her back and said, "That is why I have decided to allow your squad to retake the test tomorrow. And the other issue that is that you should solve it together as a group, not as individuals. For you Tessa, you try to help your squad when they fall, but, you should let them, that way, they would learn from their mistakes."
Tessa nodded and said," Sorta like with CT-782 and Echo, no offense brother."
"None taken." He said.
General Ti nodded and said," Exactly, now, I believe you should all get some rest, and think about what I said, dismissed."
All three of them nodded with 'sir' and left. As soon as they were in the hallways, Tessa smacked both of her brother's heads hard.
"Ow! What was that for!?" Fives asked as he rubbed his head.
"That was for the stupidest idea you two di'kut's had! I don't know if I should admire or be seriously mad!"
"I think you're the latter." Echo muttered, but stayed quiet after he saw the look Tessa was giving him.
"And also, you guys aren't dragging me down, we have issues, no one is perfect, no matter what the Kaminoan's say. We just have to think and talk about it. But now, I'm tired, and we have to be ready for tomorrow. Also, I need to talk to the General about something, you guys on ahead." She said.
She pretended to walk back to the area, while Fives and Echo walked back to the barracks without her.
Tessa then walked behind them, and slapped them hard on the back of the head again.
"What the hell?!" Echo yelped.
Tessa gave them a smug look and said," That was for added measure." She said and walked off.
"Youngest in the squad, and only female clone. Some would say she looks harmless, but she's vindictive and a brat." Fives said.
"I hear that." Echo said.
The next day, Tessa was sitting on a bench in her armor with the others. She was again psyching herself out. And she wasn't paying intention until Fives said something.
"Hey, where's CT-782?"
She furrowed her brows; he did raise a valid point. Last she heard of him was when she thought she hear him talking to 99 sometime after they were supposed to go to sleep. She didn't hear what they were saying, but it sounded important.
"Yeah, where is CT-782?" Echo said.
Tessa started to have a bad feeling and said," If he isn't here, then we'll fail."
She wasn't sure if she should be scared or angry at him.
"That's not going to happen, Tess. Today we pass."
They all looked and Tessa sighed in relief to see him. But, she didn't know why, but he looked different. He had his Z-6 over on his shoulder and his helmet in the other.
He walked passed them, taking the lead, and said, "And one more thing, the names Hevy."
Tessa blinked at CT or Hevy's new attitude. Whatever he and 99 were talking about, must have changed him.
It was sorta like when CT-4040 or Cutup came back the night before, after getting a grilling from Bric. He a more spring in his step.
She would've had more time to think about it, but they had a test to pass.
They made their way to the training grounds, and went on the lift. Tessa did her normal routine of checking her Rifle, and taking deep breaths.
"Order's came in clear, mates." Echo said, and he didn't repeat it.
"Nothing to repeat, Echo?" Cutup said.
"Not today."
"You sure? It would calm my nerves." Tessa teased, and then looked at Droidbait. "How's the shoulder treating you?"
"I'll live." He said and rolled his shoulder for emphasis.
'Hey Hevy. I'm sorry for what I said yesterday. I was out of line." She said.
Hevy glanced at her with a slight smile and said," It's fine Tess. I was being pretty stupid. All of it's in the past. And besides, we have a job to do."
Tessa smirked, knowing she couldn't agree more. The lift stopped, and they all fired at Droids in their way as they ran for cover. Fives gave her signal, she nodded, and took out the guard towers.
All of them stayed close to one another. And Tessa couldn't be happier, they were actually sticking together for once.
"That's it boys, stick together!" Hevy said.
"Fives, you're left!" Tessa said and Fives took out a droid that almost took him out.
"Thanks, Cutup." Fives said.
"Okay, when I give the signal, move up!" Hevy said.
They all waited for a moment, and then Hevy threw his hand down. They all moved forward as a group, as they took out a the droids that were in their way.
Tessa had to duck and roll out of the way from incoming fire, and she took those droids out, along with Droidbait.
"Keep it up, we're doing great!" he said.
"We might actually pass." Cutup hopefully said.
"Don't jinx it brother, we still have the Citadel." Tessa said.
They all ran for the wall, while also avoiding the blaster fire on the walls. They soon made it to the wall.
"All right, prep the ascension cables. Let's scale this thing!" Droidbait said.
Tessa's hand went to her belt, but she didn't feel anything. A cold feeling went to her heart, and she was close to freaking out. She looked at her brothers, to see that they had the same issue.
"Wait, where are the cables?!" Hevy shouted in shock and looked at the others.
"They're not in our belts!" Echo said and checked his belt again.
"Just when things seemed easy." Cutup fearfully said.
"We can't scale the face without them! We'll fail the test if we can't finish!" Droidbait said, and slammed his fist into the wall.
"I can't be reassigned either! We gotta think of something!" Tessa said.
Tessa looked at the guns for a second, and had an idea forming.
"Hevy, do you think we can use the guns to scale to the next level?" She said.
Everyone minus Hevy gave her looks as if she was crazy, while Hevy had a thoughtful expression.
"She's right, it could work! We need to form a chain, and use each other to scale this face!" He said.
"Use the guns?" Fives said looking at his brother and only sister as if they were crazy. "Are you both crazy?!"
"Trust us! I know weapons and so does Huntress!"
"Fine, we trust you. I'll draw their fire, go!" Droidbait said and go the guns attention when he ran out.
"Fine we're all doing this together, thought!" Echo said.
Both Tessa and Hevy sprinted out, Hevy went for the open approach, while Tessa went behind cover.
"You go left, I'll go right. I'm on your side." She said.
Hevy grimaced and said," That's terrible."
"See Echo, it was a terrible joke." Tessa said.
"I hate you." He grumbled through the comms.
Tessa started to fire and said with amusement," No, you don't."
They all took out the guns and they all climbed up it while using them. She was the second person up there, while Echo was first. He stopped, looked at her and said.
"Wanna do the honors, sister."
Tessa smiled, ran up the steps, and removed the beacon. Everyone called out in triumph and victory.
Tessa smiled wide and hugged her brothers.
'We did it.' She thought happily.
Tessa stood at attention as they received their medals. She felt huge swell of pride, and she couldn't believe the huge honor.
She was the first and only female clone ever created, and she passed. She proved her worth, and now she was going to fight.
"Congratulations. You've graduated. At ease." El-Les declared.
Tessa relaxed and walked with her brothers to get their armor fitted. For her, she had to get her's custom made. Once she got it, she put it all on and admired herself in the mirror.
She had the biggest grin she ever had. Her moved a little bit to admire herself more.
'Maybe I should get a tattoo, or cut my hair a little, and dye it." She thought.
"Hey Tess. C'mon! It's time to get shipped out!" Fives said.
Tessa smiled and walked after him, and got into her spot and stood between Echo and Cutup in the hanger along with the other Troopers. General Ti walked down to the front of all the troopers, and she held her hands behind her back.
"Today is your graduation. Here, you ship out to fight against the Separatists and restore peace to the Republic. Congratulations. You are no longer cadets – you are Troopers."
Tessa stood a little taller, at hearing that. She was recognized as a soldier.
"May the Force be with you." General Ti said as her final words.
"ATTENTION! The Commander shouted throughout the hanger, and all the Troopers stood at attention.
"Helmets: ON!"
Tessa placed her helmet on, and marched along with her brothers onto the ship's ramp.
'I'm the first female clone to be in the Army. And I'm going to prove myself. I wasn't a mistake." She thought as she stepped onto the ship.
