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A Few Minutes Earlier
Xander's POV
~This is either going to be a great idea or a bad one.~ He thought as the door to his room shut behind him.
Either way it was something he couldn't put off given what El-les had told him would come next with his training: team combat drills. He'd been wondering exactly how he could do that considering the fact that he was only one person he'd naturally asked how the drills would be carried out.
The answer was as much a surprise as it was a concern.
Apparently there was a group of failed recruits that had been reassigned to lesser duties when they didn't pass one test or another. In order to supply him with the remaining four members of the squad these previous failures would be given a chance to redeem themselves. Should they prove themselves by working with him to complete all the drills it would be considered the same as overturning their previous failures.
He'd asked El-les who his teammates would be but the man told him he'd find out tomorrow.
Typical.
Still he guessed that even troop instructors like El-les had to find their fun where they could.
After finishing the meeting he'd returned to his room because if he was going to be fighting alongside other people then he couldn't risk something unexpected happening. Today his Od helped him but that did didn't mean it always would. It was a rule amongst Emiya's magus community that to be a magus was to walk with death because mistakes could very easily result in death not just for the magus but anyone close by. Considering how destructive Emiya's powers could be when they worked the way he wanted them to he could only imagine how devastating they'd be when out of control.
Even if he didn't manage anything more than making sure his magic stayed in the 'off' position it'd be enough.
Sitting down crosslegged on his bed he closed his eyes and attempted to sharpen his focus both to increase the odds he'd be able to control whatever happened. Now normally with Emiya he would activate his magic circuits through the use of a trigger phrase that also served as a means of entering a state of self-hypnosis. The problem was that while he might've inherited quite a bit from the version of Emiya he'd dressed up as that Halloween it did not make him the same as that man.
What worked for one would not necessarily work for another.
Still without any alternatives he decided to test just how close to Emiya he'd been made by his unknown benefactor.
Once he was satisfied with his level of focus he uttered the words Emiya made his own when he learned magic under Emiya Kiritsugu.
~Trace…ON!~ He thought and almost immediately there was a reaction.
He could feel tingles shooting down his arms and legs that felt like nothing he had ever experienced before. It wasn't like what you felt when the numbness of sitting on your feet for too long began to fade and proper circulation returning. It was more like a part of him was waking up that until now had been fast asleep. With his focus he did what he could to will the energy to remain present but didn't do anything to intensify it or actually put it to use. For a straight minute he managed to do this without any sign that he was losing his grip on it or anything other negative side effects. With a deep breath he opened his eyes before raising his right hand and willing some of his magic, his Od, to leave his body through that hand. It didn't happen immediately but he didn't expect it to given how new he was to it all but eventually wisps of blue energy began to float up from his skin.
~So far so good.~ He thought waving his right arm back and forth leaving a trail of light behind it, ~Now time to see if I can shut it all down.~
With that in mind he envisioned his Od like a candle and then tried to have it fade out of existence like a candle's flame running out of oxygen. Indeed he ceased to do anything to sustain his Od and so he logically believed that it would die out swiftly enough. Little by little he felt the power weaken until eventually it was all but out.
~Looks like I can control it easily enough.~ He thought satisfied that there was nothing amiss, ~At least as long as I don't try to use it for anything. So why did my Od reinforce me on its own?~
Was there some sort of outside force behind it or was it just another piece of baggage that he'd been saddled with? A sort of self-preservation mechanism?
"Maybe it's proof that you've gone insane." Proposed a voice that had him whirling towards the source in disbelief.
It was impossible!
Yet standing less than ten feet away from him partially obscured by the shadows untouched by the light sources in his room was unmistakably the form of Willow Rosenberg. Clad in the same clothes as he'd seen her in last he could tell that even hidden in shadow her eyes were the same pools of ink that they'd been when she'd been under the influence of dark magic.
"Impossible. You're dead." He said barely able to keep his voice steady and his expression firm.
"You would know Xan." Willow said with an edge to her tone that was understandable, "You killed me after all."
He couldn't help but wince at her words and he couldn't suppress the painful guilt he felt but he was determined not to let it show any more than it had to. Whatever was going on he was certain that the one he was looking at was NOT his departed best friend. Not only was he in another reality but if what stood before him was the vengeful ghost of Willow then why did she not appear sooner. People gunning for revenge tended not to be the most patient sort and he knew Willow's temper was as fiery as her red hair.
But if it wasn't Willow then who and why?
"If you're going to keep up this act do a better job of it." He said making it clear he wasn't falling for the deception, "Willow had a knack for being able to pin me down with a few words. So far I'm not impressed with your impression of her."
"Oh it's no impression Xander. It's me." 'Willow' said a snarl beginning to form on her lips, "You didn't think I'd let you get zipped off to another reality without paying for what you did to me! I WAS YOUR BEST FRIEND AND YOU MURDERED ME!"
"I did what was necessary." He said not letting his voice waver, "Willow went and got herself addicted to magic and lost her shit to get revenge. If it happened once it could happen again. I couldn't take that chance. Not even for her. Besides even if you are her ghost the fact that you haven't done anything yet means you can't. I'm betting you're one of those talkative ghosts not one of those throw things around the room kind."
"Can't do anything? Oh how wrong you ARE!" 'Willow' declared before thrusting her right hand towards him with fingers curled like claws.
It shouldn't have done anything.
The most he should've felt was a light breeze passing over his face.
Instead he once more felt the Od rise up within him but unlike before it did not do so slowly while strengthening his body.
No.
It surged forth like a geyser, like someone had knocked over a fire hydrant, pushing its way through his circuits like a runaway train. It took him completely by surprise and by the time he'd recovered the heat from his Od filled circuits was quickly reaching painful levels. He searched desperately within the memories for the info he needed to wrest control of his Od against the impersonator but it was quickly evident he should've done this a long time ago. After the disaster of his post Halloween experiment he'd kept what he'd inherited from Emiya at arm's length where magic was concerned. By dipping into the parts of the man's skill set that didn't require magic he'd picked up on a few scraps of info here and there but that was it. With so little information and only his will to rely on he did all he could to first bring his Od under his control after which he intended to will it to recede back from whence it came.
There was an effect.
But nowhere near enough.
And then all of a sudden the Od dissipated within him as though it had never come forth in the first place.
"Did that hurt? Did you think you would die if you didn't think of something quick?" 'Willow' asked in a malicious tone, "Let's face it Xan thinking's not something you're good at. It's why you always let me do the thinking for you! You don't get to die until I'M ready for you to die and that's not going to be for a LONG time! Instead I think I'll have you jumping at your own shadow wondering every time your bloody power pops up wondering if your time has finally come. Hope you liked your little bit of peace because as long as I have the power you're gonna be my toy! And I like breaking my TOYS!"
With that, in the space between blinks, the form pretending to be Willow vanished leaving him in his now somewhat disordered room.
Silent like the grave was his room but it was not a peaceful quiet but rather an ominous one. Was the being he'd encountered truly Willow or an imposter? Was their purpose really to make him suffer or was it something else? Could he do anything anywhere without worrying about the being interrupting?
He had no answers and more than a few questions.
Too bad he wouldn't be able to think on them anytime soon because a second later the door to his room slid open and three members of Topica City's security force rushed in blasters at the ready.
"Um…noise complaint?" He asked realizing that out of control Od wasn't exactly a discrete phenomena.
Damn.
An Unknown Location
"What is thy bidding, my master?"
"There has been a great disturbance in the Force my apprentice. Something unforeseen has come to the galaxy. Something…ominous."
"I have felt it as well, my master. It is something I have not felt before but it is powerful."
"A power not under our control could threaten our plans. We must learn its nature and its source before it has a chance to do so."
"That…will be difficult. While I have grown strong in the Dark Side thanks to your wise instruction I was not able to discern where it could be found."
"There are other ways to find out what we need. We are not the only ones to have sensed this disturbance after all."
"You propose that the Jedi may discern the location of the source of the disturbance? Would that be in our best interests?"
"Infuriating as it may be there exist those amongst the Jedi with insight we do not. Nevertheless it is an option we must explore my apprentice. We need only allow the Jedi to narrow the possibilities and then we can either claim this prize for ourself or ensure its destruction."
"You are wise, master. Fortunately for us both I know of a few ways we may keep a close watch on their progress."
"I shall await your findings my apprentice."
And with that the holo connection was severed leaving the room only dimly lit. He was not exaggerating when he'd spoken of the disturbance's power. For both of them to feel it from where they were and yet be unable to divine its origin point with the power of the Dark Side implied great distance or remoteness.
Power such as that could be a great asset…to the one that succeeded in claiming it.
Perhaps an even greater asset than his current apprentice if he could somehow acquire this source without his master being aware of it. A difficult task but if this new power was all it appeared to be it might well be worth the risk.
In the end he decided to wait until he learned more either through his own meditations or other means.
Only then would he make his decision.
A Certain Lab on Kamino
Doctor Tri Gar's POV
~So many possibilities.~ She thought upon entering her lab, ~This is what makes science the only true venture.~
It had been easy enough to withdraw the DNA consignment from cold storage given its low priority amongst all her people possessed. Now that she was here she would have to wait until it had thawed sufficiently for her to work with before she could consider combining it with the female human blood sample. Walking over to the appropriate piece of equipment she inserted the container before initiating the thawing process. It would take a little more than half a standard hour during which time she could check up on a few other processes she'd left to run without her supervision. Some were standard experiments while others were of a independent and covert nature but all were beneficial in her opinion either to her or her people.
Sitting down in her chair she began to peruse the summarized data files she'd arrayed across the main monitor nodding with every update…until she noticed one flashing with priority notification.
Immediately she recognized this as the connection to the sensors she had secretly placed in Xander's room with the intention of catching anything anomalous. Anything she could use to persuade the Prime Minister to allow her to officially make her request to Xander had to be taken into consideration. If physical and combat prowess alone would not earn Lama Su's approval then evidence of something else that was of significant value would be needed.
Removing all other items from the screen she brought up on the screen all the data streams from the sensors placed in the room. Irritation found a home in her as she found out that the alert had been triggered minutes before and from the looks of things she was only seeing the tail end of the event but she brushed the feeling aside. She had programmed the monitoring program herself so she knew that it would've recorded everything from the moment anomalous phenomena were detected. She could review the earlier data after but for now she needed to focus on the present.
The first thing she noticed was that this was no controlled usage of the strange energy she had discovered earlier. It looked more akin to the water outside during a particularly tumultuous storm and according to the motion sensors the energy did have an effect on the environment surrounding Xander. This was both interesting as well as worrisome since it made it almost certain that city security would send a team to investigate. While she did not believe anything bad would happen to Xander it would cause word of his existence and his uniqueness to spread further than she would like. With careful phrases and tasks under the control of either her or Lama Su they had been able to limit the number of people who knew of Xander's existence. Even with the training sessions conducted by El-les the number of people who had been able to observe them or even knew of them were kept to those who would not overly care.
Now though things might change.
While Lama Su would no doubt do what he could to keep the important facts classified she knew that there'd be enough talkative people who'd discuss what'd just transpired without whoever they pleased. More than that if, as she suspected, the energy Xander could utilize had some measure of connection or influence to the Force the Jedi representative almost certainly had detected this incident. While it would be a small blessing if the Jedi proved unable to discern much it would be more prudent to assume that the 'General' would seek out the source knowing that it was close. Between the loose lips and the Jedi Master's own abilities she felt it was only a matter of time before Xander's connection to the disturbance was discovered.
At that point she fully expected Jedi Master Shaak Ti to attempt to bring Xander into her Order offering to train him in the use of his power.
While not opposed to some assistance in that regard since it was possibly beyond her peoples' ability to instruct Xander on such matters she did not want to see him leave. At least not until he had agreed to provide her with a substantial supply of DNA easily triple that of what Jango Fett had provided so long ago. With such a supply it would be easy to begin cloning a new and improved army for the Republic or should it become necessary the Separatists. While she would prefer to remain on the side of their primary client at the moment she could not dismiss the possibility that even with the clone army they might lose. After all the ones making the decisions were Jedi, officers with little experience fighting a battle on this scale and politicians. Mistakes were to be expected and with enough big ones even their excellent cloned soldiers might fail to keep the Galactic Republic intact.
Keeping Xander here on Kamino would also be helpful in instructing his duplicates in the use of their abilities.
But how to keep Xander on Kamino until he was no longer essential.
She pondered that even as her mind worked to analyze and classify the data stream coming in from the various sensors. It was only when she considered the possibility that Xander might wish to know just what his DNA was being used for that a moment of inspiration passed over her. It would require that El-les deliberately tailor some of his team training scenarios a certain way but if the results indicated what she hoped it would then she would have the perfect leash.
She had noticed several things about humans in general and one of which was the tendency to form emotional bonds. The strongest bonds were formed between those who overcame significant trials and hardships together. If the team assembled around Xander was pressed hard enough and if they utilized true teamwork the bonds formed would be quite strong. Couple that with the Jedi frowning on such strong emotional bonds and Xander would not be eager to leave with the Jedi if it meant giving them up.
Especially if she made it sound as though giving them up would be an unavoidable requirement of the Jedi's help.
Then she could act as a negotiator suggesting that Xander could remain here and the Jedi could assign a teacher to help him learn control.
An ideal outcome and one worth pursuing perhaps with a little help from Prime Minister Lama Su it could be made a reality.
The Training Room
The Next Morning
Instructor El-les' POV
"Are you sure you wish to continue Xander?" He asked his special student with a bit of hesitation, "I understand that there was a disturbance yesterday evening in your room. I would understand if you needed a bit of time."
"I'm FINE El-les. The security guys are blowing things WAY out of proportion." Xander said dismissively, "I was just doing a little…experimenting and it got out of hand. Nothing big."
Clearly Xander's definition of 'nothing big' was quite different from the rest of civilized space. While he had not been told everything he'd seen maintenance droids and a few members of the Topica City construction guild heading towards Xander's room. Such actions wouldn't be necessary if the damage had been just a few pieces of broken furniture or a shorted out monitor. However with his own schedule he couldn't exactly devote too much attention to investigating so he'd left it in the capable hands of Lama Su and the Kaminoans.
That didn't mean he wasn't concerned but from what he could see there didn't appear to be anything physically wrong with the young man nor was he acting differently enough to warrant concern. As such he decided he'd abide by his student's opinion until he saw enough cause to oppose it.
"Very well." He said before pressing a button on his forearm controls to signal those outside to come in, "As of yesterday you've completed most of the work I had planned for you as far as scenarios that one person properly trained and armed could handle. I dare say that if any members of the criminal community or citizens of hostile worlds like Zygerria try anything with you they'll soon regret it."
"Unless they bring an army." Xander said with a smile as his sense of humour reared its head.
It was…an acquired taste.
"Yes unless they bring an army." He said not bothering to roll his eyes in exasperation, "In such situations where you are outnumbered or perhaps outgunned that is where having a team by your side can prove to be a good thing. So from here onward all training and exercises will be designed with teamwork in mind."
"Um…I know it kinda makes sense to go from how to do thing solo to working with a team but it's not like I plan on getting into trouble El-les." Xander said sounding like he was worried he'd given the wrong impression, "I mean I don't HAVE a plan for the future except get a job and a place to live but I'm definitely not going to go looking for trouble."
"Whether you go looking for trouble or not it might just find you nonetheless." He pointed out as the door to the training room opened, "Whether you form your own group or just have to work with others during a crisis you will need to hone your teamwork skills both as a follower and perhaps has a leader."
Turning to the approaching group of four it took less than a second for Xander to notice them as well.
"Normally the training done here on Kamino is designed so that cadets are grouped together from the very beginning and remain so until graduation. However given your special circumstances I've had to adapt in order to make things work." He said gesturing to the quartet that thankfully were all geared up and reading to train, "The Prime Minister provided me with a hundred files of suitable teammates out of which I narrowed down to twenty. I highlighted some that I felt would be best suited but…it was suggested that perhaps an unconventional selection of four would be more effective. In any case these four were promised that if they fulfill their roles as your teammates well enough the Kaminoan government would aid them in finding a place for themselves in the galaxy. Much like yourself."
The real story was that when he'd presented his shortened list of choices to Prime Minister Lama Su, including highlighted ones indicating his preferred choices, Doctor Tri Gar had pointed out a truth that had been overlooked. Unless Xander chose to live on a world with a plentiful amount of Clone Troopers present it was likely that any future teammates would be civilians or 'independent businessmen' as some criminals called themselves. As such it would be better to use candidates more closely matching those sort of people than clone troopers who failed their graduation test.
"Huh. Sounds good to me. Sometimes all people need is a helping hand to find out where they belong." Xander said taking in the group of four that came to a stop a little ways from them.
'People'. Good.
It was a bit of an odd request by the Prime Minister that Xander not be informed that each of his teammates were in fact clones from various failed or incomplete contracts. He'd gone through the new files he'd been given after clone troopers had been removed and oddly enough the problems that had the four chosen clones labelled as failures had more to do with not meeting the client's specifications than anything with their abilities. Sure there were some personality issues and some of the features that the client wanted enhanced that hadn't turned out quite right but to be honest he'd determined that most of them could be made manageable. Either a regular prescription of medication, a bit of customizing with their gear and in a few cases reassigning them to different roles on the team could fix nine out of ten of the problems.
In the end he'd gone through the small list and chose the ones he'd felt would make Xander's team the most well rounded while possessing the fewest complications.
He just hoped he hadn't underestimated those complications.
He hadn't had the time to actually meet Xander's new teammates in person
Nevertheless he felt it was good that Xander's first impression of them would be as 'people' rather than 'clones'. He never particularly liked it when people like Bric or even the Kaminoans themselves treated the troopers like they were things rather than living people. While not as bad as how most people tended to treat droids it still rubbed him the wrong way. Regardless of how they came into the galaxy the clone troopers were every bit worthy of the classification of 'person' as someone born more naturally. Indeed even if the troopers had all been created the same way and trained the same way he had seen more than enough evidence to prove that over time they became unique individuals.
They weren't like those factory made battle droids favoured by the Separatists!
Taking a mental deep breath to release his anger on the subject he moved on to introducing the four who would be training with Xander as part of a custom squad.
"This is Moko Byl. She will be the team's advanced recon operative." He explained gesturing to the Togruta female, "It will be her job to move ahead of your team relaying enemy intel and if necessary carrying out surprise attacks.
"Next we have your team's sniper: Hrur'ziru'emetti or Ziru as she prefers to be called." He said gesturing to the Chiss female who merely gave a nod of acknowledgment, "Her job will be to provide support from the rear of your group by eliminating important targets and utilizing recon droids to provide short-range recon of the immediate area.
"The third member of your team is the commando. They are considered to be the elite of the military above and beyond the main ranks." He stated pointing to the Devaronian female who looked bored, "Her name is Crei Menect. She can be…attentive…when she needs to be."
This got a brief glance from Crei's but nothing more.
"Last but not least is Kayla Risefir your combat engineer." He said directing Xander to the Zeltron female whose smile at first glance looked welcoming.
At least until you started reading her file.
"If there's a technical problem to be overcome, equipment that needs repairs or something requiring a demolitions expert she is qualified to handle it." He said honestly while ignoring how the Zeltron's eyes seemed to sparkle at the mention of demolitions.
Looking to Xander he could see the young man evaluating each member of his team in turn visually and based on what he could see there were no serious issues.
In his case though he had to wonder if there was some hidden agenda at work on the part of Doctor Tri Gar. She had been the one to provide him with his new list of clones to choose from and while he hadn't seen it at the time there were some suspicious signs in the files. When he'd gone through the files he'd found it discouraging when one potential team member after another was disqualified for a reason he could not overlook. In the end he'd been left with only seven that didn't possess traits that immediately eliminated them from consideration.
That so many on the list possessed such glaring problems should've made him suspicious since even Tri Gar should've known better than to give him their files.
The next thing that should've had him suspicious was the fact that the four he wound up choosing had their pictures missing. The Kaminoans were quite diligent in their record keeping with an eye for detail that was essential given their expertise as cloners. However it was something of a universal problem that occasionally even the most well maintained archives suffered data loss from time to time.
Given what he saw now and combined with the mentioned suspicious details he wondered if Doctor Tri Gar had somehow manipulated his choice from the beginning. Some might call it paranoid but in the bounty hunting business paranoia often kept you alive and ensured that you got paid. For all four of the team members he chose to not only be close in age to Xander and be what many considered attractive for their respective races defied probability. If it'd only been one or two of them with these qualities while the rest were either older or unattractive he'd be less suspicious but that was not the case.
In the end he decided he'd politely inquire about it with the good doctor later to see if he could find proof of any scheming.
For now he had work to do.
"Good to know but I gotta ask…" Xander said with only a little hesitation, "…what exactly got them a failing grade the first time around?"
This as expected got a reaction from the four clones since their failure had resulted in them being reassigned to less than fulfilling tasks. Xander was quick to realize this and raised his hands to try and defuse the explosion before it happened.
"Hey! I'm sure you guys know your stuff but if I don't know why you failed the last time how am I supposed to help keep it from happening again." Xander said making it clear he meant no offence.
"You don't need to worry about that newbie." Crei growled with veiled disrespect, "Worry about whether you can keep up with us."
"An excellent idea Crei. A trial run going through one of the introductory squad scenarios will be quite good at showing each other what you can do." He said deciding that seeing would be more informative than a simple explanation, "It will not affect your final evaluation in case any of you are wondering but every other training session will. I suggest you use the information gained in this one to ensure you all do better in the next one."
"Who's squad leader?" Ziru asked in her usual stoic manner.
"That is something that this introductory scenario will help to decide." He replied knowing that the Chiss likely saw herself as the best candidate for team leader, "Whoever contributes the most to the team's success while also being the least disruptive to team cohesion will be made squad leader."
While there was the risk of his plan having the opposite effect it would succeed in showing Xander the problem spots the rest of his team had.
As for who became team leader…it would go to the most deserving of the title. So long as Xander learned what he needed to about working alongside a team that was all that mattered.
A Few Minutes Later
Training Scenario Starting Point
Xander's POV
~Here's hoping that El-les did a good job screening these girls.~ He thought going over a mental checklist to ensure that his gear was ready and working properly.
Looking at the four girls he could tell that they weren't just a quartet of people that'd never used their gear before and just had it handed to them. Much like him they were checking their gear and ensuring that it would not fail them in the scenario to come. What he also noticed though was a complete lack of experience with each other meaning while they might try to work together they're more likely to act individually. While he'd have preferred it if they had prior experience fighting alongside each other he realized that he couldn't get everything he wanted. Hopefully once each of them saw what the others were capable of work could begin to form some type of cooperation because any scenario that was designed with teamwork in mind would end in failure without it.
"Now that you are all ready I will explain the scenario." El-les said through the speakers connected to the control-observation room, "The room has been configured to resemble a temporary Separatist encampment with the associated compliment of battle droids needed to defend it. Your objective? Infiltrate the encampment, acquire a protected data pad and then return to the starting point. There will be a time limit of fifteen minutes after which according to the rules of the scenario the Separatists will have received reinforcements."
"Any rules about what we can't do to pass?" He asked knowing that there likely were things that they couldn't do.
"If the data pad is destroyed you fail. If more than two of your teammates are 'killed' you fail." El-les replied laying out some guidelines, "And of course if you use excessive force or munitions you fail. Other than that you can use whatever methods or tactics you feel will bring you victory."
"Sounds simple enough." He said looking at the training room.
"Keep thinking that newbie." Crei said a DC-15A blaster carbine in each hand and not making it look stupid for doing so, "Just means I'll have one less obstacle to becoming squad leader."
"I very much doubt that." Ziru stated emotionlessly her DC-15x sniper rifle ready to brought into firing position quickly, "Your lack of discipline and temper will ensure that you draw more enemy fire than the rest of us combined. How bothersome it will be to ensure the minimum requirement for success is met."
~O-kay. So Crei's a cocky hothead and Ziru is an ice queen elitist.~ He thought beginning to get a grasp on his teammates, ~Ziru's probably right about Crei drawing most of the enemy fire. Guess it'll be up to me and Moko to take out any droids with good aim.~
Looking to the Togruta he could see that she was armed with a DC-15A blaster rifle which he'd learned from previous training in it wasn't a BAD weapon but could use some improvements. From what he could see Moko treated her weapon with great care and unless he was overthinking things seemed to be more familiar with its intricacies than the other members of the team. It was a bit odd but he supposed that as a recon scout making sure your gear was reliable was a must since being on your own meant that a screw up could lead to death.
As for Kayla…well…he didn't think she was quite as bad as Drusilla in the crazy department or a match for Spike in the love of a good fight but there was something…off…about her. She looked a tad enthusiastic about what was about to happen and not in the way that people found amusing. Still he reassured himself that if El-les selected her for this then she had to be at least halfway reliable.
Giving his own gear a once over he found that he was as ready as he was going to be.
"The scenario will start…NOW!" El-les declared before sounds of activation could be heard a short distance away from them.
Advancing towards the fake enemy camp he kept his eyes open for signs of robots or gun turrets doubting very much that any respectable camp would be lacking in exterior perimeter defences. He was proven right when less than half a minute later sections of the 'terrain' slid away only to have domed turrets rise up and begin firing the second they were able to. Taking in the area ahead of him he quickly located the nearest source of cover before diving behind it. As he'd learned much to his chagrin while the armour he was wearing would provide SOME protection against weapons fire it still was a good idea to AVOID being hit.
Even if plastid-alloy armour could disperse some of a blaster bolt to lessen the injury to the wearer multiple blaster bolts hitting at the same time would definitely kill the person wearing it.
"Let me show you how it's done newbie!" Crei said charging straight ahead firing her two blaster carbine's as though they were blaster pistols.
To her credit the Devaronian lady was using her species significant strength to mitigate the complications that usually came with using a two handed weapon one handed. Unfortunately that was about all the lady had going for her since she was ignoring multiple sources of cover and only barely making an effort to avoid incoming fire. He might've read that Devaronians were tough but that did not make them blaster proof meaning if this was a real battle Crei probably would be the first to get killed.
The others at least were making use of the 'terrain' to help them in their approach though some seemed braver than others when it came to advancing towards the enemy camp. Moko appeared to be the most timid of his four teammates ducking behind her cover if so much as a single enemy shot came anywhere near her. That was not to say she didn't fire back or try to support the rest of the team but fear of death or injury was keeping her from doing anything more than occasionally drawing enemy fire.
Ziru was better using her sniper rifle to target the turrets in turn eventually resulting in one of them being knocked offline. However much as he expected of a sniper when she came under fire she ducked back down behind cover, waited for the turrets to focus on another target and then relocated to a new source of cover before repeating the process. Her shots were precise and her strategy logical but the problem he saw was that by the time she got to the outer wall of the camp their time limit would almost be up.
And Kayla…well…she was doing a good job of making a hard target of herself throwing the odd explosive at a turret once she reached throwing distance. The good? The bombs were strong enough to destroy the turrets at a one-to-one ratio. The bad? Kayla's throwing arm needed some work and required she get dangerously close to the turret she was targeting. At that close range the probability of her getting hit by the very turrets she was trying to destroy went WAY up.
~Guess it's up to me to make sure we all make it through this.~ He thought as he began to provide support fire to whoever needed it the most from moment to moment.
It was no picnic though since his carbine blaster didn't have the best range so he was forced to advance quickly from cover to cover in order to actually hit his target. Easier said than done with the escalating amount of firepower being directed at him and his team but he did his best without getting hit. Chief amongst those he had to aid were Moko and Crei since the former was too timid to make much progress whereas the latter was too aggressive to have much hope of lasting long. Fortunately there was a way to help both of them at the same time even if it meant things would get a little unpleasant for him.
If he could draw enough of the enemy's attention both in terms of their automated defences and the robots on the walls it'd reduce the amount of fire being sent at the two ladies. Given the amount of intelligence the training robots thus far he felt confident that if he showed himself to be the greater threat than the system would concentrate fire on him. Not EVERY blaster of course or every turret but enough that Crei would stand a better chance while also giving Moko a chance to move up.
With that in mind he began to lay a barrage on the enemy forces like a boxer going all in on a target aiming for a high number of blows rather than powerful ones. Even if he couldn't destroy them the sheer number of hits would be enough to up his threat level as far as the defence program was concerned. Continuing to press the defences he didn't have to wait long before he noticed more than one turret turning to direct their fire at him. Performing a dive roll to get behind what was probably supposed to be a boulder as far as the simulation was concerned he counted to three before popping out to continue his assault.
If his tactic's effectiveness was to be maintained he couldn't allow the system governing the enemy forces to downgrade his threat level.
Still getting this kind of 'attention' was not his idea of a good time.
Hopefully the others would take advantage of the opening he'd given them to advance further towards the enemy camp. He could hear Crei enjoying the fight so at least his drawing fire from her was working but when he looked back to where he'd last seen Moko he found her still crouched behind cover apparently not having done a thing. Was this why she'd failed her last graduation test? Because she proved too timid under fire to work with her team or achieve victory? If so then he'd need to either compel her to change or focus on ensuring that the rest of them completed the mission without her.
~As much as I'd like to go with the option that'd up the odds of victory I need to at least try to get Moko to fight past her fears.~ He thought trying to come up with the right things to say, ~This isn't going to be the only team scenario we're going to be going through and sooner or later she's going to be the reason we fail.~
After he'd collected his thoughts he turned to use them while praying to whatever deity might be listening that they'd work.
"Moko! I'm going to see if I can get more of the enemy to focus their fire on me." He yelled towards the Togruta to make sure he got her attention, "Use that opening to move up thirty yards to the next bit of cover. You can make it if you run."
He could see the indecision on her face, the fear, but this was a sign that she was at least considering doing what he asked.
He just needed to build on it.
"I know this is hard but you wouldn't be here if El-les didn't think you could do this!" He yelled again trying to convey that he believed in her as well, "You've trained for this! This is your chance to prove to everyone that your last failure was just a fluke! I'll be with you every step of the way! Trust me!"
For a moment the indecision spiked but then he got what he was after: a nod of acceptance.
Smiling even though he knew that she couldn't see it with his helmet on he jumped out of his cover sprinting for the next piece of cover while focusing fire on the most impressive of the camp's defences. Then just to ensure that things went his way he took a little surprise off his belt that he'd been hoping to save once they were closer to the camp. With his best baseball throw he sent the EMP grenade towards a cluster of turrets to the right of him and a few seconds later the weapon detonated rendering the turrets inactive.
The consequences of his actions were quick in coming as two thirds of the enemy forces directed their fire at him.
Lucky him!
Running like he had an entire clan of vampires after him he made for the nearest source of cover diving for it as best he could once he felt such a move would put him behind it. Too bad he was a little too slow to evade fire entirely as a piece of his armour on his right leg was dealt a grazing blow. Then just like he'd expected a hidden mechanism in the armour caused it to lock up in order to simulate an injury. It'd either last until statistics said your average person would recover or it'd stay until the end of the training scenario.
Most likely the latter.
~Not like I haven't fought through injuries before.~ He thought waiting until there was a pause in the shooting, ~This isn't so bad.~
As the barrage continued with no sign of stopping anytime soon though he had to wonder if his plan was working a little too well.
The Observation/Control Room
Instructor El-les' POV
~Hmmm. It would seem that all Moko needed was a vote of confidence from a stranger to encourage her to act.~ He thought as he watched the Togruta leave the cover she'd been hiding behind for most the training session thus far, ~Not surprising. Aside from a few exceptions most of the people on Kamino don't view clones as people. To most they are no better than blasters or some other piece of equipment. Hardly the sort of people to nurture confidence in someone with such a low confidence level to begin with. Indeed such people would've only contributed to Moko's poor self-image.~
Now though it seemed the opportunity had come for the Togruta to take the first step in changing from who she was to what she could become with the right support.
Looking to the other members of Xander's team he was able to spot change in them as well but not to the same degree as he was seeing in Moko. Crei had gotten farther than she usually did in these training scenarios thanks to Xander pulling so much fire away from her and oddly enough appeared to be taking advantage to destroy the turrets firing on him. While he wouldn't go so far as to believe that the Devaronian was trying to take some of the heat off of the young man that was the effect she was having. Ziru was beginning to move forward quicker though she still made use of cover to fire a few shots at the opposing forces.
As for Kayla…well…she was enjoying the fact that the enemy weapons weren't getting in the way of her using her creations and to her credit they were devastating. However in the past it'd been when her enthusiasm had hit an all-time high that she began to have difficulty distinguishing friend from foe.
They all became targets in her eyes.
Things to be blown up.
Looking at the timer he could see that they had just dropped below the ten minute mark and Xander's team had only just reached the halfway point between where they'd started and the 'enemy camp'. Not ideal but considering the fact that they'd never worked together as a team before it was acceptable. If matters refined as they often did with repeated team training sessions they just might be able to meet the standards of regular clone cadets.
Hearing the door to the room open he turned to see who it was and was somewhat surprised to see that it was Sergeant Tervho and Kal Skirata. A bit of a surprise considering that both of them had schedules as busy as his own even if he reluctantly had to admit that as Mandalorian warriors they were a step above him.
"Putting some rejects through their paces El-les?" Tervho asked with a mix of humour and dismissiveness.
Mentally he sighed a bit at this since Tervho tended to be stubborn once she'd reached an opinion about someone or something. As such clones who failed their final test or didn't even make it that far, be they troopers or something else, were judged as failures in Vhonte's eyes with it taking something monumental to change it.
"Not exactly Sergeant. The Prime Minister requested that the volunteer undergo team training and allowed me to select suitable teammates." He replied before glancing at Skirata to see if he had anything to say.
"And you just happened to choose all girls?" Kal asked with a smirk on his face.
"While I would've liked to select some of the trooper cadets the training design they're a part of doesn't allow it." He replied disregarding the man's implication, "I wound up having to use clones from other contracts the Kaminoans had that also possessed the necessary qualities to be effective teammates for Xander."
"Teammates or lovers?" Tervho snorted not buying his reasoning.
"Ridiculous and proof you haven't even bothered to read the files of Moko Byl and the others." He scoffed keeping his suspicions regarding Doctor Tri Gar to himself, "Moko is too timid to enter into any sort of intimate relationship, Ziru considers herself to be superior to almost everyone, Crei's got a temper would cause her to snap Xander's neck and Kayla…well…if it doesn't go BOOM she's not interested in it."
"Sounds like a fun bunch." Kal said sounding genuinely amused, "You got some special reason you suddenly want your new student to fail 'cause saddling him with this screw loose group is a strange way to make that happen."
"Trust me when I say those four are better than the alternatives in the files I was provided with." He said watching as Xander's group reached the outer wall of the enemy camp, "They were either physically deficient or mentally unstable. These were the best I could find."
"Mind if we stick around to watch?" Tervho asked finding a comfortable spot to do just that.
"So long as you don't interfere you can do whatever you want." He replied as Xander's squad moved to the second stage of their mission.
"Just how I like it." Skirata said sitting down in a nearby vacant chair.
He couldn't help but snort at the man's comment remembering how the man never failed to let others know what he was feeling.
He just hoped that the other thing Kal was known for didn't choose to make an appearance otherwise his job was going to get a lot harder.
Sniper Ziru's POV
~Does he have a death wish…or is it something else?~ She thought even as she continued to eliminate the training droids on top of the wall with precision shots.
When this group training session had begun she had expected that failure was all but certain given the substandard team-mates she was forced to fight alongside. While they had never undertaken a training session together before the clones considered failures by their Kaminoan creators was small enough for certain facts to spread like a virus. The Togruta was a failure because of her deficient willpower, the Devaronian was a failure because of her battle lust and the Zeltron was a failure because of her manic obsession with explosives. Of all those judged incapable of fulfilling their intended purpose she alone came closest to being a success with her failure caused not by her but rather by the ones who commissioned her creation.
She was physically and mentally perfect.
The very thought of being forced to serve such imperfect beings was repulsive.
While promptly shooting their representative after conclusively determining his lack of qualifications to give her orders might've resulted in abandonment and reassignment to menial duties as punishment it was better than the alternative in her mind.
She had entertained in the beginning escaping but given that Kamino was all she knew she had no idea where she would like to go. All she had to work with was data available to her from a Kaminoan data terminal and her creators were careful to monitor for signs of an escape attempt in the making. When dealing with creations capable of independent thought and creativity it was inevitable that soon or later one would try to determine their own future by escaping. Besides that no matter how descriptive the file or how high quality the holo-vids were they were hardly enough to base a decision on. As such she'd decided to remain on Kamino, endure her punishment of cohabitating with the inferior and wait for the right moment to act.
When word spread that the products of the largest project to date were finally being put to use she believed that perhaps her time was finally approaching. The Fett clones were being deployed to fight in a war against some splinter group of the Republic that called themselves 'Separatists'. Oh they claimed to be a confederacy of independent systems but only fools believed such rubbish. From what data files she had been able to access the numbers were a mix of the idealistic and the greedy so it was easy to predict that the latter would control the former. The claims that they broke off from the Republic because of corruption in the senate was just a cover for the greedy so that they could manipulate more profitable circumstances into existence. As for the idealistic…well they'd get what they deserved sooner or later.
It was as expected that soon after this conflict started the Kaminoans thought to put all of their existing rejects through combat training on the off chance they could be of use. She hadn't resisted this since learning how to fight would only aid her in her plans and so she'd chosen to be a sniper since it would allow to take out her enemies at a distance while offering anonymity. When the only person you could count on was yourself one had to choose an approach that offered the best chance of victory regardless of the number of threats.
Then out of nowhere she'd been told that she would be put into a team in order to evaluate an unaffiliated volunteer who wanted to fight for the Republic.
It was so moronic she'd been expecting either someone as mentally unstable as the Zeltron or some spoiled aristocrat with too much credits and not enough common sense. Still she had been promised that if she aided in the evaluation and performed this task with the required competency she would be reassigned to fight for the Republic alongside the Fett clones. It didn't particularly interest her but the fact that it would be a change of pace from the menial tasks she had been forced to perform up until this point was enough of a reason to agree. If she succeeded it would lead to more stimulating experiences as well as afford her a more unmonitored access to the holonet.
It had been shortly after her acceptance that she'd been introduced to three others who would be her teammates and her estimates of her success dropped considerably. A coward, a fighter lost to battle lust and someone who should not be allowed near anything even remotely combustable. While she had only ever interacted with the Togruta before directly she'd heard a few things about the rest and it was enough to make her skeptical of achieving any success whatsoever.
Upon laying eyes on the 'volunteer' her opinion of the odds did not improve.
While not behaving as inferior as the one that'd commissioned her creation neither did the young man look to be anything even approaching acceptable. Nevertheless she would perform her role in this session to perfection and allow the possibility that enough of her teammates would survive to see the mission criteria met.
Oh she wanted the reward that'd been promised to them but not for the reasons most would think. She honestly didn't care one bit what happened to the Republic or the Confederacy since in her mind they were two sides of the same coin. She simply intended to use a mission in the field as an opportunity to escape altogether so that she could find the place she truly belonged where her superiority would be accepted. She knew that the ones behind her creation had not valued her enough to have a tracking chip implanted in her or an explosive device such as the ones used on outer rim slaves. All she needed to do was wait until she got sent someplace suitably remote but still civilized enough to provide her with options.
For that reason, for her freedom, she would do the best she could to ensure that her 'team' succeeded in spite of their many glaring flaws.
Thus far the first teamwork training session had pretty much gone as she'd expected but the fact that none of the others had been eliminated yet was an anomaly. She attributed it to the volunteer's near suicidal tactic of drawing the attention of the automated opposition to such a degree that if this battle were real he'd be dead by disintegration several times over. She knew that while these training sessions were supposed to be as close to the real thing as possible the Kaminoans had no desire to add to their considerable workload. Such a thing would happen if they made their simulations too real since it would more often than not lead to the deaths of many a clone forcing the cloners to grow a replacement from scratch.
She also believed that while lacking in intelligence it wouldn't have made sense for any combat droid's targeting system to be so poor that they couldn't hit their target.
So if the volunteer said or did anything afterwards to boast about his performance she would not hesitate to enlighten him to these truths.
Seeing the opportunity to advance she slung her rifle onto her back before sprinting for the piece of cover that she felt it was feasible to reach before she came under fire again. Once behind cover she waited to see if she'd been detected by the enemy subroutines and when nothing happened after five seconds she she rose up to take aim once more. With most of the exterior defences having been destroyed by that disturbed Zeltron's explosives or her repeated shots at key points all that was left were the defences on the wall and in the camp.
She didn't even need to consider what to do next as she began to line up shots putting holes in the heads of each fake battle droid shooting at her 'team'. One by one they fell to her shots allowing the others to assemble at the base of the wall and with a replacing of her energy clip she soon joined them.
"You're up Zeltron." Crei said sounding quite exhilarated at the moment, "Time to make a door."
"Just don't go overboard." Xander said with concern, "We don't know exactly where in the camp the data pad is and I don't think any of us want it to get scrapped by accident."
"Sure, sure!" Kayla said with almost manic dismissiveness, "Just leave it to me!"
She didn't think that there was a single member of their team that actually believed the Zeltron would show restraint. Thus all they could do was wait and hope that the data pad was safely out of the way of any shrapnel that was to come.
In contrast to her demeanour the Zeltron was precise and professional in the manner in which she attached explosives from her backpack to the exterior wall of the camp. While only passingly familiar with explosives as part of her job as a sniper she was familiar with weak points. Each explosive was placed in a spot that took advantage of these weak points and even seemed to take advantage of how gravity along with other environmental stresses would affect the wall in the aftermath. Once the last explosive was in place Kayla proved smart enough to retreat to a safe distance before detonating her bombs and oddly enough the explosion wasn't as bad as she'd been fearing.
With a very rough circular hole in the wall they had their way in and in typical Devaronian style Crei was the first to charge through weapons firing. While still suicidal in her mind the limited space that made up the interior of the camp would make it harder for the fool to miss her targets. On the other hand it would also make Crei easier to hit so hopefully the Devaronian would be smart enough to take cover. While the hothead's race was known to be quite durable that did not equal invulnerable.
That was probably why Xander was right behind the red skinned maniac no doubt to provide support for the Devaronian with an enthusiastic Zeltron taking up the rear DC-17 hand blaster in each hand.
~I doubt that her restraint will last too much longer.~ She thought reaching the ascension cable hanging from her equipment belt, ~Best take advantage of the distraction while I can.~
With practiced movements she attached the device to the hand blaster that was her backup in case something happened to her sniper rifle. With careful aim she fired and once she was sure of a secure connection activated the retraction function causing her to be pulled off the floor towards the top of the wall. Pulling herself over the top upon arrival she looked down into the camp interior to find that things had not yet devolved into chaos. Three of their group had taken cover behind various mockups of Separatist tanks returning fire when possible but predictably Crei wasn't bothering with anything as logical as that. Instead the Devaronian seemed to be trying to encourage friendly fire incidents amongst the training droids while shooting herself when the opportunity arose.
Seeing as how it didn't look like they were being especially hard pressed she decided to put her skills to better use and find the data pad that was the mission objective. First with her eyes alone she searched the camp looking for anything that resembled a data pad or at least an area littered with objects associated with a data pad. Considering that most data pads were the size of a humanoid's head there was no small amount of ground to search but fortunately logical thinking and instinct helped her reduce the search area considerably.
It was a minute or two later that she narrowed down the possibilities to one area.
Not only were there various administrative tools but there were also crates meant to represent enemy supplies. Given the size of the camp there wasn't any room for some sort of private office and keeping track of supplies was important for any militant force.
~Time to show my superiority.~ She thought moving along the wall crouched down so as to avoid being seen.
It would be foolish indeed to jump down to the ground from here but if she stayed atop the wall until she could get no closer to her target area she might be able to acquire the data pad without anyone knowing. Grace and skill were imbued in her every movement without any sign that she'd been seen and so it was that she arrived near the target area just like she planned. Using her ascension cable to descend quietly to the ground she maintained her efforts to remain undetected as she approached the crates her eyes sharpened to detect any sign of the target. Choosing to approach from an angle that would reveal areas that were obstructed from her original arrival point she continued to use her superior eyes to search.
And she was rewarded when on a shelf just out of sight of her arrival point she spotted a data pad.
It had to be the right one!
With the speed of the victorious she made for the data pad, envisioning how she would hold it victoriously over her head, and with it she would be named squad leader.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Or that had been her intent but with the alarm she knew to her regret that the time limit set at the beginning of the training scenario had expired.
~Damn.~ She thought realizing that despite her superiority the weight of her teammates' inferiority had led to their failure.
At best there would be another chance to earn her reward.
At worst it would all end here.
Dammit.
Control-Observation Room
Kal Skirata's POV
"Gotta say El-les…I do NOT envy you right now." Vhonte said with a dismissive shake of her head, "Unstable, erratic and no teamwork at all. You sure you don't want to scrap these clones? I could probably convince Prime Minister Lama Su to assign a cadet squad to him for awhile. Five man team? Six man team? Not like it'll make that big a difference."
"On the contrary it could make a great deal of difference. Every clone cadet squad has been grouped together from the moment they were fit to begin their training." El-les said shaking his head in rejection, "Assigning one to Xander with destabilize their training as they attempt to adapt to his presence."
"If all it took was one person to throw our training off we wouldn't still be here." He said dismissing the concern, "But I don't think it'll be necessary."
"What do you mean?" Vhonte asked looking like she thought such a change was obviously needed.
"If you need to ask me that Vhonte then you need your eyes checked." He replied with a smirk, "Pretty pitiful if someone your age can't see what I can."
"I can see just fine old man. I can see that the kid out there will wash out before El-les finishes his training." Vhonte said with a bit of an edge at the slight, "As for the clone rejects? They should be put back to work with Ninety-nine."
She didn't see.
El-les might after a few more training sessions but not Vhonte.
The woman had a temperament as fiery as her hair implied and because of her strong emotions stronger still were her opinions, stances and beliefs.
"Keep at it El-les." He said getting out of his chair before heading for the door, "If you think you need any help let me know. Assuming I'm not busy I'll pitch in. Maybe I'll bring a few friends."
Without hearing anything that came from Vhonte and El-les he left but his thoughts remained on what he'd just witnessed.
Much like Vhonte his expectations had been low as far as how things would go if for no other reason than the kid had been saddled with clones from the reject pile. If they'd been failures from Fett's template he'd have been a little more open minded but he hadn't recognized a single one of the girls the kid had been saddled with. Jango had been selected to be the template for the Grand Army after being tested and found to be the best of the candidates and probably the one most open to being cloned. If the girls had been meant for battle they would've been cloned from some of the best lady warriors the galaxy had to offer. Instead he figured most of them had been created for less violent purposes.
Slaves.
Imposters.
Playthings.
He wasn't quite sure how the girls got trained up to the level they showed in this training session but it was probably because the Kaminoans wanted to ensure their work didn't go to waste. Maybe the cloners thought they'd be useful in the Grand Army and trained them with droids and automated programs. Judging from the same session it was obvious why they'd been reassigned to work with Ninety-Nine though. Their advanced recon specialist didn't have the backbone for a fight making it a bit of a miracle she got this far in her training. The sniper was a fair shot but you only had to look at her face to know she was as cocky as they came and didn't think anyone was good enough to fight by her side. Crei was a battle maniac and he'd fought alongside enough of them to know that they were great when you needed them but a pain in the ass when you didn't.
As for their combat engineer…well…he had a feeling there'd been a leak in her tank when they cloned her that was barely small enough to keep her from being terminated outright.
However what he'd seen in the training session just now made him interested in how things would go beyond today.
For most of the fight the four clones had acted as individuals rather than teammates with each of them fighting in their own way but without any sign of cooperation. All of them were naturally trying to achieve the mission objective but without a plan of attack or an attempt to support one another the progress had been minimal at best. By his own reckoning such an approach would've had them arriving just outside of the fake camp by the time the fifteen minutes ran out.
The only reason why they'd gotten as far as they had was the kid.
Of the five of them only the kid had been trying his best to support the girls even if he'd been stupid about it. Drawing enemy fire to help the weaker members of your squad was a valid tactic but only if the aggression you attracted was something you could handle. If the kid had been fighting against trained Black Sun forces rather than training droids he would've been dead several times over. Still it'd been enough to keep the girls from getting 'killed' and once inside the enemy camp it'd almost been enough to get them victory.
If they'd worked together from the beginning he was pretty sure they would've gotten the data pad and been out of the camp before the fifteen minutes were up.
Maybe he had a soft spot for groups others viewed as failures.
Maybe he liked proving people wrong about those groups.
Maybe it was just because the kid's girls were clones just like his boys in a way so lending a hand would benefit them both from a certain point of view.
Whatever the reasons it felt like the right thing to do so while he wouldn't neglect his duties as instructor to the Null class ARCs if he could help whip this new squad into better shape he had a hunch it'd be worth his time. If the squad could get past their problems and unite around a leader they wouldn't just pass their graduation they'd make even Vhonte admit they were wrong to dismiss them.
A smile coming to his face he felt that such an outcome would be payment enough for him to put a decent amount of effort into helping El-les straighten the kid's squad out.
~Maybe Niner and the boys could help out.~ He thought as a possibility came to mind, ~They could do with a bit of fun between missions.~
Post Chapter Note: Yeah I know it's pushing it a bit giving Xander an all girl set of teammates like this but it just felt right. I love harem genre anime, it's vaguely similar to putting him in charge of a team of Slayers and the personalities are interesting enough to be fun. Will they become his romantic interests? Dunno. Maybe. After watching the latest episode of 'Star Wars: The Bad Batch' my muse is considering whether it'd be a good idea for some of Xander's teammates to become 'interested' in some of Clone Force 99. What do you think?
Also to help you the readers visualize them this is how I picture Xander's teammates in my head.
Moko Byl - I was imagining her as the Togruta equivalent of Hyuuga Hinata from the Naruto franchise. More precisely how she appeared during the Shippuuden part. So just take an image of Hinata and then imagine if she'd been born a Togruta. Throw in some gear that'd be suitable for a scout and you've pretty much got it.
Hrur'ziru'emetti aka Ziru - For her it should be easy enough for you guys to imagine a mid-to-late teenager version of Widowmaker from the Overwatch video game albeit with all the usual Chiss features. Think female version of Grand Admiral Thrown from the animated series 'Star Wars Rebels' around Xander's age and given sniper gear.
Crei Menect - She's a bit of a tough one since at the time I wrote most of this I was imagining a female Devaronian to look the same as the male ones already featured in Star Wars shows or movies. Red skin and devil horns who are physically very strong as well as durable. The most recent example being the Devaronian from the Disney Plus show 'The Mandolorian' Where they broke a guy out of a New Republic prison ship. Then I do some research and find out that the females of the species are quite a bit different from the males in various ways. So in this case I'd say picture Revy Two Hands from the anime 'Black Lagoon' or Rowdy Ronda Rousey from the WWE and portraying Luna from 'The Expendables 3' but with a female Devaronian body. Not quite full on Zaraki Kenpachi mentality but she'd definitely fit in with Eleventh Division from Bleach.
Kayla Risefir - I basically took the image of Delilah Blue from Wookieepedia, made her about Xander's age and gave her an unstable love of explosives. Just picture if Jinx from 'League of Legends'/'Arcane', Tiny Tina from 'Tiny Tina's Wonderland' and Junkrat from 'Overwatch' were blood related family and Kayla was the most stable mentally speaking. 'Most Stable' of course not meaning she doesn't share their love of explosives, making things go BOOM and causing people to worry about their chances of seeing tomorrow.