~SIDE NOTES~

~this clone story was a request by my friend Sanyu Darkstar, the character belongs to her.

~Hope you like it! Please review!

Being a shadow sucks. I should know, because I feel like I am one every day. I'm there, but then I'm not. I guess why I'm named 'Shadow'. No one would care if I should die, they wouldn't even know I was missing. I'm the just the shadow on the wall no one cares about. My life in a nut shell really. But this wasn't to complain about my life, there are some good points to it. No. This was to tell you what happened to me; Shadow, in my earlier years.

At first I thought it was just a cruel joke, ignoring me all the time. The rest of my squad didn't bother looking , talking, or even wave to me. I felt very much alone. While most of my brothers nicknamed themselves, I had to nickname myself. I noticed how no one looked at shadows, never talked to them, I felt that it fit me. It did, I was a shadow, one nobody loved or cared to get to know. I loved my brothers but they never cared to even look at me.

I thought of the various things to get myself known. As a shiney, most of the time you're only known by your squad and sometimes a commander. No one knew me. I wanted to be known, I wanted attention. Slipping from shadow to shadow isn't a feat if no one cares to watch you! I thought perfecting that technique would get me noticed, show up in front of a commander and get him talking to me. That only resulted in being hauled off to the bunker, not a complete failure; someone looked at me. I debated suicide, but then no one would remember me as shadow but as 'the-clone-who-killed-himself-before-he-was-even-on-the-battlefield', worst way to go in my opinion. The other options where spice and toxins.

I've always liked toxins. Nero-toxins being on the top of the list. Paralysis, fevers, stomach ailments, cramps, temporary blindness, endless applications. Why not build up immunity to them? A trooper immune to poison seemed like a good way to get noticed. Problem was, I needed antidotes. But then again, make my own toxins. Toxins that I only had the antidote to. But again, no scientific lap to make them in. I cursed that roadblock.

Spices were easier to get. Especially from smugglers. I had doubts about starting since I had heard the lectures about spice abuse, but really I didn't care. No one cared about me, not even my bunk-mate. He was pretty cute; loud yes, but I wanted him to notice me too. Maybe shooting myself up with spice would get me the attention I wanted. I longed for someone to acknowledge me.

Moving silently among the shadows, I made my way to the hanger. A ship was being loaded with cargo for a mission. Looking at the monitors I saw they were headed to a planet known to harbor space pirates, Florrum. Where there are pirates there is spice, maybe I could get some off them. I checked my pouch for any credits. It wasn't much, 10 wupiupi coins, and ten standard credits. A total roughly of twenty standard credits. I hoped it would be enough, could use the knives I brought with me. Stealth is my ally not brute force, like most of my brothers seem to love.

I saw my break, no one was watching the cargo doors and I used my shadow traveling ability to move faster. Worked like a charm. I was on the ship and the doors to the cargo bay were closing. I was nervous, it was my first time outside the base, I didn't know what to expect when we landed on Florrum. Not that it really mattered anyway. I'd come up with something.

During the trip I did not stay in one spot. I was either too nervous or too excited to stay still for more than a minute. How long had I been in the cargo bay? A day or two? I did bring some rations with me but I wasn't sure how long they'd last, I'd have to be careful. If only I knew the layout of the cruiser. I could sneak into the kitchen and get some rations. Maybe stowing away wasn't such a good idea after all.

Then I remembered my night vision goggles. Scolding myself; since no one else would, I put them on and saw the ventilation shaft. It was small, but I could fit in it. It sure felt great being a thief, trick is not getting caught. That's the easy part for me, no one ever looks at me! I guess it has it's advantages.

Squeezing through the shaft I followed my nose, learning quickly to not go towards th strongest smell. That was the cruisers trash compactor, nearly lost my meager breakfast to that stench. There were other smells too. Bacta tanks, soap, wax. It was really quite confusing until I smelt something that made stomach growl. Yup I smelt lunch, well the smell itself was really faint but I had found the mess hall of the cruiser. Committing this to memory I found the nearest opening ans listened carefully. No one was around so I slipped down from the ceiling. I'd figure out to get back up there later, for now it was getting rations.

The kitchen was unoccupied so sneaking a few things for the day was easy. The hard part was getting back to the cargo bay. No ladder but then again I knew where I was going now. Walking up to the wall I let the shadows embrace me. It was so dark even goggles were useless, you moved on instinct. Soon I was back in the cargo bay and settled down to eat the rations I had taken.

After another five days of the same routine, the cruiser shuddered. We were entering the atmosphere of a system. I was pretty sure we were on Florrum now, and felt a new wave of giddiness wash over me. What was a 'high' like? I really wanted to know that. I should ask if the pirates take notice of me.

The cruiser stopped and I quickly crept out of the cargo bay to avoid accidental attention. The terrain was almost too much to take in. I was so used to seeing white walls, and dark ocean scapes outside the windows of the cloning facility, not grand, earth, and bright skies. In the distance I saw buildings. Low to the ground but seemed to be where my brothers were headed with a jedi general in front. It was easy shadowing them, their white armor made them noticeable and I followed them to where a large group of dark skinned sentients were gathered. It seemed to be a information trade off.

I broke off from the others then. While they were busy trading information, I snook around the encampment looking for a spice dealer. I saw many of the sentients drinking and fighting with each other. There was a large stack of black crates close to the main building. So naturally I decided to take a look.

Upon closer inspection, the crates seemed to contain medical supplies. Looking even closer I noticed a corner of the label was loose. Prying it away I saw that the contents were actually something called Glitterstim. I had no idea what that was, but from the label it said to keep it out of the light and no more than 4 grams per day. I was pretty sure it was a dosage for whatever Glitterstim was, it certainly didn't sound like medication to me.

I was about to open a crate to see the contents myself when I head footsteps coming towards my position. Quickly I hid among the crates. One was already open so I took a few black packets to examine them. Doubt the pirates would notice three packets missing.

I heard one tell another to move the spice to the back of the main building. I was in luck. In my possession were three packets of light sensitive spice. I wondered what the effects were but thought I'd find out on the way back.

Sneaking back to the cargo bay, the others were preparing to depart. Being as silents as my boots would allow I snook back on board the cruiser and waited for the cargo bay doors to close. I was excited, first time using a spice and the possibility of being noticed seemed too good to be true, I just hoped it was. If this were a dream I didn't want to wake up. Not ever.