Death's Choice
By Ammie Hawk
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.
AN: Okay, so this chapter took forever to get right, because I had to reign Jango in, again. Anyway, on with the show.
Chapter 15: Meanwhile… on Kamino
Mij Gilamar glared at the screen in front of him in mounting frustration. It had been several days since the clones had taken over Kamino and he and several slicers had been unable to hack in and gain access to Nala Se's files. He knew, or at least was pretty confident, that she had the formula for the accelerated aging that had been genetically engineered into all the clones, as well as any other experiments or enhancements the bastards had done. He was hoping he would be able to reverse engineer the formula and give these bright young men they'd been training for the past ten years the chance at a long, full life. But first he had to get into the fucking computer.
"One of you," he parked at the troopers in the room with him, "bring Nala Se in here. Now."
The one nearest the door snapped off a quick salute before darting out of the room. Fifteen tense minutes passed before the trooper returned with Kom'rk and Prudii who had Nala Se bound between them. The Mandalorian doctor stalked over to the Kaminoan and met her bland stare with one of pure malice.
"Nala Se," he practically growled, "if you know what's good for you, you will give me full access to your files."
"Trainer Gilamar," her voice, while soft like most of her species, was laced with haughty distain that couldn't be feigned, "you will never gain access to my files. They are not for you."
"That's where you're wrong," he quickly reigned in his temper. "We now control Tipoca City, as well as the rest of the planet. Your life hinges on your cooperation. So, I suggest you assist me. Make things easier on yourself."
"This little insurrection is but a minor setback," she hummed in clear dismissal. "When those that hired us find out what has happened here, the trainers will be eliminated and the products will be reconditioned, with those seemingly in charge being decommissioned. It is inevitable. There is no use fighting it."
"I can help," a young voice announced from the back of the room.
Everyone in the room turned to find the source, with weapons raised. Standing in front of a large grate at the far corner of the room was a small child with blonde hair. They looked old enough to be one of the cadets, but not quite as old as Boba or the more advanced cadets, he'd say about seven if he had to guess. But there was something about them that didn't sit right, and he couldn't put his finger on what it was.
"Omega," the Kaminoan snapped, "you will do no such thing."
Slowly reholstering his weapon, the medic hunkered down so he was on eye level with the youngling. Out of the corner of his eye he caught the other troopers following his example.
"Hello, little one," he greeted kindly. "I'm Mij, I'm a medic. I'm not going to hurt you, no one is."
"I know," the little blonde head bobbed. "I've seen you with the vod'e. You're always kind to them. And Harry likes his lessons with you."
"You know Harry?" he asked curiously.
At their nod, several of the troopers around the room straightened as their interest was piqued. He knew many of the clones had not met the youngling that had inspired the coup they had just taken part in. And to find someone else who obviously knew him, was something they had not been expecting.
"What's your name, little one?" he continued.
"Omega," the blonde smiled. "And I can help you get into the files. I know all of Nala Se's access codes."
"Well then, Omega," he extended his hand as a wolfish grin crossed his features, "let's get started, shall we?"
888888
Jango stared out the viewport of the star destroyer as they landed in the hanger of Tipoca City. A large white bird was perched on his shoulder, its intelligent amber eyes seeming to take in the scene with calculating curiosity. He knew it was called an owl, though he'd never encountered one in the wild before, even in all his travels, but it was persistent and refused to leave him alone.
He had woken up in the top box of the Geonosian arena, without his helmet, and this infernal bird nipping at his hair. He had tried to shoo it away as he sat up, but all he'd gotten in response was the most judgmental look he had ever received from an animal in his life. Choosing to ignore it, he took stock of his surroundings.
It took him a few minutes to recall what exactly had brought him to this point. When he did, his eyes darted frantically around. His helmet was missing, as were his boys… and the Count. If Dooku touched one hair on either boys' head, he would rip him apart with his bare hands. He wasn't called the Jedi Killer for nothing after all.
With that thought in mind, he made his way to the hanger to hunt the fucker down. Only, Slave I was not where he'd left it. Dank ferrick, this was not his day.
Outside the hanger, he met up with CC-1138, Bacara if he recalled correctly, who was in charge of medevac. He helped where he could, with that damned bird hovering over his head, and managed to hitch a ride back to Kamino. Which brought him to now.
He waited on the bridge until the injured had been offloaded before heading off to gather the Cuy'val Dar. He need to speak with them and come up with a way to use this fucking mess to their advantage. He just hoped they could figure something out before too many of the clones, his sons as his Buir so helpfully pointed out, were sacrificed for a pointless cause.
As he exited the ship, the obnoxious bird still perched on his shoulder, he caught sight of Mij Gilamar directing the chaos around him. He shifted his course till he came to a stop next to the medic.
"Mij," he said by way of greeting, "any news?"
"You have no idea," the medic practically growled. "I know you'll want to talk to the others, so I'll fill you in then. Once this mess is taken care of. By the way, what's up with the bird?"
"It won't leave me alone," the bounty hunter shot a glare at the creature. "Anyway, I'm gathering the Cuy'val Dar in training room two, you can join us there once you're done here."
"Right, about that," the other raked his hand through his hair, "you might want to contact Alpha-17, and have him bring along the current vod'e command to this meeting."
"I plan to address the troops after I talk with the trainers," a frown edged its way across his features.
"That's the thing," the medic scowled, "there's not many of us left. The vod'e drove off quite a few, others just left, there's only about a dozen who stayed. And the real kicker, we're not in charge anymore, the vod'e are. Those of us left are here by their good graces."
"I see," his scowl deepened. "I'll send word to Seventeen. Who else has taken command?"
"It hasn't quite been decided yet," Mij scoffed. "Alpha refuses to put anything permanent in place until Kote returns. Claims it's his mess, he gets to clean it up. Until then, the alphas and the Nulls are keeping things running."
"Fine," he growled. "Just join us when you're done. I'll figure this all out."
He turned on his heel and made his way out of the hanger. As he made his way to training room two, he shot off a message to Skirata to gather what was left of the Cuy'val Dar to meet him there, as well as one to Seventeen to get the current leaders of the Vod'e. Once that was done, he picked up his pace, hoping for a few minutes before everyone arrived.
When he finally reached his destination, he linked his comm to the long range transmitter and sent out a transmission to Kote's ship, hoping to speak with the CC. The comm was answered by a communication officer. He couldn't identify which trooper it was, he'd never been good enough at telling them apart to do so over the subpar quality of standard transmission.
"Trooper," he said, shaking off the thought for now, "I need to speak with CC-2224."
"The Marshall Commander is not to be disturbed at this time," the trooper replied automatically. "I can transfer you to the officer on deck."
"No," he snapped irritably, he didn't have time for this. "You will get 2224, now, trooper, or you will deal with me. Understood?"
"Yes sir," the young soldier straightened instinctively at his tone.
It was several minutes after that when he was finally redirected, just as the first of those he'd summoned began to filter in. He chose to ignore them for the moment as his eyes locked with the holo of Kote.
"2224," he nodded in greeting.
"Alpha-02," a calculating gaze met his own, obviously the other wouldn't, or couldn't, speak freely. "Heard you were dead."
"Didn't take," he shrugged noncommittally. "Haven't seen any tookas recently, have you?"
"As a matter of fact," Kote's eyes shone with slight mischief, "I have seen one. Caused quite a stir on Geonosis."
"Just the one?" a brow rose curiously. "Sounds like you're slipping, 2224. One of these days you'll have to deal with multiple, see how you fare then."
"Unfortunately, that is not today," the other replied evenly. "Sorry to disappoint. Now, I know you didn't call me just to discuss your irrational fear of tookas, so what do you really want?"
"Right," he allowed a faint smirk to pull at the corners of his lips. "Medevac arrived back safely. We have a hundred and fifty wounded, seven hundred and fifty killed in action."
"I see," there was real pain reflected in the younger man's eyes, even though he knew this was not new news. "Anything else?"
"No, Commander," Jango shook his head. "We will currently stand down and await further orders. 02 out."
He ended the transmission just as the door closed behind Alpha-17. His gaze traveled over the assembled group, which was much smaller than he anticipated. There were only a handful of the Cuy'val Dar left, less than even the medic had estimated: Kal Skirata, Walon Vau, Cort Davin, Wad'e Tay'haai, Rav Bralor, Vhonte Tervo, and Mij made seven. He couldn't say he was overly surprised by that, not many of the Vod'e had overly pleasant experiences with the trainers. There were almost twice as many clones present. A few of the Nulls, Ordo, Prudii, and Kom'rk. Only two Alphas, surprisingly, Seventeen and Fordo. Then there was Bacara, who he had traveled with from Geonosis; ARC Commander Colt; Thire, a CC he knew worked closely with Fox; and the final CC he was sure was called Monnk. There was also a handful of CTs he wasn't sure the names of but then again, he wasn't as close to the CTs as he should be.
"You placed that call as Spar?" Seventeen's angry snarl cut off his inner musings.
"No," he met the younger male's glare unflinchingly, "Kote did that, I just went with it. Now, before we begin, I'm happy to report Harry is safe," a great deal of the tension in the room released at this pronouncement. "He has been reunited with Kote and Rex. However, Boba is now missing. I'm confident he took Slave I, so I want one of the best to start tracking it, and monitoring its movements."
Seventeen held his gaze as he began tapping something into his vambrace, "It's done, Prime."
"Thank you, Seventeen," he nodded gratefully to the other. "Now, who the fuck wants to fill me in on what the fuck is going on around here?" He held up his hand to indicate he wasn't done speaking yet, "I know all about the rebellion, Kote filled me in. Where to you plan to go from here?"
"We haven't quite figured that out entirely yet, sir," Seventeen answered. "This was Kote's doing and we will not move forward without his input."
"I can respect that," a hand rose and raked through short locks. "But what all of you," his gaze moved to incorporate all of them, including the Cuy'val Dar, "fail to realize is that this runs deeper than any of you know. There are other powers at play here besides the Kaminoans. Just because you took them out of the picture does not make you free. The Jedi commissioned this army to serve the Republic. That has not and will not change."
"Actually, Jango," Kal Skirata interjected, "that is not exactly the case."
"What do you mean?"
"Did you actually read the contract you signed?" the older Mandalorian quirked a brow.
"I'm not an idiot," dark eyes narrowed dangerously. "I know how to read and negotiate a contract. I agreed to contribute my DNA to create a clone army for the Jedi and the Republic and to help train said army until such a time as I would no longer be needed. In return, I was to receive a substantial amount of credits a year and an unaltered clone to raise as my own."
"So you know nothing of the initial contract between the Jedi and the Kaminoans?"
"Why would I?" he countered. "Their contract was none of my business."
"Then you'll be please to know that I have been carefully going over each and every one of them," Kal shot him an amused smirk. "Those of the Cuy'val Dar were straightforward enough. Those that the Vod'e deemed unacceptable to stay in Tipoca City have been relocated to another facility on the planet until their contracts become null and void. Now, there are a few points in your contract we'll need to go over, especially if we decide to continue the growth and decanting of those still in the tubes, but that has no real impact on the present, so can be discussed later. As for the Kaminoans' contract with the Jedi, this is where it gets interesting. There is a lot to sift through, and I'm still working through most of it, but the most important thing I've found so far is in section thirty-two, subclause C. It states that the Jedi are paying for this army to serve the Republic, but it remains the property of the government of Kamino. So, since the successful take down of the Kaminoans and their current government by the Vod'e, as soon as they institute a government of their own, they're in charge of themselves. They are free."
"That is good news," Jango nodded. "We will work on setting up the government. In the meantime, we have to play this right. We don't know all the players involved and until we do we're going to have to go along with being the army for the Republic. If we don't, they can take us out, and they aren't above orbital bombardment. Now, if we want to pull this off, we need a point of contact. So aside from Nala Se, who are the other longnecks you kept alive?"
"Nala Se has been executed with extreme prejudice, sir," Kom'rk said with an evil smirk.
"Under who's orders?" he frowned in confusion, Kote said they'd been keeping her alive for a reason.
"Mine," Mij replied from near the door, having arrived without Jango noticing. "Once we had complete access to her files, thanks to her lab assistant, she was no longer worthy of existing."
"I see," he turned to the medic. "What did you find?"
"First you're going to answer me this, Jango Fett," the other crossed his arms over his chest, "did you know about the chips?"
"What chips?" his scowl deepened.
"The inhibitor chips that were implanted into every one of the clones," Mij's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he shook his head. "I was told they were engineering a process to make them less independent after the failure of the Nulls, but that was it."
"Well, you should have looked into it further," the medic snarled. "Because their answer was a behavioral modification chip put into all the clones' heads. And they weren't just behavioral modification chips, they are command chips. Each one is encrypted with a list of orders that once activated would override any higher brain function, turning them into flesh droids."
"What?!" Jango matched his ire, he hadn't been told about that.
"Both of you calm down," Wad'e Tay'haai stepped between the pair. "We have already started removing the chips from the clones still here, and we have the best technical minds working on decrypting the commands. It is horrible, but we are fixing it. There is nothing more we can do on that end that we are not already doing. Jango, you mentioned a point of contact. We have Taun We and a couple other scientists still in holding."
"Right," the bounty hunter took a steadying breath, coming back to the matter at hand. "Taun We will work. I'll talk with her after we're done here, and I've addressed the troops. Seventeen, you and I will start working on a basic structure on how you and the others want the new government to run. Mij, you're in charge of removing those chips as quickly as feasibly possible, while maintaining optimal functionality among the troops. Unfortunately, we still have a war to fight. Skirata, I want you to stay on those contracts, and once those chips are decoded, I want every order gone over with a fine toothed comb, either of those may hold vital clues as to who is behind this. The rest of you," he addressed the remaining Cuy'val Dar, "I want you to continue working with the Vod'e. I know they are in charge now, but I want them to be the very best we can make them. We are not going to send those boys out there just to die. Now, I think that's everything we need to discuss for now, so send word to gather the troops."
He received a round of affirmatives before they all made their way out of the room and toward the nearest viewing balcony. When they arrived, Jango stepped to the front of the balcony, flanked by the clones, while the other Mandalorians stayed in the back. His eyes traveled slowly over the vast group below, ranging in ages from the smallest cadets who were physically the age of Boba to those who were already fully grown. Seeing them like this brought into stark relief how much he had actually failed them.
"Troops," he pitched his voice to carry across the room, "I know you have no real reason to trust me, and I cannot blame you for that, the fault is entirely mine. However, if you give me the chance, I will make it up to you. Now, I know many things have changed drastically for you very recently and I congratulate you on your victory. But your fight for freedom is not over yet and the war has just begun.
"The changes you have made are great first steps, but you cannot stop there. As I said, the war has just begun, and it is inevitable, but what you can change is how you fight. You have been trained for war and I know you can handle it, but you have also been told that you are expendable, that your lives don't matter. I am telling you that is not true. Your lives matter to me. We lost seven hundred and fifty men in this first battle, and that is unacceptable. I, sadly, did not know the ones we lost personally, but I know there are many among your number that did. Remember that feeling. When you go out to fight, do so with the intent to come home. Know that your family is waiting for you to return. That if you do not there are those that will mourn and miss you.
"You are each other's family. I know you consider each other brothers, and some of those bonds run deeper and differently, but that changes nothing. We are a people, a family, and no one can take that away from us. Now, I will not do any of you the dishonor of claiming you as my sons, I have not earned that right, but if any of you want that, all you have to do is ask. I'm sure the other trainers here would agree as well."
There was a moment of stunned silence at this pronouncement, and not just among the troops, before the remaining Cuy'val Dar stepped forward. Their gazes swept across the assembled vod'e, then almost as one, they each reached up and removed their helmets, bowing their heads in acknowledgement of Jango's words.
"Psh," Alpha snorted from beside him. "You'll have to fight the alpha class for that honor, sir."
"If you want to adopt them, Seventeen," the bounty hunter gave a wry snort, "that's between you and them."
His words caused an amused stir through the troops.
"On that note," he turned back to the crowd, "that's all I have to say for now. I'm sure that other things will come up soon enough. Before you go, I want a list of the names of those we lost, not just their numbers. Once I have that list, we will hold a remembrance. Dismissed."
As the troops began filing out of the room, Jango turned to leave the viewing platform, intending to head to his quarters. However, once he gained the hallway, he was stopped almost immediately by Mij and Kal. A frown marred his features as he spotted a small blonde almost hiding behind the medic.
"Who's the kid?" he asked, not wanting to deal with anymore shit at the moment.
"That's why we're here," Mij scoffed. "This is Omega. Omega, Jango. Congratulations," he slapped Jango on the shoulder, "it's a girl."
"What?" his gaze snapped between the trio in front of him, waiting to be let in on the joke.
"She's an unaltered clone," Kal cut in. "And according to all those contracts I've been going over, that makes her yours. Omega, say hello to your father."
Ammie: So there it is. I know a few people have asked for Sirius to come back, but that does not fit into my plans for this fic, hopefully the consolation is worth it. Also, I know a lot of people were not happy with the ending of the last chapter, especially in regards to Harry going to the Temple, all I'm going to say is that it is necessary for him to go for a time, I do not plan to take him away from his newfound family, he won't let me.
Anyway, on another note, I have a few things I would like some input on. First, I need suggestions for how Kote and Rex get together, there is a betting pool among the clones, so any suggestions will more than likely at least get mentioned in the fic. I already know who is going to win the pot, but that's neither here nor there. Second, I need a point for Kote to have a 'Death experience', the others I have planned have canonical points where they either die or are close to death for it to work, but not that bastard.
Anyway, please let me know what you think.