Rana leaned back and closed her eyes, massaging her temples exhaustedly. What had she done now? Utreekov. She cursed herself silently, wondering what Jus was doing. He'd be half-frantic by now, especially since he couldn't find her. Even after their worst fights, she'd always come back eventually, usually after a good relaxing brawl in some hole-in-the-wall cantina.
She rubbed the scar along her cheekbone. No good. She'd never backed out of a contract before, especially not one with this big of a payoff, but- Wayii. Some things were more important than creds. She'd go talk to Fett first thing in the morning. She might even apologize…
The door alert snapped her out of her reverie. She stalked to the door and palmed it open, hating every square centimeter of the featureless white walls. The panels hissed quietly open, and she was met by the dispassionate stare of a Kaminoan.
"One pod of the units you will be training is ready for your inspection," it intoned.
Rana gazed coolly up at it. They were ridiculously tall and skinny, and she could probably snap that long gray neck with two fingers, if she was ever so inclined. "All right," she said, not sure if it expected an answer or not. "Not like I have anywhere else to be."
It nodded, a graceful swaying motion. "This way."
She followed it along identical white corridors until it finally halted before a door exactly like the hundred others they had already passed. "This pod has been designated as Sigma Squad," it said as the panels slid back into the wall. "You may spend as much time with the units as you like."
Rana nodded curtly and strode into the room to see four identical small boys standing stiffly at attention. She swallowed involuntarily. Talyc haran. Kids. Little kids. What have I gotten myself into?
But the boys' sole attention was focused on her now, and she couldn't turn around and go hunt down the cursed aiwha bait now. She took a deep breath. "Hello there, vod'ike."
The woman, who seemed to be the tallest human RC-4758 had ever seen, looked down at him and his three brothers. "Now, I'm supposed to train you, teach you everything I know and more. You're going to be the best, but you still have to learn to be the best. You're probably going to mess up- fierfek, I'll probably make mistakes too- and that's just fine, as long as you learn what not to do next time from 'em."
RC-4760, standing next to 58, raised his hand. The woman stopped and nodded at him. "Yeah?"
"What's fierfek, ma'am?" he asked.
The woman blinked. "Uh… nothing you need to repeat."
60 nodded thoughtfully. "Like kriffing and di'kut, then."
"Uh, yeah. Don't say those. I probably shouldn't have- Where'd you learn that, anyway? Never mind, I don't want to know." She cleared her throat slightly before continuing. "Now, I never have been very good with kids, so I apologize in advance." Her lips seemed to form an F, but she quickly caught herself. "I'm not even that good with animals." She bit her lip, staring down at them. "Oh, for- good stars, don't just stand there like that. I'm not going to eat you if you move. Sit down."
58 sat obediently on the floor, perfectly synchronized with his brothers. The woman looked taken aback. "Shades. How- No. Look, I don't do well with aruetyc military chains of command, but I'd probably make a lousy mother, too, so how about we just forget the formalities?"
58 wasn't sure if she actually meant for them to answer the question, or if it was one of those orders that just pretended to be questions. It didn't matter anyway. "Yes, ma'am," he chorused with his brothers.
He couldn't name the woman's expression. "All right, ma'am it is then. Suppose it's better than you just calling me Rana, and I'm definitely not Sergeant Talgal. Except to the aiwha bait, of course."
60 raised his hand again. "What's aiwha bait, Ma'am? Is that like f-"
She interrupted him hurriedly. "No, it's just what we call the Kaminoans when they're being talyc xenophobic child-murderers, which is any time."
60 nodded, considering. "So that means we can say aiwha bait?"
"As long as they can't hear you. They might not like to hear the truth coming from you ad'ike."
60 grinned. "I like that. Can we say talyc xenophobic child-murderers too?"
Ma'am nodded. "Under the same terms as aiwha bait."
60 nodded cheerfully. "Yes, ma'am. Orun Wa is an aiwha bait and a talyc xenophobic child-murderer!"
The woman's grin matched 60's. "Well said, vod'ika."
Once safely back in her quarters, Rana collapsed into a chair and buried her face in her hands. Haarchak. She couldn't leave now, and abandon those boys to the talyc Kaminiise. She bit her lip. Sorry, Jus. If I ever get out of here, I'll explain everything. If you don't shoot me on sight, anyway. I wouldn't blame you if you did.
She took one last shuddering breath, then stood and stretched. The choice was made, then. One more bridge burned, and no use sticking around to watch the smoke.
