The LAAT pulled into the the Resolute, the last gunship to do so. When it came to a stop and the loading doors let open, Rex and Taran immediately walked towards the briefing room on the bridge, where the others were waiting for them. As they walked they started a little conversation.
"Commander Cyneran.." said Rex.
"Rex, when did you ever start calling me commander? I prefer my first name, or kid for you," said Taran.
"Okay kid. Anyway, do you ever think of clones as equal to regular people?" said Rex.
"Rex, I talk to you and your brothers normally all the time. Why would you ask this?" said Taran.
"It's just on Saleucami about five months ago I ran into one of my brothers there. His name was Cut Lawquane, and he had left because the Republic always treated him as if he were just a droid and he didn't want to keep killing for a living anymore. I'm here thinking at times that he's right in a way," said Rex.
"Rex, you stayed to keep fighting because you felt that the Republic and the army you fight for is your life. It takes time to for regular people to see you under the armor. By the way, have you guys gotten the new armor yet?" said Taran.
"So far only Cody's unit has it," said Rex. The Phase II clone armor was a modified version of the Phase I armor seen in the series. It's seen in the first Clone Wars series and in Episode III, along with many comics and graphic novels. The armor resembles closely to that of a stormtrooper.
"He looks totally wicked in the armor," said Taran.
"Yeah, well when it's time for Torrent Company to get there's. I'll stay with mine," said Rex.
"Why?" said Taran.
"I fought and bled in this armor for two years. I got shot in this armor, fell off buildings in this armor.."
"Slept in the armor," said Taran.
"How did you know that?" said Rex.
"Lucky....guess?" said Taran, trying to make his earlier comment sound not like a sarcastic statement. Good thing it worked.
"Well you know what I mean kid, it's like parting with my identity," said Rex.
"I know how you feel," said Taran. He had lost his lightsaber in our previous story, "Torture", and had just constructed another lightsaber to look just like his old one, but he would always remember his first blade. They came up to the bridge, where the high-ranking officials, a.k.a Anakin, Obi-Wan, Cody, Admiral Wullfe, and the clone commander of the starfighter squadron for the ship Oddball. Cody's armor looked really impressive on him, but Oddballs armor was still Phase I so no changes yet. Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and Wullfe looked the same too.
Taran walked over to the projector and put the memory chip in it, showing everyone the designs for the tri-fighter droid.
"As you can see, this fighter has the edge over most of our starfighters except for the Interceptors and V-wings, but they are more heavily armored and armed than them," said Taran. "They also have concussion missiles and discord missile filled with buzz droids, which means they're going to be tearing us apart in the middle of a dogfight."
"This is bad, when do those new ARC-170's come out?" said Oddball.
"In about a month," said Wullfe.
"A month? These things are being made now! How are we going to be able to neutralize them?" said Oddball.
"We do have the V-wings. The prototypes passed their test, and we have the Interceptors. Now we use our skill to best thoses tri-fighters," said Anakin.
"True, and there's nothing else the droids can throw at us," said Obi-Wan.
"Actually, there is," said Taran. He opened up the file 'Project Time Space.' When he did a torrent of files about the project flashed onto the screen. Finally it stopped at a document talking about the plans.
"What is that?" said Ahsoka.
"I don't know. Me and Rex were hoping you could decipher all of this," said Taran.
"We do. We can send this to clone intelligence, they can find out what this is," said Obi-Wan taking the chip out. "Until then we have to call for more V-wings and buffer up our forces to be ready for anything. Meeting out."
As he was walking down to the hangar he couldn't help but wonder what was that project about. That last time he heard of a secret Separatist project he had been in the mouth of a creature with breath so horrible he almsot passed out. Whatever it was the Separatist's were planning, it wasn't good. The very thought of it was actually, for the first time, scaring him.
When he got to the hangar he ran into Grinder. Grinder still had on his customized Phase I armor with blue stripes similiar to that of Rex's unit on him.
"Hey Grinder, you liking the V-wing?" said Taran.
"Liking it? I'm loving it! That's probably the best thing I ever flew next to the Interceptor," he said.
"Well then you'll probably love the ARC-170," said Taran.
"Now that's going to be one hell of a fighter," said Grinder. Grinder walked off to another part of the hangar while Taran went to his starfighter. His old Delta-7 was replaced by the Interceptor, but with the same paint-job designs on it. R3 was was fixing some of the lose ends on it to make it even better. With two laser cannons and two ions cannons the ship packed a lot of firepower. Taran and R3 had also added an extra compartment to put the seismic charge in, which he hadn't used ever since he built. Still, it would be useful somewhere along the way.
"R3, you know you don't have to work on the ship now," said Taran.
"Sorry, but you know I can't help myself when it comes to helping you," beeped R3.
"True," said Taran. "So what have you added?"
"I added some more thrusters on the engines, but it's compact so that it looks like I didn't even upgrade. You can now go faster," R3 chirped.
"Sweet, thanks for the help," said Taran. R3 whistled his thanks. Taran walked to a part of the hangar where the new V-wings were stationed. The Alpha-3 Nimbus class V-wing was a revolutionary starfighter at the time. The two folding wings at each side gave the clone pilot some cover and the two swivel laser cannons nestled between the wings and the hull. It's wedge shape gave it more aerodynamics in space and it's main engine was two ion drive thrusters. To Taran, it may have had faults like the lack of a life-support system and a hyperdrive, but it was beautiful.
"You guys will help change the course of this war soon," said Taran, petting the hull of one of them as if it were his pet.
"You know, they liked to be petted on the nose," said a voice behind Taran. He turned half-around to see the smiling face that was his girlfriend.
"Don't they have to be tamed for that to happen?" he said.
"Yes, but I think they've warmed up to everyone enough to allow that," said Ahsoka. Taran walked over to hug her. Even though she hadn't changed her outfit, she still looked striking, and she had gone through some changes as well. She was a bit taller now, her montrals having grown an inch, and her figure becoming a bit more curved. Taran was also about a centimeter taller than her, but that barely made any difference.
"How was the mission?" she asked.
"It was fine, Rex and the others did beautifully," he said. "Although we almost got blown up to oblivion."
"Well your here now," she stated.
"True," he said.
"I'm liking the Interceptor you made for us," she said.
"Don't thank me, part of the credit goes to Seinder," said Taran.
"But you tackled down the major parts," said Ahsoka.
"Fair enough," he said. They walked towards his starfighter, there hands slightly touching so as not to draw any quizzical eyes from others who didn't know about their relationship.
"Are you worried about that file we saw about the Separatist project?" Ahsoka said, feeling something uneasy about Taran.
"Yes, remember what happened the last time the Seps did a 'project?' he said. Ahsoka shuddered a bit, remembering all the slimy tentacles.
"But this new one seems like they're planning something bigger this time," Taran continued.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure we csan stop it," she said.
"I'm just praying I don't get eaten again," said Taran. "Do you know what it was like to be in that thing's mouth. Talk about a dentist's worst nightmare!" Ahsoka laughed. His jokes always got her to cheer up, even in the worst of times, which was nearly all the time since they were at war. "It was also the beginning og 20 BBY, which meant Taran and her were going to be turning sixteen this year.
"So what do you wanna do now?" she asked. Taran thought about it for a minute before coming up with an idea.
"Taran, how is this helping me?" said Ahsoka. She was blindfolded in the middle of the training room.
"This helps to see your perceptions and for you to fell with not just the Force, but your senses as well," said Taran. He was standing to the far side wall about twenty feet away from her, a large boulder in front of him.
"So what am I suppose to do again?" she said.
"When I shoot the boulder at you, you need to jump past it and shoot it back at me without using the Force until you need to send it back. To feel the boulder coming you need to use your sound and hearing," said Taran.
"I'm not sure if I'm ready for it," she said.
"Just clear your mind," said Taran. "Are you ready?" Hesitantly, Ahsoka nodded. Taran shot the boulder forward towards her. Clearing out her mind she felt the vibrations on the ground and the sound of the boulder's rapid approach. At the last minute she flung herself away from it, then used the Force to send it back at Taran. Taran erected a wall in front of him to block it.
"Good job, you can take the blindfold off," said Taran. Ahsoka did and walked over to where he was.
"Not bad for a beginner?" she said.
"You're lucky you had me, if it was an Earthbending teacher you probably would have been flattened," said Taran.
"You wouldn't flatten me would you?" she said, giving him the puppy dog eyes.
"Only if you made me really mad, I might consider it," he said. She punched him lightly in the arm.
"You know that you're the most unusual guy I've ever met?" said Ahsoka.
"Yeah, I'm one in a million," said Taran. He kissed her lightly on her lips and pulled away. "But I'm also lucky I have someone to share it with."
"You know exactly what gets me," she said as they pulled into another kiss.
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