Brook sighed in relief, felt his shoulders slump as the reached the lift.

Soon it would be over.

This had been much more than he ever could have imagined in his short life.

Fixer jabbed him in the ribs, catching just the seam between Brook's breast- and backplate.

"Don't relax." He scolded Brook. "Now comes the fun part."

Brook pulled a face beneath his helmet.

"Fun part?" He echoed.

He had gotten better at jokes, but sometimes the humor of the other clones went over his head.

A sigh answered him. "Yes." Vau said. "We just nailed an entire squad. What do you think they will do if they don't report back?"

The younger clone paused for a moment, shrugged his shoulders, waited for an answer. Not that the old sargeant would have been so nice to just hand it to him. Vau made his boys work for what they had.

"Come on you di'kut!" The mando snapped.

Brook bit down on his lower lip. "Well, they will check what happened." He answered.

"And then?" Vau's voice made Brook wince, just as effectively as a jab to the kidney or bacta on a cut. So Brook scrambled for answers.

"Well, they will know the route the troop would have taken." He bit down on his lip again, "and if they don't find them, or find the bodies they will think of the worst case scenario."

Scorch's yellow helmet bobbed up and down, brightly visible even in the foggy atmosphere of the forest. Shortly Brook wondered how the commando could ever have snuck up on anyone during his missions.

"Correct shiny." His brother said. "Worst case scenario for us is that we come back up and run into a full own lock-down."

In the group of cones Scorch was the biting sarcasm, but also the light at the end of the tunnel for the rest of his squad.

Boss was the typical russ'alor, the rock, the foundation of his brothers in turbulent times. He was also breathing down his team's neck to make sure they did their job just right. It was not an easy job and could rub you the wrong way, as Brook had experienced during training, but every men knew that their Sergeant was just doing his best to keep them alive.

Fixer, now Fixer balanced the squad in Brook's mind. He was a perfectionist, took after Boss in reinging in Scorch. With the was Fixer clung to Sev's side, Brook suspected that the clone in green armor usually did the same thing for his their brother as well. Fixer tried to keep his brothers within the rule, but he lacked the rank, was more on the same level with his brothers. Fixer even stepped closer to Boss at times and calmed him . Brook never heard what the said, only glimpses and occasional hand on Boss#s shoulder, two head close together as Fixer worked his strange ability to smooth out almost all situations.

It was an ability Brook would never have imagined upon their first meeting, but the stoic attitude of the his brother had something calming, a lifeline so to speak Fixer had once told him:"I on't say much, but that only means that I can watch my brothers better."

Somehow the younger clone had believed every word his brother said. More than once Fixer had stepped in during training on Mandalore, laid the basics for the Spaarti when Boss got impatient, both by Brook's linear mindset and Boss' frustration about his own inability to explain things in a way that his younger Brother could understand.

Sev, now Brook paused. It was difficult with Sev. Although he had spent little time with the new clone he thought there was something wild about him.

All clones had been bred ad trained for battle, but Sev took it to the extremes. Brook felt as if Sev's temper was only held in check by the bond to his brothers.

Vau brought up the rear on their journey back, something Brook was profoundly thankful for. The constant walking backwards was disorienting to him, 360 degrees sight on his HUD or not. It was another thing, a short coming, that gnawed at Brook. At least he was not the only one who was nervous this time.

Sev walked in front of him, twitching, jumping at every shadow and through all that, despite his nervousness, the clone made no noise. If Sev had not been in front o Brook he would not have noticed Sev.

The rest of Delta squad walked ahead of them. Book Felt that Sev in his battered amor would have preferred one of is brothers to walk behind him instead of Brook. Sev's hair was uneven as if e had cropped it short himself. The right side of his head had taken the brunt during the explosion that had split Delta up.

His hair had grown back in patches between the scars.

The bacta the clone had had on him would not have been enough to prevent scarring; Brook was astonished enough that Sev had survived at all. "What?" Sev grunted. Brook jupmed, just avoided tripping over his own feet, Sev still send an annoyed look over his left shoulder. "You are starrig at me." Sevs voice was rough and scratchy.

Every clone knew just were the eyes of their brothers were and they kept the common curtesy of meeting them when talking to another.

Sev was not doing this. His eyes were darting around instead as if he tried to check all areas around the team at once.

Brook winced. The older clone did it out of necessity.

There had been no clones, no brothers to keep him safe, to watch his back. He had had to keep himself safe at all costs.

Brook splashed through a puddle, just after Sev had moved though it without even one sound. Sev flung another annoyed look in Brook's direction. It was by far not the first and with every motion that he had drawn notice to himself Brook felt himself flush further under his helmet.

The Spaarti may not have grown up on Kamino, but their development was as closely monitored as that of the original clones. the commando's had been allowed character and individuality, to a certain degree.

They had needed to balance each other in small teams. Simple troopers, lie Brook had not been afforded this luxury.

Anyone who so much as stepped out of line had been pushed back by all force. Brook shuddered. It had been only a few short years, he had heard it had been only two. 'Poor 3782,' he thought.

Not everyone had been able to do that. As much as Sev's tone chafed at Brook's feelings he could not retaliate in kind.

"I am impressed, and slightly disturbed." HE said, tried to be as truthful as possible.

Sev didn't strike hi as someone who valued kindness or manners very much. "You survived the impossible."

Vau snorted behind them. "That's what I raised them for." He said. Somehow Brook thought he could hear pride from Vau's voice.

"Well," Scorch quipped up. "Not many people survive being shot off a cliff either."

This time Brook did trip over a branch, bumped hard on one leg. Vau stopped just in time, kicked out backwards. He hit Brook squarely i the shebs.

"Move di'kut!" He barked. the tone could have gotten the dead moving, Brook scrambled back to his feet before his body registered the movement.

'And here I went thinking that I had gotten better.' The thought flitted through his head just before Brook tried to even out his breathing, did his best to keep his gait smooth and even, not to stiffen up in nervousness.

It was not long before they neared the elevator.

Boss stopped them with a raised fit. brook dropped to one knee, heart hammering in his throat.

Had the Imperium been there already? A throaty growl filtered through the leaves. Brook heard an audible exhale from Scorch, they relaxed. Vau brushed Brook to the side, strode onto the clearing, greeted the Wookie with a warm insult.

Their Sergeant and the Wookie entered a rather loud conversation. Brook swallowed, raised his deece and turned on his heel, checking the surroundings through his scope. Someone made an approving grunt next to him. Brook risked one look.

It was Sev and immediately Brook aimed all concentration on the woods again, clearly giving Sev half of the perimeter to survey. He was strangely glad that Sev was there.

The clone had survived here and as bloodthirsty and wild as he seemed he was Boss's, Fixer's and Scorch's brother. No matter what Sev had survived, no matter how deep the emotional scars this world had left Sev with, Brook decided there and than that he would trust Sev.

A.N.:

*Peers around behind the corner*

Errrmmm- yes, sorry for the long delay, te guys kinda wanted to continue hanging out on the planet for a little while longer.

Plus, lifeis happening right now. Please be assured that I am still working on this and will definitely not abandon this. It might just take a little while longer for the neyt chapters to be uploaded.

As always, thank you for your support and ideas. It definitely would have taken me longer to get this out without your reviews.