Thirty Four

"Can you explain to me again Sionver, exactly how this works?"

The two were down in the laboratory facility on Oriis. The down time that each politician was granted was primarily to head back to their individual home worlds for a well deserved break.

But Gem and Dr Boll had decided to use this precious time to start another project.

One of upmost importance.

"The clones," she noticed Gem smart slightly, "my apologies Gem, the soldiers are genetic replicas of Fett. The Kaminoans genetically modified the original template to make them stronger, faster. Perfect male specimens." She stopped to take a breath. "They also modified the aging process, making them mature faster than the average human being. We now know that the Republic needed, and ordered this army just on twelve years ago, which means that they wanted men to fight, not adolescent boys. What we need to do is locate the mutated gene that they modified and snip it away. It's done through a process of cleaving using different enzymes. The tricky bit, is locating the sequence and then figuring out a way of switching it off. If we had the original template, it would be easier to locate."

"But Jango Fett is dead."

"Exactly," she smiled, "that just makes it harder, not impossible." Sionver was trying her best to making Gem understand the complexities of Genetic Engineering and she appreciated her patience when she knew, all the doctor wanted to do was to get started.

Gem's original degree was in Biomedical Engineering, specialising in cybernetics, following in her father's footsteps. Genetic engineering was a whole new science, and she was on a rapid learning curve.

"I'll leave you to make an inventory of the equipment you'll need Sionver."

"Thank you," the doctor replied absently, already mentally putting a list of things together in her mind.

#

The comm in her room blinked methodically.

Gem knew it was from him and smiled as she scrolled through the message.

'Contact asap.'

Gem looked at the time it was sent. Thirty seven minutes ago. She depressed the link and waited for a response.

"Hey," he said wearily.

"Rex," she breathed smiling, "where are you?"

"Coruscant." He sounded flat.

"You OK?"

"Just wanted," he stopped and cleared his throat, "needed to hear your voice."

"Rex?"

"Osik!" She heard other voices in the background. "Gotta go Gem, time to take a dip."

"You're injured again? Rex, where?"

"Just my shoulder, no big deal. Only take half a day."

"I'm coming back," she stated matter of fact.

"No Gem, really. By the time you get here I could be stationed somewhere else." She heard his tone change, he had switched back from lover to Captain.

She knew he was right.

She also knew he'd be there for at least one day, the time it would take her to get home.

"Comm when you get out OK?"

There was silence down the line. Rex was tired and lonely. He looked at the tank and the medics waiting to help him climb in. Cody was already in one, floating aimlessly like an adult foetus.

"Rex? You still there?"

"Yes, sorry. Gotta go Gem," he turned off the link.

'Gotta go.'

#

Gem stood in the room, silent and cold.

"Reed?" She shouted out his name, "Reed where are you?" She yelled and ran through the house until she found him tinkering under one of the old speeders in the garage.

"How fast can you get me back to Coruscant?"

#

She languished against him.

Absentmindedly running a slender leg up and down the length of his, slowly, eliciting a gentle rumble from the back of his throat.

He stroked her back.

His huge, tanned hand running up and down the soft fragrant skin as he closed his eyes in the quiet aftermath of their love making.

"Did you know that Gem took Dr Sionver Boll to Oriis with her?"

Olphina stopped moving her long limb for a moment and replied, "no. No I didn't."

"What do you make of that?" He always asked questions, found out the details. It was what he excelled at.

"Nothing. I know they have become good friends since Gem joined the research and development committee. It's good for her to have some young friends. I expect she just wanted some company."

"The young representative has plenty of 'young' friends, one in particular." He was fishing, seeing if she knew anything of the relationship between her young ward and the Captain.

"I hear what you are saying, and yes, I do know of the relationship between Gem and the dashing Captain."

He scoffed back a laugh.

"Dashing indeed," he muttered under his breath.

"You don't approve?"

"Who am I to comment? He's back here. Injured on a mission."

"Oh, is it serious?"

"Nothing the bacta can't fix."

She took in a deep breath, continuing with her leg. They lay together quietly, both in deep contemplation, until he raised the next question.

"You don't want to go home this break?"

"You offering to escort me home?" He could hear the smile in her voice.

He let out a low, soft laugh. "If you need an escort Olphina, I can arrange someone to take you."

"But," she said crawling up onto his chest, "what if I want a certain trooper to see me home?" She moved forward kissing his lips lightly, teasing him as she let her legs slide on either side of his pelvis. His body reacted on its own accord, she smiled as she felt his hardness begin to build for a second time.

"I'm sure that could be arranged Senator," he said quickly as he tossed her onto her back and began ravishing her neck.

"Oh yes," she moaned, "please Fox, please come with me."

#

The Bounty Hunter headed into the cantina, and suddenly the noise from the howling wind ceased. He stepped forward and removed his hat, flicking it hard against his pants to remove the red dust that had settled. He walked over to the bar keep and ordered a drink.

"Something long and cold," he said with a gravelly voice. He pulled out some credits to show the man serving that he intended to pay. Leaning back against the bar, he idly took the drink to his mouth and surveyed the assortment of aliens in the establishment.

"Who is he?" He nodded his head to a man seated alone in the corner.

The bar-keep shrugged his shoulders and continued to polish a glass with what looked a dubious clean cloth.

"What's his name?"

"Doesn't have one, and quite frankly, I don't care. I don't bother him. He leaves a healthy tip behind and that's the way I like it," he said in a voice, and stare, that symbolised not to disturb the 'clientele'.

Damn, just looking around the bar would ensure one would 'keep-to-themselves.'

Unless provoked.

"Is he a local?"

"Yes, and no."

He got the message and took another long drink from his glass.

The bounty hunter looked candidly again towards the man sitting alone in the bar.

They were on Claxis in the Outer Rim, a planet known more for its piracy than for its natural resources. Arid, hot and windy, all year 'round.

At a table in the darkest corner sat the lonely figure.

He would arrive around the same time each week and had done so for the better part of the year.

Always alone and never spoke to anyone.

It was difficult to make out any features, but he guessed he was in his mid to late forties. His skin was dark? Or was it simply the lack of lighting? He couldn't tell. The overhead fan rotated slowly, slicing a mesmerising pattern of light around the room. Greying at the temples, from what could be seen, leaning back in his chair on its rear legs and with a bottle of expensive whisky on 'his' table. The clothes he wore looked well worn, perhaps a little threadbare in places. He had no weapon, or none that he could see.

He drank at a regular tempo. Finishing one glass before systematically pouring another to the same level, whereby he would sit back into the same position until the bottle diminished in volume completely.

He was different, granted, that much he could tell.

But was he the one he was hired to find?

The Bounty Hunter turned to finish his drink. Dropping an extra credit down for the bar man he stood slowly from the stool. He turned back to the man in the corner, but was surprised to see that this individual had simply disappeared. He moved his hand to his hip with speed and scanned the bar for the shadow of a man, but saw nothing.

"Gone?"

"Yup, does that. One minute he's here, the next -," he angled his head and continued cleaning the glass with the cloth, dragging back on the frag hanging precariously from his bottom lip.

#

Yoda closed his eyes in deep meditation.

The stirring in the Force had become greater in recent weeks. The deaths of more soldiers would elicit surges that had worried the ancient Master.

He stopped and took a long breath.

He needed to locate a sole individual at all costs, but importantly, in secret.

He hired a Bounty Hunter and sent him out just on a year ago to find him.

There had been no sightings, until now.

Claxis.

"A chameleon he could be."

Someone fitting his appearance, had been spotted on Claxis.

This small insignificant planet that had an indifferent amount of iron ore.

Indifferent.

Not known for anything, Claxis was a place where people would go to disappear, buy a stolen unmarked yacht or illegal arms, anything pirates needed to offload in a hurry.

"Who am I looking for?"

"A human."

"Where's he from?"

"Nowhere." 'Yes,' thought Yoda, 'found he must be.'

At all costs.

#