Chapter 3:

"I can't think of a better time to die than when I'm no longer the best."

-Darman

Chapter Text:

RC-1136, dubbed Darman by his squadmates of Omega Squad, wandered the halls of Kamino. As an 15 year old in clone years, the youth needed something to do to keep boredom at bay. The endless training and drills had grown old a long time ago, and due to how much of his life it took up, he had trouble finding things to do when he had free time.

Sighing loudly to himself, Darman walked around a corner to stop dead in his tracks, surprised at the scene he saw before him. The six clones of Null-class, were scaling the supports of the huge domed ceiling, swinging each other up with ease.

Darman's mouth dropped open at such a daring feat, watching in awe as they reached the top, one of the youths throwing a rope to another, who tried it tightly around the beam he stood upon.

Heart in his mouth, Darman stared up as he realized what was about to happen.

"Ready?" The first clone youth shouted across to the other, who nodded, motioning for him to come.

"Shab'la." Darman swore when the first clone jumped from the beam, swinging hundreds of feet above the ground to the beam his brother stood upon.

Cheering and clapping erupted from the other five. "Good Ordo!"

"Amazing!"

"My turn!"

"Do it again!"

The chorus of voices shouted as Darman moved forward to stare up at them. He had heard about the Nulls, how they had been saved from reconditioning by Kal Skirata and their template, Jango Fett. They were rogues, strong, fierce, greatly intelligent, and daring.

Darman thought back to the last time he had seen them. That was when they were breaking into one of the stocks of weaponry, stealing blasters and other items. Many thought that it was how Skirata trained them, having the Nulls break into heavily monitored places on Kamino.

Looking up at the six in the beams of the domed building, he assumed that even their daring swing from the beams was good for them and their training.

"Hey, hey bro!" A voice called.

Darman was surprised and looked up to see five faces looking down at him. He looked around himself before waving slightly.

"Hey!" The six voices chorused, the youths waving for him to come over. "Come up here!"

"Yeah!" The one called Ordo shouted. "Come and swing!"

Looking around nervously, Darman moved beneath them. "What about the Kaminoans?" He asked.

"Aw, you don't have to worry about those stretch-necks!" One called down to him.

Darman laughed, unable to help it as he looked up at them.

"Are you going to come up?" A third cried as he swung over his head.

Shrugging, Darman looked at the supports the other six had so easily scaled. "I don't know if I can make it up there." He responded, loud enough for them to hear.

Ordo grinned down at him. "Sure you can! Niner will help you!"

Darman looked up at them as the youth that had swung over his head let go of the rop, causing Darman to flinch and wait for him to plumet to the ground below. Instead, the youth grabbed onto the support, sliding down to the ground, grinning at him.

"I'm Niner." The youth laughed, bowing to him.

"Darman." Darman answered nervously. "Also known as RC-1136."

Niner chuckled softly. "We don't care about number designations." He responded. "We only care about your name."

Darman nodded, smiling back at him, then up at the others above his head. "How'd you get up there?" He asked curiously, causing Niner to laugh. "We've been climbing up there since were were eight." He answered. "Com'on, it's easy!"

Moving over to the support nervously, Darman looked up at the dizzying heights. "You sure it's safe?" He asked.

Above him, one of the unidentified clones laughed at him. "Course it's not safe!" He called down. "That's why it's so fun!"

Niner shook his head. "Shut up, Jaing!" He said before looking at Darman. "It's fine. Just wrap your legs around and pull yourself up with your arms."

Darman nodded, taking a deep breath. "Alright." He responded, wrapping his arms around the support, then his legs, beginning to shimmy up it.

The five nulls above him and Niner from the ground called encouragement to him.

Finding their encouragement and excited calls helped Darman reach the top, where they grabbed his shirt and pulled him all the way up.

Four faces grinned at him. Ordo gave a small nod. "You took your time." He stated, causing Darman to laugh.

"Don't worry about Ordo." Jaing smiled at Darman. "He always says what he thinks."

Another youth laughed. "Yeah, even if it's rude."

Niner's head appeared with a large grin on his face. "You can actually get some funny stuff out of him at the most awkward of moments." He laughed. "Sometimes even better than Mereel!"

One of the youths, Mereel, snorted at that. "Yeah, well, unlike Ordo, I actually have to put effort into my jokes, and I don't make them at the most awkward times."

Ordo rolled his eyes at them now. "Who cares?" He asked, jumping from the beam to grab the rope, swinging in a wide arch to the other end of the room.

Darman looked at the others, who began to introduce themselves. Each one of them had a different band of colour to help others recognize who they were.

"Do you wear the bands for Skirata?" Darman asked curiously, making the five laugh.

"No. He can tell us apart." Jaing, with the pale blue band, grinned. "It's mostly for the Kaminoans."

Darman looked at each of them, lodging away each name with their owner's identifying colour. Ordo was red, Niner purple, Jaing blue, Mereel green, Fi black, and Kom'rk, yellow.

"Well, Darman, you gonna try?" Fi asked, holding out the rope.

Sighing loudly, Darman thought about it. "I'm not sure." He answered.

"Oh, come on!" Niner urged him. "You've gotta try!"

Looking around at the ring of faces, then across at Ordo, Darman took the end of the rope.

"Don't fall!" Ordo shouted over to him. "Or the Kaminoans will have to scrape you off the ground!"

Darman looked at the other, Kom'rk facepalmed. "Ordo!"

Jaing scoffed. "At least he'd make a prettier mess than you!" He called back.

Shaking his head, Niner smiled at Darman. "Just go."

Taking a deep breath, Darman wrapped the rope around his hand, staring down at the ground before jumping. His heart jumped to his mouth as he neared the ground, swinging out over the ground by several hundred feet.

"Let go!" Ordo shouted to him. "Now! Quick!"

Darman obeyed Ordo, letting go of the rope. Ordo was a clone brother, and he had been trained to trust them.

The momentum of his swing brought him right to the support, where he could grab on.

Darman latched onto it tightly, wrapping his arms and legs around it as his heart continued to race at a ridiculous speed.

Ordo looked down at him from high above. "Climb, Darman!"

Obeying slowly, Darman began to climb back up where Ordo could pull him up onto the support. "Did you like it?"

Laughing nervously, Darman nodded slowly. "It was... exhilerating."

They sat while the others began to swing over.

"I've seen you guys around, although not often." Darman said. "You guys have got rumours that you're actually spirits."

Jaing laughed at that. "Oh really?"

Darman nodded. "I saw you guys breaking into one of the armouries." He added.

Korm'rk laughed loudly when Darman revealed that. "That, my brother, was one of our finest hours."

Grinning at the clone, Darman laughed. He found each Null quite interesting, although he began to notice that there were slightly odd, emotionally unstable.

Silence fell for several moments before Mereel smacked Ordo's back, silently pointing below them. A Kaminoan female scientist by the name of Ko Sai, was passing by.

Grinning mischievously, the other Nulls began to snicker while Ordo's face hardened and he reached for his pistol on his hip, pulling it loose to aim at the scientast.

Darman grabbed Ordo's wrist. "What are you doing?" He gasped in surprise when the youth pulled his arm away and aimed.

Niner grabbed Darman's arm. "Just watch."

The blaster was fired and the bolt made a streak of blue energy to strike right in front of the female scientist's face, burning a scorch mark into the pristine white wall.

The six Nulls began to hoot and holler down at her, leering insults and taunts as the Kaminoan looked up at them in annoyance and maybe even anger before continuing on.

"Why'd you guys do that?" Darman demanded. "We could've gotten into trouble!"

Niner shook his head at him. "No. We do it all the time. Buir doesn't let them punish us, and he finds it funny." The purple-banded youth responded.

"Yeah, besides, she raped Ordo." Jaing said, receiving a punch to his arm from Mereel, who made a shushing noise. "Ow!" The blue-banded clone yelped, rubbing his arm.

Darman was horrified, staring at Ordo who was silent now before jumping and grabbing the rope, swinging to the opposite beam before sliding to the ground, his brothers following behind him.

Before Niner could leave, Darman grabbed his arm. "Is that true?" He asked.

Niner looked down to where his other brothers waited for him. "Yes." He answered. "That's why Ordo doesn't like girls. He can't ever trust them either." He responded before putting on a smile. "See you later, Darman." He said, swinging off of the beam and to the ground.

Darman watched them leave before realizing that he was still up high in the supports of the domed roof, and wasn't sure how to get down. Shab'la.