Before the Squad

The young clone CT-9901 Hunter has been Decommissioned. His enhancements set him apart from the other clones and not in a good way. Sent to work with the Maintenance Duty Unit, Hunter struggles to find his place among his brothers. He's not about to give up and with the help of other young enhanced clones Hunter may get everything he ever wanted, Brothers and a place in a Squad.

Chapter 1 Maintenance Duty

Tucking a strand of dark brown hair behind his ear Hunter tried not to glower, he was unhappy. The young clone looked to be in his teenage years, but all clones were designed to age faster, it didn't mean they mature faster but it was strongly encouraged.

His life had just changed drastically. After almost all his short years in the cadet program he had washed out. He should have been with the cadets his own age, training to fight in the GRA as a Trooper. He remembered his trainers telling him time and again he had to work hard and be a good soldier. Despite how hard he worked, how much he trained, how skilled he was, Hunter was now standing next to the old Maintenance Duty Clones.

He looked at the deformed face of clone Ninety-nine. The old clone's twisted body slowed him down, the swollen knees and knuckles. His body hurt just to limp along pushing a broom or carrying gear that would never be his to use.

Hunter, the young clone with his mop of brown hair felt his chest tighten. He wasn't like Ninty-nine, he wasn't a mistake, was he? Hunter couldn't help but think maybe he was. There were other clones on the Maintenance roster, not all of them looked as old Ninety-nine did.

Maybe he was one of them after all.

Hunter bit his lip as he as he remembered the look from his trainer and the Kaminoan scientists. He was CT-9901, a failed experiment that was no good to anyone.

Even the other clone cadets would sneer down at him because he had the designation of defective clone. A 99 designation, It was like he was designed to fail.

He had been sent to work with the Ninty-nine, The cleanup crew, a Maintenance Duty Clone

It was unfair to Hunter, he was as fit as any of the other cadets, but the instructors wouldn't even consider him. The combat training was tough, and his skill was as good as any, but he got headaches, terrible ones with all the blaster fires and droids attaching in mock battles.

Hunter was ashamed that it had overwhelmed him to the point of passing out.

The other cadets had berated him for his failure afterwards, calling him a Bad Batch, or worse.

Unfortunately it had all lead to many fights between Hunter and the other cadets. Being isolated in a city full of Clone brothers that wanted nothing to do with him…

Hunter tried to cling to a memory of not so long ago. Of being with brothers who loved him, but the memories were fuzzy, he had been too young to realize he would need to hang onto that memory.

"You're too young to be here with old Ninty-nine." The old clone said with a sigh. "You should be with your brothers; you're young and strong…" he sounded sad but it didn't stop the old clone form smiling kindly at him.

"They're not my brothers…" Hunter tried not to feel defensive at Ninty-nine's comment, he was only trying to be helpful, and despite the aches and pain he clearly had, Ninty-nine still carried on as best he could.

The old clone looked over his humped shoulder and sighed, "We are all Brothers." Ninty-nine said with a lopsided smile then he cast his eyes down to his gnarled hands. "Even if we can't all be soldiers…"

Hunter sighed; there was no point in arguing with the old clone. He wanted to be a soldier; he was smart and knew exactly how to hunt down a target like no other.

But he had washed out… There was no use arguing with the tall lanky Kaminoans, He was just a Number to them, CT-9901.

Hunter supposed he was lucky not to be terminated.

He had heard stories about Ninty-nine when others didn't think he was near, the old clone had been saved by the Jedi's sense of morals. Before, the Kaminoans would have just killed clones that came out of the tube looking like old Ninty-nine.

Trying to swallow his bitterness, Hunter followed Ninty-nine down the hallway pushing a cleaning cart.

"Now I know our job isn't glamorous," The old clone said as he pushed the cart. "But without us this whole place would fall apart."

Hunter must have made a face because Ninty-nine chuckled.

"Don't believe me?" He asked, "Well, I don't blame you." He said as the lights overhead dimmed and flickered, "Ah, see we have a job to do."

Looking up at the flickering lights Hunter squinted as it stung his eyes.

"I've had to replace this same bulb 3 times in the last week." The old Clone sighed as he got out a step latter and replacement bulb. "The manufactures claim they're supposed to last 100 years before needing to be changing, Ha!"

Hunter felt a tingling in the back of his neck and he shifted uncomfortably. He felt this kind of thing all the time. He didn't know how many nights he had stayed awake because something just wasn't right in his mind. It had taken him a long time to place it together but for whatever reasons he could feel the power funneling through the city. The light was not the problem. It was in the wall panel, there was too much power running to the bulb.

Hunter had spent many hours trying to ignore the strange sensations he felt. No matter how much he tried to push the feeling away it grated at him. Like a nagging itch that would not quit unless scratched.

Old Ninty-nine set up the ladder and put his foot on the fist wrung. Then up to the second, but before the old man could go a third step however Hunter moved to steady the ladder before it tipped.

"I don't think it's the lights…" Hunter told the older Clone.

Ninty-nine blinked down at him from half way up the latter. "What do you mean?"

"It's getting too much power, that's why the light's shorting out." he pointed to the control panel on the wall.

Ninty-nine cocked his head to the side and looked at Hunter for a moment, as if he was trying to place an old memory. "How do you know it's the panel?" The old clone finally asked.

Hunter shrugged, "I don't know…" He couldn't tell the old clone he had a Feeling. Clones weren't supposed to rely on Feelings, just training.

Old Niney-nine had a thoughtful look on his face before he climbed down off the latter. Pulling a gadget out of his tool belt he moved to the panel. Using his gnarled hands to open the panel, Niney-nine plugged his scanner in and ran a diagnostic. After a moment he looked to Hunter and raised a brow on his wrinkled face.

Shifting under the look Ninty-nine gave him, Hunter waited, but the old man smiled.

"Would you look at that?" Ninty-nine chuckled, "Well it seems you were right, we need someone skilled to look at this wiring harness, But I'll put a request in right away." He closed the panel and gave Hunter a pat on the shoulder. "Good Job."

Stunned Hunter blinked; No one had told him he had done a Good Job before. It gave him a warm feeling in his chest and he felt himself smile back at the old man.

"Come on." 99 said nodding his head. "We have a lot more work to do, Hunter."

Smiling back at him, Hunter followed old Ninty-nine, there was a lot of work to do, more than even Hunter had realized. But he tried to help as best he could, stopping the old man form hurting himself on more than one occasion when his body just couldn't handle the strain.

Hunter was still unhappy with his new job but at least the old clone made it easier. He followed Ninty-nine around the city, cleaning, fixing, changing or emptying everything that needed to be done. He learned how to do the job over the next few weeks, but it didn't make it any easier to face what he had lost. Going into the training rooms to pick up the scraped bits of droids had been hard. But it not nearly as hard as when he had to fallow Ninty-nine into the cadet barracks.

The high walls that housed the sleep pods were nothing like where he was staying now, which was just a series of bunk rooms that the Maintenance Duty Clones had to share. Three or four to one room that may or may not have been a storage closet or work room at one point.

The pods had climate control, noise cancelling as well as dimmable lights, anything for a young clone to get a good night's sleep.

Fallowing the old clone to the Cadet area was harder then Hunter wanted to admit. He had been part of the young men here until recently. Hunter did not want to face them again so soon. He wasn't a part of their group anymore, not that he ever was…

Hunter remembered how they would torment him, hiding his gear, not that he couldn't ever find it again. How many times had he found his gear stashed in the garbage, or his data-pad in the laundry.

They would torment him in other ways too; the meanest ones would try to corner him in the mess hall or worse. Maybe if Hunter had let the bullies give him a few lumps they would have left him alone. But he wasn't one to hold back.

The clones were all out of Jango Fett so it stood to reason that they were all butted heads.

Ninty-nine didn't seem to have a problem with the other cadets though, even smiling and talking with a few of them, while others just ignored him. Hunter wasn't afraid, but he was apprehensive as he followed the old man around cleaning out the trash and picking up after everyone. It was like in the training rooms, he felt like someone, everyone was watching him.

He heard laugher behind him and he almost ignored it when he noticed a big clone sitting on one of the benches. The cadet was easily as tall as a full grown clone, with big arms short cropped hair and a crocked nose. Strangely it wasn't this big hulk of a young man that had drawn Hunters attention. Just past the big cadet, other clone cadets stood taking about the large cadet as if he wasn't there.

"-too dumb! Can't Follow orders-"

"-he's big but he's got no skill-"

"-gets in The way, all the time-"

"Defective…"

Hunter brow creased as he looked back at the big clone and saw the sadness he was trying to hide. Unable to shake the feeling of familiarity he got form looking at the big clone cadet, Hunter thought they were the same.

They were different.

Maybe it was his own ordeals that made him want to step in. Hunter wasn't sure but he couldn't just stand there. No one had stepped in and helped him, how much better would his life had been if someone had shown him some kindness?

Moving over to the big clone's side Hunter placed a hand on his shoulder.

The big man jumped but looked up at Hunter. He was about to say something rude, probably thinking he was another cadet to pick on him, when he saw the gray coveralls Hunter was wearing. The big clone blinked several times as Hunter sat down on the bench beside him.

"I'm Hunter," He said nodding his head to the big man, "You?"

The big man blinked, "CT-9902, I mean Wrecker." He said eyed Hunter for a moment. "You're a not a cadet?" He asked.

Hunter bit his lip but nodded with a sigh, "They kicked me out," He said as he cocked his head to the side, "I'm a CT-99 as well, 9901 actually."

Wrecker blinked, "So, same batch?" he asked.

Hunter shrugged, "I guess." He nodded his head to the other cadets, "Your squad?"

"Oh…umm, yeah," Wrecker said and jerked his chin at the group of Cadets that were still bad mouthing him. "They said I got in the way…"

Hunter frowned, "My former squad blamed me for their mistakes too."

"Never mind I got most of the droids …" Wrecker huffed then sighed. "I think I broke the training room though…"

Hunter's eyebrows shot up into his hairline and he couldn't help but grin. "You broke the training room?"

Wrecker blinked at him and saw that grin on Hunters face before he allowed himself to grin back.

"Well, it was just droids." Wrecker said, "Sometimes it's easier just to take them head on instead of shooting a blaster." He grinned and lunched into how he took down a score of droids, and as well as accidentally getting his team caught in the mayhem.

Hunter grinned as he listened, even if the big clone's voice was too loud on his senses he couldn't help but feel the joy radiating off of Wrecker.

Looking over the big clones shoulder he saw Wreckers team mates eyeing them up as he told his story.

Frowning, Hunter nudged the big man and he stopped with a confused look on his face.

"On your left," Hunter whispered.

Wrecker blinked and looked at them, he sighed, "Yeah…that's my team."

"Bunch of Drydak," Hunter muttered thinking about how stupid the cadets were, "Will they do anything?"

"Humm…Well they stopped trying to fight me head on months ago…" Wrecker chuckled. "Even all of them together couldn't take me down." He flexed his arm before sighing. "But, they might not fight fair…"

Hunter looked at the big clone and felt a grin tug at his lips. "Then neither should we." He said.

Wrecker cocked his head to the side and grinned, "Yeah?"

"Come on," Hunter said with a nod of his head.

Wrecker got up from the bench and eagerly followed the shorter clone away from the glaring cadets at their back.

Hunter knew he was supposed to be doing a job with old Ninty-nine, but he couldn't leave Wrecker. Making his way back to the old clone, Hunter helped him pick up some discarded equipment one of the cadets had left.

"Sorry Ninty-nine." Hunter told the old clone, "Had to make a friend."

The old Ninty-nine looked up and his eyes widened at the sight of Wrecker but a smile spread across his lips.

"Wrecker!" He said to him, "Did you get bigger?"

Wrecker Grinned, at the old clone and rubbed the back of his head. "Um…I don't think so?" He said. "Maybe you got shorter…"

Ninty-nine chuckled, "No, you definitely got bigger." He said as he looked to Hunter, "I see you've met my little Hunter." He nodded to Hunter.

Hunter blinked, "Little Hunter?" He was shorter than the other clones but not by That much…

"Well yeah, you hunted down all those power glitches," He nodded a head to Hunter, clearly not seeing anything wrong with the 'Little' part, before looking back at Wrecker, "I didn't have to replace a single light bulb because of this one." He told the big clone.

Wrecker grinned and looked back at Hunter, "Ninty-nine likes to give names." He said, "I'm Wrecker, well, because I kind of barreled into his supply cart..." He chuckled rubbing the back of his head. "Broke the whole thing too, cart and all."

Ninty-nine chuckled, "He made up for it by carrying all my cleaning gear back to the storage room." He shook his head. "Course, I knew Wreckers name long before that."

Hunter cocked his head to the side as he studied the old clone; He couldn't help but feel like the old clone knew them better then he was telling.

Ninty-nine smiled back at Hunter. "Well Hunter, I have a feeling you came to ask me something."

Hunter nodded, "Wreckers team mates are in need of a tune up." He said.

"Now, now, they are your brothers." Ninty-nine said but cocked his head to the side. "Even if they can learn some humility…" He shook his head, "I can't help you get back at them boys…"

"That's all right." Hunter said, "It would only make it worse if you helped."

"Then," The old clone rubbed the back of his head, "what can I do for you?" Ninty-nine asked confused.

"I need to talk to someone in the holo-labs." Hunter told him.

"The holo-labs?" Ninty-nine asked. "I don't usually get up there until late in the evening…"

"I just need to borrow a data-pad." Hunter told him. "I promise we won't need to go there in person."

The old clone nodded his head and moved to the cart and pulled out his data pad, it was beat up old model, but it connected to the holo-net just the same. It was where he got all his emergency cleanup orders form. Still looking a little unsure Ninty-nine handed it to Hunter.

With the data-pad in hand Hunter opened up a messaging forum. Typing a quick cryptic message he handed it back to Ninty-nine without even seeing if he got a response.

Hunter nodded his head and looked at Wrecker. "Think you can hold on till dinner?" He asked.

Wrecker looked over his shoulder at his 'team' and squared his shoulder. "No problem." He said. "But, if they try anything what should I do?"

Hunter scratched at his chin thinking before an idea came to him. "Head to the Gun Range." He told Wrecker, "The instructors are vigilant, and won't tolerate rough housing in the area."

Wrecker grinned, "Okay."

"I'll meet you in the mess hall at dinner time okay?" Hunter returned the grin before he followed Ninty-nine as the old clone pushed his cart into the hallway.

"Do I even want to know what you boys are up to?" Ninty-nine asked as he looked at Hunter.

Hunter couldn't help but smile, "Probably not." He said.

Ninty-nine chuckled, "Just don't get into too much trouble." He told the young clone. "The Kaminoans aren't known for their sense of humor."

Hunter smirked. "I'm not worried about them." He said, "If all goes as planned I might even get back on a Team."

"And leave me to change all those light-bulbs by myself?" Ninty-nine asked but he smiled.

Hunter smiled and shook his head, "Working with you, Ninty-nine, I realized something."

"Oh?"

"My 'Defect' is my Gift," Hunter told him, "and I plan on using it."

Ninty-nine blinked at Hunters statement before a kind smile spread across his lips. "Good for you." He said softly.

Hunter smiled at the man's soft words as they continued on their rounds.

Dinnertime rolled around and Ninty-nine let the young clone head off to meet up with Wrecker. The old clone was glad that the two were getting along, it had been a sad day when they had been separated as very young clones, but it seemed two of the brothers had found each other.

Ninty-nine just hoped the young clones didn't get into too much trouble.

TBC

AN-Next Tech and Crosshair