This chapter is actually something like 13.5 because you see, there is a character I wanted to introduce but I realized I knew very little about her so we're gonna jump waaaaay back to season one of the clone wars, episode three to be precise, and find out a little about Nala Se's other pet project, her sort of 'travel Omega', since she couldn't take Omega with her when she left Kamino during the war.

In the quickness of our haste

It seems we forget how to live

The old blueprint

No longer manifests itself

As the correct way to exist

So wipe the grime off the view hole

And please take a closer look

Environmental bandits

Up to their shenanigans

Crooks disguised as you and I

We've got to find another way

To make the world go 'round

The Kaminoans never create without a purpose. And Emerie Karr knew her purpose. She had always known it since she was decanted on that Republic Medical Station near Balmora.

She had been designed to mature at triple the rate of the regular military clones and had begun flash learning the entire curricula of a medical degree almost as soon as she could walk. She had worked alongside Nala Se as her personal assistant for as long as she could remember. And she had learned practical skills on the job as the wounded were brought into the station straight from the battlefield. Her small hands made her more agile than most of the other sentient doctors who were available to work on the never ending stream of patients.

And she remembered the day Nala Se first put her trust in her young creation…

Emerie was in her small room just off the main lab in the Medical Station staring out the window at open space when she started to see the transports arrive. She was supposed to be studying for an exam but she knew all this already. She had seen the procedure she was being tested on a week ago in the operating room. She had even been able to assist the doctors as they worked. It seemed almost silly to learn things from holos when she could just go down a level or two and be a part of the action.

Another transport approached the station and then another and then the door to her quarters swished open.

"Mistress Se!" Emerie jumped up from her seat. "Was there a battle? Are they bringing in the wounded? Do we need to prep the OR?"

The Kaminoan glided toward her as imperturbable as ever but the young clone knew better. She had learned the intricacies of the Kaminoan's expressions and emotions. Something was wrong.

"Emerie, the transports are not here to drop off new patients but to remove the patients who are here to another location and I would like for you to gather your things so that you can go with them."

"You're sending me away? But, Mistress Se, don't you need me here?"

"Right now, I need you to obey and gather your things."

Emerie picked up her data pad that she had been using to study her lesson. She didn't have much else. She turned her thoughts to the patients. "Are we moving all of them? Is that even possible? What about the men in bacta?"

"We are moving as many as possible as quickly as possible. And I need you to be on board the transport to monitor the patients during transfer."

Of course, that she could do, but she still didn't understand. She was capable but she was still very young even by clone standards and the medical station was her home.

She wondered where they would be sent, to Kamino? Emerie had never been there before and she had never been away from her creator.

As they rushed down the hallway to the docking bay Emerie's chin began to wobble and she burst out. "But, Mistress Se, I want to stay with you!"

The Kaminoan turned to face her. "Child, this station is under the threat of imminent attack. I am trying to save as many lives as possible and if something should happen to me, you have been taught all of the operations necessary for running this station. I would need you to step up and fill my place until adequate assistance could be found."

Emerie swallowed back her tears. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Now I must go back up to the bridge to oversee the exodus. That is your transport." She pointed. "I trust that you will do your duties to the best of your ability until that time when I see you again?"

"Yes, Mistress Se." Emerie stood a little straighter with the confidence of knowing she was following orders.

…

Emerie walked onto the transport with a new confidence. Mistress Se was counting on her.

There were clones and medical personnel running around everywhere making ready for their departure. It all seemed very disorganized. So Emerie found a seat out of the way. Her feet didn't reach the floor.

"Better strap in," a clone soldier sat beside her and gave her a smile.

She nodded and secured her restraint. Then she studied the man. He had a bandage wrapped around his head and more wrapped tightly around his chest. Broken ribs, she deduced, and possibly a fractured skull. She looked at his eyes for signs of concussion.

He couldn't help but notice her perusal. He smiled again, this time more wearily. "Somethin' wrong, Kid?"

"I was just wondering why you are not in bacta."

He answered her conspiratorially as if trying to make light of the situation. "I was in line when the comm came about the Seppies popping up out of hyperspace. Guess they thought I could wait a bit until the show is over."

Again she nodded. That would be standard triage protocol.

Suddenly she felt the vibration beneath her seat as the transport released from the station and began to move out into space. Her eyes widened and her small hands clutched at the arm rests.

"Never been in space before?"

Was it that obvious? She shook her head.

"Seriously?" He gaped at her. "I was just jokin' but you've really never been off that med station?"

Emerie tried to sit up a little straighter in her restraints but her hands still held tightly to her seat. "I am an important member of the medical team aboard the Republic Outer Rim station."

He grinned, humoring her. He must have thought she was the daughter of one of the civilian physicians. "So you wanna be a doctor when you grow up?"

Actually in her current learning track she could expect to earn her certificate in a score of standard rotations which would be, even with her accelerated aging, well before she 'grew up'.

She was about to tell him so when the transport rocked violently and then all of the lights flickered and died and the other electrical systems also wound down to a halt.

"We must have been hit by that ion weapon," one of the clones cried out.

And another swore, "Osik! We're dead in space!"

The military clones we trained not to panic but they were still aware of their chances sealed in a tin can with no power and no way to fight back.

Another explosion rocked the vessel and then another and cries of pain carried down the corridor from the direction of the impact.

Emerie began to unfasten her harness.

"Kid," the soldier beside her reached out a hand to stop her. "it's no use to run, the Jedi will come and…"

"I'm not running away. I have a job to do." She hopped down from her seat and ran towards the fire and smoke.

Emerie knew that this was truly going to be her test more than any holoexam.

…

The Jedi had come eventually, the power restored, and the disabled transport brought back to the station so that the patients could resume proper treatment. There were losses of course but not as many as there might have been without the quick thinking and decisive action of the doctors and nurses and one very small medical assistant.

Emerie earned the respect of the other staff that day and indeed when the war reached a point at which Nala Se was called back to Kamino, the scientist assigned her protege to take over as director of the Outer Rim Station. She had reached her full physical height by then and could reach the operating table without having to stand on a crate. And the patients didn't worry that their care was being left in the hands of a child.

Those who had not been witness to her rapid maturation did not even suspect that she was a clone like they were. She was Doctor Emerie Karr, respected for her knowledge and her record of saving lives so that soldiers could return to the battlefield as quickly as medically possible.

The war ended and she was transferred to the medical center on Balmora. There was no word from her old teacher about coming to join her on Kamino so Emerie continued to strive for excellence where she was.

When the news came about the destruction of the cloners' homeworld her thoughts went to Nala Se but she had just kept working. What did that have to do with her? Other than the fact that perhaps she was now one of the few living beings who possessed the knowledge that the head scientist had passed on to her.

She was most honored to be hand picked for a position in the Advanced Science Division, feeling that all her hard work was finally being recognized. The chief scientist, Royce Hemlock, certainly seemed to appreciate her potential and took her on as his personal assistant. He was most welcoming and even called her by her first name. He preferred to be called Doctor.

His own checkered past did not matter. Now Doctor Hemlock was directing all of his efforts into the improvement of the new Empire and Emerie was his right hand.

The pinnacle of all this seemed to be the investiture of the operations on Tantiss. Emerie marched down the ramp ahead of the doctor proudly giving orders to underlings who had been tasked with preparing everything for their arrival. She had nothing to worry about other than the transfer of the assets.

Oh Stars! That was worrisome! She had to tell the doctor right away! She hurried down to the detention level where she was told he had gone to see one of the prisoners.

"Don't you wish to be a part of such a scientific achievement." He was saying to the being in the cell, when Emerie came silently down the hall and she halted in her tracks.

She knew the voice of the prisoner very well. "I know what Emperor Palpatine seeks to accomplish, and he will not have my cooperation."

Nala Se was alive? No one had told Emerie. And now it seemed that she was behaving as an enemy of the Empire? They had locked her in a cell for it.

"Perhaps you require the right incentive." Hemlock threatened mildly. "Know that I'll be taking over operations here on Tantiss, and I can do far worse than confine you to a cell." He sniffed. "And I'll let you think on that."

"Doctor," Emerie spoke up. Her news, she felt, was more important than the eventual participation, or not, of an Imperial prisoner. "We lost communication with transport nine zero four."

"Have the recovery teams begin a search. We need that asset contained. And Emerie, we're there any other Kaminoans taken off-world prior to the destruction of Tipoca city?"

This she did know. "Their prime minister. He remains in Imperial custody on Coruscant."

"Have him brought here." Hemlock trusted her to make sure this was done. "I wish to speak to him personally."

Emerie stood back to let him pass and when she did she looked into the cell where her former mentor sat in disgrace. There was nothing to be said.

She tried to forget the look on the Kaminoan's placid face and throw herself into her work. It was a relief when she was able to inform the doctor of the retrieval of the asset and the arrival of the prime minister as he had requested.

Her own loyalty to the Empire was only strengthened by the experience so that when another high priority clone prisoner was brought to Tantiss at Hemlock's request she didn't even ask why his arrest was of such great import to the doctor's plans. She trusted that it was all in the service of a greater purpose, that of the Empire.

"Hello, CT-nine nine zero four, or do you prefer Crosshair?"

"Where am I?" the newest acquisition inquired.

"I'm holding you for observation. Once you've healed, the doctor will come for you." She prepared a syringe of sedative.

"Who- who are you?"

"Remain calm. Cooperate and you might survive." She watched him as he succumbed to the drug.

She knew who she was. She was Doctor Emerie Karr and she had a purpose.