"You know what makes us different from battle droids? We make our own decisions, our own choices. And we have to live with them too." ~ Commander Cody.

A chapter to go along with the episode "the Solitary Clone" about brothers and their choices and their motivations.

I've wanted to use this title for a while now and couldn't have been more pleased when Dee Bradley Baker in a recent interview described Crosshair as "a coiled snake of a guy"


When I heard the name Nova mentioned prominently in this episode it immedately made me think of one of my favorite OC clones from the story "Best of Blue" by OKami_hu and oksammich and then when another character from that story appeared in a later episode this season, I knew I needed to include that Nova in this chapter.

also this chapter includes a flashback to a point during the Clone Wars somewhere around season 2 and I ask you is there a single scene involving Sanjay Rash (in season 5) when he does not have a bowl of fruit close at hand?


Open the basket

Listen to the flute play

Toot toot toot play

Snakes in the basket

Lie to lead you astray

Snakes in the basket

Force to make you betray

Your innermost truth hidden away

Now you're falling down to the underground

Slither down to your lair

Hidden in the many trenches of a hopeless war

Those who were sold out by a corporate board

Carry the casket

Never mind the gun spray

Bury the casket

Pawns in someone's gameplay

Shoot shoot shoot obey

Cody observed his newly assembled squad as the transport made its way to Desix. He knew most of them. Some of them, like CT-9904 he had requested by name. But such was not the case for the trooper sitting across from him, helmet in hands, his hair in places had been bleached a distinctive white.

Cody glanced down at the datapad which contained the specifics of their current mission and then back up at the trooper. "CG-0113."

"Yes, Commander?" The trooper straightened in his seat.

"What do they call you?"

"Nova, sir."

"You're a Coruscant guard?" Cody again checked the pad to see the impressive service record.

"Yes, Commander."

"And yet you requested to be a part of this mission away from the capital?"

"I-" Nova began and then cleared his throat before continuing. "I decided to put in a request before someone else could request me."

"You have been requested personally in the past?" That was interesting. It meant that someone had appreciated his skills enough to want to work with him on a repeat basis.

Nova's cheeks turned a delicate shade of pink. "I was originally assigned to guard her for a single voyage but yes she requested me again when she returned to Coruscant."

She? That was interesting indeed!

He composed himself but was still a bit pink about the ears when he continued. "With the Imperial Senate reconvening and the possibility of... I thought it best to secure another assignment preemptively."

Cody only thought to give his brother a good natured ribbing for the comradery of the group. "And you didn't wish to see her again?"

Nova's brown gaze turned hard as stone. "When we were associated before it was during the war and she was friendly with the Jedi."

Crosshair chose that moment to toss in his two credit chits. "And those who associate with known traitors are branded traitors themselves."

Nova glared at the modified clone. "I know good soldiers follow orders. If her loyalty is thrown into question I just would not like to be the one to administer justice."

Onderon: 4 years earlier

Ret Carid knocked on his sister's bedroom door. The groan that issued from within confirmed that she had made it home some time in the wee hours of the morning after last night's match and whatever celebrations followed it.

"Gen." he cracked open the door. "Get up. I need you to do something for me."

She groaned again and rolled over in her bed, pulling the pillow over her head so that it muffled her voice. "I thought you taking the morning deliveries meant I got to sleep in."

"Come on," he prodded, leaning on the doorframe. "Do this for me and I might forget to tell Keb and Sav that you didn't go to Mona's house after the match last night."

It was a guess but fairly obvious considering her track record and was confirmed by the glare she gave him from beneath the edge of the pillow.

"Alright, fine, give me a kriffing standard minute."

She emerged from the room considerably more than a standard minute later, having taken the time to apply her pale foundation and dark lipstick and eyeliner that she rarely left the house without these days. She knew what her brother wanted and went immediately to the fresher to mix up the dark brown dye he required.

"You sure you've got it right?" he asked, noticing that bright pink had been added to the tips of her own hair.

"Osik." She glanced at her reflection as if just remembering the addition herself. "I don't know, you might look cute in fuchsia," she snarked. "What's so kriffing important that you had to drag me out of my beauty sleep anyway?"

Ret sat on the stool while she snapped on the flimsiplast gloves and began to work the harsh smelling chemical into his blond roots. "The first delivery is to the Bonteri estate. So yeah, it's kind of kriffing important." He threw her own favorite word back at her. "I don't want to be late. It'll be bad for business."

Genna smirked. "Ooo her high and mightiness actually decided to grace her own planet with her presence. She hasn't managed that since the kriffing memorial."

She turned away, pulling off one of the gloves and setting the chrono to buzz when it was time for his shampoo. They both remembered the Aargonar memorial when their family was given an Onderonian flag in place of the unrecoverable remains of their eldest brother.

Genna quickly changed the subject, pasting back on a cruel grin. " Haar'chak , that's not it. It's because you're going to the restaurant after to see your girlfriend."

"She's not my…" Ret sighed. "I can't help it if Hero's parents are some of our best customers."

"Dank Ferrik! You just keep telling yourself you're taking one for the team." she patted his shoulder and pushed him toward the sink.

Ret pulled the hovercart up to the service entrance of the Bonteri estate and rang the bell to indicate his presence for the delivery. You wouldn't want to just leave something like fresh produce on the back step.

It took a few moments for the call to be answered and a boy younger than Genna opened the door. "Yes?"

This wasn't some menial servant or droid but then the Senator must not have been planning on staying on the planet for long enough to require such a thing. This kid had to be the heir of the manor himself, Lux Bonteri.

Ret reminded himself that the kid had also just lost his father and stuck to the business at hand. "I've got the fruit delivery."

"Oh, yes." Lux opened the door further and stood out of the way. "Lord Rash must have ordered it for the meeting."

"Must be pretty important to drag them away from the Raxus." Ret remarked as he carried in one crate and went back out to the cart for another.

Lux crossed his arms over his chest. "What my mother and Tawni Ames are discussing could put an end to the war."

Just then, the lady of the house peered around the corner into the kitchen, much more bourgeois than Ret might have expected. "Oh good, you're here with the refreshments!"

He gave her a stiff bow. "Yes, Ma'am. Washed and fresh from the orchard."

"Then please," she smiled and gestured deeper into the house. "Bring it right in."

With a glance at the still frowning Lux, Ret picked the crate back up off the kitchen counter and prepared to follow the senator.

"As I was saying," The woman, who must have been the Tawni Ames Lux had mentioned, continued her speech. "We should be able to present the treaty on Mandalore at the invitation of the Duchess since they have remained neutral in the conflict."

Sanjay Rash, the third member of their party, grabbed for a piece of fruit without glancing at the deliverer. "Are you sure the delegates from the Republic will even attempt to make an appearance?" At the first taste of the shuura however, he looked at the thing like it had personally offended him.

"They'll be there." Mina Bonteri assured them. "It was Padme Amidala who approached me about the idea in the first place. We're not trying to gain control over the Republic after all. We only want to be recognized as independent systems with the autonomy to rule ourselves. Surely the Galaxy is big enough for Onderon and Desix and a handful of other systems to live alongside the Republic peacefully."

Lord Rash, who had gone back to attack the shuura as if it were the most delicious form of torture, swallowed before he argued. "I just don't think Count Dooku…"

"Count Dooku doesn't have the last word in this conversation," Tawni Ames argued back. "We all agreed for him to be the spokesman for the Confederacy but Desix doesn't require a Count anymore than we needed a Chancellor to tell us how to run our own system."

Sanjay didn't respond. He only looked down at the core of his piece of fruit until Mina handed him another piece from the crate.

"We appreciate your coming as Dendup's emissary." She also held out a plate for him to discard the first shuura core. "But perhaps you should leave the galactic politics to Tawni and I." Then Mina Bonteri offered Ret a wink as she continued to address the Rash lord. "And perhaps I will have our produce suppliers bring a crate or two to the palace as a thank you?"

Ret bowed at the honor she was suggesting and then turned to make his exit. He couldn't wait to tell his brothers but he had another stop to make first.

"Welcome to Good Eats Diner!" The object of Ret's fascination, Hero Calvert, grinned while she breezed past with a tray of plates balanced on her hand as if they weighed nothing. Who could blame Ret for being head over heels in love with her? "What can I get for you today?"

"Just a cup of caf." Osik! That was the best he could come up with to say to her?

But she was off again before he had the chance to speak. "I'll have that right up."

When she came back he was definitely going to say something. It wasn't the lunch rush yet. There was only one other table surrounded by what looked like some university kids or maybe they were beast riders in from the ruping paddocks and dalgo barns. A couple of them looked a little rough around the edges. Not the sort that Hero would hang around with, surely.

She was coming back with his caff then and she was smiling. At him! "It's on the house." She set the cup before him. "Dad said you just made the delivery."

"Well, we've all got to do our part," he stammered, trying to work up his nerve.

"Is that right?"

"There's a war going on out there."

"Mmhm?" She was listening!

"Yeah," he floundered. "My mother used to say an army marches on its stomach. Somebody's gotta provide the rations to keep them going."

"Droids don't," someone at that other table commented dryly.

"Yeah they just eat up all the power and bandwidth," laughed another guy.

Hero glanced over her shoulder at them but she turned her attention back to Ret, fully interested in what he was saying!

He had to say something else. "Well, my family grows the food and your family gets it on the table. You have to admit, it's a great… partnership."

There was a snicker of laughter from the other group but Hero didn't pay it any mind. She nodded at him in agreement.

"Guess where I just made my last delivery," he burst out excitedly.

"No idea." She might have just been humoring him but she took the seat across from him anyway. It was the chance he'd been waiting for for weeks to impress her.

"The Bonteri estate," he announced. "And we might have an even more important customer soon."

"The senator's back planetside? I guess that explains why all the droid patrols went into hiding."

Ret frowned and not just because he'd been interrupted once again by the party at the other table. He had noticed that the trek across the city had been curiously unimpeded.

"So who's your friend, Hero?" One of the girls at the table asked and to his dismay Hero got up from her seat to make the introductions.

"Everybody, this is Ret Carid. He makes our fruit deliveries. And Ret, this is Steela and Saw and Dono…" she rattled off a few other names that he didn't catch while sizing up the one called Saw. "And Hutch is the one with his nose stuck to the datapad."

"Hey." "How's it going," came a few replies.

"Fruit delivery, huh?" Steela, who had asked the original question, inquired further. "Like from the stand in Malgan Market run by those twin blond guys?"

Ret nodded stiffly. "They're my brothers."

"So you're Mandalorian?" Saw seemed to be sizing him up as well.

"And their sister plays limmie for Onderon!" Hutch the hacker took one of his hands away from his device long enough to pump the air. "Go Rupings!"

Ret had a lot of questions but his very first was stolen right out of his mouth.

"What did you mean about the droid patrols going into hiding?"

None of them had noticed the other young man entering the establishment. Lux Bonteri must have followed him here.

Saw rose from his seat and Ret scrambled out of his as well, the better to push Hero out of harm's way if the sudden tension in the room developed into something more physical.

"Meant what I said," Saw shrugged. "The place has been crawling with droids for months until they had to make it look like everything was still right as rain for the official visit."

The senator's son must have seen his fair share of droids on Raxus but he appeared concerned. "Count Dooku must have sent them to protect the people."

"If that's what you call protection. Sort of feels more like an occupation."

Lux straightened proudly. "My mother is as we speak drafting a peace treaty to present to the Chancellor of the Republic. She and the other Separatist representatives are working to secure our independence."

"Independence from the Republic only to leave us at the mercy of their adversaries?" Saw crossed his arms over his chest.

"You think it will come to a fight?" The question was out of Ret's mouth before he could stop it. He and his brothers and sister had been sent away from their home to avoid one war.

Saw turned to him with a cold grin. "You're a Mandalorian. Isn't fighting in your blood?"

"The Mandalorians have declared neutrality in this war," Lux protested.

But Ret had turned to look at Hero. "I would fight to protect my family." Then he stood up to the rest of them. "I have cousins who never sided with the dutchess. The Saxon clan had ties to Deathwatch."

"Deathwatch?" Lux considered but the others looked impressed and Hero smiled at him.

Ret left the restaurant like he was walking on air. It took a moment for him to notice that the young man in front of him was trying to gain his attention.

"Are you the one who made the delivery to the Bonteri estate from the Rupingwood farms?"

"Yeah." His brothers had decided to keep the original name of the place when they purchased it years ago but it was rarely used now since the Carids had been running the business for so long. "Who's asking?"

"I'm Bernard." He sighed with relief that he had found the right person. "Lord Rash sent me to find out about a regular fruit delivery to the palace."

"You're serious?" Ret took hold of the boy's shoulders to assess his validity. It was too good to be true. What better way to prove his family's Onderonian patriotism than to supply the palace with home grown produce.

"Yes." The boy flinched. "He said what he tasted reminded him of fruit he had from the orchard when he was young."

Ret didn't ask why Lord Rash would want deliveries to be made to the palace rather than his own family estate. Maybe he just wanted to share a good thing with old King Dendup. It hardly mattered if the ancient monarch had enough teeth left in his head to bite into a shuura. The Carids were stepping up in the Galaxy and Hero Calvert couldn't ignore him now.

Desix: present day

"The empire seeks to establish peace and order throughout the galaxy."

Crosshair ground his teeth. What was Cody doing? They had come this far. If he had been put in charge this would already be over and Governor Grotton would have been set at liberty per their mandate. Instead Cody allowed for this Separatist scum to make her pitiful case

"Peace? There was a time I believed in that. So much so, my colleague Mina Bontari and I put forth a treaty with Separatist and Republic senators alike to end the war. Your Supreme Chancellor rejected it. I realized then that peace was never an option."

Cody signaled for him to stand down and Crosshair, against his better judgment, let the barrel of his rifle drop. That didn't mean he wasn't prepared to take action as soon as it became necessary and of course it would become necessary because the Ames woman was still holding a weapon on the legitimate governor they had come to reinstate.

But Cody actually took off his helmet. "It's an option now." He laid down his blaster. "Listen, we both lived through one war. Let's not start another. Too many people have died already. We can resolve this without more bloodshed. Please, do this for your people."

Bloodshed? What about the blood of their brothers? What about Nova and all the others who died to get them here? Did those men die in vain?

But the words had the desired effect and Tawni Ames let Grotton go.

"Nicely handled," Grotton ordered as soon as he was free. "Now execute her."

"Sir," Cody balked. His weapon was still on the ground. "I promised a peaceful-"

"You did, I didn't. Now execute her!"

"So much for peace," Ames sighed.

It seemed to Crosshair that she had given up on peace the moment she took an imperial governor captive and attacked the transport sent to rescue him.

Grotton wailed, "I gave you an order. Follow it, of face the consequences for diso-"

Crosshair didn't even deliberate on pulling the trigger. He did as he had been trained, as he had been ordered.