And all I wanted was the simple things
A simple kind of life
If we met tomorrow for the very first time
Would it start all over again? Would I try to make you mine?
I always thought, I'd be a mom
Sometimes I wish for a mistake
The longer that I wait, the more selfish that I get
You seem like you'd be a good dad
Now all those simple things are simply too complicated for my life
"She's a clone and therefore, imperial property."
The words rang in Emerie's skull like a death knell.
She had been loyal to the Empire since its inception and before that to the Republic. She had used her considerable healing skills for the greater good of the galaxy but now for the first time she began to see clearly.
Of course Hemlock would view her as nothing more than another instrument in his tool chest.
"Surely you have something useful to share." The doctor shook his head as he motioned for the troopers to strap the subject to the interrogation table.
"Wrong," Crosshair asserted.
"Let's see if we can jog your memory."
Hemlock hardly glanced in her direction. "Begin." And Emerie pressed the button on her data pad that caused the interrogator droid to advance.
"Doctor." A med assistant entered and diverted his attention. "One of our transport ships was attacked departing Balmora. The prisoners aboard escaped."
More clones , thought Emerie, like Crosshair… and me.
"Inform me when he's ready to talk." Hemlock tossed the order over his shoulder at her, not even looking back to see her nod of acceptance.
What else could she do? She was a clone. Clones follow orders.
…
A millennia of ingrained survival instincts and what remained of Dalla's common sense screamed at her to bail as she knocked on the apartment door. She could do it, too. Run away now and pretend she was a stupid kid playing ding-dong-ditch.
Instead she kept her feet firmly planted on the welcome mat and waited for someone to answer the door.
The lock clicked back and Colonel Yularen opened the door.
"Ms. Blackwell," he said. "This is unexpected."
"Colonel. I'm sorry to bother you at home, but I need to discuss something with you. May I come in?"
…
Several levels below the posh Coruscant neighborhood where the colonel and his family made their home, Riyo Chuchi paced the floor of the speeder garage that had become the unofficial headquarters of the clone defection network. She had been introduced to the owners of the garage in passing but Trace and Rafa Martez had been off on another mission almost as soon as they could fuel up their freighter and get back into space.
To be quite honest Riyo would have been more in her own element in the upper levels. The apartment she generally inhabited during the Senate session was actually not far from the aforementioned colonel's domicile. However, as the current circumstances involved the imminent arrival of several other of the network's operatives, there was no place in the galaxy that the senator from Pantora would rather be.
One particular operative had been on her mind since he had kissed her goodbye before rushing off to be the hero and rescue another of his brothers from the hands of the Empire. Never mind that it was the same Empire that she served in the Senate.
No, strike that, she didn't serve the Empire itself but rather the people within it. And among those people were the clone soldiers who had protected and continued to protect the galaxy.
With a smile, Riyo remembered what Omega had said when she and the other members of clone force ninety-nine had been in the capital. It was something about how they would be sisters if the senator married one of her brothers.
Well, it wasn't as if she and Echo could actually publicly say their vows but their… relationship did orchestrate a rather familial feeling within her towards the other clones.
And that was why Riyo worried and prayed to the Pantoran goddess for the safe return of not only Echo but also Gregor and Fireball and Nemec and the others. And then there were those they were hoping to rescue: a Captain Howzer was on the prison manifest. The Batch had been acquainted with him before on Ryloth. But even if they hadn't, he and the other prisoners were still brothers.
Riyo resumed her pacing which prompted one of her guards to ask, "is everything alright, Senator?"
"Yes, of course." She was far better than the clones were on their perilous rescue attempt.
She tried to settle her mind on what she was able to accomplish. "We have all the relief supplies prepared?"
"Yes, Senator."
"The blankets…" she ticked the items off on her fingers. "And food. Surely they'll want a hot meal when they…"
The sound of a familiar ship's engine hummed over the other speeder traffic as it approached.
Riyo was ushered out of the way as one of the clones cleared the landing pad and then the ship was here and the gangplank lowered and she was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet as the rescued and rescuers began to disembark.
She wanted to run to Echo as soon as she saw his familiar helmet clear the hatch but she held herself still. They hadn't exactly made their association public knowledge other than to Rex who had found them together after that first time. She blushed at the memory.
Then she saw him remove his helmet and look around as if searching for something. He found it in her gaze and he smiled.
After that there wasn't a spare moment for them to speak alone or do anything else. She assisted the former prisoners in acquiring food and drink, while Echo discussed the information that had been gathered as a secondary benefit of the mission.
"I recovered a portion of the data logs. It's heavily encrypted but I know someone who can crack it."
"Go." She encouraged him. "I'll take care of things here and see what else I can find out"
"Thank you, Senator."
She placed her hand on his shoulder, as much affection as she could show before an audience. "Be careful, Echo."
It took an effort to let him go again so soon after he had just returned and not being able to have an actual conversation. She knew who he meant by someone who could crack encrypted code however, and the someone in question had been of a mind to remain off the Empire's radar, so she could guess at least that he wouldn't be flying straight into another dangerous situation.
Tech had been the one who had uncovered the evidence from Rampart's venator and he had located the sad truth of Nova's final mission and Echo had also told her of a myriad of other occasions when his brother's unique skills had saved their lives or brought them closer to a vital solution.
Maybe she wished a little bit that she could go along with Echo on this not so life threatening adventure. She would like to see Omega again but she also had questions. If Tech had truly married a civilian then she couldn't help but wonder, how did they make it work? Was such a thing possible? Could such a thing be possible for her and Echo?
…
The landing platform was surrounded by willing hands as soon as Tech set the Marauder down after the supply run. It had taken him longer than he had estimated to return to Pabu and the outcome of the journey was not at all what he had expected. At least he had the cargo that was desperately needed if not the passenger who had joined him at the outset.
"Where's Phee?"
He had guessed it would be Omega who first posed this question as what seemed to be the rest of the population of the island came through the cabin to help with the unloading of the supplies. There must have been others who noticed the absence but only Omega had been waiting to hear the results of the discussion they were to engage in on the solo mission.
Tech did not particularly wish to divulge the subject of that anticipated conversation with the entire population of the island so he gave the shortest and most honest answer. "She was contacted by a business associate who required her presence and I ferried her to a location where she could then find transport to the meeting site."
"Why didn't you just take her to the meeting?"
The crowd of helpers was beginning to disperse but that only meant that the few who remained were better able to listen in on the siblings' discussion.
"She was not certain how long it would take and knew that our cargo was needed here post haste."
Omega considered this and then also demonstrated an awareness of their potential audience. She glanced side to side and then lowered her voice. "Well, did you get the chance to ask her about…" She raised her eyebrows inquisitively.
"Suffice it to say that the opportunity never presented itself," he answered in the same hushed tone.
"Aww," Omega desponded. "I'm sorry. I know you hoped to talk to her about things."
"It is of little consequence." He patted her shoulder in what he hoped was a conciliatory manner. "I'm sure when she returns from her convocation we will find the time to have our dialogue."
He didn't really wish to continue in this vein even though they now found themselves without observers so Tech took the initiative to bring up one of her other favorite subjects. "There was something else I promised before I left, if you care to remember."
"A piloting lesson!?" She immediately brightened.
He rose from his seat. "I suppose now would be…"
She slipped into the seat he vacated before he could change his mind. "Yes, please!"
"Alright." He couldn't help but smile and settled himself in the copilot's chair. "What are the primary operations we undertake before we begin any flight?"
…
The prisoner wasn't really talking, just mumbling. So then why didn't she inform Hemlock at once?
"Don't tell… can't tell… the babies… going to… be a dad. Tech … can't tell Tech."
Emerie sat up straighter in her chair where she was observing Crosshair. Then without another thought she dialed back the recording device that was supposed to be monitoring as a backup and scrambled the last several seconds of audio.
She managed it just in time before a couple of troopers burst into the room. "Did he say something?"
"No, just groaning, making unintelligible sounds." She walked over to the table and ordered the droid, "that's enough."
She loosened that cranial restraint and laid a hand on his forehead proceeding to open one eye and check for pupil dilation.
"Our orders were to not stop until he talks." one of the troopers barked.
Emerie barked back, "he can't talk if he's dead."
She administered a hypo spray in his wrist and walked to her desk. Trying to keep her own voice steady she told the troopers, "you may secure his restraints."
And then she didn't exactly see what happened next, only spinning around at the sound of the blaster fire. Both troopers and the droid hit the floor in quick succession and Emerie raised her hands when the blaster was leveled at her.
"Take a breath. Think this through."
"Release me," Crosshair ordered, shakily, while holding the blaster on her steadily enough.
With hands raised Emerie stepped over to the table controls and pushed a couple of buttons.
"You cannot make it out of this facility," she implored him. "Not in your condition."
He was barely able to stand. "Give me your access card."
"It won't get you outside. But even if you do manage that, the hounds will find you within minutes."
He gained a firmer hand on the blaster.
"Don't make this worse, Crosshair! There's no escape." For either of us , she thought. "Lower the blaster."
The last thing she remembered was his conscious act to switch the weapon to stun.
…
Genna was not about to let a little thing like a cesarean section keep her down for long. She had already missed the funeral service for her dear friend. But as the ceremony had taken place on a sailing ship in the light of the salt gods she doubted if she would have been able to participate without having to run for the rail and that would hardly have been appropriate for the serious nature of the occasion.
She had paid her respects more privately to Sloan and that was what mattered. Told him that she has named one of the girls Saviin Elinor in Ellie's honor.
Again she had attempted to have a conversation with Dalla but the little fence had made herself scarce as soon as the ship returned from the burial at sea. For the brief moment Genna had seen her, Dalla's husband Bernard was begging her not to do something stupid .
Dalla left anyway and Genna didn't ask where she was headed. She understood the need to get back on the dalgo so to speak.
And so with one twin strapped to her front and the other snoozing in the swing that Shara had lent to her, Genna began the process of getting back to work herself.
There wasn't much that needed to be done on the salon floor for her to start taking clients again. Someone had come in and cleaned up the mess where her water had broken back by the shampooing station. But the whole place still felt just a little awkward.
Aunt Shara might have felt the same way if someone else had been cooking in her kitchen. So Genna set to work rearranging bottles and clippers and combs to her own preference and convenience to reach when she needed them.
After a while she called out, "Mycroft?" And was rewarded with the telltale chirp of the handsfree application she had installed on her datapad.
"Wouldn't Daddy be proud that I've gotten so tech savvy?" She nuzzled the downy little head in the front carrier and then spoke up to the device again. "Mycroft, play song list number two."
Immediately a stream of music began to play and the twin in the swing startled awake showing off her wide golden brown eyes. She didn't cry, just blinked a few times and gave an adorable baby yawn.
Genna laughed. "I guess you should both be used to your mamma's eclectic musical tastes after enduring them all that time in utero."
She added a little sway to her step as she continued to straighten up the salon. "Your Daddy and I danced to this one at our wedding," she informed the twins wistfully. "Well sort of. Really we had already said our vows a couple of days earlier. And I wasn't quite dancing because I had just had surgery and couldn't walk on my own yet. But we were together and that's what matters."
She was so caught up in the moment and the music and the memory that she had no idea that someone had entered. Genna spun to a halt in front of a woman she had never seen before.
"Osik, I'm sorry I wasn't expecting anyone today. I didn't think I'd lit up the open sign yet."
"Aw, it's alright. You seemed to be enjoying the music. I think that's a friend of mine's favorite song too. He's always humming it when he thinks no one is paying attention." The woman's dark complexion glowed with marryment.
Her hair was dark also and Genna thought of a conditioner she knew of that was used by a friend of hers from Iziz to treat a similar texture. "I um… I'm not really ready to take clients yet."
A new song came up on the stream with a startling blast of a horn and the baby in the swing woke with a cry.
"There's two of them? I didn't realize."
"Yeah, my little clones." Genna swore under her breath again, then raised her voice to activate the music player to shut off. "Mycroft, stop music!" She shuffled over to the swing and tried to lift out her crying daughter while trying not to squish the other one in the front carrier.
"Here let me try." The woman stepped in to help and in a moment the crying stopped while she bounced the baby in her arms like a professional. "Who is this little treasure?"
"That's Saviin Elinor," Genna said with a sigh. "And this," she returned her attention to the little one who was beginning to resist against her bindings. "...is Kebiin Omega."
"Omega? Now there's a name you don't come across often."
Genna laughed. "I probably just named her that to remind myself that she will be my last! I'm not going through that again in a hurry. I can't say I don't appreciate the help, but…"
"Oh!" The woman seemed to know what she was asking. "I didn't come for a makeover if that's what you're getting at. I was told to meet somebody here."
"Ah. Well, I can guess at the identity of our mutual friend but you haven't told me who you are yet."
"Phee Genoa." She adjusted Saviin to her shoulder so that she could extend a hand for Genna to shake.
"It's nice to meet you, Phee. I'm Genna and don't worry I won't ask you about your business. I try to stay as far out of all that as I'm able."
"You seem to have your hands full just with these two." Again she rearranged the baby in her arms to get a better look at her face and something she saw there caused her countenance to grow more serious.
"You're good with her. Do you have any of your own?"
Phee schooled her features back into a smile. "I have another friend, not the same one who regularly hums your favorite song, who's raising his daughter on his own. I look in on them when I can."
"I'm sure he appreciates the help. I know that I…" Genna didn't want to think that far into the future. Shara had offered to help whenever she needed a hand and if she could ever get a chance to talk to Dalla, surely they could find a way to include the person she really wanted to be involved in her daughters' lives.
"Their father is away then?" Phee asked curiously.
"My husband." Genna felt compelled to amend. She felt for the cord around her neck and pulled out the ring that it held close to her heart. "He gave me this before… he had to go."
The woman studied the purple stone in the setting with the eye of a certified gemologist.
Just then Dalla breezed into the salon with a, "Good you're already here." and no mention of her own tardiness.
Genna took her second daughter from Phee with a huff, holding them both awkwardly and made her way to the stairs. "I'll just leave the two of you to your meeting then."
"Aye, we shouldn't be too long."
The two of them watched the young mother go. Then Phee inquired, "Is she the reason you brought me here?"
"Genna? No." Dalla waved away the very idea. "Although she has been asking me if I could contact you for months now."
"Why would… Who is she?"
"Not important now." She glared, hard. "Care to explain why my intelligence agent is dead?"
"Dead?" Phee sputtered. No wonder Dalla was out for blood.
"Oh, not just dead. Murdered by the Partisans you insisted were too busy with the Empire to screw with me. Whose pockets you line?"
Time to put the brakes on this. "I don't work for the Partisans. Heck, I haven't seen Gerrera or anyone since the Empire sent clones after him right after the war ended. That's just bad for business." Dalla's expression didn't budge and Phee took out her comlink. "My fuel logs. See for yourself."
Dalla scrolled through the logs while Phee spoke. "Gerrera contacted me about refugees, just like you. I got the kids to safety, but when I came back for the others I found out the Empire beat me to the punch. That's when I met you."
It tracked. And so did her fuel logs, which carefully accounted for her every movement over the past few weeks. Phee was doing a lot, but not selling out Dalla's lieutenant to the Partisans.
Slowly, it seemed Dalla was realizing the same.
"You should know that's why I was interested in checking up on the Batch for you in the first place," she rambled.
Dalla closed out of the fuel logs. "Thank you," she said, sounding like her normal self and not the screaming banshee demanding a pound of flesh. "My apologies for the recording, but you know how things are in this business."
She handed the comlink back and as she drew close, Phee caught a whiff of something familiar. "Were you in the Core?"
"Why would you say that?"
Because she smelled like a combination of delicious cooking, aged brandy, and the candles Phee's wealthier clients liked to use in their homes, and the only intersection of all three could be found in the Core. Still, Phee let it go.
Dalla changed the subject. "Do you know where the Batch is now?"
"They're not with Cid. And when I saw her last, she's not happy about it."
There was a gasp from behind them and both women realized Genna had returned.
"You're her. You're the pirate," she said.
"Actually I prefer liberator of…"
"But you know where they are. I tried to comm him when I had the twins. I used their old channel but I don't think they even check it anymore."
"Which?" Phee began but she was pretty sure she already knew.
"Goggles." Dalla answered.
"They have his…"
"Brown eyes," Phee completed with a sigh. She had known there was something familiar about those eyes when she looked into that sweet baby's face.
"You said they're not working with Cid anymore?" Genna asked. "Well I mean I knew Echo had decided to go and work with their brother Rex."
"You knew about Echo?"
Again Dalla jumped in. "He came here to ask for my help moving more precious cargo than anything you ever brought me."
"I told Echo not to tell Tech about the baby because I didn't want it to be a distraction. The last thing I wanted was to put them in more danger than they already were. But now you say they've broken ties with Cid and… She knows about me! At least she knew that the boys and Meg wanted me to have my back surgery and she knew that Tech wanted to be there when I woke up."
Phee listened open mouthed to the girl while she rambled.
"If my contacting them now could bring Cid's attention to them again or or the Empire's, maybe it's better that I just…"
That forced Phee to speak. "Don't you think he deserves to know about his kids?"
"Well kriff, yes, of course," Genna threw up her hands. "Just, when the time is right." The fight seemed to go out of her after that.
"You really went and married Brown Eyes?" Phee asked. She shook her head when Genna nodded. "I thought that stone in your ring looked familiar. I've seen the rest of the set in Cid's parlor."
"She still has them?" Dalla burst back into the conversation. "I might have another job you can do for me."
…
Tech wasn't going to be the first to complain about the lack of real action since they had settled temporarily on Pabu. He did have his hands full with Omega's continued training and he did still need to have that conversation with Phee when she got back from wherever she had gone. He checked the comm channels regularly to see if she needed a pickup and then maybe they could pick up where they left off and he could level with her about… things.
He did have to admit however the thrill he received when Echo put the datalog from the Imperial shuttle into his hand and he had the chance once again to do what he did best. Most of the information he decrypted was concerning but not much of a surprise until he came across the details about the Advanced Science Division and it's head scientist Doctor Royce Hemlock.
A quick search brought up Hemlock's record of being expelled from the Republic Science Corp for unauthorized experiments. And then Tech turned his attention to the lists of clone prisoners who had been transferred into the doctor's custody.
One operating number stood out from all the rest: CT - nine nine zero four.
Tech's brilliant mind raced. His brother was listed as a prisoner. His brother had turned on the Empire. Would he have reached out for help? Would he have wanted to somehow get word to them to let them know that they were now on the same side?
Crosshair wouldn't have any other way to contact his old squad than the old comm channels that Tech hadn't bothered to check in months. He did so now and there were not one but two messages that pinged for his attention.
He should be focused on the one sent from Crosshair's old code. It could be important. It could help lead them to the location of this Advanced Science Division and where the clone prisoners were being taken but first… Tech followed his heart.
The message was not a long one but it completely altered the trajectory of his future.
He would… Tech had no idea what he would do about this development. He activated Crosshair's message but the first time through he didn't even seem to hear it.
He ripped off his goggles and rubbed his eyes. The image of Genna with her hand pressed on her large round belly and the pain in her expression was seared into his retinas. Of course he would go back to her.
But this message from Crosshair and the other information he had discovered from the datalog could be time sensitive.
He listened to Crosshair's message again, what there was of it before it had been cut off: plan eighty-eight.
Tech replaced his goggles and took a deep breath then he commed the sergeant. "Hunter, I decrypted the data. You need to get back to the ship."
…
Emerie took a pain stym for the headache she acquired when she woke from her stunning but she wasn't going to be given the chance to rest and recuperate. Doctor Hemlock demanded an immediate account of the event as she remembered it and then he was determined to get Crosshair back on the interrogation table as soon as possible.
For this he would have to wait a bit. The toxin with which he had filled the room where the subject had run to attempt to send his message had been of a stronger dose than he realized. Emerie could have told him that but she didn't think an 'I told you so' would go over well considering the doctor's present mood.
She kept her thoughts to herself other than when he asked a direct question and pored over her datapad trying, what she should have done earlier, to learn everything possible about the squad Crosshair had mentioned and presumably attempted to contact, clone force ninety-nine.
None too soon, for her own nerves being in the same room with a furious Hemlock, the news came that the subject was awake and being prepared in the interrogation chamber. She had to double her pace to keep up with the doctor as he made his way down the corridor.
And then when they arrived he wasted no time. "If your escape attempt didn't clue you in, the only chance you have of leaving this facility is if I allow it. Perhaps now you'd like to reconsider my offer."
Crosshair didn't bother to answer but Emerie was sure it hadn't been an escape attempt. She only wondered if the message he had tried to send was received on the other end.
"Why suffer more? All I need is the young clone."
Emerie observed the doctor with greater interest than the patient, her recent convictions becoming more firmly entrenched.
"She means nothing to you." Hemlock leaned menacingly over Crosshair. "Help me and you'll have your freedom."
Still Crosshair remained silent.
Hemlock sighed deeply. "Increase his injection level this time."
Emerie nodded even though Hemlock wasn't looking at her. It would not do either of them any good for her to disobey orders at this juncture. But she really didn't like the tone that had pervaded the doctor's voice.
"Let's see how long until you break."
He stepped out of the way to allow the interrogator droid to move in, and gave Emerie a pointed look. Then he turned back to watch Crosshair suffer.
She could only hope that the doctor would lose interest in the spectacle after a while. There wasn't much she could do if he started babbling now.
…
"I suppose I should be getting along," Phee said. The network meeting had turned into social hour, to Dalla's supreme irritation. "There are friends waiting for me back –."
"Friends like the Batch?" Genna asked and didn't wait for an answer. "Please don't tell Tech about the girls! I know he needs to be informed, but –."
"But you need to do the informing." Phee mimed locking her lips. "My lips are sealed."
"Well you don't want to be late," Dalla said.
"Speaking of late. What was up with you, Dalla?"
"I had a meeting."
"What kind of meeting?"
"Not important." That might have been the biggest lie she'd ever told. "Just determining how some allies and I might play ball."
If anything, that increased Phee's suspicions. "Last I checked, you didn't play much with others."
"I'm exploring new avenues." Dalla quipped, her tone sharp and biting. What was she supposed to tell them, the truth? Somehow she didn't think I met with Wullf Yularen, yes that Wullf Yularen would go over well.
She couldn't stop mentally dissecting her conversation with the colonel, pulling it apart for any hint of his intentions.
"You help me with my network, and I help you with your bad apples. Do we have a deal?"
Yularen shook her hand. "We have a deal. Shall we drink to it?"
They clinked glasses, and Dalla swallowed a lump in her throat along with the brandy. She felt like shooting the whole thing, and who could blame her? She'd either saved her network or doomed the rebellion, and it was even odds which one.
"Is everything alright Ms. Blackwell?"
She couldn't show weakness in front of him. "I'm not a brandy drinker."
"It's an acquired taste." Yularen sipped his drink again. "As I suspect this partnership will be."
"Me too. Good thing you like brandy."
