Coric yawned loudly, earning an upraised eyebrowed from Kix. He scrubbed his eyes again, trying to make sense of the words on the screen in front of him. It was harder for him to focus these days. It was hard not to be angry at his captors for what they'd taken from him.

"Have another ration bar," Kix urged, nudging him in the hand with one of the extra high-cal ones.

"I've already had three."

"Then a fourth won't hurt you."

"Faulty logic," Coric grumbled, pushing the bar away. He didn't want to eat. Food didn't seem appealing anymore.

"Maybe you need caf, then."

Coric quirked up an eyebrow. "Caf decreases ghrelin*, you know."

"Not always. Some varieties of caf are well known to stimulate appetite, so drink up." Kix pushed his cup of caf toward his brother.

Coric rolled his eyes. Kix had been fussing over him since he'd basically collapsed on the journey back from Darkknell. "Is that your medical diagnosis? Drink more caf? That's the opposite of what you tell Rex."

"Rex isn't 10 kilo under clone standard. This hospital brew isn't half-bad- better than Kazzie caf."

"LAAT fuel is-"

"- better than Kazzie caf," Kix said with him, repeating the popular clone line insulting the Kazzie beverage.

Coric smiled, enjoying their banter, and accepted the offering. He took a swig and tilted his head to the side as his body took interest in the taste.

Kix noticed right away and smiled broadly. Coric realized then the toll his poor health had been taking on his brother.

"It better be," Sly rejoined from the other side of the room, "I pilfered it from the natborn doctors' lounge. They have all the good stuff in there." He rustled in his medic's bag and tossed something across the room.

Coric's reflexes weren't what they were before his captivity and his reach was just shy of being able to easily snatch the foil-wrapped offering out of the air, but Kix saved it from hitting the ground. He gave it a curious glance before handing it over to Coric.

"What is it?" Coric hefted the log-shaped wrapped snack curiously and examined it from all angles as if it was a medical curiosity.

"I don't know what the natborns call them, but it's some kind of sweet cake that goes smashingly well with caf. Give it a try."

Coric set down the caf, and unwrapped the sweet cake. The smell hit him instantly and his stomach grumbled loudly. He stared at the long spongy roll and the creamy filly poking out the sides. It didn't look anything like the food served to clones. He couldn't wait to try it, but it wouldn't be right to eat it on his own. He carefully tore it in half with near-surgical precision and held out the slightly larger share to Kix.

His brother shook his head in refusal.

"You need the calories more than me. You lost too much weight while in captivity."

"As you remind me constantly," Coric grumbled. There was no denying he was still seriously underweight. His BMI was down to 12, enough to keep him from the active-duty roster if he didn't get his body mass back up. Clones were normally lean by design with their BMI staying at 18 no matter how much they ate. But, Coric had been starved for two months and his body showed the effects of severe malnourishment. What little food he'd been offered, he'd often given to the other clones in his cell. He couldn't help it. His medic's instincts wouldn't allow him to eat when others were suffering. Now that he'd gone so long without eating, he'd lost interest in food and drink. He was tired all the time, felt weak, had to wear two bodysuits to stay warm, and had difficulties concentrating. He was a far cry from the medic he'd been before he'd been through in that cell. But, there was too much work to be done for him to worry about his own health. He tore off a smaller piece and made pleading eyes to Kix. "I can't eat unless you try some with me."

Kix accepted the smaller portion. "Alright, now eat. You need the calories."

"You're relentless."

"Then listen to your medic."

"Oh, you're my medic, now?" Coric quipped back, around a mouthful of sweetcake. He'd missed these little moments with Kix. The banter back and forth. The arguing. The teasing. Working together day after day. As the glucose hit his brain, the research he'd been reading started to make more sense in the context of Echo's injury. He tossed back the last of the caf and then held up his datapad for Kix to see. "Before we lost Cavil at Kaz'haria, he'd been deep into research on TBIs.**"

"I'm aware. I made a point of keeping up with his research. Cavil was a good medic."

"One of the best of us. He had a wickedly good sense of humor, too. He'll be missed. " The two medics were silent a moment remembering their fallen colleague. Coric tilted his head to the side in consideration. "You know, this could be an opportunity for us to honor him by continuing his research. There are some similarities here. He'd discovered some... anomalies... in brain scans among troopers of the 212th."

"What do you mean? We're clones. We don't have anomalies."

Coric zoomed in on a scan from Cavil's research. "He had to modify a scanner to find these things, but something like this..."

Kix's brow furrowed in puzzlement. "That is... odd. I've never seen anything like it. But... if it came up on more than one scan then it's not really an anomaly, is it?"

His fellow medic nodded in agreement. "Cavil thought so, too. He believed he was seeing a trend and requested more advanced scanning equipment. Commander Cody and General Kenobi approved his request, but it was denied by the higher-ups. So, he simply categorized it as an 'anomaly' and set the research aside until after the Kaz'haria campaign."

Kix sighed heavily. "Except he never came back from the campaign to Kaz'haria."

"No." Coric scrolled through Cavil's notes, feeling the heavy weight of the fallen medic's research. "He was onto something here. I'm sure of it. Look- he made a careful note to emphasize we are not allowed to do L5 atomic brain scans."

"It's like he'd baiting any other medics who read his work to find a way to do one."

"That's one way to interpret it."

"Oh come on, we've never been given a good reason not to do those scans."

"It's always blah-blah-blah too dangerous."

"Yet, we're allowed to do Level 4 atomic scans? It doesn't make any sense."

"It may not make sense, but the regs are very explicit."

The two medics looked at each other, clearly debating their path.

"Coric, if we pursue this path, we'd be violating standing orders not to pursue these deeper-level scans."

"Clearly."

"But..." Kix leaned in again and looked at Cavil's research, "Commander Cody and General Kenobi already approved this project, so in a way, it's already been authorized."

"Excellent point."

"Commander Cody is a Marshall Commander."

"Yes..." Coric's voice was slightly hesitant, a reminder that all 501st and 212th clones knew their marshall commander had been locked up and his status was currently unknown. The Open Fleet was currently without their Marshall Commander.

"That's a flimsi glitch. They'll release him," Kix said with absolute confidence.

Coric snorted. "He went AWOL and insulted the highest member of the Jedi Council in front of the fleet. That's a hell of a flimsi glitch."

Kix shrugged. "He's spirited. General Kenobi likes that about him. Rex has implied several times the two are very close."

"I'm not sure that's what he meant."

"Regardless, the General also approved of this line of research. So, we have the authorization of a Marshall Commander and a high council member to proceed. We are practically being ordered to investigate what is going on with Echo and that supersedes those previous mandates about the L5 scans."

Coric considered this a moment. "Sound logic. So, we take a higher-level scan of Echo-"

"An L5 atomic, yes-"

"And, then see if there's a relation to Cavil's anomalies?"

"Exactly!"

"While you boys are busy debating ethics, and the lovelife of Commander Cody, Sly and I are working to get you the credentials for those fancy scans," Fives tossed back over his shoulder from the other side of the room. "That should do it. Hey, you have any more of those fancy cakes?" He peered down with interest at Sly's medical bag.

Sly pushed his bag away with his foot and glared indignantly at Fives. "You cannot forge the credentials of the Director of ArmyMed."

Fives stared down the younger clone. "Give me one reason why not."

"Director Valo has authority over everyone and everything in this place." The cocky young medic sounded nervous for the first time.

"Exactly why we are forging her credentials." Fives leaned in and started typing with unnecessary force and gusto, finishing his typing with a flourish of the wrist. "She has the highest authority. You just said so yourself. And, I really think you should give me one of those cakes."

"Including the authority to red card clones. All clones. You. Me. Echo. No." He reached for the shutoff switch on the terminal. "No cake for you. Krek, Fives, this is serious! You can't be talking away cake when all of our lives are on the line."

Fives batted his hand away. "Fek her! She can personally walk me to the Kamino transport. Echo is getting this scan."

"You're not just playing with your life! We'd all be sent!"

Fives paused and rose up to his full height, glowering at the younger clone. Sly was not yet fully grown, and Fives had considerable bulk over him with his added ARC musculature and gear. But, the younger clone refused to cower.

"Fine. Then, I will ask you nicely. Are you in or do you want to walk away? We are committed to saving the life of our brother. You can walk away now and pretend you never met us," Fives crossed his arms across his chest while he waited for an answer from the young medic.

Sly hissed and frustration and jammed a hand through his hair. He paced several steps toward the door, stopped for several long seconds, clearly torn, and then started for the door again. "I..." he stopped, and then turned around and stalked back to the terminal. He batted Fives away and typed furiously. "I know the fekkin' creds of everyone in here, including the Director." He glared at Fives. "You probably just signed my death warrant. Fek you, but I'm in."

Fives blinked in surprise. "I wasn't sure you'd say yes." He reached his arm out. Sly just stared at it. "Krek. They don't teach you shinies anything anymore, do they?" He arranged Sly's arm into the vode handshake. "Thank you, vod. You've truly shown yourself to be one of us."

"You have a remarkable ability to insult me while saying thank you, Fives. But, yes, I suppose I'm committed to this thing," Sly muttered, staring down curiously at the brotherly handshake.

"Not... that anyone asked me... but I'm in, too." The voice was weak, raspy, and barely audible, but distinctly Echo.

Four pairs of clone eyes turned as one toward Echo's bed. His eyes were barely open. He gazed at Sly in confusion. "I... don't know... you..." He slumped back into unconsciousness, even as Fives was rushing over to his side.

"Echo, vod, it's me. Can you hear me?" Fives gently shook his brother's shoulder, but Echo was completely unresponsive again.

Kix pulled him back so he could get readings. "His body is starting to fight off the virus. It's a good sign. You should let him rest, though, Fives."

Fives sighed with disappointment and stepped away, his shoulders slumped.

"This is a positive development," Sly said to him quietly, keeping his voice down to allow Kix and Coric to work. The two medics were busy taking readings.

Kix took a scan, adjusted his scanner, and tried again. "That's... odd. Coric, what do you make of these readings?"

Coric glanced at Kix's screen. "I'm getting the same results. I'm not sure what we're seeing here. We need that scan."

The terminal on the other side of the room beeped, demanding attention. Fives ran over to the screen. "Yes! The authorization came through. Scanning Room 5020. The space is reserved for us. We're due there in a quarter rotation." He continued to type.

"No. Fives wait-" Sly tried to bat his hands away, but Fives had already submitted an additional request.

"What? I just classified the request as the highest urgency. That ensures we get the room as long as we want, right?" Fives stared at the young medic, trying to figure out why he looked so concerned.

Sly sucked in a breath.

"What?" Fives demanded.

"That additional classification will draw a lot of attention to us," Sly had the voice of someone who was trying to hold it together but was still slightly panicked.

"Ah, that... could be a problem."

Coric's wrist com beeped and he glanced down at it. "I have to get back to the barracks. Appo has me on the schedule all afternoon to do physicals. It's junior medic stuff, but he assigned me to it."

"Appo doesn't know his shebs from his-"

"Fives," Kix cut him off, "his ways may not be our ways, but he is still our commander."

Fives rolled his eyes. "Well, then, Coric you best get back to do Commander Appo's bidding." His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Fives!" Kix chastised again.

Fives huffed out a long breath. "Fine. Thank you, Coric, you've been a big help. Best of luck with the physicals. Come back when you can. Best regards to our commander." He glanced over to Kix with an upraised eyebrow.

The medic nodded with satisfaction and then turned his attention to Coric.

Kix gave Coric's arm a light affectionate squeeze. "I wish you could stay."

"Me, too, but the last thing I need is Appo writing me up for being AWOL. Fives is right, you know, he's no Rex."

Kix leaned in to give his brother an affectionate headbutt. "No, he isn't," he said softly, "but don't tell Fives I said that."

"Fives has superior hearing you know," the ARC chimed in.

Coric's lips twitched in amusement and he pulled back from his fellow medic. "Good luck. Keep me informed." He took off immediately, not wanting to delay the group with any more unnecessary conversation. He quickly exited the massive medical building, careful not to get lost. He stuck to the most main corridors possible, as he left the basement area, careful not to get locked into an abandoned area where he couldn't get back out again. It was the last thing they needed was to bring undue attention onto themselves. His mind went back to Echo. The other two troopers with a similar anomaly hadn't survived. So, how could they ensure the outcome for Echo would be any different if they all had the same genetic engineering?

Genetic engineering.

Cavil had made a mention of their genetic engineering and why he thought these brain injuries he was seeing harbingered something more significant. Coric needed to brush up on his knowledge of clone genetics. There was something more going on here.

# # #

"Fives, wait," Sly said, pausing the ARC trooper before he exited the isolation chamber, "you'll draw too much attention heading into a scanning room dressed... in all that."

"What's wrong with the way I'm dressed?" Fives stared down at his beloved ARC armor.

"Nothing, if you want to stand out as the most easily recognizable being in the hospital then, by all means, saunter about in your big bad ARC armor."

"I do not saunter, I strut. But, I see your point."

"Kix, you also need to change. If you're going to be bringing a patient into a scanning room, you need to look like... well, one of us."

"We are one of you. We're clones," Kix pointed out.

"No, I get it. We need to look like city clones. I'm on it. Back in five." Fives slipped away from the room before Sly could stop him.

"Back in five," Sly muttered, "funny."

Fives returned quickly with a change of clothes for him and Kix. He tossed one of the uniforms to Kix and immediately began shucking until he was bare as a vatling. He stacked his ARC armor in seconds, still comfortably naked, and quickly donned the medical uniform. "Will this work?"

Sly critically eyed the rank bar on the uniform. "Eh, much higher rank bar than I would have assigned to you, but yes, it will do. Do I want to ask where these came from?"

"If you want plausible deniability, then no."

Fives straightened up, thrusting his shoulders back. Even dressed in a soft uniform, somehow he looked as if he was still wearing a pauldron.

Kix quickly finished dressing, straightening his rank badge, and then frowned at Fives. "You outrank me. As a medic."

Fives 'hmmmphed' and gave an imperious nod of his head, giving his higher rank bar a curt nod of satisfaction. "I was born to lead."

"Just wait until your next physical," Kix muttered under his breath.

"We need to keep a low profile. Secondary corridors. Service elevators. Avoid as much contact as possible," Sly stepped ahead of Fives to lead the way.

"You're not half-bad at this stuff, shinie."

"Wasn't tubed yesterday," Sly said, expertly weaving the gravbed down the corridors and into a cargo lift. "I may not be out on the frontlines like you mudscuffers, but I see some things here."

Fives, obviously having had a change of heart, pulled his rank bar off and handed it to Kix. "Since stolen ranks are obviously very important to you," he muttered to Kix.

"They are," Kix admitted, "and for the record, as a medic, I always outrank you."

"I'm still the better class of clone," Fives quipped back.

Echo peered a bleary eye open. "Where are we going?" His speech was slurred as if his lips were numb and he'd imbibed one too many Fuzzy Tauntauns. Before any of them could muster a response, he'd passed out again.

Kix ran his scanner. "His brain activity is off the charts. Simply put, his immune system has jump-started and is trying to fight off what it sees as a foreign body in his system." He frowned. "I'm just not sure how all this relates together. How did he get a foreign body in his brain? What the fek happened to him in that lab?"

Fives voice radiated confidence. "This scan will tell us something. It has to help. For Echo." He reached a hand down and briefly touched his unconscious brother.

"I hope so," Sly shook his head. "I don't know how much longer we can stay hidden." They emerged from the lift. "To get to the scanning room, we'll have to navigate a heavily populated corridor. Can't be avoided... Hold up." He slipped into a nearby supply closet and emerged with three standard-issue uniform hats, handing one to each of them. He tugged the hat low and tight over his ears and indicated for the others to do the same. "We need to blend in." He waved a hand toward Fives. "Cover up that tattoo. Not a lot of clones here have them, especially those new batchers they keep shipping us."

Fives quickly did as Sly indicated, but glanced over at Sly curiously. "New batchers? I think I saw a few of them. Kind of like shinies times ten?"

"Yes," Sly said, "they're... odd. They look like us, but they are... not like us." Fives and Kix startled and stared over at him, immediately wanting more details. But, Sly gave an impatient gesture indicating they should get moving.

They turned a corner into a heavily populated corridor, pushing the gravbed between them. They walked briskly as if they were just three medics going about their business.

"There it is," Sly said, nodding with his chin, directly ahead was Scanning Room 5020.

# # #

* Ghrelin is a multifaceted gut hormone known as the "hunger hormone".

** TBI is a common acronym for Traumatic Brain Injury. This type of injury usually results from a violent blow or jolt to the head or body. These types of injuries can also result from a foreign piece of material in the brain tissue. Mild traumatic brain injury may affect your brain cells temporarily. More serious traumatic brain injury can result in bruising, torn tissues, bleeding, and other physical damage to the brain.

Yes, Kix gives Coric a Keldabe kiss. It's not meant to be sexual. These two brothers have been through a great deal together as fellow medics and their affectionate for each other runs deep.

The strange "new batchers" Sly is referring to at the end of the chapter are the Sparti clones. In the EU, these clones were grown as cannon fodder in the last year of the war and they were considered vastly inferior to the originally Kaminoan clones.