Dr Hemlock was sitting in his office on Mt. Tantiss. It was a warm Spring morning on Mt. Tantiss, and he poured over a galactic map. Wayland's star provided light for his office. The hum of the hologram provided sound while the scent of electricity and wood dominated Dr Hemlock's senses as he sat on the supportive chair. A week had passed since he had appointed Omega as a tester for the Clones alongside Emerie, and things hadn't gone too well. Part of Dr Hemlock had hoped that Omega was starting to bend more towards Emerie, but Omega proved more resilient than he thought.

Suddenly, Dr Hemlock gets a knock at his door.

"Who is it?" Dr Hemlock asked.

"It's Lama Su. I want to talk to you about something," Lama Su's voice drifted through the door.

"Come in," Dr Hemlock replied. The door opened, and Lama Su entered and sat opposite Dr Hemlock.

"What brings you here?" Dr Hemlock curiously asked as he turned off the hologram.

"I have some information you need to know regarding Nala Se and an offer I have if you investigate Nala Se instead of me," Lama Su stated.

Dr Hemlock looked curiously at Lama Su, then stated, "What could you offer me that Grand Moff Tarkin couldn't?"

"Nala Se has secretly hired a Bounty Hunter to protect Boba, the Batch, and the two Force Sensitive Kaminoans. I can offer you a counter Bounty Hunter to keep her occupied while you capture the others," Lama Su explained.

"So Nala Se is sabotaging me from the inside," Dr Hemlock replied, thinking hard. This revelation had put him in an awkward position. If he killed Nala Se here, he couldn't implement everything he planned. But he also needed to punish Nala Se for this.

It was then that Dr Hemlock got an idea. It was too late to stop Nala Se from hiring the Bounty Hunter.

"All right. I'll open up an investigation into Nala Se once you give me the information about the other Bounty Hunter," Dr Hemlock replied after several moments.

Lama Su nodded and gave Dr Hemlock the information about Cad Bane.

"Ah yes, Cad Bane. He should be enough," Dr Hemlock replied, "You may go now, Lama Su,"

"Thank you," Lama Su replied before he departed.

Meanwhile with Hunter

It had been a week since Hunter's decision to go AWOL on his team on Naboo. As he flew the Havoc Marauder through Hyperspace, he sighed at how silent the craft had become without Wrecker and Echo. He was also gaining a new appreciation for Tech since he had to take care of the craft alone. The thought of that sent a renewed wave of grief through Hunter, though not as powerful as he was used to. It was mild on the Havoc Marauder, a comfortable temperature for Hunter. Hyperspace lit the craft, and Hunter could hear the ambient sound of the craft's engines. He took a deep breath and inhaled the scent of the craft's metal as he sat on the solid but supportive seat.

Hunter admitted that he had no idea why he was flying to Bora Vio. His first thought was maybe because it was a former Kaminoan facility. Perhaps because it was where his squad had rescued Omega from the Bounty Hunters, and now he has to repeat the feat.

Once the navicomputer had told Hunter he was approaching Bora Vio, he pulled on a lever, and the star lines returned to stars as he returned to real space.

As Hunter looked over Bora Vio, Hunter took in the cloudy atmosphere that obscured the planetary surface. As Hutner brought the craft into this atmosphere, seeking out the Kaminoan Cloning Facility high in the atmosphere. He briefly shuddered at the thought of what could've happened if they hadn't caught the craft Omega was in.

As Hunter approached the abandoned facility, he quickly checked over the craft. Once he reached the facility, Hunter was surprised to see another craft parked nearby.

"Wonder who else is here?" Hunter wondered as he brought his craft into landing. Hunter opened the door to his craft and exited, locking up afterwards.

Hunter walked through the abandoned facility and noticed it was mild for a Winter day on Bora Vio. Lido, Bora Vio's star, beamed through the clouds to provide light. Dust hung thick in the atmosphere, and Hunter could detect the scent of decay and neglect. The floor is hard and rough on Hunter's feet. The inside of the facility looked similar to Kamino, except for the lack of transperisteel. Instead, the walls are curved and seemingly dark brown, though Hunter knew the paint shines in Ultraviolet. The corridor continued for a while, and Hunter moved slowly, ensuring he made minimal noise as he moved. Hunter was on alert, listening for something or someone.

Hunter stops as he suddenly hears footsteps from nearby. Hunter turns to listen, pulling his blasters out, and to his surprise, Fennec Shand steps into view, pointing her blasters at him.

Surprised, Hunter said, "Fennec Shand. What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Fennec replied.

"Looking for information on Dr Hemlock," Hunter admitted, "What about you?"

"So the mad scientist got your daughter," Fennec replied, "Is that why you're alone?"

"It's part of it," Hunter replied, slowly lowering his blasters.

"That's a shame," Fennec replied, lowering hers, "You look like you need some work. How about you work for me to help protect Hemlock's next target?"

"I thought I was his next target," Hunter replied.

"Not yet," Fennec replied, "Dr Hemlock will be after Boba next. Guess he's discovered something about your daughter that means he needs both,"

"It's a tempting offer. And I owe you one for helping Omega survive here," Hunter admitted. He thought about it momentarily, then sighed, "Fine. I don't have anywhere else to go, and helping you might get me closer to my goal,"

"Good," Fennec replied before she got a beep on her intercom. Fennec checked it and got a shock. There was a ship incoming. But it wasn't Slave 1. It was the Justifier, flown by Cad Bane.

"We've got company and not the good kind," Fennec stated, "Follow me and stay down. We've got about ten minutes to get to our ships before Bane arrives. If we don't, we've got a hell of a fight on our hands,"

"Noted," Hunter replied as they headed for their ships.

Fennec and Hunter reached their craft just as Cad Bane started firing on them from his ship. Hunter and Fennec used their craft to avoid his blaster, and Fennec attempted to shoot Bane back from long range.

However, Bane was too good, and despite Fennec's best efforts, they remained pinned.

"Any brilliant ideas?" Fennec called from her ship.

"If you can draw his fire, I should get inside my ship. I can then cover your escape with the rear turret. Then you cover my escape, and we can get out together," Hunter replied.

"Sounds crazy enough to work," Fennec replied as she leapt out from behind her ship and started firing at Bane. Bane shot back, but Fennec kept moving quickly enough to avoid being blasted.

"Don't think I don't know you're there," Bane replied as Hunter made his move. However, Hunter only had enough time to get to the hatch and start getting it open before he had to retreat again to avoid Bane's retaliatory fire.

"I just need one more round of distraction, and I can get in," Hunter called.

"You're going to have to get moving. Bane's pinned me down," Fennec replied.

Hunter sighed in frustration, then jumped towards the door of the Havoc Marauder. He managed to pull himself inside before Bane's blasts hit, bouncing off the exit ramp. Hunter closed the door to his craft and then ran for the Gunnter's nest. When Hunter climbed into the Gunner's Nest, he immediately swung the rear turret towards Bane's ship and opened fire. The sudden fire from the Havoc Marauder forced Bane's droid, Toto, to move the Justifier out of the firing range of the Marauder, forcing Bane inside his craft.

"Go!" Hunter jumped out of the gunner nest, ran to the pilot seat and sent the Havoc Marauder into flight. Looking over to Fennec, he saw Fennec piloting her craft almost directly at Bane's ship. Hunter chased Fennec's craft. Before Bane could fire upon them, both had flown past and made for orbit. Bane kicked his craft around and followed Hunter and Fennec towards orbit.

"Bane will be in range before we can jump to Hyperspace," Hunter gritted his teeth.

"Pull out of my slipstream," Fennec called.

"Alright," Hunter pulled out from behind Fennec's ship. Fennec pulled a lever with her, opening three vents, and shot Ion bolts at Bane's craft. Bane avoided the first two Ion bolts, but the third bolt hit and rendered his craft partially inoperable. The loss of power meant Hunter and Fennec got to orbit before Bane got in range.

"Here's the coordinates I'm going to jump to. Follow me, alright?" Fennec stated through the intercom.

"OK," Hunter replied as he programmed the navicomputer with the coordinates for a hyperspace jump. Hunter watched as Fennec's ship disappeared into Hyperspace, and once the Havoc Marauder's Navicomputer had charted a course to Hyperspace, he pulled the lever on his craft. The stars became star lines as his craft jumped to Hyperspace.

When Hunter exited Hyperspace twelve hours later, he saw a large station hovering in orbit above a Neptune-sized Ice Giant. In the distance, about two Astronomical Units away, was a tiny White Dwarf, glowing faintly in the blackness of space. The station was about two kilometres across, glowing a faint white with the light of the White Dwarf. The station looked like a scaled-down version of the Kuan Drive Yards, except for the mix of circular and boxy structures seen on the surfaces of other planets.

"We're here. Hopefully, Bane doesn't follow us here," Fennec said through Hunter's intercom.

"I hope that Boba hasn't decided to fly to Bora Vio expecting to meet you there," Hunter replied.

"I've sent him a quick message to meet us here," Fennec replied. After a moment, Fennec added, "There he is. I can see the Slave 1 from here," as Hunter turned to look, he saw a modified Firespitter-31 Class Patrol and Attack craft approaching the station.

"Let's go," Hunter replied, turning his craft towards one of the four entrances to the station.

Once Hunter landed in one of the stations, he left his craft and took in his surroundings. It was mild inside the station, and due to the lack of light emitted by White Dwarves, the station's insides were lit by artificial lights. The station hummed as Hunter detected the scents of wood, metal and fuel for the ships, though there was an underlying scent of alcohol and spice.

Fennec exited her craft near him and motioned him to follow her to the bar about a hundred meters away.

The scents of alcohol and spice strengthened as Hunter approached the bar while the scents of craft fuel diminished. The bar had a handful of beings sitting around the wooden bar with many different bottles of alcohol.

"I don't know what Boba's armour looks like, do you?" Hunter asked.

"No," Fennec admitted, "But I think your armour would be pretty obvious to Boba, so he'll probably come to us,"

Hunter nodded and carefully watched his surroundings for trouble.

Suddenly, there was an argument between two beings nearby. Hunter turned around and saw two guards come over to corral the Pantoran and Kessurian men away from each other to avoid a fight.

"Excuse me, have you got anything alcohol-free?" came a male voice from nearby. Hunter turned back and saw what appeared to be a teenager wearing Mandalorian armour with a green helmet. The helmet had a black visor surrounded by a red border and a display attached to the helmet. There was a green chest plate and a green jetpack with a rocket sticking out the top. The figure also had yellow shoulder pads, red wrist gauntlets and a weapon belt.

"Good selection. You're not old enough to be drinking," the barman, a gruff-looking Pantoran, sneered back as he grabbed alcohol-free drinks for him. He turned to Hunter and said, "Nice armour,"

"Thanks," Hunter replied.

"It looks like it's Commando Armour," the figure replied.

"it is, though it's lost some of its features," Hunter admitted, "We got the scraps,"

"OK," the figure replied before he turned to Fennec Shand.

"Are you Fennec Shand?" the figure asked.

"I am," Fennec replied.

"Can we please move this to your craft? It'll be safer than saying things out here," the figure replied.

"If Hunter is OK with that," Fennec turned to Hunter, who nodded.

"Lead the way," the figure replied as Fennec got up and led them back to her ship.

As Hunter entered Fennec's ship, he noticed the climate inside the craft was milder than outside. Because the station is orbiting a white dwarf, seasons aren't a thing in this station. Fennec activated the lights on her ship and sat in the living quarters near the back. Hunter heard the gentle hum of the lights and detected the scent of alcohol underneath the metal, fabric and electricity as he sat on the surprisingly soft chairs alongside Fennec and opposite the figure, who immediately removed his helmet, revealing himself to be Boba Fett.

"So Fennec, why have you called me here?" Boba asked as Fennec grabbed a bottle of alcohol. Fennec activated a background hologram, which alternated green and white. Fennec removed her helmet, as did Hunter.

"You need to know what's going on regarding you," Fennec started, "You're in danger. A mad scientist called Dr Hemlock is coming after you,"

"And he's hired a Bounty Hunter to help him," Hunter replied.

"How do you know this?" Boba asked.

"Someone hired me to protect you," Fennec replied, while Hunter added, "Because he has Omega. Hemlock likely figured out something wasn't right genetically with Omega, so he's coming after you to find out what that is,"

"Alright. Say I accept your protection. How do I know that you two will keep me safe?" Boba asked.

"You're not the only one we're linking up with," Fennec replied, "There's a couple of Force Sensitive Kaminoans we're going to meet up with,"

"I didn't know Kaminoans could be Force Sensitive," Boba asked.

"I suspect these two Kaminoans are in contact with Rex. It would explain a lot," Hunter replied.

Boba considered this momentarily, then nodded.

"Then it's a deal," Fennec replied. Suddenly, something is attached to Fennec's ship and renders it inoperable.

"Bane," Boba snarled as he put his helmet back on.

"Let's go," Fennec replied, nodding to Hunter as she slammed on her helmet. Hunter did likewise, and the trio went out to confront the Duros.

Several stuns flew from Bane's blasters as Hunter, Fennec, and Boba exited the disabled ship. Fennec quickly returned fire, and Bane had to retreat.

"Let's get to my ship. Maybe we can avoid another stun if we move fast," Hunter replied as he spotted several guards running over towards them and Bane. Bane attempted to fire back but suddenly had to engage the guards.

"Move," Hunter called, and the trio raced for the Havoc Marauder. However, Bane quickly took care of the guards and started firing on them again.

Fennec and Boba returned fire while Hunter took cover within his craft and started preparing for takeoff.

Fennec threw a bomb at Cad Bane and forced him to dodge out of the way to avoid the blast.

"My craft is useless, so we'll have to use Hunter's modified Omicron-Class Attack Shuttle to escape," Fennec stated.

"Right," Boba replied, and they ran inside the ship and closed the door as Hunter turned the Marauder around and headed out of the station.

As Cad Bane watched the Havoc Marauder depart, he activated his communicator and sent a message to Dr Hemlock.

"I've made contact with the target. I couldn't capture Boba nor Hunter owing to the combined efforts of Hunter, Fennec, Boba, and security," Bane said.

"Then pursue them. And don't stop until you have them on a planet, then message me. Alright?" Dr Hemlock stated.

"Certainly," Bane sneered before the intercom cut off. Bane then returned to his craft and powered it up, ready to follow the secret tracking device he managed to attach to the Havoc Marauder without anyone knowing.

As Boba Fett took a seat in the middle of the Havoc Marauder, he looked at the control panel and around the ship. He immediately knew that Clones had lived in the craft, except for the back section, which looked like someone had converted a gunner nest into a makeshift room. Curious, Boba approached. He didn't know why he was looking at it, but something drew him here.

"What's up?" Hunter asked Boba from the cockpit as he approached the gunner nest.

"I don't know. But something has drawn me here," Boba replied.

"That was Omega's room," Hunter said, "We converted it for her so she had somewhere to sleep. And so she could protect her privacy. Unfortunately, it's not much use now that the Empire has her,"

"Who's this Omega I keep hearing about?" Boba asked.

"A Female Clone and a Lab Assistant to Nala Se," Hunter replied.

Boba's eyes widened as a distant memory echoed back into his mind.

Flashback

Jango and Boba were sitting in the suite they had been assigned by the Kaminoans. Boba Fett was younger, about nine years old. It was a stormy summer day on Kamino, and the cloud cover made it difficult to tell time using the sun. Lights in the ceiling light the room, and the sound of the storm outside dominates the surroundings. Boba could detect the scent of the metal and transperisteel of the room. The carpet he was sitting on was soft.

"What's up, dad?" Boba asked as he turned to his father, who seemed troubled.

"I saw Nala Se today," Jango explained, "And during the conversation, I thought I saw you in the back of her lab in my peripheral vision. But when I turned to get a better look, all I saw was a tiny sliver of blonde hair about halfway up the wall,"

"Really?" Boba asked in surprise.

"Yes," Jango replied, "I thought I was just imagining things. Then, just as I was leaving, I heard footsteps. Not Nala Se's footsteps. These footsteps were lighter. But before I could investigate, Nala Se had returned to her lab,"

"Did you ask Nala Se about what you saw?" Boba asked.

"I did," Jango replied, "But she brushed me off and deflected my questions. But it seems like Nala Se has created an unaltered Clone for her purposes. From a brief scent, I got, possibly, a female Clone,"

"Impossible," Boba replied, "A female Clone couldn't be an exact Clone of you,"

"If anyone could do it, it's the Kaminoans," Jango replied before he sighed, "If I could get into Nala Se's lab, there's every chance I could find this female Clone and rescue her from Nala Se's clutches,"

"What about me?" Boba asked, concern in his voice. Jango hugged Boba and replied, "Boba, Arla wouldn't replace you. But think about it. You could have a little sister to take care of. A little sister to be a role model for and to help her navigate life. How does that sound?"

Boba thought about it momentarily, then replied, "Maybe. I'll think about it,"

"Good. Having a daughter doesn't mean I love you any less, Boba. It would make me love you more. You're my son, Boba, and nothing will change that, OK?" Jango reassured.

"OK," Boba replied, leaning on Jango.

End Flashback

"My father suspected her existence. And his suspicions were correct. Nala Se had created her own private Clone," Boba whispered to himself, the shock of this revelation still sinking in. After a moment, Boba started climbing the stairs towards Omega's room.

When he reached the room, he saw the foam on the wall, the fairy lights that lit the room, and the massive chair where the rear gun was mounted. There were several blankets on the solid floor and a pillow where Omega rested her head. And in the left-hand corner was a black tooka doll with red tipped ears, arms and legs, a white face, red eyes and a black frown on the face.

Boba's shocks and revelations were nothing compared to his shock when he recognised the tooka doll.

"Ha! I didn't expect you to be here. Hey Lula, long time no see," Boba said as he gently grabbed the doll and held it in his hand, the look of shock on his face mixed with a smile.

"Lula was yours at one point?" Hunter asked in astonishment at this development.

"Jango got me Lula when I was a toddler after he returned from a job. I gave it to Ninety-Nine when I was about five because someone else needed it," Boba explained.

"You knew Ninety-Nine?" Hunter asked from next to Hunter.

"Not well," Boba admitted, "But the few times I saw him, I gave him a sympathetic smile. Jango told me to do that. But that and Lula were the only times I interacted with him,"

"What did you think of him?" Hunter asked.

Boba shrugged, "He seemed alright. Don't have too much of an opinion on the guy," before something else came to him.

"So let me get this straight. Despite Dr Hemlock having Omega, almost genetically identical to me, he decided to come after me and hired Cad Bane to help him. Then someone else has hired Fennec Shand here to protect me, and Hunter here is tagging along?" Boba asked.

"Yes," Fennec replied.

"Well, I guess I should be grateful," Boba replied as he watched Hunter bring the Havoc Marauder into Hyperspace.

Boba sat on one of the seats in the middle of the ship, lost in thought. His father was right. There was another like him. He should hate her for existing, yet he couldn't muster more than a mild annoyance. Maybe it was because she was a lab assistant to Nala Se, and since she was the reason for his fear of needles, he hated to think about what she had to deal with. Omega didn't ask to be born, especially not to Nala Se. Maybe that is why he doesn't hate her. Boba suspects he can't hate her because he feels sorry for her. Boba realises he will find out about his feelings regarding Omega if they get her off Mt. Tantiss. Those thoughts occupied Boba during the trip to Hyperspace.