Torma Yen had spent fifteen years of his life dedicated to the clone army project, day after day, week after week. He had seen and been involved in so many failures during that damned project that he almost resigned, he didn't want to create monstrosities that only experienced pain, he wanted to create life, he wanted to bring something good into the galaxy. When he had finally perfected the Jango Fett genotype, he was ecstatic, overjoyed, as much as a Kaminoan could possibly be.
Then Lama Su was elected prime minister. With only a year before his project was to be launched, he was forced out, resigned, his life's work had been given to Nala Se. Torma respected her as a biologist, but he loathed her apathy towards the clones. While they were life itself to him, she only saw them as tools, just fleshy imitations of droids with more complicated intelligence.
Meeting Faun Shae on Rogato was what he imagined the clones felt when meeting a new member of their clan. Like-minded, compassionate, full of inspiration and initiative, he cared more about the project than anyone else he knew. Meeting Dogma only added to the value of his work, a young clone blinded by loyalty, forced to do the unthinkable, sent to then for analysis and termination, but they couldn't do it. To them, he was a perfect specimen to study, to teach, to raise, to care for.
He was not about to let any harm come to either of them.
"Rex, you know these Wolfpack troopers?" He asked, bending his incredibly long neck and meeting the clone's eyes on the same level.
"Yes, sir. I've served with them many times, they're all close brothers to me." Rex answered as he stood tall and proud of his dedication to his brethren.
Torma then turned to Faun Shae and rested his hand on his shoulder. "Doctor Shae, I need you to trust me. Take Dogma and the others to the hidden tunnels. Watch over them. Please…" He said with a sense of sincerity that was alien to his species, but understood nonetheless.
Faun hesitantly nodded and took Dogma's hand, leading him, Slick and AZ-1601 to the tunnels. Hound however, didn't follow. Slick turned to his fellow Sergeant. "Hound, come on! We have to go."
He didn't move at first, he stood firm for a mere moment, visibly conflicted with his orders to retreat. "No, son. I ain't goin with ya yet. Somethin tells me these boys are gonna need all the help they can get. Go! I'll meet up with ya when we're done." He said in his strange grizzled accent.
Slick wanted to stop him, he wanted to force Hound to come with them, but a firm grasp on his wrist from Dogma persuaded him to let the old dog have his day.
With half of the fugitives now gone, only Rex, Torma and Hound remained to deal with the wolves. The doctor turned to the clones. "Gentlemen, violence shouldn't be necessary, but keep your blasters on stun just in case."
As if someone was waiting for an opportune moment, there was a knock on the same entrance that Rex had tried to force his way in previously. All eyes turned to the monitor, giving them a live feed of commander Wolffe outside.
"Attention! This is Commander Wolffe of the 104th battalion. I have reason to believe that you are harbouring a fugitive of the Galactic Empire, hand him over and I will be on my way." He said in a monotone voice, still obviously in whatever trance the chip had him in.
Torma took the initiative and opened a comm channel to the outside. "Commander Wolffe, this is Doctor Torma Yen, representing the Kaminoan Ruling Council and it's interests. I'm afraid you are mistaken, there are no clone fugitives in this facility."
Wolffe looked directly into the camera and held up a thermal detonator. "I never said that the fugitive was a clone." He said coldly before throwing the detonator at the door, blowing it wide open, creating a shroud of smoke for him to attack from.
Hound and Rex fired multiple stun rounds, unable to clearly see their attacker, missing him narrowly. Amongst the blaster fire, Torma Yen then shouted at the top of his lungs. "Execute Order Twenty-Nine!"
Rex and Hound stopped firing only a mere second after the order, realising that Wolffe had also ceased fire, they looked to each other in confusion as to what order Twenty-Nine could be. They then looked forward to the open entrance to the base, watching the silhouette of Wolffe appear clearly after the smoke had faded. His hands were raised in surrender.
Rex took off his helmet and took in a breath of fresh air before exhaling in relief. "Ha! A surrender command, of course!" He almost shouted as he gave Hound a playful punch to the shoulder.
Torma gave a faint smile. "I figured you'd know by now, Rex. Kaminoans can be extremely thorough."
Hound then walked over to Wolffe and gently nudged him in the back with his rifle. "So what do we do with this here feller? We got time to take out his inhibitor whatchamacallit?"
"You mean his Chip?" Rex asked for clarification before turning to Torma. "Do we even have that sort of time? He didn't come alone, I'm sure of it."
Torma began tapping away at the console on his wrist before speaking. "The more soldiers we have at our side, the better chance we have of removing all of their chips." He said before opening a comm. "Faun. We have their commander in custody. Send AZ to our location for an emergency surgery."
"Right away." Faun could be heard through the speakers in his wrist.
Only two minutes later, the three of them had leaded Wolffe to the primary medical chamber, AZ-1601 flew to them mere seconds after they arrived. "Hound! Guard the door!" Rex commanded as he helped Wolffe onto the medical bed.
"On it!" He responded before cocking his gun.
"This shall only take a few minutes." Torma explained as AZ began the extraction.
"We might not have that long." Rex said worryingly before blaster fire could be heard only a second after speaking.
"We don't!" Hound shouted as he retreated backwards into the medical chamber, unleashing round after round of stun blasts at two Wolfpack troopers. "Attention Wolfpack! We'll gracefully and humbly accept your unconditional surrender at any time!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, giving no indication as to whether or not he was joking or being serious.
"Sinker and Boost…" Rex muttered under his breath before readying his weapons and returning fire.
Torma sighed in frustration. "We don't have time for this." He said calmly before announcing the clone command again. "Execute Order Twen-"
He never managed to finish that sentence. An unlucky blaster shot from one of the Wolfpack had managed to avoid both Hound and Rex, unfortunately hitting Torma Yen in the throat in the process. His body went limp as he collapsed to the floor, his neck piling up like loose rope.
Rex turned to see the horror of what had just happened. Torma was dead, Faun Shae was in no position to give the surrender command, Wolffe was still unconscious, and the two troopers were closing in. Suddenly, a third assailant descended from the opening in the ceiling caused by Slick earlier. It was Comet. He pointed his blaster at Rex, giving him no choice but to drop his pistols and raise his hands in surrender right before he was rendered unconscious by Wolffe's top lieutenant.
Hound turned his head quickly to the sound of Rex's body hitting the floor, he then just as quickly analysed the situation before him and lowered his own weapon as the three troopers closed in.
Comet chuckled as the three of them surrounded the Sergeant. "Looks like the dog thought he could run with the wolves…"
"Comet!" A clones voice could be heard from the back of the room. The Wolfpack and Hound looked towards Wolffe who had just put on his helmet, walking towards them from the operating table.
"Sir, are you alright?" Sinker walked up to him and asked, handing him a pistol.
"I'm fine. Just a little dizzy, is all." He grumbled.
"Where's that droid?" Boost then followed up, his rifle steadily aimed at Hound's head.
Wolffe shrugged his shoulders. "Must've fled during the battle. Doesn't matter now. We have Rex and… What are you doing all the way out here?" He then looked Hound in the eye.
There was no point in lying, not when he was surrounded and Rex was unconscious. "Don't ask me. That traitor Slick was the one who brought me here."
"Where is he?" Wolffe asked calmly, trying his best not to escape the situation further.
"That kriffin backstabber took our ship and hightailed it outa here when he heard you boys were commin." Hound lied through his teeth, hoping to buy the others more time.
"And how'd you get mixed up with him?" Comet then asked, gesturing to Rex, still laying on the floor.
Hound slowly raised his hands while Wolffe's men hesitantly kept their blasters aimed at him. He then removed his helmet and slowly pointed to the fresh wound on the side of his head. "All clones have these… control chips stuck in our heads. Rex removed mine. We can remove yours too if you let us."
Comet raised his blaster once more. "Nice try, you think we're gonna fall for something as ludicrous as that?"
"Hold on, men." Wolffe then raised his hand to halt his troopers advance. "There may be some truth to what he's saying. Bring him and Rex onto the ship for extraction."
The men all hesitantly looked to each other. "Sir. Our orders were to only retrieve commander Rex for interrogation. Sergeant Hound is not a mission objective."
"He is if I say he is! That is an order, Lieutenant!" The commander snapped, causing them all to jump slightly at his tone of voice.
Silence followed for what felt like an eternity. Comet, Boost and Sinker all looking to each other in confusion before begrudgingly placing Hound in cuffs, then hoisting Rex up over his shoulders.
"You can carry him." Boost chuckled as they balanced Rex's limp body over Hound. The Sergeant merely grumbled in response.
Wolffe aimed his pistol into Hound's back and ordered him to advance to the exit. "Move." He said coldly. The Wolfpack following closely behind.
"WAIT!" A synthesised voice could be heard directly behind them. All soldiers quickly turned and aimed their weapons, ready to fire at the AZ droid who had followed them.
Wolffe once again raised his hand to halt his mens attack. "What do you want, droid?"
"My primary directive is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of my patients. I cannot allow you to leave this facility." Suddenly, six training droids emerged from either side of the corridor, their weapons aimed at the clones.
There was no command, no order to attack, no final word shouted before all hell broke loose. Wolffe dived into Hound and Rex, knocking them to the floor to avoid blaster fire as the droids mowed down Comet, Boost and Sinker. When the fighting had quickly ended, Wolffe got up and grabbed the droid by the joint in it's neck and held it against the wall.
"Those were supposed to be stun rounds, you stupid droid!" He shouted before pulling AZ towards him slightly then slamming it back into the wall.
"Probability suggested that they would succeed if stun rounds were used. They would unlikely cooperate, and therefor, would have completed their mission to bring you back to Coruscant. I would be unable to help you."
Wolffe screamed through his helmet and punched the wall next to the droid's head. "Argh! You can't know that!"
"I am a droid. It is in my programming to calculate the most likely scenario, then act upon it accordingly."
"Wolffe?..." A familiar voice caught his attention and he turned his head to see Rex slowly getting up. "Wolffe… it's not… its not your fault. We've lost men before, both of us. What's the one rule they taught us as leaders?" Rex then asked as he stumbled towards him, placing both hands on his shoulders.
His shoulders slumped as soon as Rex touched him, he then sighed. "War isn't a game. People die on either side. Take responsibility, but don't let the guilt consume you." He quoted from memory.
Rex lifted himself up and gave an empathetic smile. "They were good men, I've fought along side them and will honour their memory."
Wolffe slowly released Az-1601. "Yeah… yeah, you're right, Rex. Have you got a plan to get out of here?"
"There's a ship down in the lower levels. Are there anymore of your men here?"
He shook his head. "No, no. Ship's landing was automated. The empire will come here looking when I don't report back, but we'll be long gone by then…" He trailed off, staring blankly at the bodies of his brothers sprawled out on the ground. "Can we?..." He trailed off again, pointing towards them.
Rex and Hound bent down and lifted Boost and Sinker over their shoulders. "Of course, brother." Hound said firmly as Wolffe lifted Comet in his arms.
AZ had led the group through a series of tunnels, down the same path that Faun Shae had led Slick and Dogma towards the hanger which housed a small medical frigate, smaller than any standard ship of its kind that any of them had seen before.
Dogma greeted the squad as they slowly entered with the heads sunk low in sorrow and regret, each carrying a member of the Wolfpack in their arms. The young clone wasn't sure how to process death, the whole subject made him confused and uncomfortable, another result of the mind wipe. Rex tried to explain to him that Torma Yen wasn't going to be joining them, but it didn't get through, Dogma was under the impression that he had elected to stay behind and watch the facility for them. Rex didn't have it in him to break the truth to him, neither did Faun, who was having trouble processing his colleague's death himself.
The vacuum of space had never been so silent. Slick looked into the black void and stood there in silence until Rex slowly approached him.
"Crazy day, huh?" The former Sergeant commented, attempting to break the ice.
"Not the craziest thing I've seen in the past week." Rex replied almost casually as he joined him in observation.
"I know what you think of me, Rex... But I still mean what I said all those years ago. I love my brothers. Help me help them." Slick then turned to his brother.
Rex took in a deep breath as he observed the very few stars in this region of space, the oxygen in his lungs made it seem less empty, somehow. He then exhaled and turned to meet Slick at eye level. "My plans are on hold. For the moment, anyway. Wolffe and I have been talking and... And it may be best if he and I go on a separate journey."
Slick couldn't believe what he was hearing. "A separate journey? Rex, what are you talking about? What about your plan to free more clones? You need AZ for that." He said as he tried to reason with him.
"It's far too soon to act on that plan, I realised that today when I could only save one brother out of four. Those aren't the type of odds I want to keep playing."
"And what are we supposed to do with you and Wolffe gone?"
In an act of simple kinship, Rex placed a hand on Slick's shoulder. "You'll find a home. You have this ship, you have Faun Shae, Dogma and Hound. Slick, you travelled halfway across the galaxy to save one of our own when you didn't even understand it. Believe it or not, but you've changed. You're not the same clone that I fought on Chistophsis years ago, you're a brother again. I'll leave you this frequency to contact me should you really need me." He said with pride as he typed a sequence into Slick's wrist comm.
Slick looked down at his arm, then slowly back at Rex. "Where will you go?..."
Rex chuckled briefly. "I have absolutely no idea, but I know that my fight isn't over yet, neither is Wolffe's... Neither is yours... I think that your journey is different to mine, but your story certainly isn't over yet. Call it a hunch." He smiled as he shrugged his shoulders before walking back towards the sleeping quarters. "Oh, and Slick... Look after Dogma for me, he deserves a home as much as any of us." And with that, Rex was gone.
Slick couldn't help but wonder what planet would be the best for him and his brothers, somewhere we're they could live in peace, away from the empire, away from the war, somewhere where they'd never have to fight in a war again.
"Home..." He wondered.