Tarkin perused through the information from Hemlock's abandoned lab as he stepped into a lift to the detention center, flanked by an aide and two stormtroopers from Vulture Squad.
"This file mentions that Hemlock's research was heavily influenced by the Kaminoan experiments on Bora Vio," he said. "Captain, depending on what we learn from the specimen you captured on Cathulia, I may have you investigate this Kaminoan lab."
The stormtrooper captain nodded. "Very well, sir."
The lift came to a halt, and they filed out. Tarkin led his entourage down the maze of hallways until he came to a room at the end of a long hallway. Inside was a wide room, one wall of which consisted of a single massive transparisteel panel. As the moff stepped forward, the two stormtroopers took up station at the door.
Tarkin stared through the transparisteel at the wretched clone on the other side. The clone had been changed into a white jumpsuit and was crouched up against the far wall, rocking back and forth, eyes darting between the transparisteel and the various cameras.
"Is the specimen ready for interrogation?" the moff asked one of the techs monitoring the specimen.
"We've been having some problems," the tech said. "He won't talk."
"Have you used advanced interrogation techniques?"
"They aren't working. He's been conditioned to not make a sound. We think he also has an extraordinarily high pain tolerance due to his condition."
"Will he ever be able to communicate?"
"Possibly," the tech said. "Given time and effort."
Tarkin clasped his hands at the small of his back. "Not an ideal situation, but not terrible, either. We have some time. Continue working with him. Inform me if you have any breakthroughs."
Tarkin turned and left, the aide and two stormtroopers following him.
"Captain Kirgard."
One of the stormtroopers moved forward to keep pace with the moff. "Yes, sir?"
"Take your squad to the decommissioned Kaminoan lab on Bora Vio. Collect as much data as you can."
"Yes, sir."
CX-2 was pacing back and forth in his quarters, armor stacked neatly on a shelf. When he'd met Ferrus in the mess earlier, she'd told him she was headed to the detention center for the interrogation with Tarkin and Kirgard. She'd promised to leave her comlink on so that CX-2 could listen in; but time stretched on, well past the scheduled interrogation time, and CX-2 still hadn't heard from Ferrus.
Had she forgotten her promise to help him? Had she decided that Kirgard was right to keep CX-2 out of the loop?
Maybe his comlink was malfunctioning.
For the hundredth time, CX-2 checked his comlink to ensure it was functioning properly.
A knock on the door made CX-2 jump. He slapped the door release, revealing Ferrus, still clad in white armor.
"What happened?" the clone asked as Ferrus entered and shut the door. She pulled her helmet off.
"Tarkin had to cancel the interrogation," Ferrus said. "They can't get the thing to talk."
CX-2 sank down, sitting on the edge of the bunk. The anxiety that had gripped him a moment before was now replaced by bitter disappointment. His first attempt at finding out more about Crosshair had been stymied, and now this clone's interrogation had stalled.
Ferrus sat down beside the clone. "It's not all bad news, though. It sounded like they'll be able to get him to talk eventually. Hemlock's scientists must have punished him every time he made a sound."
CX-2 adjusted his goggles, somehow a bit more aware of Ferrus sitting beside him.
"What's so special about this clone?" Ferrus asked. "Is it just that he's a clone? He's not like you at all."
CX-2 looked at Ferrus, realizing that she'd agreed to help him defy their captain and sneak sensitive intel past a moff, all without any idea why he wanted that intel in the first place.
"He reminds me of a clone I knew on Kamino," CX-2 admitted.
Ferrus's jaw dropped. "You remembered someone?"
"Not well. I know that he meant something important to me, but I do not remember why. I was hoping that listening to this clone's interrogation might jog my memory of 99."
"99?"
"That was the birth number of the clone I knew."
"Oh."
"I…" CX-2 hesitated. If he could trust anyone, it was Ferrus. He took a deep breath.
"There…is something more. I have been having flashbacks of my previous life."
Ferris's face split into a grin. "That's fantastic! Does that mean your memory is coming back?"
CX-2 shook his head. "No. These are…different, I think. My mind is not as whole as I would like it to be, and these flashbacks are events that were traumatic to me. I think."
Ferrus's face fell. "Oh. Have you spoken to Pare about it? I heard he got transferred to the Executrix with us."
"No. I'm worried that if he finds out what's been happening, he'll pull me off duty. I…I need to be useful. I think it might be part of Hemlock's reconditioning." Or my original conditioning as a clone trooper, he thought.
Ferrus still looked doubtful. "If this compromises your ability to perform, though—"
"It hasn't," CX-2 lied. His thoughts flitted to the incident with the cyborg clone, but he shoved the thought away.
If I can't learn more about 99 at the moment, I should work on learning more about Crosshair.
"I saw a clone in one of my flashbacks," he said, "but when I attempted to look him up on the HoloNet, I did not have the sufficient clearance. I was hoping you could help me find a sympathetic officer to assist me."
Ferrus looked into his earnest brown eyes. CX-2 adjusted his goggles and looked away uncomfortably.
"That is, unless you think learning about my past is too dangerous," he amended.
Ferrus shook her head. "Oh, no, not at all. I'm all for helping you remember who you are. I just can't think of anyone off the top of my head. Kirgard and Dahl would send you straight to Pare if they knew you were having these episodes. I might know another guy, but I'll have to ask him."
"Thank you," CX-2 said.
Ferrus smiled sadly. "Must be difficult, not knowing who you are. I can't even imagine what that must be like."
CX-2 began to say he didn't know any differently, but that was a lie. He could feel the memories there, like a figure just on the periphery of his vision.
"Yes," he said instead. Awkwardly, he said, "I…realize I have not asked about your past life. Before the Imperial Academy. Seems like an oversight on my part."
Ferrus shrugged. "What is there to tell? I grew up on a mining world. My choices were the mines or the Academy. At least if I joined the stormtrooper corp, I'd be able to see the galaxy."
"Do you have family?"
She nodded. "My mother and two sisters."
"Do you regret leaving them behind?"
Ferrus shook her head. "My mother is…" She winced. "Unstable. I was glad to get out of there. My sisters married miners. I never got along with either of them."
CX-2 cocked his head. "Would you wish to forget them?"
"Well, no. They're a part of who I am. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have become a stormtrooper to try and get away. And I'm happier now than I ever have been. I'm satisfied with the work we're doing. I feel needed, useful. You know?"
They made me who I am, CX-2 thought. His thoughts drifted back to that flashback of the gaunt clone, Crosshair, and the twisted clone, 99. They're both a part of my past. Perhaps they had a hand in making me who I am.
Just then, both of their comlinks beeped, saving CX-2 from needing to respond.
"Ferrus."
"CX-2."
"Are you together?" Dahl's voice said, amused.
"At the moment, yes," CX-2 said.
"Huh. Alright. Didn't expect that. Uh–"
"Don't read anything into it," Ferrus snapped. "What did you need?"
"Briefing," Dahl said. "Got another mission."
"Roger," Ferrus and CX-2 said together.
Ferrus flicked her comlink off, rolling her eyes. She stood and stuffed her helmet back on.
"Kriffing idiot can't keep his mind out of the gutter," she muttered.
When they arrived in the briefing room, Dahl was grinning knowingly. Ferrus took the butt of her rifle and smacked Dahl in the back of the head.
"Not you, not him, not anyone I've ever or will ever work with," Ferrus growled.
Dahl glared at her, then looked to the captain, silently imploring him to intervene. But Kirgard just smirked.
"Unlike you, Ferrus is a professional," the captain said. He flicked on the holoprojector as usual as CX-2 sat.
"Bora Vio," Kirgard said. "Abandoned Kaminoan lab. Same gig as before, but hopefully fewer critters."
CX-2 leaned forward, interest piqued. "A cloning facility?"
"Possibly. Possibly not. We don't know. It's a location mentioned in those files you downloaded on Cathulia. The facility doesn't appear in any Imperial databases, and there's been some difficulty adapting our probe droids to the local fauna. Some flying reptile keeps trying to eat them."
"We're going in blind on this one, so gear up appropriately. Also, gonna need jump kits as a precaution as the facility's coordinates indicate an airborne facility."
Dahl grinned. "Jetpacks! Haven't gotten to use those in awhile."
"With any luck, we won't need to use them here, either." Kirgard turned to CX-2. "Prep for massive data retrieval. That'll be your job."
CX-2 nodded.
The captain turned to Dahl. "You'll be escorting the gonk droid."
"We have a gonk now?" Ferrus asked curiously.
Kirgard nodded. "If Tarkin wants us rooting around in old abandoned facilities, we'll need the extra power source. Anything else?"
When no one answered, the captain shut down the holoprojector. "Good. That's all for now. Dismissed."
CX-2 still harbored some resentment towards the captain for ordering him to nearly sacrifice his own life for the data spike on Cathulia, but he had to admit that if Kirgard had given the task to either of the others, they would have been incinerated before they'd been able to complete the task. Ferrus was capable, but CX-2 was fast and efficient.
He'd also noticed that whenever he'd questioned Kirgard's orders, the captain had given him very specific orders, and that CX-2 had complied with an eagerness that unsettled him. The clone was as devoted to the Empire as any other stormtrooper, but when given an order, he could feel it increase to an almost manic desperation to comply that only eased when he'd fulfilled the order.
CX-2's leg began to bounce in agitation. Was that part of Hemlock's reconditioning? If it was, there wasn't anything CX-2 could do about it other than try to ensure Kirgard didn't feel threatened by the clone's questions.
"Hey, you coming, Reboot?" Ferrus asked at CX-2's elbow.
Behind her, Dahl was grinning. "Time to go get our jetpacks!"
Ferrus chuckled and rolled her eyes.
Captain Rex ran a hand through his short blonde hair. He'd cut it after he'd finished his latest mission to Coruscant. After having short hair most of his life, long hair just felt…untidy. He'd kept the beard, though, and trimmed it to a more manageable length.
Rex glared at the supply list in front of him. Ever since the incident on Coruscant, and the subsequent bad press on the HoloNet, he'd been having trouble getting supporters to commit resources to the clone resistance.
"Captain."
Rex looked up, grateful for the distraction from his requisition duties. "What is it, Howzer?" the clone captain asked.
Howzer drew his chair up closer to Rex and lowered his voice. "There's been some movement on that stormtrooper unit you asked me to keep tabs on, sir."
Rex cast a glance at Echo. The blonde clone hadn't been willing to completely write off that stormtrooper, as Echo had, so he'd been having Howzer keep an eye on the trooper through his Imperial informants.
But Rex hadn't told Echo, not wanting to nurture any of the cyborg's hopes.
Not sure why I'm holding out hope, he admitted to himself. We never had more than a gut feeling that it was Tech in the first place. Am I just being an idiot?
But after Echo, and Howzer, and then Gregor, and half a dozen other clones, Rex just couldn't bring himself to let go of even the ghost of a possibility that a brother clone might be saveable.
The cyborg clone was deep in conversation with Gregor and not paying any attention to Rex or Howzer.
"Yeah?" Rex said.
"My contact says they just visited one of Hemlock's old labs, and they're on their way to a Kaminoan outpost."
Rex frowned. "They're looking into cloning technology?"
"Seems like it."
"That is odd. I thought the Empire discarded the idea of clones, saying we're too expensive and difficult to control."
Howzer nodded. "Exactly. If Tarkin's quietly looking into cloning, I think it's worth finding out why."
Rex grabbed his helmet. "Let's check it out, just you and me."
"We could really use Echo's—"
"No. Echo doesn't need to know what we're up to, either. Understood?"
"No, but I'll play along. Give me a minute."
Howzer walked over to Gregor and said something to which the other clone nodded, then went back to his discussion with Echo. Then Howzer picked his helmet off his desk and rejoined Rex.
"Told him it was a last minute supply run," Howzer said, following Rex out to the shuttle. "Wanna let me in the loop?"
"Later."
The shuttle bearing Vulture Squad descended into the clouds of Bora Vio.
"Keep an eye out for those flying reptiles," Kirgard said.
Dahl said, "Yessir," and flicked a switch. "Shields up."
"No sign of them," Ferrus said, eyes on the short-range scanners.
Suddenly, a winged thing flew straight at the shuttle's cockpit. As soon as it touched the foreward shield, energy crackled across its skin, paralyzing it, making it fall.
Belatedly, Ferrus muttered, "Uh, contact."
Kirgard snorted. "Recalibrate the life-form scanner."
"If that was it, I doubt they'll be a problem," Dahl said.
"Still, better to be safe," Kirgard said.
Ferris flicked a switch, then pushed the steering yoke forward. "Approaching the Kaminoan facility."
A moment later, the shuttle touched down on the landing platform of the Bora Vio installation in a puff of white cloud. As they disembarked, the fog swirled around the ship, curling around its wings, embracing it, and obscuring the facility. It soaked up every sound they made as though they were in a pillow.
Dahl made sure the gonk droid was shuffling down the ramp behind him, then walked to the edge of the platform and looked down.
"Does this planet even have a surface?" he asked.
"Yes," CX-2 said, "though most of it consists of swamplands. No doubt the Kaminoans determined that it would be easier to establish an aerial facility than deal with the unstable nature of most of the surface."
"Weird place to have an outpost," Ferrus said. "Why'd they even need one?"
"Backups for research are always a good idea," Kirgard said.
The captain stood in front of the closed iris of the door. "CX-2, get the door."
The clone hurried to comply.
Behind him, he heard Dahl swear and the trooper's blaster discharge. CX-2 spun to see an enormous version of the little winged reptile that had attempted to attack their shuttle mid-flight. This one's wingspan easily rivaled that of the shuttle. Its face looked like a suction cup with row upon row of razor-sharp teeth, behind which two bat-like ears sprouted.
The creature shrieked. CX-2 cringed, his ears ringing, head suddenly throbbing. It screamed again.
"Ok, I take it back," Dahl shouted into his comlink as he fired ineffectually at the creature's armored underbelly. "I can see why these things are a problem!"
"Get that door open!" Kirgard yelled. He fired again at the beast's sensitive ears, but the shots went wide.
CX-2 spun. He synced his datapad up with the door, amazed that it had enough power still after all these years. A few moments later, the door gaped open.
"We're in," CX-2 said. He unslung his sniper rifle and sighted on the beast's eyes, then squeezed off a shot.
CX-2's blaster bolt sank into the beast's eye, burning it and causing the creature to scream and dive off the platform.
The squad remained tense, watching the clouds, blasters up. They could hear the creature's wingbeats circling the platform.
Then, out of the mist, the beast lunged, wrapping its jaws around the gonk droid, then dropped off the platform once more.
"Goooooooonnnnnnk…"
The droid's wail trailed off, receding with the creature's heavy wing beats.
The stormtroopers lowered their blasters.
"Ah, kriff," Dahl muttered. He turned to Kirgard. "That thing could do some serious damage to the shuttle. We can't leave it out here unguarded."
Reluctantly, Kirgard said, "Alright. Stay here with the ship."
Dahl jogged back up the gangplank and sealed it behind him.
The captain and Ferrus kept their blasters up and trained on the edge of the platform as they hurried over to where CX-2 waited, then ducked inside the facility.
"Ferrus, take point," Kirgard said.
The stormtrooper stepped into the darkness and clicked on her flashlight.
They quickly moved through an anteroom, and deeper into the darkened facility.
The room they found themselves in was some sort of laboratory. The walls were lined with dead consoles streaming broken wires and covered in layers of dust so thick it looked like a brown blanket. The air in front of Ferrus's flashlight shimmered from the disturbed airborne particles of dust.
The beam fell on a broken cloning tank, a skeleton draped over the jagged glass.
A chill went down CX-2's spine. "Kaminoan," he said, not needing a scanner to recognize the long-necked being.
"I thought they bred human clones," Ferrus said. Beside her, Kirgard kicked at the skeleton with a booted toe.
CX-2 shrugged. "Long ago, Kamino was flooded. The Kaminoans responded by manipulating their own genetics to adapt to their new world. The technology they developed to do so gave them an unprecedented understanding of large-scale genetic manipulation, which in turn allowed them to become the finest cloners in the galaxy."
He stepped over the skeleton to a cluster of intact tanks. Within the murky green fluid floated other specimens of various species. Another Kaminoan, a human, a Twi'lek.
Kirgard leaned in close to inspect the distorted but well-preserved face of the Twi-lek. "You sound proud of them."
"Not proud. I am merely stating fact."
"But they created you."
"My relationship to my creators is quite different from your relationship to your parents. My interactions with them were quite limited and impersonal. To them, I was nothing more or less than a product designed for and bought by the Republic."
CX-2 moved over to a console and tried a few buttons. Nothing happened.
"Captain, the console is dead. We will either have to find an alternate console or find a way to route power back to this console."
"Kriffin' gonk had to get itself eaten," Kirgard swore, then sighed. "Alright. You know the drill. CX-2, come with me. Ferrus, you can take care of yourself. Let's see what else the Kaminoans left behind."
Rex stood beside Howzer on the open gangplank of the shuttle, staring down at the Kaminoan facility far below. From their vantage point among the clouds, they could only see it sporadically as the accumulated moisture drifted by; but when they could see it, the facility looked a little smaller than a lunch tray.
"Are you sure about this?" Howzer asked. "That's a long way down."
Rex pulled on his helmet and heard the familiar click . "Has to be. Otherwise they'll pick us up on their sensors. Don't worry; I've done this loads of times."
Rex didn't mention that many of his most daring leaps had been Force-fully encouraged by a pair of rather impulsive and unpredictable Jedi. Behind his jaig-eyed helmet, he grinned at the memories.
He keyed his comlink so he could give the droid piloting the ship his last instructions. "IR-2, once we've landed, take the ship up into orbit. There are flying machine-eating reptiles that live around here."
"Oh my. Will do, Captain."
"I'll contact you when we're ready for pickup."
Rex patted Howzer on the shoulder reassuringly. "The trick is to just do it. If you give yourself too much time to think, you'll talk yourself out of it. Ready? Go!"
Rex shoved Howzer off the gangplank, then leapt out into thin air.