Moon woke up to a silent, dark room. Nothing seemed familiar, and an unsettling confusion set-in. After a minute of adjusting, she did remember the cold, gray stones that comprised the walls. Whatever the stones where, they had the ability to constrain her force-abilities to the immediate surroundings, and was not able to feel anything beyond them. She missed Okha. Even if she could not see her, she would be able to reach out with the force and connect with her. No matter the distance. This was something now made impossible with these walls.
Moon sat up and a small light by the bedside beside her lit up. The bed was soft and comfortable. She had never felt sheets of such a soft texture. Although she remembered meeting a few female soldiers, watched them spar and practice, it was difficult to remember how she got to the room itself.
She slowly got out of the bed and approached the door. In the distance, she could hear the sounds of the troops practicing.
Suddenly, she could hear footsteps.She took a few steps back into the room. The steps stopped. After a few moments, she heard a knock at the door. Confused that anyone would come looking for her, Moon decided to wait for a few seconds. She finally answered, “Hello?”
A female voice replied, “Hello, may I enter?” Moon wasn’t sure who it was. It sounded like Okha, and made her heart skip a beat. But, then she remembered they all sounded the same. After hesitating for a few seconds, Moon replied, “Sure.” The door slides open to reveal Captain Xera in uniform, cradling her helmet in her left arm. She tries to generate a genuine smile, “how did you sleep?”. Moon was still confused, but tried not to show it, “good, thank you.” Xera nodded, “Good”. Moon tried not to make too much eye-contact, and simply did not know what else to say. In addition, she could tell that Xera had some type of agenda that did not require force-sensitivities to perceive. After a long minute, the tension and awkwardness became evident. Xera broke the silence, “may I come in?” Moon nodded. Xera slowly took a few steps and pointed at the other end of the bed, “Is it ok if I sit here?” Moon nodded again, lightly, and keeping her eyes looking downward. As Xera sat, and made an effort to make eye-contact and asked, “do you know why you are here?” Moon lightly shook her head while maintaining eye contact. Xera slightly smiled, “you were in danger. Now, you are safe.” Moon tried not to look confused, “safe from what?” “From those who want to hurt you.” Xera looked towards the door, “Out there, we are training to ensure that everyone, like you, is safe from those who wish to do harm.”
“Like the Empire?”
Xera looked confused, “Well, the empire is trying to maintain peace and order. Perhaps not doing a very good job of it, but there are other organizations that defy peace and order, and threaten the basic freedoms of everyone in the galaxy.”
Moon could tell that Xera believed what she was saying was true. However, she was not sure if it was fact. Xera continued to look at Moon and wait for her reaction. In the distance, the indistinct sounds of female troops engaged in war games and training exercises filled the silence.
Moon eventually looked towards the door, “are they all training to protect us?”
Xera looked toward the door and back at Moon, then nodded with excitement, “Yes, you see a long time ago, there were systems throughout the galaxy and there were wars for trade routes and control over them. Eventually, force-users became organized and called themselves Jedi and Sith … both two sides of the same blade, keeping everything divided. Eventually, the wars led to the formation of a Galactic Republic, and there was peace throughout the galaxy. However, once politics took over, and systems began breaking away. It lead to another war. A war that was never finished. The Empire silenced it, but it still screams for heroes. We are here to answer that scream for help.”
Xera stood up and reached out to Moon with both hands, “Common, let’s go…”. Moon hesitated, but eventually reached out her right hand slowly. Xera reached out with both hands and as Moon got up, they looked into each other’s eyes. Moon felt a connection not unlike the one’s she had with Okha. With the exception of the scars, Xera’s face was identical to Okha’s. But, most importantly, her eyes. If eyes are the windows to the soul, they were cut from the same cloth. Moon could feel Xera’s heartbeat. Plus, she could feel it was in the right place. It had genuine feelings and motives. However, it was in conflict with her thoughts. Moon did not feel it was necessary to pry into Xera’s mind, but she could tell that they were not aligned with her heart. Her memories were not extensive either. She could tell that Xera’s outwardly-appearing age to be in her early twenties, but her memory did not have anything beyond two years worth. There was also something dark - something Okha had as well. Something Moon could not access no matter how much she tried. Suddenly, she heard Xera’s gentle voice inside her head, “what is this?”. Moon did not answer verbally, but tried to convey a sense of calmness and trust. Suddenly, Moon felt the connection of her abilities, the feeling of thoughts, feelings and power being shared. Xera’s face showed wonder and confusion, in Moon’s head, Xera’s voice returned, is this… is this what Arla was talking about?
Once Moon heard that name, the connection began to fail. The last thing Moon felt before the connection was lost was fear. However, Moon was not sure if it was her own fear, or Xera’s.
Both Xera and Moon took a deep breath and began blinking again, while maintaining eye-contact.
After a moment, Xera broke the silence, “I am sorry...” Moon was confused, she didn’t feel Xera had a reason for apologizing. However, she remained quiet to hear what she might say next. Xera was still holding Moon’s hands in a tender fashion as she looked around the room and back at Moon’s eyes, “I didn’t know… I mean…Wow...” she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, bringing into view a genuine smile with wonder glistening in her eyes. Another long pause of silence went by before Moon decided to break the silence, “Ok, we can go…” Xera looked a little confused, “go…? OH! … go… yes” and proceeded to wince, smile again and produce a nervous laugh for a split second. Moon could not help but smile as well. In that moment, she realized that she had never seen Okha laugh once. Perhaps a smile, but never laugh.
They both walked out into the corridor. Xera pointed to the stone-laden hallway, "in case you are wondering, this facility predates the Old Republic and is hundreds of years old.”
Moon knew that there was something inherently different about the stones. Not only could she not reach-out with the force beyond any wall, but her connection with Okha was impossible. Looking at the walls and looking for Xera’s attention, felt compelled to ask, “are these stones special?”
Xera seemed to hesitate at first, “..yes... they are.” Moon looked at Xera, waiting for more. Xera eventually continued, “they are mined from a planet in which the force has no effect. It either absorbs it, reflects it or disperses, but never allows transmission or allows it to be affected by it.” Moon looked confused, “why was it used to build this place?” Xera looked slightly confused, “perhaps they didn’t know the stones had that effect centuries ago, when it was built. Or, they did know, and it was intentional.” Moon wanted more clarification, “...intentional?” “Yes, they wanted it to be that way - perhaps to ensure no one that had the force would be able to affect the structure, or use the force beyond the walls.” Moon swallowed and tried to set aside her fears, “does Arla know this?” Xera did not express confusion, but her silence made Moon feel like she knew, but did not want to tell. After a few seconds, Xera took a breath and answered, “... honestly, I don’t know.” And looked back at Moon with a slight smile.
Suddenly, they found themselves in a courtyard full of female clones in formation awaiting orders. Moon saw the area the other day, but was impressed with the size of the yard and the number of soldiers. If she had to guess, there were over five-hundred of them grouped into garrisons of one hundred each. The closest group comprised of about fifty. Half of the formation was dressed in blue jumpsuits, and the other half in red. Xera motioned toward them, this is my battalion. I want you to meet them. Xera projected her voice, “AT EASE!” All the soldiers widened their stance and placed their hands behind their backs. “Everyone, this is Moon. She is our guest and demands our utmost respect.”
Xera led her towards the closest file and motioned towards the first soldier, “this is CT-7239. However, she likes to be called Niner.” Moon gave a gentle smile and nodded. Niner also smiled and gently spoke, “pleasure to meet you.”
Xera motioned to the next soldier, “and this is CT-7189, she goes by Fibu.” Moon also gave her a gentle smile. Fibu looked at Xera and asked, “is this a new recruit?” with a slight smirk. Xera almost laughed, but caught herself, “she’s more than that. And, like I said earlier, she demands our utmost respect.” Moon was surprised at Xera’s answer, more than a recruit?. She began to wonder if Arla was after her abilities - and how they could impact the troopers’ performance in battle.
They proceeded to meet a few more troops, and eventually Xera had Moon take a seat near the arena to watch the training exercises. As the day progressed, they took a few breaks and she met more and more of the troops. Moon was taken by the warm reception, and even though they all looked alike, no two had the same personality.
At the end of the day, they enjoyed a meal together with a small platoon. Moon tried to make sense of all the political jargon the troops mentioned casually as they ate.
After the meal, Xera offered to walk Moon back to her quarters. As they walked away from the mess hall , Moon felt compelled to ask, “What is your designation?” Xera looked over and smiled, “I am CC-7657”. “CC ?” “Yes, I am a Captain. Moon looked back and saw the clones continue their conversations at the tables, “They follow you, and do whatever you ask them?” Xera looked as if to give the question some thought. Looking down at Moon, she continued to have a though-induced tone, “They… trust me.” Moon continued to look at Xera, she knew she had a better answer. “They know I have the garrison’s best interest in mind, what the team’s objectives are… and… they trust me to do what is right.” “In battle?” Xera gave it some more thought, ‘yes, when the day comes - they will trust me to make the right call in the battle field.”
Moon understood what she was saying, but wasn’t sure if her troops were ready to fight and die for Xera. Moon continued, “do they feel the same way about the enemy ?” Xera looked confused, “what do you mean?” “Are they ready to fight… for you, or… are they ready to fight against them?” Xera continued to look confused, “do you mean, are they fighting for a cause? -or- because I ask them to fight whomever, and they will do it?” Moon felt that she got the idea and nodded her head slightly. Xera looked toward the blast door ahead, entered her security cylinder in the adjacent keypad and the door opened. They walked through the door together, and Xera waited for the door to close before she before looked back at Moon and took a deep breath, “my heart desires that my troops would go into battle for me. No matter what we are up against. That they trust me implicitly and be inspired and do what is required to be done for the wellbeing of the galaxy.” Moon noticed that Xera was unsure of how they felt and did not want to dive too far into her insecurities. As a result, she did not want to pry, but she did want to challenge Xera’s resolve. What if she did not know who the real enemy is, and if she did - would she be able to lead her troops against that enemy. Or, would her troops follow regardless.
Once back in her cold, dark quarters - surrounded by cold, dark stones that isolated her from the rest of the universe, Moon realized there was no point in continuing to stay. She knew she had to get away and try to communicate with Okha somehow. She also realized that she missed an opportunity in the courtyard, as there were far fewer stones and that there was an opening to the sky. Her heart and mind dwelled on connecting with Okha. To know that she was okay, to let her know where she was, and as much as she enjoyed meeting Xera and her troops, Moon had hopes of ending the cold and dark isolation Arla was having her endure in the ancient cloning facility.
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