CHAPTER 22: NO ESCAPE

Moon found herself tiptoeing from shadow to shadow. She was starting to lose track of the days that have passed since she was first brought into this facility. The already-dark stones of the hallways added nothing to the darkness of the night. It was dark and darker. She tried reaching with the force, but could not determine if she could feel anything. Clearly, the structure was built with the intent of blocking force-users abilities. In addition to feeling constrained, she also felt trapped, cut-off from the force. She knew it was time to get out by any means possible.

Trying not to make a single sound, she knew that it was only a matter of time before someone realized she was not in her quarters.

Turning a corner, she heard some steps from some troops. Perhaps they were the ones keeping watch over her area at night. Either way, she didn’t want to find out. 

Suddenly, a voice calls out from behind her, “hello…?”

Moon turned quickly and tried not to show how startled she actually was.

“Can I help you?”

Again, Moon was pleasantly surprised to find another familiar face. As dark as the hallway was, the dim light from one of the panels was enough. The soldier smiled, “do I know you?”. Moon met so many of them in the past few days, she lost track. Many of them had different hair and eye-color. It was difficult to tell in the poorly-lit hall, but her hair was very different to Okha’s or Xera’s in that it was very white, very fluffy and poofed very high. 

Moon did not know what to say, but she knew she had to think fast. 

If this soldier figures out my plan to escape, it would only worsen the situation, Moon thought to herself

“I’m looking for… something… to…” The soldier interrupted, “to eat?..” 

Moon swallowed, “Yeah - yes… I’m hungry” followed by a smile.

The soldier smirked as she turned her head, “of course. This way.”

The unnamed female soldier began walking towards an area that had more light, and Moon followed. As the amount of light increased, Moon noticed the soldier had a rocketpack on her back and was packing two blasters by her hips. The uniform had unique gray markings, and an emblem on the shoulder that resembled a wolf. “You are Moon, right?”

Moon was distracted by the uniform, but quickly looked up at her face and nodded. The soldier smiled, “I am sorry if Arla hasn’t spent enough time with you. She is very busy.”

Moon had an answer from Xera, but she wanted to get another answer, “why am I here?”

“The soldier looked over, “You are here to help us.” Moon showed visible confusion, “how can someone as small as me help?” The soldier lightly chuckled,”size is never a good measure of someone’s strength, power or abilities. You could very well be more powerful than all of us combined. Or, all of us could be so much more because of you.” 

Moon was still confused, but figured it was time to ask more about them,”Why are you here?” 

“Me, in particular? -Or, all of us?” 

“all of you”

“We are preparing for battle. The Clone Wars left the galaxy vulnerable. The Empire is falling. The new Republic has no idea of the real dangers.”

Moon tried to hide her concern, “real dangers?”

“Those that really want to control the galaxy. Not through political power, or military threats. But through their hearts and mind. In time, their spirits will follow and then, they will do whatever to get it back.” The soldier paused, looked over at Moon, “complete control.”

This was a very different answer from Xera’s. She didn’t go into this much detail.

The unnamed soldier continued, “sure, the way to obtain the means will involve military force. Which is why we are training to counter any of it. And, to protect those who need it.”

Moon was experiencing both concern and disbelief. She knew some about the galactic civil war, and the Empire. She did not think there could be anything more threatening than that.

They arrived in a large room that was dark, yet smelled like food.

The trooper turns on the lights, “welcome to the mess hall”. Moon’s eyes squinted at first, and had to adjust to the brightness. But, her eyes widened to see the food-prep room at the end of the mess hall. Looking around, she couldn’t help but exclaim, “this room is huge!”

“Over fifty thousand troops need to feed within this mess hall.” The trooper continued to the food-prep area and Moon followed.

Moon dove into the food-stabilizers and grabbed all sorts of things. She laid out a variety of goodies and began to eat away. After a few minutes of not even looking up, the trooper spoke with a giggle, “you are a hungry little one.” Moon looked up, to find the trooper with a towelette, ready to help her clean her face, “may I?” 

Moon pauses as she finishes up her snack. She remembers asking Xera the why they were there. Maybe this soldier has a different answer. Slowly, Moon looks up at the soldier, “Why… I mean, why are you… all of you here?”

After a brief moment, the soldier smirked, “do you really want to know?”

Moon nodded.

“OK - this won’t be simple, but if you are going to help us, you might need to know more than Arla might want you to know.” Moon’s eyes widened. 

The soldier took a deep breath, “you obviously know we are all clones. But, we are not the first, nor are we the only ones. The first clone army was as a result of a direct cloning of Jango Fett. Unbeknownst to to those in that program, an extremely secret program to create a female clone army from the same genetic material was started about the same time. Well, the “X Chromosome” anyway.”

Moon couldn’t help herself from showing that she was confused. She had heard of Chromosomes before, and knew they were part of living cells. The soldier noticed her confusion, “Oh, chromosomes within the living cells - it is how the genetic information is stored.” Aware that it was going to be met with more explanation, Moon continued to show visible confusion. 

“Oh, the shape and pairing of the chromosomes are what dictates what you are: Boys have an XY chromosome, girls are XX. All they did was use the X chromosome from Jango twice. That is, for the first attempt at female cloning.” And, although all they used was the X chromosome, it brought a set of challenges I cannot explain right now. However, it pointed them into another direction: Jango’s sister. She had the same genetics, and they were a complete set of XX.

Moon felt terrified, but tried to hide it, “Is… is that Arla?” “Yes, that is Arla. She rose above and beyond what the program wanted. Created a whole new program, which is why we are here.”

She paused and tried to smile just before her wrist communicator began beeping. “Oh, dear. I need to go little one. I’ll walk you back to your quarters.”

On the way back to her room, Moon couldn’t help but wonder what happened with the female clones from original program. Where they were and what those “challenges” were.

“Here we are,” the soldier pointed out as they approached Moon’s room. Moon smiled, and expressed gratitude , “thank you! I really enjoyed the food and learning about the program.” “You are most welcome. Get some rest, and maybe I will see you at our training exercises tomorrow.” With that, the soldier turned away and began to make her way back to the mess-hall area. Moon felt like she couldn’t just end it there. She felt a connection with her that wasn’t forced or sought. It was natural and wanted to make sure she could see her again. Moon suddenly cried out, “Wait!” The soldier stopped and turned back. “What is your name?” The soldier smiled and said, “I am CC-6363, but most call me Commander Lunna.” Moon smiled back as the Commander turned back and continued her path. Moon was now very conflicted. She knew she needed to leave, but she felt very attached to these soldiers. She missed Okha and knew that she could not communicate within the installation’s walls. Perhaps during the training sessions, being outdoors could give a slight opportunity to connect with Okha. Otherwise, she knew that there was no escape.

CHAPTER 21: FROM THE ASHES

Okha awoke in a fetal position as she gasped for air in a sudden panic. She quickly looked around and found herself in the middle of wilting plants and dying flowers belonged to all different parts of the galaxy. After a moment of confusion, she realized where she was. Her special garden that housed flowers from every system she ever visited. A once, fruitful and vibrant garden - now desolate. Her immediate surroundings on the stone tile floor was nothing but droid parts and debris.

The experience she just endured was much too real. The sand storm. Talking with Eeloh Ssaah in that Cantina that she hated. Talking with her mentor, Boba Fett, and eventually finding herself being swallowed whole by a sand collapse. And death. At least it felt like death.
“It was more than a dream, or a vision,” she whispered to herself. “I felt so real.” She kept going through the details of the experience in her mind, “Boba, you were there, but you were not with me. It was like we were connected somehow.”

But How?!

Her heart sank as her thoughts moved quickly on the girl that changed her life forever, Moon. Her feelings for her were the driving force to getting her back to this place. To find that she was not there created a feeling of guilt, failure, regret and remorse.

I never should have left her.

She began to rationalize her decision.
I trusted TAC with my life… He never would have...

“TAC?!”

The last thing she remembered about the garden was kneeling before TAC’s remains and a feeling of exhaustion. As her mind shifted to the present, she looked over her shoulder and realized that those memories where all too real - as she looked at all the parts and debris around her.
What happened to me?,she thought to herself.
She felt dizzy and warm. The bloodsnake’s bite wound was starting to get infected and needed medical attention.

Suddenly she heard a sound from the room just outside the garden. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Okha tried to get on her knees, and eventually to her feet. The pain from the bloodsnake bite began to overwhelm her. Slowly, she approached the door. The sound got louder. Okha noticed there was a hammer on the table, and took it and stood as close to the doorway as possible. She was more than ready to bash whatever was about to turn the corner.
Okha decided to do so first, and quickly turned the corner - to a loud Squeaking squeal pitched as a mouse Droid got in full view.

Okha’s eyes widened, “TOW?!” and smiled in disbelief.

The diminutive mouse droid began squeaking and twirling in all directions. If it had arms, Okha would have hugged it. She dropped to her knees and inspected the tiny droid’s outer layer.

“Tow!... What happened here?!”

The mouse droid began squeaking and squealing and would not stop.
Okha kneeled and put her hands next to the tiny droid.
“Okay, okay, relax… please tell me… slowly”
The mouse droid continued to squeak and chirp at a slower rate. Okha nodded, “I can see that, everything is just…” The chirping continued and Okha continued to listen and nod, “... so…  they took her… Did any of them say where?” The mouse droid’s chirps did not seem very lively and dwindled.

“I see…”

Okha looked around the room once more, “There’s nothing for us here, Tow. No one is coming for us. Or, they would’ve been here by now.” Okha shrugged, “I hope they are okay, but Emmaneld and Dudeel may not necessarily know how to find us, as there are so many mountains and I never gave them exact coordinates. Which means they are either unconscious, trapped or killed” She struggled to say the last words, but managed. The mouse droid rolled lightly back and forth.

“We need to go see Maz. But first, I need to get my armor and weapons from the lake.”
Okha stood up and shrugged, “at least, whatever we can find.” TOW began to chirp and wail. “Yes, WE.” TOW chirped and wailed some more. “Well, all you need is a slight modification… and, we can definitely have you check the lake.”

Okha walked back to the garden and approached TAC’s remains, “You will work again my friend”. She looked over at TIC’s remaining cylindrical body and rollers. Despite being malnourished and weak, Okha began taking apart the torso/head connectivity area. “TOW, get over here.” The diminutive droid on wheels reluctantly rolled towards her. “This is going to work, OK?” Okha proceeded to gently flip TOW over and take apart the undercarriage assembly.

TOW began chirping and whirring with concern. “Yes, I will be extremely careful.”
A solid two hours had passed. Okha was wearing a pair of dark goggles that reflected the bright blue light from below. A few more minutes of blazing lights before she slowly wiped the sweat off her brow with her right wrist.
In her right hand, a soldering iron, in the other, a plasma torch. On the floor was a combination of droid parts of which had never been seen. The body of an R5, the torso of a SuperBattle Droid and the head of a Mouse Droid.

Okha took a long look as she stood up, “What have I created?”

TOW began chirping incessantly. “Okay, okay, I will stand you up - hold on.” Okha put the tools down and tried leveraging what little strength she had left to get her new creation to sit-up.
She reached out her hands in front of it, “Okay,give me your hands.” With no strength left, Okha used her weight to allow her new droid to get to its would-be-feet - or in this case, the rollers from the R5.
Catching her breath, Okha looked at her creation in confusion and in awe. At the bottom, R5’s body and rollers kept slipping, shifting and spinning to keep the upper-torso of the Super-Battledroid balanced. The head, which was the once-mousedroid: TOW, fought to adjust to the new height and weight.
Seeing the intense balancing act the tiny droid was doing with the insane arrangement, Okha sightly laughed with some words of encouragement, “you can do this TOW…”
WIth a few chirps and whiirrrs, TOW found a stable pose and looked around the room. Standing at an approximate 2 and a half meters, the droid began to roll forward slowly. Okha could not hold back her smile, “you got this…” the positive chirps that followed were met with a loud THUD as the rollers gave way under him and fell on its back. Okha felt the ground shake with the impact as she winced in disappointment. The new droid used the arms of the Super-Battledroid’s torso to push itself off the floor. Regaining the would-be-footing with the R5’s rollers took the droid more time than Okha would’ve liked, but she waited patiently for it to do so.

After another half hour of the droid attempting to find its balance, Okha nodded, “well, it is time to go…” The chirps that followed did not seem to be in agreement. “Oh, you totally got this… and I do believe you need a new name my friend.” Okha squinted as she looked at the droid from head to toe, “you’ve got TIC, TAC and yourself… TI. TA…. TITAN.” If TOW had a face, it would look confused. “Yes, TITAN it is,” she said with a smile and a nod. TITAN did a slight shrug, and the tiniest of chirps that could be interpreted as Okay in any language. Okha continued to gather her thoughts and looked at TITAN, “We are going to Maz’s to get a ride to Kamino. If Emmaneld and Dudeel are still there - they need our help.” She worked her way to her room, found a new jumpsuit and looked for any weapons and accessories with no luck. TITAN rolled to the door and peeked in. Okha looked back and shook her head, “they sacked the place better than I would’ve liked. I can’t find anything. So, my original plan stands. We need to recover any and every part of my armor from that lake.” TITAN’s chirps expressed a sense of worry.
“I am almost sure you can float. Just figure a way to propel yourself.”
Shaking his head slightly, TITAN rolls towards the main landing area. Okha smiled to herself and continued to search for anything that could help her wound.

This needs serious attention.

Suddenly, thoughts of Moon took over. The pain faded and she regained a new-found focus.

“I need to find her - at all costs.”

She finished zipping up her jumpsuit, and packing a few provisions into a small knapsack.
“Ok, TITAN, let’s go.”
Okha proceeded to find TITAN in the mangled landing area. Much to her surprise, she found him working on a wrecked swoop speeder.
“TITAN?”
The excited chirps and whiirs that followed were well received with much confusion, “WHAT?! You fixed a…? where did… ?” The droid stood proudly by his achievement. “Well, we do have a much faster way to getting to Maz’s… however, we still need to get my armor.” TITAN’s enthusiasm went down with his shoulders and a lowering whiir. “Look, at least I already killed the bloodsnake. Getting the armor from the bottom of the lake is only a matter of adjusting sensors and you paddling through the water.” Okha feigned a smile as she walked her way towards the repaired swoop speeder. TITAN did not move or make a sound.
She mounted the speeder and turned towards the droid, “Okay, when we get to Maz’s I’ll make sure you get the best oil bath you’ve ever had!” TITAN remained still and silent yet again. Okha then realized that Tow, now TITAN, had no concept of how much droids enjoyed oil baths. “Look, it is the best experience you will ever have as a droid - trust me.” TITAN lightly shrugged and got onboard the speeder behind Okha.
She knew that for a little while longer, she had to put aside her pain and exhaustion.
She proceeded to rev-up the engine -
VROOOOM VROOOOOM
“Common TITAN, cheer up!... this is going to be fun.”
TITAN shook its tiny mouse-droid head and held onto the bike for dear life as it shot-out the landing area like a mynock out of an exogorth.