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.
