Imperial Cloning Center
Bestine, Tatooine
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?Look at the deterioration in this sequence. . . . almost reached the point of the third clone?s instability.?

?How fortunate for you that it didn?t. The only found little pieces of the third?s technicians, along with some shredded and bloodstained dancer ribbons.?

?Yes, well, I was on Coruscant during that debacle. I think we caught this one in time to re-engineer. We?re going to attempt to utilize 13d as the original. Some additional modifications, maybe different a different set of rawl data, should repair the most obvious defects while preserving the skill set. . . but of course, you?ll have to remain for the procedure, as a dampener.?

?Duty requires that I be elsewhere. How long will it take this time??

?We?ve already initialized. So, a month? Perhaps three weeks, and that?s the best we can do, unless you want to see the same sort of instability and degeneration.?

?No, the last version was a failure and should have been terminated as soon as you realized the personality imprint didn?t take, rather than allowing it to develop. Nightsisters. . . pff. Your sloppy work endangers me.?

?I?m surprised you lack protective instincts for the clones. Besides, 13d proved reasonably useful, even despite its defects.?

?They?re tools. I have no need to protect failures. Get it right this time. Our loyalty must never be called into question.?

Theed, Naboo
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I don?t sleep much anymore. Sleep dissolves that emotional shield I?ve barricaded myself with, allows my subconscious to dredge up memories of pain and fear, hatred and jealousy, and spins those feelings into the sweat-soaked stuff of nightmares. Unless I?ve drunk myself into a stupor, that is. Spice gets the job done quicker, but as contraband, it?s too scarce these days.

Last night, I went through five shots of utozz. It wasn?t enough. Thought it might be, though, so I wasn?t too worried when I collapsed onto my bed, listening to the sound of the waterfalls near Theed. A veil of darkness stilled thought for a while.


?I just resigned, that?s all - that?s not treason.? I was still trying to reason with my captors, trying to stay calm, though I was shaking. I clasped my hands at the small of my back and tried to pretend the trembling was just a result of the thorough and ungentle med exam I?d been subjected to. The cell I was in was dimly lit around the edges, and bright light shone in my eyes. I could hear the ventilation system hissing. ?I?m not a traitor,? I said.

The part of my conscious mind that watched screamed at me that it was pointless to try to negotiate, that I should at least die fighting instead of murmuring feeble protestations.

?I know what you are,? said the twi?lek interrogator, finally breaking her silence. The woman had stared coldly at me from the shadows for a few hours, while various serums and enhancers were injected into my veins by familiar technicians who wouldn?t meet my eyes. ?You are a failure. They should have tossed you into the sands to die the moment they realized you were flawed.?

I had heard one of the troopers refer to the interrogator as Inquisitor Rha - obviously a diminutive of a proper Ryl name. She looked like Daydream, Daybreak, Daylight, Sunlight and all the rest of the Bestine Twi?lek clones, but her bone-white features were somehow more refined and controlled. Distant. I couldn?t tell what color her eyes were. She had a lightsaber belted at her hip, dark red and black robes on. Her lekku were mobile, phrasing her disdain and anger.

?I know I?m a failure,? I growled. That wasn?t exactly true; if nothing else, I knew I was a damned good pilot. I could feel a surge of hatred mingling with fear, knew that the Inquisitor was deliberately provoking me. ?And It was made quite clear to me that if I couldn?t complete my assignments, I was a liability. I think it would be better for a liability to the Empire to resign from-?

?You?re not paid to think, clone. ,? muttered Rha. ?I can?t afford liabilities left alive to betray the Empire.? She glared at me, stepped close. I noticed her irises were red, outlined with yellow, then she backhanded me. I felt my nose break with the strike and bit almost completely through my tongue. ?Our loyalty must -never- be called into question,? she hissed. Remember that!?

Rha smiled coldly and raised her hands toward me. Lightning-blue energy arced from her fingertips, connected with my skin and outlined my bones in a paralyzing agony of pain.


I woke gasping in the darkness, tangled in bedsheets and on the floor. There was a ghost-memory of that brittle, metallic flavor on my tongue. The room - hell, the whole house seemed too quiet and still. I could hear small family of peko-peko honking near the mountains.