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Chapter Text

Alpha-17's steps echoed throughout the white hallways. Fordo was following shortly behind, having met up with Alpha at an earlier intersection. Having confirmed that Fordo knew nothing as well, they continued on in silence. The Kaminoans had called them into one of their labs and did not explain why they were needed. Alpha-17 had been through his fair share of their "experiments," but they had learned all they wished to from him and decided he was much better off doing something productive. So he was fairly certain that wasn’t it. With a quick knock, they entered their labs. And he blinked. There was a younger cadet. He looked to be one, maybe one and a half, at best. Fordo tensed beside him, but neither of them spoke yet.

"Ah, there you are, Alpha-17, Alpha-77," said the lead Kaminoan scientist, the one who requested his presence. "This stage two clone is not staying still as we requested. We need you to hold him down."

Alpha-17 and Fordo stood there for a moment, but the Kaminoan gazed at them impatiently. "Yes, sir," Fordo said, and the two of them moved to stand by the young cadet, who was currently trembling on the operating table. He looked up with teary eyes and met Fordo's gaze for a second as Fordo grabbed his wrists, gentler than he normally would, pinning them to the table. Alpha walked to the cadet's feet and pinned his ankles to the table, and the cadet's wet eyes looked at him briefly.

He quietly whispered, "Please."

Before either of the Alphas could react, one of the Kaminoans said, "Quiet, CT-2586. They wouldn't be here if you could sit still as order."

The cadet let out a few tears before squeezing his eyes shut. His trembling increased as the Kaminoans moved around him. Fordo was not liking this situation increasingly as the young cadet flinched every time the Kaminoans touched him. No clone enjoyed the presence of the Kaminoans, and the experiments that some of them were put through weren't the greatest… but this seemed off. This was a lot of preparation for a simple experiment.

Alpha must have had similar thoughts, because he asked, "What are you going to do to him?"

"Silence, Alpha-17," the Kaminoan said, and he approached the trembling cadet. Alpha-17 frowned and looked down at the cadet who was squeezing his eyes shut, crying, and curling up as much as he could while the two Alphas were him holding him open.

Fordo tapped out to Alpha. "I don't like this."

Alpha looked at him seriously before responding. "Neither do I."

The cadet's shuddery breaths hitched, bringing the Alphas' attention back to him. A medical vibroblade was held to the cadet's chest and his trembling had increased. Alpha's gaze hardened. "What are you doing to him?" The vibroblade stopped. Alpha looked up from the cadet and glared at the Kaminoans, repeating his question. "What. Are. You. Doing. To. Him?"

"Be silent, Alpha-17 and hold the cadet still," said the Kaminoan.

Alpha stepped towards the Kaminoan, letting go of the cadet. He glared at him menacingly. "What are you going to do to him?"

The Kaminoan stared at the Alpha unconcerned, letting out an annoyed sigh. "Alpha-17, if you are unable to follow orders, you may leave the room." The cadet had curled up into a ball and was pressing into Fordo's stomach, trembling. "CT-2586!" he snapped. "Get back in position. You will have to hold the position yourself since your predecessor is incapable."

The cadet shook his head and refused to move, pushing more into Fordo's stomach. Alpha looked at the instruments, at the cuts along the cadet's chest, and at the jar sitting innocuously at a nearby table. Alpha tapped out a message to Fordo before lunging for the lead Kaminoan.

Fordo picked up the cadet, burying his face into his neck, and whispered, "Do not look." He punched the nearest Kaminoan, who was reaching for the shaking cadet, grabbing a scalpel from the tray. The world blurred around the two of them as they quickly and efficiently slaughtered the Kaminoan scientists. Fordo stood breathing heavily, still holding the young cadet, who had stopped trembling by that point.

"We need to move," said Alpha. The two of them made their way to the CC bunks without speaking. The cadet kept his face buried in Fordo's neck, and Fordo would have believed him asleep if he didn't feel the cadet's eyelashes fluttering against his neck. An angry Jango Fett met them at the door.

"What do the two of you think you are doing?" he demanded, glaring at the two Alphas. The cadet shrunk into himself.

"Did you know?" Alpha demanded in return.

"Excuse me," Jango said.

Alpha took a step forward, getting in Jango's face. Speaking slower and quieter, he asked, "Did you know that the Kaminoans were taking cadets and performing unnecessary open heart surgeries on them without the assistance of painkillers?"

Jango looked at him. "No," he answered. "Is that what this is about?" He rolled his eyes. "That cadet is barely passing. Who cares if they experiment on him?"

Fordo glared at him. "Who cares? WHO cares? We care." He gently dislodged the cadet from his shoulder and shoves him into Jango's arms. Jango surprised caught him. "He's younger than Boba, Fett. Look at him. Look at him. "

Jango froze, staring down at the child in his arms. The child peeked up at him, squeaking and hiding his face. But for a moment, Jango got to see the child's red eyes and the fear in them as his pupils were bigger than his irises. He could feel the callouses on the child's hand from fumbling fingers taking apart and putting back blasters. The child was two, aged twice as much, supposedly four standard. And he certainly weighed less than Boba had at his age… Both ages for that matter. The child certainly didn't look like he was four standard.

In a moment of panic, he almost threw the child to the ground, letting him slip from his arms. Fordo was ready for this outcome, catching the child before it… he could scream. He was tucked safely back into the Alpha's arms. Jango had realized his mistakes as Alpha-17's fist slammed into his nose with an audible crack. His head slammed into the door, and it cracked open as little CC-2224 poked his head out, thinking someone was knocking. While the Alphas were distracted by the promising child… soldier, Jango retreated to his room, barely noticing the blood dripping from his surely broken nose.

Fordo sighed as he watched their donor retreat. The young cadet had started trembling again, but Fordo rocked him slowly until he calmed down. He had hoped that by holding one of their youngest, Jango Fett would change his mind about them. "He's going to be a problem," said Fordo.

"We'll figure it out when we reached that point," Alpha said, "Right now, we need to worry about the Kaminoans."

"They'll decommission him for our actions," said Fordo, not looking away from where Fett disappeared. The cadet whimpered, and CC-2224 startled a bit. Fordo stroked a hair through the curly, auburn hair in apology.

"We won't let that happen," Alpha said, "I'm done standing around and letting them hurt our younger brothers." He turned to the young cadet he was training to be a leader. "Cody, come here."

Cody slipped out of the room, where five other curious cadets were watching. The door closed behind him, and he stood at attention in front of the two Alphas, keeping his eyes straight ahead, despite his curiosity about the cadet in Fordo's arms.

Fordo said, "At ease, Cody." Cody relaxed and glanced at the boy. Fordo knelt down and set the cadet on his feet, who whimpered and clung to Fordo for a second longer. Very gently, he pried the cadet's fingers from his uniform. "Look at me." The cadet gazed at him, and Fordo noticed immediately that the child's eyes were an almost black dark brown, giving him the appearance of a kicked tooka. "You'll be alright. You're going to stay with, Cody. He'll take good care of you until we come back. Understand?"

"Yes, sir," the cadet said.

"Good. Do you have a name yet?" he asked.

"No, sir," the cadet whispered.

"That's alright. I'm sure you'll find one eventually," Fordo said.

"Cody, take care of him. Barricade the doors. Let no one but me or Fordo in. Do you understand?" Alpha asked, looking at the barely older cadet.

"Yes, sir," he said.

"Good," Alpha said.

"Are we under attack, sir?" Cody asked.

Alpha sighed. "We've been under attack for years, Cody. Take care of the cadet."

Chapter Text

Cody stared down at the little vod'ika currently attached to the sole blonde clone in their room. The two looked to be the same age, except the red head was scrawny. Cody frowned. Unhealthily scrawny. He stalked over to Bly's bunk and dug around until he found his hidden stash of snacks. Despite Bly's squeal of protest, he handed the bag to the scrawny cadet in front of him. He seemed injured as well. He quickly pulled down the medkit, and less efficiently than he would have desired applied them to the cuts on the cadet's chest. How did he get those cuts? Those looked medical. Cody opened his mouth to ask, but upon looking at the terrified cadet burying his face in CT-7567's shoulder, he decided it could wait. No reason to distress the young one.

He watched as CT-7567 held CT-2586 just as tightly. He pondered for a moment. Right… they're the last mutants from their batch. Of course they would know each other. The two of them probably sat together until CT-7567 was pulled from his year to work with their year. He wondered about how close they had been for the red head to have such an innate trust in the blonde.

The cadet was holding onto the snack Cody had given him but had yet to eat it, much to Cody's consternation. He should eat, right? His stomach was grumbling. That meant he was hungry… right? Alpha-17 had given him a cadet to take care of. That meant food, water, shelter, medical care, and clothes… he wasn't wearing any clothes, besides a pair of shorts. Cody slipped over to their chests and dug around to see if he could find any of their training clothes. He managed to find one of Wolffe's shirts. Their clothes had been taken to be laundered, so it would have to do. He tried to call the cadet over to him, but he didn't move.

Cody blinked.

"Cadet, over here," he said.

The cadet didn't move.

"Please," he added.

The cadet twitched and peeked out at him, but he clung tighter to CT-7567. The blonde clone stared at Cody as well. No. They were not doing this to him. Kaminoan labs were cold. The cadet had to be dressed. He stepped lightly over to them, and he, as gently as he could, shoved the neck of the shirt over the cadet's head. The cadet in question screamed loudly and started to cry. Cody blinked.

"What did you do?" Ponds asked.

"I didn't do anything!" Cody said, defensively. He didn't like being accused. Besides he was the oldest. Well, second oldest. Ponds was older than him by thirty seconds, but he was the leader. Which meant he was in charge, and that they shouldn't accuse him like that. He pouted. "He's the one that's not listening to me."

The blonde clone glared at him as the ginger continued to sob. "You're scaring him!"

"I am not scaring him!"

"I don't know, Codes," Wolffe said. "He seems pretty scared to me."

"How am I scaring him?" Cody asked annoyed.

"You're treating him like the long necks do!" CT-7567 said.

"I am not!" Cody defended, highly offended at the implication. He was not treating him like the long necks treated him or any of them. Based on how angry Alpha-17 and Fordo had been and their answers to his question, the Kaminoans had been something specifically bad to the red-haired cadet. It wouldn't surprise him. The cadet already had a couple of bad things going for him: his hair, for one; his metabolism must be wonky with how skinny he was; and the fact that he was crying just from Cody "scaring" him. He was defective, in the Kaminoan's terms. In vod'e terms, he was special.

But maybe he didn't know he was special.

Cody heard Wolffe sigh. "I'm tired of his crying, Cody. Do something."

"Like what?" Cody asked.

"Tell him a story," Rex said. "He likes stories."

Cody blinked. "I'm no good at telling stories."

Bly piped in. "Wolffe is!"

Cody listened to Wolffe grumble and CT-2586 cry. His head was starting to ache, and he wanted to cry from stress. How was he supposed to take care of a Year 2 cadet. He was a Year 3 himself, and he wasn't trained in how to handle younger cadets yet. That didn't happen until Year 5, and even then, they would handle younger Year 5's or Year 4's, nothing like handling a Year 2's. He wanted to be mad at Alpha-17 for leaving him with this impossible task, but he had to be strong. He was the leader.

So he took a deep breath and put on his thinking face. Ponds snickered at him a bit, but Cody didn't care. He was thinking. "Wolffe, come tell him a story." He watched Wolffe glare at him for a moment, but he sighed. He walked slowly and hesitantly to the floor next to the pair of mutant clones. Cody watched, keeping an eye on them, trying to gauge CT-2586's reaction and what Wolffe did. CT-2586 hadn't stopped crying, which surprised Cody. He didn't know anyone could cry this much… Wouldn't you run out of tears?

Wolffe shuffled closer, and CT-2586 peered up at him, sobbing, Wolffe's shirt hanging around his neck, getting snot on it. Wolffe glared at Cody for that, but Cody didn't care. He was just glad it wasn't his shirt. Wolffe cooed at the Year 2 cadet, and Cody blinked. It seemed he was learning a lot about his brothers today. He didn't know Wolffe could be so gentle. He typically bit… oh, there it was.

Wolffe had gently placed his teeth around one of the little cadet's arms, lightly pressing. The cadet blinked, stunned, and stopped crying. Cody blinked confused. What? How did that stop him from crying? Wolffe pressed down a little, and the cadet had the audacity to squeak and then giggle. Cody was completely baffled. Wolffe bit him again. A squeak. No crying.

"Can I get the shirt on to you, buddy?" Wolffe asked, and the cadet nodded with a giggle. Cody was confounded. How was this possible? The cadet allowed Wolffe to pull his arms through the shirt sleeves, which dangled several inches past his hands, and to adjust it, so it wasn't bunched up around his ribcage. Wolffe's shirt reached the cadet mid-thigh, and Cody wondered how such a small cadet had lasted this long.

The cadet was giggling and had adjusted, so he was leaning his back against CT-7567's chest. CT-7567 took this in stride, wrapping his arms around his stomach, and resting his chin on CT-2586's head. "Story?" he asked, looking at Wolffe expectantly.

Wolffe grinned. "Of course," he said, and he paused to think. "Okay, once upon a time, a long time ago, Kamino used to be full of life and wonder. There was hills as tall as the waves outside, and the sun shined every day. It only rained when it needed to, and the rain was always warm. So young cadets, like yourself, could always go and play."

The cadet watched in wide-eyed wonder as Wolffe wove a tale of magic and heros about a cadet named Indra and his most trusted friends, T-Rex and Wolf. He laughed and shrieked as Wolffe tossed in funny jokes and jump scares. He seemed to have completely forgotten about his crying from earlier. Bly had joined them on the floor, laying on his stomach, feet swinging in the air, and his head resting on his hands. CT-7567 seemed equally enthralled by Wolffe's tale.

Cody normally would be too, but he was currently lost in thought. He wasn't sure what he had done wrong. He had given the cadet a snack and a shirt. He was trying to be helpful and do as Alpha-17, their ori'vod, ordered. Alpha-17 had trusted him to take care of the cadet, and yet, it seemed as if Wolffe and CT-7567 was doing a better job than he was. Would CT-2586 react the same way if he had been the one to bite him? Probably not. He slumped down in the shadows under his bunk. He was technically sitting on Fox's bunk, but Fox was sitting on Wolffe's bunk right now, so he didn’t think he would mind.

Ponds sat down next to him, startling him from his thoughts. He glanced at his older brother and knew it was going to be one of those chats. He almost got up and joined the group on the floor to avoid it, but he was sure that CT-2586 would cry if he approached, and then his vod'ika would glare at him again. He pouted and slouched further down, trying to avoid looking at Ponds, but Ponds had this eerie way of staring at you until you gave in.

"What do you want, Ponds?" he finally asked.

"You're pouting," he said.

"Am not," Cody denied, because of course, he would deny that. Strong commanders don't pout when they don't get their way. They move on. They learn. They adapt. They're too strong to pout.

"You know him and CT-7567 were friends, right?"

"Yes, I figured that out."

"You, also know that he's probably been through something bad and he's scared."

"Of course."

"You're a little brusque sometimes, Codes. It just startled him. He'll be just as friendly to you as he is to them if you try."

"He doesn't like me."

Ponds raised an eyebrow in a very good Alpha-17 impression, and Cody almost hated him for being able to do that. Cody always looked surprised when he tried to do, and his brothers laughed at him. He had to admit he did look funny, but he did not appreciate Ponds using it against him right now. "That cadet doesn't dislike anyone but the long necks, and we all dislike the long necks. Go sit next him."

"I'd rather he not start crying again, thanks."

Ponds rolled his eyes and dragged Cody over to the group. Cody tries to dig his heels in, but the floor was slick against his socks, and all he achieved was almost cracking his head on a bunk. If Fox hadn't caught him. Ponds plopped down, leaning against Wolffe's bunk, right next to where Fox was upside down. That left Cody to sit next to CT-7567 and CT-2586, awkwardly go around to sit on Wolffe's other side, or retreat back to his bunk. Ponds was most likely going to drag him back, which would be embarrassing, and CT-2586's eyes had honed in on him. He was staring at him with a quizzical look on his face. Cody expected him to start sobbing again, and then he could retreat back to the bunk with an "I told you so" thrown at Ponds. Instead, the cadet just stared with his dark eyes boring into Cody's mind. He sank down to the floor to sit beside the young cadet, who watched him the entire way down.

CT-2586 giggled and held out a piece of the forbidden snack to Cody, who took it with an equally large grin.