I continued to carry Fritz with his arm draped over my shoulder. Echo walked behind us, clutching his side trying to stop the bleeding from his back wound. Medical and facility staff ran up and down the hallway, more in fear for their lives than willing to aid injured soldiers. I tried to stop one or two of them, but they would just shake their frightened faces and continue running. I did however get one to tell me where Jedi Rai had gone: The Laboratory, before that person scurried off as well. Rai was our best shot, since I didn’t have my field kit, and nobody was going to help. We followed the signs for what felt like ages until we came to a set of double doors with a large sign above it labeled LABORATORY.

This was it, we walked through the doors to see Rai at a desk fervently working. “Rai, we need help.” I got out just as Echo collapsed next to me, most likely from blood loss. I couldn’t help him up, I was barely holding up Fritz with the loss of his ability to hardly move. “The dark cloaked men, they attacked us all. Score is dead, we almost didn’t make it. Nobody would help us. They did something to Fritz.” I said walking Fritz to the nearest tabletop to lay him on it. It hurt me to leave Echo on the floor, but I was only one soldier, I could only do so much by myself.

I hurried over when Rai ask for help with Echo. But my help was unneeded as Echo didn’t stir during the whole improvised surgery. As the smell of seared flesh reached my nostrils I looked back at Fritz, whose face was grey and haggard from whatever that man had done to him. Fritz’s breathing was shallow and slow, almost as if he didn’t have the energy to do that basic life sustaining function. I sat heavily on the ground next to Echo and Rai when he put his lightsaber away, I didn’t know what to do. Raven Squad was said to be unlucky and that it was dangerous to be affiliated with us, but we always came out on top. Now Score was dead, Fritz was close to death, and Echo was unconscious on the floor.

“How could this evening get any worse?” I asked Rai as I rested my forearms on my knees and looked at the Cerean. “We went from one nightmare to another, from the frying pan straight into the fire so to speak. From cursed undead to robed men who could call forth death with a flick of their wrists. How could someone even control that much power?” I looked at the Jedi’s weapon and continued speaking, not giving Rai a chance to reply, “You’re not like the others in the hanger, that is the first time I have seen your lightsaber and we have been traveling together for half a week now. Do you even know how to fight with it? I mean no disrespect sir, and I know your survival was imperative to the creation of this cure you speak of, but I haven’t seen you fight once. Not on Corellia, nor here when the fighting started in the hangar earlier.”

My mouth had gotten the better of me and I quickly snapped it shut, my molars clicking together a little worried I might have possibly made the Cerean angry. I was too tired to try to move away from him in the likelihood he lashed out with his lightsaber. Looking back at my hands I sighed heavily, “I apologize Jedi Knight Rai, it is not my place to question a powerful warrior of the Jedi Order. I don’t know what came over me.” I licked my lips and continued without giving him a chance to respond, trying to explain to him something, I wasn’t sure what, “You see, Echo, Fritz, Score, and myself. We’re all clones. From the Clone Wars.” It had all started slowly coming back to me when we saw the other clones in the hangar bay, “We fought alongside the Jedi of the Old Jedi Order, during that time I never saw a Jedi without a lightsaber in hand or to shy away from a battle. But, to some of those same Jedi, my brothers and I were just disposable soldiers; only a few of them would help us the way you are. Thank-you.” I rolled to my right, taking a knee to stand up and check on Fritz again to make sure he was still alive.

The first thing he saw when Fritz opened his eyes was the upside-down face of Rai looking down at him. A mysterious glow emanating from him, “I’m not dead, am I? Because you don’t look like an angel to me.” Fritz chuckled and groaned as he moved to sit up, he felt like he had run a marathon then hit by a speeder, then trampled by a herd of Fathiers. “Thanks for saving me ‘Doc’.” He then looked over to myself and Echo, “Wait, where’s Score? Is he guarding the door?”

“He’s dead Fritz,” I said without looking at him, “The man we were trying to apprehend killed him with the Force.” I didn’t believe in the Force or its powers, but science couldn’t explain how my brother’s neck broke faster than I could blink. “Echo’s going to be ok, Rai patched him up real well.”

Almost as if on cue, Echo coughed, turned his head, and opened his eyes, “Hey, no talking about me while I’m asleep ya hear? And quiet down my head is pounding and my side feels like I just finished vacationing on Mustafar.” He tried to sit up, but the pain in his side made him think better of it and he lay back down. He coughed again, “I can tell by the absence of supplies that this isn’t the infirmary,” he continued, “So what are we doing here Rai?” He arched his neck to look at the Jedi a puzzled look on his face.

I stood up and walked over to the desk that Rai had been at when we arrived. A screen displayed a small video feed that was currently showing his face, he guessed it was recording due to the blinking light at the top of the display. A second window on the screen showed a 


notification, while a third window looked like it was running through data analysis or something of the nature. I didn’t dare touch the keypad or touchscreen, as this was nowhere near my line of expertise. I then turned back toward the others, and walked over to the counter where I found an instant caf machine. I grabbed two cups, tapped the display for my selection and a guessed selection I walked back to Rai after he finished his explanation and handed him the second cup, “Should’ve probably asked what you like, but here’s a standard caf with two scoops sugar and cream. You should probably get back to work. Thanks for what you did, it means a lot to us. I’ll guard the door as best I can while you get that cure completed.” I took a sip of my steaming caf, a little hotter than I was hoping for and burned the roof of my mouth with it. “Ah! Little too hot.”  

I stepped outside the Laboratory and sipped on my caf as the doors shut. I looked down the hallway where we had stumbled from and saw a trail of blood, Echo’s blood. “We barely made it out of that fight and we aren’t even close to completing our mission.” I said to myself. I looked away from the trail and looked at the cup in my hand, who was I kidding? Guard the door by myself? All I had on me was a couple thermals and my vibro-knife, and we were no match for the enemy that was in the hangar bay. I pulled out my knife and twirled it around, my thoughts trailed off to my brothers in Clone armor. How were they still alive? Were they from Sullust as well? There was no way they survived this long without being frozen in carbonite, their accelerated lifespan wouldn’t allow it.

I was deep in thought when I was brought back to the present by the facility shaking. I accidentally dropped my cup as I tried to keep my feet under me. Grumbling about my spilled caf I walked back into the Laboratory to see Rai had fallen out of his chair and Fritz had fallen off his table. I quickly moved to help Fritz up as I heard Rai ask if everyone was okay.

“I’m fine, just took a little tumble.” Fritz said as he stood up with my help. “Didn’t lay down before the tremor hit. Whatever that was.” He proceeded to get back up on the table and lay down.

I then moved to help up the seven-foot Cerean and noticed his horrified gaze was fixed on something. I turned to see the desk where the datapad and console had been, now a ruined pile of rubble. “That’s not good.” I breathed. I tapped my comm-link, “This is CT 9734, Corporal Dogma, I am looking for other personnel under a CT designation. Brothers, I am in need of your help.” I then reached down to Rai to give him a helping hand up, “We are going to have to get you a new terminal.” I said somewhat dryly, “Hopefully you remember enough of your research, because I really don’t want to go back to Corellia.”