STEALTH and TRACK: BOOK ONE

C H A P T E R O N E

THIRD PERSON POV

Fern twirled her fork between her fingers as she stared down aimlessly at her food tray, propping her temple on her fist. Her mouth rested in a grim, straight line. She had lost her appetite ever since what happened on Utapau, and frankly, her mind was far from being at ease—it was swimming with questions. Without moving her head, her dark eyes trailed and analyzed every clone that causally passed by her desolate table. Each one of them acted as though nothing had changed— as if the Chancellor had not just ordered for the mass execution of the Jedi Order...

Galactic Empire... The briefing that all the clones on Kamino attended was a joke in Fern's eyes, especially when they all cheered at the end of Palpatine's grand proclamation. Well... Everyone except Clone Force 99, who looked just as uncomfortable as she felt. In the mess hall, they were sitting alone, per usual, at a table at her 10 o'clock. The big guy, Wrecker, was causing a ruckus. Again.

"I like to blow things up, because I like to BLOW THINGS UP!!!" The big oaf smashed his fists on the metal surface, causing everyone to stop and stare.

Fern rolled her eyes, chewing on her bottom lip. Batch of jokes...

"Hello," A small female voice sounded next to her. Fern blinked as she turned her head downward to find a little girl with short-chopped, sandy hair and dark eyes wearing a medical uniform. Across her forehead was a pendant engraved with the Kaminoan emblem. "I'm Omega. What's your name?" As she nonchalantly seated herself next to Fern, the latter raised a brow, confused.

"You lost, Half-Pint?" She picked up her drink and swirled the liquid inside.

The girl actually laughed. "No," She cheeked a smile. "I've been wanting to meet you for awhile, but you haven't been on Kamino for months." She had a very strange accent; her words sort of slurred and her vowels were switched.

"Yeah..." Fern's voice trailed off, still processing what was occurring.

"I was just kidding, by the way." Omega chirped. "I know who you are—Your name is Fern. Clone CT-9900."

"Great, Kid, you did your homework." Fern sipped from her cup, attempting to block out the random girl's presence. Her queasy stomach churned when she swallowed the liquid.

"Why are you sitting alone?"

"Because," Fern said calmly, yet silently annoyed. She placed her drink aside and glared down at her tray. "I prefer to."

"Well, that's not very cool."

"You think, huh?" Fern raised a brow with a light scoff. "Well, Half-Pint, you seem new here, so I'll update you: I'm not like the other clones here on Kamino, and therefore I don't fit with the regular crowd. Besides, it's quieter, and that's how I like it. No snarky comments, and no nosy kids."

"Huh," Omega exclaimed, as if that was fascinating to her, and took a bite of her lunch. Fern blinked in disbelief. The young girl was completely unfazed by her obvious taunting.

"Hey, Kid—"

"My name's Omega."

"Yeah, heard you the first time. Newsflash: I don't care." Fern began twirling the eating utensil between her fingers again." I'm going to say this in the nicest way possible: Beat it. If you want to hang out with some 'cooler' rejects," She used the fork to point with. "you can go over to good ole Clone Force 99 and bother them. Say hello to Hunter for me. He loves kids."

"Oh, right!" Omega gasped, as if that was in her plan all along and she had forgotten. "I should say hi. It was nice meeting you, Fern! Bye!" The little girl scooped up her tray and marched right over to the defective clones' table. Fern had to cover her mouth to keep from snorting when she witnessed their bewildered expressions after Omega plopped herself next to Hunter.

A moment later, however, Fern reverted back to her gnawing thoughts. The last thing she needed was worrying about some random little girl. Though, Fern did briefly ponder to herself what would a child be doing here on Kamino... It was definitely not what one would call a child-friendly environment.

She didn't have time left to think about it when there was a loud CRASH, followed by a speck of food flying and landing on the top of her hand. She flicked it off and then heard a food-spattered clone growl, "Who threw that?"

Ugh...Exhibit A.

"I did." Lo and behold the young girl stood on top of the bench with a sandwich in hand. "Now apologize to my friends."

Jeez, learn to pick your fights, Half-Pint. Fern thought. She curiously watched Hunter of all people stand up between Omega and the clones. And then, Wrecker rose from his seat, towering over her from behind with a taunting grin. Fern could predict what was coming and she excused herself from her bench to make herself scarce.

Smash!

"That's it!"

"Oh yeah!" Wrecker hollered, and a full-on brawl erupted in the mess hall.

Oh, boy. Fern squeezed by the roaring clones who were eager to get his fist in a Batcher's face, only to get pinned against a table.

"Get lost, Mouse!"

That's it.

Fern yanked a food tray from behind and upper-cut the clone off of her. With the same makeshift weapon, she frisbeed it into three more. After jabbing her fingers into pressure points on a few more clones, temporarily paralyzing them, she found herself back to back with Crosshair, the quiet one and her favorite of the Batch.

"Well, at least your presence is not a nuisance." He sneered behind her.

"Likewise." Fern smirked, and round-housed another guy across the table's surface.

The fight would end with a loud clank against metal, but it was not a table...

"Echo!" Hunter and Tech exclaimed. Fern stopped and bit her lip when she turned and saw the newest member of the defect squad knocked out cold on the floor. After backing away behind Crosshair while the commotion diverted, she looked away and exited the mess hall without another word.

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Fern stood outside the infirmary where Echo was being hospitalized. Her arms were knotted tightly across her chest while her right foot nervously started tapping against the wall. As much as she despised Clone Force 99, Echo of all clones did not deserve such treatment, after all he's been through. She knew she couldn't stick around for long without the risk of being seen by unwanted eyes, so she had to make this visit quick.

She enter the hospital room and immediately regretted it.

"Fern! You came to visit, too?" Omega's eyes brightened up. She left Echo's side and pulled on Fern's hand, who instantly yanked it back.

"Please don't touch me." Her eyes didn't leave the cyborg clone's unconscious body laying on the bed. After a pause, she sighed. "How is he?"

"He'll be okay. Nothing's damaged. Just knocked out." Omega smiled with a nod. "I want to stay by his side, too, when he wakes up."

"No, I can't stay," Fern corrected. "I just wanted to make sure it wasn't serious." She then thrust a finger down at the kid with an assertive tone. "You won't tell anyone I was here, got it?" Omega nodded, but that cheeky smile didn't give Fern any reassurance.

After Fern exited the room, she sighed again, subconsciously grateful for the young girl's report on Echo's condition, and made her way to her personal bunker. On her way, however, she encountered none other than Governor Tarkin...