STEALTH and TRACK: BOOK ONE

C H A P T E R F O R T Y-S I X

THIRD PERSON POV

Fern and Hunter were locked away together, sealed behind a ray shield inside an Imperial brig. They sat on the bench built into the far wall, shoulder to shoulder. The female clone's left leg spazzed out as she nervously waited for the inevitable. "Crosshair is coming for us, now that they reported us in." she muttered into her hands.

"I know." Hunter slowly nodded. "It's only a matter of time before he arrives." He noticed how uneasy Fern acted, and sighed. "Don't worry, you and I will be fine as long as we stay together. He won't separate us."

"I know." she agreed, but it didn't make her feel any more relaxed. Her hands trembled in her lap. "I just -- I have a feeling Crosshair's intentions are...contradicting. Back on Bracca, even when he ordered for the ion engine to be initiated, he had the battalion to surround and destroy us. Now, he wants us alive. Why? What does he want with us?"

"Fern. Hey, Fern?" Hunter called to her, but she was so absorbed in rambling through her thoughts she didn't hear him.

"He's up to something. I just know it." Her teeth clenched.

"Fern!" The sergeant raised his voice and swallowed one of her hands in his. Squeezing it, he used his other hand to rotate her to face him. "Are you listening to yourself? You'll drive yourself mad if you continue to like this. You must stay focus and—Fern?" He ceased his lecture when he recognized the shine in her trembling dark eyes. His hand left her arm and cupped her jawline to stop her from averting them. He stroked his thumb across her cheekbone. "Hey," he said softly. "I didn't mean it like that. I just don't want you to—"

"I'm fine." Fern sighed. "Really. These are feelings I've had for awhile."

"You wouldn't even be here if I hadn't pulled you with me." Hunter was about to drop his hand from Fern's face, but she stopped him by covering it with her own and leaning her cheek deeper into his palm. "Actually, I chose to let go. I knew I couldn't hold on, but I wasn't going to let you face Crosshair or the Empire itself alone."

"Sounds like something you would do." Hunter bobbed his head to the side. Her nose scrunched teasingly before exhaling an airy sigh. "You're stuck with me in the long run, Hunter."

"If I'm being honest," Hunter continued to subtly caress his thumb across her cheek as she hugged his hand. "I'm glad you are here. Eases my mind a little bit, having you here."

"Then, I made the right choice." Fern hummed. "You and I are a team. We've always been, even when we were broken apart. No matter how hard I convinced myself that I hated you...Heh...We've had this conversation before."

"What are you trying to say, Fern?" Hunter sensed she was holding back on something.

"I...know why, or at least have a keen idea on why, the Kaminoans separated us all those years ago." She removed herself from Hunter's touch and shifted herself until her whole body faced him. She tucked one foot underneath her opposite leg; her hands buried themselves in her lap.

"How do you know that?" he asked, confused by the female clone's sudden, bashful actions. She had never been the one to shy away from sharing her thoughts. In fact, it was typically quite a feat to challenge her once she did. She had always been confident, with every ingenious quip at a snap of her fingers. Her logical monologues were seldom debatable.

"I, um, heard you and Omega had an interesting conversation on Nevarro when we split the missions." Fern seemingly changed the subject. Then, her lips curled into a smile as her shoulders rose shyly. "It just so happened that Tech and I did, too, on Iego." 

Hunter raised his brow, unsure where this was leading or how it related to the Kaminoans. Nonetheless, he recalled Omega's revelation on how she recognized each clone of the squad as a special family member... That was the moment he'd finally realized how much Fern meant not just to the young girl, but to himself as well. In this moment, he found he could care less what she had supposedly uncovered on Iego with the intellectual clone. His eyes softened, and he leaned his body forward when she raised her chin with a determined pout. "Really? What did Tech—"