Jedi and Clone

Inferno

Kamino: 20 BBY
Cloning Facility
Commander Axe

    Nearly a week after arriving on Kamino, Axe was already tired of the smell of stale air and disinfectant. The entire facility smelled of chemicals. Axe brushed down a hallway, headed towards the simulation chamber. General Shaak Ti had asked him to come oversee a training session and do some instructing, while she and Irel did something else. He wasn't sure what exactly they were doing.

In fact, he had barely seen Irel at all since they arrived. She had found him and Veres a few days ago and talked to them then, but was quickly called away. Axe sighed, still thinking. I wonder what General Shaak Ti has her doing.

"Lost in your thoughts, Commander," a familiar voice cut in. Clutter breezed alongside him, the robotics in his leg braces whirring slightly.

"Oh, yeah. I wasn't thinking about anything important," Axe replied. Clutter had taken the news of Hammer's death rather hard. Axe hadn't seen him for two days after he told him. Still, they had spent a good amount of time talking it over. It had been nice to get it off his chest, finally.

"I heard you're overseeing some cadets. You better be hard on them. Show them the old Hellion Squad doesn't take it easy on anyone." Clutter slapped a hand on his shoulder.

Axe laughed. "I will and I'll be sure to tell them which challenges you set up."

"How's your general doing? I haven't seen her around much," Clutter said, changing the subject.

"I'm not sure. General Shaak Ti must be keeping her on her toes. Veres and I haven't seen her in a few days," Axe replied.

"I imagine she'll be at the simulation? General Shaak Ti is always at those."

Axe shook his head. "General Shaak Ti put me in charge of this simulation because they weren't going to be there."

"Hm. I'll keep an eye out for them."

They reached the simulation control room. Clutter tipped a hand to Axe and staggered away. Axe watched his friend for a moment, before heading into the control room. The bounty hunter trainers were already there. They glanced at Axe as he entered, but said nothing. Axe took his place beside the comm.

A section of flooring opened up in the chamber and a platform rose, carrying the squad. It was Echo Squad, again, Axe realized. The green skinned bounty hunter, El-Les, nodded to Axe. Axe activated the comm.

"Echo Squad, this is your final assessment. The objective is to capture and secure the tower. Your time starts now," Axe called into the comm. El-Les activated the simulation and the squad darted in.

They're impressive, Axe noted. His initial thoughts about the squad had only strengthened as he watched their progress through the week. The bounty hunters seemed proud of them, anyway. The squad pushed towards the base of the tower. The door hissed open and Veres stepped into the control room.

He paused beside Axe. "Their timing is amazing."

Something in the statement struck him as odd. "Yeah," he watched closer. One of the cadets side-stepped a shot and blasted the simulated droid. Veres glanced at him.

"What are you thinking?" Veres murmured so the bounty hunters couldn't hear.

"That this squad is a little too good." He continued watching. The pace they're going and their precision...it's like they've rehearsed it but they've only done this simulation once before.

With a spark of electricity, the lights blinked out. The simulation room went black and a shudder rocked through the facility. Axe was knocked down to his knees. Down the hall, alarms began blaring and clones rushed by, a few carrying fire extinguishers.