Not Just Another Number
Part XIV: Not Just Another Number
All around Bo-Katan, there were lots of shouting and commotion. Ever since that alarm had set off, clones were running in all direction; formerly motionless droids were powering up, and communication that didn’t involve yelling had become impossible. The entire Jedi cruiser seemed to be in eruption.
“What’s happening?” Ursa asked next to Bo.
“I don’t know,” replied the latter.
Nobody was paying attention to them anymore.
“Watch it!” a clone shouted as he ran past them.
Bo-Katan frowned and turned her comlink on.
“Ahsoka? Ahsoka do you read me?”
“I’m here!”
Bo looked up; the voice wasn’t coming from the comlink. At the other end of the bay, Ahsoka was walking towards them, a clone at her side.
“What’s going on?” Bo asked as the young Togruta reached the small group of Mandalorians.
“There’s been an attack on Coruscant. The Chancellor might be in danger. Masters Kenobi and Skywalker have been ordered to go back to help.”
In other circumstances, the news would have worried Bo-Katan. After all, the outcome of the Clone War would have repercussions for the whole galaxy, including neutral words like Mandalore. But today, the only think she could think of was that every passing second was a second she didn’t spend trying to stop Maul from causing more chaos on her home planet.
“You won’t help us, then,” she flatly said.
Ahsoka smiled.
“The advantage of leaving the Jedi Order is that the Council can’t tell me what to do, anymore.”
Bo-Katan raised a brow.
“So, you’re coming?”
“We are coming.”
She turned to the clone next to her.
“Bo, this is commander Rex. He will lead the Republic forces during the assault on Sundari. I have total confidence in him.”
The clone removed his helmet to salute the Mandalorian. It was the first time Bo-Katan was seeing a clone up close. He looked nothing like she had expected. He was young; or at least, younger than she would’ve thought. She estimated he was approximatively five years younger than her, which meant he was probably not even thirty. He had very short blond hair that clashed with his dark skin and a strong, clean-shaven jaw. He was handsome; there was no denying it. Yet, Bo-Katan couldn’t bring herself to enjoy his presence. “So, this is what a clone looks like. That’s the faces of those who will save the glorious Mandalore. A bunch of soldiers trained in a laboratory.”
The thought left a bitter taste in her mouth. For weeks now, the young woman had felt terribly empty. She had spent a large part of her life fighting the pacifist regime of her sister, convinced it would ruin Mandalore and its warrior heritage. She had even gone as far as trying to make her kill, but Maul had finally beaten her to it. She had thought her time to rule had come. Her beliefs and those of the true Mandalorians would triumph once again. With Satine dead, Mandalore’s glory would be restored and the planet’s name would command respect again like it had once done. Except nothing had worked as planned and when her planet’s fate had fallen into her hands, she had only managed to plunge her world in a deadly civil war. The violence that had once been fed by her rage and her principles had slowly reached the rest of the planet and ravaged the Mandalorians. Bo-Katan, out of her depth, had been forced to watch her people tear themselves apart when she had always dreamed to see them unite to embrace their traditions again. She had finally come to the harsh conclusion that the years under Satine’s rule had been among the best Mandalore had ever seen. But she had ruined everything and the consequences were now beyond her control, so much so that — as proud as she was — she had been forced to beg the Republic for their aid. And since then, she was waking up every day with a profound sense of failure.
“Well… I hope you’re up for a good fight, commander,” she only said to the clone. “Because you’re about to get one.”
**********
Bo-Katan put down her shovel to wipe the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. “I really should get hold of a new headband,” she thought. At this hour of the day, the sun was at its highest point and today, the sky was particularly cloudless.
“Everything’s fine over there?”
The Mandalorian looked up at Rex who was sitting on the edge of the garden a few meters away, busy cleaning his armor. He had been hurt in the shoulder during their little trip at the Sayan’s Imperial Base and since then, Suu had categorically refused to let him do any kind of work involving his arms, including digging in the garden. Which meant Bo had to do twice the work.
“Don’t tease me,” she said, frowning. “If it was up to me, you’d be sweating with me, right now.”
He chuckled and picked up his chest plate to rub it with a cloth.
“Go ahead, you can laugh, but the day you’re healed, I swear…”
“Woah! It’s your jetpack?!”
It was Jek who was running toward them, still carrying his backpack. Shaeeah was following closely, calmer than her brother.
“You’re already back?” Rex asked, raising a brow.
“The teachers were having a meeting this afternoon, so we have half of our day free,” Shaeeah explained.
“Good! That means you’ll be able to lend a hand with the garden,” Bo said.
Shaeeah pouted.
“Well… If you really need our help…”
“I was joking, Shaeeah,” Bo-Katan said, going back to work. “Enjoy your afternoon. The one who should be helping me is mister ‘big trauma’ over there.”
The girl turned to Rex.
“You’re still injured, uncle Rex?”
“I’m fine, honey. But I’m afraid that could change quickly if your mother caught me working.”
He glanced at Jek who was still looking at the jetpack placed on the ground with awe.
“Like what you see buddy?”
“This is so wizard! Can I try it?”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea. It can be very dangerous if you don’t know how to use it correctly.”
Bo-Katan stopped her digging again and raised her head.
“On Mandalore, children learn to use a jetpack by taking part in big races.”
“Really?!” Shaeeah asked, her eyes suddenly as wide with excitement as her brother’s.
Rex looked at the Mandalorian, deadpan.
“You’re not helping.”
She smirked at him.
“I wasn’t trying to.”
“I wish I was a Mandalorian!” Jek moaned.
Bo-Katan put her hand on her hip.
“That’s not a game, kid. It’s a form of training. Mandalorian children are taught to fight very young. That’s what makes them the best warriors of the galaxy.”
Rex snickered at her words, causing Bo-Katan to frown.
“What’s so funny?”
“Well… They certainly were the best. But Mandalore haven’t been through a real war since a couple of years, at least since your sister took power. The siege was the first battle for most of you in years; you can’t really claim this title anymore.”
Bo almost choke with indignation.
“Really? And who could? Clones, perhaps?”
“Why not?”
It was Bo-Katan’s turn to laugh.
“You can’t seriously believe that!”
A few minutes later, they were both standing side by side, all geared-up and with their jetpacks on the back. Jek — who didn’t seem to believe his luck — was sitting on Rex’s shoulders while his sister was carried by Bo-Katan.
“Don’t worry, son,” Rex said to the boy. “We’ll win this in no time.”
Bo let out a little laugh.
“I admire your confidence.”
“Ready…” Shaeeah said on her shoulders, “Set… Go!”
The two jetpacks took off with a roar. Immediately, Bo-Katan and Shaeeah took point. They managed to fly a few meters ahead before Shaeeah received a pile of mud at the back of her head. The force of the impact caused Bo to waver, slowing her down. Shaeeah turned her head only to see her brother waving at her with his hand still covered in mud as Rex and him were flying past the girls.
“Hey!” Shaeeah protested. “You’re cheating!”
“We’ll catch up with them, don’t worry,” said Bo, her voice muffled by the helmet.
She managed to close the distance between them the other team but Shaeeah suddenly tapped on her shoulder.
“I have an idea! Lure them into this copse of trees right there. They’ll think it’s a shortcut.”
“Why? We’ll fall behind.”
“You’ll see!”
“Okay, then. I trust you.”
And sure enough, the boys were not long to change course when they saw Bo turning left to fly towards the copse. But as soon as they arrived between the trees, they were welcomed by a rain of ripe fruits.
“Get them, Shaeeah!” Bo-Katan said as the girl on her shoulders threw all the fruits she could get her hands on at the other team.
“I call for a withdrawal!” Rex shouted, dodging a fruit.
“Impossible!” Jek replied. “We’re trapped by the trees!”
“What do you propose then, trooper?”
“I say we go after them!”
“I like your plan!”
With that, they charged the girls, yelling. And the race quickly turned into a fight. Jek and Shaeeah were throwing fruits as fast as they could while Rex and Bo-Katan tried to push each other, still careful not to knock off the children from each other’s shoulders. Ripe fruits were flying everywhere; arms and legs were kicking in the melee and everyone, without exception, was covered in purple, sticky juice.
“On what world did you think that was a good idea?!”
Everybody froze in midair.
“Get back down. All of you,” Suu said, her hands firmly clutched on her hips.
Bo and Rex did as they were told and the children jumped off their shoulders.
“I see you’re having a little a fun while everybody else is working.”
Her accent was thicker when she was angry.
“No,” replied Jek, thinking it was the answer his mother wanted to hear.
Next to him, Shaeeah made a little sound.
“You think this is funny?”
“No, mom. Sorry, mom,” said the girl, clearly struggling not to laugh.
“Sorry, Suu,” Rex interjected. “It was our idea; the kids wanted to try the jetpacks.”
“I see…”
She looked at them one after the other but her gaze stopped on her son. She squinted.
“Jek! What did you put on your lekku?”
Shaeeah suddenly burst into laughter, unable to restrain herself any longer.
“You should’ve seen you face when I hit you!”
Jek stuck out his tongue in her direction, and soon, the four of them were laughing. Even Suu couldn’t hide a smile.
“Alright, alright, that’s enough,” she said after a few minutes. “Now you two, go help your father with his work. And while we’re at it,” she added, looking at Rex, “go with them. If you can put up with jetpack racing, you can go back to work.”
“Sir, yes, sir,” Rex said, mimicking a military salute.
He then turned to the children.
“Okay, kids. Let’s go see how we can help your dad.”
Jek hurried to climb back on his shoulder and Shaeeah took his hand as they all headed back to the farm.
“It’s a shame they didn’t get the chance to live free. They’re good men; very good with kids,” Suu said as she was watching the trio walk away. “And easy on the eye,” she added, laughing.
“Huh… I guess so…” Bo-Katan replied, slightly taken aback by the unexpected confidence.
“I would never have thought I would marry a soldier, but here we are.”
Bo turned around to look at Rex and the kids herself. She had realized during the past few weeks that she could now tell the difference between Rex and Cut. At first, only their hair and the way they were interacting with the other inhabitants of the house allowed her to tell them apart, but now there was something else. Especially since the break-in at the imperial base where she had had to fight back to back with Rex. She could now see the subtle differences in the two clones’ body language; the way they were moving; their distinct vocabulary. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but Rex had something special and any kind of confusion between the two brothers now seemed impossible to Bo-Katan.
“Anyways,” Suu said, drawing the Mandalorian’s attention again. “I didn’t come here to tell you that. We received a strange signal this morning. I thought it was just some kind of electromagnetic interferences, but Cut was sure it was an encrypted message. He has just finished to crack it and I think it’s for you.”
Bo’s heart began to race.
“For me?”
“Yes. From a certain Korkie Kryze. Does that name sound familiar to you?”