Chapter 2
Talwin and Gavin strode along the corridors of the Kamino cloning facility, everything was clean and white and at first glance seemed to be a very professional operation.
Gavin noted how his fathers head kept scanning across all the clones they watched at their various classes and exercises though, and he realized that his buir was, like almost always, seeing something he did not.
Suddenly he sensed Talwin tense up a bit and followed the line of his helmet. He was watching an obviously defective clone cleaning the hall.
That’s when it hit him.
Interrupting the Kaminoan who had been giving a standard tourist guide spiel the entire time He asked. “How many clones are in development at this time?”
“There are 200,000 completed and several million more currently in development.”
:Your success rate must be amazing then.”
He knew his father had tensed slightly and was giving him a meaningful look.
“Our success rate is well over 99%.”
“And the defectives, they are put to duties like that one over there?”
“Of course, here at Kamino we are dedicated to the humane treatment of our clones.”
There was only one problem with this beings story, a 99% success rate meant 10,000 failures per million clones grown. There was no way this place employed well over 30000 janitors.. Something was off with this situation.
Realizing Talwin’s caution, however, he went ahead and said, “Thank you, that is good to hear. Now you were saying about combat courses?”
As the Kaminoan went back into tour guide mode the two mandalorians exchanged a glance. It was beginning to look like they may not be staying.
After the tour was complete Talwin let Gavin know he was going to head out and touch base with a few of the trainers here that he knew from various other places. Gavin elected to take the time to go hit the gym for a good workout.
They met up later to join the clones for dinner and Talwin was even more reserved. He had obviously received news he didn’t take well.
There was no where here in the facility that the two felt comfortable discussing it though, even if they shut off the external speakers on their comms they would be transmitting on relatively common and well known frequencies.
“So,” Said Talwin, “what do you think so far?”
Not sure how to play it Gavin’s response was more or less honest.
“I think the facilities are first rate and these clones are getting a very thorough education, I am not sure this is a place I want to spend the year they want to contract us for though.”
He caught a subtle move of his fathers hand, giving him a very slight thumbs up.
The men conversed about nothing important for a while then decided to head to bed.
They woke and did their morning routine, then headed to the nearest cafeteria for morning meal. The room was full of clones, these ones appearing maybe 10-12 years old.
Gavin reflected on that. The tour guide yesterday had told them that these clones were altered so they grew to adulthood in half the time. Thinking back he realized they would need the kind of focused training they received here if they were to be elite soldiers at 10 years old.
The whole situation was wrong. How could the republic endorse this? Child slave soldiers.
The weight in his belly was too much to keep eating so he pushed his plate away. He noticed that Talwin hadn’t had much of an appetite either.
The two men headed to one of the gyms and did their normal workout. Part of their routine had been to run through some of the different arts he had learned during his training. When they stopped swirling around and exchanging blows he saw they had drawn a crowd.
A group of clones had gathered around them in a loose circle,
they seemed more fascinated than anything, and were quietly discussing what they had seen.
One of the clones was visibly older than the rest. He stepped forward and said.
“I am Alpha 17. I am one of the trainers here, I know I saw many arts I recognized there but there were also quite a few I did not. Will you be training us?”
Before Gavin could speak Talwin approached the clone and held out his hand.
“A pleasure to meet you 17. We are still deciding if this is the job for us.”
“Well, I really hope you stay, any training that will help my brothers survive is much appreciated.”
The clone had delivered this in a flat tone but both Gavin and Talwin could tell the sentiment was real.
After the clones gathered into formation and left the two men exchanged a glance and Gavin could tell his buir was torn. He too felt the draw.
“Come, let’s go check on the ship.” Talwin said.
They boarded their ship and sat down in the crew lounge.
“This whole thing is wrong.” Gavin said as he removed his helmet and set it on the table. “How can the republic senate endorse this?”
Talwin also removed his helmet, his face looking much more worn than when they had arrived.
“The situation is worse than you realize. I spoke in secret to some mandalorians here that I trust yesterday and the republic didn’t order a clone army.”
Gavin was about to ask but Talwin continued.
“Apparently a few years ago a Jedi Master arrived here and ordered the clones. He even specified the source for the genetic material.”
Talwin looked up at Gavin and met his eyes. “A Mandalorian named Jengo Fett.”
This was not what Gavin was wanting to hear, that meant that all of these clones were, or should be, Mandalorian.
“The trainers here, well, most of them, are doing their best to teach these ad some of their culture and heritage as they prepare them for war.”
Gavin had already guessed what was coming next so he spoke up.
“I will stay with you. We will train these vod as best as we can.”
“No, my son, it is time to part ways for a while. I have a different task for you, and one that will take some time.”
“TC-435 Come out here.”
The boy appeared to be in his early teens, but Gavin remembered the forced aging and greeted him as he would a much younger child.
“Hello little ad. My name is Gavin, it is nice to meet you.”
This clone did not fit the mold, he looked weaker, smaller, and much more terrified.
Gavin looked to Talwin for answers.
“This child has what the cloners are calling a “neurological divergence” from Fett’s genetic template. They initially kept him viable so they could study this divergence but apparently whomever is working for the jedi to interface with this place has a very strict policy on any mental issues with clones. It is a zero tolerance policy, I am afraid.”
Gavin was pretty shocked by that. The kid looked normal enough, and judging from his change of facial expressions and the way he curiously looked around the ship he seemed to be mentally capable as well.
“Speak as I do, they do not teach the language here.” Talwin said in Mando’a.
“As you know, politics are a cesspool I have no desire to wade into. Valorus, however, excels at swimming the depths. I need you first to carry the information about what goes on here back to him. He can then work through the new mandalorians,death watch, supercommandos, and all the other idiots to get our voices heard.”
“So, take the boy to the clan?”
“Yes and no. I talked to the boy briefly and he is going to need some specialized care. He is frighteningly intelligent though and
if he is trained properly will become a major asset to our clan.”
“It is this training I task you with.”
“Buir, I am too young and foolish to properly raise an ad, there must be a better choice for him.”
“You will find, as I did, that teaching another helps drive the lessons home for yourself. You have made me immensely proud and I think you will do well at this.”
“So, I am to be his buir?”
“I think that may be the wrong approach, He is much more mature than his age and size suggests and he will continue to mature quickly, instead I ask that you be his ori'vod.I will adopt him as his buir but since I am needed here I will ask that you take him somewhere safe and train him as you have been taught.”
“So you just want another child but don’t have the energy to train him.” Gavin said with a grin.
“Look at him.” Talwin said,
Gavin glanced at the child. In the few moments the men had been speaking he had somehow opened an access panel and was almost elbow deep in the guts of the ship. The look on his face was hyper-focused and he mumbled softly to himself.
“Hey! He said, “be careful in there.”
The boy pulled his hands back like he had been burned.
“I’m sorry, when I get bored or nervous I start tinkering with things, figuring out how they work. Plus, your ship is fascinating.”
“That is why they were going to put him down. His curiosity is off the charts and he is fascinated by technology to the point where he tends to lose focus in training.”
“So this is my punishment for all the times I wore on your patience, isn’t it? Saddling me with this little tinkerer for warrior training.”
“Tinker, I like it. That will be his new name. And be cautious son, don’t force him to become a warrior like you. He must learn according to the resol’nare but you are aware that not all of our people are warriors like us.”
“I understand Father. Must you stay though? I am sure you can do a much better job training him than me and it sounds like you see a future for him.”
“My calling is here. A few of us are going to work both within and around the system here. We will train them faithfully but will try to intercede where we can when healthy children are to be put to death for being different.”
Gavin knew his father was right. He still wanted to stay with him but just dumping this child somewhere seemed wrong.
“One more thing son, I sent you a link to a bank account I have kept open in hutt space. There should be enough in there to take the boy to someone who can alter his appearance. That face is going to become very familiar when these troops deploy and being a Mandalorian only shields him if he never removes his helmet.”
“That would become difficult around meal times and make brushing ones teeth a bit hard.” He said sarcastically.
He was surprised to hear the boy chuckle slightly.
“It seems little ad have big ears.” Talwin said cheerily.
“Come here boy, and sit down with us.”
The kid came over and sat right down in the chair.
“Do you understand what is happening here?” Talwin asked.
“Trainer Horus explained that it was time for my termination but that he and the rest of you felt it was unnecessary.”
He said if I went with you and behaved I would get a family.
“What’s a family? Is that like lots of brothers because I already have that. I did research and families seem to be made up of multiple members of different ages and you two are..”
“Stop!” Talwin said, laughing a bit.
“A family is a group composed of different parts, yes, but it isn’t always just brothers, there are many different roles.”
“What we offer here is that I will become your buir, or father, and Gavin here your ori'vod, which is a big brother. He will be taking you from here for now and teaching you what you need to know as a Mandalorian, do you want that?”
“Since it seems my other choice is to be returned for termination I will have to say yes.” The boy replied somberly.
“No Tinker, that’s not the only other choice. We will get you out of here either way, and I can get you somewhere you can make a new start. The offer is only if you are willing.”
The kids stance visibly softened a bit. “I can choose?” He said.
“Yes.” The two men replied in synch.
“Then I choose to go, provided we agree there are no beatings.”
Gavin chuckled a bit, “I can promise you that I tried his patience much more than you are likely to try mine and Talwin never beat me. I did get very good at exercising though.”
“Then we have a deal.” Tinker held out his hand.
Talwin shook it soberly and then spoke the words.
“Ni kyr'tayl gai sa'adTinker.”
“Welcome to the family.” He said with a smile.
“Welcome vod’ika.” Gavin gave the boy a quick hug.
“Now, I need to grab my things and then the two of you need to get out of here. Tinker, you need to make sure you stay in that storage compartment until you are in hyperspace. It just happens to be shielded from life scanners. Gavin, if all went well he was recorded as terminated so no one should be looking for him. I will give you a letter to pass to Valorus with my take on what’s going on.”
“We will be sending messages back and forth, of course, but any real information I will send you in the code used by the Corellian resistance in the galactic civil war.”
“There’s a book with the code in it in my quarters.” He said as Gavin opened his mouth to speak.
Talwin quickly packed. He came back out of his room with a couple of bags. Gavin was sure they were packed with books.
Everything felt rushed to him but he did understand the situation.
Gavin gave his father a strong hug and promised to keep in touch.
Tinker thanked him for his name and family.
With that, Talwin was down the ramp and gone.
Sadly, Gavin closed the hatch and headed to the cockpit.
“Better get into position vod’ika,” he said, “we need to get out of here.”
Tinker turned to head to his hiding spot, then spun around again, “Will we see him again?”
“Of course.” Gavin replied as he headed to the cockpit.