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Morse sat there staring at the colorful quilt covering his legs, trying to remember where he was. It took him awhile to remember he was aboard the Lupa III, running from the Republic. “Fucker’s’ll have an APB out on you by now.” He heard a voice say. He couldn’t remember the name of who it belonged to. “Well, we couldn’t stay in Republic space now anyway. Everyone knows what clones look like. They’d spot us anywhere.” A clone voice, Morse guessed it was Dogma. “So we go to Separatist space. Easy.” “What about the neutral systems?” Definitely Rex, uncomfortable about leaving the Republic. “They know what you look like, too. We need to find somewhere where clone presence isn’t, and has never been, prominent.” Said the first voice again. “But-” “You want to be court martialed or not?” Silence. The door to the room hissed open. It was Bird. “They won’t stop arguing. Didn’t even get some peace in the shower.” He said, drying his scalp with the towel. “Do you have any ideas?” Asked Morse. Bird barked out a laugh, “Ha! Like they would listen. Rex is… was a captain. Dogma is a seasoned smuggler by now. What are we compared to that? Kriffing shinies.” He tossed the towel onto another bunk, this one with a woven blanket. “Where are we now?” “Just outside Coruscant's orbit.” “We could still go back…” “Morse-” Bird sighed, “they’d kill you for sure. Or ‘reconditioned’ or whatever they call it.” Morse was silent, tapping out a pattern on the mattress below him. Bird sat down next to him, covering Morse’s hand to still it. “There’s no going back now. Even if we could, would you really want to?” Morse sighed and turned his head away. Bird continued, “now we know about these chips. Now we know that we’re just-” Droids he wanted to say “we’re just droids” but he couldn’t. They weren’t, or at least it didn’t feel like they were. Would they even know if they were? Nobody had known about the chips, even the medics… “Bird?” Morse shifted him out of his reverie. “The pilot is calling you.” “Oh? Right.” Bird stood up and turned to leave. The doors hissed closed behind him. Morse sat in silence for some time more, until his stomach grumbled. He debated between going out to see what there was to eat and not being seen or heard. He chose food. His boots made hollow sounds against the floor, below him was probably the engines… or kilos upon kilos of illegal spice. He decided he didn’t want to know, just in case. Just in case… he thought, of what? If they got caught, he could always claim innocence. He had been kidnapped… forced aboard against his will, he had no idea what was below the floor, no sir. He was a loyal soldier of the Republic. The thought alone almost made him laugh out loud. Loyal. A loyal soldier, who had slept on a civilian bed, beneath civilian blankets, in a smuggling ship, with full intention to desert. Yeah, loyal soldier for sure. “Pilot, eh?” The only non-clone voice said. “Yes… sir.” Bird replied. “And he’s a… radio tech you said?” “I am.” Said Morse. “S’that how you got your name?” “Yes. And your name is… Captain Id?” The woman laughed, “oh it is very much not! My name’s Indari Volka. I use codenames too frequently. It’s nice to meet you, Morse.” She held out her hand. Morse took it hesitantly, shaking hands wasn’t something clones regularly did. He was surprised when Indari pumped his hand up and down vigorously, like a businessman who had just closed the deal of a lifetime. She spoke in a not-quite-standard-basic accent, and very quickly. It was almost difficult to understand her. She turned back to Bird. “We were talking about you being a pilot.” Not a question. A statement, straight to the point. “Uh… yes…” Replied Bird. “So what can you fly?” Indari asked. “Anything.” “Even souped-up semi-illegal stuff?” Bird shifted, looking uncomfortable, glancing back and forth between her and Rex, “I can’t say I’ve ever tried…” He finally said, the ‘sir’ missing from the end hanging in the air. “Well, as my grandmother used to say, ‘there’s no time like the-’” “Your grandmother never said that.” Interrupted Dogma, heading over to check something blinking on the controls. He froze for a moment. “What is it?” Rex said, concerned. “Kriff-” Indari ran over to look, “oh by the seven moons of-” “Unidentified freighter-” started the pre-recorded message. Morse barely heard Indari mutter, “no time like the present.”
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“Well it wasn’t my bright idea that-!” Indari yelled over the sound of blaster fire. “Focus, will you?!” Dogma yelled back from the co-pilot's’ seat. Bird was tamping down his indignation in the gunner’s seat. He was a pilot after all… but he’d never flown the Lupa II before. As the ship jerked from a hit just in front of him, Bird wondered for a moment what happened to the first Lupa. Maybe he’d ask Indari later, when they were in prison. From below him Indari yelled, “how’re the shields doing, Morse?”“Holding at eighty-five percent!” Morse yelled back. At least someone’s doing what they were trained for. Thought Bird, for perhaps the millionth time.“I’ll give you Republic nuts this, you’ve got some pretty decent fliers!” Indari sounded gleeful.I’ll give you ‘decent flier’ grumbled the bitter part of Bird’s mind as he rotated the turret to face the incoming fighter. It might’ve been his imagination, but he could’ve sworn he caught the eye of the pilot through the plastisteel. Indari hadn’t wanted to use the turret at all, and Bird was glad of that. He couldn’t shoot his brothers. On the deck of the Resolution Anakin stood stock still. His captain was gone, mysteriously and without any warning, and something- someone- out there was flying circles around his pilots. He didn’t want to make a connection, but some part of his mind wondered if Rex was aboard the illegal freighter they’d just intercepted. When they had signaled, asking the ship to identify, it had sparked the engines and led them on a chase all around the Coruscant's satellites and incoming freight and military ships. Whoever was in there was good, there was no denying that, but why weren’t they firing? As far as he could see, they could’ve knocked out their pursuers at least a dozen times by now, but they hadn’t. Why? “Sir-”“What is it, Lieutenant?” Anakin hoped he didn’t sound as annoyed as he felt. “We’ve identified the ship.”“What good is that if you can’t catch it?” Anakin took a deep breath, he could feel his calm veneer was starting to crack. “Tell me anyway.”The Lieutenant hesitated before replying, “It’s a smuggler sir. The ship’s name is the Lupa II, ownership records show it belongs to one Colm Gregor, but the records show he died almost six years ago.”Anakin waved his hand, dismissing the Lieutenant and turned back to the loops and twirls of the escaping ship. “So who is it.” He wondered out loud. “Kriffing gddamn hell!” Indari yelled. This was not going well.“Shields at seventy-three percent!” Morse yelled back.“We’ve gotta get outta here, set coordinates Dogma!” Indari was looking desperate, Rex couldn’t tell why. They’d been in worse situations with Skywalker, who, come to think of it, was probably the one trying to kill them right now. “Where are we going?”“Kriffing anywhere!” Dogma hit the lever, the stars blurred, and they were away. As soon as they were safe in hyperspace Indari stood up out of her chair, “holy kriffing balls of cheese what the hell? How’d they find us? I had the masking system on and-”“You know, the Republic is a lot more advanced than you give them credit for.” Rex felt he had to say something.“Listen, this ship has state of the art cloaking systems. There’s no way they could’ve-”“I hate to say this,” said Bird, “but what if they just… saw us.”Indari looked at him blankly.“You know,” Bird continued, “someone in a spaceport saw us out of a viewport. There’s plenty of chances for that to happen. They ran your registration, and found it was unauthorized.” Indari looked like she was going to punch him for a moment, but then she smiled. “You,” she said, pointing at his chest, “I like you.” Bird didn’t know how to feel. He most certainly didn’t like this Indari person, but he was stuck with her, maybe now she’d let him fly. When they dropped out of hyperspace Bird could feel the pain behind his eyes. Felucia. Last time he had been here he’d been concussed and talked into treason by his best friend. Not a good start to a new life, as far as new starts went. He caught Dogma’s eye, and the two nodded. Morse got up and touched the image of the nearing planet with his fingertips, a look of rapture on his face.“It never gets old, does it?” He whispered.“What doesn’t get old?” Asked Rex.“Seeing a planet from space, all those people, all those lives, just milling around down there. And you’ll probably never meet any of them.” “Hadn’t thought about it like that before.” Replied Rex, and they lapsed into silence as the ship drifted into orbit.