Part 15 (1/2)
”You're one of Skirata's undisciplined rabble, aren't you?”
”Proud to say so, yes.”
”You've got no love for the Republic, then. Ever wondered what happens to us when we're no more use?”
”Yes. But I didn't know vow had...”
Darman was sure every clone did. He thought about it almost as much as he thought about Etain, which was a lot. He held his breath, waiting for some insight. Somehow he knew it wasn't going to be good news.
”So did Alpha-zero-two,” said Sull. ”Remember him? Spar? First off the line.”
”I've got perfect recall,” A'den said. ”Of course I remember. He went missing more than a year before we s.h.i.+pped out for Geonosis. And you lot were the second batch-after us.”
Darman marveled at the ability of any trooper to make it off Kamino. He must have been given help, and Darman could think of at least two people who would have done just that.
Sull leaned forward slightly, unable to sit back because of his handcuffs. ”Spar saw what was coming and thought he would be better off taking his chances outside. And once we knew he was gone-well, quite a few of us started thinking.”
”Heard from him since?”
”No.”
”He's doing a little bounty hunting and mere work now.” Nulls seemed to hear about everything one way or another. Darman never asked how or why, but the comment looked designed to show Sull that A'den had better intel than he did. ”The family business. He's not exactly trained to do anything else, is he?”
”The Republic sent someone after him to kill him.”
”Sure?”
”Sure. They didn't get him, but my buddy Tavo decided to make a run for it a few months ago, and they caught him. Then they blew his brains out.”
”They.”
”Republic Intelligence agents. The Chancellor's. .h.i.t men.” Sull didn't seem preoccupied with escape now. His mind was on events, and he looked past A'den as if there were someone standing to one side of him. He saw ghosts; Darman and every commando who'd lost close brothers saw them, too. ”We're not the only hired help in town.”
He's just like us.
Darman realized he didn't know the Alpha ARCs at all. Commandos and ARC troopers led totally separate lives on Kamino during training, bar necessary contact on exercises. Despite being part of Skirata's company, Omega never spent time with the Nulls during those years, and they'd seemed every bit as scary and alien as the Alpha ARCs.
So Alpha ARCs had buddies. Somehow he'd seen them as solitary killing machines, incapable of forming bonds like the tight-knit commando squads, and then...
That s how everyone sees us.
Darman realized he'd done what most civvies seemed to. He'd drawn a line beyond which someone else was less than him, just as citizens thought all clones were flesh machines, wet droids as Skirata used to call them, things sent to die be-cause they weren't like real people and so it was okay.
If that s how easy it is to think that way ...
Miner risked a comment. ”So that's the punishment for going over the wall. I'm not sure we should be surprised.”
”No, chum, you've got it wrong,” said A'den. ”This isn't punishment. Is it, Sull?”
All the fight seemed to have drained out of the ARC. Maybe he was just waiting to die. ”No, because punishment is a deterrent. And to deter anyone, they have to know what'll happen to them. But n.o.body gets told about ARCs who are executed.”
”Killed because they know too much?” Atin asked.
”Killed because they're nek battle dogs.” A'den ran the tip of his vibroblade under his nails and inspected the manicure. ”Once they're too old to fight, they can't be tamed as house pets. Dangerous, savage things. They have to be put down-Don't they, Sull'ika?”
”You can shove your Mando camaraderie,” Sull said, ”but you've got it about right. And they'll come for you, too, when you can't-or won't-fight any longer, Null boy. No-body leaves the Grand Army. What do you think they had in mind for us when we weren't any more use, putting us out to stud?”
”Well, I was sort of hoping...” Fi said wistfully.
”We're not even any special use as a DNA bank. We're second-generation Jango. They might as well get fresh mate-rial from troopers. They're less trouble.”
Darman didn't want to look at his squad comrades. He knew what was going through their minds. It had to be the same dread: that this limited life was all there would ever be for them.
It hadn't seemed to matter back in Tipoca City. None of them had seen the world outside. Now they'd lived in cities, and met nice girls, and seen how other beings lived their lives. And they knew what they were missing.
Not me. I 'm not going to end up like that.
Niner clicked his teeth in annoyance. ”He ran. Most of the ARC troopers are still doing their duty. You'll forgive me if I don't get sentimental about his inner turmoil.”
”Yeah, whatever, Niner.” A'den spun the blade and gazed at the tip. ”Welcome to the complex world of morality.” He paused, then bent over to face Sull almost nose-to-nose. Dar-man expected to hear a crack of bone as the ARC head-b.u.t.ted him, but the two men just stared. ”So what were you doing in Eyat?”
”I got a job. An apartment.”
”Military sort of job? Advising the enemy?”
”Driving repulsor cabs. And Eyat's not the enemy. They're just more ordinary folks who are going to get creamed in an-other war.”
”But if you wanted to stay there, you'd have made sure they didn't lose, wouldn't you?”
”I've been there a few months. I'm not going to walk straight in, tell them I'm defecting, and show them the plans, am I?”
”Sooner or later, Sull, you'll have to take sides, before the Marit coup happens. The attack you were training the lizards to carry out.”
”So?”
”You want out?”
”I'll draw you a picture, shall I?”
”You can't stay here. I can't risk you on the outside, giving the Eyati the codes and overrides, and getting more clones killed. And you aren't coming back inside. So . . .”
A'den straightened up with the vibroblade, and for a moment Darman thought he was going to kill Sull on the spot. But he cut the plastoid cuffs and then held the point of the blade just under Sull's chin, pressing into the flesh.
The ARC rubbed his wrists. ”You waiting for something?”
”Get off the planet,” A'den said. He took some cash credits out of his belt pouch. ”This is plenty to set you up again. I'll fix you transport to get a long way from Gaftikar, on condition that you don't compromise another clone's safety.”
Sull shrugged. A'den's offer seemed to have caught him off guard. ”This brotherly solidarity is touching, but we each have to look out for ourselves.”
A'den glanced at his chrono. ”Put it another way,” he said. ”You get off this rock and stay out of the war, or I put you out of circulation the permanent way.”