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Having made it past customs and the planetary security force, Vikna's shuttle was finally cleared to enter Siania. After a discussion with the queen over the emperor's worries and curiosity, the team was allowed to inspect the clones at face value and to tour one of the planetary stations that was serving as a temporary hanger for all the ships that were normally housed inside the Huntress's hangar bays.

Of course, the Katric empire had no jurisdiction inside Sianian territory, but the two currently maintained neutral relations and Kesis saw no harm in allowing her daughter's friends to give a basic report as long as they weren't allowed access to any sensitive files or technology. Plus, the imperial fleet was still technically a separate entity that just happened to be grounded on Siania for the time being unless they decided to accept her offer.

Kesis would be able to keep an eye on half of them anyways at the palace and fundraiser tomorrow. While ARA and the pilots of the group checked out some of the clones in space, Ayn was at the palace dining room sipping coffee at the breakfast table. The princess showed signs of a restless night. Despite Ayn's less than healthy upbringing and rift between herself and her mother, Kesis saw a look in her daughter's eyes that she would have when rushing to her parents' bedroom after a nightmare when she was a pup.

"Ayn, are you alright? Ayn, Ayn!"

She didn't answer at first, staring off into the distance until her name was called the third time and she flinched.

"Ye-yes I'm alright mother. I just...I didn't sleep well."

Ayn hadn't gone to confide in her mother for anything in years as it had become clear that Kesis cared more about her being the stereotypical princess figure as well as indoctrinating her to fulfil her supposed role as a religious avatar rather than having her just be herself. To be fair, she refused to let her mother in whenever she tried to attempt some semblance of reconciliation, but Ayn saw no point in attempting to fix things when her mother was clearly not going to change.

Frowning, Kesis replied, "Well, do your best to wake yourself up. Your friends will be here for lunch while we will be finalizing the preparations for tomorrow."

Letting out a sigh at the paperwork that awaited next to the food, Ayn finished her breakfast to get to work while occasionally giving a glance or two at Ghost who was standing a few feet away, filled with pity and sadness. It would be nice to see her friends in person again, but Ghost was getting his chip removed the day after tomorrow. On one hand it would mean a lot of grieving, unimaginable regret and pain on his part, but it would also mean he would finally be free from the chip's control. Perhaps she could even make a new friend.

As the day went on, lunch finally came prompting her to eagerly watch the doors leading into the dining room. A few minutes later after all the dishes and utensils were laid out, the doors finally opened with Nytro and Vikna walking into the room. A smile lit up from Ayn's face at the sight of her two close friends, the first to embrace her was Nytro.

"How's my lovely highness doing?" Nytro says.

"Not too bad, not too bad at all. Long journey?" Ayn replies.

"Sort of, we had to make a detour to one of the longer routes since miss kitty got us lost while navigating the forty-five space way."

"You do know I'm right behind you, jerk." Vikna says as she death stares the male canine.

"Well, well, if it isn't my lovely little kitten. Nytro still hasn't given you your daily pleasure yet?

Vikna went up to Ayn's face and stared at her eyes, both girls now eyeing each other. The princess then booped the cat's nose, earning a little blush on Vikna's face. The two laughed and embraced each other.

"We're glad that you are safe, we rushed here as soon as possible once we heard that you encountered a foreign military from the crash." Vikna says.

"I told you guys I'm fine, but it's very nice to see you both again." Ayn then looked over Vikna's shoulder to scan the room for her third friend that usually accompanied the other two.

"Where's ARA?"

Nytro came to her answer, "That quirky little android is in space conducting the formal part of our visit by inspecting that new military force you've recently recruited from."

Ayn gestures to the table, the two friends then take their seats next to her. That was when Ghost stepped out of the shadows along with four other troopers, startling the two Katricians at the table.

"Uhm Ayn, are those...the~" Vikna stutters.

"New bodyguards? Yes, they are. They are known as clone troopers, identical soldiers bred for combat. If you ask me, they act even more robotic than the blue guard." Ayn answers.

"Bred for combat you say? Sounds like they are a bunch of attack hounds created to do the bidding of someone." Commented Nytro.

The troopers took offense with Nytro's comment, though they didn't show it due to their training, discipline, and of course the inhibitor chips. While Ghost knew he didn't fully fit the description, he still empathized with the regs as it was accurate in both their intended purpose and how most of the republic viewed clones.

"Nytro! Try to have some empathy here. They are living beings with feelings and free wi~, (sighing over her mishap as Ayn whispered to herself). Well...they will hopefully regain those two things soon".

While her two friends didn't hear her last comment, they quickly caught the gist of something being very wrong given Ayn's forlorn look, in fact she seemed rather tired and shaken now that they observed their friend more closely.

Deciding to clarify things without giving too much away, Kesis jumped into the conversation to steer things away from the chips.

"We've made an arrangement with their commanding officer to exchange technology, hardware and the service of their soldiers for repairs and medical aid."

Wanting to know more both out of curiosity and because it was requested of her by the emperor, Vikna asked for more information. "What planet and region of the galaxy are they from, because their ship designs don't match anything in our databases?"

Deciding to go with a half-truth to satiate Vikna's curiosity while giving nothing important away, "They said they are from around the very edge of our galaxy on the tip of one of the galactic arms in our sector of space. Their home planet, Kamino, is completely covered in water and violent storms due to their polar ice caps melting thousands of years ago. They survived in a few cities located above water and were able to colonize a few nearby systems while relying on their cloning technology to maintain their species and occasionally trade for resources. I suspect we haven't encountered them before due to them being located in a region of space with a lot of nebulas and black holes that make FTL travel in and out of the region difficult, but they do seem secretive by nature".

While discovering a new space faring species wasn't unheard of given just how large the galaxy was, the appearance of humans and the fact that the imperials sudden intrusion on Sianian space, be it unintentional, would raise some eyebrows for a time. The group will have to think about that later as lunch was served, well marinated meat mixed with a healthy dose of vegetables to satisfy their curious minds.

ARA walks down the hallways inside one of the Sianian's planetary defense platforms with her assigned directives. The familiar setting reminded the android of her time spent on the usual Katric ships and space stations. Endless hours of programming, managing systems, occasional repairs, and basic administrative work.

It brought familiarity and comfort having done it for so long, but she had to admit it seemed a little bleak without her friends by her side. While they certainly annoyed her at times, especially Nytro and his accursed nickname he gave her of silly beep boop kitty, she always liked having them around. Whether it be Vikna to guide her along with social norms while getting her to loosen up, having Ayn show her dancing and city life, watching Nytro get turned down by everyone, and experimenting with cooking at Zofie's bakery.

While she was slightly bummed that seeing Ayn again would be delayed, she had to admit she was curious at meeting this new faction and plus duty calls. Vikna had even offered to come with her to manage the social interaction, but ARA was determined to prove she had become decently socially aware and pointed out that having Nytro go to see the royal family alone was a recipe for disaster. As the door to the main hangar bay opened, ARA was greeted with the sight of dozens upon dozens of unrecognizable fighters.

There were four types, the first and smallest had small angular V shaped designs and a grey and red paint job with wide V shaped wings that doubled as landing gear and two small laser guns between the wings and body. The second were painted white and red with two large engines, two long wings with laser cannons at the tips, and a very long nose that made up most of the ship. The third craft was painted yellow and white and had two long engines with a slim box like cockpit and a bubble turret. The final craft was the largest, painted white and red and having two big engines on the sides of the cockpit which looked to be able to seat three including the tail gunner in the back, with two long wings that had large blaster cannons under the tips of the wings.

ARA was intrigued with the unknown designs, but what perked even more interest was that each fighter with exception of some had a socket to house one of the many small droids roaming around the hangar bay. They had cylindrical bodies with dome shaped heads and two boxy legs on the sides with treads underneath, the droid is also supported by a third leg located at the front of its body. She started to feel something, she found the little droids 'cute' as Vikna explained to her long ago.

ARA's photoreceptors and advanced hearing fell on a pair of these alleged humans. The first wore an olive-green uniform with a set of small red and blue squares on the right side of his chest while sporting greying hair and eyes. The other in staunch contrast donned a pitch-black phase 2 flight suit where the armor bits and enclosed helmet had scorch marks on the left side, he also carried a datapad in one hand. What surprised her more was the robotic voice from the pilot. While the helmet was clearly modified, it still didn't cover up the fact that whoever was under it likely had cybernetics assisting his speech.

"We've repaired nearly all the damage our fighters received in the battle and evacuation, Admiral. But we're still completely scrambled as fighters from destroyed ships are mixed in with the surviving squadrons of the ones that escaped. What's worse is that in the event that we could return, we will have to leave the majority behind unless we find a replacement carrier for the Huntress or perhaps even eventually repair her."

Massaging his head in an attempt to sooth the stress and lack of sleep, Cadelle went back to issuing orders, "Do what you can with the remaining squad leaders to get organized and repairs finalized before you have your medical exam today. Merge squads without their leaders into ones that still have theirs and switch around members so that each has similar numbers with exception to elite squadrons like yourself."

With the conviction and implanted loyalty of most clones, Ryan gave Cadelle a monotonous "Yes sir" as his eyes fell on ARA. The android started to have another feeling, one of fear and nervousness. While she knew she was expected to make a good impression, everything about the pilot staring at her screamed ruthless, efficiency and focus. It was broken as the figure walked off to discuss moving around members of squadrons with the other leaders.

Cadelle's eyes fell on the android, "Can I help you miss..."

Swallowing any fear she had, ARA adopted her usual formal tone "ARA, I was scheduled to meet with you or someone else to learn about your arrival."

Cadelle's face went from sceptical to showing signs of recognition "Ah yes, the representative for the Katric Empire if I remembered correctly? I must say I am eager to learn about other factions as the only major one we've encountered are the Sianians."

ARA donned a face of intrigue as well "Really? While discovering a new space faring species isn't unheard of, I am curious to learn about your origins."

Cadelle gave the same explanation as Kesis gave to Vikna along with a data pad of approved information on his forces, the queen didn't want to reveal that they were from a different galaxy yet. While Cadelle had no obligation to agree, he saw wisdom in keeping it secret unless the other factions didn't have any indication of a hostile or opportunistic reaction. The data pad had also restricted the location of their fabricated origin out of 'possible threats to security'.

"Will you be returning to your homeplanet when repairs are finished?"

Cadelle knew this was a question he was going to be able to answer with any clarity, fortunately the circumstances of their arrival gave room for a valid excuse.

"We will likely have to stay for a while since our main carrier crashed into the planet's surface. As long as the Huntress is stuck on Siania, we will have to remain here until it is repaired or exchanged to either help pay for a replacement carrier."

Cadelle's answer brought forth some hard dilemmas though, would he even want to go back? He quickly shook those thoughts away and asked ARA about the Katric empire. She cheerfully gave a brief history about them as well as the Kal-Tag corporation which built her. Causing him to do a double take. "Built you?"

Nodding and continuing in her informative yet happy tone ARA elaborated, "Oh yes, ARA stands for artificial relay administrator. This model and many others serve aboard ships for that purpose."

Cadelle was stunned, he had heard about this galaxy's AI being far more advanced, but looking at ARA you'd never be able to tell from appearance unless outright told that she was an android.

"I am intrigued by these clones and the ships they fly; c-could you tell me about them and those little droids around the hangar?"

"Ah, those little droids are known as astromechs, they help to assist starfighter pilots during combat. Helping to handle the flight and power distribution systems, plotting navigation and hyperspace coordinates, as well as performing simple repairs to ships and hardware." Cadelle says.

The android was quite intrigued that such a small droid could do so many tasks. Her photoreceptors drifted to a black and blue one that rolled up to the group of squadrons leaders and let out a series of beeps and whistles.

Seeing that ARA's eyes wandered to the droid, Cadelle answered what was likely to be her next question, "If you're wondering why they can't speak normally, it's because they've only been programmed to respond in a set of sounds similar to binary code, something about there being little memory room left for full speech."

ARA puts up a reminder on her objective list to learn whatever language the droids used to perhaps hold conversation with one at some point.

"As for the clones, they are all from the same genetic template, an extremely proficient and skilled bounty hunter named Jango Fett. Their behaviour was modified to make them less aggressive and more obedient however, as well as minor modifications that suit their designated combat role. That leads to the fact where they can have different life experiences, which has led to different personalities in most of them, but they are mostly similar in every way."

ARA wasn't sure how to think about the clones, on one hand her programming that kept her subservient to Kal-Tag somewhat tried to get her to ignore questions of ownership and freedom, telling her to not think too much as she would with non-sentient droids. However, the fact that these clones were organically overridden, it caused her to feel an emotion she had little experience with, pity.

Looking at the time on a data pad Cadelle saw that Ryan was scheduled for an appointment at the station's medical bay in less than an hour. Cadelle chalked it up to the fact that the clone pilot was expected to work under the royals after he had mostly finished with repairing his squadron's ships. But he couldn't help but suspect something else was up. Perhaps throwing this foreign android into the mix might reveal something and give him the time to go over some files.

"As for more detail on the ships and astromechs, one of the clone pilots would be better at explaining than I."

Giving ARA a signal to follow, the two walked over to the group of squad leaders that seemed to be wrapping up their meeting. ARA's eyes once again fell on the dark figure only known as Ryan who addressed Cadelle with an attentive 'Sir'.

"Commander Ryan, I would like for you to give a basic description and rundown of the fighter classes under our command as well as a detailed explanation of why astromechs can't talk."

Responding for clarification in his cybernetic voice, Ryan asked, "Like the tours given to cadets?"

"Yes, just like those, if you would excuse me. I have important work to attend to, f you need something just ask one of the clone officers, ARA."

As the admiral walked away ARA looked up expectantly yet nervously at the elite pilot. "So, w-why can't astromech droids talk?"

Commander Ryan's answer showed that his tone didn't seem to change, it was always an emotionless but focused tone. While some of it seemed to match what his personality would be, ARA immediately knew something was controlling the clone's behavior, thoughts, and/or emotions. It was likely all three given just how robotic he sounded, but psychologically you only had to control one to get the rest to eventually follow.

"Astromechs are not meant to interact with personnel, so it wouldn't affect much to remove their ability to process responses in a language when their memory cores were at max having to process how to carry out so many duties. Instead, they are programmed with a table of phonemes so it can match the words it wants to use with the phonemes to play back. Another reason was that they develop personality quirks of being headstrong and opinionated without frequent memory wipes due to them having to think on their feet, be innovative, and persistent like organic tech specialists. People tend to prefer beeps over wisecracking."

While the last comment got ARA to smile, it all seemed hollow like a robotic museum tour guide. And while those could be interesting, there was little to no personality in it. "What about the fighters in this hanger, what role do each of them fill?"

"The smallest ones are V-wings and act as interceptors to mostly form fighter screens or thin out enemy fighters. The second smallest in size with the larger wings are Z-95 Head-hunters. They fill a similar role, but have shields unlike the V-wing and are better armed. The yellow painted craft are Y-wings which serve as bombers for the fleet. The largest craft are ARC-170s, heavy recon fighters meant for long flights and extended solo missions. One of these fighters can do exceptional damage to capital ships alone and can still contend with multiple enemy strike craft."

ARA never got tired of learning new things and spacecraft is part of her specialty. Although she hasn't learned much about clones in person. "Which one do you prefer the most out of those four?"

Worried she offended the pilot when he didn't answer at first and seemed to just stare, but when Ryan answered he showed no signs of annoyance or anger. It seemed as if he struggled to work past some block to answer her. "It depends on the mission, but I have spent most of my time flying in Z-95s as they tend to be the most balanced fighter and able to adapt to most situations."

ARA's curiosity peaked as he sounded like a very experienced ace. "How many hours have you spent flying?"

"Not counting the 687 spent in simulations, I've flown 489 in combat situations and 213 in training exercises."

ARA was shocked, most Katric pilots never saw any combat let alone enough to constitute an intense and extended war like the numbers Ryan's combat time suggested. She contemplated on Ryan's age; it seems like he has seen a lifetime's worth of violence despite looking very young. "How old are you?"

There was another pause yet again, but he did answer after 10 seconds had passed. "13 and a half, though biologically 27 due to my accelerated aging."

ARA was both shocked and saddened, not only did he seem to lack free will but it seemed like he would have a very short life. People in her galaxy could live for 2 centuries with the help of replacement organs and cybernetics and she herself was essentially immortal. But to see that this being was most likely literal cannon fodder broke something inside her. It also confirmed that he was part of some large conflict, but what war could it possibly have been. Nothing matched the timescale in her memory banks and it was hard to believe that many combat hours could be spent in some minor conflict in the backwater parts of the galaxy when the time scale given would probably be only a few years unless he had been trained during some decades long and ongoing conflict.

Deciding to try her luck at finding out more about Ryan's life, ARA asked about how his arrival on Siania had changed things hoping to get some indication that he had gone from wartime to R&R, "Has it been a big change working with the Sianian empire compared to what things were like before?"

"Yes, but we will adapt to the situation as always. Failure to change when needed has lost us too many men. After all, change is the only constant."

A beeping noise from Ryan's wrist comm interrupted any further conversation as Ryan answered to confirm that it was time for his 'medical exam'. "I'm afraid I'll have to leave you now, miss ARA. I am scheduled for an extensive medical exam to look for any potentially deadly pathogens and to document my species into the Sianian medical database."

"O-okay, it was nice talking to you. If you have any questions I'll be here until I leave tomorrow morning."

Ryan gave a nod as he walked off into the station's hallways to make his way to the medical center.

ARA went off to her guest quarters with the pilots she came with. The two had decided to wait until tomorrow to depart as a means to get some proper rest since ARA had to process most of the data given to her while they serviced Vikna's shuttle.

As the hours drew on, ARA went through the datapad Cadelle gave her pretty quickly before she then went to help the pilots service the shuttle to make sure everything was ready for their departure tomorrow. The two pilots went to sleep while ARA made her way back to the hangar to learn how to understand the R2 units in hopes of having a conversation with one. After entering the hangar, she was directed by a clone engineer to a corner where the R2 units were stored.

"We've shut off all of the units for the day to let them recharge and go through a memory wipe with the exception of one unit that is currently watching over his owner in the medical center. I can give you the file on how to understand astromechs, but we are closing shop for today in a few minutes."

ARA was disappointed that she would have to wait until tomorrow and that the poor things would be losing their memories until she spotted an industrial wall socket with a charger for her tail port. While she wouldn't need to be charged for another 48 hours she figured it wouldn't hurt to fill her energy cells up and be able to wake up and talk to one of the astromechs right away.

"Excuse me, but would you mind if I powered down for the night and used one of the charging cables over there to refuel my power cells after downloading the file?"

"Are..you a droid of some sort?"

"An artificial relay administrator android sir."

Figuring that ARA was some sort of protocol droid made by the inhabitants of this galaxy the clone gave her the ok and handed her the file. Figuring that if she was up to something, the cameras would alert security.

As the hangar bay emptied, ARA downloaded the file and memorized the phonemes and their associated words before dragging an empty box to sleep in while her tail was connected with the charger. She imagined how Nytro would tease her about fitting her cat like nature by using a box, letting out an annoyed huff. So what if she liked sleeping in boxes every once in a while, did he ever sleep on the floor?

As annoying Nytro was, ARA admitted it would be nice to see him and her other friends tomorrow as she drifted off to sleep only to be awoken by frantic beeping a few hours later since she didn't put herself in snooze mode where no distractions would interrupt her recharge. Unplugging herself, she follows the noise to see what the commotion was. Just as quickly as the beeping started, it came to a complete stop. Causing ARA to freeze for a moment before continuing to where the noise came from.

As she turned a corner, her eyes widened in shock as she saw the backside of a clone in a black bodysuit with a deactivated R2 unit next to him. She found it very odd that the left side of his head seemed to be covered by metallic plates, but she was far more focused on the right side of the head which had a blaster pressed upon it. The catch? The clone was pointing the gun at himself.

Seeing that the clone's finger had wrapped itself around the trigger and began to pull. ARA screamed out as she lunged at the figure, desperately hoping she was fast enough.