The news was a nasty little time bomb. Tangential-no, for once Mereel was wrong. It wasn’t tangential at all. It was about trust and loyalty. It was the kind of revelation that would gnaw at all of them more deeply as time wore on, and combined with whatever Mereel had dug up on Kamino about the future plans for troop strengths, it proved none of them had quite as full a picture as they’d imagined, and also that there were things they weren’t trusted with.
Like not being told that Delta is going after Ko Sai.
Vau strapped himself into the third cockpit position and tried not to think about the identity of the unfortunate covert ops troopers, because there was a good chance that Prudii-Null ARC N-5-had trained them. They were just ordinary troopers who’d shown a bit of promise for dirty work, selected from the ranks to backfill some of the roles that would have otherwise fallen to Republic commando squads.
“If it was Zey,” Vau said carefully, “the chakaar should have told us they were operating on the same turf as Omega simply for everyone’s safety.”
“Covert ops gets tasked by the regular GAR as well as SO, Walon.” Skirata was usually quick to pounce on any perceived Jedi failing: maybe he was developing a soft spot for Zey, who did seem remarkably understanding of Skirata’s idiosyncratic style of commanda command Skirata didn’t technically hold. He was a sergeant who pushed generals around. “Or maybe Zey knows exactly how I’ll express my disapproval of putting down clones when they get too free-thinking, so he forgot to mention it.”
“Then again, maybe it’s Republic Intelligence.”
“But that nice Chancellor Palpatine assured our lads that they’d have a secure future in recognition of their loyalty and sacrifice.”
Mereel took exaggerated interest in the controls and lifted Aay’han from the landing strip. “Either way, we clone boys know just how much the Republic loves us when push comes to shove, don’t we? And we won’t forget that in a hurry.”
Skirata put his hand on Mereel’s shoulder. “We can only trust our own, son.”
“Like the covert ops guys …”
“You think they had all the facts in front of them? You think they had any choice?”
These were almost certainly men they knew, and that made it hard to swallow. Vau wondered if they would still have carried out their orders if they’d been sent after Prudii-or Mereel, or Ordo, or any of the Special Operations men or Mandalorian instructors who’d taught troopers their commando skills. Vau marveled at Skirata’s continuing ability to absolve clones of all blame, but he did have a point.
“Humans follow orders,” Vau said. “Even human Republic Intel agents, of course. We’re herd animals. We all default to training.”
“Well, I’m defaulting to mine.” Skirata gave his restraining belt a couple of tugs as if he didn’t quite trust Mereel’s ability to execute a smooth acceleration to the jump point. “Which is covering my shebs, and my boys’.”
“How, exactly?” Vau asked.
“Safe haven, a few credits, set ‘em up in a better line of work. New identity and a new life.”
“Yes, I know all that, but how are you going to do it? You can’t exactly place an ad.” Vau traced the outline of an imaginary holoboard in the air with his fingers. “Troopers! Fed up with your life in the Grand Army? Feeling undervalued and unloved? Call Kal!”
Skirata scratched his forehead. “Word gets around.”
“Word gets around to the wrong people, too …”
“Escape networks have always run that risk.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I’ll just have to pick my network very carefully, then, won’t I?”
Aay’han was clear of the atmosphere now, maneuvering carefully through the maze of gravitational fields in the Bog-den system to reach a safe hyperjump point. Mird, who never liked takeoffs and landings, climbed onto Vau’s lap and buried its head under his arm with a lot of whining and snorting to ensure that he knew it was displeased. He rubbed the strill’s back to reassure it, and marveled at Mereel’s ability to pilot a ship like a Deep Water with just the manual open on the console and a little intuition. They were clever boys in-deed, these Nulls.
I think I like clones better than regular beings. They ‘re superior in every way. Maybe we should keep them at how and send the Republic’s random humanity to be the cannon fodder.
Vau had little time for anyone else, regardless of species, but the men of the Grand Army were a different matter. It was, he realized, one of two things that stopped him and Skirata from killing each other: their mutual respect for the clone soldiers who had taken over their lives, and the fact that Mandalorians put aside their rifts when presented with a common threat from aruetiise.