INTERSTELLAR HEARTBEATS [Star Wars The Bad Batch]

Chapter Six- Aim For The Stars

Saachi looked around the room where she had spent the last two years of her life. The Kaminoan rain drummed unceasingly on the windows of the four-person dorm, doing little to stave off the dreariness that had overtaken the interns.

Yulia sat on her bunk next to Saachi, almost finished packing her things. She was, understandably, the most excited of all of them to leave Kamino.

In contrast to Yulia, Saachi had barely touched her things, except for her datapad. She kept reading and rereading the thesis she would never get to defend.

Across the room, her eyes met Darta's mask. Darta was faring slightly better than Saachi. She had half her things packed, but she also had her guilty pleasure holodramas playing, and she was paying a bit more attention to that than to the task at hand. No one in the class had gotten transportation offworld yet, but what else was Admiral Tarkin going to do with them? Keep them on Kamino with absolutely no purpose?

"What're you doing when you get off?" Yulia asked in the suffocating silence.

Saachi looked over at Rya. Her fellow intern was staring at the band of silver on her left middle finger. "Well, my mom will be glad that she can drag me into wedding plans now."

Saachi looked back at Yulia, but her expression remained unreadable. Rya and Rekly were creating something that she and Echo could never have. Not while clones were considered less than sentient. It was completely unfair, and Saachi hated it.

Rya groaned, holding her head as if it hurt. "Honestly, what would be the point of going back to school after all of this? I've been living and breathing this work for the last three years, how could I even think about doing anything else?"

"There's gotta be more for us than just doing nothing," Saachi said, though she had no idea what else she could do, either.

Darta zipped her bag closed, "You can still get your doctorate. You just have to write another thesis."

Rya barked a laugh. "In two weeks? I will give you a million credits if you can write a thesis worthy of a doctorate before graduation."

"I'll take that." Saachi popped open the remains of the bottle from Rekly, all ready for a fresh swig, when someone knocked rather insistently on their door. Saachi quickly hid the bottle in her empty duffel, and Darta marched across the room to answer.

Three of Tarkin's Shock Troopers with red designations blocked the door.

"Interns Secura and Gunder, come with us."

"What for?" Yulia asked. Saachi stood, absently gripping her datapad with her precious thesis.

"Admiral Tarkin has requested your assistance in the medical lab."

Saachi folded her arms. "What does he need us for?" She repeated.

"We need you to come with us." The commando repeated.

Darta and Rya looked at each other, then at Saachi and Yulia. Saachi looked at her best friend.

"We're coming." She said quietly.

The familiar halls of Tipoca City stretched on and on and on. Saachi focused on keeping her breathing steady. Usually, the clones were chatty. But not these troopers, not today.

The door to the medical lab whooshed open, and Nala Se was waiting with Admiral Tarkin.

"Admiral," Saachi and Yulia saluted like the most proficient of the clones.

"At ease. Thank you for coming on such short notice." The admiral looked so tiny beside their teacher, but his presence seemed to cover the entire room.