Theta

1

It had taken her months to find her. It had also taken her giving a generous gift to a skilled bounty hunter. She'd been at the beginning of puberty when the Fett clones were first commissioned. Unlike the patchy funding they had been able to get for Theta and the other clones in that experimental series, the Fett clones had a republic willing to give as much money as necessary to do a good job. At least, that was how she understood it. Two pure clones were made of the Fett donor. One, Alpha, was raised by the donor and the other, Omega, was raised by a young clone from a previous experiment. Through a series of ill-timed events, Theta hadn't been on Kamino when the republic fell and hadn't been able to run away with Omega before it all kicked off. She'd been so worried when she couldn't track down the girl she'd raised but eventually found herself on the miserable planet of Ord Mantell. Theta would normally think of a planet as the home of someone but she couldn't find it in herself to be able to think of this mess with any positive terms.

She'd heard that Omega had found herself as part of a mercenary group. She suspected hearing that she called them brothers was down to her trusting nature. They weren't Fett clones. Theta reasoned that there was a chance that Omega wouldn't be able to leave, even if she made the choice to. She couldn't think of another reason she would've chosen that situation unless there wasn't much choice involved. So, she wore her large hooded parka. Going from being a cloning project to a kaminoan scientist had had its perks such as the clothes. She carried a cloak with her for when it happened. She acted like part of the furniture in a populated area between the miserable 'buildings'. Then she noticed Omega with two men. As if it were a sign from the force, they were too occupied in their own conversation. They didn't notice as she silently matched their pace in the crowded area. They didn't notice her slip the cloak over Omega's head and her gentle silencing of the child as she guided her away. "I missed you, Omega." She said gently to the kid which she kept a pace behind while guiding her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Theta?!" Omega said a bit louder than she should've and she tried to turn around to hug the woman she'd seen as essentially her mum. She stopped the kid before they would become even more obvious, guiding her down a quieter path. "We'll catch up on the ship." She said so that only the child would hear. Omega was the only person she intended on hearing the words but somehow she'd been wrong. She'd misjudged the mercenaries.  "You're not going anywhere." The voice was low. She felt something solid press against her back. She assumed it was a blaster. Her heart felt like it stopped for a second before the pace picked up. She raised her hands up slowly. "Hunter, she's a friend." The kid quickly defended while turning around and shrugging off the cloak. Theta couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes. Even if she was the only one that would know she did it. "Thanks for the confidence, Mega." The words were steeped in sarcasm and came out with a little sigh. It was somewhere between disappointment and embarrassment. "You are not exactly in a position of power." The one not pointing a blaster pointed out. Unlike his armed friend's voice, this one worked hard to enunciate every word perfectly. She took the challenge to heart. She was aware that it wasn't him challenging her but she was much too competitive to admit she didn't have the power.

She shook her head to make her hood fall. Her dirty blonde hair hung loose. She used the hood coming down to move back, closer to the blaster. She looked to one side, preparing herself. Quickly, she flicked her head and her hair temporarily blinded him. She turned her body and moved slightly to the side to remove herself from the blaster's path. As she turned, she reached under her parka for her kamas. She whacked the solid metal handle into his wrist causing him to drop the blaster. She brought both hand scythes to his throat in an interlocking fashion. Only when she had two sharp blades against his brain's blood supply did she see him. She'd seen the two men from behind earlier but hadn't bothered to notice anything about the men outside of the simple fact that they existed.

Hunter had to admit that this wasn't one of his proudest moments. He'd gone from having the person trying to kidnap Omega at his mercy to being between their blades. "Are they friends, Mega?" Although she was clearly human, she sounded somewhere between Pantoran and Kaminoan. He could reach for his vibroblade but he didn't like his chances of not getting sliced in the process. He could hear her heart racing and feel the ever so slight tremors in her hands. He could practically smell the adrenaline in her system. "They're clone force 99." Omega piped up. Hunter wasn't sure why that would change anything to this woman. Somehow it worked for a second as her eyes took on a questioning look for a second and slightly less of the meadow green of her iris was visible as her pupils grew a little. She didn't take those stunning eyes off of Hunter as she turned her head slightly. "People lie, kid." She realigned her face with his and her face took on a look of disgust. "So, lying hoerkind, who the kriff are you and what are you doing with my daughter?" The rage grew across her features and became stronger with each venom soaked word. He couldn't help but be momentarily enchanted by the fire in those eyes. Like the flame was beckoning him and he was a simple moth who's nature was too compelling to deny. Hunter had to act now, he was sure that he would still die through inaction even if inaction meant he'd get to watch intently as the flames danced closer to him before consuming him. "Omega is a clone. How would you be her mother?" Hunter had forgotten Tech was there. He also hadn't caught that she'd called Omega her daughter until Tech pointed it out. "Theta, please. I used your clearance on Kamino, it's really them." As if she were a guard dog, called off by her owner, she removed the kamas from Hunter's neck and tucked them back under her coat.

Theta, now knowing what they were, suddenly felt the urge to study them. "Huh..." She looked him up and down. She slowly circled him. He stood still and let his eyes follow her with the same curiosity. As she came from around his back, she ran her palm down his upper arm. Applying just enough pressure to feel what she couldn't see. Until a large, rough hand grabbed her wrist. "What are you doing?" The Fett clone said. Theta barely registered the brutal hand holding her wrist. She just silently hummed to herself. "You certainly are an impressive specimen. 4th, right?"  Her voice was softer than anything Hunter could've imagined as a soldier. He wasn't sure if he was meant to respond. He'd caught that she'd referred to him like the Kaminoans would've. As if he weren't a sentient being. He had no idea what he was the 4th of. "If you mean Hunter's CT number, he would be the 1st." Tech put extra emphasis on his brother's name. Hunter found himself so fortunate to have a brother like him. Outside of using them for unavoidable numbering like their comm channel, the batch had tried to distance themselves from them. All aside from Crosshair. "My mistake, I thought 4th was assigned to the sniper." She gave both men a cute little 'oops' smile. Omega, who had been watching, approached Theta and hugged her waist. She lifted her arm and put it around the child to hug her into her side. It was like a mother's instinct to keep her youngling under her protection. "Hunter's the tracker." The kid looked up at the woman as she told her that. She seemed excited in her voice, as if there was no hostility moments ago.

Theta giggled a little to herself. "Well, Gama really messed that up." Hunter had no idea what that was supposed to mean but the sound of her amusement was nice enough. "A tracker that couldn't tell he was being tracked. What's next? The strong one's a complete push over?" Oh. She was mocking them. Though, she hadn't directed it at Tech. Instead she'd talked about Hunter and one of the batch that wasn't even present. He thought it was strange and evidently so did Tech. "Who are you?" He spoke a lot slower than usual and emphasised each word. Even this stranger would be able to see how wary he was. Her face turned to Tech and the smile stayed, if anything it grew a little.

"Oh, I'm your maker."