Twisted Morals✧︎ A Clone Wars Story

3: Life Lessons from a Clone

Sei wasn't sure how teamwork would agree with her, especially as Mora and her men seemed to be radiating with it. It was almost sickening to her, as she had only been taught that she had no allies besides herself and her lightsaber.

Krell's teachings were certainly crude, but they hadn't killed her yet.

Sei's tour had finished as quickly as it had begun. They had reached Sei's new quarters when Mora got a transmission that she was needed, along with Commander Et, in the briefing room. So Mora and Et rushed off, leaving Sei in her room without any supervision.

Part of her wanted to be included with whatever was going down in the briefing room, and another part of her wanted to be secluded in her room.

Her quarters were relatively small. There was a cardboard-thin mattress with a floppy little pillow in the right corner of the room. It reminded her of her room in the temple, except darker since it had no windows.

Sei began to feel very bored as she sat in her room. She was so close to excitement: she was in the middle of space, on a Republic Attack Cruiser, surrounded by new people, with her new Jedi Master busy in the briefing room.

I am a Jedi, thought Sei, and Jedi don't stay in their rooms with their hands folded together. Jedi go out and have adventures, and that's what I'll do.

She left the room and saw that endless corridors extended out in front of her. Troops marched down the halls and some even saluted when they saw her. She walked down the hall a bit.

Sei addressed a clone trooper guarding a blast door, "Trooper! Do you know where the briefing room is?"

"Yes, but I don't have the clearance. Do you?"

Sei puffed out her chest and said confidently, "I am Sei Belwyn," believing that would grant her access to this mysterious room.

"Is that name supposed to be of relevance to me?" Brass, the clone standing at the blast door, knew who Sei was; he wanted to test her, to see what kind of a Jedi Padawan she really was.

Being a Pantoran, Sei's face turned a violent shade of purple. "I-I outrank you!" She shouted this remark childishly and stomped her foot loudly on the floor. "When I get your ID number, I swear you'll be in trouble with Master Kyja-" Brass cut her off right there.

"Oh, I understand you perfectly well now, padawan. You're a number Jedi. For the record, I have a name, and it's Brass, not that you would care about that. We're all just numbers to you. But you- you don't have a name to me, either! Until you give me a reason to remember your name, besides you being vilely rude, you're just General Kyja's padawan. It doesn't feel nice to not be called by your name, does it?"

He had a point. Sei didn't feel very nice being called a nameless padawan. She said, "Fine, Brass, I suppose I apologize. Now can you get me to the briefing room?"

"Well, are you supposed to be in the briefing room, Sei?" Asked Brass, very pleased with himself.

"I guess not. If Master Kyja wanted me to go with her, she would've taken me. I suppose I was meant to stay in my quarters, but that's not exciting at all. I guess she doesn't like me. Why is it always me that's cursed with the horrible Jedi Masters?"

"Look," said Brass, stepping away from his post at the blast door, "I don't know much about force stuff or Jedi. I mean, I wish I did, but that's not my lot in life. But, I do know about kids. I'm a kid at heart myself, and I used to be a sort of babysitter for the cadets on Kamino. That was before I landed this gig. Anyways, I know that if there's one thing that cheers people up, especially kids, it's a trip to the mess hall! Whaddya say?"

"Well," replied Sei, "I didn't get anything to eat before I left for the cruiser this morning, and I am kind of hungry..."

⁎⁎⁎

Brass led Sei to the mess hall. While they were walking there, Sei began to think of Brass as more of an individual than a clone.

They reached the mess hall and inside it was a wonderful amount of noise. Sei loved hearing the clinking of forks and knives and the sounds of aimless chatter; it made her feel like she was not so desperately alone, despite the fact that she was surrounded by identical faces.

They got some food and sat down at a table across from each other. Brass took off his helmet. He had the average clone haircut with long sideburns and a crooked scar that slashed diagonally across the bridge of his nose.

The trays of food looked horribly unappetizing (a pasty circle of something she thought might be a small piece of bread, some disgustingly textured green stalks, and a bland, firm-looking piece of meat she couldn't identify) and she didn't take a bite until Brass had. When she saw he was still alive, she ventured for the meat.

"This is disgusting," she said after she had managed to swallow it, "How do you eat this stuff?"

"It's not fancy, but it's food," shrugged Brass, "But I bet you've been to better places, so it doesn't really hold up."

"Well, sort of. This is the first time I've been out in the while; I was grounded to the temple for basically eternity. Until Master Kyja, that is."

"How do you get grounded as a Jedi?"

Sei poked a piece of meat with her fork with a tired look on her face, "I tried to go back for an injured Jedi and Krell screamed at me for it. He told me that I should leave people behind if it's necessary."

"But, you did the right thing," said Brass, who was very intrigued.

"Eh. Maybe I did. But Krell taught me that I shouldn't go back for anybody. He always said that nice people die first, and he's right. The only way to survive in this chaotic age is to rely on nobody but yourself."

Brass sighed for a moment but then tried to muster a smile. "You've got quite a few things to learn about teamwork, Sei. But we're all very patient here, luckily."