91 Chapter 81

Opal directed a gaze of pure malevolence towards the group of Kaminoan security personnel in front of her.

"I will not repeat myself again. Step aside child!" the lead kaminoan ordered and two of the four security droids following him edged forward intending to frighten her.

"And I would tell YOU again, piss OFF!" Opal snarled back, not scared in the slightest by the heavily armed droids or the three Kaminoans leading them.

A silence feel across the generator room where the standoff was taking place, broken only by a soft whirling sound coming from Seela.

Denied the use of her lightsabre, Seela had instead ripped some metal piping out of a wall and was now twirling the improvised weapons around menacingly as she joined Opal in the face off.

A shrill sound broke through the silence, and it caused the angry expressions on Opal and Seela's faces to deepen.

It was the sound of a baby crying.

-

The feelings of fear and sadness had led Opal and Seela to a backup generator room attached to Tipoca city's military complex.

They had entered cautiously, wary of what they might find inside, but became stunned when they found the origin of the negative emotions.

Huddled in the far corner of the room was a terrified Kaminoan woman clutching a baby protectively to her chest.

The baby was clearly not even a year old and both it and its mother were covered in a thick coat of dirt and grime.

They had clearly been hiding in the generator room for a while judging by the crude bed made from scraps of clothing and the scattered wrappers of what seemed like ration packs that had been stolen from the clone barracks nearby.

"Are you okay?" Opal said softly, her arms spread wipe as she approached the mother and her baby to show she meant no harm.

"N-no, s-stay b-back… please…" The mother said weakly adjusting her hold on her baby to try and shield it from this new perceived threat.

This allowed Opal to catch a proper glimpse of the child, and she stopped and tilted her head in confusion as she saw the baby's eyes. They were green.

But according to the Kaminoan textbooks she had read that was impossible.

According to the textbook Opal read, kaminoans had a strict caste system that was based on the colour of their eyes.

The high-class members of Kaminoan society had grey eyes, the middle classes had yellow eyes, and the lower classes had blue coloured eyes.

The caste system related to the type of work a Kaminoan was allowed to do and was an unflinchingly rigid part of their society.

With grey eyed kaminoans being part of the administration and ruling classes, yellow eyed kaminoans handing the skilled work and blue eyed kaminoans being relegated to manual labour and other menial tasks.

The textbook claimed that there were no other possible eye colours for Kaminoans, but here in front of Opal and Seela was a kaminoan baby with bright green eyes.

"P-please d-don't hurt my baby," The kaminoan mother cried weakly, and Opal could see tears welling up in her eyes.

"We aren't going to hurt you or you baby." Opal said softly, and she stopped moving towards the mother and her child to show that she meant it.

"Why would we even want to do something so horrible?" Seela gasped appalled that there was even a suggestion that she might hurt an innocent child.

The mother just shook her head silently, still cradling her child protectively, her blue eyes full of tears.

They stayed locked in place for several minutes as they tried to calm the mother down. Opal could see she was hurt, probably malnourished and quite sick, and she wanted to make sure both she and her baby were okay.

She was also very confused as to why they were hiding in the generator room and why the mother thought they wanted to hurt the baby, and she was very interested in figuring those questions out.

Before they could ask however, the door to the generator room slid open and four large security droids stomped through the opening, followed by three Kaminoan security personnel armed with blaster rifles.

"Secure the abomination," The lead kaminoan ordered the droids and they began rolling forwards, "Kill the fugitive if she resists." He added pointing at the now weeping mother.

"Wooah! Back up," Opal said spinning in place, so she now stood between the newcomers and the crying mother, "Mind giving me a reason why?" She demanded staring furiously at the kaminoans.

"This doesn't concern you, off-worlder." The kaminoan said adding the last part scathingly.

Opal crossed her arms and took a step forward, blocking any potential advance from the newcomers, and she saw Seela taking a similar stance in front of the mother and child.

"See, you say that… buuuut I kinna feel 'concerned'," Opal said shrugging her shoulders slightly in a 'what can you do' gesture.

"How bout you Seela, you feeling 'concerned'?" Opal asked without taking her eyes off the lead kaminoan.

"Yuup," Seela said emotionlessly as she stood protectively by the kaminoan mother.

"Seela says yes," Opal said nodding slowly to some unheard rhythm. "So how bout you give me that explanation…NOW!"

The kaminoan stood in shock for a moment, not used to anyone actually talking back to him, before exploding.

"HOW DARE YOU! I am an officer in the kamino security bureau. You will show me some respect!" He screamed in rage, and the kaminoan mother shrank back in fear, while Opal and Seela remained impassive.

"Coool," Opal said sarcastically.

Then after deciding she had pissed the man off sufficiently to weaken any mental defences he might have, moved one hand in a small arc in front of her.

"You will give me an explanation," she said calmly, channelling the force towards the man and influencing his decisions.

"I-I will g-give you an explanation…" the kaminoan said shakily with a glassy look in his eyes.

"The child…" He gestured towards the baby, "Is defective… imperfect genetic lines must be… purged…"

"Yeah, that aint happening," Opal said firmly and glared menacingly and squared her shoulders defensively.

The kaminoan shook his head as his mind cleared and glared back at Opal.

"Well, it's not up to you is it, is it child?" Th kaminoan said and gestured for the droids to start advancing.

"Oh really?" Opal grinned and raised her hands to ever side of her, "You sure about that?"

The generators surrounding them began rattling and several boxes began floating into the air.

-

Seela grimaced slightly as she spun her improvised weapons, while watching the group that was threatening the mother and child.

Their standoff had lasted for several minutes and so far, it hadn't evolved past the kaminoan team leader making demands and Opal making threats and hurling insults.

But she didn't think that it would remain that way for long, which was what was causing Seela to worry.

Opal was a beast when it came to using the force and Seela herself was incredible dangerous with her sword skills, but that wouldn't help them much when they were unarmoured and only had two metal pipes to use as weapons.

The kaminoans and their droids were armed with blaster rifles and although Opal and Seela could probably defeat them without much trouble, it only took one errant blaster bolt to create a tragic outcome.

A single blaster bolt could mean death for the mother and her child, not to mention Opal or herself, and Seela had no interest in seeing any of that.

The kaminoan droids took another step forward and Opal and Seela tensed, a tension filled the air, and it seemed that violence would erupt at any moment.

Seela was about to take a step forward to face the threat, when one of the doors to the room swished open and Renn crashed into the room.

Everyone turned to look at Renn, and the four identical boys who piled into the room after him, in tunned surprise. Apart from Opal and Seela who just grinned.

Seela watched Renn look around the room and asses the situation in less than a second, before wordlessly standing between them and the kaminoans. A look of cold fury in his eyes.

Almost in the same instant the door on the opposite side of the room crashed open and Shae dived headfirst into the room, before rolling into a crouch and levelling her blaster pistols at the Kaminoans.

Following her lead, Arla Fett slid into the room, blaster rifle already raised and whining with power.

Boba followed his aunt but stopped just past the doorway and began looking around the room in awe.

The kaminoan security team then began slowly backing up. They had gone from outnumbering and outgunning their enemies, two young girls, to suddenly be surrounded by threats.

They were especially wary of the two heavily armed Mandalorian warriors who were pointing their weapons menacingly towards them, and looked ready to open fire if they so much as made a threatening twitch.

"Care to explain what your doing?" Renn asked in a neutral tone, but his fearsome expression made it clear the question wasn't actually a request.

"They want to kill a baby coz it's got green eyes." Opal said angrily from nest to Seela and Renn turned slightly to look at the mother and baby before levelling an icy glare at the kaminoan security team.

"Really?" Renn said, the word dripping with pure malice and Shae and Arla tightened their gripps on their plasters causing the Kaminoan team leader to pale slightly in fright.

"Y-you don't understand." He began stammering, "Since the great flood that drowned our world, we have taken great care to maintain genetic perfection. Anything that is genetically im-perfect, or defective, must be purged for the good of the race."

Everyone listening to the kaminoan felt sick, disgusted by what such a technologically evolved race like the kaminoans found socially acceptable.

The kaminoan mother whimpered in fear and clutched her baby tighter. Seela realised suddenly how brave the mother must be to go against her entire race and culture just to protect her child, and how much she must love said child.

Seela felt a flash of anger and resentment directed towards her own parents, who had tried to sell her into slavery to pay for their own gambling debts, before burying that feeling and focusing on what was happening in the moment.

She noticed one of the ARC troopers, the Null Prudii, freeze in involuntary fear when he heard the kaminoans speech.

Renn had told he about the Null ARC's past. About how the kaminoans had felt they were defective products and had tried to have them disposed of.

They had been saved by Kal Skirata and Jango Fett and Skirata had essentially adopted the six Nulls, but that hadn't erased the trauma the kaminoans had caused the boys and Prudii was clearly unable to overcome it now.

The kaminoans where treating the green-eyed child exactly how they had planned to treat him and his brothers, as some kind of deformed life form that should be quietly disposed of and erased from existence.

Seela evidently wasn't the only one who noticed Prudii's inner turmoil as two of the Alpha ARCs, Egg, and Badger, stepped protectively in front of him.

They didn't comment on anything, didn't draw attention to Prudii's problem, they just silently put themselves between him and it to show their support for their brother, to show him they were there for him.

That simple action seemed to calm Prudii down and soon he was able to take a step forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers.

Seela also noticed that the final ARC trooper, Spoon, had somehow managed to cross the entire room without being noticed and was now stood in front of Boba, using his own body to block his physically younger brother from any potential harm.

"You're right I don't understand," Renn said coldly while glaring at the kaminoans, "but I don't really care. You've got two choices. Leave and never come near the child or its mother ever again… or I'll gut you and use you as Kamoradon bait."

The kaminoan team leader looked fearfully around the room and began to desperately trying to think of a way out of the situation he had found himself in.

Seela could practically see his brain straining with the effort when his expression suddenly collapsed into one of pure fear.

The kaminoans froze in terror as Jango Fett strode calmly into the room, flanked on either side by Kal Skirata and Walon Vau.

Jango Fett was known throughout the galaxy as one of the deadliest bounty hunters in existence, and he didn't even need to raise his weapon for the kaminoans to start backing away in fear.

The tables had completely turned and now it was the kaminoan security team that was huddled terrified in a corner, while the kaminoan mother just stared at what was happening with a mix of shock and awe on her face.

Opal and Seela where both now crouched protectively by the mother and her child, assuring them that they would be okay and checking to see if they had any serious injuries.

Another tense silence settled on the room until it was broken again by one of the rooms doors opening and a panicking Taun We ran into the room.

"Stop!" The panicking administrative aid gasped, out of breath from her run, "Everybody please stop!"