Ambassador

Chapter 34: Treason

Alanja stood among Corsair and his squad on the sky bridge overlooking the thousands of small bacta tanks that had once held cloned infants. It was unnerving to see them empty as Alanja and her clones awaited Kamino's chief scientist, Nala Se. Kamino was being decommissioned, and the Kaminoan woman was about to play her hand. The scientist was going to call in Alanja's favor for removing Crosshair's inhibitor chip.

After Crosshair's surgery, Nala Se said to Alanja in the recovery room, "I have done your will. Remember my kindness when things change for my people."

Though Alanja despised the Kaminoans, she would keep her word to Nala Se. The scientist had kept her part of the deal and remained silent about what Alanja had forced her to do for Crosshair. Reluctantly, Nala Se had been the mechanism of his freedom and given him free will. No clone before him had been awarded such a prize from the grip of their cloners.

"Which ones were yours?" asked Alanja. "Do you know?"

Corsair stepped up to the railing beside her on the sky bridge. He stuck his gloved finger to the far right, leaning in so she could follow his line of sight to an apparatus towards the very back. "That's where me and boys were sprouted."

It was such a strange thing to imagine. These four men, and the many thousands just like them, had been plucked from the same DNA and grown like techno-livestock in a tank. No mother. No father. Just a glass bottle. She had been on Kamino for quite a while now, and she still couldn't get her head around the idea. She put her hand on Corsair's firm shoulder to remind herself that he was made of flesh just like she was.

Lark and Keeper chuckled something over their comms, drawing a glance from Sharp, but Corsair just shook his head.

"What?" asked Alanja. "Are they making fun of me again?"

"No, ma'am," he replied, giving a little laugh.

"Then what?"

He pointed to a pillar of tanks off to the left, towards the middle. "That's where the sad batch was hatched."

"The sad batch?" she balked.

"Yeah. There's been a lot of trouble with clones that came out of that set of tanks. We call it the 99."

"The 99?"

"99 is the defective clone designation."

Alanja chortled. "You think the CT-99s are all defective?"

"Have you seen them, ma'am? They don't exactly look like the rest of us."

"I have a little secret to tell you, Corsair," she mused. "The CT-99s are not defective. It's a ruse."

All four of the clones went silent, intently focused on her.

She smiled. "The Kaminoan scientists were hiding their special commando program, pretending their mutations were accidents. They called them the Experimental Unit 99."

"How do you know all that?" asked Keeper, his voice stern and skeptical.

Alanja let her come-follow-me curl fall forward over her shoulder as she put a finger over her lips. "Ambassadors know secrets."

Suddenly, very uncomfortable, Corsair said, "I don't think Mistress Nala Se coming, ma'am." His gaze scanned the massive chamber to look anywhere but at her.

"Oh, she will come," replied Alanja. "Be patient."

In the pit of her stomach, Alanja fought down the emotions warring inside of her. Things were moving fast now. There was only one reason that Nala Se would be so late after asking so insistently to speak with Alanja. Though apparently held up, most likely to cover up her urgency to meet with Alanja, the Kaminoan meant to publicly show her relationship with the Imperial ambassador to leverage her coming request. It was precisely what Alanja would do, too.

"How do you know?" questioned Corsair.

"Nala Se and I have a special friendship and see the times ahead in much the same way. If she asked to meet with me, she will come."

As if their impatience had summoned the Kaminoan scientist, the lithe, lumbering woman appeared at the far end of the sky bridge.

"See," said Alanja, gracefully motioning at the approaching scientist.

Corsair scoffed. "That's what I get for questioning you, ambassador."

"You owe me a ration," quipped Lark, settling a bet that Alanja was unaware of with Keeper.Alanja flashed a smile and winked at Lark. The clone's feet shuffled, making her chuckle. They had changed so much in her absence. Their burgeoning identities were sweet and endearing to her now.

"Greetings, ambassador," said Nala Se with a slight bow of her egg-shaped head.

"Hello, Nala Se. It is good to see you," Alanja lied. Alanja would be happy to never see the creature again. "To what do I owe this honor."

Nala Se looked at the clones. "Send them away."

Corsair and his men shifted defensively when Alanja gave them a dismissive wave. "Ma'am?" questioned Corsair.

"You heard her, Corsair," Alanja said with authority, unwilling to let Corsair cause a scene. "Take your men to the end of the bridge, and let me have a private word."

"Yes, ma'am," Corsair begrudgingly replied. "Come on," he ordered his three cohorts and marched with them out of earshot.

When Alanja was sure they were far enough away, she looked up at Nala Se with expectation.

"It is time for you to honor our agreement, Miss Rampart," said Nala Se in a tight yet still languid voice.

"What has happened?"

"Prime Minister Lama Su has ordered me to collect essential personnel and begin evacuating them from Kamino."

Alanja's brows rose halfway to her hairline. "Oh."

"I have reason to believe that you and your brother are in danger. You must take control of this facility before Lama Su realizes you know of his plans if you hope to survive."

Alanja resisted the urge to gasp as she said, "explain, please."

"Lama Su said the Empire canceled all of our contracts."

"Yes. That is so."

"That was a hazardous move, Miss Rampart. Why would the Admiral commit to such peril so brazenly?"

"You know why," Alanja bit back, looking full on at Nala Se. The bruising on Alanja's face was beginning to yellow, but there were still dark circles under her eyes from having her nose broken on Ryloth during the fight to the death between Teller and Gimbal. "One of your clones tried to kill me. Certainly, you and your prime minister are not so naive as to think that would go unaddressed. And what of poor Captain Howzer? It has fallen upon me to handle his fate and fates of his men," scoffed Alanja. "You specifically are very fortunate that we have an agreement between us, Nala Se. Very fortunate."

The Kaminoan did not cringe the way Alanja expected from the threat. "Indeed. So are you," Nala Se replied the hint of dismay in her voice like a scream of sadness from a Kaminoan. "Remember me when you inform Admiral Rampart. I have much to offer the Empire, and I pledge it to you specifically, Miss Rampart."

Alanja nodded. "It will be done."