Surge Squadron: Defective

Chapter Eight: The Surgery

At dawn, approximately o'5 hours, AZ-83 proudly looked upon the creation he had worked on all night. Although, he felt more accomplished with the little brain-implant chip than with the visor. He then tiredly dragged himself off to his charging port to regain energy.

One hour later, he was back to full charge. He slid away from his station. 'In one hour, the beasts shall rise from their slumber.' AZ-83 thought to himself. He knew he must get his gift to Null before the others woke up. He sped over to Null's bunk and pressed the button that slid it out.

Null awoke at the sound, "Wha- who is it?" He mumbled, half awake.

"Wake up, Null," AZI-83 told him.

"Oh... It's you." Null sighed in a very bored tone, "What time is it?"

"Time for you to get up." AZ-83 returned, "I have a gift for you."

"Yay- new clothes... I'm guessing Ember succeeded with his arson." Null groaned, sitting up, "Can I go back to sleep, please?"

"No- it's not that... Thankfully... But something much better." AZ-83 replied, "Now, get up so you can receive your present."

Null nodded. He slowly climbed to floor level and began gently searching for his friend.

AZ-83 took his hand, come with me. He led Null to the worktable to grab the chip and the visor. Then, the duo headed out of their barracks and down the halls to find the correct room to begin the procedure. 83's best guess was to go to Sala's research lab again and ask nicely for help, then plead desperately for assistance if she refused.

"83? We are walking a lot... I'm assuming that we aren't in our room anymore." He mumbled.

"You assume correctly," AZI-83 replied.

Multiple Kaminoans roamed the walkways now. They looked curiously at the specialized analysis droid leading Null through the halls. None of them knew that Null existed, so to see a blind clone, such as himself, was a shock.

Finally, they reached Sala's lab.

Sala Te was indeed in the laboratory. She seemed hard at work, tweaking some past host DNA; that was no longer useful for clone production. Sala loved working on things like this to expound upon previous knowledge. She practiced trait enhancement, in this case, to further understand how Circuit's squad may have been altered. Sala didn't tear her eyes from her studies as the door opened, "Who is it?" She asked softly, "I'm really busy right now."

"It's me, Sala." AZI-83 replied, "Did you miss me?"

When Null stepped in, he sensed a drop in temperature. He took his free arm and wrapped it around himself, "It's cold, 83." He complained softly.

Sala spun around, "Not particularly, no." She replied to her mechanical company.

"I'd hoped you'd say that- I'd definitely heave myself off of a landing platform if you did," AZ-83 replied with a relieved sigh.

Sala rolled her eyes, then glanced at Null. Immediately, she remembered him from when she first delivered him. She stood, walked over, and knelt to his height, "Hello." She said softly, "You are a part of the squad of defectives? Your squadmate is Circuit, I assume?"

Null nodded, "Yeah, I call myself Null... It's because I'm often forgotten and not found as important to my brothers." He said a little sadly.

Sala looked down sympathetically, "That's devastating that you feel that way. I'm sorry, Null." She observed his body language, "It's a little cold in here, isn't it?"

"Uh-huh." Null nodded.

Sala got up and went to the closet she had found Circuit in last night. She removed a thin, clean sheet and brought it to Null, wrapping it around him, "There. Does that help you warm up a little bit?" She asked.