Surge Squadron: Defective

Chapter Two: Sentenced

Back on Kamino, Sala Te had the one clone she wished to experiment with swaddled in cloth and cradled in her arms. She bounced him softly, quieting down his wails in preparation for what she was about to do next. She laid him down on an operating table and took a syringe, applying a new, clean needle on it. She took a small cloth, dipping it in a cleansing liquid, "I'm sorry, little one- I need just a little sample for further research... This will hurt but a moment." She warned, as a precursor to a blood draw, as if the newborn infant could actually comprehend the events about to happen. She scooped the child back into her arms, cleaned his arm with the cloth, and inserted the needle in his arm for the draw.

The poor infant let out a terrified scream at the pain, bawling loudly.

Sala removed the needle shortly after she had collected a sufficient sample and covered his arm, softly hushing him, "It's okay- it was but a prick." She whispered.

If the young clone could speak, he would have argued otherwise, but the only sounds he made were soft, crying gasps, trying to calm himself down.

She carried the baby to her desk with the sample and sat in her chair. Sala gingerly placed the sample on a slide before sending the statistics to the monitors to analyze. She opened the files attached to the child's records and observed the data.

There was nothing there that Sala hadn't seen when she had the fluid in the capsules analyzed.

She wrinkled her nose in frustration, "I'd need to go further with this in full scans- sadly, Lafa won't be permitting anything that major without exclusive affirmation to proceed. I'm already bending orders enough as is with doing a simple blood extraction. To go further may threaten my status and question my reliability in future ordeals..." She spoke with herself. She took the syringe and slide, cleaned both, and destroyed all data collected. She wanted no evidence to point toward her unauthorized genetic investigation. Sala looked at the child, now asleep, 'What secrets are you hiding, little one, and why won't you just reveal them to me?' She asked herself. She took the child out of the examination room and walked with him to where the rest of his "brothers" were.

A medical assistance droid hovered over to glide beside Sala.

'Seas below-' Sala swore, 'It's Lafa's nosey assistant-'

The specialized medical droid flew alongside Sala Te, looking her up and down before eyeing the child who snuggled in her arms, "What were you doing with that infant?" He asked, placing his hands on his sides sassily.

"Nothing that should concern you, AZI-83." Sala said simply.

"Oh, really?" He asked, "I heard Lafa Re specifically say that you should not under any circumstance run tests until proper authorization is given."

"I wasn't running tests." Sala lied, "I was merely reviewing some past research."

"You are a terrible liar. Unless you have the talent to scream like an infant during test procedures, I refuse to believe your argument." The droid responded.

Sala stayed silent, annoyed with her unwanted accompaniment.

"In fact, I'd say that you ran blood tests on this clone, being that I've run plenty of blood tests myself." The droid continued, "The odds that you ran a blood test are-"

"Quiet- I don't want to hear the odds- your odds are false. The child was merely upset that I wasn't paying attention to him. There is nothing going on, so I advise that you scoot along and perform your duties that you were manufactured for, not creating pestilence for a simple scientist. Now, leave me be before I have your memory bank wiped and you scrapped for spare parts." Sala snapped.