22 BBY, Month 7

Rylann

Flying for the first time was exhausting and Rylann wasn't even done yet. She was reaching her limit and could barely keep focused since drowsiness flooded her senses. Crosshair who sat beside her didn't seem to notice, or show anything if he did.

"How much longer?" Rylann asked, blowing stray hair from her face. She gave Crosshair a side eye, gauging his reaction. The toothpick that resided in his mouth did a little swivel, but that was it.

"We should be nearing the docks soon," Cross stated, before leaning over to tap the navigation computer. "Check the nav and see for yourself. I won't always be here to guide you." Something sunk in her gut when he said that, but Rylann couldn't pinpoint why.

"Don't say that," Rylann said through a pout. "You'll always be here to annoy me."

Crosshair only smiled, but his eyes said otherwise. Rylann's fake pout dwindled down to a firm frown as she delved deeper into thought. Did he think that because he was a soldier that he wouldn't live long in battle? And since the Batch were special forces, how much more danger would they be in compared to regular soldiers on the frontlines?

"There she is," Cross's nasal voice hummed as he sat up straighter in the seat, readjusting the buckle from his shoulder. "Now to teach you to land."

Rylann's eyes widened, her heart flipping in her chest. "Are you serious right now?" she asked, voice a pitch higher. "Can't we just switch?"

Crosshair smirked and sent her a wink, flicking his toothpick behind him. "Where's the fun in that?"

"Plenty of fun," Rylann retorted. "Not accidentally destroying Republic property would be really fun and exhilarating right now."

"Don't worry, you've got to trust me," Crosshair said, nudging her arm which sent tingles up her skin.

"I do trust you," Rylann whispered, looking over at Crosshair with a sincere gaze.

Crosshair leaned over the arm of his seat, brown eyes brimmed with gravity. "But do you trust yourself?"

Rylann's words caught in her throat. No, she didn't. She never did trust her capabilities as a Jedi or even as a person, but now that she couldn't even control the Force anymore, she didn't trust herself to an even deeper level. "No," she admitted, voice catching. "I don't."

His brows pinched together for a moment only to soften. "Well, you should." He turned away, leaning his head back into her chair, lip pursing in determination. "You are a highly capable woman."

Rylann blushed, warmth spreading across her cheeks like a wildfire. "Cross."

"What? It's true," Crosshair said, doubling down on his previous statement, though avoiding her gaze. "Now close your eyes."

"Are you crazy?" Rylann asked, eyes darting to Crosshair.

"What would General Shaak Ti say to you right now?" Crosshair asked, his raised brow daring her to yield.

Rylann's nostrils flared. The little brat. "She would tell me to trust the Force."

A smug smirk inched its way onto Cross's lips. "Very good. Now do it."

"Fine," Rylann scoffed, closing her eyes. And as if in second nature, she found herself trusting her instincts. "You'll tell me if I'm about to hit something, right?"

Cross remained quiet which did not ease any misgivings Rylann had, but she did her best to trust him and herself.

In a moment, she felt that she needed to stop flying forward and just land the ship. Hopefully, they weren't over water. She went through the motions of landing a ship. She vaguely recalled what Tech had described to her regarding the landing process, but she just found her hands doing things on their own and the ship landed on a solid surface. Thank the Maker.

"Wow," Crosshair breathed out, startling her eyes open. Rylann glanced over at the clone who was staring at her with approval in his eyes. "You did it."

"Did you doubt me?" Rylann asked, jaw dropping as she let out a laugh. "You little brat."

Crosshair did what Rylann never expected...he guffawed. "You're really taking this toddler thing to the next level, aren't you?"

"You're playing the part well," Rylann said, a smirk widening on her lips.

"Come on," Cross said, unbuckling. "We have to make the delivery."

"Oh, yeah," Rylann chuckled. She had almost forgotten. She furrowed her brows as a thought entered her mind. "Wait, why didn't we get asked for a clearance code—in fact, we didn't even get communicated with at all."

Rylann's eyes perused the small Kaminoan platform. There were no other ships in sight and this dock seemed to be the only part of the city besides the one building that was part of the platform. What type of city had only one building?

"It's a secret mission—" Crosshair stated, gesturing to the dark sky. "Hence the late night adventure."

Rylann's jaw dropped. She got to be on a secret mission? Now that was as cool as ferin tipsii. "Who are the supplies for?"

"The proto-clones," Crosshair said as they lowered the ramp to begin moving the crates out. "This is their home."

Proto-clones... Why did that sound familiar to Rylann? Then she recalled the meeting from a couple weeks ago when the other Jedi came to choose clones for their ranks. Didn't Shaak Ti mention something about Proto-class clones that were original clones from Jango except with modifications? Something about how all clones came from the Proto-class clones instead of Jango—especially with Jango being dead and all.

"So, these are the originals?" she asked, more curious now than ever. She had seen Omega's name on the list, rather confused since the little clone didn't live in Reannor City.

"Yep," Crosshair said, closing the ramp behind them as the supply crates settled beside the ship. "Well, the original 'special' ones. They are the ones who trained my vod."

Rylann's brows furrowed. "Vod?"

"Brothers," Crosshair answered without skipping a beat.

"Ah, Jango was from Mandalore, I forget," Rylann said, the little Mando'a she knew rising up from the sea of old thoughts. "So, you were trained by these proto-clones? Were they trained by Jango? I heard Jango was lethal in combat."

"Didn't keep him alive though, did it?" Crosshair chuckled to himself. "And yes, they were trained by him and some other Mandalorian."

"Crosshair, who is this?" a voice called out behind them. Rylann spun on her heel to face nonother than a middle-aged female with a shocking resemblance to the clones. Her salt and pepper hair was cut short much like the clone cuts, but was styled with a pair of silver hoop earrings. The woman's posture was immaculate, but she rested into it easily, her starched dark grey jumpsuit matching the storm about them.

"Sil, this is Rylann, our commander and soon-to-be general," Crosshair said, putting an arm around Rylann to present her to the woman in front of them.

The sea air blew Sil's hair as the woman silently took in Rylann's appearance. Finally, the older woman smiled, offering a salute. "Commander."

Rylann blushed, not used to the attention and Cross's hand on her upper back. "You can just call me Rylann."

Sil took a step forward, her dark brown eyes gleaming. "Now let's get these medical supplies inside."

They were left in silence as they started pushing the crates inside. As they rolled the crates down the hall, Rylann had so many questions but didn't know where to start. "Are you a medic?"

Sil looked over at Rylann, eyes searching her own. "Yes and I need the supplies at this very moment."

Crosshair tensed beside Rylann as his gait pushing the cart faltered. "Who is it this time?"

Sil sighed. "Who do you think?"

"Sigma again?" Crosshair asked, also letting out a sigh. "He needs to be careful."

"He doesn't seem to grasp that even though he has a better time healing than others, he can still hurt himself," Sil stated, rounding a corner to face a door with a medical symbol spray-painted on. "Just in here."

The medbay was a lot smaller than the ones on Kamino, and Rylann guessed it was because of the smaller population of clones. Though it wasn't very fancy or up-to-date, it was fairly clean and organized which didn't surprise Rylann. Sil's demeanor and starched uniform gave away that she was particular, and if the older woman was the medic, it made sense that her workspace reflected her personality. The only mess was a stack of well-bruised and banged up armor reminiscent of clone and mandalorian armor, but with darker tones that reminded Rylann of her own set and the Batch's.

On the medical bed lay a middle-aged clone with a stubble and an oblong face. His salt-and-peppered hair was shortly cropped and his face seasoned with scars. He even had a chip out of one of his ears. He struggled to get up as Sil entered, rushing to his side.

"You stupid man, lay back down if you don't want to be restitched," Sil commanded, pushing him down by the shoulders.

This must be Sigma, Rylann thought, examining the clone. Sigma's mouth curled into a smile as Sil fretted over him and Crosshair crossed his arms and glared at him. Her stomach fluttered when she realized that these proto-class clones were the ones that trained the Batch and were probably closer to being a family than most clones got the chance to. Crosshair's concern for his "brother/father" figure brought a warmth to Rylann's being.

Sigma's gaze wandered the room until his eyes landed on Rylann. He only smiled, raising a brow at Crosshair who just deepened his glare, though now red in the face. "You must be Rylann."

"Commander Rylann," Sil corrected, crossing her arms at him which was very reminiscent of Crosshair.

Sigma just smirked, saluting her lazily. "Sir."

"No need for this 'commander' and 'sir' stuff," Rylann said, itching her arm nervously. "I think that you are the more experienced ones who deserve that respect."

Sil shot a look at Crosshair, who just shrugged. "What makes you say that?"

"You are all kept a secret, which means you're important," Rylann started, face flushing. "You all trained Cross and the others which proves your excellent skill sets and then you said Sigma got hurt again which made me think that there was something he did that was dangerous."

"A sharp knife could've fallen on me in the kitchen," Sigma said, a humorous glint in his eyes.

Rylann nodded. "True." She then pointed to the armor. "That's a rather nice apron to wear while cooking."

Sigma turned to Cross, elbowing him. "She's a smart one. Definitely a keeper."

Rylann blushed at the comment. "Besides, you are enhanced, I already knew that from the documents I read a while back. And the Kaminoans aren't going to hide away expensive and highly skilled clones for nothing."

Sil stepped forward, pulling a crate to the cabinets to start unloading. "It's true. We all used to be hired mercenaries or protection by people all over the galaxy." She paused, a sad look crossing over her eyes. "That was until Delta got in the accident and most of us retired to just train and do our duty to contribute to the GAR." She shot Sigma a look.

"Well most of you retired ones are antsy and wish you hadn't," Sigma retorted as Sil handed him a bacta pack from the crate. "Kenny and I are still at it, actually making money so we can get out of this haran hole."

"Language, Sigma," Crosshair stated, shooting Rylann an apologetic look. Rylann held back a smile at Cross's protectiveness. Crosshair looked over at Sil. "Where's Delta and the others?"

"Delta and Zeta are still working on those blueprints," Sil said, squatting to reach a bottom shelf. "Kenny and Omicron are probably playing one of their card games that Kenny brought back."

Crosshair nodded, looking over at Rylann. "Would you like to meet them?"

Rylann nodded, suddenly feeling shy. "Yeah." She turned to Sigma and Sil, offering them a soft smile as she grew self-conscious. "It was nice to meet you both."

Sil offered a genuine smile. "It was a pleasure, Rylann."

"Sir," Sigma said, sending a wink at her and a smirk to Crosshair.

Cross only sighed, taking Rylann's hand to drag her from the room. The door shut behind them. "Sorry about him."

"No need, I like them both a lot," Rylann stated through a blush. As the walked down the hall, Cross seemed to have no intention of letting go of her hand.

.......................................

If you guys want to see what Sil and Sigma look like (as well as the other proto-class clones), you can check out a chapter under that title in my book, "Changing Waves Story Bible." I give a recap and more in-depth explanation to the proto-class clones in that (as well as give character sheets, clone explanations, and am starting to add the different GAR divisions).