Heād lived a good, long life. Far longer than heād expected, considering the defects within his genes. It was only a matter of time, though, before the metaphorical noose around his neck tightened for good. 99 kept that in mind more often than not these days, what with how things were going around here. Clone troopers hadnāt exactly been treated kindly under the Republic, but under Imperial Rule, things had gotten infinitely worse. The Empire had no interest in tending to their aging troopers, preferring to use them as canon fodder on the front lines or euthanizing them en masse when they could no longer march day in and day out.
No, 99 had no love for the Empire. His love was exclusively for his brothers now, and it was for his brothers that heād set up his secure encrypted channel and offered his ears and eyes to those who resisted Imperial rule. Nobody expected old 99 to be the mole, after all. Old 99, who they thought was blind and deaf and too dumb to do anything but sweep the floors, who had always been little more than a harmless mascot.
āHelp me,ā heād sent out into the unknown, āHelp me avenge my brothers, and Iāll tell you everything you need to know about Kamino.ā
And then, he did. Ā He became a Fulcrum Agent for the shadowy Rebellion. Every secret, every scrap of classified information, every overheard conversation was funneled along that secret encrypted channel, with hopes that someone out there was putting it all to good use. It came as a surprise when the warning that heād been compromised and that someone would be coming to extract him shortly. Heād almost not taken the offer. Heād been born on Kamino. Heād lived his entire life on Kamino. Heād thought heād die here on Kamino as well. There was likely a traitorās death waiting for him, perhaps a firing squad or perhaps a syringe, and it was a good a death as any given his circumstances⦠but 99 realized he owed it to his brothers to keep living, and keep fighting. His body might be failing, but his mind was as sharp as ever, and even old wolves had perfectly good fangs.
He waited until night time, and then, under the cover of darkness, slunk away to the predetermined meeting place - a seldom-used hangar bay exclusively used for maintenance. There, he waited.