Fuck. Alpha-17 resisted the temptation to run, striding down the corridors as fast as he could without panicking the tubies. Fuck fuck fucking sith-spawned piece of osik! The comm clicked on, and to his relief, Tavo was on the other end.
âGot your message. Whatâs going on?â
Alpha-17 didnât waste time with pleasantries. âDooku is leaving. And heâs told the longnecks he wants a squad to go with him. As escort.â
âShit.â The profanity was low-voiced but heartfelt. One of the benefits in working with fellow alphas was that 17 didnât need to spell out the obvious. Namely, why would a Sith chasing a Jedi need protection? At best, the unlucky squad assigned to Dooku would likely be used as bait to lure Ben out. At worst âŚ.
âWho are they sending?â Tavo asked. It went without saying that there was no way they could prevent the squad from going. Not without tipping their hand and endangering every clone on Kamino.
âSando squad,â Alpha-17 said.
âFUCK.â Tavo added a few more pungent words under his breath before cutting himself off. âWith Ram in command?â
âCorrect. You see the problem.â Alpha-17âs voice was hard as stone, and just as unforgiving. Sando squad had some good men, even if none of them had been blooded in a real fight yet. But their CC ⌠Alpha-17 had long suspected that the Kaminoansâ genetic tinkering had taken a little too well in some brothers, and Ram was a prime example. Ram was a good CC, capable and smart. He tore through the flash-training and command-track drills like they were easy. But in Alpha-17âs opinion, he was also far too eager to please. Too obedient. If a superior officer told him to take his squad and go jump off a cliff, Ram wouldnât even think to ask why on the way down.
It wasnât inexperience. They all had learned too many hard lessons from trainers like Priest and Vau, and from the indifference and casual cruelty of the longnecks, to be that naive. No, it was almost as if something was missing when it came to Ram; some part of his brain that wouldnât allow him to question an order, regardless of how stupid or suicidal that order might be.
Ram wasnât to blame for what the longnecks had done to him, but that didnât solve the current problem. Of all the squads to choose from, why did it have to be that one?