Private Send in the Clones!!!!!

[Velran Kilran]

"I'm sorry I couldn't quite get what you are saying," Velran said when Akiya rebutted that jewelry could be used for pretty things. "You were talking bullchit!"

Velran then grabbed Akiya's hand smiling as if he had an idea. "WAIT!" Velran shouted. "What if I could use minerals to make necklaces to sell to women who like pretty things? Yes..... through businesswoman she could sell the necklaces to the core worlds where I can make huge profits and then those profits can help fund my fleet."

The mad ruler then placed Akiya in a headlock. "I'M A GENIUS!" He shouted dragging Akiya towards a test tube a clone was hovering his eyes looking around rapidly. "What you see are failed clones from the samples I've taken from the generous subjects of New Alderaan," Velran said happily. "We're going to need your expertise on this."

Akiya Orime

 

[Akiya Orime]

Location: New Alderaan
Outfit: Favorite Dress
Tags: Velran Kilran

Akiya should have guessed that Velran hadn’t had someone special in his life. Or maybe that loss was what made him mad. Either way the value of jewelry and gifts were obviously not something that he was willing to continue. ”It is not bullchit!” Akiya countered. She wasn’t passionate about a whole lot outside of the science she studied and practiced, but she knew that her husband took pride in the gifts that he gave her. And she was happy to display them to make them both happy.

The young scientist merely shook her head at the admiral’s rant of how he could fund his army. ”Of course that idea would work if the jewelry had the right appeal and quality,” Akiya answered as she was placed into a headlock. As they got closer to the cloning pods her whole body shook with unease as what was inside came clearer in her vision.

”I really hope you’re letting me start from scratch,” Akiya said in disgust. ”These poor souls, or lack of souls, are beyond any help I can give. You’re wanting new specimens right? Where is the template material? I’d like to get to work. Hopefully get this over with.”

 

[Velran Kilran]

"Have you seen some of the slop that corporations trot out everyday?" Velran chuckled still placing Akiya in a headlock. "If anything I have a few friends who can help sell my product but enough about boring old jewelry! Let's focus on my babies!"

The Clone that was inside of the tube began to thrash around banging furiously against the glass. "Growing clones was easy enough," Velran said. "But training as fast and efficient as possible to coincide with their rabid growth has been problematic especially when the Clones hit puberty."

The clone continued to bang against the tube screaming loudly while Velran shook his head in a mock sadness. To see a man suffer like that was a waste of time and good genes. Velran needed to hurry and build a sufficient enough army to quell the inevitable Stormtrooper rebellion. "They begin to break down psychologically speaking," Velran said. "They experience depression, an extreme amount of anxiety, symptoms consistent with PTSD of all things. The Doctors before you suggested it was because of their rapid growth but I'm not the one to give up so fast!"

Velran then dragged Akiya her office, a small place filled with chemical substance and machinery. "Template materials are right here in your beautiful office!" Velran said pushing her to the ground. "I need your analysis and find out what went wrong and how we can fix this problem."

Akiya Orime

 

[Akiya Orime]

Location: New Alderaan
Outfit: Favorite Dress
Tags: Velran Kilran

Akiya wasn’t exactly going to admit it, but Velran did have a point when referencing some jewelry sellers, in some cases even the highest end makers were not putting out real quality merely acting upon their name and logo to justify the prices. Of course Velran’s interest in jewels didn’t last long enough to get a rebut because Akiya was in a headlock and Velran was discussing babies. That thought made Akiya’s skin crawl even though she knew it was his clones not real babies.

”Cloning properly is NOT an easy thing,” Akiya huffed as she looked over the being inside the tube. She was quite glad there was a thick layer of transparisteel between her and the subject. ”This is not the result of lack of training. It is the result of someone not knowing what all was involved in the cloning process and making sure the product is ready to accept training.”

Akiya’s anger didn’t cease when it was explained that Velran had been told this would be the result. As she tried to state before as well. When Velran stated that he would not give up, Akiya sighed in resignation. She wouldn’t be happy about it. And she would look for any way out, but while she was stuck here she would do what she could to make sure this didn’t happen. ”What is the growth rate? You seem to want this army really bad so I’m guessing you went as fast as your other doctors would allow…A month to maturity? That’s the minimum I would allow. A month of life, all in a tube. What do you think was going to happen? There DNA doesn’t teach them a thing of what it means to be alive. It is certainly not PTSD. They don’t have any knowledge to be post-anything. I might be able to help. But you’ll need something to feed their growing minds with. And some way to do it very fast. I can alter their genetics to give you a way to input, but memories and trainings are out of my area of specialty. I’ll need help to implement anything. And the result is only going to buy you so much time.

Akiya moved just a bit closer to the tube and waved at the clone with a frown on her face. She was then dragged off again. This time it was a small little science office. She wondered how much access to the outside there was for her. She bet zero. All her requests for information would go through a gatekeeper and any return would as well. She sighed again, though it honestly wasn’t the worst workspace she’d experienced. ”Assuming that you can give me some way to supply them with substance quickly I can get you a viable clone in one month that will last you maybe five years. Past that you’ll need to actually allow them to experience life. I would suggest a four times increase in aging process at the max to deliver a steady clone that would be able to live to old age without going nuts. But with what you’ve provided I will confirm my expectations.”

 

[Velran Kilran]

Velran was more than aware of the complexity of cloning, there was a long history of problems with clones questioning their purpose in life, succumbing to insanity, and the struggle of training the clones. The Kaminoans took centuries to perfect their cloning techniques and they were considered to be the masters of their craft. Velran on the other hand was asking Akiya to go above and beyond what the Kaminoans achieved. The only advantage they have right now was years cloning history that could be studied and learned from. All the mistakes that past cloners have made and theories that they've crafted could be applied to what Velran wanted to accomplish.

"The growth rate," Velran said. "Was twice what GAR clones were but the problem was that they took too long to develop among other things." Velran remembered the first batch of clones ranting and raving about the voices in their head. It only made Velran more determined to perfect the cloning process. He ordered the Droids to kill the clones and dissect their bodies to find out what went wrong but even with more moderations, it ended up with more failures.

"My people developed a training program that they'll clones image training while they grow in their vats." Velran said. "Years of training reduced to months but the system was unstable contributing to their insanity so I figure that we needed to develop something that can help the developing clones absorb the knowledge."

Velran walked closer to Akiya. "4 times the rate is not fast enough Doctor," Velran said. "That's 4 to 5 years of growth and development, I want my Clones ready in months. So you and I are going to start brainstorming!"

Akiya Orime

 

[Akiya Orime]

Location: New Alderaan
Outfit: Favorite Dress
Tags: Velran Kilran

Akiya’s captor was quite frustrating. Genetics could do only so much. Aging a clone so quickly was only part of what created the unstable mental status. They were expected to absorb so much without being allowed time to develop the means of accepting information. The conversation had been nothing but a fight so Akiya decided against continuing to give her own views and instead on finding viable solutions that would appease Velran.

”As I said I can give you a full grown clone body in a month.” Akiya responded to his request for brainstorming. ”The brain will be developed as well. The problem comes that the brain, while able to accept and store information, hasn’t learned how to translate the information to meaningful purpose. You will need some sort of intermediary in order to truly give you a functional soldier. But keep in mind for some time these quickly aged clones will be little more than organic droids. Their bodies doing whatever the intermediary tells them to. In time perhaps they learn to develop personality and the other things that are required for a sane life, but I can’t guarantee it will happen.”

 

[Velran Kilran]

"A fully grown adult in a month?" Velran said nodding in approval. "Now you're speaking my language sweetheart!" He slapped Akiya across the back so hard that she probably will fall and land on her knees. So far the first problem was taken care of but once again Akiya was whining like a brat about how the Clones would have trouble processing the information and that they'll be little more than Droids.

"That's the entire POINT DOCTOR!" Velran roared. "I WANT TO CREATE A CLONE ARMY THAT DOES WHAT THEY'RE TOLD!" It seems that his ambitions for the Clone Army didn't translate well in Akiya's pretty little head. Then again, people can hardly understand genius and although Akiya is good at her job, her intellect and ambition pales in comparison Velran's.

"The brain is the most complex organ in the body regardless of species," Velran said. "The three-pound hunk of pink flesh that we carry around is us! Our whole bodies is made just to make sure that the brain keeps on ticking! Because it stores our thoughts, feelings, memories, personality, everything that makes us! But since the Brain is essentially who we are: People!"

Velran gagged as soon as he said that. "We can manipulate it to have it do what I want! The Grand Army of Republic had inhibitor chips for Order 66. That much is true, but the problem, the Old Republic didn't go far enough. They were more concerned about ethics and such!"

Velran glared at Akiya. "Here's the thing!" Velran growled. "I've borne witness to the fall of the Empire because my commanders were too concerned about looking good. When you're in the trenches, you do what it takes to win. I've started work on an implant that can embedded on the Cerebrum of the Brain. It'll guarantee full obedience. So yes! I want my army to be akin to Droids. You can check out my blueprints on the Holocomputer over there." He pointed at the right corner. "Let's get going." Velran smiled.

Akiya Orime

 

[Akiya Orime]

Location: New Alderaan
Outfit: Favorite Dress
Tags: Velran Kilran

The man finally heard what he wanted to, and seemed to be ecstatic at the results. Akiya knew what she would have to do to give him a physical specimen capable of what she said, but someone else would have to provide a means of giving the clones what they would need. And even that would give Velran’s clones a shorter half-life than ideal. ”Why not create a droid army?” Akiya asked in honest curiosity. ”That would have to be cheaper than all this and if you’re just giving a clone the same input as a droid they would be more durable.”

She held her hands up and smiled. ”I’m not saying I won’t make your clones for you. I will do my best. I’m just saying that the part of what makes organics better than droids will not be present in these one month clones.” Velran went on a rant about using the brain to lead the body. What he said was true. But with the undeveloped clone the brain was only what was supplied to it. That presented the chance of gaps. Gaps that a sentient brain would fill with instinct.

”I will give you your clones in a month’s time to start off your army. I will continue to fill your ranks with these bodies, but they will be inferior to ones that are given time to truly develop. Allow me to shift a portion of production to my suggested age plus training clones and when they mature you will not be unhappy. These properly developed clones can still be inhibited,” Akiya made one last play. If this was turned down she would just make Velran what he wanted and make no further suggestions at improvement. ”Order 66 was so long ago. Cybernetic manipulation has come a long way since. With the right engineer helping out you will have a better loyal army in four to five years that will not have to be replenished as often and will perform much more efficiently.”

Velran suggested that he had developed a chip to go into the brain of the clones. This was indeed interesting to Akiya, even though it was morally reprehensible. Akiya wanted to see what had been created and confirm that it would work. ”I will look at your work. And I will give you your clones. You brought me here because of my knowledge though. I hope you will take what I say in mind as you move forward with your army. The ideal is not going to fit your needs now. But it can in the future.”

 

[Velran Kilran]

"Au contraire mon frère!" Velran said. "As much as I love Droids, we organics have something that they don't. The ability to improvise and think outside the box. Instincts trumps programming at the end of the day!"

Velran wanted the Clones to have some thought but that thought will be purely on fighting nothing more and nothing less. "I believe the program that I will develop can achieve creative think and utter obedience. You might think that it's an impossible thing to achieve, but that's where you're wrong! The implants plus plenty of image training and virtual reality can form the rapidly developing brain manipulating it to do what you want."

Akiya was finally accepting of her fate, to create clones and perfect the process. "That's all I wanted to hear!" Velran said clapping her on the back yet again. "Work on these variants first!" Velran pointed at the Holocomputer holding the variants of multiple hosts. "I have something special coming really soon! And I want the process to be perfected before I use these bad boys! I think the Galaxy will LOVE to see them again!"

Akiya Orime

 

[Akiya Orime]

Location: New Alderaan
Outfit: Favorite Dress
Tags: Velran Kilran

Akiya rolled her eyes again. Not all organics had the same or the desired instincts. ”Humans have fight or flight instincts, but they are one of the few beings in the galaxy that a battle plan is not ingrained upon them by nature. It is true what you are saying about why we are better than droids, but a quick aged clone human will lack some of what you want. With the right template though….” Akiya was lost in thought about that thing. She wondered if someone with Mandalorian lineage would be more capable “right out of the box” than another human might be. Was there a degree of warfare in DNA? It was an interesting development that she had not seen coming when taken from her home.

”Impossible to allow a being to use their instincts and be obedient to a master?” Akiya rhetorically turned Velran’s statement into a question. ”No I don’t see that as an impossibility. Just a very thin line that is difficult to stay on. Sure with training the clones can evolve and sure with some sort of intervention that evolution can be curtailed to include devotion to you or someone else. But constant monitoring and correction will be required. And again that may be beyond what a biologist is capable of. Even one that knows the DNA of so many subjects so completely.”

Velran directed Akiya’s research to the templates he had already started with. Given the failures Akiya didn’t have a lot of faith in changing that. But she’d give it a shot. ”You have the ability to splice genes, should I find a desired combination of these samples right?” she was quite sure that she knew the answer. But at this point as long as Velran wasn’t too violent about it, sending him off on upset tangents was an amusing thing to help get Akiya through this.

 

[Velran Kilran]

"Yes of course!" Velran said when Akiya asked if she should find the right combination to create from these samples. "I've bought you the ingredients! Now what I require is to work your magic!" Velran slapped Akiya across the back again. "I know you'll do a fantastic job Doc," he said grinning. "The army will be revolutionary! It'll be something that even the Kaminoans will be in awe of!"

And speaking of the Kaminoans, they were to deliver a special clone template of the legendary Bounty Hunter: Jango Fett. Velran had to put in a lot of favors just to convince the Kaminoans to give up the last strand they had on him. It wasn't like they were going to do anything with it especially after the ramifications the clones from Fett caused after the Clone Wars. Like Akiya, the Kaminoans were afraid of trying out new things. They were afraid of going beyond what was possible. "With your expertise on genetics and my overall genius, I'll show the Empire what it means to conquer the Galaxy!"

A week had passed since Akiya had been kidnapped from her home and forced to work on the Clone project. When Akiya wasn't working, then she was held bound and dangling from a rope in the middle of the lab. Velran made sure she was watched 24/7 and even gave her some food, clothing, and other utilities. But when it was time for bed, then she would be bound. One day, Velran arrived at the lab his face contorted with anger his fist shaking uncontrollably. "DOCTOR!" Velran shouted. "I need to have a word with you!"

Akiya Orime

 

[Akiya Orime]

Location: New Alderaan
Outfit: Velran’s Gift Dress
Tags: Velran Kilran

Velran’s praise of himself first and foremost and to a much lesser degree Akiya the first discussion came to a merciful end. Akiya was left to her work for the most part, but free time was passed in an incredibly embarrassing and uncomfortable position. Akiya couldn’t believe that someone thought she was a threat worth the trouble of tying up in that manner, but still whenever she was not working on the newer, better, faster clone she was left hanging. Even when she slept she was not just given a nice bed to recuperate from a long day of work.

The mention of something special coming from Kamino was a light at the end of the tunnel for Akiya. As much faith as she had in her own genius, the Kaminoans were the gold standard of cloning. At least when it came to humans and mass production. Some might say that Khommites did a pretty good job as well, but their work was mostly to maintain their own culture, not expand another. Seeing what Velran had procured from Kamino was quite exciting and allowed Akiya to get through the mistreatment and the visits from Prof. Igen Jitters .

She was back at work in one of the dresses that Velran had gifted her when the Admiral appeared. Of course he was angry. And of course it was likely Akiya’s fault. She sighed and turned to face Velran with a worried look. ”Yes Moff Kilran. What can I do for you?”

 

[Velran Kilran]

"Saaayyyyy whaaaatttt???!?!" Velran thrusted his hand towards Akiya's delicate neck wrapping his long, bony fingers around them. "Did you just call me Moff?!" Velran shouted lifting Akiya up high. "You must refer to me by my true title! His excellency, Emperor for life, Lover of all Porgs, Galactic Conqueror, and a Genius with an IQ of over 1000!"

Velran had made Akiya memorize his title for about a week now. Yet, she still manages to screw up and this time she didn't even bother to try. "Under normal circumstances, you will be wearing my smelly boot!" Velran said still lifting her up high still strangling her neck. "But we have pressing matters! The Kaminoans those long necked bastards have reneged on the deal!"

Just when he had the perfect template for his precious Clone Army, the Kaminaoans took it away from him. Velran was furious so much that he killed defective clones just to vent. Turned out he was still fuming with rage. "They said that Jango Fett was too valuable a commodity and they were selling him short. Those stupid pieces of trash! I've maxed out your credit cards just to get it! But they had other plans, and it turned out that they were allying with the Mandalorian Enclave!"

Velran still was strangling Akiya with one hand and smiled. "And I have an idea!" He said his tone of voice starting to become giddy.

Akiya Orime

 

[Akiya Orime]

Location: New Alderaan
Outfit: Velran’s Gift Dress
Tags: Velran Kilran

Akiya didn’t realize she had misspoke until it was too late. She desperately grabbed at her kidnapper’s wrists trying to loosen the grip he had on her neck. She wiggled a little bit more than previous attempts to hold her neck, but she was still much more cautious than when he threw her over his shoulder.

Pulling turned to hammering small fists against Velran’s forearms as he lifted her up. She could not believe the humiliation and pain that she was forced to endure. But she gave a wild nod hoping that Velran would understand that she accepted her error and his preferred title. No matter how she thought it sounded. The smelly boot thing was something that Akiya had yet to learn first hand, though it had been mentioned. Whatever it was, her importance to completing Velran’s plans seemed to preclude her having to endure that.

Akiya continued to fight. The news of the Kaminoans made her realize it wasn’t just that she had called him by a lesser title, but he had come into the conversation angry. ”I will do whatever you want, Your Excellency, Emperor for Life, Lover of all Porgs, Galactic Conqueror and Genius with an IQ over 1000.”

 

[Velran Kilran]

Velran gave an airy sigh his thin lips forming into a smile when Akiya said that she would do whatever he wanted. "That's what I like to hear!" Velran said casually dropping Akiya onto the cold, metal floor. "You do what you are told! When I say to refer to me by the correct nomenclatures, I expect you to do so Doctor! I spent good money hiring you sweetheart! So, I suggest you follow the rules or I perhaps you'll be food for my precious Porgs!"

People like Akiya didn't know how much Velran sacrificed just to get New Alderaan up and running. All Akiya did all week was whine about her working conditions. It's people like her are the reason why Droids and Clones were preferable. But Akiya was unfortunately needed to help mold Velran's vision of his grand army which was in danger of being in shambles. "The damn Kaminoans have ripped me off!" Velran growled walking around the downed Akiya. "I've paid billions! BILLIONS! Yet they choose to spurn me?!"

The Jango Fett template was the perfect clone for his army. With the fierce reputation that the clones of Jango Fett inspired during the Clone Wars and the beginning of the first half of the rise of the Empire, the thought of Jango Fett clones wreaking havoc once again would be demoralizing. "Get up!" Velran ordered. "You and I are heading to Kamino! We're going to steal the Jango Fett clone template!"

Akiya Orime

 

[Akiya Orime]

Location: New Alderaan
Outfit: Velran’s Gift Dress
Tags: Velran Kilran

Akiya hit the floor hard after being dropped and hissed a bit as she rubbed her backside due to the pain. Even in victory Velran continued to rant. It was sometimes difficult to work, but it wasn’t like Akiya had voluntarily taken this job. It was just a matter of getting through to the other side til someone found out where she had been taken. At the mention of money spent Akiya blinked and forced her mouth to remain shut. She was not likely to see any of the credits that Velran supposedly spent. Nor did she really want any. She just wanted to go home.

The news that I wasn’t going to get to research the clone template for the Grand Army of the Republic was a great disappointment. Though the product that Velran had already supplied would probably do just fine when it came down to it. Especially for the quick grow version of clones that I was not terribly invested in. They were just shells with orders given by Velran and Jitters’ control chip. Akiya worked with biotics. It was true that the clones she would provide to Velran in a couple weeks would be alive. But not true members of society.

When ordered the young doctor staggered to her feet. ”Steal?” Akiya questioned with a super high pitched squealing tone. ”How are we going to go about stealing from the Kaminoans? Subtle is not your strong suit. I doubt that you will be able to just fly in with a squad of your soldiers and blow your way into the vault they surely hold the template in.”