Dena knew that failing Tuma was not an option.  It wasn’t his fault that the kid survived, after all he took a blaster bolt directly to the back of his head.  There was nothing more that could be done, the boy would eventually succumb to his injuries, it was just a matter of time now.  Dena could not understand why that wasn’t good enough for Tuma. Nothing ever was.  Regardless, Dena was instructed  to go to the medbay and finish the job.

Accompanied by two IG units, Dena made his way to the medbay where Jace was fighting for his life, with his sister by his side.  As they approached the room in which the wounded boy lay helpless, the assassins began their preparations.  With secrecy on their side, they burst through the door unbeknownst to those on the other side of it .  Surprisingly, they were met with an unexpected audience….a girl with a blaster pointed directly at them. Before the standoff could end, there was an explosion of smoke filling the room.  Shots rang everywhere.

Before Dena knew what had happened, both IG units were destroyed and his hand was all but removed due to blaster fire.  A squad of Imperial Stormtroopers appeared out of nowhere.  What was Dena going to do?  The fear of failing his boss took the pain away from his hand momentarily allowing the Rodian time to think.  Tuma was going to kill him for failing yet again.  He knew he would have to make this right in some way, so as he scrambled to his feet to leave the medbay, he grabbed a DNA sample from the boy in the form of a disposed bandage.  He then retreated with haste back to the Hutt’s floating citadel.

As Jace was evacuated by Gara Squad, a news report was doctored for the Holonet explaining that the boy had passed throughout the afternoon, even though he still lay recovering.  The reality of the situation would be revealed in time, but by then it would be too late, Jace and his sister will be in hiding while they recovered.

Dena fearfully approached Tuma explaining that the boy was as good as dead.  No one could survive a direct blaster bolt to the head.  Immediately, Tuma knew this meant that Dena had failed once again, and it was far past time to be reprimanded.  As the Hutt sat quietly pondering the vicious punishments to deal out, the Rodian quietly presented a peace offering.  Thinking this was nothing more than useless rubbish, the Hutt grew angrier until Dena explained what he had in his possession.  This truly was a beautiful gift in the form of Jace’s DNA.  For those who don’t know, DNA is what makes us…us!  And there is a lot of it in a person’s blood even in the smallest of samples.  With this much of a sample, there would be more than enough to conduct some testing.  Tuma began to laugh, thinking about the endless possibilities.  After a short pause, Tuma had settled on the notion of what he felt would be the worst punishment of all.  Not only would he destroy Jace but first he would make him suffer by ruining the relationships he had built especially with his sister, Gigi.  It was that bond that gave each other strength, and it was that bond that each of them held most important.  Tuma would destroy it, then finish off the children, but in order to do so he would need a clone. 

Cloning was nothing new, though after The Great Wars it was frowned upon, but what did Tuma care, he was the head of The Blight.  What the Hutt didn’t realize was how much work had to go into making a clone.  He didn’t want a perfect duplicate of Jace as that would only double his problems.  That’s why the boy’s DNA had to be manipulated and aged accordingly and that would take some skill.  Luckily, he knew just the malicious being for the job.

Reaf, a Muun academic under Tuma’s employ.  Chief Advisor and lead scientific engineer of The Blight. There were few that could match his sadistic demeanor and gifted brilliance in replicating synthetic and organic coding.  Thus work began on creating a version of Jace that could be manipulated into eradicating any who oppose the Hutt and his collective, The Blight.

After weeks of failed attempts, Experiment 88 was complete and passed initial testing.  The aging process was very difficult but Reaf found a way to manipulate that too.   Presented before Tuma, the clone bestowed an eerie likeness to that of his nemesis.  As Tuma circled the boy, he found it hard to find any differences between the creature before him and the model he was based on.  The only variance that was noticeable with an eye’s glance was the clone’s hair.  It was a darker shade of blonde as opposed to Jace’s auburn color.  From a distance though, it wouldn’t be noticeable.  Distracted by the perfect duplicate in front of him, the hair color went unnoticed by the Hutt.  Humans all looked the same to self absorbed Hutt.

The clone was blessed with all of the strengths of his predecessor and none of his weaknesses.  Tuma knew he would be more that an match for Jace to handle, especially with the diverse combat training implemented within the clone’s mind.  He would be the perfect soldier.  Obedient and dangerous, just how Tuma liked them.

After the inspection was over, Tuma had asked the clone if he was ready to do what needed to be done? The clone’s only reply was a small smirk that told the Hutt everything he needed to know.  Reaf looking upon his creation, could not contain his smile any longer knowing that this success would only build a darker reputation for himself.  Dena who stood alongside Reaf bearing witness to the initiation of the newest member of The Blight, was disgusted with himself.  He wished for a moment that he had the courage to just take the punishment that Tuma had planned as opposed to presenting this monstrous idea.  The kid’s had been through enough and the thought of a clone pretending to be one of them was too much.  It was unnatural and nothing good was going to come of it.

Tuma commanded; “Experiment 88, do what others could not, seek out the boy and destroy him!  Eradicate all who stand in your way!” The evil version of the heroic boy looked upon the assembled rogues with a callous grin and replied; “Consider it done, and you can call me X!”

Months had passed and Jace and his newly formed crew were gaining notoriety throughout the system of Nar Shaddaa.  The capital, Hutt City was a buzz with tales of selfless acts performed by these so called heroes.  X grew angry because he couldn’t understand why the siblings were doing these acts.  Didn’t they too want to be infamous throughout the Galaxy?  The whole notion of selflessness was to hard for X to try to understand.

Although Tuma’s intention of creating a clone was to secretly infiltrate the enemy then systematically tear them apart from within, X had other ideas.  He knew he was superior in all ways to Jace and wanted to flaunt it.  He didn’t understand the point of hiding when he could simply come out and destroy Jace and his sister quickly and efficiently. It just didn’t seem honorable to him.  After all deep down the Mandalorian ways of life were just as much a part of X, as they were with Jace. Even though he couldn’t understand why he held such values, he accepted them and decided he would take action and soon.

Preparing for an attack was a sacred ritual to X.    Crafting his armor was something not to be taken lightly.  Through hours of analysis on Jace and his fighting tactics, even X had to admit that Jace’s armor was something to be envious of.  It could be mimicked but never replicated even with the proper Beskar and materials.  This wasn’t your common stormtrooper armor.  This was truly a one of a kind marvel and X wanted his own to rival that of his nemesis.  Finding a balance between effective and unique was challenging to X but he managed to do it.

With his armor complete, X settled on a color scheme as bold as his approach.  He decided to go with a red and yellow combination symbolizing the ever burning flame of ruin from Mandalorian lore.  The fable explained once the sacred flame was unleashed upon the world, destructionand chaos would spread dooming any who stood in it’s path.  X was ready to do what needed to be done, so the hunt began.

 Jace and Gigi perched themselves on a dirt stained rooftop above Merchant Alley, sharing a pair of electrobinoculars between them .  Tuma’s droid patrols were at it again shaking down local merchants taking all of the earnings they had made that day at the market.  The pair weren’t having it and signaled to their other team members the motion to get ready.  Lud Lum the massive Wampa was positioned not so subtly behind a Luggabeast while Chimmy was slowly shifting from one overhead tarp to another near the action.  Pep was aboard the parked Gunnarsingh, three streets over preparing for a quick pick up. 

Unbeknownst to Jace and his crew, as they readied themselves and watched below, they themselves were being monitored from a distance.  As the droids collected their fees for the day, they made their way to an opening between the alleys below.  It was now or never.  They jumped into action with all the members doing everything they could to keep the half dozen droids away from the innocent civilians.  X thought to himself that he had seen this same scene far too many times, that it had become so predictable.   The monkey thing would distract the droids getting their attention, the big beast would then charge from the rear with the siblings flanking what remained from the sides.  As quickly as predicted it was over, and in a few moments their ride would pick them up but not before they returned the credits to the merchants.  It was time for this monotony to end.

As the siblings made their way toward the merchants, they could not believe their eyes.  A Mandalorian descended upon the pair from the rooftops above using his jetpack.  Mandalorians were a rare sight these days.  As it drew closer, they were shocked to discover the armor was almost identical to Jace’s in every way, except for the coloring.  Armor was sacred to the Mandalorians, and no two sets were identical.  Something was definitely off and the pair were prepared for anything or so they thought.  Jace’s hands hovered cautiously above his blasters, while Gigi was not as hesitant with her bowcaster already pointed at the helmeted figure.

As the Mando landed before them, Jace had that weird feeling again that something bad was going to happen, though he hoped he was wrong.  Maybe if he could talk to this mercenary he could convince him to join them, even though he doubted he would accept.  Gigi shouted, bringing Jace’s attention back to the individual in front of him.   “Who are you and what do you want?”

The Mando slowly turned his helmet toward Gigi and removed it.  The pair were shocked at the sight before them. They froze in disbelief.  The pair couldn’t accept it.   How was this even possible?  Did Jace have a twin neither knew about?  Was it even a twin?   The armor was a copy of his own, so maybe this was just some shapeshifter playing tricks.  With a million thoughts running through their minds, the clone smiled and decided and introduction was in order. “The name’s X and I am here to warn you that the next time we meet will be the last!”

With that, X turned his hand sideways and allowed a thermal detonator to fall from his hand and roll onto the ground before him.  He quickly placed his helmet back on and launched himself skyward with his jetpack.  Jace turned his attention to the nearby merchants and began guiding them to a safe distance while Gigi picked up the detonator and threw it as far as she could into the air of the empty alleyway.  With an explosion, the siblings turned their attention back to where the clone had last been seen but he was long gone by then. As they made their way back to the ship, they were greeted by Pep, Lud Lum and Chimmy along the way.  The three had run toward the action when they heard the explosion.  They asked who had done that as all the droids were destroyed before they separated.  Still in shock, Jace could only muster a few words. ”It was ….me?”

To Be Continued!