CT98-33760HM was looking astonished through the observation deck, his augmented eyes picking up the ultraviolet and x-ray emissions of a nearby planetary nebula, to him, regardless of the calculations his brain was doing, this was a beautiful sight. CT98-33760HM wanted to wake his clone-brother CT98-33761HD to show him this fascinating view, although he knew his clone-brother couldn't see it the same as CT98-33760HM could, since CT98-33760HM had a Heavy-Marksman designation and his brother was a Heavy-Demolition designation. 61 or "Hector" as they called him, didn't have 60's or "Parsus"'s ability to see the extra wave-lengths needed to see the nebula in all its glory, but nonetheless it was a sight worth sharing. They were the only Clone Template (CT) 98 who remained alive in the entire regiment, it's rather funny, since they are basically the same person, but sometimes in the thickest of drops, it's comforting to see a familiar friendly face, and what's better than Parsus's own face?
"Parsus?" called an unusually gentle female voice with a surprised tone. "Yes ma'am?" Parsus answered, quickly turning on his heel and bringing himself to a salute. Captain Elissa was as mesmerising as always, as beautiful a sight as the planetary nebula seen from the observation deck, and as fierce as the forces creating the same nebula. "No need" she gestured with her hand downwards, continuing to speak in a softly manner rarely heard from her, "why aren't you in your sleeping pod?" she asked inquisitively. "A malfunction, I was woken up by the pod's console, apparently it thought the pod was empty" Parsus answered in a defensive manner. "You're a fairly big man Parsus, I doubt the weight sensors could miss you, but such anomalies do happen when dropping off from hyperspace." the Captain said, not accusingly, but in the same manner Parsus would speak with the other members of his platoon or company. "I'm glad nothing happened other than disturbing your sleep, sometimes these glitches can end badly." she had a small smile on her lips, Parsus was enamored by how soft her lips were on the backdrop of her porcelain skin, under a sharp small nose, beneath steel blue eyes and dark black hair. "Yes Ma'am, I'm glad as well" he answered after realising he was beginning to stare at her face.
"I see you also found my favourite spot, what were you observing outside?" she asked, looking behind Parsus out of the transparent metal. "A planetary nebula, ma'am." Parsus explained, adding "I thought about waking Hector up to show it to him, I mean waking CT98-33761HD, ma'am" Parsus ended quickly. "Oh good choice, it is beautiful, but I don't think you'll have time to wake your brother up." The Captain said, looking up at Parsus. Although she was a bit shorter than him, Parsus being one of the tallest clone templates, at over 2.5 meters, still couldn't look at her from above. She had complete control and his awe regardless, yet she spoke as though they were equal in that moment, disregarding the fact that he or Hector were clones. "We're jumping again as soon the final coordinations are complete, which can taken up to 30 standard minutes but not enough time to wake Hector up and also bring him back to sleep." She continued "I was just on my way back to my pod after a short briefing, and wanted to have one last peaceful view of the outside before we drop". She finished, had Parsus not seen her single handedly tearing enemies to shreds, saving many of his comrades including him, he would have thought that a regular human was standing infront of him, speaking of her whims.
"May I be a bit out of line Captain?" Parsus asked, prompting an inquisitive look from the Valkyrie standing before him. "Sure, I prefer honesty from my subordinates." The dark haired woman answered, her look as if scanning the depths of Parsus's soul. "I have to thank you Captain, not just for the fact that you are one of the few company commanders who treats clones as if we're soldiers and not just canonfodder, you also treat us like regular men. It's a true shame the admiralty can't clone you and put one of your clones in each company in the fleet." Parsus finished, it was sincere, most previous company commanders didn't see Parsus or Hector as anything more than an organic android, usually refusing to acknowledge the "names" the clones chose to themselves or even treat them as equal to regular soldiers. There was a reason Parsus and Hector are the only two of the 98 template to survive in the 1st Droptrooper regiment.
"Don't worry, I was cloned." Captain Elissa replied, this news surprised the hulky droptrooper. "But how? I never seen a clone being in command of a company, especially the 1st recon of the 1st Droptrooper regiment." Parsus was truly baffled, forgetting protocol for a moment. "No, I was a template, I myself am the original Elissa, well in a manner of speaking." She calmed the soldier down, giving a little smile to herself. "In fact my previous assignment was to command a team of my own clones." She continued. "From what we saw from you, Captain, I'm sure they were one of the best units in the fleet, I mean it with all respect." Parsus said while bowing a little.
One thing they haven't bred out from the clones, or maybe never bothered, is the sexual desires of the clones templates. They were just as humans', with one difference that clones were more at ease with eachother, it was not uncommon for clones to find themselves entangled with other clones. It was also common place for certain templates to be more sexually compatible with eachother than with other templates. For example the 98th template would more than usual find great partners in the petite 65 pilot template. They were cute beautiful blondes, but Parsus knew he would've given anything to meet the Captain's template. Although one thing bothered him about this news, the Captain was an enhanced human, or at least he thought so, no regular human can survive the harsh conditions and environmenta droptroopers have to endure, and due to the alterations, enhanced can't be cloned.
"Yes, they are good girls. I doubt we'll ever see them, my first clone is the team leader now, wonder how is it going for her." The Captain said with what can be interpreted as a sense of pride. "Then I wish they will spread throughout the fleet, if they have even a small fracture of your personality they will be a great boon to any place they will be in." Parsus stated, catching a glimpse of a smile on the Captains lips. "Are you saying all the clones are the same? A bit prejudice of you" The Captain accused in a humorous way. "I'm not saying we're the same person, but we do share a lot in common even in personality. For example the 98's we all like sour over sweetness. Or the 97's have a much dryer sense of humour than any of the other templates. We still have the same quirks". Parsus finished, receiving a knowing look from his CO. "Yes, even though each of them had a bit of a different personality, we had a much closer bond than any other person I had ever known." The captain went silent, a thoughtful expression on her face, a clear sense of longing could be felt from her.
"Any other questions droptrooper?" The captain asked smirking, "Yes.. how it's like to be a womb-born? To have parents? If you don't mind me asking ma'am" Parsus queried. "I have no idea to be honest, and it's fine, I was orphaned at a very young age due to the wars on my planet, which I fought in. When the federation came, I enlisted. That's when I was cloned and enhanced, it was about sixty Old Earth years ago." She finished, making Parsus appreciate her even more. He really wished she will pull her rank and order him to pleasure her like other commanders do, but she never did that. "Alright, we don't have much time left, I will be getting back to my sleeping pod, I would suggest you do the same. I don't like being up during a hyperspace jump, everything is too distorted for my liking. But it's your choice, good luck and I will see you in the pre-drop briefing. No need to salute." And with that the Captain turned away and left the observation deck. Parsus returned his gaze to the nebula, contemplating whether the nebula or the captain was more of a sight, and turned his way to his pod.
Author's announcement:
I don't really like this story's structure and the too many exposition dumps, I'm currently in the process of rewriting it all and building this world in a better way. I've reorganized my notes on this world and have come up with a better way to get to now these characters and their world, it will take a while but I'm actually fairly done with this restructuring. If you have any ideas or opinions feel free to suggest them, this story will continue to exist in this way until I republish it. Enjoy.