Before we start thanks you to all who voted. In the end, Mass Effect won. Here is a new vote: should the MC's girlfriend be born in Star Wars or Mass Effect, and why? Also, I will not be using Asko. She is off the table because, at this point, she has not even born yet, and he is around 30 years old. Even if he will not physically age past his prime, around 20 years after the Clone Wars, due to the serum he took. It is approximately ten years before the Clone Wars began, after all.
Twenty-two years passed. It is now 66 BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin).
This time has not been quiet or without consequence.
As Dxun no longer felt like a frontier bout now a stronghold of power.
As the training grounds sprawled across the cleared plateaus, live-fire zones integrated seamlessly into the jungle itself. The sounds of hard training ring out in the fields, and the sounds of Mano fighters patrol Duxns atmosphere.
Jack hadn't changed much. Not where it counted. The armor fits the same. His movements were still precise, economical. The years touched him lightly, like they were unsure they were allowed to stay, due to Project X.
Jack watched Jango longer than he meant to was Jango Fett was thirty-four now.
Cassandra noticed.
"You are tracking Jango Fett's movement patterns," she said.
"He's getting good," Jack replied.
"He has been good for some time."
Jack didn't argue.
A routine to a bounty on Nar Shaddaa, it was nothing flashy. Nothing that would end with witnesses if he did his job right.
A hologram came on his open channel, that resolved into a tall man in dark clothing, posture straight, expression calm to the point of arrogance.
It was Count Dooku who had done jobs for this man before. Jango didn't sit up or didn't tense up.
"Let me guess," he said. "You want something expensive."
Dooku's mouth curved slightly. "I want something rare."
"That is what people usually mean by my head when they say that."
"Not this time."
"I need soldiers," Dooku said. "Not conscripts. Not zealots. Professionals."
Jango folded his arms.
"And you want me to be the mold."
"Yes."
"For an army."
"I'll think about it," Jango said.
Dooku inclined his head. "I expected you would."
The channel closed.
Back on Duxn Jack, he called the clan for a clan council.
A challenge, the old kind one that was in Mandalorian law.
Jack didn't posture or rase his voce raise his voice; he set his challenge to Verd. Verd studied him, then nodded. Since Verd was challenge he decided on their weapon, and he deiced hand to hand. They fought without shields, no interference, nor Beskar jut pure skill.
Verd was good, but Jack was better.
Vaerds chest is rising hard but steadily. And then Verd laughed.
"About time," he said. "Don't screw it up."
Jack helped him to his feet as the Clan Fett knelt to Jack.
Jack decided that Kamino was still useful, but useful wasn't the same as necessary.
Jack authorized full activation of Dxun's deepest levels. Cassandra rerouted power, personnel, and equipment through channels that had never officially existed. Beneath jungle and stone, vats came their own cloning facilities online, smaller than Kamino's, slower, quieter, but Safer.
Cassandra raised the problem that Jack had been waiting for.
"Spartan-derived genetic material degrades rapidly post-maturation rapidly," she said. "Without intervention, clones will experience accelerated aging."
Jack removed his gauntlet.
Cut his palm.
"Use my blood," he said.
"Clarification," Cassandra replied. "This treatment will be restricted to Spartan-derived and ODST-derived clones only."
"Correct."
"Jango Fett is excluded."
"He stays human."
"And Clan Fett?"
Jack shook his head. "They earn everything the hard way."
Cassandra paused.
"Understood."
The serum did what it was meant to do, not immortality but longevity.
The first clone woke quietly, then another.
Jack stood alone in the observation chamber as they turned toward him. Same posture. Same awareness. Same eyes that remembered fire falling from the sky.
One of them spoke first.
"Sir," he said, long time no see. "
Jack swallowed.
"Yeah," he said. "Same here."
They weren't confused. They were Spartans.
"You're not replacements," Jack said.
One of them nodded.
For the first time in years, Jack felt something loosen in his chest.
Relief of seeing his brothers and siters again, his first family
Jango found him in the forge later that night after he came back to Duxn.
"They made me an offer," Jango said.
Jack didn't stop working. "I know."
"They want my DNA. An army's worth."
Jack finally looked up.
"That's your call."
Jango watched the Beskar glow.
"I'll take it hes said."
They stood there a while longer, sparks filling the space between them.
Dxun roared as outside the galaxy shifted slowly, quietly, and far too late for anyone to stop it.