IC-2318 “Brine”

IC-2318 "Brine" (Previously RC-2318) was a high colonel and decorated veteran who served in the Grand Army of the Republic throughout the Clone Wars and who fought under the banner of the Galactic Empire during the time of the Galactic Civil War. Having been bred by the cloners of Kamino thanks to the DNA and credits of an anonymous donor, Brine was designed from his conception to be the perfect soldier, and due to the generous funds given to the Kaminoans by his template, he received training in the arts of warfare from a wide variety of trainers spanning the galaxy. His lasting impact on the fighting men of the VSD/ISD Prevention and the legacy left by his storied career can still be felt even in the farthest reaches of the Outer Rim.

## "All Planned From the Start"

"The Kaminoans had long been known for their excellence as cloners. Hell, you ask some people and they'd argue that those long-necked whities were the ones who *invented* the whole process. All I know is what it's like being a product of their work. Can't say I've met the original, the one of whom I'm based off of, and I can't say I'm too concerned about that either. I'm glad he offered up anonymously; gave me the chance to be my own man, unlike all the Fett-templates they've got running across the galaxy now. For all I know my donor could be dead, and based off that I'd be the only me there is in the whole universe. No matter what, my mind is my own, and I think that puts me a step ahead most of the common folks in the galaxy at large." - Brine in his personal log recounting his experiences as a clone (12ABY).

Having been the product of conception in the cloning pods on Kamino during 45 BBY, Clone Designation 7-4911-00028 was brought into being under strict guidelines given to the Kamioans alongside a hefty sum of credits: No advanced aging treatment; No name should be given outside of the one he earns; The credits must be used in honing the clone into the finest implementation of battle, a soldier like none other to be a weapon wielded by the right man; There will never be any investigation into who the donor is or where the credits came from.

Seeing no harm in taking on what would surely be an exhilarating experiment into nature vs nurture, the scientists of Tipoca City agreed to the terms laid out and began their work in the cloning process. Having secured the sample they needed of the template, the Kaminoans set in process the gestation period in which 7-4911-00028 would come to form within. After being satisfied that the clone was going to begin development, the benefactor destroyed the sample he had given so as to ensure it could not be used to track him, and after a deal was brokered between him and a greedy scientist, he left with a guarantee that there will be no attempts at using the clone's DNA to try and find him.

With the donor's departure from Kamino, the future of 7-4911-00028 was already beginning to take form.

## "The Best Blades are Forged in the Hottest Fire"

"Flashes of battles I'd never fought in. Recitations of strategies used in wars of bygone eras. Eons of warfare at a galactic scale condensed down and played over and over on repeat in my mind, forcing me to analyze each specific detail until I could identify the strength and weakness of every lofty general down to the lowest of militiamen. Every inch of the terrain during the Battle of Bomodon some several thousands of years ago was committed to my memory as well as every facet of the guerrilla tactics incorporated by Lieutenant Garza. I constantly feel as though these are all *personal* histories, that these are all lives that I've lived through. Heh, truth is I was just a lab-rat used to see what could be done to make a human mind more ready for combat in a shorter period of time. Why spend a lifetime training to be the best when you can just implant memories and feed stories of greatness, convince the newly conceived that this is who they are and who they will be? Certainly worked on me, and I've got the track record to prove it. Maybe I was just meant to be the forerunner to the Fett boys, a sort of proof of concept for the Kaminoans." - RC-2318 answering a question in regards to life history during a monthly psych-eval during the time of the Clone Wars (late 20 BBY).

The Trandoshan thrill of the hunt. The Wookie code of honor. The Mandalorian adherence to duty and greater purpose. 7-4911-00028 was taught the ways of all the greatest warriors to have lived in the galaxy, and to see the merit within all the various clans and creeds which exist to give purpose to a fighter's life. Memory flashes during his time in his gestation pod set the course for what would become a veritable lifetime of perfecting a manmade weapon. As soon as he was able to walk, 7-4911-00028 was being transported from planet to planet in order to learn how best to do battle upon its surface, rarely spending more than a month at a time on a single planet. By the time he was 10, 7-4911-00028 was able to identify the best routes for armies to take overland in order to rout their enemies while he was still in orbit over the planet, and he could plot space engagements to maximize fleet efficiency during battle by age 13. However, a blade may be strong without being sharp, and while his studies of warfare were going on, 7-4911-00028 still had much to learn about the personal aspect of combat.

Every planet that 7-4911-00028 would be brought to would have its own target, sentient or non-sentient. The clone's task on every planet, alongside plotting the most effective strategies for widescale conflict thereon, was to find the target and eliminate it by whatever means were necessary. Assassination, fisticuffs, vibroknife, the methods didn't matter. There was never any mistake about any engagement the clone went in to: by its end, there would only be one left alive. That's not to say that there were no failures, however. If a mission ever took more than a month, or if somehow the target on the planet escaped from 7-4911-00028 or otherwise received mercy, there were dire consequences levied upon the clone. Days without food or water, brands upon his back, torturous treatment meant to break him down to absolute nothingness with a level of creativity elsewise unknown in the brighter parts of the galaxy; these were some methods used to instill the sense of infallibility within 7-4911-00028. He needed to remember that he could suffer no failings or shortcomings, that he was the product of much more than himself and as such had much heavier expectations he needed to live up to.

The lessons 7-4911-00028 learned throughout his formative years were lessons not just known in the mind, but which were actively shown by the scars and markings that otherwise marred his body. Every inch of his skin holds a story behind it. Whether that story is one of triumph or failure is known only to him and a save few whom he came to trust in his later years. Still, no one knows the depth of what all the clone was put through during his training. Perhaps it's for the best that no one ever does.