It was a few hours later, when everyone was sound asleep, soft snores coming from around the room. Dagger finally rose from her bed. She silently dropped to the floor absorbing the sound with a soft landing on her toes. She snuck out and headed to the gym. She figured there wasn't enough time to sleep when she had so much improvement to do. Maybe if she could gain more muscle mass they might not notice her size as much.

She had stopped growing at seven, so she wasn't going to be getting any taller. They had given her a lot of special training and one on one attention as she grew up so she had to learn a lot faster than the others. This meant that she wasn't allowed to be with the other clones while she trained so she didn't have much interaction with them or know how to navigate the interaction with her brothers as much.

However, that didn't mean that she couldn't try to still improve her physique. She felt so small in comparison to everyone here. She got to the abandoned gym and stripped out of her armor into her work out clothes.

Looking at herself in the mirror she saw bruises starting to form on her shoulders and the back of her neck from the fight with the captain earlier. She smiled, it was a good fight if it left marks.

Even with her helmet she would have to be careful about the shirt she wore the next week so that way they wouldn't see it. The Captain didn't need to know that he had bruised the new guy, she was already getting special treatment for eating. She didn't need to be sent to the med bay too.

Her neck hurt but she finally pulled off her helmet, feeling the cool air on her face was nice, she pulled the hood of her workout jacket over her head in case anyone walked by, even though she knew that no one would be awake at this hour. She started doing some warm up stretches before going through sets of weights. Working out all of the muscle groups for over an hour before her muscles were burning with lactic acid.

When she was finally satisfied with her workout she went to the single shower that was in the gym. She guessed it was just there for someone who got too messy to go all the way back to the barracks to shower. She wasn't going to complain.

Dagger was quick in the shower, getting what she needed to be done in an efficient manner, she didn't look down at her body. Especially not after seeing the bodies of her brothers. She was ashamed that she couldn't look like them. All she wanted was to be like them, to fit in. To be a brother and not some outcast. If they ever found out they wouldn't ever talk to her again, especially not after lying to them.

She scrubbed the front of her helmet, ridding the armor of the red stain of her blood. Soon enough it was shiney and white again.

She snuck back into the barracks and climbed up to her bunk. Her helmet was secure on her head. When the metal bed frame squeaked she froze, worried she had woken the Commander who shared the bottom bunk under hers. If he was awake she sure couldn't tell because he didn't move an inch. She didn't need anyone finding out that she had snuck out at night to go train. Certainly not the commander.

She laid down looking up at the dark ceiling a few feet above her. She started making a list in her head of the things she needed to do and be aware of for the next day, week, and extended period of time. Dagger did this until she fell asleep. In some way it calmed her down, the organization of her normally pretty scattered thoughts. She felt in control and it soothed her to sleep.

The next morning she woke up as her bunk shook subtly as the commander quietly stood. She sat up quickly, startled even by the quiet sound. He turned to look at her as she sat up so fast.

"The helmet? Even at night, kid? I hope you learn to lighten up eventually," he said with a sigh.

"Doubtful sir," she responded with a whisper. She had woken up so fast her heart was pounding, being startled awake by another was not something she was used to and it had sent her adrenaline sky high.

He didn't respond, just continued on his way to the door where he flicked on the light switch. Unlike the Captain the day before he did not start yelling to wake everyone up, letting them all wake up with the light.

Everyone started to rise, there were multiple groans of brothers complaining about not wanting to wake up. Dagger stood and started putting on her armor along with the rest of them. She was glad they wore it around on the ship, it made everything more convenient.

The walk to the mess hall was a quiet one for her, she let everyone else do the talking as usual. Always observing, always analyzing, being sure that she could keep her secret that way. She made sure of it while also looking for the best way to fit into the unit.

Everyone had a role, a part to fulfill, a little niche. She was just trying to find hers. Rex and Cody were obviously the leaders. Echo seemed to be the level headed friendly one. Fives was the counterpart to Echo but more impulsive. He was a bit more chaotic.

Right now Dagger was just the Rookie, the mentee. Everyone was teaching her in their own ways, meaning she got more attention. She would have to try and learn fast so they could move on.

Perhaps training today would be a good way to show her skills and that she didn't need too much mentoring. Then they could relax a little, once they saw that she was more competent than they thought she was right now.

She grabbed a plate and filled it with food. After passing through the line she stood closer to Rex looking at him with intent. It kinda spooked him the way the newest recruit was just silently staring at him. He hadn't made any noise to announce his presence and Rex hadn't heard him approach. None the less he nodded his head to the door and Dagger left quickly.

The space where Dagger had just stood was now occupied by Echo, his helmet off and his face concerned, "Sir? Is Dagger ok? Why doesn't he eat with us?"

Rex rested a hand on Echo's shoulder, "he's ok. Sometimes things don't make sense, but Dagger isn't comfortable around the unit yet. So if he eats on his own he will probably feel better, he wasn't eating when he was sitting with us. Can't have your buddy starve can we?"

Echo nodded, " I guess you are right, I was just wondering cause the regs said that everyone should eat together."

Rex smiled, "regs don't answer everything Echo. You'll learn that soon enough." What he didn't add was that he would be learning it awful quick with Dagger around.

Dagger met them in the gun room of the ship, it was time for blaster practice. Everyone was suited up and before they went into the range they had their blasters checked by the ordinance officer.

Dagger was the last one in the line, Rex's orders, he would be evaluating her skills with the blaster and determining what she would need to catch up to the rest of the unit if it was necessary to do so. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, as if her blaster skills were anything less than perfect. She had scored perfect marks on her past three blaster tests back on Kamino, she would do the same here.

They all lined up in their respective stalls with the targets all set up down range. Everyone was ready to begin but awaited orders from the Captain. They ran different drills and exercises on different days.

"Alright everyone, we are gonna run accuracy tests today," Rex stated, "I'll be picking out points on the targets and we will see who hits each point best. Three shots per round so make them count. This will be to simulate a near empty magazine in the field. We are gonna do this competition style today. So after the first set of rounds for practice I'm going to eliminate the worst shooter in the category. Make sense?"

They all nodded in agreement, then they fell into their firing stances. When the captain called out spots they would open fire and their cluster score would appear on the screen above their stall. It would factor in which target they were aiming for and how close each of the rounds came to hitting it dead on and how close they were to each other.

Then on a big monitor behind them they were ranked one through thirty two by the numbers that corresponded to where they were standing. No one paid much attention to those right now. It was warm up time, they were still getting into the swing of things.

No one started off perfect, no matter how experienced the first few always took at least a little bit of adjustment. Blasters were just like that, but it didn't take long for everyone to be hitting or very nearly hitting the spot on the target.

Once everyone had fired their three shots, Rex would call reset and they would mimic changing out the magazine. Repetition of movement to get it ingrained in their heads, if they knew how to do it by muscle memory they would be able to worry about other things if they had to do so under fire. Then he would call another point on the target and the whole thing would start again.

This lasted twenty minutes until he called everyone to a stop. They were to get fresh magazines for their blasters and start recharging the old ones. Once that was complete they would start their little competition.

While they had all practiced Rex had taken the time to put all of their names in for the stalls so that they could see more clearly on the leader board who was winning. They all lined up again, calling out playful trash talk about how they were going to win.

"You ready newbie?" asked the brother to Dagger's left.

She nodded, "I am, and the name is Dagger."

"Aight cool, I'm Cricket. You can look for the name at the top of the leader board, don't take it too hard when you lose. All of the newbies lose in the beginning," he said with a laugh.

She let out a soft scoff, not bothering to respond. She knew she could do better and she didn't need cheap words if she could show it by beating him. She wasn't like the other new recruits that they had in the past.

She would show them that she was good at her job, she would have to win or at least get very close to doing so. It was hard because she didn't know exactly how good everyone here was. Back on Kamino her accuracy rivaled all of the other trainees, but out here in the real world everything was different. They were hardened brothers, they had been in the battles and seen the war. They had more experience and skills than she could hope to have at this point. She would still do her best no matter what.

Now it was time for the competition.

Thank you to everyone who is reading my story and a special thank you to everyone who has commented. I love every single piece of feedback that I get. I have been attempting to update 2-3 times a week. As always i would love to hear your thoughts on what has happened or will happen next.