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anna-pixie · 3 years

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padawan -> obi-wan kenobi {part three}

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

hello!! i have written and rewritten this part a lot, and i still can’t decide whether i am completely happy with it, so honest feedback is encouraged!! ty all so much for your love on the last part, i hope you enjoy <3

summary: you and obi-wan head out on another mission, but something has got him in an awful mood (lmk if you guys figure out what his mood is about before the next part!!)

pairings: obi-wan kenobi x reader

warnings: mentions of sex

╔═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╗

“Y/N, when you said you were serious about your training I expected I would see you there on time each morning.” The familiar lilt of Obi-Wan’s voice jerks you up from your incredibly deep sleep. You wipe away the drool from the corner of your mouth and gaze around your room with bleary eyes.

There’s nobody there.

Then a knock sounds from your door and you realise that your Master is too respectful to just barge into your room without permission.

“Come in, Master.”

You hear the hiss of your door sliding open and smile sheepishly as your favourite bearded face peers around into the unhomely expanse of your room. Unlike the Jedi Masters, padawans weren’t encouraged to decorate their rooms. That’s a privilege earnt through time and experience. You’re thankful that you went to bed wearing a large jumper last night, though as you stretch the material exposes your stomach ever so slightly.

“I broke my datapad yesterday…” You trail off, knowing that this is the third one you’ve gone through this year, “I didn’t have anything to set an alarm on.” An innocent smile graces your lips as Obi-Wan sighs, sitting next to you on your unmade sheets as he returns it with his own wry grin.

“Whatever am I going to do with you, Padawan?” You know your Master well enough by now to be able to tell what he is feeling by the tone of his incredibly expressive voice, and thankfully right now he doesn’t seem too annoyed by your lack of care for your datapad. However, you also know that you’re treading on very thin ice, that you’re going to have to start putting a lot more effort in unless you want him to give up on you like everyone else has.

It’s been a few weeks since you met Ahsoka which gave you the motivation you needed to get back on track. To say it’s been a hard few weeks would be an understatement. You’re up every morning before the light, fighting and learning and meditating with Obi-Wan. The two of you spend a lot of time together alone in the mornings and evenings when most other people in the temple have already retired to bed, but a lot of your time in the day is shared by Anakin - he thinks it is a great idea to train you and Ahsoka together.

Now that was a kick in the teeth.

You like Ahsoka, you really do, but it’s so humiliating to be trained alongside someone so much younger than you. Especially in front of the man you’re head over heels in love with. And, as another cherry on top of the cake of your shit life, the senate has been quiet as of late, which means Padme has plenty of free time to come and oversee your training sessions. Keeping an eye on the Jedi Temple, she says, but everyone sees the smiles exchanged between her and her Jedi. It makes you feel queasy.

How are you supposed to focus on training when your biggest distraction is hanging in front of you everyday?

You have to give it to Obi-Wan, he tries his best to steer you away from the pain caused by seeing Anakin and Padme together. He stands directly in your eyeline when he knows they are near each other, so that you can’t see anything except his smiling face. When Anakin suggests lunch with Ahsoka and Padme, Obi-Wan regretfully informs him of the non-existent prior engagements the two of you have with a sneaky smile your way.

With all the hardship of the past few weeks, you’re happy with how close it has brought you and your Master.

“Can we just leave it for today, Master? Please.” You flop back down onto your bed, your eyes remaining on Obi-Wan as you send him your best pleading, doe-eyed look.

“Sadly, we’ve been called away to war so I’m afraid that isn’t an option. It seems as though this is going to be a long operation. We’re first needed in Umbara, it seems as though General Krell has been executed by the clones. After that we go straight to Mandalore.”

“The clones executed a Jedi General?” Your voice is high as you stand up, heading over to your small closet and quickly rifling through your clothes to find something that would hold up for a few days.

“It appears that he was a Separitast sympathiser. He turned two clone units against each other, forced them to kill their own.”

Your eyes are wide as Obi-Wan continues to explain the situation awaiting the two of you on Umbara, and your heart clenches as you think about what the Clones must have been gonig through during their time there. You know attachments are forbidden as a Jedi, but you can’t help the close relationships you have formed with some of the soldiers. Captain Rex is like a brother to you.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

An hour later, you’re holding onto the bar above you as your ship takes off in the direction of Umbara, Obi-Wan looking more jittery than you’ve ever seen him as he paces around next to you.

“You okay, Master? You seem shaken up.”

“I’m fine, young one.” He dismisses you with a shake of your head, “Come with me, we may as well get some training in whilst we’re enroute.” He doesn’t say anything else, just turns away and heads out of the bridge with not so much as a glance back to make sure you’re following him.

What on Alderaan is going on with him?

His mood doesn’t let up during training, you’ve never seen him come at you so relentlessly. If it wasn’t for the fact that they knew you so well, the passing clones would probably assume that the two of you were fighting to the death in your training room.

A cry escapes your mouth as he knocks the saber from your hand, as it clatters to the ground and rolls somewhere you don’t bother to look for, you expect him to stop. However his saber remains active, and he seems to be in a trance of sorts as he swings for you once more, only stopped from making contact with a part of your body when you swing your leg out from beneath you, causing the two of you to fall to the ground with a low grunt from him. His saber falls from his grasp in the same way yours did, and you work on figuring out how to calm him down as his body cages yours into the ground.

The only noise in the room is the sound of you both breathing heavily, and when your eyes finally look up and meet his again you almost feel as though he has used the force to steal your breath away from you. His blue eyes capture yours, not letting up as his gaze seems to only darken the longer the two of you lay there.

You can’t help but be reminded of a similar situation you found yourself in with Anakin a while ago, the two of you ended up tangled on the ground after a round of playful sparring. It was all heavy breathing and dark looks and you remember that all you could think was how much you had wanted him to kiss you in that moment.

So why, Maker tell, do you have the exact same feeling now? You thought that your crush on Obi-Wan had been a silly, fleeting thing back when you first began training under him. You didn’t think it would return with a vengeance, your mind silently asking him to lean down further as you struggle to pull your eyes away from his own. When you and Anakin has been in this same situation, you had hoped that he was going to kiss you, so it was humiliating when he finally tore his gaze from yours and pulled himself away from you with an awkward cough.

You think that Obi-Wan will do the same. Of course he will, he’s the most rule abiding Jedi you’ve ever met.

That’s why, when you feel his lips being placed softly on yours, you think you’re just hallucinating. It takes your mind a moment to catch up to what is actually occurring, your eyes fluttering shut as he pulls away and then presses his lips to yours with more fervour once he realises that you aren’t going to push him away.

The hand that almost struck you with his saber minutes before reaches up, holding onto your jaw whilst the other keeps him steady on top of you. He breathes heavily as he kisses you, your breath minging as you savour the feeling. This isn’t your first kiss, you had snuck out to the clubs of Coruscant before and kissed random boys before, but this was different. This was your first kiss since you had fallen in love with Anakin. All those nights you had spent dreaming, hoping, praying that he would be the next person you kiss. Yet here you are, your lips moving feverishly against your Master’s as you thread one of your hands into the long hair at the nape of his neck.

You must stay like that, basking in the feeling of each other for a good few minutes before a loud bang from the corridor snaps you both out of the spell you had fallen under. Obi-Wan quickly gets up, sticking out his hand to locate his saber, unable to look you in the eye as you slowly rise from your position. Your mouth tingles and your eyes are wide as you stare at the side of Obi-Wan’s head.

He smooths his hand over his beard and mumbles a quick, “That shouldn’t have happened. I’m sorry, Padawan.” before leaving the room hastily. You flinch at the way he says the word Padawan, like he is reminding you both that what you just did was not only forbidden but also extremely morally wrong. You’ve never been one to care about such trivialities, but Obi-Wan is definitely a fair bit older than you, to say the least.

As you catch your breath and find your lightsaber, you think to yourself that it’s good that you were interrupted, because if you weren’t then you might’ve been found by a soldier who would’ve reported what he saw back to the council. You ignore the part of you that wishes you would have continued, that thinks of how well your lips worked together and how at home you felt with his body on top of yours. And most of all, you ignore the part of you that wonders if him kissing you had anything to do with his sudden mood change since departing for the trip.

The rest of the journey is slow and quiet, you take some time to meditate and gather your thoughts, knowing you’re in no state to be dealing with anything important right now. A soldier offers you something to eat but you have to decline, with the way your stomach is turning you know you won’t be able to stomach any food.

Obi-Wan seems to have retired to somewhere quiet on the ship, you don’t see him until you touch down on Umbara. The capital has been captured now, and that is where you will spend the night before heading to Mandalore, however you must first deal with the execution of General Krell at a nearby facility that was taken by the clones.

You walk silently alongside your Master, an awkward tension in the air that is an extreme change from your usual playful banter and general good moods. As you approach Captain Rex and his troopers, he shoots you an inquisitive look, which you quickly brush off with a whisper that you’ll talk to him later.

The situation is resolved quickly, you and your Master both know you can take Rex’s word for the events that transpired, and you make sure Krell’s body is properly taken care of.

“We’ve only got one spare speeder on us, General, so Y/N will have to ride with one of the boys.” Are Captain Rex’s departing words before his gunship takes off towards the capital, leaving you, Obi-Wan and a few more troopers to travel back via speeder.

“You can ride with me, Y/N.” A clone who is about to depart shouts over to you, though your attempt to walk in his direction is thwarted by a sudden, harsh grip on your forearm. You turn quickly, shocked to see Obi-Wan shake his head, gesturing over to his own speeder instead.

“She’ll ride with me.”

The trooper offers no argument, simply saluting the two of you before speeding off towards the capital with a trail of dust in his wake.

You notice that Obi-Wan still hasn’t directly addressed you since the incident on the ship, so you stay quiet whilst climbing onto the speeder, waiting for him to say something. A squeak leaves your mouth when you’re pushed forward, Obi-Wan’s large body enveloping you from behind as he reaches past you to grab hold of the handles, and you’re off before you can even think about what is going on.

“We need to talk when we get back.”

Are the first words spoken to you, and the last, because he quickly falls silent. Though, you can’t help the warmth that spreads through you when his chin rests on your shoulder, his beard scratching your cheek oh so slightly.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Dinner in Umbara is a quick affair, you scoff down what you can, not talking as much as usual due to your preoccupied mind. Obi-Wan disappeared after you both briefed Master Windu who is still back at the temple, and you wonder if he is off meditating somewhere, trying to reconcile for the ‘mistake’ that the two of you made.

You’ve been fighting your own inner turmoil about the situation since it happened earlier that day. Once you finish your food, you retire back to the uncomfortable bed in a tiny room at the top of the large building, assuming that Obi-Wan has decided to forgo the conversation and ignore you altogether.

As you lie on the hard metal, your mind wanders over the past few months. You wonder how Anakin would react if he knew you and Obi-Wan had kissed. Would he be angry? Jealous? Happy? Deep down you know you would want him to be jealous, you would want him to be angry at the thought of any other man having you in the way that he wants you.

But he doesn’t want you in that way, you remind yourself. Does Obi-Wan even want you in that way? You know he is a well revered man, and nobody can deny how good looking he is. If he really was looking for a romantic, or even just sexual, connection he could probably find that anywhere - why would he get that from plain old you?

A pang of sadness hits your gut as you think about him regretting the kiss, returning to Coruscant and finding another girl that he would rather betray the Jedi code in order to be with. And with wide eyes and a whisper of ‘oh no’, you realise that this is exactly how you felt when your feelings for Anakin started growing stronger. Just what did that kiss stir within you, surely your years old feelings for your Master haven’t suddenly resurfaced, right?

A knock on your door startles you, that deep in thought you hadn’t heard anyone approaching your rather isolated room.

“Y/N?” It’s Obi-Wan.

“You can come in, it’s open.

He slides the door open, his actions sheepish and small and not at all like the overly confident man he usually is. It pains you to see him like this, stumbling and second guessing everything he does.

“You shouldn’t leave your door unlocked when you’re not on Coruscant, anything could wander in.”

“Sorry, Master.” You’ve shuffled to the edge of the bed now, Obi-Wan sitting beside you, mirroring the exact position you were in when he woke you up this morning. Before everything turned into a mess.

“I… I’m so sorry, Padawan. I abused my position as your Master and I never should’ve even thought about doing something like that with you. Especially after you confided in me about your feelings for Anakin, I don’t want you to think that I’m taking advantage of your vulnerability.” His voice is so shaky that you barely recognise it, and a wave of sadness hits you when you realise that he must’ve been carrying this burden of guilt around with him all day.

“Obi-Wan, it’s fine. You didn’t force yourself on me, I was completely on board when it happened, in fact I quite enjoyed it. I know it was wrong, against the code or whatever, but I won’t tell anybody. Please don’t feel guilty.” You make sure he keeps his eyes on you, a delicate touch on his cheek to keep him faced your way. A sigh emits from his mouth and your heart swells in your chest when he leans his head into your hand, seeking your comfort.

“I’m tired, Y/N. This war, I’m beginning to feel it’s toll.”

“There’s no shame in admitting you need a break, Master, but it’s not just tiredness that is eating at you right now. I know you, there’s something else going on. You can tell me. Is it something to do with Umbara, Mandalore, anything?”

“Thank you for your concern, Padawan, I’m quite alright.”

“Don’t do that, Obi-Wan.” Your voice wavers this time, “Don’t use that title as a way to brush me off. Yes, I’m your Padawan, but I hope that by now I’m also your friend.”

“Jedi aren’t supposed to have friends, Y/N.”

You scoff, removing your hand from his face as you turn away from him, not wanting to look at him as he lies to you.

“I was always jealous of him, you know.” He speaks again, after a few minutes of slightly uncomfortable silence.

“Of who?”

“Anakin.”

You turn back, your interest peaked as he looks at you. You swallow, a blush coating your cheeks as you note that his eyes are as dark as they were before. Before he kissed you.

“What reason could you possibly have had for being jealous of him? Oh, Maker, don’t tell me you’re in love with Senator Amidala.”

He chuckles, “No, little one, I was jealous of him because he always seemed to have your attention when he cared so little for you. I wanted you to look at me the way you looked at him.”

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fanfictasia · 2 years

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Angstpril Day 29

Crushed Hopes

Spoiler: This is an excerpt from Judgement Day

Rex can’t get his mind off of everything Luke was telling him, even with Ahsoka back here with him for the first time in so long.

The Republic is going to fall apart, and turn into an Empire. The same Republic he’s been fighting for all these years, that so many of his brothers have died for. Of course he always knew that there was a chance they might not win the war, but at the same time, he’d always believed they would. In the end, it’s what made all the fighting and death worth it. But now…

And the Jedi are… going to be destroyed. It doesn’t even seem possible. How could all of the Jedi be killed? For a fleeting moment, he suddenly thinks of Fives – of what happened right before he died, what he was saying. Rex himself had filed that grievance report, though he knew no one was going to listen to it, but he had to it, for his brother. Fives had said that there were chips in all of the clones that could control their actions.

He didn’t believe it then and he still doesn’t know if he does, but… Suddenly he can’t shake the sinking feeling of what if there’s a connection? It’s possible, as much as he doesn’t even want to consider such a thing, because it’s the only thing he can think of that would explain how all the Jedi could be killed.

It doesn’t seem real, but he knows Luke was speaking the truth. What he fears most is for his general. He doesn’t know how it’s possible for his general to support an Empire or… any of it. He doesn’t know much about “Falling”, or “Sith”, or Jedi, for that matter, but he knows Dooku is a Sith, and he can never imagine the General becoming anything like him. None of this makes sense but Luke seemed as confused about how it could happen as he is.

Of all the Jedi, after what happened with Krell, his general was the one and only person Rex thought he could trust unconditionally, and he doesn’t know how to deal with this.

His thoughts are interrupted when Ahsoka approaches him. “Luke said to tell you that ‘this’ is the time’?”

The time. That means – Luke said they were running out of time, but Rex didn’t realize he meant right now. He must not have realized yet. Rex doesn’t know what to do aside from going to the general and telling him everything, but if what Luke said was true he knows that’s probably not the best idea. There is only one other thing he could do – tell Cody and tell him to tell General Kenobi, but there must be some reason Luke hasn’t already done that himself.

He really, really doesn’t like being unable to tell Anakin this. It feels like he’s keeping secrets and he doesn’t want to do that. He doesn’t want to break his general’s trust.

But he can tell the Commander, can’t he? Maybe together they can figure something out. Maybe.

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blackkatmagic · 4 years

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Just wondering, any of your wips have Waxer as a main character?

He wakes up in the middle of a swamp, with bright sunlight and birds singing and every inch of his body burning.

It’s pure instinct that has Waxer curling in on himself, a cry breaking against gritted teeth. Forces himself quiet, because this is enemy territory and he can't risk being heard, the Umbarans are wearing their armor and—

But that’s wrong. That’s wrong, because it was the 501st, and Waxer’s men killed them, and General Krell gave the order but it was wrong.

“He told us,” Waxer breathes into the birdsong, the bright air. “He told us it was the enemy.”

But it was Rex. Rex was the one who was there in that last moment, grief and fear and anger on his face, and he’d leaned over Waxer and gripped his arm and looked like his whole karking world was falling apart.

There's wetness on Waxer’s cheeks, an ache in his chest. Breathing is hard, rasps wet in his throat, but the agony of that moment with Rex is mostly gone. Faded away, just like everything else, because Waxer is alone in the sunlit swamp and it’s all shades of red and gold, too blinding after the darkness on Umbara.

They killed clones. They killed their vode and didn’t know, because Krell told them the enemy was wearing their armor, wasn’t to be trusted, but he lied to them. He got them killed.

Waxer killed his brothers. He killed clones. How is he ever supposed to face Boil, after this? Or Cody. The commander won't—

There's a gasp, a thud as something soft hits stone, and Waxer jerks. Grabs his blaster, rolls, rises, and the wave of pain is almost enough to send him back to his knees but he forces himself to stay on his feet. The dark trees looming twisted and strange above him swim for a moment, but Waxer catches himself, steadies, and levels his blaster at—

A Zabrak. A Zabrak with tattoos that very definitely don’t look anything like Iridonian tattoos, and Iridonia is a mountainous world, so this is…probably somewhere else. Somewhere else with Zabraks, because this boy is definitely one. His horns are small, and his skin a dusty orange and brown, and he’s staring at Waxer with wide, startled eyes, a basket full of bits of plants at his feet.

Waxer’s head is spinning, and he can hardly see straight. But the Zabrak isn't armed, so he lowers his blaster, barely able to keep his grip on it. “Sorry,” he says, and stumbles back a step—

There's a roar, shaking his bones, and something massive hits him from the side, slams him into the ground. Waxer hits like Numa’s ragdoll, unable to so much as slow his collision, and there’s a body on top of him, hands at his throat. Waxer grabs desperately for wrists, tries to grapple, but he’s clumsy, uncoordinated. He fumbles, and too-strong fingers lock around his neck, gripping tight.

“Savage!” a voice shouts, and suddenly the pressure is gone. The body rises, leaping back, but Waxer doesn’t follow. He rolls over, all he can manage as he coughs and chokes, trying not to think of Ventress, the last time she tossed Ghost Company around. Trying not to think of Umbara, and not being able to breathe, and the weight of blood in his lungs.

“Easy, easy,” a worried voice says, and there’s an arm over Waxer’s shoulders, helping him straighten. The Zabrak eases him up, settles him back on his knees, and there's a scoff from behind him.

“I didn’t even choke him,” a voice says, offended, but a moment later a bigger body hits the ground on Waxer’s other side, fingers tugging at his armor.

“He was already hurt,” the other Zabrak says, and reaches up, grips Waxer’s helmet. Pauses, and then asks, “Can I—”

Not quite able to get the breath to speak, Waxer nods, and a moment later his bucket is tugged up and off, set aside. Waxer breathes in air not cycled through filters, then lifts his head, looking from the orange-skinned Zabrak to the one who attacked him. This one looks wary, his markings stark black against his yellow skin, but—

Not a threat, Waxer thinks, and isn't sure how he knows.

“You hiding some sort of injury under all that armor?” the bigger Zabrak asks gruffly, and he tugs at the edge of the chestpiece like he’s going to simply drag it off.

Waxer hesitates. He’s not sure. He feels better than he did on Umbara, but he still hurts. “I don’t know,” he says. “There was—a blaster wound—”

The Zabrak’s eyes narrow. “Are there more of you?” he asks. “The Nightsisters will hunt you down and slaughter you, they don’t allow outsiders in their lands.”

I don’t know how I got here, Waxer thinks, and swallows. “Nightsisters,” he says. “This is…Dathomir?”

Brows rising, the Zabrak looks him over again, wariness still present but touched with concern now. “You're on Dathomir,” he confirms. “A few kilometers from the Nightbrother village. Who dumped you here?”

“Savage,” the smaller Zabrak says quietly, catching the other’s wrist. He smiles at Waxer, sweet and warm, and says, “I'm Feral, and this is my brother Savage. We’re Nightbrothers, and you're in Nightsister territory, but their temple is on the far side of the swamp. You should be safe for now.”

“Lieutenant Waxer, of the 212th Attack Battalion,” Waxer says, and then hesitates, not sure if he should have given his CT number instead. Savage and Feral don’t seem like the type to torture him for information, though, and Waxer’s never liked using his CT number anyway. “Did you…see anyone dump me?”

Krell might, if he were hiding the evidence of what he did. But Dathomir is a long way to come to dump bodies, and there were more bodies than just Waxer. It doesn’t make sense.

There's a pause as Savage looks at Feral, and Feral turns and casts a quick glance out at the swamp around them. “No one comes here,” he says after a moment. “There’s a spaceport over the mountains that the closest tribe uses, but—this part of Dathomir has strange energy. People avoid it.”

Strange energy. Waxer swallows, then turns his head and coughs into his arm as his chest seizes. It hurts, but—

There's a hand on his shoulder, holding him up, and Savage steadies him thought the fit, grip gentle, eyes worried. He burns, bright and bold right at the edges of Waxer’s sight, like some sort of sun on the horizon, and Waxer doesn’t understand any of this, but he still can't make himself move away.

#my writing #savagewaxer #savage opress #feral opress #clone trooper waxer #star wars #east of eden #realityhoudini #kat answers

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guusana · 4 years

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Ive been thinking some messy thoughts about Rex’s mindset at the beggining af season 7, when Echo’s arc comes up and Rex is absolutely adamant on going on a wild hunt on some hunch he had, which is a bit uncharacteristic of him. Rex, as the rest of the 501st and their general, is prone on going on difficult suicidal missions and coming up with reckless ideas that eventually work out, but he is arguably pretty level headed and by-the-book. He believes in the GAR, he believes in the chain of command, and he is often wary to challenge it. Most importantly he believes in Anakin and that trust is reciprocated, so he has really no reason to go against this mindset.

He talks about this to Cut Lawquane in season 2, and later on with Fives on the Umbara arc on season 4. Rex believes in the system, not because he’s been engineered to believe in it, but because it means something to him.

By season 7 however... the system has failed Rex one too many times.

(this got super long and rambly so im putting it under a cut)

He saw Pong Krell decimate his men for no reason, while he could only grit his teeth and impart orders he knew were wrong. He went along with Krell because he felt it was his duty and because so far, the system had worked. He was constantly challenged by Fives, and then almost loses him and Jesse because of this (and yes, he did try to get punished on their behalf, but only after directly telling them that if they were caught he would be powerless to help them), they lost Hardcase, and then he tragically lost his brothers and had his men kill Waxer's men because Rex went against his instincts and followed orders instead. He was forced into a mutiny, and even at the very end when he has to execute Krell, he is unable to do it. (Even three seasons later, when Order 66 forces his to turn against Ahsoka, Rex' hands physically shake when they are being pointed against someone he feels he needs to be loyal to.) We see a glimpse of Rex's struggles a the very end of the Umbara arc, but it's never really brought up again.

On season 5, when Ahsoka is framed for murder and tried, we see Rex constantly telling Fox that she would never do the things she is blamed for, but ultimately he still follows Anakin to try and retrieve her, and while he knows Anakin trusts Ahsoka, Rex never really does anythign to actively help her. I know the narrative only focuses on Anakin at this point, but by season 5 Rex and Ahsoka's bond has been firmly established and we know that being ordered to chase his friend must have been as painful to Rex as it was to Anakin.

And then season 6 happens. Fives is also framed for attempted murder, against the Chancellor of all people. I can imagine how that conversation with Anakin went, after Kix told Rex about his encounter with Fives at 79s, and it musn't have been easy. Anakin was Palpatine's close friend after all, and I figure Rex must have had to practically beg Anakin to let Fives make his case before they brought him to the Chancellor. And Anakin tried but he's not level headed and he's not nice to those who threaten his friends, and Rex had to stand, powerless, and watch how Fives was killed for it. Fives dies in Rex's hands, telling him how he was only trying to do his duty, and Rex knows. He knows because he knows Fives like he knows himself, and again he chose to follow orders, and he saw yet another friend fall through the cracks. But, what changes here, and we don't get to see this until season 7, is that Rex still files a grievance report, even tho he knows it will fall on deaf ears. At this point, I think, Rex's autonomy starts to really take off and is what ultimately allows him to fight Order 66's command long enough to tell Ahsoka about it. He is expecting something to happen because his trust on the system has been broken.

Which brings me to season 7. Rex is sure he's going to find Echo, despite everyone's doubts, including Cody's. I think he struggles with this certainty, for he is very used to do as he's told, but choses to go with it, and is rewarded when he turns to be right. Rex is unwavering in his faith for Echo when they finally do find him. He has learned what true loyalty means: not the system, but the people. And it really breaks my heart that Echo chooses to stay with the Bad Batch at the end, but I think at this point Rex understands better than ever the importance of making choices based on your instincts and what you feel, rather than on an imparted sense of duty.

Furthermore, what I loved about the mandalorian arc of season 7 is that Rex follows Ahsoka not because she is her commander, because at that poinst she isn't, but because he trusts her and he is loyal to her out of his own volition. Rex is there, waiting for Ahsoka when she comes back, with their men and their painted helmets, and he looks so fondly at her when showing her them. Ahsoka is Rex's friend outside of any form of hierarchy or military order. He chooses to be loyal to her, he chooses to follow her even after she disables his chip, when it would have been much easier to just turn Ahsoka in instead of fighting an entire garrison of his brothers to get her out, because at that point Rex has seen too many friends fall to understand that blindly following orders and real loyalty are two very different things.

My point is that Rex's arc was one of self liberation and breaking out of a mandatory mindset and finding the courage to trust his feelings, and we see it play so beautifully through the seasons.

#star wars #the clone wars #captan rex #tcw #tcw meta #sw meta #me rambling about rex basically #i love him and i just want him to be happy #pls dont expect any good grammar cause youll be disappointed

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colehasapen · 4 years

Text

(ONE SHOT) solus STAR WARS

Warning: non-explicit implied non-con, referenced suicide attempt

Tup survives the extraction of his chip. He doesn’t know how, because he had been sure that he’d be marching on the next time that he opened his eyes, sure that the nightmares and the fighting was finally over. He’d been sad, of course, that he was leaving his brothers behind - leaving Fives behind in particular, because they’d latched onto each other after he’d transferred into Torrent, and Tup didn’t want him to be alone again. He doesn’t want to be alone again.

He had been a Corrie before he joined the 501st; he and his batch had been young, too young really, but some of the best - good enough to catch the attention of the Chancellor, and be assigned to Commander Fox himself. They’d served on Coruscant with pride, because they had known that the Coruscant Guards were the best of the best and they’d been so kriffing proud of that - until they’d gotten to see what being a Coruscant Guard was actually like. It meant painful, cruel touches from people they couldn’t say no to, and lost time and missing memories that they couldn’t talk to anyone but Commander Fox about or risk being labelled as defective. He had lost his batchmates on Coruscant, and the being who had murdered them got away with nothing more than a slap on the wrist and a fine for damaging Republic property.

Tup could still remember the sadness in Commander Fox’s eyes when he offered to have Tup - alone and hurting and unable to sleep without the images of his squad’s deaths swimming to the surface - transferred to another garrison off of Coruscant. Tup could never thank his first Commander enough for seeing what Tup couldn’t say and getting him far away from the planet that had killed the rest of his batch. Commander Fox had always been good to them - not gentle, he couldn’t afford to be gentle with his men, but always good . He had tried to shield them from the worst treatments, often enduring them himself, and Tup would always be grateful, even if he was no longer one of Commander Fox’s boys.

He had stayed in contact with his former commander after transferring, updating him on his progress and the bonds he had been forging. He told him about the 501st and Torrent, about General Skywalker and Commander Tano. He told him about Dogma - fresh from a penal battalion for not following orders and an anxious mess of a brother who just wanted to do good - and Kix, Jesse, and Hardcase - three batchmates who had somehow managed to stay together as the War progressed, and how torn up Kix and Jesse had been after Hardcase’s death - and Captain Rex, who reminded Tup so much of Commander Fox; overworked and exhausted and just doing what he could to pull as many troopers through to the next engagement as he could.

He tells him about Fives. Fives who was fresh off the mission that had killed his last squadmate and was floundering. Fives who kept looking over his shoulder for someone who was no longer there, and who no longer had someone watching his back. He was one half of an ARC pair and didn’t know how to fill that gap once his partner was gone.

At first, Tup had only seen him from a distance - he was only a fresh-faced transfer off of the Core, after all, and Fives was an ARC - but that changed the moment Fives had found him during a bad night. Tup had folded himself into a dark corner of the armoury, a blaster gripped desperately in his shaking hands and pressed against his chin. He still saw his brothers’ broken bodies and the sickening grin on their killer’s face in his dreams, and the face would twist and distort into a sickenly sweet smile and heavy touches he couldn’t escape - he wanted to escape, he had to get away, but there was nowhere to run .

Tup had been seconds away from pulling the trigger when Fives had walked in, looking to end the nightmares, but Fives had torn the blaster from his hands and gathered him into a tight hug. He had let Tup sob and scream into his shoulder, and sat with him until he was calm enough to fall asleep. He had woken up hours later, well-rested for the first time in a long time, and still curled up in Fives’ arms. He hadn’t known it then, but Tup had saved Fives that day, just as much as Fives had saved him, and they had been nearly inseparable since then. They ate together, washed together, slept together, and they carefully kept each other from those darker thoughts. They recovered together after bad missions - missions like Umbara that haunted everyone in the 501st - and they made sure the other was never alone.

Tup had realized, the moment everything was slipping away from him, that he was leaving Fives alone, and it hurt . He would march on and Fives would be alone again. He could only hope that his ori’vod would find someone new to fill that hole in his life. He hoped that Fives would live on, even if Tup couldn’t be there with him.

He hadn’t had the chance to tell Fives this before he died.

But then he had woken up - had he woken up?

He’s tied down, his head shaved, and all he can hear is the beeping of the machines he had been hooked up to while he was unconscious. The light above his head is blinding, and everything is a harsh white that makes it hurt to open his eyes.

He’s alone.

He panics. Machines shriek as Tup fights desperately against the restraints and the wires, looking desperately for someone to help him as he tries to squirm away from the mask over his mouth. His breath comes out in harsh pants, his heart pounding in his ears as his skin crawls and his eyes roll. He’s alone. He doesn’t want to be alone -

- and then he’s asleep.

Tup drifts, disconnected from his body and almost unaware of the world around him. He’s barely aware of the beings moving around him, rarely feels their poking and prodding or hears their voices talking above him as he blinks in and out of consciousness. He drifts, and he dreams.

In his dreams, Tup can’t escape from his memories; he sees his squad’s bodies, and smells the overwhelming perfume. He feels their touches and hears their laughter, and everywhere he turns he sees his squadmates, riddled by the blaster holes that killed them and they stare at him, accusing him for abandoning them. He sees Dogma, pale-faced and standing over Krell’s body before being dragged away into the shadows by bleached hands - he must have been reconditioned, this far into the War it would have been too expensive to decommission him, and he’d already proven that a penal battalion wouldn’t ‘fix him’. He sees his fellow troopers dying in droves on Umbara and on every planet they’ve been on since. He sees the explosion that killed Hardcase, and it blends with the one that took Echo away from Fives. He hears Fives begging him not to go, not to abandon him, but Tup can’t fight back the gray wave that’s dragging him under-

- “Tup!” -

He feels warm hands on him, and he fights against them, begging to be let go. He won’t tell anyone, they wouldn’t believe him, but he doesn’t want to do this again -

- “Kriff, don’t touch him.”

“Tup, wake up! You’re safe!” -

“You know,” Fives says, hands brushing gently through Tup’s long hair as he braids it, “Echo always wanted to grow their hair out - would have done it too if they weren’t so anxious about breaking regs.” His fingers snag, and Fives’ hands are replaced by someone else’s, pulling harshly until Tup drops to his knees and -

Tup wakes up with a sob, water blurring his vision, and gentle hands catch his face. Callused thumbs brush away the hot tears that tumble down his cheeks. They trace the tattoo under his eye as another hand moves to gently toy with his shaved hair. A familiar face leans over him, head shaved, but distinctive tattoo and goatee still there.

“As bald as a shiny.” Fives says wetly - like a complete hypocrite - a small, shaky smile on his face, and Tup stares at him, desperate.

“Fives?”

His older brother chuckles, leaning forward to kiss his brow then tap their foreheads together. “Yeah, Tup’ika - it’s me.”

Tup’s eyes burn, and he swallows around the cotton in his throat, heart fluttering a hopeful tune. “You’re here?” He reaches forward, tangles his fingers in the gap of Fives’ armour and he pulls him close, afraid that if he lets go, he’ll be alone again.

“‘Course I am, kid.” Fives promises, voice choked. “You’re safe. I’m not leaving you ever again.”

Overwhelmed, Tup sobs and holds his brother tighter.

#star wars #fanfiction #cole writes #tup lives #clone trooper tup #arc trooper fives #whumptober 2020 #no.8 where did everybody go?#buirkan-verse

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mando-chicken · 4 years

Text

Dark Fives AU Timeline

The Dark Fives AU is an AU based on the concept of a force sensitive Fives. This will be a general overview of the draft timeline, it may be subject to change as I begin to develop the AU further, but it should give you a general idea of what happens.

This took me so long to write oof, putting it under a read more to save your dash space!

To begin with, Fives didn’t really see himself as being any different to his other brothers. For the most part he just assumed that everyone had finely tuned senses, and thanks to a bit of a small attention span during his younger years he didn’t really notice when strange things happened.

Items he’d placed in a certain location would move closer to him and he would just assume that he must have put it closer to himself than he’d originally thought, or he would anticipate something before it happened and just put it down as dumb luck or a funny coincidence. Echo was usually too buried in regs or whatever exercise they were completing to notice these small tells either.

This advantage in skill over the other cadets was one of the many reasons their squad was fast tracked to their final test at a young age.

His skills give him an edge during battle and later during ARC training, but for a long while his abilities remain largely dormant.

Fives, occasionally, unconsciously influences the emotions of his brothers when feeling a particularly strong emotion – when he was agitated about failing the test the first time his anger rubbed off onto Hevy and Echo who then began to fight – he’s entirely unaware when he’s doing it, but it seems to effect Echo the most prominently.

When Fives loses Echo his abilities cause almost the entire 501st to plunge into a deep sadness as a wave of depressing emotions crashes over them from Fives. The Jedi notice something is bothering their troops but can’t quite pinpoint it thanks to Fives withdrawing himself from everyone else for a while.

It’s on Umbara when Fives finally cracks. After all the stress and horror that Krell put them all through he finds himself alone in one of the unused hangars, pacing and muttering angrily to himself. He’s worked himself up and when his emotions reach their peak he can’t help shouting, releasing all of his pent-up emotions at once.

Everything surrounding him is suddenly all violently throw away from him in all directions and it’s like the floodgates have finally been opened. He can feel the force as it all pours into his mind for the first time, whispering, shouting, screaming at him all at once. His panic only makes things worse; his mind being filled with images, thoughts and feelings of brothers all throughout the galaxy.

And he can feel them all dying.

It isn’t until Rex decides to come looking for him almost half an hour later that he’s finally found. Everything within several meters of his person is floating in the air dangerously, but Rex only needs to take one look at the state his vod’ika is in to brave the danger. He’s shaking and finding it impossible to get down enough oxygen, begging for the horrible voices and feelings to get out of his head and leave him alone.

Rex holds him for what feels like hours, struggling to get through to the distressed trooper and fearful of making the situation any worse than it already is. Eventually, however, Fives is exhausted from his panicking and begins to slowly drift off, calming slightly as he does so. It’s only then that Rex decides to call Kix to give him a once over and is able to get a somewhat shaky explanation.

They decide that until they can completely confirm what is happening to Fives, they won’t speak to the Jedi, their trust too shaken after killing Krell earlier that very day.

It becomes very difficult for Fives to hide his abilities after that – clones are used to expressing their emotions with one another, but due to having received no training on force abilities Fives finds almost anything can set off his abilities and it begins to become a bit of a hazard during battle.

Deciding that he’s becoming a danger to his brothers, Fives begins to experiment with the force during his downtime in the hopes of being able to control his skills. Without instruction on how to use the force he finds himself getting easily frustrated by it, but as a result finds that getting agitated is perhaps the easiest way of getting the force to do as he wishes.

When Tup attacks a Jedi, Fives senses what he’s going to do just before he does it, but it still unable to reach his brother in time. For a long while afterwards he blames himself for not reacting fast enough, despite all the training he’d been doing with his abilities.

Much of the arc continues the same way as it is portrayed in the show, up until the final confrontation with the Coruscant Guard. Able to sense Fox’s intention to fire at him, Fives reaches out with the force, throwing back the approaching troopers into the side of the large crates behind them. While none of the Guard are seriously injured by his attack, they are rendered largely unconscious from the strength of the attack.

Without the Guard to disrupt them, Fives is able to pass on all the information he’d learned from his time on Kamino and from the chancellor. Anakin is still highly skeptical, but with the convincing of Rex he’s willing to at least let them do a little investigating on their own.

While Anakin and Rex inform the chancellor that Fives was killed during a shootout – alleging that his body was lost when it fell down a nearby shaft to the lower levels – Kix and Jesse are quick to escort their brother to a disused medical facility within the GAR where they can begin some tests.

Finding the presence of the inhibitor chip is easy enough, but after a lengthy discussion they decide to allow Kix some time to study the chip and try to figure out just how it works. Anakin is very much interested in Fives’ force sensitivity, but unfortunately is unable to find the time to try and help the trooper hone his abilities, especially when the outer rim sieges begin.

Unfortunately for Fives, he is barred from joining his brothers in battle and forced to remain back on Coruscant by himself, unable to leave certain areas in case he is discovered. During this alone time, he is able to channel his frustration into strengthening his abilities.

When Echo is saved by Rex, Anakin and the Bad Batch he returns to Coruscant after being informed that Fives is still alive and the two of them are finally able to reunite.

Anakin is more than angered when Kix later confirms their fears about just what the chips were intended for and he immediately gives the order for the 501st to have their chips removed as subtly as possible.

When Anakin confronts Palpatine, he brings with him Rex, Fives and Echo (who insists he won’t let Fives go without him). Palpatine is all too happy to admit to everything, deciding that it’s time to try and turn Anakin to the dark side. For the most part he succeeds, but makes the mistake of insulting the gathered clones. What he wasn’t expecting was for one of them to practically throw him across the room with the force. He especially wasn’t expecting his loyal trooper, Fox, to draw his blaster and shoot him squarely through the back.

Fox is loyal to the chancellor, but his loyalty is to the Republic first and foremost, and there’s no way he can allow someone who has openly admitted to manipulating both his brothers and both sides of the war. He’s never been so happy that people tend to forget his presence in the room.

Skywalker takes over as chancellor, stating that it was Palpatine’s last act before he died after being gunned down by a ‘rogue bounty hunter’. With a little bit of Echo’s newfound computer skills, they’re able to come up with a flawless video that they show in place of the actual security footage that has already been erased and replaced.

His first act as chancellor is to free all clones, offering them all rights as full Republic citizens and permanently ending all clone production, passing on the information about the chips to all medics in the GAR. The senate is in uproar over the decision, but there’s nothing they can do about it, Anakin has the entire clone army on his side.

The Jedi, too, are upset by this development, but they are quickly outlawed and chased from Coruscant. Many of them die, but not as many as in the original purge. Cody assists Obi-wan in leaving Coruscant in secret, but refuses to leave his brothers behind and elects to stay with them in the GAR. During all the chaos the wolfpack and a large portion of the 104th are able to flee Coruscant with their Jedi and several younglings in tow – while no reported sightings are ever confirmed, it’s suspected that they’re all living together somewhere in the outer rim. Many other commanders and captains decide to leave the army, sneaking their Jedi out with them as they go.

Without Dooku and Sidious to lead them and assist war efforts from behind the scenes the war is brought to a close, taking only a few months longer. The planets and systems that had defected from the Republic are brought back into the fold and quickly after the first Galactic Empire is formed.

The Kaminoans attempt to keep many of the young clones who are yet to be born, but Emperor Skywalker, who has recently become a father himself, refuses to allow these children to be kept as slaves and sends in his men to take them by force. Fives can’t recall a more glorious sight than watching Tipoca City burn, all his brothers safely by his side.

Anakin takes on training Fives personally and within a few years he is anointed as the first member and leader of their new Imperial Inquisition. He trains force sensitive younglings to use their gifts and even manages to find a few fellow force sensitive brothers who quickly become a part of a tight knit group of fearsome enforcers of the Empire’s will.

Rex and Cody share the burden of commanding the GAR, and Rex continues to serve as Anakin’s most trusted advisor. Cody on the other hand oversees the training of civillians who hope to join the GAR, ensuring that their skills are sharp enough to be considered for entry. It’s a hard job for them both, but they’re determined to ensure that standards are upkept for both the safety of the Empire and their brothers who chose to continue serving in the army.

Echo works closely with the special forces, reporting directly to Rex, Cody, and occasionally Anakin. He meets up with the Bad Batch and they quickly become a formidable team and good friends. He of course returns back to Coruscant regularly to meet up with Fives and the two of them often exchange crazy stories from their work.

#star wars #the clone wars #dark!fives au #darkside!fives #writing #arc trooper fives #arc trooper echo #captain rex #clone trooper kix #anakin skywalker #commander cody #commander fox #commander wolffe #plo koon #obi-wan kenobi #inquisitor fives

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ryder-s-block · 4 years

Text

Jaig Eyes (Ch 62)

Jaig Eyes (62/?)

Summary:

Kida, a former slave who now thrives as a bounty hunter, finds herself sucked into the war she advised Jango Fett against. Now that she’s involved, she has to finally mourn the loss of Jango, seeing his face in the clones that man the GAR. What happens when she allows herself to get attached to one, not for his resemblance to her former mentor, but for his heart?

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Chapter Sixty-Two: A Desperate Plan

I’d seen war and death. The clones had seen even more than I had. Yet even I could feel that none of us had been in a war zone this hellish before. I ducked behind a warped root, aiming over it with my rifle. It was the only weapon I had with a scope that still had functioning heat vision. The clone beside me fell with a scream as he was struck with a bolt. I didn’t turn to help him. I could feel he was already gone.

“Get down!”

I looked up at the call, seeing a blue ball of energy soaring towards us. I dove to the side, the ground exploding and tossing me into the air. I landed hard, the breath being shoved from my lungs. Gasping, I did my best to fight off the dizzy spells while looking through the settling dirt. There were screams of pain.

I fought my way to my feet, stumbling to the nearest clone. Blood painted his once blue armor. I dragged off his helmet, the clone groaning in pain. Misting my hand over his armor, I closed my eyes, doing my best to block out the clamor of battle. His injuries were deep. Too terrible for even the Force or a medic to heal on the field.

“S-sir-” the clone coughed, drawing my gaze to his face. His eyes were growing distant, unable to focus on me. “Help me. Help me---p-please--”

I held him, my jaw tight with pain as I felt his life force leaving. He clutched at me, so I returned the gesture, soothing him as shots rained over our heads. The clone’s fingers loosened around my hand before slackening entirely. He was gone.

I set him down gently, breathing hard between the pain in my own body, the terror of the battle, or the trembling darkness of the Force around us. I couldn’t tell which. Maybe it was all of them…

Shaking myself of the emotions and turning inward, I moved to the next clone. I could help him. I grabbed the arm he stretched to me and dragged him into cover. Kix was beside me, helping a brother of his own. I drew a stim from my belt, giving it to the clone.

“Thank you,” he grunted, giving me a small pat on my arm.

I glanced up, scowling when I saw Krell standing in cover, doing nothing of use. He pushed a dead clone away from him with his foot and I almost shot him right there. His comm beeped as I stepped beside Kix to help him tend to a screaming clone.

Obi-wan appeared on Krell’s holo-projector. “The capital city’s too fortified. We need your battalion to help us take it.” I wanted to yell to him that Krell was a madman and a terrible military leader, at that. But what good would that do? We had no time to change leaders. And besides...would Kenobi even really believe me? He trusted me, sure….but my word, against a Jedi’s?

Unlikely.

“Resistance from the Umbarans has been greater than anticipated,” Krell replied as the battle raged around him. “We’re holding our ground at the moment.”

“We’ve gathered intel of an airbase to the west. It is resupplying the capital’s defenses.” A clone screamed for us to take cover over Kenobi’s report. Another cannon blast exploded before our cover, followed by more cries of pain. Krell barely flinched as his soldiers died around him, watching Kenobi. “If you capture that airbase, it will sever the capital’s supply lines, allowing the rest of our forces to move in.”

“I’ll see to it that the airbase it placed under our control,” Krell promised.

Kenobi pursed his lips. “Remember, General Krell, the entire invasion depends on your battalion.” Huh. No pressure, then.

Krell only nodded in response before shutting off the communicator. “Captain Rex,” he called to the clone beside him. “Have those coordinates mapped and all troops ready to move out immediately.”

“Yes, General,” Rex said easily, snapping to attention as the Jedi walked away. I looked up at him from where I crouched beside his brother. The clone’s screaming had quieted, his chest stilling under my hand. Rex looked sad, but walked away to do his duty, avoiding my eye.

------------------------------

The screams of the clones still echoed in my mind as we trekked down the steep cliff-side. Ahead, the shining beacon of the airbase sent a bright beam of light into the sky, guiding our way. My boots slid over the loose dirt, my muscles impossibly tired. Krell had been pushing us endlessly. We needed rest.

“All right, listen up,” Rex said as I finally stumbled to the bottom of the slope to stop beside Fives. “We’ll assemble the squads in two divisions. We’ll move straight up this gorge towards the airbase at the far side.” My eyes widened at his words. This was Krell’s plan, obviously.

“The casualties are going to be high,” Kix called from somewhere in the crowd, his helmet at his side. He seemed tired. And sad. He’d already watched many of his brothers die today.

“Is Krell trying to get us killed?” Tup asked beside him.

It was Jesse’s turn to speak. “You know, I wasn’t sure that Krell was crazy before, but now I’m positive.”

I crossed my arms, letting the clones argue without my input. “We had to retreat from the capital because the general pushed a flawed strategy,” Fives joined in next to me. “Now this?”

“I don’t know,” Hardcase chuckled. “Could be fun.” I rolled my eyes at the crazy battle-hungry clone.

“Well,” Dogma spoke up, immediately prodding another roll of my eyes. “I, for one, agree with the general’s plan.” Of course he did. “We’re running out of time and this is the best option.”

“No recon?” Jesse asked sarcastically. “No air support? We don’t know what we’re up against.” He knocked his helmet against his head with exasperation. “They have weapons we’ve never seen before.

Rex stepped forward, remaining calm. “A few of General Skywalker’s plans seemed reckless too, but they worked.”

Fives sighed while I frowned. “Yeah, but General Skywalker’s usually leading his men up in the front, not bringing up the rear like General Krell. A full-forward assault would leave us too exposed!”

The clones erupted in dissatisfaction, worrying over the coming battle. I felt their anxieties rise, the morale falling. I agreed with Fives, but I also understood the importance of relying on your leader. Questioning Rex….wasn’t a good look.

Of course, we were questioning Krell. But because Rex wasn’t, we were technically questioning him, too. “Fives,” Rex said gently, gesturing for the ARC to follow him. Fives did, and I waited only a moment to follow silently. “It would help,” I heard Rex sigh as I approached quietly. “If you’d ease their minds.”

“Oh, you mean coax them into following another one of Krell’s suicide missions?” Fives shot back, scowling at his commanding officer. “We lost a lot of men last time.”

Rex lifted his finger, pointing it at his brother. “Krell may do things differently, but he is effective in getting them done. He’s a recognized war hero.”

I took that as my cue to step in. “Maybe he gets things done,” I allowed as I approached, my voice quiet so the other clones couldn’t hear. “But he has more clone casualties than any other military leader of the Republic.” Rex gave me a disbelieving glance, but I tapped the side of the goggles that were resting on my hairline, useless in this environment without the heat vision working. “I had Apex do some research when Krell first got here.”

Rex sighed slowly through his nose. “That’s the price of war.” He looked back at Fives with a solemn look. “We’re soldiers. We have a duty to follow orders, and if we must, lay down our lives for victory.” I scowled at his words, my nose crinkling in distaste as he went to walk away.

Fives caught the captain, pulling him back slightly. “Do you believe that? Or is that what you were engineered to think?” I cut my gaze to the ARC, surprised by his words. Fives had always been a bit….different. But I’d never imagined I’d have a moment in time where I’d look at him and swear I heard Cut Lawquane for a moment.

Rex’s mind seemed to flash briefly to that farm, too. His Force signature was trembling with uncertainty and fear. His brothers were in danger. And now I was there, too. We were all stuck on a suicide mission with a Jedi leader who didn’t seem to mind if we died. Yet his honor. His training.

“I honor my code,” he said finally, not looking back at us. His words were heavy with resignation. “That’s what I believe.” The captain pulled away, moving to organize his men into two groups.

I glanced sideways at Fives, discovering him offering me a dirty look. I raised my brow in confusion. “You weren’t much help,” he muttered.

“What was I supposed to say, Fives?” I returned. “You know as well as me that he won’t go against Krell’s orders.” I glanced after the clone I loved. “Not unless something horrible happens.”

He crossed his arms. “It will if we follow this plan.”

“Fives,” Rex called, he and Hardcase heading up to get a good view of the gorge. The ARC beside me seemed reluctant to listen to his captain.

“Go,” I prodded, pushing him gently. “We’ll be alright.” Of course, my words did little to lessen the dread growing in my gut. I watched the trooper climb the slope with Rex while I waited beside Kix.

“Without General Skywalker,” the medic worried softly beside Tup and Jesse. “I don’t know how long we’re going to last down there.”

I didn’t look back at the worrying clones, my gaze on Rex’s back. I’m sure he could feel my frustration burning. “I’m not a Jedi,” I sighed, still not looking back at them. “But I have a lightsaber and I know how to use it. I’ll do my best to get us through this.”

“But General Krell said--”

“I don’t care,” I cut Tup off, knowing he was talking about Krell forbidding my use of my saber. “I’m not about to sit here and watch you die. Krell can sooran ni’jagyc.” The clones seemed surprised by my language, as well as my balls to say it. Dogma, in particular, seemed bothered. He was staring at me, the eyes behind his helmet hard with judgement. I returned the glare, daring him to say something.

He looked away.

Hardcase and Fives returned, leading our group down the gorge. Rex had led the other group along a parallel route. “Everybody stay alert,” Fives ordered, his nerves high. “Fingers on the trigger.”

My rifle was in my hands, my lightsaber still in the pouch on my belt. The flying bug-like creatures were above us, flying in the direction we’d come from. “They look spooked,” Kix observed beside me, my own nerves rising at the thought.

Something rumbled, the ground trembling beneath our feet. “What the--” Hardcase grumbled on the medic’s other side. The ground continued to shake before it suddenly erupted, a machine rising high into the air. It looked like a centipede….a really big one.

“Oh, skrag,” a clone cussed. I couldn’t have said it better myself. The machine let out a terrible shriek as if it was alive, the glowing blue of its eye washing over us. I could barely make out the silhouette of an Umbaran inside, manning the controls.

“Blast it!” Fives screamed. We opened fire, but everything bounced off. The robot let out another angry scream before it started unleashing its own storm of shots.

“Scatter!” I yelled, diving to the side as the machine swung through my cover, decimating it.

“It’s head is ray-shielded,” Hardcase growled, firing his rotary cannon beside me in cover. Another machine erupted from the ground on our other side, our heads turning in surprise and fear.

“We need rocket launchers,” Fives responded, as I tried firing at the new machine. He tapped his comms. “Mayday! Mayday! Rex, we need rocket launchers, now!”

I looked out from our cover, seeing the two machines mow down my men. The scowl on my face grew as my anger rose. “Screw this,” I grumbled, throwing my rifle on the ground as I strode from cover.

“Kida!” Fives called from the cover I’d left. “Get your ass back here!”

I ignored him, walking out into the firefight. I wasn’t afraid, though. Krell had called me a Sithling before. I’d felt how much it bothered the clones. He wanted a Sithling?

Fine.

The Force rippled around me as I drew my lightsaber, the white blade igniting at my side. I felt my frustration bubbling inside, strengthing my connection to the Force. The machine bore down on me, the Umbaran screaming inside.

I jumped. And found myself soaring through the air like Ahsoka and the younglings had back on the Trandoshan moon. Huh. I’ll be damned. I landed deftly on top of the machine, its occupants completely unaware of my joining them.

The lightsaber spun in my hand deftly before I thrust it down into the metal casing, cutting a hole. I dropped in.

The mechanical centipede of death was filled with Umbarans, each manning a turret. Thankfully, their rather impenetrable armor meant their focus was outwards and not on me. Taking care of them was easy. With my lightsaber in one hand and my pistol in the other, it wasn’t long until I was clearing myself a path to the machine’s controls.

Once the pilot was dead, I turned the rather confusing controls sideways, sending the machine straight into another. Leaping up and out through the access hatch, I was quick to put my lightsaber away again as I ran after the retreating clones. Two more of the machines had erupted from the ground behind me, with even more on the way.

And as simple as it might have seemed, I wasn’t sure how many more I could take out. Using the Force, while I was getting better, was still tiring to me when I used it in ways I wasn’t used to...such as sending myself hurtling through the air like a damned Jedi.

“We’re safe for the moment,” I heard Fives report to Rex as I ducked into the thick cluster of trees they’d taken cover in. “But they’ll be coming around any second.”

The clones had taken out a centipede death machine on their own, using a rocket launcher from Rex’s group. Still, we only had so many rockets and it seemed the Umbarans had an endless supply of clever ways to kill us.

“Bring up the launchers,” Rex ordered, “Spread detonators along that corridor. Trap them into the bottleneck.” The clones moved immediately, gathering detonators. “We’re going to blow those things sky high.”

I found my way into the trees, crouching beside Jesse as the others prepared the trap. “Lose this?” he asked, handing me my rifle without even looking at me. I rolled my eyes, but thanked him nonetheless as I settled the weapon back into my arms.

“Here they come,” Dogma muttered from a few clones down, his eye on his scope. The clones began to scream at and taunt the Umbaran machines as they came into view. As they drew closer, they only seemed to multiply in numbers.

Still, the clones were laughing. I shook my head in mild disbelief. These boys found joy in the weirdest of things sometimes.

Then again, I guess you had to appreciate the little things in war.

Everyone rose as they came closer, Rex standing still with the detonator in his fist. We raced from the branches, getting to cover while the captain blew the trap. In all honesty, it was almost pretty.

The machines exploded in a symphony of colors, sending a shock wave over our heads. I slid into cover beside Jesse just in time, seeing Rex fly over us as the explosion sent him sailing. He landed hard, the clone grunting in the dirt. Still, I could sense he was fine.

“We got em!” the clones cheered. “We got em!”

“Good job,” Rex said as he stood, looking around at his men. “Alright, let’s move out!” I followed him, but still said nothing as we walked through the wreckage of the Umbaran war machines. There was a darkness looming in the captain. A confusion and resignation that only heightened the shadows I felt in his mind.

It worried me.

One of the pilot viewports of the machines flickered with life, casting a green glow over our group. “That one’s still got some juice in it,” Rex announced, gesturing to Hardcase. “Waste it!”

Hardcase happily obliged, sending a rocket into its nose. It exploded, smoke billowing from the shattered glass. An Umbaran groaned as he fell from the cockpit, face down into the dirt. The clones walked by him like he wasn’t there.

“No juice left in him either,” Rex grumbled before shooting the Umbaran twice. I stopped in my tracks, my blood going cold. I was never one to blush at blood, or even straight up murder. I was a bounty hunter, after all. But the action surprised me. I knew the captain to abide by his code of honor like it was his lifeblood. I’d never considered that killing unarmed prisoners was part of that. Or maybe it was the words he’d said before pulling the trigger.

Then again, the Umbaran bastard had just helped wipe out a good number of Rex’s troops. Maybe I would’ve shot him too.

I kept walking, but my thoughts were far from the battle.

“Hey!” Kix called beside me, letting off a few shots. I jumped in my absent-mindedness, earning a look from Jesse. “Still hungry?” the medic screamed as he raced ahead of us. He was shooting at the bug-like creatures we’d seen flying before. They were eating a dead clone. “Chew on that!” He got one of the bugs, shooting it even after it was dead on the ground.

The other tried to fly away, but found itself at the end of Rex’s pistol instead. “Everyone, keep moving.” The captain’s tone was easy. I guess this was normal for them. “Hey, Kix,” he called back to the medic I was waiting for. “Leave it.”

For a moment, Kix didn’t move, his gaze still sliding over the dead clones that littered the forest floor. I reached out, touching his elbow gently. My expression was sad, but encouraging. He nodded before turning to follow us.

We stopped at the ridge, Rex looking out over the next area we had to transverse to make it to the airbase. He was scanning the tree line with his electrobinoculars, Fives and I stepping up beside him. The Force shivered with a warning, my eyes sliding closed as I crouched. I felt the clones’ gazes on me while I pressed my palm against the soft dirt, reaching out with my feelings.

There was a trembling in the ground, but it was unlike the last machines we’d faced. It was a steady booming, every few moments. Like heavy footfalls. “What is that?” I whispered, eyes still closed.

“We’ve got a problem,” Rex announced, my eyes snapping open. I followed his gaze, seeing a green ball rise from the trees to soar towards us. “Fall back!” he screamed, the clones scattering in an instant. “Fall back now!”

Rex’s hand wrapped around my upper arm and dragged me to my feet, the captain practically carrying me in his retreat. The ground exploded where we’d been standing, followed quickly by more energy blasts shaking the trees.

As he pulled me, his wrist comm beeped. “Captain,” Krell sounded angry. “Continue your attack!”

Rex shoved me up against a tree, taking cover beside me. “Sir, we’re overpowered,” he replied. “We need reinforcements.”

“The rest of the battalion is holding the entrance to the gorge, Captain. They’re guarding it so your troops can break through to the airbase!”

A cannon blast hit beside us, Rex flying into me. We both fell sideways, the clone doing his best to get off me and talk to his commanding officer at the same time. “Sir,” he tried. “We can’t possibly--”

“You must stand your ground,” Krell interrupted harshly. “Do you read me? Captain? Are you listening? Do not fall back! That is an order!” Rex was quiet when Krell ended the transmission abruptly.

The new machines bearing down on us were even more deadly than the ones we’d faced before. Instead of resembling centipedes, the new ones looked more like spiders. And they were bigger. Much bigger. Each was topped with a narrow head that fired terrible energy blasts. Its beam was white hot, evaporating all it touched.

I slouched against the tree as Rex stepped away to help Kix lower a wounded brother to the ground. The screams were deafening, both outside our cover and within my mind. I screwed my eyes shut, trying to block it all out, but it was dizzying.

“Keep the wounded as quiet as possible,” Rex instructed Kix gently, turning to look at the rest of us. “All right, you heard the general. Let’s go.”

My eyes snapped open as I glared at the captain. My vision was still swimming, but I could find him amongst his brothers anyways. “You can’t be serious,” Jesse exclaimed at the edge of our cover.

“I used to think General Krell was reckless,” Fives announced, glancing at me with a flash of worry when he saw my pale face. “But now I’m beginning to think he just hates clones.”

“The captain is right,” Dogma spoke up beside Jesse. I turned to glare at the young clone. I loved Rex, I’d admit it. But I wasn’t a fool and I wouldn’t ignore it when he was being an idiot. Like now. “Now, let’s move out.”

My eyebrows shot up, my mood only darkening the longer I felt the clones die as we tried to fight the newest killing machines. “You don’t give orders here,” I spit. Dogma said nothing in response, but I could feel his glare behind his helmet.

Fives stopped Rex as he moved to leave. “We can’t take them head-on. We need to find another way.”

“You got any ideas?” the captain asked, gently shoving his brother in frustration. Fives was quiet for a moment before slowly shaking his head. “Then this is it.” I wish I could have said something as the captain ran past me, but I had no words. My mind was focused on blocking out the terrible pain of the men I cared for. And the fact that I didn’t have any other plan either.

“Okay,” Hardcase breathed, settling the rocket launcher on his shoulder. “Let’s do it.” He ran after his captain, along with the other clones. I hesitated a moment, my eyes lifting to the cliffside in the distance, where I knew Krell was watching the battle from.

Hu’tuun.

I ran out to join the others, my rifle in hand, to find we had nothing that could work against these things. Missiles rocked the machines, but did no significant damage. Besides, any scratch we might have caused them, they dealt back tenfold.

Something creaked above us after a machine fired into the trees. “Fives, move!” I cried, throwing my shoulder into his back to get us both out of the way of the falling debris. We tumbled to the ground heavily, but we weren’t crushed.

“Thanks,” he grunted, breathing heavily as we struggled to find cover again. The machines were closing in, practically stepping on us now as we raced about between its feet.

One of its monstrous appendages descended over us, crushing some of the wounded. “Kix!” I cried, seeing him rush over to one of the screaming clones whose legs had been caught under the machine.

The medic looked up, seeing me as I approached. “Help me with the wounded!” I didn’t hesitate, waving away more of the scavenging bugs as I started dragging a moaning clone. “We gotta get these guys out of here,” he panted as he pulled one of his brothers towards cover.

Fives and Rex appeared, helping us pull the clones we were already helping. Kix turned to grab more as I checked over the clone I’d brought in. He was stopped by Rex, my head lifting immediately when I noticed.

“Forget it,” Rex said gently. “We have to leave them.”

Kix threw off his commanding officer’s hand. “We can’t just leave them, sir.”

“You don’t have a choice. That’s an order.” I stared at the captain as he turned away from his soldier, my gaze cold. That wasn’t my captain speaking.

Kix apparently felt the same way. “You sound like General Krell.”

Rex stopped in his tracks, a flash of anger rippling through him. No one noticed but me, of course. He turned to look at Kix, his golden gaze flashing to me with surprise when he found anger in my expression.

“Look, Kix,” Rex said, ignoring me for now. “It’s more important to save yourself right now. If we survive, you can patch up our wounded later.” He looked through his electrobinoculars, ending the discussion.

I looked away, still fighting the trembling in my chest. Some of it was rage. Rage at Krell for his recklessness and cruelty. Rex for just taking it in stride. Dogma for being a kiss-ass. The chancellor for calling Anakin away and causing all of this to even happen.

Even more of it was sorrow and grief. I was feeling the clones in their moment of death. The Living Force was dying all around me, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I glanced away from Rex and the clones, letting my gaze go unfocused as I turned inward to try and block some of it out again.

“We’re….we’re finished,” Tup panted, looking out over the battle. He was probably right.

“We’ve still got some fight left in us, Tup,” Rex reassured his soldier, earning my attention with his words. “And I got an idea.”

“What were you thinking?” Fives asked immediately, jumping on the first plan that wasn’t Krell’s.

Rex was back to looking through his electrobinoculars. “Remember what you were saying about finding another way to destroy those tanks?” My brow lifted as my head tilted to better listen. I liked where this was going. It was sounding more like the captain I knew. The one I loved.

“Yeah?”

“Well,” Rex glanced back at the ARC. “I have a mission for you.”

My back straightened as I turned to them fully, slinging my rifle over my shoulder. “I’m going, too.”

Rex turned in surprise. His expression was hidden by his helmet, but I knew he was worrying. “I’m assigning this to Hardcase and Fives.”

“And me.” My words were firm, my arms crossing defiantly over my chest. I gave Rex a glare, daring him to challenge me. He accepted.

Good.

“What?” he asked, his voice sharp. It was his military leader's voice. The one he never used on me. Until now, of course.

My jaw clenched. “I will not stay here and carry out Krell’s ridiculous plan,” I spit, not trying to contain my anger anymore. I shook my head, still feeling the death. “I can’t. Send me where I can help.”

“You can help here.”

“How?” I asked genuinely, lifting my brows. I knew Rex didn’t appreciate me questioning him in front of his men. But he could kiss my ass at the moment. “By hiding until those machines find us? Or by doing what Krell wants?” I lifted my hands to my side. “We all know he hates me. If you really want to give him what he wants, why don’t you stick a gun in my mouth--”

My words were cut off by Fives grabbing my arm and pulling me backwards. “That’s enough,” he said softly, practically cradling me against his side. He looked up at his captain, lifting his brows.

Rex sighed, avoiding my glowering eyes. He nodded to the ARC trooper, never looking at us as Fives dragged me away from the battle...and the captain I suddenly wanted to punch.

---------------------------

When the battle had long faded away, our group fell into silence. Hardcase seemed to know that Fives would bring up my outburst...and decided he didn’t want to hear any of that. So he started droning on about his own things, those things mostly being war stories.

Despite him having his helmet on, I knew Fives was looking at me expectantly. I felt his surprise at my outburst. I was surprised, too, honestly. The emotions of the clones….they’d affected me more than I cared to admit.

I guess I was starting to understand the Jedi policy of detachment. Not to the extent they went...but I had to get better at locking down my awareness during battles, especially ones like these.

I cut my eyes back to Fives, giving him a clear look that told him to drop it. He looked away. For now, at least. I tuned back into Hardcase’s endless talking, finding him talking about his supposed plan to take the airbase.

“The second they spot us,” he goes, lifting his gun to animate his words, “I start blastin’-”

“Hardcase, can’t you take it easy for once?” Fives asked as he stepped forward, taking the lead. “Stick to the plan, instead of guns blazing.”

Hardcase only shrugged. “I’m sorry, it’s just how I am. My commander on Kamino said my growth acceleration chamber had a leak.” I lifted my brow, glancing sideways at the clone. “Made me...hyperactive, I guess,” he chuckled.

I couldn’t help but laugh, letting him lighten my mood a bit. “That would certainly explain a lot,” I allowed, earning another laugh from my friend.

Fives shushed us both, making us turn forward again. “There’s the airbase,” he whispered, our group crouching down to slink towards the fence. We crouched at the base of a tree, the fence glowing and rippling with bright energy. Fives hummed. “Some kind of sensor wall.”

I glanced up, seeing the tree reached high above the fence. Ignoring the boys as they began plotting how to get through the wall, I climbed high into the tree to find an indented well at the top and drew my rifle. The thermal sensor wouldn’t have worked through the intense energy coming off the sensor wall. Hence...getting above it.

The airbase was crawling with Umbarans, but they didn’t seem alerted to us at all. And despite being well occupied for three measly gunners, the numbers here were certainly ones we could take.

Especially if we managed to cop a few gunships from them.

A cable connected to the wood below me, my muscles coiling slightly in fright. I relaxed quickly when I saw it was Hardcase slowly scaling the cable towards me. When he pulled himself onto the platform, I cast him a lifted brow.

“Felt left out?” I teased.

“No,” he said back a bit too quickly. He soon followed up with, “Fives told me to use the tree to get over.”

My mouth opened slightly, but no words left my lips for a moment. “I beg your pardon?” I managed finally.

Hardcase ignored me, looking out over the base. And standing in my way while doing it. “Nice view.”

“Wouldn’t know,” I grumbled, making him move out of my way with a poke of my rifle at the back of his knees. He walked away quickly, slowly moving down a sloping branch that reached over the fence. I shifted to the edge to watch him, my mouth agape.

The branch bent under his weight, practically giving him a slide into the airbase. “I’ll be doing our mission, if you wanted to join,” he called softly over his shoulder. “Even though I prefer a good fight to all this sneaking around.” He barely even had to stretch his toes to reach the ground at the end of the bent branch.

Fives appeared beside me, having scaled the cable. “Didn’t know you liked to free climb,” he teased as he pulled the cable up behind him.

I lifted my brow. “This is your plan?”

“It’s not my worst.”

“I’d hate to hear your worst.”

The ARC didn’t respond as he began making his way down the branch after his brother. He knew I’d follow. And then suddenly I saw a flit of neon green, my eyes leaping sideways to spy one of the giant bugs crawling after Fives.

“Fives!” I whispered hoarsely, getting him to turn and see his attacker. It was no use. The creature was too fast in the air, swooping over the unbalanced clone. He dropped his blaster, nearly falling from the branch.

He was barely holding on.

I leapt onto the branch, sliding down it deftly as it bent under our combined weights. My lightsaber ignited in my hand, slicing through the air to get the creature away from the falling clone. With my other hand, I drew my pistol, firing at the bug until it fell from the sky in a smoking pile.

Fives slid on the bottom side of the branch until he reached the ground, leaping off. I soon followed, my lightsaber disengaging. “Wow,” he chuckled gently, “I never actually thought that would work.”

I snorted, letting him know I didn’t think it’d work, either. We raced into the facility, wary of where I’d spotted Umbarans patrolling from the tree tops. We made our way below the various machines docked there, ducking below the same type of death-dealers the captain and the men were trying to survive right now.

“Now what?” I whispered beside them, seeing a lot of Umbarans between us and the gunships we were meant to steal.

“Don’t worry,” Fives assured, lifting his wrist to his helmet and pressing a button. “I’ve got it covered.”

A deep rumble shook the ground beneath my feet, loud explosions sounding in the direction we’d come from--Fives had rigged the tree we used to climb in….rigged it to blow up. We pressed our backs against the bottoms of the machines, watching as the Umbarans reacted. They yelled in their jabbering language, their numbers breaking to investigate the possible attack.

We moved in the opposite direction, no one between us and the gunships now. And then an Umbaran rounded the corner, yelling, “hey!”

The boys handled it like a well-oiled machine. Hardcase shoved the Umbaran back immediately with a palm to the face-mask. Fives quickly followed with a knee in the Umbaran’s chest. I didn’t even have time to draw my weapons before Hardcase shot him with his rifle. My brows lifted, genuinely impressed.

I glanced over my shoulder, worried that someone might have heard us, but we were in the clear. For now.

“So,” Fives grunted as he approached the open cockpit of the gunship. “How do I start this thing?” He climbed in before either of us answered, knowing we had no better idea than he did. Umbaran technology was as foreign to me as it was to him.

“Well, how should I know?” Hardcase answered anyways. “Start pushing buttons.” Fives obeyed, the blue ray shield coming to life around him. He removed his helmet, tossing it to the side as he started pressing switches wildly.

My eyes cut around the side of the gunship, seeing that the Umbarans had spotted the gunship coming to life. They were headed our way.

“Woah!” Hardcase yelled with loud laughter as he spun in his own ray shielded orb, having found a gunship, too. I ducked behind Fives’ bubble as Umbarans approached and opened fire, shooting my rifle from the cover. “Glad these things are ray-shielded,” the clone commented with glee.

“The orb, maybe,” I yelled, ducking behind the wings as Fives maneuvered his orb up and into its place in the gunship. “But not the rest. Get moving!”

Fives’ gunship began to rise in the air, my feet still planted in the wing. I allowed it as he figured out the controls, finding his balance in the air. I hand practically pinned myself within the open wings, firing my rifle from the cover he was providing.

“What about you?” the ARC trooper called through the orb at me.

I looked up at him, smirking as I put my rifle away, my beskar lightsaber hilt appearing in my hand. “Our mission is to take the base, right?”

He was quiet while he watched me. “And Krell?”

I wanted to respond to that. With defiance or dismissal. But instead I just stared at the clone. What about Krell?

What about Krell….

He could get me taken off the mission for using my saber, since he ordered me not to. Then again….Anakin told Krell to use the advantages I provided with my abilities. That included the skills I acquired due to my Sith heritage.

My blood still boiled at how he had spit the word “Sithling.” It bothered me that I took offense to a title that was technically true. Maybe it was because I knew it was intentionally meant as an insult.

I decided that Krell could try to take me off the mission, but I wouldn’t be going anywhere. He’d have to either kill me or imprison me.

Both of which, I’d love to see him try.

I didn’t respond to Fives’ question in the end, giving him a solemn look. My lightsaber ignited, glowing a brilliant white in the darkness of Umbara. “Go.” The trooper nodded, seeing the determination on my face.

And maybe a bit of the anger.

It probably wasn’t good, but I was already tapping into my emotions as I stepped off the gunship’s wing. Hilariously, the boys practically followed me as they tried to get control of their ships and turn them towards the battle, Hardcase scraping his ship’s nose across the ground.

I landed deftly, using the Force to slow my fall. It was easy to slice through the first four Umbarans, all of them shocked by my use of the lightsaber. I heard Hardcase and Fives yelling in their cockpits, a laugh coming from the former before he blew a few Umbarans sky high.

The boys, as they began to ‘figure out’ how to fly their ships, handled the beautiful destruction of the Umbaran’s war machines. We didn’t want them running off with them in a retreat now, did we?

As the platforms exploded around me, I handled the foot soldiers. I cleared my mind, pushing away the emotional tidal wave I felt building in the direction of the battle I knew my friends were in. I felt their fear. Their pain. Their death.

I shoved it away, letting the Force flow through me and lead me through its dance. I dodged the blasts coming from the gunships before they were even fired, making my way to the central control tower. By the time I was glancing over my shoulder to check on the clones, they were flying towards their pinned brothers.

Well, as close to flying as they could manage.

I grinned slightly, feeling the Force whisper that they would succeed. I turned, lightsaber glowing at my side, to enter the elevator. It rose steadily, the dial flashing with each passing floor. It dinged gently when I reached the command deck, my fingers twisting the lightsaber in a cocky flourish.

The Umbarans turned with a fright, their weapons already aimed at me.

I flashed them all a wide smile, feeling the Force flow through me easily, licking at the emotions I used carefully to strengthen the connection. “Hi everyone,” I called into the room, being met with only confused silence. “We haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet, but my name is Kida Fett. I’m here to accept your surrender.”

They jabbered at me in the native tongue, the few closest to me taking a tentative step closer. They were warning me to surrender instead, clearly not understanding who was in charge here.

“Alright, then.” With a final flourish, I held the saber up at my side in a ready stance. These soldiers and their machines were slaughtering my friends. Soldiers that surrendered were just cared for and usually released after the fighting was over. “I was hoping you wouldn’t, anyways.”

--------------------

MANDO’A

sooran ni’jagyc--- suck my dick

Hu’tuun--- coward

17 notes · View notes

arielsojourner · 7 years

Text

PART 15 of Luke and Vader travel through time and save the galaxy.

--Rex found Chatterbox trying to keep Hardcase from bleeding out, tourniquet tied around his leg. Fives, no one dared move any further due to a spinal injury until a medic could be called to the scene. The body of the Chancellor was nothing but a black smear on the ground. And Luke . . . Rex found Luke curled over the shattered body of his father.

He holstered his weapon and took off his helmet. He approached Luke slowly, hands clenching and un-clenching. What could he say? When he lost batch brothers or close squad mates, on the battlefield they had been trained to leave the dead, to keep going no matter what. Grief came only in the darkness of the barrack bunk, or some quiet corner of the landing bay, brothers remembering those lost. Clones were bred to be soldiers in service to the Jedi, but now when Rex had more freedom and more opportunity than ever before in his life he felt truly powerless.

Luke’s head rose and his hands came up to his Father’s cracked mask. Carefully, he lifted first the helm and then peeled back the face plate. Rex swallowed hard at the sight of the man underneath. Behind him Jesse hissed under his breath in sympathy at the sight of the burned flesh. There had been talk when Vader had shown up on Umbara, whether he was a droid or if he was like Grevious, some sort of half man half machine, inhuman and monstrous. But there was a person under the armor, a man, covered in scars. Wordlessly, Luke balled up his gloved hand and began to smash first the mask and then the helmet to pieces. Rex stepped forward, reaching out to stop Luke before he hurt himself only to realize that his hand, his hand was a prosthetic. Rex wondered how he had lost it.

When the mask was dust, Luke reached for his father’s chest plate armor and untangled the respirator apparatus and smashed that as well. Finally, he took his Father’s armorweave cloak and slowly, carefully drew it up to serve as a shroud.

“Captain Rex,” the Jedi said quietly.

“Sir,” he responded coming to attention.

“The war is over. We have peace.” There was a long pause. Luke had said those words so many times, willing them to be true. Now at last they were. “I-I am not sure what I am supposed to do now,” he admitted, voice cracking with despair. His hands shook over his father’s body. “We–we didn’t really talk about what we would do after the Emperor was dead.” Luke swallowed hard. “I think . . . he didn’t expect to live. I didn’t expect to live,” he added with a self deprecating laugh. “Some half-trained Jedi defeating him, when he killed thousands of the very best.” He ran an exhausted hand over his face, wincing when he touched on the burns raw and red on the edge of his jaw.

“Sir, you need a medic,” Rex offered anxiously. He wanted to stop this talk, stop it now. Luke and Vader had always stood so calm, so firm, so competent like nothing could shake them. To know that they were simply hurdling towards this confrontation with that skrag Palpatine and never expected to come out the other side. . . “You are injured. Let us–“

“This isn’t my place,” he murmured. “No future for him, for us. I don’t want to hurt them, they’ve been hurt enough–“

Rex stepped forward and took hold of Luke’s shoulders, drawing him back from his father’s body. Jesse and Redeye moved quickly to gently lift Vader’s body onto a stretcher. “Sir,” Rex urged. “We need to get you to a medic.”

“No–“

“Sir, if Vader were here he would kill me for leaving you injured. I’m not sure that he won’t find a way to kill me even now if I don’t take care of you. Please, sir,” Rex said desperately.

Luke’s eyes never left the body. He finally nodded. He staggered to his feet, leaning heavily on the Captain’s shoulder and together they walked toward the waiting gunships.

-Even knowing that Luke had left to face the Sith Master, nothing prepares Anakin for the moment where the holoscreen had come to life and the Supreme Chancellor started screaming for the clones to kill the Jedi and drew a blood red lightsaber. Now curled up on the floor, Obi-Wan’s arms around him, he still isn’t prepared for the screams, the crash of sabers, and Palpatine screaming about power. He catches the light from the holoscreen splashing across the walls and floor and over the bodies of the fallen.

“--worst is over, Anakin, I’m here and–“

Something blocks his view, and Padme is being helped by Echo to sit beside him. Desperate, he reaches out a hand to her, to the twins, she is here, she is breathing, the horrible nightmares that have plagued him for days have not come true. She is crying as she leans over him, hands holding onto him for dear life. He wants to tell her not to, not to hold onto him because he cannot be her bedrock, her certainty, her champion.

“--wouldn’t have gone to the Council, dear one, you must believe me that–“

The universe has cracked in two and Anakin cannot stop shaking, cannot stop the terrified sobs from spilling out. He cannot save them. He cannot protect them. He is not good enough, fast enough, smart enough, strong enough, powerful enough. Nothing is safe. Nowhere is safe. He hasn’t cried so hard since that day when his mother was dragged away by Gardulla to serve as a bet on a pod race.

“–please, nothing is more important, I know that–“

There is a tremendous crash and one of the few remaining windows blows out. Denal swears and then shouts that it is the Resolute that just crash landed. Anakin squeezes his eyes tight shut. Ahsoka! Ahsoka is on the Resolute! And here he is on the floor unable to move. My Padawan, the Temple, my men–

“--I am sorry, I am so, so sorry,” Obi-Wan, that’s Obi-Wan still talking, he hasn’t stopped talking. “It’s going to be all right, I swear it. We will make it all–“

And all sound vanishes and Anakin knows what to do without thinking, he sits up and grabs Obi-Wan, Padme, and the babies close in his arms and reaches for the Force just as a wave of Darkness comes roaring through the room. It is like being buffered by a sandstorm of hate and rage, writhing evil, searching, murderous, still desperately hungry for him, for Padme, for the twins.

No, Anakin thinks and feeling his loved ones beside him, his men around him, he somehow finds the strength to stand his ground in the Force. NO.

The storm subsides and he looks around and they are all still here, they are all still breathing, the twins now wailing and crying, the holoscreen blessedly silent and off at long last. Anakin draws one shaky breath after another and then reaches to help Padme sooth the children. Leia’s face is all scrunched up and red as she howls her displeasure and Anakin wraps his Force presence around her checking, checking, and she is all right. Luke, what about Luke? Padme is rocking him even as tears drip down her cheeks. Obi-Wan reaches out and runs a careful hand over his son’s head and sighs in relief. They are all right, they are all right and Palpatine is dead.

The Force shudders around them, reverberating with aftershocks. Anakin blinks trying to clear his vision. He needs to get up, get to the crash site to check on Ahsoka (he can feel her, she lives), go to the Temple and assess the damage, the Senate, he has to get to the Senate where Luke and the others have fought Palpatine. He can’t tell if they lived or not, the holoscreen feed knocked out by the Dark Force storm, but if he could just get up–

“Sir, evac will be here in 10, what do we need to take?” Echo asks softly, crouching down to his General’s level. Anakin cannot find the words to answer.

“Evac? Evac where?” Obi-Wan says.

“Off planet, sir. We have orders to remove you from Coruscant as soon as we had a window of opportunity. The Dauntless just came out of hyperspace and we need to move. Senator, what do we need to bring?”

Padme looks bewildered. “I-I don’t have any, I haven’t– I was going to go to Naboo to have the babies and, and –“

Echo nods, “We’ll take care of it, ma’am. Kix,” he said, calling the medic over. General Skywalker was deathly pale and sweating. Echo is sure it was shock and the Senator isn’t much better being only a few hours post labor. General Kenobi looks like he is punch drunk after staying awake for too long on too many stims.

“The Council,” Obi-Wan says abruptly, trying to engage rational thought. “We need to report to the Co. . .” Obi-Wan trails off as Anakin literally and violently flinchs away from Obi-Wan at his words, leaning bodily over both babies being held between him and Padme as if protecting them from danger. “No, no you’re right,” he backtracks quickly, placing a hand on Anakin’s shoulder. “Medical facilities on planet will be stretched thin; the Dauntless will be perfect, thank you.”

-Appo found Cody trapped under a fallen pylon on what was left of the bridge and Ahsoka collapsed nearby, both barely breathing due to smoke inhalation. There is the question of which medical facility to take them to. Finally, the decision is made and they are taken to the Temple and treated in the mostly intact healers wing along with many other brothers (there was a fight, he later heard, the Jedi didn’t want to let them bring the wounded into the Temple but Dogma, Dogma of all people, forced them to open the Temple to treat the clones). There were wounded among the Jedi Order but no fatalities. The same could not be said for the troopers. Members of the Coruscant Guard killed by sabers lay side by side in what probably was the Jedi equivalent of a mess hall. Even more members of the 501st and 212th lay there as well, killed by fellow clones, refusing to use lethal force on those still chipped even to save their own lives. The scars of Krell ran deep. Appo felt a sick sort of pride in knowing that none of the Coruscant Guard had been killed by the combined clone forces defending the Temple. Injured yes, dead no. He also found for the first time that he was deeply uncomfortable around the Masters and other Jedi who lead the Temple defenses. He couldn’t help resting his eyes on the sabers at their belts and thinking how many of his brothers they had cut down rather than subdue through some other method. Appo realized how grateful he was that with the sole exception of Krell, the 501st had worked with only the best Jedi commanders and generals.

-When Ahsoka wakes she pushes at the oxygen mask over her mouth and nose with clumsy fingers. The medical tubes and elastic ties on the mask are cutting into her lekku. She fumbles around until she pulls off the mask and immediately regrets trying to breath without it. Things start beeping around her and then someone grabs the mask and presses it back against her nose and mouth. She looks up and sees Cody sitting (floating, he’s on a hover chair) by her side.

“Put the mask back on, sir,” Cody croaks, “Or the medics are going to come down on you hard.”

Ahsoka uses one unbandaged (bandages? really?) hand to hold onto the mask and takes a few deep breaths. “I think you can call me Ahsoka,” she says. She looks around recognizing the Temple’s architecture. She peers at Cody whose leg is propped up and covered in bandages rather than bacta which has Ahsoka worried about a bacta shortage on Coruscant of all places. She peers around the rest of the ward and sees troopers and Jedi in the beds, healers and clone medics and med droids buzzing around. “Master Anakin, Obi-Wan, the men–“

“Echo reported in that General Skywalker and Kenobi are alive and are with Senator Amidala. Troop casualty numbers were higher than we hoped for,” Cody says softly. “The Jedi at the Temple suffered some injuries but no deaths. There were some deaths out in the field before the chipped clones could be stopped. Many of the injured have been taken to the ships in orbit for treatment, the hospitals and med centers are overflowing. There were some civilian casualties, but not as many as there could have been. Everyone else survived except Vader. His injuries were too severe. He died shortly after the Sith Master.”

Ahsoka closes her eyes and just breaths. She isn’t sure why but the thought of Vader’s death fills her with a strange sense of sadness, of loss. No, she wasn’t sad for Vader, she was sad for Luke! She tells herself firmly. Luke has lost a father whom he loved when no one in their right mind should or frankly could love a Sith. She shouldn’t feel upset about Vader’s death. He was darkness and pain and barely controlled violence. But as much as he avoided her during their brief time together (except to criticize her beliefs and the way she held her sabers!), she saw that he could be quirky, just as obsessed with machines as her Master, and that he cared deeply about things other than himself and power, even if he showed it in all the wrong ways.

Sith killing Sith, that is a good thing, right? It is a good thing Palpatine is dead. It is a good thing that Vader wasn’t around anymore to try and take power or do Sith things. It is a good thing.

So why does she feel like crying?

#sw au #star wars #star wars alternate universe #luke skywalker #darth vader #obi-wan kenobi #padme #captain rex #echo #cody #appo #ahsoka tano #clones #the clone wars #luke and vader save the galaxy #father and son save the galaxy #luke and vader

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