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Tup was running as if kriffing strills were chasing him, because someone had to tag commander Wolffe and then add four more tags to the game. And of course all of the tags turned out to be packmates of the one and only commander Wolffe, who simply returned to his original place from where he watched mayhem unfold. And of course general Koon brought snacks!
This was too much for his heart.
And where the Force was Fives?! That dramatic son of a Hutt! That melodramatic madman! When he gets his hands on him…!
He slided gracefully next to the open cantina door and stopped momentarily, then turned around and slowly made his way back to look again, because what he saw made his already weakened heart go stop. Because he simply couldn’t believe...
“W-what on the seven sith hells...?” he whispered to himself.
More than twenty of Torrent troopers with Hardcase at the front were flying using jetpacks and laughing at the sole tag that stood beneath them and growled like a feral animal… Which he may be considering who his commander was.
Secretly Tup was a little scared of him.
Tup saw more than one problem with this situation. Firstly, Hardcase wasn’t allowed jetpacks after fiasco in the barracks two months ago. Secondly, who within their right minds gave him one?! Are they suicidal? Thirdly, are they aware that sooner or later their jetpacks fuel will end? Fourthly, antagonising one of commander Wolffe’s packmates will get them whooping of the year.
Silently backing of he returned to his previous place and started to trek in a indefinite direction.
His company was full of madmen.
His next stop was more or less caused by Jesse and, now that was a surprise that Tup never wanted to see, captain Rex. Both of them were running in a elaborate zig-zags to confuse two of five tags. And they were doing quite a good job if slightly dizzy moves of Wolfpack members were any indication.
He left them to their own devices with a shake of a head.
At least they had a little bit more…
“Come and get me lil’ doggies!” followed by high-pitched laugh and wolf-like growls.
Never mind that. He forgot that Jesse had the same brain defect as Fives.
Tup was running, but seriously this time. And screaming. And crying.
Two of five tags were following him and growling like there was no tomorrow. And that scared him more! It wasn’t fun! Those guys took it to another level, that was not even a little bit funny!
Tup could fight clankers, could do limitless paperwork, that sometimes his captain asked to help with and even could do the most beautiful paintwork in the whole company. But for the life of him, he was too afraid of Wolfpack or even normal people. And didn’t that make him pathetic?
Anyway he run and run and run…
And then he found himself in hangar, where only general and commander of Wolfpack were sitting and talking. If he wasn’t in such a hurry to hide from tags, he would take a pic, but alas he was busy and couldn’t get deconcentrated.
“Trooper, what are you doing here?” asked commander Wolffe and small shivers run down Tup’s back.
He saluted awkwardly and tried to not look him in the very scary eyes. There was less and less time to hide!
“Um… Sir! I… ah, I’m trying to… to hide sir.” mentally he slapped himself for such unorganized manner of speaking.
General Koon smiled, or at least Tup thought it was, and summoned him by his hand.
“Come here little one. I’ll help you.”
Tup didn’t need more incentive.
As it turned out, general Koon made him sit between him and commander Wolffe. And even gave him some of the sweets he brought for his second-in-command.
“I hope that it will end soon.” he finally said after a moment of pleasant silence.
They were talking. It surprised Tup at first, but after a while he started to engage in conversation, that turned out to be quite interesting. Commander Wolffe told them stories about his younger self and his batchmates, that were made into squad. It fascinated Tup and even made him a little bit jealous.
Dogma was a good brother and actually a good companion if someone needed to be silent for a while, but was too rigorous in his path to become a perfect soldier. He was so rigid and strict and sometimes borderline cruel in his views. Still Tup loved him, but they weren’t on the same level as commander Wolffe and his brothers.
Hardcase, on the other hand, was so bright! Sometimes it felt as if Tup was burning in his loud and boisterous presence. It made him despise Hardcase a little bit, just only a little, because people seemed to overlook Tup and go to his older brother as if he was some kind of a beacon.
Tup was ashamed at his feeling, he should be happy for them and he truly was, but at the times they were… hard to be with. He loved them and didn’t want to live without them, but sometimes he dreamed of being praised like Hardcase for his skill or like Dogma for his intelligence. He wanted a little bit of it to himself.
“I hope so too.” nodded commander Wolffe, when a loud scream sounded in hallways. “But I must say that Torrent is a tough one.”
“Captain Rex takes his responsibilities seriously.”
Wolffe grinned a pleased grin.
“Of course he does! After all he was trained by me and my brothers.” there was pride in his voice. If only Dogma and Hardcase talked about him like that…
“And you all right, little one? What’s your story?” asked general Koon and suddenly he remembered that Jedi could feel emotions. What if he projected his?!
“I… Well, sir. There’s nothing interesting, sir.” he scratched his neck, looking down with embarrassment. What was he thinking?
“Oh, I’m sure there is something you can tell us.” kind voice of general Koon made him blush. He was so warm and polite and made him feel wanted, but at the same time not uncomfortable.
He looked up at the general, who was smiling slightly.
“I have two batchmates with me in the Torrent. Their names are Dogma and Hardcase.” he explained with a little bit of shyness in the voice. “Dogma is the intelligent one, always knows what to do in any situation and knows a lot of things that the rest of us overlooks because it’s boring. Hardcase is the one with the loudest, brightest laugh you will ever heard.” as if called, they heard the booming laugh of Hardcase, coming from ship’s hallways, that made Tup cringe a little at the volume. “Yeah, that’s Hardcase all right. He’s also good with his blaster cannon, which he calls Anna. Don’t ask why, sir. It’s too embarrassing to retell.” and Tup meant it.
Sometimes his brother was a bit stupid.
“And what about you?” asked commander Wolffe, who already opened next bag of space marshmallows.
“I’m just Tup, sir. One of Torrent’s troopers, sir.”
And was there anything bad about it? Captain Rex always made sure that he was comfortable in others presence, commander Tano liked to joke with him and Kix always asked if he was all right and how was his day and what was he doing… So maybe there were people, who cared about him. Maybe more than he thought initially.
He smiled slightly.
“And honestly that’s all right, sir. When you have people around you like Fives and Hardcase, you really wish for people like me, sir.” it might have been a little cheekie, but right now Tup felt a lot better about himself.
Sadly, their happy bubble was broken by unannounced ship landing in the hangar. Thankfully, Tup knew exactly whose ship it was.
“That’s general Kenobi.” said commander Wolffe, standing up. “We should meet him.”
But at the same time as they prepared to welcome general onboard a group of merry clones run in and Tup almost signed from relief, when he saw captain Rex, but then he saw Fives and Jesse.
“Prepare, boys.” ordered captain Rex, as always immaculate, but even Tup could see his blush at being caught red handed in playing tag.
Tup stayed behind commander Wolffe, where he felt safe that nobody would try to tag him. Nobody sane, anyway.
Ramp of the ship opened and general Kenobi with small squad of clones boarded 501st ship with a pleasant smile.
“Hello troopers. I hope that everything's all right.”
Tup also liked general Kenobi. He was always calm and collected, but not in the cold way that Dogma is. He was warm and sunny and like a fresh air after rain. He was a walking peace.
“Everything’s all right, sir.” answered captain Rex, but Tup caught something strange behind his back. Someone was moving and… Yes, that was Fives, but what was he…?
“That’s good to hear, captain. Where can I find my old padawan?”
Tup didn’t like calm expression on Fives’s face.
“He’s.... I’m afraid unreachable at the moment, sir.” captain Rex looked a bit uncomfortable. “But he should be here in a moment, sir.”
Trooper, who was standing at the right side of the general Kenobi, took his helmet of and looked at captain Rex with disapproval, that made even Tup feel ashamed. That was famous commander Cody and one of his Looks. No one was immune to them, not even his general.
“I presume you are playing tag again.”
“Yes, they are.” answered commander Wolffe, who returned to his grumpy mask.
Tup was still watching Fives and dread slowly pooled in his stomach. Jesse was outwardly grinning and some of the troopers were looking at the ARC with the mix of awe and fear. Tup hoped that just this once his stupid friend would reign his own mischievous tendencies.
Commander Cody apparently caught up to Fives’s plan, because his face suddenly changed from I’m-disappointed-in-you to I’ll-bloody-murder-you-if-you-make-one-more-step .
As predicted, Fives just grinned.
“Hello general.” Fives smiled innocently.
Tup cried inside.
WHY?
“I hope you like running, because you are tag.” and then promptly patted him on the shoulder and bolted out of the room.
Captain Rex turned CG red, general Koon giggled, commander Cody prepared himself to sapacing Fives and poor general Kenobi just blinked.
Tup turned to commander Wolffe.
“Sir, do you have a free place in your company?” he said at the same time that captain Rex broke.
“ARC-5555!”
“Sure, kid. How fast you want to transfer?” commander Wolffe asked with something akin to amusement.
Tup looked at him with empty stare.
“Does that mean I’m the new tag?” asked general Kenobi. His troops flinched at once and commander Cody’s face paled a little bit. “Then I’m sure we can add some of our rules.”
“Kark.” cursed softly commander Cody and turned to his people. “Kill Fives, leave no evidence.”
Then all of them at once bolted. From fear or to kill Fives, Tup wasn't sure. Maybe a mix? Torrent just stared, general Kenobi smiled sweetly.
“Immediately, sir.” Tup said.
Then hell broke anew.