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Obi Wan Kenobi had never been more miserable in his entire life as he was right now.
Ok, truthfully, he had been more miserable, and in much more pressing and dangerous situations, but everything seems miserable in the moment.
The dirt squished under his sodden boots as he led the 212th through the sparsely populated forest. Most of the trees had been burned in the years of civil war on whatever force-forsaken planet they were on, leaving nothing but ash.
Which mixed with the torrential downpour to create sludge that made moving much more miserable.
Cody walked beside him, seemingly unaffected by the downpour and grey mist surrounding them. In fact, he seemed almost cheerful. As cheerful as Cody let himself get while on duty, anyway.
“Enjoying this, Cody?”
"Well, sir, it does remind one of Kamino."
Through the howl of the wind, Obi Wan heard Kix scoff. "You're the only one who has fond memories of Kamino, Commander."
The other troops muttered in agreement.
Cody kept his helmet facing straight ahead but Obi Wan could tell he was smiling. "Ok, so I like the rain. At least it makes an experience like this more enjoyable."
"There's nothing about this that's enjoyable, Cody," Kix retorted. "Even if you do like the rain."
Obi Wan chuckled as they found themselves in a muddy clearing. "I'm gonna have to agree with the troops on this one, Commander."
Cody stopped to observe. "Looks like a good place to make camp for the night. We still have a few kilometers to the rendezvous, and they aren't expecting us until tomorrow. And, General, you're allowed to think that. You don't have waterproof armour -" Cody shot a glare at Kix "-like the rest of us."
Obi Wan looked down at his drenched tunic and sighed.
Cody hated being the bearer of bad news, but, as a commander, that was usually his job.
The tent reserved for strategies and such in an active war zone was now used as a central meeting spot in their makeshift camp. It hadn't stopped pouring since they arrived last night, and it didn't seem like it was going too, which made for tough work setting up camp.
He had watched last night as General Kenobi had stepped into his tent and simply sighed as he dripped water everywhere. They hadn't expected to be planetside for more than a day, so no one had a change of clothes. It was, to say, miserable.
No one thought much of it, though, as General Skywalker and Commander Tano were set to pick them up after finishing up their own battle in the air.
That is, until Rex had managed to get a message through.
Cody stepped into the tent, taking off his helmet and shaking the water off of it.
"Watch it!" Boil yelped from where the water landed. Cody grinned sheepishly.
General Kenobi sat, shivering, in front of the heater, attempting to dry off. Unlike the clones, with their mostly waterproof armor, whenever the General stepped out of his tent it took him hours to dry off again.
"Ah, kriff," Kenobi said after looking at Cody. "Bad news?"
Stupid Jedi and their Jedi-senses.
"General Skywalker's ship drove off the Separatists, but sustained heavy damage. The hyperdrive was working, but wouldn't last long, according to Rex. They fleed to the nearest friendly system to repair the hyperdrive, then they're planning on returning to pick us up."
Kenobi ran a hand through is wet hair. "Jump time to nearest friendly system, hyperdrive repair, jump back," he muttered. "Four days?"
Cody grimaced. "Rex estimated six, maybe seven. This far out in the Outer Rim we're pretty far from friendly systems, and even further from any other Jedi that have the means to rescue us. We're stuck, unfortunately. I've taken the liberty of counting rations though, and luckily with emergency supplies and rationing we should be fine."
Kenobi looked at the ceiling, where the rain was constantly denting the tarped outside of the tent. "That is, if this rain ever stops."
"Kix said the rain won't last the whole time!" Boil piped up from the corner. Kix, sitting opposite him, rolled his eyes. "I said no such thing. I'm a medic, not a weatherologist, or whatever they're called."
Kenobi sighed and looked back to Cody. "Might as well inform the troops and start rationing. We can go ahead and stay here for a few days before meeting at the rendezvous point. We can also get some good work done while we're stuck. Kix, why aren't you in the medical tent?"
"It's cold in there sir. And they're all sleeping. And I have Wooley in there watching them. "
Kenobi raised an eyebrow. "You're the medic , Kix."
Kix sighed and grabbed his helmet. "Yessir."
Kenobi pushed the tent flap open, and Cody followed Kix and his general into the rain.
Obi Wan shivered as he pushed back his tent flap and walked in. Even with placing all the tents as close together as possible, it was impossible to not get wet when going somewhere.
His tunic had finally dried last night, right before he had to go right back out in the rain. It just made everything so cold . And miserable.
Only six more days, though. They could survive. Of course, they'll be cutting it tight with the rations, but they weren't going to run out of water any time soon.
The only thing in his tent was a small bedroll. Obi Wan didn't even know why he was here. Why had he gone to his tent? He'd been planning on going to the medical tent with Kix. Which means getting more wet.
With a sigh, he pulled the tent flap back again and quickly ran through the rain, careful not to splash too much mud on himself.
Kix looked up when he entered the medical tent. There, at least, there were extra towels placed down near the entrance so they didn't track mud and rain everywhere.
"I was wondering where you were, sir."
Obi Wan grimaced. "Here now, Kix. Do you know what the temperature is out there? It feels like it's gotten colder since we first got here."
Kix frowned. "We happened to get here right at the end of their warm season. It's 8 degrees standard and dropping, sir. Most likely going to freeze tonight."
Obi Wan glanced around the dark medical tent, where eight men were sleeping (or maybe sedated) on cots. "Do we have enough heat to survive a freeze?"
"We might have to take some of the heat lamps from the troop tent for here. These men aren't stable enough to survive a drop in temperature like that."
Obi Wan sighed. "Did Cody go to the supply tent?"
"Yessir."
"Alright. Thank you Kix. Keep warm."
"Will do, sir."
Cody had started to actually hate rain by the time nightfall came. The days here were pretty much standard, so as soon as the rain fell in front of a darker background the troops headed to bed.
Cody just needed to ask one more question about rationing, though, to the General. There wasn't much you could do in terms of knocking on a tent, so Cody simply asked through the rain, "General?"
Kenobi's response was muffled by the wind, now howling and making the raindrops sound like daggers against his armor. He could only imagine what it was like to have to walk through the storm without armor.
Darkness greeted him in the tent, so Cody switched on his helmet headlights.
"Hello, Commander," Kenobi said from the corner where he was sitting with a datapad.
"Sir, where's your heat lamp?"
Kenobi coughed into his arm before responding. "With Kix."
"Why, sir?"
"Because it's going to freeze tonight and the injured need the lamps to survive."
"Aren't you going to freeze in here, sir?"
"It's quite insulated, and I'm warm," Kenobi responded before he coughed again, sounding like his chest and throat were being torn apart."
"With all due respect, sir, we've been in this weather for a day and you're already sick."
Kenobi glared at Cody while attempting to stand. "I've coughed three times, Cody that doesn't mean I'm sick. I simply don't have that improved immune system that you all do." He waved to the entrance. "Anyway, I'm going to get some rest now. Good night, Commander."
Cody was back in the rain by the time he realized he forgot to ask Kenobi his question.
Obi Wan was lying to his commander.
There was no way he was going to get any rest here. His clothes were still drying and, if he was being honest, the cough was slightly bothering him, which was worrying (but he wasn't going to admit that to Cody, or even Kix. There were eight troops already injured, which would mean in a couple days when the meds started to run out there would be some difficult decisions to make).
So, once Cody's footsteps were swallowed by the howl of the wind and the noise of rain, Obi Wan pulled out his holoprojector and sat it in front of him. The signal would be strained, but he could at least try to attend council meetings. It was near mid day on Coruscant right now, so most likely one was right about to start.
Obi Wan set the frequency, entered the password, and was connected through. Miniature versions of most of the council members appeared before him.
"Master Kenobi," Windu greeted. "Glad you could make it. You ran into some trouble, I hear."
Obi Wan started to scoff but stopped when it scratched his throat. "Anakin did, more like it, but yes. My men and I won't be able to get off-planet for approximately six more days."
The meeting went on for hours. Obi Wan head was starting to hurt from the light when the meeting was finally called and he could disconnect.
With the distraction of the meeting, Obi Wan had barely notice the drop in temperature. Now that he was all alone, though, in his dark tent, the cold seemed to creep in from each corner.
"Well, shoot," he muttered as he rubbed his head. The headache that had been growing during the meeting hadn't stopped with the absence of light. If anything, it was worse.
At least he was dry. Mostly.
He should try to get some rest.
Cody was up early the next morning, already bored out of his mind. He'd counted the rations a million times, done everything that needed to be done. Rex needed to show up already.
It had frozen last night, but rain still fell. Harder, actually, if that was possible. And the wind had picked up, blowing the water into crevices to then freeze.
He tapped his foot as he looked at the chrono. Was Kenobi ever going to show up? They agreed to a briefing at 8:00 standard, and it was, currently, 8:10.
After a few more minutes of waiting, Cody decided to take matters into his own hands. Stepping out of the tent, he fought his way over to the medical tent.
Lo and behold, there was the General, talking to one of the troops, with a sleeping Kix in the corner.
Kenobi glanced up at Cody, quickly whispered something to the trooper, and walked over to his commander.
"We had a meeting fifteen minutes ago, sir."
Kenobi furrowed his eyebrows. "Did we now. I must've forgotten."
Cody opened the tent flap quickly and dropped it just as fast as the not let the cold in. The trek from each tent, only a few meters away, took longer each time.
When they made it to the command tent, Kenobi immediately went to the heat lamp and wrapped his arms around himself. Cody took at seat on the floor and took his helmet off.
"Not to be the bearer of bad news, sir, but we lost half our rations last night."
Kenobi put his hands a centimeter from the lamp and nodded. "Kix told me. He was there all night trying to find what was salvageable."
Cody had only found out this morning that the wind had thrown something into the supplies tent and ripped a hole in it.
"We're going to have to increase our rationing substantially," Cody said. "We already weren't planning on being here this long, and all the rations we had were medical."
Kenobi sighed before breaking out into a coughing fit. His cough sounded worse than last night, and, now that Cody looked closely, he was more pale as well.
Cody rubbed his temple. This whole mission was a mess.
His commander was staring at him with his unimpressed look. "How much sleep did you get last night, sir?"
"Eight standard hours." None, actually, it had been cold and his head had been throbbing (it still was) and the wind would not quiet down. It was the worst feeling, when you were exhausted but couldn't sleep.
"How much did you eat this morning, sir?"
Cody was reverting to their old routine. Recently, they had both been so tired Cody never had the energy to question his general. Now, apparently, he did.
"Quarter ration bar, just like we agreed." Nothing, actually.
"What were you giving to the trooper in the medical tent?"
Kriff. He'd given the ration bar to the trooper, of course. Kix had been talking about how with all the cold the injured would be as much nutrition as possible. Then, when the medic had collapsed in the corner and nodded off, every now and then Obi Wan had heard mumbles of, "three, eight, half." Even in his sleep Kix was worrying about how to keep them all alive.
There wasn't enough food now, he knew.
"Nothing, Cody. Just tal-"
Obi-Wan's voice rasped and caught on the last word, and his cough started up again. Another reason he hadn't been able to sleep.
He held up a hand as he coughed into his arm. Each cough tore fire through his throat and made his head throb.
When he was finally able to catch his breath again, Obi Wan scrubbed a hand over his face before turning to Cody.
"Is that all, commander?"
Cody glared at him but nodded.
That night, Obi Wan skipped the council meeting. It wouldn't be very proper of him to show up while laying on the floor.
It wasn't the most comfortable position, of course, but Obi Wan found sitting up was too much work. And laying down helped with his cough.
Those were his excuses if Cody came in, though he hoped he wouldn't have to use them. Kix had been worried all day about their lack of medical supplies, and Obi Wan didn't want to take any from the injured troopers.
In reality, after aiding the troops in clearing branches that had fallen on and in between tents all day, Obi Wan had returned to his tent and collapsed onto the floor. And simply hadn't moved since.
He'd tried, of course, but his head felt like someone was repeatedly slamming it with a metal pipe (which he did know the feeling of. Ventress's torture methods were not the most advanced) and trying to move made it worse.
He hadn't eaten, either, which probably contributed to the fact that whenever he tried to move nausea rose.
And it was cold.
And Anakin wouldn't be here for five days? Four? He couldn't be sure. Everything in his head was a jumbled mess.
Obi Wan found that with a bit of assistance from the Force, he could pull himself up and attempt to release his pain. Which didn't work, of course, but that didn't stop him from trying.
If he wasn't going to be of any use here, he might as well go to the medical tent.
The rain stung, and his tunic and pants were soaked within a few seconds, but Obi Wan made it to the tent without a problem. There, he found each of the injured troops asleep.
Kix had managed to fall asleep in the corner again as well, and was shivering in his sleep.
Obi Wan sighed as he looked at the medic. Quickly, he stumbled to his own tent and back.
Kneeling down, Obi Wan gently set the blanket from his bedroll over Kix, who muttered something he couldn't hear.
With a small smile that hurt his head, Obi Wan braced himself against the wind and rain and stepped back out into the storm.
Cody walked into Kenobi's tent the next morning to find the man on the opposite side from his bedroll, which was missing a blanket.
Kenobi's breathing got the smallest bit quicker when Cody walked in, and COdy was smart enough to see a lie when there was one.
"General, I know you're not actually asleep."
Kenobi peaked one eye open before shutting it. "Turn that thing off," he mumbled and waved his hand at Cody's helmet lights.
Cody did, and the room immediately fell into semi-darkness. Almost no light got through the torrential rains outside.
Kenobi attempted to sit up and immediately started coughing. Eventually, he laid back down to stop it.
"What did you need, Cody?"
Cody took off his helmet and sat on the floor of the tent.
"Why were you pretending to sleep, sir?"
Kenobi averted his usually bright eyes. "Cause if you found me simply laying on the floor you'd think something was wrong."
"Is something wrong?"
"No."
"You're sick."
"Not really. I have a cough."
Cody scoffed and picked up his helmet. "Fine. How's that, then?" he said as he turned on the helmet lights and shined them a Kenobi.
"Ow!"
"Yep. Headache, I'll assume?" Cody flicked the lights off.
"Sir, out of curiosity, why don't you use the force to keep the rain away? I've seen General Skywalker and Commander Tano do it."
Kenobi pinched the bridge of his nose. "Do you remember when I was out for a month after the bombing and then my classified mission a couple years ago?"
Cody nodded.
"Long story short, that mission was to a Sith planet that affected my connection with the force and caused me to hallucinate and almost kill Senator Organa and myself and then this rainstorm hit and I tried to hold the rain back but I couldn't and I couldn't feel the light side anyways I haven't tried the rain trick since then. Well, I've tried. But then I think about being on that planet and the dark side and yeah."
Cody nodded and saw that Kenobi was shivering now.
"Sir, where's your blanket?"
Kenobi closed his eyes. "Kix."
"Mhmm. Why aren't you on your bedroll, sir?"
"What kinda 'terrogation is this?" Kenobi said, his words slurring together.
Cody waited.
"Tired. And it hurt to move. Whyami telling you this?"
Cody stood. "Alright, General, I'm gonna go get Kix. I'll be right back."
"Alright, General, I'm gonna go get Kix. I'll be right back."
"No!" Obi-Wan sat up quickly, but immediately regretted it as his head pounded and stomach lurched. Putting one hand on his head, he turned to the side and gagged.
Cody stood at the entrance to the tent, not saying a word.
"Don't, Cody. It's a cold. Kix is stressed enough as it is. And you of all people knowwedonthave enough..." his words blurred together by the end, and he couldn't think of the last word. What was it?
"Medicine, sir?"
"Yeah, medicine."
Obi Wan slowly laid his head back down. "Just let me sleep 'n I'll be fine."
Cody seemed to be considering. "We both know you haven't been sleeping, sir."
"Really, Cody? We're gonna do this now?"
"You're unbelievable, General."
Obi Wan responded with a cough that racked his whole body.
Cody still seemed to be considering. "We'll give it a few hours. If you're not better, we're calling Kix."
"Alright."
Whatever Cody said next was drowned out by the pounding in his head.
"Stupid, idiot, di'kut Jetii," Cody muttered to himself as he fought through the wind to the command tent. He knew Kenobi's condition wasn't going to improve in the next few hours.
When he quickly entered and closed the flap behind him. Boil had a holoprojector in front of him, which he was conversing with.
"Cody, thank goodness," Boil said. "I'll hand you off, Captain."
Rex? Rex! It was Rex!
"Thank the Force, Rex. Please tell me you have good news," Cody said as Boil handed he holoprojector over.
Rex grinned. "Yep! We're ahead of schedule. We'll be there in a day and a half, maybe two."
Cody didn't know what he would have done if they were stuck here for another four days.
"Boil was giving me an update. Doesn't sound fun down there."
"You can say that again," Cody responded.
"Well just hang on for a day and a half."
Cody grimaced. "We'll try. Thanks, Rex. See you soon."
Rex gave a quick salute and cut the connection, and the only thing left for Cody to hear was the howling winds.
A few hours later, Cody made his way back to General Kenobi's tent. As soon as he'd closed the flap, Kenobi opened his eyes.
"I'm better," he said sarcastically.
"Doesn't matter if you are or not. Skywalker's ahead of schedule, they'll be here in a day and a half. We don't have to ration the meds as much, so we can go ahead and treat you."
Cody tossed the ration bar he'd grabbed next to Kenobi. "Hungry?"
Kenobi groaned and pushed it away. "No."
"Can you walk, sir? If not I can go and get Kix, but..."
"Maybe," he mumbled.
"Through the storm?" Cody questioned as Kenobi slowly attempted to get to his feet.
"Course."
Cody held the tent flap open and let Kenobi stumble through. He was, of course immediately thrown off course and onto his knees.
Rolling his eyes, Cody grabbed Kenobi's elbow and dragged his general through the storm.
Kix was tending to one of the troopers when they arrived.
"Cody? General!" He immediately rushed over to Kenobi, who had collapsed onto the floor in a coughing fit.
"That hurt my head, Cody," he mumbled.
Cody took off his helmet and shrugged. "You said you could make it."
"And I did ."
"Shush, both of you," Kix ordered as he took Kenobi's temperature. "39 standard! Why didn't you bring him in earlier?"
"Take a guess."
Kix fixed a glare on Kenobi. "Stubborn di'kut."
"General, can you go sit on that cot right there?" Kix pointed at the empty cot.
The Jedi sighed. "'m tired."
"Yeah. And sick. We can drag you to the cot if you want, sir."
Kenobi slowly made his way to the cot.
Taking a look at his thermometer again, Kix sighed. "I'd say he probably had hypothermia for a bit from staying in those same wet clothes. He probably recovered, then got a severe cold or something. That kinda jump in body temperature wouldn't be fun."
"It's not," Kenobi said from his cot.
"Also hasn't been sleeping. Or eating."
Kix fixed his glare on Cody. " You have to tell me these things. How am I supposed to do anything if you won't report on the health of your own general?!"
Cody knew to stay out of the way wen Kix was in medic mode, so he raised his hands in defeat and took a step back.
"How are you feeling, General? Don't lie, you know I can tell by now."
"This cot is more comfortable than the floor."
Kix turned to Cody and hissed, "you let him sleep on the floor ?!"
"He gave his blanket to you!"
Turning back to Kenobi, Kix smiled. "I can understand that, sir. How are you feeling, though? Physically?"
Kenobi squinted against the light of the heat lamps. "My head hurts. I'm kinda cold. Coughing? Hungry but nauseous. Also cold. Everything hurts."
"Alright sir, we're gonna sedate you and give you some meds, alright?"
"Sleep does sound nice."
Boil led most of the squads to the rendezvous where 501st picked them up. Cody stayed with Kix, Kenobi and the injured for the 501st to send LAAT/i's to evac them.
Through the din of rain, Cody heard an even louder humming. Setting his helmet to the right frequency, he asked, "Rex, you copy?"
"Loud and clear, Commander. Heard you needed to be rescued."
"Only because you abandoned us."
"Minor detail. Gunships landing now."
Once all the injured were moved to one gunship, including General Kenobi, who had only just woken up, Cody followed Kix and Rex to the other.
Rising through the rain and out of the atmosphere was so relieving Cody almost laughed.
Kix watched him closely.
"Still enjoy the rain, commander?"
"Know what, Kix? I'd rather never feel rain again in my life."