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“What do you mean, he won’t see us?”
Sinker grabbed Boost’s shoulder. “Calm down, vod, maybe the doc means he’s sleeping or somethin’.” Sinker turned to stare down the medical officer. “Is he sleeping?”
“Uh - no, sorry, he just doesn’t want to see anyone,” the officer said, clutching his datapad to his chest as if he hoped it would shield him from the fuming troopers in front of him.
“You told him it was Sinker and Boost who wanted to see him, yeah?” Sinker tried to peer past the curtain, but the officer stepped in front of him, standing on his tip-toes to block Sinker’s view.
“I gave him your designations. It’s protocol,” the officer said defensively. “I believe you clones know each other’s designations?”
Boost rolled his eyes. “Okay, so he’s being extra stubborn. Doesn’t matter, he knows us and he’ll want to see us even if he’s being a di'kut about it.”
The officer shook his head. “I can’t let you two in without permission from the patient; it’s protocol. And I’ve got other things to do, so, uh. Get out, please, or I’ll have to call security.”
Bad move, Sinker thought. Boost growled, wrenching himself out of Sinker’s grasp and stepping menacingly towards the officer, who threw himself backwards in alarm.
“Listen, you’re gonna let us see our commander or you’re gonna - “
“Alright, let ‘em in,” a familiar voice called from behind the curtain.
The two troopers didn’t wait for the medical officer’s permission. Shoving past him, Sinker yanked the curtain aside, jostling Boost as they both tried to squeeze themselves into the small space as quickly as possible.
The first thing Sinker noticed was that Wolffe had his face in his hands, and the second was that he had a bandage of some sort wrapped around his head. Sinker’s stomach dropped. Head injuries meant nothing but trouble, especially for a commanding officer.
“Thanks for not letting us see you, sir!” Boost said reproachfully. “How are you feeling?”
The commander heaved a sigh and sat up, dropping his hands to his side and turning his head so his face was fully displayed. “See for yourself.”
Several moments passed as the two troopers stood in shocked silence, staring at just where the bandage was. Sinker swallowed thickly and forced himself to speak.
“Sir, is - is it your eye?”
He’d been there when the assassin slashed a sparking, golden line though his commander’s helmet; he’d heard Wolffe’s anguished scream and he’d known then that whatever she’d done to his commander wasn’t the kind of thing that could be healed with a batch patch. But he hadn’t realized just how…permanent the injury was.
“Yeah, it’s my eye,” Wolffe said, his voice oddly flat.
“Oh,” Boost said. He opened his mouth and shut it a couple of times before continuing. “Will they get you one of those fancy cybernetic replacements? They’re supposed to be just about as good as the real thing, if you get the good kind.”
“The expensive kind,” Wolffe corrected him.
Sinker and Boost shared a look before moving to sit on the cot on either side of their commander. It wasn’t really big enough and it creaked ominously, but they managed to cram themselves onto it anyways.
“General Plo will make sure you get one, sir,” Sinker said tentatively, hating how it sounded more like a question than a statement.
The sound Wolffe made might have been called a snort if it had been a little louder. Sinker frowned.
“He will,” Sinker insisted, forcing confidence into his voice. “Right, Boost?”
“Right,” Boost said firmly. “Don’t worry about it, sir, you’ll be back on the field before you’ve had your fill of this little holiday.”
Wolffe snorted more loudly this time and to top it off, rolled his good eye. “You two don’t get it; my whole eye is gone. All of it. The kind of cybernetic I’d need isn’t something they just hand out to clones.” He dropped his face in his hands again. “They’re going to decommission me, okay?”
Sinker looked at Boost helplessly. The other trooper just shrugged.
“Okay.” Sinker took a deep breath. “We’re comming the general.”
“What?” Wolffe shot up again, his voice sharp. “You can’t just comm General Plo.”
“Why not?” Sinker asked. He knew full well why not, there were a hundred regulations that said this was a bad idea and a waste of resources, but at the moment he did not care. “Boost, head to the lobby and figure out a way to get through to the general.”
“Right away!”
Boost jumped to his feet and disappeared past the curtain, Wolffe staring after him in bewilderment. Sinker laid his hand on his commander’s shoulder.
“It’ll be okay, sir. We’re not gonna let you get decommissioned if we can help it.”
For the first time, something like a smile pulled at Wolffe’s lips. “I appreciate the effort, Sinker.”
They sat like that for a while, Sinker absently counting the number of times another squeaky-jointed medical droid passed close by. Finally, the curtain was pulled aside again and Boost stepped inside, grinning from ear to ear.
“The general’s on his way. Might have had to bribe an operator to do it, but I got through eventually, and the general said he’d come here in person to asses the situation,” Boost said triumphantly. “He said he wasn’t going to let his best man be decommissioned. His words, sir.”
Wolffe looked up, his expression hopeful. “You shouldn’t have done that, Boost, but thank you.”
“What, the bribing or the comming?” Boost laughed. “I’ll take whatever punishment you think I need, sir, but I’m not sorry.”
Wolffe rolled his eye again, but he was smiling this time - really smiling. Sinker punched his shoulder good-naturedly.
“See, sir? Nothing to worry about. We’ve got your back.”
Now Sinker just prayed that General Plo would get here quickly.