Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Pantoran Jedi Master Amaroth looked out the main view screen at the three separatist destroyers approaching his vessel, The Indisputable. He was annoyed. This was supposed to be a regular relief mission to the people of Naseem, not a battle. He cursed the council for deciding that he should be the one to partake in this mission. He was more renowned as a scholar, not a General and where was that blasted Padawan of his?

"We must be ready when they arrive, status report".

Human Padawan Ileana Stassen rolled her eyes at her comm. She was repairing one of the Astromechs that had gotten stuck in a loop. She had been assigned to Amaroth after her previous master was killed. She was still getting used to his ways. He was strict and incredibly old school in his thinking.

"Yes master!"

She turned away and quickly stepped it to the engine room. She was much more comfortable around machines than on the bridge.

"Commander!"

The engineering clone, by the name of Lieutenant Sprocket, saluted her. He was in the middle of preparing the Venator's massive ion engines for battle. The energy in the engineering section was palpable and the crew was readying for the upcoming battle.

"Status update and make it snappy! The seps are coming out of hyperspace in 15 minutes".

Sprocket gave her a wide grin, like most clones he lived for battle.

"Ready and loaded Commander!", he called back.

She returned the grin and turned back to check on the gun deck, which she noted was in tip top state thanks to Hero, the engineering 2IC. She switched on her comm to Amaroth.

"Master, we are ready!"

Ileana turned to head back to the bridge when a huge explosion impacted the side of the ship. She used the force to steady herself and ran back to the engine room.

"Medic! Get me a medic now!"

The engine room had taken a direct hit and the bodies of the troopers littered the ground. Ileana ran up to one of the injured, a natborn and grabbed some first aid supplies from the little kit on her belt. As she was attempting to attach a bacta patch her comm pinged and she answered to her Master.

"Padawan! I need you on the bridge now". Another clone took over her first aid efforts.

"On my way!". Stassen ran to the nearest access to the bridge. Why does he always call me when I am in the middle of something important? She grumbled to herself.

Amaroth was not happy. Whenever he needed that darn Padawan he had been lumped with she was always somewhere else. She would spend hours peppering with questions she should have learnt as a youngling and seemed more interested in fixing every broken piece of machinery around than meditating or practicing her katas. Why couldn't he have ended up with one of the greats? He envied Master Unduli and her apprentice, a sensible young lady who would become a great asset to the order.

Another explosion hit the ship sending him tumbling to the floor. He attempted to connect to Stassen one more time.

"STASSEN! Where in forces name are you?".

Ileana was trying to find her way to the bridge. Her master had commed and really didn't sound too happy with her. Only the issue was, there was no way through. It was not recommended people used the lifts during active battle. However the corridor that led directly to the bridge was completely covered in debris from the battle. She moved some of it using the force only to be met with more. It seemed like an impossible task.

"Commander!".

She turned to see Clone Lieutenant Sprocket calling her over.

"Commander, the way to the bridge is sealed, you will never get through. I suggest we begin preparing for evacuation and head to the escape pods".

Ileana bit her lip. "Ok, thanks Lieutenant, I will let General Amaroth know". The clone turned and started barking commands to the rest of his troops.

Ileana took a deep breath and pressed her comm.

"What blazes do you want now and where are you?"

Amaroth sounded as angry as she had imagined.

"Master I am stuck on the engine deck, I can't make it through to the bridge. Lieutenant Sprocket has asked if you could please start preparing to evacuate?".

Amaroth bristled at the thought. How dare she leave his side when he needed her most.

"You useless piece of shit! I cannot believe that you think you can be a Jedi. You WILL get up to the bridge now or you will be spending the rest of your days on some farm".

Ileana bowed her head at his message. She knew she was in huge trouble, it wasn't the first time she had been threatened with the farms. Ileana had no idea how she had come to join the order, all she ever knew was the temple. She seemed to thrive on the hands on skills, she was strong with the force, however her academic skills, emotional control, and people skills were sorely lacking. Her previous master had been gentle and kind. Master Aural had been a member of the exploration core and seemed to match up to her personality better.

She still remembers the day she had found out Aural was killed, shot while on a diplomatic mission to Ord Mantell. They had left Ileana at the temple so she could practice her lightsaber katas with one of the weapons masters. The feeling of loss, who could see she would make a good Jedi and who had chosen her had done a number on her self esteem. Three months afterwards, the orphaned Padawan situation at the temple was getting dire. The council couldn't just let these Padawan go to waste when they needed Jedi to command the GAR, especially after losing some of their best masters to the war. Padawanless Masters were encouraged to take them on and finish their training so they could take on the responsibility of an army.

That is how Ileana had ended up in Master Amaroth's tutelage. She pressed her finger tips to her temples trying to find her center. She tried to remain as calm as possible.

"Master, I am trapped with most of the maintenance and engineering crews. I can't leave the lower decks. Lieutenant Sprocket has informed me the engines are lost and recommends we look at evacuation".

Amaroths fist hit the center console with the sound of breaking electronics, sending personnel, a mixture of Clones and Nat-borns, scrambling for cover. He was furious,

"My first mission for this war and you just had to mess it up!".

"General!"

Amaroth turned towards Admiral Koi. The man was a well respected member of the old Galactic security navy. Koi disapproved of the Jedi and their involvement in this war and Amaroth represented the worst example of how stuffy and protocol driven the order had become. They were peacekeepers, not soldiers.

"With all due respect, your Padawan cannot be here. She needs to help those…".

Koi was cut off by Amaroth. The Jedi was starting to panic. He slammed his palm down on the comm.

"Stassen! Get up here now, I am overriding the lift block".

The Jedi turned on Koi. He was furious, the other members of the crew cringed. They all knew not to mess with Amaroth.

"Shut up! And don't tell me how to treat my Padawan".

Koi's face turned a bright shade of red. If he were Amaroth's Padawan, he would've left the Order rather than deal with Amaroth. The young lass was about his daughter's age and he felt so sorry for her. He didn't know how parents could give their children up to an organization that abused them and used them as child soldiers.
Amaroth had constantly disrespected him in front of his crew, he had no idea what he was doing and he had mistreated everyone ever since he was assigned to this ship. Koi was constantly dealing with claims of bullying and harassment from his crew.

Koi had watched brilliant military personnel, including his own protegee, pushed aside for promotion to allow some idiot with a lightsaber to take control of a ship, or to rub salt in the wound have some kid who should be in grade school to order them about. His eldest son had perished on one of the Jedi's ill thought out attacks. The lad had so wanted to follow in his fathers footsteps into the navy and had done well at the academy through his own merit.

Koi hated the use of the clone army. He didn't mind the clones as people and did his best to work with them, but it hurt that the Republic had chosen to use an army of tank bred men instead of people, like Koi, who had served with distinction for thirty years. It made Koi mad that good soldiers were going to waste in a war that made no sense.

Koi drew out his pistol and aimed it at the deranged Jedi. He would deal with the consequences later.

"By order of GAR and the Chancellors authority. I hereby ask you to stand down General Amaroth".

Amaroth swung around to face the fleet admiral. His face turned a revolting purple colour in rage.

"First my Padawan, now you". He took out his saber and ignited it. Koi's arm began to shake. The admiral finger compressed the trigger firing a single shot. Amaroth deflected it with ease before launching himself at Koi.

Koi was stabbed through the heart. His body fell to the floor with a thud. The rest of the bridge concentrated on their tasks and didn't dare look up.

Captain West, the Clone Captain of the 808th watch in disbelief. He silently got up from his station and left the bridge. He was done being one of Amaroth's punching bags. He headed for his squad's LAAT gunship and ordered Steer, the pilot, to take off.

Ileana felt Lieutenant Sprocket try to stop her from getting in the lift.

"Commander! You can't use those! not in the middle of a battle.". He yelled doing his best to drag her in the direction of the escape pods.

Ileana shoved him away. She had no choice. Amaroth was her master and his word was law.

The doors on the lift shut and she started to travel to the bridge. However her progress was stopped by a huge explosion, the sound of cracking metal and the feeling of dread. The lift began to free fall as she was tossed around like a ragdoll.

She closed her eyes and projected her thoughts to the ship. May the force be with you always.

A/N: This is my first story in over ten years and my first Clone Wars fic. I only got into the fandom a year ago when I started watching the series during a lockdown, long story short I fell in love with the characters, worldbuilding and storylines. Seriously all comments and feedback are appreciated :)

Chapter Text

Ileana felt awful. She had woken up in the lift capsule, which was now located in the middle of an ice field. The capsule's temperature had dropped while she was unconscious and thanks to the thin Jedi robes she was freezing. Now that she was conscious she could warm herself using the force. Ileana noticed that she had some bruises and cuts on her body. She was able to use some bacta patches from her first aid kit to put on them.

Her lightsaber had proved useful to cut her way out of the tube and she assessed the damage. The Indisputable had been attacked just as it was coming out of orbit over Naseem, a tropical planet. So she assumed that she had crashed on one of its moons. The aft and rear sections had split up and were scattered across the tundra. Ileana located what she hoped was the bridge Amaroth was on at the time. She stretched her consciousness across the wreckage to locate life signs.

Captain West was glad he made the right call. The pilot Steer had managed to take off just before the Venator crashed and thanks to some fancy flying, all souls on board had survived. The LAAT had survived and what damage it sustained could be fixed with the materials they had available. Unfortunately Steer had made the call to dump the fuel when one of the engines caught fire. They managed to land and watched the Indisputable fall through the atmosphere.

"What a shit show!" West thought back to the drama on the bridge. Couldn't the Admiral have chosen a better time to stand up to Amaroth? West had first hand experience of the Generals wraith and couldn't blame the man for losing it. The Indisputable was now in smoking parts spread over a 30 mile radius on the icy tundra. West knew that originally they were on a mission to help some hole called Naseem recover from a civil war, not the most exciting task as it meant dealing with civvies which made his job difficult. West was certain it was now safe to leave the gunship. The planet they had crashed on certainly wasn't Naseem. He had done his research and this place was way to cold and icy.

"What are your orders, sir?" West turned to the source of the voice, Forry who was staring at him like a scared nuna. West gave him a ten second glare, a little common sense would go far in this situation.

"What are you staring at? Start looking through our supplies, see what we got to survive on this fucking planet".

West snapped rolling his eyes. The youngest member of the hodge podge group that had survived was still as shiny as newly melded armour. Out of his original squad, West still had his pilot Steer, demolitions expert Ord and Medic East. The rest of the survivors had jumped aboard as part of the evacuation. He had no idea who anybody else was. There were five aircraft maintenance guys, six troopers and four navy personnel.

West divided the squad up. He sent one group led by East off to the cargo section, he led another group to the rear and he left Steer, one of the troopers and a tech to guard and repair the ship.

Ileana started trekking towards what looked like the bridge. It was the last whereabouts of her master and she knew he would be mad at her. Her force scan had shown several signs of life, however they usually faded before she could reach them. She thought of the poor souls she had seen before the crash. "Probably all dead, may the force watch over their spirits".

She was walking when she spotted a piece of armour, a shoulder bell, with familiar red and yellow stripes that belonged to the members of the 808th. It's owner was crushed under the wreckage. She paused for a moment in memory for the dead. She was brought out of her commemoration by a bloodcurdling scream, barking and blaster shots. She started running towards the commotion, which sounded like it was coming from the communications room.

She found the source of the blaster shots, a clone navy officer shooting at a pack of beasts that were scavenging around the wreckage. One of the beasts latched onto his arm and had sunk its teeth in, he screamed and tried to remove the beast. Ileana took out her lightsaber and charged. The clone screamed, the beast that had taken a liking to his arm and redoubled its effort to separate it from his torso.

"Get it off! GET IT OFF!". The Clone screamed.

Ileana swung her saber at the animal, it dodged and she hit the wall instead. The clone brought his sidearm up and tried shooting the beast. Ileana directed a blast of air at the animal. It finally let go of the clones arm and turned to face her, she took a ready stance. The sight of the lightsaber freaked it out. The beast turned and jumped through a gap in the metal, it's claws scittering on the wreckage.

Ileana moved to the clone who was leaning up against a bulkhead clutching his arm.

"Let me take a look at that". The clone gave her a fearful look and twisted away. She took on a reassuring voice and approached again.

"It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to do some first aid before you bleed out".

The clone realising that if he was to survive, he had to trust her gingerly allowed her to examine his arm. His complexion was beginning to turn a horrible pallid colour. Ileana hoped the beast that attacked him was not poisonous.

"What do I call you?". Ileana glanced at the ID patch on his uniform. He was an Ensign.

"CT-1178 Ma'am". Ileana knew some clones preferred to be called by their ID number, others chose a name. This clone looked like he hadn't been in service for very long and he was in the navy, which tended to be more strict on rules and regulations.

The beast had put punctures all down his arm that were bleeding and it looked like the bone was broken.

Ileana needed to find something to brace the arm with as well as stop the bleeding. She got out some bacta patches and put them on the wounds, they wouldn't hold for long and she also shot him with some pain killers. In the distance they could hear the beasts barking noises getting closer. They were coming back and it sounded like there were more of them.

"1178, we are going to have to move from this location. I think we should try the medibay as I need to find something for your arm".

1178 mumbled some illegible. Ileana helped the clone to stand. He shrugged her off, however he immediately slumped back down. She had to rely on the force to haul him up again as he was much larger than her. "C'mon we better get to the medibay".

A/N: One of my few complaints about The Clone Wars is it didn't really show a lot of the different Clone variants. I have always been fascinated by space faring navy stories and another fandom I love is Star Trek. The only time we really see Clone Naval Officers is in the Malevolence Arc and the Citadel Arc, the closest we got to a main character in the navy is Wolffe, who was first seen wearing the grey uniform. In my head canon, Clones in the navy were mainly trained by Corellians, a point I will make in the next few chapters.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: The Survivors

A/N: I will give a language warning for this chapter.

Captain West scanned the wreckage. It looked like the rear of the vessel. He could hear what sounded like barking in the distance. One of the maintenance techs flinched.

"That sounds bad".

West smirked. These maintenance grunts didn't really go planet side and weren't really trained in how to deal with wildlife, especially the newer ones who left Kamino before their training was complete. Most never carried weapons and relied on the tools they carried in their yellow vests if they had to defend themselves.

He gave the tech one of his famous feral grins "Maybe it just wants to say hello, I'm sure it's friendly".

Ord began sniggering. The demolitions veteran looked imposing, especially since he was bigger than your average clone, rumour had it he is a failed commando. He had to wear Katarn armour as he didn't fit into the regular kit.

"Aww, Careful Cap'n you'll scare widdle techie. I'm sure it is too much for his single brain cell to process".

"Shut it wagyx". The tech snapped at Ord. Being part of the navy, the little person to person training he had received was from Corellians, it's also how he and his fellow navy brothers liked to swear.

"WHAT did you just call me?" Ord rushed forward and picked the smaller clone up by the scruff of the neck.
The tech gasped and the other members of the team rushed to his assistance.
"PUT ME DOWN! YOU GIANT SON OF A RANCOR".
This enraged Ord who proceeded to throw the struggling tech on the snowy ground and positioned himself for a king hit.
"You widdle shit! I'll teach ya to speak to your superiors that way" Ord sneered and raised his fist. The tech struggled and tried to get free.
West walked up to Ord and grabbed the arm that was posed to punch the struggling tech.

"ENOUGH!". He roared, West liked his vod, however he could prove to be a handful at times.
Ord let go of the tech but not before leaning in so the poor fellow could smell his putrid breath.
" Lucky Cap'n is here. If it had been any other time, I would've pulverised yer shebs". Ord let him up.
West threw Ord a dirty look and turned to the tech. "Son, do you have a name?"
"No" the tech hung his head. "The navy doesn't really let us have names like you ground pounders".
West roared with laughter and clapped him on the back. "We'll just have to find one for you. C'mon ladies the daylight is fading fast and I wanna get to shelter before that noise finds us".

Clone Medic East was rummaging around what used to be the cargo hold. Burnt out fighters, transports, Larties and maintenance droids littered the area. He was looking for anything that could be useful for the group's survival including food, medical supplies, blankets or weapons. He had sent Finch, Forry and BC, three of the infantry troopers, off to look for survivors. A maintenance tech was looking for mechanical supplies and tools that could be used to fix the larty. The naval officer, CT-1325 was keeping watch for unfriendlies. East found a transport that still had its emergency supplies intact. Score! He looked more closely and saw proper MRE's that were given out to the natborn crew on missions, not the flavourless ration bars the clones were usually afforded.
He commed the group, "Vod I hit the jackpot! Enough MRE rations to last us at least a month".
He heard 1325 whoop for joy. "What flavours?"

East rummaged through the loot before replying.

"Nerf stew, roba sausage with onion gravy, nuna a la king, boiled Raada grain and Correlian omelette".

Forry relched into the comm "Correllian vomlette, yummy yummy".

East rolled his eyes, Forry most likely had never had an MRE, Meal Ready to Eat, and had been talking shit with the natborn crew. Clones couldn't afford to be picky about what they got for food. The MREs meant the squad would eat like kings. They had been engineered to eat bland foods and the Kaminoans didn't care about the sensual pleasure of eating and neither did the GAR. If clones were lucky they might get to eat a hot meal from their mess hall segregated from the far better mongrel mess, but the majority of the time the natborns couldn't give a shit and fed them the awfully tasteless ration bars.

Forry spoke up again.

"Rumour has it some battalions such as the 501st or 104th get to eat those beauties three times a day when on missions. Is it true Sarge?".

East had never had the opportunity to serve with those battalions. General Amaroth ran a tight ship and. was known for withholding the basics such as food, showers or leisure time as punishment depending on his mood at the time. He responded to Forry's query carefully, he didn't want to spread an unfounded rumour.

"Honestly dunno, I have never served with those units".
His stomach gave a loud growl as the three younger vod started talking about MRE's, dessert and exotic foods they had supposedly eaten.

Forry, Finch and BC crept through the corridors of the broken ship. So far they had found no more survivors. They supposed all the people had been crushed in the debris or disintegrated on reentry to the atmosphere. The silence was broken by the ever curious Forry.

"Hey guys".

Finch and BC groaned, out of all of them Forry was the youngest, only seven years old and three weeks off Kamino. He could be a massive numpty sometimes, like now and his curiosity was beginning to gain him a reputation for asking stupid questions. BC answered.

"What do you want now?"

"What do we do if we can't get off this planet?"

BC sighed, there was a reason for his name which stood for Big Cunt.

"I dunno? We fight to the death and the winner takes all".
Finch smirked at BC's reply, Forry was silent and BC felt relief that he had finally shut the little fucker up. But Forry's curiosity knew no bounds.

"What is it like serving under a Jedi?" BC facepalmed, he then remembered that the kid had only been onboard a few weeks and hadn't had the pleasure of seeing Amaroth when he got mad. This time Finch answered in a deadpan sort of way.

"Depends on the Jedi". Which was fair considering some Jedi were better than others.

"I heard Jedi can move an entire mountain. Is that true?". BC snorted and roared with laughter. Forry did have his moments. He put his bucket on and opened a private channel to Finch.

"Dude I would stop answering now or else you will end up having your ears tortured with useless questions for the rest of the day".

Finch replied

"Thanks Vod". Then closed Forry's link.

The trio continued on checking for life signs. A horrible animalistic noise could be heard in the distance. BC held up a closed fist bring them to a halt.

"You boys hearing that?"

"Yeah".

"Weapons at the ready".

Vocabulary
wagyx - ass - Corellian

Vod - brother - Mandoa'a

Shebs - backside - Mandoa'a

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: the medibay

Ileana supported 1178 as they made progress towards the medibay. She could hear the barking beasts getting closer and her charge was starting to slip into unconsciousness. The bacta patches she had applied to his wounds earlier were starting to fail and blood was beginning to seep out.

She was struggling to hold his weight.

"C'mon don't you dare pass out on me now big guy". 1178's response to that was a rather rude hand gesture. Ileana let it pass because he wasn't exactly lucid right now.

"Almost there, just a few more metres".

Ileana could see the entrance, she quickened the pace. This was a big mistake because 1178 collapsed, knocking her to the ground. She picked herself up and tried to haul him up onto his feet.

"C'mon! The medibay is right there". He wasn't budging. Suddenly a snarling shape appeared at the end of the corridor. The beasts had returned.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! It's not sleepy time yet".
Ileana mustered all her strength and started pulling 1178 towards the medibay. The clone screamed as she pulled on his injured arm, she switched arms. Another three beasts rounded the corner. They prowled towards her as if they were stalking for prey, which of course they were. She mustered her strength in the force to pull 1178 through the doorway to the medibay. One of the beats launched at them, Ileana slammed her palm on the emergency door control closing it. The beast met the cold metal with a thud. She could hear them sniffing, scratching and whining at the door.

She bent over panting before giving the door the same rude hand gesture 1178 gave her earlier.

Ileana turned to look at the medibay. It was a mess. Beds were upturned, medical materials scattered on the floor and blood stains were on the ceiling. She didn't want to know who or what they belonged to. She turned the least damaged bed over and used the force to levitate 1178 onto it. He groaned in response.

"Now I don't speak the language of your people, but I really need to look at your arm, that means removing your jacket". She received another groan in response.

1178 was pretty much unconscious at this point. Ileana undid the grey outer jacket and slid it off his good arm, she slowly removed it from his injured arm and saw the extent of the damage. The skin was broken and torn. She could definitely see that the bone was broken. She could also see the beginnings of an infection.

You poor poor guy. Ileana started poking around the medicine cabinets for antibiotics, bandages and painkillers.

CT-1178 was warm, as warm as he can ever remember being before. He felt blankets and a soft bed.

"Maybe I died and went to heaven. I have heard of clones talk about decommissioning and euthanasia, if this is it then maybe it isn't so bad". He remembered the beasties, Commander Stassen and pain.

"Hey, it has awoken!". He turned to the voice to see the small figure of Commander Stassen sitting beside his bed.

"How are you feeling? You were knocked out for a while, though that may have been the amount of painkillers I gave you".

1178 gulped. He wasn't used to girls, especially ones around his biological age.

She tilted her head waiting for an answer.

"I feel ok Ma'am". She smiled back at him. His stomach decided that now was a great time to growl.

She stood up.

"I'm going to get you some food and water".

1178 nodded. "What of the beasts?"

"They seem to have left us alone for now. We won't be going anywhere until you feel better". Ileana turned and walked into the store room.

When she returned she had an MRE for Boiled Raada Grain and some water.

"This was all I could find. I hope you like it".

1178 stared at the MRE. He had never had one before, he realized that the medibay she had brought him too was the mongrel medibay. The clone one was a few corridors below them and basic would be a rich description of the facilities. Of course there would be soft fluffy beds, plenty of blankets and MREs in this medibay.

Ileana helped him sit up and pulled the heating tab on the packet. The smell of sweet boiled grain made his mouth water. He picked the spoon up and took a taste. It was almost overwhelming, he closed his eyes and savoured the flavour.

Ileana watched him with an amused expression.

"You must be pretty hungry to enjoy Raada grain".

He looked at her shocked, who didn't like Raada grain? It was warm, filling and you could put lots of sweetener on it, no self respecting clone ate unsweetened Raada grain. The sweeter the better. 1178 got a bit annoyed at her.

"You would think this was a meal fit for kings if all you had eaten for days was ration bars".

Ileana hung her head in shame. Master Amaroth may have been unkind and strict to her, but he was down right nasty to the clones who served under him. She had tried speaking up once, but all that got her was a beating that put her in a bacta tank. She started putting anonymous complaints to the GAR and Jedi Council, but obviously they fell of deaf ears.

"I'm sorry". It was all she could think to say.

1178 knew of Commander Stassen. She could sometimes be seen on the bridge. He couldn't help but feel pity for her. General Amaroth was a bastard and would not be an easy person to work with. In the privacy of the clone barracks, many clones gossiped about the reason why she sometimes sported facial bruises and the frequent visits to the medibay. He remembered the many brothers he had seen fall under the Generals wraith. Rumour has it three brothers went missing after he was disturbed from one of his meditations.

Why had she not stood up to Amaroth? Many had gone to her and the only advice they ever received was to report it to the GAR.

"Commander, you saw some of the things the General did to us. Why did you not say anything?"

Ileana chuckled and thought about her answer.

"I wish I had of been more proactive, but to say anything directly would be suicide on my part. General Amaroth would've sent me away which meant you Clones wouldn't have a witness. I was not Amaroth's first choice of apprentice and he was not my first Master. We were forced together by the council".

1178 wasn't happy with that answer. He didn't know what his thoughts on Commander Stassen were. She did save his life, however she had also stood by while his brothers were treated cruelly by her Master.

He turned back to his meal. It wasn't worth thinking such things now; they had to rely on each other to survive.
"I had better go see if I can locate some more supplies" Ileana offered.

1178 nodded in agreement. Ileana put his pistol within easy reach, left a water bottle and made sure he was comfortable which meant more painkillers.
"I should be back within an hour or so. If not" her voice dropped off. 1178 understood.
Ileana climbed into a ventilation duct in the bulkhead to avoid the beasts and started crawling towards the cargo area.

Chapter Text

Finch, BC and Forry were checking the flight control area for survivors and useful supplies. The Indisputable had managed to launch a couple of fighters before crashing so they knew there had been flight control officers in the area.

Forry was humming a song under his breath as he sifted through one of the store rooms. Finch recognised it as Vode An, the Mandalorian warrior anthem taught to all first gen Clones by the original Cuy'val Dar trainers on Kamino. Finch was surprised that Forry knew it as he thought the Jedi had replaced the Cuy'val Dar with other trainers after an incident between one of the Mando Sergeants and a Jedi liaison, something about different beliefs around how the Clone Army should be trained.

He went back to his search when he heard a piercing whistle.

Finch looked over towards the source of the noise, BC, who started signing frantically.

"I can hear something coming this way. It sounds like it is in the bulkhead".

Forry's eyes were the size of a dinner plate. He wasn't used to enemy contact.

Finch rolled his eyes.

"Forry, follow my lead and don't do anything dumb".

Forry squeaked a yes sir in reply.

They grouped up with BC, got their deeces ready and started moving down the corridor.

BC came to a ventilation duct, the sound was getting close.

He held up his fist and started counting down before kicking the cover in and diving in.

Finch did the same to a duct further up, trapping whatever was crawling around in the duct.

BC started moving towards the noise and came face to face with Jedi Commander Stassen, he froze and lowered his weapon.

"Aww shit! I hope the bloody General isn't with her." BC thought. General Amaroth would be in a foul mood. Poor Forry's first encounter with his Jedi General would not be a pleasant one. BC decided to double check with her.

"Is General Amaroth with you?" he asked coldly.

Ileana was in the ventilation duct making her way to the cargo bay when the hatch for one of the access ports was kicked in, next thing she saw was another Clone diving in and coming face to face with her. This one was an infantry trooper wearing the telltale white armour. It wasn't painted, however it was battered and scratched letting her know that this dude had seen some action. He seemed just as surprised to find her in the shaft as she was to find him.

"Hello there!" She exclaimed.
The trooper just glared and frowned at her. He seemed to be trying to look behind her.

"Is General Amaroth with you Ma'am?" He asked as if she was the bearer of bad news.

"No, I am not sure what happened to Master Amaroth, last I heard he was on the bridge". Ileana answered, trying to sound sad. She was pretty sure Amaroth wouldn't have made it, she realised hadn't really looked for him and was more concerned with looking after 1178. It said a lot about how much she cared about her new master.

The clone snorted and she was sure she heard "good riddance" under his breath. She decided to ignore it and focused on survival.

"You might want to get your comrades into the vent. There are beasts hanging around that aren't fussy about what they eat. I found another clone survivor who was attacked. I took him to the upper medibay, but he is in pretty rough shape".

BC was surprised, she had found an injured survivor and treated him. If Amaroth had found him, the bastard would've left him to rot. He found himslef warming to the Commander. He opened a comm link to his comrades.

"Yes ma'am. Oi! Finch and Forry, get in the vent now".

Ileana and the clone moved to allow the others to squish in. BC introduced everyone.

"Look who I found in the bulkhead, it's Commander Stassen. Ma'am may I introduce Finch, Forry and I'm BC".

Ileana nodded and replied "Nice to see a friendly face".

Forry started giggling at the joke, he didn't realise Jedi made jokes. Maybe they weren't so scary. BC rolled his eyes for what seemed like the one hundredth time today.

"CT-4444 have some dignity". That seemed to shut him up. BC moved onto the next topic.

"Ma'am you mentioned an injured clone. Where is he?"

"In the upper medibay. He is resting, but in pain. I am not sure how long he will last without a proper medic looking at him".

It was lucky that the squad medic was in the cargo bay. BC put through a connection.

Medic East was finishing up with the supplies. He had managed to make sleds out of some scrap metal and rope from the wreckage. He had stacked everything onto the sleds and made sure the loads were evenly distributed. Each member of his team would pull one sled. He wasn't sure what they would be doing after this. That was up to the Captain, who hadn't commed in for a few hours, East hoped everything was ok.

His own comm beeped. He looked at the ID with annoyance. BC wasn't his favourite trooper to deal with. Still he had to answer.

"East here, what is it?".

"Sir we found a survivor, Commander Stassen. She says that there is an injured Clone in the mongrel medibay who needs medical attention".

East sat up and replied.

"I will head to the medibay now and Stassen can lead you there. We will carry him back to the cargo area. East out".

East groaned and picked up a fully stocked med kit.

He turned to where he could see 1325 keeping watch.

"CT-1325" he yelled to get the officer's attention.

"I'm just going to assist the search team, if I'm not back within the hour, comm Captain West".

"Sir yes sir", 1325 shouted back.

East turned and started making his way to the upper medibay.

Vocabulary:
Cuy'val Dar - A selection of mostly Mandalorian trainers, there were others, who were selected by Jango Fett to train the original batch of Clones.
Vode An - Brothers all - Mandalorian battle chant

Mongrel - another term for Natborn, often used as an insult.

Chapter Text

Ileana looked at the three Clones that had found her. Two of them, Finch and BC, were veterans. BC's armour was pure white and battered, while Finch had the yellow and red stripes of the 808th and a tattoo of a bird on his cheek. Both had facial expressions that told her they had had enough of this shit and wanted to find the nearest cantina. The third member of the team, Forry, looked more like a teenager than an adult. He still had a roundness to his cheeks and a few teen breakouts on his face. His armor was white and still shiny. He was watching her curiously. She smiled at him, he blushed and became interested in his weapon.

Ileana felt a pang of unease with Forry. He seemed much too young to be on the field yet. She knew that was hypocritical of her as there were Jedi Padawans in their early teens leading troops and even clone veterans like the other two were only ten years old. She herself was only seventeen, she was very young to be on the battlefield. Some Master Jedi had protested the use of Padawans under the age of 18, but the council disagreed. It would mean the masters separating themselves from their Padawan's for long periods of time and the Jedi didn't really do that, it would break traditions that had been with the order for thousands of years.

She sighed, this entire war had put a dampener on becoming a Jedi for her. She was seriously beginning to think about leaving and exploring the outside world. The only thing stopping her was the Jedi Order was all she knew. The outside world was a forbidden unknown and she knew nobody, not even her biological family. What would she do for a living? Ileana loved fixing things, but how would she get a job like that? It was all so confusing. She didn't know the answers and frankly she should be concentrating on getting to safety and saving as many lives as possible.

Forry watched the Jedi Padawan with wide eyed reverence. He had always wanted to meet a Jedi and he was bursting with questions.

He was still reeling from the fact she told a joke and then smiled at him. Was this normal? He would give any amount of credits to see her smile again, not that clones got credits.

She was much smaller than he imagined, was that normal for a Jedi? Clones are all six feet tall, he had met one who was taller, Lieutenant Ord, but anything too extreme was dealt with by the Kaminoans. He shuddered at the thought of the longnecks and their sadistic ways. She moved back to allow BC to check the coast was clear. This meant she was next to him.

Commander Stassen had long brown hair that he was tempted to touch, skin that was about the same colour as his own and blue eyes.

He had so many questions he wanted to ask, yet for some reason he couldn't get the courage to ask her. Why was that? He was always told he asked too many questions and to shut up. He had a natural curiosity and loved to read and while he could shoot straight, he honestly wasn't the best trooper.

Unfortunately this meant he was unpopular with the other Clones and natborn crew. They labelled him as annoying, he tried to make friends but they usually disappeared or started teasing him. He knew full well that if the GAR wasn't so desperate for manpower he would've been decommissioned by the Kaminoans a long time ago.

They reached the medibay where 1178 was with no issues. Ileana could still sense the presence of the beasts, but they seemed distant and they were asleep.
"Coast is clear!" the team moved in.

Vocabulary:

Longnecks – derogatory term for a Kamenoan
Natborn – a non-clone

Chapter Text

1178 was woken by Commander Stassen. She had brought some company of infantry troopers. He groaned, "I thought you were just going to the cargo hold for food. Not bringing an idiot convention to see me".

Ileana laughed at his response and gave him a sarcastic response.

"Hey grumpy! I found these guys, they have called a medic who should be here soon who will hopefully be able to help you more than me".

1178 facepalmed with his good arm.

"Don't call me grumpy!" He was afraid the name would stick, especially with the other Clones here.

Ileana rolled her eyes. "Whatever!"

Right on cue another clone came out of the ceiling. His armour had the tell tale patch on the shoulder bell that identified him as a medic.

"You lot took your time!"

BC grabbed the medikit and embraced the medic.

"Medic East! Good to see your friendly face".

East's face looked like it could curdle milk, this garnered a few snickers from the troops hanging around. He shoved GC off him.

"Get off me Di'kut! Where's the patient?"

Ileana spoke up.

"Right over here".

East strode over to 1178's bedside. The medic began removing the bandages and dressing that currently encased his arm. This was made easy as 1178 was still hopped up on painkillers.

East turned to the girl, speaking carefully as he was not sure how she took feedback.

"You did a good job with the bandage, however you can see the wounds are still seeping".

Ileana looked over at the injured arm, she could see where she had placed new bacta patches over the bite wounds, they were still bleeding. The medic explained that the fact she had put the bandages on tight meant that the clone had not bled out. He explained that there were other things she should have done to stop the bleeding. Ileana listened, she had always made sure that she took medical training so she could help out if necessary. She was yet to learn how to heal using the force, however she could still be useful.

East then proceeded to start stitching the wounds up properly.

Captain West was surrounded. His team had started a search when a pack of animals appeared. Ord took out his X-6 cannon ready to defend the group if necessary. The white jobs had their deeces, The navy officers had pistols, but the maintenance techs had nothing. One of the beasts leapt and caught the tech Ord had been arguing with earlier. The man screamed as it pinned him down and started ripping into him. West tried shooting it, however it seemed to be impervious to the blaster bolts. Ord started firing the X-6. The noise of the cannon seemed to scare the animals off, however the poor tech was caught in the crossfire, he didn't look so good. West surmised it was better to put the poor bastard out of his misery now, instead of letting the Kaminoans do it later.

Ord didn't take having to kill vod very well. He had already decided he did not like the smarmy techie, in fact he planned to teach him a lesson when the Cap'n wasn't around. But that did not mean the poor di'kut had to die the way he did.

West contacted East and was surprised when the person who answered was female.

East had given his comm to Stassen as he was busy fixing up 1178. It buzzed and she answered.

"Stassen here".

West was now worried. Had Amaroth survived? If so then they were well and truly FUBAR. He didn't have too much to do with Stassen except for the odd comment at a briefing. If he was perfectly honest, she seemed like a bit of a doormat.

"West here. We have come across some unfriendlies. One man down. Over".

Ileana paused before she disconnected, there was one thing she wanted to ask.

"Have you heard anything about the General?".

West winced. He really didn't want to explain to the Padawan that her Master went crazy and killed Admiral Koi, especially over the comm.

"No, I haven't heard anything from the General or the Admiral. West out".

Ord sniggered. He had listened to West's rant in the LAAT about what happened on the bridge as Indisputable went down.

"Lying to the Commander Cap'n, you could get shot for that" Ord teased.

West turned towards the demolition clone.

"Shut it Mi'shebs".

Ord decided to push his luck.

"Awww! We have to pwotect the widdle Padawans feelings, despite the fact she never gave a shit about us".

One of the naval officers decided to make a rather disgusting comment about the Commander's shebs and a conversation broke out comparing the assets of the female Jedi Generals. Some of the flying dudes had been lucky enough to serve with Aalya Secura.

West felt a headache coming on. "ENOUGH!" That sort of talk was enough to get clones reconditioned. If the wrong person heard them, they were all screwed.

Ord gave the Captain a surprised look. West had never come across as a prude before, why now?

"Aww come on sir, it's not as if you had any love for the Jedi, plus Stassen ain't bad lookin".

For the first time in his entire career, Clone Captain West lost his shit. He walked up to Ord and booked him in the mouth, sending the larger clone backwards. West looked mortified, he had never lost control like that.

Ord sat up, wiped his mouth and grinned.

"Well, well, well Cap'n, I believe you are soft for our Commander, defending her honour like that".

West threw Ord a dirty look before turning around and stomping off. He needed a moment to cool down.

Vocabulary:
Mi'shebs – asshole – Mandoa'a

Shebs - backside - Mandoa'a

Chapter Text

Naval NCO CT-1325 has been put on watch duty. He was looking for unfriendlies, whatever they were, and keeping an eye out for survivors. He had heard a barking noise coming from further down the wreckage and he swore he saw a shape move but other than that nothing. He was exhausted. When Indisputable went down he was coming to the end of a 12 hour shift and was looking forward to some rack time and something to eat. He started to nod off when a figure came around the corner and knocked him out.
Aircraft tech Spanner was finishing up securing the supplies to the sleds Medic East had made. He had found some spare parts that could be used to fix their ship so they could fly away. He shivered, the temperature was dropping as nightfall approached. He looked out and saw the sunlight fading, he also couldn’t see 1325.
“1325?” He called out. There was no reply. Spanner had a bad feeling about this. He commed the NCO.
“1325, come in please”. No reply. Where the feck could he be. Maybe nature called and he wandered off. 1325 would answer his comm and make sure to let one rip extremely loudly. No clone would miss that opportunity.
Spanner picked up a stray piece of metal as a weapon and wandered out to look for 1325.

Spanner found 1325 laying face down on the ice. He had been knocked on the head and passed out. He had the beginnings of frostbite on his fingers and face. Spanner picked the man up into a fireman’s carry and brought him inside. He commed East.
“Sargent, we may have a problem.”.
East had finished with 1178 who was now blissfully knocked out. The group had decided that there were enough of them to venture out and head back to the cargo area. East had found a litter that they could carry 1178 on. He would be carried by Finch, GC and Forry. Stassen would take point, and he would bring up the rear.
While he was in the medibay, he replenished his medkit and grabbed some extra bits and pieces that the group may need. He would tuck them in with 1178 on the litter or ask Stassen to carry them.
He watched the three troopers carefully transfer 1178 to the litter. The man was wrapped up in blankets and still unconscious.
GC turned and let him know they were ready.
His comm pinged, it was the techie who was helping in the cargo area, Spanner.
“Sir, we may have a problem”.
East had a bad feeling about those words. “What is it Spanner?”
“It’s 1325 sir. He appears to have been hit while he was on patrol. He is unconscious.” Spanner turned his camera to show 1325. Physically that man was fine, except for a bit of frostbite, he could’ve been asleep.
East had a sinking feeling, it couldn’t have been the beasts, they tended to leave a huge mess when they attacked. Could this mean there was something else out in the tundra?
He spoke quickly to Spanner.
“Spanner, make sure you have a weapon on you and find somewhere to hide. The rest of the team and I are returning now. East out.”

Next he called West.
The Captain answered, however East could tell something had upset him. Maybe this new problem had hit West’s team first.
“Captain West, it looks like we have a new problem”.

West was sitting staring out over the horizon. The sun was setting and the temperature was dropping. They would be wise to look for a suitable campsite, before the light went away completely. He sighed, Ord had pressed all the wrong buttons on him and he had exploded, the man had always been a bit difficult. Ord had been assigned to his battalion after Geonosis. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of him, some say he was a failed commando, whatever that means. It certainly would explain his independent streak. West had always tried to keep things professional, shit talk didn’t go down with him.
It was bad for morale and if they got caught, it could mean a whole raft of trouble, especially if Amaroth was still alive. West shuddered at the thought of the tyrant still out there. He hoped that they would go to the bridge and find the Jedi crushed under a piece of steel.
West went back to his contemplation when his comm went off. It was East, his very own batchmate.
“West here, what’s up?”
East updated him and he felt his stomach bottom out. There was something else out there other than those beasts. West got up and walked over to the team who went silent as he approached. He had a sneaking suspicion about what they were discussing.

“East just commed in. One of his team was attacked by something other than those beasts”.
One of the flying dudes spoke up.
“Maybe it only comes out at night”. West gave the man a glare, it didn’t help to speculate. Speculation turned into rumour, which turned into trouble.
“Maybe, but for now we will set up camp here and tomorrow head towards East’s position. The sooner we get off this planet the better”. He paused to make sure they all understood.
“You!” West pointed at one of the navy guys. “What’s yer name?”
The man blinked at him.
“1109 sir”.
“Well 1109 you have the first watch”.

Chapter Text

Ileana and the clones started the trek to the cargo hold. She spread herself out in the force to ensure the beasts weren't coming back and ignited her saber to light the way.

Forry was mesmerized by her saber. He had never seen such a colour before. It was electric blue, the same colour as her eyes. She smiled in amusement at his expression of awe. Stassen slowed to walk beside him.

"Your name is Forry right?" She asked

Forry replied "yes ma"am".

Ileana walked over to him and handed him the saber. By now his eyes were the size of dinner plates.

"Ma"am I can't." He squeaked out.

"Yes you can," Ileana replied firmly. She had never agreed with the statement that a lightsaber was sacred.

BC and Finch groaned as Forry let go of the litter with 1178 to take hold of the saber. He held it as if it would break if he did anything wrong. Ileana began to show him the different parts of the saber.

"Don't point that end at your face, that blue gem is the ignition switch and that knob controls the length and width of the blade". BC started sniggering, all veterans had all heard the bawdy jokes about female Jedi and lightsabers. So had the Commander, Ileana threw him a filthy look. Forry looked confused, what was he missing here?

East intervened. "If you lot have finished examining the Commanders lightsaber, we have a job to do". At the mention of the 'Commanders lightsaber' BC lost it, doubling over in laughter. Forry grabbed the litter so 1178 didn't go tumbling to the ground.

East rolled his eyes. "BC grow up!" he snapped at the di'kut clone.

Ileana was mortified, she was used to dirty jokes and could sometimes sense when someone was thinking of her in that way. When she was at the temple, sometimes younglings or other Padawans would sneak in forbidden materials out of curiosity and the older Padawans sometimes got into trysts or left to solicit the parlors in the deep levels of Courasant. She had walked in many a couple in the throws of passion in the hidden parts of the temple and surrounds. The thought always made her feel uncomfortable and she did her best to avoid it. The comment BC made was plain humiliating, it was in her face and rude. Is this how people expected her to act? What about the other Jedi?

Just before she was deployed, Master Secura spoke to the female Padawans about what to do if someone was inappropriate towards them. Ileana felt sorry for the Twi'lek woman. She was a formidable warrior and brilliant military strategist, yet she had heard about how she was spoken about among the natborn, clone crews and even some Jedi.

Ileana's face went red. She grabbed her saber back off Forry, ignited it and continued on her way.

Forry was confused, had he done something wrong? He put his helmet on and opened a link to BC.

"What just happened there?"

"None of your business shiny" BC sneered back at him.

The group continued on in silence.

Spanner had hidden in the transport ship East was looking at earlier. 1325 was starting to stir

"What happened?"

"You were attacked while on lookout duty. Any idea what it could have been?"

1325 thought about the last question. No he didn't, at the time he was too bloody tired to care.

"No".

Spanner turned and saw East and the away team approaching. It looked like they had picked up a few strays along the way. He ran to wave them over to his hiding place.

"This is the only place I could think to hide". Spanner reported. East clapped him on the shoulder "Better than nothing vod".

1178 was beginning to gain consciousness, he looked around and noticed he wasn't in the medibay anymore.

Stassen noticed first "Hey!".

1178 looked up at Commander Stassen, "What's going on?"

She told him that they were hiding out in the transport overnight as there seemed to be something else sneaking around. 1178 gulped at that, what else could survive on this ball of rock?

BC went out and returned with a bunch of MREs for dinner. Everyone took one and for a few minutes the ship smelt of heating up MREs. East then stood up and took charge,

"We will take the watch two at a time. Commander Stassen you and Forry are up first. Then GC and Finch. Spanner and I will stay with the wounded".

Forry and Stassen left the group, while the others hunkered down for the night.

"Over here it looks good, we will get a good view of the cargo area". Ileana pointed at a spot near the entrance, it had good cover, but they could see everything going on.

"Looks good Ma'am" Forry replied.

Ileana sat on a piece of wreckage and gestured for him to sit beside her.

They sat in silence for a while.

Commander Stassen first broke the silence "You seem to have many questions, ask away".
Forry wasted no time, "Ok ummm! How long does it take to become a Jedi?"

Ileana smiled, she got asked this one a lot whenever she met a non Jedi.

"Well as you may know, younglings are given the order by their parents when they are very young. When they are brought to the temple they begin training. If a Jedi knight or master see's a youngling they wish to train, they will ask if the child wishes to become a Jedi. Usually this happens when they are between 8 - 12. After that it can take any amount of time to become a knight, usually your master says when you are ready" She replied.

Forry looked at Stassen, "How old were you when you were chosen?"

" I came to the temple from a orphanage on Onderon at a few months old. My first master chose me when I was 9 years old. But I didn't formally start training until I was 12". She seemed sad. Forry wondered why. Wasn't becoming a Jedi a great honour?

They continued like this for what seemed like an eternity, then settled into a comfortable silence.

Ileana herself was curious about Forry. "Hey, its your turn. can I ask you a question?" She asked.

Forry nodded wondering why she would want to know more about him. "What was it like growing up on Kamino?"

Forry was taken aback, he had never been asked that before. Clones weren't supposed to talk about such things. He took a moment to think about his answer.

"Well I guess it was hard". Ileana braced herself. "I was nothing special, just another white job, I was mainly flash trained. During the last six months my batch mates and I did have a training instructor who made sure we were all up to scratch. He didn't really like me. I was released early as the GAR was desperate for manpower"

Ileana listened as Forry told her his story. He seemed to hesitate to tell her certain things. She promised that he would never get in trouble for telling her this stuff.

She was shocked how he was treated. The Kaminoans were sadists and the training Sergeant were brutes. There had been whispers of discontent throughout the Clone ranks, usually it was shut down with threats of decommissioning or being put on permanent maintenance duty, like 99.

Forry was grateful, for the first time in his life he had been listened to. Most people saw him as just a white job, a meat droid as the Seppies said, which wasn't entirely untrue. It was said many joined the Seps to protest the use of a clone army.
Commander Stassen didn't make any scathing comments, tell him to sit down and shut up or that he was melodramatic.

They returned to sitting in silence until they were relieved by BC and Finch. As they walked to the transport, he surprised her by grabbing her arm and whispered a quick thank you and asked if she would be his friend.

Chapter Text

The next morning West and his group broke camp and started towards East's position. When the sun shone, the planet was quite pleasant. 

‘Err Bawse, you might wanna look at this”. Ord had gone to investigate a noise he heard in the wreckage. He had arrived to find two bodies, they couldn’t have come from the wreckage or beasts. 

West came around the corner and exclaimed

“Aww shit! That's Steers team”. 

Ord was confused, all white jobs and navy grunts looked the same to him. “Whadja mean?” 

West rolled his eyes, “that’s the two guys we left with Steer” he imformed the demolitions expert. 

West tried to open a link to Steer, something was jamming the signal

“Dank Ferrik!” He cursed. What if something had happened to the pilot? West wasn’t a bad pilot, but he had never flown a larty before. He knew some of the techs might have some experience due to the nature of their job. 

“Ord, see if you can spot anything in the wreckage”.

“Yes Cap’n”

Ord ordered one of the techs to watch his six. He looked in a random room, a store by the looks of it He held his Z-6 at the ready, the place was littered with debris from the crash. 

“Sir this looks all clear”, the techie piped up.

“It’s all clear when I say it’s all clear”, Ord snarled back. He turned and continued looking around. 

West was still trying to contact Steer when one of the Navy guys came up behind him. The flying dude wasn’t used to dealing with infantry Captains and looked as nervous as a newly minted shiny.

“Sir I think you better come and see this” he said in a shaky voice.

West looked at the guy.

Who died ? He joked to himself and stood up to follow him.

West regretted his choice of thought when they rounded a corner to find another body. It was Steer and he was alive, just. It looked like he had put up a fight with whatever attacked him, but he had suffered a blow to the chest that had broken several ribs and snapped his spine. 

“Medkit! Bring me a medkit”, West called to the group. Somebody handed him one that was partially used, it still contained enough painkillers to keep Steer going for a short while.

Steer looked up at his Captain and friend. 

“What's up dikut?” He smiled and West grinned back.

“The sky, why? Steer, what attacked you?” West asked. Steer coughed up some blood, he wouldn’t last much longer. 

“Not too sure? It was really fast and was wearing clone armour, but it wasn’t a clone. It’s movements were completely wrong. I was repairing the ship when I heard one of the other men scream. I went to investigate when I was clobbered on the head. I woke up here wondering what the fuck was going on. I tried to escape, but it caught up to me and attacked”. Steer went silent and closed his eyes if he were asleep.

West waited a few minutes before asking Steer more questions. Steer didn’t reply, he was dead.

My best pilot. He was with us on Genosis . He closed his eyes and quoted the Mandalorian vow for the departed

“Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la”. 

West opened a comm link to Ord and Easts team both men were buddies of Steer.

“Steers dead” He told them bluntly. He heard  the demolition expert let out a string of expletives and the sound of a piece of metal being kicked. East cut the comm and went silent. 

West felt pity for both men. All Clones knew the pain of losing a good vod or buddy. 

“If I catch the chakaar who killed Steer, I’m gonna rip his bloody arms off” Ord snarled.

West raised an eyebrow at that and replied to the grieving man. "I wouldn't expect any less of you". Ord's comm west silent. 

Something Steer had said has shook West to the bone. The attacker was wearing clone armour and wasn’t a clone. He didn’t know what was worse, the attacker was deadly or it was wearing the armour of one of his dead brothers. He opened a comm link to Ord.

“Report back to our location. We need to keep moving. Unfriendly is using our own armour”.

Chapter Text

Ileana woke from her sleep. All the Clones were still snoring away, except for Finch and BC who were on guard duty.

Force! You think the Kaminoans would have genetically engineered them to sleep silently. It was nearing daybreak and she was restless. She didn't want to shock anyone but she was getting a niggling feeling in her stomach, the same feeling she got whenever another force wielder was around. She got up and walked outside the transport, wrapping herself in a blanket to guard against the freezing cold. She snuck past the two on guard duty, both seemed to be engrossed at a holozine they found in the wreckage. It was still dark outside and the sky was lit up with the planet and other moons.
It's hard to believe there is a galactic war on or let alone a civil war on the planet next door. She could sense the anguish of the planet. Naseem had been embroiled in a civil war now for more than twenty-five years over the rightful heir to the throne, the population was tired of constant fighting. The Separatists had offered them a way out, however it had all been a ruse. The fighting continued and the planet saw no peace. The Separatists mined the planet of all it's value and sold it all away. The Republic had come to bring food and medical supplies to the people. Master Amaroth had also been tasked with another mission. He never told her anything so even if she got off this moon, she couldn't continue with this top secret mission.
Ileana's thoughts went back to the encounter with Forry. It troubled her, Jedi were not supported to have friends. It went against the rules on attachment. She could sense he had already developed attached to her, this surprised her as most Clones kept a professional distance with her leaving the friendship side of things to their brothers. It wasn't the done thing for them to be seen with Jedi. There were some cases of clones and Jedi forging strong working relationships, like General Skywalker and Kenobi and their respective commanders, however it was frowned upon by the Council who would separate those they deemed unsuitable.

Ileana heard a scratching noise behind her, perhaps the beasts had returned? Or the thing that attacked 1325 or one of the clones had come to check on her. She drew her lightsaber in preparation for a fight and moved to a ready pose. She could see a black shape flittering between the wreckage, it moved with a grace beyond anything she had ever seen. The shape leapt over the wreckage and disappeared. She kept alert for a few seconds before attaching the lightsaber to her belt. She turned to return to the freighter and alert the others. Suddenly something grabbed her from behind. She tried to get to her saber, but dropped it in the process.

Ileana threw a punch and kick in an attempt to get free but her had hit familiar plastoid armour. Her head was positioned so she could bite it. the thing howled and dropped her and she started towards the freighter yelling for BC and Finch. She looked towards their position to see the two clones on the ground, she hoped they weren't dead.

The thing caught up to her and grabbed her leg. She fell to the ground, as it started dragging her, the things' hood fell off revealing its face.

"Master!" She gasped. Amaroth's usually long while hair was burnt off, his skin was blistered with burn marks, however it was his eyes that shocked her. They were now a golden colour.

Amaroth was not happy to have been recognised by her, he dropped her leg, walked over to her head and punched her until she went unconscious.

East, Spanner, 1178 and Forry were awoken by the screams of Commander Stassen. Forry leapt into action mode. The young clone grabbed his deece and prepared to run out of the freighter. "We have to help her!" he yelled.

East grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back.

"Forry, you can't just go running out there without a sitrep".

East commed Finch and BC. "Oi! Still awake out there?". No reply, East was beginning to get a sinking feeling, when the comm pinged. It was a very groggy BC.

"Sir we were attacked. Finch is down, I repeat, Finch is down".

East cursed and grabbed his medkit and turned to Forry, who was the only one with a weapon at the ready, "follow me".

Chapter Text

The two of them commandoed it to BCs position, when they arrived they found BC, who was stable, however Finch was still unconscious. Forry carried unconscious Finch back to the ship in a fireman’s carry and East supported BC. 

When they returned to the ship East commed West, who would be very close to their position by now. 

“West, what’s your location? Commander Stassen was taken”.

West answered his comm to East who sounded panicked, not that he blamed the man, losing a Jedi was a serious misdemeanour.

“Stay where you are. We are coming to your position in the next hour”. 

West turned to his squad, all of them looked like they needed an ale. 

“Easts team is located in the cargo hanger. We need to get there as soon as possible. Commander Stassen has been taken”. 

West led his team into the cargo area. Forry and 1325, who was doing much better, were on lookout duty. 

Forry head popped out when he saw the team, he raised his deece

“Halt!”

Ord looked at the shiny with amusement, he walked towards Forry and snatched the deece out of his hand and tossed it aside

“Heads up shiny the cavalry is here”.

Forry stared at Ord in shock. West broke the stare by asking where East was. Forry opened his mouth to reply when the man himself came trotting towards West.

The two batch mates embraced. East let go first.

“C’mon you lot, let's get into the freighter. We have MREs!”

Ords face lit up “MREs!”

“We found Steer’s team dead, we don’t think it was those beasts, we think it was something else”. West recounted.
The rest of the crew were in the freighter. West was telling East about what happened on the way. Spanner and one of the navy dudes, named Bulkhead, had taken over the watch and Forry hung back shooting unsure glances at Ord. 

“How do you plan to get away from here without Steer? He was the only trained pilot among the crew” East asked. 

West sighed “I might be able to fly the LAAT, but it will be a rough ride. I suggest we get our supplies and head off as soon…”

West was broken off by Forry who was listening to the conversation between his two commanding officers.

“Hold on! What about Stassen? We have to look for her.” Forry exclaimed. 

West turned towards the insolent shiny who was standing there as if he was begging for the hiding that would occur in other circumstances.

“Is this what they teach you young whippersnappers now on Kamino, to interrupt a conversation between your commanding officers?”

Forry’s mouth opened as if he was coming up with a retort, but thought twice about it.

Ord started sniggering

 “looks like Cap’n has some competition”.

West threw him a death glare and moved to get right in Forrys face.

“CT-4444 Forry isn’t it?”

Forrys eyes went wide and he  nodded. West continued,

“I’ve heard of you. The bane of Sergeant Devi’s existence, he told me you like to ask questions and can talk the ear off a banthas backside, you also have the worst target practice record in the legion and one of the worst training records to get off Kamino”.

Forry gulped, he knew he had done it this time. The rest of the crew were pretending to be busy, but he knew they were listening or watching out of the corner of their eyes. 

“Sir? I only wanted to ask if we would be going after her” He stammered at the Captain.

West stared at the shiny, the kid still looked just like he had just been decanted from his tube. Most shinies did their best to behave in front of their commanders, in fact it was sometimes annoying because they didn’t seem to have an individual thought. This one seemed to be bolder and less worried about consequences, it was a trait that could have him sent off for reconditioning. West was glad Amaroth hadn’t met him. 

He sighed and answered the kids' question.

“I am not sure if we can go after Stassen. We have no idea what has taken her or if we have the resources to go after her…”.

“But sir!” Forry interrupted the Captain mid sentence.

“ENOUGH!” West roared back.

“The Commander don’t give a damn about us, so why should I risk our lives for her”. 

Forry shut up and bowed his head, he was used to being yelled at but this was different. He knew there was no point in arguing with Captain West once his mind was made up.

“We will leave for the LAAT tomorrow at first light”.

Forry would have to come up with a plan on his own

Chapter Text

It was late. Forry had just come off watch with BC, who had been teasing him about the telling off he had received earlier. BC reckoned Forry had a ‘crush’ on the Commander and thought it was the funniest thing since one of his batch mates got his head stuck in a hole during stealth training. Scowling at BC, why was he so mean? He went to an empty sleeping bag and pretended to kip down for the night. As soon as he heard BC start to snore, he got up and grabbed his deece. He also grabbed some grenades from Ord's demolition bag, being very careful not to wake the intimidating clone.

Forry crept outside, he was glad that the two on duty weren’t paying much attention. He made his way across the cargo area to a man sized hole in the side of the wreckage and climbed through making sure to trip on the way out. Forry was sent sprawling onto the ice outside.
He noticed a glint in the snow, it was the bejeweled ignition button for Stassen's lightsaber. He picked it up and ignited the saber. Somehow the noise seemed louder now he was sneaking out, he waved it around and noticed that there were specks of blood around the area where the saber was found. He looked around and saw that there was a trail of disturbed snow leading to the south. He turned the saber off and clipped it to his belt.

"I guess I’m following the trail".

He followed the trail until he reached the end of the wreckage and there was only icy tundra followed by a huge mountain range. The trail was fast being covered in snow and would be wiped out in a few hours. He would be an easy target for predators, there weren't a lot of places to hide.
Forry took a deep breath, swallowed his anxiousness and continued forward into the unknown.

BC was the first the realise that Forry had gone. They all assumed the worst, that he had been dragged off by the mystery attacker or by the beasts when nature called.
BC was horrified, he couldn’t think of a shittier way to die. There was no body or evidence of a fight. Spanner discovered some blood splatters and disturbed snow and they all assumed it was Forry's.
“I know he was annoying, thick as and green as grass, but I am going to miss the little fucker” BC told Ord. Ord raised an eyebrow at that and went back to watch duty. He hadn’t told anyone, but some of his precious grenades were missing from his stash.
Finch showed no signs of regaining consciousness and 1178 was now able to help on light duties, mainly packing the sled.
The group were pretty much ready to start back towards the LAAT. The maintenance guys reckoned they had all the parts they would need and East had made sure they had enough food, med supplies and shelter to last a few weeks.
The group was divided up and they would each have a turn at pulling the sled along. They also had built a special sled for the wounded to ride in.
They set off early in the morning, hopefully they would arrive back at the LAAT by the end of the day.

Forry was freezing and hungry. The climate controls on his armour were not designed to handle this type of climate. He had been following the trail for an hour and as expected, the snow had started to cover it up to the point it was now barely visible. The mountains were now looming over Forry and it looked like the Commander had been taken into the range and whatever had taken her was hiding. The benefit of this is there were places to hide for a clone in the mountains, the tundra was flat for miles across, the only cover being the wreckage of the Indisputable.
He knew he was not the brightest Clone, or the biggest or the bravest. However Commander Stassen had showed him kindness and that was something Forry was never going to forget.

Forry reached the foot of the range which was a sheer cliff, he looked around, there was no other entrance into the mountains. In the distance he could hear the barking of the beasts. They sounded hungry. Forry decided that he needed to make a move fast if he was to avoid lunch. He attached the repelling hook from his belt and attached it to his deece and fired. He started the treacherous abseil up when he slipped on the ice sending him scrambling for his footing. Swearing he regained control and continued up the cliff. At the top he took a moment to regain his breath and ate one of his precious ration bars. As he was chewing her heard a scream carried on the wind. It sounded far away and was coming from a canyon in between the mountains.

Chapter Text

Ileana stirred and blearily opened her eyes. She felt nausea wash over her and she woke from her coma.

Where am I? Certainly not at the camp anymore

Her wrists and ankles were tied together, she appeared to be in a cave. She remembered being dragged away by her master, or what she thought was her master. She couldn't believe that he had survived the crash, the bridge was one of the most exposed and vulnerable parts of the ship.

Ileana noticed on her restraints. They were done tightly to the point she could not move her wrists. She focused the force to see if she could loosen them. She was soon able to move her hands.

"Going somewhere?" A voice appeared behind her. She stopped struggling and twisted around to try and look Master Amaroth in the eye.

"Master! You survived, how?"

Amaroth chuckled, "it takes a lot more than a crash to kill me young one".

Ileana managed to get a good look at him. Amaroth's face was bruised and cut. His robes were tatty and dirty.

The thing that struck her as different was his facial expression. Amaroth had always kept up the pretense that fighting in a war was beyond him. He usually had an expression of haughty superiority and looked down upon people. Now his face had a deranged look on it and his eyes had gone a golden colour of a Jedi who had turned. He was also wearing clone armour that contrasted oddly against his blue skin.

He threw an object down on the floor of the cavern, it was a long range comm device.

"Master, I am ready to join you". the holo image of Count Dooku appeared, he did not look impressed with Amaroth. Ileana's eyes went wide. Her master was a traitor, why?

"Amaroth my old colleague, you wish to join me in my quest to bring balance to the galaxy".

Amaroth bowed and replied in a simpering voice.

"Yes my lord, whatever I need to do to prove myself worthy".

Dooku looked down at Amaroth as if he were an insect and then saw Ileana struggling with her bonds.

"Well then why is the girl still alive? You should have killed her by now".

Ileana baulked at that and redoubled her efforts to break free.

Amaroth simpered "My Lord, what if she proves useful? Surly it in enough to keep her alive for that…".

Amaroth was stopped mid sentence, he started scratching his throat as if he was struggling to breath. Dooku had him in a force choke.

"You would do well to listen to me Amaroth. My master and I have no interest in feeble padawans. You told us you had access to an object so powerful it would make us the rulers of the galaxy with just a mere glance. Where is it?".

Ileanas ears perked up, what object were they talking about?

Amaroth was doing his best to answer.

"I am still searching My Lord, but the object you both wish for it is mere legend. Nobody has heard a thing about it since the times before Grand Master Yoda".

DON'T LIE TO ME! Yelled Dooku. Amaroth sank down into a pathetic ball. But Master, I am stranded on this moon. How can I possibly search for what you want here?

You have six hours to find the answer before I kill you. Good day. Dooku closed the connection.

Amaroth stood still, breathing like a wounded nexu. He looked deranged, he turned to Ileana, who had managed to loosen the bonds on her wrist enough that she could break free.

"YOU WILL NOT DEFY ME AGAIN!" He screamed at her. Ileana cowered, it was better to appear small and frightened than to pick a fight with him. He force pushed her up against the wall, she struggled to free herself. Amaroth moved up into her face,

"If you think that I ever wanted to train your sorry ass, then you are mistaken. Master Yoda seems to think I needed to learn how to teach as part of my Jedi duties".

He released her and she slid to the floor panting. She looked up at Amaroth

"If you think that I ever wanted you for a Master, you are mistaken".

Amaroth slapped her across the face. He picked her up, redid her wrist bindings and left the cave.

Chapter Text

Forry followed the valley to where the scream came from. The wind was beginning to pick up and daylight was fading fast. The sounds of the beasties were everywhere, this is where they must live. He thought back to the others back at the Indisputable. It would’ve been easy to stay with the group and fly off this rock. He would be a mess hall hero, brothers from all different battalions would gather around to hear the tale of how they escaped. However his main duty as a clone trooper was to protect the Republic and serve the Jedi. Leaving his Jedi on this moon would be wrong and dishonour everything he had fought for and the memories of the vod who had passed on to the Manda. 

He had not heard another scream, he didn’t even know if the scream belonged to the Commander. 

After walking for a few miles, the sun had set and it was pitch black and freezing cold. Forry only had two ration bars left and his canteen was almost empty in his belt, he was hungry and clones did not like to be hungry. Regret began to surface, why had he done this again? 

He found an overhang to protect him from the snow that fell at night and tried to find a comfy position to sleep in. As he laid down, he noticed that up the opposite rod face there was a cave that was lit. Could this be where the commander was taken?

Forry decided that he wouldn’t attempt to sleep, instead he would go and investigate. B etter than becoming supper he told himself.

The climb to the cave was easy, it wasn’t that far up the cliff. Once at the top he pressed himself against the entrance of the cave. He could he a noise inside. He readied his weapon just in case and entered the cave.

“Commander!” Forry exclaimed. The Commander was not in great shape. Her face was covered in bruises and cuts. Ileana looked up at the concerned clone and grinned. 

“Glad to see your face, Forry. It was Master Amaroth! He is alive and he could be back any second”.
“No time for a chit chat. Where is he?” Forry spoke low and fast. He had heard the stories of the General and did not particularly want to encounter him.
“No idea, but I suggest you cut me loose so we can go before he returns”.
Ileana sat up and he used his vibroknife to cut through the bonds on her wrist and ankles.
Her legs were wobbly from being tied up, Forry supported her. They turned and got away from the cave as quickly as possible.
That was almost too easy Forry mused. The GAR had highly trained ARC troopers and Commandoes who performed tasks like this for a good reason. They were usually difficult and dangerous. 

Commander Stassen and Forry made it to the overhang before pausing to catch their breath and so Stassen could assess her injuries. 

“When do you think he will return?” Forry glanced at the cave with a worried look.
“Honestly, I'm not sure. I think we should try to get away from the mountains as soon as possible. Where are the others?”
Forry looked away sheepishly. How did he explain he had defied a direct order and come on an unsanctioned rescue mission?
“Erm, Commander, there are no others. I came alone”.
Ileana gave Forry a dubious look. Had Amaroth killed the others? Back at the wreckage she had guessed he wasn't the smartest tool in the shed. Maybe she was wrong about him.
He continued on with his story.
“West didn't want to risk the rest of the crew for just one person. So I snuck out and came looking for you”.
Ileana did something unexpected. She threw her arms around him in a hug. Forry, not being used to hugs, startled and tried to push her away. 

“Thank you Forry, did you still want to be friends? ”.  Forrys eyes widened. This was the first he had gotten a friend. There were sometimes you couldn't help bonding over. Being rescued from a deranged Jedi was one.
“Sure”. Forry replied. Ileana smiled
“We can be pen pals, where we send each other messages”. Forry wasn't sure what a pen pal was, but it sounded nice. 

“Hold on Ma’am”. Just before they set off, Forry gave Ileana back her lightsaber.
“Thankyou for keeping it safe and Forry, call me Ileana”. Ileana was grateful he had found it. It meant if Amaroth showed up she could defend them. They headed back towards the ice cliff. It was night time and they were worried that Forry’s helmet light would draw attention to their position, the blue lightsaber provided enough light to go by and the reflection on the snow was minimal.
They reached the cliff
“I scaled the cliff over here. You can see the mark from my grappling hook”. Ileana decided they should find another way down to avoid her master tracking their location.
“What about over here?” She pointed to a chunk of ice that would be strong enough to hold t he hook as well as two people.  

“That looks fine”, Forry attached the grappling hook to his deece and fired it at the ice. He checked to make sure it could hold his weight before handing the deece to Ileana. 

“You go first”. 

Ileana took the deece and inched herself over the ledge. Forry sat back and kept an eye on the hook to make sure it remained steady. He was so preoccupied with this he did not hear General Amaroth sneak up behind him. The Jedi got his hands around Forrys neck, the clone began to struggle, punching and kicking whatever he could find. He tried to shout to Ileana to warn her what was going on, but Amaroth tightened his grip on his neck so all that came out was rasping yelps.

Chapter Text

Ileana was carefully abseiling down the ice cliff. The grappling hook seemed to be holding strong. She reached the Bottom of the cliff and called to Forry letting him know it was his turn. She received no reply, which was strange. Usually Forry responded straight away. She tugged on the grappling line, maybe he was distracted by something.
Ileana sighed. He hadn’t responded, she prepared to climb back up and check on him. Leaping a quarter of the way up the cliff she began climbing when she felt a feeling of dread. Looking up she saw the cable being tossed over the edge and the sensation of falling. Ileana caught herself on a small ledge on the cliff before she hit the ground. Something had happened at the top of the cliff. She had never been much of a climber, however she didn't have much choice. It was attempt to climb or let go and fall to the ground which even for a Jedi looked imposing.
Her worst fears had been realised. Master Amaroth had found them. He had Forry in a choke hold and had cut the grappling line.
Forry fought the best he could in the current circumstances. The General had cut the line to his grappling hook and thrown it over the edge of the cliff.
“Poor Ileana! I am sorry”. He thought. The General was so focused on making Forry's death a long as possible, he didn’t notice Ileana sneak back up towards the dais. She ran up and tackled the General to the ground, Forry hit the ground and rolled over to look at the two Jedi. They had both taken out their lightsabers and were ready to attack.

Captain West had made it to the LAAT. The ship had been taken apart by whomever attacked Steers team and was now virtually unflyable. The team didn’t particularly want to split up again after what happened to steers team. The maintenance techs searched the ship got any parts that could be salvaged to make a communication device. They were lucky that they had the parts they had scavenged from the Indisputable. West made it a priority to try and contact the outside fleet to get help, perhaps if they knew a Jedi Commander had gone missing they might come before they all perished on this shithole.
Currently Spanner was fiddling with the device with one of the flying dudes. The only noise coming from it was static.
“Give it a rest boys, it’s late”. West spoke.
Spanner and 1325 got up and sat around the small heater that had been set up.
Blasted alien lifeform! West cursed. It was now looking like they would be stuck here for keeps.
Several hours passed and sporadically Spanner or 1325 would check the device for news. They had managed to pick up transmissions from elsewhere but it didn’t seem to work.
Every now on then someone would pipe up with an idea and there would be a flurry for activity. However they would soon find some faith with the plan.
Suddenly the communications device spluttered to life.
“This is The Resolute Come in please!”.
Spanner and 1325 leaped up and started fiddling with the comm device trying to boost the signal.
1325 turned to West who had moved in to watch what was going on.
“Captain I reckon you might be able to talk to them now. Maybe give them our coordinates”.
West was handed the transceiver.
“This is Captain West of the 808th receiving. We can currently only get audio”.

“This is General Skywalker of the 501st. We received your distress signal. Please stand by for evacuation”.

Chapter Text

West couldn’t believe it. They were saved. An hour later the familiar sound of a LAAT could be heard. The group of clones did everything to catch it’s attention.
The gunship spotted them and landed. West walked up as the hatch opened revealing a tall Jedi wearing black robes, the familiar blue stripes of the 501st and a tiny togruta female.

“You must be Captain West”. Skywalker held out his hand for West to shake.
“Yes sir! These are all the survivors of the crash. We have injured with us and two members of the Indisputable are currently missing”.

At the mention of injury a medic by the name of Coric came forward. East took him over to 1148 and Finch to get them loaded onto the LAAT.

The Clone beside Skywalker spoke up, this must be the famous Captain Rex “ What do you mean missing?”

West cringed, “Our Jedi Commander Stassen was kidnapped for our original base camp. WE don’t know what it was”.
The Togruta perked up at the mention of Stassen’s name
“I know Ileana! She is a few years older than me and a great mechanic”.
Skywalker bristled. He didn’t like having another Jedi be a great mechanic.
“That's great Snips, do you think you might be able to locate her?”
The Togruta's eyes widened, she had never been asked to use the force in such a way before.
“I think so, just give me a moment”. Ashoka walked off and hopped up on top of the LAAT wreckage. She closed her eyes and drew on the force.

Skywalker trend back to West “What happened here?”
West sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Honestly Sir, I am still in disbelief. We were on a relief mission when we encountered seppies. WE went to engage them when our Jedi General seemed to snap. He killed Admiral Koi and ordered up to attack. Unfortunately we lost due to his incompetence”.

Just as Skywalker was about to reply Ashoka spoke up.
“I think I have something! It is coming from over there’. She was pointing towards the mountains.
Skywalker sprung into action
“Snips! Take the gunship to the place you think Stassen is. Rex stay here. West can go with Ashoka!”.

They bounded into the LAAT and it took off.

Ashoka stuck her head out of the gunship to get a better sense of the area. She could feel Ileanas presence getting stronger. Suddenly in the distance she saw the flash to two lightsabers, one was bright blue and the other was green. Ileanas presence was strong, but there was another presence that seemed angry and confused.
“There! She told the pilots”.
As the gunship approached the area Ashoka leaped out and landed on the edge of the cliff. She took out her own sabers and took the ready position.

Amaroth turned to look at the small figure that had just appeared to back his Padawan up. It was strong with the force.
“Looks like a real challenge has arrived. I am sorry my Padawan, but you just don’t have it in you to become a Jedi”.
Forry watched wide eyed, he was now looking at two Padawan's and a Jedi. Somebody came up behand him and grabbed his armour and put him in a firemans carry.
“C’mon di’kut”. It was Captain West
“Hey! Put me down”. He did not appreciate being carried like a sack of Meiloruns. West unceremoniously dumped him in the LAAT. Forry sat up as the rest of the crew got out to back the Padawan's up. One of the Clones clapped him on the shoulder “Stay here shiny and let the big boys take care of this”.
Forry stared at the speaker who reminded him of Lieutenant Ord, only normal sized.
“Fives hurry up!” one of the other clones spoke. The clones formed a circle behind Stassen and Ashoka.
Amaroth let out a scream that shook the ground they stood on and attacked.

Ileana parried his blows. It was difficult as Amaroth was used to watching her fight so she really didn’t have the element of surprise, plus lightsaber fighting wasn’t her strong point due to lack of experience.

Forry watched the fight in awe. His head still hurt from Amaroth’s scream, luckily he was wearing his helmet. Both Jedi moved with grace and ease. He remembers one of the first times he had watched a video on the holonet, it featured a dancer who would perform acrobatic moves to modern music. The Jedi reminded him of the video. It wasn’t so much fighting as it was dancing.

Ashoka saw Ileana was struggling so she joined in to assist her. She also signaled her Master for backup.
Anakin answered his comm to a frantic Ashoka.
“Master Amaroth looks like he may have gone rouge. We need assistance”. With a leap she joined in the fight backing up her fellow Padawan.

Chapter Text

Anakin patched in to Yularen.
“We need an extra LAAT to take the survivors back up. Ashoka thinks that Amaroth may of gone rouge”.
He looked up at the Resolute which was now in a low orbit around the moon. The familiar thrumming of a Larty could be heard as the ship swooped down and Anakin jumped in to it.
The ship took off leaving BC bemused
I guess we will just wait here he grumbled to himself.
As he said this another ship came down.
Another Clone, a Sargent with an arrow on his helmet, poked his head out.

“You guys coming or what?”

BC, East, Ord and the rest of the survivors were all too glad to board the ship off the icy hellhole they thought had them for keeps.
Once they were all on board the Sargent introduced himself as Appo gave the signal and they were away.
On the way back to the Resolute, he listened incredulously to the Indisputable crews tale. Being only new, he didn’t here many good stories and they certainly would be talking about this one for the rest of the war, after all nobody gossiped more than a bunch of clones.
“Wow! That’s one big tale” Appo said in awe.
"It wasn't so fun at the time" Ord grizzled.

“Yeah” BC replied. A horrible sinking feeling flooded his stomach. They had left people behind. Maybe Forry was right, they should have gone after the Commander. It would of been the right thing to do and saved them a whole heap of mess. Finch had been injured. BC didn’t quite know how he would continue with the war with out his buddy beside him. It was often said Finch was the only one who could deal with his assholery when it came out.

Anakin arrived at the scene in disbelief. Amaroth was one of the most respected Jedi researchers at the temple and a formidable warrior. Ashoka and Stassen had done well to keep him at bay. He had heard Amaroth whine about his Padawan before and he had made it sound like the girl was completely hopeless. He was happy to be proved wrong as she seemed to be holding her own against him.

Chapter Text

Both Padawan's and Master Skywalker were holding the Pantoran Jedi off.
“Master! We seem to need your help” Ashoka snarled, her teeth bared in a feral smile.
As soon as Anakin attempted to join the fight Master Amaroth took one look at him, his bronze eyes widened and he turned to flee. As he turned he missed the Clone hiding behind a chunk of ice with a blaster. Forry looked down the sights and fired at the deranged Jedi. The stun shot hit Amaroth and he crumpled with a clatter.
Anakin, Ashoka and Ileana took advantage of the brief reprieve to handcuff the Jedi and take him into custody.
Amaroth recovered from the shot not long afterwards as they were on their way to The Resolute, he began screaming and lashing out.
“YOU WILL RELEASE ME IN THE NAME OF THE FORCE”. He cried.
“Yeah yeah” mumbled BC, who was given guard duty as punishment for being an asshole.

Once back on the Resolute in a briefing room, Admiral Yularen, Anakin and Ashoka and Captain Rex were listening to the story being told by Ileana, Forry and West.
Ileana was telling the story of how Forry had come and set her free from Amaroth in the mountains. West listened incredulously. Every report and experience he had with the lad had not been positive, yet here he was listening to a Jedi Commander gush about how good CT-4444 was.
Finally General Skywalker turned to him. “West, what’s your side of the story?” West shuffled uncomfortably. He would need to admit he tried to stop Forry from going after Commander Stassen.
“I was not at the rescue. I stayed with the wreckage as we had injured men with us and could not move far. I did try to stop CT-4444 from going on a rescue mission as all evidence pointed to Commander Stassen being dead, but he disobeyed and went anyway. We all assumed he had been taken.”
Forry looked side eyed at Captain West, was he apologizing for threatening to decommission him?
Rex turned to Forry “I will need to discuss it with Commander Cody, but you deserve a medal for the bravery and valor you have shown today. I might also see about a transfer. We need men like you in the 501st”.
Captain Rex had obviously not seen his training record.
Next Skywalker spoke up. “Sometimes knowing when to disobey a direct order is just as important as following orders. You made the right choice”.
Yularen spoke next "Formal charges will be placed against Master Amaroth due to the deaths of the Indisputables crew. I would like to discuss this with the Jedi Council and GAR".
"Understandable, I will comm Master Yoda after we have finished this meeting" Anakin replied.
Yularen stood up and left the room.

Anakin turned to Ileana. “You have also shown skill in the face of great upheaval. I believe that this was your trial to become a Knight”.
Ileana sat up straight. She had thought about whether or not she should continue to become a Jedi throughout the ordeal. She was happy Forry received the credit he deserved, after all he did most of the work. Something deep inside her being nudged at her, almost telling her to speak. She knew it was the right decision.
“Master Skywalker, I have decided upon much thought that the path of a Jedi Knight isn’t for me. Instead I would rather dedicate my life to the Exploration Core I was originally signed up to by Master Aural”.
The room was still at her proclaiming. Captains Rex and West were looking at each other stunned. Why would somebody not want to be a Jedi? Forry was equally confused. Ileana had all the power and respect in the universe as a Jedi Padawan and as a Knight she would be worshipped above all others. Why would she do this?
Ashoka had never seen somebody who was on the path, but did not become a Knight. It is what she had worked for her entire life. This intrigued her.
Master Skywalker pursed his lips and stared down at Ileana. He knew what it was like to want to walk away and heaven knows after witnessing her Master go dark, it might be a good idea for Ileana to take a retreat.
“Ok, you will need to discuss it with the Council though”.
Ileana nodded. Her mind was made up. She knew this was the right thing to do.
Master Skywalker dismissed the Clones, Forry turned to say something to Ileana, but West pulled him away.
“Master will all due respect, I feel this is the right decision to make”. Ileana pleaded with Skywalker.
“I understand, but again you will need to discuss this with Master Yoda” Anakin repeated. “We will be heading straight to Kaliida Shoals to drop off the wounded and you can take a transport to Coruscant from there”.
Ileana nodded, understanding there was no arguing with him. She stood up and walked out of the room.
Forry was waiting outside for her.
‘Comm-Ileana are you really leaving?” He asked. She smiled sadly and nodded.
“Forry do you have a commlink?”
Forrys' eyes went the size of dinnerplates. He handed over his comm and she imputed her code into the databank.
“There! We can stay in contact now” Ileana told him. She paused, he had saved her life and she was grateful.
Forry looked away and tucked his thumbs into his utility belt. It was hard saying goodbye. They had only known each other a few days, but they had been on a real adventure and they were friends now.
“Well I guess I will see you around the galaxy, '' he told her. Ileana grinned back, “not sure. I think I might be told to stay at the Temple. If ever you are on Coruscant, we should see each other”.
Forry smiled back at her “sounds great”.
Ileana leaped up and gave him a hug. “I hope you get treated better in the 501st”. She said into his shoulder.
She let go and turned away. Forty stood rooted on the spot watching her as she walked away.
“Whoa!”
He turned to the voice to see three Clones dressed in the blue and white stripes of the 501st.
Forry stared at the three interlopers
“What?” He said reminiscent of BC.
One had an arrow on his helmet, one had a handprint on his armor and the other had what looked like an eel on his helmet.
“Is that your girl?” Eel helmet asked.
“No,” Forry said, perplexed that anyone would think that.
“Oh well, I’m Fives and this is Echo and that is Appo. You’re new here aren’t you?”.
“Hey!! I am not a that” squeaked Appo.

“Hi I’m CT-4444 Forry and yes I am new”.
The clone named Fives grinned “I’m CT-5555”. “We were just going to the mess. Wanna join in? You can tell us all about that girl, she is very pretty.”
The clone called Echo face palmed while Forry scowled at Fives "I accompany you to the mess hall only if you stop saying she is my girl" he snapped.
Fives shrugged his shoulders "Ok".
Forry accompanied his new Squad mates to the mess and to a happier future.