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“If I don’t make it back,”
Cody gazes at the holorecording projecting from his helmet. He hadn’t even realized it had been recording at the time.
“From where I’ve gone,”
A mission to Melidaan. Three weeks ago. A milksop mission, their General had called it, had said that this was leave by a different name for him. They hadn't realized why until they had landed, and their General had been swept up and away, half laughing, half crying, and the troopers had learned they were not the only ones who laid claim to Kenobi as their General.
“Just know I’ve loved you all along.”
A crowd around the fire that evening, as darkness descended over the center of town and a dazzling array of stars dappled the sky above them. Nield picking up the tune first, and then Cerasi, and then, after some half-laughing coaxing from the two of them, Obi-Wan.
The chorus swept up the others around the fire, those who called themselves the Young and the members of the 212th who had been absorbed into the group as easy as breathing. But the words had stuck in Cody’s mouth as he looked at Obi-Wan, sandwiched between Cerasi and Nield, smooth, low voice drawing out a gentle melody.
Obi-Wan had looked back at him and smiled, and it was a brilliant, gentle thing, free of the tension that lined his face on the Negotiator , the firelight reflected in his eyes and dousing his hair with gold, and had kept looking at him as he sang, and Cody, helpless, could do nothing but smile back.
His bucket had been sitting to his left, so Obi-Wan’s smile is a little off-center in the recording as he sings. Cody closes his eyes and shifts slightly to compensate. Because maybe, maybe, if he listens long enough -
"If I don’t make it back,"
The doors to the mess open. His vode trickle in. Longshot leans against his back. Boil and Waxer shuffle against his sides.
"From where I’ve gone,"
The recording plays on as the room fills. The grief thickens, swells, and their General smiles, outlined in blue, as he sings.
Wooley is the first to pick up the next line. His voice is thick with tears.
"Just know I loved you all along."
The melody sweeps the room, one man after another picking it up. This was their General’s song. He had sung it among his first command, years ago, and then again among his second, three weeks ago, in a rare moment of respite.
"If I don’t make it back,"
Boil and Waxer pick up the next line together. The song swells, and Obi-Wan’s staticky voice leads them still.
"From where I’ve gone,"
Cody had not sung it, that night on Melidaan. He had been so sure there would be more nights. Gazing at Obi-Wan, outlined in gold, he had seen what peacetime might look like. He had hoped -
Well.
Tomorrow, they will add their General to their remembrances. They will return to Coruscant. They will face what comes next without their alor.
Cody clears his throat and adds his voice to the chorus.
But tonight, the vode sing their General’s song, and the General sings it with them, smiling at all of them, just a bit to the right.
"Just know I loved you all along."