Archive of Our Own

“General Kenobi.”

Obi-Wan and Helix paused their discussion and turned to the clone that called their attention. Commander Cody stood at attention, saluting the generals. “At ease,” Obi-Wan said to his second-in-command. “What is it?”

Cody lowered his salute and brought himself to a perfect parade rest, the ever polished solider. “Sir, we’ve received a hail from the Resolute,” Cody said and cleared his throat. “They are requesting for back-up.”

“Oh?” Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. “Pray tell, what have my former padawan and grand padawan gotten themselves into now?”

“Captain Rex has informed us that General Skywalker has been knocked out of commission and Commander Tano has taken up command of the attack,” Cody answered.

Obi-Wan’s eyebrows shot to his hair line. “Is Anakin okay?” he asked.

He tried to reach out in the force across the training bond that he and Anakin never bothered to sever. It had served as a system for the two of them to check on the state of each other, especially helpful with how the war consumed their lives now. Either it was from being too far away or Anakin had put up his shields before the battle, but Obi-Wan couldn’t get any inkling of how his former padawan was faring. All he could tell was the Anakin was still alive.

Cody nodded. “It is unclear what happened to him. Though, a report from Coric is saying he going to have a killer headache and he fractured his wrist but will make a full recovery as long as he allows himself time to heal.”

“That is a challenge all of its own,” Obi-Wan hummed. Anakin was a terrible patient and it took to almost sitting on him to get the young man to actually stay in bed and heal.

Cody nodded along. “Records are showing that they are on Felucia. There is a separatist fleet trying to take control of the planet and—” Cody cut himself off as his comm beeped. Raising his arm, he looked down at it and his confused face changed to surprised. “Disregard that, general,” Cody said as he read the report in real time. “It would seem that the battle is over and the 501^st are coming home the victors.”

“What changed in a matter of minutes?” Obi-Wan asked incredulously. He was used to Anakin pulling some wild stunts but less so from Ahsoka.

“That would be because – and I am quoting captain Rex here – commander Tano is an absolute menace, sir,” Cody answered.

“That’s not a real answer,” Helix frowned.

“Actually, no, that’s a very astute reasoning,” Obi-Wan sighed and pinched his nose bridge. “She takes after her master in that regard.” Looking up with a long-suffering expression in his eyes, Obi-Wan waved a hand. “Cody, please, give us more details.”

Cody cleared his throat again. “They are saying that Commander Tano led a small team of ARC troopers behind enemy lines while the rest of the battalion was led by Rex. Using the natural landscape of the planet, the commander and her men took out the tactical droid before the clankers could find out they had been intercepted.”

“And where does my grand padawan being a menace factor into this?” Obi-Wan asked.

Cody paused as he continued reading to the report. “It is being said that the commander had drawn the tactical droid’s attention to herself by stealing an Armored Assault Tank by herself and riding it in like skatecoaster. While it was distracted, one of the troopers had grabbed it and then hacked in to tell the rest of the clankers to give up. There is also a report of how she drifted it around a sharp corner with her maniacal laughter echoing across the area.”

Obi-Wan could only groan and bury his face into his hand. “Why does that not surprise me?” Taking in a deep breath through his nose, he exhaled to release his stress into the force and dropped his hand to be propped up on his hip. “Cody, go tell the bridge to set a course for the Resolute. I need to go visually confirm that Anakin and Ahsoka are okay.”

“Yes general!” Cody saluted before hurrying off to the cockpit.

Obi-Wan shook his head as he sighed. “Helix,” he called for his medic.

“Yes, general?” Helix asked with an amused smirk on his face.

“I am going to go meditate before we arrive to the Resolute,” Obi-Wan said with suddenly tired eyes. “I need to go prepare for myself for the twin headaches I’m about to get.”

Helix could only laugh at the defeated look on Obi-Wan’s face as he left the medic.

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan breathed a sigh of relief as he entered the med bay of the Resolute and saw his former padawan awake. There was a thick wrapping of gauze around his head and he kept squinting like the lights were bothering him, but he was awake and alert to the world around him.

Rex was sitting in the chair next to him and jumped to attention as Obi-Wan entered. The jedi master waved him to be at ease but the captain chose to stay standing with his arms folded behind his back.

“Obi-Wan,” Anakin gave a small smile. “What are you doing here?” His hair was a mess of twigs and leaves, and there was a smear of dirt down his cheek.

“Well, Cody had been in the middle of telling me about a hail for help from your battalion before it was pulled as your padawan ended the battle herself,” Obi-Wan answered. He looked around and noted that said togruta was missing. “Speaking of, where is Ahsoka?”

“Hiding in the vents somewhere,” Anakin shrugged. Rex sighed and shook his head in disappointment.

“Pardon?” Obi-Wan furrowed his brow.

“Kix was about to clear Ahsoka from the battle when he remembered she was due for a shot,” Anakin explained. “He unfortunately forgot to block off the exit before announcing it to her.” Off to the side, he could see Coric’s shoulders shaking as he tried to suppress his laughter.

“She bolted before he could even finish his sentence,” Rex said with resigned defeat on his face. “One moment she is standing next to me, and the literal next second, she is racing down the hall with Kix chasing after her.”

“Kix was pretty fast in his response time,” Anakin said as he praised the medic. “Maybe we should him join us on more covert missions.”

“That’s because he’s used to having chase both of you down, general,” Rex deadpanned.

“I’m not that bad,” Anakin scoffed.

“Anakin, please, no one likes liars,” Obi-Wan cut in. Anakin squawked in offence while both Coric and Rex chuckled. Obi-Wan leaned back and crossed his arms. “So is Kix chasing after Ahsoka by himself?”

“I think Fives and Echo got roped into helping Kix hunt her down right now,” Anakin said and leaned back on the pile of pillows propping him up. “Something about knowing most of her hiding spots.”

“And you don’t?” Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. “Actually, why aren’t you helping?”

“I never got cleared to leave this room,” Anakin said with a shit-eating grin. He brought his hands up and interlocked them behind his head. “I was told to expressly not leave this bed until a medic said I was okay to walk around. They said that I need to stay still until they can be sure I have no concussion.”

Obi-Wan looked over at Coric. “Can’t our dear Coric do that and spare your chief of medicine from his growing frustration of your padawan?”

“Because if I did that, then I would be the one on the chopping block when tries to run into another fight with a concussion and keels over on the battlefield,” Coric answered, his head turning towards the jedi. “And I’m not dumb enough to risk Kix’s ire like that.”

“I’m actually here as insurance that general Skywalker doesn’t make a break for it while the commander currently is,” Rex said with tense pull of his lips.

Obi-Wan nodded and raised a hand to stroke his beard. “That is true – one should do well not to upset Kix.” He remembers the time that Kix had been the only medic around during a joint campaign and he was privy to how seriously the medic took to his job.

To this day, Kix was one of the few people that could boss Obi-Wan around and would not be held in insubordination of it.

“Commander! When I get my hands on you—!”

Speaking of the devil – Kix’s voice had all four men in the room looking towards the open door of the med bay.

“You’ll never take me alive!” Ahsoka cackled as she went tearing down the hallway.

They all looked over in time to see the young togruta zipped past. There was a layer of bandages wrapped around her upper left arm and leg, a plaster tapped to her cheek. She looked overly fine, though a shower would help with all the dirt and grime that covered her.

As soon as Ahsoka was there, she was gone and there was a beat before Fives went sprinting down after her. Echo was a breath behind him and a fuming Kix was trailing them. On his hip was a small med pouch and Obi-Wan saw the plunger of a hypo peeking out.

Anakin shook his head in amusement at his padawan’s actions. Obi-Wan just in disappointment as he remembered chasing a young Anakin down the temple halls to avoid his dental examinations.

There was a huffing as Jesse appeared in the doorframe, leaning over with a hand on the door frame as he caught his breath. “You good, Jesse?” Anakin smirked. “You boys need some more cardio?”

“I feel – huff – like chasing the commander – huff – is plenty,” Jesse panted. Taking a deep breath, he stood up straight and squared his shoulders. “I forget how fast and light on her feet she is.”

“Where’d you find her this time?” Anakin asks.

“In the vents of the officer’s study,” Jesse answered. “Honest to the force, Fives figured it out and used a broom to open the vent crate she was laying on. You should have seen the way she came falling out like a lothcat and ran off.”

“Trust me as the one that has to carry her kicking and screaming to her doctor appointments, I do,” Anakin said with a self-suffering chuckle.

“Ahsoka, if you don’t stop running right now—!” Kix’s faint yell bounced down the hallway. There was a yelp and a thump before Ahsoka came running back the opposite way past the door. Fives was lagging behind farther than he had been before but he kept chase, his arms pumping as he followed after her.

“Commander, please!” Echo’s own voice pleaded. His pace matched Fives as he ran past the door. Kix was growling as he passed the door, a hand holding his arm that was numb after hitting his funny bone when he almost caught the togruta and she parkoured over him.

“I’ll stop when Kix stops trying to give me a shot!” Ahsoka called over shoulder.

“It’s good for you!” Kix argued.

“Says you!”

“Yes! Says me! The medic!”

“I got her!” came Fives’ victorious yell as he leaped forward. It was cut off shortly as it turned into a shriek as Ahsoka sensed him and jumped in the air, using his head as a spring board to change her direction. The clone went falling face first into a fork in the hallway and Ahsoka ran down a different hallway. “…I don’t got her,” Fives groaned in defeat.

“I’ll go help them wrangle the womp rat,” Rex sighed and headed towards the door. He patted Jesse on the shoulder and they went jogging off to go join the search.

“Good luck,” Anakin called after his captain with a laugh.

“You shouldn’t encourage this,” Obi-Wan tutted at his ex-padawan.

“Oh, lighten up.” Anakin rolled his eyes at his master. “It’s a good morale booster. The boys love a bit of laughter after fighting so much.”

Obi-Wan felt himself pull back his argument as Anakin was correct. There were times he would purposely poke fun at his soldiers to break a somber mood that had hung around too much. He also noticed how generally happy the men of the 501^st legion tended to be and it was starting to dawn on him that it could partially be contributed to by a master and padawan that bickered like siblings. There were numerous occasions where Obi-Wan would find himself laughing at the antics of Anakin and Ahsoka.

“I hope you know that you are making your chief medic very aggravated,” Obi-Wan said.

“He’ll get over it,” Anakin smirked. “If they could just catch my runaway padawan,” Anakin chuckled. “I wonder where she is hiding right now.”

“Right here,” Ahsoka said with a bright smile as she popped up from the side of Anakin’s bed which made all three men in the room jump in surprise.

“Holy sith! When the kriff did you get there?!” Anakin exclaimed and then winced at the volume of his own voice.

“A few ticks ago,” Ahsoka grinned and folded her arms on top of Anakin’s blankets, perching her chin on them. “I’m surprised you didn’t notice me.”

“No one did,” Obi-Wan grumbled with a hand held over his chest on top of his beating heart. He hadn’t had someone sneak up on him outside of combat like that in a long time.

“Yay to me then,” Ahsoka snickered. Pushing up so that she was in a handstand on Anakin’s bed, she leaned forward and crossed her legs in the air to plop down on the mattress. “How are you feeling, master?” she asked Anakin.

“Nothing that a night of sleep won’t fix,” Anakin shrugged.

“And a trip to the healers,” Coric added.

Anakin gave a long-suffering groan. “I hate going to the healing halls.”

“Well, maybe you should have used your head better,” Obi-Wan tutted.

“He’s in this mess because he did use his head,” Ahsoka teased with a wrinkle of her nose.

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. “That is right – I never did hear how my dear former padawan was knocked out of commission.”

Ahsoka looked over at Anakin who was suddenly found his blanket much more interesting. “Can I tell him, master?”

Anakin sighed in defeat. “Just get it over with.”

Ahsoka bounced in her seat and turned towards her grand master. “You should have seen it. Master was supposed to lead our sneak attack behind the enemy lines but as he turned a corner, he literally ran head first into a defeated AAT. Hit his head right on the arm of it and knocked himself out.”

Obi-Wan’s mouth dropped as he looked at his former padawan. “Anakin, what have I told you about checking your surroundings before jumping in?”

“Look, then jump,” Anakin mumbled his answer and looked everywhere but his master. He kept his face neutral when he realized Coric was slightly approaching his padawan from behind with a hand hidden behind his back.

“After that, I decided to follow through the plan and have Rex man the front with the rest of the boys,” Ahsoka continued to explain. “You should have seen the way those clankers—OW!” Ahsoka yelled as there was a sharp prick at the back of her shoulder. She whirled around to see Coric holding an empty hypo in his hand and a proud smile on his face. “Coric!”

“It’s for your own good, commander,” Coric chuckled and went to go discard the hypo safely and correctly.

“Traitor,” Ahsoka pouted.

“When the kriff did you get in here?!” Kix exclaimed as he appeared in the door frame. Rex was at his shoulder, shaking his head at the proud smirk on Ahsoka’s face. Fives was huffing for breath while Echo patted his back.

“A bit ago,” Ahsoka answered. “You boys really need to learn to look up.”

“You mean we ran all that for nothing?!” Fives complained dramatically and flopped down on the ground with his limbs splayed like a starfish. “That was the worst!”

“Am I hearing for a request of more cardio training?” Anakin hummed with a wiggle of his eyebrows at Rex.

“Oh, force no!” Fives exclaimed and jumped back up on his feet. “What do you know – I think I hear Tup calling for me! Coming!”

With that, Fives went running off. Seeing that he was also with the jedi, Rex and the medics, Echo bowed his head and went to follow his batchmate before he accidently added onto the legion’s training regime.

“Seeing how you two are moreover fine, I wanted to congratulate you on a job well done,” Obi-Wan praised Ahsoka. He rubbed the spot on top of her head between her montrals. She preened under the praise, looking over at Anakin with a bright smile once Obi-Wan removed his hand. Anakin gave her a proud smile, nudging her foot with his. “But…”

“But?” Ahsoka blinked and looked back at her grand master.

“Please, do not stop taking such risks,” Obi-Wan gently chided the girl. “You are young. I do not want to see anything happen to you.”

“We are in a war, master,” Ahsoka said. “I’m sorry but I will have to.”

“Understandably, yes, but I don’t think riding a tank like a skatecoaster applies to that,” he said.

Ahsoka’s smile became sheepish. “I thought it would be a good distraction,” Ahsoka defended herself.

“Apparently so,” Anakin snorted. Reaching forward, he clasped Ahsoka on the shoulder. “Snips, you did good but you have to be careful. Being a terror on the battlefield isn’t always going to go the way you want.”

“Yes, master,” Ahsoka inclined her head as she heeded her master’s words. Then, a sparkle came to her eyes. “It works for you though.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Anakin turned his nose up into the air.

“Sir, with all due respect, who do you think she got it from?” Kix grumbled with a chuckle. He then turned towards his general. “Sir, I remembered as I was chasing around the little terror—”

(“Shouldn’t you take to offence to that?” Rex whispered to Ahsoka.

“I actually take that as a compliment,” Ahsoka whispered back with a fang tipped smile.)

“—that you’re due for a dental exam. I’ll put in an order to give you leave to get that handled when we land,” Kix said.

Anakin looked at his medic for a long moment, a neutral smile on his face…before he threw back his blankets and ran out of the room. He hit the doorframe once before disappearing but still evaded Rex’s out-reached hand.

“Not again,” Kix groaned into the ceiling.

“This is why you can’t give him a warning,” Obi-Wan said as he squeezed his nose bridge. He looked over at Ahsoka to ask her to help find her wayward master when he noticed the bandage around her leg turning red. “Ahsoka, dear, you’re bleeding.”

Ahsoka looked down at her leg and tilted her head at the sight. “Oh, I must have opened my wound.”

“Why are you nonchalant about that?” Rex said. He didn’t even try to be disappointed with the commander of his legion.

“Eh, it’s just a cut from a sharp piece of metal,” Ahsoka waved her hand. “Nothing big.”

“Wait – you got that from a clanker?” Coric straightened in alarm. “You didn’t tell me that! We need to give you a tetanus shot before you get an infection.”

Ahsoka pressed her lips in a hard line. Rex could see the gears churning in her mind and started sneaking up behind her. Obi-Wan caught onto her train of thoughts too late as she looked up at the vent above her.

“Ahsoka, no!” Obi-Wan scolded as Ahsoka used the force to open the vent crate above her and jumped up into it to run away. He facepalmed as he heard the thumps of her scurrying away in the vent.

“That did not just happen again,” Kix complained loudly. “I swear, these two are going to send me into an early grave.”

“Like master, like padawan,” Obi-Wan sighed and ran a hand down his face.

“General Kenobi, I’ve just received a message from Helix that you are due for a full panel blood test,” Coric cleared his throat. With his back turned, he grabbed a few hypo-needles that he would need before turning back to the general. “He asked if you could get checked while you are here. So, if you wouldn’t mind—”

Air was what remained in Obi-Wan’s place as the jedi council member slipped out of the med bay in escape of the needles. Coric threw his head back and groaned.

“Not it,” Kix groaned as he plopped down in his chair. “I’ve run after one jedi enough today, I’m not chasing three down.”

“I’ll get Fives and Echo to lead the search teams,” Rex grumbled as he left the med bay. He bumped into Jesse on the way.

“You find her?” the clone asked.

“Yes but now we are hunting her and both the generals,” Rex answered and pulled Jesse along.

“No kriffing way,” Jesse complained as he followed his captain.

Coric just shook his head as he followed after them. Seeing that Kix just got back from the first round of jedi-searching, it was his turn to go.

That entire jedi lineage is full of menaces.

BONUS SCENE:

Gree looked around in confusion.

“May I help you?”

Gree turned around to see Fox and the chief of the halls of healing, jedi Master Vokara Che, looking at him. Rubbing the back of his head, he continued looking around the halls of jedi temple. “General Yoda is not answering any communications and I was getting worried.”

“Ah, that,” Fox said and sighed.

“You know something, brother?” Gree asked.

“Just that there is currently an A.P.B for him,” Fox answered.

Gree’s eyes almost boggled out of his head. Just what could have one of his commanding generals have done to have such a search for him.

“If I may, what has general Yoda done?” he asked.

Master Che cleared her throat to signal that she would be answering. “Master Yoda has missed his hearing and sight tests for the last three years in a row and he is quite overdue for it.”

“That’s it?” Gree blinked in surprise. “Why is that so big?”

“Because – and I am saying this with all the respect that I have for him – he is an absolute menace,” Master Che answered with a deadpanned expression. One of her eye ridges was twitching in irritation.

“That is not a real answer, general,” Fox said as he raised an eyebrow.

“Actually, no, that’s very spot on,” Gree sighed. As the commanding officer of the 41^st elite corps, he had spent a lot of time with Master Yoda on the battlefield. With all that time spent together, he could whole heartedly agree that Yoda was a little green menace.

From seemingly nowhere, the giddy giggles of one very aged little green alien echoed down the hall. “I’ll find you one way or another, master Yoda,” Master Vokara Che yelled down the hall. “You will have your tests this year!”

“Catch me, you will not,” Yoda answered back cheekily.

Gree facepalmed at the declaration.

Well, looks like he knew what he and the rest of the 41^st would be doing for the day.