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Jesse huffed as he did another round of the cell, finding the same things he did last time. Floor, walls, ray shield. Still no way out. He’d been there for hours, taken during his watch while the rest of Torrent Company slept. He had no idea where he was, they’d blindfolded him and took a purposefully roundabout route to get there. He had no comms, no weapons, nothing. He just had to hope his brothers noticed and came looking for him.
He sighed heavily as he sat on the uncomfortable floor, he was never good at waiting.
They gave him food and water, so they clearly wanted him alive for something. Arrogant Seppies probably thought they could get something from him, but he’d never talk. He kind of wished they’d give him a bed at least, but he’d slept in worse places. Kix wouldn’t have had a problem, that man could sleep anywhere. Finding the medic sleeping in the strangest places had become somewhat of an induction ritual for shinies.
Jesse stretched and got as comfortable as possible. Might as well take after Kix and get some sleep, he’d be no good getting out of there without rest, and they’d been marching nonstop since they reached the planet a few days ago. It’s not like anyone had visited him yet either, and he’d rather have a clear head whenever they did. No one captured a clone just to let him rot in a cell. He kept his back to the wall as he nodded off.
Just before sleep could reach him, he was jolted awake by an alarm. Red lights flashed and the speakers wailed. He moved quickly over to the ray shield. Had they found him already? He’d say it wouldn’t be like them to be so careless before they even got to the rescuing part of the rescue mission, but this was the 501st, wailing alarms were practically their theme song.
After a minute, the wailing and lights stopped, returning the room to its usual quiet, with just the hum of the ray shield filling the silence. He scanned the room outside for a while longer before drifting back to the far wall. There hadn’t been any change in security, the one droid he could catch a glimpse of to the side of his cell never moved and none came to support it.
Could have just been a drill. Yeah, sure, he’d go with that. He felt his heart racing as the adrenaline from the rude awakening still coursed through him. He felt restless and began to pace the cell.
His gaze shot over to the ray shield when he heard something approaching, but it was only the food delivery droid. The tray it carried slid along the floor through the small hatch next to the door. The hatch slid shut and the droid trundled off.
Jesse stifled a yawn as he leaned back against the wall, letting his head rest against it. It had been a few hours since the alarm and still nothing. If Torrent Company had come, they had been dealt with incredibly quickly. He also felt like he’d know about it, he didn’t put it past the Seppies to use the deaths of his brothers against him. But nothing came, so he held onto that hope that they were coming.
His eyes were just slipping closed when he heard footsteps approaching. His eyes shot open to see a woman standing on the other side of the ray shield looking in at him. He glared back.
“We have questions for you, clone.” She said shortly. He didn’t recognise her, but she looked and spoke like someone important. He supposed he should feel honoured to be worth her time.
There was a long pause where he didn’t speak before she continued. “I would not suggest being difficult, for your sake. I don’t care what happens to you either way. I just need to know what the Republic’s plans are here and where they’re going to attack next.”
Jesse just huffed and stayed quiet, crossing his arms defiantly. The woman waited again before nodding. “Very well.” And with that, she turned and left.
Jesse was left with nothing but the constant hum of the ray shield once again. A few minutes passed before the trundle of the food droid came echoing into the room, sliding a tray into the cell before trundling away.
Jesse snapped awake as another alarm blared through the room. The lights flared again as the wailing pierced the air. He shot to his feet and returned to the ray shield, looking for any changes in the room, listening for any blasterfire. There was nothing new, and within a minute, the alarm turned off again.
He sighed and returned to his spot. His body was beginning to feel heavy with the ache of exhaustion. He had just settled down to try to sleep before his next meal when the alarms sounded again.
The way the alarms seemed to work was strange. Drill or no, he had never heard alarms only activate for a minute with no clear reason. Even when testing the alarm systems, there was usually a warning before they went off for a few seconds at most.
A borderline hysterical laugh escaped him as he realised how they were trying to get him to talk. If that was how they wanted to do this, they expected to be able to keep him for a long time, at least a few days, probably more. He ran a tired hand down his face and settled in for the long haul.
Two more meals came and went before the woman returned. She asked him the same questions as the first time and simply left when he stayed quiet.
It had to have been at least two days since he had been taken, judging by the meal routine. His body felt heavy and his mind felt sluggish. He would by lying if he said it didn’t occasionally feel like he was moving in slow motion.
It was weird being awake when he knew no one else was. Or he assumed it was the night cycle. It always kind of felt like it was down in this cell, with no windows, just the arrival of food to mark time passing. He had done night shifts before, obviously, that was what he had been doing when he was grabbed, but it was different when you never went to sleep in the first place and didn’t intend to when the next day came. He wondered who was on watch now, staying awake with him while their brothers slept, whether they knew it or not. Although he didn't think they quite shared the aching heaviness growing in his limbs, or the fuzziness in his head. At least, he hoped they didn't. He wished he could join his sleeping brothers, but he couldn’t.
Jesse sighed. He wasn’t going to last if that’s how his thoughts were getting already. He couldn’t say that he envied the insomniacs he knew if this was how they felt all the time. But he’d gone longer without sleep, he was trained for this. He wouldn’t break.
His eyes snapped open as the alarms blared again. He hadn’t even realised he’d closed them. He winced as his neck twinged when he raised his head from where it hung, moving it to try to work out the ache.
Jesse glanced across the cell and saw a tray sitting by the wall. He had somehow missed the droid’s arrival. He shuffled over and pulled the tray to him, eating slowly. It wasn’t like he had much else to do.
It had to be getting close to the third day when the woman arrived again, just a few minutes after he had set off the alarm again. He was beginning to lose count of how many times he did that. He was beginning to really feel a strange disconnect between his mind and body when he moved his head to look at her, as if his mind was half a step behind his body. He could barely keep his eyes open, let alone stay focused on her.
She asked her questions and he still said nothing.
This time, however, she didn’t leave. Two commando droids flanked her as she lowered the ray shield, letting a small droid into the room. He swatted it away when it got too close, earning a warning shot from one of the commandos. The small droid took the chance to get in close and jab him with a needle. He hissed and shoved it away, putting a hand to his neck as it retreated. As soon as it was clear, the ray shield went back up.
“What was that?”
The woman simply turned and left, still flanked by the droids.
It didn’t take long for Jesse to find out. After a few seconds, his senses sharpened and he felt his heart quicken. Any tiredness was pushed away by a wave of artificial adrenaline as a stim made its way through his system. He felt his hands begin to shake at the sudden rush of energy and he felt the need to get up and move again.
As he paced, something about the stim felt off. Different from the usual GAR issued ones anyway. That strange disconnect between mind and body was still there as he moved, and his whole body buzzed with restless energy. Maybe it was just from how long he’d been awake for. He began scanning the room again for any way to escape, but came up empty.
He continued pacing the room until the next meal tray arrived. Sliding the tray over, he realised that his appetite had died somewhat. He didn’t feel nearly as hungry as he should, so he ate slowly until the thought of eating any more made him feel sick and he pushed away the half-full tray.
He sat back against the wall with a sigh. He could hear Kix kicking up a fuss about him not eating, but he ignored him. No good eating if it wouldn’t stay down.
He jerked awake again to the alarm. His body felt heavy and he simply rolled to face the wall, tucking his head into his arms. He relaxed when they stopped, only to tense again when they started up just a few minutes later.
He rolled onto his back when the second round stopped, staring at the ceiling. He watched as colours raced across it in nonsensical patterns, his tired eyes barely keeping up. He felt them drooping but couldn’t do anything to stop it, jolting awake when the alarms started yet again.
He rolled his head over to look at the ray shield when he heard footsteps approaching. He could have sworn he heard the clacking of plastoid, and was disappointed when it turned out to be the woman again. Her form flickered and wavered behind the ray shield. When she asked her questions, he simply closed his eyes.
They cracked open again when the hum of the ray shield stopped, leaving him in a roaring silence. He hissed at the feeling of a hypo in his neck and rolled to face the wall again.
He could feel his heart beginning to pound in his chest as his mind shot into focus once again. Or as close as it could come to focus anymore. He pushed himself up with trembling hands. The adrenaline shot through his system, but his mind and body were still exhausted. A sharp spike of pain lanced through his head from his steadily growing headache. He leaned heavily against the wall as he began panting for breath, body trembling.
The woman watched with detached interest, then left.
Jesse had no idea how long he’d been left in that room when he heard plastoid footsteps once again. He blinked up at the room, looking for the source of the sound. He glanced at the food trays beginning to pile up, a fresh one sitting by the slot in the wall. Nausea rose in him when he looked, even as Kix urged him to go eat. He needed his strength up.
With a groan, he shifted, leaning heavily to the side, and heaved, throwing up whatever was left in his stomach. His throat burned with bile and he spat, waiting to see if there would be another round. His arms trembled under him, struggling to hold himself up.
A hand landed on his back, rubbing gentle circles as the voice of a vod muttered soft reassurances. He closed his eyes and leaned into it, swallowing back another wave of nausea before it won the battle and he threw up again.
He lifted himself back to his spot, leaning heavily against the wall and blinking tiredly around the room. The constant hum of the ray shield almost lulled him back into another attempt at sleep when movement caught his eye.
He glanced over and saw Rex in the cell with him. He looked tired and worn as he leaned against the adjacent wall. He glanced over him with an unreadable look before his eyes slipped closed and he slept. No alarms sounded when he did so, and Jesse watched his Captain sleep. If he was here, where were the others? Did they get captured too?
Jesse jolted when the alarms wailed again, glancing over to see Rex gone from his spot. He frowned. A flare of pain from his headache made him wince as he tried to sit up properly at the sound of the woman’s footsteps. No plastoid this time.
He glared up at her as she simply watched him back. “Where are they?” He demanded before she could speak.
The woman tilted her head. “Where should they be?”
Jesse frowned. Where should they be? He knew where they should be, but they weren’t here. Rex and Kix were somewhere nearby, though he hadn’t actually seen Kix yet, just heard him every time he had to eat. He would love to eat, he just couldn’t. Or, actually, he would hate to eat so he wasn’t. Nausea rolled through him again.
He blinked when he felt the sting of another stim in his neck. He hadn’t seen the droid coming, struggling to track it as it zipped back out of the cell. He looked back up at the woman as the stim kicked in, his body trembling and his heart racing. His head spun and he moved to the side just in time to avoid throwing up on himself.
“Where should they be?” The woman asked again as he tried to regain whatever composure he had left.
He shakily sat up, his mind racing, tripping over itself as it tried to piece the question together.
“What-” He managed to choke out before he groaned through another wave of nausea, the room spinning around him.
When he looked up again, the woman was gone.
Jesse rolled over at the sound of plastoid boots echoing in the room shortly after the alarm had gone off. He distantly noted the sound of blasters, that was a new one. Part of him screamed to roll over and investigate, but he couldn’t bring himself to move. Since the last visit, the woman had been stimming him every time she talked to him, which had been becoming more frequent. The visits felt more frequent, at least. His body trembled and ached, his head throbbed, and his mind felt like it was moving at barely a crawl, struggling to keep up.
He groaned in discomfort when the hum of the ray shield stopped, leaving him in deafening silence. He felt hands on him gently roll him over, voices floating around him. A hand to his face had him blinking his eyes open, staring blearily at the helmet floating above him. He groaned and tried to roll away, only to be stopped by firm hands.
His tired eyes caught the red of the medic’s symbol on the pauldron under the helmet. “‘m not hungry, Kix. Go ‘way.”
Kix didn’t leave, nor did any of the other troopers filling the room around them. The sound of their talking and movements replaced the hum of the ray shield and he felt himself drift again. He jolted when the alarm started up again, this time accompanied by the worried voices of vode until it stopped.
The world spun around him when he was sat up, and he instantly heaved. The world swayed around him as he was held steady, before being scooped up into someone’s arms. The world echoed and spun around him, his mind feeling incredibly far from his body. He leaned into whoever was holding him and closed his eyes to it all.
Kix stuck close as Rex led the infiltration into the Separatist base. It had taken them almost a week to find where Jesse had been taken and figure out a way to get him. He was forever grateful for General Skywalker’s care for his men. He had a feeling many others would have left a single trooper, but they didn’t leave a brother behind.
It was just himself, Rex, Commander Tano, Fives and Echo on their way to find Jesse. The General was leading the others in a direct assault to draw attention. They met the expected resistance as they made their way through the base, nothing they couldn’t handle.
When they made it to the prison, a large room with just a handful of ray shielded cells, they easily took out the few droids present. Rex hurried along, looking into each cell until he stopped in front of the furthest one.
“Jesse!”
Kix peered in at the Captain’s call and spotted Jesse unmoving against the back wall of the cell, curled up on his side.
Ahsoka and Fives watched their backs as Echo got the ray shield down. He stood by the door as Kix and Rex rushed inside.
Minute tremors wracked Jesse’s body where he lay. He didn’t respond to their approach, but Kix heard a quiet groan when the ray shield lowered. They rolled him carefully onto his back. His trembling body went with them limply. His eyes stayed closed as Rex called to him. Kix put a hand to his face, gently patting. “Come on, Jesse, open your eyes.”
Jesse’s eyes blinked slowly, staying half open to stare blearily at him for a long moment before he groaned and tried to roll over.
“Hey, no, no.” Kix caught him before he could roll. Rex had a hand on Jesse’s shoulder to keep him still, but it didn’t seem like he really knew he was there. He seemed to barely recognise Kix as he looked him over. He didn’t seem hurt, there were no obvious injuries.
His eyes seemed to drift down slightly from Kix’s helmet before he murmured, “‘m no’ ‘ungry, Kix. Go ‘way.”
Kix frowned, but continued his examination as he seemed to drift. With how exhausted he seemed, Kix let him. He seemed thinner, some of his armour sitting looser than it should. Not by much, it had only been a week, but enough that he clearly hadn’t been eating. He glanced up when Rex nudged him and looked to where he pointed. He sighed at the sight of untouched food trays in the corner.
He pulled out his med scanner and sighed at the results. “Looks like he hasn’t been eating, barely drinking. Not sleeping either, they must have been keeping him awake to question him. Doesn’t seem like they were making any other attempts to get him to talk.” He frowned when the med scanner beeped and flashed red, and looked back down at Jesse’s shaking form. “They’ve been stimming him to keep him awake. We’ll need to get him back and monitor him closely, that can’t have been good on his heart.” As it was, his heart rate was through the roof.
He was about to tell Rex to make sure the others were ready to move when alarms rang out, red lights flashing throughout the room. Jesse jolted awake beneath him. Echo stuck his head out of the cell and called out to Fives, who called back. He ducked back in.
“Not sure what set that off. Doesn’t look like there’s anyone coming, but we need to move.”
Kix and Rex nodded, Kix going to pick up Jesse when the alarm stopped. He paused with a frown and looked up at the cell. The lights had returned to normal and the room was silent except for Fives and Ahsoka’s voices echoing in from closer to the exit.
He took a moment to connect the dots before he swore, shaking his head and refocusing on Jesse, sitting him up so they could lift him. A groan was his only warning as Jesse swayed and swallowed thickly. He leaned him over as he dry heaved with nothing left to throw up as the mix of stims and sleep deprivation attacked him at once.
“Looks like we know how they kept him awake. An alarm every time he started to sleep and stims when that wasn’t working well enough.” Rex shook his head in disbelief, his hand still on Jesse’s shoulder, the other on his chest, keeping him steady as he trembled between them.
When the heaving finally stopped, Jesse sagged, and Kix scooped his limp body into his arms. “Alright let’s get you out of here, buddy.” He nodded to Rex and followed him out of the cell, the others following close behind.
As soon as they got on the Resolute, Kix had Jesse in the medbay, hooked to an IV and under close observation. His body still trembled from the mix of stims and exhaustion, and he groaned whenever he was moved. Kix saw him occasionally look over at something that wasn’t there, sometimes muttering to himself before settling again.
Despite being back on the ship, away from the alarms and stims, Jesse jolted awake every time he drifted off. Kix sighed as it happened again. He needed to sleep, but he had no idea how to get him to relax and sleep properly. He couldn’t sedate him thanks to the stims. Talking to him wasn’t helping, every time he spoke, Jesse grumbled at him and rolled away with a groan.
He looked up when he heard someone enter the medbay and saw Ahsoka smile sadly at him as she approached.
“How is he?” She asked quietly.
“Not great, Commander. I can’t get him to sleep, no matter how much we both know he needs it. I can’t give him anything and I don’t think he wants to hear from me at the moment.” He tried to joke. They both appreciated it even as it fell a bit flat.
“Why not?”
Kix sighed, watching with concern as Jesse’s gaze was drawn to something else in the room that only he could see. “If you don’t sleep for long enough, you begin to hallucinate. Jesse’s been awake for a week, and it seems like some vode paid him a visit. Apparently, he’s not a fan of whatever I showed up for, and I can’t get him to relax no matter what I say.”
Ahsoka frowned as she thought that over for a moment. “Was it only vode he was hearing?”
Kix shrugged. “Not too sure. Why, you want to give it a go?”
She gave a small smile and nod. “If I may?”
Kix smiled and rose from his seat, letting the Commander take it. “Go for it. I’ll be just over here if you need me.”
He picked up a datapad to do inventory. He stayed in the room to monitor Jesse, but gave them space as Ahsoka began to speak. Jesse’s brow furrowed and he dragged his gaze over to her. Even from across the room, Kix could tell it took him a few seconds to actually see her. Ahsoka smiled gently at him as she spoke.
Kix let out a breath of relief as Jesse finally began to relax. Within minutes, his eyes were drooping and he was drifting off to sleep. He seemed to sleep for a minute before he jolted awake. Ahsoka was quick to get his attention again.
He saw Jesse nod at something she said and watched as she climbed up onto the bed next to him, curling up and letting out a long sigh as she settled. Jesse’s arm came up to wrap around her, as if assuring himself the Commander was real. Slowly, he began to relax and drift off again. Kix watched as he fell asleep and finally stayed that way, fully settling with a deep sigh.
Ahsoka didn’t leave his side, slowly falling asleep next to him. Kix kept an eye on them as he worked, but let himself relax as his vod finally got the rest he needed.