Chapter Text
The battle hadn't been different then the ones they had fought before. They had planned their attack, the days before and as always, the operation had gone sideways the moment they had made contact with the enemy troops of the Separatists.
Cody was now since the first months of deployment, accommodated to the vague informations, the republic gave them and the bad luck his general couldn’t seem to shake of.
He had learned how to deal with the chaos that followed out of it and so he hadn’t been surprised, when their had been more platoons of droids on the ground, then their sources had expected.
The vod'e had quickly adapted to the situation at hand and had gotten the advantage, after they had changed their ground tactics and located the power cells, which the blankets hadn’t been able to transport into their invaded territory, as the the area was mostly a thick forest, they hadn’t been able to cut down for this short campaign.
The two squads of vode had quickly overpowered the cells, which had brought the Seperatists shields down. They had then, without any bigger issue, broken through the defence. And this had given them the perfect opening, to swiftly strike to destroy the base, the Seperatists had put upon this planet.
It had been a surprisingly quick win against the Seperatists. The last troops of clankers had fled into atmo, but were shortly shot down by the firefight command that they had placed at the hyperspace jump point.
But some ships still had been able to flee into hyperspace, but the count which would probably be the droids with the protocol to report back to the leaders of the seperatist.
Even with this, had the campaign gone rather well and Cody found himself walking through the battlefield with the destroyed clankers around him, searching for his general who had again run off, to face some kind of danger by himself.
He passed some of the vod’e, that seemed to be a group of shinies, which gave him a half-hearted salute, before they went back to porting two vode on medical stretchers into the direction of their short-term camp.
Cody nodded them back, but got caught on the injuries they had, as it seemed that they mostly had burn on their body.
This had been a invasion with a lot of droid forces but their still had been none of the main leaders of the Seperatist movement, which was odd in itself, but something that happened more and more often at this point.
The senate sent them into dead ends, were it looked like the Seperatist would push their advantage, to then just assemble their forces on the other side of the galaxy to attack there.
It was a good strategy, it could be, but the odd thing was, how the seperatist made their ambushes. They were winning more battles then they lost and still decided to attack in places that had little to no gains for them.
They won more ground, which might look good on a map, which was probably enough for their polticians, as the senate seemed to panic at this development, but it just made sense no sense in the war effort. It brought no advantage to them and made sense in a way of warfare. It was strategical osik.
As Cody looked around, he realised that this planet was a good example for what was happening right now. The planet had a forest flora, a small civilisation, it’s solar-system was laying on the edge of the transport lanes, which meant that the in- and export of goods was more difficult and through that expensive, which was also the reason why the civilisation here was mostly self sufficient.
The planet also had no worthy goods of export, expect some kind of wood, that was used for furniture’s of luxury. It had absolutely nothing, that would bring an advantage to the Seperatist, without the whining of senators, because they couldn’t get their luxury items anymore.
It was, at this point even more dikut‘la to be sent here by the senate or more the chancellor, who had tried to sell them, that the invasion of the Seperatists on this planet, would be disastrous for the republic.
His general had held his gaze blank through the time of the holocall, but Cody had learned to tell when the general was displeased with something, and could see his slight squinted eyes, as the chancellor gave them their mission briefing.
The problem wasn’t that the strikes of their enemy were idiotic. It was that GAR knew that their enemies weren’t. Count Dooku had long since shown how much he understood of strategic warfare and how capable he was in it.
Something, was off in this war, and it was more then just senators being corrupt.
He didn’t need the force to know that something big was going to happen soon in the war effort, but that was something to talk about later with his general.
It was a small win for the republic, in this neverending war, he told himself, but he couldn’t shake the feeling of the campaign being too easy and it probably having been another ploy, feeling the dread, that the Seperatists had probably made another ambush and they hadn’t been there to lend aid.
One of the clankers on the ground twitched with an electric sip. It took him out of his broodings, as he saw the B-1 clanker on the ground. He didn’t waste any time before he kicked the clanker, which made their circuits entirely dysfunctional, so that the body lost it’s energy and shut finally down.
He sighed quietly and opened his comm channel, to distract himself from the growing headache.
“Has someone seen General Kenobi?“
“Negative, commander.“ Boil answered. “But we found the rest of his squad. They all have minor injuries, with the exception of Gunner, with a close call, but Helix is looking over him at him and says that he isn’t in a critical condition.“
“Understood Boil, let the rest also be looked over by the medic. Do they know where the general went.“
It took a moment before Boil came back.
“They were seperated when the general wanted to spring the trap, but they are positive that he is planetside and alive.“
“Suvari, we will report back when we find the general.“
“Don’t worry vod, the general knows how to protect himself.“ The words from Boil sounded more amused then assuring and he had to roll his eyes.
He wasn’t worrying about the general. It was just that their general found himself in the strangest way and the weirdest mess and was sadly attracting every kind of trouble, it didn’t matter if it was fighting alone against a sith apprentice or becoming friends with pirates and especially Ohnaka.
“Goodbye Boil.“
“Good luck, commander.“ He heard the cheer in boils voice, before he cut off the line.
He cursed silently. Why did Kenobi have to be so reckless?
It didn’t help that his general had again lost his comm in some way.
He found an fond exasperation in him, for his general antics, but the next time this happened he sweared he would chip his general.
All the trackers they had tried to slip into his things had been mysteriously broken or put back into his desk.
At some point he had even tried to do them in his cloaks, but as often as his general lost them, did it seem like an hopeless case, but he wouldn’t give up when it came to his generals security.
Cody finally found the general after some time, were the sky had changed it’s color.
He needed a second to comprehend the scene before him. His general was surrounded by some old ruins of a village that were overgrown with plants, sitting on the ground with some creature on his lap.
Well, this was a new kind development.
He sent a comm to Boil, reporting that he had found the general and that Boil should .
“Tion’gar, vod?”
“Why are you asking?”
“You sound like the first time Prime had decided to show up on the negotiator, to lend a hand.”
Boil sounded far too cheery about this suspect.
“It’s just a feeling.”
“A bad one? Maybe some force-sensitivity of the general has swept over to you.”
“Ret, Boil. You’ll find it out soon enough.”
This time he cut off, before he hears more bickering from his vod.
He should have expected something to happen, he though in hand-sight as he approached the general. His general found all sorts of trouble and after the thing the General had going on with the Prime, he should maybe expect this kind of surprises. And this, at least was probably nothing that had tried to kill him.
Cody shortly realised, that the creature, which he thought was a lothcat by closer sighting, was probably the most harmless thing his general had attracted. Or he hoped, that it was harmless.
The creature looked up and him and his general followed them, starting to smile as his eyes located Cody.
“General.” He said, when he had gotten close enough to the general, who was still sitting in the dirt and had now to crane his neck to meet Cody’s gaze.
He saw a small frown cross the face of his generals, that surely came from the formal title, as his general had now insisted for some time, to call him Obi-Wan. He felt his lip twitch.
"My dear commander, I apologize for not having immediately commed ahead after the battle was finished. I got rather distracted by this little creature."
Obi-Wan rubbed the side of the (probably Loth-cat) creature's head while it had begun to purr and spread themself even more on Kenobi’s lap. Cody looked for the first time down to regard the animal.
It looked content on the lap of the general. Their fur was made of patches of white, black and and also showed spots of a light brown tone almost be seen as orange, while their claws and snout leaned more into a dark brown then the black, like he had suspected before.
Their tail twitched shortly and he realized then, that their tail was not totally straight, but had two kinks on the end of its tail, that made it seem crooked.
And he wasn’t sure how a lothcat should look, but this one looked rather small, in a way of malnourishment.
The creature asessed him with it’s golden brown eyes, before it closed it’s eyes and leant into again into the pets of the general, while also setting it’s head on the generals knee. He turned his focus back onto the general. He could ask about the lothcat later.
"Sir, why didn't you give us a heads up over your situation?"
He knew the answer, but he still asked without missing a beat. He still had to find out if his general had accidently or ‘accidently’, but with the knowledge that it had a high risk of breaking, lost his comm, as it was was mostly the latter.
Obi-Wan gave him one of his charming smiles, that convinced a full council of his innocence, in the aftermath of a mission going sideways or that his plan wasn’t as reckless as it seemed. It didn’t work on him anymore, since he had seen it far too often for this kind of manner and just stared expectingly back under his helmet, and waited for the expected words.
"Ah, my dear Cody, I think it got destroyed while fighting with the first entourage of droids."
“And why didn’t you stay with your squad when you had no comm and no way to talk to us?”
Obi-Wan looked a bit chagrined at that.
The general looked down and started to massage their ears, which seemed to please it.“Well, it wasn’t planned that we split up, but when Gunner got wounded and a new flood of droids came, did I find it better that we split up so that Gunner could get quick to a field medic. “
Obi-Wan looked up.
“How is he?”
He wanted to sigh, running of like this -without back-up- was normal for Kenobi. At first, Cody had thought he didn’t trust the vod’e, but he had quickly been proven wrong as Kenobi had shown how much he cared for the vod’e over and over again.
Obi-Wan had learned their more bastarted version of Mand’oa, threw himself into line of fire to protect the men, laughed and cried with them after a battle sharing stories, he comforted the battle-worn and shinies and even helped- if asked- them to fall asleep.
Since the beginning of the war, Obi-Wan had seen them as more then clones of a bounty hunter to be used as canonfodder. He had recogized them as people, which maybe looked the same but were all different unique beings for themself.
And through all this, Cody had realised, that Obi-wan didn’t run off because of a distrust to them, but because Obi-Wan saw it as a way to protect his men, for which he felt responsible.
And in this case, his general probably wouldn’t see that it had been unecessary to do.
Maybe he would try to explain it later but not now, he didn’t have the energy to lecture his general for this now, he would try it later, but not now.
“He is in the medbay, but the medics say he will be alright.” Cody decided to say.
He saw how Obi-Wans shoulder eased a bit and felt himself smile a bit under the helmet.
“That’s good news.”
He nodded.
Their is silence for a few moment, which is broken by the mrrm sound of the lothcat creature, that seemed unhappy about the stopped pets that had stopped and his general started comedic quick way to cares the thing again.
“So, are you keeping that thing?”
Obi-Wan looked again at him.
“Ah I’m not-“
Obi-Wan stopped mid word, before he looked back at the Loth-cat, that was sitting in his lap and seemed to flip their tail as if it was excited. And Cody watched as his general’s face changed quickly from a frown of confusion to suprise and a genuine looking smile as he looked again down at the Loth-cat.
“It seems I will.”
He held his sigh back, as he resigned himself that force osik had probably made his life more difficult.
His general snuggeled the Loth-cat closer to him, while the thing gave a happy-sounding meow.
He smiled weakly at the scenery of the general cuddling with the Loth-cat. It was adorable.
Cody found himself taking- of course discreet- a holo with his helmet and saved it then following on his comm. The holo surely would be useful in the future.
“I think it is rather time that we head back to camp.”
Obi-Wan stated into his musing and Cody looked at the sky that had become darker. They were able to find their way back in the dark, but he would rather be earlier at the camp.
“I agree sir, we should report back.”
Obi-Wan turned his gaze from the creature to look at him, giving him another smile, but this time, it seemed like something else was hidden under it that he couldn’t pinpoint at the moment.
“Indeed, would you mind lending me a hand, commander?”
Before he knew what had been asked of him, did he find the Loth-cat that the general had been cuddling just seconds ago, in his arms.
He stared at the Loth-cat, that was now laying in his arms and the creature stared right back into his eyes. as if they were able to see through the t-visor.
“Sir?”
He, was a professional so that his mimic and voice didn't change, even if he had a helmet on.
Some of his nerves must have been feelable in the force or something, because Obi-Wan started to laugh.
“It’s alright Cody, it seems to like you just fine.”
It hadn’t bitten him yet and it seemed to be happy with just laying there, but he still didn’t truly trusted it.
In the meantime, were he had had his stare down with a kriffing lothcat, had Obi-Wan stood up from the dirty ground. The Loth-cat had shed it’s fur onto his clothes, that he tried to get off, which seemed futile at this point. His general sighed, before he gave it up and turned his attention at Cody again.
“I can take them again.”
The fur ball made an unhappy sound as Cody didn’t exactly throw them, though it was a close thing. He was rather relieved to have given the creature back to Obi-Wan, but it didn’t distract him enough, to not notice the flinch Obi-Wan had as he took the fur ball into his arms.
Obi-Wan gave him his another of his innocent looking smiles, that Cody didn’t buy for a second. He would carry his general into the medbay, if it was needed, this dikut couldn’t tend to himself and would be able to run from the medbay this time.
“I will be bring you to the medbay for a post-battle check up.“
“I think that won’t be necessary, my dear commander.“
Of course it wasn’t necessary for this self-sacrificing dikut. Cody had the urge to say just that, but he knew that it was more promising to play this game.
“May I see your arm? As your second in command, I’m also directly in charge of your health and have to be up to date about you injuries.“
“I think that’s not under the field of your command to act out the job of a medic.“ He snid back and realised it a second too late as Cody grinned under his helmet.
“Ah, so you want to let Helix make a check-up of you?“
The famed negotiator opened his mouth, to just close it again at the lose of words.
“Fine“ Obi-Wan said a bit forced and rolled his sleeve up to show a gaping wound on his forearm. It was- to his relief- not too bad for Kenobi, but also really not something that any sane person would call fine.
“You will go to the medbay and get a bandage.“ He held his finger up when Obi-Wan opened his mouth again. “And before you say something, we have enough for the troops health and for you at the moment.“
This seemed like the right argument for the moment, when Obi-Wan sighed and changed his hold on the fur ball to bring them in a better position, but it seemed to just spread more furr on his tunics.
“Alright, I probably have to check them the one way or the other in the medbay for their status of health.” Obi-Wan shifted the lothcat in his arms, to holding them in one arm and petting them with the other one. “ They seem a bit to light for a lothcat and such. They can look over them and then maybe over me. If they even have to look at me. It’s just a scratch.“
“I think the medics will be the judge of that.”
His general huffed, but didn’t fight this testimony. Cody smirked at the small win, though he felt a bit of worry, that Obi-Wan had given up this easily general. He hoped, that it lay on the furr ball in his arms and not because his general had another concussion.
Well, Cody thought, as they headed back to the camp, they would soon find out what it was.