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Trech surveyed the dusty terrain. "What do you think, commander?"
"I can't see," a tiny voice piped up.
Trech looked down. His short commander could, in fact, not see over the high rock wall they were crouched behind.
"Oh, here," lieutenant Blast easily picked the commander up, settling him on his shoulders so that the pipsqueak jedi had a better view.
"Thanks," Cal said, brushing his red hair out of his eyes to squint out at the battlefield.
Trech passed up a pair of binocs. "The LAAT/i is about five klicks away."
Cal gazed out through the binocs that were nearly twice the size of his hands. "We'd better get moving if we want to make the rendezvous with Master Tapal."
As Cal slid down from Blast's shoulders, Trech roused the troops. They were just a small squadron, about twenty men or so. They started to trek down the small mountain, heading out to the dusty plain so the LAAT/i had an easier landing platform. When they reached the desert floor, they waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Finally, Wack - a shiny - pointed off in the distance. "There! I think i see something."
Trech squinted. "Yeah, I see it. Weird, it's coming in way too fast."
Blast raised his comlink. "LAAT/i 800, do you copy?" He was answered with only static. "Long-range coms are down."
The ship was now drawing close enough that Trech could make out the type and markings. "That's no republic ship," he murmered. Then he raised his voice. "Everyone, get back to the mountains!"
The squadron sprinted across the dusty ground, but they weren't fast enough. The seppie ship swooped down, dropping a canister in the middle of the crowd.
"Get down!" Trech yelled desperately.
Everyone dived to the ground, bracing for the bomb to go off.
But it didn't. Instead, with a loud hiss, it began spewing thick yellow fog.
"Kark."
"Get away!"
"Filters on!"
Yelling and coughing filled the air. Trech hurriedly engaged the filters on his helmet, breathing in clean air.
Wait.
The commander didn't have a helmet.
Where was he?
Trech spun around, the noxious fog making it impossible to see. "Commander!"
A small blur of motion caught his eye. Cal, sleeve pressed over his mouth, was darting towards the canister.
"No! Commander, move -"
In one fluid motion, cal scooped up the canister of gas and flung it far, far away, using the force to propel it further.
Trech rushed over to him. "Commander, are you alright?"
Cal waved his hands trying to clear the smoke away from his face. "I -" he coughed. "I don't feel so good."
Then his knees gave out.
Trech quickly caught him. "Medic!" He yelled. "I need a medic over here!" Crunch and Jet scrambled over, dropping down beside the commander.
Cal was gagging and retching, his little body wracked with coughing fits.
Jet pulled something out of his med kit - a needle - and stabbed it into Cal's neck, depressing the plunger. Cal didn't even seem to notice.
Crunch snapped a medical bracelet around Cal's wrist, then quickly read the vitals it was tracking on his data pad.
"Blood pressure is dropping."
"Get him an oxygen?"
"No, it probably won't work with the gas."
The other clones had gathered around at this point. Blast started to take his helmet off so Cal could breathe the filtered air, but Jet caught his wrist. "No. I'm not having more sick people than I have to."
Cal suddenly stopped coughing, his body going limp.
"Commander? Commander!"
Both Jet and Crunch cursed in rapid fire Mando'aa. Crunch started administering CPR, his hands pumping up and down. 1,2,3, 1,2,3 1,2,3.
Cal remained lifeless. His lips started turning blue.
1,2,3 1,2,3, 1,2,3
"Come on, ad'ika," Crunch murmered.
1,2,3, 1,2,3 1,2-
Cal coughed, his chest heaving for air as he took big, gasping breaths.
Nearly all of the clones let out a sigh of relief.
"That's it, Cal," Jet turned the kid on his side so he could spit out the bile in his mouth.
"Just breathe."
******
Blast tossed another stick onto the fire. "That's the last of the firewood."
"We could always send out another patrol," Jet suggested.
"No, they'd have to go too far from camp. There aren't many trees in this briefing desert." Blast glanced at the Commander, curled up on a sleeping mat between him and Jet. Apart from that moment near the mountain, he'd mainly been unconscious. "How's he looking, Jet?"
Jet sighed. "Stable. But if we don't get him to the Albedo Brave soon, it's not going to be good."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the wheeze of Cal's little lungs. Blast didn't know how much time hadn passed, but he guessed it was almost at the end of his watch when Cal started coughing again.
Jet was propping him up within seconds. "Easy there, commander."
Cal coughed and coughed, his small body trying to expell the toxin in his lungs. He weakly clawed at the oxygen mask on his face.
Jet quickly pulled the mask off, and Cal spat out dark red blood on the sand.
Blast winced. They had to reach the Albedo soon.
****
*****
Ow.
Cal's lungs felt like they were being stabbed over and over again.
Ow.
"Cal, can you open your eyes for me?"
Slowly, achingly, Cal peeled his heavy eyelids apart, and immediately winced at the bright lights.
"That's it, ad'ika. You're doing great."
Cal blinked, once, twice, until his vision cleared and he could see Jet in front of him, shining a penlight in his eyes.
"Hey, kid. Welcome back to the land of the living."
Cal struggled to raise his hands up to touch his oxygen mask, and saw that an IV line was taped into his arm.
A purple hand twice the size of his reached out and gently took his hand. "It's all right, Cal. We're on the Albedo."
Sitting by his bedside was Master Tapal, his kind eyes crinkled with concern. Cal weakly squeezed his hand back, transmitting confusion -why- how into their bond.
"The squadron was picked up by LAAT/i's, and they brought you here, to the medbay."
"How're you feeling?" Jet asked.
Cal sent ow lungs pain breathing to his master.
"He says he has pain in his lungs, and that it hurts to breathe." Master Tapal told Jet.
"How bad, Cal?"
Cal thought for a minute then held up seven fingers.
"Alright, we'll get you some painkillers for that."
As the medic walked off, Master Tapal reached out with his other hand to stroke Cal's hair.
"Next time, perhaps you could dive away from the bomb, Cal."
Cal leaned into his master's touch, exhausted all of a sudden. Sorry, he pushed into the force.
"It's alright. Don't be sorry, just be safe."