You Missed a Spot

"General, watch out!" the shouted warning heralded a clash of armor on armor as clone captain Kralj quickly tackled his general to the ground to shield her from a spray of shrapnel. The battle roared around them angrily as cannon rounds tore the ground about them, showering the pair with dirt, rocks, and even more shrapnel.

Kralj maintained his crouched position, doing his best to cover Nile from the hail of metal debris. He could hear a few of his brothers cry out in pain nearby, but the dust and debris had long since obscured his view.

"Justice! Take them out! Take them out now! Nile was barking into her comlink; even as she lay flattened to the ground, held in place by her captain.

"With pleasure general Renarus. You have fifteen seconds to get clear." Admiral Clayton's voice crackled to life over the comlink as if he'd been waiting right there.

"Time to go General..." Kralj hauled her to her feet one handed, while turning to open fire once again on the advancing droids with the other hand. "Everyone get your sorry hides out of there now!" he shouted to his brothers.

A dozen or so white armored soldiers suddenly bolted from their positions, making a run for it before they got fried by Justice's cannons. Droids continued their slow, droning pursuit, only to be blasted into oblivion by a sudden hail-fire from above. Clones all dove for cover, or were blasted to the ground by the shock-wave. Dirt, debris, other various objects, and shrapnel rained down on them from above as everything suddenly because deathly silent.

Slowly, the clones began to reappear in the thick dust, blasters still raised and trained on the destroyed chunk of land; just in case anything had managed to survive that. But nothing was left. Nothing but sparking, torched droid parts and torn metal.

"Well. That was a blast..." came the slightly snarky toned voice of Sniper.

"Seriously? You were waiting all day to say that, weren't you?" Storm muttered.

Sniper grinned mischievously at his brother. "Maybe."

"Is everybody okay?" Shadow's voice cut sharply over their channel.

"We're good Sarge. Don't worry." came Drali's calm voice.

"Where's the general?"

"And the Captain?"

There was a brief silence, and it seemed like the group held their breath as one.

"We're here Shades. Call down a ship. It's time to go home." Nile's voice crackled over the com.

"Thank the Force..." Shadow murmured.

((Later: On-board the Justice))

"General, you're hurt." Kralj's deep voice was twinged with a tone of concern as he pointed to her right shoulder.

The young knight turned to examine her shoulder in surprise. Blood was trickling down her arm slowly. "You know, it itches more than anything actually." she said with a chuckle.

"Come on, Medbay for you Sir."

"I'm fine Kralj. It's just a little bit of shrapnel. Shades has got enough to do for now. You can get it out."

Kralj frowned. "General, I don't think that's-."

"Kralj, it'll be fine."

"Alright...If you say so..."

Nile sat down on a nearby crate to let her captain work. "So..."

"Yes General?"

"You missed a spot." she said, giving him a mischievous grin.

"Sir?" Kralj frowned with puzzlement, pausing his work to look her in the eye.

"When you tackled and covered me. You missed a spot."

Kralj flushed a bit as he got back to his task of removing the metal bits.

Nile chuckled a bit. "But in all seriousness, thank you for that Kralj."

"You're welcome...Nile."

She gently reached out to stroke his cheek, even while he concentrated on his task. She flinched a bit when he finally tugged the last piece out. Kalj gently smeared on a thick layer of bacta gel. When he finished, Nile pulled him into a hug, despite him being crouched down. He made no protest though, even as she softly kissed his forehead. After a very brief moment, he pulled back.

"You missed a spot."