PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS STORY HAS SINCE BEEN RE-WRITTEN AS LIVES WELL LIVED. ANY FIRST TIME READERS SHOULD REDIRECT THERE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST.
Part I- The Commander and the Colonel
They ran through the underground corridor, deflecting or narrowly avoiding blaster fire as they went.
"I told you this was a bad idea!"
"You think all of my ideas are bad snips, but they normally work."
Jedi knight Anakin Skywalker and his padawan Ahsoka Tano had infiltrated a Separatist munitions factory hidden deep in the outer rim with the intention of destroying the facility. The plan had been going well until a few minutes ago, when they had been spotted by an industrial droid, which had sounded the alarm. Now they fled a group of security droids and mercenaries.
"It doesn't matter if they usually work, only one has to fail for us to end up dead!"
"Have some faith in me snips, I've got them right where I want them."
They turned a corner to find a dead end. The mercenary captain, a Rodian, stepped forward.
"Drop your weapons, Jedi."
He spat the last word out with disgust as his men leveled their blasters on the two intruders.
"Great, now we're trapped."
"No, this is part of the plan."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS IS PART OF THE..."
"Ahsoka, get down!"
They both hit the ground as the ceiling between them and their pursuers collapsed in a cloud of dust. Blaster fire poured out of the dust cloud and ripped into the security team. The droids were cut down, the remaining mercenaries fled back the way they came. A squad of troopers in camouflage recon armor repelled through the hole and gave chase to the fleeing mercs. More troopers followed, including one who stood out to Ahsoka. He wore what appeared to be standard armor in the same camo as the other troopers, as well as a shoulder pauldron and kama. The odd trooper gestured to several others, who nodded and turned to carry out his orders, then turned to approach them.
"General."
"Colonel, what took you so long?"
"The map you gave me is at least a century old, cave systems change you know."
His voice confirmed what Ahsoka had already suspected.
"You're not a clone."
"No, I'm not."
"Who are you?"
Anakin interrupted this exchange.
"Colonel, have you met my padawan, Ahsoka Tano."
" I've heard stories from the men, but no, I don't believe I've had the pleasure."
"Ahsoka, this is Colonel Marczak, commanding officer of the 501st's advanced recon battalion."
He removed his helmet revealing a young human male, then extended his hand towards her. She reached out and shook it.
"I didn't know we had a recon battalion."
"You wouldn't, our work is normally done before the bulk of the legion even lands, this is only the third time I've met General Skywalker face to face."
A trooper came up behind the Colonel and quietly reported in. After the trooper left Marczak turned back to the Jedi.
"We're done here, charges are planted and security is neutralized. They found your ship, so you're going to have to ride with us General."
"Lead the way Colonel."
...
A few weeks later, Ahsoka was meditating in her quarters when she heard a knock on the door.
"Enter."
The door opened and her master walked in.
"Ahsoka."
"Master."
"I got word from the counsel, we're going to be on temple duty when we rotate back to Coruscant."
"Aww, come on. Why this time?"
"Apparently it's just our turn."
"Isn't there any way out of it."
"For me, no, but for you, yes."
"What?"
"You remember Col. Marczak?"
"Yea."
"His men don't rotate on the same schedule as the rest of the 501st, so they'll be in theater for another six months. I asked the Colonel if he'd take you along with him, and he said yes."
"What would I be doing?"
"By virtue of rank you'd be his second in command, but don't expect any preferential treatment. You'd be on the ground with the troops just like always."
"Sounds better than guard duty. When do I leave?"
"Twenty minutes ago, which is why I wasn't able to bring you back with me."
"Thanks, skyguy."
...
Recon battalion had its own ship, a modified Acclamator-class cruiser, which Col. Marczak had personal command over. Without heavy equipment and with a minimal crew compliment, the ship was a lot roomier than most. The tour ended with Ahsoka being led into the mess hall by the Colonel. When he entered the troopers in the mess snapped to attention. He spoke.
"At ease boys. Most of you have heard of Commander Tano, she's going to be working with us for a while, so get used to her."
As the clones returned to their meals, Marczak motioned for her to follow him to a table at the back of the mess hall were they sat across from each other.
"I'm the only non-clone officer on this tub, other than you, so there's no wardroom, I prefer to eat with the men. That won't be a problem I assume?"
"No, I normally eat with the troops."
"Good, we're a little lax with rules and regs around here, I don't like 'em and the men are too well trained to need 'em. I understand General Skywalker agrees with me on this point, but I need to make sure you're on the same page as well."
"You won't have any trouble with me, sir"
"None of that sir crap, it's either Colonel or Marczak."
"Got it, Colonel."
"Now, the General seems to think you can learn something from me and my boys, so I expect you to do things my way, or not at all. Any questions?"
She hesitated.
"Can I ask you a personal question?"
"Shoot."
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-one standard years."
"And you're a Colonel?"
"Senate doesn't think any non-clone should serve under a clone, so they promoted me. It's not fair and I didn't want it, but it happened and I learned to live with it."
Ahsoka found herself increasingly intrigued by this man. He was younger than his men biologically and had far less training, but he was their leader and they clearly respected him. He reminded her somewhat of her master, but he was something else entirely. His presence in the force was off in a way she could not understand. This was going to be interesting.
...
The town barely qualified as such, it constituted only a few buildings, of which only two appeared to be residences. She could see why Intel would choose such a place for a handoff. The speeder stopped and the four of them stepped out onto the dirt road. Their party consisted of he, Col. Marczak, and two of his men. They all wore long, brown, hooded cloaks, the troopers over their armor, Ahsoka over her normal attire. The troopers and Marczak had painted their armor in garish colors to disguise it for this mission.
"This is it boys, and miss Tano, our contacts in that cantina."
As the troopers entered, Ahsoka was pulled aside by the Colonel.
"You might see things in there that will shock you, things you're not prepared for, can you promise me you'll be able to handle it?"
"I've been at war for more than three years, I doubt there's anything that can shock me anymore."
"Ok then, stay next to me and don't look anyone in the eye, if there's any trouble, I'll handle it."
With that they entered the cantina. The troopers waiting to either side of the door fell in behind the Colonel. One gestured to a curtailed doorway across the room from where they were standing. Marczak nodded and they started making their way through the crowded cantina. As they passed the bar area the Ahsoka felt the crowd pressing in on her even more. Then she felt a hand grope her ass. She immediately wheeled around and glared at the culprit, a male twi'lek who said something she couldn't understand, his friends laughed. A half second later the twi'lek was on the ground unconscious with the Colonel standing over him, as his friends stood and started reaching for weapons, Marczak barked something at them in the odd language then pulled her close. He whispered to her.
"Kiss me on the cheek."
"What?! Why?"
"Just do it!"
She did.
"I told them you're my wife, they won't touch you now."
Ahsoka wasn't sure how she felt about this, but was still grateful. She'd never experienced this sort of thing. As a Jedi, the few times she'd been in places like this, most had kept their distance from her.
When they reached the back where the doorway was, Marczak gestured for a trooper to look through. After peeking through the curtain, the man nodded and motioned for them to follow. As they entered, Ahsoka felt the Colonel pulling her closer to his side again, as she looked around the room she saw why. She was wrong when she said nothing could shock her, because for the first time she was exposed to a new level of depravity she had been sheltered from at the Jedi temple. As the crossed that room to enter another adjoining room, she attempted to block out her surroundings, clinging to Marczak so she would not have to reopen her eyes. The adjoining room they entered had only a table and a few chairs. A Bothan sat with his back to the far wall, their contact. The two troopers stood by the entrance while Ahsoka and the Colonel sat across from the Bothan.
"Colonel."
"Crier"
The agent smirked as he looked Ahsoka over.
"And who's your friend, the little lady who caused all the commotion?"
"You heard that, huh? This is Commander Tano, a Jedi, and none of your concern. Now where's the intel?"
Crier shook his head lightly in disapproval as he felt inside his coat.
"Impatient as always, eh Colonel? Ah, here it is."
He threw a holodisk onto the table, which the Colonel quickly grabbed and slipped into his belt as he stood up.
"Thank you, now if you don't mind we'll be on our way."
"Good bye Colonel, I hope you have fun."
...
The intelligence report had pointed to a weakening Separatist presence on Felucia, making now the best time for a counter offensive to retake the jungle world. However, the strength of the remaining droid garrison had to first be determined, a mission perfectly suited to an advanced reconnaissance force. They'd come out of hyperspace just close enough to jam their sensors and deploy the battalion via gunship before Retaliation had jumped back out of the system. Hopefully this would keep the Seps unaware of their presence, but the Colonel was doubtful.
They created a small base camp around their landing site, but they'd need to traverse a hundred kilometers of jungle in order to observe the garrison. The Colonel led half the battalion on this mission while the remaining men stood guard over the gunships. Ahsoka went along with the scout team. Marczak purposely plotted their route through the most difficult terrain in order to avoid detection. The going was slow.
"Keep your heads on a swivel, never know when trouble is going to show up."
"I doubt droids are planning an ambush for us way out here."
"Still have to worry about the natives, primitives could be lurking anywhere."
"You ever seen them?"
"A few times, it wasn't very pleasant."
After a few hours they reached a shallow ravine and started walking along the floor. The vegetation created a dense canopy over their heads, and that combined with the sheer walls created a sort of corridor through the brush. The troopers were jumpy, occasional movement in the canopy stopped them in their tracks as they scanned for threats. Col. Marczak seemed uneasy as well, prompting Ahsoka to stick close to him. She could understand their caution, this planet's force presence was chaotic, more so than she remembered.
They'd walked about five clicks through the ravine when the Colonel held up his hand for the party to stop.
"What is it?"
"I don't know, listen."
She did, but the jungle was silent.
"I don't hear anything"
"Exactly."
Ahsoka heard a screeching from above before she was shoved off to the side. When she looked back she saw Marczak grappling with a blue humanoid with a bone club and wooden mask, a Felucian warrior. All along the line they'd attacked from above, the one Marczak was fighting would have landed on her head if he hadn't pushed her out of the way. She ignited her sabers and slashed a charging warrior across the face, then jumped over to another standing over a trooper. He blocked her first few strikes with his club, catching her off guard, but she quickly dispatched him with a backhanded slash to the leg. The Colonel had meanwhile dispatched his opponent with a vibroblade concealed in his gauntlet and had begun picking off warriors with his rifle. The troopers quickly recovered from the initial shock of the attack and within minutes the Felucians where either dead or retreating. There had been no fatalities among the clones, but several were injured enough to need tending to. It was decided they'd camp there for the night. As they sat around the small fire, Ahsoka again noticed that Marczak's men kept to themselves more than most troopers. While they would occasionally engage in conversation or share a joke with the Colonel, they rarely did any more than acknowledge her. She didn't mind so much though, as he didn't share that habit.
"Thanks for the save earlier"
"No problem."
"I don't understand why I didn't feel them coming, especially that many."
"Their shamans can mask their presence, but only for a limited time, that's why they went for you and me first."
"What do you mean?"
"You and me, the ones who could have felt them coming."
"You're force sensitive!"
"That depends on your definition, I can feel things in the force, people, animals, their intentions, things like that. I can't do any of the fancy tricks you Jedi can."
"How come I couldn't tell?"
"I learned to hide it, shield my mind from other force users."
"Prove it."
"Go ahead, try and get into my mind, tell what I'm thinking, what I'm feeling."
Ahsoka reached out in the force and carefully probed the Colonel's mind, but was quickly frustrated in her efforts. Every attempt met a solid barrier that prevented her any access. She focused, trying to muster a more violent offensive, but was still unable to breach the mental barrier.
"Give up?"
"Yea, how'd you learn to do that?"
"Necessity."
"Is hiding what you can do really that important?"
"No."
"Then why did you need to?"
"It's a long story."
"We've got all night."
"Fine. A month after Geonosis, and a week into my first command, intel came in about a possible Sep base on an isolated moon, Yavin IV. GAR high command thought it was enough of a threat to devote a battalion and the Jedi counsel, citing the planet's history with the Sith, sent two knights to command the mission. I'd never liked Jedi, every one I'd ever met had been arrogant, stuck up, all around unpleasant, and these two were no exception. We'd been in the field a week when they disappeared, gone without a trace. We searched all that day for some sign of them, but the jungle was even thicker than it is here. That was when the dreams started. Something dark lives on that moon, and it clawed at my mind, it showed me horrible things, countless atrocities from countless wars, the deepest disparities sentient life is capable of. It nearly broke me, if I hadn't learned to block it out I would have gone insane. Later we found the Jedi, one had killed the other and gnawed the flesh from his bones. I put one in the back of his head. The 'credible threat' turned out to be a single droid platoon guarding a small listening post, didn't lose a single man taking it. For my trouble they gave me a commendation and the most prestigious post they could find. I've been with the 501st ever since."
They sat there for several minutes until Ahsoka broke the silence.
"Wow, just wow. How have I never heard of this?"
"I covered it up. We burned the bodies, reported them KIA and the remains as unrecoverable. The troopers who know are sworn to secrecy and I've never told another living soul, until you."
"Then why did you tell me?"
"I don't know. I normally don't trust Jedi, but your different, like Skywalker."
"I don't know what to say, thank you Colonel."
"Ghes, call me Ghes."
She smiled.
"Ghes."
He stood up and stretched.
"Alright, you go get some sleep, I'm going to stay up for first watch."
...
The next day passed without incident, they made good time and set up camp five klicks from the target area by nightfall. Once again, the troopers broke off after the briefing for the next day and Ahsoka found herself with Ghes. They swapped stories of their own experiences during the war.
""Kidnapped by Trandoshians."
"Yea."
"And you were rescued by Wookies."
"True story."
"And I thought I'd done some crazy shit."
"Well, weird stuff like that happens to Jedi all the time."
"I've read the mission reports for a lot of it. It seems like you have a penchant for disobeying orders and getting into trouble."
"I do not."
"Please, I helped plan the Citadel operation. I know General Skywalker didn't want you anywhere near it."
"Oh really, if you planned it why'd it go so poorly?"
"I didn't say they used any of my ideas."
They both laughed.
"How'd you end up here Ghes?"
"Same way you did."
"Not Felucia, the army."
"I was an officer before the war, a Lieutenant, when the war broke out they slapped a Colonel's rank on me and gave me a battalion."
"Where are you from? From your name I can tell you're Mandalorian, or at least your parents were."
"Picked up on that, did ya? I try not to advertise it, but yea, my father was. He was a mercenary, until he met my mother and they settled on Coruscant. I didn't have the traditional mando'ade upbringing, but I held onto the culture and the language, though I don't speak it often. With the Republic recognizing the New Mandalore government, and with Death Watch back, it's easier to lay low than draw suspicion."
"I take it you're not fond of duchess Satine?"
"No, she means well, but she's trying to throw away what it means to be mando'ade."
"But it's in the name of peace."
"Can you honestly tell me that, in your experience, peace is always the best option."
Ahsoka was silent.
"I thought so. War is part of life, more so for mando'ade than others."
He stood up and put his helmet on.
"Good night Ahsoka."
"Good night, Ghes."
...
"Looks like intel screwed up again Colonel."
"I think so to Stalker."
Ghes, Ahsoka, and the sniper called Stalker, were perched atop a ridge line overlooking the main Separatists compound on Felucia. Contrary to intelligence reports, it appeared to have grown since it was last observed by Republic forces.
"All teams report in, any exploitable weaknesses?"
"Negative boss, perimeters sealed tight."
"Damn, well the raid is scrapped boys, remind me to shoot the next intel spook we see."
"Will do, Colonel."
Ghes was about to stand up when Ahsoka stopped him.
"Wait, let me look."
He shrugged.
"Sure, go ahead."
She took the binoculars and started scanning the perimeter of the compound. She smiled.
"I think I have an idea."
...
An oddity of Felucia was that, due to the large numbers of bio-luminous fauna, night was almost as bright as day. An advantage of this was that small camp fires were difficult to notice, a small thing that made a soldiers' life easier, but it also made sneaking up on enemy positions far more difficult, even at night. The Seps, however, had made the mistake of letting the foliage on one side of the compound grow right up against the wall.
Ahsoka, Ghes, and five troopers were going over this wall. It had been her idea and Ghes had said it was something he'd never try without a Jedi, but she'd convinced it to give it a shot. The plan was to infiltrate the compound, access and sabotage the computer core, then sneak back out, simple but extremely dangerous. The lynch pin of the plan was Ahsoka throwing them up onto the wall in between patrols.
"Here it is, you boys ready?"
"I don't know about this Colonel."
"If you're going to be a wimp about it, Slicer, I'll go first."
He turned to Ahsoka.
"Come on let's get this over with."
She looked up at the wall, more apprehensive about this plan than she'd been when she thought of it. Ghes noticed.
"Don't worry, if you drop me, I'll try not to alert the droids with my shrieks of pain."
Somehow this didn't make her any more confident, but she concentrated and threw him just high enough to land on the catwalk atop the wall. She held her breath for the few seconds it took for him to peak over the side and wave at them to follow. One by one she threw the other troopers up onto the wall, then jumped up herself. Inside the compound the made their way carefully to the headquarters building located in the center of the facility. Most of the organic officers lived here, and they were all asleep, so they only had to worry about a few droid guards. They stopped outside the computer core.
"Okay, what do we have in there."
Ahsoka reached out in the force.
"One duty officer, two droid guards, two manning terminals."
Ghes scowled.
"Damn, were going to need to go loud. Ripper, stun grenade."
The trooper pulled the grenade off his belt and threw it to Ghes, who opened the door and tossed it in. After the deafening noise and blinding flash of the grenade, Ahsoka entered the room and activated her lightsabers, impaling the droids on either side of the door. She was followed by Ghes, who took out the remaining two droids and the officer with three well placed shots.
"Slicer, computer. Vore, clean up. The rest of you watch the door."
Slicer got to work on the computer core while Vore threw the disabled droids and officer into an adjoining server room.
"You want his key card, Colonel?"
"Grab it. How long on the computer?"
"Ten minutes if I'm lucky, fifteen if not."
Ghes turned to Ahsoka.
"That woke someone up, I can feel him running to the command center."
She nodded.
"I can to, they'll send droids to investigate. We've got five minutes if we're lucky."
"We're never lucky. Heads up boys, droids inbound!"
The first group consisted of ten security droids, the troopers guarding the door took out when they rounded the corner, the rest took cover and called for reinforcements. Soon, the headquarters was swarming with droids.
"Dammit, there's to many!"
"We need a distraction."
"Then we'll get one. This is Col. Marczak, commence diversionary attack."
Outside, the remaining troopers that had accompanied them to the compound opened fire on the perimeter wall defenses, hopefully drawing droids away from the infiltration team.
"Colonel, we've got the data, virus uploading."
"We can't wait, Commander Tano, if you'd be so kind as to clear a path for us."
"It'd be my pleasure."
Ahsoka lunged out into the corridor and rushed the droids, Ghes followed close behind while the troopers took cover. Soon they'd fought their way out into the yard, where most of the droids were firing blindly into the jungle at their hidden attackers. They broke for the wall they'd come in over, mostly clear due to the attack being concentrated on the other side of the compound. Ahsoka reached the top first, killing the few droid sentries left and lowering the troopers down the wall. Ghes was bringing up the rear when he was hit in the back by three blaster bolts, knocking him to the ground.
"Ghes!"
Ahsoka looked up to see a squad of commando droids running towards them. She began beating back their fire while they continued to advance.
The lead droid reached Ghes and was about to put another round through his head when he rolled over and shot the confused droid. Equally stunned, Ahsoka leaped down to his side to cover him.
"I thought you were dead!"
"Dead? Please, it'll take more than a few piles of scrap to kill me."
The last two droids rushed them. Ahsoka cut the head off hers while Ghes shoved his vibroblade into the others chin. They turned and climbed up the wall.
"It's not funny, how are you not dead?"
Ghes tapped his breastplate.
"Beskar, Mandalorian armor, reforged to look like standard issue, it's blasterproof."
He jumped off the wall and Ahsoka followed, slowing both their descents.
"Where'd you get that?"
"It was my grandfather's."
They met the troopers at the bottom and ran off into the jungle.
"I'll tell you one thing though, it's a lot heavier than plastoid."
...
Back aboard Retaliation things changed for Ahsoka, the troopers started interacting with her more, striking up conversation, making jokes, more of what she'd gotten used to serving with Rex and his men. She asked Ghes about it during dinner.
"I don't understand the question."
"The troopers, why are they being so much more open to me all of a sudden?"
"Probably because you didn't die."
"What do you mean?"
"These men aren't like the clones you're used to, not anymore. We've been running special ops missions for most of the war, these men aren't trained for it, hell, I'm not trained for it. They get used to losing a lot of the replacements we get on their first time out, so they try to avoid getting attached to anyone until they've proven themselves."
"Oh."
"Yea, that's the sad truth of life as a soldier, if you're lucky, you live long enough to see every friend you've ever had die. But now you're just getting me depressed. When you're done with that, come down to the training room."
...
When Ahsoka walked into the training room all eyes were on her. All through the mostly empty space clones stopped what they were doing and turned towards her. Ghes was standing in the center of the room, in what appeared to be some sort of ring.
"Commander Tano, so happy you could join us!"
She walked over to him.
"So, why'd you want me down here."
"Simple, you're going to fight me."
"Ok, why?"
"Training. What's the matter, don't think you can take me?"
"If anyone needs to be worried, Colonel, it's you."
"Then let's get to it."
He turned around and walked over to a container sitting on the side of the ring. From inside he pulled a shock staff and a small metal cylinder. He tossed the smaller object to her, it was a lightsaber.
"Where'd you get this?"
"Some Death Watch wannabe came at me with it on Alderaan, it's a training saber."
She activated it.
"Why?"
"Because I like my limbs..."
He tapped his breastplate.
"...And while this will stop a lightsaber, the plastoid won't."
He activated his staff and moved into a fighting position.
"Let's go."
The troopers in the training room had moved to the sides of the ring and where watching them as Ahsoka and Ghes circled each other. She made the first move, a quick strike, easily parried. She followed it up with another three in quick secession, but he blocked those as well. As she backed off, Ghes stabbed at her with the end of the staff, she parried it off to the side, but he followed with the other end and hit her in the calf. The shock collapsed her leg and she fell to the ground, where Ghes brought the staff to the side of her neck.
"Dead."
The troopers laughed and Ahsoka glared at Ghes. She swept his legs and jumped onto him, holding her sabre to his neck.
"Dead."
Their audience laughed harder at this. Ghes used the staff pinned across his chest, to push Ahsoka off of him. They both leapt to their feet before going at each other again. Ahsoka stayed close in to deny Ghes the advantage of the reach his staff provided him, but this also limited her own options to quick, light slashes. Ghes, for his part, was able to block every one of her attacks, but lacked the room to make his own. This went on until Ahsoka used a quick feint to bring Ghes off balance so she could knock his staff to the side, as she pulled back for more powerful blow he brought his elbow up under her chin, stunning her long enough for him to bring the staff back around to hit her legs again. Ahsoka again found herself on the ground looking at the end of Ghes's staff.
"Dead"
"That wasn't fair."
"War isn't fair."
He powered down his staff and extended his hand to help her up. She grabbed his hand and used it to flip him, putting her on top of him.
"You're right, it isn't."
He broke out laughing as they stood up and left the ring.
"Should've seen that coming, good one."
"Thanks, good fight."
"A lot harder than you thought it'd be, huh?"
"Yea, I can't anticipate you with the force, and you don't telegraph much."
"You're not bad either, though you definitely need more practice against living opponents."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means fighting droids all the time is slowing you down, damn things are too stupid to put up a good fight."
"Still faster than you."
"I've got a good third of a meter and at least twenty kilos on you, and I'm in full armor."
"Yea, what's with that?"
"I'm going to wear it while I fight, so I might as well wear it while I train."
"Fair enough."
"So, how do you feel about doing that on a regular schedule?"
"How often?"
"Twice a week, don't want you to get to beaten and bruised do we?"
"You're on."
...
Umbara, with its eternal night and even more hostile native life, made Felucia look like a resort world. They'd been slipped in under the radar as pathfinders for the coming Republic offensive, a job more suited to commandos, but delegated to them by necessity. The battalion was spread across the assault area in small squad sized teams scouting landing sites and enemy positions for the real invasion. Ahsoka once again accompanied Ghes, as he attempted to run the entire operation while also carrying out observation on several objectives with his own team.
At the moment they were observing an airfield of the local militia.
"I'm telling you, these militia units are going to give us more trouble than the regular Sep troops."
"Vore's right boss, they've got weapons down there I've never seen."
"I'll put it in the reports, but you know most of it never gets to front line units until it's old news."
Ahsoka hadn't had much to do on this mission, they'd made a point of avoiding enemy contact and had spent most of their time in hidden observation posts. She found this sort of work monotonous, though Ghes and the troopers seemed very content with it. Recently she'd been trying to get Ghes to drop his mental guard around her, it had begun to bother her that he kept himself closed off all the time. She pushed this whenever the two of them shared a watch.
"Come on Ghes, is it really so hard to let your guard down for a minute."
"For me, yes. Why is this such a big deal for you?"
"I don't know; I just feel like you should be more comfortable around me. We've been working together for more than a month now."
"Listen Ahsoka, I understand your used to the whole Jedi 'communion with the force', but it's not that easy for everyone."
"Don't you trust me?"
"With my life."
"Then let me in."
He sighed and stared into the distance, as if lost in a painful memory.
"I saw things on Yavin, Ahsoka, it changed me, more than you could ever understand."
"I never knew you before, whatever changed doesn't matter, I like who you are now."
"You're still young, and there are things you just are not prepared for."
"Like what?"
"Darkness, a deep, unending darkness that gnaws at your very soul. It's still inside of me, Ahsoka."
"You said you blocked it out."
"The only way I could was to use what had already found its way into my mind. I've carried it with me since then, it's made me stronger, allowed me to use my innate abilities to a far greater extent than I could before. But in return it continues to eat away at me, it is my curse, my burden to carry."
She placed her hand on his and looked him in the eyes.
"It doesn't have to be Ghes, I can help you, but only if you let me in."
Silence followed as Ghes considered what she was offering, several minutes passing before he gave his response.
"Ok, how do you want to do this."
...
After Vore and Stalker relieved them, Ahsoka led Ghes to a private clearing a few meters away from their camp site. There she bade him to sit across from her.
"We're going to meditate, I want you to relax and lower your defenses so I can access your mind."
"I'll try."
They both closed their eyes and started breathing slowly and steadily. Ahsoka reached out in the force and felt Ghes's familiar presence. She felt the mental barriers, and silently pleaded with him to lower them. For the first time, she felt them fall away. The entirety of his being suddenly rushed over her; memories, hopes, dreams, emotions, and then she felt the presence. It was distinct from Ghes, though it had embedded itself deeply inside him. It was as he'd described it, ancient and dark, and it to washed over her. Then, in an instant, it was gone, she had no idea where, but she no longer felt it. Satisfied that it would not return, she immersed herself in Ghes's presence, and their she found something which surprised her. Deep is his mind were his true feelings for her, how he'd felt when he first saw her, his want to shield her from harm, the admiration built on Felucia, all their training bouts, the trust he'd placed in her, enough to finally open himself up to her. She lunged at him, knocking him on his back, their lips met in a deep passionate kiss as they embraced. When it was over he smiled up at her.
"What was that for?"
"I think I'm in love with you."
"Isn't that one of the things Jedi aren't allowed to do?"
"I don't care."
...
Little changed the next day, even for a planet with no real day cycle, but Ahsoka felt as if her entire life was different. It many respects that was true, yesterday Ghes was a man she had not known for long, but with whom she'd forged a strong friendship. Now she'd crossed a line with him she had never considered crossing before. Ghes was great, he'd made her feel at home when she'd felt isolated, he trusted and confided in her, he pushed her to be better fighter, he opened up to her in a way no one else ever had. In a lot of ways, he reminded her of Master Skywalker, the similarities between the two were probably why they respected each other so much. But while Anakin was like a father to her in the way Master Kenobi had been a father to him, she felt differently about Ghes. Maybe it was because he was younger, maybe it was because they didn't share the same kind of mentor-student relationship, all she knew was that she had romantic feelings for him that she'd never felt for anyone else. Surprisingly, the least of her concerns was how she'd breached the Jedi code. She felt no guilt, no shame, no remorse over what she'd done, as she'd always thought she would. Maybe something had changed inside of her.
Ahsoka had woken up in his arms, her back to him. To her surprise, though Slicer and Niner had clearly seen them in this position, the clones had said nothing about it. This was okay with her, as she didn't feel like having to explain this right now. Soon after they'd awoken, it was time to move on to observe another potential target, an artillery battery several kilometers away. There wasn't much talking along the way, as they had to avoid numerous enemy patrols, as well as civilians, along the way. When they arrived a camouflaged camp and observation post were set up. As was his habit, Ghes took the first watch, so Ahsoka took it with him.
"So, were do we go from her?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know, us, what happens next, I figured you'd have more experience with this than me."
"Nope, I'm just as clueless as you."
"Really?"
"I was a Lieutenant in the joke that was the Republic Army at seventeen, the war broke out three months later, haven't had time for much of a love life."
"Wasn't their anyone before the army?"
"I spent most of my childhood either with my father training me to be a warrior, or with my mother trying to convince me to be anything but, I guess I missed some experiences along the way."
"No more than I missed growing up in the temple."
"Then I guess we'll have to figure it out together. But at least I know one thing..."
He placed his arm over her and pulled her closer.
"...this feels right."
...
The invasion of Umbara went just as poorly as Ghes had suspected, none of the actionable intelligence they'd collected made it to troops in time to make a difference, and he lost a lot of good men in launching diversionary attacks to keep heat off the landing sites. After the initial assault, Ghes's battalion was withdrawn from the campaign and given early leave for their valiant actions. At the same time, Master Skywalker was recalled to Coruscant by the Chancellor, so he hitched a ride aboard Retaliation with them. Ahsoka's reunion with her master was a joyful one, and for the first time she was glad Ghes could shield himself so easily, as he and Anakin exchanged notes on her at length. As a precaution, Ghes assigned him quarters on the opposite side of the ship as them, as she'd taken to sleeping in Ghes's quarters. Despite this, they hadn't really done anything yet. Neither having any experience, they'd decided to wait until it felt natural to take their budding relationship further.
That moment came a few days into the voyage after a particularly rigorous training session. During their final bought, Ahsoka had pinned Ghes to the ground, their eyes met and they both felt an urgent desire for the other. They quickly excused themselves, much to Skywalker's confusion, and hurried back to Ghes's quarters. They fell asleep in each other's arms, completely satisfied with this new stage of their romance. Then the morning came, and they were awoken by a knocking on the door.
"Colonel, have you seen Ahsoka anywhere, she's not in her room. Colonel? Colonel!"
Frustrated by the lack of response from Ghes, Anakin burst in on the two lovers.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!"
"Wait, Master, I can explain!"
"Explain what Ahsoka, how you've decided to betray the Jedi code! How could you do this!"
"Because I love him!"
She burst into tears and buried her head in Ghes's chest. He ran his hand over her lekku to sooth her, then stood up to confront Anakin.
"Do you really want to talk about the Jedi code, General Skywalker?"
"What do you mean Marczak?"
"I'm taking about how hypocritical you're being towards me and Ahsoka when you've been having an affair with Senator Amidala for years!"
Anakin was visibly taken aback by this accusation.
"What, that's not... I'd never... How'd you find out?"
"Rumors, Skywalker, people start talking when a Jedi Knight spends so much time visiting a senator's private office."
Ahsoka joined back in at this revelation.
"You're sleeping with Padme!"
"No, not so much sleeping with as..."
"As what, married to?"
His silence was all the answer she needed.
"Married! You're married and you have the nerve to lecture me about the code!"
"It was years ago! We were captured on Geonosis, we thought we were about to die, it just happened... and I have no leg to stand on here, do I?"
"No."
Skywalker sighed, defeated, and left the room. Ahsoka quickly dressed and followed, stopping him down the hall.
"Anakin, wait."
"What?"
"I don't want to leave it like this."
"What do you expect me to say, Ahsoka, you're too young to understand what you've just gotten yourself into."
"Don't pull that crap on me, I can make my own decisions, and I know exactly what I've done."
"Do you know what it's like, keeping a secret like this? I do, and it's the hardest thing I've ever had to do."
"But you do it."
He thought that over for a moment before once again turning to leave.
"I won't stand in your way, Ahsoka, I just want you to understand what you're doing."
...
The remainder of the trip back to Coruscant was uneventful. After their confrontation with Anakin, Ahsoka and Ghes no longer needed to restrain themselves during the day, as news of their relationship had already spread among the troopers, none of whom would ever say anything. Anakin left soon after Retaliation landed, leaving Ahsoka and Ghes standing on the platform.
"So, what do you want to do?"
"Well, I pretty sure I'm supposed to report back to the temple."
"What if you weren't here?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean we're not technically here, technically we're on a deep strike raid in the outer rim. I had this leave kept off books so it wouldn't reset our clock."
"We're not even supposed to be here, are we?"
"No, but the boys deserve a break, and it's not like there's anything worth destroying on Mustafar anyway."
An hour later, they were in one of the bars around the main GAR complex frequented by clones. As always, it was crowded with troopers from various units on leave from the front. Ahsoka and Ghes sat toward the back of the bar, where his men as well as those from other special units tended to congregate. At the moment they were listening to a jumptrooper relate one of his war stories.
"So my pack cuts out midflight, fifty meters up, and I end up tangled in the canopy. Everyone keeps on going, and I get left behind. I'm sitting there for an hour thinking, this is it, I'm gonna starve to death, when a droid patrol happens by. They look up at me and start yelling for me to surrender. Naturally I tell 'm to screw off, so they open fire. The first shot cuts the vines I'm tangled in, this far from my face, and I fall on the branch below me. I'm about to shoot back when I feel the branch starting to move. Next thing I know, the whole thing drops out from under me and lands right on the clankers! Would have been perfect if the fall didn't mess up my leg, I was stuck there on top of a pile of dead droids for another six hours before these jokers come back for me."
"Great one Ax, how about you Colonel, anything interesting happen to you this time around?"
Off duty, Ghes wore purple and gold armor rather than the grey GAR officer's uniform.
"Nothing much, got shot again on Felucia, twice in the back. Scared the crap out of the commander here."
The clones broke out laughing.
"How many times the clankers gotta kill you before you take the hint."
"What can I say, it's the beskar."
"Where can I get some of that?"
"Only comes from Mandalore, and the New Mandalore government doesn't forge armor out of it."
"Well then where'd you get yours?"
"Family heirloom, every piece of this armor belonged to one of my ancestors, and the chest piece for my combat armor was reforged from the one my grandfather wore."
"Well then we should thank the old man, without his hand me downs you'd be dead a dozen times over."
They spent another few hours there before most of the men were too drunk to stand, so Ahsoka drove herself and Ghes to an apartment he maintained in the same part of the city he grew up in. It was a decently sized place in the mid-levels of one of the large residential towers. As they entered, she looked around at the sparsely decorated accommodations.
"Nice place."
Ghes looked up from where he'd fallen into a chair.
"Huh? Yea, not very impressive interior, but then again, I normally don't have company."
She smiled and sat down on his lap.
"Somebody had a bit too much to drink, didn't they?"
"Ha ha. I swear, Jango must've had a ridiculously high alcohol tolerance, this is the fourth time I've almost killed myself trying to keep up with those boys."
"You ready for bed then?"
"Yea, help me up."
She pulled him to his feet and supported him to the bedroom where she laid him on the bed. He was quickly asleep and she laid down next to him. Ahsoka lay awake for a while, wondering how this was all going to work out, would she and Ghes ever be able to live a more normal life? She pushed these thoughts to the back of her mind as she pulled up close to Ghes and drifted off to sleep.