All up in their hair
By the end of Ahsoka's shift, everyone in the camp was awake and in various stages of a complete uniform. Bedrolls were returned to the ship, now slightly visible against the dim horizon, and the tent dismantled. The atmosphere grew thick with diverse chirps, squawks, and bays as woodland creatures slowly caught up to the crew's head start.
Captain Rex, in full swing, barked direction to his troops, conferred with Skywalker, and helped transport tent parts back to the ship, without seeming to have a spare moment for Ahsoka.
Earlier, Anakin approached Ahsoka when the bustle first erupted and the Togruta appeared unusually underfoot, to lay a hand on her shoulder. "Snips, get some meditation in," he advised. "We'll be moving out soon and I need you at your best."
So here she was, sitting cross-legged by R2-D2 and the communications beacon- the least traversed sector of the clearing- forcing herself to close her mind to the ruckus. It was hard enough for the Togruta to meditate in the peaceful Jedi Temple, or in her cabin on the Resolute where she only had to ignore the gentle hum of the ship navigating through hyperspace, but here it sounded like the clones were trying to outdo each other in making the most noise. Honestly, which one of them was mimicking all the bird calls? Ahsoka eventually blocked out the outside interference only to be left with her relentless thoughts, jumping from her overreach last night, to the blockade trap where she lost most of her squad, to worrying that the troops would never regain faith in her. Outwardly, her expression twisted in reflection of her turmoil. She realized that if a Jedi master recklessly led padawans to their deaths, Ahsoka would do anything but follow that Jedi. So how must the troops see her now?
"Ready?" a voice, sounding far away in the ether, asked. The Togruta surfaced from the depths of her restless mind to see Anakin standing right in front of her. R2 switched between busying himself with the communications beacon and unabashedly eavesdropping on the Jedi.
Ahsoka got to her feet. "As I'll ever be."
The sun had just crested the tops of the trees when Anakin, his padawan, and all but two clones and R2-D2, mounted speeders and zipped off through the forest. The long ride was interspersed with sightings of slow-flying thranta above the trees, grazing nerfs, and the sounds of active unseen creatures farther away. Finally the group reached a hill at the forest's edge overlooking the industrial capital of Leilani, a twisting, gray city coughing smoke columns into the atmosphere. Everyone in the party dismounted and dropped to their stomachs; Captain Rex and Anakin both produced macrobinoculars to observe the area.
Anakin's commlink beeped. "Sir!" It was one of the soldiers left behind to monitor the beacon. "We're picking up a transmission- a conversation from two opposite locations in the city."
"Can you locate their signal?" Anakin demanded. He and Rex scanned the city hawkishly.
"Transmitting coordinates now."
A second later Anakin was up and back on his speeder. "Snips, Longshot, and a spotter, you're coming with me. Rex, take the rest of the men and move in on the closer coordinates." Longshot and Gamma were on their speeders surprisingly fast for all their armor and equipment.
Ahsoka watched the captain intently through all of this only to notice he spared her not one glance. The offense she took at this apparent slight kicked her right in the stomach. Ahsoka mounted her own speeder, sticking out her chin and stubbornly facing forward, deciding to not give him a second look, either. Anakin took off down the ridge toward the capital, his padawan and the two troopers at his heels.
The few bystanders out in the city at this early hour pointed at the spectacle of Jedi and soldiers zipping by, but continued about their business once the speeders were out of sight and the whining of their engines was lost amid the rumble of local machines. Short, gray buildings lined the street, along with business signs not yet lit up for the day. Every once in awhile they passed an establishment painted something other than gray; Ahsoka only registered these as short blurs of color. She wondered if her master had ever been to this planet before due to the confidence and speed at which he was leading them through the city.
Anakin steered his speeder far closer to Ahsoka's than the recommended safe distance. "What's wrong, young one?" he shouted over the vehicles. "I can feel your confused emotions."
Ahsoka gave a hassled pout. "Is this really the right time to open up a discussion? I mean we've kinda got more important issues at hand!"
"Exactly!" replied Anakin. The Togruta rolled her eyes. It figured her master would pick a time like this to work in some mentoring. "Your head's not even in this star system right now, Ahsoka! I need you to focus on the mission- be vigilant!"
"Don't worry about me, master. I've got the eyes of a Trandoshan hunter!"
Anakin glanced back at his padawan and shared her smirk before punching his speeder into the next gear. He led them along the main deserted road that ran straight to the armor factory in the heart of the northern industrial sector. It was here that the armor for most ships was made, upgraded, and repaired. The ship docks in this sector were large enough that even Venator-class destroyers could comfortably land for refitting. The tall factories, exhaust pipes, and overall bleakness that dominated the area made the forest in which the party originally landed seem part of a whole different planet altogether.
"Can it be any further away?" quipped Ahsoka moments before her master stopped next to the starship docks, eyeing the complex loading machines that seemed to compete with the rusting factory smokestacks for the prominence of tallest structure.
"Longshot, get the best vantage point you can. Ahsoka and I will lure them out of the factory. Let's try to contain all collateral damage as best as possible, because-"
"Uh, master," interrupted Ahsoka, her eyes on the factory. "It looks like they're already lured." She pointed to a group of commando droids hurrying in a wedge formation from the building with all the smokestacks.
Anakin ignited his blue lightsaber as he dismounted his speeder. "Well, that settles that." Ahsoka followed his lead and the two Jedi sprinted towards the enemy, lightsabers humming. The droids seemed intent on escaping the area as quickly as possible and did not notice they were being flanked until their enemy was practically on top of them. Anakin and his padawan cut into the middle of the formation and fought back to back; the robots scattered as the Jedi gained ground. The commando droids were much more adept at fighting than their battle droid cousins and did not stay within the reach of any lightsaber once the first two droids fell. The commandos used space to their advantage and continually backed up, firing their weapons.
One droid pursued by Ahsoka dropped to the ground with a smoking blaster shot to its head. Two of the others nearby immediately swiveled to locate their new attacker. One pointed to Longshot atop the closest loading crane a second before the sniper blasted half its face off. Ahsoka made quick work of the remaining three commandos, then ran to help Anakin fend off the rest of his. The Jedi cleared their way through all but one droid, who turned on its heel and sprinted away once it realized it was alone. The commando made it about two yards before its head jerked back from a blaster shot; it crumpled to the ground.
Anakin hooked his lightsaber on his belt and pressed his commlink. "Captain Rex, what's your situation?" His troopers packed up their gear and began the task of scaling down to the ground. They made it about halfway down the steep structure before a response crackled over the channel.
"We're outnumbered, General!" Rex shouted amid the sounds of blaster fire. The end of his message was nearly obscured by another soldier's scream.
"We're on our way," Anakin said before hastening back to his speeder, waving for Longshot and Gamma to hurry.
"But, Master, what about here? The droids were up to something, and they were in a rush to get away!" protested the padawan, casting a suspicious glance across the factory landscape.
"Our men are more important at the moment," Anakin responded in the definitive voice he used when issuing orders. "We can come back to this later; Rex needs us now." Ahsoka had no choice but to follow him back to the waiting vehicles.
As they sped through the industrial park, Anakin ordered the soldiers back at the ship to jam any Separatist transmission attempting to leave the planet. The last thing they needed was enemy reinforcements descending on their heads.
By the time all four reached the rest of their group, pinned down behind various mechanical rigs outside another similarly old, gray factory, two soldiers were already down and being treated by Coric the medic behind the shelter of large exhaust pipes. This left Rex and two others available to offer suppressive fire against around twenty droids.
Longshot immediately slid off his speeder somewhere away from the main group and used the flattest part of it as a platform for his sniper rifle. Gamma was by his side a moment later determining distances and wind speed. The clones' dirtied armor almost worked as camouflage in this drab environment. Anakin's lightsaber afforded himself perfect cover while he forged his way to the captain.
"You had one job," snickered the general. Under his and Ahsoka's protective lightsabers, the remaining troopers were freer to return fire. Several more commano droids fell, especially once Longshot entered the fight.
"We had it under control, sir, until a second group came outta nowhere," Rex growled through his helmet vents. One of his soldiers cried out in pain as a blaster bolt caught his shoulder and threw him back.
"Medic!" shouted Rex with a honed ferocity that carried over the noise of blaster fire. Ahsoka dropped to her knees next to the injured trooper. She waved a hand from his shoulder to his head and down to his stomach in the same way the Jedi healers had just recently taught her. Coric appeared then to pull the trooper's good arm over his own shoulders, prying him out of the padawan's grasp and leading him off to safety before Ahsoka could help further.
"Snips, you go left, I'll take right!" Anakin called. The Togruta's lightsaber jumped to life again as she sprinted in an opposite direction from her master, leaving Rex and the last soldier to fend for themselves, aided by Longshot and Gamma somewhere behind them. By now there were about fourteen commandos remaining. When Anakin and his padawan reached the enemy there were only twelve. The two Jedi slowly carved their way through the droids, and those that stayed out of their reach were at least distracted enough to be shot down by the troopers. The commandos dropped much faster once flanked. Adrenaline rushing through their veins, the Jedi scanned the area twice for more enemies after the last one fell before allowing themselves to breathe freely.
Anakin stowed his lightsaber. "Where's Fuse?"
"Injured!" Coric called back. Ahsoka rushed to the large exhaust pipes protecting the wounded and found Fuse holding a bacta patch to his thigh. The excitement to help shining bright in her eyes quickly extinguished. The Togruta hadn't been taught how to heal extremities yet; that was lesson two.
"R2, buddy," Anakin said into his commlink as he approached the group, "I need you to check for any Separatist explosives. There were at least three groups of droids, there may be three bombs." He preemptively picked up Fuse's explosive ordinance disposal backpack and slung it over his own shoulders.
R2 soon responded with excited noises coupled with a holographic layout of the industrial sector. Three blue dots pulsated from different structures on the map. Anakin broke up the remaining available soldiers into groups: Longshot and Gamma, Rex and his soldier, and the two Jedi. He shared the disposal equipment and the teams set out to accomplish their task at hand, leaving Coric to tend to the wounded until they could be safely transported back to the ship.
Checking into the medbay aboard the Resolute was routine for Ahsoka anymore after any successful mission where she was exposed to fighting. It was such a bright, sterile environment that she didn't care to stay long in such a harsh atmosphere if she didn't have to. Fortunately, unlike the wounded troopers, she just needed a quick look over, afforded to her by Kix as Coric continued to assist his brothers.
"Good to go, Commander," Kix announced with a definitive nod of his intricately shaved head. She looked past him at the injured men covered in varying amounts of bacta patches.
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
"They're just flesh wounds, Commander. Sergeant Coric and I can handle it. Get some rest." Before she could protest further, Kix turned and headed back to check on one of the injured clones. Ahsoka could only offer a smile no one noticed before leaving the medbay, eyes downcast.
It had been a long day of fighting and dire situations. It felt as if the adrenaline was only now starting to dissipate from when Anakin not-so-expertly tinkered with the largest Separatist bomb they had yet encountered. Her master didn't let her help with ordnance disposal, the medics didn't let her help with healing; overall Ahsoka felt disregarded.
The Togruta walked lethargically back to her room, holding her arms tight. The path was so familiar that she didn't have to think about it; her feet automatically took her down the well-traveled hallways. She saw figures pass without really noticing. Droids, soldiers, officers. A trooper stopped somewhere in her peripheral vision, white armor dirtied to the point where it would never be properly clean again.
"Commander?"
She kept walking.
"Commander Tano!"
More steps. A sharp right at the next hallway. A hand out of nowhere on her shoulder. The startled padawan gave a squeak as she spun around, grabbing her assailant's wrist reflexively. Captain Rex, however, slipped his arm out of her distracted grasp and dropped his hands heavily onto her shoulders. The rare soldier to pass them only gave them a glance before continuing on.
"Ahsoka!" he repeated, staring straight into her eyes. Her faraway gaze barreled into the present. She blinked.
"Rex..." She watched him search her features as if looking for the right question to ask, but she interrupted his train of thought. "Rex, I want to... apologize." His hands slipped from her shoulders. "I think I went a little too far during my guard shift planetside, and... I'm sorry."
It started in Rex's shoulders, a silent shaking that worked its way into his chest, then out his mouth first as a chuckle, then laughter. Ahsoka's cheeks turned a deep orange as her expression slipped from confusion to indignity.
"Is that what's been bothering you?" the captain asked once he had caught his breath. A trailing chuckle still managed to escape. "Look, kid, as long as you're on your game during the mission, I don't care what you do on your off hours. You had the worst guard shift, and nothing was happening. I know for a fact if anything had occurred, you would've fought twice as hard as the rest of the men. We all know it."
Ahsoka's eyes stung and a shaky breath shuddered in her chest. "You're not mad? You ignored me all today..."
"I was focused on the mission," he corrected quickly. "But the head thing? I considered it good luck." He cast a glance at two approaching clones and flagged them down when he recognized them.
"You two are part of the platoon element resupplying General Plo, right?" In response, Echo and Fives saluted sharply. Rex returned the gesture. "They've probably already told you that this mission might not be free of fighting. But this one here's a good luck charm," he said with a nod toward the padawan.
"A good luck charm, sir?" asked Echo as Ahsoka's whole face turned a dark orange and her montrals deepened to black.
"She rubbed my head and I was one of the few not to get shot in the last firefight. Jedi luck." The two younger soldiers exchanged glances before inclining their heads to her level.
"I want good luck," Fives announced.
"Me too, sir!" added Echo. After a moment of hesitation, Ahsoka reached out, sank her hands through their jet black hair and rubbed tentatively. She jerked her hands back just as quickly as she did the first time with Rex. The clones seemed satisfied though, and continued on their way talking about the value of luck in the midst of battle.
On the bridge, Anakin stood watching the navigation and intelligence officers bustle to and fro, some administering the pending release of the supply ship, others charting the next hyperspace lane of the Resolute. He ordered a communications channel opened with the pilot of the supply run currently waiting in the ship's hangar.
"Corro, is the squad up?"
"Er, General..." came the hesitant reply over the intercom, "the men... they're insisting they won't fly unless they get some, uh... 'Jedi good luck,' too."
"...What?"
A.N. These two stories take place right at the end of season 1, so I couldn't really resolve Ahsoka's guilty feelings about her troops here because she makes the same mistake in episode 1 of season 2: she defies orders from her masters and continues to fight battle droids at the risk of all the troops under her command. So I figure she doesn't actually learn her lesson until after that when she's brought before the Council.
But besides that. Ah, Rex, always one to make possibly awkward situations completely fine with the grace and finesse of a Wookiee. :3