Chapter 2

Echo knew there were six other men in the ward with him – all blind in some way or another, all with translucent patches over their eyes. Listening had provided that information. He could make out movement but not much color - just the sterile whiteness of the room, the dark shade of hair, the lighter shade of skin. That did worry him but since there wasn't much color here to begin with he didn't know. He sighed. If he'd been the gregarious Fives he'd probably have made six new buddies out of these unknown brothers, but he wasn't Fives. He was Echo, the quiet one, the one in Torrent Company that knew the regulations, could explain the standards, could recite famous speeches of generals past and the lyrics to every lurid bar song from the Core to the furthest reaches of the Outer Rim . He liked having that reputation in Torrent but it did nothing for him here.

They all heard the soft noise as the door opened, but only Echo recognized that step even as a sunset body moved next to him.

"Commander?" It wasn't quite a question but not a sure identification.

"Right in one, Echo," she answered., "In the somewhat bruised and battered flesh." He heard the movement of interest from the other men. Any diversion to alleviate their boredom and female diversion was the best kind.

Echo grinned. She was alive.

The canyon had been narrow with tall walls, but it was the only pathway to a downed gunship of General Mundi's and eight wounded men so Torrent Company moved through that gully-canyon of blaster fire following General Skywalker and Commander Tano, light sabers an almost-solid shield for the men behind them. He'd seen Fives move up and grab the Z6 when Caber went down. A short time later – seconds? minutes? – time was immaterial on the battlefield, there was only sequence – Fives had whipped sideways, dropping the big blaster to one hand, its barrels still hissing in the soft rain, grabbing at Ahsoka with his newly-free arm, tucking his head over hers in the same movement as he had thrown himself over the little commander – both of them picked up and slammed against the rock as the explosion detonated at their feet in that narrowness. He had heard the startled cry of indignity, the explosion and the sudden yelp of pain all at the same time. And then Kix yelling, 'Makeahole!' the men moving aside for the medic as they maintained covering fire forward and up. Skywalker moving in to cover for his padawan's absence but still moving forward and there had been no time to do anything but press on. Echo hadn't known for sure until he heard her bright voice.

"How's Fives?" He asked about his brother, his best friend and his fiercest opponent in all things.

She giggled softly. "He's fine, but I'll save that story for a boring day in the mess." He laughed in pleasure – his two favorite people were alive. That was worth it, worth not knowing, worth not ever seeing them again if it came to that, worth not going home. He could see vague movement and it seemed she came near him. He saw the red, orange, yellow shade of her – that was good he noted to himself. Then he felt her touch his arm and grip his hand. He gripped hers back tightly, squeezed, and then relaxed so she could pull back her hand. She didn't let go and Echo wished the other guys in the ward could see him. HIS commander was visiting him. HIS commander was telling him more than 'get well and back in the field, soldier'. HIS commander was a girl – a very nice-looking girl who just happened to be one of the most enjoyable people to talk with in the entire 501st. And she was holding his hand.

Her voice turned hesitant and soft. "I brought a book to read you." She paused. "If you want me to. If you're really that bored."

"That would be great." If ONLY Fives could see him now

"It's just a kid's book. I've had it for ages. I mean, it's nothing special." Echo knew that as a lie. It was a book – special by its very nature of being a book, by being owned by someone under Jedi rules of poverty.

"No one has ever read to me," he said softly. Special because she was going to read it to him

He could see the movement as she turned her head. He supposed she was looking around for a chair. He knew there were none. There were no visitors to this hospital. He felt her lightly press her hands to his bed and then, with a light movement, she seated herself cross-logged next to him.

Echo almost died of glory. If only ANYONE in Torrent could see him now!

He knew a silly smile transfixed his features, but he didn't care. The entire room was quiet, the soft noises of movement hushed as they listened and Ahsoka, feeling their attention, turned toward the room reading a little louder so everyone could hear. After a few minutes, she started doing voices. Her imitation of Rex's command voice as a magic sword ordering the hero around brought a soft guffaw from Echo and someone else in the room also recognized her imitation of Admiral Yularen's voice as an enchanted, but very dignified bantha. She tried imitating Master Kenobi's calm voice for a ferocious dragon with the politest manners and that sent laughter quivering in half the men. She used the BD-3000 droid voice for Death and every man in the room loved that. When she finished the book there was scattered applause and spoken thanks. Echo could swear her sunset nearness turned a little brighter, a little more crimson. He definitely had red vision.

The sunset blur came nearer Echo's face and he could feel her breath on his skin, see her eye, wide and grey. "Rex is right; you ARE going to be intolerable when you get back to the unit."

"Am I green marked then?" he asked hopefully.

"I don't know." She said and he heard her fingers tap a data pad. "Let me check" A moment's pause. "No, yellow."

He heard the query in her voice, but couldn't answer it as his hopes fell. He knew what it was, really had suspected for a while. The colors had been oddly off. He no longer had the necessary color vision. Ahsoka's eyes were blue, not grey. He could feel Ahsoka's cool palm squeeze his hand and he tried to remember the feeling he'd had when she'd walked into the room. His two favorite people were alive and he told himself that was enough. Tried to make himself feel it and, after a moment, succeeded.

"Commander. Sir." It was one of the other voices in the room, soft and tentative; scared of asking but more scared of not knowing. "If it wouldn't be any problem, sir. Would you check if I'm yellow marked or green or…? If it wouldn't be any trouble, sir." Whoever it was didn't know how far she would go – a stranger, an officer, so obviously not a clone, so obviously not one of them. But she had read to them creating a moment of camaraderie and he was asking.

"Sure. What's your des?"

"CT-65-4321." He added his name. "I'm called Countdown." Echo wondered how much she knew about a clone's name; about how sometimes it was the only thing a man had to give.

She laughed softly as her nails tapped over the screen. "I like your name." Echo knew Countdown had blushed at that remark.

"You're yellow marked." Echo could see her move, turn to the room. "Anyone else?" she offered and Echo felt possessive pride in his heart. HIS commander.

There was a small clamor from the clones all eager to know if they'd be going home – back to their units. Another trooper called out his designation and her reply of 'green-marked' brought a general air of joviality to the ward. It didn't last, though. Everyone else was yellow marked except one man whose designation had brought the call of 'red'.

There was silence in the room then. Echo knew every man ached for their brother, knowing he'd never make it home. Echo wanted to apologize for the red-marked man who had said nothing, simply moved in some way, but Echo had heard his commander's quick, soft gasp, her soft footstep and knew she'd gone to try to offer some comfort. She returned to his side and Echo's brothers turned in their bunks, giving him and his commander as much privacy as they could. Echo leapt into the silence before it turned awkward. "How's the Captain?" He'd known Rex was alive; she never would have used his voice otherwise.

"He's doing ok, a blaster wound in his shoulder, burn on his arm and hand." Her voice turned fierce. "I should have been there to lift the wings of the gunship. It was burning when they went in." Echo reached out and patted what he hoped was her arm. "There was just too much going on for the general to handle everything and it exploded and." He heard her breathing, a bit harsh, a bit excited. "I should have been there."

"Me too," pointed out Echo. "But we weren't." He could feel the strain of her hand, a feeling almost like electricity as she waited for more, then relaxation as she realized he had just uttered something wise. A quick gesture with her hand had his palm against her cheek and he sucked in a breath.

"Thanks Echo." She brought his hand away and he ached to leave it there, to comfort his commander, this child-warrior he followed, to let her know that he'd follow her to death, that all of her men would volunteer for anything she asked of them. Her breathing evened with a soft sigh. "Actually, I came here to bring Rex the wounded file. You know how prickly he gets until he's knows."

"Yes sir." Echo retreated into administrative details. "Wounded and dead clones mean a lot of work. He's still trying to fill vacancies left by Teth. So every death…"

"There aren't any."

"What? But that's …" Echo mouth was open with nothing to say. "No company has ever…" He swallowed. "I saw Naf fall at least 50 meters," he pointed out almost accusingly.

"Yep. He's in a bacta tank. We sort of caught him, a little at a time. Between everything else. So are Kix and Tank – in bacta tanks, I mean. We brought back all eight of Mundi's men and didn't lose any of our own. And, since it is apparently important - there are only four of Torrent's men marked yellow - you, Naf, Twenty-three and Keel.

Echo grinned crookedly in satisfaction, put his arms behind his head and slowly leaned back into the cushions of the cot.

Then Countdown spoke up. "I think all of Torrent Company's going to be pretty intolerable for some time to come."

Hello and thank you for reading.

I'm alternating this and Hevy's adventure after Rishi, so it should be two weeks before I update again. Maybe less.

Reviews, criticism, comments are all welcome.