The word morning, for many, is associated with shining sunrises and light catching dewdrops, beings of all kind bustling with activity. Some going to sleep, others awakening.

Not for Kix.

Kix, the master of rational decisions, had volunteered to take over the shift of his fellow medic, a Mon Calamari named Duunja, for extra sugar rations. Never mind that he was a grown man, decorated war vet, and highly skilled medic. That blasted fish had played to his one weakness. The one temptation he couldn't resist. And now here he was, suffering the irreversible consequences of his actions. Missing out on sleep for sugar.

Worth it.

Of course, he regretted it now, as he was sorting through crates of medicines. Cataloguing their assorted contents. But it'll all be worth it when he's got those sweet sweet confections in his mouth.

His fond reminiscence was disrupted when he heard his name.

"Kix! Hey, Kix!"

The medic turned toward the voice, finding that it belonged to Nilkn, one of the junior nurses. The boy was young. Too young to be here, living life on the run. At least Kix had been trained for this.

"Yeh?" called Kix when Nilkn had caught up to him.

Poor kid was noticeably out of breath when he spoke, "Mishar sent me to fetch you, she needs you back in the bay. It's an emergency,"

Kix scrambled to his feet, his previous work forgotten. "Alright then, come on, let's go,"

When they reached the medbay it was nothing more than a crowded hectic mess. Assistant droids whizzing past, lights flaring and machines blaring, medical staff in a panic...that last one was never a good sign. Spotting Mishar conversing with some of the other senior medics, Kix moved through the frenzied throng to get to her.

"Mishar, what's going on?" he called as soon as he was in hearing range.

"Kix!" the Weequay started when she saw him, "There you are. Listen, the pilots that pulled a run on Starkiller base just got back. They're being looked-"

"Wait, wait, wait- what? A run on Starkiller base? When?"

Mishar looked just about ready to kill him for that one. "Where have you been for the past two days Kix?" she hissed.

"Uh...out of it?"

The irate doctor pinched the bridge of her nose, then, apparently having better things to do than scold her subordinate for his incompetence, began again in a slow, clear way one would use when speaking to a youngling. "The fighter piolets just got back from a successful run on the First Order's most powerful weapon. They're being checked over right now. Our real problem is that First Order dissenter. He got slashed across the back with a lightsaber."

"A lightsaber? But I thought all the Jedi were-"

"Dead or missing, yeah, yeah. But the First Order still has some lightsaber wielding lackeys that's a pain in the rear." Mishar's normally sarcastic tone had an edge to it. As did her posture.

A dark-haired man standing next to her fixed Kix with a solemn look. "Unfortunately, the old Empire destroyed a lot of the old Jedi records. Which were, naturally, the best sources on lightsaber based injuries. We're going to have to come up with most of the procedure ourselves,"

Kix sucked in a breath. They were asking for help. They had no clue how to help this young man so they were asking for his help. But to reveal he knew exactly what to do might raise questions about his past that he really didn't want to get into.

In the end he couldn't decide which side of his warring mind to listen to.

So he compromised, 'What do you need me to do?' And cringed.

Days later, he sat in a private room. Doing a checkup on the bacta pod that the boy, Finn, as he had come to be known, laid in.

Kix wished he could help more. Wished he could do more for him without having to hide it. He had helped as best he could. Slipping the boy a different medicine than what had been recommended, slathering the bandages with a special mineral infused bacta cream, strapping the boy down in the pod. (He had treated Skywalker, Tano, and Kenobi. He could say from experience, traps were more than necessary) But it still felt like...like you're a kriffing coward that's what.

Kix found himself staring at the face of the boy, no, the soldier, who had disobey direct orders.

Part of his mind was positively appalled. It screamed and raged because good soldiers follow orders! Good soldiers obey! This one was defective, a traitor, he needed to be destroyed. Eradicated. Erased. Erased from history, from memory, from existence. So that rebellion would never ever happen again. A fault like this in the system meant the entire thing could come crumbling down at any moment. An army couldn't function without foot soldiers. If they became disloyal, everything would be chaos. It was absolutely unacceptable and-

Stop.

Kix placed a heavy hand on the front of the pod. "What happens if our orders are wrong? What do we do then?" Jesse had asked him, decades ago.

"Jesse!" Ha had scolded, appalled because he had been scared. Scared of thinking that very question.

"I'm just asking! Tup kept going on about orders. That-that good soldiers follow orders. But he shot a Jedi, Kix! A Jedi, one of our generals, and said it was an order. If that was—"

"He wasn't right in the head, Jesse,"

"—rders then how can we be sure that any of our orders can be trusted?"

Kix had ignored Jesse for awhile after that conversation. Now he wished he hadn't. He knew the risks of life on the front. That any moment could be your last.

He had been in denial. They had all been more than shaken after that incident.

He hadn't forgiven Jesse in time to say goodbye.

But then the door to the medbay whooshed open and Kix jumped up as a human girl crept in. The girl was lean, with cocoa colored hair tied up in three vertical buns and dressed in a muted blue and tan garb. She studied Kix for a moment but quickly averted her attention to the bacta pod. Or, more accurately, the man inside.

"How is he?" Her voice was sure, with a bit of a hard edge to it. She carried a core accent though, but, as far as Kix could tell, she looked and behaved nothing like someone from a core planet would.

"He's stable and expected to make a healthy recovery. The bacta will be able to heal him, but it won't be an easy process; he's lost a lot of blood." she glanced back up at him, "Ma'am." he added as an afterthought.

"Oh...will he- do you know when he'll wake up?" Her voice had lost its commanding tone.

"He could come to anytime between three days and three weeks, ma'am,"

The girl sighed but seemed to be expecting something of the sort. Minutes passed, but she didn't press him for any more information.

So Kix returned the favor. Finishing up his work and leaving the lonely girl to say her goodbyes. This was a war, after all.

Fin

AN: yea so I might be messing with the timeline accidentally for the sake of convenience but idk...

Is my writing inconsistent? Yes. Am I going to fix it? No.

Another chapter up congratulate me guys.

XOXO-QueendomofCrows