In the morning, my body is aching from the night before, and I'm tired from no sleep, but I feel the usual contentment of surviving a battle where only droids died. Rex is in his armour, getting ready to leave. The bite marks on my left shoulder are just scars now, a reminder of shore leave. Soon, Rex is saddling the eopie Cut has loaned us.
"Alright, that should do it." He announces.
"Captain Rex, Twitch," Suu prompts, "are you going to turn in my husband?" I know what I will do, but Rex... I look at him.
"Sorry, Suu. It's my duty." He says. My eyes widen and I bite the inside of my cheek hard. "But in my condition, I probably won't remember any of this." I smile in relief.
"Don't look at me. I was in the barn with Rex the whole time." I say.
"Thank you!" She gasps, snuggling closer to her lover.
"You're still a deserter, Cut, but you're certainly not a coward." Rex says before his comm beeps.
"Captain Rex, are you and Twitch still with us?" The soldier raises his arm up, a sign that the nerve damage has healed.
"Yes, General Kenobi. We're still with you, and thankfully on the mend, sir."
"That's great news. We certainly missed you two at the party."
"Sorry, sir. I had to attend to one of my own." He says, looking at the Lawquane family.
"Can't wait to hear about it." I grab Rex's arm.
"What? We missed all the fun?" I complain.
"I'm afraid you did. We're standing by." The comm goes off.
"Your welcome to stay, you two." Cut offers. Tick, tick tick tick tick BOOM, is what would happen to me on a neutral planet.
"I can't speak for Twitch, but this is your home, Cut. My family is elsewhere."
"Thank you for offering, but I'm staying with my brothers. For good, this time." I say.
"Goodbye." The kids call. Rex gets on the animal, placing his helmet on the back. I walk beside him and wave a couple times before turning to look ahead.
§ § §
"So you really aren't turning Cut in?" The Captain asks. I look at him in shock.
"No, and if you do, I swear I'll never talk to you again."
"Good thing I don't want to turn him in, then."
"Yeah. And please never talk about deserters like they betrayed the Republic. The only difference between me and Cut is that he settled down."
"And you came back." Rex points out.
"No, actually, I got shot and was taken on the cruiser."
"But you still stayed."
"At first, that wasn't my plan. I was going to help fight on Umbara, then slip off into the jungle." He looks at me from his seat on the eopie.
"So, what changed your mind?" I think about it.
"Hardcase, Fives, Tup...you. I wasn't going to sit still and be anyone's science project, but I was going to accept the consequences of my actions and stay with my brothers."
"Just like when they flew those Umbaran star fighters against orders."
"Pretty much, except the Jedi I was defying didn't want me dead."
"You really are complicated." He says. I chuckle.
"I'll save you a load of sleep now and tell you to never try understanding a woman. Especially me. Your head would explode before you figured it out." I decide that admitting that I'd been listening is easier than avoiding it all the time.
"You were eavesdropping."
"Well, I wouldn't have been if you guys had just asked me why I'd been upset. You would eavesdrop too, if your only friends were talking about you behind your back." I argue.
"Would you have told us if we asked?" Rex demands. No, I wouldn't. I would have made up an excuse. My silence answers for me.
"What difference would it make if you did or didn't know? One of you said it was something I had to deal with on my own."
"That was me, and you're right. I did say that and it is something none of us can fix." He concedes. I nod before hopping onto one of the tall plants and jumping from one to the other, getting a better view of our path.
"We're almost there. Think you can make it without that eopie?" He hops off, putting on his helmet. He turns the animal back around and swats it on its hip. It lumbers away, knowing the direction of home. I jump down and hover close to Rex.
"Know what I don't get?" He grunts. "How I was up and fighting in two hours, while you had to be kept in bed all that time."
"My DNA renders bacta less effective, though, you should have stayed still. Two more inches and it would have hit your heart."
"Would you have preferred I stayed in the barn?" He asks.
"No. I'm just worried that I might have to carry you the rest of the way."
"Well, it isn't comfortable, I'll give you that, but you couldn't carry me if your life depended on it." I smile. In armour, he is fairly heavy.
"Did you almost complain? Should I be preparing for the apocalypse or something?" He swats the back of my head. We get past the last few plants and enter a clearing. The hard-packed earth is dusty, and across from us is a larty. Kenobi turns and spots us, starting to walk over. I stand at attention beside Rex.
"At ease. How are you feeling, Captain?"
"Ready for action, sir."
"And you, Twitch?"
"Regretting that I missed the fight, sir." He smiles at us.
"Well, then, get back to the ship. We're going to Plytunon." I smirk, the expression not missed by either superior officer.
"Something wrong?" Rex asks.
"Oh, I might have been there a few times, upset some Separatist lieutenant." I get wry smiles. "What?"
"When you upset anyone, it usually means they're going to want you dead for years." Rex points out.
"Not all the time! I mean, Fives didn't shoot me during training." They exchange looks and smiles. "But I'm still coming, right?" I say quickly.
"You'll have to ask General Skywalker and his Padawan." I stand at attention just as Rex does and we walk away.
"How exactly did you upset a lieutenant?" The Captain asks.
"Sabotage, attacks on his droids, tried to assassinate him, stuff like that."
"You sure you aren't an ARC in disguise?"
"You never know."
§ § §
"There's General Skywalker. Good luck."
"Thanks, Rex." I'm about to walk away when he puts a hand on my shoulder.
"Look, if he says no, don't try sneaking down there. It would do more harm than good."
"As much as I want to argue with that, you're right." He lets me go and I walk slowly towards the Jedi.
"Twitch, I hear you and Rex got a little held up on Saleucami." Skywalker greets.
"Yes, sir. I hear you're heading to Plytunon."
"Yes." He studies me for a few moments. "You want to come."
"Yes." The second he had ended the 'm' sound I spoke.
"Do you know what the mission is?" I shake my head.
"I haven't had the chance to ask, yet."
"But you have an idea of it?"
"I tried to assassinate one of the Separatist lieutenants once, so yes, sir."
"I'm already bringing Rex, Ahsoka, Fives and General Kenobi. How could you contribute?"
"I specialize in quick exits, diversions, and wiring astromechs to explode. I'm sure there's something I can do to help. I also know how to set traps and snares"
"Example of a trap?"
"Once, I dug a pit at the bottom of a hill, made the wall opposite the peak highest and camouflaged it. When the droids fell inside, I sent a boulder down and crushed them all."
"You did it all yourself?"
"Yes, sir."
"Anything else that you could do to help?"
"I can make a bomb out of pretty much anything and creatively set things on fire." I can also climb almost any vertical surface."
"And you say you aren't good at anything."
"Off the battlefield, it's true."
"Hmm. We leave at eighteen hundred. Get down here on time or you'll be left behind."
"Yes, sir." I salute and leave for the Mess. I have four hours. I get my food and sit down at an empty table. Fives is at another spot talking with men I've never met before. Tup is with him, but they're too engaged to notice me.
I've gotten over the awkwardness of coming here and accepted that any troops who haven't seen me before are going to stare for a period of time.
Kix and Jesse come in when I'm nearly finished eating. I watch as they look between my empty table and the lively conversation at Fives' one. I keep a nonchalant face, determined not to influence their decision. I'm not much for pity.
"You look calm. Should we be worried?" Jesse teases, taking a spot across from me.
"No. So, how's life off island?" I change the subject. Kix sits to my right. He raises an empty hand and I raise my fork.
"The cut won't magically disappear if you keep touching it." I warn.
"Do you remember anything." He asks.
"No, and I'll tell you if I do." Meaning, 'stop asking'.
"So, what have you been up to?" Jesse asks.
"Getting a spot on the Plytunon mission."
"How did you pull that off?" Kix asks.
"Persistence and the knowledge of hardwiring exploding astromechs." They chuckle.
"How'd you learn that?" Jesse murmurs.
"By chance. I was trying to reprogram one and it blew up in my face."
"You do not have permission to work on the transport ships." He says.
"I would get us all killed if I did." I agree.
"What time are you leaving?" Kix finally speaks.
"Eighteen hundred."
"Better eat while you can, then." Jesse points out.
"I still have three and a half hours." I mumble, peering at the clock.
"Kaysh guur'skraan." Kix says, looking at Jesse.
"Haili cetare, Kix." I say.
He looks at me, amused, before ordering, "translate."
"You said 'she loves her food', and I replied 'fill your boots', which means 'tuck in', in this case."
"You've been studying Mando'a, then." Jesse comments.
"I fight a lot. That doesn't mean I don't know how to read." I say, smiling.
"'Course it doesn't, little di'kut." Jesse says, mixing both languages together affectionately.
"Change of subject, where are you two going?" I query.
"Helping out with some rookies back on Kamino." Kix answers.
"That'll be fun."
"Joke?" The Medic checks.
"Yes."
"I still wonder how a shiny got a mission made for ARCs." Jesse muses.
"A shiny who has three years of field experience." I swallow the last of my food.
"You're going to be trying to take out bit by bit of a lot of droids." Jesse warns.
"Good. Some action would be nice."
"Maybe." Kix says. I spot Rex coming in. He joins us without even glancing at the noisy table seating Fives and Tup.
"So, what've you three been up to?" He asks.
"Eating, talking in Mando'a." I answer.
"You speak Mando'a?" He asks critically.
"Bits and pieces, ner vod."
"You know you just called him your brother, right?" Kix says.
"I thought 'ner vod' could be translated to 'my friend', too. Oops." I say, keeping calm. I had meant it as 'my brother', but the less formal translation provides an effective cover.
"She's right, that's another meaning for it." Rex saves me.
"Maybe I should reread some of those files. Must be getting rusty." The Medic mumbles.
"Maybe you should. Good luck memorizing the whole thing, though." I reply.
"Big, huh adiik?" Rex says.
"Just so we all know, I have a name." I say good naturedly.
"Yeah, and it's starting to show." Jesse flicks his head toward my hand. I look down and realize my fingers are drumming against the table. I stop them and look up, turning red.
"Sorry. Been too long since my last fight."
"Last fight ended with you stuck under a gigantic ape." Kix reminds me.
"That was days ago. And I mean fight as in getting shot at." I catch Rex's eye. If they only knew about the Lawquane incident. I glance at the clock. Still three hours to burn.
"Well, you're going to have to k'atini for the next little while." Rex says.
"Sorry, haven't learned 'k'atini' yet. What does it mean?" I ask.
"Suck it up." Kix and Jesse say. I start tapping my foot.
A.N. ~ so, by now anyone reading this should know my usual estimated timeframe for new chapters, and that I'm going to ask you to please positively and negatively review, so I'll save my writing space ;)
MANDO'A DEFINITIONS AND PRONUNCIATIONS:
Kaysh Guur'skraan: [KAYSH goor SCRAHN] he/she loves his/her food (said of someone who has a healthy appetite)
Haili Cetare: [HI-lee set-ARH-ay] tuck in! Enjoy! Lit. 'Fill your boots!'
Di'kut: [DEE-koot] idiot, fool, dummy (friendly or insulting depending on tone)
Ner Vod: [nair vohd] my brother, my sister, (or, less formally,) my friend
Adiik: [AH-deek] child aged 3 to 13
K'atini: [kah-TEEN-ee] suck it up! Or: it's only pain!