DISCLAIMER:I only own my OC's every other character is owned by Disney, Lucas and everyone else who has ever written anything for Star Wars. This is for entertainment only. My own and anyone who cares to read it.

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CHAPTER FORTY ONE

The studying was getting more difficult; it was years since she had done anything like this. Sometimes she thought she would never manage it but she had to, people were relying on her. Her illness on Seelos didn't help, when she was tired she struggled more to retain the information. She also had her duties as the doctor's assistant; it was tiring but for now she had another aim.

Ana headed to the bar, to talk to the barman there; she needed his help, if the idea she had to thank Wolffe for his help the other night was going to work. He could have just left her but he didn't.

The barman was there. she had been told he was the one to see.

"Moonshine?" He asked as she leant up against the bar; she shook her head. "Not if it tastes like that poison you served me the other night. I've only just gained control of my legs again."

He sniggered as he wiped the mug he had in his hands.

"What do you filter it through, dirty socks?" She continued.

"What's it to you?"

She smiled at him

"I can make it taste better, and then you'd sell more." She leant in closer, "It'd taste more like Corellian brandy than A- wing lubricant."

His interest was piqued.

"Round here." He motioned to her to come around the rear. She walked around and into the room behind. It had no windows but what it did have was an elaborate still made from bits and pieces of scrap metal. Essie and Jax would have been impressed, they had made their own version of moonshine, 'Seelos Brandy' but it was a lot smoother than this; theirs was like a blended Corellian.

"Impressive."

He nodded. "Thank you."

Ana couldn't work out what had been used to start the process but it definitely needed something to spice it up. She pulled out the two small muslin bags with herbs in. "Put this in the last barrel and leave it at least a week before decanting; it'll be smoother. It'll go down easier."

"Why? What do you want?"

"I've heard that you can get things, food stuffs that we normally can't get."

"What if I can?"

"I need some things, some particular foodstuffs, for a friend."

"What do I get?"

"I can make up those bags for you on a regular basis."

He sniffed the bags and dropped one one the last barrel. "Do you know how to make ale?"

"'Course."

"If you can show me how to make ale, it's a deal."

He stood waiting. "The name's Fel Rankin, by the way."

Ana stuck her hand out, "Ana Sant."

.

"Ana?" Dr Neimens interrupted her study of the Bacta Tank protocols, they still only had two and sometimes couldn't get hold of enough Bacta to fill even one, but she had to know the protocols for their use, to be ready. "We have an ongoing relief mission and they need some additional medical staff; it would be an excellent experience for you but it would mean travelling off world for several days, depending how long Commander Wolffe deems it necessary."

"Commander Wolffe?"

"Yes, he's one of the old clone troopers and he is very good at the relief operations he organises. Logistics is his field they tell me."

Ana walked slowly through the corridors following the instructions she was given and eventually found herself outside the office; she lifted her hand to knock but stopped. She wanted to know about Rex but perhaps she wouldn't like the answer; she hesitated again but decided he had made his feelings known and she needed to accept that, perhaps this was the best way. She finally knocked and waited, a few seconds later a gruff "Enter" was the reply, she walked in and Wolffe shot up from his desk and came around to meet her.

"Ana, how are you?"

"Fine." She replied, he studied her face for a few seconds and Ana felt her resolve failing. She had decided that she was not going to ask, but….

"Are you sure you're Ok? You seem ...preoccupied?"

"Do you know where Rex is?" She asked quietly, still needing to know that he was ok and wanting to try to retrieve something after their last conversation.

"I can't tell you."

"He's never spoken to me again after that time in the hangar. I haven't even seen him. Has he been on base? What did I do to make him so angry with me?"

Wolffe didn't answer, he hadn't seen Rex to speak to since then.

"I shouldn't have come here" she shook her head; "it was a mistake and now I can't leave."

Wolffe held her gently by the elbow and guided her to one of the two extra chairs he had in his tiny office; he poured a glass of water from the carafe on his desk.

"I'm really sorry about that, not being able to leave, but I'll see what I can do if that's what you really want. But this work you're doing with Dr Niemens will be extremely helpful to us; we are short of trained medics."

Handing the glass to her, he continued, "No-one's heard from Rex, he's in deep, gone dark and no one knows when he could come back."

"Is he alive?" She asked, a little calmer and sipped the water, she scanned his face.

"We don't know." He reiterated and smiled.

"Oh." Ana's reply was subdued; she sipped the water.

"Thankyou for the other night, you were very kind…..How are you and Gregor getting on?"

She always knew how to change the subject, if it became too difficult to cope with. Wolffe understood, soldiers did it all the time.

Deflected.

Compartmentalised.

"I'm doing what I was bred to do. It's what I know and understand." He paused. "And I chose this fight. All three of us did."

Ana sipped her water again and looked thoughtful "So Rex is not likely to want to stop?"

Wolffe laughed. "Unlikely, it's what we all were bred for and Rex loves a fight."

"Oh." Ana was beginning to realise that, however, much she loved Rex, and she still did; he was a soldier first and foremost and that went some way to explain his actions. Even if they had been together, she would have to take second place to that. She wasn't sure if she could.

Wolffe watched her; a mixture of emotions flowed through him; he was attracted to her. He was angry with Rex for leaving her and angry that Command had not recognised the medical expertise she had, until he had put Dr Niemens on it. He felt the need to help her.

"Is there anything I can do?" He offered, knowing full well that he needed to get her up to speed on the relief mission.

She shook her head, sadly; "So what's this relief mission, we're going on?" Wolffe smiled, "You know I've never been on one?"

"Not a problem. It's mainly just hard work and I know you're used to that."

"Just a bit."

He knew she would be an asset and he pulled up a datapad of the mission briefing, and explained the parameters of the fairly straightforward mission.

.

Ana reported as requested to the hangar, where the freighter that was transporting them was being loaded. The relief group were standing around talking; she couldn't believe Wolffe tolerated this…lack of discipline.

"Squad!" A voice, she recognised boomed out. "Let's get moving….. Sant, a word please." The others looked at her and moved away to complete their designated checks with Gregor following them. She hadn't realised he was coming along, although she wasn't entirely sure what he could do. She walked towards Wolffe; he was all business, going through exactly what they were there to do nothing more, nothing less.

"We're spread thin, so if we do something that is not required, it means someone else suffers. We are here to offer help and support to local Rebels or the area they are from, to enable them to continue. Understood?"

"Er, Yes."

"Good. Let's go." He let her have a little smile before his face became all business again. She walked up the ramp, hoping that she would be able to make some difference to the people on whichever planet they we're going to, at least she would have some reason for being here, just as she told Rex.

.

"You'll have to treat her the same as everyone else." Gregor's voice came from over his shoulder; it had that tone when he was winding him up and Wolffe responded waspishly. "I will, and where the Fek did you come from?"

He was annoyed that he had been surprised by Gregor, that the Commando could still sneak up on him and he never knew how he managed to do it, even after all these years. He heard a giggle in response and hoped that his brother was up to this mission. He turned, as sharply as when he had been fighting for the Republic, and strode up the freighter ramp.

.

The old freighter, vibrated vigorously, as it lifted off from Atollon; anyone watching would say that the manoeuvre was completed in slow motion but a sleek fast ship wasn't needed for this mission. What was needed was a sturdy workhorse and that's what this was; it had no frills or comforts but hard seats and plenty of room. All the occupants were buckled up, they didn't know what they would meet on the way.

Letting her head tilt back till it met the bulkhead, Ana tried to sleep, she had taken something for the Hyperdrive sickness and hoped it worked; finally she drifted off to sleep.

She looks peaceful, asleep, thought Wolffe, as he studied the red haired woman lounging opposite him in the freighter. His cybernetic eye took in every detail and he committed it to memory.

Why am I even interested in her?

He growled to himself, prompting the man seated next to him to jerk his head up and look at Wolffe. Wolffe studied his datapad.

.

Her head bumped several times against the bulkhead before she really came round; the freighter was being buffeted by the atmosphere as they came into land. The red light was flashing still, she felt the full effect of the planets higher gravity, as the freighter finally landed, it was going to be harder work than on Atollon. They waited patiently for the green light; there it was and the doors hissed open accompanied by the sound of numerous seat belts being undone and people rose to start the relief mission. Food and medicine were the main supplies but most important was the manpower; additional beings to help with whatever was needed. She saw that Wolffe had got up and was first out of the freighter, with his macro binoculars; all business. The rest of the team followed him once the all clear had been given by the attached soldiers, who checked the area before they disembarked, on the outskirts of the town.

.

The smell of blaster fire still permeated the air and the soldiers had seemed a little more tense than they had been on the ship. She could tell from the hurried conversations that Wolffe was having with some of the soldiers that they had not expected the fighting to have been so recent, so near, or so destructive. A smell hit Ana that she hadn't smelt since she had done her nursing training in the Morgue; but this version was much more pungent and clung everywhere. She felt a tap on her back and one of the other relief workers, dressed exactly as she was, offered her a jar. "It helps." She said, and showed Ana to put some of the green gel it contained in her nostrils and around her nose. They pulled their surgical masks on.

"Thanks." Ana replied, recognising the gel, as one used in the mortuary she had worked in. "I'm sorry I don't know your name."

"Maya…. short for Mariah Cors. It's a bit of a mouthful."

"Hi, Maya. I'm Ana."

"I know, you're Wolffe's friend."

"I know Commander Wolffe, yes."

"Yeah." Replied Maya, with disbelief in the tone.

Ana decided to ignore the tone. "I met him on Seelos."

"Oh yes, with the other two. What's Rex like?"

"He's very focused on his missions." She replied, non committedly. "But they all are. They're Clones and they were bred to be soldiers, so they tell me." She finished rather lamely.

Maya moved forward and Ana followed, they had been partnered up to go house to house with a soldier to look for survivors, although as Ana looked around at the smouldering ruins of the small town, she thought it highly unlikely that there would be any and prepared herself for the worst. she knew this was not what they were expecting.

The soldier leading them from the ship, looked no more than twenty standard years and that was pushing it. He also looked worried.

"What's wrong?" Asked Ana, as they followed him to the first large building. He stopped outside the door and raised his blaster.

"Shhh!" He put a finger to his mouth, both Ana and Maya stopped immediately. Whilst they were waiting Ana observed the girl next to her; she was young, very young. Very short blonde hair, framed a strong jawed face with dark eyebrows and honey coloured eyes. She looked familiar but she couldn't place where she had seen her before; she shook her head, it must have been on the base somewhere.

"Kriffing Hell!" Their guard exclaimed, "Stay here, I need to get the Commander." He turned and ran towards the freighter.

The mewling that came from the inside of the building made them turn towards the door.

"Was that a Tooka, or some other animal?" Maya enquired.

"Didn't sound like a Tooka to me." Ana's anxiety raised to a new level, as she was almost sure that it was a child's cry. She looked at Maya, who nodded towards the door, "I'll look Maya, if they need help…" Maya nodded, she wasn't medically trained all she did was help to give out the supplies they brought with them.

Ana stepped onto the building, closing the door behind her. She leaned on it and it clicked locked. Looking around the room, her brain could not fully process what she saw.

"Fek!"