A few days later…
Esinon wandered around the halls of the Senate building, the vote for the troop increase was tonight. After her father's speech, things were starting to sway his way. She could hear the voice of Master Kenobi, he wasn't one for the Senate building… she turned the corner and saw Duchess Kryze and her Master. And that was why he was in the Senate building. She instantly lit up when an auburn head bobbed not far behind them,
"Korkie!" she exclaimed, running over, Korkie wheedled his way around the adults to meet with her, "You didn't tell me you were gonna be here,"
"Well I couldn't," he said, flicking his eyes towards the adults. Esinon internally cringed, she forgot how they weren't really supposed to communicate.
"Right," she replied, "Come on, we can go to my dad's office," she grabbed his arm and dragged him down the hallway.
"You know they remind me of us back in the day," Satine said, watching the two teenagers walk off down the hallway, chattering the whole way. Obi-Wan hummed,
"Yes, with considerably less arguing," he replied,
"Maybe we should follow their lead," she said, placing her hand in the crook of his arm.
"Maybe we should," Obi-Wan replied, leading her down the hallway.
Esinon's hand hovered over the panel to her father's office, she could sense someone inside. Someone that was not her father, she knew she would be able to sense if it was Padme, Bail, or Ono. She instinctively shoved Korkie behind her,
"What's wro-" he didn't get to finish because Esinon slapped a hand over his mouth. She shook her head and Korkie nodded, he grabbed her hand, gripping it tightly. She counted to three and slammed her hand down on the control panel, she ignited her saber at seeing a nineteen-year-old boy and a woman.
"Who are you and what are you doing in my-" she never got to finish because a stun-blaster fired behind her and the world went black.
"Nana!" The boy cried, rushing over to Esinon. Korkie jumped protectively over her body,
"Back up," he growled, the boy backed up making a placating gesture.
"Nana, why would you do that?" The boy exclaimed, Korkie looked over to see an elderly woman blowing smoke off the top of a stun blaster.
"No one point weapon at me," the woman said, Korkie knelt down next to Esinon.
"Esinon? Esinon can you hear me?" he asked, the girl groaned, holding her head as she slowly sat up,
"What happened?"
"Mom, what did you do?" Daniel asked, running into the room and seeing his daughter on the floor, and an elderly woman holding a stun blaster.
"Dad?" Esinon asked in a quiet voice,
"Peanut, are you alright?" Her dad asked, kneeling down next to her.
"There are weird people in your office," she grumbled,
"Uh- I have some explaining to do. Sorry I didn't warn you," he said, hefting his daughter to her feet.
"Someone shot me," she grumbled,
"That would be my mom," he said, motioning to the elderly woman who was stuffing the stun blaster in her purse.
"You no point weapon at me." the older woman snapped,
"She's on an active battlefield half the time Mom, what did you expect?" Daniel said, searching his still dazed daughter for injuries.
"Again, no point weapon at me," and with that, she tottered off to a seperate part of the office.
"Dad, what's going on?" Esinon asked, waving off Korkie's concerned look.
"Anna, Elliot, and my mom are staying with us for the next couple days," he explained, he motioned to the woman first, she had long blonde hair and blue eyes that matched the boy's, her son she assumed. "That's your Aunt Anna, your cousin Elliot, and your Nana."
"Sorry for almost attacking you," Esinon said, as Elliot approached her,
"Should have expected as much from my cousin who's a Jedi." he sounded so proud to be related to a Jedi. She guessed it was pretty cool to be related to a Jedi from an outside perspective, but since she was one, and was around them all the time, it seemed less cool. "I'm Elliot,"
"Esinon," she replied, shaking his hand, maybe her family had a thing for 'e' names and she didn't know about it yet.
"Esinon, if you're alright I'm going to go talk to my mom about that blaster," Daniel said, already heading towards his elderly mother. Esinon nodded,
"Come on, let's go find somewhere to talk," Esinon said, grabbing Korkie's hand and motioning for Elliot to follow her. She led both of them out to the balcony off her father's office. "Alright Korkie, you first, why are you here?"
"Aunt Satine wanted me to observe the Senate meeting with the troop increase and all," he explained, leaning against the balcony,
"Elliot?"
"Like Uncle Daniel said, my mom, Nana, and I are here for a few days."
"Why?" she demanded, frustrated at Elliot's casual tone. Elliot shrugged and walked away, she sighed pressing her fists against her head.
"You alright?" Korkie asked,
"I think I'm gonna have a bruise on my arm from where my... Nana? I think it was, she shot me. My family gets crazier and crazier by the minute."
"And here I thought we'd actually get to spend some time together," he teased, nudging her with his elbow, she snorted,
"Yeah, that would be nice." she said, "I've got training later today, and I haven't written up a bunch of reports that Admiral Block has been riding my tail about."
"Think you could get away later, I know some great places to eat," she grinned,
"I'll do my best, give me two hours. The reports can wait a little while longer, I am the fastest woman alive," She teased,
Two hours later…
Esinon and Korkie strolled through the upper levels of Coruscant, her eyes constantly shifting around the bustle of people.
"Are you going to relax, or are you going to stay in Jedi mode the entire time?" he asked after a while.
"Oh, sorry," she mumbled, trying to release the tension in her shoulders.
"It's alright," he replied, she didn't talk about her time on the field with Korkie. She didn't want to burden the prince with her own problems of war. "Something on your mind?"
"I guess so," Esinon replied, as a group of school children walked past them. "Family, war, training. It's not often I get to breathe, I'm not used to not having to be on edge."
"I get it," he said, she turned her head in surprise,
"You do?"
"Not to the degree that you do, but the threat of Death Watch is always present. There was an attack recently, I was a little closer to the blast than I'd like to admit," he said, Esinon's stomach dropped,
"Are you alright?" she asked tentatively, he nodded,
"I wasn't injured, just surprised," he explained, she nodded slowly, instinctively sliding closer to him. "Alright, we're here." She looked up at the small shop they had stopped upon, it was an ice cream shop. "Thought you'd be sick of war rations," he said, pulling the door open for her. She gave a nod of thanks before entering, she scanned along the rows of ice cream flavors. When Korkie said he wanted to spend more time with her, this isn't exactly what she had envisioned. She had more envisioned sitting in the Scipian pod and talking for a while until they inevitably had to seperate. They quickly got food and returned to the streets,
"Anything exciting happening on Mandalore?" she asked as they walked,
"Not really, school, diplomats, more school." he said, "Food shortage hasn't been as bad since we arrested Almec."
"That's good, I definitely heard about it from Obi-Wan after our little escapade." she said, "No more overthrowing the government without my help," she added in a terrible impression of her Master. At least her's sounded better than Rex's.
"I didn't think we'd be overthrowing corrupt governments period," Korkie said,
"I would like to say that it was you who went hunting. I was a good padawan,"
"Until you tailed me,"
"Up until that point I was so well behaved. " she said, "and that's on you," he rolled his eyes,
"You have to have fun sometimes," he teased, she scoffed,
"Overthrowing governments isn't exactly what I'd call fun," she replied, remembering the stomach ache she had from all the nerves of locking Korkie in prison. She gave a nod to the Coruscant guard that was passing by,
"Well is this more fun?" he asked, motioning to their ice cream and the bustling streets. She nodded,
"Nice to get to relax for once, and spend some time with-" she cut herself off, she didn't know if she wanted to reveal that Korkie was her only friend outside the temple and barracks.
"With what?" he asked,
"Nothing," she muttered, he elbowed her with a teasing grin on his face,
"Come on," he prodded, she good-naturedly pushed him, "Come on, I know you wanna tell me."
"Fine," she conceded, "I don't have many friends outside the temple or the clone barracks," she mumbled, she'd expected him to tease her endlessly but instead he threw an arm around her shoulders.
"Glad you liked me enough to keep me around," he joked,
"That's not what I meant, you're my first non-Jedi, non-clone friend," she explained,
"I guess I got pretty lucky you walked past my tree," he replied, never moving his arm from around her shoulders.
"Korkie, I'm the lucky one, your holo-calls keep me sane,"
"How about we call it even and say we're both lucky to have found one another,"
"Deal," she said, she froze mid-step as her mind warped into a memory.
She was standing in Padme's office, except there was a lot of yelling, and the distant wail of sirens which immediately set Esinon on edge.
"Ono! It's his heart! Get help!" Padme cried, Esinon's eyes finally zeroed in on the still Rodian in Padme's lap. Esinon's heart-beat increased tenfold. He was dead.
"Esinon! Esinon can you hear me?" She snapped harshly back to reality as Korkie shook her,
"We gotta go," Esinon said, the image of Ono burned into her mind, "How do you feel about running?"
That night, the Senate building…
Esinon folded her arms over her chest as she watched the Senate meeting. Senator Onacando Farr had been murdered by his student Lolo, no less. Then Senator Deechi, and then almost Senator Burtoni.
This war had driven people to do things they never would have, Esinon knew she would miss Uncle Ono as Padme had called him.
He was a good friend of her father's and he had been taking the loss hard. She had spent the day with him, which meant also being with her cousin, her aunt, and her crazy Nana.
They all seemed alright, and Elliot was pretty cool once she got to know him. They had even exchanged contact information for when he returned to Scipio. Esinon snapped back to reality at the booming voice of Palpatine.
"With the final votes tallied, let it be known that the motion to stop the creation of more clones troops has failed," he announced, Esinon's heart dropped as her father sunk down in his chair. "The continued manufacturing of clone troopers shall proceed as scheduled." The room erupted in applause, keep the war going, keep the war going.
"If only they could see you as real people," she muttered to herself.
A few months later…
Master Piel had been captured. Esinon couldn't believe it. The battle-hardened Master who had taught her how to hold her lightsaber correctly had been captured and taken to the citadel.
Luckily his padawan, Jayla, Esinon believed her name was, had been at the temple when her Master had been captured. Another thing that was weighing heavily on her mind at the moment was the fact that Fives and Echo were going to the citadel which meant certain death, and she couldn't be there to protect them.
Master Kenobi wasn't letting her go, and she knew it was for a good reason. Most missions had lessons she could learn, the citadel wasn't a place for learning. You either do or you die.
She was debating back and forth about possibly sneaking on the mission, but in the end, she knew she couldn't defy her Master. Not again. At the moment she was busy reprogramming three Separatist droids for the mission. She grabbed the droid pulling it away from Ahsoka's boot as she attempted to kick it,
"Soka! Take your anger out on something else, I need these droids," Esinon snapped, Ahsoka growled,
"This isn't fair!"
"That I won't let you kick Roger?" Esinon asked, her fingers flying over her keyboard.
"What? No," Ahsoka grumbled, plopping down next to her, "Master Skywalker won't let me come on the mission to rescue Master Piel."
"I'm not allowed to go either, Ahsoka." Esinon replied, closing up the panel on Roger's head, "Citadel is do or die,"
"He's being overprotective and you know it." Ahsoka snapped,
"He's not Ahsoka. He's being rational, unlike you at the moment." she retorted,
"He's always picking and choosing,"
"Maybe, but this reason he has a good and valid reason to not let you go. The Citadel is no place for padawans."
"You sound just like-"
"AHHHHHH!" Roger screamed as his processing unit came back online. "JEDI!" Esinon jumped to her feet as the droid began to sprint across the hanger,
"Rodger!" she yelled, chasing after the droid, "RODGER! Get back here you useless bucket of bolts!" She finally tackled the droid flicking the switch, and Roger shut down. "Stupid droids," she muttered, she grabbed Roger's foot and dragged him back to the other two. She sighed heavily as she reopened Roger's panel and set back to work. Ahsoka was already gone by the time she returned.
"Hiya Taz!" Esinon jumped three feet in the air and almost socked Fives in the face,
"Don't do that!" she shouted, as Fives sat down next to her.
"Sorry," he replied, she could tell he wasn't sorry by the stupid grin on his face.
"Whatcha workin' on?" Echo asked, peering down at the Separatist battle droids before him.
"Roger's processing unit keeps fritzing out, he can still recognize Jedi and clones, and still sees them as the enemy," she explained,
"Hang on, Roger?" Fives teased,
"Yep, meet Roger," she motioned to the droid in her lap, "Annoyance, and Difficulty," she motioned to the other two droids.
"You named them?" Echo asked,
"Yeah, don't like the number thing," she replied, she'd given her own astromech a name. It made everyone easier to keep track of, Echo hummed thoughtfully as he peered over Esinon's shoulder. With her brothers at her side, her emotions began to stir. She'd had problems with anxiety ever since she was young, sure everybody has anxiety, but her's was more difficult to deal with, and her thoughts often tended to wander. She noticed Fives flinch, almost as if he could sense her emotions… then a thought ripped through her mind. When Jedi give people blood transfusions, they not only give blood, they give midichlorians. Had she inadvertently made Fives force-sensitive? She began to panic and noticed that Fives began getting antsy as well, she quickly calmed herself. She couldn't distract him from the upcoming mission. Esinon quickly busied herself with Roger's processing unit, a few seconds later she thought that that would do it. "Alrighty Roger, let's try this one last time." She flicked the button on the droid and it sprang to life. Roger saluted her,
"Awaiting orders Commander," he said, and then glanced between the clones.
"Alright Roger, let's go meet your Commander for the mission," she said, clicking Difficulty and Annoyance on as well. She was about to go find R2 when Fives grabbed her arm,
"We'll be alright, you know that right?" Fives asked, she nodded smiling.
"I know," she could tell Fives could sense her worry anyways. The ARC pulled her into a hug, they were quickly joined by Echo. "Please be safe, and come back quickly. Fives, don't do anything stupid."
"Wow, such trust," Fives joked,
"I know Echo won't do something rash and stupid." She teased, pulling away and smiling up at her brothers. And with that she set off to find R2, nervously eyeing the carbon freezing machine, she wasn't confident about how safe that was. Yet her Masters, and brothers were going in it anyway. She'd done her job for the mission, a very important one at that, she'd even decked the droids out in 501st blue. She wanted to use orange, but there wasn't any orange paint readily available. She quickly found the little astromech,
"Hi R2, I brought your troops," she said, crouching down to get eye level with the droid.
"Really?" he asked excitedly looking up at the blue seppie droids,
"Awaiting your orders Commander," Roger said, saluting R2.
"Move out!" R2 commanded before rolling away proudly with Roger, Annoyance, and Difficulty in tow. She smiled softly as she watched the droids move on to their mission, her stomach flipped again. She really was trying not to think about anything associated with the Citadel, but it was getting increasingly harder as the team's departure drew closer and closer.
"Esinon," Obi-Wan came up behind her, resting a hand on her shoulder.
"Yes Master?" she asked cheerily, shoving her growing dread into her partially formed ARC box.
"It's alright to be afraid, but remember your training. Acknowledge it and let it go," he said, keeping his voice low. She clasped Qui-Gon's crystal and nodded. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. She wasn't supposed to be attached, but deep down she knew she was. She loved everyone around her, she felt so strong when she was around people she cared about.
"Just come back, please? And bring everyone with you," she said, he nodded. She knew he wouldn't promise, because he couldn't.
"It's time for me to go," he said, she looked down at her boots for a moment.
"May the force be with you Master," she said,
"And with you, padawan mine." And with that, the team went in carbon freezing and left. She watched the shuttle leave, a sizable pit settling into her stomach. Her comlink buzzed,
"Windcaster," She answered, still staring at where the shuttle had just been.
"Padawan Windcaster, can you come to the briefing room please?" Master Windu asked,
"Of course," she said, shaking herself from her stupor, and ended the transmission.
"They'll be alright Esinon," Master Plo said, sensing her anxiety.
"I hope so Master Plo, I really hope so," she replied, speeding off to the briefing room. She entered to find Master Windu, Master Yoda, and Commander Neyo standing around the holo-table.
"Hello Esinon," Master Windu greeted, she gave a bow of respect to the Masters.
"Hello Master Windu, Master Yoda, Commander Neyo," she said,
"We have a mission for you," Master Windu said, Esinon nodded, shoving the Citadel mission out of her mind for the time being.
"Aware of your ARC training, we are,"
"I can explain," she said hurriedly, she was afraid that they were here to call her out on not sticking to her traditional training regiment.
"Commander Neyo has been watching your progress." Master Windu said, nodding towards the clone. So that explained why he seemed overly interested in her training, "He said you passed your test with flying colors."
"Very impressive," Neyo remarked, Esinon paused, so she wasn't in trouble?
"Indeed, because of your specialized training, we have a mission for you. I trust that you're familiar with the bill to defeat the troop increase,"
"Yes, my father was one of the leading members," she replied,
"Since the bill was defeated, the number of troopers had increased on Kamino. An ARC trooper who normally trains squadrons has been called away on a special assignment." Master Windu explained,
"Take his place you will complete two squadron's training you will," Master Yoda said,
"Me?" Esinon asked, "I- I don't know if I'm qualified for that."
"You're more than qualified Commander," Neyo said, "You're an unofficial ARC trooper, and spend time with the men. You know them, how they think. A group of shinies will be nothing for you."
"Commander Neyo is right, you have the full confidence of the council." Master Windu assured,
"Leave tomorrow morning, you will." Master Yoda said, "Master Ti, your arrival, she waits for." Esinon nodded,
"Thank you, Masters, Commander, I'll be on my way to pack my things," she said, bowing to them and leaving for her apartment. She was planning to inform Ahsoka that she was leaving and would be alone in the apartment for the time being. She dropped her keys in the bowl, "Soka!" No response and Esinon couldn't sense her friend anywhere. "Ahsoka?" She hadn't seen the togruta since the hanger, she'd been pretty mad… Ahsoka wouldn't… she would. Ahsoka would have completely snuck on that mission, Esinon ran out of the apartment down the hall towards Xavier's, she knocked on the door anxiously waiting. If anyone would have seen Ahsoka before she disappeared, it would have been Master Plo. Master Luminara answered the door,
"Hello Esinon, if you're looking for Xavier and Barriss, they went to the training dojo."
"Is Master Plo here?" she asked hurriedly, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"Plo," Master Luminara called, "Esinon wants to see you," The Kel Dor soon appeared at the door.
"Esinon, what's wrong?" he asked, immediately sensing her worry,
"Have you seen Ahsoka? I last saw her in the hanger before the team for the Citadel left, but now I can't find her. She was upset that Master Skywalker wasn't letting her go, and I'm afraid she may have taken matters into her own hands."
"That is up to Ahsoka now," Master Plo said calmly, she didn't understand how he could be so calm. Probably why he was a Master and she was a padawan.
"But Master Plo, what if she snuck on the mission?"
"Then there is nothing we can do now," he replied, Esinon sighed in exasperation.
"But Master-"
"Don't you have a mission yourself?" he asked, Esinon nodded, "Trust in the force, little Soka can take care of herself."
"Ok,"
That night…
Esinon leaned against the balcony of her father's apartment enjoying the glistening Coruscanti skyline. She'd decided to spend the night at her father's apartment because her apartment was empty anyways.
Click,
Esinon glanced around looking for the source of the noise. It sounded again, except this time she saw a rock saw bounce off the balcony. She looked down to see a bouncy ginger below her.
"Korkie?" she whispered shouted, he waved his arms,
"You fancy going for a stroll?" he called up quietly, making the exaggerated motion of walking in place, grinning stupidly up at her. She laughed, dropping her head to the balcony,
"You're such a dork!" she teased, careful not to shout, if she woke Thea up, her dad would have her head.
"Takes one to know one sweetheart!" he fired back, she blushed,
"One second, I gotta tell my dad." she disappeared from the balcony to find her dad, she found him sitting at the kitchen table with a scattering of flimsi and datapads. "Dad, I'm gonna go out for a little bit. Is that ok?"
"Yeah, anybody tries to attack you, introduce them to the business end of your lightsaber," he said, smiling up at her, she nodded before darting back to the balcony and jumping down to meet Korkie. He didn't react this time to seeing her do something death-defying, he was used to it at this point. She could do frivolous things with the force and he wouldn't bat an eye. He made her feel like it was completely normal to be a Jedi like everyone had these extraordinary abilities. He tossed her a cloak,
"Here put this on," he said, she glanced from the cloak to him and back again before putting it on.
"Where are we going?" she asked, as he grabbed her hand and led her forward.
"It's a surprise,"
"I hate surprises," she grumbled, he grinned cockily at her,
"I know," she rolled her eyes good-naturedly,
"I hate you," he flashed another smile,
"That's only a few steps away from admitting your undying love for me," he pressed a hand to his chest, Esinon was glad for the darkness of the night for a moment so Korkie couldn't see how red her face was getting.
"You are quite the flirt, your highness," she said as the two of them were now sprinting through the Coruscant streets, for no other reason than being exhilarated to be with one another. After a few more minutes of running, they arrived at a small garden, filled with people dancing under patio lights. There was laughter and food, and the force drifted in calming waves, setting Esinon instantly at peace. Her fingers relaxed in Korkie's hand,
"I heard about this place from my aunt," he said, he stepped in front of her, "may I have this dance?" She smiled softly at him before taking his hand. He swept her up in a dance, gripping her hand gently with his right and guided her with his left. She was busy staring at her feet, trying not to step on Korkie's. "You can relax, I think you're light enough on your feet that you won't step on mine." She smiled sheepishly up at him,
"Well don't complain when I inevitably mess up," she joked, Korkie smirked, "So this is what Princes do for fun?"
"Well, we can go somewhere else-"
"No, this is nice," she said, "Better than sitting in my apartment alone," they continued to sway to the music for a while until it got too late, and Esinon needed to fly to Kamino tomorrow morning so she needed to sleep. They started on their way back to Daniel's apartment, "You look more tired than I do," Esinon remarked, as Korkie was leaning heavily upon her. Not that she minded.
"Guess my circadian rhythm works better than yours," he muttered, smiling at her, he was impossibly adorable sometimes. The force shuddered for a moment, she perked up looking around. Something was coming,
"Come on Korkie, we've got to hurry," she said, pulling the man along a little faster, quickening her pace.
"What's wrong?" Korkie asked, immediately picking up on her urgency.
"Something's coming," the force shuddered again and another pair of footsteps were added to the mix of the two teenagers. Esinon was breaking into a full-on sprint now with Korkie right behind her, she heard a blaster click, "GET DOWN!" she yelled, drawing her lightsaber and deflecting the bolts. She could see a figure prowling in the darkness, they started to circle one another. It was unlucky that the one part of Coruscant's upper level they had stumbled upon wasn't such a great neighborhood.
The bounty hunters lunged for her, managing to knock her lightsaber out of her hand. She grappled with the significantly larger being as she pushed the blaster from her heart and over her shoulder.
She attempted to bend the blaster out of his hand, but he fired and a pained grunt echoed behind her. "Korkie!" she cried, watching her friend fly into an alleyway.
She kneed her attacker in the groin, sending him crumpling. She called her lightsaber into her hand and bashed the assailant over the head knocking him out cold. "Korkie! Korkie!" she shouted, rushing into the alleyway, searching for a head of auburn hair. "Korkie please answer me!" she shouted with more and more panicked as the seconds passed.
"Quit yelling," a voice mumbled from behind some crates,
"Korkie," she breathed, she pushed the crates out the way to find her friend propped up against the wall, his hand pressed over his shoulder. "Are you alright?"
"It's not bleeding," he grimaced, he glanced up at her as she tried to pull his hand away from the wound, "Did I really scare you that bad?" Esinon hadn't even registered that she was crying until Korkie reached up with his opposite hand to wipe the tears away. She opened her mouth to say something but became too flustered, she then decided to focus on his shot wound and then remembered the unconscious man outside the alleyway. She pressed her comlink and began assessing how bad Korkie's wound was,
"Fox, I'm sending you my coordinates now. Korkie and I were ambushed. The assailant is unconscious, but Korkie was shot. It doesn't look too bad, but bring a medic anyway." she instructed, sending Fox her coordinates.
"I don't need a medic," Korkie mumbled, she barely tapped the wound and he scrunched his eyes shut, as a fresh wave of pain washed over him.
"Sure you don't," she said,
"We're on our way Commander, stay put if you can," Fox said,
"Got it," she turned off her comlink, she let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding in.
"I'm ok, you know that right?" Korkie said, searching her eyes,
"Your Aunt's gonna kill me," she mumbled,
"Correction, she's gonna kill me," he replied the familiar grin that she loved so much returning to his face. "But you're worth it," her gaze fell to her lap as she smiled, "And if you won't give me a hug after I might have to friend hunting elsewhere." he gently teased, she rolled her eyes. She scooted closer to him, enveloping him in a hug. She shifted carefully around his wound, burying her head in his shoulder. "See? It's all ok," he whispered, rubbing her back gently. Leave it to Korkie to be injured and still worried about Esinon's triggers with the war. "It's not as bad as it looks," she shuddered, shuffling a little closer to him. She felt Korkie rest his chin on her shoulder, pulling her a little closer.
"Next time you come to visit, we're staying in and watching a movie," she mumbled. Korkie chuckled,
"We can watch Princess Bride," he replied, "And you can quote every line."
"You remembered," she said, smiling softly.
"Course I did,"
"Just to prove myself your favorite movie is Little Women. You're such a romantic sap,"
"You're lucky I shared that information with you," they finally parted
"Is that why you threw rocks at the balcony, you wanted to become a real Prince?"
"I am a real Prince," he retorted,
"You sure don't act like it sometimes," she replied, now smiling at her friend. He rolled his eyes good-naturedly,
"At least I'm better than Prince Humperdinck," he said,
"That's one step up from being a nerf-herder,"
"But an important step," he replied, wagging a finger in her face and tapping her nose. The Coruscant guard arrived moments later, and Esinon shifted away from Korkie to let Spark tend to the wound. She stood up to meet Fox,
"Are you alright sir?" he asked, searching her for injuries. She glanced back at Korkie who was talking with Spark,
"Yeah, I'm ok. Has the Duchess been notified?" she asked,
"Yes, and so has General Fisto. He said he's standing in as your surrogate Master until General Kenobi returns. They're both going to meet us at the Coruscant hospital." She groaned,
"Master Fisto's going to go all dad-mode on me," she grumbled, Fox ruffled her hair.
"Good luck with that bouncer," she frowned up at him. "Will you interrogate that man as soon as possible? I want to make sure that the Duchess and Ko- the Prince aren't in any further danger."
"Yes sir," he replied, "We'll make sure everything's ok," Esinon nodded, Spark was helping Korkie up and they all loaded into the gunship. She grabbed his hand, letting him squeezing a little tighter every time a fresh wave of pain came over him.
A few minutes later…
"Esinon, are you alright?" Master Fisto asked, searching her for injury before pulling her into a bear hug.
"I'm fine," she mumbled into his robes, she acted like she didn't like it when Master Fisto overreacted, but she liked knowing someone cared.
"You better be my little danger magnet," he said, finally releasing her, "What were you even doing out?"
"Korkie and I were going for a walk and we got jumped. Fox said he would-" her comlink buzzed with a familiar frequency, "Speak of the devil, that was fast Fox, who is he?"
"Far as I can tell he was simply a guy who was sick of the war, made that very apparent to us," Fox said, she could hear the anger radiating in his normally calm voice. She felt anger rise up in her as well, she quickly calmed herself when she noticed that her fist had started sparkling with electricity.
"I'm so sorry Fox," she said,
"Eh, it's alright bouncer, this guy is a one and done. The Duchess and Prince aren't in any further danger from this guy," he said,
"Thank you," she ended the transmission, she looked up to see Satine exiting from the room where Korkie was being treated. Esinon walked up to her, "Duchess I am-"
"Thank you Esinon," she said, "You saved my nephew's life, I can't tell you how much I appreciate this."
"Uh…" Esinon stood there a little shell shocked, "you're welcome, Duchess,"
"Now, my nephew is asking for you, so I suggest you go see him," she said, turning to talk to Master Fisto instead. Esinon nodded before heading into the hospital room, Korkie was pulling a shirt over his head, ruffling his auburn hair. She was really glad it wasn't worse, he could be hooked up to too many machines to count.
"How are you feeling?" she asked,
"Good as new," he replied happily,
"I would suggest that you come over to watch Little Women tomorrow night to make up for dragging you into the war following me around, but I leave for Kamino tomorrow morning," she said, coming and sitting down on the bed next to him.
"Eh, we can watch next time I come for a visit," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders pulling her closer. "And we can cry the whole time together. And then I can listen to you complain about how Jo and Laurie don't end up together." he teased,
"They blew a hole in my ship," she grumbled, "And if the whole point she wasn't going to marry anyone and then she marries the twi'lek she barely knows- what?" she glanced up at Korkie who was giggling,
"And you say I'm a romantic sap," he said, elbowing her,
"You threw rocks at my balcony!' she protested, a grin spreading across her face.
"You keep bringing it up, means you liked it," she shoved his face,
"You goofball," the two of them continued to talk and laugh, simply enjoying being with one another.
The next morning, Tipoca City, Kamino…
Esinon hopped out of her fighter, removing her hood from her head. Master Shaak Ti and Bric, and an ARC trooper were waiting for her,
"Padawan Windcaster, it is good to see you." Master Ti said, Esinon bowed,
"It is good to see you as well Master Ti,"
"Commander," Bric said,
"Hello Bric, it's nice to see you,"
"We appreciate you coming all the way out here to help us. With the increase of clones we are having a hard time keeping up with their training." Bric explained,
"And with that, Bric and I must immediately return to our duties." Master Ti said, "Since you've only been to Kamino for a battle, Commander Bear is going to give you a tour, and take you to meet your new squads." The ARC trooper gave a nod, Esinon bowed to Master Ti and Bric before following after Commander Bear. After a few minutes of silence, she finally spoke up,
"So, how long have you been an ARC trooper?" she asked, he glanced down at her.
"About a year after the war began," he answered curtly,
"Post battle of Kamino?" she asked, which had been three years ago for her. She was now sixteen, Bear nodded sharply. Geez, he was more stoic than when she first met Gregor. She still missed him, she got lost in memories for a moment until Bear suddenly stopped in front of a door.
"This is the mess hall for the troopers on this floor. Your squads are two floors up, so you won't need to bother coming down here."
"But what if I want to come down here to see other squads?" she asked, peeking her head inside the mess hall and waving to a few cadets who caught her eye. Bear paused at the question before answering,
"I suppose you can come down here if you want, come on, there's more to see." She followed the ARC, finally taking some time to study his armor as they walked. He had a large bear paw print on the front of his chest, and his armor was red. Like Colt's, she involuntarily flinched. That was her first real, tangible experience with death as a padawan. She knew that troopers died in battle, but she'd never been there to see their cold bodies. Master Kenobi had always kept her sheltered from that sort of thing in her first few years as a padawan. It all changed after Sarrish, her outlook on the galaxy changed. She was torn from her memories of Colt as a group of young cadets like the ones from the Endurance passed. She waved to them, "This is the firing range for the youngest cadets," Bear said, motioning to a room off to the right. They continued down the halls, they passed another room where young cadets were sitting,
"We have cushions like that in the temple," she thought out loud,
"Well we all seek comfort as children whilst growing up to be a soldier," Bear said, Esinon decided not to correct him about her not being a soldier.
"It's a lot like the temple here," she said, studying the white walls, just add some natural light, tone down the smell of anesthetics, and some columns and you'd have the Jedi temple.
"You've got birthing chambers too?" he asked, motioning to the towers of pods that lined a room off to the right. Esinon stopped dead in her tracks as she marveled at the thousands of tiny baby clone troopers that lined the room. She couldn't believe that Cody or Rex had once been a little baby. It made sense logically, but she always knew them as her big brothers.
"How many are in there?" she asked, pressing her hands against the window.
"Too many to count," Bear replied, Esinon frowned,
"But the Kaminoans can count them just fine," she mumbled, remembering the look that her troopers had gotten when Master Krell called them by their numbers. She hated it, she just hated it. "So what else?"
"Right, this way," Bear said, they entered a turbo-lift going up two floors. She assumed that's where her new squads were waiting,
"Who trained these squads before?" she asked, bouncing impatiently on the balls of her feet.
"Commander Callum," Bear replied,
"And… what's he like?" she asked, trying to push Bear into opening up a little more.
"Strict, but he's a good soldier, a good brother." Bear said, she assumed that Callum and Bear were close. She hoped that he wasn't mad, or blamed her for Callum having to leave on a mission. Well, it wasn't her fault, because she didn't even know what the mission was, or who Callum was up till a few seconds ago.
"Do most of the cadets have names?" she asked,
"Most of them, why?"
"Uh… I don't like the number thing," she explained, Bear glanced at her. He finally pulled off his helmet, he had a stripe tattoo running over his left eye. His haircut was pretty standard except he had lines shaved on either side of his head.
"We're here," he said, motioning to a door. Esinon could already sense the ten cadets on the other side. "Dinner is at six, I'll be back before dinner to show you to your quarters." She nodded,
"Thank you, Commander," he nodded, placing his helmet on his head and leaving. Esinon took a deep breath, she'd dealt with shinies before, she could do this. She palmed open the door and stepped inside, the shinies immediately snapped to attention, she put on a brave face. "Hello, I am Commander Esinon Windcaster and I'll be taking over for Commander Callum until he returns. How about we start with names," she said, none of the cadets moved, she realized that she needed to approach them, not the other way around. She approached the first squad, and looked expectantly up at him,
"I'm Rainstorm, this is Zoom," he said, motioning the trooper next to him. She could already sense the deep bond between them,
"I'm Bean sir, and this is Push," the trooper on the other side of Rainstorm said, Esinon looked up at the last trooper.
"I, as of yet, don't have a name. I'm CT- 8908,"
"We'll work on that," Esinon said, she moved onto the next squad,
"I'm Sharkbait, this is Dogma, and Tup," the first one said, motioning to troopers on his left and right.
"We don't have names," the trooper said, motioning to the pair of them. "I'm CT-4746, and he's CT- 3975."
"Nice to meet all of you," she said, "I thought we could start by running a training simulation, might be one you haven't seen before because I thought we could use a mission that I've been on before. Helps keep the variables controlled." She jumped up into the control booth, "Grab your weapons, and take starting positions." She set to programming the holographic program, she thought the Blue Shadow Virus, before the virus hit would be a good simulation. She would save variables like gutaarks on Ryloth for after they read the manuals regarding how to deal with animals.
Tup watched as the hologram technology morphed into an underground tunnel full of rubble, and a hole in the roof. A hologram of Commander Windcaster appeared in front of them,
"This is a simulation of the blue shadow virus incident three years ago. Dr. Vindi is about to release the blue shadow virus creating a galaxy-wide pandemic on all Republic systems. I've placed you where I would have entered, you've just dropped down out of the gunships and droids are about to come running around that corner," Tup looked to the left of the hologram and sure enough, he could hear the tapping of droid feet. "Neutralize the threat," Her hologram disappeared just as B1 training droids came running around the corner.
"Split up!" Sharkbait commanded, and the two squads obeyed, CT-8908's Z-6 raring. Dogma's head whipped around at the rumble of destroyers. Sharkbait tackled Dogma behind some rubble. Both Bean and Rainstorm were immediately hit with holographic blaster bolts from the destroyers, and their weapons were deactivated. CT-8908 glanced up at the ceiling,
"Shoot the ceiling! It'll crush the droids, I think," he said,
"Worth a shot," Push replied, still working with Tup, Zoom, CT-4746 and CT- 3975 on the B1 battle droids. Sharkbait and CT-8908 leveled their blasters with the ceiling and fired. The ceiling came crashing down on top of the destroyers vanquishing them, while the rest of the B1s had been taken care of by the others.
"Update," Commander Windcaster's hologram appeared sprinting with them through the base, "General Kenobi has entered the base along with General Skywalker. Kenobi is headed to deactivate the bombs, your job is to keep the droids busy." She disappeared as B2s and B1s came running around the corner,
"Take cover!" CT-8908 yelled, providing cover fire for the rest of them as his Z-6 let out a splay of plasma bolts. The only problem was, as he got hit with a bolt and his weapon deactivated. CT-4746 and CT-3975 were down next. Now the ones who were left were Sharkbait, Tup, Dogma, Zoom, and Push. After a bit of fighting and narrowly getting hit, they had destroyed the droids and Commander Windcaster appeared again.
"We've got a missing bomb, and trigger happy mad doctor on the loose. Doctor Vindi gave a droid a bomb, find it," she commanded and disappeared.
"We can't split up," Push said, "There are too few of us,"
"Well we don't have a choice," Sharkbait shot back, "We've got to find that droid or we'll all be as good as dead."
"We'll be dead anyway if we split up. There are too few of us and to many droids," Tup snapped,
"Guys! Look out!" Zoom shouted laser fire rained down upon them, taking out Push, Zoom, and Dogma. All of their weapons deactivated.
"Guess it's just us!" Tup shouted, firing at the droids, he and Sharkbait ducked behind some debris trying to take out the mass of droids that were converging on their position. A loud explosion sounded and tendrils of cobalt mist came racing towards them,
"That's not good," Sharkbait murmured,
"Simulation end," a robotic voice said, the holographic walls dissipated, the terrifying monster of the blue shadow virus was gone, and they were back in the training room. Commander Windcaster jumped down from the control pod,
"Good work everybody," she said,
"What?" Sharkbait asked in shock, they had failed the mission. Dogma shot Sharkbait a look, "We failed our mission,"
"Yeah, I was infected by that same virus. You made it pretty far considering how few of you there were," She praised,
"You were infected by that?" CT-8908 asked, even though he had been taken out, he'd seen that monster of a mist. Commander Windcaster nodded,
"Granted we had arrested Doctor Vindi first," she said, "Still, you probably won't ever encounter the blue shadow virus in the field, unless Doctor Vindi gets loose and recreates it which seems pretty unlikely. Also, you," she pointed at CT-8908, "Is it alright if I call you Anchor?"
"Of course sir," CT-8908 wasn't going to argue with a superior, and he liked the name Anchor anyways,
"It's because that's what you are for your squad," she said, "For you," she motioned to Sharkbait, "For your squad, your guys' homework get these two names because I'm not doing the number thing. Now there were a couple things I noticed, Sharkbait and Anchor you guys seem to be the chosen leaders of your squad. It's always good to have a chosen leader within a squad. I've seen it save lives. There is one important thing I noticed, you guys argue a lot. Sometimes you need to listen to your squad leader, in a pinch you oftentimes need to just listen to what your leader says. As you can tell, not listening could cost you your life."
"Commander Windcaster is right," Bear entered the room and all the cadets snapped to attention,
"Hello Bear," she greeted, waving happily at the ARC trooper. She glanced up at the clock seeing it was almost six, "Oh shoot, lost track of time. I am quite spacey sometimes, Cody usually keeps me on track." She turned back to her squads, "Abbreviated version of my speech, listen to your leaders in a pinch, but don't be afraid to voice your opinion because it can also save your life. Break for dinner, I'll see you all in a few minutes."
"Sir!" They all saluted her and fell out, leaving her and Bear alone.
"Your quarters are right this way Commander," he said, she followed after the ARC a ways down the hallway, past the multiple training rooms, and barracks to a secluded section, "These are your quarters, dinner will be brought up to you in the next five minutes"
"Wait, I eat dinner here?" she asked,
"Yes, superiors normally eat dinner in their quarters," Bear said, matter of factly,
"That sounds… lonely," she muttered, "Do you usually eat in your quarters?" Bear nodded, "What if I wanted to eat with my squads? Get to know them better,"
"I suppose you can do whatever you want, but it would be highly irregular," Bear said,
"Would you… come with me?" she asked hopefully,
"It might make the men uncomfortable," he said slowly,
"Well that'll be a problem if they get assigned to me," she said, placing her hands on her hips. Bear could see it in the look in her eyes that she had already claimed those men for her battalion. "And besides I won't know what training they've had from Callum until I talk with them. Come on Bear, please,"
"Fine, but only to say I told you so," he said, she did a happy little bounce on her toes.
"Come on, before the food gets cold." she said bounding ahead, she stopped suddenly, "It just occurred to me that I have no idea where the mess hall is,"
"This way Commander," Bear said, sometimes he forgot how young the girl in front of him actually was.
A few minutes later…
Esinon plopped down in her seat next to Dogma, scaring the poor cadet.
"Hi Dogma," she greeted,
"Sir," He began to stand up to salute her but she quickly waved him down.
"It's alright, we're only eating after all," she said, Dogma slowly sat down,
"Sir?" he asked with a questioning look in his eyes, she could read him like a reg manual,
"Didn't want to eat in my quarters, Bear already went back to his," she said, motioning to the door with her fork. Tup and Sharkbait soon joined them, along with the final two members of their squad. "So how are we doing on the names?" she asked, glancing between the two troopers who as of yet, remained nameless.
"I think we've got some," Sharkbait said, "We're calling him Fidget," he motioned to the trooper to his right, "And we're calling him Cosmo,"
"Well it is very nice to meet you, Fidget, Cosmo," she said, both troopers nodded, soon her other squadron joined them. "So you guys got names for your squads? That's the way it works for my battalion and the 501st… anyways, you got squad names?"
"We're Theta," Anchor said,
"And we're Delta," Sharkbait supplied,
"We never got to name our clans, it was just clan A or B and so on, I tried to suggest we do so to Master Windu but that didn't go over so well." she joked, laughing to herself,
"You know General Windu?" Dogma asked, looking starstruck. Esinon nodded,
"He's the one who found me and brought me to the temple," they continued talking about anything the men would let her. She asked about Callum and what he did for training, but Dogma stayed quiet through all of it, still looking uncomfortable with his Commander sitting right next to him, "So Dogma, you have a favorite color?" she asked, nudging his elbow. He glanced up from his meal to look at her.
"I- uh, I like the color green or blue," he said quietly,
"Hmm, how do you feel about orange?" she asked, resting her chin on her hands.
"Now don't go getting too attached," Bear said, joining the young Commander.
"Awww Bear," she half-whined, "I see potential, 212th potential,"
"I came to get you because General Ti wishes to speak to you,"
A few minutes later…
"So how did your first day of training go?" Shaak asked,
"Good, Commander Callum did a great job! I'm sad that he couldn't finish training them, I'd like to meet him."
"Always the little spitfire, aren't we," Shaak murmured, she'd spoken with Bear earlier, and was already challenging some of the things that normally happened around Kamino. She wasn't responsible for actually training troops, she was more of an overseer and advisor. Esinon technically had all qualifications since she was an 'ARC trooper'. She had all the training, just not the kamas and pauldrons. Bear had voiced his concerns, many times, letting a child take over training when it had always been left up to the men, "Did Bear show you everything?"
"Mostly," she said, "Couple areas he told me were off-limits,"
"And for good reason," Shaak replied, one area that had been barred off to the young padawan was the detention area. Esinon didn't need what happened down there weighing on her mind. "You'd better get some rest, you've got a big day ahead of you."
"Master Ti?" Esinon asked, "Have there been any updates on the Citadel mission?" Shaak shook her head,
"No, but I will inform you as soon as one does come,"
"Thank you," Esinon said, bowing to the elder Jedi and setting off her quarters,
Did I name Sharkbait, Sharkbait because I laugh every time while I think 'Sharkbait WHO HA HA' yes. yes, I did.
enjoy esinon and korkie being too cute
I know that we didn't see too much of Esinon's family that I introduced, but they'll come back later. She keeps in contact with them after they head back for Scipio.
Here we go on Kaminooooooo
Next up on let's make this canon corner: Shaak Ti is super competitive and won't let you win at anything
Thanks for reading! Make sure to leave a review!