I have 3 more chapters to release before Interlude is over. So I won't be taking any more requests for now (since I've already finalized my chapters).

Nicknames (Interlude)

The best nicknames are the accurate ones.

The 304th was wrapping up their most recent mission. They went around base, tearing everything down.

"I want a full supply check before we leave," Aliyah said to Steele.

"Yes, general."

They were walking around, making sure everyone's doing their part. And so far, everyone is.

"Here," Aliyah handed a datapad. "This is the list of everyone's assigned equipment."

Steele took it and nodded. "I'll get to checking right now."

Dogma was helping Compass take down a large tent. It wasn't a difficult task, but Compass was frustrated while doing this.

"You two can help out, you know?" He shouted at Kal and Egad.

The two of them were sitting outside the tent, enjoying the afternoon sun.

"General Korentayer said we're allowed to take a break. While our wounds heal." Egad answered coolly.

"A grazed kneecap is hardly a big deal." Compass grumbled as he unscrewed a pole.

"It was from a blaster bolt," Egad said.

"Which happened three days ago!" Compass shot back.

"I don't mind them just sitting there," Dogma confessed.

Compass's jaw dropped while Kal raised his water bottle at Dogma. "Thank you! At least someone's considerate."

"Kal, Egad, why are you two just sitting here?"

Steele suddenly appeared behind him and Egad. Compass immediately seized this chance to get back at his 'friends'.

"They're using the 'I'm wounded' excuse to get out of work, sir! Shall we report this to the general?"

Steele rolled his eyes under his goggles. "I meant why are they sitting out here in the sun. They should be in the infirmary."

"We're feeling much better lately," Kal revealed as he stood up. Egad followed suit.

Compass couldn't believe it. So they were sitting there the whole time just to spite him? What has he done to deserve that?

Steele looked at the two 'injured' clones. Seeing that they're able-enough, he made his decision.

"Alright, since you're both in walking condition. You're gonna help me check off borrowed equipment. This is the list of everything you need to inspect."

He handed over the datapad Aliyah gave him. Kal took it, turned it on, and looked at it. He frowned.

"But why is it titled '304th Legion Overview'?"

Steele immediately took the datapad back.

Compass and Dogma walked over to see what the confusion was about. Egad peered over Steele's shoulder to get a glimpse as well.

"This is not it," Steele muttered. "The general must've given me the wrong datapad."

"Are you sure? I mean, it could be in here. Maybe it's at the back." Compass snatched the datapad out of Steele's hand.

"Hey! Give it back!"

"I'm just double-checking!" Compass said as he swiped through the info.

Two seconds of silent concentration pass by.

And suddenly, Compass burst out laughing. Everyone was confused. Until he showed them what he saw.

On the datapad, was a page displaying Kal's information. And next to his designation number, was the name: 'Mr. Reliable'.

Kal attempted to grab the datapad but Compass was fast. "This is awesome!"

"What? Why? Why am I labelled 'Mr. Reliable'?" Kal demanded.

"Don't be insulted!" Compass retorted. "This is the general's overview of our entire legion! Don't you see? This is her personal copy! And she's nicknamed you 'Mr. Reliable!' Now we know what she really thinks of you!"

Kal thought about that. He liked it. "Hmm. You're right. So, I'm super reliable."

Steele tried to grab the datapad again. But Compass wouldn't let it happen. "Hold on! I wanna see the other nicknames! Starting with Egad's!"

Now Egad's the one trying to rip the datapad away. "Compass! Don't you dare—"

"Well, look at that!" Compass turned the datapad around. "'Epitome of near-perfection'!"

"...Wow. It's actually pretty nice."

Egad smiled at the sight of his nickname. So General Korentayer always thought of him being near-perfect, eh?

Steele had enough of this. "Alright, Compass. Fun time's over."

"Please listen to the commander," Dogma added. The last thing he wanted was for Compass to get another month of toilet-scrubbing.

But Compass didn't have enough fun yet. He ran out of the tent.

"Hey, everyone!" Compass announced to all the clones who could hear him. "Come check out what the general's nickname for you is!"

"Compass! No, no—" Steele couldn't finish before a hoard of troopers ran past him.

They all surrounded Compass, who connected the datapad to a holoprojector so everyone could see its contents. This was going to be good.

"Alright, who got here first?" He asked.

"I did!" Vito pushed his way to the front.

Compass let Vito search for his designation number on the datapad. And a second later, his summary page was displayed.

"Aww! You're 'Big Red Softie'!" One of the troopers laughed.

"Do me next!" Another shouted.

Compass let that trooper up to type in his designation number. And displayed the nickname for everyone to see.

"Aw, hell! She calls me 'Flameproof'!"

"Must've been from the time you nearly set HQ on fire! What were you trying to do again?"

"He tried to heat some leftovers without unpackaging it first!"

"I wanna be next!"

One by one, clones went up to see what their general secretly called them. And one by one, they laughed at whatever name they saw.

Dogma eventually went up with the encouragement of Kal. He anxiously waited for his nickname to show up. And when it did, everyone nearly doubled over.

"Why am I called 'Jellybean'?" Dogma was visibly confused.

"I dunno, but it's absolutely adorable!" Compass put an arm around his shoulder.

More clones went and saw their nicknames.

"I'm 'Blaster infestation'!"

"I got 'True Mandalorian Son of Jango'? The hell?"

"She calls me 'Dead-shot'! I feel good about my sniping skills now!"

"Can someone tell me what 'Tall Yoda' means?"

The nicknames ranged from hilarious to flattering to downright confusing. Eventually, one of them asked Compass if he saw his nickname yet.

"No, I haven't!" Compass realized.

He immediately typed in his number. And eagerly waited for the result to show up. As soon as it did, everyone cheered loudly.

"'Exemplary model'?!" Egad read the nickname aloud in disbelief. "There's no way she was in her right mind when she wrote that! NO WAY! She must've been drunk or something!"

Compass looked Egad smugly. "You see that 'Epitome of near-perfection'? Maybe you should follow my lead from now on."

"No!" Egad half cried, half laughed. "I'm gonna ask the general about this once we board the destroyer! I need to get to the bottom of this!"

Everyone laughed. Compass continued to tease his friend. "Jealous much?"

"You wish!" Egad glared.

Compass laughed obnoxiously. "I have the best nickname in the entire legion: change my mind."

"Challenge accepted!" Egad immediately turned to Steele. "Commander! Bring up your nickname!"

Everyone immediately jumped up in agreement. Egad smirked at Compass, he knew exactly what he was doing.

And so did everyone else.

"Yeah, let's see it!"

"It's definitely gonna be something extravagant!"

"I bet it'll be endearing!"

"One thing's for sure, it'll be better than Compass's!" Egad said with utmost confidence.

Compass hated to admit, but Egad may be right. No one could top the level of importance the commander was to their general…

After a minute of begging and pestering, Steele reluctantly made his way to the datapad. "Fine. But this is the last one we're seeing."

He typed in his designation number. His resulting information page popped up on the projector for everyone to see.

Along with his nickname: 'My treasured one.'

There was no laughter or cheering this time. Instead, everyone pointed and cooed.

"Awwwwwwwww!"

"How sweet!"

"That's so wholesome!"

"She's soft for you, commander!"

Welp, Egad did it. He made Compass change his mind. However, Compass didn't seem to care much for it. He's found a new teasing call.

Prancing up to Steele, Compass sang, "Well, well, well. How does it feel? To be so loved?"

Dogma nodded, his eyes widened. "Yeah. What'd you do to be valued that much?"

"Shut it, Jellybean," Steele gently hit Dogma on the back of the head.

"Yeah, Jellybean!" Compass joined in. "Don't you know better than to pry into the commander's personal life?"

Steele sent Compass flying out of the tent. That turned all the pointing and cooing into laughter.

Sighing, Steele disconnected the projector from the datapad and ordered everyone to get back to work. He's never going to hear the end of this.

It took an hour for the entire base to be torn down. And for the supplies to be checked thoroughly. Thanks to the help of Kal, who got the proper datapad from Aliyah.

Everywhere Steele went, he was teased about that darn nickname. Yep, that thing spread like wildfire.

"Hey, 'treasured one'! Be careful not to get tainted!" Two troopers said while putting crates away.

"You want toilet-scrubbing time?" Steele challenged.

"No, sir!" They instantly replied.

"Then I better not hear that again! Especially if the general's nearby!"

"Yes, sir!"

But as soon as Steele turned around, they started whispering again. He decided not to take it to heart. But it still bothered him.

Steele was met with the same treatment as he kept walking around.

"Keep yourself safe, 'treasured one'!"

"How about spraying some gold over your armour?"

"Good job, commander! She thinks very highly of you!"

"Don't listen to them, sir! I think it's a great nickname!"

Half-an-hour later, the final pieces of the base were brought onboard. At last, the teardown and packing was over. What a relief.

"Alright! Guess we can say goodbye to this world now!" Aliyah looked at the empty scenery from the destroyer's ramp.

"Yeah…" Steele weakly agreed.

Aliyah looked at him. "What's wrong?"

"When you handed me the datapad containing the list of everyone's equipment. It was actually your personal copy of the legion's overview." Steele took out the wrongly given datapad. And handed it back to her.

"Oh, my bad." Aliyah laughed as she took it back. "Glad you still managed to check everyone's equipment."

"Yeah. But that's not the problem." Steele lets out a low whistle. "Some of the men discovered that you…wrote nicknames for them on each of their info page…"

"Ohhhh…"

At first, Aliyah looked a bit flustered. But then she started laughing. Much to Steele's surprise.

"Oh no! Did they like it, though? Their nicknames?"

"Um, most of them did."

Aliyah grinned. "I tried my best to be nice. But I tried to be honest too. Besides, those nicknames are from a month ago. So they're pretty up to date with what I've seen from you guys so far."

"Oh, so you were sincere in all those nicknames?" Steele questioned.

"Mmhmm. Didn't need to think hard to come up with them. Most were the first words that came to mind when I thought of each of you."

She turned around to walk up the ramp. Steele continued to gaze at the empty scenery for a while longer.

He needed to control his adrenaline level. And standing next to Aliyah was not helping. Especially after she said that she was being honest in creating those nicknames.

Which meant his nickname, 'My treasured one', was the first thing that came to her mind when she thought of him.

"Steele! Let's go!" Aliyah called.

He complied and caught up beside her. The ramp closed. The destroyer prepared to take off.

The two walked towards the bridge. Aliyah noticed a bit of discomfort in her commander.

"Say, Steele? Did you see your nickname too?"

Say yes! She's a Jedi, there's no way to lie around her! But what'll her answer be if you say no? Blast this. Just be honest.

"Yes."

Aliyah raised a brow. "And what do you think?"

Blast being honest.

"I think I'd like to know what you mean by it." Steele carefully answered.

Aliyah put her hands behind her back. She looked forward while formulating what to say next. Steele felt his palms sweating as he waited.

Finally, she spoke.

"I meant exactly by what I wrote for you." Aliyah patted his shoulder. "Don't overthink it."

"Just saying that makes me overthink it," Steele shook his head.

"Then by all means, overthink it." Aliyah shrugged. "Are you thinking simpler now?"

"No!"

"Well, how about this? I nicknamed you that because you're important to me and I'd never deliberately put your life on the line."

Steele paused. "That makes sense."

Aliyah nodded smugly. But Steele wasn't finished yet. "But only to me. Everyone else is thinking of other things. And I assure you, if their thoughts are made public. There's gonna be nothing but trouble for both of us."

"Oh, the rest of the men saw your nickname too?"

"Yes! Now I'm never gonna live down their antics!" Steele put his hand against his visor. "What am I supposed to say every time they bring that up?"

Aliyah rushed in front of Steele and stopped. Stopping him in his tracks as well. She looked at him.

"Is that what's bothering you?"

"...That's not the only thing." Steele slowly revealed. "General, I'm not oblivious. I know what Jedi are and aren't allowed to do. The most famous one, being the no—"

"—no attachment rule. I know," Aliyah said, sounding a little exasperated. "It's already been drilled into me about a thousand times."

Now Steele crossed his arms. "Please don't make trouble for yourself."

"You don't have to worry," Aliyah assured. "I'm not planning on getting in trouble with the Council anytime soon."

Steele was relieved. "Good. Because I intend to serve you until the day this war ends."

"Good to know we're on the same page."

The destroyer finally took off.

"By the way, are you serious about Compass's nickname?"

"Oh, absolutely."

Nicknames: End

Review responses~

KarajeJinsta: Thank you! Tiny Obi-Wan was fun to write about. I got the twist that Compass was telling the story from South Park's 'Woodland Critters Christmas' episode. And I know that I said in the previous chapter that being short equates to having shorter temper but it just for laughs. I'm sure that's not true in reality...right?

Akira-Hayama: These interludes are lighthearted because the Clone Force 99 arc and the ones after that will start getting serious. I'll be diving into issues surrounding Order 66 and that's no walk in the park. You're right, it's easy for us to forget these clones had an accelerated childhood and youth. Thinking about it, that makes Krell's treatment towards Steele and his men equivalent to child abuse in a way. :{

IIxTigerLillyxII: Glad to have given you a good laugh! :)

lionkingfactsguy (ch 24): You're welcome! Healthcare workers are pretty much frontline soldiers during these times! And yeah, having your own child turn against you is pretty horrible. I got the inspiration for that arc from an old children's story I read a long time ago. It was rather mature for a children's story.

lionkingfactsguy (ch 25): It's truly a relief that everything worked out in the end. I hate broken bonds between parents and their kids, so it always restores my faith in humanity whenever I see forgiveness happening. As for Aliyah getting a Padawan...I can't say anything in details right now. ;)

lionkingfactsguy (ch 26): Yep! It's a twist I really liked from South Park's 'Woodland Critters Christmas' episode! I've been wanting to do a parody of that episode for a long time. And the idea of tiny Obi-Wan was the perfect way to do it! :)

Femke-the-lotus: Compass tells stories. Never writes them. And good to see you noticed a bit of foreshadowing in the previous one-shot (*cough, cough, Cody blasting Obi-Wan). Steele's recovered but needs to deal with this kind of ridiculousness again. I hope I don't go on hiatus either, but hey, think of it this way: when I come back, chapters will be updating consistently again! :)

CotyT232: Really? Then I'm honoured to have made you laugh this much! :)

A/N. Hi, everyone. I hope you liked this chapter (especially you shippers out there) because I haven't been feeling too great lately.

Honestly, I've ever felt this overwhelmed before (university really doesn't get easier after first year ;_;). And I think a good chunk of it is because of this story.

I love writing, I love The Clone Wars, and I love attentive readers like you. But writing this story has been draining me of the time and attention I usually dedicate to studying. As a result, I'm now rushing through 6 units of a course that's supposed to be a 'GPA booster' to prep for its midterm!

I'm not saying that I'll stop writing altogether. But I just want to let you know, that my hiatus in between arcs (like this one and 'Clone Force 99') will be a lot longer. And the hiatus between 'Clone Force 99' and the arc after that will probably be even longer (because I'll be back in full-time studies by then).

So all I ask for is, please be understanding and loyal. I always do my best to be as transparent as possible with you. If I do go on a semester-long hiatus, I hope you'll be willing to wait for me.

Thank you and see you all next time! :)

- MiraLake