A/N.
Hi,
Thank you all for the faves and reviews.
Enjoy.
Sued13
CHAPTER Twenty Six
Malastare was another cock up; his brothers were getting massacred again. He'd seen them; although he really didn't class them as his family they still had his DNA in their cells, even though it was a slightly different version. They were his Vode and he accepted that; he wasn't as arrogant as the Alpha's about it. Ryssa thought like Kal, about other clones and he appreciated that; these men had even less choice than him and it was that which made him angry.
He commed Kal.
"Buir, I can't just leave them."
"Okay son, but be careful."
"Always….Ryssa?"
"She's fine, don't you worry, you look after yourself; I'll look after her."
There was a pause from A'den's end.
"Son? Is there anything else."
"Buir, you need to know something ….I...we wanted to tell you in person, to explain…..but not like this. It was a mistake but we're both happy with it."
Kal's stomach churned.
"What is it son?"
"Ryssa's pregnant. I'll tell you more when I get back."
Kal changed his mind; he didn't want his son in a battle with other things on his mind, "Son you need to…"
The connection had gone.
Fierfek! What on earth were they thinking. Probably not, he said it was a mistake. Now he would definitely have to see Ryssa.
.
"Ponds! Good to see you again. It's been a while." A'den was genuinely pleased to see the Commander, he had been under him at Geonosis, with Windu. He was a good brother. They clasped arms.
"Sargeant, good to see you're still alive. How's the other Sargeant?"
"If I told you, I might have to kill you." Ponds let out a roar of laughter; he had needed something to lighten the mood with this Osik they were in and he appreciated A'den's wit. He wasn't as serious as some of the other Null ARC's, until he needed to be, then he was deadly.
As he should be.
"At least the Intel you and Clone Intelligence provide is reliable, as opposed to that Osik we get from RI; good job for us that they didn't put you in stasis. Although you caused a ruckus there." Ponds had kept track of his favourite ARC.
"Speaking of which.." he handed the data crystal and a package to Ponds, "for the General."
"I'll make sure he gets it straight away."
"All the decoys have been planted."
Ponds nodded. "A little of our own misinformation is helpful to us."
He appreciated that these tactics were needed and the Separatists had always appeared ahead of the game on that, until recently, but it looked as if the Republic was finally getting up to speed.
The door opened and one of the most Force powerful Jedi entered, a frown creasing his dome of a forehead.
"Sorry to disturb the reunion gentlemen, but we have work to do. Good to see you again, Sargeant."
"And you Sir." A'den immediately came to attention and saluted the Jedi.
"At ease, Sargeant."
A'den assumed the position; he had a little mire time for this General, than most. He was one of the few Jetii that he did but only in the realms of his military expertise. He knew he would just as easily send any number of his brothers to their deaths, as would any of the other Jetii. But Ponds thought him one of the best, better than Kenobi and Skywalker, only one of whom was here. A'den respected Ponds, he was a no nonsense Commander, who looked after his men; a good strategist. He and Windu were well suited.
"I'm at your disposal, Sir. Any particular squad?"
"Any help is appreciated, Sergeant. Skywalker's Companies have taken a battering, report to Captain Rex, I'm sure he can use you."
The Commando left at the double.
"He's a good soldier, Ponds; there are not many from the 'Intelligence world' that would put themselves at our disposal in a battle; I must speak to Arligan about him."
Ponds nodded "Yes Sir, one of the best, pity he won't accept a promotion." He glanced at his datapad, "General Skywalker's on his way, sir."
"I know." Replied the general without emotion; he just wished that he sensed as much loyalty from the clone that had just left, as he did from Ponds, and with that both went to look at the holomap.
.
A'den used his HUD to identify, where Torrent Company were currently based and dodging the periodic blasts from the droids, who seemed to be regrouping, he made his way to the main area of tents they were occupying and leapt over a boulder sliding to a halt then shuffling back to get some cover. He had only one of his blasters out ready.
Coric and Kix were treating a brother, a shiny by look of his blank armour, when the large Commando jumped in front of them.
"For Feks sake!" Shouted Coric.
"Nice to see you as well, Ner Vod." He leant forward and grasped his arm; his familiarity surprising Coric, he had only met him once before, when he was conscious anyway.
"Slumming it?" Asked Kix, as he grasped his arm as well. They heard him laugh loudly in his HUD, as he'd already plugged into their private Com channel, although they were unsure how he managed to do that so quickly. Luckily A'den loved a good joke; Kix let out a breath, thankful for that. He had opened his mouth before engaging his brain, it could have gone either way with the Null, this time he had got it right. The Null seemed to like the men from Torrent Company.
"So Captain Rex, any sign of him? Supposed to report in to him."
"He's with Skywalker as far as I know; they're planning on what to do next."
Coric answered, he was the Sergeant of this little squad; he leaned forward towards the Null, playing on this new familiarity. "You wouldn't have any idea by any chance?"
"Who? Little old me?" He put on the most innocent look, behind his Bucket and sounded almost offended by the notion that he already knew what was going to happen. "Boom!" He threw his hands up.
"Boom!" Repeated Kix.
"Big Boom!" Reiterated the Null.
"Big Boom?" Said Coric.
"Just wait and see." The Null was in a good mood, his mission, though lengthy, had gone well and Ryssa was well and safe, under Kal's care; he had also told Kal about the baby.
"Who's manning the Treatment Room back on Corrie?"
"Tod, he's 212th. They're not in this Osik with us."
The Null nodded.
"Kenobi not here then?"
"No, back on Corrie."
The injured trooper had been treated and made stable enough to move but now they needed to get him back to the mobile medcentre but there were still a few clankers taking pot shots at them.
"Let's get him to the medical centre ready for evac." Declared Coric, "it's all we can do now."
"Let me!" The Null picked up the trooper like a baby. "Cover me lads and we'll get him there safe and sound."
Some of the troopers had never had any interaction with an ARC let alone a Null, so were mesmerised by him and his different attitude.
"Ready?" He asked. "Let's go." Coric took point, as they zig zagged their way to the Rimsoo, Kix had his six, the Null kept pace with the troopers in spite of his burden, who he laid gently on a cot, much to the amazement of Coric, the Doctors and Med droids in there.
Kix and the others caught up with him, as one of the Doctors started to triage the trooper that they had been treating. He watched closely as the doctor examined the trooper and marked him with a 5 and then went onto look at some results.
After laying the trooper down, A'den took his bucket off and clipped it to his belt at the back, waiting for the treatment to start. The Doctor, instead of treating his latest patient walked off. Kix nudged Coric as A'den's whole demeanour changed in an instant, no longer a professional soldier but a seething mass of anger, that marched up to the Doctor and tapped him not so gently on the shoulder. The Doctor was either very brave or stupid; Coric thought the latter. He had heard about the Nulls, rumour was they were disturbed and seeing the current look on A'den's face, he would not have ignored him.
"Doctor," He said very softly, "You still have a patient here."
The Doctor looked up, to come face to face with death on legs; although he didn't realise it at the time.
"No, he's been triaged, clone, so he'll take his turn like the rest and turned towards the results he was previously examining.
ARC Trooper, N12, took a deep breath and looked away for several seconds before he moved with a speed belying his size and pushed the Doctor up against the the filing cabinets that lined that area of the Rimsoo and had him in a forearm lock. His face 2 mm from the object of his rage. Coric winced. The troopers looked at each but decided not to intervene, especially if it got help for their brother.
"I said you still have a patient to treat." He said the words softly and almost spelled them out, "Now."
The Doctor was going red in the face and had a look of horror in his eyes, he was probably about 10 seconds from taking his last breath, and he now knew it, until Kix eventually took pity on him and intervened.
"What the Sergeant means is that there are no other patients at the moment, so you could treat him immediately."
The Doctor nodded. A'den took a deep breath, and the look left his face, it softened, slightly, and he released him. The Doctor looked between the two troopers, who were the same as far as he was concerned but he decided on the better part of valour and proceeded to treat the unconscious trooper.
The Doctor prepared the trooper for surgery, under the watchful eyes of the three troopers. As he followed the gurney out he heard:
"Now that didn't hurt, did it?"
He didn't reply.
The three troopers walked out of the Rimsoo, "I'll check on him later." Offered Kix.
A'den was silent all the way to the Mess tent, where they had picked up their trays of nutritionally correct food and sat down to eat. It was slightly better than field rations they produced themselves but only just. They sat quietly eating with not one word passing between them about what had happened until A'den said, "Thank You for intervening Kix, I have trouble with some Mongrels, who are not fit to lick a troopers boots, making decisions on whether they live or die. Where are all the clone medics?"
"We're losing them faster than they can be trained; we're a dying breed."
A'den huffed a reply.
Coric watched him closely, so this was Ryssa's husband in the field; he still thought about her, a lot, but Rex had honoured his requests for assignments that meant he would now rarely go back to Corrie. He just couldn't trust himself with her. They ate the rest of their meal in the silence, just as it began.
A'den knew that Coric was watching him and he seemed a good sort and against his better judgement, he liked the man but he needed to put him straight about Ryssa. He needed to have a conversation with him.
.
A'den attached himself to them and decided to bunk in with them. He had his pack, just like any other trooper although, when he unpacked it, they noticed it had slightly different items in it.
It would, him being a spook.
Even though the Medics had made him a vow based on the fact that they were brothers, they were now getting a wholly different insight into him, something the ordinary troopers rarely did. He mostly worked alone, with his fellow Nulls or RC's, this situation was unusual.
They had all just settled down as Hardcase, burst into the tent, flung off his pack and bucket, and flopped on the nearest bunk. Kix cleared his throat, Hardcase opened his eyes, saw the strange brother and shot up, stood to attention, saluting the newest Sergeant in the tent.
"Sir, Sorry Sir didn't see you."
"At ease trooper." the newest addition returned the salute and Hardcase heard a slightly different voice to his own reply and with a slightly different accent.
"Did you get your fill of rations, lad. You can't fight on an empty stomach." He was almost fatherly in the way he was looking after them.
"Not really Sir, not much left, they're waiting for a supply run to come in. Some problem with the Dugs, again."
"Here!" The Null had pulled out some small vacuum packed bars from his pack and threw one at the trooper, who picked it up gingerly.
"Fek it! man, it won't bite you, or blow up." He threw one to each of the men in the tent, who all looked at the small packs with interest.
"These aren't standard issue." Coric noted the obvious, turning it around in his fingers.
"No, someone makes 'em for me. I usually have them on the way back from missions. Beats that grey stuff, hands down."
Coric wondered if it was Ryssa that made them for him, he looked at the Null and raised his eyebrows. The null nodded to the unspoken question. They all ripped open their packages and bit into them; they savoured the contents. They were way better than ration packs, sweet, fruity, calorie laden. A treat on the battlefield.
"You can come again." Kix muttered in between bites.
Hardcase had finished his, lay on his bunk, arms behind his head and legs crossed at the ankles; "Hmmmm. I think I've died and gone to the Manda." He pushed the last few crumbs from the corners of his mouth, inside.
"Who makes them, I think I'd like to marry them?" He quipped.
"Too late. Already taken, Ner Vod." The Null grinned, and threw him another packet, he had obviously taken a shine to this trooper.
.
Kal was fuming, as he made his way to the Treatment Room; Fek it!, she was a nice enough girl but to have a baby in the middle of a war, what on earth were they, or rather she was thinking about. At least she had had the decency to be up front with A'den about it and he had sent all the details of this shabla implant she was supposed to have had to Kal.
He pushed the door open and it hit the wall. Four troopers turned in unison. He strode in.
"Scram!" he wasn't in the mood to mince words.
Ryssa turned to look at him; he wasn't the amenable fellow that he first appeared to be; he looked angry, really angry. She immediately knew that A'den had told him.
He was not happy.
"What the Fek, did you think you were doing?"
Ryssa opened her mouth but that was as far as it got. Kal's hand went up,
"No, don't bother."
He looked at her stomach, her hand was already on her stomach protectively; he cursed himself as he should have noticed this, the last time he saw her. She was obviously pregnant at that time.
She stood, somewhat defiantly, in front of him; she wasn't one of his boys but a grown woman, she was going to protect that baby. It was a good start, his anger was subsiding; she may well need all that protective instinct if anyone found out about a clone baby. Part of him smiled at the realisation that the Kaminoans had not foreseen this, or…and this brought his satisfaction down, more likely that they didn't care.
"Ryssa."
"Kal."
He had met her a few times but only in respect of how she affected his son; this was more serious.
He was going to be a Babuir. It had just hit him. He had been so engrossed in how this would affect A'den, that he had not even thought of how it affected him. The Nulls were effectively his sons, he had explained this to her already, so that made him this child's grandfather. Now his protective instincts kicked in.
"Sit down, Ad'ika."
She sat.
"How are you feeling? You look good. Have you seen a Doctor or droid?"
Ryssa opened her mouth to answer.
"Have you thought what to do when you're due?"
Ryssa opened her mouth again.
"I've got a place, it's a bit rough still but you'd both be safe there."
"Thanks for offering but I think I'll stay on Corrie and I've been examined by an obstetrics droid and by …Dr Cahu."
"The Chief Medical Officer?"
"Yes…. And I trust him. He's a Doctor first and I'm his patient, so patient confidentiality applies."
"And how much is that worth?"
"To me a lot. He was my tutor, when I was studying."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, and he knows a clone is the father but he doesn't know who. There's nothing in any regs to say he has to notify anyone. So it's just one of those unfortunate things that happens. The father has done a runner."
That part made a Kal alternately sad and angry; angry that anyone would think one of his son's would shirk their responsibilities and sad that he probably couldn't accept those responsibilities….yet.
"Kal…..we didn't plan this; something went wrong. Has A'den sent you the file? There was some mix up."
Kal pulled up the details; it looked like a mix up but it was entirely coincidental. He'd get Jaing to run some slicing programmes to get some information on Revane Pharmaceuticals.
"Don't you worry about that, you concentrate on keeping healthy and looking after this Ad'ika." He went to touch her stomach but looked at her first, she nodded. Pregnant women could be funny sometimes.
"Anything you need, you just com me, you hear? Anything, anytime."
He was getting used to the idea of being a Ba'buir. The first of many he hoped, but after the war ended, or his boys left.
"You've heard from A'den?" It was a stupid question, she knew. He always heard from them.
"Yes. He's fine."
She breathed a sigh of relief.