Two days later…
"You gotta be faster than that!" Esinon shouted as Sharkbait tried to swing for her head but missed. Esinon was quick even without the use of her speed because that was part of being an ARC. All kinds of fancy footwork. Sharkbait was not changing his strategy as he was shoved further along the mat, he kept trying to jab anywhere, shoulders, head, elbows, abdomen, but Esinon was too fast. The problem also was, he was using only his arms, which left his legs very vulnerable.
She blocked blow after blow which surprised the cadet, he was slightly larger than his brothers and was used to winning. Now he was getting beaten by a girl who had to crane her neck to look up at him, "You got more than two limbs, use them!" She swept underneath his feet sending him to the ground, she circled him before stopping in front of his head waiting for him to get back up. "I've seen commando droids with more creativity," she chided, Sharkbait got mad at that, he grabbed her foot and yanked hard. Esinon yelped as she was sent roughly to the ground, Sharkbait jumped to his feet pinning her arms above her head, "More than two!" she shouted and proceeded to knee him in the diaphragm. Sharkbait panted, significantly winded, Esinon wriggled out from underneath his grasp.
She grabbed the back of his armor and threw him halfway across the room, did she use a little bit of the force? Yes, yes she did, but good troopers adapted. She really did not want to see Sharkbait tap the mat, but he did, signaling he was done.
She could sense anger and frustration radiating off him, he was ticked that he lost again. Something told her he was used to winning spars like this. She sighed frustratedly before walking over and helping him back to his feet, "Alright, who's next?"
"Don't you want a break, sir?" Bean asked, she already sparred six of them without stopping,
"Nope, I got four more, I've got this," she said, rolling out her tense shoulders as Dogma stepped forward. Poor trooper looked scared half to death, "Your move," Dogma held up his fists, at first they circled each other, but Esinon knew this isn't how it worked in the field, you punch first or you get a broken nose and Dogma needed to learn that. She lunged for his waist, successfully bringing him to ground. He struggled for a moment, trying to get his elbow underneath her stomach but she held fast. She saw his hand going to tap the mat, "Don't give up," she whispered, "I believe in you Dogma." She felt the fire ignite in Dogma's mind, but she also felt his elbow dig into her ribs.
She grunted as he shoved her off of him, gaining the upper hand.
He shoved her shoulders while she was distracted by her aching side. She rolled away just as Dogma was about to pin her, and lunged for his side, he bent his body in an awkward position causing Esinon to miss.
She caught herself and flipped to her feet as Dogma got to his as well.
He took quick jabs at her shoulders and abdomen, and learned from Sharkbait's mistakes, landing a few kicks. He tried to send another kick to her side, but she caught his leg. "You didn't think you could get me that easy, did you?" Dogma had a look of 'oh kriff' cross his face as Esinon threw him across the room. What amazed her, even more, is that he got back up, "That's ARC trooper material!" she cheered, charging him again. She hit Dogma's cuff guards, fighting with enthusiasm.
The young Commander was lighting up like a firecracker, and Dogma was actually smiling. A real genuine smile, his entire squad was staring agape. They had never seen Dogma like this, he was more of a loner and liked to read reg manuals more than hanging out with his squad. They were both moving fast now, dancing across the mats,
"Holy kriff," Sharkbait murmured, as Esinon ducked under Dogma's arm and shoved him in the back.
She was getting fierce now, she leapt onto Dogma's back but somehow he anticipated that and purposefully fell to the ground, pinning her underneath his weight. Normally Esinon would have headbutted Dogma or something, but this wasn't a real battle, it was a spar, and she didn't feel like having to go to the medbay for a concussion or broken nose.
She tapped the mat, accepting defeat with a huge smile on her face, Dogma rolled off of her,
"I… I didn't hurt you, did I?" he asked tentatively,
"Are you kidding me?!" Esinon exclaimed, "Dude! That was awesome!" she jumped to her feet. She did a happy little dance, "That's what I'm talking about Dogma, that's the kind of adaptability I expect from ARC troopers." Dogma couldn't help but let his chest puff with pride, he was being complimented by the Commander Blur. He had heard stories about her, running faster than the speed of sound, leading her men into battle, and she was complimenting him. This kind of stuff only happened in his dreams! "Did everyone see that?" All of the cadets nodded, "Alright, who thinks they can top that?" Sharkbait stared at the young Commander as she began to engage in battle with Tup, and she was moving fast, if not faster than she had a few seconds ago. Say what you want about the Jedi, he had to give props to the strength and stamina it gave their members. This was her eighth spar in a row, and she wasn't showing signs of slowing.
A few days later…
When a new face shows up on Kamino, it rarely goes unnoticed. Especially when the majority of the faces are the same. And when a new bouncy Jedi showed up, word traveled fast, especially when she's being chased around by Commander Bear half the time because she has a nose for trouble.
Most cadets had seen the Commander wandering around the facility, flanked by a red-clad ARC trooper as she explored and asked about a billion questions. She often visited the younglings, ate meals with the men, showed off some of her lightsaber skills, and made things float to entertain the littles.
Everyone had quickly grown fond of the firecracker of a Commander, no matter if there had been an increase in the number of pranks that happened around the cloning facility.
This morning, Esinon was running a little late. She'd had a really strange nightmare about Echo, spooked her enough that when she finally did fall back asleep, she slept straight through her alarm.
Now she was trying to get to training as fast as possible before Bear came to yell at her. It didn't occur to her to use her speed and whenever she did try to use it, incredibly painful images of Echo dying flashed through her mind, so she was doing it the old fashioned way and moving as fast as a human could. And she knew the dreams of Echo weren't memories, she would have been able to tell. It was just her own worry about her brother being at the Citadel. He would be fine, he was strong and smart, he'd come back.
She skidded around another corner and knew she was getting close but was immediately caught off guard by a lone youngling who was looking worriedly around the hallway.
"Hey, are you lost?" she asked, quickly forgetting her mission of getting to training somewhat on time. The youngling looked up at her, his shaggy black hair falling into his eyes, he looked close to tears.
"I… I lost my squad," he said, "I don't know where they went, we were supposed to go back to our barracks for some rest."
"Hey, it'll be ok," she said, "How about you come with me and you can watch my squads train for a while, and I'll call your Sargent to let him know you're alright. How does that sound?" The youngling nodded, "Ok," she picked him up, placing him on her hip, "Alright, let's go see your big brothers." She brushed his hair out of his face and started walking towards the training room. "What's your name little one?"
"I'm Racer," he said,
"It's nice to meet you Racer, I'm Esinon, who's your Sargent?"
"Eight sir," he said, she quickly called his Sargent, letting Eight know that Racer was ok. She opened the door to her squads,
"We were about to call Commander Bear because Dogma was about to have a panic attack," Sharkbait said, motioning towards his brother.
"I was not," Dogma protested,
"I got a little sidetracked," she said, motioning the youngling in her arms. Racer was tucking his head into her shoulder, shying away from his older brothers. "It's ok," she whispered, "They don't bite," Racer finally peeked his head to look at the squads, "Everyone this is Racer, he's going to be sitting in on our training session." She set him down, holding his little hand. "Alright, get blasters and we're starting target practice." The squads grabbed blaster off the wall while Esinon had Racer help her set up plastoid balls around the room. They stepped off to the side, "Hitting a still target is easy," she said, "Unfortunately most things you encounter on the battlefield will not hold still for you to shoot it." She closed her eyes and stretched out her hand, making one of the plastoid balls float, "Hit the target or you might get hit,"
She flicked her finger sending a ball careening towards Anchor. Cosmo fired taking out the ball, "Fan out, you get hit, you're dead." The troopers obeyed as all the balls floated in the air, Esinon's fingers tingling in anticipation of where she would move the balls next.
She flicked her finger sending a ball towards Dogma who quickly shot the ball She twitched sending three balls flying around the room in a random pattern all of them began firing and continually missing. Normally she would have attempted to coach them through this, but it was taking all of her concentration to keep her dream of Echo at bay and keep all the balls in the air.
She flicked her fingers and sent the balls forward in rapid succession taking out Sharkbait, Push, and Rainstorm. She lifted up four more balls sending the balls flying around the room, Anchor took out one, Zoom took out another but Esinon moved the next two balls faster and faster.
She sent them into Tup and Dogma. She flicked her fingers sending three more balls into the air, she attempted to take out Bean, but the cadet dove out of the way, rolling to his knee and firing taking out the plastoid ball. Two balls were left in the air, and she took out Zoom and Anchor leaving Fidget and Bean. Esinon flung the few balls left towards the cadets who were now standing back to back.
She brought all the remaining balls into the air, Fidget took out two and Bean took out another. She sent all the balls flying in at once and took the remaining cadets out. She stumbled out of her meditative trance, blinking a couple times. Racer tugged on her hand,
"Are you ok sir?" he asked,
"Yes Racer I'm ok," she said, ruffling the shaggy youngling's hair. "That was good everyone, we've got some work to do though. Sharkbait, Anchor set up the targets and we'll get to work." The two cadets nodded, and set to work, she motioned for Racer to stay on the sidelines while she grabbed a blaster off the wall and inspected it. "Alright, shooting something isn't about how many rounds you can fire, it's about how you can conserve. Sometimes during a siege, you won't get to resupply for days at a time and the only ammo you have is the ammo in your blaster. Conservation is key. Firing a blaster can be a lot like meditation, clear your mind of all other things." She took her mark, and closed her eyes and fired, hitting dead center.
"Whoa!" Racer cried, Esinon opened her eyes grinning,
"Bullseye," She blew the smoke of the barrel.
"How did you do that?" Bean exclaimed,
"She's a Jedi," Rainstorm said,
"No, it's because I can concentrate, if you quiet your mind, you'll be able to hit pretty much anything." She said, turning around and firing and hitting the target without looking. "Your guys' turn." She stepped out of the way and let the cadets take their mark, she turned up to a scoreboard. She typed a few things into her gauntlet, and all of their names appeared. "We'll move in rounds with the lowest scoring marksman being eliminated after each round. You'll fire ten shots, we'll stop at the top three scorers. Remember you can do anything if you quiet your mind and concentrate." She waved Racer over to her, "Go!" she shouted, they all fired with Bean taking the lead.
After the first round, Zoom was eliminated, with Bean in the lead and Cosmo hanging on by a thread. The rounds passed in quick succession, Bean, Fidget, and Sharkbait all grappling for the top spot. Push panicked after the first few shots and was quickly eliminated. She was already trying to think of a way that she could get some time for one on one training with each of the men.
She thought she could set up a group activity to busy the others and then pull them aside one by one to work on their shortcomings. By the end of the competition, Bean was in first place, Fidget in second and Sharkbait in third, and by that time Sargent Eight had come to collect Racer, the shy little youngling had opened up and was rambling to his Sargent about all the things he'd seen a Jedi and his older brothers do.
A few hours later…
"Dogma, what are you doing?" Esinon asked, Dogma jumped at the sudden appearance of his superior officer. He stood up and saluted her,
"Sir,"
"Sit down Dogma," she said, picking up the datapad he had abandoned on his trip to his feet. BLS on the field for 100 different species. "Haven't you already read this one?"
"Always good to brush up," he said, she glanced over to where the rest of his squad was engaged in a board game.
"What about your squad?" she asked,
"I need to study," he said,
"Everyone needs to have fun sometimes," she said, clipping his datapad to her belt. "Have you ever played sabacc?" she asked, calling a deck of cards to her hand. She sat down on the floor starting to sort out the cards.
"No sir," Dogma replied,
"I'll teach you, sit," she beckoned him to join her on the floor, and he did so tentatively. He was still unused to his officer's casual nature, Commander Callum was never like this. He was strict, yelled a lot, but it was in their best interest. After a few minutes of practice rounds and Esinon explaining the rules of the game, they got to actually playing. Esinon glanced up at Dogma's squad, she still couldn't figure out why he was so distant from his squad. "Dogma?"
"Yes sir?" he asked, laying another card down.
"If you don't mind me asking, and you don't have to answer this question, but why are you so distant from your squad?" she asked, Dogma was a little lost on the first part, she was giving him a choice? Shouldn't that be an order? Why would she give him a choice? "Dogma?"
"I-uh… I don't have time to 'hang out'. I've got work to do and manuals to study, I want to make sure I actually make it out to the front lines." She smiled softly, glancing down at an insignia on her gauntlet. It was one of a fox,
"When I was twelve, I was sent out on one of my first missions with the 212th." Dogma looked up from his cards at the sudden change of subject but decided not to interrupt her. "I was so excited, and I was ready to prove myself to my Master. I can't for the life of me remember what planet or moon we were on, but it was grassy, full of mountains. We had to move all the heavy machinery single file up the mountainside. With luck, we didn't get ambushed until we split up, this time I was away from Master Kenobi. I was at the front trying to protect my men when a rocket hit on my position. I went flying and the world went dark. When I came to, there was this big soldier above me and my shoulder was throbbing. Figured out I had a good portion of that rocket lodged in my shoulder, along with a shattered collarbone. I survived, don't worry," she joked, noticing his concerned look. Dogma smiled a little bit. "I later found out that that was the Captain of Python Company, Gregor. I passed out shortly after that, and I woke up in the medical bay with a very upset Captain standing over me. Gregor didn't bother to introduce himself, instead, he told me if I ever did something like that again, the Separatists would be the least of my problems. After that, Gregor followed me around to make sure that I was staying safe. He taught me so much about what it means to be a Commander, how to lead, and how to be a good person. He and Foxtrot gave me a kind of comradery that I had never experienced before. It was more than friendship, it was a brotherhood." She smiled up at Dogma, "It's one of the things that I've always envied of the clones. I remember when Captain Keeli came before Ryloth and I was helping to unload supplies. Well, correction, I was following behind Gregor and 'supervising'. Keeli and Gregor were talking like they had known each other all their lives, later when I asked Gregor how long he knew Keeli for, and he said that was the first time they had met each other. There isn't anything like that in the Jedi order," she looked up at him and could read that he was wondering if there was a point to those stories. "I guess what I'm trying to say is you're not alone. Why go in alone when you've got your brothers by your side." Her comlink buzzed, "it's Bear, I've gotta go. See you at dinner."
He watched her walk away and glanced at his squad. The way she talked about Gregor, it was the way one talked about an old friend that they couldn't see anymore. Someone who had died, Dogma kept staring at his squad. When, not if, they graduated from their training, he and his squad wouldn't have the promise of tomorrow. They could be gone before he could blink an eye, he knew his Commander was right.
"Hey Tup," Dogma said, turning to his brothers,
"Yeah Dogma?" Tup asked,
"Mind if I join you?" he asked,
"Thought you'd never ask,"
A few days later…
"So can I use the force or not?" Esinon asked as she stretched, Bear was busy doing the same. Their squads had been sent off on a group training exercise a few training rooms down, so the ARCs had taken the opportunity to use the training room to have a real spar. "I always give the troopers a choice."
"Use whatever you got. I want a challenge," Bear said with a grin, jumping to his feet. His armor was in a pile in the corner, along with Esinon's armor.
"Well you asked for it," she said, jumping up and down a few times to psyche herself up. They took their ready stances, Esinon gracefully dodged each of Bear's blows from his fists, but it was only a distraction, he swept her feet out from under her. She quickly flipped away as Bear tried to pin her to the floor, they danced across the mats at incredible speed. Bear tried to send a punch into her face but Esinon mustered up her concentration and phased straight through his fist. He stumbled forward surprised that he was about to make contact with her body but fell through.
Esinon jumped onto his back, putting him a chokehold, wrapping her legs around his waist tightly. Bear managed to grab onto her arm and threw her over him, he pinned one arm to the floor with his foot but she phased right out of his hold. She used her speed to send a barrage of punches into Bear's body, moving too fast for him to even see her. As soon as she slowed down enough, he socked her in the stomach sending her stumbling backward.
He took the chance of her being distracted and sent a barrage of blows her way. She quickly recovered and just as he was about to make contact with her head, she did a backbend avoiding his careening fist. She had too much momentum to stop, so she decided to use it to her advantage. She fell onto her hands, kicking Bear in the face and doing three back handsprings before landing gracefully on her feet. "You wanted a challenge right?" Bear grinned, lunging forwards, and using his brute strength to bring her to the floor. She clawed at his face, "Get off of me!" she growled,
"That's not how this works!" he snapped, pinning her arms to the ground. She phased from underneath his grasp and used her speed to get onto this back and put him in a chokehold. After a few minutes of wriggling in her tight grasp, he accepted his defeat and tapped the mat. Esinon rolled off of him with a smile on her face, both of them panting heavily. They both laid sprawled out on the training mats. "Commander, if you don't mind me asking, why did you become an ARC trooper? I can speak from experience, training sucks."
"Yeah, there were so many days I wanted to skip training because Fives and Echo made it ten times harder because of all my abilities. I've honed my phasing like that because of them. Then I remember why I was doing it… can you not tell anyone the reason why? It's really personal and frankly was traumatic for me."
"Of course Commander," Bear said,
"The battle of Sarrish was a losing battle from the moment my gunship left the hangar. I was tasked on special assignment with Foxtrot group, minus Gregor. My gunship crashed, and me and my group of four men were captured. I wasn't strong enough to save them," she murmured, "After that, I promised that I would never let another man that I could save die under my watch. I knew I needed to be stronger, and becoming an ARC trooper seemed to be a viable option. It's helped me understand my men better, train them, and have a deeper connection to my brothers."
"Brothers?" he asked, he thought that Jedi weren't allowed to know their birth families.
"Aliit ori'shya tal' din, right?" she asked,
"Yeah, aliit ori'shya tal'din."
The next day…
Esinon had set up a training course on half of the training room, which was keeping Delta and Theta minus Anchor, busy.. She'd managed to figure out how to do one on one training.
"Alright Anchor, so what you've got going for you is you're a tad bit bigger than your brothers. So throw your weight around, don't be afraid to overpower an opponent." She explained, "You're also smart, so use it. Droids can't think for themselves, you can. Show me what you got," she said, holding up her fists. He took a couple of jabs at her forearms as she blocked and was being shoved further along the mats. She kicked him in the stomach sending him stumbling backward. She lunged, bringing Anchor to the ground. "You're bigger than me," She grunted, shoving her knees into his thighs and pinning his arms to the floor. He took the hint and used his brute force to shove her off of him and pin her to the floor. She wiggled enough to get her legs free, and grabbed his head between them. She gained enough momentum to flip him over her, and she sprang to her feet waiting for Anchor to stand back up.
He quickly got to his feet, throwing hard punches towards her face, she held up her forearms in an x trying to block his savage punches. E-EC-ECHO! She froze up at the scream and Anchor threw a punch sending her flying across the room. She quickly jumped to her feet as Anchor charged her, she sent a punch into his abdomen, sparring with new-found vigor. ECHO!- Esinon froze again, suddenly it was very hard to breathe. Her mind wasn't warping into the memory as it should have, instead, it was like broken fragments were digging their way into her brain. Anchor came flying towards her, socking her in the stomach. She stumbled back a bit but couldn't move, she gasped for air clutching her head, her knees buckled and she fell to the floor. fire and explosions raged around her-Now's our chance!- a shield-a ship- Echo running towards the danger. She could hear someone yelling, Echo look out!- ECHO!- We have to go now- how am I supposed to tell Esinon? The spinning training room went dark.
"Commander?" Anchor sprinted towards Esinon's still form on the floor. "Commander!" Bean whipped around,
"Anchor what's wrong-" he gasped at his Commander's still form.
"I don't know," Anchor said, checking her neck for a pulse and found one, "She just collapsed,"
"Call Commander Bear," Sharkbait commanded, Cosmo nodded and ran over to the transmitter to call the Commander.
"There's no time," Anchor decided, picking Esinon up. "We'll take her to the medbay ourselves."
"What if it's not safe to move her?" Push argued,
"We can't just stand around and wait," Zoom snapped,
"We've gotta make a decision guys," Bean said, starting to panic.
"What happened?" Bear demanded, skidding into the training room.
"We don't know sir," Anchor said, "I was sparring her, she was gripping her head like it hurt,"
"Did you hit her head?" Bear asked, taking Esinon from his arms,
"No sir, she just collapsed on us," Bear swore under his breath,
"All of you, stay here." He commanded and left the training room with the unconscious sixteen-year-old in his arms.
A few minutes later…
Esinon groaned as the throbbing in her head increased as she came too. She flinched as cold fingers prodded her,
"She's awake," A sickeningly sweet voice said, Esinon blinked a couple times as a long-necked Kaminoan came into focus. "I will be right back," the Kaminoan doctor said and strode away. Esinon couldn't really remember what happened, she scrunched her eyes shut. Instead of asking for pain relief, she exhausted herself by using the force to dull the thudding in her head. She sighed, she felt someone tap her cheek,
"Hey, no sleepin' if your head hurts," she blinked her eyes open to see Bear standing over her. "Head trauma's nasty,"
"I didn't even hit my head," she mumbled, rubbing her temples. "Least I don't think,"
"Your symptoms say otherwise," Bear grumbled, she closed her eyes again, "Ey, I said no sleeping," He shook her shoulder, forcing her to open her eyes.
"What happened?" she asked,
"Anchor says you collapsed on him during training, you wanna explain what that's about?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He reminded her of Gregor whenever she worried him. His whole mannerism reminded her of Gregor, her mind shifted to Echo and the daggers that had slashed through her mind when she had collapsed.
"I…" The Kaminoan doctor returned, towering over Bear.
"I believe I have the answer to why you collapsed," she said softly, "We talked to your squads, CT-8908 said that you collapsed during a sparing session. You were most likely dehydrated."
"I wasn't- I'm not dehydrated. I took care of myself before we started sparing. I'm not stupid," Esinon said,
"It is the only plausible explanation,"
"It's not that… it's something else," she mumbled, thinking off what had cut through her mind before she passed out. She'd seen Echo die, in a fiery explosion, she wanted to cry. She wanted to yell, she wanted to scream, she wanted to throw everyone into a wall with the flick of her finger because she knew she could do it. She knew she had that power, but she contained herself.
"Then what is it? We can't help if you don't tell us," Bear argued, getting increasingly frustrated with the young Commander before him.
"Perhaps a Jedi will better understand, General Eerin has just returned," the doctor said, turning to Bear. "I shall go fetch her." Eerin, where had Esinon heard that name before? The Doctor strode away,
"Is this one of those force things that I won't understand?" Bear asked, Esinon nodded, "I'm gonna go find some painkillers for your head. No sleeping." She gave him a two-fingered salute as the red-clad ARC trooper disappeared. A few minutes later he returned with the pills and before he could offer her water she'd already knocked them back dry. "At least drink this," she rolled her eyes, already starting to drink the water when a female Mon Calamari came around the corner pulling on latex gloves made for her webbed hands.
"Alright, what do we got?" Bear stepped out of her way as she stepped towards Esinon. "My name's Bant Eerin, follow my finger please," Esinon obeyed,
"I feel like I've heard of you before," she muttered,
"You're Kenobi's padawan right?" she asked, flashing a light in her eyes, and moving on to test her reflexes. "Esinon,"
"Yes," Esinon replied slowly,
"It's wonderful to meet you, Obi-Wan speaks very highly of you. Say 'ahh'," Bant used a wooden to hold Esinon's tongue in place while she checked the inside of the padawan's mouth. Why that had anything to do with her headache, she didn't know.
"He's mentioned you a few times," Esinon said, as soon as the stick was out of her mouth.
"You're his little spitfire, but you seem to get into less trouble than Anakin so things are looking up," she said, Esinon chuckled,
"Master Skywalker has a padawan of his own now,"
"That's what I've heard," Bant said, grabbing a datapad, "Commander, if you could leave us for a moment." The ARC nodded and reluctantly stepped out. Bant drew the curtain, "Physically, you've only got a concussion. It's beyond me how you got it because you didn't hit your head, but I could sense the imbalance in your mind the moment I stepped in here. This is force related, so please explain exactly what happened."
"I have a rare extension of sense-" she cut herself off, Echo. She couldn't bring herself to say it. "Psychometry. I can see people's memories instead of objects, and I don't have to be touching them, they just kind of come," Bant nodded, scribbling a few things on the pad before motioning for her to continue. "Something was off with my powers today. It was like I was seeing three different people's memories at once, and they weren't complete memories, they were only flashes."
"I have never heard of this extension," Bant murmured,
"Master Vos and Yoda were the ones who helped me hone my skills, they might have some answers."
"Well it has been forever since I've spoken with Quinlin, might as well. I want to keep you here for observation overnight in case anything happens where your powers surge again." Esinon knew she needed to see Qui-Gon as soon as possible. Normally she would have fought spending the night in the medbay where she struggled to get comfortable because of the antiseptics, but she was in a comfortable bed and the sooner she got to sleep the better. Esinon nodded, "Press the button if you need more painkillers, but I think a certain ARC is going to be hovering." She motioned to Bear's shadow on the other side of the curtain, "I'll task Bear with waking you up every couple hours until it's safe to sleep. Get some rest,"
"Thank you Master Eerin," Bant nodded and opened the curtain, she quickly explained to Bear what he needed to do before departing.
"Do my squads know I'm ok?" Esinon asked, as soon as Bear stepped in. He nodded,
"As far as they know, you were dehydrated and will be ok." He said, sitting down in a chair.
"But I'm not dehydrated," she said,
"They won't understand whatever force thing is wrong with you. I'm assuming that General Eerin is going to fix it," Esinon stared at Bear for a moment.
"I… this hits close to home for you, doesn't it?" she asked, motioning around the room and then to herself. Bear spoke after a long moment,
"Yeah, how about I explain after you get some rest," he said, Esinon snuggled under the blankets,
"Or you could tell me now," she replied,
"Sleep, now. I'll wake you in a few hours," he said, flicking off the lights in her portion of the medbay. Esinon sighed and closed her eyes.
She woke up standing in a desert next to Qui-Gon, with Jar Jar in front of her, and R2 close on their tails.
"All your memories are out of order," she grumbled,
"Hello to you to my little runner," he said, "We're headed into that settlement," he pointed to a city in the distance, "Put this on," he tossed her a poncho which she pulled over her head. No one could see her, but it was hot and sandy out here, so she was thankful for the cover.
"The sun does murder to meesa skin," Jar Jar complained, it was hot here,
"Qui-Gon, where are we?" Esinon asked, scanning the dunes,
"Welcome to Tatooine,"
"Wait!" a man called, a Naboo captain came out with a handmaiden with him. It was Senator Amidala! If Esinon was correct she should be queen right now…. Unless she was only posing as a handmaid. She decided not to bring it up to Qui-Gon because he would probably figure that out later. "Her Highness commands you to take her handmaiden with her."
"No more commands from Her Highness today, Captain," Qui-Gon said, there was the maverick that Esinon knew. "The spaceport will be unpleasant," If anything she had read about Tatooine was true, she was glad no one but Qui-Gon could see her.
"The queen wishes it," the Captain argued, Esinon smirked, this was going to be fun. "She's curious about the planet." Qui-Gon sighed,
"This is not a good idea," he said, "Stick close to me. Same for you little runner,"
"No one can see me Qui-Gon," she said,
"For my own peace of mind," he grumbled, ushering her along as they headed towards the city. They had also figured out that no one could hear anything that they said to each other, for the sake of keeping the memory intact. After twenty minutes of walking through the dunes, they reached the edge of the spaceport. She gaped in awe of the sheer number of species that populated the port, speeders cruised through, along with people on dewbacks and banthas. There were bounty hunters, and merchants all chattering and negotiating prices and yelling to try and get more customers.
"Moisture farmers for the most part," Qui-Gon explained, "Some indigenous tribes and scavengers. The few spaceports like this one are havens for those that don't wish to be found." Esinon nodded, it would be easy to get lost in here.
"Like us," Padme said,
"Dissen berry berry bad," Jar Jar said, he promptly stepped in bantha poop. "AHH! Icky, icky, goo!" at least Esinon knew he was still the same Gungan she knew.
"So where exactly are we going?" Esinon asked as they continued through the bustling port.
"We need a new hyperdrive generator," he said, "Among other things," he scanned the row of shops. "We'll try one of the smaller dealers." They entered the small run-down shop. Parts and broken droids were everywhere, it was more of a pigsty here than in Anakin's room. There was an overweight blue Toydarian sitting behind the counter and he perked up as soon as the bell rang signaling a customer's arrival. He flew over the counter speaking to them in Huttese. The only way she recognized the language was because Anakin spoke it, along with some of the men in the 501st.
"I need parts for a J-type 327 Nubian," Qui-Gon explained, Esinon attempted to wander off into the shop to have a look around, but Qui-Gon grabbed her shoulder and shook his head.
"Ah yes! A Nubian!" the Toydarian exclaimed, now speaking in basic. "We have lots of that," he yelled in Huttese again,
"My droid has a readout of what I need," Qui-Gon said, motioning to what would soon be Anakin's astromech. R2-D2. A small blond-haired boy came running into the room, it was Anakin Skywalker. The hero with no fear! It would never not be weird to see younger versions of Anakin and Obi-Wan. She was thankful that only Qui-Gon would see her because it certainly would be a weird conversation if Anakin and Obi-Wan started having memories of her from before she was born. The toydarian snapped at Anakin in Huttese again, and Anakin quickly responded in Huttese in what she thought was an apology. She was wondering what Anakin was doing all the way out here, she knew this was his home planet but why was he working here when he didn't look to be older than nine.
"So… let me take you out back, huh? We'll find what you need," The Toydarian said, Qui-Gon nodded and motioned for her to follow. Qui-Gon yanked a part out of Jar Jar's hands,
"Don't touch anything," he snapped, placing the part back on the shelf.
"He's a representative now," Esinon said, giggling, Qui-Gon sighed.
"May the force bless our government," he mumbled, following the Toydarian outside.
"I'm going to go look over here," the Toydarian said, "Feel free to look around, but no stealing!" Qui-Gon nodded before setting off in the opposite direction.
"Is there a specific reason you are here? Or is this just a time you are asleep?" he asked,
"I… my powers weren't working right. I passed out," she said,
"Are you still unconscious?" Qui-Gon asked, inspecting a shilo pin.
"No, I woke up after a few minutes of being out. It was horrible, it felt like there were daggers in my skull," she said with a shudder,
"Did you see flashes or a whole memory?" he asked,
"Flashes, it was like I was seeing a whole bunch of people's memories at once." She replied, watching a pair of nunas skitter across the ground.
"Then the memories were probably folding in on one another. When people are in enough distress they unknowingly send memories to you. A lot of people must have been in distress." Her stomach churned,
"Master… I… I saw Echo die. In an explosion," it hadn't hit her until she said it right then. Her heart clenched as she felt tears come to her eyes, she was never going to see Echo again. "I saw how he died too. He grabbed a shield, barely big enough to cover his whole body! Why would he do something so stupid!" she shouted, grabbing the nearest part and throwing it into the wall causing the entire thing to break. "I would expect Fives to do something idiotic like that! Echo's the smart one! He looks before he leaps!" She shuddered finally recognizing the tears streaming down her face, "He's not supposed to be gone," Qui-Gon wrapped her in a hug, "I can't even get back to Fives," she whispered, letting the tears stream freely down her face.
"I know," Qui-Gon said,
"It wasn't supposed to happen like that," she muttered, Qui-Gon didn't say anything, "I want him back,"
"He'll always be with you," Qui-Gon replied, there is no death, there is the force, there is no death, there is the force, there is no death, there is the force. But it hurt so bad. It felt like a piece of her chest had been ripped out. I just want my brother back.
"Anchor, it wasn't your fault," Bean insisted, sitting on his bed and trying to get Anchor's attention.
"You don't know that," he snapped,
"Commander Bear said she was dehydrated. That's all, she just got over-enthusiastic."
"She would have said something if she wasn't feeling right, she's not stupid," Anchor argued,
"Maybe she doesn't know how to recognize the symptoms yet," Dogma said, "She may not have known she was dehydrated until then. Don't feel bad, she's gonna be alright,"
"But what if it happens again?" Tup asked tentatively,
"Then we just handle it the same way," Sharkbait finally interjected, "We call Commander Bear, let him know what's going on, and next time, which there won't be one, we'll take her to the medbay ourselves since we know it's safe to move her. Now let's talk about something else,"
"She's nice," Dogma said after a long beat of silence, "She yells a lot less than Commander Callum."
"It's…. almost strange being trained by a Jedi than a brother." Tup added, "The Jedi just seem so distant." They all nodded in agreement. Sure Shaak Ti was around, but she didn't train them, she just oversaw their training.
"She's strong too," Push said, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, "We've all got the sore muscles to prove it." this earned a chuckle from his brothers,
"I want to see her use her speed," Sharkbait said, getting an excited glimmer in his eyes, "And not just the faster than the average life form, like whole Commander Blur, run around a planet in four seconds kind of speed."
"That would be epic," Fidget agreed,
"Do you think they'd let us in to see Commander Windcaster? The Kaminoans I mean," Anchor said,
"I doubt it," Rainstorm replied, "They hate us, calling us by our numbers. Besides, I think Commander Bear is with her,"
"You don't think he's mad at us, do you?" Bean asked,
"No, he's just worried." Zoom assured, "Commander Bear would have come to yell at us by now if he was really mad."
"I guess you're right," Bean murmured,
"Lights out!" their Sargent yelled, and the room went dark. Anchor sighed, pressing the button to his pod, it sliding into the wall. Tomorrow everything would go back to normal, the Commander would be her usual bouncy self and everything would be ok.
Phantom *clap* menace *clap* is *clap* underrated.
Shoutout to eagle eyes98 for helping me come with some ideas for how Esinon would train troopers!
Qui-Gon and Esinon's relationship is really fun to write!
I'm also feeling proud of the fight scenes I wrote. Fight scenes are not my forte.
Next up on let's make this canon corner: Qui-Gon cared a whole ton about all life, while Obi-Wan kept calling all them pathetic lifeforms. Like they would be on a mission, and Qui-Gon would find and injured rodent and start carrrying it until he could find time to care for it. Sometimes along the way he would make Obi-Wan carry it, and say 'Children love small fluffy animals, you two will get along fine.' and Obi-Wan would look at it and say, 'Master. It has spines'
Thank you for reading and make sure to leave a review!