A/N: Hey there! Whew! Last chapter of part one! :D Let's start again, it's chapter ten!

Music for this one is "Running in Dreams" by Chris Davey (extended version)

"Slap some bacon on a biscuit and let's go! We're burnin' daylight!"

~ John Wayne

Chapter 10: Ryloth Victory

"Hey, Deck?"

Keelo stuffed the storage unit he'd been hauling more securely against the pile of neatly stacked containers. He slapped his gloved hand against its cover in a gesture of finality and relief. Everything was packed up, and half the supplies were loaded on gunships along with half the men, and they were ready to send the ships back to the Negotiator.

He felt the gaze of his fellow trooper resting in his direction, and so he turned.

"What happens if they don't find Spinner?"

"They will," said Deck. His voice was steady as always, and his helmeted head gave no indication by any motion of what lay underneath. Keelo stared back.

"I mean, what if they don't find him alive?"

"He will be."

"And if he's not?"

"Then he's not."

Keelo huffed. "We still don't know about Whisper and Chad. The Sarge either for that matter."

Deck ducked his head briefly and pulled his helmet off. His eyes were downcast, but thoughtful. He almost smiled.

"Don't worry, Keelo," he said. "Spinner isn't going to let Tambor get the best of him."

Keelo huffed and dropped a language word befitting his views of the Skakoan. Deck raised an eyebrow.

"Let's go," he said. "We're all heading back to the Negotiator. We can check on the guys when we get up there."

Keelo grinned at that. "I'm going to pound that Whisper," he chuckled.

Deck smiled, too. "Not too much. Wait 'til he's better at least."

"Deal."

"General, do you really think this is such a good idea?"

"Commander, I wish you would stop saying that."

"But sir, with General Windu already planning an attack on the city, plus with what the guys just radioed in...I think this is one of your...less brilliant ideas."

Obi-Wan pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Commander, if I may, you were the one who decided we needed to rescue Spinner!"

"And weren't you the one who decided to meditate instead of sleeping? And for force's sake, keep both hands on the speeder controls! You're going to get us killed."

"I never wanted to be the one driving all the way to Lessu!" Obi-Wan shouted back over the rushing of the wind.

"I hardly think, General Kenobi, that you'd want me driving! I've got some stims for when we arrive, but I'm certainly not going to waste them on driving time when you are perfectly capable of doing so!"

"Cody! Do you hear yourself?"

"Not very well, sir! The engine is too loud, and the wind is getting in through my helmet comms!"

"I mean, you sound like a...never mind. Stop complaining and let me drive!"

Obi-Wan turned his head back to face fully forwards once again and resisted the urge to scrub his aching forehead again in favor of maintaining control over the speeder bike. He felt Cody shift behind him, and perhaps it was just the wind, but he thought he heard a disgruntled sigh and a muttered "Just don't get us hit by one of those Separatist bombs..."

He sighed in turn.

Commander Ponds had radioed him only a short while ago in response to Obi-Wan's previous communication requesting information on where General Windu's forces were heading. Ponds had told him of General Windu locating the Twi'lek freedom fighter, Cham Syndulla, and how the forces had been split with Ponds leading the majority of the men to relieve the surrounding villages of Lessu while General Windu and a few troopers had joined Syndulla's force of rebels in order to take the capital. But then he'd told of the bombs.

"We had no idea where they came from, sir," Ponds had said, and Obi-Wan had heard the distinct sigh in his voice.

Kenobi glanced to the side where Splint and Kurt rode on another speeder, but this one had a stretcher extension attached. Splint was sitting behind the ARC trooper, one hand gripping the side of the speeder, and the other clutching one strap on his medic's pack. Obi-Wan could sense the trooper's controlled impatience, and...hope? Yes, hope. They were on their way to retrieve his squadmate, after all.

But the ARC trooper...Obi-Wan new the man had some secret. It felt vaguely familiar in part to what he sometimes experienced from his former padawan. Except Anakin's connection to him in the force was much more potent than anything he could detect from Kurt. And usually there was more. But right now in the clone trooper, there was nothing but focus. Solid focus on a single goal. Nothing else. No thought of what might come, no attention on previous events. Nothing.

Behind him, Cody sighed again. "I hope you know what you're doing, sir."

Before Obi-Wan could respond, his commlink gave a series of blips! and bleeps! It was Commander Ponds.

"I hope you know what you're doing, sir. We've just heard from General Skywalker. There's a squadron of bombers heading towards the capital."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that Anakin's making himself useful!" Obi-Wan called back through the commlink. "Thank you for letting us know."

This time Cody did not sigh, and Obi-Wan grimaced before pressing even further on the acceleration pad. He gripped the handlebars tighter and squinted his eyes behind his goggles at the blurring rocks whizzing past and the streak of ground ahead. A bead of sweat formed on his forehead even through the whipping wind.

"May the force be with me," he muttered.

Cody laughed.

Keelo watched Clip climb into a transport with Cross. The gunship was crowded with troopers and storage containers. Late was with them, perched on top of one of the supply crates. And Keelo had no mind to hurry after him to the infirmary once he reached the Negotiator with Deck. He knew Late, and he knew the trooper would want to see Whisper as soon as possible. It was better not to crowd.

So Keelo waited with Deck, and watched other troopers instead load up and get sealed in behind the gunship doors.

With their strange whiirruummshrruummrrrr, the gunships took off.

The campsite was so quiet now, not for any lack of noise as much as the lack of people in it. There were still several groups of troopers milling about, and several stacks of storage containers all waiting for their turn to be transported back to the ship. It would be a couple hours before Keelo and Deck returned to the Negotiator.

"Bored yet?" Deck asked. Keelo huffed and stuffed his thumbs into either side of his belt.

"Nope," he muttered, and rocked on his heels.

Deck sighed and sank down to sit on one of the convenient and ever-present stones. There were a lot of them on Ryloth.

"Hey, boys!"

Deck looked up, and Keelo spun about, almost losing his balance.

Waxer was waving at them as he made his way across the campsite towards them, a few objects clasped in one of his hands.

Deck stood, but Waxer passed by him and plopped himself down on the ground near the stone where Deck had been. He sat cross-legged and placed the objects on the ground in front of him.

Keelo was curious and crouched down near the trooper. Deck sat down again.

"Want to join me in a bit of painting?" Waxer asked, his warm brown eyes meeting theirs in turn.

Keelo grinned. "Sure! It'd be boring otherwise."

Deck glanced his way and smirked. "Why not?" he said.

Waxer passed them each a brush and lined up some small cans of paint. He pointed to the largest one.

"This one is standard 212th gold for your armor if you boys want to stick a bit of something on that boring old white."

"But what are you painting?" Keelo asked, and paused in his selection of paint brush when a long shadow fell across their small group.

"I know what he's painting," Boil's gruff voice cut in. But when Keelo looked up, the trooper was smiling. "Numa, Waxer?"

Waxer grinned, his eyes intent on his work and the small picture that was beginning to take shape in the upper right corner of his helmet's face.

"Yup!"

Boil sank down and fell back with a small grunt to sit alongside Deck. He stretched out his legs, giving Keelo a small kick as indication for him to move over. Keelo frowned, but did so, giving the trooper room to stretch.

"What's the matter, sir? Rheumatism?"

Boil kicked him again, and this time Keelo gave a small yell of frustration. "Gee, sir! Look what you did to my vambrace!"

Boil raised his eyebrows and leaned over to look, the most uncaring of expressions possible in the face of man written across his features.

"Hm," he said. "What is it?"

Keelo groaned and then looked again at the random squiggly streak of yellow paint that had been brutally swiped over his vambrace from Boil's jostling him so rudely. The mark actually wasn't too bad. Keelo stared a minute longer. Then,

"You know, I actually don't mind it. Hey, it looks pretty neat! Deck, look what Boil did!"

Deck looked up from his own work and grinned. Boil frowned.

"I'm sorry you like it," he huffed.

Keelo looked proudly at the strange yellow squiggle line, and then carefully traced one mirroring the mark on his other vambrace.

"What else should I paint?" he asked.

Waxer looked up at that, whether from a desire to respond to the question, or from some strange sense of foreboding informing him of Boil's boot slowly inching towards his elbow, Keelo wasn't sure.

"Boil, if you ruin this, I swear I will shave off that mustache with Cross's laser scalpel."

Apparently, Boil decided it was safer to take a nap.

The three other troopers painted on in silence for a while. Keelo decided he liked squiggles and completed some rather elaborate designs from his vambraces all the way up to his shoulder pads. He added some splotches on each of his supply packs, and mirrored the first paint designs down the upper part of his boots.

He placed his brush back in the can of gold paint and leaned over to see what Deck was putting on his armor.

Deck had neatly painted both his knee and elbow pads solid yellow. Every other fold in the flexible stomach cushion was painted in solid yellow as well, and he had two thin stripes running horizontally down his shoulder pads. On his helmet, there was a yellow star, positioned right about where Sergeant Onno had his star tattoo.

Keelo grinned. "Nice design," he said.

Waxer had nearly finished his project, which Keelo noticed when he scootched over to see.

"Nice."

"Hm," said Waxer, frowning thoughtfully at the small face he'd painted. "It's not quite finished, though. Her eyes look weird."

Keelo laughed. "Well, yes, sir. They do!"

Waxer shot him a look.

"Waywaywait!" Keelo hurried on. "Do you have any white paint?"

Waxer pointed to a small can nearby.

Keelo grabbed at his brush, swiped the excess paint off the bristles, and dipped it carefully into the can. He yelped as a hand suddenly grabbed his wrist. Boil's voice was in his ear.

"Gimme that, trooper, you're going to ruin it!"

Boil snatched the helmet out of Waxer's lap and stared intently at the design on its face. He carefully dabbed with the paint brush, then held the bucket back with a grin of satisfaction.

"How's that, Waxer?" He rotated the helmet for the others to see.

Waxer looked at the picture and grinned in turn. "Fantastic."

He got up and stretched, groaning out a rather loud and nerve-wracking yawn. "Well, the Commander asked us to make sure everything was all set, so I guess we can go say good-bye."

"What?" Boil frowned.

"Yeah, you promised her we'd be back, didn't you? And we have about an hour until the last gunship returns to the Negotiator," said Waxer. He turned to Keelo and Deck. "You two look like you could do with a bit of exercise. Want to come along?"

Keelo nodded and scrabbled around, hurriedly sealing up paint cans and gathering brushes. He crammed them into the supply pouches on his utility belt and stuffed his helmet back onto his head.

Boil gave him a pointed stare.

"Waxer, I want you to keep an eye on him. If those paint supplies aren't back where the belong within twenty minutes of our returning to the ship, I'm coming to find them. I don't want any incidents like what happened with General's Fisto and Skywalker."

Waxer threw back his head and laughed. "Oh!" he gasped. "That was hilarious!"

Deck and Keelo looked at each other, confused.

"What did happen, sir?" Keelo asked, and Deck nodded, confirming his own curiosity and desire to know what the legendary General Skywalker and the renowned Master Fisto could have possibly done that had put Boil on his guard against...paint cans and brushes...?

Waxer smiled. "That's a story for another time," he said.

"Perhaps never," Boil growled. "Let's go."

"I can't believe it."

Splint listened in silence to Commander Cody mumbling something to himself over the comms. He glanced to the right where General Kenobi was directing the second speeder alongside Kurt's, and cocked his head at the way Cody was slapping and tapping the fingers of his left hand rapidly over his data pad while his right hand poked at the side of his helmet at the radio controls.

"What is it, sir?" Splint asked.

"Hang on...somehow, Spinner managed to activate his radio. Either through his helmet or his commlink - which wouldn't make sense for them to let him keep...almost there..."

Splint jumped at the burst of static that fired into his eardrums and suddenly - he could hear Spinner's voice coming through the speakers. It was faint, and sometimes it cut out all together. But it was Spinner. Splint listened eagerly.

"You've kept m-here for t-days now. Wha-s one day more?"

Another person spoke with a thick, warbling voice. His voice was even more faint than Spinners, and Splint strained to hear.

"You may as-stay like-is forev-mmando droids ha-alerted of two more troop-rs in the bri-control room, and are mov-ng to ap-ehend th-ow. As I tol-u, any clone will do."

There was a small blipping! sound, and the thick voice, sounding surprised, greeted the caller.

"-eetings, Gen-ievous."

Splint did his best to hear what was playing through Wat Tambor's communicator (it had to be Tambor, he thought), but the transmission's audio being picked up by a radio that was most likely damaged, and then being sent out to a third connection to his own helmet didn't exactly work... He sighed in frustration and gripped the speeder's side more tightly when a soft hiss sounded over his helmet comms followed by a high-pitched yell which was choked into a sob and gasping sigh.

"Commander, cut that connection," Kurt said. "We don't need any of those distractions once we enter the city."

Splint seethed and swallowed the majority of the words that had crept up his throat from his pounding heart. Oh, it was tempting. But he merely said,

"I'm surprised at you wanting to come out here, sir."

Kurt's voice was even in his response, and Splint deliberately did not look in Commander Cody's direction. He knew this conversation would be brought up later. And he knew he was to blame. But he could feel Cody gazing at him, and that - he believed - was the only thing to stop him from even considering thoughts about further exchange of words with the ARC trooper.

"I said what I had to at the camp because my answer otherwise would have caused a ruckus with that hot-tempered squadmate of yours," said Kurt. "In reality, if we already knew the reason for his capture, I personally wouldn't have supported any efforts to retrieve him at all. If we had managed to hear from Tambor or whoever was contacting him about why the trooper was taken, in my opinion we could just turn around right now. And depending on whether or not General Skywalker can get those bombers away from the city, there's no telling whether or not anyone is coming out of there at all."

Splint shifted in his seat and bit his tongue.

He sat up straighter and craned his neck to peer over Kurt's pauldron. As their speeder crested the hill, they could see the gateway into the capital of Lessu. A plasma bridge was spanning the distance between the land and the capital's perch over a deep, wide, dark chasm. Random pockets of flashing light were visible, and the last members of a large group of Twi'lek were just disappearing over the bridge and into the city.

Splint glanced to his right and saw the general's mouth pulled into a tight, grim line. No one in their group knew for how long the plasma bridge would be active. But there was no time to even begin to worry about it, for with a soft bump the speeders landed on the strange green surface and shot across to the other side.

General Kenobi slowed his speeder to a halt dangerously fast, and Kurt followed the Jedi's lead with perfect control landing an obviously smoother stop than Kenobi's had been. There was shouting farther ahead, and metallic yells and clanging that seemed very similar to the way droids sounded when a Jedi was involved. It was definitely Mace Windu was just around the corner on the right. The Twi'lek had all branched left.

Obi-Wan seemed to know this, because he started forward towards the hall on the left.

"I'm going to go help the Twi'lek finish up here so they can get out! There's no way they can avoid the bombers unless we go below ground!"

Splint hefted his medic pack more securely onto his shoulders and gripped his blaster.

"Cody!" the general continued. "Can you manage to track Spinner's location from that comm connection you got a short while ago?"

"I think so!" Cody shouted back. "We'll take of it, sir!"

"Get him, get the speeders, and get out!"

Cody gave a sharp nod and took off through one of the doorways on the right. They ran through the wide corridor that was placed alongside the hallway outside where Mace Windu was slowly working his way through piles of droids and an onslaught of lasers. Then suddenly, Cody darted to the left and took off down another hall, equally as large as the first, and Splint and Kurt followed him up a flight of thick stairs that sent up small clouds of dust from their once polished surfaces.

The commander slowed at the top of the flight, and that pause was long enough for them all to hear sounds of a violent struggle from somewhere nearby.

Kurt wordlessly pointed to the opening at the opposite end of the second floor hallway, and they all started forward once more, fairly bursting into the room, straight into the middle of an all out brawl.

Two ARF troopers were battling a pair of commando droids with no more than their fists.

One of the troopers was on the ground, helmetless and struggling against the pull of one of the droids, which was on its back with the soldier atop it, and it had its heavy arms locked about the clone's shoulders, its legs wrapped firmly around his torso. The droid had wisps of smoke curling up from a blaster hole in its chest, but it had survived the shots, and now the guns were nowhere within immediate reach of anyone.

The second trooper was barely managing to block the rapid, heavy punches from the other droid.

As Splint came upon the scene with Kurt and Cody, the droid striking at the trooper landed a solid hit over the man's shoulder as he spun away from a vicious kick aimed at his torso. The clone crumpled under the blow, and Cody charged, leaping over the struggling soldier on the ground, and jumping high to land both his boots squarely against the droid's metal center.

Kurt followed him to the attack, but slid onto his knees just behind the foremost commando droid that was now slowly crushing the struggling trooper's windpipe with one of its arms. Bracing one of his boots against the droid's shoulder, Kurt reached out, gripped the droids head in both his hands, and pulled.

Splint blinked as the head came free in a shower of sparks and glowing metal shards.

Kurt pulled the droid's upper limbs away from the trooper's neck and chest, rolled the man off the robot and onto his side before he placed several heavy shots into the droids internal processers.

Cody had somehow found it necessary to kick the remaining droid until it began to move slower, then he backed up and pounded its faceplate with blaster bolts. It toppled to the floor with a crash.

Splint left the foremost trooper with Kurt, and headed towards the one who'd been clubbed. But the man was already moving, his left arm jerking spasmodically. He was panting aloud, and his fellow had rolled onto his stomach and was struggling to rise amid a storm of violent coughing.

"Thank you, sir," said the clone scrubbing at his shoulder. "You're a sight for sore eyes. Razor from Lighting Squadron. The other guy coughing his lungs out is Stak."

Stak raised his bloodshot eyes from the ground for a fraction of a second and tried to glare at Razor, but a fresh burst of coughing seized him and he pitched forward again. Kurt seized him by the arm to prevent him faceplanting on the floor.

"You know about the bombers?" said Cody brusquely.

"Yessir. We were sent to secure the bridge."

"Good. Keep it up and running."

"I'll stay with them, sir," said Kurt abruptly.

"All right. Splint, come with me."

Splint hefted his pack again, matching Cody's speed as the commander darted from the room and turned through another doorway. The commander growled in annoyance at the sudden blipping that sounded on his comm.

"Splint, take it. I have to keep Spinner's comm signal up."

Spinner tapped his commlink and answered the call himself. It was General Kenobi.

"Cody!"

"This is Splint, sir. Go ahead. Cody's here."

"Tell him it's under control. Anakin's taken out the last of the bombers. And Mace has managed to capture Wat Tambor. Have you found Spinner?"

"Not yet, sir. But we will."

"Very well. No need to rush if he can't be rushed out."

"Thank you, General. Splint out."

Blip! The call was cut, and Cody grunted in satisfaction as his own commlink began to sound a bit faster - and faster - then faster still.

Blip! Blip! Blip-blip-blip-blipblipblipiplipliplip!

"Found him."

Cody stopped outside a closed metal door and punched his finger into the control panel on one side of the casing. He cast a glance over his shoulder at Splint, and the medic could hear the unmistakable grin in the commander's voice.

"The nice thing about the Twi'lek technology," Cody said, "is that it's all cheap security and simple programing. A child could open this."

"They might not want cheap security, Commander," said Splint.

"True," said Cody. "But at a time like this, it makes me glad."

The door slid open after two more keys on the pad had been pressed, and Cody stepped into the room. Splint followed - and slung his pack from his shoulders, running forward alongside Cody.

"Spinner!"

"Wow, this place already looks better," Waxer commented. He hefted his blaster and turned around once as he walked.

Keelo did the same, taking in the various pockets of activity that sprung up all about the buildings. Many Twi'lek were moving about, busied by different jobs, meeting different needs in both building maintenance and the care of their neighbors.

Boil turned about as well and walked backwards for a moment. He chuckled softly.

"Now this is a city," he said, gesturing about with one arm. "Ah, here we are."

The men came to a stop in front of a small building. there was a wide, patterned cloth stretched out like a canopy over its doorway, and though there was quite a bit of sand and grit powdered across the wide window sills, the door step had been swept clean. The place looked more like a home than merely the hardened mud structure it must have looked like when the inhabitants were taken from its walls.

Keelo stood near Deck and knew instinctively that the other smiled as well as he when a small green Twi'lek child burst from the house and charged towards them. She collided with Waxer, who swept her up and tossed her into the air.

"We've come to say 'good-bye', little 'un," he told her, hoisting her around his head to sit her on his shoulders. Her small hands clasped about Waxer's helmet, and she lifted it from his head, turning the helmet about to study the painting on its face.

"What do you think, Numa?" Waxer asked.

Numa's thin fingers touched the painting of her own face, and she giggled.

"Numa!" she cried, and laughed again.

"Yup!" Waxer said, and laughed as well. He reached up and swung her over to Boil. "Augh - now, there you are."

Boil caught the girl and returned the helmet to Waxer.

Numa looked at Boil's helmet, then lifted it up to peek at his face.

Boil tossed her gently with one arm to get a more secure grip on the child and pulled off his bucket the rest of the way.

"Sorry, kid," he said, and smiled at her. "I've didn't stick any pictures on the outside. But trust me, I've got them all in here."

He tapped his chestplate and Numa struggled to get down. Once freed from Boil's arms, she gripped his hand with her own tiny one and tugged him towards the house.

The four troopers entered the building and looked about. A small mat was laid neatly near the far wall, and there was a small pillow and a child's doll resting on it. Towards the other edge of the same wall was a larger mat and another flat pillow. Numa headed towards these at a run and scooped up the doll from the small mat. She ran back to the trooper's and held the doll out to Boil.

Waxer laughed.

"Better take it, Boil. That's somethin' special."

Keelo vowed never to mention anything of what he witnessed to anyone, and the helmet tilt he shared with Deck confirmed his suspicion that Deck agreed with is idea. Boil would kill them if they didn't form this silent pact.

Boil took the toy from Numa's outstretched hands and looked at it in silence before placing the tooka doll carefully in the righthand supply pouch on his belt.

"Thanks, kid," he said, and patted the pouch, then patted her on the head.

Keelo snagged Deck on the elbow and hauled him out of the house at the sudden beeping that sounded on his wrist comm - at least, that was the reason for his exit that he told himself. It was one of the clones piloting the gunships to the Negotiator.

"You boys better show up within the next twenty minutes," he said. "Just heard from the General. They're ready to head back, so move it!"

Keelo clicked off his comm and turned to Deck with a triumphant grin so big he thought Deck might see it even from underneath the helmet. "They've got Spinner," he said.

He skipped up to the doorway next to Deck and peeked into the house again.

Boil was crouched by the wall near Numa's mat. He was scratching something on the wall with a blade, making deep cuts in the dusty wall.

"Sir," Keelo called out. "They're ready for pick-up. The general's returning."

Waxer nodded to Keelo and Deck, and squeezed Numa one more time. "By now, Numa," he said.

Boil stood after a moment and Numa looked at the scratches for a moment, and then flung her thin arms about Boil's leg. He patted her and turned to go. "See ya, Numa," he said, and waved to her. He passed by Deck and Keelo and placed his bucket back over his head, walking back towards the campsite alongside Waxer.

Deck waved to Numa and followed after Waxer and Boil, but Keelo paused just a moment longer. Numa was waving to him, and he waved back, but his eyes were on the wall and the scratches that Boil had carved into it. It was a rough sketch of a clone trooper helmet decorated with Boil's markings.

"Spinner!"

Spinner slowly raised his head and turned in their direction. His eyelids fluttered and all Cody could see for a moment were the whites of his eyes, but eventually Spinner seemed to catch sight of them. He let out a short laugh, soft and harsh. They started towards him at a swift jog.

Spinner's head rolled back to sink in a strange way in between his shoulders.

"Co-c-mmanderrr..." he muttered.

Spinner's face was moist and shining. There were several dark spots and deep lines of brown and crusted blood around his features. The collar of his bodysuit was soaked through, and his hair looked damp and limp. His mouth was hanging open, his lips had a filmy layer over them and were split in several places, and Cody wondered that the man was still sweating at all from such an obvious lack of proper hydration.

Spinner was standing, more or less. His legs were held in an excessive wide stance by wide straps securing his ankles and knees flat against the wall. He was bent nearly double, and his arms were tied in such a way that they stretched straight out behind him, held in position by electro-binders about his wrists. They kept him in this position by their being magnetized to a wide metal rod that spanned the length of the wall about halfway up from the floor.

Splint reached him before Cody, and set about removing Spinner's bonds. He released the trooper's arms first, and Spinner panted loudly, his voice high-pitched and tremulous. He bit his lip and squirmed. Cody caught him about the chest to prevent his pitching forward, and Spinner shouted, biting off the yell with a grimace.

Splint removed the straps from the troopers legs, and Cody slowly lowered the man to the ground, glancing up at Splint as the medic hovered his scanner over Spinner's body.

Spinner's legs were twitching minutely. His hands lay limp and motionless by his sides. But his eyes were no longer blinking so rapidly. Though they were open, he was almost squinting.

Cody left Splint to his work and bent over Spinner, looking steadily into his half-open eyes. They were moist, reddish around irises, with a strange milky-yellow tint penetrating the whites. And they were unusually bright.

"Spinner...?" Cody waited. The trooper's breathing became more rapid, and when Cody placed a hand on his head, Spinner's only response was a sharp cry. His eyes squeezed shut and then opened again, this time a little wider.

Splint slipped his scanner back into his utility belt's pouch. "He'll be fine. But we'll need to get him to med-bay. We should hurry." The medic rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a water pouch, which he then opened, using the contents to moisten Spinner's cracked lips.

"Care to explain his condition?" Cody tapped his wrist-comm. "Kurt, we've got Spinner. Get the General and bring the speeders to the base of the stairway."

"Roger that, Commander."

Splint sighed. "He's got serious bruising, some burns, and he's been drugged. Moving him won't be fun." He began sifting through his pack again, pulling out a few vials and three different hypodermics, looking at them each in turn.

Spinner inhaled a shaky breath and made a slight choking sound.

"C-comm-mmander...?"

Cody looked down.

"What is it, soldier?"

"I didn't...tell them...anything..."

Cody smiled behind his helmet. Spinner's eyes searched about the front of Cody's helmet, and after a moment, the commander removed the bucket from his head. Spinner's gaze seems different, he thought. It was still open, trusting, young like so many others, but not so...whatever it had been. This trooper had done something only he himself knew. It was - ah...

Cody smiled again, this time at Spinner.

It was a quiet strength that came with a strong sense of loyalty when it had been proved to one alone that they had done the right thing, no matter how large or small the actual act had been on the surface. The realization of that reality meant a lot - and this kid knew why he had fought and succeeded.

Spinner took another slow breath.

"I know...why..." he bit out. "...Grievous...I heard...Kamino..."

Cody placed his hand on Spinner's shoulder, intending to ask something further as Spinner seemed to want to talk, but the trooper winced at his touch and moaned. Two large streaks of moisture ran from the corners of his eyes, and he drew back his parched lips from his teeth with a querulous hissing sigh.

"Fier-fek." Splint stuffed his small stash of various pain meds back into his pack with a slight slump visible in his shoulders just as Razor and Stak appeared in the doorway. "Let's get you out of here, Spinner."

Keelo bounced slowly on the balls of his feet, then sat on the edge of the edge of the bed's frame and continued fidgeting by bouncing both his knees at once.

"Keelo, by the force - where do you get all that energy?"

"Dunno, Sarge. I guess it comes with the position."

"In that case, you might get a promotion just so I can demote you. Stop moving! You're making me sick."

Keelo stopped his restless twitching and stood instead, smirking for all he was worth. And in his opinion, that was quite a lot.

"Boy, Sarge. You're grumpy."

"If I could see you, Keelo, I'd slap you one."

Keelo's grin faded from his face, and he eyed again the large white bandages that were wrapped about the upper half of Sergeant Onno's face.

"Eh, you can hit me soon enough, sir," he muttered.

Onno was silent for a moment. Then,

"Who are you waiting for?"

"Oh, they should be bringing Spinner in soon. They were trying to do something with him...I don't know - I'm not the medic!"

"I should say not," said Onno. Then, more gently, "They're all tough nuts. We all are. It'll take more than whatever Tambor tried to crack him."

"Yeah..." Keelo sat down on the edge of the bed and swung his feet unhappily. "I mean, he didn't look too good when they brought him in. He didn't sound too good either."

"I know," said Onno. "I heard."

"I mean," Keelo inhaled sharply through his nose. "But...when even the doc can't find out right away why..."

"It takes time, you know."

Keelo stood up again abruptly, frowned and gave his head a slight shake, now wishing for a solid silence inside instead of the memories of Spinner's aching screams when they had carried brought him into the infirmary. Every touch had seemed to cause the trooper intense pain, and Keelo found it even more frustrating when there was nothing immediately visible to identify as the cause of Spinner's torment.

"Chad?"

Keelo jumped when Onno spoke again.

"Chad, is that you?"

Keelo looked up at the sense of someone approaching him. It was indeed Chad. He was dressed in gray fatigues and looked no worse for wear excepting for the bacta strips held about his neck by thin gauze.

"Chad! Hey, yo!" Keelo grinned and gave the man a hard smack on the shoulder.

Chad grinned and clapped Keelo on the back in turn. His force of greeting was nothing to sneeze at, but Keelo did indeed sneeze from surprise as the loud thump between his shoulder blades bent him almost double and sent him tripping forward a few steps. Chad's own shoulders shook with mirth.

There was the soft hiissss of the medbay door sliding open, and another trooper entered - and charged towards them at a speed just over a fast walk (which was already above the regulation speed to be used in the infirmary.)

"Keelo, please MOVE."

Keelo hopped out of the way just before Deck's hand made contact with his arm for what appeared to have been an attempt at a hard shove. Even with his dodging so swiftly, Keelo was still struck with the partial force of the intended blow, and he staggered good-naturedly into Sergeant Onno's bed. The sergeant kicked him.

"There," said Onno, all the evidence of his smug and self-satisfied air visible in the slightly twisted smirk across his mouth. Keelo wondered how he did it. "Now I have no need to demote you."

"Thank you, sir," Keelo muttered, and skipped off the bed before he could be hit again with the toe of Onno's boot.

"Chad! Hey, how are you?" Deck had seized Chad by both shoulders and was grinning widely. Chad shifted his head slightly and shrugged.

"So-so? Eh - hey, tell me! Where's Whisper? Whisper..." Deck frowned. "Whisper didn't make it, did he?"

Chad held up a hand and Deck blinked and caught it in his own. "Chad...Chad! What's wrong?"

There was another hiissss. Then,

"Isn't it obvious?" Kurt entered the room and stalked over to Onno's bedside. He cast a quick glance at Deck's concerned expression, and then at Keelo's confused frown. "He can't talk. He's lost his voice."

"Kurt," Onno interrupted. "Once we leave orbit, I'm going to need to discuss certain details concerning the mission and this squad with you."

"I know," said Kurt. "Commander Cody already informed me on the way in."

Deck slowly turned from Chad and looked at Kurt. "You were with him? How is he? Spinner?"

Kurt looked at him steadily, and Keelo stood his ground though he wanted to take a step back when,

"I couldn't hear myself think," was all Kurt said.

Deck shot his gaze towards the toes of his boots, and Chad squeezed his wrist and looked silently back at Kurt. Something in his gaze seemed to unnerve the ARC trooper, for within a moment or two, Kurt turned on his heel and made to leave. But Onno stopped him by catching at Kurt's belt. His bandaged face turned up towards him, and Kurt shifted, looking visibly uncomfortable.

"Kurt, will Spinner live?"

"Sure..." Kurt muttered, then tore himself away and hurried from the room.

Cross slipped in as the ARC trooper passed out of the doorway and made his way over to the small group. He locked eyes with Deck and smiled, nodding his head.

"Spinner will be all right. He was injected with a substance that enhanced all his senses, so the smallest injuries would give him quite an intense amount of pain. Loud noises, bright light - not pleasant. There's nothing to do but wait for it to leave his system. Pain meds are out of the question, at least right now. He should be able to receive some mild doses soon."

"Can we see him?" asked Deck.

"Soon," said Cross shortly, but not unkindly. "He's out right now. That's better than if he were awake."

Deck nodded once and turned again to Chad. But at that moment, the door opened once more, and Splint entered the room. He looked angry, the expression barely held underneath the surface of his skin.

"What is wrong with him?" he snapped.

"Who?" Keelo asked.

"That...ARC trooper..." his voice faded away as he caught sight of the number of people in the room.

"Oh," said Deck. "You mean his comments about patients?"

Splint shook his head sharply. "I don't understand."

Cross's hand brushed slowly over a red medic's mark that was tilted in place on the left side of his uniform. It appeared all his outfits bore that sign. Cross stepped close to Splint. His eyes were suddenly shadowed and hard.

"Leave it, Splint. Do your job and focus on just that."

Splint looked back, and Keelo could see the confused shame in the younger medic's eyes. He barely caught Cross's next words. They were hissed out, meant only for Splint's ears, but Keelo heard them anyway.

"That man is terrified."

A/N: There. Spinner is back! Aren't I nice? Now we can dispense with those death threats, right...? Right...? KARA! ;)

Thank you so much to all you lovely reviewers, and also to those people who don't review but still have read this story. I've checked the stats, and I know you're out there! Thank you! :D

I'd love, love, LOVE to know what y'all think of this so far! I can't wait to get to Part 2!

P.S. Also, that ending to the painting scene is just a little bow to Cuthalion97's "Misadventures of Jedi Generals". ;) If you haven't read it, you should. But be prepared to laugh until it hurts!