Nobody Listens to Kix
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Star Wars: The Clone Wars or any related titles, characters, plots, settings, etc. These rights belong to Dave Filoni, George Lucas, the Walt Disney Company, and their various publishers and distributors. I own only the original elements of this story, the writing and publishing of which earn me no money.
Case 00598: Commander Ahsoka Tano
"Is that everyone?" Kix asked the last set of troopers to stagger into the medbay.
"No, there's one more," Appo said with a glance behind himself.
"Stretcher?"
"No, walking wounded." Kix relaxed at Appo's negative. The walking wounded were always in better shape than those who had to use a stretcher for transportation.
Swoop, leaning against Appo's uninjured shoulder, grinned. "This wounded soldier is probably more than 'walking', though."
"The commander?' Kix guessed, and was answered by matching nods. "What happened to her?"
"She was with the captain, so we're not really sure," Appo said slowly. "We were in the group with the general."
Kix shook his head. "Both of you, find a bed. It's going to take me a while to treat the men who are here, and neither of you are at risk of death. Best settle in for the long haul."
Still, Kix had worked his way through the wounded troopers and was finishing with two men who had received injuries more minor than Appo or Swoop. Still, the commander had yet to appear.
After he finished with the men, dismissed them to their bunks, and checked on the ones who had to stay in the medbay, Kix tried calling Commander Tano's comlink, but there was no answer. With a frustrated sigh, he keyed in General Skywalker's comlink code instead.
"Skywalker here."
"General, it's Kix. I heard Commander Tano was injured in the battle, but she hasn't come into the medbay yet," Kix said, feeling somewhere between a concerned medic and a tattling child.
"Seriously? It's been two hours!" Skywalker made a frustrated noise. "Stand by, Kix. I'll call and ask what got her sidetracked."
Kix's comlink went silent for less than a minute before the general called back. "Expect Commander Tano shortly."
Sure enough, the commander appeared only minutes later. She was walking slowly, her posture announcing that she was in pain as clearly as if she had said it. She looked clean, dressed in her casual clothes rather than her armor, but her face was weary and pale under her facial markings.
"Commander," Kix greeted with a frown. "You should sit."
Knowing she wouldn't appreciate being put in a bed immediately, Kix herded Commander Tano toward the well-worn chair tucked under his desk. She sat heavily and leaned her chin on her fist, eyes fluttering closed.
"Commander?" She made an inquisitive sound, but did not open her eyes. "Commander, I need you to tell me what happened."
"I had about twenty men with me. We were fighting to reclaim a ridge outside of Balith's capital city and the Seppie tanks fired on us. The shots went wide and missed us, but they caught the cliffs up above. There was a rockslide."
She stopped talking and Kix frowned. "None of the men had injuries from a rockslide."
"I used the Force to push them away," Commander Tano explained tiredly. "I thought I could move them out of the way and get out before the rocks reached us, but everything happened faster than I expected and I got hit. I dodged the big rocks, but some of the smaller ones got me."
"And why didn't you report here immediately?"
She shrugged. "I meant to, but I knew there were a lot of men waiting and I figured I would shower first. Then, I wanted to sleep more than anything else. Can I just go back to my bunk?"
"Sorry, Commander," Kix refused. "The big concern here is a concussion. I'm going to examine your head, all right?"
"Do I need to open my eyes?"
"Not immediately."
"Then go ahead."
Kix set about examining her montrals and lekku for damage, even going so far as to lift each one to study the undersides. She was bruised in several places, but he wasn't finding much in the way of cuts.
As he examined the commander, Kix kept up a steady stream of questions: "Are you seeing lights in your eyes? Were you unconscious at any time? Is your vision blurred? Any sensitivity to light? Headache? Nausea? Memory problems? Confusion?"
Commander Tano answered no to every question except headache with light sensitivity, but that could very well be a migraine in response to the aftereffects of a rockslide and corresponding adrenaline rush.
"Okay, we've reached the open-eyes section of the examination," he told her, and the commander reluctantly did as he had instructed.
Kix studied her pupils, relieved to find that both were the same size and normally dilated. She tracked his movements without a struggle and grimaced when he gently pinched her arm.
"Well, you've passed all of my tests," he told her, "but you still need to stay the night here so we can make sure you're resting properly."
It was a testament to how the commander felt that she didn't argue. Normally, she would have fought as hard as any one of the men to avoid spending the night in the medbay.
She paused only once to ask, "You aren't going to plug me into a machine or poke me with needles, are you?"
"No, sir. I'll wake you up fairly often and ask you some questions, but no machines and no needles."
"Good," she said with a hint of a smile. "I would hate to have to Jedi you in my sleep because you messed with a needle."
"Considering you lost a game of chicken with a rockslide earlier today, I think I could survive the experience," Kix replied dryly.
"Or did I win a game of chicken?" Commander Tano asked, clambering up and into a bed. "Besides, I wouldn't have gotten hit at all if I hadn't been protecting Rex. That cold has really slowed his reflexes…"
Kix whipped back around to face her. "What cold?" he asked dangerously.
"Uh…" the commander hedged, clearly trying to find a way out of the situation. Kix's narrowed eyes didn't leave her face and she sighed. "The cold he told me not to tell you about."
Kix nodded slowly, already keying the captain's code into his comlink.
Author's Note - Fun fact: these chapters are mostly posted in the order they were written. I had always planned for Ahsoka's chapter to come out this week, but last week's episode of The Mandalorian really kicked things up a notch! Out of respect for those who haven't seen the episode yet, I won't say anything more. Concerning this week's chapter of this particular story, poor Rex! He's probably in trouble with Kix.
Thank you to those who have favorited and followed in the last week and a special thank-you to those who reviewed: SandriasSaber, ghostguts, Cuthalion97, SolarRose29, Lillie Tano-Syndulla, Slim 'Tech' Sherman, Ishvallan, dieFabuliererin, RyanSquad, and KarajeJinsta. You guys are amazing! Also, sorry if I spammed review replies to any of you. I kept running into 503 errors and just refreshed the page until I got a confirmation.
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