Behind her, she could hear armor clasps being undone, "Ok Glitch, once you identify where the wound is, I need you to tell me what it looks like." Esinon was really, really hoping that there wasn't shrapnel in the wound, because that would be a large problem, and she had a feeling that Glitch would-
"General," Glitch whimpered, "There's metal in there," She let out a small breath,
"Ok, that's fine," she said, trying to stay calm, Glitch would respond to this better if she did. "So we're going to leave the metal in there-"
"What? Why?" he asked, Esinon let out another breath,
"Glitch, right now I need you to not ask questions, I need you to just do as I say," she said, trying to resist the urge to keep her voice from rising. "So we're not going to take the metal out, I need you to use my tabards and keep pressure on the wound," She turned her head slightly and could see Glitch pressing her tabards to the wound on Spitfire's lower stomach. So far as she could tell, it looked like it'd missed most of his vital organs, "There you go, just keep pressure on the wound, and I need you to tell me if it starts bleeding too badly."
"Ok," Glitch said shakily, Jax finally abandoned his task of caring for other brothers and shifted towards his batchmates. Esinon could already feel sweat pooling at the small of her back, it was warm and stuffy in the cramped space, and it was silent save for the quiet murmuring of Jax and Glitch, and the disconcerting noise of the creak of the ceiling above them.
It felt like hours and the silence set in and Esinon had simply fallen into praying that someone would come looking for them. They couldn't get a signal to contact anyone, so they were stuck in here for as long as Esinon could keep holding the ceiling above their heads. She glanced behind her as she heard movement and saw Jax moving toward her. He didn't say anything for a moment,
"How's Spitfire?" she asked, he again didn't say anything, he leaned forward, pressing his forehead to hers, hoping that she could somehow draw strength from the action. Esinon leaned into the contact, able to feel Jax's calm force signature pulsing, giving herself something to anchor and focus on. She at the moment didn't have the energy to be able to block out any of the swirling force signatures around her and currently Jax's was the only calm one. She let out a small breath, able to feel a small bit of strength filling her.
"And to answer your question, the bleeding is slowing," Jax replied, giving her a small smile, as a breath of relief escaped from Esinon's lips that she didn't know she'd been holding.
"That's good, I'm sure someone will find us soon," she said, trying to be a reassuring power for everyone in here, she needed to be that for them as General. They couldn't know how terrified she was that no one was coming for them.
Bo had decided it was time to pack it up and head back to the Duchess, there was nothing down here beside grasslands and the rare scampering nuuna. His comlink beeped and he answered,
"Commander Bo," he answered, a holographic image of General Archer appeared,
"Commander, how goes it on the surface?" she asked,
"There are no droids down here sir," he replied, "The grasslands are completely empty, we've been looking for hours General." Jayla hummed a hand going to her chin, a move that Bo recognized as his own General's.
"It was the same up here, not a single droid ship," she said, "Have you been able to raise Esinon on her comm? I haven't been able to get a hold of her, I'm afraid if there are no droids with us, they might have gone to her position."
"No General, General Windcaster has not contacted me for some time," Jayla frowned,
"Try and com her again, I'm coming down to the surface," she said, and with that, the com call ended. Bo changed his frequency to General Windcaster's and attempted to raise her on any channel but had no success. He was starting to wonder if General Archer's theory was correct, he wasn't worried about General Windcaster, he was worried about the men under her command. Sure, they had been a so-far successful legion for the GAR, but she was still an inexperienced General and would be prone to making bad decisions, especially with the reputation she'd picked up for her crack fire plans. A few minutes later General Archer arrived with Uno and a platoon of the 818th's men.
"Have you been able to contact her?" she asked, although Jayla wasn't showing it, she was starting to become very antsy that Esinon wasn't answering. Bo shook his head,
"No sir, she isn't answering," he said, Jayla's frown deepened, her markings creasing on her forehead.
"She went north, correct?" Bo nodded,
"Alright, men!" she called, "form on me, everyone step lightly we don't know what we're walking into!" All of the platoons formed up and followed after Jayla as they headed north, they were once again silent and as they marched forward, they still saw nothing. No droids, not even a B1 shaped footprint, there was no sign of Separatist activity anywhere- there was a plume of smoke in the distance. Bo knew the difference between one that came from a burning village and one that came from an explosion. Jayla began sprinting forward and came to a skidding halt at the top of the hill, Bo joined her and saw the burning remains of a Separatist base. There was no sign of a struggle outside of the base, only its smoldering remains. Jayla reached out with her sense and could feel Esinon's force signature pulsing inside, she stretched further and could feel clones in there as well. "There are survivors," she said suddenly,
"How?" Bo asked, "There's barely anything left of the base, anyone inside there would have been crushed!"
"Never, underestimate a Jedi, Commander," she said, Bo clenched his fist as he watched General Archer sprint down the hill.
He hated Jedi.
Jayla finally made it to the bottom of the hill, taking a knee in front of the wreckage and pressed her fingertips to the charred soil, closing her eyes and mentally mapping the root system she could feel beneath her. This was going to be complicated, she could sense that ceiling about to give way, and it was only being held up by the barest of threads. Any wrong moves and she would crush the survivors.
She stood, taking a deep, putting her hand's palm downward, facing the ground. She dragged her boot through the dirt in a semicircle, she gracefully raised her hand and the roots started to creep out of the ground. She gently placed them on the outside of the wreckage. She needed to establish a stable hold before she was able to open the wreckage so that everyone could escape.
Esinon wasn't sure if she was hallucinating or this was actually happening, there were roots starting to creep through the cracks of the metal and Esinon could feel her load getting lighter. She didn't dare let go of the ceiling yet, but Jayla was here! She could feel her force signature pulsing in concentration and focus outside. She waited more and more roots started to appear and murmuring went through the small band of clones who were starting to shift away from the walls.
"General…" Jax began slowly, "What's happening?"
"Jayla is here," she said in relief, the metal creaked as it was raised higher and higher. Esinon started pushing up as well, her legs quaking from exhaustion and the sheer weight of the wreckage above. But with two Jedi at work, it was moving quickly, a few seconds later, Esinon let out a cry as she threw the final of the wreckage of the ceiling a few hundred meters. She then used the force to obliterate the walls as well. Cold air rushed into the bubble they had been trapped in, Esinon arms went slack as the real aches of her body began to set in. "We're gonna need a medic down here!" Esinon called, "Spitfire's got shrapnel," She spotted Boomer and Heart coming down the hill and to where Spitfire was still laying on the ground with Glitch hunched over him and staunching the bleeding.
"You did a good job Glitch," Boomer said, Esinon assumed Spitfire wasn't out of the clear yet, since Boomer left out the 'you saved his life' part. Esinon slowly made her way out of the bubble, finally able to take count of who was left. Two platoons were gone, and only half of the final one was left. She slowly sank to the ground, too tired to keep standing. She was covered in sweat and ash, and she could feel the grief swirling around her in her men. She had failed.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I led us into a trap, I failed," Jayla had noticed that Esinon was kneeling a ways off, and by the swirling of emotions she could feel in Esinon's emotions, the young knight was overlooking the men she did save. Jayla walked over and Esinon glanced up at her as the elder knight sat down in front of her. Jayla didn't say anything, she was bad at saying something.
It seemed most things that came out of her mouth were angry and brash, and she didn't want to make anything worse so she stayed silent and instead attempted to support her through the force. Esinon's signature seemed to calm for a moment, feeling the reassuring anchor of Jayla's peaceful presence but it didn't last long as rage ripped through her.
Jayla backed away as she felt the anger in Esinon's force signature, Esinon hunched over like she had been shot as she gasped for air. It felt like when Slick had found out that she had purchased him and Dogma from the Kaminoans, he was so angry he could have killed her. Someone was that angry now.
Jayla quickly figured out that the anger wasn't coming from Esinon and started stretching out to the people around them and recoiled when she started to search Bo's force signature, it was only pure rage and loathing. All directed at Esinon. Jayla grabbed onto Esinon's shoulder and focused on inducing the young knight into sleep, or at least a meditative state.
Esinon was too exhausted to be able to block out force signatures at the moment, and it would be easier to handle it if she was asleep. Jayla succeeded in her task as Esinon slumped underneath her hand, Jayla let out a small breath, taking a moment to collect herself.
"General Archer," Glitch said slowly, "Is General Windcaster alright?" Jayla nodded,
"Yes, I've simply given her a strong sleep suggestion, she needs to rest," she replied, Glitch nodded worriedly, the poor trooper looked exhausted. "Tell your Commander to set up camp, there isn't time to move us all back to the cruisers, night is already upon us,"
"Yes sir!" Glitch snapped to a salute and went over to Bo and explained what Jayla wanted him to do. Bo nodded and instantly started ordering the men around. Jayla carefully picked up Esinon, hoping to do a self-check for injuries on Esinon or get Sweet to come to look the young knight over. She had no idea how Esinon was faring after the ordeal and simply wanted to make sure she was alright.
Jayla found a small secluded area and used the roots to create a small tent. She checked Esinon over for physical injuries, not finding anything. After doing a mental check on Esinon, she could tell that the best thing for Esinon was to sleep so she ducked out of the tent to check in on the other injured and her own men.
A few hours later…
Bo had been working for hours now to pull bodies out of the wreckage of the Separatists base. He was silent, it smelled like ash and dead bodies, and it was soaking into his skin much as it had after so many battles, where he had silently collected the bodies of his brothers.
He heard someone coming up behind and Bo didn't spare the glance, but he could hear plastoid clanking against plastoid and assumed that someone was beginning to move the bodies to a pyre. It was one of those rare times where they had time to remember their fallen brothers.
'This never should have happened in the first place,' a small voice whispered in the back of his mind. Bo's fist clenched into a tight ball as he tried to contain himself. He was about to grab something to throw it when he heard someone come up behind him and put an arm around his shoulders.
His head dropped slightly as Glitch pressed his head against Bo's shoulder bell.
Bo leaned gratefully against his brother, some of his anger melting away, but certainly not all of it. He was angry, sad, and confused, and exhausted. He didn't have the energy to do anything anymore. A lone tear escaped from his eye, sliding down his cheek into Glitch's pink hair. Glitch nestled a little closer, almost able to sense his brother's grief.
"Come on," Glitch whispered, "let's just go back to the pyre, we've found everyone, they'll be moved by someone else, you've done enough." Bo didn't process Glitch moving him away from the wreckage, or anything that was happening until they arrived at the unlit pyre. Bo pulled away from Glitch and disappeared into the crowd of brothers, he didn't want to be comforted, he wanted to be angry.
Esinon had finally woken up from her Jayla induced nap and was now sitting outside the small root tent looking out over the quiet fields of Dantooine. She felt nauseous. Sick with guilt.
'Why do I always have to live,' she thought bitterly, she pulled her knees to her chest, resting her chin on top of them. She let out a harsh sigh, her throat closing up with tears. She buried her face in her knees, taking a deep breath. She didn't glance up at the footsteps that sounded behind her, she could simply tell it was a clone by the heavy footfalls.
"General?" Jax asked,
"Please go away Jax, I just want to be left alone," she said, refusing to let her voice become any tighter than it already was.
"Nope, come on, no more moping," he said, grabbing her arm and pulling her to her feet.
"I'm not moping," she pouted, as Jax pulled a blanket around her shoulders.
"None of that was your fault," he said after a moment, Esinon stared at the ground.
"Yes it was Jax, all of those men are dead because of me," she whispered,
"Well as one of the men who is still alive because of you, I can tell you that I'm grateful."
"But what about all the men that are dead!" she shouted, "What about them? Those are your brothers, and it's my job to keep them safe, and I failed! WHAT ABOUT THAT DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!" Her harsh and angry breathing filled the space between them, Jax stared at her, searching her grief-stricken eyes.
"Did you plant the bomb?" he asked, Esinon's shoulders dropped for a moment from their tense position.
"What?" she asked,
"The base, did you, Esinon Windcaster, rig it to explode?"
"What? No, of course not,"
"Then I don't see how it was your fault, the Separatists killed my brothers. Not you," he replied calmly. Jax was used to losing brothers, was he devastated over how many died today, yes, but he wanted to make sure Esinon knew that this was in no way her fault. She'd saved so many, risking her own life to do so. Esinon couldn't think of some way to argue, she knew Jax was right deep down, but knowing she couldn't save everyone still hurt. "Come on, I want to show you something,"
Esinon followed after her Captain back to the pyre, it had finally been lit and the clones had all circled around it. She froze for a moment, but Jax grabbed her hand squeezing tightly and leading her to stand in the circle. She was squished between Glitch and Jax and looking out upon her men as some of their eyes shifted to her, she couldn't feel any hate or upset directed towards her. She still kept her hand clasped in Jax's, feeling she might run if she didn't have something to anchor her. She glanced over at Valhalla who was standing next to Nico,
"Jax, what's going on?" she whispered,
"Just listen," he said softly, Esinon went silent again, she could sense whatever was about to happen was going to start. She glanced over at Nico, he took a deep breath, and then he began to sing.
"Oh, misty eye of the mountain below," he began, his voice was crisp and clear, each note floating out into the night. "Keep careful watch of my brother's souls, and should the sky be filled with fire and smoke, keep watching over my vod." the other clones began to join in as well. They were all in perfect sync, the harmonies and diversity in their voice filled the air. Esinon's slouched and timid posture rose with the music as she looked around in curiosity at her men as Valhalla picked up the next verse.
"If this is to end in fire, then we should all burn together. Watch the flames climb high into the night. Calling out father, oh, stand by and we will. Watch the flames burn on and on the mountainside." The song continued and Esinon let herself rest in the music, listening as different men sang the verses and the notes became more and more powerful as their voices rose. She could hear both Jax and Glitch singing next to her, and Dej not far off. The music built into a new clone taking the verse, his voice high into the top of the tenor range.
"Now I see fire! Inside the mountains! I see fire, burning the trees, and I see fire, hollowing souls, and I see fire, blood in the breeze. And I hope that you remember me," they fell back into the soft harmonies between each verse. Esinon could see tears starting to fall from a few of her men's faces, but there was no shame in them. This place was safe. Glitch picked up the next verse, squeezing her hand a little tighter.
"And if the night is burning I will cover my eyes. For if the dark returns then my brothers will die. And as the sky's falling down, it crashed down into this lonely town. And with that shadow on the ground I hear my people screaming out, I see fire!" the rest of the clones joined in,
"Inside the mountain! I see fire, burning the trees. And I see fire, hollowing souls. And I see fire, blood in the breeze. I see fire," Nico took the forefront again,
"Oh you know I saw the burning!" he sang passionately, the tears visible on his face in the flickering firelight.
"And I see fire," the rest of them echoed,
"Feel the heat upon my skin,"
"And I see fire!"
"Burn on and on, the mountainside," the air went silent once again, she heard the quiet mando'a remembrance prayer she'd said herself so many times and then a chorus of names. She felt… better. They had let her into their safe place, see their ritual. They weren't angry at her, not in the slightest. She was just… thankful that they trusted her as they did.
A few days later…
Esinon didn't feel guilty about falling into the trap anymore, she realized now that in hindsight, there was nothing she could have done differently. She could only focus on who she did save, which included Glitch and Jax, whose company she enjoyed very much. Spitfire had unfortunately contracted an infection and was now in a medically induced coma. Boomer had said he would most likely pull through, and just needed the time in the coma to heal. Esinon had never seen him so still.
Currently, she wasn't thinking about that, she was focused on the task at hand, which was to not let Bo's fist pummel her. She needed a sparring partner, and Bo had enthusiastically volunteered.
A small crowd from their training group had formed on the outskirts of the mats. She leapt out of the way as her Commander sent a kick flying her way. She attempted to lunge for him but the ARC gracefully dodged the move.
Esinon rolled to her feet and raised her fists, Bo wasn't going easy on her. She leapt upward, bringing down a kick but Bo caught her foot and whipped her around his body, and threw her to the side of the room.
She shook her head and jumped to her feet, charging Bo head-on and at the last second, sliding onto her knees and through Bo's legs. She grabbed his calf and flipped him over, he grunted as he tried to roll to his feet, but she was faster and jumped on top of him.
She jabbed her knee into his diaphragm and pinned his arms to the floor, hoping that he would yield. He didn't, he wheezed for a minute as she dug her knee further into his diaphragm.
Instead, he looped his leg around her back and turned the tables pinning her underneath his weight. She growled as Bo's face turned into a snarl, she decided she did not want to lose this spar so she headbutted Bo, causing the ARC to stumble backwards clutching his face. Esinon flipped to her feet and charged him, taking high-speed jabs at his body.
She whipped around, nailing a kick into Bo's abdomen. She leapt back with her fists raised as Bo stumbled back. He spun on a dime and the look that crossed Bo's face was pure rage, her position faltered for only a second as the pang of anger crossed her force signature coming from Bo. She wasn't able to duck out of the way as Bo tackled her to the ground, she grunted as he grabbed her roughly. A small whimper escaped her lips as Bo's large hands squeezed her wrists. She could feel his fingernails digging into her skin.
She attempted to grab at him but to no avail, she finally used the force to shove him off of her. She rolled away to a safe distance clutching her arms to her chest. She laid on the ground for a moment, struggling to find her balance.
There was anger flooding her being and it wasn't hers. She shuddered, curling into a tight ball trying to find balance, she forgot for a moment that she was supposed to be sparring. She rolled over to get to her feet but she saw Bo leaping above her, his fists raised above his head to deliver the final blow. She yelped and curled into a tight ball falling into a phase. She felt Bo's hand go through where her body had just been.
"Bo!" Jax shouted, the Commander snapped out of whatever trance he was in and backed away from his General. Esinon slowly dropped out of her phase and shakily stood to her feet plastering a fake smile to her face, clutching her wrists to her chest. She didn't want anyone to see the blood trickling down the crescent-shaped scratches on her skin.
"That was a good spar Bo," she said, refusing to let her voice shake. "Guess you win," he didn't say anything, instead he stormed out of the training room. Jax glanced at Esinon whose face had fallen and she was staring wide-eyed at the floor.
"Everyone clear out," he commanded, his Captain side taking over. He was usually the more passive of his squad, but Glitch had said he was like a whole other person when his 'captain side' took over. The troopers in the room left as they were told and Esinon remained frozen in place, Jax's eyes went wide as he spotted red stains beginning to cover her fingers. "General, let me see," he said, holding his hand out to her as soon as he was close enough to her. She backed up a step, giving him a fake smile.
"I'm fine," she said quickly, "just tired,"
"Don't, give me your arms," he said sternly, she just stared at his gloved hand. "Esinon, please," the use of her name finally got her attention and she handed over her arms. Jax shook his head, examining the small crescent-shaped marks. They were deep enough that there was blood now staining her fingers and arms, it wasn't anything that bacta couldn't fix but it was too far.
"Jax, what did I do?" Esinon asked, her voice wavering, she sounded like a scared kid that he would meet on sieges after a village had been destroyed and kids were looking for their parents. "I can fix it, I promise. Please, just tell me what I did I can fix, I promise, I'm sorry." Jax stared at her, searching her scared eyes.
"C'mere," he said, pulling her into a tight hug. "Listen to me, you didn't do anything wrong. I don't know why Bo is acting like this, but I'm going to find out," He finally let go of her, "Just go and see Boomer please, alright? I'll come and check on you in a little bit." Esinon conceded with a nod and started out of the training room, as soon as she was out of earshot he pressed his comlink. "Dej, can you make sure General Windcaster makes it to the medbay please?"
"Why? Is she alright?" Dej asked,
"She's gonna be, just needs a bit of bacta. By the way, have you seen Bo?" he asked,
"I saw him go into the locker room in a huff," Dej said, "Is Bo alright?"
"He's fine," Jax said, forcing himself to not let the anger and frustration creep into his voice. "Just need something from his is all,"
"Ok, I'm gonna go find General Windcaster,"
"Thanks vod," Jax said, ending the com call. He headed down to the hallway where he could hear a lot of banging and slamming of lockers. Jax was fuming at this point, what had gotten into Bo? He'd noticed his cold behavior towards General Windcaster for the past few days, but he'd been cold to General Windcaster ever since he met her. He stormed into the locker to find Bo by his locker. Jax slammed the locker shut, he grabbed Bo's blacks and slammed his against the lockers. "What the kriff is wrong with you!" he snarled,
Hey yall! Sorry I'm late, it's been a hectic week.
So I hope you liked this chapter! And I hope the sparring scene was alright, because ya know, fight scenes are hard to write.
the song is I see fire by Ed Sheeran but I listen to the a capella cover by peter hollens to get the effect of this scene.
next up on let's make this canon corner: for spitifre everytime the hyperspace warning alarm goes off Sptifire dances (bases off that one vine lol with the fire alarm bc that was big Spitfire energy) Most of these might turn to vines bc I'm running out of canon corners
Thank you for reading and make sure to leave a review!
