"What's wrong with you!" Bo snapped, grabbing Jax's wrist and attempting to push his brother off of him, but it didn't take. Jax slammed Bo against the locker again, pressing his forearm against Bo's collarbone.
"What has gotten into you lately! All you've been is cold to General Windcaster, and I never said you had to like her, but injuring her?"
"She's a Jedi, she's fine," Bo snapped,
"She's human, she can get injured!" Jax exclaimed in exasperation, "You have to remember you're bigger than her, you could have seriously injured her. You are kriffing lucky that it's not worse than it already is. Show a little restraint here Bo,"
"She wouldn't hold back with me," he said, "She's a Jedi, Jedi don't hold back,"
"She used the force twice! And it was when you were gonna hurt her!" Jax shouted,
"They hurt me first!" Bo shouted, Jax backed off for a second.
"What?" he asked quietly, Bo stared at him for a moment,
"It's nothing," he said, pushing Jax off of him and trying to collect his stuff and leave.
"Come on Bo, don't do this, please talk to me." Jax pleaded, "I know it's been hard for you coming back to having us, but please don't just shut us out again."
"I said I don't want to talk about it," Bo said, stuffing his towel back in his locker and starting to put on his armor.
"Bo," Jax said sternly, "You need to tell me if this is going to be a continued issue with General Windcaster. I can't risk you hurting her again if there's something that can be dealt with." Bo snapped his armor into place, ignoring Jax. "Bo," Jax said, his tone softening. He took a knee in front of his brother, "Please tell me, you're miserable and angry all the time, and if there is something that I can do to help, I'll do it but you have to tell me." he pleaded, Bo let out a harsh breath, his fingers tracing over his scars. "What happened?"
"It's… I-" Bo began shakily,
"Is it something to do with your scars?" Jax asked, Bo nodded weakly, his anger finally starting to melt away.
"A… a Jedi did this to me," he said quietly, "He killed hundreds of brothers, thousands maybe I don't know. It was… Umbara. His name was Krell and he took over for General Skywalker halfway through the siege. At first, I thought Krell was simply strict because I was used to having more freedom as an ARC and General Skywalker trusted me. But then the plans started becoming more flawed, and suicidal, more and more of us dying and wounded. Kix ran out of supplies and wasn't able to tend to the wounded, we had to leave so many behind." Bo's voice wavered as he pinched the bridge of his nose and took a shaky deep breath. "Krell betrayed us, he betrayed all of us and slaughtered so many. But before that he had to make sure we felt inferior, he only called us by our numbers and for a while, I forgot what my own name sounded like. Then… it happened. Krell turned us against a platoon from the 212th under the ruse that the enemy had seized weapons and armor, and… we killed our own," Jax stared at the floor, his hand clenching over Bo's knee as he could feel Bo shaking under his grip. "Rex then decided that it was time to remove Krell from command, but it cost us, he killed and taunted… and I got too close." Jax glanced up at Bo's face, ragged scars covering his right cheek. Jax had always assumed that Bo had gotten into some sort of tussle with an animal and had never bothered to ask where the scars had come from. "I thought I had the jump on him, but... he slashed me with his claws. Kix said I was lucky to have survived the encounter," Jax sat up a little bit and pulled his older brother into a hug, holding him tight.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, Bo buried his head into Jax's shoulder, gripping his brother tightly.
"I-I can't trust Jedi anymore, I can't do it, they'll hurt us. She'll hurt us, she'll kill us and she has, she led you there! We can't trust her," Bo said his voice rising, Jax started gently running his fingers through Bo's hair,
"Shh," he murmured, "It's alright it's gonna be ok,"
"No, no it's not," Bo said, pulling away, "We can't trust her, ever. It's just a matter of time before she kills all of us!" Jax grabbed onto Bo's shoulder,
"Bo, look at me." Jax said, "I was in there with General Windcaster, she did not know what was about to happen, but she saved many of us. She isn't what you think she is, she's not going to hurt you. I promise."
"You can't," he whispered weakly, "I can't lose you to her,"
"You're not going to," he said softly, he gently pressed his forehead to Bo's, and he could feel Bo squeezing his forearm tightly, "you are not going to lose me to General Windcaster,"
"Please don't say that you don't know, I thought a Jedi would never but then he did." Bo pleaded,
"Shh," Jax murmured, "Take a deep breath please, it's going to be alright," Bo let out a feeble whimper,
"I can't trust her, she'll hurt us, "Jax knew that there wasn't a way to calm down Bo at this point, and with this new information he knew that it would take a long time for Bo to ever trust Esinon. All he could see was her lightsaber and the fact that she was Jedi, not the person she was underneath.
General Windcaster had gone to the medbay like she'd been told and Dej was standing in the doorway making sure that she stayed there as Jax had asked. He was curious as to why she would have to go to the medbay after a spar, must've been a heck of spar if she needed in the medbay.
Boomer shifted out of the way of Dej's eye line and he was finally able to get a look at General Windcaster, there was blood drying on her forearms from small crescent-shaped scratches on her arms.
He rose a little more curious as to what had happened, Boomer grabbed a towel and started cleaning the wounds and Dej was close enough to hear what they were saying to one another.
"So do you wanna tell me how this happened?" Boomer asked, inspecting the scratches as he cleared the excess blood on her arms. Esinon opened her mouth as if she was to say something but nothing came out, she just stared up at her medic with pleading eyes so that her medic wouldn't question her any further. "Ok, we'll talk about it a little later," Esinon nodded as Boomer applied bacta and wrapping bandages around her forearms. "I want you to take these, and go to your quarters to sleep. Take this too, I don't want you getting cold," he said, giving her an extra blanket and two white pills. She knocked the pills back dry and Boomer grumbled to himself handing her some water. "You really have to quit doing that," she offered him a small smile as she got off the bed and headed out of the medbay,
"Thank you, Boomer," she said softly, the medic nodded. She gave Dej a tired nod as she walked past as he offered her a salute. Whatever had happened had clearly taken an emotional toll on her, he wondered if he could ask Jax what had happened because he had most likely been there. He was simply worried about her, it wasn't often she looked like that, the only other time he'd ever seen that kind of emotional exhaustion from her after their most recent battle. He pressed his comlink and called Jax, the comlink blinked but no connection was ever made, he frowned. It was unlike Jax to not answer so he tried again, still nothing. Maybe he was still with Bo, so Dej headed in the direction of the locker rooms. He pushed open the door,
"Bo, Jax!" he called,
"We're over here Dej," Jax responded, Dej followed the sound of his brothers' voices and found Bo sitting on a bench, a fist pressed to his forehead and Jax on a knee in front of him.
"Are you guys ok?" Dej asked tentatively, Bo let out a harsh breath,
"I thought I should wait for Spitfire to do this, but… I don't when he's gonna wake up. Why don't you go get Glitch," Bo said, Dej nodded and turned to go find his brother. They both returned a few minutes later and Jax motioned for them to sit,
"Bo, what's going on?" Glitch asked,
"Yeah, I wanted to know what happened to General Windcaster, but now I'm getting worried about the both of you," Dej said, crossing his arms over his chest. He wasn't really appreciating how cryptic his brothers were being,
"Just… listen please," Bo said, "If you're wondering what happened to General Windcaster, I injured her in anger," Dej opened his mouth to say something but nothing did. How could he? "I know… but I-"
"Bo had his reason, and we're not excusing the fact that he did it, but it's not going to happen again." Jax said, "But Bo is going to explain why the incident happened in the first place." Bo once again explained the proceedings of Umbara and how it had now misplaced his trust in Jedi forever, he still couldn't look General Skywalker in the eye.
Bo had wondered if it was partly why his General had transferred him shortly after the Zygerria mission. Bo had liked General Skywalker, but he hadn't thought Jedi were capable of what Krell had done.
That had brought him to the realization that any and all Jedi could come to that, would come to that. Whatever Krell had claimed he saw before Dogma killed him, other Jedi could too and it would be the same story all over again.
His brothers dying… and for what? He finally finished and searched his two brothers, trying to gauge some sort of reaction. Dej had gone stone still, his jaw clenched and his fists in tight balls on his lap. Glitch was simply staring at the ground,
"Why… why would a Jedi do something like that?" Glitch asked quietly after a moment. Bo let out a sigh, dragging his hands down his face.
"I don't know," he said, "Krell said something about having a vision of the Republic losing the war and thought that if he caused the Republic to lose Umbara that Dooku would take him on as an apprentice and he would be safe I guess."
"Do you…"
"No," Bo said firmly, he couldn't think of a good reason for him to promise that the Republic would win the war, he just wanted to comfort his brother. He glanced at Dej who was still staring at the floor, "Dej… are you…" he trailed off, Dej didn't look ok, but he had no idea what was running through his brother's mind, he rarely did with Dej.
"I… I don't understand," he said after a small pause. His brow furrowed in concentration as his jaw finally unclenched. "We…. General…"
"I know it's hard to understand," Jax said, reaching out to grab Dej's hand but Dej pulled away.
"I… I want to go think, alone, for a little while," he said, slowly standing to his feet. Jax nodded,
"You can come talk to us when you're ready," he said, Dej nodded and left the room.
"You think he'll be ok?" Bo asked, Glitch glanced up from the ground.
"This is going to… throw a lot of his thinking complex I guess," he said slowly, "He really trusts Jedi and their judgment. I think he'll try to find some way to justify it," Bo's fist clenched,
"There is no justifying it," he snapped, "Not after what Krell did to me, and our brothers. He killed thousands!" Jax put a hand on Bo's knee,
"Take a deep breath," he said,
"It's the way Dej was trained," Glitch said, "He… General Unduli reinforced his good soldier complex. This is going to set his head for a loop because he does not exactly understand why a Jedi would do this. Just give him time Bo," Bo stared at the ground for a moment,
"I'll go talk to him later," Bo said,
"You need to talk to General Windcaster," Glitch said, "I will talk to Dej, I know him best."
"I'm not going to talk to General Windcaster," Bo huffed, Glitch titled his head incredulously,
"She needs to know why, her brain is going to go insane with anxious thoughts about what she did to make you do that," Jax said, "She already is, you really need to talk to her, I'm sure she'll understand."
"She won't," Bo said, he got up and put on the rest of his armor in silence and left the room. Jax didn't stop him and instead decided to give his brother time to process. Glitch let out a small sigh,
"Someone should probably go and check on General Windcaster if she's awake." Glitch said after a moment of silence,
"I'll go check on her, just be ready for Dej whenever he decides to reemerge," Jax said, Glitch nodded, standing up slowly. Jax did the same, he pulled his brother into a tight hug, "It's been a long day," Jax murmured, Glitch chuckled,
"And we didn't even have a battle,"
"Well… this is a battle of some sort," Jax said as they released. Glitch gave a bitter chuckle,
"I'm going to find Dej, I'll see you tonight brother," he said, Jax nodded as Glitch walked out of the room. Jax took a deep breath and headed towards General Windcaster's quarters and knocked on the door.
"Come in," she called, the door slid open and he peeked inside. Esinon was sitting on a meditation cushion in the corner of her room with her legs crossed and her hands opened on her lap. There were a few candles flickering in the room and her quarters looked far cozier than any of the barracks did.
"Sorry, I can come back later," Jax said, already backtracking, Esinon opened her eyes.
"No you're fine," she said with a soft smile, "I was just finishing up anyway,"
"You seem better," he said, Esinon nodded,
"I've found a lot of clarity," she said, motioning for him to sit in the chair by her desk. "And if you're here to talk to me about what Bo did, I don't need you to explain,"
"I really feel like you deserve an explanation though sir," Jax said, subtly glancing at her bandaged arms.
"But I've found one," she said, "As you know I'm not like normal Jedi and I also have a different code, and I realize what was wrong with Bo. Power blinds without the serenity to see, like me, Bo is struggling to find balance because of something and I just happened to be the person that he took it out on. It's really alright," Jax stared at the floor,
"Do you think there is a way for Bo to find the serenity you're talking about?" he asked, Esinon hummed,
"Well, most likely it comes from something that happened. I've had the same issue, it's like when I got shot on Ryloth. Jayla struck a nerve associating with a… difficult memory, and my serenity was blinded. Bo needs to start working through whatever happened," Esinon secretly felt guilty for giving such advice to Jax when she had yet to deal with any of her own trauma. She didn't know how to find serenity, she mostly stuffed the memories away or in vain tried to release them. "I would suggest trying to get him to talk to someone about it because while I can release mine into the force it's a little harder for him to do it since he has no connection to it."
"Bo's not good at talking," Jax muttered,
"I'm not either," she chuckled, "I would suggest he go see Heart, but… he might not like Heart's methods," Jax raised and eyebrow, he knew that the younger medic offered counseling for anyone who needed it and Jax had heard he was extremely good at it but what did General Windcaster mean? "Just trust me, I don't want to spoil the surprise," She said with a coy smile, Jax chuckled,
"So you're sure you're alright?" Esinon nodded,
"Yes, I'm perfectly fine," she said, that encounter with Bo had rattled her more than she'd like to admit. Too many nightmares from Umbara of clones attacking her for her failure, it was too remnant of that and she'd fallen apart. Jax nodded and rose from his seat,
"Thank you, General, I'm going to go get some work done," he said, he headed out the door, "com me if you need anything," Esinon nodded as the door closed behind him. She took a deep breath, reopening her hands on her lap.
"Power blinds without the serenity to see," she murmured, reclosing her eyes and falling back into a meditative state.
Dej had been studying the floor for a while, his mind rushing at a million miles an hour. He'd found a quiet supply closet to sit in to be alone, it was comforting almost. In the small space, he wondered if this is how Jax felt when he got anxious and stole all of their pillows to create a smaller space on his bunk. He was always confused by that coping mechanism of his brother's, he thought Jax would get claustrophobic from the confined space but he never did.
He pulled his knees up to his chest as he traced the crevices between the floor panels, able to hear the subtle hum of the engine from here. He took a deep breath still trying to process everything Bo had told him.
It was insane really, he'd never heard of anything like this before. Then his memory sparked, General Windcaster had mentioned someone named Krell under the same pretenses. How could a Jedi do that? He felt sick, someone toying with their lives like that made him nauseous. Didn't they know that the clones were people too?
They were good soldiers, and followed orders, why would Krell betray them? He didn't understand Jedi, their powers, how their minds even worked, but any good and decent person should still treat them as people.
He could stand superior officers yelling at him, using him as an emotional punching bag, even calling him by his number if they so well pleased because they were in charge, but they shouldn't kill a clone because they could.
Enough brothers would have died in the Umbara siege on its own but with reckless plans and sabotage, Bo's claim of thousands was probably not far off. He let out a harsh breath, pressing his fists to his forehead. He heard the door whoosh open and his heart dropped for a minute, realizing how awkward it was going to be if a brother-
"You still thinking?" Glitch asked, closing the door behind him and sitting down in front of Dej. Glitch didn't get close enough to touch his brother, knowing that Dej wasn't much one for touching when he wanted comfort. Sitting with him was better. Dej nodded slowly,
"I guess so," he muttered, Glitch stared at the floor for a minute,
"Do you… wanna talk about it?" he asked,
"I guess I've thought about everything there is to talk about," Dej said, Glitch cocked his head annoyedly,
"But it's not good to internalize it," Glitch said, "and we have plenty of time, so tell me what's going through your mind." Dej sighed,
"It's already happened, and there isn't anything I can do about it, but I still want to change it. Like maybe if we hadn't all been separated then maybe we could have done something, and Bo wouldn't be like this," Bo just seemed so… broken. What Krell had done to Bo had left him scarred, physically and emotionally. In that locker room, Dej hadn't seen his fearsome Commander, he'd seen his scared brother who had climbed into their sleeping pods when he couldn't sleep. "Do you think… Bo will always be like this?" Glitch glanced back down at the floor for a moment before letting out a small breath,
"I don't know, Bo's not good at talking. So I don't know if he'll ever be able to open up more about this to us than he already has. He seemed… off." He looked back up at Dej and could still see his brother's brow furrowed. "But there's something else, what is it?"
"What if this becomes not an isolated incident anymore if Bo keeps hurting General Windcaster when he's angry… he could be reconditioned," Dej said quietly, Glitch swallowed hard.
"It's… it's not gonna happen again. We'll all help Bo, and make sure to be watching him, see when he's getting too angry." Glitch said, Dej wasn't convinced, but he wanted to keep both his General and his brother safe, so he was willing to try. Knowing that Glitch was running out of things to say, he nodded and got to his feet, pulling Glitch upward.
"Let's go see if we can find Jax," he said, Glitch nodded, giving Dej's hand a quick squeeze before they both headed out of the supply closet to find their brother.
A few hours later, in the medbay…
Heart was busy checking monitors in Spitfire's room, nothing had changed in about a week. Spitfire was stable, he just needed time to heal. That's what he and Boomer had been telling General Windcaster, Dej, Glitch, Jax, and Bo for the past week.
Heart understood being worried, most of them had probably never encountered someone in a coma, he just needed to be reassuring.
Heart heard something clunk behind him, he turned around to see Spitfire's face turning an unnatural color of red, Heart's brow furrowed and he jumped back as Spitfire seized,
"Boomer!" Heart yelled, something was very, very wrong.
Hey y'all!
Eagles eyes98 I hope I did alright with Dej, I tried to work off what notes I had.
Next up on let's make this canon corner: Spitfire in the front of the ship driving: ONE LAST TIME! I NEED TO BE, THE ONE WHO TAKES YOU HOME! *Bo slowly pulling out a blaster* *Dej pushing the blaster back down without looking at Bo*
Thank you for reading and make sure to leave a review!
