Chapter Thirty Nine

Coruscant

"You're back!" Tod's voice echoed around the almost empty med bay, as he turned and strode towards her. He stopped, a good metre away. "You okay? You don't look so good. A'den's okay isn't he? Not had a relapse?"

"He's fine. He's resting. Even out of Bacta."

"Good." He breathed out. "So what's the matter. You look like Osik—Ah. You stayed there all night." He wandered over to the Caf machine, "I'll make it GAR strength." He joked. The expected smile never came.

"Thanks."

He knew her well enough now and from the way she spoke, there was something else on her mind. He pushed the Caf in her hand, wrapping her fingers around it for her.

"So, what's wrong?"

"I've lost the place to retake my exams to be re-registered as a Doctor."

They'd already had this discussion several times and given what she, what they all did here, he could not understand the bureaucracy surrounding this re – registration process.

"The time I spent with A'den, means I was absent and I no longer qualify for the scholarship and I don't have the money to pay for it myself."

"The GAR…."

"Won't pay."

"Do you regret the time with…."

"Never. Just pissed off with Republican bureaucracy." She replied vehemently.

The more Tod heard about how the Republic worked made him question why he was here…..sometimes. He was loyal. His brothers were out there fighting, so that Republic civilians didn't have to. It was what they were born for and trained for. But sometimes, just occasionally, he wanted it recognising. A few did, but not many.

"Kriffing datapad pushing Nerf herders." He cursed before finally putting his arm around her. "Come on, it's a full day and you need that Caf and a breakfast muffin."

She blinked at him. "I didn't bring anything."

"Kal sent them over. And we have a shiny new medic from 212th coming in today."

"The 212th are in town?"

"Yep, for a few days."

"I'm surprised you aren't worse for wear yourself."

"Tonight."

"Ah. No 501st?"

"No, it's bad enough with my old vode."

"Old vode?"

"I've been posted here. Permanently. Well, as permanent as the GAR ever is." He didn't sound overly happy with it.

"That's the best news I've heard since yesterday." Ryssa perked up. "What's the shiny's name?

"Scratch".

"So, do we have to get him up to scratch?" She just couldn't resist.

"I just knew you were going to say that."

"Does he get it a lot?"

"Yeah."

"I'm going to have to stop myself." She finally sipped the Caf.

"Scratch that."

"What?"

"We're both going to have to watch our Ps and Qs, or scratches."

"Come on." He pulled the chair out, she slumped in it and the treatment room was quiet again.

.

CT 1660 Clone Medic, known as Scratch to his brothers, was almost jogging along the route through Army Med that he had been given. He wasn't sure now that he was even going in the right direction, so he was over compensating. It wouldn't do to be late. He realised he had never actually left the GAR Barracks but then all the buildings merged together and this looked like one of the older buildings that they had built onto. He turned a corner.

"Ah!" He exclaimed to himself, as he saw the door at the end of the corridor. It was a bit out of the way but this was definitely the place. It announced itself on the door, The Treatment Room. He had heard rumours from his brothers; a female civvy ran it. "We'll see how they match up to GAR property." He muttered to himself. He hesitated as he pushed the old fashioned door ajar, his hand remaining on the handle as he heard two voices. A female giggling and a brother's laughter, very similar to his own.

"Thank you Tod, you always make me feel much better."

Scratch couldn't think what his brother had done to get that response from a civilian but he opened the door despite his uncertainty.

"CT1660 reporting for duty as ordered." His salute as crisp as they come. Even though she was not a brother, and had never seen action, technically she was his superior and he wasn't going to be slapdash with the regs, even if some of his brothers were.

He waited for the response.

The civilian looked at him, eyebrows pulled down in a frown. Then looked at his vod, who gave her a funny look and nod.

"Oh, sorry. At ease trooper. I apologise, I'm not very good at all the GAR protocol, am I Tod?"

His Vod grinned and moved towards him. "She isn't but that doesn't mean you don't work hard, especially if the 501st or 212th are in town, not always battle injuries, either, eh Ryssa?" His Vod nudged the small pale haired superior next to him. They certainly had a 'relaxed' attitude.

She held out her hand towards him, now he looked at her with a frown on his face.

"Shake it Vod, it's what civilian's do."

He pushed his hand forward and she grabbed it, shook twice and released it. He was surprised at her strong grip.

"Ma'am." He addressed her and heard a snort from his Vod.

"I don't do that either."

His jaw dropped slightly..

"I don't do Ma'am." She explained. "My name's Ryssa, what's yours?"

He noticed the quick glance to his Vod as she said this; he had a feeling there was something between these two.

"N.. n.. name, Ma'am?"

"Yes name, you do have one don't you?" Knowing full well that he did, as she walked over to the Caf machine and made one whilst waiting for him to answer. She just wanted him to be the one to tell her. "I don't do numbers and CT 's and CC's, always get them mixed up." She came back with the mug of Caf and handed it to him, waiting. He had never met a civilian before and he had found the few natborns who he had met in the navy bad enough but this seemed a step too far.

"You do have a name?" She sounded worried when she asked that and he felt his Vod move next to him.

"It's okay. She knows a lot of vode, you wouldn't believe it. Kix, Coric, some ARC's and Captain Rex. She uses their names all the time." It was a bit of a stretch for Tod because she also used people's ranks as well.

Still unsure he finally replied, "Scratch, Ma'am." He noticed one blond eyebrow raised, "…..Ryssa." He finally finished.

"Good, now we've got that out of the way. You can stow your things in the locker and Tod can give you a tour of our facilities. I just need to check a couple of things up."

Scratch almost saluted and then thought better of it, following Tod as he pointed out all the different equipment they had, the types of injuries that they dealt with and the protocols they followed. He desperately wanted to ask him about Ryssa. She was different to anybody else he had seen. He had never been near any superior officers above his Captain and never seen a Jedi, up close anyway and as for a female. Well, he had heard some of the older vode talk about them but it was as if they were an alien species, like Trandoshans. And she was definitely not a Trandoshan.

"Hungry?"

Scratch heard his vode that time even though he had tuned out before into his own thoughts he would have to be careful not to do that; he had got into enough trouble on Kamino, he didn't want to mess up now. His stomach growled in response and Tod offered him a couple of breakfast muffins, and chomped on one himself.

"You've landed on your feet here shiny; you'll get a good grounding in other treatments not just battlefield medicine. It'll give you chance to consolidate what you learned on Kamino because I know you're not ten years old yet. How old are you?"

"Just over nine."

Tod sighed. They were coming out younger and younger; he was glad that he had fed back to the Commander about giving the later ones some extra time training, anything would help. It may only be a couple of weeks but it was better than any thing. It helped him and he was fully ten years old when he came out. He suddenly felt very old; he was coming up for eleven.

"Make the most of it. I know you're itching to join your brothers on the battlefield but you'll be a better medic for these couple of weeks and you'll save more of them. Trust me I know."

Tod finished munching on his muffin and found the old cookies. They were't stale so they shared the last few.

.

Ryssa tried again but there was just no answer from Brud; she had thought it was her, inputting the code, she just couldn't stop her hands shaking. When she did it felt as if her whole body was shaking. She hadn't felt like this since, the planet with her Mother and more recently the Beast. Shaking the new boys hand had taken all her willpower and she was sure Tod had noticed. She just didn't have time to go into shock.

"You need to keep warm and rest."

Her head jerked up she hadn't seen or heard him enter, she was so engrossed in her thoughts.

"I don't have time."

"You can't keep ignoring it." Stepping closer he continued. "What's so urgent?"

"Brud. I can't get hold of him. I need to check on him, thank him, make sure he's okay."

She wanted, no needed to go and see him; It would have been a big thing for him to venture out like he did, even though he seemed to cope well with it all. She was just worried that he wasn't answering neither was his droid. Brud was never one for answering his Com. He had never replied to any of her texts either. But his droid did.

"You really are worried about him."

She nodded, Tod was her rock now and she would not be without him, although she knew he would get itchy feet eventually and request to be transferred back to the frontlines. It was in his nature. It was in all their natures.

"I've tried three times. Still no answer."

"Is that unusual?"

"The droid us usually answers immediately and let's me know how he is but there's no answer from either of them." She sighed. "I am very worried especially after the last few days."

"Hnnn." Tod didn't quite growl, "Yeah, difficult few days is an understatement, which is why you need to rest. But if you're that worried."

"I am."

"We could go and check on him at the end of the shift, get some take out. I'll show Scratch 79's tomorrow night."

"Oh Tod, thank you. That would help." Somehow she just felt better knowing, she could check on Brud and Tod would have her back.

Air taxi was the quickest way there but even then it dropped them at the Take out, they picked up their order and walked the rest of the way. Ryssa shivered, until she felt a small prick in her neck.

"What the—"

"Stim — small one; it'll help you for a while." He didn't hear her reply but thought it wasn't complementary. A couple of minutes later and they were there.

Tod looked at the building. It was old, not like the area near the Barracks. He hadn't been out this far before.

"This is all one dwelling?"

"Yes. They.. his family.. used to own the whole block, when I was younger. They were what was classed as 'old money' not sure why they let me even play with Brud but they did. Somehow they liked my Mother. I was surprised that Brud kept it but then he never liked change."

All these concepts went over Tod's head; he understood the language okay but couldn't relate to them. Even the not liking change. You just adapted; he did, his brothers did, continually. He said nothing.

The door looked odd, an old wooden one he thought, even older than the Treatment Room and at the side a Gatekeeper droid. Ryssa looked straight at it but nothing happened. He bent over and looked in. Still nothing. He put his hand in. It had been in worst places. No movement at at all, he grabbed and pulled, it all came out, stalk and all. It wasn't linked up. He turned, to find Ryssa looking even more worried. This day was not getting any better for her.

Ryssa gently pushed at the door; it gave, opening up. She pushed further and they were inside. It was dark outside and no automatics lights inside.

"Lights!" He instructed. Nothing. It was worth a try.

He switched on his helmet light, moving it up and down the corridor. It was dirty, and not lived in, unless you didn't clean.

"Here, use this." He handed Ryssa his spare torch.

"This..isn't right. The last time I came his personal droid met me and all this was lit and clean. If Brud was here the droid just would not let this happen. His programming would just ensure that everything was done. It was his job to look after Brud."

"What's there?" Tod pointed through to the door at the end. He could see into the rooms either side, they were empty.

"His lab, he tended to spend most of his time there, with his experiments and super computer." The droid looked after him and everything else.

Ryssa went to push the door.

"No let me!" Tod was having a bad feeling about all this and Ryssa looked scared, if something had happened to her friend. Tod hadn't spent much time with him but he had seemed an odd sort of Vod, but he helped A'den, cured him when no one else could and that's all they seemed to care about except Ryssa. She had known him since they were younglings. He remembered when Brud had first come to the Medcenter he said it was because he felt that Ryssa was upset; they had some kind of bond. He undid his blaster and primed it, then pushed. It was a heavy door and resisted at first, so he pushed harder and finally it gave, as they entered the room, he felt Ryssa's hand resting on his back. Still no lights. He pushed his headlight up a few lumens and scanned the room.

"What?"

Ryssa was shocked again, this room was empty.

"This is not right." She moved around the room.

"His bed was there." Pointing to the corner, " His desk and computer over there, a tank full of his tardigrades over there, other experiments all around."

She stood, shocked.

"He wouldn't just leave."

"I'll find some lights and we'll have a good look and I'll do a scan with my HUD."

At the end of their search it was clear that the building had been emptied, even the rooms that Brud didn't use but Ryssa remembered having had old furniture in them.

"I can't just leave it like this. I need to report it to someone, people just don't disappear. What if he's been kidnapped?."

Tod could argue against that, as some of his brothers just disappeared never to be seen again but that was in battle.

"But to who, not the Guard it's not their jurisdiction, I don't think."

"CSF—Coruscant Security Force."

"Ah."

.

The CSF officer on the front desk obviously didn't believe Ryssa, but she kept giving Tod appreciative glances. He wasn't sure why, there were thousands like him but all she kept saying was that Brud was an adult and as there was no evidence of obvious foul play, so they couldn't do anything. She didn't accept an empty house as foul play as 'people moved all the time'. Ryssa had said he wasn't like other adults, he had some problems but it still didn't get them anywhere. Tod believed Ryssa, if she said he was gone and everything had changed, he believed her.

"I want to speak to your Superior, no not just your superior, whoever's in charge, and now."

The officer looked as if she was going to argue and heads had turned in their direction. Tod wasn't really listening to the officer, who was just trying to placate an increasingly angry Ryssa, whose voice was getting louder and more strident, as she was trying to put her point of view across. Something had obviously been said, as an older man with an air of authority came out of a back office. He approached the front desk, with an air of authority. Tod watched the other officers eyes follow him as if it wasn't something he did everyday, even if there was a loud woman at the front desk

"Good Evening, is there a problem?"

"Too right there's a problem."

"This… this.."

"Officer?" The man in charge was trying to be helpful but Ryssa just glared at him.

"Officer," she finally spat out, "is not listening to me."

The man indicated that they should follow him, "This way." He nodded to the officer on the front desk, indicating he was taking over. Tod was not sure how often this actually happened, as they were being watched closely. His officers obviously liked their boss.

"Take a seat." They sat in the proffered chairs. "Caf?" Ryssa shook her head. He pulled out a box of cookies and offered them to Tod. " I know our boys in white have a sweet tooth."

Tod took a few, he wasn't going to refuse food; that was inbuilt. He watched the man closely as he spoke to Ryssa. He was either really going to look into this or…..and hoped he was wrong here. He was a very, very good actor.

Jaller Obriim, he had actually given them his name and card was going to take this on board. Tod believed him and so did Ryssa. He actually shook both their hands when they left, after telling the a story about a Republic Commando, who saved his people's lives by throwing themselves on a bomb.

Those Commando's were bonkers.

Jaller watched the clone and the young woman leave before flipping open his private Com and activating the encrypted number he had been given, 'in case we can be of further help to each other.' The Sergeant had said.

"Yes?"

"Skirata?" He asked, although he already recognised the voice, "Obrim here. There's a problem you may be interested in."