On board 'Brassbound'
"This way Ma'am." The Clone in grey indicated with his hand which corridor to take.
The Venator-class Ship was huge and she was escorted to her quarters, by the silent Clone, saying nothing other than "Yes Ma'am" and "No Ma'am" which appeared to be the norm for him.
Den had done background checks on the Captain and other non clone officers for her; he was human, and apparently well respected by most people who served with him but there were no Jedi on this ship.
Sharing a room was new to her, working on board totally different to what she knew and it made her nervous; she'd not been this nervous since she first opened the door to the Treatment Room.
Her — their quarters were empty when she walked in but she had been given an Itinerary on flimzi.
First was meeting the Chief Medical Officer, Colonel Appree, a well respected officer, who had worked in the Imperial Navy, as a surgeon for nearly thirty years, at 09:00, in the large mess hall. Den was thorough in his intel.
She calculated there was just time to dump her 'stuff' and find her way there; she was not good with these kind of directions. Looking around 'her quarters' there were two of everything and one refresher. She slung her bag on the bunk that did not have a fluffy Lothcat toy on it and headed out.
.
The 'Brassbound' was transporting Medical staff and reinforcements, walking through the corridors that was obvious, as there were clone troopers and others ranks filling the corridors, in what looked an haphazard way. She hoped this meeting would finally shed light on what she would be doing.
Even before she arrived at the meeting room, she heard the buzz of voices from a large number of people, in a confined space; when she finally pushed her way in, she was a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of organics and droids who were crammed into the room. Squeezing herself in at the back, she propped herself against the wall, all the seats being taken. In addition to the droids, there were a number of Clone medics.
This, it appeared, was another sort of experiment, increased numbers of organics, which included experienced Clone medics to back up the med droids, so that more treatment could be carried out in the field.
That's what the Senate blurb had said on her datapad; an idea put forward by the Jedi Council.
Good, in theory. Let's see in practice.
Colonel Appree held a large mug of Caf in one hand and a stylus in the other, using it to make a rapping noise, which somehow managed to get the attention of everyone in the room, causing them to go silent.
"Welcome Aboard everyone. You have now officially reported for duty, so no you can't be AWOL now. Especially as the doors are locked."
There was a ripple of laughter from the front, from some inside joke perhaps.
"At the moment I don't know exactly where we're heading and if I did, some spook would probably have to kill me."
She winced at the word - spook; she knew a few.
He took a drink of Caf and paused before continuing.
"All you need to know is, that what we are doing could shorten the war and reduce casualties all around."
"Grievous!" She heard someone say. Kom'rk immediately sprang to mind; Den had said he was still looking for him.
"Belay that thought." He bellowed. "Nobody knows anything yet and there is to be no speculation. This is a medical mission first and foremost. Got it."
There was more murmuring.
"For the foreseeable future there will be no calls home."
Now there was grumbling.
"Anyone caught trying to make any call off the ship, will be subject to court martial."
Kriff! He's serious.
He took another drink of Caf, although he looked as if he needed something stronger after saying that.
"Right, that's got the bad stuff out of the way. The good stuff now; we have some really experienced, highly talented staff joining us, who will, I am sure, make a significant contribution to the teams and increase our desired outcomes."
He paused and picked up his datapad.
"Welcome aboard!"
He read out a list of doctors and medics names and Ryssa realised hers was on that list. She hadn't really been listening, to the names, after she heard she couldn't make any communications and realised she wouldn't be able to keep in touch with A'den. Thank goodness, it would only be for a few months.
"Now to get the housekeeping out of the way; if you see Lieutenant Naro, he will allocate you to your med bays and teams. This time, before everyone is transferred, will be the time to get to know your colleagues and iron out any problems."
He looked around the room.
"I don't expect there to be any. We are all professionals here. Once you're settled in I'll call in and see everyone."
She could be going anywhere, a Medstar frigate operating near the Outer Rim, a RMSOO and or even Kaliida Shoals, or another Medical Station. But not necessarily staying here.
There was a great deal of shuffling around and true to clone efficiency, Lieutenant Naro, had delegated some of his duties. This led to Ryssa seeing a Clone walking towards her, looking straight at her and smiling. He looked familiar but it wasn't until he got closer, she realised who it was.
"Scratch?"
"That's right Ryssa. Alive and kicking."
"It's good to see someone I know."
She couldn't help it, she dragged him into a quick hug, much to the looks of disgust from some of the Doctors and even Scratch seemed a little tense about that.
"Sorry—but you look good. You keeping well? Have you heard anything from Tod?"
He gave her a big smile.
"I'm good, really good. Tod's on the Negotiator with 212th, in the thick of it, so I don't hear much from him."
"Sargeant Scratch, a moment of your time."
A demanding voice rang out. She looked around for who it belonged to and realised it was the rather grumpy looking clone, Lieutenant Naro, who was holding a pile of datapads, for distribution.
Scratch jogged up to him, took them off him and returned to Ryssa and offered her one.
"Wiped and upgraded with the latest software and spyware." He announced. "It's got all your shifts in it and the medbay you're assigned to plus your droid and any Medics working with you."
He looked around. "I'm with you, when I saw your name on the roster, I fixed it, I've got a friend in planning." He said conspiratorially.
"It'll be good to work with you again. See what ...habits you've picked up. Been promoted as well. Well done!"
"I've got to go now but see you later."
She took her datapad and after being dismissed, headed back to her quarters; if she could remember exactly where they were. It took a little longer with three wrong turns left in stead of right. The corridors all looked the same. Her room mate still wasn't there, so she unpacked and a few casual clothes, nightwear, underwear and toiletries but she'd probably be in her uniform or greens most of the time. She'd also brought her scanner. Then she sat to check her shifts.
"Well, that didn't take long." she said to herself, as she looked again around her quarters. With two sharing it, it was cramped but the one thing it did have in its favour was its own refresher.
Luckily she wasn't on shift till the next day; they would be working a 12 hour day or night shift, four on two off. Or should be unless there was an emergency. All the medbays would be covered at all times.
She was now free so decided to go to the Mess Hall and take up Scratch's invite to eat with him; she checked on the datapad message when and where to meet. Mess Hall Three, so that was where she headed.
After a few false starts, realising it was on a different level, she eventually found her way there; it wasn't too far from her quarters and she could hear the hum of a large number of people from the corridor. She walked through the doors without thinking and was greeted with a deafening silence.
Osik! What have I done?
Looking around the crowded Mess Hall for Scratch, she thought she'd misinterpreted his message, and arrived at the wrong place, then a clone she didn't immediately recognise came up to her.
"Naru, Ma'am. Are you lost?" the background noise started up again.
"Err, I'm not sure, this is for all personnel to use, isn't it?"
"Yes," he replied, "but not many...mon...non-clones use it. Its nearer the Troopers barracks, than the Medics." He very nearly said mongrels, which she was used to hearing from the Commandos and Nulls.
"I thought Sergeant Scratch would be here." She looked around again.
"He's running some scenarios for one of the Doctors then he'll be here." Replied the lieutenant; she got the impression from him that he didn't particularly like her. "Would you like to join me?"
The Lieutenant had his default blank face on, he obviously didn't know her but if Scratch was going to join them later. She wanted to find out what everyone was like; she was sure that Scratch and Naru would be able to get her up to speed. As she queued at the counter, she kept looking back to him but all she could see was the top of his head, as he was studying his datapad. She returned with her food to his table.
"I don't think we've been formally introduced." She said hoping to break the ice more and held out her hand to shake his, as she stood at the table, her tray balanced on one hand. He looked at it, unsure whether to take it or not, so she pushed her hand nearer to him. Eventually, embarrassed, she put her tray down and went to sit.
"Well, shake the ladies hand." she heard the familiar voice say, and knew it was Scratch. She leaned her hand over again. The lieutenant flicked his eyes behind her and she saw the left corner of his mouth turn up momentarily. He stood,
"My apologies." He stretched out his hand; she leaned over and shook it, while Scratch sat next to her.
"All finished and ok?" she asked him by way of small talk.
"Yeah, no problems." He replied and smiled at Naru.
"I got you some food." She said, pushing a plate towards him.
"Thanks."
She turned to look at him and smiled, "You're looking good …...and the promotion suits you." She went quiet for a moment. "You know The Treatment Room is closed for good now."
"Too bad, we had fun didn't we. Tod was brilliant….. and you. You're the reason I'm here." She frowned. "All the clones here, had to have experience of working with non clones. Appree's rule." He laughed softly. "Anyway, this is Naru, my batch mate. We served together when I left Corrie."
"Batch mate?"
"Yes. Decanted at the same time. Live together. Train together. Die…"
"The Captain does not want to hear about that, Scratch."
But she already knew what he was going to say. It never changed.
"It's Ryssa." she added to Naru.
"Yes, Captain."
"So, who were you serving with before?" The question seemed safe enough, without changing the subject too embarrassingly.
The clones gave sidelong glances at each other.
"Krell."
Ryssa swallowed, "I'm sorry." The clones had been dealt a bad enough card without having to serve with that Shabuir.
Ryssa had heard Kal rage about this particular Jedi on a number of occasions, when he had one of his rants about Jedi, after a little too much Tihaar. And the Nulls — if Krell had not been a Jedi he wouldn't be alive now. One of them would have taken him out, Kal would have only had to nod. The Besalisk was the polar opposite of Etain and Jusik, and although he won battles; it was with higher losses than most other Jedi. She wondered why the Jedi Council or Chancellor didn't do anything about him but perhaps they simply didn't care.
"At least you're no longer with him."
They both nodded; she had just noticed they had similar mannerisms. So batch mates like the Nulls and some of the RC Squads. She understood better now. They tucked into their food, which Ryssa thought didn't seem too bad.
"Miss your cookies."
Ryssa giggled and Naru's eyebrows nearly reached his hairline. She wasn't sure what he thought Scratch was talking about.
"Won't be able to make any here and I'd just got the recipes right."
"I'll have to see what I can do." He said conspiratorially and winked.
"Scratch has a knack for being able to "procure" items." The Lieutenant explained, with a frown.
"Oh. That's useful. I'll remember that."
"Don't encourage him. He doesn't need it."
Scratch laughed at his brother, giving him a gentle thump on the arm
After about ten minutes the Lieutenant was called away and she immediately scooted over, nearer to Scratch. "So, spill the beans tell me everything about everyone.
"First the Lieutenant and you what's the story?"
Scratch went very quiet and serious. "No story, just as we said, batch mates with the wrong General. Everyone else is gone."
"I'm sorry. I should have thought that through before saying anything. I'm just so happy to actually see someone I know."
He nodded, then changing the subject. "Tell me all about Corrie, what else happened since I left. How's you know who?"
"I don't know who you mean."
"I wasn't blind. There was another clone you were close with, and it wasn't Tod."
"He's on a mission."
"So both of you kept apart. I'm sorry. Must be difficult."
"It is."
Scratch wasn't entirely sure what to say; he only ever missed his brothers which was bad enough but to actually have someone, who loved you like that he just couldn't imagine. He hoped one day….
"You alright Scratch? You went quiet."
"Bloody hell yes. If you've finished I'll walk you back. Just so you don't get lost."
.
Ryssa returned to her quarters, small as they were and set about reorganising her belongings. She wasn't sure where to put her things for the best. She had never shared a room before, thinking there must be some unspoken rules.
She poked her head in the fresher, it was tiny, at least there were only two of them sharing it; even then only one at a time, hopefully. She lay on the bed that didn't have the cuddly toy Lothcat on it, assuming it belonged to her room mate; although she had been told by Den that they were nasty scratchy, little things. Hissed at you all the time; not cuddly in the least.
Room mate. I've had never had a room mate.
Everything packed away again, she wasn't sure what to do with her toiletries, so lying back, she propped up her pillow and pulled out the datapad to at least try and get up to speed. She struggled to get comfortable, the pillow and mattress were hard; she could really do with another one.
Ryssa was halfway through the information when the door shucked open and in flew a striking woman with black hair, dark skin and a facial bone structure that took your breath away. The woman pulled off her coat and was muttering something when she stopped dead and stared at Ryssa.
"Seen enough?"
"I'm sorry." She shook her head, not realising she was staring; "I'm Ryssa." she pushed herself off the bed to face her.
"Ally, okay. Pleased to meet you."
"Likewise." The woman stared at her, then cocked her head to one side, "Don't use any of my hair stuff. It's on the top shelf."
"Okay, I've bought my own." Ryssa noticed her hair was in tight curls, almost ringlets and was tied back, high on her head, a few strands escaping and falling across her face. It reminded her of A'den's when he came back from missions and he hadn't trimmed it. "Is it special?"
"Yes. And it's hard to get."
"Okay." Ryssa turned back to her datapad; as her room mate headed into the fresher. She let out a long breath through pursed lips.
"And my body lotion. It's there with it." The voice came from the fresher.
"Okay."
This could be a long three months.
"You can use the bottom shelf for your stuff." The voice came from the fresher again.
"Thank you." They were going to be living in close proximity for possibly a long time so needed to get along.
"No probs. Going to get some food now. Any recs?"
"I went to one of the Mess Halls — three. It was fine; I think they all serve the same food and beverages."
"Oki Doke. See you later."
Ally swept out of the room, pulled up her datapad, checked the contents and headed for the nearest Mess Hall.
Karking hell. Trust me to get lumbered with a Corrie princess. Kriff ya' could cut glass with that accent. This is going to be a long tour.
A/N,
I have no idea how this would even work on board a ship. it was never really covered anywhere, except in Medstar Battle Surgeon in Legends and they were on a RIMSOO. So bear with me. Fake medicine as well.
Sued13