Two years ago…
"Deova! DEOVA!"
Eila was startled by the sudden shouting as she immediately scrambled to get up from the trench she had been sleeping in. Still somewhat dazed, she slowly recognized the Besalisk Jedi standing before her. Snapping out of her haze, she tried to speak without yawning, "M—Master, what are your orders?"
Her Master, Pong Krell seemed to sneer at her supposed sloppiness to his calling. "Prepare to have the men move on the double! We're going to attack the Separatist stronghold again." He ordered.
"Yes, Master." She responded. She eventually turned to some of the clones who were still sleeping in the trench she was in though a few were also awake because of Krell's shouting. She walked over to Wrench who was still sleeping and shook him a bit.
"C—Commander?" Wrench said waking up.
"Let's go, CC-1221. The General has ordered an attack on the Separatist stronghold."
"It's Wrench ma'am, but shouldn't we do a bit of recon before attacking? Those turbolaser batteries ate up the few remaining AT-TEs we had the other day."
Ignoring his name, Eila sighed with a hint of frustration, "1221, the General has ordered an attack, so we attack."
Wrench would return the sigh with clear frustration as he complied with the order. "Well, that was a well earned three hours of sleep." He muttered with sarcasm.
Ultimately, their campaign on Devaron to permanently purge the Separatist presence had been going poorly in the opinion of the clones. The Grand Army had been sent as the Separatists invaded the planet in an attempt to sack the Temple of Eedit since it was not only a temple for the Jedi, but it doubled as a surveillance post for the entire sector. Its sacking would mean valuable intelligence being lost on Separatist movements in the sector and be a blow to the Jedi since the temple was built on a powerful vergence in the Force. After a few months of fighting, the Separatists had only one stronghold left but it was the first stronghold they established when they invaded the planet in the beginning so it was more heavily protected than the other bases that had been destroyed.
Over the entire course of the campaign, Krell's singular strategy was to simply throw men and material at the Separatists. This strategy had worked on the other bases because they lacked turbolaser batteries to deal with tanks but scores of clones were still killed in the process. Now, with the turbolasers on this final base, they were not only losing tanks but they were losing men faster than they could be replaced with new troopers. The base also had a shield that protected it from orbital bombardment which further made Krell's strategy even more costly. Wrench had been continually suggesting that they conduct recon missions around the stronghold to see if there was a weakness to the shield or a blind spot with the turbolasers. But, Krell had likewise continually shot down the suggestions and Eila simply agreed with her Master.
At this early point in the war, Wrench not only grew to hate Krell but had a poor opinion of Eila as well, seeing her as a yes-man to Krell's terrible strategies. Eila, like her Master, also felt that the clones weren't as effective as the Jedi Order and Galactic Senate had advertised them to be. Unfortunately, Eila's views of the clones at this point would be reinforced as some clones had openly questioned Krell's tactics; something the Order and Senate had advertised wouldn't happen since the clones were supposed to be obedient to all commands. They were after all; property, not individuals with rights to complain. The disobedient clones were dealt with harshly by Krell with even some being openly and publicly executed. It would be around this point that Eila would hear from her Master the statement that, 'Some clones are just defective'. Not knowing any better, she agreed. Still, she felt that the clones shouldn't be wasted needlessly if it can be helped but her Master's orders always took precedent to her own concerns.
Marshaling the troopers, Wrench finished adjusting his Phase I armor and approached Eila to plead his case again. "Commander, request a recon—"
"Enough, 1221." Eila interrupted, "The General has given his order. Move out!"
"Sir, yes sir." He bitterly responded.
Soon enough, Wrench and the men were again charging towards the batteries and were predictably getting mowed down. They only had three tanks left when the attack started with eight. The three tanks quickly dwindled to two as the batteries penetrated the armor of one of them and caused the tank to explode in shower of mangled parts. Wrench ducked into a pile of debris that Eila had likewise taken cover behind. The one thing Wrench at least appreciated about Eila was that she went with the clones into battle unlike Krell who stayed well in the back claiming to wanting to see 'the bigger picture'.
"Commander, this just another repeat of yesterday! Do you have any other plans?!" Wrench yelled to her.
Eila scrambled to think of an alternative. Krell had further elaborated on his plan to her before the battle started to charge the guns because the tanks would draw their fire as they approached the shield in which they were to use droid poppers to temporarily disrupt the shield to get in. Unfortunately, the tanks went down too quickly and the men were no longer getting any closer. The last two tanks shortly fell while Eila had not thought of another plan. Not progressing any further, she called up Krell.
"Master, the tanks have been destroyed! We're pinned down!"
"You will continue the advance! Do you hear me?!" Krell immediately cut the line.
Wrench spoke up, "Commander, we can't advance any further! We should pull back and reassess!"
Seeing no other choice because Krell said so, Eila told Wrench, "No, 1221! We have to press on!" Standing up, she did her best to deflect incoming fire. "Get behind me!" She called.
Scowling with disapproval but ultimately not wanting to disobey, Wrench and a squad who had managed to duck in with them, took cover behind her. They slowly made their way towards the shield wall. Despite being an inviting target, the droids didn't concentrate on Eila as there were still plenty of unprotected clones to shoot. Finally making it to the wall and below the droids arc of fire, the clones pulled out droid poppers to disrupt the shield. The poppers did the job for a little while. The shield would open up but would close too fast for someone to get through. They tried it a few more times but the results were the same.
"We're down to two more poppers, Commander. The poppers just aren't strong enough and the effect not lasting long enough for us to get through. We need something stronger to breach the shield or something to amplify the poppers." Wrench explained.
Thinking about what to do again, Eila would find herself looking at her lightsaber and thinking about Wrench mentioning about amplifying the poppers.
"We'll try this." She said as she began to open up her lightsaber. Once the internal circuitry and kyber crystal were exposed, Wrench questioned what he was seeing.
"This 1221, is the heart of a Jedi's weapon. Kyber crystals amplify energy." Eila said as she tinkered with the internal circuitry.
Catching on quickly, Wrench completed what Eila intended to do, "And you want to use it to enhance our poppers and disrupt the shield for a longer period."
"Exactly." She said while the last remaining poppers were handed to her. Once she had them, she sighed as she was about to do something really dangerous. "I'm going to have to activate the poppers and my saber at the same time. Having the crystal exposed and the safeguards removed should increase the effect of the poppers. If anything, being amplified by a kyber crystal even it being this small, it should disrupt the entire shield grid."
"That's good, but you don't look so happy about it, Commander."
"No, I'm not 1221. Kyber crystals are important to Jedi. They're like a friend to us."
"It's just a crystal, sir."
"Not to me. And not to any Jedi." She said before giving the detail of why this is a dangerous thing to do, "Because of the crystal, there's going to be a lot of energy arcing around. We're gonna have to run into the blaster fire to not get hit with any of the energy bolts that are going to come flying out. Get ready."
Wrench and the clones with them nodded at what they had to do. Using the Force to lift her saber and the poppers into position just barely touching the shield, she asked the clones to run on her order. Pressing the switch using the Force on both her saber and the poppers, she yelled for everyone to run. The disruptive energy from the poppers began resonating with the crystal and the poppers essentially became a massive EMP to the shield. Bolts of energy flew from the origin point and narrowly missed over Eila and the running clones. The shield began to collapse at the immense amount of energy it was just fed.
Unfortunately, Eila was unlucky enough to get caught in the path of one of the bolts. Sensing the incoming bolt, she knew she wasn't going to have enough time to duck out of the way. Preparing herself for the pain of getting electrocuted and possibly even dying from it, she would exclaim in surprise when Wrench pushed her out of the bolt's path. Instead of her, he got shocked, although he was just lucky enough that his armor dispersed most of the energy. Falling to the ground, Eila's mind raced at what Wrench just did as he fell down unconscious from the shock. It was the first time she had been saved by a clone as it had always been the other way around so far.
Seeing the shield completely collapse, Krell immediately ordered all remaining forces to attack along with air support from the Eternal to bombard the base into submission. As Y-Wings flew overhead and the remaining troopers running past, Eila ran to Wrench's side and removed his helmet to see if he was still alive. Seeing that he was breathing and had a faint heart beat, she tried to pick the trooper up. But the droids hadn't stopped shooting even if their shield was gone. Seeing a vulnerable enemy, the droids shot at them. For Eila, things seemed to slow down as she saw the blaster bolts streak towards her. Curling up to protect herself and the unconscious man, she would be saved by Krell jumping in front of her and deflecting the incoming shots with his double-bladed lightsabers.
"What are you doing?!" Krell called, "Leave the clone and retreat!"
"He's still alive, Master! I can get him out!"
"LEAVE THE CLONE, DEOVA!" He bellowed.
For the first time, Eila's opinion was different from her Master, "No! I'm not just gonna leave 1221! Master, please cover me while I get him out!"
Angrily growling at his apprentice's insubordination, he reluctantly protected her while she dragged Wrench away from the frontlines.
Eventually, the base would fall into Republic hands. Disabling the shield allowed the bombers to destroy the turbolasers and without their big guns, the droids were soon overwhelmed. Unfortunately, capturing the final base had costed Krell's corps dearly as out the 30,000 troopers they had started with, only around 2000 were still combat capable. Another 3000 were injured while the rest of the corps had wound up as fatalities.
Having been sent up to the orbiting Eternal to head for a Republic medical facility once all the injured were brought aboard, Eila sat next to Wrench's bed in the medical bay as she waited for him to regain consciousness. She wanted to thank him for saving her. She had initially thought of Wrench as confrontational because he always questioned Krell's orders and sometimes even hers. Although, he walked a fine line that prevented him from meeting the end of Krell's lightsaber. Eventually, Hawkins voice came over the comms for the crew to ready to break orbit and head into hyperspace.
Wrench began to stir as the ship entered hyperspace. Dazed and feeling tingles all over himself, he noticed that he was aboard the Eternal as he stared at the gray ceiling and heard the hum of the engines. Realizing who was next to him, he called out, "Commander."
"1221." Eila responded.
"It's Wren—ahh, forget it."
"What?"
He sighed, "Commander, why do you and the General never say our names?"
She was surprised by his question but answered, "W—Well, I don't say your name because I always thought it was a personal thing between clones. I mean, you don't hear me refer to my Master by his name around you guys. He insisted that I call him 'Master' or 'General' only and I'm fine with that. I can't say why my Master won't say your names though."
"Huh, well it would be nice if you called us by our names though."
"Why?"
'Remember that joint operation on Brentaal IV with General Plo Koon?"
"Yeah."
"When we were having that briefing on how to help the ground forces, General Plo Koon referred to CC-3636 as Commander Wolffe. Even though I'm not personally acquainted with General Plo Koon or Wolffe, I could tell that he and the General shared a deep bond. That's something that I thought only existed between my fellow brothers. To hear our names called by you or General Krell, while small, I feel it could make a lot of difference."
Eila thought about his reasoning. She realized that having a close bond meant you fought better together so she gave it a try. "Okay, 12—I mean, Wrench. I'll start calling you and the clones by your names."
Wrench gave a smile at her giving it a try, "Ha, how cute."
"C—Cute!" She blushed.
He gave another chuckle. Eila shook away her feelings and remembered why she had stayed with him in the medical bay.
"W—Wrench. Thanks by the way."
"For what?"
"You pushed me out of the way. You saved me."
"It's my duty, sir. I wouldn't be a good soldier if I didn't protect my commander."
"I don't think it was. You just did it without thinking about it. I felt that."
Wrench quietly accepted her reasoning. He then remembered that he had been electrocuted and he also remembered that anytime a clone had been injured on the battlefield, Krell usually left them to their fate and had usually told Eila to leave them. He wanted to know what made her change her mind. "Commander," He began, "Why did you save me?"
After a stunned pause from her, she answered, "You saved my life and I think that you and your brothers lives shouldn't be wasted. You're all needed to lead the Republic to victory."
Wrench was starting to realize that Eila at least cared about them on some level. That was something that he didn't feel at all when he would look at Krell.
"Huh, so you do at least care about us." He said.
"What?"
Wrench decided to be truthful to her, "Commander, I had always thought that you didn't care about us at all. You always agreed to the General Krell's terrible ideas."
Eila pouted a bit at Wrench slandering her Master but she said, "Oh. Well, I only agree with my Master because like you, it's my duty to him."
"Ahh." Wrench said as he agreed to her reason.
Eila began to tighten her hands into a fist, "But today, that was actually the first time I had defied my Master. He told me to leave you there."
Wrench looked at her and noticed she seemed to be torn between her conscience and her duty. "Don't feel so bad, Commander. I'm starting to see that sometimes, the things you're asked to do, aren't always the right thing. Isn't your philosophy as a Jedi to always do the right thing."
She contemplated on his reasoning and came to accept it as it is something the Jedi are expected to do. "You're right. We are supposed to do the right thing." She then thought of Krell, "I wonder why my Master can't seem to see it that way. He casually wastes your lives in open charges. I don't get it."
Wrench opted to be blunt, "To be frank, Commander, I think he hates clones."
She initially thought of rebutting his statement and try to defend Krell but it was starting to make a lot of sense as ever since Krell had been assigned clone troopers, he had continually made up plans that seemed to maximize the potential for clones to wind up dead. Ultimately, she agreed with Wrench's statement as she now saw that she was following her duty blindly. Although, it is a habit she couldn't quite shake since she and the troopers have a responsibility to follow orders. Otherwise, they wouldn't really be considered an army, just a mob with weapons.
Unbeknownst to them, Krell was intentionally making such plans for a darker reason having seen the future of the Republic. In the end, they'd only learn of Krell's true intentions after he was executed for treason on Umbara. They would both be horrified and angry when they did learn of it.
"Wrench." She began, feeling a growing resolve.
"Commander?"
"I'll try to protect you and the men. But I don't know if I can do my best with it."
Wrench smiled that at least Eila was getting around to the idea that as a leader, she should care about the well-being of her troops. "That's good enough, Commander. Any little bit helps."
Eila smiled back and then she thought of sharing a mutual connection that she started to turn a little red over, "B—By the way, Wrench, y—you can call me, Eila."
He was surprised that she decided to be quite personal with him, "R—Really? I can call you by your name?"
"Only when it's appropriate!" She managed to quickly squeak out.
Present…
"General. General!" Eila's dream was interrupted as she awoke to Wrench gently shaking her, "We're almost back to the Gate. You dozed off since we boarded the airspeeder."
"Oh, t—thank you, Wrench." She replied, seeing that the transport was about to touch down in the Uscru district near the Gate. She got up under her own power having been fully healed. Bacta was just as effective as the healing magic Lelei and Tuka used that Wrench had told her about the day before.
While walking up to the Gate with their guests, she thought about the little dream she had to the past. She wasn't quite sure what had triggered it now of all times but after those events, it would be the first time Wrench put a white dash on his shoulder pad. He explained to her that it was to be a symbol of the first time she had defied Krell. Ultimately, Wrench would add two more dashes after two separate incidents where she would defy Krell's orders again to protect the men's lives from blatantly suicidal plans. Although, Eila remembered that she had to start walking the same fine line Wrench had when dealing with Krell. She regretted not being able to protect the clones' lives every time he ordered something reckless but she did not regret her growing hatred of him along the way, especially after the 501st revealed his true allegiance. But, Eila did feel some shame that she used to think like him before that clones were merely pawns to be used to achieve victory. She also remembered that she broke her lightsaber in that battle. The Jedi Council reprimanded her for using a Jedi's weapon so carelessly. She did remember feeling so happy when they returned to the planet to pick up the remaining men who had stayed as a garrison before Master Ropal took over since it was on that return that Wrench had taken the time to look for the kyber crystal of her lightsaber. She was absolutely surprised when Wrench actually found it, having survived the explosion barring a few scorch marks on it. He told her when he returned the crystal that they don't leave friends behind. She eventually constructed her new lightsaber with it.
Looking around the Uscru district, it seemed that everything had returned to normal. It seems both the incident and the attack on Coruscant by the Separatists hadn't dampened the people's demand for entertainment. Although, people did give the Gate a wide berth probably due to the fear of another attack from the Empire but likely because the Coruscant Guard had cordoned off the area around the Gate. Before Eila could greet the guards, another airspeeder transport landed behind them. She had initially expected Crom to be on it but it was instead some researchers from the University of Coruscant. Ultimately, she didn't care what had happened to Crom if he had simply went back to his desk at Republic Intelligence; it was just as long as he was no longer there to bother her or Wrench in invoking their past.
"Ahh, Jedi General Deova!" The Gran researcher called out, "A pleasure to meet you." He reached out his hand for a shake. Eila shook his hand back.
"And you are?" She questioned.
"Oh, apologies. I am Ge Lial of the University of Coruscant's xenoarchaeology branch. These are the two assistants accompanying me." Lial directed her attention to a Twi'lek and human researcher. "This is Nima and Loncel." She would also shake the hands of the two women.
"Well, I hope this expedition will be fruitful for all of us." Lial concluded. Eila didn't respond back but gave a nod and went to their guests from the Gate. Lelei, Tuka, Rory, Bozes, and Pina had managed to find Captain Fordo among the troopers from the Coruscant Guard tasked with guarding the Gate on the Coruscant side. The troopers of RT3 had likewise gathered around him.
"It's good to see you're all safe." Fordo addressed the group.
"Yes, yesterday was quite…chaotic." Lelei answered.
"Heard you personally scrapped a thousand battle droids yesterday, Captain." Alloy called out.
"I wasn't really keeping count." Fordo replied but RT3 wasn't really convinced that he didn't keep count. A consistent thing about clone troopers, regardless of what branch they were affiliated with, is that they liked keeping score.
"Well, I also heard you guys got into the fight as well." Fordo said directing his attention to their guests. "Rory. Heard you scrapped a few clankers. As did you, Princess."
"Yes, your weapons are surprisingly simple to use." Pina answered.
Fordo nodded and looked over to Rory who bashfully answered, "Yes, it was quite an experience." She seemingly wanted to forget about the pain.
In the end, no one wanted to tell Fordo that Rory had actually been injured. The troopers weren't quite sure how she would react to a traumatizing event being brought up especially in the presence of a person she had taken an obvious interest in.
"Hey!" Tuka spoke up, "We contributed too, Captain." She also motioned to Lelei, citing her involvement.
"I heard that too. You both did an amazing job protecting and healing the men with your 'magic'."
While they both gave a smile for the praise they were receiving, Fordo snapped to attention and saluted as Eila approached, "General, it's good to see you again. I'm sorry about the loss of your ship."
"Yeah, me too." She said quietly. Trying to free herself from having difficult thoughts, Eila addressed all them, "Well, I hope you enjoyed your stay. Unless we're recalled again, it seems we won't be seeing Coruscant again for a while."
The men nodded along and Fordo would signal one of the guards to open up the blast doors to the Gate. As they went back aboard an airspeeder transport to take them through, Eila wondered what could be next.
Author's Note: Just a little flashback chapter before normal service is resumed.