Disclaimer: Star wars franchise belongs to many people and companies from Gorge Lucas to Disney, however I'm not among them.

Story summary: One of the shinies leads Kix to civilians in need. However, Kix is not sure he will be any help for them.


The matter of life and death

Kix was flash trained for lots of different cases. He could mend broken bones, treat charred gunshot wounds, remove shrapnels and even treat drug and alcohol poisoning. Those procedures, and many more, Kix could perform, and often did, in the mids of battle.

"medic! they need a medic!" one of the shinies, so clean and unscathed he didn't even had a moniker yet, run toward him flailing his arms like a human target.

Normally anyone with even a shard of experience would scold him for doing so. Yet the battle was drawing to the end, dying down, clones were destroying remaining separatists' droids for the sake of finishing the job.

"what's the problem?" Kix got to his feet, quickly putting his backpack on his shoulders.

"Quickly!" the clone trooper turned around, running to the direction he came from just a second earlier.

The nameless brother led him through the smouldering ruins of the small town, skilfully navigating through the rubble as Jedi tended to do. Kix had an urge to call the man before him Parkour. The shiny stopped abruptly before busted down doors, the gaping black hole of the stairs looked hostile. However only deaf person wouldn't hear pained moans echoing from the black abyss.

"here" it was all the shiny said.

"is someone trapped down there?"

"not exactly"

"stop being so enigmatic" damn, Enigma was also a good name!

"it's safe. just… go. Ok?"

So Kix did.

There was a light at the end of the stairs - A small cellar filled to the brim with refugees, hiding from explosions, blasts… certain doom.

All their eyes were at him.

Anticipating.

"I'm Kix-" the clone medic said, taking off his helmet and tugged it under his armpit.

At this point of the battle, the survivors no longer harboured hostility toward anyone really – they were too scared and too tired – all they wanted to be left alone to lick their wounds and rebuild their houses under new-found protection of the victorious site of the conflict.

"I'm a medic" To emphasize his words Kix tapped with his index finger the symbol on his left shoulder guard.

The swarm of people parted before him, revealing a young woman lying at a rundown table. At first, the clone medic didn't even notice what could be a cause of her pained screaming. Split second later his eyes widened.

Kix was flash trained for lots of different things: broken bones, shrapnels, gunshots even poisoning but labor wasn't one of them. He was about to speak up, explain that he's more of a Feldsher, he knows nothing of giving life but taking it, or patching it up just long enough so it would fight till end of a battle.

"don't get ahead of yourself" the small, old woman, dry as a raisin, stepped up from the crowd "I need your medical supplies, not you"

She had to be a local midwife or the respected elder. Kix was shocked yet relieved with that turn of events. He obediently rummaged through his backpack, stacking medkits on the table.

"good." The old woman nodded looking through them, visibly pleased with their content "thank you. you can leave. Or stay. It depends how curious you are"

Kix was curious. As a clone medic, he had never seen medical procedures like childbirth or a newborn that… wasn't a clone, that is.

He certainly never held one either and refused when the child was handed to him. The mother herself must have gone mad, to even considering that he, a total stranger, a clone, a warmonger, could be allowed to be so close to her offspring.

He might be a medic but he was still in his plastoid armour made of cold and rough materials with weapons holstered to his tights while the child was this pink, toothless, defenseless being, sleeping soundly in a ragged blanket.

But then again… did she try to share her glimpse of hope, of freedom, with him?

Even in the mids of war, the children were born just as clones were mass-produced at Kamino. But the different was, clones would stop coming once the war ended while children would continue to be delivered till the end of galaxy.

"it's all right" the mother spoke softly, it was hard to guess to whom exactly she was addressing to.