A/N: The next 2 chapters are dedicated to Chris. Thank you muchly!
Besotted (part 1):
Rex watched curiously as the screen turned black for a few seconds and then music started with a near bang as yellow letters filled the screen and then faded back quickly into starry space. Underneath, in much more recognizable white Aurebesh letters, it said in Mando'a, Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
"That's not what we call it," Cody said with a huff under his breath.
"Yeah, the Rogering Wars is way more accurate," Rex muttered back.
Next, words in blue appeared on a pure black screen. They translated to, The best confidence builder is experience.
"They got that right," Rex said, nudging Cody in the side as he flashed his brother a smirk. "The shinies are always walking taller when they survive their first real battle."
And then there were short scenes as what sounded like a narrator introduced the episode.
Shiny looking brothers march across the screen. Clone forces rally!
Battle droids shoot at General Fisto and his now deceased former padawan, General Vebb (who'd taken Commander Fil and his brothers down with him in the same mission). As the war escalates…
A shot of a space battle over a lush green planet that could be Brodo Asogi, but Rex wasn't entirely sure, having never actually been there. …in the Outer Rim,...
General Luminara on the bridge of a Venator with a shot of a young Ahsoka in the background. (Rex got a little thrill at the sight of his adored Commander, even if it was weird to see her so young again.) (So far, everyone had been easily recognizable, even in such a strange and angular animated format.) …the Jedi Knights are spread…
High General Yoda, with lightsabre lit, and a gleam of mischief in his eyes attacks a couple of Seppie tanks. …thinly across the galaxy. That's an understatement, Rex thinks with a mental eye roll.
A Kaminoan and a medic brother overlook a series of bacta tanks all occupied by fully grown brothers who must be injured clones at one of the many medical stations scattered throughout the galaxy. Many new clones are rushed into service to support their Jedi generals.
Two more panning shots of brothers standing in rank and marching. Unfortunately, because of the relentless demands of battle, many young clones must join the struggle before their intensive training has been completed. Ain't that the truth!
A dark planet or moon, all lumpy and holey, appears. A hawk of some kind flies across the sky. And then a familiar station with a massive satellite dish on the roof appears in the distance. These clones, manning a whole network of tracking stations, are all that stand between the Republic and invasion.
Cody and Rex glance at each other. "Rishi moon?"
"Rishi moon," Cody confirmed Rex's suspicions. It had been a couple years, but it was definitely one of their more memorable missions together, especially since it gave him Fives and Echo, two of his favourite brothers. And… the brothers remembered everything that happened to them with perfect recall anyway, thanks to their enhanced eidetic memories.
"Fun," As the picture zooms in on the station and a sentry walks the platform, Rex typed out a quick message to Tezza and subsequently everyone else in the flying transport, telling them that he and Cody believed them about their claims to know everything about their galaxy. He'd seen enough evidence in just fifty seconds of their cartoon that he couldn't possibly come to any other conclusion. And now that it had started, Rex was curious to see if their cartoon played out the same as his memories, and from the look of Cody as he stared intently at the screen, he thought the same.
But… Rex would much rather watch something he hadn't already lived. He wanted to see more of Ahsoka, and she most definitely hadn't been anywhere near Rishi at that time.
Ignoring the sound of the clones' voices (who bore a decent resemblance to the real thing), he turned to Cody and whispered, "Hey, do you mind if we ask for a different episode?"
Cody glanced away from the screen where two on duty clones were arm wrestling instead of doing their jobs. "Not at all. I already know how this is going to end." He rolled his eyes at the screen. "I would have smacked those two upside the head and assigned them KP duty, by the way, if I was their C.O." Rex snorted softly in agreement as Cody leaned over to his other side and whispered, "Tezza?"
The young woman, who had already been watching Cody instead of the cartoon with fascination, beamed a smile. "Yes?"
Cody quickly typed into his wrist comp, Can we watch something else?
Like what? she typed back.
"Rex?" Cody said, not looking away from Tezza. They were so besotted with each other, it was shabla adorable.
Even knowing Cody would tease him for it later (but at least he had ammunition to tease him back with now), Rex typed into his own wrist comp, Do you have an episode where Ahsoka is captured by pirates? He'd always wanted to know exactly what had happened to her during what was supposed to a simple Jedi mission with some younglings to Ilum and back. He needed to know if Hondo had mistreated her and if she'd just kept it to herself. And he'd always been curious to see how she'd managed to fight and escape Grievous while protecting the younglings.
Yes! Tezza typed back as Cody snorted with amusement. It's in a 4 episode arc, but I'm guessing you'll want to see the last one the most, since we don't have time to watch all of it. Or… Wait. I'm guessing you just want to see Ahsoka, right?" She leaned around Cody and gave Rex a knowing look.
Rex blushed, but nodded.
Tezza grinned at him, typed in, Just give us a minute, and then she was talking to the man in the yellow suit who was in charge. It took about a minute of hand waving and conferring, but then the screen stopped showing the Rishi mission and changed to a different section of the same holosite (or whatever they called a section of their global network system).
This is the compilation page, Tezza explained as Smythe scrolled through many images that all featured Ahsoka at various ages in both animated and live action form. Where you can find assembled videos of just one character or just all of the lightsabre fights from one trilogy… things like that. Smythe is looking for season 5 Ahsoka and then he'll jump to the right scenes.
Okay. Wish I had time to watch everything they have with Ahsoka, though. Especially the older ones. If those images are even remotely accurate, my Commander is going to be even hotter when she's fully grown.
Shab, she's going to drive me insane, isn't she.
Smythe finally clicked on an image of a cartoon Ahsoka wearing a burgundy battle dress that nearly matched her current outfit in real life. The only difference being that the cartoon dress left her back bare, whereas her actual dress did not. Rex had to admit the cartoon version was very intriguing if not particularly practical or protective.
The picture immediately went black for a second and then there was Ahsoka and Anakin standing in the center of the High Council chamber with two familiar looking holograms beside them. Bonteri and Gerrera. Didn't much like either of them. Especially the brat. Unfortunately, the only way to reclaim Onderon would be through armed struggle, was translated at the bottom of the screen. Smythe paused it and then scrolled along the little bar at the bottom to find the part of the video that he wanted. He grunted with satisfaction when he did. The scene changed again.
Four Jedi younglings and an armless droid were trapped in a ship with Hondo Ohnaka and his band of scummy pirates. Well, children, you have put up quite a fight. But, playtime is over. Now, hand over my crystals and no one gets hurt… Much.
Rex wanted to growl at the screen. Hondo… If I ever get my hands on him…
A door slides open and Ahsoka is there, looking fierce and more than ready to kick ass as she assesses the situation. Four pirates go flying into a wall and get knocked out as she Force pushes them. That's my girl!
She confronts the Pirate leader that Rex has heard so much about but hasn't yet had the opportunity to meet and beat into a mess of liquefied organs and shattered bones. Hondo! The Jedi Council will not take kindly to this attack!
Ahsoka… How will they know who is responsible if there is no one left to tell the tale?
Rex actually did growl, earning him a few alarmed looks from the yellow minions. Which he ignored. And a chuckle from Cody. Which he also ignored.
Ahsoka put herself between the younglings and Hondo, shooting them a reassuring look that said, 'I've got this, worry not'. She then eyed Hondo suspiciously and said, You seem less hospitable than our last meeting. Which would have been on Onderon, as far as I know.
Hondo only smirked, not intimidated at all by one little Togrutan Jedi Padawan. My mood is based on profit. And today, I am in the mood for crystals!
You want the crystals? Come and get them! The screen showed a close up of Ahsoka's bigger lightsabre as she patted her hip and then immediately snatched her weapons and ignited them as she fell into a familiar ready stance.
Rex grinned savagely.
Hondo nodded at one of his goons and the pirate attacked Ahsoka. She back flipped away easily and in the next move sprang at him with a flying kick, sending the pirate crashing to the floor. Hondo ignited his electrostaff and attacked Ahsoka himself, which she parried effortlessly. Oh! Easy now! Hondo said in complete contradiction to his actions.
The younglings and droid were shown running away for a second before the scene cut back to Ahsoka and Hondo fighting. You know, had I known you were here, I would have simply ASKED for the crystals directly and we could have avoided all of this.
Ha ha. As if that would have gone well for him either.
Over locked blades, Ahsoka – ever the kindhearted Ahsoka – said, I don't want to hurt you, Hondo!
I know. And I appreciate that. Hondo grinned and Rex wanted to rip his head off.
Ahsoka? Ahsoka! Come in! We've made it to the hold! one of the younglings said over her commlink.
Ahsoka sprang back from Hondo and answered. Then what are you waiting for?!
But what about you?!
Do it! she commanded as Hondo and two other pirates charged at her.
Why does she always have to be the sacrificing hero?
But would I have fallen for her so hard if she wasn't? he thought as the screen showed images of a Nautolan youngling forcing a cruiser to tear itself away from the saucer-like pirate ship's grappling hooks and gangway, resulting in pretty much everybody falling down and all of the pirates getting sucked towards the now exposed airlock.
Rex's heart jumped up into his throat even though he'd read the mission report and knew this was coming.
Hondo and Ahsoka grabbed a bulkhead to stop themselves. What are you doing?! he yelled at her.
Getting you off my ship! she yelled back.
Rex's savage grin was back in full force. Stars, I love that girl.
And then she let go and let the vacuum of space pull her towards Hondo, who she kicked to make him lose his grip. The pirates and Ahsoka tumbled through the corridors of the cruiser, pirates getting sucked one by one into the partially connected gangway. One pirate got sucked out into space completely. Oh. He dead. Too bad. Rex didn't feel even a crumb of remorse for his sarcastic thought.
Hondo managed to catch the wall again, but Ahsoka pulled him off of it as she flew past. She wasn't letting the pirate stay on her ship no matter what. Hondo ended up in the docking tube. Ahsoka caught herself on a bulkhead. Another pirate came flying down the corridor. Using the Force, Ahsoka pushed the last pirate into the gangway and then shoved the whole lot of those clinging to the end of it further down the tube. Then she flew one more segment forward and jabbed the button to close the airlock. We're all clear! she told her commlink. Make the jump to hyperspace!
Despite knowing how this was going to end up, Rex was shocked when another pirate came flying from out of nowhere to smack into Ahsoka and send them both careening into the docking tube just before the airlock closed and the cruiser jumped away.
Well, kriff, he thought as he sagged a little on the small bench seat.
Cody patted him consolingly on the arm.
The transport they were in shifted as it came to a halt and Smythe paused the screen just as it showed Ahsoka being held by a huge pirate as Hondo tutted and shook his head at her.
Hey!
Why'd you stop it? Rex typed in quickly.
Border crossing, Smythe typed back. Just be a few minutes while I make a few explanations and clear everyone in here.
Smythe talked to Tezza and the police officers and they each handed him something; Tezza having to dig hers out of her personal bag and the officers merely pulling it from a folding pouch in their pockets. The yellow encased commander took the proffered items and then typed in, My apologies for the interruption. Enjoy your show. And, Captain Rex? Smythe looked right at him, eyes twinkling behind his clear face shield. You are one lucky mooka.
Rex looked at Cody as Smythe set the cartoon to playing again. "Does he know something that I don't?"
Cody just shrugged, but his eyes were twinkling too.