Georgia had been at work, doing her own thing, when all of a sudden she felt an awful stomach ache. It persisted for several long moments, preventing her from focussing on her work. It grew swiftly, migrating through her body and into a headache that took her vision.
She howled in pain, grasping at her head desperately, brought to her knees by the sudden pain. Distantly, her coworkers called out to her.
Suddenly, she was in a field. Loud banging and shouting and screaming surrounded her, and she struggled to come to her senses. The headache and stomach pain subsided to a dull, throbbing ache with a rush of adrenaline.
She rolled over onto her knees and took a look around. The field was littered with chunks of scrap metal and people in white plating laying about. Bright flashes of red and blue zipped all around.
"Oh, my…" someone gasped next to her. Her attention snapped to a man in similar plating, but his face was uncovered. His grey eyes were wide with surprise, he looked rather taken aback.
"How interesting," hissed someone on her other side. It a was tall, slender woman with tattoos on her face. She had no hair and wore black clothing; a sneer adorned her sharp features.
Georgia frowned and staggered to her feet, "Okay, what the hell is going on here?"
The woman laughed lowly and darted off into the trees, leaving Georgia with the gaping man.
Georgia turned to the man, "Seriously, how the hell did a bunch of LARPers get me out of my site and into a field?"
The man blinked slowly, then visibly shook himself, "Larpers?"
"Yeah," Georgia crossed her arms, "role play? That's what you guys are doing, right? Looks like Star Wars. Nice job on the clone armor, looks legit."
He frowned and asked slowly, "Where is your… site?"
"Calgary?" Georgia said slowly, "did you not take me from there?"
"I'm afraid not in the way you think," said the man, frown deepening. "You'd better come with me while we figure this out."
Georgia immediately felt on edge, giving the man a quick once over. "No offense, buddy, but I'm not really chomping at the bit to go somewhere with a man I don't know."
"I understand," a small smile curled his lips before his expression turned sympathetic, "but I fear you have no other choice."
"Why's that?" Georgia narrowed her eyes as several people in the clone armor approached them.
They were large, well over six feet tall and built like a brick wall. They had broad shoulders, big chests and thighs nearly larger than her own. They moved in sync with one another, blasters held firmly in their hands. She was a little intimidated, if she was completely honest with herself.
"Sir?" One of them said, stepping up to the man she to which she had been speaking.
"Yes, Cody?" He replied.
"They're retreating, sir. We're holding the perimeter," Cody reported.
Georgia studied him a little closer, noticing that his armor had accents of gold beneath the scorch marks and grime. He seemed to be the one in charge, the little antennae of his shoulder plate caught her attention. Her eyes narrowed and she mumbled, "Commander Cody?"
The clone turned to her, his helmet tilting cautiously. She noticed the tightening of his stance as he seemed to also study her.
The half-armored man sighed deeply as he crossed his arms in thought, scratching at his blond beard. "We always knew Ventress was powerful, but I've never seen such an event before."
"We saw it, too, sir," Cody added, nodding at Georgia.
She scowled, "Well, I didn't. Seriously, what happened?"
The bearded man scrutinized her for several moments, "I believe when I engaged with Ventress that somehow we created a break in time and drew you through it."
Georgia balked, then laughed. "That's ridiculous. You're pulling my leg."
"I assure you, I'm not. You said we were role playing?" He cocked an eyebrow.
Georgia nodded slowly. "You're clearly Obi-Wan Kenobi, that's Commander Cody, and if I had to guess, that's Waxer and Boil." She gestured to each troop standing behind the bearded man. The troopers flinched backwards and glanced towards one another.
Kenobi's brow raised in surprise, "Impressive. How do you know who we are?"
"Because of the TV series, of course," Georgia waved her hand dismissively.
"Allow me to guess then: where you're from, we are fictional characters?" He hazarded, squinting.
Georgia scoffed, that anxious twist in her gut coiling tighter, "Obviously. Your characters are fictional everywhere!"
Kenobi stroked his beard for another moment, then turned to Cody, "Commander, boys, please remove your helmets."
Georgia looked to the troopers as they hesitantly holstered their firearms and lifted the helmets from their heads.
Her eyes widened, and her mouth fell open.
They all had the same confused, but concerned face, looking back at her. One of them had a bald head, and one had the shadow of unshaven facial hair. And Cody, just visible from her distance, definitely had that recognizable scar on his left temple.
She shook her head, "No, no, that's just really good makeup!"
"I'm afraid not," Kenobi gestured to the men next to him. "These are indeed clone troopers and I am Obi-Wan Kenobi."
"I don't believe you," Georgia said without conviction, still shaking her head.
"Obi-Wan!"
Georgia flinched hard and jumped back as another man appeared behind her, flanked by several more troopers.
"Anakin," Kenobi said calmly, "we have a guest."
The new arrival stopped next to Kenobi and turned to take in Georgia's appearance.
She was sure she looked interesting, dressed in her uniform with a radio hooked to her pocket. The key ring from her site jangled lightly from its spot affixed to her belt loop. Her hair was probably a mess, too, she certainly felt like it.
The new man looked a lot like the Skywalker from what she remembered. Shaggy brown hair, dark clothing, blue eyes and a gloved hand.
"I noticed, we saw it from the ridge," Skywalker hummed. "Do we know what happened?"
"Like I told Cody, I think she came through some sort of portal when Ventress and I were fighting," Kenobi explained.
"You know, I love being talked about like I'm not even in the room," Georgia grumbled with an eye roll. Her insecurity and fear at the situation were growing, so she needed to find something to do.
She scowled and turned away from the group of men, searching for a landmark that may be recognizable. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and found that it wasn't receiving a signal.
She swore, and started walking off as they conversed. One thing she could do was search for reception.
"Sirs?" She heard one of the troopers speak, but chose to ignore him.
"Yes, Cody?"
"Uh, she's walking away, sir," Cody pointed at Georgia's retreating figure.
Georgia scowled at Cody over her shoulder, but she kept walking. She was headed for a high ground to hopefully get better reception. There was a short rock face to climb, but she figured she could get a signal at the top.
She scaled it carefully, but found it wasn't too difficult of a climb. It wasn't very steep, and the rocks were lodged quite tightly in place. Wiping the dust from her pants, she pulled out her phone again and started moving around.
Kenobi turned on his heel to see that the woman had climbed atop a small outcropping and seemed to be searching for something with a device in her hand.
"Cody, would you please bring her back here? I don't trust that all the droids have left the area," Kenobi frowned, concerned. He wondered fleetingly if running off was a habit of hers.
"Yes, sir," Cody nodded shortly and jogged off to climb the same rockface, slipping his helmet back on.
Georgia sighed in frustration, dropping her hand to her side. Her cell phone felt like a brick, heavy. If what that man, Kenobi, said was true, then she was well and truly fucked. She felt tears welling in her eyes, so she shut them tight to dam the growing flood of emotion. It wouldn't do her any good to have a meltdown, not until she knew the entirety of the situation.
If she was really in the Star Wars universe, then she had to have gotten there somehow. However, she had never heard nor seen anything of alternate dimensions in any books or movies she had seen. Sure, she had read some fun stories about such a thing, but it wasn't canon. So, then, how the fuck was she here?
She rubbed at her temples, acutely feeling the headache that had been simmering there.
"Ma'am?"
Georgia had heard someone coming, but was still a bit startled at the sudden voice. She took a breath to steady her racing heart, "Yeah?"
"You have to come down from here, we haven't secured the area."
She turned and found the Commander standing a respectable distance from her.
"I thought you said you were holding the perimeter," Georgia snarked, letting go of her brain-to-mouth filter. Not that I have much of one to begin with, she thought wryly.
Cody was glad she couldn't hear his brothers snickering over the comm line. Boil and Waxer was watching them atop the little cliff, and with comms open all the troopers could hear Cody's conversation with the woman.
"Yes, ma'am, but that wouldn't prevent the Seppies from making a bomb run, or sniping from a distance," Cody retorted.
She turned fully to face the clone Commander and spat, "So, fucking let them."
Someone gasped in his ear. He frowned, "Ma'am?"
"Come on! I've somehow been sucked into an entirely different universe with no way home! I'm fucking useless here, and if anything I'll become a burden," she tugged at her hair frustratedly. "I'll be damned if anyone is killed because of me!" Georgia was suddenly in his face, seething mad at the situation. She was failing spectacularly at keeping herself in control.
Thankfully, Cody recognized the fear in her eyes and gently lowered her pointed finger from his face. Then he took his helmet off and attached it to his hip.
"What's your name?" He asked softly. The others would still be listening, but he didn't need to hear the peanut gallery in his ear.
His question seemed to take her by surprise.
"What?"
"What's your name?" He asked again.
After a moment of direct eye contact, where she noticed the rich brown of his eyes, she mumbled "Georgia," and stepped out of his space with a quiet apology.
He smiled softly, "It's nice to meet you Georgia, you already know me."
"Not for real," she rolled her eyes, slipping back into her defensive sarcasm.
"Well, I'm Cody," he held out his hand for her to shake.
Her gaze flicked from his earnest face to his outstretched hand, and back to his face. With narrowed eyes, she shook it firmly; he was impressed by her grip.
"Now we know one another 'for real'," he smirked.
Georgia snorted, "You are not at all what I expected."
He raised an eyebrow, gently urging her towards the cliff where they had climbed up. He slipped his helmet back on to perform a quick scan of the area while he had a vantage point.
"Oh? What were you expecting?"
He didn't see anything concerning.
"Honestly? A guy with a stick up his ass, but I guess reality is different from fiction, huh?" She said with a shrug.
Laughter erupted over the comms, and Cody barked a short laugh, "Guess so." They reached the edge of the short cliff, and he gestured towards the others with a small smile, "You first, ma'am."
"Why? You afraid I'll slip and fall on you?" She said sardonically. Her insecurities surfaced again, as they always did. Georgia was a plus sized lady, and despite her best efforts couldn't lose the weight she was so desperate to be rid of. It was something she abhorred herself for, and took it out on herself at every opportunity.
"No," Cody said, ignoring her tone, "if you get shot before I do, the Generals will have my head."
"I doubt that very much, Kenobi would never let anything happen to you," Georgia grumbled, but ambled over the edge and carefully picked her way down.
The others met her at the bottom of the little cliff.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Kenobi asked as she turned, smoothing out her uniform.
"You mean a way home, to my alternate dimension? No, I didn't," Georgia snapped.
Kenobi winced imperceptibly; Skywalker cocked an eyebrow.
There was a beat of awkward silence. Georgia rolled her eyes heavily and grumbled, "Fucking idiots."
Cody jumped down the rest of the way, landing beside her with a thump.
"Generals, we should head for camp," Cody suggested, standing at parade rest next to Georgia.
"Yes, Cody, we'll head out now," Kenobi agreed. "Rally the troops, we'll leave immediately."
Cody nodded, "Yes, sir! Waxer, Boil, with me!" Georgia watched as the three clones jogged off to presumably collect the others.
"Come, Little One, we have some distance to cover," Kenobi gestured for her to follow him.
They had been hiking through the bush for at least an hour. Occasionally an odd-looking plant would catch Georgia's attention and she was reminded again of her circumstances. She was still trying to come to terms with things, but it was nice to put her head down and focus on keeping her boots out of the entangled roots littering the ground.
As soon as things stopped moving and she had time to truly reflect on her situation, she knew any semblance of calm would crumble away. Hell, she had nearly bitten the poor Commander's head off and all he'd wanted to do was keep her out of danger.
She groaned in self pity and rubbed at her face.
Branches cracked off to her right. She came to a sudden halt, and snapped her head towards the noise. She strained to hear something over the loud pounding of her heart in her ears.
"Ma'am?" Rex had been walking behind her, and was caught off guard at her quick stop.
"Sh!" She hushed him, making a quiet gesture with her hand.
He held up his fist to halt everyone behind him. Some grumbling filtered over the comms. Rex made a sharp gesture, and it stopped.
"What do you hear?" Rex whispered, leaning towards Georgia.
She pointed into the brush, "I heard something in there."
Rex turned to look, flicking his scope down over his visor. He flipped through the settings until it settled on infrared, and his HUD lit up with the image of several, large, indigenous predators stalking them.
He activated the comm link to Skywalker, "General?"
"What's up, Rex?"
"We're being followed by native predators, sir. At least three, likely more," Rex reported.
"Close ranks, we're almost to the camp," Skywalker ordered.
"Yes, sir," Rex acknowledged, cutting the line. He nodded at Georgia, "Good ears, ma'am."
She shrugged, "I pride myself for two things."
He cocked his head to the side, indicating she could continue.
"My hearing and my sense of smell," she finished, moving to hike forward.
"Not your eyesight?" Rex asked curiously, walking after her, gesturing for the other troopers to follow.
"Nah. It was really good when I was a kid, but when I got older it faded to average. Actually need reading glasses or I get a headache," she explained.
They lapsed into quiet. It wasn't much further until they stumbled their way into a field camp. Georgia wasn't sure what to expect, but it certainly wasn't the organized chaos of a couple dozen troopers bustling about, packing supplies.
The men behind her shuffled past and joined the fray, so she chose to just stay out of the way and settle on the sidelines. She found a tree that seemed to be relatively inconspicuous, and slowly sat down. Her stomach still ached and the throbbing in her temples was intensifying.
She squinted through bleary eyes, not really paying attention to the bustling of the troopers. It didn't take long for fatigue to creep through her body. While she hadn't been in this world long, she was thoroughly wiped out. She crossed her arms over her knees, and set her aching head down on her forearms.
Some time later, the noise from the troopers seemed to settle down. Georgia didn't acknowledge it, but she would have appreciated it had the pounding in her temples not ratcheted up to an overwhelming thunder.
"Georgia?" Cody called from nearby.
She barely heard him, and couldn't muster the energy to reply.
His footsteps grew closer.
"There you are, we wondered where you went to," Cody jogged over to her.
She managed a short, barely audible grunt as acknowledgement.
Georgia heard him kneel next to her. A warm hand settled on her shoulder, "Georgia?"
She groaned.
"Are you all right?" Cody frowned, giving her a gentle shake.
"Head 'n stomach…" she whimpered lowly, "hurts."
"Hold on." Cody brought his right gauntlet to his chin, "Kix! I need you over here now, Georgia's ill."
"Right away, sir!"
Not a minute later the 501st medical officer appeared at their sides.
"What's going on, sir?" He said, taking off his helmet and cracking open his supplies.
Cody shook his head, "Headache and stomach pain, I think. She's really uncomfortable."
Kix nodded and slipped off a glove, reaching over to gently touch Georgia's shoulder. Kenobi and Skywalker jogged over as well, having heard Cody's call over the comms.
"Hey, Georgia," Kix murmured, carefully tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "Can you lift your head for me?"
Very slowly, she dragged her face from her arms, but didn't seem to have the strength to hold her head up. A sheen of sweat glistened on her skin, and her short, rapid breaths indicated severe pain. Kix laid the back of his hand on her forehead, and found that her temperature was much warmer than it should have been.
"Good job, Georgia. Do you think you could open your eyes next?" Kix asked, picking out a pen light from his kit.
A few moments passed before she cracked open her left eye.
"I'm gonna check your pupils now," he said, flashing the light in her eyes suddenly.
She yelped and flinched away from him, into Cody's side, "Ow! 's fuckin' bright!"
Kix frowned, "I know, I'm sorry."
Both the Generals and Cody looked to him expectantly.
"Well, she's got a fever and sensitivity to light. Past that, she needs to be evaluated in an actual med bay. I can give her some pain killers, but I'm hesitant to do too much without a proper exam," Kix cautioned. "We already know she's not my normal patient."
"Feel like I'm gonna puke," she grumbled into her arms. Fuck, she hated feeling sick!
"Don't try to hold it down," Kix said, digging in his pack for a specific medicine. "You might feel a little better."
"Yeah," she grunted.
Before she could notice, Kix grabbed her arm and administered an intramuscular injection. The pinch of the needle made her stomach twist, and before any of the boys could react she had leapt up and rounded the tree, heaving.
"Whoa, easy!" Cody admonished lightly, jumping to pull her hair from her face. Luckily, she hadn't had much to eat yet that day, so she wasn't able to produce anything but bile.
It still burned her throat and filled her mouth with the unmistakable taste of vomit. She groaned pitifully as she gasped for breath. Cody rubbed her back gently as Kix also rounded the tree to hand her what she could only guess was a water pack.
"Drink that, the pain killers should kick in within ten minutes. I want you resting near me tonight, so I can watch over you," Kix ordered.
She shook her head and instantly regretted it. Grasping at her temples, she spat the drool from her mouth onto the ground. "I won't take you away from anyone else that needs help."
Kix rolled his eyes so hard she could nearly feel it, "Well, fortunately for us and unfortunately for you, you are my sickest patient. And, I outrank everyone in medical matters. This universe or another, you're my patient. So, you're going to be right next to me."
Georgia managed to lift her head to glare half-heartedly at the field medic, then turned slowly to grumble over her shoulder at Cody, "Is he always this bossy?"
Cody laughed lightly, "Yes, but he's the finest medic I know, so we best follow orders."
She scowled, "Fine."
Together, Kix and Cody steered Georgia into the small clearing. Skywalker and Kenobi had given her some privacy, and were off discussing matters.
Some of the clones gave her a curious look as they passed, but with a sharp glare from Cody, they turned away.
"Right here, lay down on this roll nice and easy—good job," Kix only let her go once she was sitting on the ground again. "Okay, now try to get some rest. I'll be right next to you if you need anything."
"A blanket would be nice?" She asked quietly, easing herself down on her side.
"I'll see what I can scrounge up for you," Kix replied and gave her a pat on the shoulder.
"Thanks, Kix, you're the best," she mumbled, finally feeling the sharp edges of her pain start to wane.
He flushed lightly and Cody chuckled.
While her pain had indeed become much more manageable, Georgia did not fall into sleep easily. Each time she closed her eyes and fell into some semblance of rest, her body jerked awake.
It was well into the night when she woke for the fourth time. The dull throbbing in her temples was beginning to sharpen, and her stomach rolled uncomfortably.
She laid awake, holding her breath. She tried to force her muscle to relax, but each attempt brought on swift nausea and black spots in her vision. Tears welled in her eyes at the strain she felt in her body. She felt herself sweating again, and while she hated to bother him, she figured Kix would rather be woken up than puked on.
She gathered her strength and gingerly reach forward, tapping Kix's backplate weakly.
It took him several long moments to stir and roll over. His eyes were tired, and a quick yawn slipped from his mouth. Georgia felt even worse for having woken him, seeing the state of his own exhaustion.
"Sorry, Kix," she mumbled.
"S'all right," he sat up quietly, "what's going on?"
"Hurts again," she choked down the feeling of heartburn.
"Oh, dear," he mumbled, reaching over for his kit. "When did it start again?"
A tear fell from the corner of her eye, slipping down her temple and settling in the shell of her ear. "I dunno. Haven't really been able to sleep, been creeping up, I guess."
He sighed, "Why didn't you say so?"
"It was manageable, and you were tired," she curled into herself a little more, clutching angrily at her rebelling stomach.
"Oh, ad'ika," he sighed again tiredly. "I wish you had told me sooner."
She gave him a half-hearted, pained smile and whispered, "Sorry."
"C'mere," he smiled back, kneeling over her. As he brought the dose closer to her, she tried desperately to focus on anything else.
"Easy, ad'ika. It'll be quick," he consoled, administering the medicine as swiftly as he promised.
She cringed. "Thanks, Kix."
He smiled again and repacked his kit, "No thanks needed. Just let me know as soon as it starts to get worse."
She nodded minutely.
"Seriously," he pointed his finger in her face earnestly, "wake me up if you need me."
Georgia smiled softly and tucked her chin under the thin blanket that Kix must have covered her with the first time she had fallen asleep. "Seriously. Okay."
He nodded succinctly, then laid down again for sleep.