Lena worked alongside her men as they loaded their injured brothers onto the gunships that had arrived from the Monitor, directing different groups to available space. There wouldn't be enough room on the ships to evacuate everyone, but all the injured were able to be loaded, which was a positive thing in her eyes. The gunships all departed apart from one, where Sparx was shoving the Separatist that had attacked her into the grip of another trooper aboard the transport. Chip stood on the other end, keeping a steadying hand on the shoulder of the seated Admiral Yung.

"Will you be coming back with us?" he asked Lena as she approached.

"No, I'm going to be heading back to the base to make sure everything is set to be dismantled. We've already overstayed our welcome, so I would like to leave as little a mess behind as possible."

Chip fixed her with a stern look which Lena shook her head at.

"I promise that once things are taken care of, I will come to the medbay and you can do a full analysis. You'll have your hands full for a while anyways."

"Don't worry doc, we'll make sure she gets back to you in one piece," a voice said from behind her.

Lena turned to see Hunter walking up to the gunship, the rest of his squad not far behind.

"I'll hold you to that Sergeant," Chip called as the gunship took off and ascended into the sky.

Lena watched the ship fly away before turning back to Hunter.

"Thanks for that," she said.

"No problem. I was worried he was going to stun you and take you back to the ship if you didn't get yourself looked at soon."

Lena let out a soft laugh.

"Don't give him ideas."

"I'm sure it's crossed his mind before," Keebo interjected from her side.

"I'm sure it has. But I'll be fine for a while longer. Crosshair cleaned it for me and bandaged it up."

"Before you threw yourself off a cliff and bled through said bandage," Crosshair said from behind Hunter.

Lena twisted her arm to get a good look at the bandage. While it wasn't perfect anymore, it would suffice until she returned to the Monitor.

"Eh, it's fine," she said. "We should head back to our base so I can keep my promise to the good medic."

Blaze volunteered to stay behind and wait with the remaining troops for the gunships to return for them. Keebo and Sparx decided to return to base with Lena and Clone Force 99. Lena quickly realized that they didn't have enough speeder bikes for everyone when Keebo climbed on behind Sparx, leaving Lena standing alone.

"You can ride with me. Although you'll have to ride in front again," Crosshair said gesturing to his pack that prevented her from sitting behind him.

"You going to let me drive?" Lena asked.

"With that arm? I don't think so, Sunshine."

Lena rolled her eyes at him before swinging her leg over the bike to sit in front of him. At least she wasn't on his lap this time. She felt his chest against her back as he leaned forward, encasing her in his arms. Even with the hard plastoid armor, she could feel his body heat surround her. That, mixed with the constant flow of emotion she was receiving from being so close to him was a little overwhelming. She was beginning to understand what that emotion was the more time she spent in his presence. She felt her face warm at the sound of a soft chuckle next to her ear.

"Hold on," he said before the speeder took off.

The momentum pressed Lena flush against his chest, pushing a squeak out of her as the air left her lungs at the impact. She leaned to one side to allow him to see around her head, which gave her a sideview of his helmet when she glanced to the side. Even though she couldn't see his face, Lena imagined he was smirking.

The trip back to the base didn't take as long as their first trip. The path that Lena's men had taken to the battle was clearer and had less trees. Once they reached the landing field, the speeders slowed to a stop near the ship that Clone Force 99 had arrived in. Once he parked the bike and turned it off, Crosshair removed his arms from around Lena, allowing her to get off the bike.

As she got to her feet, Lena felt his hand lightly touch her arm as if to steady her. She felt her face flush again at the touch. It seemed that coming down from her earlier adrenaline rush had dulled her ability to deal with the overflow of emotions she felt. Straightening her tunic and giving her head a small shake, she walked away from the sniper in the direction of the command center. Keebo jogged a bit to catch up to her, eventually falling in step with her hastened strides.

"Why are you in such a hurry, master?" she asked with a cheeky grin. "Get a little too close with the sniper?"

Lena ignored her padawan's teasing and continued to the briefing table, working hard to regain her composure.


Crosshair watched the two Jedi walk away, a mix of confusion and amusement filling him. He hadn't even done anything, but Lena seemed to be weak in the knees. He wasn't sure if he should take that as a compliment or be concerned.

"What did you do to her?" Wrecker asked as he approached. "Her face was as red as Hunter's bandana!"

"I didn't do anything," Crosshair said with a shrug. "Guess she just isn't used to being so close to men."

"She's a General in an army made up of men," Tech said. "I don't believe that's the problem."

"Maybe she's allergic to toothpicks," Wrecker suggested with a chuckle.

Crosshair gave him a withering stare as he moved the forementioned stick to the other corner of his mouth.

"My guess would be that her empathetic powers are picking up on Crosshair's attraction to her."

Crosshair nearly dropped the toothpick as his mouth dropped open at Tech's comment.

"My what?"

"You are obviously sexually attracted to her. I don't even need telepathy or the force to know that. I'm sure she has noticed as well, given her reaction."

Crosshair wasn't sure what to do with what Tech's comment. Hunter picking up on his feelings made sense, but Tech noticing threw him for a loop. His insight into the fact that Lena had noticed and reacted to them in a somewhat favorable way brought a small smile to his lips.

"Maybe she likes the attention," he said. "Maybe she likes me."

"I wouldn't go that far," Hunter said with a chuckle. "It would probably be best if you stayed away from this one, Cross."

Crosshair crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against a nearby tree.

"I could do with a challenge."

"A challenge surrounded by a dual pistol wielding ARC trooper, a protective Commander that already doesn't like you, a medic that could take you apart as well as he normally would put people back together, and a super powered Twi'lek with both a lightsaber and very sharp claws," Hunter said. "I'll miss you when you're gone."

Wrecker's booming laugh echoed across the landing field as Crosshair made a rude hand gesture in Hunter's direction. He kept his gaze focused in the direction that Lena and Keebo had gone, waiting for them to return.

After some time had passed, he spotted them walking over with one of the regs that remained at the base. Lena passed him a datapad and made her way over to where the Batch were waiting.

"You didn't have to wait for us," she said. "We could have found our own way back to the Monitor."

"I promised your medic that we would make sure you were returned so him safely," Hunter said. "And I intend to follow through with that promise. Besides, we wouldn't leave without saying goodbye."

"Especially Crosshair," Wrecker added. "He wanted to hear how he saved you again."

Crosshair shot a glare in Wrecker's direction before turning back to Lena. Her flushed appearance from earlier seemed to have disappeared. She was returning his gaze but wasn't smiling at him like she had earlier.

"I do appreciate the save. Thank you, Crosshair."

"I think you mean saves," Crosshair said, raising two fingers. "I saved your skin twice. Plus, I helped bandage you up."

"Yes, well I'll give you credit for shooting the Separatist and helping with my arm," she said. "But I think we can let the bike save go to cover over the fact that you called me a coward."

The group went silent at Lena's statement and four pairs of eyes shifted to him. Feeling on the spot, Crosshair shifted his gaze away from everyone. He could feel his face heating up in embarrassment.

"If you would like to give us a ride, we would greatly appreciate it," Lena said, turning to Hunter.

Hunter gestured to the Marauder and Tech lead the two Jedi onto the ship. Crosshair glanced up to watch them disappear inside before turning to look at Hunter and Wrecker.

"I don't think she likes you as much as you thought, Cross," Wrecker said with a rough pat on the shoulder before following Tech and the Jedi.

"You called her a coward?" Hunter asked in an angry low tone. "To her face?"

"It may have slipped out…" Crosshair said under his breath.

"If you were wondering how to get a girl to like you, that is not how you do it," Hunter said with a shake of his head. "Let's get out of here."

Hunter turned and climbed the ramp with Crosshair closely behind. Crosshair turned to the mounted seats and sat down across from where Lena and Keebo were sitting. He let his eyes linger on Lena's face for a moment, hoping he would see some sliver of the kindness she had shown him before. She was leaning her head back against the back of the seat with her eyes closed, exhaustion clear on her face. Crosshair felt his own expression soften at the sight.

He turned to face forward and found himself meeting a pair of purple-blue eyes that were looking at him very intently. He narrowed his own, confusion spiking inside him. Keebo was staring him down with an intensity that rivaled one of his own stares. Crosshair would have thought she was angry at him, but he could see the slightest bit of a smirk on her lips. A voice from beside them put an end to the staring contest.

"Sama, brila bondara," Lena said, speaking in a language Crosshair didn't recognize.

"Qato?" Keebo replied, turning to her master. "Ish so distombe' ta'brila."

"As so tun."

"Plie tun s'oko?"

There was a pause in their conversation. Keebo turned to look at him again briefly before turning her attention back to Lena. Crosshair watched both women intently during their exchange.

"Ish ani tun," she said.

Crosshair noticed Lena's expression change and her cheeks flushed slightly.

"Eti ta'brila brila."

"Sotan tun want eti ta? Nur cheekku su leth."

Lena sighed at whatever Keebo had said and finally opened her eyes to stare at the Twi'lek beside her.

"Ril'm taken, Keebo."

"Luhak anc change. Nu're curiouku. Eti'ku obviouku."

"Ril sao't nala luhak ael either bou. Korjin deserve better."

"Ga jehsa nu? Nur happinesku?"

"Ril trek rackus."

Keebo let out a disbelieving snort at whatever Lena had said. Crosshair had a feeling they were talking about him. He had picked up on a few basic words in the mix, but he had no context to help him figure out the rest of their conversation. He would have to ask Tech about it later.

"Su nu doneeta? Ril jon circoo su doubtku."

Lena shook her head and returned to her previous position with her eyes closed.

"Enough jehsa thiku narsu," she said tiredly.

Keebo pursed her lips but nodded.

"Ka olma'nabsilai."

Crosshair watched as the Twi'lek turned her attention away from her master. When her eyes met his again, he raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Having an interesting conversation?" he asked.

A mischievous grin spread across Keebo's face

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Keebo," Lena said in a warning tone.

The Twi'lek gave him one final smirk before turning her attention elsewhere. The rest of the ride passed in silence, the only sounds being the ambient noise of the ship and the occasional honk from the Gonky the GNK droid as he walked across the ship. Crosshair couldn't keep his gaze from traveling back to Lena every so often, his eyes scanning over every detail of her face.

"Cross, can you come here?" Hunter called from further up towards the front of the ship.

Crosshair stood from his seat and walked over to where the Sergeant was sitting at one of the control consoles.

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you give her some space?" Hunter said. "She obviously wasn't happy with you before and she doesn't need you staring at her."

"Where would you like me to go?" Crosshair asked. "It's not like there is an overabundance of space."

"Just go sit in the cockpit with Tech."

Crosshair rolled his eyes, but did as Hunter had suggested. Dropping himself into the co-pilot seat, he looked out the viewport at the Venator they were approaching. Glancing to his brother next to him, he decided there was no time like the present to get some answers.

"You still have those audio sensors placed in the ship, right?" he asked.

"Yes," Tech answered. "Why do you ask?"

"They were talking in another language back there and I have no idea what they were saying. I think they may have been talking about me though."

Tech glanced over at him briefly.

"Are you asking me to listen to the recording of their conversation and tell you what they said?"

Crosshair nodded in response.

"They obviously spoke in this other language in order to have this conversation privately," Tech said. "It would be rude for me to eavesdrop."

Crosshair knew that Tech had a point. However, he could feel the nagging inside of him as a result of his verbal slip up from before. He needed to know how badly he had screwed up and if they had been discussing that.

"You don't need to give me full account," he said. "I just want to know if they said anything about me."

"You're wondering if she's mad at you for calling her a coward, you mean," Tech said.

Crosshair let out a huff of annoyance.

"I'll do it," Tech said finally. "But I still don't feel right about it."

"Thanks."


Lena's eyes fluttered open when she felt the lurch of the Marauder landing in the hanger of the Monitor. Standing from her seat, she followed Keebo to the door of the ship. She glanced to her right in the direction of the cockpit, where she could see Crosshair leaning against the doorway. He lifted his eyes and met her gaze with a neutral expression. Besides the lingering feeling of his strange emotion that Lena had decided could only be something akin to the emotional form of attraction, she couldn't pick up on anything else without an active search. She turned away from him without a word and walked down the ramp out of the ship. As soon as her feet hit the deck of the hanger, Lena noticed Blaze making his way towards them.

"I was sent to ensure that you made your way to the medbay as soon as you arrived," he said as he approached. "Chip is rather anxious about it."

"When isn't he anxious?" Lena muttered.

Keebo let out a huff of laughter beside her.

"Better go before he comes down here and drags you there himself. I'll wait here and keep our guests company."

Lena nodded before leaving the hanger with Blaze in tow. As they walked down the hallway, she could feel the worry and impatience radiating from the direction of the medbay. Lena shook her head and laughed softly as the door slid open.

"Alright, Chip, I'm here," she said. "You can stop worrying now."

"I don't think that's physically possible," Blaze said from her side, echoing her laughter.

"Very funny," Chip said, pointing at the bed in front of him. "Sit."

Lena did as she was told and sat still as he passed a handheld scanner over her body. Once he finished with that he started to work on her arm. Chip severed what was left of her sleeve off her shoulder and pulled it from her arm.

"I think you'll need a new shirt," Blaze said from his chair near the door.

"At least it's just her shirt and not her arm," Chip said.

Lena glanced down at her arm that was now exposed. Despite the blood that had seeped into the bandage, the wound itself didn't look too bad.

"I don't understand why you are so worried," she said. "It doesn't look that bad. Crosshair even said it wasn't as bad as you made it out to be, even if it does leave a scar."

Chip's eyes narrowed and he met her gaze with a hard stare.

"He's a sniper, not a medic. I'll say what's considered bad and what isn't."

"Ok, mom," Lena said, rolling her eyes.

Chip stopped tending to her wound long enough to lightly flick her in the forehead before turning around to grab a fresh bandage.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Being a smartass," he said.

Blaze chuckled behind her, which Lena responded to by sticking her tongue out at him. Once Chip had finished reapplying the bandage to her arm, he moved to look at her neck. Gently touching the tender spots where the large fingers of the Separatist had been holding her throat, he let out a low hum.

"It doesn't seem like any serious damage was done, but these will definitely leave a bruise. If he had held on for much longer, you may have lost consciousness though. It's a good thing he let go when he did."

"Thanks to Crosshair's well-timed shot," Lena said.

Chip's eyes shifted from her neck to meet hers for a second before he looked away again. Lena could feel the unease and suspicion that she had felt from him back on the planet resurface.

"What's that all about?" she asked. "Don't tell me that you've formed a grudge against him too. It's bad enough that Blaze gave him a stare down when they arrived and Keebo won't leave him alone. I don't need all of you against him."

"Sounds like someone has a crush," Blaze spoke up.

Lena whirled around to face him, her braid swinging violently and nearly hitting Chip in the face.

"I most certainly do not!" she exclaimed. "He saved my life twice in one day. I think he deserves some respect for that."

"Me thinks the lady protests too much," Blaze said with a smirk. "You like him."

Lena huffed and turned back towards Chip, pleading with her eyes for his assistance.

"You were sitting on his lap earlier," he said.

"Not by choice!"

Chip's serious face cracked as a smile formed on his lips at her denial. It didn't last long before he drifted back into seriousness.

"All jokes aside, be careful," he said. "If he's the same Crosshair I've heard about from some of the boys at 79's, he's got a bit of a reputation."

"There's nothing to worry about. I'm not interested in Crosshair."


Crosshair sat on a munitions crate watching over his brothers as they gathered around the device Tech was working on. Once Sparx had finished on the surface of the planet, he had been flown back up to join the rest of the men on the Monitor. He had approached Tech with a broken radio and asked him if he could fix it. Tech had agreed and had been working on it ffor the past half hour. With a final click of the back panel being locked in place, Tech held up the small radio and offered it to the ARC trooper before him.

"It should work now. It seems like there were some loose wires, so it was easy to fix."

Sparx pressed a button on the device and it started to play music loudly from the speaker. He did a little happy dance that looked so ridiculous that Crosshair almost let a laugh escape him. He watched as the ARC trooper turned a knob slightly and a different song began to play.

"I love this song!" a voice from beside him shouted.

Crosshair turned to see Keebo rejoin the group and move over to where Sparx was standing. The pair of them began to dance to the song playing from the radio, much to the surprise of the members of his squad. Wrecker seemed to be enjoying their antics and looked like he was ready to join them. About halfway through the song, he heard another voice and looked up to see Lena and her Commander approaching.

"Oh no, they fixed it," the reg said, shaking his head.

Crosshair felt his heart skip a beat when he heard Lena laugh at the remark. He was glad to see her smiling again, even if it wasn't directed towards him. He noticed that she had lost her right sleeve completely and had a new bandage on her shoulder. As his eyes moved up to her neck, he could see visible marks that resembled fingerprints starting to form into bruises on her skin. He frowned at the sight and quickly averted his gaze so he wouldn't have to look at them anymore.

A new song started to play on the radio, causing another series of shouts as Keebo and Sparx recognized this one as well. Crosshair looked back at them to see Sparx moving in Lena's direction, holding out his hand to her to invite her to dance.

"You know I can't dance," she said, shaking her head.

"Neither can he," Blaze said, "but you don't see that stopping him."

Sparx's hand flew to his chest in mock offense at the comment.

"You wound me, Commander."

"C'mon, master," Keebo insisted. "It's been so long since we've had the chance to do this with the radio being broken."

Lena rolled her eyes and took Sparx's hand when he offered again. Keebo offered her hand out to Blaze, which he took as well with only mild protesting. Crosshair watched as Sparx spun Lena around, causing more laughter to escape her. The sound caused a smile to form on his lips. He found himself wishing it was him in Sparx's place, spinning her around and making her laugh. In that moment, he decided that her laugh was as beautiful as her shining smile.

As the song came to an end, Sparx dipped Lena down with a flourish before standing her up again. She stumbled slightly when he released her, causing her to lean into the crate Crosshair was sitting on. He felt her hand graze his leg as she regained her balance.

"Careful, Sunshine," he scolded her from his perch.

Lena turned her face to look up at him with an apologetic expression.

"Sorry about that," she said.

"No harm done. Just don't anymore bruises on your pretty skin," he said smoothly.

Crosshair smirked when he saw her cheeks flush at his comment. Even if she was upset with him, he still seemed to have some effect on her. She retained eye contact with him for a few minutes before she looked away with a small shake of her head.

Feeling another set of eyes focused on him, Crosshair looked up and met Hunter's gaze. The Sergeant was looking at him with raised eyebrows. Crosshair gave him a small, amused smile and shrugged his shoulders, which Hunter responded to with a shake of his head and an eyeroll. Crosshair's attention was grabbed again by the sound of Lena talking to someone. He turned to look and noticed her talking to a reg that had approached her with a holoprojector.

"Excuse me, ma'am. You have a transmission from Alderaan."

Lena excused herself from the group and took the offered holoprojector to an isolated part of the hanger a short distance from them. The light from the hologram lit up her face when it came to life in her hand. Crosshair could see her speaking, but couldn't see who she was talking to. He turned away when he felt a nudge against his leg. Looking down to his right, he saw that Hunter had moved to stand beside him.

"Are you going to apologize to her for what you said?" he asked.

"Maybe," Crosshair replied. "If I get another chance to talk to her."

"Make an effort at least," Hunter said.

Their short conversation came to a halt when Lena rejoined the group.

"It looks like we're needed on Alderaan, Keebo," she said to her padawan.

Keebo let out a dramatic groan and frowned at her master.

"What for now?" she asked.

"Official business is the only answer I got. We'll have to see if there's a shuttle we can take."

"We're heading back to Coruscant," Hunter said. "We can make a quick stop to drop you off if you'd like."

Lena turned her attention to the Sergeant, a grateful smile on her face.

"Are you sure? I feel like we're using your ship as a taxi service."

Hunter shook his head in response.

"It's no problem."

"Well thank you for the offer, Hunter. We'll give you some time to get ready to go while I go get cleaned up and we gather our things."

Crosshair watched as Lena and Keebo left the hanger together, stewing on the fact that he had the opportunity to spend more time with Lena as they traveled to Alderaan.

"Looks like you'll get your chance to talk to her after all," Hunter said with a final nudge before walking off in the direction of the Marauder.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review and let me know what you think! Translation for Lena and Keebo's conversation is below. The song the group danced to is And She Was by Talking Heads if you want to listen to it.

Ryl Translation

Sama, brila bondara. (Daughter, go easy)

Qato? Ish so distombe' ta'brila. (Why? He is strong of will {stubborn})

As so tun. (As are you)

Plie tun s'oko? (And you aren't?)

Ish ani tun. (He desires you)

Eti ta'brila brila. (It will go {basically he'll get over it})

Sotan tun want eti ta? Nur cheekku su leth. (Do you want it to? Your cheeks are red)

Ril'm taken, Keebo. (I'm taken, Keebo)

Luhak anc change. Nu're curiouku. Eti'ku obviouku. (That can change. You're curious. It's obvious)

Ril sao't nala luhak ael either bou. Korjin deserve better. (I can't do that to either one. They deserve better)

Ga jehsa nu? Nur happinesku? (What of you? Your happiness?)

Ril trek rackus. (I am happy)

Su nu doneeta? Ril jon circoo su doubtku. (Are you sure? I know there are doubts)

Enough jehsa thiku narsu. (Enough of this please)

Ka olma'nabsilai. (Yes master)