"Good job boys, made it through Hell. Time for some more though, we've got quite a bit of problems," started Jazz, "We lost a lot of our brothers, and our General. It will take time to get more men and even longer to get over the loss of our fallen. We're heading back to Coruscant, get some rest. Get going." Jazz turned off the broadcast system and turned to CC-3928 and Lyle. "They already have another Jedi for us, apparently he's fresh off of their 'block'. This is gonna be great, I can sense it."
Lyle chuckled, "Oh, but that means we can train him in our ways! Our lowly blasters, and don't forget our armor!" He gestured in a way to make it seem like he was wearing a robe. "Honestly, how do they not die?"
CC-3928 piped up, "They have the Force remember? The magic that makes them sense things, and those lightsabers are deadly. We all saw General Hoff use it very well. But the armor, that is certainly something they could use. It would not hurt to carry a sidearm as well." The major turned to Jazz, "Do we know if our new General has any special qualifications? Aptitude in the force, his lightsaber, medical abilities, anything?"
"No idea, they don't tell us osik. We'll learn soon enough I bet." Jazz responded, turning away to face his datapad. "Scratch that, we know one thing. Zabrak, maybe he can take a lot of pain, hopefully he's able to deal it too."
"Ohhhhh I've always wanted to meet a Zabrak, those horns look cool. Maybe I'll add some to my armor. At least paint it." Lyle said while miming horns on his head towards CC-3928.
"Are you sure you fully matured in that pod?" CC-3928 replied pushing Lyle's hands down. "Sir, I am heading down to the cafeteria to eat. May I be dismissed?"
"28, you know you don't have to ask me. But yeah, go fill your boots." Jazz responded, not bothering to look up from his pad. With that, CC-3928 strode out towards the cafeteria.
"I never bothered to ask, where did you pick that phrase up Jazz?" Lyle asked, "I like it."
"From this grumpy old sergeant back on Kamino, older, Mandolorian. If you caught him on a good day he'd dump a bunch of candy on you and tell you that. Good man, never caught his name."
"Interesting, always thought most of those trainers were under strict watch. Makes for a good story though, right sir?"
"Oh yeah. Definitely." Jazz responded, looking more intently into his datapad. "This is a lot to deal with, catch up later over dinner?"
"Yeah, no problem sir. I need some sleep anyway. See ya later." Lyle responded, yawning as he walked out.
"Are any of us going to say it?" asked Pail to the group of clones. Grapple just took another bite of his meal, while Ace and Red both just sat in silence. "Come on, we just went through Hell. A lot of us didn't come out the other side, and that announcement! It even acknowledged it, so why can't we?"
Finally, Brisk looked at Pail and said, "Yeah, our brothers are dead, we aren't. We're soldiers, we were literally made for this. We miss them, I miss them. Fierfek, I watched Hill get shot and 34 get stabbed while he was already dying. What's to acknowledge? We lost brothers, and we can't do anything about that. Best we can do is watch each other's backs. Is that what you wanted?" Finally ending he took a bite of his food.
"We have to learn how to deal with this Pail, it's our lives now. Even before, remember 19? Gone like that during training. Just how it is." Grapple replied with a shrug before sighing, "Look, we all are mourning. We all lost brothers, you heard Jazz's voice. He was hurting too. We will get through it, just have to not die until then."
"I get that, but, are we just supposed to die over and over again? Just because we were bred to do that?" Pail asked, quieter, so nobody else would hear other than their table.
"Yeah, for now. Maybe it will change at some point, don't say that stuff too much. Can't have that talk spreading. But who knows, maybe after the war we'll all be living in huge mansions, with as many Twi'leks as we want!" Grapple said, trying to edge the conversation to a happier tone.
"Or food! Food is better." Red said with a full mouth of food.
"Oh you've never even experienced a Twi'lek, been cooped up on Kamino, then Geonosis, then Coruscant for like two days, then Agamar. Now in the cold, loving embrace of the Westward. Buuuuut, food is the best thing I have ever experienced." Ace teased. As the group continued to talk and eat, CC-3928 walked over with his tray and sat down next to Pail.
"We are getting a new General on Coruscant, a Zabrak. That is all we know. I thought maybe to inform some of you." He said to the table. Grapple reached over and snagged a piece of bread from his tray and took a bite before saying,
"Like the horn men? Tattoos? Not too bad I'd say, hopefully does better than Hoff. That man had no idea what to do with us, but I guess he still tried. Although, that could've led to us being killed. Never know."
"I just hope that he can actually swing his sword with some skill. Useful here." Pail said with a wink towards Ace. The wink set Ace off as he started laughing hard, so hard that he fell off the bench. His infectious laughter spread to the rest of the table, even 28, and soon they were all laughing as the other tables watched, amused.
Wes turned to his squad with the sounds of laughing in the distance, "Wonder what has them all giddy after that. Maybe 28 said something against the regs?"
"Nah, I bet Grapple actually did something with his command outside of battle. Probably ordered someone to clean his boots." Blast said sarcastically, earning a raised eyebrow from Wes. He opened his mouth before another voice interjected,
"No, probably Pail. If he didn't 'join' this army, he'd be a comedian. He could make a droid short-circuit with his jokes." Doc added on, Fallout quietly shook his head.
"That's all great, but I'm gonna go get some pain meds for this headache. It's killing me, those buckets are just that. Buckets, not gonna save you from anything. I'll see you guys later." Fallout said, standing.
"They'll upgrade it at some point, maybe even before we leave Triple Zero, I've heard Republic's just rolling them out right now." Wes said before Fallout left, with Fallout shrugging in response as he walked away towards the exit.
"He really took a hit during that battle, I feel bad for him. Rocks are not very nice." Doc commented, before promptly taking a long drink of water. As he set it down another announcement came on,
"Dawn Squad, please report to the command bridge immediately. I repeat, Dawn Squad please report to the command bridge immediately." The squad groaned and rushed to finish their food before jogging out of the cafeteria, tossing their trays to a droid on their way out.
"Why us, why did it have to be us again?" Blast groaned to his squad as they made their way to the lifts.
"Blast, we're the only commandos they have. One of the only regi-sorry, battalions to have their own squad. Very lucky, for them." Wes responded. When they reached the lift, they stood around for it as it came down. "Besides, we don't have to wait a while before jumping back into the action! It'll be a fun time!" As the doors opened a deckhand walked out, completely engrossed in his work. When he looked up he jumped a slight bit at the sight of the bigger commandos as they pushed past him, apologizing for bumping into him.
When they got onto the lift, they burst into laughter, "Did you see his face? He was terrified for a second!" Blast laughed, Doc chimed in,
"He thought we were a few SBD's I bet." When the laughter subsided, they stood in silence for a few seconds until the lift buzzed and it's doors opened. When they walked in Commander Jazz stood there, he lifted his eyes toward them from his datapad.
"Where's the fourth?" he scanned the faces of the commandos, "Fallout, right? He's the one not here?"
"Yes sir, he went to get painkillers for his headache from the engagement. He should be here shortly." Wes said compliantly as he and his squad stood at attention.
"At ease boys, lounge about. Nothing serious right now, I just need to inform your squad on what you're doing on Coruscant." Jazz responded, sounding tired. His bandaged head was hanging lower, and his body sagged a little due to his exhaustion.
"How is your head sir, and have you gotten any sleep since the engagement?" Doc questioned, his caring and inquisitive nature inspiring his name.
"It's alright, and I'll get some sleep soon. Thank you for your concern." Jazz replied simply, turning his attention to the opening lift doors as Fallout walked out of them. Fallout, catching sight of Jazz, stood at attention.
"Sorry for being late sir, it will not happen again." He said quickly.
"You're alright soldier, lounge about," Jazz replied, "Dawn Squad, you have been ordered to proceed to Arca Company Barracks as soon as you land. You will be issued your new kit, and orders there. You will have two days of downtime before returning to this vessel, The Westward, on the morning of the third day at 0600 hours. Am I understood?"
"Yes sir!" All of the commandos replied in unison, suddenly standing at attention.
"Fantastic, we will be arriving at Triple Zero in 3 hours, I am going to go sleep. Dismissed Dawn Squad." Jazz finished off, and then proceeded to enter a waiting lift and descend to his floor.
"Well, I told you we would get new kit Fallout. Let's go get some rest boys, downtime could potentially be tiring." Wes said as he ushered his squad into a lift and they descended as well. Again passing the same surprised deckhand,
"Why me!?" He yelled at them as the doors closed. The squad looked at each other, and burst out laughing at the deckhands' expense once more.