"Medic, have you been on a battlefield before? ", the chrome-colored stormtrooper asked. The fancy cape indicated that she was a commanding officer and to be respected.
A captain, Ellin thought, as she eyed the shoulder flap.
Ellin nodded hastily, not able to answer verbally due to a piece of cake she'd stuffed in her mouth.

"Follow me", she commanded and turned around, her cape swirling dramatically behind her has she marched away from the cantina. Ellin had to run to catch up to the much taller woman.
Thank god she's shiny.
She coughed and thumped her fist to her chest as she tried to swallow the last bit of cake. "Is there a situation, Captain?"
Am I allowed to ask?
Instead of answering she entered a turbolift and typed in the destination code for the ship bay into the panel next to the door.
I'm going… on-planet? Off-ship?
"I promote you to head-medic for mission Y-78. You will be part of squadron 522, your blaster will be on the shuttle."

What the fuck is happening. What is mission Y-crap. Which one is squadron 522?
She imagined a stormtrooper holding up a sign with her squadron number.
Not likely.

Luckily for Ellin, only two shuttles were loading. And in front of one of them stood the source and center of all her daydreaming since they had boarded the Finalizer.
"G-General Hux. The General..?" Ellin couldn't get a complete sentence out, her mind blanking at the sight of him.
"Squadron 522 will be responsible for the Generals safety", the Captain supplied helpfully.
Ellin's heart started beating violently.

Fuck. Me, on a mission… with the General.

She was suddenly glad that she had spilled milk over her standard uniform earlier so that she'd had to change into the jumpsuit for field missions.
His cold gaze rested for a millisecond on her (OhmygohdTaiahelookedatme) before it focused on the chrome Captain.
"Phasma. Who is this?"
Captain Phasma turned her helmet to her. "State your name, Medic." – "Officer Ellin Jaxx. At your service, General."
She followed up with an impeccable salute.
And hoped no one noticed her sweaty palms.

T: Ellin? Is that you there staring creepily at Hux from up close?

E: I am staring respectfully. I am so fucking glad that my bruise is gone. Where are you?

The General nodded. "At ease, Officer."

He spoke to me!

Captain Phasma shifted and locked her helmeted gaze at the General again. "Board the shuttle, Medic."
She retreated but was still able to hear a snide comment in the Generals direction. "Thank me later, Hux. Not even you should be too proud to take a medic with you."

E: I am detecting high levels of high-command sass!

T: I love me some high-command sass. I'm over here at the other shuttle. Squadron 509.

E: Ohhh, are we on the same mission? I have no clue what's going on, apparently the General didn't want a medic and the Captain just grabbed the first one she could find – me.

T: I doubt it. We're here for prisoner extraction. Doesn't seem like something Hux would personally need to attend. You'll probably just escort him on some boring 'diplomacy' meeting nearby.

Ellin tried to spot Taia but couldn't distinguish her from the other officers standing far off in front of the other shuttle, surrounded by another stormtrooper squadron.

E: TR-9907 just told me that we're going to the same planet! See you there, loser!

T: Oh, shut up. At least I'm getting a bit of action while you sit on your arse and do nothing.

"She's still staring at you, General", the pilot informed Hux, nodding to the not so discreet medic strapped in behind them.
He sighed and glanced at her reflection in the windshield of their transport ship. He narrowed his eyes as he looked into her light brown eyes, widened in what seemed to be… wonder? She seemed familiar.
Is she one of the new recruits? He couldn't put a finger on the feeling of recognition he had and shrugged it off after a moment. Maybe I just passed her in a hallway.

E: Taia, we just had eye contact for a couple of seconds!

Taia sighed, stopping herself from rolling her eyes at nothing in front of her squadron.

"Guys, what's the plan?" She nudged the helmeted figure to her right. He or she shrugged. "We land. Ground troops hand the subject over. You make sure it's the one we're looking for. We take off." She nodded to the general direction the other shuttle had been in before they took off.
"And the General?"
What the fuck is Hux doing on a hostile planet without a battalion?
The trooper next to her shrugged again. "You best ignore him if he's not giving you orders." Taia blinked in surprise. "Oh. Sure."

T: Hey, Ellin, is it usual for Hux to go off on solo missions?

E: How the fuck should I know? His hair looks great by the way. The air vent he's standing under is tousling his hair just right.

Ellin looked at the General again, hands clasped behind his back and head turned slightly to the right as he exchanged a couple of words with one of the officers in the cockpit. He seemed…content. A moment later he turned his head further, his eyes resting on her again before addressing a trooper next to her: "TX-778 bring me my rifle, we'll be landing in a couple of minutes."

Ellin watched as Hux stood at the cargo bay door as it slowly opened, the glare of daylight surrounding him. His hand tightened on the strap of his insanely long blaster rifle. The wind whipped into his face, roughing his neat hairstyle up and letting a couple of strands fall on his forehead. He was smiling.
Why does he have to look so good on his way to murder people? She sighed inwardly. Couldn't I have fancied a hot radar technician or something? Ellin cursed her ovaries, who clearly were to blame for this misplacement of attraction.

E: Taia, how is it going on your side? We just landed and Hux looks illegally hot when he's about to shoot someone.

T: Were on site - there's some commotion – seems the resistance saw us and is pulling out

E: Be careful, you don't have a hot General to protect you…

T: You just got distracted by his ass, didn't you…

Taia rolled her eyes again and warily watched the treetops of the thick forest they had just landed in.
Her eyes followed a smoking TIE fighter, spinning uncontrollably in the air before vanishing from her eyesight beneath the tall trees. She could feel the tremor of the crash in her bones.
This doesn't seem to be as easy as everyone was telling me it would be.
She kept her eyes on the sky as she saw X-Wings flying overhead, a bit too close for comfort.
We're too exposed, they probably saw us land. "We need to move! Where's the checkpoint?" One of the troopers grabbed her by the elbow, dragging her towards…even more trees. "Quick Versio, they'll be bombing us soon."

E: Taia, get down, we sighted some missiles flying in our general direction-

Taia ran with her squadron, trusting them to find their way to their mission directive. She stumbled as the ground shook, pines raining down on them as the mentioned missiles hit ground.

T: They missed us, I'll be safe soon

Silence

T: Ellin, this isn't the time for one of your jokes-

"Fuck!"

T: Ellin, fucking answer me!

White noise answered her. This had never happed before. Was she…?

"Oh fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." That's the only thing that came out of Ellin's mouth, the only word she could think of to say in the moment. The other options of 'shit, he's dying' and 'he's bleeding out' and most of all 'my fault' were just not an option to say out loud.
So, instead she projected everything she couldn't say to Taia, all at the same time, in an incomprehensive jumble of words and images. The only distinguishing thing she could send Taia was the pure dread she was feeling.

E: Help me!

She kept on projecting even though she couldn't hear an answer.

The gurgling sound of him choking on his own blood. The bright red color against his pale skin. The slick feeling of too much blood streaming out between her fingers.
His face, for once not stoic, scrunched up in agony. The palest blue eyes, fierce and angry. He doesn't want to die. He's fighting. He doesn't want to die. He does-

Then don't let him.

Taia's answer came cutting through her own panicked thoughts, cementing itself in her brain as if it had been her own, her conviction to not let it happen.

The constricting pain in her chest vanished in a heartbeat, replaced by the usual numbness. She almost felt something like excitement at the amount of determination to not let him die. She told him so.

Ellin didn't know any appropriate, protocol way on how to treat her superior in this situation beside the standard 'save lives, no matter what'. So, she just crouched further down, placing her knees next to his sides, right under his shoulders, straddling him.
"You are going to help me now, Hux." She took his trembling hands and placed them on his bleeding neck, hers over his to put more pressure on the wound.
"You have bigger hands, General", she explained to him.
"Mrs. Dedenne always told us to use everything available to us in a dire situation. And we have hands. Four of them. So, we're using them until Taia arrives."
She was rambling, and they both knew it. He just couldn't answer. He probably wouldn't have anyways.

He's probably dreading the fact that he's stuck with the newbie medic.

"Officer Versio is on her way. I sent her our coordinates. This will be over soon. I won't let you die." She kissed his forehead to reassure him – or herself.
Fuck protocol, she needed him to live.

E: Taia, hurry up, I really need those bacta patches.

She felt calm, almost too calm for her to have been in a full-blown panic attack just a minute ago. Had she shoved it all to Taia?

T: No, I'm okay, Ellin. Is there a boulder or a large tree near you? I can't see very far in this forest.

Ellin shook her head and looked around, eyes wide. She projected everything she saw from her surroundings, the smells, the dead troopers behind them. Her fucking medical supplies too fucking far away from them.

T: Stay calm, Ellin, what happened? I see the smoke, we're almost there.

"We were attacked." She said it out loud, her eyes locked on the General's.

E: We were attacked. Some bomb. It flung me away. I passed out for a second.

She wasn't sure if she had said that out loud as well.

His eyes were focused on her. He'd be so annoyed to have his life saved by a rambling madwoman.
He'd stopped gurgling, and he'd also stopped thrashing around.

Was he relaxing? Was the blood loss to much? Was he dying?
She felt a stab of the panicking pain she felt just moments ago.

Ellin, pull yourself together, you've done this loads of times. She tried to breathe in. She really needed a slap in her face now.

T: Use that fucking brain of yours. What's the damage?

E: I ran to him as soon as I saw him. I don't think any of the troopers survived.

She sent the image of an injured Hux falling to his knees, one hand at the side of his neck, then falling on his side as she ran to him.
I should have grabbed the fucking med bag first.
She looked at it, dangling too far away from them on a tree branch. He would probably die if she tried to reach it.

E: It's a cut, sharp, about two inches long. A shrapnel, maybe? The bleeding's slowed down and he isn't dead yet.

T: Go on. I can see you now.

His eyelids fluttered.

Fuck no. Nonono. Not him.

"General, she's here! You stay the fuck awake!" Had he heard her?

E: When you get to my bag, get me the health stim and the bacta patches. He'll be alright.

The General opened his mouth to – say something? Spit at her? Yawn? Exhale one last time? She didn't let him.
"Shhhh. You focus on not bleeding out, I'll do the rest."

A few strands of her hair fell into his face and his eyelids fluttered again.
A sudden rage flared up insider her, stamping her growing fear out.
"You are not dying right before help arrives, you hear me? I'LL RAPE YOUR FUCKING CORPSE IF YOU DIE NOW!" - "WHAT THE FUCK, ELLIN!"

Taia. Thank the Force. She hadn't even heard anyone approaching.

"Med stim, now. Blue label."

T: Where should I inject it?

E: Leg. The needle is long enough to go through clothes.

She saw his face twitch the moment Taia rammed the syringe in his thigh. She felt the difference immediately.

Hux's hands had stopped trembling and he exhaled, relieved. The medical stimulant worked fast, stopping the bleeding in just a few seconds, but it wasn't a permanent solution. It just helped jumpstart the healing, repairing the damaged tissue to a certain extent, though the energy boost would wear off in only a few hours.

She let go of his hands on his neck and held her hand out behind her, where she knew Taia was standing. The latter dropped the bacta patches into Ellin's bloodstained hand.

"It's safe to remove your hands now, General." After she'd applied the patches, she tried to assess the blood loss, which was difficult to tell since most of it had seeped into the dark earth underneath them.
Relief came crashing down on her, hard enough to make her feel lightheaded. She could have laughed, cried and puked at the same time. Instead she grabbed his face and covered him in loud grandma-kisses.
"Oh, you beautiful, beautiful not-dead man. Thank the fucking galaxy for modern medicine. Oh shit." The perturbed and shocked look in his face stopped her from kissing his blood-smeared face again. Whoops. One of his arms grabbed her thigh, making her freeze mid-thought, while the other hand massaged his temples, seemingly not caring about smearing partially dried blood all over his face.

E: Okay, we'll both ignore this shit. You too, Taia. I didn't smooch the General.

The snort from her otherwise silent friend told her that she would not forget about this. "You'll need a transfusion, sir, once we're back."
He just looked at her from underneath his hand, one pale blue eye visible. "Jaxx." He sounded tired, exhausted even. It didn't suit him. For her, his voice should always sound sharp and unrelenting.
"Sir?" He lifted his arm from her thigh. "Off."

Oh shit, I'm still sitting on the General. This could have been way sexier without all the blood loss and panic. So not professional.

She hastily stood up and helped the General up into a sitting position, propping his back against a tree trunk near them.
"We need to stay put until transport arrives. Please stay seated, General. And don't fall asleep. I'll go check on the troopers."

Taia watched her solemnly checking the pulse of the five dead stormtroopers strewn around the clearing. They'd obviously taken the whole impact of the bomb.

T: Why were you alone on site with so little security detail? How reckless! I thought this was a diplomacy mission.

Ellin didn't respond not because she didn't want to but because she didn't know either, she just walked back to them with her med bag around her shoulder.

"No survivors, Sir." He nodded and focused on Taia. "Versio, where is your squadron?"
She straightened her back, sweat still on her forehead from running to their location.
"They should arrive any minute, Sir. I went ahead as soon as I received Officer Jaxx's distress signal."
He eyed them both. "Who else received your distress signal, Jaxx?"

E: Fuck. What do we tell him? I transmitted with my mind? Would he believe us?

"I was only able to transmit to Officer Versio, Sir. The situation was dire."
He nodded at that, but his eyes stayed on her. She didn't know how to react so Ellin just stared back, waiting anxiously for the squadron to come and break the silence.
"Any injuries, Officer?" he said at last and Ellin responded by blinking twice.

T: He's asking if you're injured, you twat. Tell him you're okay!.. You are okay, right?

Taia underlined her mental message with a huff.

E: Oh, right. Yes, I'm- "None, General. This is…all yours." She eyed the blood splatters that had gotten all over the upper part of her light gray jump suit, the colors contrasting and making the blood stand out more. Looking down on herself, it looked like some weird, abstract painting.
He nodded and stood up, leaning against the tree.
Of course, the man wouldn't listen to her.

Squadron 509 arrived only a few minutes later. The General refused the stretcher and any other help offered him. He even refused another stim shot. He went around barking orders as if he hadn't just nearly died a few moments ago. No one dared to ask him why the General was on site while Resistance troops were dropping bombs, instead of standing on the bridge of the Finalizer coordinating this whole mess.

At Ellin's and the rest of the crew's pestering, (still, mostly Ellin) the General agreed to an immediate trip to the medbay.
After a shower and a change of clothes. Vain bastard.
At the same time, he pointedly looked at her. She didn't need a connection through the force – or not, to know that he meant 'You too, Jaxx'. As if the sight of his blood on her offended him.

E: Jeez, calm down, no one is going to know it's yours, General Dickbag.

She waited for him in examination room 96. It only occurred to her afterwards that she hadn't told him where to find her, but she supposed he knew anyways.
He commands this ship, he'll know.

She wanted to receive him in her clean, dark gray scrubs instead of that obnoxious, dirty, and probably smelly jumpsuit.
So, she showered as fast as she could and checked for injuries. She found a bump at the back of her head but nothing else.

How the fuck am I so lucky?
Ellin thought about how Taia would give all the credit to the Force and sighed.
No, it was just the strategic advantage of me being the medic and therefore in a protected position.
She felt hollow when she tried imagining Taia in a similar situation, without the protecting ring of stormtroopers around her but instead being part of it.

Stop thinking. Prepare everything for the General.

When he entered, she didn't salute, she just stood up from her desk and nodded.
He didn't seem offended by her lack of military etiquette.

Because I'm the medic, and he's the patient.

For some reason she had expected him to march in, flanked by two stormtroopers, which would have been ridiculous. He was in the medbay of his own ship, no threat in sight.

Besides me, who nearly killed him with my panicked incompetence. Fuck. Maybe I lose my shit again and accidentally stab his carotid artery instead of the vein in the crook of his arm.

They stood there, for what felt like hours but were probably seconds instead and stared, waiting for the other to speak.

"How are you feeling, General?"

"Just fine, Officer."

He pressed his lips into a fine line and raised his eyebrows almost imperceptibly, slightly tilting his head to one side, which happened to expose the side of his neck where he fucking took off his bacta patch.

Ellin instantly narrowed her eyes at him. This time she managed to put more steel in her voice. "I'm asking to evaluate your medical status, General. Not to start a conversation."
He huffed and his demeanor relaxed.
She gestured to the examination table and he sat down without a complaint. "The med stim should be wearing off soon so I'm expecting you to feel shitty. I just need to know how shitty."

"I wouldn't use those words exactly, but the description is accurate... I'd say very. "

"Any pain or other injuries?"

"Tremendous headache, a few bruises, most of all; just simply exhausted."
He listed it like a file report, all the while staring at his hands that were folded in his lap. Ellin nodded.
"That's the stimulant wearing off, and the blood loss. Please remove your jacket and shirt, I'll need to put you on that." She pointed to the pole where she'd prepared two IV bags.

He did as she told him until he was only in a tight, gray tank top. Ellin explained to him what IV bags were for while she snapped on her gloves and looked for a suitable vein, prodding the inside of his left elbow. Trying and probably failing to stare discreetly at his exposed, pale skin.
Fucking delicious collarbones.

The General works out. She pressed a thumb into his bicep.
Fuck, stop being creepy, stay professional, idiot.

"The blue one is the follow-up therapy to the med-stim you received earlier. It will finish repairing your damaged tissue and the clear one will restore your lost fluids."

Those fucking fountains of blood you lost.

She managed not to fuck up and was proud that her hands didn't shake when she pierced the pale skin of his left arm with the hollow needle to connect the IV-drips.
She fumbled a bit longer on the bandage than necessary, admiring his surprisingly well toned arms.

I thought he'd be a stick underneath that perfectly pressed uniform.

"I need you to lay down and rest. I'll be back in a few minutes."
He nodded, eyeing the tubes filled with a bright blue liquid that was supposed to restore him completely.
I'll go and get some bacta patches that you can't just rip off, she thought, narrowing her eyes at him.

She came back after a short while and saw him still sitting, his left arm with the infusions resting on his thigh while he used his free hand to type something on a datapad that was lying on his other side.

Fucker, I said to rest. Does he ever stop working?

She stepped into his personal space, right in-between his knees and was sure she'd broken a few unspoken medic-to-patient-rules when she grabbed his chin and exposed his neck where just a slightly reddened patch of skin resided instead of the bloody cut.
"You won't need to remove this one, it'll absorb into your skin in a few days when there is no danger of your new skin breaking open again."

And you bleeding out on me. Again.

"Officer?" He stood at the doorway, hesitating before leaving.

And going to work instead of resting, like I ordered him to.

"Yes, General?"

"I'm relieving you of your duties for three shifts. Rest."

Moron.

"Only if you do, Sir!"

She thought she might have seen the left corner of his mouth lift before he vanished entirely.