Gradually, the blackness began to fade. It took a bit, and Raid went in and out of full consciousness, but eventually his vision cleared. He was on his back, staring up at the grey roof. The lights weren't that bright, but his eyes felt extra sensitive as he squinted. It would be much more preferable to sleep was his train of thoughts, but that train crashed when a face loomed over him, eclipsing the lights with its wide, mischievous smirk.
"Had a nice beauty nap?" Joystick asked.
Raid groaned, shifting and swatting his friend away. "It was a beauty nap, but then you showed up and made it ugly." He felt tight around his chest. A glance down proved that he was atop a medical bed in the medbay and that he had several layers of bandaging wrapped snugly around his bare chest, covering the wound from the vibro-blade.
Joystick snorted a laugh, sitting back into his chair. "I suppose you would know all about that, seeing as we all share the same ugly mug." Several chuckles sounded around the room. Raid noticed Shock and Awe both sat on their own beds, the former with his leg bandaged up and the latter wearing a cast on the arm he had been shot in. Shuriken and Dusty both occupied their own chairs near the sickbeds. The sniper had a calm look of happiness and relief decorating his face, looking from brother to brother. Dusty, on the other hand, was beaming with joy, practically glowing like the time he had accidentally swallowed glow-worm extract from the Kaminoan labs. Vaughn was also present, leaning against the wall and looking content. Finally, Ahsoka, the Togruta Jedi who had come to their rescue, sat on an empty bed, seemingly relieved.
"Where are we?" Raid asked, looking about.
"The Resolute, Anakin Skywalker's flagship," Ahsoka replied, hopping down to cross towards him. "Glad to see you awake."
Raid tried to sit up, wincing at the sharp stab of pain from his wound, and decided to remain on his back. The girl eyed him sympathetically, and he was suddenly aware of his lack of clothing. Aside from his pants and undergarments, he was more exposed than regulation would usually allow. "R-right," he stammered slightly, trying to recompose himself. "Thank you for rescuing us, sir. Without your timely action, I expect we would have perished quickly."
Ahsoka waved him off, leaning against his bed. "It's not me; I came quite by accident. It was your brothers that came to your rescue, despite the stubborn opposition."
"Well, we've always been... opposition?"
Shuriken exhaled, looking somewhat embarrassed. "We kinda went against orders and... erm, insulted a High General?"
"You did what?!" Shock asked, eyes wide. Shuriken lifted his hands defensively, annoyed gaze flicking towards Joystick and Dusty.
"I didn't do anything except disobey orders. Some anonymous, moronic pilots we may or may not know thought it was a great idea to call Mace Windu a coward to his face."
Shock's expression was one worthy of his name, and Raid probably mirrored it. Awe, however, began laughing long and hard. "You guys were always brave in a suicidal way!"
"That's nothing compared to how we got through that blockade," Dusty boasted, jumping to his feet with a wild look in his eyes. "You should've seen it! We dropped out of hyperspace and Mate began sending out captured Separatist codes. We knew they wouldn't buy it unless they heard the voice, so Shuriken did his battle droid impression."
Raid brought a hand to his face, recalling their training days. Shuriken was well known for being able to replicate a wide variety of noises. Mostly animals and mimicking others' speech patterns and voices. "They fell for that?"
Joystick cackled, slapping his thigh. "Apparently they didn't have an organic commander onboard the Dreadnought we were contacting. Shuriken here pretended to be a spy team on return, and they bought it. That clanker probably needed to get his audio sensors checked."
Shuriken huffed indignantly. "Don't you think it had anything to do with my skill?"
"Nope," everyone in the room said in unison before laughing. Laughing made Raid's hurt spike, travelling from his chest wound and spreading across his body, wracking him with pain, so he was limited to pathetic chuckles and a few coughs. He didn't know why it was so funny, but he could warrant it was mostly relief at having lived through their ordeal.
"Anyway," Dusty continued, "we, by some miracle, were given clearance to land on a Providence Capital Ship. Well, we didn't intend on landing. Instead, as we flew inside through one hangar, we opened fire on the inside, destroying a bunch of the stored vulture droids, then we flew out the other side."
"They just let you through their blockade?" Awe asked incredulously.
"Pretty much," Vaughn said, folding his arms. "It was crazy, and I thought we were dead men, but these guys pulled it off. The whole way our pilots were cackling insanely as they shot down pursuing fighters and out manoeuvred them."
"There's a reason they're not shuttle pilots," Shuriken griped. "They couldn't keep any flight steady. Even on routine flights they perform flips and barrel-rolls."
Joystick smirked, rolling his eyes. "You're just jealous because you flunked out of flight class."
Shuriken was about to retort when there was a rap at the door, and it swished open. Entering was a group of men made up of a clone and three guys wearing Jedi robes.
"Masters!" Ahsoka started, standing straight and bowing before them.
"Hey there Snips," the man wearing darker robes and select pieces of armour protecting his shoulders and chest. He looked at Raid. "Looks like you're up. My name is Anakin Skywalker, and these are Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Mace Windu. Captain Rex is probably recognisable to you."
"Generals," the clones addressed them in unison, all saluting. Raid glanced at Dusty, Joystick, and Shuriken, who were all sweating and forcing grins.
"We are glad to see that you have survived your ordeal," Obi-Wan said, nodding at them and allowing them to drop their stiff arms to more relaxed places beside themselves. "From what your helmet cameras recorded; it is no mean feat. I regret that so few of you made it off Ryloth and am sorry for the loss of your unit, yet I commend you for your heroism. Truly, you have shown impressive skill and wits to survive without support nor supplies."
"We have come to recognise your bravery in service of the Republic," Anakin announced, producing some glinting metal objects from a satchel. "Normally, we would do such a thing in front of an assembly of troopers, but Coric and Kix won't allow us to let you leave your beds for another day or two and time is short. Therefore, we will do it here and now. Rex." The clone trooper in blue marked armour, pauldron, and black kama retrieved the shiny medals from the Jedi. Rex made his way to Shock's bedside and held up a medal with a blue and red ribbon. The thing itself was made of what appeared to be silver or platinum.
"The GAR Medal of Courage, bestowed upon soldiers who distinguish themselves in the face of grave peril," he said, pinning it onto Shock's shirt. The recipient looked down, stunned, and fingered the glimmering metal award reverently as Rex moved towards Awe. "Those who receive this award are heroes who show grit, determination, and fierceness under fire." He pinned the medal to Awe's shirt, who looked stunned.
"You've earned them," Anakin said proudly as Rex crossed the room to Raid, who sat despite the searing protest of his wound. Rex, unable to pin Raid's award anywhere, handed it to him ceremoniously. The metal of the medal was cold and hard against his fingers. Raid passed his thumb over the markings on the front; crossed swords on a shield, wreathed by laurels. An inscription in Aurebesh was on a carved banner at the bottom, with the words 'Honour, Courage, Readiness, Sacrifice.' Flipping it over, Raid discovered the symbol of the GAR adorned the backside.
Raid, Shock, and Awe all saluted once more.
"Joystick, Dusty, Shuriken, and Vaughn," Anakin called out. "Stand at attention."
The four troopers stood and lined up, side by side, straight as arrows. Captain Rex moved up the line, attaching a medal to each one of their chest plates.
"Medals of Heroism," Rex announced, stepping back from them once finished. "For rescuing your comrades in the face of difficult odds. Well done, troopers. Well done all." All clones saluted their Generals proudly. As they let down their arms, Mace Windu, who had been watching sternly, cleared his throat.
"Now," he began coolly, "I believe discipline is in order." The lined-up troopers' eyes were wide in nervous anticipation as the Jedi Generals exchanged a look. "We have decided that your noble intentions nearly outweigh your insubordination and stealing of GAR property-"
"Borrowing," Dusty amended the Jedi's sentence, but quickly fell silent when met with a hard stare from the tall dark man.
"-so, you will only be suspended of your ranks as corporals for a period of time which is yet to be determined." The lenient terms opened the hatch that held the stress and fear in the room, and the clones of the Outer Rim Garrison and Vaughn sighed as it drained out.
"Wait," Dusty perked up in confusion. "I was never a corporal. How is that a punishment?" Joystick facepalmed and Raid groaned inwardly. Truly, the second pilot had diarrhea of the mouth.
Windu looked like he was about to say something that wouldn't be very good for Dusty's health when Anakin, with a devious smirk, stepped forward. "Alright Dusty, as a Jedi General of the Republic, I hereby promote you to the rank of Corporal."
Everyone looked at Skywalker with varying degrees of befuddlement and incredulity except for Dusty, who pumped his fist. "Aw yeah, I'm finally promoted!"
"CT 07/07-7777, as punishment for your insubordinate actions, 'borrowing' my favourite shuttle and bringing it back very much damaged, and insulting Master Windu, I suspend your rank as Corporal." Anakin grinned evilly as Dusty's joyful expression melted into one of shock, perplexity, and outrage.
"Hang on, if you promoted me, then suspended it, doesn't-" His protest was cut short when Shuriken elbowed him sharply in the ribs, finding a gap in his armour. Dusty gagged and doubled over.
"IF THAT IS ALL," Anakin began pointedly, raising his eyebrows to see if more protests were forthcoming. When none came, he smiled. "We will be taking our leave of you gentlemen."
"How come I don't get a medal?" Ahsoka blurted as the Jedi Masters made their leave. Anakin paused to wink at Ahsoka.
"'Cos you're no soldier, Snips." He walked away, the Togruta looking unimpressed with the answer.
"I have two more things for you men," Captain Rex said, looking them over. "First off, I think you'd like to know that as soon as we can, Scuff will receive a proper military burial. He, along with Twitch, Diego and all the other men of the Outer Rim Garrison will posthumously be awarded the Republic Cross of Valour and given the ranks of Captain."
Raid smiled slightly, thinking back to his time with those three troopers. Twitch, who had known since training started on Kamino and had shared in so many adventures. Diego, who he had met only during the campaign on Ryloth, but proved to be a skilled and capable fighter, and a reliable friend. And Scuff, who Raid only met near the end, was as dear to him as the others. As Slider, or Captain Keeli, or any one of his brothers. A single hot tear traced its way down his cheek, but no more followed.
"They fought bravely," he said softly. "May we all become worthy to claim to be brothers of theirs." The others nodded in accord, silent but grateful for their sacrifice.
Captain Rex put a hand on his shoulder. "You will. That brings me to the second bit of news. Shock, Awe, and Raid, I have seen it fit to promote you to the ranks of ARC Troopers." Stunned silence hit the room. ARC troopers were some of the most prestigious and skilled clones. To be promoted to their ranks would mean to be allowed into their special training program on Kamino.
"H-how...?" Shock stuttered.
"You both showed real skill and leadership out there. As earlier stated, we examined your helmet footage to find out all that happened. You deserve it. And, I would like to extend the invitation to all of you to join the 501st in Torrent Company."
The clones all exchanged wide eyed looks. An understanding passed between them; something they all knew they had to do.
"Sir, we are honoured," Raid said. "But we have a request for you instead."
"If it's within my power, I can see what can be done," Rex pledged.
"I request that we be allowed to reform the Outer Rim Garrison, starting with our company, Fang Company."
Rex frowned, scratching his chin. "That'd take a while to accomplish."
Raid nodded. "I realise as much. I propose we begin with a single squad of the Company and go on from there, working as a temporary element of the 501st Legion. It'll give us plenty more experience of leadership and build up to a larger unit."
Rex thought for a brief moment, then smiled. "Granted. And to be leaders, you need ranks. Since the rest of you are suspended, that leaves the ARC Troopers to-be. Raid, I'll request that you be promoted to Commander and Shock and Awe as Captains when you receive promotions as ARC Troopers. I'm sure General Skywalker will be more than willing to do so."
"Thank you, sir."
"You earned it boys. Now, get some rest." The captain walked out, and the door whooshed shut behind him.
"Weeeeell, that escalated quickly," Dusty said, breaking the silence that had ensued after Rex's departure.
Shuriken whirled on the other trooper; one eyebrow raised almost high enough to touch his single, wide stripe of hair. "Seriously? You're the one that can't keep his karking mouth shut! You almost got yourself killed by the Generals."
"This isn't much of a punishment," he protested. "I was promoted just to be suspended, which means that whenever suspension is up, I'm a Corporal."
"It's not a punishment," Awe said, sounding slightly exasperated. "You almost farkled yourself."
Dusty snorted. "Easy for you to say, ARC Captain Awe."
"ARC Troopers..." Vaughn mumbled, shaking his head in wonder. "You must've done some fighting down there."
Shock shrugged. "Meh, just killed... three gutkurrs, three crazy sword droids, four Vulture Droids, two shuttles, several B2s, and a bajillion clankers with nothing but carbines, rifles, knives, and a toothbrush."
Ahsoka whistled, leaning back against Raid's bed once more. "You guys were busy. And I think you used more than just a toothbrush." She looked at Raid meaningfully, and suddenly he felt somewhat ashamed.
"I'm sorry, Commander. I used the general's lightsaber. I know they're specifically Jedi equipment and not for clone troopers to use. I'm prepared to relinquish it and I'll..." He tapered off as she began chuckling.
"You misunderstand me, Commander," she said, playing with his possible new title. "I am impressed how you wielded it. I watched the recordings, and I'm sure there's no one else Master Di would like to have it more." Raid smiled at the complement and the thought of pleasing his old general.
Joystick cleared his throat, attracting the stares of the others. "Now that someone's gone and made himself a commander, we're going to have to prepare for a new squad. Where we going?"
Raid looked over to Vaughn, who watched him curiously. "I was actually hoping that for the time being we can hang around on the Resolute. Do you think you can help us get settled in?"
The trooper smiled and nodded. "I believe that's doable. I'll go get some bunks prepared. You guys need me to bring you anything back?"
Raid looked around at the happy, determined faces of his squad, all wearing new medals. Though they had lost many along the way, Raid was glad he had found his brothers in the end, and now they'd be able to rebuild, and keep fighting for the Republic and for their fallen brothers.
"No. I think we have everything we'll ever need right here."