Fear
"Safeguard, safeguard, safeguard. All hands to action stations. All hands to action stations."
Gaff cursed as he yanked on the final pieces of his armor, hitting the edge of his bunk with the back of his legs as he did so.
"Stang." He slipped his bucket over his head, grimacing as drops of water ran over his face. At least he'd managed to wipe most of the soap from his eyes.
"It all comes down to timing," was what his training sergeant had said about warfare.
As he sprinted out of his cabin to meet the enemy for the first time, still soaking wet, Gaff finally understood the sarcastic twinkle in the man's eyes as he'd passed down that sage advice to a room full of cadets.
Gaff wondered if he'd remembered to turn off the shower.
The communications net was ablaze, O'sic's voice dominating the chatter as the marshal commander gave orders to his company commanders, who in turn passed them down the chain of command until they reached every lowly private.
"Commander Gaff reporting for duty," Gaff signaled through the command channel while he raced through Stalwart's corridors, heading for the main hangar bay. Elix was an infantry company; even without O'sic to issue the order, Gaff knew his men would have begun to gather in the hangar at the first sound of the klaxons, boarding the troop transports in preparation of hitting dirtside.
"Commander Gaff," O'sic acknowledged his inclusion in the command network. "Welcome to the fray."
Gaff winced as he ducked around a corner, barely avoiding a head-on collision with two naval officers. Whoever had decided to position officers' country at the top of the ship, with basically the entire cruiser between the living quarters and the hangar bay, had been a complete waste of genes.
"My apologies, Commander," Gaff gasped out, trying to hide his embarrassment. "I was...detained."
There was a telling pause, then a short click as O'sic switched to a private channel. "Butt-naked and covered in soap when the scramble came?" he asked, the hint of a smile in his voice.
Gaff felt himself blush and was glad for the bucket hiding his face. "Yes, sir."
"The clankers are awkward like that," O'sic said, amusement mixing with kindly condescension. He promptly switched back to the battle group's main comm freq, once more all business as he barked out orders.
"We'll be running the Sep lines in a two-pronged attack. General Arhen will head Group Alpha. Group Beta is under my command. Elix, Battle Dogs, you're on Alpha. Flash and Prosper with me. LZ is hot and flak heavy."
Even as he raced through the hangar bay doors, a small window at the corner of Gaff's HUD opened to reveal a realtime feed of the landing zone, no doubt taken by scouts during the first recce of the planet.
Gaff felt his heartbeat kick up another notch as he saw a full battalion of tanks enclose the target city. The Seps weren't messing around on this one. This was more resistance than Gaff had seen during his entire stay on Gaftikar.
O'sic stood at the center of the storm of preparations, hands folded behind his back as he directed the infantry companies and fighter squadrons. Though his back was turned to Gaff, O'sic seemed to know the exact second the young commander entered the hangar bay, because there was another click and O'sic was back on the command comm channel with Gaff.
"Commander, you're on the larty with the general. You're his second on this caper."
Gaff almost stumbled in his surprise, though he never stopped his full-out run to the line of waiting larties. He swallowed, even as someone stifled a half-formed protest, audible even over the general chaos of battle preparations.
"Yes, sir," Gaff replied and hoped to all Nine Hells that he at least sounded confident and composed. He was supposed to second General Arhen on his very first tour with Blazer Corps? What was O'sic thinking? In Blazer Corps' still shifting hacking order, he was one of the most junior commanders. The post of general's second should have gone to one of the veteran commanders, like Whynge or Talla.
But of course, he couldn't voice his protests. Orders were orders and they were about to face the enemy for the first time as a battle group. His superior had given him his assigned post. Gaff would man it to the end.
He changed course abruptly, running past the gunship that held Kase and his men and raced towards the head of the line of idling troop carriers; their engines already revved and running hot in preparation of leaving the relative safety of the hangar bay. General Arhen, it would seem, was not the kind of man to lead his troops from the rear.
Around them Stalwart shivered as the first volley of Sep fire hit their shields.
The general's larty was easy to recognize; Blazer Corps' flaming star was displayed prominently on the gunship's nose, a lit lightsaber splitting the star in half. Even as he jumped into the waiting larty, Gaff had to admire Radar's artistic skills and guts. The pilot was practically thumbing his nose at the Vulture droids.
A strong hand gripped his wrist, pulling him into the larty's crew bay just as the gunship began its ascend. The blast doors closed firmly behind Gaff and the crew bay was cast into a reddish glow.
"Glad you could join us, Commander." General Arhen gave him a courteous nod and released Gaff's wrist. In the closed confines of the crew bay, Gaff became truly aware for the first time that the general was just as tall as a clone. The Jedi looked directly at him, meeting Gaff's eyes through the T-shaped visor. In the crew bay's red lighting, the general's normally teal eyes appeared grey.
Gaff swallowed hard, his mouth dry as he felt the slight tingle that signified the larty had passed through the hangar bay's shield and was now in hard vacuum. His first battle with Blazer Corps and he was the general's second.
His heart pounded a fast rhythm in his ears.
"It's an honor, sir," he said honestly.
There was no sound in space, but everyone felt the larty buck and shudder as the pilot weaved in and out of the heavy fire exchange between the Seps and the Republic turret guns, trying to follow the path being blazed by the starfighters towards the beleaguered planet.
Everyone grabbed for a handhold, except the general, who kept his balance with an easy grace.
General Arhen looked up, as if he could see straight through the durasteel and towards the space battle raging outside of the blast doors. "Indeed," he said, so quietly that Gaff had to read the word off of his general's lips. The word was accompanied by the briefest of wry smiles.
The larty continued to shiver as Radar evaded plasma bolts aimed at them. Their lives were in the pilot's hands and those of the starfighters flying escort for the troop carriers. Brothers looking out for brothers and it would continue that way when they hit the LZ and charged the Separatist's lines. That was the difference between clones and droids; the clone troopers were not just fighting for victory. They also fought for the survival of the man standing next to them; their brothers.
Gaff's gaze fell on General Arhen as the crew bay light turned from red to green.
The general had no brothers amongst Blazer Corps. He was the only Jedi in the battle group and as such, stood apart and alone.
But not anymore. O'sic had assigned Gaff to act as the general's second during the battle. That meant Gaff would watch his general's six, just like he would do for a brother. And if General Arhen were to fall to enemy fire, it would be because Gaff had let his general down.
He swallowed hard, but his mouth was as dry as Tatooine's Dune Sea.
The blast doors opened and General Arhen sprang out, his lightsaber igniting in the same instant and cutting a green swathe through the rain of red plasma bolts. Gaff was no more than a second behind him, his Deece raised and firing as the rest of the 49th Blazer Corps' ground troops stormed out of the landing larties and engaged the enemy.
As he followed his general into battle for the first time, covering his six, Gaff told himself firmly that the moisture pearling on his skin was water from his interrupted shower and not the sweat of fear.