Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or The Clone Wars.
Spoilers: For the comic Cold Snap. In fact, you probably need to read that to understand this fic. And I highly recommend it. (You can find it at http: // starwars . com / clonewars / comic / (remove the spaces). Go to the table of contents page and click the Cold Snap link.)
Shiv
For the first few days after he hears the news, Shiv doesn't know what to do. There are things gnawing at him, pricking at his skin and whispering in his mind, but he can't let them out, because Flanker is dead. (Dead, dead, dead, his mind repeats, and he wonders why it sounds like free.)
He thinks about writing to someone else—Trig maybe?—but he's never written to anyone but Flanker.
On the fifth day they get caught in a firefight and Shiv wastes three whole seconds before he remembers to fire back. It's then that he knows he has to do something.
Back at HQ that night, he sits down apart from his squad mates and takes out his datapad. Flanker is still dead (and the word still sounds like free), but Shiv thinks he might get the message anyway.
He sits back and begins to type.
Flanker,
You won't believe the rookie mistake I made today…