Priorities

Ace only knew how long it had been by the excruciating flipping of digital numbers in the corner of his HUD. It had been hours already, and he had hardly moved a muscle. He could feel himself losing circulation in his feet, but there was no room to stand up. He tried to shift into a squat, the movement shooting pins up his leg. He tried to shake out his leg but the effort made him bang his helmet against the top of the upturned speeder.

"Fierfek!" He cursed as he stumbled, half-hunched over. Every muscle in his body was screaming, tense to the point of needing to burst. Ace punched the metallic wall, sending a shock up his arm. He punched it again and and again, cursing, and kicking. He attacked the side of the speeder like his life depended on it, until the confined movement tripped him over, and he fell back into Champ's lap. The speeder left no indication of his efforts, save for a few streaks.

It seemed to be enough for now, however. Ace stretched as much as he could and lay back down. "You're lucky you're unconscious for all this waiting, Champ." Ace told the lolling head of his comrade.

Ace could feel a tear itching down the side of his face. He wished he could wipe it away, but he didn't dare remove the snow helmet. His HUD told him that the temperature was dropping, but the climate control in his armor would keep him warm. If Gavyn was back, Ace knew he would be looking for their wreck, but he hadn't been seen in over a week. He was off training his apprentice, on some untouched wilderness planet. Ace trusted Gavyn to find him, Jedi were good at that and the Force would help him search. Without a Jedi, Ace wasn't sure what the odds were. Not good, for a small speeder, under a drift of snow, that was for certain.

It took two hours for the clones to finish changing over the speeder to be equipped for extremely cold weather - long enough that the sun was already touching the horizon. Gavyn bundled himself up, and stepped out of the hangar to watch the sun set.

He could feel the temperature dropping already. He wondered if Ace found somewhere safe to spend the night. He wondered if he still had his suit intact, to keep the cold out. If he was alive, Gavyn hoped he could make it through the night.

"We'll go as soon as it's light." A clone's voice said from behind him, optimistically.

"I know." Gavyn answered, his thoughts still far away.

Sleep was utterly hopeless. He was in the hangar before dawn broke, and it was still far too late for his taste. Gavyn wore every piece of cold-weather clothing he could find, and had packed up the speeder with emergency equipment, a few days of food and water. Gavyn hoped that Tyro had learned something about survival, because he was going to be coming with them. They shouldn't be getting into too much trouble on a search and rescue mission. A handful of clones stood by in their low-temp gear, waiting for the signal to peel out.

"Are you ready to go, Tyro?" Gavyn asked.

Tyro nodded, still blinking back residual tiredness. Unable to sleep immediately he had turned instead towards research until fatigue at last won out. Gavyn's concern yesterday had put him on edge, but the Jedi Master had either made some sense of peace with the situation, or managed to shield him from some of what he was feeling. Whatever it was, it was enough that he could get some rest for a few good hours. "I studied the maps and terrain last night. Tried to come up with some backup solutions just in case," he reported quickly to Gavyn.

"Good work, Tyro." Gavyn smiled, through the hood pulled up to his nose. "It looks like the troops are ready as well." He looked up, and the clones nodded to him in return. Gavyn recognized them as the handful of soldiers that Tyro had taken to lately. The Jedi was glad for it, Tyro could use a couple of friends around, since he seemed to be occupied with is duties as a General most hours of the day.

The troops were climbing into the vehicle when a courier came running around the corner. He skidded to a halt on the icy hangar floor, and saluted. "General, sir. The Jedi Council requests your audience." He reported.

A lump formed in Gavyn's throat. "What do they want?" He asked carefully, keeping his tone even.

The clone looked hesitant. "I'm not sure, sir. The signal here is really bad because of the cloud cover. I recommend you take a transport up to the Guardian."

There was a long moment before Gavyn responded, a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth. He closed his eyes, searching for his center. Duty has to come first.

"Duty has to come first." Gavyn explained, tilting his head to try and catch Ace's eyes. The clone wasn't looking at him, brows furrowed and staring at the criss-crossed landing lines under the Jedi starship.

"We're soldiers. Our duty is to watch each other's backs." Ace insisted.

Gavyn placed his hand on Ace's neck, one of the few places that wasn't covered in plated armor. It got his attention, and Ace finally took a deep breath and looked up at him. "I'm also a Jedi." Gavyn reminded him.

Ace moved Gavyn's hand as he confronted him. The soldier had no interest in being consoled. "All the more reason I should go with you. You're a Jedi. You're our General. If anything happened to you, I- we can't afford the loss." Ace caught himself on his passionate language, quickly supplementing it for his chilled Kominoian training.

It was strange to Ace. It seemed inevitable that Gavyn would get wounded or killed in battle at some point. That didn't bother him. What bothered him was the idea of not being by his side when it happened. Dying alone in war felt so nihilistic, it made you question why you're fighting in the first place. The Republic certainly wouldn't be there in the end to hold your hand. The two of them didn't have much, but they had each other in all of this chaos. If they fell by each other's side, at least it would feel like this war meant something.

"I have my orders." Gavyn apologized. "Remember, I've been trained for this. My whole life I've done missions like this."

Ace writhed under the truth of it. "I know, I know." Gavyn brushed his cheek. He didn't want to leave any more than Ace wanted him to. It was the only way he could justify continuing their relationship, however. The Jedi code explicitly warned of the dangers attachment could have on a Jedi's duty. As long as his attachment didn't get in the way, Gavyn could juggle both. It would be painful. Force, it was painful. But Ace was worth it.

Gavyn touched his forehead against Ace's, before the clone melted against him, burying his face into Gavyn's neck. He didn't waste a moment before wrapping his arms around him, holding Ace close, armor plating and all. Gavyn peppered kisses on Ace's temple until he could feel him calm down.

Ace drew himself away, with a smile and a half-laugh. "You have such a way with words." Gavyn grinned, just happy to see him in better spirits. He swept in to kiss Ace full on the mouth, thankful they were in the shade of the starship in an uncrowded hangar.

"I'll be back before you know it. With whole pages of words." Gavyn flirted. A page was a lot of words for him. Ace shook his head, chuckling as he stepped back from the entrance hatch. The last thing Gavyn saw before climbing inside was Ace giving him a salute. He made a note to remember it, just in case it was the last time.

"I'll go." Gavyn said simply. This was so much easier when he knew that Ace had a garrison behind his back, not dying alone in the middle of a frozen wasteland. It was never easy, though. It never would be.

Tyro nodded at Gavyn's acknowledgement before heading towards the ship with the rest of the search party. Under the stark white snow suits Tyro could not see who was who but he could tell easily enough between their mannerisms and the force. He smiled, feeling at ease that he would be doing this alongside Tar, Sparks, and Tracks.

Two of the other three felt familiar but he couldn't place them. "I think we've met before, for some reason, but I'm Tyro," he offered, unsure, to the pair.

"Sergeant Major CT-6895, sir, though the General likes to call me "Stitch". The man called Splinter introduced himself in a similarly stiff fashion. Noting Tyro's blank stare Stitch continued more lightly. "Chief Medic. We met on Loronar, don't think I ever had time to introduce myself though," he offered with a smile. Tyro had the distinct feeling that was the politically correct way to tell him it was okay that he didn't remember. He also had the feeling Stitch and Splinter got that a lot.

"I'm guessing I owe you a thanks then."

Stitch chuckled. "Glad to see you up and about."

"Just don't do it again," Splinter teased.

"That's the idea," agreed Tyro.

Tyro climbed into the vehicle with everyone else, taking a seat next to Tracks. It would be interesting to see the man at work doing what he loved and did best, according to Tar and Sparks he was insanely good at...well, tracking.

"How's the cybernetic holding up in these temperatures?" Tyro asked privately, trying to treat the subject with the respect it deserved.

"Functions perfectly, sir," Tracks reported, before adding more softly, "Thanks, you three did a fine job, sir."

That was right. It had to be back to "sir" with everyone now. Tyro found it wasn't the title that was troubling, it was the responsibility that came with it. How was he supposed to lead an army at something he had never done before? For once, all his fourteen years did not seem enough. He looked over to his Master, who seemed to be just finishing up a conversation with someone. At least Gavyn would be here to help, Tyro comforted himself.

Gavyn needed to leave for the cruiser in the upper atmosphere at once, but it left him few options with what to do about Ace and Champ. He glanced across the hangar to spot Tyro climbing into the speeder. He was ready to go, and Gavyn understood that he needed to let Tyro do this. Not just in order to rescue Ace, but so he could step up and take his place as a commander in this army. A search and rescue mission was dangerous, but it wasn't a battle. Gavyn had to trust him.

Gavyn leaned across the hatch of the speeder. "Tyro, I've just been told of important business with the council. I… I won't be able to join you." He wished that he could be there when they found Ace. He would probably be cold and exhausted, and would need someone to look after him. Gavyn trusted the medics to do their job, but he hoped that someone would remember to tell Ace that everything was going to be alright.

Meeting Tyro's eyes very seriously, Gavyn continued. "I trust you to bring them back safely." The Jedi meant it. Tyro was smart, he had figured out whereabouts the speeder may have landed. He spent the time looking over the maps, like he said. And most importantly, he had the Force as his ally. It would guide him.

"Okay," Tyro blinked, staring blankly at Gavyn, not sure of how to process this. He had been around clones less than a month, and now he was supposed to lead troops...just like that? He hadn't lead anyone before, he kept to himself, did stuff on his own. He could come up with plans, strategy, but then he handed those off, he wasn't the one to carry them out.

Tyro hopped out of the vehicle to better talk to Gavyn. If he was going to do this he couldn't let anyone see his lack of resolve, or competence. "Er...I guess that means then that...I'm commanding officer, if that's what you call it, right?"

Gavyn was accustomed to his position of authority. The clones seemed to regard him with respect and obedience, no matter how much he would push to become more their equal. Before the war he was already well practiced in taking charge of situations and rallying people. It came as naturally to him as breathing. He forgot that Tyro was more of the scholarly type of Jedi.

"Yes, that makes you the highest rank on this mission." Gavyn confirmed, citing the technicality. "But that doesn't mean you have to do everything yourself." He reminded Tyro, trying to ease his apprehension. "Your squad knows their jobs well. Trust their expertise, and trust your instincts."

Gavyn put a hand on Tyro's shoulder. It was hard for him to keep asking this of his apprentice- to grow up so fast. Tyro took it in stride, but that didn't make it any less fair.

He pulled Tyro into a tearfully tight hug. "Be careful out there." The last thing Gavyn wanted was to lose his Padawan to the frozen wasteland in addition to Ace. If anything, this incident was a harsh reminder that any moment could be the last together in the midst of war. Gavyn dared not take Tyro for granted. "May the force be with you."

"Thanks Master," Tyro nodded into Gavyn's jacket. "You too."