A/N - Having finished the Vode An arc, where Chopper has come to believe that he might actually be worthy of friends, we take a small intermission with Kev before moving on to the events of Ord Plutonia.

Kev's Worst Day

It was the worst day of Kev's short and heretofore uneventful life.

He'd woken up aching and bruised from the beating he'd taken on the second worse day of his life two days earlier.

Kev had a new respect for Chopper's fists. He had thought the trooper a coward or brain-damaged the way he had ignored insults previously, stared at the wall and hid in his corner with the data-pad.

When Kix had inspected Kev after the fight, he had murmured in his soft voice, "No broken ribs, no loose teeth. Maximum pain, minimum damage. Sounds like Chopper's expertise."

Kev had thought about asking what he meant but curiosity took a back seat to his pains as Kix poked and prodded then provided some mild painkillers.

Kev groaned as he dressed in his comfortable garrison fatigues; Sergeant Zeer permitted men who had engaged in one-on-one off days if someone would take his duty. Kru hadn't found anyone and had reported to supply with shiny purple bruises, but Boomer had taken Kev's duty for the third day in a row.

Now he had to confront and apologize to the commander. Kev was supposed to have done so the first day after one-on-one, but General Skywalker had grabbed her on some mission or another. Supposedly the general and commander would return late in the ship's day.

Kev frowned at the thought of apologizing. She was a Jedi; what did she care about clones? Chopper had to be wrong, she didn't know about their jokes and gossip. If the commander knew, that meant that she listened. If she listened, that meant she cared. She couldn't care, they were only clones.

Sergeant Zeer came back into the barracks room. He'd been called to the captain's office as Kev was preparing for a hot shower and had been gone a long time. When he returned he'd given Kev a long, speculative look.

"My office after lunch, Kev," he ordered quietly. "In the meantime, pack your gear." Then he had stepped out of the barracks once again.

Pack his gear? Kev's breath hitched at the thought.

Pack his gear? Where would he go?

This was a good squad and he liked belonging. Zeer had been with the 501st from the beginning; he had survived Teth, he was a good sergeant. Marker and Kru were great brothers. Kev liked all of the troopers in the squad.

Pack his gear? His chest squeezed his breath to a whisper. Where would he be going? He didn't want to go. Would he be kicked out of the 501st? Kev felt a surge of anger at Chopper. Somehow it was all Chopper's fault.

When Zeer returned, Kev's gear bag was packed and carefully placed on his bunk beside his helmet. Kev sat next to it, his face expressionless and his back straight, waiting. Marker had come in; the question in his eyes at the sight of Kev's packed gear. Kev had only shaken his head. "I'm being reassigned," he spoke softly, not sure he'd get it all out without his voice cracking. "I don't know where."

Wordless, Marker had gripped his shoulder then let his hand drop.

Kev waited until the sergeant gestured to his office. Kev sat and watched Sergeant Zeer mark his records for reassignment. Then Zeer set the records aside and faced him fully, thoughtfully looking into his eyes.

"The captain said something that I hadn't thought about before," began Sergeant Zeer. "He said you've had five fights in less than two months. He's looked into the matter and it appears that you instigated those fights no matter who ended up challenging. According to Marker and Kru, you pushed this fight with Chopper as well. Captain Rex also pointed out that my squad has the highest fight rate; more than twice as many fights as the next squad and I was to blame for some of that." Zeer gave a wry twist of his lips and gestured at the empty space on his cuff where his sergeant's mark was missing.

Kev swallowed as his eyes widened, his mouth opened but he had nothing to say.

"I've been temporarily demoted to squad leader until further notice. In the meantime, I'm to ensure my squad does not initiate a one-one-one. I'm to report to the captain what I've done to prevent or allow all previous fights and any new ones which may occur."

Kev stared. An entire regiment of the 501st was on board the Resolute; over 2,000 men as well as Blue, Gold and Shadow squadrons along with the Resolute's crew. You had to expect fights with that many men. Sometimes personalities just didn't mesh. It was the reason one-on-one had been instituted.

Kev's mouth dried and his lips twisted, Zeer would blame him. "I'm sorry, sir."

Zeer waved a hand in absent dismissal. "Captain Rex is right and I need to find out why. In the meantime you've been indefinitely re-assigned."

"Where?" Kev could only whisper, praying he'd at least stay with the 501st.

"Chopper's barracks."

"Who will I report to," Kev asked. It was well known there was no sergeant in Chopper's barracks, but at least his prayer had been answered.

"Chopper, I expect," replied Zeer. Then after a moment's thought, "perhaps to captain's second."

Kev wanted to groan in frustration but he only nodded stiffly.

Zeer looked at him again, kindly. "You have an interview with Captain Rex, Kev, at the end of shift." Sergeant Zeer stood and Kev followed his lead. Zeer put a hand on his shoulder. "Do your best, Kev. This isn't punishment."

Kev went out the door not believing that. It had to be punishment.

Where had a mere trooper - and a deficient one at that - gotten such influence?

Kev's day got worse.

The interview with Captain Rex had been the hardest interview Kev had ever done. The captain didn't raise his voice; the captain hadn't accused Kev of anything. He had simply asked questions about why Kev had volunteered for Torrent Company. He didn't ask about one-on-one with Chopper or any of the previous one-on-ones. He didn't give Kev an opening to defend his actions. Only at the end of the discussion did the captain even obliquely refer to the fight.

Rex's voice still echoed in his mind. "You'll be going to Chopper's barracks for a while, Kev. I think you will end up a better trooper for it. If nothing else, you should learn when and how to fight."

Captain Rex hadn't even give an order Kev could obey, simply a kindly suggestion that Kev could learn something. He didn't even tell Kev who he'd be reporting to or what his new shift was going to be.

Kev picked up his gear duffle and walked down the corridor, glad it was late in ship's day. Glad there was no one to see him with the gear bag walking alone to his new assignment with his eyes shiny with unshed tears.

Kev saw Chopper and Commander Tano in the mess. He had stopped there to get a cup of caf as well as give time for one of the men in Chopper's barracks to receive the captain's message of his reassignment. He didn't think there could be anything worse than waiting outside the door of his new barracks because they hadn't chosen to give him the combination. The captain, oddly enough, hadn't provided it either.

Chopper didn't look like a man who'd gone one-on-one two days earlier. He spoke with the commander and he held her hands. Of course, thought Kev, the commander had used her Jedi magic on him.

Kev had frowned at seeing them talking so close; at Chopper picking up her hands, at her stroking his fingers. Why the farce with one-on-one, then, Chopper? Why not just admit it? There's not a man on board who wouldn't admire you for it. But when Kev went to their table, he suddenly realized how young the commander was; not just young, but not yet grown. He hadn't really been this close to her. Before he had only seen Jedi skills and confidence; but this, this was a youngling. The commander was no longer pudgy with childhood but she wasn't grown either. She still had the lean thinness of growing too fast, of not yet caught up to adulthood.

Kev had the tiny glimpse of a thought that he also might pound on some man suggesting what he had suggested.

He made his apology – and thought he'd done well enough. From the commander received confirmation that he was being punished.

A fitting punishment.

Chopper brought him to the barracks and showed him the combo without saying anything to him. Kev threw his gear bag on the bunk he'd chosen. It was the furthest one from Chopper's and only marginally closer to the two brothers by choice. It was an insult, but none of them made any comment. They weren't expecting him though. The captain hadn't even sent a message and Kev wondered what that meant. Did it mean that if they didn't accept him, he'd be shipped out elsewhere?

Fives ignored Kev and raised an eyebrow at Chopper. Echo looked from Kev to Chopper and back again, obviously waiting. Chopper looked at Kev with a frown, his jaw working as though he were gritting his teeth, preparing to spit out something intolerable.

Fitting punishment, indeed, and Chopper thought it was for him. Of course. Chopper wouldn't want to be in the same squad any more than Kev.

Which of us is going to give up first? Kev thought, glaring angrily back at the scarred man. Who will break first? Notwithstanding the bruises on his face and the aches of his body, Kev vowed it wouldn't be him. Then Chopper's lower lip quirked oddly and his face relaxed.

"Welcome to the captain's men, Kev."

Kev knew things were only going to get worse and, taking the captain's oblique hint to learn when to fight, he went back to the mess to wait for practice.

As usual... read and enjoy, review and anticipate. So, how will Kev fit in with Chopper, Fives and Echo?

Next chapter in a day or two.