inspections
Anakin was frantic to get to Kamino's moon base - - or what was left of it - - to aid his man. His Captain Rex and Obi-Wan's Commander Cody had been on the way to inspect a remote outpost…one that guarded the entry to the hidden Kamino system. Upon arrival the two clones had been unable to raise the bastion. Further investigation - - and action - - had led to them thwarting an attempt by Separatist droid forces to infiltrate.
When the comlink sounded the waiting jedi all leapt to the viewstation module.
Rex's face was tired, dirt streaked, and cautiously optimistic. Afir's heart was glad.
"How'd inspections go, Captain?" she asked.
He nodded thoughtfully. "Well, it looked pretty good - - what I saw of it." He rocked his clean shaven head back and forth. "Could probably use some work now..."
She laughed and his world felt better. He hurt. His hands burned like hell and his heart was with the guys who had been here on their own while they cursed them and thought to smack down during a routine facility inspection.
"So how'd you do it, Cody old boy?" Obi-Wan asked.
Commander Cody's smile broke his handsome face. How the man had attained so much rank without a mark on his mug was a wonderment to a good many people. "I didn't really have much to do with any of it - - I was just muscle on this jaunt, General Kenobi."
"I find that hard to believe," Obi-Wan countered.
Cody shook his head and grinned again. "It was the damnedest thing I ever saw. And I was right behind him the whole way."
"Yeah," Rex agreed. "You were right behind me going 'This is not going to work,' Commander."
Cody shrugged. "I had your back one way or another…"
"No you didn't!" Afir laughed aloud at the tale of how they'd gotten in, clapping her hands together and then bringing them up to her lips.
Rex smiled warmly, his dark eyes twinkling. "I did and it worked!"
Cody begrudgingly nodded. "They bought it. All we had to do was wave that tinny's head around and they opened the door. But if you could have seen him - - squatting there in front of the security vid while I held up the droid body!"
"Not one of your most dignified moments, huh, Cody?" Obi-Wan asked, stroking his beard in thought. He wasn't watching Cody and Rex's antics so much as looking through them at where Afir was captivated.
"Not so bad for me, General Kenobi. But, man-oh-man, from Rex's point of view..."
Rex probably blushed but it was impossible to tell from the wavery blue images. He certainly looked chagrinned.
"Well, from my point of view you did a spectacular job. All of you," Anakin interrupted.
Obi-Wan watched his best friend cock her head thoughtfully toward his former apprentice and nod approvingly. Anakin caught the gesture as well and stumbled a bit in his declamation. Ahsoka grinned up at him. She didn't know how rarely it was that Anakin and Afir saw eye to eye. If she wasn't disapproving of his actions, he was disapproving of hers.
For now they joined voices in praise, thanksgiving, and finally condolences.
Once they reached the outpost with reinforcements, they sat in the mess and unwound. The men who had survived the attack told tales of those who had not. Afir laughed uproariously. She cried privately, a more and more common occurrence that was beginning to bother her. It seemed as though everything set her off - - even things that amused her led to hysterical laughter and then the eventual sobbing.
It worried Obi-Wan as well. They were working closely, their troops often intermingled now as they took on bigger and bigger targets further and further into the Outer Rim. He watched her and wondered about the strength they'd all expected of her. It had, perhaps, been wrong of the council to force her into leadership of her own army. She'd never been comfortable sending the clones into battle. Now each loss was etched in her soul. Obi-Wan wondered that she could walk under the weight of her sorrows now. Too rarely did she find reason to smile. Too rarely did she seem her old, joyous self. Serious of mien was she now. She'd always had great respect for their craft and their ways, but something was eating away at her very soul now. The war had simply gone on too long and she'd lost too many, he supposed. Someday she would run out of self to give, of hiding places in her mind, and when that happened he thought that she would probably just become one with the force, leaving them grieving the loss of her.
Rex, too, saw the shadows beneath her eyes and the over-brightness in her smile. He'd thought that she'd gotten some bug on Tu'Tapio. Every time she smelled food she lost her appetite. She'd spent most of their time on the island a pale shade of green. Anakin had noticed it and sent her back to the ship. Rex had known she was sick when she'd obeyed instead of arguing. Life and the rages of the war had precluded him going to her, though. He'd had to make due with several short transmissions as their paths led them apart again.