Location: Coruscant; ABG 41 days:
"Welcome aboard Commander," a young shinie stated, saluting the even younger Jedi Padawan as she boarded the Jedi Corvette.
"Thank you..."
"CT-22-3534, ma'am," the trooper stated, walking along with the small Jedi into the ship's Cabin. They both sat down before the clone uneasily took off his helmet, placing it on the table in front of him.
"CT... 22... what?"
"3534 ma'am."
Ahsoka gave the young clone an appraising look, "Don't you have names?"
The clone looked slightly taken aback, he didn't expect the Jedi to want to know about him let alone his name.
Looking uneasy he continued, "Uhh, well, we aren't given names, sir; but we have nicknames for each other..."
Ahsoka smiled, "What's yours?"
"Uhh... it's kinda silly... it's Tare."
Ahsoka laughed at the clone's obvious uneasiness at telling someone his name. Unfortunately for Tare, he thought she was laughing at his name. Ahsoka noticed the multiple shades of embarrassment on the young man's face.
"No Tare, I wasn't laughing at you, I really like your name, I do."
"Yes, sir," Tare wasn't convinced, "Now, please make yourself comfortable, I'll be back to show you around the ship in a few."
The Trooper nodded before putting his bucket on and leaving for the cockpit.
Ahsoka sighed, she was nervous, it was her first mission; she was supposed to find her new master, wherever he was. Not only that but she had important information to give him too from the Jedi Council. She was very nervous.
Just then the pilot's voice rang out through the ships comms, "Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to report that we have just made the jump to Hyperspace. We will be arriving in the Outer Kaminoan Sector in approximately 51 hours. Enjoy the trip and thank you for flying Republic Air."
Ahsoka smiled, she wanted to meet this pilot, she had never heard such an obviously bored yet sarcastic comment before, so getting up, Ahsoka decided to see if she could add some excitement to his day.
#
"So I said, 'Baby, you want to do something else besides counting stars?' Then she says she wants to know what a deece looks like, yeah, you know what I mean... let's just say Rookie by the end of that flight she knew my deece intimately..."
"I call osik! You haven't been with a girl yet in your life! None of us have. And we just started fighting over a month ago, how could you have had all these opportunities to pick up girls? Huh?"
The pilot smiled cockily at the shinie, "Well, maybe for you infantry units, but us pilots, we get all sorts of merchandise to carry across the galaxy, including many types of the female variety. I've had my go enough times around, you'd be surprised how many runs the Republic has had me do in the past month... there's a reason kid they put an Auto Pilot mode in these ships... heh... Whoa! Wait, have I told you about my trip to Zeltros yet? Hah ha! Now that was the best trip of my career so far... let me tell you..."
"Umm, excuse me," both Pilot and Rookie quickly glanced up to the Togrutan standing in the entrance to the cockpit, she wore an unsure expression. They immediately stood at attention.
"Commander, sir!"
"At ease, I'm sorry if I'm interrupting."
The pilot stepped forward smiling, "Not at all Commander, I'm CT-1127/549 at your service. You've already met CT-22-3534. As to our conversation," the pilot gave the shinie a mischievous grin, "We can pick that up later."
"Very well, and you're the pilot?"
"Yes, ma'am," the pilot indicated his distinctive pilot's helmet lying on the ships consul.
"Do you have a name, besides... Well whatever your number is?"
The pilot looked to the rookie, as if asking for an explanation.
"The Commander prefers our nicknames, rather than number, sir."
The pilot may have had a lot of experience, even just over a month into the war, but nobody, well other than his half-dozen female acquaintances, had wanted to know his name, let alone a Jedi Padawan.
"My name... it's Sicko, sir."
Ahsoka smiled raising an eyebrow, a look of curiosity across her face, "If I may ask, Sicko, how did you get your name?"
The pilot blushed looking innocently down at his feet, "Well, Commander, let's just say the Starships I normally fly, aren't for the Jedi. I have a habit of..."
"making your crew throw up?" Tare finished for the pilot, smirking. He'd heard enough about this particular brother in the 501st, Sicko was starting to build up a reputation in the GAR's more action bound legions.
"Uhh, you could put it that way, Rookie, among my other activities, ahem.... but yes Commander, my flying style is rather..."
"Suicidal?"
"Shut it, Rookie! Go get 4-12, I need him to check the Hyperdrive's External Heat Dampeners, the readings aren't showing up right."
"Yes, sir!" Tare saluted both the Pilot and Commander before running off to find his brother.
"Shinies," Sicko mumbled under his breath before walking back to the pilot's seat, easing himself down and sighing, he would prefer any assignment over this one; it was promising to be one of the most boring in his career. Ahsoka walked over and sat in the co-pilot seat.
"So, Sicko, who's 4 dash 12, is he an astromech? Or another Trooper? Does he have a name too?" Ahsoka asked innocently, a hint of excitement in her young voice.
"Who? You mean CT-3776/412?" the pilot stated turning in his seat to the young Padawan, he didn't like her inference to one of his brothers being astromech.
"I guess?" she shrugged her shoulders, "The trooper you wanted to..."
"No," Sicko interrupted, looking back to the blue streaks of Hyperspace, "He doesn't have a name. You'll find, Commander, that not all of us clones have names or even nicknames, we're just numbers to the rest of the Republic, nothing special, just a whole lot of identical faces who fight and die. But we are men, not droids, so please, don't ever call one of my brothers an astromech again, or I swear you'll be jettisoned in an escape pod into Hyperspace. Got it?"
Ahsoka could tell she'd hit a nerve with whoever this 4-12 was, the anger from Sicko was unexpected and intense.
"I'm sorry Sicko, I... I didn't mean to call him that; I just didn't know who you were referring too. Back at the temple we have astromech's who have numbers like..."
"Just stop!"
Ahsoka decided now was the best time to leave for the Cabin, she wasn't getting anywhere with Sicko, if anything he was now in a really bad mood because of her. Figures, it was her first real assignment and she'd already messed up. Hearing her stomach growl, Ahsoka made her way back to the cabin, she knew she could at least get something from the conservator; then maybe she'd use the refreshers, if only she could find them, how hard could it be?
###
Six hours into the flight, Ahsoka found herself alone and lonely. Sicko was hold up in the Cockpit, not wanting anything more to do with the young Jedi, while Tare had all but disappeared. Since Tare had never given her the grand tour of the medium size Jedi Corvette with a skeleton crew, Ahsoka found herself stuck in the main cabin not wanting to get lost. But eventually, she had the urge to explore.
Looking past the refresher door, she saw another passageway, one she hadn't been down yet.
'Guess I have to start somewhere.'
As she moved down it, she couldn't help but look into the different side rooms; there were bunks, for the crew and passengers.
'Well, at least I know where to sleep... If only I could find Tare, I need something to do!'
Coming to the end of the hall, she found a spiral durasteel staircase leading down to a lower deck. Intrigued and hearing voices coming from below, Ahsoka continued stealthily tip toeing down the stairs.
When she entered into the lower deck hallway, she could plainly hear the voices, coming from an open doorway on her right.
She slowly walked over and peaked in. She could see Tare, still in his 501st blue, minus a helmet talking but to whom she couldn't plainly see, a shelf full of mechanical parts blocked her view.
"So what's she like?"
Tare smiled, deciding to sit down on a box, "She's a Togrutan. You know how they look, flash training, anyways, she's really young. I'll admit I was kind of shocked they'd made such a young Jedi a Commander. She's practically a youngling, reminds me of the cadets back on Kamino."
"Do you think she's too young? I mean, there's going to be a lot of brothers relying on her, if she fails..."
Tare frowned, contemplation plain on his face, "No, she is young, but she's different, not like the other Jedi, at least the ones I've seen. She cares, 4-12, she wanted to know our names, names not numbers as soon as she stepped on board. She's curious, maybe too much for her own good, but I think with guidance and training she could be a good leader. I'm no expert ner vod, but I think she'll do us good."
"I'm glad to hear it, Tare, I just wish..."
"I know, vod, I know, but you're lucky, luckier than most in your situation, you know if it wasn't for your skills you would've..."
"Don't remind me," 4-12 growled, "I wish I could take their place! I'm... I'm useless but they, I mean they're sending them away for nothing more than blindness, hearing impairment, but me; I don't have legs and my right arm's gone! But no, they keep me around because I'm one of the best mechanics in the entire GAR!"
"Udesii, ner vod, I may be inexperienced, but you should be thankful. As for the others, we can only hope the system changes, but until then we just keep fighting and helping one another the best we can, right? Vode An."
4-12 laughed, "You know Rookie, you aren't that bad, you're a good vod. Now, I could use some help."
Tare immediately got up and disappeared from Ahsoka's view so she moved into the room and peaked around the shelves.
Her eyes widened in amazement and horror, Tare stood in front of a horribly disfigured clone. As he'd said, his legs were none existent and his right arm was missing completely. Instead the stumps had electronic sockets in them, into which Tare placed removable prosthetic cybernetic limbs, one by one, supporting the incredibly scarred trooper with his body.
4-12's body itself was covered in a body suit, but no armor, instead she could see his mutilated right side, even through the fabric. His face was crossed with multiple scars and the right side of his head had no hair, the burn scars were too large to allow growth. But it was his eyes that Ahsoka noticed more than anything, they were brown like the others, but she'd never seen such sadness in any one persons eyes before. She placed a hand up to her mouth in empathy. It must have been terrible, whatever this trooper had been through.
Ahsoka, wanting to get a better look, moved closer, but unfortunately she hit a hydro spanner on the ground with her foot, catching both troopers undivided attention, their eyes boring into hers.
'Oops...'
A/N: Hey, Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you like this little chapter, a holiday treat for you since originally I wasn't going to post anything for another week. So yes, Ahsoka's on her way... the plot thickens... please review and have a good rest of the weekend. Ch 3 has been re-written, beta'd and posted again, check it out if you want.
BTW, I am very thankful for all my readers, friends, and new friends, I appreciate all the support and help, thank you.