Two

"'Bout time you di'kuts turned up and saved our sorry shebs."

He looked angry and relieved at the same time. Angry that his saviour, the female passenger he had been delegated to transport, had been treated so appallingly by his brothers and relieved that someone had finally followed their flight path and came to rescue them.

It had only been 5 lunar months and 22 moon rotations.

.

"Gentlemen, please allow me to introduce the Honourable Representative of Oriis, Skylar Gem."

The four clones were speechless as they looked at the obviously critically injured clone and the woman who had managed to keep him alive long enough to recover somewhat from his wounds.

"Please call me Gem, or Gemma," she announced not raising her eyes to any of them.

Her face was still dirty from the earlier scuttle and tear streaks could be seen lining her cheeks. Kix had placed a Bacta patch on the right side of her forehead and her left forearm where she had made contact with the ground earlier. She was tall, almost as tall as a clone, dark eyes and long dark hair. Dressed in a pair of black tight fitting pants, boots and a black short sleeved top she was unremarkable but for her tenacity and courage the past six months had bestowed upon her. She had been fiercely protective of her ward, now, at the prospect of reaching her destination minus her father and the pilot, she allowed herself the luxury of complete and utter exhaustion.

"Flight Lieutenant Reed. Co-pilot of the J-Class interceptor. We were on a diplomatic run to Corrie when we lost power and crash landed here. Mav, sorry CT-27-8973 died on impact. Gem's father died from injuries 4 days later. I thought I had it as well, but she managed to pull me through. Haven't got much use of my legs, yet, but there has been some feeling coming back recently. She thinks it is a bruised spinal cord. Should have been in a Bacta tank but we seemed to manage OK."

He gave a small smile and looked fondly at the female against the ship.

"She is amazing you know, never gave up on me, even on days when I begged her to put me out of my misery. She had to do things," his voice faltered a little, "well, you can imagine, that not even a brother should have to do. I have never met a brother that tough – not ever."

"That's because you're a fly boy ner vod," smiled Hardcase, as he slapped the pilot on the shoulder.

He got up and wandered over to Gem and Kix and sat down next to her.

"Sorry for being such a, what do you call it, a dik'ut earlier," she said.

"It's di'kut and it's all good Ma'am, I'm glad Reed never showed you how to use that weapon!" They both smiled at each other and then she began to stand up.

"I suppose you boys would like some caf?"

"Yes Ma'am," they all chimed.

"Well, you'll all have to wait until we get to Coruscant then," she laughed, the pretty sound startling the contrite captain.

.

Rex followed her inside the ship.

"My apologies Ma'am, for being so rough earlier," he spoke officially.

"Apology accepted captain."

Rex took in the inside of the main cabin which had been refitted to accommodate the Lieutenant. He smiled to himself noticing how neat and tidy everything was.

Orderly; he appreciated that.

He also noted the sleeping arrangements. Reed had been placed near the hatch and she had a small area at the back of the cabin modestly hidden behind some crates. The crates immediately grabbed his attention. They were food crates with Mando'a written on them. His blood ran cold when he saw the Death Watch symbol hastily sprayed in black on the sides.

Flight Lieutenant Reed was a replica of them all. Subtle differences though in his upbringing on Kamino meant that he talked a little more refined than the average trooper. Many brother's said the pilots always thought of themselves as better than the average artillery soldier. Rex noticed that he was clean shaven and well groomed. His hair the obligatory black clipped style of the new recruits. He was wearing civilian clothes, probably her father's he thought. A makeshift stretcher lay near the crafts opening. A handle at one end. He had noticed the gouges in the ground where she must have pulled him to the lake for washing. No mean feat for a woman lugging a ninety-kilo man.

They all sat eating some ration bars and some hot tea that Gem had prepared around the pit in the middle. Hardcase had dug some more soil out and packed the sides with some rocks making the fire burn a little more efficiently. Gem noticed how they all seemed to work in unison. She had never met one of these clones until they arrived to transport her and her father to Coruscant for her career change into politics. Until then, she had been working with her father, helping him produce cybertronics. He had been happy pottering around his lab, selling off his inventions to the larger Biomedical companies over the years. He was, or had been a personal friend of the Chancellor. They had studied for a time together on Naboo when he was younger, before he met her mother. They had remained friends over the years, although their lives had taken dramatically different paths. Gem was thrilled when the chance to join the Senate as a young representative of her people had arisen, and she jumped at the opportunity to move to Coruscant and be mentored by her father's friend. The one thing she could do for her father now, was deliver the microchip with the information he had spent just on a year collating. He said it was instrumental in ending the war, he begged her to do this for him with his last breath.

'Don't trust anyone Gem, this is too important.' His last words to his daughter.

Not "I love you" or "I'm proud of you," nothing sentimental, just words of distrust and destruction.

"We are being airlifted off at 0500 tomorrow morning. We'll radio in and get a med team together to help with the Lieutenant, try and get them to land in the vicinity."

Gem and Reed smiled at one another. Just knowing this ordeal was coming to an end made them both appreciative of the time they had together. Nothing romantic, although there had been nights when he would have dearly loved to have been able to comfort his grieving friend. Time after time she had cried herself to sleep, thinking she was alone in her thoughts. She never faltered though, making it her mission to get this soldier home whatever it took. She had seen spinal cases before. Her father had often gone to visit patients, depending on what project he had been working on at the time. She knew that infection was the main cause of death following an accident this serious and the thought of no antibiotics or doctor had scared her on more than one occasion.

"Excuse me Ma'am, can I have a few words?" Rex motioned to Gem to sit whilst the others moved out, beginning to pack up the camp for the evacuation. It was 1500 hours and Reed had been taken inside the cruiser to be given a thorough medical by Kix.

"The food crates in the ship, where did you acquire them?"

She sat heavily on a log. "In the caves captain. We are not the only inhabitants on this planet."

"Clanker's captain, and lots of them apparently," Reed added as Jesse brought him out on his stretcher. He was propped up in full sitting position, and Gem smiled broadly at the site of her friend finally upright. She had been too scared to move him more than 20 degrees for fear of causing more damage. She knew that he had some feeling returning in his legs, but didn't want to rush things, after all, up until that day they had nowhere else to go.

"There is a tunnel system five klicks from here; it leads in about 20 due East." Rex sat next to her, nodding his head to go on.

"At the end is a series of corridors that lead off the main tunnel. Look, I'll draw it for you." Gem leaned forward and wiped her hand across the soil and began to draw in the dirt using her finger. She drew a large rectangle and divided it into four equal compartments.

"This one, on the end has ammunition; the next has folded up droids with these weird little heads. The third stores food and the last has hundreds of made up beds."

"Bunks?" Rex frowned and rubbed a hand over his head.

"We need to go take a look," Hardcase interjected enthusiastically.

"You guys are too big to fit through the hatches, even without your armour," Gem replied.

"At first, I took a couple of blankets, no one seemed to notice. The food was harder. I would move a crate a little each day until it was over the hatch then make a hole in the bottom and allow the food to drop below. Then I'd move the empty crate back in place. In the end, I took three of the smaller ones."

"Told you she was clever," Reed looked admiringly at Gem.

"How many on patrol have you noticed?"

"None at all, in fact, we haven't seen anything or anyone until you showed up today."

"It's not like she can do a reece captain, she is only a civvie after all," Reed added with a laugh. Gemma got up and gave him a well-meaning glare.

Rex's mind raced with the combinations of scenarios.

"Have you seen any ships fly in, heard anything?"

"Nothing sir, nothing at all." He looked at all the faces peering at him, looking to him for an answer. He decided he needed to call in and moved the comm up to his mouth.

"Resolute, this is CT-7567, do you copy?"

"Captain, this is Resolute, Cody here. How's the gardening going down there Rex?"

Rex chuckled lightly and walking away from the small group, continued his discussion with the Commander of the 212th.

After a little while he laughed and signed off walking back to join the others.

"OK, this is the new plan," he said with a huge smile on his face.

.

"Just one last time Reed," she said collecting the stretcher.

"OK, but get one of the others to pull it. You look tired tonight," he replied.

They all headed down to the lake, Jesse pulling the pilot on the makeshift stretcher. There, the four new members of this motley crew dispersed, to give Gem and Reed time together. She carefully undressed him, which she had done a hundred times before. Leaving him on the stretcher, with his shorts on for modesty this time, she slowly pulled him into the water. Reed allowed the water to take over where his body couldn't and began to float. Gem rested her arms under his shoulder and buttocks to aid in the weightless feeling he so enjoyed. The stretcher falling below them in the water. He looked up at her and smiled.

"Thank you," he whispered.

"You're very welcome," she responded.

Kix waded into the water alongside Gem and helped keep the pilot afloat. Compared to Kix's bare torso, Gem noticed how much muscle mass Reed had lost during their incarceration. It had become their daily ritual, taking the water, a form of physical therapy as much as mental therapy for them both. Then, as a surprise to them all, she began to sing.

"I never saw blue like that before

Across the sky, around the world" [1]

The lyrics coupled with her voice was mesmerising and Rex turned his head away, feeling as though he was witnessing something so wonderfully private.

He had felt that kind intimacy before.

Kix looked over at Gem and she noticed tears well in his eyes. His evaluation of the pilot was promising; she had done a miraculous job minus a Bacta tank and medical supplies. Feeling was slowly returning to the bottom half of his body and he thought that eventually, most of it would – he hoped.

They all enjoyed sharing the last of the food and a few stories before retiring for the evening. Kix and Jesse helped get Reed inside the cabin and Hardcase took first watch. Gem silently cleared the area and then excused herself and wandered off into the night. After some time, Rex noticed she had not returned. Feeling anxious, he quickly set off in the direction she went.

As he wandered along the path he heard the now familiar female voice. "Kriff," he said to himself and took off quickly in the direction of the conversation. "She's setting us up, working with the Sep's -" his thoughts racing as quickly as his feet on the uneven ground until he finally burst through the bushes to where she was sitting, next to her father's grave. He had completely forgotten over the course of the day that she had lost her family during this whole ordeal. He felt mortified and her shocked look said it all.

"Don't worry captain, my father won't tell the Separatists that we are coming to blow them up in the morning."

He felt ashamed and his face glowed red hot at her words.

"I've said my goodbyes, you can escort me back to camp now," she said, wiping her eyes on her jacket sleeve.

"I'm sorry Ma'am," he winced. They walked back in complete silence.

'This isn't going to work.' Rex was lying in his swag outside the destroyed cruiser with his arms crossed behind his head. Looking up into the night sky he noticed how brilliant the stars where. They still fascinated him. She fascinated him. He closed his eyes and tried to think of other things, but he couldn't shake the bitter memory of disturbing a grieving daughter saying farewell to her father. He knew how hard it was to say goodbye, he had done it far too many times over the course of this war.

Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum - "I'm still alive, but you are dead. I remember you, so you are eternal"— he didn't say all the names anymore, the list of his dead brother's was far too long.

He never liked the idea of relying on civilians during a mission. The simple fact was that he had six hours to check out her story. If it was at all true, they could do some damage to the Separatists and find out what if any, affiliation they had with the Death Watch. He still had a nagging feeling that this was not going to end well.

The transport arrived on schedule near the area of original impact. Gem had collected all of her belongings, including her precious guitar and gave strict instructions to the flight officer that they were all to be taken to her new accommodation on Coruscant. He had rolled his eyes continually, only after checking her out several times while she wasn't looking. Rex had changed into a pair of her father's khaki pants and a tunic, which he rolled the sleeves up on. Two backpacks were handed to him. Both filled with small explosive devices. Jesse and Hardcase moved onto the transport. Two medics had placed Reed onto a repulsor lift stretcher. Kix went up to Rex and simply stated the obvious.

"He is SCI sir; you know what will happen to him?"

Rex shot him a look that conveyed his annoyance of the unspoken.

"She's a Diplomat;" he stressed, "she can offer him immunity if we get her to sanction it before we lift off."

Rex closed his eyes and thought of how he could approach the young woman, they hadn't got off to a good start.

"Ma'am," she looked up from her conversation with the still annoyed flight officer. "The lieutenant may be transferred to Kamino for, for further treatment. If you want him to stay on Coruscant, you could afford him Diplomatic Immunity and keep him there while he recovers," he said it quickly and without taking a breath.

"What a wonderful idea captain," she turned to the stretchered man. He simply looked at the captain and the medic, knowing full well what they were doing – they were saving his life.

"Can someone record this?" she asked.

Kix put his bucket on and with a few blinks of his eyes the recording of Representative Skylar Gem offering Diplomatic Entitlement to Flight Lieutenant CT-24-9316 was given.

She held his hand when they were about to put him into the larty.

"I'll see you in six hours Reed," then leant forward and kissed him ever so lightly on the lips. They trembled and he blinked back the tears. He moved his head towards the captain and raised his arm

"Keep her safe sir, or I'll kick your sorry shebs." Rex grabbed his arm Mando style.

"You'll be too busy getting into that bacta tank lieutenant."

The pilot gave a swirling motion with his arm and they briefly looked at the men leaving the little planet.

She thought she would never see the day.

Gem turned to see the captain crouching on one knee inspecting the bags. He stood and swung one onto his back and flung the other over one shoulder. She walked over to him and put her arm up to grab one.

"I'll carry them Ma'am," he said.

"No, if we are going to do this, you can't be slowed down carrying them both, give one to me."

He complied, without looking at her in the eye. She struggled at first under the weight, they didn't look that heavy. He gave her a nod and they silently set onto a path that would irrevocably change their lives forever