Thirty

"Hey Jess! Tough one?" The trooper shouted.

"Nah, blue milk run Jester," Jesse smiled at the trooper wearing maroon on his armour.

Jesse was happy to be finally home. The new armour had survived its first outing, a run to the outer rim as part of a diplomatic escort.

Rex had been deployed elsewhere with the ARC's and they were looking forward to seeing them over a meal after cleaning up.

"Hardcase, sabacc in the rec room in an hour?"

"Better bring some extra credits Waxer. You're going down this time."

"In your dreams big guy."

Jesse and Hardcase turned the corner to their quarters when they saw the four ominous figures in matt black.

Men parted as they strode through.

"I wouldn't mind going commando with them."

"Jess!"

"Look at them, all that brooding masculinity," he laughed. "There's a lot to be said about the strong silent type."

"What about Vail?"

"He knows I am only joking," Jesse said as he swung into their three cot room.

Throwing his bucket on his rack, he sat down and began to strip off.

"I'm still not sure about this new upgrade," he said looking at the helmet as he quickly clipped off the new armour.

"Yeah, I know. I can't get used to how light it feels, somehow doesn't feel strong enough," Hardcase threw pieces on the floor beside his cot.

They were the odd couple.

One meticulously placing his armour in a pile as he always did, the other content with a stack that, more often than not, would slide into disarray across the floor.

They were laughing and chatting together when Kix quietly entered the room.

He stood silent for a moment, watching his two friends bicker like an old married couple.

"Hey, when did you get back?" Hardcase smiled over to the medic.

"Just then," he replied.

There was something in the medic's tone that made Jesse look up. He knew that look. He had seen it often enough, and that look was personal.

He dared not ask, not wanting to know the answer.

"Kix?" He swallowed hard and waited.

"They're back from the Citadel." Kix spoke quietly, eerily, "General Piel was killed and," he couldn't finish the sentence, the saliva caught in a lump in his throat, his larynx holding back the words he knew had to be said.

"Who Kix, who didn't make it?" Hardcase stepped forward, and up.

"E.. Echo," he managed to stammer out.

Jesse immediately clutched his head with his hands and began rocking on the edge of his bed. Kix moved forward and sat next to him, placing a protective arm around his trembling shoulders.

Hardcase didn't know what to do; stand, sit? He required an order, someone to direct him.

"Where's Fives?" He asked, thinking of the one person who would be most affected by the ARC's demise.

"He's locked himself in the 'fresher. The cap's heading in there now to try and talk to him."

Jesse looked up and wiped his hand across his face.

"I gotta get out of here," he said.

"Jess, ner vod, wait up." Kix knew he had a particular soft spot for the ARC.

"No," he stopped and put a hand up, "NO," warning his friends not to follow. They backed off knowing he needed time to digest the enormity of the death.

"Fek," Hardcase said as he looked over to the team medic, "Fives and Echo. They were cadets together, the last of Domino."

Kix was all out of words, they both just stared at one another, the moment broken by Hardcase stepping over to his locker and retrieving his cloth and jar of lubricant. Kix watched as the heavy gunner sat on his bunk and began pulling apart his weapon. Hardcase drew comfort from the familiar, and wanted, needed something to make him stop thinking.

.

Rex strode into the refresher room. Men were belting on the door as others stood aside, towels slung over their shoulders and clutching their shaving kits.

"Gentlemen, if I may?"

They stood back to allow the captain through. Rex turned and raised an eyebrow. Everyone had heard about Echo, and that Fives had locked himself in the refresher. The look from the captain said what they knew he was ordering; dismissal.

Rex waited until the last of the soldiers had left the room.

"Fives, this is Rex. Open the door."

He waited, the sound of running water the only response.

"Fives, that's an order," he raised his voice a little louder.

Frustrated by the ARC ignoring his request, Rex pulled out one of his hand blasters and blew the lock on the door open. Re holstering his weapon he tentatively entered.

"Fives?"

He saw the steam rising from the furthest 'fresher and headed over towards the black head resting against the far wall.

"Fives, ner vod." Rex sighed.

This had been a difficult mission, he too was tired and upset at the loss of the other ARC.

There was no answer, so Rex moved past the naked man and turned the faucet off.

He then reached behind him and grabbed a towel and handed it to the desolate man.

"Come on, it's time to talk."

The trance broken by his voice, Fives took the offered towel and kept shaking his head as he began to wrap it around his waist.

"Thanks," he said, not making eye contact.

Rex stood back outside the cubicle and waited for the formidable ARC. He took in his appearance. He was in shock, red eyed and water dripped off his chest as he ran his hands over his face a few times.

His head down, he managed to glance up to his captain quickly before he sat on the wooden bench next to him.

Rex cleared his throat, "I'm sorry Fives, Echo was an excellent soldier," and then he was caught by the emotion, "and friend.' He stopped to collect himself. "I'm proud of you Fives. Completing that mission was hard, for all of us, but none more so than you."

Fives sat there for a moment, the water running off the tip of his nose as he sniffed and wiped it away.

"He had a girl."

"The data analyst? Yeah, I heard."

"Did you hear that she's pregnant?"

Rex looked up startled, and blew out a loud breath. "No, I didn't know." Rex was genuinely surprised.

"He was worried that the Kaminoans would find out. Make her give up the baby. He was scared, but happy, you know, about being a father," he allowed himself a small smile. "He made a life for himself." Fives stood up, and turned to his captain. "He loved being an ARC also, loved you for giving him the chance, he never wanted to let you down. He wore that damn Rishi eel hand print with such pride. He was good at it too, better than me." He lent forward and picked up his kit, "we all used to take the piss out of Echo, but out of all of us, he was the one most true to himself. He took it all seriously. Being an ARC, a brother, lover and now a fa.." Fives stopped and put his hand up to cover his face. Rex slowly pulled himself up off the bench, he now felt the full weight of Echo's death. He carefully placed a hand on Fives' shoulder.

"Do you want me to speak to Ms Trask?"

"No," Fives stood back, water welled high in his eyes. Rex watched as two tears escaped and head down his chiselled cheeks. "Echo, he made me promise that I would look after her if anything happened to him."

Rex nodded his head and stepped back.

The death of CT-21-0408 would affect the tightly knit group in more ways than one.

.

Jesse walked out half undressed and headed to the one place he knew he could be himself, the one place he could truly mourn. He marched out with purpose, men parting again to let him through.

Word had spread and men knew better than to take on a grieving brother.

He began to jog until the emotion wound as tight as an elastic band in his gut, building his anger, pain and grief into a knot. Jesse then broke into a sprint down the corridors turning and weaving through the labyrinth that was the GAR barracks. He knew the route he took. He had done it dozens of times before but mostly in the dark. He came to the door breathless and stopped. His hand rested on the handle, he thought for a moment before he turned it and headed inside.

Vail had finished a long eighteen hour shift on duty and was in his cot when the door opened and the light cheekily snuck in. "Jess, is that you?" He smiled as his hand shielded his eyes from the brightness. Vail squinted, before Jesse came into the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

"Vail." The sound of his voice was unfamiliar even to himself.

"Hey, you ok?" Vail was still half asleep as he crawled into the bed next to him. Jesse crawled up onto his chest, into his arms.

"Hold me, just hold me," he whispered as he broke into fitful sobbing.

.

Rex went back to his quarters, he looked around before he grabbed his data pad and left, heading straight to the Senate building.

He punched the codes into the pad and strode into the apartment.

"Gem? Gem, you here?" She heard his voice and was immediately struck by the tone. She came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel and questioned, "Rex?"

He pulled her into his arms and held her tight, and she knew that something bad had happened.

She waited, reciprocating the embrace, hearing his fast breath against her neck. When it slowed, he simply said, "Echo died."

He felt her shoulders stiffen before he heard the small cry escape her mouth. It caught him in the chest then. Her sorrow over a man she knew briefly a catalyst for his own feelings of loss.

.

Why had this death affected them more than any other?

No one could tell.

The captain watched as Gem peacefully slept in the bed next to him. "I love you," he wanted to say aloud, but for some reason just couldn't.

The universe is full of love unspoken.

The medic lay on his top bunk with his arms folded behind his head, just staring at the ceiling. The heavy gunner had finally finished cleaning and reassembling his weapon. He had done it three times before he had worked through the emotion of the loss.

It doesn't mean it is felt any less, the beauty and pain is in its silence.

The joker lay in his lover's arms, finally asleep. Mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted from the river of tears shed.

For some, love cannot be spoken only shown.

And in a small apartment block, on the other side of town, an ARC tapped lightly on a door.

Initially Freya thought it was Echo, until he turned to reveal the same face.

She knew what it meant, it was her time.

Clutching her enormous belly, he quickly grabbed her, and guided her to a seat before joining her in grief.

And love will echo throughout an eternity{3}

.

"Freya," he murmured satisfied into her hair, "my Freya."

…

{3} Love will echo throughout eternity – extracts from Call the Midwife.