Fifty Two

Niner ignored the cold shoulder treatment at the hands of Darman. He was so used to his moodiness these days he actually liked the peace and quiet that ensued when the other soldier was pissed off and not talking to him. He had made the decision, which he hoped would be relayed to HQ and eventually Skywalker. The mission, although a monumental failure in the sense that the Separatist's probably knew they were on Kashyyyk, was, in his opinion, a success in the mere fact that they had saved the sorry shebs of one of the republic's most esteemed Captain's.

He then looked around at the new unit. Relinquishing control of Omega over to the Commander and the Captain, he was happy now to just bug out and head back to Ground Zero to start another mission afresh.

The sergeant walked over to the equipment they had laboriously lugged in and set up. Putting his boot through the centre of the main consul, he then pulled his DC-17M and put two pulses through what remained. As the monitor smouldered he turned to the small group assembled, "We need to move on and find another safe location. The Sep's, even with half a brain would have picked up on that transmission."

Darman just stood. He had been the only commando to leave his bucket on. Rex was the first to break the silence.

"I need a sitrep Sergeant?"

Darman just blew out a loud breath and moved to collect his pack, making it clear to everyone exactly how he felt. Rex was in a position he was unfamiliar with. He had his group of men and now four commando's, who, for all intents and purposes were an army on their own. They were however, part of the 501st and as such, he was the senior ranking officer. Fek, he was the only officer, and he needed to assert his command over the obviously recalcitrant soldier.

"RC-1136, do we have a problem here?"

Niner looked up and for once, didn't step forward to defend his unit brother. He knew what Rex was doing, he had signed them over to the Captain; he knew the reg's as well as any of them.

Darman swung around and looked at his Sarge. Niner quickly shook his head, letting him know that he should stand down. He then looked over at Fi and Atin, who were busy loading their packs with more rations and some of the computer equipment small enough to carry.

It was Atin, the one of very few words, who spoke.

"Come on Dar, gear up and let's get these fancy boys back to Corrie. They must be dying for a mani and a hot cup of shig."

Fi, laconically chewing gum broke out into a smile, sensing the tension. He was the one they could always rely on for the smart comments and again, he didn't disappoint.

"Speak for yourself ner vod, I'm looking forward to a date with a hot ARC from the 41st."

Atin played along, "I didn't know you kicked with the left foot Fi?"

"Fek, I'd kick with any foot if I got the chance."

"Would you like me to bend over so you can check out my shebs?" Hardcase joined in, "they are better than any ARC's."

Dar looked at the men in front of him. All the same face smiling back, even the Captain, who was prepared to take him down in a one on one if it meant keeping the unit together. He was also aware of the young Commander sitting and watching the scene unfold.

It was the presence of the young Jedi that jolted him. Right then he missed Etain.

"Nah," he said, bending down to collect his kit, "we're all good."

Rex nodded and looked over at Ahsoka.

"Commander, it's your call."

"Niner," she turned to the commando. They appeared bigger than the other soldiers, she couldn't tell if it was their size, the armour or just their demeanour that made them larger than the others in the cave.

"Sir. The clan of Wookiees that you were supposed to meet were situated in a worshyr just east of this location. We were observing the male suspected of trading intel to the Sep's, until he disappeared. That was thirty three hours ago, followed quickly by the remainder of the clan. We were thinking about moving location when we saw you get shot down. The Trads have been moving around, making me think they are in with a Sep group, they normally make one camp. We were not informed of your mission, or that you were carrying the new weapon."

"Did you notice the hierarchy of the clan, how many members?"

"Sir, it consisted of approximately fourteen members. Four male, four female, including our contact and," he stopped to take a breath, "and six pups ranging in age."

"Oh, that's not good," she said distantly. Ahsoka stood and with an authoritative tone turned to Rex, "Captain, we need to find this missing clan. We can't leave them to the Trandoshans. They'll eventually kill them all."

"If they haven't already Commander. We have the General's coming in seventeen hours, our orders were to wait for them to arrive - ."

Ahsoka cut him off mid sentence. "That was before we were shot down and lost three men Captain. You have new orders now. We're looking for the clan. We can radio in and let Master know once we have their location."

"Commander, I strenuously - "

"Strenuously what Captain? We have four commando's at our disposal, you yourself said they were an army on their own." She stood and slapped his pauldron, "come on Rex, let's go rescue some Wookiees and catch ourselves a bad guy."

The Captain looked over at Niner, who just raised an eyebrow. He knew Ahsoka meant well, but her plans often meant that things would inevitably go wrong.

Why did all the missions these days never go to plan.

"You heard the Commander, pack up and move out."

#

Fives crawled up her body from under the sheet, his black hair stark contrast to the white bed linen.

"And I believe, that makes three?"

Tash smiled lazily as she stretched. It had been an unusually long session and she was sleepy after all the attention Fives had bestowed upon her. She sat up coyly pulling the sheet to cover a breast.

Fives chortled, "fake modesty."

"Well, at least I have some," she replied.

Fives smiled, and as he got up grabbed the sheet and ripped it hard off the bed revealing the nest they had made for themselves and her lithe body.

Tash let out a small scream, "Hey! Not fair."

Coming back from the refresher he slid back into the bed. She draped herself over one of his shoulders tracing a scar than ran across a bicep. "Where did you get this again?"

"Hmm? Oh, I can't remember."

It was a lie. All of the men remembered where they got their scars. They were battle wounds and ones, if they didn't heal completely in the Bacta, they would wear with pride.

Tash continued to run a finger along it, annoying and distracting Fives from the thoughts that had consumed him ever since finding his friends regulation manual.

"Hey," he softened, and pushed her off gently. Tash fell back onto her side of the bed, her hair falling down around her head, giving her a halo of yellow. Fives smiled, and pounced on top of her again. Their faces centremetres from each other.

"Think you could spend a few years watching me grow old?"

"I could spend my entire life watching you grow old," she replied.

"Seriously Tash, I am at twenty three missions. Only seven more to go."

"Or the end of the war," she corrected him. He flipped back into a seated position, his thoughts distracting him again.

"What do you think? Stay here on Coruscant or move somewhere new?"

That was when she realised Fives was serious in his plan to leave the Army. She had never seen him so focused on anything other than in the bedroom, before.

It worried her. He was pinning all his hopes into a sentence that could be extrapolated to mean anything.

Seven missions. She could sense he was itching to get back out there, meticulously ticking off the next seven battles, missions, fights, whatever they did when he wasn't safe in her arms.

It frightened her, the promise of a future that the GAR had inadvertently dangled in front of them. Fives had noticed she had gone silent and pulled her effortlessly up into his lap.

"Hey, wanna try for four?"

"Fives," she warned.

"Now," he said nuzzling her ear, "let's see what we have here."

#

Marlo walked back into the infirmary, she had to look inconspicuous. She knew that her moves outside certain areas were under continuous camera surveillance.

Calmly she entered and placed her medical pack down. Slowly she removed her white lab coat and hung it on the hook with her name labelled neatly above it. She could barely contain the excitement churning in her gut as she pressed the code to her room and stepped through.

Echo was in her bed, dressed, reading another manual, this one on Parasitic Infestations of the Cerebellum when he looked up.

"I've got them."

"What?" Echo's face prickled with the statement.

The time had come.

"I have your new legs," a slow smile leaving her mouth as he placed a hand up to cover his own.

#

A/N: Sly, you smart arse. Niner, Niner, Niner oh, and I almost forgot NINER!