"Well I would say you blew through them like a damn barrel but then everyone here would rightfully call me a liar, son"
Soap never thought he would hear a familiar voice ever again, but even before he rounded the corner of the hallway he knew who the voice belonged to.
Captain John Price was seated around a fire humorously chatting with the people around him and reminiscing on their most recent escape. He still had his old gear on, and his hat firmly on top of his head. The harsh Ryloth sun had made his face a field of freckles, and he looked a little worse for wear, but he was alive, breathing and in full possession of all of his limbs. Soap would have jumped the man if he hadn't known for a fact it would only end in a broken neck.
"Good to know you still call all of your subordinates 'son', Captain" Soap's voice boomed across the cave and got everyone's attention.
Captain John Price did not look up immediately, almost scared that the heavily accented familiar voice was a mere trick of his mind. But when he did look up, he nearly forgot himself with how fast he stood up. Sergeant John Mctavish was wearing odd clothing, but he still had all of his old gear and a rather weathered looking Scottish flag attached to the middle of his bulletproof vest. Not that the vest would do any good against blaster fire, but it was better than no armor at all.
Nothing was said for a few moments, and the cave was deadly silent as Price stormed towards Soap and embraced him in a fierce hug.
"It is good to see you, Johnny."
Kriari didn't need to feel the Force around her to know the amount of emotional discipline it took the man not to express his relief even further. She didn't need the Force to see how Price forced himself to release John. This was a man that had believed himself to be alone, probably for the rest of his life, away from everyone and everything he knew. The galaxy could be a scary place when you first realized how big it really was.
"Good to see you too, Captain." answered John honestly before turning to us.
The room went back to their previous conversations as Soap turned to introduce us to his superior officer and friend, John Price.
"Captain, this is Art, a former Clone trooper for the Republic, and This is Commander Kriari Foreas, who is now taking a break from her duties to help me find the rest of our task force."
Kriari could feel how Price was considering her differently when he was made aware of her rank, she couldn't really blame him, he had not been the first to doubt or underestimate her, and he wouldn't be the last.
"How did you get the GAR to lend you one of their precious Commanders to help you look for us?" asked Price with the right amount of skepticism "From what I've heard they are nearly wizards and priceless to the war effort…"
"Well, when your precious Commander tries to end their own life, you make allowances" Answer Kriari coldly.
She was done hiding, done pretending not to be a fighter at heart, done trying to be perfect and polite and politically correct. She had been told to suppress her identity her entire life. She had been taught not to show or feel "negative" emotions since she could remember. She was done. From now on, all introductions were on her terms. All doubts about her ability would be pointed out and shut down. She knew who she was, she had tried denying herself and it had not worked. She was now going to be unapologetically herself, and if that meant upsetting other people's sensibilities, then so be it.
"Not much of a Leader if you go that route…"
"You try dealing with religious trauma and suppressing yourself your entire life and be put in charge of other people's lives at the ripe age of 17, Captain" Kriari answered icily.
Art stepped almost imperceptibly closer to Kriari, but Price saw, and he realized it was not for her safety, it was for his. He gave Soap a look and then smiled.
"Reminds me of when I first met Farrah. I think I'm gonna like this one".
….
Wolffe walked down the hallway towards the bridge at the same pace he always had, no faster, no slower. He knew his entire crew would be watching him since news of the Commander leaving had spread. He did not deviate in his daily routine, his behavior was as professional as it had ever been, his firm grip on the entire battalion as strong as ever. But if he could be honest to anyone around him, they would know. Shit, he was pretty certain they already knew, they were just afraid to bring it up.
Wolffe was miserable.
The mission in Mandalore had gone terribly wrong, he knew that. Kriari had been hospitalized but her entire medical record had been redacted. He had not been allowed to see her or even talk to her before she was shipped off in a highly confidential assignment with a team of two that was also classified. Two people he did not know, with abilities he did not know, caring for the love of his life that had just recently recovered from major injuries. As if that was not enough, He had not seen her since after Zapal's betrayal, that small kiss in the hallway being the last one he gave her before she left. That was almost ninety rotations ago.
Three months with no word.
The General had been incredibly tight lipped about everything but one thing. The thing that worried him most: Kriari leaving him in charge of her saber.
That told him a few things: wherever she was, she could not be identified as a Jedi, it would be dangerous for her to carry her weapon openly for whatever reason. That was only the case in a few sectors of this galaxy, and he wanted Kriari nowhere near any of those sectors.
He missed her. He missed her voice, her fire, her smile, her honesty and care for others, her genuine concern for him and his brothers, but most of all he missed her presence. Sometimes, at night he could feel her, not sure if it was his own imagination or her reaching out to him through the Force, but he would like to believe the latter was the truth, however delusional it may be.
It was only one evening when he couldn't take it anymore that he begged Master Plo to tell him something, anything about her. He simply wanted to know if she was alive, and why she had left her saber with him instead of her own master.
"My boy, the answer is only kept from you because it would do more harm than good…"
"General, if the woman I love is dead and she left me this because she really is gone-"
"Kriari is not dead, Wolffe. She is on assignment."
"Then tell me what happened, her medical record is blank! She didn't even say goodbye! Unless.. Unless the Council found out about us and she was expelled… That would then explain why she left and told you to give me her saber…"
Plo Koon sighed heavily. Keeping the truth from Wolffe would only make him spiral more, overthink more, drive himself up a wall trying to know the whys and the hows.
"Kriari was under a lot of mental and emotional stress after Mandalore" the General started, so Wolffe just sat there in silence, a cup of tea forgotten on the table. "She… Her conditioning, her teachings and her repression of her own emotions and self were bottled inside her for too long. Master Kenobi and I did not see just how bad it had become until it was too late…"
Wolffe watched his father in horror.
"Kriari, my poor child, she tried to end her life after almost turning to the Dark Side in the middle of a battle. She only lived because Captain Rex stunned her before she could make her death permanent."
Wolffe stood suddenly and started pacing the room.
"She told me to give you her lightsaber so you would know she would return for it when she was better."
Wolffe swept his arm over the table, sending the teapot and cups flying everywhere.
"Where is she?" Wolffe asked softly, silently, deadly, "WHERE IS SHE?!"
"I cannot give you that information, even if I had it"
Wolffe stalked towards his father and grabbed him by the robes.
"Tell me where my girlfriend is, General. Now."
"I do not know, child. And I have no way of contacting her or the team she is with. We will just have to sit and wait for her to return"
Wolffe released his father, almost disgusted by what he was, by the religion he still served.
"This is all the Jedi Council's fault. She was never meant to be a peacekeeper, it was what you expected her to be that made her do it! We could have given her counseling, we have troops trained for that, she was getting better! I was helping her get better! And now not only do you deny me seeing her after she tries to kill herself, you wait three months to tell me, but you also send her away alone with no support system?!"
"Art is with her-"
"Oh brilliant! Send the crippled and suicidal friend with her! The friend she crippled in the line of duty and for whom she feels incredibly guilty!"
"Wolffe, you need to calm down my boy…"
Wolffe started to storm out of the room but turned before he left.
"It is Commander to you, General. And unless you have a way to get in touch with her or her location I do not want to hear anything other than work from the likes of you."