PART I: The Commander and the Colonel

Chapter One

A rapping on the door of her quarters brought Ahsoka out of her meditative trance. Surprised at the unexpected interruption, she glanced at her chrono, her brow furrowing as she read it. She was off duty for another three hours, who was looking for her now?

"Hello?" Ahsoka said, reaching for her equipment belt as she stood.

"Ahsoka?" Anakin's voice called from beyond the door. "Can I come in?"

She relaxed a little. It was just Anakin, and nothing in his voice or the Force seemed to indicate any of the urgency that would accompany a crisis.

"Of course." She answered.

The door slid open, revealing her master scrolling through something on his datapad.

"Ahsoka." He said, smiling thinly at her as he entered.

"Master." Ahsoka responded, bowing slightly. Gesturing to the datapad, she continued. "What are you working on?"

It wasn't like him to walk around with a datapad like that unless he either had something to show her or something he needed help with. Strangely, though, neither seemed to be the case.

"Nothing important," Anakin said dismissively, shutting down the device and clipping it to his belt. "Just some last-minute reports that needed submitting."

"Okay." Ahsoka said, slightly confused. "Then what was it you wanted to talk about?"

"We've been called back to Coruscant," He responded. "Word came in from the Council a few hours ago."

"Temple duty?" She asked, dreading the answer she knew was coming.

"Yes"

"Oh." Ahsoka said, perhaps more glumly then she should have. Helping with the security and maintenance of the Temple was an important part of being a Jedi, even if there was a war on.

"I know you hate being away from the front." Anakin said, interpreting her tone correctly. "That's why I figured out a way for you to stay out here."

"You going to 'forget' to bring me on the shuttle back?" She suggested jokingly.

"No, I think they figured that trick out, the whole battlegroup is rotating back with us."

"Oh" At least the clones would get some leave time, then. "So what am I going to do?"

"Do you remember Col. Marczak?"

"Yea?" She answered tentatively. In truth, she hadn't given much thought to the man since their brief encounter a few weeks earlier. Well, other than the inquiries she'd made to Rex and the GAR records, but that had only taken the better part of an afternoon. What did he have to do with anything?

"Well, we rendezvoused with his ship about three hours ago to transfer supplies. The last shuttle was supposed to leave two hours ago, but it's been held up by unforeseen technical issues..." Anakin said, a hint of mischief sneaking into his voice.

"And you want me to get on it?" Ahsoka finished, catching his meaning almost immediately. "Won't the Council get mad about me running off?"

"No, because, as far as they know, that shuttle left on schedule. Unfortunately, by the time I received their transmission, it was too late for me to call you back." Anakin said, then patted the datapad at his hip. "At least, that's what the logs say."

Ahsoka smiled. So that's what he'd been working on when he'd walked in. In a way, she was sort of flattered that her master was willing to falsify reports so she wouldn't be bored out of her mind on guard duty.

"You're not coming?" She asked.

Anakin shrugged. "Somebody had to be here to answer the Council's message. Besides, I have… business to take care of on Coruscant."

His voice changed when he said that, sounding more distant, like he was distracted by whatever it was he was going to do. One of these days, Ahsoka resolved, she'd figure out where it was Anakin always snuck off to.

"So," Anakin continued. "you'd better grab whatever you need and get down to the hanger. They've been waiting for two hours; they're not going to hold up much longer."

"Thanks, skyguy." Ahsoka said, smiling. She rarely used the nickname she'd given him anymore, but when she did, it was purely affectionate. The same went for the nickname Anakin had given her.

"Don't mention it, snips." Anakin said over his shoulder as he left her room. "And have fun."

…

The hull shuttered violently as the shuttle settled onto its landing struts, throwing Ahsoka up into her restraints. She gritted her teeth, these Nu-class cargo shuttles weren't really meant for passengers, which is why she was essentially strapped to the wall in a standing position between two stacks of crates. Once she was fairly certain that the shuttle was done moving, Ahsoka popped the clasp on her harness and started toward the ramp, clambering over crates and skirting around loader droids as she went.

Descending the forward ramp out of the shuttle's underslung cargo bay, Ahsoka paused for a moment to take in her new surroundings. She'd walked out into the hanger bay of an Acclamator-class cruiser, Retaliation, she remembered the ship was called. Oddly, the expansive hangers normally possessed by this class of ship seemed to have been cut down significantly, with the bay she now found herself in appearing to be quite a bit smaller than usual. Of course, Retaliation might not need the extra space, she thought, as she only saw around twenty Nu-class attack shuttles sitting in two parallel rows, the ship she'd come in on appearing to be the only cargo variant.

An annoyed sounding mechanical chirp from behind Ahsoka stopped her inspection of the hanger. Startled, she turned her head to see one of the loaders idling behind her, it's way forward obstructed by her presence, something it seemed very much unhappy about.

"Sorry." She murmured, taking a short leap off the side of the ramp onto the deck.

The droid continued on its way, letting lose another series of beeps and whistles that likely would have offended Ahsoka if she'd still been paying any attention to the machine. She wasn't, of course, having set about the task of finding someone to report in to. However, a cursory glance around revealed only droids of varying descriptions, not a single living tech, let alone a deck officer. She paced down along the line of ships, hoping she'd find someone hidden in between two of the vessels. Then she heard voices, barely audible over the background noise of droids going about their work, coming from around the other side of the cargo hauler she'd just exited.

Of course, Ahsoka thought, the pilots! How could she have forgotten them? They'd know the procedure on where to go, since it was apparently different aboard Retaliation than on most Republic vessels.

She moved from where she'd been a few shuttles down, quickly moving back to the side of the vessel, up and over the ramp, and rounding the corner to find three men. The first two, facing her, were the pilots, standing at ease with their helmets tucked under their arms, laughing at something she hadn't heard. In front of them, with his back to Ahsoka, was another man wearing GAR fatigues whom she initially mistook for a clone, then realized was Marczak.

"Colonel!" She called out, startling the two pilots, neither of whom had noticed the Togruta officer approaching. They stiffened, taken over by years of instruction on how to conduct themselves in the presence of an officer.

"Commander Tano." Marczak said as he turned sharply on his heel to face her, straightening up as the troopers had. Inspecting the datapad in his hand, he continued. "I don't remember seeing you on the manifest."

She opened her mouth to explain her presence, but stopped. Of course he knew she was coming, Ahsoka realized, he was just messing with her.

"What's wrong, Colonel?" She said, putting a little bravado into her voice. "I thought you special ops guys were used to things being on a need to know basis?"

Marczak smiled thinly. Then, remembering the pilots still standing at attention, he turned and dismissed the two men with a nod.

With the clones gone, Marczak visibly relaxed, clipping his datapad to his belt, and said "You really shouldn't sneak up on people like that, the boys are under enough stress without having to look for you over their shoulders."

"I didn't scare you, did I Colonel?" Ahsoka said, raising one eyebrow in jest.

He smiled and shook his head. "You know, General Skywalker warned me you were trouble."

"Oh yea? What kind of trouble?" She said, more than a little curious as to what Anakin had told Marczak about her.

"The kind that gets on his nerves." Marczak answered, then chuckled as he continued. "Which probably means you're a lot like him."

Ahsoka decided that was a good thing and smiled back at the colonel. She hadn't really known what to expect him to be like going in, what precious little information she'd been able to glean from GAR records had been a dry, factual, and altogether unhelpful collection of heavily redacted mission reports. Rex, surprisingly, hadn't been of much use either. He'd seldom been in the same room as Marczak, usually interacting with the man via hologram during staff meetings. All the captain had been able to tell her was that he was Mandalorian, didn't seem to take himself too seriously, and that his men had always spoken of him in a reverent tone. So far, Rex's intel was good.

"Well," The colonel said, straightening up again. "first things first. Welcome aboard, commander." He saluted her sharply.

"Reporting as ordered, sir." Ahsoka responded, attempting to return the salute even though she'd never really mastered that particular courtesy.

"Good." Marczak said, dropping the salute and relaxing his posture. "You don't have to call me sir."

"Okay, what should I call you then?"

He shrugged "Doesn't matter all that much to me, most of the troopers either call me colonel or boss. You can take your pick, or just call me Marczak if you want, it's up to you."

"All right then, colonel" Ahsoka said, deciding on that as the best option right now. "Where to next."

Marczak pulled his comlink, checking the crono on the display.

"Looks like we've got another hour till meal time," He said. "so I have just enough time to give you the tour before we head over to the mess."

He started off down the row of shuttles, waving for Ahsoka to follow. Most of the droid activity had stopped, with many the machines returning to recessed recharge ports set back into the bulkheads. It made the hanger seem even more empty than it had before, something she pointed out as they neared the exit.

"Yea, it's like that most of the time around here." He explained "I've only got around three hundred crewers to run this tub, with another five hundred ARFs around to do routine maintenance checks and the like. We'd be pretty shorthanded if it weren't for all the modifications Rothana made to this particular vessel."

Marczak went on to explain that Retaliation had been the result of a special project by Rothana Heavy Engineering to cut down on the necessary crew required to man an Acclamator. They'd achieved this by automating and streamlining most key systems and quadrupling the compliment of droids to handle most of the low-level maintenance and logistical tasks. Unfortunately, once the prototype was built, all the extra equipment that had been added on to handle the automated tasks cut the troop compliment by more than half without a significant increase in overall combat effectiveness, so the project was scrapped. The prototype, however, had already been completed, so she was commissioned as Retaliation and spent about a month as part of the Rothana defense fleet before Marczak had snatched her up and had her further modified for use as a base for his battalion.

Walking around Retaliation for the first time, Ahsoka had to say she was one hell of vessel. The Rothana engineers that had done the retrofit were incredibly resourceful, and it amazed her that they'd been able to fit as much equipment as would be needed to run a warship of this size into as small a space as they had. Even if there wasn't enough room left over for the fleet to consider it worth the cost, Marczak clearly didn't have the same issue. Everything he and his men could have needed was onboard, advanced command and control systems for long range ops, fully equipped training facilities, sensor jammers that would make the ship practically invisible, and enough com equipment to ensure that Retaliation could send information anywhere in the galaxy without having to relocate. The unique systems and setup fascinated Ahsoka enough that she was almost sad when the tour ended.

"Here we are." Marczak said as he stopped at the door to what Ahsoka assumed was the mess and turned to face her. "So, what did you think of the old girl?"

"Impressive." Ahsoka responded. "I've never seen anything like it."

Marczak smiled.

"Good, always nice to have someone around who appreciates tech." He said as he turned back towards the door and reached for the control panel. "We don't have a wardroom; I prefer to eat with the men. I assume that won't be a problem?"

She opened her mouth to answer as they walked through the now open door, but a clone's voice cut her off.

"Colonel on deck!" Shouted a trooper sitting close by to their right. All around them, the mess hall fell silent but for the shuffling of boots as troopers scrambled to their feet. Next to her, Marczak stepped toward the center of the room.

"At ease, boys." The colonel started, then gestured toward Ahsoka as he continued. "Most of you may have heard of Commander Tano, here on special assignment from General Skywalker. She'll be serving as battalion XO until further notice, so you'd all better get used to her. Carry on"

As the troopers returned to their meals, Marczak walked back to where he'd left Ahsoka.

"What were you saying?" He said as he waved her further into the mess.

"Oh yea," She said, struggling for a moment to remember. "I was saying I normally eat with the men."

"Good" The colonel stopped next to a table were five troopers already sat and motioned for her to sit across from him.

"Afternoon, colonel" Said one of the troopers, who then nodded toward Ahsoka. "Ma'am."

"Commander Tano, this is Rip, Stalker, Niner, and Vor," He said, gesturing to each of the men in turn. "my command squad."

"More like bodyguards," The trooper called Rip said, laughing. "lost count of the number of times we've had to pull the colonel's ass out of the fire."

Marczak shot a harsh look back at the clone. "And who dragged you ten clicks through the desert when you caught that chunk of shrapnel in your shebs on Geonosis, di'kut?"

"Boss's got you there, Rip." Niner said. "Besides, I'm sure our job will be a whole lot easier with the commander around."

The rest of the troopers nodded in agreement.

"Now don't you go expecting Commander Tano to everything," Marczak said admonishingly. "I don't want you boys going soft just because we have a Jedi."

He turned back to Ahsoka, who so far hadn't said anything since she'd sat down.

"So, commander, you've seen just about everything there is to see. Any burning questions on your mind?"

She had one, about something that had become far more apparent since they'd sat down.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" She said hesitantly, unsure whether what she wanted to ask would cross some kind of line.

Marczak just shrugged. "Shoot."

"How old are you?" She asked. It had only really occurred to her since she'd seen Marczak directly alongside the clones, but now that she did she couldn't help but notice. He looked young, maybe even a few years younger than his men, as much as that meant with clones.

She could tell by the look on his face that her question wasn't what he'd expected, but he took it I stride and answered without hesitation. "Twenty standard years, give or take a month."

Ahsoka had been right. Biologically at least, most of the clone were in their mid-twenties, which would explain why Marczak looked three or four years younger. That also made him the youngest non-Jedi officer she'd ever met, and yet he rated colonel. There was definitely a story there, one Ahsoka very much intended to learn. For now, though, there was one thing she knew.

This was going to be interesting.

Author's notes:

While all of Part I was finished back in May, barring a bit of editing and one minor change, the prologue through to the middle of chapter four are actually almost a year older than the second half of four and chapters five through nine. I started on this project back in January of last year (2017), finished up that first half of chapter four by around April, but any real progress kinda stalled after that for a variety of personal reasons I'd prefer not to divulge. It wasn't until last March that I was able to seriously buckle down and start working on this again, a period of productivity that may have slowed down slightly to accommodate my editing and publishing process, but has still yet to end.

Oddly enough, I think I'd have to credit all the absolutely dog shit Star Wars material that came out during the last half of 2017 for me being able to refocus. The first crushing disappointment that was Battlefront II's campaign (the gameplay was fine, and I still play the multiplayer), all the worse because it was continuing off such an interesting and enjoyable novel. Having that followed up with the kick in the balls to long time fans that was Last Jedi (something I will argue to my dying breath was an intentional move by a pretentious knob-end) was enough to make me finally lose faith in Disney's handling of the franchise.

If I'm being honest it was probably the response to criticism that was being leveled at Last Jedi and Johnson in particular that really did it. The old Paul Feig "you're all just sexist" argument is really the laziest way to try and deflect criticism from a product, and it says more about Kathleen Kennedy and Rian Johnson's mindsets than it does the critics. I mean, "because there's women in it" is the last reason I hated Last Jedi, I hated it because it was two hours of Rian Johnson wanking about how much more clever and artistic than everyone he was. The problem with Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo isn't that she's a woman, it's her toxic command style and the fact that the story is contrived to do what every episode of ST: Voyager did with Cpt. Janeway, make the arrogant, condescending commander 100% in the right and make everyone else look like an idiot for not agreeing with her. On a side note, screw you Pablo Hidalgo and your stupid Twitter poll. I'm in the freaking military, so I think I know a little more you do when I say that any competent officer knows that they have to explain their plan to their subordinates, especially in such bleak situations, because otherwise your just asking for them to lose faith in your leadership and mutiny to save their own asses. The problem with Rose Tico isn't that she's a woman, it's that her character is mostly pointless other than to facilitate the worst part of the movie and spout a bunch of bullshit about how wealth equals EVIL (and newsflash to anyone who thinks arms manufacturing is the most profitable business you can be in, check out a list of the richest men in the world right now. Consumer goods and basic resources are always going to make you more money than the niche market of military hardware).

Wow, had that bottled up for a while. Anyway, what do you all think of the summary? It's a little corny, I know, but I've been realizing more and more that a lot of my stuff is kind of like that, so I guess it fits. It's also a bit shorter than I would have preferred, but I pushed the character limit as far as I could. This is going up a little later than I'd hoped, not so much "early today" as "around noon today", but these author's notes take longer to write than I'd anticipated. I like doing them though, I've never had a blog or anything like that, and it's nice to just be able to ramble in text form.

The response I've been seeing to this so far is pretty good, a good number of views for the first twenty-four hours, a few follows, and one review. Thank you, reader identified only as 8th, I'm glad you enjoy my work so much and I'm looking forward to showing you were I going with all this.

As always, follow or favorite if you enjoyed it and feel free to leave a review (because, in the odd vernacular of this site, all comments must be labeled as reviews).

(It should be noted that, despite his stated hatred of Last Jedi, Jim's social media presence is limited to a horrendously out of date Facebook page and he in no way condoned or participated in the harassment campaigns conducted against Daisy Ridley and Kellie Marie Tran by the type of angry fan he would like to disassociate himself from. Both are lovely women and fine actresses who don't deserve to be blamed for what was never their responsibility. If you're going to hate someone, please hate Rian Johnson, that guy's an asshole.)