Guilt - Part 1

Now that Alpha had returned to Kamino, he fell back into the routine of training alongside Zaiya rather easily, though this time he was standing beside her and calling the shots to train the new generation of ARC Troopers. He took to it like a pelikki to water. There was even a modicum of satisfaction in the way the cadets would scatter when he approached.

She noticed it specifically when he joined her one day in the mess. His steps heavy as he stomped over and dropped into the seat opposite her. She glanced up from her datapad, then back down.

"You're doing it again."

"Doing what?" he asked, taking his helmet off.

"Scaring people," she replied.

"Aw, you scared, Ver'alor?" he teased her.

"Absolutely," she deadpanned, "I am terrified." Alpha let out a snort of derision and began to wolf his meal down. All the soldiers ate so quickly, Zaiya took her time, though she usually worked through it with all the stupid reports she had to file. Kaminoans seemed to love their reports.

"Hm, maybe you should be a little more scary yourself… the cadets are getting too familiar around you," the ARC Captain told her between mouthfuls, and jabbing his fork at her.

Her mismatched eyes rose to look at him. She needed to…?

"Alpha…" he looked up, "have you seen me?" she asked, incredulously. He looked her over slowly, as though he had entirely forgotten that she was not only not human, but a witch from a mystic planet with greyish-blue skin covered in tattoos, ashen white hair and one glowing green eye.

"You're telling me that I look approachable…?" The two stared at each other for a moment before Alpha shrugged.

"Maybe don't smile -takes away all your…" he waved a hand at her vaguely. Her brow furrowed. "Yeah, make that face." He went back to his meal and there was a twitch of a smile on his lips. Zaiya shook her head and sighed but couldn't help but smile too. He was trying to cheer her up, she must have looked too serious again. He'd never admit as much of course, but she appreciated it anyway.

Her attention was seized when she heard raised voices at another table and she looked over. Tension coursed through her on watching Master Chief Bric get in the faces of another squad, jabbing his finger in the chest of the leader of the group. Zaiya could already sense the emotions and anger rising from where she sat and decided to intervene before one of them did something stupid.

"...have to pick up after your lazy asses! You're not the only squad on this planet! Do you think you deserve special treatment?!" Bric's voice was rising. After the stunt he pulled with the Domino squad just recently, she had been keeping her eye on him, and it seemed he was up to old tricks.

"Master Chief… Jugg's injured, and we just need to-"

"I don't wanna hear your excuses! You and the rest of your squad are doing double shifts in this rotation!" the Siniteen spat.

"We already-"

"Gentlemen." Zaiya interrupted, the soldiers straightened and saluted, to which she nodded. "At ease."

She looked between them, it was a squad she didn't know by sight, but they seemed to be the newest in Bric's line of fire. He was a poor excuse of a trainer, letting his mood affect his work ethic. Though it proved very difficult to fire someone through Republic channels, she had discovered, much to her great irritation.

"What happened?" She looked to Bric, first, his rank meant that she was supposed to defer to him first. She was careful to adhere to protocol around him, to ensure he never had a leg to stand on if he decided to complain about her. He'd disagreed with her being in her position since he'd arrived. Made worse by the Clones actually treating her with respect.

"These snowflakes thought they could weasel their way out of their responsibilities! Their weapons aren't cleaned and they are refusing to return to duty! They are clearly defective!" he raged and at the last word Zaiya had to struggle not to react. She simply nodded before looking at the Trooper beside her. She felt him tense.

"And you, trooper…?"

"CT - 609-"

"Just your name is fine, if you've chosen one," she interrupted.

"Ah, yes Lieutenant-General," the Trooper nodded, "I am called Ash, my squadmates are Fritz, Wire, Pod and Jugg." Each of the clones nodded in turn, she took the one with the bandages to be Jugg. "I was just trying to explain to the Master Chief here, we had already done a double shift this rotation, though we were sent off as Jugg had a little run in with one of the training droids. Medic's orders were for him to eat and rest and for us to look after him in case of complications. Cleaning an entire barracks' worth of weapons is just going to make him worse."

"An entire barracks worth? Not just your own squad's weapons?" she asked.

"If these clowns are gonna try and shirk their duties, then they're gonna get the punishments that go with it! I've had enough of these clones trying to snake their way out of duty!" Zaiya turned to look at him with a dark glare. Choosing to promptly ignore his outburst, she raised her datapad to tap through it, searching for confirmation of Ash's account.

"Cadet Ash, it seems the paperwork has not yet come through from you to reflect your incident report," she began, but tapped to another setting. "Though the medic report is here…" She hummed for a moment in deliberation, and looked back to Ash. "As per the medic's orders you will eat, rest and keep an eye on your comrade. Penance for the late paperwork is to fill out the report for your team as soon as you return to the barracks. You will perform checks-ins every two hours on cadet Jugg's condition for the next two rotations. You will copy me in to all of these, and I will be checking. Understood, cadet?"

"Yes, Lieutenant-General!" Ash snapped to attention and saluted.

"What the hell is this, Siren?" Bric interrupted, rounding on her this time. "This isn't the first time you've undermined my authority like this, and I am getting sick of it! You think that you can just fix everything for them? They can't come running to mommy whenever they don't get their way on the battlefield!" He jabbed a finger in her face and part of her wanted to bite it clean off. Though the revulsion of having his finger in her mouth halted that thought immediately. By this time Alpha had joined her and she felt him tense over her right shoulder; he knew better than to step in however, despite wanting to. She could feel his anger rolling off in waves though she hardly needed the force to sense that.

"If you had your way, these men would not even see battle, you'd work them to exhaustion before they even had their chance to fight," she sneered at him, having to choose her words carefully. "If I didn't know better, Master Chief Bric, I would have thought you were sabotaging these clones." Her brow arched, almost as a challenge for him to fight back. His anger at the suggestion he might be a traitor however proved to be too great and this time stepped in close.

"Good thing you know better! I've been paid to train these whelps and your constant undermining has made them soft! Do your womanly instincts not allow you to let their precious feelings get hurt?" He jabbed his finger against her chest. "They still haven't even cleaned their weapons and it needs to be done by the next shift!" Her lip curled and she was about to grab him when this time Alpha did step in.

"Don't touch her," he snarled, stepping between them. Zaiya felt a spark of strong anger from the Captain and it surprised her, her own annoyance pushed aside for a moment.

"Is this your latest plaything?" Bric was losing his temper now, and Alpha talking back clearly was pushing him further. She wasn't prepared for what he said next. "How many of these toy soldiers do you let into your room? Is it one at a time or all at once?"

Green smoke began to stream from her nexus eye and her black upper lip curled. Alpha glanced at her and his eyes widened slightly. She could feel the anger in him -though her own was becoming too distracting.

"Y'wanna take this?" he growled quietly and her eyes narrowed to slits.

"Gladly." Zaiya straightened her back and shoulders. "Bric you have been one of the most vile, repugnant and loathsome bounty hunters I've ever had the displeasure to share air with. You are a backwards-thinking, mouth-breathing, self-important impotent little man with nothing afforded to you but your own ego. You fear that others will see you are mediocre and talentless at best, so you lash out at everyone else in order to hide your own deficiencies." She leaned in a little, tilting her head to the side. "You are weak of mind, body and spirit, Bric, and these men are weaker for it." She gestured to the clones around her who had become silent. Bric looked shocked but a second later he let out a rageful sound and charged her, whatever he screamed in his own tongue was decidedly not polite.

It was what she was hoping for and the barest grin crossed her lips as she dropped her shoulder to defend. The movement was a blur of short jabs from the Nightsister. Before Alpha could step in to assist in any way, Zaiya had Bric flipped and pinned to the floor, her boot square against his collarbone, a scowl on her face. She towered over him, completely overpowered the male, and all he could do was lay there and look up at her with unfocused eyes. The bounty hunter had blood across his face, and Zaiya suspected one of her strikes had broken his nose. She pressed down harder as he tried to move and the Siniteen groaned in pain.

"Now that I've spoken in a language you understand…" she sneered, "I hope you've paid attention." Her head turned to Alpha who was smirking. "Captain, would you be so kind as to have someone drag this cikala tarfa to the detention level?"

The entire mess hall began to grow louder as the cadets began to whisper among themselves, she just hoped that since several witnesses could attest to Bric charging her, that she had a decent argument in which to kick his useless ass out to the Outer Rim and leave him there.

Sure enough, after a few minutes, some of the soldiers in charge of security along with Rein De had joined them. Zaiya was quick to explain the situation and much to the annoyance of the Kaminoan, the siniteen male did indeed have grounds to be locked up and a disciplinary hearing arranged. Zaiya had already flicked a brief report to Shaak Ti while she waited and was hoping the Jedi could step in to smooth over a lot of the pomp and circumstance.

Glad to see the idiot dragged off, Zaiya was ready to return to work when she noticed Ash lingering in her periphery.

"I… Ver'alor, if I may?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yes, Ash, go ahead," she nodded.

"What… what should we do about the weapons that need cleaning, who should I assign to it…?"

Ah yes… that was another issue she'd forgotten. The woman ran a hand over her braid and hummed in thought.

"No need, trooper, you just worry about yourselves," she was about to dismiss them when she decided to ask the location of the weapons cache to be cleaned. Alpha had returned from his short report about the incident and caught the tail end of the conversation.

"You'd better not," he glared at her. She thanked the trooper and looked at the ARC Captain.

"Hm?" she asked innocently but Alpha wasn't fooled.

"You're gonna do it yourself, aren't you?" he accused and her lips pursed a little comically. "I knew it! You're gonna make these boys soft with all your nannying," he huffed, beginning to walk with her as she headed for the weapons themselves.

"Were you watching me put that-" she grimaced instead of swearing, she waved a hand in the general direction Bric was dragged off to, "-on his ass?" Alpha couldn't help but grin.

"Yeah I saw it," he chuckled, "very impressive," he seemed very amused and she rolled her eyes in response.

"Was it scary enough? Or should I have done what I wanted to do initially and remove a limb?" she asked. Alpha actually laughed and she felt her own mouth tug upwards.

"Might have been a little messy," he replied, a dark laugh following his words.

"My thoughts exactly," she chuckled, "no need to have maintenance clear up more of his messes than they already have to."

"There you go being soft again."

"Not at all." She shook her head. "I just thought that any more time spent on that mo'orn is time wasted." Alpha snorted derisively in response.

"Fair enough."


The weapons were indeed where Ash had told her they were, and the Nightsister dragged the crate over to a nearby workbench and took a seat, preparing the area with all the items she needed for a full strip down of the pistols.

"You're ridiculous," Alpha folded his arms as she prepped a cloth to lay the small screws on and stop them from rolling away.

"Mhm," was all Zaiya replied. She was aware she shouldn't be picking up the pieces for this squad, but she'd gotten too irritated at Bric. So long hiding her emotions and yet it was far harder now she'd finally started letting them out again.

"You know you have a limited time to actually get all of these done before the next training session…?" he gestured to the crate irritably.

"Then I had better move quickly," she said, still more focused on what she was doing. Alpha seemed frustrated.

"Just call in another squad-"

"No Alpha." She finally paused her movements, the first firearm in pieces before her, and looked at him. "I'm… I'm angry, this will help me… not do something stupid," she admitted bitterly. Alpha looked at her for a long time, a frown crossing his face slowly. He seemed to understand there was more to it than just Bric. After a moment he nodded, and stepped away, leaving her in peace.

Zaiya tended to her task quietly, and after about ten minutes realised that it would take too long and that she would never be done in time. With a sigh, she took the next pistol, it was her own fault but she had to live with it. She hummed a tune to herself to keep her mind from wandering.

It was about then that the door slid open again and Zaiya was surprised to see Alpha standing there. Her brow rose.

"You get bored?" she asked with a smirk.

"Not quite." He entered the room and dropped into the spot opposite her. A moment later, she noticed a group of clones file in and looked around, seeming surprised to see her. Some of them being the 'bad batch'. Crosshair made his way over swiftly, taking the seat directly beside her as the others filtered in.

"Now who's a wookie pelt?" she asked Alpha sarcastically.

"Shut up," he scoffed, "this is just to avoid wasting time."

"Mhm," she hummed, a smile in her eyes and continued with the weapon she was working on. Alpha was not looking at her, his hands scrubbing at the blaster with his own military efficiency. Zaiya returned to her own, eventually humming again. She hadn't even realised she was until Crosshair nudged her with his elbow.

"What song is that?" he asked quietly.

"It's Vode An," Alpha interrupted, "it's one of the few Jango taught us." Zaiya looked up in interest, her good eye lit up.

"And here I thought you said you hadn't learned any songs." Her eyes narrowed as she began to reassemble the blaster she was working on. Alpha just shrugged. She looked back to Crosshair and some of the other clones who were listening in. "You don't know it?" she asked, they shook their heads. Zaiya let a smile cross her lips. "Perfect time to learn…!" Zaiya looked to Alpha, "gonna back me up on this one?" she asked with a grin. Alpha rolled his eyes.

"Fine," he replied. Zaiya straightened her posture, tapping her foot as Alpha's bassy voice combined with her own.

"Kote!

Kandosii sa ka'rta, Vode an.

Coruscanta a'den mhi, Vode an.

Bal kote, darasuum kote,

Jorso'ran kando a tome.

Sa kyr'am nau tracyn kad, Vode an." The other clones seemed to be understanding the importance of the song, as though it were written for them. Though an old ballad for Mandalorians, the clones seemed to resonate with it immediately. Even Crosshair, in his own reserved way, his lips moved slightly as he repeated the song with them under his breath.

"Kandosii sa ka'rta, Vode an.

Coruscanta a'den mhi, Vode an.

Bal...

Motir ca'tra nau tracinya.

Gra'tua cuun hett su dralshy'a.

Aruetyc talyc runi'la solus cet o'r.

Motir ca'tra nau tracinya.

Gra'tua cuun hett su dralshy'a.

Aruetyc talyc runi'la trattok'o.

Sa kyr'am nau tracyn kad, Vode an!" There were loud thumps on the floor and table from the brothers around them. Zaiya began to walk them through the ballad until they could all sing it confidently.

By the time they'd finished with the blasters, the men around her were well versed in the song and seemed in high spirits. They'd gotten all the blasters finished far quicker than she had anticipated. It seemed a helping hand was not so bad.

Crosshair lingered as the others began to file out, she could see the slender silver-haired sniper in her periphery as she cleared the table with Alpha. Once everything was done she turned to speak to the enhanced clone- but her comm interrupted the moment.

"Just a second, Cross," she muttered and answered. Her brow rose, "Rex old boy, what a surprise," she chuckled, but it tied in her throat as she saw his face. "What is it?"

"It… it's Wolffe," he began.


Notes:

Hello lovelies!

Welcome back, I hope you enjoyed that! Zaiya got in some ass-kicking and that sleemo Bric is outta there! But the call! Do we know what has happened to Wolffe? I think some of you will have guessed it, but lets find out what happened to him next week, shall we?

I have been writing all week for this and I am really enjoying it, the comments on my last chapter really boosted my motivations and it really really helps. I often get into a slump right before posting a chapter like "what am I doing? Does anyone really like this? Does anyone really care?" so comments really help me tell that voice to shut up and drop-kick it into a box and lock it up for a little while.

I also just listened to Stories of Jedi and Sith, Chapter 7 audiobook, Ghosts of Maul and HONEY. Holy Lord on High. I listened to Sam Witwer deliver the story in Maul's voice and I just lost my damn mind. It had so many similar feelings that I want to capture in this fic and... just wow. If you have not read it, please go and read and especially listen to it. Wow wow wow.

That being said, as I mentioned, please please if you can, leave a comment as it really helps me keep writing and it's nice to know people actually want to read this story of mine. This week I am releasing a chapter of Sins of the Father so if you have not yet checked that out, please do, I am really proud of it. It is a modern AU with Zaiya once again at the helm so if it interests you, please go and have a look, I will release another chapter this Wednesday!

I hope you all are doing well and until next week... May The Force Be With You! ^^ 3