Nineteen


Didge looked over at Whisk.

He wasn't faring so well in the new Republic. Wane from worry and unkempt, he knew it would only be a matter of time before the medic would completely lose it.

"You doing alright brother?"

Whisk just nodded, working on cleaning his deece after another night raid down on the lower levels, searching, and more often than not, finding men that had deserted the ranks of the new Empire.

It had been a harder than usual night.

The sighting of high Jedi Ahsoka Tano had brought back a multitude of memories, making their present even harder to bear.

It was a reminder of how things used to be.

Once bred to protect the innocent and the ideal of the Jedi, now they were detested amongst their own.

Whisk had seen it; the look of disgust on the pair from Bantha they had found cowering under a sewage outlet on level 14.

"Is this what its come to?" His eyes wild with anger, "is this all we are good for? Hunting out our own under a pile of osik?"

"Shut up will ya? You don't want them hearing you talk like that, or they'll send you straight down to Fox!" Didge was horrified with his brother's lack of self-restraint.

Didge was doing remarkable well, considering.

Someone had to.

He had been pulled from sniper duty and was on regular patrols with Vader's First, and had stepped up when he could see how hard his brother was travelling.

The sound and halo from the green twin light sabres had effected them all differently, but none more so that the team medic. He seemed genuinely distressed and was thrown into a deeper level of despair.

It wasn't always that way.

Whisk used to be the optimist, and kept their little unit tight.

He knew that Sats, not having a speciality would be the one more likely to be deployed to another unit once leaving Kamino.

So he made a pact.

To keep his brothers close.

They spent every spare second honing their unique bond. If they were invincible in the training sims, maybe they could convince the senior officers that they should stay together.

And they were doing just fine until Rex came along and split them up.

Fekking Rex.

Whisk had worked through the initial disappointment of Sats being sent off to the 212th, which in hindsight seemed like a good fit for the baby of the group. Hatched last, Sats was always going to be nursed like a baby nuna by his other, more established, brothers.

Didge on the other hand was a different kettle of fish.

How Whisk managed to hide his obsessive compulsive disorder was nothing short of a miracle.

And Didge knew it.

Whisk trained the sniper beautifully under the guise of getting his magical fingers to pull apart a deece faster than any other soldier in the GAR. He would spend hours coaching him, getting him to work through his built up nervous energy stripping down and reassembling any weapon he could lay his hands on.

And all the hard work paid off.

They now found themselves in an enviable position; a time of peace.

With no obvious war whirring around them, they were soldiers of the galaxy, maintaining and enforcing the new Empire.

If he thought about it too much, the headache would return, so he didn't.

Whisk threw the jar of lubricant back into his footlocker and slammed the lid shut.

Didge looked up and swung his head in disdain. It was becoming tedious; making sure Whisk didn't spill his guts.

"Argh, come on! Grab a shower and we'll hit the Mess."

"Not hungry."

"Well, you have to get clean," he was slowly losing his patience with Whisk. What Didge wanted more than anything was for him to snap back out of his lull and get on with it.

So he could return to being the needy one.

Keeping an eye on Whisk was exhausting work.

With Sats thumping around the barracks with other 212th imbeciles and newly imported Sparti clones, Didge had never felt more alone. The sage one, the medic, the one that had pulled him together, was fraying around the ends.

Trudging off to the refreshers the water seemed to lift Whisk's mood slightly, but it all went south when they swung around the corner and back into their room.

"That would have to be a longer than allocated shower trooper?" Chopper said slowly as he watched Whisk hang his towel over the bunk railing.

They both stared at one another before Didge sat his kit down on the bed.

"We're all good here, right?"

Chopper's mouth turned up in a menacing smile. He always made Didge feel nervous, and the thought of payback from the time they bet against him in the Mess was always a possibility.

"Are your buckets turned off?"

"Of course they are!" Whisk was annoyed at the intrusion.

"Sit."

"Hey listen, you just can't come in here and order us around!" Whisk stood firm. He'd had enough for the night and even the menacing sight of Chopper wouldn't make him back down.

"Sit."

They obediently did as ordered. Chopper couldn't help but laugh at the earnest expression on both their faces.

"Osik, you two really are green."

"Fek off," Didge hissed back.

"Take it easy," Coric said as he appeared as if from nowhere.

"Sir," the two stood again before he waved them back down.

"Here," he said as he slowly handed them a note, "read it once and say nothing, you understand?" He locked eyes on both of them but it was the other medic who snatched the material from his hand.

"We're not di'kuts!" Whisk couldn't help himself and Coric second guessed himself.

Was he doing the right thing bringing them in early?

Whisk seemed more angry than usual and everything relied on these two keeping their traps shut.

The pair then opened the flimsie and read what had been hastily written.

Rex is alive.

Didge looked sceptically at both Chopper and Coric, thinking it was some sort of prank at their expense, but remained silent.

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" Whisk couldn't help himself.

Coric looked at the young troopers. They looked like the day they arrived with the regulation hair cut, no tattoos or makings of any sort, they hadn't had time to be more inventive with their appearance before everything changed.

"Where?" Whisk handed the flimsie to Didge who opened it and read it again.

"Down the lower levels. You two were off with Appo chasing Ahsoka."

"You mean when that Jedi sliced open Crutch?" Whisk had been the medic who called another brothers time of death. He was beginning to lose all patience with the Jedi, and was mildly pleased they were hunting them out.

"What's going on in here?" It was Appo.

Didge moved the flimsie up to his mouth with lightening speed and began chewing frantically. Chopper couldn't help but stifle back a laugh.

Appo swung around at the sound, "you again?" He said looking at Chopper, "don't you lot have anywhere else to be?"

"Sir, no sir," Chopper said standing to attention. The one thing about his motley appearance was that he stood out. Appo remembered the scarred face of the seasoned trooper. He was mildly suspicious of Chopper, and seeing him fraternise with his own men, made him even more so.

"You laughing at me soldier?"

"Me sir. No sir."

"You'd be laughing all the way to the Brigg if I had my way! I think it's high time Commander Cody is made aware of your mischievous behaviour. Move it trooper. Now!"

"Yes sir," he replied dead-pan. Just knowing he had pissed off Appo was enough to make him feel satisfied. Cody wouldn't think anything more of Chopper being in the 501st barracks.

The others looked on, their eyes wide with information they knew Appo would kill for.

There was nothing like it.

They all watched as the commander marched Chopper down the length of the corridor. Appo was barking out orders as Chopper held up his middle finger in defiance behind the new commanders back.

The three laughed heartily as they disappeared around a corridor before the emotion caught them all and they clung together in brotherhood.

Coric whispered in their ears as he held them tight.

"I'll get you both out. I promise. Rex told me where. We just have to put a plan together and wait until the time is right. You in?"

"Yes," they said in unison.

Coric stood back and slapped their backs hard. "Good men."

The two stood motionless as the lieutenant left their quarters, Didge breaking the thick silence, "what about Sats?"

"Yeah, what about Sats?"

.