Chapter Text
Eren looked up when she heard the bed shift. Wolffe was waking up. She stood by the bed as he opened his eyes, the sight of the cybernetic implant taking her by surprise. It was white, with a circular outline where the iris would be, almost like the reticle on a scope. The scar above and below his eye was still an angry red, but vastly improved from the way it had looked before the surgery. She didn’t say anything, giving him time to get his bearings. Then, he seemed to focus on her. “Commander?”
“Wolffe, how do you feel?”
He blinked, then blinked again, getting used to the sensation. He looked around the room, then covered his left eye and blinked again. “I can see.”
She smiled, relieved. “No pain?”
“No.” He frowned at her. “What are you doing here, kid?”
“Master Plo didn’t want you here alone, and he had to go to the Temple.”
“I don’t need a babysitter.”
“I know. But he wanted to…we wanted to make sure you were treated properly. No shortcuts.”
He lay silently for a moment, then sat up abruptly. Worried, Eren grabbed his arm. “I don’t think you’re supposed to –”
But Wolffe wasn’t listening. “I need to get back to my—”
Eren quickly averted her eyes as he threw the blanket off to get out of bed. He was dressed only in underwear and seemed utterly unaware as he tried to shake off the aftereffects of the sedative. Trying to hold him down with one hand, she blindly fumbled to pull the blanket back up. “Wolffe, you need to stay in bed!”
Her tone seemed to get through to him. He looked down and saw the pale hospital blanket sitting low on his hips. Very low. He yanked the blanket back up to his waist. “Where’s my armor?”
“It’s in the locker. But Wolffe, you need to be properly discharged. You can’t just walk out of here!”
He exhaled frustratedly and sat back. “Fine.”
Brave enough to look at him again, Eren resumed her seat. She almost wished she hadn’t looked. She knew Wolffe was a little bigger than the other clones, more muscular. But he had more body hair as well. Everything about him was just…more. She took a breath, pushing down her embarrassment. “You need to wait for the droid to check you out. Fitz is waiting with the speeder to take you back to barracks.”
He said nothing for a while, just lay staring at the ceiling, blinking occasionally as though it was a new skill. Eventually, he looked over at her. “How long have you been here?”
“A few hours. We got here just after they took you into surgery.” Her fingers almost unconsciously went to the node on the back of her skull. “I remember how strange it felt when I got my implants. It took a while to get used to them. Like…I can hear, but it’s not the same. It’s different enough to notice.”
“That’s what this feels like. I can see, but it’s a little different. I think the implant’s better than my real eye.”
“You almost sound like you’re saying it’s a good thing.”
“I wouldn’t go that far. I’d rather have both eyes as they used to be. Just like I’m sure you’d rather have your hearing like it used to be.”
She shrugged sadly. “Yes. But I was lucky. I survived.”
He frowned at her. He’d never spoken to her about what had happened. He’d heard, but they’d never really discussed it. “How long were you without…”
“Long enough to learn how to lipread from a distance.”
His frown morphed into an unreadable expression. “Handy skill to have.” He raised his hands to drag his fingers through his hair. “Hopefully, Comet doesn’t want to give me a robotic arm either.”
Eren smiled at him as a medical droid bustled into the room. “We could be unstoppable. I’ll wait outside.”
The noise was deafening as they drew closer to the surface of Felucia. Eren managed to keep her balance as the gunship ducked and weaved its way down through the droid fighters. They’d been diverted to extract General Kenobi and General Skywalker and their troops. And she knew Ahsoka Tano was with them as well. Ahsoka was a padawan, too, although much younger than Eren was.
She peered out through the open side hatches, yanking her head back in as a droid fighter exploded into flames as it whooshed by. She grinned when she saw Warthog go spinning past in his Headhunter, giving her a thumbs up as he sped by. He was quickly out of sight, and she glanced over at Fitz. “I need to get some lessons with Warthog.”
“Shouldn’t you be learning from General Plo?”
She shrugged as the gunship dropped vertically to land. “Warthog seems to have more fun.”
Fitz was too busy firing at droids to answer, laying down cover for the men of the 501st and the 212th to board the gunships. Eren thumbed both blades of her lightsaber on and jumped out. She knew she could provide more effective cover outside the ship. That’s why she was there. She ran forward, deflecting blaster bolts as the troopers retreated to the ships. Fitz and his squad came out to join her, waiting until the last man was aboard before they retreated themselves.
She looked out as several of the ships peeled off to go further into the jungle. “Where are they going?”
“To pick up Commander Tano and her squads. She didn’t retreat when she got the order.” The man she knew to be Marshal Commander Cody pulled his helmet off, an irritated look on his face. She straight away saw the large scar around his left eye, another reminder of the sacrifices the clones were making. After what happened to Wolffe, she’d made a promise to herself that she would never deliberately do anything to put her own men at risk. They deserved better than that. Cody gave her a weary salute. “Nice lightsaber work out there, ma’am. I’ve never seen a Jedi with a double blade before.”
“Oh…well, not many of us use them. Master Krell uses two at once.”
“Remind me never to stand too close to him.” That was Captain Rex, General Skywalker’s senior clone officer. She knew who he was as well. She’d tried to learn and memorise as many of the battalions and officers as she could. If she was fighting in this war, she was going to give it her best.
She tried to suppress a smile as she looked at Captain Rex. “Jedi have pretty good special awareness.”
“Most of the time. Where’s Wolffe?”
“Up on the ship. He’s not back on active duty yet.”
Rex looked at Cody. “That’ll put him in a good mood.”
This time, she couldn’t hide the smile. “You know Commander Wolffe pretty well then?”
“Oh yeah,” Cody said. “I imagine he’s stomping around like a sand bear with a sore head.”
“Something like that. I don’t think he likes being away from the action. Maybe seeing you will cheer him up.”
Rex snorted as the gunship docked in the hangar with a thud. “Somehow, I doubt that.” He gave her a polite nod before he jumped out with Cody to reconvene with their Jedi and round up their men.
Eren stood back and watched as the two officers stood talking with Master Kenobi and Master Skywalker. She could see the trust in their relationship, and she felt a pang of envy, wondering if Wolffe would ever put that kind of trust in her. She knew he still watched her like a hawk – he knew her intentions were good, but her ability was still lacking. She still struggled to give orders or manage the men. They mostly seemed to manage themselves, but she knew she needed to step up and start acting like a leader. As she watched, Wolffe arrived on deck in his grey naval uniform. He looked annoyed. Frustrated. She saw him roll his eyes as he spoke to Cody and Rex. Somehow, his eye rolls were even more dramatic with his implant and the fierce scar.
Ahsoka Tano stood off to the side, looking sheepish, and Eren wondered how much trouble she was in for disobeying orders. Even within the Jedi ranks, there was still a chain of command, and she liked to think that she would always follow orders. After Khorm, she knew now not to run off as her anger dictated.
The fighters started arriving back in the hangar then, and she saw Master Plo climb out of his and stride over to convene with the other Jedi. Feeling on the outer, she stayed back, observing. She didn’t have the confidence to go and insert herself into that group, so she stayed where she was as they left the hangar. She spotted Warthog jumping down from his Headhunter and jogged over. “Have fun out there?”
“Didn’t you see me wave?”
“I saw you. Looked a little like showing off to me.”
Warthog pulled his helmet off to reveal his grinning face. “It was a lot like showing off. What’s up, Slasher.”
Eren blinked at him. “What?”
“Slasher. Haven’t you heard the boys calling you that?”
“No…” She was bewildered now. “Why are they calling me that?”
“That’d be Comet. After Dantooine, he came back on board telling everyone you were taking off tinnie’s heads faster than a rotary weed slasher.”
“But—"
“Sorry, Commander. You’re stuck with it now. I don’t make the rules.”
Eren scowled at him. “I feel like I could order you to stop.”
“You could try. But we’d all know you didn’t mean it.”
“So…no one takes me seriously? You all just laugh at me behind my back?” This was worse than she’d thought. First they all thought she was a child, now they were making up nicknames for her behind her back.
But Warthog looked mortified. “Hey, absolutely not, Commander! No one is laughing at you behind your back. No one. You’re one of us now. That’s why you get the nickname. You’ve shown us what you’re made of.”
Feeling guilty for overreacting, she leaned back on an ordnance crate. “Sorry, Warthog. I just feel like I’m not a very good soldier. And I’m definitely not good at giving orders.”
“Ah, you’ll be fine,” Warthog said dismissively. “You know what you’re doing. You just need to shout louder.”
She chuckled at his assessment. “Shouting was frowned upon at the Temple. And I feel weird doing it with my implants – I’m not a good judge of my own volume anymore.”
“Well, I’m afraid you’re going to have to start. Now, other than my unqualified advice on leadership, what else can I do for you?”
“I need some flying lessons.”
“Seriously? So, you can’t shout or fly? What did they teach you in that place?”
This time, she laughed properly. She stretched her hand out, focusing her energy on lifting a crate and spinning it in the air before lowering it again. When she opened her eyes, Warthog was laughing too. “Okay, I can see how that would have been fun to learn. But it’s no help in a fighter.”
“No, it isn’t. I need a little instruction.”
Warthog thought for a moment. “We need to wait and see where they’re sending us next. But once we’re in one place for a while, I can give you some lessons.” He chuckled to himself as they walked towards the lift to take them out of the hangar. “I never thought I’d be teaching a Jedi.”
“Well, don’t get too excited. I’m not a Jedi yet.”
He looked around the hangar that was beginning to empty. “You should try shouting while we’re down here. No one’ll hear.”
Eren looked around. There were still several dozen troopers on the deck, locking down the fighters and gunships that had just come in. “They’ll hear me.”
Warthog gave a dramatic sigh as he looked around the hangar, his eyes lighting up as he hit upon an idea. He grabbed her arm and pushed her over to a Y-wing that was tucked into a dark corner, waiting on repairs. He popped the hatch and gave her a nudge. “Hop in and seal the hatch. Then you’re good to go. You have to start somewhere.”
She hesitated only briefly before climbing up into the cockpit. Warthog was right. No time like the present. She looked down at the unfamiliar console. She was used to driving a basic speeder around Coruscant as required. “How do I close it?”
“The big silver button with a diagram of the hatch on it.”
She scowled down at his amused expression before pressing the button to seal herself in. She sat for a moment, trying to think of what to say. What to shout, really. She was here to get loud. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth. “Follow me, men!”
She looked around nervously, worried about yelling. She felt ridiculous. She looked down at Warthog. He just shrugged at her, then tapped the chrono on his vambrace. Get a move on.
She sat for a moment, all her anxieties competing for her attention. You’re not up to this. You don’t have what it takes. You’re not good enough. You’re weak. You can’t even hear properly. You shouldn’t have survived. Feeling almost breathless, she opened her mouth and screamed. “Fuuuuuuck!”
On the deck below, Warthog blinked when he heard the muffled expletive. He wasn’t that surprised. The troopers often heard her muttering curse words under her breath when she was distracted or focused on something. She didn’t seem to notice unless someone pointed it out, and then she was mortified. He gave her a few minutes in the fighter to calm down. He didn’t know why she was so worried about what everyone thought. All the men seemed to like her. They’d seen her in action, and they’d heard about her trying to chase down Asajj Ventress. They knew she had their back. That's what counted most for the clones. Trust and loyalty. That and the fact that she seemed to genuinely enjoy spending time with them, getting to know them. It seemed to matter to her.
The hatch opened with a hiss, and she stuck her head out. “Did you hear that?”
“Oh yeah.”
She looked slightly mortified as she climbed down, taking the hand he offered despite not needing it. “It felt kind of good to get that out.”
Warthog laughed as he locked the Y-wing down again. “Just don’t let General Plo hear you. He might not appreciate having a padawan who goes around swearing at the top of her lungs.”
“He knew my master. He won’t be surprised.”
Eren yawned as she slipped into the wardroom. She was tired, but sleep wasn’t coming. She struggled with sleep as it was, but the lack of clear night and day in transit made it even worse. She stopped in the doorway when she saw Wolffe hunched over the small sink, his face under the running tap. “What are you doing?”
Muttering under his breath, he turned the tap off and turned to face her. “I’ve got something in my eye. I’m trying to flush it out.”
She moved closer to see that the skin around his new implant was red and inflamed. “Have you been rubbing at it?” He didn’t answer that, and she gave him an unimpressed look as she pushed him towards a chair. “Everything is still healing in there. You need to be more gentle with it.”
“Gentle,” he grunted. “I’m trying to get back on active duty. Not lie around with my face wrapped up in pillows.”
Eren had to bite her lip to keep from laughing as she went through the overhead lockers to find a medkit. Wolffe had shown himself to be a terrible patient as he recovered from his injury and was particularly grumpy and reactive. She unpacked a medkit on the table and found what she was looking for. She snapped the cap off the bottle of sterile eyewash and used her hand on his forehead to tip his head back. “Hold still and keep your eye open.”
Wolffe did as he was told, sitting motionless as she squeezed the drops into his eye. He felt the liquid spill down his cheek, but she was quick to grab a piece of medical gauze to soak it up. “Now blink.”
Again, Wolffe followed her instructions, blinking several times as she used the gauze to absorb the wash. Then she dabbed the end of her little finger against his cheek, pulling it back triumphantly. “Got it!”
She held her finger out for Wolffe to see the black eyelash there. He blinked several times, satisfied that the source of irritation was gone. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.” She held her finger out again. “Do you want to make a wish, or is that not really…”
He gave her one of his looks as he went back to the sink. “Want a caf?”
“Yes, thank you.”
She took a seat at the table, gratefully accepting the hot caf he placed in front of her. He looked her up and down. She looked like she was dressed for bed, a warm sweater pulled on over leggings. “Can’t sleep?”
“No. You?”
He shrugged, taking a sip of his caf. “I’ll catch up later. Everything go okay down on the surface?”
“I think so. Why, what have you heard?”
“I heard that Commander Tano disobeyed direct orders and put her men at risk. She put my men at risk to extract them.”
“Master Plo said that the Council will deal with it.”
“I hope so. I don’t want to lose men to the reckless behaviour of someone else’s padawan.”
“What about your own?”
“You’re not my padawan. And you’re not that reckless.”
“I knew Wolffe would be worse than usual after that kind of injury, but I wasn’t expecting the lecture on keeping my padawan in line!”
Cody glanced at Rex as they strode along the corridor of the Hand of Justice, in transit to Coruscant. “I only came close to losing an eye. Actually losing one…well, he’s lucky General Plo made sure he wasn’t sent back to Kamino. I can forgive a little grumpiness.”
“Yeah, you’re right, I guess. I’m not sure what he expects me to do about Commander Tano, though. She’s Skywalker’s responsibility, not mine.”
“And if that’s the case, good luck to us all.”
Rex shoved Cody in the back as they went into the wardroom, slamming into the commander’s armored body as he stopped in the doorway. The room was already occupied. Two bodies lay slumped over the table, fast asleep. Wolffe and the new padawan. Their heads were almost touching, resting on folded arms, half-drunk mugs of caf nearby.
Rex opened his mouth to say something, but Cody pushed him back out of the room. “Let them sleep. He’s been struggling since Abregado. And then Khorm. He’s had a tough run.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Rex agreed, as they slipped quietly out into the corridor. “And a new padawan.”
“She seems okay,” Cody observed. “Better impulse control than yours.”
“Big talk for a man who doesn’t have to deal with a padawan.” They headed back towards the lift. “I guess we’ll have to slum it and get caf in the mess.”