Tagging: @satineweek
DAY 2: Mother
Quote prompts: “What do you see when you think about the future?”
It becomes so quiet that everything can hear is the hum of the speeders running somewhere outside the hangar and the droids repairing the fighters. In this oppressive silence, the Clones look at her, and she looks at them, proudly accepting a new wave of discontent, which has quickly replaced such a ringing laugh. It seems to her that one of them is leaving, but those standing closer don't move, and she, not wanting to lose her chance, doesn't dare to find out whether it is true or not.
“We are soldiers,” Cody finally begins to say again, and this is a first time in her memory that she has no idea what is hidden behind the calm expression on the face her interlocutor. “We are good soldiers. And good soldiers follow orders.”
“This war will end someday,” while she speaks her gaze does not leave his face. “What will you all do then? What do you see when you think about the future?”
Another pause almost causes a shiver, but she is a Mando, she will not allow fear to make her retreat and continues to boldly look into the brown eyes almost ten meters away from her.
“You are asking a very dangerous questions, Duchess,” Cody’s voice is now noticeably quieter and even trembles a little. “Dangerous and too political. Don't involve us in your games with the Senate.”
“These are not games, Commander.”
She speaks more quietly too, almost in a whisper, and the Clones, not wanting to miss their words, move closer, tightening the ring that has formed around her, in any other situation - with any other creature - perceived as an approaching danger.
“It's worry. Because you are children,” Satine puts her right hand on Crys's shoulder standing next to her. “You are the children of Mandalore. You are my children,” with a sad smile turning to the left, towards Boil, she touches his temple with her fingertips, and leaves her palm on his cheeks. “And as your mother, I will worry about you and want the best for you.”
“We are clones,” Rex interjects. “And as people in your sector like to say, Jango Fett was not a Mando.”
“Mando is not blood and, despite our traditions, it is far from just the oaths. This is the spirit. This is the rod. And Jango gave you this, even if his gift was passed on to you only in fight training,” with a smile, still a little sad, she glances at them. “Duty is not an empty phrase for me, and the fact that you do not refuse it does you honor. But when the war is over, when you don't know where to go, you can always come to me. And I will give you shelter, I will give you protection, I will give you… a clan, if that is what your heart desires.”
“And why would you do this?” the Clone that looking at her has a prosthetic eye instead of a right eye, and she feels sad that she doesn't have the opportunity to turn back time and protect him. “We are not your people, no matter what you say. We are just clones. We were created to fight. To the war.”
“No one is created for war,” Satine objects gently.
Continue read on ao3
3 notes
·
View notes
Warmup #20
Rating: G
Notes:
More Cody and Ahsoka friendship.
~~~
"I'm telling you, Skyguy. Commander Cody will know."
"I'm telling you, Snips; there's no kriffing way."
Cody glanced at the doorway, not bothering to put down the datapad in his hands. He was busy.
Ahsoka leapt through the doorway with a grin. "Cody, where's Obi-Wan?"
Cody glanced at the map in the corner of the datapad. "Mess hall. What do you need him for?"
Ahsoka pointed at him with a grin. "See? He knows. It's part of his supernatural abilities."
"No. Kriffing. Way." Skywalker crossed his arms. "It's midmeal time, it was probably an educated guess."
"Normally General Kenobi is working at this time." Cody threw in, just because he could.
"That's true!" Crys backed him up immediately. Good man. He was also the one who had set up the Kenobi monitor.
Ahsoka smirked. "It's out of the norm and Cody was aware of it."
"It doesn't mean shit, Snips." Anakin snapped and stalked out of the room.
Cody looked after him. "Someone's in a mood."
"Yup." Ahsoka beamed at him. "He couldn't tell where Obi-Wan was and now he's pissed someone else could."
"Of course." Cody agreed.
10 notes
·
View notes
The Umbaran Pathogen - Day 14: Bleeding Through the Bandage
Summary: In the midst of all the chaos, the holopic Canivete and Waxer took of the Vixus they had encountered lay forgotten in the depths of the medic's personal pad. In her defense, Cani's attention had been drawn towards a rather strange outbreak that had been causing the 212th some grief.
Warning: N/A (there's one instance of ickiness but it's very brief)
Prev / Next
[In which the events on Umbara are worsened by an unknown pathogen taking hold of both the 501st and 212th. These series of drabbles will follow a non-linear timeline based on the AI-less Whumptober prompt list for 2023.]
THIS STORY IS ALSO ON AO3
---
To say Canivete was more than a little confounded by the strange affliction that had befallen the men, was disconcerting to say the least. Not that she was an expert in every exotic malady that came her way (far from it). But she did fancy herself an avid connoisseur of the field dermatology. Mostly because a lot of the vode had atrocious skin routines, and she was more than ready to fight them on their insistence on not giving two kriffs.
Sure at the end of the day all her siblings washed up fairly nicely, and did their best not to pick at spots, or scratch this or that pimple that cropped up unexpectedly. But one could only do so much with the standard military grade 5-in-1 soap they were provided by the GAR... And Canivete was not going to let any of them walk around looking like pre-pubescent cadets with extra greasy skin or dry as kark scalps...
So no, she was no expert, but she did know skin blemishes and abrasions better than anyone else in her field. And the sudden outbreak of rashes was definitely not a normal occurance.
At first she and her fellow medics had assumed it was allergies to the alien foliage and whatnot. The pollen, fungal spores, and bioluminiscent material that the plants naturally produced floated freely in the air, and none of them had been inoculated against Umbara's microbiota or microflora. So that had definitely been a plausible cause for the recent bout of rashes.
But, as she took care to examine the lesions more closely, Cani had quickly ruled out that possibility altogether. Because allergens didn't cause huge swollen craters. At least not on their own.
There was also the fact that every single one of the men that came to her with rashes, displayed them on the same highly localized area on their necks. At the very back, between two vertebrae. Right where a blade could easily sink into the spinal chord and sever it.
A rightful basis for alarm, if she did say so herself. Any potential for spinal damage out in the field was more than a little unnerving...
In the end, the most logical conclusion she'd made was that this was some kind of bug bite. From a very big bug. Big enough that the wound was substantial in size, and that whatever poison had been pumped into the men was immediately met with the body aggressively reacting to it, hence the severe rash.
Now how the troopers had all seemingly been ambushed by something that enormous without noticing, was what truly bothered her...
"Crys, are you SURE you don't remember getting bit...?" She insisted, as she carefully coated the back of his neck in some ointment so as to sooth the irritated skin.
"I'm telling you, I really don't remember anything..." The blond replied, sounding somewhat tired as he had been unable to get any rest thanks to the constant itch. "All I know is that Wooley and I were out scouting, and then suddenly I woke up about two clicks away with an awful pain on the back of my neck..."
"He's telling the truth." Wooley confirmed. "One minute we were looking over the perimeter, then the next he was just... Gone. I found him exactly two clicks north looking all kinds of dazed..."
"And there was no sign of anything in the area? No critters that could have attacked him?" The medic continued to press.
"Absolutely nothing in the area... It was kinda freaky." Wooley admitted, sounding a little disconcerted. "When I got to him it was so quiet... Like everything in the area just up and fled. And his neck was a bloody mess..."
"Curious..." She murmured to herself as she carefully bandaged Crys's neck. He wasn't the worst of her cases, as multiple other troopers had rashes that were beginning to spread from the original point of infection to the rest of their body. Proving her theory that some kind of foreign poison was circulating in their blood.
She just didn't know what that poison was, or what creature could have possibly administered it. The database she'd consulted on the Umbaran flora and fauna was severely outdated and incomplete, and it held no useful information on blood sucking insects or any other such parasites...
"I want you to stay close, Cr'ika..." The medic finally said as she finished tending to her fellow trooper and vod. "Just so that I and the other medics can keep an eye on your symptoms, alright?"
"I guess..." Crys shrugged as he got up and began to move out. Not noticing Canivete motioning for Wooley to keep watching the blond, since she didn't want any of the sick moving about on their own.
Not when the later stages of infection seemed to come with severe fevers and other alarming developments...
"What a mess..." Canivete whispered to herself as she looked around the triage zone they'd set up. There were several troopers in different stages of their infection. Some with the beginnings of the spreading rash, others covered head to toe in bandages as open sores with strange black growths began to crop up all over their bodies, and a few more suffering through horrific hallucinations and fever.
To say she was worried was an understatement. This was unlike anything she or any of the other medics had ever faced, and she was honestly starting to get a little scared that they might not find a solution for it. At least not without knowing for sure what the root cause was actually was...
Maybe if she looked through her own archive of alien diseases that she'd collected overtime, she might find a better match than the stupid Umbaran database...? Surely there might be something there that would at least point her in the right direction.
She was just about to unclip her personal pad from her belt when General Kenobi began to approach, Commander Cody sluggishly following behind him while maintaining pressure against the back of his neck.
"Oh dear..." She let go of the pad, letting it settle back against her belt while frowning with obvious concern. "Sirs, please tell me neither of you are sick as well?"
"Unfortunately I cannot say that is the case for one of us..." The General frowned as he motioned for the Commander to have a seat. She already knew what she would be seeing once his helmet was off, and his collar was lowered.
"How?" She opted to ask instead.
"It is most peculiar... One moment we were both up at the very top of one of the Zabrak Spikes, monitoring the horizon for enemy patrols with our scopes..." Obi-wan began to explain, a very perturbed look on his face. "And then... I felt two odd presences nearby."
"Carry on...?" This was new information. Cody's wound was much fresher and still bleeding heavily, which gave her a clear view of just how he'd been cut into. It looked like the outer layer of skin had been cut by a pair of strong mandibles, and the puncture wound itself was some kind of needle-like proboscis with barbed structures. Another point towards the bug bite theory.
"It was... Very strange, to say the least. It felt familiar but I could not identify how, since it also felt foreign in a contradictory manner..." Obi-wan continued, scratching his beard in thought as he tried to make sense of the experience. "I must have been so focused on trying to decipher what I had sensed, that I hadn't noticed the Commander was no longer at my side. A rather careless mistake on my part..."
"It wasn't your fault, sir." Cody tried to reassure the General. "When you froze up I should have put my guard up..."
"Let me guess, you woke up somewhere deeper in the woods with no memory of how you got injured?" Cani guessed. She motioned for him to brace himself as she poured some rubbing alcohol into the wound, having run out of disinfectant two patients ago. For what it was worth, Cody only mildly flinched. But Canivete could have sworn she saw something in the wound wriggle.
Blinking in surprise she squinted at the bloodied hole, only to find no movement whatsoever. Just a gaping wound that needed to be bandaged.
Little gods, she must be more tired than she originally thought...
"I woke up tangled in a thorny bush. I just assumed whatever grabbed me had dropped me from tall enough a height that one of the thorns got through my body-glove with ease." Cody admitted, sounding a little sheepish. "But when it started to bleed more heavily while trying to find my way back, I had some doubts... That was at least five hours ago. Whatever took me, covered enough ground that I was a fair distance away"
That certainly explained the temporary radio silence from her superior offers. It also did little to ease her anxiety on the matter.
"Given the recent outbreak of strange symptoms, once we located each other I thought it best to bring the Commander to the medics's care." Obi-wan sighed. "I take it that was a wise decision?"
"Very. Pardon my language General, but whatever the sith-hells is attacking the men is not only doing it with enough concussive force to cause temporary memory loss, but it is also very clearly specialized in this method specifically..." Canivete crossed her arms in slight frustration upon finishing bandaging up her superior officer. She wasn't too happy about any of this. "I'm starting to think it might not even be a regular wild animal attack... Maybe it's another Umbaran weapon? Some kind of domesticated beast that they're using to incapacitate the men?"
"Perhaps. I don't think we can rule out that possibility..." Obi-wan agreed. "The Umbarans are not at all pleased with our intrusion on their home-front, and as much as I'd like to say that they wouldn't stoop so low as to employ biological warfare, I can't say that it's not a tactic one wouldn't resort to in moments of desperation..."
Their Jedi had most definitely seen his fair share of bloody battles in his day. Had seen the worst that could be done out on the field.
Canivete knew this well, after taking a closer look at her General's medical files.
She did not envy how he and his fellow Jedi learned some of the hardest lessons one could learn out in the galaxy...
"Canivete!"
All three of them fell quiet as Waxer ran over to the trio, breathing heavily and holding a datapad in his hand. The medic looked at the Lieutenant with mild curiosity as she watched him attempt to catch his breath.
"Waxer... What's got you in a rut, vod?" She greeted, feeling somewhat apprehensive at the possibility of any more bad news.
"It's the 501st!" He exclaimed. "Comms have been down for a while and it took the boys and I some time to get any word from them, but..."
"Waxer, slow down soldier." Cody warned, trying to make sure the other didn't collapse from lack of oxygen.
"Yes sir..." Waxer took a deep breath before regaining composure and carrying on. "The boys and I got through the comms issues. It's... They took over the base and have been holding down the fort. The Umbaran supply ship that blew up? That was the 501st's doing. But... Canivete, a ton of them are gone. More than half that are still alive are sick with the same symptoms our men are suffering with. But they have little to no medical supplies on them..."
The General and Commander exchanged concerned looks, while Canivete bit her lip as she tried to process what Waxer was telling her.
So they weren't the only ones facing this mystery illness. And from what he'd just said, it seemed like the 501st was considerably worse off.
"Why do I feel like there's something else?" She dared ask. And to her horror, Waxer nodded in confirmation at her conjecture.
"There is... Krell's dead." Waxer grimly stated. "And from what we managed to get out of Appo, it was one of Rex's men that ripped him apart..."
10 notes
·
View notes