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ermakeys · 2 years

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Cocoon

Chapter 2: Atin Squadron

Warnings: War, Trauma, PTSD, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence

AO3

Naire meets Atin Squadron in its entirety along with a few other residents of the GAR base.

A chime at Naire’s door ripped her from the lines of code she was staring at on her datapad. She blinked at the door a few times, trying to orient herself as the numbers still drifted in front of her. The chime sounded again and she called, “Come in!”

The door slid open and a clone trooper peered inside. His helmet was tucked under one arm, so Naire took a quick look at it to memorize the pattern painted there: Mostly black with the shape of a white bird and its wings reaching across the face. Most notable about his armor was the red cross of a medic on his shoulder pad and chest.

“Lieutenant… Spoof?” the trooper asked with a frown, bringing the lightning tattoos over his brows closer together. Naire hurried to stand up when she realized she’d just been blinking up at him from her desk for several seconds now.

“Yes, sorry, just lost in thought,” Naire apologized, feeling her cheeks heat with embarrassment. She held out her hand to the medic and tried not to flinch when he gripped her hand to give it a shake. “How can I help you, trooper?”

He gave her a small grin and reached up to brush a hand through his short, dark curls with a chuckle.

“Actually, I believe I am supposed to be helping you, lieutenant. Commander Bes’bev asked that one of us give you a tour of the base.”

Naire glanced back at her desk where she’d left the datapads running their decryption programs. She had been able to unlock most of the pads to her code, but a few had locks on them that her predecessor had added for extra security. Nothing too difficult, it would just take time. Naire snatched up her original datapad that she had connected to the rest and her hat and stepped towards the door.

“Of course, thank you…”

“CT-2921 or Henny,” he supplied, stepping back to let me out. Naire sealed the door behind her and started to put her hat on when he held up a hand with a grimace. “I wouldn’t bother with the hat, lieutenant. The winds here will rip it off the moment we step outside. Maker knows how the locals keep theirs on.”

Naire laughed softly and lowered her hat, holding it out for him to see two almost invisible metal circles stuck to the inside seam. Henny blinked in surprise and Naire tapped the side of my headscarf with a smile.

“Magnets. That’s how,” Naire said and put on her hat in a way that Henny could see one side click into place. “It won’t stop my hat from being ripped off entirely in very bad winds, but they help.”

Henny chortled, holding up a hand to hide his obvious amusement. His shoulders visibly shook as a pair of officers entered the barracks looking very windswept. They took a moment to comb their hair back into place and then put on their hats. As if nothing was amiss. Naire nodded politely as they passed them and Henny wheezed when they stepped out of the barracks.

“Maker, my brothers and I have been guessing for months on how the locals do it,” Henny gasped, wiping at his eyes before slipping his helmet on. As the wind buffeted her face, Naire wished she had a helmet herself. Henny’s helmet turned down to look at her and she could hear the grin in his voice. “Please, do not tell anyone. I want to hold it over them for a while first.”

Naire laughed, shaking her head.

“I can do that. Just let me know when it is alright to reveal the secret.”

Henny promised he would as the two of them began to walk across the base. A darkened base. It had been three hours since Master Su had left Naire in her quarters and since then the sun had disappeared behind the clouds and mountain ranges. Lights illuminated the base and she had heard vehicles returning from and setting out for their patrols. The compound was busy and Henny and Naire stood on the edge of it.

“Here on the northern side we have the command center and the two barracks,” Henny pointed out, gesturing to the buildings. “The clone barracks take up more space, so the garages are over on our side, the western side. The estern side has the clone barracks, the medbay, the mess and storage.”

Naire nodded along and Henny waved at her to follow him. They walked along the western side toward the garages and she peered inside as they watched a Juggernaut slowly roll back into the garage. Henny waved down the row of garages and said, “Because of the winds we have twenty HAVw A6 Juggernauts deployed on Edar and only five LAAT. We don’t have many pilots that can manage these winds.”

“Even among the Edari, pilots that can navigate these winds are valued highly,” Naire added softly and Henny glanced down at her.

“Our clone pilots have had a few close calls and command would rather not risk us or our equipment on risky maneuvers when we can use the Juggernauts instead.”

He waved at a few troopers that climbed out of the Juggernaut and called out to him before continuing our tour. The southern end of the base had a gate and gatehouse for the Juggernauts to drive through and Naire stared out over the rolling hills and mountains beyond the base while a trooper at the gatehouse greeted Henny. Or the hills and mountains she knew to be out there in the dark.

They crossed the dark landing area and passed the storage areas to step into the medbay. Henny’s shoulders seemed to relax a little once he stepped inside and he removed his helmet with a sigh. He grinned down at her and said, “This is the medbay where I hope I never have to find you.”

A clone captain called for Henny and the latter glanced between Naire and the captain with a frown. She nodded for him to go and followed slowly. He obviously knew most of the clones they had seen. It didn’t surprise her. As a medic, he would get to know more clones than just his immediate squad.

The captain and Henny were looking over a datapad with frowns and when Naire stepped closer they both looked up. They straightened and Henny cleared his throat, gesturing towards her.

“Captain, this is our new intelligence officer, Lieutenant Spoof.”

“And I’m Iason,” the captain introduced himself, holding out his hand. Naire smiled even when he shook her hand and Iason sighed down at the datapad. “My apologies for stealing Henny from you for your tour. I swear, the Ne’tra Gi Company does their best to frustrate me with their medical reports.”

Naire tilted her head at the unfamiliar Mando’a word. She could remember it from earlier as well, but she hadn’t had the chance to ask about it then.

“Ne’tra Gi?”

“‘Black fish’” Iason and Henny translated at the same time. They glanced at each other before Iason continued, “Commander Bes’bev chose the name for the company after his first battle on a planet that had these sea mammals that whistled like he and his instrument do.”

Naire’s brows rose in surprise and she mimed the shape of the sharp metal pipe she had seen on his belt.

“That pipe on his belt is an instrument?”

“A Mandoan bes’bev. It’s a wind instrument from Mandalore that he was given back during training on Kamino,” Henny explained and then paused when Iason shot him a look. Naire glanced between the two when Henny fidgeted with a nervous cough. “A-anyway, shall we move on to the mess? It’s almost dinner time.”

“Sure. It was a pleasure, Captain Iason.”

They stepped out of the medbay and moved towards the mess hall. Even from the outside and with the wind Naire could hear the loud noise of a large group of troopers inside. Henny and Naire stepped inside and she sucked in a breath as the full force of the noise hit her.

“How many troopers are stationed at this base?” Naire asked, leaning closer to Henny so he could hear her over the noise of his brothers. Henny fiddled with his helmet with a thoughtful frown.

“The 424th is permanently based here while other companies come and go as necessary,” he answered, waving at a few troopers that passed with their trays of food. “Part of the 421st is here at the moment, but will be shipping out again in a few days. I’d say we’re just shy of seven hundred.”

Naire felt more than she heard her stomach rumble and glanced at the line for food. It wasn’t too bad at the moment. Maybe she could ask Henny to eat with her while she asked him-.

Her eyes widened in surprise when a trooper raised his arm and waved at her from the line. Was that Solus? He was in full white armor and had the same crew cut as a few other troopers around. In front and behind him in the line were his black, white and blue armored brothers who were glancing between him and Naire.

“Spoof!”

That confirmed it. That was definitely Solus.

“You know the shiny?” Henny asked with a small frown and Naire waved back tentatively. Solus’ smile widened and he turned to the trooper in front of him to say something. The trooper shook his head, but Solus argued.

“If it’s the trooper I’m thinking of, I met him on the transport here.”

Henny hummed as Solus left the line and jogged towards Henny and Naire. He was almost vibrating with excitement as he grinned at her and exclaimed, “There you are! Have you been settling in?”

The sheer energy radiating off of him was almost overwhelming. Still, he was being nice. Naire held up her datapad that flashed with the different progress bars of her decryption programs running and chuckled, “Got straight to work. How about you?”

Solus laughed loudly and shook his head at her.

“Familiarizing myself with my squad and battalion. Layouts, orders, strategies, the likes,” he rattled off with a wave of his hand. “Nothing too big.”

Naire heard Henny make a sound from the back of his throat and looked up to see him frowning.

“That ‘nothing’ could save not only your life but that of your brothers,” Henny scolded Solus in a worried tone. “Make sure you memorize everything or the Seppies will be the least of your concerns.”

Solus began to shrug when another clone appeared behind him. This trooper’s curls were cut close to his scalp and he had a tattoo of two pincers appearing on either side of his neck. Naire briefly wondered what was on the back of his neck, but his angry scowl made her flinch as he grabbed the back of Solus' plastoid armor and shook him.

“Your sergeant didn’t give you permission to leave the line, ik’aad,” the trooper snapped as he gave Solus another good shake, causing him to yelp. Naire’s ears twitched at the Mando’a word. Ik’aad. Baby or a child under three. She flinched again when his narrowed brown eyes found her. “Apologies, lieutenant.”

Naire’s new title dripped with sarcasm when he said it. She gulped even as Henny raised a placating hand and hissed, “Crab, please-.”

‘Crab’ silenced Henny with a glare. His attention was removed from Solus long enough for the new trooper to focus on Naire again. He grinned, unbothered by Crab’s grip on him and said, “Spoof, you should join us for dinner. Chess said-.”

Solus yelped again when Crab let go of his armor to smack the back of his head.

“Did they teach you no respect on Kamino, ik’aad?” Crab demanded in an angry snarl. He sneered down at Naire and grabbed the back of Solus' armor again. “Ignore him, lieutenant. We won’t bother you with-.”

She shouldn’t. She really shouldn’t. Crab obviously didn’t want to be anywhere near her. Yet Solus' crestfallen look…

“I don’t mind,” Naire interrupted with a nervous laugh. She glanced towards the line to avoid their looks. “It would be good to meet the squad.”

Naire yelped when Solus suddenly grabbed her shoulders and began pushing her towards the line with a delighted whoop. She looked back to see him grinning and behind him a seething Crab and concerned Henny.

“Great! I’ll introduce you to the others!” Solus exclaimed and shoved them both into the line where he had been. The trooper in front sighed, rubbing a hand over his bearded face and glared at Solus while Crab and Henny inserted themselves in the line behind Solus. Naire could hear Henny apologizing to the troopers behind them and she tried to shrink. She already disappeared in a crowd of clone troopers since she only reached the top of their shoulders. She wished she was even smaller now.

“I told you to leave the lieutenant be,” the clone sergeant in front of Naire scolded Solus. He had the same curly crewcut as Solus, but a well-kept beard across his face that rounded out his face even as he frowned with his hands on his hips.

“It’s Spoof’s first day on the base too. She should sit with us,” Solus argued and the sergeant curled his lips in a silent sneer. Naire’s eyes flickered down when she saw his gloved fingers trace over the handle of one of three knives on his utility belt. Two more blades than she had ever seen on a trooper. He moved forward with the line and just shook his head, causing Solus to slightly tighten his grip on Naire’s shoulders with a lighthearted chuckle. “Spoof, meet Sergeant Kad’la of Atin Squadron.”

“And ik’aad’s new babysitter,” Kad’la drawled and smirked when Solus began to protest. He took the tray he was offered with the set meal and glanced between the next tray and Solus. “Since you insisted on dragging Lieutenant Spoof here, you can carry her tray for her and bring it to our table.”

Holding his tray with one hand, he gestured for Naire to follow him and she slipped out of Solus' grasp. The younger trooper complained until she heard a whack and a yelp. A quick look behind her showed Solus ducking his head to take two trays while Crab glowered behind him. Kad’la led Naire away from the line and towards a table with four troopers already seated. He set his tray down and she gulped when four pairs of eyes focused on her.

“Lieutenant Spoof, this is the rest of Atin Squadron,” Kad’la introduced them and he narrowed his eyes at the four troopers. “A squadron I hope will that behave themselves better than their new ik’aad.”

Two troopers with short curls tried to hide their chuckles and Naire thanked her lucky stars that their armor was different, they looked to be nearly identical otherwise. One had lines coming from a central point on his sternum, while the other had a pattern of circles of varying sizes. Kad’la waved at them and said, “Those two schoolgirls are Chase and Pebbles. Our pilot and mechanic respectively.”

“And sometimes co-pilot,” the one Naire assumed was Chase piped up, nudging Pebbles who flashed a shy smile even as she wondered about the dark circles under his eyes. The third trooper snorted and shook his head at Chase’s comment and then grinned up at her. She had at first thought he had a beard like Kad’la, but he had triangle tattoos along his jaw and chin, mimicking the sharp jaws of a carnivore.

“The triangle fool is Edee.”

“Hey!”

Chase laughed at Edee’s shout of protest at his description and Edee swatted his hands aside when he tried to poke at him. The final trooper whose armor was nearly entirely black with white snowflakes didn’t even look up from his food. He only looked up with an annoyed frown when Chase nudged him.

“And finally, Gaht’yc.”

“A pleasure to meet all of you,” Naire said with a small smile and tried not to wring her hands. Luckily, Solus appeared with Crab and Henny and everyone hurried to sit down. Solus complained when Naire was pulled down to sit between Kad’la and Henny, but was silenced with a withering look from Crab and Gaht’yc.

“You’ve bothered the lieutenant enough,” Chase scolded Solus with a smile to soften his tone. He then turned his grin onto Naire and she picked at her spoon nervously. “Besides, we haven’t had a chance to speak with our new lieutenant yet.”

“Kaysh mirsh solus.”

Naire glanced over at Crab at his muttered words and he glowered down at his food as he ate between Gaht’yc and Solus. Chase took the opportunity to point his spoon at her and asked, “So, they’re having you investigate Ospilt’s assassination?”

Naire nudged the porridge sludge that was dinner with her spoon and grimaced.

“Officially, I don’t know what my exact assignment will be until tomorrow,” she admitted carefully and sighed. “I was rushed over here from the Venator Negotiator and Master Su just told me about Ospilt’s death a few hours ago.”

“The Negotiator! That’s the flagship of the 7th Sky Corps.”

“I bet she flies like a dream.”

Naire snorted a laugh at Chase’s and Edee’s dreamy tone and shook her head.

“I’ve heard pilots complain about how slow the Negotiator is to maneuver.”

Edee and Chase shot Naire identical grins and the latter sighed, “But she’d pack a harder punch than any of our LAAT here on the base. Easier to wipe out Separatist bases with more firepower.”

“True. The pilots I’ve heard prefer smaller and speedier aircrafts for quick maneuvers.”

“What about you, lieutenant?” Edee asked, leaning around Henny to wink at Naire. “Do you prefer a powerful assault or a quick flyby?”

His tone and wink had Naire’s face heating even as Henny smacked him. Kad’la growled a low warning and Edee raised his hands with an unrepentant grin. Naire mumbled some sounds and started to actually eat to keep herself from answering that loaded question. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop the others from asking their own questions.

“Where are you from?”

“How did you get assigned here?”

Pebbles’ and Chase’s questions overlapped and Naire swallowed the nearly flavorless paste down with a grimace. The rest of the squadron was wolfing their food down and she silently wished she could do the same without choking. The less time it spent near her taste buds, the better.

“My family is from the Edari system,” Naire answered after taking a sip from her cup. She glanced at Henny when he got up and left, but returned her focus to the squad when he waved at her to stay seated. “I grew up and lived on the moon Ruus and here on Edar. If I were to take a guess, I would say they wanted an intelligence officer from the system.”

“I didn’t know the GAR could use their braincell,” Gaht’yc drawled which earned him a snort of agreement from Crab and a few chuckles from Edee, Pebbles and Chase. Solus glanced around the table, cheeks stuffed with food and obviously curious, but a shake of his head from Kad’la had Solus focusing on his food again.

“Lieutenant Ospilt was from Coruscant,” Kad’la said with a sigh. His fingers drummed against the table surface after he pushed his nearly empty tray away. “He mentioned not making much progress because the Edari are isolationists. Your presence should make things run more smoothly.”

Naire tried to keep her expression neutral as she hummed at his words. If they didn’t know, her objections to this posting mustn’t be public knowledge for whatever reason. Most of them seemed friendly enough. She didn’t want their smiles to turn away from her just yet.

“Ha! It wouldn’t be hard to make more progress than Ospilt ever did,” Gaht’yc laughed with an icy smile. “The man couldn’t stand anyone different than him.”

“Gaht’yc…” Kad’la warned and Naire glanced nervously between the two. She jumped when Henny appeared at her other side and set down two steaming cups.

“Gaht’yc is right, Kad’la,” Henny said with a shrug. He pushed one of the two cups towards Naire before taking a sip out of his own. “Ospilt was brilliant, but he could never see beyond his own experiences. He didn’t like adapting to Edari customs. He didn’t understand why they weren’t embracing the galactic community more.”

Crab scoffed and pushed his half full tray back.

“The di’kutla shabuir hated anyone that was different from him.”

The statement was loaded with so much unspoken rage. The entire table fell silent as the rest picked at what remained of their food. Naire looked down at the cup of steaming liquid Henny had brought her and cupped it between both hands.

She could remember arriving on Coruscant. She remembered how much her parents and brother struggled to adjust. How herself and her sister had done their best to adapt. They had all resented the change. They had all found their own coping mechanisms. Some were healthier than others.

Naire took a sip from her cup and felt some of the tension drain out of her as the heat traveled down. Henny cleared his throat and leaning closer, murmured, “Tea. Should help you sleep later.”

Henny turned his focus onto Crab and Kad’la as Naire blinked up at him a few times and he urged them to eat more of their meals. Kad’la sighed before picking at his food again while Crab just glared at the medic. Gaht’yc and Edee joined Henny in a goading and playful manner of encouraging the grumpy trooper to eat. She smiled at Henny’s thoughtful gesture. Her sleeping rhythm was going to be off for a while, but hopefully-.

“Lieutenant Tadir?”

The table fell eerily silent and Naire looked up to see two officers standing behind her. Not clone troopers, but natural born humans in the sharp, gray uniform of the Republic. The taller of the two with the sergeant insignia smiled at her and declared, “Chros Gremate and Kaed Thegon. I wanted to formally welcome you to our humble base on Edar.”

He extended his hand towards her and Naire quickly set her cup down. She twitched when his hand enveloped hers in a firmer shake than she had expected. She tried to smile back and said, “Thank you. I-.”

“I also thought I should inform you,” he continued, releasing her hand and Naire flinched at the interruption. Out of the corner of my eye she saw Kad’la narrow his eyes and tense. Gremate didn’t seem to notice as he kept his smiling focus on Naire and waved at the tables around them. “These tables are used by the clones, not us.”

Naire dug the tips of her fingers into the fabric of her gray pants as she felt the palms of her hands become clammy.

“We are not allowed to eat in the mess hall?”

Gremate and his companion, Thegon, laughed at Naire’s question and she used the chance to glance at Henny. The medic’s eyes were wide with worry, but they weren’t focused on herself or the two officers in front of her. His attention was on the other side of the table.

“No, of course we can,” Gremate chortled and gestured towards a table in a corner near the food dispensary. It was empty of clones, but a handful of officers sat there. “That table is reserved for us for every meal. No clones sit there as we don’t need to bore them with what we’re doing in the command center.”

“Yes, please spare us clones with your important work.”

Crab’s growl made Naire’s shoulders jerk up as it dripped with enough sarcasm and resentment to flood Tatooine. Gremate’s pleasant expression turned bored while his companion sneered. Naire risked a look over her shoulder to see Gaht’yc holding Crab’s shoulder and growling something into his ear. Crab however just scowled up at Gremate.

“I apologize if you felt I had invited you to be part of this private conversation, trooper,” Gremate said with a slow blink that looked utterly condescending. “Perhaps next time wait until you are spoken to.”

“Sorry, I’m not born smart like you are. I don’t understand your nuanced nattie social cues.”

Gremate’s companion took a step forward, opening his mouth to say something. Naire flinched when she heard the benches scrape as nearly the entire squadron stood up as well. She tried to become smaller than she already was as she noticed the conversations around them had died. The mess hall that had been loud as people came to eat had fallen silent and were watching them.

Gremate’s companion stopped in his tracks when six clones stood up. Whatever he’d been planning on saying died as he raised a fist to surreptitiously clear his throat instead. The majority of Atin Squad wasn’t even paying attention to him. Ghat’yc, Chase and Pebbles were hovering around a glaring Crab while Solus stared at them from his seat with wide eyes. Henny had grabbed a scowling Edee’s arm while Kad’la had stepped in Crab’s line of sight to block Gremate and his companion.

“I wonder sometimes where all our funding is going,” Gremate finally said with a fake smile directed Naire’s way. He crossed his arms and tapped a finger against his sleeve. “Perhaps we should ask the Kaminoans to review their programming, if cannon fodder is all the clones are good for.”

Naire heard the rattle of plastoid armor around her while she felt her mouth fall open in shock. She dimly heard a hissed warning from Kad’la directed at Crab, but her mind was lightyears away. Her family back on the Negotiator was cannon fodder to Gremate. Even-.

Naire’s datapad chimed loudly in the heavy silence and she jumped as if a blaster had gone off right next to her ear. She grabbed her datapad and saw the notification that one of Ospilt’s datapads had been decrypted. She quickly stood up and her fingers tightened on her datapad when Gremate and his companion didn’t step back to make room. Naire swallowed and murmured, “Thank you for welcoming me, sergeant. The gesture is appreciated, if unnecessary.”

Her hands were trembling. She held her datapad close to her and before Gremate could answer, Naire turned to Atin Squad. She shot them a shaky smile and said, “Thank you for the tour and letting me join you for dinner. I look forward to working together.”

Heart thundering in her ears with nerves, Naire grabbed her nearly empty tray and slipped away. It continued to roar in her ears after she’d dropped off her tray and rushed out of the mess hall. It was only when the doors of her quarters closed behind her that she dropped to the floor, gasping for air. Tears blurred her vision and she whimpered softly as her heart ached.

Cannon fodder.

Gremate said they were just cannon fodder. That they were expendable. Implied that it didn’t matter if they died.

Naire’s datapad chimed again and she sniffled as she wiped the tears from her eyes. Her fingers shook as she tapped the screen and saw the new notification. A fresh wave of tears rolled down her cheeks when she saw the message was from the Negotiator. Naire turned off the screen and pushed the datapad away from her.

Her knees tucked against her chest and arms wrapped around her legs, Naire lowered her head and cried.

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