Star Wars One Shots

501st Legion's Vod'ika (Lives)

Echo had depression. 

It was obvious to his brothers and sister. He hadn't been the same since his hope of reuniting with his sister had been squashed. It had only been a week, and they had begun missing the old Echo. Even if he had been sad about having to leave his brothers and the Republic behind, he had been fine when he was with what was left of his family. 

Omega was the most concerned, making sure she knew where his weapons and any sharp objects were at all times. He didn't think he would do it, but it was better to be safe tan sorry. 

Echo knew his sister was monitoring him, but he couldn't find the need to care. The only thing e wanted, more than anything, was to find out that the Empire had made a mistake in declaring his vod'ika was killed by that monster Darth Vader, and that she would pop up out of nowhere, again fighting for the Rebel Alliance. But nothing. No news of a resurrected Jedi.

Tech had been able to find out the circumstances of her death from an informant in the rebellion. She had been sent to Malachor, the Sith planet, with the other two Jedi. The details were vague, but he knew that she had fought against Vader, who had arrived to take a Sith object. she had sacrificed to let the other Jedi escape. The other survivor of the Purge, Kanan Jarrus, had been blinded. He could tell the rebellion had mourned her for a short period of time from the holonews, where the rebellion had risked posting a memorial. Echo thought it was ungrateful and disrespectful to use her sacrifice to gain more members of the rebellion. 

Cid had, surprisingly, let the group have time off from their odd jobs, claiming that Echo deserved time to mourn. Who knew she had a heart? But Echo was grateful, even if he had just lain in his bunk, looking at images on his datapad. It had been his before his supposed death, and Rex had given it back to him when they had taken the inhibitor chips out. On it were multiple photos of his vode. Some were videos, and Echo played one in particular on a loop. 

It had been after the Umbara campaign, when even the 501st were terrified by their Jetiise, including their vod'ika, who had been visibly hurt, but let them come to her. 

The video was supplied by, surprisingly, Obi-Wan Kenobi, during the debriefing of the Umbara mission. Ahsoka Tano and the traitor Barriss Offee had been called to the Council chambers to tell their side of the story of what was happening during their airstrike above Umbara. 

Then one of the masters had mentioned Krell, and Ahsoka had scoffed. Mace Windu had asked the padawan what she thought of the situation, and if she believed her troops when they had said that Krell was killed during a bomb raid. 

"With all due respect, masters, we may never know the truth of what happened on that Force forsaken planet. It may be the truth, or they may be covering something that had happened, but no matter what happened, General Krell deserved his death. My troops informed me of what it was like serving under him there, and I knew him from my time as a youngling. He is an unfair, sexist being, who didn't deserve the rank of master. I will believe my troops and whatever they say happened down there until my last breath, and if I am informed even one of them will be punished for his death, then I will do everything in my power for them to be freed." 

The Council had been mixed about her calm rant, ranging from amused to angered. Echo knew that Ahsoka had been berated by some members of the Council because of her 'clear attachment to her men', but he also knew that his vod'ika hadn't listened to a second of it. 

General Kenobi had sent the video to General Skywalker, who in turn sent it to Rex, where the video found itself playing on repeat on every trooper's pad for the rest of the night. Ahsoka had been confused but overjoyed when Rex had invited her over to the barracks for a traditional cuddle pile, where she had been told of the true circumstances of Krell's death. She had been calm throughout, but turned to Dogma at the end, who had taken to sitting on his bunk faraway from his brothers, and thanked him for ending his life. Dogma had joined the cuddle pile when Ahsoka had fallen asleep.