The Wolf Pack

Chapter 41

It had been a while, the cold fluorescent lighting overhead hummed as if welcoming her as the ship beneath her purred to life. Covered figures accompanied familiar force signatures nodded as they nodded or saluted her. It had been a while, and Kriari had missed it all. She had missed the camaraderie, the respect she had earned, the thrill of getting to know people outside the temple.

As refreshing and productive as her little "punishment" had been, Kriari found herself wanting very badly to return to the front lines. Not because she liked the fighting or found the violence entertaining, but because she felt like she was enjoying peace she had not earned, rest that others in far away corners of the galaxy could not afford.

She had lost so much, had learned so much about the ways of the galaxy, the Force, herself. Kriari had learned about politics within and without the Jedi Order, she had learned that Jedi could detach themselves of the senate as much as they wanted, but in the end it was them who controlled the galaxy. She had learned that it was not the Order she had to pressure into freeing the clones, but the Galactic Senate itself.

Kriari was seventeen years old and she knew that very soon, she would have bigger fish to fry than Master Yoda.

But none of those things mattered now, she was once again aboard her master's cruiser. She was once again surrounded by men she knew and trusted. She was once again taking a more active role in the war she was fighting to end. She was in a good mood, walked down the corridors with a spring in her step and smiled genuinely at every helmet she crossed paths with.

And then her mood soured.

"Heard the Padawan's coming back, older blokes are freaking out about it, but I'm just hoping it's not a core world snob of a Jedi."

"Yeah, tell me about it, it's supposed to be a girl too, I would be thankful to survive the end of the day, vod."

It wasn't the slight on her being a snob that annoyed her. It was the implication that women could not be efficient war leaders. She stood there, completely oblivious to her surroundings, staring holes into the wall across her as she fought the urge to go into the armory to tell those troopers exactly how she felt. But she found out soon that she really didn't have to. She had proved herself in battle plenty of times already, and would continue to do so. These troopers were probably just transfered or shinies even, they didn't know her, so they didn't really know any better.

Kriari took a deep breath in and exhaled all her frustration before continuing on her way to the bridge. She had places to see and meetings to attend. She was a military Commander of two battalions, a padawan to two Jedi Masters, she had better things to do than prove herself to others.

The blast doors to the bridge opened to a busy team making last minute adjustments. Holographic displays of the planet they were to invade littered the tables which marked the estimated enemy arms and positions and detailed the available armament the 212th had at its disposal for the attack.

Outside the bridge, the bright white streaks of hyperspace flashed by as the clones worked, the floor was alive with comm chatter and indistinct conversation, and it all felt so familiar, so full of life, so very comforting.

Kriari was home.

She zoned out for a second while admiring it all and letting it sink in through the Force. She closed her eyes and felt the Force signatures around her, extremely aware, hyper focused and alive with activity. But it all suddenly shifted in her mind's eye, and Kriari opened her eyes to see if something had disturbed it all.

What she saw nearly brought tears to her eyes.

The entire bridge personnel had stopped what they were doing and stood at attention, saluting their returning Commander.

"Welcome back, Commander."

Kriari turned around to find Cody and her Master gently smiling at her, a glint of pride in both their eyes as if it had been a coordinated effort on behalf of the bridge personnel. There were few things clones were allowed when it came to gestures, and the same could be said for Jedi.

"It's good to be back, gentlemen." She told the room with a smile on her face.

The clones went back to work as Cody started giving out orders and Master Kernobi approached Kriari for the first time in what felt like forever.

"I'm glad to see you again, my young apprentice, even if last time was under not so ideal circumstances."

Kriari knew her master would probably have something to say regarding her most recent encounter with the Jedi Council. She knew Obi Wan was a little bit of a conservative Jedi knight, so she could understand his reaction. But she also knew he had been in the presence of his former master Qi Gon and his Padawan Anakin long enough to not be surprised easily anymore.

"You were one of the few people who could have talked me out of it, Master. It was a chance I was not willing to take."

Obi Wan chuckled lightly as he crossed his arms over his chest and turned to his apprentice.

"Oh no, Child. I would have merely reworded your speech a little. I actually agree with what you said, but I also understand there are bigger powers at play than the Jedi Council."

Kriari wanted to ask him so many things, poke his mind full of holes until he told her exactly how he felt about the war effort, about the clone army, about the way the Senate and the Council were handling everything. But she had learned there was a time and place for certain conversations, and even in a room full of men they trusted, information could still be leaked.

So Kriari Foreas stayed silent as she nodded and looked out the windows and into hyperspace. She could ask him about it later. They had a planet to invade.

"So... How does it feel to be going back, Master?" she teased.

"The circumstances do not make me happy and I can easily say I have not missed the planet or its people. My last experience there was not pleasant."

"Just try not to get captured again, Master. I would hate to have to come to your rescue again."

"Don't get too confident, Kriari. Let's just wait and see how well you do in your second battle in Geonosis."