The Wolf Pack

Chapter 45

Kriari was not sure who was more relieved to see Anakin and Ki-Adi- No, scratch that: she was sure. Her Master was more relieved. There was no way she would be glad to see Master Mundi. Not in this galaxy, not in this lifetime. She held a lifelong grudge for the heartless master, for his indifference to other life forms and his treatment of them.

Be that as it may, she was relieved that reinforcements had arrived, even when she didn't really mind dying, she didn't want her master or the 212th to suffer under separatist capture.

With the reinforcements came more medical relief, which gave the medics from the 212th attack battalion a little more room to breathe. They managed to halt the enemy's advance and even push them back and behind the protection of their ray shields and heavy artillery. Her master also got a more thorough checkup than he had been given under fire, and that gave Kriari the tiniest bit more of relief.

She took that opportunity to go around the battlefield scanning the fallen trooper's CT numbers and making a list on a datapad she got from one of the tanks. They had suffered severe losses, and the 212th battalion was now left with less than half their forces. Some they had lost in their landing attempt, but most had been killed once on the ground. Geonosis had been more than prepared for them.

"This new tat's gonna take a few hours, hey, kid?"

Kriari didn't need to turn around to know who that voice belonged to. She didn't even need to tap into the force to identify which of the thousands of men were speaking to her with that same voice. It was his attempt at both humor and a way for him to check in on her. High losses tended to affect Kriari the most.

"Too bad Art's not here anymore to do it himself. Maybe you should take up tattooing Rex, you've always had a creative streak, haven't you?"

The jab at his experiment with blue hair dye made him clear his throat in embarrassment. Which told him not only that she was as okay as one could expect but also finally talking about the best friend she'd lost. It had been a struggle for Rex to get her to talk about Art, the loss of that undercover mission took a hard toll on her.

"I wouldn't have that much faith if I were you, Commander. I may be good with the blaster, but that doesn't mean I'd be good with a tattoo gun."

They both continued to scan the chest plates of the fallen in relative silence, tanks moved slowly and steadily in the background, commanding officers discussed their next move, and clones took advantage of the respite to have some water and maybe even eat something. The next few hours would be rough on all of them. Kriari cursed Geonosis and its thirty hour rotations.

"Shouldn't you be in the meeting? You know, planning for our next move?"

And there it was, Kriari knew Rex had something to say the second he approached her, but if she was being honest with herself, she should have expected that.

"I found myself in need of a lesson. I need to learn to trust you guys' knowledge of war and strategy and be ready to follow you and learn. The Jedi aren't soldiers, clones are. We should be humble enough to recognise when we should simply shut up and listen to someone who knows better."

Rex seemed to think about this, he had been told many times that a Jedi's lightsaber was their life and a symbol of their connection to the Force. He doubted Kriari didn't know this, so he couldn't really figure out why she had given it to Cody. And then it struck him.

"Is that why you gave your lightsaber to Cody? to show you trust him?"

Kriari smiled at her datapad and then at Rex's visor. He was a smart man indeed, and Anakin and Ahsoka were lucky to have him by their side.

"It's a Jedi tradition called Concordance of Fealty, it entails a learning relationship that goes both ways and that is without a master," Kriari looked up at the sky, it looked like there would be a sand storm sooner or later. "I trust Cody with my life, my Master's and the whole battalion's, I figured it was high time I did something to show him."

...

The new information made Commander Cody freeze. He had been trusted with a lightsaber -or at least trusted to retrieve one- more times than he could count, but this? Rex had meant to tease him about being such a trusted member of the GAR, but the comment had a different effect than expected. His entire life, Cody had been deemed trustworthy because of his abilities and competence, but now? He was being trusted for the sake of trust. Kriari had trusted him with her life, her rank and her learning process. She had trusted him because she had underestimated him and had later realized he deserved better. Kriari Foreas had put her life, her faith and her trust in Cody because she thought he deserved it.

It felt rather refreshing to be rewarded in such a way simply for being yourself. It took away some of the pressure he had put on himself over the years. He didn't need to be flawless to be trustworthy, he didn't need to be perfect to be appreciated. He just needed to be himself.

"Hey, Cody, I didn't think you'd be this touchy, you okay?"

Commander Cody came back to himself blinking out of his stupor. He had things to do, plans to make and a planet to take. Still, it was nice to have your superior's support at your back.

"All good, Rex. It's just been a while."

"Yeah... I know what you mean, vod, it's nice to be appreciated for being yourself."

"Do you get that a lot from Skywalker?" Cody asked his brother.

General Skywalker didn't look like the kind of man who would empazise too much with his troopers. He was a great leader, a respectful one and from what he'd heard, an entertaining man to serve under, certainly. But Skywalker's 501st company had one of the highest rates of casualties, if anything because of the amount of suicide missions he went on.

"I get respect and acknowledgement for my abilities, sure, but he is not the kind to show how he feels with grand gestures. He tends to share parts of himself instead," he admitted. "Ahsoka, on the other hand, is more like Commander Foreas."

Cody chuckled.

"Well, they are friends, and from what the Commander has told me, they used to share a room in the temple."

"I guess Padawans tend to feel closer to us troopers because we are all still technically children. We are growing up in the midst of a war, it's only reasonable that they feel like family to us."

"I guess," answered Cody absently. "I'm just worried that this sense of belonging ends up being stronger than our loyalty as troopers, and that scares me."

"It scares me too, vod, it scares me too."