Howzer stole our hearts when he appeared in TBB S1 E12, and I wanted to write a bit of a backstory for him. It begins with his newbie days during The Clone Wars and stretches to where we last see him in The Bad Batch. Enjoy his character arc and som...
The "investigation", if it could even be called that, was a tedious affair of hearing the same story eighteen times and having to pay attention closely enough to see any discrepancies. Aurelia tried to make a game of it by speaking with an increasingly thick accent throughout the course of each interview, but the cargo bay guards were either completely oblivious or couldn't have cared less.
"Might as well have interviewed droids," Aurelia muttered, heading back to her office. She perked up, however, as she remembered the rest of her job -- following up with Syndulla's men. She could have sworn she heard him say Howzer, addressing the clone Captain he had come with, but with the helmet it was impossible to tell. He had said he was being sent to Ryloth, however, and she didn't think the clones' nicknames overlapped too terribly often... She was surprised to feel a bit of anxiety beginning to churn in her stomach. Why? It had been over two years since she had fallen for that plucky young clone only to be embarrassed and rejected. If anything, she should feel angry, or perhaps even proud... of what? Her fancy Imperial job? She chuckled dryly, muttering to herself as she trundled down the hallway toward her door.
A sudden movement in front of her interrupted her grumbling monologue and she tripped over her own feet in her startled reaction, thumping against the wall to her side and flinging her hands up in some kind of pathetic reflex that made her look more like a blurrg than any sort of competent opponent. The sound that escaped her throat was equally as embarrassing, some kind of gurgled gahhkk! that just really accentuated the whole performance.
She could have sworn she heard a quiet chuckle as the clone backed up a few steps, hands up in surrender. He had been leaning on the wall on the far side of her door and had stood straight to greet her as she drew near. But, lost in her rambling as she had been, she had been entirely oblivious of his presence, until now, as she glared up at him from her crumpled lean against the wall.
"Kriffing Hutt-spawn," she breathed, pushing herself upright and righting her crooked glasses. Her shoulder bag had slipped down to her elbow, and she shuffled it back to its place as the clone stood patiently before her. "I didn't see you there."
"I... apologize," the clone said, the same voice she'd heard so many times before, all alike in their slightly robotic tone through their helmets. "I was told you wanted to see me."
She looked him up and down, noting the teal accents on the armor -- a color she hadn't seen before -- as well as the pauldron on one shoulder. He had a quiet dignity about him, an unrushed sense of confidence... or was it cynical resignation? Hard to tell through the white shell that encapsulated him.
"Howzer?" she whispered, feeling her heart racing in her chest. She tore off her glasses, and recognition blossomed across his face.
"Aurelia?" he answered, voice quivering with emotion. He pulled off his helmet, revealing the mess of hair that had always been so comically endearing, and she was reaching for his smooth cheeks before she realized what was happening.
"I can't believe it's you!" she said, drawing close.
"I'm so sorry, for all of it. I've loved you since they day I left you. I never stopped thinking about you," he said, voice husky with emotion as he dropped his helmet to the ground.
"Prove it," she gasped, as he moved in for a kiss and she turned her face up, eyes fluttering closed.
"Ma'am?" The clone's voice shook her out of a daydream that she hadn't even realized she had entered. He was still waiting outside her door as she stood there with her hand on the wall, eyes on him but hand mindlessly roving around for the keypad for the door. She cursed herself inwardly, wondering what the kriff that was, and pushed it out of her mind to address the situation at hand.
"Sorry," she said, finding the button and smashing it to bring the door open with a whoosh. "Please, come in." She entered her office, dumping her bag in the middle of her desk and taking a seat behind it, trying to maintain the slightest shred of dignity. Howzer stood in front of her desk, hands folded behind his back.
"I just needed to ask you what you knew about the shipments to the refinery, and any issues that you've been having with pirates or anything else. We've had another cargo delivery that was stolen, and we're trying to get to the bottom of it. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" Aurelia continued, feeling torn between wanting to stare at him and also not wanting to look at him at all. She was wildly distracted by the flurry of contradicting thoughts and feelings that she had no time to process.
"Go ahead," the clone said.
She went through her list, hearing about half of what he said, making notes on her datapad for later review since she was engaged in a mental wrestling match with two seemingly oppositional inclinations. If it were Howzer, the same one from Coruscant, why would that be a good thing? He represented a huge source of pain and shame for her, and it had taken a while for her to get over it but she had indeed moved on, chalking it up to youthful naivete. But then what was all this excitement she felt, accompanied with warm and fuzzy memories of sitting against the fallen tree by the pond? It didn't make any sense. She tried to stifle it all, but was unsuccessful, so as she neared the end of her questions, she decided to give in to her curiosity.
"Would you be more comfortable with your helmet off?" she asked nonchalantly. "I'm sorry, I should have invited you to remove it from the beginning. You don't have to keep it on around me."
"I'm alright, ma'am. Thank you."
That was unexpected, but she had already come this far. "Would you take it off? It helps... the investigation... to be able to see your face..." she fumbled, trying not to cringe outwardly.
"As you wish," Howzer answered, leaning his head forward to pull off his helmet. He stood straight, meeting her gaze as he tucked the helmet neatly under his arm. "Any other questions?"
"Ahh, uhh... Erm, yes," Aurelia said, reading off the last bullet point on her list before looking back up at him intently. Her heart sank with a disappointment that she hadn't anticipated as she took in this clone's face. Yes, they were all the same, but they really weren't. She had come to appreciate the unique spark of each one that had frequented 79s. She knew it had been a few years, and the clones aged more rapidly, but this one could not have been more different than the "shiny" she remembered.
He didn't have messy hair, but rather had a distinct undercut -- longer hair tousled back on the top and short and faded down the sides of his head. His face was weathered and significantly marked by a large scar on his cheek that was complimented by another small one on his chin. He had none of the bravado or enthusiasm that she had remembered, but rather was steady and dignified. And, most notably, not at all interested in her. Definitely not the same Howzer. She sighed, tuning in to the end of his answer and making a few notes on her datapad.
She finalized the report, switched off her screen, and took off her glasses, setting them to the side on her desk. Standing up from her chair, she gave a polite bow of the head, opening an inviting arm toward the door.
"Thank you for the information, Captain. We appreciate your cooperation."
He stared at her for a moment, then nodded and headed for the door. It whooshed open in front of him, and he paused, turning back to face her.
"Not sure which was worse, that interview or puking all over your floor at 79s... Ah well," he said flatly before putting his helmet on and continuing out the door. It slid shut behind him, leaving her staring at where he had just been, mouth open in dumbfounded realization.
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