Star Wars The Clone Wars: Cuy'Val Dar#Wattys2016

Fourteen

Coruscant, 0700 hours

Morning came quickly. Sarge got up to the sound of Null yelling at Dover to wake up. The sergeant opened his eyes slowly and found he was still sitting in the chair from earlier. Getting up, he stretched slightly then walked over and cuffed Ari lightly on the head, waking him up. Then he walked into the room where Null was still shouting at Dover. He saw Rec to one side, fumbling on the floor for his helmet as Null tried to wake his friend up.

"Null!" Sarge said. The ARC turned.

"Sorry, sir," he said.

"Just be quieter," the sergeant warned him, then glanced at Dover, who hadn't moved at all, despite Null's shouting.

Deep sleeper, he thought, tapping the man lightly on the shoulder and saying his name. Dover still didn't respond. Sarge looked to Rec, who had found his helmet and set it on the bed. The trooper noticed Sarge looking his direction and then glanced at Dover.

"Just roll him off the bed, or shake him till he wakes up, yelling his name won't work."

Sarge thought he saw Rec give Null a pointed look, then he glanced down at Dover.

"I take it he's a deep sleeper," Sarge said, shaking Dover gently.

Rec scoffed a bit. "I'm pretty sure all deaf people are."

Sarge cocked one eyebrow, shaking Dover a little rougher. "Explain your meaning."

Rec slipped on his helmet, checking that he had the rest of his armor on and his blaster by him. "Dover's completely deaf."

"And you didn't think that important to tell me earlier?" Sarge asked.

Rec reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. "No, sir. He prefers to keep it to himself."

Sarge crossed his arms over his chest, pressing his lips together into a tight line for a moment. "I see."

"My apologies, sir," Rec said.

"Just tell me next time," Sarge said, his disapproval quite apparent. Rec nodded, then reached over and shook Dover hard until the trooper rolled onto his back, blinking a little bit. His eyes flicked from Rec to Null to Sarge, but he didn't say anything.

"On your feet, trooper," Sarge ordered. Dover nodded and got up still in his black bodysuit. Null back up a few inches, letting the Commando walk past him to where he had neatly and meticulously stacked his armor plates the night before. Sarge uncrossed his arms.

"I'm going to go wake the others, Null, get the rest of your armor on."

"Yes, sir," Null said sarcastically and Sarge ignored him. He was pretty sure the ARC wasn't a morning kind of person. Sarge himself went and found the rest of his men, waking up the ones who were still asleep and checking on the ones who were awake. He then got back into his own armor and headed out into the hall, knocking lightly on the door to the Jedi's room. Fas answered, already dressed in her clothing from the day from before.

"What do you want, sergeant?" she snapped.

"Just checking in," he said.

"Thank you, go get your men together," she ordered, her tone tight. Sarge nodded and returned to where his men were almost ready to go. The entire squadron got ready quickly and met the Jedi outside in the hall. General Fas led them all outside before telling everyone her plan for the day. She intended to search the entire Business Sector, which meant they were splitting up again. It was the same teams as the day before, each assigned to a seven-mile quadrant of the sector. Once everyone was briefed and knew the plan, Fas ordered them all to move out. They only had three days left to find the hostages.