The Varactyl Squadron Commander (A Star Wars: The Clone Wars Fan-Fiction)

Chapter Eighteen

"You're going-ing-ing on an undercover mission with the Anakin Skywalker? Jedi Master with the dreamy eyes and a smile that could knock anyone off their feet? And Commander Rex- who's quite the charmer as well- is g-going to be your husband?"

"It's not real, JC." Molindi couldn't stress that enough to her faithful companion as she struggled to put on the strange wardrobe of a Twaran official. It'd been ten minutes since the clothing's arrival, and she still couldn't figure out the proper way to wrap her skirt around her hips or cover her torso without making the fabric look bunched up. "We're just pretending for the mission- remember that." The woman finally managed to tie the two ends of the skirt together without having it look like a toddler had dressed herself.

"St-t-ill," The droid giggled happily and handed Molindi the next article of clothing needed for the outfit, the long piece of blue cloth she was supposed to wrap around her chest and stomach. The fabric was pretty enough, and it was a color she particularly liked- faded dark blue, almost completely identical in shade to the Kaminoan ocean on a stormy day. "You were infatuated with Rex even back when he was still a captain. This has to b-be a dream come true for you, Molindi."

The woman was quiet as she tried to wrap the cloth around her torso the right way, too focused on trying to get dressed properly to pay much attention to what her droid had to say. At least, that's what Molindi wanted JC to think when really she was on the verge of having a complete mental break-down. 

Of course, this was a dream come true. Of course, she'd been a slight fanatic of Commander Rex when working her way up to the rank of commander herself. But she wasn't infatuated. Yes, she could admit to being attracted to General Skywalker when they first met, but even that sent a bolt of self-loathing straight from her head to her heart. After everything that had happened with her second in command, Bren, before he...

Molindi shook her head, trying to erase the thought before it could fully register and cause her to completely lose it.

"JC, can you help me please?" Her voice came out a little more bitter than she intended it to, but Molindi couldn't help herself. It'd been an eventful few days since she'd jumped back into the action of battle, with waves of different emotions crashing around her head like rocks in a tin-can being rolled down a hill. She didn't have time to think about the past, to feel the guilt and sorrow of losing what she'd held so dear when she had more important things to deal with at the moment.

The droid didn't say much after that as she helped her owner with the rest of her outfit. Though JC was a robot and didn't feel emotions the same way a typical person would, she knew Molindi was still in the process of grieving over the loss of her last squad. It'd been a whole year since the commander's return from Ganta-Nego, but it'd been a horrible twelve months filled with nightmares and panic-attacks and waking up in the middle of the night, wondering where Bren was and why he wasn't with her. Then reality would hit and send Molindi into a fit of heart-ripping sobs. 

Molindi loved Bren, that much was apparent to JC. She'd loved him with everything she had, her heart and soul and Bren had felt the exact same. That's why he'd given his life a year ago so Molindi could escape the cannibals. And Molindi hated herself for it.

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"This is the dumbest-looking armor I've ever seen in my life." Tyson grumbled as he put on the metal chest-plate he'd been given. If it'd been a plain piece of armor like what they were used to wearing, with little color and a lack of fancy decorations, the clones would've been fine with playing dress-up for a mission. But that wasn't the case here.

The cold, metal helmets that would cover their identical faces were made to look like screaming warriors, with ragged teeth bared and metal tongues sticking out where their mouths would've been behind the masks. The back of the helmets were created to look like hair growing from the masks' scalps, as if the clones were wearing a skinned head over their own, and horns seemed to sprout from their shoulder-plates like daisies growing in a field.

And the chest-plates... they were the worst.

Each piece of protective metal had a chest, an actual defined chest with abs and pecs, chiseled into the armor for everyone to see. 

"I don't know, Tyson. I think I like it." Risk grinned and flexed his muscles, staring at his reflection in a large square of glass leaning against the hangar wall. Since their outfits for the mission had taken longer than they'd expected to arrive, General Skywalker had called both squads back to the hangar to get dressed instead of sending the clothes to the barracks, since that would've taken time they didn't have to spare. "It looks exactly like I do when I take my shirt off." 

"You wish," Breaks chuckled, sending Tyson and himself into fits of laughter as Risk stuck out his tongue and flipped them off. Axel, like usual, remained silent as they all donned their new outfits, lost in his own mind as his thoughts ran rampant through his brain. As much as he disliked the armor as well, he didn't mention it as he pulled on the shoulder-plates, careful not to poke himself with the horns, and held his strange new headgear on his hip.

Although they were all on the same mission, Varactyl squadron had sort of congregated against the wall of the hangar to get dressed, while General Skywalker, Commander Rex, and his squad suited up next to the weird-looking ship they'd be taking to Twar.

"You think we look great, don't you, Axel?" Risk elbowed his brother in the ribs, then immediately regretted it when he hit his funny bone on the new metal armor and hissed in pain, which sent Breaks and Tyson into another round of unstoppable laughter. Humoring his sibling, he smiled and elbowed his brother back, only he was a lot more cautious about his funny bone than Risk had been.

"Yeah, I'm sure we look hot." Axel replied.

"Not as hot as that..." Tyson murmured under his breath as the elevator doors across the room slid open and Commander Rino stepped out onto the floor. The cloth wrapped around her body did much more to help expose her curves than her clunky armor did, tightening around her hips and chest and revealing some skin at her stomach. Her arms were bare, save for a few golden bracelets hanging loosely at her wrists, and her face wasn't hidden, although it would soon be covered by the same fabric Lady Aveline used to cover her hair and mask her own identity.

Axel didn't marvel at her beauty, he'd known that Molindi was going to look attractive in whatever she ended up wearing. Hell, she could've thrown on a potato sack and Axel knew for a fact that his squad mates would lose their minds at the sight of her. He glanced at the neighboring squad, now fully dressed in their costumes as well, and saw that they were just as dumb-founded as Tyson, Risk, and Breaks. Even Commander Rex and General Skywalker couldn't keep their eyes off of her, though they tried their hardest since they were supposed to set good examples for their troopers.

"Sorry I was late," Commander Rino began, then took one look at their attire and laughed. "Damn, and I thought my outfit was weird."