SWRC: OC-49 (Part 1)(Book 2.675)

Chapter 1 Rutan Mercs.

"Tye, you need a break or you're going to burn out," said C.T, glancing up from the datapad he was reading.
"I'm fine, I'm f-," began Tye motioning for C.T to leave him alone before yawning widely.
"I need sleep."
"I told you," said C.T, with a smirk. "The others will comm in when the time comes. You get some sleep and I'll keep watch for them."

C.T left no room for an argument, and Tye resigned to quit while he was ahead.
"Alright, I'll get some shut eye," he said, standing up and leaving the room.
"Happy now?"
"Yes," said C.T, refusing to let his best friend have the last word.

Tye knew his ploy and didn't play it, instead placed a gentle kiss on the crown of his head.
"See you tomorrow."
"Night Tye," said C.T, blushing slight after the affection that Tye had shown him.

It was nothing new to either of them, but it still messed with C.T whenever Tye did show him affection.

It wasn't long after they defected from the former Republic that Tye and C.T begun to show feelings for each other without realising.

That had been over 12, approaching 13, years ago.

And unfortunately, when your entire crew is made up of mostly childlike soldiers, things tended to get slightly out of control as everyone tried to make sure that the 'couple' were always together. Tye, and eventually C.T, decided just to play along with the massive company wide practical joke but kept their relationship strictly casual and low key as the Company became a noted Underground Mercenary Force.

Which was the reason for most of Tye's present lost sleep.

All of the operatives currently out in the field had already checked in like they were supposed to.
All except three.
The three operatives, compassionate Sirus, stern Scars and trigger-happy Felix, were presently unresponsive to any and all comm calls to them. So they were either presently busy or they were in serious trouble.

Tye tried to push the thoughts of losing them out of his mind as he headed to one of several Communal sleeping areas within their Base. They were a rare and lucky clone and mercenary company in that none had been killed both during the Clone Wars and now during the Imperial reign and Tye didn't want that to change any time soon.

As he entered the room where he slept he spotted a precariously sleeping form of Washington, or Wash. The boy was sleeping dangerously close to the edge of the bed and on the verge of falling off. Tye made his way over and gently rolled Wash onto his other side and gathered his discarded blanket off the floor and placing it back over the adult sized child. It seemed that while all of the clones bodies had aged, some of them had not mentally aged, remaining childlike and innocent to most of their surroundings.

Wash was one of those childlike troopers. Radar was another and so was Patch and Wash's best friend Colours as well as several more.
So, while they were physically between the ages of 19-20, they acted as if they were much younger. Radar was the closest to an adult as he was more of an oblivious 18 year old than the others. Patch acted like a twelve year old and Colours and Wash acted as if they were like 5-7 year olds. All of the childlikes, as they were called, all varied in their mental age, some closer to their physical age than others.

The childlikes were always on Base as they were not classed as 'Mission Ready' according to Tye and C.T, but it was really to protect them.

The childlikes among them had already seen enough and Tye and C.T felt they were obligated to keep them from seeing more as they were seen by the entire company, especially the childlikes, as the parental figures of the Company. Others, like Hawkeye, Trapper, B.J and Klinger, were also permanently at Base as they did not wish to fill people with holes only to patch them up and remove their own artillery from within their victims. And Klinger didn't want to die or see other people die anymore. Others still, like Hack, Neo and Talon, were permanently at Base as they were computer and technology experts. Radar often worked with them and Patch, even in his childish state of mind, seemed to accel with the use of communication equipment which proved to be where his forte lay.