Commander Tano Meets Commanders

Ponds

Chapter 16: Commander Ponds, after 'Brain Invaders'

A true comrade has your back even when you're off the battlefield.

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"I don't think this is allowed, Ahsoka." Ponds tried for the fifth time, but his words fell on death montrals. She continued to tug and pull on his fingers like the Twi'lek children on Ryloth.

"Why wouldn't it be allowed?" She looked up to him, eyes wide and confused, "I think the Jedi Temple library should be open to everyone."

Ponds sighed, "It's nice that you think that, but I know lots of Jedi who would disagree." Mace Windu being one example. "We could've done this in the barracks."

She stiffened and turned her face away from him, "I don't think that's a good idea."

He frowned at her, not commenting on the way she was sniffing every few seconds and she was paler than usual. He'd read the report about the disastrous relief mission that she went on with Padawan Offee after the Second Battle of Geonosis, and it sounded like a nightmare. He didn't blame her for wanting to keep her distance from the clones for a while.

"We don't have to do this if you don't want to, Ponds." She said, looking up at him again, "I'm sure one of the Jedi Masters will help me."

An image of Windu's face when Ahsoka asks him to give a testimony of the First Battle of Geonosis forced Ponds to put his preferences aside, "It's fine, Commander, I'll help you."

She perked up, "Thank you, Ponds," she sounded genuine. "It won't take long, I promise."

He nodded, following her into the Jedi Temple library and trying to not look out of place amongst the small groups of younglings and Jedi Masters. It wasn't too busy, which was expected with the war raging across the galaxy and Jedi being needed on every frontline.

Ahsoka led him to a booth with a computer terminal and pulled up a second chair, offering him the one that was already there out of courtesy. He nodded in gratitude; clones didn't know much about libraries, but they knew that they were usually quiet places where one wasn't allowed to make a lot of noise. He was at a loss of what to do when Ahsoka sneezed suddenly and the high-pitched sound echoed around the room.

"We can talk, you know." She said once they were sat down, her eyes sparkling with amusement, "We just have to be quiet."

"I can do that." He said in a low tone. When Ponds wasn't screaming orders across active battlefields, he was trying to be as quiet as possible whilst sneaking around on enemy territory. "Shall we use hand signals?"

Ahsoka giggled, giving him the signal for 'enemy not spotted, we're clear.' He responded cheekily with 'what's the plan of attack?'

"Right." She sat upright, using a voice that was only slightly quieter than her usual one, "I've been set an assignment in my History of Outer Rim Conflicts class and I need to interview someone who had a lead role in a battle where the casualties were over two thousand for each side."

"The First Battle of Geonosis." He said with a nod, "I'd hardly call that a historic battle. It only happened- what? A year ago?"

Her eye markings flattened, "That's historical enough, Ponds. I picked it because it's the only pre-Clone Wars battle that I actually understand." He didn't tell her that the Battle of Geonosis started the Clone Wars, not wanting to burst her bubble.

Ahsoka wiped her nose with her bracer in a very un-Jedi-like way. "Let's begin." Despite her apparent exhaustion, she smiled kindly at him, "The questions aren't hard, I swear."