Krest | A Star Wars Story

Chapter 6: The General Part: 4

"General I-"

"Silence clone! You can present your excuses to the galactic senate when you four are court-martialed for insubordination and disregard the chain of command!"

Krest awoke to general Skitarr scolding his men. He blinked his one good eye slowly as his vision focused and he quickly realized he was in the infirmary back at the capital; it also didn't take long to see that the room they were in was empty save for him, his men and general Skitarr. Suddenly his attention was drawn to Shellshock who was now raising his voice in retaliation at Skitarr.

"Insubordination or not, one thing is clear: You were completely content with leaving our CO to die, WHICH HE NEARLY DID! Our lives may not matter to you, but we're brothers and there is no way we will leave one of our own behind!"

Krest tried to sit up which quickly turned everyone's attention, prompting Shaman and Fodder to rush over to help him up.

"Skipper! You're awake," Shaman said surprised as he adjusted a pillow behind Krests back to help support him.

"Thankfully..."Krest muttered. His eyes drew to Skitarr who was standing at the foot of his bed with her arms crossed and frowning at him. "Uhm, something wrong, General?"

"Your men disobeyed my direct orders, Captain, so yes something is wrong," Skitarr said sternly. "I'm going to submit a court-martial request as soon as our communications are back up."

"Wait what! A court-martial?" Krest was shocked, why would she court-martial four perfectly good troopers? Just because they disobeyed orders to save him? No, there was no way Krest was going to let this happen, not while he still had some authority.

"Clones need to be kept in line Captain, they start going their own way, everything we fight for will fall apart!" Skitarr explained.

Krest scowled at her as he suddenly remembered the incident with Shaman and Maro. "These are MEN, not clones, MEN! I don't know what you have against us clones but whether you like it or not we are comrades and brothers in arms! As much as I try to stay out of internal affairs between my men, I will not stand idly by as you show blatant disregard for the lives of my men and treat us as lesser beings. These men risked their lives to get me back here when there was no guarantee that I was even going to be alive. So as far as I'm concerned nobody is getting court-martialed, if anything these men should be commended for their bravery in going back behind enemy lines and saving the lives of an officer."

Skitarr's eyes lit up with fury and it seemed as if she was one second away from igniting her lightsaber and striking Krest down where he lay. "How dare you question my order!! I am a Jedi Knight and a General of the Grand Army of the Republic and as a General I outra-"

"The Captain is right..."

Everyone's attention snapped to the entrance to the room where Generals Kenobi and Skywalker were entering. Behind them, Captain Rex and Commander Cody followed close behind.

"What?!" Skitarr turned to Kenobi who walked up behind her and placed a consoling hand on her shoulder.

"These men risked their lives to save their Captain and should be commemorated," Kenobi stated plainly.

Skitarr's fiery attitude quickly cooled down as Kenobi consoled her. "I understand that this is your first assignment since your....incident but you need to realize that these men are not droids."

Skitarr looked as if she was ready to break down. "Master Kenobi, I-I..."

"It's okay, come, I have much to speak to you about," Kenobi stated as he led Skitarr out of the room.

"So...that's it?" Shaman said confused.

"Well...who knew getting a new general would be one of the most draining things I'd have to deal with." Deuce sighed wearily.

"Good job to all of you in getting Krest here back in one piece, as for you Captain, glad to have you back," Skywalker said before leaving the room.

"How are you holding' up?" Cody asked, dragging a crate up to Krest's bed and sitting down.

"I swear I'm cursed or something'." Krest chuckled. "First my eye and now this."

"Cursed or not, these boys got you back in one piece." Rex nodded, impressed. "Welp now you got some time to rest up. Better enjoy it."

"Lucky man, we still got jobs to do." Cody joked as he got up and walked towards the entrance. "Take care of yourself Krest, I wanna see you back in action next time we meet."

"Will do," Krest smiled, giving a quick salute to Cody and Rex who returned the salute before leaving Krest and his men alone in the infirmary. "So...what now?"

"Well like they said Cap'n, we gotta take advantage of some of this R&R while we can." Shellshock smiled triumphantly. "First bit of leave since our trip here."

"Let's just hope Kenobi gets Skitarr to shape up. Things coulda gotten ugly." Deuce said.

Krest's eyes fell to the foot of his bed just moments before General Skitarr was threatening to court-martial his men. "Yeah...let's hope."