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Chapter Text

Though Obi-Wan would never admit it out loud, pretty much every droid he'd ever meet had more personality than Commander Cody.

Oh, the Commander was an excellent soldier, of that there was no doubt. He was competent, skilled at strategy, a good shot. Capable of leading men in battle, able to navigate the endless reams of flimsiwork that the GAR required of its leaders with ease. He was good at his job.

But that was all there was to the man, as far as Obi-Wan could tell. There was no personality outside of orders. Cody didn't have a sense of humour. He displayed no sign of having any emotion at all.

When they had first started working together at the beginning of the war, Obi-Wan had tried to make small talk with the man. Tried to ease the way, settle into a comfortable working relationship with the person he'd be spending all of his time with. All he ever got in return was a blank look, and the conversation diverted back to the war and their next orders.

From Obi-Wan's observations in the time that followed, he noted that Commander Cody had no hobbies, no friends. He didn't even have much of a presence in the Force, fading into the background. It was uncomfortable for Obi-Wan to acknowledge it, but the words meat-droid hit far too close to home where Commander Cody was concerned.

However, when it came to the other clones, Cody was the exception rather than the rule. Everyone else were people in the true sense of the word, bright sparks in the Force, brimming with life and personality and dreams. Obi-Wan got to know more of his battalion even past Cody. There was Gregor, and Crys, and Waxer and Boil. Every single one of them was an individual, for all that they shared the same face. They all found their own ways to personalise their appearance, and they were easy for Obi-Wan to tell apart through the Force.

For a while, Obi-Wan considered whether what Cody was like was specific to commanders. He had a slightly different code to the rest of Obi-Wan's troops, CC-class instead of CT. While he often worked with Anakin and the 501st, their Captain Rex was not commander class, so his theory still held if only with the one example.

It took the first time that the 212th joined up with the 104th for Obi-Wan to realise that he had it wrong. Obi-Wan had been looking forward to seeing Master Koon again. While Obi-Wan was rarely alone on the Negotiator, surrounded by his troops, his fellow Jedi were usually far away. It was always a relief to touch base with other Jedi, to feel them reach out to him in the Force and be able to reach back in return.

Master Koon was accompanied by his Commander. Obi-Wan had read the briefing, and knew that this was another CC-class clone—Commander Wolffe, the briefing had named him.

"Master Kenobi," Plo Koon greeting Obi-Wan as he approached, Cody following a few steps behind as always. They bowed to each other, and their Force presences touched each other. Master Koon was well, if a bit tired, and he knew that his fellow Master could sense the same of him.

"My Commander, Wolffe," Master Koon introduced. Wolffe was already standing ramrock straight, but he straightened even more, if that were possible. His salute was sharp, yet there was an laconic look in his eyes.

"Well met, sir." It was in his tone, as well—perfectly polite but with an edge to it. Commander Wolffe was a dangerous man, Obi-Wan decided, not one he'd want to get on his bad side even if he weren't a Jedi.

"This is Commander Cody," Obi-Wan said, turning and gesturing at the Commander to come closer. While Commander Cody's salute was just as crisp, Obi-Wan's heart jolted as seeing the two men stand side by side.

As always, Cody's expression was empty, his eyes blank. But Wolffe… the man had tensed, his posture the same but his Force presence tightening. They were as different as night and day, and Obi-Wan knew that he'd never be capable of mistaking Wolffe for a meat-droid. Just like the rest of Obi-Wan's troopers, his personality oozed off him in the Force.

Obi-Wan and Master Koon fell into step as they exited the hanger, headed to their briefing for the upcoming engagement. Their Commanders remained a few paces behind them, the tension from Commander Wolffe racketing with every step.

"You seem uneasy, Master Kenobi," Master Koon murmured as they walked. He kept his voice low enough that the Commanders might not have heard. "Is there anything I might assist you with?"

Obi-Wan considered whether he should express his concerns about Commander Cody to his fellow Jedi. Maybe Master Koon could sense something that Obi-Wan couldn't. But in the end, wasn't this a Clone matter? Obi-Wan didn't want to overstep. Not when his men had so few liberties already. They deserved everything he could give them, even if it was a little privacy in such a manner.

Commander Cody's lack of personality did not affect his performance in the field. In the end, that was all that Obi-Wan could ask.

"No," he said, knowing that Master Koon had sensed his conflict. "This is not something we can resolve."

Master Koon inclined his head, accepting Obi-Wan's answer. It was something that Obi-Wan liked about the man, his willingness to both help and to let go when it wasn't needed.

No, this wasn't something that Obi-Wan could solve—or indeed should. Just like Master Koon, he would have to let it go, and leave Commander Cody be.

Several months into the war, Obi-Wan found himself at loose ends during a rare stopover on Coruscant. The Council weren't meeting for once, most of its other members too busy with their respective campaigns. The 212th couldn't leave until their ship underwent necessary repairs after their last battle, and that would take several days.

Obi-Wan found himself itching for action mere hours into shore leave. He wasn't used to having nothing to do. He'd already finished all his reports, and he couldn't start planning the next campaign when his next destination hadn't been decided yet. And all of his fellow Jedi from his Padawan to his crechmates were off-planet.

Well, nearly all. Of course, Quinlan Vos could smell Obi-Wan's boredom from a parsec away, and he descended on him before Obi-Wan had a chance to do more than pace around his living room.

He really should have known better than to agree to tag along on Quinlan's mission. Just an investigation, Quinlan had said. A stroll around the lower levels, help out the Guard a bit. It sounded unsanctioned, but so was most of what Quinlan ever did. He'd thought that the mention of the Guard meant that it actually could be as simple as it sounded.

It went sideways in the first hour. And now, more than two rotations into Quinlan's low-key op, he was hiding with Quinlan and Commander Fox in a room barely bigger than a storage closest, waiting for their target across the lane to finally leave.

"I don't know why I let you drag me out on these," Obi-Wan informed Quinlan, not for the first time since they had squeezed into room. Quinlan only smirked at him in return, his Force presence flaring with mirth.

"I sincerely apologise for him," Obi-Wan told Commander Fox. While Obi-Wan definitely should have known better, he still wasn't certain how the Commander had been dragged into all of this.

The man snorted, waving him off. "I'm used to it," he said, tone wry. "Beats doing even more flimsywork." For all their tense situation, the Commander was relaxed. It was clear that there was a familiarity between Quinlan and the Commander, especially with the way they had kept ribbing each other all mission, all careful snark masking clear competence.

Obi-Wan had met many commanders, by this point. Every time, he watched them, wondering if they would be like Cody. They never were. His Commander was the exception, not the rule.

Quinlan leant against a shelf, head tilted back and eyes closed. The only sign that he was still awake was the way he rapped gloved fingers on a shelf, tapping out a rhythm known only to him. Beside him, Fox sat cross-legged, carefully checking over his weapons.

It occurred to Obi-Wan that this could be an opportunity to learn more about the clones without the impedance of rank, if Fox were willing. Commander Fox was not under Obi-Wan's command. And Obi-Wan suspected that Commander Fox would be very willing to tell Obi-Wan to shove it if there was something he didn't want to share.

"Were all commanders trained together, on Kamino?" Obi-Wan asked. He knew that the troops trained in squads, and that the Alphas and Nulls had gone through their own specialised training. But he didn't know much about the Commanders—it wasn't as if Cody was particularly chatty.

Fox paused in his cleaning for a long moment before resuming. "In our batches, yes," he said, not looking up from his rifle. He didn't elaborate further.

Obi-Wan hesitated. It wasn't much of an answer, but at least Commander Fox hadn't shot him down completely. "I know that some of the troopers also had ARC training," he continued. "Was that part of the general training for commanders?"

At this, Commander Fox did look up at him. Obi-Wan couldn't see his eyes through the visor on his helmet, but he could feel Commander Fox's attention focus on him, sharp and narrow and guarded.

He had pushed too far. "My apologies," Obi-Wan said as lightly as he could manage. "Just trying to pass the time. You don't have to answer."

Fox continued to study Obi-Wan, his guard up. Then he abruptly slumped. "Kark. You're Cody's jetii, aren't you?"

Obi-Wan's eyebrows shot up at the use of Mando'a. If his troopers knew the language, they never used it around him.

Rather than wait for a response, Commander Fox twisted to look at Quinlan. "This jetii—do you trust him?"

The tapping stopped. Quinlan's eyes opened, glancing between the two other men before his eyes landed on Obi-Wan and stopped.

"With your life," Quinlan said, and oh. There was more than just a familiarity between Quinlan and Commander Fox. This was a comfort, a trust earned. A deep one—after all, it wasn't Quinlan's own life he said he would trust to Obi-Wan. That was a trust that Obi-Wan had held ever since they were younglings. No, Quinlan said he'd trust Obi-Wan with Commander Fox's life, and that was a different story altogether.

Quinlan seriously drove Obi-Wan up the wall at times—most times, in fact—but his trust was precious, and something that Obi-Wan was determined to make sure he continued to be worthy of.

"Cody is…" Fox let out a deep breath. "He's my batchmate. We grew up together. But he wasn't Cody, then. His true name—the one he was given by Prime—is Kote."

"Glory," Obi-Wan translated, eyebrows coming together.

Fox gave him a sharp look. "You knew mando'a?"

Obi-Wan mouth quirked. "I spent a year on Mandalore as a Padawan," he said. "I've always been good at picking up languages, and I had ample time then." Especially with all the time he and Satine spent debating—she often slipped back into her native tongue when she was sufficiently riled up.

"Right," Fox said, looked sceptical for some reason. "Point is, Kote was—he was the best of us."

Then the tale of a younger Cody started to pour out of Fox, a flood of information. Kote was a bright spark, Fox told him, scarily competent and brilliant even as a cadet. Alpha's protege, which made sense how he had ended up in Obi-Wan's command—as far as he was aware Alpha was the one to make the recommendation for his replacement after their time together.

But it was Kote's heart that was the most notable, big enough to hold the whole clone cohort under his wing.

"He practically adopted Rex," Fox said. "You've met him, right? Kote took one look at the blond mutie by himself and immediately decided to look after him. Trained him the way we were being trained, made sure the longnecks didn't pick on him."

Obi-Wan's head span. The love that Fox held for his brother was evident in both Fox's voice, and also blazing in the Force, mixed with a deep grief. "I see that Kote was very important to you."

"Not just me," Fox said. "We knew we needed our own leader, for when we went out into the world. Someone to advocate for the rest of us, be our representative. And we chose Kote."

Obi-Wan tried to imagine Commander Cody as the person that Fox described. He couldn't reconcile the two images in his mind. The brother that Fox talked about was completely different from the Commander, so much so that he couldn't believe they were the same man at all.

"What happened?" Obi-Wan asked, keeping his voice low. Nearby, Quinlan stopped pretending not to pay attention, his eyes fixing on Fox.

Fox slumped against the wall, shoulder dropping. "No one knows for sure. Happened not that long before we all deployed. None of us were there." Obi-Wan flinched as shame and regret poured out of Fox, though his expression showed none of it. "But the longnecks took him away and reconditioned him. Wiped out everything that was Kote."

Obi-Wan sucked in a breath at the word. The Council had heard rumours of such things, but had no proof. Shaak Ti was still looking into it, but the Kaminoans were excellent at covering their tracks.

"He's nothing more than an empty shell now," Fox said. "Didn't recognise his name. Wouldn't respond to anything but his serial number. We managed to convince him to accept Cody because it would be faster to say on the battlefield, less syllables. Same for the armour paint. All done for expediency, no emotions or thought behind it."

"That must have been hard," Obi-Wan said. He looked at Quinlan, tried to imagine what it would be like for such a thing to happen to him or one of his crechemates—or Force forbid, Anakin. He couldn't even begin to comprehend such a loss. Death, but not, because the person was still there.

"We try to keep an eye on him, me and his other batchmates, but we're all spread out through the whole karking galaxy now. We don't often get to be in the same place."

"The 212th works with Captain Rex and the 501st a lot," Obi-Wan pointed out.

Fox grimaced. "It hit Rex hardest. He looked up to Kote. You've noticed his obsession with regulations, right? He follows them desperately, tries to stop what happened to Kote from happening to anyone else."

That explained a lot about Captain Rex. Obi-Wan had observed the man's contradictions, the way he focused on regulation but was still capable of following Anakin on what were frankly insane battle manoeuvres.

"Commander Cody is skilled," Obi-Wan said. "He is a formidable soldier."

Fox choked back a laugh. "You should have seen him before," he said. "Put it this way—his name was well earned. Imagine what he might have been like now, with some real experience under his belt."

"Is he still your leader?" Quinlan interjected for the first time, eyes still fixed on Fox.

"It isn't as if that matters now," Fox said. "I'm not sure if the rank and file even knew who Kote was before it happened. And as long as the war continues, the Senate is never going to let us go. The war's not ending anytime soon. If there's any of us left by then, we can figure it out."

Obi-Wan couldn't say that he didn't share Fox's fatalism. It also felt as if the war would never end, that they would end up fighting and dying until there was nothing left of either of their people. When Obi-Wan tried to consult the Force, it provided no comfort either. Darkness hung like a fog over everything, drowning out their path forward.

He went to speak—not entirely sure what he could say—but movement from the door they were watching halted him in his tracks. It seemed their break was over. Instead, they quickly geared back up, and all Obi-Wan could do was lay a hand on Fox's pauldron in what paltry comfort he could offer.

Fox had provided Obi-Wan with a lot to think about. Not to mention, his trust, that Obi-Wan would continue to look after his brother.

Obi-Wan would do his best. Perhaps there was a way to reverse what the Kaminoans had done to Commander Cody. Maybe, after the war, there would be the time to figure it out. To bring the fight for the clone's freedom to the Senate on Commander Cody's behalf, let them live the lives they deserved.

Until then, he just had to keep the both of them alive to do so.

Chapter Text

Inevitably, the war brought Obi-Wan and the 212th back to Kamino.

The battle of Kamino was one of the worst that Obi-Wan had seen in some time. Oh, there were always difficult days, difficult battles. Ones that left Obi-Wan shivering in his quarters afterwards, wishing that there were other Jedi with him to meditate with and help clear the aftermath of feeling so many of his men die.

But Kamino—many of the body bags that Obi-Wan helped line up for disposal were too small. Just children, too young to see a battlefield, only for the battle to come to them. It made him sick inside.

Knowing they were destined for the front lines even if they lived to grow up only hit home harder. Hate was a strong word—but Obi-wan truly despised that the galaxy had come to this.

Jedi were supposed to be peacekeepers, not soldiers. Not Generals. He shouldn't be leading troops into battle, making calculations about what an acceptable casualty rate could be, then filling in requisition forms to order more bodies to fill the gaps.

It was breaking them, and he didn't know what the Jedi would look like when they come out the other side.

In between the cleanup and the many briefings that Obi-Wan had to attend, he had the opportunity to track down Alpha-17.

He hadn't seen the man since the aftermath of their time in captivity at the beginning of the war. While Obi-Wan had successfully returned to full health afterwards—though with a number of new scars—the experience hadn't been so kind to Alpha. He had been forced to retire from the front lines, and had taken up a permanent position as a trainer on Kamino instead.

But that wasn't what Obi-Wan wanted to talk to the man about. No, he had a specific person he wanted to discuss, especially after his conversation with Commander Fox.

Though it took a lot of walking and asking for directions, Obi-Wan eventually found Alpha in one of the further training rooms. There was a squad of cadets in their early teens inside the room, practicing rolling for cover against the raised pillars. Alpha stood just outside at the glass window, watching.

Obi-Wan fell into place beside him, watching the cadets. They were doing alright, considering their young age, but clearly had more to learn. An older cadet was inside with them, barking out instructions.

The air was grim. The recent battle hung heavily on them all. Obi-Wan's heart ached to see such young faces filled with determination. There was every likelihood that in a few short years, these young clones would be deploying to the same war that had already claimed the lives of so many of their older brothers.

"If they don't improve fast, they're not going to survive long," Alpha observed, not looking at Obi-Wan.

"They have time." Obi-Wan cringed as one of the cadets mistimed their roll and crashed head-first into a pillar. The spike of pain in the Force told him that it had hurt. The rest of his squad swarmed him, while the older cadet simply sighed with a hand over his eyes and watched them. Based on his reaction, it wasn't an infrequent occurrence.

Alpha turned his head towards Obi-Wan. "Come." The man led Obi-Wan away from the training room, down the too-white corridors. Obi-Wan tried not to notice how so many clones gave a double-take at seeing the both of them together, the Jedi and the Commander who loomed above every other clone.

They didn't stop until they reached one of the undercover balconies on the outer edges of the facility. The constant rain grew much louder as Alpha led them outside, and Obi-Wan drew his cloak closer around him as the harsh wind buffeted them. They wouldn't be overheard, not there. It was one of the few places on Kamino where privacy could be had. Alpha had chosen the location well.

Beneath them, the clean-up continued. The lines of body-bags were being added to. Obi-Wan didn't dare ask what would happen to them. He knew he wouldn't like the answer, and wouldn't be able to change it even if he knew for certain.

"What do you want?" Alpha asked, turning to face Obi-Wan. It was as blunt as ever, with none of the reverence or subservience that many of the clones showed towards the Jedi. It settled Obi-Wan to know that Alpha hadn't changed in the slightest.

"Commander Cody," Obi-Wan said without preamble. He doubted anyone else would have spotted Alpha's flinch at the name. After weeks of torture together, Obi-Wan was utterly attuned to Alpha, even when the man was wearing full armour. "Did you know what had happened to him, when you recommended him to me?"

For a while, the two men just stared at each other. Alpha broke first, helmet dipping. "No," the man admitted. "I thought Kote would be a good match for you. There's not many commanders I would trust to keep up with you, or watch your back."

"I'm not that bad," Obi-Wan said, indignation creeping into his voice. Alpha tilted his head, giving Obi-Wan an obvious once over. Obi-Wan sighed. He wouldn't admit it, but he knew that he was a large part of the reason that Anakin had turned out how he did.

"You no doubt learned about it later," Obi-Wan continued, continuing to watch Alpha closely. "I note you didn't rescind the recommendation at that point."

Alpha crossed his arms. It was an interesting position, not quite defensive but nearing that edge. "No point, he was already on his way to the front lines," he said. "He's still a good commander."

"He is," Obi-Wan acknowledged. "He's a credit to his training." Mollified, Alpha's posture relaxed slightly.

Alpha had always been difficult to read in the Force, but Obi-Wan had learned to read the undercurrents. Just as with Fox, there was grief there, a similar anger at someone taken too soon. However, there was also a tinge of determination.

"You'll keep him alive, if it's possible. You look after your people. He can still keep up with you. And in the meantime, maybe there's a way to reverse this."

Obi-Wan stilled. "You think it's possible?" he asked carefully. "Commander Fox discarded the option."

He didn't need to see Alpha's face to know that the man was wearing a shark-like smile. "All things are possible," Alpha said in the tone of someone who was willing to stab a lot of people to make that possibility a reality.

Obi-Wan really should stop this in its tracks. Angering the Kaminoans at that point of the war would not help anything, especially with so many cadets still in Tipoca City. Alpha getting himself killed would not do Commander Cody any favours.

But Obi-Wan had grown protective of Commander Cody over the time the man had been his second. And it ached, seeing the shell of the man, knowing that it wasn't supposed to be that way.

If turning a blind eye to what Alpha got up to achieved results, then Obi-Wan would let the Force decide what was to happen without interfering.

"Don't let him die," Alpha warned Obi-Wan. "He's not as prone to stupid karking insanity like he is, but that doesn't mean he's finally acquired a sense of self-preservation."

Now Obi-Wan really wondered what Kote had been like, to have Alpha refer to him in such a manner.

Maybe one day he would yet find out.

"I'll keep an eye on him," Obi-Wan promised. "Anything could yet happen. Who knows, maybe the Separatists will even surrender one day, and this fighting will end."

Alpha's snort made his opinion on such a statement utterly clear. He turned and walked away without dismissal, leaving Obi-Wan alone on the balcony.

Obi-Wan walked over to the railing, watching the clones far below continue to drag bodies over. So many lives cut short.

He would not let Commander Cody become one of these bodies, another meaningless casualty of the war. Not if he could help it.

"Watch out for the battle droids!"

The battlefield was chaos. As was unfortunately the norm at that point of the war, the 212th was trying to protect a planet from the Separatists with bad intel and not enough men. The battalion had gotten split, Obi-Wan leading several squads along a ridge while the droids took pot-shots at them.

"Cover!" They all dropped at the shout just in time. Obi-Wan cringed as he jarred his shoulder again as he hit the ground, shots peppering the cliff where they had just been standing. He was fairly certain that the shoulder was dislocated. He was siphoning the pain into the Force to keep himself going, and it meant that he couldn't defend his men from the blaster shots with his lightsaber as he so often did.

"Sergeant Plank, how far do we have left?" Obi-Wan asked into his comm in his vambrace.

"At least another click, sir!" Obi-Wan sighed. At the rate they were going, they would struggle to make it to the rendezvous in time. If they weren't in position, their whole hastily put together strategy would fall apart.

Commander Cody was down in the canyon with the rest of the 212th and what was left of their LAATi's. Obi-Wan needed to make sure that they were in position to defend them if they were going to win that battle.

"Keep going!" Obi-Wan called out. "We can make it!" He reached out to the Force for strength, then pushed himself back to his feet. He was unable to hide the wobble, if the way the troopers closest to him were looking at him was any indication.

"Are you alright, General?" one of them—Wave, if he remembered correctly—asked.

"I can keep going," Obi-Wan said grimly. There was an air of skepticism, but no one argued with him. They all knew what was at stake.

Section by section, the squad inched their way along the ridge. It grew uncomfortably narrow in places, forcing them to edge along with their backs pressed against the cliff-face. Fortunately, they weren't shot at during those moments.

"I can see the spot!" Sergeant Plank's voice crackled from Obi-Wan's comm. "We're almost there!"

Obi-Wan slumped in relief, then picked up his pace. "Come along, men!" he called out. "Let's get in position!"

Not long afterwards, the squad crouched at the edge of the ridge, right above a place where the canyon narrowed into a bottleneck. If they could hold it long enough for the LAAT-i's to get into position, they would have a clear shot at the rest of the canyon, enough that they could wipe out the Separatist forces.

However, it looked like the Separatist droid army had gotten there first. Far below them, the droids were swarming through the valley, looking a lot like toys marching in formation.

Obi-Wan tried to raise Commander Cody on his comms, but only got static. He grimaced. It appeared they were being jammed again. When they got back to the Negotiator, they would have to reset all their comms frequencies again. "Anyone got eyes on the rest of our men?" Obi-Wan asked.

There were murmurs up and down the line, but no confirmation. Obi-Wan sighed, then settled in on his front, watching the valley without providing the droids with a target to shoot at. It seemed it was time to hurry up and wait. His shoulder made the position awkward, unable to get comfortable without pain, and he knew that the medics were going to yell at him for pushing too hard when they finally got their hands on him.

Time crawled. Obi-Wan tried to keep his concentration in the here and now, gritting his teeth as little spikes of pain kept shooting through his arm. Below them, the droids kept advancing, no doubt meeting with the other squads further in the canyon. They couldn't do anything about it without giving away their position, which would likely cause the whole manoeuvre to fail.

Finally, the troopers at the end of their line called out. "212th spotted, sir! They're nearly here!"

The anticipation became tangible. Obi-Wan strained forward, and sighed in relief to see the cloud of dust as the LAATi's crawled forward, nearly in position. The bright red lights of blasters went back and forth, though he couldn't see his men through the dust.

"Get ready!" Obi-Wan barked out, amplifying his voice with the Force so that everyone could hear. "Hold position—" the cloud of dust drew closer—"hold—" so close—

"Fire!"

They rained hell down on the droids below them, a sea of red blaster shots shattering the droid's front lines. Obi-Wan accepted a rifle off the trooper next to him and joined in, his lightsaber useless at such distance. His fingers ached with remembrance at the too-familiar feeling of the rifle, but he grit his teeth and kept shooting.

Their cover allowed the LAATi's to keep going. They moved into position, lining up across the width of the canyon. Before long, Obi-Wan could see the cannon blasts wrecking devastation on the droids. The troopers with him let out a cheer.

"It's working!" Sergeant Plank shouted. "Come on, boys, let's finish these bastards off!"

Just as Obi-Wan thought that they had the battle in hand, the cannons below them abruptly stopped. Obi-Wan stiffened, the Force screaming a warning at him.

"Something's wrong," he breathed. He stretched out his senses, trying to understand, but there was only chaos.

The worst bit was that there was nothing they could do from their position. Obi-Wan eyed the cliff-face, wondering it was something he could leap down, but another flash of pain from his shoulder put paid to that idea. His body physically wouldn't be able to make it, even with the Force to assist.

"Keep blasting," Obi-Wan ordered instead. "We need to buy them time!"

Wave after wave of droids fell to their rifles, but not enough. Far below them, more droids kept replacing the ones that fell, simply stepping over the smoking wrecks of their fellow droids to keep going.

Some of the droids took shots at Obi-Wan and his men on the ridge, but their aim was off. Lying down gave them enough cover to be safe, something that Obi-Wan wished extended to the men on the ground far below.

He wished he was with them. He felt useless, only able to use a rifle. Obi-Wan's place was between the enemy and his men, protecting them. It was just bad luck that meant that Obi-Wan was the only officer in position when they'd put their plan together earlier that cycle.

It took a while—far too long—but the cannons started up again. The droids were falling again, and Obi-Wan could see in the distance that there was an end to their endless line. Obi-Wan should have been relieved, but the warning in the Force had yet to let up.

Whatever was happening wasn't over yet. Obi-Wan couldn't afford to let his guard down.

The battle dragged on, until all the droids were destroyed and none were left to replace them. Amid the cheers of victory, Obi-Wan made to stand, then staggered as his legs threatened to give out underneath them. Trooper Wave ducked under Obi-Wan's shoulder, pulling Obi-Wan's arm around him to support his General.

"We've got you, General," Wave assured him. Obi-Wan tried to smile. His head felt woozy, and it was growing harder to keep feeding his pain to the Force.

"We need to get back down and regroup," Obi-Wan said. "We've had a victory today, but I need to know what happened down there." He tried his comms again, but still only got static. Hopefully, with the main part of the battle over, someone would be able to find and deal with the jammer so that they could call for a ride back to the Negotiator.

The journey back to the floor of the canyon passed in a blur. Obi-Wan remained supported by Wave the whole way, limping along. He was starting to think that it was more than just a dislocated shoulder. He'd had those before, and he didn't remember them affecting him that badly. Maybe he'd fractured his collarbone?

No matter. The medics would be able to fix him up, after they dealt with the rest of the wounded. He could last until then.

By the time they were approaching the rest of the battalion, Obi-Wan was panting for breath. Captain Crys met them on the approach, saluting sharply. His armour was covered in scorch marks.

"General, sir!" he said. "We've just gotten word that the jammers have been destroyed. We're back in contact with the Negotiator and ready to move out on your mark."

"Very good," Obi-Wan said, unable to stop himself from peering over Captain Crys' shoulder. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, he asked, "where's Commander Cody?"

Crys visibly winced, which was quite a feat given that he had not removed any of his armour. "He's out for the count, sir. We had to evacuate him with the rest of the wounded."

Obi-Wan sucked in a breath. "What happened?"

Crys' helmet ducked. "We got hit by an EMP," he said. "The Seppies buried the karking thing, let it off not long after we got here. Took out all of the LAATi's. And—"

"Yes, Captain?" Obi-Wan prodded when Crys failed to continue.

"Commander Cody collapsed," Crys eventually said. "Like one of those Alderaanian puppets with its strings cut. He's unconscious. We had to drag him to shelter."

Obi-Wan's eyes closed. Force, he'd promised Commander Fox and Alpha that he would look after Cody on their behalf. And now when something had actually happened, Obi-Wan had been clear across the battlefield.

"Have the wounded been evacuated yet?" Obi-Wan asked.

Crys nodded. "The transport for the Negotiator left fifteen minutes ago." He eyed off Obi-Wan, the way that Wave was still supporting him. "Sir, you should be on the next one. You don't look so good."

Obi-Wan knew that if he ignored Captain Crys' pointed suggestion, the man wouldn't insist. When push came to shove, no one ever really argued against Obi-Wan except for the medics. It was a lonely position to be in.

"I'm well aware, Captain," Obi-Wan said. He tried for a winning smile, but it wasn't fooling anyway. "You have the situation here well under control, it seems. I can do the flimsiwork from bridge of the Negotiator as well as here."

His Captain crossed his arms, unimpressed. "You mean the medbay, not the bridge." It was more than he would normally be willing to say. Maybe after so long together, his troops were finally becoming confident enough to voice their real opinions.

Obi-Wan's chest clenched, not for the first time. He ached with the wish that he could do more for them, these soldiers who shone like bright sparks in the Force. Until such a time when he could take their battle to the Senate, he would do his best to protect them in the field. And he couldn't do that if he didn't allow his own injuries to be looked after.

"The medbay it is," Obi-Wan conceded.

Maybe he could find out more about what happened to Commander Cody while he was there.