Cody is Depressed
Cody sat next to Ponds in the medbay.
The four time travellers were occupying three of the beds. Chewbacca was reclined in one near the corner, grumbling quietly to himself whilst Commander Finn and Commander Dameron were sitting next to each other on one two lots over, their legs dangling over the edge as Kix and Helix took blood and performed various other tests on them.
Cross-legged on the bed in the middle was Commander Rey talking amicably with Commanders Tano and Offee, who had dragged their chairs closer to her bed once her own tests had been finished. She'd elected to have the blood taken from her wrist rather than have to take off her arm bindings - even though Cody knew from experience that it was more painful - and was now idly fiddling with the end of the fabric near her wrist as she conversed with the other two girls.
The earlier melancholy that had overtaken her at the end of their conversation was gone now and she smiled widely, providing an effective (and Cody suspected, unwitting) distraction for the two padawans, who had been annoyed at being left out of the discussion that the generals were currently engaged in. General Kenobi (or Obi-Wan, as he insisted Cody address him as when they were not on duty) had informed Cody that Rey was perhaps a year older than Padawan Offee, and no more than three years older than Commander Tano. It was good for them to interact with others around their age, especially since Rey could relate so well to their situation.
Commanders Dameron and Finn would occasionally contribute to their conversation, though the two were mostly distracted by answering the medics' questions.
They would all need to be vaccinated as well as go on a round of antibiotics, anti-viral and anti-contagion medication because of the disparity between bacteria and diseases between their time periods. Luckily, none of them had been carrying anything immediately deadly or damaging.
Ponds and Cody had silently agreed to watch over their new commanders, both to ensure their protection and to further judge their character.
To be honest, Cody hadn't even started to process what he'd heard in the ship. He couldn't afford to think about it. He knew that he would break down as soon as he did.
He had wanted to deny the truth that had been revealed to him; there was no way that the Vode would betray their Jedi. He couldn't be able to do that to Obi-Wan. It was impossible. But then him and Ponds had gotten their heads scanned and now he was nursing a fading headache, the point on his head where they had removed the chip not even leaving a scar behind. The only sign was the strips of hair shaved out of their heads.
They had only done the two clone commanders so far, wanting to study the chips further and get onto a Jedi ship, where they were surrounded by only allies, before they did further operations. They didn't want to draw attention from the wrong senators.
Cody was glad that Kix and Helix had let them sit in the chairs near the door instead of forcing them onto beds as they recovered. From here, he could pretend that there was nothing wrong, that the only reason he was sitting there beside his vod was to protect his new commanders. Well, their new commanders.
The 212th and the 187th would be working closely together from now on which meant that, though technically each new commander only belonged to one of the battalions, they would be watched over both. There was an unspoken but clandestine agreement of that fact.
Besides, the commanders needed to be protected, deserved to be protected, just as much as their often misunderstood generals.
Commander Rey's story reminded Cody hauntingly of what he knew of General Skywalker's past. Though, he hadn't seen any of the bitter anger that seemed to surround General Skywalker in her. Yet. He had only known the girl for a few hours.
And Commander Finn? Well, he was a brother. Cody and Ponds had agreed on that almost instantly. Whilst the others had potential to be accepted into the fold just as deeply as the 501st held Commander Tano, their vod'ika, Commander Finn was already one of them. He could understand them. He was one of them.
And didn't that just make Cody feel worse? He knew that what had been done to them was awful. He hadn't always really understood. He knew that what he'd seen the long necks do to his brothers made him angry, he knew it left him with this deep seated fear that he was only just beginning to erode at, but only after finding Obi-Wan staring out one of the viewports, tears pouring down his cheeks and listened to his speech, did Cody really understand the injustice of their treatment. And to find out that it was used as inspiration to harm children made him feel infinitely worse.
It was true that, outside of the Jedi, Cody had little love to spare for natborns, but he wouldn't wish his own child upon any innocent.
Ponds bumped Cody's shoulder lightly and broke him out of his thoughts. Cody glanced to the side, inclining his head forward slightly in thanks, and refocused on his new charges.
Neither Ponds or Cody had ever had a Jedi commander, and he hadn't really understood other vode when they talked about their own. But, only a few hours after getting his own, he thought he was beginning to get the feeling all the others spoke of, even if these ones were much older than the usual.
He'd always thought that it would be just like having another general. He certainly felt protective of Obi-Wan. He wouldn't let anyone harm his general.
However, for Commander Finn and Commander Rey it was different. It was almost… paternal?
It was different than what he felt for Commander Tano. She was Rex's. So, he watched over like he watched over his closest vod outside his battalion, but she wasn't his commander. He didn't panic at the thought of leaving her with other people.
Cody fought to keep his frown off his face.
He needed to get control of himself.
Commander Finn and Commander Rey were adults. They weren't like the usual padawans. Never mind that they were almost more vulnerable than most Jedi commanders, since they both had so little training and such traumatic childhoods. His fist tightened involuntarily.
Ponds glanced down at the movement and then met Cody's eye.
"I know, vod," he murmured. "They feel so… bright."
Cody almost sighed. At least it wasn't only him.
"We won't let them out of our sight," he whispered and Ponds nodded.
"Deal."
Commander Tano jumping to her feet drew Cody's attention.
"Are they all cleared, Kix?" she asked, pushing herself up onto her toes.
Helix glanced down at his pad whilst Regret - the 187th's head medic - bustled over.
"I would like to get you, Commander Rey, on a vitamin plan, as you're severely deficient in many," Regret informed her. "You'll need to go on a strict meal plan as well."
"You're not as bad, Commander Finn," Helix informed the man. "But I'll still give you some tablets with your dinner. Otherwise, you're all cleared to go. We'll have follow up shots in about a week to make sure you get full immunity and we're still waiting on a few test results, but you don't need to be while we analyse them."
The commanders, who had both wrinkled their noses slightly (whether it was at the formalities or the medication, Cody didn't know, but he still made note to make sure they followed medic regs. Force knows he had enough practice with his own self-sacrificing battalion and general) grinned and jumped up.
"Great!" Commander Tano exclaimed. "Then we can see you guys spar. I want to see how you're fighting is."
Commander Finn glanced down whilst Commander Dameron grinned broadly and bumped his shoulder whilst a small blush crept onto Commander Rey's features.
"I'm sure you'll be underwhelmed. We have virtually no training."
"That's okay," Commander Tano assured her brightly. "It'll be good to see your instincts anyway. Skyguy is often put on missions with Master Obi-Wan since they make such a good team, and since you guys have to stick together, I'm sure I'll be training with you pretty often."
"I'm also curious to see your fighting styles," Commander Offee stated. "And we can demonstrate our lightsaber forms for you after."
Commander Rey grinned. "I'd love to see that."
She glanced up at the two men that had also just stood up, who gave enthusiastic nods, before looking back at the Wookie, who was still lying down.
"Are you coming, Chewie?"
Chewbacca let out a roar that sounded distinctly annoyed, but he stood up.
"What about you, commanders?" Commander Finn asked, looking at Ponds and Cody. "Are you cleared to leave."
Both of them nodded, ignoring the indignant glares of their medics as they got out of their chairs.
"It would be beneficial to see your base skill levels," Ponds said.
"Great!" Commander Tano decided. "Then we'll all go."
They mad an unusual sight, all of them strolling through the corridors, with a spherical astromech and a small one-wheeled droid doing excited circles around their group, weaving between the time travellers' legs as they chattered away in a mix of basic and binary.
When they got there, Commander Tano gestured over to a circle that had been drawn on the ground in the centre of the large room. It had fancier obstacles and training simulations than the Jedi cruisers had, even though the only combatants it normally held were guards, and perhaps an unusually trained dignitary, but Cody supposed that in ships like this, things were there for money rather than use.
Although, he couldn't complain about the extensive kitchen and food storage areas. He hadn't eaten this well for so many consecutive days well… ever.
Commander Rey and Commander Finn took up their places about ten metres away from each other after depositing their other weapons with their companions.
"Just give me a moment," Commander Rey requested as she removed her weapon from her belt.
When it was activated, Cody noted with some surprise that it was a double-bladed lightsaber, one with two different colours, a deep gold and a brilliant azure blue.
"This is going to be interesting," Commander Dameron informed them quietly, as Commander Rey took a few warm up swings with her saber, slowly twirling it around her body whilst Commander Finn rolled his shoulders, his deactivated saber in his right palm.
"Why?" Cody couldn't stop himself from asking.
"They've never both had sabers before. They usually sparred with sticks or metal pipes. There was that one time they borrowed a few actual metal swords but they didn't like those, said the balance was different."
"Are you saying that she's never used a double-bladed saber before?" Commander Offee asked, awe tinting her voice.
Commander Dameron shrugged. "No, but she does prefer her spear. She said the saber never felt right."
Before the conversation could continue, Commander Rey stopped her experimentation, holding the saber out in front of her, parallel to the ground.
"Alright," she announced, "I'm ready."
Commander Finn grinned and nodded, activating his own saber and holding it in a double-handed grip in front of him.
"Okay," Commander Dameron called. "Begin."
They both ran in to meet each other with Commander Rey immediately bracing to block Commander Finn's overhead attack, she swung the other end of her staff around in a deadly ark that Commander Finn only barely deflected, and was forced to dodge as the other end came up, dancing backwards.
His eyes were slightly wide, and it was obvious that he'd never had to face something like this before.
They exchanged a few more blows after that, but six months was a big difference in experience when you were talking about eight months and two months of training. And, though Commander Rey faltered somewhat with her new saber, she clearly had a solid background in similar weapons born of years of fighting whilst Commander Finn wasn't nearly as familiar with his own.
The fight ended when they Commander Finn was knocked slightly off balance as he blocked one of Commander Rey's blows, leaving him not enough time to react as her golden blade swung around to his exposed ribs, stopping mere inches away from hitting it.
The both tensed, breathing heavily for a few seconds before they stepped away from each other, grinning.
"Good job," the said simultaneously and Commander Tano bounced up to them, Commander Dameron not far behind as he threw an arm over Commander Finn's shoulders.
"You'll get her next time," the pilot assured him but Commander Finn just laughed.
"Maybe not if she actually starts training with the staff."
"You were very good for someone with so little experience with a lightsaber," Commander Offee commented, smiling slightly.
Commander Finn looked down at the comment. "I have been trained extensively in other melee weapons… just not swords before."
"Finn can absolutely obliterate me in blaster practice," Commander Rey proclaimed proudly. "In fact, he taught me pretty much everything I know about shooting one of them."
There was a story there, but Commander Tano didn't have time to aske before the doors to the training room were opened.
The four general walked into the room, with Gree and Rex flanking them.
As usually, the only one clearly dispalying their emotions was General Skywalker, who was scowling thunderously.
Cody and Ponds saluted whilst Commanders Offee and Tano bowed, with Commanders Finn and Rey following a beat after, leaving Chewbacca and Commander Dameron to nod respectfully.
"Masters," Commander Offee greeted and the three older generals nodded in acknowledgment.
"What's wrong?" Commander Tano asked.
The generals exchanged glances.
"A few of the tests returned… unexpected results," Obi-Wan admitted.
Commander Dameron frowned. "What does that mean."
General Windu stepped forward, looking his new padawan in the eye.
"Rey, what do you know about your parents?"