The Wolf Pack

Chapter 18

"Patch me up quick and give me a shot of something strong. We haven't finished here." I said as the Pack secured the area around us. "Take Headfirst to the triage, and come back. I have a feeling this will get even uglier before it gets any better."

I felt their unease, and I understood why. Both my ears were bleeding and I had a pretty nasty burn on my shoulder. But none of that mattered right now. I was still able bodied, and other than discomfort and a little pain, there wasn't much that would hinder me. Had it been more serious, the Medic would have taken over and ordered me back to the medical triage. But it hadn't, and we still had an objective to achieve.

"I swear Ma'am, you Jedi are made of tough stuff." He said as he gave me a bacta shot on the neck. "But please be careful, if given the opportunity, things often get worse."

I turned to my left to smile at him. I couldn't see his face because of the helmet but it was pretty clear to me that he was genuinely worried.

"Don't worry about me, trooper," I said as I stood up slowly. "It takes more than a little fire to take me down."

The battle lasted another twelve hours, to our dismay. But at least we managed to take out every single droid in a 50 clik radius. We were all worned out and exhaustion was starting to settle in, but we managed to set up camp, make a headcount, and secure the perimeter before dusk. Wolffe was waiting for me in the command centre when I walked in. I had been monitoring and helping the troops set up tents and checking the perimeter when the squad assigned finished booby trapping the thing. The Clone commander looked tired, very tired, like he was running on whatever adrenaline he had left and three big cups of kaff.

"You took an unnecessary risk today, Commander." He said without lifting his face from the holomap displayed on the table. "That explosion could have done a lot more damage."

I sighed and took the mug from his hands before taking a big gulp. "A risk that had to be taken, Wolffe." I answered before giving him back the mug.

"There are very few Jedi, and each of you packs the strength of a hundred troopers. We cannot afford to lose any of you." He said finally looking at me. "Us clones were engineered to be soldiers, to die for the Republic. You are keepers of pea-"

"My life is not worth more than that of any clone, Wolffe. I already told you that." He sighed, frustrated, exasperated, but not angry, not really. "Get some rest, I mean it. You look like you are going to drop unconscious any minute now."

I put my hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. He had taken over the entire operation once I went down. He hadn't seen or heard anything from me until after everything had been over. I could feel just how worried he had been, how frantic, stressed and scared he'd been. We had lost men that day - almost a dozen-, we had fought as hard as we could and even if we had won, the stress on the body and minds of each of us had taken quite a beating the past three days.

"You are the one who got injured," He said, turning to look at me. His eyes said it all: He was hanging from a thread. "I'll cover the first shift."

I smiled at him sadly before putting one hand to his temple and using the force to knock him unconscious. I grabbed him before he fell to the floor and carried him to a cot to the side of the tent. Stubborn as only clones could be. I took the half finished mug of koff and started writing my report. It would be a long night.

...

When Master Plo declared the planet taken, the extractions started. We moved the injured first along with the supplies and gear. We were all glad to get off this Force forsaken rock and go back to Coruscant for some well deserved time off. But we all knew it wouldn't last long. The war was escalating every day and the GAR's forces were beginning to stretch themselves thin. We would get a week or two tops.