The Wolf Pack

Chapter 29

Wolffe had been working with General Plo Koon long enough not to ignore a Jedi's feelings. He knew Kriari, she was emotional on good days and would turn into a wreck on a bad one. He did admire her ability to feel everything she did and still be able to do her duty. He could never imagine what it would be to be force sensitive -he only knew they could feel things and people, and that was enough to put him off the idea, he had his hands full with his own issues, he didn't want other people's. Needless to say, her 'bad feeling' about the mission was making him weary.

The first time he had met the young Padawan he hadn't thought much about her. Yes, she was his commanding officer but her lack of knowledge and experience didn't go unnoticed, and neither did her willingness to learn and adapt. What stuck with him from the very beginning was her attitude towards him and his brothers. She stood her ground in the face of a negligent superior and stuck by her choices to the very end. He never forgot the names of the clones they saved that day, all because of her. She had taken the lead after the Order lost most of their masters in that blasted arena in Geonosis without question or hesitation and chose to save as many lives as she could.

The next time he saw her, the battle of Abregado happened, she almost died trying to get his brothers to safety. He had been angry, annoyed even, when they were all safely aboard the Twilight, but he had realized it was for the wrong reasons. I don't give a shit about the war effort, she had said. He never forgot the fire in her eyes when she said it, he never forgot the cold edge to her voice, cutting its way to his soul, he never forgot what he thought then: shit, she means it.

Wolffe never forgot Kriari's stubbornness and compassion, her selfless recklessness and how little she cared for her own life when it came to protecting theirs. He never forgot how she put him to sleep with one of those Jedi mind tricks when he was exhausted and running on empty. Wolffe was many things, forgetful was not one of them.

He is quite certain he will never forget the way his gut twisted when he saw the orange streak on her new armour -she was the one to name the 104th The Pack, the 212th had no place on her armour-, or the way she talked and laughed with Captain Rex after their first mission together, what did he know of Kriari that he didn't? He knew they were both the kind of people who make friends easily, but still he couldn't bring himself to forget the way the Captain patted your shoulder as if they'd been friends for years when it was him who had known her the longest.

But he would gladly forget all of that if it would get the image of Kriari working herself into a ball of stress off his mind. He had always known she was diligent, hard working and gunning for excellence in everything she did, but he had never imagined the weight of his brother's lives would come to be such a heavy burden to her. Kriari cared more than a Jedi should, more than a soldier could allow themselves to care, and still, knowing what carrying this burden was doing to her, she continued on. He couldn't really tell if she was that selfless or had such little self preservation. Had no one taught her to compartmentalize? He didn't think so.

So Wolffe did what he did best: he watched over her from the sidelines. He did his job to the best of his ability and urged others to do the same, the Commander didn't need the stress only stupid mistakes could give. He had The Pack watch over her when he couldn't and became her shadow when he could. He brought her caff to the bridge in the mornings and forced her to stop working during lunch. She had also taken to exhausting herself in the dojo before lights out, so he made sure she didn't stay up longer than she should.

He was quite surprised when he realized he didn't mind doing these little things for her. It was the least he could do when she was trying to keep all of them alive, right? What did surprise him was how increasingly protective of her he was getting. Art had teased him about it a few times, and he didn't care for her friendships with others, not really. But why was it that every time he remembered any of her injuries or near brushes with death he felt his rage simmering dangerously? He was not scared of death, every being in existence died at some point, but the thought of losing her of all people brought a side of him to the surface he didn't know he even had. That and the fact that, in his mind, she was no longer Commander Foreas, just Kriari.