A Savior To All

Pills

Aliyah's pov
"But-But Axel!" There was no way he's doing this to me. After an eerie feeling always luring over me the last couple of days, I finally wake up feeling refreshed and he springs this shit on me?

"No buts. We're rendezvousing with Skywalker and Commander Tano on the surface at 1100 hours, so you better perk up by then." We solved the hostage situation with the chairman's daughters and Senator Chuchi only a few days prior to this and I haven't felt like anything was normal since. Master gets the same feeling, it only intensifies whenever we're in the temple.

"I assume it's too late to cancel now since I also assume we are already on our way to the surface." I gripped tighter onto the curvy fabric sealed tightly for the troops to hold onto at the top of the gunship. The overwhelming feeling of being held hostage began to creep in. Meeting authority figures, being away from Asalyn and my protection squad, it sounded like hell on Mandalore. Sure Ahsoka would be there, but I haven't spent a minute apart from Asalyn in months. Literal, full, months.

"You're an excellent assumption maker. Three for three, wanna know what I'm assuming?" Axel asked as he placed a gloved hand on my shoulder. He fully extended his arm because of his distance away.

"What."

"I assume you better be on your best behavior or else Asalyn and I are gonna have to come down here in mid battle to reprimand you for- for god only knows what!" Axel was clearly stressed out with the multi missions. Towards the end the pressure he applied to my shoulder became too much to bear and I flinched backwards as normal looking as I could without offending him. Before we left he gave Sargeant Felcrox the task of informing his Winter squad of the small recon mission they were just assigned. I like to think of recon as the wash pre-mission before the battle.

"All right, I get it. Best behavior for the rich brats."

"Rule number one of being on your best behavior; don't call the rich brats what they are. They don't like truth." The fact he just repeated what he was actively telling me not to say to tell me not to say it made me laugh. Axel gave me a small wink before sliding on his helmet just as we touched down.

"Ready, kid?" Axel didn't even wait for my response before walking out of the freshly opened gunship doors. I shook off my surprise and lightly jogged the whole time to keep up with his tall strides.

"I don't want to be here." I whispered to Axel. He scuffed my boots to be as subtle as possible.

"How do you think I feel?" That's true. These people may be nice, but there's always the invisible social barriers clones always feel pressure to break between the highest higher ups but don't have enough confidence to.

"Ecstatic." I replied flatly. While on our mission with Senator Chuchi they both taught me a little bit of that sarcasm Ahsoka and Asalyn are always using. I've found it comes in handy when having fun conversations like this.

"Greetings, Duchess." Axel said very flatly. To most people it sounded like he was holding his breath all the way here and just let it out.

"Hello there, and what is your name?" She inquired.

"CC-5698." He responded, fully expecting the shocked response he was met with.

"Right... And who is this young lady?" The woman Axel referred to as Duchess Satine smiled very warmly at me, when I smiled back her nose scrunched up in delight.

"This is Commander Aliyah Caddel of the 338th legion. She's been assigned here by the Jedi Council to oversee the training of your young'uns." Duchess Satine nodded and managed to keep the same welcoming smile on at all times. Even when we couldn't see her face. So she's either fake, or education of the new generation by a Jedi their age or perhaps even younger excites her beyond belief. Pretty sure it isn't the latter.