Back in the Game (COMPLETE)

9.3.2

Half an hour later, Ahsoka was slightly proud to say she won all six arm-wrestling matches. Was that appropriate behavior for a commander? No, but it was temporary anyways. Besides, they had six hours to kill before they reached Lokori. Half an hour of that was not going to hurt them.

Caleb came in right as the last of the matches was wrapping up. "All the checks are complete, Commander Tano," he updated her, and she grinned. He was loving this just as much as the troopers were.

"Where are Jinx and O-Mer?" she asked, not seeing them behind him.

"They ran off to train, I think," he answered. "I can go find them, if you need them."

She smiled and shook her head. "I just wanted to make sure they weren't getting into trouble. The troopers don't know them as well as they know me, and even you've met them before."

Rex, who had watched Ahsoka absolutely destroy her opponents, chimed in. "Not recently, but there were a few missions where Commander Dume joined us. Not to mention you have a good reputation among your own men."

"Well, we all know who that was thanks to," Caleb said, turning to Ahsoka. "Remember that first mission?"

"I remember," she laughed. "Very well, actually."

"She was the one who taught me about you, and how the troop works," Caleb explained to the captain. "There were other things too, but that's mostly what I remember."

Rex chuckled. "Good to know she passed it along. You're doing better than she did at your age."

"Thanks, Rex," she groaned sarcastically. "He's right, though. All of it started with him, after all."

"So you've mentioned," Caleb noted. "Why else would they have been so happy to see you?"

Ahsoka smiled up at Rex, who had broken out into a grin. "They wouldn't have done that four years ago, I imagine."

He chortled, admitting, "I doubt it. We probably would have crushed you four years ago. You were so tiny and so shiny."

Caleb laughed. "That would have been fun to watch." He looked out the door. "I'm going to find the others. They're probably mingling in the mess hall by now."

"If they start chicken fights, tell them no weapons!" Ahsoka called after him. "We don't need injuries before we exit hyperspace!"

"Weapons? Chicken fights?" Caleb asked, pausing mid-step. "Is this normal?"

Rex had to fight off laughter now. "Go ask the boys to show you, Commander."

He ran off, and the two snorted as he darted down the hallway. Only on General Skywalker's cruiser did shenanigans like this become normal. It was stuff like this that Ahsoka missed.

"Come on," Rex told her, following Caleb out the door. "There's something you should see."

Ahsoka followed him silently, and he led her to the hangars. He walked over to where the starfighters were kept when not in use. She expected him to show him a new model that Anakin had gotten his hands on, or some improvement he had made recently, or maybe one that he had scrapped in a fight.

What she didn't expect was for Rex to walk all the way to the last compartment, where old, damaged fighters were kept, and for a completely intact fighter to be sitting there. He activated the motors to roll it out, and Ahsoka saw that this wasn't just any fighter.

It was hers.

The troopers had given it a complete makeover. The original ship had been painted burgundy, to match her dress as a Jedi and to set it apart from Anakin's yellow fighter. Now, though, the wings were painted with blue stripes to match her montrals, and the nose had a layer of orange over it. White marks to match her forehead and cheeks were covering the middle, although they had changed a bit since the last time she had been here. That wasn't the impressive part, though.