Nova was perhaps a bit too overly excited about the idea of becoming a Jedi like Obi-Wan, but it was something she couldn't just push out of her head. Lyra on the other hand, was less than enthused.
"I still don't understand how you can look me in the eyes and tell me you wouldn't jump at the chance to be one! Isn't it just like waht Dooku tried to make us but... better?" Nova grunted as she let herself fall backwards and hit her bed. Obi-Wan gave her a room next to Lyra's in the barracks section of his cruiser that almost gave Nova a heart attack when she first saw it's sheer size.
"I don't know about better. Definitely different. And no, I wouldn't, because the Jedi are as stupid as their rules are." Nova scrunched her marking together as she sat up in her bed.
"They have rules?" Lyra gave her a deadpan look of disappointment.
"No, no they just run about with laser swords and slice people to their hearts content." Nova rolled her eyes and dragged Lyra down to lay across the bed with her.
"If that were true, you'd have joined them a long time ago." Lyra chuckled and put her hands behind her head for laying.
"You're starting to get the hang of the whole sarcasm thing, huh?" Nova smirked at Lyra for a second before laying her head back down. They were both exhausted from their trip to Orto Plutonia with the Senator, but their longing for their friend back was greater than any amount of tiredness.
Aurora was the first person to be there for both of them in a time when they needed it most. Living with her for those 6 short weeks was a dream come true. It was certainly the best six weeks of their lives. Now it was over. All that was left for them now was uncertainty. Uncertainty of their fate, of their place in the galaxy, even if what the hell they were doing on this ship. One thing they knew for sure, there was a rather aggressive knock at the door.
"Hello?" Nova jumped back when the door opened automatically.
"Wow! That door is really cool." She beamed at whoever was at the cool door, her smile faltered slightly when she saw it was Anakin glowering down at her. Lyra noticed her mood drop and peered up to see who it was.
"Can we help you?" Lyra asked. Anakin did a double take for a second. With all that sass he would've sworn it was Obi-Wan talking to him.
"Not me. Obi-Wan wanted you on the bridge." Anakin said before walking out of the room with the door shutting automatically behind him, Nova gasping slightly when it did so. She was too busy talking Lyra's ear off when they were led here to notice it.
"So do we have to find it ourselves, or...?" Anakin didn't come back. Lyra groaned and threw herself back into the stiff bed.
"Come on, let's go! It'll be like a fun little adventure." Nova put all her body weight into dragging Lyra off the bed by tugging her hands. Eventually she flipped onto the floor and snapped up.
"Fine, fine. Let's go." Lyra rolled her eyes but couldn't hide her smile as Nova giddily dragged her along the corridors. They got odd looks from all the clones in yellow and blue painted armor as they passed. Two faces stood out (metaphorically) among the rest. Echo gave a firm nod of his head towards the two as they passed.
"Ladies." Fives gave a goofy grin and a two fingered salute as he passed them by.
"Wait! Fives!" Nova called him back. He turned over his right shoulder to see them again.
"Would you mind showing us to the bridge? We've been walking into random rooms for the past ten minutes." Fives chuckled and waved for them to follow him. Lyra and Echo both rolled their eyes at the same time at Fives' strutting down the corridor. Lyra regretted asking for help from him at all.
"Here we are." He showed them the door with a flourish as it opened.
"Thank you." Nova chirped, happily waltzing in. Lyra grunted in thanks which Fives reveled in. After the door shut behind the two girls, the troopers faced each other with contrasting looks.
"Told ya she likes me." Fives said with a triumphant grin.
"Oh please, you're tolerable at best." Echo rolled his eyes and walked away from his delusional brother. Fives panicked internally, second guessing himself.
"You think she does too, right?" Echo groaned at his brother starting this conversation up for the twelfth time since getting on board the 212th cruiser. Now on the bridge, Nova and Lyra waited to the side for Obi-Wan to notice them.
"Ah, girls. Would you come here please?" Nova was unsure until she saw his smile. She found it weirdly comforting even though his beard covered most of his face. Knowing that he didn't hate her was a comfort more than anything. Lyra gently touched Nova on the back to get her moving.
"What is it?" Nova asked, leaning forward and back on her tip toes.
"We were on our way back to Coruscant, but we were given another mission on the planet of Christophsis. Anakin tells me he saw you two spying on him from the toward in the city. Could you point to which two you were in?" Nova panicked, not knowing how to tell them she didn't know. It was kinda the very last thing on her mind that day.
"She stationed herself right... there, I think? And I was right here." Luckily for the both of them, Lyra was trained to pay attention to the finer details. Plus, she wanted to make the two of them look good.
"How good was the view from those towers to the Main Street?" Captain Rex asked them.
"Good enough for us to see your little battle strategies with a nice set of binocs." Lyra said with a smirk. Rex wasn't as apprehensive of the two girls as he was on Orto Plutonia, but he still didn't trust them. Especially Lyra. A part of him wanted to give in every time he saw sweet little Nova's smile, but when he looks at his General all he could think about was her trying to take him away.
"Good enough for us then. Thank you, ladies, that will be all." Lyra got the message and nodded curtly before turning to leave. She noticed Nova didn't do the same.
"Aren't we going with you again?" She innocently asked.
"You only got to be a part of the mission last time because you were stow aways, and it won't happen again." Anakin glared at the girls, trying to formulate a plan to keep them on the cruiser and out of trouble while he spoke.
"Yes, I'm afraid he's right. You two should stay in your rooms and try to get some rest, and don't get into any trouble while we are gone." Obi-Wan said the same thing as Anakin, just less hostile. It made Nova more inclined to listen to him as she gave a firm nod and followed Lyra peacefully out the door.
{}{}{}
So, Nova didn't try to cause trouble, but she certainly found it with Fives.
"Is that the best you've got?" She was using all of her night so yes, it was the best she had. An awful idea did pop into her mind though.
"You kidding? This is nothing." Hands squashed together in a tussle to figure out who's stronger, Fives and Nova had an arm wrestle in the middle of the cafeteria. At first they were all rooting for Fives, but Nova won their hearts and Fives' respect in one final push.
"Yes!" She cheered. All the men with yellow and blue painted armor on around congratulated her, some jumping at the chance to wrestle next. Fives patted her on the back and everybody hushed nearby to hear what would be said.
"I'm not sure that round was really fair. Want a rematch?"
"Why? So you can lose twice?" Everyone who heard the burn seethed with pain on their brothers behalf. A couple of his friends from his legion hit him as they died of laughter. Even Fives was laughing. Nova found herself overjoyed by the amount of attention, she's never had anything like this happen to her before.
"Don't get cocky, kid. Come on, round two." Fives and Nova went back to it. From a distance, Lyra and Echo stood together in silence; watching them.
"How's she so strong?" Echo asked our of genuine curiosity.
"She told me she took some hefty labor jobs on the streets to pay for her food. She's built up some muscle." Lyra looked at her facial expression in their round two arm wrestle. Occasionally it would shift in and out of straining, showing she was only sometimes putting in extreme effort while Fives always was.
"Plus, I'm about 90% sure she's using the force. Whether she realizes it or not is a while different question." Echo scoffed and looked away from her neutral face.
"Don't worry, I won't tell Fives. He could use a good knock to the ego." Echo succeeded at making the stoic girl chuckle dryly. He didn't much care, as Fives was the one who had the stupid crush on her. If that's even what you wanted to call it.
A lieutenant of the 501st, known as Jesse, started a betting system between who would win round two. Everywhere you turned someone was talking about how tired they were and different strategies to place bets. They didn't have much money, but they had other things to bet, like they're pride.
Right in the middle of their arm wrestle, a brief alarm went off through the mess. Nova jumped in her seat at the loud noise, accidentally allowing Fives to get the jump on her in the match.
"Nooooo!" Jesse dropped to his knees after his fate was sealed. Nova didn't even notice her hand slammed against the cold metal until Fives' chuckle broke her out of her nervous freeze. The alarm went off but the flashing re flight remained.
"Whoo!" Fives jumped up to join the cheering, except nobody else was in the mess any longer. Only Jesse remained, quietly sobbing about his new job of cleaning the latrines for 60 Coruscanti cycles.
"Oh come on!" Echo and Lyra ran to get the two oblivious arm wrestlers and usher them to where they needed to be.
"This isn't over!" Nova and Fives yelled at each other before going opposite ways. Echo and Fives both ran to their post quirk Lyra dragged Nova down the corridor to their room.
"Hey! What are we doing in here? We should be helping!" Nova yanked her arm free in front of the doorway.
"Nova, these men are trained to know what to do to help. You aren't, so get in the room." Nova relented, solemnly sinking onto her bed with a deep pout on her face. The two didn't say anything to each other while they sat there in silence. Nova had found a squishy ball in the corner on a desk she would toss up in the air. It would hit the ceiling and land in her hand. One time it hit the ceiling and fell behind the bed, but she was too comfortable to get up and get it.
When the flashing red lights finally stopped, Nova bolted upright from the bed and took off out the door, Lyra yelling after her. Unfortunately, she didn't care enough to run after her. A subtle walk would be good enough. Nova came crashing through the doors of the room she was in before going to the mess.
"What happened? What was the alarm for?" Captain Rex and another clone were in there alone together, hovering over a data table.
"I don't think you're authorized to be in here, kid." Rex put a hand on her shoulder, trying and failing to get her to turn around and leave.
"Whose your friend, Rex?" The other trooper asked. Nova looked at him with a bright smile.
"I'm Nova!" He chuckled, never meeting an absolute bundle of joy like her before. He got a sinking feeling in his heart knowing she had to be on a war ship for a reason.
"I'm Cody. And where are you supposed to be right now, little one?" She tried not to get too offended over the term he used.
"I don't know. Mr. Obi-Wan said I should stay in my room and not make trouble, but that didn't sound very interesting." Cody had to cough over at laugh when he heard how she referred to his General.
"Well, sorry Nova, but you can't be in here." Cody was firm with his words, yet they came from worry. She thought he sounded a lot like Obi-Wan. Out of seemingly nowhere, I'm bursts Anakin through the doors ready for a fight. His face morphed from anger to surprise in an instance. He looked rapidly across the room, halfway expecting to see dead bodies. He finally looked down to see who he thought the culprit would be smiling up at him.
"Hello again." A moment later Lyra and Obi-Wan entered in a less erratic manner.
"But I— she—"
"Oh, calm down, Anakin. Right now she's the least of our problems." Nova saw the two men in front of her give each other the tiniest of smirks. She muffled her laugh with a cough and smiled at them. Anakin huffed and moved back to his old masters side.
"He's right. How'd they know where you were?" Lyra asked. Anakin was immediately fired up again.
"You tell us. You're the one who told us to go there in the first place." Anakin was too close to Lyra's personal space bubble for her liking, but she let it slide because he read already in trouble for enough crimes. Adding assslt on a Jedi for a se one time wouldn't be much better. She did t back away from him though, despite evening much shorter. She glared back at him with natural ferocity.
"Sirs, I can vouch for the two of them. They were in the mess the whole time, plenty of witnesses around." Nova beamed at Cody for the backup to her and her friend. Cody nodded politely in turn.
"And out of curiosity, how do you know they were in the mess, Cody?" Obi-Wan asked his commander.
"One of his boys lost a bet on who would win an arm wrestle to mine. Stuck cleaning the latrines for, what was it Rex, 50 cycles?" Nova was surprised by how Cody teased Rex, she guessed they had been friends for a long time now. The blonde clone looked away with a snarl and an eye roll.
"60." He muttered, ashamed of Jesse in that moment. Rex saw Anakin looking at him with amusement despite his mistrust toward the girls.
"Who was your opponent?" Obi-Wan asked Nova directly, but Anakin looked to his Captain for direct intel.
"More importantly, did she win?" Part of Nova told her that Anakin was hoping she didn't, but that was just a hunch.
"Fives, sir."
"And she did." Cody and her smirked at Obi-Wan.
"Well, most impressive. Now that we've determined Anakin was wrong, per usual, we need to discover who and what's behind such a massive security breach." Anakin pouted momentarily before refocusing on the actual issue at hand. He tapped a hand against his chin. Nova looked up at him, unconsciously copying him. Anakin noticed and soon stopped and walked to the other side of the holotable.
Lyra zoned out the whole time thinking about what would happen if she slapped him and ran out of the room, but all the scenarios she made in her head didn't end well. She tried very hard to not listen when directions or important instructions were being given.
"A spy, sir? But who would betray our troops to the Seppies?" The clone with a gnarly scar on the Sid rod his face asked his general. Lyra was brought back to it by the alarming word. Anakin observed her eyes slightly widen with caution.
"Excellent question, Commander." Obi-Wan hummed in thought for a moment. Now Nova saw where Anakin got the whole tapping his fingers against his chin thing from because Obi-San was doing it now too. In stead of stopping the action when he noticed Nova copying him, Obi-Wan half smiled at her.
"Perhaps it's time we made a visit behind enemy lines. I think we'll find our answers there." Rex, apparently misinterpreted that.
"We'll get right on it." Obi-Wan shook his head, fast to disagree.
"No, Captain. I need you here to find the security breach." Nova was too busy looking back and forth between Cody and Obi-Wan to see what Lyra was doing. Although all Lyra was doing was looking at Nova with a ghost of a smile on her face while watching g girl look all doe eyed and fascinated.
"You can count on us, Mr. Kenobi." A part of Obi-Wan felt Anakin was right and it was too soon to trust the people who used to work for Dooku, but his instincts told him that smile was the most genuine one he had ever seen. Obi-Wan was always told to go with his instincts.
"And take the girls with you, Commander. Hopefully they will be of some help. And one more thing;" Nova leaned back and forth on her tippy toes repeatedly as she tried not to jump up and down with delight.
"This mission is extremely confidential. The spy could be anyone. Let no one know of our mission." Everyone in the room fully understood. Nova turned all the way around and startled Lyra with a big grin on her face.
"What are you so smiley about?" Lyra asked with a subtle smirk as she looked down at the girl. Nova didn't realize but her lekku were so large she tended to hit Lyra with them when she moved suddenly or jumped forward like she was now.
"We get to go on another mission after all! Aren't you happy?" Lyra shrugged, not being as fond of them as Nova apparently.
"Missions like these shouldn't be taken lightly, kid. It's dangerous." Cody tried to warn her. Nova didn't want to hear about the negatives of war. Pain flashed upon her face for an instant at the memory of a dozen dead soldiers buried in the snow on Orto Plutonia.
"I know, I'm sorry. I'll take it seriously, I swear." Nova detected a beep behind her. She spun on her heel to see what it was. Lyra face palmed when it hit her.
"Good. Stay with us at all times. No wandering off. Either of you." Even though Rex spoke of both the girls, he was mainly stating the basic ground rule for Nova's sake. Lyra nodded firmly, dramatically swinging her head to stare at Nova.
"Understood." She said with a sigh. With the silence that followed, a strange beeping noise could be heard coming from the nearby com rack. They all approached the rack.
"Someone left this com link on." Cody grabbed it, showing the blinking light to Rex.
"So they know the plan." Lyra deducted, looking from one clone to another. She squinted her eyes at Rex who isolated himself in the corner of the door.
"And they know we're onto them." Just as Cody finished his thought aloud, Rex jumped in his spot.
"Hey. Stop!" Rex took off in a mad sprint toward something no one else could see. Cody ran after his tail, Nova after his. Lyra groaned, being the last one to kick into gear. She was getting sick of all this running.
"Did you see who that was?" Nova asked. Not only did she catch up to Rex, but she surpassed him in the halls. For someone with much shorter legs, that was quite surprising.
"No." Rex muttered in amazement as she kept going to the end of the corridor. Nova stopped and waited for them to catch up, feeling kinda bad about making them look bad.
"We'll follow him. You take the west corridor." Cody nudged Nova in the shoulder for her to follow him as they both turned left. Nova activated her light saber in mid run, just in case they more cuts tumbled upon the suspect. Unfortunately, all they seemed to find was Rex.
"Did you see anything?" Nova asked him.
"No, did you?" Nova thought for a moment.
"I think I saw some clone armor when he was running. I—I think." Rex didn't want to believe it, but he thought he saw the same thing. Cody had the same thought. Commander Cody had no idea of Nova or Lyra's checkered Separatist past, so he had no reason to not trust her. Rex however...
"Impossible. There's no way." Cody tried to hide his mild surprise at Rex's bold statement.
"Well, they had to have gone in the mess hall. Let's take a look." Lo and behold, as he opened the doors to the mess it was only a sea of troopers in pristine white clone trooper gear.
"Nice eye, kid." Cody nudged her with as much of a smile as he could muster. It wasn't much of a smile considering her observation was proven correct. Rex sighed, glancing at Nova with an apologetic look. They heard panting behind them and pointed their weapons at the door only for Lyra to pop into view, heaving and coughing.
"Thanks... for waiting." She said I'm between pants. Lyra leaned herself against the door frame. Nova did her best not to chuckle.
"Well, your lack of stamina wasn't our top priority." Rex muttered bitterly as he passed her. Cody followed his brother and motioned his head to the side for Nova to do the same. She grabbed Lyra's arm and put it over her shoulder again like before on Pantora, helping her walk back to the command room.
"One of us? Great. But which one?" Rex frustratedly slammed his helmet on the holotable. Lyra finally caught her breath and let go of Nova.
"We'll have to wait for his next move. Keep this to ourselves. You're good with secrets, aren't you kid?"
"If I weren't, you would already know the answer to that question." Her weird, rhetorical way of giving Cody a somewhat understandable answer reminded him a lot of General Kenobi.
"Wait, shouldn't you warn the Jedi about this? They could be walking into a trap behind enemy lines!" Rex was busy in thought about every interaction he's ever had with every trooper on board that he knows of.
"You're on it, kid." Cody walked over to the console. He attempted to send out a transmission to Obi-Wan, but with no such luck.
"We can't reach General Kenobi."
"Have you tried the other one?" Rex's upper lip curled into a snarl, not liking the mention of his General as "the other one".
"It's no use. Whoever it is must've blocked all communication. We won't be able to reach anybody." Rex noticed his generals right hand 'man' quietly sitting in the corner.
"R2, come over here and plug in." Nova never noticed the droid before. She's never seen one built like it either.
"Wow. Whose droid so that?" She asked in awe, wanting to know if she could look at him closer.
"General Skywalker's." Rex said, with a slight flare towards Lyra who mentioned him as "the other one" earlier.
"Oh." Nova looked down and backed away from the droid. She didn't think he would want her to touch his droid. Cody clearly noticed her disinterest when she found out it was his.
"What are you doing?" Cody asked him skeptically, eyeing R2.
"Guard got his messages out there somehow. We just gotta find them." Rex had a point. Nova still didn't realize how life or death the situation could be to them, all she could focus on was how this could effect Obi-Wan and even Anakin.
"What do you think? He just sat down and wrote a note?" Nova chuckled softly. Cody grinned at her, delighted by the in fact he finally had someone who found his dry jokes funny.
"We have to start somewhere." Lyra picked her long, pale blue tinted nails towards the side of the room.
"So, kid. Where you from?" Lyra suddenly became interested in the conversation once more. She could sense Nova's discomfort from a parsec away.
"I... don't know." Rough way to start that conversation. Cody felt immediate guilt, Nova could see it flood his features too.
"We don't like to talk about our pasts." Lyra stated very bluntly for Commander Cody.
"Sorry, kid. Didn't mean to upset you. I just—"
"It's fine, Mr. Cody. I don't mind." Nova just didn't want him to feel bad for thinking he hurt her, but she definitely minded still.
"Just Cody will do." Nova and Cody smiled at each other. Lyra was able to relax again.
"Hey. R2 found something."
"What is it? Is it the traitor?" Nova hopped up onto the holotable and sat down while peering over the datapad screen Rex held up for Cody to see. Rex looked at her newly appointed seat with disdain. But, Cody didn't seem to care so he decided to let that slide. Nova sighed, slightly losing interest. Lyra noticed.
"What?" Nova hopped off the holotable again and wandered over to Lyra.
"I'm bored." Nova muttered. She was expecting this top secret, highly confidential mission to be a little more thrilling. She jumped when Lyra swiftly reached out and latched onto her arm.
"Stop that." Nova looked down and realized she was unconsciously scratching at her brand again. Cody gasped slightly when he saw the marking of the Separatist Alliance on her wrist.
"Cody? Did you hear me?" He was fixated on the thought of that little girl who laughed at his dumb joke, who swung her feet as she sat on the holotable, that girl who was so excited to be trusted with top secret intel, being a Separatist spy. He couldn't stand the thought of it.
"Rex..." Rex looked at his brother questioningly. He followed Cody's eyes to Nova's brand being flashed their way as the two girls argued over something in the corner.
"Don't worry, Cody, the Generals think we can trust them. Or, yours does at least. They aren't our biggest concern at the moment." Cody sighed, but listened to the rest of Rex's theory.
"You could scratch yourself." Lyra did her best to come up with a more shallow reason as to why it was important Nova stopped scratching her brand.
"Maybe I should. Then maybe some less hideous scab will cover it." Nova held up her wrist and gradually began scratching more and more reverently in Lyra's face. She rolled her eyes and slapped Nova's hand back down to her side.
"Hey, let's go ladies. We might have our traitor." Rex said. Cody glanced them both up and down for any sign of negative or positive body language. Lyra showed signs of serious disinterest as she crossed her arms and rolled her eyes while following Rex out. Nova whooped with joy before skipping outside the command center on Lyra's heels. The happiness that filled Cody with the nice feeling himself now only made him question if it was a facade.
"Where are we off to now, Cap?" Lyra asked, inspecting her nails once more, trying not to pick at her calloused hands. She was being extra cautious now more than ever to avoid the habit of picking at her branded skin.
}{}{}{
"No, no my guys are the best! No way they're capable of something like this." Nova and Lyra got a bad vibe from the supposed man in charge of the suspected squadron. They have each other a consulting look. They both appeared to have a simultaneous agreement that something was off about him. Nova tugged on the blacks I'm between his wrist cuff.
"I have a bad feeling about him." She muttered. Cody couldn't help but look at her questioningly. The brand he just saw still fresh in mind, even though all he could see now as she stared at him helplessly was a little girl who wanted a home.
"Hang tight, kid. Let us do some digging. But, your feeling is noted." Cody patted her on the shoulder until she let go of him.
"You called them here?" Slick asked as his men filed into the room. They all looked on confusedly st their commanding officers, then their confusion doubled when they saw a random twi'lek and togruta.
"Of course we did. We're getting to the bottom of this. Now." Lyra couldn't help but take a seat on a bunk. One of the troopers opened his mouth, preparing to tell her that was his spot. She sensed his intent forming in his mind, gave him one glare, and watched with a smirk as he sat on a crate by his brothers bunk instead.
"We've got a turncoat in our midst. And we think it's one of you." Nova and Lyra kept their eyes on Slick as he moved nervously Rex and Cody. Lyra rolled her eyes at least four separate times while Rex and Cody questioned and intimidated the men. It was quite amusing, especially considering Nova told them who they should really be questioning ten minutes ago.
"Commander, if you could give me just a minute with them." Cody took what Nova was saying and paired it with what Slick was asking. Her bad feeling was starting to be mutual. The girls focus on Slick transitioned to the man next to him. Chopper was erratic, desperate in his attempt to convince his brothers he was loyal to them. For a moment, Nova felt bad about thinking any of them would do such a thing. Lyra, however, did not.
"Chopper we're all brothers. But how can we trust anything you say now?" Now Nova and Lyra stood up, approaching the troopers from the back of their bunk beside Chopper and Slick.
"No, sir! I'm telling you, I did not—" Lyra especially took notice of the physical clues Slick was giving. Not letting Chopper get a word out, seeming a little too relieved he wasn't a suspect. Nova noticed the mental clues, how she could sense in her mind something clouded his every word, even if she didn't know how she was doing it.
"It's okay. We'll get you a proper investigation. You don't have to say anything 'til the Jedi come back." Immediately, Nova and Lyra activated and raised their sabers toward Slick through the bunk. He jumped away into Chopper.
"It's him. He's the traitor." Lyra growled, tightening her grip on the brilliant purple blade. Rex and Cody glared at him, placing their hands on their blasters firmly.
"Sirs! You aren't actually going to believe two Separatist tail-heads about Republic military affairs, are you?" Nova's grip on her light saber lessened at the derogatory dig. For a moment, she wondered if that's how all the clones thought of her as. Just a dumb seppie tail-head.
"Apparently, they're more loyal than you." Cody muttered, even though he wasn't fully sure of who to believe anymore.
"Wait. How did you know the Jedi were gone, Sergeant?" Cody approached him as intimidatingly as ever. Slick hunched over. Nova felt empowered by Cody's comeback questioning her loyalty. She hopped over the bed and held her light saber closer to his neck.
"I really wished you hadn't noticed that, Commander." In one swift move he elbowed Nova in the nose, ducking to avoid her flying light saber as she fell back, and dive rolled through the bunk before dashing out of the room with Rex hot on his tail.
"Are you okay?" Cody and Lyra asked Nova at the exact same time.
"I got her. You go." Cody forgot he wasn't supposed to let them leave their sight. He hesitated leaving them. Not because of their past, but because he was worried about Nova. It would be a minor injury if anything, but she was still just a kid.
Nova grunted in pain. She pulled her hand up to touch her own nose to see if it felt deformed or out of its shape. Lyra slapped her hand away and somewhat aggressively pulled Nova's face upward to get a closer look.
"Nothings broken. You'll live." Lyra took Nova by the hands and forced her up.
"Gee thanks." Lyra stopped with a little gasp as she looked at Nova.
"Was that sarcasm I heard?" Nova rolled her eyes. The little moment was interrupted by a large explosion nearby. Nova took off out the door without waiting for anybody.
"An eye roll too! They grow up so fast." Lyra was happy until she realized there would be more running involved with this dumb mission of theirs. She groaned loudly before getting into a light jog out the door to pace herself this time. All the troopers gave each other weird looks, all wondering if she was bipolar.
"Nova! Wait!" She, in fact, did not wait even for a second. She ran into the command center with her light saber deactivated, but in her steadfast hands ready for use. There was nobody in the center so she stood there, pondering what to do next. She heard something. A shift in the vent but when she looked up no one was there. Lyra came speed walking into the command center.
"Did you find him?" She asked. Nova waved her hands wildly pointing around the completely empty room.
"Yeah, I found him. He was in my pocket the whole time." Lyra couldn't hide the utter shock Nova just caused her. Nova instantly felt bad about what she said.
"Sorry, that was mean."
"No, it was sarcasm! That was great, Nov...a." Lyra's speech slurred the moment she saw the clone they were looking for hiding in the ventilation duct.
"I think you should go find the Captain and Commander to tell them the command center is clear." Lyra spoke so slowly, Nova knew something was up so she mouthed the word "what" silently.
"Tell them there's no one in here." Lyra said, nodding upwards slightly. Now pointed in the right direction, Nova knew what she was talking about. She could sense him above them, waiting. Nova nodded, swiping a com link on her way out. As soon as the doors shut, she activated her com link.
"Cody? Rex? This is Nova, come in."
"Kid! What are you doing? Where are you?" Nova could tell that was Cody based on the nickname, and his initial questions being about her instead of Slick.
"Do you have eyes on Slick?" Now there was Captain Rex.
"Yes, Lyra and I tracked him to the command center. He's in the vents." Rex laughed with triumph, thinking they had him now.
"I'm gonna go in and get him, don't worry." And just like that, Rex and Cody's panic returned.
"No, kid, just wait for—" Again, Nova in fact did not wait for them before barging back into the command center. What she saw truly horrified her.
"L—Lyra! Lyra stop!" Lyra had him gasping for air in an invisible choke hold. Lyra was zeroed in on Slick's gasping face alone. It took Nova grabbing her arm and ripping it back down to her side. Slick fell back to the ground and Lyra tumbled over.
Nova decided to focus on the rogue clone in the moment, despite being disturbed by seeing Lyra commit such a dark act, even if it was justifiable. Slick slapped Nova across the face and shoved her to the side. He opened the door and made an attempt to flee again, but Nova used the force to pull him back just before the doors shut. Lyra took his blaster and blasted the control panel, locking him in there with them. Lyra aimed her saber at Slick who flinched and hid his face with his arms.
"Lyra, stop!" Lyra wasn't listening to Nova as she swung her saber at the clone who tumbled behind the holotable.
"Lyra, you're gonna kill him!" Nova's shouts of morality weren't enough to deter Lyra from securing the smaller girl's future and safety within this Republic. Lyra moved left beside the holotable, Slick moved the opposite way. Slick smirked while that same process repeated for a few tense seconds before Lyra leaped over the holotable and rolled on her back to the other side. She swiped the saber horizontally as her feet touched the ground, every intent to kill.
"Hey." Nova scared the twi'lek by coming around and grabbing the red light saber out of her hand and deactivating it.
"You need to stop. Right. Now. You're going too far." Lyra's eyes fluttered. For a second she forgot where she was and who was speaking to her. The two girls had less than a second to have a lengthy conversation with just the look in their eyes.
"Nov—" Lyra shouted as a warning, but before her first letter fell out of her mouth Nova activated both light sabers and blocked the stun attacks from Slick.
"We're on the same side! Why are you fighting me?" Nova's defenses came crumbling down. It wasn't that she cared about what Slick had to say, but it made her think if the other clones she would consider her friends thought the same thing. Slick saw her moment of weakness and grinned as he took his shot. Lyra shoved her to the floor.
"Nobody touches her." She growled while ferociously attacking him with a sea of kicks and punches so fast he never stood a chance. Lyra gave him an uppercut to the jaw so sting he got some altitude as he flew back and landed on the data table. He was noticeably struggling to get up. Nova summer-salted above him and landed with her feet on both side of him. She caught a sloppy punch of his and gave him a stronger one to the face right back.
"Oh no! I didn't kill him, did I?" Nova asked in sheer panic. She fell off the holotable in an attempt to scramble backwards from what she prayed wasn't a dead body. Lyra wasn't worried about him, seeing as he wasn't getting up to hurt them anymore whether he was dead or unconscious.
"Hey. Hey, Nova. Look at me." Nova's eyes zoomed around the room but kept finding their way back to Slick's emotionless face.
"You did what you had to do. He got what he deserved, whatever that fate may be." Lyra pulled her into a tight hug. She let go for a second and leaned over the holotable, slapping Slick's lifeless leg out of the way only for it to fall back and kick her in the buttocks. Out of anger, she punched his leg in the shin even though he couldn't feel it. Lyra tapped two fingers to the man's neck.
"He's alive." Nova let out a heavy breath of relief at hearing that. Outside the command center, Captain Rex and Commander Cody were having heart attacks realizing they didn't follow either orders given by their generals. The two former seppie ladies were off on their own with the current Separatist traitor. A recipe for disaster.
"Hey, kid! Kid, open this door!" Cody shouted. Over the com, her voice came through clearer.
"I don't know how. We blasted it to keep him from escaping." Cody and Rex shared incredulous looks with each other. One of them thought it was a surprisingly smart move, the other thought it was irresponsible and reckless. It was easy to tell which generals they respectively served under to say the least.
"We're coming in." Rex and Cody dropped their blasters and positioned themselves against each others backs, ready to push the main doors open.
"Ready?" Cody asked him.
"3, 2, 1–" Just as they were about to put all their force into the big push, the doors flew open and they fell forward.
"Oh, sorry! Lyra figured out how to open the doors on the holotable." Nova said with her hands clasped tightly behind her back, bouncing back and forth on her toes with a guilty grin on her face. Lyra was openly laughing at them from behind her.
Rex and Cody took a few grounding seconds to soak in their surroundings. The room was torn apart, occasional light saber marks or blaster charges on the floor and tech, not to mention the renegade clone in question sprawled out unconscious on the holotable.
"Huh." Rex grunted, not knowing what else to say.
"Well, looks like your General was worried over nothing, Captain." Cody said teasingly toward his friends yet appreciative of their valiant efforts at the same time. He clamped an armored hand on the shoulders of Nova and Lyra.
"Nicely handled you two." Cody took a closer look at them and noticed they didn't even get so much as a scratch from Slick.
"Well done. Cody, let's get that one in cuffs and throw him in the brig until they come back." Cody nodded to his friend. He smiled at Nova before moving around her to yank Slick off the table and slap a pair of binders on his limp wrists.
It didn't take long for Generals Skywalker and Kenobi to reach the Republic base after their failed mission. Well, to be fair neither of them died, so for Anakin that was a win enough.
"Welcome back, sirs." Cody greeted them. Nova and Lyra walked slower behind the two clones. Obi-Wan spared her a small smile before looking back to Cody.
"Thank you, Cody. Hope we didn't miss any of the excitement."
"Well, we have had some excitement ourselves. Especially flirty-wan Kenobi over here." Anakin was too caught up in the moment of making fun of his master's odd relationship with Asajj Ventress to realize who he accidentally shared a smirk with. It gave Nova a sense of false hope, that maybe, just maybe he was starting to come around to her.
"Anakin, did I forget to teach you the most pivotal part of being a Jedi?" Anakin shot him an inquisitive look.
"Which would be?" He begged the question.
"Knowing when to shut up." Everyone in the small huddle walking towards the northwest corridor shared a good laugh. Everyone except Anakin, that is.
"Jesse, bring the prisoner to the north west corridor."
"Yes, Captain." Awhile later Jesse showed up with Slick. Lyra put herself in between Slick and Nova as he came down the corner glaring at them. He spat at their feet, letting a string of profanities aimed at twi'lek people specifically. Lyra's face remained stone cold as he passed. Nova stuck her tongue out behind the clone's back.
"Hey, I've got a bone to pick with you." Nova turned her head slightly to see the trooper who dropped off Slick approach her. Lyra tried to step in front of her again, but Nova walked away before she could. Lyra felt a twinge in her heart as she left.
"Thanks to you, I've gotta clean out the 501st latrines for 60 rotations." Nova tried not to laugh at the poor trooper too openly.
"I didn't make you place that bet. That was your own poor decision." Fives and Echo stood behind him, trying to stifle their laughter. Jesse turned to look back at them, then suddenly they both found the durasteel ceiling and floor very interesting.
"But look at it this way, now next time you know who to bet on." Jesse scoffed dryly. He wanted to laugh at her joke, but the burden of cleaning up his brothers bodily fluids kept popping to the center of his mind.
"That I do, ma'am. That I do." Jesse nodded respectfully to her as he turned around to shove the two Domino twins behind him.
"Will you two shut it? At least I wasn't the one who lost." Nova chuckled as she heard them while they strolled down the hall with their helmets in one hand, clutching their aching stomachs with the other while laughing too hard. That comment in particular caused Echo to lose it.
"Next time you should go against her, Echo. Let's see how well you do."
"Can't do much worse than you, brother." Nova heard the teasing was in his tone, but she also heard the loving side as well. As she stood there in her own little world watching the fun clones of the 501st walk away from her. While this was happening, Rex, Cody, and their Generals stood there observing the scene, and Lyra who was also admiring her smaller friend.
"You know, General, she was the one to capture Slick." Cody said, obviously talking about Nova.
"They both helped." Rex said, looking at the floor. He didn't like disagreeing with his General, but this was a subject worth disagreeing over.
"What are you trying to say, Rex?" Anakin asked him. He valued his captain's opinion, but he was also naturally a very stubborn person.
"Sir, with all due respect, we have no idea what Count Dooku put them through. They were trained to follow orders. Just like us clones. They just didn't have the right person giving the orders. I, personally, do not think it's their fault." Cody smiled at Rex during his little lament to his General. Obi-Wan and Cody shared a satisfied look. Neither could of said it better themselves.
"See, Anakin? It appears you're the only one who doesn't want them around." Anakin crossed his arms. He would be outing if he said Rex didn't have a point. A part of him almost felt bad imagining what torturous teachings the Count would inflict upon his students. He didn't feel that kind of sympathy towards Ventress or Grievous. Maybe, it was indeed because Lyra and Nova didn't want that for themselves in the first place.
"Fine! She can stay a little longer. Until we're positive she doesn't pull a Slick." Anakin jerked his head back to where the traitor was taken off the cruiser. Rex and Anakin split off from the other Jedi and commander.
"Sir?" Cody inquired. Obi-Wan raised a brow, beckoning him to proceed.
"On the kid's wrists, I saw the Separatists mark. Is it true she was on their side?" Obi-Wan tapped his chin in thought of the best way to put this.
"On Christophsis, the last time we were here, Anakin was attacked by the two of them. They fled before a real fight could commence. On Pantora we found them hiding out at the Chairman and Senator's palace with a handmaiden." Cody didn't see how that gave him a solid answer, but he didn't want to be rude to his General so he waited patiently for more. Obi-Wan came to halt as he simply glanced at Cody for a reaction.
"Is that it, sir?" Obi-Wan shrugged.
"Until she trusts us enough to tell us more, that is all we know. Well, we do know one more thing." Obi-Wan corrected himself. Cody quirked a brow up to ask his general for more.
"They both have talent in the force, but the child more than the other girl. She will need to be trained, or I am afraid she will be vulnerable to Dooku once more."