Finally pulling out Arc & Pi's story for @clonexocweek ((surely it still counts if both clones are ocs... right? sure... yeah that totally works.)) This is Arc's first look at Pi in the hanger. Her speech to the new set of vode in Succor for the next deployment pulls at his heart, makes slow down and think.
Read the full chapter below the cut. I dont know if I'll ever post chapter 2 or finish it though....
Redefined - Chapter 1
Arc scrolled through the datapad one more time while he waited in the hanger bay. It was just as bare of orders as before but still he tried to find something, anything, on his new platoon assignment. It was his fourth new assignment in just as many deployments. He couldn't settle and just be.
A proximity alert flashed in his HUD for his right side and he sighed. It was too early for socializing, not that it ever ended well. All he needed to do was keep his mouth shut and get through this deployment.
Or at least first form up.
"What's your name, vod?" The approaching brother had maroon armor stripes and similar stripes shaved along the sides of his, otherwise uniform, hair.
His smug grin was the deciding factor for Arc, he wasn't going to play into whatever he was doing. His flight out here was long and he didn't sleep a wink during it.
"Come on," the brother playfully pushed Arc's shoulder, "don't be like that. I'm Mark, CT-4242."
Curse the rules of social engagement and the hours of etiquette training drilled into them. "CT-1731…" he sucked in a breath and willed himself calm, "Arc."
Force and fate had long since turned their eye from him but still he asked for just a chance. Another breath passed in silence as Mark's eyes brightened and the smile widened.
Oh here we karkin' go…
"Pack your kama away?" Mark leaned on his shoulder, smacking his cuirass in time with his quiet cackles.
Arc tried to breathe through the rising heat. He had to make it through; he couldn't face down General Ti after yet another lieutenant kicked him out of their platoon and he was shipped back to Kamino for reassignment. It took everything to only move out of Mark's lean instead of shove him away. "Sergeant Arc," venom dripping in his tight tone.
Mark for his part only grinned wider and eyes narrowing. "Wash out."
His blood boiled in rage and hands shook the datapad while he fought to keep control. Breathe… just breathe and ignore him…
"Right on the mark… as always," he mimicked a firing blaster. "See some of us actually earn our sergeant status, not just handed it because we can't make it through ARC training."
His right hand left the datapad and pulled back, breath stuck fast in his throat and vision blanketed in red.
"Form up!"
Arc snapped to attention, blood rushing in his ears and HUD giving alerts to the quick motions of brothers falling into line behind him. Swallowing the tension and willing his breaths to be shallow and not expressive past his armor, cool relief flowed over boiling anger.
He did it.
For the first time since ARC training, he had made it to first form up without a fight. The Force had given him a chance for once, his new lieutenant wouldn't be learning his name by pulling him out of a fight. Maybe there would be a chance to find a place in this platoon and he wouldn't get immediately transferred or kicked out.
His new lieutenant came to the front of the platoon, the helmet visor carefully taking in each of the squads. A lively and rich green adorning the white armor that was muddled with brown dirt rather than black blaster residue. A leaf curled each pauldron and pieces started to fall into place for Arc.
"Oh I know just where to put you." Commander Wolffe had chuckled under his breath while looking over Arc and his file. "She will straight you right out."
Sisters in the GAR were rarities, those that earned rank even more so. Their names and numbers were often whispered between Kaminoans to the point they were legends. Arc knew of only one that was under Commander Wolffe's leadership and held lieutenant rank.
She pulled the green and white helmet off to reveal a tidy bun and a welcoming smile. "CT-1592, Lieutenant Pi, at your service. Welcome to Succor Platoon, vode."
Arc schooled his own disappointment to silence but there was a chorus of slight groans and clicking of plastoid around him.
In an instant, the soft look was wiped from Pi's face, brown eyes sharpening to cut into the brothers before her. "I didn't know I asked for an opinion on duty placements." Just like her face, all warmth was gone from her voice as she paced before the squads. "We are here to serve the Republic in however they need to be served. If you think that is only by carrying a blaster, you clearly didn't pay attention in flash training. Do you think less of vode who pilot our gunships?"
"No, Sir!" chorused the platoon.
"Are our medic brothers weak for choosing bacta over blaster?"
"No, Sir!"
"What about our brothers on the bridge? Those who keep our ships in perfect working order? Are they less than any of our vode out on the front lines?"
"No, Sir!" Arc's call in the chorus was not empty of feeling, he agreed with it fully.
Pi stopped the pacing and stared at them straight on. "Succor has a bad reputation because we don't fight; yet, when it comes to war, there are many jobs that have to be done to win where a blaster is not carried. Beyond that, there are jobs to be done after the battle is won. Succor holds one of those duties and in my opinion it is the greatest duty of them all."
Arc didn't consider Succor a bad platoon, just not the one he wanted. He had always dreamed of being an ARC trooper, believed himself fated once... but now he was just aimless. Succor's placement and duties was the furthest non-soft-shell placement one could get from an ARC trooper. A part of him wondered if the Force was continuing to toy with him by continuing this terrible string of events.
Clearly others did not hold this mixed feeling about Succor platoon, the clicking and shuffling of plastoid returning to show the unease and discomfort in the soldiers around him. This noise was not unnoticed by Pi who returned to her pacing, voice rising to be heard over the commotions of the hanger.
"We were created to serve the Republic, it is our duty to protect the people of this galaxy from harm. If that is not exciting enough for you, then I want you to think of this. When we go down there, we are coming to an area our brothers just cleared, just freed from the Separatists. We all know the loss that comes with battle. If you are not willing to ensure the people of the galaxy are sheltered and fed for the sake of caring for them, then think of our brothers."
Her voice was pained and cut like a knife in Arc's heart. He had pushed his own batchmates away long ago in his quest for ARC status, jumping squads immediately in hopes to catch the eyes of captains to make their recommendation list. Vague images of faces and numbers were all that remained in his memories of his true brothers, the ones he was supposed to be closest to.
"If we leave their homes broken and destroyed, they will die of exposure. If we do not help with their harvests, they will starve. If we do not repair what our war has broken, the people our brothers died to protect will die themselves— and what does that mean to our brothers' sacrifice?"
It was a question but no answer was expected. A quiet heaviness hung in the air; there was no greater fear for a clone than to die a meaningless death. Arc quietly pondered his brothers again, how many had he seen perish, but no longer remember their names? How caught up in his quest for glory did he become only to forget that there were brothers supposed to be standing at his side?
For long moments, Pi let them stew on that as she quietly returned to the top of the formation.
"What we do matters. We are not here for the glory, we are here to serve the Republic. Look around, we are an entire squad short and our remaining squads are seven, not ten, strong. Everyone pulls their weight and does what is asked of them. High Command thinks this 'light' duty work, but they haven't helped harvest a field or build a home."
Her eyes carefully scanned across the platoon and then narrowed straight on Arc, his blood froze under her sharp gaze.
"Some of you have been assigned here for an attitude check," her eyes let him go, "others for punishment, and some of you just got lucky with your assignment rotations. Regardless, the Force has brought you here for a reason; seek the lesson it wants you to learn."
Arc rolled his eyes, what could it possibly want him to learn besides more embarrassment and disappointment?
"If you think yourself better than this platoon, better than our mission, think again." Pi's voice was back to the sharp pointed edge. "The work is hard enough without being a di'kut. Those of you who want to make trouble, just know this: I did not get this position for my sparkling personality." The flash of her smile was positively cruel. "You will follow orders, or I will run you ragged and then you will still do the work."
He couldn't contain the shiver down his spine and had to swallow the tension caught in his throat. He wondered if Pi had gone through the ARC training and learned such a face from the Alpha class that punished him to the point of tears.
"Sergeants, get your squad's gear in our transport in hanger S5. Then, pick up our requisition materials from the quartermaster and bring them to our transport. Get it all loaded and organized. We leave in four hours. Dismissed."
She turned heel and swiftly departed, complete faith in her sergeants to get it done. Arc watched her leave, catching the sagging of her shoulders and long exhale. Something for him to ponder later… now he had a job to do. Maybe he could pull out of this deployment with a clean record and show that he was finally settling. Then, on the next deployment he could be trusted back on the battlefield with a calm mind and focused energy. Just get through this painfully boring one first.
"Shinies for the shiny sergeant." Mark called to his own squad, "Let's show 'em how it's done."
The blood in his veins was hot again. Arc kept promising himself color once he got a place for a few deployments. He didn't want to look mismatched in the crowd and thusly the only color on his white armor was from blaster fire and damage. Breathe… let it go…
The relatively clean group of brothers behind him shifted at the comment and his silence. At least his group would be tempered. Shiny brothers were always better at following tasks than those with color and scars.
Arc watched Mark's and the other sergeant's group of rainbow colored brothers march forward with their gear before quietly motioning his squad forward as well. Taking account of the 16 troopers in front of him, something stood out.
There were maroons, grays, golden oranges, blues all befor him. Hints of so many squads and divisions lingering in this one platoon, but even the few who had green paint on their armor didn't have Pi's green. Not one brother shared Pi's brilliant green.
Marching through the corridors on to his outlined duties, Arc let his mind wander on that lively green and what markings he would make on his scuffed armor once he finally allowed himself color.