General Kenobi had been very, VERY smug when he returned to the gunship (leaping onto the still extended ramp in mid-air, of course. Dramatic bastard.) twirling Mauls unlit double lightsaber. Bloody and bruised and generally a bit worse for wear, but very smug.
Cody couldn’t help but smile at the troops infectious cheering (despite the familiar mix of exasperation and relief) watching his General’s face flush at the attention, contradicting his cocky bow.
Resuming his characteristically confident gait, the Jedi Master brushed off concerned questions and requests to visit medical as usual, (“A few bumps and scrapes that’s all Commander, I’m quite fine I assure you.”) and just about managed to hide his limp as they rendezvoused with the rest of the mission group on the Negotiator.
Cody smiled conspiratorially with Rex as General Kenobi was mobbed by Skywalker and Tano, practically vibrating with excitement at sight of the new weapon.
“Master Obi-Wan can I have a go?”
“Wow Master Drallig is going to flip his lid!”
“I know! You should’ve seen Maul’s face”
Their Jedi were such children sometimes.
---
That was three days ago. And it turns out, three days in the company of a Sith lightsaber did…Things, to their resident Jedi.
Cody’s General had once told him that Jedi loved Kyber crystals. They were surrounded by them in the temple and a Kyber crystal was supposed to bring out the very best in its Jedi.
Well, if a Jedi crystal helped them be the best they could be then Cody surmised, based on the scene in front of him, that a Sith crystal did the exact opposite.
He stared in shock at the only three occupants of the room he had just unwittingly strolled into, each surprising and unnerving him in their own unique way;
General Skywalker was biting his lip, glancing worriedly at his companions and fidgeting his hands like a nervous youngling. A far cry from the Hero with No Fear.
Commander Tano was grumbling angrily to herself, spitting quiet words with unusual venom as she kicked a chair back underneath a table, glaring around as if the Universe itself had pissed her off. Contrasting jarringly with the happy flippant teenager he’d seen trailing around after Rex.
General Kenobi was a similar juxtaposition to his usual self, and it alarmed Cody the most to see his larger-than-life, Force-of-nature General sitting with his head in his hands staring at the table with an almost comically miserable look on his face.
Cody didn’t quite know weather to advance or retreat.
“I feel awful” General Kenobi groaned. “Everything hurts” he moaned, staring pathetically into space with big sad eyes.
Cody had a genuine fear that his Jedi had been possessed by a spirit of some kind.
“Master you’ve got to look after yourself!” Skywalker looked at him anxiously, biting his nails. “You know maybe, maybe I should put trackers in your sabers, I’d know where you are, both of you, all the time then” he said determinedly.
His Master ignored him, simply sinking down to rest his head on the table.
“I’m so tired. I wish Dooku and his cronies would just fuck off for a while” he muttered. Cody felt his mouth drop open. He could count the times he’d heard his classy General swear on all the fingers of one elbow.
Tano rolled her eyes, glaring at both of them and slamming her mug down with a disparaging noise, completely devoid of respect.
She looked between them both angrily. General Skywalker looked back, nibbling his lip again.
“Do you think Rex is OK? I haven’t heard from him in a few hours.” He said, and then made as if to stand up “Maybe I’ll call him, check in” he offered with faux lightness.
Commander Tano rolled her eyes.
“For Force sake, Skyguy stop worrying Rex is fine!” she snapped, pulling him back down and directing her ire at her Grand Master. “And what’s up with you?” she demanded.
“I’m knackered.” Came the short answer “my back hurts because I’m a thousand years old and I’ve had a headache for as long as I can remember” he informed her flatly, still staring into space with large glassy eyes. “I give up, I just want to go to bed.”
Tano had absolutely no sympathy.
“Yeah well, you can’t” she huffed.
Skwalker reached across the table and clutched at his mentor’s hand.
“You’ll be fine Master. Hey maybe we should just all go somewhere” he suggested, a hint of desperation in his voice. “You, me, Snips, Padme, Rex” he said excitedly “we can just find somewhere safe and stick together and wait this whole thing out.”
Cody didn’t spare any time thinking about his omission from the list of people Skywalker considered his. He was too busy deciding if he was more alarmed by the young General’s willingness to completely abandon his duties or General Kenobi’s seemingly debilitating lack of strength and this willingness to just give up.
"Master Obi-Wan, your beard is too long would you kriffing fix it please or get rid of it?”
Then again, Commander Tano’s seemingly blinding anger could be a real problem.
"I need it to look older, but sometimes it makes my face hot." came the miserable reply.
“No don’t change Master”
Cody backed away slowly, a once might a cage full of angry Nexu.
He wondered who to get in touch with about dangerous artifact disposal at the Jedi temple. Did they have a bomb squad? They're going to need it.
