Chapter Seven: Christophsis
Rainbow Dash was bored, again, after she had been led off the bridge she had been placed in a room. ‘That was days ago.’ She groaned mentally as she poked around the room. Opening up the door she looked at the two men who were guarding her and asked. “How long does it take to get to… uh… Christophsis?”
The troopers glanced at each other before one of them spoke up. “We are already there ma’am, we are currently trying to get past the Separatist Blockade.”
Rainbow Dash felt her wings twitch before she shifted her stance asking. “So, what’s up with these Separatists anyways?”
“You don’t know?” the other trooper tilted his head to the side as if observing her and Rainbow Dash looked between them before shrugging as she replied. “Nah, I’m new here.”
The trooper on the left sighed while the trooper on the right just sighed. “I’m sure General Skywalker can explain it better to you than we can.”
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth and the trooper continued. “You also might want to get into something more suited for running. You’ll be doing that a lot once we get down on the surface.”
Letting out a groan Rainbow Dash closed the door and slumped against it. She pressed her ear against the door not hearing any comments about her before rolling her shoulders.
“Guess I better get changed.” she told herself before realizing she didn’t know where to find the clothes. Glancing at the door she wondered if the guards could help her. Walking over she opened it asking. “Hey, where’s the closet?”
One of the troopers glanced over at the other as if saying he wasn’t going to deal with this. The other one shook his head as he walked into the room and pressed a button on a panel allowing it to open revealing clothes. All the same color saying. “You’ll have to use ours for now.”
“Wait, this is your room, look buddy…. I have wings, those shirts will get wrecked.” Rainbow Dash told as she poked through the clothes taking note of the Aurebesh on the shoulders.
“Don’t think it matters too much ma’am.” The trooper said going back to his post. “If that’s all.”
“What’s your name?” asked Rainbow Dash and the Trooper paused. “Hey, I need to call you something other than buddy. Plus I don’t want to confuse you with your brother.”
Both troopers glanced at each other before the one at the door answered. “CT-0302, they call me CB.”
“CT-8608.” The one in the room said nodding his head and Rainbow gave them a look of confusion. “It’s our serial numbers.”
“I didn’t ask for those, I want to know your names.” She said and the troopers looked at each other before looking at her. “Wow those are worse names than Glitter Dust. Okay from now on I’m referring to you as Crossbones and you as Buddy until I figure out a better nickname for you. Something about 20% cooler.”
The troopers nodded their heads before leaving her to get changed. They were standing outside the doors before there was a thud and Rainbow Dash yelling. “Oh come on! Just fit already… wait what if I put one leg in this hole and the other… there we go! Wait… these are too big. Where’s that hair tie Padmé gave me… oh, in my hair. Now my hair is in my face, ugh, why does this have to be so hard?”
Crossbones held in a chuckle as he listened to the losing battle inside the room. Though the amusement died down when he saw General Skywalker approach along with General Kenobi. They saluted the Jedi when they stood in front of them. They looked at each other before looking at Anakin who asked. “Is everything alright?”
“OH COME ON!” Rainbow Dash’s voice yelled and Crossbones answered. “She’s having trouble getting dressed.”
“I AM NOT!” protested Rainbow and Anakin grinned before calling in. “Are you decent?”
“If by 'decent' you mean I have something covering my top, then yes.” commented Rainbow Dash and Anakin opened the door letting out a chuckle. Rainbow Dash had managed to get on the top, even with her wings, it was torn slightly. What was causing him to laugh was the fact that she had clenched a hair time between her teeth while holding up both her hair and the pants. Her tail was seen twitching behind her.
“Need help?” Anakin asked and Rainbow Dash glared at him before saying. “Yeah.”
Anakin walked into the room saying. “One, put the hair tie back into your hair. Two we can easily adjust those pants like this.”
Anakin worked on the pants quickly, using a blade and some cord he managed to turn them into something workable. Rainbow Dash tilted her head to the side asking. “How do you know how to do this? I didn’t take you for the sewing type.”
“Where I’m from you couldn’t waste fabric. My mom and I… we didn’t have much. We did have clothes but if they were too big for me my mom would adjust them like this.” Anakin said grief filling his face before he stood up. “I was just letting you know that we’ve got a plan to get past the blockade.”
“It might not get you down there but Anakin is delivering important supplies.” Obi-wan explained casting a slight glance towards Anakin. “You might be up here a little while longer.”
“Great.” mumbled Rainbow Dash crossing her arms as Obi-wan left, Anakin following behind. “Anakin… wait. I’m sorry for, you know, bringing up a bad memory. I didn’t mean it.”
“It’s fine.” Anakin replied and Rainbow placed a hand on his shoulder saying. “I don’t buy it, if you ever need to just vent. I’ll listen and try not to crash on your way down. I don’t think Obi-wan would be able to handle me with you gone.”
“Hey he had to deal with me and you’re like a mini me. I think he’ll deal with you just fine.” Anakin grinned before heading off. The two troopers glanced at each other before leaving the room as well. Rainbow Dash groaned before laying on the ground. She brought her wings in front of her as she thought about Fluttershy. She drew her fingers across her feathers before flicking them out allowing the pink strand to extend. Her fingers grasped it as she closed her eyes.
Mountains. Blue sky. Wind drifting through trees. A figure with long pink hair and pale yellow wings sat on broken stone amongst ruins. Her eyes closed as a pink mane like tail twitched before teal eyes opened and she turned her head as if knowing someone was watching her.
Rainbow Dash’s eyes flew open as she let go of the string watching it drift away. She had to blink away tears as she sat up burying her face into her knees. That was when she noticed the slight shaking of the ship and muffled sounds. Laying down again Rainbow Dash wondered what was going on outside of the room. If Anakin was alright, if what she was hearing was weapons.
“You understand very little.” A voice spoke causing her to sit up quickly looking around. “Your species is weak.”
Swallowing Rainbow refused to answer her lips tightening. She knew if she started talking the guards would be in here and would see exactly what she did. Nothing. The voice grew quiet as if the owner saw that she wasn’t going to respond. That was when she felt a chill go up her spine just when the door opened.
“We’re ready to go down ma’am.” Crossbones said as Rainbow stood up saying. “How long was I asleep?”
“About twenty minutes. We checked on you a few times, you’re a heavy sleeper. We’ve just finished clearing out the rest of the Separatists ships in the area and Skywalker delivered the supplies.” replied Crossbones as Rainbow stretched. “8608… Buddy and I will be joining the squad.”
“At least I’ll know two people .” Rainbow said as she followed him outside of the room and towards the docking bay. She saw the shuttle they were taking and felt herself slow. It reminded her of her shelter on Moraband. Shaking her head she followed them in and sat down seeing eight others all ready to go.
“Hey.” Rainbow waved, some nodded in greeting, others stayed silent. “Fun bunch.”
“Sorry about that ma’am, we’re not used to escorting civilians down to a war zone.” said one of the troopers as Rainbow Dash walked in. “I’m CT-5816, I’m the one in charge.”
“No. No, not using that name. Give me something else.” Rainbow said as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “What is with your names anyways?”
“What do you mean, ma’am?” one of the troopers asked from his spot looking around at the others. “They’re our names.”
“I don’t get it.” Rainbow pointed before taking a seat Crossbones moving to the side and motioning over their lead. He glanced at Rainbow quickly before whispering. “I don’t think she knows about us being clones.”
“What do you mean?” responded the leader as the door closed and they took off.
“Back at her room, she called 8608 and I, brothers. I didn’t think much about it because it is true. Yet her confusion with our tags and her insistence in getting our names. I don’t think anyone told her about us.” Crossbones mentioned noticing the uneasy look on her face. “We don’t know much about her or her species. They probably aren’t aware of the war.”
The squad leader sighed before looking over at Rainbow crossing his arms thinking. He and his squad knew they were just cannon fodder, the reason why they went by their tags. ‘She wants to call us by names because she doesn’t know. To her they must seem strange and boring.’ He thought as one of the clones examined Rainbow’s wings before pulling out a balm. She thanked him with a grin on her face. The shuttle shook a bit as they entered the atmosphere.
“8608, 0302, I don’t want either of you to leave her side. 5567, 2801, you protect our flank. I don’t want anything sneaking up on us. When we get to the location we will be setting up a perimeter around the object and signaling the Jedi. We report in every ten minutes.” The squad leader said knowing they were getting close. Rainbow was trying to figure who had what orders. She knew two of them but with the armor all the same it was proving to be difficult.
“Hey Doc, who’s he talking to?” Rainbow asked looking at the trooper next to her. The troop looked around before realizing she was talking to him. “Oh, I’m 4874, 5567 and 2801 are the two closest to the cockpit. They’re on either side of the door. 8608 and 0302 were the ones guarding your room earlier. 5816 is our Squad leader. 5608 is our explosives expert, he carries the most grenades. 3603 is the best sniper in the squad, he’s the only one to use a rifle without a sight. 4141 over there is our heavy weapons expert, he’s normally up front. 6270 and 6660 are our mechanical experts.”
Rainbow Dash heard the two chuckle and was confused but she shook it off. She just figured it was a quirk. She decided to ask a different question. “So why don’t you have names?”
“We're just cannon fodder, it’s better to bury no names then to get attached to us.” 2801 said earning a wince from Rainbow who said. “Wow that’s a grim way to view things. I’m going to call you Grimm and your buddy 5567, Grunt if that’s how you view yourselves.”
“You’re giving us names?” 4141 asked in surprise just as they landed. Rainbow shrugged her shoulders saying. “Yeah, I’m not good with memorizing numbers and helmets. I prefer names and personalities, I mean that and how you treat others, how well you do your jobs….”
The door hissed open as Rainbow Dash continued not noticing who was there to greet her. “You know how you are as a person.”
“Did you talk the entire way down?” Anakin chuckled as Rainbows head turned to look at him. “Or were you confused as to what was being said?”
“Very funny Anakin.” Rainbow replied with sarcasm as the squad saluted. She walked out crossing her arms in front of her chest.
“Any idea of where you're headed?” Anakin inquires as Rainbow took in the landscape. She hummed for a moment before bringing one of her wings forward. The squad watched as she stroked it. A thick rainbow cordlike strand extended from it when she pulled her hand away. It floated in the air before moving in a Northwestern direction. Anakin nodded his head saying. “I’ll let Obi-Wan know. Stay safe out there.”
“I will.” Rainbow said before pausing, her head turning for a moment.
“Everything alright?” Anakin asked and Rainbow looked at him saying. “Not sure, you watch your back.”
“I always do.” replies Anakin as he sees the squad finished getting ready. “I’m leaving you in good hands.”
“Hey… why do they think of themselves as cannon fodder?”Anakin looked at Rainbow Dash in surprise. That was when he remembered that she didn’t know that the troops were clones. He looked at the squad he had placed her with. He should have caught on sooner with the lack of a nickname. They believed that they weren’t going to survive. He glanced back at Rainbow Dash saying. “A lot of people believe that these soldiers are disposable. Some of the troops start believing that they are.”
“Seriously? So the serial numbers…?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow and Anakin said. “You’ll figure it out. I think they’re ready to head out.”
Rainbow nodded as she headed over to the group. Obi-Wan walked up beside Anakin asking. “You’re not going to tell her?”
“I think that squadron needs someone who doesn’t know. They need someone who sees them for them and not just a clone. I get a feeling that she’ll do them some good.” Anakin explained crossing his arms. “So, ready to plan that ambush?”