Ahsoka absentmindedly looked around, watching for the moment when her Master would finally appear. They had spent nearly six hours in the Healing Halls.
Suppressing a giggle, the girl remembered the amusing scene at the very beginning. When Vokara Che noticed their arrival and marched toward them with determination, her Master had shamelessly grabbed Ahsoka by the shoulders and placed her squarely in front of the furious healer.
After about ten minutes, the Twi'lek had vented her frustration and dragged the Jedi away for examination. Ahsoka herself had been checked by the chief healer's assistants, but that had taken little time, and the verdict had been positive—no abnormalities detected.
Now the girl sat quietly on a nearby stone bench, waiting for her Master to escape the healers' clutches.
I can tease him about it later… I just need to think of how.
Soon enough, however, her Master appeared in the doorway. Turning his head, he spotted her and began walking in her direction. Ahsoka hurried toward him.
But she froze a couple of steps away from the man—a rather angry shout suddenly echoed through the hall.
"You!"
Master Aayla Secura stepped decisively toward the man. She looked… furious. And on her face there were clearly visible trails of… tears?
Yes. Definitely.
"Why? Why did you kill him?"
Seeing that her Master was still somewhat unfocused after the treatments, the Togruta stepped forward.
"What are you talking about, Master Secura?"
"Why did you kill Quinlan Vos?" the Twi'lek demanded accusingly.
Ahsoka forced herself to speak slowly and calmly; she could feel that the blue-skinned Jedi was highly agitated.
"He attacked us! He was our enemy…"
"Rubbish! He was a Jedi!"
"He was trying to stop us…"
"You were the ones who interfered with him!"
Ahsoka snorted angrily.
"That's not true! He's Count Dooku's accomplice! His lightsaber was red! If my master hadn't killed him, then—"
"And now they reward that with the rank of Master! It would have been better if your Master had died there!"
The girl was beside herself at what she had just heard. Interrupting the master, she shouted:
"He did die! He died! But I saved my Master —something you didn't manage to do!"
***
Whew… all things considered, it went relatively calmly.
Oh, I certainly received a dressing-down—but it was mostly verbal, and brief. After that, Vokara Che focused on my health.
To be honest, after about four hours of tests and scans, I felt thoroughly drained. Then I had to meditate under the watchful eye of the mistress of the Healing Halls. Along the way they injected me with a whole assortment of medications—just in case.
The final verdict was… instructive.
The Twi'lek muttered that fools tend to be lucky, but she advised me not to relax. Although there were no obvious signs of abnormalities caused by Force lightning, that did not mean they might not appear later. So from time to time, I was advised to undergo additional examinations.
As for my marks… well, as I expected, nothing could be done about them. However, as "treatment," I was handed a small canister of… foundation.
No, I took it—but using it?
No, thank you. I'd rather put on a mask.
Once the procedures were complete, and after promising to come in for morning checkups, I left the office. I needed to find Ahsoka and get her something to eat. Well… and it wouldn't hurt for me to eat something myself. Unfortunately, things didn't quite go according to plan.
We ran into Aayla Secura. The master had probably already seen the body of her former teacher—and now, upon seeing us, she was filled with righteous anger. Since I was still a little woozy, I didn't grasp what was happening at first. Everything unfolded too quickly, and by the time I gathered my thoughts, it was already too late.
Ahsoka and Secura had launched into a heated argument.
Yeah… if Ahsoka had slapped Secura across the face, it would have been less… painful for the latter. Words can burn worse than red-hot iron.
The Twi'lek recoiled from the girl, her face turning an unhealthy shade of gray.
"Let's go, Master," Ahsoka said, grabbing my sleeve and dragging me toward the exit.
I followed her silently and obediently. The halls had fallen into silence—truly graveyard silence. But even in the corridor, the girl had not calmed down.
"No! How could she say something like that? How?"
"Ahsoka, calm down. It's fine."
"Fine? Fine?! She wanted you to die, and that—"
"Easy there, Snips, easy. No need to react so emotionally. She… it's complicated. And sad," I said, ruffling the girl's head reassuringly.
We continued walking in silence. But soon enough—without even discussing it—we reached our rooms.
"You know, I think I'll eat in my room," Ahsoka said.
"How convenient. I was about to suggest the same thing. I'll also take a look at the details of my new assignment."
"Will you tell me about it afterward?" the girl asked, pausing in the doorway.
"Of course," I assured her.
Fortunately, our belongings were already in our rooms… Well—belongings might be a strong word. Each of us had a small backpack. They had been delivered by a young man from the Service Corps whom we had intercepted on our way to the Healing Halls.
After grabbing a quick bite and finally feeling fully awake again, I began studying the holodisc.
***
Late into the night, I lay awake, reflecting on what I had read.
On the one hand, I should be pleased: I had been promoted. Five rank cubes—two blue, two red, and one yellow—lined up in a row placed me on equal footing with Moffs and the currently nonexistent grand admirals.
One more step in my plan achieved. I had climbed higher and was now far more noticeable than before. However, that promotion had brought problems along with it—namely, my appointment as commander of a newly formed system army.
Do I even need to mention my luck with the number thirteen?
Apparently, I had read something about this before—one such army was commanded by Windu, another by Kenobi—but the details were scarce.
On paper, the plan looked impressive: a system army was supposed to consist of at least four corps and no fewer than seventy warships. That meant… at least one hundred sixty thousand to two hundred thousand infantry under my command alone. In total, up to half a million organics—depending on the number and type of ships.
The numbers were enough to make your head spin.
The purpose of such armies would be to conduct planetary operations—capturing or holding planets or other major installations like orbital rings, of which there were currently about three hundred throughout the galaxy—entirely on their own. In other words, during combat operations we would not be able to count on anyone else's support.
On the other hand, the fact that three of the four corps would be formed from auxiliary troops… I doubted their readiness for battle. The times were not quite there yet… And the deadline was frankly unrealistic: only four months were allocated for the army's formation. And since I had a rough idea of what lay ahead—Geonosis, for one, and I think Ryloth as well—I suspected we would be pulled into action earlier than that. Which means we'll have to sweat for it…
Next… According to the table of organization, we were supposed to receive twenty-four Venator-class Star destroyers. But I doubted I would manage to claw even half that number out of the supply system. Which meant they'd probably saddle us with some outdated junk instead…
The only somewhat pleasant piece of news was that I had extensive authority to procure military equipment for ground forces. Since clone equipment doesn't suit everyone—and there isn't that much of it anyway—I was allowed to purchase, within reasonable financial limits, any weapon systems I deemed suitable.
Apparently, by including this clause, the command was counting on each commander's individual approach—so as to test possible options, evaluate their effectiveness, and adopt the most successful ones into standard service.
And since military contracts are extremely tempting for manufacturers and designers—who could hardly fail to notice such an opportunity—they would surely be drooling at the thought of future profits.
Which meant I could implement some of my own ideas.
And if government funds weren't enough… well, I might have to open my own purse, pulling out credits—or even crystals that could pass for "hunting dogs" as gifts.
The army would be formed on Coruscant, which meant my path led straight to the headquarters of the First Sectorial Army.
With those thoughts in mind, I was just about to fall asleep when Ahsoka spoke to me through our Force bond.
Master?