#captain lock

Chapter 3: The Short Straw

Month 4, 21 BBY

Despite the previous evenings antics, this morning had started just like any other. Neyo woke up at o-five-hundred and donned yesterday’s blacks. He made his way to the training room and practiced circuits. At o-six-forty-five he returned to his own quarter’s, spent a total of three minutes in the ‘fresher, dressed in fresh blacks and deposited the old set into his wash-pile. He combed and slicked his hair, he armoured up and by o-seven-hundred he was making his way to the mess hall.

Everything was practiced, concise and executed with precision. There were no anomalies in Neyo’s routine – mostly.

WAC had been promptly kicked back to the cargo hold as punishment for last night’s excursion, not that the droid minded – to be honest if he’d protested Neyo might have gave in and let him stay, he really did let the little shit get away with far too much. Still, he must have known just how tired his commander was because he hadn’t decided to meet Neyo in the hall this morning and skip around his heels as he was sometimes inclined to do.

As he marched through winding corridors, the security of Neyo’s omnipresent bucket allowed him to smile softly as he thought of his relationship with the tiny pest. A constant companion, WAC wore his metaphorical heart on his sleeve, it was endearing really but Neyo often found himself in a state of internal conflict around the droid. On one hand he felt at ease, as though he could relax and truly be himself when just the two of them are together. On the other, he was always apprehensive as to how long the little guy would stay charming before he started causing disruption. It was complicated.

[Break]

Striding into the mess, his men echoing a chorus of greeting as he passed, Neyo swiftly grabbed his morning rations and situated himself opposite his Captain, Chaos. Chaos had been named by Neyo because he was. Literally. Prior to his promotion he’d served with the Sky Corps and it was obvious to anyone that he idolised Marshal Commander Cody - he was as disciplined as any clone but he tended to get overly excited in battles; literally launching himself at the enemy, punching droids instead of blasting them and once Neyo had watched him ride a rolly. Pure chaos.

Bacara thought he was perfect. In fact, Bacara would offer to recruit Chaos into the Nova Corps every opportunity he got but was always met with polite refusal. Chaos, despite being the antithesis to Neyo’s sanity, is loyal to a fault.

Now helmetless, Neyo had been updating Chaos on the week’s schedule when he felt a presence in his peripheral vison. He didn’t even have to raise his eyes to meet the stupidly stunted woman in an engineer’s jumpsuit, she was nervously clutching a datapad and looking between him and Chaos. The Captain questioned her teasingly, easily picking up on her discomfort and Neyo almost did a double-take when he realised it was the same girl from last night. She looked more…presentable now. Good, no more hysterics. 

Astrid, that was it. Astrid had apparently been sent to get approval on the new stock requisitions from her line manager – always needing a signature from a military rank of Commander.

“Sooo they sent the newbie to old grumpy over here, don’t worry he can only smell fear during a full moon.” Chaos jested before taking the tablet off her and handing it to Neyo.

“Di’kut” was all Neyo offered in response as he began scrolling through and amending pages of mechanical stock, adding his designation number where necessary.

“Seriously though, don’t let them make you do all the menial work just because you’re new.” Chaos advised.

“No actually, I ended up here fair and square” was her meek reply, accompanied by an infuriatingly sheepish smile.

Oh for fucks sake. Great. She probably thinks we're friends now. She must have offered.

This was why Neyo only dealt with people when he had to. He’d given her a tiny bit of comfort last night, sat with her for a few hours while she stupidly wept from those smudged eyes and now here she was; volunteering to spend time with him and naively assuming they had an understanding. He’d have to deal with this but not here, later, he’d pull her aside and tell her under no certain circumstances was he to be sought out – he’d….

“Fair and square?” Chaos pried with a sly grin now.

Now she looked embarrassed, looking to the side, to Neyo as if to confirm his suspicions, then back at Chaos.

“We drew straws, shortest straw has to speak to you Sir.” She answered, fully turned to Neyo now.

Well. That was something he did not know.

At least his assumptions were false but – ouch? No, they were scared of him, Good.

Chaos was loving this though, unable to quell his laughter and soon had Astrid smiling again.

Neyo, against his better judgement, found himself looking at Astrid more fully now. Her smile was nauseatingly enthralling – all teeth and white sunbeams. Her face, clear of the horrendous black slap from last night and painted properly was…she looked...

Mesh’la

He must have been staring because she turned from Chaos to cock her head at him in confusion, “is something wrong Sir?”

“You look different without all that shit on your face” he uttered, handing back the now signed datapad.

Bravo Neyo, bravo – all you had to say was “no”.

Chaos looked mortified but it wasn’t in Neyo’s nature to voice anything other than the bluntest of truths when questioned – and he certainly wasn’t about to tell her she looked pretty. At the very least he supposed if he offended her, he could be further reassured she wouldn’t try to latch onto him.

“Oh” was her shocked reaction, taking back the datapad and thanking him. She’d turned back to Chaos, let him know how lovely it had been meeting him and made to leave before quickly spinning back on her heels and facing Neyo once more.

“Thanks for last night by the way. It - won’t happen again” Neyo acknowledged her promise with a stern nod and watched her hurriedly make her exit.

He was still watching the door when Chaos began demanding his attention by shoving his face into his vision, “chances of you telling me what that was about Sir?” he tested with a raised brow.

“Nothing.”

It was nothing.

[Break]

Month Six

He couldn’t escape from her. He tried, he really kriffing tried but it’s not as though he could avoid the hanger during the day; his normal shifts mostly consisted of developing schematics and new tactical measures with the occasional need for deck supervision and briefings with his General. He quite enjoyed the former part of each day but he couldn’t make a very good job of charting BARC developments without inspecting them regularly. He’d just have to get used to her.

Neyo couldn’t place why he found her presence so irritating, she hadn’t spoken to him since that morning in the mess – if she ever looked up from her work and noticed him, she’d quickly look away. The fact of the matter was, through no fault of her own, she bothered him just by existing.

It wasn’t her voice, though the soft giggle she emitted when joking with her colleagues would cause him to clench his teeth in an effort not to look over. It wasn’t the way she tripped over thin air while walking or even that she had a habit of almost dropping everything she touched. It was that he’d seen her vulnerable and when she had no one to turn to he’d been there, unwillingly yes but he’d become a source of comfort in that moment and – and it made him feel…itchy. Thinking logically, he was being unnecessarily paranoid; she hadn’t mentioned the incident further and neither had he but what else could be causing his unease? That had to be it.

Nevertheless, no matter how painstakingly Neyo was able to avoid her, WAC would seek out Astrid as often as possible, gouging much more information out of her than he could possibly fit into that rusty head of his. The diminutive shit was enamoured with her and wanted to know every trivial detail of her inconsequential life. What was worse is that the bastard liked to ferry every bit of intel he gained straight back to Neyo: that she missed Naboo, her mixed-race heritage, the fact her mother was her best friend, that she and her roommate liked to watch cheesy holovid dramas in their downtime, that when she next rotated the same roommate had insisted she join her and her wife for dinner, her love of snow of all things. The list was endless and it was so unbelievably insignificant to Neyo that he thought he might tear his hair out. Which is why he’d prepared himself for the worst today as he went to program some new maps into the nav on his speeder.

Bucket tucked under one arm, scowl barely concealed, Neyo rounded the corner to the engineering station and – she wasn’t there.

WAC trotted over with Neyo’s tools and said that Astrid had been rotated for her next stint of leave that morning so the “lucky” Commander had WACs “wonderful company” all to himself. Neyo should have been relieved but he felt, dejected? No. It was just the adrenalin he’d amassed from the fear of having to deal with her again leaving his body. That was all.  

[Break]

The upgrades to the nav had taken longer to install than anticipated so Neyo found he had only a spare few moments to engage in some back and forth banter with WAC before he was packing up his tools and making his way to a briefing. He’d arrived in the war room promptly regardless and took his place at the holo-table besides General Adi Gallia with a respectful greeting. The Tholothian was easy to work with – she wasn’t unlike Neyo in her strategics; preferring a level-headed approach and had the same disdain for ostentatiousness in combat that he did. Gallia genuinely cared for her troops too and Neyo was grateful for the value she attached to the lives of his men, he was sceptical of most Jedi – far too whimsical in their reliance on superstition to guide them but Gallia had proven herself capable time and time again.

The briefing went as well as could be expected where Jedi were concerned, the general public liked to view Jedi as reserved warrior-monks; tranquil in their serenity and desire for peace. In reality they were like an unconventional, ever-bickering family. Tuning into the comm channel Neyo and Gallia were met by the flickering holograms of Jedi Generals Koth, Kenobi, Windu and Mundi alongside their respective commanders – Captain Rex was also present, growing increasingly perturbed at his lack of General. 

Good start.

Fifteen minutes later, Rex was in the midst of apologising profusely to the bulging vein in Windu’s temple when Skywalker finally waltzed up alongside him, looking entirely unapologetic as he conjured an excuse involving his young Padawan. Windu simply fixed a glare before opening the brief; begrudgingly congratulating Skywalkers joint success with General Unduli to destroy the separatist droid factory on Geonosis, and their consequential capture of Archduke Poggle. At this point Kenobi had politely interjected on behalf of his Commander; Cody made a request that he and Rex be allowed to formulate an investigation into the rumours that Poggle may have been in the midst of developing a “super-weapon” of sorts.

And then it began.

General Mundi was quick to object, claiming that it would be nothing but a colossal waste of time to launch a full scale investigation into mere rumours, Kenobi began to respectfully disagree but was soon interrupted by Skywalker’s tactless accusation that Mundi was being overly cynical.

Cody cringed. Rex turned pale. Bacara exhaled. Neyo blinked. Captain Lock looked ready to cry.

The next thirteen standard minutes saw the five clones present flit glances at each other in a mutual state of embarrassment and distress, while simultaneously willing their respective Generals to put an end to the ceaseless hurling of sarcasm and slights - poorly veiled as constructive criticism. Thank the maker Bly wasn’t here Neyo had thought to himself, he actually would cry if Secura was in the middle of this; the Commander of the 327th was so protective of his General that it remained a mystery to Neyo how they managed to partake in any fighting at all.  

Neyo did not care to remember who eventually ended the “discussion,” but when it was finally shut down under the agreement that Commander Fox of the Coruscant Guard be tasked with the investigation, he was grateful all the same. Swiftly moving onto the next stage of the agenda, Windu announced that due to new GAR procedure; the use of prototype equipment would need to cease immediately in order for accuracy and uniformity to maintained within the Sky Corps.

Kenobi raised a brow. Skywalker opened his mouth.

Fuck.

[Break]

Neyo had been forcefully rubbing his temples, with two fingers against each side of his head, since returning to his quarters three minutes ago. He was sure if he tried hard enough he could reach inside his skull and rip out any trace of the past hour and just as he was internally debating the logistics of doing this, his comm beeped. Bacara:

[CC-1138 is active]

[CC-1138]: Fuck me.

[CC-8826]: Not tonight darling I have a headache.

[CC-1138]: Hilarious.

[CC-1138]: Seriously though, what the kark was that?

[CC-8826]: I thought it went rather well.

[CC-1138]: Just because I’m the only person in the galaxy who gets to see your sense of humour doesn’t mean I enjoy it.

[CC-8826]: ?

[CC-1138]: Fine.

[CC-1138]: I’ll admit this only because I haven’t seen you in seven months; you’re not bad.

[CC-8826]: Thanks tat. You’re less not bad.

[CC-1138]: <3</p>

[CC-8826]: How long do you think before that vein on Windu’s head finally ruptures?

[CC-1138]: Can’t be long now, I swear the things actually started to tick by the second.

[CC-8826]: My money is on the Chancellor being the one that finally does it, Fox says he summoned Windu to the Senate four times last week.

[CC-1138]: Unless Fox cracks first, his blood must be 90% caf by this point.

[CC-8826]: And now he gets Cody’s pet project.

[CC-1138]: Don’t remind me.

[CC-8826]: How was Mr Cynical after the brief then?

[CC-1138]: He’s still bitching to Windu, they stayed on the link.

[CC-8826]: Nice.

[CC-1138]: Gallia?

[CC-8826]: “Meditating.”

[CC-1138]: Breaking stuff?

[CC-8826]: Yes.

[CC-8826]: That being said, I do plan on bashing my head against the wall for a few hours before I give the boys the shortened version. Speak soon?

[CC-1138]: Ha, I might try that.

[CC-1138]: Course. Comm before you’re next due to check in at Coruscant, might get lucky and see you there.

[CC-8826]: Will do, I’ll be the one in plastoid.

[CC-1138]: Go fuck yourself Neyo.

[Break]

She was back.

She, oh Jango preserve him, she’d brought kriffing cookies this time. Seriously – how the ever-lasting-karking hell was he supposed to maintain discipline and procedure when half of the shinnies had a sugar-rush?  

He had to spend a good chunk of his day watching his men, his men sheepishly taking their pick from her home-baked goods and perhaps even more disrespectfully; going for seconds. Okay fine, they weren’t strictly doing anything wrong and most of them would take one, thank her and get back to work and only a few lingered for chit-chat but urgh  - it bothered him. Before Neyo knew it he was storming over, noting his troopers scatter as he did so, and asking her what the actual kriff she thought she was doing.

She looked like a startled porg in the light of his controlled anger, quickly blabbering apologies “Oh, force I’m sorry, I didn’t even think. I had no idea it was against regulation – I’ll get rid…”

“It’s not” he interrupted, ultimately coming to the conclusion that he was fabricating an excuse to talk to – no, to reprimand her.

She gave him a victorious smile at that, realising his admonishment was unjustified. “Would you like one Sir?” She was holding out the tin to him now, coquettish smirk turned feral.

Sceptically, he took one of the smaller ones from the centre of the tin. It was crumbly and the sediments stuck to the rough fabric of his gloves so he thought it best to shove the whole thing into his mouth and be done with it.

Fuck me that’s sweet.

Neyo did not do sweet. They didn’t really have treats on Kamino and if there was ever a dessert it was always fruits or some sort of paste, occasionally his ration pack would include a high fibre cracker but that was it. This was clinging to every taste-bud in his mouth and coating his teeth – he felt as though they would rot from all the sugar but he hid his grimace anyway; an unexpected act of kindness on his part.

“You can finish the rest if you want” she offered, he wanted to tear that stomach-churning sun-beam from her mouth and stamp on it.

Fuck no.

“No. Thank you.” He declined against the unanticipated protests of his newly awakened taste-buds. Shit, now he might like sweets. Kriffing great. She simply smiled again without offense and tidied the damn things away with a promise that the offer still stood, as long as there were more. Luckily the tin was mostly empty now and from what he’d seen, the huge Devaronian she worked with would soon deplete the remaining supply anyway. Twat.

Neyo, realising that he had nothing else to say, promptly excused himself and resumed his work. He noted with a twinge of, well he didn’t know what, regret? That he hadn’t been quite ready for the conversation to end, gazing back over to Astrid, he could see her now immersed in her labour – smile absent to make way for concentration. He missed it.

No. He still found it annoying.

Later, much later when her shift had apparently ended, Astrid had approached him and gently wished Neyo a “goodnight Commander.”

“Night” he echoed to her already retreating back.

Shit.