When the Cavalry Comes.

XIII

Cavalry groaned softly as she woke up. Her mouth was dryer than Geonosis and a dull throbbing headache. Ok. Alcohol. Not a big fan of that. Considering how little she had to begin with, she couldn't imagine others wanting to drink full bottles of the stuff.

Then again, all the others around her were twice her size with a considerably better constitution. She kicked her legs over the side of her bunk with a huff, cracking her stiff and sore joints. Sleep was wonderful, but a rare commodity. Cavalry blindly fumbled for the water canteen she had left on the floor by her bunk on Fives's suggestion, saying that she would want it in the morning even though she hadn't had enough to be truly hungover.

She made a note to thank him later as she downed about half the canteen and splashed some on her hands, rubbing vigorously at her face.

"If you get any water on the floor and I step in it, you're dead." Came a raspy voice from the bunk next to hers. In response Cavalry flicked the remaining water from her hands onto her brother's face. Neon's eyes flew open and he spluttered comically.

"Didn't get it on the floor." She said smugly. Neon just glared at her and wiped off his face. Cav sighed and glanced at the chrono. "I'mma shower real quick. Do you know if we have any assignments?" She asked over her shoulder, rifling through her things. She pulled out two small objects, both precious gifts from a female trainer who she had worked with briefly.

The small hairbrush and conditioner bottle were probably her most valuable objects she owned, at least among clones. The conditioner was almost gone, so she had taken to watering it down and just using it when she needed to brush her hair out.

She Cav sighed as she stepped into the shower they had been allotted. The hot water helped sooth the aches and pains that had become a permanent struggle against as her muscles strained to let her keep up with her brothers. While under the hot spray she undid her braided hair and began using tiny amounts of conditioner to work a brush through it.

For probably the thousandth time, she contemplated hacking it all off. It was nearly down to her waist now, and heavy at that. Especially when wet. It tugged her head back as she worked the mats and grease out of it, scrubbing her scalp thoroughly. Once done she wrung the tangled mess out the best she could before resuming brushing. Then it was braided up and wrapped around her head. She used a spare metal pin to keep it in place.

Stretching, Cav kitted up to be ready for the day. A quick trip to the mess had the last vestiges of her headache fading and made Neon much less grumpy.

Orders for the day came in. Her and Neon were working on Inventory and Arsenal. The umbarans had left massive amounts of alien tech for them to sort through and it was proving to be a challenge. Cav's sore muscles ached and complained as she and Neon went through crate, sorting the tech into 'Dangerous' and 'Mundane' piles.

"Hey Cav, if the Umbarans are this advanced without contact with the outside government, why haven't we taken advantage of this?" Neon asked as he grabbed a crate off of a high shelf she had been struggling to reach.

Cav huffed and took the crate from him, grunting as she set it on the ground.

"It's something about their culture. There motto is something like 'If they're not you, don't trust them.' It's a really competitive planet." She cracked open the crate and began to sift through it.

"Given the local fauna, I'm not surprised." Neon picked up a blaster looking thing. It powered up with a whine and he quickly shut it off, placing it in the 'Dangerous' pile.

Cavalry snickered at that. She picked up a small object from the pile and turned it over in her hands. "Hey, doesn't this look like a mini starfighter?" She asked, holding it out to Neon. Neon took it and looked it over.

"It looks like a perfect replica." He said, handing it back.

"I'm going to turn it over to Fives. He's been put in charge of the starfighters." Cav stood and stretched carefully. Neon frowned.

"Since when has he beed just 'Fives?' He's the Lieutenant." He frowned. Cav snickered, knocking against his shoulder gently.

"What? I can have other close brothers than just you." She pointed out. Neon still glowered at the floor. "Look." She sighed after a moment. "I'm not replacing you. You'll always be my ori'vod. Fives is my brother too though."

Cavalry left the warehouse she had been working and began to make her way to the hangers. She jumped when Krell stomped by her, snapping to attention. Krell didn't even glance her way.

She nearly ran into Fives a second later, who was grumbling several nasty things in several languages under his breath.

"Sorry Kid. Didn't see you there." He sighed. Cav looked behind him, her mouth falling open.

"Where's... the hanger doors?" She blurted out.

"Hmm? Oh. Yeah. Starfighter accident." He sighed and raked his fingers through his hair, making it stand on end.

"...Ah." Fives was looking at her expectantly. Cavalry jumped as she remembered the mini starfighter she held. "Found this. Was going to turn it over to you. What are you planning with the starfighters, by the way?"

Fives jerked, giving her a wide eyed look. "How did you-"

"You have the same look Neon gets when he's about to do something incredibly stupid." Cav supplied, folding her arms.

"...Fine. I'm planning something with the starfighters." Fives admitted. Cav shifted her weight a little, relieving the pressure off of her still sore ankle a but.

"Against orders?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Yes." He sucked in a breath. "We're planning a strike on the weapons supply ship. I just need to round up some pilots." He gave her a sideways look. "Cavalry, this is serious. I'm not letting my vode march into missiles with a hundred mega ton yield. I'm not letting you or the captain talk me out of this."

Cav folded her arms, stopping in front of him. "I'm not going to. I want to help."

Fives shook his head. "Absolutely not. You're a kid, and you're injured on top of that."

"I'm older than you, di'kut. I passed all my exams." Fives had a dangerous look in his eyes and she knew she was walking a thin line. He was her superior. And here she was insulting and backtalking him. "I'm just as much as a clone as you are."

"I'm not just a clone. None of us are." He growled. "Kriff I'm sick of saying that." He dug at his eyes tiredly. "You're tough, Cav. But I promised the captain that I'd at least see you though Umbara. Me, Jesse, and Hardcase will do just fine."

Cav froze. His words stung as she registered what they meant. "I don't need protecting." She hissed acidly. Fives shoot his head sadly.

"I'm sorry, Vod'ika." He put a hand on her shoulder. Cavalry barely had time to react to the blaster being raised before the blue light of a stun blast enveloped her, followed swiftly by blackness.