The Wolf Pack

Chapter 68

Kriari would have never thought the day would come when she was glad to see Anakin Skywalker. The man scared her shitless, his ability to completely erase his presence in the Force spoke of an unknown talent and unbelievable potential for danger. But despite all of it, Anakin had done nothing to make her feel so weary of him other than that one time she mentioned their home planet. She should not have been surprised, Kriari was well aware of the relationship between farmers and the Tusken.

So she had decided a while ago to give the man the benefit of the doubt. He was Ahsoka's master and Obi-Wan's padawan after all, so he couldn't be that bad.

She realized it had been the better choice as soon as he started teasing their master with the Duchess. Kriari realized then that even if he was her superior, he still wasn't that much older than her.

They were going to have so much fun.

Kriari realized how foreign that idea had become to her. When was the last time she'd had fun? She could say she enjoyed banter in the frontlines when she competed with the clones to see who had the most droid kills, but was that really fun or just a way for them to cope with the trauma they were going through? She didn't want to know the answer to that.

After introductions were made to the Duchess and the representatives escorting her, Kriari made sure to greet both Rex and Cody in the most affectionate way she was allowed in public: with a strong grip of the forearm.

"Been a while Commander, I was starting to wonder if that yellow stripe in your armor would be gray next time we met." Said Cody in a teasing tone.

"What can I say, Cody, recovering from trauma can be a bit of a pain in the ass, but at least now I get a free pass to make more inappropriate jokes than before."

"Oh brilliant, do we have to worry about the death jokes or the sex jokes? Because I'm sure you'll have content from both..." Said Rex from Cody's side.

Kriari couldn't help but burst out laughing, she would have expected a lot of things from Rex, but not this.

"Oh, not you too, men. I thought I'd only have to worry about Anakin and Kriari this time."

Obi-wan had only heard the tail end of that conversation apparently because his expression was a mixture between grim, annoyed and slightly apprehensive.

"Don't you worry, General, we would never make inappropriate remarks around you or anyone that could take offense to them. Not to mention Higher ranking people and Officers." Rex's attempt to soothe Kriari's master was short-lived.

"Oi, what is that supposed to mean? I outrank you too!"

Kriari's mock offense just earned her an eye roll from Cody and a cheeky grin from Rex, she was about to continue on her rant when the pilot announced they were all ready for takeoff.

"Okay, people, playtime's over. Time to work." Said Anakin who still had a cheeky grin on his face. "We'll have more than enough time to tease Obi-Wan and Kriari on board."

...

They had a little briefing right after takeoff, Kriari would be staying behind with the troopers to patrol and guard the cargo levels while Anakin and Obi-Wan joined the senate dignitaries for dinner. Kriari had been told that if she wanted to behave more like a soldier than an actual peacekeeper then she could stay with the soldiers. She was pretty sure she should have felt chastised by this, and that it was quite low of her master to put it that way when he had agreed with her in the first place. Kriari had learned to distrust politics and those involved in them from Obi-Wan himself, so it was quite rich of him to chastise her on the matter. But because she was being given the chance to avoid the nightmare that would have been speaking to out of touch politicians, she stayed behind gladly. She was also quite sure Obi-Wan was secretly doing her a favor and didn't really mean to make her feel bad for what she had done.