Millions of a Face

Chapter 6

News of the newly dubbed "Rhythm Fighting" had spread quickly throughout the vode, and by the end of three years, all of them knew how to fight with it.

The first two-hundred-thousand troops had already been deployed, their departure leaving a startlingly large hole in the thousands of clones left on Kamino. No longer did they have their ori'vode to go to for advice, a fun spar, or cuddles after the nightmare.

The last happened scarily often to the vode. Even Faces, who had lived a short other lifetime, got the nightmare. He knew it had to do with the chips in their heads, the subconscious commands programmed in them, but it's not like he could just say that.

It was rough, looking at a kih'vod, tears streaming down their face, and not being able to truthfully tell them that it'll be alright. To promise the nightmare will go away. To lie and say no, he had no clue why millions of brothers had the same dream, not even an idea.

Sometimes, Faces wished that they hadn't had another life. That he was truly a vod and not the imposter he sometimes felt he was.

Anyways.

Faces stood as parade rest, his squadmates lined up next to him. They were going to be shipped off to the front today. The 212th Attack Battalion of the 3rd System's Army, under the leadership of General Kenobi and Commander Cody. The fanboy buried deep inside Faces was freaking out, being able to get close to the Obi-Wan Kenobi. But the soldier in him knew that where Kenobi was, trouble usually followed.

Faces had already said goodbye to his batchmates, who were a bit peeved that he was being shipped off before them, and some of the younger cadets that Faces had befriended. They had latched on to him after getting passed down the armor Faces had carved the insides of. They were cute kids, and he hoped that he could come back home to them.

There was a Kaminii presenting a very dull speech about being the best soldiers, as they were bred to be, and to make the Jedi they'll serve proud. Or something like that.

Faces wasn't really paying attention.

Instead, he was more concerned about being put right in the middle of the action. How was he going to keep his squad safe if every enemy had it out for their general?

They already knew that, of course. The war had been going on for about half a standard year now, and the action had been shared back to Kamino through the older clones. The Alphas and CCs that hadn't been shipped out were informed by their batchmates, the rest finding out through the impressive gossip train the vode had made.

It was really a feat of innovation. For a group of people who owned nothing, not even themselves, information became the most valuable currency. Secrets practically didn't exist among the clones.

Except, of course, Faces'. But whatever. He could keep up the ruse.

Apparently, the speech had finished and they were beginning to be loaded onto the transport that would take them to the Negotiator. About two hundred brothers were going to be stuffed into the ship together for hours. Faces hoped that there were at least places to sit on board.

Why wasn't the Negotiator coming to pick them up? Well, according to the long necks, they were "actively engaged" and "otherwise occupied." He was feeling like a kid whose parents forgot to pick them up after soccer practice.

Marching aboard the transport was almost thoughtless. The cumulative days that they had spent practicing being robotically in sync were easy to call upon, so much so Faces could focus on other things.

Namely, his squadmates talking over their helmet comms.

"--just saying! If we're being sent to General Kenobi's flagship, then we've got to be some of the best!"

"Dinii, we are some of the best. You've seen our training scores." Hiccup sneered, though you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at him. Perfect form, that's their squad leader.

Laughing, Ka replied. "Hiccup, we know that! Just let him live a little, you know he's a fan of Commander Cody."

"He's just so cool! He's smart; he's the one who created the new strategy that was used in the Pharrus system, which has since been used countless times in the field, so much so that it was added to our curriculum. He learned under Alpha-17, which in itself makes him automatically cool. He karking punched droids! Like, who even does that? Badasses, that's who. And don't even get me started on his effectiveness with General Kenobi!" Dinii sighs. "He's so cool, guys."

Jumper snickered, immediately sensing a way to tease their resident tech. "Sounds like you have a crush, Dinii-boy."

Dinii didn't hesitate. "Yes. Fuck you."

The English curse word came from Faces, obviously, at a time when the squad went to a nearby forest moon for survival training, and had to trudge through waist-deep mud for a solid three hours. To pass the time, they decided to spout the filthiest curses they knew. Faces was exhausted and had mud in his socks, so the usual filter he had had been lost in the trek a while back. Oops.

He made up some bullshit about hearing a trainer use it, and they just accepted it. Probably had to do with the shit they were walking in; they were usually more critical. Thus, fuck was added to their squad's vocabulary.

"Speaking of crushes," Faces interjected, taking pity on Dinii. "Have you guys seen the holos of General Kenobi?"

His entire squad groaned.

It was no secret to anyone in their age group that Faces had a massive, fat crush on Jedi High General, Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. If constantly talking about tapping that ass wasn't enough to clue a vod in, then the numerous portraits of the general scattered around Kamino's training facilities would've.

"For the love of-- yes, Faces, we've seen the holos of our new general. You've only shown us a couple hundred times!" A pause. "You'd better not act like that in front of him. I'll disown you if you do." Hiccup growled, the slight clenching of his fists the only sigh of his agitation.

All of the new troopers had marched into the transport, and the pilots were readying for take off. Once the hangar door closed there was a collective wave of tension evaporating. No longer being scrutinized was an amazing feeling.

Faces turned to his squadmates and crossed his arms, ready to defend himself. Faces had had this argument multiple times in his last life. He was ready for anything that they could throw at him. More than, even. His brothers didn't even know Kenobi's lore.

Now, see, Faces was asexual. He didn't really want to jump General Kenobi's bones. It was just funny to say that he did. His squad knew this. His squad hated this. His squad wanted him to stop embarrassing himself.

Jokes on them, though. He wasn't even remotely embarrassed.

If he could appreciate the aesthetic beauty of a man while tormenting his vode? That was just his job as a little brother.