Star Wars The Clone Wars Fever

Fever

Drongar was an unpleasant world. Even eleven years out of the desert, Anakin Skywalker still didn't like hot, humid climates - and Drongar had that in spades. Even more than the heat and humidity, Anakin was annoyed by having to use a rebreather throughout the entire mission. He hated the rebreather; it made his lips chapped, and more than that, it made him feel incredibly claustrophobic. He couldn't wait to get the Separatist base good and destroyed so he could return to his ship and spit the damn thing out.

He could see the base in the distance, and held up a hand, fist closed, to halt his troops behind him. Captain Rex came up to him, hoisting his rifle over his shoulder. "Plan still in place, General?" he asked, and Anakin nodded, unable to speak around the rebreather.

They made their way down the hill, stumbling and tripping in the thick underbrush, the air heavy and cloying. Ahead, the base loomed, battle 'droids flanking the outer gates. It would, Anakin knew, be easy enough to get past them.

Or, it should have been. When his troops got closer, Anakin suddenly realized the 'droids were not the standard skinny tinnies - they were the lethal commando 'droids. Well, that didn't change the plan any, just made it a little more tricky. Giving the motion for his troops to open fire, Anakin ignited his lightsaber.

In the midst of the heated battle (he couldn't yet tell who was winning, but he knew it would be him, eventually), Anakin felt a hard kick to the back of the head. His mouth opened reflexively and the rebreather dropped into the mud. Instantly, Anakin felt dizzy as the oxygen-enriched air assaulted his senses. He shook off the feeling, kept fighting, kept persevering.

Soon enough, the wall of the compound was breached and the clones rushed in, planting their charges. Anakin's head swam as he, Rex, and the survivors ran to a safe distance before detonating the explosives. Once the smoke and cleared, he felt, distantly, Rex putting a hand on his shoulder. "Sir, your rebreather!" The Clone Captain sounded worried.

Anakin gave him a lopsided smile. "No worries, Captain," he said, deciding he was already feeling better. "Let's get back to the ship." Rex's head tilted in a way that suggested he was skeptical of Anakin's words, but nonetheless led the march back to the ship.

The terrain was even more difficult than Anakin had remembered it being on the way down to the base. Sweat made his robes stick to his skin and even though he knew the air was hot, by the time they'd reached the ship, he was shivering. "General, you need to go to medbay," Rex insisted. "If you were breathing in the air for any length of time..."

Anakin waved him off. "I'm fine, Rex," he replied, heading towards the cockpit even as his legs threatened to give out - there was no way he was going to crash out at the very end of a mission, after all. His first solo mission since losing Ahsoka, he wasn't going to give the Council any more of a reason to distrust him. He didn't need babysitting, he just needed the battle. And he'd gotten a battle, today, and had won it, and now just needed to follow through with the Council, and then maybe he wouldn't feel so alone anymore and maybe... His knees buckled and he felt Rex's hands under his arms, holding him upright.

"There we go, Sir," Rex said, hoisting him to his feet. "You were saying?"

Anakin rubbed a hand down his face, taking a deep breath, feeling a weight settle in his chest. "Just tired," he tried, but it was no use. It was definitely not just tiredness, nor was it just the lingering grief of losing his apprentice. This was... something different.

"Medbay," Rex repeated. "Now, Sir."

It took both Rex and Coric to get him to the medbay; by the time they arrived, his vision was blurred and a cold sweat was dripping off him. "Fester lung," Coric ventured, and Rex nodded his agreement. Anakin barely heard them; it felt like he was underwater, in very cold water. He shivered, struggled to wrap himself in blankets on the bunk he'd been lowered onto. He couldn't even work up the energy to put on a show of being unaffected anymore, much to his chagrin.