You'd think that having their captain, commander, and a good portion of men recovering from a deadly illness would at least deem a sick leave for the 501st, Ella thought to herself as she watched the lights of hyperspace glittering through one of the windows of the bridge.

She was curled up with Ahsoka, Chopper, and Echo, reading more of The Selection. This time however, they were delving into the second book: The Elite.

Fives walked in and snuggled next to his brother, resting his shoulder on Echo's ribs. Hardcase joined a few seconds later, followed by Kix and Jesse. All three joined what the clones called a 'cuddle pile,' comfortably awaiting their favorite story to continue.

"Do we have to wait for Rex? He's going to be late, being captain and all," Hardcase complained.

Kix swatted him, "Yes we do. Rex loves this story, just like the rest of us. Don't be rude."

Hardcase stuck out his tongue impishly.

The door opened and the aforementioned captain slid in, scooting next to Jesse and Fives. "Sorry. The general wanted me to cover for him while he holoed the senator again."

"Gosh. Possessive much?" Ahsoka groaned.

"I'll know who to blame for your lateness next time," Jesse jabbed.

Rex rolled his eyes and sighed, "Are we ready?"

Ella nodded and continued from where they'd left off.

"I went down for breakfast on the late side. I didn't want to risk running into Maxon or any of the girls alone. Before I made it to the stairs, Aspen came walking up the hall. I made an exasperated sound, and he looked around before approaching me."

Ella continued to read for several chapters. The others muttered comments as the climax unfolded.

At one point, Jesse scoffed, "With her? Really? Maxon, I thought you were better than this!"

"You go girl," Ahsoka whispered during the Report, followed by a soft, "Uh oh," a few seconds later.

"What the heck?" Fives gasped.

"Kill him. Just send him to prison. Oh, you don't do that? Ok then. Throw him to the rebels," Kix growled.

"I hated him from the beginning," Echo snarled as the scene in the safe room unfolded.

"Precious boy," Hardcase cooed, shaking his head. "You poor baby."

"He needs hugs and kisses. And chocolate," Ahsoka declared, as though she were planning on going to find some to shove through the book into his hands.

"Oh yay! She's staying!" Echo cried, bouncing slightly.

"Oh my gosh. Can I punch his face through the book? Please?" Fives exclaimed. "He is such a jerk!"

Ella laughed and nodded as she concluded.

"'If she's going to win, we need to plan.' Her smile was diabolical, and agreed with her. I've never met anyone as organized as these girls. If I had them, there was no way I could lose."

"That's it?!" Kix nearly screeched.

Ella shrugged helplessly. "Yeah. For this book anyway."

"NOO!" Hardcase bawled, "I cannot wait long enough to read what happens next! I can't!"

They ignored his dramatics, turning to Ahsoka who just nodded. "I can't wait to read the next one. The first was amazing. This one was awesome. They just keep getting better and better!"

Rex nodded, and was about to comment, when his comlink chirped. "I swear if this is general Skywalker, I'm going to throw something." Then he lifted his wrist to his lip, "Yes sir?"

"Good to hear from you, Rex," Anakin crowed. "I enjoyed the story. I think that the senator would like it."

Rex blanched, "Just how much did you hear General?"

He laughed, "Only the two chapters before the conclusion, then it turned off. You might wanna have your comlink checked out."

Rex swallowed, "Yes sir. Right away sir."

"Also, if you can send Ahsoka down here from where I know she's hiding. She needs to go through a preflight plan with her crew."

Ahsoka groaned and tried to snuggle further into Ella's side. "Just tell him I jumped out the airlock."

"Er... yes sir," Rex replied shortly, giving her a dismayed look. Then he shut off his comlink and shook his head, "Come on kid. You need to get down there before he comes looking for you. The admiral will have my hide if he finds out I even contemplated hiding you in here."

The girl groaned and stood up. "Have you ever given a preflight plan?"

The captain shook his head. "No sir. I'm no pilot."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes, "You can all pilot something. You just don't know fancy stuff."

"I can land. That's basically it," he argued. "The last ship I tried to actually fly was... there wasn't much left."

"Rexy needs training wings," Hardcase snickered.

"Like you're any better!" Rex shot back, escorting Ahsoka out. They could still be heard bantering as they got further away.

Ella giggled. "They're hilarious. They make me think of me and my brother."

"Which one?"

She pretended to think hard, "The oldest younger one. He and I were always at each other's throats. In jest, of course."

Everyone gasped at this information.

"What?" she asked.

Fives shook his head, "You're the most innocent thing I've ever met. You can't tell me you were ever like that!"

She just gave him a sly wink, "Guess you'll have to keep guessing." Then she stood and tucked her book under her arm. "Well, when all goes well, we'll meet back here after the battle?"

"You say when," Kix pointed out, "like it's a guarantee."

Ella shrugged, "You gotta believe it to see it."

With this impressive life lesson mic drop, she swiftly floated off.

"Sometimes," Chopper admitted, "I wonder if she has a store of wisdom that she just keeps somewhere, and she waits until the opportune moment to sprinkle some of it."

"Yeah," Jesse sighed.

An uncomfortable silence stretched out for a good five minutes.

Finally Fives stood, stretched, and walked out, pulling Echo with him. "I'm gonna go beat something up."

"Ooh! Can I come too?" Hardcase pleaded giddily, as if he'd suggested going to a chocolate factory.

"Please don't choose me to be the something to beat up," Echo begged.

"Nah, you're the ref," Fives assured. "I need you to keep everyone from cheating."

"Including you?"

"It was one time! Okay?"

Chopper stood with a grunt that Kix supposed was probably his version of a laugh, and followed them at a safe distance.

"You're gonna go after them," Jesse said knowledgeably.

"No I'm not."

"You're going to go make sure no one gets hurt."

"No. I'm going to go run a bubble bath and relax."

"That's a load of osik. We don't even have a bathtub here!" Jesse laughed.

"I'm not going to watch them beat each other up. They're grown men. They can take care of themselves."

"Hardcase? Fives?"

"They have Echo. He'll keep them in line."

"Strike two."

"They'll be fine," he wrung his fingers anxiously, tapping his feet. "You don't think they'll break something?"

"Again, remember who we're talking about."

"There are explosives near the gym."

"Yes. I know."

"Hardcase likes explosions."

"Yep."

Kix hesitated a moment, then gave a cry of aggravation and leapt to his feet, racing down the hall.

"I thought you said you weren't going to go?" Jesse gloated, only a step behind.

"Then I remembered who we're dealing with! I'm an idiot! They'll kill themselves! Hurry! Someone probably already got into the foam fire extinguishers!"

•~§~•

Ahsoka tore down the halls, her head ducked to hide the sheen of tears sparkling in her sapphire eyes. She couldn't believe that had happened. She should've just listened! Then her men would be alive right now.

She was just turning the corner, when she ran into a petite figure.

"Oh!" a gentle voice cried alarmedly. "Ahsoka?"

Ahsoka was panting and hugging herself tightly. She couldn't bear to meet Ella's sweet face and loving eyes. What had she done?

"Ahsoka... are you okay?" A soft hand rested on her shoulders.

She sniffled.

"Ok. Come with me."

Ella led her to her own room and shut the door, sitting them both down on her bed.

The little togruta's hands were shaking, and she covered her face, leaning forward on her knees.

"Soka," Ella whispered, and wrapped her arms around her. "I'm so sorry."

That pulled the last thread of resistance the child had left in her, and she threw herself into Ella's embrace, sobbing into her shoulder.

"I didn't mean to, and I-I thought I could just, and... oh, god it's all my fault!" she cried bitterly. "And Master hates me. I'm gonna be sent back to the Temple, I just know it."

Here Ella sat her up and tilted her face to get a look in her eyes. "Honey, Anakin would no sooner send you away than cut off his own head. He needs you."

"B-But... I made a huge mistake, and—"

"Yes. You did. But he, of all people, understands that mistakes are a part of life."

"But my mistake killed people." Her voice was small and haunted.

Ella's heart bled as she wished that that was not the case - that this young girl, barely fourteen, could be free to make mistakes that wouldn't be lethal. That her mistake would be totaling a speederbike or breaking something in a store. Maybe breaking curfew.

She's so young. Children shouldn't be made to fight wars, jedi or otherwise.

Ella hugged her again, resting her chin on her lek. "I know, Soka. I know. And unfortunately that's a part of life too, at least the life we're living right now. The thing is though that you cannot let that be your defining moment. You must lift your head, dry your tears, and walk on, for those men."

She shuddered, "I don't know if I can. I don't want to hurt them again!"

"You value their lives, yes?"

She nodded jerkily.

"They know that. And they'll follow you."

"That's what I'm afraid of," she confessed.

"What is?"

Ahsoka lifted her head, her expression miserable. Tear tracks tattooed across her sunset skin, and her blue eyes were puffy. "That they'll follow me and I'll cause them to die again. That they'll follow me knowing that they won't come back."

Ella wished she could help her. She wanted to reassure her. All she could do was squeeze her once more, and rise to her feet. "I'm gonna let you think and clear your head for a little while. I think you'd like to have some time to yourself. But I want you to know that you still have to finish this. The next step is looking at what you did wrong this time, and resolving to not do that again. We make mistakes. We learn. We move on. That's what makes us people, and also what makes good leaders. This is a hard mistake to learn from, but you have to keep going."

With these words, she turned and left, hoping to find the boys.

•~§~•

Ella had only just made it to the barracks hallway, when a steady hand wrapped around her wrist, dragging her towards the medbay.

"Kix?"

"The remains of Axe's ship crashed into the hangar right before we took off. Some men from the Redeemer also made it. I'm not sure how. Anyway, I need your help. The medbay is swamped," the medic explained hurriedly.

"Did Axe make it?"

Kix nodded soberly, "He doesn't look good. He's very badly burned, especially his back. The thing exploded at the back."

"How's his head looking?"

Entering the medbay, Ella was hit by the severity of the injuries. There were about a dozen men with shrapnel wounds leaning against a wall, trying to comfort each other. Almost ten were in beds, burns across their faces and bodies. Poor Axe was being held down on one of the OR tables as someone tried to get him hooked up to oxygen. Ella was at his side within seconds.

"Shhh, Axe, you're safe now," she murmured gently, slipping her hand into his. "Listen to me, Axe. Come on."

The pilot froze at the sound of her voice, and his eyes found hers, glazed and disoriented. He couldn't speak, could barely breathe, but he gasped out a moan, letting her know he heard her.

"That's it. You're safe," Ella soothed. "We're trying to give you oxygen. Can you let Wander put the mask on? No one is going to hurt you."

Axe finally relaxed little by little, and let them slip the mask over his face. He blinked rapidly, squeezing her hand.

"You're gonna be okay," she whispered. "We're gonna fix you up."

His eyes closed slowly and he nodded.

"Hey brother," Kix said, "I'm gonna start you on some morphine. We're gonna do our best here, then float you in bacta for a while; see what that'll do for you. Okay?"

He nodded again, barely conscious.

Kix attached something to the oxygen and watched as the pain drained from his face. Ella continued to hold his hand until he had passed out completely. She rolled her wrist a few times, opening and closing her fingers.

He's got quite the grip.

"You okay, El?" one of the medics, Vutyc, asked. His eyebrows were raised in question, squishing his fingerprint tattoo.

Ella smiled, "Yes. I'm fine. What can I do that will help?"

He nodded to the men with shrapnel wounds. "If you can help them, monitor their conditions and let us know which wounds need immediate care, that would be great. Axe might take a while. He has... some embedments that need removal. If you could also prep a bacta tank for him... we'd appreciate it."

Ella turned and ran to the tanks, selecting one closest to them and beginning the prep cycle.

While it was running, she went to the men waiting for medical care, and checked their wounds, giving them hypos of painkillers. Some, she found, were within her ability to care for, and she helped them remove the little bits of shrapnel, scanning them multiple times to make sure she didn't miss any fragments.

Soon, eight of fourteen men were all resting in beds. Three of the others were in surgery.

Ella weaved through the injured, checking on them and writing their names on erasable boards. After this was done she went and sat with the last three men.

"You're gonna be okay, Charge," she said, smoothing back the shiny's platinum-blond hair. The boy shut his eyes and leant into the touch.

"Thank you, miss," he breathed. "Thank you for choosing to be here with us."

Ella smiled at him, patting his shoulder. "No one else knows this, but this was my first pick when I went to med school. I specialized in labor and delivery for after the war, and chose to specialize in field medicine because I knew where I wanted to go."

"Really?" he asked, bewildered.

Ella nodded. "Yes. I minored in physical therapy too. Are you okay?"

A tear dripped down his cheek, and he put aside the pain in his abdomen to hug her tightly. "You care!"

Ella gasped in surprise and returned the hug, her movements slow from shock. Does no one care but me? Are they all living invisibly to all the rest of the galaxy?

"I do. Very much," she muttered against his hair.

Someone tapped her shoulder and she whipped her head up. There was Vutyc.

"We're ready for the last three now," he murmured.

He moved to the clone next to Charge.

"Hey, Patton. Look at me." The clone opened his eyes, his face twisted into a deep grimace. "Hey. Hold on, vod. You're gonna be okay. We're gonna get you better. You hear me?"

Patton groaned and let his brother hoist him up onto a stretcher.

"Thank you for your help. I don't know how we'd have gotten on without you," Vutyc said to the girl, who was disentangling herself from Charge.

"Not as quickly, or efficiently, that's for sure," Wander declared, helping one of the three, Judea, onto a stretcher and attaching a mask to his face.

Kix clapped her on the back. "Yeah. You did good, Ella. Real good."

Ella smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder tiredly. "Thanks Kix. Y'all did too."

The doors to the medbay opened, and someone stepped inside quietly. There was a sharp intake of breath.

Ella turned to see Echo standing there, looking a little lost. He'd been looking at her, but glanced around at all the wounded.

"You okay, ner'vod? You're looking a little pale," Kix questioned.

Echo nodded mutely, then swallowed. "I-I was just coming to check on you and Ella. I heard it was bad." He shook his head. "I never thought it would be like this though."

Ella slipped from Kix's side and let him take Charge to the medbay. She hugged over to Echo and sighed. "I'd hug you but I'm dirty. There were..." she sighed, "a lot of shrapnel wounds. I helped with eight. Got a little messy."

Echo shrugged, shifting uneasily. "It's okay."

She sighed. "I'm so tired. Have you heard anything?"

He shrugged again, a weak smile on his face. "Not much. I heard we're returning to Ryloth."

"What?" Ella gasped, terrified. "But... we lost an entire destroyer!"

Echo sighed, "We have to claim the air above Ryloth so the 212th and 187th can get to the surface and free the natives."

Ella nodded, and slumped. "Are you doing alright? I was worried about you."

He shrugged, not saying anything.

The two stood there at the entry without a word on their tongues, but a million in their hearts.

"I should... head to the barracks," Echo sighed, stepping back.

Ella swallowed, then nodded tightly.

Her friend hesitated for a moment, as if waiting for an invitation to stay.

But Ella didn't want to keep him if he wanted to go, not knowing that was the last thing he wished to do.

So Echo smiled, just barely enough to even be called a smile at all. It was awfully sad. Then he turned and walked out, leaving the girl standing like a statue, staring at the closed door.

What just happened? she wondered, shaking herself off. Why did he look so... lost?

Again, all rights go to Kiera Cass. She's amazing and if you haven't read the series I highly recommend it! (No joke, I read The One more times than I can count in just three weeks. They're addictively good.)