Ella wiped the sweat off her brow and took the young man's hand in hers. He had a 5 tattooed to his right temple, and the same haircut that many of his brothers had chosen. Or kept. She wasn't sure.

"Shh, you're gonna be okay, honey," she whispered, ghosting her fingers over his brow.

He moaned softly and shut his eyes, muttering a curse. "How much longer!"

She grimaced. "Kix should be through taking care of Rogue very soon. I think it was shrapnel, like yours, just in a more life-threatening area."

He hissed and cursed again in some language she didn't understand. She winced in sympathy and petted his sweaty hair. This seemed to calm him a little.

"You're doing good. Just hold on a little longer and he'll be here to get you and get that thing out of you. Why were you so close to the detonator anyway?"

He shook his head, "I dunno. It just kinda happened."

She sighed and continued to let him squeeze her hand and pet his head, talking to him through the pains that came and went and soothing him.

Finally Kix walked over and sighed. "Ok. We're ready for him now. Rogue almost... never mind. I'll tell you later."

He took a hypo and quickly injected it in the side of his brother's neck. The other man grimaced and hissed through his teeth.

"Cool it, vod'ika," Kix said almost beratingly.

The man glared at him, raising his hand to send him a very crude message. But even as he did this, his eyes were slowly drooping under the weight of medication and fatigue, and he slipped into a deep sleep.

Kix hooked him up to oxygen and inserted an IV, then pushed him back into the OR. "We can handle his surgery, Ella. Can you go watch over Rogue?"

Ella nodded and turned to do just that. As soon as they were behind the curtain, she took a deep breath to steady herself.

There were a lot of wounded today.

Walking to Rogue's bed, she sat down, studying his face. There was a scar running diagonally from his right temple, across his nose, until it brushed by the left corner of his lips and tucked under his chin. Ella shuddered. What had done that to him?

She turned on her data pad and opened his scans. She grimaced. There was some nerve damage, but she was fairly sure that with a daily reapplication of bacta, that would heal fairly soon.

His eyes blinked open slowly. They traversed the ceiling and surrounding walls sightlessly until they fixed on her.

She smiled and took his hand. "Hello, Rogue. I'm Ella. I work here with Kix. Do you remember what happened?"

He nodded, and tried to speak, but couldn't. He made a sign for thirsty.

Ella nodded and grabbed him a cup of water, helping him to swallow down a little. He nodded when he was through and she set the styrofoam cup on his bedside table.

"... eh-ehem! There was a battle," he managed, his voice strained and rough. "I was caught in an explosion."

He glanced down at his right leg, thickly padded with bandages.

"That's right," she said sweetly. "You've just come out of surgery. How are you feeling?"

He swallowed. "I... I can't feel anything. I'm numb." His voice was breathy and frightened. A veil of tears was weaving across his dark chocolate eyes.

She stroked the side of his face. He leant into her touch unconsciously. "You're going to be okay. Do you want to see your charts?"

He nodded shakily.

Ella sat beside him and showed him the damage that had been done to his leg and the before and after surgery scans.

"You'll be stuck doing PT with me for a while, but you should recover just fine," she assured.

"PT?" He sounded concerned.

"Physical therapy," she explained.

Rogue nodded, then smiled wryly. "Hello, you stick in the mud. What are you doing here?"

Ella turned to see that another trooper was standing a few feet away. He looked uncomfortable, his brown eyes stuck to the floor and his fresh-off-the-field boots. His fingers tapped against the side of his thigh anxiously.

The young man had a blue hand print over the left side of his breastplate. She was sure it meant something special to him. Almost everything had a deep meaning here, she'd found.

Jesse's Republic cog tattoo was a symbol of what he hoped to belong to when the war was over. Not just something he fought for. Kix's tattoo, 'the only good droid is a dead one,' was the catchphrase of a deceased comrade. Rex's tally marks weren't for the droids he'd taken down in battle. They were how many planets he'd been to.

"I... I came to see if my brother is alright," he said. "I couldn't speak to Kix. He was in the OR. I thought I'd ask you."

Ella smiled. "What's your name, trooper?"

His face lifted and his eyes blinked shyly. They were dark eyes, with flecks of gold in them. "Echo, ma'am."

"I'm Ella."

He nodded, "I know."

"Then call me that, if you'd please. Ma'am sounds too dignified for it to be addressing me," she said lightly.

He cracked a smile at this. "I'm not sure about that, Ma- I mean, Ella."

She just smiled wider, as if daring him to dispute it. "Let's see. I know who's in surgery right now. He has a five tattooed to the side of his head. His face is getting a little grizzly, like he's growing a beard or something like that."

He nodded and sighed in relief. "Thank God. That's him."

"What's his name?" she asked pleasantly. "I didn't ask him."

"Fives."

"Any particular reason?"

"His cee-tee number. It's 27-5555."

"Ah. I see." Then she patted the bunk across from her. "Come sit. Tell me about your name while we wait on him."

He hesitated, obviously not accustomed to being invited into a conversation, especially not about himself. But then he nodded and obediently sat across her. "I'm called Echo because I repeat orders a lot. When I was younger," he explained, "I found it hard to remember things, especially when they were detailed. So I started repeating the orders to myself and simplified them. I didn't mean to do it aloud when I was with my squad, but then I realized that one of our brothers, Droidbait, found it helpful too, and so did Fives at first, though he started getting annoyed after a while. The other two, Hevy and Cutup, would always tell me to can it, and started calling me Echo because I echoed everything."

Ella shook her head, "I can see why it stuck."

He chuckled bashfully, "Yeah."

"What do you do for fun?"

He blushed impossibly redder. "You'll think it's dumb."

She shook her head, "No. Really, tell me."

He sighed. "I read reg manuals."

"Oh! I heard y'all are supposed to study those like they're your Bibles," she said.

He nodded, "We are. No one really does though. Which is why it's kinda... yeah."

"How come you enjoy it?"

He looked over at Rogue. Ella followed his gaze. The boy had passed out and was now sleeping off what was left of the drugs in his system.

Echo leaned forward and whispered, "They're funny."

Ella's eyebrows kissed her hairline. "Really?"

He nodded secretively. "There's a lot of really stupid rules that are so specific you just know someone had to do to have been put in there."

"Like?"

"Hmm... 'do not juggle thermal detonators.'"

"What!"

He chuckled, "I know. It's insane. I wonder who did it?"

"Another!"

"Really?"

She nodded, then stood up and sat next to him. "Please! There must be more really funny ones!"

He paused, cheeks pink with delight. No one ever reacted like this. No one guessed that his love of regs manuals was almost purely comic centric. "Um, what about 'do not use rifles as stilts and play hopscotch and/or chicken fight'?"

She burst out into a fit of giggles, "Now THAT I would pay to see!"

"There's others that are like that. And each new edition of the manuals is jam-packed with hilarious new rules."

"I think you may have converted me. Now I wanna read reg manuals!"

His eyes widened. Could this really be happening? She thought it was a cool thing? She was really interested?

To whomever is doing this for me, THANK YOU!

"You like reading then?" she asked.

"I do. But... well, I've only read one book other than regs." He sounded so sad.

"Oh no!"

He nodded. "We... we don't have that many personal possessions, and no money really."

"What book is it you have?"

He blushed again. He seemed to do that a lot. "You'll laugh."

"No I won't. Try me," ordered the girl.

"... Winnie the Pooh."

"Oooh, really?"

"You've read it?" he asked, surprised.

Ella nodded. "Multiple times. Especially to my brothers. It's got the power to appeal to many audiences."

He nodded in agreement.

Kix chose that moment to wheel a comatose Fives out and lay him on the bed, covering him in a sheet and blanket. He smiled at them tiredly. "He's the last. Oh, hello Echo. How is your arm doing?"

Echo nodded and shifted his bandaged arm in the sling. "It's just fine, sir. Just sore now. How're you?"

Kix sighed and sagged against Ella's shoulder, moaning, "It's late. It was early. And now it's late. And I never finished my caf this morning so I wasted that. I'm a horrible person. I deserve to be stoned."

"Uh, no."

"Fine. No stoning. For now."

"You need sleep," she said gently.

He nodded miserably. "I can't. There's still the minor wounds to deal with. Rex's wound really needs a bacta patch, and Stucco broke his arm real bad, and Hardcase - I cannot believe he only had a minor wound - got a concussion and his hands burned."

Ella shook her head. "Hey. I graduated medical school. I got this. Let me handle the rest. Okay? You go get some well-deserved rest."

"But Ella—"

She shook her head and rested her finger in his lips. "No, Kix. Take the advice you dish out all the time. You are no use to us dead on your feet."

He slumped and stood, staggering a bit. "Alright. I'll go."

That told novels of how exhausted he was.

Kix started to walk towards the door, and promptly collided with Jesse.

"Vod! What's wrong?" the man exclaimed.

"He's exhausted," Ella informed. "You think you can drag him back to the barracks? He'll go willingly this time."

Kix muttered something unintelligibly. Whatever it was, Jesse heard it and replied, then slid his arm under his armpit and guided him out the medbay and towards peaceful reprieve.

Echo was still beside her, silent. His eyes took her in inquisitively. Ella blinked.

"Have you never seen a woman before?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Well... not one that isn't a holo or a Jedi. Jedi are well and good, of course. But a little... detached. The grown ones anyway. Part of me wanted to pinch Jedi Master Ti to see if she would squeak when I would see her before. Ahsoka... I don't think she qualifies as a woman yet. She will, of course, given time. But... I don't know. You're the first I've seen who is both adult and normal." Echo blanched and held up his hand defensively, "I don't mean that as insult, of course. You're not just normal. But you're..." he struggled to find the right word. "Real."

Ella just smiled at him. "Before I'd come here, the thought of an army that all sounded and looked the same was a novel concept. Part of me was worried I'd have a hard time getting on when everyone described you and your brothers as... well, less than human. It was strange. Society either sees you as over-perfect to the inhuman degree, or not living. Like droids. I wanted to see for myself before I made my own decision."

He leaned forward interestedly, "And?"

"I think I've found that they were both wrong. You're more than just a 'perfect soldier.' Obviously more than a machine. Working in the medbay drives that home easily enough. And I've gotten to know some of you too."

She smiled, thinking of learning how to play sabaac with Jesse, Kix, and Hardcase. Rex had given her a tour of the facilities and they'd had lunch, and gotten to know each other better.

"All of you are so very different and special. I can not compare one to another because of how different the fingerprints of your souls are." She paused and beamed, "Yet you're also the same as me - just as precious. Just as normal. But a purer and more beautiful version because you look at the world and take everything in, and eat up every new thing. You see life as a masterpiece that you want to understand as best as you can."

Echo's smile caressed tenderness and profound joy. His dark eyes looked melty with awe.

"No one... you're the first person to ever say that," he said. "That... thank you."

Ella smiled and took his hand, "You're welcome."

They sat in silence, learning the swirls and patterns in each other's eyes, reading the soul behind those glass windows. Then Echo cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry. I think I made you forget that you'd promised Kix to look after the others."

She gasped, "Oh dear. I did forget. Thank you for remembering for me!" The girl leapt up and floated towards the waiting men. "Thank you for talking to me, Echo. I hope we can see each other again soon!"

He nodded and smiled shyly, "I'd like that. If you'd be willing, I could meet you somewhere to give you some reg manuals."

Ella nodded happily. "That would be wonderful! Stay by Fives. I'll see you later!" And then she whispered away like a feather on the wind.

Echo took his seat beside Fives and sighed, running his fingers through his thick ebony hair. Ella left him feeling tingly and warm, like fairy dust had fallen on him and he was now able to fly.

She's so different, he thought. Shaak Ti was more of a maternal authority figure in his life, and Ahsoka a sister. But this girl with the bouncy chocolate waves and eyes as dark as the Rogan Desert sands was so... heavenly. It was hard to even believe she existed.

Again he fiddled with his hair, trying to weave some sense beneath his scalp. Why did he feel so bubbly and light? His heart was like a fizzy drink that rejoiced on and on excitedly.

Who was this girl?

Fives stirred and moaned, his sharp golden-brown eyes rolling and batting open. "Ugh... I hate after-surgery hangovers."

"Stop stepping into mine fields then," Echo advised.

Fives groaned and swatted at him. "Who was the girl who stayed with me before the surgery?" he grumbled. "She was nice."

Echo grinned, "Ella. And yeah. She was nice."