Chapter Text
Ahsoka ended up stuck with Echo mostly because Rex and Anakin were busy. They needed her out of the way while they talked and planned via holo call with the 212th– and apparently, her master thinks having a padawan around in a meeting room while they strategize is "distracting." Yeah. Right. He just wants a break from dealing with her (which is ridiculous, since he's barely spent even a couple hours in her presence.) Not to mention that she's a delight– no matter how many times her new master rolls his eyes when she speaks.
But. Rex and Anakin are unavailable, no matter the reasons, so she follows Echo through the halls to wherever he sees fit to lead her. From what she knows about the man, Echo is part of the Torrent Company under Captain Rex, and he's one of Rex's most trusted troopers. Or, the last bit is what Ahsoka assumes anyway. Echo is one of the clones that always seems to be on the fringes of the room when Rex is present, ready to lend a hand, or, in this case, deal with what Rex can't. Which right now means Ahsoka.
She feels a bit like a pet tooka being passed between petsitters.
Echo taps a panel and a door to a meeting room slides open, which immediately has Ahsoka protesting.
"What?! More book-work?" she says hovering at the doorway, not wanting to step in and seal her fate.
"Rex has set me to task– apparently he thinks I have some useful information I can part onto you, Commander," Echo says with a pleased smile. Datapads, which Ahsoka had thought were related to a job he needed to do, are set on the tabletop. "I've got some datapads for you to look at for a bit, Sir."
"Oh, come on, I feel like all I've been doing is sitting in meeting rooms and staring at datapads. Surely we can skip this," she says, crossing her arms mulishly. She eyes up the datapad stack with dread. It isn't a small pile.
The corner of Echo's mouth crooks up so slightly it's nearly invisible. "Unfortunately for both of us, Commander, when Rex says something needs to get done, it will get done." Echo pulls out a chair pointedly. "Sit, Sir?"
"This is cruel and unusual punishment." She steps in and plops into the chair, sending it spinning in a circle, making her vision spin as she kicks her legs. The door closes behind her.
Eventually, she drops her feet to the ground and stops her spinning, facing the table and the intimidating stack of datapads. Echo has taken a seat across from her, patient in the face of her procrastinating.
"So, what are we doing?" Ahsoka asks.
"We're reviewing the reg manuals, Sir."
Ahsoka feels despair wash over her and she resists the urge to face-plant into the table. "Are you kidding? We're reading a manual?" Who could have foreseen that she'd be a Commander in a galaxy-wide war, and that all she would be doing in that galaxy-wide war, is reading manuals. This feels like some sort of perverted justice from the force, punishing her for all the times she gave Madame Nu a headache when she caused a mess in the archives.
Echo grabs a pad off the top of his stack, fingers tapping and swiping at its screen. "Yes, Sir, that's exactly what we're doing." He glances up at her as his fingers work. "There are some important things you should know that can affect how you lead the troops. Protocols and rules that might come up in the future."
Ahsoka has thought about it several times throughout her still brief tenure on the Resolute, but sometimes she wished she could have just joined one of the other Corps instead of becoming a padawan. She expected the fighting, but she never anticipated all the red tape, semantics, and paperwork. She has paperwork to fill out! She's never had to do that before in her entire life! Now, it seems, that's all her life is– paperwork, in one form or another.
Gathering all her determination, and a whole lot of resignation, to power her forward, she sighs. "Alright. What do I need to know?"
Echo straightens in his seat, eyes crinkling at the corners as she finally capitulates. "Well first, Sir, do you know what the reg manual is?"
Ahsoka shakes her head. She's heard the term in passing, tossed between clones in the corridors as they chat, but that's it.
"Reg manuals– or the Clone Regulation Manuals– tell us how to act," Echo says as he hands over the datapad in his hand. What he has pulled up is a table of contents, that when she scrolls through, seems to go on for eternity. "It covers all aspects of our lives. When we're to eat, how to upkeep our equipment, who we should report to in case of an emergency, how to treat civilians, what to do with war refugees, the order of command, and exceptions to that order of command. Everything." Echo raps the stack of pads with a knuckle. "These pads are our bible. We live by them." Echo's face breaks into a narrow and wry grin, head cocked at an angle. "But we also break the rules by them."
Ahsoka can't help but be curious, leaning forward in her seat. "What do you mean by that?"
"Most people who go around breaking rules get in trouble," Echo states, picking up another pad and messing with its screen. "For example: a clone, upon the entry of a natborn superior, does not stand to greet them properly. Doesn't salute at all." Echo's hands pause and he looks up. "The clone gets reprimanded and the natborn officer makes them do drills until they drop and he ends up in the medbay."
Ahsoka grimaces. "That's cruel."
Echo nods with a solemn face. "It is, Sir."
"But how does the reg manuals have anything to do with that?" she asks, motioning towards the datapad in her hands.
"Well, if the clone had read the manuals, he would be able to tell the natborn superior that clones are not required to give a proper greeting and salute in times of crisis. He was perfectly within his right to continue his duties since they were in the middle of a campaign."
Ahsoka's eyes widen and her spine straightens. "Wait, really?"
"Yes, Sir. On top of that, if a clone is given a write-up for insubordination, the punishment is handled directly by one of their superior officers– their commander or their general. The natborn had no right to mete out the punishment and was, in fact, out of line and outside of their power jurisdiction."
She can feel a toothy grin slowly working onto her face as she listens to Echo's explanation. Malicious glee flutters in her chest. "Holy kriff. That's brilliant, Echo."
Echo returns the smile, his own filled with schadenfreude. "And I only know this because I study the reg manuals and keep up to date." He pulls his datapad up. "Now, Sir. Please find the chapter called Commander Responsibilities and Capabilities. We'll be starting there today."
The excitement that had been budding in her chest at Echo's exciting story dims in the face of the numerous and long pages of regulations before her. No matter how much she scrolls she just never seems to make it out of one section. She could only imagine the amount of hours and sleepless nights Echo must have spent reading to be able to know every detail of the manuals.
"Echo, there's so much to this! I can't imagine anyone but you spending enough time to memorize it all," she says while still scrolling with a growing feeling of misery. "I'll never remember anything!"
The clone sitting across from her just shakes his head. "Don't worry, Commander, you'll do just fine. You don't have to memorize everything anyways. You just need to know enough to get by and get yourself out of any trouble."
Ahsoka makes an indignant noise. "Hey! I won't get into trouble!" Ahsoka promptly protests, stopping her mindless scrolling and hitting a button that sends her back to the top of the chapter.
"I'm… sure you won't, Commander," Echo agrees, lying to her face. Poorly. Ahsoka shoots a glare at Echo to let him know she's aware, but the man's looking down at the pad in his hands already.
Echo suddenly snorts.
"What?" Ahsoka says, eyes narrowing at a perceived offense. "I can stay out of trouble!"
"Oh, no, it's not that, Sir," Echo says immediately, eyes darting up at her words. "It's just, there is someone else who also knows the regs, Sir. Every word from the introduction to the index– like me."
Ahsoka's metaphorical hackles settle. "Really?" she asks with a critical look in the clone's direction, skepticism obvious. It's hard to imagine any sane person taking the time out of their day to read this textbook drivel, even while Echo sits right in front of her. She's only read a couple of paragraphs and has swiftly concluded that the only thing it's good for is working as a bedtime story, seeing as Ahsoka's pretty sure it could put an insomniac to sleep.
"Yes, Sir. I believe General Kenobi keeps up with any updates made to the manuals."
"What?" Ahsoka breathes in disbelief, her voice on the edge of a hysterical laugh. "No way! Master Kenobi is way too cool to be sitting around reading reg manuals."
Echo's eyebrows lift. "Am I not cool, Commander?"
Immediately, she sputters, sitting forward in her chair. "Wh– No!" She then panics upon realizing how that might sound, waving her hands in front of her. "Wait– I mean yes– yes, you're cool! Of course you are! But, Master Kenobi is like," Ahsoka's up-turned hands make vague waving-grasping motions in front of her as she searches for the words. "He's, like, ten times cooler than the average person." He's the Sith Killer. He's probably the coolest person in the entire Temple, besides maybe Master Koon (which is a personal bias, she admits.)
Echo chuckles and waves at her to sit back down. "I understand what you mean, Sir." He sets his pad down and leans back in his chair, the plastic spine creaking under his weight. "But I'm telling the truth. He knows these books just as well as me." His lips pull tight in contemplation. "Perhaps even better. He is known as the Negotiator, after all. And he's always arguing with the natborn officers to try and keep them from breathing down our necks." Echo tilts his head. "That's what Rex says Commander Cody tells him, anyways."
Ahsoka blinks a bit, but can't help but agree. "Yeah, I guess I can see it. He is kind of a nerd."
Echo blinks, looking startled at the abrupt turn of opinion, before cracking a thin smile. "Well, Sir, don't let Commander Cody hear you say that, he'll get offended on behalf of his general. I heard he has the worst glare in the entire Republic Military." Echo leans forward, lifting a hand like he's going to whisper, even though they're in a sound-proofed room. Ahsoka can't help but mirror him, also leaning forward eagerly. "And I also heard, Sir– and don't tell anyone I told you this– that he's made a shiny pass out just by staring at them."
Ahsoka's hands fly to cover her mouth, muffling her incredulous gasp. "Oh force–" she says. And if possible, tilts even further over the table. "Tell me more."
"Of course, Sir. But first, the reg manuals."
Ahsoka flops back in her chair. "Oh, c'mon on!"