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"General's down!" Boil calls through the coms, and Cody spins, kicks high, catches a droid under the chin to snap it's head clean off it's neck, and thrusts his vibroknife straight into the wiring of another as his momentum pulls him round.
He doesn't have time to think about the sudden drop in his stomach.
He's destroyed another three before a familiar snap-hiss makes him look up, blue light glowing at the edge of his vision.
His General, or at least his General's lightsaber is on the other side of the battlefield, spinning and twirling in moves he's only seen a jedi make.
"General's pulled some force-oisk." Boil reports, and he sounds shaken. More oisky than usual then, Cody concludes, and ducks into the next droid, bringing up his knife again.
Cody finds them when it's all over. The General is sitting on the floor, cross-legged, in the mud of the Battlefield. Boil is standing over him looking extremely exasperated, and Helix seems to be having some sort of crisis. Everyone else just seems confused.
"- just need to borrow some thread from Darner." His General is saying in the reasonable tone of voice that he only pulls out when he's being absolutely unreasonable.
He gestures with one hand and.... Cody pauses to take in what he's seeing. The General is holding an arm. His own arm. Cleanly detached at the shoulder.
"Sir," Boil tries, "Your arm's off."
"Tis but a scratch!" His General says, waving the detached arm for emphasis. Helix whimpers.
His General wouldn't wave his arm about like that unless he was trying to hide something. Probably the blaster holes littering his head and body. Cody shifts slightly, and... yep. Daylight. He can see straight through his General.
"How are you still alive, sir?" Wooley asks, morbidly curious.
"Ah," His General says, gleeful. Such a mirishebs. "I'm afraid I'm really rather not."
"You're saying you're dead, sir?" Wooly attempts to clarify.
"Of course, my dear. As you can see, my blood has stopped flowing. Besides, it would be impossible for any being to survive wounds such as these."
Which...yes. Both of those statements are accurate.
"Then, how are you still..." Wooley gestures vaguely, and Cody steps in hurriedly as his General opens his mouth.
"If the next words out of your mouth are 'the will of the Force', Sir, I'll steal your arm and hide it."
His General subsides with offended dignity.
"My dear, I'm quite sure there's no need for that!"
Cody gives him his flattest stare.
"It seems the force isn't quite finished with me yet, is all." His General decides to add. Perfectly calm. But the glimmer of humour in his eyes gives him away.
"Right!" Cody barks, and the vode snap to attention. "Boil, see the General back to the ship," he ignores his General's protests about being perfectly capable, "Helix, find someone who's not a di'kut to treat, and if anyone else has forgotten what jobs they're supposed to be doing, I'm sure I can think of something to help remind you!"
The vode scatter, and Cody's General picks himself up off the floor.
"You seem quite busy, Commander," Cody closes his eyes because he can see exactly where this is going. "Would you like a hand?"
Cody spins on his heel and marches off.
"Oh. Do you think he's upset with me?"
"Undoubtedly, sir." Boil tells him.
Boil and the General are ambushed on the way back to the ship, because of course they are. By the time Cody is back on the Negotiator, everyone has seen the holo footage from Boil's bucket showing the General decapitating droids with his disembodied arm. If Cody overhears one more shiny turning to their vod and saying "Well, I have to say, I am enjoying the extra reach" in a terrible imitation of the General's accent, he's going to fly the whole ship into a sarlacc.
Cody storms into the medbay. Why couldn't medics schedule their mental breakdowns in their off hours like everyone else.
"Quite dead, I assure you." His General says, while Darner carefully stitches his arm back on.
"Just resting." Helix mutters frantically under his breath, poking rapidly at a scanner.
"Stone dead I'm afraid."
"Stunned!" Helix cries in desperation. Darner looks up from his stitching to raise his eyebrows incredulously. Helix doesn't notice.
"Pining for the fjords?" Danner supplies helpfully.
"I am deceased." The General declares. "Passed on, demised, expired, one with the force." His smile softens. "I am marching on, Helix. But somewhere between the Force and the Manda, they decided that I needed to march a bit closer to home than usual. Just for a while."
"That's you done, sir." Darner says, snapping the thread with his teeth. And that... can't be hygienic.
"Thank you my dear." His General says, "Excellent work." He claps his hands together. Because apparently he has full use of an arm held on only by thread. "Right, I find myself really quite peckish."
Every vod in the medbay freezes.
"Oh sweet Gods, he actually is dead." Helix whispers.
"I don't suppose we have any spare brains on offer in the refectory?" His General asks, in his reasonable tone of voice again. "Non-sentient for preference."
"You...want to eat brains, sir?" Darner asks.
"They're quite the delicacy in some cultures."