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In the end, the Chancellor’s death didn’t end up changing all that much in Fox’s life. Yes, the war ground to a halt; yes, the Clone Citizenship Act got more and more support from all over the galaxy and for the first time freedom seemed like a possibility for the vod’e, not just an impossible dream.
But on Coruscant, in the Senate, nothing really changed in those first weeks, except to get worse. Tensions ran high while the Senate was sequestered trying to decide who to pick and thrust into the office of the Supreme Chancellor to fix the mess Palpatine left behind. Stressed Senators meant those that were deemed safe had no time and those decidedly not, were worse than usual.
And on top of that, the Jedi were flocking back to the capital as well, bringing their battalions with them. This, of course wasn’t all bad - it meant there were vod’e here suddenly Fox hadn’t seen in ages, since their commissions kept them far away from Coruscant. With all that had been going on, he hadn’t had time to contact Bacara yet beyond a short message that he would be busy, and he wouldn’t have time for one of their by now customary walks.
But it meant Coruscant was suddenly teeming with troopers who had nothing to do but get in trouble and celebrate the likely end of the war, not realizing what this might mean for them if the Senate decided they were suddenly too expensive to be worth keeping around.
The Nova Corps, at least, was, as they always were, on their best behavior.
But even so, every patrol returning from duty outside of the Senate district reported trouble with GAR vod’e in varying degrees of severity. But there was nothing they could really do; even when docked on Coruscant, the Commanders of the GAR were just too busy to answer any of Fox’s comms.
“So what are we going to do? Just let them get away with it?” Thire asked, glaring down at his pad.
Fox pressed his face into his hands for a long moment as Thorn quietly bitched, Stone seethed and Hound bitched very much not quietly after some drunk GAR troopers had harassed Grizzer until she had a nervous breakdown and almost attacked them.
Fox could sympathize with her; a nervous breakdown sounded like an ideal vacation right now.
After hiding behind his hands for a few minutes and almost falling asleep, he straightened up. “I’ll…comm the Jedi.”
Thorn, who had been leaning his chair back on two legs daringly, fell backwards with a yelp as Hound stopped mid-word, staring openmouthed. Stone and Thire looked at him as if he just declared his undying love for the late Chancellor-Sith.
“Fox, it’s- I mean, it’s not that bad surely? You don’t have to…”
“We can deal.” Hound added quickly. “I just needed to vent a little, you can’t go to the Jedi, Fox, that’s insane. They’re going to -” he trailed off, not actually sure what the Jedi would do to Fox; Fox had made sure Hound never met the Chancellor, because he wouldn’t have survived that experience. But Hound was one of the cleverest vod’e in the Guard, and he noticed enough to know exactly how bad the Force could kriff you up in a thousand different ways.
Fox shook his head, willing down the instinctive fear his own words caused. “We are spread thin as is. I’ll be careful, couch it as merely bringing the situation to their attention. They won’t react badly to that. Probably.”
Thire took a deep breath. “I’ll do it. I- I mean, General Yoda probably remembers me, and you don’t have the best track record with Jedi. No offense.”
Fox looked at him until Thire slumped in his chair. “Like hell will I let you put your shebs on the line for me, Thire.” He said then and Thire frowned, looking to the others, but Fox waved all their protests away, even as they could see how scared he was.
“I am the Marshall Commander of the Coruscant Guard, and I will do my duty.”
–
As it turned out, Fox didn’t have to ask for an audience; the Jedi Council summoned him the very next day.
They requested his presence at his earliest convenience, but Fox had done this for years now, and he knew no one requested anything from a clone. It was an order.
Elk and Deer accompanied him on Thire’s orders, and he was probably right. If Fox would get too damaged, he wouldn’t be able to fly himself back home, after all. Fox left them out on the landing platform, looking tense and unhappy and staring at the Temple Guards stationed there. “Be careful, ori’vod.” Elk said quietly over internal comms, standing so close to Deer their shoulders brushed. “Endure and come back to us.” Deer added, the Guard’s very own version of stay safe, since there was no way for a Guard trooper to stay safe on Coruscant, unless they never left HQ.
Fox kept looking around, just so managing to make the movement subtle enough his bucket didn’t look like it was on a swivel as he was led through the Jedi Temple to the Council chambers high above the rest of Coruscant. The Temple was grand in an entirely different way to the Senate, but just like the Dome, it felt cold to him. Unwelcoming.
You don’t belong here. The endless marble and decorations hissed.
And while the cityscape outside and below was different, the height reminded Fox uncomfortably of the view out the window of the Chancellor’s office. He focused on the wide, heavy looking doors of the Council chamber instead as they swung open silently, admitting him inside. He took care to keep his posture perfect as he came to a stop in the middle of the chamber, saluting, keeping his gaze fixed above the Jedi’s heads unobtrusively.
“Welcome, Commander Fox.” General Koon spoke first, and several of the councilors smiled at him, inclining their heads in greeting. Fox nodded. "Generals. I am honored to be here, sirs.”
General Windu shook his head. “It was an oversight on our parts that led to you believing you were not welcome here sooner, Commander. For that, the Council offers you our deepest apologies.”
Fox barely resisted the urge to shift, uncomfortable with superiors apologizing to him, even more so because it was clearly genuinely meant.
“It was my mistake, sir. The fault did not lie with you.” He met General Windu’s eyes through the visor of his bucket for just a second and hurriedly looked up again so as to not give offense. Some people - and Jedi definitely, he was sure - could always tell when a Guard trooper dared to make eye contact.
“We have called on you today for some clarification concerning the general situation of the Coruscant Guard, Commander. We have spent the last days investigating the matter thoroughly.”
“Yes, sir. I will answer your questions to the best of my ability. Where would you like to start?” Fox braced himself for an interrogation about his failures as a Marshall Commander, taking a deep breath.
“Commander Stone has sent us several supply reports, Commander. Have you always received, at maximum, half of what a GAR battalion receives monthly?”
…what?
It kept going like that, and Fox felt wrong-footed at the way the Jedi kept implying the overall sorry state of the Guard wasn’t because of his incompetence or failures as a Commander.
They even commended him on several matters.
Fox didn’t understand. Eventually, he couldn’t bite it back anymore, and spoke up. “Sir - forgive the interruption - isn’t this meeting set to discern the level of correctional punishment needed to bring the Guard up to shape?”
The entire Council reared back as if slapped by the same invisible giant hand.
“No!” General Fisto exclaimed, and Fox saw heads shaking empathically.
“We will discuss these grave matters and may call on you again in a few days’ time to find solutions and how to assist you in the future, Commander. For now, we have ensured you will receive the same amount of supplies as a GAR posting of your size would.”
Fox nodded dumbly. He felt as if the giant hand had turned back to slap him now, a slight ringing in his ears. He took a deep breath.
“There is one matter I would like to bring to the esteemed Council’s attention.” He began carefully, and General Windu nodded for him to go on.
“Since the battalions returned to Coruscant, there has been an influx of clones in the city. Many of them are…celebrating.”
General Koon laughed, indulgent and a little sheepish, like a parent apologizing for a misbehaving but adorable child.
“Yes, they are all very joyous. I fear they might be a bit…rambunctious.”
Fox thought of patrol after patrol coming back stressed and oftentimes hurt, thought of overflowing drunk tanks, angry civilians and comm silence from his brothers.
He thought of CT-9998 coming back crying, having been separated from his squad, the words meat droid scrawled on his bucket in messy Aurebesh after being caught by a group of rambunctious GAR brothers. He bit down the helpless rage, swallowing it like all the other times, and said “Yes, General. However, a lot of them are neglecting their own safety in their…joy.”
“We will bring the matter to the Commanders' attention, Commander. It’s understandable that you wouldn’t want to bring down the mood yourself this evening.” General Kenobi was outright grinning, a sparkle in his eyes, and Fox had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, though all the other Councilors obviously did.
His confusion must have been obvious, because General Kenobi continued. “I understand there is a big get-together planned tonight, for all the Command-class vod’e. Cody has been almost vibrating with excitement for a week, he is so eager to see all of his brothers in one place for the first time in years. And to be honest, it will be good for him to get to burn off some of that energy, now that he has such a relaxed load of duties finally. Are you excited as well?”
Fox couldn’t breathe.
There was a -
Tonight?
They had planned this for at least a week, and no one-
Fox became aware that the Councilors were looking at him in growing concern, and he cleared his throat.
“I am sure it will be a long-awaited reunion, General. Now, if the Council has no other matter to discuss…?” It was terribly unsubtle, the kind of disrespect that would have gotten him a stint in the medbay if he had dared speak to a Senator like that, but the Jedi were truly soft touches, it seemed. He was dismissed without anyone remarking on his blatant insubordination.
He saluted crisply and left.
–
“Well, now I feel more terrible and I didn’t think that was possible after he told us his men were used to fainting from hunger.” Kit remarked after the doors had closed behind Commander Fox, and Obi-Wan just nodded, still struck by the realization that Commander Fox had had no idea his brothers were celebrating tonight.
After his blunder, there had been such a sense of heartbreak followed by a deep and hopeless resignation before Commander Fox had gathered up his temporarily broken shields around him and fled.
He had been adept at hiding it, but Obi-Wan kept thinking he had looked like a man shot in the gut, bleeding out slowly, and the thought was disquieting.
“I didn’t know…I thought…I just wanted to lift his spirits a little after this stressful topic. Cody said everyone was going to be there, why…” he trailed off, waving a hand helplessly.
“Wolffe said the same.” Plo nodded, his fingers steepled together. Ki-Adi sighed. “Commander Neyo even managed to talk Commander Bacara into attending.”
“Maybe it was a miscommunication? We know the Coruscant Guard has a troublingly high workload, maybe…”
“But he didn’t know about this. This wasn’t a case of not having the opportunity to attend, Commander Fox appears not to have been invited at all.” Mace spoke up after Depa had trailed off, shaking his head.
He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “This is not a matter we should be involved in, I think, but…maybe some questions as to why they decided to exclude the Guard would be prudent.”
Obi-Wan had left the Council session still feeling guilty, and he decided he would call Cody the moment he reached his rooms, but he didn’t have to; Cody and Rex were both sitting there in his living room, datapads between them, heads bowed together. Cody looked up as the door closed and smiled in greeting. “General, we were just discussing some joint training programs for the 212th and the 501st so the men can burn off some energy.”
Rex looked up and nodded in greeting.
“If we don’t do something, they might decide to entertain themselves on their own soon.”
“As I gather the men are already entertaining themselves quite successfully.” Obi-Wan replied, moving into the room and sitting down in the armchair opposite the couch.
“Commander Fox reported an increase in security concerns.” He dropped the name deliberately, to see if it would bring an epiphany. Maybe Cody had honestly just forgotten, or thought someone else had invited the Commanders of the Guard.
“Fox was here? Could he pry himself away from some important gala dinner to actually work?” Rex asked, scoffing a bit.
Obi-Wan thought of half-rations in increasingly smaller quantities and took a deep breath. He cleared his throat. “We had the meeting today scheduled for a while, since the Commander is quite busy, all the time.”
Rex opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when Cody elbowed him sharply in the side.
“General…” he began instead. “You seem troubled. Is something the matter?”
Well, he had asked.
“Cody…you told me all your brothers - all the CCs - would meet tonight to celebrate.”
“Yes, sir. Rex will be there too, since he’s a Commander in all but rank.”
“And yet, when I mentioned this to Commander Fox during the meeting, he had no knowledge of this.”
Both Cody and Rex made a face, looking slightly uncomfortable.
“He wouldn’t have attended anyway, sir, he never does. He doesn’t like slumming it with us grunts from the front.”
72-hour shifts on the regular flashed through Obi-Wan’s mind. He swallowed.
“So you did not even invite him? Perhaps he would have managed to make time, this is a momentous occasion, after all.”
“Sir, no disrespect, but…you don’t really know him as we do.” Rex said delicately.
“Rex is right. Fox changed after getting stationed here. He’s not-” Cody broke off, and Obi-Wan hoped dearly he hadn’t been about to end this sentence with not a brother.
Obi-Wan thought of Commander Fox again, after they had managed to talk him into taking his bucket off, and he couldn’t help but compare his appearance to Cody’s and Rex’s now.
If he wouldn’t know better, he’d assume Fox was the one fighting on the front. In a losing, ill-supplied war.
Thin, scarred, pale, exhausted. The eyes of a man who was still alive only for someone else.
He had nearly prayed that this had all been a misunderstanding. That there was an innocent explanation for this. But this was obviously not the case.
Mace was right, this was not something they should interfere in, but it was hard. Obi-Wan wasn’t used to being disappointed in Cody.
“Even so.” he started. “Wouldn’t you want to at least be asked, even if you had to decline?”
Both Rex and Cody winced a bit at that.
“This is not something I can decide for you, Cody. But maybe…just try and think about how Fox must have felt in that moment when he found out.”
He set his datapad on the tea table and stood again, leaving the room.
He felt the sudden need to go and see Quinlan and check in on him.
–
“He hasn’t said anything?” Thire asked worriedly and Elk shook his head, looking miserable.
“Not through the whole flight, sir, and he went immediately to his office.”
“What did the karking jetiise do to him?” Hound whispered furiously, clenching his fist, and Stone rubbed a hand down his face, looking towards Thorn.
“Should we go in or leave him for now?” Thorn sighed and took a deep breath.
“We need to check on him. I don’t think they’d do anything physical, but they might have kriffed with his mind.”
“General Yoda wouldn’t…” Thire trailed off.
“Are you willing to bet on that?” Hound asked, already making his way towards Fox’s office.
He pushed the door open, they all piled in, and the tiny office became cramped all at once.
Fox looked up slowly from where he had just been staring at his comm, and he cleared his throat.
“We will have to double the patrols around 9’s tonight.” he said tonelessly, setting down his comm and fishing the datapad with the shift schedule out of the ever existing pile. “I know we already have extra patrols there, but tonight, we’ll need more.”
“Why?” Thorn asked cautiously.
Fox still wasn’t looking at them.
“There’s a celebration planned for tonight with all the CCs attending.”
There was a moment of silence.
Hound looked between the four Commanders and his expression darkened.
“None of you knew?”
Stone had been estranged from his batch even before his posting on Coruscant, so it wasn’t that unusual he hadn’t known about it, and Thire and Thorn were the last two vod’e of their batch.
But Fox was lucky; he had most of his batch still there to ignore him.
“Bacara didn’t tell you either?”
“I told him I was busy. He hasn’t contacted me since then because of that.” He looked to the side.
Fox’s slow and careful thing with Commander Bacara was a well-kept and cherished secret in the Guard - because there were GAR vod’e who didn’t hate them. The Marines were always well-behaved and respectful when on Coruscant, which was rare enough.
“They’ve planned this for a few days, so they will all be fired up. We should put veterans on the patrols-”
“Kriff that! How kriffing dare they? Those chakaaryc aruetiise, when I see any of them I’ll-”
“Do nothing.” Fox said simply. “They broke no laws or regulations.”
“I don’t give a single-”
The comm chimed, interrupting Hound’s rant.
Fox looked down at it and froze, his eyes widening a bit. He looked up at them helplessly.
“It’s Cody.” he croaked, his hands shaking just a tiny bit as he snatched his bucket quickly and yanked it on before accepting the call.
“Commander, what do you need?” he asked, the vocoder helping to mask the slight tremble in his voice.
“Fox, it’s good to see you.” Cody said awkwardly, and Fox inclined his head a bit but didn’t return the sentiment.
He’d never lied to his batch, not once. On Kamino, he hadn’t wanted, or needed to. On Coruscant, it hadn’t been necessary; they hardly spoke, and they weren’t interested in what he had to say beyond duty anyway.
“Listen, there’s - since we’re all in one place, for the first time in so long, we thought it would be nice to have a get-together with all the CCs. It’s tonight, can you come? And Thorn, Thire and Stone as well, of course.”
Thorn barely managed to stifle his angry snarl. In what world would they ever be able to function without any Commander, especially on such short notice? Then he froze, as did the other three, because Fox made an awful, broken sound and cut the call, the comm dropping from his fingers.
He breathed harshly, and Thire leaned over the desk, pulling his bucket off. Fox looked down at his desk, not saying anything for a long, fraught moment.
“Fox…” Thorn started, and Fox flinched, looked up at them and shoved the chair back.
“I need the fresher.” he stammered and before any of them could react, he fled.
–
“He hung up.” Cody said, completely baffled. “He’s never just hung up on me before.” He looked at Rex, who was frowning, his arms crossed.
“Kriffing rude. And he wonders why no one wants to talk to him?” But Cody was worrying his lower lip, a heavy frown on his face.
“General Kenobi was really bothered by this.” he said slowly. “I think there’s more going on here. And he was right in one thing. Imagine you find out all of us were meeting to celebrate, and we hadn’t even told you.”
Rex winced, looking uncomfortable. “Yes, fine, that would suck. But can he really be surprised? With the way he acts?”
Cody was looking at the General’s datapad.
“I wonder what the meeting was about. Did something happen during it that made him be so weird about this? Except for the …you know.”
“Please don’t tell me you want to slice the General’s pad.”
“I don’t have to. We have a fileshare. I get everything he gets. We set that up a few months in, because it was quicker than him having to forward me everything.”
He picked up his own pad and tapped for a few seconds, then frowned.
“Looks like it’s…supply reports from the Guard. Shift schedules…injury and casualty statistics...” he paused as he read and his eyes slowly widened.
“That can’t be right.” he whispered, and Rex scooted closer impatiently to see what he was reading.
He skimmed over the data at first, then slowed and started reading from the top again, more thoroughly this time.
“What the kriff.” he mouthed as Cody flipped to the shift schedules next.
“That’s not - that can’t be correct. Right? That’s against every health regulation we have.”
Cody was mechanically switching to the casualty reports.
Those had pictures attached.
“Oh kark. Oh no…”
–
Wolffe stared down at his comm with a frown. He had looked forward to seeing all the other CCs again. Minus Fox of course, who probably had some excuse for why he had to decline again. Most likely, he was busy, which hadn’t held water before, and did so even less now. The war was over. The Chancellor was kriffing dead. How busy could he be?
But Cody had sent a mass textcomm out to them all, short and clipped. They were meeting in a conference room in the barracks first instead of at 9’s, which was weird, but maybe he had something special planned, like a speech or whatever.
He shrugged as he made his way over to that conference room and sat down next to Bly, who looked just as confused as he was. The room filled, some vod’e more grumbly than others, and finally Rex and Cody entered.
They looked tense, and the weight that had lifted off all their shoulders after the end of the war seemed to have returned and doubled on theirs.
He sat up a bit straighter.
“Did everyone bring their datapad?” Cody asked into the room and most of the vod’e nodded, some shrugging.
“Okay. So.” He broke off, as if he wasn’t sure how to go on. That was not a good sign.
Rex stepped forward.
“We kriffed up real badly. All of us.”
“I didn’t even DO anything!” Doom hollered from the back of the room and some protests joined in. Cody raised a hand and they slowly quieted down.
“I’m sending you all a file. Read everything inside.”
Wolffe had a bad feeling about this.
Vod’e were fast readers, CCs even more so. It didn’t take long for the last grumbles in the room to die down until you could hear a pin drop. Wolffe, who was sharing Bly’s datapad, felt blood rush in his ears as they read, and he saw Bly’s fingers tremble just a bit as they reached the injury and casualty reports, skimming over number after number of vod’e. There didn’t seem to be a single member of the Guard who hadn’t at one point been injured. Most numbers had more than just one report filed, and a heartbreaking amount were casualty reports.
And then he saw CC-1010, and his breath hitched. He reached out and tapped it before thinking, and Bly made a hurt little sound as the first report opened. They browsed through the reports, not actually able to read them completely. Even so, some words jumped out at Wolffe. Far too many.
…deep tissue lacerations and electric burns…
…comminuted fracture of pelvic bone…
…multiple puncture wounds…
…due to suffocation…
…resulting in multiple high-energy fracture
…severe concussion…
…internal bleeding…
…open pneumothorax…
Bly shut the datapad off and closed his eyes for a moment, then hurled it at the wall with all his strength.
He leaned on the table, ashen-faced, trembling with helpless rage.
“Why did we not know about this.” he demanded, looking at Cody.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Gree asked, sounding broken. “We never asked. We never listened, we just assumed they had it easy. Living in the lap of luxury.” he spat the words out, full of self-hate. Beside him, only Monnk’s back was visible, as he had his head between his knees, Faie stroking his back mechanically, looking off into space.
“He tried to tell us.” Wolffe said quietly, staring down at his hands. “During the first months. We made fun of him. And then we started venting on him.”
He swallowed. He remembered his involuntary leave on Coruscant after the Malevolence.
Fox had visited him the first day, but Wolffe had been so angry, he had lashed out viciously and Fox had stood there and just took it silently.
He hadn’t visited again.
“What do we do now?” Bacara asked calmly, looking through the room, his eyes intense and posture straight. “We have to make amends. How do we do that?”
“If they’d had time to come this evening, we could have-” Gree broke off at the visible flinch Cody and Rex both made.
He looked at them suspiciously. “What do you know?”
Cody closed his eyes, bowing his head. Rex clenched his fists, breathed in deeply and answered.
“We…we didn’t invite him. Or the other three.”
The silence in the room was deafening.
“You didn’t- what?”
“We thought they’d decline anyway.” Cody confessed to the top of the table. “And we didn’t want them to bring down the mood.”
Before any of them had processed that, Bly had crossed the room to the two, grabbed Cody by the front of the blacks and punched him in the face. Cody crashed into the table but didn’t defend himself, though Rex wrapped his arms around Bly and held him back when he went to swing again.
Bly struggled against him, making an inarticulate sound of fury. Cody stood there, rubbing his jaw, still looking at the ground.
“There’s more. Fox had a meeting today with the Council, about…all of that. And during it he learned about the party.”
Bly stopped struggling in Rex’s arms. He breathed harshly for a few seconds and then stabbed a finger in Cody’s direction.
“The only reason I am still considering you brother right now, CC-2224, is because I already lost one. But if your actions cost me another, you are no brother of mine any longer.”
He turned on his heel, pushed Rex to the side and stalked out of the room without another word.
Cody stared at the door with an unreadable expression as the room stayed awkwardly quiet.
Wolffe was still staring at his hands. He felt dizzy, all sounds were muffled. He couldn’t - was there enough air in the room? It didn’t feel like there was.
“Wolffe - breathe. Deep breaths, vod, calm. In…hold…and out…In…”
There was a hand on his shoulder. Wolffe heard the voice of a brother and after a few tries he managed to follow the well known instructions. When he felt grounded again he looked to the side where Grey sat, watching him carefully.
“We’ll fix this.” he assured him, and Wolffe scoffed. He felt so tired.
“How? How do any of you think we can fix this? Even if they were willing to forgive us before…do you really think they’ll want to now? After…this?” He waved a hand towards Cody and Rex.
“We have to try.” Bacara said, still calm, but as sure as a rock. “We don’t have the right to make this decision for them in either direction. We will apologize and offer to make amends in any way they choose. And if they decide-” he took a deep breath. “If they decide to tell us to kriff off, then we’ll honor that as well, after making clear we will still be there should they decide otherwise.”
–
Neyo put a hand on Bacara’s shoulder, leaning in and lowering his voice carefully as the others started talking in defeated voices.
“Ori’vod, are you-”
“I never even suspected.” Bacara said quietly, not meeting his eyes. His whole body was tense. He was as angry as Bly had been, but it wasn’t only directed outwards.
“We always took walks through the city. I wasn’t ever in their HQ. He never said anything. He never even took off his bucket. I thought he was just…going slow. Being careful. I knew he was busy, so I just took the time he could offer me and didn’t push for more.”
He scoffed at his own words.
“I’m a kriffing di’kut.”
Neyo frowned. “Well, if he didn’t want you to know…”
Bacara laughed bitterly. “Fox is brilliant, and cunning. If he wanted to keep this away from me, I’m not surprised I never noticed. But I still should have.” He rubbed both hands over his face, looking tired and defeated. Neyo had never seen his ori’vod like that; it was unsettling.
“You should go to him.” He said impulsively. At Bacara’s disbelieving look, he pressed on. “You’re obsessing over worst case scenarios. You should go there and get some clarity.” He nodded decisively.
“Also, I think you may need to corral Bly before he breaks down their doors to get to Fox.”
“I-”
“Look, respect is all well and good, and care is absolutely needed. But they also have to see that we want to fix this. That we’re taking action and not just reacting to what they decide. And I think it’d be good if that came from you. And Bly, I guess.”
He shoulder checked Bacara when he didn’t move.
“Come on, ori’vod, you’re the most stubborn vod I know when it comes to matters as important as this. I’ll cover for you, and you go and see what we can do.”
He shrugged. “I’ve been reliably informed natborns consider storming up to someone’s residence with a heartfelt apology and confession the height of romance.”
“Shut up, Ney’ika.”
–
Bacara arrived too late to do anything but chase Bly’s speeder on their way to the Guard HQ, but at least he managed to come close enough to grab Bly before he could storm up to the doors and assault the vod’e on guard there.
“Let go of-”
“Ston and think.” Bacara hissed and Bly snarled, but then forced himself to take a deep breath.
“I need to see him. I need to tell him I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t know about the exclusion tonight, but you were well aware of how they were treated by your men. How, apparently, you treated Fox.”
Bly made an anguished noise, clenching his eyes shut. “I didn’t know!”
Bacara shook him. “Don’t you realize that just makes it worse?!”
Bly gave another raw, pained sound and turned in Bacara’s grip to press his face into his neck.
“What do I do?! I can’t lose him too. Not after Ponds, I can’t-”
“You calm down.” Bacara said roughly, rubbing Bly’s neck firmly.
“And then we ask if we can talk to any of the Commanders. We ask how we can make this right, and we listen. Even-” he swallowed.
“Even if the answer is that we can’t.”
Bly shook his head but then stopped, taking deep, almost sobbing breaths. After a few minutes, he straightened up, wiping his eyes.
“Okay.” he croaked, swallowing hard. “Okay. You’re right.”
“Take a few breaths. They won’t be kind.”
“Not like I deserve it anyway.” Bly said roughly, obviously centering himself.
He rolled his shoulders back and nodded at Bacara, and they made their way towards the entrance.
Bacara addressed the two guards, who saluted crisply.
“We’d like to talk to one of the Commanders. Whoever is available.”
“We have strict orders not to let any GAR trooper inside, sirs.”
“I understand.” Bacara said calmly, even as Bly stiffened beside him.
“Can you please tell one of them that we are here and we’d like to talk to one of them?”
“You’re Commander Bacara.” the guard on the left blurted out, then winced. “Sir. Sorry, sir. Uhm…I’ll ask.” He looked to the other guard, who nodded, and went inside the HQ. The guard left behind shifted so he blocked the entrance completely.
Bacara looked at him intently, and the Guard didn’t even twitch, which was remarkable. Bacara had made Jedi flinch with that look.
“We’ve met before.” he said after a few moments. The Guard nodded.
“Yes, sir. Sergeant Meek, sir.”
“Meek. Yes. Your squad escorted some of mine who had managed to get lost while drunk.”
“They were well-behaved, sir.”
“They better be.”
Sergeant Meek tilted his head, listening to internal comms for a moment, then nodded.
“You are allowed entry, sirs, to the lobby only.” he stepped to the side as the other guard stepped back out and took his spot.
They both went into the lobby, where they were greeted by Commander Stone.
“Sirs. Welcome to Guard HQ.” he said drily, saluting.
“Commander Stone.” Bacara nodded at him, returning the salute, Bly following a moment later.
“Give me a good reason I should let you see Fox. Give me a better one for him.” he nodded towards Bly.
“I didn’t know none of you were invited. I wouldn’t have stood for it if I knew.” He paused for a second. “We got access to your files. Supplies, schedules, medical.”
Stone stiffened, looking between the two CCs.
“I see.” he said after a few moments.
Bly took half a step forward. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know about any of it.” he exhaled shakily, and continued before Stone could say anything. “But that’s not an excuse for how I treated my vod’ika…how I let you all be treated. I’m sorry. I want to make this right. Please let me make this right.”
He folded to his knees, bowing his head.
“Ni ceta. Ni ceta. Please let me see my vod’ika.”
Stone had taken half a step back as Bly kneeled, and was now staring at him.
He looked to Bacara, who met his gaze unflinchingly, and back down to Bly’s bowed head.
“He had a panic attack. Our CMO had to sedate him.”
Bly started shaking, but stayed in position, not looking up. Stone sighed, taking off his bucket and rubbing a hand over his face. He was almost gray with exhaustion. There was a barely healed cut running from his nose down to his jaw on the left cheek.
“Get up, Commander.” he said finally.
When Bly had lurched back to his feet, he looked them both over one last time, and then turned around.
“Follow me.”
–
Bly stared down at his sleeping vod’ika, and no matter how many times he tried to blink the tears away, all he could see was little TenTen in the medbay on Kamino, the day he had slipped off the platform during a training exercise and would have drowned if Alpha had hesitated for even a second before jumping after him.
He hadn’t missed the way the Guard treated Bacara - very differently from the wary hostility they showed to him.
But he also had noticed the way Bacara looked down at the sleeping Fox, at the way his jaw moved as he cataloged every bruise and wound and scar he could see.
A part of him wanted to be the angry, protective ori’vod.
A bigger part wondered if he’d be allowed that right.
“He won’t wake up.” Grim, the Guard’s CMO had explained with a small, tired smile. “I’ve given him a strong shot. His ribs still need healing, and I never waste an opportunity when I get my hands on him.”
“Of course he’s a medbay-dodger.” Bacara had said, unbelievably fond, and Grim had given him a far more sincere smile.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Commander Bacara. I’ve heard a lot about you. You make him smile.”
Bacara had huffed, just as fond as before. “That’s all I want.”
They stood there, around his bed, for a few more minutes, before a throat cleared behind Bly. As he half turned, he looked at the three Commanders, who were mustering him with varying levels of mistrust and anger.
“We have a lot to talk about.” Commander Thorn said levelly.
“But not here.” Commander Thire added with a look to Fox’s sleeping form.
Bly inhaled slowly, and nodded. He dared to reach out, pulling a loose curl back from Fox’s forehead, as gently as he could, then turned to face them fully.
He wouldn’t hide from their anger, or their distrust. He owed that to his vod’ika.
He would make this right.
The End