Chapter Text
Operation: DWTC
When Commander Thorn opened the door to the main barracks, the last thing he was expecting was a bunch of shinies whispering and circling around a bunk. A few of them looked at him as they heard him enter, nervous and uncertain.
“Alright, vode,” he crossed his arms, raising one eyebrow, smirk spreading across his face, “If it’s contraband, better show it now. I might let you keep it if you share.” He winked.
The shinies shifted.
So it’s not illegal. Thorn almost let out a sigh of relief at that. There were enough things the guard had to worry about without going after each other, especially in the only safe space any of them really had.
“So? What’cha lookin’ at, troopers?” He clasped his hands behind his back in a rocking parade rest as he waited.
The shinies looked at each other before one stepped forward. Ah… a brave shiny. Finally.
“We just came in from our shifts and, we don’t know what happened, but we found The Commander like this.”
Uh, oh. Thorn could practically hear the capital letters. There was only one person in the Guard that was referred to with capital letters (except The Medics, but they’re a scary bunch so they can get away with it.)
Sure enough, when he reached the bed, Fox was passed out on the bunk. His helmet was off and had fallen on the floor as if it had been dislodged when he collapsed. His eyes were sunken in and had bruises underneath like he hadn’t slept in days. Knowing his vod, and based on the state of his normally clean shaven beard, this was probably accurate.
Thorn sighed, kneeling down to card his fingers though the tangled graying curls. Fox mumbled and leaned towards the hand, still fast asleep.
Thorn closed his eyes and sighed again. Fox was normally an incredibly light sleeper, so this was worrying.
Well, best to let him sleep, I guess.
He stood and turned to the shinies still surrounding the bunk, “Alright vode, this is what we are going to do. We are going to let Commander Fox sleep for the next four hours minimum and at maximum eight hours. The other commanders and I will handle his work and shifts between us, but I don’t care if the Chancellor himself calls, if I find out someone has woken him up or bothered him whatsoever in the designated time, I’m putting every single one of you on latrine duty at the prison for a year.” A shiver ran through the group, “do I make myself clear?”
“Sir, yes, sir!”
Aww… aren’t they cute. Perfect salutes and everything. Such serious shinies.
“ Carry on then.”
Thorn didn’t realize how much he would regret giving those orders to a group of soldiers who were new, hardworking, loyal and, therefore, all too willing to go above and beyond to prove themselves.
(In his defense, Thorn had just returned from an eight hour shift protecting the Representative of the Naboo from an assassination and from himself. Spending any amount of time with the disaster prone Gungan could make anyone’s decision making skills questionable.)
The shinies looked to each other in excitement, plans already spinning in their heads.
Operation: Don’t Wake The Commander has just begun.
—————————————————————-
When Thire entered the barracks, he could feel his bones melting due to his exhaustion. It took everything in him to try and keep his perfect posture and pace until he reached the officer’s part of the barracks.
However, when he passed by the main barracks, he had to do a double take.
The room, the whole room, had been rearranged. The metal frames of the bunks had been pushed against the walls while the mattresses seemed to be assembled in a mass surrounding the only remaining metal bunk in the center of the room. On top of those mattresses were all sorts of pillows and blankets and other soft and comfy things. He even saw a giant five foot teddy bear being snuggled with by at least six troopers.
Thire almost let at a whine at the sight of such comfort, almost desperately needing to collapse amongst the dog pile of other vode who had already claimed areas of the haven for their own, sleeping peacefully, wrapped in blankets and each other.
As Thire looked more closely, he could see pillows taken from the GAR barracks, cushions that he was pretty sure were from the Senate or the Jedi Temple, and Thorn’s personal, special blanket wrapped around the only person asleep on the metal bunk.
Thorn was gonna kill that vod. That was his blanket.
Thire’s worry for the unsuspecting vod’ika seemed to lift some of his cloud of exhaustion. As he stepped in the room, two shines quickly stepped in his way, saluting before standing at attention.
“Sorry, sir, this area is restricted.”
Thire blinked. “...Restricted…?”
“Yes, sir! As part of our mission, by direct orders of Commander Thorn, we have issued a restriction of no armor in this area of the barracks as it would counteract the main objective of the operation.”
Thire blinked again, looking down at his carefully pristine armor before looking at the shinies in exhausted confusion, “No armor?”
“No, sir.”
“Huh.” Thire blinked again. He leaned to look over the shinies’ shoulders, forgetting the main reason he was trying to enter the room.
The blankets seemed to wave to him, promising comfort and warmth. The pillows pulled to him, promising him a soft cloud to rest his exhausted head and to provide him a dreamless sleep. The sleeping vod seemed to radiate towards him, promising love, comradery, and protection against even the darkest nights of Coruscant.
He needed to get in that room.
Thire rushed, almost stumbling back to his bunk, where he unceremoniously removed and tossed his armor onto the metal frame (his mattress seemed to be missing, but he didn’t care to notice). When he returned to the main barracks, the same two shinies smiled and let him pass.
He looked around to find a place to rest before his eyes were drawn to that damn blanket again. The one that Thorn would kill a vod over, the horrible crimson red and neon orange monstrosity that was the softest thing Thire had ever felt in his short life.
Thire quietly groaned as he saw it, reminding him that he was a Commander now and, as a Commander, it was his responsibility to protect the men from his mentally unstable coworkers ( Honestly , Thorn, it’s a blanket ).
All thoughts of how to convince the vod’ika to return the very comfortable blanket, went out the window when he saw who was actually wrapped snugly in the blanket.
No, kiffing way.
It was difficult to get Fox to sleep in his own bed instead of a desk, if he slept at all, let alone another vod’s bunk. Fox had the belief that, as their superior, he wasn’t allowed to do things such as share a bunk with anyone other than someone of his rank. He claims it blurs the lines between the positions and that the Guard won’t follow him as well if that happens.
The other commanders knew that was the biggest misconception in the galaxy (and they work with Senators ), but nothing they said would convince Fox otherwise.
The fact that Fox was asleep was a big deal, but the fact that he was asleep in the main barracks just blew Thire’s mind.
His astonishment must have shown on his face as yet another shiny, quietly chuckled, “We think The Commander fell asleep while conducting the surprise inspection we had this morning. We just found out about it from our Sergeant a few minutes before you arrived.” He pointed at the vod that was lightly snoring, curled around a pillow that was definitely not GAR nor Guard regulated.
Thire decided he didn’t want to know.
He looked back down at Fox, who was still dead to the world, “How long has he been asleep?”
“Target Vixen has been confirmed and witnessed by at least four troopers and a commanding officer as ‘sleeping’ for approximately two hours, sixteen minutes and forty-five seconds. One hour, forty-three minutes and thirty-seven seconds remaining until checkpoint alpha has been reached and Operation DWTC can move on to stage two in hopes of reaching checkpoint bravo.” Another shiny stated quietly from his seat, cross legged on a mattress a few feet from the sleeping Commander’s feet, barely looking up from the datapad in his lap
“Target? Operation? What operation?”
“Target Vixen is identified as CC-1010, Commander Fox of the Coruscant Guard. Operation DWTC as stated by CC-1297, Commander Thorn of the Coruscant Guard, is to allow Target Vixen to rest until checkpoint alpha has been reached at minimum and checkpoint bravo at maximum. Checkpoint alpha is stated to be at four hours standard rotation. Checkpoint Bravo is at eight hours standard rotation. Until one or both checkpoints are reached, the assigned team are authorized to do whatever they deem necessary to reach the outlined goals for the operation.”
Thire’s eyebrows rose further up his forehead the more the shiny spoke.
“So basically, Commander Thorn ordered you to make sure Commander Fox slept a decent amount and didn’t give you any restrictions as to how to do this.”
This shiny looked up from the ‘pad to smirk at him, “sir, yes, sir.”
Thire blinked. He seemed to be doing that a lot, but at least that explains the non-regulation items strewn around the room.
Unfortunately, as a commander, he had to be the bad guy and give them rules and restrictions, especially since the normal “this is against protocol” commander was passed out on the bed in front of him. He inwardly groaned. Why couldn’t Thorn be the responsible one for once?
Right, responsible. He could do this. What was it that Fox told him?
“Give them praise before correcting them so that they don’t jump on the defensive at the slightest hint of them being wrong. Once they become defensive, any instructions you give them will be thrown out the window and forgotten.”
Praise, then correction. Okay. Thire smiled, “Well, I have to say, you are all doing a wonderful job so far...”
Oh, Prime help him. The shinies were shining. They were beaming .
...They were so cute .
It took all of Thire’s self-restraint to not coo at them like a mama tooka, as they stood or sat up straighter with their beaming little faces and proud puffed out chests. He couldn’t help his grin turning a little fond at the sight of his vod’ike getting all excited over even the simplest of praise.
Kiff being responsible. He just wants to cuddle his adorable little brothers.
Or his sleeping ori’vod.
Thire looked back over to the vod wrapped snugly in Thorn’s blanket.
Fox was looking a little lonely on the bunk by himself…
Plus, that meant Thire could use the monstrosity of a blanket, which was an event rarer than Fox sleeping in a normal bed.
As Thire closed his eyes, wrapped in his ori’vod’s arms and surrounded by crimson and neon orange, he decided that his death by Thorn was going to be completely worth it. Especially since he tried to make Thire the responsible one.
————————————————————-
Stone has had to deal with a lot of osik in his very short life. He runs the night shift for the prison after all and let him tell you, those prisoners can be kiffing creative.
What he never planned on dealing with was a sith damned barricade blocking his way to the barracks, run by shinies and guardsmen, but not a single kiffing high ranking officer in sight. The highest ranking person was a sergeant.
A kiffing sergeant .
It wouldn’t normally be a problem if it wasn’t for the fact that the barricade blocked not only the Guard barracks but also the main kiffing entrance to the Senate Building from the parking area. Which is why there are hundreds of Senators screaming and berating shinies , little baby shinies , for not letting them through to their “very important business.”
Which brings Stone to his predicament.
See, Stone doesn’t deal with Senators, not after he almost punched one in the face for a rude comment aimed at Fox and especially not after he almost accidentally on purpose set an entire wing on fire after some Senators stated that the GAR troopers were not worth it and how they should reduce their food and bacta budget.
Stone dealt with prisoners. People he could haul into time out if they were being uncivilized, people he could discipline (within the extent of the law of course) if they broke the rules.
He doesn’t deal with whiny Senators who could break every law in the book, fully knowing they would get away with it. Senators who mock his brothers, yell and degrade shinies, and order their decommissioning if they sneeze or if they aren’t standing properly.
He doesn’t deal with Senators who try to take the words “Property of the Republic” a little too far, who’s orders sometimes keep his vod’ike up and trembling at night.
He would kill them if he did.
However…
Thorn was working a highly important drug bust with almost four months worth of preparation, strategizing and planning and couldn’t be pulled away even if he could be reached.
Thire was off duty and supposed to be sleeping after pulling a forty-eight hour shift.
And Fox…
Fox wasn’t answering his kiffing comm.
So that left Stone.
So that left Stone.
Stone rolled his eyes at the overly dramatic display of certain Senators, completely ignoring them as he approached the barricade. One tried to grab his shoulder, recognizing him as a high ranking officer with his non-standard armor, but he dodged the arm with a non-discrete side shuffle, avoiding it without making it obvious that Stone really just didn’t kiffing care.
“Ah, good, Commander Stone.” The crowd settled down at the words.
Ah, good, Chancellor Sleemo.
(Stone almost swore he saw the Chancellor’s hand twitch)
“I’m sure the esteemed Commander will be able to rectify this miscommunication and allow us to carry on with our business. I only ask for patience, my dear Senators, while he deals with this… issue.”
Stone rolled his eyes behind his helmet, “I will do my best, sir.”
“I’m sure you will.”
Stone turned to the shiny in front of him, “What’s the situation?”
“In accordance to Operation DWTC, we have been ordered to set up a checkpoint at all entrances to the barracks. All restricted personnel and items are not allowed to pass through until the Operation is completed.”
Operation what now? “Under whose authority has this been cleared by?”
“Commander Thorn, sir.”
Of course.
Of course, it was Thorn. The one CG commander who was currently on a blackout mission. As a rule, the Guard Commanders tried not to step on the other’s boots and undermine their authority. That way they were seen as a united unit rather than the dysfunctional mess they actually were.
“Right. Who is the officer in charge?”
“I am, sir.”
Stone turned to see… a shiny. A kiffing shiny was in charge of this operation.
He was going to murder Thorn.
The baby trooper (because their newest batch couldn’t be any older than eight) was approaching with his eyes glued to a datapad.
“Eyes up when speaking to me, trooper.”
The shiny’s head shot up like a scared kit, “Sorry sir. In accordance with Operation DWTC, I have to have a continuous detailed overview of the ongoings of every aspect of this mission.”
“What is Operation DWTC?”
“If you will follow me, sir, I will debrief you.”
Stone nodded.
“I will be coming along as well.” Great.
“Apologies, sir, but you are not authorized.” If it wasn’t for his thorough training, Stone would have done a double take. He heard several senators gasp and murmurs break out amongst the crowd.
What?
“I am the Supreme Chancellor. I have a right to know what Operation you are currently running and the reasoning behind it.”
“Apologies, Chancellor. You are authorized to have access to the information surrounding the mission. However, for your safety and for the ensured security of the Operation, you are not authorized to pass this point. As you are surrounded by civilians who do not have the authorization, I cannot debrief you here either.” Oh, that’s an interesting loophole if Stone has ever seen one. May need to patch that one up…
He looked at the Chancellor’s twitchy face, irritation starting to show on the normally “serene” face from being denied something by a shiny.
Or maybe it doesn’t need to be fixed.
“I order you to let me pass.”
“I apologize, Chancellor, but the Guard’s number one priority is your safety and according to the Coruscant Guard Regulation Manual E98-57424-65 clause 1, that was sanctioned and signed off by yourself and the members of the High Command, we have the authorization to bypass any order you give us if it directly interferes with your safety. With that in question, I cannot allow you to pass.” He continued to stand at attention, perfect and completely in accordance with their standard operating procedures in his denial of access to the Chancellor.
The balls on this shiny. Stone grinned from within his helmet as he moved to intervene.
“What’s your name, trooper?”
“Checkpoint, sir.”
“Alright then, Checkpoint, let’s go inside and see if we can’t discover a compromise between Operation DWTC and allowing the senators to continue their esteemed and important work.” Stone could feel the glee radiating off the shiny.
He turned to Chancellor Slee- Palpatine, “I will return as soon as possible to rectify the situation, Chancellor.”
“See it done, Commander. I will handle the Senators and calm the crowd until your return.”
Stone saluted before being escorted inside… by shinies. Itty bitty shinies.
He couldn’t help but laugh once his outer mic was turned off.
Maybe he wasn’t going to kill Thorn for pulling this osik after all.
————————————————————
Fox felt strange when he slowly came to consciousness.
He felt comfortable, rested, and calm.
He felt safe.
He never felt safe. Not since he was a cadet sleeping surrounded by his batch mates. Back when things were hard but straightforward.
No hidden agendas or assassins. No mountains of paperwork that only seemed to grow by the minute. No angry civilians or entitled Senators. No morally questionable Chancellor.
Fox felt safe.
He opened his eyes to see a dark haired vod curled into his blacks, face smooth with dreamless sleep.
Thire.
Fox tightened his arms around his youngest commander. No matter how capable and close in age he was to them, Thire would always be the baby of the Guard Commanders. The others, Fox included, doted on him and protected him as much as they could, giving him lesser shifts, sneaking him snacks, and allowing him to get away with things only little brothers could.
Thire shifted, curling closer towards his ori’vod, and drawing Fox’s eyes towards the moving crimson and neon orange blanket that was wrapped around them.
Thorn .
Fox smiled a bit, lips curling in the corners.
Thorn and Fox had been distant friends on Kamino, being from different batches. They became closer as they fought together on Geonosis and, then, Thorn followed him to the Guard. There’s no trooper out there that Fox trusted to watch his six more than Thorn but there was also no trooper out there that drove Fox further into insanity with his stunts and impulsive behavior.
Fox had learned the art of wrangling trouble makers as a cadet. He had been in the same squad as Kote and Wolffe afterall. Rex being adopted into the group gave him much more experience but the Guard had caused Fox to perfect the art into a science. If there was trouble brewing in the Guard, Thorn was usually the main instigator or somehow involved.
Fox let them have their fun, sure. (He had enough dealing with senators and angry civilians.) His job was simply to make sure that they were smart about it. That they used loopholes to avoid trouble and made sure there was no evidence connecting to them if there wasn’t.
There were several unofficial rules in the Guard, the most important being number one: The Guard look out for their own.
But rule number two was one of Fox’s personal favorites: if you do something illegal or stupid, don’t get caught and make sure there is nothing that ties you to it.
Thorn was very good at following the second rule.
Unless, apparently, if Thorn spent any amount of time with the Gungan Disaster.
Fox pitched his nose, breathing deeply in and out in an attempt to calm himself. All calm that he had gained from his sleep was gone, replaced by irritation, exasperation and a slowly gaining migraine.
“Commander Thorn authorized what?”
“Operation DWTC, sir.”
“And how exactly did this end up with me as Chancellor again?”
“Well, the former Chancellor Sheev Palpatine was arrested for treason and was removed from office for being a Sith Lord by the Jedi as per the treaty between the Republic and the Order of the Jedi chapter 16, page 4578 paragraph 3 sections 2. Vice Chair Mas Amedda and the whole cabinet are currently under investigation and have been arrested due to evidence found in a search of their offices under Republic Law 1965 Section 822 B subsection 19. Therefore, they are incapacitated and unable to take the position.
“Due to your position as the Head of the Coruscant Guard, which is the main Defense of the Republic, you are technically speaking the Secretary of Defense. Which is also the excuse former Chancellor Palpatine gave for giving you all his paperwork. There’s signatures and everything.
“As of an hour ago, you are the highest remaining person in the Chain of Command in case of the death/ incapacitation of the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. So, congratulations on the promotion, sir. The Guard has the utmost faith that you will do wonderfully at the job that you have been doing for years in the background.” The shiny smirked.
The shiny smirked.
“How long was I asleep?!”
“Ten standard hours and thirty standard minutes, sir.” Fox blinked, ten hours? All this happened in ten hours? “I am proud to let you know that my team has fulfilled our mission. Here is my report on the operation and I think you will find the details of what occurred to be most informative.”
Fox took the datapad in shock, his mind still reeling over the information he had just been given.
“Permission to rest, sir.” The operation head, Checkpoint, returned to perfect attention, the men behind him following suit. Fox couldn’t help but be filled with pride at the sight of his little shinies performing at their best.
“Permission granted as long as you are aware I am likely to find you if I need clarification or explanations.”
“Sir, yes, sir.” They saluted then all went and collapsed on some the empty mattresses in the room, curling up with each other as they let the exhaustion of the day wash away.
Except Checkpoint, who went and seemed to be debriefing officers and other troopers before releasing them from their assigned duties and back to their regular jobs and rotations.
A shiny was debriefing officers . Fox knows for a fact that the one Checkpoint was currently giving orders to was a major.
Fox was starting to believe he was still asleep.
Maybe this would all be over and back to normal once he woke up again. He set the report down on the bed, debating whether or not to test his theory, when the door slammed open.
Stone entered the barracks with a large grin on his face and carrying Fox’s favorite mug. Based on the smell, it was full of blessed caf. Based on his smile, Fox was going to desperately need it, “There’s the new Chancellor! Finally awake, vod?”
Fox hesitantly accepted the mug, “What the hell happened while I was asleep?”
“You got the report, right? That will tell you everything you need to know. That Checkpoint is a very thorough one. You may want to read it before your opening debut in two hours at the Senate.”
“Two hours?!”
“Yup!” He took a sip of his caf, “well, good luck, vod! We all have your back.” He turned to leave Fox to his thoughts and the report before pausing, “I think you should learn something from this vod.”
“And what would that be, Stone?” He sent a glare of irritation towards him, “That I’m never allowed to sleep again because when I do, osik hits the fan?!”
“No,” his voice was serious. He looked Fox straight in the eyes, “we did this for you, Fox. We did this to protect you and to take care of you. You mean more to us, to the Guard, to us Commanders, to those shinies, than you could ever realize. We did this because we love you, ori’vod, and we know you love us as well.”
Fox couldn’t speak.
“So, take care of yourself or we’ll topple another government and give you even more responsibilities.”
“...I think that would be rather counterproductive.”
“Then make sure we never have to make that choice.”
He sighed, “I will try.”
“Do or do not. There is no try.” Thire spoke from behind Fox, wrapping his arms around his middle and resting his head on his ori’vod’s shoulder with a yawn, “or at least, that’s what General Yoda told me.”
The door opened once more to reveal an exhausted Thorn. He looked around at the redecorated barracks, Stone sipping his caf in amusement, Thire’s vicious grin, and Fox’s glare. He saw the mattresses, pillows and obviously stolen items as well as his blanket wrapped around Thire’s shoulders. He could hear the men removing the barricade from in front of the barracks and could smell the caf being brewed for clones that are dreading starting a shift on no sleep.
“So… what did I miss?”
Checkpoint cackled.