All it takes is one

by flying_turtles

Summary:

Coruscant hasn't been kind to the Guard, and especially not to Fox. But maybe, just maybe, all it takes is one good deed to set off a chain reaction that will change the galaxy. Hopefully for the better, but Fox would settle for anything at this point.

Notes:

I always thought it was odd that not a single person on Coruscant would help the Guard, so I decided to change that. There are a lot of OCs in this one, but I like them, so I hope you do, too! The whole story has already been written, so expect updates every Sunday!

Chapter 1: The First

Light never reached this deep into Coruscant’s layers, which was fine, because the people who lived and worked on this level preferred their dealings to be done in the darkness. Neon lights and a few streetlamps that were still somehow clinging to life were the only things that lit up the streets. But even that didn’t stop Commander Fox from seeing the side-glances that were thrown his way.

He didn’t usually stalk the under streets of Coruscant alone, especially this late at night, but a prison riot had injured a full squad of Guard, and some roster shuffling needed to be done to keep the prison staffed. That meant that he had to break Corrie Rule #1, never go anywhere alone, but even Thorn had to admit that desperate times called for desperate measures. Everyone had been pulling double and triple shifts for weeks now, and with the growing unrest in the upper levels, it didn’t look like that would end anytime soon.

Fox sighed. Only one more section left, and then he could go back to base, get an hour of sleep, and then wake up to start all over again. Yay. Unfortunately, that was when everything went wrong.

A giant besalisk had broken away from a few of his shady friends and started to follow a girl. To her credit, she picked up on her tail right away, but there was no way that she could win a fight against someone triple her size. Fox sped up, reaching for his blaster in case things got messy.

Before he could reach her, however, she had spun around and pulled a blaster of her own. “What do you want, creep?” She asked, glaring daggers.

“You think that little thing can stop me, girl?” The besalisk laughed, only to freeze when he felt the muzzle of a blaster press against the back of his head.

“Her blaster may not kill you, but do you want to take the same chance with mine?” Fox’s voice had dropped into what Thire called his ‘sleemo-scaring voice’. Immensely effective with criminals, nat-borns, and senators of all species.

The guy slowly put all four of his hands in the air and tried to chuckle, which is notoriously hard to do when you have a blaster aimed at your head. “I was just joking with her, no need to get violent.”

“Sure.” Fox moved around the besalisk to stand in front of the girl. When she saw the white and red of his armor, her eyes went wide. The besalisk on the other hand, muttered a curse. “Now how about you go back to whatever you were doing and leave this girl alone?” The girl in question gave an annoyed huff.

“No problem, meat-droid.” He sneered as he slunk back to hide in some other dark alley.

One problem solved, one to go. All he had to do was get this girl home. Easy. She put on a good front, but she was probably scared to death. “Hey, Idiot!” Or, maybe not. The besalisk turned. Using her blaster, she pointed to a faded patch on her jacket sleeve. “Next time you try to rob someone, make sure they’re not from Quadrant 13, first!”

To his shock, Fox watched as the besalisk’s eyes grew as big as dinner plates. After staring at the embroidered slug on her sleeve for almost a minute, the slime ball started to run as if he was now terrified of her. “Well, that was odd.” Fox muttered as he turned to face the girl.

He couldn’t just leave her out here by herself, even if she had a magic jacket that scared weirdos. Besides that, it was dangerous to wander around the lower levels at night alone. Hence why Fox was doing it and not one of the other commanders. “May I escort you home, miss?”

She glanced up absentmindedly as she holstered her blaster. “I’m good, thanks.”

Fox sighed. It looks like he had stumbled on another stubborn nat-born. He had hoped that this wouldn’t take too long, but his dreams of being able to take a nap were getting farther and farther away with each passing second. “It’s no trouble.”

“I’m good.” She looked up at him this time and frowned. “Don’t you have something better to do?”

“No ma’am, and I must insist that I walk you home.”

Crossing her arms, she glared straight into Fox’s visor. Funny, not many nat-borns were brave enough for that. “I don’t have a choice, here, do I?”

“Not really, ma’am.” He said as he holstered his blaster and held his arm out like he had seen the senators do at parties. “After you.” The girl grumbled under her breath and took off at a brisk pace. As they walked, Fox began to study her. She was a few inches shorter than him and had dark brown hair, which was pulled back into a braid. Her clothes were well-worn and patched up in several places. They were also covered in grease stains, just like her hands.

“I could’ve handled that, you know.”

Fox rolled his eyes from the safety of his bucket. “All due respect, ma’am, not likely.”

If looks could kill, Fox would be a very dead man. “My blaster was out and pointed at center mass, and even if I missed, which I never do, I have a knife in my boot. Trust me, soldier, I can take care of myself.”

Might as well humor the girl. “Of course, ma’am.”

“I can! And stop calling me ‘ma’am’!”

Without a doubt, this was the longest conversation Fox had ever had with someone who wasn’t a brother. She wasn’t scared of him at all, which was actually a nice change of pace. Even though she couldn’t see it, Fox raised his eyebrow. “Well, what would you like for me to call you?”

“Nyx. And since you seem intent on following me all the way home, what can I call you?”

“My designation is CC-1010.”

She glanced back up. “That’s great, but what’s your name?”

Fox winced from inside his bucket. “Clone units are not allowed to have names.”

She paused for a second before continuing to walk. “Well, that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” She tugged at the end of her braid. “I’m not calling you CC-1010. It’s too long and weird. So let’s do this. If that idiotic rule wasn’t in place, and you could have a name, what would it be?”

That was a dangerous question. It was alright for the front-line clones to have names, they have their Jedi generals to protect them, but here on Coruscant anonymity meant safety, and Fox wasn’t about to give his up. Time to play it safe. “My designation number is CC-1010.”

She huffed. “If you won’t tell me a name, I’m going to have to give one to you.” After pausing for a second, she smiled and Fox knew he was in trouble. “I’m going to call you Tenny.”

Fox choked. “Tenny?”

She glanced back and threw him a smile that would have been more appropriate on a shark. “Unless there’s some other name you would prefer?”

“Please call me Ten-ten.” Fox tried not to sound desperate. He was failing.

“Nope. You lost your chance for an actual name, and I’m not buying that fake one for a nanosecond.” She said as she flounced ahead. “I like Tenny.”

As he groaned, Fox realized that she had led him much deeper into the level. No patrols had ever gone this far, and it was getting darker and creepier by the second. “Are we almost there?”

Nyx laughed. “Getting scared, Tenny?”

“Of course not. I just have other things to do tonight that don’t involve walking crazy nat-borns home.”

“I told you that I could walk home by myself.” She said as she smirked. After a few more steps, she glanced his way. “What’s a nat-born?”

“A nat-born is someone who is born naturally, unlike me, who came from a cloning vat.”

“Oh. Makes sense.” She started to speed up. “You can leave,” she said as she waved to someone in the distance, “we’ve made it.”

“If it’s all the same to you,” Fox said, eyeing the dirty walls suspiciously, “I’ll keep going.”

She shrugged. “Alright, then.”

As Nyx continued walking, Fox began to eye the man she had waved to. He was an older Torgruta with scarred montrals and one eye. Oh, and he was holding an ancient slugthrower. Definitely not someone who you should be waving to. He sat by a curtain and was obviously surveying Fox as they walked up. “Who’s this, kid?” He asked.

Nyx rolled her eyes. “I’m not a kid anymore, Gotti, and this is Tenny. I found him on the street and decided to bring him home.”

The Togruta laughed as Fox sputtered, “I saved you from a robber!”

Unfortunately, that only made Gotti laugh harder. “Save Nyx from a robber? My boy, you saved the robber from Nyx!”

She patted him on the shoulder as she pulled open the curtain. “Are you coming, Tenny?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m coming.” Fox grumbled, Gotti’s laughs still ringing in his ears. As he followed her through, he saw another older man stationed at the end of the alleyway in front of yet another curtain. Oh, and he was also holding a slugthrower. The besalisk’s quick retreat was starting to make more sense. Now grumpier than usual, Fox asked, “Are either of those guns registered?”

“Don’t worry about it, Tenny.”

“So that’s a no, then.”

Glaring at him, she gave a small frown. “I said you don’t have to worry about it. I didn’t ask you to walk me home, so please don’t ask questions that I can’t answer.” Without breaking stride, she looked at the second man and jerked her head back in Fox’s direction. “He’s with me.” The man nodded and leaned back against the wall.

“Can’t or won’t?” Fox asked, catching up to Nyx.

“Both.” With a final glare, she pushed through the curtain, and Fox’s jaw dropped.

The alley widened, dozens of run-down but obviously well-loved houses littering the walls. But that wasn’t what had surprised Fox. Hundreds of string lights hung overhead, giving the street a warm glow. They were anchored to small porches that had been haphazardly built in front of every house. Nyx didn’t seem to notice that Fox had stopped and kept walking down the street. A frail elderly woman hobbled out on her porch and leaned against her cane. “Who is this, Nyx?”

Nyx glanced back and smiled vindictively. “This is Tenny, Mrs. Torok.” Then, much to Fox’s horror, she began to walk to the porch. She turned around and smirked. “Aren’t you going to introduce yourself, Tenny?”

“I, uh, actually think that it’s time for me to go.” Fox began to slowly walk backwards, one nat-born was enough for tonight, and that look in Nyx’s eyes was dangerous.

“Are you sure, dear? I have some brownies that I just pulled out of the oven.” Mrs. Torok leaned over the porch railing, which creaked dangerously under her weight.

“No thank you, ma’am. I have to get back to work.” Fox looked back at Nyx. “Have a good night,” and for good measure, added, “ma’am.” Fox then made a tactical retreat while Nyx grumbled, and he didn’t stop or turn around until he had gotten back to base.

Unbeknownst to Fox, the conversation between Nyx and Mrs. Torok hadn’t ended when he left. “Where did you meet that charming young man, Nyx?”

She laughed and leaned against a post. “He thinks that he saved me from some sleemo trying to rob me after work. He walked me home, since I obviously can’t take care of myself.”

Mrs. Torok tutted, “That was very brave of him, dear, and you didn’t even invite him in for dinner.”

She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t need defending.”

“Maybe not, but it was nice of him to help.” She stared at Nyx, who dramatically threw her arm over her eyes.

“Fine,” she groaned. “You win. I’ll go to the upper levels and throw a burned cookie at his head after work tomorrow. Would that make you happy?”

“Ecstatic.” Mrs. Torok said smugly as she waddled her way inside.

As Nyx made her way to her own house, she wondered how she would even find the Guard’s headquarters. It’s not like she had ever been to the upper levels before. Oh well, she sighed as checked on her little brother, that’s a problem for future-Nyx. Present-Nyx is going to get some sleep.

Chapter 2: If you give a Guard a cookie

Summary:

Nyx and her little brother brave the upper levels to give Fox his thank you gift, and Fox discovers the consequences of helping a stubborn nat-born.
Happy Labor Day!

Unfortunately, future-Nyx didn’t know how to find the headquarters of the Coruscant Guard, either. “Are we there yet?” Her little brother asked, pulling on her sleeve.

Nyx glared at him from where she had been trying to study a holo-map. “We’ll get there when we get there.” She moved the box of cookies further under her arm and tightened her grip on the back of her brother’s shirt. “What’s with all the excitement, anyways, Jax?”

He bounced on his toes and gave her a wide grin. “It’s my first time going to the uppers! Can we see a tree while we’re there?”

Nyx started to walk towards the elevators. Surely ‘up’ was a good direction to start with, and then maybe someone in the upper levels would know where to go. “I don’t see why not.” As Jax cheered, Nyx quickly added, “As long as you behave yourself when we go to see Tenny.”

“I promise!” He then immediately broke his promise by trying to run to the elevator.

Nyx jogged after him, grabbed the collar of his shirt, and frowned. “Really?”

“Sorry.” At least he had the decency to look somewhat ashamed, but Nyx didn’t buy the innocent act for one minute.

“Just don’t run off again, ok?” They walked hand in hand into the elevator, where Nyx pressed the button to take them to Level 1. Unfortunately, things didn’t get any better when they made it to the upper levels. “Excuse me? Do you happen to know where the Coruscant Guard is stationed?”

The shopkeeper Nyx had asked sneered in disgust. “Even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you, underworlder.” She then pointedly swept dirt onto their shoes, turned around, and went back inside her store. Nyx could only sigh and tug Jax in the direction of another shopkeeper, this one holding a mop. Great.

After an hour of walking in circles, Nyx was almost ready to give up. At least, she was before Jax tugged on her sleeve. “Is that him?”

Her head shot up and she looked where Jax was pointing. It wasn’t Tenny, but those were definitely Guardsmen. Five of them were marching in formation down the middle of the square. If they wouldn’t tell her where their base was, they could at least make sure that the cookies got to Tenny. As an added bonus, it wouldn’t be her problem anymore. “No,” she said, pulling Jax along, “but they can help.”

She waved to get their attention, and the one in the lead stopped. “How may I help you, ma’am?”

Nyx gave a tired smile while Jax tried to hide behind her legs. “I was hoping you could help me find your base. I have a package I need to deliver to someone.”

“A package?”

Jax peeked out. “They’re cookies for Tenny!”

Now the trooper was very confused. At least, Nyx thought he was confused. It’s hard to tell when someone’s wearing a helmet that covers their entire face. “Tenny? I don’t think there’s anyone in the guard who goes by that name.”

Nyx gave a small laugh. “Yeah, that’s my fault. There was a trooper that helped me deal with a robber last night, and since he wouldn’t give me a name, I started calling him ‘Tenny’. Look, all I want to do is make sure these get to him. So either you guys can point me to your headquarters or you can take them to him.”

The trooper looked to the rest of his men and shrugged. “The base is four blocks in that direction,” he said, pointing, “but if you don’t mind me asking, what was this trooper’s designation number? I may be able to tell you if he’s off shift right now. If he’s on duty, you can leave the package with the front desk officer.”

“That would be amazing. I think his designation number was CC-1010.” And that was when the trooper burst out laughing. It was quickly cut off, like the helmet mic had been muted, but that was definitely laughter. “What’s so funny?”

The squad leader took a few moments to get ahold of himself and unmuted his mic. “Nothing, ma’am, it’s just that I know exactly who you’re talking about, and they happen to be on desk duty for the next couple of hours. When you get to headquarters, tell the guy manning the front desk that CC-1407 said you could go see ‘Tenny’.” And then he started laughing again, this time not even bothering to cut off the mic.

Nyx was now more than a little suspicious and much more certain that Tenny had an actual name. But she knew how to find him, and that’s all that mattered. “Thank you for your help.” She started to steer Jax in the right direction, a hand still holding tight to his shirt collar.

“He called you ‘ma’am’.” Jax loudly whispered, still trying to hide behind Nyx.

“Yes he did, Jax, now let’s let these nice men get back to doing….whatever it is they were doing.” She gave one last smile. “Thanks for your help.”

The trooper gave a quick salute, his men following a second later. “Have a good day ma’am.” He nodded at Jax. “Sir.” There was a touch of amusement in his voice. Yup, he was definitely still laughing under that helmet.

As the Guardsmen resumed their rounds, Jax waved. And much to Nyx’s surprise, a few of the troopers waved back.

 -----------------

Matches hated desk duty. It was almost as bad as Binks-duty, but at least with Binks-duty you had the opportunity to set something on fire. Heck, Representative Binks might even be the one doing the fire-setting! He took off his bucket and dropped it on the floor. Normally he followed all of Commander Fox’s rules, but no one ever came to headquarters, so there was no real reason to follow rule #8: always keep your bucket on. Also, he was mad that Commander Fox took his matches and set him on desk duty for the next month, so he wasn’t going to follow the rules today, no thank you.

All he did was set a little structural fire! It didn’t even do any real damage, that building was supposed to come down, anyway! And now he’s here, a matchless Matches, slowly losing his mind staring at a door that will never open.

Until it did. “Excuse me?” Purely on reflex, Matches covered his face and dived below the front desk, scrambling to find his helmet, which he quickly shoved on his head. Stupid rule #8. When he looked up, a worried girl was staring at him from over the desk. “Are you ok?”

“That was so cool!” Matches whipped his head around in the direction of the new voice, surprised to find that he was nose to visor with a kid who couldn’t have been older than seven in nat-born years. How did he make it around the desk that quickly? “You just went whoosh and crash and that was awesome!”

Matches froze before throwing himself back into his seat, determined to play it off like nothing had happened. “How may I help you, ma’am?”

As the kid snickered, the woman rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath that Matches couldn’t make out. With a sigh, she looked at him. “I would like to see CC-1010, please. CC-1407 said that I could.”

He blanched. “You want to see CC-1010?” Uh oh. It was never a good sign when a nat-born asked to see the commander.

“Yes, please. I have something to give him.” It was then that Matches noticed that the girl had laid a box on the top of the desk.

“It’s cookies!” The kid yelled from where he was trying to climb onto the desk.

“Jax!” The girl yelled, pulling him off of the desk and throwing him over her shoulder. “What have I said about climbing on furniture?”

“Not to do it?”

“And what did you do?”

“I did it.”

“Yes, you did.” She shifted his weight. “Are you going to do it again?”

“No, Nyx.” The kid huffed.

“Alright, then.” She set him down and looked back at Matches. “I am so sorry about that. Now, is it alright if we give these cookies to CC-1010?”

Matches’ brain had shorted out the first time Jax said cookies. “You brought cookies?” Clones had a notorious sweet-tooth, and with rations constantly being cut, the Guard was lucky when they had enough food to feed everyone. Sweets were almost unheard of.

“Yeah, and they’re not awful like her last batch!” Jax bounced around the room. “Would you like one?”

Matches quickly sputtered, “I don’t know if I should.”

Fortunately for Matches, Nyx wasn’t good at taking no for an answer. She had already opened the box and was holding out a cookie. “I made plenty. This one’s for helping us find 1010.”

Matches grabbed the cookie and carefully lifted up the bottom of his helmet so that only his mouth was showing. (He wasn’t breaking the rules if part of his bucket was on, right?) Then, he stuffed the entire thing into his mouth all at once. If he didn’t eat it now, one of his brothers would definitely wrestle it off of him and eat it themselves. “Fowow me.” He said, trying (and failing) to talk around the cookie.

Nyx shrugged and followed him deeper into the barracks, tugging a giggling Jax behind her. Once she was reasonably sure he had swallowed the cookie, she asked, “Do you have a name?”

She then promptly regretted it when he started to choke. What was it with these guys and names? You would think she had asked them if they had ever kissed a Hutt. “My designation is CT-7432.”

Nyx sighed and rubbed her temple. “Ok, but if you could choose a name, what would it be?”

Much to her surprise, instead of immediately shutting down like Tenny had done, this trooper took a second to think about it. Slowly, he asked, “This is hypothetical?”

“Of course.” These guys were weird.

“Well, then, hypothetically, I would pick the name ‘Matches’.”

“That’s so cool!” Jax tried to run ahead of them, but Nyx had already seen this coming and had grabbed onto his shirt collar. She really needed one of those child-leashes. Or maybe just a sturdy rope.

“May I call you Matches?”

He took another second to think about it. It was like he was arguing with himself. Finally, he said, “Legally, I can’t stop you.”

“That’s a strange way to say yes, but I’ll take it.”

Matches stopped at a door that looked identical to every other single door they had passed. “And here we are!” The only difference is that this door had a small plaque on the outside with the numbers CC-1010, CC-4477, CC-1407, and CC-6313 written on it.

“Is this their room?”

“No ma’am. It’s their office. Just knock twice when you’re ready to go in.”

“Thanks.” As he started to leave, Nyx asked, “Is 1010 in charge or something?”

As Matches tried to hold in his laughter, Nyx felt like she had missed the punchline for the second time that day. “Something like that, ma’am. Thanks for the cookie!” He gave a quick salute and then made a quick retreat back the way he had come.

Nyx looked down at Jax and tried to give him a reassuring smile. “Are you ready?”

“Yup!” He was a bouncing ball of energy, which was unfortunate for anyone on the other side of the door.

Nyx sighed and resigned herself to chaos. “Then why don’t you knock on the door?”

Jax wiggled out of her grasp and knocked twice on the door. Immediately, something crashed on the other side and muffled cursing could be heard. Nyx covered Jax’s ears and glared at the door as it opened, leaving her face to face with Tenny.

“Language, Tenny. There are little ears present.” To say that Tenny looked half-dead would be rude to a half-dead person. The bags under his eyes were huge, and his shaggy hair was pointing in every direction. He looked like he had been chewed up and spit out by a wampa, and as his eyes widened to comically large proportions, Nyx saw the exact moment he realized who was standing at his door.

He slapped the door controls and the door slammed shut. A few more crashes and curses later, this time from multiple voices, the door slid open again, revealing Tenny plus helmet. Rolling her eyes, Nyx frowned. “Your face isn’t that scary, Tenny. It’s not going to traumatize the child.” Other than the half-dead thing, he looked perfectly normal. Well, as normal as a half-dead person can look.

“It’s regulations. What are you doing here?” He stood in the middle of the doorway, blocking their view of what was inside.

Nyx rolled her eyes. “Waiting for you to invite me and my brother into your office.”

He stared at them for a solid minute, until a voice from inside the office yelled, “Let them in, Tenny!” It sounded like he was holding in a laugh, and Nyx decided right then that she needed to get Tenny’s actual name.

Tenny moved back enough for Nyx and Jax to squeeze through. Two other clones were in the office. One was fully-armored, sitting on a couch that looked like it had been dragged from a dumpster. The other wore a black jumpsuit with a helmet thrown on. That’s definitely not regulation, Nyx thought with a smile. That clone was sitting on a desk covered in enough datapads to start an avalanche.

Jax immediately threw himself on the couch while Nyx stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. Tenny stalked to the other side of his desk. “Alright. How did you get in the barracks?”

“I met CC-1407 and he said that I could see you, and then Matches helped me find your…” she glanced at the couch that Jax had decided to climb over, “office. Jax, no climbing on the furniture.”

Jax, in retaliation for being told what to do, stuck out his tongue and began to climb on the trooper who was sitting on the couch. Cheeks flushing, Nyx threw the box of cookies onto Tenny’s desk and wrestled Jax off the trooper. “I am so sorry about that.” She threw Jax over her shoulders, again, and went back to the desk, arms full of wriggling child.

The trooper from the couch laughed. “It’s no trouble, ma’am. It takes more than a tubie to take me down.”

Jax stopped wiggling. “What’s a tubie?”

The trooper sitting on the desk leaned back, nudging a stack of datapads dangerously close to the edge. “A tubie is a clone who hasn’t been taken out of their vat yet.”

Jax’s eyes widened. “Cool.”

“Did Matches tell you his name or did you just happen to hear it?” Tenny asked, almost snarling, from behind the desk.

Nyx looked at him, surprised. “I asked him what he would want his name to be if he could have one, just like I asked you last night. He did the smart thing and picked something, unlike you.” She raised an eyebrow. “And don’t you think you should introduce me to your two friends?”

He growled from behind his bucket. “This is CC-”

“Let me stop you right there.” Tenny might think that the whole growling thing was scary, but Nyx had dealt with Jax after he had drunk a cup of coffee. Tenny was nothing compared to that. Nyx turned to the two troopers. “If you could choose a name, what would it be? Full disclosure, if you don’t tell me something, I’m going to let Jax come up with a name, and he named his lothcat Doodyhead.”

They both looked back to Tenny, weighing their options. The trooper on the couch shrugged. “Stone.”

“Thire.” Said the one on the desk.

“See?” Nyx said, grinning, “that wasn’t so hard.” She dropped Jax to the floor. “Go apologize to Stone, you little monkey.”

As Jax went to apologize, Nyx turned her attention back to Tenny. “Now, are you going to give me a real name, or am I going to have to keep calling you Tenny?”

Fox was now wishing that he had left this nat-born to deal with that robber alone. “My name’s Fox.” He said through gritted teeth.

Nyx grinned. “Thank you, Fox.” She pushed the box of cookies across the desk. “I have something for you.”

He eyed the box. “Is it going to explode?”

“If it did, I wouldn’t have hand-delivered it.”

Jax, from where he was now wrestling with Stone, cried out, “It’s cookies!”

“Yes, thank you Jax for ruining the surprise.” Nyx laughed, rolling her eyes.

“Cookies?” Thire had perked up, and Stone froze.

“They’re even edible. Would you like to try one?”

They both looked to Fox, who was still trying to figure out if the box was rigged with explosives. “If it makes your decision any easier, I already know what you look like, so you can take off the helmets.”

“Please, Commander?” Thire whined.

Fox cursed and ripped off his bucket. “If she was going to rat us out, she would have done it already.” He tore the lid off of the cookie container and threw two to Thire and two to Stone.

“Rat you out? Why would I do that?”

While Stone and Thire stuffed their faces full of cookie, Fox glared at her. “Things are different for clones. It’s against regulations for us to have names or show our faces.”

“Why?”

“Non-sentient beings don’t deserve names.” He snarled. “If you go around and tell people that we gave you ours, we could get decommissioned for it.”

While Nyx chewed on this, Fox chewed on his cookie. It was the best thing that he had ever tasted, but he definitely wasn't going to let Nyx know that. Stone and Thire crept to the desk for seconds, then thirds, and soon the box was empty.

“Fox, what’s decommissioning?”

All three of the troopers froze, identical expressions of fear on their face. “Please don’t ask that.”

“Why not?” Nyx's stomach tightened. Something was definitely wrong.

Fox ran his fingers through his hair, only succeeding in making it messier. “Do you remember how you didn’t want me to ask about the slugthrowers? Now I need you to do the same.”

She frowned, but after a moment, she sighed. “Alright, but I’m not happy about it. And don’t worry, Jax and I will keep your names a secret.” She leaned on his desk, forcing him to look at her. “But Fox? If you or any of your men need anything, I want you to come to Quadrant 13, alright? I’ll spread word to the sentries so they won’t shoot you on sight.”

Fox stared at her, trying to figure out the real reason why she would offer her help. Realizing that the silence was stretching into awkward territory, Thire cleared his throat, “Would you like some caff before you go?” Fox elbowed him, hard. Thire threw up his hands. “What? It’s polite!”

Nyx smiled and sat on the floor in front of the couch, the only part of the floor that didn’t seem to be covered in empty energy drink cans. Jax quickly climbed into her lap. “I would love some.” Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be true for long.

She took a small sip from the cup Thire had handed her and immediately spit it back out. “Gah, what is this stuff?”

“It’s caff.” Fox said, falling back into his chair.

“It’s motor oil! You drink this?”
While making direct eye contact, Fox chugged an entire mug of the stuff, sending shivers down Nyx’s spine. “You are a freak of nature.”

He stole Thire’s mug of poison and took a sip. “And you’re out past dark. You should leave.”

Nyx rolled her eyes and stood up. “For once, Fox, you’re right. Come on Jax, it’s time to go.”

“Do you think you can make it back home by yourself?” Fox asked, sarcasm dripping off his voice.

“I think I can manage.” Right before the door closed behind her, she smirked. “Oh, and Fox? Next time I come, I’m bringing you actual caff.”

Fox choked as his brothers laughed. “Next time?”

Chapter 3: Caff Really Does Save Lives

Summary:

We get to meet some more residents of Quadrant 13, and Fox has a bad day. Luckily, Nyx is there to help.

Notes:

Fair warning, someone is injured in this chapter, so there is going to be some blood.

“What in the galaxy do you think you’re doing?” Layla leaned against the door of the workshop, arms crossed.

Nyx blew a stray hair out of her face as she tightened another bolt. Satisfied, she slid out from under the chassis of her latest problem. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m fixing a speeder.”

“No, not the speeder. You’ve started pulling double shifts.”

“I have my reasons.” She slid back under, but Layla immediately pulled her out.

“Are you having trouble with groceries? Does Jax need something for school? You know we’ll help.”

Nyx, deciding that it was time to take a break, sat up and wiped her grease-stained hands on her pants. “You’re not going to give up, are you?”

“You know me. Miss Persistent.” Layla sank to the ground beside her and bumped their shoulders together. “Now what’s going on?”

“You know how I went to go give that guardsman some cookies the other day?”

Layla smiled, nodding. “Yup. Jax is still talking about it. How it was ‘so cool,’ and everyone was ‘so awesome’.”

“I don’t know if I would describe it as ‘awesome’.” She sighed. “I wish you had seen Fox’s office. I’ve seen sewers that looked better.”

“And Fox is the guy that helped you out with that besalisk?” Layla asked, leaning back against the side of the speeder.

“Right. But like I was saying, his office is so cramped. He shares it with four other guys and it was the size of the equipment closet here in the garage. His couch looked like it had bounced off a garbage truck, and he looked like he had bounced off the same truck right after. His eyebags had eyebags, Layla. And the caff,” she groaned, internally gagging at the memory, “the caff was so bad it was in violation of multiple sentient’s rights laws.”

Layla raised her eyebrow. “So what I’m hearing is that you’ve been working double shifts to get them some decent caff?”

She shrugged. “Among other things. If they can’t get caff, imagine what else they can’t get. I didn’t think about it until later, but those guys ate my cookies like they hadn’t eaten in weeks.” She grabbed a spanner and started to fiddle with it, refusing to look at Layla. “I can’t let that happen. Not on my watch.”

“Why is this so important to you?”

Nyx shrugged. “Outsiders have to stick together.” She laid back down and slid under the speeder, spanner in hand.

“And they’re outsiders?” Nyx could here the skepticism in Layla’s voice. It was hard to believe that anyone living in the upper levels could be considered an outsider, but Nyx couldn’t think of what else the Guard could be.

“They aren’t allowed to have names, they get called ‘meat-droids’ by the people they’re protecting, and they obviously don’t get enough sleep or food.” She sighed. “They need help.” Layla heard the tell-tale noises of tinkering start up from under the speeder. “And I’ve been thinking, why would Fox be down on our level alone? It’s dangerous at night, especially for someone who isn’t used to the lower levels. Something’s not right.”

“And I suppose you’re the one who’s going to figure out what’s going on?” Layla asked, a small smirk on her face. This wasn’t the first time Nyx had decided to play investigator, and it definitely wouldn’t be the last. Layla just hoped that the Guard knew just what they had unleashed. A loud CLANG sounded from under the speeder. Great, now Nyx was conducting ‘physical recalibration’. Layla frowned, because this meant that Nyx was really worried about the Guard.

“I don’t exactly see anyone else doing anything about it.”

Layla tapped her foot against Nyx’s. “You know I have to go to the council with this, right? You’re not going to be doing this alone.”

Nyx slid back out, a new grease stain on her forehead. “To be honest? I’m counting on it.”

--------

When she had made it back to town that night, the council had already assembled. Within a few minutes, Nyx was explaining everything to the elders and guardians of Quadrant 13. It would have been intimidating, if not for the fact that they were having this meeting on Mrs. Torok’s front porch.

“I think you’re right, dear. Someone needs to help those poor boys.” Mrs. Torok said as she began to pass out brownies and lemonade.

“I don’t see why we even need to get involved.” Gotti frowned. “Yes, this is all very sad, but the Republic should care for these men, not us.”

“Now Gotti,” Mrs. Reed, an elderly Pantoran, chastised, “if we all followed that advice, I would have left you on that street corner 60 years ago. If they need our help, it’s our duty to provide it.”

“We need more information.” Dr. Harbin said, smoothing his moustache. “We don’t know anything except that they like Nyx’s cookies, have poor taste in caff, and can’t have names or else they get ‘decommissioned’. Whatever that means. That’s not a lot to go off of.”

Nyx quickly swallowed her brownie. “I know, but I just have this feeling that something’s not right.”

“And I’m not saying you’re wrong.” He patted her shoulder. “But we need to know more. Do they have access to medical supplies? Are they getting enough food? We can’t change the laws of the senate, but we can make sure those men are getting the bare necessities.”

“They’re not very talkative, Doc, I’m not sure if we’re going to be able to figure any of this out.”

He smirked. “There’s no ‘we’ in this, my dear, just you.”

“You want me to go back up there?” She crossed her arms. “Once is enough, thank you very much.”

Crix, an old pirate hunter from the Outer Rim, spoke up. “That’s a good idea, Doc.” He stroked his chin. “She has a way to get in, the troopers already know her, and they trust her enough to give her their names.” He looked at Nyx. “I don’t like the idea of you going up there any more than you do, but this is your idea and you’re going to be the one to see it through.”

Nyx sighed. “Alright. I can buy some caff and go up tomorrow.”

“No need, dear.” Mrs. Torok toddled back onto the porch from where she had disappeared inside. Thrusting an enormous box of caff into Nyx’s arms, she smiled, “You can go today.”

Nyx tried to hand the box back. “Thank you, ma’am, but it’s the middle of the night. I don’t think Fox will appreciate me barging in so late.”

“Nonsense,” she said, pushing Nyx down the steps, “if he’s as sleep-deprived as you claim, he’ll be awake.”

“And remember kid,” Gotti yelled as she walked away, “if you ever get in trouble, one of the Guard can save you!”

He doubled over laughing as Nyx rolled her eyes. “Thanks.”

--------

Nyx dropped the box of caff on the front desk with a loud thump. “I’m here to see Fox.”

The poor man working the desk looked like he had seen a ghost. At least, that’s what Nyx thought was going on under the helmet. It was impossible to tell. “You….you want to see Commander Fox?”

Nyx leaned against the desk. “He’s a commander? Well, that explains a lot. He’s probably asleep. No need to explain, I understand. I’ll just leave this with you and be on my way.”

As she turned to go, the trooper spoke again. “Wait.” When she turned back around, he was peering over the box. “Are you the cookie lady?”

“The cookie lady?”

“Yeah. The lady that gives troopers a cookie if they tell her their name.”

Great. Nyx thought. Now I’m a cryptid. “I guess so. But I don’t have any cookies tonight.” The trooper’s sigh was heart-wrenching, so Nyx began to quickly search her pockets for anything remotely edible. “I do have a stick of gum, though. Would you like that?”

He immediately perked up. “Yes, please!”

Nyx held it in front of him. “You know the rules. Name first, then gum.”

The trooper froze. “Rolly.” Then he snatched the gum out of her hand, threw off his bucket, and began to chew.

“Rolly?” Now her curiosity had risen. “Where did you get a name like that?”

His cheeks and the tips of his ears grew red. “That’s classified.”

Nyx leaned further on the desk. “You and I both know it’s not.”

His blush moved from his ears to the rest of his face, and soon he was as red as the paint on his armor. “I like wheels.”

Nyx pushed herself up to sit on top of the desk and crossed her legs. Time to get to the bottom of this. “Do you know much about women, Rolly?”

He gulped. “No ma’am.”

Excellent. “I didn’t think so. Did you know that women can smell lies?”

“They can?” He gulped.

Nyx nodded seriously. “They can. That’s how I know that you aren’t telling me the truth. So why don’t you tell me how you really got your name, and I may give you another piece of gum.”

The trooper thought for a moment, and then seemed to make a decision. “Promise you won’t laugh.”

Eyebrows raised, Nyx smirked. “I promise.”

“Ok.” He fell back into his chair. “A couple of months ago, when the commanders were gone, we decided to race down the halls with their rolling chairs.”

She smiled as his face got impossibly red. “And let me guess. You were caught?”

“It was hard not to.” He winced and glanced up at Nyx. “I ran over Commander Fox.”

Nyx burst out laughing as she handed him another piece of gum. “Really? That’s amazing!”

“Amazing? I got put on Binks duty three weeks for that!”

Wiping a tear from her eye, Nyx grinned. “I don’t know what Binks duty is, but at least you got a cool name out of it.”

“I guess you’re right.” He began to inspect the box. “What’s in here, anyways?”

“Caff.”

His eyes widened and he grabbed the box like it was filled with gold. “Caff? Like real caff?”

“Yup, and that should be enough to last a while.”

He grinned. “For nat-borns? Probably. For the average Guardsman? A couple of weeks. For Commander Fox? Three days, max.”

Her eyebrows lifted almost to her hairline. “That man has a problem.”

The trooper quickly nodded. “He keeps everything running. The senate building would spontaneously combust if he took a day off.”

“Huh. That’s high praise indeed.”

“He’s the best.” The earnestness of this trooper was astonishing.

Nyx gave Rolly a small grin. “Sounds like it.” It seemed like there was more to Fox than she had thought. “Is he asleep?”

“No ma’am, he’s on-duty.”

“Really? Is he ever off-duty?”

The trooper shook his head. “There was a riot at the prison a couple of weeks ago, and the Commander’s been pulling triple shifts until more troopers can get back on-duty.”

“Is that why he was walking around Level 217 two weeks ago by himself?”

“Yes ma’am.” Rolly gestured at his leg, which Nyx noticed had been wrapped up in cloth. “I’ll be cleared for active duty in a few days, and then maybe he can take a break.”

She leaned over for a closer look. “Those don’t look like bandages.”

Rolly started blushing again. “We ran out of bandages a few months ago. These are sheets our medics ripped up.”

“Hmm.” Nyx began to make a grocery list of items in her head. “Do you have any bacta?”

“Ran out of that before the bandages.”

“I see.” Nyx tapped out a message on her comm and sent it to Doc. “Do you know when Fox is getting back?”

He checked his bracer. “According to the schedule, he should be back in-” He froze, staring at the door.

Nyx slowly turned around. A trooper was leaning against the door, armor covered in blood. Clutching his side, he limped inside and fell to his knees. “Call a doctor!” Nyx yelled at Rolly while she ran to the trooper’s side.

Now that Nyx was closer, she realized that she knew the trooper. “Fox?” She asked as she pulled off his helmet. “Can you hear me?”

His eyes were half-closed, and he was gasping for breath. “Nyx?”

“How do I get this armor off?” She began searching for a latch, buckle, or anything that could help her take off his chest plate.

“I can help.” Rolly had moved to Fox’s other side and had begun taking off the upper plates. “Medics are on the way, Commander.”

“Good….man.” Fox’s eyes slid closed. Nyx did the only thing she could think of and pressed down on his wound. Hard. He gasped and tried to weakly swat her hands away, but Nyx refused to budge. “What was that for?!?”

“I’m trying to keep your blood inside your body, idiot.” She pressed down again for good measure. “Don’t die.”

He groaned as Rolly began to remove the rest of his armor. “Wasn’t….planning on it.”

Nyx glanced at his face, which was much paler than it should be. “You sure fooled me.”

Two medics materialized out of thin air and pushed her to the side as they worked to stabilize the commander. “We’ve got it, ma’am.” She moved out of the way to let them work, watching them move the commander onto a stretcher.

Another trooper came into the lobby soon after, CC-1407, if Nyx remembered correctly. His helmet was off, and his mouth was hardened into a straight line. As the medics rushed Fox down the hall and out of sight, Nyx moved closer to where he and Rolly were talking.

“Did Commander Fox say anything about his injuries, trooper?”

Rolly shook his head. “No, sir. To be honest, I’m not sure how he even made it back to base.” He shuddered and looked at the other clone. “Is he going to make it?”

CC-1407 clapped Rolly on the shoulder. “He’s our commander, trooper, he can do anything.” Rolly nodded and gave the clone a small smile, believing him.

Nyx, however, didn’t. Clearing her throat, she interrupted. “Excuse me. Not sure if you remember, but we met the other day.”

The trooper gave her a strained smile. “The cookie lady. How could I forget?”

Nyx gave him a small smile of her own and shrugged. “Yeah. My name’s Nyx.”

He nodded. “Commander Thorn.” Glancing at her hands, he frowned. “If you’d like to wash your hands, you can use one of our ‘freshers. Then I can have someone escort you home.”

“My hands?” Nyx looked down and for the first time noticed that her hands were covered in blood. She quickly grabbed a grease rag out of her back pocket and began to try to wipe them off. “I don’t need an escort, Commander, but I would like an honest answer.” With a quick glance towards Rolly, she asked, “Is Fox going to be ok?”

Thorn rubbed his hand over his face and sighed. “Rolly, go get yourself cleaned up. I’ll cover for you until you get back. Take as long as you need.”

“Yes, sir.” Rolly saluted and quickly made his way down the hall.

“That bad?” Nyx had stopped trying to wipe the blood off her hands and had decided that she would take Thorn up on his offer of a sink. After he answered her question.

He moved behind the front desk and nearly collapsed in the chair. “You seem to be a good nat-born, one of the only ones I’ve seen, so I’m going to be honest with you. We don’t have enough medical supplies to treat a cold, let alone whatever happened to Fox. Even if we did, our medics don’t have the training or equipment to complete a surgery like this.” His head fell into his hands. “I don’t think he’s going to bounce back from this one.”

Nyx’s gut clenched and without thinking, she asked, “What if I could get you a doctor?”

“What?” Thorn glanced up.

Surer this time, she asked again, “What if I could get you a doctor? And supplies?” She had no doubt that Doc would help them, it was just a matter of getting him here in time.

Thorn grabbed her hand like a lifeline. “If you could do all of that, I’d call you an angel.”

Nyx grinned, hopeful for the first time that night. “Let me make a call.”

Notes:

I hate to leave you on a cliffhanger, so I'll let you know now: Fox is going to be ok! And thanks for your comments, I love to read them!!!

Chapter 4: The Injured Commander

Summary:

Doc has arrived to help with Fox's surgery, but will he be in time?

Notes:

Thank you guys for all the awesome comments! Fox is having a rough time right now, but I promise that it'll get better. Eventually.

Doc walked through the front door of headquarters twenty minutes later, carrying his medical bag and cane. Gotti followed close behind, silently guarding the doctor’s back. They both wore large backpacks filled to the brim with bacta, bandages, and other supplies, but it wasn’t slowing Doc down one bit. “Where’s my patient?” he asked, cane tapping hurriedly on the floor in time with his steps.

Thorn gave Gotti (and his slugthrower) a second glance but began to lead everyone to the medbay. “Right this way.”

“Nyx, I’m going to need you to scrub up and assist.”

“Yes, Doc.” Gone was the sweet old man. All that Nyx could see now was the experienced surgeon.

The small group began to attract attention as they travelled deeper into the base, but the troopers stayed out of their way. “How’s his condition?”

“Our medics are trying to stabilize him, and he’s getting blood transfusions from volunteers.”

“How good are your medics?”

Thorn scoffed. “Best in the GAR.”

Doc nodded. “Then I want them to assist, too.”

“They’ll be happy to help, sir.”

The medbay was bustling with activity, and every bed had an injured trooper in it. Doc threw off his backpack and made a beeline to the sink. “Nyx and I need gowns and gloves.” Someone quickly gave them what they needed, and within minutes, they were both scrubbed up and in the operating room. “What’s his condition?”

Without looking up, one of the medics replied, “Abdominal stab wound. Pierced the large intestine and pancreas.”

“Walk in the park.” Doc picked up a scalpel and gestured to the medics. “You two are my assistants, and Nyx is going to be my nurse. Understood?”

“Sir, yes, sir.” They answered.

“What are your names?” he asked as he began to get to work.

The medic who had been checking Fox’s vitals paused and looked up. “Names, sir?”

Nyx rolled her eyes and adjusted her gloves. They were too large, but she had worked with worse. “I’m the cookie lady, so it’s alright.”

Doc spared a quick glance to Nyx. “Cookie lady?”

“Long story.” She looked at the medics, who had resumed the surgery. “Your names?”

The medic who had his hair pulled into a bun gave a quick nod. “Saw.”

After another second, the other clone spoke up. “I’m Lifeline.” He had close-cropped hair and Nyx could see the beginnings of a tattoo peeking out from under his scrubs.

“Nice to meet you both.” Doc said with a grim smile. “Now let’s save a patient.”
----
By the time they had finished, it was early morning. There were several close calls, but it was nothing they couldn’t handle. Even death wouldn’t argue with Doc once he had declared that a patient would recover, so once he said that Fox would be fine, Nyx knew that everything was going to be okay.

However, everyone waiting outside the operating room didn’t know that. At least a dozen worried faces greeted them as they walked out. Commander Thorn quickly stood. “Is he going to make it?”

Doc smiled as he pulled off his gown. “He’ll be up on his feet in no time.”

Another clone rushed up and hugged Doc. His armor was unpainted, and he looked much younger than Fox or Thorn. Suddenly realizing that he wasn’t hugging one of his brothers, he let go. “Sorry, sir.”

Doc squeezed his shoulder and grinned. “That’s perfectly alright, son. What’s your name?”

The young trooper nervously glanced at Commander Thorn, who gave a small nod. “They call me Trip, sir.”

Doc gave him another warm smile. “That’s a fine name.” Then he looked at the troopers occupying the other beds. “Now why don’t you introduce me to everyone else?” He turned to Nyx. “Feeling up to helping me with a few more patients, my dear?”

Nyx smiled and pulled on new gloves. “Sure thing, Doc.”

“We can help, too.” Saw had pulled off his gloves and was running his fingers through his hair, the bags under his eyes much more noticeable outside of the operating room.

“You can help by getting some sleep. Nyx and I can handle things until the next shift.” Doc gave the two medics a small smile and made a shooing motion with his cane. “Out you go.”

“Are you sure?” Lifeline looked relieved but was doing his best to hide it. He couldn’t hide the slight shake in his hands, though, which had appeared right after the surgery had ended. If Lifeline was running on adrenaline, and Nyx was pretty sure he was, he was about to crash.

“I’m sure. Now everyone out except for Trip, Nyx, and my patients.”

As everyone began to file out of the room, Nyx noticed that someone was missing. “Where’s Gotti?”

Doc shrugged and began to dress a young trooper’s leg wound. “You know as well as I do that Gotti goes where he wants to. My guess is the kitchen.”

“He does love his late-night snacks.” She smiled at Trip. “Would you like to help me with some patients?”

“I wasn’t trained as a medic.” He stammered quickly, looking at Doc for help. Unfortunately for Trip, Doc was ignoring him to focus on applying bacta to his patient’s leg.

Nyx threw a pair of gloves at Trip’s head. “Neither was I.”

“Here’s a thought: why don’t you two stop your yapping and get started?” Doc asked, eyebrow raised and smirking.

“Yes, sir.” Nyx shoved a few containers of bacta in her pockets and began to walk to the next bed. When she noticed that no one was following her, she turned back to Trip. “You coming?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He caught up to her in a few long strides, and Nyx was reminded once again how tall the troopers were. It was very annoying.

Grabbing the closest chart, she started to read through the trooper’s injuries. Wow, that’s a lot of burns. She set the chart down and glanced up to the bed. “Alright, trooper, what’s your-” Nyx froze. “Matches?”

Matches, who now had burns covering both arms, gave a small smile. “Hi, ma’am.”

Nyx raised an eyebrow as she began to open a container of bacta. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”

Trip chuckled. “Yeah, vod, tell Nyx what happened.” She rolled her eyes and gave him a container of bacta, quietly telling him to gently spread it up and down the pyromaniac’s other arm.

Matches began to blush. “You see, Tango got hurt, so I got moved to Binks-duty, which is where you guard Representative Binks.”

“Makes sense.” Nyx said, starting to apply the bacta on her side.

“And what happened next?” Trip asked in a sing-song voice.

“He blew up a speeder.”

Nyx stopped for a second. Surely she had misheard, because there was no way a representative in the Galactic Senate would go around blowing up speeders. “What?”

Matches chuckled. “Some assassin tried to take out Senator Amidala with a bomb planted under her speeder. They didn’t count on Representative Binks coming into the garage while they were placing the explosive. I have no idea how he did it, but Binks detonated the bomb, killed two of the assassins, and escaped unscathed.”

Nyx began to wrap his arms in bacta-soaked bandages. “But you didn’t.”

“Nope. The explosion set off a chain reaction, which blew up the speeder I was taking cover behind.”

“That’s bad luck.”

Matches shrugged. “That’s why Binks-duty is a punishment. I’d rather be blown up any day, though, if it means I don’t have to do desk duty.”

Nyx tightened the bandage around his arm a little tighter than necessary, making him wince. “Don’t talk like that.”

He blushed and looked down at his hands. “Sorry, ma’am.”

She sighed. “That’s more like it. And stop with the ‘ma’am’. I’m not that old.” Nyx finished tying the bandage and moved to help Trip finish his side. Checking his wrapping, she smiled. “Nice work. We’ll make a medic out of you yet.”

He preened under the praise. “Thank you.”

Gently patting Matches on the shoulder, Nyx smiled. “We’re all done here, Matches. Let us know if you need anything else, ok?”

“Ok, ma’am, I mean Nyx.”
-------
Fox’s eyelids were as heavy as lead. Now that he thought about it, so was the rest of his body. With a groan, he opened his eyes, surprised to see that Nyx was sitting in a chair by his bed. He couldn’t be bothered to worry about why that was so odd, though, so he stopped thinking about it. As soon as Nyx noticed he was awake, she smiled and raised a cup to his lips. It was at about this time that Fox realized his throat was as dry as Geonosis, so he drank greedily. Once he had finished, Nyx began to check his bandages. “How are you feeling?”

The drugs were making it hard for him to understand what she was saying. “I hate pain meds.” he said, frowning.

She laughed. “Doc has you on the good stuff, that’s for sure. No pain?”

Fox, who had already forgotten what she had asked, looked at the bandages covering his stomach and focused on the part of the sentence he did remember. “Who’s Doc?”

“I brought him here to help with your surgery. Right now, though, he’s napping in Saw’s office. Turns out he’s not as young as he used to be.” She gently began to unwrap the bandages. “Don’t worry, I’m in charge while he’s gone.”

Fox blinked slowly. “You’re not a doctor.”

“You’re right, but I’ve been helping Doc for years. You’re in good hands.” She squeezed his shoulder and went back to work on his bandages.

“Why?”

“Why do I help Doc?”

The cotton that had taken residence in his head was not budging. Stupid drugs. “Yeah.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She said with a smile. “It’s a long story, and you’re so high you wouldn’t remember even if I did tell you.”

Fox tried to focus on what Nyx was saying, but it was so hard to think. “I’m not high.”

She snorted. “Current evidence would suggest otherwise, Commander.”

By the time he had finished wondering why he should be offended by that, Nyx had unwrapped the bandages and began to lather bacta on the incision. Fox tried to say something intelligent, but all that came out was, “That’s bacta.”

She glanced up at him and smirked. “Only the best for you, Commander.”

“You should save it for someone who needs it.” Clumsily, he grabbed her hand and began to try and put the bacta back into the container. It only resulted in it being smeared across the side of the carton, but the thought was there.

With a look in her eyes Fox couldn’t begin to understand, Nyx laid the container on the sheets and began to wipe the bacta off his fingers. “There’s plenty to go around, Fox, don’t worry.” Fiddling with one of his medicine lines, she gave a small smile. “Why don’t you go back to sleep? I’ve got everything under control.”

Sleep? No, Fox couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t remember why, but it seemed important for some reason. Images of a burning Senate Dome flashed through his mind, but when Nyx put her hand on his shoulder, he forgot about everything else, focusing on that instead. After staring at her hand for an exceedingly long time, he whispered, “You’re touching me.”

Blushing, she quickly pulled her hand away. “Sorry, Commander.”

He shook his head, thoughts becoming a little fuzzier. “Put it back.”

He could just barely make out Nyx raising an eyebrow as she put her hand on his shoulder. “Is this okay?”

He nodded, his eyelids feeling heavier and heavier by the second. “Yeah.”

“Okay, my hand’s back, so why don’t you stop giving orders for one minute and get some rest?”

That sounded like the best idea Fox had ever heard, so he settled back into his pillow. “Ya gonna stay?” He asked, his words starting to slur.

She gave him a small smile. “Yeah, I’ll stay.” And for the first time since she had known him, Fox smiled, and after letting out a world-weary sigh, he was out like a light.

Nyx, on the other hand, was busy thinking about the wounded commander. He looked younger when he was asleep, and definitely less grumpy. It was clear that the Guard hadn’t had access to medical supplies for a long time (she had seen scars during Fox’s surgery that definitely hadn’t healed right) and this selfless commander immediately wanted to give the bacta he needed to his men. Falling into the chair beside his bed, Nyx decided right then and there that Fox would never run out of supplies again. She would make sure of it.

The door to the small recovery room opened. “How’s our commander?” Doc asked.

She began to quickly redress Fox’s wound, hoping that Doc didn’t notice that she had been in the room far longer than necessary. “He woke up for a few minutes. No pain. And it turns out he’s as tactile as his brothers, you just have to drug him, first.”

Quietly, Doc pulled a chair over and placed a hand on her knee, which she pointedly ignored. “I know what you’re thinking.”

She huffed. “That’s doubtful.”

“You realize that we can’t solve all of the galaxy’s problems, right?”

“I don’t want to solve them all. Just this one.” Finishing up, Nyx pulled off her gloves and threw them in a nearby trash can. “I can’t let them continue to suffer like this. Not while there’s something I can do to help.”

As she sat back down, Doc took her hand. “We’re a small community, Nyx, and I’m not as young as I once was. We can’t keep doing this forever.”

“I’m not asking you to.”

He squeezed her hand and sighed. “You’re going to keep working double shifts, aren’t you?”

She shrugged. “Triple, if I can.”

“And what about Jax?”

“Layla can watch him until I get home.” She stared at the monitor above the commander, silently daring his vitals to be anything other than normal.

Doc tapped her foot with his cane, bringing her attention back to him. “You’re sure this is what you want to do?”

The answer was immediate. “Yes.”

After giving her knee one last pat, he stood up and began to make his way back to Saw’s office. “Alright, then. It looks like I need to make some calls.”

“Calls?”

“If you’re serious about doing this, my dear, we’re not going to let you do it alone. Your family is going to be behind you, every step of the way. We can’t make any big purchases, but we can certainly help with the smaller items, like bacta and bandages.” He smoothed his mustache. “And maybe I can start training Saw and Lifeline in surgery. They seem like quick learners.”

She quickly crossed the room and squeezed Doc in a bone crushing hug. “Thank you.”

With a chuckle, he patted her on the back. “No need for thanks, my dear. It’s just the right thing to do.”

Notes:

Translation:
Vod: brother

Chapter 5: Recovery

Summary:

Fox recovers and learns more about Quadrant 13.

Notes:

Fox should enjoy the rest while he can, because things are about to get busy! Thanks for all the comments!

When he woke up again, Thorn was sitting at his bedside. “You’re not dead!”

Fox rubbed his head, wincing when it pulled at the stitches in his side. “What happened?”

“Wait a second, Doc wanted me to tell him when you woke up.” Thorn opened the door and leaned out, calling for someone named ‘Doc’.

Fox began to gingerly sit up, leaning into the mountain of pillows Thorn had magically piled behind him. “I don’t remember any troopers named ‘Doc’.”

Thorn shook his head, smiling. “That’s ‘cause he’s not a trooper. You got lucky and collapsed right in front of the cookie lady. She made a call and twenty minutes later these two guys walked through the door with enough bacta and bandages to last us a month. He, Nyx, Lifeline, and Saw did surgery on you for five hours. Turns out, your stomach got nicked and they had to do some fancy doctor stuff to keep you from dying on us.” Grabbing his shoulder, he frowned, “Don’t scare me like that again, ok? I don’t want your flimsiwork.”

Before Fox could come up with a reply, he heard a tap, tap, tap, coming closer and closer to his room. When the door opened, an elderly human with a bushy mustache and glasses as thick as telescope lenses entered. He leaned on his cane for support, but he carried himself like the trainers on Kamino, making Fox subconsciously straighten up in the bed. Quirking an eyebrow, the doctor smiled. “Hello, Commander. I’m Doctor Harbin, but most people just call me Doc.” Glancing at the monitors, he continued, “How are you feeling?”

Fox eyed him suspiciously. “Fine.”

Doc only chuckled as he scribbled something down on his datapad. “A man of few words, I see. No wonder you and Nyx get along so well.” He looked at Thorn. “How is he actually feeling?”

Quickly looking from Fox to Doc, Thorn shrugged. “I don’t think he’s in any pain, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Doc nodded, satisfied. “That’s just what I wanted to hear. Did Commander Thorn tell you what we had to do in surgery, Commander?”

“He said that my stomach was nicked.”

“Your stomach, large intestines, and part of your pancreas, yes.” Doc laid down the datapad and began to unwrap the bandages surrounding Fox’s stomach. “Looks to me like you got into one hell of a fight.” He glanced up. “I hope you got in a couple of shots, as well.”

Thorn peeked over Doc’s shoulder, watching Fox. “I can’t remember much.”

“That’s perfectly normal, son, nothing to worry about.” Doc patted him on the shoulder as Thorn threw a quick hand sign: Blackout? When Fox nodded, Thorn’s frown deepened.

The doctor steadily kept working, not noticing the silent conversation going on above his head. “Nyx had to go to work, but she’ll be back later this afternoon.”

“Thorn said she helped with the surgery?”

“Yes, she did.” Doc looked up with pride. “Best assistant I ever had.”

“From the grease stains on her hands, I thought she worked in a garage.” He winced again as Doc tightened the bandages.

“When she was younger, she used to work with me in the clinic, but now she’s all grown up and wants to make her own way. Not that I blame her, I was the same when I was her age.”

Thorn sat back down and propped his elbows up on the side of Fox’s bed. “Sounds like you know her pretty well.”

The doctor laughed. “I should. I raised her, after all.”

Now Fox was confused. He had thought he knew how nat-born procreation worked, but maybe he was wrong. “You’re her father?”

“Oh no!” Doc answered, laughing harder. “I mean, legally, yes, but in actuality, no.”

“What the kark does that mean?” Fox asked, eyebrow raised.

“A man of few words and many questions.” Doc grinned and threw his used gloves in the trash. “Her parents died about seven years ago, and there was no way we were going to let her and Jax go into foster care, so I adopted them. They stayed with me until she was old enough to move back into her parent’s old house.”

“Who’s ‘we’?”

“Quadrant 13.” Doc paused. “You don’t know much about us, do you, Commander?”

Fox shrugged. “Other than the fact that a jacket patch can scare away a thug and you’ve got the entrance heavily guarded, no.”

Moving to the other side of the bed, Doc hit Thorn’s boots with his cane. “If I’m going to tell this story, you’re going to have to give me the chair, kid.”

Thorn burst into snickers, quickly moving to Fox’s other side. “Sir, yes, sir.”

“Thank you.” Doc sank into the chair with a huff, and after a few moments of getting himself situated, he nodded. “Now, then. Quadrant 13 was started up about a century ago by a small group of people who had become shunned from the upper levels.”

“Why?”

Doc gave a small smile. “There were many reasons. Some married below their stations. Their parents didn’t approve, and their families disowned them. Others were blacklisted from jobs because of their species or injuries. Unfortunately, there were many reasons. But back to the story. This small group of people banded together and built a community in the lower levels, one where they could be free. The resident gangs and drug cartels didn’t like that, especially since the community took up some of their old territory. The men and women of Quadrant 13 fought back, and eventually the scum learned to leave us alone. There aren’t many of us, but we take care of each other, and now we’re going to take care of you.”

Fox sputtered, a blush growing on his cheeks. “We don’t need anyone to take care of us.”

Doc quirked an eyebrow. “Your lack of medicine and food would suggest otherwise, Commander.” He smirked. “I suggest you accept our help like a man, because you’re going to get it whether you like it or not.”

Thorn laughed from where he was leaning against the wall. “And what makes you say that, old timer?”

Doc leaned back in his chair, arms clasped over his stomach. “I’ll give you boys some advice from an old man: Never get in the way of a woman who’s ready for war.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You boys are soldiers,” Doc said, smiling wider, “so I’ll put this in a way you can understand. An angry woman is scarier than the largest battle droid. Nyx is ready to fight the entire Senate to help you, so I suggest you don’t argue and say, ‘yes ma’am’ like the rest of us.” He shook his head. “I haven’t seen a fire in her eyes like this in a long time, and after seeing you collapse yesterday in a puddle of your own blood, there’s nothing that anyone can do to stop her.”

Fox started to get nervous. Having a nat-born hanging around the barracks could cause problems. “Nothing?”

“Nothing.” Doc said seriously. Pushing up from his chair, he smiled. “Alright, then. Now that you’re awake, I’m going to drag Gotti out of whatever hole he’s dug himself into and get back home. I’ve left instructions with your medics, and Nyx is going to give me updates every other day to make sure you’re healing as you should. Understand?”

Still trying to figure out how to keep Nyx from ‘helping’, Fox nodded absentmindedly. “Yes, sir.”

Doc glanced at Thorn as he walked out. “Keep an eye on that one, ok?”

Thorn grinned and nodded. “Will do.” As soon as the door closed, Thorn spun around to face Fox. “It looks like things may be about to get a little better, Foxy.”

Fox growled. “Better? If she keeps coming around here, who knows what she might dig up?”

“What would it matter?” Thorn asked, collapsing in the chair. “It’s not like she can do anything. Take the food and the medicine, Fox, and don’t worry about the rest. You know what they say, don’t look a gift bantha in the mouth.”

“And what happens if she sees another blackout mission? That was the third one this month.” Fox pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to stave off the incoming headache.

Thorn shrugged. “We can burn that bridge when we get to it, Commander. For now, let’s just enjoy the attention. Besides, I like her. It’s a nice change of pace to talk with a nat-born who isn’t screaming or throwing things at us.”

Fox rolled his eyes. “You just want cookies.”

Patting his shoulder, Thorn began to leave. “Don’t act like you don’t, vod. I know you had one stashed in your pocket. Fortunately, I was able to find it and give it to someone who really appreciated it.” With a growl, Fox threw a tray at his aggravating brother, but the door slammed shut just before impact. It didn’t stop Fox from hearing Thorn laugh all the way down the hall.

“Binks duty.” Fox muttered. “That idiot is getting Binks duty for an entire month.”

--------

A few hours later, someone knocked on his door. “Enter.” He huffed, still planning his revenge on Thorn. His current plan was Binks duty followed by 2 senate galas where he would be assigned to guard Senator Taa. There was still something missing, though, and Fox wouldn’t rest until he figured out what that was.

“Fox!” A young voice screamed, abruptly jolting Fox out of his planning. A small projectile hurled itself through the air, being caught at the last second by Nyx, who now had a squirming bundle of child in her arms.

“What did I say about Fox?”

Jax hung limply in his sister’s arms. “Be gentle because he got hurt.”

“And what did you do?”

“Tried to jump on him.” He pouted. “I was gonna jump gently, though!”

“The words ‘jump’ and ‘gently’ don’t go together, little brother.” Nyx sighed and looked up at Fox. “I’m sorry about the human cannonball.” Dropping Jax to the floor, she continued. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been chewed up by a nexu.”

Nyx grinned and set her backpack down next to a chair. “Well, at least you’re looking better than the last time I saw you.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I was dying the last time you saw me.”

Looking at the monitor, Nyx smirked. “Exactly. Your vitals are looking good. I think with another few days of rest, you’ll be fine.”

While Nyx was busy looking at the monitor, Jax had been quietly crawling onto the bed. Fox was frozen, unsure of what to do. He knew how to handle younger brothers, but nat-born children were another thing entirely. Are they breakable? The way Nyx handled him, Fox didn’t think so, but he didn’t want to press his luck. Jax reached Fox’s stomach and stared at him. “How did you get hurt?”

“Jax!” Nyx glared, hands on her hips. “What are you doing?”

“I’m being gentle!” He answered back.

Nyx sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fox, do you mind?”

“It’s fine.”

Jax looked back at Fox. “Nyx said you got hurt fighting bad guys.”

Fox glanced up at Nyx. “You could say that.”

Jax started bouncing, making the bedframe rattle. “Were there a lot of them? Did you punch them in the face? Did they run away? Did one of them pee their pants?”

“Woah, now.” Nyx said, pushing Jax down on the bed to get him to stop bouncing. “One question at a time.”

As it turns out, nat-born kids were very similar to clone tubies, and Fox began to feel like he was on firmer ground. “It’s alright. And Jax? Yes, Yes, Yes, and No.”

Jax’s eyes lit up and Nyx rolled hers. “Thank you, Commander. Now I’m going to be hearing about that for the rest of the week.”

He smirked. “I live to serve the citizens of the Republic.”

“You live to be a pain in my butt, Commander Tenny.”

“I’m never going to live that down, am I?” He asked, running his fingers through his hair.

Nyx shrugged and grinned like a shark. “Considering 10 troopers called me ‘Cookie Lady’ on the way here, no, no you’re not.”

Jax interrupted, his smile stretching almost the entire width of his face. “Do you want to see what we brought you?”

“Uh….sure, kid.”

Jax scrambled off the bed and opened the backpack, throwing things on the bed like a mini-tornado. Nyx calmly took everything and put it in a neat row. Fox’s jaw dropped as he saw rations, vegetables, and dozens of desserts being piled high on the sheets. When they had finished, Nyx gave a small frown. “It’s not a lot, but we’re going to bring more in a couple of days.”

“More?” Fox squeaked.

She shrugged. “Yeah. This isn’t going to last you guys long, and most of it is dessert. You need the five basic food groups.” She held up a large bottle and shook it. “And Matches is going to need to take these vitamins or else his burns may not heal properly.”

Fox nodded absentmindedly, still focusing on the fact that there was going to be more food later. “I’ll make sure he does.”

“Thanks.”

Fox jumped when something flew in front of his face. Fortunately, it was just Jax, holding a dark square thing. “These are the best. You should try it!”

He carefully took it from the kid’s hands. “What is it?”

Jax’s jaw dropped. “You’ve never had a brownie before?”

Fox examined the ‘brownie’. “Can’t say that I have.”

At Nyx’s encouraging nod, Fox took a small bite. It was amazing, even better than the cookie. He groaned as Jax grinned. “Told you it was good!”

Nyx smiled, but her eyes were sad. “I’m not sure how you wanted to distribute this, but if you let me know, I’ll go ahead and do it for you.”

Quickly shoving the rest of the brownie in his mouth, Fox grabbed another one along with his bracer and shook his head. Tapping out a quick message, he sent it to Thire. “Thire can handle it.” He said, talking around the brownie.

“Sounds good.” Nyx moved to sit in the visitor’s chair as Jax resumed his climb up the bed. “Is there anything that you guys need specifically, or is it just food and medicine?”

“That’s more than enough.”

Nyx nodded. “Alright, then.” Sorting through the backpack, she grinned. “There’s one more thing that we have to give you.” She pulled out a red and white tooka doll and put it beside him in the bed. “Mrs. Norington insisted, so no backsies.”

Fox held it at arm’s length, trying to figure out if it was hiding a weapon or camera of some sort. “Why am I getting a stuffed tooka?”

Shrugging, Nyx started zipping up the backpack. “Crix did some digging on you and the rest of the clones and found out about the accelerated aging. When the ladies of the Quadrant found out that you and your brothers are chronologically 12, they went to work. If I were you, I would expect to see some more the next time I come.”

Fox stared at the plushy. “We don’t need these.”

She patted him on the shoulder as she swung her arms through the backpack straps. “Need? Probably not. But everyone deserves to have at least one stuffed animal.” She grabbed Jax by the shirt collar and pulled him off the bed.

He glanced up before she could leave, an eyebrow raised. “Even you?”

“Even me.” She froze at the door. “I have a stuffed wampa named Winny.”

“Winny the wampa?” He asked, smirking.

“You try and come up with something better.” Nyx said, rolling her eyes and walking away. “I’ll be back in two days.” She called as the door closed.

And if Fox fell asleep later that night hugging Tank the tooka to his chest, no one mentioned it.

Notes:

I hope you've liked the fluffier parts of this story, because the next chapter is a doozy. It's one of my favorites, but still a doozy.

Oh, and I keep forgetting to mention that you can find me on tumblr @weepingdreamersandwich

Chapter 6: Snuffed Out

Summary:

Nyx learns the truth about decommissioning, and Matches faces the consequences of his mistake.

Notes:

Here we go. Things are about to ramp up for the Guard and the Quadrant, so buckle up!

Nyx was true to her word, bringing more food and stuffed animals with her two days later. She brought medical supplies two days after that. This pattern continued for several weeks, Nyx bringing things and Jax tagging along behind, bringing his usual chaos.

Fox hated to admit it, but morale was higher than it had been in months. Little by little, the Guard became used to having a few select few nat-borns in their base. Doc came by once a week to check on all of the injured, giving the medics extra training when needed, and everyone slowly began to heal from their injuries. Everything was starting to look better.

At least, it was until Matches got caught. “What were you thinking?” Fox growled.

“I didn’t see her, sir, I swear!” His knees were shaking and there were unshed tears in his eyes.

“Do you realize what you’ve done? I warned you about this, but you didn’t listen!”

“I know, Commander. I’m sorry!”

“Sorry isn’t going to save you.” Maybe Fox was being a little harsh, but Matches had crossed a line, and Fox wouldn’t be able to help him this time. Matches sank onto the couch, shoulders shaking as he tried to hold in his tears.

“Hey, Fox.” Of course, this was the exact moment when Nyx walked in. Luckily, Jax was wreaking havoc somewhere else. She froze as she took in the scene and quickly made her way across the room to kneel in front of Matches. Taking his hands in hers, she looked into his eyes. “What’s wrong, Matches?”

He started sniffling. “Nothing, ma’am.”

She ruffled his hair. Fox had been amused to see her pick up clone mannerisms as the weeks passed, but right now it only made his heart ache. “Didn’t Rolly tell you?” she asked gently, “I can smell lies. Now why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”

Matches began to cry as Nyx slid onto the couch and rubbed circles into this back, mummering useless reassurances. Fox knew that there was nothing she could do to stop this. There was nothing that anyone could do. She looked up. “I need answers, Fox.”

“It’s nothing.” Fox growled.

“Don’t lie to me. Either you tell me what happened, or I ask every clone on this base until I get an answer. Your choice.”

Seeing the defiant look in her eyes, Fox sighed and sank into his chair, rubbing at his temples. “Senator Burtoni saw Matches with his helmet off.”

Nyx frowned. “What does that matter?”

“It’s against regulations, and Burtoni loves regulations.” He downed another mug of caff and slammed it against the desk. “She’s filed a decommissioning report.”

As Matches sobbed harder, Nyx’s frown deepened. “You’ve used that word before. I think I deserve to know what it means.”

“Don’t ask questions I can’t answer.”

“I’m not asking.”

Fox sighed heavily. “You’re not going to like it.”

She tightened her arms around Matches. “I don’t like any of this, Fox.”

Fox pinched the bridge of his nose and wished for the millionth time that life could be kinder to his little brothers. Looking into Nyx’s eyes, he decided to rip off the band-aid. “Decommissioning means that in two hours, Matches is going to get on a transport to Kamino, where he’ll be euthanized via lethal injection.”

She froze, her eyes and voice becoming cold. “And what does reconditioning mean?”

Deciding that she needed to know the truth, Fox answered her. “It’s a mind wipe. A trooper will go to Kamino and will come back as a blank slate. They don’t remember anything, not even their own name.”

Nyx was silent for a few moments, still holding on tight to Matches, who had calmed down. “It’s ok, Nyx.” He whispered.

She shut her eyes, a tear sliding down her cheek. “No. No it’s not.” She gave Matches one last squeeze and stood up, walking to Fox’s desk and squaring her shoulders like she was getting ready for a fight. “Commander Fox.”

He looked up wearily. “I can’t fix this, Nyx.”

“But I can.” She pointed to Matches, but her eyes never left the commander. “I’m kidnapping this man.”

He squinted. “What?”

“I’m kidnapping this man, and you can’t stop me.” Her eyes were on fire.

Matches sat up straighter. “You’re kidnapping me?”

“Yup.” She crossed her arms, daring Fox to question her. “You can’t kill a clone you can’t find.”

Fox rubbed his forehead. “That’s illegal.”

“Yeah, well so is murder.” She pulled Matches off of the couch. “Go get your things, I want to get you out of here as soon as possible.”

“Commander?” He asked, softly.

Fox paused for a few seconds. Either this would work and his little brother would be safe, or it would backfire and they would all be decommissioned. Either way, something had to happen. Finally, he sighed. “I’m going to turn around for ten seconds. If I don’t see you leave, I can’t report you.”

Matches walked to the commander and saluted, his voice shaking. “Thank you, Commander. It’s been an honor serving with you.” Fox returned the salute, and then Matches was gone.

As Fox glared daggers into the wall, Nyx walked up behind him. “I’ll keep him safe, Fox, I promise.”

His breath hitched as he replied, “You had better.”

She waited for a few seconds, hoping that he would turn to look at her, but she realized it wasn’t going to happen. With a frown, she threw her arms around him in a hug. “If anyone else is supposed to get decommissioned or reconditioned, send them to me.” She gave his shoulder one last squeeze and started to leave.

“Nyx?”

“Yes, Fox?” She turned at the door.

“Thank you.” He hoped that she understood everything he couldn’t say.

With a single nod, she was gone.

-------

Nyx found Jax climbing up Rolly, Trip grinning at his side. “Jax, we have to go.”

“But we just got here!” He whined, swinging on Rolly’s arm.

“Something’s come up, but we’ll come back tomorrow.” Nyx pried him loose and threw him over her shoulder. “Besides, Matches is going to come home with us tonight.”

“He is?” Jax started wiggling in excitement.

Rolly stared. “He is?”

Nyx nodded and set Jax down. “Yeah, he’s going to stay with us from now on.”

Trip buried his head in Nyx’s shoulder, wrapping his arms around her. “Thank you.”

She hugged him back just as tightly and smiled. “This isn’t going to be the last time, either. No one’s getting decommissioned or reconditioned on my watch.”

Before Jax could ask any awkward questions, Matches appeared behind them, holding a duffel bag and looking nervous. Nyx tried to give him a reassuring smile. “Ready to go?”

He nodded and gave Rolly a quick handshake. Trip wouldn’t settle for a handshake, though, and decided to tackle him in a bone-crushing hug, which almost made Matches cry again. “Bye, vod. Tell everyone that I’m safe.”

Trip flashed a small smile. “I will.” He turned to Nyx. “Look after my ori’vod, okay? And whatever you do, don’t let him near an open flame.”

Nyx gave a small chuckle. “Noted.” She took Matches’ duffel bag and hefted it over her shoulder. Nodding towards the door, she smiled. “Ready to be a dead man?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” And with a deep breath, Matches followed her and Jax into the Coruscant afternoon.

He stayed as stiff as a board as they continued their walk down to the lower levels. Nyx couldn’t blame him for not relaxing, but between watching him and trying to keep Jax in sight, she was beginning to get aggravated. When they entered the elevator that would take them to the lower levels, Nyx pushed Jax towards the nervous trooper. “Do me a favor and carry Jax, please. He’s getting a little antsy and I’m afraid he’s going to bolt.”

“Are you sure? I’ve never-”

Before he could finish his question, Matches had an armful of Jax. “Yay!” Jax began trying to climb up to the trooper’s shoulders, using the different pieces of armor as handholds.

“Are you sure that this won’t draw attention?” Matches asked, trying to avoid getting choked out by a child.

“Matches, we’re in the lower levels now. Everyone minds their own business, and if they don’t, I’ll make them.” She placed her hand on his arm. “You’re safe now.” With a grin, she added, “Just don’t burn down my house, ok?”

He quickly nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

Soon enough, they were at the entrance to Quadrant 13. Crix was on duty at the front entrance. “What’s happened?” Matches stood at attention as Crix surveyed him.

“There’s been a development.” Nyx said, frowning. “I need to call a council meeting.”

“Council meeting?” Matches squeaked.

Nyx turned around and gave him a reassuring smile. “It’s nothing to worry about. I just need to tell the Elders what’s going on up there.”

“Will I have to talk?”

“I’ll handle everything, Matches. All you have to do is sit there and look pretty.”

Crix began to type something into his comm. “How does Mrs. Torok’s place in twenty minutes sound?”

“Perfect.” Nyx gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Thanks, Crix.”

“Anytime, kid.”

Gotti was guarding the second entrance, and as he saw the small group walk down the alleyway, he frowned. “Is everything alright?”

“Not in the slightest,” She said, shaking her head, “but it’s going to be.”

When she pushed back the curtain, she could hear Matches softly whisper, “Woah.”

Smiling, she moved the duffel bag to her other shoulder. “Helmet off, trooper, we’re home.” He quickly removed his helmet, which gave Nyx a front row seat to the look of amazement on his face. His eyes roved all around, moving from the string lights above the street to the porches on the houses and back again. Nyx quietly took Jax and set him loose. “What do you think?”

“It’s beautiful.”

She took his hand and began leading him to her house. “And now it’s your home. You’re free.”

“Free?” He asked, eyebrows scrunched together.

Moving herself under his arm, she smiled. “Free. You can do whatever you want, whenever you want.”

He looked down at her. “Can I make cookies?”

She laughed. “As many as you want, and I’ll even get you lessons from the master baker that taught me. How does that sound?”

“Are you sure I’m not actually dead?”

“I’m sure.” She turned him towards her small house. “Welcome to your new home. The owner is a little crazy, and there’s a tiny terror that runs around constantly, but it’s got good bones. I mean, it is still standing, after all.”

“This is yours?” he asked as he climbed up the front porch steps.

“This is ours. You live here, too, which means that you can make any changes you want. Within reason of course.”

He moved the swing back and forth with his hand. “What’s this?”

“That would be a front porch swing.” Nyx replied, falling into it. “You sit on it.” She patted the space beside her. “Care to join me?”

After setting his helmet on a banister, he gently sat down on the swing. After a few moments, he smiled. “I like this.”

“It’s very relaxing after a hard day of work.”

“Can I paint it?”

Nyx thought back to an earlier conversation she had had with Fox. As it turned out, the reason most of the Guard had the same paint job was because of ‘regs’. (Nyx was starting to believe it was actually for the trooper’s safety, but she was patient and would wait for Fox to tell her himself.) Making a decision, she grinned. “Actually, I was thinking about repainting the whole house.” She turned to look at him. “Do you feel up to the challenge?”

“Yes!” His eyes lit up. “What color?”

“Any color, and any design. I’ll even buy more than one color if you want, just let me know.”

His grin lit up the night. “Thanks, ori-” He froze for a second, taking a deep breath before speaking again. “Nyx, can I ask you a question?”

She sat up. “Of course. What is it?”

A blush started to creep along his cheeks. “I’ve had brothers all of my life, and Jax definitely acts like a little brother, so I was just wondering…Is this what having an older sister is like?”

Nyx stopped the swing and frowned. Had her friendship with the clones grown into something deeper? Well, she thought, I am committing a felony to save one of them. She also realized how many hours she was working to keep them fed, and how many extra hours she would have to work to afford paint. She had always wanted more siblings. It looks like she got her wish. She had gotten a little bit more than she had bargained for, but that didn’t bother her too much. “Yeah,” she replied, squeezing his hand, “I think it is.”

He leaned his head on her shoulder. Clones were much more tactile than she was, but she was getting used to the constant hugs and shoulder pats. “Thanks, ori’vod.”

She smiled and ruffled his hair, trying to remember the Mando’a she had learned from hanging around the Guard. “Anytime, vod’ika.”

Notes:

Sorry to scare you, but Nyx had to find out about decommissioning somehow. I've had some ideas for this fic that didn't fit into the main story line, so I've started a series of one-shots! Check them out if you're interested. As always, thanks for your comments and kudos!

Translations:
ori'vod - older sibling
vod'ika - younger sibling

Chapter 7: The Meeting

Summary:

Matches gets to meet the residents of Quadrant 13, and they begin to make long-term plans.

Notes:

Here's a nice fluffy chapter to take a break from the angst of the last one. Don't get used to it, though!

Twenty minutes later, Jax had been sent to bed and Nyx and Matches had made it to the council meeting. Other than Mrs. Torok, they were the first ones to arrive. Doc arrived next, smiling and patting Matches on the back. “How are you doing, son?”

“Much better, now that I’m here.”

“We’re glad to have you. Are those burns healing well?”

He smiled. “Hardly hurt at all, sir.”

Doc began to test Matches’ range of motion, moving his arms up and down. “Everything looks fine. Any scarring?”

“Yup!”

“You seem unreasonably happy about that.” Gotti climbed up the porch and took a seat in one of the rocking chairs.

Matches scoffed. “Scars are proof that you survived something that was meant to kill you.” He shrugged. “At least, that’s what one of our trainers said.”

“That’s a good policy.” Crix had decided to avoid sitting altogether and leaned against a post. “Every scar tells a story.” He rolled up the left sleeve of his shirt, showing off one that stretched from his wrist to his elbow. “For example,”

“Aw, don’t get him started.” Gotti groaned.

Crix glared at him. “You’re just jealous you lost your eye to a feral tooka.”

“It was a rabid beast.”

“And my mother’s a hutt.”

Gotti rolled his eyes. “You said it, not me.”

Matches’ eyes were filled with curiosity. “I would like to hear about your scar, sir.”

“See,” Crix said, pointing his thumb towards Matches, “that’s a polite boy.” He looked at Matches. “I used to be a pirate hunter, and on one fateful mission, I was face to face with the captain of one of the most notorious pirate crews in the galaxy.”

“That no one’s ever heard of.” Gotti sneered.

Crix waved. “Don’t pay him any attention. So there I was, about to fight the pirate-”

“Who sliced your arm open with a knife. You shot him, but he ran away before you could finish the job.” Mrs. Norington, an elderly nautolan, interrupted, hobbling onto the back porch, Mrs. Torok and Mrs. Reed following behind. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I would like to go to bed at a reasonable hour, so let’s get started.”

Crix huffed but rolled down his sleeve and leaned further on the post. “Whatever you say, ma’am.”

Mrs. Torok smiled and gestured towards the stairs. “Take a seat, kids.”

Once everyone had gotten comfortable, except for Matches, who looked like he was facing a firing squad, Mrs. Reed turned to Nyx. “Now then, dear, why don’t you tell us what’s happened.”

Nyx explained everything, from decommissioning to her promise to give refuge to any soldier that needed it. Once she had finished, everyone was silent. Finally, Doc asked, “Matches, how often do these decommissionings and reconditionings happen?”

He shrugged and stared holes in his shoes. “If we’re lucky, once a month.”

“And if you’re not?” Crix growled, knuckles white from clenching the banister.

“We once lost two squads in a week.”

Gotti banged his fist against his chair. “This is outrageous. How dare they murder innocent men?”

Doc tapped Gotti’s shin with his cane. “Watch your blood pressure.” He sighed. “Nyx, you did the right thing, but you can’t expect to keep every trooper in your home.”

“You’re completely right, Doc,” Mrs. Norington answered, “which is why the next trooper will be staying with me.”

“What?” Matches asked, eyebrows shooting up to the sky.

“Now, now, Tochi, don’t be so hasty. After all, ever since Grafan died, I’ve been needing a strong young man to help me around the house.” Mrs. Torok said.

“Well ladies, with Nyx working at the garage, I’ve been looking for a new assistant.” Doc added.

Laughing as the rest of the group devolved into lighthearted bickering, Nyx leaned over to Matches. “What do you think about your new family?”

Matches’ mouth was still hanging open. “They want us?”

Crix swung around. “Of course we want you!” With a little difficulty, he kneeled in front of the startled trooper. “Not because you’re a good soldier, but because you’re a good man, and you deserve a chance to live in freedom.”

“Thank you, sir.” Matches whispered, trying to keep his emotions in check.

“There’s no need to thank us, son,” Mrs. Reed smiled, “it’s the right thing to do. I’m just sorry we didn’t know about this sooner.”

Nyx smiled and leaned against the stair’s banister. “I think I may have a solution to our problem.”

Doc raised his eyebrow, a small grin on his face. “Well, then, my dear, out with it.”

“Why don’t we let the men spend one day with anyone who would like to volunteer their home, and then the trooper can decide who they want to stay with.”

“An excellent idea, Nyx.” Mrs. Torok, said, grinning. “But I want everyone else to know that it’s not my fault when they all decide to stay with me.”

Gotti rolled his eye. “We’ll see.”

Nyx tried to hold in a laugh. “Actually, I was wondering if I could ask you for a favor, Mrs. Torok.”

“Of course, dear. What is it?”

“Matches said that he would like to learn how to bake, and I thought, who better to teach him than the woman who taught me?”

Her cheeks glowed with pride. “I would be honored.” She turned to Matches. “You come on over in the morning and we’ll start.”

“He’ll also need to learn how to cook, Nessa, which I will teach him.” Mrs. Norington added.

“After he’s done with me.”

Mrs. Norington nodded diplomatically. “Of course.”

“And once you two are done, I’ll teach him how to cook correctly.” Mrs. Reed declared, rocking in her chair.

Gotti quickly spoke up. “I call dibs on grilling.”

As they argued over who would teach Matches what, Nyx leaned over. “How about we sneak back home? You look a little overwhelmed.”

He shifted his attention back to Nyx. “Yeah, I think that would be a good idea.”

“Alright, then.” Nodding at Doc, she led him back to the house, where a pillow and blanket were waiting on the couch. Nyx pulled the couch into a bed and spread out the blanket. “Sorry I don’t have anything nicer for you.”

Matches sank onto the bed and began to pull off his boots. “This is amazing, ori’vod, thank you.”

She smiled. “Goodnight, little brother.”

--------

The next morning, Matches woke up to a quiet house. After looking around for Nyx, he found a note on a box that had been placed on the stairs:

I found some of Dad’s old clothes in the attic and thought you may want to try them on. You can’t go around wearing armor for the rest of your life, and you’re about the same size. Jax should get up around 6:30 to get ready for school. He knows the drill, so you shouldn’t have to worry about that, and Layla will come by around 7 to take him. I’ll come and pick up Jax once he’s out of school so that we can visit the barracks. I’ve left you my comm code, so be sure to let me know how your day is going!
- Nyx

Matches shook his head with a small grin. He had never dreamed of having a normal life with a normal family. Well, maybe his family wasn’t ‘normal’, but he could already tell that it was perfect. As soon as he had finished changing into his new civvies, someone started unlocking the door. It was probably Layla, whoever that was, but just in case, Matches slowly unholstered his blaster. No one was going to hurt his new little brother while he was around.

The door swung open to reveal a young girl, early-20s, with blonde hair pulled up in a high ponytail. When she saw Matches, she let loose a quick squeal and raised her hands. “I’m Layla, Nyx’s friend!”

Matches blushed and quickly holstered the blaster. “I am so sorry!”

“It was an honest mistake.” As she looked at him, she started to blush, but before Matches could figure out what that meant, Layla had dropped her backpack by the door. “Let’s try this again.” With a small grin, she held out her hand. “I’m Layla.”

Matches stared at it for a few seconds and then firmly clasped his hand in hers. “I’m CT-, I mean Matches. I’m Matches.”

Layla’s smile seemed to light up the room. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Matches. Is Jax up yet?”

“I haven’t seen him.”

Rolling her eyes, she put her hands on her hips. “That little gremlin probably thinks he can skip school today since you’re here.” She started climbing the stairs. “Well, let’s go get him.”

“You want me to come?”

She turned and grinned. “Of course! I mean, someone has to guard the door when he tries to escape.”

He bounded up the stairs two at a time to catch up. “Sir, yes, sir.”

Matches soon discovered how similar to a cadet Jax really was. Between the tooka eyes, begging, and, when that didn’t work, the escape attempts, Matches had almost forgotten that Jax wasn’t a clone. Especially when he had looked up at him with those great big eyes and asked, “Please, ori’vod, can I stay with you?” Matches had almost melted right there.

Layla, however, seemed to be immune. “Jax. There’s no negotiating. You have to go to school.”

“But I hate school!” He whined, latching on to Matches’ leg.

“It doesn’t matter. You have to go.” Layla had moved to the small dresser, where she grabbed a pair of pants for the little monster.

“Please, Matches! Can’t I miss just one day?”

Matches looked at Layla, trying to figure out what to do. She just stared at him, squinted her eyes, and mouthed, “No.”

Looked back down at Jax, Matches frowned. “I’m sorry, vod’ika, but if Layla says you have to go to school, you have to go to school.”

“Ugh!” He cried as he dramatically collapsed on the bed.

Layla threw the pants on his head. “Put those on.” Grabbing a shirt, she smirked. “At least you have the best teacher in the galaxy.”

Jax grimaced. “No I don’t.”

Acting like she had been shot, Layla fell on the bed beside him. “Oh, you wound me! How will I ever recover?” Hitting him with the shirt, she grinned. “Now go brush your teeth.” Still groaning, Jax wandered into the bathroom and started to get ready.

“You’re a teacher?”

Layla smiled. “Have been for the past 3 years.” Propping herself up on her elbow, she continued, “Jax likes to put on a good show, but he’s actually one of my best students.”

Matches glanced at the bathroom. “Yeah, he’s a good kid.”

“Climbs anything in sight, though.”

He chuckled. “Like a monkey lizard.”

Layla fell back on the bed. “Definitely.” Looking up at Matches, she smiled. “I’m glad you weren’t sent back to Kamino.”

He started to blush as red as his armor. “Me, too.”

-----

Twenty minutes later, Nyx got a notification on her comm: 'You didn’t tell me he was hot!!!' Rolling her eyes, she put the comm down and continued trying to reassemble a motor.

Within the next five minutes, though, her work was interrupted again. This time, it was a message from Matches: 'Does Layla pick Jax up every morning?' Sensing a disturbance in the Force (or whatever Jedi called it) Nyx typed a quick 'yes' and tried to forget about it. Unfortunately, she was forced to think about it again when Matches immediately answered: 'Thank you, ori’vod!'

This was definitely going to be interesting. "Well," Nyx thought, grabbing a wrench, "at least I have popcorn and a front row seat."

Notes:

So Matches has made it safely to the Quadrant, but the Guard isn't out of the woods yet. The action ramps up in the next chapter, so get ready! And as always, thanks for all the comments!

Chapter 8: Point Break

Summary:

The Zillo Beast attacks, and Nyx finds out Fox's secret.

Notes:

Here comes the Zillo Beast! I hope you're ready!

As the weeks passed, more and more troopers began to arrive at Quadrant 13. Some were led in by Nyx, others were sent by Fox, and all of them were amazed when the older residents fought over them like tookas over a fish. It took the troopers a little while to figure out that no one was going to be thrown out, but once they did, they actually started to act like the young men they were, and not the soldiers they were meant to be.

Every house was covered with new paint and designs, all created by the new residents. Everything was in Corrie Red, obviously, but at least that made things look somewhat uniform. The older women of the town worked around the clock making new clothes for their forcibly-adopted sons. The troopers seemed surprised every time someone did something nice for them, and that just made the town want to do more.

The former troopers learned how to bake, cook, fix sinks, and even started taking some guard duty shifts, always making sure to keep their faces covered. Outsiders believed that this was where Guardsmen went to die, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. Quadrant 13 was where Guardsmen went to live.

The rescued troopers eventually started calling themselves the Zombies, and the name stuck. Soon, the term “zombie outbreak” meant that another trooper was about to arrive. A “walker” was someone that Fox sent who could make it down to the Quadrant alone. An “active infection” meant that the trooper was either too injured or scared to come. In this case, Nyx brought them down and they stayed with her or Doc for a few days. Once they had recovered, they would start looking for their new home. There were so many new troopers that new houses were being built beside and sometimes above the older ones.

There were some mishaps, but that was to be expected. Matches almost burned down Mrs. Torok’s house the first time he made cookies, and he was only allowed to grill while supervised. (No one wanted a repeat of the nerfburger incident.) There were times that blasters were pointed at random people, but everyone soon learned to laugh it off and go about their day. The troopers also insisted that the quadrant come up with contingency plans, so Quadrant 13 became the most prepared and well-armed group in the lower levels.

Unfortunately, there was one unintended side effect that Nyx was currently taking the brunt of. Thanks to Jax, the clones had discovered pranks, and no one was safe. Cookies were being baked with salt instead of sugar, hair dye was mysteriously put in shower heads, and now Nyx was soaking wet on her front porch, having just been attacked by a group of troopers with water balloons, led by none other than Rolly. The traitor. As she looked down at her wet clothes, she realized that the balloons weren’t just filled with water, but with clothing dye, and now she looked like a rainbow’s fart. The troopers, to their credit, immediately ran away screaming.

Deciding that her vod’ika needed to be taught a lesson, Nyx leaned back through the front door. “Matches?”

“Yeah, ori’vod?” He asked from where he was cuddling with Layla on the couch.

“Do you remember those glitter bombs you swear you don’t have?”

His eyes lit up. “Maybe.”

Wringing out her wet clothes, Nyx grinned ferally. “Go and get them.”

Giving Layla a quick kiss on the cheek, Matches made his way to the kitchen and dug out a bag full of glitter bombs. “Roof or street, ori’vod?”

Nyx put the small bombs in her purse. “You know me, Matches, give me the bird’s eye view any day.”

He nodded, and as she began to climb up to the roof, he ran down the street to flush out the wayward troopers. They were quick, but Nyx had grown up here and knew all of the shortcuts. Jumping from roof to roof, she hit all of them at least once before dropping quietly back down to the ground. Arms crossed, she smirked. “Have you all learned your lesson?”

The glittery troopers sighed. “Yes, ori’vod.”

“And are you going to do it again?” She asked, staring at Rolly, who was covered in glitter from head to toe.

“No, ori’vod.” He answered, trying unsuccessfully to shake the shiny stuff out of his hair.

“Excellent.” Nyx said with a nod. “Now then, I’m headed up to the barracks. See you boys tonight.” As they all called out their goodbyes, she smiled and made her way up to the surface.

------

Stone was waiting for her in the lobby. “Fox on duty tonight?”

He nodded. “Chancellor wanted to meet with him for some reason.”

“Ugh.” She groaned. “He’s always so grumpy after he sees Palpa-butt.”

Stone chuckled as they made their way to the medbay. Today was a medical supply drop-off, and Saw had specifically requested antibiotic shots, which Nyx was more than happy to deliver. “You can say that again. Did you hear about the Zillo beast the Chancellor brought to Coruscant?”

“Zillo beast? What’s that?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t get to see it, but from what Thire said, the thing is bigger than the base and has blaster-proof scales.”

Nyx rolled her eyes. “So let’s bring the indestructible monster to the most populated planet in the galaxy. Makes total sense.” She shook her head and sighed. “I tell you, sometimes I think the Chancellor is actually trying to kill us all.”

“I completely agree. A politician should not be making military decisions.”

As they entered the medbay, Nyx turned. “And he also shouldn’t be bothering Fox in the middle of the night. That’s when I get to bother him.”

Nyx made small talk with the medics and patients as she put the supplies in their proper place. As it turns out, clone medics are just as persnickety as Doc when it comes to organization, so everything had to be put in its perfect position, or else she’d never hear the end of it.

However, her quiet night wasn’t going to last. As she packed up to leave, sirens started wailing throughout the base. Thire rushed into the medbay a minute later, out of breath. “Nyx, you can’t leave.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“The zillo beast escaped and is making its way to the Senate building.”

Panic gripped her heart. “But that’s where Fox is.”

“He’ll be fine, but you need to stay here where it’s safe.” He turned to go, but a hand on his arm stopped him.

“Where are you going?”

“Senate building. They’re going to need all the help they can get.”

“Then I’m going, too.” Nyx quickly began to pack her bag full of bacta, bandages, and pain killers. When Thire tried to argue, she interrupted, “Troopers need help out there, and Doc’s trained me in first aid. I’ll get him up here to do surgery, but I’m going with you.”

Realizing that this was a fight he was not going to win, Thorn nodded. “Fine, but you stick with me or another Corrie while you’re out, alright?”

“Fine.” she said, shrugging on her loaded down backpack. As they ran through the tunnels that would take them to the Senate Dome, she called Doc. “Doc, we need you up here. Now.”

“What’s happened?”

“There’s a monster on the loose, and it’s headed toward the Senate Dome. I’m going to go with Thire to do first aid, but I have a feeling they’re going to need you in surgery.”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

Trusting Doc to get to the base safely, Nyx began to focus on her job. She hadn’t lied, she had been trained in first aid, but she had a feeling that she was running headfirst into a war zone. When they made it to the surface, though, all thoughts flew out of her head as they came face to face with the zillo beast.

It was huge. Almost as tall as the senate building with a tail adorned with spikes. As she stared, it roared and began to crash through the building. Satisfied that it wasn’t about to eat them, she looked around and immediately spotted an injured vod. Turning to Thorn, she shouted over the screams and sirens, “Get me an evac!” Then she was gone.

The next two hours passed by in a haze. Nyx was covered in blood from the elbows down, and her belt had been sacrificed an hour ago to create a make-shift tourniquet for a vod with a leg wound. The last evac ship had brought her more supplies, which was fortunate because by that time she had almost run out.

Incidentally, she was also about to run out of patience. Emergency workers had shown up about an hour after the zillo had been killed, but they refused to treat clones. They would treat senators. They would treat random citizens. But ask them to give bacta to a clone and you would think they had been asked to cut off their own arm.

This resulted in a divide being created around the Senate Dome. On one side, there were reporters, EMTs, ambulances, and maybe 10 actual patients. On the other stood dozens of wounded clones, five clone medics, and one girl who was extremely out of her depth. Evac ships were flown in and out of the area constantly, but they weren’t making a dent in the number of wounded, and if one more person told her to leave her vod’e behind and treat some idiot senator who had a splinter, she was going to shoot them. To top it all off, no one seemed to know where Fox was.

Shoving that concerning thought aside, she patted Stank on the shoulder, called for a non-emergency evac, and moved to her next patient. This time, it was a clone in blue armor. He must be confused; the GAR medics were stationed on the other side of the Senate complex. The clone looked up at her and frowned. “Who are you?”

Before she could respond, Door called out from his stretcher, “You don’t know who that is, Torrent?” he laughed, “That’s our Cookie Lady!” Then, before he could say anything else embarrassing, he was loaded on a ship and taken back to base. (It should be noted that he was extremely high on pain killers.)

“Cookie Lady?”

Nyx rolled her eyes and jabbed a stim into her leg. “It’s a long story.” As she began to bandage his arm, she continued, “So I guess your name is Torrent?”

“Nope,” he hissed, “that’s my company. My name’s Jesse.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Jesse.”

Before she could finish tying-off the bandage, someone yelled, “Ori’vod!”

Her head shot up. “Freeze?” He was holding Tag in a fireman’s carry, slowly limping his way to her. She quickly tied Jesse’s bandage and rushed to help Freeze lower Tag to the floor. He wasn’t looking good, and there was a piece of shrapnel embedded in his stomach. Quickly applying pressure, she started yelling into her comm. “I need an emergency evac at my position ASAP. Shrapnel embedded in abdominal wound, code red.” She looked up at Freeze. “Push down around the metal, I’m going to give him some shots.” Antibiotics, a blood coagulant, and a painkiller were all quickly administered. By the time she had finished, the evac had arrived.

As they loaded him on the stretcher, she yelled to the pilot, “Get him to Doc. Take Freeze with you.” They were one of the only pairs of twins in the Guard, and she was not going to let them be split up now.

As the ship lifted off, she took a shuddering breath and turned back to her original patient, who was looking at her quizzically. “He called you ori’vod.”

Nyx shrugged and began to clean up a small cut on Jesse’s leg. “What else would he call me?”

“But you’re not a clone.”

She quirked her eyebrow. “And I didn’t think you had head trauma, but now I’m not so sure.” She gave him a quick shoulder squeeze and moved on to her next patient. “See you around, Jesse.”

Thirty minutes later, she got the call she had been waiting for. It was Thire. “Nyx, come in.”

“Nyx here, what’s up?” She asked as she sent another vod to the evac zone.

“We found Fox, and you need to get here. Now.”

Heart racing, she quickly answered. “Where are you?”

“Base of the Senate Dome. Look for the reporters. I’ll send Hawkeye to lead you through.”

“On my way.” She quickly flicked off the comm device and began to run towards the flashing lights. Thire shouldn’t have worried about giving her an escort. Once she got blood on the first reporter’s suit, they gave her a wide berth. Hawkeye waved her past the senate guards, and she followed him past the crowds of politicians and reporters.

As they passed a group of Jedi, one of them noticed her. “My dear, are you alright?”

Hawkeye, probably sensing that Nyx did not want to be bothered, quickly answered, “General Kenobi, sir, I was just escorting Miss Jakin to Commander Fox. Her presence was requested.”

“Why are you covered in blood?” Another jedi asked. This one was bald.

Running on a stim, five hours of sleep, and anger, Nyx was done with anyone who wasn’t a vod, especially if that person asked dumb questions. “I am covered in blood,” she snarled, “because I have been providing first aid to the Coruscant Guard for the past two hours.” Pointing, she continued, “There are only five medics over there, and since I don’t want to leave them for long without a sixth, I’m gonna go now and see what’s wrong with Commander Fox.” Throwing a two-fingered salute towards the Jedi, she continued on her way, leaving Hawkeye sputtering in her wake. “Oh, and Blue Boy?”

The trooper with blue jaig eyes straightened up. “Yes, ma’am?”

“Someone named Jesse got accidentally lumped in with the injured Guard. I suggest you go and get him before he’s evac’d to base.”

As she left, she could just barely make out one of the Jedi saying, “Blue boy?”

They made it to Commander Fox’s position without any further incidents. Unfortunately, if Nyx was covered in blood, Fox was bathed in it. And it wasn’t red, either, but a sickly green color. She rushed to his side and started checking for injuries. “Fox, are you ok? Where are you hurt?”

When he didn’t say anything, Thire put his hand on her shoulder. “He hasn’t spoken since we found him. I had hoped that maybe you could snap him out of it.”

“Can you tell if he’s been injured? I can’t see past all of the blood, and I don’t have a scanner.”

“We did a quick scan, and nothing came up. His vitals are a little low, but that’s all.”

Nyx nodded and carefully slid off Fox’s helmet. Looking into his eyes, she frowned. “His pupils are dilated.”

“Is that bad?” Hawkeye nervously asked.

“I’m pretty sure he’s dissociated. I think I can help,” she quickly added, “but it’s going to take some time.”

Thire nodded. “We’ll make sure no one bothers you.”

“Thanks.” Nyx turned her attention to Fox. Speaking softly, she squeezed his hand. “Fox? Can you hear me?” When she didn’t get a response, she kept talking, telling him stories about growing up with Doc, taking care of Jax, really anything that she could think of. While she did that, she took off his armor so he wouldn’t see the blood when he woke up, and slowly moved her hand up his arm until she had her arm wrapped around his shoulders. As she was finishing up a story about the time Jax had brought a feral tooka home, Fox shuddered. “You with me, Fox?”

He shook and looked at her with wide eyes. “Where am I?” his gruff voice was unnaturally quiet, and that was what scared her most of all.

“The Senate Dome. Are you injured?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Are you?”

Trust Fox to worry about others when he’s the one covered in blood. “I’m fine. What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Meeting with the Chancellor.” He looked around, seeing the emergency lights for the first time. “What happened?”

“The zillo beast escaped,” she gave his shoulders a squeeze, “but right now I’m more worried about you. You don’t remember anything that happened after meeting the Chancellor?”

He just shook his head. “What did I do?”

Now more concerned, Nyx hugged him tighter. “I don’t know, but your armor was covered in green blood. Did you help someone get out of the building?”

Instead of calming him down, her question only riled him up. “Oh, no.” He said, starting to shake.

She wrapped both of her arms around him, letting him know that he wasn’t alone. “Fox, what’s going on?”

“I killed him.” He muttered. “I killed him.”

“Killed who?” she asked. Thire had started walking towards them, but Nyx waved him off.

“Senator Zurros.”

“How do you know?”

His breath hitched as he answered, “I just do.”

Nyx moved in front of him and took his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her. “Fox. You wouldn’t have killed a man for no reason. I know you better than that.”

He shuddered again. “It was a blackout mission.”

“A blackout mission? What’s that?”

“I don’t know.” He said, eyes squeezed shut. “All I know is that sometimes when I go to meet the Chancellor, I wake up hours or days later without knowing what I’ve done.”

She wiped a tear off his cheek, trying to hide how angry she was. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“Because there’s nothing you can do.”

“I’m sure I can think of something.” Right now, homicide was sounding like a very viable option. “Do you know how he’s able to do this to you?”

He shook his head. “No.” He took a breath. “It’s all my fault.”

“That’s ridiculous. That demagolka is using mind control or something. This is not your fault.”

Fox stared into the middle distance. “I killed an innocent man.”

Nyx couldn’t bear to see him look so despondent. “That wasn’t you, Fox. It was the Chancellor working through you. I know you wouldn’t have done that if you were in control.”

“I’m a monster.” He whispered, barely audible.

Nyx decided that she needed to stop this train of thought immediately, so she unholstered her blaster, put it in his hand, and brought it up to her temple. “Fine. If you’re a monster, shoot me.”

“What?” Fox tried to pull back, but Nyx held his arm in place.

She stared at him. “If you’re such a big, bad, monster, prove it. Kill me right here.”

“No,” he whispered, his hand shaking, “I can’t.”

“Then you aren’t responsible for the senator’s death.” Her eyes flashed defiantly, daring him to argue with her.

“But I’m the one who did it.”

“If I shoot a man, did I kill him, or did the blaster?”

He raised his eyebrow, not seeing where this was going. “You did.”

“Exactly, and in this case, you’re the gun, Fox. You aren’t responsible for his death. That blame goes to Palpatine.” She took the blaster from him and reholstered it, moving to sit beside him on the ground.

When she squeezed his hand, he gave a small squeeze back. “I’m sorry, I should be acting like a commander, not some cadet.”

Nyx wrapped her arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer, forcing him to lean against her. “Fox, if this had happened to me, I would still be screaming. You’re fine, and we’re going to figure this out. Together.”

He glanced at her, surprised. “You’re not scared?”

She forced out a laugh. “Of you? Have you seen Doc when he hasn’t had his caff? You’re nothing compared to that.”

“If he gave the order, I could kill you.”

Shrugging, she replied, “So could a dedicated sewer rat. You’re not special.”

He snorted and leaned his head on her shoulder. Quietly, he whispered, “I don’t think I want to go back yet.”

She leaned her head against his. “Then we’ll stay here until you’re ready.” And if Nyx felt her shirt get damp, she didn’t say anything about it.

------

In the end, they worked around the clock for 24 hours, Nyx constantly providing first-aid and Doc completing surgeries. After a surgery, Stone would look at the patient and decide whether the Kaminoans would want that trooper decommissioned. If there was any doubt, Stone would tell Mrs. Torok, who would find someone willing to take the trooper into their home. Fortunately, there was never a shortage of volunteers.

By the time Nyx and Doc had finished, they had saved over a hundred troopers. But in a single, horrible, night, the population of Quadrant 13 doubled, and Nyx had a new mission: stop the blackouts.

Notes:

Translation:
Demagolka - monster

Mace and Obi-Wan: Are you okay?
Nyx, covered in clothing dye and blood, a crazed look in her eye: Do I look okay?!? *leaves before they can answer*
All of the Jedi: Well, that was odd.

This chapter marks the half-way point of the story (not counting the epilogue). Thank you all for taking this journey with me, and as always, thanks for all the comments!

Edit: I just added another one-shot that takes place right after this, so check it out if you're interested!

Chapter 9: Facade

Summary:

The Jedi get nosey, and Fox starts to realize something.

Notes:

Is this chapter and the next self-indulgent? Yes. Does it move the plot along? Also yes. So here's a little fluff before the action kicks in!

“Something is wrong.” Palpatine thought as he sat in his office, ignoring the Jedi who had come to give him their reports. The force surrounding CC-1010 had grown lighter since the zillo beast attacked, and that was certainly not right. The Coruscant Guard had lost over 100 men in that attack. He shouldn’t be happy. He should be depressed, angry, anything but happy!

Internally shrugging, he decided that it was time to do some digging, but the meddlesome Jedi actually did something helpful for once. As they began to file out of his office, Master Kenobi turned to CC-1010. “Commander Fox, I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to ask sooner, but I was wondering, who was the young woman that helped the Guard after the zillo beast incident?”

1010 straightened as stiff as a board. Interesting. “A woman, sir?”

“Yes,” Master Windu interrupted, “brown hair, early-twenties. She said that she was on her way to help you.”

Palpatine could feel his discomfort in the force. “Her name is Miss Jakin, sirs.”

“And she provides medical aid to the Guard?”

“Sometimes.” 1010 was hiding something, Palpatine just knew it. There was more to this girl than he was letting on.

“Does the Guard not have enough medics?” Stupid Jedi, asking stupid questions. He couldn’t wait to kill them.

“The Coruscant Guard is working at peak efficiency, Generals.”

The Jedi frowned. “I see.” Master Windu continued, “Perhaps we can meet her. I have heard reports that she was the first emergency personnel on site. That shows great courage.”

“I’m not sure if that would be possible, sir. She is extremely busy.” He paused. “But I can take a message to her, if you would like.” Kenobi unsuccessfully tried to hide his snort, which elicited a raised eyebrow from Windu.

“Commander,” Palpatine said, his voice sickly-sweet, “I would very much like to meet this young lady. Perhaps you could escort her to the Anniversary Ball?” The ball was being hosted to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the battle of Geonosis. Extremely tacky, but now Palpatine thought he may actually enjoy it. Pausing, he decided to be magnanimous. “In fact, why don’t all of the clone leadership come? It can be a chance for the public to see the face behind the armor.” He quickly added on, “They would also be allowed to bring a plus one, of course.”

While the rest of the clones in the room were pushing so much joy into the force that Palpatine was going to be sick, 1010 was drenched in fear. “I will see if she is able to come, Chancellor.”

“My dear boy,” the Chancellor said, an unheard threat hanging on his words, “you mustn’t allow her to say no.”

------

Fortunately for Fox, the gala was two days away. Unfortunately for Fox, Nyx was going to be at the barracks any minute. “Just put a blaster bolt between my eyes and take me out of my misery.”

Thorn rolled his eyes from the newly reupholstered couch, a gift from Quadrant 13. “Fox, it’s a dance. Girls love dances.”

Fox glared from where he had been pacing in front of his desk. “This is Nyx we’re talking about. She’s probably going to hate it.”

“Hate what?” She walked into the office, a package of brownies in hand. When she saw Fox’s face, she frowned. “Fox? What’s happened this time?”

Thorn quickly grabbed a brownie and stuffed it in his face. “The Chancellor wants Fox to escort you to the Anniversary Ball.”

She grimaced. “Why would he do that?”

Fox dragged his hands over his face as he sighed. “The Jedi wanted to meet you, and so the Chancellor suggested you come to the ball.” He looked up. “He made it clear that you have to.”

“Another one of his nonthreatening threats?” she asked, sitting by Thorn.

“Yup.”

“Fine,” she groaned, “but don’t expect me to enjoy it. When is this thing?”

“Two days.”

Her eyes went wide. “Two days? That’s not a lot of time. What do people usually wear to these kinds of things?”

Thorn shrugged. “Usually a dead animal of some kind, or something that looks like a giant cake.”

“Well, that’s not going to happen.”

Fox smiled. “I think we can all agree to that.”

“Let me make a call.” Nyx quickly dialed a number into her comm and waited for the other person to answer.

An elderly woman picked up. “Hello?”

“Mrs. Norington? It’s Nyx. We have a situation.”

“What’s the matter, dear? Is it another monster rampage?”

“Worse. Fox has gotten me invited to a senate gala in two days, and I need a dress. Do you think you could help?”

“A gala?” the woman cried, “How exciting! Of course I can help you, my dear. Come by my house as soon as you get back and I’ll get started. Oh, you’re going to look wonderful!”

After the call cut off, Nyx looked up at Fox. “I guess we’re doing this then.”

“I guess we are.”

“Is this ball going to be filled with politicians and sleemos?”

“Most likely.”

“Hmmm.” Nyx pulled on the end of her braid. “We’re going to need a code.”

“A code?” Fox smirked. “Why?”

“If I’m trapped by some weirdo in a suit, I’m going to need you to get me out of there before I hit him.” She thought for another moment. “If I tap my leg twice, that’s your signal that I’m about to murder someone.”

He smiled. “Sounds simple enough.”

“Good, because I’d hate to get blood on my new dress.”

Fox moved behind his desk and opened the lowest drawer. “Speaking of signals, I have something for you.”

“A present? For me?” She raised an eyebrow, curious.

“Catch.” He tossed a piece of armor to her, which she turned over in her hands.

“A vambrace?” It was Corrie Red and painted with a familiar design. Looking up, Nyx noted that it looked suspiciously like Fox’s.

“Yes.” He knelt in front of her. Pointing to the center button, he said, “If you’re ever in danger, press this button. It’ll send out a distress signal with your location to every Corrie commander.”

She quickly fastened the vambrace on her right arm and frowned. “You’re really worried, aren’t you?”

Fox looked up. “The Chancellor is a powerful man, and he’s interested in you. I don’t like it.”

Nodding, she stood up and brushed off her pants. “Alright, then. Watcher has been wanting to hack the lower level security cameras for the past couple of weeks, I think I may let him. Get a jump on anyone that may try to get into the Quadrant.”

“That’s a good idea. I’ll increase patrols down there, too.”

“I think that’s unnecessary, but do whatever you think is best.” She sighed. “I had better get going if this dress is going to be made.” Pausing by the door, she smiled. “When are you going to pick me up?”

“Pick you up?”

“Yeah,” she said, rolling her eyes. Enunciating each word, she repeated the question. “When are you going to pick me up?”

“He’ll be there at 6.” Thorn answered from the couch.

“Great. See you then.” She swept out of the room, the door closing behind her.

Thorn shook his head as Fox continued to stare at the door. “You can pick your jaw off the floor now, she’s gone.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He began to walk back to his desk, but he stopped when he noticed Thorn’s smirk.

“You really don’t know what’s going on here, do you?”

Fox crossed his arms, the beginnings of a scowl appearing on his face. “Why don’t you enlighten me?”

“You like her, vod.” his annoying brother said, smiling, “Admit it!”

His eyebrows shot up. “No I don’t.” To give himself something to do, he reached behind him and grabbed a brownie from his desk. Stuffing it in his mouth, he continued, “She’s just a friend.”

Thorn crossed the room and knocked on Fox’s head. “Friends don’t give friends matching vambraces.”

“It’s to keep her safe.”

Sighing, Thorn shook his head. “Vod, you are simultaneously the smartest and dumbest person I know. I’ve never seen you get nervous around a nat-born, but when she walks into a room, your hands immediately get sweaty. You smile a lot when she’s around, and I’ve caught you staring at her. A lot.” He looked at Fox. “We probably need to work on that, actually. It’s weird. But getting back to Nyx, she’s also the only person who can convince you to take a break without drugging your caff.”

Involuntarily, Fox began to blush. Maybe those things did happen when Nyx was around, but it didn’t mean anything. “She’s a friend.” he said, moving back behind his desk, “That’s all she is.”

“Sure thing, Commander.” He sounded unconvinced, but he let the matter drop. At least, Fox thought he had. “She likes you, too, you know.”

Fox looked up, gaping at his brother. “No, she doesn’t.”

Rolling his eyes, Thorn sighed. “You really are an idiot. She’s been dropping hints for weeks.”

“I think I would have noticed that.” Fox leaned back in his chair, confident that he was right.

Refusing to accept defeat, Thorn began to make a list on his fingers. “She always drops off your favorite brownies, she makes sure you never run out of caff, and she has your duty schedule memorized so that you’ll be in the office when she comes by.” He gave Fox a kark-eating grin. “Face it, she likes you.”

He was silent for a moment. “But I’m just a clone.” It was almost a whisper, but Thorn heard him, anyway.

Crossing the room, he put a hand on his commander’s shoulder. “That’s never mattered to her, Fox. For some unknown reason, she likes you, maybe even loves you. So now you have to put on your big-boy gear and ask her for a date.” He waggled his eyebrows. “I want to meet my nieces and nephews before I march on.”

The tension in the room disappeared as Fox shoved Thorn into the wall, his laughter echoing through the room. Then, realizing he was in trouble, Thorn made a hasty retreat out of the office, going who knows where. With his brother gone, Fox was left alone with his thoughts, which always seemed to revolve back to Nyx.

-------

Not wanting to be late, Fox brought a ship to the entrance of Quadrant 13 at 5:50. He nodded at Thorn, who had called dibs on being the driver, insisting that, “Everyone else is going to have a chauffeur.” Not knowing enough to argue, Fox had graciously conceded. As he hopped out of the speeder, he clenched and unclenched his hands. Not only was he out of armor, but Nyx was going to meet Palpatine. The thought terrified him for some reason.

There were two people on guard duty tonight, Crix and a masked man. “How are you holding up, vod?” Fox asked, pulling him into a hug.

“Just fine, Commander. I can’t wait for the rest of you to move down here. It’s amazing.”

Fox smiled. “I bet. Hi, Crix.”

“Fox.” He pushed himself off of the wall and gestured towards the alley. “Follow me.” As they walked, Crix glanced in his direction. “Before we reach the women, we need to go over some rules.”

“Rules?”

“Rule #1, don’t make our girl cry. Rule #2, beat up anyone who does. Rule #3, have her home at a reasonable hour. And Rule #4, don’t leave her alone with a politician. Got that?”

“Yes, sir.” He nodded, then paused. “Why shouldn’t I leave her alone with a politician?”

“Because she’ll probably end up killing them. After meeting you boys, she doesn’t have a high opinion of anyone with a career in politics.” He chuckled to himself. “To be honest, none of us do.”

By this time, they had reached the second curtain, which Crix quickly pulled back. Fox staggered. The houses had been repainted Corrie red, and troopers were running around the streets with children. It seemed like there were more hanging lights above the street than stars in the sky. Noticing that Fox had stopped, Crix turned and smiled. “It looks different, doesn’t it?” He clapped him on the shoulder. “Well, let’s get a move on. Nyx hates to be kept waiting.”

Fox followed him, waving at all of the troopers he passed and wondering how they got lucky enough to have all of this. His nervousness reappeared as soon as he reached the front steps of a small house, where Doc was waiting for him. “Crix, did you scare the poor boy? He looks like he’s seen a ghost.” He asked, eyebrow raised.

“Doc, you know I would never do a thing like that. I just gave him a few guidelines.”

“Mmmhhhmmm.” Doc shifted his attention to Fox. “I’ll get her for you.”

“Thank you, sir.” Fox said, standing at attention.

As the doctor turned, Fox could have sworn he heard him fondly mutter, “Kids.” He knocked on the door, loudly calling, “Alright, ladies, time’s up. Let her loose!”

When the door opened, out walked the most beautiful woman Fox had ever seen. Nyx’s brown hair was arranged in an elegant updo, and her blue eyes were lined with Corrie Red. Her dress was also Corrie Red, tight at her waist and ballooning out around her feet. She cleared her throat, and Fox realized that he had been staring. Thorn was right, he did need to work on that. “Ummmm, are you ready?” He asked.

She floated down the steps and took his arm in hers. “Whenever you are, Commander.”

“Don’t they make the most adorable couple!” An older woman said, making Nyx blush.

“Thank you, Mrs. Reed.”

Doc sauntered off the porch and gave her a hug. “Have fun, and don’t kill anyone.”

“I make no promises.” She said with mock seriousness.

As they walked towards the speeder, all of his brothers began to hoop and holler, and Fox wished that he could give them all Binks duty. Unfortunately, all he could do was blush. Nyx, on the other hand, just rolled her eyes. When they had made it to the quiet of the alley, she leaned over. “Do you like the dress?”

“Y-Y-Yeah.” He stuttered. “It looks nice.”

Her eyes lit up. “Guess what?”

For some reason, it was very hard for him to string words together. “What?”

“There are three knives in it.”

Fox stopped. “Knives?”

Nyx shrugged and tugged on his arm. “You can never be too prepared. Come on, I don’t want to be late.”

His mouth dropped open, and he stayed frozen where he stood. “You have knives in your dress.”

“Yup.” She pulled him forward and waved at Thorn. “What do you think, vod?”

He leapt out of the speeder and offered her his hand to get in the car. “You look amazing.”

“Thanks,” she said, looking over her shoulder at Fox, “it has knives.”

Fox sputtered as Thorn laughed and climbed back into the driver’s seat. “Next stop, a boring party filled with boring people.”

As they rose to the upper levels, Nyx began to fidget, smoothing imagined wrinkles out of her dress and constantly making sure her hair was in place. She quickly squeezed Fox’s hand. “I’m nervous.”

A feeling of protectiveness surged through him. “You don’t have to be. I’ll be with you the whole time.” And when she looked up at him, he felt like sunlight had reached the lower levels. That was weird.

“You may need to warn her about your batchmates, vod.” Thorn called from the front seat.

Nyx laughed and settled back into her seat. “I think I can handle them, Thorn.”

Fox stifled a groan. “Just be ready for the most obnoxious di’kuts to ever exist.”

“They’re also going to try and embarrass him in front of you.”

Fox blushed and Nyx smiled. “Well, luckily for you, I have experience dealing with annoying brothers.”

“They’re not going to know what hit them, sir!” Thorn laughed. And for the first time in a long time, Fox thought that it may turn out to be a good night, after all.

Notes:

I hope you've enjoyed the chapter! I posted two new one-shots last week for this story, so check them out if your interested. And as always, thanks for all the great comments!

Translations:
vod - brother

Chapter 10: No Good Deed

Summary:

The ball commences, and Nyx meets the Chancellor.

Notes:

This story has grown 2 more chapters, but I think they really add something to the plot! Hope you like the update!

They arrived at the gala all too soon. Fox helped Nyx out of the speeder, where a gaggle of reporters and photographers were begging for their attention and shouting questions. “What do I do?” Nyx whispered.

“Ignore them.”

And she did, up until some idiot shouted, “Why didn’t you go to the gala with a real man?” Nyx froze, and as her arm tightened around Fox’s he realized that he probably should have asked her where the knives were hidden in her dress.

She marched to the reporter, looking every bit like a vengeful goddess. “What did you say?” she asked, her voice low and threatening.

The reporter, quickly realizing that he had made a mistake, gulped. “I asked why you chose to go to the gala with a clone, ma’am.”

Nyx glanced down. “Is this your microphone?” When he nodded, she smiled like a shark. “Good, because I want to make sure you get every single word I’m about to say.” She pulled the microphone up to her mouth. “I am being escorted tonight by Marshall Commander Fox. Not a meat-droid. I expect you and the other members of the press to address him with the respect a man in his position deserves. He puts his life on the line every single day to protect you, and he gets no thanks in return. He is a great man, and since he is too humble to sing his own praises, I will gladly do it for him.” She began to walk away, grabbing Fox by the arm and all but dragging him inside. She gave a shaky laugh once they had made it inside the doors. “I got all fancy back there, didn’t I?”

Fox, for his part, was still trying to digest the fact that she had stood up for him. “I thought you did great.”

“Thanks.” She put her index finger and thumb together. “I was this close to stabbing him.”

“Your fingers are touching.” Fox said, amused.

“No, there’s a little space right in the middle.” She smiled and they resumed their walk into the main area. When she saw who was on guard duty, her face lit up. “Hi Freeze, Tag. How are you feeling?”

“Much better, ma’am, thank you for asking.” Tag answered.

“Awesome. I’ll be sure to let Doc know.”

Freeze shifted. “You look very pretty tonight, ma’am.”

“Thank you, Freeze.”

While this had been going on, Fox had been surveying the room. The Chancellor had already arrived. Unfortunately, so had his batchmates, who were standing with their associated Jedi. As soon as they saw him, they began waving to get his attention. Idiots. He nodded and hoped that they understood the message. It didn’t look like any of them had brought dates, which meant that all eyes would be on Nyx tonight. But as she smiled and talked with Tag and Freeze, he decided that she would be able to handle it. Gently putting his hand on her arm, he leaned in, “My batch has spotted us.”

Nyx quickly said her goodbyes and took Fox’s arm. “Where are they?”

“Two o’clock.”

She took a deep breath. “Let’s hope that the crash course in etiquette Mrs. Norington gave me pays off.”

As they descended the steps, Fox saw the exact moment his batchmates realized that Nyx was his date. Bly’s mouth dropped open, Cody’s eyebrows met his hairline, Wolffe was impersonating a fish, and Pond’s couldn’t stop staring. Fox tightened his hold. “Are you ready?”

“If I say ‘no’, can we leave?”

“Too late for that, I’m afraid.” Cody’s Jedi gave a respectful bow. “Good evening, Commander, Miss Jakin.”

“Please call me Nyx, Master Jedi.” She answered with a regal nod.

“It is a pleasure to see you again, this time under far better circumstances.”

She quirked an eyebrow. “Whether these are better circumstances or not remains to be seen.”

“She sounds like you, Obi-wan.” General Skywalker laughed.

Kenobi rolled his eyes and smirked. “Don’t pay any attention to him, my dear, he’s mostly harmless.”

Before that conversation could go any further, some senators decided to interrupt them. While the Jedi were distracted, Wolffe made his move. “Well, Fox, how in the world did someone with your ugly mug manage to catch someone this beautiful?”

Nyx grinned devilishly. “Why? Are you asking for pointers?”

“She’s got you there, vod!” Cody laughed.

With a bit of pride coloring his voice, Fox answered, “If you think that’s good, you should have seen what she did to the reporter outside.”

“He insulted Fox.” She said, shrugging, “At least I didn’t stab him.”

“And I thank you for that.”

“So,” Bly asked, snagging a drink from a passing waiter, “how did you two meet?”

“He saved me from a burglar.”

Fox grinned. “Really? From what I’ve heard, I saved the burglar from you.”

She shrugged. “I was feeling generous.”

“And what’s this about you being the ‘Cookie Lady’?” asked a blond-haired clone.

Nyx squinted for a moment and then laughed. “Blue boy? I almost didn’t recognize you without the armor!”

Bly snorted his drink. “Blue boy?”

“Yeah, we met after the zillo beast attack. How’s Jesse doing?”

Trying to hide the blush creeping up his cheeks, he answered, “He’s doing fine, ma’am, and the name’s Rex, actually.”

She smiled. “Sorry about that, Fox can tell you that I have a habit of giving people bad nicknames.”

“Excuse me, Miss, I was wondering if I may have this dance?” Some dude in a tuxedo interrupted, holding out his hand.

Nyx frowned. “I’m sorry, I don’t dance with strangers.”

“Then allow me to introduce myself. Rush Clovis, at your service.” He bowed.

“Nyx Jakin.” she answered.

“Please, I must insist that I dance with the most beautiful girl in the room.”

Nyx’s eyes narrowed. “Have you made an appointment with the optometrist recently? Because it looks like you’re in need of glasses.”

He gave a polite chuckle while Ponds hid his snort with a cough. “Just one dance. That’s all I ask.”

Looking up at Fox, she frowned. “One dance, and then I come right back.”

“Of course.” And then he led her to the dance floor.

“Why in the galaxy did you let him take her away?” Wolffe asked, stunned.

“She didn’t give the double tap.” Fox’s eyes never left her.

“What’s the double tap?” Oh great, Kenobi had rejoined the conversation. “And why is Miss Jakin dancing with Rush Clovis?” He asked with thinly veiled disgust.

“The double tap is our signal that she wants to be removed from a situation.”

“Really?” Cody asked.

Fox shrugged. “Actually, it’s our signal that she’s about to stab someone.”

“I think I’m in love.” Wolffe said, sighing dramatically.

Fox shoved him into a wall. “Hands off, Wolffe, she’s mine.” He glanced at Kenobi. “What’s wrong with Clovis?”

“To put it mildly, he’s a crook. He likes to find naïve women and cheat them out of their money.”

“Well there’s no hope of that happening.” Fox said, frowning. “Nyx won’t fall for any of his tricks.”

Kenobi stroked his beard. “Unfortunately, Nyx has never been to this kind of event, which means that she’ll probably be having to deal with this all night. The fine gentlemen here,” he spat, “probably think she’s a young heiress on her first trip to Coruscant.”

“Kark.”

With a small smile, Kenobi nodded. “Kark indeed.”

Bly moved to Fox’s other side. “General Secura, what’s the appropriate way to extract someone from the middle of a dance?”

“You ask if you can cut in.” She answered, placing a hand on his elbow.

“I would get ready, Commander,” General Windu said, “because your date just ‘accidentally’ stepped on Clovis’s foot.”

“And….there it is.” Nyx had double tapped Clovis’s shoulder. Walking just slow enough for it to not be considered running, Fox approached the couple. “Excuse me? May I cut in?”

Rush immediately scowled. “You may not.”

“Actually,” Nyx interrupted, “I learned that it was rude to refuse to dance with the man who brought you.” She quickly moved to Fox. “Maybe another time, Rush.”

“Of course.” He did a shallow bow and stormed off the dance floor.

Nyx sighed. “Thank you.”

“What did he do?”

“Nothing, I just had a bad feeling.” She looked up, smirking. “So, are you going to just stand there or are you going to dance with me?”

He blushed. “I don’t know how. They didn’t really cover dancing on Kamino.”

She placed one of his hands on her waist and took the other. “That’s alright. My dad and I used to dance in the living room. It’ll be just like that.”

Fox frowned and tightened his grip on her waist. “This is a really crowded living room.”

She laughed. “He faces down drug lords and gangs without breaking a sweat, but dancing is what scares him.” Shaking her head, she smiled. “Just focus on me, Commander.”

They began to sway to the music. Out of the corner of his eye, Fox saw a man spin his partner. Taking a breath, he did the same. It wasn’t perfect, but it made Nyx laugh. At the end of the song, he saw another couple execute a dip, and so he tried it. He didn’t drop her, so he counted it as a success. “Want to go again?” Nyx asked, cheeks flushing. One dance turned into two, which turned into three. Finally, Nyx had to ask for a break.

While Fox got her a drink, Master Secura came up behind her. “You two make a cute couple.”

Nyx blushed. “Oh, we’re not dating.”

“Perhaps not, but the force surrounding you shows your feelings.”

She crossed her arms and frowned. “Well, that’s not creepy at all.”

The Jedi laughed. “It’s adorable, don’t be ashamed of it.” She glanced at her commander, who had distracted Fox on his way back. “Love like that, it doesn’t come along often.”

Nyx glanced between the two of them, an eyebrow raised. “Maybe it happens more often than you think.”

“Would you happen to be the Miss Jakin I’ve heard so much about?” Someone asked, voice painfully sweet.

Nyx turned around slowly, hand twitching towards the closest knife. “Guilty as charged, Chancellor.”

“My dear, it is such a pleasure to meet you. It is so nice to meet someone willing to fight for the outcasts of society.”

“Outcasts of society?” Nyx asked. “I assume you mean the clones?”

“Why of course. They are lesser beings, after all.” Nyx felt the Jedi around her stiffen. “You did a great act of community service a few months ago. I would love to give you some form of recognition.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“There’s no need for any recognition, Chancellor, and I have to say that for someone as knowledgeable as you, I am surprised that you would consider the clones as less-than-sentient. What is your reasoning?”

He seemed surprised, but Nyx didn’t buy it for one minute. “My dear, they are clones. Carbon copies of each other. Men raised for one purpose and one purpose only, to fight for the Republic. Surely you must agree after your time with them that they are sub-human?”

Plo Koon was about to interject, but after Windu put a hand on his arm, he stayed silent. Meanwhile, fire was flashing in Nyx’s eyes. “With all due respect, Chancellor, I don’t. Not only are these men the finest soldiers the Republic has ever seen, they are also the finest men the galaxy has ever seen. I have watched them be spit on, cursed, and assaulted by the people they are supposed to help, and they still protect the ungrateful scum.”

“And as for your claim about the clones being outcasts,” she continued, “I would say that outcasts have to stick together. It may surprise you, sir, but I am not a member of high society. I was born and raised in the lower levels, where the law of the land is decided by whoever is the strongest. When I come up here to visit the Guard, I get scorned and jeered. If that is how the citizens of the Republic treat each other, it’s no wonder that they believe they can treat these brave soldiers the same way. You talk about equality in the Senate, while you and your friends do nothing to stop the stigma you continue to promote.”

She pointed her finger at the Chancellor. “I was the only nat-born that would provide medical aid to the Guard. The only one. And I will continue to stand up and fight for them, even if I’m standing alone, which I assure you, I’m not. Coruscant will protect the people who protect her.”

Seeing Fox standing behind the Chancellor, mouth open, Nyx took a deep breath and forced a smile. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need some air.” Taking Fox’s arm, she steered him to the balcony, which is where she buried her face in his shirt and screamed.

“Are you alright?” He asked, snapping out of whatever limbo he had been in when he saw his date verbally obliterating the Chancellor.

“How can you stand him?” Nyx asked, rubbing her temples.

Deciding that he didn’t like the look on her face, Fox tried a joke. “I’ve learned how to sleep with my eyes open.”

She snorted. “A very useful skill to have.” She leaned on the balcony. “At least that’s over.”

“Did you really mean what you said?”

Her eyes immediately found his. “Of course I did. You and your brothers are the bravest men I’ve ever met, and if I could go back in time, I wouldn’t change a single thing.”

“You know he may come after you now? You’ve made yourself a target.”

She shrugged. “It was worth it to see the look on his face.”

As Fox looked at her in the cool night air, something finally clicked. Thorn had been right. “I love you.”

Nyx turned. “What?”

Blushing, Fox quickly tried to take it back. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-”

Whatever he might have been about to say was lost as Nyx grabbed his suit and pulled him in for a kiss. When they finally broke for air, she whispered, “Took you long enough.”

He held her tighter as his breathing quickened. “Are you sure? You know about the accelerated aging. I can’t promise you forever.” His heart beat rapidly in his chest. He was afraid of her answer, but he needed to hear it now, before this went any further.

“I don’t want forever. I want you.” Then it was his turn to kiss her, as his batchmates made absolute fools out of themselves with their cheers, and the Jedi looked on, smiling.

--------

“Can you do the job or not?”

The man placed a hand on his holster and rubbed his chin. “This is an odd job for someone of your…. position. What has the girl done to warrant this kind of attention?”

“I don’t pay you to ask questions, bounty hunter.”

“True, but I like to know what I’m getting into.” His red eyes glinted in the light.

“All you need to know is that she has become a nuisance.” The man scowled and tapped his fingers impatiently on the table. “Get rid of her.”

The bounty hunter nodded. “Fine. I just hope she’s worth the credits.”

As the connection cut off, Darth Sidious smiled. “Oh, she is.”

Notes:

Thank you all for your comments! I really appreciate them!

Chapter 11: Goes Unpunished

Summary:

The Jedi have entered the story!

Notes:

Bit of a shorter chapter today, but I had a really good time writing it! Enjoy!

Three weeks later, Jedi Shadow Quinlan Vos stood before the Jedi Council. “It would appear that your mission on Balmorra was a success, Master Vos.” Master Windu said, elbows resting on his knees.

Vos crossed his arms, smirking. “You know how it is, Mace. A word here, a word there, and boom you uncover a spy ring.”

Raising an eyebrow, Kenobi leaned back in his chair and grinned. “And what about the revolt you happened to start?”

“There’s no proof I was involved in that,” Vos said, “and anyone who says I was is a karking liar.”

Plo cleared his throat and nodded towards a red band tied around Vos’s arm. “It seems that you have brought back some rebel paraphernalia, Master Vos.”

He tried to discreetly take it off, but the eyerolls of the other masters told him that he wasn’t successful. “It’s fashionable. You know I like to stay on top of the trends.”

“Mmmmhmmm.” Windu sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Against my better judgement, we have another mission for you.”

His eyes lit up. “Where am I going this time? Serenno? Anaxes?”

“You’re staying here.”

Throwing his arms in the air, he groaned. “Come on, Mace! Are you still angry about your robes turning pink? Because I swear it wasn’t me.”

Windu’s eyes narrowed. “Just because the cameras didn’t catch you, doesn’t mean you didn’t do it. And no, this is an actual mission.”

“I don’t suppose you’ve checked the news lately?” Obi-wan asked, trying to get them back on topic.

“You know Obes, I haven’t. Been a little busy with the spy thing.”

Wearing an exasperated grin, Obi-wan threw him a holopad. “This was the front page of the Galaxy Gazette three weeks ago.”

Vos’s eyes widened. “Is that?”

“Commander Fox, yes.”

“And who is that with him?” He asked as he began to quickly skim through the story. The girl had apparently told off a reporter and the Chancellor at the same party. Good for her.

“Nyx Jakin. We don’t know much about her.”

Plo interrupted. “Except that she is a trained medic and extremely protective of the Coruscant Guard.”

Vos looked up. “So you want me to find out more?”

“Wrong, something is with the Guard. Want you to uncover the secret, we do.” Master Yoda frowned, his ears drooping.

“And you think this girl is involved somehow?”

“She knows more than she’s telling us. Since the Guard won’t talk, maybe she will.”

Grinning mischievously, Vos began to type something on his comm. “When do I start?”

“Right now.” Obi-wan said. “Oh, and Vos?”

“Yeah?” He said, turning at the door.

“Try not to get shot.”

With a sloppy salute, Vos swaggered out of the council chamber, ready to start his new assignment. He decided to call it: Operation Foxy’s Lady.

---------

Nyx hefted the backpack over her shoulders and began to make the trek to the upper levels. Thanks to the press, she wasn’t able to walk through the front door anymore. Instead, she had to go through the sewers and tunnels of Coruscant to make it to base. It was longer and smellier than her old walk, but it did have the bonus of keeping reporters from hounding her. She didn’t understand why everyone was so excited. Yes, she was dating Fox. No, she didn’t care that he wasn’t legally sentient.

They were both very private people, and where Fox had his armor and blaster to keep nosy reporters away, Nyx only had her wits. Because, according to Fox, “You can’t shoot them all.” She hated that rule. Maybe she couldn’t shoot them all, but surely after the first few, they would start to get the idea. Jax wasn’t even able to come with her anymore. She didn’t want him anywhere near the press.

As she slid the grate back over the entrance hatch, she greeted the clones in the hangar. After the first couple of times, they had gotten used to her popping up from the floors, so they quickly went back to their business.

Fox should be off duty in a few minutes, so Nyx decided to wait on him in his office. At least, that’s what she had planned before she entered the room to find a strange man sitting in Fox’s chair, boots propped up on the desk. “Who are you?” she asked, slowly bringing her arms behind her and pressing the panic button on her vambrace.

The man was a Kiffar, a yellow band tattooed across his nose. “I’m a friend of the Commander.” He moved his legs and leaned his elbows on the desk instead. “Who are you?”

“Nonya.” Subtly, she moved to the left of the door, incidentally blocking the intruder’s view of her blaster, which she switched from stun to kill.

He raised an eyebrow. “Nonya?”

“Nonya Business.” As the Kiffar laughed, she frowned. “How did you get past Barricade?”

He gestured toward the tiny window. “It was such a nice day, I thought I’d take the scenic route.”

Nyx scowled. “Are you a reporter? Because I’ve already told all your little friends out there that I’m not interested in an interview.”

“Nope, not a reporter.” He said with a smile she wanted to punch off his face. “Like I said, I’m a friend of the Commander.”

That’s when Nyx began to hear the tell-tale sound of boots stomping down the hall. With a feral grin, she pulled out her blaster and aimed it at the man. “We’ll see about that.”

That’s when Commander Fox and a squad of Corries burst into the room, blasters immediately trained on the intruder. To Nyx’s surprise, Fox sighed and gave his men the signal to stand down. “I would shoot you right now if I didn’t think you’d come back to haunt me.” He growled as he lowered his blaster. Slowly, everyone else did the same.

“You know this guy?” Nyx frowned.

He pushed a button on his vambrace. “All clear. It’s just Vos.”

Nyx quirked an eyebrow. “The Jedi you constantly have to throw in the drunk tank? That Vos?”

“The one and only!” Vos said, spinning around in the chair. It immediately broke and sent him crashing to the floor in a tangle of limbs.

“Are you sure he’s a Jedi?” Nyx asked, extremely unimpressed.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

She walked behind the desk and toed him with her boot. “He doesn’t look Jedi.”

Fox was still wearing his helmet, but Nyx could tell he was rolling his eyes. “What do you want General?”

Vos picked himself off the floor and sat on the desk. “Just wanted to see how my favorite commander is doing. Especially after I saw that picture in the news.” He looked at Nyx. “She has definitely lived up to the hype.”

Nyx placed her backpack on the couch and put her hands on her hips. “I live to entertain.”

“Alright, General, you’ve seen her. Unless there’s something you actually need, I think it’s time for you to go.”

He gave a fake sniffle and began to walk to the door, fingers brushing across Nyx’s backpack as he passed. “I can tell when I’m not wanted. I’ll see you tonight for our regular appointment.”

As the door swished closed, Fox removed his helmet and pinched the bridge of his nose. “That’s not concerning at all.”

“At least he’s gone.”

Fox shook his head. “I don’t think so. He was here for a reason, and I doubt it was to meet you.” Taking her hand, he said, “Be extra careful on your way home tonight.”

“I promise.” She opened her backpack. “Let’s not let that weirdo ruin our fun, though.” Taking out one container after another, she smiled. “How about we go pass these out to the boys?”

Giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, Fox took two boxes of brownies. “That sounds like a great idea.”

-------

Vos sat on the roof of Guard headquarters, one leg dangling over the edge. “Obi-wan,” he said, laughing, “she pointed a blaster at me.”

Obi-wan rolled his eyes. “I did warn you about that.”

“No you didn’t, you bearded monkey-lizard! That was a general ‘don’t get shot’ warning and you know it!”

“And did you avoid getting shot?” He asked with a devilish grin.

Vos huffed. “Of course I did.”

“I would be careful, Quin. According to Cody, she had three knives hidden in her dress at the Anniversary Ball.”

Vos whistled. “Girl likes her weaponry, I’ll give her that.”

“That’s why I think this is going to be more difficult than you have foreseen. Were you able to find out anything while you were in there?”

“It’s really weird, Obes. I’m honestly not sure what to make of it.”

“What?” He asked, stroking his beard.

“I was able to touch her backpack, and you’ll never believe what I got off of it.”

“Well,” he said, eyebrow raised, “don’t leave me in suspense.”

“Brownies.”

Obi-wan frowned. “Brownies?”

“Yup. Along with other desserts, fruits, and a casserole of some kind.”

“You could sense a casserole?” He asked skeptically.

Vos grinned. “Nope. I smelled that one.”

“So she’s bringing food to the Guard. That’s nice, but it doesn’t get us closer to finding out what’s going on.”

“Patience, Master Kenobi.” Vos said in a pretentious voice, “I have a feeling that the two connect somehow. I’m going to follow her home and see what else I can dig up.”

Obi-wan rubbed his head. “You’re going to get yourself shot.”

“Probably.” He suddenly straightened. “She’s moving.”

“How can you be sure?”

“I put a tracker on her backpack.” He started looking around, trying to figure out where she was. “But I can’t see her.”

“Perhaps she’s better at blending in than you give her credit for.”

“That’s super helpful, Obes, really.” He saw the mass of reporters crowding around the front entrance of the barracks. “If you wanted to avoid the media, and you couldn’t go through or over them without being caught, what’s your only other option?”

“Under.” Obi-wan said, a lightbulb going off in his head. “There are tunnels and sewers throughout the lower levels. I would suggest you find out which one she’s taken sooner rather than later, my friend. Even with a tracking device, it may take you a while to navigate the pipes.”

“Of course you would send me on a mission where I have to go into the sewers. Again.”

“At least no one will notice you’re smell down there.”

“You’re hilarious.” Vos said, closing the connection and jumping off the roof. Time to find an access hatch.

Notes:

If you're wondering where Bane is, don't worry, he's just a little lost in the lower levels of Coruscant. I'm sure he'll find his way back by next week, so get ready! Thanks for all the comments!!

Chapter 12: Discovered

Summary:

Vos finds the Quadrant, and Bane shows up to collect his bounty.

Nyx followed Fox’s advice, taking a wild and convoluted route to the lower levels. There were several times she thought she had heard someone walking behind her, but every time she turned around, nothing was there. Even so, when she reached her level, she made a call. “Watcher?”

“Yes, alor?”

“Can you pull me up on the cameras? I have the feeling someone’s watching me."

“One second.” She heard typing in the background. “I’ve got you. I’ll keep an eye on it and let you know if I see anything suspicious.”

“Thanks, vod’ika.” She continued to walk, surveying her surroundings as she went. There was nothing unusual going on, but her gut was telling her something was wrong. When she caught sight of Rolly manning the first guard post, she called Watcher again. “Anything?”

“All clear.”

“Good. I guess I’m just jumpy.” She finished her walk and nodded to Rolly. “How’s duty been today?”

“Nothing going on down here, ma’am.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” She said with a smile.

As she pushed back the curtain, she heard Rolly raise his blaster. “You can’t come in here.”

Nyx slowly turned around, drawing her blaster and changing the setting to stun. Hopefully this wouldn’t go that far, but it never hurt to be over-prepared. The stranger wore a brown cloak that covered his face. Waving his hand, he said, “I can come in.”

Something pushed against Nyx’s mind, but with a shake of her head, she was able to disregard it. Rolly, on the other hand, wasn’t. “You can come in.”

Reminders of blackout missions flashed through her mind, and without thinking, she hit the stranger with three stun bolts. Turning to Rolly, she quickly started a comm call on the Quadrant’s new emergency frequency. “I need Doc and a squad at the front entrance. Neutralized hostile. One possible injured.”

“Funny,” she thought as she pulled off Rolly’s mask, “I almost sound like a clone.”

“Rolly, can you hear me?”

He shook his head like he was getting water out of his ears. “What happened?

She continued to check him for any hidden wounds. “I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”

By that time, the squad had stormed out of the alley, blasters drawn and at the ready. Doc followed behind. “What happened?”

Nyx moved over so that Doc could do his own check. “Not sure. This dude came up and told us he could come in. I think he did something, though. I wanted to let him through, but I was able to stop myself. I think it affected Rolly more, though.”

“Uh, alor?” Thrash said.

“What?” Her eyes widened as the hood fell off the figure. Then, she cursed in basic and Mando’a. “Vos.”

“Who?” Doc asked.

“Some Jedi Fox knows. He broke into his office this afternoon, but I thought that was just a one-time thing.” She looked up at the security cameras surrounding the entrance. “That does explain why Watcher didn’t see him.”

“What do you want to do?”

She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Well, we can’t keep him.”

“And if he wants to get in, I don’t know if we can stop him.” Doc added.

Nyx nodded. “So we control what he sees. Hide what we can, and if he figures out what we’re doing, we swear him to secrecy or throw his body in a dumpster.”

Rolly’s mouth dropped open. “You want to kill a Jedi?”

“Not unless I have to, but I’m not going to let him turn you guys in. Legally, you’re all deserters.”

Readout shivered and then straightened up. “Where do you want us to take him?”

“My house.” Doc said. When he saw Nyx’s worried glance, he shrugged. “You stunned him, which means that his heart rate needs to be monitored.”

“Fine.” She nodded to Readout. “Take him to Doc’s. Rolly, I want Doc to look you over a little closer, so go with them. Thrash, would you mind taking the rest of Rolly’s shift?”

He saluted. “Sure thing, alor.”

She rolled her eyes fondly. “You guys don’t have to call me that.”

“We know…alor.”

“Ugh.” she said, holstering her blaster, “You’re all little brats.”

Thrash threw an arm around her shoulder. “But we’re your brats.”

"Yeah, you are." And even with the threat of the Jedi on their doorstep, she couldn't help but smile.

-------

The Jedi took his sweet time waking up. Nyx had asked all of the clones to stay in their homes until he left, and Rolly was in Doc’s overnight room just in case the Jedi had done something to him. To put it politely, all of the nat-borns in Quadrant 13 were livid that Vos would try and invade their home, and the possible threat of taking their new sons away from them was not helping the matter. Even after Nyx had promised that she would never let that happen, their trigger fingers were itchy. Crix and Gotti were lounging in the street, unsuccessfully trying to hide their slugthrowers, and Nyx was 90% sure that if Vos did try to take the men that he would end up with a knitting needle plunged through his eye.

When he did wake up, it was sudden. One moment, his eyes were closed. The next, they were wide open and staring right at her. “You shot me!” He yelled.

“And I’ll do it again!” She yelled back. “You made my brother have a blackout!”

“Blackout?” he said, “It was just a mind trick. Completely harmless.”

“You call taking away a man’s free will harmless?” she asked, getting up in his face, “How dare you!”

“Woah, woah, woah.” He said, putting his hands up. “Let’s just calm down for a second here. A mind trick is just a suggestion, it doesn’t even work if the person is strong enough. It obviously didn’t work on you.” Nyx kept a weary eye on Vos but sat back down. “What’s a blackout? It sounds like you have some experience with them.”

“That’s none of your concern.” She glared. “What are you doing here?”

He stared at her for a minute or two. Apparently finding what he was looking for, he sighed. “Alright, kid, I’m going to be honest with you. I’m on an assignment from the Jedi Council.” Nyx froze, immediately thinking that they had found out about their little operation. Because surely the Jedi would have saved the Guard themselves, right? They wouldn’t let something like decommissions go on under their noses. “Calm down, Nyx, I’m just here to help. The Council thinks something fishy is going on, and they thought you might be more willing than Fox to talk to us about it.”

“After what you pulled? Doubtful.”

“Look, I just want to help them.”

She narrowed her eyes. “If it’s taken the Jedi this long to figure out something’s wrong, I’m not sure you can. We’ve been in this fight for almost a year, now.”

Vos sighed. “I’ll give you that, but we’re trying to fix our mistakes.”

“How can I be sure you won’t make it worse?”

He put his right hand in the air. “I swear, all I want is to help the Guard.”

Still skeptical, Nyx asked, “What do you know about decommissioning and reconditioning?”

“Not much, only that they were banned at the start of the war.”

Her eyes narrowed even further. “Not for the Guard.”

His eyes widened. “What?”

“They’ve never stopped.” Vos reached for his comm, stopping when he realized it wasn’t there. “You’ll get it back once you leave.”

He frowned. “You brought food to them this afternoon. Why?”

If she was surprised by his question, she didn’t show it. “I’m telling you right now, if any of this gets back to the Chancellor, I’ll kill you myself. Is that clear?”

Seeing the fire in her eyes, Vos had no doubt that she could and would kill him if he ever hurt the Guard. “Crystal, but why the Chancellor?”

“That’s a long story. As for the food, the guard is always low on food and medical supplies. We supplement what they have, and they’re able to make it through till the next supply drop. The cuts have gotten worse, though.” She tugged her braid. “We’re now providing about 60% of their food and medicine.”

“Who’s we?”

Nyx gestured to the window. “My family.” Sighing, she said, “Welcome to Quadrant 13.”

Vos hummed and joined her at the window. “I’ve heard about this place, but I had thought it was a myth.” He stopped. “Is that guy holding a slugthrower?”

“They both are.” Nyx waved, and as the two guys waved back, Vos realized that he had underestimated her. By a lot. “So the Jedi didn’t know about the decommissionings?”

“No, we didn’t.” He sat back down on the cot, conveniently out of sight of the two guys with slugthrowers. “And I can promise you that as soon as I leave, I’m going to put a stop to it.”

She quickly turned. “You can’t.”

“Why not? I thought you wanted to help these guys.”

“I do, but if you go poking your nose in things, it’s going to alert the Chancellor.”

“Again with the Chancellor. What’s your deal with him?”

Now it was her turn to study him. “I’m going to make the decision to trust you. You had better not disappoint me.” And she told him about the blackout missions. How they always began when Fox met with the Chancellor and how he had no memory of what he did during the blackout. A few weeks ago, it had even started to spread to other troopers, with the first incident starting right after the Anniversary Ball. “So you see, if the Chancellor gets word that you’re investigating the Guard, he may do something drastic. Even something as simple as stopping decommissionings could be enough to push him over the edge.”

“Now I understand why you were so upset about the mind trick.” He paused. “But what do you think we should do? We can’t just let them continue to kill innocent men.” That was when Vos noticed the twinkle in her eye, and he stopped. For the first time since waking up, he reached out into the Force and felt over a hundred familiar force presences. He gasped. “They’re here?”

Nyx nodded. “Yes. Would you like to meet them?”

He stood up and smiled. “I would love to.”

“Great. You can start by apologizing to Rolly.” She knocked on a random door. “Rolly? Vos wants to apologize. Can we come in?”

A shaky voice answered. “Ok.”

Narrowing her eyes, Nyx whispered, “Be nice.”

“Yes ma’am,” Vos said, entering the room.

The first thing Vos noticed was how young the clone looked. The kid sat up straighter when he noticed them. “General Vos.”

Vos rubbed his neck self-consciously. “I’m sorry about the mind trick incident earlier. I was only trying to-” Nyx slapped him in the back of the head. “Ow! What was that for?”

“Apologize correctly.” Nyx gave him her best disappointed glare. Vos was ashamed to admit that it was extremely effective.

“Fine.” Vos huffed. “I’m sorry that I mind tricked you, I shouldn’t have done it.”

“Thank you for your apology, General.” He looked to Nyx. “So it’s ok if he knows?”

She nodded with a gentle smile. “Yeah, it’s ok.” Talking into her comm, she said, “All clear. Vos is in the know. You can all come out now.”

“Is he going to try and take them away?” An elderly female asked.

Nyx looked at Vox, smirking. “I don’t know. Are you going to try and take the Guard away?”

“I don’t think I could even if I wanted to.”

She nodded and answered into her comm, “We don’t have to kill him.” With a final nod to Rolly, she began to make her way outside.

“Well that’s a relief.” The woman answered, “I didn’t want to hide the body!”

“She must be a real jokester.” Vos laughed as he followed her down front porch steps. When Nyx didn’t answer, he frowned, “She was joking, right?” She started walking faster, a very concerned Jedi trailing behind. “Nyx?!? Tell me she was joking!”

It took a couple of hours, but after making several promises and listening to over two dozen threats, Vos was able to convince everyone that he was actually there to help. “I’ll take this info to the Jedi Council. Don’t worry,” he quickly added, “Palpatine won’t know a thing.”

Nyx nodded. “Thanks.”

Of course, that was when Watcher called in. “Possible hostile incoming. I should be able to ID him in a few seconds.”

“One of yours?” Doc asked, eyebrow raised.

“No.” Vos answered, immediately concerned.

That concern only grew when Watcher got back on the comm. “Hostile identified as Cad Bane, ETA five minutes.”

“That’s not good. You had better let me handle this, kid.” He grabbed his lightsaber.

“On a scale of 1-10, how bad is this guy?”

Vos frowned. “An 11. You must have really made the Chancellor mad if he sent Bane after you.”

She shrugged, and Vos became more concerned over her lack of a response. “That’s why Fox and I created contingencies.” She activated her comm. “Activate emergency protocol ‘Guardian Angel’.” She caught the rifle Gotti threw and smiled at Vos. “We got this.”

“All due respect, kid, I don’t think you do.” He followed her towards the alley.

“Fine.” She sighed. “How about you be the distraction? You seem to do that pretty well.” She then pressed the SOS button on her vambrace. “Fox will be here in 15, everyone!” She called. “Let’s make sure that there’s nothing for him to do. Matches, please make sure Jax doesn’t escape containment.”

“Who’s Jax?” Vos asked, frowning.

She groaned. “My little brother.”

They soon passed a trooper with a kid, Jax apparently, thrown over his shoulder. “Nyx,” he whined, “Matches won’t let me see the bad guy!”

“You don’t need to see him. Just listen to Matches, ok?” She paused. “And afterward you can have some ice cream.”

“Yay!” Jax yelled. The trooper nodded to Nyx and carried him into a nearby house.

“What’s the plan here, kid?” Vos asked, tugging on her arm.

She pointed to the middle of the street. “You stand there. Keep him distracted and standing still. I’ll be up in that sniper’s nest.” She pointed to a giant metal box. A small shooting window had been cut out and a ladder was the only access point. “When I see an opening, I’ll take the shot.”

“Are you sure you’re capable of taking a life? It’s not as easy as it sounds.”

She froze, anger written clearly across her face. “He came here, to my home, with the intention to kill me. And he’s hurt my brothers. So yeah, I think I can handle it.”

Just like they had planned, Bane walked through the curtains two minutes later to stand face to face with Vos. The streets had been cleared out, and the sentries had moved to guard those who weren’t able to fight. Bane didn’t even notice the sniper’s nest, focusing entirely on Vos. “Jedi.” He sneered.

“Hey, Bane, fancy seeing you here. What are you doing in this neck of the woods?” Vos smirked, being his usual insufferable self.

“You know, killing you wasn’t part of the job, but even if I don’t get paid extra for your head, it’ll be worth it.”

“One more step.” Nyx thought, finger on the trigger. She knew that the first shot had to be perfect if they were going to get out of this without any collateral damage.

“Well, I’m just glad that you seem so happy to see me.”

Bane snarled and took one step forward. “You obnoxious-” BANG! He was cut off as he clutched his chest and fell face first into the ground.

Vos looked up, impressed. “Nice shot, kid!”

Nyx ejected the shell and smiled grimly. “Thanks. You think he brought any friends?”

“No,” he said, patting Bane down, “this guy likes to work alone. Bingo.” he said, pulling a communication device from one of Bane’s pockets, “I’ll try and get proof that Palpatine was the one that sent him.”

“Amazing.” Nyx slid down the ladder, rifle slung across her back. “All clear, threat neutralized.” She said into her comm. As they heard sirens in the distance beginning to get louder, she slapped Vos on the shoulder. “Since you’re the one taking the lead on this investigation, I’ll let you be the one to explain what happened to Fox.” Then she left, leaving a sputtering Vos behind her.

--------

Obi-wan was waiting for him on the steps of the Jedi Temple. “I was about to send out a search party. What happened?”

Vos grinned and slung his arm across Obi-wan’s shoulders. “I got shot!”

“You got shot?” Obi-wan gasped. “Are you alright?”

“Perfectly fine; it was just a stun. Would you mind calling a council meeting, though? It’s kind of important.”

Obi-wan sighed, used to his friend’s theatrics. “Really? It’s the middle of the night.”

“I promise, Obes, this is important.”

“Fine,” he said, typing a message into his comm, “but this had better be worth it.” Sending the message, he looked up. “What happened down there?”

“Long story short, the Guard’s in trouble, Palpatine’s involved, and the girl killed Cad Bane.” Vos took a breath. “And we’re pretty sure that Palpatine sent Bane after her, which I’m going to prove with this.” He waved the comm in the air.

“Oh dear.” Obi-wan said, beginning to walk away.

“That’s not the way to the council room!” Vos called.

“I know,” Obi-wan answered, “but I’ve decided that I won’t be able to do this sober.”

Notes:

Translation:
alor - leader

Thank you for all of your amazing comments!

Chapter 13: The Right Jedi

Summary:

Ahsoka Tano escapes, and Nyx is sent to find her.

Notes:

I rewrote this chapter late last night, so please forgive any spelling or grammar errors!

After the Bane incident, Fox insisted that Nyx travel with at least two bodyguards. She thought that it was overkill, but to make him feel better, she agreed. The only problem was that they couldn’t stay with her while she worked. Even Fox had to admit that it would be difficult to explain the presence of two masked and well-armed men to customers. So Fox had extra cameras installed throughout the garage, and two additional panic buttons were put in the most-used areas. There hadn’t been any more attacks, and Nyx started to hope that maybe Palpatine had forgotten about her.

Unfortunately, Vos’s investigation didn’t turned up any new information. He was confident that he would find something eventually, but for now the trail had run cold. At least the Jedi had started to give the Guard food and medicine. There was an old tunnel that connected the Temple to the barracks, which Vos or other Jedi used to drop off supplies. Things had started to get better. At least, that was until Ahsoka Tano’s escape.

“Nyx, you need to get to the prison.” Thorn sounded worried, which was never a good sign.

She pulled off her goggles and tossed them by the rest of her tools. “What’s wrong?”

“Ahsoka Tano escaped, and she killed Tank and Boxer. Fang and Juice are both in bacta, but Saw thinks they’re going to pull through.”

Cold rage ran through her veins. “I’ll be there in 10.”

She heard a sigh of relief from the other side of the comm. “Thanks, ori’vod. I’ll keep Fox here until then.”

The halls of the prison complex were silent as Nyx followed Thorn through the grey maze. She offered comfort to each brother she passed, but it was obvious that they were shaken. To be honest, so was she. When they finally reached Fox, he was talking to an irate Anakin Skywalker, but that’s not what Nyx focused on.

Two long white sheets covered two still bodies. Boxer had been so proud to be assigned to the prison complex, and Tank had gotten his name less than a month ago. Now they were both marching on. Nyx kneeled beside their bodies. “I’m sorry, vod’ika.” she said, squeezing their cold hands, “I promise that we’ll find the person who did this to you.”

“If your men had been better trained, maybe she wouldn’t have gotten away!” Skywalker was yelling now, and Nyx was done with Jedi bantha-crap.

Rising, she quickly made her way to the group and into Skywalker’s face. “Maybe if you had trained your padawan better, she wouldn’t have turned into a murderer.”

His face twisted in rage, and Nyx felt a force begin to tighten around her neck. Before it got unbearable, Generals Kenobi and Koon joined the party. “Anakin!”

The pressure around her suddenly disappeared. “Why is she here?” Skywalker asked, glaring at Fox.

“She can speak for herself.” Nyx growled. “I’m here because I’m the best shot you have at finding your padawan. No one knows the lower levels better than me and my family.”

“We’re not disagreeing with you, my dear, but it is rather unorthodox. You’re not exactly a neutral third party.” General Kenobi rubbed his chin, Cody a shadow behind him.

“Do you want her found or not?” she said, ignoring Fox’s ‘stand down’ hand signal.

General Koon sighed. “I sense that Miss Jakin is correct, but if you do find her, be sure to use non-lethal force. Little ‘soka is scared and may act irrationally.”

Nyx gestured to her brother’s bodies. “No kidding.”

Wolffe frowned. “She wouldn’t kill vod’e.”

“Then who did?”

Koon held up his hands, trying to de-escalate the situation. “We’re not sure. But until we discover who the real culprit is, someone needs to find Ahsoka and make sure she’s alright.”

“Don’t worry,” Nyx said, pushing past the Jedi, “I’ll get her for you.”

“Stay in contact and do not engage her alone.” Kenobi placed a hand on Nyx’s shoulder, stopping her. “She may be young, but she is very capable of defending herself.”

Nyx shook Kenobi’s hand off. “So am I.” With a nod to Fox and a silent promise to find Tano, she stalked out of the building.

-----

Watcher had found Tano within 15 minutes. 15 minutes after that, Nyx had suited up with a rifle, a pair of force-suppressant cuffs, two pistols, and three knives.

She made it to the second floor of the warehouse on Level 1315 undetected. After texting Fox to let him know where she was, she began to clear the building. Which gave her a great view of the lightsaber fight that had just started below her.

Tano was fighting a dual-wielding force-user wearing a mask. And she wasn’t winning. The masked woman made several tibanna cannisters explode, forcing Tano back and nearly crushing her under a sheet of metal.

Making a split-second decision, Nyx put the rifle to her shoulder and took aim. The masked figure deflected the shot and looked straight at her. Kark. Firing off a few more shots, Nyx began to slowly make her way to the stairs. The force user blocked every shot and jumped onto the second floor.

Tossing the rifle to the side, Nyx drew a pistol and knife. “So I guess you’re the one who killed my brothers?” The force-user didn’t say anything, choosing to stand there menacingly. It was actually pathetic. A caff-less Fox was way scarier. “I’ll take that as a yes, then.”

Squeezing off two quick shots, Nyx charged the darksider. She knew her only chance was to get close, keeping them from effectively using their sabers. With a quick slash, she cut the assassin, which only made them angrier. Screaming, the woman threw Nyx against the wall using the force.

Groaning, Nyx struggled to her feet. She was pretty sure that her left shoulder was dislocated, and she was probably going to die. But before the crazy darksider could finish her off, Tano rejoined the fight, pushing the other woman back until she was forced to escape from a window.

Tano looked like she was about to follow. “Wait.”

The togruta turned, a multitude of bruises already forming on her skin. “I have to find her.”

“In that condition? You’re not going to get far.” Taking a breath, she picked up her pistol. “Be honest with me,” she said, gripping it in her good hand. “Did you kill my brothers?”

“No.”

Nyx nodded and slid the pistol into her holster. “You’re lucky I believe you, but I still have my orders. You need to come with me.”

“They’ve already decided that I’m guilty!”

She tried to jump out of the window, but Nyx grabbed her arm. “And you’re not doing anything to prove them wrong. Come with me and I’ll make sure that we find out who really did this.”

An eyebrow marking was raised in disbelief. “You think you can do better than the CSF?”

Nyx snorted, immediately regretting it when her shoulder was jostled. “I’m going to try and not be insulted.”

Tano turned to face her. “You came here to turn me in. Why the change of heart?”

Nyx gave her a one-shouldered shrug. “You didn’t hurt my brothers, the psycho in the mask did. She can’t be brought to justice if everyone’s still out looking for you.” She stuck out a hand. “Use the force. Can you trust me?”

Tano closed her eyes, and Nyx’s skin prickled as a strange sensation ran through her. “Yes.” Tano said, gingerly shaking her hand.

“Great. Now that we have that settled, let’s get out of the burning building.” Nyx slung her rifle over her good shoulder and went to the stairs. “You coming, Tano?”

The young girl nodded, still looking a little shell-shocked. “Yeah.”

The Jedi flew in as Tano reached the last step. She froze, looking like she was seriously considering running. “It’s going to be okay.” Nyx tried to give her a reassuring smile. With a shuddering sigh, Tano straightened her shoulders and nodded.

“Ahsoka!” To no one’s surprise, Skywalker was the first off the ship. He pulled his padawan into a bone-crushing hug. “Are you okay?”

Nyx turned her focus from the duo and onto Fox. He looked her up and down, checking for injuries. She knew she looked like a mess, covered in ash with her braid in a mess of tangles. She gave him a tired smile, anyway. “I’m okay, Fox. I think I dislocated my shoulder, but I can say with confidence that Ahsoka is innocent.”

“Do you have proof?” Koon asked.

“When I got here, she was fighting a dark-sider. In fact, the assassin would’ve killed me if Ahsoka hadn’t stepped in.”

Ahsoka joined their small group. “I was just returning the favor. You saved me first by shooting at her.”

“You tried to shoot a dark-side assassin?” She didn’t need to see his face to know that Fox wasn’t happy.

Nyx smiled sheepishly as Saw began to swarm around her. “I may have also stabbed her.” She pulled out her dagger. “Do you think you can get a genetic match from this?”

“You got close enough to the dark-side assassin to stab them?!?” Fox was really unhappy now.

Of course, that was the moment Saw shoved her shoulder back into its socket. After letting out an impressive string of curses and glaring at him, Nyx turned back to Fox and gingerly shrugged. “What else was I supposed to do?”

Kenobi took the dagger and put it in an evidence bag he had pulled somewhere. “I don’t know how we can thank you for this, Miss Jakin.”

“No need for thanks, General.” Nyx turned to Ahsoka. “Don’t worry, kid, we’ll find out who set you up.”

Tano nodded. “Thank you, Nyx.” She glanced at Fox. “I can see why the Guard likes you so much.”

“They just like my brownies.” Saw strapped her arm in a sling, and she looked at the Jedi. “If you need help finding the assassin, you know how to find me. We have unfinished business.”

“You are not fighting a dark-sider!” Fox said, voice raising an octave.

Nyx rolled her eyes and grinned. “Please. Give me a slugthrower and twenty minutes of prep time, then we’ll see who comes out on top.”

“Nope.” Fox shook his head and quickly saluted the Jedi. “Can you take it from here, generals?”

Kenobi was hiding a grin. “Yes, Commander, I think we have a handle on the situation.”

“Thank you, sir.” Without warning he grabbed Nyx and threw her over his shoulder, taking care not to jostle her shoulder. “You are coming back to the barracks where I can keep an eye on you.”

“Fox!” she groaned, trying to wiggle out of his hold, “I’m a grown woman.”

“You’re also injured, covered in soot, and haven’t slept in 18 hours. Oh, and you want to single-handedly fight a dark-side assassin.”

“Hypocrite.” She lightly slapped his backplate, grinning when she heard him huff. As the doors of the larty closed, she smiled. “You can set me down now.”

He shifted her into a bridal carry and studiously avoided looking at her. “I’m good.”

Deciding that this wasn’t the most uncomfortable position to be in, Nyx put her good arm around his neck and snuggled closer. “I’m sorry for scaring you.”

He sighed and tightened his grip. “Please don’t do that again.”

“I can’t promise that, Foxy.” She leaned her head against his shoulder. “If I hadn’t done anything, that psycho would’ve killed Ahoska. I couldn’t let an innocent person die.”

“Just tell me that you’ll be more careful. I can’t lose anyone else.” He paused. “Please.”

“I’ll do my best.” She closed her eyes and soon fell asleep to the rocking of the larty and the beating of Fox’s heart.

-------

Two days later, Ahsoka Tano was free. This time on purpose. By this point, Fox and Nyx had been up for almost two days straight, following leads and making sure that the trial was a fair one. Well, as fair as it could be with Tarkin overseeing it.

Once Tano had finally been declared innocent, Fox and Nyx crashed. Freeze had to carry Nyx back to Quadrant 13, and Thorn had all but dragged Fox to his bunk. Afterward, Thorn issued a Guard-wide order to not bother Fox unless someone was about to murder the Chancellor, and even then, they had to wait until after he was dead.

Which is why Fox walked into his office 24-hours later to find his vod’ika and most recent pain in the butt sitting on his couch. “Ori’vod, I need your help.”

It was way too early for him to be dealing with whatever this was. “Why are you here, Rex?” He fell into his chair. “And why did you bring her?”

“I need your help.” He repeated. “Ahsoka needs your help.”

“Why?”

Ahsoka stood up, pulling Rex up behind her. “I told you this was a waste of time. I’m better off on my own.”

Fox raised his hand. “Hold it, kid. I just want to know why you’re here. If you haven’t noticed, I just got up.”

“Oh.” She moved back to the couch. Clasping her hands tightly together, she studied the floor, “I left the Jedi Order.”

Nodding, Fox turned on the caff machine. “Alright, so what do you want me to do about it?”

“I actually was hoping that you’d help us find Nyx.” Rex ran his hand over his jaw, a couple of days’ worth of stubble visible.

He froze, caff cup in hand. “Nyx?”

“I need to find a job.” Ahsoka started. “I had hoped that maybe Nyx could help me get on my feet.” She gave a bitter laugh. “The Order doesn’t really teach you what to do if you ever leave. After all that’s happened, though, I wouldn’t blame you if you threw me out right now.”

Fox needed to think this through. “Would either of you like caff?” When they nodded, Fox filled two more cups. Sitting in his chair, he took a sip of caff and everything seemed a little more manageable. He thought about the girl sitting in front of him, and it seemed like the answer to one of his problems had landed in his lap. Ahsoka had seen battle before, and her weird Jedi powers even saved Senator Amidala one time. She would be the perfect work-bodyguard for Nyx. “I can’t guarantee anything, but I’ll give her a call.” Rex breathed a sigh of relief as Fox dialed Nyx’s comm.

A tired voice answered. “Who’s on fire?”

Fox rolled his eyes fondly. “No one’s on fire, sweetheart, it’s me.” Fox silenced Rex’s snort with a glare.

“Oh,” she mumbled, “I thought you were Matches.”

“Would you mind coming up here? We have a bit of a situation.”

She sounded more awake now. “Do I need to bring Doc?”

“Not that kind of situation.” He paused. “Could you bring some cookies with you?”

“Sure. I’ll be up in an hour.”

The connection clicked off. “Sweetheart?” Rex asked, eyebrow raised.

Fox took a sip of his caff. “You’re just jealous.”

Ahsoka frowned. “Do people get caught on fire often?”

He shrugged. “Only when they hang around Matches. Are you any good at working with machines?”

“I know my way around an engine. Why?”

“No reason.”

“So,” Rex started, trying to fill the silence, “how has Nyx been?”

Fox rubbed at his temples. “It’s been a rough couple of days.”

At least Ahsoka had the decency to blush. “Sorry about that.”

Picking up one of his datapads, Fox decided he may as well start working. “You were just trying to protect yourself. I may have done the same thing in your position. We have the right person in custody, that’s what matters.”

“Really?”

Fox smirked at her. “It may surprise you to know this, but not everyone in a position of power has a good moral compass. Sometimes, you have to break regs to make sure that your men are safe.”

“You’ve broken the regs?” Rex asked, incredulous, “Who are you and what have you done with my brother?”

Fox chugged the rest of his caff in one go and moved to get a refill. “Plausible deniability is a wonderful thing, vod’ika. Never forget that.”

-------

Nyx left Matches and Thrash in the rec room while she met with Fox. After sacrificing a few cookies to her hungry brothers, she made it to Fox’s office. “Who do I need to kill?” she asked, freezing when she noticed who else was in the room. “Blue boy. Ahsoka.” She laid the cookies on the desk and pulled one out. “Want a cookie?”

“Thanks.” Reluctantly, they both took one. Fox took three. When she gave him a side eye, he just shrugged and grabbed another.

“So,” she said, sitting on the corner of the desk, “what’s the problem?”

“Tano’s left the Jedi Order and needs help getting back on her feet. Rex thought that you may be the woman for the job.”

“Mmmhmmm. And why is that?”

Rex shrugged. “To be honest? You’re the only person we know who’s on-planet and isn’t a Jedi or senator.”

“Gotcha.” She turned to Ahsoka. “What are you good at?”

“Tactics, hand-to-hand combat, mechanics-”

“I was thinking she could work with you in the garage.” Fox interrupted, half-way through his second cookie.

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that you’ve been wanting me to have a guard at work, would it?” She smirked.

“Of course not.” He said, trying, and failing, to look innocent.

Ahsoka leaned forward. “Why would you need a bodyguard?”

Nyx shrugged. “There was an incident involving a bounty hunter a few months ago.”

“An incident?”

“He tried to kill me, I killed him first, end of story.”

“Wait a second. Were you the person who killed Cad Bane?” Rex’s mouth was hanging open.

“I have to admit, General Vos did help.” She grinned ferally. “He was a great distraction.” She looked at Ahsoka. “You don’t have to be my bodyguard, but you will need some way to defend yourself if you come with me. Do you know how to use a blaster?” Ahsoka nodded. “Good. It’s totally up to you, but I don’t have a problem with it.”

She thought for a moment or two, then finally sighed. “To be honest, I don’t have any other options. Would I be allowed to stay in contact with the 501st?”

“Of course! You’re a free woman, do what you want.” Then Nyx smirked. “I’ll even let you go see them when they inevitably land in the drunk tank. I happen to know a guy with the code to the cells.”

As Fox rolled his eyes fondly, Rex’s comm went off. After a quick glance, he frowned and typed out a quick response. “I have to go. The general wants me to go over the upcoming deployment with him. Are you going to be ok, ‘soka?”

She gave him a watery smile. “Yeah. Tell the guys I’ll be fine.”

“I will.” He looked at Nyx. “Take care of her for me, alright?”

“That sounds familiar.” She muttered under her breath. “Don’t worry, Captain, she’ll be fine.”

As soon as the door closed, Nyx turned to Ahsoka and held out her hand. “Welcome to the Zombies, kid.”

“Zombies?”

“Yup.” Speaking into her comm, she said, “I have a Jedi walker. She’ll be staying with me. ETA, 30 minutes.” She gave Fox a quick kiss and grabbed Ahsoka’s bag. “See you tomorrow, Commander.”

As they started their walk down the hall, she looked at the younger girl. “Ahsoka, you’re going to see some things that you cannot, under any circumstances, tell anyone else.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you know anything about decommissioning and reconditioning?”

“Yeah,” she said, dodging tired Corries, “but the Jedi stopped that when the war started.”

“They stopped it in the front-line battalions, but not in the Coruscant Guard.” Nyx took a deep breath and continued, “Fox and I came up with a plan to stop it ourselves. The only other people who know about this is the Jedi Council, which is why it’s so important that you don’t say anything.”

“Not even to Rex?”

Nyx shook her head. “It’s too dangerous. One word to the wrong person, and we’re all dead.”

Ahsoka raised an eyebrow marking. “That’s dramatic.”

“A bounty hunter was sent to kill me because I had the audacity to say that clones were sentient.” She smirked. “I have the right to be dramatic.”

“What is this plan of yours?” Ahsoka asked as they entered the rec room.

“You’re smart.” She said, shrugging. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out in no time.”

---------

“I think I figured it out.” Ahsoka stared at the clones, who eventually started staring back.

Nyx patted her shoulder and walked into town. “Welcome to Quadrant 13, Ahsoka Tano.”

Notes:

Thank you for all of your comments! We're getting to the home stretch of the story, so buckle up!

Chapter 14: Fives

Summary:

Fox is ordered to track Fives down and neutralize him.

Notes:

We all knew that this was going to happen sooner or later, so here we go!

Nyx and Fox were enjoying a rare night off. Of course, considering who Fox was, he was never really off-duty, so they were having a date on the roof of the barracks. They had finished their picnic and were now lying on the blanket, fingers intertwined. “Fox?”

“Yes, cyar’ika?”

“What’s going to happen after the war?”

He frowned. “The front-liners will be fine, they have their Jedi to look after them. For us? I’m not sure.” Laughing darkly, he added, “It’s not like the Senate is going to willingly let us go.”

Nyx propped herself up on her elbow. “If you could do anything, what would it be?”

He raised an eyebrow, surprised at the abrupt turn in conversation. “Whatever I want?”

“Whatever you want.”

He pulled her down beside him and put his arm around her. “First, I would take you far away from here.”

“Mmmm.” She hummed, moving her head under his chin. “Where would we go?”

“Somewhere green. With trees. Lots of trees.” He had a far-away look in his eyes, subconsciously tightening his grip around Nyx.

She smiled. “What next?”

“I’d marry you and build you a house with so many windows that we’ll always see the sun.”

“And your brothers?”

He laughed. “They’d be next door, but far enough away where we could each have some privacy.”

Nyx grinned, placing her hand on his chest. “Privacy is important.” She paused, biting her bottom lip. “And the kids?”

He quickly glanced at her. “Kids?”

“Yeah,” she said, cuddling closer and trying to hide her growing blush, “how many kids?” They hadn’t talked about it before, but Nyx really hoped that Fox would want kids.

Just as she was about to take back her question, Fox answered, “Three.”

“That’s a very specific number.” Her grin lit up the night, making Fox’s heart skip a beat.

He began to blush. “Well, how many kids do you want?”

“Hhhmmm.” she said, tapping her chin. “I think….three.”

With a laugh, he pulled her in for a kiss. As they broke apart, he smiled. “How in the world did a clone like me ever manage to get a girl like you?” Then Fox kissed her again, her fingers running through his hair.

They pulled apart, foreheads still touching in a gentle kedalbe. “Well, your good looks helped. Your charm and wit didn’t hurt, either.” She ran her thumb across his cheek. “But the real reason? The real reason was your big heart. That’s what I fell in love with.” It was then that Fox realized that he didn’t want a future without Nyx in it.

He began to kiss her again, but before they could go any farther, Fox’s comm rang. He blindly grabbed for his vambrace, cursing as soon as he saw the caller ID. “It’s the Chancellor.” Nyx scowled, but quickly scrambled out of range of the camera. As soon as she was out of sight, Fox answered the call. “How may I help you, Chancellor?”

“CC-1010,” he began, his voice as cold as steel, “CT-5555 attempted to assassinate me tonight. Execute order 27.”

Before her eyes, Fox stiffened and then suddenly relaxed, the tension that never seemed to leave him draining out of his shoulders. “Yes, your excellency.” All emotion was gone from his voice. Without ever looking back, he marched down the stairs. Five minutes later, Nyx saw him leading a squad of clones outside the barracks.

Quickly, she ran down the stairs, picnic stuff bundled up in her arms. Thorn met her at the bottom. “Blackout mission?” He asked, eyes pinched with worry.

“Yeah, something about CT-5555 trying to kill the Chancellor. Too bad he didn’t finish the job.” She cursed. “We were almost finished with our date.”

“This is the first time the Chancellor has sent Fox after a brother. He’s going to hate himself when he wakes up.” He clenched his fists.

Nyx pulled her hair back into a ponytail. “Well then, I guess we’ll just have to find CT-5555 first.” Her communicator started ringing. “Well, that can’t be good.” She answered the call, only to see a frantic Ahsoka staring back at her. “Ahsoka? What’s wrong?”

“I need your help, ori’vod.” Her eyes were wide with fear.

“What do you need?”

“I have a trooper here, from the 501st. He’s in trouble.”

Nyx paused, worry beginning to twist a knot in her stomach. “He wouldn’t happen to be CT-5555, would he?”

Ahsoka’s eyes widened. “How did you-”

“Where are you?” Nyx interrupted, signaling to Matches and Watcher, her bodyguards for the night. Together, they started to jog out of the barracks.

“79’s.”

“You need to leave. Now. The Chancellor has activated Fox’s chip; he’s going to come after your trooper.” She flashed a quick hand sign and Matches peeled off. “I’m sending Matches to you. Meet us at the Quadrant.”

“Ok.” Ahsoka took a shaky breath. “Thank you ori’vod.”

“Thank me once this is over.” As soon as she had ended the call, she made another one.

“Vos here.”

“Are you on-planet?”

Something shuffled in the background. “Yeah. What do you need?”

“Fox is on a blackout mission to kill CT-5555. Ahsoka found him and is taking him to the Quadrant. I need you to meet us there.”

“Kark.” He said. “Give me twenty minutes.” The comm shut off.

“What are you going to do, alor?” Watcher asked.

Nyx grimaced. “Not sure yet, but I’ll figure something out.”

By the time they had made it to Quadrant 13, Ahsoka and two clones were waiting for them. “This is Fives and Kix.”

Nyx nodded. “Nice to meet you, now let’s go.”

She started to lead the way inside, but Fives stopped her. His eyes kept darting from place to place, and his hands shook. “I need to tell the Jedi! The Chancellor, he’s going to kill them all! There are chips in all of us!”

Kix pushed Fives against the wall. “You’re not thinking clearly, Fives! You need to calm down.”

“He said he’s been drugged.” Ahsoka moved beside Fives, trying to take on some of his weight as he started to lean. “The Force feels funny around him, so I think he’s right.”

The medic 501st spared a quick glance to Nyx. It was then that she noticed that his hands were shaking, too. “It’s the only thing he’s said tonight that makes sense.” Fives fell against his brother and former commander, his legs no longer able to support him.

“Ahsoka, go warn Doc. Tell him to get ready for a new patient. Matches, Watcher, help Fives.” She turned to Kix. “You’re going to tell me what you know.” Everyone quickly moved to do their jobs, and Nyx was left alone with Kix.

“Fives said there’s a chip in our brain that can force us to kill the Jedi.” Kix slid down the wall, his head in his hands. “Ahsoka said that you could help us, and I really hope she’s right, because I have no idea what to do.”

Nyx sat beside him and squeezed his shoulder. “Then let me worry about that. You worry about your brother.” He nodded. It was shaky, but she would take what she could get. Vos materialized in front of them, carrying a bag of medical supplies. Nyx squeezed Kix’s shoulder. “Go and help Doc.” He rose and stumbled down the alley, where Rolly was waiting for him.

“What’s the situation?” Vos asked as he watched Kix leave.

“I’ll tell you once we get everyone together. I only want to say this once.”

Soon, everyone was gathered on Mrs. Torok’s back porch. Doc was still in his clinic, monitoring Fives as he slept off the effects of the drug, but Nyx had already filled him in. “I think that the chips are what’s causing the blackout missions.” Nyx shuddered. “I saw it activate in Fox about an hour ago. The Chancellor gave him an order, and it was like he was gone. He didn’t even look at me, just stomped all over dessert and left. And now he’s been sent to kill Fives.”

“That’s not good.” Crix muttered.

Vos leaned against the banister. “What would happen if Fox never found him?”

“Best case scenario? Nothing. Most likely? At least one squad becomes Zombies.”

“Unacceptable.” Gotti scowled, his grip tightening on the armrest of his chair.

“What we need to do is find a way to fake his death.” Kix had calmed down considerably, but he kept scanning the perimeter, like he was expecting a squad of Guardsmen to pop out at any time.

“But we would have to do it in a way that results in no body being recovered. That’s going to be pretty hard.” Vos rubbed his chin and sighed. “This is a tough one.”

“Well,” Mrs. Reed said, “what would make a body unrecoverable?”

“The only way I can think of that we have the slightest chance of pulling off would be a fire. It would have to be really hot, though.”

As soon as the words left Vos’s mouth, everyone turned to Matches. “But how could we prove that Fives died in the fire?”

Beginning to vibrate with excitement, Matches grinned with the joy you can only experience when arson is imminent. “We can take out his identification chip! It’s made out of metal, so it shouldn’t melt.”

“Then we find an abandoned warehouse, throw it in there, call Fox with a tip, and light it up.” Nyx nodded, already trying to figure out how to keep the fire from spreading to the neighboring buildings.

“I think that’s our best bet.” Vos said, a thoughtful look on his face.

“Then let’s do it.” Nyx was instantly in battle mode. “Matches, go get your gear. Watcher, find us a building. Kix, help Doc remove the ID chip. Crix, I’m going to need you to get that anonymous tip to Fox. Call with the address Watcher gives you in 30 minutes. Vos, you’ll go with me and Matches.”

“What about me?” Ahsoka asked. She had been unusually quiet, torn between wanting to protect her brothers in the 501st and helping with the plan.

Nyx placed a hand on her shoulder. “You need to stay here. If things go sideways, get Fives to the Jedi Temple using the old tunnel system. He has to make it to the Jedi. Do you understand, vod’ika?”

Ahsoka took a deep breath, then nodded. “Yes, alor.”

“Alright everyone, let’s move.”

As her family began to flow around her, Vos was once again reminded of how scarily matched Nyx and Fox were. To anyone else, she looked calm, cool, and collected, but Vos could still sense the turmoil inside her. He leaned against a railing, trying to meet her eyes. “How are you doing, kid?”

“Ask me again in two hours.” She rubbed her hand over her face. “Once we fake Five’s death, can you get him to the Jedi?”

“That won’t be a problem. What are you going to do about the chips?”

“We won’t be able to remove them in the active Guard, but we can start taking them out down here.” She sighed. “Once Palpatine makes his move, we’ll go for the others.”

He frowned. “Why not go ahead and get them out?”

“Palpatine’s been using Fox’s chip more frequently. He’s also started using random troopers to do his bidding. If we take one out, and he tries to use the chip…”

“Game over.” Vos was starting to hate Palpatine a lot more than usual. He should probably meditate on it later. Who was he kidding? That wasn’t going to happen.

Nyx put her head in her hands. “Exactly. And I can’t tell Fox because-”

“He still has the chip.” Vos wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “If it’s any consolation, I think you’re doing the right thing. Fox would agree, too.”

She shuddered. “Thanks.” Taking a breath, she put on the mantle of perfect leader. Before she walked out into the street, though, she turned. “Vos, would you do me a favor?”

“Anything.”

“Find me a big, unpopulated planet with lots of trees.”

His eyes widened. “You planning something?”

She shook her head and frowned. “Nothing you need to be concerned with. But a place with room to grow would be nice.”

Vos smiled and nudged her with his shoulder. “Consider it done. Now let’s go fake a death.”

-------

They arrived at the warehouse Watcher had found with 15 minutes to spare. “Put the chip in that corner over there.” Vos pointed. “If I was stuck in a burning building, that’s where I’d go.”

Nyx watched him, eyebrow raised as she threw the chip. “It sounds like you’ve thought in-depth about burning alive.”

He shrugged. “I get bored.”

Rolling her eyes, she turned to Matches. “Alright, vod’ika, let’s light her up.”

Ten minutes later, they were on the roof of a nearby building, watching the warehouse go up in flames. “When I said ‘light her up’, I didn’t mean while we were still in it!” Her jacket had a few burn marks on it from where she had almost caught fire.

“I didn’t think it would catch that fast!” Matches answered. Both of his eyebrows had somehow been singed off, but it didn’t look like he cared. He was having too much fun setting fire to the world.

Vox pulled them both down. “Fox is here.” He was the only one who escaped from the fire completely unscathed. He didn’t even smell like smoke, which was another reason Nyx hated Jedi magic.

“Crap. He’s early.” She quickly spotted an access hatch on the street. “Escape through the sewers?”

“What is it with you and sewers?” Vos asked, disgusted.

She shrugged. “Do you have a better idea?”

“No.” He sighed, “And these were my last good robes.”

She rolled her eyes. “Stop your whining and get in the stank hole.” She quickly climbed off the roof and was down the hatch in moments.

Vos pinched his nose and looked at Matches. “Down the stank hole, I guess.”

Notes:

Thank you all for your comments and kudos! Only four more chapters and an epilogue to go, so I hope you're ready!

Translations:
alor - leader
Keldabe - short for keldabe kiss.

Chapter 15: Dar'manda

Summary:

Getting Fives to safety, and the aftermath.

Notes:

Dar'manda - a state of not being Mandalorian - not an outsider, but one who has lost his heritage, and so his identity and his soul - regarded with absolute dread by most traditionally-minded Mando'ade

Fives stayed in Quadrant 13 for two more days, just to make sure that the Chancellor bought their fake death scheme. Luckily, it seemed to have worked. No squads were decommissioned and things settled back into a somewhat normal routine for the Guard. Unfortunately, that was not the case for the Zombies.

Once he had finally recovered from being drugged, Fives was able to talk much more coherently, and everyone realized just what the inhibitor chips were designed to do. Doc immediately called a friend of his and bought a surgical tube capable of detecting and removing small tumors. As soon as it was installed, Matches insisted that they try it on him first. The surgery went well, and soon there was a constant stream of clones coming in and out of Doc’s office.

Vos smuggled Fives out of Quadrant 13 while Rolly monitored the Guard’s comm lines, just in case some busybody tried to call in with a tip. With the help of the Force and a mask, they were able to make it to the Jedi Temple undetected. Vos returned to the Quadrant the next day. “He’s made it to the Council, and they’ve started coming up with plans to secretly remove or disable the chips.”

“Good,” Nyx sighed, “Will they be able to hide it from Palpatine?”

“The real question is will they be able to hide Fives from Skywalker.” He frowned, leaning against a post.

“Why is that?” Ahsoka demanded, protectiveness for her former master flaring up.

Vos held his hands up in surrender. “All I’m saying is that Anakin and the Chancellor have been friends for years. It’s going to take more than one clone and the Council to convince him that the Chancellor is a low-down scumbag, so it’s probably best if we don’t burn that bridge yet.” Ahsoka backed off, and Nyx put a calming hand on her shoulder as Vos began to scan the street. “How’s Fox handling everything?”

“Not well.” Nyx shifting her pack. “I’ve told him that Fives is a Zombie, but that’s all I can say without risking Palpatine finding out.” She sighed. “Now he’s afraid that Palpatine will force him to kill me or another one of his brothers and that we won’t be in time to stop him” Shaking her head, she turned to Vos. “I’m going up to see him.”

He nodded. “Good luck, and don’t worry about Fives. He’ll be safe in the Temple.”

“Thanks.” She waved goodbye to Ahsoka and began to walk towards the surface, Tag and Freeze following behind her. Freeze had been scheduled for reconditioning a week ago for not pouring a senator’s tea correctly, and Tag went where Freeze did, so here they were. Since making it to the Quadrant, they had refused to leave each other’s side, and Nyx preferred to keep them close.

She left them with the rest of the Guard in the rec room and started to make her way to Fox’s office. Stone stopped her half-way there. “He’s gotten worse. Refuses to sleep and hasn’t let anyone in the office for the past 48-hours. Thorn’s been trying to get him out, but it isn’t working.” He rubbed his head. “I was about to come get you.”

Nyx took a deep breath and tried to project a calmness that she didn’t feel. “Thanks, vod’ika. I’ll handle it.”

In front of Fox’s door, Thorn was trying to manually override the locking mechanism, wire components strewn across his lap. “Fox, please let me in. I’m worried about you.” There was no answer from the other side of the door.

Placing her hand on his shoulder, Nyx smiled sadly. “I’ve got this, vod’ika. Why don’t you go and get some sleep?”

He looked up at her, eyes red-rimmed. “He’s hasn’t spoken to anyone in hours. He’ll only send out orders through text.”

Pulling a container of cookies out of her pack, she put them in his lap and slid the cables to the floor. “It’ll be okay, Thorn. I’ll take care of it.” Stone helped Thorn up and began to walk with him to their bunks while Nyx stood alone in front of the door. “Fox? Can you hear me?” She heard no answer. “I brought your favorite brownies.” Still nothing.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” she thought, pressing the panic button. If Fox had been well rested, her plan would have never worked, but considering he was probably running off stims, Nyx thought she had a chance.

Sure enough, within seconds the door was open and Fox rushed out, blaster drawn. As soon as he cleared the door, Nyx threw her arms around him in a half-tackle, making him stumble into the door frame. Quickly realizing who was with him, he tried to shrug her off. “Nyx, it’s not safe to be around me.” She looked up at him and realized just how bad things were. His eyes were red and the bags under his eyes were as dark as his caff. She could see stim shots littering his desk, and he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days. “Go home.”

Nyx frowned and pushed him into his office, slamming the door closed behind her. The fact that he went so easily only proved that he hadn’t been taking care of himself. “No.”

“It’s not safe for you here.” He grabbed her shoulders and tried to steer her back to the door, but she slipped out of his grasp and ran to his desk.

“I thought you were smarter than this, Foxy.” He stood on the other side of the desk, and then they were stuck in a standoff. Whenever he would move a step in one direction, Nyx would do the opposite, and vice versa. She grinned wildly and decided that humor was the best way to make her commander feel better. “You are never getting rid of me. I’m like the mold in the ceiling.”

He stared at her for a moment, and without warning his face crumpled. “I don’t want to hurt you!” he yelled, his composure finally breaking, “Why can’t you understand that?”

Of all the things Nyx expected to happen, that was not one of them. Her fingers gripped the sides of the desk. “I do, but do you think you can do this to yourself without anyone noticing? We’re worried about you!” She frowned. “We know the risks. I know the risks, and you’re worth it.”

His normally neat hair fell in his face as he tried to get his breathing under control. “I just….I can’t lose anyone else.”

Nyx knew better than to make promises she couldn’t keep, but she did what she could. “We’re in a war, Fox. Tomorrow’s not guaranteed, but I can promise that I’ll fight every day to come back to you, if you make that same promise to me.” When he didn’t say anything, she moved to him and took his face in her hands. “Promise me, Fox.”

She wiped a tear away as it fell down his cheek. “Why?”

Making sure he was looking her in the eyes, she said, “Because I love you. No matter what you’ve done, no matter what you will do, I love you.” As she kissed him, she pushed him towards the couch, which he basically collapsed on. She sat beside him, and when he began to lean against her shoulder, she knew he would be alright. “You scared us for a minute there, Commander.”

He squeezed her hand. “I still don’t think you should be here.”

She smiled and kissed his cheek. “When are you going to realize that you have people that care about you? We’re willing to risk it.” When he turned away, she frowned. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

“My batchmates said I’m dar’manda.” He shuddered, another tear sliding down his face.

“What does that mean?” She asked, eyes narrowing.

“They disowned me. They say that I’m the reason Fives is dead. That if I hadn’t been hunting him, he wouldn’t have been in the warehouse.”

“Of all the idiotic-” she cursed, “Fox, this isn’t your fault. You know that, right?” Instead of shooting the chancellor in his smug face like she wanted to, she wrapped her arms around Fox. When he didn’t answer, she held him tighter. “It’s alright if you don’t believe it. I’ll just keep reminding you until you do. And I’ll go give those idiot brothers of yours a piece of my mind. I’m sure Thorn would be willing to let me in the GAR barracks.”

He let out a watery laugh. “Please don’t.”

“I make no promises.” She smirked. “I happen to be very close to someone in the Coruscant Guard. I’m sure that he’d get me out of any trouble I’d find myself in.” He began to lean heavier into her side, eyes fighting to stay open. “Why don’t you get some rest, Foxy? I’ll handle things around here.” She let his head fall into her lap and began to run her fingers through his hair.

The tension drained out of his body, and he sighed. “Love you.”

“I love you, too.” But he was already asleep. After texting a quick, “All clear” to Thorn, Thire, and Stone, Nyx settled deeper into the couch cushions. She carefully took off Fox’s armor, being careful not to wake him up. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before they were interrupted.

Thire opened the door, his face as white as a sheet. Quickly looking between her and Fox, he whispered, “Cody and Rex are here.”

“Get rid of them.”

“I tried.” he said, eyes wide, “They want to see Fox.”

Gently ruffling Fox’s hair, she placed his head on a pillow and met Thire at the door. “I’ll talk with them.”

“Are you sure, alor?” he asked, hands twitching, “They’re not happy.”

“Great,” she grumbled, “because neither am I.” She closed the door to Fox’s office. “Make sure that no one bothers him.”

“Will do.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “Be careful, ori’vod.”

“Don’t worry, Thire. I’ve got this.” She stormed to the main lobby, where Cody and Rex were towering over Trip. “What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.

Cody jerked his head up. “We want to see Fox.”

“After what you’ve done, you’ve lost that privilege.” She crossed her arms. “You get me.”

“We need him to answer some questions.” Rex growled.

“Cute” Nyx thought. She jabbed her finger into his chest plate. “What he needs is rest, which he is going to get.”

“You wouldn’t understand, but a brother is dead because of him. We need to know why.” Cody was calmer, but only by a fraction.

“Why wouldn’t I understand?” Nyx asked, voice as cold as steel.

Rex leaned across the desk into her space. “We’ve seen the records. The Guard has the highest casualty rate in the GAR. No one else even comes close. So don’t stand there and act like you care about any clone other than Fox. There’s no way you could, because your boyfriend sends them out to die as soon as they walk off the transport! He doesn’t give them a chance, just like he didn’t give Fives a chance!” His breathing became ragged. “He was my vod’ika! And I bet Fox doesn’t even feel guilty about it! He’s dar’manda, and-”

Nyx couldn’t help it. She slapped him. “Are you done being a karking sha’buir?” All Rex did was glare, so she barreled on. “You think you can come in here and insult the commander? That you can insult me?” She quickly made a decision. These two idiots were going to find out just how idiotic they were. Typing a message to Vos, she turned around and began to march to the tunnels. “Follow me, and don’t talk.”

“You had better be taking us to Fox.” Rex snarled.

“You want answers?” She asked over her shoulder. “I’m taking you to a person that can give them to you.”

They walked in silence to the speeder bay, up until Nyx pulled the cover off the entrance hatch. “What is that?” Cody asked.

“What part of ‘don’t talk’ do you not understand?” She looked at Freeze and Tag. “Stay here. I’ll be back after I deal with this.” She gestured at Cody and Rex. Her guards looked like they wanted to argue, but they only nodded as she climbed down the pipe.

The two clones behind her were silent as they made their way through the access tunnels and pipes, probably talking on their internal comms system. “Where are you taking us?” Cody asked.

“The Temple.”

“The Temple?” Rex sputtered. “Why?”

“You wanted answers, didn’t you?” She quirked her eyebrow. “This is how you get them. And then I expect you to write an apology to Fox.”

“Not likely.” Nyx could tell he was rolling his eyes under his bucket, and her blood began to boil.

Fortunately, that was when Vos dropped in. Literally. Within seconds, Cody and Rex had their blasters pulled and aimed at the man falling from the ceiling, but Nyx sighed. “Morning, Vos.”

“Kid.” He nodded, glancing clones. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“No, but they wanted answers, and Fox needs his sleep.”

Vos winced in sympathy as they resumed their walk. “Not taking things well?”

“Been up for 48 hours. I had just gotten him to fall asleep when these two,” she thumbed behind her, “showed up demanding a meeting. Luckily, they didn’t wake him up.” She kicked a pebble on the pathway, watching it ricochet off the wall. “Oh, and they disowned him.”

“Disowned him?!?” Vos turned around, eyes flashing. “What were you guys thinking?”

“They weren’t.” Nyx answered before the clones could respond. Seeing a yellow ladder, she began to climb. “Come on, di’kuts. We’re here.”

The access hatch opened up into the Jedi hangar bay. Ignoring the strange looks they were getting, she began to march towards the Council Chamber. Letting Vos take the lead, she followed behind, a cloud of fury and sadness surrounding her, making every Jedi that passed flinch in sympathy. When they finally made it, she gestured to the door. “The answer to your questions is behind this door.” As they passed her, she frowned. “I hope you realize just how much you’ve lost today.”

Then the door opened, and they completely forgot about Nyx. “Fives!” Rex called as he tackled his brother.

There were a few Jedi stationed around the room, all watching the brother’s reunion with small smiles. “Good morning, Miss Jakin.” Master Plo bowed.

“Good morning.” She was staring at the brothers with thinly veiled disgust. “Maybe now they’ll leave the Guard alone.”

Master Kenobi came up on her other side. “They have been under a lot of stress lately. Fives’s arrest and presumed death has been hard on them.”

“It’s been hard on all of us,” she said, turning to go, “but that doesn’t mean they can say anything they want and expect there to not be any consequences.”

Grabbing her elbow, Master Plo stopped her. “Forgive me, but I heard you were in the market for a new planet.” He held out a small holodisk. “I believe this one would be to your liking.”

Eyes widening, she looked to Vos. He shrugged. “I only know about slums and crime planets. You guys deserve something better than that.”

Master Plo pressed the disk in her hand. “The Jedi Explorcorps just found this planet on the edge of wild space. It’s not on any records, and suitable for farming, fishing, and lumber. 55% of the planet is ocean, and the rest is a mix of forests and mountains.”

Her mouth dropped. “And you’re willing to give it to us?”

“Not give, young one. You and the Guard have earned it.”

She slipped the disk in her pocket and then wrapped the Jedi in a hug. “Thank you.”

He laughed, patting her on the back. “Will you need transport? The Jedi do not have a ship large enough for all of you, but perhaps several-”

Grinning widely, she looked up at him. “Don’t worry, I’ve got that covered.” She hugged Vos. “Turns out you can do more than distract bounty hunters.”

“I am a man of many talents.” He grinned. “Now you better get back before your boys get antsy.” He jerked his head towards Cody and Rex. “I’ll make sure those two don’t spill any beans.”

“You’re the best, Vos.”

He ruffled her hair. “And you better not forget it. Now go take care of our Commander.”

She smirked. “Sir, yes, sir.”

Notes:

I think Rex and Cody have learned that if someone messes with Fox, they'll have to deal with a very angry Nyx. Only 3 chapters and an epilogue left, so buckle up!

Chapter 16: When the Chips Are Down

Summary:

When Fox is sent on a blackout mission to kill her, Nyx has a choice to make.

Notes:

Thanks to Kitkatkiki for giving me the idea for this chapter! Fair warning, no happy ending this week, but I promise that next week's update will be less angsty.

"When the Chips Are Down" is from Hadestown, and I think it fits this chapter really well, so give it a listen if you're interested!

Order 37: Capture of a single wanted individual through the mass arrest and threatened execution of a civilian population. Follow-up directives include scenarios for body disposal of civilian casualties and suppression of communications.

---------------

“I told you to bring me a body.”

Fox knelt in front of the chancellor. “I apologize, your excellency, but the fire was too intense.”

With an iron grip, the chancellor grabbed Fox’s chin and forced him to look up. “When I give you an order, I expect it to be followed. No matter the cost. Is that understood?”

“Yes, your excellency.” Fox made sure to avoid eye contact with the chancellor. That always resulted in punishment, usually of the electro-staff variety. Of course, there was no way that he was getting out of this one unscathed. If that ARC-trooper really did have a way to save them, though, it would be worth it.

With a flick of the wrist, the chancellor slapped Fox, sending him to the ground. He was stronger than an elderly man should be, and Fox could tell that his cheek bone was cracked, maybe even broken. Stifling a groan, he resumed his position. The chancellor turned to look out of his window, watching the speeders fly by. “If you had given me a body, I would have been able to prove that the insolent clone had a virus that had drove him insane. I can’t do that when it’s already been cremated!”

“I apologize, Chancellor.”

“Apologies will not suffice for a blunder of this magnitude.” Secretly, Fox hoped that he would be decommissioned. It was selfish, but he was tired, and even with a former-Jedi bodyguard, he was worried about Nyx. With a dark laugh, the chancellor turned to face him. “Do you want to correct your mistake, Commander?”

“Yes, Chancellor.”

“Good, because now’s your final chance.” He grinned. “When I hired Cad Bane, I had heard he was the best. Apparently, I was misinformed.” Fox stiffened, fear rolling through his gut. Here was proof that the chancellor had hired an assassin to kill Nyx, but Fox had bigger problems at the moment. “I’ve been searching for a replacement to take care of my little problem, but no one wants to accept a hit on the girl who killed the best bounty hunter in the galaxy. However, I think the solution may have been in front of me all along.”

“No!” Desperately, Fox unholstered his blaster and aimed it at the demagolka.

“Execute order 11.” With those three words, Fox froze. He tried to move, but he no longer had control of his body.

“Oh yes,” the chancellor sneered, “I do think this will be a suitable punishment. And unlike your other missions, you will remember this one. It will be delightful to see you suffer. Now,” he said, turning back to the window, “execute order 37.”

Stuck inside of his mind, Fox watched with horror as he reholstered his blaster and responded, “It will be done, my lord.”

As his body began to walk out of the office, Fox tried to think of anything that could save Nyx. When suddenly, he got an idea. If he was supposed to catch a wanted fugitive, surely he couldn’t be expected to do it alone. Hoping that 1010 would think it was a good idea, too, he reached for his comm.

---------

In what was an extremely rare occurrence, Nyx had somehow gotten the afternoon off. With Ahsoka helping, they were ahead in their work, and Layla and Matches were going to watch Jax after school. That meant that she and Fox could have a date night. Of course, Nyx had brought Fox’s favorite brownies and had enough food to satisfy even the hungriest clone.

Right now though, she was in the rec room, playing cards with her vod’ika. “And I win again.”

Hound threw his cards to the middle of the table. “That’s the third time in a row! You have to be cheating!”

“It’s not cheating, vod’ika.” She grinned. “Remember? I’ve been playing since before you were born.”

Thorn rolled his eyes. “I still think you have a card up your sleeve.”

Nyx began to shuffle the deck. “Please. If I’m going to cheat, I’m at least going to do it with a little style.”

Before she could start dealing, Thorn’s comm rang. With a confused look, he accepted the call. “This is Thorn.”

The voice that came through was monotone and emotionless, almost more droid-like than human. “Nyx Jakin has been declared a traitor by the Chancellor of the Republic. If you see her, shoot on sight.”

Thorn’s eyes flew to Nyx’s as her heart froze in her chest. With a shaky voice, Thorn responded, “Yes, Commander.” He ended the call and closed his eyes. After a moment, he looked back to Nyx. “We have to get you out of here.”

“There’s no way I’m leaving you. You know that this is the first place he’ll search, and he won’t be able to stop himself from hurting any of you if it means he can get to me.”

Thorn grabbed her hand. “Fox gave us orders in case this happened, ori’vod. You can walk out, or we can drag you out.”

Cursing Fox’s preparedness, Nyx growled, “And where do you expect me to go?”

“The Jedi Temple.” Freeze and Tag had snuck up behind her.

Nyx looked into the faces of all of her scared vod’e and realized that this was one fight she was not going to win. “Fine.”

With a sigh of relief, Thorn let go of her hand. “You had better leave now. Give me your comm and vambrace and I’ll have two squads lead Fox on a wild bantha chase. It should buy you some time.”

As she handed them over, she frowned. “I don’t want you taking any unnecessary risks, Thorn.”

“I know, but the safest place for you to be is with the Jedi, and you need time to get there.”

“And what happens when Fox can’t find me?”

Thorn refused to look at her, suddenly finding his boots very interesting. “We’ve been given our orders.” he repeated.

“No.” She grabbed Thorn’s arm. “You will not kill him, do you understand? Give me time to make a plan; I’ll think of something.”

He looked conflicted. On one hand, he had his orders, on the other, he didn’t want his brother to die. He took a shaky breath. “I can give you two days.”

Nyx pressed their foreheads together in a keldabe. “I’ll only need one.” Turning to her bodyguards, she nodded. “Let’s go, boys.”

As they began to run down the halls, Freeze bumped her shoulder. “Once we get you to the temple, we’ll go back to the Quadrant and tell them what happened.”

“Thanks.” Nyx huffed. They slid down the entrance hatch and resumed their jog. “Can I borrow someone’s comm?”

“Sure.”

Tag tossed it to her, and she quickly began to dial a code she had forced herself to memorize in case of emergency. “Vos here.”

“Vos, we have a problem. Fox has been ordered to execute me for treason. I’m headed to the temple now, but we have to make a plan or else he’s going to die.”

“Kark, kid, I can’t come right now.” She began to hear blaster fire in the background. “Obi-wan should be at the temple. I’ll let him know you’re on the way.”

“When will you be back?”

“Not sure,” he paused, “but you can trust Obi-wan. I promise.” A giant crash sounded through the comm. “He’ll help you.”

“Alright. Thanks, Vos.” She ended the call and began to run faster, a goal now in mind and a plan forming in her head.

Master Kenobi met them at the entrance to the temple. “Hurry, let’s get you inside.”

“This is where we leave you, ori’vod.”

Nyx turned to face her guards, throwing her arms around them. “Stay safe and stay hidden. I’ll figure something out, I promise.”

“We know you will.” Tag said as he squeezed her as hard as he could. “Stay safe, alor.” With a salute, they began to run back towards the barracks.

“They called you alor.” Kenobi’s mouth was slightly open.

“What of it?” Nyx asked, pushing past him.

“Do you know what it means?”

She gave a low laugh. “Of course I do, and right now, it means that I need to figure out a way to get Fox out of this alive.”

He put his hand on her shoulder, forcing her to look at him. “And what if you can’t?”

“That’s not an option.” She glared at the Jedi. “Vos said you could help me. Can you?”

“Of course I can, but you must be prepared in case this doesn’t work out the way you want it to.”

She bit her lip and looked anywhere but the Jedi. “I can’t lose him. Not like this. We’re supposed to make it to the end of the war…together” She shook her head. “This isn’t how our story is meant to end. I can feel it.”

Kenobi searched her face, then gave a small smile. “Well then, let’s get to planning.”

He led her to the council chambers. Most of the masters were there, the exception being those who were currently on a battlefield. “We’ve heard about Commander Fox,” Master Windu said, “and we promise to do everything in our power to help you.”

“Thank you.” Nyx bowed slightly. “Commander Thorn said that he can buy us a day, but after that, we’ll need to have a plan.”

“And faking a death won’t work this time.” Plo Koon said, his fingers steepled in front of his face.

“At least not with a burning building.” Master Billaba looked at Nyx. “But there are other ways.”

“I think we’re going to need an actual body this time to fool the chancellor.” Nyx said, pulling on her braid, “But I don’t know how to do that without actually dying.” As one, the Jedi in the room turned to Obi-wan. Nyx raised an eyebrow, “Do you have an idea, Master Kenobi?”

Running his fingers through his hair, he gave her a sheepish grin. “Only a bad one, I’m afraid.”

“The only option, this is. Sense it, I do.” Master Yoda tapped his gimer stick against his chair. “Dead, young Nyx must be.”

Nyx looked to Kenobi. “Care to translate?”

“It means that we have an idea. But first,” he stood and crossed the room to stand in front of Nyx, “do you trust us?”

She closed her eyes and sighed. “I’ve trusted you with my brother’s lives, so I’ll trust you with mine.”

“Good.” With a slightly larger grin, he asked, “What do you know about Rako Hardeen?”

-----

CC-1010 held a vambrace in his hand, the color and design identical to his own. The men behind him shifted nervously. To be honest, Fox didn’t know what to do, so he definitely had no idea what CC-1010 was planning. They had hit another dead end. “Can I take that for you, Commander?” Thorn had come with him, probably to make sure that he didn’t get too close to Nyx.

“No. Call CT-3452, let’s start tracking her.”

“Yes, sir.”

While Thorn was calling Hound, 1010’s comm lit up. He accepted the call, surprised to see Crix on the other end. His face looked like it had been carved out of stone. “Commander, I have a lead on your fugitive.”

What? Why in the world would he give up Nyx’s location? Maybe they had a plan, but Fox couldn’t figure out what in the galaxy it could be. “What is it?”

Crix winced slightly. Most people wouldn’t have noticed, but being a clone meant that it was necessary to notice even the smallest changes in facial expressions. “The abandoned warehouse on Level 36. She’s on the roof.”

“Thank you for your help, citizen.” Turning off the comm, 1010 turned to his men. “We’re headed to Level 36. Remember, she’s armed and dangerous, so shoot on sight.”

On the way up, Fox kept trying to figure out what the plan would be. He had thought that Nyx had followed the contingency protocols, which would mean that she should be at the Jedi Temple. The Jedi wouldn’t have let her leave, so she must not have made it there in the first place. Time to move to contingency plan three. The only way to keep her safe now was to kill him, and that was a sacrifice he was willing to make. If it came to it, Thorn had better take the shot.

They approached the building; 1010 scanning the roofs to try and catch a glimpse of her. Suddenly, he saw a dark silhouette standing against the skyline. “Fire!” he shouted, drawing his blasters and letting loose a volley of blaster bolts. Inside, he was screaming, but there was nothing Fox could do but watch.

Nyx began to run across the rooftops, jumping from building to building. But Fox saw that one of the jumps ahead was too far. So did Nyx. She stopped on the ledge, turning to look at him one last time. It only took a second to aim, and she was sent falling onto the pavement below.

As he screamed inside of his head, 1010 jogged to her too-still body. When he couldn’t find a pulse, he flicked on the comm, Palpatine’s smug face looking like a tooka who had gotten the cream. “The traitor has been terminated, my lord.”

“Good,” the chancellor sneered, “then I have no more use for you tonight, Commander. In fact, take tomorrow off. You’ve earned it.” He smiled like a demon as he said, “Deactivate emergency protocols.” and flickered out.

The first thing Fox did was check for a pulse, begging and praying that he had been mistaken, that Nyx was just unconscious. When he didn’t find one, he began to do chest compressions, calling for a medic and begging her to stay with him. It took four guardsmen to pull him far enough away for Saw to get through, and the defeated look in the medic’s eyes told Fox everything he needed to know.

After that, nothing could hold him back as he broke through the grip of his vod’e and pulled Nyx close, silent tears beginning to fall as he cradled her broken body to his chest. When all of his grief had been spent, he gently lifted her in his arms and began to make his way to Quadrant 13. Distantly, he heard Thorn comm ahead to let everyone know they were coming.

When they arrived, an honor guard was waiting. Clones and natborns alike lined the road to Doc’s. Matches was waiting at the door, but Fox refused to let Nyx go for a second. If he did, that would mean that she was really gone. If he kept holding on, then she was just sleeping. She’d wake up in a minute and make fun of him for worrying. But when he finally laid her down on one of Doc’s medical beds, she didn’t wake up. Fox squeezed her hand, a silent plea for her to squeeze back.

“No one blames you.” Doc had creeped in behind him, holding Nyx’s vambrace.

“They should.”

Carefully, Doc turned Fox away from Nyx’s body, but Fox couldn’t meet his gaze or let go of her hand. “The only one to blame is Palpatine. I heard what happened. You warned her. She wouldn’t have gotten as far as she did without you.”

“I killed her.”

“No, Fox, you didn’t.” Doc pulled him into a hug. “She knew the risks, and you were worth it. And I know that if she had a choice, she wouldn’t change a thing.”

Being shot had hurt less than what he was feeling now. It was like a gaping void had filled his chest, making it hard to breathe. “What do I do now?” he whispered.

“You wait for her.” Doc began rubbing circles in his back as sobs began to wrack Fox’s body. “She’ll come back to you, Commander. You just have to wait.”

Notes:

Sorry for all the angst, but it had to happen! Next week, we'll get to see part 2 of the plan unfold! Thank you all for your comments!

Chapter 17: I'm Coming

Summary:

Fox finds out the truth.

Notes:

Here's the reunion chapter you've been waiting for! Hope you like it! The title is from the Hadestown song "Wait for me - reprise".

When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the white ceiling of the Jedi’s Healing Halls. The next thing she saw was Vos, a smile appearing on his face when he noticed she was finally awake. “Kark, kid, you scared me.”

Nyx raised herself on her elbow. “Not my fault.” She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to pull out some of the tangles. “Did it work?”

“Yeah, but Fox is taking it hard.”

Nyx winced. She knew that this would hurt him, but she reminded herself that there was no other way to keep them both safe. “How bad?”

“Locked himself in his office again. I’m not even sure if he’s going to your funeral.”

She sighed. “Either way, can you bring him here once it’s over? Hopefully Master Nu will have found that artifact Master Kenobi told me about by then.”

Patting a box on the bedside table, Vos smirked. “She already did. This baby will make sure that the Chancellor only finds what he wants to when he tries to look into Fox’s head.” He leaned back in his chair. “I guess having a room full of random Force knick-knacks pays off every once in a while.”

A tired grin lit up Nyx’s face. “I don’t know what we would’ve done if the Jedi hadn’t been willing to help.”

He took her hand and squeezed. “Kid, this is the best we’ve felt in a long time. Don’t mention it.”

“Helping people fake their death makes Jedi feel good? I would have never guessed.” she said, eyebrow raised and smirking.

He let loose a laugh. “It’s not like that.” Growing serious, he gave her a small smile. “For years the dark side of the Force has been getting stronger on Coruscant. Crime’s increased, there’s more fighting and drugs, a hundred little things that only the Jedi think are connected. Since the war’s started, it’s been harder and harder to look past it. When we help you and the Guard, though? It’s like a curtain’s been pulled back. You guys just refuse to give in.” He shook his head. “It’s amazing, actually.”

“The same could be said of you Jedi.” Nyx said, swinging her legs off the side of the bed. “After all, who else would freely give medical supplies and food to a battalion of soldiers? Who would help a random person fake their own death?”

Vos smiled. “I have a feeling your Quadrant would.”

“Probably.” she said, shrugging, “But that’s what makes us a good team.” She grabbed her clothes off the back of a chair and went to change.

When she came out, Kenobi had joined them. “It’s good to see you alive and well, Miss Jakin.”

Rolling her eyes, she smiled, “I think we’ve gone beyond ‘Miss Jakin’, Master Kenobi. Call me Nyx.”

He chuckled and bowed. “As you wish, Nyx.”

Vos grinned and stood. “I’ve got to go to your funeral, but I’ll be back soon.” He winked. “And I’ll bring your commander back with me.”

Nyx lightly slapped him on the shoulder, then wrapped him in a hug. “Thanks, Vos.”

“I’ve heard the Chancellor is going to make an appearance.” Kenobi looked like he was trying to hide a smile. “It seems you made quite the impression.”

“Ugh. Please don’t remind me about that idiot. When are you guys going to stab him?”

Vos gave her an understanding smile. “Soon. Give us a little more time to get more evidence. Then he won’t hurt anyone ever again.” With one last final squeeze of her shoulder, he grabbed his robe. “And whatever you do, don’t take any fashion advice from Kenobi. This is a new identity we’re talking about here, can’t go ruining it with a bad haircut.”

Kenobi used the Force to throw a tray at his fellow Jedi, but the door slammed shut before it could make contact. Maybe the Jedi and clones were more alike than they thought. “Don’t listen to him, my fashion sense is impeccable.”

“I guess we’ll see.” Nyx said with a laugh. “Is everything ready?”

“That’s actually why I came up.” He held his arm out, making Nyx smile as she took it. “Shall we?” As they began to walk the long halls of the Jedi Temple, Kenobi chuckled.

“What?”

He shot her a glance. “It’s poetic, don’t you think? The woman responsible for saving hundreds of men by faking their deaths now has to fake her own.”

“I guess it is a little funny.” Her grin was quickly replaced by a frown. “How are the rest of the men taking it?”

“Better than Fox, but I wouldn’t expect to leave the barracks anytime soon once you step foot inside. And last I checked, Thorn was going to try and help Vos get Fox out of the office.”

(Thorn didn’t know everything, but Vos had gone to see him yesterday and told him that Nyx’s plan had worked. Even with the lack of information, he was confident in his ori’vod and decided that she somehow found a way to fake her death. Hope had spread through the barracks at the announcement, but it apparently hadn’t reached Fox.)

Kenobi’s grip tightened on her arm. “I know it’s hard, but this really was the only way to save both of you.”

“That doesn’t make it any easier.” she sighed.

“I know what you mean.” He pulled her to a stop. “Here we are, the Shadow Room.” Giving her a small smile, he squeezed her hand. “Are you ready to become a new person?”

She nodded. “Stay with me?”

“Of course.”

An older Togrutan Jedi met them as they walked through the door. “Master Kenobi, Miss Jakin,” she grinned, “I’ve been expecting you! Please, come sit. I’m Master Fa.” she told Nyx as she herded her to a salon seat and pointed at a chair for Kenobi. “Have you had any ideas about what you would like?”

Nyx shrugged, studying herself in the mirror. “Not really. I just don’t want to look crazy.”

She could see Master Fa grin in the mirror. “You’re going to look beautiful, my dear, don’t worry.”

“Well, then,” Nyx said, pulling back her shoulders, “do what you think is best.” And no one pointed out the few tears that fell when the Jedi’s scissors began to cut away her past life.

An hour and a half later, she was ready. She almost couldn’t recognize herself in the mirror, and the necklace Master Fa gave her ensured that Palpatine wouldn’t either. “I don’t know how to thank you for this.” Nyx said, tugging on the end of her hair.

“Don’t worry about it, my dear.” Master Fa said, hugging her tightly. “I’m just sorry that it had to come to this.”

Kenobi looked up from his comm. “Fox is on his way, Nyx.”

“He came out?” Vos really was a miracle worker.

He gave her a small smile. “Not exactly.” He flipped his comm to show her a picture from Vos. Fox was slung over his shoulder, and they were half-way out of the office window. Vos must have been using the Force to take the holo, because he was giving the camera a thumbs-up.

She snorted. “I guess that’s one way to get him out of the office.”

Master Fa laughed. “Leave it to Quin to take a simple mission and turn it sideways.”

“Fox probably didn’t make it any easier.” Nyx smiled and tightened her grip on her bag of new identification flimsies. “Would it be alright if we got to the room before them?”

“Of course, my dear.” Kenobi rose, and after saying their goodbyes to Master Fa, they began to make their way through the temple, finally entering Vos’s small apartment. Things were strewn around, but honestly, that was on-brand for the Jedi shadow.

“How much longer is it going to be?”

Kenobi closed his eyes. “They’ve just entered Temple Grounds.” He nodded towards the bedroom door. “I suggest you wait in there. We’ll try to break the news to him gently.”

Nyx nodded. “Thank you, Master Kenobi.” And she sat on the bed to wait.

-------

“Let me go.” Fox growled, trying to struggle against the Jedi. The lack of sleep and food kept him from being effective, so he had settled on trying to be a nuisance.

“No can do, Commander. I have my orders, and the woman who gave them is much scarier than you.” Vos was as insufferable as ever. You would think he would feel a little sad that Nyx had died, but instead he was taking Fox who knows where to do who knows what.

Thorn trailed behind them, his helmet in his hands. “Trust me, Fox, you’re going to like this.”

“You should’ve left me in my office. I could hurt you.” A stabbing pain shot through his heart, but he kept his emotions in check.

Apparently not enough, though, because he could feel Vos flinch under him. “Fox, do you trust us?”

It took him longer to answer than he’d like to admit. “Yes.”

“Do you trust Nyx?”

This time, he answered without hesitation. “Absolutely.”

“Then trust that she had a plan.” He lowered his voice. “I can’t talk about it out here, but once we get to the temple, you’ll get your answers.”

Fox had never thought Vos could be this cruel, giving him false hope. “She’s dead, Vos, and she’s not coming back.” His voice cracked. “I shot her.”

Vos didn’t answer, only tightening his grip, and they walked up the temple steps in silence. Fox had never been in the Temple before, and he would have been impressed if he wasn’t trying to escape. What made everything weirder, though, was the other Jedi. Instead of offering condolences or asking Vos what the kark he was doing, they smiled at him. Smiled. Fox didn’t understand it, and he thrashed around even harder. “Calm down, Fox.”

“Thorn, this is only going to end with Vos getting a broken nose. I don’t know what kind of game you two are playing, but it’s over. Nyx is dead, and you need to let me go back to my office so I can’t hurt anyone else.”

They had stopped in front of a seemingly random door. “Like I told you, Foxy, I have my orders.” The door slid open, and Vos threw him on the couch. “Now you sit there while we tell you a story.”

Kenobi was lounging in a chair when they came in, but quickly stood up. “Commander Fox, you look terrible.”

“Thanks.” Fox grumbled, eyeing possible exit routes. Thorn quickly noticed and blocked the window. Vos blocked the door. Great. “So why am I here? Is this some kind of intervention?”

“You could say that.” Kenobi came back from the kitchen, holding two cups of tea. “Here.”

“I’m good.”

Kenobi shrugged and put the cup on the table. “Tell me, Commander, what do you remember about Ranko Hardeen?”

He shrugged. “He was a bounty hunter that you impersonated in order to keep the chancellor from being kidnapped. Thanks for that, by the way.”

Vos snorted from the door. “Sleep deprived Fox is my favorite.”

“You shut up. My girlfriend’s dead and all you di’kut want to do is talk about some bounty hunter.”

Kenobi began to reach towards him but stopped halfway. “Did you know that I faked my death in order to take that mission?”

“No, I didn’t. But that doesn’t matter since it doesn’t look like Nyx ever made it to the temple.”

“What makes you say that?” Vos asked, eyebrow raised.

“Because if she did, you wouldn’t have let her leave. Jedi are supposed to protect people. Letting her out would have done the exact opposite.” He twisted the fabric of his kama, trying unsuccessfully to keep the emotion out of his voice.

Vos crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “Or maybe she came up with a plan to save the both of you and dragged the Jedi along with her.”

“Then where is she?!?” Fox shouted, “Where’s Nyx?” He marched to the Jedi and grabbed his shoulders, knuckles turning white. Vos didn’t say anything, just looked over Fox’s shoulder at the only other door in the apartment.

He didn’t want to give himself false hope, but kark was it hard when Vos smiled. “I suggest you get in there. You know how she hates to be kept waiting.”

Fox stumbled toward the door, slapping the controls and praying that she’d be waiting for him. When the door opened, his eyes were drawn to a silhouette standing by the window. The glare of the sun kept him from seeing much else, but he just knew it was her. It had to be. “Fox?”

That one word sent him to his knees. Suddenly she was right in front of him, alive, with both arms thrown around his shoulders as he shook. “I’ve got you, ner karta. It’s going to be alright.”

“I’m sorry.” he gasped, “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” Her fingers ran through his hair, and he leaned into it, even as his mind screamed to get as far away as possible to keep her safe. “Don’t you remember? You’re stuck with me. It’s going to take more than a psychopathic politician to keep me away.”

“I killed you.”

“No, Fox, you didn’t.” She pulled away, forcing him to meet her gaze. “Master Plo and Master Kenobi were hiding around the building when you came. Plo moved the blaster bolt two inches to the right and Kenobi caught me when I fell. I’m a little sore, but it wasn’t anything a little bit of bacta and force healing couldn’t fix.”

“But…I checked your pulse.” He ran his fingers over her wrist, desperate to make sure that she was actually alive and here.

“I took a sedative that slowed down my heart rate. The only thing that would have detected a life signature is a high-quality medical scanner.” She pulled him back in a hug. “I’m sorry for doing this to you.”

Fox buried his face in her neck. “You’re alive. That’s all that matters.” Then he froze. “I really did take too many stims.”

“What makes you say that?” Nyx asked with a smirk.

“I’m seeing things. Your hair looks short and blonde, and your eyes look green.” Fox looked at her again, rubbing his eyes. “Definitely too many stims.”

Nyx laughed, and kark if that didn’t make Fox’s heart twist. “Didn’t Vos tell you? They gave me a new identity, makeover, and some fancy jewelry. Between the three, Palpatine’s not going to know I’m alive.”

“I’m glad.” As much as it hurt him, though, he began to pull away. “You shouldn’t be near me, though. Palpatine could look through my memories, and then you’d be in even worse danger.”

Nyx rolled her eyes and yanked him back towards her. “What? Did you think I’d go through all the trouble of faking my own death and not think of a way for us to be together without Palpa-butt knowing?” She pulled a bracelet out of her pocket. “Happy Lifeday.”

Fox gently took it. It didn’t look like anything special, just a silver hoop. “This will keep Palpatine from finding out about you?”

“It turns out that the Jedi have a lot of random force artifacts in the archives. When you wear this, the chancellor will only see what he wants to.” She smiled and pulled him in for another kiss. “Which means that you and I are going to be fine.” He looked at her, wondering how she could forgive him. “I can hear you overthinking.” she said as she moved under his arm. “Stop it.”

“I don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand, Commander of mine?”

He shifted so that they were both leaning against the foot of the bed. “I shot you two days ago, and you’re not afraid of me…of what I could do to you.”

Fox could feel her shrug. “You weren’t the one that shot me, Fox, it was 1010. It was never your fault.” She sighed and snuggled closer to his side. “But I know that you’re not going to accept that as an answer, so I guess I’ll just have to keep reminding you.”

The stress of the past few days seemed to crash on him all at once. The fact that Thorn had confiscated his caff 12 hours ago didn’t help, either. He doubted that he could get up from the floor, but since Nyx was there with him, he couldn’t think of a better place to be stuck. “I like the new look.”

She blushed. “I was hoping that you would.” She reached up to touch her hair. “It’s going to take some getting used to.”

Fox held her tighter. “Yeah, but I don’t care what you look like.” He leaned his head against her shoulder. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” she whispered.

“Doc knew about this, didn’t he?”

He felt her nodding. “Freeze and Tag told everyone in the Quadrant about the plan. Why?”

“He told me to wait for you.” Fox smiled. “I thought that he meant that one day you would show up to help me march on, but this is much better.”

“Definitely.” Nyx closed her eyes, the chaos of the past few days catching up with her. Within a few moments, her breathing evened out, and Fox smiled as she slept on his shoulder.

And with her pulse point under his fingertips, the commander finally fell asleep.

Notes:

Translations:
Ner karta - my heart

Only one more chapter and an epilogue left! Thank you all for your comments and kudos!

Chapter 18: Escape

Summary:

Fox and the guard try to make their escape from Coruscant.

Notes:

I hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas! Only the epilogue left!

Even with Nyx safe, things weren’t going well with the Guard. Tensions were rising between them and the rest of the clones. Cody and Rex did their best to help, but since they couldn’t explain why they suddenly didn’t hate Fox, no one listened. Fights between the Corries and the GAR were more frequent, and more violent. Members of the Guard were being disowned by their batchmates in the GAR, and there was nothing that anyone could do to stop it.

Rumors ran wild. Everything from, “Commander Fox shot Fives and burned the warehouse down to hide the evidence,” to “Commander Fox set fire to the warehouse with Fives still alive inside.” The Guard would always defend their commander, and the GAR would always take that as an insult, and then the fight would start.

Fox was taking it hard. He had never wanted his Guard to be mixed up in all of this, but if their commander was going to march into hell, they were going to follow him. Nyx and Jax spent most of their free time in the barracks. She tried to lighten Fox’s workload while Jax tried to cheer everyone up. It worked…most of the time.

On the bad nights, the ones where drunk texts from batchmates kept Fox from sleeping, one of the other commanders would call Nyx. Without fail, she would come to the barracks, take Fox’s comm away, and stay with him until he fell asleep. She didn’t get much sleep on those nights. Instead, she stared at the wall and planned their escape. Date nights with Fox turned into strategy meetings, the two of them trying to figure out a way to leave Coruscant. Leaving a vod behind wasn’t an option, so they had to plan for everything.

While all of this was happening, Palpatine was still using Fox for blackout missions. Nyx was called in after those, too. Fox’s hands would shake so much that he couldn’t take off his armor, so Nyx did it for him. It was always covered in blood, but it usually wasn’t his. Unless it was something serious, Nyx would patch him up herself. She got very good at stitching stab wounds. Without fail, Fox would try to push her away, and she would push right back, insisting that she wanted to be with him, no matter what. Eventually, he started believing her.

On the bright side, Fives was safe in the Jedi Temple. Ahsoka spent most of her time with him there, keeping him company. When Nyx had told her about the escape plan, Ahsoka said that she couldn’t go because her men needed her, so she was basically a Jedi again in all but name. The Council had even given her a room to stay in at the Temple. Even better was the news that the GAR was almost finished with the de-chipping process.

-------

Nyx was lying on Fox’s couch when she got a text from Vos: “About to arrest Palps. If you’re going to do something, do it now.”

After sending back a quick: “Good luck, stab him in the face for me”, she looked up at Fox, who was sitting behind a mountain of datapads, as usual. “Foxy, it’s time.”

He rubbed his eyes. It had been another long night of bar brawls, so he was exhausted. “What, cyar’ika?”

“I said it’s time.”

Exhaustion forgotten, his eyes widened. “Are you sure?”

“Vos is on his way to arrest Palpa-dork now. We need to go.”

“Make the call.” Fox started to grab things from his desk, shoving them into a duffel bag he had stashed behind the couch.

Nyx nodded and pressed the emergency communications button that had been added to her vambrace. It would transmit her message to every Guard, Zombie, and citizen of Quadrant 13. “Alright everyone, it’s time to go. Initiate evacuation contingency ‘Getting the Kark Outta Here’, rendezvous at extraction point delta.” Then she made a second, private comm call. “Matches, it’s Nyx. Could you grab my go-bag and Jax?”

“Sure thing, alor. Are we really getting out of here?”

She glanced at Fox and smiled. “Yes we are. I’ll see you on the ship.”

Fox slung the bag over his shoulder as loud bootsteps were heard in the hall. “What are you staring at?” He asked, eyebrow quirked.

Nyx stood on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss. “A free man. Now let’s go, I never want to see that awful couch ever again.”

“Hey,” he called, humor present in his voice for the first time in months, “I thought you loved my couch.”

“Love you, not the couch.” She called over her shoulder. After finishing headcounts, they were the last ones out of the building. It turns out that no one in the Guard liked being on Coruscant, so they didn’t waste a lot of time loitering around. “Do you think Vos is going to be okay?”

Fox looked at the Senate Dome, which, in his opinion, still looked like a giant wart. “If anyone can take the Chancellor down, it’s him.”

“I just hope he didn’t go alone.”

“He’s dumb, but he’s not that dumb, cyar’ika. Vos will be fine.” He took her hand and squeezed it. “Now let’s get going before he comes back here to gloat about how he was the mastermind behind the Chancellor’s arrest.” He slid his helmet on. “Initiating comms blackout, emergency protocol ‘What?’.” Once they had discovered that the chips were voice activated, a comms blackout had been the first consideration in every contingency plan. The men were limited to internal comms, and they would stay that way until they entered hyperspace. Lifting up the bottom of his bucket, Fox smiled. “Can’t wait to hear your voice again, sweetheart.”

Nyx grinned, and together they walked hand in hand down the streets of Coruscant one last time, an entire battalion’s worth of clones following behind them. No one tried to stop them, and it’s not like they could, even if they wanted to. But that didn’t stop them from staring, taking videos, and being a general nuisance.

They made it to the shipyard in record time, and Nyx knew that everyone had reported in when Fox gave her a nod. Everyone began to split up into four pre-assigned groups, each group getting on a different ship. The ships were old freighters that Nyx and the Zombies had been retrofitting for the past six months to accommodate everyone. They may not look nice, but they would get everyone home in one piece, which was the important thing. There would be one commander and one medic on each ship, and as soon as they were safe, the current Guards would begin the chip removal process. “Where in the galaxy did you find this bucket of bolts, Crix?” Gotti grumbled, lugging three bags over his shoulders.

“I called in a few favors with the anti-pirate fleet. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to get on!” Crix replied, helping Mrs. Norington up the ramp. Laughing, Gotti rolled his eye and began to help Mrs. Reed.

As soon as everyone was on board, they began their ascent into Coruscanti airspace. As they rose above the buildings of Coruscant, Nyx noticed a plume of smoke rising from the Senate Dome. Seeing her look of horror, Fox turned, and pulled her close against his chest. They continued to watch until it faded out of sight, leaving them hoping that their friend survived, but not knowing if they would ever find out. Once they reached the upper atmosphere, Nyx transmitted coordinates to the navigators of each ship. (It had been decided that it would be safer for everyone if she was the only person with access to the location of their new home.)

Within moments, they were in hyperspace. Fox yanked off his bucket and hugged Nyx. “Vos’ll be ok. He’s going to show up at our house one day demanding food, and then he’s never going to leave. You’ll see.”

“I hope you’re right.” Nyx answered, wiping a tear off her cheek.

Doc, who had stealthily crept up behind the pair, cleared his throat. “Commander, it’s time.”

Fox nodded and kissed Nyx. “You ready for this?”

She tried to give him a smirk, but it fell flat. “You’re the one having brain surgery, ner kar’ta.”

“Well then, it’s a good thing that I have the best doctor and assistant in the fleet.”

Nyx was able to give him a real laugh this time, even if it was quieter than normal. “Let’s get this over with.”

---------

The first person Fox saw when he woke up was Nyx, who was sitting at his bedside, holding his hand. “This feels familiar.”

She swatted his shoulder, but her words only sounded relieved. “Don’t you start with that.”

He laughed and sat up in the bed. “So now that I’m a free man, why don’t you tell me about this planet you’ve found for us?”

She gave him a sly look. “Don’t try to get any information out of me, Commander Fox. It’s going to be a surprise.”

“A surprise?” He groaned dramatically and fell back onto the pillows. “You know how much I hate surprises.”

“You’ll like this one.” She said, planting a kiss on his cheek. “I promise.”

-----

For the first time in his life, Fox was speechless. Giant trees towered over him for as far as the eye could see. A mountain range rose up in the distance, and he could hear birds chirping. Jax had already disappeared into the tree line, a group of brothers lovingly referred to as Gremlin Squad hot on his tail. Fox had thought that he would die before he ever smelled clean air, ever saw a tree that wasn’t choking on smog. He pulled off his gloves and knelt down, running his fingers through the grass.

Nyx knelt beside him, almost vibrating from excitement. “The Jedi Explorcorps found this place a few months ago. It’s not on any databases and is completely uninhabited.” She paused, glancing in his direction. “I was thinking that we could call it ‘Aran’yaim’. I know it’s a little on the nose, but I like it.” When she didn’t get a response, she frowned. “What are you thinking, Foxy? We can change the name if you want.”

He grabbed her hand and kissed her. “Marry me.”

She laughed, a twinkle in her eyes. “You must admit, that’s an odd name for a planet.”

“I’m serious.” He ran his thumb over her knuckles. “Marry me.”

She grabbed his chest plate and pulled him in for another kiss. Once they had finished, she smiled. “Took you long enough. When?”

“Now.” he said, breathlessly. “Do you know the Mandalorian wedding vows?”

“I’ve had them memorized for months, ner karta.” She took his hands. “Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde.”

Without wasting another second, he repeated them. “Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde.” Then all the cheers and yelling faded into the background as he kissed his new bride.

--------

On Coruscant, Jedi Shadow Quinlan Vos’s comm vibrated with an incoming message. It contained a single set of coordinates, and one sentence: My wife is going to be really upset if you got yourself killed, di’kut.

Notes:

Thank you all for your comments! Merry Christmas!

Translations:
cyar'ika- darling, beloved, sweetheart
ner karta - my heart
Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde - We are one when together, we are one when parted, we will share all, we will raise warriors.

Chapter 19: Epilogue

Summary:

The happy ending everyone's been waiting for!

Within days, the first house had been built. By the end of the third month, all construction on houses had finished. Of course, they didn’t necessarily have to build a home for everyone. The former members of the Coruscant Guard were learning about domestic life, and a lot of them had taken Fox’s lead and got married. Matches and Layla were the second couple to get hitched, and they were now expecting a baby.

The Guard had arrived on Aran’yaim just in time to start planting for a fall harvest, so there was always something to be done. Whether it was farming, building, or hunting, the members of the new community were kept busy. It was alright, though, because this time they made the choice themselves.

Fox and Nyx lived in a four-bedroom house on the outskirts of the village. Flowers bloomed all year round in the front garden, and the home was always kept neat and tidy by its occupants. Like every house in Aran’yaim, string lights decorated the front and back porch, lighting up the night with their glow. Against their will, Fox and Nyx had been elected the leaders of the town, because apparently the former Guard liked the stability of a clear command structure and the people of the Quadrant liked to cause mischief.

They didn’t know what had happened to the Chancellor, or if Vos had survived. At least, they didn’t until 6 months after their escape, when a knock sounded on their door in the middle of the night. Standing on their doorstep, soaking wet, was Quinlan Vos. “Think you could let an old friend in out of the rain?”

Nyx crashed into him, her arms nearly choking him from where they were thrown around his neck. “We were so worried about you!”

“Come on, kid, you should know it would take more than a Sith Lord to take me out.” He ruffled her hair. There was a new scar peeking out from under his robes, but other than that, he looked fine.

“A Sith Lord?” Fox asked, throwing a towel at Vos’s face.

“Yup. Explains a lot, doesn’t it?” He began to dry off, stopping suddenly when he caught sight of Nyx’s stomach. “No.”

“Yes.” She rubbed her hand over her growing belly. “He’s due in 5 months.”

Fox rolled his eyes and looked at the Jedi. “She’s convinced it’s a boy, but with a kick like that? Definitely a girl.”

“He’s a boy. I know because of my motherly intuition.” She turned to Vos. “Tell him that I’m right. Use your weird Jedi powers or something.”

“Doc hasn’t been able to tell you?” Vos asked, placing a hand over her stomach.

“The ultrasound machine broke a few weeks ago. It spontaneously combusted while Matches and Layla were having a check-up. We haven’t been able to find a replacement yet.”

“I’ll see what I can do about that, but for now, it’s my pleasure to be your human ultrasound.” He closed his eyes, a look of concentration on his face. After a few moments, he straightened up and smiled. “So, are you ready for the good news?” After pausing dramatically, he grinned. “It’s a girl!”

Fox cheered while Nyx smiled. “Thank you for that. He’s going to be bragging for weeks now.”

“But I wasn’t finished.” Vos said, a smirk on his face. “You were both right.”

Their eyes widened and mouths dropped open. “Twins?”

-----------

Aran’yaim became the Jedi’s best kept secret. When a knight or master needed a break from politics, they would wind up on Fox’s doorstep. Vos became a frequent visitor, and Jax and the twins got a weird uncle who always brought them fun toys from planets across the galaxy.

When the twins were two, Vos arrived in a medical ship carrying the cure to the clone’s accelerated aging, ensuring that they would all live a normal lifespan. When they were three, a group of Jedi arrived, asking to start a temple on the planet. By the time they were six, the temple was finished and Uncle Vos had decided to stay forever, just like Fox had predicted.

If you asked a random person what happened to the Coruscant Guard, they probably wouldn’t know who you were talking about. If you asked someone from Coruscant, they may say that they all disappeared the day the Chancellor died. The barracks had been cleaned out and not a single piece of armor could be found. If you asked a clone, they would guiltily shake their head and refuse to answer. A Jedi would say something cryptic about “the will of the force” and walk away, leaving you with more questions than before. And if you were brave enough to ask Quinlan Vos during one of his rare trips to Coruscant, he would tell you that one good deed changed the fate of the galaxy. But everyone knows that’s ridiculous. A single kind act doesn’t have that kind of power. Right?

Notes:

That's a wrap! When I first started this fic, I never thought I'd have this kind of response. Thank you all for sticking to the end, and thanks for all of the amazing comments! Happy New Year!