Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Thorn is not in great shape. Fox thinks as he drags his fellow omega away from the exploding Sith Lord, gripping under his vod’s arms. Yes, they say wait for the medics, but Fox survived Genosis. When someone was unconscious, you move them out of the way of the ordinance. Whatever drug Palpatine hit Thorn with is affecting his vod’ika’s breathing, and sweat is running off him sticking his curly blond hair to his head. The demaglocka had probably been trying to get Thorn to go into heat. And the bastard might have done it.

What was the asshole thinking? Get Thorn fully into heat and then use his heat to induce Fox’s? Fox is pregnant. Right now he’s more sensitive to alpha and omega hormones than he’s ever been in his entire life. And if his closest pack mate and his alpha… Former alpha! Force the bastards dead. That’s a good thought.

Would Palpatine have had him “help”? Or would the medical “examination by droid” that Vader had interrupted by crushing Thire’s windpipe, have lasted into the night, with Fox called in when Thorn was already heat drunk, and his vod’ika used to ensure his compliance. If his former alpha and his closest packmate had started going at it, Fox would have had quite the involuntary response. And combined with the emperor’s control of the darkside of the force…

Whatever he had planned, the bastard was dead now. And Fox as omega, not an alpha in this situation was about as useful to Thorn as a wet washcloth. No, wait that wasn’t true. He was Thorn’s packmate, he needed to remain calm, give off calming scents. Calm, not panicking. He needed to remain calm.

The remaining calm isn’t working so he comms for help. “Patch, heading inbound to medbay. We need pickup!”

“Fox! What happened!” Patch’s voice comes back immediately.

“Uhhh…Accident…get RAM, damn he’s out, get Wires.” Because they’re going to need an IT expert to scrub all records of this. But first things first, his vod is hurt. “Thorn’s been dosed with something.”

“What type of something?”

“Uhh…” Operational security over comms was one thing, but he really wanted Patch to bring the right treatments. “Me type stuff. You know things that umm…make you warm?”

Patch sighs. “Real, descriptive, vod.” Before Fox can protest, he continues. “On my way.”

“Roger, roger,” And with that wonderful clanker sign off, seriously had shooting his CO scrambled his brains? Fox drags Thorn out of the Throne room and puts him on a couch in the foyer. Then he goes and locks the throne room at the highest authorization. No one is getting in there without him.

He just killed his commanding officer, the Sith emperor... Who happens to be his baby daddy. This sounds like a bad Rylothian holonovella. What the hell is he going to do?

***

He’s saved from further spiraling by the arrival of Patch and the rest of the medical team. He’s not over-comms anymore, he can talk more explicitly if quietly to his CMO. “Thorn got dosed with something, I think its supposed to trigger a heat.”

“His implant should help with that.”

“I think his implant broke, Patch.”

His CMO fixes him with a look, “Same way yours did?” Patch is well aware by now who Fox’s baby’s sperm donor was. He had offered to make an abortion look like a miscarriage but Fox couldn’t even trust his own mind not to betray him in that case. And if Palpatine had found out…

“Yeah… same way mine did.”

“Do I need my rape kit for this one?” The medic asks quietly as his junior medics load Thorn, who is still not looking good onto the stretcher.”

“Probably, not. It was interrupted before it got anywhere.”

“I’ll do complete work up anyway.” When Fox goes to help with the stretcher. “I’ve got it, Fox. Do you have time to come? Didn’t the emperor want you to do something?”

Fox glances around the hall. “About that...” Fox can practically hear Patch’s curiosity but the chief medic knows him well enough that he keeps his mouth shut as they hurry back to medbay.

***

Back in Medbay, Thorn is still having problems. His breathing isn’t stabilizing. Patch is on the comm with Stone telling him he needs to stop by the pharmacy and pick up a bottle of synthetic alpha scent and heat aids.

Clones as whole usually had implants so there usually wasn’t that much call for designation specific heat aids. They still had a ton of sex, they were young mature adult males, it just wasn’t usually the medically required kind. And Palpatine never approved the purchase of any of the stuff for medbay. Not since he started using Fox on the regular.

Patch hangs up with Stone. “Did you get him?” Patch asks Rys who's on his comm.

“Finally,” the trooper nods, “he’s had to get someone to cover his shift but he’s on his way.”

“Thank Fuck, ” his medic swears. “Well this should make him happy,” he glances at Fox, “he’ll finally get to grow back the goatee. Give him directions and access.”

“Roger, Roger,” Patch gives Rys a look that could have peeled paint. Rys is unrepentant.

Fox is about to ask who they were calling, but then some alarms start going off Thorn’s quarantine room and Patch hurries away as Rhys gets back on the comm with directions for whoever he was calling. They aren’t doing something stupid like bringing in a natborn alpha are they? Maybe a brother from another unit on leave?

***

Stone arrives before he can ask anymore questions of his trooper or his medic. His youngest commander hands over the synthetic alpha scent, three different knotting dildos, some mouthguards, lube, and a set of assorted odds and ends to a relieved Patch, who bolts back into the quarantine room with them. Stone, his package delivered turns to Fox, “Oh, before I forget Cira at the counter congratulates you on and I quote ‘finally kicking that fuckin’ useless alpha of yours to the curb,’ and says now that since you’re switching to the synthetic she has ‘contacts to hook you up with with the natural stuff, no strings attached.’”

Fox sighs. Cira, the cheerful omega idorian pharmacy technician at the local StarAid store obviously thought the heat aids were for him, previously the only omega in the Coruscant Guard with a malfunctioning implant. Well, she did guess rightly about kicking his alpha to the curb. He allows himself a small tight smile. “Tell her thanks, and hopefully I won’t need to take her up on that any time soon.”

“And she’s proud of you for getting out.”

“Nice…”

Patch comes back out presumably having passed off heat aids to his medics. He looks right at Rhys. “When is he getting here?”

“He had to swap shifts with someone, but he’s on his way.”

“Who?” Fox asks, not liking that they’re apparently delaying Thorn’s treatment by being late.

“I think they’re talking about me.”

Fox turns and there in the medbay doorway stands a ghost. He saw this man die. He killed him. Sure the clone had shaved off his trademark beard, and was wearing his hair over the tattoo on his temple. But Fox had been identifying his brothers since he was decanted. He’s seen this man in his nightmares. He’s woken up to memories of the stun bolt hitting the alpha and the vod twitching to the floor more than any battlefield, even Geonosis.

He must be a ghost. They say Coruscant’s haunted, and if Fox was ever going to be haunted by a vod it would be this one. Patch had told him whatever Nala Se had dosed the clone with had reacted badly with the stun blast. The trooper had never stood a chance. And now he’s haunting Fox. Part of Fox’s brain is dimly wondering why a ghost would choose to wear an orange crop top from Knots, while carrying a brown leatheris jacket. That’s kind of out there even for a haunting. But the rest of him is thoroughly convinced he deserves this.

“Hi, I hope I’m not too late,” says the out of breath ghost. Do ghosts even get out of breath, thinks Fox inanely. On the subject of breathing, he’s pretty sure he hasn’t taken a breath in the last 100 seconds, maybe he’s able to see the dead now. He died when he killed Palpatine and this is just the dying gasp of his few remaining neurons. Because in front of him wearing a bright orange Knots crop top and talking to Fox’s CMO is the dead 501rst ARC Trooper, Fives.

Chapter Text

Fives booked it across the entire sector as soon as Stone called. Borrowed a speeder from Farr, who swapped shifts with him at the last minute. He pulled up to the “secret” side entrance of the senate building. It wasn’t so much secret as unused according to Rys. He hopes in the right place.

“Over here!” a vod calls as Fives he brings the speeder around into the garage. “Nice paint job, never thought anyone would bother to put racing stripes on a Joben T-85 speeder bike.

Fives laughs, “I borrowed it from my roommate. Can I leave it here?”

“Yeah, not even Skywalker would touch something that slow. Follow me, I’ll lead you medbay.“ They begin walking quickly. “I’m Jek. What are you going by these days?”

“Ray.”

“Short for rayshe'a? Seriously, vod.”

“You know it.”

Jek laughs. “You’re ridiculous. No wonder you get along with Thorn. Come on, we need to head up. Run the next bit.” Jek looks at him with a playful challenge. If you can keep up?”

“Oh now you're on!”

***

“That … was… a lot of stairs.”

“A lot...”

“And you didn’t just have me come in the emergency entrance because…” Fives wheezes.

“You’re supposed to be dead.” Jek replies between gasps, “And if we came in the ambulance entrance someone would notice. Anyway, aren't you supposed to be an ARC Trooper?”

“Been working at Knots and eating a lot of takeout vod.” Fives tries to control his breathing, “What’s your excuse?”

“Standing around all day guarding stuck up senators. And I thought that lift worked for going up.”

“That was a lot of floors.”

“Almost there.”

***

Fives gasps in relief. He had completely gone from 0 to 60 on his PT. His limbs all hurt and Medbay is a sweet, sweet sight.

“When is he getting here?” He hears Patch ask, sounding exasperated.

“He had to swap shifts with someone, but he’s on his way.” Rys replies.

“Who?” The vod in corrie red they’re talking to asks.

Aww shit, Fives knows that armor. It was the last thing he saw before he died. The boots picked out in white, the red body, the white armor stripes across the forearms, the mostly red helmet with white piping. And directly in Fives’ line of sight on the shoulder the emblem of the galactic senate painted in crimson corrie red. He knows exactly who the vod is, and has to force himself to speak up. He can do this. For Thorn. “I think they’re talking about me.”

Commander Fox turns toward him like a venerator moving to unleash a missile barrage on an on orbit station. He can see Fox take in his work outfit, an orange crop top and booty shorts, with the jacket he had worn on the way over, flung over his shoulders. Fox was definitely not expecting him.

***

Only long practice keeps Fox on his feet. He can’t breathe.

“Uhh rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated….” Says the impossible sight in front of him

Fox finally manages some air only to blurt out. “Demise! I killed you. I stunned you in the heart, while you were hopped up on bizarre long-neck pain meds, and you died. You had no pulse! I checked!”

“I got better.”

“And you,” Fox rounds on his CMO, only a few steps from irate. “You knew…”

“Yes I knew,” says Patch, giving him a look like he’s a vod with a particularly recalcitrant artery daring to try to bleed out on his operating table.

“And you didn’t tell me.” Fox is working to regain his control. He’s not allowed to murder subordinate officers. No, just superior ones is the hysterical thought.

His CMO matches his gaze, “The second I told you this trooper was alive it was getting back to the Emperor and you know it. I wouldn’t be telling you now if you hadn’t been here when he arrived. Fox, you understand opsec.”

“Patch…”

***

There's a stare down going on between the marshall commander and his medic, Fives doesn’t want to come between them. Unfortunately he has to.

“Umm… sirs if it’s all the same to you, I’ll go in and help my boyfriend if you don’t mind.” Fives tentatively interrupts the detente between Fox and his CMO.

The look Fox gives him in response is like ice. “And just how long have you been seeing him, alpha.” It’s as if the room drops several degrees as Fox stalks over to him. “What did you do to convince him?” The commander of the Coruscant Guard snarls.

“Just a few months. He was in medbay when I woke up.” Fives stammers. “Sir, please, just let me go help Thorn.”

“Why should I trust you, alpha? Why should I let you in there, with my packmate?”

Fives takes a deep breath. Not alpha anything but in the strictest biological sense anymore, but arguing that point won’t help him get to his boyfreind of this any faster. “Because Thorn trusts me. And you trust him. And we’ve been dating for four months, and it works.” Fives looks up and meets Fox’s gaze. “But, commander, if I do something to hurt him, I will let you do whatever you want to me. But I will do my damndest not to hurt him ever, sir. Please, let me help Thorn, sir.”

***

Goddamnit, Rex always said the kid wore his heart on his sleeve. For the first time he can actually believe that Fives talked himself out of a firing squad with nothing but heart. He’s so glad this kid didn’t end up in the guard, he would not have been able to keep that shine. Fox turns to his CMO. “You trust him? With Thorn?”

“Wouldn’t have called him if I didn’t.”

“Ok, I’m trusting you with this. But if this goes wrong,” he looks at Fives and his medic. “I am taking it out of both your hides. Understood?”

“Yessir!” they respond together.

“Have one of your medics brief the kid if you think they’re up to it, Patch. Something very big just came up. And then if there’s time you can explain your reasoning to me on this entire situation.”

***

That sounds ominous. Fives is relieved when Patch assigns one of his surgeons, Pierce, to “explain the facts of life to Ray here” and he follows the vod to a private exam room. He’s glad he didn’t get caught up in whatever other craziness had happened yet.

Now what had his boyfriend gotten himself into?

Chapter Text

~24 hours later, Benduday Late Afternoon
Fives wakes up to a simulated light from what looks to be a repurposed surgical lamp hooked to some droid circuit boards. Fives supposes somebody programmed it to simulate the planet’s sunset here the depths of a grey Coruscanti building. It fills the room with a lovely orange glow.

Fives feels like he’s run a marathon, but gets up to use the fresher. He looks a bit haggard in the mirror. That was what a dose of PT, lots of sex, very little sleep, and living off fried Knot shift meals did to you. What a night.

There’s a pile of stuff on the quarantine room's little table. A note is stuck to electrolyte drinks that says, Drink this or IV.” -Peirce. There’s also some better quality ration bars, fresh fruit, and natborn snacks, including what looks like real pastries. Perks of being in the core! According to Thorn the Guards petty cash fund comes from two fountains on the grounds that natborns would toss coins in for wishes. The guard had been called in to fix the fountain after one had gotten clogged and had just kept on “cleaning” it since.

Thorn moves under the covers, and the simulated sunlight glints off his blonde hair. Fives hurries to the bed and sits beside him. “Feeling any better?”

Thorn blinks then nods.”That shit was just nasty. I felt like I was drunk and shot at the same time. What time is it?”

“1800. Your medics left you a pile of goodies.”

“Wow!” Thorn looks over the pile. “You know you can have some too, you did about half the work.”

“Yeah but I wasn’t the one who got roofied.” Fives passes an electrolyte drink and pastry over to Thorn.

“Well I think half of this is from the manager at the bakery across the walkway to celebrate Fox finally kicking his alpha to the curb. She’s sweet on Stone, ” Thorn bites into the pastry, “and gossip like that is worth its weight in latinum.”

“Latinum?”

“Something that hasn’t been seen on Coruscant in centuries.”

“Thorn,” Fives says seriously, “was it ok I was here? I know you told Patch to get me. But I wasn’t sure...”

“Fives,You were the only good part of this entire fucked up situation.” Thorn says with such warmth, Fives can’t help but listen. “Seriously, you helped a lot.”

Fives smiles back at his boyfriend. “Anytime Thorn. Just try not to get roofied again.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Pierce left a note saying you had to drink the electrolyte stuff or get an IV. He comes by his name honestly?”

“Very. I once saw him sedate a shiny while the kid was trying to go back on duty. Vod never even saw the autoinjector coming.”

“Speaking of surprised, you should have seen Fox’s face when I showed up. He looked like he’d seen a ghost. Didn’t quite believe I was alive.”

Thorn starts cracking up, the I have been in panic mode for too long and now everything is funny laughter. “Well he did “kill” you. That’s good he knows now.” Thorn can’t stop laughing. “I don’t have to tell him. He beat himself up so much for that. But if I told him…”

“The emperor would have known about the chips and their removal in a heartbeat.” Fives finishes. Thorn nods in agreement between laughs. “And stopped our attempt to remove it from the GAR.”

Thorn smiles. “Yes,” and he’s so close that Fives can’t resist sliding a thumb across Thorn’s lips and his boyfriend chases it with his tongue.

“Thank you for keeping that a secret.” He says quietly. “I know it was hard.”

“I’m so glad I did, Fives’ika, and I’m so glad Fox knows now.”

“So Fox finally kicked his alpha to the curb? Took him long enough.” Fives smiles, “There was a huge amount of speculation through the entire freed section of the GAR as to who his baby daddy was.”

Thorn grinned back. “And I’m still not telling you. Just know they’re an asshole, who never deserved Fox.”

“True. So I’m glad Patch decided to break opsec and pull me in because you weren’t feeling good and all. But part of our agreement was no barrack visits. Aren’t you worried about the Sith Lord finding out?”

A wicked smile starts to grow on Thorns face. He’s full on grinning by the time he begins talking. “Fives… we’re never going to have to worry about the Sith Lord ever again.”

And when Fives stares at him like a landed fish. Thorn breaks into a full on wolfish grin, “Fox killed him.”

***

~24 hours earlier, Zhellday Evening
“So what did you want to talk to us about Fox?” Stone asks.

“And what’s so important you had to drag us down here, with our second in command getting roofied. And after having to intubate our 3rd in command.” Patch puts in. “I would like you to know this is under protest as we’ve had to leave Needles in charge of Medbay.”

“And,” Stone puts in, “Jamie, in charge of everyone else, while we follow you down into the murder basement. We’re going to be lucky if the building is still standing when we come up. If we come up.”

“You’re not ordering us down here to murder us right? If Palps asked you to kill us you’d just tell us up front right.” Wires is their IT specialist at the moment given that RAM is currently offworld. Fox can’t wait until RAM is back, Wires is jumpy.

“I’m not going to kill you.” Fox sighs. “This just needs a high level of security.”

“And that is downstairs in the murder basement, sir.” Wires tries to look brave but mostly it's anxiety crossed with IT's involuntary brand of we didn’t get our job because of our people skills accidental insubordination. He’s yet to meet a normal IT specialist. RAM usually functions as the group’s translator.

“There was only one body and they died of alcohol poisoning, trooper.”

“That's what they want you to think.” Fox and Stone exchange a look. Wires at least is good at setting up jammers, slicing cameras, and droids, but he might need to get out of the building a bit more. Like at least every other week or so. There’s enough stuff worthy of actual conspiracies going on in the senate building, without the need to go inventing new ones.

“So ignoring the possibility of murder by senior officer… Which if he was going to do, Fox couldn’t tell us about anyway… Wires have you heard anything from RAM on their trip?” Stone asks.

“They’ve arrived at Saleucami but I haven’t heard anything since. Whoever those hackers are, they're really good.”

Fox hits the lift button and they go down another 50 levels. The wonderful Coruscant Guard: Fox’s list of personnel currently includes:

Commander Thorn, 2nd in command- roofied and getting his brains kriffed out by his boyfriend, Fives. Fives who up until ~30 minutes ago Fox felt very remorseful for killing. Guess he got better.
Commander Thire 3rd in command-choked by Darth Vader and is intubated in Medbay overseen by Needles, Petri, and Pierce.
Commander Stone, 4th in command-with Fox
Lieutenant RAM- on a mission with investigating one of the weirdest data breaks in years of hackers making their own chain codes
Corporal Wires- Stuck down here with Commander Fox, getting extremely cagey and flighty. Fox wonders if their IT specialist might be claustrophobic, and they are pretty deep.
Oh and the big one.
Commander In Chief, Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine, Sith Lord, and Fox’s Baby Daddy- dead

After this is over, he is going to go find Hound and take a nap with the mastiff puppies for a while. He’s earned it.

He exits the lift, and then leads them to an old maintenance room. He opens the back wall panel to reveal a door which honestly dates to before the high republic. There's ancient Gree writing on the door. The ancient builders had built much of the republic’s oldest and most reliable technology. He’d shown his geeky batch mate, who had named himself after the species years ago, and honestly that was the only way he’d been able to get it open. According to Gree it says something about a purple parallel.

All Fox knows is a room that does something with the building's ventilation, and the only people who can get in are very geeky, or know someone who is. And the room is not quiet. Between all the metal, and the noise of the ventilation, no one should be able to overhear them down here. And as far as he knows only he and Gree knew how to get in.

And his brother is dead. Killed by General Yoda during the initial chip activation. General Yoda, who though he killed Fox’s brothers easily enough, tried to kill Palpatine too and didn’t succeed. So only Fox knows how to open the room anymore.

***

“Ok Fox, we’re here, in the uber secret murder basement, that I didn’t even know existed. What did you bring us down here to tell us?” Stone asks after Wire’s has scanned the room, and turned on a signal jammer.

“Did you want to ask us about Fives?” Patch asks. “Because that tooka is kind of out of the bag, and you probably deserve an explanation.”

“Actually I’ve got news for you.” Fox is practically vibrating with it and breaks into a smile. Based on Patch’s and Stones expression this is not the most reassuring smile he’s ever had.

“The emperor is dead.”

Chapter Text

“What!”  Patch nearly hit the ceiling.  Wires has folded in on himself like if he makes himself small enough he won’t be targeted.

Stone has the expression he reverts to under live fire crossed with the time he had a concussion. “How? Fox, how?”  He asks deadly serious. 

Fox starts laughing.  He can’t help it, he just killed his commander-in-chief.  “Got him right between the eyes with a DC-17.  He roofied Thorn, and wanted me to help.”

“So you just went and shot him.”  Stone is doing the talking. While Patch is doing box breathing,  “That's why Rys was freaking out when he told me you left.  You knew he had Thorn.”

Fox nods. “Now what I’m about to say can’t leave this room.  Palpatine realized Thorn was an omega.  And had been…”  Fox looks down at his hands.  They’re not shaking.  Somehow he feels they should be.  “Thorn would have been next.”

Patch takes a momentary break from his panic, to give Fox a look. “Like you were.”  Fox nods. He can feel Wires’ silent shock at finally getting confirmation on who Fox’s child’s sperm donor was, but can’t bring himself to care.  Bastard’s dead anyway.  

“I knew as soon as I heard he summoned Thorn alone.  He only recently realized that Thorn was an omega…and I tried to keep him away from all of you.”

“And you did.” Patch’s panic is beginning to recede a bit as he grins a feral wolf’s grin.  Their medic was always been slightly blood thirsty, but there’s a gleam in his eyes even Fox hasn’t seen before. Fox isn’t quite sure this is an improvement. “You got him.”

Fox grins back.  “Got him right between the eyes.  He blew up like a bomb.  Half the furniture is shredded.  I got Thorn behind the couch, and then we booked the hell out of there.”  Fox takes a deep breath and continues. “Now whatever nastiness Palpentine put in place in case of his death, hopefully shouldn’t be going off for the next several days. The senate was in recess, and he likely wanted several days to…”

“Be off duty.” Patch puts in before Fox can try to find the words to describe the wrongness that Palpatine undoubtedly had planned.  

“Exactly.”  Fox continues with relief. “He wouldn’t want to be disturbed, or have to make any command decisions for the next several days which give us time to act.”

Fox takes a deep breath and then starts issuing orders. “Wires, I want you to wipe, or destroy any recordings from the chambers and the hallways leading to it.  Blame it on anything, separatists, a solar flare, a rogue hawkbat anything.  I just want it gone and irretrievable.  I think Palpatine turned off the holo cameras in his waiting area as a matter of course.  But lock it down, wipe it, and then set off a few droid poppers to be sure.”  Wires nods, looking much more sure of himself now that he has an actual task.

Fox continues, “Patch, Stone, I want you to come with Wires and me to examine the room.  Make sure the bastard’s dead, and that there were no recording devices.  I don’t need to tell you this is classified at the highest level.  We’re going to lock it down, once we’ve identified what's in there, and then firebomb it.  Understood? At some point we’re going to have to tell the galaxy Palpatine’s dead, died tragically due an enemy bomb, fire, or a catastrophic building malfunction, but let's stall that for as long as we can.  There was no body.”

“No body?” Patch asks, his breathing is beginning to return to normal.

Fox shakes his head.  “Apparently Sith explode when they die.  He just blew up.  Nothing to show holo-journalists. We might need to say he got hit with a disintegrator ray or something.”

“In the meantime,” Fox turns to look at Wires. “We could need him to do a holo appearance or something.  Wires get your division working on that too.  Also, I want your division ready with Operation: Holonet Dump. I don’t want to turn the bastard into a martyr.”

Wires’ eyes go wide.  He only knows about the plan because as RAMs second in command he’d been in charge of gathering most of the blackmail on the former chancellor, now emperor. Every financial crime, along with separatist conspiracy, and a particularly incriminating set of possible child grooming set of images involving Skywalker.  Fox hated that asshole, even before he went to the darkside, but they had both been very deeply under Palpatine’s control.

“Ok that’s all I had.” finishes Fox.

***

“Fox, there’s one other thing we need to talk about.”  Why does Patch look so intent?  Why is Wires getting things out of his bags?  “Look at me, Fox.  What do you know about the inhibitor chips?”

“The one that keeps omega clones from going into heat, and alpha clones from going into true rut?  Yeah, mine's broken.”

“No, the one in your head that caused the vod, to shoot their jedi.  That caused the 501rst to march on the Jedi Temple.”

Fox blinks.  Why can’t he remember that?  He knew the Jedi died.  They had been traitors. Palpatine ordered them dead.  Why does his brain feel fuzzy?  What is wrong with him?

“It’s ok, Fox. We’re going to deactivate yours.”  Wires and Patch move next to him, with Stone staying back…keeping watch?  Is Fox really that dangerous?

“Fox,” Patch is saying.  “You trust me right?”  Fox nods, not trusting his voice. “Now we’re going to hook this up to your temple. It's going to give a quick pulse. And then we can tell you some other things we’ve been keeping you out of the loop on. Right, Stone?” His commander nods.  How can he trust them?  How can he not?  Fox knows he does, he trusts his men with his life, just like they trust him with this. 

Patch hooks electrodes to his temple.  And then begins a soft countdown.  His vod reaches one and everything goes white.  Fox’s last thought as he passes out is he hopes Thorn is alright.

Chapter Text

They’ve eaten their booty of pastries, exercise bars, and electrolyte drinks, left by the medics, when Thorn says. “Ok, I should really go help Fox. The shit really hit the fan this time. But I also need to get clean. We’re both covered with…” Thorn doesn’t finish the sentence. They had put on their shorts to eat. but Fives knows what he means. They’re covered with more bodily fluids than he really wants to think about, and a quick trip to the fresher before breakfast hadn’t been enough to remedy that. They’d both been starving so it hadn’t been bad but now stuff is starting to dry, in some uncomfortable places. And if they get clean they can have clean clothes and shorts, also left by the corrie guard medical officers, in sealed bags.

“And we probably reek.” Thorn continues. “I’m not feeling insane anymore so I’m going to turn on the vent fan. And you know,” the blond curly haired clone turns to look at Fives. “This place has a nice big fresher. It used to be the quarters of a senatorial “companion”, and has a very very big hot water tank.”

“How big?” Fives can feel his exhausted libido perking up. They’re both about 22 developmentally after all, with Thorn being about 6 months older. And genetically supersoldiers, both of them have a pretty fast refractory period compared to some natborns he’s met.

Thorn drapes himself over Five’s shoulder. “Stone used the shower one time after a crazy mission with a gungan, and said he couldn’t make the water run out.”

Fives can’t help himself. A thrill runs through him, from where his boyfriend is touching his back, all the way to his toes. “A water shower, you say.”

“Yes, Fives’ika a water shower. Would you like to do something in it?” Thorn’s smile is happy and wicked. He’s moved around to the front and is kneeling in front of Fives bracketing him with his elbows.

Thorn is so close, they trade soft kisses, and Fives can’t get enough. He manages to whisper, “Breed me?”

Thorn smiles back at him, and Fives amends his plea. “Please, breed me, alpha.”

“Oh, omega I will.” Thorn’s voice is rich and dark like polished woyshr wood. And Fives can’t help his bone deep shiver of pleasure.

***

They take stock of some of the supplies they hadn’t had to use up when helping Thorn fuck himself on knotted dildo to get the drugs out. Fives’ dynamic suppression chip was still functioning so although he helped hormonally as an alpha, he definitely didn’t have a non-suppressed alpha’s knot. He’d been wondering if he should get the hormone chip out given the chance, but with some recent self discoveries, he was thinking about seeing if it could be reprogrammed, or maybe supplemented with extra hormones. He, unlike some natborns, hadn’t been forced to fully develop into an alpha and didn’t want to. The dynamic suppression chip gave him options.

And even if he had been an un-surpressed alpha, that likely only would have helped the Thorn the first few rounds, unless the alpha fucked their dick absolutely raw, or were some kind of jedi or something. Those drugs were some nasty shit. Luckily for them there were dildos. And Thorn was looking so much better now after hydrating and eating.

The medics had outdone themselves with the supplies. They even managed waterproof lube, with a handwritten flimsiplast note on it saying not for use with toys. And Mouthguards.

“Lets gag you so you don’t bite your arm like the last time we did this.” Thorn says pulling Fives into a kiss. “My little omega.” He pinches Fives’ ass and Fives gives an involuntary squeak.

They talk through the details a bit more, and then Thorn asks, “We good?”

“Green!” Fives sings out.

“Remember pinch me as your safe word. Or just say stop through the mouthguard. The thing does have a hole in it. Or spit the dang thing out. We’re only using the mouth guard cause each time we don't, someone bites something he doesn’t mean to.”

“The time with my arm was an accident.”

“Still the look that Patch gave me afterward. Like I’d been corrupting you in storage closets.”

“Instead of the other way around.”

“Exactly,” Thorn nuzzles Fives’ neck. “Plus it’s the only way to shut you up, omega.” Fives who has had to play quite the biological alpha role for the last 12 hours moans.

“Seriously, are you sure you’re up to this?” Thorn whispers.

“All systems, green.” Fives grins back. “Plow my needy little omega ass.”

Thorn takes a deep breath. And grabs the mouthguard from the counter and straps it around his sub’s head. “There my omega, you’re safe. You don’t have to be anything, but what you want to be.” Fives lets out a moan of pure pleasure. And Thorn continues, “Let’s get you in the shower. And get you nice and bred.”

***

Fives is sooo turned on. Thorn knows he likes to hear his boyfriend talk, and keeps up a running stream of commentary, as he turns on the water. Real warm water shower. He is so spoiled. He can count the number of times he’s had a real warm water shower since Kimino on one hand. And the water pressure, it's amazing.

Thorn pushes him under the spray, Fives’ back hitting the wall. As wonderful as the water is Fives is very focused on the commander’s hands on his hips. Thorn carried one of the biggest weapons in the GAR with ease and it shows. The calluses on his hand and the corded muscles on his arms. He could break Fives like a twig.

“I’m going to breed you right here, against the wall.” Thorn’s hand finds Fives nipples, and he oh so gently runs his fingers over the tips. Fives whines, the softness is so right. “These will get so big and so sensitive. I’ll drink from them everyday.” Fives arches into the touch and nods so fast. “Oh you’d like that wouldn't you.” Thorn grins mischievously, and sets the waterproof lube aside. He takes Fives’ pecs in those wonderful big hands and leans down. Kiss by kiss he works his way closer to the left tip. When he finally reaches it Fives lets out a shudder and rocks back against the shower wall. Thorn holds him steady as he teases it with his teeth.

“Oh you like that don’t you.” Fives nods quickly. His boyfriend grins. “The other one must be jealous.” Fives moans, as Thorn goes to work being “fair” to his other peck, decorating it with little bites, before taking the entire tip into his mouth and rolling it back and forth with his tongue.

Fives isn’t sure when he started rocking into Thorn. Now he doesn’t want to stop. It feels so good. “Thorn! Thorn I’m ready.” He moans around the mouthguard. It comes out a bit garbled but Thorn takes the hint. Fives is so hard.

Thorn smiles and says “In a second, omega.” And Fives shivers from the inside out at the word. He just played an alpha scented sex toy for his boyfriend, and although he can do it, he has the right biology for it, it’s exhausting and takes effort. To relax and be who he is is infinitely better.

“Turn around, my little omega.” He hears the snap of the silicon lube cap. “Going to get you all nice and ready. Not that you need it. Can’t you feel how wet you are omega.” Pressed against the fresher wall Fives can feel it as Thorn works him open. The silicone lube feels wonderful. He is wet, so wet, he’s dripping, and he can feel his body relax and respond to Thorn’s touch. It feels so good. “You’re so loose and relaxed for me. Doesn’t this feel good omega. I’m going to breed you so good, my omega, fuck you right up.” Fives whimpers arching back into Thorn spreading his legs. Thorn pushes him back into the wall as he works the lube deeper. “Don’t you want that, to be bred, by your alpha, all knocked up to your pretty full tits. Can’t hold back can you.” Thorn mouths his neck. “You weren’t made to.”

Fives is nearly ready to combust, and Thorn, his wonderful, aggravating boyfriend just keeps on talking. “You think you’re finally open enough, vod? I’m just going to take you right here, just the way you are.” Fives squirms with impatience and delight. “You like this, don’t you. Getting fucked in a real water shower, so so wet inside and out.”

“Thorn….” Fives moans around the gag.

“You ready for me to fill you up, Fives? I can call you that all the time now.” Fives shudders, as Thorn lubes up his cock and rubs it over his ass. “Don’t have to worry about the emperor finding out anymore, he’s dead. You can just be Fives.” Fives shivers all over like he’s been hit with stun blast. It feels so good to hear his name again. Thorn is kissing along his neck as his hands part Five’s ass, trailing fingers along his rim. “My sweet, sweet omega, Fives. You saved us.”

And then he’s open and Thorn thrusts into him, so deep and Fives rocks back into his boyfriend. Thorn’s big, clone omega’s are large compared to natborn omegas, partially due to their inhibitor chips, but also just engineered that way. It feels so good. His vod pushes him up against the fresher wall hard. Fives is so full. Thorn thrusts into him like a cocksleeve and it’s glorious. “Going to fill you up, breed you right here. Get you nice and round with my pups.” Kissing up his neck, licking at his mating gland. Fives moans. “That’s what you want isn’t? To be knocked up and taken. Such a gorgeous slut omega. You want me to knot you don’t you.”

Five lets out a longing wail. “Knot you and mate you forever with a bite. Can’t you feel my knot growing bigger. It’s almost time.” Fives whimpers desperately around the mouthguard. He can feel the knot growing inside him, and although the rational part of his brain vaguely knows Thorn is folding his hand around his cock into a fist to simulate a knot, the omega part of his brain is in ecstasy. He’s going to be filled and bred. “Now you’re going to be a good omega and not come until I knot you. I’m,” Thorn whispers in his ear, “going to mate you my omega slut.” Thorn licks over Fives’ mating gland, and he shudders. “You’re so wet inside, I’m going to make it so another alpha won’t even look at you and stake my claim.” His boyfriend’s voice drops down to a whisper right on the shell of his ear. “I’m going to mate you right here.”

“Yes, Thorn yes!”

“What color are you omega?”

“Green alpha! Make me yours!”

“Oh, I will have you, my little omega.” Thorns voice sounds wonderful, like the rich hot chocolate the corries make. “You can feel my knot growing bigger can’t you my omega.” And Fives can, he really can. Thorn’s thrusts are catching more and more and his knot’s swelling. His vod is licking over his mating gland, oh that feels amazing. He feels so good. But he’s not going to come till he’s knotted. He can be good. “You’re such a good omega, so good for your alpha. You’re waiting till you’re knotted aren’t you.” Fives nods, and can’t restrain his moans anymore.

“Such a good little omega, Fives.” And then he does it. Thorn folds his hand completely around his cock, and it fills Five’s up better than any natborns knot, and Thorn sucks his mating gland hard with carefully covered teeth. Fives comes so hard he sees stars and bites through his mouthguard. He feels Thorn pulse inside him, finally breeding him, and it feels wonderful.

Chapter Text

Eventually the outside world begins to filter back into Fives’ awareness. The water is still hot, and soaking his skin.  Thorn had said this shower was retrofitted with a bigger tank.  And it still had the amazing natborn showerhead installed by the senate “aide” who had it before them.  It feels wonderful.  But the fact, he and Thorn had had a crapton of medically approved sex followed by a very intense scene is catching up to him. Eh, he’s still young, developmentally 22, he’ll recover.  

“That was intense.” Thorn says right behind him, as he eases his way out.  

“That was.” Fives is sore in the most wonderful of ways, and he pulls his boyfriend in for a kiss.  “Thank you so much.”

“I had a good time too, Fives’ika,”  Thorn grins.

Fives smacks him lightly on the shoulder, and pulls him in for a deep kiss.  When they both come up for air, he asks, “Seriously, you’re feeling ok?”  

“Fives, I just fucked you into oblivion and I think we’ve worked out all the drugs.  We’re good.”  He looks at Fives.  “We should use actual soap and shampoo to clean all this up.”

“We really should.”  Fives reaches up and runs his fingers through Thorn’s beautiful mass of wet blond curls.  “I’ll help you with your hair.”

“Thank you.”

***

They’re toweling off, later and getting dressed, when Thorn says half to himself. “Force, you’re lucky I think I love you. Fox is going to kill me for leaving him to deal with this, Palpatine is dead fallout on his own.”

“Thorn repeat what you just said.”  Fives says his heart in his throat.

“Fox is going to kill me.  That’s normal.  He’s my CO, that’s like half his job.  Especially for leaving him to deal with this on his own.”

“No, before that.”  Fives knows his breath isn’t completely stable.  

“I think I love you,” the blood drains from Thorns face. “Fives, if you don't, that's fine. That’s ok, you don’t have to say it back.”

“That’s good,” says Fives. Stepping up and taking Thorn in his arms, “because I think I love you too.”  And he kisses his boyfriend, slow and sweet.

“But Echo?” Thorn breaks their kiss to ask, worry in his eyes.  

Fives meets Thorn’s gaze head on. “Thorn, I’ll love Echo until the day I die. He’d want me to be happy.  We both know that. And I love you too.” 

Thorn surges forward and meets Fives in an absolutely wonderful kiss.  Eventually they have to stop for air, and Thorn sighs. “Ok love, let’s go find out what the fires are.”

Fives nods, “Can’t let Fox have all the fun.”

Chapter Text

Fox wakes up with a headache and a medic leaning over him with a worrying expression. That's more than enough to wake him up fully and fast.

“Patch, what happened?” 

“Well…” his medic starts and catches Fox’s look of cut the bullcrap.  “You had a minor seizure.”  Fox gives him another look. “Don’t worry, you’re fine, You were sitting down.  You didn’t fall down.  How are you feeling?”

“Headache, but it’s bad.” and then remembers his passenger. “The ad’ika?”

“Seems to be absolutely fine.  Like I said you were sitting down.”  Fox sighs.  At least that works out.  If he had hurt the ad’ika with all that craziness...  Well the kid, like any clone, had no choice to be born.  And he could be a damn better father than Jango had tried to be.   And Fox liked cadets damnit.  They were fun, interesting, and weird.  Like Rex when he was younger and trailing behind Cody with millions of questions.  Also It’d be one final fuck you at Palpatine.  Sith Lord was going to raise her from birth to be his dark evil apprentice heir, and she can grow up with the opposite of that, and have a huge loving family with tons of uncles, cousins, and aunts.

Fox takes the painkillers and hydration pack from Patch on autopilot.  Standard treatment for a headache, and Sith Lightning induced seizures.  He would know, he had enough from the emperor. And it was from Patch so it was safe. “So what happened?  I take this isn’t normal for when you decide to treat vod for evil mind control chips?” Fox knows he’s being flippant, but something in him feels well lighter, and this is Patch who recently held his head up while he puked his guts up in the fresher from morning sickness.  He’s seen Fox through far worse things than grumpiness, and is still his friend.

“No, we think,” and Patch includes Wires in his gesture, “that when Sith Lord used lightning on you…  You remember that scaring we were both very surprised by.”  Fox nods,neither of them had expected when checked in for his physical they’d find fern-like purple scars all over his body, covered neatly presumably med-droid applied bandaids. “Well,” Patch continues. “Turns out the asshole shorted out parts of your brain, while he was at it.”  His medic brandishes his scanner, “You seem to be suffering some after effects, but it should fade, within 1-3 weeks if you don’t injure yourself again.”

“So just avoid high voltage panels and Sith lightning and I should be fine?”

Now Patch gives him a look, “Yes.”

“Ok. What’s so secret that you couldn’t tell me with a working mind control chip in my head?” 

The tell him, Patch, Stone, and even Wires taking turns. Then Fox asks some questions about the things all three of his men are being squirmy on and pries out even more information. 

Fox’s internal notes look something like this:

• Where the jedi went:
  Apparently, the jedi somehow had advance warning of the 501rst being deployed to kill everyone in the temple.  They evacuated the younglings somewhere, presumably off planet.  Some masters and knights remained behind to guard the exit. Patch did not know where they went and it was going to stay that way.  Patch suspects Bail Organa helped but only based on a report from Sergent Fox of the 501rst of aiding an escape. RAM had completely removed it from the system. That does explain the casualty reports from that day, which always struck Fox as extremely low.
• The medic network:
  Had only just learned of the chips and the way to deactivate them before order 66. Several of the flagships and smaller craft had been reported missing and failed to return to port.  Specifically the Intrepid and the Tribunal!Did Bly and Rex survive? 
• Fives:
  The absolutely insane ARC trooper found out about the chips when his friend, Tup, a fellow ARC trooper died. Fives got his chip removed.  Fox remembers the next part vividly.  He shot the vod.  The vod was dead. Stun shot stopped his heart. According to Patch he got better… And woke up screaming in the morgue. Which was how Fives met Thorn, who had been in Medbay.  Quite the meet-cute.

Fox tries to listen patiently to Patch, Stone, and Wires as chief temporary IT expert explain that if they had told Fox Palpatine would have known in a heartbeat.  And then there would be many dead jedi tublings.  

Privately Fox isn’t sure Palpatine didn’t realize something was up.  Order 66 came really fast after that.  But Patch is right.  If Fox had known, Palpatine would have known the same day.  From his emotions being wrong if nothing else.

“Wait, how does Fives fit in?” 

“He’s the one who told us about the chips when he woke up.” answers Wires.  

“In the morgue?” Fox asks.  

“Well right before he got to the morgue.” Patch explains.  “That was a couple days after you called us for Thorn. He was still in recovery from the carbonite sickness.”

Fox closes his eyes.  That had been a very bad week, for reasons he would rather think about right now, but at least Thorn had lived. “So why didn’t you tell me?” Fox asks, then answers his own question.  “Palpatine.”

“Exactly, his heart started beating again just before we put him in the morgue, so we detoxed him, Thorn helped with the situation because he was also in MEDBAY when Fives came in, and he got the vod’ika a job undercover.”  Patches can’t help a slowly growing grin.  “At Knots.”

“Wait, the alpha actually works there.  I thought it was just the shirt.”  Fox thought he’d heard it all, with the whole coming back from the dead thing.  But apparently even he could still be surprised.  “And that was your idea of undercover?” He asks Patch.

“Well, no one was going to be looking for him there.  I had Tats do a quick five tattoo on one of the shineys who didn’t survive the speeder crash we had the day before, did a practice brain surgery on them to remove the control chip, and switched their ident chips. Gave the body a shave, and as far as the GAR was concerned it was Fives. 

“Also Fox,” and Patch’s voice becomes serious. “Please, stop calling my patient alpha if you can help it. He prefers omega. I’m only telling you because he’s out to vod, and getting ready to start his medical transition. In this case one of the reasons he’s working at Knot’s is because it has better medication coverage than the GAR.”

Fox feels his eyes go wide.  Under Palpatine the guards' medication availability was crap, especially for dynamic controlling medications.  No birth control, cycle control, nothing. They had to buy all of that under the counter.  It sucked, and was one of the reasons they’d started cleaning fountains.

Shit. He did not mean to misdynamic Fives.  Especially after the vod’ika saved so many people’s shebs. 

And even if Palpatine was an alpha, Fox knows damn well that him being an asshole wasn’t a dynamic problem, just a Palpatine problem.  Shit. With all this crap Fox probably does need to see a mind healer.  When Fives, an assigned alpha at birth, had come in to help his omega, vod’ika commander.  Fox had just seen red.  Fox had oh so many legitimate reasons to be wary of alphas including getting knocked up by the kriffin’ alpha Sith Lord.  But he didn’t need to take it out on Fives, who was just trying to help.

“Thanks Patch. I won’t do that again, and I’ll apologize to the vod’ika,” he promises. “Now, and he turns to Stone, “What are we going to do about everything else?

***

Galactic politics turns into a discussion of who should be put in charge, with the emperor dead.  Fox firmly calls not it.  You couldn’t pay him to be in charge of the twisted gundark’s nest that is the senate.  They come up with a worryingly short list of senators who can be put in charge,  especially if they judiciously use some of their own and the former emperor's accumulated blackmail.  Because among other things Fox knows many of Palpatine’s passwords that he really shouldn’t.  Giving them to Wires causes their IT specialists to light up like it’s Lifeday.

Stone sighs, “I really wish Senator Amidala would wake up.  Without Palpatine to block her she’d whip them into frenzy and we’d have clone rights, pensions, and new banking laws within a day.”

Fox nods in sympathy even if his view is more pragmatic than his vod’s.  “I’d settle just for not being a legal meatdroid anymore myself.  Maybe Senator Chuchi can help.”

“Riyo? Maybe,” his youngest commander agrees.  “We can put out feelers.  She thinks Rhys is hilarious. I’ll put him on that.”  Stone continues, Without Amidala I’d say put Organa in charge.  He’s got the widest following, and Alderaan has as much clout as Naboo.  Too bad Thorn’s in quarantine.  This was more his baileywick sir.  Reveal Palpatine was Sith Lord?”

Fox shakes his head.  “The people who really care about that are dead or in hiding.  And the chancl–emperor was pushing the anti-Jedi angle for too long. Let’s go with the embezzlement charge and funding both sides of the war.  There’s enough there.  And the recent changes have been unpopular.  We’ll have to play this carefully though.”

“Thorn should be out of quarantine soon.” Stone points out. “We can run our plans by him. We still have 3 days before Palptine was supposed to be in public.”

Fox nods then asks, “What about the fleet?”  He asks Stone.  “Any news from them or the admirals?”

“Several ships have gone off the radar recently.  The tribunal and the intrigue went down when the order went live.” Fox nods.  Poor Rex. Stone looks down at his pad.  “No one knows why.  They’re thinking maybe an equipment malfunction.  And Fox, you’re sitting down...” Stone looks him over as if he’s checking that Fox is a piece of equipment strapped into a lartie on a drop. Stone swallows, shakes his head and then seems to decide to just go for it. “Cody was reported AWOL last ago.”

Fox feels the room drop out from under him.

***

To say Cody and he had been close would have been an understatement.  At one point there was no one Fox trusted more in the galaxy. 

Fox loved him.  Would have done anything for Cody. But Fox had been losing more and more time.  He couldn’t hold onto who he had been anymore.  He knew he was losing himself.  And then in a moment of clarity he still can’t quite recall, he had realized exactly what the emperor would do to Cody if the Sith knew Fox loved him.  Especially because Cody was an alpha.

If Cody had been a beta he could have lived, Palpatine would have seen him as a servant.  An omega, so far below Palpatine on his biological radar Cody would not to be seen as a threat, and like Thorn could be easily used as leverage.  But an alpha…. An alpha who Fox loved would be a rival to the Sith Lord and be dead within the month.  Fox shivers, trying to come back to himself.  With Palpatine controlling both sides of the war and ka’ra forbid the chips, it would have taken just one assignment away from Kenobi and then a stray blaster bolt would have…  And that would have been the kind option, and only because Kenobi and Skywalker would have noticed and investigated.  Otherwise Cody would have been better off dead. Fox had known he had to do something.  So he had broken up with the man he loved via a secondhand comm message.  

Stone is watching him.  Stone, who he had send the message. Thorn had been off planet.  And Cody knew Thorn too well.  Cody with a little prying would have gotten the entire story out of Thorn. Even if it had involved accompanying his General back to Coruscant to ask some very pointed questions.  But with Thorn off planet, he hadn’t been in the loop.  He also hadn’t been in a position to talk Fox out of it.

Having Stone send that comm message was one of the hardest and most cowardly things Fox had ever done.  He had broken up with the love of his life. He could feel sad he did it, but couldn’t really regret it.  He knew he had saved Cody’s life.  Or at least he had thought he had.  Where was his vod?  AWOL for a clone could mean anything in the empire, from desertion, to tragic accident, to a malfunctioning control chip.  There were even brothers who were being used off the books as medical experiments that Palpatine had loved telling Fox about.  Shit. They were going to have to dismantle that entire Mount Tantis operation.

Fox realizes no one’s said anything since Patch’s announcement. He’s breathing too fast.  He can’t slow down.  His hands are shaking.  They never shake.  This day has been too much, too much. 

“Easy there,” says Patch.  “It’s going to be ok. Breathe with me.  In…… and Out…… In… and Out.  That’s it.”  Fox keeps breathing and eventually comes down from the panic.

“There,” Patch says, “Better?” Fox nods. Patch keeps on talking, “We lost contact with Cody and several parts of the fleet since... That day.”

Stone picks up after explanation. “The Tribunal, and the Intrepid have been offline since the order.  But we’re now adding Fortitude and the Liberty to the list. 

That’s odd. Commander’s Grey and Bly had seemingly remained loyal even if their Jedi and their padawan in Grey’s case escaped.  Never mind that Grey had been head over heels for General Billba and Fox was very relieved that hadn’t been investigated too closely.

Grey had been as lovesick as Bly had been.  No one had heard anything from the 327th either. Fox sighed, and filed that thought under things he didn’t dare to hope. Wait!  He could hope now there was no motherfuckin' Sith Lord in his head.  Maybe some force be-damned deity had taken pity on them.  He had stopped believing in those about 3 weeks into the war.  But what did he know?  Weirder things had happened.

Like an omega clone killing their alpha Sith Lord his brain whispers.  Well, who knew what happened to Bly. Fox wasn’t going to believe anything until he saw a body.  Same with Rex for that matter.  That vod had survived things that should have killed him more than once. 

On the subject of Rex and his former legion,  “What are we going to do about Vader?”

Chapter Text

A loud crash reverberates through the ship, with the high pitched shriek of metal being torn apart.  

Vader is raging inside his staterooms. As Tarkin walked up he heard a scream like his soul was being torn apart followed by several large crashes.  Tarkin, not being a fool, had pulled up the security footage for the room instead of going in for their meeting.  And the Sith Lord is now tearing his stateroom apart. Tarkin has never been around Vader like this.  Yes the sith had been terrifying and foreboding.  But this is an explosion.

Equipment is flying everywhere.  Things not bolted down and some that presumably were previously bolted down, are orbiting the Sith like satellites around a planet.

Through the viewscreen swears he can almost see literal flames pouring off the Sith as he screams. The satellites are whirling faster and faster with flames outlining their orbits like comets.  Tarkin’s never seen him like this before in four months since the empire fell.  The Sith is helmetless, horribly scarred and screams is horribly scarred visage screaming, with anger and raw endless pain.  Then the orbiting equipment starts attacking the viewports, and the rest of the Sith.

Falling really messed the ex-Jedi up, Tarkin thinks grimly.  Sometimes you have to clean up tools when they break.   Tarkin holds his breath as he calmly pushes the override button to open Vader’s room to vacuum. The emperor will understand hopefully, this was following his Lord’s contingencies orders exactly.  Vader was useful as a tame attack dog, not a rabid one, and that had been made very clear when the emperor handed him Vader’s leash. 

***

The Sith Lord is sucked screaming into the void, his incredibly fragile remaining human lungs freezing instantly.  For all his power the being that once was Darth Vader is still mortal.  Berefit of his master's poison and support, and shocked by the unexpected betrayal, the young Sith cannot control himself.  And dies in a gush of burning flame into the vacuum.

What remains of Anakin Skywalker reaches for that well of hate, but can’t find it.  The universe is so light, lighter than he can ever remember it, and he can see all the mistakes and empty promises of the darkside that he made.  No way in hell he’ll ever listen to them again and as he falls into the void Anakin Skywalker lets himself go and becomes one with the universe.

***

Tarkin takes a breath and then begins the process of deleting the record of his override.  He completely believed the emperor would agree with his actions but this would give him time to explain.  And the incident going on record as an unfortunate misfire of the safety system would make it so much easier.

*** 

Kix raced down the hallway in borrowed shiny medic armor.  He sent a quick update message to Jesse, who had been looking at the engines with a dechipped Zeer. There had been an emergency depressurization in hyperspace.  Kix could be hiding in medbay with Trauma, and Petri but they were busy monitoring the clones who had their chips deactivated.  And he needed to see if anyone survived, and needed treatment.  Hopefully the new sith lord won’t look too closely at the medic.  Of course knowing the sith, he probably caused the decompression.

He and Jesse had taken advantage of Vader’s flagship being repaired to hopefully steal the ship out right from under the imperial's noses.  Or at least steal parts of the ship's crew, including several 501rst medics who had been stationed to Coruscant.  It wasn’t even supposed to be that risky of a mission.  The ship hadn’t been supposed to be ready for months.  But Jedi Master Nu waltzed across Coruscant and gave the Sith a run for their money, and suddenly, it was “all systems need to be online, we’re pulling out.”  And Jesse and Kix had been stuck, with a large amount of troopers pouring on, and several medics in the process of waking up.  Needless to say, Kix and his team have freed all the medical staff from mind control, and they moved onto the support engineers, when the report of the explosive decompression came through.   Kix had been the only one not directly treating someone at the time and had ordered the others to keep monitoring their patients, while he went to see what happened.  Because vacuum decompression especially in hyperspace could compromise the entire ship.

Down the corridor, of all the people he could run into, is Tarkin.  Damn , Kix swears inside his head. The Imperial Moff is standing in front of one the emergency terminals, his rank cylinder still in the slot.  The demagolka motherfucker just exposed them all to vacuum during a hyperspace jump.  Decompression is not pretty, especially for someone not wearing armor. Like all the soft shell troopers onboard this ship. What a shabuir! 

“Sir!  Kix calls at run, “was anyone inside?!”

“Trooper.” Tarkin acknowledges.  "It had to be done.”

“There was someone in there…”  Kix is sick to his stomach.  He knew Tarkin was a bastard ever since he left Echo behind at the citadel but this!  This was beyond the pale.

“Darth Vader was there, trooper.  He was going to destroy the ship.  And now that you’ve seen this I can’t have you telling anyone either.”  Fuck the kriffen’ demaglocka is going to try to kill him to cover his tracks. Kix lunges forward, his battle honed reflexes against the moff’s. But Tarkin had already brought up his carbine.  Even as he lunges Kix knows he is going to be too late.  Of all the force damned luck! He survived order 66, to get taken out by a paranoid natborn imperial. 

Kix feels more than hears the sharp retort of a blaster rifle, echoing loud in the enclosed corridor.  He keeps moving forward, bringing up his carbine. He’s been shot before, maybe he can take the shabuir down with him.  Then Tarkin’s body slumps forward. He’s shot.  Kix goes automatically into medic mode.  Dropping his own weapon away and feeling for a pulse.  Whoever got him got him in a very good shot in the back right through the heart.  There’s nothing to be done.  It's only when Tarkin breathes his last that Kix realizes he’s been operating on autopilot.  Triage, treatment, and response all swirling around in his brian.  He’s not dead.  He feels his chest.  He’s not dead.  He can’t breathe.  Tarkin can’t breathe obviously but Kix has seen enough death to know what that looks like.  Why can’t Kix breathe?

He looks up into Jesse’s concerned face, and realizes his riduur has said his name several times and he hadn’t responded.  Jesse moves him over to the side of the corridor.  Shuts off the decompression alarm on the panel with the override, and comes over to sit next to him.  Tarkin’s body is cooling in front of them.  Kix can’t breathe.  Jesse comes over and sits next to him, putting an arm around him and holding him close.  They’ve been through so much, too many close calls to go out like this and he was almost…

Jesse is talking. He called Zeer, and Trauma. That’s good. He’s turned off the alarms so there shouldn’t be anymore natborns coming. Kix isn’t really tracking his words.  His breathing is slowing down. He just knows he’s safe. Jesse is holding him. Eventually more words start to trickle into Kix’s mind, as Jesse keeps talking. “Thinking we’ll start an urban legend about a randomly jumping ghost ship and a horrible contagious disease that caused all the natborns to flee after this.  Then we’ll take it nice and easy and go join up with Rex.  That sound good?”  Kix snorts softly but nods. Joining back up with Rex and the fleet was the original plan, this was just a slight detour, involving a dead Sith. His breathing has almost gone back to baseline when Zeer finds them.  

And then Trauma is next to him together with Jesse helping him up.  “See you in medbay.  You’ll be ok with Trauma while Zeer and I space the body?”   Kix nods. Jesse smiles. ”Love you,” and pulls him into a keldabe kiss putting their helmets together.   

“Love you too Jess.” His brain has finally started working again.  “Go get rid of the evidence, and then we’ll see who's left in charge.  Might even be once you convince the troops you’re not dead.”

“Perish the thought.  Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”  And Kix smiles as he watches his riduur and Zeer head down the corridor. This mission might work out after all.

***

Far across the galaxy as the death of Anikan Skywalker rings the firmament like a bell, on the planet Coruscant, at the centerpiece of a display to the Jedi’s crimes in the darkened senate, a comatose Padmé Amidala begins to stir.

Chapter Text

Fox is exhausted but happy when he comes out of the murder basement.  He doesn’t bother putting his bucket back on. The demaglocka is dead and he’s with vod.  He doesn’t need it anymore. He takes a deep breath, and Coruscant smells, like vod, pollution, ozone, and rain. So goddamn good. 

“Sirs! There you are! We had an incident.”  Hurrying down the hallway is a harried looking Needles, Fives and Thorn.  

Fox feels his eyebrows go up. Fives is wearing what appears to be a different Knots Cafe crop top T-shirt, this time in black with orange letters. With black booty shorts.  Even from this distance to Fox’s pregnancy sensitive nose, he smells of shampoo and tuber fries so this must be his spare work outfit. A DC-15 completes the entire outrageous ensemble.

Next to him is Thorn, curly blond hair pulled back into a loose bun, dressed in his kit and carrying that ridiculously large Z-6 gun, he’s named the hammer.  His vod’ika looks a bit haggard but much much better, than the last time Fox saw them.  Thorn grins at him, and Fox pulls him into a hug, resting his head on Thorn’s.  Just sharing breath and breathing.  “You’re ok?”

“Completely ok, ori’vod.  Needles just finished checking me out.  I need to drink plenty of fluids, and take it easy for a few days, but I’m fine.”

“You scared me.” Fox can’t bring himself to let go.  Thorn is here and alive, and unharmed.  “Don’t do that again.”

“I won’t.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Fox looks down and notices something. “Thorn?”

“Yes, Fox?”

“Why are you wearing pink bunny slippers?”

***

So the story is a bit odd. Turns out the core reason Thorn was wearing pink bunny slippers, had to do with him getting carried on a stretcher out of Palpatine’s office. Patch had accidentally left Thorn’s boots behind when he hustled him to medical. 

Thorn then got out of quarantine, and ended up with his own kit sans shoes, and a spare set of bunny slippers a jedi had once left in the cells after being arrested for drunk and disorderly. The jedi had insisted on a) getting arrested, and b) vanished the next day leaving behind only spare outer robes and slippers.  Said slippers which were according to Needles now lent out to whoever inadvertently found themselves without footwear with reasons ranging from Grizzer and inquisitive tookas, sentient and unsentient slime, and trash vents to cleaning droids .

So while heading to the storage lockers for the real shoes Needles got a priority notification from Senator Amidala’s bio bed in the senate rotunda.  The thing always looked more like a coffin to Fox, than a biobed, but apparently it had actual functioning sensors told local medbay when someone was trying to escape their bed.  As all the media reports had included practitioners saying non-medical shit like “she has lost the will to live”, and other more medical things like “irreversible coma,” this was concerning.

So Thorn, Fives, and Needles scrambled to see what happened.  With the addition of Fox, Patches, and Wires they were one of the weirdest assortment of clones the halls had seen in a while, including the time some of 327th decided to try hoverboarding down the main hall during a recess while they were on leave.

“So you left Peirce in charge.”  Patch asks like a senator on camera and who is very concerned about the state of their planet.  For Patch, that planet is Medbay.

“Well he is the best surgeon.  If Thire has any complications….” Needles starts.

“We want him there.  Needle go back and take command of Medbay, in case anyone else comes in with something. Especially after this little escapade. I’ll check on the senator.”  Needles looks about to argue but nods. 

“There’s also a–  a weird security —” Wires interupts looking at his pad.  “Anomaly.  I wouldn’t have noticed it if we hadn’t been out of range for so long but one of the security holograms by the senator isn’t refreshing.  It might be nothing, Sometimes they glitch but…”

“But we better check it out.” Fox agrees.  “Stone, head back with Needles in case this Amidala stuff is just a distraction.  Thorn, Patch, and —- Fives with me. Let’s go find out what’s going on with the senator.”

Surprisingly, no one argues with him for once.  

***

As they head down the hall there’s one thing he needs to do first now that he knows better. “Fives,”  I want to apologize for calling you alpha earlier.  “You’re you and I know it’s difficult to be judged for your designation the second you walk into a room.”

Fives nods. “Thanks Fox, and for what it’s worth I know you were very worried about Thorn.”

“No crap. That was terrifying.  So what would you like me to call you going forward?”

“Fives works.  I’m not quite passing yet, but omega in private is fine.”

“Sure, and as one omega to another, thank you.”  Fives’ face lights up like its lifeday.

Fox smiles, “Let’s go check on our break in.”