Chapter 16: Episode 11: Meet Fox! The Most Overworked Clone in the GalaxyNotes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text"How hard is it to kill one padawan?" Palpatine shouted. His voice echoed through the halls of Dooku's castle. Even though he wasn't on Serreno, the servants had made themselves scarce, practically fleeing from the grounds to hide out in the forest until Dooku's meeting with his master was completed.
It was odd how much more they feared Palpatine than him, willing to risk his wrath just to ensure they wouldn't have to deal with Palpatine's tantrums. Not that Dooku could blame them. His master had grown increasingly unhinged the longer this 'Tano' nonsense went on. Why he wouldn't just execute Order 66 and let them all get on with their lives was beyond him.
Maybe Dooku was on the wrong side of this conflict if Palpatine's plans could be derailed by one girl and a sub-par entertainment series on the holonet. Maybe Dooku should just join Kryze and her alliance of neutral systems. She probably didn't have to deal with the headache that was Sheeve Palpatine nearly as much as he did.
"She is an insolent child! She was alone! She was unguarded! Bane was the best! How did he fail?"
Dooku and Ventress shared a glance. Ventress had the audacity to roll her eyes like an unruly padawan. Again, not that Dooku could find any fault with her reaction. Palpatine was acting like a spoiled child, breaking his toys instead of cleaning them up like their mother had asked.
Palpatine had been ranting for the past thirty minutes. Dooku had work to do. He needed to move the conversation along.
"Master," he started with an even, diplomatic voice, "we can still get rid of the girl. We just need a better plan."
Like executing Order 66. Even she couldn't defend herself against an entire battalion firing on her at once. And the betrayal of her family would just increase the likelihood of her making a mistake.
"No!" Palpatine snarled. "No, at this point we can't risk going after her again. The Jedi are watching her too closely. And they know something is wrong with the Coruscant Guards. They've sent Quinlan Vos to investigate them."
Ventress stiffened beside him, glancing at Dooku ever so slightly.
"We've dealt with Vos before, we can deal with him again," he said though he didn't fully believe it.
This Creche to Command nonsense had gotten out of hand. It was no longer a silly little holonet series. Now they had politicians, Jedi, and the public all being impacted by this series. And now that Vos was involved, it was likely he'd uncover what was going on with the guards eventually. He was good. Shame he decided to claw his way back to the light. He would have made an excellent asset to the separatist cause. Probably a better asset than Palpatine at the moment anyways.
"What exactly is he investigating?" Ventress asked.
"The abuse of the Coruscant Guard." Palpatine snarled. "He's trying to figure out who abuses them."
Dooku nodded. That wasn't the best news he wanted to hear, but that wasn't the worst news either. "Have you ever been to the base?" he asked. "They have cameras. If you've been caught on any of them—"
"I know about the cameras!" Palpatine shouted, slamming his fists on his desk. "I know about the cameras. I put the cameras there. I have a team to monitor those cameras. Back before this all started, there were no clones on the watch list. And now there are at least six. Kenobi and Koon's commanders are too smart for their own good. Half of my time is now monitoring those insolent flesh droids to ensure they don't stumble upon my ultimate plan. And now with Vos at the base, I can't get them to go on any more secret missions."
"They come to you, though, don't they?" Dooku asked. "You don't need to go to them. Vos shouldn't find anything."
Palpatine snarled. "He shouldn't, but he might. I can't risk it. I've had to put the droid project on hold. And we were getting so close to being able to hide an entire army from the GAR sensors." He slammed his fists on the table once more. "That padawan is ruining everything! And I can't get rid of her now! They're watching her too closely and she refuses my guards."
Ventress didn't even hide the exasperate sigh that came out of her, unsubtly glancing at the clock on the wall and rolling her eyes again.
"Then perhaps we can find another way to use Creche to Command to aid in our efforts," Dooku said. Not that he knew what that looked like. The series had spiraled so far out of their control he didn't see any way to get it back under control.
Not to mention Palpatine wasn't helping anything. He was still pissed that his master decided to go talk to the girl in person and tried to influence her with the Force. For some reason, he had failed. Which was just perfect because now the girl was likely suspicious of him and passed off those suspicions to the clones and Jedi.
One did not send in Quinlan Vos to investigate some unimportant senators abusing random men. The Jedi knew something more was going on here. And Palpatine wasn't helping.
"Or we can activate the chips and take the senate by force," Ventress suggested.
Dooku face palmed. Could she try not to stir the pot just this once? Yes, it was amusing sometimes to see Palpatine get worked up over nothing but really, Dooku had better things to do with his life.
Palpatine whipped towards her. "No. If we take it by force there will be riots in the streets. Did you see the episode with the clones?"
"They all have clones," Dooku said tiredly.
"The one where they were talking about Kenobi's tea habits!" Palpatine shouted.
Ah, right. The one where the clones spoke about how much work they put into keeping the Jedi alive. Their Jedi alive. Don't think Dooku didn't catch the possessive wording they used. The Clone troopers had grown much more attached to the Jedi than any of them had suspected. And now that it was out in the galaxy, people would be suspicious if suddenly the entire army gunned them down. Then they'd realize the clones were being forced to. And then there would be riots on the streets. Palpatine was not powerful enough to fight an entire galaxy of pissed-off constituents.
The mention of the episode, though, made Dooku's chest ache. Ache with a longing he didn't know was possible anymore. To hear about some of his grand-padawan's exploits, and how his past friends and family were doing, made him want to go back to the Jedi Order. It made him want to draw closer to the last remaining piece of Qui-Gon he had. Mundi was giving his clothes to children. Fisto was giving his food to refugees. Koon was mourning the loss of innocent lives. The clone troopers were pouring so much love and adoration towards their Jedi (yes, their Jedi) and receiving the same love back when, by all accounts, they should be seen as expendable weapons. That was the Jedi Order he had joined. That was the Jedi Order he had believed in. That was the Jedi Order he thought was dead.
He caught Ventress glancing towards him, a slight furrow in her brow.
He stamped out his feelings of longing before they could grow much bigger and much more noticeable.
While the individuals of the Jedi Order might be good people, the Order itself had become corrupted and twisted. They were used by the Senate, not to promote peace, but to further its own ends. To line to pockets of corrupt senators and take away yet more power from the already powerless.
If he were to rejoin now (not that he wanted to, but hypothetically), what was waiting for him? An Order that had given in too easily when Palpatine asked the Jedi to become generals. An Order that turned a blind eye to the child padawans sent to the front lines. Who died on the front lines. An order that didn't think twice about using the clone troopers who had given no indication (at least at first) that they were fighting of their own free will. An order that was so stuck in the ways of a past long dead that it failed to see the obvious festering wound right in front of them.
The people may be good. But the organization was too toxic to allow it to continue.
"The people now have a much more positive opinion of the Jedi," Palpatine continued, now pacing in his office. "If we kill them all, they will rebel. I need the citizens complacent in my rule until Tarkin has finished his weapon. Then I will have the power and fear to keep them in their place."
Dooku once more resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Fear helped keep people in place at first. But one could only live in fear for so long before they started to rebel. Even if Tarkin completed his stupid little project, people would find a way to destroy it. Amidala and Tano were not rarities. And the more strife there was in the world, the more people like them seemed to pop up. With their charisma and compassion, they could spark a rebellion and lead armies against Palpatine, even at increasingly harsh odds.
Hell, that was practically Tano's job at this point. Palpatine sent her on so many suicide missions with troops that were underfunded and battle weary. And yet, he had seen the holos. Watched every blasted 'Best of the GAR' episode out there. The clone troopers weren't fighting for the Republic anymore. They weren't following programmed orders anymore. They were fighting for something much more powerful and dangerous. And if Tano could drag that out of a bunch of slaves who had been used and abused their whole lives, then Palpatine had no hope. Even if Tano died tomorrow, someone would rise up and take her place.
"Then what do you suggest?" Dooku said. "You don't want to leave this alone but complaining about it will not bring about a solution."
Palpatine sneered, his lip curling in disgust. "There are other ways to hurt the girl. We don't need to kill her. We just need her to stop making this series. There are a few clones she seems the closest with."
He pulled up pictures from a security feed of Tano with various clones along with a few pictures taken on purpose. Dooku recognized many of them. One of the pictures was of her, the blonde one, and the one hanging around his grand-padawan. They appeared to be in a restaurant of some sort, the plates piled high with various types of meat. The blonde one was poking at a pile with a very suspicious look in his eye while the other clone trooper looked too tired to care and was shoving a spoonful into his mouth. Tano was beaming with an arm wrapped around each trooper.
Another one, this one of a security feed in the training rooms, had Tano and a clone trooper with a five tattooed on the side of his face wrestling. Play wrestling, like children. She laughed when she managed to pin him, sitting on his chest. The clone trooper made a valiant (and fake) effort to try and throw her off but eventually groaned and slumped back in defeat.
Another photo of her sleeping against the shoulder of a clone trooper, this one with a republic crest tattooed on his face while he cleaned his blaster. He was looking at her with such a tender look on his face. Dooku was fairly certain he had a similar photo of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan tucked away somewhere.
He pulled his eyes away from it. "You want to kill the clone troopers? Won't that be suspicious if you're connected with their deaths like you were with Tano's?"
Palpatine shook his head. "I'm taking great pains to ensure I am not connected with their deaths. Leave everything to me. There is more than one way to get rid of a problem and I will see to it this girl is dealt with." He hung up before Dooku could respond.
He and Ventress sat in silence for a beat. Neither believing that he would succeed but neither speaking it out loud.
"Master," Ventress said carefully, "Are you sure this is the best course of action? I fear the hyper-fixation on these clones is dangerous."
He agreed with her. But he was also lost. Unsure of himself. Like walking on a boat in a raging ocean, no step felt steady and one rogue wave would toss him overboard. Was he making the right choice to stay with Palpatine and his plans? Or should he abandon him? If he did, where would he go? He didn't want to go back to the Jedi Order. He didn't know if he could go back to the Jedi Order. But sitting neutral in this war felt wrong.
That light he had sensed so long ago, barely more than an ember that he could ignore, was now blinding. Reaching out and touching parts of the galaxy he never expected it to. It wasn't all Tano's doing. She was only one person. But she lit the match nonetheless. Hope was a contagious thing. People looked towards it, ached for it, and sought it out in even the darkest of circumstances. It spurred them forward when they had no strength left. Gave them the resolve to live and fight one more day.
He wanted to reach out to that hope. To grasp it with both hands and hang on tight until it consumed him and burned away all the darkness sitting in his soul.
He felt conflicted and lost, with no one he could turn to for guidance. Stay with Palpatine, a man who was slowly becoming more and more unhinged by the day. Go back to the Jedi Order, an order complicit with child soldiers and slave labor and a corrupt senate. Or stay neutral and watch the world burn around him.
Anger overtook him and he turned to Ventress, face hard. "Are you questioning our master's plans?" he spat. It was easier to take his anger out on another person rather than sit with it.
Ventress hesitated. For a moment, he thought she might back off. "He seems to be losing control."
How bold of her, to speak her mind like this. Perhaps Palpatine was not the only one losing control of the situation. There was a time when fear ruled his padawan and she would never speak such words against him.
He froze, realizing what he had just called her in his head.
"Perhaps if you had killed that girl when you had the chance, we wouldn't be dealing with this issue," he snarled, shoving past her and towards his desk. There was still a war that he had to fight.
"Ventress, if you no longer wish to serve our master, then let me know now so I can cut you down."
She hesitated. Was she seriously thinking of leaving? Where would she go? What would she do?
"No, master," she said quietly, finally. "That's not it."
Dooku's head raged with his heart. The stormy sea his soul was trapped in grew more tumultuous.
"Good. Then I suggest you continue your training, my apprentice. When the time comes, we must be ready to strike down the Jedi once and for all."
"Of course, master," she said.
She slipped out of the room without another word, leaving Dooku to ruminate on his thoughts and opinions.
Hours later, after Ventress had left the planet and he was finally alone, he took a deep breath and reached out to the Force. It was foolish. Should Palpatine ever know what he was doing he'd be dead, but he couldn't help it. Ever since he had sensed that one piece he had kept coming back to it. Addicted to its light and warmth. He had tried to fight it, but it had been a pointless endeavor. So he reached out. More specifically, he reached out to that piece that reminded him so much of Qui-Gon. He reached out to it for guidance. The only guidance he had access to. The light side, just out of reach, but so close.
What should I do? Why is my path no longer clear?
It hummed around him. He closed his eyes, trying to think of what Qui-Gon would say at this moment.
"How pathetic, asking my own padawan for guidance," he whispered.
I don't think so. Age does not make you all-knowing. And experience can happen at any age. The Force whispered back. It sounded so much like him. As if he were standing in the room with him now.
Are you staying with Palpatine because you truly believe in what he does? Or do you stay with him because you think you can never be redeemed?
Good question. One he didn't want to think about.
There are more paths than Light Side and Dark Side. Besides, I've made my thoughts on the Jedi Council quite clear. My padawan is now one of them. I would say I'm disappointed, but he annoys Mace, which is always amusing.
He must be desperate to talk to someone that wasn't an insane Sith if he was imagining a whole conversation with a very-much dead Qui-Gon.
Master, do not reject the Light because you fear it. Turn towards it. You do not have to be a Jedi to bring about peace.
He felt it, just a ghost of a touch on his shoulder.
He opened his eyes and severed the connection immediately. The Jedi were corrupt. Palpatine was corrupt. But he had to choose a side.
Satine Kryze may spout ideals of peace and pacifism, but not everyone had the privilege not to fight. He could not bring himself to return to an order that sat by while innocent people died, that served the senate more than they served the populace. He chose his side. Besides, it was customary for Sith apprentices to cut down their masters once their training was complete. All he had to do was wait for Palpatine to take over the Galaxy. Then he would strike him down and rebuild it into something just and orderly. There would be no padawans on the front lines of battle. There would be no Tarkins building death machines to strike fear into the hearts of citizens. There would be order. And peace. He would be able to rebuild the Jedi order into something better. And for that order and peace to come, he needed to shed blood.
It was a hard truth to swallow, but he would swallow it nonetheless. Someone in this galaxy had to be actually working toward peace, after all.
In time, they would see it. They would all see it.
*****
Fox grumbled as he tugged on the shiny armor, shoved in some corridor on the Corrie Base. Ever since that Force-damn jetii showed up his life had gotten so much more difficult. Before, the only things he had to worry about were the cameras and various recording equipment in the base. But now he had Quinlan Vos to look out for. Most of the time, he didn't know where the man was. A less paranoid person would have assumed that he was out doing Jetii things, but Fox was paranoid. And he had done some research on Jedi Shadows. They weren't called 'shadows' for nothing. Vos was somewhere on his base. Sneaking around. Looking for something.
Most of the men seemed to be under the impression that he was looking into whatever leak caused Ahsoka to be put right into Cad Bane's path without backup. It was the simplest explanation. The most logical.
But this war wasn't simple or logical. Besides, Tarkin was already covering the GAR. And it didn't seem like anyone in the Senate (*cough* Palpatine *cough*) knew of Vos' mission with the Coruscant Guard until after the fact.
No, Vos was here for something else.
The problem? Fox didn't know what.
And he didn't like not knowing things.
He didn't like seeing his brothers with their minds and personalities wiped from their bodies as they marched out with unknown orders. Sometimes coming back covered in blood. Sometimes not coming back at all.
He didn't like not knowing what game Palpatine was playing, and what roles Ahsoka and Rex were taking on.
And he especially did not like Jedi Shadows wandering around his base looking for something. If this was about the blackout missions; if Vos did find evidence that his men were doing something illegal or immoral, that could lead to mass arrests and decommisionings. Oh, sure, Fox wasn't the one ordering them around. He still didn't know how Palpatine managed to do it. But was anyone going to believe Palpatine , kind, grandfatherly Palpatine, was the one behind this?
Sure, maybe some poor sods from the lower levels that never got to see the sun. Who's lights flickered on and off from an overworked power system. Who ended up in his lock-up not because they were bad people, but because they had no other option. Some of them might immediately point to Palpatine and see that he was the real culprit behind everything.
But the jetiise? Nah. No matter what Cody and the others said, they were the Senate's lap dogs. They looked the other way, sometimes even helped out, when Palpatine and his cronies worked against the people, not for them. Maybe they knew. Maybe they didn't. In the end, the clones were the fall guys. They were the flesh droids produced en masse to fight their battles.
Fox didn't know what the blackout missions were for.
Fox didn't know what Vos was doing in this base.
So, unlike his men that seemed to want to adopt him like that stray tooka they found the other day, he kept his distance. He kept his eyes peeled. He watched the shadows to see if there was any movement that suggested another pair of eyes was on his neck. Watching. Waiting for evidence.
Which was a pain in the ass because he had a meeting with Wolffe, Cody, and Blitz down in 79s to discuss their little side project. Fox couldn't be seen at 79s. He was definitely being watched by Palpatine. Probably being watched by Vos. He couldn't risk one of their only safe spaces to talk unmonitored. Not until he got a clean datapad at the very least.
This meant that he had to, once again, tug on shiny armor in some back alley like one of those stupid picture books Stone read on his downtime and hope that Thorn could come to collect his actual armor before it ended up on the black market somewhere.
Actually… that might be a good way to track some of those black market gangs that have been roving about.
He made a mental note of the idea and hurried to 79s before he was late. Somehow, Blitz had managed to smuggle off two clean datapads and one holoprojector. It was decided (by a rather convoluted series of coded messages between the commanders) that the projector and datapad would go to Cody. As if there was any other choice. Fox didn't know where the other one ended up. He didn't care.
He did want his own, however, so that he didn't have to go to the stupid bar where his vode were making fools of themselves. Oh, the urge to call in the Guard and arrest all their asses was so strong.
He exercised a great deal of self-control. He felt like he should be rewarded for that. Maybe Dice would let him brew his caf with a charger instead of with water. That would be a nice treat.
He slipped his credits to the bartender and then made his way to the backroom. He didn't get very far before a heavy hand landed on his shoulder.
"Come back later, trooper," the voice said.
He turned to see Wolffe standing there. He looked more tired than normal, no doubt just as deeply affected by Ahsoka's injury as Cody and Rex were. He cared about her too. If Fox remembered correctly, he was one of the first troopers, if not the first, that she had met.
Wolffe's face was sallow, sunken in eyes that were ringed with deep, bruise-purple circles. His hair wasn't as well-kept as normal and his armor hadn't been cleaned in a while. Fox knew he hadn't had a chance to meet up with Ahsoka yet. He had literally just gotten in, gotten a debrief, and then left. He did feel bad for him. If the meeting went fast enough, maybe Wolffe would be able to catch Ahsoka and Cage going over some goals for the next fiscal year back at the base. If he asked really nicely (and brought Sinker and Boost along) maybe he'd let him take Ahsoka out to Dex's without Archer and Sol tagging along.
For now, he had a meeting to attend to. He had a job to do. He pushed the worry and care for his brother and sister aside to focus on that.
"Wolffe, it's me. Fox." Of course, he had to have one of the more recognizable faces out of the sea of millions of identical ones. What, with his gray, shaggy hair and a scar across his lip. And, according to Thire, a perpetual 'Fucking kill me I want to die' energy. He didn't even have any tattoos! But the universe (or the Force, take your pick) loved to fuck with him and made him less like a clone and more like an actual brother anyways.
Wolffe's eyes narrowed.
"Seriously? Why would I lie about something like that? What would I even have to gain by lying?"
Wolffe didn't respond.
He didn't let go of Fox's shoulder.
"One of yours and Gree's first missions planetside, Gree got a tick in his groin and was too scared to pull it out but also didn't want anyone else to touch it so you ended up having to tackle him and hold him down because coaxing him to do something about it wasn't working." Fox recited almost robotically.
Wolffe had gotten a kick out of it at the time and everyone spent several hours ribbing Gree about the whole incident (except for Fox because he was above that sort of thing) until approximately two hours later when Bly burst into the chat asking how soon was too soon to get married.
They all agreed that having only spoken two sentences to General Secura at the time of the question, it was too early for them to get married.
Wolffe's eyes narrowed.
"Oh, come on!" Fox groaned. He grabbed his arm and dragged him into the room. "Just… just come into the back room and you can see my face. Come on. I got work to do. Stone's filling in for me on some committee meetings."
"You and Stone look nothing alike," Wolffe said. "And I thought Senate was starting its recess."
"One week. In one week they have their break and then I can catch up on all the work I haven't been able to do because I'm busy being the representative."
Door firmly closed and locked behind them, Wolffe began sweeping the room to make sure no bugs popped up. Fox pulled off his bucket and shook out his hair.
When Wolffe turned around, he winced. "Shit, Foxy, you look awful. When's the last time you slept?"
"You don't look much better," he spat back. Then immediately regretted it. Wolffe wasn't the problem here. Fox should not be taking out his anger on him.
"Yeah, well. I haven't," Wolffe said quietly. "I keep having dreams about 'Soka. Koon's been helping out. Telling me to release it all into the Force and shit like that. I still… I feel like I should have been there, you know?"
"Not your fault. If not even Cody could be there, then you couldn't have either."
Wolffe hummed. "Seriously, when's the last time you slept?"
"Healer tried to make me sleep," he grumbled.
Wolffe let out a bitter laugh. "I know. Sok'ika told me you made the poor thing cry. Shouldn't be mean to Jettiise, vod. They don't deserve your ire."
Fox fiddled with the holoprojector and then waited for Cody and Blitz to join. "Vos does," he grumbled. "How's she doing? Healing okay? I haven't had much of a chance to talk to her. Archer and Sol have been giving me regular reports. But, I imagine she's more open with you than with them."
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Physically she's fine. Mentally… I'm not so sure. It's like she's not letting herself come to terms with what happened. She's not letting herself deal with it properly. I'm glad she's helping out the Corries. I know she wants to feel useful, but damn I think it's so that she doesn't have to think about the fact that she almost died. I think she'd heal better if Rex would talk to her, but he's been avoiding her since Jesse got put in Bacta. They all need better-coping mechanisms."
"Oh, and you're such a good representative for healthy coping mechanisms?" Fox said, sending a pointed look toward Wolffe's fake eye.
"I'm better than you, vod," Wolffe rolled his eyes. "You know Thorn reached out to me when he heard I was getting shore leave and asked me to do couples counseling between you and your Jetii."
" He is not my Jetii," Fox growled, eye twitching at the mere thought of Vos. "He says he's not a general. Says he's trying to dig up dirt on some mysterious crime family."
Wolffe hummed thoughtfully. "And you don't believe him?"
"We all know everyone is being investigated for a potential leak," Fox replied.
"Yeah, but you don't think that's what he's there for. Do you?"
"Tarkin's supposed to be investigating. And he's being too loud and obnoxious to try and dig up dirt on us."
"Unless he's the distraction," Wolffe said.
This gave Fox pause. He hadn't even thought that was a possibility. It'd be a good strategy. Parade Quinlan Vos in all his loud, obnoxious glory in front of the guard like some gaudy tropical bird. Draw their eyes and their attention away from the actual people doing the work.
"I just don't know what else he'd be investigating," Fox finally answered.
Wolffe let out another thoughtful hum. "If it helps, Kenobi's close to him. And Secura was his padawan. Both of them seem to like him well enough. Kenobi seems to think he caused most of the trouble in their youth."
"And you don't believe that?" Fox asked.
Wolffe grinned at him. "We've all heard stories from Cody about Kenobi. My guess is they both were the problem children."
"Great. Just what I need," Fox said, rolling his eyes.
"It'll be okay, vod ," Wolffe said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I know you're not super trusting of the Jedi, but they are good people. Well, most of them. Something happened with Krell that I still can't wrangle out of Cody. But the rest of them seem pretty nice."
It wasn't an issue of niceness, it was an issue of who he was working for. And who he would choose when everything was out in the open. Would he side with the clones? Or would he side with Palpatine?
"How are the rest of the baby Jedi? Wolfpack's got a few volunteers for you too. I sent over the list to Thorn so he could coordinate. But the baby Jedi, I want to hear about them. Aren't they just the cutest things?"
"Baby Jedi are fine," Fox said. He did eventually get an answer as to why there were so many children in the base. They mostly stayed out of his way. A girl had given him a 'friendship' bracelet that she had made yesterday. He had yet to take it off. And a boy had brought him a sandwich. He definitely didn't cry in his office afterward.
"I think Stone wants to adopt most of them. You're lucky Kestris, Offee, and Tano are already spoken for. I think Thorn caught him trying to smuggle one of the younger ones into his barracks last night."
Wolffe snorted. "Baby Jedi are adorable. I remember when I first met Sok'ika . She was so tiny. I could pick her up and carry her with one arm! I could probably still do that. Her adult teeth were just starting to come in, according to Koon, so when she bit me, it was like tiny little needles. Hurt like a bitch."
Thankfully, before Wolffe could ramble on about Ahsoka anymore (and start pulling out pictures, which were adorable but Fox didn't want to give him the satisfaction of telling him that), Cody and Blitz hopped on the call.
This was enough to stop Wolffe from retelling his story about how he taught Ahsoka how to roar. "Hey, Blitz, how's the latest C2C celebrity feeling?" He grinned at him. Very wolf-like.
Blitz glared at Fox. "I hate that you made me do that. It was so embarrassing!"
"It's for your own good," Fox said. "At least now if you go missing people will know your name and face."
"You're paranoid."
"Damn right, I am. And I will continue to be until someone gives me a reason I shouldn't."
"Tii's not going to let Lama Su shove me over the balcony into the sea," Blitz argued back.
"That's what you think."
"Guys," Cody said tiredly. "Can we focus here?"
Fox finally got a look at his brother. His little blue figure wasn't standing up straight. Instead, he seemed in some sort of a half-crouch position, with his head wedged awkwardly to the side.
"Why are you sitting like that?"
"There aren't a lot of blind spots in the venerator classes," Cody explained. "And the blind spots we do have tend to be a little tight."
"Where are you?" Wolffe asked.
"Wedged in between some pipes in the cargo hold. My neck hurts." Cody grumbled. "Anyways, enough small talk. I got a campaign to plan in twenty minutes so I've got to be quick. Wolffe, what'd you get from the bounty hunter?"
"Not much," Wolffe shrugged. "Bane hasn't been part of the guild in years. He's in too high of demand. He doesn't need them anymore. Luckily for us, though, that means the guild is pissed at him for taking away business and operating outside their rules and regulations. They want him caught just about as much as everyone else in the galaxy. They've consolidated a few bounties on him to make it more enticing to the big shots."
"That still doesn't help us catch him or find out who hired him," Fox said. Not that he ever thought that was a possibility. Bane was too slippery. Still, he had hoped Wolffe's contact would provide them with more information than what they already knew.
Wolffe grinned, once more that wolfish grin that made lesser men feel like sheep about to be devoured. Fox had grown up with him. He didn't cower under that grin.
"Just because the guild didn't yield fruit doesn't mean I have nothing. Aura Sing's been seen hovering around some of the outer rim planets and she is pissed at Bane."
"How's that help us?" Blitz asked.
"Because she and Bane did that Senate Bombing a while back. And according to rumors, the guy that hired them at that time also hired Bane to take out Ahsoka. At least, that's what Sing thinks. We catch her, we catch the shabuir that did this."
"Potentially," Cody said. "Sing could be lying or making assumptions of her own."
"Fits with Fox's theory," Wolffe said.
"One theory." Fox corrected. "Not the only one. Besides, I doubt Sing will know where Bane is hiding."
"Bane's a bounty hunter," Wolffe scoffed. "He works for money and money alone. We don't need him. We need his employer. If we get Sing caught and get us to tell her who hired them, we might not even need Bane. As much as I want to rip the man's fucking throat out, he's not going to go after Ahsoka for fun or revenge."
Wolffe hesitated. Hesitated in a way that told Fox he had more to say, but didn't know if he should say it.
"Spit it out, Wolffe. What else?"
"It's not about Ahsoka. Or Bane," he said.
"Is it a problem?" Cody asked.
"It… it might become a problem." Wolffe winced.
"Then out with it. What's going on."
Wolffe sighed. "I can't confirm this. I don't have pictures or anything. But there are also rumors that Boba's been hanging around with Sing."
" Haar'chak," Blitz cursed.
"Seriously," Cody groaned, running a hand down his face. "That… yeah, that's a problem. Should we tell the Jedi?"
"No," Fox said. "Because if we tell the Jedi, they're going to want to know how we got this information. And then they're going to find out about Wolffe's investigation. Which will lead them to our investigation. Which will lead to all of our asses getting decommissioned on grounds of treason. Besides, Boba's still a kid. I'm sure he'll stay out of the way for a few more years."
Wolffe scoffed. "Please. Mix the Prime's D+ parenting with Aura Sings, I'm sure, A+ parenting we'll be lucky if that kid comes out half as well adjusted as any of us."
"We aren't well-adjusted," Blitz grumbled. "Gree thinks good conflict resolution is breaking people's kneecaps. Rex jumps off of buildings with no way to survive. Fox is addicted to caffeine and stress—"
"Can you be addicted to stress?" Wolffe asked.
"Bly's such a simp for Secura he's planning their wedding."
Cody choked down a laugh.
All three looked at him.
"What?"
"You aren't much better."
"I am not planning a wedding." He crossed his arms and did his best to straighten up and glare at them. In the process, he banged his head on what Fox had to assume was a pipe and winced.
"Right." Blitz rolled his eyes.
"We won't worry about Boba for now," Fox said. "Besides, if we catch Sing. We'll catch him and… I don't know… hand him… to… a family? I guess? What happens to cadets when they aren't cadets and don't have a family? Do they go to the Jedi? Will the Jedi take him?"
"Nah, got to be Force-sensitive for the Jedi to take him," Blitz said. "I don't think Boba is. None of us are."
"He could be," Wolffe said. "Maybe the Force wanted a Force Sensitive Clone. Though don't know why it picked Boba and not me."
"Boba's not Force-sensitive," Fox argued.
"How do you know?" Wolffe argued.
"Because I do."
Cody sighed and pinched his brow. "Look, let's just focus on Sing for now. Wolffe, do you have any information on her? She's as slippery as Bane."
Wolffe grinned at them. The kind of Grin that could only spell trouble in the future. "I can do you one better than that. I'm meeting up with an old fling of Sing's in a few days. I'll see what information he's got."
Blitz shook his head. "Don't say anything else. Please. I beg you. The less I know, the less I'm scarred."
"Whatever you say, Blitzy." Wolffe rolled his eyes.
"Alright. I'm just going to leave you to it. Don't get an STD." Cody said. "Fox, how's that investigation into the potential embezzling going? Any leads?"
"Surprisingly well," Fox said, pulling out a datapad with coded notes written on it. "Rex pointed me towards Tarkin and I started looking into him."
"You found something?" Blitz asked.
"Kind of. He's risen through the ranks very fast with little to show for it. I've found memos from Yularen arguing that he wasn't fit for a promotion yet. And Tarkin seems to be very close with Palpatine."
"That is suspicious," Wolffe said. "Palpatine's greasing the wheels for promotions to give Tarkin power to do something."
"But he's got to be at least a little good at what he does," Blitz said. "If he was an idiot, it'd be too obvious."
"And Palpatine would have no use for him," Cody said.
"He does get shit done," Wolffe said. "But at a high cost. Has some of the highest casualty rates in the entire GAR. High risk. High reward. High body count."
Cody nodded. "I've overheard Obi-Wan and General Windu discussing the problem. They don't exactly trust him either. Sounds like Tarkin isn't making a lot of friends."
"Cody speak for 'he's a dick'," Wolffe scoffed. "That can't be all, though, Fox. Palpatine greases a lot of wheels. The entire Senate is corrupt."
Fox nodded. "I did some digging. Legally, of course. I don't want slicers getting caught up in this. It's nearly impossible to find a memo from him to Palpatine or vice versa. He's a little too good at scrubbing himself from the record. The fact that I can't find anything is already suspicious enough. That coupled with his rise to power and his disregard for our well-being tells me that I'm on the right track."
"But if you have nothing, we can't bring these suspicions to the Jedi," Cody said.
"I didn't say I had nothing," Fox said. "I did manage to find one memo."
"A memo?" Cody asked.
He nodded. "It's sparse on the details. It's just giving Tarkin the go-ahead with promises of more funds next fiscal year. No numbers and no indication as to what he's been given the go-ahead for. Actually, the whole conversation chain's been deleted. The only reason I found this was because one of his support staff was CC'ed and forgot to delete this one memo. The flimsi trail is completely gone."
"But because they're using war funds, it shouldn't be," Blitz said.
"Exactly. Anti-corruption legislation-- which is a joke, let's be honest—makes it so that when using the yearly budget, everything has to be accounted for. We find out what Tarkin's doing, we find some of our missing funds."
"How are you going to do that? You said it yourself, the flimsi trail is gone," Cody asked.
Wolffe peered over his shoulder. "No, you're wrong."
"No, I'm right. I can't find anything else," Fox said, furrowing his brow.
Wolffe shook his head. "The official flimsi trail is gone. But there's no way Tarkin's working on a secret project in person alone. There's got to be some other information out there. Something that his support staff is tracking. And if Palpatine knows about it, something has got to have gone directly to his office. Tarkin wouldn't be deleting memos if they were free of incriminating evidence. And I guarantee that not everything is deleted immediately. Something is being left behind on the GAR network."
"Well, I can't find anything else. I don't want to use slicers because it might tip Tarkin or Vos off. I'm going to wait until the next fiscal year starts and track down the budget that way. Those funds will need to be sent to Tarkin eventually. I'll just have to work backward." Fox huffed.
"That sounds like way too much work and a lot of time," Wolffe said. "We don't even know when Tarkin will get these funds. It could be months. And if Palpatine is already making moves on Ahsoka, we may not have that kind of time."
"So what do you want me to do? Use slicers?" Fox asked.
Wolffe rolled his eyes. "You don't have to use slicers, vod. There's more than one way to skin a loth cat. Look, just get me a list of every non-brother that works under Tarkin. I'll see if I can't get an access code or something for you."
"Wolffe, not even you can sleep with that many people," Cody said.
Wolffe groaned loudly and pinched his brow. "My brothers are idiots. They are complete idiots and we're putting the fate of the war in their hands."
He let out a long-suffering sigh and then turned to them. "Okay, look, Tarkin's a dick. He hates clones. He's one of the people that thinks we're sub-human. He's not going to want to sleep with me. And even if he did, he's not stupid enough to slip me his codes. And the rest of his men are likely just as anti-clone. You're right, I don't have enough time to dick down his support staff until I find the idiot who's willing to slip me his passcodes."
Blitz shuddered. "Please, never use the phrase 'dick down' again."
Cody ignored them. "Then why—"
"Military men and politicians are all the same." He waved dismissively at Cody. "Especially nat-borns that are ori'buyce, kih'kovid ."
"Get to the point, Wolffe," Fox said, wishing he had grabbed a charger before coming here. He couldn't, though. They were some of his most recognizable features and he didn't want to risk anyone seeing him.
"Do you know those two women that are always hanging off Orn Free Taa's arms?" Wolffe asked.
Fox wrinkled his nose. "Yes."
"Yeah, well, they're not there for the true love."
"Who could have possibly guessed," Blitz said, rolling his eyes.
"One night I find one of them bawling her eyes out 'cause her family doesn't like her chosen career—"
"It's a career?" Cody asked.
"Yeah, sugar baby. Keep up, Codes. So I offer her a shoulder to cry on. Take her and some of the other people in her line of work to Dex's so they can complain about their politicians and admirals without fear."
"Why are they called sugar babies?" Blitz asked.
"I don't know. It's not important," Wolffe said. "Anyways, it's this whole network. You got escorts, prostitutes, sugar babies, strippers, mistresses you hide from your spouse, a dominatrix or two."
"Is Skywalker a sugar baby?" Fox asked.
"Probably. Focus, Fox," Wolffe said. "And they like me. I've been using them to help pass some of Fox's legislation and other pro-clone, pro-Jedi shit that gets pushed to the Senate floor. Some of them are really good at their jobs. So what I'm thinking is that there's this whole group who just does the nat-born officers. I reach out to them with a list of Tarkin's men and see if one of them can't get some access codes or something. Done. Faster and easier than Fox trying to reverse engineer his way to an embezzlement charge."
Fox was not certain that was going to work. Asking friends to convince politicians to vote for certain bills was one thing. Asking them to steal access codes? That might be pushing Wolffe's contacts more than they were comfortable with.
"Fox, listen to me, most of these people are just in it for the money. They're not loyal, they're employees. They'll give me the codes. Or, they'll give you the codes, I suppose."
Fox sighed. "Fine. I'll write down a list. But I am still going to work on my plan of keeping track of the war funds."
"If Palpatine even pays Tarkin from the war funds," Blitz said. "He's probably embezzling from multiple sources."
An idea popped into Fox's head. "Yeah, you're right. I've been so focused on the war funds that I completely forgot about all the other funding the Senate uses. He's probably keeping a close eye on the war funds and working hard to keep that as clean as possible because he knows that'll be under heavier scrutiny. But something else, like say social welfare programs for the elderly, no one cares about that. Thanks for the idea, Blitz."
"Any time."
"Okay, now that that's figured out," Cody said, "Blitz, how are the clean datapads coming along?"
"Slow and steady. We're digging them out of the trash heap on Kamino but we got to be careful. Thankfully, Clone Force 99's bunk is such a mess I don't think anyone will spot the contraband. How's yours holding up?"
"It's fine. Haven't had any problems. I've used it in front of some nat-borns and they don't seem to notice the difference."
"Who'd you give the other one to?" Wolffe asked.
"Gree."
"Really? Why him?" Fox asked.
"He's got this code he uses with yarn," Cody said. "I want to start scrubbing these weekly just in case we do get caught. Take a page of out Tarkin's book. But I also don't want to lose any information we have. So it's on Gree now to knit all these conversations."
"We might need to teach everyone how to knit, then," Fox said. "The more people we have joining us, the more work Gree will have to do. It's not fair to put all this on his shoulders."
"Noted. I want to get a few more pads and holoprojectors to some more people, though. I've got a list of priorities and we need to get on that. Blitz, when can we have the next batch ready to go?"
Blitz sighed and pinched his brow. "I mean, I think I might be able to get one in the next few weeks. But we need way more materials, Codes. I'm not sure we can scrap enough from the Kaminoan trash. Even if they don't get suspicious, there's only so much usable stuff getting thrown out."
"Have Tech send me a list," Wolffe said. "The guy I'm meeting up with for Sing is who I usually go to for my contraband anyways."
"Wait, our contraband comes from your booty call?" Fox asked, headache increasing.
"I have yet to hear any complaints." Wolffe crossed his arms and glared at them.
"Because we've been living in blissful ignorance," Blitz sighed.
"Besides, he's been a great help for my padawan knife project," Wolffe continued.
"What?" Cody asked, whipping towards Wolffe.
"Don't worry about it. It's a personal project."
"I feel like I should be very worried about that."
Wolffe grinned at him. "You got another meeting to get to, Codes. What are you going to focus on? The Padawan Knife Project, or the Contraband?"
Cody groaned. "Fine. Can you at least tell us who you're meeting up with?"
"The weequay pirate I was telling you about," Wolffe said casually.
Cody's brow furrowed. "Hang on. Is the weequay pirate I'm thinking of the same weequay pirate you're talking about?"
"Probably." Wolffe shrugged.
"Oh! Wolffe!"
"What?"
"I thought you had standards!"
"I do have standards!"
"Hondo Ohnaka meets those standards!"
"Yes, he does! He is both hot and useful! I'm not hearing any complaints when I get contraband."
Cody screwed up his face. "I can't believe you!"
"You'll be happy to know that nothing ever happened between him and your general."
"Why would you even know that?"
"I asked. I'm looking out for you, vod'ika ."
"Are we done here?" Fox asked tiredly. As much fun as it was to see Cody and Wolffe bickering, he had a lot to do. More now that he was looking for reasons to remove Palpatine from his position as supreme chancellor.
"I've got an annoying Jedi poking around my base, I'm now in charge of eight more committees starting next fiscal year, and I need to start looking at the entire budget to see where things aren't lining up."
Cody huffed. "Yeah, we're done here. Try to get some sleep."
"I'll sleep when I'm dead." He turned off the holoprojector and took his helmet from Wolffe.
"You doing okay?" Wolffe asked as they stepped out of the room and back into the hustle and bustle of 79s.
"Yes. I'm fine. My men are a great support in helping out and with the volunteers from the Jedi and other battalions I have more resources at my disposal."
"Okay. Make sure to lean on your brothers. I know none of us commanders are really good at that, but we are here for you. And if those nat-borns can't tell the difference between you and Stone, I doubt they can tell the difference between you and anyone else. I'll be happy to attend a meeting if you ever need it."
"And risk you declaring us an independent people and then immediately declaring war on the Republic and the Separatists? I don't think so." Fox scoffed.
Wolffe laughed. "Hey, if that's what needs to happen, then that's what needs to happen."
"You said you knew Orn Free Taa's two… sugar babies?"
"Yup. Sweet girls. Ones trying to pay for some expensive medicine to help her sister and the other is trying to save her family farm."
"Think they'd poison Free Taa for fifty credits?"
Wolffe put a heavy hand on his shoulder and stared solemnly into his eyes. "Brother, they'd do it for a high-five."
Well then, that could always be Plan Q.
*****
Episode 11: Meet Fox! The Most Overworked Clone in the Galaxy
The camera zoomed in on a very well-known clone. Probably the most well-known in the galaxy at this point. And they could hear snickering in the background. It sounded muffled. Like someone was trying to contain their laughter but failing miserably.
"And this, dear audience," Ahsoka's voice came out in a hushed whisper. They couldn't see her, but they could hear the smile. Good. The audience had been worried when she hadn't shown up. That and talk of an injury amongst the other clone troopers in the galaxy had the rumor mill swirling that Ahsoka had died.
"This is Fox. The most overworked clone in the galaxy." She continued.
Fox paused and looked up from his stack of datapads. He looked like he was about to say something, but then thought better of it, shaking his head and returning to his work.
"You'll hear him referred to as many titles. Commander Fox. Marshal Commander Fox. Representative Fox. Representative Commander Fox. But no matter what you call him, always remember that he's the reason the Galactic Republic hasn't imploded yet."
Ahsoka shifted forward. She was crouched, playfully hiding as if she were a predator and Fox was the prey.
"Unlike most troopers that eat rations and maybe drink a few cups of caf a day. Fox has a unique digestive system where he only consumes energy drinks. Drinks that Hardcase had one time. The end result caused them to be banned in the 501st until the end of time."
She shuffled a bit closer. "As you can see by his sunken cheeks and under-eye circles, Fox doesn't get as much sleep as he needs. Some troopers say that he fights sleep in hand-to-hand combat each night. And he always wins."
Fox seemed to have finally had enough of ignoring Ahsoka. "If I'm so overworked, young one, why are you filming me?"
The illusion was shattered. Ahsoka stood up. "Because I'm bored and I miss doing episodes."
He slid over a stack of datapads to her. "If you're bored, I got work you can do."
"No thanks!" Ahsoka chirped.
She put down the camera and trotted towards him, sitting in a chair across from him. The audience noticed that instead of her normal bandeau, she was now wearing a pair of clone trooper blacks that had been cut up to fit her better. Strange.
Fox finally glanced up at her.
"Besides, datapads don't solve the fact that I miss doing episodes," she said. "Don't get me wrong, the last few episodes have been great. I love watching them. But I like being a part of the series."
"And what am I going to talk about exactly?" Fox said, turning back to the work in front of him.
"I don't know. Politics?"
Fox made a face. "I'd rather die."
"Come on, Fox. Please?" Ahsoka said. "People want to know more about you. You're a government official. You're the first clone trooper that's held a position of power in the government. An interview might make you seem more approachable."
Fox stared at the camera. Without breaking eye contact, he opened an energy drink, chugged it in one go, and said, "I don't want to be approachable."
This was, however, the wrong thing to say. Most of the comments more or less said the following: "Big Mood", "It's like you put me on camera", "Any man that can shotgun a can like that is a man I want to marry", and "Fox, daddy, please let me take care of you".
"Come on," Ahsoka said. "You got to have something you want to say to the people at home."
"Don't drink and don't go into politics," Fox deadpanned.
Ahsoka snickered. She was nothing if not persistent. Besides, it seemed like Fox did welcome her distraction, despite his grumbling and griping.
"Maybe some questions will help you out. What exactly do you do as a representative for the clone troopers?"
Fox sighed. "I'm not getting out of this, am I?"
"Blitz said I could," Ahsoka said.
Fox's eye twitched. "I'm going to kill that man."
"And Thorn agreed."
"Thorn isn't in charge."
"He kind of is. Unofficially, at least."
They stared at each other for a bit before Fox finally relented. He opened up another energy drink and chugged it down. The company decided to reach out to the Jedi Council asking if they could sponsor them. This then led to a long debate as to whether or not this was legal until Fox (in a display of unhinged glee) managed to draft up the contract so that the energy drink company sponsored the actual cloning process and training on Kamino.
Lama Su was less than thrilled about having to plaster the company's logo all over the walls of Tipoca City and several of the trainers almost quit when they saw they'd have to wear uniforms that had the company name on them. Thorn, Thire, and Stone had never seen Fox so happy in all his life. They called a mind healer to make sure he hadn't finally lost it.
"As a representative," Fox said, "I look for ways to improve the conditions for clone troopers. Because of my position and the laws, I am unable to act on larger issues such as relief aid, trade policies, and things like that. I would love to give more of a voice to issues outside of the clone troopers. But because of the way the special interest groups work, Burtoni is technically the only one that can advocate for larger-scale change. I know it frustrates the neverde when they see me only focus on trooper issues, but legally, it is the only thing I can focus on."
"But I've seen you focus on larger issues, though," Ahsoka said. "Loopholes?"
"Kind of. Anything that overlaps I can have more of a say in. I've been able to swing more relief aid missions with the help of Senator Organa, for example. Before the bill, troopers would barrel into a situation, destroy a bunch of clankers, and then leave destruction behind. We didn't have the time or orders to clean up, though we did our best. The program is still in its infancy but we're working on restructuring the GAR so that there is a small relief corps made up of troopers no longer fit for military duty and Jedi who can't or don't want to be on the front lines for whatever reason. The results have been positive so far. And I know the people we help are thankful."
"That's awesome! What other programs have you been working on?" Ahsoka asked.
"I've been working with Senator Amidala on training the Coruscant Guard to better deal with crimes that arise from mental health issues. Honestly, our training is pretty much just to go out there and stun whoever is making a mess of things. But that doesn't always help the situation. And not everyone that commits a crime deserves prison. I'm not sure how far this one will go, but I'm hopeful. As for trooper-specific issues, medical care is always an issue as is what the Senate plans on doing with us after the war. There have been some strides made towards a job training program. I'm cautiously optimistic."
Something about the earnest way he spoke made the people watching trust him. Honestly, it sounded like Fox was doing more for them than their own senators were. There would be calls about this later to their representatives.
"Wow, that's great!" Ahsoka said. "And what about as Marshal Commander of the Coruscant Guard? I know Cody's a Marshal Commander but I'm assuming you guys have different jobs. Or, I guess Thorn has a different job since he's the unofficial one while you're busy with politics."
"Eh, there's not a lot of differences between what I do and what Cody does," Fox said. "He runs the third systems army. I run the Coruscant Guard. The biggest difference is that he's dealing with clankers. I'm mostly dealing with assassins."
"Assassins?"
"Oh yeah. It happens so often, we have a betting pool as to who the Senator Target of the Week is. I don't allow them to pick Amidala though. And Chuchi, Mothma, and Organa have to have at least five hits out on them to count."
Ahsoka's brow furrowed. "That's… I'm still confused as to why people are trying to assassinate them. I thought everyone liked Padme. Why would anyone want to hurt her? Same with Chuchi and Organa. I haven't met Mothma but I know people like her too."
"Well, it's because she's so well-liked that makes her so dangerous."
Ahsoka still seemed confused.
Fox sighed and finally put down the datapad to turn and face her fully. "Listen, the war, on the surface, appears to be black and white. Separatist vs. Republic. But it's not. Yes, those are the two sides, but each planet and each politician involved is more on a sliding scale where they sit closer or further from one side or the other. Senator Amidala is on the side of the Republic, make no mistake, but she also wants peace, making her a much more neutral party."
"And that's what makes her dangerous?"
"No, what makes her dangerous is that she's the kind of person who is easily trusted. And because she is a very vocal advocate for peace, she can sway those that are also more neutral into doing things."
"I don't get how that's a bad thing. Aren't we fighting for peace?"
Fox shrugged. "Most people are. But like I said, it isn't black and white. Let's just take the example of Desix. It's a separatist-aligned planet, but from what I hear the leader is more neutral than fanatical. Tawni Ames seems to want this war to end just as much as Senator Amidala. So, if you get the two of them in a room together, the separatists might end up losing a strong ally if Amidala manages to convince Ames to at the very least join the Neutral Systems."
"Oh," Ahsoka said. "I see."
"And it's not just writing peace treaties either. There are many facets to this war including power, money, and control. You might have a Senator out there who is using this war to gain more power, as people are so focused on the destruction that they don't notice what's going on behind the scenes. And they use that destruction to mask their true intentions. So, they'd benefit from Senator Amidala not being a politician because she might bring about the end of the war faster than they would like."
Something flitted across Fox's features. Almost like a lightbulb went off over his head. Only some people noticed it. The others figured he was just as stony-faced as ever. And yet other people thought that maybe the consumption of two energy drinks within ten minutes of one another caused him to have a mini-stroke. Whatever the case, he came back to himself and was focused on Ahsoka.
"Who doesn't want the war to end?" Ahsoka said.
"You'd be surprised," Fox huffed. "I want it to end, though. I want it to end so that my brothers won't have to keep fighting and dying. And all those cadets still training on Kamino get a choice as to what they do with their lives."
"What would you do if the War ended tomorrow?" Ahsoka asked.
Fox barked out a bitter laugh. "Please, it doesn't matter if the war ends tonight. My job is to run the Republic. I swear I'm doing more work than the Chancellor at the moment. For some reason, I'm on the clean water subcommittee. I don't know the first thing about clean water. I mean, it's important but that's about it. I don't know how that happened but now I'm running it."
"Cause you're good at your job," Ahsoka beamed.
"Competence seems to be in short supply with most of the senate," Fox grumbled. "Again, I know nothing about clean water and how to get it to people, but my god the incompetence of some of these senators. I'm not going to name names. But I need to do a complete overhaul as to how we distribute water. Have you seen Tattooine?"
Ahsoka nodded.
"Absolute mess of a water distribution system. Not to mention some planets hemorrhage the stuff like it's nothing. But, as for the war, maybe it's because I'm not on the front lines. Or maybe it's because I'm exposed to the underbelly of the Republic's politics, but it's not black and white. It's grey. It's all grey. In my opinion, we should figure out why certain planets willingly joined the Separatist alliance in the first place and work to address those issues. Not that I think they should run free to wreak havoc on the Galaxy, just, if a planet like Desix joined, we should know why. What about the Republic wasn't appealing to them and can we do anything to fix it? I want to explore those shades of grey so that we don't have any more black-and-white thinking that got us into this mess."
That sounded reasonable to most people. They were starting to like Representative Fox more and more.
"Well, there's also light side and dark side," Ahsoka said, scuffing her feet against the floor. "Jedi and Sith."
Fox scoffed again. "That kind of black-and-white thinking will get you killed. I know you Jedi talk about 'light side this' and 'dark side that', but people are very rarely all light or all dark. We all have darkness in us. That's never going away no matter how hard you try. So, you accept it and learn how to deal with it so it doesn't consume you or the people you love."
Ahsoka beamed and rested her head on his shoulder. "You are very wise, Fox. Possibly the wisest trooper in the whole GAR. Except for maybe Cody."
"Cody may act like he's responsible, but he's only responsible compared to Rex and Wolffe. Leave him to his own devices, especially when no one else will get hurt, and he'll do some shit like dive head first into a pool of acid to retrieve a data stick."
"Did he do that?" Ahsoka asked.
"You'll have to ask Alpha-17. He's got more dirt on him than I do because I don't care what my brothers do, so long as it doesn't affect me."
"That's a lie," Ahsoka said, poking his side. Bly told me about the time you gave them all necklaces as a gift. And then Ponds got kidnapped and you found him because you put trackers in all the charms."
"If it works, it works," Fox grumbled. "They're just pissed they didn't think of it first."
"Any word on Bane, yet?" she asked, her voice getting softer.
Fox reached up to rub her head. "Sorry, kid. He's a slippery one. We're running out of leads and I don't know what else we can do." He answered truthfully. It hurt to hear his honesty, but it was also nice. Sometimes, no matter how much the truth hurt, it was better than a soft lie.
Ahsoka's shoulders slumped forward. "Yeah, I thought so. I was hoping though. Don't get me wrong, I love you and hanging out with you, but I want to be back with Rex and the others. I miss them. What happens if you can't catch him?"
Fox opened his mouth to respond. Then, another lightbulb went off in his head. This one was plain and clear for the audience to see. He straightened up and turned to her.
"What is it?" Ahsoka asked.
"How popular is your series?"
"Um, pretty popular? You'll have to ask Echo for the backend stats but I know we've got views on every inhabited planet."
Fox hummed and grabbed one of his datapads. He tapped away on it for a bit while Ahsoka sat to the side awkwardly.
"Do you need help?"
"No. Just messaging Echo." The datapad pinged and Fox made a pleased sound in the back of his throat.
"You get views on separatist planets too?"
"Yup. I get a lot of views from Serenno for some reason. And also a lot from Mandalore, though they aren't separatist."
Fox scrolled through the datapad. "What would you say to having another series on the site?"
"What do you mean? You already have 'Fox Talks'. Do you want something else?"
Fox grimaced. "I hate that stupid name so much. But no, I don't want something else. I was thinking of something different. You have a lot of viewers. People listen to you. Maybe we could have a short 'Republic's Most Wanted' to make people aware of various dangerous criminals out there in the galaxy. It could at the very least help drive tips and leads for us."
Ahsoka thought for a second and then beamed. "I love that idea. But, I have two people I want to host it."
"Who?" Fox asked, eyebrow raised as he looked at her, suspicious of what she was going to say.
She leaned over and whispered in his ear."
He made a face. "Those two idiots? Why?"
She shrugged. "The audience wants more of them. And who am I to deny what my audience wants?"
Fox thought it over, then sighed. "Fine, but I have to approve it before it goes live."
"Deal." She held out her hand.
He hesitated and then shook hers back. "Maker help me, this is going to be a disaster." He groaned.
"But a super fun disaster!" Ahsoka said cheerfully. She hopped off the chair and kissed Fox's cheek. "Thanks, Fox! I'm going to go tell them! And get some sleep!"
"I'll sleep when I'm dead!" Fox shouted back. "And you forgot your camera!"
Looking over at it, he sighed and turned it off. The audience couldn't wait to see who was going to host this new series.
*****
Hunter: Mind telling me why Hondo Ohnaka just gave us a bunch of shit?
Cody: You don't want to know.
Cody: Trust me, you don't want to know.
Hunter: He wouldn't stop flirting with Crosshair AND Tech
Blitz: Ha! How'd that go down?
Hunter: I don't think Tech realized he was being flirted with. Crosshair on the other hand…
Crosshair: You should have let me shoot him in his stupid little face.
Tech: Hunter, despite what you may or may not believe about me, I am perfectly capable of telling when other people find me attractive.
Cody: @Tech is that all the stuff you need to make clean datapads and a network?
Tech: Yes. And the quality is much nicer than what we would find in Kamino's trash heap.
Hunter: Do we… Do we owe anything to Ohnaka?
Crosshair: If you make me go out with that fucker I will be going straight to General Ti about your stupid endeavor
Cody: Quit asking about Ohnaka. I don't want to talk about it.
Wrecker: He didn't answer Crosshair's question
Cody: No, Crosshair, you do not have to date Ohnaka
Crosshair: I'm not having sex with him either
Blitz: Can we please stop talking about Ohnaka
Cody: Yes. Please. Tech, how soon can you get those clean datapads up and running?
Tech: Depends on how many you want? If you want fifty, then it will take me a few weeks. If you want two, then it might take me a few days.
Cody: Haar'chak.
Cody: Okay, get me three as fast as possible. Wolffe is on Coruscant now, Fox is, well, always there, and Rex will be coming in a few days.
Blitz: Why them?
Cody: Fox has access to 79s, yes, but he doesn't have a clean datapad and especially with that Jedi hanging around him, he might notice if he's sneaking off. I don't know what Vos is doing there. I think Obi-Wan knows, but he won't tell me.
Hunter: Jedi osik?
Cody: Probably. As for Wolffe, he's got a much bigger network than we realized.
Blitz: Please, don't remind me.
Cody: I want to start tapping into that. He made these connections. We should start using them.
Blitz: And Rex because you got a soft spot for him?
Cody: Rex because Palpatine's last attempt to assassinate Ahsoka failed miserably. He's going to try again. I want to be more prepared when he does.
Tech: It does appear he has hyper fixated on the commander.
Hunter: If Palpatine sees her as a viable threat, then we should treat her like a viable asset.
Cody: Exactly. Tech, can you do it?
Tech: Of course, I can. We shall finish our mission and slip over to Coruscant to drop off the pads with Commander Wolffe, Commander Fox, and Captain Rex
Wrecker: You never did answer if Crosshair has to do anything with Ohnaka.
Cody: I just face palmed so hard Obi-Wan asked me what was the matter.
Crosshair: Answer the question, coward.
Cody: No, no one has to do anything with Hondo Ohnaka.
Cody: Great. Now I have to convince the general that I'm not committing treason.
Cody: Keep me updated Tech.
Tech: Of course.
Blitz: Oya, vode
Hunter: Oya
Notes:Thank you everyone for the comments on the last few chapters. I'm still catching up with them but just know that I've read them and I greatly appreciate them. Also, one of the reasons I've been MIA for the past few weeks is because I wrote a book! An original fantasy novel! It's coming out next week and I am so excited.
Also, I like to think that Fox is the oldest, followed by Wolffe and Bacarra, Cody and Gree are the middle childred, Bly is the youngest. I don't care if this is canon. It is now.
Mando'a:
Vod: Brother
Vod'ika: Little brother/sister
Vode: Brothers
Shabuir: Harsh insult
Neverde: Civilians
ori'buyce, kih'kovid: All helmet no head
Haar'chak: Damn
Osik: Shit