Chapter 35 - ch29

Chapter 29: Yellow, Red, BlackNotes:Trigger warnings: Mentions of rape, abuse, murder, and an extreme violation of privacy

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter TextDormé: Besides, I want him to take me out to dinner too after this is all over. 

Miko: Get it girl! We're all rooting for you

-----------------------------------------------------Today------------------------------------------------------

Miko: I got it. 

*****

"What the fuck is that noise?" Bacarra shouted over the truly atrocious screeching coming from the speakers at the front desk of Corrie HQ. He had had a shitty day.

He had gone out to 79s with his medic. And then woke up to a droid digging a karking chip out of his head and some video of Cody explaining that there were chips in their heads. They were there to kill the Jedi. And Palpatine was playing both sides of the conflict. Oh, and could you please keep this on the DL? We're operating on a need-to-know basis. Anyways, here's a list of all your men organized based on priority of getting their chips out and how to use neverd equipment to do it. Have fun!

Gods, Bacarra wanted to punch Cody in the face. And then, to make things all the more worse, he had gotten a call that several of his men had gotten thrown in Fox's drunk tank. So, instead of getting black-out drunk before dealing with the osik that Cody, Fox, and Wolffe managed to dredge up by poking their noses in things where they didn't belong like he wanted to, Bacarra was now hauling his ass to the Corrie Base to pull his men out of the drunk tank before Fox called Mundi and started fining them for not bailing them out earlier.

But Bacarra's night didn't get much better from there either. Because the Corries had apparently decided the best music to play while people waited in the waiting room and filled out near incomprehensible forms, was some godawful screeching, shouting, and grunting blaring over tinny speakers.

He was seriously going to punch Cody.

"Seriously? This is shit," Bacarra shouted.

"It's not shit. It's Dathomir Death Metal," Archer said cheerfully as he dug out the proper forms to hand to Bacarra.

"Are you trying to torture someone?" Bacarra winced as the screeching changed to guttural grunts. Shouts? Dying gasps from fish? Unclear how to describe it.

"It's the rules," Archer beamed. "Whoever works the front desk gets to choose the music because of how shitty the job is."

"No one likes your fucking music!"

Archer whipped towards his brother. "Fuck you, Sol! This is a classic album! Blood Rains Down From Heaven as Crows Peck Out My Eyes  is one of the best albums Life is Pain and We Should All Commit Suicide has ever put out!"

Sol lunged forward to slam his hand on the "off" button of the speakers. The base went quiet except for the distant chatter of brothers working in the background. And the ringing in Bacarra's ears. Who knew that Archer's piss-poor taste in music would be what did his hearing in and not the constant bombs going off near him.

Sol turned to look at him. "I am so sorry. He will not be working the front desk again. Please fill out form—"

"I know what form to fill out," Bacarra snapped. He snatched the datapad from Archer's hands and went to sit down so he could fill out the release forms in peace and relative quiet.

Archer turned to glare at Sol. "The rules are if I'm working the front desk. I get to choose the music."

"Maybe if you had better taste in music—"

"That's not fair! No one shut it off when Sidewinder was playing that fucking shitty-ass Ruan country music!"

"Fuck you, that stuff is a classic!" Sidewinder shouted.

"No one cares about a guy whose wife left him and took the dog, the tractor, and their ship!" Archer shouted back.

Sidewinder let out a garbled string of curses and vague attempts to argue with Archer. He turned to Grav to get some backup.

Grav shrugged apologetically and said, "It's not the best music I've ever heard."

Incensed, Sidewinder jumped and shouted that he was going on break.

"We don't get breaks," Grav shouted after him.

Sol turned back to Archer and glared at him. "You're inciting rebellion."

Archer glared back. "Do you want to take the job? Since you're so judgmental about my taste in music?"

Sol grimaced and reluctantly pressed 'play' again. However, he did turn down the volume significantly to keep everyone's ears from bleeding.

"That's what I thought!" Archer called as Bacarra handed him the form and then went to the back to collect his wayward troops.

Archer celebrated his win by putting his head down and bopping it to the beat. This was great thinking music and he might just manage to get ahead on paperwork. Since he had missed a day last week.

Some of the Corries had been called to the Coruscant Medical Society to undergo a procedure that Dice said was necessary. Apparently, too many glass bottles to the head meant possible TBIs. Now that the Coruscant Medical Society was willing to donate time and trainees to the Corries thanks to Fox's new Food Donation Amendment, that meant all the little medical issues that had previously been ignored due to lack of supplies and funding could now be treated.

He and Sol were two of the 'lucky' ones. Even though they hadn't had bottles thrown at them since Ahsoka's series made the public less hostile.

He didn't know and he didn't really care, in the end. If Dice was worried about a TBI, then Archer would let him scan and dig around his head to his heart's content. Unlike seemingly everyone else in the GAR, Archer liked going to the med bay. It was a great way to get out of work for a few hours. Sol was less thrilled about missing work, but even he had to admit he did feel better.

Archer wasn't sure what exactly Dice did to his head, but he felt great. No more headaches. Clearer thinking. Faster thinking. Enhanced sense of… well, everything. Honestly, he thought everyone should go through Dice's miracle treatment. He had never felt so good!

The bell above the door chimed. That was probably Howzer coming to pick up his men before they took off to help out with the ground campaign on Ryloth while Bilaba and Grey did shit in the air.

He didn't even bother looking up. "Fill out this form and we'll collect your troops in fifteen to twenty minutes," he stuck a datapad out.

"Oh, I'm not here to collect any troopers," a voice said.

A very female voice.

Definitely not a brother.

Archer glanced up and was immediately met with a very sparkly and very low-cut dress, along with some of the biggest….

Biggest…

Biggest….

Necklaces! Yeah, necklaces. He was looking at her necklaces. He was met with some of the biggest necklaces he had ever seen.

He stared for a beat too long. At the necklaces. The very sparkly necklaces. But it wasn't very gentlemanly to stare at necklaces. He needed to be a gentleman. All nice and proper and things like that.

He shook himself out of whatever hypnotic trance he had been put in and looked up.

The woman standing in front of him was a very hot twi'lek with neon pink skin and more jewelry adorning her head…tail… thingies. Whatever they were called.

Seriously, she was hot. Probably the hottest person Archer had ever seen.

And she was staring right at him.

Shit!

She was staring at him.

And he was staring at her!

Not saying anything!

He needed to say something!

Anything!

Dammit! Why wouldn't his brain work?

Say something!

Anything!

"Hi. Hello. Hi." Smooth, Archer. Real smooth. If he ever wanted to get a girlfriend (and preferably the girlfriend in question would be the hot twi'lek in front of him with huge necklaces) he had to be smoother than that!

"Hi," he said once more. This time, he tried his best to put on a charming grin. Smoldering with all his might as he leaned towards her like the heroes in romance shows.

It was not nearly as smooth as those guys because, in his quest to lean seductively over his stack of fifty datapads, he knocked over a cup of caf and the datapads. Spilling hot caf right on his armor and sending the datapads crashing to the floor.

Oh. And he also had his bucket on so she couldn't even see his very hot, very sexy smolder!

"Shit!" He scrambled to pick the datapads up off the ground and keep the caf from shorting out any machines. He was not Sidewinder and would not cause half of Coruscant to black out because he accidentally dumped tea in the fuse box (Don't ask. Even he doesn't know how it happened).

Datapads all picked up and caf all wiped up to avoid any blackout incidences, he turned back to her.

"Hi," he tried once more with the smolder.

Dammit! He still had the bucket on. He should probably take that off.

He was on duty, though. So, technically he wasn't supposed to take it off. But surely this was one exception. A stunning twi'lek with pink skin and huge necklaces (that he was not looking at because he was a gentleman and her eyes were up here, thank you very much) was standing in front of him. Her eyes watered and she bit her lip, glancing worriedly behind her. Her arms crossed in front of her stomach. She looked scared.

Yeah, he was taking off the bucket. It would make him seem more approachable. And then all his practice smoldering in the mirror wouldn't go to waste.

"Can I do you—What can I do for you?" He squeaked. The bucket slipped out of his hand and clattered to the floor.

The woman laughed and seemed to relax at his stumble. Okay. Not all hope was lost. Maybe this was all super charming to her.

And then he'd take her on a date (it'd have to be to Dex's because he didn't have money to go anywhere else) and then they'd fall madly in love and then have a tubie or two. And maybe get married? Archer still wasn't sure why natborns insisted on getting married before the tubie thing but he'd be willing to try it!

Oh, but what if she didn't want a tubie?

They'd talk about it on their date.

Unless she didn't want to go on a date.

Then maybe they could be friends. Archer needed more friends who weren't brothers anyway. And besides, he liked her makeup and would love to know how she got her eyelids that sparkly. All of his brothers sucked at makeup. Except for the ones that had baby Jedi commanders. They seemed to be better at it. But they didn't have baby Jedi commanders at Corrie HQ and none of Stone's baby Jedi knew how to do makeup yet so they were useless.

He was getting off-topic.

"I need help," she said.

"Well," he hazarded leaning forward once more. Did he look ridiculous? He felt ridiculous, leaning over like he was too tired to sit up straight. Seventeen would murder him if he ever saw his poor posture. "You've come to the right place. We are all about helping. I'd love to help you. Be thrilled by it, in fact. I was made for helping. Whatever you need, just say the word."

Okay, now he was talking too much. His brain needed to find a happy medium and it was not working.

She pressed a hand to her mouth and giggled. "You're so kind. Thank you!"

"You are very welcome."

"But I need to specifically talk to Representative Fox. He's the only one that can help me," she said."

A thought pushed its way through Archer's brain and to the forefront of his mind. His brow furrowed. "Um, I… I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm just so frazzled. My name's Miko," she said, batting her eyelashes. "And I know he's busy. But Commander Wolffe said he'd help if I ever needed it."

Dammit! Commander Wolffe got all the hot chicks. Wasn't it enough he managed to bag a handmaiden? Now he was getting beautiful, busty twi'leks too?

"You see," Miko said, leaning against the counter and sighing. The act served to push her necklaces up and right into Archer's line of sight. He was practically staring at the ceiling to avoid looking at them.

"My ex-boyfriend is a horrible, horrible man," she said. More tears gathered in the corners of her eyes and splashed down her cheeks.

"Um… tissue?" Archer asked, holding up a small box the Coruscant Medical Society had donated to them.

"Thank you," she said through tears. She dabbed at the corners of her eyes. "He was so sweet when we first met. But he changed along the way. Or maybe he was always like this and just very good at hiding who he was. I finally got the strength to break up with him but…" she let out more sobs.

Archer kept holding the box of tissues up, not entirely sure what to do. "Do you… need me to shoot him?" He hazarded.

"What? No!" Miko cried. "I work the late shift so when I walk home, I'm scared he's going to…" She muffled another cry and took several deep breaths to center herself. "Wolffe said Fox would be willing to walk me home. Just to make sure I'm safe."

"I can do that," Archer said before his mind caught up with his mouth. When his mind did catch up with his mouth it agreed that was an excellent idea. "I'm perfectly well-trained. One of the best, actually. Scored top of my class in hand-to-hand. I wouldn't mind. It would be my pleasure. That's what I'm here for, after all. To protect and serve the people of Coruscant. And, well, you're on Coruscant so that makes you a person I can protect. Which is my job. To protect." Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Quit rambling. You look desperate.

"Oh, but you're working now," she said, tilting her head to the side.

"So is Commander Fox. And his job is much more important than mine."

Howzer stepped through the front door. "Hey, I'm here to pick up my troops.

Archer threw the datapad at him. "Fill that out outside!"

It smacked Howzer in the face. "But—"

"Go. Get out of here! Go on! Git!"

Howzer looked around confused and then slipped back out the door. Thank goodness. Archer was already having to compete with Commander Wolffe. If Miko caught sight of Howzer he'd never stand a chance! There was something about Howzer that was just so… hot! They were clones! How was he hotter than him?

Oh well. Crisis averted for now.

He turned back to Miko, ready to give her a full run-down of his talents so she could rest assured that he was the best man for the job.

The gods apparently were not looking down on him favorably, however.

"Archer, put your fucking bucket back on," Sol snapped as he shoved him out of the way. "Ma'am," he paused. "it is ma'am, correct?"

"Yes, I'm a woman."

"Great. Ma'am, does Commander Fox know that Commander Wolffe promised this?"

"Oh yes," Miko said, leaning once more on the counter. "He said he talked to him and everything."

Sol let out an exasperated sigh. "I cannot promise anything. He is currently in a meeting with Senators Amidala and Chuchi, but I will let him know that you are here."

Archer smacked him. How dare he take away Archer's chance to walk a beautiful woman home! Sol didn't even react.

"Oh, thank you so much!" She lunged over the counter to wrap her arms around Sol's shoulders.

That should be Archer getting that hug! Not Sol!

"And thank you for listening to me," she said, turning back to him. "Shame about the helmet, though. You have such a nice face," She sighed.

Archer felt his cheeks heat up and was very glad the bucket hid him this time. "Yeah, well. Thanks. So, what do you do for work?" he asked as Sol went to try and pull Fox away from his work. Unlikely, but at least they could say that they tried.

"I'm actually in med school right now," Miko responded.

Hot AND smart? She was so out of Archer's league.

"Right on! I know some people at the Coruscant Medical Society. I was there for some TBI testing or something."

"Oh no, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It'll take more than a few glass bottles to take me down."

Miko did not look reassured by this.

He cleared his throat. "Anyways, have you ever thought about working there?"

"I would love to, but they're so selective."

"Maybe I can talk to Dice. He's our medic. He probably knows someone who's looking for a new doctor to do… whatever new doctors do. I can't promise anything. But, you know. I can try."

"Really? You'd be willing to do that for me?"

"Yeah, of course."

"What do you want in return?"

Archer blinked a few times and tilted his head to the side. "Um, nothing?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's not like it's going to cost me anything to introduce you to Dice. Why would I need anything in return?"

"Oh, I just… normally people want something in return."

"That sucks," Archer said.

Howzer poked his head back inside. "Hey, I finished the form. Can I come in now?"

"Only if you put your bucket on!" Miko may be out of Archer's league, but he was not risking it with Howzer.

Howzer looked incensed. "Since when is that a rule?"

"Since always. Now put it on before I stick a paper bag over your head!"

Howzer grumbled and put on his bucket. Okay, now Archer didn't need to worry so much.

He turned back to Miko and decided to take off his bucket. It was impolite to hide your face.

Sure, that sounded like a good enough excuse. 

 "Are you from around here?" he tried.

Miko smiled at him, and the two started to talk.

*****

Sol did not know what to make of the woman currently standing at their front desk. She seemed sincere enough in needing to talk to Commander Fox, but he couldn't imagine why Commander Wolffe would recommend him specifically. He had to know the man was overworked and adding one more thing on his plate would only end in disaster. He could see him maybe asking for the Corries in general to help, but Commander Fox personally?

Something about this didn't sit right with him.

But maybe this was another tip that came about because of Waxer and Boil's Most Wanted. Or maybe this had something to do with that embezzlement investigation Blitz was working on.

A lot was going on in Coruscant. A lot of corruption and rot hidden just underneath the surface. Commander Wolffe's contacts might have been trying to pass information along to Commander Fox, but he still couldn't promise the man would want to receive them.

Still, he would try. And if that didn't work, then they'd have to come up with something else.

He knocked on Fox's office door. "Sir, there's someone here to see you."

He pushed his way inside and took stock of the room as he had been trained. Vos was in his usual position, on top of the filing cabinet and randomly picking up discarded energy drink cans. Chuchi and Amidala were sitting across from Fox at the desk. Chuchi was in a brand-new chair that the Corries did NOT dig out of the trash like they had with all their other chairs. Chuchi deserved much better than a trash chair. So, they asked Amidala to help and she donated a very nice chair that hopefully wouldn't be sliced in half by a lightsaber the next time Binks came to visit.

Vos promised that he would be more prepared for his clumsiness and even contacted General Kenobi for tips.

No one believed that Binks would be able to exist without causing some sort of incident, though, so everyone decided that so long as Binks was in the office, they would all stay far away from Vos.

Fox's brow furrowed. "Why the fuck would anyone want to see me?"

"You have a lovely personality," Vos said. "That's the major draw."

Fox chucked a crumpled-up energy drink can at his head.

Vos just laughed and stopped it in mid-air with the Force.

Commander Fox turned back to Sol. "Who is here and why are they here?"

"Some woman named Miko."

"Miko?" Fox's brow furrowed even more.

Alright, maybe she wasn't one of Wolffe's contacts and was instead an assassin here to kill him. Maybe he shouldn't have left Archer alone with her.

"Yeah. She's a twi'lek with huge…" Sol gestured helplessly in front of his chest. "Necklaces." That's what he decided to say.

Vos's grin widened.

Chuchi pressed her hand to her mouth to giggle while Amidala smiled.

"The fuck are you talking about?" Fox slumped forward, resting his cheek on the desk. He still managed to keep his eyes on Sol. It was quite a feat.

"She said something about how Commander Wolffe told you about her? She wants you to walk her home?"

For a minute, Fox didn't say anything. His mind was sifting through every interaction he had ever had with Commander Wolffe.

"Huge necklaces?"

"Very huge, sir."

"And she knows Wolffe?"

"Yes, sir. Seems to know him pretty well. Says she's a med student or something?"

A light dawned in Fox's eyes. "Goddammit, Wolffe." He groaned and pinched his brow.

"I can have someone else walk her home if you'd like."

"Thorn's off. Stone's off. Thire's at the prison."

"Archer offered."

Fox stood up and stomped to the door. "Of course he fucking did."

"You know, Fox, I can walk her home," Vos said. He hopped off the cabinet and followed him to the door. Amidala and Chuchi stood as well. "It's not a problem. I know you're busy."

Fox turned to him.

Fox stared at him.

Fox stared at him some more.

And yet more.

Fox kicked open the door to the waiting room and marched out.

So this was some sort of information drop! That would explain why Fox specifically wanted Thorn, Thire, or Stone but didn't want Vos or Archer involved.

"Ma'am," he called Miko and Archer's attention back over to him.

"Oh, my!" Amidala said, stuttering to a stop. "Those are huge necklaces."

"Do you think they're real?" Chuchi asked.

Sol whipped towards her. "They can be fake?"

Miko seemed to pay them no mind. As soon as Fox stepped through the door, her eyes were on him.

"Oh, thank goodness, Representative Fox," She said. "Wolffe said you'd help out. I know this is a huge ask. But please, you're my only hope!" She threw herself at him. Sobbing into his chest.

Fox patted her back awkwardly and then pushed her off.

He stared at her.

She stared back.

No one said a word.

No one dared breathe.

"Aren't you cold?" Fox asked, gesturing at her very scantily clad body.

"What?"

"It's like ten degrees Celsius out. Where are your clothes? Do you have a jacket? Are you too poor for a jacket? Someone, go dig out a jacket. You are going to get hypothermia and die."

"Damn, he is a tough nut to crack," Vos said. He patted Chuchi on the back. "You got yourself one hell of an uphill battle."

Chuchi's cheeks flushed. "I think it's sweet."

"And those shoes are not practical."

"What?"

"What if you need to fight someone in them? Your balance is all off. And can you even run in them? The infrastructure in Coruscant is crumbling. There's no way you can walk anywhere without twisting an ankle. Someone see if we got an extra pair of boots. There is absolutely no way she can chase down a suspect in those shoes."

"That's not really my job—"

"Fox, sweetie, don't worry about her shoes. She can do backflips in them," Vos called. "You can tell by how she's standing."

"Know much about doing backflips in platform stilettos?" Amidala asked with a knowing smile on her face.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Vos grinned at her. "Mind you, it's been a few years so I'll have to stretch first. But I could do some tricks."

Chuchi blushed deeper and giggled once more.

"I just need to be walked home. I don't need a jacket. Or boots. But those are kind of cute. Do you have them in a size six?"

Grav looked down at the boots he was holding. "Shoes come in sizes? It's not like a one-size-fits-all sort of deal?"

She shook her head. "No, it's not."

"Huh. Well, that explains why sometimes my feet hurt." He put the boots back.

"I'll take you shoe shopping on your next day off," Amidala said, patting his back.

Fox just sighed tiredly. "Alright. Fine. I'll deal with whatever bullshit my brother's been up to recently. Please tell me you live close?"

Miko nodded. "It's only about a fifteen-minute walk."

"Then let's go. I got work to do."

"Thank you. Thank you so much!" She turned back to Archer. "Call me!"

"Oh absolutely."

"Archer, put your fucking bucket back on before I call Seventeen!"

Archer shoved his bucket back on his head. "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

Fox stepped out into the cool air of the night. He watched Miko closely. Vos was right. She did seem to walk very well in those shoes.

He would never admit this to Vos, though. Ever. Not even on pain of death.

They didn't speak the entire way to her apartment. That was fine by him. He didn't much care for small talk and this way, he could at least get some work done by working through problems in his head.

About two blocks from her apartment, she stumbled and grabbed his arm. He felt her fingers slip into the cracks of his armor. He steadied her and got her back on her feet.

"Backflips my ass," he grumbled.

"Sorry, I'm just so clumsy. Thank you for saving me," she batted her eyes at him.

He stared at her.

"Sorry. It's a little hard to turn off sometimes."

He rolled her eyes and kept headed to her apartment. There were no other incidences.

Once he was certain she was safely inside, he pulled out what she had slipped into the cracks of his armor.

A list of codes.

A list of names to go with those codes.

He recognized the six-digit pins. These were authorization codes.

Wolffe's team had done it. They had dug up something on Tarkin or Palpatine. They had found a way for Fox to get into their records and see what they deleted from the public records against regulations. This might just be what they needed to see which Jedi were working with Palpatine. Or it could provide them the evidence needed to give to the council so they'd be allowed to shoot Palpatine in the head.

Fox was all for slowly poisoning the bastard until he died of a heart attack, which is what they decided on doing and was currently in the process of carrying out. But the dealers Dice was working with said it would still take months to fully work and Fox liked instant gratification.

And he wanted to punch Palpatine in the face.

He slipped the paper back into his armor. Tomorrow he'd have to head to the Senate building and input all these codes. He had an extra clean datapad lying around to download the information. Just to be sure it all got in there.

He walked back to the base with his shoulders back and his head held high. No matter what these codes lead him to, he knew the entire war was about to change. Hopefully, with all their work, it would change for the better.

*****

Once more, Fox found himself in the back of Dex's with a pile of food in front of him. Only, this time it was just him and Thorn. Not any of his annoying batchmates or the little shits they decided to adopt. Or the little shits the little shits decided to adopt (except for Ahsoka. She was perfect.).

And, to make matters even better, he hadn't been drugged this time! Well, he had, but Dice, to get his four hours of sleep. But he knew about that and (begrudgingly) consented to it. But that was semantics. This time, he hadn't been drugged by some knock-off roofies so that they could perform brain surgery on him in the basement of a scummy bar with a droid that was dug out of the trash on Kamino.

So, all in all, it was a much better visit to Dex's than his last one had been. But it still wasn't great.

Because on the table in front of them was a datapad full of information that he had gotten from the Senate archives using the ID codes Miko had brought him.

Thorn, who had been dechipped and debriefed, stared at it. "Did you get a chance to look through any of it?"

Fox shook his head. "Too many people around. I don't know what's on here so I didn't want to risk anything."

"Right." Thorn nodded. "There's no time like the present. Either we have evidence and a list of names, or we have nothing."

He was right, of course. But that still didn't stop his heart from pounding in his chest or his hands from shaking.

It wasn't nothing. It couldn't be nothing.

After all this work, after all these months… After putting together the pieces….

It had already been about a month and a half since they realized Palpatine was a Seppie. Or was working with them? Whatever they were going with.

A month and a half since they discovered the chips and what they did. And it had been even longer since Blitz had realized the numbers were wrong and Fox's budget wasn't adding up.

It had been so long. So, so long.

This had to be something.

If it was nothing…

He didn't know what he could do.

What if they were too late?

What if Palpatine caught onto them and wiped everything? 

 What if Wolffe was wrong about Miko?

What if there was nothing? Then what would they do?

Fox felt like a wind-up toy that was just waiting to spring to life. His body kept jerking forward as it wanted to move and act, but couldn't because it didn't know where it was supposed to go. What it was supposed to do.

"Commander?" Thorn asked.

Fox took a deep breath.

He was not a wind-up toy. He did not let someone else dictate when he could move. He did not let someone else demand he wait for orders. There was no more chip in his head to control him. Now, every move he had to make was his own. He was the only one who could push himself forward.

If the datapad contained nothing, they still had evidence of the chips from the Kaminoans. They were still going to kill Palpatine. They were still going to end this war.

Whatever was on this datapad would help guide them.

He turned it on. And opened up the largest file.

A blueprint flickered to life.

Thorn sucked in a breath.

"What is that? Is that a moon?"

Fox's body went cold. "That's no moon."

More files popped open.

A list of names.

Organized by color.

Yellow

Red

Black

One in particular caught his eye.

Black: CC-2224

"We need to call Cody. Now."

*****

Fox: Blindspot

Fox: Now

Cody: Do you have any idea what time it is? 

Fox: This cannot wait. 

Fox: I'm serious. 

Fox: I need to talk to you

Cody: Fine. I'll be there in five. 

*****

Cody was not happy about the time. The mission to Xylox Prime hadn't been a complete disaster. No one had tried to kill Skywalker, Obi-Wan, or Ahsoka so that was good.

Or, rather, no vod had their chip activated to try and kill the Jedi. Their standard fare of clankers shooting at them still happened and Cody was willing to let that slide. That's what the clankers were designed for after all.

But that was about the only good thing that happened on Xylox Prime.

The droid factory had been a bust for information. Just a small, relatively unguarded factory on some desert planet with next to no flora or fauna around. It had been a complete waste of time and resources. And it was quite possibly the most nerve-wracking mission Cody had ever gone on.

He hadn't had the chance to dechip Waxer, Boil, or Jesse before they had to go down to the planet's surface. So, every hour without contact was another hour that he feared a command had gotten through and Obi-Wan was dead. Ahsoka did her best to assure him that he was still alive. She could feel him through the bond they shared.

Cody (since apparently, he was Force Sensitive) tried to sense Obi-Wan's life as well. He wasn't sure if he had managed it. Mostly because he wasn't sure what it was supposed to feel like.

But it wasn't just Obi-Wan he was worried about. Every brother on the bridge with him and Ahsoka, every brother on the ground with Skywalker, was a walking bomb. Waiting to go off the second Palpatine decided to unleash his final plan.

Logically, it made no sense for him to execute Order 66 now. He didn't have enough of the Galaxy under his control.

But men rarely were logical and Cody could see a world in which Palpatine, frustrated by Obi-Wan and Fox's successful attempts to undermine his authority, would decide to go nuclear and just wipe out the Jedi. Grand Plan be damned.

Every time a brother walked behind him. Every time a brother entered the war room where he, Ahsoka, and the admirals were, his back stiffened. His heart rate increased. His hands twitched right near his blaster. Just in case he had to shoot someone before it became a bloodbath.

It. Was. Hell. 

But, they all made it back alive, a little sandy, and a little sunburnt. Skywalker even complained for days about how much he hated sand. It got to the point where Cody almost did shoot the little shit in the head for some peace and quiet.

It still didn't help him relax. Helix and Kix were doing the best they could but until the donations came in and they got a shipment of illegally procured med droids, they were going to have to move slowly.

Which meant that the number of brothers chipped was astronomical. If those chips were activated, Cody wasn't sure how he'd keep Ahsoka and Obi-Wan (and Skywalker) alive.

Ahsoka did her best to reassure him.

It did not work.

Then, Skywalker packed up the 501st and headed off to their next engagement while the 212th went back to Christophsis for yet another campaign.

A few days into the campaign, the Bad Batch dropped off a package. Another refurbished Kaminoan med droid with a note that read, "You're welcome, al'verde". 

Fox's amendment was (begrudgingly) approved a few days later. Almost immediately, the medical personnel of Christophsis showed up on the front lines to help out.

Helix got a few of the other medics dechipped and debriefed, along with a handful of comms personnel to monitor any transmissions coming from Palpatine, and Gregor, who seemed to be taking this entire thing entirely too well. After that, the dechipping efforts kicked into high gear, even if most of the men didn't even realize they had been dechipped.

Cody was getting updates daily from his brothers.

Bacarra. Ponds. Doom. Monnk. Thorn. Thire. Stone.

One by one, the commanders and their medics were dechipped and debriefed. They would then meet up with Bly to get a list of priority targets to dechip before heading off to do the work.

Cody knew his brothers were fucking efficient as hell when given the chance so he knew once they got the ball rolling, the dechipping efforts would go pretty quickly. He was still shocked at just how quickly they had happened.

Currently, they were sitting at about 50% of the GAR dechipped. However, the Corries and Kamino brought down the average. Kamino was sitting at about 25% dechipped, with most of the men only managing to get dechipped when they went off planet for missions. They also did not manage to dechip any cadets or tubies, afraid that the Kaminoans would run tests and realize they were missing them. The Corries, however, were only sitting at about 5% dechipped. Fox was too nervous to dechip anyone in case a blackout mission came through. However, he did manage to find some brothers who had never been on one and a pattern that suggested certain groups were safer than others to dechip.

Cody's own men, especially after their Christophsis campaign, were sitting at about 75% dechipped. Thankfully, the Seppies destroyed the hospital they were doing most of the dechipping from so they didn't need to worry about medical records not getting deleted.

Gree was at 55%. Bly was at 60%. Rex was at 65%. And Wolffe was at 70% in only a month in a half. Not bad, but not nearly fast enough.

What could Cody say? He was a perfectionist. If the dechipping efforts weren't at 100%, then it wasn't good enough.

Thanks, Seventeen! For making him so Type A!

Of course, now that so many men were dechipped, some clear, unintended side effects were impossible to ignore. It turned out, those chips really did impact Trooper Performance. Because after enough men had been dechipped, it was clear that they were operating at a much higher level, and much more efficiently than before. Even the generals noticed how much faster their reflexes were. How much sharper their minds were. How much more successful they were on the battlefield.

This only served to make Cody even angrier than before.

So not only were these chips designed to erase his free will at a moment's notice, but they were also impacting his ability to operate.

He was enraged at the Kaminoans for holding him and his brothers to such high standards. They had to have known that the chips were causing them to be slower. And yet, they still decommissioned brothers if they didn't have perfect scores. If their reaction times were just a bit too slow.

How many of his brothers could have met their impossible standards if only their minds had been allowed to be their own from the beginning? How many times had he failed, had he been told he wasn't good enough, had he been threatened with decommissioning if his performance didn't improve only for it to not be his fault, but the chips?

The Kaminoans were karking lucky Cody had bigger fish to fry because he was aching to punch Lama Su in the face.

He did not let his anger get the best of him. If he let himself get swallowed up in it, he would get sloppy. And people would die. Instead, he let it focus his efforts. Drive him forward to his goals. Maybe he should be worried about that since that seemed like the kind of thing a dark sider would do, but he honestly didn't care at this point. He was never going to be a Jedi and this act of focusing his anger instead of letting it control him was something Seventeen taught him to do long ago. Anger was inevitable. It was what you did with it that made the difference between success and failure.

Speaking of Darksiders and Jedi, Jinn hadn't made another appearance in his dreams and Cody hadn't told anyone about the revelation he had dropped on him. They needed to focus on getting these chips out and poison Palpatine slowly enough that he wouldn't notice, but fast enough so that he couldn't execute Order 66 before 100% dechip had been achieved. He had gotten this far in life not knowingly using the Force. He could wait a few more weeks before focusing his efforts on that. Though, he did try to occasionally move shit with his mind. He hadn't managed anything concrete yet. Although, a bucket did fall on Waxer's head when he was being particularly annoying so maybe he could move shit with his mind.

Regardless, after he helped Bly come up with a list of priority brothers to dechip and sent Echo and Tech on their way with a gaggle of slicers to figure out everything that had to do with those damn chips, his job pretty much became what he was doing out in the open for the GAR: Managing the war. Only this time, there was a secret war going on that most people didn't know about. It wasn't as stressful as he thought it would be and he took comfort in knowing that the skills he had developed as Marshall Commander of the 3rd Systems Army were serving him well.

He started meditating more, not knowing what the difference between thinking and using the Force was (though maybe that would explain why so many of his brothers were idiots) (but that would not explain why so many Jedi (*cough*Skywalker*cough cough*) were also idiots) but figured it had helped him once. It might just help him again. He also kept up with lightsaber techniques in his spare time. He was starting to get the hang of Makashi. To the point where it was becoming his preferred method of fighting. But, he never used Obi-Wan's lightsaber. He refused to take that from him again until 100% of his brothers had been dechipped. Obi-Wan did not press the issue.

After about a month (and still stuck on Christophsis getting shot at daily) Tech, Echo, and the band of slicers had finally finished decoding all the information on the chips.

Some things were very helpful to know. The chips operated on a network, for one. So certain orders, specifically Order 66, didn't require Palpatine to individually call and activate every trooper. Instead, one would do it. And then everyone's chip would activate.

The chips were voice-activated and required the person to use a four-digit code that would be typed into a database to allow access. Then the person would say the trooper's number (not their name) followed by the Order.

Prime did, in fact, know about the chips. There were communications between him and the Kaminoans about them. It didn't appear as though a lot of the trainers knew, however. The nulls were completely chip-free, as were the Alphas. The Alphas did have chips at one point but they reacted badly because of the other enhancements, leaving most of them dead. So, they were dechipped. There didn't appear to be any difference between the commanders' chips and the rest of the vod'e. And they had been in their heads since the tubies were big enough to have a brain.

Cody also got a complete list of orders and was horrified to read all the things that he could be forced to do. Torture. Murder. Rape. Anything Palpatine wanted to use his body for, he could. He sent the list off to Fox, hoping his brother wouldn't break down now that he got the complete picture of the blackout missions.

Fox did not break down. But he did struggle with the knowledge of what many of his men had been forced to do. Cody was glad that in some sick, twisted way, blacking out the troopers helped save them. At least they wouldn't be able to remember any of their actions. He didn't know if that was mercy or torture in and of itself.

There was one order in particular that was troublesome. Just as troublesome as Order 66. Order 1. It was more or less a catch-all. If you wanted a trooper to do something that wasn't included in the list, you would type in the code, say the trooper's number, then " execute Order 1" followed by whatever you wanted them to do. This was the one time a trooper might be able to somewhat resist the orders if they weren't specific enough. This was how Robin managed to get away with not torturing Bane to death.

Frustratingly, though, the one thing that was missing was a list of people who were authorized to use these orders. There was nothing, not even Palpatine's name, to suggest that anyone had authorization to use them. So, either anyone who knew the orders and codes could activate the chips, or it was purely voice-activated and only those whose voices had been uploaded to a system could activate the chips.

And that was where Cody was at now. Leaving Christophsis in ruins yet again. A good chunk of the GAR dechipped in only a month and a half. A better view of just how bad the chips were. A clearer head. The knowledge that he was mildly force-sensitive. And the ever-crushing fear that if he made one wrong move, everyone he loved could die and the entire Galaxy could collapse into ruins while a madman took complete control and enslaved every sentient in the universe.

So, you know, a good month all and all.

Until Fox called.

At 1 AM during the first six hours of free time Cody had had since he had been decanted.

Cody almost did not adhere to his brother's demands. He almost rolled back over to get some more sleep. It could wait until morning.

But, Fox said it was urgent. And he did not blow things out of proportion. If anything, the whole 'blackout' fiasco had proved that he hid things when he didn't want to bother his brothers. He tried to deal with things on his own. So, if he said it was urgent if he wasn't willing to at least try and deal with it on his own, it was probably very urgent.

Cody stuffed himself into his blacks and lowers, grabbed his blaster and their unregulated equipment, and then stumbled his way to the closest hiding spot. One that was not at all comfortable.

He banged his head on a low-hanging pipe.

Why did the universe hate him specifically?

He clicked on the projector. Fox answered almost immediately.

"This couldn't have waited until morning?" Cody yawned.

"Wolffe's contact managed to grab us the Access Codes for ten people who work closely with Palpatine, including Tarkin and Amedda," Fox said instead of answering Cody's question.

Alright, fine. That was probably worth the late-night call. "And what'd you find?"

"Do you have your datapad with you?" Fox asked.

Cody could see Thorn hovering in the back. He looked just as frazzled as Fox did.

"Yes."

"I'll send you the files. It's bad, Cody. It's so bad." His voice quaked with the weight of everything he had learned.

"We'll deal with it," Cody assured him. Because wasn't that the entirety of their job? Dealing with bad situations as they arose to try and not make them any worse?

"I'm not sure we can," Fox said. He typed furiously on the pad.

Cody's datapad lit up with dozens, maybe even hundreds of files that Fox was sending him. Just file after file coming through until he feared it would crash the damn thing entirely.

Force, what did Wolffe's girls manage to drag up?

"Fox—"

"No, you don't understand. What Tarkin and Palpatine are doing… they have so much information. Their plans—" He cut himself off again with a strangled gasp.

"The Jedi-" Cody started.

"I'm not even sure they can help at this point. I don't know if anyone can."

Cody took a deep breath to center himself, just like he had at Dex's. Just like he did in planning meetings when the nat-born officers argued with him about his plans. Just like he did in the middle of battle when it went tits-up and they had to adapt.

"Fox," he said, authority slipping into his voice. "You have to breathe. No matter how bad it is, panicking will make it worse."

Fox looked at him and nodded. "Right. You're right. Sorry."

"Don't apologize. Just breathe. In and out. Thorn, you too. I can see you over there panicking."

Thorn nodded, took an audible breath in, and then let it out through his nose.

Fox did the same.

They all breathed together for a few seconds before Cody was ready to move things along.

"You've just sent me hundreds if not thousands of files. We don't have time to go through them all. So, what do you need to start with first?"

"The Death Star," Fox answered automatically.

Cody's brows shot up. "The Death Star? Well, that doesn't sound fun." He found the appropriate files on the datapad and brought them up.

Skimming them confirmed his suspicions. It wasn't good.

Fox ran a shaky hand through his hair. "It's this… Force, it's this weapon, Codes. This giant weapon that can blow up planets. And he's already got targets. Alderaan. Chandrila. Naboo. Mandalore. Kamino."

"Kamino?" Cody said. As a rule, he didn't like to interrupt vod when they were giving him a debrief. He found that letting them ramble allowed many of his questions to be answered if he just listened. But Fox was still so all over the place that he could tell his brother would just from one topic to the next without ever coming back for clarification.

"That's what it says," Thorn said.

"I can see the list. I just don't know why. Alderaan, Chandrila, Naboo and Mandalore all make sense. They've been vocal in their opposition to Palpatine practically since the beginning. But Kamino? From what I've gathered, they've been nothing but helpful."

"The chips, Codes. Kamino knows a lot of the Chancellor's dirty laundry. Hell, they're helping him create it."

Understanding washed over him and he nodded. "If they make any signs that they'll let people know what they were asked to do, it'd be a quick way of silencing them. Any Separatist planets?"

"A few, but not nearly as many as Republic and Neutral systems," Fox said. "I don't know why. He doesn't have a reason listed. Only the names of planets."

"If he's doing what we think he's doing," Cody started. His head hurt. It always hurt when he thought too much about Palpatine's convoluted plans. "Then he's the one who's going to be ruler of the galaxy once the chips go live. It wouldn't make any sense for the Seppies to win the war. Maybe he's only got a list of Republic Planets because they're the ones that currently oppose him. Meanwhile—"

"Every Separatist opposes him so he can't just put them all on the list," Fox finished for him.

"Exactly. What else can you tell me?"

"Tarkin's leading the project. That's what that original memo was for. The one that I found that wasn't properly deleted."

Force, that was a long time ago. Cody barely remembered. It seemed so trivial now compared to everything else they had uncovered.

"And he's been coordinating with the Geonosians for the raw materials. That's what some of the embezzlement, hell, most of the embezzlement funds seem to be going to."

"Geonosians?"

"Yes."

"You mean the same Geonosians that keep trying to kill us? The ones that started this whole war in the first place? The ones that chained Skywalker, Amidala, and Obi-Wan to poles and tried to kill them? Those Geonosians?"

Fox shrugged. "Looks like it. Honestly, I'm not even sure how the hell they managed to convince them to do this. I haven't had a chance to go over all these files. And frankly, I doubt I ever will. There are so many moving pieces. What I do know is that the project is not far along. We have the blueprints for it. It's in the final design phase and the raw materials have started to be gathered."

"That sounds pretty fucking far along if you ask me," Cody grumbled.

"Well, at least he doesn't have a fully built moon-sized laser beam hanging out in space somewhere!" Fox cried. He pinched his brow. "Sorry. Sorry. It's just… he wants this thing built. And once he's built it—"

"He can rule through fear. He wouldn't even have to hunt for dissenters," Cody said. He can just blow up the planet they're on."

"And the chain codes will tell him which planet they're on because they can't leave without them," Thorn said.

"And if any planet is gearing up for a rebellion, he wouldn't need ground forces, he'd just need this." Cody's stomach dropped. He understood now why Fox was in such a rush to speak to him. "Trillions of people could die if he ever uses this thing. It's not even a weapon for a war. This… this is not meant to be used in a war."

"It's meant to silent dissent. Because if you talk, he won't just wipe out you or your family. He won't have to hunt you down. He'll just wipe out your entire planet. Or the entire planet of your last known location." Fox finished.

Cody breathed in deeply through his nose to center himself once more. The Death Star was bad, but Fox was right. At least it wasn't built and ready for action. They still had time.

"How long until the old demagolka dies of a heart attack?"

"Dice says another month at least. Maybe two or three. He is already starting to weaken. He's more tired than normal. But Dice is worried because he's not far enough along," Thorn said.

"Then up the dose."

"We can't without risking it being detected," Fox said. "If the chancellor dies, there's going to be so many autopsies. We need to make sure no one finds out about the poison because if they do, we'll get blamed."

"Fine," Cody said. "Fine. It'll take a while for the Death Star to be built to completion anyway. We can wait another month or two."

"Or we can send Gree after him with his sledgehammer and just be done with it," Thorn grumbled.

"Gree is not going to brain any politician with his sledgehammer," Cody said.

Thorn grumbled.

"What else?"

Fox cleared his throat and went to the next file. "He's been working on something called 'Project Necromancer'."

Cody found that file and opened it up. "There's nothing in here. Why is this so important?"

"Because there's nothing in there," Fox gritted out. "Well, not nothing. Hemlock is working on it."

"You mean the same Hemlock that—"

"Yes, Cody, the same Hemlock that we have in lock up. Moff Gideon's been visiting him and we only know that because Dormé and Wolffe figured that out. I'm worried because Hemlock is not the kind of guy I want collaborating with Palpatine."

Cody flipped through what little there was on the file. "Hang on, these look like cloning specs. He's collaborating with Hemlock for cloning? Why? He has the Kaminoans and they're willing to do horrific things so long as they get paid."

"Maybe even this goes beyond what the Kaminoans are comfortable doing," Thorn said. "Hemlock is… there's something not right about him. He's straight-up psychopathic. I don't think there's an empathetic bone in his body."

"The Kamonians don't have empathy for us either," Cody gritted out. "There has to be something more. Something we're missing."

"Well," Fox said slowly. " The Kaminoans aren't exactly warm and fuzzy, but they are true believers in science. Maybe that's why Palpatine doesn't want to use them. Maybe he thinks they're too limited by what is currently scientifically possible."

"That does make sense," Thorn said. "Hemlock is known to try anything. Even Vindi's scared of him. And that man is straight-up a mad scientist."

"So Palpatine is asking Hemlock to do something impossible that not even the Kaminoans will touch because even they have standards?" He sighed again. "I see now why you wanted to talk about this one."

There was still something bugging him about Fox's panic. "This is all bad, but it sounds like these projects are months, even years out. This couldn't have waited until I got back to Coruscant? We'll be there at the end of the week. Obi-Wan's coming too so you could have sat down with all of us and gone through this. Why the rush?"

Fox and Thorn exchanged glances.

"There's…" Fox started. Then he cursed. "Cody, there's a list. Of people. Organized by color. Yellow. Red. Black. Politicians. Jedi. And…" he cleared his throat. Fear evident in his eyes. "Cones. Vode. Brothers. He's got a list of brothers he's watching. And based on who is on those files, we suspect Yellow means 'watch listed', Red means 'potential threat', and Black means…" he stopped.

He did not continue.

"What does Black mean?"

Fox still did not answer.

"Fox, what is black?" he pressed.

"Assassinate," Thorn said quietly.

Cody's body went cold.

His mind stopped.

His mind never stopped.

It was always calculating.

Always trying to guess the next best move.

Always thinking of a plan.

But now, there was nothing.

Nothing but the knowledge that there were brothers slated for execution.

For assassination.

And Jedi.

And politicians.

"And they have personnel files on all of them," Fox continued. "Every camera, every post on the holonet, every time we walked near a microphone. Everything is recorded. You never realize how many cameras there are on Coruscant until you see how much information he has on people. People who have never even set foot on a GAR ship."

"Who are on those files?" Cody's voice did not sound like his own. He didn't even feel his mouth opening or his tongue moving to make the words. It echoed, hollow in his ears. Maybe it wasn't his voice. Maybe it was another brother, overhearing this conversation.

No, it was his voice.

It was his inflection.

It was his accent.

It was his.

And he had to know the answer.

Fox, seemingly more in control now that he had a clear directive, nodded and looked down at the files. "For politicians, we have Burtoni, Leizin, and Chuchi," Fox growled upon saying Chuchi's name.

Now was not the time to tease his brother for his (obvious to everyone but Fox and Skywalker) crush on Chuchi. He had more pressing matters to attend to.

"I'm assuming Burtoni is listed for the same reason Kamino is listed as a target for the Death Star," he said.

"Look's like it," Fox said. "Red doesn't surprise me. We have Amidala and Mothma. Though there is a note on Amidala's file about her being a person of interest. I don't know for what, though. He's got a few Seppie leaders on there as well. And some people from the neutral system."

"Who's listed as Black?" Cody asked.

"Organa and Kryze," Fox said. "Yularen's listed as Yellow. There are a few nat-born officers on the list, but not nearly as much as the politicians and Jedi."

"And the Jedi?" He had a feeling he knew who was on the list, but he needed confirmation.

Fox sighed. "I'm pretty sure every council member is on here. But there's more than that. Yellow you've got Mundi, Billaba. Tii. A couple of other council members. Red is Koon, Fisto, and Unduli. Black is Vos…" another growl.

Once more, Cody did not tease his brother for liking (despite his instance that he actually hated) Quinlan Vos. It was good for him to have some non-brothers to care about. "Windu. Yoda—" He cut himself off once more.

There were two names missing from that list. Two names that Cody knew needed to be on there.

"Obi-Wan and Ahsoka, right?" he asked.

Fox didn't answer.

He didn't need to because Cody knew the answer.

"Dammit." He rested the back of his head on the wall. "The assassin, on his diplomatic mission. He was hired by the Separatists. The assassin didn't even try to take down the politicians. He just aimed for Obi-Wan."

"And had the cadets not been there, he may have succeeded," Thorn said.

Cody was ashamed that he hadn't put the pieces together earlier. They had suspected Palpatine of trying to kill Ahsoka even before the chips came to light. And he knew Obi-Wan would be painting a massive target on his back because he argues against having Palpatine run the army. Why did he forget that the Separatists  were working for Palpatine, even if they didn't know it? Why didn't he realize that the assassination attempt had been Palpatine's attempt to silence someone who openly went against him?

He should have.

Once more, someone Cody cared about had been put into a situation where they would have been alone and in danger. It was only thanks to his insistence and General Tii's agreement to let Seventeen take some cadets out for real-world training that Obi-Wan survived. He was going to weld beskar to that man after this. He and Ahsoka. He was marching right down to Little Keldabe on Coruscant and spending every credit he had on armor so those two idiots wouldn't get themselves shot and killed.

He took another deep breath. There was still one group he hadn't got to yet. "What about the vod'e? You said a few of us were listed?"

Fox nodded. "Yellow you have Gregor, Gree, Tup, and Hardcase. Red is Thorn, Thire, Stone, Fives, Echo, Wolffe, Seventeen. The entire Bad Batch."

Shit. All those people were people who had been directly involved in the investigation. Minus Seventeen.

"Does he know we're onto him?"

Thorn shook his head. "I read through my file. The reasons given were that I was close to Fox. And Fox is openly disobeying him. Therefore, there's a chance that I could turn on him as well."

Cody nodded. "What about Black? Who's listed for Black?"

"There's just three." Fox took another deep breath. Myself. Rex. And… And you."

"Dammit," Cody cursed. "He's tried to kill Rex already. Has he tried anything with you yet?"

Fox shook his head. "Thorn has decided that I am to be shadowed by Vos or at least five vode  from here on out."

"If it keeps you alive, it keeps you alive."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Cody, you're on the list. He's tried to kill Rex already. He's tried to kill your general. You could be next."

Cody swallowed. He was doing his best not to think about the fact that he had an assassin's scope trained on his back. "I'll be fine."

"Cody—"

"I'll be fine," he growled.

"No, you won't. He has power. More power than anyone ever imagined," Fox said softly. "You need to watch your back. Have Waxer and Boil shadow you. They've been dechipped, right?"

Cody nodded.

"Then debrief them and have them shadow you. Gregor too."

"I am not putting them in danger to protect me."

"You have to," Thorn said. "You're our leader! You and Fox both. If you go, so does this operation."

"Wolffe—"

"Wolffe is a great spy and a great commander," Fox said. "But he is not our leader. It's you. You're the only one who can keep us on track. You're the only one who can organize us. You're the only one who can keep this sham war going until we're ready to make our final move. Cody, you have to protect yourself."

Cody clenched his jaw.

"It isn't selfish for a leader to have guards," Thorn said. "I know we bitch and moan about guard duty for the senators, but I understand why we do it. It's important. You're important. You're more important than any of us."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are," Fox argued. "Maybe not in the eyes of the universe or in the Force or whatever. But think, Cody, who else can do your job half as good as you? I'm already drowning here. I can't take on more. You have to stay alive."

He didn't respond.

"Either you debrief Waxer, Boil, and Gregor, or I will," Fox threatened. "I'm not joking, Cody. Palpatine has already tried to kill Kenobi and Tano. He's tried to remove Kryze from office. He's tried to kill Rex, Echo, Hardcase, Tup, Fives, and Jesse. He won't stop until he gets what he wants. We have to make sure we stop him before that."

Cody's shoulders slumped. He knew Fox was right. He didn't want to be so prideful that he felt only he could execute this plan of attack, but he also knew that swapping a CO halfway through a mission was a recipe for disaster. There were plenty of brothers who could do his job, but they didn't have the time to get them there. They didn't have the time to adjust to different styles of leadership and communication.

It had to be him.

"Fine. I will debrief Gregor, Waxer, and Boil tomorrow. Is there anything else?"

"Just one thing," Fox said. "There are persons of interest, but we don't know what for. I already told you about Amidala, but there are others. Offee, Krell, and Nala Se," Fox said.

Cody's brow furrowed. "So, he does have an interest in Offee like Gree suspected. But why? And what do Krell and Nala Se have to do with any of this? Do they know?"

"Maybe, but we don't have a drawn-out explanation for what Palpatine wants to use them for. We know he's been talking to Offee about padawans in the war, but that cannot be his only reason. It's a cover," Fox said.

"Hemlock is working on cloning," Thorn said. "Nala Se is one of the leading experts on it. If not the leading experts. Maybe he wants her to help out with him."

"We already agreed that the Kaminoans were too limited by current scientific theories to be of any use to Palpatine," Cody said.

"Maybe this is for something different," Fox said. "Or maybe with the right incentives, he thinks he can convince Nala Se to abandon those beliefs."

"Possibly." It still didn't explain Krell, Amidala, or Offee. A thought came to Cody. "Is Skywalker on any of these lists?"

"Um," Fox flipped through his datapad. "No. He doesn't appear to be. Why?"

"Don't you think it's odd that we have his padawan, his master, his sugar daddy—or whatever the hell Amidala is-- and several of his troopers listed on the watch lists, but not him?"

"Maybe he just hasn't done anything to warrant being put on a list."

Cody stared at him.

"Yeah, I realized how stupid that sounded the second it was out of my mouth." Fox's shoulders slumped.

"There has to be something else going on here. Something else that we're missing. There's no way that Palpatine is spending so much time with him to not have him on any lists. Especially when he wants to kill most of the people he cares about."

"This is only part of the data out there," Thorn pointed out. "We haven't had a chance to go through everything. It's only from ten people. And it's only the GAR and Republic Data. We have no idea what other projects Palpatine is working on with the Seppies. Or if he has other allies somewhere in the Neutral Systems. There could be something else. But we don't want to know about it."

He had a point. "Did you send me the personnel files? I want to read through them."

"Cody, are you sure that's a good idea? These are… I looked through mine and it is a lot," Fox said.

"I'm sure. I want to read through mine. I want to see what Palpatine knows."

"Alright, but be prepared. It's rough."

"I know. Now get some rest."

They ended the call and he made his way back to his room.

By the time he got there, he had over a hundred files waiting for him to read through. He wouldn't read through all of them. He'd send Gregor his and ask for an update, along with Rex and his men. But other than that, he didn't want to violate anyone's privacy more than it had already been violated. But, he was going to go through two of them: His and Obi-Wan's.

He needed to read through his to see how accurate it was and to see if Palpatine suspected him of anything. It would also give him an idea of what to look for when he read through Obi-Wan's.

His stomach clenched at the thought of reading through his. There could be things in there that Obi-Wan never wanted anyone to know about it. Yet here Cody was, preparing to rip open his entire history. And for what? To prove to everyone that he wasn't a Jedi Traitor? That he wasn't working with Palpatine?

Yes.

That was exactly why he was reading through them.

He needed to know.

He needed to dig up every skeleton in his closet. He needed to sink his hands which was the muck of Obi-Wan's past and dig up every rotten corpse. Every worm. Every disgusting parasite linked to him because he needed to be certain with one hundred percent accuracy that Obi-Wan was not the traitor. That Obi-Wan did not know about the chips. That Obi-Wan was, in fact, on Palpatine's hit list and not just there to throw off their scent. Maybe if he had a better grip on the Force, he'd be able to sense his intentions. But he didn't. So it was down to good old-fashioned research and intuition.

He'd send Wolffe's and Koon's to Wolffe for a review, looking for the same thing. And he'd ask Fox to review Vos's, just to confirm they weren't in on this. Or maybe it was to help alleviate some of his guilt. If he wasn't the only one violating the privacy of people he cared about, then he couldn't have the blame laid entirely at his feet.

Right?

He had no other choice.

It was this or nothing.

That's what he told himself.

He reached out to the Force to see if it would give him a thumbs-up or something to tell him if this was the right path. It did not. Goddamn Force osik. No wonder the Jedi were so frustrating if this was what they had to deal with regularly.

So, he turned inward. To his gut. The thing that might have been the Force, or just him using his brain.

There, beneath the horror and shame at what he was about to do was that quiver. That slight flutter that told him he was moving in the right direction.

Fox was right, this was out of their hands now. There were too many moving pieces. Too many horrors. Too many layers for them to do this on their own. They needed the Jedi on their sides and they needed them on their sides now.

They didn't have a list of people who knew about the chips, but they had a hit list. A watch list.

Cody was taking a chance. He was risking everything by trusting that this wasn't some red herring. A plant meant to distract him and lead him to complacency so that he might make a mistake.

But what was war if not taking risks every single day? Every single decision he made could never be made with one hundred percent assurance that it was the right one.

This was simply another one of those choices.

By reading the files, he would have a better picture of what he was getting into. He'd have more information.

So, he read.

He popped in some headphones upon realizing that a few of the files were audio and that the listening devices were always there. Always on. At least this way would keep the sounds away from prying ears.

Once the headphones were in and he was certain no sounds could escape, he flipped open his personnel file and began to read.

By the time he finished, to put it bluntly, he felt violated.

He had known since decanting that everything he did was being watched. Being recorded. There were cameras and listening devices everywhere. That's why the troopers had developed their own styles of communication to bitch and moan about trainers without getting dragged off for reconditioning.

But knowing about it and seeing it in person was a whole different story.

There were thousands of reports on him. Chatlogs. Videos. Reports he had submitted. His holonet search history. Recordings of him walking around Coruscant or other planets on shore leave. Photos taken from the battlefield for propaganda purposes. He couldn't even listen, read, or watch all of them because that would take years to sort through.

His scores as a cadet.

Every time he went to the med bay.

There were even chatlogs he was not a part of but that mentioned him.

He had to assume that any time his name or number was mentioned, it was flagged and filed away. There was no way a person could sift through this much information without going mad. Maybe if it was just him, but it wasn't. Fox had a list of dozens of people who had similar files.

Fuck, they even had receipts from places he had bought stuff at.

The pictures were what made his stomach drop the hardest.

There was his favorite photo. Rex, Ahsoka and he had gone out to a Shili restaurant. And Ahsoka had taken a photo of the three of them. Ahsoka looked so happy. Rex looked suspicious at the meat while Cody had just shoveled it into his mouth. He remembered thinking at the time that if it killed him, he'd be able to get out of paperwork for at least a little while.

The most recent one was the one Waxer took of Rex and Ahsoka cuddling on top of him.

There was one of him and Obi-Wan, passed out on each other at the end of battle.

And another one. This one, the video when they sparred before Obi-Wan had left for the mission and Cody for shore leave. Cody could see the nervousness in his posture as he dipped Obi-Wan low and the sheer glee and delight in Obi-Wan's eyes as Cody bested him not once, but twice.

Another video right before Seventeen came and Obi-Wan helped him clean his armor.

A picture Wolffe took after Cody and Fox had too much to drink and passed out on the couch in his office. Bly was drawing mustaches on them with markers.

Another one. Just an audio log. This one, so quiet he didn't know what was being recorded until he heard the quiet words " Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum ." Followed by a list of brothers who had died that day.

They had recorded his remembrances. Those weren't…

Those were his.

No one else was supposed to hear them.

They were for him and him alone.

No one was supposed to know whose names he said. No one apart from the vode. 

Someone had, though. Some audio file had him whispering the fallen at a time when no one else was supposed to know and this file could be heard by anyone. Anyone Palpatine wanted to hear could hear it.

At the end of the file, and after Cody's stomach was threatening to spill its contents, was a final page. There were only two things on this page: A reason for watching him, and a list of weaknesses.

The reason was the only good thing about this entire file.

"Too smart for his own good. Given too much freedom by Kenobi. May start openly defying orders not given by Kenobi. Should be dealt with before he becomes a problem" 

Good. That was good. They didn't know he was onto them. They didn't know he knew everything or was close to it. That bought them time.

Whatever good feelings he had after reading the reasoning for all this were wiped away the second he read his weaknesses.

He was expecting something like how he wasn't as good with the heavy canons as smaller blasters. Or how the injury to his face had left the eye just a little weaker than the other, meaning his vision wasn't 20/20.

But that wasn't what was listed.

Rex

Wolffe

Fox

Bly

Gree

Waxer

Boil

Gregor

Longshot

Crys

Wooly

Of course, their numbers were listed but not their names. Cody's heart sank all the same. Someone, or some AI somewhere had figured out which troopers he liked the best. Which troopers to hurt if they wanted to get to him.

It wasn't only Troopers on that list though.

Ahsoka Tano

And finally.

Obi-Wan Kenobi 

Obi-Wan's came with a note. Something that made Cody want to vomit all the more.

CC-2224 seems to have romantic feelings towards his superior officer. Evidence can be found in Section 24.6b of this file. It appears these feelings are reciprocated. Unclear if they can be used to manipulate one or both of them.  

This time, Cody did rush to the fresher to throw up. It wasn't like he had been hiding it. He had gotten bolder in flirting with Obi-Wan over the last few months, emboldened by the fact that Obi-Wan flirted right back. But this wasn't just a game. This wasn't him pushing the boundaries and testing the waters. Someone had noticed and was trying to figure out ways to use it against him.

He should have known better.

Seventeen drilled it into their heads from the very beginning, as soon as they were old enough to understand what sex was (even if Gree still struggled to figure out why people had it) he warned them repeatedly not to engage in romantic relationships, especially with any natborn officers. It was too messy. It would only end in disaster.

Cody knew this. That's why, even though he was testing the waters, he vowed to never fully cross that boundary. To wait until after the war was over and he was considered a person by the law and Obi-Wan had gone back to being a Jedi and not a general.

He hadn't even considered that his feelings alone could be used as a weapon against him. He hadn't considered that not kissing or having sex still wouldn't be enough to protect him and Obi-Wan.

And he was a fool for it.

He had put everyone in danger because he couldn't wait until the war was over. Because he had to have a small piece of light right now.

He ran a shaky hand through his hair and wiped the bile from his mouth with the back of his hand.

He had opened up this can of worms. Fox had warned him that it would be rough and Cody had failed to heed his warnings. He needed to finish it. He needed to complete the mission.

He pushed himself back up to standing and stumbled back to his bed.

He opened up Obi-Wan's file and started to read.

The first thing that struck him was the sheer size of it. It was much larger than Cody's. At first, he figured it was because Obi-Wan had been alive longer than he had. It made sense that he would have more to watch. But soon, a horrifying picture emerged.

Yes, the age was part of it. But the reason why Obi-Wan's was so much larger was because Obi-Wan hadn't been censoring himself like Cody had.

He hadn't been monitoring the cameras or the microphones. He hadn't even known about the ones in the rooms until Rex's disappearance. He talked more openly on the GAR network than any trooper ever would dare to. And that gave Palpatine much more information to gather and work with.

The shame Cody felt reading through Obi-Wan's file was unlike anything he had ever felt before. Even though he was sitting, his knees still threatened to buckle. His entire body trembled and it felt like he couldn't breathe.

He was reading and listening to moments in Obi-Wan's life that no one ever should have had access to.

It was like his remembrances. Except, while Cody only had that one instance, Obi-Wan had dozens.

He listened as the man he loved screamed in pain when he thought no one was listening. As he raged and paced around the room at the injustice of the war. He watched as Obi-Wan would put on a bright, cheerful smile around the men, only for the entire façade to crumble the second he turned the corner. He listened to him begging Qui-Gon Jinn for guidance only to receive nothing but silence back.

Did Palpatine listen to these files? Did he enjoy hearing the Jedi cry out in pain and suffering knowing that they'd never know peace? Knowing that they'd be betrayed by the very men who gave them some comfort?

Cody turned his head away to bury his face in his hands. Obi-Wan had been begging for his old master to meet with him and help him, but it was Cody who had talked to him. Where was the fairness in that?

And it wasn't just the current logs that Obi-Wan had in his file. Palpatine had everything there. Files that Cody had only seen as heavily redacted or not at all, completely open for him to read.

Melidaan.

Mandalore.

Bandomeer.

A video recording of his fight with Maul. Cody had seen it before. Had studied it when he first started learning how to use a lightsaber but in this light, it didn't feel like someone studying a master to learn from them. It felt like an enemy trying to pinpoint an opponent's weaknesses.

Qui-Gon Jinn's death had made its way into the file.

Cody couldn't stop his body from shaking as he watched it.

He felt cold.

So cold.

And burning.

Like someone had lit fire to his skin.

He wanted to burrow himself in the thin blankets on his bed and jump into an ice bath all at once.

There were messages to the man who did Obi-Wan's tattoos when he requested the red protea and the sunflower be added to the bouquet.

There were chatlogs with his batchmates bragging about Ahsoka and teasing Vos about his lack of grandpadawan.

Photos.

Messages.

Videos.

Audio recordings.

Each one made Cody feel as though he were peeling back Obi-Wan's skin. Layer upon layer until he could finally reach the skeleton.

He flipped to the end. To the reasoning and list of weaknesses.

The reasoning wasn't too far off from what Cody was expecting. Basically that Obi-Wan Kenobi was a threat to the Grand Plan. If he was not killed before Order 66, he needed to be killed during it. He was the highest priority.

Cody made a mental note to ask Echo and Tech to see if any changes had been made to his chip specifically to ensure that Obi-Wan died.

He then went to the potential weaknesses. Once more, it was pretty much what Cody was expected.

It listed his troopers (they didn't even have the decency to list everyone out). Seventeen. Skywalker. Ahsoka. Obi-Wan's batch mates. His older brother, a man named Feemor whom Cody had never met but whom Ahsoka assured him was the coolest, much to Vos' chagrin.

Satine Kryze was also listed.

Former romantic partner. Long history. No romantic interest currently but cannot confirm. There do appear to be lingering feelings (see section 51.9f). Unconfirmed if mutual or not. 

And, of course, Cody was listed.

CC-2224: Current romantic feelings. Reciprocated (see section 109.5h and section 24.6b of CC-2224's file). Can be used against him. The relationship between an officer and a subordinate means that consent cannot be had. Kenobi shows evidence of a strong moral compass. This can be used to break him. 

No! No, it certainly could not. Cody had consented! He had escalated where Obi-Wan had pulled back. They couldn't… they couldn't convince Obi-Wan that he had trampled all over his boundaries and forced him to do something he didn't want to do.

They could, though.

They absolutely could.

They had the evidence.

And they were right, Obi-Wan did have a strong moral compass. That's half the reason they weren't already fucking. He'd never knowingly cross those boundaries. But that was the trick, wasn't it?

Knowingly.

He'd never knowingly cross those boundaries.

But war was hell. Obi-Wan was tired. He was exhausted. Not just physically, but emotionally as well.

Cody could see a world where he could be convinced that he had misread a situation. That he had crossed a boundary. That he had let his desires get the best of him and Cody suffered as a result.

Because in the end, the weaknesses weren't just about who they could torture physically. It was about the mental torture as well.

Hell, Palpatine didn't even have to reveal himself to torture Obi-Wan mentally and emotionally. All it would take was one leaked video from The Negotiator to the right journalists and everything Obi-Wan had stood for up until that point would be called into question.

Everything.

Palpatine had done it. He had created a way to thoroughly ruin Obi-Wan's reputation without ever pulling the trigger.

Cody turned the datapad off and took out the headphones. He was convinced, now more than ever, that Obi-Wan had to be brought in on this. If only so that he could be prepared for anything Palpatine might throw at him.

A knock at the door dragged Cody from his thoughts.

*****

Obi-Wan had been sleeping very well. Probably the best he had had in a long time. For some reason, his men seemed to be lighter in the Force lately. And it was growing every day. Almost like an infection. Only, it was too good to be an infection. Too pure. He had no idea what to make of it. He wondered if it had anything to do with what Cody had discovered while on leave. He still wanted to push but also knew that things were going well now. And he'd have his answers soon. 

Of course, that was before he was woken up by the worst feeling he had felt in a long time. 

ShameDisgustHorror radiated through the halls of the Negotiator. So strong it knocked Obi-Wan right out of his peaceful sleep. 

It took him a moment to figure out where such an emotion was coming from. But then he found it. 

Cody. 

Something was wrong with Cody. 

Obi-Wan swung his legs out of bed, intent on finding his commander and putting his mind at ease. He paused mere millimeters from the door. What if this had to do with Cody's investigation? Should he press at this time of night? 

They were headed to Coruscant. He could always press then. 

Yes, maybe it was better to wait. Wait until they were no longer being listened to. Annoying to keep track of, sure, but better that he knew now so he could monitor himself. 

Another wave of Shame knocked against Obi-Wan's shields and made up his mind for him. He was at least going to check and see that Cody was alright. Maybe he'd get some answers. Maybe he wouldn't. But something was distressing his commander so. Even if Cody couldn't tell him, Obi-Wan could at least support him. 

He pulled on his boots and his robe and swept through the hallway. 

He got to Cody's room rather quickly and knocked on the door. 

Cody didn't answer at first. But just as Obi-Wan was about to knock again, the door slid open. 

He gasped. 

Cody looked terrible. Dark circles under his eyes. His skin was pale. His body shook ever so slightly. 

"Obi-Wan?" He croaked. 

Obi-Wan opened and closed his mouth several times, cognizant of the cameras and listening devices that seemed to plague his ship. He needed a map one of these days. That was something else he'd be asking about on Coruscant. 

"I felt your distress and wanted to see if you were alright," is what he finally settled on. 

"I…" He pressed a hand to his mouth and then looked away. "It's… it's bad. It's so bad. I… I don't know…" His breaths started coming out in gasps. 

Obi-Wan didn't want him to say anything that could have been picked up by the listening devices. He didn't know if it would look suspicious for him and Cody to go on a walk to a blind spot this late at night either. And he only knew of the one on the bridge. 

He wanted answers. But he didn't want them at the expense of Cody. 

He took his face in his hands. "My dear," he said softly, but loud enough for the listening devices to pick up his words. "It's been a rough few campaigns. You haven't had enough time to rest as you should." 

Cody brought up his hands and gripped Obi-Wan's wrists. He went to pull away, aware that he hadn't asked permission before he touched him. But Cody tugged them back and held them firm. 

"Thankfully, we're headed back to Coruscant now. Mind you, we'll need to make a stop to pick up Master Krell—" 

 Cody's hands tightened on his wrists just a fraction. Interesting. Something else he'd have to ask about later. 

"But after that, we have another week. It's Ahsoka's birthday as well. I was thinking you, me, Rex, and her could go to Dex's. Master Plo and Wolffe will have to tag along, of course." 

"Of course," Cody whispered. His mind calmed ever so slightly. 

"And Quin will be beside himself if he doesn't get a chance to spoil her since Aayla doesn't have a padawan yet." 

"Right." 

"And I know Fox has a soft spot for her. Does that sound okay? A small group in Dex's?" To hopefully get some answers.

Cody nodded. 

"Fantastic. Do you need me to help with anything else? I know sleep is difficult to come by in such a state." 

Cody hesitated. His grip tightened on his wrists. So tight it was almost painful. A war happening in his mind. So desperate to ask Obi-Wan to stay, but afraid. So very afraid. 

"Whatever you say, Cody, I'll respect." He tried to let his sincerity bleed into his words. He tried to let Cody know that he would listen to him. That he wouldn't push. That he wouldn't force him to do anything he didn't want to do. 

One side of the war won. 

"I'll be fine," he said softly. But just loud enough that the listening devices would pick up on it.

"Of course," Obi-Wan said. He dropped his hands. Cody let them go. "Tomorrow perhaps we can meditate together. I know you've been enjoying that recently." 

"I'd like that. I'm sorry for waking you up, sir." 

He tucked his hands into his sleeves. "It's never any worry, Cody. You take care of your brothers so well. There aren't many people around left to take care of you. I worry." 

"I can handle it." 

"Just because you can handle it, doesn't mean you should have to. I'm always here. Whether you need someone to listen to you, or simply sit next to you. I'm here." 

"I know. I know you are." 

"Good man. Please, get some rest. You deserve it." He wanted to clap Cody on the shoulder, but something told him that physical contact was not the right move. 

Instead, he bowed to Cody and waited for him to close the doors. 

He stayed outside of his room for a breath and sent a wave of calm and support through the Force. 

He felt Cody's mind accept the feelings and relax. He would not sleep tonight. Obi-Wan knew that. But he could rest. 

Once he was certain that his commander was no longer in a state of panic, he went back to his rooms. 

It looked like he was going to Dex's to finally get his answers. 

Notes:So, there are more people on Palpatine's kill list, but I didn't want to go through and list every one so feel free to speculate as to who is on the list and who goes where ;)

This chapter, this chapter was another one that I was so excited to write. Everything from Miko to Cody realizing just how much information Palpatine has on him. And of course, the reveal. The death star. I have had the whole "That's no moon. Call Cody, Call Cody now," Exchange from basically the beginning. I hope it did it's job with y'all! Buy yeah, one more chapter of what I'm dubbing "The Chip Arc" and then we move into what I'm dubbing "The War Arc". I hope you guys are ready. Because I am not.