Chapter Text
Wooley watched Cody with concern as the Marshal Commander waited for the comm to connect. The younger trooper was safely ensconced in Helix’s hold, but everyone else – even Waxer and Boil – had been banished from the room for this call.
Wooley had refused to leave, point blank.
Cody had stared him down, clearly considering the risks of pushing Wooley on this, but something in the younger clone’s face had him agreeing without further argument – though he did sigh rather dramatically when Helix dug his heels in and refused to leave as well.
The comm blinked to life, the perpetually unimpressed face of Commander Wolffe flickering before Cody in the eerie blue that characterized holo calls.
“Commander Cody,” Wolffe greeted almost warily.
Wooley had it on good authority that Cody and Wolffe were batchmates. But he had also had it on good authority that Wolffe was an unrepentant shebs who was not to be believed when he told stories about Cody as a cadet, regardless of the circumstances.
“Wolffe,” Cody responded in kind, voice equally grave.
“Are Blunt and Sten okay?” Wolffe cut to the chase, inquiring after his men. He was likely already planetside on Coruscant, awaiting the Negotiator’s imminent arrival to the city planet.
“They’re… Physically they’re fine, Wolffe,” Cody reassured the surly Commander. “I gave you my word that I would bring them home, and I will.”
“Never mind that he had designs on murdering the pair of them less that a day ago,” Helix muttered in Wooley’s ear, earning himself a small chuckle from the younger clone.
Cody resolutely ignored the pair of them.
“But?”
“They hurt one of my troopers, Wolffe,” Cody admitted, resigned. “They – he was on Krystar with them.”
A moment of silence, then –
“What did they do?”
“Deprived him of food, water,” Cody admitted. “Stood by while others physically assaulted him. On Krystar, and on the Negotiator.”
Wooley had to work hard not to flinch as Cody spoke – somehow, Helix knew anyways, and he pulled the younger trooper closer without comment. Wooley leaned into the baar’ur’s warmth, doing his best not to openly cower as Wolffe’s perpetual frown deepened ever so slightly, his eyebrows bunching together.
“Send me Helix’s med report, and the footage you have from the Negotiator,” Wolffe said after several moments of uncomfortable silence. “I’ll deal with them myself.”
The last bit sounded like a threat.
Cody didn’t respond right away, instead looking over and past Wolffe’s holo to meet Wooley’s eyes. Asking his permission to share those things – and fully prepared to deny one of his closest vod his request, simply because Wooley didn’t consent.
And he’d referred to Wooley as his.
Wooley nodded once, and Helix’s grip on him tightened again, this time in reassurance.
“I’ll send both through to you once we’re done with this call,” Cody agreed, looking back at his batchmate. “And Helix will be at your disposal if you have any further questions regarding the med report.”
“Good,” Wolffe grunted.
He paused before speaking again, clearly debating whether or not he had more to say. Cody waited in amicable silence, clearly used to giving his vod time to parse his thoughts.
“Is your trooper okay?”
Cody looked up and over the holo again as he responded, his gaze locked on Wooley’s.
“He will be.”
~~~
Wooley was cuddled between Longshot and Trapper, Crys lounging across their legs, when Cody entered the Officer’s Barracks – now officially absconded for use by most of Ghost, regardless of their status within the 212th.
Wooley still wasn’t comfortable sleeping in the General Barracks – might never be, if he was honest with himself – and his closest vod’e refused to let him isolate himself in what had once been a mostly unused bunk room. And with the Negotiator currently planetside for repairs, the Officer’s Barracks were easily accessible, and much safer than anywhere else Wooley had ever bunked.
“What’s wrong?”
Cody’s face was carefully neutral, which wasn’t the same as outright panic or lethal rage, but it still never boded well.
“Wolffe is here,” Cody admitted, rubbing at the back of his neck. “He – he asked to speak with you.”
Wooley tensed, and Longshot pressed against his side more firmly.
“If you say no, I’ll tell him to leave, and he will – no questions asked,” Cody continued gently. “But for what it’s worth, I would trust Wolffe with my life. He would never hurt you, vod’ika.”
Wooley mulled his options over in his mind, relieved that the vod’e around him gave him the time to think through his choice.
“I don’t want him to come in here,” Wooley said finally. These barracks, this bunk – they were safe. He wasn’t sure what he would do if whatever Commander Wolffe had come to say ruined that illusion of safety.
“I’ll tell him to go,” Cody responded immediately, already turning.
“No, no,” Wooley rushed. “I can – I’ll talk to him in the hallway, if that’s alright? Just not in here.”
Cody paused, then nodded, a small smile sneaking onto his face.
“Do you want one of us to stay with you?”
“I – I can do this by myself,” Wooley decided.
And he could. His vod’e would be right on the other side of the door, ready to jump to his aid at a moment’s notice. He wouldn’t be alone, not really.
So, he pushed himself up and untangled his legs before making his way towards the door, pausing for a deep breath before hitting the controls and stepping into the hallway. He didn’t look back as the durasteel door slid closed.
Commander Wolffe was waiting, kitted out in his signature grey and white armour, save for his helmet, which was tucked under one arm.
“Wooley,” Commander Wolffe greeted, sounding slightly startled.
“Commander Wolffe,” Wooley responded in kind. “Commander Cody said that you wanted to speak with me?”
“Yes – I – thank-you for agreeing to see me,” Wolffe fumbled slightly, clearly a bit wrong-footed. “I wanted to tell you myself that Blunt and Sten will be disciplined within the 104th for their actions.”
“I appreciate that, sir.”
“I also – well they, that is… Blunt and Sten recorded a holo for you,” Wolffe explained, holding out the datachip. “You don’t have to watch it – I wouldn’t if I was in your boots.”
Wooley looked at the proffered datachip.
He truly believed that most of the clones – and maybe even Kaddak – were not inherently bad people. That they had been shaped by their live experiences – the trauma, the torture, the neglect.
But he also wasn’t sure that he was ready to forgive them.
“I – could you give it to Cody?” Wooley responded. “Or Helix? I trust them to take care of it until I am ready to watch it.”
Wolffe’s expression softened as he smiled.
“Of course, verd’ika.”
Wooley nodded, suddenly awkward, before turning on the spot and beating a quick retreat back to his bunk, where Longshot, Trapper, and Crys were waiting to cuddle him half to death.
~~~
Cody’s next call was to the Commander of the Coruscant Guard.
As before, Wooley had insisted on being present for the call, adamant and immovable on the matter. Helix once again insisted on staying to support his “patient”, though both Commander and trooper knew that that was just a poorly veiled excuse to eavesdrop on the entire affair.
“Cody, I’m karking busy, this had better be important,” Fox grumbled as he answered the holo, not even bothering to look up from whatever it was that he was doing.
Cody snorted.
“Do I ever call for something that isn’t?”
“All the karking time,” Fox replied, deadpan. “Get to it, or I’m hanging up.”
“Always a delight, Fox,” Cody drawled. “Be sure to bring that stellar attitude and work ethic when you haul your shebs out to arrest one of the troopers that I picked up on Krystar.”
Arrest, because Wooley absolutely refused to allow Cody to murder Kaddak on his account. There had been a screaming match, followed by a tearful Wooley threatening to sleep on the floor in front of the door if that was what it took to stop Cody from storming across the ship to fight the scarred clone. Because the Commander absolutely refused to allow Wooley anywhere near Kaddak, and Wooley insisted that he would follow Cody if he went to confront Kaddak.
Which had left them at an impasse – Cody furious, Wooley sobbing – which Helix had eloquently bridged with the suggestion of imprisonment.
“Why am I arresting one of the troopers that you picked up on Krystar?”
“Because he likely killed his trainer on Kamino, escaped his subsequent detention by the Kaminiise, then physically assaulted one of my troopers.”
That caught Commander Fox’s attention.
“What’s his name?”
“Kaddak.”
For a few minutes, the silence was broken only by the sound of Fox tapping away on a datapad, or silently cursing, before he looked up, expression grim.
“You didn’t pick up any 212th troopers on Krystar,” Fox accused. “So, I am going to assume that this demagolka attacked the youngest one? I don’t see a squad listed for him.”
“Wooley is ours,” Cody snapped back.
Wooley’s chest tightened at that – at the feeling of rightness that came with the thought of belonging with the 212th.
Fox snorted.
“File the damn paperwork, Commander,” he drawled.
“I don’t recall asking for your opinion, Commander,” Cody snarked back.
Fox merely waved him off.
“I’ll meet you at the landing pad tomorrow morning,” Fox agreed without further preamble. “Given his track record, I’ll bring at least a few Guards with me for back-up. Unless you’d rather handle him yourself?”
Cody sighed.
“No – I am under strict orders not to fight Kaddak,” the Marshal Commander of the 212th replied with a quick glance over and past the holo at Wooley.
Fox snorted.
“Tell the kid that I like him already.”
~~~
After nearly a week of limbo on Coruscant, the 212th had finally received their next orders, and would be moving out by the end of the day. Cody was in meetings with General Kenobi, finalizing their plans, but in the meantime, the members of Ghost Company were busy resupplying the Negotiator for their upcoming campaign.
Around him, his vod’e were bemoaning leaving the city planet behind, wishing they had one more night planetside to visit 79’s or to fleece the 501st playing sabaac in the GAR barracks.
Wooley, who had spent the vast majority of his time planetside aboard the Negotiator, wasn’t so sad to leave it all behind.
It would be a fresh start for him.
So, Wooley couldn’t help but smile as he worked alongside his vod’e of the 212th to move supplies and requisitions on board.
“Wooley?”
Wooley turned, freezing in his tracks at the sight of the clone approaching him. Commander Fox was distinctive in his white and red armour, helmet tucked up his arm, gray hair at his temple glinting in the afternoon sun.
“Sir?”
“At ease, trooper,” Fox’s voice was uncharacteristically friendly, less monotone and irritated that Wooley remembered it being during the holo call with Cody. Unlike his snark from the holo call though, this sounded forced.
Wooley did not trust it.
Wooley did not relax.
Around him, he noticed his vod’e pause, Waxer and Boil noticeably abandoning the crates they had been moving to make their way towards the Coruscant Guard Commander. Without a word, they settled into place on either side of Wooley, arms crossed as they regarded Commander Fox.
It was only slightly reassuring.
“What can I do for you, sir?”
Fox’s smile wavered, sliding into something that was more of a grimace, and he glanced towards either Scout before focusing his attention back on Wooley.
“I thought that you should hear it from me, not someone else,” Fox admitted, tone grave. “Kaddak has been reported missing from prison.”
The world around Wooley shifted, and suddenly he wasn’t standing so much as crumpling to the ground. Waxer was crouching beside him in an instant, Boil’s voice just barely filtering through the static in his ears. It sounded like he was talking to Cody, or maybe Helix.
“They suspect that he managed to escaped during the Guard shift change last night.”
Wooley thought he might puke.
“Gev!” Waxer snarled at the Commander, pulling Wooley against him.
“Verd’ika, haalur,” Fox murmured gently, changing tact as he moved to crouch before the younger trooper. “You’re safe. Based on investigative results this far, we suspect Kaddak has already fled the planet. He’s not coming for you.”
Waxer snapped something rude in Mando’a, but Fox didn’t look away from Wooley.
“Gar're morut'yc,” Fox repeated firmly. “Kaddak will never hurt you again, tayli'bac?”
“Cody says to get him back to the Command Barracks,” Boil cut in, his voice barely audible over the growing static in Wooley’s ears. “And to establish a patrol around and aboard the Negotiator, until the Guard has Kaddak in custody or it has been confirmed that he is no longer planetside.”
Fox didn’t move, gaze still fixed on Wooley.
“Go with your vod’e, verd’ika,” Fox murmured gently. “Ni ganar te aran.”
I have the watch.
Wooley didn’t remember agreeing to move, barely remembered the walk from the landing pad to the Command Barracks. Couldn’t have explained how, a time later, he found himself in the middle of an impromptu cuddle pile, surrounded by his closest vod’e.
“Are you with us, vod’ika?” Cody asked softly.
Wooley nodded and snuggled closer to the Commander, wishing that he could hide from the world for just a few moments longer. He’d never had such luxuries though.
“Commander Fox was able to confirm that Kaddak boarded a shipping vessel bound for the Koradin sector in the Outer Rim,” Cody explained gently. “We can’t pursue him, but he’s gone vod’ika.”
“I should have let you kill him,” Wooley muttered miserably.
Maybe then he would feel safe.
But Cody was already shaking his head, a small smile on his face.
“No, vod’ika, you did the right thing, even if I couldn’t see it at the time,” Cody soothed. “You’re the best of us.”
“Thanks, ori’vod,” Wooley responded softly, snuggling closer.
Behind him, several vod’e chuckled, while Cody let out a sound approximating that of a strangled tooka. Wooley glanced over his shoulder; expression confused.
“What?”
“I think you just broke the Commander, vod’ika,” Helix chuckled, from where the medic was wrapped around Wooley’s back, prompting more snickering from the vod’e lounging and cuddling around them. Cody muttered something unintelligible, and Wooley turned back to him.
“Is it – is it okay if I call you ori’vod?” Wooley asked, suddenly worried. “I just thought… I mean…”
“Of course, it’s okay, vod’ika,” Cody choked out. “I would be honored to be your ori’vod.”
Wooley grinned, shifting to look around at all the vod’e gathered in the Command Barracks.
Cody. Waxer. Boil. Helix. Trapper. Longshot. Crys. Barlex. Gearshift. Cale. Reed. Threepwood. Eyeball.
His vod’e.
His aliit.
“I’m glad,” Wooley said. “That it was you who found us – who found me. Because when you found me, I found more than just my freedom – I found my family.”
Silence, and then –
“We’re keeping him, right?” Crys asked the room in general. “Like, it’s official? The General signed off on the paperwork?”
“Yeah, vod, he’s staying,” Cody responded with a laugh. “Wooley is a member of the 212th.”
And that was all that really needed to be said.