Chapter Text
The news was crushing. Firstly that Rex'ika had been taken by those Zygerrian slave taking monsters, and then a ruling that his actions on the mission had been reckless so soon after the mess on Umbara and between that and his injuries he was being redeployed.
To Coruscant.
To the Guard.
Part of Fox would almost have preferred he be sent back to Kamino, almost, but not quite.
Rex'ika was coming to the Guard, his vod'ika, the little brother they'd taken into their batch so so many years ago.
He was coming to the Guard.
Fox was terrified, but he wasn't sure if it was because Rex was going to be in danger, or because he was going to learn the truth.
And then Rex would tell Cody and Wolffe and Bly and Ponds and the truth would come out and everything would get out and there would be chaos. The Guard wouldn't just be cowardly paper pushing meat droids, they'd be the weak cowardly paper pushing meat droids who couldn't defend themselves from some rich Senator who'd never held a blaster or thrown a punch.
Like being spat on and insulted wasn't enough already.
Vode an, except when you were in the Guard.
There was more to it, to Rex's joining them, he was certain of it. Rex'ika worked with Skywalker, Skywalker was close with Palpatine, Palpatine was... Fox wasn't sure what but he didn't want him near his brothers. Palpatine was the reason Skywalker hadn't been on Umbara, the reason that Krell had been allowed to play with the clones like toys, the reason so many of Rex's vode were dead... the reason for a lot of things.
Skywalker was the reason Rex was being transferred to them, at least the reason Palpatine was having him transferred. He wasn't certain why, but with how close Skywalker was to Palpatine, how he acted around them sometimes, especially after a meeting with Palpatine, that Jedi wasn't to be trusted. He was dangerous, saw himself above them whether he realised it or not, and he could have them killed if he wanted.
It they'd been sending Rex almost anywhere else, he'd have been glad his brother was getting away from Skywalker.
Getting closer to Palpatine was hardly something he wanted though.
.
.
.
Fox watched the LAAT arrive, and watched his vod’s so clearly unique blue armour appear.
He stayed to the edge of the landing pad until the LAAT had taken off again, and Captain Velt, who lead one of the Lower Level Security Teams and would be, hopefully, looking after Rex and keeping him out of the Senate Building, had introduced himself.
And then he strode over.
Velt knew what he had planned, and had in fact anticipated it, but it wasn’t often one of their vode was brought into the Guard rather than bringing in Shinies, and he knew well enough that Fox was going to be protective of his batch-mate, adopted or not. Velt stepped back as he approached, nodding to Rex and then going to his own squad.
“Rex’ika, with me.”
“What, Fox, where… shouldn’t I...?”
Rex gestured to Velt and his squad.
“No,” Fox grabbed him by the wrist and started pulling, not letting Rex resist, “you come with me, right now.”
He dragged his brother through the halls into the Command barracks, thankful that for all he was clearly annoyed about it, Rex didn’t fight him.
“What was so important, Fox? If you really wanted to catch up you couldn’t wait until I'd settled in?”
He had a meeting in 20 minutes he couldn’t miss, which meant he had no time to address the subtle barb he’d been offered, nor to sugar coat what was happening on Coruscant.
"Vod, you have a lot to learn about the Guard if you're going to survive here."
“Fox, I'm sure General Skywalker will try to get me back to the 501st soon. And I can manage a few weeks handling paperwork.”
“No, no, vod, it’s not paperwork and fun times here. Rex, it’s horrific, and I'm not letting them decommission you because you didn’t know how to protect yourself here.”
“It’ll be a few weeks...”
“Palpatine had you transferred here for a reason, I don’t know what, but I don’t trust Skywalker much better. He’s dangerous, vod.”
“I think I know my General better than you.”
“So you’ve never noticed how he acts after a meeting with the Chancellor, because last time he had one he shoved a shinie into a wall. He's dangerous, maybe not to you when he’s in a good mood, but... but that’s not what you need to know. You're here, you need to survive here. Besides, no-one leaves the Guard except in a body bag,” he left out the or worse, Rex didn’t need that yet, “Rule one...”
“Fox wait...”
“Rule one, you don’t ever, and I mean ever, fight back. Rule two, keep your armour uniform, so if you’re ever accused of anything or slated for reconditioning or decommissioning you can be swapped around. Rule three, no matter how weird or demeaning, you do what you’re ordered. Rule 4, if they call you it or clone or anything like that, don’t argue or try to impress on them your name or anything like that, just do what they say. Don’t react. Now I'm trying to get you put into one of the units that takes patrols rather than on Senate Security, but I can't make promises.”
Rex looked blown away, and a little shattered, but this was reality and he couldn’t afford to be soft on his little brother.
Not if he wanted Rex to live.
His comm buzzed a warning.
“Look, Rex’ika, I have a meeting, but the rec room and commissary are down the hall to the right, I’m sure someone can help you settle in and... I'll answer any questions you have properly tonight.”
He wondered if his voice sounded as defeated to his vod’ika as it did to him.
It didn’t matter, he slammed his buy’ce on his head and headed up to the Senate Building.
He couldn’t keep the Chancellor waiting, not even for his youngest batch mate.