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Fox clenched his hands to fists, anger twisting his face, as he watched the bloody, beaten and deranged forms of Thire and his men, who had just returned from a mission. Another mission assigned by the Chancellor, another mission set up for failure from the start.
Whenever the Chancellor sent the Guard on special missions, the chances of return were kriffing low, as each job seemed to get worse. At first the missions from the Chancellor himself had been really strange, like transporting the dead Zillo beast to a secret lab, but manageable. But the more time had passed, the more dangerous and deadly the assignments got, claiming more and more lives of Foxʻs vodʻe.
It felt like the Chancellor was doing this on purpose, like he was playing a game with the Guard, a brutal game without rules and humility. And because of this, the Corries lost a great number of vodʻe, because Palpatine sent them onto suicide missions, with barley a chance of survival.
Fox let his eyes wander over the injured men in the medbay and fury, hate and grief washed over his body like a wave on Kamino, as he saw how only so few of them had returned.
The Commander clenched his teeth, a low growl in his throat.
Though he had sworn an oath to the Republic, the safety of his brothers was much more important to him. But how could he guarantee their safety, when the Chancellor played so easily with their lives, throwing them away like broken toys?
Foxʻs eyes met the haunted gaze in Thireʻs ember eyes, his vodʻika clearly traumatized by what he had been forced to endure. A fierce protectiveness burned through his veins, only fueled by the fact, that all of the survivors were sharing the same haunted look Thire was bearing.
How dare Palpatine to play with their lives? How dare he to hurt his vodʻe?
Fox felt an extreme determination, as suddenly an idea came to him.
The Chancellor was playing games with them? Setting them up for failure?
Then Fox would come and play along. And then when heʻs finished, that bastard would regret ever laying a finger on his vodʻe.
Fox felt an unease feeling, as he was waiting in his office for his contact to arrive. Contact was not quite the right word, as the man was more of a walking nightmare to Fox, but the contact was utterly loyal to the Clones, even though he was annoyingly flirty, and he was quite skilled, when it came to working outside of the legal zone.
Though Fox knew what he was about to do was the right choice, he still felt a little unwell, as what he was about to do was practically treason.
“Looking good, Commander.”, a shadow figure emerged from the dark of the night through his window.
“You know, you could just take the door like everyone else, Vos.”, Fox deadpanned.
“This way it is way more fun.”, the Kiffar winked, flirty as always.
“Not for me.”
Vos laughed, then he turned more serious: “You told me, you had something important for me to talk about. So tell me, what is it.”
“Treason.”, Fox stated.
“From whom against who?”
“I am planning of getting rid of Palpatine.”, Fox explained, feeling rather tense. Not that he was worried about Vos betraying him, no that Jedi hated the Chancellor even more than Fox did, but he was afraid that the Kiffar would not take him serious, would laugh it off.
To his great surprise Vos nodded with a smile: “That is a very healthy choice.”
“I already have a plan.”
“Count me in.”, the Jedi whispered conspiratorially, “Just tell me your plan.”
And so Fox did, letting Vos in on his plan, the Jedi nodding along enthusiastically.
“I really like your plan, but something is missing in there.”, the Kiffar concluded.
Fox just raised his eyebrow, giving the other one a questioning look.
“It is a little straight forward, a little to fast.”, Vos gave Fox a wink, “Itʻs like sex. You can only really enjoy it, if you had a little foreplay.”
The Corrie shook his head at the sex analogy: “What is missing?”
“Before we can act on your plan, we have to destroy Palpatineʻs good grandfatherly reputation.”, Vos explained, “Because no one would believe that pops has a bunch of skeletons in his closet.”
“So we first destroy his reputation and then the man himself.”, Fox concluded.
“Exactly.”
“And how do we do that?”
“Donʻt worry about that, Fox.” Quinlan Vos grinned smugly, “I have lot of experience with such things. Just leave that to me.”
Step 1: Ruining the reputation
“Fox! Fox!”, a shout ripped the Commander out of his sleep. He needed a few seconds to realize, that the cold smooth surface, where his head had just laid mere moments ago, was his desk. Fox must have fallen asleep while doing the latest reports, which would explain his back pain.
Great, Flatline surely would chew him out for his. But that would be a problem for future Fox, as right now Thron had opened the door to Foxʻs quarters without waiting for an answer, storming in, a giddy look on his face.
“What is it?”, the Commander asked tiredly, his voice still rough from sleep. Kriff, what would he give for a cup of caff now. It had been exactly three days since Fox had talked to Vos and he had barley slept the last few days, not because he was worried or anxious, of course not, he was a Commander on Triple Zero, he was as cool as ice. The reason he had gotten way too few sleep was, that they had done a drug bust on several levels simultaneously, resulting into hours and hours of overtime.
Who was he kidding? He didnʻt get paid at all and had no work contract, so technically he couldnʻt even work overtime. It sucked nonetheless.
“Havenʻt you seen the news, today?”, Thorn sounded utterly gleeful, a rather untypical emotion for his vodʻika.
When Fox shook his head, the blonde one gave him his datapad with a smirk: “Read it and enjoy it.”
The Commander was rather confused as he had no idea at all, what his brother could be referring to, so he took the pad, determined to find it out.
The headline red: “Palpatine grooming the hero without fear? A witness testifies!”
Fox couldnʻt stop a small smile, a he read the drophead: “The dark truths about the relationship of High Chancellor Palpatine and Anakin Skywalker revealed”
And underneath that there was a big picture of a very young Skywalker and the Chancellor, with his hand on the shoulder of the kid.
Fox smirked, this was just perfect, this would kill Palpatineʻs good image in a few days. Vos outdid himself with this one, though the Corrie wondered, how he managed to get that picture.
Then he started to read the article, enjoying every second of if.
“For years it was well known, that the High Chancellor had a special relationship with the hero without fear, Anakin Skywalker, as the politician had often claimed the two of them being good friends and had praised the young Jedi Knight for his skills and determination. Skywalker himself speaks of the High Chancellor fondly and as a grandfather figure.
But now an anonymous witness speaks openly for the first time giving a statement about the relationship between Skywalker and Palpatine, telling some ugly truths.
Had the High Chancellor really been grooming the Jedi, since he was a Padawan? What is true about the accusations of the witness?
What is the meaning of “to groom someone”? Grooming is a process where an individual builds an emotional connection with a vulnerable person, e.g. a child or a lonely adult in order to manipulate, exploit, or abuse them. The abuse can be of emotional, physical or sexual kind.
In the process of grooming, the victim is becoming more and more isolated from friends and family, creating a dangerous codependency. In addition to that the victim is gradually getting desensitized to inappropriate behavior and the abuser destroys their trust in guardians or authority figures.
And according to our witness, this is what had happened to Skywalker was well.”
The next part of the article, the interview with the witness aka Vos, really the man was not as subtle as he thought, Fox only skimmed, as the interview was over three pages long! The Kiffar really had nailed it, explaining extremely detailed about the obvious signs of Skywalker being groomed and then why Palpatine did it and what he would gain from it.
F
ox felt more happy than on both birthday and lifeday
together, this would definitely ruin the nice grandfatherly reputation of Palpatine.
“
Thorn,”, he addressed his brother, who was still standing in front of him, “I think it is time to
open
that
bottle of moonshine
I have in my locker. Call the men, we have something to celebrate!”
Later when most of the men had returned slightly drunk to their bunks, a familiar shadow figure
met up with Fox in his
office.
“
Fantastic job.”,
the Corrie almost grinned, “
That was excellent.
Where did you get that holo by the way?”
“You really donʻt wanna know.”, Quinlan winked at him and Fox shook his head in disgust, trying to erase
whatever mental image
his head was forming.
“
When do we go over to step two?”, Fox
changed the topic.
“
So
eager
, Foxie.”,
Vos grinned, “Be patient for a few days, the longer we
wait
, the more the media will tare him apart.”
“
Good, let that bastard suffer for some time, he deserves nothing else.”
S tep 2: Framing
It was exactly ten days after the exposing article about the Chancellor and these ten days had been crazy. Palpatine had been forced to give an official statement in front of the Senate, in which he tried to claim his innocence, but the media easily had ripped apart the statement, not believing Palpatineʻs version of the story. This had only fueled the scandal and the public discussion even further, as people had started to now openly titled the Chancellor a liar in interviews and articles and some even called him a child abuser.
Four days ago the Jedi Council had announced, that they would investigate the accusation and would collaborate with the Coruscant Police to find out the truth. And later that afternoon after a long emergency meeting the Senate had decided, that the case of Chancellor Palpatine should be investigated by neutral parties, including some namely psychologists from other planets.
Fox luckily had been there to see the face of the Chancellor personally and it had been uttermost fun to watch Palpatine almost loosing his calm.
The next days the media frenzy had turned even more wild, as more and more sources, both anonymous and not, had claimed that they could validate the accusations against Palpatine, that they had seen him groom Skywalker. Of course most of these anonymous sources could not be taken serious, as some of them had just wanted attention, but others actually turned out to be true.
It had been a rather satisfying feeling, watching the Chancellor struggle to maintain his good image, yet failing. Fox had spoken with Quinlan yesterday and both of them had agreed, that now would be the perfect time for step 2.
It was felt like a good omen to Fox, that the 501st was on Triple Zero and Torrent would help them, though unknowingly, with step 2. Their goal tonight was to catch Kato Reef, ex-senate-guard, who had turned out to be a separatist spy and had been on the run since weeks.
Yesterday Reef had appeared on a cctv camera, and the Guard with a little help from Quinlan had been able to locate his safe-house. In order to catch the traitor, the Jedi Council had decided, that the 501st should help the guard. Fox was glad that he would see his vodiʻka Rex again, it had been far too long.
Working with Rex and his men was interesting but quite challenging as well, as his vodʻika seemed to have gotten stuck with a bunch of utterly difficult and annoying clones, like the one with the Z-6 rotary blaster, which he constantly fiddled with.
The raid worked perfectly though, but they found Reef dead. The human had been killed with a blaster shot to the head in his own looked down safe-house. Fox informed the Courscant Police and gave his men the night off, as murder fell under the police jurisdiction.
Later that night Fox was sitting in his office, filling out the paperwork from their mission, a content feeling. Everything had just worked fine out so far, now all Fox had to do, was to be patient.
The sound of his window being opened, ripped Fox out of his thoughts, his head whipping around, alarmed for a second, to then remember that there was only one person, who would climb at nighttime through his window.
“Hello Vos.”, Fox greeted.
“I have some good news for you Commander.” Even though the light in his office was rather dim, Fox could see the smile on Quinlanʻs face.
“It all worked out perfectly.”, the Kiffar continued, “And no one has seen me. Even Reef hadnʻt. Itʻs a miricale, that idiot had lived that long. I placed the fingerprints on the weapon and on specific places in the safe-house. And I placed the weapon as planned in the apartment.”
“I must admit, that I am impressed. How did you even get into the safe-house? We had to break the doors, in order to get inside. How did you managed that? Mind tricks?”
“No, thatʻs more Obi-Wanʻs style.”, Vos waved him of, only to whisper conspiratorially, “No, the man invited me to his home after I bought him some drinks at a seedy bar, a thousand times worse than the 79s. Iʻm quite a catch, you know.”
Fox chuckled amused, that was such a Quinlan thing to do: Not using your Jetti powers, but instead your looks. But the Corrie had to admit, Vos was really handsome.
“I need a drink.”, Fox said, pulling a bottle of moonshine out of his closet, pouring Quinlan and himself a glass in.
“Cheers, Commander.”, Vos raised his glass, “A toast to you, Fox. Youʻve successfully framed your fist person.”
Fox laughed: “Cheers!”
“Now all we have to do is wait, until they run the fingerprints through the register.”, Quinlan grinned smugly, “I would love to see their faces, when they realize they are from Palps himself.”
Step 3: Waiting patiently
Fox felt absolutely amazing, when Thorn, Stone and a group of other high ranking clones and he himself had been ordered to the Jedi Council. His brothers were confused, as to why they had been summoned, but Fox felt a certain confidence, a certain happiness. Palpatineʻs time was running out.
When they reached the Council chamber, the Commander could see, that not only the Coruscant Guard had been ordered here, but he also could see the blue of the 501st, the orange of the 212th and even a bit of gray from the 104th. The room was buzzing with noise, as the clones discussed among each other, for what reason they could be here for.
Fox scanned the room for a certain Jedi, but he couldnʻt spot Quinlan in the crowded room, although he could see General Kenobi and General Plo Koon, but Skywalker was not here. Clever choice, Skywalker had always been too close to Palpatine, he would probably even try to stop them from arresting the man.
“What a surprise, Commander.”, an almost cheery voice greeted him. None other than Quinlan Vos had emerged from the shadows of one of the pillars.
“Vos.”, Fox only nodded, suppressing a smile in front of the Council and his men, he couldnʻt allow himself any other from of greeting. He was actually rather happy that Vos was here with him, after all they had started this mission together and they would finish it together.
Master Windu stepped forward and the buzzing noise slowly ebbed down, until it was utterly quiet in the room. “Many of you will ask, as why you are here.”, the Jedi Master spoke, “I assume most of you are aware, of what happened yesterday night.”
He made a dramatic pause and Fox had the strong urge to roll his eyes.
Finally Windu continued: “Yesterday Kato Reef has been found dead in his safe-house, he died because of a head shot.”
Fox could hear a few vodʻe whisper “Thatʻs what he deserves, that traitor.” or “I wish heʻd suffer more.”
“On the crime scene we found fingerprints.”, Windu carried on, “Fingerprints, we have in the republic system. And they belong to no other than Sheev Palpatine.”
Exited murmur rose, the clones hastily talking to each other.
Windu spoke again, wanting to calm the crowd: “We know it is hard to believe.”
Fox had to repress a chuckle, Palpatine had always been a coldhearted bastard, the Jedi had just willingly turned a blind eye to it. All of them except Quinlan.
“But we were also able to find the murder weapon in one of Palpatineʻs less known appartment.”
“And this leads to only one conclusion.”, this time General Kenobi was talking, he probably was just as much annoyed by the dramatic pauses of Windu as Fox was, “Chancellor Palpatine has murdered Kato Reef.”
“Why would he do that?”, a 212th trooper asked boldly.
“That is a good question, Boil.”, Kenobi answered, “We knew that we had a leak in the Senate, that someone was feeding Reef with high classified intel, but we couldnʻt proof it.”
Fox snorted quietly, of course Reef coulnʻt have worked alone. But he wouldnʻt have worked with Palpatine himself as the man was too clever to leave loose ends, but that was something the Jedi didnʻt need to know.
“We believe that the Chancellor killed Reef in order to protect himself.”, the red headed General elaborated, “Only a few people had known about the raid of Reefʻs safe-house, including Chancellor Palpatine himself. He had known we would catch Reef this time, which was posing a threat to him, because if Reef would have talked, Palpatine would have lost everything.”
“We have talked to the Courscant Police and the heads of the Senate and we were tasked with arresting Chancellor Palpatine. In order to prevent turmoil and riots, we have tasked General Plo Koon and General Kenobi with securing the Senate building, while the Coruscant Guard will be arresting Palpatine. You will be accompanied by Master Kolar, Master Fisto, Master Tiin and myself.”, Master Windu spoke up again.
“May the force be with you.”, Master Yoda solemnly said, ending the meeting.
Fox felt really giddy right now, as everything had worked out perfectly so far. They had successfully framed Palpatine for murder and now he would be wrongfully arrested. This day couldnʻt get any better.
Step 4: Wrongfully Arresting
Fox lead his men after the Jedi Masters, following them to the High Chancellors office. For the first time in forever, the Commander wasnʻt afraid of walking into that office, because he would never again have to justify his actions in front of that monster, never again have to fear the suicide missions from that man, never again have to loose his vodʻe to that bastard.
Palpatineʻs time was over.
Although Windu hadnʻt officially assigned Quinlan to this mission, he was still there, walking right at Foxʻs side, a grim determination on his face. It gave Fox a feeling of safety, as Quinlan over the time had become a close friend to him, not that he would admit that though.
When they had finally reached the Chancellors room, the door opened with a hissing noise, and they entered the room. Still High-Chancellor Palpatine was sitting in his chair in his usually grandfather mannerism, a smile on his face, which made Foxʻs skin crawl.
“Master Jedi, what can I help you with?”, Palpatine asked.
“In the name of the Galactic Senate of the Republic and the Police you are under arrest, Chancellor!”, Windu stated, his lightsaber in his hand.
The look on Palpatineʻs face was priceless, his face twisted in disbelieve and anger and Fox had to stop himself form outright laughing.
“For what charges?”, gritted the politician out, his calm mannerism gone.
“The murder of Kato Reef.”
Palpatine stared at Windu, like the other had grown a second head: “I assure you, I had nothing to do with that.”
“We found your fingerprints and the murder weapon in your apartment. It is over, Chancellor.”, Windu stated calmly.
“Are you threatening me, Master Jedi?”, Palpatine asked, anger burning in his eyes.
“The Court will decide over your fate.”, Windu retorted.
“I am the Court and I am the Senate!”, hissed the Chancellor furiously.
“Not yet.”, Windu replied and ignited his lightsaber.
And then suddenly Chancellor fricking Palpatine had a lightsaber in his hand. Fox whole body tensed up, was that man possibly the Sith lord, Quinlan had told him about? Well, then they could kill two birds with one stone. At least they had enough Jedi and troops to take on a crazy old Sith.
“It is treason then.”, Palpatine drawled out and ignited his lightsaber, the blade shimmering in a blood red.
The men had taken attack positions and the Jedi were ready as well, but they were not attacking. Why were they not attacking? Fox swore under his breath, as he saw Palpatine ready himself to lunge forward. Fox reacted instinctively and pulled the trigger.
A red bolt hit the Chancellor right in his head, as the Sith had jumped to attack, the body collapsing on the table.
“Good shot, Fox.”, complimented Quinlan him, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“Before anyone says anything to our dear Commander,”, the Kiffar then addressed his fellow Jedi, “We all saw it was self-defense, he has saved countless lives with his actions.”
The jetti nodded, quite shaken from what had just happened. Kolar wondered: “He must have been the Sith Lord we were looking for, but how couldnʻt we see it? The whole time he had been right under our eyes.”
“That is indeed a question you should answer.”, Vos agreed, “The Guard and the other clones have done enough for today. Give them the day off.”
“Yes, we will.”, promised Kit Fisto solemnly, “We owe you all a great deal of thankfulness, especially you, Commander Fox. Your brave actions have saved lives. You can return to your barracks and celebrate. It happens not everyday one kills a Sith.”
Step 5: The Aftermath
Fox was leaning against the wall, watching his brothers boisterously celebrate the death of Palpatine. The Corries had been joined by the 501st, the 212th and the 104th were now drinking, dancing and celebrating their victory together.
Fox watched happily how Rex had been sandwiched between Wolffe and Cody, the blonde one telling them an anecdote about one of his men. A few feet away Fox could spot Thire, who had completely recovered, lively doing some line dance with Stone, Hound and Thorn. Flatline sat at one of the tables, petting Grizzer, the massiff of Hound. They all seemed so carefree and happy, like they knew that the worst was behind them.
“Hello Sithkiller.”
“Really, Vos?”, Fox asked amused, turning to the Jedi, who had just emerged from the shadows, leaning onto the wall next to the clone.
“Thatʻs what they call you now.”, Quinlan grinned.
Fox smiled before turning serious again: “Did you know that Palpatine was a Sith?”
A shadow crept over the Kiffarʻs face: “I felt that the Chancellor was surrounded by darkness, but I didnʻt know he was a Sith lord, otherwise I would never have allowed to send you and your men in, but an armada of Jedi.”
Fox nodded and for a moment they were quite, just watching the celebration, before the clone asked: “Any news?”
“The Senate had an emergency meeting and choose to make Senator Chuchi and Senator Organa Chancellor Duo, until they manage to organize a new election.”
Fox nodded approvingly, those two Senators were quite a good option, they were the kindest and most intelligent politicians heʻd ever met.
“The Senate is going to start negotiations with the Separatist, as it seems like Palpatine played both sides like a fiddle.”
“Will the Seppis agree to that?”
“They probably will.”, Quinlan nodded, “After all the Separatist Senate wants peace as well. The only persons wanting war were Palpatine and Dooku.”
“Any news about Dooku or Grievous?” Fox asked.
“Not yet, but we will find them eventually.”
“So the war may be over soon.”, Fox stated, happy on the one hand and unsure on the other hand. What would happen to the clones once the war was over?
“I can practically hear you thinking.”, Quinlan looked directly in Foxʻs eyes, “What is bothering you?”
“We clones were bred as warriors, meant to fight for the Republic and die for it. But now when there is an end of the war in sight, what will happen to us clones?”, Fox sounded worried and small.
“Donʻt worry about that, there are already some plans for that.”
“Really?”, the Commander was surprised by these news.
“Of course. There are certain Jedis and Senators, who have grown utterly fond of the clones, even have gotten attached to them.”, Quinlan explained, “Some want to adopt them and some want fuck them.”
Fox was not sure if Quinlan was talking about Bly and General Secura or Cody and General Kenobi, or maybe was he talking about himself and Fox.
Concentrate Fox, think of regulations, reprimanded the clone himself, not willingly to go down that particular rabbithole, because if he would admit that he wouldnʻt mind sleeping with Quinlan…
Fox blushed furiously, hoping that Vos hadnʻt noticed that, so he cleared his throat and asked: “What kinds of plans are there?”
“One particularly good plan from a certain red head and a charming blue lady and my charming self involves freeing you from your slave like being and give you the freedom to chose for yourself. Thanks to our Negotiator you have all have Mandalorian citizenship, as soon as you leave the army and you are free to live there and build yourself a new life.”
“What?”, Foxʻs voice was thick with emotions. They had grown up with the story of the Mandalorians and their customs, but they had to accept that they would never be true Mandoʻs no matter what, as they were just clones. And now that dream each clone had had, was inside his reach.
Fox felt slowly tearing up.
“Are you alright Fox?”, Quinlan asked, worry in his voice.
The Commander smiled through his tears, a genuine smile on his face: “I am fine. I am more than fine. Iʻm just so happy. Thank you Quinlan, for everything you did for my brothers and for me.”
“It was a pleasure for me to work with such fine men.”, Quinlan answered honestly.
And suddenly Fox just felt the strong urge to grab the Jedi, who had done so much for him and who had saved him multiple times, and kiss him. A moment he debated with himself, as this would be against the regulations, but the times were changing. It was time Fox was as well.
With shaking fingers Fox put his hand against Quinlanʻs face, pulling the Kiffar impossibly closer. Then he pressed his lips gently against the other ones. The Jedi hesitated for a second before kissing Fox back gently and passionately, like the clone meant the world to him.
It was not like fireworks or butterflies in Foxʻs stomach like his brothers had told him, but it was an incredible warm feeling that was flooding his body, a feeling of warmth, protection, safety and home.
After a few moments they pulled apart, faces flushed.
“Everything will change around us, but I promise you, I will be with you as long as you want me to be.”, Quinlan swore solemnly.
“Then that will be a kriffing long time.”, Fox joked, “I wonʻt ever let you go. I can be quite possessive.”
“I had hoped so.”, Quinlan laughed and pulled Fox in for another kiss.