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Cody watches General Kenobi weave his way up the cliffside on the back of a varactyl. Boga, he said her name was with that endearing smile that drives Cody mad. It's a smile that either comes when he's up to no good or in response to something that makes him genuinely happy. His general has always had a love for animals. Cody wonders if he'll follow through on his wish to adopt a tooka at the end of this war.
Or, Cody thinks as Boga leaps from one ledge to the next, I wouldn't be surprised if he got himself a varactyl.
His comm interrupts the train of domestic thought. Cody raises it to his eye level as a cloaked figure he does not recognize appears cast in a blue glow.
"Commander Cody," the shrill voice rasps. "Execute Order 66."
Recognition pops into his mind like an unwelcome guest. Memories of his cadet days when Cody and his batch mates were shuffled into these tiny rooms with large screens and forced to spend hours watching, listening, and memorizing. Memories suddenly so vivid he's shocked and a little dismayed they've been left untouched for so long.
"Yes, my lord," the words are torn from his vocal cords. As though all those nightmares formed an unconscious habit. Cody swallows the nausea that comes with his practiced obedience and shuts off the comm.
He reaches up and removes his helmet, letting it clatter to the ground. The other men turn to look at him, probably with confusion if he could see their faces. His fingers skate along the scar across the side of his head and barely hooking around his temple. His hair covers it almost entirely these days, but while out of sight, it will never leave his mind.
He raises his comm again. A message blast to the entirety of the GAR they've had rigged since they found out about the chips. Cody has feared the moment this order would finally come, but now that it is here, he curiously isn't afraid anymore.
"Attention all brothers. The time has come. A threat has been mounted against the Jedi. Your orders are to protect the Jedi and enact Operation CHIP."
(Rex came up with the name. Clones Helping Intergalactic Protection, or CHIP as a nod to the inhibitor chips.)
(...There were better names, but he got the most likes in the group chat.)
He watches the comm channels start to light up with activity. Every single one he tunes into confirms the measures they've taken have... worked.
Full retreats have been enacted on all fronts.
Separatists be damned— the true threat has been within all this time.
Cody looks up to where General Kenobi has brought Boga to a stop. They peer down at the 212th gathered on the platform. Though he's too far away for Cody to see his face, he has a feeling that smile is on the Jedi's face.
It's taken months for them to pull this off. Surgeries to remove all the CC's chips was their first defense. By the time they finished that phase of the extractions, General Skywalker finished a device to remotely deactivate the programming of the CT's chips. Scanning each and every CT took many more months, but Wolffe and Bly reported the last troopers in their companies had their chips deactivated a few weeks back.
It's been a waiting game ever since. Everyone could feel the end of the war looming. Then the Invisible Hand crashed and Count Dooku was killed and Cody has jumped in his boots every time his comm has rung— which has been a lot.
The next voice on the open comm is that of General Skywalker.
"This is General Skywalker on Coruscant. Chancellor Palpatine has been identified as the Sith Lord and has been neutralized. The Senate has taken a formal declaration of peace to session." Cody blinks in surprise. That happened so fast.
"This is General Windu and General Yoda. Operation CHIP shall continue as previously ordered with the retreat and withdraw sub-designation. Further updates will be forwarded to your message channels. May the Force be with you all."
The war is... over.
Cody doesn't know how to process it at all. All these years— his entire life has been devoted to training and preparing and now...
All around him, brothers remove their buckets in similar disbelief. There are no words exchanged between them, only this shared hesitancy that settles in a thick fog over them.
The war is over.
It's Boil that shatters the invisible walls they've all been stuck behind. He turns to Trapper and pulls him into a tight hug.
That is all it takes to shatter the rest of the 212th's restraint.
Silence is replaced with cheering, jovial groans from being hugged so hard they're lifted off the ground. Some are crying in bittersweet remembrance of those who didn't make it to this point. The point where the war is over.
Cody still hasn't processed it. He hardly has the capacity to acknowledge the warm pats on his shoulder and the keldabe handshakes he's exchanging with every one of his brothers that passes. Cody, for the first time in the war, just lets it all soak in. He doesn't act, he absorbs the feeling of relief and happiness and welcomed uncertainty.
He definitely isn't ready for the giant varactyl leaping before him. Or when the Jedi slips off her back and pats the feathers on Boga's neck a few times before slowly approaching Cody's frozen form.
They stare at one another for a moment before the Jedi smiles and extends his hand.
"Cody," he says with a hitch in his voice that Cody has never heard from the Jedi before. Cody smiles, grasping the general's forearm and squeezing.
"Obi-Wan."
The general's first name rolls of Cody's tongue so easily. A promise he made to the Jedi a long time ago—
"I insist, Cody. I do not mind being called by my name. In fact, I prefer it."
"It is regulation, sir. I have to set the example for my men."
"Even when we are alone, or in the company of other Jedi and officers?"
"Better to stay in practice."
"If you insist on being stubborn then at least promise me this. When the war is over and I am no longer your formal military leader, you will call me Obi-Wan."
"Fine. After the war, then."
"After the war."
Cody tugs on Obi-Wan's arm, pulling him in so their shake becomes a hug. Obi-Wan does not hesitate to wrap his arms around him in response. Finally, Cody feels the same joy his brothers have realized. He rests his chin on Obi-Wan's shoulder and lets the grin spread across his face.
Obi-Wan's foot taps anxiously as the shuttle descends into the Temple Hanger. Cody sits at his side, occasionally glancing at his restlessness but not commenting upon it. The journey from Utapau was lengthy and gave Obi-Wan far too much time to piece together the bigger picture of what happened to start this war.
It was Palpatine all along. The politician who befriended his young padawan under the guise of mentorship-- The politician who Obi-Wan allowed to take Anakin out to lunches and request meeting with and... Oh Force, how did I not sense something was wrong.
The only thing keeping Obi-Wan from the spiral of I should have known is that he spoke to Anakin on the ride here and he was in good spirits.
Though, not worrying about Anakin leaves room for Obi-Wan to worry about other things. Like, if they hadn't found out about the chips after the death of Master Tiplar... what would their fate be?
The shuttle doors open and Obi-Wan and Cody are the last to emerge into the fair Coruscanti morning. He pushes those futile thoughts away in favor of enjoying himself.
The entire hanger is a mess of troopers clad in all colors running about. Hugging, some crying, most of them with smiles stretched across their faces. Jedi are peppered about as well— Aayla's arm hooked across Bly's shoulders, Mace, Yoda, Plo, and their respective commanders watching with utter amusement at the grand reunion that has leaked out onto the runway and into the Temple halls. Quinlan seems to have found Fox and is shuffling beside the Corrie guard that is attempting to escape his company... despite the sly smile on his face.
Cody melts into the fold almost immediately, and Obi-Wan quickly sees why. Waiting near the shuttle is Rex, Fives, and Echo, who immediately swallow Cody in a group hug. Those four haven't been in the same place since they launched a rescue mission to extract Echo from Skako Minor a few months back... and Cody was unconscious for most of it.
Obi-Wan's eyes begin to grow misty. The Force is just... singing with light and joy and a glorious crescendo of happiness that is like nothing Obi-Wan has ever felt in his lifetime. He turns in place, his smile growing as his dreams of the end of the war are coming true.
His gaze finally falls on the group standing near to where Rex and company were waiting. Anakin, who is laughing with that boyish grin, locks eyes with him. His smile broadens.
Obi-Wan weaves through the crowd, the picture slowly coming together before him. Anakin has his arm wrapped around Padmé, holding her flush against his side as she happily rubs the swell of her pregnant belly. Ahsoka is at his other side, evidently, the one who made him laugh moments earlier, but now she watches Obi-Wan as he approaches.
"Took you long enough," Anakin says and unwraps himself from his wife to meet Obi-Wan with a tight hug. The gesture is so decided and so natural it catches him off guard. He's hugged Anakin many times over the years, but he realizes it has hardly ever been an action of joy. Of comfort and of sadness, yes, but this is a new circumstance.
One he is thrilled to oblige.
He embraces his brother and former padawan with the same firm warmth he's seen all the clones show one another since the news of the Senate's declaration of peace finally went through. Unlike the clones, hugging other Jedi adds another level of sensation. His body is encased by the taller and broader man's lanky limbs and tight squeeze, but in the Force, their signatures are completely intertwined. Obi-Wan can feel the relief-joy-elation... as well as the anxiety-stress-we have a lot to talk about. Obi-Wan glances up at Padmé who is onlooking with much less nervousness than her "secret" lover.
In return, he offers his own stream of complex emotions he cannot quite put words to.
Anakin sighs into his shoulder in the shape of a smile. Obi-Wan would very much like to get used to hugging for the sake of happiness.
New pressure appears at his side and both Obi-Wan and Anakin pull back enough to find Ahsoka has wrapped her arms around both of them.
"You two are not about to leave me out of this," the teenager says with that wonderful glint in her bright eyes. Anakin and Obi-Wan laugh, apparently having the same idea as they adjust to sandwich her between them.
With them both in his arms, Obi-Wan lets his previous ruminations about the past melt away. Anakin is here and he is okay. Obi-Wan has his family and his home. No matter what they must face in whatever lies after the war, their togetherness is what matters most.
Obi-Wan does not intend on pulling away anytime soon.