Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Like most things on Coruscant that involve the Coruscant Clone Guard or as the public refers to them as the Corries, it can be traced back to Commander Hound.

Not to say everything that happened ever was because of the K9 Unit commanding officer, but there was an undeniable... pattern figured out early on in deployment, that where there was trouble, it was usually somehow connected to Hound in some form (even if it's just the clone having passed them on the streets an hour prior to becoming a shitshow that would require Corrie intervention). So, when this issue first became more common in form of complaints of the troopers themselves, everyone looked back at the reports filed, knowing that at the end of the trail would be their trouble magnet of a vod, and sure enough, at the bottom of the search results, sat one of Hound's patrol reviews that the system pinged containing the key terms.

None of the high commands of the Corries was remotely surprised anymore, and neither was Hound when called down to meeting room 13B.

When told to report everything about that patrol, Hound merely read off an exact word from word of the day like his patrol report stated with a bored look on his face, having been through these enough times to know a week's worth of cleaning droid duty was about to fall on his lap. As Thire breathed in from where he laid his face onto the metal table, they all shared as the K9 officer finished up and stood still waiting for the next set of orders. By his feet, Grizzer had long settled down on her back and was taking a deep nap as her paw twitched about.

Fox refused to be envious of a Maastif.

So finally, they asked the question of the day, about it , about why he didn't report to the higher-ups about what he saw, Hound could only shrug.

"I've seen weirder kriff on Coruscant."

So, in other words, it had been a normal day to the clone with nothing out of ordinary, and if no one had called it in, it wasn't Hound’s issue in his books.

Thorn rubbed his forehead as Fox closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, Stone having left mid-explanation which was for the best because they all knew Stone wanted nothing more to pull a ‘Fox’ and flip the table in frustration. Thire had yet to remove his face from said table.

"Let me say this out loud so I can make sure we are all on the same page. You thought it was okay to see an unattended Loth wolf running around the city?”

"Yes." Hound was confident in that answer. Not the best nor the worst choice of this month, or they wouldn’t be here now.

"You decided since no one was panicking about it, letting it freely walk around in the crowds, that it didn't need to be reported?"

"Yes." The clone’s confidence was shrinking as he became less sure when Fox's incredulous tone deepens.

"You thought a non-native animal on a planet full of citizens of the Republic, where there are only wildlife reserves underground , was perfectly alright to be wandering out in the open?"

Hound was trying to sink into his armor like a turtle now as things finally clicked in his mind.

"It wasn’t bothering anyone though and no one was screaming so I thought-,“ He is stared down by his highest commanders with daggers. “I'm sorry, sirs."

"OH, you will be." Thorn drops in. "You're on patrol with Chatter from now on out until it's found."

"Hey, that's cruel-!"

"Do not start with me, Hound! You know to report anything odd seen, and that includes seeing a wandering Loth wolf in the city!  I don't even know how it has made it this long and not died or been called in by any natborns, honestly.” Thorn wasn't happy about it, and since Hound's patrol report,  an increasing amount of Corries began seeing it more and more, yet...yet not a single report came to them about it.

There was a worry over that, for the safety of the natborns, but also the Loth wolf. Obviously, it hadn’t meant to be here, most likely poachers captured it and somehow it managed to get free before being brought into the undergrounds, that not even they could touch. There's a timer on the creature’s life, and none of them truly want to be the one who finds it after it passes away, so Fox has enough worries about the animal’s welfare on him not even adding on the millions of natborns as well. Cornered animals will fight, and while the government tried putting on a peaceful look onto the people of their planet, the Corries all know there's a violent tendency that most would take advantage of these days.

And then there was the fact that Thire had seen it in the senate building, which was a whole other can of worms of how it wasn’t even reported. Sithpit, they had reports sent to them about curtains being ‘off centered’, there was no way they would miss a whole kriffing Loth wolf walking around like it owned the place. There were blind spots in their systems where a whole animal was using them to sneak by their cameras, or there was a glitch in their system where reports are missing. Vod can die from missing files and Fox was done with the death of his own.

Something was wrong, and while Fox may be desk bound with his broken leg, the rest of them weren't.

Thorn had a tight grip on the back of Hound’s chassis plates, hands like beskar as he hauled the other around like a kitten tooka in their mouth's grasp and Hound went willingly wherever he was hauled about. At least Hound knew w hen he lost some fights before they even began. Thire gave a nod of his own, communicator on and telling Stone where to find them before they let the door begin closing.

"We will figure this out, Commander." The reassurances did not lighten the frown on Fox's face as the search parties left his office to leave the Commander alone to work on data pads. "We will be back before you know it!"

Somehow Fox doubted that statement.

A chime from his wrist communicator had him slumping and locking his data pads up before grabbing his crutches.

He had a meeting with some senators that needed to be watched over.

Chapter Text

It was a beautiful day in Coruscant city, which meant Hound had yet to be yelled at by a natborn despite it being almost a whole shift.

A whole shift! This had to be a new record.

Already thinking of how irked Stone would be when his record was kicked off the Achievement Board, Hound almost missed the besalisk waving him down from the side alleyway.

“Hound, my friend!”

“Dex, you sly thing! Don’t you have a business to run?”

Dex scoffs and waves that off.

“Nonsense, Flo has it under control. She has a good head on her shoulders, and I wouldn’t trust anyone else to take over while I step out.”

The besalisk gestured Hound into the back and Hound didn't hesitate with his friend. Clicking and pointing beside the door, Grizzer flops down as he steps inside. Both walk into the backrooms of the kitchen where there had to be a lull between crowds or else, he knew the other would be cooking alongside his droids.

He could smell the remains of the last lunch rush, the heavy spices lingering in the air from today’s special, some Mandalorian special by the smell of lith'ia spice in the air, the scent sharply clearing his sinuses. A peek at the nearby console used to see orders, it was some dish called ‘Tiingilar’ and while Hound has never had it before, he felt his mouth water at the thought of some Mandalorian food. Just another thing the Kaminoans failed to work out of their ‘DNA’ from Prime. And as if knowing the clone’s thoughts, Dex was shoving a small take-out bag with a container that smelt divine.

“Have I ever told you that you are the best chef on Coruscant- no, the universe?”

With a laugh, Dex patted his shoulder, one of his hands sliding in some napkins and a small travel-sized cartoon of blue milk.

“Aw, I didn’t know you cared, Dex!”

“Keep it secret, don’t want to make the others jealous.”

‘Zipping’ his lips shut, he threw the ‘key’ away with a grin and let himself back out when the console beeps with new orders as it audibly got louder inside the dining area.

“Duty calls.” Dex sends him off with a wave and Hound clicks for Grizzer to come back to his side once outside, the other holding her leash in her mouth with a happy wiggle in her behind as she already knew scraps would be coming her way. With a scoop, the duo headed off to a side road, aiming for a nicer alleyway to enjoy his meal in peace.

It took a few more streets before Hound spotted salvation.

Funnily enough, it came in the form of some old metal steps off the back door of some closed business with no trash lingering around, the area surprisingly clean. Dusting off to make sure his undersuit was safe from dirt or loose debris hidden, Hound happily took a seat with his legs sprawled out before him as his food rested in his lap. Popping open the container, Hound looked up to send his love mentally as hard as he could to Dex at the delicious sight that awaited him.  He will always be a hoe for Dex if it meant food like this every day.

Making sure nothing inside was inappropriate for Grizzer to chow down on, he let her wiggle underneath his legs, to lay beneath and happily eat scraps tossed down with a content rumbling croak. It's mid-way through eating when the careful peace is disrupted, something moving in the corner of Hound's eyesight - it's large, too.

He doesn't know how it snuck up on him or Grizzer - usually, when Hound's vigilance of the surroundings fails, she makes up for it. But today, both of them seemed to be in a rut.

Not far ahead with their head hovering above a trash can left open (there is a reason why there are rules, natborn-!) was a furry monster easily standing as tall as him. Standing on four legs with darker white fur, the loth wolf lifted its head up. As if feeling itself being watched, the creature’s head turned and soon Hound found himself locked in a staring contest with the other creature, both not moving an inch. Ignoring how strangely Grizzer wasn’t losing her absolute shit like he was mentally at the situation now, Hound refused to move, frozen in place as golden eyes looked and looked before Hound had an idea.

A wonderfully, horribly idea that will have him grounded if any of the higher commanders found out.

But an idea nonetheless while he had nothing to lose.

Pulling out a piece of meat from the tiingilar, he gave a sharp flick of his wrist to send it flying out towards the loth wolf’s form. Landing neatly between its feet, the food doesn’t get a second hesitation before the wolf leans down to investigate the scrap, and at that moment Hound’s hand darts to Grizzer's harness. She was grumbling and moving to sit up but between his holding yanking her back in place and his legs coming down to pin her between him and the floor. She quickly gave up with an unhappy hiss but accepted the loss, staring at the scene in front of them instead.

Having ignored the short struggles not a few feet away, the loth wolf snuffled and gave a lick at the food before scrunching its face up and sneezing loudly.

“Food critic, I see.” Hound calmly talks, keeping himself from getting too high or low, needing to not make himself look like a threat.

He really didn’t want to end his shift with a fight with this thing and well, he didn’t like having to fight animals. Ever.

So he was, for once, trying a more…diplomatic approach.

Fox would be proud.

“Look, it won't give you any issues, buddy. That’s genuine Dex’s cooking there and the besalisk does not mess around with food. You won’t find any better food on this level that won’t try turning your stomach inside out.”

That had been a fun first week on Coruscant. Ah, he could swear he could still smell the scent of hurl stubbornly lingering in the officer’s shared bathroom after all of them got a raucous case of something from a food binge, even Fox . He still had a holo picture of Fox laying under his desk in a curled position while Thorn threw up in Stone’s helmet as Stone and Thire fought over a trash can. Truly, great memories here on Coruscant with food, all Corrie approved too.

But apparently, his pleas weren’t enough because another snort and the loth wolf was walking off- kriffing right towards the open alleyway exit.

“Kriff.”

Stumbling over Grizzer Hound chased after it, peaking out into the alley to see which way it went and planned to follow the screams.

Or at least he planned to if there had been any screams.

Confused didn’t begin to describe how the clone felt when he looked around.

Nothing was out of order.

Natborns walked around without a care in the world; some on calls, some chatting to others, some looking right ahead and yet not a single one reacted to the loth wolf towering above them weaving around through the crowds with a grace he was actually jealous of.

Despite it being a blaring white, Hound lost sight fast as the crowd jostled him around when he gave chase and it delayed him enough from tracking until not a sight of white fur was in his view anymore. 

He lost a loth wolf . Commander Fox was going to be very, very unhappy.

With a frown he lifts his arm up, tapping his commlink to life before he froze and shook his head. Arm dropping, Hound made a choice as his comm pinged, realizing that his shift was over.

Well…if the natborns were okay with it…it shouldn’t be a problem.

Right?

“I guess it's not my problem after all.”

With confidence that this won’t come back around to bite him in the ass, he made his way back over to the alleyway, stopping at the open trash can that started this all to properly shut the lid as Grizzer deemed it time to walk over from the stairs to eagerly snatch the abandoned meat left on the floor, seeming smug about everything.

“Well, back to my food I guess- wait-?! Grizzer, did you eat my leftovers?!”

Chapter Text

One would think that by overseeing the defense of some of the most important beings in the Republic galaxy that life would be more…. thrilling. Heh, yes, senate duty was sure ‘thrilling’ if one enjoyed counting, standing with only your own thoughts, and learning to act as a stone statue who could not hear nor move while in position.

Thire learned early on that this position was not the one of fame or of action that the clones were made and trained to deal with.

Most times, these shifts had either a clone training patience, finding a way to avoid losing their minds, or the more popular activity, gossiping over a shared comm link amongst patrol groups. Unfortunately for him, the clone commander did not get a patrol for this shift meaning he was looking over a senator’s secretary’s shoulder to count the tiles of the mosaic decorated around the other’s office he guarded while mentally reviewing this week’s interest.

It's over 3,218 tiles so far if anyone was ever interested.

Of course, it doesn’t take long after 4,000 to let his mind wander, first thing he remembers is the newest rumor amongst the vod’e on base: The Loth Wolf.

Shinies most likely had mistaken a large overgrown tooka since there was no way a loth wolf could be lost. It would make for a future funny story to share amongst the Corries. The commanders had a secret jar full of stories of Shinies mistaking things, like the one time a shiny mistook a citizen as a Jedi of all things. Stories that the commanders swore to never tell when the shiny would beg them for silence, only the moment they step into the commander barrack it ends up being shared with everyone. It’s a rite of passage at this point, he even had a story inside the jar. Likely this was another case of some older members telling horror stories before rest periods again and the shinies having acted tough but really got all freaked out by them and let it affect them in the daytime due to lack of sleep.

Fox, most likely thought the same since he caught Hound sitting down with multiple shinies over the day pr ior talking about how there was no way a loth wolf would be able to wander the city without a natborn spotting it and reporting to someone, the lower commander having been known by everyone as the local animal expert and having been sent to reassure them. Though that never explained why Hound looked guilty and avoided any conversations with the animal when it came up despite knowing there was no way one was loose on Coruscant.

Hm.

Something he will need to bring up when he manages to corner said clone, can’t have Hound also worried about this now.

It’s with a silent breath of relief when the patrol ends and Thire is released to his solo rounds around the Senate building. Today was a particularly nice day since the halls were all empty due to a larger meeting in progress, only droids and clones roamed at this time, and no troubles were in sight.

‘Doesn't mean it was all perfect, though.’ Was a desperate thought as he struggled to keep his stance up while moving. Between the long time standing and the unfortunate long walk ahead, Thire was becoming all too aware of how much his armor truly has started chafing the last few weeks. Mentally noting to see Fit (the armor fitter truly thought he was hilarious when he announced his name to the rest of the Guard) for some new padding if any was left over, he knew after today he would have some raw blisters to be tending.

Tap tap tap tap.

A loud tapping sound had him whipping around, eyes narrowing as the only way he saw was a single hallway.

Odd but a break from the numbing silence was welcomed.

Around the corner, the commander went peaking, hand on his gun in its holster but moved away when all he saw was a mouse droid near his feet angrily beeping at him for daring to get into its pathway.

“Grouchy little thing, aren’t you?” A foot is lifted, and non-kind words are shouted back in binary as the droid zips by.

Tap tap tap tap.

 “Where in the-?”

He strayed from his patrol path, but Thire was determined to figure out what the hell was going on.

Hall to hall he walked, getting no results but more frustrated with each empty room found.

May whatever deities are up there help the shinies if this was another tooka infestation from a new patrol who wanted to save an alone tooka found on patrol.

“On my hands and knees, trying to find mysterious tapping noises all while avoiding being seen by any natborns. Just a normal day on Coruscant.” Prying open a vent, Thire flashed his lights down it to check for any signs of infestations.

Memories of some shiny (that lot was close-knit and the whole batch took the fall together rather than rat out the culprit. Thire could admire the loyalty in face of very long punishment duties.) who found a fat tooka on the streets during a patrol and thought it was hurt. So of course, they brought it back to base. Only later to discover ‘he’ was a ‘she’ and a very pregnant one at that on top of being one hell of an escape artist who decided to break free from the barracks she was hidden in. When said group managed to find her again it was inside the senate building, having had her kids inside the vents where it domino effect out of control fast. The true miracle of that day was how Fox didn’t end up strangling everyone involved (which led Thire and Hound to swear to never reveal that they had seen and stopped said shiny from entering the barracks with said tooka the original night found, got hit by the shiny’s wide eyes and a whisper of ‘Please don’t tell the commander’ That had them both looking the other way. The three made a pact that no one must ever snitch).

Vent after vent came up empty, a relief sitting in Thire as he didn’t have to worry about any tooka loose in the senate at least. With a vent being closed back up and dusting his knees, Thire tilted his head and listened for tapping.

Silence.

Suspicious.

Hopping back onto his route, Thire hoped whatever it was making the sound was done as he made his way towards the main hall, hearing voices within minutes of getting near.

The Senate meeting ended then. How… delightful.

Hall full of senators and the commander's dread built up as he slid into his mask, emotions wiping away from his face under his helmet and any signs from his body. Time to be a good soldier. Walking through unnoticed (or outright ignored) as a clone was a gift in the Corri es, to be able to stay in the background without fear of being dragged into some natborn drama and Thire has had plenty of time to perfect his invisible walk-by now.

He is walking around the perimeter of the hall, giving space to all senators and their aides as he scans the room for any suspicious signs while sending nods to fellow Corries stationed around the room.

It’s when he is nearing the hideously large food table that things change. (And what a waste, Thire laments over the food table. All that food would end up thrown out by the end of this event or at least it would have if they hadn’t bargained with senate droids to be delivered the food secretly in exchange for some tune-ups by the Corries. Equal trade that both parties benefited from and kept the peace amongst the unseen and unwanted in the Senate building.)

His head lifts for another scan when it happens.

The Loth wolf makes eye contact with him.

Freezing at the sight, the loth wolf merely stood still from its spot on the forsaken food table.

‘I’m surprised it hasn’t snapped.’ Is thought in hysterics followed up by ‘Oh kriff, it is a loth wolf.’ Then ‘That bitch better not be eating the Naboo sandwiches I wanted.’

A man has priorities after all.

Then it clicked on where they were and who was around.

The Senators.

With panic bubbling up in the forms of what would later make itself known as stress-made heartburn, Thire was only thankful that for once the Senators were not acting like children who scream at the slightest inconvenience to them. Making his way slowly through the crowds, Thire refused to break eye contact with the beast as he forced his body to look relaxed, and calm.

Nothing to freak out about. There is no Loth Wolf lose in the Senate. Everyone keep calm.

And as if knowing it was caught, the creature looks up to see Thire bee-lining to it now and it abandons its post on the table.

“Kriffing-“Curse muffled under his helmet, Thire notches his speed from walking to speed walking with intent, weaving around the crowd of natborns with soft pardons when others didn’t move quick enough as the bastard of an animal easily weaved around others with ease like it wasn’t even there. Thire was NOT jealous of an animal, even if it had abilities to be overlooked by natborns, and the things he would do to get that ability for daily use- Focus! Wild animal loose in Senate! Focus !

What happened next, Thire will deny to the end of his days.

Fast walking around the hall, Thire began losing his patience as he tried to catch up to it while not spooking any senators. Steadily he wondered why the others weren’t kriffing helping him but then again one Corrie on move is not as suspicious as a whole flock of them on the move.

“Senators.” Thire greeted as he pivoted around a group, trying to keep his gaze locked as the wolf that had been there a second ago was now across the room.

Kriffing-

When he got over there again it was missing but from the corner of his eye, the clone caught sight of a tail vanishing under the food table’s cover. Trotting over, Thire kneeled and yanked the fabric up, nearly cursing out loud this time with the absence of the loth wolf revealed. Not having a cursed-filled tantrum in his mind and ignoring the senator's aide giving him a curious look (who also didn’t kneel to peek under the table once the clone moved away). A scan around showed it nearing a group not far away.

Thire gritted his teeth.

Weaving under a thrown arm out by Senator Ai’lop who was retelling a story with exaggerated movements, the commander huffed when the wolf’s tail slipped away between his fingers.

A trip across the room gave him enough time to send the food table a yearning look as he went by but snapped t o the end of the hall where he could see the wolf finally making its way out away from the natborns.

Politely nodding at a senator walking into the room, Thire kept his composure until he was fully out of the door and main hall’s sight and only then booked it down to where he saw the wolf turned down.

Hah!

That way, Thire knew well enough, was a dead-end hallway.

“I have you now - “

Entering the hall's only entrance, he stops dead in his tracks as he stares.

Not even a droid was around this time to angrily beep at him because this hall was truly and absolutely empty .

“Aw, Fox won’t like this one bit.”

Chapter Text

By this point, all corries have heard of the whispers amongst their own ranks, of sightings spotted of an unusually large canine that some insist are a loth wolf. 

Thorn has to laugh because really?

A loth wolf? Ridiculous.

B ut that doesn’t stop him from being prepared to deal with a large animal loose on Coruscant though.

Since more and more reports were coming in, Fox deemed it necessary for all higher commanders to carry a pack meant for specifically capturing the beast. In it was a miscellaneous collection of sealed bait cubes, a regulation gun modified by some of their boys to shoot tranquilizer darts versus stuns or lethal doses, some ropes for tying any limbs up, some heavy-duty tape for closing any sharp jaws to prevent anyone losing a finger, and most important that Fox threatens with, all having trackers.

If any contact is made, all clones on the scene are meant to trigger the little tracker to alert those back on base and send them back up to help. Most would think the kit was too much but Thorn himself was one who nearly lost a pinky to a particularly cranky reptilian pet that got lost a few months into their posting. He knows the poor thing was terrified and he was foolish and a true shiny still, sticking his hand in front of its view trying to reach to draw it out of the hole it made itself into. After that, it wasn’t Fox but Aid who sat them all down for mandatory classes on animal care with the threat of bodily harm, medic standing or not.

And if Thorn watched close and took notes while his pinky was in a ridiculous cast (punishment for being a dumbass Aid said), then no one needed to think twice that he took care of packing his animal kit and kept his ears open for radio chatter of something spotted.

Speaking of-

:. Base, confirming the sighting of an unknown creature in Level D4, S25. .:

That was near him, Thorn realizes and picks his pace up, jogging down some stairs to get to the area.

“Copy that, Thorn on the route, keep eyes on the prize.”

Thorn skips steps as he sees red and white armor leaning over, wheezing audibly at the bottom of the steps.

“It- it went that way, sir! It's kriffing fast .” With a smack to the shiny’s pauldron, Thorn was off now, full-blown running into a market area, the shiny and his patrol on his tail.

“Give me visuals!” Thorn barks over the comms and hears the static of a comm turning on and off.

:. It entered the market district, sir! Should I leave the post to follow? .:

“Stay there and keep visual as long as you can, rifle use allowed for scope is allowed.”

:. Roger! .:

Their only luck was it was near the end of the day and the crowds were down from their usually packed status which meant it was easy enough to spot the wolf walking ahead of them in the thin crowd.

Yanking his tranquilizer gun out of its holster and pulling out the special bullets made for hopefully a creature this size (Aid did not promise it would take the wolf down but said it had triple the dose needed to take a trooper out and that should be enough to do the job with a warning to NOT hit anyone else with it).

“Get it cornered. Up ahead is a small notch in the wall perfect to corner it into.”

His squad jumped into action, some splitting off to only appear ahead of the wolf to navigate it back to them. Luckily, the wolf didn't seem overly aggressive, merely running wherever a clone was not. It took careful movement, one clone at a time moving in but finally, the wolf walked into the small side notch in the flat space where the market stands lined down.

A shiny took a step forward and the line of corries was made, cutting off the exit as Thorn was nearing, snapping his gun shut and taking aim. As if knowing, the loth wolf stopped, took one look at the squad of shinies, then lifted its head to look at him.

Oh no.

It moved fast as lightning, charging and instead focused on the soldiers who raised their shields up to defend themselves. Instead of slamming or biting though the wolf leaped, and paws grasped at the shields as leverage to boost itself up and right over the wall of clones to freedom behind them.

Not one to give in so easily, Thorn aimed and shot, one tranquilizer flying over its body, and was off running after it as they all scrambled out to the street.

“Eyes, now!”

:. It’s going down the street at a trot, sir! Heading to the food district! .:

Just what they need.

“That works in our favor!” A shiny hits his hand with a fist, perking up despite their failure just now. “Sir, we can set up a food trap. My batch used to do it all the time on Kamino with ocean training. Make a trap that has a plate that shuts the trap once stepped on and then no more loose loth wolf!”

Thorn stares hard as they all run following their sniper’s directions but the shiny’s words don’t leave him.

Well, it’s not like they have anything to lose.

“Shiny, name.”

“Glimpse, sir!” The kid even saluted mid-run and was panting from the sudden sprinting they all were doing. Must be a fresh batch delivered to them then but no better way to introduce them to their new life than this.

“Glimpse, you, and your squad go contact Commander Hound and he will help you set up a trap. The rest of us will be stalking the creature-“

“Loth wolf, sir!”

“The rest of us will be stalking the loth wolf and keep an eye until you get back.”

“Yes, sir!” And the shiny squad was scrambling away leaving Thorn and the sniper left to keep an eye on the wolf.

:. Permission to speak, sir. .: the radio clatters on.

“Granted.”

:. What a bunch of-. .:

It thankfully didn’t take more than two hours for the shinies to collect a trap worthy enough to hold the loth wolf and haul it back to the food district where the animal had been loitering about.

Not staying still enough to be tranquilized, oh no that would be too easy of course, but at least staying in an area makes it easier for them to track.

Watching them scramble below to set the trap up, Thorn watched the cage loaded with some fresh meat as other shinies covered it with some trash in the alleyway they set up in.

:. This is not going to work. .: Their sniper laments over the comm and a shiny wags a finger in the air towards the general direction the sniper wasn’t in. Thorn wordlessly turns him to face the right way as they talk.

“You of little faith! This WILL work, I bet my pudding cups on it!”

So determined, so young, so foolish.

Some life lessons Thorn lets them learn on their own.

Giving orders out, everyone scattered away from the site and Thorn himself climbs to park himself on a nearby building rooftop with said shiny.

:. Spotted and moving this way, sir. .: Sniper called out.

Everyone had their eyes locked onto the alleyway and cage as slowly the loth wolf almost walked by before stopping to sniff the air. With a head tilted, it began walking closer until finally, it stepped into the cage.

Besides Thorn, the shiny was vibrating in his spot with excitement.

A step and another had the wolf fully inside and leaning down toward the meat. One more step and it would trigger the pressure plate to release the latched door and soon this chapter of Corries latest weird shit would end. Or at least it would have if it stepped on the pressure panel.

With an overstep that had it going right over the panel, the loth wolf gathered all the bait meat with one mouthful before backing out of the trap without setting it off.

Thorn let his helmet hit the building edge as the shiny beside him let out a distressed whine about pudding as the comm link went off with a smug sniper speaking out.

:. I prefer the vanilla pudding cups, shiny. .:

Chapter Text

  Stone was a good clone.

He did his job well enough.

No harm came to any Senator or Republic citizens on his watch.

Sithpits, he even got his paperwork in on time without needing to rewrite everything like Thire. He made no enemies and was one of the friendlier commander clones on base that the men often came to for advice when they feared Fox’s wraith was a likely result if they asked him instead. Commander Stone was a good soldier at the end of the day no matter what was thrown at him.

With that in mind, he knew he deserved good things in life with the amount of bullshit he put up with daily.

One of those things came in the form of a long nice, relaxing shower with warm water and good soap he bargained for special nights when he needed to un-tense himself from his worldly worries. 

Just some tender, love, and care time.

It was just after a long shift and Stone had literally just walked out of a nice long warm shower in his night clothes with his towel around his neck as he had yet to dry his hair out. 

A midnight snack sounded like the perfect way to end the night, fully intending on raiding Thire’s stash of pudding and mini alcohol bottles the man collected over his senator travel missions from hotels. A few steps in and he is looking up, eyes having gone to the hidden cabinet when instead he lands on a giant kriffing loth wolf in the kitchen, standing on the karking counters with its head in their box of gifted donuts from Senator Organa earlier that day.

Stone did not hesitate.

“ You son of a bitch! ”

Feet wet and slipping on tile, Stone threw himself forward and in a moment of anger, whipped his towel at it.

The loth wolf went flying off the table, towel completely missing the animal and instead smacking off the box of pastries to his utter frustration right off the counter to the floor.

“KARK!”

His feet slipped on the tiled floor, the hair he left wet coming back with vengeance and Stone went down with another strangled shout as limbs flailed to try to get a grip as the loth wolf jumped over him towards the door. Desperation kicked in as a chair was used to haul himself up and lunge despite his feet squeaking with each slide on the floor.

It was out of the room and the commander was barely behind, sliding and shoulder-slamming the wall in haste.  Ahead, other Corries were instinctively jumping out of the way of the barreling animal and then plastering to the wall to avoid being plowed over by the raging commander on its heels. Those unfortunate enough who didn’t move in time (poor shinies may they rest in peace) ended up being boosters for Stone rather than being shouldered on by. Instead, hands gripped them, hauling them backwards as they were used to spring him forward faster, feet finally gaining traction as they dried off leaving wet footsteps behind in his path of destruction.

A four-way intersection gave him a chance that wouldn’t be missed, the animal pausing long enough to look all the ways unsure where to go and that pause was enough for Stone to put himself all into a single great leap.

Landing right onto its back.

The loth wolf froze.

Stone froze.

He… he honestly didn’t think through on what he would do when he landed.

Slowly the wolf twisted its head to peer around, eyes landing on him wide-eyed before slowly they narrowed.

“Hey, there, big fella-.” Hound said to be soft, to not panic when cornering animals. “I know this looks bad but, uh, you’re under arrest? Please stop running?” His voice pitched at the end as he felt the animal tense under him and instinctively, he gripped hard onto the fur under his hands.

Later Hound will tell him this was absolutely the worst thing he could have done at the moment, but Past Stone and Future Stone did not share the knowledge that would have been handy about now .

It moved its head back around and started racing forward down the hall.

“Oh kriff-“

Once, long ago during his cadet days, his batch had an off Kamino survival training. They had attended it with their alpha batch trainer, who was only there to make sure none of them got eaten by anything. It was during this trip that they had to track, capture, and kill their own food alone without any help from their trainers, working as a batch. The bigger and more dangerous the animal was the better for points to their grades, so of course, they chose a large herbivore that roamed the plains in large herds, a slow thing that walked on six legs and armor plates that made killing it difficult.

It would come as no surprise that they chose it despite having seen another 3 batches fail to kill one themselves before moving on to easier targets, but young, dumb determination kept them bullheaded enough to try it anyway. Cricket was the one w ho chose to land on its back after jumping down from a tree it walked under, aiming for a vulnerable slit amongst the armor pieces to weaken it or hopefully a kill shot.

And as one could guess, their luck was never that good and the blade barely hit true into weak flesh between plates before the animal lost its mind. What was once slow and lumbering, whipped about in a feverish frenzy with no thought as it began smashing into plants and anything high enough to try knocking away Cricket who hung on like an idiot. Instead of, you know, letting go. In the end, motion sickness won the battle of wills, and Cricket lost his grip followed by his lunch in a nearby bush where he ended up flung off into as it charged away.

Somehow, Stone knew Cricket got off easy compared to this .

With a howl, it moved fast. Zig-zagged around the hall, sometimes U-turning trying to whip him off, always bucking up in random intervals and bodily throwing itself into walls trying to scrape off Stone who was holding on with dear life trying to survive this.

Stone was glad in the moment for the thicker skulls the Kaminoans designed them to have, his mind rattling about as his head made more than one contact with walls until he got into the groove of learning to lean away at the right times. Soon his balance was restored, and his grip tightened on fur as his legs latched around it properly.

“Ha!” He shouted in glee, letting his body wave with a buck up. “I got you now-!”

When security cameras end up reviewed later, it would be this exact second where one could see Commander Stone got cocky and with it his downfall.

He kept his eyes on the walls, the floor, and the loth wolf itself.

What he didn’t keep his eyes on was the door frame of the hall they were just entering.

It’s to the sight of a shiny leaning over him that Stone wakes up too. The sound of claws on tile getting further away but for that moment he was stunned, and his head hurt .

The shiny blinked.

He blinked and his mind restarted.

Snapping up and looking away, Stone felt the small blood trickling down his forehead and knew he looked like a mess by the way the shiny flinched away.

“Sir, are you okay?”

Blinking, Stone turned to him after staring down the empty hallway. Carefully he reaches up, and grabs the front of the shiny’s shirt in a fist to drag him close.

“Where. Did. It. Go?”

At least the kid had the balls to look him back in the eyes while delivering his dreadful fucking news.

“It ran into the officer’s work hall, sir.”

Both sat in silence as it settled into Stone.

“Kark.”

The shiny made a useful grip to haul himself up wi th, stumbling to his feet and making his way down to the offices with the other not far behind, calling over the comm link to inform the other commanders of the situation.

No one would be in this hall, not this late.

Not unless you were one Commander Fox with a broken leg confined to no duty beyond paperwork, likely going stir-crazy from sitting in the barracks, that is.

Worried now that the loth wolf was no longer peaceful and instead be aggressive after their showdown, Stone quickened his pace as he entered the hallway seeing all the rooms shut with lights off but at the end, there was Fox’s office.

The door was left ajar and light spilling out, Stone prayed to whoever was listening that his vod was safe and not mauled to death. With that done, he promptly kicked the door open with all his remaining strength as it swung right into the wall inside.

“FOX!”

Chapter Text

As commander of the Coruscant Clone Guard, Fox knew a day of rest was never going to be scheduled into his busy days, not even with a broken leg majorly slowing him down. It is why he gritted the pain of broken bones shifting in the best cast Aid could make at the time with supplies low before their new shipment was due and it is why he ignored the concerned looks his men had sent his way as he hobbled on his crutches all the way to the meeting room where a Senator and Chancellor Palpatine was meeting.

Really meeting was a term Fox would have never used, more like a get-together of two foreign powers striking deals in fancy words but Fox wasn’t made to speak the truth of the system of the Republic. No, he was made to look fancy and be there if anyone was remotely foolish enough to try attacking the most powerful man in the Republic system.

The Worst part is Fox knew this was going to be a long meeting. One full of standing still on crutches with a broken leg that will soon be aching as his meds wear off.

He was really not looking forward to the crawl back to his office he will have to make after this.

It's not even thirty minutes in when his leg is crying out for relaxation to sit down, the commander having to distract by counting tiles on the walls in vain hopes of easing some pain away. He needed a distraction badly.

And as if listening to his wishes, the meeting room door opens silently.

Stiffening, Fox doesn’t even turn to show acknowledgment, but his full attention was on the spot just in the chase.

A snout pokes in.

Then a full furry head.

Soon the animal pushes its way fully in and he has to wonder why his luck was truly rotten as the loth wolf looks around the room without a worry or care.

Eyes darting back to the natborns, he expects the worse, the screams to start any second now.

Instead, the talk continues without a hitch, not a word paused, or topic changed. Not a single head ends up turning to see the new guest and not even the Chancellor himself seems bothered.

With a leg aching, only running on 2 hours of sleep for the last two days, and a gallon of what had to be adrenaline stims, Commander Fox decided his fucks to give was officially out .

Kriff it.

He focused his attention back on the natborns and only glanced at the animal every so often to confirm its location in the room as it explored.

It was sometime later when he was phasing out mentally when the wolf slinked by him, tail smacking Fox’s hand repeatedly as it stood by watching the Chancellor try soothing down two arguing senators and he ignored it the first few times his hand ended up battered. One particular hard whap of the tail had the commander finally react, a small movement of his hand that swatted the tail first before it could make contact with him.

The loth wolf jumped in spot, whirling around as its fur puffed out with a snarl before pausing when it saw Fox.

‘No, go away.’

The wolf stepped closer, an arm’s length away.

‘Get out of here, shoo.’

Its head tilted and pressed closer, his visor fogging up from its panting breath.

Fox glared behind his helmet.

It woofed, loud enough Fox jerked his head to the senators.

None looked their way.

“Get.” He whispers out, urgency in his voice. “Go.”

‘Must have been a lost pet.’ Fox decides as it listens, backing away and heading to a nearby window to look out at the bustling city below.

Thankfully it stayed there until the near end, vanishing back out the doors minutes before the meeting came to an end and Fox began enduring the long ‘Goodbyes’ the natborns insisted on doing every time a meeting happens like this one.

He really just wanted to go to his office and sleep if he is honest.

But duty was duty and so he plastered on a fake smile with fake pleasantries as they all left one by one, a mere nod from the Chancellor dismissing him.

The officer’s workroom couch called his name and the loth wolf was completely forgotten.

Tossing his vambraces and helmet onto the couch as he entered his office, Fox limped his way over toward his desk, hissing loudly as he sank down into his chair. Leaning back, he couldn’t stop the sigh of relief he instantly felt being off his feet and palmed his drawer open for the painkiller he knew Aid left behind for him to take when he overworked himself.

He was far too overworked after standing for three hours on a broken leg.

He injected the medication into his wounded leg with a hiss, dropped the case back into his drawer, and pulled out his datapad to get back to work.

Only the silence was his companion here, every so often hearing the creak of pipes when systems turned on or off to cycle new air into the building and the constant tapping of his fingers against the glass cover, all of which was soothing for the clone after these years doing this same thing. Let it be known Coruscant wasn’t kept safe all by guns, patrols, and rules but also by many, many pieces of paperwork filed.

“I really should get an assistant.”

“Woof!”

The data pad crashed into the wall above the wolf’s head and Fox held a hand over his beating heart.

“Kriffing-! You .” Jabbing a finger it's way, Fox fully glared and bared his teeth at it. “Dead. Do you hear? I have had enough of your kark tonight.” And moved to smack his comm link online to alert the other commanders.

His hand smacked his arm.

Slowly he looked down.

Bare arms.

Slowly he looked back up.

Leaned to the right, looking beyond the loth wolf where his couch sat.

Where his vambraces sat oh so innocently.

He deserved his one true cuss for the day, he decided right then and there.

“Fuck.”

The wolf happily barks back.

Hands on the chair’s arms, Fox pulls himself up and instantly gurgles on a yelp of pain when his leg rejects the idea of standing anytime soon. Falling back into his seat, Fox curls, head against his desk as he catches his breath.

“ Fine .” The wolf tilts its head at him. “You get to stay.”

Least until someone comes to check up on him or until the animal decides its puckish and wants to make a meal out of him, which at this point Fox would truly take either option if it meant he didn’t have to go back to paperwork.

It sits there, staring and tail wagging as Fox decided to take an approach from Alpha-17 when his batch had wanted his attention but didn’t earn it.

He ignored it.

And like cadets with short attention span, the wolf soon was walking out to Fox’s internal victory of the battle of wills he just won.

Below his hand, his data pad beeped with a new file that needed approval.

Stretching back, Fox groaned when his back popped, and his leg tinged barely with pain as he shifted which… wasn’t right.

The pain medication should last for a few hours.

Checking his datapad’s clock, the commander grimaces at the early h ours he was apparently now working in and as if that wasn’t bad enough, below his stomach growled to remind him that he missed dinner for the senate meeting earlier.

There was absolutely no way anything would be left in the mess hall so late and going to bed with an empty stomach was not appealing at all-

The door to his office creaked open and a familiar face peaked in.

“Oh, it’s you again.” And with his greeting, the wolf fully walks in and comes towards him. “What pains do you bring me now-? Wait, what is in your mouth?”

Fox’s attention locked onto the gleam of something shiny sticking out of its mouth and he had vivid flashbacks of Hound sobbing when one of the K9 units managed to eat some garbage off the street and needed surgery to get it out.

“Spit it out right this instant-!” He was getting ready to lunge and pry open its jaws if he had to when the wolf hacked and dropped a few slobbered-covered ration bars over his desk.

Fox was disgusted and his stomach growled happily.

The wolf nudged him with its snort and they both glanced at the soaking bars thankfully covered in the seal still.

Another nudge and he picked one up with two fingers.

“You-“ He shakes it in hopes of getting it less…gross. “Are worse than Aid is.”

The instant he finishes the bar and starts the second one the animal must decide he passed some sort of test because the next thing Fox knew was it was in his space .

“Get-!” A fuzzy head nudged him and he pushed it away with a hand. “Back away before I reconsider my 'no harming animals' stance, cretin!”

This went on for another five minutes, the wolf somehow getting close enough to make a nuisance out of itself when he tried to work and Fox having to manhandle it back. Each time the animal gets more vindictive Fox swears as it even knocks his pen off the desk in the last struggle.

He stares at the pen across the room and the loth wolf lets out a huff, walking out.

The silence seems so loud in its absence and Fox realizes he wasn’t hungry anymore.

“Thanks, I guess.”

Fox was working on some documents concerning structure integrity, tapping away with his fingers when he moved to grab his mug to give his fingers a break.

“Really wishing I took up the offer on those spare pens right now.” Grumbling and refusing to look at the pen he knew sat in the middle of the room, Fox took a sip and looked down to grab the chair to shift his weight when he looked into the loth wolf’s eyes.

Choking on his drink, Fox swerved his arm that was swinging down to swish by the animal’s head instead of directly, the drink spilled all over the floor as he clutched his chest.

“ You are going to get me sent to the medical bay , you bastard.”

It merely wagged its tail and between its jaws was his pen.

“Do not think for one instant your crimes can be paid off.” Threatening but taking his pen back, Fox gags at the wet feeling and wipes it against his suit with disgust.

Another woof but this time it decides to go into new territory Fox only knew from the K9 unit and it licks him, starting on the side of his face to leave a streak of slobber in its wake as it goes all the way to his head. He could feel his hair sticking up and barely held back throwing his pen at the retreating animal as it once again left the room.

“Either this is taking the third weirdest spot on ‘Odd Kriff That Happened on Coruscant’ or Aid has really left me with the good kind of medication.” And at this point, Fox didn’t know which option was the better one anymore.

Tapping a document back on, the clone goes to work or at least tries to.

His mind was now fully situated on the loth wolf.

He knew Coruscant had tended to throw the weirdest curve balls into his life since being assigned here but this one was probably the strangest one yet after the zilobeast incident.

Where did it come from?

Why was it hanging around Coruscant?

Why had no one beyond his men reported it?

Why had the Senators and Chancellor not reacted today when it walked in?

Unfortunately, Fox knew he was seeing a pattern between it, his men and natborns: One he wasn’t sure if filing paperwork that would go higher than his level about it would end up good for anyone involved, loth wolf or Corries.

Perhaps Hound for once had the right idea and ignoring it with hopes it fixes itself.

“Yeah, and I am a force user.” Fox snorts, shaking his head with a roll of his eyes. “Ah, and they say I can’t be funny.”

And again, his domain is intruded upon as the loth wolf appears.

“Think thy name and it shall appear.”

It looked entirely smug with fur fluffed up and huffing.

“What did you do now?” He accuses and it has the balls to look up at him, give big round eyes with a soft whimper as it slides behind his chair.

He feels its warmth behind him as it sits, still taller than him sitting, he notes and a furry head leans into his view on one side before it is looking over his head.

With a world-weary sigh, it plops its head onto the top of his.

“I,” He glances up, blowing hair out of his eyes. “Am not a rest for your head, sir .”

To his 'Senator' voice, it chuffed loudly, and another lick had Fox accepting his fate of being a stand as he turned back to work.

That peace, like all things in his life, lasted for about five minutes before his door was slammed open.

Hitting the wall with speed, his shelves rattled from the vibrations and when he looked up, Fox saw Stone standing in the doorway, wet in his night clothes.

With deep heaving breaths, blood pouring out of a fresh-looking cut on his forehead, and wearing a look that was raging in anger until it landed on Fox.

Well, at least this confirmed one theory so far.

Fox could see his eyes slowly travel from Fox and up, straying on the loth wolf who didn’t even budge from it's spot.

Which at least confirmed one theory he had.

“Oh good,” Fox rolls out as if this was boring him, pen and data pad forgotten on his desk. “So, you can see it too.”