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"No way, how is that possible?" Cody suddenly exclaimed with such genuine perplexity that it made Fox want to bite.
"Well, Cody, the statistics say that a person has a one in two chance of making Alpha or Omega, no one is above the odds."
"But for you to be-"
"To be what exactly?" Stone snapped with barely contained anger as he crossed his arms.
In itself, Stone was like Fox and did not hate this development of becoming Omega, it was not the end, especially for people used to bigger problems, but... yeah, that kind of reaction broke their balls.
Right behind them and absolutely unwilling to fight their battles for them, Thire and Thorn watched in silence and Fox did not think he could imagine Thire's utter boredom and Thorn's furious contempt.
He wished the removal of the chips had not caused this kind of problem, it was embarrassing enough to be looked at as if he was not himself anymore just because of a stupid smell, so to have this kind of reaction and comment from other clones...
"Whatever, I'm not going to beg for your cock. By the way, just to make it perfectly clear, I'd rather fuck myself on a vibroblade than ask you for anything in that area, so relax, you're safe."
More laughter and mocking comments surrounded a blushing and offended Cody, so Fox layed it on thick by walking away towards the bar, no longer caring about him.
"Seems like rumours of Alpha in control are hugely overrated."
"Don't lump me and that idiot together, my honour wouldn't take it," Thire sighed. "If you see Neyo-"
"We know," they all answered together, unable to understand their brother, but hey, they did not need to understand to support him.
Fox might not understand Neyo's attraction but if Thire thought it was fun to try and seduce him despite the fact that the other had not even once seemed interested or emotionally responsive in their conversations... they did not have a say, it was up to Thire.
"He might be an Alpha too you know, don't get your hopes up."
"I have measured and rational hopes," the other replied with a smirk that Fox knew was covering sadness as he shielded raw emotion with a perfect mask of confident Commander who accompanied him to get their drinks.
At this point of the war – well, now it was a truce if you had to be precise, pending a potential peace agreement – they had absolutely no shame in enjoying the privilege they had of not being disturbed.
When you were military police, strangely enough, crowds would part to give you a wide berth, whether they were civilians or clones, sober or heavily drunk.
"And you, anyone in mind? Not necessarily serious, but at least a good shag?"
"Nope, and that's not going to change now, I'm going to wait until I'm no longer a tourist attraction. When they've already dipped their wick in a few Omegas and the novelty has worn off, I'll see."
"If you say so. That's probably wise."
Thire had not asked himself these questions about love at first and had been hurt all the more because they were all naive and innocent in this area. He had started a relationship with sex but the other man did not want anything exclusive after acting all tender and romantic, so this guy had broken his heart. Despite this, Thire had found enough optimism to enter into a serious relationship with a Commander. The couple's relationship was mainly a long-distance relationship, they saw very little of each other as the guy was in the Outer Rim and... well, the war spared no-one. One day Mo did not answer a call and he would never come back.
Having seen him endure so much and yet keep a genuine smile for the Guard, Fox could only admire his resilience, he himself did not have it in him. Thire's heart was warm, supple and malleable, Fox's was cold, rigid and breakable.
Without even having experienced romance, every perceived micro-betrayal had been experienced as a stab in his heart and in the bond that united him to the person. He was not into compromise and he was not really into forgiveness either.
... Not the best combination, he was aware of it.
When they got back to the table that the Commanders seemed to have unconsciously claimed for themselves, Cody had happily calmed down and was talking to a newly promoted Rex next to a Bacara who just looked bored to be there.
"Cody has calmed down, Thorn whispered to them as he picked up his glass. Rex became an Omega himself just yesterday and is very disturbed by the smells and all that, and Bacara..."
Well, Bacara was speaking for himself, it was obvious from the smell that he was Alpha and probably had been for some time as the smell had settled in, unlike Rex who could not smell anything from this distance.
"Well, nice to see you guys back alive and in one piece," the Marine greeted quietly as he watched them settle in.
"Thanks, you too."
"That was close. I haven't heard from the Guard for a while and also... Omega, eh? Congratulations, you're a lucky man."
"Say that again?"
Bacara frowned, looking vaguely confused before rolling his eyes.
"Ahhh... yeah. Forget about it."
"I'm not going to forget, so answer."
"My General thinks highly of Omega, I'd forgotten that most people don't, that's all."
"So cute!" Thorn teased with an excessively honeyed smile. "A whole bunch of Marines who aren't going to cause any trouble, that's more than I expected."
"You're an Alpha too, what kind of trouble do you think you'll get into?" Rex pointed out from where he was with Cody.
"Half of us are Omegas, of course we're going to enforce decorum. Making sure everyone understands that the Natborn's toxic social models are not worth adopting might be a bit tricky though."
"Just look at Cody's reaction to seeing me, clearly a lot of people even among the clones imagine that a person's personality influences their presentation. Obviously Rex can be Omega, no problem, but me?"
"Shock," Thorn declared, a hand to his forehead.
"Outrage," Thire added impassively.
"Horror," Stone finished so aggressively that Fox waved him off.
Today was not one of those days when they wanted to start a fight.
"Relax guys," Bacara says in a typical example of 'Commander's tone', "half the Commanders in the end will be Omega, only about 30% of the clones have developed these second sexes yet but in the end everything should balance out... hey, Neyo? I didn't think you were coming."
"Because I wasn't planning to," an emotionless voice answered him from behind the Guard.
"Neyo, good to see you, how are you?"
"Fine, Thire... and the Guard?"
"We're fine, how about a drink to make up for lost time?"
"Why not-"
No sooner had he expressed no disagreement than Thire dragged the slightly disconcerted man towards the bar.
"We won't be seeing them again," Thorn sneered. "Do you think he'll give it a try?"
"Knowing Thire, probably."
He could already smell that Neyo was an Alpha, he had probably present himself a few days earlier. Thire could not fail to notice, but he was probably going to make no bones about it anyway. He was attracted to Neyo, not what he would have different between his legs a few times a year. He was probably in love, whether he realised it or not.
"So, tell me a bit more about your delicious vision of the Grandeur of Omega?" He finally asked Bacara, who looked at him in silence, as if to take the time to decide whether or not it was worth getting involved with Fox in what could be an interminable argument.
In the end, his determined and brave nature to the end decided for him. Exactly as Fox had anticipated.
Hard to say who would win though or even if there would be a winner, Bacara had already engaged in fights with ridiculously low survival probabilities when he had no choice and yet he was still here to talk about it.
"It's simple, the Jedi love the Omega because they can get pregnant."
"Jedi aren't supposed to have families."
"My General had one due to his particular circumstances though," Bacara clarified. "And just because they can't have babies themselves doesn't mean they don't like children. As such, the simple fact of creating and carrying life makes them worthy of greater respect. This is in addition to the fact that my General comes from a planet that values fertility and the birth of children."
"Is that all? Children?"
"Mainly, but also some religions that say the world is just the baby of a deity forming in the womb of its Omega parent, crap like that."
"Are you sure you can talk like that?" He laughed heartily, checking around him the position of his Commanders.
Well, officially they were all equal, but even the civilians knew that he was the leader... and frankly, if Fox had to manage all the problems, then he deserved to consider them his Commanders.
Thire was chatting to Neyo, Stone had gone off to sulk and drink in a more peaceful quieter place and Thorn was heading towards Rex with a predatory look on his face... which Fox was going to ignore. He wanted to have a good evening, thank you very much.
"Hey, if I'm supposed to develop a personality of my own, I'll do it my own way."
"Amen to that," Fox muttered, swallowing his drink in one gulp.
"Don't worry about Cody or any of the other assholes, they'll soon come round when they find out that the Omegas are far more savage and dangerous than the Alphas."
"Hmm?"
"How can I put this... Basically, Alpha impulses leave us in a state of perpetual tension, encouraging excitement, aggression or mood swings. With Omegas, it's as if there's a lock on all this, which a focused overload will release. And because it's contained for so much longer..."
"The explosion is stronger," Fox finished for him. "Yeah, I can see how that would suit me," he admitted with a grimace, rubbing the back of his neck.
Fox and Stone had always been the ones to keep everything bottled up until the final straw.
They had been Omega through and through from the start, even before they knew it.
"I didn't know these things, there's so much shit on the holonet that we'd rather not look at so as not to be fed into fake news and propaganda."
"Tell Thire to ask High General Yoda to send some Jedi to explain this to the Guard, he probably won't refuse him. He liked him when they met in the field back in the day."
"And how on earth would you know that?"
"Mundi, one of Yoda’s former Padawan," Bacara sighed as if that explained everything, and maybe it did. "Plus he's got that dotty grandpa energy."
Fox called up his memories of the little green Jedi and found that testimony... how to put it, off?
"Dotty?"
"Highly effective, but don't you dare talk to him, he'll give you a headache. He and my General were in touch a lot even when they weren't talking about work, so I know what I'm talking about."
"Jedi," Fox summed up even more succinctly, rolling his eyes. "All-"
"All what?" An Alpha with an unfamiliar smell asked, wrapping an arm around his shoulders – and neck – in a friendly, relaxed headlock.
"Wolffe," Bacara greeted the other but Fox knew it was for him, so he would know who it was and would not be tense.
It was time to tease, Wolffe was great to tease when you knew how to get a reaction from him.
"Isn't Koon-"
"Don't talk about my General."
The 104th's love for their Jedi was pretty crazy when you thought about it, especially for Fox who had no Jedi.
"I heard he was something else," Fox smiled in collusion with Bacara. "As an Alpha with certain standards I'm sure he's the kind of Omega you-"
"Fox!"
They burst out laughing at the same time and Fox pushed Wolffe away from him.
"Don't worry Wolffe, this Kel Dor doesn't turn me on at all."
"He looks normal though."
Fox had nothing against the General but he had to admit that at least Mundi looked normal if you forgot the top of his head, Koon... Koon really was an alien wherever the eyes could see.
He could not imagine having sex with him, besides, what kind of organs did the Kel Dor have down there?
"Wait a second, Wolffe, you didn't correct me, does that mean he is actually an Omega?"
Wolffe immediately disappeared amongst the assembled Commanders so Fox took that as a yes and nodded when Bacara muttered, "Omega or not, I wouldn't be the one to try taking him from those idiots".
"Just imagine, they'd go after them on the pretext of a rescue and it would be up to me to deal with their insubordination."
"Nothing worse than bastards who won't do what they're told."
Eventually, he helped Bacara bring in a drunk Marine – the guy was about to get roasted significantly, he regretted not being able to see – which must have been amusing to see because neither of them was walking straight and he crashed into Marshal Commander's bunk as a compensation for wasting his time while the other got annoyed by putting his subordinate to bed.
When he woke up Bacara was half lying on top of him, but as Fox warmed his cold hands in his back, he said nothing and went back to sleep immediatley.
Feeling too lazy to move, the others would handle things without him, the warmth of Bacara's body was much more appealing at the moment.