Chapter Text
Bly had a cold. Again. And the Kaminoans had some good medication in the medbay, but this was his fifth cold in two months, and if they took him to the medbay, the longnecks would want to “look” at him. And then he might not come back. And Alpha-17 was out on a training mission with another batch, so he couldn’t help them.
So Cody had to sneak into the medbay and get the medicine. How hard could it be? They had just completed the elementary stealth training course. Getting out of the barracks at night was actually easy, since there was no one in the halls. Blackout knew how to override the security locks to get out of the sleeping quarters. It was getting to the medbay and back that was the hard part. Fox and Gree had both been caught before.
The batch had voted Cody to go this time because he had scored second highest in the elementary stealth training course. Neyo had scored the highest, but he refused to go.
He snuck down the hallway as quietly as he could, trying to go right under the security cameras to avoid their field of vision. Fox had made it all the way to the medbay and back, but they caught him on the security cameras and that’s how he got in trouble. He paused as he heard voices coming down the hallway. He shrunk back into a darkened alcove.
”What do you think they’ll do with him?” One of the Cuy’val Dar asked. Cody
didn’t recognize his voice.
“I don’t know,” He heard Jango sigh.
Cody didn’t know who they were talking about, but he hoped it wasn’t somebody he knew. He waited for them to pass, then continued down the hall.
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Jango heard someone walking behind him, and turned around to see who it was. He saw a little cadet disappear down the hall, turning towards the medbay. He smiled. He knew Bly had a cold, and that Cody had been deemed the ori’vod of this batch, because he was the one who looked out for his batchmates. Jango tried to keep an eye on them, but couldn’t be seen showing favoritism. He was glad they had decided to look out for each other. And maybe, just maybe, Cody would find the blonde kid while he was in there and decide to keep it. He had a big heart.
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Cody made it down to the medbay without running into anyone else. He swiped the card that Blackout gave him. It worked. He wasn’t sure where Blackout got it, but he wasn’t going to question it either. Their training taught them that compartmentalization was good, especially in situations where you might be interrogated. So he asked no questions, and Blackout offered no answers. It was really the trainers’ faults, Cody thought, for teaching a four year old how to steal things.
He slipped into the silent medbay and headed towards the back, looking for the medicine cabinets. There were a few vod in the room, but they were all fast asleep. There was a cradle close to the end of rows of beds, holding a tiny baby. He was blonde. Cody frowned. Irregular, he thought. But all his vitals were normal. So why did he have so many sensors and wires and tubes stuck to him?
Suddenly, he heard voices. Panicking, he looked for somewhere to hide, but like the rest of Tipoca City, the medbay was all bare walls and smooth furniture. He ducked behind the cradle, hoping it would hide him enough that whoever this was wouldn’t notice. He tried to calm his breathing. Then he noticed the feet under the edge and realized they were longnecks, which made him panic even more.
“We will continue taking samples. I would like to identify the defect,” the one said.
”Of course, Nala Se,” the other replied, “What will we do with it after the testing is complete?”
”Dispose of it,” Nala Se answered smoothly, “It’s defective.”
The longnecks walked away. Cody scrambled out from under the cradle, his hands shaking. He hurried towards the cabinets, searching for the right medbooster for Bly. Luckily, all the med-droids had been deactivated for recharging. Fox had taught him how to deactivate them and wipe their memories, just in case, but Cody didn’t want to have to do that. He was already breaking enough rules as it was. Gree had months of reconditioning training after he had been caught. He didn’t talk about it, but now he was scared to break any rules or even talk to the trainers. He hid behind Cody when he saw the longnecks.
He finally found the cabinet he was looking for and swiped the card again to access it. It beeped, flashed green, and slid open. Cody found the booster he was looking for and stuffed it in his pocket. He grabbed a second one, for when Bly inevitably got sick again. He didn’t want to have to repeat this whole ordeal in a week. He closed the door as quietly as he could and started back towards the barracks. And then he saw the baby again.
He was so small, his hands curled into little fists, his face scrunched into a tiny frown. Cody stood up on his toes, peering over the edge of the cradle. The baby cooed and opened its eyes, and Cody found himself staring into eyes that looked just his, warm honey-brown. The baby giggled and reached a fat little hand out towards Cody’s face, resting it on his cheek. Cody couldn’t help but smile back. He reached down and lightly booped the baby’s nose. His nose scrunched up and he giggled in delight, stretching his little hands out towards Cody.
Cody stepped away from the cradle, shaking his head. He absolutely could not sneak a baby out of the medbay. But Nala Se said he would be disposed of. Like Cabry, because Cabry was a defect too. He had blue eyes.
He remembered 17 yelling at the longnecks that they couldn’t take him away, that Cabry was fine and his eye color didn’t affect his training. Cabry cried and screamed and pleaded — the whole batch did — but Jango hadn’t been there to protest and the longnecks took Cabry away. For testing. He never came back. Cody still cried about it sometimes, even though he was four now, and according to the training manuals, too old to be showing emotion.
So Cody wiped the tears away that had been forming in his eyes, and looked around to make sure no one was there, then reached back into the cradle. The baby reached out towards him. Cody pulled off all the sticky sensors and the needles, clamping a hand over the baby’s mouth to silence his fussing. He turned all of the monitors off, lifted the baby out and hugged him to his chest. He looked around one more time to make sure no one saw, then rushed out the doors. The hydraulic doors swooshed open and shut around him. He hurried down the hallway as fast as he could. He was out of breath by the time he reached the CC barracks.
He quietly walked over to Bly’s bunk, set the baby on the floor, and shook Bly awake. Bly probably wouldn’t care that he basically kidnapped a baby, but he didn’t want to explain it right now.
“What?” Bly mumbled sleepily.
He pressed a medbooster into Bly’s hand.
“Take this,” he whispered.
”Thanks ori’vod,” Bly whispered.
Cody smiled, scooped up the baby, and walked over to his bunk. He stuffed the other medbooster under his mattress, then crawled into his bunk. He wrapped the baby up in his blanket and fell asleep curled around his little blonde brother.