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Fox took Thorn under his wing on Kamino, and he kept him there on Coruscant. He helped Thorn study and prepare for his evaluations, and he helps Thorn fill out his paperwork and file it correctly. Thorn would give anything for his ori’vod, take a Senate shift, fill out paperwork, deal with Shinies. After all Fox had given for him, it’s the least Thorn feels like he could do. Between Kamino and Coruscant, they’ve been through a lot together, too much really, and they’ve got a bond that can overcome anything. Well almost anything.
Thorn just isn’t quite ready to deal with Fox’s batchmates.
Especially the ones standing in front of him outside of the Guard barracks.
It would be Thorn’s luck that Ponds, Cody, and Bly all showed up at the same time while Fox and Wolffe were doing a round in the Dome. Of course, the universe decided that it hadn’t screwed over Thorn enough and now he has to deal with this as well. Kark all.
Cody pushes himself towards the front and tries his hardest to be intimidating despite looking like he’s coming off a three-day long spice bend. Ponds and Bly don’t look much better behind him, and Thorn has the fleeting thought that he should loose Bandage on them if only to make them look more presentable when Fox shows up. “What is with this CC batch? My batch was never this bad at taking care of ourselves.”
That thought brings Thorn to a halt. “Couldn’t have been that good at taking care of ourselves if three of five are dead. Just me and Thire left.”
Thorn shakes himself mentally just in time to hear Cody start talking. “Commander, we need to see Fox. We were told by our batchmate Wolffe that he had been released from the Medbay.”
Thorn rolls his eyes inside his bucket and stands to his full, slightly-taller-than-average, height while blocking the entrance to the barracks. Because they couldn’t go in, obviously, not because he’s taking this opportunity to be petty, not at all. These assholes don’t even know who he is, the only reason they even knew he was a Commander was the kama. Not that it surprises Thorn, Guard armor is so uniformly painted and worn that most of the GAR has a hard time telling them apart. Only the LTs and up have personalization, and just slight ones at that, just something that Senators can point to instead of whatever poor Shiny is standing in the hallway with them.
“Apologies Commanders, but Marshall Commander Fox is not available to see anyone at the moment.” Throwing Fox’s rank out there makes all three of the brothers twitch, but it really only has an effect on Ponds and Bly. Cody’s also a Marshall Commander, so Thorn is going to have to get creative if he wants to keep them running in circles. Good thing he’s had three years of practice doing just that on this hellacious planet.
Cody straightens up and Thorn takes a moment to be satisfied that Cody isn’t as tall as he is. And then he looks over Cody’s shoulder and Ponds’ looming figure and lets his ego get knocked down a peg again. “Of course, I’m sure Marshall Commander Fox is very busy. We are willing to wait for him in his office until he is available.”
Thorn has never been so happy that the Guard is notorious for being strict rule followers, or he wouldn’t be able to do this. “Apologies again Commanders, but non-Guard personnel are not allowed in the Guard barracks without the explicit permission of Marshall Commander Fox himself. You are free to wait here in the lobby, or you can request a meeting with the Marshall Commander and he will get back with you as soon as he can.”
Cody is vibrating and Thorn considers taking a step back from Commander “spin-kick” Cody. While Thorn is all for Fox not reconciling with his batch, he doesn’t want his death to be the reason it doesn’t happen. Cody opens his mouth to speak again before he’s cut off by a voice from behind.
“Commanders, I wasn’t expecting you so soon. My apologies for making you wait.” Fox walks up a like a knight in shining armor with Wolffe trailing behind him to save Thorn. Thorn snaps a salute to Fox, and Fox alone, but continues to stand in front of the door. Now that he’s said there needs to be explicit permission, Thorn isn’t letting anyone in without said explicit permission.
Thorn is sooo going to end up doing KP for the next week.
Everyone turns to face Fox as he walks up. Cody and Ponds run ori’vod eyes over Fox despite him being in full armor, bucket included. Bly takes a half-step towards Fox but stops when Fox smoothly disguises his own twitch away as he keeps walking to stand next to Thorn. “Commander Thorn, does there seem to be an issue?”
Only years of practice masking his emotions in his voice allow him to answer his ori’vod evenly, especially since he can feel Fox’s patience wearing thin. Fox is onto his game, hell Fox taught him how to play, and Thorn’s not stupid enough to think that he would get away with it. “Marshall Commander Fox,” Thorn can feel the eye roll through both buckets from here, “the Commanders are requesting a meeting with you. I informed them that only Guard personnel are allowed in the barracks and that they would have to wait. They were just about to leave, I believe.”
“No, we were not!” Cody steps forward and snarls at Thorn, and Thorn damn near snarls back if not for Fox’s hand on his shoulder.
“That’s enough out of both of you. I will not have such childish displays in front of my barracks. Now, Commander Thorn, Commanders Thire and Stone should be in my office, please go join them for our meeting.” Fox pushes Thorn’s shoulder and waits until he starts walking to speak to the remaining Commanders.
“Unfortunately, I already have a meeting scheduled at this time, so I am going to have to ask you to come back sometime tomorrow, around 14:00, if that works for you?”
Immediately there is a cacophony of almost-identical voices yelling at Fox, at each other, at the situation and Fox just sighs before waving a couple of shinies past him and into the barracks. He’s tired, and he’s hurt, and he’s run out of patience, and he still has the rest of the day to get through, so it’s time to put his issues with his batchmates on the backburner. He straightens up and puts on his best ‘Commander voice’ as Thorn likes to call it, “Men, please. I do not have time toda-“
“They deserve to know, Fox.” Wolffe finally speaks up from the back of the pack. “They’re trying-“
Fox only sees red as he turns to face Wolffe. “They deserve to know? Is that what you just said the me Wolffe? No one deserves anything from me except for the Guard, the men that I have served with for the past three years.” Fox moves to stand right in front of Wolffe, pushing into his personal space. “I am not some cadet who needs his older batchers to watch over him, Wolffe. I’ve been running this Guard for years now, and if I say something is for Guard only, then you’d do well to listen to me.”
Fox’s statement hangs in the air heavily. He can feel that his batchmates don’t want to accept what he’s saying, but they’re going to have to if this whole reconciliation thing is going to work.
Finally, Bly speaks up. “You’re right Fox. We don’t deserve anything for you, and you are in charge of Guard matters so you have say over what gets shared. We’re just asking that you let us in so we can all start working through this.” He pauses and grabs Cody’s arm before the dikut could ruin his speech. “We missed you vod’ika, and we want to start making up for abandoning you for the last three years.”
Damn, Bly’s good especially with the tooka kit eyes he pulls, Fox will give him that much. And Fox knows he needs to stop immediately pulling the claws out every time someone says something. He sighs and takes a step back from Wolffe. “Fine, you’re right. I’m sorry, I’m just tired.” He pulls up his schedule on his comm and scrolls through. “Alright, I have this meeting until 12:30, and then I don’t have another meeting until 16:00. You can come sit in my office between them while I do paperwork. After that I have to kick you out for the rest of the day. Sound good?”
“Bandage said you need to eat midmeal, and I’ve been tasked with making sure you do that. So, we’ll pick you up at 12:30 and go to the mess to eat.” Wolffe pulls out his best ori’vod stare, one that says ‘karking try me’ and something in Fox makes his inner little brother instinctually listen.
Even so he huffs a laugh. “Scared of Bandage, Wolffe?”
Wolffe doesn’t hesitate. “Like you aren’t, Fox.”
And just that little bit of brotherly banter does wonders for Fox. Rolling his eyes hard enough that he knows his batchmates can feel it even under his bucket, he nods. “Fine, we’ll eat midmeal and then you can sit around in my office while I do paperwork. Happy?”
Wolffe, smug little shabuir he is, grins and nods. “Thrilled. See you in a bit Fox’ika.”
Fox turns around with little fanfare and marches off towards his office, leaving his batchmates standing outside the barracks with a little under an hour to kill. Wolffe nods to a table and chairs in the corner of the room. “Let me tell you about our Senate shift.”