Note: I missed last week’s post – it was my birthday so wasn’t even on the computer! Making up or it by posting two this week. If you were waiting for Took
Snap was waiting for him, the moment he stepped out of his room. Cody had already left, having an early meeting, and paperwork to catch up with, leaving Obi-Wan to finish his meditations before his own meetings.
“I’m not escaping this am I?” Though he was very tempted to turn around and hide, but that would be childish. Besides, Snap would just follow him anyways.
“What do you think, General?”
The Medic was appropriately named, after he finally snapped at a particularly stubborn vod, who wouldn’t listen to his advice, and tied him down to the bed.
Cody still denies it happened to this day.
Obi-Wan let him do a thorough exam, and answered all his questions. He stressed the importance that nothing was to go into his medical files, or on open servers. Snap rolled his eyes, as he continued making notes in his own brand of shorthand. “I met with Kix personally when I got back, so he could explain … ” he waved his hand at Obi-Wan. “He’s working on a secure location where we can compare notes, but at the moment we’re keeping our notes on a personal datapad that has no access to any servers, and encrypt to the point it would make our slicers cry.”
“Are there any other questions?” Obi-Wan still had a Council meeting to attend to, and had no intention of staying longer than needed.
“Do we need to have discussion about safe sex?” He gave him a particular bored look, that medics had crafted over the years, showing their disdain to idiots who don’t listen to their advice.
Obi-Wan didn’t facepalm, he was better than that. “I gave this very lecture to my Padawan, so I think we’re good.”
Snap snorted, giving him a small smile. “I’ll go after the Commander later. I’m more worried about him.”
“I took very good care of him, and wouldn’t see him hurt.” Obi-Wan gave him a serious, yet mischievous grin. “He may be sore, but I made sure he lost his mind at least once.”
They both looked over, when they heard the pained groan, to see the very man they were discussing, standing in the doorway, bucket in hand. “You know, I’m just going to leave.”
“Oh no you don’t Commander, you’re next.” Snap pointed to the secondary bed, before turning back to the General. “We’ll talk later.”
Obi-Wan would like to say he was a caring Dragon, who would protect his Mate from all things, instead he gave Cody a kiss on the cheek, then ran from the Medbay.
“I see devotion only goes so far.” Cody shook his head, only to be yanked into the room by a cackling medic. “That is not a good look on you vod.”
“I can say that happiness is a good look on you, Kote.”
***
It took Obi-Wan over two months before he noticed that fish was being served at least twice a week, and that was only because one of the GAR Officers had issued a complaint to him about it. The General had given him a very disappointed look, and told him to be grateful there was actually fresh food on board, and they weren’t living on ration bars, like the clones.
An hour later he found himself sitting across from Cody, in the mess hall, having fish soup. “How did you even pull this off?” He asked with admiration, enjoying his meal. He could feel his Mate’s contentment, that he was eating more frequently.
“I sent the request directly to Master Windu.”
What he wasn’t going to tell his Mate, was beforehand he had received a personal comm from the Head of the Jedi Order. Cody at first hadn’t thought anything of it, he had worked with the 91st a few times, and coordinated battles with many of the Jedi.
It didn’t take him long to realize he wasn’t dealing with General Windu or even the Master of the Order – this was Obi-Wan’s ori’vod … ‘Commander, I am not going to give you the talk, he’s happy and that’s the most important thing. I will say this, Obi-Wan is now your responsibility, good luck … you’re going to need it.’ In revenge not only had he sent the Jedi an order for fresh fish, he asked for weapons, lots of them, oh, and tea.
“I had never in my time as Field Marshal got a request approved that fast. It came with a side note: ‘Why the kriff didn’t I think of this… why? At this moment you’re my favorite Commander … outside Ponds.’ When I got some flack, I made a few comments about how the clones are from Kamino and with morale low, the General figured some fresh food they would recognize would be good.”
“So you lied.” Obi-Wan tried hard not to laugh, but couldn’t help the smile.
“Yep.” Cody gave him a wicked smirk. “I think this is the first time half the vod ever seen or tasted fish, the protein paste they gave us may have had fish in it, but it had no taste. The shines are eyeing the food suspiciously.”
“Well I appreciate it … ” He paused when a red dot flashed across the table. He felt his whole body tense, eyes widened as it skittered across the table onto the floor.
“I’ll kill them!” Cody turned and glared at Boil, who tried to hide the Laser Sight. “Lieutenant!”
“Commander, they are just having some fun.” Obi-Wan leaned over, hand resting on his Mate’s arm. “We had a rough campaign, let them be.” He picked up his tea, a new flavor that his Mate had found. The General looked directly over at Boil, and with a flick of his finger, the Lieutenant’s cup went right over the edge of the table. If he was in Dragon form his tail would be twitching with amusement.
“Did you just look me in the eyes and knock my cup off the table?” Boil stared at his General in awed shock.
Obi-Wan continued to drink his tea, the bowl followed next, this one landing in his lap. Boil jumped up, as the hot liquid seeped into the seams of his armour.
Waxer started laughing, as he grabbed napkins to try to stop the liquid from getting everywhere. “Vod don’t get into a war with a tooka, especially one that is a Jedi.”
Boil sent his General a glare, but couldn’t help the laughter. “You win this round.”
Obi-Wan continued drinking his tea.
“It was nice knowing you.” Wooley stood and patted him on the shoulder. “I’ll make sure to add your name to my remembrances.” The rest of the vod chuckled, following each other out of the mess, Cody was pretty sure bets were already being placed on which one of them was going to take Boil out first, and how.
Cody adored his Mate, and loved the man dearly, but when he was in a mood, and the tooka was out, he was a pain in the shebs. There was one moment, while working on reports he kept knocking Cody’s pen onto the floor, it wasn’t until the third time he realized that Obi-Wan was doing it on purpose a) because he could and b) to check out Cody’s ass … when caught he would just give him a smile and went back to reading.
“You’re in a playful mood.”
“That’s what you said last night, dear.” Obi-Wan gave him a wink, before finishing his tea and leaving the Mess, he actually had to get some work done.
They had been sent out to Utapau to check on rumors about Grievous, and he wanted to do more in depth research on the planet. Anakin had been called back to Coruscant, the timing was ill advised, but when the Chancellor called, they couldn’t say no.
The two of them had another talk before the 501st left, about past influences. Anakin was more determined to figure out what was going on, and would report back. At the moment they were keeping it between them, as they weren’t even sure who to trust with such a potential treasonous accusation. With a contingency that if something happened, Anakin needed to find Mace, and let him know their suspicions.
In truth he had a bad feeling about the whole thing.
He came to a screeching halt when a red dot crossed over his path. He was going to let Cody hurt Boil, though he had to give the Lieutenant credit, he was persistent. As much work as he had, the best course of action would be to turn around and walk away.
The red dot fluttered across the floor, up the wall, then moved down the hallway.
He felt his body twitch, he really didn’t have time for this.
It disappeared around the corner, only to sneak back, before disappearing again.
It pulled at Obi-Wan as if it was a string.
There were times he despised his inner tooka. When he had taken Anakin to see Shmi, he had the chance to learn more about his own parents. He spent hours with his mom, discovering how much he was like her, curious and filled with love for family. She also had a mischievous side that he inherited, along with the irrational tug that had him pouncing on string and little red dots.
After he transformed to save his men, and later Mated with Cody, he had been freer to showcase his Dragon tendencies, and the men were enjoying every moment. At one point he had found a stuffed toy on his desk, along with a collar and bell. Cody’s laughter over the toy had turned into a choked moan, when he put on the collar … he really should send Wooley a thank you note.
He refused to actually try and catch the red dot, he needed to retain some dignity. Instead followed it, wondering exactly how Boil was pulling this particular stunt off, and where he was leading him. He found himself just outside one of the back cargo bays, where they kept broken equipment that needed to be fixed, and overflow storage.
With a sigh, knowing full well his men were up to something, he flicked the switch. He stood in the doorway, staring at the empty room. All the equipment had been removed, and most of the storage crates had been scattered around, some stacked in fours, others laid out in a pattern, but most were up against the walls. He stepped inside, the door closing behind him, following the red dot to where Longshot was sitting with Waxer and Boil on a set of crates that were stacked three across, two high. He glanced to see Wooley and Crys, on another set of crates those five across, they gave him a wave, motioning towards Cody.
“Commander?” He glanced around, to see a few more of the 212th off to the side, Mythic was perched on a couple of crates ready to take notes. Snap was sitting near an area that was blocked off from the rest of the room.
“You need a safe place to transform.” He took off his bucket and set it on one of the crates. “Snap and Kix, emphasized that for your physical and mental health you need to be a Dragon more often. As we can’t predict battles, or time on a planet you can go running around, we came up with a Dragon Den.”
Obi-Wan closed his eyes, overwhelmed by the caring of his men. “I … ”
Cody moved towards his Mate. “I scraped the equipment that needed repair, and then made sure this cargo bay was closed to only certain personnel. Boil and Waxer got rid of all the cameras, plus added extra sensors in the hallway to make sure no unauthorized person comes to close.”
“Vor entye.” He reached up pulling Cody closer until their foreheads touched. He then looked at all his men, pushing out his contentment so they could feel his joy and love he had for them. “Ner verde.”
“Cuun Jetii.” Waxer gave him a beaming smile. “We also have a spot you can change, so the commander doesn’t kill us if we see you naked.” He waved towards the area where Snap was keeping watch.
Obi-Wan laughed, as the Commander growled. “I appreciate your thoughtfulness for my modesty.”
“More concerned about not doing drills for ten hours.” Boil gave a side eye towards the Commander. “We also set up the containers in a way that if anyone did see this place it looks as if it’s an obstacle course for us clones. But the crates are far enough apart, that the Dragon could jump and run around. It should give you some exercise.”
“We have a few hours, General.” Snap motioned towards the enclosed area. “There’s a table for your clothes, and it’s big enough for you to transform. Besides, I have yet to see the Dragon, so off you go.”
Cody took his hand, leading him to the private area, where he could undress. Obi-Wan handed over his Lightsaber, then stripped down to nothing. Cody gave him an appreciative look, stealing a quick kiss. He stepped back, took a few calming breaths, reached out to the Force finding that one spot inside him …
He stepped out from the private area, making his way to the large open space, placed his front paws out in front of him, ass in the air as he stretched, and then went up on all toes, spine arched, everything popping into place. With a quick glance around the cargo bay his men did a good job, setting up the area, it looked like a normal storage facility, but there were many places he could let the tooka out and play.
Obi-Wan leaned down, snout poking his medic. “Hello there.”
“You’re magnificent.” Snap reached out and scratched the nose awed by the creature. He was bigger than he anticipated, despite what Kix had described to him. The 501st medic was right, about needing more time in his natural form. “And I’m going to order you to do this after missions!”
“General we got you something!” Waxer laughed as they moved some of the crates to reveal a big ball of rope. “It took us weeks to make it this big.”
His eyes focused on the ball instantly, and before he could even contemplate what he was doing, was across the room paws snagging it, when it was pulled out of range he ran after it.
Cody sat on one of the crates, watching as a team of his vod played with the oversize ball of rope. Snap joined him, taking notes but couldn’t help the chuckle. “I get it now.” He glanced at the Commander, who only gave him a nod. “There’s something we need to discuss.”
“What?” Cody glanced at him, not liking the Medic’s tone.
“When I gave you that full exam.”
Cody grimaced not wanting to remember. Snap had wanted to make sure Mating to a Dragon hadn’t changed him in any form. He hadn’t been poked and prodded that much since he left Kamino.
“I found something.” Snap handed him the private datapad, pulling up the scans. “It’s a chip, and I have no idea why it’s there.” Cody stared at him, then down at the scans. There it was in black and white, a small square chip located in his brain. He glanced at the medic. “And you’re not the only one who has it. We all do.”
Kote looked back down at the datapad, then filed the report to his private server, and made a mental note to talk to his fellow Commanders. He may have found a way to end this war and he’ll need his vode to do it.