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for-the-sake-of-color · 25 days

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AAYYEE the 218th's Urban Crisis Response's very own Crisis Company as a revamped Draw the Squad!

after a year and a half worth of drawing practice, I like to think I've come a long ways, though my squad themselves have changed very little

Though if you're new here, perhaps some introductions are in order? Below the Cut

Captain Jet - Leader of the 218th's Crisis Company and Heartbeat of the Family

Captain Jet, formerly known as Corporal Jettison before he lost nearly the entirety of his Company during the first battle of Geonosis, only gained his rank due to the combination of a field promotion and a paper pusher rushing to get the 218th put back together with what forces they could get their hands on after their devastating first deployment, without vetting his Shiny New Promotion through the proper channels. Nevertheless, Captain Jet is dedicated to his soldiers, and to being the Kindest man he can be, not wanting any to suffer the burden of loss and shame he felt as everyone he ever grew up with died in the first week of the war.

Lieutenant Margo - Second in Command of Crisis Company and one of the Finest Technician's money can Make

The first Addition to the newly reformed Crisis Company, Margo left behind her own squad command to be the second to her Captain, Jet. Trusting in his judgement, Margo would follow him to hell and back, though for the first half of the war she largely follows him to a glorified guard posting for the republics embassy and shipping warehouses on Brentaal. She's a fine Leader and an even better Tech, though her specialties lay much closer to Mechanics than to Code-breaking. The only thing that tops her technical skills is her love of having a Fun Time. Body and Mind of a Super Soldier, personality of 'if a frat-boy was a girl'

Specialist Nihlus Brek - Ancient Sith Archivist and a loving Guardian of his squad with a Sadistic streak

After being shown selfless kindness by the Captains personal squad after the loss of his clan and his rough awakening from a forced stasis, with the 'permission' of the Jedi Council, Sith Lord Nihlus Brek now serves in the GAR under the command of Captain Jet, the only man who's orders he follows without hesitation or question, killing or healing as needed for the man he now calls 'Alor and Brother. Though it is true he holds love for his squad, the real secret of his unwavering loyalty is the Blood Oath he swore to Captain Jet, his orders now bound by sith alchemy, Nihlus has given his leader unwavering control over both their destinies.

Sergeant Cynic - Heavy Weapons Expert and Artist with an Attitude

Though an Urban Crisis Response unit doesn't particularly need a soldier who's second greatest passion in life is blowing things up with his rocket launcher, Cynic earn his place on the squad through the power of nepotism. That is, Margo's one condition for leaving her previous squad behind with little complaint, was that she got to bring her favorite brother with. Although his name may suggest otherwise, this pessimist (though he considers himself a 'realist') has a love for all things pretty and colorful, and quite the talent for copying it down in his small sketchbook, always making room for his small assortment of watercolors in his combat kit.

Corporal Lake - Spotter of the Squads Sharpshooter duo and self proclaimed Ethics Committee

Lake is likely the only one of the Captains squad that, once you get to know them, could be described as the republics ideal of a Good Soldier. That is, Lake is one of the few who spares even a second or third thought for the success of the mission and collateral casualties over the lives of his fellow squad mates. He is probably the only one who could say he would not give a thousand lives just to spare those he cares for. Nevertheless, although he has his own personal misgivings over the result of some of their missions, Lake is grateful for his life, for his family, and for the many chances he is given to fight another day. And, as always, his Captains word is Law.

Corporal Torch - Deadeye of the Squads Sharpshooter Duo and resident Troublemaker

"We're here for a fun time, not a long time!" Are common words for Torch to say before getting his ass beat for replacing Cynics fancy face lotion with space Nair or being put on 'Fresher duty for his ballsey yet comedic insubordination. Captain Jet often says the only thing that stops Torch from being demoted to maintenance duty altogether is his skill with a rifle, hitting targets your typical human would have needed the force to even perceive. Though in truth, Jet would not trade Torch's levity and loyalty for the galaxy itself. Torch and Lake are mirrors of one another, by choice, as it brings them great joy to be mistaken for one another by not only natural born humans, but also unfamiliar clones. As some of the last living soldiers from their original bloc of trained sharpshooting specialists, they refuse to be parted from one another, unable to bear the thought of losing the last of their batch.

Field Medic Heron - Resident Healer with a Big Secret

Heron tired of front line Medicine fairly quickly, as his zest for death did not hold up to losing his brothers one by one, upon joining the Urban Crisis Response Specialists of the 218th, his steadfast work and easy bedside manner landed him his place in the Captains squad rather easily, and he took rather well to glorified guard duty. That is, until the fateful day where an assassin droid hidden among their cargo took his leg, though in a feat of the butterfly effect, directly led to the squad meeting their Sith. His secret? On shore leave, Heron likes to kill people. In order to stay in line with both his own ideas of morality and his Captains idea's of ethics, not that Jet hears of his activities from the medic directly, he dresses in plainclothes and limps around, waiting for some unfortunate mugger to make their move. Heron craves the feeling of holding someone on the brink of life, having power over their fate, and then denying them the salvation they seek. And maybe sometimes he takes a bite or two, but that's his business.

Specialist Sprig - Explosive Ordinance Disposal Technician and Company Spymaster

Specialist Sprig, formerly of the 398th Ordinance Corps, got his name as a result of a growth tube malfunction in his infancy, leaving him 2 inches shorter than your average trooper. Despite this 'defect' as the Kaminoans would refer to it, Sprig would rank among the top of his batch with his skills in bomb diffusal, having a deft touch and a keen eye for detail. In a cruel and ironic twist of fate, Sprig's greatest fear is dying in an explosion, vaporization, desintigration, you name it. Reassignment to the 218th and his posting of glorified guard duty was a dream come true. Proton bombs vs backyard terrorists? Sprig knows exactly which he would take in an average day. With his keen eyes, sharp ears, and strong memory, Sprig also excels at information collection. His shorter stature and friendly demeanor is often very encouraging for those who have a burden they'd like to share, though one has to keep in mind, he has the ear of the Captain one short comm call away.

#star wars #star wars the clone wars #star wars ocs #clone trooper ocs #clone trooper #sith oc #crisis company tag #draw the squad #jet tag #margo tag #nihlus tag #nihlus brek #lake tag #torch tag #cynic tag #heron tag #sprig tag #my art

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jgvfhl · 21 days

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The Number Lads Have Midnight Crises

And it's much tastier than the title would have you believe. Yes, folks, this is it! The final chapter. I hope this ties things up nicely enough for you, and thank you all so much who have read along with the lads and their adventures.

Words: ~5500 Warnings: None! Link to Master List of Chapters on Tumblr Link to full story on Ao3

Double Trouble: kinda wild that it’s almost been a year since everything almost went completely to shit

Loopy: has it??? Force…

RedBoiiiii: holy shIT you’re RIGHT

Leafs: I’m shocked it’s all held together as well as it has

CrispyDomino: me too tbh

CrispyDomino: suddenly adding almost two million citizens to the Republic’s census is a lot

Loopy: well it wasn’t that sudden

RedBoiiiii: yeah they’re still rolling it out right? Supposed to finish by the new year festivals

high fives: That was the plan I saw on the holonews

#1 Boy: oh!!! Who has their new ID yet???

CrispyDomino: I think Skywalker pulled strings to get ours to us so quickly

high fives: no i think Senator Amidala pulled strings FOR him

CrispyDomino: true

d0nut man: the 118th got ours!

RedBoiiiii: i think we’re getting ours in rancor next week??

Loopy: i’ve got mine

DressedtotheNines: 212th got ours a couple months back

Double Trouble: AND THE NEW IDS DON’T HAVE TO HAVE GENDER MARKINGS???

Leafs: That is how they work

Submarine: Nova Corps got ours just this week :)

Double Trouble: I CAN JUST BE AN ENTITY!!!!!

RedBoiiiii: YEAH BABYYYYY

high fives: NICE

#1 Boy: right??? so nice!!! and you can pick a last name??

d0nut man: you can use your designation as a second name!

Leafs: Oh, yes, that was one of the updates to Republic law meant to accommodate us.

Loopy: oh sweet. not doing it.

high fives: yeah i already got a first name for that

CrispyDomino: yeah we kinda had an easy choice for second names

high fives: Domino Brothers!

RedBoiiiii: awesome!!!

Loopy: i’m waiting for it…

Leafs: Waiting for…?

#1 Boy: yeah didn’t you say you got your ID card Loops?

RedBoiiiii: OHHHHHH WAIT COMMANDERRRRRR

Loopy: there it is

RedBoiiiii: WAHT IS YOUR SECOND NAAAAAME DO YOU HAVE YOUR NEW ID???

Leafs: ah

Double Trouble: lakdjlkglskd oh my gods you people XD

#1 Boy: oh :P

RedBoiiiii: WOW okay you idiots, i feel so seen

DEATH: Why is this any of your business?

RedBoiiiii: Because!!!!

d0nut man: Wait is it the same as your batchers?

RedBoiiiii: OH RIGHT YOU SERVE UNDER HIS BROTHER

Double Trouble: ELEVENSIES, WHAT IS CMDR THIRE’S SECOND NAME

DEATH: I’m not sure if I should be happy you’re finally using your brains

DEATH: or disappointed it took you all that long to remember I have batchmates.

CrispyDomino: lol

RedBoiiiii: okay in MY DEFENSE!!!! I still don’t even know where cmdr Havoc sleeps

Double Trouble: commanders don’t have lives outside of the command wym

RedBoiiiii: how am i supposed to remember about batchmates???

DEATH: Do-si-do, if I don’t have a life outside of command, what the hell am I doing here?

Leafs: I ask myself that all the time, more or less

Double Trouble: Numbers

RedBoiiiii: yeah you didn’t have a choice in us

DEATH: So I’ve discovered

high fives: he’s still dodging the question!!!!

#1 Boy: Commander Thire Nitta!

d0nut man: yeah same for Nero

Loopy: what…?

DressedtotheNines: That’s a very normal name for a batch called Chaos

RedBoiiiii: yeah… >_>

CrispyDomino: oh my gods

high fives: NO… really????

DEATH: Domino, think very carefully

RedBoiiiii: WHAT IS IT DOMINO

Double Trouble: WE MUST KNOW!!!!

CrispyDomino: Hey, who’s gonna be on Trip Zip soon? We can get together, hang out

high fives: there’s a fun pizza joint we found a few weeks ago

Double Trouble: NOW WHO’S DODGING THE QUESTION?????

DEATH: Good thinking, Domino.

~scene break~

Of the things Trees had experienced and/or discovered in his life—mainly including those things experienced and/or discovered after meeting Sevenset and Do-si-do—he had to admit, this was a new one. He opened his comms messages again, double-checking that he had the address and the meeting time correct for this informal Numbers meeting. It was in-person, which was always nice, but it was also being hosted at 22:30 hours, which, even for clones, was a bit late at night to be going out somewhere. They were diurnal, after all.

But no, that was when Domino had said this place was open. Trees looked up at the building in front of him. It was on a lower level, and the light coming through the storefront windows was warm and inviting. The sign blinking purple and green above the door read Pizza Crisis, with a portion of a pizza pie replacing part of the letter peth in the first word. Cute. He wasn’t sure he was really hungry for pizza, but he could probably get a drink or something small to share with the others.

The doors slid open when he approached, and it didn’t take him long to spot the others when he stepped inside. The Pizza Crisis restaurant’s interior was mostly round, with a flat wall that led to the kitchen behind a curved counter at the far end of the large room. Booths and tables filled the floor. The Numbers already gathered were seated around a circular table off to one side, probably meant for larger parties like theirs. Elevensies waved him over.

It was… really nice to see everyone out of their armor. Even those who hadn’t chosen to leave the service had changed into civvies for this. Do-si-do had discovered they simply adored long skirts, so it wasn’t a surprise to see them wearing one with a cropped hoodie that Trees thought looked chilly.

“Trees!” Sevenset smiled, just like always. “Glad you could make it.”

“I’m glad I don’t have to get up for early classes tomorrow,” he replied, taking the empty chair between Loops and Elevensies. “Is this everyone we’re expecting?”

He’d seen a few of the RSVPs on their group comms chain. Fours and Nines were off-world for the time being. Fours was at school too, but on Cerea, studying agriculture and botany. General Mundi had made it perfectly clear that any of his troopers who chose to would find a warm welcome on his home planet, and many had taken the offer. His school had a break coming up, so he might come back to Trip Zip then. The commander had only said something about having other plans, and not even Elevensies had been able to wheedle them out of him. Nines had sent a message that morning with the news that he wouldn’t be there, since he had the evening shift for the week where he worked at one of Coruscant’s many animal rescue shelters. Apparently, the 212th’s penchant for running into random wildlife on nearly every ground campaign was a marketable skill. Zero was on-world, but apparently too busy to stop by that night.

“Yeah, this is it,” Loops confirmed. He looked downright cozy in a grey knit sweater with a high collar. “How are classes?” he added, turning to look over at him.

Trees shrugged. “It’s fun, honestly.”

“That’s awesome,” Do-si-do said. “You’re gonna be planning buildings in no time!”

“Uh…” Trees said. He had just started his second semester studying architecture and material engineering on Coruscant—well, he was on Coruscant. The university was on Naboo, and eventually, he would be too. “There are a lot of in-between steps, but. Sure.”

“I suspect you’ll be in high demand with all the destruction the war caused,” Fives said, stirring his glass of soda with his straw. His twin nodded next to him.

“Maybe.” Trees looked around the restaurant, now noticing a few more tables occupied by recognizably nocturnal or at least more crepuscular species. Looking to the counter against the flat wall, he saw a pair of cathars speaking to each other while wiping down some glasses. “Have you all ordered anything at all?” he asked.

“Just drinks,” Sevenset said, pointing to the glass of pink-colored something in front of him. “Server said they’d be back soon, though.” He reached over to a black square inlaid in the table in front of Trees and pressed it. A holographic menu sprang up. “Have a look.”

“I’m not sure I want pizza this late at night,” Trees said, scrolling through the first few menu options. Why was this section labeled Crises for Every Occasion?

“Scroll to the side,” Elevensies urged. “They do dessert too! I’m getting the Sweet ‘n’ Salty Quandary.”

Whatever those words meant, Trees wasn’t going to question it. He flicked the menu over to the side, and a new section popped up. It was labeled Quandaries for Any Mood. A quick skim revealed Elevensies was right, and it was entirely desserts. Judging by the pictures, they were mainly cookie-based, with the occasional appearance of ice cream or milkshakes. Now this… this wasn’t so bad.

“Why are they called that?” he asked. “The… crisis and quandary thing.”

Loops shrugged. “Dunno.”

Fives spoke up. “It’s a joke, sorta. It’s so you can say ‘Oh, I’m having a crisis in the middle of the night,’ and you’re actually having a pizza.”

“Yeah, I think it was created during a sleep-deprived brainstorming session,” Echo said. “But the food’s amazing.”

After a few minutes of browsing the menu while the others chatted about their lives (Do-si-do always had some fun stories from cosmetology school to tell), one of the cathars made their way back over to their table with a datapad in hand. The thin coat of fur across their body was pale, with brown stripes and whorls along the arms. Their hair was dyed a gradient of midnight blue over the top to sky blue layers underneath, and the dim lights overhead caught glints of metal piercings all over their ears, nose, lips, and brows.

“You all ready to order?” Their voice was slightly raspy and had a darker quality about it that somehow matched the environment very well.

“Yep!” Sevenset said as they all nodded. “We’re all here now.”

The cathar—for the life of him, Trees couldn’t settle on any obvious outward gender presentation, and was silently begging this person to introduce themselves—nodded with a smile. “Cool. I’m Asterix, by the way. So.” They held up their datapad. “Are you having crises or quandaries tonight?”

“Both!” Do-si-do said with a smile.

“Alright, nice,” Asterix replied. “Crises first, if you don’t mind.”

Sevenset started, ordering a Naberrie Crisis with extra olives for him and Do-si-do to share. Fives and Echo ordered something called an Carnivore’s Omnivore Crisis to share, and Elevensies got a “personal crisis” with sausage and mushrooms. That was apparently the smallest sized pizza they served here. Cute. Then, Asterix went around for the Quandaries, again starting with Sevenset. One by one, they placed their dessert orders. Trees had settled on a True Midnight Quandary, since it had the most chocolate of anything on the menu. He really loved being able to have real food now. No more rations, no more tasteless nutrient bars… and he really loved chocolate. He also requested some water, since he hadn’t been present to order drinks earlier. Asterix finished with their orders and left them with the message that they would be ready shortly.

When they were on their own again, Loops spoke up. “So how’s the service lately?” he asked, looking towards the three ARC troopers.

“It’s good,” Fives said with confidence. “I think we’re mostly through the stage of dozens of troopers leaving daily, so the ranks have finally had some time to settle.”

His brother nodded in agreement. “Yeah, hopefully the numbers will stay where they are for the next year or so. They’re a good bunch, though.”

“And there are still thousands of kiddos on Kamino left to grow up,” Sevenset added. “Luckily, they have some options now.”

“That partnership with Naboo and Alderaan, right?” Echo said.

Trees recalled the headlines from a couple months ago. Kamino’s cloning facilities were obviously shut down, and many of the scientists had been slowly trickling out to other scientific facilities around the galaxy where their skills would be useful. That still left all the clones, from embryos to teenagers, who now had no war to fight. Naboo and Alderaan had opened their first of what would hopefully be many education centers on each planet, created with the intention of taking the strain off of Kamino’s dwindling staffing resources.

Sevenset went on. “Yeah, that’s the idea. The older ones are going first, usually around five to ten standard. The littlest ones we’re keeping on-world for the time being. There are still plenty of brothers left there to take care of them, and a few of the nattie trainers were kept on too.”

“I’ve heard a lot of medics are basically retiring there,” Loops said.

“Kind of, yeah,” Sevenset said. “I wouldn’t call it retirement, exactly, but it’s a hell of a break from field medicine.”

“And you get vacation days, now,” Do-si-do added with a smile.

“And we get vacation days now!” Sevenset beamed. “And something resembling a salary.”

“Resembling,” Fives repeated dryly.

“Yeah, they’re doing their best,” Echo said. “Two million new citizens is a lot to handle.”

“At least we get free education,” Trees pointed out. He hadn’t paid a credit to apply to or attend his university. “For now, I guess.” He held no illusions that the charity would last forever, but it was a good start.

“Yeah, for now,” Do-si-do said.

There was a moment of easy silence, then something occurred to Trees. He cast his mind back, trying to remember the most recent conversations from the group comm chain. With a small frown, he looked at Domino. “Did you ever tell us why the commander’s last name was odd?”

The two of them smiled knowingly.

“They didn’t!” Sevenset said, pointing at them accusingly.

Do-si-do jostled Fives’ shoulder. “C’mon… you can tell us off the record.”

Elevensies clasped his hands under his chin. “Please!”

“Alright, alright,” Fives said. He took a sip from his drink and leaned forward conspiratorially. “Echo had to do some digging to confirm it, but we figured it out. The Chaos Batch all chose the last name Nitta, right?”

They all nodded, all leaning in as well.

Echo picked up the story seamlessly. “Turns out, there’s only one family on Coruscant with that last name.” He paused for dramatic effect, and Trees had to admit, the effect was good. “Mira and Saleha Nitta.”

Sevenset and Do-si-do’s jaws fell open, and Elevensies gasped. “The noodle ladies?” Sevenset asked, his eyes already lit up with glee.

“Yeah, the noodle ladies,” Fives grinned.

“Did they adopt them, or what?” Loops asked.

“They can do that?” Elevensies wanted to know. He looked from Loops back to Domino.

Echo answered, “No. Well—technically, yes. But that’s not what happened.”

“Yeah, wait—” Sevenset cut in. “They’re already part of a Mandalorian clan, remember? Clan… Ves? Their trainer adopted them.”

“Mandalorian space is still outside the Republic’s jurisdiction,” Trees pointed out.

“Yeah, but clan ties are still recognized under Republic law,” Sevenset replied. “So why didn’t they choose Ves as a second name?”

Fives and Echo shrugged together. “Dunno,” Fives said. “Their choice, obviously.”

There was a pensive second of silence while they all processed the information. Trees supposed it made sense. That command batch had been living in the Noodle Bar for quite a while before the Numbers ever discovered it. Clearly, Saleha and Mira cared a great deal for the four of them as well, as evidenced by their willingness to help Elevensies and Ahsoka on Sixes’ word alone, not to mention the whole thing with the chips and Palpatine.

Do-si-do hmph-ed quietly, sipping at their drink through the straw. As their eyes drifted over the restaurant to Trees’ back, they paused. If Trees had noticed, he knew the others had as well. Do-si-do shook their head, letting the straw drop from their lips. “Dude, I’m telling you, he’s Force-sensitive,” they said, mainly to Sevenset next to them.

“What?” their friend answered.

Do-si-do just grinned. Then they sat up tall and stuck a hand up in the air, waving. “Hi, Commanders!”

The whole table of them turned to look. Sure enough, the four very recognizable figures of the Chaos Batchers had appeared near the front doors to the building. Two of them had left the service entirely. Nero was still commanding the 118th, but Sixes had mentioned that recently he’d been looking into expanding into other methods of earning a living. Trees had his suspicions those other methods might skirt dangerously close to illegality, but he wasn’t going to question it. Sixes, while not an active military member anymore, was still employed training the pilots coming off of Kamino or out of the civilian population. From what Trees could tell, he liked it well enough. Considering the man’s military file, he deserved the break. Bacara and Thire were out completely, though Trees didn’t know much else beyond that.

Sixes broke away from his brothers to walk over to their table. It was still weird seeing him in plainclothes instead of uniform, but at least his color palette hadn’t changed much. He still wore mainly black, greys, and dark blues, and had recently found a leather jacket somewhere that he’d been wearing frequently. He had it on tonight, anyway. “I had wondered which new pizza place Domino had discovered,” he said when he was close enough. “Good choice.”

“How long have you known about this place?” Do-si-do asked.

Sixes shrugged. “Couple years. It was one of the best places open after we were done with work during the war. That, and Nero’s got some personal vendetta against getting a full night of sleep, so coming here kept him off the streets.”

That seemed to make sense with the other information they had on Nero.

“How’s training?” Fives asked.

“Good,” the commander replied with a small smile. It seemed like he’d softened a bit since leaving active service. They saw more smiles and received fewer reminders of their own mortality, at any rate. “Feels better knowing I’m not sending them out to certain death. Just probable combat,” he added.

The three ARCs still in service all nodded. “Hear hear,” Echo said quietly.

“How are the little ones, Sevens?” he asked.

Sevenset smiled, though not with the full brilliance he sometimes gave. “Hopeful,” he said after a second to think.

That brought a smile to everyone’s face. The commander dipped his chin slightly. “Well, that’s about as good as it gets, right?” They all nodded in general concurrence. “How’s everyone else?” he went on. “How’s school going?” He looked around at Do-si-do, Trees, Loops, and Elevensies.

“I get to take a semester abroad in a few months!” Elevensies announced. “We’re going to Kashyyyk for our macrobiology class.”

“That would be the place to go for macrobiology,” Fives said.

“Yeah, they have giant spiders!” Elevensies said, sounding far too excited over something so horrible. But, to each their own. This was why Trees was studying things that weren’t alive.

“Why are you here?” Do-si-do asked instead of answering the question. “Having a midnight crisis on this fine Tuangsday?”

Sixes hummed, appearing to consider his options before answering. Curious. Finally, he turned around to find his batch. They’d been seated not too far away at a round table much smaller than the one the Numbers currently occupied. “Hey, Cara! Why are we here again?”

The former Marines Commander looked up. An uncharacteristically wide smile split his face, bending his tattoo slightly. “I got engaged!”

His other batchmates smiled with him, clearly happy for him. After a second for the announcement to sink in, the Numbers joined in.

“That’s awesome!” Sevenset said, looking between Sixes and Bacara.

“Who?” Do-si-do demanded, a little more insistent. “When? Do you need a stylist?”

Bacara blinked at them, slightly taken aback. “Uh… neither of us has hair?”

“I can do makeup!”

Sixes raised an open palm towards Do-si-do, a smile still hovering on his face. “Alright, take it easy. It just happened today.” When they sat back in their seat, momentarily quieted, he explained further. “It’s one of Saleha’s grandsons, Mubi.”

“Well, at least he won’t have to change his last name,” Sevenset said. The look he gave was an obvious provocation. His typical Look What I Can Do expression, waiting for a response.

The commander was silent for a second, never having lost the ability to make his expression entirely unshifting and unreadable when he so chose. Then he smirked. “Took you long enough to figure it out.”

“Hey, we did all the hard work,” Fives pointed out. “He just begged us for the intel.”

“Yeah, I think of you four as one unit of delinquency,” Sixes replied, gesturing with one hand to Domino, Do-si-do, and Sevenset where they all sat in a row around the table.

Loops snorted, bringing his hand up to muffle his giggles. Trees smiled, watching Elevensies dissolve into quiet laughter as well. That was quite a way to describe those four. Trees liked it.

Echo put his hand over his chest, a kind of mimicry of his armor paint. “What? Me?”

“Yes, even you. Delinquency only succeeds when people understand which rules to break and exactly how.”

Echo didn’t have a response to that. Fives supplied one. “I mean, that has been our M.O. in Torrent since we got there. He’s got a point.”

Trees felt a tap on the back of his chair, and looked up at the commander. Loops was doing the same. “Trees, Loops. How’s school?”

Trees nodded. “I like it. And it’s never tried to kill me, so that’s nice.”

Do-si-do grimaced. “The one thing I think entering customer service will change for me,” they muttered.

“Um, yeah. School’s good,” Loops said, his eyes on the tabletop. “I like the professors.” He fidgeted with the cuffs of his sweater. Something was up. “I uh… I started seeing someone from one of my classes.”

Sevenset and Do-si-do both leaned over to him, their expressions lighting up with curiosity. “Really?” Sevenset asked, nudging Loops with an elbow. “That’s really exciting!”

“Yeah!” Do-si-do seconded.

It was good news to hear. There was a ripple of positive comments around the table. After an entire existence being… whatever they had been in the eyes of the law, it was nice to hear about one of them having such normal experiences.

“Hope it’s okay, I guess,” the commander added with a shrug.

They all looked over to him with varying expressions of confusion.

“Thanks?” Loops said, his brows furrowed.

“You’re welcome,” he replied like nothing had happened. “I’m going to go enjoy my quandary with my brothers.” He reached out and ruffled Elevensies’ hair, then wandered back over to his batchmates.

There was silence for a moment, then Sevenset said, “I will never understand him. I really had hope sometimes, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen.”

“I think that’s as nice an endowment as you’re gonna get, Loops,” Echo said.

“He’s not my commander,” Loops pointed out. “I’m not begging for his approval to go out with someone.”

“Okay, but I’m begging to know more about this person,” Do-si-do said, leaning forward again. “Spill.”

So, for the next few minutes, Loops, only a little begrudging, answered a slew of questions about this new person in his life. He seemed to enjoy it, as much as he rolled his eyes and huffed at the questions Sevenset and Do-si-do asked. Together, they learned that this person was human, and she was from Alderaan, and her name was Meila. She was studying engineering, and Loops had met her in one of his mathematics courses. She sounded very nice, from what Trees could tell. The interview finally came to a close when the food arrived. Asterix was accompanied by the second cathar Trees had seen earlier. This person had a larger build, reddish brown fur, and darker hair.

“Three crises, coming in,” Asterix announced, setting down little metal stands on the table. As they named the orders, their companion would place the correct pizza down on the stand closest to its recipients. When all the pizzas were set out, Asterix said, “And Obelix and I will be right back with the Quandaries for the rest of you.” Looking around at those of them who had ordered pizzas, they added, “We’ll hold off on yours until you’ve finished your Crises.”

“Thank you!” Elevensies beamed.

The conversation thinned slightly with several of them now engaged in eating their pizzas. But, those several were among the most talkative of the group, so the table was never quiet for very long. After a couple minutes, Asterix and Obelix returned with quandaries for Trees and Loops, since the rest were still demolishing their pizzas.

“I didn’t know you all knew the Chaos Commanders over there,” Asterix commented, tilting their head towards the table of four nearby. They must have seen some part of the conversation with the commander. “Those four have been familiar faces here for a while, if you’ll forgive the expression.”

“Oh, yeah,” Echo said.

“Well, we know one of them better than the others,” Fives added.

“I used to serve under one of them,” Elevensies said.

The two cathar nodded. Asterix smiled. “Nice. Well, enjoy. We’ll be back with the other desserts later.”

Trees looked at the beautiful collection of chocolate on the plate in front of him. He was absolutely coming back here during finals week when he stayed up too late studying. The True Midnight Quandary was truly a wonderful thing. The base was a chocolate cookie about eight inches across, studded with gooey chocolate chunks. Atop that sat chocolate mousse in a slowly melting hemisphere about half the size of the cookie. The entire plate was sprinkled with chocolate shavings, and had a generous few stripes of chocolate sauce drizzled over everything.

“Do you think that’s enough chocolate, Trees?” Loops asked pointedly. “I think they missed a spot.”

“It looks like a black hole,” Fives remarked, flipping a string of cheese back on top of his pizza slice.

Trees lifted his chin. He grabbed the bundle of cutlery wrapped in a purple napkin and spread the napkin on his lap. “I didn’t make comments about Loops ordering a cookie that’s not even baked, so I think you guys should just leave me to my black hole over here.”

“My cookie is gonna be amazing,” Loops replied. His order was called something like A Stone-Cold, Half-Baked Quandary, and started with a circle—smaller than Trees’ cookie, thankfully—of raw chocolate chip cookie dough. On top of that were two scoops of ice cream, one chocolate, one vanilla, a dash of rainbow sprinkles, a flower of whipped cream on each scoop, and a drizzle of caramel sauce. Trees was sure that, if one actually liked raw cookie dough, it would be amazing.

Trees was not of such a mind, however, and instead cut off a chunk of his still-warm cookie with his fork and put it in his mouth. It was perfect. Now that everyone had something to eat, the conversation did die down a bit, but never too much. Elevensies started telling them about a holoseries one of his old squadmates was working on. Apparently, he’d gotten a job with one of the local film studios on Coruscant shortly after the war had ended officially, and this was the first project he was part of. It was still nice to hear about clones slowly integrating, even after all these months had passed.

Even the clones who had been imprisoned during the war—mostly for deserting or something of that kind—were slowly being put on parole as their cases were brought up for reexamination. The first few had made headlines. The next dozen or so, not as much, but the news had gotten around quickly among the troopers anyways. News often did.

“Oh, hey,” Sevenset said during a pause in conversation. “Domino, how is Skywalker doing? He hasn’t been on the holonet so much lately.”

Echo smirked. “Probably because Senator Amidala’s maternity leave ended last month, and he’s been busy picking up some of the slack.”

“I’m sure he’ll have a whole bunch of cute pictures once he gets the time to post them,” Fives added. “The twins already have half the galaxy wrapped around their little fingers.”

“They’re so cute!” Elevensies said. “Leia looks so much like Gener–-uh, Mast–uh… her dad!” There was still a constant problem among clones as far as what to call their former superior officers. Skywalker was doubly confusing since he had left the Order altogether only a few months after Palpatine’s death.

“Yeah, I’m sure the Jedi will be fighting over who gets to train the little tykes later on,” Echo remarked.

“Everyone except Kenobi,” Fives cut in quietly. He smirked as he took another bite of pizza.

Echo continued. “Rex and Cody fighting over who got to hold them first was bad enough.”

“Oh, really?” Do-si-do asked around a bite of pizza. “Who won?”

“There’s two of them and two twins,” Fives said. “No one ‘won,’ much to their disappointment.”

His brother added, “It did make for funny pictures, though—the two of them glaring at each other while holding these adorable little babies.”

Sevenset and Do-si-do laughed quietly. “I wanna see those pictures,” Sevenset said.

Echo nodded. “I’ll put ‘em in the group chat tomorrow.”

Honestly, finding out Skywalker had had a secret wife—a secret pregnant wife—had been one of the tamer revelations when it came out. For Trees, anyway. The whole thing with Palpatine and the chips and Dooku seemed far more important in his memory, but that was understandable, since he’d risked his life going after Dooku. The public had no such connection. The press had stopped running regular stories about Palpatine’s death only a couple months after it happened, but the rest of the clone troopers like Trees were stuck trying to get brain surgery or something as fast as possible. Only months later, after most of them had gone under the knife—or the laser, really—did a group of doctors come forward with a better idea.

Actually, he remembered one of those doctors being the strange Kaminoan Zero and Domino had mentioned coming to Umbara to pick up the commander. Tal Mu, wasn’t it? He and his team had figured out how to alter some kind of bacteria to consume the chip while it was still inside the body. After witnessing some of the troopers in the 41st go through what looked like the worst cold imaginable, Trees was grateful for the surgery. But, once it had been proven effective, the injection became standard for chip-removal. Sevenset had told them that the injection was standard practice on all clones of a certain age now, and that some of the younger clones had started looking at it as a new milestone, since they weren’t allowed off Kamino until the chip was gone.

A little later, when the pizzas on the table had been thoroughly devoured (they still maintained elevated metabolisms, even if they weren’t all fighting a war), Asterix and Obelix returned with the rest of the desserts. Do-si-do looked particularly pleased with their Fruitcake Quandary, which had far more colors in it than Trees had expected a dessert to have. When they had passed out all the dishes and collected the empty pizza trays, Asterix set down a cardboard box in the middle of the table. The box was labeled with the restaurant’s logo, and had a clear window at the top into its contents.

“These are from us, free of charge,” they explained. “We know who you are, and we know what you did for the Republic.”

“Oh, sweet!” Do-si-do smiled, leaning forward to get a better look at the box. “Thanks!”

“Or you’re welcome, I guess?” Sevenset added, also leaning to look.

“Enjoy,” Asterix answered simply. Then the two cathars retreated back to the counter against the far wall.

Fives frowned slightly. “They didn’t do that when Echo and I were here before.”

“They were really busy last time,” his brother said. “What kind of cookies are they?”

Loops reached out and pulled the box closer while the other five dug into their Quandaries. Trees looked on beside him. Through the clear window in the box’s lid, he could see about a dozen cookies. They were pale sugar cookies, much smaller than the one he had just finished. The cookies all had the Republic cog baked in the center in a chocolate dough. The clarity of the design was impressive for the medium.

“Sugar cookies,” Loops answered. “We can divide them up so everyone can take some home.”

“Ooh, yes!” The exclamation was a little muffled, since Do-si-do’s mouth was full of chopped fruit and “fun-fetti” cookie.

Later still, when the plates were scraped clean, and they were all sitting quite contentedly, Sevenset tapped his fork against the edge of his glass with no great purpose, it seemed. But then he set down his fork and picked his glass up, nearly empty though it was. “Well,” he said, holding the glass towards the center of the table. “Glad we could meet up for pizza and cookies. Here’s to life.”

Echo and Fives picked their glasses up. “To thriving, not surviving,” they smiled, perfectly in unison without even looking at each other.

Do-si-do raised their glass with a familiar sly grin. “To hopefully getting invited to Bacara’s wedding, because the food there will be amazing.”

“Oh, you’re so right,” Sevenset agreed, lowering his voice slightly.

“To cookies, baked and otherwise,” Loops said tiredly. He was still smiling, though.

Elevensies repeated that sentiment with more enthusiasm about the baked option.

Trees sighed and raised his own glass. “To the Numbers, whatever we call ourselves. I’m… I’m glad we’re still around. Could’ve ended pretty ugly, but it didn’t.” A little pessimistic, maybe, but it was true.

The others nodded, finding no fault in it that they would speak aloud.

“To pretty endings, everyone,” Sevenset said decisively, moving his glass farther into the middle.

They repeated the phrase. They put their glasses together with a discordant jingling sound at the center of the table, and then drank what little they each had left inside them.

To pretty endings, indeed.

And behold! That is the end! As much as I wanted to include all the Numbers for this chapter, I... just couldn't figure out how to make it work and not get bogged down in dialogue. I think this works nicely. I can't remember who I saw first use that "chip-eating-bacteria" concept, but it wasn't an Owlie original here! Not claiming it's my idea, cuz it was not. Anyway. Tags! @23-bears @theultimatesandwich @thechaoticfanartist @soclonely @rndmpeep

#number lads #numbers gang #i write things sometimes #tcw fanfic #clone trooper ocs #star wars ocs #star wars fanfiction #arc trooper fives #arc trooper echo #domino twins #the clone wars #star wars #commander bacara

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