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sebastianthegiraffe · 4 months ago

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Cody's Two New Vod'ike

So, over the last year, I have been writing a Domino survives AU that I was calling In Our Brothers We Trust. I've talked about it on here before, but not a lot. However, I recently made the decision to make it into an actual series - The Domino Effect.

Also, as of today (6th September 2024), In Our Brothers We Trust is a year old, so in honour of that celebration, have a little fluffy something, featuring big brother Cody being protective of his little Domino twins (Rex does make a very brief appearance, but it's mostly Cody who's taking that Best Big Brother award today)...

The very first night that Fives and Echo spent with the 501st, and the near-instant bond they formed with Cody...

He’s at a bit of loose end, really. They’re back on the Resolute, but it’s all the 501st boys, and even though Cody is technically their CO, he tries not to interfere with the way Rex runs his legion.

Until he rounds a corner and bumps into Rex, “Oh, I figured you’d still be sorting out your new recruits, Captain.”

And maybe it’s just the amount of time they’ve spent around each other, but Rex looks frazzled, even with his helmet on, “I was. I sent them off to the bunks to sleep, but Jesse just reported that Echo’s missing.”

If Cody remembers correctly, Echo is the smaller, slighter shiny, bright and brilliant and also clearly very shy. Well, this gives him something to do if nothing else.

“I can look for him, if you have other things you need to do, Rex.”

Rex’s shoulders drop a little, “If you wouldn’t mind, Commander.”

Cody smiles, even though Rex can’t see it, “Of course, vod’ika. I’ll find your shiny.”

Finding a single trooper on a Venator-class starship is easier said than done, though. Especially since he’s a shiny, so no markings. Except then Cody remembers the eel-blood handprint that Rex plastered to Echo’s chestplate, and a few well-placed questions get him directed down to the storage decks.

Which is where he bumps into Sergeant Jesse of Torrent Company’s Cloudburst Platoon and the other shiny, Fives…

No sign of Echo…

“Commander,” Jesse says.

They both have their helmets tucked under an arm, and Fives looks particularly distraught, even as he snaps off a salute.

Cody removes his own helmet, “At ease. I take it you two are looking for our missing shiny?”

Jesse nods, “Yessir. ‘Case is searching the upper decks, but we got directed down here.”

Fives fidgets a little and Cody looks at him, “Where did you last see him, kid?”

Fives really does look miserable, but he answers readily enough, “Rex sent us off to the bunks to take a nap. I woke up to Jesse shaking me, but Echo was gone.”

Jesse grimaces apologetically, “Rex told me to take them down to the mess, sir.”

Which unfortunately tells Cody very little. But something flickers in his memory about the two of them, Fives and Echo. Something in the way they’d looked at each other back on Rishi, that kind of instinctive awareness of each other that only close close batchmates could achieve. Or something more than that…

And Jesse is an excellent trooper, Cody knows this. Jesse is cheerful and confident, and the best kind of brother if Rex is to be believed. But Cody thinks he might have more luck with Echo if he and Fives do this on their own.

“Jesse, find Rex and let him know what’s going on. Maybe let that medic batchmate of yours know as well, just in case Echo’s hurt when we find him.”

Fives makes a funny little strangled noise at that, even as Jesse salutes and hurries off. Cody turns to the younger clone, “You know Echo better than anyone else on this ship, Fives. What would cause him to disappear like this?”

Fives thinks for a moment, “He probably woke up anxious and then panicked because he doesn’t like anyone seeing him like that.”

Cody frowns, “Anxious?”

“His mind runs faster than he can keep up with sometimes,” Fives explains, “It’s like his thoughts spiral out of his control and then he panics.”

That’s…concerning, to say the least. But before Cody can think that through properly, his thoughts are interrupted by Fives’ stomach rumbling.

The kid flushes, “Sorry, Commander.”

Cody chuckles quietly, “No need to apologise, kih’vod.” Who knows when the kid last ate, when either of them might have last eaten? And didn’t Jesse say he was meant to be taking the two shinies to the mess? He’s about to suggest that Fives head for the mess anyway, but the younger clone’s face hardens a bit.

“I know what you’re about to suggest, sir, and I can’t do it. I won’t be able to eat until I know Echo’s safe.”

That’s not that surprising, actually. For all that clone metabolism runs fast, and for all that the younger they are the worse the hunger feels, it’s a rare individual who can stomach anything when a close brother is in trouble or distress. Cody himself has memories of his cadet days, curled up with his batchmates and all of them ignoring their aching stomachs and hunger pains just because one of them was upset or unwell.

But it does give Cody an idea, “If it’s been a while since you ate, then the same would presumably be true for Echo, yes?”

Fives nods, “Yes, Commander, but he might not notice. Sometimes he doesn’t.”

Again, concerning…

“So, if Echo is prone to ignoring his hunger, and he has a tendency to panic when he gets anxious. And he’s understandably anxious about being on a big starship and among clones he doesn’t know. Where might he go?”

Fives hums softly as he thinks, “He…he’d go somewhere quiet, no other people, but somewhere with background noise so he doesn’t have to hear his own thoughts. And he likes being small, so like squished into small spaces. Something about the pressure being grounding.”

It’s all sort of pulling together in Cody’s mind, especially since they were all told that a clone with a blue handprint on his chest came down into the storage decks.

He smiles a little, “I think I know where he might be.”

Cody leads Fives deeper into the belly of the ship, right down into the lowest storage decks, closest to where the engines are housed. The gentle thrumming of the ship is much more noticeable down here, but Cody has always found it kind of soothing.

Sure enough, they find Echo, tucked into a corner with his chin on his knees and his arms wrapped around his stomach. He’s shivering a little, but his helmet is still on, so Cody can’t gauge his current state by his face.

He crouches down in front of the kid, “Hey, Echo, you okay?”

Echo shrugs, but doesn’t say anything. Fives kneels down at his side, and carefully slides Echo’s helmet off. Now, normally Cody wouldn’t dare remove anyone’s helmet without asking first, it’s something of an unspoken rule among clones, but maybe it’s different for these two.

The kid looks exhausted, but he tips his head into Fives’ shoulder affectionately and manages a shy little half-smile in Cody’s direction. There’s still a distinct shine of panic in his eyes, though, which Cody does not like.

He settles for resting a hand on Echo’s shoulder, “You gave Rex quite a scare, kid. Gave us all a scare, don’t think I’ve ever seen Jesse that worried.”

Echo swallows a little, “I’m sorry, sir,” His voice is soft, barely audible. Their files did mention something about Echo being a bit of a stickler for the regulations, so it’s possible that the thought of upsetting a superior officer in that way is distressing to him.

“It’s alright, kih’vod,” Cody says calmly, squeezing Echo’s shoulder gently, “You’re safe, Fives is here, I’ve got you both. Okay?”

Echo nods, and Fives hums soothingly, “We’re okay, Ey’ika.”

That makes Cody start a little. Most shinies don’t speak much Mando’a, much less have what is clearly a Mando’a nickname. He wonders if Fives has one too. Probably, given how joined at the hip the two of them are.

“You speak Mando’a fluently?” He asks.

Fives flushes, “Our CO on Rishi was trained by a Mandalorian, so he taught us all the phrases he knew.”

“Which was a lot,” Echo adds quietly, then he grins, “A lot of curse words.”

Fives snickers, “Pretty sure we weren’t supposed to learn those. You’re just so damn quiet that no-one notices when you’re sneaking around.” Then he bites his lip, “Maybe forget you heard that part, Commander?”

Cody chuckles, even as Echo elbows Fives in the side, “Rex insisted you be assigned to the 501st, kid. You’re his problem now, not mine.”

Echo looks a bit anxious at the word ‘problem’, “Am I in trouble, Commander?” There’s a tension creeping into his shoulders as he says this.

Cody smiles, “Not at all. It’s not actually against regulations for troopers to be down here, even without a CO. Just maybe don’t make a habit of it.”

He reaches out, carefully broadcasting his movements in deference to Echo’s obvious skittishness, gently stroking the kid’s head. Echo’s curls are soft, silky like a cadet’s almost, and Cody wonders again how old these two actually are.

Troopers used to be deployed around their tenth decanting day, depending on where in a cycle they were decanted. But recently, some of the less combat-involved battalions have been reporting their shinies are closer to their ninth decanting days, something about rushed training schedules and needing more troopers on the front lines, regardless of whether said troopers are actually battle-ready or not.

Cody has a sneaking suspicion that Fives and Echo might actually be younger than nine, and it’s not a theory he’s willing to share with Rex. Watching the two of them now, Echo still curled into his little ball with Fives wrapped around him, it’s a theory that Cody is becoming uncomfortably convinced of.

Since Rex is still tied up with 501st things, and they’re both still technically on inspection duty, Cody takes it upon himself to take care of Fives and Echo for the time being, starting with getting some food in them. But he decides against taking them to the mess, which will of course be full of other clones, including Torrent Company, the company that the shinies have been assigned to.

And Cody knows that it’s a good idea to get Fives and Echo comfortable with the clones who will be their closest brothers-in-arms, but it’s still a lot of new faces. Especially for two shinies, who are still a little shell-shocked.

So, Cody comms Sergeant Jesse to bring a handful of easy-to-transport rations to one of the currently empty rec rooms, in the hope that Echo in particular might eat something if he’s not surrounded by strangers.

Jesse arrives with another trooper in tow, Torrent Company’s younger medic Kix, who also happens to be Jesse’s batchmate. Both of them are carrying a tray of pre-wrapped food items, which they set down on the nearest table, before sitting down with Cody and the two shinies. Jesse plops himself down on the sofa next to Fives, across from Cody, but Kix sits cross-legged on the floor next to Echo, who is leaning against Cody’s leg.

Despite how anxious Echo has been the entire time, he smiles shyly at Kix when the medic leans in to hug him. Clearly, he already feels comfortable around Kix, the way Fives does around Jesse, if the way those two are giggling together is any indication. The only difference is that Echo isn’t talking, just watching, smiling softly at Jesse’s dramatics and Kix’s dry wit, but not actually saying a word.

Cody makes a point of passing both younger clones a ration bar and then choosing one for himself. Jesse and Kix, thankfully, both catch his drift and do the same. Fives is fine, a little hesitant at first, but he seems to be engaged in the conversation with the older three. And he’s eating at least.

Echo is not.

The smaller shiny is clearly still anxious about something and hasn’t really touched his food at all. Mid-conversation, Jesse catches Cody’s eye and angles his head in Echo’s direction, to which Cody just shrugs.

“I know you’re talking about me, Commander,” Echo says quietly. And okay, that’s a little spooky, that he can pick up on that. It’s usually only the Command class who have that special sixth sense, but Cody isn’t surprised that Echo seems to have it. It also wouldn’t surprise him if Fives had it to some extent too. These kids are something special, he can tell.

Cody sighs, “I’m just concerned, kid. By my guess, it’s been at least a full rotation since your last meal, but you’ve barely eaten anything.”

Echo hums softly, “I’m okay, sir. Just not that hungry.”

Cody frowns, “You feeling okay?”

Echo shrugs, “I guess,” Then he flinches a little, “I mean, I’m fine, sir.”

“I don’t think so, kid,” Cody says, “What’s wrong?”

Echo pulls his knees up to his chest and rests his head on them, sideways so he can look up at Cody, My stomach hurts a bit. I’m okay, though, that’s kinda normal for me.”

Cody frowns, “Kid, that’s not normal.”

“What’s not normal?” Kix says from Echo’s other side.

“Nothing,” Echo says quickly.

Cody is about to refute this statement, but Fives gets in first, “Echo has a stomach-ache.”

“No, I don’t,” Echo hisses back, but Cody can see his own worry reflected in Kix’s eyes now.

The medic nudges Echo gently, “You feel sick?”

Echo shrugs a little, “Not really, just anxious.” He hugs his knees a little tighter and manages a small smile. Fives promptly scrambles down onto the floor and wraps his arms around his batchmate. They press their heads together in an approximation of the mirshmure’cya, Fives’ forehead to Echo’s temple, and exhale in tandem.

Jesse and Kix exchange a look over their heads and swoop in to squish the two shinies closer together. They both squeak, as the older pair laugh. Cody just smiles fondly and secretly snaps a holopic to send to Rex.

“Are you going to tell Rex that I don’t feel well?” Echo asks anxiously.

Cody raises an eyebrow, “Do you want me to? He’s a worrier, and he’s a kriffing mother-tooka when it comes to his shinies.”

Kix laughs, “Maybe don’t let him hear you say that, sir.”

Cody shrugs, “I’m his ori’vod, I can say what I like.”

Still hugging Fives and Echo fiercely, Jesse snickers. “Abusing that ori’vod privilege, Commander?” He gives Echo one final squeeze before releasing him, “Breathe, kih’vod.”

For Rex’s sake, Cody lets Echo and Fives sleep in the little bunkroom that he shares with Rex when they’re on the same ship. Otherwise, Rex will spend the whole night fretting that he hasn’t seen Echo, hasn’t made sure both his shinies are alright, and then Cody will spend the whole night worrying about Rex.

So, he gently bullies Fives and Echo into stripping out of their armour and gets them cuddled up against him. All clones benefit from close contact like this, but shinies especially so, even more when they’re anxious or upset. And Cody won’t deny that he finds the warmth and closeness comforting too.

Fives is leaning against his side, one arm slung across Cody’s lap to reach Echo. The smaller Domino is curled up with his head against Cody’s abdomen. He was shivering earlier, clearly still a bit fidgety and anxious, so Cody has a hand in his hair, scritching gently at his scalp. Neither shiny is asleep, though, they’re talking quietly as Cody works through a few forms on his datapad.

“Commander?” Fives asks, tapping gently at Cody’s arm.

Cody smiles softly, “Cody. When we’re off-duty like this, kih’vod, you can call me Cody.”

Echo nudges Cody’s hip to get his attention, “May we call you ori’vod? Is that okay?”

And Cody’s heart melts, he almost regrets letting Rex steal these two away from him, they’re just so sweet and good and he can already tell they’ll be a force to reckon with. He smooths down a few of Echo’s curls, “Of course you can, vod’ika. What was your question, Fives?”

Fives glances at Echo, who nods firmly, “Could you…could you help us do the remembrance?”

Oh, these two will actually be the death of Cody at this rate.

“You haven’t had a chance to yet?”

Fives shrugs, but surprisingly it’s Echo who answers. His voice is very soft and small, “We did it for the others, but not for Domino. It didn’t feel right to do it for our batchmates when we were still in shock.”

“But we can say it for them now that you’re both a little steadier,” Cody says gently.

He takes their hands in his, leaving them to complete their little circle, then he nudges Fives to start.

“Ni su’cuyi, gar kyr’adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum…” Fives sniffles a bit, then continues, “Jekai, Hokan’yc, Kando…” His voice trails off.

“Bal an ner vode ti gai o’r Ka’ra,” Echo finishes, “Nu kyr’adyc, shi taab’echaaj’la…”

They both drop their voices to a near whisper, but Cody just catches the murmured phrase, “Vercopa val cuyir kyr’besir de Ka’ra…”

Their Mando’a is nearly perfect, Echo’s pronunciation is a tiny bit better than Fives’, but it’s still a little surprising that they speak it at all. And there were a couple of phrases in there that were not the usual Remembrance, but then Cody remembers what Fives said about their previous CO speaking Mando’a fluently himself and then teaching them. These kids really are full of surprises.

Despite his curiosity about them and their fluency in Mando’a, unusual for shinies, now is not the time when the little pair are clearly still quite upset, so Cody just pulls them both in close as they sniffle quietly.

“Ey’ika,” Fives says quietly, so quietly that Cody almost misses it.

“Raysh’ika,” Echo replies. He snuggles closer to Cody, but reaches across his lap to squeeze his batchmate’s arm.

Cody smiles fondly. They do both have Mando’a names, he was right. But the names are almost always gifted by an older sibling, hence the diminuitive suffix ‘ika’ that is usually tacked on to the end. Which begs the question, “Who gave you your Mando’a names, vod’ika?”

Echo looks a little sheepish, “We all had them, all of Domino. 99 gave them to us.”

Fives nods, “Kand’ika, Raysh’ika, Ey’ika, Je’ika, Hok’ika.”

That specific order, it must be their decanting order. Which puts Fives and Echo next to each other, and Echo right in the middle of the batch. That actually explains a few things…

Cody hums softly, “That would make you two Rayshe’a and Eyayah, then?” It’s not hard to work out, Rayshe’a and Eyayah, Fives and Echo, Raysh’ika and Ey’ika.

They both nod and cuddle in closer still. They’re both warm and safe here, though Echo is still shivering a bit. It doesn’t take long for them to fall asleep, both worn out and drained from a stressful few days. Cody is quite content to just sit quietly, working his way through his seemingly endless paperwork.

Yeah, even though he let Rex keep them, he’s definitely going to be keeping an eye on Fives and Echo. These two are something special, now he and Rex just have to keep them alive long enough for them to prove it…

And hey, if you fancy reading more of my stuff, I'm on AO3, Sebastianthegiraffe13. It's really just the Domino Effect and then my massive ongoing LotR thing White Knife, Silver Flame, but that might also be your jam (blackberry, on toast, thanks)...

#domino twins #star wars #fives and echo #commander cody #commander cody is the galaxy's best ori'vod #best big brother #and i will die on this hill #he might even be better than rex #he is rex's big brother after all

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