Maul's Brothers: They show up in the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan never met Feral but he learned about them when they found Savage as a rogue agent. Obi-Wan and Anakin still went to Mother Talzin, and it was originally Asajj, not Maul who used Savage to try and kill Dooku.
Chapter 19 - Your Name As Mine
"What are you doing?" Ponds asked.
"I'm trying to sense it," Cody answered, his fingers straining.
"Sense what?" Ponds asked.
"The Force," Cody said, seriously.
Prudii, one of the Nulls, laughed, "Di'kut, none of us have that, and trust me, the Kaminoans tried."
Cody ignored him, expression set, "General Kenobi said it was possible, so I can."
Prudii snorted, "Don't waste your time or you will get yourself decommissioned."
Cody didn't so much as flinch as he pushed with all his might.
Have you ever been afraid of the dark? How does it feel when you turn on the light?
Omega had said, I feel safe.
Yes, it feels like that.
Whenever the General spoke of the Force, he spoke of it like it was his best friend. As if the Force were the only thing in the galaxy worth trusting.
Cody tried to see. Tried to trust. Tried with all that he was to sense it.
Nothing happened.
Prudii snorted and walked away.
Cody didn't waver.
He stayed up, later and later each night trying to lift a large bolt he had stolen from the weapon tech room.
It was over a month before Cody finally started to lose hope that maybe 'almost anyone' didn't include him.
But then, one early morning, 99 sat down with him on the floor. Gently, he reached out and turned Cody's reaching fingers over, palm up.
"You don't have to strain, vod," 99 said softly. "It's there, just listen."
Cody huffed.
99 lopsided smile killed all of Cody's frustration and then 99 said, "Close your eyes, breathe. See me."
Cody didn't understand, but he was at wit's end and 99 was wise far beyond anyone else. So he closed his eyes, and the sense of calm 99 always seemed to exude sparkled like sparks of cut metal.
Cody sucked in a breath.
He saw it.
He saw it.
When next he tried lifting the bolt, he was able to spin it.
0Oo
"Buir!" Cody called, running into the General's legs because he'd done it! He had done it!
But it was only when blue eyes looked down at him with wide surprised eyes, mirrored by the agast look in everyone else's eyes, did Cody realize what he said.
He'd called the General Buir.
Cody stopped breathing, had he just ruined everything? His whole relationship with his General through a slip of tongue? Would he berate Cody? Would the deny them?
He had called them his children, he had not asked to be addressed as their Buir though, in belong to them.
The General did none of that however, he merely asked, "Yes, ner ad'ika?"
Cody blinked at him and squeaked, "What?"
The General tilted his head to the side, just a bit, "What did you want to tell or show me?"
"Um…" Cody felt scattered, the rise of panic leaving him shaking with the adrenaline crash.
The General folded down to one knee in front of him, touching his cheek with a warm palm, and spoke in Basic, which Cody realized was rare, "It's alright, my son, when it comes back to you and if you still want to share, I'll be here."
Cody felt his heart ache, a wordless longing that he had carried with him for as long as he could remember, lifting.
My son, not just an endearment, but my son. The General really wanted him in a way no one ever had.
Cody hugged him, and dared to hope, even in just a whisper, "Ner buir."
The General wrapped him in a hug, and with so many layers of robes it felt sort of like falling into blankets, only better.
The General spoke in a volume only loud enough for Cody to hear, only meant for Cody, because Cody had been the first to claim him.
Well, aside from Boba, but Boba had led the General here and he was a little, he got a pass.
The General's arms held him safe as he spoke in a low tone, this time in Mando'a, "I know your name as my child, Cody Fett."
Cody hugged him tighter, he didn't truly understand the General's devotion to the Prime, hadn't known that the Prime's name was something the General could give, but right now, in this moment, Cody didn't kriffing care.
He had a dad, a dad who wanted him.
Obi-Wan rested his head on Jango's chest, "I gave Cody your name."
Jango was quiet for a beat, before he let out a sigh, "We can't take them all, Obi-Wan, it would be unfair to them."
Obi-Wan knew that the outside galaxy was approaching, knew that the True Mandalorians would bring with change, hope, and danger.
"You think they will be happy with the others?" he asked, wondering if he would ever be able to trust anyone else to raise the vode.
Though he knew he would have to. Jango had accepted Rael and soon, Fay. Obi-Wan could do no less.
But Jango didn't lie about the people he was calling to them, "I don't know."
Obi-Wan closed his eyes, pressing his face against Jango's skin, trying to let his worries go into the Force.
They needed the Mandalorians, and so did the vode.
"Why not Kenobi?" Jango asked, carding his fingers through Obi-Wan's hair.
"Because it means clanless," he answered, thinking of how happy he had been able to make Cody. "I couldn't do that to them, their names are too important, it is all that they own."
Jango hugged him, "They will know a better life."
Appo knew that Fox had a temper. He even knew that tripping Jesse, who was particularly stiff about the rules, into Fox would set them off.
Appo stood to the side, watching the chaos unfold as the two boys went at each other's throats.
Jesse was tiny but vicious.
Fox was trying to extract himself while cursing Jesse out.
"Jesse."
Jesse practically launched himself back at the sound of General Kenobi's voice.
Appo almost felt bad as Jesse looked up at him, tears brimming in his eyes.
Luckily for him, Kenobi didn't force him to speak.
Instead, he directed his question to the CC, "Fox, apologize."
Fox's jaw ticked, "I didn't—"
"For swearing at your vod," the General clarified. "Not for CC-1119 tripping Jesse into you."
Appo felt heat rise to his cheek, but he remained still and unrepentant, even as Fox glowered at him, and Jesse's tearful look turned to rage.
Fox sucked in a deep breath, before exhaling, "Sorry, Jesse."
Jesse nodded before stepping back into line, everyone watched the General.
No one had really stepped out of line since the General had arrived.
And Appo was sick of waiting. Sick of waiting to know if he was telling the truth about protecting them from the Kaminoans, if the decommissions were really over.
General Kenobi stood before Appo, calm, patient… but —somehow— not apathetic.
He waited.
Appo waited.
The General waited.
The anxiety in the room.
And more to spare Gregor who was having a panic attack at his side, Appo said, "I started a fight."
Appo wanted to say more, and he didn't care if Kenobi got mad at him but he also didn't want to press the Jetii so far as to endanger him.
"Why?" the General asked.
"I wanted to make you mad."
Kenobi raised a brow, "May I ask why?"
"You never get mad, only once with the Zabraks, so I thought if I started a fight, you would notice me.
"I do notice you, CC-1119," Kenobi said without anger or hesitation.
Appo gritted his teeth, "Don't lie. There are hundreds of us."
The General cocked his head to the side, "You, CC-1119, have the highest marks on fighter pilot simulations, as well as, in-field crisis management. You wrangle Bly and Fox to leave Monk alone without any of them realizing it. You know whenever someone is cheating, and instead of calling them out on it, you just out perform them to prove you can. Sometimes, you get them back by sabotaging their flight simulators."
There was a shuffle at that among the onlookers.
The General went on, heedless of the stir he was, "However, afterwards, when the Kaminoans aren't looking, you hack the computers to change their scores back into appropriate levels so nothing but pride is ever hurt."
Appo gaped at him, "You surveil us that closely?"
The General shook his head, "I have been in and out of wars since I was thirteen, ner adiik, and I trained as a Jedi. I was very good at what I did and mostly because I pay attention to the benign. I haven't watched you so closely to catch you in the act, as some would say, but I've seen enough clues, seen enough of the patterns in relation to your presence. Besides," the General's eyes sparkling like light off the ocean. "You just confirmed my suspicions yourself."
Appo glared, cheeks heating again.
Bly crossed his arms, "You think you know us all so well?"
"Know?" the General repeated. "Not precisely, knowing implies you've invited me into your confidence, and not all of you have. But I have managed armies that number in the thousands before, and I know how to get the feel of my people. But being a teacher certainly allows me more opportunity to get to know you all."
"What about the Second Class CTs?" Wolffe asked.
The General folded his hands in his sleeves, "That is more difficult, but then, most of them are still learning their alphabets and likely wouldn't even understand the questions you would think to ask about yourselves."
"Why do you like Savage and Feral more than us?" Appo asked, not caring if it made him sound jealous.
Cody had been making a fool out of himself and it had earned him more of the General's attention.
General Kenobi shook his head, "Do you wish to be separated from your brothers?"
"No," Appo said, standing his ground.
The General nodded, "Savage and Feral had an older brother. He was sold to the Sith where he was tortured into being little more than a Force driven weapon, wielded by a strange man who drove him to the brink of death routinely. Maul's fate was extreme but not unfathomable, Obi-Wan said. Savage and Feral have grown up knowing that they would serve the same fate, something crueller death. I gave them extra time because they are convinced the Nightsisters will steal them back and that you all would sacrifice them to save yourselves."
Appo uncrossed his arms, "No! We wouldn't do that, they're ours!"
Appo hadn't even known he felt that way about the Zabraks until he was confronted with it.
The General's expression was serious as he asked, "Do you believe I would allow any of you to be decommissioned?"
Appo's hands fisted at his sides, as he remembered all the brothers who had been led away from them and had never come back.
But the General had been here for months, and he seemed to delight in shewing the Kaminoans away. He protected the vode, never allowing any of them to wander without an adult present.
"No," Appo said.
"If I started grouping you off into separate rooms, so you could get more one-on-one training, would you be comfortable with that?"
"No…" It felt like weakness to admit it but not even with the General or the Prime would Appo want to be alone.
Or want to see any of his vode alone with them.
Boba was different, and since Omega was his twin, she was different too.
If the Kaminoans killed them, the Prime would kill every Longneck in the city until they bombed him down.
"There is nothing wrong with you to feel that way. What the Kaminoans did to you and your fallen is and was evil. Savage and Feral have similar fears but different triggers. Most nights I just run them through the halls then make them look after Boba."
Appo never wanted to be in charge of Boba felt a bit better about this revelation.
"I am sorry that I am just one man, and there are limits to how much individual time I can give you all in a day. But the call has been given, and the True Mandalorians are coming. The Prime nor I know them all, so it will be to your own discretion who you choose to trust. You will always have Jango and I but there will also be others of our people for you to get to know and someday depend on as friends and family."
Appo felt odd at that knowledge, they had been told the only way out here was through the Jedi, and the Jedi had come first. That it would be Mandalorians coming to save them though… It made him think that perhaps things really had changed and maybe he really could trust them.
"My name is Appo," he blurted, not sure if he could handle the General calling him by his number.
"It is a good name, ner ad'ika," the General said with a soft smile. He bowed to them then walked away. Appo watched his retreating back, and a feeling like he was about to miss test evolution filled him. The General was only making his rounds to settle them for the night and probably decided to leave because the others were panicking that some punishment was still coming.
Gregor gripped Appo's shoulder hard. "Vod, are you insane?"
Appo shrugged off his hand and on mad impulse ran after the General, a part of him surprised that the door hadn't been locked.
"General!?"
The Jedi paused, and turned to look at him, "Yes, Appo."
There was no one else in the hall and Appo figured that if he was going to be stupid today he might as well ask for what he wanted when there was no one around to laugh.
Aside from the General himself.
"I want to be your son, like Boba is Jango's," Appo said, chin raised.
The General smiled, closing the distance between them, he knelt before Appo so they could be closer to eye level. A calloused hand touched his cheek and Appo felt like the world was being shaken off its axis.
The General leaned forward and Appo went very still as their foreheads came together in keldabe kiss.
The General spoke the words of formal adoption in Mando'a, "I know your name as my son, Appo Fett."
Appo's heart pounded and he spoke without thinking, "I'm still mad at you, Buir."
His General smiled at him, "Anger is born of fear and there is no shame in fear, but remember to always follow your heart and never your fear."
Appo's heart was still thundering, "How do you tell the difference?"
The General opened his palms, "Be true to your heart, and no matter what happens, you will always be able to live with yourself. Listen to your fear, and you will never know rest."
Appo fidgeted, "Can I have a hug?"
It sounded stupid.
But when his buir wrapped him in a warm embrace, his robes soft, his smell different than anything he knew, Appo felt something he had never truly felt before.
Safety.
AN: My babies are testing boundaries :D Thoughts, nighthawks, or feedback, pretty please?