Ponds stripped Cody of his gear while they were still in the hangar bay. "I need your bucket, gauntlet and weapons. Fox will take the rest of your kit when you arrive." His voice betrayed his regret at having to perform such actions on his brother.

"Not your fault," Cody said quietly. "Mine."

He cast a quick glance to his men from the 212th, working around the hangar.

Well, working was putting it generously. He and Rex had done their best to keep the men busy on the journey home and get all of them back into a normal(ish) routine. They'd assigned troopers in various places around the large Kazzie ship, with stern instructions not to inadvertently blow themselves (or the ship) while working with unfamiliar controls. With the expected arrival of the 91st, he and Ko had assigned extra troopers to the hangar bay. In retrospect, it may not have been a good move.

They were all silently watching the whole affair. Their displeased expressions were clearly visible, since none of his men had armor except for the dozen who'd left Ord Cestus with him. They made a stark contrast to the troopers of the 91st in their battle-worn green and white armor. Cody's men were underweight by a good fifteen kilo and their weight loss was accentuated by their oversized Kaz'harian clothing. It wasn't lost on Cody how the troopers on the 91st kept casting curious glances over at his men. His men were survivors and he was proud of all of them.

He would do anything for them. He shucked his gear as quickly as he could, hissing when he reached up to remove his bucket. Ko automatically reached over to help him, popping the seals on his bucket and tugging it off his head.

Oh. This could work out in his favor.

"Ko will hold on to my bucket," Cody gave Ponds a significant look, "and the rest of my gear." This was not an issue they'd had a chance to discuss in advance, but Ko always was a quick study. It was the reason why he'd been promoted, despite some of his more colorful personality quirks.

"Understood, Commander," Ko tucked Cody's bucket under his arm, "I will treat it as my own." He held out his hands for the weapons' belt and gauntlet Ponds had already collected.

Ponds hesitated. Cody knew his fellow commander would catch flak for allowing his gear stay onboard the ship. He didn't care so much about his weapons belt and gauntlet. Those were sentimental items. But, it was safer if his bucket did not end up in Republic Security Bureau hands.

Cody and Rex had gone to great lengths to clean the data stored on his helmet and on every bucket cam that went through Darkknell. Thankfully, few of the troopers who fought in the battle had armor. Most were in prison fatigues. The buckets of the dozen or so troopers in armor had been "scrubbed" and carefully edited footage had been downloaded back onto each one. Grimy, jerky battle footage footage, with cryseefa gas obscuring the lenses in key sections ensured none of Rex's renegades were visible. Rex was insistent the existence of the lost Legion on Ando remain a secret.

'They'll kill them if they find out about them. They already tried to kill them once.'

'You took an incredible risk bringing these troopers of yours to Darkknell.'

Rex laughed darkly. 'Oh. I tried to leave them behind. They came on their own.'

It was humbling. A group of brothers determined to save them even though they'd never met and never fought together. Cody would do whatever it took to make sure they were never caught. Every trooper onboard understood they owed their lives to those men.

Ponds inhaled sharply, as if trying to figure out how much flak he was going to take for allowing Cody's bucket to remain onboard.

Cody shot him an apologetic look, calling upon their bond as batchmates.

Ponds made a brief hand gesture of acquiesce, releasing the gear to Ko.

Nash immediately stepped forward. "Commander, I must protest. Regs say all kit must be-"

Ponds turned on his Captain, his voice edged with impatience. "I am aware of the regs."

Nash scowled fiercely and still made a grab for the gear. Cody winced internally as he watched. Ko neatly sidestepped him. All troopers were brothers. But, some troopers were assholes.

"Leave it, Nash," Ponds snapped, "these are...non-standard circumstances."

"But, sir-"

"Back in line, Nash," Ponds snapped, "now."

Nash's entire body was rigid as he moved back into place with his squad. The rest of Lightning exchanged glances, heads moving slightly back and forth as they looked between Ponds, Cody and Nash.

Cody was sure there was a tremendous amount of back channel chat going on.

"We need to do a weapons search before we board the RTT," Ponds patted him down with brisk efficiency, coming away with two vibroblades, hidden within his gauntlets. "I assume there's more."

Cody nodded. "Chest plate. Inside the padding. On the left and right side."

Ponds came away with two more blades, and ignoring Nash's looks of outrage, he handed the additional weapons to Ko. "You still keep blades in your shins?"

Cody shrugged and then regretted it as his shoulder pulled. "One can never have too many knives."

He swallowed down his emotions as all of his weapons were taken away. All of the blades had special meaning to Cody. The first he'd earned in ARC training from one of his Mandalorian training instructors who told him he had great potential as a leader. It was the first time Cody thought of himself as unique and the blade reminded himself of a sense of self. It was this same training instructor who'd encouraged him to come up with a name for himself. It was shortly after he'd started to think of himself as Cody and not CC-2224.

Everyone of his other knives had come from Kenobi, who'd noticed Cody's fondness for them. His General (quite unnecessarily) gave him a gift each time he saved his life in battle. Cody continually reminded the General he was only doing his duty.

'Duty implies you have to do these things for me, Cody, and I never want to feel as if I am taking you for granted. You mean much more to me than that.'

Cody did have to do these things for his General, as he had no choice as a clone of the Republic. But, Kenobi's words gave him a warm glow. And, whenever Cody tried to thank the General for saving his life, Kenobi would brush it off, or say: 'Just have a cup of tea with me, Cody. I could use the company.' His requests were simple. He was a good man. A good General. With Kenobi, he was appreciated. Somehow, the General saw him as a unique, too, and this made all the difference. It was why Cody was willing to risk everything for him.

It was reassuring knowing Ko was holding onto these very few items he could call his own.

Everything else he had belonged to the Republic.

Just like he did.

Ponds found his final blade, (the one Cody kept in a custom holder in the small gap between his lower back plate and the top of his butt plate.) And, suddenly, randomly, the full proper name of the ship popped in his head, all of those rambling syllables that made it sound like Leon's tongue was at war with itself. H'ot'e H'ai'm'ol.

He muttered the words out loud.

"I don't speak Huttese, Codes," Ponds muttered. "Save it for Fox. He's got the filthiest mouth out of our batch."

This comment earned a strangled laugh out of Cody, and he didn't bother explaining it was actually the name of the ship they were on. Leon had translated it as 'Glorious Homecoming'. Cody's return to Coruscant was not glorious. He wasn't sure how the Kazzies did things. But, he was doing what was right and necessary to protect the men under his command. There was nothing glorious about what he was doing.

All of the men in the hangar bay were silent, watching him leave. More troopers from the 212th had come into the hangar while Cody was being searched and lined up behind Ko. They lined up behind Ko, in row after row, at parade rest. They kept spilling into the hangar, until Cody was sure the 212th troopers easily outnumbered those of the 91st. He glanced over at Ko, who still had Cody's bucket tucked under his arm.

He subtly shook his head at Ko.

The last thing Cody wanted was a confrontation between his men and their brothers. This was about getting his men home, and he alone would bear the responsibility for the regs they'd broken to get them there.

"This way," Ponds pointed to a transport.

Trying to make this as easy on his men as possible, Cody kept his head high as he walked beside his brother. It would be alright. He had Ponds with him. His brother would watch his back. He tried to ignore the annoying waste of Jango DNA known as 'Nash' that was following directly behind them.

General Windu stood by one of the transports, deep in conversation with someone via holotransmitter. Cody tilted his head to get a better look. Normally, he would leave the Jedi to their business, but he was sure this had to directly do with either him, or the welfare of his men. In the shimmering transmission, he recognized the forms of several members of the Jedi Council. Windu signaled to Ponds, summoning his commander over to his side.

Ponds nodded, leaving his second-in-command to take over as Cody's escort. Nash.

Cody sucked in a deep breath as he watched Ponds leave.

He kept his eyes straight ahead, determined not to make any trouble with Nash. He wanted to get to Coruscant without incident. He breathed a sigh of relief once they were out of sight of his men. At least there hadn't been an incident-

"Cuff him." No sooner had they walked up the ramp of the RTT, then Nash signaled to two of his men in Lignting to put Cody in binders. Again.

Cody backed away, putting himself up against the wall, making his arms harder to reach. "Nash, this is unnecessary. I'm willing to answer for my actions."

The Lightning Squadron Captain ignored him as if he hadn't spoken and repeated the order. "Cuff him."

"Belay that order!" Cody used his best field marshal commander voice, honed over years of command.

The two troopers froze, staring back and forth between the Captain and the Commander.

"Sir, he does outrank you-" started one of the troopers.

Nash hissed loudly in annoyance and whipped a pair of cuffs from his belt. He yanked Cody away from the wall, slapped the cuff around one wrist so hard the durasteel smacked into the bony part of Cody's wristbone. "Gah, Nash. Ease up!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Commander. Is that too tight?" Nash's voice was suspiciously soft. He unclipped the cuff, to Cody's surprise and relief, but then immediately forced Cody's arms together again and bound them even tighter. Cody bit his lip to keep from crying out, and decided he'd have enough of Nash.

He slumped in Nash's hold, forcing the Captain to catch him, and then kneed him in the cod. It wouldn't do any permanent damage, as the codpiece was designed to protect this vulnerable area. But, it was enough double Nash over and give Cody an opening to sweep the Captain's feet out from under him. Before Nash could recover, Cody knelt on Nash with his legs locked in a chokehold. It was a manuever they'd practiced time and again in ARC training, yes, even with their hands tied behind their backs, (thank you Alpha-17.) Nash's bucket rolled off from the force of hitting the hangar deck. The Lightning Squadron Captain sputtered as he tried to draw air. Cody had four minutes before Nash suffered any brain damage.

The two additional Lightning troopers stared down at him, watching the scene play out. But, neither made a move to stop Cody or help Nash. He was sure they were having a hell of a conversation behind their buckets.

Cody counted down in his head, keeping track of the time so he didn't do any actual damage to Nash.

"Cody, let him up."

Cody glanced up at his batchmate. "I haven't harmed him. Look- his coloring is still good."

Cody was sure he heard his fellow commander give a small snort of amusement. An indication of his true feelings about Nash. But, his amusement immediately faded as Windu came up the ramp. His forceful stride made it immediately clear the moment of levity was over.

Windu assessed the situation in a second and lifted a hand. Cody knew that look. It meant the Jedi Master was preparing to use a bit of Force persuasion.

Shit.

Fortunately, Ponds knew that look, too.

"Sir," Ponds said, stepping between Cody and his General, "I've got this. Cody, you've made your point. Release him. Now." His voice was firm and authoritative, but completely calm. It was the sort of voice which defused a situation before it spun out of control. Cody had always liked Ponds. He wondered again how he'd gotten stuck with a trooper like Nash and hadn't managed to shove him down a blast crater someplace.

Cody unlocked his legs and struggled to get to his feet. It was awkward with the cuffs. Nash threw him off. Cody would've careened into the bulkhead if Ponds hadn't caught him and pulled him to his feet.

Nash clambered to his feet, glowering at Cody.

Cody gave his brother a pointed look. See? I didn't hurt him.

Ponds flicked Cody in the back of the head, something they used to do to each other as cadets.

Cody shot Ponds an annoyed look.

"Stop acting like a cadet," Ponds hissed in Cody's ear.

"He started it," Cody hissed back, in a voice only audible enough for his batchmate to hear.

Ponds glowered at Cody and then turned on his Captain. "Nash, remove the cuffs."

"Sir," Nash protested, "regs state when transporting a prisoner-

"Nash!" Ponds' voice was full of censure. "Uncuff him. Go assist with the med evacs. We'll talk later."

Nash uncuffed Cody with more force than necessary. He scooped up his bucket and and exited the transport.

Cody exhaled deeply and tried to slide his shoulder into a position where the pain was more tolerable. It wasn't exactly back in the socket where it was supposed to be, but it did feel a lot better without his arms pulled behind his back. "Thanks."

Ponds muttered. "You're not making this easy."

"And, I'm not trying to make this difficult. Get your Captain under control."

Windu stepped forward. How could Cody have forgotten he was there? "Commander Ponds, I trust there will be no further interruptions?" His annoyance at being pulled out of his meeting with the Council was clear.

"Yes, General, I apologize for the interruption."

As Windu turned to leave, Cody called out: "I apologize, as well, General Windu."

Windu gave Cody a long searching look. Something passed between them, like Windu was searching out something in him. It was the strangest sensation. The General sighed heavily. "Commander, I understand you and your men have been through a great deal. But, we still have laws to uphold in the Republic."

Cody wasn't sure what to make of Windu. Kenobi told him all Jedi were different. Just like clones. Maybe Windu was a likable vode with a good sense of humor. (Somehow Cody doubted that one.) Maybe he was a total shab'buir. (Ponds insisted he wasn't.) And, maybe he was somewhere in-between. Cody hadn't worked with him to the extent he'd worked with Kenobi and Skywalker so he couldn't say.

"We depart immediately for Coruscant," Windu nodded crisply to Ponds. "He's your responsibility." He gave Cody one last long look, as if he were a puzzle the Jedi couldn't figure out and then he departed in a whirl of brown robes.

The shuttle doors hissed shut and Ponds made a grab for Cody to steer him into a seat. Cody pulled away. He didn't need any more tugging on his shoulder. He sat down in the nearest seat.

"Dislocated?" Ponds asked, gesturing to Cody's shoulder, as the ship went through the take-off sequence.

Cody shook his head. "It's just a little remnant of the last battle. It was healing until Nash pulled it out again."

Ponds' lips twisted in amusement. "That was an impressive takedown."

"He had it coming."

"Maybe."

Cody huffed lightly in amusement.

There was a silence for a long moment as the two men savored the small bit of humor. It was often the only stress relief the war allowed them. Ponds broke the silence first with a change of topic. "Two Legions," Ponds said, with a tone that was almost reverent. "You managed to rescue two Legions worth of troopers? How is that possible?!"

"I wasn't alone. Once things got rolling, the troopers kind of rescued themselves. You set loose a bunch of frustrated clones on their captors and all hell breaks loose."

Ponds whistled under his breath. "That must have been a sight."

Cody smiled fondly. "It was."

Of course, that wasn't the whole truth. But, it would have to the be the truth that propagated through the ranks from now. There could be no rumors of a lost Legion. Or missing troopers. And, he hadn't gotten into the whole 'Rex is back' thing yet. That would come out soon enough, but that was Rex's story to tell.

They were both silent for the rest of the short journey to Coruscant. Judging by the tilt of his head, Ponds seemed to be working on something in his HUD.

The shuttle started the landing sequence and then settled onto the pad.

"Listen, Cody," Ponds murmured in a low voice, "you're headed into the custody of the Coruscant Guard. I know what you did and admire you for it. There may be others who see what you did in… simpler terms. They are stationed here on Coruscant and for them the war is black and white. You could be seen as a trooper who went AWOL- a very high-ranking trooper who left his post. Be careful, Cody." Ponds helped him to his feet, gripping him by his uninjured arm and steering him toward the hatch. "After I hand you over to Fox, I can't do anything to protect you."

Cody nodded. He took a deep breath and prepared to meet his fate. Fox and a squad of Coruscant Guard were waiting at the hatch.

"He's injured," Ponds said, "He needs-"

"I know," Fox said, already steering Cody away. "I read the notes you sent. I'll take it from here." His words were a clear dismissal.

Cody tried to glance back towards Ponds as he was led away, but the shuttle hatch had closed. Ponds warning rang in his ears.

# # #

Revision notes:

7/30/19 Revised dialogue between Cody and Nash. Continued to revise scene so Windu comes across as a dark foreboding Jedi, but not a jerk. Having researched his character carefully it is the finest line I can draw for him. He is know to have a powerful temper and to have dabbled in the dark side. However, he cared for those under his command.

5/23/19 Noticed some slight minor errors such as troopers smiling when they are wearing helmets. Of course, a trooper can smile all they wish with their bucket on, but others wouldn't notice the action. This has been corrected in the narrative to satisfy my OCD.

5/23/19: Wanted to make sure I did justice to Cody's interactions with Windu to set up scenes which will come later in the story. I'm very proud of these lines: "Windu gave Cody a long searching look. Cody met his gaze evenly, not having worked with this Jedi to the extent he'd worked with Kenobi or Skywalker. He couldn't figure him out. All Jedi were so fekkin' different. Just like clones."

1/13/15. Revised Cody's dialogue again. I love the interplay between Cody and Ponds, but in re-reading, I felt I could still make it slightly better.

6/30/15. Cut back Cody's dialogue lines in this scene. Decided he would be more subdued after everything that happened and less inclined to chat with Ponds. Changed some of his external dialogue to internal monologue.