"No, You Won't. The List Of Vod'e They Fight Is Logged, You Kill Them, Someone Kills Us."

I got punched for calling a clone Soft. Why yall hate that word ?

Tell me this, would you call a natborn solider soft? Would you call a natborn veteran who has seen years of war, who has watched people give their lives to save yours with no thanks, soft? Most clones have, on average, 10 years of combat training and have seen active combat. We can't be soft, or we would be dead.

Oh, by the kara!

Because you watch in your vents and kark, I don't know?! I am still on shift right now. This just counts as part of my duties, technically speaking. You are going to sleep after this even if I have to get someone to keep an eye on you! I am a medic vod, I know how to calculate the nessasary nutrition the little Fett needs, and rations aren't great but they are enough for now.

There is always a spare bunk vod, even if it may mean sometimes someone doubles up, although from what I've seen, some of you are touchstarved enough that would be a bonus. He won't get hurt, not by us, and even if he is, it is literally my job to deal with it. It's going to be ok, Tumbler. we will make a plan and let Commander Fox decide if we go through with it.

@corrie-bite @corrie-guard-tumbler @cc1010fox

My apologies for interrupting, sirs, but it would appear that a feral Boba Fett (@youngfett) has stumbled across the barracks, and he's wounded. I understand that I need to learn to take initiative, but I figured that it's different for Boba, you know? I mean... He's Prime's kid. After the fiasco with Aurra Sing, I want to make sure that he's got people in his corner, and who better for that than the vod'e?

"Bite, CT-8024 of Stealth Squad 07."

Bite knew there was something not quite right with that sentence, but right now, he didn’t want to think what it was.

"Why is it dark? Why is it so cold? I got out, I know I got out, my squad came for me, so why is it still cold?"

Bite was spiralling further and further with every word, fear blocking out his rational thought. He was supposed to be safe now, Commander Blackout promised. He could just feel the slightest warmth before him, but his panicked brain locked on before the rest of him could catch up. Bite grasped the vod's forearms, thankfully bare of the usual vembrances, and used all of the energy he had left to not let go.

(from: @squad380) for Spotify wrapped starters/asks: 27

[Nice, song 27: Panic Room by Au/Ra]

Bite wakes with a jolt and a loud swear, tumbling from his top bunk and groaning as he lands on the previously distant floor.

"Kriff, one night of uninterrupted sleep in all I ask for." Bite mumbles in staggered, sharp breaths, aware of the vode sleeping around him. He pushes himself up on shaking limps as the adrenaline from his nightmare continues to rage through him.

In the darkness of the barracks, Bite could have sworn he was somewhere else, the cold floor only serving to help his mind send him places he never wants to think of again. Only the steady breathing of sleeping clones, intrupted by the sounds of rustling sheets and creeking frames, grounds him in the room.

Even now, Bite can feel the panic in his throat, and the images of past horrors flash across his vision. The shaking has spread throughout his entire body, and his breathing is still uneven. With each thunderous beat of his heart, Bite moved further into the shadows of his mind.

"It's- I- I don't know. I feel like I'm there, in that room, but I can't be because my squad came for me, right? They got me out, but they aren't here, and I don't know where here is. I don't know where I am. And where are my squad? Kara, please say I got out! Please say I'm not making that up!"

Bite's breathing is slowly starting to even out as he subconsciously mimics the pattern of the vod in front of him. His mind is still racing. Every reason he finds to think he might be ok is immediately joined by more reasons he isn't. At least he isn't alone, the warm body under his palms, not a trick his mind is capable of playing.

"Not alone, not alone, not alone..."

(from: @squad380) for Spotify wrapped starters/asks: 27

[Nice, song 27: Panic Room by Au/Ra]

Bite wakes with a jolt and a loud swear, tumbling from his top bunk and groaning as he lands on the previously distant floor.

"Kriff, one night of uninterrupted sleep in all I ask for." Bite mumbles in staggered, sharp breaths, aware of the vode sleeping around him. He pushes himself up on shaking limps as the adrenaline from his nightmare continues to rage through him.

In the darkness of the barracks, Bite could have sworn he was somewhere else, the cold floor only serving to help his mind send him places he never wants to think of again. Only the steady breathing of sleeping clones, intrupted by the sounds of rustling sheets and creeking frames, grounds him in the room.

Even now, Bite can feel the panic in his throat, and the images of past horrors flash across his vision. The shaking has spread throughout his entire body, and his breathing is still uneven. With each thunderous beat of his heart, Bite moved further into the shadows of his mind.

"I'm sorry sir, It was my fault, I got involved, I thought I could help and now I'm karking damaged again and Tumbler is worse off than he would have been if I'd just stayed out of it. He did nothing wrong, sir, I'm the faulty one."

Bite is panicking now, his cybernetic braces too broken from the senators earlier attempts to remove them as they'd 'clash with her jewellery' to hold him up, but there was no chance he was getting back in that bed, especially now he knew he'd not only made himself useless but he'd broken his code and gotten one of his brothers, one of the only ones that had truly tried to accept him, hurt, badly.

"I need to help. How can I help?"

[DECEIVE] The sender tells a lie in order to protect the receiver || Bite was hoping for a quiet shift, though a shift as the on call medic for the senate is never quiet. As soon as Bite saw a senator getting a bit too close to his vod, he sped up to intervene. "Sir, I see that you seem to be asking this trooper for some assistance. I regret to inform you that it is unable to complete any alternative taskings at this time. I can assist you with anything you need to the best of my ability."

"Oooh? CT-3996, why didn't you tell me you were occupied? Were you hoping someone would tattle on lil ol' me?"

Tumbler would appear unaffected at first glance, settled in perfect parade rest but Bite would see how Tumbler is digging his fingers hard into his forearms, hidden behind and out of sight of the Senator, hiding his building fear and discomfort as the Senator trails her hand under where his chin would be, safe beneath his bucket.

"I was unaware, Senator Vyrim. Forgive this Trooper, it's holocomm may be inoperable and missed a situation that requires their attention."

He hopes, prays even, to whatever damned deity or greater being or even the sith-damned Force that the Senator drops the matter. Senator Vyrim was too alike Sly Moore for Tumbler to truly dismiss and disassociate from, the Rattataki Senator sharing the same pale tone and eye colour, with her tattoos and bejeweled skin the only difference from the Umbaran female.

( So I'm getting some increasingly passive-aggressive anon asks about when Wayward Guard is gonna continue and normally, I delete those kind of things because frankly, you should let people post at their own pace but I feel I need to blankly state this because the asks are now 5 in total in my box, which is kinda silly?

SO! To whoever is sending those asks, I would like to inform you that people have lives to focus on. I, Squad, Crane and Bite have other priorities, some of us are ill and some of us have jobs/education to focus on and we have different time zones to work around.

So please have some patience and stop getting angry that we're not posting quick enough for your liking. Even unfollow me if this response upsets you because I'm a lil upset at the audacity to being told that me and the others need to keep a pace.

....anyway, vent and psa over. )

"I. Don't. Care. I don't give a tooka's shebs about whether this is an order or not. I know what she is, I have personally let her try to bodily tear me apart and what I dealt with from her isn't a drop in the cup of the hell this demagolka has put Tumbler through. The chancellor won't hear about a raid because I'm not karking suggesting one! I'm a stealth trooper. No one would know I was there, and there would be no evidence we were ever involved! Do you genuinely think i'm stupid enough to risk the rest of the Guard over this?! I can do it, and I can do it without clone casualties, which is more than you can say, given that you are willing to let Tumbler die!"

If Nickel doesn't back down soon, the clone is going to end up finding out why Bite is called Bite.

*BZZZZZZT*

If anyone is getting this, I need back-up! This is CT-3996, I am on level 105, I am being chased by unknow-KARK!

*There's a thud and grunt, then a quick scramble of action. As if the speaker had fallen and quickly gotten back up and ran afterwards. There's some voices in the background, muffled and inaudible*

I don't know who the suspects are or if they are gang affiliated, they are wearing concealing face-wear and no verbal confirmation of Separatist allegiance!

*There's a brief lapse of silence as Tumbler seems to be ducking around obstacles, huffing as runs from the assailants. They are getting closer and a blaster sounds off, earning a panicked curse from the Guard*

OSIK! VODE, THEY'RE AN INSIDE JOB! THEY ARE DIRECTING ME AWAY FROM MY KNOWN ESCAPE ROUTES, THEY ISOLATED ME FROM OTHER PATROLS! THEY-

*A another round of blasters before Tumbler is seemingly hit, hitting the ground with a heavy thud. His bucket records his unsteady breathing until footsteps are heard approaching*

Time to come home to our Lady, pet.

*The last recording before Tumbler's signal vanishes ends*

:Incoming Message from: CT-3996, Guard Trooper Tumbler:

Gotta ask, did they send you to us because we have the "cushy" job?

- @corrie-guard-tumbler

To be honest, I don't know. I was drugged out of my head for most of the decision-making process. Although I do know that if nothing else is true, the fact that Coruscant is a static base and that I was less likely to have to carry a trooper like a rag doll for 50+ klicks to an extraction point were definitely important factors.

That and well, I think Commander Blackout felt better sending me to a post he could visit.

"By the ka'ra, I new Guard-GAR relations weren't great, but not this bad. Shows how much time I used to spend on Coruscant."

Bite starts talking as he helps Tumbler get his helmet off before moving on to his left glove and vembrance.

"I'll splint this now and check your head, then I'll wrap your arm properly. Sound good? And let me know if you want a painkiller."

Bite waits for an acknowledgement before he starts pulling things out of his pack and getting to work on Tumblers arm.

"Either way, impressed you managed to take out so many marines by yourself, we should spar some time."

He is just finishing up with the quick brace and was about to move on to the head injury when the marine closest to them pipes up.

"He got lucky, nothing impressive about it!"

If Bite had been annoyed before, now he was getting pissed. Do these guys not know to shut up when they are down.

"I recommend you can it before I march you back you your commander myself and have some words with your CMO about reminding his troops to stop picking fights while someone elses medic is stitching up your face."

Bite makes eye contact with the medic working on the marine, who nods in thanks before turning back to Tumbler.

"Kark, I hate marines."

:Incoming Transmission from: Coruscant Guard Holding ward:

We need any available medic to head down to the Holding Wards and tend to our local vent cryptid. Di'kut got into a brawl with someone from Bacara's lot and our on-hand medics are tending to the the Marines who jumped in.

- @corrie-guard-tumbler

"Medic Bite, on route, Over"

Bite stands quickly from where he'd been sat talking with one of the other medics in the mess.

"I've got this one. Flag it to the medbay in case things got extra rough, and I'll comm you when I have the facts."

Bite turns on his heel and starts running full pelt towards the holding wards. He'd only met Tumbler once, but after memorising his file, he was already trying to sort out a plan in his head.

As Bite skid around the final corner, he was greeted with the sight of injured brothers and very tired medics trying to stop someone from continuing the fight.

Turning to the trooper on duty at the entrance, he asked where to find Tumbler and was pointed to a dazed and injured looking vod in the back corner of the room.

Weaving around the clones still scattered around the space, Bite finally reached the corner Tumbler was pressed into.

"Hey vod, it's Bite. What happened? What do you need?"

At that, Bite punches '41 lightly in the arm.

"Quit it. No one is going to die. You are Coruscant Guard, best of the best, have some damn faith in yourself."

Bite steps closer to the table to start properly examining the map of the area the complaints are from. It's one of the lowest levels, with few speeder lanes and even fewer cameras. He'll have to do a proper casing of the building itself once it has been identified, but Bite is already putting together how to get to and from the level without alerting the wrong people.

"The lack of cameras on the level will make avoiding detection easier, but with how few citizens on those levels own speeders, we are going to need a different way down if we want to remain discreet. The elevators don't offer a quick enough escape if things go wrong, so... suggestions? I haven't been planet side as long as some of you so you many know of something I don't."

*INCOMING COMM*

This is a private frequency I’ve sent out across the guards comms. I think I know where to find CT-3996, Tumbler, I’m asking all guards who can to help, I’m asking all Vode who know anything to help.

I’ve left cords on where to find me, now let’s find Tumbler!

Crane put down the comm, all there was left to do was wait. Was crane nervous? Obviously, none of the Corrie’s really knew him yet and he’s asking for their help to find a vod who most think is dead.

He does truly hope help will come, but if not, Crane is fully prepared to go it alone. No matter what Forge says, what he doesn’t know won’t kill him…. Probably.