Chapter Text
“You know, there’s supposed to be a limit on stims,” Thire said, mouth twisting into a grimace.
Fox rolled his eyes. “There should be a limit to bullshit too, and yet, here we are. Hand it over.”
“I’ll tell Nightingale,” Thire threatened, though the fact that he handed over another stim without further protest made it obvious that whatever their CMO would be told, it wouldn’t actually be in time for her to do anything about it.
“Let’s all get through this mission, and then we can worry about it,” Fox replied. “Besides, we’re in this together. Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you’re over your stim limit too.”
Thire huffed, grabbing his helmet and strapping the rest of his kit back on.
“That’s different! At least I’ve been sleeping and eating in-between them!”
“A twenty-minute nap standing up on the transport does not count as sleep,” Fox retorted, and tossed the used stim to the side.
Thire grumbled under his breath, but followed obediently when Fox headed out of their assigned room, moving to rejoin the other Guards keeping watch over their charge.
“Any changes?” he asked over comms.
“No, sir,” Jek answered, while Rys huffed.
“Wouldn’t that be nice…” Rys muttered, though a subtle elbowing from Jek caused his complaints to subside.
“Stay strong, soldier,” Fox said wryly.
He stepped past them, leaving Thire to get a full report while he tracked down the other two members of the squad assigned to this mission – Rosary and Cardy. Both men who he would have preferred to stay on Coruscant (for very different reasons), but had wound up on this mission regardless.
The reason for that was staring him right in the face – Cardy, bristling like an angry tooka in front of one of the officers from the 501st.
Rosary was shadowing Senator Amidala, body language tense as always with Skywalker looming near the two of them, giving Amidala longing looks while she politely pretended not to notice, given the current company.
“No need to be hasty!” the 501st officer was saying, a clear teasing bent to their voice. “I’m just saying, you could always make use of our range, if you wanted. I’m sure you Guards could use a little help – “
Cardy was standing just the tiniest bit too still. In about five seconds, he would be trying to rip this guy’s throat out with his teeth.
“Sergeant,” Fox interrupted, refraining from saying Cardy’s name aloud, lest anyone get any ideas about settling this issue on their next shore leave. “Come with me. The Senator will need an escort to her next – “
And the world… tilted. Fox swayed in place for a moment, and attempted another step, but suddenly, everything just felt too heavy. Even his tongue seemed to swell, weighing down his mouth and causing panic to shoot through him, a strangled sound leaving his throat.
“Sir?!” Cardy’s alarmed voice rang through the air, and Fox barely had time for a single thought before he hit the ground.
Shit… Was that stim expired?
And with a shuddering jolt, the alarmingly high-pitched crack of his helmet hitting the floor, Fox’s vision went dark.