Work Text:
"Alright, Cards and Sundry, first shift." The two snapped off quick "Yes sir!"s and set about finding the best places to watch over their small, temporary camp. Stone sighed, feeling another shiver coming on, but pushed it down to look over everyone else first.
Six troopers, including himself. The senator they had been sent to protect long dead. (He feared for the punishment the Senate would enact on others for this failure, unpredictable and unavoidable as it was.) They'd moved away from the shuttle, partly because there was currently no working signal to S.O.S. the Republic, and partly because it was in an exposed area. Where they were was more defensible, both against potential enemies and the weather, which was cooling rapidly. Stone gently shifted his weight, feeling the way the chill from the southern part of this planet was increasing with the setting sun. They'd managed to find a good grassy knoll in a copse of trees to keep the wind off them, and the ground was soft enough to dig into but stable enough to keep shape thanks to the nearby stabilizing roots, so they had a good place for their two injured to rest. Speaking of, Stone walked gingerly over to that spot, crouching a bit to look at his other troopers.
Jek and Kit hadn't gotten away unscathed, though at least the both of them were not injured too severely. Jek had a puncture to his thigh, which had thankfully missed the most important artery. Kit only had a sprained wrist, so he was hovering a bit over Jek, Rys doing much the same on his batchmate's other side.
Jek being injured wasn't ideal, since he was the only other omega in their group; It made the others overprotective. Which was exactly why Stone was keeping his issue to himself.
Most of the clones tended towards being an alpha, something about the prime's genetics predisposing them towards that. But it wasn't the only option. The next most common secondary-gender for the clones was being an omega. There was some speculation on what that meant for the prime, but Stone couldn't care less about Jango, since he'd died right at the start of the war; It wasn't as though knowing would help any of his troopers now.
Of course, as the Kaminoans were inherently untrustworthy, and didn't have a way to tell secondary-gender in humans, being unaware of it while doing their initial DNA sequencing and experimentation, all the clones had agreed to hide it. When they were trained to be soldiers by other humans, or trainers who also had similar biology, the clones decided quickly to all be "alphas". Strong and obedient. That was safest.
Not that it stopped the most effective Commander class clones from being omegas; Their talent for leadership was only enhanced by their abilities for calming groups of their siblings and making them listen. With his chills coming on though... Stone held back another shiver. Though not enough, it seemed.
Rys locked onto him with the same intensity he'd been focused on Jek, with Kit following suit.
"Trooper-" Stone started.
"Sir." Rys's tone was immovable; He would not be persuaded.
Kit, though he dithered a bit more, eventually said, "Please, Sir. Cards and Sundry will take care of things out there, but I think we'll all feel better if you take a break. We'll, um..."
"We'd be distracted by your chills otherwise." Kit hissed his name at him, but Rys continued undaunted. Damn these troopers for being so watchful of their commanders. "Might as well huddle for warmth anyway, given the way the night is cooling everything off."
"I'm f-fine-" He paused to grit his teeth, angry at his body's betrayal. Back on the triple zero, this was rarely a problem. Fox was quite good at scheduling around each omega's chills, and of course all the commanders helped, regardless of if it affected them directly or not. Now, now they were all alone, on a planet with no Republic presence, no easily accessible relay, and Stone had to hold it together.
"Sir? Please?" Jek widened his eyes from where he lay, fluffing the blanket over him. "We all need to be rested anyway."
Squeezing his fists together once, Stone let go. "Alright."
It took some shuffling, and some strategic armor removal--since they didn't want to be caught entirely unawares--but eventually he and Jek lay side by side, Rys on Jek's other side, careful with the pressure put on his still healing thigh, arm wrapped over his chest to barely touch Stone's shoulder. On Stone's other side, Kit had finally managed to gather his courage, or just gave in to his instincts, wrapping around Stone like a limpet, arms around Stone's, head on his shoulder, legs tangled. And their emergency blankets kept their warmth in, keeping them all toasty. It was... nice.
"See, isn't this worth it?" Rys asked, sounding sleepy.
Stone grunted.
Kit fidgeted. Whispering, he asked, "What will we do, Sir?"
"For now... just rest." he felt the hands on his arm squeeze, maybe nervous. Kit was still close to shiny. "Tomorrow, bright and early, we'll check the equipment once more. Get a lay of the land."
"Then?" Rys muttered, petting Jek's hair as he slept, eyes worried. It was always more difficult to move with an injured soldier, especially when they couldn't move as fast themselves. Still, with the warmth surrounding him, the reassurance, Stone offered the same to his troopers.
"Our plan, right now, is sticking together, surviving until the Republic can come get us. Vode An."
"Vode An," Rys and Kit whispered.
Stone closed his eyes, and let the warmth of his brothers lull him to sleep.