So, since it’s Sunday, and I’m bored as fuck, I decided to try turning my Coruscant is Hell AU into actual, like, words. Rather than conversations. Allow me to introduce my second Corrie OC - Lieutenant 80, a transfer from a combat battalion.
Once again, I barely proofread.
tagging: @starrrgazingbunny and @keantha (since you put the idea in my head this morning)
It was late. Late enough that even the Lower Levels were largely abandoned, or maybe the criminals of Coruscant were just smarter than anyone gave them credit for, and just didn’t work after a certain hour.
Unfortunately for the Guard, they didn’t have the choice to be smarter about their life choices.
“’It’ll be fine’,” 80 rasped out as he sprinted behind his older brother, “’Night patrol is easy’. You fucking liar, Cap.”
Dusk, sprinting slightly ahead of him, didn’t even spare him a glance, “You volunteered for this patrol, 80,” He countered, barely winded even as he sprinted down the streets in his full kit, “The rest of us were forced. You didn’t wonder why that was?”
He took a sharp turn to the left, and 80 bounced off the wall as he scrambled to keep up, “Thought you all just wanted your beauty sleep,” He admitted, “Never even considered that Coruscant had fucking demons.”
“Well. Surprise.” Dusk replied, “Welcome to Coruscant.” He grabbed 80 by the collar of his armor and flung him into an abandoned building, before he scrambled in after him, and then he pushed him down.
“How the fuck are you so strong?” 80 hissed.
“Quiet!”
80 fell silent as Dusk crouched near the door and pulled a wicked looking knife from his vambraces. It was definitely not regulation, and 80 was pretty sure it was glowing.
There was the sound of a heavy footstep, and then another one. Then there was silence. 80′s blood was pounding in his ears, and even though his legs were starting to cramp, he didn’t twitch so much as a muscle. And then-
“Captain? Are you here?” It was a vod’e, their voice muffled from their helmet.
80 went to stand, to go to a member of the squad that had been separated from him and the Captain, but he stilled when Dusk made the simple hand motion of “hold”.
“Lieutenant? Now’s really not the time to be hiding,” Now that 80 was listening, really listening, the vod’e voice sounded strange. Plus, he trusted that his Captain knew what he was doing.
There was silence again. 80 thought that the person pretending to be a vod’e had left. And then the metal door that they were flanking exploded inward. 80 floundered, falling backward in sheer disbelief, but the Cap moved.
The dagger slammed into what was probably the creature’s thigh, and it let out a furious shriek. Cap twisted the blade, ripped it out, flipped it into a reverse grip, and surged up, the blade dragging against the creature’s throat.
It let out another shriek, and staggered back, allowing Dusk to slam a shoulder into it. “Move, 80!” He shouted.
80 wasn’t ashamed to admit that he might, possibly, be in shock. But Orders were easy. He could follow orders half dead. So at Dusk’s command, he scrambled to his feet and chased after his Captain.
They sprinted in silence for a moment, taking side streets and alleys that Dusk seemed to know like the back of his hand. And then he slowed from a sprint to a jog, and then to walk, and then the Captain stopped. “Cap...what the fuck?”
“Like I said, welcome to Coruscant. Are you hurt?”
“I...no? Shouldn’t we still be running?”
Dusk’s helmet tilted slightly, “We’re safe. for the moment.” He paused, “Well, safe enough, at least.” Then he and gripped the...was that a tooth?
80 stared. And stared even more. As Dusk gripped a tooth that was easily the size of his own hand, and ripped it out of his armor. There was a small amount of blood on the end, but Dusk didn’t seem too concerned. “Ah, good. Not venomous this time.”
“Sir, what the actual fuck?” 80 sounded a bit alarmed.
Dusk glanced at him, “There’s a lower lower level. That’s where I fell when the shadow bitch decided that we were trespassing. I got bitten, obviously.”
“Are you okay?!”
“Surely you’ve noticed that our armor is a bit, hm...sturdier, than yours was when you were a frontline soldier?” Dusk asked.
“Well...sure. I thought,” 80 paused, suddenly ashamed of his thoughts on the Corries.
“You thought that it was for appearance’s sake? Or because we thought we were better?” Dusk asked, there was no heat in his voice, and that just made 80 feel worse.
“Everyone thinks that the Corries do nothing but paperwork...and protect the Senate.” 80 admitted, “Some of the vod’e have even started pushing to have your armor taken from you, since you don’t need it.”
“...And what do you think?”
80 stared at the tooth, now laying at his feet, “I think I might have judged too harshly.” He admitted, “Cap...what happened to the rest of the squad?”
Dusk was silent for a long time, “Best case scenario, they’re already dead. Worst case scenario, they’re still alive.” He straightened, “We have three hours before sunrise, 80. If you don’t think you can do this, let me know. There’s a lift to the upper level only a few blocks away. I can get you there in one piece.”
80 blinked, genuinely surprised. And then he scowled, “What, and leave you alone?” He straightened his spine, “What are your orders for the next three hours?”
Dusk regarded him thoughtfully, “There’s no way for us to kill demons, vod. But we can stop it for a couple of months.”
“Okay. How?”
“Fire. Lots, and lots of fire. Also, we’re going into it’s den. I think I know where it is.” Captain Dusk motioned for 80 to follow him, “Keep up.”
“I don’t suppose you have another one of those nice daggers, sir?”
“If you survive tonight, I’ll buy you one.” Dusk replied with a light laugh.
*****
Fox eyed the small pile of daggers laying on his desk, and then allowed his gaze to drift over to the young woman sitting in a chair in front of the desk, “Only 10?” he asked.
“Oh, I’m sorry. How many demon killing daggers have you enchanted in the last week?” Kanna Rae was 19 years old, and was one of the few people on Coruscant who was well aware of just how bad the planet was. She was also one of the only people who was willing to enchant daggers for the Corries. How she enchanted them, he wasn’t sure. So far as he was aware, Jedi weren’t witches, but really, so long as they worked, he didn’t care.
“I’m sorry, Kanna. Thank you.”
She sniffed, “You’re welcome.”
“Even though there are only ten,” Fox added with a small smirk.
“I can take them back you know.”
“They were a gift. That would be rude,” Fox countered, as he picked up a knife and examined it closely, though he already knew what he would find. He had three identical daggers that he was currently wearing, after all.
Kanna snickered, and slumped in her seat, “Fuck you.”
“Fuck me yourself, coward.”
“This is why you don’t have any friends.” Kanna pointed out with a laugh.
“I don’t have any friends because I’m an asshole. Well, save for you, I suppose.”
Kanna opened her mouth to reply, but she paused and tilted her head, “Dusk’s back.” She said, and then she frowned, “He only has one person with him.”
“...fuck.” His office door slid open, and Dusk and 80 walked in. Dusk was limping and his armor was singed. 80 looked a little shell-shocked. “Welcome back, vod.”
“Hey Fox,” Dusk said, as he stepped further into the room, and lightly tugged on Kanna’s padawan braid, “hey kid.”
“You have three broken ribs, and a puncture wound on your left side.” Kanna said with a frown, before her attention flickered over to 80, “You’re uninjured, but in shock.”
“And they will both submit to your health check after I get my report.” Fox interjected smoothly, “Where’s the rest of your squad?”
“Puppets. Ran into some kind of shadow creature in the lower level.” Dusk explained, “Blew up a street and knocked us into the sewers. Me and 80 escaped, but the others-” He shook his head, “Found them in the den.”
“Shadow creature? That’s a new one.” Fox murmured, walking over to a map on the wall and examining it closely. This was how Fox kept track of the supernatural side of Coruscant, with the help of his men.
Dusk walked over and grabbed a black tack, the color that they decided was for demons, and pressed it into the spot on the map where the den was. “I cleansed the den with fire, that should be enough, right?” He asked Kanna.
“Should be, unless it has another den.”
“Hm.” Dusk glanced at the map, and grimaced, There were a lot of black pins on the board. “I made sure the puppets burned. They deserved at least that much.”
Kanna made a wounded noise, “You all deserve so much more than that.”
Fox smiled at her, “You’re just soft, Kanna.” he teased, but he focused his attention on his vod’ika again, “You made the right call, Dus’ika. I’m proud of you.”
Dusk rubbed the back of his neck, “I feel like a fucking monster.” He admitted, and then he dropped his hand, “We might have a problem, though.”
“Another one?”
Dusk smiled humorlessly, “80 told me that some of the vod’e are making noises about having our armor taken away...and given to people who need it more.”
Fox went grey, and then red with fury, “Absolutely fucking not.”
“If enough of the Marshal Commanders go against you-”
“It won’t happen,” Kanna interrupted, her arms folded over her chest, and her knuckles white from where she was gripping the sleeves of her robes, “I need a list of every vod’e who had died in the guards for the last 6 months.”
“You’ll have it.” Fox promised, “But what are you going to do with it.”
Her lips pressed into a thin line. “I’m going to fuck with the data until it looks like they were all killed by people, rather than demons, and then I’m going to shove the data into the hands of every single clone I can.”
“This. This shit right here is why she’s the best Jedi.” Dusk said, pointing at Kanna.
“You won’t hear any arguments from me.” Fox agreed, “Grab another dagger, Dusk. And make sure that 80 gets one too.”
“Can do, boss man.” Dusk replied, as he stepped over to the desk and scooped up two daggers. One slid into his boot, the other he remained sheathed. “Come on, 80. Time for medical attention. Mad-bay 4?” He asked Kanna.
“That is my normal one, yes.” Kanna replied, watching as Dusk guided 80 out of the room. “I’ll get them back on their feet.”
“Thanks. I’ll have your info ready before you head back to the temple.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” Kanna waved and slipped out of the room.
Fox eyed his map one more time, and then he walked over to his desk and dropped into his seat. He needed to request more men from Kamino, he needed to gather the information Kanna asked for, and he needed to pass out the remaining 8 knives.
He sighed, and ran his fingers through his hair. Better get to work then.
*Captain Dusk and his men were assigned to patrol the lower levels, because someone has to. He has all of his men with him, simply because of what happened last time. They've been patrolling for a few hours, and all of them are on edge. Including Lieutenat 80, a recent transfer from a frontline battalion.*
Dusk: *peers down an alley, forcefully ignoring the cold chills running down his spine*
Lieutenant 80: Hey, uh...Cap?
Dusk: *continues regarding the alley warily* What's up?
80: We've been walking in a straight line, right?
Dusk: *turns sharply, his heart sinking into his stomach* Why?
80: *shifts nervously* It's just...I enjoy looking at graffiti art, so I tend to notice it when I'm on patrol. And this is the third time we've passed that piece.
80: ...and this alley. You've...examined it every time we've walked by.
Dusk: ...Fuck. I didn't even notice.
80: *shrugs slightly* I only just noticed, Cap. Orders?
Dusk: *sighs deeply* Helmets on, weapons ready, and we look for whatever the fuck is trapping us.
80: Sir?
Dusk: *smiles grimly behind his helmet* In my experience, we need to go down.
80: ...yes, sir. Should we alert the Commanders?
Dusk: Is your comm working? Cause mine isn't.
80: ...fuck.
Dusk: *let's out a humorless laugh* Welcome to the Corrie Guard, LT.
*3 days later, Dusk and his men stumble into the Corrie Barracks. Five if his men are missing, several are missing pieces of armor.*
Dusk: *rips off his helmet* You're all dismissed, I'll handle Fox.
Fox: *hurries over, followed by Thire, Thorn, and Stone* Dusk, where the fuck have you been?
Dusk: *wipes a mix of dried blood and sweat off his brow* How long have we been missing?
Stone: *looking him over, worriedly* 3 days, vod'ika. We were considering sending out a squad to look for you.
Dusk: We got trapped in a space loop. We dealt with the creature causing it, no worries there. But I need to mark it on the map.
Thorn: Right. And then to the medic with you.
Dusk: Yes mother.
Fox: I sent the transfer with you, didn't I? I need to make sure he doesn't fall apart.
Fox: *pauses* How'd he do?
Dusk: *flashes a small grin* He noticed the loop before I did. He's gonna be just fine, assuming he can handle it.
Fox: Good. Get some rest vod'ika. You can give your report when you're not on the verge of dropping.
