Your Six

"She okay?" Rex asked pulling his helmet from his head and peering down breathlessly at the young Togruta laying near his booted feet. How could he have been so negligent of his duty?

"Well sir," the medic said folding up his medical kit and standing to look at the other soldier, "she will recover, but she needs to be moved to one of the transport areas immediately."

Rex nodded and placed his helmet back on his head, using the flat of his gloved hand against the dome to shove it all the way on. It was time to take charge and mop up the mess he had created himself. General Skywalker was not going to happy about what had happened, but it was far too late to think about that now.

"Someone is going to have to cover me," Rex said taking his pistols from their holsters and placing them in the hands of the two nearest clones. They were running so low on charge for their weapons that many of the men had abandoned what they had when it ran out, not wanting to carry the extra weight with them as they started to retreat.

The Captain bent down and scooped up the small Torgruta, careful not to jostle her too much as he lifted her. She was rather small and light, but still he would be vulnerable as they moved further back from the line and into the transport area.

"You," Rex said indicating one of the other clones with a nod of his head. "I want you to make sure that no one comes up from the rear as we retreat. We are going to be sitting bantha here. Let's try to minimize any further casualties."

Ahsoka moaned and rolled onto her side on the small med ward bed. She felt like she'd been kicked a million times in the stomach.

"Feeling some pain Commander Tano?" the shiny meddroid asked as it trundled to her bedside.

"Yes," Ahsoka managed to get out through gritted teeth. She had never been hurt during battle before. She was a jedi, after all and she should've seen it coming. The shrapnel grenade had been a complete surprise when it had landed in the middle of a group of clones. She had moved quickly and not thought about the consequences, but Ahsoka was sure she had saved those men's lives. That was most important to her. They were her responsibility, no matter what.

"I will give you something," the droid said, it's wrist twisting so the needle aperture was level with her arm.

"I'm not sure..." Ahsoka started, but it was too late, the needle sunk into her arm and the droid was finished and attending to other patients. Ahsoka began to drift on a pillow of drug induced sleep. She slipped further and further from consciousness and into her dreams.

"You left her?" General Skywalker asked looking at Captain Rex with narrowed eyes. "They told me that you left her and went ahead. Are your brothers telling me the truth?"

Rex stood at attention, helmet tucked under his arm and he was silent.

"Are you going to answer me Captain?" the jedi asked again.

"They are telling the truth," Rex said, his voice even and unwavering even in the light of being dressed down by a General. Clones were bred this way and they knew how to take punishment, they had been doing it since they could walk. Kaminoans were never nurturing, to say the least.

"What is your excuse?" the General asked pacing now back in front of the clone.

"She told me to take the lead," Rex said. There was no blame to be laid here. This was war and it was ugly. General Skywalker was still holding onto the ideal that the jedi were untouchable, but Rex knew different.

Yes, jedi were different. They had skills that the average soldier didn't have and that made them very dangerous. Rex was not an average soldier though. He was bred to think on his own, to make decisions quickly and to save as many as possible by making those decisions. The jedi still clung to the idea that the decisions they were making were far superior.

So Rex was not surprised by the way General Skywalker was carrying on about how his padawan had been hurt. It was her decision and he was seeing that she was just as fallible as the rest of them.

"Why did you follow that order?" the jedi asked stopping to look at Rex again as though he were grasping for why this soldier would leave a child behind.

"She is the commander. She outranks me," Rex said plainly. That was what the jedi liked to believe. They liked to hear that Rex was a 'good soldier' and that he did what he was told. It made them feel superior.

Rex didn't dislike the jedi. They were placed in this position by the Kaminoans and the Republic itself. The army was constructed to be subservient to their leaders. The jedi were thrust into this leadership just by the fact that they were the only ones who had fighting experience enough to lead the army. Their experience wasn't much, at that, so Rex didn't begrudge them the fact that they liked to feel superior. It was the one thing they had.

The General merely shook his head and Rex knew that it was just disappointment in himself, more than the Captain, which made him feel this way. Ahsoka was his responsibility and yet she had been sent out with a group of clones on her own. Rex knew what it felt like to feel that way about choices he had made. It ate you from the inside, if you let it.

"Ship duty for a standard week," the jedi finally said and looked at Rex as though he were finished with him.

"Yes, sir," Rex said clicking his booted heals together. He turned and left.

How he hated ship duty.

"Master," Ahsoka said following after Anakin as he strode through the corridor of the ship towards the bridge. "You can't confine him to the ship for something I ordered him to do."

"I can and I did," Anakin said trying to move even more quickly as though he was trying to get away from her. Sometimes her master had a way of avoiding arguments that he knew he wasn't right about. She wasn't about to let him off the hook this time though.

"I want you to rescind the punishment," Ahsoka said keeping up with his long strides.

"You might want that, but it's not going to happen," Anakin said finally stopping and looking at her. "This is all about learning for the clones. Rex is no exception. He has to learn that even if you are in charge, it's his job to advise you to the best tactics. You are still a padawan."

"As you always keep reminding me," she said crossing her arms over her chest. "How do you expect me to learn anything if you act like I'm a fragile flower?"

It didn't make any sense. She had given an order for Rex to take several of the men and go ahead to scout while she and three or four other men stayed in the rear and protected them. The enemy seemed to be everywhere and there was no use in getting everyone who was with her killed. Why couldn't he see that?

"I know that you aren't fragile," he said and looked at her again. "I just know that there has to be some sort of repercussions. Would you like to be the one to serve those out?"

"Yes," Ahsoka said not hesitant. She should be the one who was confined to quarters because this was her idea and not Rex's.

"Okay," Anakin said and rubbed his chin. Ahsoka had seen him imitate Master Kenobi many times in this manner and it was usually when he had a devious plan up his sleeve. She wasn't sure she liked what he was about to say. "Then you can spend your time with Captain Rex on ship duty. Got it?"

"Yes master," Ahsoka said dejectedly to her master's back as he didn't wait for her final answer before heading off to his duty.

"Keep up little one," Rex said as he strode towards the far side of the hanger, Ahsoka at his heels. She had taken very well to staying on the ship during Rex's 'punishment.' They were now in the middle of assisting for the next drop of soldiers going down the planet. It was Rex's job to make sure all the drop ships had the correct amount of troops and supplies for the upcoming campaign.

"Right behind you Rex," Ahsoka said as she followed him across the deck plating, the sounds of boots moving ringing in her ears. Clones were precise and they moved with purpose, as she had found out many months ago. They didn't waste steps and they didn't wonder about where they were supposed to be. They just knew where they were ordered to go and the shortest way to get there. Ahsoka knew to move fast if she was going to get to where Rex was going and help him with the duties of the day.

They had been constant companions since they had both been assigned to ship duty for transgressions during the last battle. Ahsoka knew that it wasn't Rex's fault, but yet her master wanted to make a point. Well his point was well taken when she was assigned to be on duty with Captain Rex. Now they were both serving out their punishment on the ship until they could return to active duty.

"Mind the straps Ahsoka," Rex said pointing to the gear which was stored against one of the walls of the airship. It was his job to make sure that it was double checked to make sure nothing came loose during the descent to the planet. It was part of being on deck and not in battle. Although he wished he were on the planet. It was he was bred to do and when a clone was not busy with the business of killing tinnies, then he really didn't feel as though he were in any kind of business.

"They are tight," Ahsoka said after checking them. "What's next?"

Rex pulled two large crates from the deck and handed them up into the air ship to the small Togruta. It didn't matter that she was small, she worked just as hard as any clone he had under his command and Rex admired her for that fact. She was quite different then the other jedi, not so above everyone and always willing to help the regular men.

"Stow these behind the pilot and co-pilot seats," Rex said pushing them towards her. "Make sure to strap them down."

Everything, he meant everything, had to be tied, strapped or locked down when an air ship headed for the atmosphere of the planet. It was n't always an easy ride to the surface and the idea of someone getting their head taken off by something that wasn't strapped down correctly made him sick to his stomach. Rex had seen it before and it wasn't fun to clean the blood off a flight deck when someone's head was still in their bucket, but not on their shoulders.

"Done," Ahsoka said and finished up the strapping. She hoped down from the air ship and waited for more instruction from Rex.

"Then let's clear out of here so the boys can get on the ship and we'll wait for one of the returns," Rex said striding over to one of the airtight doors which led back into the staging area of the ship. They passed several groups of troops gearing up and checking each over one last time. Many of these men would never see the ship again and would leave their lives on the planet below. Rex hated that they were going in his place. He wanted to be there fighting and his skin crawled with the idea of waiting for the dead to return.

He was jealous.

Ahsoka followed Rex, noting how many of the men acknowledged him as he past them. Captain Rex was well respected among the men, never asking one to do something that he wouldn't do himself and always stepping into harms way first. Ahsoka just couldn't believe that her master would make him stay on the ship for something that was clearly not his fault. She felt guilty and responsible. She was also starting to wonder just how stable Master Skywalker truly was and if she should say something to Master Kenobi.

They finally reached a small room which tracked ships as they came and went from the larger vessel.

"Looks like there are two incoming," Rex said pointing them out on the screen to Ahsoka. "Should be here shortly. Want something to drink?"

There was a small area in the room to sit and perhaps have a refreshment. Usually this area was used by lower ranking clones who had ship duty during fights. Many times the inexperienced, or shiny as the men liked to call them, clones were assigned to ship duty for several rotations prior to fighting in the battles. It gave them a chance to ease into how things were done under Master Skywalker's watch.

"No," Ahsoka said looking closely at the blips again. "I'm fine."

Rex shifted from one booted foot to the other as he stood next to her waiting for the return of the men from the surface. It wasn't nerves, that much Ahsoka could discern from reaching out with the force and touching the clone, but it was something else. Wanting. He wanted to be fighting, to be doing something and here he was stuck with her. She wanted to distract him and help him at least get his mind off what was happening below because there was nothing he could do to help them.

"Tell me about your training," she said folding her arms over her small frame and looking at the clone next to her.

"Little one," he said. "You have access to all my records you know what I'm rated for and what I've been trained in."

"That isn't what I'm asking," she said. "I'm asking you to tell me about how your training felt and the stuff that your file just doesn't say."

Rex looked at her, an eyebrow shooting into the air as he tried to figure out just what she wanted to know.

"Well," he said exhaling as he spoke. "It was difficult. Fighting in this war has been difficult, but it was nothing compared to the kinds of things we went through during our training."

Ahsoka smiled at him encouraging him to talk more about living on Kamino.

"The rain, well it never stops and you can't get that pounding sound out of your head, even if you try. The helmet doesn't even block it out probably because your brain just keeps repeating the sound, even when it's not there. I've seen pod mates of mine who didn't last past the first live fire drills that we did," Rex said as he grabbed a chair, turned it backwards and sat down. His brow was furrowed as he thought hard about those years on Kamino. It had been a large chunk of his short life.

"The smell, Ahsoka," Rex said looking at her again. "You wouldn't understand, but it's so clean there. Everything smells like antiseptic. They were just so paranoid about germs. I think it's because we were all clones. If one of us got something that would kill, then it would be a mass destruction of their product."

"You think of yourself as a product?" Ahsoka asked as she reached a small hand out and touched his forearm and then quickly pulled it away when he looked at her.

"Don't you know that is all we are?" Rex said a hint of anger brushing against his voice, but he calmed himself trying to remember that she was just a child. It was difficult to remember when she had seen the things he had seen and been fighting right along beside him, but she was still a child.

"I don't ever think of you as a product, Rex," she said rather more defensively then she wanted to and Ahsoka looked apologetically at Rex. "You know I don't think you are some product."

"Well, Kaminoans think of us as products and they would hate to lose money," Rex said holding his hands palms up as though he was apologizing to her. "So when we die during live fire, well it's difficult for them to not see their profits going down. They also didn't care for the defective ones of us either. That would just make them look bad.

"So they were destroyed. We watched our brothers, even though they weren't right, be killed because the product didn't turn out as expected. I heard in the beginning this happened frequently due to bad genetic material, but of course I'm in the seventh complete batch and I'm not sure about prior batches. There were rumors though."

"As men, you don't deserve to have those memories," Ahsoka said softly and she looked shamefully down at the floor. It wasn't a shame that should be hers, but she was willing to take it because it was the jedi who were now using that army.

Rex nodded his head in agreement. Many of the clones carried with them sad memories of brothers who fell far too soon whether it was from defects or from missteps during exercises. Maybe the Kaminoans believed this harden them for battle, but Rex thought that for some of them, it made them into machines who just wanted to avenge the death of their brothers.

"So what constituted a 'defective' clone?" Ahsoka asked after the short silence.

"Either genetically they didn't come out correctly or perhaps they thought on their own too much. It just depended on how they passed some of those first tests," Rex said. He really didn't like talking about what it was like living on Kamino.

"When did you pick up your first blaster?" the Togruta asked sitting on the floor in front of him with her legs crossed and arms wrapped around her legs.

"Let's see," Rex said thinking. "I think I was about five years, but that would be almost 10 years for normal people. We may have had some exposure to them before that, but my memory is a bit fuzzy about the very early times. Although I think I can remember looking out through my decanting jar. I don't know if that is an actual memory though or something my mind made up for me to remember. It's hard to tell anymore."

Ahsoka felt herself shiver at the thought of him peering out of a jar where he was suspended in some sort of growth medium and seeing all the other clones in their jars. It was sickening to think that the Republic was riding on the backs of men who didn't have mothers or fathers and didn't have anyone to comfort them when they were sad.

Although she didn't know them, at least Ahsoka could say that she had a mother and father. She was sure that they had loved her enough to let the jedi take her and train her. She had to be sure of that or everything that she thought she knew would probably fall apart.

"Do you feel like a slave?" she blurted out.

"I know what I am. I'm a soldier. Yes, it might make me a slave to the war and to the Republic, but without that, I wouldn't be here," Rex said thoughtfully. For a clone he sometimes teetered on the edge of being far too philosophical, or so he had been told by some of his brothers.

Ahsoka shook her head in agreement. Without this war and without the creation of the army, Rex would never have taken his first breath and that would've been a sad day. He brought so much to the world, as did his brothers. She wasn't sure that she would be who she was if it wasn't for them and the way they helped to shape her life. They had taught her so many things in just the short time they had served by her side.

"I'm thankful that you are a soldier," she said smiling at him.

"Yeah, because from what I've seen you need someone to watch your six," Rex chuckled at her.

"Are you saying I can't take care of myself?" Ahsoka asked faking exasperation.

"Oh," Rex said holding his hands up in surrender. "I would never say that about you, commander."

The proximity alarm beeped in the small room and Rex rose from his chair checking the display.

"Those two birds are almost here," he said turning to look at her. "Let's go clean up the mess."