I don't own Star Wars, George Lucas and Disney own it
Summary
When Anakin, Rex and Fives investigated a cave for Sepretist activity, they didn't expect what happened next.
Chapter 1: Expect the Unexpected
The 501st was camped out on a barren, frozen wasteland. There were rumours that a Separatist base was hidden in one of the many caves on the planet. They were to sneak into the base, set the bombs and get out. Fives and Captain Rex went with General Skywalker while Commander Tano led the rest of the men.
"Brrr," Fives shivered, rubbing his hands together for heat. He kept on slipping on the snow, struggling to keep his balance. His armour was not much help either, the freezing wind got under his armour and chilled him to the bone.
Up ahead General Skywalker stopped and looked back. Fives and Captain Rex stopped as well. "You alright back there?"
"Fine sir," Rex saluted.
"Yes General," Fives stuttered, teeth chattering. He tried to salute but his frozen arm wouldn't ecooperate. He nodded instead.
"Good. We're coming up to the cave were the base is. Intel have reason to believe that they're monitoring comms, so comms off. Stick together and lights on," General Skywalker ordered.
Fives, Rex and Anakin walked the rest of the way in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. 'The General looks so fearless leading us.' Fives frowned, 'Well duh, he isThe Hero With No Fear. He's so handsome. All his scars and his metal hand don't deviate from his beauty. He's kind, generous, humorous, protective, loyal, he makes time to hang out with his troops and makes sure we can come to him with a question. Senator Amidala is lucky to have him as a lover. I wonder if he could love me? Of course, he wouldn't! Jedi aren't allowed to form attachments. Besides, I'm just a measly clone and clones aren't allowed to feel. I shouldn't be thinking these things. I could be court marshalled, terminated or worse, decommissioned.'
He turned his head to look at General Skywalker. 'Though I do wonder what he's like in bed. Is he kinky? Or maybe submissive? Nah, General Skywalker doesn't seem the type to be submissive, he's probably dominant.' Fives shivered, rubbing his hands together.
Fives didn't notice that while he had been thinking Rex was observing at him with a pensive look on his face - though his helmet hid it.
Anakin turned around when he noticed that Fives had slowed down. "Fives."
Anakin's voice broke Five's train of thought. "Yes sir?"
"Are you alright? You're shivering," Anakin noticed with concern.
"Ah," Fives coughed. "I'm alright sir, it's just the wind." Fives sincerely hoped that General Skywalker hadn't figured out why he was shivering.
Throughout Fives and General Skywalker's exchange, Rex watched Fives. Something was off about him and he couldn't put his finger on it. It wasn't the bad something, rather a good something? Rex couldn't figure it out. Anyway there were more pressing things at hand, like competing the mission. He walked up to Fives, placed his hand on his shoulder and leaned in close. "Are you sure you're alright vod?"
"It's just the cold sir," Fives replied. If Captain Rex had heard Fives strangled voice, he didn't comment.
"Stay focused Fives," Rex replied, silently asking if he was alright. He gave a nod to Fives and went back to General Skywalker's side.
Fives was shell-shocked; his commanding officer asked if he was all right. In the field. Sure Rex is more affectionate than most commanding officers with the men under his command, but usually that's done when the men have finished a mission and are on board the Resolute enjoying their down time. He never outright asked if a trooper was alright on a mission because that could get you killed. He normally put his hand on a troopers shoulder, stood with them or nodded at them to show them that he was there for them.
Fives shook himself from his stupor and stumbled to keep up. Fives's thoughts turned to Captain Rex. 'The Captain's so kind and generous. He looks out for his men and we can come to him with any problems.' Fives frowned, 'Well nearly any problems. I doubt he'll approve of my love for him and the General. It's not some silly crush that'll go away. I'm head over heels and totally, completely and absolutely in love with them both.'
Fives sighed, 'I doubt they'd see it as that.' He shook his head, coming out of his thoughts.
At the head of the line Anakin frowned, deep in thought. Fives's force signature seemed…..off. Normally his signature was like an unpredictable storm, with rolling seas. Now his signature was like a hurricane, except he was in the eye of the hurricane. As they went on, Fives's force signature kept changing between the two.
The trio had reached the outside of the cave and crouched down. Fives and Rex checked their weapons, making sure that they were working correctly. While they were doing that, Anakin spread his senses out and searched for life forms.
"Right men, I can't sense any life forms in the cave except for us. It seems like the cave is blocking me. Stay on high alert, there'll probably be droids and traps waiting for us. Be discrete. We'll go in on my mark," Anakin briefed his men.
Rex and Fives crouched, waiting for Anakin's signal. Anakin held his hand up, one…..two…..three. He signalled his hand forward and they moved in.
Stalactites were hanging down from the ceiling of the ice cave, with water droplets dripping down from the tip. The water dripping onto the ground below made an ominous sound. There were strange symbols and words adorning the caves walls. The different colours of the ice cave and the near shimmering the walls appearance took when light shone on it told of the caves old age. This cave was probably a refuge in time of war when the natives needed a safe place from their enemies. If you looked closely, you could see that the cave almost appeared to be sentient.
No light from outside reached the cave, so Fives and Rex had to rely on their helmet lights to see, while Anakin used his lightsaber. Their footsteps echoed in the strangely quiet cave, unnerving them. Ice crunched underneath the trio's boots as they walked further into the cave. The further they went, the more uninhabited the cave seemed. There wasn't any evidence that anything had set up camp in the ancient cave, let alone step foot into it for thousands of years.
Rex shifted nervously on his feet, holding his gun at his side. He coughed, "Uh sir?"
"Yes Rex?" Anakin replied back, distracted.
At Anakin's reply, Rex's courage grew. "Are you sure the Sepies are here? We've been walking for hours and we haven't seen hide nor hair of them."
Fives spoke up, "Captain Rex is right General. If the Sepies were here, we would have seen them already."
Anakin sighed, "You're right, we would have seen them already. But there is something here, I can feel a disturbance in the force…as if the force is pleased? I don't know." He said shaking his head, looking back at Fives and Rex. "We'll keep searching. If we don't find anything we'll contact Ahsoka."
Fives and Rex nodded and started walking again. The walked for a couple of minutes in silence until they came upon a circular room inside the cave. "Sir scanning for heat signatures," Fives told Anakin.
The room they came across was open but narrowed the higher it went. The floor shimmered where the trio walked and disturbed the dust that had gathered for millions of years, leaving footprints. There were strange symbols and flowy text inscribed along the ice blue walls. In the centre of the room there was a pillar made of ice. There were ice spirals jutting out of the pillar every few meters. It glittered whenever light hit it and it seemed fragile, like if you simply blew on it, it would shatter into a million pieces. The pillar was a circle shape and went halfway up the walls. On top of the pillar was an eagle ice statue, sitting regally. It eyes seemed to follow the trio as they walked around the room.
Anakin nodded and folded his arms. He looked around the room and noticed symbols decorating the walls. He walked up to one of the walls and began running his fingers along it, trying to discern if the symbols and writing were force related.
Rex walked over to Anakin. "Sir do you think this is a trap?"
"Now why would you think that Rex?"
"I don't know sir. It just….it doesn't feel right," Rex said, gesturing to the room they were in. "All of this doesn't feel right."
Anakin nodded his head. "I agree, but the force wants us here and I follow the will of the force," he muttered bitterly.
Rex shifted his weight, "With all due respect sir, why would the force want us here?"
"Now that, I don't know. We'll see how it goes. I can't sense anything malicious from the force, just amusement andjoy," Anakin frowned.
Just then, Fives walked over to the two. "General there weren't any heat signatures, though there is a massive amount of energy near here.
Anakin turned around and faced Fives and Rex, "Lead the way Fives," he smiled.
They walked out of the room and followed Fives, keeping whatch (you never could be to cautious), who was holding the device that was tracking the massive amount of energy. When they walked out of the room, they didn't notice the eagle suddenly take flight and fly up towards the ceiling. "It is done and so it shall be," the eagle spoke before disappearing as sudden as it took flight, in a show of light. From where the force was watching the trio, it echoed the Eagles words, "So it shall be."
As they got closer to the disturbance, the force vibrated with happiness and started giggling to itself. They were so close! Soon all their pain and anguish will disappear and they'll be happy, they won't be alone anymore. Sure the Jedi had his Master and Padawan, but they didn't make him truly happy, not like the two clones with him. The two clones had their brothers, but with a million faces and voices exactly the same, you couldn't be unique. They wouldn't have to fight for someone other than their brothers to see them as a unique human being.
Anakin, Fives and Rex came upon a room that looked like the one they had just left, except it was bigger and in a hexagonal shape instead of a circle. The room was as a big as a Republic battleship cruiser. Curiously, there were no symbols or strange cursive writing on the walls. There were many ledges made off ice adjoining the walls. It was on one of the ledges near the roof that the same eagle from the other room was resting.
As the trio walked over the threshold of the room, the previously unseen door slammed shut with a bang and a gust of wind, extinguishing the lights on the clone's helmets and Anakin's lightsaber. A mysterious spotlight shone from the middle of the room onto a sphere object.
Anakin muttered a curse in huttese, "Fierfek," failing to reignite his lightsabre. "Rex, Fives!"
"On it General," Rex answered his plea, trying to turn the light on his helmet on.
"General, I've got a visual. There's a spotlight in the middle of the room. It's focused on a sphere object. I'll have to get closer to see more," Fives replied, switching to night vision.
Anakin cracked open a glow stick that Rex had given him, squinting to see what Fives had pointed out. "Stay close, I have a bad feeling about this," Anakin warned.
"This could be a trap," Rex muttered, hefting his guns up.
"That's part of the fun Rex! You spring the trap," Anakin replied, moving forward cautiously.
Everything seemed to hold their breath as the three men inched towards the centre of the room. When they reached the edge of the spotlight, the force spoke. "My children," it whispered in the non-existent wind.
Anakin and the clones jumped, pointing their weapons into the shadows. Anakin activated his lightsaber, shouting, "Who's there?!"
"Show yourself you hut'uun!" Rex shouted.
"Rex, there's no need for such language. We're friends here after all, aren't we?" the force giggled, its voice echoing.
"Speak for yourself aru'ela," Fives spoke up, looking around for the enemy.
"I don't know who you are, but show yourself and we won't hand you in," Anakin negotiated.
There was soft, harsh laughter echoing around the trio. "Silly boy, I'm not a person, I'm a force. I surround you, penetrate you and I bind the galaxy together."
Anakin gasped and put his lightsaber down. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, dumbfounded.
"Sir?" Rex asked.
"Im-I'm alright," he answered Rex. "How? You're not-you're not meant to be sentient!" Anakin screeched hysterically.
Fives leaned into Rex, "I think they broke the General."
"General Skywalker isn't broken, di'kut," Rex replied.
While they conversed, the voice replied to Anakin's question. "I'm many things and sentient is one of them. Don't you feel as if I'm talking to you in your head when you need help?" it replied exasperated.
Anakin pouted, feeling berated, "I didn't mean it like that."
"I know darling," it paused. "It is fun to mess with you."
"No, not another Obi-wan! That's just cruel," Anakin pouted.
Rex injected, confused, "If I may sir, who are you talking to?"
While Rex and Anakin conversed with the voice, Fives was lost in his thoughts. ' Haar'chak, General Skywalker looks cute when he pouts and Captain Rex's politely confused face is hilarious!' He sighed. 'Why do i have to be in love with these di'kuts?'
A voice spoke up in his head, "Don't worry ad'ika, soon everything will be as it should be."
"Wait! Who are you? How do you know everything will be as it should be? What does that even mean?" Fives panicked. Nothing in his body language showed his inner turmoil.
The mysterious voice answered his fears with a cryptic message, "So it shall be."
Anakin face palmed, "Knew I was forgetting something," he whispered to himself. The voice laughed, hearing Anakin muttering to himself.
Rex waited patiently as Anakin coughed, "Rex, Fives may I introduce you to the Force. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together. The Force, Captain Rex or CT-7567 of the 501st and ARC trooper Fives or CT-27-5555 of the 501st.
Rex nodded, "It's uh, an honour to meet you sir."
Fives coughed, "It's an honour to meet you as well sir."
The Force laughed, "Please there's no need for the formalities, call me Buir."
Rex and Fives looked taken aback. Fives responded first, "Alright….Buir."
"I guess so Buir," Rex responded.
Anakin butted in, "Not meaning to be rude or anything but what does Buir mean?"
Rex replied, "It's Mando'a for mother or father."
The Force interrupted, "While I would like to stay and chat, I am on a timetable. If you could step into the spotlight and place a hand on the sphere object."
"This won't hurt will it?" asked Anakin.
"No it won't," the Force answered.
Rex and Fives looked towards Anakin, silently asking if it was safe. Anakin nodded and the three stepped into the spotlight. The non-existing wind picked up as soon as they walked into the spotlight. The three took a breath before placing their hand on the object. As soon as they placed, a hand on the object there was an explosion and the three fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs unconscious.
"Soon my children," the Force whispered, watching over the men while waiting for Ahsoka and her men to find the three.
When Ahsoka and her men carried the three away, the Force disappeared, leaving no trace except for Anakin, Rex and Fives that something had happened there.
Translation
Vod - Brother
Fierfek - A common huttese swear word in the Clone Wars
Hut'uun - Coward (worst possible insult in Mando'a)
Aru'ela - Hostile, enemy
Haar'chak - Damn it
Ad'ika - Little one, son, daughter
Di'kut - Idiot, waste of space
Buir - Mother, father
Sorry if the characters seem very OOC, they're difficult to write. This completly got away from me. Originaly i wasn't going to have the Force talk to them, but that got away from me real fast.
Should Anakin, Rex and Fives see each others memories or should they be trapped in their minds but able to communicate with each other?
Happy Holidays!
Next chapter- The boys find out something very suprising and motherhen Kix