Star Wars: Clone Rebellion Mini-Arc
This is the next portion of the Clone Rebellion which explains a small part of the year gap of four years that is based between Clone Rebellion Season 1 and Clone Rebellion Season 2. It explains how the part of the Jango Fett cloning generation is adapting and changing with the system that is taking things to the next level. This journey of the Clones will explain how the training and warfare is progressed, thus proving how different it is from the training in Tipoca City. Groups are higher in numbers now, so they are in tens instead of fives.
(Due to the lack of episodes, narrative parts will not be included and these merely act as bonus points of the series.)
Enjoy…
Episode 1: The Rough Batch:
Two years after the beginning of the Clone Rebellion, the system of the Rebellion now forming larger than before is now continuously cloning and training the next batch of Clones to fight against the evil Galactic Empire. Because of the lack of allies and trainers, every worker has been working around the clock in order to give the best possible amount of training, before entering the battlefield.
Kamino Unknown Base:
Commander Rex, the second in command of the Rebel 501st battalion was standing in one of the halls underwater, leaning against a wall while cleaning his Pistols. Due to his tight schedule, the only time he was able to do his cleaning was when he had his eight hour breaks. During those times, he was supposed to take his time to rest, but since he noticed that his armor and weapons had been dirty from rough training with some new rookies. Since his recent work with the new Clone, he had both gotten a better feeling of relief and yet also some frustration. Each group of men he trained had different skills and strengths. Some men did better than others, and that impressed the ARC Commander. However, there were also some that were living up to the Commander's expectations, which worried Rex quite a bit. He would deal with that situation in a bit. That group was Apex squad. (Note apex means the highest point of something, so you'd expect a joke about them to go around.)
Rex was currently wiping his rag that dried his wet Pistols around every point of the dual set. Handle to trigger, butt to barrel. He really did admire his weapons. Both Blasters have served him well in the past years. They never failed him once and they were just as reliable as any brother, if not more so.
Rex looked down below his left shin and right next to his ankle and found his tin of wax that he had used on his Blasters. Normally, wax was only permitted for usage on floors such as the ones on Kamino or in a shiny surface area that was similar, but Rex got bored and decided to add a 'custom job' for his twins, and admired the result. But he had to remember, the wax wasn't just for his usage. The Droids around this base needed it for when they went on duty to use the wax. Even though the floors were never actually muddy, water was easily tracked on them, and that meant that anyone that walked on the wet floor could become a victim to slipping.
Suddenly, Commander Rex's communicator had begun to beep. He answered it very casually and replied ever so fashionably. "Commander Rex here."
"Commander Rex." The voice started. From the sound of the voice, it was no doubt that this was the high class soldier Freefall answering. "I'm here to remind you that your shift has just started, just as you asked. I hope your new boys in blue are ready for training."
"Thank you, Freefall. I'll be joining them shortly." It was then that the communication was cut from both sides and the ARC Commander carefully picked up the metal bucket next to his foot up off of the floor and proceeded to get to the training area, but not before delivering the bucket to its rightful place.
Soon, Rex had made it to his group's barracks and discovered that there weren't any audible movements to be detected from the inside. It was dull silence that spread through the inside, and Rex hadn't even entered the room yet. Normally inside this center, Rex could've easily heard noises from beyond the doors, but with this discovery, he wasn't very impressed.
Rex then pressed a button that glows red on the wall next to the door and the metal frame pulled both to the left and right, splitting into two. Upon looking inside, he breathed a sigh of annoyance. This group of his was still dozed off, and wasn't following protocol. It wasn't long ago, but the ARC Commander requested to Mal'drak that he assembled alarms that would wake up the cadets when their training shift had begun. Mal'drak had been very intrigued by the idea and installed it to every cadet room in the city, but despite knowing the usefulness of the alarms, the cadets in this barrack never did actually follow it, like it was never there to begin with.
"Alright, everyone up, now!" Rex shouted at the top of his lungs.
He noticed that out of the men lying down, quite a few flinched at the sudden yell from the Commander of the second 501st. Some men just rolled over in their bunk, as if they were only finding a comfortable position once again.
Rex almost shattered to this reaction. This was the third night that the men had done this and ignored their wake up call. No more of this would be put up with. Rex had also been given an idea where he could wake up the men quick and easily if they were going to listen properly. He had been given a fire hose by Freefall when Rex was complaining about the disorderly behavior presented by this one group. He knew that he would have to pay back Freefall for the idea, even though it was only for laughs.
So, Commander Rex had brought the fire hose along with a tank of water along with him to the barrack and begun to turn on the pressure of his water weapon. Suddenly, it had begun to spray loads of water at the lazy room of cadets and got directly on each bunk at a quick pace. Some men had awoken from the spraying sounds before they were fallen victim to getting wet as well.
"Ah, Commander!" One rookie shouted.
"Sir, why are you doing this?!" Another rookie demanded angry. Rex just ignored his question until he would be finished.
As soon as Rex was quite sure that everyone was well wide awake, the Commander threw down the hose and it landed right outside of the barrack with the machine sitting idly next to it.
The rookies quickly jumped out of their bunks, knowing that any effort to regain their comfort was useless, due to the wet surfaces and their jumpsuits being drenched as well. The group all went into lines of two and stood in rows of five. They saw their assigned Commander, who by facial expressions was clearly disappointed and annoyed by their sloppy attitude.
"Men, this is the third time that I've had to wake you all up since we've decided to install the wake up system, and you all still haven't even improved in your training!" Rex says while watching the group eyeing him with not-so-serious glares. "I really expected a lot better out of you to actually do your part and not slack off. All the other groups of men I've trained have clearly shown better performance than what you've all tried to show me, yet I haven't seen much to be impressed about when you work on the field."
"Right, like we're the ones who are falling behind because of our slackfulness." One of the recruits says.
"'Slackfulness' isn't a word, Ion!" Another cadet says.
"Oh shut up, Cin!" The one called Ion replied back to the one named Cin.
"Quiet!" Rex shouted as both a demand and an order, but it had appeared that the cadets didn't see it as something that was commanded.
"You guys are all so lucky! You've got me on your team!" Another loud mouth announced as he got closer to the group.
"Stop bragging as if you're top gun! You're not, Bolter!" Another man shouted to the one named Bolter.
The group of ten cadets kept on shouting with each other, mostly all of them. Some just stayed back and didn't speak at all and just watched their brothers speak. It was either about how great they were or how bad their brothers were.
Rex's face started to give an angered glance, with his teeth beginning to grind together like two knives rubbing against each other with large sound. His tolerance to this group was super generous compared since they had been quite the hell batch of men that he didn't want to act as their trainer forever. It was torture enough to know them.
"SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!" Rex roared out loud and startled all the undisciplined cadets. They had never seen their commanding officer act this way before in their time of training. It was only time before Rex had snapped, and here was that expected moment. The men didn't wait any further and sat idly on a few bottom row bunks. It was awkward, due to the wetness of them, but it was better than getting into any more trouble.
Once everyone had been seated, Rex had given the men one minute, exactly sixty seconds to stay in complete silence, aside the breathing and coughing that was heard around the room. Once the time was up, the 501st Commander started again.
"Alright, boys I have been training you all for a while now and I have to admit, I haven't seen that much from you all to even consider you ready for combat, or for real duty." Most of the men looked down in shame to their boots and others just mentally scoffed in a retort. Rex noted this, but decided to let it go. "Some of you have actually managed to prove to me that you want to do your jobs, but lately you rookies have been slacking off. I'm not even sure that you're all qualified to even be called fit for active duty."
"So what are you saying, Rex?" Bolter questioned while getting up off of the bunk and approaching the Commander. "Are you implying that we're not going to be good enough? That we're just going to fail because the others aren't doing right?"
"You will address me as 'Commander' or 'sir' Bolter, and no that's not what I'm saying at all." Wrong, it kind of was. "You boys are just as energetic as one man that I know. You show spirit for action, but you don't know how to use that energy in real action. I'm taking you all to the next league of your training today. It's something I've talked about with Torum'mun and Mal'drak, which they strongly agreed with the idea."
"Oh yeah, what do you have planned for us?" Ion asked, not showing any look of surprise.
"It's something I've requested to be done that took a while to complete. We're heading to the training room. Well, you boys are, I mean." Rex replied. "Everyone, on your feet. We're going to raise the tempo a lot higher."
The rookie group slowly got up from the bunks and noticed the wetness once again. Moving seemed to press their jumpsuits against their bodies a lot more than sitting still. The worst part about this situation? The men would have to train while having it on, so their training gear would be pressing against them too.
Kaminoan Unknown Base Training Ground:
The members of Rex's group were standing in a U shaped pattern right in the middle of the field. The ten men were in Phase I armor that replaced the original training gear in the city. From now on, it was Phase I armor for training and Phase II for official duty. The ten troops weren't told what to expect, but they would soon find out what will happen next.
Rex stood in a control room that overlooked the training field with Freefall and Bric who went to observe the work of the ARC Commander. What Rex's motive for this exercise was to get the men to show what they were truly made of. And that was what Rex's plan was. The Commander flexed his fingers and tapped around on the holo-board of the console. What he had planned sure did make Freefall interested in what he was doing. Bric however, just looked with an expressionless face to the whole incident. When Freefall went to looked at what Rex was putting in, he got the need to ask a question.
"You're using that code inside this training simulation?" Freefall asked Rex while pointing to a point of the course setting selected.
"Of course. If these rookies want to be real soldiers, they'll see what we've seen." Rex said before hitting the enter button of the console.
The ten rookies in the training room noted the field becoming a lot different than they have in their history. Not only did the field begin to buckle and bend, but it also looked like it was terraforming itself into a different environment. One that they had never been on before.
"What the heck just happened?!" A rookie asked.
"Don't be a coward, Aeon." Ion replied.
"Sir, what is this?" The one rookie named Aeon asked.
"This is a newly built technology that we've decided to test on you. It generates whatever land we desire and lets us pick what kind of targets that are wanted." Rex said somewhat trying to be welcoming and sound cool, until his voice went serious. "If you know what's best for you, you'll know how to survive this round."
"Has anyone else got a weird feeling about how the Commander had said that?" Aeon asked out loud.
"Wimp…" Ion muttered quietly.
"Alright. The training simulation will commence…. NOW!" Rex shouted over the intercom.
Everyone got their weapons held up and ready while they stood around the area of the field they were in. The boarders had constantly expanded and the training room's ceiling had changed into a bright orange sky. It generated simulated heat and the team felt the heat on their shoulders. The ground was brown and full of dirt and orange rocks. The air was warm and now there was dust settling into around and past the group.
"Uh, sir?" Aeon questioned. "What are we supposed to do?"
In the control room, Rex watched the team in the virtual desert who looked around with confusion. He knew that he needed to say something before the fun had begun. Rex held down the button to talk to the team.
"Your task is simple." Rex started. "You are a group of ten who are outnumbered on Geonosis and the rest of your unit has been captured, or killed. The enemy knows of your location and they aren't far from discovering where you're all located. While time is very short and your numbers may be low, you can still survive, if you find the right means for survival. Now, good luck boys!"
Once Rex's voice had silenced, a chill went down everyone's spines. Whatever Rex had planned, they all knew that they had to think fast. They were in a Geonosis based simulated arena with nothing but their equipment for defense and brothers for backup. But what would their reactions be?
The men now turned from a U shaped group, into an O shaped group, in hopes of revealing where the enemy might be coming from.
Up in the control room, Rex watched the men prepare for their combat and look around for the enemies they would yet face. Rex gave a small grin at their stance and decided to begin himself. The Commander pressed a few buttons and spawned the first targets.
When Freefall examined the code that Rex processed into the field, he noted a code. It said: 'SPAWNB1TARGETSX20'.
"You sure that is enough for them?" Freefall asked.
"Or too much for them…" Bric whispered, without drawing the attention of both Clones in the room too, aside the fact that they had heard him.
"If these men wish to become warriors, they're going to have to start from the basics, like we did." Rex replied.
"That's just silly." Bric spoke up. "You're fighting men with the same flesh and blood, not Droids."
"In case you haven't noticed Bric, but the Empire had been clued to using Battle Droids two years ago when we were beginning the Clone Rebellion, but now we're not exactly sure about it." Rex answered.
"Droids are just programmed machines. Manpower will always overcome the technological in every aspect." Bric says while crossing his arms.
"That would depend on how your abilities are processed, Bric." Rex says while watching the action about to begin.
In the field, the men were standing around, knowing that the enemy was very close, and they were very much exposed from where they were standing.
ZAP!
From over a hill, an orange blast had erupted and hit a cadet with a DC-15A square in the chest, sending him out of the challenge.
"Up on the hill!" Ion shouted while firing his DC-15S at the high point enemy. He blasted it right in the head, and it fell back.
"We're dealing with Droids, men! Get your positions checked!" Bolter shouted while running from his group and jumping out in the open while flashing his Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannon about the field, expecting to see enemies coming. He did and noticed ten B1 Battle Droids coming for him directly, and they blasted at him with their weapons. Bolter started shooting the enemy with his Cannon, but got hit by six blasts after taking down two of the targets, and severely damaging one.
"Well, it would appear Bolter has gone down…" One cadet stated.
"Shut up, Blanker!" Ion shouted while shooting at the approaching group of seven Droids that remained in perfect condition, and the one that slowly crawled towards the cadets.
A few more cadets had begun to shoot at the Droids too with DC-15S Carbines. Some had terrible aim and kept on shooting between the Droids legs or even between the spaces of the elbows.
The approaching Droids had of course been suited up with better aim than the cadets and managed to take down four more, including Ion, leaving four left standing.
The remaining four had grouped up and decided to move from their dead zone position, instead of staying there to die.
"Aeon, Cin, Offshot!" Ion shouted "Let's move! We can run and take them out!"
The other three cadets had listened clearly and nodded in response. They joined Ion in their running assault and managed to destroy the group of Droids affectively. Eleven were left standing, and they were coming from all direction with their Blasters shooting towards the men.
Offshot had a Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannon and fired at most of the Droids when waving his fire at them, but the bursts was slow at hitting them, because they were going around a lot of the time. Cin and Ion had their DC-15S Carbines firing at the enemy as best as they could, but the short length and sight of the weapon made it difficult in this training simulation. Aeon seemed to have things in more control than the others. His DC-15A was perfect for this situation and his got every target easily, since its range was further than the popular Carbine class, and it carried more reliability when it came to situations like this.
First, Offshot was hit in the left arm and his weapon had dropped its aim to the ground while shooting still and he reacted as quickly as he could to bring it back up. But that was an in vain effort, because before he could get the aim he needed, he got blasted four more times and he went out like a light.
Next, Cin went down after taking two Droids down. His chest got hit and he was stunned like the others were.
Ion went down when his kneecap got hit and he lost all focus on the battle, until he realized that he had failed the course too. But before he could even redeem his option to fight again, the next blast hit him in the belly and knocked him out too.
Aeon was the last one standing and knew that he had more chances of being hit, now that his entire squad was down. He had to react quickly, and not mess up in finding a safe spot. A quick glance gave him a new view of cover that looked sufficient enough to prove useful for driving his final rounds against the enemy. A fallen AT-TE, in the simulation appeared to be the best bet for gaining cover and he charged for it, with his body starting to move fast.
Rex watched the cadet with anticipation, thinking that perhaps this man had it in him to actually fight well in real combat.
"I'm surprised this Clone is still standing, considering the not effectiveness of his squad that he's in." Freefall commented.
"He'll come down soon enough. Trust me, this Clone hasn't even got a clue." Bric says.
"That's not really fair, Bric." Freefall says.
"Unfortunately he might be right, Freefall." Rex says with a sigh. "Out of all the squads I've faced, this one has got to be the worst I've seen… or trained."
Freefall was about to comment, but decided to let it go. No matter how much support could be given to these men, they were still falling behind quite badly.
Aeon had gotten cover behind one of the broken off legs of the AT-TE and started shooting again as the Droids had gotten closer. Each shot that fired got all the standing B1s' and he thought it was over.
"I..? I made it?" Aeon questioned. Everything remained silent for a few moments, until Aeon had decided to laugh it out. It was pretty funny how he had managed to remain standing, while the others had gone down. He felt like the best person in the squad, but that wasn't enough to cover his rank of fighter in the army.
But, all cheers were foolish, as the damaged B1 had caught sight of Aeon while crawling and slowly raised its Blaster with one metal hand and squeezed the trigger.
Aeon had heard the shot and quickly realized his mistake. While turning, he saw the orange shot just before it hit him right in the chest and then it was all over. He had lost. His body fell to its knees, and then fell forward in defeat to the dirt.
In the control room, the three people just looked with different expressions on their faces to the ending of the course. Rex had his mouth wide open, speechless to the end, Freefall had a face of 'really?' and Bric kept his face with no expression. Aeon may have been a possible survivor, but his let his guard down too early and lost at the end.
"Well, I guess that's it. This squad is not the apex of the Clones." Bric says while uncrossing his arms and then heading for the exit to the room, but stopped before he left. "Tell the Clones of Domino Squad that they are now officially the second worst group I've seen. I'm sure that'll bolster their spirits a bit."
Rex ignored the comment Bric had given to him and just went back to examine the group who had just failed completely, due to a single damaged Droid finishing the last man off. Rex felt great remorse for letting the group into this training course, because he knew beforehand that they weren't ready. But at least now Rex knew how their abilities were like in the field. He would have to resort to basic training once again.
"I'm ending the simulation." Rex says to Freefall, before shutting down the B1 Droids and then shutting off the Geonosis simulated land. It morphed back into a white training room with white lines around it, and the men slowly got up, since the stun effects were lifted.
When everyone got up, they looked around and noticed the lack of Geonosis around them. They knew they had lost the entire group during that training exercise, and Rex was certainly going to give them a mouthful about this.
"Apex squad, meet me in shooting range 26." Rex ordered over the intercom. "Now!"
The team moved a lot faster when Rex barked the last word at them. Whatever he had wanted all of them to do; he would make it hard for them.
"I think the Commander isn't very happy." Blanker commented.
"No, really?" Ion asked with a sarcastic tone and continued with it. "I'm sure we've certainly shown him what good soldiers we are…"
"Now don't be negative guys! We've still got a chance to prove what we've got!" Another cadet spoke up.
"Yeah, you keep saying how good we can be, Alpo." Another cadet called to the one called Alpo. "But how are we going to prove that? We're just an embarrassment!"
"Tagger, with that kind of attitude, it's no wonder why we're falling down the ladder. We've got to keep our positives in one piece and not let everything go down." Alpo says. "If we believe in ourselves, we can do it. Right Jayce?"
"Come on, can't everyone just relax? We'll do fine, with or without succeeding." The one called Jayce says.
"You're all just a waste of my talents! I should be in the 501st with Commander Rex, not being forced to work with you babies!" Bolter exclaimed annoyed before walking off to where Rex wanted to meet them.
Before Bolter was even able to leave, a hand grasped his lower arm roughly. He turned around and faced his brother Ion, who appeared to look displeased, despite having his Phase I helmet on.
"Care to repeat that, brother?" Ion asked darkly, almost demanding a fight with Bolter.
"Yeah, I said I shouldn't be working with YOU babies!" Bolter repeated, making Ion mad.
The cadet Ion snapped with rage quickly and yanked Bolter back away from the door and attempted to get the over confident Clone in a headlock, which only lasted for a second or less. Bolter quickly reacted and let out a few elbow bashes against Ion's stomach and he had lost his grip on Bolter after the shots of hits hit him. Bolter then tackled Ion to the ground and landed on the metal floor that they were standing on. He left out a few punches to the helmet of Ion with his gloved fists, expecting Ion to submit to him.
"Hey, stop it!" Alpo called to his brothers, which ignored his pleas for ceasing aggression.
"For crying out loud, you have to stop this! We cannot fail guys!" Tagger wailed.
Bolter and Ion just kept thrashing at each other, almost as if they were trying to kill each other in the process. The one thing about this team's strongest competitors that made themselves too dangerous together was their devotion to fighting. It didn't matter who it was, but whenever they got pushed, they wouldn't think about stopping when pushing back.
Suddenly, both fighters were pushed apart when someone had interfered with their fight. The interfering individual had been strong enough to split the two apart and it sent them far away from each other. The sudden strength had surprised Bolter and Ion, which forced them down… for a bit.
The Clone Aeon had stopped the fight. Since this was dragging on too far, both Bolter and Ion had made it more serious than it needed to be and it led to this result.
"Guys, stop what you're doing!" Aeon shouted while positioning his arms out between the two angry men. "We're supposed to be a team! We are brothers! We don't fight each other, we work together!"
Aeon had wanted to get through to the men, but it had appeared that it wasn't going as well as he would've expected. Both Bolter and Ion had gotten up again and went for Aeon. Both men raised their fists up and bashed into the bucket of Aeon from each side, knocking the poor cadet down onto the ground and holding both gloved hands. His groans and moans of pain were hard, but able to be heard. Both the fighting men just went back to their fight and everyone looked at Aeon, since he was in a worse condition than the other two.
"Aeon!" Offshot exclaimed worried for his injured brother. He ran for him and knelt down to him, hoping he was alright. He noticed the small trace of blood beyond the visor of the helmet. He cursed at Bolter and Ion for this, but cursing wasn't going to do anything. Aeon needed medical attention.
"Alpo, Cin!" Offshot called to his two brothers. "Call Commander Rex! He needs to know about this!"
"Got it, Offshot!" Both Cin and Alpo replied and went to where Rex wanted to meet them.
Offshot just watched Aeon with worry and back to Bolter and Ion. His other brothers just stood there, watching the fight rage on. What Offshot didn't understand was why his brothers did act this way. Sure, they were known as the worst group in all of the Unknown City, but Offshot only got a clear view on why it was illustrated as so.
"Well, well, well…" A voice called at another entry to the training room. The voice made Offshot shriek on the inside. Being around the training point of his life, he knew who it was that had that voice.
"Fierfek…"
Shooting Range 26:
Rex and Freefall stood at one of the points in the room where trainees would learn how to shoot and use weapons correctly. They were waiting for Apex squad to arrive and be trained to shoot again. But sadly, the team hadn't arrived yet. They were at least five minutes late and that was based on the distance from the training area to where they were ordered to go. The silence made Rex and Freefall sigh quite a few times.
"What's taking them so long?" Rex finally asked, breaking the silence. "They're more than five minutes late for their target practice."
"They couldn't have gotten lost. They've been sent here enormous amount of times." Freefall says.
After Freefall had stopped speaking, the sounds of footsteps had begun to ring down the hall. Rex has assumed that it was the squad coming after being late to where they were called.
"Good, they're here." Rex says, with gladness heard in his voice.
As the men had gotten around the corner, Rex's gladness had come to an end, once again.
"Cin, Alpo, where's everyone else?" Rex demanded, having zero tolerance for the others.
"Sir, Bolter and Ion, they're fighting it out in the training room and they've severely injured Aeon when he tried to stop them! We need help!" Alpo explained with worry.
"Curse those immature brats!" Rex exclaimed with full annoyance. "Come on, Freefall! We've got to stop them!"
"Of course, Rex!" Freefall replied, and the two set off with the cadets following behind them fast.
By the time Rex and the others had gotten to the other troops, they were given an unexpected surprise that waited for them. All they could do for the moment was watch.
Bric, the Bounty Hunter who demanded to get paid for his work was showing Bolter and Ion some discipline... physically.
Bric had taken Ion and slammed him into a wall while Bolter charged from behind at Bric with his arms waving frantically, as if he was going to attempt to hit Bric with a barrage of punches, if that was what the heavy soldier would call his 'attack'. It wasn't even impressive, never the less for being an actual attack.
Bric only had to move out of the way to get Bolter to lose his pace and mess up badly. He couldn't stop in time and slammed into a wall, knocking himself to the ground.
Meanwhile, Aeon was still on the ground holding his visor covered in blood while Offshot sat next to him with wondering thoughts about what to do in this situation. He couldn't believe that his brothers could've done something like this. He knew that there were members in his group that were rough around the edges, but this was over the limit he had expected to see.
Rex and Freefall quickly scrambled to the fallen Aeon and held his shoulders gently, not wanting to make him panic. During this state, it was important to give the injured brother some respect and help him in the best way without making anything worse.
"Please remain calm, Aeon. We're here to help you, so don't panic." Rex carefully guided the blinded Clone as he and Freefall helped him to his feet.
Aeon just moaned and groaned as he did his best to get back to his feet and regain his ground. From his point of view, this was a completely agonizing experience for him to endure. Having glass damaging his eyes had made the rest of the group concerned while Bolter and Ion appeared to be only worrying about the little quarrel of theirs.
Rex and Freefall had gotten the fallen rookie from the ground then the proceeded to get him taken away. Offshot just watched as Rex and Freefall went to the door closest to where Aeon had been laying on ground. It was obviously chosen that he would go that way since his brothers were too unpredictable with their anger.
As Offshot continued to watch the two leaders, he noted that Rex had stopped and two Clones in black armor had rushed in through the door without any stretcher to offer the poor friendly rookie. Rex moved away from Aeon and the two men had taken his position to help Freefall with the Jango Clone. Rex watched as the four exited the room carefully and then turned back to the Apex squad of his.
Cin, Alpo and Offshot both watched their Commander as he walked to the Apex squad. His walk indicated that he was far from impressed of the group's actions. The three men were going to accept what the Commander would say while the other six just looked at Rex with unexpected glances. Everyone knew that it all wouldn't go down well.
"Right, everyone in line!" Rex started loudly to get everyone's attention. Though Bric just stood and leaned on the wall giving a small smart smile to Rex as he saw the Clone Commander of Tano's legion take charge of the situation. He got all of the Clones in the room in a line and Rex just walked back and forth from each end, avoiding from snapping out at his rookies.
The Clones watched Rex wearily at their leader as he paced back and forth. It was no needed guess that he was doing his best to not thrash it all out.
Once Rex had gotten to the left end of the group, he had stopped for five seconds and started at the ground. After that moment of looking down, he slowly turned back to the rookies he was assigned to. All of the men looked at Rex with curious and fearful glances. Even with a helmet on, Rex's facial appearance was pretty clear.
"I've spent the last two years training you boys to be the best of the best. I've tried my hardest to show you the true experiences I've learned over the years. I've attempted to show you real training for real warfare, real teamwork and real duty. But now I suddenly hear news about Bolter and Ion getting into a fight and severely injuring one of your own. I'm pretty disappointed with you boys." Rex says, letting out all of his anger with disappointed confessions.
The men just stood there, watching their Commander give them shame for their displeasing results as cadets. Two years should've been the maximum amount of time for them all to adapt with one another, yet most of the squad had bad chemistry with each other. Some even got a thrill of pissing off their superiors at times.
"I really thought you all would've learned to not abuse each other and take my trust to a lower level of disappointment, but now I see you're all just making your relationship and teamwork worse." Rex says while facing everyone's visors carefully. He wanted their attention grabbed every bit of the way he was lecturing them.
Rex, then stopped giving them the lecture, which he was pretty sure only reached at least three of the men standing there and gave the previous set of orders. Though from the sounds of Rex's voice, it would've appeared that he was angry at all of the men there.
"Get to the shooting range..." Rex says with no energy in his voice. Until... "NOW!"
The men then quickly saluted their leader and then went through the door that they were supposed to exit through minutes ago. They were all falling behind in their schedules already and this would mean they would be punished to the fullest extent of Rex's rules later.
Rex just stared as he watched the group of nine Clones rush away from the Clone Commander and just sighed in frustration. Out of all the Clones had had to training in this entire facility, why did it have to be this bunch he was assigned to look after? It didn't seem fair that he was placed in this position with this lot of men.
Superiors Meeting Room:
Rex stormed inside the meeting room with his helmet to his side and an angered look on his face. Whatever had happened in weapons training, it was something that was interesting to guess. Freefall and Mal'drak were also in the room and appeared to be questioning this sudden storm of emotions.
Rex took the nearest seat and placed his helmet on the table harshly and letting it echo through the room. He then placed his arms on top of the table and laid his head down on them in annoyance. Feeling the looks the other Clone and Kaminoan were giving him, he just replied with a...
"I don't want to talk about it..."
Freefall and Mal'drak gave each other looks thinking about what to do with Rex's situation. He clearly wasn't enjoying the progress of his team's work. It wasn't something that anyone could accept after two years of consistent training. They're not the best rookies anyone had ever seen before but are sure the worst.
Freefall then moved away from his Kaminoan friend and then sat next to Rex, who kept his head down on the table and just replayed his team's failure over and over. Every time he did so, it just hurt his head with the memories overflowing his career as a leader. He had lead Torrent Company on many harsh missions since the Clone Wars and mind the fact that it wasn't easy, but he sure knew how to keep the team together, even without General Skywalker's help. Now he was in charge of a group of ten Clones on Kamino who needed to learn to fight when the battles against the Empire keep on advancing.
"Hey Rex, you need to keep your head in the game." Freefall states. "I know teaching those boys to learn how to be mature is a hard task, but there are many challenges to teaching Clones to become true men. Just keep trying your best to help the men train and you'll see progress."
Rex then lifted his head from the table and looked at Freefall with disbelief and annoyance. What he was telling the Commander of Torrent Company sounded stupid. Maybe not from Freefall's side, but for Rex it was different.
"Freefall, I've been training those boys for two years! TWO YEARS! And it is exactly the same as any other Clone's training in this center. I cannot believe how hard I'd tried to show them how to do things right, and they're all just... just." Rex tried to explain, but he couldn't say much else. So he scoffed and just let out a groan of annoyance while dropping his head to the table.
Mal'drak then chimed in and walked up to the blue armored Clone and the black armored Clone. He had an idea that he would like to try for Rex's squad. Though there was a look of uncertainty emitting from the face of the Kaminoan. "Perhaps Commander Rex, you should take the rookies training to a higher level?"
"How do you think I could do that?" Rex asked while looking up from the table again and facing the long necked Kaminoan scientist.
"Well, it does seem like a risky idea, but perhaps you should..." Mal'drak started before getting closer to Rex and whispering into his ear. As the Kaminoan whispered, Rex's eyes just faced a wall but opened up a bit more wide as he heard the plan of Mal'drak's. Whatever it was, it wasn't something Rex had expected to hear from the Kaminoan.
"No! No! Not... yet at least." Rex replied as he moved aw from the Kaminoan. He then sighed and turned away from everyone else in the room. "There must be a way to get their training to improve without the end result being... that!"
"If you really want to try to shape your men into warriors, then sometimes taking great risks is the only way to go. Even if it could endanger the whole lot of them with fatal results." Mal'drak says. "I'd never want to see any Clone be forced under that kind of stress, but it is a choice that I think could help them."
"Or possible scar them for life." Rex added before standing up and heading back towards the door he had busted through only a minute ago.
"It is something that should be considered... if you're stuck with no more options. And do remember Commander, that every Clone goes through the same process through their lives, as it is an unavoidable thing." Mal'drak says.
"I'll... keep that in mind, Mal'drak." Rex says before leaving the room with his helmet in his right arm again and heading back to his quarters. It was there that Rex knew that he could finally get some privacy and solitude from reckless soldiers who didn't learn the basics of Clone training. He was amazed that they all knew how to talk, never mind walking. The only hell that he continued to see from this was that he would have to go through this same process for quite some time now before he could call these men fit, which gave him much dread in his heart.
The walk to his quarters was surprisingly quiet one. The only sounds that he could hear were the splatters of water and Kamino life forms echo through the glass. There was also some unidentified dripping that come from somewhere, either from ahead or behind. He didn't really care, because he just wanted some sleep. Due to his team's endless recklessness, he had decided to end their training earlier today. That meant that he would have a lot more time to spend along before his next shift of teaching the hopeless soldiers would happen again.
Many would question Rex's choice to train them, instead of not forcing them onto another trainer like Bric or just send them to work here in the city. It made no sense to anyone why he didn't just quit with them. The answer to this was because Rex couldn't give up on his men, no matter how hard it was to cope with such idiots. He had his duty to train them, even if it killed him in the process. Ever since that dark day on Umbara, he had felt the guilt of taking the blood of his brothers by shooting them. It never did end for him, the cries of pain and the no hesitating of killing the so called 'enemy'. After all that, he knew that he had to at least try and repay the lost by helping more of his brothers. This place gave him the solitude of payback that silently buzzed in his head, and that forced him to remain around for his cadets that he trained.
Before Rex knew it, he was already at his door to his personal quarters and silently thanked his deep thoughts for handing him this surprise that he had received by walking. He quickly tapped in his security clearance to enter his room and was glad that someone hadn't tampered with his entry code... again. He had discovered that it was Bolter who had been the culprit behind it. What was even more surprising that he didn't have any knowledge in hacking, so it only made Rex nervous discovering that.
Once inside, Rex had spotted the bed and walked directly for it. Once right next to it, he basically stripped off his armor as if he had fire beneath it. He never hated his armor, as it served him well since he had gotten a replacement of his Phase I armor that he had got at the start of the Clone Wars. At this point onwards, he was still carrying his standard his ARC Commander armor he had since he had switched to Phase II. He was well reminded how reliable it really was as the days, months and years passed. It was so reliable that any indecent tug or pull still had it not making any buckling sounds. He appreciated it just like his brothers of Torrent Company.
Once all the armor was stripped off, Rex was in his regular black outfit that he wore during sleeping time. He felt a lot less heavy than what he normally felt in his armor. Ever since his choice to take charge on Kamino as a trainer, his body felt a lot more heavy than it used to be. No he wasn't getting old or anything like that, because of the rapid ageing cure that he had been infused with two years back had doubled the lifespan of the Clones in the Rebellion of theirs. If anything, his physical traits were lasting for twice as long and gaining at the same pace. The only down side to the ageing time doubling was that he was worried about the amount of time he'd have to train Apex squad. It was hell, as already stated.
Rex quickly then jumped into bed and got into a comfortable position that he liked. The only annoying thing that he noticed while laying down was that his bed was pretty cold. Rex then put his hand on a console at the head of his bedside base and pressed a few buttons. The room then started to heat up a bit and Rex felt a bit more comfort endure his body. The thing that made staying here seem less annoying was how he was treated as a high class worker with high living requirements. His bed and room was the things he loved about this place mostly, though he only wished he could stay in it for a bit longer each day. Though it was against protocols if he did that. He only got an excuse to be able to get here earlier because of his group's actions today, which implied the condition of Aeon.
Rex knew that he would be able to sleep now, because his energy levels were draining pretty low. This was actually pretty good to him, because all he wanted to do was sleep. Yes... this was what the ARC Commander wanted. A goodnights rest...
Meanwhile outside of Rex's quarters...
Alpo, Cin and Offshot were standing a few feet from the doorway from the Commander of Torrent Company's door. The three men were worried about disturbing their trainer, because he was already mad at all of them, or most of them. It was hard to tell when all he could do was yell in frustration against them.
"You knock, Cin." Alpo says.
"No way, you'd be better, Alpo. You're more direct." Cin retorted.
"I'm direct in a bad situation, but this? This is our Commander we're talking about. He's had every right to be mad at us!" Alpo says.
Offshot just sighed in annoyance as he saw his two brother bicker between each other for who would get their leader's attention. He wasn't in the mood to deal with Alpo's and Cin's arguments. All he wanted to do was deal with their leader's issue with them and assure him that at least a few of his rookies are doing their best to learn.
"Guys, just stop." Offshot says as he approached the door.
Alpo and Cin watched Offshot as he went closer to the door and went to press the communication button that was bellow the access key point. Once pressed, the two watchers had a heavy feeling go through their chest, fearing the worst thing possible that ARC Commander Rex could offer to them.
Meanwhile on Rex's bed...
'Yes, I can finally get some well deserved rest.' Rex thought mentally, until...
Two loud beeps played into the room via the sound systems all around the walls, thus eliminating the ability to sleep for the Commander of Torrent Company. His mind now fully alerted to the fact that he could no longer sleep.
With an annoyed grunt, Rex got up from his bed and walked towards the door. But before he even considered opening it first, he decided to ask who it was first.
"Who's out there? I'm currently trying to rest." Rex says.
"Sir, I'm sorry we're interrupting your rest, but we just really need to see you." Offshot explained from behind the door. Though Rex still didn't know who was communicating from the other side. He was too tired to figure out who the Clone was interrupting him from the outside. And Rex was an expert of telling who the brother was just by hearing their voice.
"Who is it?"
"It's just us three sir. Alpo, Cin and me, Offshot."
Rex took a moment think about whether or not to let those men in. He had already had enough trouble with most of the group already that he didn't want to constantly keep seeing the team mucking up. While he didn't like the team's effectiveness however, he did respect some of the men in it. Those men were Alpo, Cin and Offshot, as well as Aeon who was still in the medical lab receiving his fair treatment from the doctor Droid that was assigned to him. For any possible acceptation, it would only be those four men that could ever be allowed in Rex's quarters.
"Fine, come on in..." Rex says wearily.
"Of course, sir." Offshot says while stepping back and getting right in the center of his brothers. All three watched as the doors Rex's quarters split in two halves and left his room, exposed. There, Rex stood in the middle of the doorway in his black jumpsuit outfit looking pretty damn tired.
Offshot felt a bit bad for his Commander, knowing well and truly that he had affected his sleep pretty badly. The bags that now shown pretty clearly under the poor blonde haired Clone's eyes we evident of that.
"What do you boys want?" Rex questions.
"Sir, we've been noticing recently how you've been getting a bit worked up of our training. How team Apex isn't as 'efficient' as the other groups here. But we just want you to know that we're never giving up if you're not." Offshot says.
"That's right, sir. We're going to do our best to turn our team around." Cin says.
"We may not be the best squad here, in fact we are the worst. But I think we have a chance to turn the group around from the lowest of the low to one of the best." Alpo says.
Rex looked at the group with a non-surprised face. He had been under a lot of stress for the past two years that it seemed like a lie to believe these men. Rex no doubt believed them, but the constant clashing between the team was something that only made training seem like a never ending chore that was even messier than cleaning a house... or a refresher for this matter.
"Sir, we're more determined than what you think. Our group may have not made any true progress yet, but we're sure we can show some good results very soon. All we need to do is kick it up a notch." Offshot says.
Rex sighs and then leaned against the doorway of his. He needed to gather up the right words to explain his issue with this, and it wasn't easy to do so. While he completely discredited most of the group, it was these guys who were at least trying to do what was right.
"Offshot, Alpo, Cin. I know you guys are trying your best to succeed in the fight, but to do well, you need to make sure your brothers are complying as you are. I know you are aware of that need, but there are problems with your individuality from one another that keeps on causing you so mess up in combat training." Rex says.
"Alpo, your weakness is your hope for an advantage to arise when the enemy is all around you. You don't expect the boarders of battle to go in on you without getting you killed. Because of that, you think a battle will actually play out as smoothly as you think. You should be careful, for what you believe, it could be your downfall." Rex says to Alpo.
"Yes, Commander." Alpo says nodding his head.
"Cin, you have the skills of a regular Clone Trooper and there's no doubting that, but your weakness is that you are not supportive of orders, which is a great weakness since you don't want to complete the objective. Without a plan, the enemy will be able to swarm over you like a Protocol Droid. The enemy plans as well Cin, and if you don't, it'll all just crumble before you. You know what happens when you don't follow orders? You end up dead. Learn to follow rules and the leading guidelines and you'll do better in the war." Rex says to Cin.
"Yes, Commander. I'll do my best to change my ways." Cin says.
"Offshot, you're probably the most reliable of the cadets in your team when it comes to following orders and working with your teams changes and adapt to what they do. However, your skills with your weapon really need a serious boost. Without being able to hit any moving target, the enemy will easily be able to overwhelm you by dodging your attacks. Work up your aiming don't let the recoil of your weapon overtake you. You'll only lose more aim with each impending shot." Rex explained to Offshot.
"I know Commander." Offshot says completely understanding what Rex was saying. He couldn't deny his own mistakes. Offshot was somewhat of a lousy aim.
"Does using a Rotary Cannon make it difficult to shoot?" Rex questioned.
"Not really sir, I just find it to be more preferable when it comes to being in combat, a big gun just feels like making me the bigger man." Offshot explained.
"As my friend Cody once said, Offshot 'A big gun doesn't make a big man'." Rex explained. "But if sticking with a weapon like that is what you want, then I suppose you should do what your heart wants. But you will need to practice a lot more and try to actually hit a target."
"Yes, sir." Offshot says. "I'll make you proud."
"You boys are something that make me pretty proud. While your other brothers aren't exactly, I'm still glad to see you four as tolerable shinies." Rex says.
"Thank you, sir!" All three man say with gladness.
"Alright, now you boys go and get some rest. We've got more training to do in hours time and I don't want us all to get sloppy because we're not getting the right energy we need to train." Rex says.
"Yes, sir!" The three Clones replied before walking off.
"And make sure you set up your alarm! I don't want to have to wake you up again because you're all too reckless to do what is right." Rex reminded.
"Will do, sir!" Offshot responded.
Rex then gave a small smile and went back inside his quarters. The panels to his doors then closed up the outside world from his room and everything turned silent again.
Just as Rex was about to go back to sleep, a thought had occurred to him. He was feeling the feeling of happiness that he hadn't felt since he had been fighting in the Clone Wars. Now that he felt it again, it felt like a sudden burst of energy making him feel alive again. It was a good feeling for the Commander to feel. That would mean that he could probably get the boys in Apex squad to actually do more for once. But even he knew he needed to slow down. That was too much to expect after an encounter with three of the ten men.
To get some closure of this situation, Rex had decided to get someone to talk to. And that someone would be Ahsoka, who was apparently orbiting the planet Yavin on her Venator-Class Star Destroyer the Sharkbite.
Rex then started up his com-terminal that was just at the feet of his bed and got onto the Venator's com-channel. After a few seconds, Ahsoka appeared as a hologram on the com-table and she faced Rex, looking glad to see her second in command. The appearance of Ahsoka had changed a bit as she was clearly wearing a new outfit designed for combat but still made her look attractive to the male's eye. Her lekku appeared to be slightly longer, but not by much.
"Rex, it has been a while. Is there something wrong?" Ahsoka asked sounding concerned for the Commander.
"No, sir. But I'm just needing a bit of... assistance." Rex says.
"Wow Rex, I never thought I would see the day where you would ask for help." Ahsoka confessed.
"Well this situation in particular is different." Rex says. "The boys I've been training have been even more of a hassle. But three of them just came to visit me and gave me some encouragement to keep on training them. But I'm just not sure what I should be doing, since we've been at it for two years straight now."
"Well, I think you should just keep training them, Rex. If you have a few men inspired, then it shouldn't be too long before they all begin to fall into place." Ahsoka says.
"I'm not too sure about that, General. There was an incident earlier that involved Aeon getting seriously injured before, because a few brothers weren't playing nice." Rex explains.
"Whatever they did Rex, I'm sure you'll be able to bend them straight." Ahsoka says, before a Clone soldier stepped into the hologram point as well. Ahsoka turned her head to him and nodded. She then looked back at Rex who appeared to wonder what that was about. "I'm sorry Rex, but I need to go to a meeting now. I hope we can talk very soon."
"It's fine, kid." Rex says, using the nickname he hadn't used in a while. "I'll see you later, General."
"It's good to hear from you, Rex. Goodbye for now." Ahsoka says before the connection cut.
Rex was then left in silence again and just sighed before he tripped over his bed intentionally and landed face first into the soft surface, letting the free time slip away into his dream land, where no training would be happening.
End of chapter:
I hope you have enjoyed this first chapter to Star Wars: Clone Rebellion Mini-Arcs. It took me a while, but I think I made a great choice in doing this. And I'm also certain that it was done perfectly. Just an author's opinion so you don't have to agree yourself. I hope the fans of Clone Rebellion are still alive. I won't ever give up the story. Ever.
See you next time!
~SaintsOfAllSaints01