Chapter Two
Approximately three months later...
As he leaned back in his saddle to halt his mount's progress, Rex took a moment to watch the sunrise.
The mountains that surrounded his home rose above a patchwork array of greens and golds, a seemingly endless stretch of pasture that filled this section of Alderaan; he could see that the basalt-gray peaks were covered with a dusting of snow, evidence that the summer had truly faded and autumn was well on its way. As if to verify the knowledge, a cool slip of wind snickered beneath his coat and set the hairs on his arms to standing at attention.
But the chill was nothing he couldn't handle, especially when it was outdone by the majesty of the sky above his head. Threads of crimson, pink and gold had already begun to find their way across the wisps of upper-level clouds that had remained in the sky, itself a lightening indigo that was still peppered with the occasional star. Rex knew that, were he to dawdle on this hill much longer, the mountains and valley below him would be gilded by the light of the sunrise, sharpening the entire stretch of land to such a great degree that it seemed surreal.
Sometimes he found it difficult to believe that this was his reality, that it wasn't a dream. He inhaled; the air was brisk and clean, so far from the stale kind that he'd grown used to while on the Resolute. The warm scent of leather and animal met him, and he could also tell that someone – perhaps one of the neighbors – had a fire going in the distance; Brenna had said that it wasn't quite cold enough to warrant using the fireplace of their homestead to supplement the heaters, but Rex thought he would enjoy it when the time came.
Beneath him, his mount gave a soft whicker; Rex glanced down at the quagga's striped, stiff mane and reached out to pat the creature, feeling the muscles of her neck tense under his gloves. The quagga stomped one of her feet, as if reminding him that they had a job to do, and he gave a chuckle. "Alright, Nova," he said as he turned away from the vista. "We're going, girl."
Rather than use the reins to guide her, he shifted his body weight and nudged the quagga's right side with his heel; moments later he felt a small flicker of satisfaction when she began to move in the direction he'd indicated, and they resumed walking along the fence-line of the far pasture.
It was quiet now, but Rex's attention had shifted from appreciating the view to the task at hand. The fences that ran across this section of the Damaris' land were in constant need of repair, and despite the fact that he and his brothers were trying to upgrade the entire length to an energy-fence, the portions that were still old-style metal needed to be checked for damages almost daily. Like much of the work out here it wasn't a difficult job – especially when compared to planning and executing a battle – but it was time-consuming.
There were a few speeders on the property, but Rex found that he preferred to ride Nova while on this type of mission; the quagga allowed him to take the appropriate pace necessary to get a good look at each section of fence. A speeder would be much too fast, even at a low velocity.
Additionally, Rex enjoyed riding. He'd always preferred working with living creatures while in the army, as rare an opportunity as it seemed to be, and among all of his brothers, he and Kix had taken to riding the quagga better than Coric or Jesse. It helped that Brenna also seemed to enjoy the sight of Rex on one of the creatures, though he couldn't for the life of him have said just why.
When he wasn't with Bren, Rex preferred quiet moments like these, where it was just himself, Nova, and the sky. The only thing that would have made it better was if Brenna and her daughter Irini were with him, but the child was still – in Brenna's opinion – too young to learn how to ride, and in any case they weren't at the ranch right now, having gone on an overnight trip with Kix and Brenna's mother into the nearby town of Belleau-a-Lir to sell a few quagga at the monthly auction.
As much as he was loathe to be apart from the woman he loved, Rex knew that Bren had a number of other reasons for the trip, and he looked forward to seeing her again later this afternoon, when she, Iri and Jensine were supposed to return.
There was also a flare of worry at the thought of what news she'd bring back with her from Belleau-a-Lir, but he tried to push it aside. Speculation, as he knew, was pointless until one had all the facts.
Besides, he had a job to do right now.
Glancing down, Rex frowned at a segment of fence where the wire had come undone from the post, leaving a significant gap. With a fluid motion he dismounted, hooked Nova's reins over another post, and set about the repairs. It was a simple matter to reattach the eyelet that connected the wire to the post itself, and after a few tugs to ensure that it was now secure, Rex was satisfied. As he made to gather up the reins, a tuft of pale wool caught between the twining wires of the fence caught his eye, and he looked up and around, searching.
About three months after Rex and his brothers had found their way to Alderaan, Jensine and her son Caith had invested in several dozen head of vilpacas, long-necked, temperamental creatures raised for their wool; while Rex supposed they were lucrative enough stock, the damn things were too smart for their own good, and were prone to escaping their pasture close to the house, which was what he supposed had happened now.
As if sensing his shift in attention, Nova lifted her head as well and her nostrils flared as she scented the wind. To get a better view of their surroundings, Rex slid his foot into the metal stirrup of his saddle and swung his body atop the quagga. Absently, he patted her neck, then drew a folding pair of electrobinoculars out of his jacket pocket and scanned the area once more.
As he did so, he lifted his wrist-comm, one that Bren had modified for the clones to use while on the ranch itself. "Jess?"
There was a riff of static, then he heard his brother's reply. "What's up, Rex?"
"Are you near the villie pasture? I think we've got a escapee out here." As he spoke, Rex twisted in his saddle and scanned the surrounding hills, searching for the tell-tale, wooly form of the wayward vilpaca. "Do a head count, if you can."
Another pause, then Jesse spoke again in a chiding voice that reminded Rex that none of them were in the army any longer. Of all his brothers, Jesse had best taken to the lack of command-structure that had served them all so well in the past, and while the tattooed clone was never disrespectful, there were times when Rex wished for a simple "Sir! Yessir!"
Like right now. "Didn't you say that none of us are supposed to go out to the far pasture alone?"
Rex sighed and squinted through the electrobinoculars again, nudging the brim of his hat out of the way to get a better look through the device. "Jess-"
"Hang on a sec," Jesse broke in. "Coric says yes, we're missing a villie. Damn things. I'll come find you and we can look together. Protocol, right?"
Before Rex could argue, the link was cut and he was left in silence. For a moment he frowned at the device, then he shook his head and continued to survey the area, still searching for the vilpaca. After a few minutes he nudged Nova into a walk again and began alternating his attention between the fence-line and the view through the electros as he searched.
Finally, about five minutes later, he spied a villie-sized clump of pale wool in the distance, at the bottom of a nearby gully. The fact that the clump was unmoving was far from reassuring, so Rex slipped the electros back into his jacket and urged his mount forward into a brisk canter. Within a few moments he and Nova reached the body of the vilpaca and he frowned at the sight.
Something – perhaps a mountain anooba – had found the creature first; there wasn't much left of the villie besides its wool. Beneath him, Nova made a low noise of worry and shifted her feet, ears pricked forward as if she'd caught the scent of the predator, so Rex reached for the blaster rifle that was slung in a special holster affixed to the saddle, just in case whatever had killed the vilpaca was nearby. While the mountain anoobas were nocturnal and solitary – unlike their Tatooine cousins – Rex knew better than to let his guard down, and he trusted Nova's nose far more than his own senses. Aside from the anoobas, he'd seen cath hounds and the occasional bolraida out here, but the predators mainly kept to the outskirts of the Damaris' property.
But there was no sign of anoobas or any other sort of predator, so after a few minutes, Rex sheathed the weapon and raised his comm again. "Jess, what's your location?"
"I'm about half a klick away from your signal," his brother replied, voice slightly muffled by the whine of an engine. "Everything okay?"
Rex exhaled and blinked up at the sky, which was growing lighter with each passing moment. "I found the villie – or what's left of it."
"Kriffing anoobas again?"
"I think so," Rex replied, twisting around in his saddle to see if he could spy the other clone's approach. There. If he squinted, he could make out the shape of a speeder-bike as it raced toward himself and Nova, who lifted her head as the vehicle's buzzing became evident. "I found a breach in the fence earlier as well; I suppose that's how it got in."
There was a pause, then he heard Jesse sigh into the comlink. "I see you. Stand by."
Jesse pulled up on the bike within a few moments, slowing the vehicle as he approached Rex and Nova. Rex had dismounted and wrapped Nova's reins around a stake that he carried, which he then he slipped into the ground – a handy trick when there was no fence or tree nearby and the quagga was not yet fully-trained – and was currently examining the dead vilpaca.
Like Rex, Jesse was dressed in a warm pair of trousers, a thick jacket that fell past his hips and sturdy boots; however, he wore a knitted hat over his head, which concealed most of his tattoo, while Rex favored one of the more wide-brimmed variety that kept the sun out of his eyes. There were times where Rex missed the information that the HUD in his bucket had provided – not to mention the comforting feel of armor on his skull – but there was no use crying over spilled bluemilk, as the saying went, and the hat was practical enough to suit his needs.
"It was an anooba," Rex said by way of greeting as his brother approached. "A big one. See the tracks and the pattern of the bite-marks? It's a relatively fresh kill, too, so I suppose it must have happened during the night."
"Kriffing things," Jesse replied, grimacing. "We need to get those perimeter fences energized already. That'll put a stop to this."
Rex nodded, then gestured to the area from which he'd arrived. "Only one section was damaged, but I hadn't been looking too long. I think we need to check every day, instead of a few times each week." Jesse opened his mouth to object, but Rex beat him to the punch. "Jess, you know as well as I do that energy fences aren't cheap. It'll take time before we can have the whole property outfitted like it needs to be."
"I know," Jesse said with a sigh. "But it's...frustrating, isn't it? In the past, if we needed something done...we could just do it. We didn't have to wait for any reason, especially not a lack of money."
"Not always," Rex replied. "There was plenty of procedure and red-tape in the army. But I know what you mean."
He did, too. Money had never been something that Rex or any of his brothers had to think about while in the GAR, but they'd gotten quite a wake-up call not long into their time as free citizens. However, he knew that he and the others were lucky; they'd been staying with Brenna and her family who'd been kind enough to share what they did have with the former soldiers, who in turn had taken to working on Jensine Damaris' ranch to help out where they could. It was a good system to his way of thinking; the clones did much of the labor around the ranch, which bolstered the profits of the place by a significant amount, and in return Rex and his brothers had a place to stay and food to eat.
Additionally, Jensine insisted on paying them each a salary. And although it wasn't a lot of money, Rex had never felt pleased in quite the same way as he had when he'd earned the first wages of his life. While he knew that Bren had her own money from her time with the GAR, he was glad to be able to contribute in some way, and had decided to save as much of his wages as he could for Brenna and Iri's future.
Their future. His future too...however much of it there might be.
Rex pushed away the thought that had started to twist his gut a little more each time it crossed his mind; he turned his focus back to the dead vilpaca and his brother. "We should try to salvage the wool if we can," he said, nodding to the creature. "No use letting it go to waste."
Jesse nodded in agreement, then thumbed in the direction of his speeder-bike. "That's what took me so long to get out here, actually. When you said you thought one of the villies was missing, I remembered what we did the last time this happened, so I went back and got the clippers. Just in case."
"Good thinking," Rex replied, pleased; once Jesse retrieved the clippers from the vehicle, the two of them bent over the lifeless vilpaca and began to shear off the valuable wool by the light of the sun as it began its ascent into the clearing sky. For a few minutes they worked in silence. Rex slid the buzzing clippers across the hide of the creature in as even a pattern as possible while Jess collected the wool and secured it in a canvas bag he'd brought along.
After a little bit, Jesse cast him a careful look, then pitched his voice to rise just above the noise of the clippers. "So...you came out here alone. Again."
Rex said nothing as he guided the clippers along. Along with the increasing light, the wind had picked up, and he had to move slowly to ensure that Jess could collect all the wool before it was carried off by the breeze. Finally he shot his brother a glance. "It needed to be done, and the rest of you were busy."
Jesse grabbed at the next patch of pale wool. "You were the one who said we shouldn't travel alone, remember?"
"I know what I said," Rex replied, narrowing his eyes at the pale wool as it fell away from the clippers. "But that was a while ago, Jess. I think we all know the ropes out here by now."
"Maybe," the tattooed clone said with a shrug. "It's still strange though, isn't it? I mean...no drills, no bridge rotations, no battles..."
Despite himself, Rex had to smile at this. "You miss the clankers?"
"Yeah, something fierce," Jesse chortled. "What I wouldn't give to hear a tinny's melodious voice again." They shared a quiet laugh, then Rex's brother spoke again, his voice thoughtful. "But it is strange to live like this. It's good, I mean, but it's...I dunno."
They'd collected all the wool they were going to, so Rex turned off the clippers; as he slipped them back into their case, his hands felt like they were still vibrating from their movement. "Strange. Yeah, it is, sometimes."
"But at least you have your girl, and her little girl," Jesse added as they stood up. "You're lucky like that."
He was lucky. Force, he knew he was. Never in all his days had Rex imagined that his life could have turned out this way: living with the woman he loved, her daughter and the rest of her family on one of the most beautiful planets he'd ever set foot upon. While in the GAR, when he and Brenna were starting to get serious, he'd dreamed of being able to go to sleep beside her each night and wake up beside her each morning; now he was able to, and quite frankly there was nothing better.
But the rest of his life in the interim had not been as easy, or as pleasant. So much had changed in such a short span of time, that often he felt like he was still floundering. Rex inhaled the scent of grass and Alderaani wind, then cast his brother a look. "I'm going to keep checking the fence-line," he said at last, handing the other clone the clippers' case. "Can you get this wool back to the shearing shed?"
"Sure thing," Jesse replied, tucking the sack with the wool and the case beneath his arm. "Or I can – you know – stay out here with you. Like we're supposed to. Especially if there's an anooba running around."
Rex shook his head. "I'm fine."
"You know, Fives would say that you're isolating yourself. He would say that you're sulking."
"Fives says a lot of things," Rex said with an exhale. "But he's not here right now."
While Rex, Jesse, Kix and Coric had chosen to remain on Alderaan with the Damaris family, Fives' preferences were a bit more...adventurous. He and Marliss Menin – Brenna's former roommate from when they both worked on the Resolute – had taken to traveling the galaxy together. As Rex had learned how to ride a quagga and tend to stock, Fives had turned his attention to piloting the ship that Marliss had acquired, while the blonde woman herself knew enough mechanic's tricks able to keep the vessel from being spotted by any unfriendlies during their travels.
While Rex did miss his gregarious brother, he liked having a "link" of a sort to the outside world; Brenna and her family had the HoloNet for general galactic news, but Fives and Marliss were the source for news that was very specific, if not always pleasant.
Something inside Rex threatened to crack open with this thought, but he shoved the feeling aside. Dwelling on such a thing was useless, and he had far too much to do to think about it, anyway, because if he did think about it, if he dwelt on the fact that his life, his brothers' lives – indeed, their very existence – had all been set into motion simply to serve the whim of a power-hungry Sith Lord...
With a shake of his head, Rex cut off the train of thought again, instead turning his mind to Brenna, who'd helped him work through the initial feelings of helplessness after he'd first learned the horrific news. Even with her and her family's support, there had been many difficult days. However, Rex found that living and working on the ranch, where there was always something to do, had helped himself and his brothers deal with the large-scale implications of Fives' news.
Umbara had shown all of them that their lives were not what they'd been told, that the clones as a whole were able to be used as pawns in a larger game if they didn't ask questions. Later, towards the end of the Wars, the presence of a new kind of clone – grown, decanted and trained within only a year – was proof enough to Rex that the Republic he'd once fought for regarded its loyal soldiers as little more than expendable drones. The Spaarti clones' strength was – according to every report that Rex had read – purely in their extensive numbers. More so than any Kamino clones had been, these clones were as close to flesh-droids as they could be, and even Rex had to admit that they were inferior in many ways, though he attributed that to the harried nature of their growth and training.
Anyway, life was different, now. Better. Rex had someone he loved, someone who loved him, and usually it was very easy to go to sleep each night, especially if he was too tired to think. But he couldn't shut off his brain, and nor did he want to, because he had a lot to think about.
Rex loved Brenna, loved the shape his life had taken, but he was aware that he had too many questions to be truly content, and the peacefulness he'd felt earlier this morning had all but slipped away from his already tentative grasp.
Taking another deep breath before he spoke, because Jesse's eyes were on him and his brother looked like he was going to ask Rex another question. "I'm not isolating myself, Jess," he said after a moment. "I just...like it out here. I'll head back after another few hours. How's the windmill coming?"
There was a beat while the tattooed clone studied him, giving Rex the impression that Jesse wanted to say a good deal more than he was, but eventually the other man shrugged and turned to head back to his speeder. "Wind-pump. And it's trying to give us all kinds of hell, but we'll have it at one-hundred percent, soon."
Among the many tasks the clones had taken up in their quest to improve Jensine Damaris' ranch, the upgrading of the wind-powered water pump was proving to be one of the most difficult; being the most mechanically inclined, Jesse had taken the lead on that project, the others helping out when they could. While it pleased Rex that his brothers could offer something back to the ones who'd helped them out such a great deal, Jesse's words had again served to remind him just how different things were for all of them now.
As he watched his brother speed off across the rolling grass, he felt the same feeling of helplessness that had followed him like a shade these past months coil around his heart once more.
There was no GAR. There was no Republic. Everything he'd once fought for, worked for, lived for, had been a lie, and there were some days where he felt like he had nothing of himself left, certainly nothing he could give to another person.
Certainly nothing that would allow him to be a father.
No, he told himself as he retrieved the stake that held Nova's reins, then mounted the quagga's saddle once more. It's useless to dwell on the past. What matters is the future that you're making now, for yourself and for them.
But that word, future, held no pleasure for him, either. No matter how he looked at it, Brenna and her daughter deserved more than he could offer, and while the brown-haired woman he loved had told him – many times – that she would love him no matter how long he lived, Rex could not shake the feeling of failure, not so much for Brenna, who understood the nature of his genetically-shortened life, but for her daughter.
For Iri.
Of all the tasks he'd ever imagined himself taking on, 'father' was turning out to be the hardest and most complicated role he'd ever imagined, and Rex was aware that he'd only skimmed the surface.
Without looking back at the dead vilpaca, Rex nudged Nova into a brisk trot and made his way for the fence-line once more.
This was originally the first chapter, but I felt that we needed to see Rex actually getting the news, as well as be able to compare/contrast (a bit) how he acted before with how he's acting, now.
Thanks for reading!
Next time: Bren, Iri...and wedding rings. ;)
