In the Years Following Order 66

One Year after Order 66

Ahsoka watched Barin as he toddled across the room, chewing on his fists. He removed his wet fingers to babble a few words, none intelligible to Ahsoka, but her sister, Aureki, claimed to understand some of those babbles.

As always, she was amazed at his perfection. His eyes had darkened to honey brown and sometimes her breath caught as she saw other men behind those eyes. She hadn't expected his dark hair to turn pale cream then the golden of his father's mutation. He didn't have lekku, but he did have rudimentary montrals and the echolocation senses. From his father he had inherited a perfect sense of balance, of knowing where he was in relation to those things around him. He had inherited perfect pitch, another gift of the clones' perfection. Every day was a revelation of delight.

He was not Force sensitive and for that, Ahsoka was more grateful than she could understand. There was a bounty on all Jedi and Force-sensitive children. She didn't expect that to be resolved for a long time. Moreover, he was half Togruta and would never be totally accepted by her people. His father had been clone and there was no home to be had there either. To add Force sensitivity to his burdens would have made life so much more difficult than it was already going to be.

Still, he was loved. Ahsoka laughed as Barin bent and inspected the underside of the table with an intensity that elicited her own curiosity. She crawled on her knees and looked under the table. There was nothing there. She turned her head to Barin and he grabbed at her, burbling happily. She rolled on her back and tickled him, laughing as she enjoyed his squeals of delight. She let him go and he ran to hide behind a chair. On all fours, she stalked him.

Ahsoka hid herself from showing in the Force. Painfully and tearfully she had cut her connections with her past as Jedi; she rejected her master, with the men who'd fought with her and then destroyed the Jedi temple, massacring all within its tall walls. Ahsoka had severed herself from Rex; that had hurt the most and would never be completely gone.

She could not make her life's decisions with regard to the past. She could not look to some future when there were so many possibilities, so many of them dark. There was only the now.

Ahsoka regained her Togrutan heritage. She suppressed the individuality that was anathema to her people. She hunted with the other hunters for her family and clan. She was joyful. She learned how to be Togruta, how to live on Shili.

If sometimes she went out at night to look at the stars, her sisters didn't mention it. If she sometimes went hunting akul alone, her brothers didn't speak of it. If sometimes she seemed lost in memories, her mothers let her be. If she sometimes sat solitary on the stones, her fathers let her be.

One day she would have to leave. Her son would not fit into the clan – child of a Jedi knight and a clone captain, he'd be too individualistic for her people. She knew that one day she'd need to return to other worlds. Her home was not where her heart lived.

When the time came, she would open herself to the Force, to find out where she should go.

Barin came and patted her, pushed her from her stalking position and crawled into her lap to feed. She smiled lazily. There was no hurry.

From the two most impatient men in the galaxy, Ahsoka had learned patience.


Two years after Order 66

Jester and his brothers went to the Outer Rim where their lack of citizenship didn't prevent them from earning credits. They changed their armor; destroying the identifiers built into the helmets, modifying it to suit their new needs, their new wants and their new identities.

They worked mostly as bodyguards or took dangerous work requiring strength, silence, and physical prowess. Jester thought they were good at it. Other people thought so as well and the credits came. Not quick, but sufficient. They were still cautious. Traitor clones carried a bounty almost as high as the Jedi. Jester found dark amusement in knowing that he was worth more than he owned.

He was usually the front man, talking trade. People tended to look at Jester's half-melted scar rather than any identifying features of his face. He emphasized this in ways both subtle and sublime; reversing what he'd seen Chopper do long ago to hide his scars. Jester grew his hair shoulder length and braided beads in strands along his face; bright beads on the scarred side, matte colors on the unscarred side, often dying stripes of different shades into his hair or painting tattoos on his skin. He wore face paint as social camouflage. Sometimes, he limped; people remembered a limp and it was easily discarded. He acted loud, gregarious, adopted wide gestures, rude jokes and ruder behavior. Rex, Echo and Fives stayed in the background, always in armor, always in helmets.

Jester had always considered himself to be quiet; reserved, a solitary loner, a reader like Echo. Jester preferred stories and puzzles to Echo's enjoyment of instructions and science. Jester didn't like too much social interaction, but this needed doing and his face made him the best-suited for it.

Someone offered them a semi-legal job for relatively low pay to a planet called Saleucami and Jester was about to turn it down when he'd glanced at Rex who nodded. The job offered no problems. After receiving payment, Rex declared a holiday and laughingly took them out on a 35-klick run into farmland.

Rex got cautious as they neared what was obviously pasture and cropland. He warned them to be wary but to use no force and, as a brother rounded a tree, a deece in hand and a grin on his face, they understood why. Jester felt happy. It was good to see they weren't the only clones who'd escaped.

His name was Cut Lawquane and he knew Rex.

"Times are a little rougher than they used to be," he said gripping Rex's arm in greeting. "I've had to scare off a few drifters."

Rex clasped hands with the farmer and turned to his men. "Cut, this is Echo, Fives and Jester. My crew. Cut Lawquane, farmer and the only man I know who destroyed 14 commando droid by himself."

Cut laughed as he gave a depreciating half-grin. But he didn't deny it and Jester was impressed.

They walked down to the farm, a lean Twi'lek girl and a lean Twi'lek boy running to meet them coming up the speeder lane, A woman in the doorway of the house held a long rifle in her capable hands - in case.

As they drew closer, Jester noticed the woman's face was thin with dark circles under her eyes and a round ball of weight centered on her belly. She was pregnant. Jester's breath caught in his heart. This brother had a family. He turned back to Cut who had both pride and worry in his dark eyes as he nodded to the woman.

Jester helped Cut fix dinner while the Cut's son, Jek, made sure the eopies were secure and helped Fives pull out some coverlets to set up sleeping arrangements in the barn. Shaeeah, Cut's daughter, was catching the nuna and penning them for the night with help from Echo who had the hard part of chasing the quick, agile creatures. Suu went up to rest, Rex offering his arm as she climbed the stairs.

Suu didn't come down for dinner and Cut fixed a plate for her. He was upstairs for a long while and it was Shaeeah who headed the table.

"Mom isn't having an easy time." She spoke softly, "and dad's frightened for her." She served them large portions of the roast and vegetables, taking a smaller amount for herself and Jek. "Mom says it's the work. It's our busy time of the year and there's so much to do with harvest that we're all exhausted by bedtime."

"We'll stay for a while, Shaeeah," Rex spoke. "We don't know a lot about farming…"

Jek laughed, "Like dad when he first came here."

Rex and Fives had laughed at that, Echo and Jester smiled, "Very much like that." Rex agreed. "But we'll work hard and we learn fast."

"That would be great," said Cut as he came downstairs and sat with them, the worry outweighing the pride in his eyes. After dinner Shaeeah and Cut cleared the table. Jek washed the dishes with only a minimum of fuss.

Cut laid his blaster on the table with the cartridge removed. "Disassemble and clean it, Shaeeah." He looked at the soldiers around her, "If one of you would supervise?" he asked as he picked up the rifle. "I have rounds to do." Rex rose to go with him and Jester nodded, sitting next to the girl as she started on the weapon. After a quick inspection of his face and the beads, neither Shaeeah nor Jek stared at him. They knew it wasn't his true face.

"Mom and dad say Saleucami's getting rougher than it used to be." Shaeeah told Jester as her fingers moved over the blaster. She wasn't fast but Cut had been thorough in teaching her and she didn't pause or hesitate. "About once a week, a drifter comes and tries to steal something. Usually a nuna or eggs. Occasionally something from the barn. It really upsets Mom. She's scared the drifters will hurt me or Jek or dad. She hates seeing us with the weapons."

Jester nodded noncommittally. "I haven't seen much of the war from this side until pretty recent. I guess you know who and what I am."

"Like dad. A soldier and a clone." She looked at him.

He tilted his head in thought. "I use to be a soldier. Not anymore. Being a clone was simply the way I began. Now I'm just Jester; doing what I have to do to keep us together, to keep us safe."

"Does it hurt?" she asked, recognizing the scar as real in his face. Her fingers reached up to his face without touching him.

"Not much. It hurts less than not having it would hurt." Jester remembered what he'd done in the Jedi temple, what he would have become if Rex hadn't taken him.

She looked at him through narrowed eyes, her fingers pausing. "Is that one of those grown-up 'you'll understand when you're older' answers?"

He laughed. "No. It's a soul answer."

"I heard that clones don't have souls, that they're barely capable of thought." Shaeeah watched him carefully. She'd heard it on one of the radio program and the one time she'd mentioned it to dad; he'd walked out of the room all pale and scary. But she was older now, more grown-up and it seemed important.

Jester smiled. "Do you believe that? Either part of that? Of your dad? Of Rex or any of us here now? Do you believe that we're less than other people? Do you believe we can't think or love or enjoy good stories and good company?"

Shaeeah paused a moment, thinking then returned her attention to the blaster. "No."

"Then you don't have to worry about it anymore, do you?"

"I guess not." She smiled. "I like your voice. It has honey in it."

Jester laughed. "My first compliment. Thank you."

The blaster was clean and reassembled, lying on the table. Jester was telling Shaeeah and Jek one of the fables he'd read, Fives and Echo listening in, when Rex and Cut returned. They sat down, quiet and listening until Jester finished. Jek had fallen asleep and Fives picked him up and mounted the stairs. Shaeeah, yawning, went first to show him where the bedroom was.

"What's this I hear about the Jedi being traitors?" asked Cut in a low voice. He could see the question hurt, and immediately regretted asking it but it was out now and there was no taking it back. Echo looked down at his hands on the table; Jester looked down to his hands in his lap, neither man willing to begin.

"I don't know," replied Rex softly. "We were part of the 501st that stormed the Jedi temple on Coruscant and I'm still not sure what happened." He was silent for a moment. "It was supposed to be a moment of glory; the defeat of the traitors to the Republic after their illegal attempt to arrest Chancellor Palpatine. We went in and killed everyone and everything alive in there. Including children. Including babies barely old enough to walk."

Rex's voice caught and they could all hear the tears. There was a soft whimper from Jester and tears streaming down Echo's cheeks.

Rex not finished with his story, continued. "The general was a Jedi, one of the good guys, we thought, and not part of the Jedi coup. He led us into the temple. He killed a group of younglings in less time than it takes to think about it." Rex shuddered and Cut placed his arm over the other's shoulders in support.

"Remember what I said about being part of the most pivotal moment in history? We failed because we didn't stand up against that act. Evil has prevailed. I came here because my family out there doesn't exist anymore. Now my family is Echo, Fives and Jester. Fives was puking his guts out, Echo contemplating suicide and Jester was in a corner crying with his blaster pressed to his face. I couldn't leave him in med bay alone when we ran and we had to get out immediately."

Echo pressed the heels of his fisted hands to his eyes clearing his tears. Fives had come down the stairs and understood immediately what they were talking about. He'd gone into the kitchen to wait. Jester heard the running of water, Fives splashing his face.

"Any other troopers run like that?" asked Cut.

"I've heard of a couple, saw a clone bounty hunter once but didn't know who it was. I heard that a few of the Jedi escaped. Don't know who. Echo might, he researches." Rex glanced toward Echo.

"Anytime you want to know, I'll tell you what I have." Echo's voice was somber.

Cut nodded, stood and Rex stood with him.

"Gentlemen, our beds await. I think tomorrow with be a busy day."

The next day, Cut paired with Rex, Shaeeah with Echo and Jek with Fives as they went on their tasks. Jester stayed in the house with Suu while she slept late then bringing breakfast to her bed. He insisted she sleep or rest. When she wanted to go outside on the porch to enjoy the day, he set up a chair with cushions, a cover and a place to set her feet up. He assisted her down the stairs with a strong arm. He called her ma'am and she smiled absently. He also rested; they had decided to begin night watches and he had the first night. He pulled the beads out of his hair, washed himself in the cold water of the barn trough and came to sit before her, damp and newly clean. He asked her to cut his hair. When she asked how he wanted it cut, he said 'short'. He felt reborn as black hair fell to the porch.

The weeks passed quickly with the hard work on the farm, but Jester knew their presence made a difference. After a few encounters with the ex-troopers, drifters no longer came by the farm. Suu no longer had dark circles under her eyes and laughed about how she moved with all the grace of a bantha. Jester made it his priority to ensure her every need was answered. Shaeeah and Jek had time in the evening to go over studies. Echo and Fives assisted, usually taking opposite sides of every debate. Rex and Cut played dejarik like two old patriarchs. There was peacefulness that soothed Jester's troubled soul.

Jester was washing the dishes while Suu sat at the table. He'd just finished telling her a joke when he noticed she looked at him oddly and her words scared him.

"Cut, what happened to your face?"

She was looking at him quizzically and she stood. He was moving his hands from the water in some battle-honed instinct when her eyes went back in her head and she dropped. He caught her before she hit the floor. Her back arched and her limbs stiffened in a convulsion.

He was on the comm link immediately, his normally soft voice in command decisiveness. "Cut. Echo. Get back to the house. Rex, take the speeder and get a medic. Suu's having convulsions." He was glad they'd done a practice run.

Pulling a coverlet off the couch for her, Jester did what he could to make her comfortable on the floor. She woke a little and looked at him, reaching for him, smiling. "Cut, lie down and hold me." Then her eyes rolled back and she convulsed again.

Jester was counting minutes when Cut pulled open the door, breathing hard, hair no longer neatly tied back. Suu was lying on the floor with Jester at her side. Before Cut lay beside his wife, her glazed eyes opened to Jester and she lay her hand on his face, "I love you, Cut."

Jester replied, "I love you too, Suu." Then she smiled, closed her eyes, and Jester looked to Cut. "Get down here. She's about to..."

Cut dropped to the floor beside Suu. Jester released her into Cut's arms as she convulsed, her back arching, her limbs stiffening. As Cut held her, Jester wiped the sweat from her face with a cool rag.

Echo was there then, with Shaeeah who quickly paled and sat at the table. He quickly checked her vitals, and hissed between his teeth. "Stay with us, Suu. Jester, convulsions duration and time?"

"Three convulsions, about three to five seconds duration. Twenty minutes apart." Jester replied. "But she's not coherent in-between."

Then Echo was on the wrist com. "Rex when you get someone, tell her it's probably eclampsia."

Cut let out a garbled plea. "She's got three more weeks."

Echo shook his head. "I don't think so. The medic will probably have to do a c-sec to save her life. We need some magnesium sulfate. Shaeeah, find some. It's like bath salts or hot soak."

Shaeeah was quickly on her feet, running to the linen closet.

Cut looked as though he were going to cry. "Not my Suu. Not my baby." He held her in his arms. Shaeeah was back with a box and a jar, her face pale. Jester took them and read the labels, setting aside the jar in favor of the box.

"Expect another convulsion, soon," said Jester even as Suu's eyelids fluttered and she opened her eyes.

"I'm thirsty, Cut. Please get me something to drink." Her eyes fluttered shut and she shuddered then convulsed again. Cut held her, tears in his eyes.

They heard Shaeeah in the kitchen, getting water. When she came into the room, her face was still pale, but stoic. She passed the glass to Jester sitting next to her mother. He smiled at her and took it, pouring a small handful of the magnesium salt into it. She sat next to him and he gave her a quick, comforting hug as he passed the glass to Echo.

"Why don't you made something for Fives and Jek and take it out to them," he suggested and Shaeeah nodded, moving to the kitchen. Echo and Cut got Suu awake sufficiently that they felt they wouldn't drown her pouring the mix down her throat.

It broke the convulsion cycle for a short time. Before they heard the speeder truck, Suu woke up twice more, had another, milder convulsion. Rex came in carrying a medical kit in one hand, pushing a Twi'lek in front of him looking suspiciously like a kidnap victim.

"Do." He commanded and the doctor, confronted with a patient in obvious need, did so. Jester and Rex went outside, Fives and the kids joined them after a while, coming from the barn.

There wasn't much noise and that scared Jester. On the battlefield, no noise meant dead men. The living made noise. Moans, groans, cries, pleas, curses, screams, sobs. Only the dead were silent.

Cut came outside, sweating. There was strain on his face, scratches and bruises on his arm from Suu's grip. He sat heavily on the bench and put his face in his hands. "He's not sure he can save both. He wanted me to choose."

No one asked.

"Do you want me to go in," asked Jester.

"No, I'll go back in a few minutes. Echo ordered me out for at least a walk around the barn and house." He stood and Jester stood with him.

"Come on then," said the trooper.

"I'd prefer alone," said Cut.

Jester shook his head. "No brother should go through this alone." He put his arm around Cut's shoulder. "I've got your back, Cut. Let's walk."

Jester saw that the offer alone brought more tears to Cut's haggard face.

They returned shortly and Cut went back into the house. It was getting on toward nightfall and Fives took Jek to make sure the eopies were secure. Rex and Shaeeah secured the nuna. Then Rex handed her his blaster and they went on rounds.

Jester went back into the small house that was so quiet and did what he could to help. The doctor said that if all went well, Suu would need bed rest for several weeks. Jester went and changed the linens on the bed. Echo said a pre-mature child would need to be kept warm. Jester collected blankets. He handed drinks of juice to the three men. He noticed Suu's hands contracting in cramps and massaged them.

Finally the doctor said, "This is too long with no progress; time for intervention. You," he pointed to Cut. "And you," The same finger turned to Jester. "Need to hold her. I've given her what I can, but it will still be painful. Make sure her hands come nowhere near the incision and one of you, be ready for the baby."

He turned to Echo, "Ready to assist?"

Echo nodded, jaw firm against his emotions.

Suu screamed once as her hands reached downward to discover the pain, but Cut held her hands and whispered into her face. "Suu, I love you. Please, just a few seconds. Remember when I first came here? I loved you right away. Just a few seconds and we'll have a baby. Suu, what will we name him or her? Suu, Suu. Please stay with me."

The Twi'lek reached into Suu and pulled out the baby, wet and red, and handed it to Echo who held it at an upside down angle for a moment then gave a tired, lop-sided grin as the child sucked in a breath and squalled. The cord was quickly tied off and cut. Echo handed the child to Jester who cradled it in his arms, terrified of damaging the tiny child. Echo turned back to assist the doctor with the process of mending the incision in Suu's pink skin.

Suu took in big gulping breaths as Cut held her hands captive in a one-handed grip, caressing her face with his free hand. "It's ok, love. We have a baby. Don't go. I love you. Don't know what to do without you. Don't leave."

Jester noticed it first, her attention was back. Her words removed all doubt. "Where would I go without you, my dear husband?" She said weakly. Cut's kissed her, stroked her lekku, her face, her arms, her hands, tears of joy in his eyes.

The doctor gave her an antibiotic and a pain patch for Cut to carry her upstairs to the bed then turned to the babe in Jester's arms. Poked and prodded, the baby's squalls turned into a full-throated crying roar.

"Better get this one upstairs to mother," chuckled the doctor as he began packing his bag and Jester carefully carried the precious child up the stairs, protected in his strong arms. Echo was sprawled on his back in the mess of water, blood and juice which someone had tipped over.

"I do not ever want to do that again," he gasped to the ceiling.

"You did not bad for combat medic." The doctor had obviously made the connection of the five mostly-identical men. "If you stay on Saleucami, I could train you a little better. You could make good money."

"Thanks for the offer," replied Echo, still staring at the ceiling. "But I don't think so. I was never a medic."

"Then you did very well."

Jester smiled at that as he took the baby up the last few steps.

The baby was a boy and Echo told Jester that someone's count must have been off or it was the Twi'lek-human mix because he was healthy and full term weight.

Cut asked Suu if they could name the child Keeli River and Jester knew he'd been with Captain Keeli's River Company. They'd lost a troop carrier not long after Geonosis, the rest of the company on Ryloth sometime later.

Rex would look at the child with wide, sad eyes. Jester knew the captain was wondering what a child of his would look like. Having seen Keeli River Lawquane, they all wondered what their own child might look like.

Jester spent a lot of time holding the child, running errands for Suu, reading to her as she recovered and carrying the boy for her as she slowly regained her strength over the weeks. It would be a long time before she was healed, before she could work the farm with Cut. Cut's family needed his brother.

When Rex left Saleucami, his family was short one member. Jester stayed.


Three years after Order 66

Aureki thought Barin was a perfect child. A bit stubborn, perhaps. More individual than her people liked, but so was Ahsoka and Ahsoka was her beloved sister. Beloved for having been gone so long. Beloved for returning. Beloved for sharing Barin.

Ahsoka was the hunter while she was the ta-harr – the fire-tender, the keeper of the home. She was proud of her work. Their home was comfortable, welcoming, and warm; with a bit of childish mess. There was no mistaking that this home had a child. She took care of Barin while Ahsoka hunted and Barin called her 'mama' as well. It was no oddity to have two mothers in a home. The oddity was having no father but no one among the clan would have Aureki and Ahsoka would have no one among the clan.

Barin was four and Ahsoka was showing him an akul tooth, explaining its dangers and why they hunted the akul. He was uncomfortable in his white cotton pants and kept pulling at the waist; clothing was the introduction to the world of older children. Most children would pull off their clothing at first chance, Barin hadn't. He recognized it as a change in status. He delighted in playing with the older children who often wouldn't play with the 'babies' who ran naked.

Ahsoka and Aureki sat, cross-legged, on the soft pelt rug and laughed while Barin pretended to hunt the akul under a table and behind a desk. The fire was a warm glow, perfect for the oncoming chill of the evening, and they'd already eaten. Barin had been bathed and his golden hair glistened sunset red with the fire's reflection.

The akul under the table died and Barin came to his two mothers and, plopping himself down between them, smiled. "Tell me a story about da."

Aureki saw Ahsoka's mouth twitched in sorrow that she would not show. There was sorrow in Ahsoka's heart and some small anger. Ahsoka had told her that Barin's father had insulted her, refused her. In spite of Ahsoka's anger, there was so much love for him that Aureki sometimes cried herself to sleep at night simply to know her sister had loved this much.

Ahsoka reached behind her and grabbed the holovid stand. It was Barin's favorite because, in a way, it was about him. She set it on and the blue light reflected in the room, merging with the fire's red glow to give a more life-like color to the hologram. A man stood in the light, a warrior in honor-marked armor, firing blasters. He glanced behind him and waved onward as he gracefully pushed himself forward from the boulder he stood on. Several more warriors ran on either side of him.

"Echo gave me this before I left. He pulled it from Fives' helmet vid and thought I would like it." Ahsoka smiled softly.

Then she continued in a stronger voice, a teaching voice. "That's your da, Barin. When I knew him, he was Captain of Torrent Company in the 501st. He is a fine warrior and you are very much like him."

The holo changed and the man was out of uniform, eating off a tray, obviously surprised and a little miffed, to Aureki's eyes, to be the subject of Ahsoka's holocam. It was also very evident to Aureki that this man was Barin's father. From his golden hair to the eyes of honey brown, Aureki knew what Barin would look like in twenty years. Perhaps with a narrower chin and softer lips, the form of rudimentary montrals giving a slightly different shape to his skull, the heritage of his birth-mother.

The hologram flared and another scene came up and Barin gave a small cheer. It was Barin's favorite. Aureki sighed. A boy's favorite, a warrior's favorite. The captain and another man, Ahsoka identified him as Echo, were fighting. Ahsoka said it was practice, but it looked entirely serious to Aureki. The men moved stealthily with quick moves and throws, punches and kicks that seemed as though they'd be deadly or incapacitating. But at the end of the holo, the two men had laughed and the captain had put his hand down to help his defeated brother rise from the padded floor.

Except for the golden hair of the captain's, the men looked identical. Ahsoka had explained that to Aureki although to Barin she had simply said "They are brothers."

Then there was the last holo. Ahsoka's favorite as well as Aureki's because it seemed to tell so much about the man.

He was sitting in a corridor; his honor-marked armor dirty, his helmet in his hand and his attention forward. Then he heard something for he turned his head to the side and looked at the holocam. There was wariness as he looked. Then he relaxed, gave a soft, tired smile and turned his head back to whatever had his attention.

"That's the medical unit," Ahsoka had explained to both Barin and Aureki. "There are wounded men in there and he will not leave; no matter how late, no matter how tired he is, until he knows about his warriors." There were tears in Ahsoka's eyes. She remembered that battle. Men had died.

Barin was mostly asleep, his eyes barely open, and Aureki picked him and walked him into his room. She put him in bed and he immediately curled up around Ahsoka's old Jedi cape that was his favorite blanket.

Aureki went back to the main room. She checked the fire and saw Ahsoka still staring at the paused holo image. Aureki nodded to herself. Tonight Ahsoka would go into the treetops to watch the stars. It was that kind of mood. Aureki fixed her a small hunter's pack to take then sat across her sister.

"I hate him, Aureki."

"Ssth," Aureki hissed. "It is not right that a hunter should lie to herself."

"He did not stop the rumors. He didn't do anything as the troopers, the men he called brothers, gave me dishonorable names or touched me as I walked in the hallway. 'Sorry, ma'am,' they sometimes said. 'Hallway's a bit crowded, commander,' as they brush against me, or touched me in intimate places. All, so carefully, calculatedly accidental."

"They were not all like that." Aureki had heard parts of this before, each time with a little more information. Each time she understood a bit more.

Ahsoka dropped her head, tears falling down her cheeks. "No. Some men fought for me. It's call one-on-one. I never understood the full rules, but it's how they settle disagreements. They fight. They don't even have to name the reason. Men sit behind the fighter of their opinion. Sometimes, they'll have it so that if the first man falls, another will take his place. I think that was the difference between what they called 'bloody sorrow' and 'bloody regret'. Sometimes not." She shrugged. "As I said, I didn't know the full rules. As commander, it was supposed to be below my notice. It was an internal mechanism for keeping disagreement from tearing apart the company which would have affected their readiness to battle. It is the captain's job to make sure they were all battle-ready so he should have been monitoring the rumors and the fights."

Her hand reached for the holovid and she flicked it off turning towards Aureki. "Echo fought for me, several times. Fives fought; I think he and Echo alternated. So did Jesse and that surprised me." Ahsoka smiled wryly through her tears. "He and I started off on the wrong foot and never got to straighten it out. Countdown fought. Chopper fought. So many of my men fought for me, for my honor. But rumor is stronger and faster than the truth."

Ahsoka took a deep breath. Cleansing for both her mind and her body.

"The General..." she began. Aureki knew there was more sorrow there, but Ahsoka had never told her that story. "The General said that if Rex called a one-on-one, he could and would go sit Rex's side. He said that would stop the rumors. But Rex never called out a man. I left when Echo and Fives said they would call one-on-one with the captain and beat him to bloody sorrow."

"Why did you leave? My sister, the Jedi knight," asked Aureki softly.

"For troopers to call out their captain means they don't think he is doing his job, that he isn't fit to lead them."

"And that would destroy the battle-readiness as well." Aureki nodded.

"My departure put an end to it all."

Aureki smiled. "You love him, then. Leaving so he would not have to face men he led in battle and know they did not trust him."

Ahsoka tilted her head and thought. "I think you're right about that. It was another reason that my departure from Torrent was a good idea." She rose, gracefully, to her feet and gave her sister a hug and soft kiss on the cheek. She picked up the small packet of tidbits for her stargazing.

"Will you ever search him out, sister?"

Ahsoka shook her head as she opened the door to leave. "He led the soldiers that destroyed the Jedi temple." She softly closed the door behind her.


Four Years after Order 66

Fives had finished his duty for the evening as bodyguard to some local Twi'lek warlord or freedom fighter though there wasn't much difference. Their titles didn't matter to him, only their pay. He joined Echo in the double room they shared with Rex, removing the armor and bodysuit to take a long, hot shower. It was a luxury he had grown to love after the lukewarm, crowded shower rooms of the Resolute and countless barracks or the cold showers of so many other war-torn places.

Echo was still on the computer when Fives came sauntering out with his hair damp and his skin pink from the heat. A billow of steam rolled out with him.

"Echo," he said laughingly, "Get off the computer. You'll go blind doing that for too long."

Echo nodded and absently spoke. "In a moment."

His tone caught Fives' attention.

"What are you doing?" Fives pulled on some loose, comfortable pants and picked up his armor from where he had dropped it in his single-minded intent of a shower.

"Checking clones."

"Hell of a hobby." Fives half-grunted and half-laughed as he sat on his bunk to begin cleaning his armor. They had all modified their armor to a more Mandalorian appearance and Fives had painted his a dusty grey mottled with drab burnt orange to blend into the Ryloth landscape. He missed the solid white it used to be. Somehow, his armor seemed diminished to be any color other than white with blue trim.

"It's a good hobby," defended Echo. "I talked to Rex about trying to find one or two."

"I bet he didn't like that."

"We've got our family but we can't be the only ones." Fives saw a grin begin on Echo's face. "Besides, I'm getting tired of looking at you two and want to look at some different faces when I come home."

Fives guffawed at that. "You can go back to Saleucami. Stay with Cut and family. Or maybe move in with Jester in his digs as he courts that nurse. There's a different face."

"A very nice one, too. Unfortunately, that's a bad idea. Jester can be pretty possessive."

Fives nodded. "Well, if you were looking for a wife, wouldn't you be? Saleucami has a bad male to female ratio. Twenty to one. Or so you told me."

Echo shrugged. "I'll have to get me a wife before I find out if I'm possessive." He scratched his chin. "But I don't think so. Women are so infrequent in my life that …" his voice faded and he shrugged again.

"Then get off that 'puter and come out tonight with me." Fives urged. "I'll find us a beautiful, sexy woman and we can share. Maybe I'll find two or three and we can bring one for Rex."

Echo smiled and shook his head. Fives did that often. He had a way with females of most species and they usually had a friend or he'd convince them that two men were twice as attentive as one. There was no sexual selfishness in Fives. No possessiveness at all.

Echo decided the problem was him; too reticent, too quiet to attract attention from a woman or keep it for long. He laughed. "Not tonight. I've got plans for us."

"Us?" Fives voice was not encouraging.

"You're right. Rex didn't like it, but he didn't say anything. So we're going to check for a clone and I want you at my back in case he isn't what he seems to be. Or in case he is and happens to be better than me."

"Unnhh," moaned Fives as he flopped back on the bed. "Don't wanna go. Wanna go bar. Get drink. Get woman."

"Armor up, brother."

"I just took a shower." It was a beautiful whine and Echo laughed at the way Fives drew it out.

"Look at it this way," proposed Echo. "It means you can have another long, hot shower when you get back."

"What about woman?" said Fives with one opened eye.

"You're on your own there, brother," sighed Echo. "But we should be back before the bars close."

Fives grinned and began pulling on his half-cleaned armor. A woman could wait; adventure with his brother was usually a lot more interesting. Sometimes even fun.

# # #

From the corner of his eye, Waxer caught movement outside the window. It was a dark night, but his training and the newer, necessary paranoia saw the slight movement of men. His heart caught in his throat. He'd worried about this ever since he'd walked off the battlefield in disgust after Order 66. Boil had stayed to cover his desertion and had said he would be running himself soon. Officially, Waxer was KIA. But with more clones running their shared face became more common, more known and the bounty on a clone was more than decent. He hadn't heard from Boil in a while. So many possibilities ran through his mind, none that he liked.

Waxer found his blaster easily in the dark. It was his hovel, small with a kitchen, a common room, and two tiny bedrooms with an adjoining toilet and he knew it as well as he knew his face. He had built it in the ruins of the village they had found Numa in years earlier. It was just enough for him and Numa. When Boil came back they'd add another room. If Boil came back. It had been almost three years now since Waxer had run. Long past the 'couple of months' they'd originally planned on, Boil always saying he was onto something important.

Waxer grimaced. Maybe they wouldn't have to add another room. Numa was gone. Waxer had his suspicions. This was Ryloth, after all. Home of all the beautiful Twi'lek dancers. Ryloth, where years of fighting had impoverished the population. Ryloth where people made money however they could.

He moved easily and silently toward the door, fingers firm around the blaster.

Waxer had wanted to adopt her, but adoption was for citizens and that left him out completely. Her uncle, Khackur, permitted Numa to live with Waxer. It saved him food, he said. A few days earlier, he had come to their home and taken her. To live with him, he said, as was legal. Yesterday, when Waxer had gone to visit Numa, she was nowhere to be found and Khackur wouldn't look him in the eyes. She was only eleven. Too young, Waxer thought. Apparently, Khackur hadn't thought her too young.

Waxer wondered if Khackur had sold his location to bounty hunters. He sighed. Time to move when you had questions like that running through your mind. But finding Numa was more important.

Waxer's lips twisted as he hid beside the heavy stone pillar of the doorway. He figured he'd get at least two, maybe four good shots. It would depend on how many there were, how they rushed the door. He had to survive for Numa's sake.

Voices outside the door confused him and he listened.

"Just … knock," said one exasperated voice so familiar. The voice of one clone, the voice of all.

"What if he's not happy to see us? What if I've miscalculated?" Same voice, different man.

"Echo!" growled the first voice. Waxer smiled wistfully as he recognized, not the voice, but the tone. Boil and he often used it with each other. Two men so different, you'd never think they could even be friends. Brothers by choice.

"What do you want?" He called out. There was silence.

"He wants to talk to you," said exasperated voice

Waxer considered a minute. If they'd been Imperials or bounty hunters, they wouldn't have bothered talking to him. They'd have come in with their blasters. He opened the door. If they were stormtroopers he was dead and no one would go after Numa.

The two brothers were in modified Phase 1 armor painted merc style. It was a common clone fashion these days. Blasters in holsters, they walked into the small room, the ceiling barely taller than their helmets. Waxer motioned to the bench and sat in the one chair by the table.

"Talk," he said, "But make if fast, I have to leave soon. I have an appointment with an informant."

One sat on the bench and removed his helmet. The other took the door as guard and Waxer had a sudden wrenching emptiness of missing Boil.

One of the clones opened his lips, but realized he hadn't made sufficient plans of what to say. "I'm Echo, he's Fives. We used to be with the 501st." He paused, giving the other clone time to give his name. Waxer didn't. "You don't have to answer any questions. Mostly I just want to know other brothers who deserted. Your experience of what happened after Order 66. Just sit down and just talk. To know we're not the only ones who're doing ok."

Waxer sighed and shook his head. "Bad timing. I was just gearing up to go find my daughter, my adopted daughter. Her uncle sold her." He saw unspoken messages pass as his two visitors looked at each other. He bowed his head, wishing Boil was there with him. He looked into Echo's eyes.

"I could use some help." He asked softly.

Fives, still at the door, shook his head. Echo sighed. "I don't think we can. Maybe one of us can go."

"I'll go," volunteered Fives. "Your shift will be coming up." He turned to Waxer. I can give you until midmorning tomorrow. Maybe Rrr," he paused.

Waxer gave a half smile. "Rrr? Would that be as in Rex? I read watch lists too. I even met the Captain when he was here with …the Jedi… about five years back." He seemed to chew on his lower lip. "He might help too."

# # #

Waxer was sitting at the table when Rex walked into the double room pulling off his helmet. Fives had encouraged Waxer to have a long, hot shower and Waxer hadn't needed much encouragement. He was clean, freshly-shaved and wearing some clothes Fives had loaned him. The conversation with Rex had been surprisingly short.

"Hello Captain Rex," Waxer began.

"Just Rex these days."

"I need help getting Numa, my ..."

"I remember Numa," said Rex with a slight smile.

"Her uncle sold her and I want her back."

Rex dropped his head in his own private pain. Waxer waited. Then Rex nodded. "We're in."

# # #

You don't mess with slavers, muttered Fives to himself. It was commonly accepted wisdom in the Outer Rim. Fives decided that better wisdom would be you don't mess with brothers.

He didn't have any real moral argument against slavers. According to the Rights of Sentience he didn't have even as many rights as a slave. He was merchandise, bought and paid for and, except for the slavers firing at him, he had it pretty good. Behind his helmet, he had a snarling grin as he shot his blaster toward the group, making sure to shoot high to avoid the kids. Slavery was nothing. Theft was something entirely different.

As a trooper, he hadn't seen any theft in the barracks. A trooper had only his armor and gear; easily replaceable or traceable. Clone troopers didn't earn credits so couldn't buy anything but they had no need of anything beyond what was provided. Fives glanced over to Waxer. He had run without his armor, but his face was no less terrifying than those helmed visages. Rage glittered in his eyes; his face was a stony mask of hate. He was shooting high, but barely higher than the tallest child.

Theft was something entirely different.

To steal something from a clonetrooper meant you had to steal something intangible. His comfort, perhaps or a good night's sleep. Jester had told him how Slick had stolen Chopper's self-confidence. The war had stolen away ability and life. Order 66 had stolen away the soul of every clone who participated and Fives counted himself in that number. The slavers had made the mistake of stealing something very valuable from Waxer; his heartbeat.

Echo and Rex were coming up behind the slavers and should start firing … Fives grinned as he heard the sound of blaster fire, the clones' military issue heavier, more deadly. He loved being part of a well-oiled unit. He moved in with Waxer as the slavers' attention was diverted to their rear for an instant.

Waxer's eyes swept over the group of kids, that stony face of hate gone. He started moving to one small group of children.

"Numa, get down." Then spoke again in Twi'lek and that bright girl, already crouched, grabbed hands of her neighboring kids and pulled them down to the ground with her.

Waxer was shooting level now. He dropped one of the Weequay and was immediately targeting another slaver. Fives covered Waxer as Waxer moved closer in, pushing children down to the ground with one hand, firing his blaster with the other.

Then the slavers were dead. The two-pronged and militarily precise attack had them dead before they could figure out a counter. Fives looked over to Waxer. He was smiling, holding Numa tightly and conversing with her in a mix of Twi'lek and Basic. She had her arms around his neck, dried tears on her face, now happily giggling like any eleven-year-old child. Fives had to turn his head to hide from the naked love in that man's face.

He wished he had a heartbeat like that.

Theft was, definitely, another matter entirely.

Echo was moving on the field, efficiently making sure the slavers were dead and Rex waved Fives over to help him check the ship.

There was a cargo hold with slaves, about fifteen women of mixed planetary origins. "Your kind of cargo," Rex murmured to Fives through the helmet comm units.

Fives began unlocking the force shields, jokingly, "Ok, ladies, you can all line up to kiss the hero. That would be me." He tapped the cheek of his helmet.

The first woman out was a lithe Togruta woman. She smiled at Fives wickedly, showing her teeth. It wasn't a friendly smile.

He held up his hands in mock surrender. "I'll settle for a handshake or a wave at twenty paces."

She looked at him quizzically. Rex had an odd stance, unsure for a moment, and Fives recalled the Commander.

"Ai wa shili'n." Rex told her in greeting.

Fives knew where he had learned it. Ahsoka had taught him some Togruta also though not as much as she had taught Echo and not nearly as much as Rex.

"We'll make sure you get home," Rex was telling the woman.

She considered Rex carefully. "You are not other slavers, then?" Rex shook his head.

"Mercenaries. The man outside hired us. They took his daughter." It was close to the truth.

"Thank you. Currently I live on Ryloth so home is not far." She glanced back to the other women. "We are all from Ryloth."

Most of the remaining women were Twi'lek, young and pretty. Fives wondered what the slavers had stolen from them. Some smiled shyly at him, others kept their eyed down and their heads lowered. Some sobbed and Fives decided he didn't really want to know what the slavers had stolen from them.

He didn't a single kiss. So much for being a hero. He wished he had received one; it would mean that at least one of the women had something to give. They had nothing.

"Rex, if you've got this under control," Fives saw he did, the woman giving him their trust, as he spoke, reassuring them they'd be going home. "I'll check the rest of the ship."

There were several more women in some of the cabins and makeshift rooms. Their conditions scared Fives. Most were chained to something in the room and as he opened each door, they glared at him with hatred. Even as he freed him, they jerked away from his hands touching them, disgust and revulsion in their eyes. They did not look friendly at him though he had an electronic key. Some of them had old dark bruises mixed in with new bruises. One had a broken wrist; another had small cuts, new and old, all over her body. One was a Twi'lek girl barely older than Waxer's Numa. Fives had asked one of the other women for help with the sobbing child. She had screamed at his mere appearance and he suddenly realized that slavery was theft. Theft of something so intangible he'd never thought of it before. Slavers were thieves of the worst sort, stealing intangibles. They were the scum of the universe and Fives felt his grey and red armor had a bit more shine than usual to have killed them and freed these women. He glanced at the child, realizing she'd never be free.

In the last cabin a Zeltron with vivid ruby skin was chained to the bed. She had leapt up to attack him, fingernails digging at him, digging at his arm with the blaster. He'd taken a step back, trying to get out of her reach when he saw movement behind him – another woman, dusty rose - from the corner of his eye.

He had no time to think as the chair she swung slammed against his body, but his body reacted as he'd been trained. He took the blow mostly on the side of his arm and not his helmet. There'd be a bruise later. The ruby red woman, chained to the bed, wrapped herself around his arm, her entire weight trying to pull the blaster down. Trying to pull him down to the floor where they could beat him to death. The other woman was pulling the chair back for another swing. He pushed his finger into the lock behind the trigger.

"Hey, I'm here to..." He grabbed at the chair and caught it, his arm straightened. Most women would have struggled with him to keep the chair. Dusty rose woman let go and slammed into his body, pushing him onto the other woman.

The woman on the bottom of the pile grunted as Fives and dusty rose landed on top of her. He felt his elbow hit her side and knew a rib had cracked.

"Sorry," the word popped out.

It didn't stop her though. She started curling her arms around the blaster, limiting his movement, bringing her knees up to push him away.

Dusty rose woman was pulling backwards on his helmet. Fives' neck was twisting back. The helmet was in lock and he knew she couldn't remove it. He was pretty sure she couldn't break his neck either, until the woman on the floor let go of the blaster– it was now solidly between her body and his – and started pushing up on the rim of the helmet below his chin, her legs wrapping around his hips as a fulcrum. Then dusty rose started levering the chair leg under his neck. That was not good.

He rolled to the side, away from the bed. The woman on his back was now beneath him on the floor. The other, her chain too short, was jerked from his body as he had rolled. She grabbed at his blaster again but Fives had it clasped to his chest, his elbows pushing against her. In the brief instant when his body weight has slammed the other woman to the floor, he slipped out the cartridge and keyed the blaster off, tossing it to one side. Captain wouldn't be happy if he'd killed someone not a slaver, even by accident. His gloved hands grabbed the woman's arms around his neck and his strength was sufficient to remove them, but her legs hooked around his waist and her arms fought against his hands.

"I'm here to help." He tried to shout, but it came out with less volume then he intended. They ignored him his words and ruby red swung the chair to come smashing onto his armored chest. Not a problem. The chair cracked in two pieces. Then he saw ruby red's eyes light up and she aimed one of the jagged pieces toward his armpit, where there was no armor. Damn, weren't Zeltrons supposed to be able to read your emotion? Couldn't they understand he was here to free them?

He grabbed the chair leg with a hand, but his other arm was captured by the woman beneath him, high up near his neck.

"Do you think we should help?" It was Waxer's voice at the door.

"I think he's doing fine," replied Echo. "He's in the arms of a beautiful woman, his favorite place. He's even on top for once."

"Hmm," grunted Waxer. "Just to let you both know. That's not the way it's done."

Fives felt the dusty rose woman beneath him slowly release her grip. He heard a small choking sob near his ear. The still-chained ruby red woman was glaring at the two men at the door, holding the chair as a shield, but her lower lip quivered. The two men at the door had blasters and the women were now both outnumbered and outgunned.

"If you let him go, he'll release you. Otherwise, you have to keep him and he's expensive to feed and shower." Echo's voice had a grin in it. He and Waxer moved away.

Fives moved off the dusty rose woman, held out his hand to help her up. She ignored his hand and turned to her sister for assistance. Fives noticed bruises on her and realized that she'd have a few more by later that evening. She had a collar on as well, with several links of chain dangling from it. He saw the rest of the chain attached to the bed. Somehow she had broken the chain. He picked up the blaster and slipped the cartridge back in.

"I'm sorry." He said. It had been his fault. He knew better than to enter a room without checking the walls. He released ruby red from her collar, without touching her skin. He didn't want to see the revulsion in her eyes as he had from the other women, didn't want her to jerk away in hate. He dropped the electronic key into ruby red's hands. Warily, she kept her eyes on him while she freed dusty rose from her collar. They were identically dressed, if something as scanty as that could be considered dressed, but in their struggle with him, dusty rose had lost her top. Under his helmet, Fives blushed. He'd seen women before, but she was beautiful. She … undulated and he finally understood what that meant. He gulped. Ruby seemed darkly amused and glanced over her shoulder as she freed her sister.

"Fives, get up here, the bridge of the ship. We've got more troubles." Rex's voice sounded in his helmet.

"Gotta go," he told the women. "I think everyone is gathering just outside." He moved out of the door. The two women followed him to the bridge of the small ship. Rex was seated in the co-pilot's seat, facing him were Echo and Waxer. Numa was tightly holding onto Waxer's hand. Rex saw Fives, the two women behind him. He touched his helmet and spoke, private channel, to Fives. "I didn't say bring anyone."

Fives didn't bother going private. "I didn't bring. They came."

"What do you know about flying a small cargo ship?" asked Rex in open audio to the men.

"I've read instructions," replied Echo. That had been a given.

"Got me beat," said Waxer with a shake of his head, his arm protectively curled around Numa.

Fives laughed. "Me? I saw the cover of the manual Echo read. It wasn't informative."

Rex knocked his fist against the forehead of his helmet

"K'halegia, the Togruta, said that there were more slavers. This is just a ship they captured as an auxiliary to their main vessel. She says the main one is about twice this size and there are about twenty more slavers expected here anytime. We can't wait for our pickup and there'd be too many casualties in a firefight." He sighed. "I guess I'm driving. Echo, you're... everything else." Rex hoped he could remember what Ahsoka had tried to teach him about flying. It wouldn't be fun. It wouldn't be pretty. He was reasonably sure they'd survive.

Dusty rose snorted and rolled her eyes. "Di'kut Mando mercenaries!" She strode over to Rex. "Out of my seat." She ordered and he complied.

Ruby red seated herself in the pilot's seat, flicking switches. "Get everyone inside," she instructed. "Let us know when they are all in."

Rex nodded in relief, knowing expertise when he saw it. He and Echo moved out of the small bridge.

Dusty rose turned her face toward Fives, answering his unasked question with an upturned brow. "Who do you think they stole the ship from?"

A slow grin etched itself on Fives' face behind his helmet as he watched the two women prep the ship. He found it interesting that dusty rose hadn't bothered to cover herself from her struggle and his eyes kept drifting to her body. He liked her face too, alert, interested, dark violet eyes. Ruby red had beautiful blue black hair and long, delicate fingers which danced over the console. Fives kept looking at her body because it was tantalizingly hidden.

Dusty rose laughed. "Don't hurt yourself looking."

"Seeing you two will never hurt," he replied and both women smiled.

Waxer came back, accompanied by Numa. It looked to Fives that she'd never let him out of her sight again. "Everyone's on board. There are some injuries."

Ruby red nodded. "I've opened up med unit for you. I don't know if there's anything there anymore. The slavers may..."

"Understood," Waxer replied. "We'll do our best with what we have." He left for the med unit. Fives could hear the weeping child in the corridor, a woman's voice talking to her, trying to sooth her.

Fives nodded. "What we've always done." He murmured softly. Ruby red glanced at him as he spoke.

He noticed that they worked together almost silently, as a unit. He worked as part of a unit but their cohesion was more perfect than he'd ever seen. Then he laughed. They were Zeltron; they were reading each other's emotions. If they were sisters, they'd had years to perfect this communication.

"Would you beautiful ladies," he leaned on the chair of dusty rose, "like to go out with me and my brother?"

Ruby red gave a soft laugh. "It's the fighting that's made you want us."

"Maybe," he agreed. "But I'd be interesting in testing that theory in a non-aggressive setting. Wouldn't you?"

Dusty rose turned her head slightly and looked at him from the corner of her eye. "Perhaps," she flicked a few switches and the ship started the jump to hyperspace. "But what if it was only the fighting?"

Echo smiled, though she couldn't see it. "Then we'll arm wrestle."

She laughed and it was like a river of silver in his ears. She flicked a switch and the timbre of the ship changed. Fives was familiar with that vibration, though he'd never before had a window to look out of.

"Wow," said Fives as he leaned forward, stars streaming past the ship like ribbons of light. "I've never seen hyperspace. That's the most fantastic sight I've ever seen."

He heard Echo chuckle in his helmet. "Come on Fives, even I know you're supposed to tell them they're the most fantastic sight you've ever seen."

Both women leaned back then turned to face him. Dusty rose spoke first.

"Why didn't you, "she jerked her head back. "Do that? Your helmet would have maybe knocked me unconscious or at least loosened my grip."

"I didn't want to hurt you." He gestured to the crest of the helmet, turning his head to show her the point. "This can incapacitate, sometimes kill. It wasn't worth the risk." Fives thought for a moment. "You're Zeltrons. Why didn't you know I was trying to free you?"

Dusty rose tilted her head. "The collar's had inhibitors. I could barely understand my sister's emotions. You were a wall."

Echo heard through Fives helmet and laughed at that, even Rex gave a soft chuckle.

Ruby red smiled softly. "Yes, we will go out with you and your brother or brothers." She looked at him oddly and he was reminded of the way the commander used to look at things with the Force. "They are all your brothers, aren't they?

Five removed his helmet and grinned. "Yeah, they are. But I'm the handsomest."

"Could get interesting," smiled dusty rose and Fives heart flew. They shared.

# # #

Fives had the door shut again and Echo could hear him with Sula and Saoha. They were laughing and then Echo must have done something, because Saoha squealed in surprise, then more laughter.

Echo sighed. The first night it had been the four of them. They'd gone to a dance club. It had been enjoyable. They'd come back to the double room laughing and light-heartedly inebriated. Saoha had come to Echo's bed. He'd been surprised, mostly. He'd been bold enough to begin kissing her, shy enough to confess to not many sexual experiences, confident enough to ask her what pleased her the most. She told him. She showed him. She asked what he like the most and he didn't know. She gave him ideas.

But gradually Saoha drifted to Fives and her sister. Echo knew that Sula had gone to Rex. The next day Rex was in an unusually pleasant mood; the sexual tension of about five years worn down by a night with a lovely, loving Sula. Most nights either Sula or Saoha would visit Echo, feeling his need, his want. Fives was pleased to share. He took great joy in sharing.

They shared discussions as well, meals, card games – Sula was a mathematical genius at sabacc often cleaning them all out of the small candies they used as markers. Rex and Saoha would play dejarik, battling intensely until the chronometer marked the next day.

Once, Rex even asked them to assist in an assignment. Of course, it hadn't been difficult or deadly; simply a diversion. "Just go into the bar and be your wonderful, lovely selves," he told them and Fives had argued against it, and then glowered at Rex for days afterwards. In turn, the brothers lived on the ship and provided a protective presence during their trading. Fives kept no secrets from them which meant, in turn, that neither Rex nor Echo had many secrets.

Once, Sula had burst into Echo's cabin, tearfully demanding to know how old he was. He answered her, sadly, knowing what Fives had told her. She had curled up beside him, comforting him and being comforted in turn. "It's not something we think about very often," he'd told her. Most people have an idea of how they'll age and they don't go comparing themselves against longer lived races. Same with us, we don't moan about the fact that we have short life spans. We just live out what we have."

"If you die twice as fast, then you must live twice as much," she told him. "Promise me, Echo, that you will live as much as you can in your time." He promised; then, with a devilish grin, made her laugh and sigh with pleasure.

It was a pleasant interlude. Echo knew Sula and Saoha also visited Rex as frequently as they visited him. He told Fives that he could really tell when one had visited Rex. Fives had stared at him and then laughed. "You too, Echo. Rex said that the other day about you."

But it was only an interlude. The pleasure was only physical and only temporary. Rex picked up another contract and it was time to go. Sula and Saoha volunteered their ship, volunteered to stay in orbit and wait as they had done before. Rex had smiled and kissed them both.

"No. Not this time. It's time for us to move on. Echo, get your gear."

That was when Echo knew. He saw the half-frown cross Five's entire face, his mouth open as if to object. Sula touched Fives' hand and he turned to look at her, gripped her hand tightly, tears making his eyes moist. Then she turned to Echo and gave him a kiss. Saoha was next.

"Do not forget me." She growled low then her nose crinkled in a grin. "Remember what I have taught you and give that to other women." Echo was tempted to join Fives. Both women moved onto their ship.

Fives looked at Rex, his captain. He looked at Echo, his brother in all things from the beginning. With them he had a shared past.

He looked at Sula and Saoha walking – undulating – toward their ship. He watched Sula, with her ruby body and blue-black hair, gentle words and dancing eyes. He looked at Saoha, lovely dusty rose skin and darker, violet hair, with her spicy temper and laughter of silver. Did he have a future with them?

Echo laughed, joyfully. "Go, Fives. It'll be hard, but we'll manage without you."

Fives looked at his captain with hopeful uncertainty.

Rex smiled. "Go."

Fives smiled, looked at his two lovely women as they entered the ship. He ran to Echo and gave his brother a hug around the shoulders. "I'll miss you, brother."

Echo returned the hug. "I don't think they'll give you the opportunity to miss me."

Then Fives turned to Rex. For a moment he simply looked at his captain, seeing the man who'd taught him so much; lead him in so many ways. He came sharply to attention and saluted him. "Sir, it has been my privilege to know you."

Rex returned the salute. "It has been my honor to have you in my life"

Fives turned and was racing towards the ship.


4 ½ - 5 years after Order 66

Rex and Echo continued working, a good team. Echo found evidence of other troopers who had deserted. He discovered a few names he knew – Jesse, Scythe, Kix - and marked them for future research. He found evidence of surviving Jedi and searched further.

"Tatooine." Echo declared as he leaned back from the console. "There's a Jedi on Tatooine and I think it's General Kenobi."

Rex didn't want to see the general. There were too many memories. But perhaps he could ask if Ahsoka survived that night. Just to know that small piece of information might be worth whatever withering glance, whatever harsh words the general could throw at him for his participation in the massacre. So he nodded. "Tatooine, it is."

# # #

Kenobi had changed since Echo had last seen him. Echo supposed they had changed also. Certainly he and Rex had aged in the four years since Order 66. He was only 17 years old, yet looked a hard-beaten 35. He thought Rex looked older.

There was still a sparkle in the general's eyes even though his expression was wary. He invited Rex and Echo into his home, cool in the Tatooine heat, and fixed them tea. Echo thought perhaps it wouldn't be too bad as he dropped his soft pack at the door.

They didn't speak much for a while, knowing that any reminiscence would lead to darker memories. Rex didn't know what to say, Echo enjoyed the tea and Kenobi wondered why they'd come. Rex was tense, Echo relaxed and then the tea was gone.

Kenobi leaned back and touched his fingers to his beard, an old habit they recognized. "So, why are you here?"

Rex shrugged. "Echo wanted to come." He didn't need to bring up Ahsoka yet. Maybe he would later; nonchalantly, when they were leaving.

That brought a laugh from Echo as he nodded. "I'll have to say Rex is right. It's entirely my fault we're here."

Kenobi hadn't known Echo well, though he did remember the young trooper as quiet and resourceful. Even now, he was wearing his breastplate, painted green, more Mando-style, outlining Rex's blue handprint still there from so long ago. Kenobi seemed to recall than green meant 'duty'. But there were many variations and he wasn't sure.

"How can I be of assistance?"

Echo didn't even look at Rex. "Is Jedi knight Ahsoka Tano still alive?" he asked. "I can't find any information about her, but I also can't find an Imperial death notice."

Rex gasped. He stood, staring at Echo in anger, and left the room through the front door into the noonday heat.

Kenobi's eyebrows rose, "So, it was you?" Echo merely shrugged noncommittally, not sure what was being asked. "She returned to the Temple and was expelled from the Order."

"Expelled? But why?" Echo's face showed his confusion.

"It was discovered that she was pregnant," and Kenobi laughed. "She informed us she was pregnant. It was a very public announcement. She refused to give the child up; breaking her vow of non-attachment."

"Pregnant?" Echo's voice was soft and then he smiled.

Kenobi was pleased, it seemed that the clone hadn't known, hadn't so much refused her as Ahsoka had implied. He had simply been unaware.

"That is just too wonderful." Then worry overtook his face. "What happened afterwards?"

Kenobi shrugged. "I had heard that she returned to her home planet and her people. The Togruta are a clannish people and Ahsoka had too much individuality to comfortably fit among them, never mind being Force sensitive. But, I think, when a woman is pregnant and has a child, there is a desire to return to her roots and her family, to concentrate on her child rather than the external."

"What about," Echo's voice dropped and he looked away from Kenobi's blue eyes, his lips twisting in shame, "that night?" He fidgeted his hands then looked the general in the eyes. "I was there. In the temple. Killing Jedi no less than another other clone. Every clone commander received that order and then all clone troopers received it seconds later." He watched the general. "It was a programmed order."

Kenobi seemed to accept this with no emotion, skipped over it, not quite absolving the trooper, but not accusing. "Yes, I don't think there was anything else you could do." He paused. "By then, Ahsoka was no longer a Jedi. In fact, I suspect that she was mothering an infant by then. She has shut herself off from the Force quite thoroughly. Perhaps in response to being," a dark cloud seemed to drift over Kenobi's face. "Skywalker's student. My sorrow is with her. To be Force sensitive, a Jedi knight and to close yourself off from the Force is like blinding yourself."'

"She'd do that? I remember she loved being filled with it, the Force. She loved being able to jump out of gunships or off cliffs and land as light as a bird." Echo's distant smile showed Kenobi he was remembering.

"To save her child," Kenobi leaned forward, "your child." He touched Echo in the chest. "I think Ahsoka would do anything. Non-attachment doesn't mean that she would not have seen the child or been able to visit, bring life-day gifts – simply that she wouldn't be able to raise the child herself. She gave up her knighthood so she could raise her son."

"A boy?" asked Echo and Kenobi nodded.

"Very distinctly a male Force signature as I recall."

Echo paused. "You've got one thing wrong, though. I'm not the father." He glanced at the door. "Rex is."

"Ah. Well you love her enough to fool me." Kenobi laughed gently. "Is that why he walked out so angrily?"

Echo nodded. "I do love her. And I love my brother just as well. This hurts him more than he'll say. More than he's aware of." He sat back and calculated. "A boy. Right around 4-5 years old now."

"Shili would be the best starting place. The southern tribes, I believe, is where Ahsoka's clan is from." Kenobi gestured toward the door. "If you didn't know, might I assume that he doesn't know?"

"I think that's fair to assume. She left the Resolute about a week after…they. They... uh," Echo turned red and Kenobi gave a chuckle. "Argued" is what Echo settled on.

Kenobi nodded. "I understand. So perhaps even she wasn't aware at the time. Why did you ask, instead of him?"

Echo shook his head. "He wouldn't have asked. Maybe when I first made him come here, he thought about asking. But he would put it off, drop it as not important because he's only a clone and his wants aren't important. Then he'd decide maybe he'd mention it in passing. But he'd change his mind because he wouldn't really want to face her again, the di'kut. And we'd go back and he'd be in a sour mood because he'd have passed up his chance and…gah." Echo looked at the ceiling. "In some ways, having him as Captain was easier than having him as a brother."

Kenobi was shaking, laughing softly. Then it's good he has you to take care of him.

"I don't want to take care of him!" Echo was emphatic. Then he spoke more gently. "That's for Ahsoka to do." He dropped his head then looked up at the general from the corner of his eyes with a smile on his face and his shoulders also shuddered in laughter. "Yeah, brothers and all that. Anyway, we lost her after she returned to the temple. Rex was furious. He still is and that's why he won't ask."

"At himself, you know." Kenobi shifted his gaze into the Force.

"I know. We all, I mean, all of Torrent Company knew within 24 hours of Ahsoka's departure, exactly how infuriated Rex was." Echo smiled wickedly at Kenobi. "He challenged the entire company to one-on-one. Every night, for three and a half weeks, he'd end up beating some trooper into the floor. He had bruises and cuts everywhere; his face, his chest, his hands for weeks; a few cracked ribs, a couple of broken knuckles, loose teeth. None of which he'd do anything more than smear on a streak of bacta gel. Echo lost his smile. "He'd walk out on the battlefield like he was immortal, looking for death."

Kenobi was aware the Rex had been one of the best fighters of Torrent, but didn't think he'd last that long against an entire company. "What happened?"

Echo shrugged. "I got tired of it. I'd been watching and, after several weeks of observing I knew his weak points. I beat him into bloody sorrow, took him back to his bunk, and got him drunk Skywalker provided the alcohol. I let him cry on my shoulder. And that was it."

"As good a cure as any."

"Not a cure. But it brought him to his senses enough that he started seeking cover on the battlefield." Echo's face was angry and his eyes glittered. He'd seen what Rex had done to Ahsoka in the mess. Some of the troopers assumed that since the Captain didn't care, she was fair game for them. Their harassment, tolerated or ignored or unseen by Rex, was why she'd had to leave; otherwise time and proximity would have healed the rift between them.

Echo had beaten his share of men, but it had been the captain's beating that he counted. "I didn't care about the punishment he took from fighting the men, but I decided he had damn well better make it out alive."

"For her?" asked Kenobi softly.

Echo nodded. "For her."

Kenobi sigh, seeing entwined fates in the Force, wondered how they would play out. "May the Force be with you in your search and in your future."

Thank you, general." Echo looked around the small, daub home. "Can I send you anything from Mos Eisley?"

"Tea," said the older man, crinkles appearing around his eyes as he smiled, showing where he would wrinkle in another ten years. "For some reason, you can't get good tea in Anchorhead."

"I remembered you liked tea." Echo pulled a canister of tea from his pack, handing it to the Jedi. Echo had a very good memory and Kenobi gave a delighted cry to see his favorite tea, not easily available on Tatooine.

Rex was stone-faced when the other two came out the building, laughing in old camaraderie.


4 ½ - 5 years after Order 66

"I'm not going, Echo. You can look for her by yourself. I'll go back to Saleucami for a visit."

"Who'll be watching my back until I find her?

"You're ARC. You'll be fine."

"I didn't know you for a coward, Captain."

"You'll eat those words, trooper."

"Is that a one-on-one? If so it's been a long time coming."

"No." *sigh*

"Rex, don't you want to see her again?"

"She hates me."

"She didn't seem to hate you the last time she saw you. She didn't slink off the Resolute without saying goodbye like she could have. You got a face-to-face good-by. Probably not the one she wanted to give you. Probably not the one you wanted. Definitely not the one you deserved. She was angry, but not even as angry as me or Fives can get with you."

"Echo, I as good as raped her."

"It didn't seem that way to me and the other guys in the mess. You were the angry one. You didn't look her in the face and when she touched you, you jerked away like she was poison. What came after was closer to rape. You ignored that. You betrayed your rank by letting them get to your commander."

"I don't want to see her and that's final."

"Because you failed her. Fine. You could at least go and apologize for not doing anything about the harassment after."

"Apologize for WHAT?"

"For not stopping the rumors. For not stopping the harassment. That was closer to rape than anything you ever did."

"What harassment?"

"Don't lie to me. I told you about it. I came in each night and told you there was a one-on-one, usually three or four. Every kriffing night.

"You didn't say it was about her."

"I needed to do that? What did you think it was about? With all those rumors floating around? Or were you so self-involved in mental castigation that you didn't hear anything about what was going on?

"I … I didn't hear anything."

Three fights a night and you didn't bother to check that out?

"I was busy. I had duties."

One of your most important duties was taking care of your of your company and your commander. Did I have to come to you and tell you what they were calling the commander? Spell it out in small words so you'd understand? Captain's woman was the nicest. Clonewhore was not the worst."

"I would have..."

"You didn't. Your behavior in the mess made it obvious about how you thought. You'd had her and then threw her away. Not even quiet, but publicly. Do you remember what you called her?

"Yes. I regretted it then."

"Then you should have said so then. Everyone heard you. They figured she was up for grabs. So they grabbed. There were some men who'd wait for her so they could bump her in the corridor. They'd reach out their hands and touch her where they thought you might have touched her. She was a Jedi and too quick for most of them.

"I didn't know. Echo, I didn't know."

"Do you remember the silent moment on the gunship landing to Akarryz?"

"Yes."

"What did you think that was?"

"Nothing, just the men preparing for landing. "

"It's never that quiet, Rex. It was Touch, and where do you think he got his name? He was behind her. There was a little air bump and he 'fell' forward. His entire body against her back, his free hand coming around to grab her breasts, holding her against him and you were staring right at them! Maybe it was in armor, but it was planned and he didn't move from her for several long seconds. No one said a thing. That was the silence. Everyone looked to you for what you'd do or say. She was looking at you. And you did nothing. No reprimand, no harsh word. Fives beat him to bloody sorrow that night. The next day Touch told me it was worth it and I had my go-round with him.

"I must have had my eyes shut. I … I couldn't look at her by then."

"Was she that disgusting to you, then? Or were you that disgusted with yourself?

"Myself."

"So you were weeping in your mirror and not minding your business. You weren't looking out for your commander or your troops. You had your head so far up your shebs that you had no idea what was going on in your own company."

Rex had no reply for that.

"The night she left, Fives and I, along with three other men, had planned to call you out for one-on-one. We were going to take turns pummeling you into the mat for what you had done to our commander. The general was going to sit our side."

"Why didn't you?" That would have been the end of him. No one wanted a captain the men didn't trust.

"She asked us not to. She was going and there was no more need to open your eyes to what was happening."

"Why didn't she say anything?"

"She thought you had her back."

"I'll go with you, Echo."

"Why? Just to cover my six? I'm ARC, I don't need you. I won't be your excuse."

"I need to apologize, Echo."

"That's good enough."


5 years after Order 66

"Sister, I have heard there are armored men in the village." Aureki brought the news to Ahsoka as she watched Barin race one of his cousins across the soft grass. He was still baby-chubby but he'd grow into a fine athlete one day. Aureki sat, cross-legged, next to her sister, the soil was warm from the sun and the children, running and chasing each other.

"Then I must go." Ahsoka knew the day would come when stormtroopers would come to Shili; when she'd have to leave. For now, she would leave Barin with Aureki and her family; until she found a place for them both to come live with her.

"Ne-ah, sister. These are not the stormtroopers you have spoken of. There are only two of them and they are Mando, not in the white armor. But they are said to look the same, as you have described save one is said to have blonde hair." Aureki picked up a stem of grass and whistled through it. "When I heard that, I came to you immediately. I knew you would want to know."

"I think," Ahsoka absently watched her son. "I think I will go see these Mando men." Her family would watch Barin, as she had so often watched her sisters' children. They would take care of him if this was some trap. They would raise him if she could not.

"I could go, sister," Aureki said. "I am no one to them. No one to recognize, but I have seen the vids and would know them." She touched her sister's arm softly. "If they are the ones who destroyed the Jedi temple, then perhaps they wish to destroy you now."

"Your bravery astounds me, but you must remain ta-harr. You must give Barin a home. I will go and make my decisions there."

Aureki tilted her head slightly and blew a different note on the grass stem. "For what purpose do you go see them? Old hurts and words of anger? Revenge for a temple that exiled you?"

"I'm not sure, Aureki." Ahsoka said as she stood and brushed her hunter's pants with her hands. "I don't think I'll know until I do see them; until they see me."

Aureki nodded. "Go hunting with an open heart. Tomorrow there will be meal for two more to share. If they do not come," she paused, inspecting her sister, "then you can take the extra I fix when you star watch."

Ahsoka nodded, knowing that if they did not come with her, she would no longer have an interest in the stars.

Echo, sitting at the outdoor table, saw her coming into the village in a hunter's easy pace. Her feet were bare, touching the ground of Shili like the other Togruta. She was wearing comfortable-looking pants of a muted brown-green color, a sleeveless shirt and one of the loose white jackets which everyone on the planet seemed to be wearing.

He could only watch her. She was Ahsoka, but more so than when she'd been younger. She seemed distilled into her essence, her essential being. She had grace and maturity in her face, acceptance and wisdom and love. Echo ached, wishing for a second, he could lie; wishing he hadn't made Rex come with him.

Her eyes caught sight of him sitting still at the small inn's single table simply watching her and she smiled, her eyes crinkling like General Kenobi's had done. He felt light at her smile and grinned back, standing at her approach.

"Echo," she didn't slow down but simply ran into his arms, hugging him, almost knocking him over. Only his strength saved them from a tumble to the ground. He laughed and had his arms around her, her face in the curve of his neck. She wasn't his commander anymore. He held her tightly and gave her a kiss on her lips. She kissed back. He'd never had a sweeter kiss.

"It is so good to see you." She laughed with sparkling eyes.

"It's much better to see you. Me, I see me every day, sometimes in duplicate." He joked.

She turned, ordered something from the innkeeper and then simply sat, enjoying the presence of Echo's company. They talked; he asked about her son. It was almost an hour before Rex was even mentioned. Echo saw her face suddenly become sad and he knew he'd been right to bring Rex.

"How is Rex?" she asked. "What happened when Order 66 was given?"

Echo gave a pained look, it had been several years and he had yet to come to terms with what had happened, with what he'd been ordered to do. He didn't think he'd ever come to terms with what he'd actually done.

"We followed our orders, Ahsoka. That's what we were bred and trained to do and those were programmed orders. I don't think we had any choice. We followed those orders." Echo felt as ashamed as he had the night he had been looking out a window from the Jedi temple, contemplating the stars and wondering if he would turn into one if he took his blaster to his head.

"We followed those orders and those orders broke us." Her hands reached for his and held them tightly. He ran his thumb on the smoothness of her skin.

"Rex saved me and Fives and Jester. The morning after that night we put on our armor and walked onto a troop transport out of Coruscant. No one questioned us." He gave a short laugh. "You don't question two troopers and two ARCs with blasters and attitude if you want to keep living. We just kept doing that for a day. By the time we reached the Outer Rim, we'd gotten rid of helmet identifiers. We painted our armor and hired ourselves out as bodyguards. Jester's a farmer, now. On Saleucami with another deserter while Fives," Echo gave a grin, "is married to two Zeltron sisters we rescued from slavers and they are all three ecstatically happy."

She had laughed at that, it fit Fives.

"Where is Rex now?"

"Upstairs."

Her eyes went wide and her fingers clutched the table. In spite of Aureki's news, she had expected the name of some Outer Rim planet. She didn't want a confrontation. She didn't want to hear words and recriminations; his or hers. She wanted ... Her eyes closed.

"He doesn't know about your son." Echo said softly. "That's not my information to give him." He looked at her, saw her tense face and touched her cheek lightly with his fingertips then let his hand cup her face. She bent her face into his hard-calloused hand. "He's harder than he's ever been but that's just because..."

She spoke with him, "because he hurts." She nodded; Echo's hand fell from her. Her own hands released the table.

"Oh, Echo, I thought I was finish with him. In my heart, I said he was dead even though I knew it wasn't true, simply so I didn't have to take him into account in my life. So I could make decisions. So my life could go on."

She looked into his eyes, golden-brown, like Rex's eyes, like Barin's eyes. Like the eyes of the hundreds of men she'd lead and fought beside. Men bred for war, men bred for loyalty.

"What will I do?" She asked softly.

Echo gave her a soft smile. "That depends on what you want. What you'll fight for." He took her hands in his and set them to his face. "I'm here in case he breaks your heart again. I won't just watch this time, I will beat him to a bloody pulp and kick him off-world. I may not be what you want, but I'm here in case you need me." His eyes were tired and shiny. "But I don't think you'll settle for me." He set her hand down. "I think you'll go upstairs and confront Rex. Remind him he loves you."

Ahsoka set her hand over Echo's hand. "Thank you, Echo." She rose and kissed him softly. Thank you for everything." He handed her the room lock key.

Rex was lying on the bed when he heard the door open. "Any info, Echo? Are we going to be staying around here for a while?"

"I think Echo got the information he needed."

Rex froze. It was her voice. He turned his head and she was standing there, more perfect than he remembered. Her lekku were longer; her akul tooth headdress had far more teeth. She was no longer a lanky kid; she was a woman of twenty one. She shut the door behind her. He could stand this. He had seen her, she was alive and he would stand anything she might say to him.

Rex shivered and shut his eyes then opened them facing the ceiling. He was closing on twice her age now and he felt older than that. He could hear her move closer but she said nothing. He was prepared for her to hit him. He deserved it after what Echo had said. She'd trusted him and he had let her down. He would let her anger make bruises in his flesh. He'd lie there to his death if she demanded that.

She lay in bed next to him and, without thinking; his arm came around to support her shoulders, her head. Her hand rested on his chest as she faced him.

"I..." Rex was at a loss for words; then he began, "I followed the orders."

"I know. Echo told me what happened, but it was no surprise."

"Where were you? I looked for you in the temple." He turned his head away from her. "I was actually going to rescue you." He flushed. It sounded silly, now, after so much death and so many years; after what Echo had told him.

"I was here, on Shili."

"Oh." Rex didn't think about that, simply glad she hadn't seen the horrors of the massacre. "Did he tell you about Fives and Jester?" She laughed. It was ease to his soul and he smiled. She could still laugh. "I guess he has. Can you imagine Fives with two wives? Zeltron no less!"

She looked at him carefully, inspecting his face closely.

"Rex, have you laughed since I have last seen you?"

He thought about it. "I don't think so. There were some good moments, but no. I don't think I've laughed." He looked at her. It was easy to see she had laugh, had smiled, and had loved. It was so very easy to see that she had loved.

He turned his body a bit toward her. Softly, he kissed her forehead. "I supposed you're married."

"No, although I recently received a proposal I am considering."

"Mmm." Rex murmured with a small nod. "He'd be a lucky man."

"He's aware of that. And I would be a lucky woman to marry him." She replied as her hand came up to his face. He took her hand in his and kissed her fingers then placed it back on his chest.

"Does that mean that you don't want me to kiss you?" she asked.

"It means that you shouldn't kiss me, no matter how much I want you to. Not if you're considering marrying someone."

She gave him a smirk, so familiar from years past that his heart twisted. He smiled and raised an eyebrow. That smirk had always meant trouble.

"You do know, my dear Rex, that Togruta usually marry multiple mates. A Shili family isn't complete without two or three wives and just as many husbands."

He smiled. "What if he doesn't want to share you?"

"I think it would be more appropriate to say, what if you don't want to share me."

His response was unexpected. He turned his face, but she caught the glimpse of unshed tears. "Ahsoka, please don't tease me."

"What can I do, Rex?" She was suddenly serious. "I don't know if you want me. Don't know how much you are willing to forgive what I said that day in the mess. I don't know how much I'm willing to forgive what came after. I don't even know why you're here. I have no idea what is between us anymore."

He faced her, took a deep breath, exhaled. "I love you. I haven't seen you in five years and yet I see you every night, every morning. I hear your voice every day. Not an hour goes by I don't think of you. Perhaps a memory or maybe something you might enjoy." He dropped his head, ashamed. "I was sheb-headed and didn't know what came after our argument in the mess." He looked into her eyes. "I would have done something, believe that. Please." She nodded and he continued, "Your padawan braid fell apart long ago from me holding it. I put the beads on durasteel wire." He tugged the neck of his shirt down to show her the beads lying against his neck. "There hasn't been a single day that I haven't yelled at myself for chasing you away. Not a single day that I wouldn't give up, just to have you back in my life."

Ahsoka sighed deeply. "I love you. Every day I wonder what you're doing at that certain moment. I haven't opened myself to the Force since the night the Jedi died, but I could always feel you with my heart. I always knew you were alive." She rose up to look at his face, saw his contented smile and those honey-brown eyes. She brought her face closer to his, kissing his lips and nuzzling his face with hers.

"I have been very lonely without you, Rex. Please. Make love to me; bring us together. Tell me you will stay."

"I will stay if you will have me. I will stay with you until I die." A look of sorrow crossed his face; he'd wasted so much of his limited time, would have wasted more if not for Echo. He touched her face gently with his fingers.

"How did I live without you for these five years?" He kissed her, his lips caressing hers. She laughed for joy and kissed him back, running her fingers into his shirt to draw shivers from him. He slid his hands under her top and released her breasts. They were larger, less perfect, than when she'd been sixteen. He tossed her top toward a chair, missed and didn't care. His thumbs slid into her pants and pulled them down. Her figure was more womanly than it had been. He enjoyed her movement; she atop and controlling him.

They were lying, relaxed on the bed and Rex drew his fingers over her belly. Her muscles were still tight, she was a hunter, but there were a series of odd, silvery lines low on her belly.

"Ahsoka," he asked, "Are these scars?"

"Yes."

"What happened? They're sort of parallel then radiating out." He had a good eye for scars. He knew so many of them from the war, from his brothers. But he didn't know these. "I'll kill the man who did this to you, or make you a rug out of that animal's pelt."

She chuckled, a woman's laugh rather than a girl's giggle, and he liked that very much.

"You did those, Rex."

He frowned at her and she kissed his face.

"Those are childbirth lines, from your son."

Rex froze, his fingers on her began to tremble and he turned pale. Slowly, he shook his head.

"No, Ahsoka. Please. No." he whispered. His face twisted and those unshed tears of earlier began to fall.

She tilted her head as she watched him, touched her hand to his cheek. "Yes, Rex. Your son."

He turned his face away from her touch and covered her fingers with one hand. "You don't know what I've done."

She smiled softly. "I know one thing which you've done."

"Don't," he snarled at her, jerked away, then sucked in whatever other angry words he'd been about to say. "Ahsoka, you don't know what I've done," he repeated. "You don't know…"

"Then tell me." She put her hand back to his face and drew him closer to her until he could feel her breath on his lips.

He stared at her face, her eyes for an eternity; memorizing them. After he told her, she'd turn from him and he'd never see her again. She'd take his son… his son … away from his influence and that would be good. He didn't deserve a child. He had blood on his hands. He'd been born that way.

"In the Jedi tower..." he began and watched her eyes close in remembered pain. She'd been affected, even though not a Jedi. "I followed the general, had his back." He let lose a noise between a chuckle and a sob. "He didn't need anyone for his back where we went."

Ahsoka gave a soft answering mew of anguish, beginning to understand.

"We went up the stairs, to the upper level, where the council room was." His voice was ice. Rex had to keep it ice; otherwise he'd never be able to speak.

Her shoulders were shaking and her head had dropped to her chest. She knew what he had found there. Still, though, her hand was on his cheek, her other hand covering her own lips in horror.

"There was no council in session though I'd been told that's why we were going there. That's where the younglings went to hide. Skywalker knew that, we didn't. He was a Jedi so they answered to him, they came to him." He was silent as tears fell to her hand on his cheek. Rex didn't think he'd be able to get through the next part. He grimaced, forced himself to talk.

"I started to ask what to do with them, thinking we'd be taking them somewhere else. Before I could even begin to ask, he'd killed them. Jedi quick." He felt her shudder, reached out his hand to touch her, brought it back without making contact. He had blood, so much innocent blood on his hands. He didn't want to contaminate her, contaminate his child.

"Body bags, Rex. That's what he said in answer to a question I hadn't even asked. He turned to me and his eyes were red and his face demonic and I started to raise my blaster at him. He didn't use the Force on me or even raise his light saber. 'Orders, Captain. Follow your orders.' Then he was into the next room."

Rex looked up to the ceiling. "I turned to my men." He shut his eyes, as if by doing so he could block the visions from his mind. "'Kill everything'. I ordered them. 'If it's alive now, it better be dead when we leave." He noticed that his voice shook, though it hadn't when he'd given that order. His chest shook as the sobs racked his body. "…better be dead…" he repeated. For a moment, his voice was normal, as though conversing about the weather. "It was the most pivotal moment in Republic history and I let it happen." He let his head drop backwards, eyes closed.

"Ahsoka, please go." he cried. "Take my son and leave and don't ever see me again."

She put her other hand on his face and he grabbed at her wrists - to make her release him or to keep her there, he didn't know. Her face was covered with tears. "They were people, children you knew, Ahsoka. And I killed them."

"No." Her voice was firm in spite of her tears.

"Please Ahsoka. How can I hold my son and not think of those children? How can I raise my son when I'm...?"

"What happened at the temple was not your fault."

He opened his mouth to protest, but she put her fingers on his lips. "Yes, you participated. Yes, you gave terrible orders." She touched her lips to his. "Echo says they were programmed orders, something you are required to carry out. And the very next day, you ran from that atrocity you had committed. Can you tell me that you don't regret it?" Her forehead was against his, her nose touching his, her breath on his lips.

"Every day, I wished I'd died or tried harder to kill the general. I don't have nightmares often, but when I do, it's the children in that room." His breathing started to even out.

"Have you done anything similar since then?" she asked.

He jerked back. "No!"

"Then what happened is not a normal part of you. You were ordered, Captain." Her use of his rank reminded him of the years of training and drills at Kamino; years of war in which 'captain' felt more comfortable and familiar than 'Rex'.

Rex leaned back, considering this. Her face was close to his, her tears still damp on her cheeks. He rubbed the tears from his face with his palm. Hesitantly, he reached to her face to dry those tears with his fingers.

"I'm scared, Ahsoka," he said as he touched her tears. "I'm scared that because I was at the temple, my own child will be forfeit to some similar horror. Because I didn't have a child, didn't know I had a son, I could manage to live normally. I didn't touch children, Ahsoka. I didn't hold a baby born to a brother. We rescued some children from slavers and I made sure not to touch any of them. I let Echo and Fives take care of them. I felt like I'd contaminate them with evil."

"Barin won't permit that. Your son loves touching and being hugged and held and carried." Ahsoka laid her face into his neck.

"Barin." Rex said softly. He nodded. "It's a good name."

"Perhaps you can let him initiate touching you. Perhaps being there for him is the price you'll pay for what you have done. Will you try that? Will you come with me and meet your son?

Slowly, Rex nodded.

# # #

Echo had waited downstairs, watching people walk by. They looked at him as well, so obviously a stranger. He was happy to see Ahsoka and Rex coming down the stairs holding hands. Her flush and his laugher at something she said made him realize what they'd been doing. Not that it had been hard to guess. He gave a wistful sigh. He almost wished that Rex had been in angry, thoughtless mode and she'd come down alone, her eyes shiny with tears that he could wipe away.

They sat at the table with him. Rex's first words were "Echo, did you know I have a son?" Then he laughed. "Of course you knew, didn't you?"

Echo nodded, wondering how much harder this would become for him. He wondered at Rex's easy acceptance of a son, then noticed the red-rimmed eyes. It hadn't been easy for Rex, but he was willing to try for Ahsoka's sake. Echo grimaced, looking at his drink as though it was bitter. Rex had everything he wanted. Echo had given it to him, had pulled him like a stubborn bantha into this meeting. If he'd been a little more selfish ... If he'd loved her a little less ... He jerked himself back to the now at Rex's words to Ahsoka.

Rex had turned to Ahsoka, "Then we'll get married."

"No." she said softly. "I told you I had another proposal I was considering and I must speak to him first."

Rex stiffened then nodded. "If he can share you, I can. Where have I been for five years? Stubbornly ignoring you."

Echo frowned. He'd brought her Rex and she'd consider someone else? He suddenly wished he'd researched more quickly, gotten here before this other person. What had she said? 'So my life could go on.' He sighed, her life had gone on.

Ahsoka nodded. "If he chooses, he will be the father of my next child."

Rex nodded easily to that. He wasn't sure he'd make a good father, wasn't sure he could manage being near a child, touching that innocence. "I'll need practice with Barin. I've got years to catch up with him." Suddenly he started with an odd look on his face. "Children don't break easily, do they?" he asked with his voice soft as he remembered those broken bodies in the tower.

"Very easily" said Echo, remembering the tiny fragility of Cut's child in his big hands, the bodies he had seen in the tower. He was still frowning over Ahsoka's choice.

"Not at all," said Ahsoka, remembering Barin's rough and tumble play with his older cousins.

Echo and Ahsoka looked at each other and laughed at each other's response, at the incongruity they'd just given Rex.

Rex suddenly knew who'd proposed, suddenly knew why Ahsoka would grant Echo first husband privileges. He loved Ahsoka with all his heart and mind and body. Rex realized that he'd been sheb-headed in another way as well. Now he looked at Echo, observed and remembered; realized that Echo had loved Ahsoka almost as long as he had. That love had been hidden in the daily repetition of duty on the Resolute, in the duty of battle, in the duty of service to the commander.

It had been Echo who'd looked for her, found her and out-stubborned Rex to bring him here for her. All while Rex wallowed in self-pity. It had been Echo who'd fought for her on the Resolute while he ignored what had been going on. Echo who'd made him go to that good-bye meeting when he didn't want to see her.

Echo, who'd found her and been willing to give her up to Rex, loved her no less than he loved his brother. Rex's breath caught at that kind of love, that devotion. He was humbled as he'd never been by anyone's fists.

"Ahsoka," he said gently, looking at his brother with a soft smile. "Put him out of his misery and tell him who will be first husband."

Ahsoka leaned forward, took Echo's hands and laid them against her face with a smile and glistening eyes. "Echo, you proposed earlier today and I will accept. Shili marriages are plural; two to three wives and the same number of husbands is considered optimal. My sister would be interested in being co-wife, and you will both meet her tomorrow, but if not, then I can manage being only wife to two wonderful brothers as you." She paused, seeing the doubtful look in his eyes. "This is not settling for you, Echo. This is not a reward for covering my back all these years. This is love for you. Yes, I love Rex, but I love you no less. This is because, now that you are back in my life, I cannot imagine living my life without you. Can you accept that?"

Echo's brain was trying to think but not doing a very good job. Fortunately, his heart had practiced this for years. "Yes, Ahsoka. Yes to anything. Yes to everything." He looked into her eyes and smiled. "I love you." He gave her a lop-side half grin. "Otherwise I'd never have brought Rex."

Rex nodded at this. "He had to bring me, Ahsoka. I was being stupid and stubborn."

"Sheb-headed?" she asked with a grin. Then she turned to Echo and kissed his palm, lingering, pressing his fingers into her face. "I will need you when he is being stubborn. We can gang up on him."

Echo knew that she loved him as much as she loved Rex; knew she loved him for his differences. Yes, she loved him for what he had done, but that was simply a reflection of who he was.

Echo, his heart swelling, his hand tingling where she had kissed it, cupped her face with it and drew his thumb over her lips. She kissed it then drew both men up from the chairs.

"Get your belongings; we have a way to travel." She watched them with pride, golden- and dark-haired twins, as they went to get their packs.

# # #

They ran, Ahsoka in the lead because she knew the way. Rex and Echo, battle-hardened, kept up easily. She slowed to a walk about a mile from her family's home.

"It wouldn't be right to run into the clanstead. It would imply danger and there's none." She reached out with her hands to take both of theirs, one on each side of her.

"How will I know Barin?" asked Rex nervously. Ahsoka smiled.

"Other than the fact that he has your eyes and your hair and much of your face as well as a lack of lekku? Mmm. That is a quandary."

Echo chortled.

Rex laughed nervously. "OK, I understand."

Ahsoka continued in a softer voice. "You'll think he is the most perfect child in the world."

"I won't." It was a childish shout

Ahsoka sighed, "As well as the most stubborn." She pulled at their hands. "Come on."

"Won't what?" she called out, loud enough to be heard.

The child's voice brightened. "Mama 'Ka." He shouted then came around the series of boulders that marked the boundary of the clanstead. He stopped. Inspecting the two men carefully, he slowly shifted his body side to side, debating whether to run back to Mama 'Ki and hide behind her legs. He decided that it was safe to approach. He came up and took his mother's hand from Rex. Rex felt Ahsoka loosen her grip and he let go. Barin tucked himself between them then picked up Rex's hand in his chubby little fist. Rex shivered, bit his lower lip. Echo caught his eye, nodded softly.

"Won't take a bath."

Rex inspected his son with awe. Already he understood about Ahsoka saying he was the most perfect individual he'd ever seen. He saw the eyes of countless brothers behind those eyes, himself in that face and golden hair. Ahsoka's perfect angles of lips, cheek and chin in the child. He looked and saw the child; separate from his brothers, from Ahsoka, from Rex. He had never thought to fall in love after Ahsoka left the Resolute. He was wrong. He looked into those honey-brown eyes and fell in love. Rex watched, listened, memorizing his son.

"Oh. Is that all?" asked Ahsoka. She took a sniff of the air. "Well, perhaps it isn't you. Perhaps the akul are migrating."

The boy laughed quietly. "No akul. It's me. I was hiding from mama 'Ki."

"Really? Where were you hiding?"

"Everywhere!" the boy squealed with delight and raised both feet off the ground. Ahsoka was prepared and Rex was strong. The boy swung high, laughing.

"Are you curious about these men?"

Barin shook his head as he took another leap and swing, giggling.

Rex smiled and let out a chuckle. Ahsoka turned to look at him. He was staring at the boy, grinning with pure joy. He caught her eyes. For the first time in her life, she saw peace there. She knew it wouldn't stay, but it was there for now. Rex laughed, stopped and knelt to one knee in front of the boy.

"I'm Rex. I..."

"You're my da," said the child. Rex nodded, pleased, proud that Ahsoka had told his son about him, at least that much. Barin turned to Echo and stared for a moment. "You're Echo, aren't you?" He wasn't as sure.

Echo's eyes widened. She'd told her son about him? He was just a trooper, one of 144 men in her command. He smiled back. He'd been her friend, then. "Yes, I'm Echo."

Barin inspected them both; touched Rex's face with a dirty finger then took his hand again. "Are you going to live here? With us?"

"Yes."

The answer pleased Barin. "You'll do."

Ahsoka closed her eyes in silent mirth and Echo had his head tucked into her neck as his shoulders jiggled with laughter. Rex merely raised an eyebrow in their direction. He glanced down at his son. The boy looked up at him, smiling widely. Rex couldn't help but smile back.

A Togruta woman was watching them. She was taller than Ahsoka, with white patterns curling from above her eyebrows, becoming parallel lines down the side of her nose. She also wore the plain white jacket, sleeveless shirt and pants.

"Aureki, has he been this difficult all day?

"Ne ah, sister. He was hiding and I only came out every so often to make sure he was hiding someplace in no danger." She fell in step with them, beside Rex. "I got much work done in the meantime."

Rex laughed. "That was a good plan."

"Aureki, these will be my husbands. Echo and Rex."

Rex, watching, caught something of longing in her expressions. He smiled at her, noticing something in the way she moved that was different; hesitancy and carefulness about how she moved. If he had seen her at a distance, he might have said she was blind but she clearly saw.

""I didn't know I had a son until today." He said as some sort of introduction. "Its … I can't explain it." He laughed. "But I've got years to catch up on."

Aureki smiled widely. "Barin is a joy and a delight." She mock-glared at the boy who simply laughed as he swung between Ahsoka and Rex. "Most of the time."

"Do you have children, Aureki?" asked Echo.

"No. Only Barin." She blushed even though there was sadness in her voice. "I have no husband."

"Aureki is headblind." Ahsoka said, very matter-of-factly. "When she was young she was ill with an infection and she cannot echolocate. Most of the Togruta consider her unmarriageable."

"Hmm," said Rex. "Headblind. You mean like humans?"

Ahsoka smiled. "Exactly like."

Having met his son, Rex understood Aureki's longing for a child. He'd caught that she already considered Barin as her child. Having been a clone with nothing except dreams, wants, wishes buried in training and battles, he understood her longing for someone to hold her, to care about her.

His heart had been full of love for Ahsoka. He thought there'd be no room for anyone else. When he realized what his brother had done and was willing to give up for him. Rex's heart had merely grown to accept that love. He'd met Barin, falling in love again so sharply, it was like a knife thrust. He could love her, his heart could grow.

"Aureki, I'm only going to be second husband. Am I allowed to marry you too?"

"It must be allowed by first wife and first husband." Aureki looked at Ahsoka with the look she never wanted to see again; the look that perhaps Rex and Echo could erase from her life.

"Of course, sister. You are welcome to this marriage." They looked then to Echo.

Echo knew that looked; recognized that longing. He had seen it so many times in his own mirror. Wanting something you thought you could never have. He took her in his arms, nodding.

"Yes, yes." Echo knew Aureki was a kindred soul and already part of Ahsoka and Barin's life. He couldn't take her from them and if they found joy in her, then he could as well. He'd never been a selfish man and there were some things he had learned from Fives. He wiped small tears from her eyes and gave her a soft kiss.

# # #

He'd been sitting in the main room, reading, comfortable. The coals were warm and he was wearing the soft, comfortable pants of a hunter and nothing more. She'd come quietly into the room, put her hands on his shoulder, slid them down his chest and whispered into his ear. "Come to bed, my husband." He had stood and followed her to her bedroom without thinking. The bed was empty and his heart quickened.

"Ahsoka, you don't have to…." He began.

"I want to, Echo."

"Look, I know that you love Rex."

"And loving Rex means I can't love you?" she asked with wide eyes. "Tonight, Rex will be alone in bed, or watching Barin sleep, or be with Aureki while I am with you. Or did you mean to go through years of marriage and never ..." She smiled and Echo knew she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever known.

"That would have been enough." He admitted as he rubbed his hand over his head. His hair was just long enough to not be military regulation, starting to curl at his ears and the back of his neck. "I didn't think that far ahead. I thought maybe it would be like being on the Resolute again. Being friends and chatting at breakfast. Sparring and laughing. Even in the bad times, covering each other's six." He smiled into her blue eyes. "Knowing you were there. That was always enough."

"Knowing you were there was enough, too. Then, but not any longer." Ahsoka smiled. "It was good. I felt surrounded, protected, by all of you. There was love in some of you, appreciation in all of you." She got a wicked gleam in her eye, "lust in most of you."

Echo's face froze. Ahsoka pushed him to the bed and he absently sat down on its soft surface. She sat next to him, holding his hand, stroking it, bringing it to her lips to kiss. She smiled mischievously as she looked into his eyes.

"It was impossible to be aboard the Resolute and not be aware of what most of the men were thinking, dreaming, wishing, wanting, masturbating."

He blushed, "Ahsoka." He'd been one of those men. As he remembered it, every one of them had been 'most of the men'.

"I got a very interesting lecture from… my master … about the wants and needs and habits of virile young men and battle lust. Instructions. Warnings. Odd bit of information. I went around for weeks afraid of practically saying a word and wondering at what strange creatures men were." She laughed. "In retrospect, I don't think he was the right person to give me that particular lecture."

"Probably not." Echo put his face in one hand. "Oh, no." he groaned, remembering life in the barracks. He remember one time after battle, when he'd seen her down the corridor and, catching up, had put his arm around her slender waist and squeezed with joy that they were both alive. It could have meant a demerit or an official reprimand, but he'd been too full of life-lust - shereshoy, too glad to see she was alive. He'd gotten an odd look from her, but she had smiled, put her arm around him and squeezed back. Fives had been jealous for weeks. Now he wondered at her thoughts for that odd look, what that look had meant.

"I will even admit," she smiled and reached to run her fingers through his hair, gently kissing his cheek, "to occasionally peeping into some of the," she looked for a word, "more individual dreams to understand these strange creatures called 'men'." She was suddenly solemn. "Including yours my husband."

"Is it possible to die of embarrassment?" he asked the universe in general. He could swear the universe laughed at him.

"I don't think so," she replied to his question. She sat next to him. He could smell the scent of her skin and he inclined his head closer to her. "I particularly liked your dream after the battle at Geonosis II," she said softly.

He blushed, but smiled. It was a dream-memory he had visited often for comfort, for the illusion of love he'd built for himself within it. He'd visited it often during the war; thought it destroyed after Order 66. Saoha had reminded him of its existence.

"That was the first time I realized what love might be like." She smiled. "The Jedi did not discuss love for individuals; love was an all-encompassing compassion for all things. Something remote. To fall in love with Rex, I had to know what individual love was and your fantasy that night was my first touch of it."

He blinked. "Your first touch of love?"

She nodded softly, leaned in and kissed him on the lips. His arms came around her shoulders and he lay back, bringing her onto his chest, kissing her back. It felt right. He loved her. He had loved her for years.

She satisfied his heart and soul the way that Sula and Saoha had not been able to touch. He was happy Saoha had shown him so much. He didn't feel embarrassed or confused as he might have with less experience. There'd been less fumbling on his part than on hers. He had delighted in Ahsoka's moans and soft cries of pleasure.

Echo held her in one arm, the other behind his head. It would be dawn soon and was not worth going to sleep. "What did you learn from others' dreams?" he asked thoughtfully.

She laughed softly and gave him a kiss on his lips. He returned it, the arm behind his head moving to hold her waist, move up to her cheek and caress it.

"Privileged information for you, my love." she told him. She thought a moment. "Rex's fantasies were straightforward sexy. His dreams were very linear. They served the purpose he put them to; usually to quiet his mind and to sort through the day's information. He was very good at understanding people in his dreams and that translated to his waking world. He was very good at picking up subliminal clues." She paused. "For Rex, there was no … lingering, no diversion."

"That's Rex, even his dreams put to work." he laughed softly. "Fives?"

"Oh, he wanted to be a hero all the time; very much a rescue-the-damsel-in-distress hero. Oddly, the damsel in distress was always a part of her own rescue, an equal partner in the endeavor. His dreams had the most humor; some of it very slapstick." She bit her lip slightly. "During bad times during the war, I visited Fives' dreams so often that I felt guilty and asked him if I permission to do so. He was please, exuberant even, to share his dreams."

"Of course." he asked, grinning at the image of his brother's dreams and his sharing. It made perfect sense. He frowned slightly. Fives had kept that a secret? Hadn't bragged about it over Echo? Then he realized that sharing a dream was probably more intimate than they'd been comfortable discussing. "Countdown?"

Ahsoka groaned. "His dreams had the worst puns you can imagine. I would wake up with some atrocious pun ringing in my mind. Some were visual and it would bother me for days until it would come to me."

Echo laughed, remembering a moment past when she had been looking at a wall, then suddenly put her head to her hand and groaned. "Kix?" he asked.

"Slightly kinky in a fun way. Always trying out something new mentally." She grinned. "We'll have to try out some of his 'outdoor escapades'. I really like the idea of making love in a treetop, though in his dream he had wings. But he was very … ahhh … reserved in real life."

Echo raised his eyebrows. "You know about his ...Never mind. That's something I really don't want to know." He thought a moment more and his eyes got sad.

"What about Chopper?" Ahsoka was quiet for a moment.

"Chopper had nightmares most of the time."

Echo nodded. "We all knew that. He got by on less sleep than anyone I've ever met."

Ahsoka was quiet then, when she spoke, her voice was soft. "When Chopper had dreams, they were the gentlest, sweetest dreams of love I've ever known. I'd wake up crying from the beauty of his dreams." She shook her head, her eyes glittering. "He was broken, you know. In ways I don't think anyone can understand."

"We all are, Ahsoka." Echo said softly. "War does not heal people."

She held him a little tighter. Softly she whispered the small charm to heal and quiet minds. "Haruu, haruu."

# # #

Aureki shrieked in excited terror, clutching Rex's shoulders as he dropped from the tallest branches, falling a man's height then catching a branch to slow his descent and landed with a graceful bend of his powerful legs on one of the wider branches of the tree further down. He unclipped the harness and she fell, less gracefully, from his back. Echo was there, behind her, and caught her, turning her around for a quick kiss before picking her up and tossing her bodily back to Rex. Her voice combined indignation, excitement, laughter and a little fear as Rex caught her with one arm and slung her over his shoulder.

"This is not dignified." she roared out in laughter and excitement.

"Dignity's overrated," called out Echo, laughing as he picked up the giggling Barin and a pack. Barin he simply lifted to the next branch to Ahsoka's hands then he pulled himself up with the strength of his arms and legs.

"Your turn, Aureki," Rex smiled and lifted her to the next level of branches. She grabbed branches, clumsily with inexperience, with determination. She'd never be able to do this with grace like her people; she'd never be able to do this with strength like her practiced, warrior husbands. But she could see that one day she'd be able to do this by herself. She laughed as she saw Rex lift himself to a higher branch to sit and wait for her. Not reaching, not helping, simply waiting, and knowing she could do. She was on his branch, her breath coming fast. She grinned at him and stood her knees only slightly shaky. He grinned back, gracefully brought his feet under him and stood, giving her a hug and a kiss. He held the kiss and soon she was breathless for another reason. He took her hand and they walked up the remaining branch to the top of the tree. Barin was already chewing on a strip of meat while Ahsoka and Echo had waited for her and Rex to join the picnic. There were only a few slender branches, too slender to climb, providing shade, between them and the sky. She stood and raised her arms, exhilarated; by the climb, by the vastness of the sky, by the love of her family.

She was headblind and all her life, her people had told her she could not do these things, had looked pityingly on her, had asked her parents to leave her behind, had not permitted her to try. But her husbands, her stubborn, headblind, human husbands, had insisted she learn to climb the tall trees. They had shown her how, but she'd been afraid. So they made a harness and tied her to their strong backs. Rex had taken her to the very top in the blackness of night and lain with her on soft branches, reaching up to show her the stars. Aureki had gasped at their beauty and seeming nearness, reaching out to almost touch them, forgetting the height. Another time, Echo had moved through the branches so dizzyingly fast, and not always upright, her breath could not catch up to her. It had been terrifying and when he'd brought her to the safety of the sacred ground, her knees were weak and her hands shook, but her eyes gleamed. She had looked at her dark-haired husband's smile as he breathed heavily from the exertion.

"Again," she had asked.

She understood now; the fear of heights, the fear of falling, the fear of failure. None of that had been her fear.

"Haruu," she called out in triumph. "Haruu."

# # #

"No!" It was a scream of anguish and agony.

Echo was awake immediately, running for the other room. He hadn't heard that cry in months, not since soon after the slavers, when there'd been children around. He wasn't fast enough and he heard the sound of something break, absently identified it as a door. Behind him, Aureki followed.

"Barin!" The cry ratcheted up in pained terror, beyond what Echo had ever heard.

"Rex! Rex! Wake up!" Ahsoka's voice shouted.

Then he was in the room. Ahsoka turned toward him with questions and worry on her face. Echo ignored her, grabbed Rex from behind, catching him as he flung his fist again at the absent evil but a very present stone wall.

Rex fought him. "Give me back my son!" he shouted, struggling against Echo's arms around him. Echo wrestled him to the floor; it was harder this time than it had been before. Rex was fighting for his son now.

His eyes were open, but Rex didn't see Echo or Ahsoka, only those terrible red eyes and the dying children. That death-filled figure turned toward a boy; half-Togruta, blonde with the brown eyes of his father. "Barin! Run! Run! I'll stop him!" He knew he couldn't stop Skywalker, but if Barin ran maybe he could escape.

Echo knew Rex was back at the temple with Skywalker and the fallen Jedi children. Barin being there was a new development, and Echo cursed himself that he hadn't thought of that. He had thought of telling Ahsoka and Aureki about Rex's nightmares, but figured Rex would do that. Judging from Ahsoka's pale face, Rex hadn't mentioned it.

"It's ok, Rex. Barin's here. He's ok. We're all ok. Come on, Rex, come back. Leave the tower, there's nothing there anymore. Barin's here at home."

Ahsoka joined in with Echo's calls. "Rex. Barin's here. He's fine. Come home, husband."

Rex still struggled and his face twisted in hate. "Don't you touch my son!"

Echo replied, "Hush Rex. Barin's at home. He's ok."

Rex continued to struggle, but not as fiercely. His face twisted as he fought, but the fight wasn't against Echo anymore. Echo knew he was trying to come out of the night terror.

"Echo," he said through clenched teeth, not quite out of the terror but recognizing Echo's presence, "Where's Barin?"

"Here, my husband." It was Aureki's soft voice just outside the door. Rex froze, his head turning toward the door. Aureki peeped in, noting Rex on the floor, Echo's legs and arms restraining him, slowly letting go of him. Ahsoka at their side, was stroking Rex's face with her hand, her other hand on his arm.

Aureki moved into the doorway, the boy was a large bundle for her. Echo stood to take Barin from her arms. The child was still asleep, but murmured something and curled a little tighter in Echo's arms. Aureki glanced at Echo.

"He was very tired yesterday." She stroked the boy's hair. "Haruu, little one, haruu."

Rex stood, came to inspect his son, but didn't touch him. He looked at Echo, then Aureki. "Thank you."

"I'll put him back to bed. Rex, why don't you tell Ahsoka and Aureki about your nightmares? Don't you think it's about time you did?" Echo looked at Rex who winced.

He looked to Ahsoka. "War doesn't heal people, it breaks them."

"Haruu," she whispered, almost to herself and she placed her hand on Rex's cheek. "Haruu."

# # #

"How did war break you, Echo?" Ahsoka's voice was soft.

He'd gone to the kitchen, shaking at what might have happened and busied his hands making tea. He wasn't surprised one of their wives had followed him, though he was slightly surprised it was Ahsoka instead of Aureki. Echo had thought she'd stay with Rex.

"My break was pretty standard." He shook his head. "Nothing compared to Rex or Chopper." He took a sip of his tea and released a long breath wondering how to begin. "I don't believe that I'm anything more than an interchangeable clone. That was programmed into us troopers at Kamino. More so than the CS and CC groups. My wants, my needs are secondary to everything else; for years I believed my only needs and wants were air to breath, food and drink, and orders to carry out." He looked into the depths of his tea, sorrowing for his younger self. "I've worked hard, thought things through so many times, that I sometimes think I'm getting over that programming. Then something happens and I realize it's as powerful as ever." He paused. "The ARC training helped in some ways, like defining 'need' and putting some brakes on unlimited sacrifice. It helped me in balancing my needs versus others demands. But the base foundation was laid down long ago. The war stripped away whatever tiny self-esteem I ever had. I was nothing more than an effective mechanism for blasting droids."

He looked into Ahsoka's eyes. "I'm your man because I can never be my own."

There were tears in her eyes. "Does that mean that marrying us was just duty?"

"No, no!" Echo hugged her. "I love you and I love my brother." He smiled, "I'm coming to love Barin as himself instead of as a part of you and Rex. I've learned to love Aureki." He paused, "but loving you began as duty. As a new clone out of Kamino, I had to give my loyalty somewhere. We were bred with loyalty, but it has to have a focus. Some of us gave it to the GAR, some to our individual captains or commanders or to a particular company or unit. Chopper gave his loyalty to Slick and you saw how that broke him when Slick turned traitor. It took you and Rex close to two years to make him back into a good, solid trooper. I chose to give my loyalty to my commander, to you. Rex also earned my loyalty." Solemnly, he bent his head to her face. "That's what stopped me in the tower. I asked myself if my actions were loyal to my commander and I saw that they were not."

"So part of the reason you found me was you needed a focus for your loyalty? You needed someone to give you orders?" Her voice was soft.

"I found you because of Rex's need for you. I found you because you could make it all right, make me understand. Not to give me orders but to be my compass. Slightly different, don't you think?" Echo watched her carefully. Slowly she nodded and he continued. "Seeing you again when we came to Shili, I knew I would do anything to keep you in my life. I thought it would be hard, because by then I loved you, but I didn't have enough ... me ... to think I deserved you."

"Then what made you say 'yes'"

His lips twisted. "I don't want to tell you because I don't want you to think this was just for duty." He bit his lip and shook his head. "You said, 'I cannot imagine living my life without you'. Yes, it's duty. It's loyalty. That's what made it possible for me to say yes. But it's more than just duty, more than just loyalty. I've loved you, forever, it seems." He made a startling realization. "I love you partially because you give me, me. You always have. You see more to me than just the loyalty; more than duty, or being a trooper, more than a flesh-droid, a mechanism for destruction and war, a piece of machinery."

He reached for her, his face and body hesitant that she would go, worried that it wasn't enough. "Ahsoka, in your heart, I am greater than I am in my own."

She came into his arms, burying her face into his shoulder. War had broken her husbands, circumstances had broken her sister. She hoped love would help mend them.