Revised: September 3, 2013
Revised: May 17, 2016

"Whatever Happened to Captain Rex?"

Chapter Four

Ahsoka cursed herself for not reacting faster.

Force! What kind of Jedi am I?!

Yet, even as the thoughts tore at her, she knew it was the deep-seated exhaustion tearing at her. She needed rest. Days of it. And, she wasn't likely to get it anytime soon. Her reaction time was off, and already her thinking was starting to muddle.

She gently eased Rex into a more comfortable position and tried to focus her thoughts, taking deep breaths. He didn't move or react. It was tempting to call upon the Force again for just a little more strength to get through. But, one could not keep pulling up the well. Even the Force had it's own rules and limitations.

And, like Rex. She had field training.

She'd taken the same courses as every padawan at the Temple. Ahsoka excelled at some classes, and didn't particularly care for others. Healing had always been more of Barriss' thing. But, Ahsoka had still paid attention as she saw the value in the content covered. She cleaned her hands all the way up to the elbows with sani-gel and then set to work on the wound, and then added on a pair of sterile gloves for good measure.

She dug through her med kit, finding a wound sanitizer spray. There was some dirt in the wound, unfortunately, Ahsoka chewed her bottom lip in concentration as she worked, trying to make the spray last as long as possible as she cleaned his knee. She probed the wound, focusing on trying to debridle all of the debris. It would have to be a best case scenario, and the rest would have to be handled back at medbay. Coric would have a field day once he got his hands on Rex again.

The image of Coric being back in charge again was reassuring. She focused on thoughts of the medic.

Or, better yet, both Coric and Kix taking charge.

She channeled thoughts of both of the medics working now on Rex, instead of her, and somehow the image helped as she worked.

Ahsoka paused when she came up against something that felt wrong somehow. She leaned in, trying to see inside the wound. It was difficult with the poor lighting and blood still bubbling up. She continued to probe around with her fingers.

Ahsoka took another deep breath, and this time allowed some precious use of the Force, despite her exhaustion. She extended her senses.

Sith's blood. What's this?

Her fingers probed gently at the wound. She gasped as she came up with a sizable fragment. Rex gasped and reared up as the fragment pulled free.

He didn't come up so far as to suffer a head injury, thankfully, or she'd have to add headache and concussion to his list of complaints. She immediately turned her attention back the wound, aware of how easily her mind was wandering now...

She was so exhausted. She held the triangular-shaped, bloody fragment up so she could catch it between the light of the lumens and the moonlight. It was a piece of Rex's armor. But, it had blown right into his knee cap.

This was clear evidence of what the new clone-shredder ammo could do when it came up against clone armor.

The clone-shredder ammo had been the topic of many debates in Republic meetings lately. Knowing Separatists were working on this deadly ammo and were close to rolling it out, the Republic was working on a "Phase II" armor for the clones. As far as she knew, Rex was the first clone to get hit by the deadly new ammo. She shook her head as she looked again at the damage to his knee.

"Rex," she murmured, and felt a cold chill sweep through her chest. There was just so much blood. She began applying pressure to the wound to slow the bleeding.

Don't die, Captain. That's an order.

Rex was unresponsive in the pale moonlight of the three moons.

Ahsoka applied more pressure, bacta, and a seal. The seal didn't appear to be holding. She tried applying a second seal from the medkit and held her breath and waited. It held.

It just needs to hold until we can get him to a medbay.

Images of Coric and Kix appeared in her mind again.

They can fix him, right?

Realistically, she knew she was fooling herself. He would be sent away to one of the medcenters with injuries so severe. He would be gone for a while. And, some clones who were sent away to medcenters did not return. She always meant to ask what happened. When she'd tried to pursue the topic one time, she'd only been told they were "reassigned."

Gah. Her mind kept wandering. She cursed her distraction and pulled out the inflatable splint. With great care, she applied an inflatable splint to his leg to hold his broken leg in place. It would at least provide some cushioning. She'd have to move him soon, and she didn't want the broken bones jarring the injury.

That's it. I've done all I can for now.

Ahsoka rocked back onto her heels.

Exhaustion was threatening to pull her down. But, I must keep moving...

She slipped her datapad out of her pack and double-checked coordinates.

Ahsoka gathered up the supplies, and the trash, and quickly stowed everything back into her backpack.

She stared down at Rex. So still.

She didn't like seeing him this way. Even worse, she knew how much he hated to be seen in such a weakened state.

They couldn't stay here. They had to go the RV Point.

She took several more measured breaths. She called upon the Force again, knowing she was pushing herself so far beyond her normal reserves. Energy flowed back into her, but it was just enough. She didn't feel good. Just barely able to function. The Force was sending her a message.

Yes, I know. I understand how far I'm pushing it right now. Message received.

She bent down and lifted up the clone Captain. She still let out a grunt as she hefted him up. Carrying him was awkward.

"When you recover," Ahsoka muttered, "we're going to have a serious talk about the number of Corellian puddings you put away."

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