Necklace


Three soldiers stood tall facing a large formation on the moon of S'rerl. For the better part of the last week, the 501st had been fighting Separatist droids in the humid jungle environment native only to inexcusably large insects. The enemy attempted to build an outpost on this moon due to its proximity to the most direct hyperspace lanes leading to the Outer Rim. The Separatists had been halfway complete by the time Republic forces spotted their construction, and nearly finished when the 501st landed to intervene.

For such an extended battle in such a primitive setting, the number of trooper casualties was surprisingly few. And for an almost routine battle, there had been a surprising amount of heroics. Hardcase had singlehandedly taken out three armored assault tanks, not because he had found himself alone amongst the enemy, but because he had recklessly outrun his brothers in his eagerness to confront "brainbolted clankers." Charger and Appo had taken on a grossly disproportional amount of enemies in order to draw their excessive fire away from wounded brothers. If not for their actions, the casualty count would have been much worse.

Now, as the troops waited for the fleet to return from routing all enemy forces from the system, those not busy guarding the captured outpost's walls were formed up within it for a quick medal ceremony. Hardcase, Charger and Appo stood at attention, helmets under one arm, weapons leaning ceremonially against the other. Rex walked down the line adhering a polished medal to each trooper's breastplate: a thin, gold diamond overlaying a bronze medallion hanging from a red-and-silver striped ribbon. Despite the rigidity of the ceremony, he managed a subtle, proud tug at the corner of his mouth to each clone as he pinned them.

"On behalf of the Grand Army of the Republic, I award you with the Distinguished Valor Medal," the captain announced in the formal custom he had mastered over the years. "For displaying bravery and exceptional fortitude in the face of overwhelming personal odds." A cheer erupted from the formation. Upon the order of fall out, there was a massive swarm to congratulate the awardees. Anakin and Ahsoka found Rex off to the side of the madness, reattaching his helmet.

"I don't know how you can stand this humidity, sir," the captain intoned. "I'll be living in here til they come and get us, though." The two Jedi were already covered in a nice, unenviable sheen. Only Ahsoka looked a little worse for the wear, body slumping under the weight of the mugginess.

"That's right," Rex recalled, "you came from Tatooine. You must be used to this."

Anakin's eyes slid towards Rex as quickly as the temperature allowed. "Dry heat," he corrected unenthusiastically. "This just sucks."

"You can say that again, Master," muttered Ahsoka, dragging a bracer across her forehead. Rex noticed Anakin checking the cloudy sky again, most likely for any signs of the fleet. Since their landing a week ago there had been constant, yellow cloud cover, an unpleasant hue fitting for an unpleasant moon. The only change in the sky had been when the clouds thinned enough to observe the gaseous planet it orbited through the night vision filter on Rex's rangefinder scope; even thin clouds were opaque to the naked eye.

Anakin mumbled something about contacting Admiral Yularen before shuffling off to the small Separatist-constructed fortress where the communications technology had been the first thing salvaged. Ahsoka stayed behind, fanning herself with both hands.

She drew her captain's attention after a particularly discouraged sigh, asking, "Hey, Rex. I'm a good fighter, right? Brave?" Her gaze was firmly locked on the three troopers still being congratulated by the battalion.

"What do you think, sir? I'd have been shot in the head twice on this moon alone if it weren't for you."

"Then why can't I get a medal?"

A chuckle slipped from Rex before he even thought to stifle it. "You're not a soldier." It made perfect sense. After all, it was in the regs: GAR medals were for GAR personnel. This answer did not suffice to alleviate his commander's disparagement based on the size of her pout. Fives and Echo joining them at the edge of the battalion seemed to distract her enough, though. The two ARC troopers had recently returned from their specialized training and now appeared to saunter everywhere they went, showing off their Phase II armor, kamas swinging.

"What's with the face, sir?" Fives asked the Togruta. He switched between watching his commander and watching the battalion's progression of congratulations.

"I'm never going to get a medal," she sighed. Fives laughed.

"I've got like four of 'em. Want one?"

Ahsoka perked up just in time for Echo and Rex to simultaneously intone, "No, she can't." The pout returned.

"Stuff it!" Fives shot back, hopefully at Echo rather than his captain. "If she wants a medal, I'll get her a medal."

"GAR 670-1 outlines who can be recipients of service medals," Echo informed him. "I'll bring up the exact chapter for you." And he went on a silent regulation hunt inside his helmet. Fives gave a roll of his head; Rex knew him well enough to assume that his eyes rolled more.

"It's not that big a deal," argued Fives. "It's not like I need all these medals and ribbons that I can't actually wear." He gave his chestplate a loving tap. "They don't help me shoot clankers any better. What's the use—" One solid shove from Rex that nearly landed Fives on his backside shut him up.

Rex switched to in-helmet communication, leaving Ahsoka to watch wide-eyed as the captain gestured fiercely to the new ARC trooper without hearing a sound.

"I don't ever, ever want to hear you mouthing off like that again, in front of our commander or anyone else! Awards are the one thing we own. We don't own the weapons that save our lives. We don't even own the armor we die in, but medals are the one thing the GAR doesn't reclaim. I don't care if they have no value for you— frellin' keep it to yourself! Look at all the rookies out here. They see medals as a badge of honor; something to aspire to. Do not take that away from them!"

Fives nodded. Each bob of his head lowered his visor by degrees until it faced the ground, and he replied in their private link, "Yes, sir. I apologize."

"Go congratulate the men if you haven't already," Rex ordered over his public channel. Echo followed his brother, informing him of the chapter and paragraph detailing proper medal recipients. Rex couldn't decide if it was for better or worse that, despite their advanced training, those two were the same as ever.

Ahsoka still looked wary when Rex finally turned back to face her.

"Sir?"

"Never mind. I don't need a medal," she replied quickly. The Togruta shuffled off toward the small outpost command building, mumbling, "Nope, nope..."

Rex had his hands full the rest of the day. The dense cloud cover severely restricted the range of the captured subspace radio, to the complete confusion of the 501st's commo technicians. Although not being able to contact the fleet was worrisome, Rex was more bothered by the fact that there was no one else in the GAR tracking the condition of the battalion.

Anakin wallowed in an irritated mood the rest of the day, but Rex proactively formed a guard roster for the night, instructed soldiers to establish a makeshift shelter for the field medbay, and investigated the perimeter wall himself for any weaknesses. To their credit, the Separatists had cleared away the tall, drooping jungle trees within about one hundred meters of the wall, which limited the wealth of cover for any new enemies should another attack happen.

Rex ended his tour at the medbay tucked away in a corner of the tall perimeter walls by the time the sun was nearly set. Now, instead of bile-yellow clouds, they had deepened into a dark amber color; hardly an improvement. Soldiers still labored to erect camouflage canopies which shielded anyone underneath from prying airborne eyes more than anything else. They had no other materials to work with. Under the main canopy, Kix and Coric bustled about assisting the many wounded soldiers, some lying in neat rows along the ground, others propped up against the walls. Among the soldiers, surprisingly, was Ahsoka. She patiently stood by the medics' backpacks and field equipment until Coric finally approached her, offering a small vial.

"This is all I can spare, sir. We've just got too few supplies for all these men," he said in a low voice.

Rex snatched the vial out of the medic's hand before Ahsoka even reached for it. "What's this?" The container was too small for any labels.

"Painkillers, sir," Coric responded. Rex handed it back to him and waved him off before leading Ahsoka out from the makeshift medbay by her arm.

"Remember that talk we had a few planets back where I said you should start wearing your own medkit?" Rex asked. He only released her when they were equidistant from all other clones.

"Rex, I'm not actually injured. I just... hurt all over," sighed the Togruta. She wore the most dejected expression he had ever seen, on top of the humid sheen glistening across her skin. The padawan winced as she reached up to slide a hand from one montral down to her lek. "They've never hurt this bad before."

When Rex just gave an exaggerated, uncomprehending shrug, Ahsoka whined, "Growing pains! It feels like I've got these mountains of montrals just pushing through my skull and it hurts so bad!"

Rex dug into one of the pouches on his belt until he extracted a polymer vial, holding it out of her reach. "This isn't as strong as what the medics have, but they need the powerful stuff more."

"I don't think you understand the severity of the situation," Ahsoka moaned. She was quite possibly on the verge of tears.

"Kid, you've never experienced rapid growth acceleration. This'll get you through." He handed her the medicine and she trudged off into the deepening shadows. Sometimes it surprised Rex that outside the confines of battle, where Ahsoka was a sharp-thinking beast, she reverted to what he kept forgetting she was: a teenager. But although Rex's experiences growing up were polar opposites from normal upbringings in most other species, he had it on good authority that most teenagers in the galaxy were not as selfless, or as resolute, or as fierce as his little commander.

Rex entered the main control room of the outpost where the commo technicians were still scrambling for answers. Anakin leaned against one wall, watching the workers hawkishly while staying well out of their way. His impatient glare confirmed all Rex needed to know.

Appo approached from behind to slide into view, reporting, "Sir, we're amber on ammo, red on water. They're trying to get the rest of the AT-RTs fixed, but we're still stuck on only two functioning."

The captain vented a note of pure frustration. He flicked his eyes about inside his helmet, bringing up the LACE report on his HUD screen for further amendments. Rex had yet to send up any of these reports, original or otherwise, for accountability.

"Keep me posted, Appo." The captain leaned forward and knocked a gauntlet on the communications console, under which the commo techs had crawled only to be swimming in wires. He was met with irritated glares from men beyond the point of exasperation. "Let me know when you get through to the fleet."

"Don't hold your breath, sir."

About the only thing working smoothly was the guard schedule. All the soldiers knew their location to guard and time to be there. There was one guard at each corner atop the wall, two guards in the working AT-RTs manning the single entry control point, two guarding opposite ends of the med tent, and one guard per sleeping section. The outpost building was too small for anything but working space, relegating all soldiers to sleep under the clouds.

Rex himself had a two-hour shift just after midnight atop an AT-RT at the ECP. His comrade, Fuse, was not much of a talker, and the time passed far too slowly. By the time the next shift relieved him, he was so focused on collapsing on his own bedroll as he headed back to the sleeping section that he almost missed a suspicious mass in the shadowy foot of one of the walls. He flicked his rangefinder down, activated night vision and zoomed in. Togrutan montrals were as easy to identify as the clone number that popped up on his HUD screen once the technology recognized his brother next to her. The two in question seemed to sit leaning against the wall just as much as each other.

Establishing an in-helmet channel with the clone was even easier. When Rex's screen flashed green for a secure transmission, he shouted, "HARDCASE!" and watched the clone against the wall nearly jump two feet in the air, spooking their commander.

"GET YOUR SHEBS THE FEK OVER HERE BEFORE I DRAG YOU OVER BY YOUR BALLS!"

Hardcase came sprinting closer to stand at terrified attention in front of his captain. His rapid breathing did not help him enunciate. "Y-yessir?" It also didn't help that Rex slipped a hand underneath Hardcase's breastplate to yank the trooper so close their helmets cracked into one another.

"You have three seconds to tell me what the flying kriff you were doing alone with our frelling commander! And even then I may have you detained for that breach of karkin' protocol!"

Hardcase made no move to resist as his armor was shaken and his head jostled at his captain's whim. "S-sir, it wasn't anything, I swear. We were just sittin' there, and it's..." His voice calmed down considerably before he added, "It's honestly not what you think, sir."

Ahsoka shuffled over, squinting in the dark until she found the two soldiers and set her hands on Rex's arm.

"Is something the matter, Rex?"

He switched to the public channel. "You don't even have a shift tonight, Commander." His tone was borderline accusatory. "What are you doing up at this hour?"

"The meds wore off and I can't sleep."

"Well, try. Because this shabuir is coming with me. Sir." Rex stalked off, towing Hardcase by his armor.

"Really, captain," the clone protested, still transmitting over their private channel, "it's probably the exact opposite of what you're thinking." Rex did not stop until he reached the far wall, well away from all the rows of sleeping troopers. He swung Hardcase around in front of him and forced his back against the wall where he kept him pinned.

"Are you a Jedi now, Hardcase, that you can tell me what I'm thinking? What the kriff were you doing with our commander at this hour?!"

"Sir, it's going to sound... stupid..."

"Try me," Rex ordered in a feral snarl.

Hardcase took a composing breath. "None of us had a normal, human upbringing on Kamino. General Ti was... demanding, but kind. And in those rare moments when she just talked to us, as people, not as purchased fighters, I wondered if maybe... maybe that's what it feels like to have a mother. So, sometimes... talking to the commander the same way, it feels like..."

The captain released him, simultaneously taking a step back. Rex would've loved nothing more than to pinch the bridge of his nose or run a hand down his face, but he had to suffice with feeling the pressure of his hand weighing down on the crown of his helmet.

"Karkin' really, Hardcase?" he vented, his hands finding his belt. "You were cozying up to Commander Tano because you want a mother?" Rex didn't sound angry or even incredulous; the relief swelling in his chest didn't allow him to sound anything other than confused.

"Told you it'd sound stupid, sir," the clone replied with slanting shoulders. His head bowed to match. "She was already up; said she couldn't sleep. I was coming off my guard shift so I sat with her. We were just talkin', sir."

"Hardcase, I'm assigning you to ARC trooper Echo as of 0700 tomorrow. He's gonna go over every single regulation his HUD can come up with. Now get some sleep."

The next morning, the general mood was noticeably improved due to the first decent night's sleep in a week. General Skywalker and Ahsoka drilled with lightsabers, a sure way to keep all soldiers far away from them. It was early enough that their temperaments weren't plagued by the humidity just yet. As Rex passed them on his way to the command building, he overheard his general suggest that Ahsoka pick up a second lightsaber in order to refine her sloppy fighting form.

Even the commo techs were in slightly better moods. Every now and again they thought they had established a channel with the fleet, only for it to fade out of their grasp. At least now they weren't glaring at their captain as they worked.

Rex, exiting the building, found Hardcase and Echo leaning against the nearest perimeter wall. Kix, Jesse and Charger flanked them, and all five appeared to be in one giant... argument. The captain approached the group, ready to slam somebody else up against the wall if need be.

"I get it," Hardcase was saying, "she can't get an entire medal. But what if we took just a piece of a medal and gave it to her?"

"Damage of GAR property," Echo responded with a quick shake of his head. "It's in the galactic code of military justice that willful damage—"

"Don't bring the GCMJ into this!" snapped Hardcase, nearly lost among Charger, Kix and Jesse throwing their opinions into the mix. All five quickly quieted once a pair of Jaig eyes appeared in their group.

"Sir," Echo greeted with a quick salute. Rex returned the gesture, not quite as crisply.

"This wouldn't happen to be the same argument that Fives started yesterday, would it?" The captain's visor shot from one clone to the next, finally settling on a nodding Echo. Rex, in a tone to resolve this debate once and for all, said, "Our commander cannot and will not be awarded a GAR medal."

Hardcase indecisively raised one hand, like he was back in the cadet classrooms on Kamino. Rex pointed to him in acknowledgment like one of the teachers back on Kamino. The clone withdrew something small and shiny from a belt pouch. "Even if we already made her something?"

Charger, Kix, and Jesse looked from their brother to their captain, for once silent. One commanding word was all it took for Hardcase to drop the object into Rex's hand. It was a long, gold diamond hanging from a gold chain. Where he got the chain, Rex couldn't imagine, but the diamond...

"Hardcase, is this from the medal you got yesterday?"

"Er... I plead not guilty, sir." Rex handed it back.

"Fine. If you want to give it to her..." Before the captain could even finish his sentence, the four clones hustled over to where their Jedi leadership had just taken a break, lightsabers stowed. Echo approached Rex's side, arms crossed.

"This is against the regs," he said simply. From their spot by the wall, they could see Ahsoka's face light up when presented with the necklace before she gave a big hug to each trooper. Rex clenched his hands tightly around his belt.

"Who's gonna know?" he replied, a stiff shrug barely moving his pauldron. His own inner thoughts about missed opportunities were interrupted by Fives running from the command building.

"Captain! We got word from the fleet! They'll be in orbit within the hour!"

Business mode activated in Rex's mind, running through all the lists of things to accomplish before extraction. He barked out orders and the outpost because abuzz with troops eager to pack up. In the midst of this organized chaos, Rex spared a glance in Ahsoka's direction. She proudly showed off her new necklace, already around her neck, to her master, who regarded it with an appropriate amount of interest.

"And get those canopies folded! To standard! The fleet's not leaving in the next two seconds... fer cryin' out loud." A small tug on Rex's arm drew his attention to the Togruta now at his side. She grinned up at him with one hand on her necklace.

"I know you had something to do with this," she said, that comically suspicious squint to her eyes. Inadvertently, she was right. Rex didn't punish the ones who actually made the necklace, therefore he had something to do with it.

The delighted smile that broke across her face knocked the wind out of his lungs far more effectively than that commando droid sniper on Saleucami. Just as he took a moment to recover, Ahsoka bounced up and threw her arms around his neck. Thankfully, Rex's arms instinctively closed in on her back because his mind was blank. Ahsoka hopped down a moment later, then spirited away to go be helpful somewhere.

It took longer than Rex would've liked to admit until he reclaimed full control of his faculties. He made up for his lapse with extra-aggressive snapping at his soldiers.

"Captain..." a soldier's voice came across his helmet comlink. A glance to the corner of his HUD screen showed him it was Echo's transmission. Looking around, Rex noticed the ARC trooper halfway across the outpost, Ahsoka tugging at his kama. "Commander Tano wants a kama now."

Rex couldn't help cracking a grin. "That's a negative. Sic the regs on her, Echo."


A.N. I need help; my google-fu skills are not yet up to par. What's the Star Wars universe equivalent of "basket case"? (As in, a person who acts like a basket case.) Please and thank you!