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CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
Ahsoka was specific as to where Rex was meeting this particular Rebel Commander and it was not any base or ship, that he knew.
He borrowed Phantom One.
Hera hadn't actually been happy about that but every other ship was taken and the order had come from above even Sato.
He had coordinates for a planet in the Outer Rim; the name rang bells with him but he had never been there. He knew that; he remembered every planet he had ever been on, some more than others. His memory was still perfect. Too perfect.
But someone he knew had.
General Anakin Skywalker.
"Batuu." Rex mused, it rang warning bells.
He put the Phantom down a couple of clicks to the North of the city or town; it didn't look industrialised. Scanning the surrounding area with his macro binoculars, he could see nothing nearby apart from the town. The Phantom's scanners had told him much the same before landing but he had not survived this long without double checking; there were some ruins but these formed part of the township, with buildings built into them. He'd seen the landing area, chose to be upfront and used it. Hidden ships just cause questions. He could guess where the town got its name from; huge black petrified trees rose out of the ground, like spires and surrounded it.
"Black Spire Outpost." He recalled what little the General had let slip. There was a reason clones moved away from their superiors, when they were conversing, it was all too easy to overhear too much.
"Batuu. Outer rim, a stopping off point for travellers to the unknown regions and Wild Space and it's sister planet Mokivj."
The origin of some of the species that his General had met.
"Mokivj, previously the home of a secret separatist droid factory."
The General, his Senator and a blue skinned, red eyed unknown alien, unknown to Rex at the time, had destroyed a Separatist factory making droids out of Cortosis. Cortosis a material impervious to light sabres.
His general had been vague about exactly what happened; primarily because it involved Senator Amidala. Rex wasn't stupid, inexperienced with women, yes, but not stupid and he saw how Skywalker looked at her and how he was around her.
She had disappeared. Then the General disappeared. Rex was on another mission with the 501st and 212th, but he had done his investigating when he returned and was not happy. It had taken a great deal of slicing and cross referencing of actual information, rumour, myth and legend to get some idea of what happened. The catastrophe.
A blue humanoid alien, with red eyes, was known to them now.
He needed to be extra vigilant here.
Rex pulled on his helmet, not his familiar HUD, he was told specifically not to use that or any of his armour and now he felt like he did on Zygerria, naked. He had a cloak and some nondescript clothes that would fit in everywhere, thin body armour underneath and his scarf, that was it.
He headed towards the settlement.
Walking nonchalantly through the bustling town, he saw a variety of shops; shops for droid parts, clothes – very bright clothes, toys, jewellery and food. The majority of the inhabitants seem to be made up of a small number of species; mainly humans, shistavanens, jablogians and another he had never seen before but not blue.
To the casual observer, he appeared to be a middle aged man interested in the different market stalls and shops, a window shopper. He was supposed to meet the "General" in a local Cantina.
There were no stormtroopers.
There was a smell.
It brought back memories, it was almost like…Ana's slow roasted pulled Roba; his mouth watered and he followed his nose to the Ronto Roasters, where he bought a flatbread sandwich and sat at a table to eat it. He washed it down with some sweet tasting sugary drink. It was bliss on his tongue.
Then he saw him, over the rim of the mug he was drinking from. The young dishevelled man in need of a haircut, unless he was making a fashion statement which Rex thought unlikely given the state of his clothes.
Seconds later he had disappeared; he didn't look like a local, his clothes were, like Rex's, too drab. Rex finished his food and left.
Past the clothing shop. Definitely not a fashion statement, as he was there at the clothing shop but not buying, like Rex.
Rex peered in at the jewellery stall; there was a silver locket that would have looked good on Ana but, he reminded himself, that was a fantasy. He looked in the mirror instead.
Yep he was still there. That was the third time he had spotted him. What was it Alpha 17 had said.
Once is luck, twice a coincidence, three times and you're being followed.
There were many different species, in the market place, not restricted to the ones that General Skywalker had mentioned but he still hadn't seen any blue ones and he didn't like the way the Wookiee, with the bandolier, was looking at him. He hadn't been on Kashyyk but lots of his brothers had. He hoped his disguise was working as it should.
Let's see if we can lose the tail.
He doubled back on himself, ducked down an alley and back around, walked along side a moving speeder till he was outside the Cantina, then he went to the public freshers; not bad for public ones. He went in a stall, stood on the pan and waited.
As time passed, there were several customers but none checked for him, they just used the equipment and left. He waited a few more minutes until the pungent, overwhelmingly nauseating, smell of the Mythrol he had heard evacuating last, had lessened slightly. No one was going to come in after that, unless it was another Mythrol.
He climbed down, silently, waited again, flushed.
Ooh! Old fashioned water based, an antique; he cleaned his hands.
As he exited the fresher, he adjusted his clothing looking around as he did so. He couldn't see him.
"Hmm, just need to make sure." He headed for a clothing stall.
"Bright Suns, traveller." The stall holder, a youngish female human greeted him, "How can I help you?"
"One of those please." he pointed to a bright blue poncho type garment.
"Twenty five credits; all hand made and woven from the wool of the Batuuan goats who roam the forests."
He purchased it, handing over the credits. Then headed to Dom- Ondar's Den of antiquities, he'd seen it as he walked past on his prior circuit of the trading area; he would just have a quick look.
He wandered in.
Rex had seen some places but this one…..it had everything, including, and this made his stomach turn, Jedi lightsabers.
Strolling around the shop, he looked at the exhibits, for want of a better word and stopped in front of a tank; the creature launched itself at the glass casing, open mouthed, as it saw him.
"Is that what I think it is?" Rex had only seen the adult version from afar but this infant was as bad; it was in your face. The assistant moved slowly around to address Rex.
"Bright Suns, sir. An infant Sarlacc. It's not been fed in a while." The assistant commented, "Have you seen anything you would like to purchase sir?"
Rex affected a look of interest in the artefacts, as he gazed around the shop; its stock an eclectic list of items, most of which he had no idea why people would even want, the Sarlacc a case in point.
"I don't think so, I was looking for something more in the jewellery line for my wife." That comment slipped off the tongue so easily; he pulled out his poncho and donned it, finishing with his scarf around his head and neck. He looked more like local now.
"Til the Spire." She called out to him; he nodded "Til the Spire." He had worked out that meant goodbye.
He headed for the Cantina; there was no sign of the young man.
The Cantina was the kind seen the galaxy over, run down, seedy, not the cleanest and serving the normal drinks; Rex was familiar with them now, sixteen years out of the army saw to that. He assessed the occupants and headed to the bar, removing his scarf.
"Bright Suns!" He greeted the barman. "Ale, please."
An obsidian mug with a frothy dark ale, swirling around in it was placed in front of him; he took a sip. It had a caramel taste with spicy undertones; it was palatable.
"Hello Captain."
"Hello General, it's been a while." He didn't turn around, he knew the voice.
"Hmm. Shall we take a seat?" The General lead Rex to a small table in the corner, with dim lighting, you could disappear in. He placed a small disc in the centre of the table.
"Let's have a little privacy." And pressed down on the disc, which hummed as it activated the privacy shield, effectively preventing eavesdroppers.
"So what do you want?"
"You."
"Why."
"We're running short of experienced intelligence officers."
"You mean like the one who was tailing me all day and has now just entered."
Draven looked towards the door to see his companion entering the Cantina with a thunderous expression on his face; Cassion Andor didn't suffer fools gladly and didn't like being made to look like one. No mind, it would teach him a lesson.
"Glad you could join us, Andor."
"How the hell did you manage that disappearing act?" Andor snarled and took a seat in reaction to the general motioning him to sit; The shield gave an accelerated hum in response to the disturbance to its field.
"Training." Responded Rex, evenly.
"General, we don't need this old man, I don't care what you think about him, I don't want to have to rely on this has been."
Rex smirked and leaned back on his chair.
"Andor, Rex is a member of an elite group." Draven was watching Rex, as he continued to speak. "He is a fully trained Advanced Recon Commando, from the Grand Army of the Republic." He waited for a response from his young subordinate.
A shrug of the shoulders was all he got.
"Many were trained by Jango Fett himself, although I understand you weren't Rex?"
"No." Rex folded his arms across his chest; he wasn't sure where this was leading.
"Do you know who Fett was Andor?"
"Dead bounty hunter?"
"Fett was the Prime Clone. The DNA donor."
"You're a clone." The comment was addressed to Rex.
Draven was looking for the reaction, any reaction, that said that this partnership would fail on other than Andor's first. There was none yet.
"Rex is, Andor, a one man army." Draven paused, Rex was not sure if it was for dramatic effect, or simply his manner.
"He can get in most places, improvise, should the need arise and achieve an objective with the minimum of back up. They were called "a one man army".
"Can't most of us?" Replied Andor.
"Not like an ARC. I've seen them in action."
Rex didn't like where this was going but Ahsoka had been adamant that he was one of only a few men, who could do this job and he trusted her. Draven, he was not so sure of; he knew him, previously Republic Intelligence and he'd met him a couple of times, years ago. The Intel was always Osik.
He was surprised he joined the Rebels; although, he supposed, there is always a limit to what people will accept. He sat observing the men. Andor was an unknown quantity and an angry young man. Rex kept out of their discussion, sometimes you could learn more just by watching, finally it came out.
"I was fighting your kind when I was six."
Rex almost winced at that, "I was bred for this and at six was in live fire exercises."
Andor paused for a second, he had been a child soldier just the same but with stones against machines, perhaps they were more alike than he thought.
No!
He had always fought for his ideals, even at that age.
"Men! Can we argue the merits of child soldiers another time. Both of you with your experience and expertise are needed for this." He activated his holo, it showed a block of shiny metal with the Imperial logo in the corner.
"Beskar iron!" He announced."The Empire has been stockpiling it since the Purge on Mandalore." He paused, again, letting the men see the block. "We don't know why. What we do know is that it is strong and can deflect lightsabers. Isn't that correct Rex?"
"Yes sir, much of it is hundreds of years old and the armour in families, remains in the Clan."
"When the Emperor came to power, the Empire suddenly became very interested in mining Beskar, which we assumed was to ensure they could deal with any Jedi who were left. But mining on Mandalore proved difficult, even with Gar Saxon in charge, which was why they eventually culled the traditional Mandalorians and confiscated their armour."
Rex was feeling uneasy, he had embraced his Mandalorian heritage, not as extreme as some, but he could speak the language and sing the Vode'An, as well as any.
"So what's that got to do with Batuu?" Andor was quick, Rex would give him that.
"The Empire has cornered the market on Beskar but there is another element that has similar properties – Cortosis."
Rex was getting very interested now.
Mokivj. Cortosis.
"Your original report was most interesting Captain Rex, the Chancellor was very interested in it at the time. In addition to the property of diverting energy, Cortosis also diverts heat from explosions. Certain parts of the Empire are very interested in that."
He shouldn't have been surprised, although he had by that time illegally encrypted his HUD, he had given a copy of his report to Anakin.
"The problem isn't here but on Mokijv." Draven continued, I need you to go there and find out exactly what is happening, who's interested, who's there. Any body, Imperial or otherwise."
"Otherwise, Sir?" Rex let Andor have his say.
"There are rumours of other interested parties from either the unknown regions or Wild Space."
"Chiss?" Rex had his say this time, he could remember his report.
"We don't know but there are rumours of others." Draven studied the disc in the middle of the table. "Look, we know the Empire is building something, something different, be it different types of ships or weapons but funds are being diverted from everywhere. No trails. Nothing. And if there are other beings out there, like the Chiss. Then we need to know."
There was another pause longer than before.
"We need to know which side if any they're on because if they're with the Empire….." he didn't finish.
"So a fishing exercise, sir?" Finished Andor.
"Exactly."
What kriffing fun, thought Rex.