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CHAPTER Fifty

Rex finally managed to open his eyes; it was a struggle, took several seconds and a lot of blinking but eventually he saw the ground. Well he thought it was the ground; it was difficult to tell from his current position. He realised that he was upside down, swinging, from one of the coral outcrops; but he was unsure exactly which one. He squirmed and got nowhere, his legs were trapped at the knees, he thought. He couldn't actually feel his legs and that was bad. He was not quite sure how he had managed to get to where he was, as the last thing he remembered was adjusting Barrell's wings when they malfunctioned. He tried to look at his chrono.

Fek! It was broken.

He twisted to attempt to look around.

Ow. That hurt.

When he opened he eyes again, there were three sets of non human eyes staring up or down at him; it was difficult to tell, it was getting confusing. Dokma. They looked even sadder upside down. He stretched out to touch them and they scuttled away in different directions; a survival strategy.

Ow. That hurt as well.

It had been a long time since he had done a HALO drop, using a modified para wing; perhaps he'd been a little over confident. He could imagine what Ana would say.

No! He couldn't. She wouldn't say anything. She didn't care.

He was hurting all over now, in more ways than one, this wasn't good.

Rostok, Tyrell, Dameron, Africk, and Melshi; their drops went well, completed without a hitch. They were straight passes but his and Barrell's wings both had problems. He sorted Barrell's, who coped well and worked with him to complete the repair in flight; he would pass. He needed to note their records. His own wings had failed. He had checked his and locked them away, prior to the drop, they all had. There was no way they could just fail.

That was his last thought, as a wave of intense pain finally hit every last part of him and his body closed down to cope with it.

"Shab!"

.

Barrell caught up with the rest of the squad, the elation in the air was exhilarating, as they slapped each other on the back, congratulations flying between them all. Their celebration had not been premature and they could have another one tonight.

"Let's find the old man, eh?"

"Yeah, where is he? I thought he'd be on our tails telling us how he managed to do it quicker and better than us."

"Yeah, you would, it's odd he's not here."

"He helped you... didn't he Jom?"

"Yeah. Mid drop." Admitted the commando, "only one wing opened. He was behind me. Unjammed it. Saluted then sheared off. Thought he'd be further up North, looking at his trajectory."

"We'll look for him."

"Will he still pass you?"

"He okayed me, so I assume so."

"Let's split up. Coms on."

.

Atollon was not a place that Jom Barrell was particularly fond of; it was barren with odd, irritating animals and he desperately needed to get back into the fight. The one good thing was that he had finally met Captain Rex; seeing him and being trained by him was the highlight of his career in the rebellion to date. If the Alliance had officers the calibre of Captain Rex here, then they stood every chance of winning. He had recently become disillusioned with fighting the good fight and begun to think that they were losing, that he may as well head out to the Unknown Regions and just try his luck there. He couldn't go back to Onderon; there was nothing left for him there.

Onderon had been his home as a youngster and he had been caught up in the excitement of the rebellion against the CIS, to bring back the King; he knew Captain Rex from there. He and his friends had hiked out into the outback to see the Jedi and the rebels train. It was the first time he had seen a clone and that Clone was Captain Rex.

Yes, the Jedi had been impressive, especially Commander Tano but Jom was just as impressed with the Captain, as he was simply a man. But he held his own with the Jedi, achieving just as impressive results. When he had been told who would be in charge of training the Specforce, he had to get in. He'd trained harder than he ever had, listened to everything the old clone had told them; practised every move and strategy he had imparted to them.

Then his wings had let him down and his idol had saved him.

Now he had to find him; he couldn't let him down. Barrell stomped off to the North.

They were moving out in a circular strategy; continuing until they found their man. They left none behind. It was Barrell that finally found Captain Rex, hanging upside down and unconscious; this was despite Rostock's protestations that this was just another surprise test by the Captain, just to keep them on their toes.

The Pathfinders gingerly removed him from the coral outcrop; unsure exactly what his injuries were but contact had been made with Command and he was being taken to Medbay, who had a droid and Doctor waiting for him.

.

"Ana?" It was the supply Doctor from the Command ship, Sasha was on some kind of mission for Sato and he had taken over. There no problem with him but he just appeared so impersonal and used the Medical droids far too much for Ana's liking but she was old school and used to working with Sasha. Every Doctor had their own peculiarities.

"Yes?"

"We've got a patient in bacta – room 2, he needs checking. Multiple injuries but he should respond well to the Bacta therapy but he doesn't respond well to the medical droids, according to his records. So you'll need to do all the obs every two hours. Understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Manual obs... Is there anything else I should be aware of sir?"

"No his file is in the usual place, it's got all the details. Any problems, you know how to get hold of me."

"Yes sir. See you in the morning."

Ana was always polite and friendly to the Doctors; she had found that had paid off on Seelos and now she prepped the instrument tray ready to go in the Bacta room. She decided to base herself in there, as there were no other patients and unlikely to be. It was quiet; it felt like the calm before the storm.

Backing into the treatment room, her eyes were on the tray, balancing it, as she pushed the door to enter; she twisted to face the tank and the treatment tray slipped from her grasp, clanking on the floor as it hit.

He was in the tank.

"Rex." She whispered and rushed to the glass, hands and face pressed up close; he was hanging from a hoist in the middle of the tank, sedated.

Panic hit her; she had never imagined anything like this could possibly happen to him. He was a brilliant soldier.

She took deep breaths to calm herself as her heart raced, eventually calm she then went on autopilot and checked his file.

Multiple fractures, bruised spine and kidneys. Contusions.

Immersion Bacta therapy for three rotations.

"Then what?"

She scrolled through his file. There was no after care programme. She already knew she'd do it anyway.

Checking his vital signs, she breathed a sigh of relief, everything was Okay. So far.

Ana cleaned up the mess, reset the tray, grabbed a Caf and then headed back to Rex; she wasn't going to leave him alone now.

There was only a stark metal desk and chair in the room, so she made herself comfortable, as much as she could, and waited.

The room suddenly seemed quiet, just the hum of the medical machines in the background. She had time to think on what had happened, and the mere thought of losing him made her panic. She couldn't. Not now. Not ever

Her head dropped to her hands.

Why? Why did I say I needed more time.

Why was I so stubborn.

He doesn't have as long as me, or any other man.

So many thoughts raced through her mind during those hours, including self recriminations. She was harder on herself than any other person and she knew she wanted to make it up to him. If he would let her.

If she hadn't left it too late.

It was a long night, made longer by the hours she spent on the datapad researching the cloning and accelerated ageing, which she had started on Seelos. She had so much information going through her mind that she couldn't organise it into anything that made any sense to her; it was all a jumble. It didn't help that the cloning had taken place 25 years ago by a particularly secretive race; their planet was not even on the galactic maps. Cloning techniques had changed but it seemed the a Kaminoans were still the leaders in producing clones of quality.

She assumed they were still there and still operating.

What she contemplating was impossible, especially in the current political climate; there was no way she could actually get to them, especially as she didn't even know exactly where their planet was.

She needed to work on the information she already had, organise it into different strands. It would help. Maybe look at the historical context, who else would be interested in knowing how the men were cloned. She made a note of it. She'd have to back up some of the data. Keep records.

That would all have to be done later, she was so tired she could no longer think straight. She checked Rex again.

Meds up to date.

Sedation level within parameters.

Oxygen saturation optimum.

She sat back down, breathing a sigh of relief, relieving the anxiety she felt every time she checked him, fearing the worst.

The body scanner whirred, as it completed its timed check, and pulled her from her thoughts on the cloning process again; she had remembered something else she had to research. It slowly completed the full body scan on the progress of the Bacta healing.

Now she stood and stared at him, her hand involuntarily pressed against the wall of the tank just trying to close the gap between them. There was just the two of them at the moment, as no one else mattered.

She never heard the Doctor return

"It's always difficult when it's someone you know; someone who means a lot to you."

He had chosen his words with care, as anyone could see this nurse, had strong feelings for this particular patient and given that, she had continued to perform her duties to the letter.

"I can stay longer…."

"No! You need to get some sleep and food, and not necessarily in that order." He meant it kindly; he knew what would happen if she stayed. She would work herself to exhaustion.

"I'm fine. I'm not tired."

"You've just done a 12 hour plus shift, of course you're tired. You need sleep and food, while you can. He's not going anywhere."

At his age he'd seen this scenario so many times he'd lost count. Damn, this nurse reminded him of his wife but that was an imperial attack and a lifetime ago.

"Ana." He had made decision early on that he would not get involved with the rest of the medical team, keeping himself aloof from them. They thought he didn't care; his problem was that he cared too much and he knew it.

"But…"

He didn't let her continue. "Ana….. You're not going to be any good to him if you're ill, are you?"

It took several seconds.

"No." She finally admitted and left after one final look at the soldier in the tank, who in Doctor Armedd's view, had no place completing a HALO drop at his age.

.

Ana had done as the Doctor ordered; she had eaten, slept but fitfully and then returned to Medbay, as soon as she could. There were a few more patients there but they were mostly with minor injuries. Doctor Armedd couldn't argue with her now, she had done as he said.

It wasn't until half a day had passed, that she realised the good doctor had left her to look after Rex by herself. She had no other patients, no one to call on her time; she realised just how lucky she was as not everyone had this. She sat quietly, the Bacta tank full of the green miracle gels, separating them; he looked calm, relaxed, as if he were asleep but with an eerie green hue around him.

.

Barrell had finally left his comrades in the mess hall feigning a pulled muscle that he needed to see the Doctor for; he hobbled out of the mess hall and headed to the Medbay. It was small compared to some he'd been in but it looked well maintained and well stocked but there was only the droid here. He was with Captain Rex on droids; after his experiences as a youngling in the Clone Wars and the Onderon Civil War, he never liked them and avoided them.

Avoiding the droid he headed down the small corridor checking each room as he did so; he realised he was using the techniques learned in the Urban warfare part of his training. The next to the last room emitted an eerie green glow.

"Ha." he said out loud without meaning to and entered the room. He saw what he expected, his Captain hanging in bacta; he was still impressed at how well the older man had kept in shape and Rex had bested him in their first one on one. He'd learnt from that one; it never happened again.

"Can I help you." a soft female voice asked him out of the blue. He'd been preoccupied with the captain that he had not seen the nurse; nit that he realised they even had one here.

"Just checking on my Captain, ma'am." he thought, he saw the hint of a smile and her features soften, as he said this.

"He'll be out soon; he's healing well."

She'd been surprised by Rex's visitor but was happy that his men thought so much of him; she didn't know why but suddenly she thought of their time together on Seelos before they really knew each other, before the Rebellion. Simpler times.

There was one final check, which she completed on him before reporting back to the Doctor. He had one more rotation in the tank and then he was out. Then she could talk to him.

It was all planned out, she would eat, drink, do more research on cloning, sleep and be back in the morning ready for him coming out of Bacta.

Build bridges with Rex.

.

Refreshed and with yet more information on cloning and the Kaminoans, Ana returned to the med bay, turning straight into the second room housing the Bacta tank.

The tank was empty, three rotations weren't yet up but he was already gone; he wasn't there, his file wasn't there. Apprehension building, she turned and ran to the doctors office. Empty.

"Fek!"

Panic was beginning to set in, that awful feeling that starts in the pit of your stomach and works it's way everywhere. Imagining all the different scenarios that could happen. Then she heard the voice, the one that she would recognise anywhere and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Clanker, getting your Fekking cold digits off my privates and leave that tube alone."

She followed the voice to the room, where it was emanating from.

"Clanker? I'm warning you….."

"Rex?" She knocked on the door."Can I come in?" She was worried that she had gone too far in their last conversation, knowing that he was angry when he left; she wasn't taking anything for granted now.

There was silence for a number of seconds and she thought he wasn't going to respond

"Yeah." His voice was gruff from the after effects of the Bacta immersion; she poked her head around the door, "So long as you get rid of the kriffing Clanker. I've had enough of it." he continued.

"MD3, you can leave now I'll take care of this."

"If you insist." it intoned.

"I do."

The droid rolled away, practically huffing as it did so.

"It's not that bad you know."

"It's a Clanker; it looks more like a Clanker, than the Clankers did and I hated them."

"You like Chopper." Ana commented as she organised the instrument tray for his treatment; He eyed it suspiciously.

"He's different."

"Different how?

"Just different."

"I heard Hera say that he had been in the Clone Wars and that she rescued him but he has 'problems'.

"A true veteran." Commented Rex.

"Perhaps that's why you like him."

They both went quiet, the small talk ended and she now had to say what she came to say.

"Rex…"

"Ana, I can't give you any more time, I don't have it."

"I know, I'm sorry. I was being stupid….. and …." Her eyes closed as she thought for the next phrase, the next word.

"It takes me falling out of the sky for you to realise it."

She looked back up; he'd got that crooked smile on his face.

"I need to remove your catheter."

"Well, I'd rather have your hands on my privates than any clanker's."

Ana chuckled, and looking him in straight in the eyes, tugged. He winced.

"Are you sure?"

"Anytime."