Hyperspace whirled by them in dazzling jeweled lines as Ash closed communications. For a moment she stared at the lines then turned back to Rex standing behind the co-pilot's seat.

"Lirane sent a message that there's an Imperial cruiser traveling fairly near."

"That's too big for us to take out." Karner objected from the back of the cockpit.

Rex's lips twisted in a small smile. Karner had taken to rebellion and the destruction of the Empire like no other civilian Rex knew.

"According to Lira, there are two clonetroopers aboard. Jester and a Sergeant Red." Ash's lips twisted as Rex's breath shorted in surprise. Ahsoka's sigh was sorrowful.

"I'm missing something?" Karner glanced at each of them, hoping for a clue. Ash reached for her brother's hand with a slight dip of her face. He gave her a hand a squeeze. "With you, sis." He turned toward the rear of the ship. "I've got some more fine-tuning to make this thing worthy of our cargo. Just let me know my part to play in anything new."

"Lira says they have a planned stop, possibly at Ryloth or one of the moons."

Again Rex shook his head. This time more in sorrow. Ash's voice continued softly.

"Jester's a prisoner. She wasn't sure about the sergeant. He seemed sympathetic but…" She spread her fingers in a gesture of equivocation and bit her lower lip.

Ahsoka, at the seat next to Ash, pursed her lips then nodded. She looked up to Rex's face. "Their coordinates aren't too far and we can catch up to them. We're already running almost an intersect to their path. And we don't have to take them out." She knew his thoughts often paralleled Karner's in destruction. Her fingers ran along the lines of an asteroid field on the navigator's screen. "This should disrupt their sensors enough that we can approach unnoticed then hook and hang onto them."

Rex glanced at the numbers at Ahsoka's fingers. For a moment his eyes narrowed thoughtfully then he nodded his new-darkened head. "There's plenty of time before Mustafar." He worked his jaw for a moment in indecision. There weren't too many clones left in the army that he wasn't aware of and he wanted them all, but it was a balancing act between risks and gains.

"Even though it isn't a prison ship, a ship that size will probably have more than a single prisoner. Perhaps up to twenty-five or so." Not so much an objection, simply information.

"Probably all rebels," put in Ash. "That's do-able, even if not confortable in the hold. And we can drop them on Pelpont to make their own ways home." Ash flicked a hand towards the back of the ship. She had three excellent fake title certificates for the medium sized freighter as well as it's original. She licked her lips and spoke more hesitantly. "They're not paying, they can't complain, and they'll owe us." She paused, her face stricken and angry and thoughtful. "I'd really like to get Jester. He's… he was the first clone I knew more than simply the armor. From Naboo."

Rex touched her shoulder. "I remember. Those were a few good days for almost everyone there." He smiled in memory then lost it as he remembered how many of those clones were no longer living.

"Knaps says we owe him a great deal and I know Chopper would do almost anything for him." Ash's voice softened and her eyes were moist with unshed tears.

"Let's do this, Rex," added Ahsoka as if she needed to convince him.

He bowed his head. "Then we do it. But we're only going for Jester and any other prisoners that are convenient to the same cell block. As much as I regret it, this unknown sergeant will have to engineer his own desertion."

The Force was with them. Karner had the cargo hold ready for habitation — insulated against the cold and padded with mats — while Ash and Ahsoka twisted the ship's flightpath in the shadow of a small asteroid that scraped against the Imperial cruiser. Rex slapped the cutter into Karner's hands as he and Ahsoka slipped into the corridor. It was even nightshift.

Rex heard Mando'a. It was a paean… a lyrical, soft-voiced chant.

"I remember you, Ninety-nine. I am alive and remember you, so you also are alive through me. You as well, Mem. I will remember until I die that you gave me back important words. Chopper, there's no way I will forget you. Ah Jester, I'm so sorry I didn't take the shot. If I get the chance, I'll do what I can. Gus, I hope you were never disturbed by a thought of me. I think of you and remember you and hope your death was as you choose."

Rex grimaced.

That identified the unknown Sergeant Red. How ironic that after reconditioning Slick would remember the dead and the living. He gestured a change in plans to Ahsoka. He'd take Sergeant Slick. He owed it to the dead as well as to the unknown trooper Slick had become.

Once he would have killed the traitorous sergeant but now there were too few clones, too few vode, and both the Kaminoans and the clones had already done their worse to Slick. All he could do was offer freedom.

Fero didn't mind patrolling the halls with Sergeant Red. After giving orders, the sergeant usually dropped into a relaxing litany, almost a song. Fero didn't understand the words but the sergeant had a good voice and the cadence was pleasant. Occasionally, he could identify a name in what the sergeant said.

Abruptly the sergeant stopped and pressed a hand against Fero's chestplate. "Hear that?" His voice was a whisper, almost inaudible to Fero.

Fero shook his head then, after a moment of silence, heard a grinding sound. A gesture from the sergeant and they went to closed speakers.

"Can you identify it, sergeant?" For as much as Fero outranked most of the other troopers and tried to show off for pretty girls, he knew the sergeant was far more experienced and knowledgeable.

"Grinding metal. A cutter." He turned toward the prison block. "Has to be an escape attempt although…"

A Togrutan leapt from the intersection of several corners, knocked into them, pushing Fero to the floor and Redemption against the wall then raced down the corridor. Behind her, a dark-haired clone watched both men as he guarded the way into the cell block.

"Clone deserter!" It was a snarled hiss from Fero-986 as he clambered to his feet.

But Fero didn't recognize Rex as the Captain of the old 501st, only as a clone. And that, only because he bunked with Redemption and was familiar with the face. In spite of the darkened hair, Redemption recognized the captain he'd once met on Geonosis. The captain who had destroyed him with just a tiny bit of knowledge and a few words.

"Go get the woman," ordered Redemption as he observed Rex. Fero cussed some more as he ran after the Togrutan.

Time or freedom or the rebel alliance had been good to the ex-captain of the 501st, the trooper who had made the 501st into the best company a commander could wish for.

Commander?

Hadn't there been a Togrutan commander — Jedi — with the 501st? He glanced down the hallway in speculation then jerked his head back to the other clone.

Rex observed him back, a slight smile coming to his lips. Though in combination with the sad lines around his eyes, it gave him an odd expression. "Funny." he shook his head in disbelief. "After Geonosis and realizing you hadn't been executed, I always knew I'd see you again." He reached, slowly, with his fingers spread and pulled a thumb-size chip from his belt. "It's why I've kept this with me through long years."

Executed? Redemption sucked in his breath though he wasn't sure why.

"You don't realize how vastly amusing this all is. Not yet, anyway." Rex wasn't laughing though. The small smile had disappeared and he had a serious, somber expression. "They won't let you keep it, so you'd have to download and watch it immediately."

It was a connection to his past!

Rex spun the chip nimbly in his fingers. "If they ever find out you've seen it…" Rex shrugged and shook his head. "They'll recondition you again. At best."

Redemption shuddered. Reconditioning didn't hurt, not physically but it left you in a void. It stole away your foundation and left you fully-formed with nothing. You knew words, tasks, but the intrinsic things were gone. You knew but didn't understand. You were what you were called — a flesh droid. It had taken him months to feel like he belonged in this body and several years, a long time for a half-life clone, to feel as if he could pass for normal even occasionally. Though he was under no delusion that he had ever been normal.

Rex stared at the chip. "Perhaps I should just take it away. Shall I do that?" It was an honest question from the ex-captain. "Shall I leave you in ignorance?" His voice was gentle, kind. "It might be best."

"What is it?"

"I think I would choose to know as well." A wry smile quirked his lips for a tiny moment then the former captain was solemn again. "It's your confession of treason. The one you spouted when we captured you. Has everything from us questioning your squad to the explosions and the fight in the command center." Rex shrugged. "You're a good fighter. It took both me and Commander Cody to take you down."

Redemption jerked at the words. Confession? Treason? No wonder they hated him. Then he realized they'd been kind. Chopper, Jester, Gus on Geonosis, the occasionally angry trooper he'd met since… no one had told him anything of his past. They hated him but they didn't make him hate himself. Most clones hated him because he was reconditioned, found wanting and returned to Kamino for correction. But he'd met a few — particularly when transporting the 212th — that wanted to kill him or make his life substantially more painful. They usually called one-on-one in order to beat him to bloody sorrow. But they never told him why.

Rex noticed his reaction. He relaxed, leaning against the wall behind him and Redemption knew it was all a trap somehow. Rex's voice continued its gentle tone. "You were the first clone to commit treason, the only clone to commit treason until Order 66. The Jedi Council couldn't figure out how Ventress had done it — brainwash you so thoroughly you'd commit treason and sabotage, yet leave you so much a clone that none of us discovered you as a traitor."

Rex stared down at the chip again, rubbing it with the pad of his thumb. "I know why. Ventress had nothing to do with it other than take advantage of what was happening. You're in good company now. The best troopers committed treason at Order 66. All four of my medics, my lead ARC, an ARF and two sergeants, one of whom took his entire squad with him as well as about fifteen other troopers." Rex snorted in humor. "He simply ordered them out."

Rex stared at the chip in his hand, regret pulling at the lines in his face. "Not me. It turns out I wasn't the best man of my own company. Others deserted later, after Order 37. Not me." He gave a snort. "Still too stubborn. Or broken. I lost my men at Teth, my trust at Umbara, and my love in Order 66. For a long time there wasn't anything left but ingrained duty." He was quiet for a moment, in memory or silent mourning. "Or perhaps nothing more than habit. So I've always wondered, what happened to make you commit treason at the beginning of the war?"

Redemption shook his head. "It's not something I can remember."

"I know." Rex's voice was full of compassion. "When I got back from Teth, I went into your cell. I planned to beat you to death while I recited remembrance for every one of those troopers who had died. You were prepared for that. You said I would understand. As if it took losing almost an entire company to comprehend your actions."

He glanced down the corridor and shrugged. "After Geonosis, I looked up your records all the way back to the day you were decanted, even the solution mix. I wanted to know why a emshabuir /emlike you survived when so many didn't." Rex went quiet for a moment as his face when hard. "I wanted to understand how you could turn against your brothers and I thought it could be found in your past on Kamino. Nothing. I found nothing. Your mix and your training was no different than the rest of us. You weren't special." Rex shook his head and shifted, getting into a more comfortable position as if he had all the time in the world. "Until Christophsis, there wasn't a single blip of individuality. So it had to be what came after Kamino. Your records were hard to get to and it could have meant a lot of trouble but I had good men working on it. The best."

Rex glanced down to one side, a smile turning up the corners of his lips in reminiscence. "I was lucky that way. I always had exceptional men willing to give me everything they had and, for the most part, exceptional generals willing to give me the freedom to do what needed to be done. Not you. On Christophsis before the arrival of Commander Cody and myself, you had a Jedi general who barely noticed the clones following him. You had no commander, no captain. No tactics or strategy. Simply 'protect the refugees', most of whom had individual agendas which didn't mesh with being protected. You had no leadership. You were one of three experienced sergeants surviving with a lieutenant fresh out of Kamino in command. You had a squad that came out of Kamino with you, good experienced troopers that survived Geonosis and Excarga. They all died in the first battle on Christophsis following that general who had no idea of who rather than what they were."

Redemption closed his eyes, longing for troopers he lost long ago. They'd had habits, voices, things that had been unique about them. They weren't just clones, they weren't just numbers. They weren't battle fodder. Sometimes he remembered them in dreams. It had taken him almost four years to remember a name — Ven. But, he'd known the others; the one who laughed, the one who trained off-duty with some medic...

"Teknik, Ven, Knife, Roan and Eighteen."

Redemption gasped in painful knowledge then savored the names of his brothers. Rex gave him a moment of silence then continued speaking. "They gave you another squad and, because they hadn't come out of Kamino with you, because they weren't your brothers, because you missed your brothers, you treated this squad badly. You broke them with cruelty, Slick."

Redemption jerked at the name he'd once had.

"But in retrospect, you broke them intentionally and with laser precision. In less than 35 days, you broke a decade's worth of intensive training and flash drill. And no one noticed. Not me. Not Commander Cody. Not even the Jedi." Rex shook his head at what had been their blindness. "There's only one reason to break a squad of clones that precisely and that's to rebuild them. Perhaps that's what you meant when you said you'd done all that for your brothers." Again, Rex shrugged. "Perhaps not. But here's the interesting thing. Of those men, they all did exceptionally well. One became a captain, one his second."

Redemption — or was he Slick? — nodded. Captain Punch and his second in command, Lieutenant Sketch on Mustafar with every Fett clone remaining in the Imperial Army. Rex continued speaking. "And two sergeants and a sergeant-medic. That's unprecedented." Rex gave Redemption a tilt of his head. "They thought about making you a permanent trainer when Jester made sergeant, Gus made medic, and Chopper began sending out the droid reports. They thought a lot of things when your ARCs excelled. It's why they kept you on Kamino so long, shifting you from squad to squad."

Again Rex shifted, stretching the muscles of his shoulders, with a muttered, "Getting old." Then he grinned at Redemption and Redemption knew the trap, knew he'd been caught. But it didn't bother him, not when he was getting intel into who he'd been. Not when he had a chance…

He squashed the thought.

"They were and are good men, the men of your second squad. Even the men you trained after reconditioning became exceptional. But the men of your second squad are all men I know and respect for growing beyond their potential. They are men who made difficult choices. They are men who rose above the common background and training all clones received. All they had in common is they were once in your squad."

Redemption's eyes stung and he blinked back the tears for the men of Slick's squads. The ones who came out of Kamino with him and the ones who came later.

"I'll make you an offer, Slick. You have the codes. Open the cell doors. Let Jester and the other prisoners go with me and I'll give this to you. I'll give you back your past."

Redemption shook his head slightly even as he lowered the weapon trained on Rex. "I don't want it. I don't think I ever want to know it all."

Rex tilted his head, confused between Slick not wanting the chip and his relaxing into parade rest. He knew an instant before Slick spoke and stiffened in shock.

"Take me with you."

"Treason? Again, Slick?" Rex's voice was filled with curiosity rather than accusation, and Redemption could answer that curiosity.

"Not treason. And it's not Slick. I call myself Red now." He paused and removed his helmet. "This isn't treason but claiming myself. In my dreams, that's what it was supposed to be the first time, brothers claiming ourselves. But I've given up my dreams, my brothers, my squads, and half my life to the army. I want the rest of my life - it's all that remains."

Rex glanced down at the chip in his hand then slowly nodded. "I understand." A wry smile twisted his lips, "If I can't give you your past, I can try to give you a future."