Small Details
Sorry the formatting is a little messy here, this is my first story so I'm still figuring out the nuances.
The song that went with this chapter for me is We're Going To Be Friends by the White Stripes
/v7Kz-qoV168
Introduction
Rex left the command center and headed down to his office in the bowels of the Resolute, knowing that they were due to drop out of hyperspace within the next two hours. He really should use this time to get ahead on paperwork. The mission to take down Grevious's listening outpost hadn't been on the plans but he was growing accustomed to General Skywalkers eccentric leadership style. General Kenobi hadn't been pleased with the lengths Skywalker had gone to save his droid, but Rex thought the young mans devotion to his droid was kind of sweet.
He had been surprised by how down to earth all the Jedi had been. He had spent enough time with arrogant leaders that he had no desire to waste energy on getting to know someone who was statistically likely to consider them all cannon fodder. The one that he had perhaps misjudged the most was the kid.
They had been on a few missions together and she had proven herself quite capable but he hadn't really spoken to her outside of battle since she had tried to pull rank on him right at the beginning, in fact he had been downright cold to her and many of the men had followed his lead. Despite their unfriendliness she had made a point to remember their names instead of just their numbers and he certainly couldn't forget how she had taken on the ultimate tinny Grevious to protect him. Rounding the corner he was surprised to see Commander Tano herself in front of the window leading to the records room, he had assumed she would be off with the general doing Jedi things. Without turning around she said
"Captain Rex, will you come here please?" Startled he said
"How did you know it was me?" He cursed himself for asking, she probably sensed him with the force, so he wasn't prepared for when she said
"I recognized your footsteps, yours are more determined whereas Fives for example always sounds a bit more hectic."
"Huh that's pretty perceptive of you kid"
He managed to keep his tone even but inside he was reeling, not only did she see them as individuals but she had paid enough attention that she knew their personality's and even footsteps! He owed her an apology for his unkindness. A small traitorous part of him said that since she didn't know any different there was no reason to embarrass himself but he shoved it down. The honorable thing to do was to take accountability for one's mistakes.
"Commander Tano" he paused and she turned to face him, her wide eyed attention and soft smile disarmed him a bit but he soldiered on "Commander I owe you an apology. I have been quite rude to you. I assumed falsely that you considered yourself above us clones. It shouldn't have taken me this long to realize I was being unfair. Especially considering how well you defend us during battles. I hope you can forgive me."
Ahsoka took a minute to take in his words and she looked appraisingly at the stern Captain. She had of course noticed his frosty demeanor with herself and the other non clone personnel on the ship, but she hadn't taken it personally, she had just assumed he was just uptight and left it at that.
The force nudged her and she realized that she too had jumped to conclusions and been dismissive, it took real courage and integrity to own up to something you would never get caught for. She would have to keep a much closer eye on this clone in the future. Sticking out her hand to shake his she said
"Apology accepted Captain and I would like to extend one of my own. I was incredibly nervous when I first arrived with you all, so I forced bravado to compensate and instead came off as arrogant. I'm truly sorry that I made you feel less than and I'm deeply troubled that you have had enough experiences being treated that way for it to be the default. In the future please let me know if I or someone else is being disrespectful to you clones and it will be swiftly dealt with." She could feel his shock rolling off him and see his ears blushing red, she resisted a giggle and decided to cut the poor man some slack by changing the subject,
"You know, since technically I am older than you are it makes no sense for you to call me kid" "You may have had more rotations kid, but my body is much older so I'm sticking with it" "Ah I see" she said with a laugh "so if we're going to be friends it's going to be like that huh, well Rexter, two can play at the game."
"Rexter! Ah well I suppose I've been called worse" His rueful grin and wink told her she hadn't taken it too far and she grinned back.
"So what are you doing down here anyway? I thought a perk of being a padawan is that you don't have to deal with reports."
"This is one of my favorite places on this entire ship, the security cameras don't cover this window and the ledge here offers a bit of privacy with a stunning view of hyperspace. Can you keep a secret?" He just nodded, this interaction was going very differently than he had anticipated
"I've actually hidden some chairs here in the upper nook see!" Sure enough he followed her gaze and saw two small stools hanging from an upper beam. He couldn't help himself and began to laugh, especially when she continued
"you see, Skyguy hates any paperwork and records so he doesn't come this way if he can help it. So I need some time to unwind I can usually come here and not be disturbed." She gave him a conspiratorial wink as she force lifted the chairs down
"Ah so this your hiding place, well I'm sorry to have intruded Commander" He turned to leave but his curiosity got the better of him, and he asked
"Why do you have two chairs?"
"In case I got lonely of course! Unless you're busy I would love for you to stay for a bit, I know
we got off on the wrong foot and I would appreciate the chance to start over." He hesitated for a moment, but really this did seem more enjoyable than paperwork so he sunk down into the proffered stool. Turning to look at the stream of white and blue outside the window he said
"I've never taken the time to actually appreciate the beauty of space travel. It really is magnificent." She sat next to him and a comfortable silence fell between them as they marveled at the stars streaming past. He didn't know quite what to think of the young Jedi on his left. He knew he had misjudged her but was surprised by what extent. She seemed to be funny, kind, perceptive, a skilled warrior and most shocking of all, humble. Altogether she was a force to be reckoned with. Hopefully she didn't get too friendly with his men, they had been trained to resist many things but the only experiences they really had with women were limited to the posters on their walls. His musings were interrupted by her asking about Kamino. Her genuine interest and questions kept
him talking about home until they dropped out of hyperspace.
"Well Captain, are you ready to go save a world?"
"With you leading, absolutely Commander."
Chapter 1 The Blue Shadow Virus
Rex rolled his eyes behind his helmet as the Jedi Generals blindly jumped out of the fighters and into the cloud of smoke below, how they planned to land safely he had no idea but they usually managed it. Shouldering his landing pack he dropped out after them.
The clankers in this base were definitely unprepared for an assault and most fell to the commanders sabers before his men could even get shots off.
"So did my master go to rescue Padme" she asked, although he wasn't sure why she emphasized the senators name,
"I don't think so, General Kenobi specifically told him to focus on the crazy doctor." She laughed as she expertly deflected blaster bolts back to the droids who sent them, wiping out the last stragglers in their area
"So he definitely went off the rescue her then"
"And disobeyed a direct order?!" He shot back, looking a bit exasperated she said "Rex, how long have you served with him now? He's always going to do whatever he thinks is best, and once you add in his precious Senator Amidala there's no chance."
"Clearly you know more than I do Commander, and naturally as a Captain I am above such things as trivial gossip but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to know more about who's leading us" He shot her a wink so she wouldn't actually think he was so far up his own schlebs. Grinning back at him as she said
"get us out of here safely Captain and I'll tell you everything I know" her comm beeped and as she headed down the hall to respond to the generals summons Echo fell into step beside him. "Captain" he murmured, "May I be frank with you for a moment?"
Surprised by Echos unusually serious tone he nodded and moved to the side as the rest of the men continued to the rendezvous point.
"I'm saying this as a friend so please don't get upset with me, but you might want to cool the flirting a bit between you and the commander, or at least wait until you're wherever you two always disappear off to" Rex gaped at him, flirting!
"Thats ridiculous we were clearly just having a normal conversation like I would have with any of you"
"Oh really so are you going to try to make me laugh and wink at me during battles now? Look Sir, I'm glad you've found a good friend in the commander, I just don't want you to get in trouble because the wrong person payed too much attention. Remember that the Senator isn't the only one precious to General Skywalker."
Rex paled slightly, he hadn't thought about what the impulsive General might do if he thought anyone was messing with his padawan... "Thanks Echo, I promise there's nothing going on between us but I will be more careful with how it may be perceived. Let's get going before we're missed"
Everything had gone south so quickly Rex almost couldn't believe they had been joking a mere half hour ago. Kixs monitor confirmed his worse fears, he had been too slow and now they were all going to die trapped in this hellhole, a few poor brothers were already coughing. Anger at himself rose in his chest as he wracked his brain to see if he could have done anything differently. Ahsoka laid a gentle hand on his forearm interrupting his spiral,
"Captain, the only one to blame here is Dr. Vindi, all we can do now is keep our men comfortable and trust in my master to find the antidote" He took a deep breath and tried to let go of his myopic view. As much as he wished he could prevent any harm to anyone in his command that simply wasn't possible, and if he kept trying to take every setback personally he would go mad. He gave her a small grateful smile and, thinking of the Senators message said
"Well that's not quite all Commander, Senator Amadala said that there are still droids trying to
make it to the surface, if we're going down anyway we should make sure they're coming with us and we can protect the surface." She beamed at him as she said
"Well I did hope to go out fighting, let's go men, the people of Naboo are counting on us to not let a single droid escape." There was a resounding cheer and they were off.
He knew he had made the right call to stop the clankers but he couldn't help but regret his suggestion as he heard the hacking coughs from his men or saw his normally tireless commander stopping to rest every few minutes. Why was this effecting her so quickly? He wondered to himself, he had though that the midi-whatever's the Jedi had protected them from most illnesses, but she was far bluer than any of his men... he didn't have to wait long to learn the answer as he saw her walk over to Fives and grab both his hands in hers, both brothers were confused by her actions until Fives' cough subsided a bit and Ahsoka stumbled as she stepped back. Running to her side Rex scooped her up despite her protestations that she was fine and started walk back to the safe room, stopping occasionally to cough.
After a particularly nasty fit he felt a wave of strength wash over him and felt Ahsoka shiver in his arms. Had she given him her own strength somehow?
"Care to explain yourself kid?" He asked, perhaps a bit harsher than was necessary but Kiff it it was their job to protect her life not the other way around!
"What? If you're insisting on carrying me the least I can do is share my force"
"Oh is that what you call it?" He snapped at her "sacrificing yourself for a bunch of disposable clones, it's absurd. Your life is worth a hundred of ours." Tears welled in her eyes and she brought her hand up to touch his cheek, He drew a sharp gasp of breath at her unexpected touch
"Please don't say that! Every one of you is precious to me and I will never sit idly by if I can help those dear to me, no matter the personal cost." He tightened his grip on her as the icy anger around his heart broke apart sending a cold resolve to his brain, she was not going to die on his watch if he could do anything about it and if they made it out of here was going to personally punish everyone involved in the creation of the horrible virus.
Setting her down on the most comfortable looking crate he could find he went to Senator Amadala to take stock of the damages, the first men infected were already in the sleep phase of the sickness so according to the records they had about 12 more hours until the virus claimed them. The rest weren't faring much better. He and Fives were among the few who could still stand and he knew was only due to the commanders generosity that he wasn't prone as well.
"Such a waste of life" said Padme
"Unfortunately ma'am it's what we were made for" He replied as he covered one of his sleeping brothers with a thin tarp, unable to quite keep the bitterness out of his voice.
"Well hopefully their sacrifice will bring the galaxy closer to peace" She responded, "maybe this horrid war will end soon and you can all have happy normal lives." He scoffed at her naivety but he did at least appreciate the sentiment.
"That sounds great ma'am, now please sit down and rest, we need you to still be here when General Skywalker returns."
Fighting a yawn he sat down by Ahsoka and Echo, determined not to succumb to sleep until everyone else was accounted for.
"Hey Captain, want to play some Dejarik while we wait?" asked Echo, in response he punched the combo into his comm system and the small holo board appeared. "Woah how did you do that?" Ahsoka looked fascinated by the grainy figures floating above his wrist. "Ages ago a vod figured out how to load it on our comms and shared the knowledge, it's a real gift during the long stretch's between battles"
Intrigued she scooted a bit closer to get a better look as they started the game. He missed an obvious point against his vod when her head dropped onto his shoulder as the sleep claimed her.
As gently as he could he pulled her hips closer and put his arm around her so her head could be more comfortable. He looked up to see both Echo and Fives looking at him with raised eyebrows. "Nothing extra going on huh?" Echo teased
"Hey it's not like that I just don't want her to be too sore when she wakes up. Not that it will matter if those kriffing Jedi don't get here soon! What is taking them so long?" Sensing that he was too fragile to tease they dropped it and resumed their game.
Ahsoka blinked against the bright light that hit her eyes as she floated up on the medical stretcher towards the ship. As her eyes adjusted she saw Anakin leaning over the Senators stretcher as they spoke. He thought he was so sneaky but she saw their clasped hands, smirking she pictured Rexters face when she told him.
The smile slid from her face as she remembered he events of the past few days. "Master!" She called in a weak voice
"What is it Snips?"
"How are my men? How many did we" Her voice broke before she could finish her question but he answered anyway
"Only a few and it was the bomb not the virus. Everyone else is safe and according to Padme that's due in no small part to you" She beamed at his praise and felt herself relax even further when she saw Rex float by on his own stretcher.
"Well I did have a great teacher"
"True true, I really should get most of the credit" He said with a laugh
"Even so let's never do this again" she agreed wholeheartedly as the ship lifted off and headed to the Capitol