"Yo, Kix, funny story…" Hardcase trailed off as the medic leveled a glare at him.

"What did you do this time?" Kix resisted the urge to strangle him. There was no point in injuring someone if you'd have to turn right around and treat the injuries.

"Soooo, my guy," Hardcase hedged. "There was this weird-looking bug outside, and Jesse was like, "Yo, touch that," and Fives was all, "Yo, you're weak, my guy, you won't," so I touched it and its spikes extended―they EXTENDED, Kix―and they went straight through my gauntlet and into my hand, and then Echo went all, "That's a something-something razor beetle, and don't touch it cuz REEEGGGSSSS, oh, and they're venomous or whatever," and then Rex like totally went off on me like 'go see Kix, you bungledoof,' and things are just going wild right now, and has everything always been purple?"

Kix blinked. Then lunged for hypos.

"Sit down on that bed right this minute, you absolute di'kut. Only you could find a Malastare razor beetle when we aren't even on Malastare."

"Kix?" His batchmate's voice was absolutely pitiful.

"Yes, 'Case?" He paused for a moment.

"If this kills me, I want to be cremated via explosion."

Rolling his eyes, Kix jammed a hypo into Hardcase's neck. "It's not going to kill you."

"So Rex was overreacting?"

"He most certainly was not. It's perfectly treatable if you actually come to get treated."

"Eh. I'm sure I would've been fine."

Kix felt his near-permanent headache spike. Unfortunately, protocol for things like this dictated a day of observed bedrest in the medbay. His medbay. Hardcase, in forced bedrest, right there with him for a whole day.

"Kill me now," he muttered to himself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."


Ignoring the chronometer threatening him with how late it was, Kix prepared his datapad for another report. All the other Alpha-shift medics had gone to the barracks long ago, yet he was still there.

The last battle had come with heavy casualties, and he had to turn in a report for every injury or fatality he or another medic had supervised. Then of course Hardcase went and added one to his already overwhelming pile.

The datapad screen in front of him began to blur and his head drooped, before Hardcase, situated in the bed nearest him, let loose a snore. Hardcase snored the same way he did everything else, loud and explosive, and so Kix jolted up.

The medbay filled with annoyed groans as patients woke up, and one medic looked rather murderous, but medications soon lulled the injured back under and the medics resumed their quiet duties.

Kix scowled, mad at himself for nearly falling asleep while discordantly irritated with Hardcase for waking him. He huffed, before smirking wryly at his sleeping batchmate.

Several reports later and his vision was once again starting to blur, tears pricking his eyes. He pressed at his temple, trying to force his eyelids up. The reports were important.

"Kix?"

The clone in question jolted, now fully awake. Technically every clone had the same voice, at least to outsiders, but not to the Vode. Kix could distinguish the voice of every vod he knew, and he certainly knew that voice. The voice of his alor'ad.

"Sir!"

Rex stood just in the doorway of the medbay, his brow furrowed. He glanced around, looking for something. "Coric?"

"Yes, sir," Coric answered, popping up from where he'd been sorting supplies.

"You good?"

Kix frowned. What was Rex asking about? Was he worried? Was something wrong?

"Yes?" Coric was obviously as confused as Kix was. "Is there any reason I shouldn't be?"

"I was just trying to figure out why Kix is still here."

"Kix is still here?!" Coric jerked around until he spotted Kix at the desk, ensconced in datapads. "Kix, you di'kut, what are you doing here?"

"Finishing reports?" He held up a 'pad as proof.

"During night shift?" Coric frowned, then turned to Rex. "Captain?"

"On it," the officer replied, some understanding having passed between him and the night shift medic. "Kix, come with me."

Sighing, Kix grabbed the report he was working on and made to stand.

"Leave the datapad, Kix," Rex ordered, then turned to Coric again. "I came here to ask about Hardcase."

"He'll be fine, as long as he doesn't touch any more venomous beetles."

"One of Torrent's finest, that one," Rex deadpanned. "Let's go, Kix."

They walked in silence down the hall, the medic feeling more and more awkward the farther they went.

Finally, Rex broke the silence. "Any reason why you're still up two hours before your sleep rotation ends?"

"I had some reports to fi‒"

"We're launching the campaign today," Rex interrupted, "and my head medic is going to be running on less than two hours of sleep, all because he decided to pull a di'kut move on me."

"The reports were important," Kix protested.

"Not as important as your health." Rex seemed to think something through, before sighing. "You won't be able to help the men if you aren't at 100%."

Kix nodded slowly.

"Now sleep."


Kix checked to make sure no one was near, then let out a groan. There wasn't a part of him that didn't hurt, and he was two seconds from falling asleep. Not that he'd ever let anyone know that.

"Kix, Kix!" A vod ran up, screaming his name. It was Ditch.

"Ditch, what's wrong?"

"It's Permacrete." Ditch was clearly upset about his batchmate for a reason. "He's hurt and he won't go to the medbay. Can you make him come, please?"

Sighing, Kix grabbed his medkit, making sure there were plenty of sedatives. 501st men were notoriously difficult to treat.

He located Permacrete, surrounded by his batchmates Soak, Terminator, and Slit, who were likely still trying to get him to see reason.

"Permacrete!" He spoke in his best medic voice, the one Jesse said could scare the Chancellor. "Is there any reason why I had to come hunt you down, instead of you coming to my medbay?"

"It's really nothing, Kix," Permacrete tried to assure him, clearly in pain and absolutely terrified of the medic.

"I have a medbay of patients to care for. I do not need some di'kut who thinks he's immortal wasting my time."

"Sorry, Kix."

"You better be sorry," Kix glared, his exhaustion coloring his tone with far more aggression than he normally would use. "Now get to the medbay."

Shaking his head, the medic followed Permacrete to the medbay. They seemed to be coming from Kamino dumber every day. He'd thought the Domino twins had been stupid, but the Mafia batch made them seem like geniuses in comparison.

One look inside the medbay and Kix faltered a step. Practically half the 501st was there. So many had come since he'd left with Ditch.

Rex was there, though not being treated so presumably not injured. He wandered from bed to bed, giving words or touches as needed.

Getting right back to work, Kix headed for the bed one of his medics nodded to. He checked the vitals display, pursing his lips.

"Kix?" Somehow Rex had made his way over unnoticed.

"I hadn't realized how bad it was," the medic told the captain softly.

"Yeah."

Satisfied with his patient's current status, he moved to the next bed. This clone's vitals were less pleasing. Quickly and efficiently, he applied a bacta patch to a blaster wound right on the solar plexus, then administered pain medication. The injured vod's eyes remained closed.

"Kix, I have to go," Rex spoke up again. "When your shift is up, you better be in the barracks. We're expecting to engage the enemy tomorrow."

Nodding, Kix turned back to his patients, a sea of untreated men before him.

He left the medbay when the call to battle came in the morning.


Kix dodged a blaster bolt, his brain too fogged to notice just how sluggish his movements were. The Vode's reflexes were firmly honed, near jetii in accuracy and speed. It was one aspect of why they were such feared warriors.

A thermal detonator exploded near him. A few seconds later, his body flinched.

Shaking himself, he ran from prone white shape to prone white shape, administering field treatment or calling evac for the seriously wounded. Vaguely, he heard a voice over the com, but nothing registered, so he kept up what he was doing, not realizing that there wasn't a wounded trooper in sight anymore.

"‒ix, Kix, Kix!" Something grabbed Kix's shoulders and shook him vigorously. With a start, his vision cleared, and he saw Rex in front of him.

"Kix, what do you think you're doing?!" The captain's voice was a little higher than usual and his words practically ran together. "There's no one else here; we're pulling out of this area!"

After one more shake, Rex took off, practically dragging Kix behind him. After a few yards, the medic shook him off and stumbled along behind him and they ran from the approaching droids.

Kix's head jolted and screamed with pain every step he took and black began to seep into the corners of his sight, tunneling until all he could see was Rex running in front of him.

They continued to move for some time, how long he didn't know. It could've been seconds, could've been he could think of was running. Rex stiffened to a stop for some reason, blasters out, but he didn't register it, just kept going.

Something deep inside him heard a voice calling his name but it made no sense. He took a step further, then his overtaxed brain finally saw the super battle droid in front of him. He could only watch as it lifted its arm, the blaster firing at‒

Something slammed into him and forced him to the ground, the blast bolt streaking harmlessly above his head. Kix heard the sound of another shot, followed by a cry of pain and he suddenly realized he was pressed into the ground by Rex crouched over him. The captain's right vambrace was shattered, pieces gouged into his skin, lined with red.

The ground seemed to shudder as the droid took a step towards them and lined its arm up with the two defenseless clones. Kix closed his eyes.

A shot rang out.

Opening his eyes, Kix saw the droid fall, a hole through its processing unit. Beside him, Rex held a DC in his left hand, still pointed at the smoking heap of metal. After a moment, he lowered the handgun with a slight hiss.

"Kix, when we get back," he panted. "I'm busting you down to private."


The sound of a heart monitor woke him up. Opening his eyes slowly, Kix looked around, confused. He was in the medbay for some reason. Turning his head, he saw Rex in a chair by his bed, asleep. The captain's right arm was in a sling and his face looked tired, even when asleep. He looked rather young though, and for the first time, Kix legitimately considered Jesse's theory that their unstoppable, ori'vod, ARC-trooper captain was actually younger than their batch.

As if sensing that something was different, Rex snapped his eyes open, without warning or preamble. He zoned in one the medic.

"Di'kut."

"Excuse me?"

"You absolute di'kut. I distinctly recall ordering you to get some rest. What's the point of being captain if no one obeys my orders?"

"Well‒"

"That was a rhetorical question." Rex sighed. "Listen, Kix, I'm sorry. You just scared me, is all."

Sucking in a sudden breath, Kix stared. Rex never admitted to being scared, ever. Some shinies were even under the impression that he couldn't feel fear at all.

"I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

"I know. You put vode first and I can't fault that," the captain acknowledged. "But don't do it at the expense of yo‒my peace of mind."

Rex's face was shadowed and drawn, underscoring his words. The youthfulness from earlier had vanished under the weight of command. Kix began to draw up a mental plan for getting him to rest more. And apparently getting some himself would help with that.

Rex smiled slightly, before standing up. His smile disappeared as he winced from the jolt to him arm. Kix felt a wave of guilt. The captain shook his head.

"I'm fine, Kix, don't worry." The smile returned. "Get some rest."


For any of you wondering, at the end, Rex knew that telling Kix to get rest for his own sake apparently didn't work. So he tried a different approach.

di'kut - idiot
Vode - literally "brothers" but the particular usage implies the clones
vod - brother
alor'ad - captain
jetii - Jedi
ori'vod - older brother
vode - brothers