Rex was stiff, hungry, and tired, but alert. The past twelve hours had been excruciating. Posting up wasn't something he had done often, and never had he had to monitor a location wedged inside an unused foliage unit. His legs were part way up the slope that led into the vacant apartment building. The foliage unit was easy enough to access; all Rex had to do was break into the building, slide back the panel of wall that was flush with the floor and drop down the slope that normally carried water to whatever kinds of plants the Mandalorians had once put on display. The units were not very self indulgent; only passersby could see and enjoy the plants.
It was the type of voluntary beautification that was very reminiscent of Duchess Satine. And the fact that none of the foliage units contained a single smear of dirt on them was very telling of what had become of her and her attempts to change Mandalore.
The apartment unit was directly across from the Imperial Academy and gave him the ideal vantage point for the operation. The residential area within a five kilometer radius had been emptied by order of the Emperor himself. The resulting ghost town was perfect for setting up the operation that Rex was now engaged in, but it was also why the buildings were regularly searched and purged of black markets, squatters, and those foolish enough to try to spy on Imperial proceedings.
The raids were random, as far as Rook had known. Rook Kast was the leader of the team of Mandos that Rex had been able to locate in the undercity. She had been unwilling at first, but Rex's deal was more than the three ex-members of the Shadow Collective could ever hope for. It wasn't redemption or even revenge; it was a chance to reposition and rebuild. Rex didn't care what happened to them after the mission was completed, but he would do everything in his power to make sure they got off Mandalore safely.
Rex's comm chirped. Rook was pinging him. "Tower chatter has started again. Prepare yourself."
"Copy."
Rex was lying prone, coddling a scoped long range rifle. His shoulders were tense and hunched and his knees were once again growing numb. His neck ached and his eyes felt dry and itchy, but Rook's message made all those discomforts seem muted now. Adrenaline, a soldier's best friend, seared through his veins and burned away any fatigue or aches. It was time for action.
This is your one chance. Mess this up and it's all over. And it won't just be over for you.
After months and months of recuperating after the loss of Ahsoka he was finally back on his feet, ready to make another attempt to make the most of his situation as a free Clone. A free man. It was something none of his other brothers had. Rex felt desperation tug at him as he thought of his men, his family. Slaves. He remembered his own enslavement with bitter-sweet nostalgia, but the memories had been tainted with the harsh truth; they had always been slaves.
Maybe this is why. This is why the Force separated you. You're on your own. She's on her own. It's how it's meant to be. Your focus is on them. Her focus is on…
Well, he didn't know. But something important enough that the Force had interfered with the plans they had set up for themselves.
Memory: Yavin IV; 29 days after Order 66Ahsoka stood suddenly. Rex, who had been trying to meditate next to her, joined her immediately. He moved his hand to her arm. He knew something was wrong.
"Ahsoka?"
Ahsoka was rigid underneath his touch. She put her hand up to her head, right above her left eyebrow.
"Something-something is happening."
Rex's heart started pounding in his chest. "What? What is happening? Is it a Jedi? Someone we know?"
Ahsoka's head was bowed, her brow furrowed, and she continued to clutch her head like she was suffering a terrible headache.
"It's not the Jedi." Her head shot up and turned so quickly to face him that her lekku jolted with the action. Her blue eyes met his and a flurry of intense emotion passed through them. Terror, grief, anger, hopelessness.
"Ahsoka–?"
"It's the Clones, Rex. It's Clones. They're dying." Her voice rose with the intensity of her emotion. "So many of them are dying. Right now."
Rex started, and blinked, filled with confusion and pain. "But the war is over. Why would they be dying in such numbers that you could feel it like this?"
"I-I don't know. Maybe-maybe they were sent back to Kamino."
"No." Rex looked at Ahsoka, horrified. "No. No, why now. Why suddenly-" But then it hit him. They would have been recalled, assessed, put through their paces. And some, many, didn't seem to be fit to fight. Older clones, injured clones, clones that perhaps had their 'resistance to stress' pushed to a breaking point. Decommissioning. A concept more terrifying than dying in battle. If you died in battle, you at least died doing what you were made to do. If a Clone was decommissioned, it was because they weren't suited to do what they were made to do.
An existence worth nothing. Created and destroyed because there was only one box they could fit into, and if they didn't then they were a waste. The Clones had the special ability to fail at the entirety, the point, of their existence.
The Republic as it had been would never have allowed a mass culling. Senator Amidala would have fought against it. Had something happened to her? Or was the new Emperor simply too powerful and too impervious in the public image to worry about things like Senators speaking out against him.
Rex thought of all those he had fought with, being put down like a sick animal. Their usefulness run out. Their existence no longer profitable.
Rex felt cold. It was too much to take in. Just like all the death that had happened the day the Tribunal went down. So much death. Too much for him alone to grieve. He couldn't possibly hurt enough, mourn enough for all those lives. So he grew cold, slow, expressionless.
Reality washed over him and he was left on his back, prone, alone, defeated.
But he wasn't alone.
Ahsoka grabbed Rex's arm, a gesture so sudden that it broke through the numbness he was experiencing. Fire. He could feel fire. Fire that was melting the cold, dumb-struck husk he was becoming. Ahsoka looked into his eyes, and he saw pain and tears, but he also saw passion.
"We can do something. We can."
Rex felt something flare up inside him as well. It was impossible to not feel the heat from the fire raging inside of her. Rex turned to face her and in a simultaneous motion they took each other by the arms, locking themselves together, completing a circuit of energy that was then allowed to flow freely and fiercely.
Rex felt a wave of warmth rise up inside of him. He looked into Ahsoka's eyes and found purpose, found hope. In that one moment they both knew that the life they had been living, the one that ignored the rest of the galaxy would have to end. A part of Rex felt sorrow, and another part felt relief. There was no more healing that could be done by simply meditating on their sorrows and pains.
The time had finally come for action.
And they would do it together. As one. Jedi and Clone. Two soldiers. Captain and Commander.
They had been wrong about that. The Force had had other ideas, and it seemed that the Force had been right. Ahsoka would have complicated this whole mission. So maybe it had been the right thing to do. But still, it wasn't the balm he was looking for to soothe the sting of that loss, still so raw and fresh though it had been over a year. The only thing that would remedy that pain was the return of what they had had.
And he knew that to be impossible.
"Target is entering the atmosphere. Expect landing at approximately 1103." Rook's voice spoke directly into his ear bud. Rex started. The Captain's face-he had nearly let it slide off. It was dangerous for him to be this weary, this alone with his thoughts. You could only stare at a landing platform and have sterile thoughts about the mission for so long before other memories and thoughts tried to entertain the mind.
Right. Back to it, soldier.
Rex barely had enough room to shift his weight and lift his wrist to his face. "Copy that. The landing pad hasn't changed. Still five troopers standing by, waiting to receive."
"Our presence doesn't seem to have been detected. I've had Grey get us eyes in all corridors leading into the atrium. Little activity. A few shift changes have taken place. They seem to be clearing the area of any cadets or other personnel."
Rex was pleased with the intel. His selection of Mandalorian scum seemed to have been well done. They were capable. Indeed, Rex was starting to rely on Rook. He'd had to ignore the fact that she had aided in slaughtering dozens of his men in the siege of Mandalore. Rex wasn't a petty fool. He knew a good blaster when he saw one, and he wasn't going to not use it just because it had shot someone he knew, especially when there was no other option.
Rook and Grey were situated in the maintenance shafts under the academy. Sundari was a strange city. Much like Coruscant, the city was more alloy than organic. Rex wasn't sure how far the city was built into the planet, but he couldn't even imagine there was an end to the network of cubes that budded from each other like the galaxy's first droid-plant.
There was access to nearly every building if you had a speeder. The parts that might have been buried underground on another planet, the unsightly sewers, electric grids, and piping, were neatly boxed up into pretty geometric panels and trimmed with glowing strips of light. All one had to do to get in there was know an access code. And they were on sale in the undercity for an affordable price, or for a properly executed threat.
The third member of their band, Murrack, was on the opposite side of the Imperial Academy. Sundari was like a cave of buildings, some coming out of the ceiling like stalactites. Murrack was in one of those hanging buildings now, positioned above and in back of the academy. He had visuals on the plaza and the air space that was blocked from Rex's view.
"I've got eyes and ears, and access to security systems. These Imperials are less than impressive. System was embarrassingly easy to infiltrate." Grey's voice was boyish if he didn't work hard to make it sound low and intimidating. He was also over confident. The only reason he knew how to get access to the security and communications systems was because Rex had told him how. Grey was no Tech, but he would do in a pinch.
"That place is crawling with sheb'urcyin. We should just blow it." Murrack had a voice that was low and gravely, the way Grey wished his voice sounded.
Rook's voice was harsh and final. "Stick to the plan."
"I wasn't serious, Rook. Just wistful thinking."
"You don't do wistful thinking, Murrack. You just blow things up."
"Yeah, that's true."
Rex didn't feel he needed to address Murrack or Grey directly as long as Rook was going along with the plan. She was in charge of her men, and Rex was in charge of her, and so she was the only one he needed to reprimand.
"Cut the chat. Keep listening to that chatter, Rook."
"Yes, sir." Rook injected coldness into her voice. She was going to listen to Rex for the sake of her own personal motives, but she wasn't going to like it. That was fine with Rex. He just needed them to do what he wanted. It was a stark contrast to the camaraderie he was used to in these situations. He listened to their banter with a weird mixture of jealousy and relief that he didn't have to pretend. Pretending this band of ex-cultists was the same as his brotherhood was as vile as reanimating the corpse of a friend and bringing it to a dinner party. Not that he had ever been to a dinner party.
But at least he wasn't alone. It was good to be running an operation, making plans, giving orders, even if they were met with disdain and sarcasm.
Murrack's voice crackled into life, sharp and annoyed. "My back is killing me. It's been hours. I don't see the point in spending all this time staring at nothing. We have the element of surprise, don't we? We can be in and out of that ship faster than you can unclench your shebs."
"It's called reconn, idiot. We did it in the Shadow Collective all the time." Grey let his voice slide up to his natural tenor tone as he voiced his exasperation.
"I know what it's called. I just think we could be fast enough-"
"Be quiet, both of you. I'm getting something. Yes. A ship is approaching checkpoint alpha." Rook's voice was cold steel, and it smacked the two back into focus.
Grey sparked back to life. "There is a group of Imperials making their way down the east corridor. They look like they are heading to the docking yard. I count two grey-heads and four white-heads."
"Probably a greeting party." Rex responded.
Grey scoffed. "Why are you in charge of this operation again? When all you have to offer is observations that a drunk Weequay could make?"
"Because this drunk Weequay is going to get you off this planet. Shut your trap, the target will be landing any minute now."
Rook cut in. "Tower chatter says they are approaching checkpoint beta. Ten klicks out. Murrack you should have vision of them in approximately two minutes."
Rex felt that thrill of nervous anticipation that came before any operation. It didn't matter how seasoned a soldier you were; the occupation had a very lethal consequence for failure. And despite everything, despite the losses he had suffered, Rex felt that very real need to stay alive. It was a gift given to the Clones by their creators because it suited them to have an army that really cared about dying, and even cared more so about their comrades dying.
And since the Kaminoans had not decided to genetically engineer them to be callous and unfeeling, he was once again risking that very life he wanted to keep so that he could do the one thing that he had always done: save his brothers.
"I've got visual. Come to daddy. If only I had my rocket launcher I'd be able to-pop-right out of the sky. Goodbye Imperial scum." Said Murrack.
The other two laughed in appreciation.
Rex's nerves tightened. Their flippant remarks about violence made Rex weary. He'd heard that kind of clout from his own men about Seppies, but this was different. These Mandolorians craved revenge. It was all he could do to convince Rook that all this mission required was good planning and stealth. That's all. It was an in and out operation. No casualties if they could help it. No mess. He trusted that they could carry out every single task he had assigned them to do. What worried him most was whether or not their loyalty would hold until everything was said and done.
It was a feeling he had never had before. Well, not never. He remembered fondly Fives' insubordination during the Umbara campaign, but he had shared those feelings with Fives. They were still of one mind, one goal. He'd always had that assurance with his men. But these Mandolorians had different ideas. Different motives. That made Rex feel taught with stress.
Even now as the Lambda-class shuttle flew into Rex's view and began its landing procedure, Rex held his breath.
Please don't do anything stupid. Hold your position. Wait for the right moment.
The shuttle finished landing and as it did so, the door to the Academy slid open and out stepped a pair of Admirals decorated in their grey uniforms and caps, trailed by four troopers. Rex's stomach lurched. They could be clones, but he couldn't be sure. Rex couldn't trust the familiar buckets to home his brothers anymore. The Empire had immediately started to recruit when the Clone Wars ended. They needed a more sustainable army, one that could be raised with the Empire as their only known master.
Strangers now wore that white armor. And Rex didn't know how he felt about that.
Rook sounded in Rex's earpiece. "I'm ascending the maintenance shaft. Murrack are you in position?"
Murrack gave the affirmative. Rex turned his scope onto a panel half a dozen meters away from the landing platform, and then to the overhanging building that Murrack was stationed at. He could barely see the Mandalorian's helmet poking out from behind a parapet. Rex then adjusted his scope to look at the shuttle.
The Grand Admiral, whoever he was, was exiting the shuttle, his white cape being pulled by the wind. He wasn't anyone Rex recognized, but it didn't matter. He was a Grand Admiral. That was the important thing. The men in grey weren't anyone Rex recognized either, but there was little chance in that. The Imperial Army had grown exponentially.
The Admirals exchanged a few words and the Grand Admiral in white stood back and admired the facility. The troopers stood at attention, waiting for the exchange to be over. Once the three Admirals dained to wind down their conversation, one of the grey-heads gestured towards the door. The troopers did an about-face and the party of Imperials started towards the Academy entrance.
Rex, now the only eyes on the operation as Murrack prepared to emerge from his hiding spot, brought his wrist to his mouth. "Now, Rook. Now."
Rex watched, heart pounding as the panel covering the maintenance shaft began to shift. Rex couldn't hear the noise it made, which wasn't saying much, but the group of Imperials didn't seem to hear anything either as Rook moved the panel aside and pulled herself up and out of the shaft. She was wearing basic armor, an embarrassing assembly of scrap pieces that may be shaped to look like Mando armor, but were far from the Beskar masterpieces that the Mandolorians held so dear. Rook had chosen to wear the pieces of scrap instead of her precious Beskar.
"If I'm captured or killed and you can't retrieve it, I will have lost everything."
The only piece of armor in action for this operation was Murrack's jet pack. As Rex watched Rook dive into the doors after the party of Imperials, he was reminded that it was time for the jetpack to make its grand entrance.
Rook approached the entrance cautiously, before opening the doors and barreling inside after the Imperials. The doors shut behind her.
Rex spoke into his comm. "Now, Murrack. Go go go."
Rex's ears were assaulted with noise. Murrack emerged from his hiding spot, the sound of spitting flames harsh in the quiet morning, but there was also an explosion of noise from the scene unfolding behind the Imperial Academy doors. There was shouting, blaster fire, and Grey was doing his best to relay the events as he viewed the security cams.
"She's taken out two of the white heads."
Rex's stomach dropped. "Fierfek, I said no casualties!"
Grey ignored Rex and continued to relay Rook's actions. "She'd captured the Grand Admiral, I'm engaging the blast doors. She's in the atrium with two white heads and the rest of the greys."
Rex saw the blast-doors engage, greying out the blue tinted glass that was set into the automatic sliding doors. Rook was locked in, but no one else would be able to enter from any of the hallways leading to the atrium as long as Grey had control of the security systems.
Meanwhile Murrack had completed his arc over the academy and was descending to land just behind the Imperial Lambda. Rex checked the courtyard for any sign of movement.
"You're clear, Murrack. Move to enter-"
"I know, meatdroid."
The word glanced off Rex, but the meaning behind it made his insides squirm. Rex knew keeping the three Mandos in line would be difficult once the fighting began, but their flippancy was emerging faster than he anticipated. It was hard to keep the loyalty of those who had resigned themselves to death a long time ago.
"Rook is in a stand-off. They aren't giving her a chance to get away. It's only a matter of time before they find me tapped in their system and shut me out."
Murrack responded as Rex saw him smashing his fist into the control panel on the shuttle. "I'm just about to get in. I can help once I-"
Grey cut him off. "They've found me. I'm losing systems."
Rex felt cold. "Get the blast doors up and get her out-"
"-I'm opening the blast doors before they take those from me."
Rook joined in, out of breath. "No, don't. Give Murrack the time he needs. I'm fine." Rex could hear shouting in the background from her open channel.
"-you piece of filth! Take your hands off me! You think you can get away with-ow-OW!."
Rex tried once again to remind them he was there, he was spearheading this operation."Rook I've got your back. You don't need to take a risk like this. Murrack is out of view now. Take the captive to the speeder and I'll-"
"I've lost blast-doors, repeat, I've lost blast doors." Grey's voice was panicked. "Don't get trigger happy, Rook. We can get them back. Hold on-"
Rex watched as the blast doors retracted, letting the blue glass catch light again in the sparse rays of sunlight that made their way through the dense city.
Murrack cut in. "I'm inserting the data tapes. I can't isolate the information so it's all got to come. I need two minutes. You'd better be good on your word, clone." Murrack spat the word from his mouth with as much derision as he could muster.
"They're sending reinforcement. I'm being surrounded." Rook said.
Rex had had operations slip away from him before, but never like this. His leadership had never been cast aside. He didn't know what to do. He was stranded at his location, and he felt angry with himself at the realization that they had probably wanted it that way. But why? They wouldn't be able to get anywhere without Rex's ship and clearance codes.
Grey was swearing in Mando'a. "I'm blind. They've taken it all from me. Rook I'm coming-"
"It's alright, Grey." Rook's voice was low, and calm, if not the slightest bit shaky. "Finish the plan. I'll hold them off."
Grey roared in frustration. "I swear you did this on purpose. You wanted to do it."
Rex watched as the hatch to the maintenance shaft opened again and Grey hoisted himself out of it. He paused briefly to stare at the Academy doors, but he didn't go towards them. Instead, he headed towards the shuttle where Murrack was still collecting data, out of Rex's view.
This was part of the plan Rex recognized. But by now Rook should have been leading the Imperials on a wild porg chase, distracting them from Grey and Murrack's escape. Rex, having compromised his position as he covered Rook's escape, was supposed to be hauling sheb to the ground floor of the complex and into the waste system. There they had cut a hole in the durasteel chambers that spat out into the void. Rex was meant to jump into the foul smelling escape chute and be collected by a well placed speeder driven by Murrack.
But Rook had failed to begin the chase. Rex had become innate. And yet, Grey and Murrack seemed to know something that Rex didn't. And that filled him with dread.
Though he knew his voice had no authority over the group, he didn't know what else to do. He shouted into his comm. "Rook what are you doing?"
"You know what I'm doing. Don't be stupid, clone. Grey, Murrack, I can't give you much more time-"
"You know what to do to remedy that." Murrack's voice was cold. "Ash'amur, vod."
"Pirunir sur'haaise." Rook whispered.
The Academy exploded.