Chapter 39 - Three Hundred Thousand
23 BBY
Three hundred thousand.
Three hundred thousand.
There should have been more brothers. But a year after 'production' had started, the credits had run out.
Luckily, or so they were told, their expenses had been pre-paid.
Their lives had been prepaid for.
Three hundred thousand lives.
Three hundred thousand brothers.
Jango Fett had trained them all personally for the first six years, only for him to pack up with his 'son' Boba Fett, and leave the rest of them to the Kaminoins who saw them as little more insects in jars.
And yes, Rex was bitter, bitter that their 'creators' still referred to them by number rather than by their names.
And bitter, because on the day they were supposed to leave, all three hundred thousand of them, the very day they had been loaded up into their four Star Destroyers, they had been called back.
Rex would never forget the anticipation, the taste of freedom as the engines started, as they were about to depart for what they had been training for all their lives, to fulfill their life's purpose.
Only for them to be called back because their Chancellor decided that they weren't enough.
Only three hundred thousand wasn't enough for the Republic, and therefore, the Senate wasn't going to make the last payment.
Which is when everything went to hell.
All the lies were revealed and the Kaminoins began treating not just like science experiments, but trained pets.
'You all need surgery to remove the Chancellor's inhibitor chips and to correct your cell growth to extend your life spans,' they had been told unceremoniously.
It wasn't like they hadn't known that they were growing faster than normal humans, but none of them had really thought that they were due to die of old age fifty years sooner than everybody else.
And the inhibitor chips?
Kix had gotten into the records and discovered exactly what the chips were. Kix and their other medics had then seen to it to scan everyone themselves for any other biochips or mind-control devices.
All their lives, they had been trained to be loyal to the Republic and the Jedi Order.
But the Republic had turned its back on them, they had made them, then thrown their lives away. And the Chancellor…
Apparently the Chancellor was an evil mastermind who wanted them grown for the sole purpose of destroying the Jedi.
Taught to be loyal to them, earn their trust and then with a flick of a switch: dishonour, betrayal, and absolutely no freedom over their own actions.
Which is now what they Kaminoins wanted them for.
A 'small' army of Jedi-killers, that was their marketing strategy.
They were going to be sold like slaves to people who wanted to hunt and kill Jedi for sport or purpose.
Simulations in training changed from droids with blasters, to highly functioning elite droids armed with training lightsabers, that burned or electrified them if they got hit.
It was twisted, it was obscene, it was nauseating to realize that they were nothing but genetic material bred to kill the people they had been raised to honour and follow into death's arms for their nation.
A nation that didn't want them.
They were only three-hundred thousand men.
That wasn't enough, they weren't enough.
So slavery and mercenary work were all that was left.
Rex was afraid, his brothers were afraid.
Who would buy them? What cause would they be fighting for? Were they really going to have to kill Jedi Knights?
Or would they be divided?
Sold not as soldiers but actual slaves?
Rex was very much done leaving his fate in the Long-Necks' hands.
Their biggest problem wasn't so much getting off Kamino, no, they had figured that out years ago, but that they had nowhere to go. The rations they had on their would last a month, maybe two or three if they fasted, but after that… what were they supposed to do?
They weren't citizens of the Republic and he couldn't think of somewhere that would be able to hire them all, and being separated…
So short of becoming marauders, or forcibly taking over Kamino, a planet they all desperately wanted to escape, they had no one on the outside.
Jango had been their only link, but it was foolish to think he was ever coming back.
But in Jango, Rex got his idea.
Jango was a Mandalorian, and he had taught them the Way of the Mandalorian, from their language to their armour to their honour.
By rights, Rex and every one of his brothers were Mandalorians.
"What did you do?" Cody asked in Mandalorian, barging into their bunks.
Rex glared at Echo who was behind the Commander and mouthed, "Sorry."
They only spoke to each other in Mandalorian when they realized that while the Kaminoins had divested interest in the behaviours and genetic code, culture and language didn't seem to concern them at all and they had failed to learn so much as 'hello.'
"Captain, I am speaking to you."
Rex stood and went toe to toe with his friend. Rex was from the younger half of their creation, which while being less than a year apart wasn't insurmountable, at the rate they had grown sometimes it felt like being two or three years behind. The 501st had no commander, so technically, they were all ranked below the 212th, but Rex had given up on caring about rank when he had to allow himself to get brain surgery to get a mind control device out of his head.
"I did what I needed to do."
Cody glared harder at him, and spoke slowly, "What did you do?"
Rex crossed his arms, "What did Echo tell you?"
"I didn't tell him anything- ow, watch it!" Echo said as Gregor elbowed him in the side to shut up.
"Rex," Cody demanded.
Rex sighed, "I may or may not have snuck into Jango's old rooms with 99 to send a transmission."
"Send a transmission where?" Cody asked, "Jango isn't coming back, and you're just going to get yourself and others hurt trying to-"
"I didn't ask Jango for anything," Rex snapped, "I would never ask that osi'yaim for help. I sent a message to Mandalore."
Cody stared at him for a long moment as everyone in the bunk and everyone outside stayed perfectly quiet.
Finally, Cody said almost gently, "They won't come, Rex."
He shook his head, "You don't know that we are-"
"We aren't. All we know about Mandalore and the Mandalorians Fett taught, and when he left, he proved that everything he had ever taught us was a lie. Empty words without meaning. We might be human, but the rest of the galaxy will never see that."
Just then, Rex really felt like punching Cody.
Even if the rule-abiding ass was his best friend.
Running footsteps had them all turning to the hall.
Sergeant Sinker from the 104th came to a halt before them, "A ship from Serreno just landed on the docks, the Long-Necks are scrambling to have us hide the new equipment."
He sounded far too excited.
"So what?" Fives asked.
Sinker took off his helmet to treat them all with an exasperated look, "There are Jedi on Kamino."
They had all seen the holo-announcement thanks to the Long-Necks' own curiosity on the issue of Master Mace Windu declaring the departure of the Jedi from the Republic.
On one hand, it was amazing to see the people they were meant to work with do what was morally correct, to leave the Republic partially on a count of the Chancellor trying to use a Clone/Slave army to wage a galactic civil war.
On the other hand, they were that army and without a war, they were stuck in what amounted to a prison camp and the Jedi leaving seemed to indicate that they wouldn't need clones for anything.
But maybe they were wrong.
An announcement came on of Lama Su's voice, "Fall in line, hangar bay seven."
They needed no more instruction, as everyone grabbed their gear and helmets to do fancy marching drills for the new potential buyers.
Things had been easier when they had believed they were just going to be shipped off in ignorance to fight in a war.
The familiar marching lines did a great deal to calm Rex's nerves as they lined up and squared off in perfect formation.
Thankfully, they weren't kept in suspense long, unfortunately, the Jedi were on the viewing platform with Lama Su. Rex had to strain his eyes to try to look upward without turning his head.
Every one of his brothers were so eager to have any news from the outside world that the hangar was quiet enough to hear the voices of the Jedi.
Strangely, the first voice Rex heard was famine and young, "Can we meet them?"
"Of course," Lama Su answered, and the Longneck gave the signal.
Officers step forward.
Rex, Appo, Jesse, Hawk, and Fives stepped forward as the rest of the 501st stepped back.
A minute later, all the officers from the battalions had stepped to the front.
And the Jedi?
Lama Su gave a little exclamation as instead of waiting for the platform to bring them down the six Jedi simply leapt off the balcony, landing on the ground level with them as if they had wings on their ankles.
Rex wasn't sure what to hope for from today, but no matter what happened, the Jedi were cool. All of them were wearing something exotic, at least by their standards. The three human males looked how Jedi were supposed to look like, brown and cream robes, and while the Kel Dor wore robes too, he looked far more interesting. The two Torgutas seemed to be females, the older one wore a patterned dress under her outer brown robe. The young one, her montrals not even past her chest, she wore skin tight clothes and a warrior's skirt, on her hips she had two lightsaber hilts were plainly visible.
She was the one who stepped forward to speak, "Hi! These are Masters Plo Koon, Shaak Ti, Sifo-Dyas, Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and I'm Padawan Ahsoka Tano. Who are you?"
Rex blinked, Did she want all the hundreds of their names?
Lama Su gave that little breathy sound which was their way of scoffing, "They don't have names only numbe-"
"Captain Rex," he said, stepping forward to salute the Jedi.
Padawan Tano beamed at him and while those others gave quiet smiles dipping their heads in bows, he could have sworn the tall blue eyed male, Master Qui-Gon Jinn glared slightly at Lama Su.
Lama Su didn't notice as he was too busy glaring at Rex.
Except the commanders saved him.
"Commander Cody."
"Commander Wolffe."
"Commander-"
"Enough," Lama Su interjected, "Please, Masters, these are mere nicknames they have come to call themselves. Are there any relevant questions that I might be able to answer for you?"
All of the Masters put their hands in their sleeves as if preparing to bow.
But they didn't bow, they turned on Lama Su with hard looks that weren't exactly rude or angry, but the disappointment radiated off of them.
The Padawan's body language was much more expressive, she put her hands on her hips and scowled at the Long-Neck.
Rex had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing, he liked these people already.
"You said there are three hundred thousand troops, is that an exact number?" Master Ti said.
"Yes, Master Jedi, it is," Lama Su said, clearly glad to be back on familiar ground. "All of them are perfect soldiers ready for whatever galactic problem might arise."
"Surely you couldn't have had a hundred percent success rate," Master Jinn said, "They are humans, none of us is perfect."
Lama Su scowled, "The deviants were removed from the system."
Rex stiffened, knowing full well of their brothers that had disappeared in the night when they were younger.
They had been more than three hundred thousand of them once, and again he spared a thought for the brothers they had lost to achieve that rounded number.
Because that's all they were to the Kaminoins, numbers and credits.
"You murdered them!?" Padawan Tano exclaimed, sounding outraged, her hands flexing toward her sabers.
Rex really liked her.
Lama Su again made that light scoffing sound, "Hardly. An imperfect soldier would be killed in war."
No one missed that he hadn't outright denied the claim.
The stances of the Jedi had all changed by this point, and Rex was almost certain Lama Su had just lost all respect in their eyes.
Good.
"Ahsoka," Master Kenobi warned her.
She glared at him, but took in a sharp breath and exhaled slowly.
"Any other questions?" Lama Su asked.
"Many," Master Sifo-Dyas said, "but let's start simple. Are they all cloned from the same person?"
Lama Su bobbed his head, and gestured to the officers.
All of them took off their helmets.
All the Jedi except the Padawan tensed.
Master Sifo-Dyas jaw went a bit slack, "Jango Fett?"
Master Kenobi shook his head, "But that's impossible, you said when we first landed that you couldn't clone Force sensitives."
"Jango Fett is not Force sensitive," Lama Su answered.
The Jedi exchanged looks, then Master Kenobi addressed Rex directly, "Captain Rex, did you know Jango Fett?"
Rex nodded, "Yes, Sir, we all know him, he trained us for the first six years."
Again the Jedi exchanged looks and Master Sifo-Dyas said blandly, "So, you all were trained how to kill Jedi."
He said it as a statement.
So much for hiding the training sabers and the Neo-Jedi droids.
Lama Su was at a loss for half a second, but he recovered, "Why would you assume such a thing? These clones were designed to serve the Jedi Order."
Master Jinn gave him a look that spoke volumes, "Jango Fett killed five Jedi Knights with his bare hands. Mandalorian warriors have a history in picking fights with and hunting Jedi, why else would you choose Fett?"
Lama Su straightened to his full height, "Because after the Jedi, Mandalorians are the next best in the galaxy, and these men have been engineered to be the best of the best."
It was almost amusing to see Lama Su try to bluff the Jedi.
Master Kenobi asked, "When was the last any of you has seen Jango Fett?"
"Two years ago, Sir," Cody answered.
Master Kenobi nodded, "He wouldn't have happened to mention where he planned to go, did he?"
"He was given a new contract," Lama Su answered, "He left with his personal clone, Boba Fett."
"What was the contract?" Master Ti asked, "And what do you mean by 'personal', isn't every man here related to him?"
Yeah, Rex really liked the Jedi.
"Boba was unmodified, an exact replica of his father," Lama Su said, "And no, the contract was sizable, however, that much was clear."
So Jango had left them for credits.
Figures, that was probably the only reason he stayed on Kamino to begin with.
It certainly wasn't because he gave a kriff about them.
But what did the Jedi want to know so much about Fett?
Lama Su, for once in their entire existence, seemed to be on the same page, "What has Jango done?"
"Nothing big," Padawan Tano said, "Just attacked a Council member with a super drug and murdered his sister while using the Dark Side of the Force."
They all stared at her.
Lama Su blinked at her, "That would be impossible. Any clone made from any sentient with Force sensitive rarely makes it past incubation. Human Force sensitives in particular. If they do, the infants are decayed, their flesh begins to rot and they do not survive infancy."
Rex shuddered to think of all the beings that had died in Kamino due to these creatures meddling with things they shouldn't.
"Ew," Padawan Tano summed up, Master Kenobi gave her a hushing look.
Sifo-Dyas stroked his slim beard, "That's what Rey said. Is it possible to make a non-Force sensitive child from a Force sensitive."
Lama Su bobbed his head, "Yes, but that is rare. A direct skin tissue sample, almost impossible. One in a billion sperm will not carry the genes to encourage the growth of midi-chlorians. So too for an egg, but as human females produce those less readily, the chances of finding that one in a billion is tripled in lack of success. Even a small amount of Force sensitive will pervert a clone during incubation."
"What about their children?" Sifo-Dyas asked.
Rex was glad that they had been trained on how to keep their expressions still, because this conversation was strange.
"For a naturally conceived child of a non-Force sensitive clone that was miraculously made from a Force sensitive, I would guess that it would be more than likely that their child could be Force sensitive as midi-chlorians seem to follow certain patterns in DNA strands through different species. But as such a thing would be near impossible to achieve, such a child is fiction."
Sifo-Dyas and Jinn exchanged a long look. Tano snorted and Kenobi shook his head with a wry smile.
Rex felt like he was missing something.
Master Koon spoke for the first time, "I would like to see where these men have been living and training, if it is agreeable with them."
Lama Su looked relieved, "Of course, we-"
The Kel Dor held up a three, almost talon like, fingered hand. "It is their choice, I have asked to see their spaces."
Wolffe stepped forward, "We would be honoured to show you, Master Koon, Sir."
Master Koon bowed deeply to him, "I thank you, Commander Wolffe."
Rex knew they were numbered, and only three of them had spoken, but he was still pleased that the Jedi had remembered their name.
"Ahsoka," Kenobi said, "go with Plo, the rest of us can sort out the details."
Lama Su visibly brightened, "You wish to buy all of them?"
Master Jinn smiled, his voice was pleasant and deep as he said, "We wish to bring all of them with us off this planet, yes."
Lama Su escorted them away, "Of course, of course, come, we can show you to our finest rooms. You will, of course, wish to stay the night, you have travelled such a long way."
"Most kind of you," Kenobi said, giving Tano some gesture that Rex caught and Lama Su didn't.
Too bad Rex didn't know what it meant, it wasn't a Mandalorian gesture.
Tano stood next to Master Koon who seemed to be waiting for them.
Wolffe broke rank to step closer, he asked, "Master Koon, Sir?"
"We will follow you," he said, his voice kind.
Tano stepped lightly to Rex's side as he turned to follow. The other commanders gave the signals.
And more than half their number turned to load onto the Star Destroyers.
They were getting off this planet today and if the Jedi wanted to be gone in an hour, then they would be ready to go in an hour.
Cody and Wolffe stayed with the Jedi, as did Rex and his squad, Appo, Fives, Jesse, and Echo joined them as did Cody's men, Gregor, Waxer, Wooley, and Boil, while only Sinker and Wildfire joined them from the 104th.
Everyone else parted to fill up the spaces Master Koon had requested to see.
Wolffe walked them through the tour as Master Koon spoke gently, asking questions that were incredibly unintrusive or with such respect that even if he hit a sore topic no one was ruffled by it.
None of them had ever been spoken to like this before, not even by each other.
Rex could already tell that Wolffe adored him.
Rex himself was still afraid to hope that this was really happening.
"So what do you guys do for fun?" Tano whispered to him.
Rex couldn't help but give her a half smile with his helmet still in his opposite arm from her, "Sabacc, Sir."
She grinned, "You can call me Ahsoka. The Jedi Order isn't a military organization, we only call the Masters Master because they are our teachers. I didn't think with how strict that Lama lady is she would let you play Sabacc."
Echo coughed from somewhere behind him and he was pretty sure Fives, Wildfire, and Wooley gave low sniggers.
"Lama Su is male," he corrected her carefully, "And no, he isn't fond of the game. We don't get much opportunity to play, not since Jango left, but he's the one who taught us how to play."
"Do you speak Mandalorian?" she asked.
He nodded and asked interestedly, "Do you?"
She shook her head, "Nope, but my friend started teaching me."
Rex lowered his voice, hoping Master Koon wasn't paying them mind, "I got the impression that true Mandalorians don't like Jedi?" He made it a question even though they all knew it to be fact.
"My friend, Rey, she's Master Jinn's Padawan, her mother was a Mandalorian. She's a Jedi but her Mando friends have been trying to get her to drop out of the Order and join them for years."
"And the Jedi Order allows that?" Waxer asked from behind them.
She turned and walked backwards, completely unafraid of crashing into anyone, "They weren't happy about it. But Rey gets in trouble a lot for stuff like that, it's why she hasn't been Knighted yet. Though my Master, Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, says it's really Master Jinn's fault for not teaching her better about Jedi history."
Rex was fascinated and so were his brothers because Fives asked, "Get in trouble for what?"
"You know that Jedi aren't supposed to give away their lightsabers or teach other people how to make them, right?"
They all nodded.
Ahsoka's blue eyes sparkled with mischief, "She gave her saber to Mandalorian and he made her saber staff out of Beskar."
Rex almost tripped over his own feet. Gregor actually froze in his tracks and Waxer bumped into them.
Cody looked over his shoulder to glare at them all, as Master Koon turned, "Is everyone alright?"
"Yes, Sir," they all said in unison, quickly finding their feet.
Appo spoke up, "Are you telling us a Mandalorian just gave a Jedi Beskar, Mandalorian iron, for nothing?"
Ahsoka nodded, "They got lost in the woods on Kashyyyk together and saved a bunch of Wookie younglings. Apparently she caught their bounty for them or something, anyway, Master Maas and she made a saber staff. Apparently the Jedi Council was really mad for a while."
"Master Maas?" everyone but Cody and Wolffe echoed.
Ahsoka grinned, "Yep, that guy. He's really nice."
That guy. Was the weapons Master.
Master Koon turned and revealed he had been paying attention the entire time when he said, "With few exceptions, Mandalore and the Jedi Order have come to an understanding. Padawan Rey has become something of a competition between our peoples, she continues to learn more of their culture, which offends some of the traditionalists among us, while she continues to snub the Mandalorians by not abandoning the Order."
"Maas and Chakraborty keep threatening to kidnap her," Ahsoka informed in a blase manner.
Well, Rex thought, at least their lives weren't apt to be boring with the Jedi.
"Isn't that a bad thing?" Wooley asked.
Master Plo smiled with his eyes, "She is almost thirty, if they ever succeeded in truly kidnapping her, she would be back in a week or two."
"Oh," Wooley said uncertainly.
They were used to joking with themselves but the Jedi's sense of humour was… well, they weren't sure how to interact with it, what the boundaries were.
Wolffe took the lead, "These are the training gyms."
Some of their brothers we're going through some of the basic drills, putting on a show for the people who were hopefully getting them out of here without anyone having to lose their lives or be left behind.
"Hey Captain, do you like sparring?" Ahsoka asked him.
He nodded, "Of course."
"Would you like to spar with me?"
He blinked down at her. She must have been thirteen or fourteen, though he supposed she had been in training as long as he had been.
But sparring with a Jedi when they had spent the last few months training to kill Jedi? He thought he was justly worried.
Yet he shoved aside those worries, "It would be an honour, Ahsoka."
Wolffe gave him a grin and Cody gave him a warning look and Master Koon continued to look on with silent attentiveness.
Entering the gym, the mats immediately cleared for them. Rex put his helmet on a bench and turned to face the Togruta.
She tossed both her lightsaber hilts to Master Plo which made Rex feel slightly better and slightly more worried. What if he hurt her?
She got into a stance and motioned him forward, her eyes glinting with anticipation.
Rex swallowed his nerves and let himself trust her reflexes and that the Master Jedi would call it the Padawan was in danger.
He threw a punch.
And not only did he miss utterly, but she foot swept him.
Landing with a grunt, he kicked out of her, and air was all he encountered.
She kicked back and he rolled away and to his feet mili-seconds from getting hit.
What proceeded was the most interesting fight of his life. They managed to check each other, but no blow truly hurt even if they might have some bruises in the morning.
It was exhilarating though, everything she did was unexpected. She moved like the wind and struck like a whip. And she was so much smaller than him, yet she more than kept pace.
She was better than him, more violent even. If he had really needed to kill her, he would have needed a weapon or a bomb.
And Jango had strangled five Jedi Knights in a hand to hand situation. Either Jango had been holding out on them or this female was exceptional.
"Alright," Master Koon called.
Rex immediately stepped back and Ahsoka bounced back on the balls of her feet.
"Well done to you both," Master Koon continued. "And most impressive, Captain Rex. 'Soka was head of her class at the Temple, keeping up with her is no small feat."
"Thank you, Sir," Rex said, feeling absurdly pleased with himself.
But the feeling passed when Wolffe asked, "How soon do you think the Jedi will be able to transfer funds to the Kaminoins?"
Rex stiffened, and he saw Cody do the same but Plo didn't seem offended, "Oh, there will be no transferring of funds. Paying for your lives would be akin to enabling slavery."
Rex felt his heart sink.
All the Kaminoins cared about was money.
Plo shook his head, "Have hope, my friends, Lama Su is sitting with the Negotiator and Qui-Gon Jinn. Things will work out one way or another."
"The Negotiator is my Master, he has a reputation," Ahsoka informed them.
But Rex, at least, was not comforted. The Jedi weren't going to come to agreement with the Long-Necks because all they cared about was credits.
And the Jedi wouldn't get off the moral high ground, they would have to leave him and his brothers behind.
The rest of the tour wasn't nearly as interesting.
Ahsoka, seeming to notice the mood shift, stopped talking to them as they all followed Wolffe and Master Koon through their prison.
Wolffe, Sinker, and Wildfire seemed to have put their faith in Master Koon.
Rex held onto his bitterness.
Jango Fett had taught him that nobody but a brother could be truly trusted.
oOo
That evening, after they had their rations that accounted for dinner, Fives elbowed him.
Rex looked up from his hands where he had been drifting off into misery to see…
Rex's brows shot up and he exchanged a look with Fives.
They were back in the gyms, the 501st and the 212th training together trying to work out their frustrations about what verdict would be given in the morning.
Work out their frustration at the enviable disappointment.
But five figures were among them that did not belong.
Three of them could have passed, one was a bit taller than them and one a breath or so shorter.
But the other two… they were a full head shorter than any of them and the only reason their armour wasn't comically large on their frames was because they had found their old armour from a few years back.
And if that wasn't enough to draw them out, the numbers on their plates were CT-7567, CT-1119, CT-5597, CT-1409, and CC-5555. And considering they were all accounted for, their doppelgangers had about zero chance of blending in.
Cody made to stand, but Rex caught his arm, "No, don't."
"We have to report them."
"No, we don't. The Jedi aren't getting us off Kamino, and this is likely the most interesting thing that will happen to us, ever," Rex said.
Jesse grinned, "Can we mess with them?"
Appo snorted, "I think that's the point of not telling the Long Necks."
Jesse called out in basic, "Hey, CT-5597, what do you think you're doing slacking off?"
Everyone in the 501st knew Jesse's intention and number, which alerted everyone to their guests when they heard him call out his own name.
The big man came to attention, and answered in Basic as well, "Sir."
Jesse marched over to him, Rex and the others standing to follow, "You were supposed to be on the range fifteen minutes ago."
Imposter-5597 gave a salute and went to the weapons rack.
Rex crossed his arms, "You four with him."
The others followed.
It was clear they knew one end of a blaster from another, though the two shorties were out of sync with the other three.
Everyone gathered to see how this lot would shoot.
And every single one of them hit dead centre, on every shot. And they continued this for the next half an hour.
So Cody pointed them to the obstacle course.
The three taller imposters did fine, one of the short ones was clearly more flexible if a bit slower for the obstacles that required upper body strength, leading Rex to believe he was probably a she.
But the other short one.
Imposter CT-7567, broke the record on the course, while adding in five unnecessary flips.
"Definitely a Jedi," Hawk said under his breath.
Fives nodded.
Rex motioned to the imposters as the curfew lights began to flash.
Once they were in the dorms, Rex removed his helmet to turn on the imposters, speaking in Basic, he asked, "You do realize that we are all identical and that you're wearing some of our numbers, correct?"
He tapped his own number that duplicated on the possible Jedi Imposter.
But it was the other short one who took off her helmet first.
She was lovely, blonde, blue eyed, sharp features.
Rex caught Cody's surprise and interest by the sound of his quick inhale.
"We just needed to speak with," the first human female they had ever met said in Basic before switching to the father-tongue, "Your message was in Mandalorian, Captain Rex."
He switched to Mandalorian as he realized why she looked vaguely familiar, "Are you Duchess Satine Kryze?"
Every single one of his brothers within hearing came to attention as she said, "Yes, I am."
Kriff.
Rex gaped at her and nearly stuttered, "You came yourself?"
She smiled at him, "You think the leaders of Mandalore are simply handed their titles and keep them by being fat cats?"
"No, Sir," he said, the hope that he had been fighting down all day rising.
The others took off their helmets as the Duchess introduced them, "This is our Prime Minister Chakraborty as well as Mandalorian warrior, Harris, and Master Maas."
Rex was pretty sure he was dreaming, he had to be dreaming.
Appo took off his helmet, "Master Maas?"
Maas was wearing Appo's old armour.
The grey eyed man smiled at them, "Glad to hear I've made a reputation for myself."
The final Imposter who had been wearing Rex's very old armour took of her helmet, she was the second female human they had ever met, and her hair was brown and braided back into three buns, her hazel eyes were bright as she said, speaking in as fluent Mandalorian as everyone else here, "And I'm Padawan Rey Palpatine."
Rex blinked at her as he tried to comprehend the corundum she had just tossed in his face. On one hand, it shouldn't have been surprising to meet the Padawan who Ahsoka had been talking about earlier. For one, Master Jinn was her Master and he was on Kamino now, and for another, if Ahsoka was to be believed, she was friends with Master Maas. Yet, on the other hand, Ahsoka had deliberately left out that Padawan Rey was a Palpatine.
"Are you related to Chancellor Palpatine?" Cody asked.
"Sort of," she said, "he's genetically my father."
"Genetically," Appo repeated dryly.
"My actual father was a clone of his," she explained.
Rex stared at her, there were other clones out there? That shouldn't have surprised him but it made him feel oddly better.
"She's also technically Chakraborty's and my granddaughter," Master Maas said.
Harris snorted, "Yeah, but she's actually Satine's granddaughter."
Rex was lost as Satine glared at them all, "Yes, ha ha, you all are so very funny but Obi-Wan and I are never getting together again in this reality."
Chakraborty nodded, "Just like we are never letting the evil Sith Lord, people call the Chancellor, make and torture his clones."
"Um, forgive me," Wooley said, "but you don't look old enough to be a grandmother."
Rex raised his brows at his brother, wondering how he had made any sense of what they were talking about.
Satine sighed, "I'm not, Rey is a time traveller from an alternate dimension."
There was a beat of silence as Rex exchanged a look with Cody.
Time travel?
Alternate dimensions?
Were those even real things? Sure, they hadn't seen much of the world outside the lab, but surely time travel wasn't a common phenomenon.
But none of the outsiders blinked an eye at this statement.
Cody gave the slightest of shrugs.
Rey shook his head the tiniest of degrees.
So time travel was a thing.
The galaxy was weird.
"But that's not why we are here," Satine said, "We're here to break you out."
"Well, you picked a good day for it, the Jedi are trying to negotiate for our release," Driodbait said.
Rey grinned, "They are the distraction."
Satine also smiled, "When I got your message, I asked the Jedi for help. Five Jedi Masters, two talented Padawans, myself, and three Mandalorian warriors is a bit overkill, I know, but we want to get all of you out of here with no casualties and no one left behind."
Rex let out a long breath, he had thought that Master Koon was a fool when he said he wasn't going to pay for them. Only now did he realize the Jedi Master had meant he was going to risk his life not just to save them but to help end all forms of slavery in the galaxy.
And these were the people who the Chancellor wanted them to kill?
"Do you have a plan of escape?" Rey asked them.
"I thought you were here to rescue us?" Appo retorted.
She shrugged, "I was a slave once, plotting my escape was what kept me going some days."
Cody nodded, "Many of our brothers are already on the Ventra Star Destroyers, they are the only ships big enough to get us all away from Kamino."
Rex added, "Our original plan required some of us to stay behind and cause a big enough distraction."
"Oh, we have that covered," Rey said.
He shook his head, "There was one part we never figured out, we have disable the shields on the hangars to get the ships out. We thought of taking the canons to the rim of the shields, but-"
"But that could injure the ship," Harris said.
"Or cut off your escape route entirely," Chakraborty, the Karking Prime Minister of Mandalore, said.
"How do we shut down the power?" Satine, the Kriffing Duchess of Mandalore, asked.
"They have backup generators," Gregor said, "if you pull one plug it will just transfer to the next."
"How many backups do they have?" Master Badass Maas asked.
"Fourteen," Hawk answered.
"We won't have time," Rey said. "What about overloading their system?"
"You mean a power surge?" Cody asked.
She nodded, "Too much power will malfunction most backup systems as most switches activate if there is no power. On most systems it would give us a few minutes."
"Maybe," Cody said, "But where are you going to get that kind of power?"
She smiled, "Leave that to me."
Harris rolled his eyes, "Cheat."
"You call it cheating, I call it physics."
"Just because you use magic to cause physics to happen does not make it any less cheating, Foundling," Harris retorted.
"I am not a foundling."
"No, you're our founding, grandchild," Maas said.
Satine ignored them all as she said, "Alright, we need someone to take us to the power central while everyone loads onto the Star Destroyers."
"If the Long Necks stop you, say it was a command from General Plo," Rey told them.
Rex suppressed a smile at her using the same nickname they had so honourably bestowed upon their creators.
"Rex and Fives will take you," Cody said.
Chakraborty nodded, "Harris, Satine, and I will go with your men. We are not leaving anyone behind, but you two might have to leave on the Jedi transports."
Cody saluted him, then he spoke into their coms.
It really was a perfect set up, every man among them was waiting for the call to the ships, and short of shackling them, nothing was going to stop them.
So when Cody gave the call to clear out, every brother put on their helmet and shouldered their weapons.
And no, the weapons weren't supposed to leave the gyms.
But like Rey had said, they had been planning their escape for some time now.
Rex and Fives took off at a near sprint.
Neither Rey nor Maas had the slightest difficulty keeping up with them, even if Rex's old helmet was on the large side for the Padawan.
Rey was the first to fire a stunner at a Long Neck.
"Will that set off an alarm?" Maas asked as they pressed forward.
"No," Fives said, "the one from breaking curfew is already flaring somewhere."
Rex halted and caught Rey's arm before she could pass.
Fives and Maas had already halted.
Together they listened to the soft tread of the Long Necks as they spoke, "Someone needs to turn off the alarms, the human clones are sold."
Maas whispered under his breath, "Well aren't they going to be disappointed?"
After another minute, they docked into the white corridor. Rex had never been out past curfew, and he thought it would be harder to sneak around, but as it happened the Kaminoins lowered the checkpoints at night.
Foolish of them. For such smart creatures, they had glaring blindspots.
When they finally reached the energy room, they found 99 frowning at the controls, two unconscious Long Necks at his feet.
"99!" Fives exclaimed, "What are you doing here? You need to get on the transports."
99's aged face turned to him with a smile, "I never expected to get off of Kamino, and neither will any of you if we can't turn off the energy shields."
"Where's the first primary charge?" Rey asked as she raised her hand at one of the panelled walls and with invisible hands ripped the metal clean off.
99 gaped at her, "Jedi?"
She took off her helmet and smiled at him, "Yes, Sir."
99 blinked at her, then smiled back and pointed to one of the coils glowing white bluish purple, "That's the main one, but the backups…"
"Captain, what's the status of the evacuation?" Rey asked.
Rex radioed Cody from his helmet, "Five minutes and everyone will be accounted for except for you two, Wolffe and his squad as well as 99."
"We have 99," Rex told him, before repeating the information to Master Maas and Rey.
"Tell him to start the engines," Maas said, "The rest of us will be going with the Jedi. We need his signal to cut the power."
Rex relayed the information, and five minutes later, they received the all clear.
"Everybody, get back," Rey said as she passed her helmet and blaster to Maas.
They got back and then they watched her crouch, bring her hand across her centre, two fingers and pointed at the energy coil.
And then something miraculous happened.
Lightning came out of the woman's hand as if a storm lived inside her.
Rex's vision was spotted even behind his mask as the light crashed into the energy coil, shimmering lines of electricity hung between her and her target. Her hair was floating, every hair on his own body was standing on end.
Then came the thunder.
And Rex was deafened as the world went black.
Maas was the first to activate his helmet light, Rex did too followed by Five. Maas turned on Rey's helmet light before passing it and her blaster to her.
99 was the only one without a light, but Five had an arm around their brother's waist.
"Can all Jedi do that?" Rex asked when he could hear the sound of his own footfalls.
"No, she's special," Maas answered.
"Actually," Rey said, "Ahsoka figured it out."
"Tano is thirteen," Maas growled at her.
"I keep telling everyone it's just physics, she's the only one to get it."
Rex refrained from commenting, between the lightning and the time travel, he wasn't sure what else he wanted to know about the greater galaxy and the Jedi.
When they got to the greeting rooms they ran into absolute mayhem. The lights had come back on and an announcement was playing declaring the four renegade Star Destroyers had left orbit.
Rex had known that theoretically, the Long Necks had other species of clones. He hadn't expected that to translate to about a thousand genetically modified Trandoshan super soldiers. He stared down at the mayhem below them, six Jedi with glowing swords against crocodilian faced monsters, more than likely bred to kill Jedi.
The Long Necks had a theme to their choices.
Maas changed the gears on his blaster with a snick, "And this is why I love going out to play with the Jedi."
Rey took off her helmet, throwing it to the ground as she whistled.
Master Kenobi put a hand behind himself, a long staff of metal came to his hand as if on a string from a bag on the floor before he whipped it up to their level. Rey caught it with ease.
"99, Sir, if you would wait here, we just need to clear a path for you," Rey said to their brother.
99 blinked at her, and didn't have time to answer as she ignited her staff into a dual bladed saber and backflipped into the mass of bodies, lightsaber staff spinning.
"I made her that," Maas said proudly, and Rex could hear the smile in his voice.
"We need to help them," Fives said, making his way toward the stairs, but Maas called him back.
"We are more good to them sniping. Trandoshans are cowards, they can't win against this many skilled Jedi Knights with a frontal attack.
"They are badly outnumbered," Rex said as he began shooting at the reptilian heads. But even as he spoke, he saw the Jedi shift from defence to the attack. He also noticed that the Long Necks had not stuck around to watch.
Rex set his visor to recording because by all that breathed in the galaxy was what he saw, something his brothers needed to see.
Ahsoka, the youngest, Master Kenobi, and Rey were like butterflies of chaos as they flitted through their enemies ranks, avoiding blaster fire and taking off heads. The other Jedi Masters fought closer to what he had seen of Jedi in holograms, but by that marker, these people were still insane. They fought with such elegance, no motion wasted, no blow hitting them.
About half way through the fight, Master Kenobi fell back to guard the older Jedi Masters against blaster fire as they laid waste to Trandoshans.
It was over before Rex could really come to terms with everything that was happening.
"Let's go," Maas said.
"You got it, Master Maas, Sir," Fives said, putting a shoulder under 99's to help him walk faster.
"Master Maas?" 99 repeated.
Maas put his arm around their senior brother as well, "Yes, Sir."
Rex felt joy at the sense of respect that both Rey and Maas was showing their brother.
There was being rescued, and then there was joining a people.
"Is that everyone?" Master Jinn asked.
"Thieves!" Lama Su shouted at them.
"Slaver!" Ahsoka bellowed back with the same type of outrage.
Maas pointed a blaster at the head Long Neck, "Haven't you heard that the Jedi have declared war on slavers and that Mandalore has joined them?"
Lama Su sneered, "You owe us a debt of three hundred thousand men and the equipment they stole with them."
"We owe you nothing," Master Koon said, "And by my count, it is three hundred thousand and one men we freed today." And the Kel Dor bowed to 99.
99 was still blushing when they got him on the Jedi fighter ship.
oOo
They all went to Mandalore, but the 101st Regiment, the 501st Legion, the 104th Battalion, and 99 returned to Serreno with the Jedi. Rex had originally feared separating, but it was different being able to choose their parting.
And it wasn't as if they would never see each other again or couldn't call to talk to one another.
Although Rex knew that Serreno was nothing at all like Coruscant, he had still expected a grand Temple.
Instead, they arrived on a planet of natural wonders, of fields of grass and wildflowers, of mountains, of dense forests, of streams, of lakes, of oceans, a planet that had small cities and even smaller towns.
And the home of the Jedi was neither a Temple, a lab, nor a palace, but a campground.
And when Rex laid down at night it was not the underside of a bunk with the claustrophobic wiggle room of a coffin, but an open sky with the stars of the galaxy glittering above him and his brothers.
This, this, was what it meant to be free.
AN: Thoughts, reactions, dandelions, or reviews, pretty please?