AN: Hello Dear Readers! Back again! The first part of a (as of right now) three-shot of the Exit Strategies is up under the name; 501st Exit Strategies! Go check it out!
Disclaimer: Seeing as I'm writing fanfiction and not some awesome 501st/Rexsoka screenplay, it's safe to assume I don't own the rights to Star Wars.
Kix was silently following the small recon teams consisting of Captain Rex, Commander Tano, Tup, Dogma, Chopper, Hardcase, a shinnie named Pidge, and himself. They had all just narrowly avoided certain death when they were trapped by an ambush of droids and a landslide started just above them. Due to the Captain and Commander's quick thinking they were now safely walking through cavern tunnels that would actually get them closer to their intended target than their previous route. The plan was fairly simple in theory; recon the enemy base and report back droid numbers and the landscape of the base, waiting for the main forces to arrive at short distances away from their position and then cause a large enough distraction for the main forces to storm the base. Now Kix wondered if that plan was blown and they would have to make it up as they went along; Kix hated when that happened, more injuries could be prevented if people would just follow the plan.
Kix was snapped out of his musings when, glancing down after he stumbled he noticed in the light of his helmet's headlight there were suspicious, shiny, red, splattered, droplets along the path. Crouching down, he gingerly touched the dot with his fingertip and inspected the substance on his glove, gently rubbing it between his thumb and forefinger.
"What the haran?" He thought, brows furrowing as he looked closer.
With a sharp inhale, he stood and ordered the group to stop. When Rex questioned the medic's order he showed them his glove.
"One of us is bleeding. And judging by how close together to drop on the path are, I'd say it's not just a scratch." He answered gravely
Everyone looked at each other before inspecting themselves and each other for wounds. A few of them found a couple of mild scratches and bruises but nothing severe enough to cause so much blood loss. Until Rex and Ahsoka looked at each other.
"Rexster…"
"Ahsoka…"
The rest of the helmets swiveled to look at the two, and Kix cursed. Ahsoka reached her hand out tentatively towards Rex's injury while the captain reached out and gripped Ahsoka's shoulders. When they bother realized the other person wasn't the only one injured they looked down at themselves.
"That explains the sharp pain in my side." Ahsoka said faintly, trying to joke. Rex looked back at her as he removed his helmet
Kix snapped from his daze and swung into full medic mode, pulling his pack off his back. He recognized that their adrenaline was starting to wear off and if he didn't move quickly, both superior officers would be down for the count.
"Both of you sit down right now and let me see those wounds." He ordered sternly, already easing the commander down to the ground.
Hardcase was assisting the captain in removing his leg armor while Kix inspected Ahsoka's wound.
"Looks like you still have some shrapnel in your side commander. I can remove some of it, but I don't think I can safely remove the larger piece until we get back to the Resolute; please be careful not to make too many sudden movements to prevent any further injury." The medic informed the young togruta steadily, already proceeding to probe the injury with his instruments, trying to remove the shrapnel as gently as possible.
Ahsoka nodded and lay still, her fist clenched as she tried not to flinch, letting a few hisses escape her tightly pressed lips when the medic probed too hard. She zoned out and her vision blurred momentarily until she heard voices shouting at her.
"Ahsoka!" Rex's commanding tone broke through the other familiar voices and she realized Tup was peering down at her and shaking her shoulder. Ahsoka looked over to her left and saw Rex's worried gaze searching her pale face and saw some of the tension ease from his shoulders when he saw she was back with them.
"Stay with me just a little longer Commander. I'm almost done." Kix muttered, working quickly but as gently as possible.
A few minutes later and Kix sealed the wound and wrapped her side in bandages and Tup was easing her back into a sitting position up against the wall next to her boyfriend. Rex reached out and gripped her hand tenderly, squeezing from time to time to make sure she wasn't zoning out, and his girlfriend would respond every time.
The team medic moved on to the captain who had removed his leg armor and was applying pressure to the wound in his thigh. Kix swore under his breath when he got a good look at Rex's wound; according to his calculations the captain should have passed out a while back from the blood loss. There were tiny shards of shrapnel, much too small to be removed in the conditions they found themselves, and none of them had punctured any arteries, but the wound was still bleeding steadily and the added movement of walking or running was jarring the shards and causing more damage. The best the medic could do was remove a few of the larger shards closer to the surface of the skin, seal and wrap the wound and sternly warn his captain not to put any unnecessary pressure on his leg and instructed Chopper and Hardcase to support him the rest of the mission while Dogma and Tup would take turns assisting the commander. As the assigned troopers carefully helped the injured to their feet or foot, in Rex's case, Kix finished packing his kit and shook his head at the scene.
"How the heck you both managed to get yourselves injured and not even realize you were injured for this long is beyond me." He laughed breathlessly now that some of the tension had passed.
Another hour later and the recon team had reached their destination, and at first glance there didn't look like the droids had been alerted to their presence, even though they had encounter the patrol earlier. Captain Rex made the decision to keep on plan with the mission and ordered Dogma and Pidge to scout the area for the best advantage point for recon and tactical distraction. Ten minutes later and everyone was in position. After surveying the landscape of the base and numbers of droids occupying the compound, they commed in to the general who was waiting to move the rest of the troops.
"General Skywalker, this is Captain Rex reporting in." A cackled of static was heard before a voice answered on the other end
"Reading you Captain, I was starting to get worried you guys had gotten lost or something." Anakin half joked
"We had to take a small detour, Sir." Rex relented "But we are in position and ready for the rest to join us."
During their check in, none of them mentioned the captain or commander's injuries, since the decision had been reached beforehand to keep the two behind as their eyes from higher ground. Once the rest of the 501st reached a nearby ridge, Ahsoka sent the others down to set the explosives to cause the distraction for the main assault. Rex observed through the binoculars while Ahsoka stayed on coms. During the main assault, Rex and Ahsoka stayed at their position and provided their support from higher ground; if Anakin thought it was weird, and he probably did, he didn't say anything during the mission. Towards the end, when the battle was winding down, Kix sent Chopper, Pidge, and Tup back for the two injured. Skywalker's face was a study of shock and disbelief when he saw his captain unable to bear weight on one leg, and his padawan, her face shades paler than usual, leaning on Pidge and gripping at her side. The other troopers stopped and stared when they saw two of their three CO's sporting such obvious injuries.
"Get these two on a gunship and back to the Resolute." Anakin ordered the supporting troopers and as they passed him, he stopped them briefly and ordered: "And next time one or both of you end up injured again, inform me when you check in so I understand why you weren't present in battle."
His two subordinates nodded and limped on towards the gunships.
In the Resolute med bay, Rex and Ahsoka received the proper surgical care for their injuries, and were moved into recovery. Kix remembered the way they worried about each other and sought each other out for comfort and abandoned professional titles during the worst of the pain. He made sure to have their recovery beds next to each other, claiming it was so visitors would only have one stop to make and not crowd the med bay in two spots; but both Rex and Ahsoka's grateful glances told him they appreciated his gesture. The others on the recon team didn't say a word about the lapse of professionalism in the tunnels, and poor Pidge was still in shock at seeing his CO's showing such open affection towards each other during a mission. And neither Kix, Coric, or the rest of the medical staff, or even Anakin, mentioned the fact that Rex and Ahsoka fell asleep with their hands intertwined across the gap between their beds, and it definitely wasn't Kix and Coric who pushed the beds a little closer so they didn't have to reach as far.
AN: I hope you guys like it! I hope the ending was mushy enough! Please R&R and go check out my new story based on the last chapter and let me know what you think!
haran-Hell