Captain Rex looked out over the vast open salt plains of Seelos from his co-pilot seat. The vast nothingness was home to very little, save the occasional Joopa.

But Rex wasn't here to fish for giant worms today.

He was here to recruit two war veterans for his commander's mission.

The only question was whether or not Wolffe and Gregor would come out of retirement to help them.

In the years after Order 66, Wolffe had become somewhat despondent, guilt clearly eating away at him. He had tried to save his Jedi General, Master Plo Koon, but had ultimately failed and was forced to watch as members of his own battalion, the Wolf Pack, had shot down Plo's fighter, killing the Kel Dor instantly.

Numerous nights had been spent on their old run down AT-TE listening to Wolffe calling out Plo's name in despair in his dreams, clearly reliving the horrible events of that day.

It was times like these that he was glad that he and Ahsoka had escaped from Order 66. Admittedly, they had had to slaughter the majority of the troops that were present on Mandalore with them at the time, but they had escaped no worse for wear.

Gregor was an entirely different story. He was unstable at the best of times. Rex would even call him crazy. But he was also proficient, being a clone commando and all.

If Rex could bring them into the mission, their chances of success would skyrocket.

Hearing a deep grumble beside him, Rex turned his gaze to the individual piloting the ship. When everyone had agreed to go their separate ways to recruit people, they had agreed on teams of two for safety.

Ahsoka had gone with Kaeden, which hadn't surprised Rex at all. They had been getting closer and closer recently.

Kanan had gone with Zeb to get Sabine, and Hera had teamed up with fellow pilot Miara to recruit Hera's father.

That hadn't left Rex with many choices of companion, which had then been reduced even further.

Ezra and Chopper had departed for Lothal, hoping to gain the support of Ryder, and Kallus and AP5 had remained on Yavin 4 to gather supplied and materials for the mission. Apparently they had some ideas in regards to upgrading the Ghost.

So that had left Rex with only one person to have as company, and never in a million years did the old clone think he would have to spend some one on one time with him.

"Your friends live in this place? It's even more inhospitable than that junkyard I ended up in after Naboo!"

Rex resisted the urge to groan aloud. Maul was not what he would call likeminded company. The Zabrak was cynical, cruel and dark, willing to twist things for his benefit.

Ahsoka may have trusted him, but Rex still couldn't help be cautious. If Maul ever turned on them, he would be ready.

"It was a good place to hide after the clone war. None of us wanted to fight anymore, not after what we had seen." Rex replied, his tone becoming darker at the end of his statement.

Maul huffed as he piloted the Nightbrother towards the coordinates Rex had given him.

"You refer to the clone betrayal. For what it's worth, Tano could have escaped that without your help." Maul spoke, his golden eyes briefly glancing over to Rex's hazel ones.

A small smile came to the old clones face. Maul was at least trying to be compassionate, in his weird former Sith Lord way that was.

"That she would have." Rex responded to Maul's prior statement. "But after everything we had seen, Wolffe, Gregor and I just wanted to get away from everything, give ourselves time to think things over."

Maul nodded. The Zabrak could relate. Ever since Naboo he had been doubting his very purpose. If he was not meant to be the apprentice to Darth Sidious, then who was he?

It wasn't until Ahsoka had offered support that he had found a purpose, at least a temporary one.

"Yet you returned to Lady Tano's side when she asked. Why?" Maul inquired.

Rex's response was instantaneous. "Because she is my friend."

Silence fell between the two unlikely comrades as they contemplated each other's words.

After a few moments more of silence and careful flying on Maul's behalf, the Zabrak's eyes widen in surprise at something.

"Sensors are picking up an Imperial Walker. AT-AT class. What is the empire doing this far out?"

A large smile came to Rex's face as he too studied the readout. It was indeed an Imperial AT-AT, but one that was heavily modified. On its side, attached by ropes and other equipment, was a large pole like construct, one that resembled a fishing line of some kind.

"That's them. Open a comm link to them." Rex said, preparing to send a message, one he knew would get their attention.

"Your friends commandeered an Imperial Walker? I like them already." Maul replied, rare humour in his tone.

Rex shook his head at Maul's attempt of a joke, before returning to the situation at hand. It was time to pass on his message.

Leaning towards the comm panel, Rex spoke. "CT-7567."

That was all Rex had to say. If all went well, Wolffe and Gregor would recognize his old clone number, and allow him to land and talk with them.

If it didn't go well…

Seconds later, a familiar voice responded through the comm link.

"Rex? Is that you?" Gregor's overly enthusiastic tone replied, joy evident.

"It is brother. I need to talk to you and Wolffe." Rex responded, equally happy to know his brothers were alive.

"Come on down Rex." Gregor responded, before cutting the transmission.

Maul, who had been listening to the discussion, angled the Nightbrother down, moving into position above the AT-AT, and lowering the back ramp for Rex to exit from.

"You not coming Maul?" Rex inquired when Maul told him the plan.

The Zabrak gave a cold hard look to Rex before replying.

"Your friends will probably shoot me on sight. Besides, I need to go talk to someone elsewhere. You want picking up later?" Maul said.

Rex understood what Maul was saying. It was bad enough he was here to ask his brothers to join a suicide mission. Having Maul show up alongside him might push the other clones over the edge.

And apparently Maul had someone he needed to speak to about the mission. Who, Rex didn't know. He just knew he'd find out in time.

"Don't worry about it. I'll find my own way off the planet, with or without my brothers."

Maul nodded before turning back to the pilot console of the Nightbrother.

"Fair enough. Good hunting captain."

Rex was surprised at the wish of luck from Maul, but chose not to bring it up to the Zabrak. Instead, he turned and left the cockpit, heading towards the back of the ship.

When he reached the ramp, he was forced to jump a few feet onto the back on the AT-AT.

Looking around, he heard the Nightbrother ascend quickly, disappearing from sight within moments.

Shaking his head at Maul's antics, he turned his attention to finding an entrance into the walker's interior, spotting one on the head. Approaching the hatch, Rex lifted it upwards, before vaulting inside the walker.

The second Rex landed on the floor of the interior of the captured walker, he was engulfed in an unexpected bear hug, courtesy of Gregor.

"Rex old buddy, you're back!" Gregor's almost youthful tone brought a smile to Rex's face, even as he struggled to breathe due to the aforementioned hug.

Behind the commando, Wolffe stood, his face still as stern as ever. Despite that, Rex could have sworn that he saw a look of relief and joy flash in the clone commander's non-cybernetic eye briefly.

If asked, Rex was sure Wolffe would deny it, trying to keep up his tough guy act.

Rex knew better.

Eventually, Gregor broke off the bear hug, pulling back to stand beside Wolffe, a smirk on his face.

"It's good to see you too Gregor. And you Wolffe." Rex spoke to his old friends. They seemed in good shape, accelerated aging notwithstanding.

"Nice of you to come see us Rex. You and the kid overthrown the empire yet?" Wolffe spoke, rare humour in his voice.

"Not yet Wolffe, but that's part of the reason I'm here." Rex replied, turning to look around the pilot cabin of the AT-AT. It was significantly smaller than their old AT-TE, and as proven, not nearly as versatile.

That being said, it was a useful machine, and had clearly become home to the two clones in Rex's absence.

"Oh this will be good." Sarcasm came from Wolffe's tone, as he sat dowin in one of the seats piloting the AT-AT. Rex sought out another seat in the back of the AT-AT's cabin, one clearly salvaged from the remains of the AT-TE. Gregor meanwhile busied himself rummaging through a crate in the back, pulling out three meilooruns and distributing them to the clones present.

Rex accepted the fruit, taking a sizable bite out of it before speaking again.

"Truth be told we are close. We have a chance to assassinate the entire imperial leadership at once, including the emperor, as well as destroy a superweapon they have been building. Ahsoka wants to launch a mission to assault the station. But rebel command refused."

Wolffe seemed to be listening intently to what Rex was saying. "Let me guess, see's going to attack them anyway!"

Rex nodded, taking another bite out of his meiloorun. In the back, Gregor was moving around the cabin, shifting another crate, this one sealed.

"No surprise there huh? Except rebel command dismissed her from their service. She's doing all this behind their back."

Wolffe froze mid bite of his meiloorun, something flashing in his eyes. Recognition, if not guilt. At least, that's what Rex would call it.

Swallowing the fruit he had in his mouth, Wolffe leaned forward and spoke.

"She got dismissed again! What has this universe got against that girl? First the Jedi… now this!"

Rex understood what Wolffe was referring to. Ahsoka's expulsion from the Jedi order.

Wolffe had hunted her down that day, as had Rex. And clearly Wolffe had never forgiven himself for it. To be honest, Rex hadn't forgiven himself either. He could have done much much more.

But he didn't.

Still, Ahsoka seemed to want him by her side despite that. So that's where he would be, till the day he died.

"I know Wolffe, but that's not important right now. Since we're doing this mission unofficially, we don't have access to rebel resources or personal. Simply put, we're looking for volunteers to join us on a suicide mission." Rex spoke carefully and slowly, so as not to come across as demanding. It really was their choice, and he would respect them if they said no.

Wolffe seemed to be debating something internally. What, Rex couldn't tell, and he wouldn't pry either. If Wolffe wanted to tell him, he would.

Gregor, who was still shifting another crate around didn't even bother to turn to face Rex, he merely spoke aloud.

"Ah, sorry Captain. We are a bit busy fishing and doing nothing at the moment. We'd love to join you, but it's far more fun out here being old and grumpy with nothing to fight."

Gregor had always been unstable, but that answer was off the charts, even for Gregor.

'Is he drunk or something?' Rex thought humorously. Across from him, Wolffe had a similarly confused look on his face.

Regaining his composure, Rex nodded his head.

"Far enough Gregor. I won't force you. If you're happy here, then I wish you the best."

It was then that Gregor stopped his shifting, standing tall and pivoting to face the captain in a blink of an eye.

"What?!" The old commando asked, surprise in his voice.

"You said you wanted to stay here, and I respect that." Rex confirmed slowly. 'Maybe he is drunk.'

Gregor stared dumbfounded for a few brief moments, before bursting out into laughter. Not quite maniacal, but crazy nonetheless.

When the commando managed to calm himself, he spoke directly to Rex.

"I was being sarcastic captain, keep up. It's boring here. Nothing to do but sit and stare at empty salt plains all day. I want to kill something. Hell yeah I'll join your mission!"

To be honest, Rex should have seen that coming. Why would Gregor of all people not join a mission?

Nodding his head, a small smile at Gregor's antics on his face, he turned back to face Wolffe, who was watching him like a hawk.

The commander's eyes, even his cybernetic one, just watched, staring into Rex's very soul.

Eventually, Wolffe rose from his seat, before heading into the back of the cabin, pulling a crate towards Rex.

Dumping it at Rex's feet, the clone commander lifted the lid.

Looking down at the crate, Rex was surprised to see what was inside.

A variety of weapons, many from the clone war era, had been stockpiled by Wolffe and Gregor. There were a pair of rocket launchers, as well as a myriad of different blaster variants, ranging from rifles to pistols.

Wolffe disappeared into the back of the cabin again, pulling out another crate. This one contained a vast array of explosives, all of which Rex thought would be useful for the mission. They did have a kyber crystal to destroy after all.

Wolffe returned with another crate, this one containing a pair of rotary blaster cannons.

"Wow!" Rex mumbled under his breath. This arsenal was huge. How had Wolffe and Gregor acquired all of this?

"Oh this isn't the best part Rex. Look!" Gregor moved up beside Rex, before pointing to where Wolffe had disappeared to this time.

Wolffe emerged seconds later, an old republic flamethrower in his hands, and a devious smirk on his face.

"So, will this be enough to assassinate the emperor?"

Author's thoughts

Hey, so before I get into this I just want to say that after the comment analysis section is a status update in regards to what went wrong last chapter.

Now, back to our normally scheduled section.

So yeah, pretty much everyone guessed who Rex would be recruiting. Welcome to the team Wolffe and Gregor. May you make many things explode.

I realize that this was shorter chapter than recent ones, but the next few are simply to compensate. Hope you enjoy nonetheless.

As normal, comment and speculate at will.

Speaking of which:

jamese765: Not good? That sounds about right. :)

Loftcat: Thanks... I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Mysterious guest number one: I'm glad you liked the interaction between Eighth Bro and Sidious. It was fun to write. As for the identity of the Sith Lady, no it shall not be revealed. I know people have their own opinion on who it is, so I shall let that stand. It is whoever you want it to be.

Mogor: The reason Ezra/Kanan/Ahsoka/Maul did not sense the kyber crystal was because of they did not know it was there, thus they assumed the darkness around Malachor was due to the temple itself. Sidious however, did know it was thee, thanks to the holocron, and thus he was able to find it.

Travis Middleton: I'm glad you liked the chapter. I was really excited the revisit Malachor and give some backstory to what happened there, so I'm glad you enjoyed it, as well as the interactions between Eighth Bro and Sidious.

FossilQueen1984: I'm glad you liked the idea of where the crystal came from. I was glad to revisit Malachor, as that's where this AU began. Felt kinda full circle like. :)

evan11795: Yes, she did. My mistake. Thanks again for pointing it out. Check below this section for my detailed admission as to what I did.

LukeDude: I'm glad you liked the chapter, even if I had to change a certain part of it, which will be discussed below.
I figured that Sidious would probably bring in his flagship to move something the size of that crystal around. Plus he wouldn't trust anyone else with it now would he. As for your questions:
1. For the sake of this story, the Eclipse is what it is in canon, an Executor class Star Destroyer.
2. Lots of ships will be defending the Death Star. I wonder how the rebels will get past them huh? (I already know, he he)
3. I'm still not sure who's in command of the Devastator at this point, and I don't know if it will be important. However the ship will be featured.
4. I doubt any more monster based chapters will show. One shots however... (cough cough... do Loth-Wolves count?)
5. Ah yes the crystal question. Glad you asked. The Death Star in this AU will have two firing options. One uses the standard kyber crystals, and retains its ability to destroy planets. The artificial crystal however can be used to simply cleanse a planet of all life, leaving everything on the planet intact. This allows the empire to move in and secure the resourceds afterwards, rather than outright destroy them.

SLE's fave guest: Thrawn must have a hard time dealing with all the infighting within the imperial leadership. Poor Chiss.

Status update/admittance to what I did

So...

Yeah...

I screwed up bad last chapter!

Essentially, in the original draft, one that I posted on this site, I had the Eighth Bro and Sidious find Vader's body in the temple on Malachor. What followed was a scene where the Inquisitor essentially taunted the body.

The problem was, in the end of the first story I had Ahsoka take Vader's body back to Atollon and cremate it. This created a major breach in my AU continuity, one that I couldn't let stand.

Thus, when it was brought to my attention, I immediately took the chapter down to rewrite the scene into what it is now.

I want to apologise for my stupidity. I should have properly proof-read the chapter as to avoid the mistake. To the people who read the chapter before it was changed, my bad! Please forgive me.

To those that didn't see my blunder... consider yourselves lucky.

However, this incident has given me some clarity, and I have decided to take a short break from uploading, to give myself time to re-read what I have written to check for anymore errors such as this. I'm unsure how long the break will last, but I will be back. I hope you all understand. If you don't, thats ok, I won't hold it against you.

Taking a break will let me get further ahead on writing however, so that is a good thing... right?

Before I took the break I wanted to give you this chapter anyway. Consider this my Mid-Season finale for now. (not that I'll be gone that long)

So yeah, in summary: I made a mistake, now it's corrected. Sorry, taking a break. :)

But before I got, I realize I didn't give you a teaser for next chapter. Instead, as compensation for my break, I am going to give you the chapter titles of the upcoming chapters... the ones I have already written. Hopefully that is good for you all. They are as follows:

Chapter 17: Alexsandr Kallus, Fulcrum Agent
Chapter 18: Dissension Amongst the Ranks
Chapter 19: Journey across Jedha
Chapter 20: The Extremist
Chapter 21: Enemy of my Enemy

Hopefully those are enough to tease you all. Let me know what one you are most anticipating.

Anyway, thanks again for your continued support. I will be back soon. All I ask is a bit of patience.

Till then.

SirLoozElite