I'm really surprised about the positive reviews this had. This one wasn't as along as I wanted it to be but at least it's up and I'm just surprised I finished this soon. I don't think I did as good of a job writing this than I wanted to but that's up to you guys decide. The ending is a set up for the next chapter on The Battle Of Umbara, thanks for the positive reviews so far. If you see small grammatical errors I apologize, I'm just too lazy to go back and revise it. Read and enjoy :)
Being in combat can take a toll on not just someone's body but their mind as well. Rex was as best as they come, battle-hardened and willing to do whatever needed to get the job done, all of his troops respected him immensely as well as his superiors. He learned how to be the best from his Jedi General, Anakin Skywalker, unfortunately Skywalker was in battle in space above the planet and he was wounded with Commander Tano beside him trying to do what she can to get him under control and stable.
"Rex!" Ahsoka continued to shout as Rex fell unconscious from his blood loss. A droid had gained the upper advantage and caught him off-guard eventually springing a blade into his abdomen but not before Rex put two rounds into the mechanical head of the sneaky droid. He appreciated all Commander Tano had done for him and he had tremendous feelings for her.
Ahsoka used the force to grab her lightsabers and ignited them as she began deflecting the droids away that seemed endless when suddenly the ground below her was starting to shake. She looked above her to see one of the gunships rain fire down upon the droids and saw Cody and Obi-Wan come up behind her. She holstered her lightsabers and rushed over to try and get Rex lifted onto the gunship. She had tears streaming down her face but kept her composure together for the most part. She tried to hop on board his gunship that was taking him back to the Resolute, but was denied by General Kenobi. Being one for the Jedi Code, Obi-Wan had set Ahsoka down to try and keep her calm.
She kept her cool during most missions but never expressed such emotion as she did now "I'm sorry master."
"For what Ahsoka, you did all you could for Rex." Obi-Wan said "Just remember 'There is no emotion, there is peace.' Don't let your emotions get the better of you." He said
She really wanted to just ball up and cry to her heart's desire but knew better to do that, while not fully an adult, she was old enough to start acting like one. She needed to be strong, for herself, for Rex and for her master. "Yes, master." She said as her tears died down and soon dissipated from her skin. She stood up and wiped the remaining tears from her face, she saw Cody and knew that he had to feel something too since him and Rex had done many missions with him.
After cleaning up the remaining straggler droids, everyone had headed back to their ships. It defiantly wasn't easy on the crew seeing Rex unconscious with blood pooling around his chest. The medics brought him to the med bay where they assured that Rex will make it and just for everyone to keep calm and focus on the mission ahead.
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He had to act, there was no way he was going to allow this slaver scum to get away with this. He knocked the nearest guard off his feet and unhooked his binders along with the rest of the prisoners with him. He sprinted to the command center to try and find the Commander. He keyed opened the door and quickly overwhelmed the guards with his superior military training, what he didn't see coming was the whip from behind that sent him on his knees in an instant.
He ignored the pain and punched the guard with the whip straight in the face. He shook off the dust he had attained from wrestling with the guards and looked what seemed to be the leader square in the eyes.
"You think you've won don't you?" He asked "Take a look outside." He said pointing towards the opening in the wall
Rex couldn't believe his eyes, Commander Tano and Generals Skywalker and Kenobi were standing on platforms, and little did Rex know what the platforms did. He took a step and saw ten of the Togrutan colonists fall into an abyss on the same platform that the three Jedi were standing on. He closed his eyes and wished this was all a dream but it wasn't, he had no choice.
He sank to his knees and surrendered himself to the slave leader as he was helpless and no way of defending himself and setting them free. If he made a move against the leader, the soldiers below would've killed his friends anyway. The guards threw his shock collar and binders back on and soon he joined the three of them below. The slave leader had apparently been negotiating with Count Dooku as he was brought up on a holomessage.
"General Kenobi," he began "General Skywalker, so fortunate to see the two of you locked up like the caged animals you are." Anakin was gritting his teeth vowing for revenge but the statement was moot considering his situation.
"I want the Jedi Generals and the clone captain brought to me for interrogation." Dooku said
"What about the other Jedi?" the leader had asked
Dooku smiled devilishly "Kill her."
Rex's eyes grew wide open as the slave leader pushed the button that sent her through the hole in the ground into the endless abyss, he tried to grab her but to no avail "Ahsoka!" Rex shouted as it was the first time he called her by her name instead of her rank as he saw her falling into the never ending darkness.
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"Commander!" Rex shouted as he sprang up from his bunk in the medical bay.
He looked around the room and saw Commander Tano in the chair next to him who had been startled by Rex's nightmare. He held his chest in pain as he laid back down as the instant jump had almost torn the stiches in his abdomen.
Ahsoka had been startled by Rex's nightmare but gathered herself when she found out that he was awake "Hey there, Rex." She said rubbing her eyes since she was still tired as she had spent the whole time at his side. "Everything okay there?" she asked
"Yeah, sorry I just had a bad dream." He said trying to drop as it he did not want to bring it up "What happened anyway, last thing I remember was feeling a sharp pain in my gut and passing out."
"A droid had took a shot at you with a knife, but you had apparently blew the things head off before you passed out. I did the best I could to stop the bleeding and hold us off before you passed out." She concluded
He smiled at her for trying her best to save his life even under the heaviest of circumstances "Thanks, Commander. I'm sure you did your best."
She smiled back at him "You know what you said to me before you passed out?"
Oh god what did I say? He thought to himself "To be honest I don't know what I said ma'am."
She hung her head and frowned "Well, I said 'I can't leave you because of how much I care for you' and you said 'I know' before you went unconscious." She said still having her head hung down
This just became awkward he thought as the two of them were silent for a prolonged amount of time.
"I care for you Rex and I know you feel the same way but you just don't show it." She said raising her head back up to meet him eye to eye but he kept silent "If you feel the same way please, just at least say something or give me a sign."
Rex was still silent and had broken eye contact to look at his stitched up abdomen and burnt hand. Ahsoka had looked away and sank her head again "I'm sorry if I brought it up or if I put any pressure on you." She said getting up from her chair and heading to the door
Say something stupid, she just opened up and you sat there like an idiot playing with his thumbs his conscience was telling him. He really didn't want to see the Commander like this but his conscience was right, he had to say at least something. "I'm sorry, Commander." He said as Ahsoka stopped and turned back around "This will just be hard if we do this. It won't be safe out there, with our separate duties, your stupid code forbidding it, and I can get thrown in the brig for fraternizing with a superior officer."
"First off, I'm a Jedi and I don't think your regulations apply to Jedi." She said
Just like General Skywalker to bend the rules. He thought, he did admire the way she took after master.
She walked back to him and sat beside him "Listen, we can make this work. I'll leave the order if that's it requires." She said
"No." Rex said in a tone of authority "You can't just leave the Jedi Order because the code doesn't permit it. They need you, and what of General Skywalker, what will he think if that happens?"
She clearly hadn't thought about that and sat there in more grief "Anakin will understand. I'm sure of it."
"No." he said once more "It doesn't matter, I won't allow it." Ahsoka looked at him then back at the floor "I don't want to leave the place you can call home just so we can be together." Dohh, wrong word there nimrod his conscience said once more.
"All you need to do is say that feel the same way." She said
Rex held his head high and shut his eyes tightly but opened them back up to look her in the eyes "Listen kid," he said "I do care for you but this isn't the best of situations to be discussing this."
As if fireworks exploded in her heart, she smiled with joy and looked back at him "That's all I needed." She said standing up "We can take it one step at a time." Ahsoka said giving him a kiss on the cheek "Now get some rest, we'll have a tough mission ahead of us." She finished as she got up and left the room leaving Rex in the med bay by himself, except for the medical droid.
He was left staring up at the overhead with his mind having fights inside itself as the med droid had come over to take a look and make sure he didn't tear or rupture his stiches. I hope she knows what she's knows what she's doing, because if she doesn't then I can find myself thrown in the brig.
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One more he muttered to himself as he was he was still wounded but well enough to get back into shape. He didn't like waiting to recover, the more time he spent sitting in a bed catching z's more of his brothers were dying out there. He exercised and got back into shape despite not being in the best physical condition, with his fatigue pants on and no shirt since he still had the bandage wrapped around his stomach it made for easier mobility for some physical training.
He had his legs propped up on his bunk in the med bay while leaning off onto the floor to do push-ups. There wasn't much room to maneuver but he made do with what he had around him. He finished his final pushup and propped himself back onto his bunk, drenching in sweat. He went back to Ahsoka said earlier, he still didn't think telling her was a good idea but if he knew anything about Ahsoka, she loved to argue and won't quit until she wins. It felt weird to him that he opened up like that, he wasn't normally the one to kiss and tell, no pun intended, but he preferred to action rather than talking.
General Skywalker keyed open the door to the med bay and as soon as Rex saw him, he practically jumped off the bed and snapped to attention, much to the displeasure of his body, but he learned that pain is weakness leaving the body. "At ease, Captain." Anakin said "How are you feeling Rex?"
"Could be worse sir." Rex said "I'm ready for combat whenever you need me General."
"Are you sure, I don't the stiches coming loose and seeing you insides on the battlefield."
"I'm not going to let a cut hold me back sir." Rex said
Anakin looked at him and smirked "Good, now suit up and meet me on the bridge ASAP." He said walking over to the door before turning back around "Oh, and Rex?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Take a shower." He said leaving the room. Rex looked at himself in the mirror and took a sniff and almost vomited at the smell of himself.
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He stepped out of the shower and threw on his armor and slowly made his way up to the bridge. He opened the doors and saw Anakin, Ahsoka and Admiral Yularen standing around the holoterminal talking to General Kenobi, Commander Cody, General Windu, and General Yoda.
"Good to see you finally up and about Rex." Cody said with a smile behind his helmet
He was given a respectful nod by Master Windu and Yoda "Nice to see you too Commander." Rex said "What's the plan here General?" he said looking at Anakin
"We're taking the planet of Umbara." Anakin said
"This is a major supply route that we need." General Windu interjected "The local militia forces have allied themselves with the Separatists and are getting supplies such as food and weaponry from them. Your task is to take the capital city and hold it, once we take it we can efficiently cut off the supply routes to the rest of the planet. General Skywalker and General Kenobi will brief more on the mission, good luck." He said before ending his transmission.
Anakin had summoned his forces in the hanger bay to await further instructions, he had ARC-5555 on special assignment in his battalion but let Obi-Wan handle the briefing.
"Masters Krell and Tiin will be supporting my troops to the south while Anakin's battalion comes in from the north and takes out enemy reinforcements." He explained on the holomap of the area "It is imperative that we take the capital city as quickly as possible and hold it. We can't afford a retreat on this one."
"The biggest problem is going to be the local militia," Anakin said interjecting "The Umbarans have allied themselves with the Seperatists and are heavily armed, we cannot underestimate them. ARC trooper Fives will be assisting my battalion on special assignment."
Fives and Rex had shared a mutual respect for each ever since the Rishii moon where Rex considered Fives, Echo, and Hevy "Shinnies", ever since then the two of them had fought numerous times together and built a repertoire as being very deadly by themselves. "I'm ready to do my part General Skywalker." Fives said
"Good to have you on board Fives." Rex said
"Thanks Rex, how are you feeling?"
"Nothing I can't handle, it'll be just like old times." Rex said as he let Anakin and Obi-Wan finish the debriefing
"Remember Anakin, Cody and I will be twelve clicks to your south." Obi-Wan continued "We are counting on you to take out those local fighters, if you don't I'm afraid the capital will never surrender."
Anakin just looked back at Obi-Wan with a fake sigh along with a smirk to go with it "Does my battalion have to do everything?"
"It seems you always do anyway." He said ending his transmission.
Rex had stopped Anakin before he got into the gunship "Sir, isn't Commander Tano coming along with us?" he asked. He had to ask since she had been with them on almost every mission since Teth all those years ago.
"She is, Rex." Anakin said before stepping into his gunship "She'll be riding along in your shuttle."
It had somehow brought a smile to his face behind his helmet as he knew if they were in the same shuttle he could at least look after her in case something went wrong "Alright, get into your gunships, let's move it!" he shouted as the group disbanded and everyone headed for their ships as the ground battle of Umbara was about to begin.
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Getting through the atmosphere was one thing, landing on the planet was something else altogether. It had been called the Shadow World for a reason, sunlight could not directly pierce the dense clouds in the atmosphere. Even with the spotlights on the gunships landing was going to be difficult with the heavy flak from the turrets.
"Sir, there's too much flak for us to land!" the pilot shouted as he as doing his best to dodge the incoming flak from the tanks
"Send in the walkers to destroy the tanks." Anakin said as the back door of the troop ship opened up and one of the clones hopped on the walker which in turn jumped out of the gunship and landed on the surface.
The walkers had been deployed and without hesitation, moved out to take out the tanks, the remaining Umbarans tried to retreat but were crushed under the walker's path on their way to the landing zone to meet up with Captain Rex and General Skywalker. The dropships landed and Skywalkers battalion was on the ground moving towards the capital city as instructed.
"Move it! Move it! Let's go!" Rex shouted as he along with Commander Tano advanced on the Umbarans dug in along the ridge. Despite being heavily outnumbered by the Republic forces, the local militia was doing a very respectable job of keeping them at bay for the time being before falling back.
"Rex, I want that trench taken so we can have a staging point for our assault on the capital city." Anakin said over his communicator
Rex still firing at the shadow warriors was able to reply "Roger that sir." He said "Alright boys! Let's secure that ridge!"
All of the soldiers began pushing forward and pushing the Umbarans back every step, what the clones hadn't encountered were the local wildlife. While they were advancing, one of the clones had apparently thought he tripped over a vine. In reality it wasn't a vine, it was in fact a tentacle that had been disturbed and lifted one of the clones out of the air and left him dangling over a the mouth of the being.
"That's just not right!" Hardcase shouted as he took his assault cannon and immediately began firing
The being had taken Rex up into the air and swung him around until he took a grenade form his pouch and threw into another tentacle Eat that he thought as the beast swallowed the grenade and blew to pieces.
Oomph Rex said as he hit the ground hard again, he felt a hand take him by the shoulder and lift him up and saw it was Ahsoka "You know for once it wasn't you throwing me to the ground this time."
She just smiled and went back to taking back the ridge "Thanks Fives." One of the clones said
"Hardcase right?" Fives asked
"That's they call me." Hardaces said gathering his cannon and moving forward to take the ridge.
The Umbarans were all but fled from the ridge, a few stragglers but nothing that the 501st couldn't handle. Anakin's battalion had secured the ridge and were preparing for the next assault on the capital itself, Rex had given him the binoculars but with the dense fog surrounding the ground, it close to impossible to make out the next twenty meters.
"The battalion is ready and able sir." One of the clones said walking up behind Rex and Anakin.
The two looked at the clone and back at each other "Very good, go get some rest Dogma." Rex said turning back around
"I'm fine sir." He replied instantly
"That wasn't a suggestion trooper." Rex replied coldly
Dogma turned back around to the rest of the battalion, Ahsoka had made her way up from the back of the pack to talk to Rex and Anakin "He's a little tight wound but he's a loyal soldier."
Anakin smirked and looked back at Rex handing him the binoculars back "He reminds me a little of you."
Even Ahsoka grinned at her master's statement, sure Rex had been created along the same time as the rest of the clones but even he had a little personality and flexibility for being in command. While by the book soldier, Rex believed that experience outranks everything in combat. One who has not led in combat before should not led in combat until physically and mentally ready, he had learned this from being under General Skywalker since Christophsis. Ahsoka had hung around Rex long enough to pick on how he leads and has even learned how to lead troops into battle with their heads held high. "Maybe, back in the day." Rex replied
While most of the Umbarans had retreated a few had actually flanked the Republic troopers without them knowing about it, they had waited for the perfect time to strike and knew if they caused confusion they could easily pin down the Republic. They took their chance while everyone was resting and let loose a technology not known by the Republic and sent after the troopers in the trenches. One of them had caught sight of it and tried to open fire but got shocked and was killed. With one the clones dead the rest began to open fire on the unsuspecting clones in the trenches, panic had ensued and no one knew what to do than grab the nearest rifle and begin firing. Blaster fire had been heard which caught the attention of Rex, Anakin, and Ahsoka.
"They're behind us!" one of the troopers shouted before trying to mount a walker but was easily cut down before he got anywhere.
No one had a clue on what to do, Ahsoka had cut down the tech that had been shocking the troopers and killing them "General, if we can over to the other side of the ridge, we can the bombers to blow this place to smitherines."
"Good plan, Rex." Anakin said "Everyone out of the trenches now and head toward the ridge!"
Everyone who had not been snuck up on had sprinted toward the ridge, Fives and Rex included "Oddball this Rex, we need a bombing run on mark zero dot two ten look for the green smoke." Rex said as he tossed a smoke grenade into the trench and cheesed it to the other side of the ridge. The Umbarans had stopped firing when they saw no more clones in the trench but immediately tried to retreat when they saw the bomber overhead drop ordnance on them.
One of the gunships had landed not far from their position, not expecting any reinforcements, Skywalker was curious to find out why General Krell was meeting him.
"Is that who I think it is?" Fives whispered to Rex
"Master Krell, what an unexpected surprise." Anakin said walking up to greet the esteemed Jedi Master
Jedi Master Pong Krell is an esteemed Jedi by his peers but his strength in combat is what concerns most people. He has the single highest casualty rate of any other General in the war, which makes Rex, Fives and the other clones a little bit uneasy of what is about to happen next.
"The Jedi Council has ordered you back to Courascant." Krell said "Effective immediately."
"Wait why?" Anakin asked
The look the clones faces behind their helmets certainly did not boost morale if their General was leaving "They wouldn't say." Krell replied
"I can't just leave my men." Anakin said
"Don't worry about it master. Rex and I can handle this." Ahsoka interjected looking back at Rex and smiling
Krell didn't want to take the chance of having a Padawan and clone take command of a battalion "I'm afraid not." He said "The council has asked that I take over from here."
This is going to be bad Rex thought to himself, "With all due respect General Skywalker, this is for the best."
"You're right Rex, as much as I don't like this, you're right. Master Krell, this is Captain Rex, my second in command, you won't find a more loyal dedicated clone. And this is my Padawan, Ahsoka Tano." Anakin said as he boarded the gunship and left.
Fives still did not have a good feeling about this but kept his mouth shut for good reason, "It really is an honor General." Rex said
"Stand at attention when you address me Captain." Krell said walking past him, Rex hadn't really been big on formalities with General Skywalker in charge but apparently Krell did.
"I want this battalion packed up and ready to move on the double." Krell said walking away from him and Ahsoka.
She scoffed at his arrogance "What a real charmer." She said
"I still don't like this one bit." Fives said to Rex and Ahsoka
"Neither do I but we have to deal with it until General Skywalker gets back." Rex stated
"I'll listen to your and Commander Tano's orders, not his." Fives said walking away
The two of them sighed and looked at each other "I have a feeling that this isn't going to end well." Ahsoka said as the 501st was ready to move out.