AN: This is between 9 months to a year after the first ficlet

Rex hated Geonosians due to the deaths of his brothers their clankers caused during the war, but his true brothers had been gathering in secret under the banner he was providing while concealing it from the Empire and the bugs weren't his enemy anymore.

No, his enemy was the twisted remnant of what he once served with honor.

But the Empire had lost what honor the Republic held dear, and any enemy of the Empire was a possible ally.

Besides, they needed the help.

The lone Victory-class Star Destroyer that was the centerpiece of the small fleet he was gathering, mainly formed of Acclamator-class and a pair of Venators and a mix of corvettes and smaller craft, was already waiting for a restocking when they took it after Utapau. Of course, with the source of most of those ships being those the Empire had abandoned for newer ships left them all a little worse for the wear and needing some repairs.

He had ordered the fleet to Mustafar in order to find out what happened to Skywalker after finding Ahsoka left for dead, and well, nearly actually being dead, he had begun looking for the remaining Jedi he had served under and he was officially listed as murdered there by the Confederate leadership while acting as bodyguard for Padme Amidala who was to engage in peace talks of some sort.

Whatever had happened before that was apparently highly classified, and he couldn't figure out why.

Commander Gizor Dellso, the self proclaimed last-commander of the confederacy, was already on the planet, and he had little in the way of the manpower needed for what he wanted while Rex needed the technology the geonosian had and the materials for repairs, not to mention what information he could find on the platforms records.

"Denal," Fiver yelled from across the landing platform, "General Skywalker was here, his fighter is still on a landing pad on the other side of the facility."

He nodded in response as his mind whirled.

If the senator was here, then why the hell would Skywalker have used his fighter.

"Call the ship, have them send a pilot down to retrieve it," Rex ordered before turning to face the Slicer, "Is Artoo in his slot?"

"No sir."

He nodded, "Make sure to look for the astromech or his remains, he may have been a droid, but he was one of ours."

"Yes sir."

He turned back to face the bug.

"Commander, then we'll do this, you help us repair our ships and we'll help you get his hunk of junk back online."