Precipice by shadowsong26
Part 4: Commander
Commander: Chapter 12
It really was remarkable how much the situation-and with it, Rex's overall mood-had improved in just a few hours.
Dr. Naar was, so far as Rex was concerned, a kriffing miracle worker. It had taken a few hours, and a couple of different kinds of medication, but he'd gotten the General stabilized, and his fever under control, if not completely broken yet. He'd, of course, done a much better and more thorough job of cleaning and dressing the stump than Rex had managed, as well as taking care of all the more minor, incidental injuries from the fight and falling down the mountain. There was, Naar had determined, no serious or lasting specific damage from exposure, which was even better news. On the other hand, the hypothermia, along with the delay in treatment, had exacerbated and complicated everything else. And stable didn't mean completely out of the woods just yet.
Still, the General already looked worlds better, and was resting at least somewhat comfortably on a pallet they'd set up in one of the clinic's storerooms. Dr. Naar had assured Rex that, because of the value of some of the equipment and medicines he kept in there, access was tightly controlled, minimizing the chance that another patient would see and expose them when the clinic opened for its normal working hours.
There was only one door-good and bad, for their current safety; but necessary for the room's regular use-but there was a back way out of the clinic itself, just in case. Rex had taken the time to go over the route in detail after Dr. Naar had shown it to him. He figured, even carrying the General, he could make it in about thirty seconds. If he had to. Which, at least in this brief, badly-needed moment of optimism, seemed unlikely, but it was better to be prepared.
In short, things were going well for the moment; enough so that Rex had been able to relax a little, drifting into a shallow doze while he watched the door. Not quite sleep, of course; not in unfamiliar territory with no real backup and someone to protect, but rest of a kind.
Time dripped by like that for half a local morning. Dr. Naar checked in on them twice, between other patients-each time tapping on the door in a simple pattern the two of them had developed the night before, and waiting for Rex to respond before actually coming in.
And then, maybe two standard hours before local noon, Rex's comlink beeped, pulling him instantly to full awareness. The message, to his profound relief, proved to be from General Kenobi, at last-the Commander had made contact, and they were on their way.
"Good news?" General Skywalker asked softly, from the other corner of the little room.
Rex jerked a little in surprise and looked up. "Sorry, sir," he said. "Didn't realize you were awake." Which was-well, probably a good thing at the moment, actually; an indication that, for once, the General was behaving himself when sidelined after an injury.
"Mm." He took a breath, then started to push himself up.
"Sir-" Rex started to object, then paused, reconsidering. The General was doing better, and there wasn't anything he was likely to damage more if he sat against the wall instead of lying on the floor. Especially if he decided he wanted water, or something of the kind. Pick your battles. This one isn't worth the argument right now. "Need a hand?" he asked instead.
He shook his head. "No, I got it." With care, and with visible effort, he managed to sit up and resettle, leaning against one of the shelves. "What…" He paused, cleared his throat briefly. "What's the message?"
Yeah. Good call. Rex passed him a canteen, which he accepted with a nod of thanks. "Commander Tano found General Kenobi. They're on their way here now." Though they'd probably wait to actually approach until dark. Safer for all concerned.
The General brightened; and actually managed a genuine, if rather brief, smile. "Very good news," he said, then paused again. "...where is here, exactly?"
"Clinic," he said. "Commander knows the doctor. It's safe."
"All right," he said, then carefully set the canteen down. His hands were steady; good. "How long've I been out?"
"Since yesterday."
He nodded, then frowned, thinking for a minute; then his eyes widened briefly and he sat up a little straighter. "We need to go."
"What?" Rex said, automatically reaching for his pistol. "Is-why? What happened?" If the clinic was compromised, or if-
"No, nothing-not that," he said hastily. "Sorry, sorry. But we have to-I have to get back. To the farm."
"Wh-" And then Rex did the same mental math, caught on to what had his General so upset.
Leia's birthday.
"Oh," he breathed, then shook his head. "Sir, you're still-you need to stay here. Look, give me a couple hours, I can set up a secure frequency, and-"
"No," he cut him off. "I have to be there. I promised."
"Given the circumstances, I'm sure she'll understand," he said. Not that they would probably tell her the full circumstances-that would only upset her-but she'd fill in the blanks. She was a smart kid.
The General glowered at him. "She's six," he said. "All she'll understand is that Daddy wasn't there when he said he would be. I'm not-I'm not doing that to her. I miss too much already, I won't-I can't miss this."
Rex thought General Skywalker wasn't giving her nearly enough credit. Then again, he wasn't exactly an expert on kids. He and his brothers had been-different. The General might actually be right here.
"You're still hurt," he tried instead. "You can't stand."
"I'll manage," he said, through gritted teeth.
"You have a fever." Rex was guessing on that, but the General's eyes were still glassy, and he was still a little flushed.
"I don't care."
Yeah. He should've known that wasn't going to work. Once General Skywalker was this set on something, especially where Leia was concerned, he couldn't be persuaded out of it. Not by Rex, anyway; or at least not for reasons of his own health or safety. And Rex couldn't think of any other argument that had even half a chance of working.
Which left him with two options. Option one, he could drug him-or, rather, have Dr. Naar drug him, since he had no idea what meds he'd already been given, and that was not a risk he could take.
That was the smart play. Objectively speaking, it was probably the best thing Rex could do right now. It would keep him safe, within range of medical attention if some unexpected new complication came up. And it would, at least temporarily, keep General Skywalker from actively doing something incredibly stupid and dangerous.
But that was assuming that they could keep him under until General Kenobi got here and talked some sense into him, which wasn't guaranteed. And if he did wake up, he'd just try again, this time slipping past Rex rather than letting him help. General Skywalker was an extremely resourceful man when he put his mind to it. He'd find a way.
And he would never trust Rex again.
I will never betray you or let you fall again. I promise.
Which led to option two-Rex could go along with this mad scheme, try to control the situation and keep his General from hurting himself worse along the way, and then get him back here as quick as possible.
And deal with an extremely unhappy General Kenobi once he did.
"All right," he said, taking the lesser of two terrible options. "All right. But if we do this, we do this my way, all right?"
"Fine," he said. "As long as we go."
"We're going," he said, reluctantly. Just as soon as he figured out the best way to do it without getting caught.
Getting out of the clinic wouldn't be too hard, at least. They could use the route he'd already mapped out. Getting through the town to the ship, though-that might be harder. Even if they hid the General's face, they couldn't well hide his condition, and hauling an obviously sick and wounded man through the streets would draw attention (as it should; but the alternative was even riskier in the long run). And it was too early in the day to pretend he was just drunk.
There was an alternate path they could take; the clinic was close enough to the edge of town that it was possible to avoid the issue, skirting along the edges to get back to the ship. Problem was, that route was indirect, and significantly longer, and a long route meant more exposure, more stress, more danger of another kind.
In the end, he decided it was better to take the route that had less chance of either of them getting arrested, and maybe bringing trouble down on Dr. Naar and his clinic. The patch job on the Waterfall would hold up well enough, so he didn't need to worry about that, at least. He and the Commander had done a damn good job, given the constraints they'd been working under. For a moment, he almost wished they hadn't, and he could honestly tell the General that they couldn't go. But, on the other hand, that would mean that if their presence here was somehow compromised, they wouldn't have a way off-planet.
Still, the ship wasn't entirely repaired; not yet. Maybe he'll be sidetracked wanting to finish fixing it, and that'll delay him 'til the others get back. Rex didn't think it was all that likely, not when anything involving Leia was at stake, but there was always a chance.
"All right," he finally said again, then stood up. "I'm going to check if we're clear, then help you up."
The General nodded and leaned back against the shelf again.
Rex very carefully opened the door a crack, more than half-hoping that Dr. Naar would be right there to derail this mad escape plan.
But, of course, he wasn't that lucky. The doctor was busy in the other room, and not in position to see and stop them.
He took a deep breath, and tried one last time. "Sir, is there anything I could say that would talk you out of this?"
Behind him, the General sighed but, tired and in pain though he was, he didn't snap this time. "No," he said softly. "I miss too much. This is-this is what I have. What she has. I can't...this is what we have."
Well, it was worth a shot. So much for the situation improving.
He nodded. "Okay," he said. He turned back from the door to find that the General, while not trying to stand on his own, had already unhooked most of the various monitors Dr. Naar had set up and pulled his IV. Rex found some gauze on one of the shelves and taped it over the sluggishly-bleeding insertion point.
"Thanks," he said.
"Yeah." He carefully crouched down, positioning himself under the General's arm, ready to help him get vertical. "Tell me if it gets to be too much, and we'll stop." He paused, watching General Skywalker's eyes for a minute, then added, "Also, I'm driving."
The General looked like he might argue for a moment, then nodded. "Ahsoka's doctor gave me too damn many painkillers. You're driving."
Well. At least that was one argument they didn't have to have.
"Ready?" he said, once he was sure he had a decent grip on his General.
He nodded. "Ready."
"Brace yourself," Rex said, then slowly stood up.
The General came with him, grabbing onto the shelf for support. He paled a little, but remained conscious. "I'm good," he said, voice tight with pain but clear and lucid. "Let's go."
Rex nodded once, then eased him towards the door, checked again to see if anyone was coming, and began picking their careful way out of the clinic and back towards the Waterfall, praying to every deity he'd ever heard of that he wasn't making a terrible mistake.
Original Author's Notes: Anakin, stop making poor life choices. ::sigh:: On the other hand, we'll get to see Leia again very soon? We're getting close to wrapping up this arc, I think! Maybe two or three more chapters. I did not expect it to go on this long, wow... Anyway, thanks for sticking with me, and I'll see y'all next week! 3
~shadowsong