Dear Reader, thanks to my reviewers, Orange Potato, Freedom Phantom, CRB35. A special thanks to LLTC who helped me out with a particularly bothersome problem with this current chapter. I went around in circles about a certain scene, just not feeling that it was in character; and I feel the revised version is much more what the reader would expect to see. Lots of shout-outs in this chapter, as you will see. Enjoy. Peace, CS

Chapter 37 Threads

"Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you."

Saint Augustine

"Mission accomplished, General Skywalker," Cody announced with only the slightest tinge of self-satisfaction.

"I knew I could count on you, Commander," Anakin grinned.

"I've had plenty of experience," Cody replied. "You know, he really hasn't changed at all since ARC training. I think he's just a little more willing to . . . take a step down in front of me. You're his general. He doesn't want you to think he needs something as unimportant as sleep." The last bit was spoken with a note of humor.

Obi-wan asked the question, though he already knew the answer. "What mission are you talking about?"

"Rex," Anakin replied.

"Ah yes, well, he is a mission unto himself, isn't he?"

"He hadn't slept since we got here," Anakin explained. "I knew if I ordered him to stand down, he'd take that as an insult." A sly grin broadened his features. "So I put the commander on it. I knew he'd find a way."

"I don't think you'll be seeing him for at least twelve hours," Cody surmised. "Probably more. I stayed until he was down for the count. When I left, he was dead to the world."

"Hm, sounds like somebody I know," Obi-wan said innocuously.

Anakin merely returned the remark with a simper.

Obi-wan's wrist comm buzzed, indicating a HOPO transmission was coming in.

Cody dutifully put out his hand and held the device in his open palm.

Admiral Yularen's holographic image appeared. "Generals, we've just received word that the recovery team will be arriving in two standard days. Begin preparations to ensure a smooth transition."

"Yes, Admiral," Obi-wan acknowledged. "How large a transition window are we looking at?"

"One day, two at the most," came the reply. "Since we've already completed most of the rescue operations, the bulk of the recovery team's task will be helping to rebuild. We won't be needed for that. They're bringing a team from the sector engineering corps, so we should be able to move out quickly once they've settled in." A pause. "Fourteen SECAR {14th Sector Army] has issued a warning order for the entire fleet. They've scheduled a holocon for 1600 tomorrow afternoon. All flag officers, their firsts-in command, and intelligence officers are to be present. Something big is in the making."

"We'll be there, Admiral," Obi-wan assured him, then as an afterthought, "Oh, Admiral, has Major Kamat been able to make anything out of the information the clones downloaded from those consoles?"

"He has a team working on it," was all Yularen would allow. "He can fill you in when you see him tomorrow. Yularen out."

"Well, sounds like something's brewing," Anakin remarked.

"Isn't there always?" Obi-wan agreed.

"Did I hear you say you're leaving in a couple days?"

The three Republic officers turned to see Fels Au-Raphe approaching.

"You heard correctly," Obi-wan replied. "Anakin, Cody, this is Practo Raphaeli, Jedi Knight."

"Former Jedi Knight," Au-Raphe corrected.

Anakin and Cody exchanged cordialities with their new acquaintance, Anakin somewhat warily. The only former Jedi Knight he'd ever met had left the Order when he'd turned to the dark side.

Count Dooku.

But if Au-Raphe sensed Anakin's uneasiness, he made no indication and quickly returned to his original subject. "Two days doesn't leave us much time to catch up, Obi-wan."

"Well, I'm getting ready to go survey the work at the Taber," Obi-wan replied. "You're welcome to accompany me. We can talk on the way."

"Actually, I'm here because Au-Mikiel sent me," Au-Raphe stated. "The Doma would like to see you and General Skywalker."

"Of course." Obi-wan turned to Cody. "Make the rounds for me, would you, Commander."

"Yes, General."

With that, Anakin and Obi-wan went with Au-Raphe in the opposite direction from the Taber.

As they walked, Obi-wan tried to figure out if he should bring up the matter of Raphaeli's departure from the Order in front of Anakin. Raphaeli might consider it a private matter and not want to speak of it in front of a stranger.

A bit of introduction might be the perfect lead-in to such a discussion – if one was to take place.

"Anakin used to be my padawan," Obi-wan began.

"You don't say," Au-Raphe replied, sounding genuinely surprised. "I never would have guessed." He looked at Anakin with a grin. "From what I saw during the battle, you didn't look like a man who fights by the book."

"I like to be unpredictable," Anakin replied, then in bold fashion and much to Obi-wan's embarrassment, he asked the very question his master had dallied over. "So, why did you leave the Jedi Order?"

Au-Raphe did not appear put off by the inquiry. "It wasn't for any great or profound reason. I just never felt . . . complete as a Jedi."

"Never felt complete?" The skepticism was plain in Anakin's voice.

"I became a Jedi because I'd always been strong with the Force, ever since I was a little boy," the brother explained. "But my search has always been for spiritual fulfillment, the desire for a connection with something eternal and personal. The Force, as an energy, connects us. But it is incapable of love, compassion. I wanted to find the one who created the Force, the ultimate source of everything that exists." He paused. "And I wanted to love and serve that ultimate source."

"And you think you've found that here?" Obi-wan asked.

"I think I have," Au-Raphe replied. "I've seen things here that I've never seen any Jedi do. Maybe it's all trickery; but if so, then it's a trick I'm willing to fall for."

"What led you here?" Obi-wan asked. "This is a rather remote world."

"I used to spend hours in the Temple library on Coruscant, reading about the galaxy's religions," Au-Raphe replied. "The well-known and the obscure. I already knew about the Verviens and Austeniens when I left the Order. They were . . . on my list of religions to check out." He smiled at how unspiritual that sounded. "I think I went to over fifty places before I came here. But once I arrived, I knew I'd found what I'd been looking for."

"Master Windu was not happy about you leaving," Obi-wan stated.

Au-Raphe seemed to consider his response to this before answering. "Master Windu was unhappy about a great many things. That was one of the reasons I questioned whether or not being a Jedi was the summit of my searching. I wanted joy in addition to sorrow. I wanted laughter in addition to grief. I wanted to be allowed to have fun and not always have to . . . look at the universe through such a narrow lens where everything was seen in only a serious light." He stroked his hand over the braided beard that hung down to his chest. "I wanted to find more in meditation than my own peace-of-mind. I wanted to find communion." His voice was strong. "I believe in the same Creator these people believe in, and he isn't just an energy that wafts around the galaxies. He's a person, and I can know him."

"It does sound fascinating," Obi-wan said, a safe statement that gave no indication of his own opinion on the truth or speciousness of the matter. "And I'm glad you've found a home here. I will always consider you a Jedi, and now an Austenien."

"What did you do with your light saber?" Anakin asked.

"I still have it," Raphe answered. "It was, after all, created from the crystal I chose – or that chose me, if you please. It will always be a special part of me. But I no longer wield it."

"Why not?" This again from Anakin.

Au-Raphe smiled slightly in a self-deprecating manner. "Because the feel of power that comes from holding my light saber in my hands is something that builds upon itself and can be very hard to overcome. I am proud of my past as a Jedi, but it is the past."

"A Jedi learns that his light saber is his life," Anakin pointed out. "Past or present."

"And that is where we differ," Au-Raphe averred. "My life resides in the Creator, not in a weapon."

"If a Jedi loses his light saber, he could end up losing his life," Anakin said.

"He could lose his life anyway," came the response.

"Well, how can—"

"Anakin, I think we can save the theological discussion for some other time," Obi-wan interrupted.

"What other time? We're leaving in a few days," Anakin said.

"Anakin."

"No, it's alright, Obi-wan," Au-Raphe replied. "I enjoy such discussions."

"Yes, but I don't," Obi-wan replied. "Can we change the subject, please?"

"Very well." Au-Raphe moved easily on to a completely different topic. "The clone soldiers—they're very impressive. Not at all what I was expecting. We, of course, hear about the war and the clone army, but we'd never seen them face-to-face until they ended up here. They're all the same, but they're all different."

"Yes," Obi-wan agreed. "As the war's gone on, they've taken more and more to . . . finding ways to distinguish themselves, to show individuality."

"I find it curious—and more than a bit disturbing—that the Jedi Council would have approved of their creation," Au-Raphe noted.

"The council didn't approve of their creation," Obi-wan replied. "They were created in secret at the request of one man. You remember Sifo-Dyas?"

"Of course," Au-Raphe said. "He commissioned the clones? That seems an odd thing to do. Of course, he was always trying to see the future. He must have foreseen the war. What did he have to say about it when his secret was discovered?"

"Nothing," Obi-wan answered. "He was killed before we found out."

"Killed? By whom?"

Obi-wan went through the explanation of events as Anakin gauged Au-Raphe's reaction. But there was nothing untoward to see in his expression or posture. He seemed surprised and dismayed but well-regulated. Indeed, his concern came through after Obi-wan had told the tale, and it was not so much for what Sifo-Dyas had done as it was for the final disposition of the men who comprised the great clone army.

"So, you discovered an army of a million men, with more in the making, bred for the sole purpose of combat, and when you took this information to the Jedi Council, they decided it was best to use them for the purpose for which they were created," the brother summarized. "There is something . . . grotesque in that whole thing."

"I agree it wasn't the . . . optimal thing to do, but what other choice was there? We weren't going to terminate them," Obi-wan sighed. "And war had come. The Republic was in peril of being destroyed. The clones already existed. There were no good options." He shook his head. "We couldn't just . . . set them free. They had no means of livelihood. All they knew how to do was wage war. Where would we resettle a million men – with two million more to come—who had no experience at anything other than how to fight?"

Au-Raphe was placid. "That all sounds like a litany of excuses, a rationalization."

"Maybe it is," Obi-wan said in reply. "But it also happen to be the truth. It's not a good situation. There's no arguing that."

Here, Anakin could no longer hold his peace. "I agree: it never should have happened. The clones never should have been commissioned. But they were, and they're our soldiers now. And I won't speak for Obi-wan, but I can assure you that I couldn't have asked for a better man than Rex as my first-in-command. I don't see him as a clone. I see him as the best officer in the entire army. And when the war is over, he'll be free to do as he pleases."

Au-Raphe regarded him with interest. "Is that the plan? Once the war is over, the clones are free to leave the army? Free to go make a life on their own?"

"That's what my soldiers will be able to do," Anakin said with emphasis.

Obi-wan was more circumspect. "The Senate hasn't decided what will be done with the clones once the war is over, whether they'll be free men or not. I don't think that question is on their minds at the moment. The focus is on gaining victory."

Au-Raphe shook his head. "It amazes me that there seems to be little concern that each one of those millions of bodies has also been endowed with a soul."

"I don't think anyone is . . . denying that," Obi-wan countered. "It's just not something that tends to come up in the course of casual conversation."

Au-Raphe could see that something in his words had rankled his friend's protégé.

"Are you disturbed by what I've said, Master Skywalker?" he asked.

Anakin regarded him for a moment before returning his gaze to the path before them. "Maybe it should come up more often in the conversation," he opined. After a considerable pause, he added, "I know that not every commander views his clone troops the same way I view mine. And maybe we do tend to avoid the subject because it's uncomfortable to us. But I know this: Rex would do anything for me, and I'd do anything for him. Clone or not, he's my captain. The only captain I would want."

Au-Raphe seemed to approve of this answer. "From what I've seen of him, I can understand why you feel that way. But isn't that a bit too much . . . attachment for a Jedi?"

Anakin was defiant. "Maybe it is."

Au-Raphe chuckled. "And he lets you get away with that?"

"I've tried to temper him," Obi-wan said, beating Anakin to the reply. "He's more stubborn than a Trandosian Mudpincer."

"And better-looking, too," Anakin rejoined.

"Oh, good grief . . . "

"Generals, thank you for coming," Maree greeted the two men in the foyer of her residence. She showed them into a small but well-appointed sitting-room and bade them take a seat. "I wanted to ask this of you in person. I didn't think it would be appropriate to send someone else on my behalf." Her pause left the two Jedi wondering what the matter could be.

When the Doma spoke again, the subject was the furthest thing from their minds.

"Tomorrow, we will be burying our dead. I would like to ask if you care to come to the ceremony."

Anakin was stumped, but Obi-wan's greater experience had him well-prepared to deal with even this sort of unexpected invitation. "We would consider it our honor and privilege, Doma Maree."

"You have been our protectors and now our rescuers," Maree explained. "And the men who have been with us these past few weeks . . . they are as family to us now."

"I know they feel the same way," Obi-wan stated. He then added, "We do have a meeting on the Resolute tomorrow. What time is the funeral ceremony?"

"At sundown."

"Our briefing should be finished by then," Obi-wan stated.

"I'm very glad," Maree nodded. "Au-Raphe can provide you the details."

Was that the sun? It couldn't be morning already.

Through his closed eyelids, the light showed orange and faint. He moved his head, and the light became much brighter. No, that would never do. He rolled his head the other way, out of the ray's persistent claim of day.

By the Force, but this felt good – the cool of the sheets, the softness at his back, the clean smell of freshness.

He'd showered before hitting the sack, hadn't he? Yes, yes, he must have. He didn't feel gritty and sticky and . . . disgusting anymore. He felt human again.

He heard the twip-de-twip of some desert bird outside his window, but that was not enough to tempt him to open his eyes.

This was too wonderful.

He allowed his thoughts to slowly return to yesterday evening – or whenever it was that Cody had nose-led him back here to the Seiba Tops for some rest. Truth be told, he'd given in pretty easily. After all, Cody knew how to prevail over him in any variety of circumstances. He always had.

One would think that the two clone officers had known each other for years. But, in fact, their acquaintance was just barely over a year old. They'd met in ARC school, and in those six weeks of training, a fast friendship had developed. They'd gone from near-loathing to near-inseparable. Rex's irrepressible energy and penchant for mischief had come up against Cody's skills of observation, concentrated focus, and perseverance. Rex might have been a non-comformist, but he was a rigid non-comformist, almost as if it were his duty to be different. Cody had used that rigidity to his advantage at every turn, besting Rex when the latter least expected it, teaching him important lessons he would have never learned otherwise; and, at the same time, fostering an affinity between the two brothers that had withstood the tests—and there had been many—of the last year.

Yesterday had been no different. There had never been any question that Cody would be successful in convincing Rex to get some sleep. Rex had known there was little sense in contesting him. Cody rarely lost in any match of wits or wills between them; yet it was also a given that Cody often found Rex to be right—or at least, intriguing—in those very same matches; and therefore, he perhaps permitted Rex to sway him more than he might allow for someone else.

Whatever the idiosyncrasies of their relationship, Rex, at this moment, was glad Cody had marshaled him off to bed. And that was saying quite a bit, for Rex usually wasn't one to indulge—or even particularly enjoy—lying in bed. In fact, he usually felt as if he should be up doing something. Anything.

The sort of twilight sleep through which he was now passing was what accounted for most of what he considered regular sleep – never quite all the way under, but sufficient to feel rested. The deep sleep that had preceded it was not something he would soon enjoy again –of that, he felt certain. The threats of war demanded that some part of him always remain vigilant – even in sleep.

At one point, he heard the voices of Echo and Fives, chatting and moving further away beyond his door. As he drifted in and out of the light sleep, moving towards full wakefulness, he thought he heard March singing very off-key. There was still much going on outside his room, and he could not long bear to be isolated from it.

But for the moment, as the sporadic, half-waking world to which he was accustomed returned, he lapsed into snatches of dreams. Very often, the same dreams over and over again.

There he was, on top of that wall. That wall full of gun emplacements. The landing at Point Rain.

General Skywalker was looking at him with a knowing glint in his eye. Commander Tano had an expectant look on her face.

"Let's go, Rex!"

"Up and away!"

And then he was flying. Falling. Plummeting.

It was one thing for a Jedi to leap off the top of a 20-story wall, but to toss an unprepared clone captain off one . . .

When the event had happened in waking life, Rex had been shocked, then terrified, much to his later chagrin. He should have known he could trust them. They wouldn't have sent him down over the edge had they not known they'd be able to save him. And besides . . . General Skywalker seemed to have taken a bit of pleasure in it. Safely down on the ground, Rex had managed to scrape up his own remnant of humor.

"Next time just tell me to jump."

"Now, where's the fun in that?"

But the dream was different from the reality. In his dreams, Rex had no fear as he went plunging towards the ground.

He knew they were there to catch him. General Skywalker. Commander Tano.

The ride earthward had become something academic, something to observe, knowing that his two Jedi officers had his back. They valued him too much to let anything happen to him.

But it was not a one-sided thing – at least, he did not want it to be.

The other dream reminded him of this.

He was sitting outside a tent – a makeshift tent – the burned out ruins of some ship or other hovering on the edge of his awareness.

It was dark outside.

His task was to protect the general, though in his dream, he was never sure where the general was or what he was protecting him from.

It was the same every time. A creature—something out of a nightmare—was intent upon attacking General Skywalker. It was Rex's duty to keep him safe, and he was ready to give his life to do so . . .

"Rex . . . behind you—"

Rex turned to see only a dark, looming shadow before waking up in a sweat.

Maridun. The Mastiff Phalones.

Awake, the details came back to him in glaring clarity.

But unlike the dreams of the wall, where Rex knew his Jedi officers would save him; this dream, reflecting the reality of the event, where he had been the one responsible for protecting General Skywalker, never ceased to distress him.

He never felt the confidence to avert the danger, even though, in real life, he actually had. He feared that when the general would need him the most, he wouldn't be there. Or worse, he would be there and still unable to save him.

It was a lousy dream upon which to end any length of sleep, and so he let himself sink back once more into the cloudy depths, searching for some happier dream-enhanced recollection to cap off the round.

Not unexpectedly, his mind took him back to that same place but for only the briefest of moments. Only long enough for him to find himself pounding along beside someone, running for his life.

Bly.

It's Bly. Fek and all, we're not going to make it!

But they did make it. Rex didn't need to see that in his dream. He knew it intrinsically as part of the dream history. It was what followed next that always lifted Rex's spirit and carried him back to a time before the trouble on Maridun, before Bly had made commander, before the kama and the pauldron. When Rex was still CT-7567 and Bly was still CT-5052.

"Get the fek off me!"

"You asked for this! You're getting what—damn!—what you—ow! Fek!"

"We're going to get disqualified!" That was Cody's voice. "Damn it! We're all going to—"

The ship in which they were traveling suddenly leveled out.

"They've taken back control." CT-1944. He sounded irritated. "We're all screwed."

"This is your fault." Rex had made the accusation first, yet there had been something so proud, so arrogant in his voice. It was, after all, the overflow from what was in his heart, and he'd been quite pleased with the fact that this little cadre had managed to muff up the entire scenario . . .

Bly, before he had become Bly, glared back at him for one angry, intense moment and that was where the dream deviated from reality. In the dream, Bly burst into laughter and suddenly the group of them – Rex, Cody, Bly, Gree, and Wolffe . . . of course, the only one who'd had a name then was Cody . . . the five of them were sitting around a fire. A fire in the woods.

"We're your squad now. And when we've all gone off to our own assignments, we'll still be your squad."

Yes, this was what Rex wanted on his mind as he moved closer to wakefulness.

At last, he sat up slowly and stretched. He answered the call of nature then returned to sit on the side of bed, looking across the room at the armor that he had not worn in nearly three weeks. The armor that was the most visible symbol of the man beneath – a source of pride and identity. He was ready to wear it again, even though he recognized that doing so would draw a clear line of demarcation between the idyllic life within the Monastica and the return to the business of war. The halcyon days spent in the company of the brothers and sisters were drawing to an end. They would finish as they had begun . . . surrounded by a protective shield of armor.

He was about to stand up and regain that shield when a knock came at the door.

In a whimsical sort of way, he hoped it was Maree; but that seemed unlikely.

"Come in!" he said in a raised voice.

The door opened to reveal Cody standing on the threshold. He saw Rex sitting naked on the edge of the bed, and while this was common practice among clones—what did they have to hide? they were all the same—Cody considered that Rex might want to be a bit more discretionary, given the fact that they were quartered among the local populace – a religious one, at that. It could have been any one of them at the door.

"Good, I was coming to see if you were awake," Cody announced, stepping inside and shutting the door behind him.

"Yeah, good morning," Rex said with a yawn.

"It's afternoon, Rex," the commander informed him. "We have that briefing in two hours. That's why I'm here, to make sure you don't oversleep."

"Afternoon?" Rex was shocked. "How long have I been sleeping?"

"Almost 16 hours," Cody replied.

"You should have woken me up," Rex scolded. "You say we've got two hours?"

"Actually, less than that. We're catching a shuttle to the Resolute in about an hour, so make sure you're ready. We're leaving from outside the Taber south entrance."

"Right, right. I'll be there," Rex assured him.

"I think you might want to wear your armor—"

"What, you think I'm going to show up like this?"

Cody shook his head with a grin. "I meant your armor as opposed to the tunic. It's time to get back in military mode."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. You know, my commo and all the circuitry in my helmet is still fried," Rex pointed out. "Remind me to drop it off with supply when we're shipside. I'll just have to use a spare until they can fix it." A pause. "What have I missed in the past 16 hours?"

"Lot of the same. Recovery ops still going on," Cody answered. "The Doma did ask the generals if we'd all come to a funeral ceremony for the people who were killed in the attack. It's at sunset, so if we're back from the briefing in time, I think both generals plan to attend, and we can attend to, if we want."

"Hm," Rex nodded. "That's more than we ever get to do for our own dead. Are you going?"

"I am."

"So will I."

"Good. Better get a move on if you want to make that shuttle. General Skywalker won't be happy if he has to come looking for you," Cody warned.

"Don't worry. I'll be there," Rex assured him.

Cody gave a curt nod then departed.

Almost immediately, the door cracked open once more, and Cody craned his head around the corner. "You have a visitor." A shrewd grin tugged at his mouth. "You might want to cover up."

When Cody's face disappeared, the door opened a bit wider.

Maree looked inside.

Rex quickly drew the sheet over his lap. "Maree, oh, I wasn't . . . I wasn't expecting you."

"I've barely seen you in three days," she said, crossing easily to where he sat.

Rex noted that she seemed not in the least discomfited by his awkward situation. He imagined that, as a member of a healing order, Maree had seen many naked and near-naked bodies. Why, she had even told him quite frankly that she had already seen him naked when he had been a patient. So, it was only natural that she would not find anything erotic in discovering him in such a state.

"Commander Cody told me you'd finally given in and gone to bed," she said, sitting down beside him. "I wanted to see if you were alright."

"I'm fine," he replied. "I must have really needed that sleep. I was out for a long time."

"Cody told me you have a meeting in a few hours," Maree stated. "On your ship." A pause. "Will you be coming back?"

"Yes," he answered. "We have that ceremony for the dead."

Their conversation was very factual, very impersonal.

"And after that?"

Rex could hear the trepidation in her voice. The reality of their dwindling time was bearing down on her. She wanted to know what would happen next, but Rex had no good answers.

"I think we're here for a few more days, then we'll be leaving. Beyond that . . . I don't know." He felt completely inadequate to navigate his way through the moment. He managed a thin smile. "But you're the one for answers," he insisted. "You have a better understanding of how things happen and why."

"You give me too much credit."

They sat in silence for a long time. There was a certain comfort just being in each other's company, an understanding that words were not necessary.

At length, Rex announced, "I have to get ready for the briefing. The general will have my head if I'm late."

Maree grinned and stood up. "You make him sound very severe, but he seems perfectly amiable to me."

Her statement rested well with Rex. "You've had a chance to spend some time with him?"

"A very little," Maree replied.

"And your opinion?"

"Like I said, he seems friendly and . . . decent." There was a hanging question in her voice, and Rex did not fail to notice it.

"Is that all? You sound like you want to say something else," he prompted.

Maree was quiet for a moment as she considered how to respond. "I think . . . in his case, I can see how the Jedi prohibition against attachment might be important." She looked mystified. "I don't know what it is, but there's something in his soul that—even from just the few moments I've spent with him or observed him, I can see he is a man of great passion. The attack on his men is something he feels as a personal assault." She hesitated. "And in his presence, I can feel the Force swirling around and within him. I usually can't feel the Force to such a degree. The fact that I can feel it in General Skywalker . . . there's a lot of untapped power."

Rex listened intently. "He's a great general. A great Jedi. Unfortunately, the Jedi Council doesn't quite see it that way." He stood up purposefully, holding the sheet in front of him. "But that's a subject for another time. I have to get ready for the briefing."

Maree got to her feet. "Of course. But I'll see you this evening at the ceremony."

"I'll be there."

It seemed an inadequate parting.

He wanted to touch her, to hold her. Truly, he wanted to kiss her.

But to what end? In a few days, he would never see her again. He had to resign himself to that fact.

It was as Cody had said: time to get back in military mode.

The military part would be easy. It was what he was leaving behind that would be difficult.

**Notes: yep, three days without sleep would be pushing it, but the clones are bred to be more durable, so I like to think Rex and Co. are able to pull longer hours sans shuteye. The whole scene with Au-Raphe is just meant to stir the pot regarding the Jedi Council's decision to use the clone army. It's a difficult situation from any objective viewpoint, so I wanted to spend a little time on it and also bring across Anakin's feelings on the matter.

I do like Rex's dream flashbacks . . . yet another one of my favorite scenes is when Anakin and Ahsoka throw him off the wall. As soon as Anakin hits the ground, his first action: make sure my captain doesn't go splat. Love it! And the Jedi Crash episode . . . not just because I like that Rex has to protect Anakin, but because I am a fan of Commander Bly, and he plays a larger part in an upcoming arc.

Lastly, I'm always happy to see Cody and Rex together again. I like their interactions in the series, and it's fun to extend those interactions into the fanfic realm.

Thanks for reading!