Dear Reader, I'm not sure how this went up originally without any of my edits or my "greeting" attached! I always like to thank my readers and give them a headsup into the chapter, but the original posting of this chapter dropped all of that! So, let me add it now. First of all, thank you to my wonderful and faithful reviewers: Ms CT-782, Sued13, Scrumblenut, skyhorn, ShadowWanderer, Darth Pancake and My Guest! You reviews keep me motivated and let me know how the story is sitting with readers. This chapter is mainly about the fallout with Saber Squad . . . and a bit between Rex and Top. Fair warning for Fives' fans . . . there is a bit of a brushup between him and Top, and you may not like the result. But no worries: it all comes out good in the end - or as good as things can possibly be for poor Fives, knowing his ultimate fate. I hope you enjoy! Cheers, CS

Chapter 108 Regrets

"Creator of dreams, the man with the sun,
I'll sell you the things that this man has done.
He was a saint, a sinner rolled in one.
But I miss him now that he's gone.
Sure I feel the pain.
Deep inside, I fall like rain."

Under Moonshine
Ray Thomas

The reality hadn't kicked in yet.

He knew that. He knew he was still operating on the periphery of a terrible truth. And he knew he could not afford to let the dark filaments of that truth penetrate the armor protecting his heart. The time would come, and he would grieve – it would be a wrenching, frightening thing. Yet, the present had its own concerns which crowded out the loss, or at least distanced it so that he could carry out his current mission.

And his current mission was to find Fives.

What Top hadn't expected was that he would find Captain Rex first.

Not that Rex had been looking for Top, but rather the two men ran into each other coming around the corner—what remained of it—of the hangar Hardcase had damaged with his errant missile fire.

"Top!"

"Captain Rex! By the Force, it's good to see you, Sir. I'm sorry for the, uh, collision," Top apologized.

"Nothing to apologize for," Rex said, clapping him on the shoulder. "I heard you had come to check on your men. I'm glad I ran into you."

And from Top's perspective, his former captain did appear . . . perhaps not glad, but at least pleased in a tired, nostalgic way.

"I wouldn't have left without coming to see you first, Captain," Top replied.

"Well, you're a sight for sore eyes, Captain," Rex stated, emphasizing his former trooper's new rank. "We could have used you over the last four or five days. But I'm sure the 808th was glad you were leading them."

"We took some pretty heavy losses, but nothing like what the 501st was going through. We heard about General Krell," Top replied. "At least, he'll face justice now."

Rex let that comment go by. Very few knew that Krell was dead, and he wanted to keep it that way—for now, at any rate. He had no desire to explain that debacle again. Besides, there were topics that would be of greater importance to Top . . .

"Have you seen Jesse or Kix yet?" he asked in a neutral voice, something at which he'd become very adept.

Top nodded. "Yes, Sir. I've seen them both . . . and they told me."

Rex frowned. "I wish it hadn't turned out that way."

"Hardcase was always the most fearless of us all," Top stated. "I don't think he ever feared death – as long as he could take out a lot of the enemy with him when he went."

"He succeeded in that." Rex began walking again, and Top fell in step beside him. "He came through when we needed him."

"I, uh, I understand it was Fives' plan to take the ships up," Top ventured carefully. He had no idea how his comment would sit with his former captain, and if there was one man Top admired and revered above all others, it was Captain Rex. If Rex had made mistakes – as Jesse had implied – Top could see no way of laying blame for those mistakes on the captain's shoulders. There had to be other explanations for the 501st's near disaster.

Rex's reply was ambiguous, perhaps somewhat pained. "Yes . . . he came up with the idea. It was a good idea, even if it didn't have much chance of succeeding. I supported it to General Krell, but he shot it down." He paused a moment but went on quickly, as if he already knew what was on Top's mind. "Hardcase and Jesse were ready to give it a try anyway. I warned them against it, I didn't stop them. I probably should have."

"May I ask, Sir . . . why didn't you?"

Rex shook his head. "I don't know." It was the truth. He had no idea why he'd let disobedience run amok with his battalion. He had no idea why he hadn't tried harder to stop Fives, Jesse and Hardcase from breaking the rules in order to take out the supply ship. And he had no idea why he hadn't pinned down both Fives and Jesse at the first signs of breaking ranks. He imagined that if he looked deep enough, the answers were there. But he did not want to look. He didn't want to know, had absolutely no interest in probing the reasons behind his decisions. He only wanted to finish up business on this forsaken planet and move on. Put the entire episode behind him . . . if such a thing were possible. And he was not sure it was.

After a few seconds of walking in silence, Rex offered, "I'm sorry about Hardcase. He was a good soldier. He never wavered." A sigh. "I relied on him in this battle. I was . . . surprised when he decided to rebel at the end."

"Knowing Hardcase, he probably didn't see it as rebelling against your authority, Captain," Top said. "For him, it was most likely just the chance to do something great . . . and make you proud of him."

"I was already proud of him," Rex replied. "I'm proud of all my troopers." He gave a sideways glance at his former company commander. "You know about Pitch?"

Top nodded. "There's still a chance he might be alive."

"Don't get your hopes up, Top," Rex warned. "The battlefields we left behind are nothing but scorched earth. Everything was trampled underfoot by the Umbaran machinery. It would be a miracle if anyone is still alive out there."

Top gave a one-sided grin. "Well, after leaving Bertegad, Pitch seemed to have a newfound appreciation for the miraculous. Anyway . . . hope is all I have right now, so I'm going to hold onto it."

"You still have Kix and Jesse," Rex said.

Top cocked his head to one side in a gesture of uncertainty. "I'm not so sure about that."

Rex regarded him with the unspoken question, to which Top replied uneasily, "They both . . . neither of them seemed happy to see me. Kix was almost despondent. I found him with the mortuary team, and I could tell he was only hanging on by a thread. He told me some things that admittedly made me angry, and when I confronted Jesse, we had a bit of a row." A pause. "Jesse seemed as if . . . as if he were angry because I hadn't been here. On top of that, I told him I thought he'd given up his position as second-in-command, that he'd let Fives take his place."

Rex exhaled heavily. "Jesse's had a hard time since you left. I won't deny that. But it did come to a head here."

"Kix told me there was open dissension in the ranks, that even he questioned your authority in front of the men," Top said, hoping that Rex would refute the assertions as overstatement and exaggeration.

But what Rex said only confirmed the reports. "Things were fine until General Skywalker was called away. Once General Krell took over, that's when things began to fall apart. With Jesse already slipping in his responsibilities, the circumstances were perfect for his . . . defection." Rex frowned. These were memories he'd wanted to jettison instead of relive. "I know he—and most of the men—were disappointed and even angry about some of my decisions to follow General Krell's orders. They tried to stay on board as long as they could, but it got to be too much for them."

Top listened to this reasonable explanation and recognized it immediately for what it was. Captain Rex would not speak ill of his men. He would not lay the blame for their own bad actions at their feet. As always, he took everything upon himself. And Top knew he was hearing a hraka tale meant to cover up the breadth of bad behavior that had befallen the 501st under General Krell.

And Top, perhaps a bit more outspoken than he should have been, replied with a bit of his own anger at the indignities visited upon his former captain by members of his own squad. "They should have known better. They're not Shinies just looking for someone to follow. They're veteran troopers who knew they could trust you but decided not to."

Rex heard his words, but more than that, he heard the tone with which they were spoken, and despite the subject matter, he could not help but marvel at the officer Top had become. And once again, a feeling of pride washed over him. Top was as tough as Rex would have wanted him to be; yet, there needed to be room for a bit of understanding. Rex had learned that the hard way, and he wanted to make sure that this small bit of wisdom was passed along to Top, as well.

"A lot of things went wrong on this mission, Top," Rex replied. "It's hard for me to fault them for their mistakes if I'm going to overlook my own. Frankly, I questioned some of my own decisions – in the privacy of my own thoughts." He put a hand on Top's shoulder. "So, don't be too hard on them. The two of them will want to know you're behind them."

Top absorbed his advice. He'd already been pretty rough on Jesse, but that could still end well. How things went with Kix remained to be seen. But that still left the matter of Fives . . .

"May I ask you something directly, Captain?" Top inquired.

"Of course."

"Did Fives incite the others to disobey orders?"

Inwardly, Rex grimaced, while outwardly, he showed no sign of the difficulty that accompanied the question. However, it was a legitimate inquiry, one that deserved an honest answer.

"There were a few who rallied around him," Rex replied. "I wouldn't say he was the reason they rebelled. I think General Krell was the reason. Fives just gave them someone to follow once they'd decided they couldn't follow me anymore." A pause. "Overall, the battalion maintained its discipline. Most of the men stayed in line and followed orders . . . no matter how bad the orders were. Like I said, it was just a handful." He saw Top's expression tightening into a glower, and to be honest, he wasn't sure if he wanted to allay his former trooper's anger or heighten it. "A lot of men spoke their minds. They weren't happy with the situation, but they obeyed. There was probably more grumbling on this mission than any other I've been on."

"And Fives encouraged that grumbling?"

Rex was circumspect. "To a degree."

"And Jesse and Hardcase fell right in line behind him . . . " Top sounded disgusted.

"Not exactly," Rex replied. "Hardcase did everything I asked of him. His only moment of rebellion was going to destroy the supply ship." A pause. "And . . . if I had ordered him not to go, I don't think he would have. But I didn't give an order. I just told them they shouldn't do it. " He looked steadily into Top's eyes – eyes that were just like his own, not just in physiology but in intensity. "Jesse was another story. Like I said, he's had a hard time since you left. I guess they all have, but Jesse more than the others. While I think he resented Fives being on this mission in the beginning, it seemed, as things went on and got worse, he . . . he locked onto Fives as being someone he could rely on the same way he'd always relied on you."

Top admired his captain's forbearance. It was a trait in short supply in the ranks of the Grand Army. It was a skill, the cultivation of which was something Top felt he himself needed more of. It was something to work on in the future. But at this moment, Top felt too much insult on behalf of his former captain that he was only just able to nod his acknowledgment of Rex's assessment, with one caveat.

"Jesse always relied on himself," he replied. "It was knowing that I was there to back him up . . . that's what he's missing. I always had his six. So did Hardcase, Pitch and Kix. But . . . he and I were the leaders, and we shared that burden." He shook his head at the quandary. "If I had thought for one second that he couldn't have handled it on his own, I never would have taken the job at the 808th."

Rex eyed him with a doubtful, questioning eye.

Top signed heavily. "Well . . . maybe I would have still taken it. They needed me . . . more than I thought my squad needed me."

"Top, this isn't your fault," Rex stated. "What's going on with Jesse is something he's going to have to come to terms with. He's the battalion's second-in-command, and if he can't pick himself up and brush the dust off, then he's not going to be holding that position for much longer. But I have faith in him. He'll pull through." A small grin crept into his expression. "Maybe a good dose of Top is what's necessary."

"Well, I've already given him a shot of that," Top replied. "And in fact, I, uh . . . I was on my way to find Fives to . . . have a little chat."

Rex considered, for the briefest of moments, that he should dissuade Top from confronting Fives. But then he decided against it. Top wanted to say his piece. Fives would surely want to say his. Let the two of them work it out. For his own part, Rex held nothing against Fives. Fives had done what his nature dictated, and Rex had permitted it. Rex could have effectively stopped Fives from acting on his impulses at any time, but he'd chosen not to. That was for Rex to live with, and the most he could do was vow not to make the same mistakes again.

"Then I won't keep you," Rex replied.

"It's good to see you again, Captain," Top said. "I'll see you again before I leave to go back."

Rex nodded. "Good to see, too, Captain."

Top found Fives easily enough.

But the situation was not optimal for any kind of discussion. There were at least a dozen other troops in the vicinity, some of them working directly with Fives on decoding the Umbaran security systems.

Top stepped inside and approached Fives, who did not see him enter the room.

"Fives?"

Fives looked up from the station he was working on. His expression was neutral.

"I'd like a minute of your time, if you don't mind," Top said.

"I'm in the middle of something," Fives replied coolly.

Top recognized the turn-about as fair play. Fives was giving him the same brush off he'd given Fives earlier. But that was not about to dissuade Top.

"It won't take long."

Fives straightened up, looked his former battalion mate square in the eye – a measure meant to establish the fact that Fives would not be pushed around. The decision to engage with Top would be at Fives' discretion, and he wanted there to be no doubt about that.

"I can take a couple minutes," he agreed.

They walked out into the corridor and down its length until they were clear of the coming and going foot traffic into the facility.

Top, donning his most professional and calm demeanor, went straight to the point. "Tell me what happened here."

Fives' expression was perhaps a bit incredulous, but his response betrayed a simmering distrust. He was not a fool, and he could sense that, beneath Top's well-composed exterior, there was something boiling, and he was the focal point for it.

"What do you mean, 'what happened'?" he pushed back with ever-so-slight a challenge in his voice, as if to say, "Can't you see with your own eyes what happened? We got torn to pieces."

Top noted the tone, but he would not be distracted. "I mean, what happened to this battalion?"

"If you want to know what happened, you should ask Jesse and Kix. They can tell you," Fives replied. "They're your squad mates. I think you'd rather hear the truth from them."

"I've already talked to them, and they are only willing to tell me bits and pieces. I know there's more to the story, and I think you're the one who has the answers," Top said firmly.

But Fives did not feel like getting between squad mates. What went on between the members of Saber Squad was not his business. "If they aren't willing to tell you everything, what makes you think that I would have any more information? Look, maybe your best bet is to go talk to Rex."

Something in this exchange and Fives' defiant manner began to get under Top's skin. "Rex? Don't you mean, Captain Rex?"

Fives was dismissive. "Rex doesn't get bogged down about rank and position. He doesn't care about that osik."

Top took a step closer, the threads of his accommodation beginning to unravel. "No, you don't care about rank and position. Captain Rex does and always has. He would never show the kind of familiarity and insubordination you've shown." Another step closer. Top knew he was now feeling the desire for a confrontation, despite his better judgment. "The captain might let you get away with disrespecting him and his authority, because he has a soft spot for you; but don't expect the same treatment from me."

Fives shook his head. "I don't have time for this." He began to walk away but felt a hand wrap tightly around his arm.

"I don't think you want to walk away from this conversation, Fives," Top warned.

Fives raised his eyes and regarded him with a cautionary look of his own. "You're not my commanding officer on this mission."

"Hraka. I've heard how you treated your commanding officer," Top replied. "He deserved better."

Fives' sense of indignation began to rise. "Who are you to come here and say that? Rex and I have an understanding. And you and me . . . look, we're both ARC troopers. Let's act like it."

"We might both be ARC troopers, but I'm still a captain and you're still a corporal." He leaned close in what was, without question, a threatening gesture. "And you can be sure . . . I care about rank."

Fives felt his hackles go up. "I think you want to take your hands off me."

Instead, Top tightened his grip. "Don't try me. I come here to find my squad in ruins and the battalion practically destroyed. I hear rumblings about the men being encouraged to disobey orders. And the only two things that I can think of that are different from previous battles are General Krell and you. So, tell me this is all because of General Krell. Because if I find out that any of it is due to you, there's going to be some serious trouble between us."

Fives jerked loose and raised his chin. "I'm the only reason this battalion wasn't completely wiped out! Rex's hands were tied. So, we had to take matters into our own hands! If it weren't for me and Jesse and Hardcase, the Republic would have lost this battle! So, don't come here thinking you're going to tell me what we did was wrong! This isn't your battalion anymore! You don't speak for them! You left and I came! I didn't ask for this assignment! ARC HQs sent me here, and I did what I had to do—"

Top grabbed him by the breast plate and slammed him up against the wall with such force, Fives felt the wind go out of him for a moment.

"And for all your fekking brilliance, what do we have to show for it?! One of my squad mates is dead, another is missing! The battalion is practically destroyed! So, what fekking good did your brilliance do?!"

Fives was still, frozen under the weight of the accusations. His reflexive reaction to push back against the arms pinning him to the wall was subjugated by something he had not expected to feel: a pang of guilt, the sting of a harsh rebuke. But then the anger began to boil. What had happened to Hardcase and Pitch – and the battalion as a whole – was not his fault. He'd not been the one who'd followed Krell with blind loyalty. He'd not been the one to repeatedly follow flawed orders. No! He'd been the trooper who'd procured the Umbaran fighters in the first place. He'd conceived the plan to destroy the supply ship. He's salvaged a battle effort that had been in its death throes.

He tensed his muscles, ready to engage. But it occurred to him, suddenly and with quite a bit of surprise, that Top, despite their physical sameness, was operating on sheer rage and adrenaline and would most likely prevail in any kind of fight. A physical confrontation was not what Fives wanted. In fact, he wanted nothing more than for the whole thing to end. He pushed Top forcefully away.

"I did what I had to do," he ground out. "I did everything I could to save this battalion – including your squad mates." His voice rose a notch. "You weren't here. You have nothing to say about what happened. Go back to the 808th. I'm sure they can use your leadership." He turned and began marching back down the corridor as some faces appeared at the far end, drawn by the sound of shouting.

A yank on his shoulder spun him around, and he barely caught a glimpse of Top's fist before it made contact with his temple, sending him sprawling to the floor.

Top stood looking down at him. "I told you, I'm not Captain Rex. You're not going to pull that hraka on me. And next time you mouth off to me – if there is a next time – I'll knock your fekking block off. Got it, Corporal?"

With that, he left the facility.

Emerging into the Umbaran night, he felt his heart pounding against his ribcage. He was breathing hard, and every muscle felt coiled, ready to spring. As he headed back towards his ship, he forced himself to take deep breaths and slow his pace across the tarmac.

The release that had accompanied his striking Fives had still left him with so much pent-up anger and energy that he could feel his arms and legs trembling against the strain.

"That bastard doesn't know what he's cost me, what he's cost all of us . . . " he fumed, talking only to himself as he headed towards his ship. He needed to get away from everyone. As the truth of what had befallen the 501st began to sink in, the sense of loss threatened to overwhelm him. "Hardcase didn't mean the same to him as he did to me. Pitch didn't mean the same to him as he did to me. And he doesn't give a fek about the fact that he's been lucky enough to work with the greatest clone officer in the entire GAR. He's ruined it. He's ruined it all. I fekking know he's . . . he's ruined it.

His voice caught in his throat. He quickened his pace. His thoughts turned to Hardcase. "You can't be gone. You can't be. Fekking idiot. You were always a fekking idiot." The night seemed close around him, the air heavy and oppressive. "You knew better. You knew better than to follow Fives. You all knew better." He was sinking quickly into a dangerous mire of morose thoughts, and he knew he had to stop. But how could he escape the pain? Or at least diminish it? "Pitch. Pitch has to be alive. He has to be." He felt the sting of tears that he was fighting very hard to keep at bay. "But he isn't. They—they would have found him by now."

He was tempted to return to his hatred of Fives, knowing that it could supplant—at least, for the moment—the agony of what he was going through. But that would, it seemed to Top, short-change his fallen squad mates. It was them who deserved his thoughts and attention, his grief and his recollections.

But that would not do, either. For the one truth he could not escape was the one truth that had accosted him from moment he'd first landed. A truth only further driven home by Jesse, Fives, Kix . . . and even Captain Rex.

He'd not been here.

Fives was right. The 501st wasn't his battalion anymore. He'd made a decision to leave, and now the 501st was no more Top's battalion than it was Fives'. Maybe even less, because Fives had at least been tasked to augment the 501st. Top did not regret his decision to go to the 808th. He never would regret it. But, while he had blamed Fives for the loss of Hardcase and Pitch, Jesse's abdication of leadership, and Kix's near mental breakdown, he could not escape the fact that whatever had happened-and would happen—in his absence was beyond his ability to influence.

". . . for all your fekking brilliance, what do we have to show for it?! One of my squad mates is dead, another is missing! The battalion is practically destroyed! So, what fekking good did your brilliance do?!"

The words had been directed at Fives, but they might as well have been reflective of himself.

He was coming to his ship, but instead of going to the ramp, he walked past to a place in the Umbaran fence line that had been taken out by a massive fallen tree. Fives' and Hardcase's work, unbeknownst to him. There was a small wooded area just beyond where the fence line would have been. The place was empty. He could feel the pressure rising up his throat, the closer he drew, until he ran the last few meters, stopping and balling his fists, bursting out with a scream of anguish that devolved into the sort of choked sobs that a strong man never allows but only gives into.

The grief was for his fallen squad mates, but not only them. It was for the mistakes he laid on his own shoulders. It was for the destruction of the banner battalion. It was for Jesse and Kix, whom he considered as good as lost, given their reaction to him. It was for the loss of a dream in which the Jedi were all noble despite their personal flaws. It was for the muddying of a cause that had once contained a clear and worthwhile goal. And it as for the agonies his former captain must have endured and that would now remain forever silent. There was the stoic courage of a man forced to move on and mourn only in private silence. Captain Rex would never give in to his emotions the way Top was doing at this moment, and the latter found something profoundly unfair about that. Yet, he knew it was the way the captain operated, and in many ways, it was something to be admired. When everything else was collapsing around him, Rex was the bulwark upon which disaster itself crumbled. It just didn't seem right that an officer so good, so conscientious, should suffer such betrayal; for in Top's mind, there was no question that betrayal was exactly what it was.

He slunk back against the fallen tree and slid down to sit on the ground. He felt as if every last bit of his strength had trained out of him. The thought kept going through his mind that, less than an hour ago, he'd come here believing that his squad was still intact. He hadn't known it for certain, but he'd believed that to be the case in as much as he could not fathom the loss of a squad mate. Now, in such a short space of time, he'd been disavowed of that belief. Two squad mates were dead, and the two that remained were in shambles. And this had all happened in his absence . . .

He had to pull himself together. He might be known for feeling and showing his emotions more than other clones, but if he let himself wallow in this grief, he risked sinking so deep that he might never recover. Yet, he could not – would not – allow the loss of his squad mates be tucked away without mourning. Where was the line? He didn't know. The anger that had animated his actions with Jesse and Fives was now passed, leaving him with nothing but the pain.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He hadn't heard anyone approach, a failure for which he would normally berate himself, but not this time.

He raised his head to see Kix crouched down in front of him.

Neither man said a word. At length, Kix lowered his head and leaned in to adopt Top's signature gesture of forehead-to-forehead. He could hear and feel Top's attempt at self-control, but he also knew his brother well enough to recognize that the pain had finally caught up with him.

"Top," he said quietly, drawing him into an embrace.

Top had no qualms about showing tears in front of KIx . . . or any of his squad mates. He'd done it before. It happened rarely, but when it did, he never tried to hide it. And he did not try now. If something was terrible enough that it moved him to tears, he would let the emotion flow. He was known for his toughness, and deservedly so; but there was a soft underbelly. Anyone who knew him knew that it took a lot to drive him to such an emotional display; so when those moments came, they were treated seriously by those who witnessed them.

And Kix shared in his grief this time. They were both facing the same losses.

A long time passed, then Kix spoke quietly. "I forget sometimes." A pause. "You're not as tough as you act."

Top drew back and leaned against the tree trunk, wiping a gloved hand below his eyes. "I guess not." He swallowed and took a deep breath to steady his emotions.

Kix moved to sit beside him.

"I should have been here," Top groaned. "I could have stopped Hardcase. I could have protected Pitch." He looked askance at his squad mate. "I could have protected you."

"It's enough that you're here now," Kix replied.

"But I could have stepped in and stopped Jesse and Hardcase. I could have stopped Fives." Top leaned forward and put his head in his hands as his composure began to fray again.

Kix put a hand on Top's back. "I have no doubt you could have stopped them. And believe me, Big Brother, I wish you'd been here. But no one's going to blame you for not being here."

"Jesse does."

"Jesse hasn't been right since you left," Kix replied. "He may have encouraged you to take the job, but he's never gotten over it. That's not your fault, though. You did what the GAR needed you to do, and Jesse needs to figure it out for himself."

Top grunted his skepticism, but he spoke with the affection he held in his heart for the man beside him. "LB's wisdom?"

Kix inclined his head to one side. "For what it's worth."

Top was sincere. "It's worth a lot. You've always had a better conscience than the rest of us."

Kix absorbed this in silence and did not speak for several seconds. At last, he ventured in a quiet voice, "I wouldn't be here if it weren't for the rest of you—"

"Enh, enh. We were the ones who almost destroyed the squad—"

"You were also the ones who saved me," Kix said emphatically. "And . . . you may not have been here to save Hardcase and Pitch, but . . . there's still me and Jesse."

Top regarded him with an unreadable expression. "Are you saying you want me to come back?"

"I'll always want you to come back," Kix replied. "But I don't want you to go against your own judgment. You know where you belong. I may not be happy about it, but I won't question it."

Several minutes passed during which the two men sat in silence, listening to the sounds of the Umbaran forest before them and the bustling airbase behind them.

At length, Top spoke. "I decked Fives."

Kix found this almost humorous. "I hope you didn't hurt him," he remarked.

"Not too bad," Top sighed. "I was just so angry . . . on behalf of the captain and because of what happened to the squad. You know . . . Hardcase was my other half. And Pitch was the most good-natured clone in the entire GAR."

"I know," Kix replied. "It was that way from the very beginning."

"That seems like such a long time ago, now."

Kix nodded once. "But, at the same time, it seems like just yesterday."

#####

Dear Reader, you might have guessed . . . I'm getting ready to segue into Saber Squad's back story. I've been hinting at it for, oh, 60 chapters or so. Time to get it out there. It won't be as long as the ARC arc, but it will take up several chapters. I hope you enjoy it. At its conclusion, we return to the end of Umbara and its aftermath, them move straight into thte "chip" arc with Fives' unfortunate demise. I am inserting it here, because . . . well, just not quite ready to say good-bye to Hardcase and Pitch.