Dear Reader, I can wish you an early Happy New Year. Thank you to my reviewers: Sued13, Akira Hayama, CT7567Rules, and Scrumblenut. As always, your reviews are greatly appreciated! Well, this chapter is a bit long and not much action. It's all about getting from point A to point B (in other words, getting Tup from the battlefield to Kamino). Admittedly, I had to rewrite some of the scenes, because they just made no sense to me. Why would Shaak Ti insist that Fives stay on Kamino because he might have been exposed to a pathogen, yet Rex doesn't have to stay? What about all the other hundreds of clones Tup lives and breathes with? So, I changed the underlying reason for making Fives stay. Now, I realize some readers may not like that reason , but I thought it made more sense.
Also, there's a reason why I wanted Rex's parting from Fives to be a little on the cool side . . . make the upcoming tragedy all the more poignant. Well, I hope you enjoy! Cheers, CS
Chapter 114 Questions Without Answers
"We hear only those questions for which we are in a position to find answers."
-Nietzsche
When Rex arrived in the hangar, General Skywalker was already there. So was Fives.
General Skywalker got straight to business. "The bridge received a distress call from the shuttle after they'd cleared the ring but before they jumped into hyperspace. They said they were under attack, and then their comm went dead."
"Destroyed?" Rex asked reluctantly.
"No," Anakin replied. "We're still picking up the tracking stretch, but we need a closer look."
"There could be survivors," Fives offered, but he did not sound convinced. In fact, he sounded as if he were expecting the worst.
"Let's get going," Anakin said, moving towards the waiting shuttle.
As they made to board the craft, Rex heard someone call out to him.
"Captain Rex!"
He turned to see Jesse approaching across the hangar.
"Sir, I want to go with you," he stated. "Kix was on board that ship."
Rex understood Jesse's concern, but he had to decide in the best interest of the battalion. "Jesse, I need you to stay here. Both General Skywalker and I will be out there. You're in charge while we're gone. If something happens to us, I need you back here."
Jesse appeared as if he were about to protest, but instead he swallowed down his disapproval and nodded once. "Understood, Sir."
Rex put a hand on Jesse's shoulder. "If he's still there, we'll find him. We won't come back without him."
He only hoped it would not be a futile mission.
"General Skywalker, you're nearing the coordinates where we lost contact with the shuttle."
The announcement came from Admiral Yularen, but Anakin did not need the benefit of long-range scanners to know what his own eyes were telling him.
"We can see it now," he replied gravely. "It doesn't look good."
That was the truth.
There were a number of blast marks on the shuttle's hull, and the debris field was what could be expected judging from the outward damage. But more troubling were the rash of razor-edged gashes scarring the fuselage.
"Looks like some buzz droids got on the hull and opened it right up," Rex remarked, sounding perhaps a bit more callous than he'd intended. But the prospect of what they would face once they entered the dead ship necessitated a hardening of his sensibilities.
Fives was wracking his brains, trying to decipher a reason behind the destruction. "Strategically, this attack doesn't make any sense," he said pensively. "We're a decent way beyond the FEBA here. Most of the Separatists' forces are concentrated closer to the ring. Why chase down a shuttle when they've got bigger and more dangerous targets closer to the station? There's no rhyme or reason here."
Anakin wasn't so sure. "Unless they were after something specific." The tone of his voice gave away his line of thinking.
"Tup . . . " Fives completed the thought.
"I'm going over there," the general announced.
"And we're coming with you," Rex stated. "Just because we can't see any enemy ships doesn't mean they aren't still around here."
Anakin cast Rex a wry grin, his way of easing the tension. "I wasn't going to argue with you, Rex. I think it's better for all of us to go."
Better, as it turned out, was a relative term.
There was no number of men that could lessen the bone-chilling horror of what the trio found inside the wrecked hull. No comfort that could dissipate the macabre weightless tomb in which they found themselves.
The red from the alarm lights still washed the interior in a hellish foggy glow as the onboard gases, poisonous and deadly, seeped from damaged systems, spreading like a fine mist throughout the cargo bay.
Bodies of dead clones floated eerily at every turn. The entire security detail. Members of the medical team, frozen stiff, the blaster wounds on their bodies colored with splotches of blood turned to red ice.
"Are they all . . . " Fives voice fell off, as he passed one blank and staring face after another.
"Dead," Rex said. "All of them . . . Marshal, Jax, Tempo . . . "
Anakin gently turned one of the dead towards him, so he could see his face. A face like so many others, yet within the Force, fully distinct, as far as Anakin was concerned.
"Bird," he announced flatly, allowing his gaze to linger a second longer on the medic's vacant eyes. A moment later, he moved further down the chute and called out, "Over here. This is Tup's gurney."
Rex and Fives joined him.
"The restraints have been cut," the general noted.
Rex was baffled. "The clankers took Tup? Why?"
"They must be responsible for whatever's happening to him," Fives suggested.
"It's possible," Anakin conceded. "All I know is they went to great lengths to capture him. That means something."
"We have got to get him back," Fives insisted forcefully.
"Don't worry," came the confident response from General Skywalker. "We'll find a way."
"General," Rex interrupted in a subdued voice. "Did you see Kix among the dead?"
"No." Anakin turned to Fives. "Fives?"
"No, I didn't see him," Fives replied. "It's . . . it's possible he got blown out into space. Or, it looks like the depressurization was slow . . . he might have drifted outside." He realized how terrible both possibilities sounded, and now he wished he'd just left his answer at not having seen him.
"General—" Rex began, but General Skywalker cut him off with gentle firmness.
Anakin knew that Kix and the rest of Saber Squad held a special place of esteem for Rex, and so he handled the situation with the requisite tact. "We can't stay out here. Our oxygen is running low, and we've got a new problem to solve now with Tup's kidnapping. The Justice will send out a recovery team. They'll bring them all home."
And that was that. Rex would not argue. He would not be bitter or angry. He would not let his focus be muddled. The decision had been made, and he would support it. He would find a way to tell Jesse the bad news . . .
The trio headed back towards the gaping hole in the port side through which they'd entered, but just on the precipice of stepping out into open space, General Skywalker stopped. He slowly turned back towards the inside of the shuttle.
"There's someone else out here besides us," he stated.
"The enemy?" Fives asked, unholstering his sidearm.
"I don't—"
"What's that sound?" Rex cut off his commanding officer.
"I hear it, too," Fives proclaimed suddenly. "Like someone tapping."
"It's coming from back up the chute," Anakin announced.
There was a definite, faint tapping or scratching sound that had not been there before. Moving up the chute, the sound became, while still feeble, loud enough to pinpoint where it was coming from.
A door with a narrow glass window.
Fives peered through the glass. Inside, he could just make out the distinctive outline of clone armor.
"Fek and all! Someone's in here!" He unlocked the door and pulled it open. The blue triangle on the breast plate and medic symbol on the shoulder made clear the identity.
"It's Kix!" He blurted out. As he maneuvered him out of the storage room, he saw the medics right hand clenched around a bundle of spare stabilizing rods. It was these rods striking lightly against the storage room walls and door that had made the sound the others had heard. The leaking gases inside the ship had at last created enough displacement to cause slight movement within Kix's prison, turning the rods into crude emergency signals.
But was this deliverance coming too late? Kix's gloved hand was frozen tight. His entire body was rigid. He was not responding to insistent repetition of his name.
"I—I can't tell if he's still alive," Fives fretted. "The mediscan is still on the shuttle—"
"We have to get him out of here," Anakin said. He began moving Kix down the chute. "Hurry. If he's not frozen to death, he'll be out of oxygen. He may be our best clue to what happened here."
Jesse had remained in the command center. He'd monitored the shuttle's progress towards the doomed medevac, and he'd spent the last fifteen minutes agonizing over the silence. There had been no contact since General Skywalker's party had left the shuttle to investigate.
And now, Jesse feared the worst. Experience had taught him that the more time that passed without a report, the more dire the truth would be.
Then the voice of General Skywalker came over the comm.
"We're heading back to the Justice." He sounded stern and even a bit angry. "Have a medical team meet us in the hangar. We're bringing back one who needs immediate attention. The rest are dead, as far as we could tell. Send out a recovery team. I'll give a full report when we're in a secure location."
Jesse was tempted to interject and inquire after Kix. But he'd learned his lesson well on Umbara. Every decision, every moment could not be about him, his whims, his opinion, his squad mates. He would never go back to what he'd become on that dark world. He owed that much, at least, to the memory of Hardcase. He was determined to be the leader Hardcase had always envisioned him to be, embodying the courage that had been his squad mate's trademark, and carrying with him Hardcase's sacrifice as a marker of the best kind of soldier. He would give only his best to his captain and commanding general. He would never allow his loyalty to fall to the wayside again.
"I'll meet them in the hangar, as well," he announced.
On his way there, he could not help but begin the bargaining. How had he, a clone with no sense of the mysterious—despite having experienced firsthand things he could not explain—come to a point where he was bargaining with a power he did not believe in over something he considered foolishness.
"Let it be Kix . . . please let it be Kix who survived. Save him just—just one more time. I can't imagine going through the rest of this war without him. Whatever you want, I'll do it. Just let it be him, and let him make it."
He had no idea of whom he was imploring. It seemed all nothing more than internal dialogue – a conversation with himself. Except he knew that he did not have the power to do the things he was asking. He could comfort himself by imagining that it was the Force he was imploring, but what did he know of the Force, other than what he observed in the Jedi generals? He was utterly convinced that General Skywalker was the greatest Force-wielder among the Jedi, yet the general's demeanor and decisions did not seem to be of any greater moral clarity or purity because of his power with the Force. No, the things that were great about General Skywalker—his devotion to his men, his skill in battle, his knack for just the right kind of humor under the worst circumstances, his willingness to lead the way—these were his strengths irrelevant of the Force. The Force only improved that which he already possessed.
But it did not make him holy or pious or wise.
The Force was not a god – not in the sense that, say, the Verviens and Augustinians regarded their god. And that god seemed as foreign and unlikely as any other god, in Jesse's estimation. Proof of a higher intelligence did not necessarily mean the existence of an all-powerful being responsible for the creation of something from nothing.
Enh, but here he was, ready to promise anything if Kix were the one to roll off that shuttle with even a chance at surviving.
He beat the medical team to the hangar by only a few seconds and was surprised to see Major Hypes leading it.
"I thought you were doing surgery on the wounded coming up from Ringo Vinda?" Jesse inquired.
"I was," the major replied. "I'd just finished one and was about to move onto another when they pulled me for this." A pause as he looked over his data pad. "Talk about luck. Kix has dodged a lot of bullets. Let's hope this is one more that goes past him."
"Kix?"
"Yeah. You didn't know it was Kix?"
"No, I . . . no."
"Rex has been sending over mediscan updates," Hypes replied. "Looks mostly like hypoxia, but I won't know for sure until I examine him. From these, his numbers don't look too bad. If they hold up, there shouldn't be any brain damage or permanent tissue damage." He tilted his head to one side. "Of course, the captain is good at many things, but taking quality medical readings isn't one of them. It looks like there may have been some minor exposure . . . "
The major prattled on with his medical assessment of the data, but Jesse had stopped listening. The mere thought that Kix, alone among the men aboard the ship, had survived was so incredible that Jesse needed a moment to come to grips with the reality.
How was it—how could it be that no matter how many times Kix got knocked down, he somehow always managed to pull through? Jesse was sure he would pull through this time. He was alive; that battle was already won. He would be alright. The luck Major Hypes had so glibly mentioned was, in Jesse's estimation, a special sort of light that seemed to follow Kix around, ready to dispel the ever-pursuing shadow. Maybe that was another reason to believe in something other than pure happenstance.
The force field went down and General Skywalker's shuttle glided into the hangar.
As soon as the ramp lowered, the medical team went aboard.
Jesse met Rex at the bottom of the ramp.
"Major Hypes told me Kix is the one who survived," Jesse said. It was more an inquiry than a statement.
"Yes, he's alive," Rex replied. "We found him unconscious and locked in a supply closet. We're not sure how he got there. He hasn't been able to speak yet."
"Is he conscious now?"
"Getting there," Rex replied.
With that, Jesse decided he would have to be satisfied with that answer for now. "And the rest? You said they're all dead?"
"Yes. All except for Tup," Rex stated. "We don't know his status. It looks like the Separatists took him, but we can't even be fully sure of that."
"Why would they take him?"
"That's what we're going to find out." This from Anakin, who had come down the ramp with Fives. "We need to head for the briefing room." A pause. "I want you there, too, Jesse. But you can come after you see Kix."
"Yes, General Skywalker, thank you," Jesse replied.
At that moment, as the general, Rex and Fives headed off across the hangar, the gurney carrying Kix came down the ramp.
Much to Jesse's relief, Kix looked a lot better than what he'd been expecting. His color was gray and dull, but his eyes were open and vaguely aware.
As the med team spirited him past, Kix's gaze fell on Jesse and he tried to call out, but it was barely a breath. Jesse moved to go along beside the gurney, but Major Hypes was all business.
"Happy reunions will have to wait, Lieutenant," the major said. "We need to stabilize his body temperature and do cellular gas readings before we can put him on oxygen."
Jesse knew that Major Hypes always operated with an air of urgency, but this time it concerned him. "He'll be alright, won't he?"
"Yes. If we get him the care he needs right away, so I'm going to have to ask you to give us some time and then you two can saber dance all you want," Hypes replied, punning on the squad name.
Jesse nodded, but no one noticed. The medical team was intent on getting their patient to the med bay. The maintenance crews were servicing General Skywalker's shuttle. Already, the recovery team was assembling in the bay.
"The briefing room, it is," Jesse decided.
"There's no reason for the Separatists to take Tup unless they're part of what's happening to him," Fives insisted. He'd lost count of how many times he'd made this point since the briefing had started. No one seemed to be listening other than General Skywalker and Captain Rex. Admiral Yularen was adamant that every hand was needed to take the Ringo Vinda station, and no one could be spared to go off on a search and rescue mission for one lone clone trooper. Master Yoda, on the other end of the transmission, appeared more concerned about what would have caused Tup to snap in the first place than he was in retrieving the trooper. General Windu, on the side of Admiral Yularen, had the immediate battle foremost in his considerations.
"Can you be certain that he was actually abducted by the Separatists? Is it possible that during the attack, he was blown out into space?" Admiral Yularen asked, anxious to be done with the matter and move onto more pressing concerns, such as the combat status of his battle group.
"His restraints were cut," Anakin replied. "The gurney was still in the ship. No, he was definitely taken by the enemy. That's not the question. The issue at hand right now is that we need to go after him. We need to find out why the Separatists went to all that trouble to take him."
"You said he acted as if he didn't know what he was doing, he couldn't remember anything," Master Windu said in a somewhat querying voice. "Could that have been an act? Is it possible he's become a Separatist asset?"
"Impossible," Fives retorted emphatically. "Tup would never turn against the Republic."
"But turn, he did," Master Yoda pointed out. "Whether by conscious decision or not, against the Republic as represented by Master Tiplar, turn he did."
"He had no control over himself when he did that. I was there, I saw it happen. That wasn't Tup," Fives continued to push back. "Something had a hold over him. And . . . and if the Separatists have found a way to control one clone, they might be able to control others, maybe even all of us."
"That seems far-fetched," Admiral Yularen cast doubtfully.
"Maybe," Anakin replied. "But we don't know what we don't know. The Separatists might have some new weapon, some means of mind control. We won't know unless Tup is examined, and Tup can't be examined if we don't get him back."
"We can't afford to have our banner battalion's general and first-in-command off chasing wormholes when we're in the middle of a battle," Yularen persisted.
"Our relief is already here," Anakin replied. "We're practically in stand-down mode. It won't hurt if we try to make a retrieval."
The comm officer interrupted. "Sirs, med bay just called in. Major Hypes said you can come down and speak to Corporal Kix."
Anakin nodded. "We're on our way."
Anakin took Rex and Fives with him. He would report back to Admiral Yularen and the others whatever information Kix had that was helpful to his cause. And his cause was to get Tup back, regardless of the advice of anyone else. Anakin was the on-scene ranking officer. The battle group was his. The decision was his. Even if Masters Yoda and WIndu advised or ordered him otherwise, he had already decided on his course of action.
In the med bay, they found Kix sitting up on the exam table, looking a bit flushed now but none the worse for his ordeal.
"KIx, how do you feel?" Anakin inquired first.
"Much better, General," came the reply, and some of the strength had returned to his voice.
"Can you tell us what happened?"
"We were attacked by battle droids," Kix replied. "They had come for Tup. Marshal and the others tried to hold them off, but they were outnumbered. Sergeant Bird knew they were after Tup, and he—he planned to inject him with Mythetenol. He was prepared to kill him in order to keep him from falling into Separatist hands." A pause. "But he never got to do it. As he was about to inject him, he was shot straight through—he died instantly. And the droids put Tup in their own gurney and took him away."
"He was still alive when they took him?" Fives asked.
"I think so," Kix replied. "He'd been exposed some to the partial vacuum, just like the rest of us, but not enough to kill him. No, I'm sure he was still alive."
"How did you end up in the closet?" Rex asked.
"Bird pushed me inside and locked the door," Kix replied, lowering his eyes at the pain of the memory. "He knew everyone was going to die, and he said someone needed to survive and tell the fleet what had happened."
Anakin put a hand on his shoulder. "Is there anything else you can tell us?"
Kix shook his head. "I couldn't see anything else."
"Well, you confirmed what we suspected," Anakin said. "Bird did the right thing making sure you stayed alive. Get some rest. We've got it from here."
"Will you go after him, Sir?"
"That's precisely what we're going to do."
Whatever disagreement Admiral Yularen might have with the course of action, once it was decided upon, he did what every good leader did – and followed. It might not have been what he would have chosen to do, but he would not quibble. He would do his best to ensure the success of the mission.
He provided a shuttle and pilot and an acknowledgment that he would do what he could to keep the enemy's attention focused elsewhere than on the rescue attempt.
A wish of good luck and an admonition not to take undue risk were the admiral's parting words.
Now, as the shuttle skirted along the space station towards the segment of it where the Separatists still held control, Anakin turned to his team of two: Rex and Fives.
"With just the three of us going in, the shuttle will drop us off just short of the main hanger, and we'll spacewalk from there."
"Are you picking anything up on Tup's locator?" Rex asked.
"The signal is faint. The power cells must be just about dead," Fives replied. "It's hard to track. It's moving . . . it could be a false echo."
"It's better than nothing, and it's all we've got to go on," Anakin replied. "Send the telemetry to JP's headsup."
JP – short for Jet Propulsion – was their shuttle pilot.
A second later, JP announced, "Got it. Yeah. It is moving, but it's not far."
The shuttle continued on hugging the under surface of the station, then it rotated and set down between two bracing locks.
"This is as close as I dare try without tripping their sensors," JP announced.
"This is close enough, JP," Anakin replied. "Good job." He turned to Rex and Fives, and without speaking a word, the three headed for the airlock. They donned oxygen tanks and stepped out onto the station's gleaming underbelly.
"I'm getting a better signal," Fives said almost immediately. "Tup is headed this way."
"They're moving him to the hangar," Anakin stated.
They began propelling themselves upward. The hangar was halfway up the outer rim of the ring. It was one of over a thousand hangars dotting the station's exterior. The space walk – more like a climb – was easy and went unobserved.
Peering over the lip of the bay, Rex was surprised at its size. There was one shuttle inside, perhaps two dozen Starfighters and what looked to be at least a full battalion of battle droids.
Between his two clone troopers, Anakin raised his binoculars to get a better look. He surmised that the shuttle was waiting for Tup, but where would it take him? To Dooku? To a Separatist research facility? It was critical that the shuttle not get away from them, or they might lose track of Tup for good.
"Are your scopes . . . Jedi-issue, Sir?"
Anakin recognized the prodding humor in Fives' voice, and he knew he might have expected as much. Despite the seriousness of the moment, there was always room for haggling over matters of continuity. The general appreciated the small moment of levity, for there had been little of it since Umbara. And the truth was, the scopes were not Jedi issue . . . not GAR issue. But whatever could be found in a pinch . . .
"Stay focused, Fives," Anakin replied, followed by a chuckle.
"There he is," Rex spoke up, seeing Tup enter the hangar on a gurney, flanked by assassin droids and a command droid.
"We'll have to work fast," Anakin replied.
"There must an entire battalion of droids in that hangar. Not to mention, the Starfighters," Rex pointed out. "This is stretching it – even for you, Sir."
"Rex, you're beginning to sound like Obi-wan," Anakin chided. "You got a better idea?"
"Look, I don't doubt that you could pull it off, Sir," Rex replied. "I'm just not sure Fives and I would be around to see it happen."
"I've got an idea," Fives offered.
"Well, let's hear it. Quickly," Anakin said, turning towards him.
Instead of responding with words, Fives drew his pistol and inserted the grappling attachment.
Anakin grasped his meaning instantly. "Grappling gun. Good thinking."
Rex grinned beneath his helmet. "That's why he's the ARC trooper."
"Get ready to hang on."
Rex prepared his own weapon.
Within seconds, the shuttle passed overhead. Rex felt General Skywalker take hold of his shoulder. Rex would be the general's ride, and the shuttle would be Rex's ride.
The two clones fired their cables and swept away from the station, trailing behind the shuttle like a tail on a kite.
The grappling cables retracted into the attachments and within half a minute, the hitchhikers were on top rear of the shuttle.
"Get us inside, Rex."
Rex sync'd his HOPO with the external locking mechanism on the shuttle's main bay doors. "We'll only have a second before the breach registers on their instruments."
"That's okay, because we only need a second. Soon as we get in there, shut the exterior doors. Leave getting into the hold to me," Anakin replied.
Rex let the HOPO do its job, and after thirty seconds of running through millions of code sequences, the doors opened. The three men wasted no time getting inside, and Rex immediately resealed the exterior doors.
As anticipated, barely a blink had passed before the doors into the hold opened. But Anakin, Rex and Fives were ready for them.
A brief, violent battle ensued. When it was over, Rex could barely even remember it beginning. The action had moved so fast that his only recollections were of the terrifying and wonderful viciousness of General Skywalker in dispatching the commando droids. Now, only the mission command droid, duly incapacitated by the general, remained.
"What's going on?" General Skywalker demanded. "What do you know about this clone?"
In its aggravatingly monotonous voice, the command droid began to respond. "I am programmed to resist intimidation—"
A slice of Anakin's light saber, and the droid's head tumbled to the shuttle floor.
"Fine." Anakin was not ready to indulge patience or tactics with a droid. If the piece of tin had intended to make it hard, now it was impossible. And that suited Anakin just fine. There were other ways to get answers.
As Rex took over the ship's controls, Fives went to check on Tup.
"How's he doing?" Anakin asked.
"Not well. Not well at all," Fives replied. "I think he's dying, Sir."
Anakin was inclined to agree with him. Tup did not look well, and this business with the Separatists trying to abduct him had only delayed much needed medical attention. "We have to get him to Kamino. Rex, get us back to the Justice."
Maybe this trip would be more successful than the previous attempt.
Rex hoped so – especially since he himself was being sent along to oversee the mission. For General Skywalker to part with him, Rex knew this had to be a situation that was weighing heavily on the general's mind.
As the shuttle was being loaded, General Skywalker made sure his expectations were understood. He was not going to risk any more delays or screw-ups.
"I want a full report from Kamino," he told his first-in-command. "If Tup is the victim of some Separatist plot, we have no idea of how wide-spread it already is. I want you to check in at the designated times, Rex. Let me know if you have even so much as an inkling that something's not right."
"Yes, General."
"You've got triple the fighter escort until you make light speed," Anakin went on. "Commander Cody's let us borrow Three Point to get you there. He has instructions to make the jump the second the shuttle clears the ring. We're not taking any chances. The Separatists want him. We're not going to let them have him."
"Understood, General."
"Be careful, Rex."
"I will, Sir."
"And get back here as quickly as you can. We may be standing down, but there's still a lot that needs to be done before we return to Coruscant."
"I won't be gone long, General."
With that, General Skywalker departed and Tup was moved onboard the transport.
Fives had been standing by the whole time, but now he sprang into action. "Permission to come with you, Sir. He's my best friend. You may need help."
Rex considered. He knew Fives had grown close to Tup. He knew there was no real reason to deny Fives his request. General Skywalker had Jesse to help run the battalion. The battalion would be heading back to Coruscant soon. Fives would be absolutely miserable if he were not given the chance to follow Tup's situation.
But Rex knew the part of Fives that could be troublesome on such a journey. He had to make it clear that Fives would not be allowed to get away with any deviations on this mission.
"But everything must be done by the book," Rex said, lingering just long enough on each word to make his meaning perfectly clear.
"Understood, Sir," Fives acknowledged.
"You're to stay by his side at all times," Rex instructed. "I don't want any more slip-ups."
"Yes, Sir."
"Good," Rex nodded, even though he wasn't sure he fully trusted Fives to do as he was told. But he would take the chance and find out. "Let's go."
Rex stared out the window at twists of light that defined the warp of space. Three Point had made the jump to light speed several minutes ago, and now it was just a matter of waiting for their arrival at Kamino. A perfect opportunity for Rex to collect his thoughts.
"Knowing there's a woman who loves you . . . it changes everything, Rex."
Rex never would have expected to hear such words coming from Bly. Bly had always seemed immovable and averse to emotional entanglements. The fact that he had fallen in love with his Jedi General was almost too incredible to be believed. But the commander had made his sentiments clear; and now as the medevac raced towards the closest thing the clones had to a home, Rex was ready to ponder those sentiments.
Was it true? Did a woman's love really change everything?
Rex knew that Doma Maree loved him, yet he felt as if his life had not changed even a single degree. He was still fighting on the front lines. He had neither seen nor had communication with her since he'd departed Bertegard. There was no way to contact her short of returning to the planet, and that was nowhere on the horizon at this point. On top of that, an uncertain future prevented him from looking too far ahead at the possibilities of togetherness.
In this life.
In this life.
Yes, he'd made that agreement. If they could not be together in this life, he would settle for being together in the next life, whatever that life might entail.
He never had any regrets regarding his decision. He never had any doubts as to whether or not his pledge had been the right thing to do. The prospect of being with Maree, when he allowed it into his thoughts, was comforting and gave him a sense of hope that there might be a life beyond his service in the Army.
A life beyond fighting, beyond death and destruction.
A life beyond . . . General Skywalker.
And that was where the pleasant musings ended. The truth was that Rex was finding it harder and harder with each passing day to imagine what life would be like not to serve under General Skywalker anymore.
He thought back to Umbara, after the planet had been taken. Fives had stated with certainty that one day the war would end. Yes, Rex believed that, as well. But his response had not been the hopeful prospect of peace that most fighting men associate with the end of war. As a being created to fight, he'd had only one thing on his mind. "And then what? We're soldiers."
He still did not have an answer, for even if he were to join Maree at the Monastica, what would he be there? In the 501st, his role was clear. As an officer in the Grand Army of the Republic, he could always discern his place. But as a non-soldier in a non-combat environment – even with the woman he loved – what would he be? He would not be a husband. He would not be a father. He wouldn't even be a lover in the common meaning of the word.
What would he be?
"We'll be lucky if he makes it to Kamino."
Rex looked up at the sound of Major Hypes' voice.
"He's getting worse?"
"His condition is deteriorating rapidly," Hypes replied. "I've used a cooling agent to slow down his bodily processes, but it's not doing much good." A pause. "There's no obvious reason for why this is happening to him." He then went straight to the point. "Captain, did he use the Umbaran gas to enhance his own performance?"
Rex shook his head. "I don't know. I wasn't with him the whole time. I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, nothing that made him as vicious as the Umbarans. I suppose it's possible."
"Kix told me some of the troopers talked about using the gas," Hypes stated.
"Fives might know," Rex replied. "They were together a lot. Let's go ask him."
They went into the shuttle's medical bay, and here, they found Fives at Tup's side.
Major Hypes did not beat around the bush. "Fives, did Tup use any of the Umbaran enhancing gas?"
Fives hesitated. "I . . . yes, he did. So did I."
Rex was stunned and furious. "Are you—what were you thinking? We have no idea what effects that drug could have on our own physiology. That was a reckless thing to do, Fives."
"We only used a very little," Fives replied. "It was just a test."
Rex glowered. "I don't believe this. Why are you only telling us now?"
"Because I didn't think it had any lasting effects," Fives replied. "I mean, neither of us felt anything. We both decided that it must not have any reaction for clones."
Rex shook his head, at a loss for words.
But Major Hypes had no time for anger. This piece of information might be the key to the whole mystery.
"I can run some blood tests to see if certain trace elements are present. We know how certain elements affect brain activity," Hypes said thoughtfully. "That won't necessarily tell me anything for certain, but it may give the Kaminoans a headstart once we get there. They'll be able to run much more indepth analyses."
"Whatever you think is best," Rex said, his voice clearly conveying his simmering anger.
"Then, as soon as we get within range, I'm going to start transmitting his medical record and the test results to Kamino. They'll need to be ready the moment we arrive," Hypes said. "He's running out of time."
"I was starting to feel good about you again, Fives." Rex's voice was even but filled with the echoes of distrust and regret. "Why didn't you bring this up earlier? There might have been something they could have done had they known."
"I just didn't think it was important," Fives said regretfully. "Like I said, we only tried a small amount, and it had no impact whatsoever. And he'd been fine since then, so—so I didn't think it mattered."
"Sure, fine up until the point where he murdered General Tiplar in cold blood," Rex fumed.
"I'm sorry, Captain," Fives groaned. "If I'd thought for one second that the drug was having some effect on Tup, I would have taken him to the med center myself."
"Did it occur to you that it might take this long for the negative effects of the drug to show up? That it might have a completely different impact on clones than on the Umbarans?" Rex drew in a breath to steady himself, for he was nearly shaking with rage. He pierced Fives with a glare. "Who else tried the gas?"
"No one, I think," Fives replied. "Jesse said he wanted to, but as far as I know, he never did. He wasn't there when Tup and I tried it."
Rex drew closer, making sure Fives understood his state of mind without question. "You'd better make damned sure you don't withhold anything else from this point on. We don't need to spin everyone up on some conspiracy theory about the Separatists creating a virus to attack clones when this might all be the result of an alien drug."
"Understood, Sir," Fives acknowledged contritely.
"Dismissed."
Fives turned and went back to the med bay, leaving Rex frustrated and disappointed. He'd truly believed that Fives was morphing back into the trooper of old – a bit headstrong but honest and dependable. Now, he felt deceived.
And as a result, as much as he hated to admit it, he wanted nothing more than to make a quick turn on this mission and get back to the Justice. What he did about Fives remained to be seen, but he was leaning more and more towards leaving him there on Kamino with the ARC Brigade to be farmed out to some other unit. The truth was, Rex was growing tired of negotiating, of massaging the truth, of making excuses for Fives.
Fives might be a brilliant trooper, but was it worth the growing distrust to keep him on board? Rex considered that his decision to ask for Fives to remain with the 501st may not have been well-thought-out. Perhaps it had been predicated on nostalgia and hope. But that was no way to fight a war.
The shuttle's approach revealed just how much reconstruction was still being carried out on Kamino over a year after the Separatist attack on the cloning facilities.
Rex surveyed the damage, as well as the rebuilding efforts. There was a long way to go to restore the complex to something resembling the one he had grown up in. He wondered if Kamino could ever feel like home again. He'd spent so much time now aboard military vessels that they had long since become his foremost home. Or, it might be more apropos to say that wherever General Skywalker was, that was where Rex belonged.
"Touching down in thirty seconds."
Rex recognized Zinger's voice.
Naturally, upon appointing Three Point as the mission pilot, Three Point had insisted on bringing his usual co-pilot. Rex was glad to have them both.
"Copy that," Rex replied. "We're all secured down here."
Precisely thirty seconds later, Rex could feel the landing struts make contact with the platform – as gentle a landing as could be asked for.
"Powering down. The craft is clear for egress."
Rex could not help but smile. "So formal."
Major Hypes was the first one out of his seat. He went immediately to check on his patient. He prepared Tup's gurney for movement, then enlisted the assistance of two medical aides to bring the gurney down the ramp. Rex and Fives followed behind.
As Rex passed the upper level access ladder, he ran into Three Point coming down.
"That landing was a big improvement over the last time I flew with you," Rex poked.
"Well, the last time, we did have Separatists chasing our ass," Three Point grinned.
"Good thing that wasn't the case this time," Rex replied. "Knowing that they're after Tup, it could have been a repeat." He lowered his voice. "Keep her warm. I don't plan to be here long."
"Yes, Sir."
At the bottom of the ramp, Major Hypes was met by Nala Se, the Kaminoan chief engineer of clone development.
"What is his condition?" she asked in her dulcet voice, so calm and reassuring.
"No change since the last set of vitals I sent you," Hypes replied. "You received them, didn't you?"
"Yes, I did," Nala Se confirmed. "They were . . . perplexing, to say the least." As she began leading the way into the facility, a team of security joined them. Tup might be a patient, but he had also murdered a Jedi general. Precautions were warranted.
"And you have no thoughts on what might have caused this to happen to him?" Nala Se inquired.
"I have a few," Hypes replied. "I ran some tests for trace elements in his system to indicate for hokimbim."
"Hokimbim? The Umbaran enhancing agent?" Nala Se sounded surprised – or as surprised as a Kaminoan could sound.
"The patient's battalion was in the battle of Umbara, and we found out that he tried a small amount of the drug," Hypes explained. He handed her a chip. "These are the results of the tests. I haven't had much chance to analyze them, but there are definite signs of the presence of at least five trace elements found with hokimbim."
"We will examine these closely," Nala Se replied, handing over the data chip to one of her assistants.
They continued down the hallway, Rex and Fives following behind. As they reached a juncture, Nala Se turned to face them. "You will have to say good-bye to your friend now."
Fives nodded reluctantly. "Yes, Doctor."
It was then that General Shaak Ti came around the corner.
"General Shaak Ti," Rex greeted her.
"Captain Rex," she acknowledged him. "Nala Se has briefed me on the situation." She moved up beside Tup's gurney to take a closer look.
Nala Se spoke up. "There is new information, General. Apparently, the patient partook of hokimbim while deployed to Umbara. A small amount, but detectable nonetheless."
"That could account for a great many things," Shaak Ti stated. As she spoke, she noticed another clone trooper moving to stand closer to the gurney. Looking up, she could sense his identity in the Force. "Fives, am I correct?"
Fives was oddly pleased that she should remember him. "Yes, General."
At this point, Major Hypes interjected, "Corporal Fives also took hokimbim. There is a possibility that if the drug is in any part responsible for what is happening to Trooper Tup, it could also have the same or similar effect on Fives."
At this pronouncement, Nala Se's stalky neck lengthened in a show of displeasure. "You did not tell me that."
"I haven't had the chance," Hypes replied. "But you know now."
General Shaak Ti tilted her head, "You used the drug?"
Fives looked uncomfortable. "Only once. And only a small amount. It had no effect on me – or Tup."
The general regarded him with scrutiny. At last, she announced, "You must come with me."
"With all due respect, General, I can't just abandon him now," Fives protested.
"If you have been exposed to the same elements, you might develop the same symptoms," Shaak Ti replied. "And if you don't, then you will be a good control for us to test against."
Fives didn't like the sound of any of this. "But there's nothing wrong with me. I feel fine."
"You must let the doctors do their work," the general said firmly but kindly. "They will take you for an examination. The results of that exam will determine the next steps. Anything we learn from you might help us treat Tup."
Fives glanced at Rex, looking for a lifeline, but Rex had none to offer. What the general was saying made sense to the captain. And . . . in an off-hand way, it prevented him from having to make a hard decision at the moment. He could put some distance between himself and Fives and take time to consider all his options.
Shaak Ti turned. "Captain Rex, General Skywalker has already contacted us multiple times. He wants you to return to the front immediately."
Just what he'd planned on doing in the first place. "Yes, General." With that, Rex looked at Fives. "Sorry, Fives. I wish I could stay, but duty calls."
"It's fine, Sir. This will be a nice change-of-pace from fighting all those clankers," Fives replied.
"Take care of yourself. And Tup." Rex reached out and put a hand on Fives' shoulder. A movement that carried with it a certain finality.
Fives gripped Rex's forearm.
Thus was the extent of their brotherhood drawn within the bounds of those two gestures.
Wavering trust and guilty conscience.
"Back so soon, chaps?" Zinger asked, noticing the approach of Captain Rex, Major Hypes, and the two attending medical assistants. "I thought we'd be here at least a few hours."
"General Skywalker wants us back to the war zone," Rex replied. "It was our job to get Tup here, and we've done that. He's in good hands."
"Where's Fives?"
"He's staying behind," Rex replied, deciding to limit his response to that simple answer.
"Okay, then," Zinger chirped. "I'll tell Three Point to fire 'er up."
Rex put a hand on his arm. "I'll go tell himself. I think I'd like some time in the co-pilot's seat."
Zinger smiled with a sly slant. "You trying to ease me out of my job, Jaig Eyes?"
Rex chuckled. "Not a chance. Sometimes, I just feel like flying."
Three Point and Zinger back on board. I missed them1