Chapter Text
First Impressions: It seemed like an uninhabited moon.
The Star Destroyer was captured by gravity, plummeting into the atmosphere with its propulsion engines and lateral controls completely lost. This warship was one of the masterpieces of the Kuat Drive Yards, the backbone of the Republic's army, and a trustworthy home for clones and Jedi Knights. However, at the moment, acceleration was not an enemy that could be gunned down or negotiated with a lightsaber. This Venator - Class vessel could not avoid its destined crash.
Just seconds after Rex had lifted the Y - wing to a safe distance above the clouds, the massive ship collided with the ground, producing a tremendous roar in the air. The bomber's fuselage, thousands of meters away, trembled slightly from the impact of the energy. The captain had the illusion of being pulled away. It was as if someone else, rather than himself, was witnessing the tragedy: another CT - 7567 floating outside the bomber, looking down from mid - air.
From the hovering Y - wing, thick smoke billowed from the falling hull, its debris leaving a long, black tail that fanned out across most of Rex's field of vision. His head leaned against the hatch cover, mechanically searching for a trajectory different from the falling path. A lucky boy might find an available starfighter, or happen to have a jetpack and miss all those sharp debris, or...
Nothing.
He suddenly thought of something. He was busy adjusting the communications, scanning various frequencies, hoping to hear a distress call, even if——even if someone called to say that a Jedi was on the run.
Miracles did not happen. No, I ordered the destruction of all escape pods.
I killed my brothers.
Why am I still alive?
Rex turned his head again to look at the gunner's seat behind him.
The smoke slowly dissipated, and at the end of the long runway, the wreckage of the Star Destroyer was faintly visible. After the warship landed, there was no orange glow characteristic of an explosion beneath the white clouds. Now it seemed that the structure of the ship had been largely completely saved. Perhaps some rockets were still functioning, perhaps ground effect had occurred before the fall, perhaps aerodynamic factors never considered in the hull design had generated some lift, or perhaps it was an unknown, mysterious reason. In any case, the completely powerless Star Destroyer had clearly made contact with the ground at an angle almost parallel to the surface. Thinking of this, Rex felt a glimmer of hope again.
"Rex," came Ahsoka's voice over the communicator, breaking the silence. It still carried the softness processed by electronic equipment, without distortion, and mingled with some emotion that she had deliberately downplayed.
He pushed the control stick to begin landing. She didn't need to say anything more to let him know what he should do now, or rather, he didn't want her to say more at this moment. Sooner or later, they would face it together, but not now.
As the altitude decreased, the wreckage grew larger before his eyes. The hull was half - buried in the ground, with the stern turned into a scrap iron claw, revealing the internal structure beneath. The starboard bridge was severely damaged, and the port side was even worse. The two massive hangar doors were twisted and deformed, with deep cracks in the red durasteel as if they were bleeding wounds.
Rex hovered for half a circle to turn the fuselage. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he closed his eyes and thought: The remaining fuel and ammunition on the warship were almost exhausted, and some had been consumed by the explosion in space, so the Hunter was not completely destroyed. So maybe, maybe...
The landing gear touched down steadily, and the wound on Rex's head throbbed with pain. He opened his eyes.
There is no maybe. He was going to see it with his own eyes.
Ahsoka and Rex jumped down from the hard - earned Y - wing bomber, and the ground they stepped on again was the new soil hit by the Star Destroyer, raising a layer of fine dust.
"Let's start from the top deck," Rex said in a tone that surprised himself with its lack of fluctuation. At least he couldn't hear it.
As soon as he spoke, the Togruta girl who had been behind him almost ran to the front of him, examining the captain's expression. A familiar feeling flashed through his mind, and then he recognized that look as the same one he had when he took off his helmet and cried: looking up, concerned and sympathetic, as if she was looking straight into his soul. After she used the Force to find and remove Rex's chip, there was still a connection between them. Yes, he was sure this new feeling was not the same as their understanding of each other.
But this time, his mood was different. There were no tears blurring his vision, no averting of the gaze. He gradually, as if submerged in blue lake water but unwilling to save himself, instinctively sought his reflection in her blue eyes...
Until, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the small but shocking wounds on her face. His gaze shifted to the other orange skin, shoulders and arms, which were worse than her face: cuts caused by the ship's wreckage, blaster injuries. Each time he saw one of her wounds, Rex's right hand would grip his helmet tighter until he realized that the pain on his face was unmistakable, and then he put on his helmet.
"Alright, kid, I'm not tired," Rex said. After years of training and combat in the hail of bullets, Rex was ready to flip the switch called military discipline and field knowledge and eliminate some distractions. "From the relative position of the crash site seen from space, I have the impression that we are close to the northern twilight line, so the current time is morning on this planet. It's best to finish before nightfall. With all this noise, it's hard to say how much time we have left to sort things out..." Faced with the growing sadness in her eyes, Rex almost couldn't go on. In this situation, self - deception was a form of self - mutilation. He had always thought that giving up was shameful, but at this moment, evasion seemed particularly useful.
"Okay," she said. The captain felt saved. "If it still works, turn on the thermal imaging module of the helmet, find some tools, and let's go together." Ahsoka raised her hand, placed it on the right side of his chest armor, caressed it, and then turned to the wreck. As if it hadn't been mentioned, she probably didn't know that he had left a blue handprint on the armor of Fives at one outer ring outpost, almost in the same spot.
Together. Rex began to play with this word over and over in his mind, while he methodically set the life - detection parameters in his visor.
Mhi solus tome，mhi solus dar'tome.
Does she still remember that promise? After thinking for a few seconds, Rex shook his head, cast aside the untimely joyful memory, and caught up with her steps.