Archive of Our Own

Despite everything that had happened today Rex couldn’t help but smile a little as he took in the room. The officer’s lounge of the Faithful was almost empty, any off-duty officers had were politely staying away in deference to the impromptu strategy meeting taking place. Probably for best since Wolffe apparently had a snore that rivaled a wood saw when he slept with his head to the side like that. 

He’d been the first to doze off as they tried to discuss possible strategies, listing more and more as the debate dragged on. Finally his temple had landed on General Koon’s shoulder and the general had looked rather amused as he reached up to pat his commander’s head fondly. 

Rex had been in enough encounters to be familiar with the post mission adrenaline crash that isn’t wasn’t surprising Woffle had gone down now that the Faithful was safely away. With them taking a little used smuggler’s route out of this system it was unlikely they’d encounter anyone for at least a few hours. He knew well enough how easy it was for lurking exhaustion to sneak up on a man once an immediate crisis was over, one way or another the last day had been a disaster to rival the worst he’d been through.

What had been surprising was the snoring that started a few moments later.

If anything General Koon looked even more amused at that, apparently several years of sharing command quarters was enough to make the snoring endearing instead of annoying. For their part Ahsoka and Rex pretended they couldn’t hear it.

Not long after Wolffe had been overcome Ahsoka had succumbed to sleep as well, her head dropping onto the arms she’d crossed on the datapad covered table in front of them. Both he and General Koon gave her a moment to see if she’d rouse and when she didn’t Rex felt a flicker of amusement. She had tried so hard to stave off sleep as their strategizing circled around and around, they’d been pretending not to notice her drooping eyelids.

She was still young in so many ways.

Rex really wished he could also doze off too but a thin thread of adrenaline kept him on his feet. Eventually it would snap and he’d finally be able to get some shuteye but he had a feeling that would be some hours yet. He still felt a jittering, fractured energy, buzzing low and close to his bones that made him almost want to pace the room to burn it off, like he’d drunk too much cheap caf.

Talking in circles for a couple hours hadn’t much helped, they’d hammered out a decent strategy for the next target within the first few minutes after that they’d fall into a rabbithole of ‘what if’ and ‘should we’. He had a feeling half of their speculations would go out the window once Cody put in his views, he had the best knowledge of where the 212th would be on Utapau but with him sitting at Kenobi’s bedside in the medbay for the near future they’d had to make do.

Hopefully Cody would also manage to get some rest, after on Utapau he and the brothers he’d fled with needed it.

Rex resolutely pulled his thoughts back to the present before he could start to think about Order 66 and his own men only to noticing once he did the silence that had fallen. When had General Koon stopped talking?

A glance over at the Jedi explained why, his head was tilted side ways to rest against Wolffe’s, his chest rose in deep, steady breaths. With his eye protectors Rex couldn’t say for sure he was out but he was willing to lay good money on it.

That left him lone man standing. Shaking his head he reached out to sweep the datapads on the table into a pile. They’d done enough for now, they all needed a rest while things where still quiet. No doubt this reprieve would only last so long.

With a sigh he reached over to gently shake Ahsoka’s shoulder. She sat up with a start, “No, Trace, I wasn’t…” Then she seemed to focus on him,  “Oh. Rex?”

“Go find a bunk, sir.” he said. “We’re done here.”

She blinked at him, “But we didn’t…” she followed his gaze over at the sleeping pair on the couch and her lips twitched in a smile, “I guess we are then. They’re going to get cricks on their necks, sleeping like that.”

“On it.” Rex said, already moving around the table and cautiously reaching out for the Jedi Master’s shoulder. Time serving with the 212th had taught him that not all Jedi reacted well to being woken with a touch so he was relieved when his careful tap only made General Koon twitch a bit as he woke.

“General,” Rex said quietly, “We’re done here, you should go get some sleep.”

“I… of course.” Something about the way General Koon looked around them gave the impression of sleepy blinking, even if his eyes couldn’t be seen, then he seemed to register the weight against his side. When he saw his leaning commander he chuckled, “That can’t be comfortable. If you would give me some assistance, Commander?”

Rex nodded, moving to pull Wolff’s feet up onto the couch as the general slipped out from under him and eased his Commander down onto the fabric. It was a testament to how tired Wolffe must have been that he didn’t so much as twitch an eyelid, only grumbling something unintelligible under his breath and turning his face into the couch fabric. The change in position at least made the snoring less buzzsaw and more hum.

“I would rather not wake him.” General Koon said, as he straightened, hand to his still bandaged side, “Captain Bolts has command on the helm should anything arise, with luck with we should be able to hold for another few shifts.”

That felt like it was just asking the Force to throw them some unexpected problem, Rex suppressed a wince at the thought. The last thing they needed right now was more issues. If they could just lay low long enough, they’d be able to save enough fuel to jump back to Utapau when they needed to.

“You should sleep as well.” he said, hoping reiteration would bypass the typical Jedi stubbornness. “In a bunk and everything, sir.”

But General Koon was already shaking his head, “No, I don’t think that’s necessary.”

“Sir, you need the rest--” he started but General Koon held up a hand to stop him.

“You misunderstand me, Commander Rex. I mean that I’m sleeping here.” He settled back on the couch and folded his robes neatly across himself. “This is as comfortable as a bunk.” Hesitantly he reached out a settled one clawed hand on Wolffe’s head.

The commander, who had been frowning in his sleep, huffed a sigh and grumbled something but the wrinkles smoothed out of this forehead.

Rex hadn’t missed the way that Wolffe had been keeping his general in sight the entire night, he couldn’t say he blamed him but running at that level of constant alertness must have been exhausting. Especially with the way he kept turning to watch the general with his good eye.

At least that was them settled, already General Koon’s head was dropping forward onto his chest, his breathing evening out. Turning Rex eyed Ahsoka.

She smiled, rasing her hands, “I’m going, I’m going, I know that look.” Rising from the table she stretched, both of them wincing as her spine popped. “Yeah, I guess I could use some downtime.”

He snorted, collecting the stack of datapads and following as she headed out of the officers lounge. Idling by the door he watched long enough to ensure she made the turnoff in the hall that would lead to her bunk, off of General Koon’s rooms, in quarters that would have gone to his padawan, had he had one.

With her safely away he stopped by his own bunk in the officer’s quarters to secure the datapads, a task that didn’t take nearly as long as he might have wanted. All too soon he was standing outside the door with a next task on his to do-list but unspent energy still humming in his veins.

Both Jedi and the commander were settled, they’d done as much planning as could be productive at this point, and the helm was being watched by a captain how was a lot more familiar with the ship and crew then him. Briefly he toyed with the idea of checking on General Kenobi and Cody in the medbay but decided against it, General Kenobi was probably still in bacta and Cody had likely fallen victim to the same adrenaline drop as Wolffe. The last thing he wanted to do was wander in and wake him. They’d need as much of the command sharp as they could manage after a night of sleep.

Still, that left him at unexpected loose ends and with energy to burn.

So he started to pace the length of the ship, noting brothers has he passed them, returning nods and pretending he didn’t see the occasional deck of cards or flask that got tucked away as he passed. Once he hit a point he couldn’t continue past he turned and headed back toward the prow, letting his memory of the layout of Venator class ships guide his feet. 

When he came forward enough he stopped briefly by the bridge, just long enough to trade nods with a captain on deck. Captain Bolts had an impressively messy scar bisecting his face, the sloppy scars on each side did look like bolts, though Rex would lay credits on a bad stitch job. The captain also had the air of being entirely on top of the quiet bridge, he waved Rex off when he quirked a questioning eyebrow at him, rolling his eyes in a way that he had definitely picked up from Wolffe.

That left Rex to his pacing, he let his feet take him back toward the prow and headed off. He’d done this on the Resolute more times then he could count, on the Negotiator a few times too, enough that the 212st’s medic had threatened to tranq him if he didn’t lay down for a bit. 

But he’d rather this then laying on a bunk staring at the ceiling, even if his feet were starting to ache.

At least he was alive to have aching feet, that was more then he could say for the men of his short lived new command. They’d all been so determined to kill Ahsoka they’d been willing to kill themselves in the process.

And he hadn’t been able to save them, not a single one.

Feeling acid burn the back of his throat he turned quickly out of the hallway, into the cargo bay, empty at this hour. He leaned against a crate and swallowed hard, breathing deep through his nose.

There wasn’t a way he could have saved them, he knew that. He was still surprised he’d managed to get himself and Ahsoka off the ship alive, but he still wished he could have pulled a brother, any brother, into the ship with him. It would have been crowded but it would been one less body to pull out of the wreckage.

He and Ahsoka had had so many to bury, he hadn’t wanted to leave until they’d found every last one. Com units could be tracked in the event of a crash, even if they didn’t give an indicator of the status of wearer. 

Ahsoka hadn’t argued, she knew he needed to make sure, just in case there’d been a survivor. Logic said that they needed to put as far between them and the wreckage as possible but he just couldn’t leave until they’d tracked every faint signal of a trooper down.

What they would have even done with a wounded brother he didn’t know, he had been planning on figuring it out when it came to it. But it hadn’t. Every man was dead.

Finding Jesse had been the hardest. Of all the men in his new company Jesse had been with him the longest, though campaign after campaign. Every clone knew the next battle might be the last but for it to be against each other--

And he didn’t even know what had happened to Anakin.

Had the rest of the 501st followed Order 66? Had Anakin known what was happening? Or had it been over too quick for his to even react? Had his General fallen, struck down by the very men that he trusted with his back?

If Rex hadn’t been sent with Ahsoka would it be him on Coruscant standing over Skywaker’s body with his pistol?

His hands were shaking.

His hands hadn’t shaken like this since Umbara. Staring at the tremor running through his fingers he tried to will them to stop. They wouldn’t.

The shaky laugh seemed to claw its way out of his chest and he dropped his head into his hands. If he started falling apart now he’d never stop, the horror of the day, the blank control of the chip, trying to kill Ahsoka, letting his men die, the whole kriffing galaxy tearing itself apart with one order from a Sith, it was all too much.

He’d kept it together since it shattered, holding on hard hard as he could. Through burying his men, through drifting through space with Ahsoka, through tracking the Jedi Down signal once the ping came, through plotting to rescue General Kenobi from unknown amounts of danger. But now, with nothing to pull him forward to the next challenge he couldn’t even get his hands to stop shaking.

A cleaning droid bumped his foot, making him look up, frowning down at the oval little robot. It chirruped something too fast for him to catch and zoomed back toward the hall, leaving him to blink after it.

Only a few beats later the door opened, an ARC trooper stepping inside and squinting into the gloom. He was in Wolfpack grey, one of his pauldrons done in grey stripes and when he spotted Rex by the crates he saluted crisply, “Commander Rex, there you are. There’s--” he paused, frowning, a move that made the diamond tattoos above his eyebrow crinkle “Are you alright, sir?”

Rex realized the trooper was staring at his shaking hands, which he was still holding out in front of himself. Resisting the urge to hide them behind his back like a karking cadet he lowered his hands to his side, straightening and putting the steel in his voice that said he didn’t want argument when he said, “Just post-battle adrenaline. What’s wrong, trooper…?”

“ARC-4001, East, sir,” he said, he still eyeing him dubiously, not helped by the way the cleaning droid zoomed back in to circle East’s feet cheerfully. He reached down to pat the droid affectionately. “Yes, you did find him, thank you.” 

The little droid beeped something about proper gratitude and wheeled over to Rex to bump into bump his boot again. This time it definitely said something about idiot ARCs losing track of their own people.

East flushed slightly, “Sorry, we, uh, when you weren’t in quarters West and I had to get creative. I sent the cleaners out to track you down. Captain Bolts wasn’t able to raise you on coms.”

He glanced at the com unit on his bracer and wasn’t surprised to find it smashed. “Casualty of the day,” he said, turning it toward East who nodded, “What did the captain need?”

“We had a ship request a landing.” East said, “Not any battalion I recognized but definitely a friendly ship. Couldn’t have fit more then a few troopers so we let it in under guard. Thing is, they won’t disembark. They demanded to see either you or Commander Cody, won’t get off the ship until one of you shows up. They said they’re Clone Force 99.”

The air froze in his chest for a moment. Of all the the people he’d expected… how had they even found them? Hunter wasn’t high enough rank to have access had the Jedi Down channel, even if he had they’d put a good amount of distance between them and the moon Cody had pinged from.

Still, he could believe all sort of impossible feats of the Bad Batch. They had, after all, pulled off stranger.

The cleaning droid gave an anxious beep, making him blink and realize East was peering at him worriedly, waiting for an answer.

“Should I go try to find Commander Cody?” he asked.

Reaching down Rex also patted the droid’s casing, which it seemed to accept as its due. “No, I can deal with them. What’s the fastest way to the hanger from here?”

East’s eyes flickered over him, troopers singled out for ARC training weren’t picked for their lack of observational skills but he let it drop. “This way, sir.” he said instead, heading for the hall.

Rex followed him, pretending not to notice the way the other trooper slowed his gait just a bit so he could keep him in direct sight. Maybe he looked rougher then he thought. He slipped his bucket on, that would at least help a little.

The trip to the hanger was just long enough for him to turn over the possibilities the Bad Batch presented in his mind. If they were experimental clones would the Kaminoans have put chips into them as well? And even if they had would those chips still be functioning properly with all the alterations the squad had?

Perhaps having Ahsoka or Master Koon on hand just in case wouldn’t go amiss.

With an entire ship and a battalion’s resources to call on he knew they’d eventually be able to contain them if the squad was set off but not without considerable havoc. Wreaker alone was able to deal out a surprising amount of structural damage.

Looking sideways he let himself meet East’s concerned look as they reached the door to the hanger. “Com Commander Tano, tell her she’s needed in the hanger and she’ll want to…” he winced internally, hoping this was the right call, “Tell her to enter cautiously.”

East’s finger’s paused above his com, “Should I also com General Plo?”

“No,” Rex said, “He’s injured, let him rest.” He sent a quick mental apology to Ahsoka, who had probably not managed to grab much sleep since they parted. With any luck this wouldn’t take long.

Leaning him to the task Rex walked into the hanger, feeling an impossible bloom of fondness at the sight of the familiar ship.

The 104th were no fools, they’d had them land well apart from any other craft and there were troopers in Wolfpack grey on guard around it. Rex acknowledged the salutes from the men, waving them to stand down.

He crossed his arms and glared up at the ship.

If a ramp could be said to be lowered meekly this one was, as soon as it touched down squad was piling out, their sergeant at the lead.

The group’s general wariness when eyeing the troopers around them was a promising sign.

Hunter gave him a loose salute as he came level, “Captain Rex.” he said, “What the kark is Order 66?”

All around them brothers gave out sighs of relief, which had the squad looking curiously their way. Wrecker was already fidgeting from contained energy, calmed only by the hand Echo put on his arm --oh no, Echo. Rex realized that he’d neglected to mention Echo to Ahsoka, between the running to Mandalore and then running from everything they’d ever known.

Well that was going to be a surprise.

“…sir?” Hunter was frowning at him and he pulled himself back to the present with an effort of will. “Are you--”

He raised a hand, cutting him off. “It’s been a long day.” he said shortly. Why was everyone asking him that all the sudden? “How did you know we were here?”

It’d been a while since he seen an entire squad so interested in the floor, the walls, anything but meeting his eyes.

“You asked for Commander Cody and I by name.” he said. “I need to know how you found us. If the Republic can locate us here it’s going to be a problem.”

“I put tracker in your armor.”

That came from Tech, who stepped forward, seemly not noticing the quelling glare Hunter was giving him. “In the Commander’s as well. Don’t worry, I encrypted both myself, only I can find them.”

“When did you--” Rex started then paused and shook his head, waving his own question aside for a more important one, “Why track us down?”

“Order 66.” Hunter said, causally elbowing Tech down before he could speak again, “The transmission came through like we were supposed to know what that meant. We approached a different friendly ship and they shot at us when we didn’t acknowledge something about traitors. So we went to find someone we thought might actually tell us what’s going on.”

“It’s an order to kill all Jedi and Jedi sympathisers.” Rex said, he laid out the quick version of the chips and what they’d done to the rest of the troopers in a few sentences. He’d had enough time to be able to boil it down to the essentials points.

By the end the entire group was also frowning, Wrecker was rubbing the side of his head like he expected to be able to feel something, Tech was typing so furiously at his wrist computer Rex had no doubt he was transcribing each word that’d been said. Echo was pale, he looked like he was making an effort to throw up and behind them Crosshair’s face was impassive but from the line of his jaw his teeth were clenched hard around the toothpick at the corner of his mouth.

“But we’re not Regs.” Hunter said, crossing his arms, “Would we even have them?”

“It’s possible. But we’ll need one of the generals or Commander Tano to look you over.” He said and with the eerie timing the Jedi had all too often the hanger door swished open.

An ARC trooper with the opposite pauldron to East’s painted in stripes led the way in, followed by Ahsoka, who was looking around with interest. “Rex, there you are, West said you needed me too look at--” her eyes settled on the Bad Batch and she trailed off, eyes going wide. “… Echo?” she said in a small voice. “…is that really--”

She was cut off by the pained sound Hunter made as he clutched his head, eyes screwed shut in pain.

That reaction was nothing compared to Crosshair, who made a choked noise and went down like a felled tree. Even with Echo lurching forward to try to catch him his head thunked painfully against the floor and he starting shaking, limbs twitching erratically.

But all attention was drawn off him when Wrecker gave a roar and turned toward Ahsoka, “Jedi! Traitor !” With a snarl he put his head down and charaged.

Immediately brothers tried to put themselves in the way but the Wolfpack troopers were too far away and not fast enough. A few shot stun bolts but they missed the mark by miles. East jumped in to block him but Wrecker didn’t even pause, he put his shoulder down and sent the ARC trooper flying in a crunch of plastoid.

Pulling on what felt like the last weary remains of his reflexes Rex threw himself into Wrecker’s path, braced for impact. If he could just get a stun bolt off… 

He managed to get a pistol half drawn before Wrecker slammed into him.

Rex felt his feet leave the deck, his weapon was flung from his hand by the force of the hit and he had time to think ‘ Oh kark, this is going to hurt ’ before he hit the wall hard enough he felt the impact in his teeth. White light exploded in front of his eyes.

He blinked hard, trying to clear his vision.

“--ir! Captain Rex!”

There were hands pulling his bucket off.

“Rex!”

He blinked, trying to focus on the face of the brother leaning over him. And when had he sat down on the floor?

“Vod?” The note of worry in the trooper’s voice sparked off a memory that finally kicked his mind back into gear. Can’t worry the kids. Domino twins are looking to you to-- to--

Blinking hard he brought Echo’s face into focus, the worry clear on his still too thin face as he turned to yell over his shoulder. “He’s awake!” 

Looking up from where she was cradling Crosshair’s head between her hands Ahsoka smiled triedly, “How does he look?”

“Concussed.” Echo said. 

Rex made a noise of objection, about the best he could manage considering his lungs still ached and he felt like someone had tried to crack his head like an egg.

That earned him an unimpressed look that Echo had most definitely learned from Cody. “You should see how wonky your pupils are, Captain. Kix would be furious.” 

He winced at the reminder, Kix was somewhere on Coruscant, still blank and compliant under the chip’s control, all the fire and temper burned out of him.

Seeing his expression Echo’s frown deepened but before he could speak the hulking mass to their left turned toward him and revealed itself to be a very sheepish looking Wrecker.

“Sorry, Captain.” he rumbled. From the scorch marks on his armor he’d taken more then a few stun bolts, the other Wolfpack troopers in the hanger looked distinctly battered. 

Thankfully East was the only other trooper down, with West hovering worriedly next to him, eyeing his brother’s arm. From the way it was hanging funny Rex would put money on a break, probably a broken collarbone too.

Exactly how long had he been out? He could swear he just blinked.

“Didn’t exact to snap like that.” Wrecker said, bringing Rex’s attention back to him.

“It’s… fine…” he said, although it was a little weaker then he would have wanted. At least he didn’t slur too bad.

Ahsoka took her hands away from Crosshair’s head, easing it to the deck. “I think I got it.” 

Leaning over him Tech was already waving a scanner over his teammate, nodding at whatever it said. “The signal that was causing him to seize is no longer present.”

That was certainly new, Rex wondered exactly when Ahsoka had picked up that particular trick. It would have been useful before.

Seeming to sense the question on his mind Ahsoka looked up and met his eye, her smile tinged with sadness. “I spoke with Master Plo about how to crush the chips with the Force. He taught me the theory of how to do it. I’m glad I was able to figure it out in time.” Her gaze shifted to Hunter, who was still absently rubbing a temple. “Your turn, Sergeant…”

“Hunter.” he supplied, stepping up so Ahsoka could rise and reach up to take his head in her hands. Her brows furrowed in concentration then there was… not so much the sound as the sensation of a crunch .

The effect was immediate, the pain lines on Hunter’s face faded and he looked surprised, “I thought that headache wasn’t ever going away.”

“How long did you have it?” Ahsoka asked, letting her hands fall.

“Since…” he rubbed a temple, frowning as he thought, “Since the Order came through, though when you came in it was worse.”

She nodded, seeming satisfied, “Your chip felt like it’d been… warped, if that makes sense. Though it wasn’t damaged like his was.” With a tilt of her head she indicated the still unconscious Crosshair. “Your turn.” she said to Tech, who was already moving forward.

Time seemed to go fuzzy for a moment and though Rex could swear he’d only blinked the next thing he knew Ahsoka was dropping her hands from Echo’s head, her expression grim. “Echo… I don’t know what happened after… but,” She grimaced, “It feels like parts of your brain are missing. You don’t have a chip.”

Echo’s face was shuttered and guarded, whatever he felt about that locked away before he gave a smile that looked like he had scraped it up with an effort of will. “Silver lining I guess.”

Ahsoka looked like she wanted to ask about it but just then the hanger doors opened and Stitches stormed in, several other medics in tow.

He took one look at the scene, the battered Wolfpack troopers, East’s broken arm, Crosshair laid out on the deck, Wrecker in a miserable huddle, and finally Rex himself, propped against the wall.

“What the karking hell happened?” he said, in the voice of a man who had been woken far too early for this.

--

Several hours later found them all in the medbay, the members of the Wolfpack that had been wounded badly enough to warrant staying mostly asleep on their cots, including East, whose arm had indeed been broken. He was now one of the several troopers snoring the deep snore of the highly drugged, arm and collarbone immobilized while bacta did its work.

Beyond some interesting bruises on Wrecker from his rampage most the Bad Batch weren’t too badly off. After some scans on his head to make sure there hadn’t been any bleeding Crosshair had been given a bed next to Wrecker and left to sleep.

With two of their members laid up the rest of the Bad Batch seemed inclined to stay, after some initial eye-rolling Stitches had allowed it. With only the recently wounded 104th troopers and the 212th trooper with a broken leg on the other cots they certainly had enough room for them.

Rex himself was sitting on the corner of one of those spare cots, waiting until the medics stopped paying attention to him long enough for him that he could slip out. They’d initially been concerned when they’d heard he’d blacked out but scans had shown his head wasn’t bleeding inside and his skull wasn’t cracked, he just had a regular, old-fashioned concussion.

Really he didn’t understand all the fuss, with the meds and a batca patch on the knot of the back of his head he was feeling much better. And he’d only thrown up the once, he was pretty sure that was just because Echo had hauled him to his feet a little too fast.

Happened to everyone. No big deal.

Or so he thought. Apparently Stitches had more in common with Kix then he’d initially thought, he too gave unnecessarily strict post-concussion orders. There was no reason for Rex to sleep here, besides, despite the rattle his brain had taken he was still too awake to consider trying to sleep.

Which meant he really needed to get out of Medical before someone noticed he was up and sedated him. The last thing he needed was the nightmares sleeping still this keyed up would bring.

Carefully he eased himself off the cot, moving slowly so he didn’t catch the attention of a medic. His head only throbbed a little at the movement, which was to be expected after that much of a knock.

At least this time there was no bout of nausea after rising, it would have been hard to stealthily throw up. Besides, he pretty sure there wasn’t anything left in his stomach and somehow throwing up bile was always worse.

His feet felt like they weighed twice as much as he shuffled toward the exit, he had to concentrate hard on picking them up.

Across the medbay Ahsoka looked up from where she’d been in close conversation with Echo, frowning at him. He tried his best to give the wave of a trooper who had abolotuely been cleared to leave medical, from the quirk of her lips he was fairly sure she saw right through that but she didn’t stop him from slipping out. 

On his way to the exit he caught sight of a familiar form in the doorway of one of the private bacta tube rooms, which made him divert toward them. He came level with Hunter, who was leaning against the doorframe, the expression on his face unmistakably fond, and took in the scene in front of him.

General Kenobi floated in the bacta tank, still and pale but already looking better then he had when he’d first been loaded on to the ship. The longer he spent in there the better, Cody had done his best with the limited resources on the moon but not much except bacta immersion could help with internal damage.

All the same, Stitches had been optimistic that Kenobi could be de-tanked for a bit in the moring, if only to help plan the retrieval of the 212th before they put him back under during the travel time to Utapau. Already his color looked better then it had been before.

But Rex had a feeling it was the room’s other occupant was the reason Hunter was here instead of with the rest of his team, after all, it hadn’t been just his armor that Tech had bugged.

Cody had drawn up a chair so he could sit next to his general’s tube, presumably to keep an eye on him before he too had succumbed to sleep. The datapad in his lap said he’d been at least trying to pretend he was doing something other then that but in sleep he’d listed toward the tube so his head and arm rested against it, as if in sleep he’d tried to keep as close to Kenobi as possible.

There was no doubt he was probably going to have one hell of a crick in his neck when he woke up.

Rex pitched his voice low so as not to carry to Cody, “If you wake him up I’ll shoot you.”

Hunter snorted softly, “I’d expect no less. I get the impression decent sleep is at a premium right now.” He eyed Rex, “When’d you last get some?”

He waved him off, “It’s on the list.”

The look Hunter game him was skeptical but his shrug said ‘suit yourself’. He turned his gaze back the sleeping commander and he frowned, as if something had only just occurred to him. “Where is Skywaker?”

It was a little like being punched in the gut, he couldn’t stop the reflexive wince. Hunter’s frown deepened, he stepped forward to rap his knuckles against Rex’s shoulder plate, an unspoken gesture of comfort.

“That good, huh?”

“I don’t know.” Rex said. Somehow his voice came out neutral, he wasn’t even sure how. “I was leaving Mandalore with Commander Tano when the Order went out. He would have been on Coruscant.”

The knowledge of how many troopers there were on Coruscant lay heavy between them. Jedi were notoriously good at surviving but they wouldn’t have seen the clones coming, wouldn’t have thought to guard against allies.

He didn’t want to accept that Anakin was dead but he knew it was all too likely. The knowledge pulled at his bones, made him want to just stop and curl into a ball around the hurt feeling.

But he couldn’t do that, not now. He’d spent too many hours just keeping going, if he stopped now he wasn’t sure what would happen.

Another tap on his shoulder plate made him look up, only to see that Hunter was watching him closely. 

His hands had started to shake again.

“Did the medics clear you to be up?” Hunter asked. “Wrecker bounced you off that wall pretty hard.”

“They did,” Rex lied, with the ease of practice. “Wouldn’t have made it out if they hadn’t.”

The glance Hunter shot the main medical room, with the rest of the squad still commanding most of the attention, made it clear he knew exactly how easy slipping out would be. “You going to get some sleep then?” 

“Medic’s orders.” he said and ignored the extremely skeptical look Hunter had as he headed for the door out. He could feel the sergeant’s gaze on his back as he left, he tried to make an effort keep his pace brisk, his steps regular, unhindered by the looming cloud of exhaustion and the lingering ache in his skull.

Head wounds were a karking pain.

Riding that momentum he made it back to his assigned bunk in the officer’s quarters.

He really did intend to actually sleep. Truely.

But when he sat down on the edge of his bunk and started to reach for the first clasp of his armor he realized his hands were still shaking.

Suddenly the deep, even breathing and occasional snore of brothers all around him felt enclosing, suffocating. He might have been the only one actually awake but the knowledge of being surrounded by troopers was too much. All it would take would be one man waking and he’d have to try to scrape some sort of plausible answer for his… his everything right now.

This was why he couldn’t stop, if he laid down now he wasn’t sure what would happen.

But maybe he didn’t have to. He shoved himself upright, ignoring the pained twinge in his feet. His head throbbed and he had to catch himself with a hand to the wall, cradling his aching skull in the other hand for a moment while he pulled himself together.

Maybe the medics hadn’t been completely wrong about taking it easy.

Drawing himself up he pulled on the hum of energy still hovering around the back of his tired, bruised brain and went back to pacing. It had served him well in the past, he’d use it to keep it together until the morning tactics meeting. Surely by now that was only a few hours off, all he had to do was get to the meeting and then he’d have something tangible to do. That would make it easier.

By this point in the war, he could do tactic meetings half asleep and in the dark, even with the extreme circumstances they were under now he wasn’t too worried about making a fool of himself.

This late on the ship there weren’t many troopers in the halls, almost everyone who didn’t have a duty keeping them up was getting what sleep they could. The few who did pass him all gave him the same side eyed glance with their salutes, an expression that was somewhere between curiosity and concern.

Thankfully none of the troopers were bold enough to ask the questions that lay under that expression. Just in case his luck ran out he turned his steps toward the stern of the ship and the cargo areas where he’d been less likely to encounter brothers.

All the hallways where starting to blend together and feel like one monotonous corridor, like every corner he turned was starting him back in the same place.

He let his feet take him wherever they wanted, not bothering to keep track of what corridor he was wandering down.

It wasn’t until there was a sharp beep from nearby that he dragged his gaze up from where it had settled a few feet ahead of him. He looked up just in time to see a familiar cleaning droid whisking around a corner, still beeping in that sounded like indignation.

The twinge of curiosity was distant, like it was coming from far away, but he found he was just too tired to care. Still his feet carried him on, down more blank hallways and past more shuttered rooms.

Rex probably should have been surprised when Echo fell into step with him between one corridor and the next but it was just a dull twinge of what it should have been.

Sweeping an all too knowing look over him Echo snorted and finally spoke. “You know you’re limping, right?”

That was actually enough to stop him and he blinked at the other man, too flat tired to come up with a real response.

Echo crossed his arms, giving him a second once over with a more critical eye, “I remember when you used to pace on the Resolute after a bad battle. After Umbara I thought Kix was going to tranq you halfway through the night if you hadn’t stopped. That was bad but this… I talked with Commander Tano, she told me what happened with the 332nd. Sir, have you slept at all since then?”

His voice felt like it was coming from very far away, like he’d left it a couple hallways back and it was only catching up now, “I… slept on the ship, before we found the signal.” And he had, in fits and snatches of time while Ahsoka had taken the helm of their tiny craft. Each time he’d woken with the taste of ashes in his mouth and the feeling of dirt under his fingernails.

Maybe it hadn’t been the best of rest. 

Belatedly he realized his mistake in being so specific, already Echo’s eyes were narrowing, “That had to have been almost a day ago, to get to that close to Utapau you would have had to go halfway--” he cut himself off and his expression softened. “Captain, are you alright?”

It took him longer then he should have to realize that Echo was looking at his hands.

They were shaking again. He should really do something about that.

“Fine.” he said, though he sounded unconvincing event to himself.

Echo snorted, reaching out in a slow, telegraphed move to grab his arm, using that to tow him sideways into the nearest storage room.

It was some sort of bizarre mirror to where he’d been before the Bad Batch had arrived, he reflected distantly as Echo shoved him down into a crate.

“Well, you did always like to mope in the cargo rooms when you were trying to avoid people.” Echo said.

Had he said that out loud?

With a chuckle Echo lowered himself to the floor at his feet. He reached over to tap the end of his prosthetic arm against his kneeplate. “Safe to say your filter is well and truly shot right now, sir. Lift your foot?”

He frowned at him, confused, but in the end it felt like to much effort to argue and he raised his boot. Immediately Echo took it in hand, fingers going for the catch . He didn’t seem to have much trouble flipping it with his thumb, easing Rex’s boot off and dropping it to the floor.

“Boots aren’t too bad one handed.” he said, almostly absently as he pulled off Rex’s sock for some reason. “It’s the shoulder plates I had trouble with. Took weeks of having to ask Tech or Cross to do the catch before I figured out the trick.” Taking Rex’s ankle he gently turned his foot so he could look at the sole. He winced, “Yeah, I thought so.”

Glancing down Rex saw the bottom of his foot was rubbed red like he’d walked a long march without remembering to wrap them. His toes were curled with pain that he could only distantly feel, blisters showing where they’d rubbed against his boots. Now that his boot was off he could feel his ankle throbbing, from the pinch that was starting where his shin guard ended it felt like it was taking the opportunity to swell up. He’d need to get that shin plate off before it swelled too much and he wouldn’t be able to.

As if he’d read his mind Echo was back at work, pulling his shin guard off and setting it next to his boot. He carefully prodded at Rex’s ankle, which was quite enthusiastically swelling now it was free to do so.

When had he even sprained his ankle? Why hadn’t he even felt it til now, he’d been standing for hours. He wasn’t an idiot, he knew better then that.

Easing his other boot off Echo checked his other foot, just as red and blistered as the first, then took his his shin guard to check that ankle too. At least that one wasn’t swelling up like his right was.

From his belt pouch Echo too bacta patches and, without comment, started applying them to his blisters. 

Rex watched his numbly, too tired to care. It felt like the pain in the back of his skull and the ache in his feet were an overwhelming force, making the world fuzzy around the edges.

A roll of bandages was next and Echo started to wrap his swollen ankle with the sort of brisk efficacy that spoke of practice.

He frowned down at him, trying to push back exhaustion enough to form words. “… where?” was the best he managade but he seemed to understand.

“The Squad get injured a lot.” Echo said, “I had a lot of opportunity to pick things up.” Tucking the end of the bandage in he settled back on his heels, looking up at Rex. From this angle the ports on his head, mostly hidden by his hair, caught the light. “When I first joined the Squad I had a lot of trouble with… well, just about everything. But the nights were the worst. It wasn’t just the nightmares-- those were bad, don’t get me wrong-- I just… I needed to make sure everyone was there. Hadn’t been left behind. Kept having to check on everyone, make sure they were in their bunks.” His lips quirked in a smile, “Guess I picked up that pacing habit too. They were good sports, the squad I mean. They knew how it was. So they’d let me do the rounds before I settled in, check everyone was where they should be. After a while all I had to do was head count and I could finally get myself to sleep.”

Rising he grabbed a crate from nearby, hauling in close so he could sit across from him, close enough their knees bumped as he sat. “So let’s go through it, make sure everyone’s where they should be. Commander Tano, left the medbay when I did, she said she’s going back to sleep. Stitches said Commander Wolffe and General Koon are asleep in the officer’s lounge. Commander Cody is in with General Kenobi, I’d bet he’s resting too. The rest of the Bad Batch are in medical too, probably giving Stitches greif. That ARC trooper Wrecker crunched was still asleep when I left, his buddy was with him. Stitches says in a few days he’ll be okay. The 212th trooper with the broken leg is going to be alright too, apparently it’s not too bad a break. I heard the rest of the 212th squad is already bunked down in some spare bunks, haven’t moved all night. Did I miss anyone?”

Mutely he shook his head.

Echo met his eyes, leaning forward intently, “It’s alright, sir. Everyone’s as safe as they’re going to get. You can stop now.”

“... I can’t.” he whispered.

Reaching forward Echo put his hands, one flesh and one metal, over his shaking ones. “You really can. I promise.”

His eyes burned, exhaustion and maybe more, and for a moment he tried to fight it, tried to push it back down but he just couldn’t anymore. The adrenaline that had kept him going for so long had finally burned off, leaving him feel hollow and empty.

He could feel the wetness at the corners of his eyes, the horrors of the day welling up again.

“I’ve got you, vod.” Echo said.

Rex let himself fall forward, his forehead coming to rest against Echo’s shoulder and just stopped trying to hold together.

--

Very carefully Echo shifted so he could thumb the modified com link that Tech had built into the side of his glove so he could trigger it one handed. He lifted his hand so he could look up at more easily, inching it out around Rex, who was so deeply asleep a grenade probably wouldn’t have woken him.

Still, not reason to startle him awake and ruin all Echo’s hard work. If he tried to go back to pacing Echo really was going to use the fallback tranq Stitches had given him.

Ahsoka appeared almost instantly, despite her claims of going to sleep, even cast in blue and shimmering she looked worried. As soon as she saw the head resting against his shoulder relief bloomed across her face. “You got him to sleep . Is he okay?”

“He karked up his ankle and his feet are a mess.” Echo said. He didn’t mention the dampness soaking into his blacks, he’d never seen Rex cry before and it had been a little terrifying to see his shoulders shake, to hear the hitching sobs. But it was better then the captain wandering the halls with empty eyes, walking on kriffing blistered feet.

And Echo couldn’t judge him for the breakdown, he’d had his own share, before and after he’d joined the Bad Batch. It had been him crying into Rex’s shoulder after Rishi.

“Should I get medical to send a stretcher down?” Ahsoka asked.

He snorted, “I’m not carrying him anywhere.” He had recovered a lot of muscle since being rescued but not enough to haul anyone in armor around. “Thanks Commander.”

She smiled. “No, thank you for going after him.” Her eyes went shadowed, grief clear on her face, “I don’t think I could have gotten him to sleep. Not after-- I tried before and it didn’t go well. So thank you.”

“Anytime, Commander.” he said.

Picking up a datapad she typed in a quick message, “There should be a medic on the way with a stretcher. I’ll see you in a few hours at the morning meeting.”

“Maybe we could make that more like a midday meeting?” he suggested. “Seems like everyone could use the downtime.” And it wasn’t like the 212th was likely to go anywhere in the next few hours.

That brought the smile back to her face, “I’ll see what I can do.” she said and signed off.

With a sigh Echo dropped his hand to rest on the back of Rex’s neck, absently running his hand over the prickle of short hairs. Rex didn’t so much as twitch, he was too deeply asleep and Echoed thanked the Force for that. If there was any justice left in the universe he’d stay asleep for a good while.

“We’re okay.” he said, into the dimly lit storage room and willed it with every fiber of his being. “ We’re going to be okay. ”