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Rex looks over the unfamiliar terrain of Ilum, taking in the snow-white nothingness that surrounds their ship. It’s one of General Skywalker’s personal ships, untraceable by anyone but him.
“So, what are we doing here?” he asks, pulling the hood of his new fur coat closer to his face. He wishes he was in his Cold Assault Gear, but Ahsoka had insisted that he wear the coat.
“You’re going to find your crystal.”
“My crystal? For what?”
“Your lightsaber, Rex,” Ahsoka says as if Rex is supposed to already know this.
“What? I don’t need a lightsaber, Ahsoka. I’m not a Jedi.”
Ahsoka sighs and suddenly looks more mature than Rex has ever seen her outside of battle.
“It’s not the saber that makes you a Jedi.,” she starts solemnly. “Your saber is an extension of yourself, as any weapon should be, but the crystal inside the saber allows it to be an extension of your force signature as well. A saber allows for a flow of energy that you won’t get with your blasters, and it’s not limited to the Jedi or even force-users.” She pauses for a moment, looking away. “If you don't want this, we can leave, but if you do, you won’t regret it.”
Rex thought about it for a moment. Ahsoka was right; lightsabers weren't exclusive to Jedi. Rex had seen Sith with lightsabers, force- nulls with lightsabers, Rex had even heard of Tarre Vizsla, a Mandalorian with a lightsaber.
He looks down at Ahsoka and gives her a small smile. “where do I find my crystal?”
Ahsoka smiles up at him. “it's somewhere in that cave, but I can't tell you where it is. Only you can see your crystal, only you can find it.”
Rex finds his crystal on the roof of the cave, deep within a stalagmite. He's no Jedi, doesn't have the agility to bound his way up to the ceiling, to break open the ice with his bare hand, but he is a trooper. Even without gear, Rex knows how to scale a wall.
It's hard to keep steady on the ice, but between his skills and his fledgling use of the force, Rex makes it to the top. There, in front of him, his crystal shimmers within the ice. He can hear it chiming in his head, a twinkling sound that radiates through the force around him. He reaches out for it, stretching his arm toward his prize. He tries not to look down, to get swept up in his fear of being so high off the ground. He had been higher when he fell – when he almost took his last breath.
Suddenly, Rex is remembering the feeling of weightlessness. He was weightless while he fell, both bound and unbound to the gravity pulling him towards the floor. If he fell right now, would it feel the same? Would he survive this fall?
Rex closes his eyes, pushing the thoughts from his head. He had a mission, and he could not get distracted. Again, Rex reaches out to his crystal through the force. With his hand under the stalagmite, he watches as the ice cracks and falters. The frozen water shimmers as it falls to the cave floor, and in Rex's hand plays his kyber crystal, the one that called out to him.
Ahsoka helps ranks build his Saber. She makes him pull apart one of his favorite DC blasters, laying out the pieces on the small holo-table within their ship.
“Now,” Ahsoka says softly, “use the force and put it all together.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you have an idea of what you want your saber to look like? Envision it. And when I say that, I don't mean look at the pieces in front of you and make up a Saber hilt from that. No, look inside of yourself, Rex. When you see yourself holding your saver, what does it look like to you?”
Rex closes his eyes and lets his imagination run wild. He sees himself in full armor, Cody on his left and the Wolf on his right. Behind him or his brothers, his vod, from the five-oh-first. On rex’s hip is an elaborate lightsaber hilt. It's gunmetal grey like his DCs and carved with the finest detailing. Rex sees himself leading his brothers through exploration, not war. As they March, they plan housing and training facilities and joke about their Jedi generals.
A soft clicking noise pulls Rex out of his fantasy. Ahsoka is smiling brightly at him, and on the table is the lightsaber hilt he imagined. He stares at it in awe, both confused and astounded by his ability to make something so beautiful.
“Wanna test it out?” Ahsoka asks.
Rex smiles at her, grabbing his Saber as he stands. The circle gives him enough space as he activates it for the very first time. The blade is an unusual blue, nothing like what he’s seen on General Kenobi or any other Jedi. Rex's blade is 501st blue, made to match his armor, made to match his men, made to match the pattern of Ahsoka’s lekku. Nevertheless, it still confuses him. The blade has almost no mass and wielding it feels different than any melee weapons he has been trained to use. But at the same time, the happiness and lightness flood through his body; he can't wait to finally use this.
They mess around with the saber for a while, going through the basic katas so that Rex can get used to the weight of his new weapon. It isn’t until they’ve gotten tired that Rex finally asks where they were heading to.
“Shili,” Ahsoka says simply. Rex didn’t know much about the planet, just that he was the homeworld of the Togrutas.
“We’re staying with family?” he asks nervously, plopping down into the co-pilot’s seat.
“Not that I know of. One of the colonists from Kiros offered to let us stay at the house she has on Shili. According to her, she never sold it when she moved, so we can hide out there.”
“When did you have time to call in that favor?”
Ahsoka shrugs, “When you were in the cave on Ilum.”
~0~
If there is one thing Anakin will always be sure of, it’s that Obi-Wan will always be there to back him up. As Rex and Ahsoka flee to Ilum, Anakin stays on Kamino and calls his mentor immediately.
“And what do I owe the pleasure, my padawan?” Obi-wan asks as Anakin hides in an empty storage closet.
“Rex and Ahsoka and the Kaminoans! I don’t know what to do.”
“And what exactly do you mean by this, Anakin?”
He takes a deep breath. He needs to choose his words carefully, make sure that he gives Obi-wan the full image and not just the moments that are making him panic.
“So, it has come to my attention,” Anakin starts nervously, “that Captain Rex may be force sensitive. You remember that fall I told you about?”
“Yes, of course. Is he doing okay?”
“Oh yeah! He’s made a full recovery and everything, but, I’ve noticed, or well Ahsoka has noticed that he’s a bit more… attuned… to the force than he had been before.”
“Understandable. Near-death experiences are known to strengthen a Jedi’s bond with the cosmic force, but I’ve never heard of it working on someone that is force-null. At the same time, Anakin, what does this have to do with the Kaminoans?”
“I think they’ve been killing the clones.”
“Excuse me! I thought MAster Ti had handled the decommissioning issue.”
“Yeah, but,” Anakin groans. “It's a long story, Master.”
Obi-Wan simply raises an eyebrow, encouraging Anakin to continue.
“OK, so Rex and Ahsoka have gotten very close, and they may or may not have kissed, but then Dogma saw them kissing while Rex had Ahsoka’s lightsaber so–”
“Wait, why did Rex have Ahsoka’s lightsaber?”
“Because Ahsoka has been teaching him how to use a saber. But anyway, Dogma reported Rex for assaulting Ahsoka and trying to steal her saber. So,” Anakin drags out dramatically, “he was taken to Kamino and they were going to kill him.”
“But there are no crimes punishable by decommissioning. Master Ti made sure of that.”
“That’s what I thought. But I think Dogma also reported that Rex is force sensitive, too, because Ahsoka told me that Rex told her that the Kaminoans purposefully kill off the force-sensitive clones!”
Obi-wan looks like his head is about to explode, and the younger Jedi general feels a little bad for unloading this all on his mentor.
“So, you're telling me that the Kaminoans are purposefully targeting and killing force-sensitive clones? Because they think that force-sensitive clones shouldn’t exist?”
“They think that we don't want force-sensitive clones to exist.”
Obi-wan pinches the bridge of his nose. “Then we have to talk with Master Ti. She has jurisdiction over the contracts we have with the Kaminoans and should be able to help us fix this.” Obi-wan pauses for a second, and Anakin is ready to end the call when the older man calls out. “Wait, Anakin! Where is Rex now?”
“He’s with Ahsoka. We were able to get him off Kamino before he was killed. I’m not sure where they went, though.”
Obi hums. “Okay. When you can, please tell them not to return until we have everything sorted out. In the meantime. Please find Master Ti and have her call me so we can relay this message to her.
Master Ti is livid when she hears about the decommissioning of force-sensitive clones. She immediately calls a meeting between the council, Lama Su, and Nala Se. Anakin stands silently beside Master Ti as they join the holo-call together.
“Jedi Masters, please understand me when I say that this is not something for you to worry about,” Lama Su says in a calm tone.
“Beg to differ I do,” Master Yoda chimes in. “About the lives of force-sensitive children this is. A Jedi matter that makes it.”
“These clones are not children, Master Jedi, they are product.”
“Yes, product that we pay for,” Master Windu says with disdain written all over his face. The man had a knack for looking grumpy all the time, but Anakin had never seen him genuinely upset before. Anger wasn’t something Anakin had seen from any Jedi besides Obi-wan and himself, but Master Windu looked as if calling the troopers product made his blood boil. “As the client, can we not change the terms of how we want our product to be made?” Windu continues.
“Well, yes,” Lama Su starts, “but our contract explicitly states that this term can't be changed by anyone except for Master Dooku,” Nala Se explains. Her eyes go wide as soon as the words leave her mouth, knowing that she’s just kriffed up.
“Control over our army Master Dooku should not have. No longer a Jedi he is. Commission the clones he did not.”
“This must be changed at once,” Master Ti says, “or we will have to petition for the contract between the G.A.R. and Kamino be terminated.”
Lama Su contemplates the offer, and Anakin already knows what the Prime Minister will pick. He can either do as the Jedi asks or potentially lose the most profitable client Kamino has ever had.
“Then the changes will be made at once.”
“Grateful we are,” Master Yoda says in thanks, but his face goes solemn as he looks directly at Nala Se. “To find any more issues we hope not. If more we find, stop all business with Kamino must.”
~0~
Shili is beautiful, at least the part of Shili that they landed in. According to Ahsoka, they’re a few clicks from Corvala, the capital city of Shili. It’s grassier than Kiros, with sprawling meadows, light shrubbery, and even sparser woodlands but Rex can see the cityscape on the horizon.
The village they’re staying in is, again, like Kiros. It sits in a valley of turu-grass and has what Rex has come to realize is typical Togruti architecture: pale, curved buildings designed to resemble montrals. The ornate house they’re staying in is ironically similar to Ahsoka’s own montrals – white with deep blue stripes. She laughs when Rex points it out to her.
“I guess you can say I’m living in my head,” she jokes.
A woman is waiting for them at the front door of the house, and Rex is shocked when Ahsoka dashes over to hug her. As they hold each other close, Rex notices the obvious… this woman looks like Ahsoka. The woman’s skin is just a tad darker than Ahsoka’s, more of a rusted orange than a sienna, but their face markings are almost identical with Ahsoka’s markings just a bit more angular than the other woman’s.
When they pull apart, Ahsoka happily turns to Rex, waving him closer.
“Rex, this is my mother. Mama, this is Rex.”
Rex’s brows knit together. Ahsoka knew her mother? He thought the Jedi didn’t know their parents. Nevertheless, Rex politely greets the woman. She smiles.
“Hello, Captain Rex. I’m glad you could bring my daughter to see me.” Her voice makes Rex warm all over, makes him feel safe in a way that only happened when he was with General Koon or General Ti. He could feel the care rolling off her, the genuine gratitude for something he didn’t even do.”
“Oh, it wasn’t– I’m glad I could help–” he pauses, not knowing what to call her.
“Lady Tano works for now.”
Rex nods, cheeks heating with embarrassment. Lady Tano smiles again as she turns towards the house.
“Speaking of help,” she starts as she leads them inside. “Ayesha, my older daughter, told me that you two were in need of some.”
“Oh yes,” Ahsoka speaks up. “We’ve recently learned that Rex is somewhat connected to the force. For obvious reasons, we can’t teach Rex back on Coruscant, but I know that the spirituality of the Togruta here on Shili is closely tied to the Force.”
“It is?” Rex buts in.
“Why, of course,” Lady Tano answers. “There is Force in everything, as the Jedi have probably told you both, but the ability to connect with the force is something that all beings are capable of, some better than others. Women here on Shili are well known for our near-Jedi level connection with the force, but we usually use our gifts for healing, medicine, and hunting.”
“It’s also why I’m always taking off my shoes,” Ahsoka cuts in. “It’s easier, for me, to connect to the force of a planet when my shoes aren’t getting in the way.”
“Will I need to walk around barefoot, too?” he asks nervously.
Lady Tano laughs, “Yes, you will.”
Lady Tano shows Rex and Ahsoka around the house before going off to her own home with the promise of starting Rex’s training the next day. In the meantime, Rex and Ahsoka try to put together something to eat.
“This is all meat!” Rex complains as he looks through the fridge.
“We are a planet of carnivores, Rex. I’m sure there’s something other than akul.” Rex sighs, looking through the pantry to find something that wasn’t just protein.
“So,” Rex starts as he reads the ingredients of a pack of noodles. “Your mom?”
“Oh yeah. You remember that woman I saved on Kadavo?”
“The green one?” Rex nods, urging Ahsoka to continue.
“Yeah. When she thanked me, she introduced herself as Ayesha Tano. Color me surprised to know I had a sister. Said I reminded her of our mother, l and that we should keep in touch.”
“So this is your sister’s house?”
“Yep. Mama lives a few houses down.” Ahsoka sighs heavily, leaning against the kitchen counter. “You know, I miss her sometimes. Now that I know her. I miss Ayesha, too.”
“It’s hard to miss people you don’t know exist,” Rex shrugs.
Lady Tano, who after some research (aka bugging Ahsoka) Rex learns is the chief of the village, wakes them up early the next morning, eager to get a read on Rex and his connection to the force.
She sits them in the yard behind the house, Rex only in his blacks, Ahsoka in a thin shirt and her typical Togruta sash and skirt, and all of them barefoot.
“We’re starting with meditation. Are you familiar with that, Rex?”
“I’ve seen Ahsoka and General Skywalker do it, but I’ve never done it myself.”
Lady Tano hums, “Then we will start simply. Lay in the grass for me.”
Rex raises a confused eyebrow but does as he’s told. The grass smells nice, he thinks as he looks up at the sky, refreshing in the way the oceans of Kamino were. To his right, Ahsoka lays down not too far away from him.
“Now breathe in and out slowly. As if you’re trying to lower your heart rate.”
Rex suppresses the instinct to nod. He’s learned to forcibly relax; it’s something cadets learn early on so that fear didn't get the best of them in simulation battles. So, he takes a deep breath, holds it for a few seconds, and then exhales deeply through his nose. He does it again, and then a third time. As he loosens his muscles, his body sinks further into the lush grass.
Lady Tano hums in approval.
“Good, now I want you to feel. Start from your feet and catalog what you feel. Don’t tell me, just think about it and open your eyes when you're done.”
Rex pulls in another deep breath. He can feel the grass against his toes and the soles of his feet. It’s a stronger sensation than the grass that sways against his legs which are covered with his blacks. However, Rex can feel the beetle that’s made its way onto his hand, can feel its little legs against his skin. He can feel the pebble he laid on top of as it presses into his back. He can feel the wind blowing gently over his face and, finally, the turu-grass grazing against his crop hair.
He opens his eyes, almost sleepily. Blinking a few times to reorient himself with the world. Lady Tano smiles from where she’s standing over him.
“Now do it again, but with the force.”
Rex starts the process all over again. He pulls in a lung full of air and reaches out to the force for the first time in almost 24 hours. Even before now, he didn't use the force often. it was still foreign to him, still a mystery. Nevertheless, it washes over him gently, and Rex tries his best not to grip frivolously at it. He guides the force through his body and to his feet. Again he feels the grass, but he also feels the aura, the living Force, within the grass. He can feel the Beetle, all of those little beetles but he didn't notice before.
He can feel the small rodent that shuffles past his ankle, and he can feel Ahsoka as she radiates next to him. Her living force is much stronger than the beetle or the rodent, it's much stronger than Rex's own Force. He wants to dwell on that, to figure out why her forced signature, something everyone has, is stronger than his, but he doesn't think that's the point of this exercise. Instead, he refocuses on what he feels around him. As he moves further up his body, Rex feels his head empty, his thoughts settle. there's not much to feel around him other than the sweet-smelling Turu-grass.
It all comes crashing down when he gets just past his neck. Suddenly, his head is buzzing, full of thoughts he'd never had before. The fading images of him raising his blaster at Ahsoka, him killing Ahsoka, flash through his brain and he sits up abruptly. He doesn't even notice how heavy he's breathing, sucking in air from his mouth as he stares, unseeing, at Lady Tano.
The woman is kneeling beside him, one hand splayed across his chest in the other across his back in an attempt to calm him. Ahsoka is on his other side, panicked but giving Rex space. Rex is too embarrassed to look at either of them. He should be good at this; he's a soldier programmed to be the best of the best, he should be good at this!
“Do you want to talk about what you saw?” Lady Tano asks. Rex shakes his head, pushing himself to his feet.
“How about we try this again later?” Ahsoka asks. her mother hums in agreement, eyes staring at Rex's back as he Retreats into the house. He knows Ahsoka will question him, knows she wants to know what had him so scared oh, but he doesn't think he can answer those questions right now.
They try again the next morning, and nothing changes. As Rex centers the force around his head, he's bombarded with images he doesn't understand. Why would he kill Ahsoka? Why is the force showing him this?
This time around, Lady Tano doesn't let Rex sit up. She Comforts him, columns him, but she doesn't let him sit upright. When his breathing has settled, Lady Tano and Ahsoka lean over him. the older woman is saying something oh, Rex knows she is, but he can't hear a word. He watches as they join hands over his body, feels as they push at the force surrounding him. Over and over, they passed their joined hands over his body – moving from his feet to his head.
After the fourth pass, they keep their hands over his head and Rex can feel the pressure as they try to force their way in. They aren't forcing themselves into his mind, per se. Rex knows that he's safe, but he also knows that they're breaking into something that's in him but it isn't him. it takes them two tries to crack into whatever mysterious box is hiding in Rex's brain. Ahsoka gasps and Lady Tano turns away in disgust.
“There's something in your head,” Lady Tano explains. “It doesn't belong there. Tomorrow, we will go to the med-center in Corvala and have you scanned.”
Rex swallows thickly. He's not sure what they'll find, but he knows it's the reason he sees Ahsoka's lifeless face when he tries to meditate.
The scan confirms one thing, Rex has a chip in his brain. According to the doctor, a distant cousin of Lady Tano’s, the chip is made of organic material, something akin to flash, but it's not Rex’s flesh. The news almost makes him panic. He wants to scream, maybe to cry, but he's a soldier of the Republic and the doctor doesn't know him as anything more than that, so he holds it in until they’ve returned to the house.
Ahsoka does not have the refrain that Rex does. As soon as he makes her aware of the chip, she lets out the fiercest brow he's ever heard rumble from her chest. She's furious, almost as furious as Rex feels, and he thinks that may be the most comforting part. Ahsoka has just learned that an army of pre-made soldiers have programming just like any other droid army, but all the same, it angers her. Rex wonders if it's because she loves him, or because she loves all the Clones. Rex’s vod'e are also Ahsoka's Brothers.
Sometimes, he forgets that Ahsoka's bond with Torrent Company is strong enough to rival his own. And that makes her anger all the more validating. She may not understand all of their struggles, but she understands being thrown into war and being forced to be older than she actually is. She understands not having a choice when it comes to who she has to fight, And rex likes to think that she sees this chip as something else that the Clones did not consent to.
They decide to get it removed, still unsure of what that will do to Rex but disgusted enough to not want to keep it in his body. For brain surgery, the procedure is surprisingly quick. Rex is out from under the knife in less than 30 minutes, still fully capable of all his bodily functions. They keep the biochip, sandwich it between two pieces of glass before encasing it in a dura-steel frame. “For proof,” Rex says to Ahsoka.
They call Cody as soon as they get back to the house. Lady Tano gives them their privacy, making her way back to her own home with the promise of returning when she's called for.
Cody is on a mission with General Kenobi when they call him. it's a joint mission, so the five-oh-first is also with them.
“Get Fives and come back,” Rex instructs before Cody can even say hi. Cody opens his mouth to say something, but Rex shuts him down immediately. “Just get Fives, and come back. You can ask your questions later.”
Cody finally takes the seriousness in Rex's voice for what it is oh, and disappears from in front of his holotable. Ahsoka and Rex wait patiently for a few minutes before Cody comes back, Fives tailing behind him.
“Rex,” Cody starts uncharacteristically nervous, “please tell me what’s going on.” Rex swallows, looking at a Soca before looking back at the Hologram of his brothers.
“Ahsoka found a chip in my head.”
“A what?” Fives calls out. Rex hangs his head, slowly raising the encased biochip to show to his brothers.
“We were doing some…” Rex pauses as he tries to find a way to explain this without revealing his force-sensitivity.
“Force osik,” Cody suggests. Their eyes all go wide at Cody’s words, but the man continues. “I overheard Skywalker’s call with the General. Congrats on whatever that is, too.” Cody gestures between Rex and Ahsoka, and Rex’s face heats. He rolls his eyes before shaking the biochip at them again.
“Back to what I was saying. Ahsoka has been helping me train in the forest, but whenever I would practice, I would get these extremely vivid daydreams, visions almost? My head would start to feel like it was vibrating and I kept seeing myself killing Ahsoka.”
“Have you had any of those visions since you removed the chip?”
“I haven't tried again yet, but I thought this is something you should know. I know Skywalker and Kenobi are trying to do something about force-sensitive clones, but this chip definitely interferes with my ability to use the force and I thought they should know that. if you can, get them to look into it. I would comm them directly, but I'm not sure if this is something that the generals already know about.”
The thought of these chips being something the Jedi commissioned makes Rex's skin crawl, but if there's one thing he remembers from his training oh, it's that you can't rule anyone out in the beginning.
~0~
Obi-Wan groans as he sits back in his office chair. He had just been with Master Ti, going over the revised contract between the Jedi and the Kaminoans. It was a tedious process, but he's happy it's over.
As usual, Cody comes in just 3 minutes later. The commander looks nervous, body regulation rigid as he brings in the tea and cookies they usually share.
“You want to go first,” Obi-Wan asks. He really doesn't want to lament about his own problems, but Cody shakes his head, still quiet as he sits in the chair across from Obi-Wan's. the Jedi sighs, running a hand through his hair. He might as well tell Cody now before he finds out through the rumor mill.
“It's come to our attention that the Jedi aren't the ones who commissioned the Clones.”
“And who did?”
“Count Dooku,” Obi-Wan says bluntly. Cody leans back in shock. Obi-Wan understands the surprise; he himself couldn't believe that the leader of the separatists was the one who commissioned the Clones they're fighting against.
“Any idea why?” Cody asks, biting into a cookie.
Obi-Wan had one idea, one theory that made sense to him, but he was scared that it would scare him. The Jedi, despite their rules against attachment, we're prone to developing bonds with any living thing. an army of living beings commissioned to fight along the Jedi would lead to attachments, attachments that would weaken what the Jedi stood for. Obi-Wan has to give it to his Grandmaster. Making Jedi compassion their crux in a war is a smart move.
He tells Cody that much, in Cody's eyes narrow.
“What if they made us because he knew you get attached and our betrayal would hurt much more?”
“Excuse me?” Obi-Wan says, eyebrows drawn together. Cody swallows before jumping into his explanation.
“Rex called me today, about an hour ago. He found a biochip in his brain, most likely used to alter our Behavior. he's scared that all of us have them, that there’s an easy way to control us. But if the Jedi didn't commission us, are the separatists using the chips to control us? And are they going to use us to hurt the Republic or the Jedi?” Cody's voice waivers as he tries his best to explain, and Obi-Wan can see the fear etching itself into the Commander's face.
Obi-Wan swallows thickly. He hadn't thought about this, hadn't imagined that this was even a possibility. This is something they need to tell the council about. Ahsoka and Rex need to come home, and they all need to figure out what's going on before it’s too late.