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There was a non-exhaustive list of things Captain Rex wished he had known before being assigned to young General Anakin Skywalker. Since no one had decided to make this list, Rex took care of it himself. In his head, the Captain of the 501st had drafted a five-point list that he felt summed up perfectly who his general was:
1. General Skywalker cared about the lives of the men under his care.
This was a confusing novelty for Rex, he wasn't used to anyone caring about him or his brothers. The Kaminoans had always considered them weapons made to be replaceable. Rex had tried to explain to the General this feeling which resulted in point N°2.
2. General Skywalker had a torturous past that still haunted him.
On this point, Rex did not have all the information. General Kenobi had told him the bare necessities: Anakin had been a slave on Tatooine. When Rex had tried to find out more, the General of the 212th had advised him to be patient and that Anakin would confide in him in due time. Except the Captain needed the information. He wanted to be a good soldier and that meant knowing all the information about his General in order to keep him safe or at least alive.
3. General Skywalker's plans usually involved falling.
Sometimes the Captain doubted Anakin's plans. Kriff, sometimes Rex felt like there was no plan at all. The General had a vague impression of what the plan should be and he was improvising as he went. Generally, Rex was not against it, he always felt freer when Anakin let him improvise, even if there were disadvantages on the logistical side. But, Rex could recognize that Anakin was a brilliant, if a little too reckless, tactician who was addicted to adrenaline. Rex didn't quite understand why his General liked the feeling of falling with nothing to catch him so much, but he had long since resigned himself to his fate. The Captain was confident that Anakin would catch him.
4. General Skywalker was a little too expressive for a Jedi.
From what Rex knew about the Jedi, they weren't supposed to be so expressive. Kriff, the Jedi weren't supposed to be so impulsive. Rex had had time to compare General Kenobi's behavior to that of his general, and the difference was stark. Kenobi was much calmer and more thoughtful in his decisions. Sometimes Rex wanted to be in Cody's shoes, but then Kenobi would talk about protocols and rules when all the Captain wanted was to feel the adrenaline rushing through his veins. In those moments, he was grateful to have Skywalker as a General. During a pre-mission debrief, Rex looked in Skywalker's direction, the Jedi turned his gaze to him -as if he could have felt Rex's gaze on him- and rolled his eyes and pretend to yawn behind his hand. General Kenobi stopped talking when Rex choked out in laughter.
"Is everything alright, Captain?"
"Yes, sir," Rex replied wisely as his cheeks turned red with embarrassment. He could feel Cody's mocking gaze on him but decided to ignore him.
Luckily for Rex, his general saved him from embarrassment by taking over the briefing. So, Rex wasn't against Skywalker being so expressive, except when it got him into trouble.
And Anakin's blue eyes got him into a lot of trouble, his sinful lips too especially when Anakin smirked at him before doing something stupid.
5. Never let General Skywalker pilot again!
As with the other points on this list, Rex had discovered this point the hard way. They were on a mission with the 212th at the start of the war to defend a Republican capital against natives allied with the Separatists. Rex was in the middle of a battle alongside Kenobi and Cody when his General called out to him:
"The leader is running away! Rex, come with me," Skywalker was already running towards the area where the speeders were.
Like a good soldier, Rex began chasing after the General, leaving command of the troops to Cody.
"Anakin! You can't leave! We need you here!"
The main interest barely turned for a second to smile at the older Jedi, "Sorry, master, but we can't let him escape and
look for reinforcements!"
The Captain barely had time to sit next to Skywalker on the two-seater speeder when the latter was already starting at full speed in order to catch up with the leader. Rex clung to the dashboard of the speeder to avoid falling.
At first, the Captain only saw flashes of color as the speeder zigzagged at full speed between the buildings of the city. For a second Rex thought the General was trying to kill them, he was going way too fast and taking turns at the last second. At times, the wings of the speeder brushed too close to the buildings and sparks flew. Luckily the Captain was wearing armor.
When Rex's eyes were finally accustomed to the speed, he had just enough time to see a bright red flash before it was replaced by another building.
"The Leader is at two o'clock, sir," Rex said, pointing to where he had vaguely seen the Leader's speeder.
Anakin nodded and the speeder lurched to the right, "Well done, Rex!"
Rex ignored the warm feeling in his stomach as their speeder closed in on the Leader's.
Unfortunately, the Native Leader had a good lead on them and they left the safe area of the city where a sonic shield had been deployed to protect them from the shelling. If Rex thought they were going fast before, it was even worse now. Nothing stopped Anakin from pushing the speeder at full speed, not even the tall rocks that dotted the rocky and desert plain around the Capital. Like before, Anakin dodged very large rocks at the last second and used smaller ones as a springboard. The Leader was not as reckless as the Jedi but he kept his edge.
For his part, General Skywalker seemed to be having the time of his life. Rex was surprised to see a bright smile on Aankin's face as the speeder was several feet above the ground. The Captain was having a much less pleasant time and was clinging to the dashboard for his life since there was nothing else to hang on to.
In fact, Rex was having a much less pleasant time when four jet-bikes came out from behind some rocks to take them from behind, "I think it's a trap, sir!"
Rex shouted to be heard and the General looked around before trying to go even faster, which was impossible, "can you take them?"
"I'll do my best, sir!" Rex replied, already pulling out his DC-17s.
Thus, the General continued to pursue the leader in order to stop him while Rex took care of their pursuer in a very diplomatic way. He had already shot down three of the pursuing speeders when they reached a dead end. Instead of being afraid, the Leader had a broad smile on his lips. He raised his arms in a dramatic gesture and a dozen jet-bikes appeared behind him.
"It's definitely a trap," Anakin growled, breaking to avoid crashing into the giggling leader. The Jedi turned the steering wheel violently and the speeder drifted a few meters before resuming its course. Instead of slowing down, the speeder was moving away from the Leader and his men as fast as possible.
"We don't fight them?"
Instead of stopping, the Jedi urged the speeder to go faster, "There are too many of them, we need to get together with Obi-Wan to attack them head-on."
De chasseurs, le Jedi et le Capitaine étaient devenues les proies.
They were chased by eleven speeders shooting at them. They too were two per speeders, twenty-two men against two.
This time, Rex did not complain about the dangerous and fast driving of the General who wanted to lose their pursuers by taking the tightest possible turns.
One of the men in their pursuit fired at something shiny on top of a huge boulder that exploded on impact. Rex shielded himself from the rocky chunks with his arms. He looked up from the rocks and saw what the shiny things were: bombs. He dropped to one knee in his seat and turned his back to the road so he could face their opponent and shoot the bombs on the rocks.
Between shooting the bombs and shooting the enemy speeders, Rex had managed to take down more than half of their assailant when Anakin called out his name. The Captain felt the speeder start to climb and he turned to see what was happening: Anakin had taken the wrong way and they were climbing a slope. The lane was too tight for their pursuers to follow them but they kept shooting at them from another lane. Two slopes of desert plateaus faced each other with the rocky plain between them on a lower level. Ahead of them, from afar, Rex could see the energy shield and the Capital City quietly waiting for them.
Unfortunately, Rex was unsure if they would reach the safety of the city before being killed by their pursuers. He wasn't even sure the speeder would make it that far since one of the engines behind him was on fire. But Anakin seemed to have decided to ignore those two small details and continued to go at full speed.
So Rex decided to fix one of their problems and he wasn't mechanically gifted or suicidal enough to try and fix the on-fire engine. The obvious choice then was to shoot down the rest of their pursuers. They were down to eight now. The downside was that he didn't have a very good view of their enemies since Anakin was blocking his view. To have an optimal aim, Rex would either have to lean dangerously over his General, practically sit on his knees, to shoot at their enemies, or...
"Sir, could you arrange to keep the speeder straight and go slower?"
"I do what I can!"
"Thank you, sir," Rex replied, resting his hands on the dashboard to keep himself from falling as he held himself in a crouched position in his seat. He took a deep breath to gather his courage before slowly standing up. Luckily their enemies didn't know how to aim and Rex didn't get shot in the process.
"Rex! No!" Anakin shouted when he realized what the Captain was doing beside him. His right, mechanical hand immediately released the steering wheel to hold the Captain's calf.
"Keep driving!" Rex ordered, doing his best to make every shot hit its target.
There were only two jet-bikes left when Anakin called Rex again, not to reprimand him this time but to warn him. Rex turned his attention away from the jet-bikes to see what the problem was. Instead of going up, the slope had just started its descent into a tunnel that didn't look large either in height or width. Before Rex's brain could command his muscles to sit properly in his seat, the hand on his calf made the decision for him.
The Captain winced as he flopped onto his buttocks in the seat.
Anakin and Rex were plunged into relative darkness as the speeder entered the tunnel. The ceiling was very low and the wings of the speeder met the rock walls, making sparks in the process.
"I can't slow down," Anakin said pressing several buttons on the speeder which was now unresponsive, it had received too much damage to continue functioning.
But the speeder continued its race tirelessly pushed by the speed accumulated until then. Rex began to feel sick as the speeder sped up and they lurched left and right. The strong arm pushing him back against his seat to keep him from falling did nothing to soothe him. In fact, seeing the serene, even joyful gaze of the General did nothing to calm Rex down. He had the distinct feeling that he was going to die while Anakin was having fun like a child on a roller coaster.
Worse was when the speeder took a sharp turn before Rex finally saw the light of day. They had come to the end of the tunnel. But their epic adventure wasn't over yet because Rex could clearly see a stepping stone at the end of the tunnel.
"General…" he mumbled apprehensively, he had a very bad feeling about what was to come.
The General must have sensed his Captain's fear as he stopped smiling, "Hold on!" he ordered, kneeling in his seat. His left hand was holding the windshield to prevent himself from falling. Rex imitated him and knelt down in his seat, ready to jump at any moment.
Anakin put his left arm around Rex to force him to cling to him as the speeder came out of the tunnel. There were a few long seconds where the speeder seemed to hover in the sky above the Capital. Rex didn't know how they had gotten to this part of town and frankly, that wasn't the most important thing right now. Their impending death was more important to him than the mapping of the region.
Rex barely heard him when Anakin started a count, he just obeyed when the Jedi yelled at him to jump. They jumped much higher and farther than Rex was humanly capable of. Kriffing Jedi and their superhuman ability. Rex would have given anything to have a jet pack at this moment and as much as he kept telling the Shinies to be ready for anything, this mission was not supposed to involve a high jump. So Rex clung to Anakin who had both his arms around him and hoped the fall wouldn't be fatal to them.
The captain was more than surprised when he felt their fall slow down at the last second as an unseen force seemed to surround and help them. Rex didn't know what was going on and he didn't care as Anakin's feet hit the ground first, the Jedi taking the brunt of the impact. Rex stumbled when his feet hit the ground and he walked a few feet, only stopping when a hand landed on his shoulder to keep him from falling.
"Are you okay, Rex? It was a hell of a jump."
Rex opened his eyes, he didn't know when he had closed them, and turned to see Cody behind him. It was the commander who, as always, had prevented him from falling. He looked around to see his General a few yards away, gesturing dramatically in front of his master to explain what had just happened. Seeing the General of the 212th, Rex understood more or less the inexplicable event of a few seconds ago: Kenobi must have slowed their fall with the force to prevent them from smashing their skulls on the rocky ground.
"So if I understand correctly, you fell into an ambush and you did not capture the leader? At least, you seemed to have fun."
Anakin grimaced at his former master's obvious rebuke, "Well now we know where he's hiding! Right, Rex?"
Rex nodded slowly, barely getting used to being so still so abruptly. His ears had finally stopped ringing. His lack of verbal response forced the two generals and the commander to fix their attention on him.
"Are you okay, Rex?" Anakin asked, the concern visible on his face smeared with dust. "Are you ready for a quick briefing? We must show Obi-Wan the location of the hiding to prepare an attack before the Leader decides to find a better one."
Rex nodded again, "I'll be ready as soon as my organs return to their original position, Sir."
"We should let the Captain take a break for five minutes," Obi-Wan interjected, "Cody, get Rex to a quieter area where he can catch his breath. I know Anakin's pilot skill can be a lot to handle the first time."
"Thank you, sir," the Commander replied, pushing gently on Rex's shoulder to force him forward.
As he walked away from a sulky Skywalker, Rex caught himself thinking that he missed the warmth of Anakin's arms around him. Even though they were five or six meters above the ground, Rex had felt safe in the protective arms of his Jedi. Yet he knew he shouldn't. He was a weapon, he wasn't supposed to have feelings. Especially not about his kriffing general.
Cody led Rex down a shady alley between two buildings, none of their men were in that area. They were all busy tending to their wounds and preparing for the future assault. In Rex and Anakin's absence, Cody and Obi-Wan and the rest of their troops had pushed the natives back. But for how much longer? They had to capture the Leader to ensure victory. Before that, Rex had to regain control over his body.
Rex took off his helmet and laid it on the ground without any grace as he finally took a deep breath of real air. He no longer was on the speeder for several minutes now but Rex still felt like he was going full speed.
"You're not going to vomit, are you?"
Rex felt like yes, he was going to vomit, but he didn't want Cody to see him in that position, "don't talk nonsense, di'kut."
"I'm not the one with a face as white as shiny armor," Cody replied, he had taken off his helmet too and a smirk broke his serious, hard expression. It was just the two of them and Cody could let his guard down.
Rex was too nauseous to answer and leaned his back against the wall of the building before crouching down. It was one of the techniques Seventeen had taught them to control their breathing or their nausea.
"What was the problem? Speed ? the deadly leap? Being in the arms of General Skywalker?"
"I'm going to vomit on your shoes if you continue, Cody," Rex replied without his usual sarcasm.
Cody chuckled, "do it and I'll tell all the CCs you threw up after a romantic flight with General Skywalker."
"You would have vomited in your helmet if you had been in my place."
Despite their quarrel, Rex still accepted the cup of water Cody handed him.
He remained in this position for another three minutes before feeling well enough to get up and walk back with Cody to the command post where Kenobi and Skywalker were waiting for them. The briefing was quick just long enough to determine where the Leader's hideout was and decide which squads would accompany Skywalker.
Rex was about to follow his General out of the tent when Kenobi put a hand on his shoulder, "I should have told you that Anakin was a speed racer pilot when he was young. He never listened to me when I asked him to slow down, maybe you'll have a better chance."
"Come on, Rex! Hurry up ! We can't let him get away this time!"
Kenobi offered him an understanding smile before letting go of the captain's shoulder, "an advice: put on your seatbelt and keep your helmet on at all times."
Rex felt a chasm open over his feet when he saw that Skywalker was already waiting for him in another speeder, both squads having their own means of transport. Rex wasn't sure if he could survive under General Skywalker if he kept driving like this.
And then, six months later, Cody and Rex had swapped positions. This time it was Cody who was bent over his knees to keep himself from throwing up as Rex stood behind him, a smirk on his lips even though his eyes shone with remorse.
"Come on, Ori'Vod, I wasn't driving so fast..."
"I swear on the Creator: Skywalker rubbed off on you," Cody grumbled as he continued to take deep breaths, "you were flying way too fast. We almost hit three walls."
"Well, at least we escape the big bug that was chasing us."
"I told you to leave him alone."
Rex offered Cody a sheepish smile, "he looked harmless and cute."
“Yeah, deadly cute, especially his big teeths,” Cody slowly stood up and gave him a hard gaze before putting back his helmet. "Don't touch anything cute on this damn planet anymore or I'll break your arm."
On the way back, while Cody was driving, Rex decided to cross off the last point on the list.