Revised: January 12, 2020

Author's note: This story is the sequel to "Whatever Happened to Captain Rex?" which is also available here on FFN. Chapter 1 picks up immediately after the events in the first story and references OCs from the first story. If you have no desire to read the first story, the short summary of it Rex is injured and sent away. He bands up with a misfit group of clones, becomes their new leader, and uses this group to rescue the 501st which has gotten into a spot of trouble while he has been away. Also, canon characters which are dead in the TV series sometimes live on in this story, (hence my screen name "Long live the clones.") Now, you are all caught up. All chapters have been revised to tighten up the story arc. For returning readers, brief revision notes are included at the bottom of each chapter so you know what has changed. As always, I welcome your feedback.

Chapter 1

Travis and Fives provided coverage to Kix as he worked quickly to staunch the blood flow on the deep puncture wound on Echo's shoulder. As he applied pressure, Echo groaned with pain.

Fives immediately tensed, and Travis recognized the look as someone who could rip apart a Kaz'harian with his bare hands.

"Rest easy," Kix said, leaning in toward Echo, his voice calm and soothing as he packed the area around the blade with a practiced touch. Travis wondered, though, if his words were meant as much for Fives.

"Are you sure you can't take out that fekkin' blade?" Fives said.

Kix shot Fives' a look. "He'll bleed out."

"Let- him - work," Echo gritted out. Blood stained his teeth, a grisly reminder he was bleeding internally.

Fives hissed with frustration and looked away, but a moment later he looked back again. His gaze locked on Echo. Travis knew that sort of look. It was the bond between brothers that was forged early on and was unbreakable.

Kix finished packing the wound and signaled to two troopers standing by with the stretcher. At the medic's direction, they lifted the injured ARC and quickly disappeared from sight.

Travis' HUD blinked signaling an incoming comm from Commander Cody. His screen split as Fives was patched in and showed a live view of the dungeons. "We have a situation. Rex has been taken captive. Fives, get down here. Travis, maintain position."

Maintain position.

Fives took off at a run, and Travis wanted to follow.

Travis considered disobeying the direct order. Fek. The image he'd seen on Cody's cam. Rex needed him. His throat was about to be fekkin' slit.

He wasn't in the GAR anymore. So, did he have to listen to orders from Commander Cody?

Fek, of course he would listen as better judgment told him it was the right thing to do in this situation. He was a free clone and capable of making good choices.

"Acknowledged, Fives is on his way," Travis winced as he wasn't able to fully squash the sting of disappointment he wasn't going with him. He was sure it was apparent in his voice. Clones knew each other too well. How could you not when you shared a voice with three million others?

"We'll take care of Rex." Cody's voice took on an urgency as he addressed Travis. "I have a mission for you, Lieutenant." Technically, Travis had been decommissioned. Using his title was a term of respect. It said something about Cody. "We need someone to lead the troopers back to the ships. None of them have armor, and few, if any, have weapons. Expect Kazzies to be stalking your heels or running into you head-on. You know these corridors. See that these troopers make it back. All of them. Get all of our men home."

Of course, there would be a ton of troopers from the 212th in the group. The stripey boys in orange as the Marines referred to them. No pressure, though. Travis simply had to get a whole bunch of unarmed men through a hostile warzone.

"How many troopers, sir?"

"At least 100, maybe more."

"Understood. Travis out." He took off at a run, adrenaline fueling his body. He was a clone and this was exactly what he'd been bred to do. He would get those troopers home.

It was an easy enough matter to find the troopers, who were waiting for him just outside the entrance to the dungeons. Getting them to the transports alive would be another matter.

Travis glanced over his shoulder at the ragtag troopers marching behind him in the darkened corridors. Some of the clones had fashioned makeshift weapons with debris from the battle. He'd been tempted to order the troopers to abandon the crude defenses. He admired the tenacity of his vode, but their simple weapons wouldn't stand a chance against the 100-kilo simians. Travis' body was a testament to the danger posed by the enemy. He was bruised and battered he was certain all of his flesh was the same color as his Marine Corps armor. But, he would do the same in their boots. OK, few of them even had footwear. Most were limping through the stone corridors on bare and bleeding feet. He looked back over his shoulder again, checking on the troopers. They kept up with the brisk pace he set with ragged determination, brothers helping others along. They were making good time and had only two levels to go. They would be fine as long as they didn't run into any trouble.

And, then, of course, they ran into trouble.

As Travis led them around the next corridor, Travis spotted a Kazzie patrol at the other end of the corridor.

"Down! Down! Down!"

The clones automatically dropped at his barked command, but he'd lost precious seconds. Burning heat singed over his shoulders as blaster fire came close enough to char his armor, but not score a direct hit. He blinked and switched his HUD over to night vision to compensate for the poor light of the tunnels.

The Kazzies had backed up and taken cover around the corner. They were using a combination of both slugthrowers and blasters. He heaved out a grunt of annoyance. It was fekkin' hard to defend against mixed weapons' fire. Slugs behaved completely differently from blaster shots.

Travis steadied his rifle and returned fire. Whenever he could catch sight of a simian in the dim lighting, he focused on the small vulnerable portion of their necks. He took out one target before being forced into a rolling dive under a return hail of mixed blaster and slug thrower fire.

This is no good. We're pinned down. We'll never make it to the transports.

Travis tried to dive backward into the shelter of the wall as another wave of fire came at him, but the cover was inadequate. A blaster shot caught his rifle wrenching it painfully out of his already injured wrist. He cried out as tissues abused in a fight hours earlier tore even further.

He dropped down to his belly and awkwardly scooped up the rifle one-handed. But, he knew the odds of being able to accurately take out the entire patrol with one hand were not good.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder, startling him. He wondered how long the trooper had been speaking to him trying to get his attention. Travis pointed to the ear of his helmet. The universal signal for problems with his comm system. It was easier than explaining he was deaf.

The trooper started over again, speaking slowly. "You're injured. Let me help."

There was something in the trooper's steely gaze which evoked confidence. He was covered in scars. He'd seen his share of battles. Travis gave a curt nod and handed over the rifle.

"Chopper," the trooper said, introducing himself as he settled the weapon comfortably on his shoulder.

"Travis, eh, Lieutenant Travis," he said, belatedly remembering to throw in his title. Fek. Did he even care about that anymore? He was more interested in surviving the next five minutes. All of it seemed to fall into perspective in this moment. Why had he ever worried about any of that shab? Why hadn't he seen that before?

Chopper took cover next to Travis in the scant protection of the wall. He took his shots with confident accuracy, one after another. His shots were so fast the simians had no time to return fire. However, the Kazzies were in a better position of cover around the corner. They were locked in a complete stalemate.

Through the din of the fire, he could hear the Kazzie's comm units blaze to life with rapidly barked orders. Even though it was in another language, there was no mistaking the urgency of the orders coming through.

Knowing some Kaz'harian would be very useful right about now.

Travis was deaf, but he could still feel the vibrations of the battle in his chest. The tremors resonated in his internal organs. An eerie quiet suddenly descended. What the fek? He felt the absence as keenly as any trooper with full hearing, and maybe even more so because his deafness had given him such a new awareness of the feel of battle. All of it had suddenly ceased.

Chopper paused and looked at him, and paused in his firing. "Sir?"

In that split micro-second, his comm blazed to life as well with new orders from Commander Cody. "All units; cease fire. Repeat. Cease fire immediately. Kaz'harians are departing. RV at main evac points."

He blinked, trying to process the new orders.

Cease fire? Why was his brain having more difficulties with the order to stop shooting than it was to start.

"Sir?" Chopper nudged him to get his attention.

"We have new orders," Travis said, clearing his throat because his voice didn't seem to want to work. When was the last time he'd hydrated? He cleared his throat and tried again. "We have an immediate cease fire." He glanced down the corridor. The Kaz'harians had disappeared.

He signaled to the troopers to continue on. Somehow stopping firing seemed more difficult than starting. His adrenaline left in a rush and his feet were now much heavier than a moment ago. Chopper fell into place by his side still clutching the rifle. He was glad for the company and looking forward to safely getting these troopers to their transports. And, then, he was going to sleep until the end of the fekkin' clone wars.

# # #

Keen awoke to a world of darkness and motion. He struggled to open his eyes.

Fek. Why couldn't he open his eyes?

"Gears! Watch the corners!"

"Watching them," grumbled a clone voice, so low Keen could barely hear him. "They're a blurry blob, like everything else."

Keen tried to sit up, but his body was restrained by a tight strap. He panicked and tried to get free.

"Hey, rest easy, vod. We're taking you to a medical transport."

A medical transport? He was a medic, after all. Who was the patient? He opened his mouth to demand more information. But his lungs burned and his throat felt blistered and that simple action sent him into a coughing fit that plunged him into darkness again.

# # #

"Coric, there's no time for this," Rex grumbled, trying to push the medic's hands away. "It looks worse than it is."

"He tried to tell us the same thing," Fives said. "I put syntheflesh on it and covered it with a spray bandage. It stopped the bleeding."

Coric leaned in and inspected Fives' handiwork. "You did good. This will hold until we get back to the ship." His brows furrowed worriedly and his voice dropped low. "You are coming back with us, aren't you Captain?"

Rex put a reassuring hand on Coric's arm, as he slid his helmet back on and straightened his shoulders. "Yes. We're all going home together." His eyes swept over toward the retreating back of Captain Ko, leading troops away. He looked back at Coric, frowning as he was running a scanner over Rex. "Are we done here?" He checked his chrono. "18:33. We're barely going to clear atmo at this rate."

Coric nodded, and tucked his scanner away. But, the expression on his face showed he wasn't pleased with the readings. Rex ignored the look.

"Move out," Rex ordered, leading the way back to the ships.

# # #

Echo groaned and shifted, trying to ease the relentless ache in his shoulder.

"Easy, Echo."

"Kix?" Fek. His voice didn't sound like him at all.

"Yes, it's me, vod. We'll have you in a medical transport soon," Kix's voice was rushed and tense.

The fekkin' blade felt like it was cleaving him in half. He tried to focus on Kix's slightly blurred form in front of him, guiding the stretcher. He was weak and wanted desperately to sleep, to pass back into unconsciousness again. But, somehow he knew if he gave in to the urge he wouldn't wake up this time. He stared up at the stone corridors thinking maybe this was his last mission, after all. He'd had a gone run of it, him and Fives. He'd be OK, but Fives wouldn't. He was a wild card without him.

# # #

"Catcher, status of the Separatist fleet?" Rex asked over the comm, trying to pace his breathing. He pushed air out through his nose as he barreled through the corridors.

"Holding steady. 9:47 Mark," Catcher reported.

Rex grunted in satisfaction, pleased with the ARC Captain's crisp efficiency. He would do well watching over the Legion on Ando.

They caught up to the last group of evacuees heading out to the ships. The hallway was crowded with clones.

"Move it troopers!" Rex yelled, his patience running thin and his endurance running low. Coric had been right. He was exhausted. But, he'd never admit it to the medic. He wasn't just tired. He was hungry. And, he ached much more than he'd let on. But, he would rest later, once they were all home.

Coric had gone on ahead to see the injured member of Leon's squad. Ahsoka was easily keeping pace beside him.

They arrived at the entrance of the hangars and he bellowed at the troopers again for good measure. He chased them all the way to the ramp of the Corrie-bound ship making dire threats about horrendous cleaning details if they didn't move faster. He halted at the base of the ramp in satisfaction and looked around. The hangar was almost clear.

"Catcher, evac status?" Rex asked.

"All evac teams have boarded, Captain, except for Mako who is doing a medical consult and Lieutenant Travis who seems to be intentionally ignoring my hails."

"Acknowledged," Rex looked around in puzzlement, wondering what trouble the Marine had gotten himself into this time.

"Rex!"

"Found him," Rex told Catcher. "I'll shove his shebs up a ramp." He disconnected from Catcher, and turned his attention to the Marine, grunting in pain as his injured chest was squeezed. "Fek! Travis! Get off!"

"Thought you'd left without a good-bye, di'kut," Travis grumbled, smacking Rex hard enough in the pauldron to send him stumbling backwards.

The 501st Captain grunted, and reached up to rub at his aching shoulder. Then, he groaned again as just the act of raising up his arm made him hurt worse. He gave up on moving at all. "Travis, fek, quit it!" He resorted to his tried and true methods with the vod he knew better than any other. He smacked the Marine hard in the back of the helmet. The sound reverberated in the hangar.

Travis' burst of filtered laughter echoed out through the helmet.

Ahsoka shook her head, riveted by the exchange.

Rex suddenly seemed to remember the Jedi padawan was present. "Ahsoka, this is my second-in-command, Travis," Rex said, making a hasty introduction, before turning his full attention back to the Marine.

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa," Travis said, turning to Ahsoka. He tugged off his filthy helmet and clipped it to his belt. He pulled off his equally dirty gloves, grimacing slightly as one hand came free, and shoved them on his belt. He peered at his hands to make sure they were at least somewhat clean. He first bowed deeply, then extended a hand. "Ma'am."

Ahsoka raised up an eyebrow, looked at Rex, and took the extended hand to shake it. Travis adjusted her hand slightly and lifted it up to his lips. He gave the Jedi a slow, lingering kiss on the back of her fingers.

Rex glared. His second had obviously learned way too much during his time on Ando. "Travis," he hissed.

The Marine took his time pulling his lips away. "Just wanted to see what all this fuss was about. We did storm a planet for this Jedi."

Rex turned red and started coughing.

Travis burst out laughing.

Ahsoka smiled, and made no effort to pull her hand from Travis' grasp. "How do you know Rex?" she asked politely.

"We trained together on Kamino," the Marine said, "I could tell you stories. Many stories."

Rex flushed. "No stories."

"Captain," Catcher's voice cut in from Rex's gauntlet, "8:05. Mark. Coric has finished his medical consult and is on his way to your position."

"Acknowledged," Rex said. He took a deep breath, and turned his attention back to Travis. His brother still looked amused and pleased with himself. At the serious look on Rex's face, the Marine dropped Ahsoka's hand and stood up straight. "Travis, we need to talk-"

"You're giving the Legion to Catcher," Travis said without preamble. Rex opened his mouth to explain further. The Marine put up a hand to forestall him. "You don't need to say anything. It's the right thing to do."

Rex reached forward and grasped Travis' arm in the traditional Mando'a handshake. Travis wrestled his arm free and grabbed Rex in a bone-crushing hug.

Rex hesitated a moment, and then returned the gesture, ignoring all the places he hurt. "Good luck, vod," Rex said, his voice suspiciously hoarse.

"You too, vod," Travis said.

Too much was left unsaid, but they were out of time.

"Now let me the fek go, that hurts," Rex ordered, but there was a teasing edge to his voice under his weariness and pain. Travis released him. "As soon as we clear atmo, light this place up," he said gruffly as Coric ran up to them.

The Marine nodded, patting a series of det timers on his belt. Rex's gaze swept the hangars, doing one last check. Empty except for the four of them.

"Now, go," Rex said.

Travis straightened and saluted Rex. Not a mocking salute. But, a full-on respectful salute of one officer to another. Rex straightened up and immediately returned the gesture, ignoring his body's complaints once again. Travis nodded, as if the past had finally been settled between them and took off for his ship.

"Captain. 8:00 Mark," Catcher said.

"Coric is here. On our way," Rex acknowledged as they took off at a run for their designated evac ships. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw one last view of the back of Travis, disappearing up the ramp on a ship bound for Ando.

His brother was headed back to a completely different life.

And, Rex was headed back to Coruscant.

This was it.

This was where it all changed.

As the 501st members bolted up the ramp, the pistons brought the hatch to a close.

The hatch closed silently, but as he was sealed into the ship Rex had an urge to demand the hatch be lowered again. He could still maybe make it to one of the other ships. He could say he changed his mind. Still maybe go back to Ando...

No.

He pushed the thoughts away.

He was just tired. He'd made his decision. No second thoughts.

Ando was behind him.

He glanced around trying to get his bearings on the unfamiliar ship. The ship tilted as it climbed atmo, and Rex's tired muscles couldn't compensate fast enough. He braced a hand against the wall as he struggled to stand, and keep his feet.

Coric caught him under one arm. "Medbay."

Rex shook his head. "Bridge."

Coric sighed, knowing better than to argue with Rex in a crisis situation. "Fine. I'm staying with you."

Rex wanted to order Coric to medbay, but there was no time and inwardly he was pleased with Coric's loyalty. Fek, it was good to see Coric again. A warmth spread through him at the thought of seeing all of his men from the 501st again.

"How do I get to the bridge?" Rex said, addressing the trooper who'd closed the ramp.

The trooper was staring at Rex with wide eyes as if meeting a holostar for the first time.

"Trooper!" Rex used the voice he did with errant shinies.

"Sir!" the trooper snapped to attention. "Sorry, sir, but you're Captain Rex!"

"Top, sir, 212th," he saluted again. "An honor to meet the hero of the dungeons!"

Rex frowned again at the title. "I'm not-" He blew out an impatient sigh. There was no time to argue. "The bridge. How do I get to the bridge?"

"I'll take you there, sir!" Top took off at a run through the corridors.

Rex struggled to keep up. He caught Coric casting him a worried look several times. The Kaz'harian ship followed the same basic ship as a Jedi cruiser, but everything seemed larger and elongated. The corridors seemed endless.

Finally, they arrived at their destination. Rex could see blackness wavering in front of his eyes, but he forced it away, as he tried to steady his breathing after the long run.

"You, OK?" Coric asked, quietly by his side.

Rex nodded.

"Liar," Coric muttered under his breath, but he let it go, and didn't pull his medscanner out in the midst of the busy bridge. Rex was grateful. The bridge was a mixture of order and chaos as clones struggled to make sense of the Kaz'harian controls. Cody was a calm in the middle of the storm, issuing commands and answering questions. At the helm, Hawk was struggling to reach controls that were too high and not designed for human-sized hands.

"Status," Cody said.

"Maintaining course and speed," Hawk immediately reported. His hands moved over the controls. "Coordinates set for Coruscant… I think. Making calculations for the jump to lightspeed."

"You think?" Cody asked.

"Everything's in Kaz'harian, sir," Hawk said. "The numbers are the same, but the lettering is so vastly different from Aurebesh, I'm not entirely sure what I entered." The pilot gave an apologetic shrug.

Rex walked over and stood by Cody's side.

"Call Captain Leon," Rex suggested.

Cody's lips quirked. "Always appreciate you telling me how to do my job, Rex. He's already on his way." His gaze swept Rex. "Good to see you in more or less one piece." He gave Coric a meaningful look, and the medic nodded.

"Three minutes and closing," Catcher announced.

Rex took a position by Cody's side, ignoring the good-natured teasing about telling his friend how to do his job.

"Have we been detected?" Cody asked.

"No, sir," Broadside said, from the secondary engineering station.

Catcher spoke something off-screen to his crew. He spoke back to Cody. "We aren't seeing any signs of detection on our end either."

"Captain Leon, reporting as ordered," the commando said, hurrying off the turbo lift. The commando's features were pale and wan, his shoulders slumped with grief and loss. The fourth member of his team, Ice, had been gravely injured on the planet.

Rex briefly wondered what happened to him.

Judging by the look on Leon's face, his squadmate was lost. Rex had there too many times. He'd try to make time to talk to Leon later.

Cody waved the commando on through, and brusquely said: "Weapons control, first and then helm."

Leon nodded and immediately set to work.

The viewscreen split into three views, one showing their position on the map heading away from Darkknell toward the edges of the Darkknellian galaxy. The second view showed the incoming Separatist fleet heading toward the planet and the third was a live feed with Catcher.

"Put the fleet behind that planet," Cody said, pointing to the enormous gas giant they were approaching.

"Yes, sir," Catcher said, deferring to Cody's authority, "relaying orders to all ships."

"Hold position here," Cody said.

"1:20 Mark." Catcher announced.

Everyone waited and just watched the map and the viewscreen for the next 120 seconds. No one spoke. The Separatist fleet appeared, and it was enormous. Ship after ship filled the screen.

Rex dispelled a long breath. If they'd still been planetside, they would have found themselves up against tens of thousands of battle droids. But, these same ships were also equipped hundreds of vulture droids, and they were in no position for a prolonged space battle.

"60 seconds, mark." Catcher said up on the screen.

The viewscreen split into four views, revealing Travis in the cockpit of the medship holding multiple det controllers. "Captain, Commander, Captain," the Marine said, and somehow managed to be both cocky and respectful at the same time.

"The main section of the Separatist fleet has touched down on Darkknell," Catcher announced, "except for the two dreadnaughts."

"Circle our ships around," Cody said. "Attack formation Alpha. Lieutenant Travis, get ready."

"I hope you've figured out those weapons' systems, Captain," Cody said, nodding to Leon.

"Working on it, sir," the commando said hurriedly, and then turned his attention back to Contrail, the newly appointed weapons officer. The commando was rapidly pointing out various aspects of the controls, and referencing back to his datapad.

"You two have about fifteen seconds to figure it all out," the 212th commander said.

"No pressure," Leon grumbled, and immediately resumed working.

Rex chuckled under his breath. He wanted to offer to help, but all that he'd picked up about the Kaz'harian language were a few expletives. He wasn't sure those were on the weapons' controls.

He watched tensely as they came around the backside of the gas giant and snuck up on the two giant Seppie supply ships.

"All ships. Prepare to fire on my signal," Cody said, "Fire! Now. Lieutenant Travis."

The two ships in front of them disappeared into a sudden fireball after the unexpected attack by ships previously thought of their allies. Simultaneously, down below on the planet, the rest of the fleet, disappeared along with the Kaz'harian fortress.

It was an explosion so massive it could be seen from the space. They watched it in silence. The troopers who had been imprisoned on Darkknell watched the destruction of their prison with a grim set to their faces.

Cody nodded with satisfaction. Rex heaved a weary sigh of relief.

"Captain Catcher, Lieutenant Travis, we're going to cut off comms now. We'll need to maintain comm silence between us from here on out, for your protection, as discussed earlier," Cody said.

"Agreed," Catcher's chin dipped slightly in curt acknowledgment.

"Acknowledged," said Travis.

And, the connection was cut.

Rex was cut off the Andoan Legion.

"Resume course for Coruscant," Cody ordered.

"Yes, sir," Hawk said.

Rex blinked, trying to focus.

It's OK. As long as I keep moving, I'll be fine.

He stepped forward, intending to ask Leon the status of the translations. But, he never made it. Darkness swarmed the edge of his vision. Cody gripped his arm to keep him from hitting the deck plating.

"Get him to medbay," Cody said, holding Rex up.

Ahsoka and Coric came forward.

Cody nodded to Waxer who was on the bridge, but currently unassigned to a post. "Waxer, make sure the Captain gets there."

"Coric," Cody said. "Make sure the Captain stays there."

"Understood," Coric said.

Rex was too tired to argue, and at the moment medbay sounded almost appealing. If nothing else, it was a place to lie down and sleep. He could sleep on the deck plating of the bridge he was so tired.

He managed to keep his feet under him for most of the way to the medbay, but Waxer and Coric supported most of his weight.

# # #

Medbay was a mess.

Coric took one step inside and decided things were going to change immediately. The enormous room was a chaos of activity, much like the bridge, but there had been order under Commander Cody. This was no way to run a medbay. Coric squared his shoulders.

# # #

Rex was feeling admittedly worse by the time they stepped into medbay. He was pulled into the medbay by Waxer and Coric. His jaw dropped as he stared at the haphazard organization within. Troopers were running back and forth yelling for supplies, trying to tend to injured vode lying on oversized bunks. He glanced over at the stony expression on Coric's face.

He pulled free of the grasp of the other men holding him up. "I've got this," he murmured, and then shouted over the chaos, calling the troopers to attention. He used the voice he did to whip shinies into shape. The effect was immediate. Every eye in the room, even the wounded, immediately turned to the door. With an efficiency that would've passed even the strictest inspection, the men in the room snapped to attention. Even the wounded struggled to pull themselves up at his sudden appearance. "At ease," he said, not wanting the injured to contort themselves any further.

Excited whispers about "the hero of the dungeons" flew about the room.

Rex frowned again.

"Sergeant-medic Coric is in charge." He turned to Coric. "They're all yours."

"I'll be back for you in a moment," Coric said. He stepped further into the medbay and immediately took charge. "Triage," he snapped at two of Cody's medics Rex recognized from the 212th, but couldn't recall their names in his exhausted state. "Inventory." He immediately began reassigning troopers and increasing the efficiency of the medbay.

"You should lean on me, Rex. You're exhausted," Ahsoka coaxed, soothing.

Rex nodded, and slipped an arm over the padawan's shoulders. He felt a sense of familiar calm as he came into contact with her skin again, but also a strong sense of guilt for taking so much pleasure in touching her. Being near her was such a comfort to him in his battered state. He would hold on to her for just a short while.

But, his body had other plans. Blackness swam in front of his vision again and he couldn't keep his legs under him.

"Rex?" Ahsoka asked, struggling to hold him up.

"Just a little dizzy," Rex muttered.

"Coric!" Ahsoka shouted.

Rex winced. He didn't think the Jedi padawan could shout that loud. She was starting to sound like him.

Coric suddenly appeared.

"Put him over here."

He was moved onto a bunk. Fek. Ow! Not a bunk. A friggin' rock slab. What did the Kazzies sleep on anyway?

All the movement brought on a new set of problems. The dizziness transformed to nausea. A tray was thrust under his chin. Leave it to Coric to be in a medbay for five minutes and already have supplies organized. Rex lost what little was in his stomach. He nodded when he was done.

"When was the last time you ate?" Coric was pressing him back into the bunk and shining something into his eyes.

"Coric," Rex grumbled, swatting at the light.

"Rex," the medic repeated sternly, "how long has it been since you've eaten?"

"Eh," Rex muttered blankly. He had no idea.

"Have you been hydrating?" the medic asked, running a scanner over him.

"Yes," he ground out, annoyed. He wasn't a shinie. He knew better than to allow himself to dehydrate during battle.

"Trying to figure out why you're vomiting," Coric muttered, more to himself as he stroked his grizzled chin thoughtfully. "You hit your head?"

Rex snorted. "No."

"Something amusing you?" the medic asked, fussing with something Rex couldn't see. He suspected Coric was only making small-talk with him to distract him, but he decided to answer the question anyway.

He hissed as the medic probed at his the chest wound. The medic moved on to his ribs, pushing and watching for reactions. "Ow! Fek, Coric," Rex grumbled as Coric probed his ribs.

"You've got fractures here… and here."Ribs are broken."

The medic continued his examination, peeling back the bacta bandages off his neck. He also removed his knee brace and leg armor. At the end of his exam, he folded his arms across his chest. "You're going in bacta."

Rex opened his mouth to object. He had too much to do. He had an entire Legion to manage on a ship of unfamiliar design-

"Commander Cody ordered you to medbay," the medic pointed out. "I'm ordering you into bacta. You're outranked. We'll take care of things while you're in the tank."

"How many tanks does the ship have?" Rex tried one final tact. "Surely there are others who have greater need-"

The medic shook his head. "There are enough. Rex, you need to be in bacta."

Rex shook his head again. This was more than simple stubbornness on his part. The fate of the Andoan Legion was at stake, and he and Cody had to get their stories straight. "How long? I need to debrief the men and meet with Cody-"

"Less than a day. Medic's orders take priority. You'll have time to get all of that done before we hit Coruscant."

Rex nodded and never saw the hypo Coric deftly slid behind him his neck.

# # #

Revision notes:
July 27, 2019. Shortened the fight scenes.
July 28, 2019. Revised to ensure POV is always clear.
January 12, 2020. Deleted the character guide. Rex II is told primarily from the POV of Rex, with the exception of when POV switches to other major canon characters, so this guide is not needed.