Chapter Text
Rex decided that he forever hated desert planets. Every. Single. One.
Just the sheer amount of time he had to spend cleaning all the kriffing sand out of his kit was enough to turn him off forever. Force, so much sand. He understood now why Anakin hated it so much.
He also had yet to visit one that wasn’t absolutely steeped in misery. Every memory he had of any desert planet he’d been to came with awful memories.
Geonosis. Both times he had been sent there, it was a karking bloodbath. It was also the place that he’d come so close to losing Ahsoka for the first time. And not just once, but twice. First, to the explosion that took out the weapons factory, then to kriffing mind-controlling worms.
Zygerria. Dear stars, Zygerria. Of all the battlefields and war-torn worlds he had been to, Zygerria’s atmosphere was the most oppressive, was filled with such absolute despair that Rex felt like he was choking on it. He couldn’t imagine how it had felt for the Jedi at the time, especially his Jedi, given their propensity for feeling things deeper than others.
Rex had already been unhappy with the assignment in the first place. How in all the Sith and Nine Corellian hells did the Council think it was a good idea to send Jedi who were not Shadows on this mission? How could they possibly have thought sending an underage padawan was even remotely okay? And as a pleasure slave, no less! And now? Knowing what he did about his general’s past as a slave, that the Council knew and still decided to send him there? The thought alone had Rex seething, but at the time, he hadn’t felt that it was his place to disagree. It was his job to simply follow orders and finish the mission.
He was glad he knew better now.
And now: Savareen, the latest addition to Rex’s mental file, “Evidence that Desert Planets are the Worst”. Like the others, it was a miserable sandpit. Unlike the others, its desert landmasses were surrounded by oceans. How the hell that worked was beyond Rex. All he knew is that those same oceans made this desert cold as kark. The biting winds still managed to somehow reach his skin despite his modified armor and undersuit.
Jesse cursed to his left.
“Fives, Glitch, hurry it up would ya? We’re freezing our shebse off out here!”
Fives’ indignant reply came cracking across the coms.
“Keep your pants on, vod! Their system’s a hell of a lot more complicated than intel said. I’d like to see you slice it!”
“I probably could! If you recall, I went through the same ARC training you did!”
“Jesse, you’ve been an ARC for all of five minutes. Calm down.”
“How long I’ve been an ARC is irrelevant! I can still do all the same things you can!”
Rex could hear Fives snort on the other end.
“Sure you can, vod. How about this? When you’re an ARC for longer than me, you can make the plan.”
“Thank y- wait, hold on!”
“Would you di’kuts stow the chatter? I’m trying to focus!”
At Glitch’s reprimand, the comms went quiet once more, and remained that way until his voice came through again a few minutes later.
“Sensors are down and the security feed’s been looped. Let’s go.”
Finally.
At this, Rex and Jesse moved in tandem to blow the grate of the pipeline leading into the refinery.
They made their way into the darkness of the sewer in silence, coming to a halt at the coordinates that had been given by their contact on the inside. Without a word, Jesse placed more explosives in an arc on the metal panel above their heads, then turned to Rex with a quick nod.
“This is Charlie Squad, we are in position,” Rex called into his comm, “Awaiting confirmation from Alpha and Bravo Squads.”
“This is Bravo Squad, the guards are down,” Vaughn answered.
“This is Alpha, collars are disabled,” Fives added.
“Hit it, Jesse.”
At that, Jesse pressed the detonator and the panel collapsed to heap on the floor. As the smoke cleared, the two soldiers hoisted themselves up through the new hole in the ceiling, where they came face to face with dozens of frightened faces.
“We’re in the barracks,” Rex alerted his brothers, “Beginning extraction.”
He then turned back to the crowd of people. Most had huddled together, cowering against a wall. They seemed like they were trying to get themselves as far away from the two men as possible in the cramped space. In front of them stood a group of four men, a Mirialan, two Twi’leks, and a human, all poised to defend the people behind. Everyone in the room that they could see had an electric slave collar clasped around their neck.
“Who are you?” The blue-skinned Twi’lek demanded.
Rex looked to Jesse as his brother answered, lifting his hands in front of his body, palms out, “We’re friends. We’re here to get you out of here.”
The Mirialan man scoffed. “Only to give us to someone else? Repurposed under new ownership?” His disdain dripped from each word as he spoke. “You should know that the Hutts don’t take kindly to those who steal their property.”
Rex stepped forward then, bringing his right pointer finger to his thumb. He placed the encircled fingers on the left side of his chest above his heart, then brought his hand down to meet his left wrist.
“Those who seek the Light shall surely find the Path.”
At his statement, the men’s eyes widened, all defensiveness draining away.
“You’re Guides?” The Mirialan whispered, awestruck.
“We are,” Jesse answered as he mimicked the hand sign as well.
“What does that mean?” An unsure voice called from the crowd behind them.
The man met Rex’s gaze despite his helmet, uncannily reminiscent of the way his Jedi did. The depth of hope that replaced the grim hardness in his violet eyes caused Rex’s heart to swell with emotion.
“It means they are here to free us.”
From each grime-streaked face, cautiously hopeful eyes stared out at Rex and Jesse.
“That’s right,” Rex confirmed, “Your collars have all been disabled at the source by our brothers. Once we get you all to our ship, we’ll be able to remove them.”
The Mirialan man looked at his people. “We can trust them,” he confirmed with a nod.
Even with Rex’s assurances and their friend’s, the crowd still hesitated. They didn’t have time for this.
“Look,” Rex said shortly, “I know you’re afraid, but we really are here to help you. Now we need to hurry up and get out of here. This place will be set to blow any minute now, and we need to be long gone by the time it does. Let’s move.”
The mention of the refinery’s impending destruction was enough for everyone to jolt into action, making their way to the escape route provided by Rex and Jesse.
“Kix, we’re almost at the exit, we need a pick up! I’m transmitting the coordinates now.” Jesse called into his internal comm, “We’ve got some fifty-odd civvies with us, so you’ll need to open the cargo hatch.”
“Confirmed. I’m on my way.”
Rex watched from the mouth of the pipeline as Kix landed their light freighter and opened the ramp. No sooner did the ship touch the ground when the man himself came rushing down the gangplank, waving them in.
He looked to Jesse, who nodded at him, then called out to the crowd behind, “Let’s go!”
As his brother led the former slaves to the ship, Rex remained at the exit to ensure that everyone got out. He was glad he did; as the last few stragglers hurried out into the night, a small figure tripped and fell heavily to the ground. He rushed forward to help them up, but his heart jumped into his throat as the young Togruta looked up at him.
Her coloring was all wrong. Her skin was closer to yellow and her stripes were a bright violet; her eyes were a vivid, copper-toned brown, framed by white markings that ran down from her forehead to her jaw in a continuous, jagged line on either side. Yet, despite all this, for a split second all he saw was Ahsoka staring up at him, small and young and so afraid, just like she had been on that terrible day.
He was jolted back to reality at the sound of shouts and blaster fire behind him. He turned to see Fives, Glitch, Vaughn, and Boomer sprinting down the pipeline, guards hot on their heels. He didn’t hesitate to snatch the girl up from the ground and run, his shoulders curling protectively around her to prevent any wild shots from hitting her. In response, she clung to his neck with a surprising amount of strength, burying her face into his armor in fright.
Jesse and Kix began to return fire from the ramp, providing cover for the others as they rushed to the ship. They picked the thugs off with expert aim, forcing them to take cover within the pipeline.
Rex ducked into the cargo hold, the rest of his team just behind him. Glitch and Vaughn ran further into the ship, likely to the cockpit, while Fives and Boomer joined Jesse and Kix in firing upon their enemies as the ramp shut.
“Get us up and out of range, Glitch!” Rex shouted into his comm, struggling to even hear himself amidst the frightened shouting of their passengers. In response, the ship shuddered and lifted, shaking everyone not secured in a seat. Only a few seconds passed before Glitch confirmed that they were out of the blast zone.
Rex looked to Boomer, who held a detonator tight in his fist.
“Do it.”
Rex didn’t need to see his brother’s face to know that he was grinning madly under his helmet as he depressed the trigger. Even from within their departing ship, they could hear the massive blast, could feel some of the shockwave shake the ship about. At the sound, the ship’s occupants went eerily quiet, looking at one another in disbelief.
“What just happened?” a small voice asked. Rex looked down to see the girl in his arms looking up at him.
“We just blew that karking place into a crater is what happened! Nobody’s going to suffer at the hands of those chakaare ever again,” Boomer crowed triumphantly. Kix elbowed the vod in the stomach as Vaughn gestured to the kid.
“Joha!” he chastised.
“What? I doubt the kid knows Mando’a.”
“No, but I'm sure she knows enough Basic to know ‘kark’,” Kix answered, giving the younger trooper a glare through his helmet that Rex could hear in his voice.
“Oh, right… my bad,” Boomer huffed in realization, grunting as Five’s gauntleted hand smacked him roughly on the back of the head.
Rex ignored them and focused instead on the girl again.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Nidhi.”
“Well, Nidhi, my brother is right. That place, those people, they’re all gone. They’ll never be able to hurt you again. Any of you,” he raised his voice to address the entire room, “From this moment on, you are all truly free.”
There was a beat of shocked silence as the crowd took in his words, which was then swiftly broken by an eruption of cheers. As the people around them laughed and hugged one another tightly, Nidhi simply gripped Rex even tighter and cried into his shoulder. He sat on a nearby storage crate and cradled the child as she sobbed. His chest tightened and he was extremely grateful for the helmet covering his face, tears threatening to spill over as he was painfully reminded of a young girl who also used to cling to him for strength and comfort. A young warrior who would have loved to be a part of what they had done today. He hoped upon hope that she could see them as she marched on with their fallen brothers.
I hope we’re making you proud, vod’ika.