In Command (#1 Post-Order 66 Series)

In Command - Part 3

"What were you thinking, Rex? You could have gotten us both killed doing that."

He charged forward. "I told you to not call me that. That is NOT MY NAME WHILE WE ARE HERE."

She didn't back down, stepping towards him. "Yeah, well you certainly acted like a hot-headed Captain of the GAR who has no idea how to command himself, let alone his troops."

His volume only increased as he seethed at the mention of his brothers. "How dare you speak like you knew them. You know nothing of what I went through during the war and its aftermath. You haven't got a clue about what it's like to be a soldier and fight for something."

"You don't know anything about me!" she snapped back. "Don't you dare presume to know how I feel or my experiences. You barely even acknowledge my presence here, so how could you?"

"I know that when I went looking for your file to figure out who the hell I was getting paired up with that it was virtually empty. You know who has empty files? Civilians that chose not to involve themselves until the war suddenly affected them. So what did you do while others enlisted in the cells and fought alongside us? Sit at home on Naboo and pretend it wasn't happening? Go to your fancy engineering school and dream about designing starships? But now, NOW you're here? Why not go off to an academy and help the Empire come up with new and exciting ways to kill people? I hear they've got some really incredible ships coming off the line, you'd probably get lost for days tinkering with those. Or was this just the more interesting science project for you?"

He loomed over her while she stood defiantly, her rage matching his. "You know nothing about me," she repeated quietly, and she shoved past him up the stairs.

"I know you said impossibly cruel things about my brothers and the people I served alongside without batting an eye," he shouted, following her up the stairs.

"It's called acting. It's called doing my job. You should try it sometime."

"Was it acting? Or do you just not care about clones and Jedi as long as you get to solder something? Do you even care about other people?"

He followed her into her room, the whiskey in his veins making him angrier and bolder. She didn't say anything, yanking the headband from her hair and tossing it in a corner.

"Say something! WHY ARE YOU HERE?"

She had her back to him, closing the curtains on the windows. "Rex, get out," she said quietly. He missed the venom in her voice.

"Look at me." he demanded.

When she ignored him again, his voice lowered, growling. "I said look at me, you coward."

Something within her snapped. It was almost imperceptible, but he saw by the way her shoulders squared and her spine straightened that he had landed a blow. She turned slowly, the last curtain closed. The only illumination in the room was the dim lamp by her bedside, but the gold flecks in her eyes were hot coals now, and a vein throbbed in her neck.

"Did you follow the order, Rex?" she asked quietly, the threat in her voice clear, but he was too far gone to notice.

"What are you talking about?"

"Did. You. Follow. The. Order." Her eyes burned into him.

He stared at her, opening his mouth to launch into another tirade before he watched her raise her hand and he flew backwards into the wall. He had felt the Force manipulate him before, but never like this, pressing into his ribcage and shoulders pinning him there. He could feel her anger radiating off of her like heat from a bonfire as she pushed him harder against the wall.

"You...you're..." he gasped.

"I'm going to ask you one more time Captain Rex. Did you follow the order?"

She stepped forward until her face was inches from his, her voice cracking. "Did you kill my friends? Did you murder Ahsoka Tano where she stood? Did you cut Anakin down when he needed you most?"

Rex's eyes were wide and all the cloudiness in his mind from the whiskey had vanished.

She's a Jedi.

"TELL ME!" She screamed, tears streaming down her face.

"Senna," he said quietly, his eyes pleading.

The sound of her given name shattered her. She released him and collapsed to the floor, sobbing. He knelt down next to her, slowly placing his hands on her shoulders. She violently shoved him away.

"Senna, please. Please."

Her sobs softened and she allowed him to gently sit her up and guide her so that her back rested against the end of her bed. She was shaking and he knelt in front of her.

"Senna, I am going to tell you something I haven't told another soul in this galaxy, and I need you to see me when I do it. Please look at me."

Slowly, she met his eyes. The grief and anger in them tore his heart into pieces. It was a feeling he was familiar with and wouldn't wish on anyone. "Senna, I almost followed the order. I managed to resist it to an extent. But your friend, Ahsoka Tano, is alive. She saved me and helped me remove my chip, and we escaped together. I wasn't with Skywalker when the order was given, and I never learned his fate, but I did everything I could to not betray the people I cared for."

His voice cracked. "I buried my brothers. All of them. And I mourn them every day. I mourn the loss of the Jedi the same as you do. I don't know what happened to you or where you were, but I'm...I'm so sorry that you have to see this...this face every day. It must be unimaginable agony." Tears leaked from his eyes, staining his cheeks. He was torturing her by merely existing and he hadn't even known it. She had woken up every day and looked into the eyes of someone that was a copy of the people that had attempted to murder her and slaughtered her friends. What if I'm what she has nightmares about?

He slowly moved to sit next to her on the floor, back against the bed, and he tucked his head into his hands, letting the gentle sobs wrack his body. "I'm so sorry," he kept whispering. "I'm just so sorry."

After several minutes, he felt her arms wrap around him, her chin resting on his shoulder. She gently stroked the top of his head and clasped her other hand onto his arm. He gently leaned into her, placing his hand on top of hers.

"Rex."

Her whisper was hoarse in his ear, her throat raw from screaming and grief. He lifted his head to look at her tear-streaked face.

"Thank you."

They held each other until the only sound was their even breathing as they slept.