Rex suppose Onderon was beautiful, in daylight at least. But if not beautiful, the night was at least tranquil. Rex shuddered and and kept up his loose march through the brush. Umbara was tranquil too, from a certain point of view. He was debating about just slipping the cane into the pack slung over his shoulders, but Ahsoka would scold him and Fives would tell Kix. 

He gave a grunt and a slew of muttered curses as he stumbled over a root. He could feel Ahsoka in the foliage behind and above him, leaping from tree to tree like a jungle cat. It almost made him nostalgic for Trandosha.  Fives was somewhere to the right of him and Anakin, also in the trees, was bringing up the rear. 

"So eh, where exactly are these rebels?" Fives whispered. It carried like a shout in the silence. There was a grating sound of blasters being raised. 

"Right here." An unfamiliar voice said, not ten feet away. There was a flash of blue and everything went dark. 

Rex woke up in some room with a pounding headache. Skragging stunbolts. His pack was on the ground by the door, along with the cane. He pulled himself up into a sitting position and swung his legs over the edge of the cott he was laying on. Aside from the previous injuries and the pulsing headache, he found himself to be unharmed. 

He managed to stagger to his feet and grab his cane. His hands were shaking even more than usual, making his disability that much more obvious. The door, surprisingly was unlocked. Rex slung his pack over his shoulders and slid his blasters into the holsters on either hip. He heard voices and followed the sound, coming into a circular room with a glowing blue holotable in the center. The rest of his party was already there, gathered around. Ahsoka, with her togruta hearing, perked up as soon as she noticed him. 

There was a girl with dark curls standing next to a guy with lighter hair. They had identical posture, and even shared a striking resemblance. Siblings, then. There was someone else with his back turned to Rex, Ahsoka next to him. Anakin was across the table with Fives at his side. 

"... Apologize for the... precautions in taking you to our base, Master jedi. " The guy next to Ahsoka finished. Rex's blood ran hot. He knew that voice. 

Lux Bonteri. 

Ahsoka must've felt his anger and glanced over her shoulder to give him a subtle shake of her head. Rex gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to stuff him in a canon and fire him out of an airlock after thoroughly beating the everloving kriff out of him. He marched as stiffly as he could on weakened legs over to Fives and took up a place by the holotable. Anakin nodded at him in greeting.

"I understand entirely. After all, we were sneaking around in the middle of the night looking for you. And please, Skywalker will do just fine." Anakin replied smoothly. Rex wondered where the heck Anakin had learned diplomacy. His style was usually 'Shoot/stab first and question the survivors later.' "This is Jedi Commander Tano, ARC Lieutenant Fives, and Captain Rex of the 501st." He gestured to each in turn.

"Lux." The senator's son introduced himself.

"I'm Steela Garrera." The girl said, leaning casually on the holotable. "And this is my brother, Saw." She jerked a thumb at her brother. Rex clicked his tongue, remembering something just before...

"You shot me." He said mildly. Steela grimaced. 

"Actually that was my brother. Like Lux said, we do apologize." She glared at Saw, who muttered something under his breath. 

"The council sent us," Anakin cut in bluntly in an attempt to lower tensions before it came to blows. "to help train your men. We will not fight your war for you, but we will provide aid where we deem necessary."

Lux nodded. "If you will follow me then, I think it best we get started right away." 

It looked to be early in the morning when Rex stepped out, blinking and squinting into daylight. There was a rough group of people gathered in mismatching camouflage gear. This must be the rebel soldiers.

Talking among the loose ranks ceased as the jedi and clones came to a halt. Lux stood off to the side. "This is Jedi General Skywalker. From now until he says otherwise, you answer to him." He instructed. Anakin shifted uncomfortably. 

"Actually, Captain Rex here is the one who will be... instructing you. I am here for supervision. Captain." Anakin nodded and Rex took a step forward, uncomfortably aware of his visibly trembling hands and cane. 

"A broken clone? That's who's gonna teach us how to scrap droids?" Came an incredulous voice from the middle of the pack. Ahsoka's temper flared, and she opened her mouth angrily. Rex put a hand on her shoulder to placate her. 

"Yes." He said simply, keeping his voice even. "Why don't you come up here." He raised an eyebrow and the rebels parted to reveal who had spoken. He scoffed, but came up to stand in front of Rex. He tipped his head arrogantly. 

"Sir?" He mocked. Rex hefted his cane, sliding his hand down to grip it in the middle. He whipped the curved handle of it across the rebel's face. The guy staggered, letting out a slew of curses as he cradled his quickly-reddening cheekbone. He was going to have a black eye for sure. He stood up and ran at Rex, fists clenched. Rex evaded his wild swing easily and slammed the cane into the back of his legs, forcing him to his knees. He gripped the cane in both hands and almost lazily put the bar against his throat. Not enough pressure to choke him, but enough that he felt it.    

"Lesson one!" He barked to the rest of the ragtag group. "Much like us clones, a broken droid does not mean a harmless one. Unlike us though, the clankers don't feel pain. They will keep fighting even if they are missing limbs or have been shot multiple times. I have lost many men to a downed clanker missing a limb or two." The rebel soldiers murmured uneasily. The one still on his knees under Rex was frozen, and even though Rex couldn't see his face, his ears were cherry red. 

Rex released his captive and shoved him back towards the group. He tried to blend back in, but the others gave him a wide berth. "Any other questions or comments about my status?" He growled. There was dead silence. Rex could feel Ahsoka's warmth and pride for him like a bonfire behind him. He fought down the urge to smile. "Good. Lets do some drills, give me an idea of what I've got to work with." 

A/N - Yeeeesssss, I know Lux is here. Yes, I know he is awful. Please, keep the antilux comments to a minimum. You can hate on him during tomorrow's chapter. RotD: I am a protector. I sit on on a bridge. One person can see right through me, while others wonder what I hide. What am I?