#clone trooper rex

Previously On:  

Shaak had a busy schedule.  You’d think that forced Temple arrest and a stark drop in Senate requests would mean there was less to do.  But for Shaak, almost the opposite was true.  Someone had to carefully plan their distribution of resources, plan events to entertain the younglings, and make sure their Grandmaster hadn’t lost his marbles.  What that little man had to do with so many spheres of glass, it was beyond her.  On top of  that, with so many Jedi at home, it meant the Council couldn’t just send troublemakers out on an assignment anymore.   So many of their repeat offenders were returned to the Temple in one day!  If she hadn’t known better she would be saying it was a grand Sith plan.  ‘Wait a minute.  Where’s the tin-foil?  I know for a fact this was a whole Sith plan.’

On top of her huge to do list, she and the council had secretly planned another matter.  Helping the newly returned, de-chipped clones.  Sure, the council had refused to use Plo’s idea.  But after Plo left the council chambers hours ago, the discussion commenced, and they decided they had to do something.  Kidnapping them at the temple gate was a bit much, but they could give them messages through the Chancellor’s people.  

She looked up and noticed her comlink going off.  It was Plo.  She rolled her eyes and pushed to answer it.  “Master Koon, I know you’re worried about what to do when the Five-oh-First arrives…” 

“They’re already here.”  He said, and the revelation took her breath away.  “I just finished talking to Padawan Tano.  She knows those men better than anyone, and she says they’ve been here.”  

“We had people at the gates.  They should’ve told us the second they recognized anyone from the 501st.”  

“I know.  I have had my senses on it too, and I hadn’t sensed a thing.  Could they be unrecognizable to us without their chips?”

“The council will need to discuss this.  I’m calling a meeting now.”

“But Master Windu, Kenobi, and Skywalker are out of the Temple.  We have no reliable way to tell them to comm for a meeting,”  Plo worried.

“It doesn’t matter.  We’re not voting on any matters, we just need to discuss this now.  Yoda is Grandmaster, he will preside over the meeting.”

“I think he’s with his newest Padawan in the Room of a Thousand Fountains now,” said Plo.

“I’ll get him.  You go get Master Tiin and see if you two can drag Master Mundi away from his favorite holo-vision show’s season premiere. The rest should meet us in the chambers in a few.”

Chapter 22:  Meeting 

Rex stood on the street outside of the apartment block and waited.  In a few minutes the soldiers who were on duty would come out and he would order his men to enter and take over their duties.  In fact, he had been given leeway to, no, he was nearly begged to change things up due to his experience in taming the apparently illustrious rulebreaker, Skywalker.  

Rex didn’t know if he had any of these skills.  He couldn’t remember taming anyone, let alone a Jedi.  He was still telling himself that a truly exemplary Jedi would have to break a few norms.  So of course the chip would see him as a troublemaker.  Instead, Rex took the opportunity to place Creed, and the other chipped clones assigned to his unit, outside of the quarters, patrolling the street below.  He smiled a bit.  It was perfect.  When they finally got in there, and met him, no chipped clones would be nearby, forcing them to act cold and neutral.  

This was also the home of Padme, who he had been sending coded messages to since they started duties in the Temple.  If she were home, they could get an update on things, finding out when the next set of clones would finish their treatment.  He knew she also worked with the Chancellor’s office, so she was likely to be out most of today, but he couldn’t help but hope.  

The door opened and men started to file out.  Some of them looked tired.  A few of them had a mysterious substance staining their armor.  None of them gave him eye contact, he could tell, even though they were all wearing helmets. 

“Commander CC-2224, have there been any developments under your watch?”  Rex asked.  

“Nothing significant.”  the Commander replied.  “Order your men not to hold the little Jedi immediately after a feeding.”  

Rex didn’t know what to say to that.  “Okay.”  From what he was aware, the Jedi in this group were ‘mostly human or human-like’ which meant he was probably not dealing with a situation like he’d immediately imagined due to that statement.  Instead he turned to his men and gave the order, “Units two through four, proceed to your posts!”  Suddenly his men were walking past the other Commander, and into the building.  “Unit Five, take up your post.”  

Creed stood with his unit, and robotically peeled off to patrol the street outside of the building.