How to Take an Empire

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Rex's Interlude

When Rex first deserted the Imperial Army, he spent the first few years continually looking over his shoulders. Keeping out the sight of his brothers who hadn't been lucky enough to get their control chips removed. But the further removed from the clone wars that he'd gotten, the more confident he'd become that the Imperial Army wasn't worried about finding him. Unsurprising given that the Imps and their Emperor decided the clones had outlived their usefulness and decommissioned the clone program. Couldn't say he was terribly upset about the latter. Let the Imps use their own people as cannon fodder to enforce their Empire. But hearing that his brothers had been "phased out" gave him concerned.

It was one of those benign phrases the Republic and the Kaminoans used to hide something more sinister from the broader public that might give a damn. While the chips had been overwhelmingly effective in overriding the free will of his brother to execute the Jedi, they hadn't been as effective in keeping the clones sane in the aftermath. There had been many with wills strong enough that they tried to fight the chips, even as it eventually forced them to kill their Jedi generals. Some of them put their own blasters to their heads to put themselves out of their misery. They were counted in the number of clones that were "phased out."

Something must have changed, though. As indicated by the arrival of Imperial troopers showing up at one of the old safety outposts he'd been hiding out in. And not just any Imperial troopers, but the elite ones that belonged to Darth Vader.

Rex didn't know much about the man. Rumors said that he was little more than an advanced cyborg or some species that had special breathing requirements, hence the conspicuous life support suit. What Rex did know for sure was that the man was a Sith, given the title of "Darth," which made sense since the man had personally marched on the Jedi Temple when the order to murder the Jedi went out. He also knew the man folded what remained of his brothers into his own elite Imperial Legion—Vader's Fist as they were called.

The only reason he could think that Vader was personally coming after him and wanted him alive was that he wanted to use him to help wage another war—the continuation of a war that had never really ended. His contacts told him about the different rebellions around the galaxy rising up to fight the Empire, but there was one, in particular, that seemed to be gaining headway toward outright fighting the Empire. The Rebel Alliance, led by their mysterious but very military tactically competent leader, the Fulcrum. He'd thought about joining up with them, but he was tired of fighting wars that he had no stakes in for other people. He had every intention of telling Darth Vader that too, along with the fact that he'd never fight for the man that was personally responsible for the extermination of his Jedi generals. Skywalker. Tano. Kenobi. All murdered by his hand, and if not directly, he was still responsible for it. Him and Chan—EmperorPalpatine.

They would probably be Rex's last words. Another thing he knew about Darth Vader was his reputation for killing men that refused him and blatantly disobeyed his authority.

After a long walk from the shuttle that brought him to the man's destroyer, he was roughly dragged into an office with two troopers posted on either side of the door and dropped into a seat. Rex had learned a long time ago that there was no use trying to get his other brothers to rebel, not with those chips in their heads. Thus, he ignored the ones posted inside the door.

The temperature in the room dropped, and Rex knew Darth Vader had arrived long before the door behind him opened and he heard the distinct mechanical sound of the man's breathing. The next moment, Vader crossed the room and sat across from Rex on the other side of his desk. The man observed him silently through the black lenses of his mask for a few moments before he spoke.

"You no longer need those," Vader said, his head nodding to the cuffs around Rex's wrists. In the next second, they opened, allowing Rex to release his wrists.