Unexpected

chapter twenty: brothers

The next day goes by as normal, though now the boys are slightly suspicious of Captain Rex. Fives mostly.

Once training concludes and dinner is over, Rex keeps the seven men behind to clean the tables. "Since the floor is still fairly clean, I'll let you off with just the tables and dishes today." He informs them, receiving groans in response.

"Where's Elara?" Dogma asks.

"She had other responsibilities to tend to." Rex informs them. "She'll be joining you lot again tomorrow."

The boys begin cleaning the tables as Echo and Fives get to work on the dishes—one washing, one drying.

"What do you think happened?" Echo asks. "Do you think Senator Amidala brought her on another mission?"

"I sure hope not." Fives admits. "We all know how that went last time."

Echo hums in agreement. "Maybe it's another Senate meeting." He suggests. "She was telling me that they have a big vote coming up, maybe this is it."

"A vote?" Fives asks.

"Yeah, something about negotiating some sort of peace treaty." He says, stacking the dry dishes.

Fives furrows his eyebrows. Negotiating a peace treaty? In the middle of the war? What would happen to them if the war no longer existed? Would they still be soldiers of the Republic, or would they be able to lead their own lives?

"Did you know Elara has a brother?" Echo asks, breaking Fives out of his thoughts. "Well had, I guess, since she basically disowned him."

"What?" Fives asks. "A brother?"

Echo's eyes widen. "You didn't know?"

"No." He admits. "When I brought Rex to that villa it was just her and her parents." He explains.

"That would be because her brother defected at the beginning of the invasion." Echo explains. He didn't think Elara would mind if Fives knew. The two of them are friends now, not to mention they also have some history of their own.

"Defected?" Fives's eyes widen.

It suddenly made sense to Fives how they were able to harvest such a big crop production and why they had spare clothes to fit Rex. Surely Elara's elderly parents didn't do much farming, nor would they have clothes to fit a young man unless they'd had a son.

Fives zones out during the rest of the conversation as he washes dishes, occasionally humming in response to things Echo would say. Before he knew it, the last dish was dried and stacked with the rest.

"Finally." Tup sighs as Echo and Fives join the rest of the group.

"Now that you're all finished. You may leave together." Rex says. He doesn't seem to be happy about the 'shifts' they were said to have pulled yesterday.

Fives remains seated at the table, still zoned out. Echo remains with him, convinced that his brother just needs to rest.

"You two alright?" Rex asks, joining them at the table after the others leave.

Fives looks up at him. "Elara has a brother." He states.

"Galen?" Rex asks, earning shocked looks from both ARC Troopers. "He defected right before the Republic arrived to defend Grange."

Echo hadn't known the brother's name, only that he existed. Fives just seems to be shocked that he's the last of them to know about it.

"She told you?" Rex asks.

"Yeah." Echo sighs. "I told Fives. I thought he'd known already."

Rex presses his lips into a thin line. "It's a touchy subject for her." He turns to Fives. "I'm glad you two are finally getting along again. Don't take it personally that she didn't tell you, I'm sure she would've eventually."

"How do you know about her brother?" Echo asks.

"She told me quite some time ago." Rex admits. "I probably know more about her than you think." He chuckles.

"It seems that way." Fives says, earning a raised eyebrow from Rex. "You're sure there's nothing between you two?" He asks. "You can be honest, I'm the last person that would rat you out."

"For kriff's sake, Fives. There is nothing between Elara and I!" Rex says for what feels like the hundredth time.

"Hurtful. I thought we were at least friends." A fourth voice says playfully. All eyes focus turn to Elara as she approaches them in an elegant, grey dress. "Hi boys." She smiles as she joins them at the table.

"El, please tell Fives that there is nothing romantic going on between us." Rex pleads.

Elara raises an eyebrow. "That's not what you said last night."

Rex turns red as Fives's eyes go wide and Echo's jaw drops. Elara bursts into laughter at their reactions.

"I'm joking! Stars, relax yourselves." She teases them. "There is not, and never has been, anything romantic between Rex and I." She states. "Everyone happy?"

"So he's like.. The brother you never had?" Fives asks.

Elara's smile drops and she turns to Echo. "You told him?"

"Not on purpose!" Echo explains. "It just kinda.. Slipped." He apologizes.

"It's fine." Elara sighs, turning back to Fives. "I was going to tell you anyway, but now I guess it saves me the trouble of bringing you somewhere private and taking the time to go through the story."

Fives's eyes widen at the thought of some alone time with her. "Well Echo didn't really tell me that much, just that you had a brother."

"That's not true, I told you that-"

"I zoned out." Fives cuts Echo off and Elara stifles a laugh.

"Well, it'll have to wait. Senator Amidala is sending me on a top secret mission first thing tomorrow morning." Elara informs them. "Which means I'll have to miss another fun day of cleaning the mess hall." She turns to Rex.

"Top secret?" Echo asks. "Where are you going?"

"If I told you, it wouldn't be top secret." Elara points.

"Who are you going with?" Fives asks.

"Do you guys not understand the meaning of 'top secret'?" She laughs.

"It's not Mandalore again, is it?" Fives asks.

Elara sighs. The least she could do is ease their minds a little bit. "No. It's not Mandalore."

"I don't like you being sent on missions alone." Rex speaks up.

"I never said I'd be alone." Elara raises an eyebrow.

Rex chuckles. "Please, El. Seeing as it's Senator Amidala's mission, General Skywalker would most definitely take the security upon himself if she were going, but he's not, so she can't be joining you. Especially not with the peace treaty on the line—which means that no Senators will be leaving the system." He points. "With no officials or generals leaving, there's no need for guards or troops. Therefore, you must be going alone."

Elara smirks at him. "You're smarter than you look."

"You're going alone?!" Echo asks.

"It's a peaceful mission. I'm being sent because nobody but the person that I'm scheduled to meet knows who I am. I'll be perfectly safe." She assures the three of them. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get some rest."

As quickly as she joined them, she leaves. Echo jumps up to follow her and Rex sighs. Fives notices the worried look on the Captain's face and furrows his eyebrows.

"I'm sure she'll be fine." Fives speaks up. "She's strong, she can handle whatever comes her way."

"She thinks she can." Rex sighs. "And that's exactly what I'm afraid of."