The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano, Book Ten

Chapter Thirty-Five: Recounting Old Stories/Suiting Up

*Storm-Shadows7, I think you're going to like this chapter...*

LUX BONTERI

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

Lux looked up to see Rex standing in the threshold of one of the two common areas in the White Saber, where he had been attending to some paperwork. With a pitiable attempt at a smile, Lux gestured for him to come inside.

"I'm surprised you're still awake," Lux said. "I meant for you to get the message when you woke up in the morning; not at 0300."

"I'm still on Cialone time, sir – so are most of the guys. Jattson and Ringo are playing sabacc down in the barracks, and a bunch of the others are staying up to bet on who's going to win. I think it's only Kix who's actually asleep."

As Rex sat down on the other end of the couch, Lux nodded towards Aeja, who had fallen asleep in his lap a few hours before. "She's just like her mother; always pirating off of my body heat."

The wizened clone trooper nodded, and mimed zipping his lips. When he spoke again, his voice was considerably softer, and Lux knew he was paying more attention now to how loudly he spoke so he wouldn't wake the sleeping ten-year-old. "So what do you need?"

"I need you to tell me everything you know about a man named Slick."

Rex's face hardened, his jaw clenched so tightly a muscle jumped in his neck. The reaction to the name was an unexpected one, and Lux wondered for a moment if he hadn't said something he shouldn't have.

"Slick," Rex began slowly, his tone bordering on bitter, "was a trooper in the 212th towards the beginning of the Clone War. He was a sergeant, and commanded some of the finest men I've ever fought alongside. But he was always... wrong. There was something dark about him; something you didn't notice until you'd known him for a while. He always looked like he was planning something – that's why they called him Slick." Rex sighed. "He betrayed the GAR by giving secret information to the likes of Asajj Ventress. It was a lucky break that Cody and myself and the generals were able to find him before he did too much damage."

"What happened to him?"

"I dunno. He got sent to Clone Jail or someplace, I guess."

Lux thought for a moment. He had heard about Clone Jail – according to work of mouth, it was a place where the military had thrown troopers deemed defective and below the standard of genetic perfection expected in the army's members.

"I think there's more to the whole thing than you know," Lux said finally.

"He was a traitor," Rex spat, rising to his feet again. "Not just to me. Not even just to the 212th and 501st. When he threw his lot in with the Separatists, he betrayed all of our brothers fighting for the Republic. That's the end of it."

"Rex, please. Listen to me." Lux gazed up at the Clone Captain imploringly, and, before long, he sat down again. "We uncovered some new information on the scouting mission to the Azidara system a week ago, under the form of logs my father – the man who raised me, not my birth father – left for me. He was a Separatist commander who was captured by Republic forces shortly before his... passing. He mentioned Slick in his last entry. I'd like your help in decoding it, if it's no trouble."

Rex was quiet for a long time; so long that Lux was almost certain he was going to say no. But then, he spoke again, and his answer was far more encouraging than the one Lux had been expecting.

"All right. I'll do it."

AHSOKA TANO

Ahsoka sat in silence for a moment, her expression fading gradually from darkly amazed to an outside projection of the feeling of hopelessness that was growing deep within her.