Rex led the rebels into the walker, much to Zeb's displeasure. The place was a little too short for him to be comfortable. The other clones went ahead of them, and they all crowded into some kind of central room.

"Hey, you're a big one, aren't you?" Gregor asked, stating the obvious.

Zeb didn't appreciate the comment. "Bigger than you," he growled, but the grin on Gregor's face suggested he wasn't overly concerned.

Ezra, who came around the corner, stumbled upon their helmet collection. "Woah!" he gasped, grabbing the nearest one which happened to be Rex's.

"Hey, easy with those, kid," the commander told him, pointing back to where it belonged.

"Oh, yeah, yeah. I might move the dust," Ezra teased, but he set it down right as Sabine and Kanan walked in. Sabine removed her helmet and observed the group, but she was still on guard, much like Kanan and Zeb. Only Ezra seemed to have let go of his caution.

Rex spoke first. "How is General Skywalker?"

No one else made to answer, so Ezra filled the silence. "Uh, well, in need of help," he summarized. "We all are. Look, we're trying to fight the Empire, but we're outnumbered, over-matched, and taking a beating. We could use your help."

"Oh, now they want our help?" Jesse groaned, crossing his arms. "Didn't think we'd hear that again."

Kix smacked him upside the head. "Shut your trap, will you?"

"Come on! You remember those riots, they didn't seem to want our help then!"

"What riots?" Zeb asked, narrowing his eyes. "I mean, it sounds right, but I never heard about riots."

Wolffe, who was standing at his elbow, answered. "Right before the Republic fell, the public turned against us. Nobody wanted us around, even the citizens we were protecting. They started protesting, blocking the roads so we couldn't complete our missions. Then the protests turned to riots, and the riots to attacks."

Cocking her head, Sabine eyed Wolffe. "Well, from what I was told, the people had a reason to. You know, Jedi Purge and all that."

All five clones groaned at the mention of the Purge. Kanan crossed his arms indignantly. "You're gonna deny it? Are you serious???"

"If you really are friends with Skywalker, then he'd have told you what actually happened!" Jesse objected, staring pointedly at the Jedi.

Zeb, Sabine, and Ezra all turned to Kanan, waiting expectantly. Whatever Skywalker had told him, they hadn't heard yet. They knew about the Jedi Purge, the Empire loved recalling the story. The ruthless clone army turned against the unsuspecting Jedi Order and killed them...most of them. It was the final straw that won the people over to the Separatists and enabled the Empire to form. Was there more to the story?

He sighed. "Inhibitor chips, right?"

"He does know," Jesse jabbed, raising his eyebrows. "For a second there, I thought you weren't going to admit to it."

"So what?" Kanan spat. "I shouldn't even be here, maybe you're gearing up to finish the job."

"Look again," instructed Rex, pointing to his right temple. In fact, all the clones turned their heads so he could see a faint scar on each of them, in the exact same spot on every clone.

Once he was done showing Kanan, Kix faced him. "Don't got 'em anymore. Removed them. The modifications the Kaminoans made to us have been undone. I've even managed to reverse-engineer our accelerated aging since you asked."

Kanan didn't ask, and he wasn't interested. "How many more of you are alive?"

"That we know of? None," Wolffe answered. "Most of them went down when the Empire attacked Kamino, and all of the others have hunted down since. Care to finish the job?"

"Wolffe," Gregor complained. "Try for a little optimism here."

"Wait, why did the Empire try to kill you?" Ezra asked, bothering to wonder. "No one has ever been able to tell me why."

Rex leaned back in his chair. "That's because no one knows. No one out there at least." He glanced at the Jedi before his gaze returned to the apprentice. "Ever heard the name 'Offee'?"

To the side, Sabine snorted and answered for Ezra. "I mean, she did just try to kill us the other day. Green skin, black dress, two red lightsabers?"

"Oh, so you've seen her up close and personal, haven't ya?" Jesse realized, leaning on one elbow. "Believe it or not, both Jedi and clones have Offee to thank for their near extinction."

"Supposedly."

"It's true, Wolffe, Offee manipulated the whole system. We've been over this."

"There is no proof!"

"Oh, there's proof," Rex assured his brother. "There's plenty of proof, you just weren't there for it."

Ezra remembered something. "Master Skywalker says Offee was to blame too. In a way."

Kix raised an eyebrow at the kid. "Oh, it's Master Skywalker now, is it? That's interesting."

"What do you mean?"

"It doesn't matter," Kanan interrupted. "Are you interested in helping or not?"

"Do you want our help?" Wolffe challenged. "It sounds like you didn't know what you're getting into when you got here, which means Skywalker didn't tell you beforehand. If any of us go with you, who's to say we won't get shot when we land?"

Ezra wasn't giving up just yet. "The people who lead the Rebellion used to be apart of the Republic."

"Who do you think kicked us to the curb in the first place?"

"Why would any government retire their entire militia?" Sabine asked, shifting her weight to one side. "Especially if they don't have backup troops of any kind?"

Jesse had the audacity to laugh. "I ain't talking about the government, kid. I'm talking about the people. I'm sure the Senate would have loved to cover up what happened with the army, but the press wouldn't let 'em. Half the galaxy thought the clones revolted against the Jedi within a day, and the rest of the galaxy found out in the next week. By the time the feds realized what really happened, it was too late to change anyone's mind." He gave a stern look to Kanan as he finished speaking.

Not that it bothered him much. "This was a wasted trip. You heard the clone. He's not interested."

"Wait," objected Ezra. "If you hate the Empire so much, why not fight?"

"Tried that already," Kix told him. "There were more of us that escaped. A lot of them wanted to stand up to the Empire, or at least try to go out into the public again. Do you see them standing around anywhere?"

The subtext of the message was clear. The clones who tried to do something about it had been killed. Five clones were left, the five who had managed to survive because they had hidden.

"Well, okay," Ezra said, his voice softening a little. "Okay, then maybe there's one thing you can help us with. We need a base. Master Skywalker said you knew about all sorts of secret locations in the Outer Rim."

The clones all looked around at each other, passing various nonverbal signals between them. "I don't know how many of these spots would be any good, it's been a while since we've travelled anywhere. The Empire might have found them by now..." Rex trailed off before standing up. "Look, why don't you just wait outside and I'll put together a list of coordinates."

They all walked out quietly, but a bit more hopeful than they were a minute ago. Remaining inside, the clones convened once the others were out of earshot.

"You know, you'd think Skywalker would have sent more willing volunteers to come get us," Jesse suggested, hopping on the counter.

"That's just it, what if those are the most willing volunteers?" Wolffe explained, looking to the others. "They might not have shot at us, but if one person with them gets the wrong idea-"

"I didn't see you offer to go with them," Rex reminded the commander. "None of us did. Coordinates aren't going to hurt anyone except the Empire. Let's just try not to start any fights, yeah?"

Gregor looked out the door at them. "They seemed nice, you know, once they got past the whole 'clone' thing. Just a little nervous, is all."

Waving a hand, Kix dismissed it. "It's the Jedi. Probably nearly got killed himself, and never got over it. At least there's only one."

"There's not only one," Rex told him roughly. "There's two. The kid has the Force too."

"The girl?"

"No, the other one."

"How do you know?" Jesse asked, and they all stared as Rex turned to the computer console next to them, beginning to compile the list.

Rex didn't look at them as he answered. "I just do."

He didn't see the looks on their faces, but he did hear them leave and walk out of the room. Probably to keep the rebels company, which was fine with Rex. Hopefully it would help dissolve tensions a little bit.

In truth, he knew exactly how he knew the kid was a Force-user. It was the same reason he could tell the Jedi was a Jedi: he could feel it.

This had been happening for some time now. Rex had been able to tell when he was in the presence of Force-users and even a couple of Force-sensitives from time to time. It didn't happen often, the Seelos system didn't get many visitors, but the clones hadn't always been in the Seelos system. There used to be days when Rex would be in markets or shops, minding his own business, when a formerly unknown instinct would tell him to turn around. Rex usually saw a child, sometimes a teenager, rarely an adult, doing absolutely nothing in particular. He would advert his eyes and continue about his way, but Rex knew they had the Force.

That was it, though. That was the extent of his abilities. Rex couldn't do anything else with the Force and didn't want to. It just told him who was a Force-user when they were nearby. Not a bad trick to have up your sleeve, although it was more useful in crowds or civilizations, not in the desert.

Rex stared at the screen, watching the system run for a moment before walking outside to see what the others were up to. Above all else, he remembered when this started happening: a little over fifteen years ago.