Saga Worth Fighting For: Captain Rex/OC, romance/drama. Sequel to The Fighting Kind, Completed 6/29/15,

@Nyota's Heart & gracesonnet - Thank you both so, so, SO much for your constant support and encouragement. Thank you for coming along this ride with me. ​

*****​

"While Coruscant has always been considered the heart of the Republic, ​

to some extent, Alderaan has been its soul." ​

​

~ from the Alderaan entry on Wookieepedia​

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Epilogue Two​

Approximately 19 years after the formation of the Galactic Empire...

It was late that night when Brenna caught the transmission.

Rex had gone to bed not long ago, having long since grown used to the fact that she would stay up for all hours, listening to the Imperials over her many carefully sliced comm-channels. Of course, he'd tried to get her to come to bed with him, as he always did, and it very nearly worked this night, but something kept her in her office chair, seated before her workstation. Listening.

At first, she wasn't sure what kept her, here. She had a warm bed waiting for her, not to mention the man within it, and common-sense told her that it was best to just call it a night, maybe send the girls a brief message – just to see how they were doing off-world – and then slip to her and Rex's room. It was nice to have the house to themselves, these days. Sometimes it felt a little too quiet, but that was fine. Quiet was nice.

But she forgot all of that, because in the moment, just after she decided to shut everything down, she caught the riff of static that a minor bit of tweaking cleared into a series of words: ...planet's atmosphere ignited...Despayre...obliterated...

Frowning, she adjusted the controls, but was unable to pick up anything more substantial than the few, cryptic words that still sent a chill through her entire body. She tried for another half-hour or so, then gave up when she couldn't stop yawning, thinking that it was probably best to just head to bed.

Rex was there, his arm sprawled across her side of the bed as if reaching for her in his sleep, and as she slid off her dressing gown she took a moment to appreciate how the passage of years had been kind to her husband. There were lines on his face, around his eyes and his mouth, but his hair was still close-cropped and fair, though she'd spent hours searching for a sign of gray that she never found; he was still broad and muscular, and she idly regretted that he appeared to be fast asleep.

She should have known better. The moment she slid into bed beside him, honey-brown eyes opened and he regarded her with a curious look, somehow managing to appear alert despite the fact that she was certain he'd been in deep sleep. “What is it?” he asked, his voice low in the darkness of their room. “Is everything okay?”

Brenna moved closer to him, inhaling his scent and feeling traces of stubble scrape across her cheek. “Just...it's odd.”

“What did you hear?” He leaned up on his elbow, studying her.

“An Imperial transmission.” She felt a shiver of apprehension and moved close to him again, pressing herself to the planes of his chest and savoring his warmth. “It sounded...strange. Not like the others I've caught.”

His arm pulled her closer and she felt his breath against her ear. “Strange, how?”

With Tana gone off-world to university too, it was so quiet now. Outside of their window she could make out the moon, glowing like a silver coin against the black backdrop of sky, and though she couldn't see them, she knew the mountains were standing sentinel, all around. “It can't be what I think,” she murmured to herself, shaking her head into his chest. “It's...it's impossible. It must be impossible.”

“Bren-”

“A planet called 'Despayre' was destroyed,” she said, tilting her head to look up at him.

Rex's entire body stilled and his eyes narrowed in thought. “An entire planet?” She nodded and leaned back into his chest, and sighed when his arm tightened around her again, though his voice was still thoughtful. “How?”

“I don't know,” she admitted. “But the Imperials aren't prone to hyperbole. I think it's true.”

She felt his slow nod of agreement, then he inhaled. “We can comm Ahsoka in the morning, see if she's heard anything. It's worth looking into, at the very least.”

“Alright,” she replied, feeling a little better for the moment, though the transmission still tugged at her mind. It was more than strange; it was beyond unsettling, but lying here, with her husband so close and warm, her nerves were starting to fade in the wake of other, more pleasant feelings, so she leaned up and kissed his jaw. “Rex?”

“Mmm?”

She smiled to herself and shifted her hips close to his, not-so-subtly getting his attention. They had the house to themselves, after all, and she thought she wanted to start making use of it, again. “Are you asleep?”

A strong hand tightened at her side and she exhaled as his fingertips slid beneath her shirt. When he spoke it was against her ear, making her shiver. “Not anymore.”

*​

The next morning...

Rex looked up from his breakfast as Bren entered the kitchen, a frown on her face as she studied her datapad. Recalling their conversation of the night before, he pressed back a faint swell of apprehension and sipped his caf, keeping his voice calm. “What's up?”

She stood beside him at the little table and tapped at the 'pad, as if in deep thought. “I found more information on Despayre,” she said absently, her eyes taking on that distant look they did when she was mulling over some technical thing that he had no patience for. “There isn't much, but intelligence seems to think that it's tied with that new superweapon the Rebellion has been hearing rumors of. They even sent a few ships to check it out.”

Something cold ran up his spine, and suddenly he was transported back to his army days, to the moments before a really terrible clanker fight. Rex had not been a soldier for a long time – for the majority of his life, now – but he thought that some things were too deeply ingrained to ever go away. “What'd they find?”

Bren met his eyes and he noted that the stronger traces of worry in her own. “I don't know. They never checked in.”

Neither of them spoke for a moment, then he took a deep breath. “Did you comm Ahsoka?”

“First thing, but she hasn't gotten back to me,” Brenna replied, reaching to pluck the mug of caf out of his hand and take a sip, though he had to smile at the way her nose wrinkled; she'd said countless times that he used far too much sugar, but it'd never stopped her from stealing a drink or two.

He shot her a mock-frown but she only smiled at him, and he thought – not for the first time – that she was still as beautiful to him as she'd always been. There were only a few threads of silver in her hair and the lines around her eyes and mouth were the kind that came from laughter; he saw all of it as evidence of a life happily lived.

We're both young, yet, he thought with another exhale. At least, it feels that way. Almost twenty years together didn't feel very long, not really. Some days it felt like it'd passed in the blink of an eye.

It was a little quiet lately, with the girls gone, but he was so proud of his daughters and the lives they were leading. He knew Bren was proud, too. Sometimes, though, he felt like something was missing, or like he was missing something, but he wasn't sure exactly what. He had an inkling, though, one that had grown stronger in recent years, when the Emperor's tight hold across the galaxy was starting to choke a little bit, and news of the brutality of the Imperials came up with more and more frequency.

But for all that it was waging in the galaxy around them, Rex had not been at war in a long time, and he was content with the life that he and his wife had built on Alderaan.

So he selected another bite of his nuna eggs but dropped them back on to the plate, his hunger having fled. Something was wrong, he knew it. Problem was, he just didn't know what, and therefore didn't know what he could do about it.

“Have you sent a message to Senator Organa?” he asked his wife as she moved to stand by the kitchen window.

“To tell him what?” she asked, her brow furrowing. “That I have a bad feeling about something?”

“You have more than a feeling,” he pointed out, nodding to the datapad.

She looked back at him, her face illumined by the morning sunlight that was streaming through the window. “What if the rumors of the superweapon are true?” she whispered, her eyes distant even as they rested on him. “What if they use it against another world? What if-”

Rex slid his chair away from the table and went to her side; it was still strange sometimes, to know that they were alone in the house, now. However, while he missed his daughters, he was thankful to have this time alone with the woman he loved, so he pulled her close and savored the scent of her shampoo – she'd tried to change it several times over the years, but he'd always managed to convince her to switch back – and kissed her cheek.

“Let the senator know your findings, as you've always done,” he said into her ear. “At the very worst he'll ignore you.”

“I feel silly,” she admitted, and when he felt her tremble, he knew that it wasn't from anything he was doing. “I feel like I'm worried for nothing.”

Taking a breath, Rex held her a little closer, hoping to reassure her as much as himself. “You have good instincts,” he said quietly. “We both do, and it's wise to trust them; if I learned nothing else from the Wars, it's that.” He paused, thinking, than continued. “Contact Organa and tell him what you know. Let everyone know, for that matter, even if it turns out to be nothing. Comm the girls. Comm Ahsoka again. Comm Fives and Mar, too. I'll speak to the others, at Caith and Ed's place. We'll give everyone a heads-up, and if we look foolish, then at least we'll look foolish together.”

Nodding, she leaned into him and placed her hands over his arms, and they both looked out the window for a few moments. He had to get going, of course, as he had hoped to get one of the yearlings halter-broken today, but something urged him to wait, to savor each moment he had with Bren, so he did.

When she spoke again, her voice was soft. “I don't think it's nothing.”

“No,” he agreed after a moment, his eyes falling on the mountains outside their kitchen window. “I don't think it's nothing, either.”

*​

Brenna was thankful that Rex didn't go to the ranch, that day. Actually, he seemed to want only to be as close to her as possible, so after she sent her transmissions they'd retired back to their bed, where they'd spent some time before moving to the shower. They lingered there, and she forgot to be worried for a little while.

Now, though, freshly cleaned and hungry again, they slipped downstairs and he began to gather something for them to eat while she checked her comlink for messages. There were three.

The first was from Azure, where Iri and Jek were spending a rotation with one of the artistic enclaves that had settled there; Iri was fine, her boyfriend was fine, she sent her love and thanked Mom for the information.

The second was from Corellia. Tana was doing well in her studies, too busy to write much, really, but she'd also thanked Mom for the news, and sent her love to them both.

The third was from Bail's secretary, and read very much like the ones from her daughters, minus the declarations of love. The senator was busy, but thanked her for her interest in ensuring that the people of Alderaan shared in a brighter tomorrow. It was a common-enough response, one she'd received before, but somehow, it unsettled her more than it ever had.

Brenna sighed and set the comlink back on the table, rubbing at her forehead as Rex approached, offering her half of a sandwich, which she accepted. “The girls are fine,” she said as he slid into the seat across from her. “They send their love.”

“Good,” he replied, picking up his half of the sandwich, though he didn't bite. Instead, he looked at her in that way that made her think he was reading her mind. “What's wrong?”

She toyed with the comlink, then drummed her nails across the table. “Bail replied, too,” she said slowly. “The standard response he sends when he knows whatever I'm telling him, but doesn't think he can do anything about it.”

Rex set his food down and studied her. “He replied in the code you two worked out?” She nodded and he leaned back in his chair, and it was proof of her nerves that she couldn't even take the time to appreciate the stretch of muscles across his bare chest. “What do you want to do?”

“I have no idea,” she said, twiddling with the hem of her thin shirt. “But I hate sitting here, waiting. Rex, what if that...weapon goes to Corellia? Azure's probably safe, but you never know...they could want to test it out. But the Corellians have always been rebellious, and-”

She was silenced by the warmth of his hand over hers; when he squeezed, she felt the silver of his wedding band press to her skin. “Bren-”

Before he could say anything else, her comlink began buzzing angrily against the kitchen table, so she grabbed and activated it with her free hand, not bothering to look at the incoming, voice-only signal. “Yes?”

It was Ahsoka, and Brenna knew then that something really horrible was going to happen; the Togruta never called them any more, having grown too entrenched in the Rebellion. She would send and receive occasional messages under a pseudonym, but Brenna could not recall the last time she'd actually spoken to Ahsoka.

“Bren, you have to do exactly what I say, without hesitation,” the Jedi said in a low, quick voice. “This is going to sound crazy, but you have to leave Alderaan right now.”

Rex had sat up at the sound of his old friend's voice, and his eyes were narrow. “What...?”

“I'm sending Fives and Marliss to pick you and the others up,” Ahsoka continued, her words rushed. “They should be there within a few hours, so you have a little time to get what you need. Don't ask questions, don't take too long packing. I'll see you as soon as I can.”

Fear clutched at her belly, and Brenna exchanged a startled look at her husband, who then frowned back at the comlink. “Kid-”

“That's an order, Rexter,” the Togruta snapped, as if fear had caused her to revert back to her days as Commander to her Captain. There was also an urgency to her tone that Brenna had never heard before, and it caused the worry within her to increase to a thrumming dread. “Please do this,” Ahsoka added after a moment, her voice softening but loosing none of its urgency. “There's no time to explain, but you have to trust me.”

Of course they did. After exchanging another look, Brenna watched her husband take a deep, deliberate breath, then he nodded once. “Okay, kid,” he said, still refraining from using her real name. “We'll do as you say.”

The link died.

*​

The funny thing about time is that its passage is entirely subjective.

There are occasions, usually happy ones, when it passes with the speed of a shooting star, illuminating one's life for a moment, an instant, a heartbeat, before it is gone, poof. No more, never again. Time passes and leaves only memories in its wake.

Then there are those occasions that linger like an unwelcome house-guest or the taste of something unpleasant. Each moment stretches into a dozen more, getting exponentially longer and longer until you think you will break under the weight of them building upon you.

The destruction of Alderaan is, unsurprisingly, the latter, though it contains elements of both.

It begins with stillness, the shared gaze of two people who know each other better then themselves and who know that something terrible is going to happen; it grows into a flurry of packing, of tossing physical things into suitcases and bags in the hopes that the memories those things contain will follow them off-world. Neither Rex nor Brenna want to think they might never return here, but the possibility has grown too large to look away from now, and they are each too practical to dwell in optimism.

Caith calls, worried, because he's gotten word from Fives...something about them all having to leave, right now? Her brother is skeptical but Brenna calmly tells him yes, they're all leaving that very afternoon, and there's no time to waste. Their mother, Jensine, has been dead for a few years now, and as she talks to her brother, Brenna is secretly glad that her mother is not alive for this moment, because she would have been too stubborn to leave, anyway. Thankfully, Caith listens to her and they end the conversation with the promise that they will see each other, soon.

Rex calls his own brothers, ensuring that they got the message, too. Chopper has; he and his wife are preparing to leave, and he knows Coric is doing the same. Working with the Rebellion, Jess and Kix are not on Alderaan any longer, and Rex feels relief that he is not responsible for them right now, too. While Brenna gathers the more practical things they'll need for...well, we'll call it the immediate future, Rex tears through the girls' rooms, grabbing what he thinks they'd miss the most if it were gone. However, he doesn't allow himself to spend much time doing so, because each second that ticks by seems to echo through his body and he's all too aware of the fact that time, seeming to have once stretched out before him like a beckoning lover, is slipping through his fingertips.

The pace quickens.

Belongings in tow, Brenna and Rex slip out of their house and hurry for the speeder; Rex is thankful when it hums to life without incident, as it's been acting up lately – the repulsor coil going bad, he thinks – and within moments they are heading to the ranch.

Brenna thinks perhaps she should look behind her at their little blue house, the place where they spent so many happy years, but there is a lump in her throat and a knot in her gut, and all she can do is concentrate on each breath and try to remain calm. Thoughts skim through her brain, too fast to keep track of. The girls are safe, for now. She wants to comm them both, but they need to get off world, first. She tries to call Bail several times, but her transmission is always kicked back and she's reminded of that night, years and years ago, when the whole galaxy was set on fire and the Empire rose from the ashes.

As if sensing her distress, (not that it would be difficult at a time like this), Rex takes her hand in his own, and she is able to relax a little bit with the press of his skin to hers. Together.

They reach the ranch in record time. There are no embraces or tears; everyone's mouths are thin lines and only the most necessary words are exchanged. Tavi has long since left Alderaan, but Caith and Edme have more items to try and save, so Brenna goes to help them, thankful that she has all of the family pictures stored electronically, at least. Small mercies.

Rex goes to the paddock, where his beloved quagga collect around him, nudging his shoulder and lipping his jacket in search of treats that aren't there. He murmurs to them, tells them how good they are and how much he will miss them, and he almost thinks that he shouldn't have even come here, that this is silly and he's being overly sentimental, but in truth it's easier to say goodbye to the quagga than to his home.

Deep down, he knows that he will never see them again and that there is nothing he can do for any of them now. His attention shifts when he hears Chopper, Coric and their families arrive, and he turns away without looking back.

Because, like an incoming blaster-bolt, the pace increases.

A ship, there! Fives and Marliss, at last. Everyone is ready? Not really, but they nod to one another and shift their bags and lift their chins, feeling foolish and selfish all at once, because it's so silly, isn't it? It's Alderaan. The soul of the galaxy. Like the mountains, Alderaan will always be here.

Brenna feels her husband's hand on her waist as he guides her up the loading ramp, and she takes a deep breath and wishes there was more time, because she has friends and neighbors and acquaintances, people who she knew she should call but there is just no time, and she wonders if this is the kind of regret that she will never be able to forget. She wonders if this memory will remain or if it will become lost in the shuffle of time.

The Shereshoy – not the original, but Marliss always liked the name, so she made Fives keep it – is small, cramped with people and belongings, but it lifts off from the world as if nothing is holding it down, and once they are safely in hyperspace Rex breathes a sigh of relief and embraces his wife. According to Five and Marliss, Ahsoka has promised to meet them at Derra IV, though they have no more information other than that. Hours of talk and speculation pass, and in the wake of no new news, the energy within the ship becomes too nervous to bear, and although no one will acknowledge it, they all wonder if they made the right choice.

Where it has been relentless, the pace of events slows here. Time meanders. Sleep comes to some, but in the darkness of one of the little cabins, Rex and Brenna are able to do little more than lie beside one another and listen to the sound of shared breathing. A dozen times during the night she thinks to comm their daughters, but doesn't want to worry them needlessly. A dozen times during the night he opens his mouth to reassure his wife, but thinks it would be futile.

Instead, they hold each other close enough to feel the heartbeat of the one they love.

When time stops, when the world ends, they are together.

*​

Approximately one week later...

Though he'd never met the kid, Rex decided to take it as a good omen that the one who'd destroyed the superweapon was called “Skywalker.”

Yavin was a long way away from Derra IV, but the news had spread like proverbial wildfire, bringing with it an abundance of options. Of the ones that had been set before himself and Brenna, he thought that they were making the right choice, now.

The hangar surrounding them was bustling with people; he could see Fives, Marliss and a few other folks speaking to Ahsoka and Bonteri between a few starfighters. It had been many years since Rex had found himself in a place like this, and he found that he was torn between apprehension and excitement. It was not because of the acrid scent of engine grease or the buzz of a rotary drill as someone made a repair on one of the ships; it was not because of the chatter of the people or the collective feeling of yes, we are on the right side.

It was because of the knowledge that his and Brenna's lives would never be the same.

Excitement buzzed in the air, because everyone else was starting over, too. By all accounts it would be a long haul, but Rex thought that he was ready to fight again. Chopper, Coric, Caith and Edme were making plans of their own, and Rex trusted them to land on their feet; they were all survivors, after all. He'd heard from Jess; his tattooed brother was heading for Derra IV to help acclimate him and Bren to their new roles.

It had not been too difficult to keep himself and Brenna too busy to think about their home during the past week, but he knew that the grief would catch up with them, soon. He hoped, though, that they'd have a plan in place when it did, something that they could build upon in the wake of so much destruction.

As his wife ended the three-way holo-transmission between themselves and their daughters, he put his arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead.

“They're worried for us,” she said, her eyes closing at his touch. “Neither one said it outright, but I could tell.”

He allowed himself a faint smile. “We're not going to be leading attacks or anything,” he pointed out. “I'll be doing some training, you'll be doing some slicing and long-range security work. Pretty similar to how it was...before.”

She exhaled and nodded, then looked up at him. There was much that could be said, much that would be said, he knew, in the days to come, but for now she only murmured: “I'm nervous, too.”

“So am I,” he replied, leaning his head against hers because he could never be close enough to her. “But the girls are safe, and we have each other.”

Brenna nodded again, then embraced him, wrapping her arm around his waist and pressing her head to his.

“I love you,” she said, the words reaching him beneath the clang of someone dropping a hydrospanner and the chatter of the other rebels.

There was so much to do. Already his blood was racing a little in anticipation, for all that his mind was still thinking it all through. But he was able to push his worry for the future aside for one more moment as he kissed his wife's forehead. Together. “I love you, too.”

In truth, Rex still wasn't completely sure if he was ready to start over, but he was starting to lean towards yes.

*****​

A/N: Earlier drafts of this story had Rex and Bren perishing on Alderaan, but I chose to go another way. 20 years together isn't that much in the grand scheme of things, and I really, really wanted a HEA for them both. I also wanted to show that Rex isn't quite done with fighting for a good cause, even if he's not on the front lines, blasting Imps. I wanted him to have the best of both worlds.

Alderaan wound up being a character in its own right, though a voiceless one. How can one truly describe the destruction of a planet? I struggled with that question for a long time. In the end, I went with something a little different than normal – third-person omniscient POV, present tense – and I'm rather pleased with the outcome.

This marks the true ending of Worth Fighting For. Thank you again for reading and reviewing.

~Lauren

 

I have no words for the sweetness of the earlier scenes, the hectic rush in the latter ones, the acclimating and holding tight to one another, to what matters, the true and rare gift of each other-ness. Thank you, thank you for giving Rex/Brenna the best of both worlds. They deserve it!

Cool stuff them being rebels now. Their skills and fortitude will come in sure handy.

 

OMG, right as I got to the "when time stops, when the world ends, they are together" line, Spotify started playing this song:
from my writing playlist.
It's from Buffy the Vampire Slayer but on its own, it was like, the perfect music that could start playing right at that moment.

The next randomly-selected song was "The Imperial March" because Spotify is a jerk sometimes.

And now Tim Minchin's "White Wine in the Sun" is giving me Rex-and-his-daughters-feels but that song always makes me think about fathers and daughters.

Anyway: this story is amazing and I love how you worked in the New Hope events. The POV switch was a great idea. I was emotionally devastated when I saw the date stamp at the start of the chapter; by the time Rex got to the quaggas, I was dead. (This is the highest praise, I swear). And Rex's chuckle about that Skywalker kid :-D
Have you seen those screen grabs of "season 2 Rebels" Rex (with the beard) and "Grandpa Rebel" (beard!) from Return of the Jedi? Of course Rex would join the Rebellion

This was an amazing story and I wish I could re-read it as a new reader, just to experience it all over again. I think it was the this time last year that I was first reading it (sorry! I tried very hard to not spoil anything on the forums) and it's just as great the second time around. All the kudos!


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You are both awesome. Thank you so much for your comments!

 

I'm going to be so sad now that there aren't Worth Fighting For updates each week :-(
I know you've got some other stories going, here and elsewhere, but this was always a nice way to kick off the week.


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It's always sad when a story ends. But Alchemy is still going on, at least! Then you can check out Fearless on FFN.

 

Fearless and Alchemy both break my heart in various ways!

Oh man, now I'm thinking about all the random characters and places that cropped up in your story's Alderaan and how they were probably killed by the Death Star: Brenna's doctor. The couple that bought Nova. The school that Edme taught at (?). Bail Organa and his assistant.
Nope, I'm going to tell myself that they all got off Alderaan long before all that and safe somewhere. Including Leia's parents. Yes, the Organas are secretly alive, folks. You heard it here first. They're jamming with Fives and Tup on...a nice planet somewhere. Yeah.

Also, I liked Bail's auto-response to Brenna-- it seems like the sort of vague, not-really-saying-anything-useful message that a politician would have as their standard sign-off, but with them, it's become code for, "yeah, I know you found something scary but I can't do anything about it right now because: Empire."
Okay, shutting up now!

 

Yep, everyone's just fine.

But I'm glad of this reaction, in a way. I think the movies could have done more to show the very real, personal tragedy of Alderaan's destruction. Yes, it's Leia's homeworld, so we know there's lots and lots of folks who died when it was destroyed, but the true cost of that loss isn't really portrayed. We never really got to know Alderaan's people or culture, which is a shame.