Chapter Text
Rex pauses outside his General’s quarters, frowning at the bluish glint on the floor. He
bends down to take a closer look and realizes with a frown that it’s a piece of one of General Skywalker’s scales, the dark blue ones that run in a stripe down either side of his body. The piece is about the size of his palm, and it looks like it was cleaved off the side of one of the armored plates covering his Jedi’s dragon form (when did Skywalker become Rex’s Jedi? He shoves the thought to the back of his mind to be panicked over later).
Worry begins to build in his gut; losing scales could be a sign that the General is hurt in some way. But Rex had personally made sure that Skywalker got checked over by the medics at the end of their last campaign, so maybe he’s sick? Are there diseases that can make dragons lose their scales? Maybe there isn’t even anything wrong, and this is completely normal.
The Captain sighs in frustration. He hardly knows anything about dragons, certainly not
enough to know if this is something to be worried about. But if something is wrong, then he needs to make sure that General Skywalker gets help (strictly because it’s his duty to keep his General safe, nothing unprofessional here).
Rex palms the scale fragment and heads for the medbay; General Windu is in the middle
of a mission, Commander Tano and General Kenobi are both getting some much-needed rest after the end of their last campaign, and Skywalker will definitely tell Rex that it’s fine no matter what, so that leaves Kix. The medic has been obsessively reading about dragon physiology ever since the Jedi revealed their abilities to the vode at Geonosis, and is probably one of the foremost experts on dragons outside of the Order at this point. If this is a sign of something dangerous, Kix will probably know.
On the way to the medbay Rex is intercepted by Echo. The younger trooper opens his
hand to reveal another scale shard, smaller than the one Rex found and deep red.
“It was on the floor in the hangar, it looks like it came from the General.” The kid’s voice
is steady, but his anxiety is clear. Rex’s frown deepens.
“I found another piece outside his quarters, I was just headed to ask Kix about it."
Echo doesn’t seem to know whether to be relieved that the issue is being handled or worried that finding the scale wasn’t a one-off, but he agrees to accompany Rex to the medbay.
Luckily, Kix isn’t busy when they arrive. He furrows his brow thoughtfully when Rex tells him the reason they’re here.
“Aside from this, the General hasn’t been displaying any symptoms of illnesses that could cause scale loss, but I haven’t read anything else that could explain it, and we’ve barely seen him since the campaign ended, so I don’t know if he’s started showing symptoms in that time. Our best bet is to talk to a Jedi, preferably not Skywalker."
“We’ll have to wait until General Kenobi’s available,” Rex decides. “Kenobi will probably be able to talk to us before General Windu can, and he’ll also know if this is something that’s happened to General Skywalker before.”
Having chosen a course of action, the three troopers part ways. On the way back to his own quarters, Rex leaves General Kenobi a comm message asking to talk when he’s available.
After an hour or so of trying to do paperwork but only succeeding in worrying more about General Skywalker, Rex receives an incoming holocomm from General Kenobi. Relieved, he picks up and sees Kenobi looking tired, but certainly better than the last time they saw each other.
“Captain,” the Jedi says. He’s smiling, but seems confused. Understandable, since normally Rex would either ask his own General or General Windu for help with Jedi-related matters, and Cody for anything else. “Is everything alright on the Resolute?”
Rex takes a moment to collect his thoughts before responding.
“General Kenobi, sir. I’ve contactedyou because there may be something wrong with General Skywalker, but my medic doesn’t know enough about dragons to tell. I was hoping that you would be able to assist.”
As he’d predicted, Kenobi’s face creases in concern. “I don’t sense any distress from our bond, but it’s possible that he’s shielding, and my bond with him isn’t as strong as Mace’s. What is the issue that has you concerned?”
“Sir, both myself and one of my troopers have found parts of General Skywalker’s scales on the floor, and he’s barely been out of his quarters in two days.” Rex holds the shard of blue scale up to the holocomm for the Jedi to see.
Kenobi looks even more alarmed for a moment, but then a look of understanding overtakes his face. "Ah, I see. I didn’t realize that he was due for a shed so soon.”
“. . . Shed, sir?” Rex asks in confusion. Kenobi’s not acting like it’s something dangerous, but Jedi have weird reactions to things sometimes, so you never really know.
“Yes, I suppose you wouldn’t have any reason to know about it. Anakin is shedding his skin, similarly to some reptilian species.” At the Captain’s blank look, the redhead elaborates, “He has outgrown his current skin, and so he’s had to make a new one underneath. Transitioning to the new skin requires getting rid of the old one, and since his scales are so largebthey come off in chunks like the one you found. It’s a perfectly normal process, and every dragon goes through it periodically, although there are differences between individuals.”
Rex blinks a few times, processing the information. Well, at least the General’s not dying, but this is going to happen again?
The Captain mentally resigns himself to shedding dragons, and leaves his quarters a while later considerably more knowledgeable about shedding and how to help with it.
He grabs a few supplies, updates Kix on the situation, and heads to Skywalker’s quarters. Apparently shedding is extremely itchy and sometimes painful, hence why the General was isolating himself. Now that he has more information, there’s no way Rex is letting his Jedi deal with this alone.