"Comms are down."

"What do you mean, comms are down?"

"I mean external comms are down, Cody. There's no way to call for evac anymore. We're stuck."

Cody ducked as a rain of duracrete chipped off the makeshift barricade and peppered his helmet. "Where's Crys?"

"Back at the med RV point!" Waxer called. "Took a det full on, sir. He's pretty twisted up."

"We got anybody else working on the comms?" Cody looked at Rex.

"My guys are trying," Rex said, half turned away as though listening to another conversation in his helmet.

Cody pursed his lips. "You think anybody heard us?"

"They know we're here, Cody. They'll come for us."

Rex gave Cody a firm pat on the shoulder, before turning away again. Suddenly shouts of "Head down! Head down!" filled the air. A brilliant blue light swept over them. Cody's helmet filled with a whining crackle. Then it went dark. He gave it a couple of hard raps before ripping it off his head.

"Fierfek! What was that? Some sort of ion pulse?"

"Think so, sir!" came Boil's voice. "Helmet's fried. Blaster's fried."

"Thought we had protection against this sort of thing!" Wooley called, shielding his face as another round of blaster fire sprayed more bits of duracrete into the air.

"The Seps've clearly upped their game," Rex growled. "Shab, Cody, I shouldn't've done this. I should've stuck with Torrent. We shouldn't've split our teams up."

This time Cody reached out to rest a hand on Rex's shoulder. "You made the best call you could with the intel we had. Now let's get out of here."

Rex nodded, and the two of them hurried away from the barricade. "Fall back," Cody hissed to his men as they passed. "Fall back to the med RV. Try not to let the Seps know what we're up to."

Quietly, the troopers began to peel away into side streets and alleys. Rex stuck by Cody, keeping to the shadows and overhangs. "Maybe the med RV still has working blasters," he whispered.

"Let's hope the ion pulse didn't get that far," Cody replied.

The med RV point was a sorry sight when Cody and Rex finally made it. Hart spotted them and threaded his way toward them through the clusters of injured troopers. "Crys is stable, sir, but it's tenuous." He wiped his brow with the back of his hand. "Some kind of EMP or pulse weapon came through here, scrambled our gear. I was on the comm with Kix from Torrent when we lost it."

"What's Torrent's status?" Rex asked.

"Pinned down by the park, last I heard, sir."

"Shab."

"Thank you Hart," Cody said, dismissing him with a nod. He knocked his gauntlet against Rex's gently. "Hey. You did what you had to."

Cody could see the tension in Rex's jaw. Rex's nostrils flared as he tried to keep his breathing steady. "I should be there, Cody."

"If we'd run into Torrent instead of Ghost on our way back then I'd be the one feeling like I'd left my men behind, and you'd be the one telling me I chose what I thought was right. Torrent isn't gonna fall apart without you. Our focus now is to regroup as best we can and hold on until evac arrives."

Evac finally did come, the familiar gh-gh-gh-gh of an LAAT churning the air as it bay doors opened and General Kenobi stepped out, gesturing.

"Come on men, let's go!" he called over the whine of the engine. "There's time, but not much!"

Cody and Rex helped Hart load the wounded onto the gunship before piling in with the remainder of Ghost Company. When everyone was aboard, the doors slid shut, and Ozone's smooth voice came through the internal comm.

"Thank you for flying GAR Airways. Please stow all wayward troopers against the bulkhead closest to you, and be advised there will be no in-flight holo, as this is expected to be a short trip."

A grim chuckle rose from several of the men. Even Cody couldn't help the smile that twitched the corner of his mouth up. General Kenobi caught his eyes and gave a nod.

"General," came Rex's voice, "any news on Torrent, sir?"

"They're being evacuated as well, Captain. We'll rendezvous with them on board the Negotiator."

"Thank you sir."

Rex sagged almost imperceptibly into Cody's side. Cody leaned back into him, a wordless gesture of support.

"General," Cody said, after a time, "did our signal get through, before we lost the comms?"

The General shook his head. "I'm afraid we never received your call for evacuation."

"Then how did you know where to find us?" Waxer asked, lifting his head from Boil's shoulder.

General Kenobi smiled softly and met each of their eyes in turn, finally settling on Rex and Cody.

"I will always know how to find you."