Notes: MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU!
Could there even be a better day to post Star Wars story than May 4th?
Enjoy.
Commander Cody and captain Rex walked into the commander room. They were both angry about the unpleasant situation. It was terrible to have a spy who was reporting their positions and plans, but it was even thousand times worse to know it was their brother who betrayed them.
When Cody and Rex found out the traitor was sergeant Slick during the investigation, they were both so surprised that Slick managed to send the commander down on the floor with one hard blow and escape in front of few other clones.
Now, Cody checked on the situation only to find out a half of the base was cut off the power due to the explosions that Slick caused. He turned around to face Rex. "I need you to take some men and get the power back, Rex. I will contact generals about the situation." Cody ordered.
"Yes, sir." Rex nodded.
"The base is on lockdown, so when the power is back we will search every corner of it. Report to me when you're done." Cody dismissed him.
"Sir, the power is back." Rex said to the comlink.
Cody replied: "Yes. Good, captain. Ehm, meet me..." there was a pause probably because the commander looked at his watch. "…in ten outside the hangar."
"Yes, sir." Rex ended the call and went straight to the meeting point. He and few clones stood there and watched for Cody for few minutes to join them. Rex was a bit surprised when Cody walked out of the hangar instead of the tower. Anyway, he turned around and saluted shortly to his commander.
"We are on alert, troopers. Put your helmets on." Cody, who was already wearing it, commanded. "So, we will methodically search the whole base. I want one troop in the tower and another in the hangars. The perimeter is already set and the guards will not let anyone leave the base. Anyway, I will…" Cody paused for a moment. "I will take a few soldiers and we will go around the base, just to be sure."
"Let me go with you, sir." Rex offered.
"I need you to stay here, Rex, and make sure there will be no more explosions." Commander explained.
"Yes, sir." It was clear from captain's voice he was disappointed and disapproved the commander's decision. But he followed the command and didn't object. Cody motioned to clones to follow him and returned to the hangar. Then he got on a huge speeder and switched on the ignition. The clones followed his example and took their speeders too. Soon they left.
After few hours, Obi-Wan and Anakin returned to the base only to find Rex in command.
"Captain? Did you find the traitor?" When Obi-Wan looked around, it was quite clear they didn't, because the base was on alert and all clones seemed busy.
"Commander Cody and I discovered his identity, but he surprised us and escaped. It was sergeant Slick, sir." Rex explained and casted down his eyes, ashamed it was one of his own.
"I am sorry to hear that." Obi-Wan commented. "I think we will have to stop looking for him. The Separatists are forming an attack; we will need all men ready to fight soon." Obi-Wan walked through the room and displayed the future battlefield.
"With all respect, sir, I think we shouldn't stop searching for sergeant Slick. He blew up almost all heavy machineries we had. He could be dangerous." Rex pointed out.
"You can continue with the searching for now, captain, but we will need you for the attack and this matter simply has to wait." Obi-Wan ended the discussion.
"Yes, sir." Rex nodded.
"Where is Cody anyway?" Anakin asked.
"He is leading a search party around the base." Rex turned to Anakin.
"Call him back, Rex, we need him here to plan our strategy." Obi-Wan commanded.
"Yes, sir."
"What happened in here?" Anakin asked and pointed to the floor. All men in the room turned to look. There were few drops of blood.
"I have no idea, sir." Rex replied.
"It's just weird. Someone annoyed Cody?" Anakin smiled.
"That's hardly important now. We need to focus on the attack, Anakin." Obi-Wan reminded him with a disapproving look.
Rex called to Cody's comlink, but he got no response, so he stepped aside and waited few moments to try again. Nothing. That's not like him, especially now, Rex thought. He tried once more hoping it was just some technical error. But his comlink seemed to be functioning. Cody simply didn't answer.
"Sir? I can't reach commander." Rex reported.
"There may be trouble with communication. I hope they will come back soon. Anyway, don't stop trying to reach him." Obi-Wan commanded and dismissed the clones to plan strategy with Anakin.
Rex went to the hangar and asked other clones if they knew who went with Cody. He wanted to try to call those clones who were with him. It was possible that Cody's comlink was just broken and everything was alright. But Rex had a bad feeling about it. When some clone told him who went with Cody, he didn't waste any time and called the clone. Rex immediately felt better when there was a response. "Captain Rex here. Generals need you back at the base, could you tell the commander?"
"Ehm, I am sorry sir, but I do not know where he is." the Clone replied.
"What do you mean?" Rex raised his voice in frustration. "Then make contact with other who went with you and report back to me immediately." Rex almost shouted.
"But we all split up, sir." Clone tried to explain.
"What?" Rex yelled, earning a few looks from clones in the hangar. "Are you trying to tell me every single one of you is there alone?" Rex was shocked. He couldn't believe Cody would be so stupid to order everyone to go alone. Soldiers were always at least two together. Always.
"Yes, sir. It was commander's order." The clone explained.
"Cody is not stupid like that." Rex said but when he saw how shocked the clones were by his statement, he lowered his voice. "What else did he say? When are you coming back?" Rex asked.
"In half an hour, sir." Rex did his best to calm down. "Ok, contact the others and if you meet him tell him to come back. General's order."
"Yes, sir."
Rex returned to the commander room to explain the situation to Jedis and stayed there to help. But after half an hour he excused himself to personally wait for Cody at the entrance. When he got there, all the clones who went with the commander were already back. But there was no sign of Cody.
Rex asked all troopers about him, but no one had seen him since about three hours ago. "That's not good." Rex commented. Then he tried to call to Cody's comlink again, but it was silent. Something is so wrong.
Rex practically ran back to the commander room.
"Sir, something is wrong." He stormed in the room, not caring about ranks or protocol. "Cody is not answering his comlink and no one knows where he is."
Generals looked at him, thinking about it. "It's not like him." Obi-Wan said.
Rex nodded. "Exactly, sir!" Rex confirmed.
"We don't really need this now." Obi-Wan rubbed his eyes. "We can't have half of the troopers looking for Slick and the other half for Cody." He folded his arms. "We will deal with it after the attack. It seems you're in charge now, Rex."
Rex snapped to attention finally realising the protocol. "Yes, sir." But he told himself he would somehow find Cody as soon as possible.
"R2, could you, please, check the security records and find Cody, if he's at least in the base?" Anakin asked. Rex was utterly grateful for general's idea. Anakin nodded at Rex, sharing his feeling about lost commander. The small droid beeped a reply and plucked in the main computer system.
All three men then put their heads together and went through the plan again and in more detail.
Notes: The italics text means the security record.
R2D2 suddenly started beeping as if the base was all on fire. Obi-Wan, Anakin and Rex looked up from the table with holographic maps to him.
"R2, did you find something?" Anakin asked, because the droid was beeping completely incoherently. More beeping sounded. Then the droid plucked out of the computer and plucked into the holographic table. The maps disappeared.
"R2, what is it? We need to finish this." Obi-Wan said. But when R2D2 beeped the commander's name, everyone fell silent and allowed the droid to show them.
The record showed the commander room from four hours ago. Rex was just leaving to fix the power. The commander was left alone. He didn't waste any time and raised his comlink and called Obi-Wan.
"Sir! You need to come back, it's all a trap."
"We figured that out, Cody. Thanks for warning, though." Obi-Wan's reply was very short. The commander guessed it was because generals still planned to continue their mission. Then he put his blaster on the table and turned on the holoprojector with the map of the base. Then he called few clones to give them orders about the lockdown and positioning of guards.
Obi-Wan looked questioningly at R2. They didn't have time to watch Cody working.
Suddenly there was some noise and the Commander turned around. Then he looked around the whole room, but there was nobody and Cody let it go and picked up his datapad searching for information. But then there was the noise again.
"Who's there?" Cody asked and switched the datapad with his blaster. Then he walked through the commander room ready to shoot. He slowly approached benches thinking that someone was hiding behind them. But he never expected the attack from above.
Slick jumped out of the ventilation and knocked Cody down. Cody dropped his blaster in process and managed only to yell: "You treacherous bastard!" Slick used his momentum and weight to pin Cody beneath him and beat him fiercely. At this point, Cody could just raise his hands and protect his head against the attack. In no time, the commander was bleeding from his nose and a split lip.
"Damn bastard!" Rex yelled.
Cody somehow managed to kick Slick and push him down.
"But why did Cody never mention he met Slick here?" Rex asked. Obi-Wan just shrugged, not knowing the answer, with eyes never leaving the hologram.
Cody got up from the floor, spit some blood and reached for the blaster. But Slick did the same and both men were struggling for the weapon.
Rex silently hated himself for leaving the commander all by himself.
But then Slick took advantage of wearing the helmet and hit Cody in the head. Commander fell on his back on the floor feeling dizzy. He tried to regain his balance and get up. But Rex could tell he was fighting really hard just to stay conscious. Slick got hold of the blaster and pointed it at Cody.
"Don't move." he threatened.
"Why did you betray us?" Cody asked but didn't move. "Many brothers died because of you!" Cody accused him.
"You wouldn't understand." Slick said and moved towards him. Cody pulled back a bit.
Suddenly the comlink beeped. Cody froze but then he tried to accept the call and get help, but Slick jumped at him and tried to hit him in the head with the blaster, but Cody covered his head with his hands so the blow didn't cause any damage.
That made Slick obviously furious. He gave even more strength to other blows. Cody curled up and did his best to protect his head but Slick kneeled at him and immobilised his arms. Then it took only one well-aimed blow and Cody finally lost consciousness. But the comlink was beeping and it looked as it made Slick very nervous. He looked around the room and then ran to the bench, where Cody left his helmet some time ago. He put it on and accepted the call.
Rex heard his voice giving a report and Slick using commander's helmet to answer him. Rex thought he would die of shame on this very spot.
Slick then quickly changed their uniforms and tossed the motionless body over his shoulder. Then he took the datapad and left.
Rex pressed himself on the table not trusting his legs.
"It was him the whole time." he whispered. He felt sick recalling Cody's bloody face and Slick beating him with blaster. "Sir, we need to find him." he turned to Obi-Wan.
"Yes, we do. Rex, get five of your best men and prepare to leave."
"Yes, sir." Rex almost ran away.
"Anakin, you will stay here and lead the attack. Don't let anyone even think I am gone, alright?" Obi-Wan continued.
"I think it should be the other way. I will go and you will lead the attack." Anakin negotiated.
"No, this time it will be me, who will be reckless and going on hazardous missions. Think of this as an opportunity to practise your leadership abilities." Obi-Wan didn't yield and left Anakin in charge.