Break out

Obi-Wan and Cody took cover behind some larger storage containers as the droids shot at them. Only their own battle droids, B-17, B-24 and B-25, had reacted fast enough to prevent major losses.

Fox and Wolffe fired at one of the turrets. When one shot came in Fox automatically protected himself and B-24 with his shield. The droid lifted its blaster and fired over the shield at the turret.

As new commando droids came in running with their ray shields Fives threw a thermal. The explosion knocked a few out but one survived the blast and went for the abandoned turret. Echo observed it as it powered up and began shooting.

"They are going to blow the ship!" he exclaimed. Grabbing an abandoned ray shield he began running for the shuttle. The turbolaser shots came nearer.

"Watch out Echo!"

The turret aimed at his brother. Fives closed his eyes, not wanting to see how his friend burned.

He heard a blast and his eyes began to tear. When he looked again Echo was perfectly fine. But the turrets weren't beams shot out of the sky. Looking up he saw the NRW dropping straight at them. The battleship's weapons targeted the enemies' position and fired another volley. Tarkin looked up from his dispute with Anakin about why to launch an all-out-attack.

"...guns against them..." he trailed off. "They gonna crash!"

Erik stood there completely calm. The ship was surrounded by a blur before it disappeared.

"What the hell was that?" Niner asked. Erik laughed. "Warp-Engine. When engaged the ship is transferred into an empty dimension created by the engine itself. Distances are shorter within that realm. Its not like your Hyperspace where you just speed up to FTL."

The strike team entered the shuttle and prepared it for take-off. The commandos and Fox held the enemy off the ramp as B-17 started the drives and took off. B-24 came into the back, leaving the piloting to his two copies. He closed the ramp and helped to treat the injured officers. Erik leaned back and took off his helmet.

"You're not a clone." Tarkin asked surprised. "Lieutenant First Class Erik Winston, US Army Ranger."

"The UST Spec Ops? Never worked with them."

"Well you have now." Erik said before going up into the cockpit.

As the ship left the atmosphere they were hailed by the command ship.

"Shuttle, return to base immediately. Hostile forces have attacked the blockade."

B-17 and B-25 ignored the command as they steered the ship through the asteroids. The battle was a sight to take in. B-24 rerouted the signal from his fellow droids into a holo-projector so the passengers could see the battle, too."

The Montana engaged the dreadnought in a broadside exchange. Several Venator cruisers in the background fired their lasers at the separatist flagship. The two trade union cruisers were already destroyed. B-17 maneuvered the shuttle through the debris and headed for the star destroyers. R2 changed the transponder signal.

"Citadel Strike Team, we read you loud and clear. Wing commanders, form up and protect the package."

"Shadow Squadron, we have the rear covered."

"Group seven, protecting the flanks."

"October flight, forming up and break through the mass for them."

"Warthog flight, got the front covered. "

The whole formation looked like a large bomb. Laser bolts shot away from the front, tearing through the droids and clearing the way. The dreadnought moved to intercept but the terran superbattleship began to turn, firing a last round into the engines before jumping into the Warp-realm.

The Admirals Yularen and Coburn prepared their ships to jump into hyperspace. Slowly the ships turned around, exposing their underbelly and the engines to the enemy. In moments like this they wished to have the terran battleships. Weapons facing the rear and a quicker way to escape.

While the warp-engine was faster, it needed precise calculations to prevent a dimension change in a place where a battleship shouldn't appear.

The hyperdrive however needed so much energy to perform the jump that weapons systems had to be shut down. The reactor couldn't maintain both the hyperdrive and the turbolasers at the same time.

As the shuttle arrived in the cover of the command tower the single flights broke off to land in the other Venators.

"Jump in 3... 2... 1... Go!"

With a flash the fleet disappeared leaving a growling Osi Sobeck in his command center.

"Commander, Count Dooku requests a report on the progress with the jedi." his tactic droid said.


Upon landing the first problems occurred: Piell only wanted to tell Yoda his part of the information while Tarkin insisted to give Palpatine the information.

The little green alien looked at Anakin and Wolffe.

"On Felucia your units are. Prepare to take a separatist camp you will."

"Got them in my sights." Erik reported as he adjusted his sniper rifle. Even the light fifty was modded to fire laser bolts. Ten shots in anti-infantry mode and five in anti-armor mode. A minute to recharge it made it impossible to maintain a continuous fire unless you carried a lot of mags around. Erik had exactly two of them. On in the receiver and one in the holder mounted under the barrel next to the bipod.

"Take them out." Ahsoka ordered. Erik took the shots and cut the droid heads cleanly off. Immediately the clones fired their grappling hooks while the togruta covered their back. "Ma'am, we're all up." A clone reported. "Go. I'll be right behind you." As she turned to climb up, a net shot out of the bushes. Erik, wanting to help was too far away to see the enemy in the bushes. He jumped down from his position and ran for it.


"Rex, do a perimeter sweep. I want to know where she is!"

"Yes, SIR!" Rex was concerned about his commander. It wasn't like the girl to simply disappear during the battle. He went out personally to find her. He traced the steps of the 104th back to the wall. There were no indication of where she was taken. Then he spotted foot prints. "Trandos." he muttered. He had read the report on the Prosecutor. Following the foot steps they were joined by the prints of standard human sized boots. The Lieutenant was supposed to cover this side and he had disappeared, too. Apparently Erik had followed the kidnapper. The prints led to an open space where the prints left. The trando's prints disappeared while the human prints got close to a compressed area. Probably sneaking into it via the landing gear, Rex suspected.


Erik jumped off the ship when it touched down. Luckily his armor saved him from dying because the landing gear retracted within the ship's shields but the oxygen supply was limited. As he landed in the swamp he saw the turret firing at the escaping prisoners, killing them all but Ahsoka who made her way into the forest. The soldier swam towards the land and hid in the bushes. Checking his ammo he put the rifle on his back and switched to his pistol. Doing a brass check out of habit he pulled the sled back.

Where ever the togruta went, she was good in hiding her traces. Erik switched to thermal vision and checked the air. Small traces of heat were left on some trees so he went for that direction.

At some point he lost them. Instead of trying to find them he opted to rest. Looking for a safe place he discovered a tree with a hole in it. The only way to reach it was a branch. He stepped on hit to test if it could bear his weight. With a grunt he pulled himself up and climbed towards the hole.

Ahsoka had talked to the three younglings Kalifa Jinx and O-Mer. Suddenly they heard a crack just outside their hideout. The three wanted to attack the person but Ahsoka gasped as she recognized the paint on the armor with the distinctive T-shaped visor. Reaching out through the force she caught him before he crashed into the woods. Pulling him up she set him down next to her.

"Are you okay, Lieutenant?"

"You know him?" Kalifa asked suspiciously. The girl obviously didn't trust anyone. She had probably been here since before the clone wars. Ahsoka nodded. "He's a good firend."

"I remember a jedi master telling his apprentice to tell his apprentice that a jedi should never lose the lightsword." Erik said after checking Ahsoka's vitals.

He began to disassemble his sniper rifle and clean the parts.

"How are we on weapons?" he asked. "You have the only ones we have." Jinx answered. "The trandoshans deactivate the ones we steal."

Erik reassembled his weapon. "Was a long time ago when I was a lone wolf. Never expected to do it again." He looked into the jedi's faces. "What? Never fought alone against an army?"

A hum filled the air. They ran for the exit to see as the soldier stopped them. Erik engaged his cloak and ran to the exit. "A trando fortress." He assumed. As it disappeared Ahsoka came up to him.

"We will look for food. Lieutenant, cover our backs."

Slowly they moved out.


Rex hit the console. He was growing frustrated. So far he could determine that the kidnapper was a trando but he lost the track in space. He decided to contact Commander Gree from the 9th Assault Corps. The wookiees were at war with the trandoshans so who better to ask than a wookie.

"Captain Rex, which circumstances do allow me to accept a call from the infamous 501st?"

"Commander Gree, we have a situation. Commander Tano has been abducted and we believe her kidnapper to be a trando."

Gree rested his hands on the projector. "Looking around Trandosha wouldn't be wrong. I overheard talks between the general and the wookiees that some of them got abducted, too. They even have a strike team ready. They are only missing a transport and a lead."

Rex pushed a few buttons to call Echo and Fives. "Tell them that the 501st is getting them. We will investigated the system and find them."

"They will be delighted to know that you just saved them a bunch of credits."

Rex shut the communication as his two ARC-troopers entered. "Do we have a lead, captain?" Echo asked. "Better. The wookiees know about where they could be. They offer the muscle, we do the driving." Fives turned around. "I'll inform hawk to ready the Osprey."

Since the UST and the GAR started to merge and exchange weapons, armor and vehicles Hawk had been extremely caring about the FV-22 he received for testing. The droppable warp-engine reminded him of the hyperdrive-rings. Soon after they powered up and left for Kashyyyk.


Erik fired back at the speeder. A sniper round had hit Kalifa. So far he could stabalize her but she needed to rest soon. The heal pack could only seal the wound off. The shot had narrowly missed her heart but her lung was damaged.

"We have to leave!" Erik dropped his rifle leaving it hanging from the strap attached to him and switched to his pistol. Firing a few shots he and the jedi disappeared into the forest.

Ahsoka was trying to use the rifle she acquired from the now dead trando chief's son.

"They deactivate them. That's why we don't have weapons." O-Mer said.

Erik reached over and began to disassemble it. Shifting through the parts he sorted them.

"This is the barrel, the trigger group and the stock. These are the mags and firing mechanisms. And this..." He hold up a chip. "Doesn't belong to this kind of weapon."

"How do you know?" Jinx asked.

Erik tapped his helmet. "Scanned the parts. The gun parts were manufactured around the same time. This chip was made long after the weapon. So the gun should work without this."

He assembled the gun and threw it over to Ahsoka. She pulled the trigger and a red laser bolt shot out of it. Then they heard the roar of a ship.

"Trandos are back. We should try and take their ship."

Quickly they ran back to the beach where they were dropped the first time. The jedi used the force to jump across the gap between the tree and the ship, landing on the cockpit. Erik set down his rifle and opened the scope. Aiming down he saw the first trando exiting the hatch. He pulled the trigger. However he missed as the younglings attacked the lizard. He readjusted his aim fired another shot. O-Mar was clawing as the trando who chocked him while Jinx tried to pull him down. Then a blue bolt rushed past them and the trando fell to the ground, a clean shot through his brain.

Inside the other trando had damaged the controls with his shotgun before both Ahsoka and Kalifa pushed him through the window, knocking him out.

Erik watched as the ship crashed and the jedi landed next to him.

"This ship is getting us nowhere."

A growl came from the inside. He immediately lifted his pistol and aimed at the source. A wookiee walked out, growling again. "He says his name is Chewbacca." Jinx said.

With in the next hour they salvaged as much as they could from the wreckage. Carrying it all the way to the cave Erik and Chewbacca placed some IEDs with motion triggers.

Back in the cave they tried to build an emergency beacon, strong enough to reach the next planet Kashyyyk if it happened to be on the same side of the system as Trandosha.

Ahsoka trashed in her sleep. She felt uneasy as a familiar presence calmed her down.

Rex?

Ahsoka, what?

I am connected to you through the force.

Anyway, where are you? I miss you little one.

Don't know. We just made a beacon.

I'll find you.

I know you will.

Ahsoka felt a caring emotion rushing through her from Rex she couldn't really pinpoint it but it was close to what sparked in her when She returned to the light side on Mortis. The only feeling keeping her sane after the dark side took control of her. Was it love? She shook her head. Attachments weren't allowed in the order. Yet other people seem to make it quite well without it. She had talked to Catherine. The woman had some supernatural abilities, still she was in a relationship with Erik Winston. Neither seemed to be influenced by that connection during missions.

Ahsoka began to question the code. She looked over at the sleeping forms of the younglings. Left alone with no hope on a planet on their own.

The next morning Erik checked on Kalifa. The girl had reopened her wound when she fought yesterday. Erik gave her some stims and ordered her to stay with the beacon.

Kalifa protested but Erik's tome didn't leave room for arguments. In the mean time Ahsoka and the others had caught a trando and forced him to call for a lift. Capturing the speeder they returned to fetch the soldier. Taking course on the fortress Erik checked his weapons. He given the rifle to Kalifa as a mean to protect herself so her was down to his pistol. Out of habit he pulled the sled back when he loaded it with a fresh mag.

"Time to strike." Chewbacca let out a growl. As O-Mar steered across the landing pad his passengers jumped out. Erik and Chewie flipped a speeder over and began to open fire at the trandos on the deck. The alarm was sounded and lizards began flooding the pad. One tried to man the other speeder but it was lifted courtesy of Jinx and Ahsoka. Erik took cover as the chief opened fire on them with the minigun. He had just reloaded as O-Mar crashed his speeder. The wreck knocked them over leaving them on the floor when the surviving trandos moved in.

"I'll have your head human!" Suddenly a gun was held onto his neck. "I won't do that if I were you." The lizard swung his claw only for Fives to drop below it and swooping him off his feet. Erik reacted instantly and fired his pistol into the body at the same time as the ARC.

Ahsoka force pushed her attacker as Echo rolled past her. "You okay, commander?"

"Echo, never been happier to see you."

"Tell that the wookiee. They spotted the beacon and understood the growling that was transmitted."

"Where's Rex?"

The clone pointed with his thumb towards the upper level. "Taking his anger out on his lover's kidnapper."

"I'm not..." Ahsoka began but was interrupted by Fives. "Oh com'on. We all see it in your eyes. Every time at the gym Rex was never able to take his eyes off you and vice versa. We clones can be very observatory, you know?"

"Does...?" "No one else knows. We kept the secret. Not even Skywalker or Yularen know about it." Erik answered the unfinished question. Suddenly something white and blue dropped from above. Ahsoka caught it and recognized Rex' helmet.

"Rex!" As she looked up a lizard body slammed into the ground, Rex lying on top of it.

"Last time I jump off without a rope." He cussed before pulling Ahsoka into an embrace.

"I missed you."

"Me too."

"Guys, get a room." Fives shouted.

Rex pushed his helmet onto Ahsoka's head. Eriki laughed as he saw the togruta with a clone bucket on her. While the took over the fortress and prepared it for a flight back to their home planet the clones got back into the Osprey. Kalifa fell around the boys necks as she saw them coming over the ramp. Rex and Ahsoka shared a seat while Hawk patted the controls as he flew out into space.

Ahsoka cuddled into Rex as he hold her, patting her lekkus.

"You are safe now."