Snips
It was sometimes astounding how much could go wrong in forty-eight hours.
Ahsoka steered the Twilight toward the upper atmosphere of the planet Trulalis, weaving side to side as laser fire streaked past them, one or two shots close enough to rip small, nonessential panels off the wing or the hull. Tup sat in the co-pilot's seat calling out the increasing proximity of the mass of vulture droids following them in a voice far from composed. The ship rocked unsteadily both from the barrage of enemy fire and from gravity attempting to reclaim them.
Just two days earlier, Ahsoka's life had been completely different, roaming the halls aboard the fleet's flagship as it prowled the Outer Rim not long after Anakin and Ahsoka's mission on Mon Calamari. Then they received word that the Repulic-leaning planet of Trulalis had been invaded by Separatists. Every town and city the Separatists marched into on their way to the capital of Prola renounced the Republic; Ahsoka demanded Anakin and Admiral Yularen go to the planet's aid. A quick message to the Jedi Council had been answered with a denial: Trulalis posed no tactical advantage; increasingly expensive clone troopers would not be risked on this.
But Ahsoka's relentless petitions to help the people finally broke her master's resolve. Fighting his reservations, Anakin allowed her to choose a squad and embark on the Twilight. His words still rang clear in her mind: "You have forty-eight standard hours to find something. Do not engage the enemy. Your mission is recon only."
And here they were, leading a pack of vulture droids directly toward the fleet. Her master was going to kill her. But thinking back on it, her mission couldn't have ended any better considering the circumstances.
Ahsoka lay on her stomach in line with Gamma and Longshot; the sniper was glued to his weapon scope, the spotter watched through macrobinoculars, the Togruta rested her chin on her hands. All three hid under the bountiful cover of a forested mountainside in pastel springtime bloom overlooking a rather small town nestled amidst sprawling fields on Trulalis. They were carefully tracking a company of Separatist droids marching in formation into town.
Find something. A reason to come to Trulalis' aid. Evidence that Trulalis was worth defending with soldiers too expensive to replace.
So here they were, having landed well away from Separatist eyes, Ahsoka took the sniper team one way and the remaining soldiers spread out to infiltrate nearby towns. The troopers had a much better chance of blending into the mainly human population than Ahsoka.
"What are they doing now?" their commander asked for the second time in the last minute. No matter how much Ahsoka squinted in the afternoon sun, from their vantage point she could only see people the size of datapad letters standing in front of the black mass of similarly sized Separatist droids. The clankers were trying to funnel through the town's entry gate; the majority of the droids remained in formation along the road leading into town.
"Looks like someone's speaking for the town," said Gamma. "Mayor or something. Dressed fancy."
"He's not very happy..." added Longshot distractedly. "Looks like he's shouting and— oh! That wasn't nice."
"What happened?"
"Droid just shot the mayor," muttered Longshot. Ahsoka saw hundreds of flashing red lights spring up.
"They're opening fire on the whole town," Gamma said darkly.
The Togruta popping to her knees the next instant, lightsaber in hand, drew the spotter's attention.
"Stay low, sir! Even if we were free to engage, the three of us couldn't take on a whole company of Seppies! And beyond that, by the time we even reached them from this distance, it'd be too late for everyone."
Ahsoka forced herself back down into the prone position and hid her vengeful expression in her arms. She heard Longshot shifting his rifle around.
"They're starting to set fire to the buildings. Not much more we can gain by watching this."
Both soldiers low crawled into the dense tree cover behind them before getting up; Ahsoka followed in a crouch. It took the three the better part of an hour to wind their way down the mountain along their own created paths through foliage, back to their camp.
About halfway to their objective, they reached a two hundred meter stretch of mountainside devoid of blooming trees or any kind of greenery. It was just two blue-and-white soldiers and an orange Jedi against the dark mountainside of sheer rock. When they had nearly made it to the encompassing forest beyond, red blaster fire shot up from the fields far below.
Ahsoka ignited her lightsabers barely a moment later to deflect what she could, but most of their fire was concentrated on the soldiers in front of her. Longshot gave a grunt and tottered; he stumbled too far to the side only to fall over the edge. Gamma cried out in protest before Ahsoka tackled him into the treeline. The spotter immediately pushed her off of him and ran back to the cliffside to return fire, shouting every obscenity at the Separatists that came to mind. Ahsoka used all her strength and a touch of Force to drag Gamma once again into the cover of the dense forest.
"It's too late, Gamma! We have to keep moving!"
"We're not leaving him behind!" snarled the trooper, trying to break free of her arms. The Togruta grabbed his helmet and jerked his visor around to look at her.
"Gamma, he's gone! I can feel it. And we'll be in the same situation if we stay here too long now that the enemy knows we're here," Ahsoka replied evenly. She had one hand ready to perform a mind trick if need be, but fortunately Gamma nodded at her explanation.
He followed at her heels, his rifle positioned a little higher than the low ready, muttering, "He always did everything before me..."
The Twilight shot free of the planet's atmosphere. Its rotating laser cannon and heavy blasters caught an enemy fighter every once in awhile and sent the ones that didn't outright explode spinning into the planet's orbit, but for the most part the vultures remained as evasive as Ahsoka's own piloting.
"Tup, get a message to the fleet!" Ahsoka shouted as one unfortunately lucky enemy shot rattled their ship. "Tell 'em we're coming in hot and we need assistance!"
The sun started slipping behind a distant mountain by the time Gamma and Ahsoka reentered the cave where their camp was hidden. Several stacks of armor lined one wall guarded by one especially bored-looking trooper sitting in civilian traveling clothes, long hair pulled back into a bun. He immediately perked up when he recognized his teammates.
"Welcome back, Commander! How was recon?" His smile faltered. "Where's Longshot?" As if in response, a foreboding clap of thunder rumbled somewhere in the distance.
Gamma pulled off his helmet and sent it hurtling into the pile of rocks that made up the back wall of the cave. When all he did was growl and sputter during his predatory pacing, Tup turned his inquiring gaze back on his commander.
"We were attacked," she replied softly. Ahsoka took a seat next to Tup but continued to bestow empathetic gazes on Gamma. "The clankers spotted us when we had no cover and hit Longshot. We lost them when we got into the trees, though, so camp is still safe."
A kick to Gamma's helmet sent it ricocheting into the stacks of other clone armor, making Ahsoka wince. She remembered not too long before this mission how the 501st soldiers were beside themselves with excitement after receiving their brand new Phase II armor. They spent about a week painting it all while lamenting at how shiny it was, suggesting the Kaminoans could've at least sent it with a couple blaster marks to assure the clones it actually worked.
Gamma dropped onto his backside and hid his face in his hands. The remaining two in the cave elected to give him some semblance of privacy as the thunder resounded outside.
"How'd your search go?" Ahsoka asked in the same quiet tone. She eyed his traveling clothes approvingly; with his cloak and other dark, nondescript clothes, Tup looked like any other human, even with his unique teardrop facial tattoo.
"I didn't make it to any towns before I had to pull guard, I just scouted the farms nearby, sir," replied Tup in a voice to match. "They all seemed normal. They either had fields of vegetables or grain or flowers. I didn't come across any Seppies, but I wasn't out too long. I relieved Nurv and he headed to the nearest town."
"Flowers?" Ahsoka repeated, smiling. Tup just nodded. The thunder, emphatic in its impending deluge, echoed right over their heads, as if the tall mountain peak had snagged the storm cloud, prohibiting it from drifting on. A couple raindrops fell on the stone outside the cave. Then a couple more. A light shower followed. Minutes later the rain was so thick it looked as if it would have to be drawn aside like a curtain for anyone to successfully leave the cave.
Ahsoka checked her chrono. "Where is everyone? We were supposed to regroup fifteen minutes ago." Her eyes slid warily back to the rain. At the beginning of the mission, the group had decided that they would not be able to make transmissions of any kind planetside because the Separatists were guaranteed to pick up on their Republic encryption, even if they wouldn't successfully understand the messages themselves.
"I'm sure they're fine, sir," Tup reassured in a voice to compete with the volume of nature. The rain was loud enough now to conceal any sounds coming from Gamma in the back of the cave. After another glance at the bald clone, Ahsoka hefted herself to her feet and approached Gamma. He let her fold her arms around him without acknowledging her.
The rain didn't let up before Nurv and Fuse came running into the shelter of the cave, their soaking wet knee-length travel cloaks doing nothing for them anymore. Both were panting; Nurv threw his hood from his head and ran a hand through his dark mohawk, while Fuse shrugged out of his cloak entirely, letting it suction to the cave floor in one saturated lump. Fuse's hair appeared to be in the fuzz stage and an impressive burn scar dominated the left side of his face. Wordlessly, he started pulling his shirt over his head as well, teeth chattering.
"Hey!" Tup shouted. "This isn't the sleeping bay!" A pronounced nod at Ahsoka followed. "And where's the captain?"
Nurv's shrug was indistinguishable amid his intense shivering once his cloak came off. "D-d-dunno. We all w-went to d-different towns."
Fuse seemed tangled in his wet shirt once Tup stopped him from stripping. "Kriffin' f-fek, vod. At least s-start a f-fire... or somethin'!" Despite Tup's protests, Fuse succeeded in tearing off his shirt and dropped it in the same pile as his cloak. Then he looked at his pants with calculated interest.
A third figure plowed into the cave then, clothes so drenched it appeared he brought the rainstorm inside. Wearing the same clothes as all the other incognito clones, no one even had to speculate who it was. Rex tossed a bag from under his cloak into Tup's lap before pulling the traveling cape off. It fell onto the ground as well, landing in the clones' newly formed lake.
Tup dug through the blessedly waterproof bag to reveal civilian instant meal packs. He immediately tossed two in Ahsoka's direction. Gamma now sat with his head buried in his arms resting across his knees, not even leaning into Ahsoka as she sat with one arm about his rounded shoulders; oblivious to the world. Fuse still shivered topless, hugging his arms to himself and grumbling for a fire.
"All the fuel for it's out there," Rex said, pointing back into the rain. "Feel free." The captain cast a quick glance about the cave and managed a, "Where's—" before he caught Ahsoka's warning look. Tup distributed all but the last meal pack. They only had about a minute or two to eat in peace before Rex ignited a glow rod from his gear, setting it in the middle of the cave to let everyone evenly bask in the dim light.
Leaning against the wall, open meal pack in one hand, Rex asked, "Who found anything worthwhile today?" For a moment it looked as if the soldiers were too interested in eating something besides ration bars to answer. The soaking wet clones seemed to have escaped the grasp of the freezing chill at last.
"The town two clicks east of here," Fuse started amid a full mouth, "says the clankers are building something big in one of their fields. They can't tell what it is yet. Prolly an outpost."
Rex only picked at his meal. "Could be a staging area," he said, mostly to himself. As the rain eased into a gentle shower, the team heard him perfectly. "A safe haven for the Seppies in the Outer Rim."
"That's something, right?" Ahsoka spoke up from the back of the cave. "If they're building anything, we can take action and stop them!" Her enthusiasm seemed to grate on the clones the way their dismal expressions regarded her. But maybe it was just the way the glow rod shone its unflattering, inorganic light on all their faces.
"We'll have to check it out, just to be sure," said Rex. He seemed to ignore his commander's frustrated groan as he continued, "That's better than anything I found. The town south of here folded to the clankers right when they marched in led by some captain droid. They demanded the townspeople stay away from the fields and said Trulalis doesn't belong to the Republic anymore."
Nurv pulled off his shirt to wring it out into the cave floor lake. "So... what you're saying is, the Separatists came all this way to pick up agriculture?"
"Stranger things have happened," intoned Tup.
"The town west of here," Ahsoka spoke up, "apparently didn't give in to the Seppies. They were all shot and their town burned." Any bit of mirth from possible jokes the clones had brewing in their minds about farming clankers completely fizzled out as their expressions slipped into somberness.
"Nurv, what'd you find?" Rex asked. His slightly snappish tone reflected his judgmental gaze scrutinizing his brother's bare chest.
"Uh. My town was big into theater. Apparently the performing arts are the most prestigious jobs out here. So when the Seppies came in, the Trulalian surrender was karkin' dramatic."
"Right," the captain groaned. "Tomorrow we just need to find out what the Seps are building, why they're here, and who's in charge of it all." The daunting tasks were all the more urgent when Ahsoka checked her chrono to find they only had thirty-two hours left in their mission, including how much time would be spent passing the night in the cave. The meeting implicitly adjourned, Rex discarded his food in order to retreat to the front of the cave, while the other three clones put full effort into devouring their meals
Gamma, who hadn't even looked at his portion once, soon rolled onto his side presumably to catch some sleep, his back to his commander. With a final pat to his shoulder, she let him be in favor of joining Rex at the cave entrance, edging around the small lake. Nurv and Fuse took advantage of her inattention to change from their wet civvies into their bodysuits; they were far from secretive about it and their griping echoed throughout the cave.
Rex leaned against the rock wall with one hand outstretched into the rain. "There's something so calming about this," he told his commander as he made a fist, almost trying to capture the raindrops for himself. He finally tore his hypnotized gaze away from nature to look at Ahsoka, who was only watching him. "I'm guessing the clankers know we're here?"
"They made us when we were about halfway down the mountain. They'll be looking for clones in armor; I don't give them enough credit to recognize you in civilian clothes. But either way, it's best to move camp as soon as possible tomorrow morning." Ahsoka hugged her arms around herself as both of them turned their gazes onto the rain.
"We probably should've left already," Rex muttered. Ahsoka just shook her head.
"We're safe for the night. They attacked us far from here; there's no way they'll find us before morning." She soon added in a distracted voice, "You should change, too. I'll take first watch."
"No," Rex immediately negated. "You sleep. We only need four watches; the guys and I'll handle it." The Togruta rounded on him, her hands on her hips, but he steadfastly remained facing the rain.
"You'll be sick by morning if you don't take care of yourself!" argued Ahsoka. His half-hearted shrug only made her eye markings slant lower.
"Kid, I've got this shift. That's final—"
"Don't make me pull rank, Captain."
"Snips—" Rex halted himself at that, closing his eyes in regret as a wince passed over his face; Ahsoka's expression melted into sheer glee.
"What did you call me?" She edged around in front of Rex as he kept inching his face toward the cave wall. Eventually he gave up and looked at her.
"S...Soka."
Her eyes were alight with mirth. "No. That's not what I heard." Rex gave a groan before hiding his face in one hand, away from his commander's wide smile. "I'll tell you what," she began, "you go change, let me take this shift, and we'll forget all about this."
Rex immediately spun around to hunt down his body suit without another word or glance at Ahsoka.
Tup easily contacted the fleet; apparently their predicament already registered on the fleet's radar and Admiral Yularen had been seconds away from contacting them first.
"Snips," Anakin's voice came over the transmission, "remember that order I gave you to not engage the enemy?"
"Yeah...?"
"Looks like you've got about thirty engaged enemies on your tail. Forty more are coming up through the atmosphere. Good job there, my young padawan." The end of his rebuke was lost amid a violent shudder of the Twilight.
"They took out our laser cannon!" shouted Tup as lights flashed across the command console and an alarm blared from somewhere behind them.
Ahsoka gritted her teeth, banking hard to the left; she out-maneuvered the two enemy ships closest to the Twilight before correcting her course. "Any help would be greatly appreciated, Master!"
"Our pilots are already on their way, Snips."
Ahsoka's attention was fixed on the cave entrance until the clones started jolting awake far too often. Every one of them awoke numerous times during her shift, some less violently than others. Gamma was the worst, bolting upright with a gasp for at least the third time. He sat silently awhile before attempting to sleep again.
She had heard clones discuss nightmares before, but had never realized the extent of it. Every time they awoke, Ahsoka felt a pang of guilt, or fear, or heartache radiate so strongly from them that all she wanted to do was hug each and every one of them. Their emotions never lasted long. They tried to push them back into the depths like good soldiers before returning to sleep.
Halfway through her shift, Ahsoka's empathetic spirit couldn't take it anymore. One by one, she reached out into their minds and forced a lulling calm to descend on them, dropping them into a deep, dreamless sleep. Their fearful, negative emotions evaporated almost instantly, leaving the clones and Ahsoka in peace.
A.N. This mission turned into a three-parter.
If anyone dislikes the Rexsoka ship, you may find the next two... maybe three... chapters disagreeable. On that note, next update will be next Wednesday. :)
