Chapter 12

Now or Never


"Well, it's now or never, Rex. You ready?"

Rex glanced over at Ahsoka. "You know me, Commander." He tilted his head towards her. "I'm always ready." She gave him a little smirk, which earned a chuckle from the Captain. He turned his attention back to the target facility.

They had ventured beyond the rest of the strike team, still keeping themselves under cover as much as possible. The main target, Rex had decided, was the East entrance; situated over solid ground, it was the least likely to unveil an unpleasant surprise when they advanced. There was, however very little cover to be found on the east side. The complex was nestled on that side among the blacked peaks of ancient craters, jagged and fearsome to behold, but the ground immediately before structure itself was comparatively smooth, with only a handful of small rock formations that could provide minimal protection. It appeared the area had been grated and was somewhat maintained with regularity. It was certainly a defender's battlefield.

To keep things interesting, there was also the little matter of the raging lava river coursing past the facility. It ran North to South at this point, the fiery liquid churning and often leaping over its own banks, pelting the nearby surface with smoldering projectiles. They would be charging directly towards the treacherous brink, and if they allowed enemy forces to get behind them, they could all be forced over the edge. "Not a pleasant prospect," Rex muttered to himself.

And they still had to actually get to that death trap. Their scanners detected no conspicuous perimeter defenses, and it was possible there were none, but they wouldn't know for sure until they crossed the line. If there were substantial defensive provisions, their mission might be over before it started.

"Okay, boys, I'm going to go on ahead. Keep your distance," he looked at Ahsoka, "all of you."

"Yes sir!" the men responded.

Ahsoka's face showed pain as she returned Rex's gaze. She knew why he emphasized that order. And she knew he was right - they couldn't put two officers at risk to test the defenses. She gave him a pleading look.

"I know, Commander," he answered the unspoken request. "I'll be careful." He then turned and began to make his way towards the target.

Ahsoka waited till he had put several meters of space between them, then advanced, the troopers close behind. Moving carefully from boulder to boulder, concealing themselves behind any crag or outcrop that presented itself, they closed the distance between them and the target.

Rex crouched low as he walked, keeping behind the scattered rock and debris. He chose his steps carefully, his experienced eyes on high alert as he visually combed the ground. Years of training and hard experience had taught him just what to look for; suspiciously disturbed dirt, unnatural formations or non-random shapes, telltale shadows not cast by natural light. He could pick his way through a minefield better than many Jedi, and had done so many times.

Suddenly his attention flew to a ordinary looking stone to his left. Too ordinary. Rather than being jagged and coarse, this "rock", about a meter in size, had an almost smooth face, broken only by a roughened edge that was far too consistent to be that of hardened lava. It was just as black as surrounding surface, and would have been easily missed by many an experienced soldier. He marked its location in his mind, than allowed his gaze to wander, with the image of this strange formation fresh in his head. Sure enough, another similar stone was lying innocently enough, about three meters beyond the first. Another in the other direction. Just what I suspected, he thought to himself. Minefield.

Keeping his body bent low, he turned and motioned to the rest of the team to hold their position. Catching Ahsoka's eye, he pointed to the first of the camouflaged mines. She looked at it, then back at him, a puzzled expression on her face. He traced the outline of the "stone" with his finger in the air, them pointed at a regular piece of rock. Her eyes widened with understanding, and he continued to point out the others. She nodded, and began to whisper the warning to Trio, who passed the message back to the other clones.

Relieved at having identified the primary defensive line, the men began their advance again, picking their way through the minefield. As they rejoined the Captain at the edge of the final clearing, the squad assumed attack positions behind a small outcrop. Deck in the center, flanked by Thud on the left and Heat on the right, Jym and Glen in the outer positions, and Trio directly behind Heat and Deck.

"Thud," Rex called in hushed tones. "Got any mine clearing rounds on you?"

"Yes sir!" Thud responded quickly, a smirk evident in his voice.

"Good - when we charge, I want you to send off a couple behind us. Give the enemy a distraction and clear the way for the rest of the team."

"Yes sir," the trooper responded, slipping a pair of anti-mine grenades into his launcher

"Alright, the rest of you, follow my lead," Rex instructed. "Until they deploy the droids, aim for sensors, comm arrays, and fuel lines. Once the clankers join the party, give them your 'undivided attention'."

"Yes sir!"

Rex glanced at Ahsoka. "You ready, Commander?"

Her face was set, determined. She looked so much older than he recalled her being when they met up at Cristosphis. But on hearing his question, she met his eyes and winked. "You know me, Rex ol' boy..." She grinned. Rex felt a little better - he much preferred her youthful, adventurous side. If this was to be their last mission together, that was how he wanted to remember her.

Enough reminiscing. Time to fight.

"Steady boys..." Rex held out his hand to motion the troopers to remain cool. "Steady, steady... charge!"

Deck felt the adrenaline course through his veins. His resentment, anger, and confusion were all forgotten as his entire universe became this battlefield. He sprang from behind the crag, keeping formation with his comrades. He ran, his boots pounding into the brittle ground with a satisfying crunch. Scanning the facility for potential targets, he leveled his cannon.

The fury of blue bolts tempered the crimson soup that surrounded them. They fired relentlessly, keeping a storm of laser streaking before them. Over the whine of blasters and the hum of the Commander's lightsaber, sirens began to wail, announcing their welcome. Atop the eastern wall, automated defense turrets swung to greet them. Streaks of red now retraced the path of the those of blue, and the chaos began.

Deck ducked and rolled, then spun upright to throw off the enemy fire. Dimly he heard blasts from behind; he turned to his left. Thud had let off his anti-mine charges into their former hiding place, causing a manificent chain reaction as the line of hidden charges exploded, pelting them with fragments of debris. "Nice work, Thud!" he called, before ducking to avoid another stream of fire.

They had reached the middle of the clearing, still returning fire to the automated turrets. Having taken out the forward defenses, Thud turned his launcher loose on nearest turret, landing an anti-armor grenade straight down its barrel. The turret went up in a brilliant flash of orange, earning cheers from the troopers.

"Way to blow, Thud!" Heat shouted triumphantly. "Show 'em who's boss!"

The fire from the facility was steadily decreasing as the uninspiring turrets fell silent under the withering barrage. It was amazing how much firepower could be projected from such a small team - an amazement mingled with pride, in Deck's mind.

Suddenly the telltale song of marching metal feet caught their attention. The sound was pounding, relentless, and never ceased to send chills down Deck's spine. For all his bravado and enjoyment of the thrill of battle, he really didn't like droids.

"Keep your head on your shoulders, boys!" Rex shouted back at them. "Clankers inbound!"

"About time!" Heat spat, shifting his grip on his rotary cannon. "I was beginning to feel unwanted!"

The steady marching sound grew louder, followed by the screeching of blast doors sliding open, revealing a full welcoming party of SBDs.

There was an uncomfortable pause as the team slowed their advance, glancing about nervously for any available cover. They didn't have time to wonder long, as the advancing droids opened up, filling the air again with red blaster fire.

"Nice to meet you too!" Heat shouted, ducking and crouching to stay under the storm of bolts. His Z-6 roared to life, sending a furious spiral of brilliant blue fire tearing through the durasteel knee joints of the metal soldiers. The men of 112th squad ducked, jerked, rolled; their movements erratic and seemingly random, but in reality born of years of training and experience. For all their unpredictable movement, they remained in perfect attack formation, each man rarely more than meter from his assigned position. Their squad had spent much leisure time on training grounds and sims, perfecting their ability to dodge intense fire, and this was certainly intense.

The whine of blasters was now broken only by the hum of Ahsoka's lightsaber, it's vibrant green light slicing through crimson air, moving almost to quickly to follow visually. Bolts of red were sent screaming back to their origins as droids collapsed ahead of her; felled by their own fire. She held her position on Rex's left, providing cover for him and Thud, the latter having a relative slow rate of return fire wielding the heavy grenade launcher.

The seconds seem to stretch for hours, as the team made their way towards the facility. Suddenly a bolt flew past Rex's face, perpendicular to their advance. His head turned to his right to face the source, and the sight horrified him.

A stream of spider droids were descending the rocky crags from the North, and crawling their way towards the beleaguered squad.

"Cover! Now! We've been flanked!

He motioned to Ahsoka, pointing toward the left. She nodded, reluctant to separate but well aware of the urgency of the situation. She turned to the team. "Deck, Thud, Glen! Follow me!"

Rex charged towards the new threat, Trio, Heat, and Jym behind him. He leveled both pistols, his impeccable aim striking the spiders' vulnerable knee joints.

Jym and Trio formed up, both men combining their DC-15 fire on the approaching droids. Heat swung his cannon around. "Nice of you to join us," he muttered, before opening up. "Kiss this, creeps!"

Ahsoka and the three clones made for the complex, trying to draw the SBD fire away from Rex and his men. "Get to the platform!" she ordered, pointing at the ramp that the droids had descended. "I'll cover you!"

Deck and his companions complied, moving swiftly to close the remaining distance to the target. The Commander ran towards the stream of SBDs, concentrating now on deflecting rather than reflecting the bolts. He charged up to the platform, just to the left of the ramp. Hurriedly they climbed the short height, leaping over the railing and coming to a solid landing on the hard durasteel deck. The corrugated surface was covered from above by an awning of some sort, which ran above the deck the entire eastern length of the facility, broken only by the ramp where the droids had appeared. Behind them, the red glow of the flowing lava bathed the the gray platform in ominous shades, billowing heat that could be felt even from this relatively safe distance. He straitened himself, and looked up.

He didn't like what he saw.

There standing on the platform in front of them, was a robed figure. A woman. And she wasn't pretty. Lips that looked almost black stood out sharply from her deathly pale skin, colored only by the red tones of the magma behind, and the air around them. Her natural eye color couldn't be discerned, instead was reflecting the scarlet glow from behind them. She was completely bald, adding a bizarre note to her menacing appearance. She appeared unarmed, but her evil, taunting laugh told Deck she was very much in control of the situation.

The clones instinctively raised their weapons, although somehow Deck knew it was a feeble gesture. She gave them a disgusted look, and reached out with both hands towards them. For the second time in a day Deck felt invisible hands grab him, only this time it was by his throat. Their weapons fell to the floor with a clatter as their hands reflexively grappled to loosen the ethereal fingers that tightened around their necks.

The witch stepped closer, with one hand raised, apparently that being all she needed to hold them captive, on the brink of suffocation. She came within a half meter of Deck, gazing into his battered visor with a look of contempt mingled with glee.

"You know, it's not considered polite to drop in uninvited'," she purred evilly, placing her other hand on the side of his helmet. "Even for such charming young men as you most certainly are... not!" With a flick of the hand, she sent all three of them hurling backwards, slamming into the railing with such force as to bend it outwards. Deck's last thought before everything went black was that they were awfully close to the heat.


Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars. Keep that in mind, will you?

Author's Note: Ventress makes her grand entrance - finally! I have never written her before, so feel free to critique my rendering of her. Please review!

Speaking of which, since this chapter is on the short side, I just might post the next this afternoon. Assuming, of course, that I get some reviews in before then... ;-)