"I don't like this, Anakin," Obi-Wan Kenobi remarked, "There's something not right about this."
"Yeah, the fact that the outpost we just left behind was reduced completely to rubble was a good clue," Anakin Skywalker replied hotly.
"Not that," Obi-Wan replied, "We expected that."
A few days ago, they'd lost all contact with the clones in this quadrant. It was one thing for a platoon in the field to temporarily lose touch, or even one base or outpost. But for every posting to go abruptly silent virtually all at once, without so much as calling in that they were being attacked... Anakin knew as well as Obi-Wan that it had to mean they were all dead. It was the only reason for clones to go so totally out of touch. They were as attached to reporting in as they were to fighting droids, often risking life and limb just to call in on time. It was a dangerous habit of theirs, but one they all had. Radio silence was unlike them. If they didn't call in a status on time, then they were probably dead.
Obi-Wan and Anakin had come to investigate. They couldn't leave Ahsoka and Commander Cody on their own at the front lines for long, but both Jedi had a bad feeling about the silence, especially as the Separatists seemed to have found a new supply of troops to set upon the GAR forces stationed on Morassis. They were forcing a slow retreat, in this direction. It couldn't be coincidence.
So far, Obi-Wan, Anakin and the few soldiers they'd brought with them had come across a platoon in the field that had been completely cut to pieces by blasters and a bladed weapon of some type that they were not familiar with, followed by an Anuri village that was completely empty but felt overwhelmingly of death, and the outpost Anakin mentioned, which had quite literally been burned to the ground.
"It's not just droids," Anakin conceded, "And it's suspicious that all these people were attacked at once, even though they were in different places."
"The Anuri village troubles me," Obi-Wan, "It was not attacked like the rest."
Captain Rex, following them with two platoons deployed in his wake, decided to offer his opinion.
"To take out so many men all at once, you'd have to know the exact locations where they could be found, and what the security at each outpost was like," he said.
He didn't feel the need to elaborate. Even the thought of it sickened him. Anakin finished the thought aloud for him, perhaps picking up on the disgust Rex had unsuccessfully tried to keep out of his tone.
"A spy in the ranks would have that information," Anakin said.
"Even so, droids couldn't do this much damage. There's no way so many could get into the area undetected by us," Obi-Wan was thinking aloud now.
"Unless they had a garrison here already when we arrived," Anakin speculated.
"Without the Anuri knowing anything about it? I doubt it," Obi-Wan shook his head.
They might have continued the debate, but abruptly they both missed a step. They recovered quickly, but they didn't have to remark on what they'd sensed for Rex to respond. With a gesture to the nearest trooper, he warned the men to be more alert, and to tighten their ranks. Both Jedi had sensed some manner of trouble in their near future, some danger they couldn't presently put name to.
"You sense that?" Anakin inquired of Obi-Wan.
"Something doesn't feel right," Obi-Wan agreed, "Something-"
He didn't get to finish the sentence, as the ground beside him suddenly erupted. From beneath the mud, there rose a large metal form. The combat droids had lain dormant, waiting to be alerted. Now they popped up all over the place, even among the clone ranks, surrounding them and splitting them up.
Obi-Wan threw back the droid which had popped up near him on instinct, without even fully registering what it was first. Anakin engaged his lightsaber and plunged it into a droid which had erupted from the ground facing away from him before it could get turned around.
A shout went up from the clones when they found themselves ambushed, then they settled to business as each realized he was not the only one under attack, and that the droids were in fact loose among them. The chaos was momentary, but devastating, as the clones regrouped and moved to get out of each other's line of fire. The disruption of droids springing up like daisies among them crippled their efficiency, and left them vulnerable to a second wave attack.
Cut off from his men by an insurmountable number of droids, Rex found himself backing towards the Jedi, and trusting that the men could maintain order without his direct influence. He didn't see the thing which attacked him until after it had grabbed onto him.
Something latched onto his left arm and yanked it sideways, throwing off his aim. That same thing spiked through his armor and cut into him. Not missing a beat, Rex rotated and blasted the thing with his free hand, hitting it right in the face and blowing it back.
The Anuri Guard's barbed tongue ripped out of his flesh, and Rex hissed in pain. He shook it off quickly, found his left hand still had hold of its blaster and resumed his firing. He now knew what had happened to the clones, but he didn't have time to process it consciously, and shouting it did no good, as nobody was close enough to hear him over the din of blaster fire.
Anakin, occupied with several droids, didn't sense the Anuri behind him in time. Its long tongue shot out and wrapped around his neck, the barbed end sticking into his shoulder. Anakin's hands went to his throat immediately, but he couldn't pull the muscular appendage from around his throat. It yanked him backward. He may have been able to recover sufficiently to defend himself, but he never had to.
He observed in some disbelief as a shot came from a hill he was turned to face. It came from the direction they were headed, yet it was definitely a shot from a clone's sniper rifle. The shot passed harmlessly over Anakin and slammed into the Anuri's skull. The falling body, its barb still stuck in Anakin, yanked the Jedi down with it. In a matter of a second, he'd torn free of it and regained his feet.
He snatched his lightsaber from the ground and charged into the fray. He closed in to Obi-Wan's position and shouted above the racket.
"We're under attack by Anuri too, not just droids! Keep an eye out for them!"
They were both uncomfortably aware that they were trapped in the open, and that the clones they had with them were being cut down like they were nothing. The enemy numbers were too many, their ambush too well set up, and the clones were unprepared for the attack methods of the Anuri.
"Those hills would make for better cover," Anakin indicated with a nod of his head.
"How are we supposed to get there?" Obi-Wan demanded.
"There's a sniper somewhere up there. I don't imagine he's alone."
Anakin didn't have to elaborate. Those clones would provide covering fire for a retreat, picking off droids and Anuri that might attempt to follow the Jedi and their clone troops. Without that covering fire, the distance would be too great for them to have any hope of traversing.
"Rex!" Anakin shouted, "Rex!"
He tried to see through the blaster fire, the churning mud and the swirl of bodies charging, being flung back, falling, and rising out of the swamp. Droids were still being triggered to pop up, and they sent cascades of muddy water splashing in all directions. There was no way Rex had heard him, and Anakin couldn't see him.
Anakin fended off a few attacks, but mostly trusted Obi-Wan to keep the droids and Anuri at bay, while he continued to shout for the captain. In seconds that felt like hours, Rex's voice responded.
"Here, General!" his voice was barely audible, "I can't get to you."
Anakin swore under his breath, and started to cut his way through the droids to Rex. It seemed to take eternity, but he knew it could only have been seconds. Rex had found cover behind a large boulder, but he was pinned in the position, which was being hammered to bits by the concentrated efforts of a half dozen droids. Anakin slid into the small hiding spot beside him.
"Those hills," Anakin pointed.
Rex looked in that direction, cocked his head curiously, but Anakin had already broken cover and engaged the droids that had been pinning Rex down. Rex sighed. Things functioning as per normal then, with Anakin giving vague instructions that Rex had to intuit the meaning of. Not only that, but he had to somehow divine a method of conveying it to the rest of the men, whom he couldn't currently reach. He looked over the top of the boulder quickly, saw that Anakin had the droids occupied.
A shot zinged over his head and he ducked on instinct, then looked for the source. Droids and Anuri were in spots behind him, but most were interested only in ganging up on Obi-Wan and none appeared to have shot at Rex. As though trying to explain the mystery to him, another shot fired off.
It was a clone weapon, and it had its source in the hills Anakin had indicated.
Rex turned again, visually tracking the line of fire. The sniper took another shot, and Rex settled. Without having directly communicated with the sniper, Rex gathered the man's intent. The sniper would help to clear a path for Rex to reach the soldiers he'd been cut off from, allowing him to regroup them and give them their marching orders. With the faith of one who is accustomed to putting his life in the hands of others, Rex left his meager source of shelter and headed out into the fray.
"Shit," Tavis hissed under his breath.
Rafe took that to mean that Tavis had missed whatever he'd been aiming for, but he ignored the sniper for the moment. Tavis seemed to have utterly recovered from his earlier fit, and was now functioning as intended. Which meant it was time now for Rafe to do the same.
"Bean, Phisher, with me," he ordered, "Tavis, maintain position."
"Shit," Tavis said again, evidently choosing to ignore Rafe entirely.
Rafe had trusted Tavis when he said they had to stop, even though Tavis was unable to articulate why in a coherent manner. They'd climbed to the top of the hill and then stopped there. Rafe was uncertain what they were waiting for, but he knew whatever it was would appear in the flat spread of land ahead of them. He couldn't have been more astonished to see Jedi appear. The same Jedi who should have been countless miles away.
He'd been about to order the men to go and meet the Jedi when Tavis grabbed his arm and stayed him. Fifteen seconds later, the trap was sprung, and the Jedi were under attack.
Now in an arrowhead formation, with Rafe at the tip, the three clones descended the hill unnoticed by the combatants below. At Rafe' signal, Bean went for the cover of a rock formation just beyond the base of the hill. Rafe deployed Phisher to copse of trees at the right. He took a central position, using the unevenness of the ground as his own cover. They were now close enough to shoot at the enemy.
At Rafe's signal, the three of them joined the battle and opened fire on the nearest targets. The Jedi and clones cleared the path of retreat, while Rafe, Phisher and Bean shot down any who tried to pursue them. As the clones began to reach him, Rafe indicated Phisher and Bean, who in turn directed the newcomers to points of cover they'd discovered earlier, while they were waiting.
One of the Jedi sprung over the rise and slid down beside Rafe, panting.
"Where did you come from?" he asked, evidently astonished.
"I could ask you the same thing, General," Rafe replied, "We were told you were another two days' journey from here. Looks like the trip wasn't worth the effort."
"Come again?" the Jedi asked.
"We were sent to warn you about the Anuri, sir," Rafe said, continuing to fire on the enemy between words and purposefully avoiding looking at the Jedi, "They've sided with the Separatists."
Rafe's radio clicked, and he looked up to where Tavis was. Barely visible in his secured position, Tavis gestured. Rafe followed it, and saw that the droids and Anuri were splitting up and trying to flank them.
"Bean!" he shouted into his radio for the first time in what seemed like forever, "They're trying to flank us. Cut them down."
He realized after he'd said it that he was no longer the one in charge here. Two Jedi and a captain were among them now. Guiltily, he glanced at the Jedi.
"Sorry, sir, I shouldn't have-."
The Jedi waved him silent, seeming indifferent to the breach of protocol. Having caught his breath, the Jedi left the position and leaped out of cover to engage the enemy directly. Rafe noticed that he kept near to the cover provided by the clones, however.
Rafe tried to remind himself that he was now just one of many, as he'd always been before. But, even in the midst of battle, he still felt a keen awareness of the members of Fortune, and little at all of the others among them. The others felt like ghosts to them, unreal; their intentions unreadable.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt a sudden twinge of fear. Of the original eight creatures (Theran could hardly be considered a man) he had been placed in charge of, only one remained. The other two with him didn't actually belong to him. He'd lost a tank, and almost his entire squad.
That was the sort of failure you couldn't recover from. Rafe realized this could be the last time he had command over anyone, for any reason. With this disaster on his record, he could be demoted all the way back to private. Hell, he could be pulled from front line duty entirely.
The echo of Tavis' painful words rang in his head.
"They're all going to die, Rafe. They're all dead."
Fortune Actual. His squad. Dead. After this, even if he survived the battle, what was left for him now he'd led an entire squad to its destruction?