A few months later…
Esinon tugged at the uncomfortable collar on her formal robes as Rex inspected another set of beds in the tracking station on Pasti. She didn't understand why she needed to be here for base inspections, couldn't Cody just go with Rex? That's how it was every other time there needed to be base inspections and it was left up to the 501st in 212th, but Obi-Wan had insisted that he needed Cody to stay on the Negotiator.
She was bored and they still had a lot more tracking stations to inspect. Rex had agreed to inspect this one but she was in charge of the next one in the Abrion System.
"Everything in here looks good," Rex said,
"Just like every other room in this station," Esinon mumbled, rocking back and forth on her feet.
"We've only got two more Arion then Rishi," he said, patting her shoulder,
"We've been at this for two days Rex," she complained, "And these formal robes are uncomfortable." She wasn't even allowed to wear her armor, which ticked her off, to say the least.
"Almost done," he said, "Let's go tell the Sargent he's good to go."
"Can I fly?" she asked, Rex didn't answer, "Please,"
"Not if you're going to fly like General Skywalker," he said,
"You don't like my flying?" she asked, smirking at him,
"It's not that I don't like it, I don't like when you're spinning everywhere. Don't need that kind of nausea," he said,
"What if I promise not to spin," she said, as they entered the command station.
"Fine, but if you do, you owe me a drink."
"I don't get paid either you know," she replied, glancing at the troopers who were staring at her curiously.
"You'll figure it out," Rex said, he quickly talked to the Sargent and they headed out to their ship.
"Only two more," She muttered, climbing into the pilot's seat. She flicked a few switches,
"No spinning," Rex said, pulling out a datapad to probably write up a report for the Pasti tracking station,
"I wasn't going to," she grumbled, pulling the ship up and out of the atmosphere.
A few hours later…
Esinon strolled into the tracking station on Arion to find a few familiar faces, all of the troopers snapped to attention.
"Sharkbait? Dogma?" she said,
"Commander," Dogma said, saluting her, Rex came in behind her,
"Troops," Rex said,
"Rex, I'd like you to meet Delta squad one of the squads I trained on Kamino," she said, motioning to all the members. "And future members of the 212th," she whispered to Rex,
"Hate to break it to you kid, but as soon as they're done here, they're coming to the 501st."
"Dang it Rex!" she whisper-shouted, "I get Theta. Those troopers are mine." Rex grinned under the helmet,
"Let's get underway with the inspection, shall we?" Rex said, Esinon rolled her eyes and headed to inspect the base.
Meanwhile on the Rishi moon…
"Attention! Sargent on deck!" Bean called, all the troopers in the room stood at attention.
"At ease," Sargent Buck said, they all relaxed, "Even though you're all new here, I shouldn't have to remind you that this quadrant is key in the outer rim. If the droids get past this facility, they can surprise attack our homeworld of Kamino. There are a couple of officers coming here, I want everything squared away for inspection. Understood?"
"Sir yes sir!" they all responded, Buck nodded before walking away.
"Maybe Commander Windcaster is coming," Bean said happily as he began organizing his station, not that there was much to be organized. Bean was a neat-freak.
"Jedi don't do base inspections, they're too high up for us lowly tracking station watchers." One of the more seasoned troopers snapped, Abra, was his name.
"Then you've never met Commander Windcaster," Zoom replied, Anchor nodded in agreement,
"A Jedi is a Jedi and they don't care about us," Abra said,
"Shouldn't you be out on the deck. No deck officer makes us look sloppy," Push said, Abra rolled his eyes, grabbing his bucket and heading out onto the deck.
"Less chatting, more preparing," Buck said, walking through the command center, a loud alarm went off.
"Meteor shower sir," Rainstorm warned,
"Raise the shield," Buck commanded, they all took their positions. The shield raised up as meteors clattered outside, after a few seconds the racket quieted and the shields were disengaged.
"Hang on," Abra's voice said over the coms. "There's something out there… commandos droids! Two pods! I'm overwhelmed-" the line went dead, the whole room tensed.
"Theta, weapons, now," Buck commanded, already heading for the secret weapons stash that Rishi had installed after the base was last attacked. Theta got up and followed their Sargent, grabbing weapons and arming themselves. Rishi was being attacked again, they all sprinted out to the deck where they took point.
"They're moving fast," Zoom said, looking through his visor. They all tightened their grip on their weapons. Bean had his eye locked through a sniper rifle, as they all tried to keep their attention locked on the commandos instead of Abra's dead body.
"Pick your mark Bean," Buck whispered, the trooper's finger tightened on the trigger. Bean fired and took out a commando, Anchor was ready with his Z-6 to cover his brother's back. Bean continued to take out one by one and the droids attempted to fire back but they were too far away to do any real damage with E-5 blasters. It didn't last long because the commando droids were closing in fast, in seconds they were on the deck and attacking the clones that resided there. Anchor let out a barrage of fire taking out two of the commandos, as Bean took out three more with the sniper rifle with shots through the head.
"Five," Bean gritted, as he took out another commando,
"Four," Zoom growled,
"Three,"
"Two,"
"One," Push fired and took out the final commando. They all stayed tense, there weren't any more droids on the deck until Rainstorm heard something creak. He whipped around to see a commando droid perched on top of the doorway, optics flickering. He attempted to fire on the droid but missed, four more commandos flipped out from inside the base.
"Kriff!" Anchor shouted, releasing a barrage of fire on the commandos but couldn't seem to make contact. Theta was being backed into a corner when a loud whistling filled their ears.
"Rocket!" Push screamed, but it wasn't soon enough. The missile hit the deck, and before anyone could react they all were falling, gravity carried Anchor's body downward, in a dark pit, he hit the ground and the world went dark.
Push blinked his eyes open, the first thing he became aware of is that his body hurt, hurt a lot. He blinked his eyes a couple of times as he tried to remember what had happened. He was falling, a missile, the droids, his brothers! He attempted to sit up too fast and pain flared in his vision, he gritted his teeth, pausing a moment before sitting up the rest of the way. As far as he could tell, he's alone. Panic clenched at his heart for a minute,
"Pull it together Push," he growled to himself. The first thing he needed to do was salvage weapons and find survivors. If he survived the fall, others could have to. He couldn't be the only one. Push finally shoved himself to his feet and looked up. The entire bridge was gone, leaving a jagged remain of where the deck used to be. Push jumped when a cry of pain echoed through the canyon, someone else survived! His heart pounded with hope, he ignored the ache of pain in his body for the time being and started in the direction of the noise. The voice cried out again and Push got a lock, he sprinted through the canyon and found who the source of the noise was. It was Bean, he was gripping his helmet tightly in his hands, his eyes glassy with pain. Push almost vomited at the sight of Bean's leg, it wasn't supposed to bend like that.
"Hey Push," Bean gritted out, "Where are the others?" he attempted to sit back up, but Push gently pushed him back down onto the ground, Bean gripped his helmet even tighter as another fresh wave of pain washed over him.
"You're the first one I've found Bean," Push said,
"They can't be far," Bean said hopefully, he ground his teeth again as pain started to spread like a fire.
"Bean! Push!" Anchor yelled, sprinting over to their position. He knelt down next to his brothers, holding a couple scavenged E-5s in his arms.
"Are you guys alright?" he asked, Bean glared at him before his gaze softened.
"Yeah, we're fine,"
"His leg's broken," Push explained,
"Both of you go look for the others," Bean instructed, grabbing an E-5 out of Anchor's hands. "I will be fine, come back for me when you find them."
"Stay on the ground," Anchor said, Bean was about to argue but Anchor shot his brother a look before motioning for Push to follow him through the canyon. They quickly found Zoom who was unconscious but that seemed to be the extent of his injuries. They found Rainstorm not far from Zoom's position. Those two couldn't be separated. Rainstorm was bleeding from a couple of cuts, but nothing serious enough to be fatal.
"Look what I found," Rainstorm said happily, holding up Bean's sniper rifle. Push grinned under his helmet, Anchor hefted Zoom over his shoulder.
"Where's the Sargent?" Push asked, Anchor's face darkened.
"I woke up next to him… he didn't make it." Anchor said, Push didn't pry about it any further, Anchor carried Zoom to Bean's position,
"He's just unconscious," Anchor said, as a worried look crossed Bean's face at a limp Zoom over Anchor's shoulder. They all froze as they heard something hiss, an eel burst out of the side of the cavern. None of them moved since the eels have terrible eyesight, the eel slowly moved its head searching for anything to eat. It soon decided that nothing was there and slithered back into the hole it came from. They all let out a held breath,
"We better move before that thing comes back," Push whispered, they all nodded in agreement. Push and Rainstorm went over to Bean and held him stand as Bean bit back cries of pain. They headed further into the canyon to a narrower section where the eels couldn't get to them.
Theta found a suitable cave where they could come up with a new plan in hopes of retaking their base. Anchor began looking Bean's leg over while Push helped bandage up Rainstorm's cuts. Zoom finally woke up and tried to get into a sitting position, but Anchor shut that down pretty quickly after yelling at him for a good five minutes about not moving until they could determine whether he was concussed or not. Anchor had been hiding it, but his wrist was fractured. Push pulled Anchor aside by his good arm and splinted his wrist.
"So what's our next move?" Bean asked, managing to prop himself up without jostling his leg too much.
"If we wait long enough, someone will notice something is wrong." Push said,
"They would have hard wired the all-clear signal by now," Zoom muttered, "Like last time,"
"So we try to blow up the base when half of us have broken bones?" Rainstorm asked, feeling more defeated every second.
"No, no," Anchor said firmly, "We are not giving up. Not when our home planet is on the line."
"Well, what do you suggest we do Anchor?" Rainstorm snapped, "Our Sargent is dead, the bridge is destroyed, we are in a cave with no means of contact while Commandos have flooded the tracking station we were supposed to protect. Bean can't walk, your wrist is broken, and I'm oozing blood everywhere." he motioned to his red armor, "So unless you have some miracle of a plan, we have failed."
"Arguing isn't gonna get us anywhere," Bean finally said, "Now let's come up with a plan, for all our brothers back home."
"Wait up a minute," Zoom shot up, and before Anchor could yell at him to lay back down, he spoke up, "If they want to attack Kamino, they'll just move up the attack. If we want to save Kamino, we can't sit here and plan for four hours."
"Zoom's ri-" Anchor paused at the roar of a ship's engines, and the familiar whine of a missile. "The inspection team," he muttered, "Bean, Zoom, stay here,"
"No, I'm coming too," Bean said, trying to push himself into a standing position. Push barely tapped Bean's leg, the trooper paled and scrunched his eyes shut. Anchor was already sprinting towards the soon to be crash site as a Republic shuttle hurtled towards the ground, half of it engulfed in flames. Anchor had always been the fastest of Theta and Push and Rainstorm were trailing behind. The ship crashed into the ground, luckily not rolling over itself. They could see two figures emerging from the flames, one more carrying the other. The first figure was significantly larger than the second. They were desperately trying to get away from the ship before the fire hit the fuel line and the explosion killed them both.
Anchor was running faster than he ever had in his life because he knew that one of those figures wasn't a clone, it was a girl. He didn't make it in time as the ship exploded sending the two figures flying. The clone grabbed the girl mid-air and brought her to his chest, taking the brunt of the explosion.
Rex was sent into the ground, hugging Esinon tightly to his chest. She was unconscious from the impact of the crash. He slid through the rocky soil of Rishi's surface. He was starting to wonder if Rishi was cursed. He released Esinon, and frantically searched for a pulse. He found one, and let out a sigh of relief,
"You're a fighter kid," he said, patting her shoulder gently, "you're a fighter," she had blood trickling down the side of her face, and a fair amount of scorch marks and ash streaked all over her body. Three troopers came running over, and the first knelt down next to Esinon, also checking for a pulse. He breathed out and relaxed when his fingers found one. "She's just unconscious," Rex explained, getting to his feet, to address the shinies, "She took the brunt of the crash, she was in front," Rex pulled off his helmet and the shinies instantly recognized him and snapped to attention, all except for the one who was still next to Esinon and trying to assess how bad the cut on her head was. "At ease," he waved his hand, a little too tired to care about formalities at the moment. "What's the situation here?"
"We were attacked by commandos sir," one of them explained, "They fired a rocket on the bridge while we were fighting. Two of our members are severely injured, and… our Sargent is dead." Rex sighed,
"Saw the bridge, well what's left of it, and assumed something was wrong. Didn't see the rocket until it was right on top of us,"
"We're set up in a cave about half a mile from here sir," one of the troopers piped up, "We scavenged some weapons, and were trying to come up with a plan to take the base back when we heard your ship."
"Sir," the one down by Esinon said, "I believe it is safe to move Commander Windcaster." Rex knelt down next to Esinon, hefting the sixteen-year-old into his arms. She probably weighed less than his armor soaking wet, so it wasn't that hard. Esinon stirred slightly, which was a good sign.
"Lead the way," Rex commanded, the three shinies started down through the canyon and in about ten minutes they had reached the cave. He soon got Esinon settled and made sure nothing was bleeding too badly, he sat down and Theta squad introduced themselves. Rex already knew about them because Esinon didn't shut up about Theta and Delta.
"Sir, Push and I were strategizing before you arrived," Bean explained, "And we think we have a plan." Rex noticed how the shinies stared at him in awe and forced himself to keep from laughing because now was planning time.
"Alright Bean, whatcha got?" Rex asked, placing his helmet beside him.
"I think we should split up into two teams, one to infiltrate the base and the push the commandos outside. The second team will be waiting outside to help take out the droids. Commander Windcaster can then hack the mainframe and disable the all-clear signal while the droids are distracted. I'll take sniper position above the base."
"No way," Anchor snapped, "You can't walk there is no way you are coming. You are staying here."
"No, I am not. I'm the best shot we have, I'd rather die than stay here. You guys need me,"
"That's the spirit," a hoarse voice interjected, Esinon was slowly pushing herself into a sitting position.
"Welcome back to the land of the living," Rex joked,
"Sir, I don't if you should be upright." Anchor said as Esinon grimaced, feeling some of her bones shift.
"This isn't my first injury, and it probably won't be last. I've had worse, way worse,"
"How you feelin' kid?" Rex asked, tossing her a canteen of water,
"Like I was run over by a bantha," she mumbled,
"Gregor always did say it would happen," he replied, she chuckled, taking small sips of the water.
"So I was starting to come to when you guys were strategizing, I think it's a great plan. But as always we'll need a plan B."
"I don't know if we have time for that, we are on a time crunch sir," Rainstorm said, "The droids are moving up their invasion of Kamino."
"Lucky for you, Domino has already come up with one for us," Esinon said,
"I like what you're getting at," Rex said with a grin,
"If I can't hack the mainframe, this base runs on Rhydonium. Heats up the base during the winter. Rhydonium is an explosive little friend of mine, we pack enough of it together and we can blow the base. That's a last-ditch option. I'm on the infiltration team, Anchor, Rainstorm, Zoom, you're with me. Push, Bean, Rex, get on the outside. Let's do this fast because I'm not gonna do Kamino again." Esinon said, climbing out of the cave and stretching her sore muscles.
"How are you feeling?" Rex asked Esinon as the Theta got prepared.
"I think I crushed a rib, or three. Drummer's gonna have me in a bacta tank as soon as we get back. Then I'm gonna get a lecture about how only I could manage to find trouble during a base inspection. Then he'll start a rant about how he's never letting a Kenobi and a Skywalker have joint training of a padawan ever again," she said,
"So not your first time?" He teased her, she rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Be careful kid,"
"Careful as I can," she replied, as Theta exited the cave and met up with Rex. "We all synced up?" She checked her comlink, seeing that her's and Rex's were blinking in sync. And with that, they went their separate ways.
She started searching the edge of the canyon with everyone close behind her, she soon found a maintenance tunnel and pried the grate off using the force. She wriggled inside and felt a few bones click, she must have crushed a few ribs on the way down, "Gah this war sucks," she grumbled to herself as she started her climb through the ventilation shaft. She heard everyone clamber in behind her, they crawled for a few minutes in silence, except for the few swears of Anchor when he jostled his broken wrist too much.
They finally made it to a block in the tunnel where it started to go straight up. Luckily there was a ladder, she began climbing up, up, up, they soon made it to another flat part of the tunnel, and Esinon could hear commandos conversing. She held up her hand and everyone behind her froze, she crawled forward and peered through the grate.
They were above the command center, only five commandos were still stationed at their desks. She smirked, unlucky clankers were about to get a lightsaber through the noggin. Anchor squeezed in next to her to get a good look, Esinon tapped her comlink it blinking green, Rex's would be doing the same. She could hear blaster fire echoing outside,
"The sentries have been destroyed," one commando reported to another, "The surviving clones have begun firing from the remains of the bridge."
"Send a squad out to take care of them," the other one commanded, a squad of commandos exited the base. She glanced back at her troopers and counted to three on her fingers.
Three
Two
One
She kicked the grate out and dropped down from the ceiling, deflecting several bolts as soon as her feet touched the ground. She slashed her saber through the commanding droid as Anchor, Zoom, and Rainstorm dropped from the ceiling as well. They quickly took out the remaining commando droids, but Esinon's blade stayed poise. Part of ARC training, you never, EVER let your guard down. If you do, it could get you killed,
"Watch that door," she commanded and sat down at the control panel starting to attempt to hack the mainframe. Problem was, the droids had already hardwired the all-clear signal. She swore under her breath, her fist clenching in frustration. She noticed electricity starting to crackle around her knuckles, for a moment she panicked, which only made it worse. Then she remembered what she needed to do, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Zoom, with me, we've got to go get the Rhydonium. Anchor, Rainstorm, go help Rex, tell him we have to blow the base." The trooper nodded, and Zoom took off after Esinon. He let her take point as she swiftly took out any droid that headed their way. She found where the Rhydonium was stored, she carefully cut it out of the wall and with Rainstorm's help, they hauled it to the command center.
Esinon began setting up the massive bomb, keeping her focus because if she didn't and clipped the wrong wire, she would blow herself up. Rex, Anchor, Push, and Rainstorm came running into the base.
"A Separatist fleet just came out of hyperspace," Rex panted, "Since the command droid failed to report in, they'll send down reinforcements." Esinon slammed her fist frustratedly into the ground, she was tired, she was in pain, and was getting overwhelmed fast.
"Just- I need more Rhydonium, and any other explosives you can find. I don't have enough to take the whole base." She said, she froze for a minute, Bean was still on the roof. Since the bridge was destroyed, the droids would have no other choice but to land behind the base, they would find Bean. Anchor was strongest, she would send him to get Bean and take him down to the canyon. "Anchor, go get Bean off the roof, go down to the canyon, Rainstorm, help him. Push, Zoom, help Rex get the rest of the Rhydonium and explosives,"
"Sir yes sir!" they all replied, before running off, leaving a frantic Esinon alone. A million thoughts were whirling through her head, and she didn't know what was causing this panic. Maybe it was because ever since she arrived on the planet she could sense Domino. She'd heard the story so many times, she couldn't count how many. She could sense all of them even though she'd never even met three of them. Most of all she could sense Echo. Maybe that was why she was panicking because for the first time in a while, her emotional armor was cracking and she was reminded of how much she actually missed her brother.
Rex and Theta minus Anchor, Bean, and Rainstorm came running around the corner, pushing Rhydonium canisters and explosives. She got to work, strapping the bomb together, she could sense the ship coming around the back.
"Rex, take the troopers and go, get down to the canyon. I'll finish here," she said, hard at work on a datapad.
"But sir-"
"Rex, I am not asking." She snapped, she normally didn't pull out the CO card, but she was too tired, and hurting too much to care.
"Yes sir," he said, before ushering the rest of Theta back into the maintenance tunnel. They would find Bean, Anchor, and Rainstorm, she would finish here, the fleet would come and pick them up and she could rest.
She plugged in the datapad syncing it with the Rhydonium when the pounding of droid feet came, she worked faster, she pulled out her lightsaber with one hand and continued to work on the code with the other.
B1s came around the corner and open fired, she deflected as many bolts as she could and dodged others. She glanced down at her datapad seeing it was flashing green, she could leave! She jumped to her feet datapad in hand and used the force to knock down an incoming wave of B1s.
She needed to get out here, now. She vaulted herself over the control panel into the middle of the room where hundreds of droids were converging, the grate was right above her, a bolt hit her shoulder.
She growled in pain as she recovered, she jumped up into the grate but blaster bolts were still singing their way right where she was trying to crawl. She had to blow the base now, whether or not she was outside.
They might find her troopers if she didn't. She smashed her finger on the detonator and the explosion raged behind her, she was thrown forward through the tunnel, she smacked hard into the end of the tunnel before falling about 20 feet down the ladder they had climbed.
She was unconscious before she even hit the ground, as fire raged overheard and shrapnel fell towards her prone body. Qui-Gon wasn't ready to let his little runner die. His kyber crystal ripped from around her neck and headed out to find Rex.
Moments earlier…
BOOM! The base went up in a fiery explosion, and Esinon had yet to make an appearance in the canyon.
"Commander," Rex said into his comlink as he stared at the base praying that she wasn't still inside, "State your location." The only response was static, "Commander, come in please, are you alright?" His heart dropped with every passing second, "Esinon, can you please say something so I know you're ok." He tore off his helmet and hurled it against the canyon wall, "Kriff! Esinon, please come in!" Rex's worst fear had been realized, Esinon had still been in the base when it exploded. There were still nights when he woke up in a cold sweat having watched Hevy die again when he couldn't do anything about it. He should have stayed with her, he should have been there! "No," he growled to himself, "She's not dead unless we find a body,"
"Sir," Anchor said slowly, "There won't be a body to find," Rex knew he was right, how was he supposed to tell General Kenobi or Skywalker, or Ahsoka? How was he supposed to tell two entire legions that they're beloved Commander was dead?
Tears trickled down his face, and he didn't care if any shiny saw him. He had failed. He looked up from the ground to see a bright light racing towards him, as the light came closer he could make out what it was. A necklace, with a crystal on the end. One identical to the one Esinon wore around her neck.
The crystal stopped in front of him, bopping around in front of his face, it was like it was trying to tell him something. The crystal drooped for a moment before perking back up. It looped itself around his neck and started to pull.
It was crazy that this crystal could know where Esinon was, but this was his only option at this point. Rex ran with the crystal as it tugged him forward, Theta squad was right behind him. The crystal stopped in front of the maintenance tunnel that Esinon had entered through. That's where she was, she was in there,
"Stay here," Rex commanded, he began crawling through the tunnel and he could see a smoldering pile of shrapnel at the end. "Esinon?" The crystal tugged its way from around Rex's neck and dove into the pile of shrapnel. Rex began to dig his way through the shrapnel as it seared through his gloves, his hissed in pain but kept digging anyway because he could see a body. He finally dug enough of a hole to see Esinon's still body, he pulled her out and pressed an ear to her chest.
Thump, thump,
Thump, thump,
Thump, thump,
He let out a breath of relief, her heartbeat was weak, but she was alive, he clutched her to his chest. She was alive.
"Captain!" Anchor called, "Evac is here!"
"You're gonna be alright kid," Rex whispered, the kyber crystal resettled around her neck, still glowing brightly. Esinon wasn't looking good, most of her robes had been burnt off, or seared into her skin. Her skin was an unhealthy red in patches with charred robes sticking to it. His gloves were now sticky with blood, his chest plate stained with it as well. There was no doubt shrapnel lodged in her body, and a multitude of broken bones, bruises, and burns. Slowly but surely he dragged her out of the tunnel, where a gunship was waiting. Kix didn't waste any time and grabbed Esinon from Rex's arms and began spouting a ton of medical terms that Rex didn't understand but assumed weren't any good. All Rex could do at this point was pray.
Twenty minutes later...
Obi-Wan still wasn't allowed inside the medbay, so all he could do was pace the outside, while Anakin tried to comfort Ahsoka. The young Togruta was sitting against the wall with her knees drawn up to her chest. Anakin had an arm around his padawan, gently stroking her lekku while they waited for more news. Fives, Rex, and Cody had just been watching, the soldiers were stoic and unmoving. The entire population of the Resolute was holding its breath, hoping, praying that Esinon would pull through.
"Is this the one who Echo keeps going on about?" a gruff voice asked,
"I thought she would be bigger," a strongly accented voice replied,
"I think she's cute," a bouncy voice interjected,
"Give her some room to breathe," an all too familiar voice said, Esinon groaned blinking her eyes open to see four clones peering over her, Echo, and three others she didn't recognize.
"She doesn't need to breathe if she's dead," the gruff one said, Esinon shot up,
"I'm dead?!" she shouted,
"No, no, no, Hevy's just… being Hevy." Echo said,
"Hevy?" Esinon choked, she glanced up at the clone with tattoos on either side of his face. She looked around, this was her apartment, she was in the living room. "What's going on?"
"Well we aren't really sure," the bouncy one said,
"She's not dead," Echo said, noticing that Esinon was starting to panic,
"Who are you? What's going on?" she snapped, looking up at the three clones she didn't recognize,
"This Hevy," Echo motioned to the tattooed clone, "Droidbait," He motioned to the bouncy clone, "And Cutup," he motioned to the bearded clone.
"I can't be here, you are all dead," she said, getting off the couch and backing away. "And I am not dead."
"You sure about that?" Hevy asked bitterly,
"Are you mad at me?" she snapped frustratedly,
"He doesn't want someone to die in the same way he did," Droidbait explained,
"If anything, I'm gonna die from a twenty-foot fall and third-degree burns, not from exploding myself." she shot back,
"I didn't have a choice," Hevy growled,
"I know!" she finally shouted, "You're my hero dude!"
"With all the stuff Echo has told me I should say the same!" Hevy shot back,
"That's the most aggressive complimenting I've ever seen," Cutup said, watching Esinon and Hevy stare each other down. Esinon finally broke her gaze away from Hevy,
"Ok, ok, ok, we've got to figure out why I'm here in the… afterlife," she finished slowly,
"You got banged up, but for the moment, you're alive." Echo said,
"How do you know?" she asked, Echo grabbed the remote off the coffee table and turned on the TV. She could see herself on a bed in the medical bay, with Coric, Drummer, and Kix, along with a whole bunch of trainee medics surrounding her. She was still foggy on what happened, she remembered getting thrown into the wall at the end of the tunnel, but she passed out after that. "Can I go back,"
"Well this is the first time we've had someone who was still alive come here," Cutup said, Esinon rolled her eyes,
"I can't stay here, I've got to get back to the land of the living. It's where I belong,"
Obi-Wan hadn't let up his pacing, he was comforted by the subtle beep of Esinon's heart monitor as the medics continued to work.
Beep… beep… beep… beep… beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep
Obi-Wan's gaze shot up from the ground,
"She's seizing!" Drummer shouted, grabbed an AED cart, Esinon's body was contorting and shaking on the bed, his body clenched up as the beeping stopped along with Esinon's heart. Her body lay still, Obi-Wan's hand went to his mouth, his hands beginning to tremble, and tears streak down his face.
"Charge for two hundred," Kix commanded, "You're clear," Drummer shocked her with the paddles, and nothing happened. Kix began chest compressions, Obi-Wan could hear ribs breaking under his weight, and flinched with every crack. "Come on," Kix growled, "Come on,"
"Charge, get clear," Drummer said, Coric obeyed, Kix backed away and Drummer shocked her again. Nothing happened, Esinon's body stayed still, minutes passed until all the medics shared a look and backed away from Esinon's body.
"Time of death, 11:53," Kix said, his fists clenching around Esinon's blanket, Ahsoka's sobbing filled the room as Obi-Wan sank to the ground. Cody was at his side immediately, bringing the elder man into his arms. Obi-Wan heard the sound of a plastoid helmet hit the wall,
"Fives!" Rex shouted. Tears streamed down Obi-Wan's face, his padawan was dead. His beloved sunshine padawan who had brought so much light into his life was dead. Minutes passed as everything slowly became real. He'd failed as Master, he should have been there. He should have never sent her on that base inspection. Now she was dead. Because of him.
Beep… beep… beep… beep… beep…
Esinon's eyes shot open as a multitude of coughs wrenched their way out of her throat as she gasped for air.
"Hey, hey, hey," Kix said, grabbing her shoulders and holding her to the bed as she continued to sputter and cough violently. "You're alright, slowly, in… out… in… out, you're alright." She moaned in pain, grappling at her chest, her eyes scrunched closed, "There you go," he said, as her breathing evened out, still a bit raggedy, but she was breathing.
"Hurts," she whimpered, her voice quiet and shaky,
"Makes sense, you were dead for about six minutes," Kix said, stroking her hair gently with his thumb trying to calm the frightened padawan. The miracle padawan.
"Obi-Wan," she coughed, grabbing Kix's wrist, "Obi-Wan, please,"
"General Kenobi!" Kix shouted, a huge smile on his face, "Get in here!" Obi-Wan jumped to his feet and darted into the medbay, coming to his padawan's side. He wrapped the little ball of sunshine in a hug, she took a deep breath, snuggling her head in his shoulder. She was safe, she was alright,
"Sorry," she murmured, Obi-Wan released her, easing her back onto the bed. He brushed a few pieces of sweaty and burnt hair out of her face, careful not to bump any of the severe burns on her skin.
"You have nothing to be sorry about padawan mine," she smiled softly, before coughing again, she grimaced as soon as she finished,
"Hurts,"
"It's going to for a little while, ok?" Obi-Wan explained, he couldn't help but smile at her.
"What happened?"
"You tried to be a sacrificial lamb," Kix said, already checking her vitals and hooking up another tube to her body. "You exploded Rishi base but didn't get all the way out of the base. You're lucky Rex found you, said something about a crystal."
"Thanks, Qui-Gon," she murmured, closing her eyes, Obi-Wan glanced down at her. Why in the name of the force would she be thanking Qui-Gon?
"Bacta tank in not too long kid," Kix said, she nodded,
"Ok,"
"Someone go get Fives, tell him that she's gonna be alright," Drummer said, Rex nodded before setting off to find the ARC trooper. "General Skywalker, Commander Tano, Cody, you all can come in." The four of them entered the room and Esinon smiled,
"Are you trying to get back at me for Mortis?" Ahsoka joked half-heartedly, folding her hand into Esinon's. She smiled,
"Yeah I guess I was," she teased,
"No more cheating death Speeds, you'll scare Rex too bad," Anakin said, Esinon gave him a look, "Fine, you'll scare me too bad," Anakin's comlink beeped,
"General, we are six hours out from the medical station." Admiral Yularen reported,
"Medical station," Esinon grumbled, knowing she was gonna be out of the action for a while.
"No complaining," Obi-Wan said, "You need to take it easy, I believe Bant is at that one we're headed to,"
"I like Master Eerin," Esinon murmured sleepily,
"You've met her?" he asked, she nodded, Kix came over holding a mask, most likely connected to anesthesia.
"Commander, we're going to put you back under. We still have some work to do," Kix said, giving her a sympathetic look when she sighed frustratedly,
"We'll be here when you wake up," Obi-Wan reassured, she nodded as Kix pressed the mask over her face and she succumbed to darkness.
A few days later…
Esinon blinked her eyes open, everything was foggy, but it smelled like antiseptics and bacta. She wrinkled her noses, she glanced down on her body and grimaced at the number of bandages that were covering her. She glanced over to her right as a soft snore emitted,
"Fives?" she asked in a voice barely above a whisper, she assumed that a few of her ribs were still healing so that's why it hurt to breathe. The ARC stirred slightly in his sleep, slumped in a chair that was not made for a guy his size. "Fives," he finally opened his eyes and shot forward seeing that she was awake,
"Hey- uh- how do you feel? Do you want me to get someone?" he asked quickly,
"I'm ok," she said, "You?"
"You scared me," he said with a sigh, she nodded,
"I know, I saw you throw your helmet," she said, he looked up at her, a look of confusion crossing his face.
"Esinon… you were..." he wasn't going to say dead, "you weren't awake when I threw my helmet,"
"I… I saw them,"
"Who?"
"Your squad, Hevy got mad at me because I almost died the same way he did." she said, "And Droidbait thinks I'm the cutest thing to walk the galaxy, and Cutup seemed indifferent about everything, but he was pretty content on watching me and Hevy 'aggressively compliment' one another. Echo was there too,"
"I… I'm not sure I understand." Fives said, "How could you have seen them, they're all dead."
"I think… that I never really did get over Echo's death. Enough to move past it," she said, "I think that this was the force's way of showing me that he was alright, that I didn't need to worry about him anymore. He's happy."
"That's… sometimes I wish I was a Jedi," he said,
"Here, I'll show you," she grabbed his hand, she'd been practicing with Qui-Gon to be able to bring people into her memories, or 'shoot' memories into other people's minds. She concentrated on Domino and their minds warped.
Fives looked around and he could see his squad, Hevy, Cutup, Droidbait, and Echo. They were sitting around Esinon as she laid on a couch, debating about what to do with her next.
"They're ok Fives," Esinon whispered, gripping his hand a little tighter as tears streamed freely down his face, "They're ok,"
"Thank you," Fives whispered,
"Anything for you," she looked up at the ceiling for a minute, "Did Rex take Theta?" Fives chuckled, using the back of his hand to wipe tears off his face.
"No, he told General Kenobi that you already claimed them as soon as you arrived on Kamino." he said, "General Kenobi has already officially instated them as members of the 212th."
"Even though I wanted Delta too, I think that they'll do well with the 501st. I have a feeling you and Tup, and Sharkbait are going to be good friends. Dogma's a little shy, but he'll warm up. Cosmo and Fidget stick to each other like glue, so hopefully, Rex'll keep 'em in the same squad."
"Captain will," Fives assured her, "I'm excited to meet the men you won't shut up about."
"They know about you, and Rex. They liked the stories I told about the 501st and 212th."
"Delta should feel special to get to join the 501st," Fives said, puffing out his chest. Esinon rolled her eyes,
"If I was actually assigned as Anakin's padawan, I don't know if that would have ended so well," she said,
"Will of the force kind of thing?" Fives asked, she nodded,
"There's a reason I'm Obi-Wan's padawan. Anakin and I would have butt heads too often,"
"Yeah, hopefully, everything can go back to a semblance of normal," Fives muttered, she grinned,
"If we're calling death-defying stunts, and a galaxy-blown war normal," she joked tiredly,
"Haven't we always?" she smiled, closing her eyes. Everything was going to be ok.
That night…
"Well little runner, you've had quite the week, haven't you?" Qui-Gon said, Esinon blinked a couple times seeing Qui-Gon standing in the doorway. She looked around seeing she was still in the medical station,
"Am I awake?" She asked blearily, sitting up a little bit. Qui-Gon nodded and sat down in the chair Fives had been using earlier in the day. "Last time I saw you when I was awake, I was attacked by a force deity."
"Well, that's not gonna happen this time," he replied, adjusting his robes. "Our bond is stronger than we once thought, we might as well experiment with new things."
"I never got to thank you for going to get Rex, and saving me."
"Of course little runner," he replied, patting her hand, "Now no more death-defying stunts like that,"
"That's what everyone keeps telling me," she mumbled, "Not exactly like I could help it. People act like I was trying to kill myself, no I was terrified when Echo turned on that TV and I saw myself die, it was frankly traumatizing. I'm not telling anyone but you, because you can't make me go see a mind healer."
"I know, I've seen the nightmares,"
"I- Obi-Wan's face. That's gonna stay with me," she whispered, scrunching her eyes shut as she tried to fight off the memories. One moment she had been in the 'afterlife' and then Hevy grabbed her hand and reached through the TV, pressing her hand to her own chest and she came back to life.
"I understand, more than you know," he muttered, rubbing his forehead with his thumb. "And I'm sorry that you had to go through that,"
"Do you see them? The clones I mean," she said, Qui-Gon nodded,
"All of them, make my rounds to see them every few days," he said, "Good soldiers, good men,"
"I miss them," she whispered, "I miss them every day. It feels… almost easier now knowing that they're all happy in the afterlife. That they're safe, that at least after all of that, they can rest."
"And when it comes time, they'll all be waiting for you," he said,
"Do you know when?" she paused, "When I'll die, I mean?" Qui-Gon shook his head,
"No, no I don't. But I know that everything that you have and will do will mark the lives of those around you."
"You make me sound like the chosen one," she chuckled,
"You may not be the one the prophecy spoke of, but you are a Jedi that will affect the universe. I can feel it,"
"So can you see the future too?" she joked, Qui-Gon chuckled,
"No my little runner, I just know you well enough to say so," he replied, patting her knee. She smiled,
"Thank you, Qui-Gon, for always being here."
"Always Esinon, always."
I'm gonna make this chapter happy, and kinda silly. Some good Rex and Esinon banter since we've had a lot of angst surrounding Echo.
A few minutes later
Huh. Esinon's dead. that's... not good.
I promise that I did not start out with the intent to make yall suffer.
But this can make you feel better:
*Esinon out of it on painkillers while Ahsoka is visiting her*
Esinon: ok, let's play two truths and a lie. I'll go first, I don't have a crush on Korkie. I have two fingers at least, and I get manicures on Fridays. Which one's the lie.
Ahsoka snickering: What the heck
So, uh... sorry about that, but maybe her dying was the only way she could truly move on from Echo's death. Also I am in no means a medical expert, I tried my best and based that scene off of a few scenes I saw in TV shows.
Next up let's make this canon corner: Esinon reminds Fives of Droidbait, that's why he started to care about watch out for her so much.
Thank you for reading and make sure to leave a review!