Dear Reader, as always, first I would like to thank the reviewers of my previous chapter: LLTC, Shadowlight17, cristinatodirasc, DojoYoyo, Sued13, Jessica Wolfe and Moonwatcher404. This is a hard chapter. Very dark in a number of ways. But it's also got a couple of my favorite moments. And I appreciate the suggestion to add a warning when the chapters have some difficult subject matter. And so, I am definitely putting a warning on this chapter! Enjoy! CS

WARNING: Torture References, both inferred and mildly descriptive passages. There's just a lot of evil "osik" in this chapter.


Chapter 141

"I have come to lead you to the other shore; into eternal darkness; into fire and into ice. I am the way into the city of woe. I am the way into eternal pain. I am the way to go among the lost."

Inferno
Dante Alighieri

"That's pretty narrow, Three Point," Zinger warned. "Maybe you want to slow her down a bit?"

"We'll fit. Just keep an eye on the proximity sensors," Three Point replied as he maneuvered the ship between the steep walls of the valley. He had entered from over the sea and was aiming for the targeted touchdown spot a short distance ahead.

Less than thirty seconds later, he set Endeavor down soft as a leaf on the valley floor. "Four-point-one kilometers distance to the compound. Just like Echo said."

"Good job," Anakin commended. "You know the deal. Keeping this ship safe is your number one priority."

"Got it, General Skywalker," Three Point assured. "We'll be here when you need us."

Anakin turned to the others. "Comm frequency 9862.11. That will make it very hard for them to intercept any communications, but they'll still be able to detect them. So, we use comm only when absolutely necessary. Helmet speakers on low volume will be our primary. Blasters set on kill. These people are the enemy, and we aren't taking any chances. Is everyone ready?"

Nods of affirmation were all the acknowledgment that was necessary.

They began filing towards the rear boarding ramp.

Cody, last to leave the flight deck, leaned close between the two pilots. "Keep an eye on Major Swin. This might be just the chance she's been waiting for."

"Yes, Commander."

As he moved down the central corridor, his eye caught sight of the major standing in the doorway to one of the quarters.

"I hope you find him, Commander," she stated. "And I hope he's still alive."

Cody waited a moment before replying, "So do I."


"Fek, the soil in this place is like . . . crushed glass. How does anything grow in this osik?" Ajax grumbled in a low voice that only DB, walking beside him, could hear.

"I know," DB agreed. "It's kriffing loud to walk on. I'm surprised they can't hear us coming already."

"They may not hear you, but I can," Top warned. "Keep it down, you two. We don't want to alert anyone to our presence."

Neither DB nor Ajax argued, but they could not help but imagine that all the crunching beneath their boots would have attracted attention already.

It was thirty minutes into their cautious approach, trying to stay as close to the forest cover as possible; but now they were coming to the verge of the rocky, grassy plain that swept in one direction to the sea, and in the other, towards the compound. Here, the going became much more treacherous, with jagged rocks presenting pits and gullies where one misstep could break an ankle or twist a knee.

But they could now see the lights of the compound, flickering in the distance.

Anakin could definitely feel Rex's presence now. A soul's existence in the Force was palpable, regardless of the bodily state; but Anakin could also sense the energy of the body was grossly compromised, to the point where Anakin would have believed death was imminent. The possibility that they had arrived too late flashed through his mind, but he quickly and angrily shoved it aside. The fact was, Rex was still alive, and that meant he could be saved. That was all that mattered.

Anakin motioned Double Barrel to his side.

"The Eagle?" he inquired.

"He hasn't said anything yet, Sir," DB replied. "That most likely means we're on the right course. He'll come to me when he needs to."

"Can he—can he show you Rex?"

DB hesitated. "Yes, General," he answered in a near whisper.

"Has he shown you?"

"No, Sir. I . . . I didn't want to see that through his eyes," DB admitted. "I want to see the captain when everyone else does."

Something about this statement reached deep into Anakin's soul. It was a touching confession, an indicator of not only the fear in DB's heart, but the strength he drew from facing difficult circumstances with his brothers at his side, that the Eagle's amazing advantages were not his for the taking.

"I understand," Anakin said, almost as a lament. And he did understand – only too well.

"Eagle can do so many things," DB went on, unbidden. "But I'm not ready for them, and he respects that."

Anakin put a hand on DB's shoulder. "Can he show me? Like he did on Tralgaria?"

"If he . . . feels it's the right thing to do and the right time, he'll show you," DB said with faltering words. What he did not say, what he could not and would not say was that the Eagle had not shown any inclination to re-establish the link he had created with General Skywalker on Tralgaria. DB imagined that was because the link on Tralgaria had been born of necessity. With DB choking on his own blood in the aftermath of battle, some manner of tracking the captain had become necessary.

But here and now, Double Barrel was healthy and fit and alert. The Eagle could do all his communicating through the companion of his soul.

Anakin nodded. There could be no forcing the situation. The Eagle was beyond his understanding, beyond any of their understanding. And so it was better to just allow him to act as he willed when he willed.

They moved out again, and within thirty minutes were close enough that they could see, in great detail, the northern gate through which they were intended to enter.

Denal raised his binoculars. "I see four guards in the gate house, two other warm-body signatures behind the bracing wall, and there are definitely sensor mounts on both sides of the portico. Scanning sensor fields . . . " Several seconds later, he reported, "The sensor field extends roughly three meters above the top of the fencing and radiates two meters in front and two meters behind."

Anakin looked at Sixer. "Your idea about going over with a handful and then taking the gate is sounding better and better."

"If you get all of us over and avoid the gate completely, that would be even better," Sixer replied. "The only problem with taking the gate is that if they do gate rounds—and I'm sure they do—they'll wonder what happened to their guards. We can't exactly pose as Copians."

"I don't know if I can get all of you over," Anakin said with a grimace. "There's eleven of you."

"You could do a couple at a time, Sir," Cody suggested.

"They must think I'm Master Yoda," Anakin groused silently to himself. What would make them think he had that much power?

"Alright, I'll try."

Less than five minutes later, the entire team was on the other side of the perimeter. So much for trying.

No sooner had DB's feet touched the ground than he announced, "Eagle is showing me where to go."

As they began to follow, Top sidled up next to Jesse. "He could have lifted us all at once," he whispered.

"You felt that, too?" Jesse questioned.

"When did the general become so powerful? He was always strong in the Force, but this was something totally different. Doesn't he—doesn't he know how powerful he is?"

"I don't know," Jesse replied.

There was no more speaking as the team stole across a short stretch of open, crunchy field, stopping short of reaching the buildings and taking cover behind one of the obsidian outcroppings.

"This place is probably covered with scanners," Anakin stated. "Echo, can you get their modulation so we can adjust?"

A few moments later, Echo related the modulation numbers. "You should be able to detect the fields now in your HUDs."

"We need to go down that alleyway, General," Sixer announced, gesturing to a narrow opening between two buildings just to their right. "That's one of the entrances into the main structure."

"Eagle concurs," DB confirmed.

They crossed the rest of the field and entered the alleyway.

"Where to now?" Anakin asked.

"Keep going straight," DB replied.

There was not a single Copian to be seen as they crept rapidly down the length of the building on the right. They came to a door near the end. Anakin tried the handle.

Locked.

He was prepared to draw his light saber and slice his way inside when Sixer hissed out a warning. "It's an emergency exit. Look, you can see the alarm casing above it. We can't get in this way without setting off an alarm. I know the schematics showed what looked like a main door around the corner, but the images weren't clear. DB, what does the Eagle say?"

"He's looking," DB replied, then at length, "There is a door around the other side, about halfway down the wall. That's the only other one he sees in this building."

"Is it also an emergency exit?"

"He doesn't know that," DB replied somewhat curtly. "He's only trying to find a pathway to get us to the captain. He can't read."

"Jesse, Top, check to see if the other side of the building is clear," Anakin ordered.

The two ARCs moved up to the corner and peered out in opposite directions. While the alleyway had been lit only by a single sign above the door, this wider pathway had a series of wall lights which gave off a fair amount of illumination. In addition, the clear pattern of a scanner could be seen emanating from above the building's doorway.

At the far end to the left, two Copians had just rounded the corner and moved out of sight.

"A patrol?" Jesse said quietly.

"Could be. I didn't get a good enough look, "Top replied. "That's a hundred meter stretch here. Someone could come around the corner at either end and surprise us." A pause. "I'll take point left and cover while you get down to point right. We can stand watch while the others get inside."

Jesse returned to General Skywalker and relayed the plan. "Once Top and I are in place, you can get the rest of the team to that doorway. We'll signal if anyone is coming. There's a scanner over the doorway. You'll have to take that out first."

Anakin gave a single nod and moved with Jesse up to the end of the alleyway where Top was still waiting. Top ran the thirty meters to his left and took up his position. There was no cover. He was in the open with only the ninety degree angle of the next building to give him warning time should someone come. Once he was in place, he motioned to Jesse who took off to the far end. His seventy meter run was more gut-wrenching but without incident.

All was clear on his end as well.

He sent a single blip via HUD to indicate that it was safe to move.

The door was about fifty forty meters down the wall, and Anakin led the way. Cody warned him as they neared the edge of the sensor field. Anakin reached out with one hand, made a sudden fist, and the sensor was crushed.

"That's going to be bring someone out to take a look probably," he noted carelessly. "Let's see if we can get in before they come out."

They proceeded to the door, only to find it locked.

"Fek!" he cursed under his breath – a rare utterance. Reflexively, his hand moved once more towards his light saber, but this time he noticed a key pad on the wall beside the door. Breaking the code would be quieter than using his blade, and he did not want to draw any more attention than destroying the sensor probably already had.

"Echo—"

"On it, Sir."

"What the hell are they doing?" Jesse fretted. "There's no time to be delicate about this. Break the damned door down if you have to, but get the fek in there!"

Anakin watched in amazement as Echo withdrew an unfamiliar device from one of the pouches on his waist belt. He held the small machine in front of the key pad. Courtesy of Clone Force 99, no doubt.

From his own vantage point, Top used his viewfinder to peer around the corner. He saw two figures pass the intersection at the far end of the lane down which he was looking. They were moving from left to right, which meant they might possibly round the corner at the opposite end of the route Jesse was guarding. Using his HUD, he sent a simple message. "2 your dir."

"Two, my direction. Not good." Jesse activated his infrared and waited to see if the two figures would pass the far end or come into his alleyway. Every few seconds, he would glance anxiously back towards the door where the rest of the team was still huddled trying to get inside.

This could get ugly real quick.

"Echo, how much longer?" Anakin asked with only a hint of impatience; even as he spoke, the lock disengaged and the door slid open.

Onto a very surprised Copian – though they would have never been able to determine that from the Copian's facial structure.

Before the Copian could even react, Anakin once again reached out with one hand which he coiled into a fist.

The clones could hear the sound of the Copian's neck breaking.

As Anakin Force-tossed him to the side, the clones were relieved the general was on their side. His power with the Force, unconstrained by the GAR's rules of battlefield engagement, was on full display. It was impressive . . . and intimidating.

Stepping inside, they found no one else in the small entry room. "Dogma, Sempe, stay here and guard this entrance. No one goes in or out."

"Yes, General."

"Motion Top and Jesse to get in here," Anakin ordered. "Let's move."

There was only one hallway leading out of the room. They had gone less than twenty meters when two hallways branched off at 90 degree angles.

"DB, where now?"

After a brief hesitation, DB replied, "Eagle says left."

They went left.

As they passed a bank of lifts, DB blurted out, "Wait! He says we need to go down."

"How far down?"

"He says to get in. He'll show us."

Anakin turned to Cody. "I'll take DB, Sixer, Denal and Echo down with me. If it's all clear and we're in the right place, I'll have them comm you."

"Be careful, Sir," Cody replied, though from what he'd seen thus far on this mission, General Skywalker seemed the last person who needed to exercise caution. He also appeared to need little help.

The lift started down, dropping at stomach-pitching speed. It stopped just as abruptly. The door slid open.

Immediately, they were accosted by the ghastly smell.

"Fek, what is that?" Sixer swore, activating his helmet filter.

Echo and Denal followed suit; but Anakin did not have that option.

"It's the smell of death," he said.

"It's the smell of torture," Denal corrected. "There's more than just rotting flesh down here."

"What do you mean?"

"The iron in fresh blood. Burnt flesh." A pause. "Terror. Hopelessness."

Anakin stepped out of the lift and found himself in a tunnel hewn from rock. A pale light suffused the darkness but did not have an obvious source. "What kind of place is this?"

Again, it was Denal who replied. "We know what kind of place this is, Sir. We need to do what we came to do and get out."

Anakin began walking slowly down the passageway, as if mesmerized. He passed an opening on his left where the remains of some unfortunate were rotting away on top of a table that itself looked like an instrument of torture.

"This is where they've had him . . . " he murmured, looking around him in horror. "Down here . . . in this."

Double Barrel appeared at his side. "General, Eagle says we're too low. We need to go up."

Anakin did not listen to him. He barely heard him.

The power of the Dark Side reverberated in this place, yet Anakin could detect no presence of a Sith Lord . . . or anyone capable of using the Dark Side. It was as if the currents of evil had run so long through this stone and through this space that it had become part of the fabric of existence here. The wickedness of the Copians had invited the Dark Side to rule where lesser minds were incapable of combatting its allure. The first small steps into torture so many thousands of years ago had opened the door to greater atrocities, to greater darkness.

Anakin had never been on the Copian home world before. But now he was, and he needed only this short exposure to recognize that the Copians were not merely the master torturers as the galaxy had come to label them. No, they were an inherently evil race. They had allowed this scourge to enter into their cultural development, welcomed it and cultivated it.

Anakin continued walking, passing a room with another table . . .

A horrifying vision stabbed his mind's eye.

He saw his captain on the table, surrounded by the implements of torture—

He withdrew violently from the image of the past. He was not here to learn what they had done to Rex; he was here to get him out. The ravages of their perverse pleasures would make themselves obvious soon enough; Anakin did not need to court those terrors right now.

"General, we're in the wrong place. We need to go up." This was Sixer's voice, strong and insistent.

Anakin turned to see the lieutenant standing just behind him.

For a moment, Sixer was not sure what to make of the expression on his commanding officer's face. General Skywalker's countenance was stony, shadowed and filled with . . . a spiteful awe. It was as if he were astonished at the depravity surrounding him at the same time as wanting nothing more than to annihilate it and every living creature associated with it.

"This race serves no useful purpose in the galaxy," he stated in a low, blunt voice brimming with hate.

"You're right, General," Sixer replied. "They deserve to be wiped out . . . but we came here for a single purpose. We came here to get the captain, and the Eagle says we're in the wrong place. We need to go up."

Anakin scowled. "He said we needed to go down—"

At that moment, a scream of pain came from somewhere in the bowels of the underground labyrinth, reverberating through the corridors.

Anakin jerked at the sound. It was impossible to tell exactly where it was coming from.

"They're torturing someone else—"

"Sir, we're not here for that!" Sixer stressed emphatically. "And the longer we stay down here, the more likely someone will find us. We're already racing against time."

Anakin regarded him with a placidity that seemed odd under the circumstances. He nodded once, very slowly. "It is a race. You're right about that, Lieutenant. It's only a matter of time. " A pause. "Okay, let's go back up."

As they approached the others, Anakin snapped at DB, "Maybe your Eagle wants to get us off on the right level this time."

The clones were silent. This was not like General Skywalker. In each man's mind was the collective decision that it had to be the stress of the situation and the ghastliness of the location that had gotten to their general. Still, there was something disturbing about it . . . a sense of foreboding, a warning that something worse was to come.

DB could hear the Eagle within him, chattering and fretting.

"This is not a good place for him. You must get him out. It feeds on the evil here."

"What do you mean? What feeds on the evil?"

"That which is dark in all of you. You humans all have a capacity for evil. This place feeds that."

"This is General Skywalker we're talking about. He's a Jedi—"

"This place is not good for him! Go to your captain, get him and leave!"

"Well, then, show us where we need to go."

They moved to re-enter the lift.

"Not this way," the Eagle chastised.

At the same moment, Denal announced, "There are no floor buttons."

It was true. This was not something they had noticed earlier. In fact, the lift had gone down automatically the moment the doors had closed. It had only two stops. The top level and this one.

"Then how can we get to the levels in between?" Sixer asked.

All eyes turned to Double Barrel.

"Eagle?"

"There are ways up from here."

"What about our men up top?"

"This is the way I found. They must come down or find their own way."

"But where is he? Where is the captain?" DB was nearly at his wit's end with so much riding on his relationship with the Eagle and the Eagle's abilities.

"I can only show you the path I found. The other ways had too many guards. This is the way."

While this non-explanation was frustrating to Double Barrel, it was as truthful as the Eagle himself. The fact was that very few of the rooms in the facility were accessible from surface entrances, and the number of those entrances was extremely limited. The maze of tunnels and chambers of the lower levels added a measure of protection against those who might try to infiltrate—or escape from—the compound. Making access as complicated as possible was an additional layer of security for operations that were detested by most other sentient beings throughout the galaxy. The Copians had many enemies. These torture complexes were also their strongholds against any attacks.

DB cleared his throat. "He says there are other ways to go up from here and that this is the way he found. Our men either have to come down or find their own way down. He said other routes are too heavily guarded."

Now, the attention turned to General Skywalker.

Surprisingly, the smolder appeared to cool somewhat. "Tell the Eagle to show me. I want him to come to me and show me."

Double Barrel swallowed invisibly behind his the visor. He already knew the Eagle would never agree to that. "I don't think he wants to do that, General. But he'll keep telling me, and I can—" He stopped abruptly as the Eagle manifested before them, a gauzy image in the dimly lit tunnel. DB felt a moment of relief. This way the Eagle did not have to enter into a link with General Skywalker as he had back on Tralgaria; but he could still show him the way directly, while showing the others at the same time. And DB did not have to tell the general that the Eagle was wary of him.

This satisfied Anakin, who felt he now had a very powerful ally helping him. "Thank you," he nodded his appreciation to the great bird.

"He says we mustn't waste time," DB relayed. He kept to himself the Eagle's repeated warning about the place being a danger to General Skywalker.

"What about the rest of our men? Do we want them to come down or not?" Sixer pressed.

"I want two men to guard those lifts. We'll need them to get out," Anakin replied. "The rest should come down. Definitely Cody and Kix."

Sixer sent an encrypted message.

Less than one minute later, the lift doors opened and Cody, Top, Jesse and Kix emerged.

"Pitch and Ajax are guarding the lifts," Cody announced. "We heard voices a few times. It might be getting busy up there."

"Let's go," Anakin ordered. "Eagle, show the way."

The Eagle sailed down the tunnel in the opposite direction from that in which General Skywalker had been lured earlier. He alit thirty meters away and waited for the others to catch up.

There were openings on both sides of the tunnel. Rooms, chambers, caves . . . the name by which they were identified made no difference. It was clear what went on in them. And despite the urgency of their mission and situation, it was difficult fighting the temptation to steal a glance. The outrage at the things they were seeing helped to bolster their conviction that, even if they did not emerge alive from this venture, they would be sure to sell their lives dearly, taking as many of the enemy with them as possible for the atrocities committed here.

They arrived where the Eagle stood waiting, then watched as he flew off again.

"This place really gives me the creeps," Top said quietly to Jesse. "The sooner we get out of here, the better."

"I know what you mean," Jesse concurred. "There's something . . . dark and sinister about being down here."

"How could the captain have survived just the . . . feeling of hopelessness?"

"If he is alive."

"He's alive," Top insisted. "General Skywalker would know if he were dead."

"I only hope we find him in time," Jesse stated. "I don't think it's good for any of us to be down here too long. I'm starting to feel as if the place is closing in on me."

"Me, too," Top agreed. "We need to keep an eye on everyone, make sure no one cracks up; because if we're feeling this way, the others are probably feeling it, too."

They saw General Skywalker stop outside a set of doors on his left. They caught up just as the general entered the room and braced themselves. This might be where Rex was being held.

They were the last to enter the room, and no sooner had they crossed the threshold than they stopped short.

The room was filled with examination tables, occupied by . . .

"These beings are all alive." This from Denal, who had moved deeper into the room and was standing beside one of the tables, looking down at the creature strapped down on it. "They're being experimented on while they're still alive."

Top and Jesse both shot a look towards Kix. This announcement took them both immediately back to their days as trainees on Kamino and the horrifying reality that had almost cost Kix his very existence, for on Kamino, there was no right to life. There was no intrinsic value ascribed to being. Worth went only so far as a creature was useful and compliant. And while Kix had proven his skill and usefulness, he'd fallen far short in the compliance arena. Had it not been for Captain Rex . . .

From what they could see, without the benefit of being able to see Kix's face, they discerned nothing in his demeanor to indicate that he was viewing the scene with any stress additional to that which they were all undergoing at the moment.

Even so, Jesse moved up to stand beside him, taking care not to look too closely at the victims on the tables. He took light hold of Kix's elbow, an unspoken question.

"I'm okay," Kix said softly. "I'm used to it."

Jesse believed him, but he still wasn't going to leave his side—not until they were out of this room.

Beside General Skywalker, Cody surveyed the room. "He's not in here, General."

"I know that," came the dangerously soft-spoken reply. Several seconds passed. "But he was. He was in here. He was . . . one of . . . they experimented on him."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a door on the opposite end of the room opened, and two Copians entered, stopping short just inside the doorway at the sight of the clones.

In the blink of an eye, General Skywalker had sent them both slamming into the wall with such force, the clones could hear their bones snapping.

Anakin turned to Cody. "End these creatures' suffering."

"Sir?"

"We can't help them escape from here, but we can put an end to their misery. Tell the men. Do it," Anakin ordered. "DB, Kix, Denal, come with me." Once more he spoke to Cody but without looking at him. "Make it fast and catch up with us."

"General Skywalker, I—" Cody wasn't sure what to say. While it did seem inhumane to leave these prisoners to their fates at the hands of the Copians, it also seemed inhumane to kill them outright. But how was Cody to argue against him? Instead, he took a different tack. "If we separate now, how will we know where you went? How will we find you?"

"We'll comm you," Anakin replied. "I don't think it matters now." He nodded towards one upper corner of the room. A camera stared down at them. "I think we're found out. We need to move quickly. Take care of business in here, Commander."

With that, he spun on his heel and headed for the door with DB, Kix and Denal following.

Once the general was gone, Cody turned to face the rest of the men. They were clearly at a loss and waiting for the commander to tell them what to do.

But Cody himself was dumbfounded. The idea of leaving these test subjects to continue to be available for experimentation was abhorrent. But the general had been right in saying that the team did not have the means to save them. Prolonging or curtailing suffering was not a situation with which the clones were familiar. Killing the enemy was easy. Killing the victims of the enemy . . .

Perhaps they could free them. They could free them and leave them to their own devices to escape.

"Fek, that's hraka," Cody admitted. These creatures were in no condition to fend for themselves. If they were unhooked from the equipment, they might not even survive.

And was it fair to keep them alive otherwise?

"We're . . . not going to do this, are we?" Top asked at last.

"Is it right to allow them to keep suffering?" Cody replied. "What do you think they would say if you asked them to choose?"

"There's a brother over here," Sixer announced.

This drew everyone's attention and they moved to join him.

It was clear from just looking at the man that there was no hope for returning him to any vestige of a normal life. They had done horrific things to him.

"Is there any humane way to . . . to . . . " Jesse stammered. "Some way that wouldn't cause him any pain?"

"We can't do this!" Top protested. "These are sentient beings! We at least have to give them a chance to survive. Some of them might be . . . might be able to survive and escape."

"How likely is that?" Jesse pushed back. "That one has no legs, that one is split wide open . . . Top, there's nothing we can do here."

"And we don't have time to debate the issue," Cody interjected with authority. "We need to do what we're going to do and get back with General Skywalker. And the longer we fek around, the more likely we're going to run into trouble. They probably have guards on the way right now."

The other clones nodded their understanding.

Sixer spoke up. "So, what are we going to do?"


"Fek and all . . . what the . . . just . . . piles of dead bodies . . ." Double Barrel could not formulate a coherent sentence.

"Don't stop. Don't let him go in," the Eagle warned. "He will only grow angrier. The danger is too great. You must make him keep going."

DB noticed that General Skywalker was lingering at the entrance to the room. But it wasn't a room. It was a cavern of chains and ropes supporting dead bodies, and one portion of the room was nothing more than piles of those bodies in various stages of decomposition.

"There must be over a thousand bodies in here," Denal said in a near-whisper.

"Eagle says we need to keep going," DB announced. "We can't stop."

Anakin gave a minute nod of acknowledgment. There was nothing here for him, except the macabre fascination that a race could possess such evil.

They moved on, following the Eagle once more, coming, after a long walk, to a single lift.

"Here, we need to go up," DB announced.

When the door to the lift opened, it was to reveal half a dozen Copian guard at the same time that four more approached from the far end of the tunnel.

Anakin Force-grabbed the ones in the lift and yanked them out. The clones began firing their weapons.

"General, go! Second floor from the top," DB shouted between rounds. "We'll follow! Eagle will go with you!"

"I will not go—"

"You will go! He needs you to guide him! Go!"

The door to the lift closed. Anakin pressed the level button.

The Eagle's manifestation went with him, and when the door opened on the second floor from the top, Anakin did not hesitate to go into the corridor. There was not a soul to be seen. After the encounter with the guards down below, things were eerily placid on this level. Would there be guards at the room where Rex was being held?

It felt peculiar.

He was close now. He could feel it. In fact, he was so close, he did not need to wait for the Eagle to show him. He started heading down the corridor to his right. Here, on this level, everything was polished and smooth. The stench of the lower levels did not permeate up to this floor. The surfaces were a dark grey with walls emitting a suffused light.

He passed through a maze of corridors and the Eagle did not stop or correct him. At length, he came to a long hallway with only one wide opening on his left. He stopped. Inside the opening was a wall that blocked the view of what was inside. He knew the end of his search was on the other side.

To his surprise, he was trembling.

He could go around either end of the wall, but he was finding it hard to take that next step.

"Why are you waiting?" the Eagle asked. "This is why you came."

Anakin drew in a long, deep breath. He took the dozen steps that led him around the corner and into the room of his visions and nightmares: long, cavernous, the dais opposite him . . .

Columns of misty light.

His vision began to narrow. His feet were like leaden weights. Every muscle recoiled.

He had expected bad. He had not expected this.


Top stood in the doorway to the vivisection room. He kept his eyes averted from what was going on behind him. He wanted no part in it. And to Cody's credit, he had not ordered or even insisted that he be a party to it. Instead, the commander had told him to act as look-out.

As he stood guard, he felt a hand grip his elbow gently.

"You okay?

It was Jesse's voice.

"It is what it is," Top replied, attempting to excise all emotion from his voice. But he added somewhat ruefully, "I'm just glad Kix isn't here to see this."

"So am I," Jesse agreed. "We're almost finished."

Jesse wasn't sure what response he'd hoped to elicit from his friend with this final announcement, but no reaction was forthcoming. Top simply continued his watch.

Less than a minute later, the sound of blaster fire echoed down the tunnel.

"There's trouble!" Top said loudly back over his shoulder. "We need to go! They might need our help."

The possibility that the rest of the team might need assistance outweighed the general's parting order regarding the occupants of the room.

"Let's go," Cody ordered, leading the way down the tunnel.

The reverberations made it difficult to determine where the activity was coming from.

"Heat signature!" Cody called out, no longer concerned with being discovered. They were well past that now.

The clones activated their HUD scanners. The infrared feature was able to pick up the distinct signature of the heat generated by blaster fire. It showed them the way to go.

They came upon DB, Kix and Denal hunkered down in the tunnel, taking cover behind uneven walls of rock. The enemy's attention was fully focused on those three, allowing Cody and his crew to sneak up unnoticed and after a quick firefight, the tunnel was quiet.

"Where is General Skywalker?" Cody demanded.

"He went up the lift. We stayed down here to give him the chance to get away," DB replied. "The Eagle went with him."

"Do you know where he went?"

"Yes, Commander. I can show you."

They all got into the lift. DB pressed the second button from the top.

"Which way when we got to the top?" Cody asked.

"Eagle will show me."

"I thought he was with General Skywalker," Jesse said.

"He's in a lot of places at once," DB replied. "Don't ask me, I can't explain it."

"Can you tell if he's found Rex?" This again from Cody.

DB turned his attention inward. He was puzzled by the impressions he was receiving. "He . . . he has found the captain, but . . . Eagle is angry, agitated. I don't know why."

The door slid open. The corridor was empty.

"To the right," DB announced.

They began running, following DB's directions.

When DB stopped, they all stopped.

"Here." DB's voice was soft and filled with dread. He stood in front of a large opening. "They're on the other side."

Cody placed a hand on DB's shoulder and nodded his acknowledgment of a job well done. But now it was time to take with him, those whose skills would be most useful at this point. Two of his choices were obvious. Kix for his medical skill, which would certainly be necessary. Echo for his technical and cybernetic abilities. Denal because Cody knew had experience with torture and its aftermath, and with regard to Rex, in particular. Rex had taken comfort in Denal's presence before. Perhaps that would be the base again.

"Kix, Echo, Denal, with me. The rest of you, guard this entrance."

Cody did not take even a moment to corral his thoughts before he set off and rounded the corner of the wall.

His gaze fell directly on the dais. Perched on an insulation-wrapped conduit above it sat the Eagle. There were three dead Copians lying at the foot of the steps. Cody ignored them and directed his attention to the columns of light. Immediately, his attention narrowed to the column on the near end, the only one that mattered. Rex's prison. Across the distance—twenty meters or so—and within the milky haze of the encumbrance, he could discern the signs of torture, but not with clarity. For that, he would have to get closer.

To his left and slightly ahead of him, he saw General Skywalker.

Not moving. Standing like a statue. Fists clenched at his sides.

This was when Cody noticed two more dead Copians on the floor between the general and the dais, as if they had been coming for him and never made it.

Cody motioned to his three teammates to stay back as he approached the general. As much as he himself wanted to go to the dais, to Rex's aid, something told him to proceed with caution.

"General Skywalker?"

Even in profile, Cody could see the tight jaw, the trembling glower. He could feel something dangerous, something barely contained vibrating the air around the general.

When General Skywalker gave no response, Cody tried again.

"General, are you alright?"

Again, only the stone-cold, frightening silence.

Cody motioned to Kix, Echo and Denal. "Get him down," he ordered in a fierce whisper. He had decided that he needed to stay at the general's side. The fact that General Skywalker, now in the place for which he had searched for the past three weeks, and only yards from where Rex was imprisoned, had not gone to him, not gone to free him . . . what was going on in the general's mind?

The three clones raced up to the dais. Echo went to the control panel and set aside his helmet as he went to work on deciphering the console.

Kix also removed his helmet and pulled out his medi-scan.

"Captain? Captain, can you hear me?" Denal inquired, unabashed by the horror he was witnessing.

This was his captain. The man who set the standard against which all other clones measured themselves. The indefatigable. The indestructible. He had been with him for almost three years now, seeing him nearly every day.

And he hardly recognized him.

The strong, powerful body—the one he shared with millions of brothers—had the appearance of a corpse. Worse than a corpse. Gaunt yet swollen in multiple places. Discolored. Broken bones jutting up through the skin. Every part of him was covered with marks, many of which did not correspond with any form of torture with which Denal was familiar.

His face was a mask of horror, and it was only Denal's own insistence on coming on this journey and Cody's faith in his steadfastness that gave him the courage and strength to continue to look upon such abuse.

"What is this field around him?" Denal asked.

"It appears to be a kind of . . . stasis field," Echo replied, "But it's not like anything I've ever seen before. It's . . . feeding all kinds of chemicals into his system."

"What happens if we remove him?" Again from Denal.

"I don't know," Echo answered truthfully.

"Kix?"

"I don't understand this technology, so I have no answer," Kix replied. "I can say that right now, all his vital systems are functioning, but I don't know how much of that is due to all this equipment."

"Captain," Denal tried again. "Captain Rex?" A pause. "Can I put my hand in here? Can I touch him?"

"I don't know," Echo answered curtly. He was busily trying to decipher the control panel.

Denal was not going to wait for a definitive answer. He reached his hand into the field. There was no short-circuiting, only a slight tingling sensation. His gloved fingertips brushed against one battered and bruised temple. "We're here," he whispered. "We're going to get you out of here."

Echo grumbled from the console. "This is . . . I'm afraid if I do the wrong thing, I may end up killing him."

Kix had finished his scan and went to join Echo. "Maybe I can help."

They both worked with calm anxiousness. And then they both stopped at the same time.

"Do you . . . feel that?" Kix asked.

"Yeah."

They all felt it.

The air vibrating around them.

Suddenly, the Eagle tore aware from his perch, screeching as he flew towards the exit.

The vibration escalating to a rumble.

"What the-?"

The floor began to shift beneath them. The pipes along the walls strained and warped. Vials and other implements began to rattle off the shelves.

"Help me! Denal cried out, leaping full into the field to try and shield his captain from the chaos.

Kix joined him, snatching up his helmet, also disregarding the field and raising his arms to protect Rex's head and drawing in as close as he could. Both he and Denal felt things hitting their helmets and body armor. Suddenly, the room had become wild with flickering lights and flashes of sparks as conduits ruptured. A fissure in the rear wall ran up the cross the ceiling, bringing down a shower of rocks and dust. Pipes exploded, spewing steam and raining hell knew what . . .

"What's happening?!" Kix shouted.

"Just . . . hold on!" Denal replied. "Protect the captain!"

Cody, still standing beside General Skywalker, was as at a loss as the rest of them. And then it happened. A glance showed him General Skywalker, placid, steady, unwavering. As part of the ceiling came down directly above them, at the last moment it was deflected – and without even a flinch on the general's behalf.

"This is him . . . this is all him," the commander realized. "He's enraged. He's lost control."

"General Skywalker? General Skywalker!" Cody raised his voice.

And still the commotion continued. A single Copian who ran into the room clutched at this throat and collapsed to the floor.

"General Skywalker, stop!" Cody shouted.

The bedlam stopped. All was silent other than the hissing of broken pipes and the popping of broken electrical wires.

Kix and Denal raised their heads.

They saw General Skywalker approaching from across the room, his movements slow, measured, daunting. The expression on his face was as dark as they had ever seen.

He took the first step up, then the second.

Cody, following behind him, had one hand on the trigger.

At the top of the steps, the general ignited his light saber.

Kix's eyes grew wide. He and Denal both recoiled simultaneously while still attempting to protect their captain.

From the console, Echo took a step forward. "General . . . "

The light saber sliced through the air above their heads with a shower of sparks.

Kix and Denal felt Rex's body collapse into their arms.

The plasma coils around Rex's wrists had been severed and the statis field disrupted.

By General Skywalker.

Cody sprang up the steps as Kix and Denal lowered Rex to the floor.

It might be an understatement to say that the four clones were ashamed for even suspecting the general could do something so heinous as to turn his lightsaber against them. But after his orders down in the vivisection room, they had entertained the thought that he might, upon seeing the damage done to his captain, have decided to put an end to his suffering as well. Or perhaps he might have been infuriated at the clones' inability to free Rex.

Wrong on all accounts.

Were the situation not so dire, they might have wallowed in self-recrimination. But there was no time for that.

"Rex? Rex?" Cody kept his voice calm and reassuring, but he did not even know if his friend was hearing him.

There was no response.

"Is he still alive?" Cody asked in a barely audible voice.

Kix was running another scan, now without the interference of the stasis field. "Yes," he replied. "His readings are starting to . . . waver, but he's holding on."

"Are you all okay?" This was Top's voice from the far side of the room. Following the tremor, he had come to check on the rest of the team.

"We're okay," Denal replied.

"The captain?"

Denal hesitated. "Not good."

Kix looked up at General Skywalker who was standing in the exact same spot from where he had sliced through the field. "General, we need to get him to the nearest clone medical facility. And fast. I can try and stabilize him, but he needs more help than I can give him."

Anakin nodded. He saw, off to his left a hover gurney, and with only a thought, brought it over. He watched without speaking as the others lifted Rex and placed him on the gurney; then he took of his cloak and draped it over and around him.

It was all he could do.

He could not bear to look at the ghastly ramifications of what his inability to find Rex over the past three weeks had wrought. It was too unspeakable, too revolting.

Too incriminating.

How could he have let this happen?

He should have found him sooner. He should have opened himself up to whatever powers, whatever gifts he had so long eschewed. He should have been able to stop this from happening, just as he should have been able to save his mother.

"Commander." His voice was deep like a bottomless pool. "Call Endeavor. Tell them to pick us up outside the northern gate."

Before Cody could question this command, the general went on. He spoke back over his shoulder to where Top still stood just inside the wall. "Captain, contact the men we left as lookouts. Tell them to report to the northern gate."

"Yes, General," Top replied, not sounding nearly as baffled as he felt.

But Cody was more willing to express his confusion. "General, we still have to get out of here. They know we're here—"

"Leave that to me."

And that settled it. With those words, Cody knew better than to argue.

They went to the entrance, guiding the gurney, the commander now staying tight at Rex's side. If they were going to die in the attempt to escape, they would still die as they had always said they would: side-by-side.

Emerging into the corridor, Anakin turned to Double Barrel. "Tell the Eagle to show us the way to the northern gate."

"The . . . direct way? Or the way so we can avoid—"

"The most direct," Anakin replied. "I'm not worried about avoiding anyone. I'm interested in getting my captain to a medical facility."

DB nodded. "Eagle?"

"I heard."

"Can you show us?"

"I must find the way first."

"Then do it fast."

"You can start by going up to the top. That will take you outside. I will find you there. I do not need much time."

"We need to go back to the lift and go up the surface," DB announced.

"Lead the way."

It was a . . . bizarre procession through the corridors. While the sense of urgency was palpable among the clones, General Skywalker seemed unrushed. He moved at a quick clip but not with the purposeful direction he'd shown while they were still searching for Rex.

Around them, all was silence but for the hum and whirr of machinery. From time to time, one of the clones would steal a helmet-concealed glimpse of their captain's face. Yet, even that felt inappropriate under the circumstances. Coming face-to-face with the atrocities would have to wait until they left this somber place. Right now, all was business, and the business was getting out of here.

They passed an open room on their way to lift, and here Sixer stole a glance inside. It stopped him in his tracks.

A handful of Copians. All dead.

He nudged Denal who also looked inside.

The two men exchanged wordless glances, their expressions hidden behind their visors. Yet, neither needed words nor facial features to know what the other was thinking.

What the hell had happened?

They came to the lift. The door opened upon another half dozen dead Copians, all dressed in the uniformed garb of the facility guards.

Anakin stepped over and around them and into the lift, as if they did not exist.

The rest of the team squeezed in, and again no one said a word as the lift ascended.

Here they were, surrounded by the bodies of dead Copians, and everyone was acting as if they didn't even see them.

They got out of the lift at ground level, and here, as promised, DB's eagle rejoined him. He was not the physical manifestation of earlier. No, this time he maintained his sanctuary inside DB's being.

"Follow me. I will take you outside. We are not far from the gate. Do not stop. Do not look. This was an evil place, and now he has made it a cemetery."

"What are you—"

"Follow me and do not stray. You do not want to see."

Double Barrel led them down one corridor then another shorter one. Here, he stopped at a door. "Eagle says to go outside."

Anakin nodded.

"It leads into the street, General," DB warned. "There will be Copians out there."

"No, there won't," Anakin replied. "Open the door. We don't have time to waste."

Emerging into the open air—or the open air between two buildings—felt like liberation. Despite the caution and fear of being seen, despite the fact that they still had to get to their ship, the clones could not help but feel that they had at least made it through the deepest levels of hell.

Up ahead, Jesse spotted two stealthy figures, black against the night.

"That's Dogma and Sempe," he announced.

Sixer's breath trailed out of him in relief. "I'll comm them, let them know we're behind them," he said. "Last thing we need is a friendly fire incident." No sooner had he sent them the message than he saw the two clones stop and wait for their companions to catch up.

Sempe's gaze fell upon the image of his captain, and never one to give voice to his emotions, he could not stifle a cry of anguish. "Embleer! What have they done to him?"

Sixer put his hand on Sempe's shoulder. "Our job now is to get him safely out here."

Dogma spoke up. "I don't think that's going to be too hard. They're all dead. Or every single one we've seen is dead."

Now, the procession stopped. Except for Anakin. He continued walking, and when the gurney stopped, he dragged his hand out behind him and it began moving again.

"Every one?" Jesse asked.

"Every one we've seen," Dogma replied. "There was an . . . earthquake or something, and the next thing we knew, we stopped seeing any Copians walking around. No more patrols, nothing." One thing to be said for Dogma: he was not one to sugarcoat or try to ease into a difficult topic. "When Top called up to tell us to report to the gate, we got moving. And that's when we started seeing all the dead ones. Dozens of them. We haven't seen a single one still alive. Do you think the earthquake released some kind of gas toxic to them and killed them all?"

"Keep walking," Cody ordered quietly. "And leave that subject for some other time. Our priority is getting Rex out of here."

"Yes, Commander," both Dogma and Jesse said in unison.

Up ahead of him, Cody saw Double Barrel turn and look over his shoulder.

"He knows," the commander realized. "Of course, he does. The Eagle knows, and what the Eagle knows, so does DB."

The trek to the gate continued uncontested. It was as Dogma had said. Dead Copians at every turn. Dead Copians without any outward sign of injury.

Dead Copians killed by General Skywalker. Killed by his wrath. Killed by the Force.

And all . . . .

Cody swallowed down his uneasiness as he approached the gurney again.

All because of Rex.


"This seems crazy to me, brother," Zinger doubted out loud. "How can it be safe to just fly in there, fly right up to the gate and land? That's nutso."

"If Commander Cody says to do it, then that's what we're going to do," Three Point replied.

"He didn't even say if they'd found Captain Rex," Zinger went on.

"They wouldn't be calling for a lift out if they hadn't. It's like General Skywalker said. They weren't going to leave here without him."

"I hope you're right and this isn't some Copian trick," the co-pilot fretted.

"If it is, then we'll deal with it when the time comes. You got the flight path laid in or are we going visual?"

"Visual, of course. Just let me load these terrain overlays."

A few minutes later they were underway.

And a few seconds after that, Major Swin was on the bridge.

"What are you doing? I thought General Skywalker told you to wait here?"

"Commander Cody called us in," Zinger replied neutrally.

"Then they found Rex?"

"That's what the commander said." This, again, from Zinger.

"So, General Skywalker was right. He really was here." She paused but with no sense of shame at how wrong she had been. "Is Rex alright?"

"We didn't get any details," Zinger answered. "We'll find out when we rendez-vous." Then, a thought occurred to him. "You can make yourself useful by getting the med bay ready."

"Yes, I can do that," Major Swin agreed eagerly, anxious to be of some use.

In short order, they were airborne and on their way in.

"Tracking networks have picked us up," Zinger reported. "We've got a stretch on us."

"Well, then we can expect company soon," Three-Point said with a bit of a dead-pan grimace.

"Stealth mode might still make it hard for them to get any telemetry on us."

"They don't need telemetry if they can track us to the point where they can blow us out of the sky," Three-Point gave a wry reply. "Just keep an eye out for any incoming."

"Will do."

Two minutes later, they were setting down roughly 100 meters from the northern gate.

"No sign of them," Zinger stated, a hint of suspicion creeping into his voice.

"Comm Commander Cody," Three-Point instructed.

"Commander, Cody, this is Endeavor, do you copy?"

After a heart-pounding few seconds, Cody's voice came over the comm.

"We're almost there, but Pitch and Ajax should already be there."

As if on cue, two black figures could be seen moving through the open gate.

"Yes, I think we've got them. Zing, put an id tracer on them," Three-Point ordered.

"Uh, this is a civilian ship, TP," Zinger replied. "There is no id tracer."

"Enh! Well, keep an eye on them as they approach."

Indeed, the two figures were Pitch and Ajax. Zinger lowered the boarding ramp as they approached and went back to meet them. Not long after that, General Skywalker's larger party came through the gate.

As Anakin and his group boarded, Cody turned to Zinger. "Set course for the nearest clone medical facility. Top speed."

Zinger, catching only a glimpse as the gurney bearing Captain Rex whisked past, nodded once. "Is it bad?"

Cody drew a deep breath that, no matter how he tried, still had a tremble in it. "Very bad." He then followed the gurney into Endeavor's medical station.

As an advanced and exceptionally fine piece of machinery, Endeavor's medical facilities were impressive, capable of handling anything from a splinter to minor surgery to low-grade bacta compressing.

Kix had made himself familiar with the med station during the three weeks of searching, and he felt well-versed in its capabilities. But dealing with this . . . what could possibly have prepared him for this? Battlefield injuries might be more gruesome, but they had the spontaneity of war as their cause. The injuries with which he was dealing now had been planned, calculated for maximum effect, and worse—they had been inflicted without the intent to kill, only the intent to cause pain and fear.

And they were grotesque. Grotesque beyond words.

Yet, as a medic, he was used to putting the grotesque into words. He did so in the countless battlefield reports he'd rendered over the years. And then there were the things he had seen on Kamino—

"No. Don't go there. This isn't like that. Fek, it's exactly like that. That's in the past. This is what's happening now, and he's going to die if you can't figure out how to keep him alive. Fek everything else. Do your damned job. If he dies, everything is lost. Everything that he fought for, everything he did for you."

"Let's get him on the table. We need to activate the stasis field now," he ordered. He imagined Endeavor's stasis field was nothing like the ones they had on Copia, but all it had to do was slow down the captain's bodily functions long enough to get to the nearest medical facility.

"Got it." This was from Major Swin who ran her fingers nimbly over the console. And she did it correctly. The blue shimmer of the stasis field rose up around the examination table.

Without looking at her, Kix inquired as he worked, "Do you have medical experience?"

"No," she replied. "Zinger just told me to get the med bay ready. I knew you would want the stasis field, so I made sure I knew how to activate it."

"Well, this ship doesn't have a medical droid, so I'm going to need help from the rest of you," Kix stated.

"What can we do, Kix?" Pitch asked. "Just tell us."

"I need room. You can't all be here at the table," Kix pointed out the obvious, as he himself was having trouble finding elbow room against the press of anxious troopers around him. "Pitch, Denal, both of you stay to assist. Everyone else, please . . . back up. There's plenty of room without you all looking right over my shoulder."

Cody shuffled the others back. The med bay had two beds in addition to the examination table. There were also several chairs, some near the beds, others in the exam area and at a computer desk. It was as Kix had said: there was plenty of room. Getting the men to willingly move back—that was a task better left to the Commander.

But once they had all found places and the helmets came off, Cody was dismayed—though not surprised—to see the forlorn, tormented expressions on the men's faces. He understood their melancholy. After searching and hoping for three weeks, they had found the man for whom they'd been looking. They'd found him in desperate condition, unconscious and not aware of their presence, not aware of his deliverance. And even though he was still alive, it was understandable that they must all be wondering if they'd arrived too late. Cody himself shared that thought.

He stood in the doorway from the corridor and watched. Watched not only Kix and his two assistants, but watched the rest of the men, trying to gauge their states of mind, ready to step in when and if needed. Admittedly, his eyes were drawn most frequently to Kix and the steady hand at work, trying to save his captain's life.

The one gaze he did not meet was that of General Skywalker.

For the general was not in the medical bay.

Cody was not sure where he had gone, and he was finding it hard to suppress the growing anger he felt inside at the fact that the general was not in the one place where he was most needed. In looking at the faces around him, he could see it—sense it: the 501st troopers were at a loss, and in more ways than one. They were suffering, and their general was not present to share and allay that suffering. Cody's blood was simmering.

"I think . . . he seems fairly stable for now," Kix announced, his voice coming in a heavy sigh.

A sharp, shallow gasp signaled perhaps a moment of consciousness.

"Commander," Kix summoned, but Cody was already halfway across the room.

"Rex?" Looking down into the face of the man whom he had thought of as more than a friend, more than brother . . . almost a part of himself, he suddenly realized just how ghastly Rex's injuries were. He could see, beneath the oxygen mask, very little whole flesh. Everything was damaged, marred, ruined. The blackened pits where Rex's eyes had once been was almost more than Cody could bear. And yet, he did not flinch, did not turn his gaze away, did not waver in the face of what he was seeing. He did not contemplate the source of his own strength. He knew only that being here now, at this moment, was the most important thing he would ever do in his entire life. This was where he needed to be, where he should be, where he wanted to be. It was the love of a brother, yet so far beyond that, he could not even explain it to himself.

He slipped the gauntlet off his wrist and removed one glove. He did not want to have the cold touch of encumbrance to come between them as he reached into the field and put his hand carefully over Rex's.

"Rex, I'm here. We're all here. We've got you. You're free," Cody said in a quiet voice, uncharacteristically tender for the commander.

"Cody." Just a single word. A whisper.

It was enough.

Cody knew his sense of relief was premature, even foolhardy. But hearing Rex's voice—feeble as it was—after all the fear and the searching felt like a mist had lifted. "Yes, yes. It's over. You're safe now. We're going to get you to someone who can help."

No further words were forthcoming.

But then Cody felt a slight squeeze of his fingers, which he returned.

"Rest now. Just rest."


"General, we've got everything in hand up here if you want to head back to check on Captain Rex," Three Point offered. "Course is set for the clone medical facility at Temburra. We'll keep you informed if anything comes up."

"That's fine, Three Point, but I'll be of more use up here," came the cool response.

Three Point and Zinger regarded each other with an unspoken quandary. What the hell was General Skywalker doing up on the flight deck when his first-in-command, the whole reason for this illicit mission, was fighting for his life back in the medical bay.

"As you wish, Sir," Three Point conceded, "But if you decide you want to go back there, you know you can trust us."

"I know that."

But he'd be damned if he was going back there. He'd seen all he needed to see. His reaction to what he had seen had been fitting, if unplanned and uncontrolled. But he would not look upon his captain again. He would not subject himself to the burdensome guilt, the remorse. He had already failed Rex in every way that mattered. He'd not been there to stop him from being taken. He'd not been there to stop him from being tortured to the very precipice of death. The first-in-command who had never let him down, never questioned or second-guessed him, never shied away from any and every crazy scheme he'd concocted, who had supported and believed him even when the Jedi Council had not . . .

And how had he repaid such loyalty?

"He needed you, and you let him down. You saw what they did to him. He went through that—he went through all that, and you weren't there to stop it."

His stomach was twisted in knots. Every muscle was tensed to the point of pain.

He had allowed this to happen and now . . . even if Rex survived, how would he ever forgive him?

"General, do you want us to send a subspace message to Temburra to let them know we're coming?" Zinger inquired, interrupting the silent self-flagellation going on behind him.

"No. No message. We can alert them when we're closer," Anakin replied. "I don't want to take the risk of getting intercepted before we get there. Don't forget: we're all still AWOL, and by now, they've probably classified us as deserters."

"Let them," Three Point said forcefully. "They let one of the greatest officers the GAR has ever known be taken prisoner and tortured, and they weren't going to do a damned thing about it. They weren't going to look for him. After all Captain Rex has given them, after all he's done for them, they couldn't even be bothered to at least try and save him."

Anakin listened with a sense of wonderment. What he was hearing from Three Point mirrored his own thoughts. GAR leadership had written Rex off as a regrettable but acceptable loss. The Jedi Council had decided it was not worth it to try and find him. Perhaps, if they had lent their skills, Anakin could have found Rex sooner, and the horror that had been visited upon him could have been prevented.

So much could have been prevented.

Even a deserved annihilation.


"Damn . . . open that valve all the way. Increase the bendalirm drip to full," Kix ordered.

Forty minutes had passed since their departure from Copia, and suddenly Kix was seeing things he did not like.

He watched the monitors anxiously to see if the suppressant had any effect on slowing Rex's increasing heart rate.

"Fek, nothing." He kept his fretting internal. Aloud, he said to Denal, "Sound scan from head to foot."

Denal, having already run such a scan several times since being conscripted as a medical assistant, knew the procedure.

As the scanner moved slowly down Rex's body, Kix's placid demeanor was put to the test. This was bad, and he could see no reason for it.

"Pitch, see if they have coagulant in any of those drawers."

As Pitch moved to start looking, Major Swin spoke up, "Second drawer on your right. I saw it there when I was prepping the room."

And sure enough, there it was in its pristine, crystalline vials. Ten of them, lined up neatly in the drawer.

"Put two in the infuser," Kix ordered, and Pitch complied. As Kix injected the liquid into the crook where neck met shoulder, he held his breath. "Scan again."

"Fek . . .fek," he hissed as the scan revealed its secrets. "This is—this is impossible."

Cody, who had stepped back to make room for Pitch and Denal, now moved closer again. "What is it, Kix?"

"He's just . . . hemorrhaging . . . in multiple places, all at once and . . . I can't stop it."

"I thought he was stable." This from Jesse, standing next to Top where they had both propped themselves against one of the beds.

"He was, but this—it just started out of nowhere, just all of the sudden," Kix replied. "Give me the cauterizer—"

"Kix, look," Pitch interjected, indicating where blood that had only been oozing before was now freely flowly from various wounds. "It's—it's everywhere."

"I'm going to try and cauterize some of the surface vessels, but I'm not a surgeon," Kix explained hurriedly. "I can't go inside and . . . " A pause. "It's like he's . . . he's melting inside. Everything is disintegrating." He looked up at Cody and with a fear that only someone as experienced as the commander could perceive, spoke gravely, "He's not going to make to Temburra."

Cody took this announcement with the professionalism of his position. He would grieve later.

The turning point had come.

Rex was going to die. But at least he was going to die here in the company of friends, surrounded by protectors instead of tormentors. Any bodily pain he felt could be mitigated. His death would be quiet and painless.

"How long?"

"Unless I can find a way to stop or slow this down . . . an hour," Kix choked out. "Maybe less." A pause as he pounded one fist against the table, swearing under his breath.

"Do what you can," Cody said with quiet reassurance.

He turned and headed to the flight deck. He had a mission to accomplish.


Anakin knew it was Cody before even seeing him.

And he had a good idea of the reason for the commander's visit.

"How is he?"

Cody came and stood beside General Skywalker, noticing that the general kept his gaze focused on the starfield straight ahead.

"He's dying," Cody replied.

Silence.

At length, General Skywalker spoke. "Zinger, how far to Temburra?"

"At top speed . . . ten more hours, Sir," Zinger replied.

"He won't make it, General," Cody informed him. "Kix says he's hemorrhaging, and there's nothing he can do to stop it. He has less than an hour."

Anakin did not speak. What he could possibly say? Nothing was going to make this better. He couldn't undo what was going on behind him in the medical bay. He couldn't turn back time. He couldn't work miracles.

He couldn't watch his captain die. He just couldn't.

At last, he went up and stood directly behind Zinger's chair, as if he needed to put some distance between him and the commander. "Scan every system, every planet between here and Temburra. Find anyplace that has adequate medical facilities."

"Yes, General."

But if Anakin thought his movement to the front of the flight deck might dissuade the commander, he was wrong. Cody stepped right up beside him again. "You . . . might want to go back there, General," he suggested.

Anakin hesitated then shook his head very slowly. "I can't help him. I'd just be in the way. I'm of better use up here on the flight deck."

"Sir . . . he needs you. They need you. You should be back here with them."

Finally, Anakin turned to face Cody. He was stunned at the commander's stalwart expression, the emotions so carefully held at bay. And it occurred to him that Cody was a stronger man than he was. He felt a bit rueful about this realization, but it also was a perfect excuse to let himself off the hook.

"You go, Cody," he insisted. "You're one of them. They're your brothers. You can understand better what they're going through."

Cody almost scowled. "With all due respect, General Skywalker. I'm not the one they need. You are their Jedi. You're the one they're waiting for to come back there and lead them through this. I just won't do in this case. I can't be strong enough for everyone."

Anakin heard these heartfelt words, but still he hesitated. "You don't understand, Commander," he protested, his face forced into impenetrable stone by the emotions threatening to overwhelm him. And he did not want to be overwhelmed again. "He's my captain, and I don't want to see him like that. I don't want to remember him like that."

Now, Cody had had just about enough. "He's their captain, too, General. And not only are they seeing him like that, but they're ready to be there with him as he dies." He was about to venture into dangerous waters. "And if you don't go back there, it will forever change the way they see you. It will forever change the way I see you. Rex was the best the GAR had to offer, and he thought of you as the greatest general, the greatest Jedi—" His voice caught for a moment. "He deserves better than this. You know he deserves better than this—"

"That's enough, Commander!" Anakin was stunned by his own outburst. And now that it was out there, how did he take it back? Should he take it back?

"General Skywalker!" Zinger's voice defused the situation, drawing both men's attention.

Grateful for the interruption, Anakin took him up immediately. "What is it, Zinger?"

"General, we're in Sector 8H," he replied.

"8H? And?"

But Cody immediately knew the ramifications of this statement. "Bertegad?"

"Yes, Commander."

"How far?"

"Mmm . . . two hours?"

"Rex doesn't have two hours," Cody replied.

"If we make it a hyperbolic loop, that would shave off twenty minutes or so, but—"

"Do it," Anakin ordered.

"It will clean out our fuel cells. We'll only get one shot at landing," Zinger insisted on finishing his thought.

"One shot is all Three Point needs," Cody said, putting hand on the pilot's shoulder. "Besides, he's done it before."

"Not by choice, I might remind you, Commander," Three Point chimed in. "But we'll make it, with fuel to spare. Zing—"

"Inputting course."

Cody turned to General Skywalker. "If any race of people has the technology to help him, the Bertegadans do. Or, at least the Monastica does."

This flicker of hope did not deserve to be extinguished, but Anakin was cautious. "It still might not be enough to save him . . . even if we do get there in time."

"There's a chance," Cody said. "I'll take any chance, no matter how small." He turned and headed back to the corridor.

"Commander. Wait. I'll come with you."

/

NOTE: Congratulations to Jessica Wolfe for her prescience with regard to Bertegad! The scenes with the "earthquake" and then Cody/Anakin are two of my oldest scenes, written ages ago. Pretty much the whole story was building to these moments (although there is still a lot more to come). Yes, Anakin's reaction to finding Rex in the condition he was in might seem a bit over-the-top, but I went for it anyway. More on that to come in future chapters.