DESTINY - CHAPTER 12
Rex's next objective was infiltration into the camp to identify and take out as many hostiles as quickly and quietly as possible. He jogged into the forest heading back the way he'd come, fading into the shadows. Dawn was approaching and soon the advantage of morning twilight would be gone.
As he moved through the trees Rex updated his battle assessment. An Aurore-class freighter had a maximum crew compliment of ten. His search of the ship led him to believe it was carrying close to a full crew, so he had to plan on at least ten pirates. He'd already taken out four. That left six possible active hostiles.
The pirates were here for slaves, so they wouldn't be looking to kill anyone outright. Rex knew the Falleen were merciless, but they were also driven by profit. Killing a slave meant a loss of profit. Their hesitation would give him the advantage he would need to turn back their attack.
As Rex approached a group of huts furthest from the camp's center he heard the distinctive gravelly, bass voices of two Falleen males. He crept up to the closest hut and hugged the wall, listening to the pirates on the other side.
"No skug stragglers out here," the first voice said.
"This is the easiest money we've made in a long time," said the second pirate.
Rex felt his blood begin to boil. It was one thing for enemies to meet in combat, both adversaries understanding and accepting that violence was the inherent result of their conflict. Rex held no malice toward the Falleen in general. They were acting toward him as he knew they would, just as he would fight them in return.
But for the strong to perpetrate violence against the weak, to harm innocent noncombatants, to take away their freedom — that was the epitome of terrorism. And Rex would not let these pirates terrorize this community.
Rex could hear the pirates walking toward his side of the hut, so he circled around to the other side, planning to sneak up behind them and catch them by surprise. He peeked around the corner and saw his strategy had been sound, both pirates were walking away, their backs to him. Rex pulled out both shock wands, palms ready to clench down on their activation buttons. He moved out from behind the hut stepping rapidly toward his targets. Before he could close the distance his boot snapped a twig. Both pirates spun to face him, shock wands raised.
With his surprise attack thwarted, Rex shifted to an all-out frontal assault. He ducked his shoulder, sprinted forward and rammed his pauldron into the chest of the closest pirate, hitting him hard and knocking him to the ground.
The other pirate closed on Rex, igniting his wand. Instead of backing away, Rex stepped close, inside the pirate's guard, neutralizing the use of wands for both of them. But hand-to-hand combat was second nature to Rex. He dropped one of his wands and with that hand he grabbed the back of the pirate's head and pulled it toward him. Then he rammed his other elbow into the pirate's jaw. He struck a second time, and then a third before the huge pirate finally slumped to the ground.
The few seconds he'd taken to incapacitate the second pirate hadn't been enough for the first pirate to fully recover. Rex turned to find him barely rising to his knees, wheezing hard. Rex pushed his remaining stun wand into the pirate's chest, throwing him on his back. A second strike to his neck knocked the pirate out cold.
Rex knew the fight had been fast and quiet, but he still scanned his perimeter to see if the skirmish had caught anyone's attention. No one was in sight, not even any of the camp residents. He could hear crying, shouting and cursing through the trees about fifty meters from his location. But the trees, and the huts scattered under them, blocked any direct line of sight.
He struggled to drag the large pirates to a tree with a trunk as thick as his torso. He laid them out with their faces in the snow and their arms wrapped around the trunk's base, as if they were clasping each other's hands. Rex used his last two sets of restraining cuffs to attach the pirates' wrists to each other, forming a ring around the trunk. When they woke, they'd be stuck and out of the fight.
Rex's boot made quick work of smashing the pirate's com links. He tossed their blasters and stun wands up onto the hut's roof, out of sight. He knew even if they got loose they'd never think to look for their gear up there.
Six down. Four to go.
Rex retrieved his stun wands and moved out. He didn't head directly toward the shouting, opting to weave his way through the camp, using the huts and trees for cover. As he crept quietly between huts he encountered no clan members. Knowing how pirates operated, he assumed all the camp's inhabitants had most likely been herded into the center clearing. The two Falleen he'd just taken out were probably searching the camp for any clan members that had been missed in the pirates' initial sweep.
As Rex grew closer to the camp's center the acrid smell of smoke drifted to him. He looked up through the trees and saw a thick, gray plume swirling up into the sky. Probably the result of one of the explosions he'd heard right after the pirates had landed.
The sound of voices came to his ears. The loud, aggressive voices of pirates and the subdued, terrified voices of their captives.
Rounding the corner of a hut, he could see through the trees into a large clearing. He ducked back behind the corner, barely leaning his head out so he could take in the situation.
The clearing was about twenty-five meters across. Rex estimated close to one hundred prisoners huddled in small groups across the snow crusted ground. Two large Falleen males stood guard. An energy shield dome covered the clearing, keeping the prisoners contained. Its power generator stood in the middle of the clearing, one of the guards standing next to it.
Rex mentally updated his battle plan with new objectives.
He could only account for two of the remaining four pirates. He was pretty sure that ten pirates had come on their ship. He'd taken out six. With the two in the shield dome, that left two more pirates somewhere in the camp. He needed to neutralize the two inside the shield and destroy the generator before the other pirates returned.
That shouldn't be a problem because the pirates couldn't use their blasters inside the shield without laser bolts ricocheting off the shield wall, bouncing around like panicked porgs in a nesting ground. They wouldn't risk cutting into their profit by accidentally killing their captives, much less themselves. Even injured, Rex was confident he could take down the two pirates in close quarters combat, especially with his shock wands.
But that meant he'd have to find a way to get inside the shield.
As Rex tried to devise a plan to infiltrate the shield he heard faint voices coming from the other side of the hut. He circled to the back and peered around the other side. Twenty meters away a dozen clan members were being marched along a footpath toward the clearing by the remaining two pirates. They were probably another mop-up crew, collecting stragglers. The path would pass close to the hut Rex was hiding behind. And that gave Rex an idea.
Rex moved to the back of the hut and quickly stripped off his armor, keeping only his boots and blacks on. He tucked a shock wand up inside each of his long sleeves, resting their length along the inside of his arms. He palmed the bottoms of the hilts and held his arms close to his sides. Rex smiled at his ingenuity. The wands were well hidden and he could deploy them fast by grasping the left wand with his right hand and the right wand with his left hand and simultaneously pull them out of his sleeves by raising his arms in front of him and spreading them apart.
As the pirates and their captives passed by the hut Rex, hunched his shoulders and put on his best terrified expression. He stumbled out from behind the hut, looked at the pirates and gasped in mock terror.
"Hey, you. Freeze," one of the pirates commanded.
Rex stood still, pretending the shake with fear.
"Get in line, skug," the other pirate said, pointing at the other prisoners.
"Please … please don't hurt me," Rex pleaded.
"Start walking," the pirate said, prodding Rex hard with his deactivated shock wand. The wand hit the burn on Rex's back and he let out a hiss of pain as he struggled to keep his step from faltering.
As they approached the clearing a section of the shield melted away and the pirates marched Rex and the others inside. The shield gap closed and the pirates pushed them toward the other captives.
"Go stand with the rest of the skugs and keep quiet," one of the pirates snarled.
Rex melted into the mass of captives. Their heads were bowed, trying to avoid eye contact with the Falleen who towered over them. None of the clan members seemed to notice that their clone captive was in their midst.
Rex continued slowly making his way toward where Waunado, Reesa, Manami, Dian'thy and T'annon were huddled together. He would need their help to get the clan members to run when he deactivated the shield generator.
As he inched his way through the crowd Rex caught some of the chatter between the guards. They'd discovered their comrades weren't responding to coms.
"… hasn't checked in, either," said one pirate to the largest Falleen with a long purple pony tail dropping down behind his bald green head. He seemed to be the defacto leader of the group.
"What about the ship?" the leader asked.
"Negative."
"You can't reach any of them?"
"No, Sir."
The leader scowled, rubbing his chin. "Something's happened," he said.
He turned and glowered at the dozens of captives crowded together in the clearing.
"There is no escape," he shouted. "You have nowhere to run and nothing can penetrate this shield. Tell me who or what has taken my men. Tell me now or you will suffer."
Heads rose, staring at the leader, then turning to each other in confusion.
Rex continued toward Manami and the others. Dian'thy held T'annon close in front of him, his hands protectively on her shoulders. Reesa was scanning the crowd and her gaze fell on Rex. Her eyes shot open and her jaw dropped. Rex gave his head a shake. She got the message, averting her gaze and remaining silent.
The leader walked to the edge of the crowd and grabbed a middle-aged human female by her long hair, dragging her with him as he stepped back. He forced her to her knees and ignited his shock wand.
"Tell me, you worthless skugs," he yelled, his rage palpable. "Tell me, or she will suffer for your silence."
No one spoke. The leader drove the shock wand into the woman's side and she screamed.
He pulled the wand back. "Tell me now!"
Still the crowd was silent.
He drove the wand back into the woman's side.
Her scream tore at every fiber in Rex's body. He needed to stop this torture. But if he revealed his presence now it would jeopardize his plan to free the rest of the clan.
The leader shocked the woman again. Her scream trailed off into a moan of agony. By now she was barely conscious, the Falleen's fist around her hair the only reason she was still on her knees. Another shock would probably be fatal.
Rex elbowed his way through the crowd, breaking through the ranks and stopping a dozen yards from the leader.
"Let her go," Rex growled.
The leader scowled at Rex. Then he looked confused. After a moment his eyes widened in surprise.
"You're a clone," he said.
Rex pushed out a frustrated breath. He had hoped to keep his identity as a soldier hidden as long as possible.
"What?" another pirate said in confusion. "Nah, boss. He's just a straggler we picked up."
"No," the leader said. "He's a clone."
"He can't be," said another pirate. "Clones don't have long blond hair and beards."
"I've dealt with clone troopers," the leader said. "This man is a clone. That would explain what's happened to our brethren." The leader shoved his finger at Rex. "Take him."
The other three pirates drew their blasters.
"No blasters you idiots!" the leader shouted. "Think about where you are. Any skug dies from a deflected bolt and Arbordahl will skin you alive. They are for him to kill. He'll make the Togruta echuta pay."
The Falleen holstered their blasters. The leader ignited his shock wand and the other three followed suit. They fanned out around Rex, beginning to close the distance.
A murmur rippled through the captives. They started to push back toward the shield wall away from the battle taking shape in front of them.
Rex began to sidestep, widening the distance between the captives and the brewing battle. When he'd moved as far as he could he stopped. The Falleen stayed back several meters, forming a circle around him, their shock wands sizzing and snapping.
"Be cautious," the leader said. "He's a soldier, not a farmer."
One of the other pirates scoffed. "It's four against one. He'll be down, out and cuffed before he knows it."
Rex shot one last look toward T'annon. Her eyes were wide, tears streaming down her cheek. She was terrified. Rex was pretty sure it was for him, as much as for herself. He nodded to her, giving her as confident a look as he could. Today she would not become a slave again. He would die before he'd let that happen.
"Make it easy on yourself, clone. Surrender," the leader said, pulling Rex's attention back to the four Falleen surrounding him.
Rex locked eyes with the leader as he raised his arms, grasping the shock wands hidden in his sleeves. He pulled them out with one, long, slow motion, bringing them alive with a menacing pop and sizzle.
The four Falleen stopped dead. They threw uncertain glances at each other as they suddenly realized their prey would not be an easy capture.
Rex pushed out a long, slow breath, calming his mind and his body, settling into a fighting stance just as General Skywalker had instructed him over the past year. As he exhaled, his breath turned to steam. The morning air seeped through his blacks, chilling his bones. But he didn't feel the cold. Instead, he felt his body responding to his commands, ready to be the weapon he'd trained it to be since before he could remember.
Dawn had arrived and stripped him of his tactical advantages. The shadows of predawn no longer hid him from enemy eyes. His armor lay on the ground, its stalwart protection gone. His skill as a warrior had been revealed, removing the element of surprise. He was faced with an enemy force four times larger than his own. And he was injured and tired and hurting.
But Rex had two things his opponents didn't.
The absolute conviction that T'annon, nor any of the clan members, would see the inside of a slaver's cage.
And his training from Jedi Master, Anakin Skywalker, in the ancient Jedi martial art of Jar'Kai — the art of wielding two blades.