For the first time that day Rex finally had a second to breath. He sat back into his office chair with a sigh. He had been running around like crazy trying to get everything loaded aboard for the mission and make sure everything was accounted for. He sat back, hands behind his head and his eyes closed.
Even though he was still his mind raced. Numbers, strategies, plans, and backup plans. The 501st was well on their way to a planet in the Outer Rim. Grievous had been spotted and the Jedi council had dispatched them to go try and capture the Seperatist slimebag.
Rex's moment of peace lasted for approximately 0.2 seconds and was absolutely shattered by the ear piercing wail of a siren blasting through the ship. The imminent attack alarm. His heart rate spiked and he was set off into action once more. He quickly dawned his helmet and raced for the armory.
As he ran, he checked in with the different squadrons within his battalion. The fighters were already gearing up and heading to their jets. The ground troopers were preparing for enemies breaching their defense, they would be posted around the ship. The medics were preparing the medbay to receive any injured.
Cricket was there at the armory quickly passing out everyone's blasters as they rushed through on their way to their battle stations. He spotted a blue lined helmet as he was exiting the room, now armed. He barked out an order for Echo to take his platoon and guard the lower level access port.
They dashed off, and Rex comm'd General Skywalker, "Sir, what's going on up there?"
"Ah Captain," he replied just a bit too cheerfully, "we are just making some friends."
"Is it Seppies, sir?"
"I don't think so. The hyperdrive glitched and somehow knocked us out of hyperspace. Right in front of a seperatist convoy, but we think that the ships have been taken by another hostile group," the Jedi answered.
"All troops have been sent to their battle stations. The Fighter squadron is gearing up now. Should be ready in under three minutes. Where do you want me General?"
"Come to the bridge, I want you and Ahsoka up here directing the battle while I go and take out these tin cans with the fighters," Rex could hear the padawan protest in the background just before the transmission cut off.
He grabbed his dual blasters and headed towards the bridge, maybe there he would get more answers about their attackers. The doors opened to reveal the bridge to him; Asoka was standing next to Admiral Yularen watching out over the observatory deck. Rex approached and greeted his superiors with a salute.
He watched the way that the Seperatist ships were responding to the attacks. Something about the situation seemed off, as if they were not performing to the usual separatist code.
"Who is commanding that lead ship?" he asked
The Admiral responded, "we were asking that very question, the attackers have yet to respond to our calls."
The three officers frowned, watching as the fighters made their way towards the lead ship. Laser bolts lit up the darkness of empty space, red and blue conflicting. The shields were holding well. No missiles had been used as of yet, just the blaster cannons.
This battle was sudden and confusing. They had randomly been knocked out of hyperspace and drawn into battle with a Seperatist convoy that wasn't acting like a Separatist convoy. Rex still didn't understand how a glitch could have caused the ship to stop in the middle of hyperspace. Something had to be wrong with the cruiser if that had happened. Perhaps a malfunction in the engines?
"Snips," came Anakin's voice from the communicator, "you're going to want to see this."
A holo projection popped up in front of them. It was a still grab from the command fighter that Anakin was piloting. The droids in the enemy's bridge seemed normal, except for the war paint on all of them. The most out of place thing was the flag hung behind the command chair.
"Zoom in. What is that symbol? It's not seppie," Commander Tano ordered.
"That's a Death Watch flag," stated Admiral Yularen, "what in the world are they doing on that ship?"
Sure enough there was the Death Watch symbol on the flag at the back of the Seperatist bridge. The image zoomed back out and they could see a few humanoids in the bridge, one sitting on the command chair.
"Isn't attacking a ship of this class a bit out of their league? I thought they were Mandalorian terrorists" Rex asked.
"I thought so too, but they seem to have captured an entire separatist fleet, I don't think that they particularly care how big their opponent is right now," Skywalker piped in from the still open comm channel.
"Well this will be the last time they think like that. Let's take em down boys," Ashoka said, hitting her fist into her palm.
Rex smiled at her resolve and observed as the battle was waged. With the Admiral, General, and Commander all participating and commanding this battle there wasn't much he was doing. So he put his attention on his troops. He shuffled people from post to post, moving many of them to the main hangar to assist with the few fighters who were starting to come in with minor damages. No one had been hurt so far, he hoped it stayed that way.
Lasers were being fired at the attacking ships. Fighters and Vulture droids were zooming through the space between the Republic and the Separatist ships. While the tactics were skilled, they did not seem to be a match for the practiced expertise that the GAR held.
Missiles were armed and aimed at the Resolute. Alarms wailed through the air. Rex shouted for the shields to be directed to the front of the cruiser. Just in time too, the shield blocked most of the missiles. One or two made it through the shield and hit the front of the ship. No hull breach but damage was damage.
The Republic was quick to respond with missiles of their own. The General wanted to question the leaders of the fleet so they targeted the engines. The attempt to cripple the ships drew their attention away from launching more missiles at the Republic fleet.
Soon the enemy gunners were taken out, the droids were blown to pieces. This seemed to convince the attackers to answer the Republic's transmissions.
The holopad lit up and showed a Mandalorian in full armor, Ashoka was the first to speak, "we have you beaten. Surrender."
"That is not the way of the Mandalore. Don't you want to know who we are?" the man asked with a cool and even tone. This was not the voice of a man who had been beaten at all.
Rex took the short pause to assess the man who spoke over the holochanel. He wore grey Mandalorian armor that had obviously seen many battles if the blaster marks were anything to go off of. The helmet was the same gunmetal grey with markings painted above the narrow T-visor. The paintings on the helmet were not unlike the Jaig eyes on Rex's own helmet.
Jai'galaara'la, the Shriek-Hawk. He remembered learning about the Shriek-Hawk when being trained on Kamino. The Mandalorians who trained the officers and Rex himself had told them about the symbol. Given to him for Battle Honor. He wore his markings with pride.
Rex was unsettled seeing the Hawk as the symbol of the Death Watch. They were terrorists, bringers of chaos. They did not want peace for their people and actively tried to disrupt it. To Rex that was anything but honorable.
"I know all I need to, terrorist scum," Ashoka hissed back, calling Rex's attention back to the conversation.
"Well, I think introductions are in order anyway. I am Pre Vizsla, leader of the Death Watch. These ships were a gift from our Separatist friends. I am glad to have met you. We will see each other again, mark my words. Especially you Captain Rex, take care of your little clone friends," with that he cut off the transmission.
"Well that was short, guess he isn't the monologuing type," Ashoka said dryly.
A new alarm blared and shouting erupted all around the bridge. Lights flashed and the commotion was deafening. Everyone in the command center was moving and doing something. People were yelling for the fighters to fall back to the Resolute immediately.
Even with all of this happening, Rex's world had stuttered. Trapped for just a moment with his own thoughts. Why would that man have known his name, and what did he mean when he said they would see each other again? If he harmed any of his brothers there would be hell to pay. The way that the Mandalorian had looked right at him gave Rex a bad feeling about what was to come.