(Here we are, finally starting the season 7 episodes of Clone Wars. Enjoy!)
The Battle for Anaxes! One of the Republic's largest shipyards is under attack from Admiral Trench's Separatist forces. Jedi Generals Mace Windu and Anakin Skywalker lead a two-pronged assault on the ground and in the air. But, after weeks of heated battle and mounting losses, the Republic's grip on Anaxes begins to slip away.
Anakin stood at a holo-table with his Padawan Ahsoka Tano, his twin brother Carmine Jinn, and their equine companions Sapphire Beauty and Fiesta, as Master Windu went over some observations of the battle.
"The droids have overrun our main production facility." said Mace. "It won't be long before the Separatists take Anaxes, compromising our entire reserve fleet."
"Hmm... this could be tricky." Carmine commented.
That was when Cody and Rex entered the scene.
"Pardon the interruption, General," said Cody. "but Rex here has a good theory on why we keep, uh... losing."
"Please, Captain." said Mace.
"The droid army uses analytics to predict our strategy." Rex explained. "The first time we use a tactic, it's very effective. The next, less so. In fact, the more we use a certain tactic, the less effective it becomes. They learn our tendencies and use that against us."
"Sounds an awful lot like that time Caroline and I were up against some champion dancers in a competition for young performers." said Carmine. "If I remember correctly, we had to improvise and throw in some unexpected surprises to throw off the competitors. That made it harder for them to know how to beat us, and in the end, we won."
"Exactly. To counter them in this scenario, we're constantly working out ways to vary our attack."
"But the losses we are experiencing on Anaxes are not commonplace." Mace pointed out.
"Exactly." said Rex. "The counterattacks are so specific, it's my strategy the droids know, my playbook."
"My concern is that Rex is one of our best." Cody said. "If the droids can learn to defeat him, we may all be vulnerable."
"What do you propose?" Mace said.
"If you're gonna ask for dance lessons, I'm pretty sure the Separatists won't agree to a dance off." Carmine said, making Anakin laugh.
"Of course not." Cody said. "My proposal is let Rex and me take a small squad behind enemy lines. There's a Separatist Cyber Center which relays all battlefield intel to their command ship. If we're going to find anything, it will be there."
"If you think it will help turn this fight around, get going." said Mace.
"Thank you, General." said Rex.
"Rex, is there anything else?" asked Anakin.
Rex just blinked and said, "No, General." and he left with Cody.
Later, Rex was sitting in a bunker, looking at a picture on his tablet. A picture of four clones: Cody, Rex, Fives, and Echo.
Rex knew Fives was okay, just staying in Equinaro where he was being kept safe until they found out what the Chancellor was up to. But having him pretend to be dead somehow felt even sadder and scarier than him really being dead. And Echo... that was another story. He saw him get killed at the Citadel, and he often blamed himself for not being able to save his brothers.
"Knock-knock." said a female voice, entering the room.
Rex was startled out of his train of thought, but he calmed down when he looked and saw his girlfriend Ahsoka, who sat beside him. A couple years ago, Rex met a clone deserter named Cut Laquane, who married a Twilek farmer name Suu Laquane and had stepchildren with her. Initially, he could only think of how Cut broke his oath to the Republic by leaving the army to become a farmer. But then, over time, Rex found himself developing feelings for Commander Tano.
"Got a lot on your mind, Rexster?" said the Togruta.
"Is it obvious or did you sense that?" Rex asked.
"A little of both. Fiesta could sense it too, and so could my master."
Rex sighed. Anakin gave him three warnings when Rex and Ahsoka became an official couple"
"Being in a relationship is a big responsibility."
"If you break Ahsoka's heart, I'm gonna break you." And...
"There's no hiding anything from your girlfriend. Especially when and if she becomes your wife."
Anakin and Carmine both knew that from personal experience.
Rex told Ahsoka about how he felt so many emotions running through him at once. They gained a lot of victories in the last two and a half-years with the war, but at what price?
"Echo, and before that Hevy There's so many troopers gone. I've lost count of how many brothers I've lost over time." Rex said. "Makes me wonder sometimes if I could have done more."
"Rex..." Ahsoka put a comforting hand on her boyfriend's shoulder. "You're not the only one who's lost someone to the war. Some of us have lost friends to fates worse than death. Trust me, I know."
Ahsoka did know that very well. It wasn't that long ago Barriss Offee, once Ahsoka's best friend, had turned to the Dark Side and framed her and her master's niece for murder and bombing the Jedi Temple. It led to a lot of conflict and fear in their families, biological and spiritual.
"Ahsoka, you're the only I know I can confide in about these things." Rex said. It might not have been the most romantic setting, but that didn't stop the couple from leaning in to kiss.
But just before their lips could touch...
"Come on, Rex. Time to move out." Cody said, walking in. "Commander Tano. Am I interrupting?"
"No." said Rex. "She was just talking to me... about so many troopers gone."
Cody looked down a bit.
"Yeah, regular folk don't understand." he said. "Sometimes in war, it's hard to be the one that survives."
"That's what I'm worried about." said Rex.
"Well, what do you mean?"
"I didn't tell the Generals. Or the Commander here. They might think I'm crazy. In fact, you might think I'm crazy."
"Pfft. Only crazy cute." Ahsoka flirted, leaning into Rex's shoulder.
"What is it?" Cody said, managing not to laugh.
"I think Echo's alive." Rex said.
That surprised both Ahsoka and Cody.
"That's not possible." said Cody. "He died at the Citadel."
"The way the droids are countering us here, the strategies I'm using, they're all old battle plans Echo and I drew up together."
"Are you sure?" Ahsoka asked. "We've done a lot of different plans over the years."
"I'm positive. Have Princess Memoria check my memories, and she'll confirm it."
"Look, Rex," said Cody. "I hear what you're saying. But it's just not possible."
"I hope you're right." Cody said. "But the fact is, Echo's fingerprints are all over these Separatist strategies."
"Rex. You have to admit what you're saying is a long shot at best, and most likely, misplaced hope. I need you to be focused on this."
"I-I know, I know. Don't worry."
Cody then left.
Ahsoka kissed her boyfriend's cheek and said, "No matter what happens, we're all in this together."
"Oh, I love that song!" Fiesta said excitedly, startling everyone as she popped in. We're all in this together, she sang.
"Can you save the song and dance routine for later, Fiesta?" chuckled Ahsoka.
"Aww. That's no fun." Fiesta pouted.
"So, what squad are we taking in?" asked Rex.
Cody stopped and told Rex they were taking... "Clone Force 99."
Fiesta, however, had no clue who that was.
As the two clone captains, Ahsoka, and Fiesta, all exited the bunker, they overheard Jesse talking to Kix.
"I've heard mixed things about these guys." said Jesse.
"They have a 100% success rate."
"Impresionante. Impressive," said Fiesta, overhearing that. "I never thought that would be possible."
Kix and Jesse followed the group.
"It's not that they win," said Jesse. "it's how they win that worries me."
Repeast coming in hot on platform TT-3-9-7 said a clone on the PA.
"Clear the airfield!" someone shouted as a ship flew in, blowing people away.
"Hmm. I'm not sure whose flying is more loco, the ones flying that ship, or Anakin's." said Fiesta.
Ahsoka chuckled.
"So why haven't I heard of this squad?" asked Rex.
"Or me?" said Ahsoka.
"Experimental unit Clone Force 99," Cody explained. "They're defective clones with, uh... desirable mutations."
"What exactly do you mean by 'desirable mutations?'" Ahsoka asked.
"99, hey? Nice touch." said Rex.
"They call themselves 'The Bad Batch.'" said Cody.
The ship then opened up, and out came four clones, all in black and red armor. One of them also looked to wear glasses. And the last one to exit the ship seemed bigger and brawnier than the others.
The biggest one removed his helmet and loudly declared, "The cavalry has arrived!"
The Bad Batch walked towards the group. Two more of them removed their helmets. On had shoulder length dark brown hair and a red bandana tied around his head, and the other had very short silver hair and had what looked like a gun's target mark on his right eye.
"These guys are clone?" said Kix with surprise. "They don't look like clones to me."
The one wearing glasses was the last to remove his helmet.
"Sergeant, good to see you again." said Cody, shaking hands with the one with the bandana.
"You too, sir." said the clone with the bandana, whose name was Hunter.
"Sorry we're late, Commander." said Hunter. "We were putting down an insurrection on Yalbec Prime when your comm came in. Had a few unforeseen... complications."
The biggest clone, whose name was Wrecker, chuckled and said, "Ever fought a male Yalbec?"
"Um, no. Can't say I have." said Jesse.
"You're lucky. Only way to kill 'em is with one of these." Wrecker held up a big sword like none the clones, Ahsoka, or Fiesta had ever seen.
"That's right." said Hunter. "Wrecker here cut off the Queen's stinger while she was still alive. That's why all those Yalbec males tried to eat us."
Then the one wearing glasses, whose name was Tech, stepped in.
"Uh, technically, they were trying to mate with us." said Tech. "And for your information, the stinger of a Yalbec Queen is a delicacy on some planets."
"That sounds like all kinds of awkward." Fiesta said. "The mating thing, I mean."
"They call him Tech." said Cody.
"Yeah." Hunter playfully punched Tech's shoulder. "He can fill your head with useless info for hours. Crosshair, on the other hand," Hunter motioned to the gray-haired clone. "He's not much of a conversationalist, but when you have to hit a precise target from ten klicks, Crosshair's your man."
"Sounds like he'd be a good royal guard." said Fiesta.
"What's that?" Wrecker said, looking at the winged musicorn.
Tech looked at Fiesta.
"Equus caballus, more commonly known as a horse." said Tech. "But this one has wings and a horn, thus making her a winged unicorn, more commonly known as the mythical creature alicorn."
"Technically, I'm a winged musicorn, if you want to be preciso. Precise." Fiesta said. "But you are correcto on my class of equine."
"Her name's Fiesta." said Ahsoka. "She's my pony."
"And that's Ahsoka Tano, Commander and Rex's novia. Girlfriend." Fiesta said.
"Well, now that we've all been introduced, what kind of 'suicide mission' do you have for us this time, Commander Cody?" Hunter asked.
"Uh, what's she doing?" Wrecker asked as Fiesta started sniffing his head.
"That's what Equinaro horses do to greet someone knew." Ahsoka explained. "She's just getting to know your scent so she knows who you are."
"Let's get going." said Cody. "We'll brief you on the way."
The clones, the Togruta, and the musicorn all got on board a gunship and took off for the mission. Ahsoka insisted that she should accompany Rex. Anakin wasn't completely convinced Rex was one hundred percent okay. So, he agreed to let his Padawan and her pony tag along to help.
Everyone stood silently in the ship. It was a bit of a tight squeeze with a horse on board, so Ahsoka sat on her pony to make a little more room for the clones. But all the while, Crosshair seemed to stare at Jesse.
"What are you looking at?" said Jesse, breaking the silence.
"We don't usually work with 'regs.'" said Crosshair, flicking the toothpick he had been chewing on at Jesse.
"Regs?" Jesse said, offended. He attempted to stride to Crosshair, only for Hunter to stop him.
"He's talking about regular clones." Hunter said. "But don't take it personal."
Fiesta's tail whacked Crosshair in the face.
"Pft! Hey, watch it!" Crosshair huffed.
"Perdón. Sorry." Fiesta said.
"Ha. Serves you right." Jesse smirked.
"We're all on the same team," said Cody. "so cut the attitude and listen up. Here's the mission. Our target is this Cyber Center."
Cody held up a hologram of the Cyber Center they were going to attack.
"It's the 'brains' of the entire Separatist campaign here on Anaxes." Cody explained.
"I could demolish that with one hand!" said Wrecker. "Yeah!"
"This isn't a demo job, Wrecker." said Ahsoka.
"Commander Tano is right." Cody said. "This is strictly a retrieval operation."
Except, none of them knew that a battle droid and a super droid spotted them flying in.
As the Republic gunship flew in through a canyon, another battle droid as well as some spider droids spotted them and began firing.
"Incoming fire!" said the clone piloting the gunship.
The gunship was flown higher, but then was shot and started to fall.
"We're going down!" Wrecker said, laughing.
"This isn't an amusement park ride, Wrecker!" Fiesta said, and started panicking in Spanish as the ship started to hit the ground and jerk around.
"Yowch!" Wrecker exclaimed as Fiesta's horn accidentally poked him in his side.
"Sorry otra ves. Again." Fiesta said, getting herself and her rider off the ship. "Sometimes I can't control where my horn is going."
Everyone started to climb out of the ship.
"We always get shot down when we travel with regs." Wrecker said.
"Cody! Help!" Kix exclaimed. Cody was trapped underneath some part of the ship. "He's trapped! We have to do something."
"Ahsoka?" Fiesta said.
"We'll get him." said Ahsoka.
Ahsoka got out her lightsabers and Fiesta prepared to use magic.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." said Hunter, stopping the girls. "Easy, ladies. Wrecker, get him out."
Wrecker cracked his knuckles and walked toward the ship.
"Get back!" smiled Wrecker, eager to show off his talent.
The others stood back as told, but they all thought Wrecker was crazy to try to get Cody out by himself.
"This is ridiculous!" said Kix. "He's gonna need help to get Cody out of there."
Crosshair chuckled and said, "He's gonna get the gunship out of there. Not Cody."
The others were confused... until Wrecker lifted the gunship up and flipped it over with ease, allowing him to reach Cody and carry him over his shoulder to safety.
"Boom." said Wrecker. And as if on cue, the ship went off in a fiery BOOM!
Wrecker carefully set Cody on the ground, everyone gathering to make sure he was alright.
Kix did a scan on Cody's body and confirmed he had internal damage.
"I can cut the pain." said Kix, getting some medical supplies. "But he needs help fast."
Fiesta lit up her horn and started casting a little healing magic on Cody.
"We all need help." said Crosshair, spotting something approaching. An army of battle droids.
"That blast gave away our position." said Crosshair.
"I thought getting shot down gave away our position." said Hunter.
"Everyone, find cover." said Rex.
"We'll hold this position and let them come to us." Ahsoka finished.
"I don't think so, Captain and Commander." said Hunter. "That's not our style. We prefer going to them. Bad Batch! Plan 82, 'Shockwave!'"
Wrecker lifted up the door of the damaged gunship, and the other three Bad Batchers got ready to fight.
"Let's get to work." said Crosshair, and the four clones ran in to fight.
"Can't I help them? I do have magic." said Fiesta.
"Patience, Fiesta." Ahsoka said. "I, for one, wanna see what these guys are made of."
With Wrecker using the detached door as a shield, the Bad Batch began blasting at the droids, but there were so many of them.
Tech pulled down scanning goggles over his glasses and scanned their target.
"45. Mark 151." He said.
Hunter repeated that and threw an electro-bomb into the air, which Crosshair blasted with his gun, and a large number of battle droids were electrocuted to death, giving the Bad Batch an advantage. They moved a little closer and Tech did another scan. Hunter threw another bomb. This time, a droid caught it, but Crosshair hit it nevertheless, and more droids were electrocuted to death. But then, in came the tanks and spider droids.
"Spider droids. Fan out!" said Hunter.
And they did. This time, they took on the droids directly. Wrecker attacked a spider droid with the door and finished it good.
"Any more? Come on!" Wrecker shouted.
The girls were impressed with the Bad Batch's work.
"That was some show you put on just now." said Jesse as he and the other clones approached the team.
Hunter removed his helmet and said, "Just doing our job, Captain."
Wrecker laughed as he picked up a severed battle droid head and played with it around Crosshair like a puppet.
"Hey, look, Crosshair, this little clanker likes you."
Crosshair scoffed and said, "Grow up, Wrecker."
"We should move out before reinforcements arrive." said Rex. "Our position has been compromised."
The group soon set up camp at a clearing near some pink trees, and they lit up a nice warm fire.
Meanwhile, Hunter took a whiff at some of the soil.
"So, I get what makes the other Batchers unique," said Jesse. "but what so special about Hunter?"
"Si." Fiesta agreed. "Cuál es su característica única? What's his unique characteristic?"
"He can put up with the other three." Kix teased.
But, Tech had a different answer.
"He was engineered with heightened senses." said Tech. "A place like the Cyber Center, Hunter can feel the electromagnetic frequencies from anywhere on the planet."
"So, could he hear what those guys were saying even if they said it silenciosamente? Quietly?"
"Does this answer your question?" Hunter called.
Jesse playfully elbowed Kix and said, "And her I though we were smart just using a holomap."
"Well, maps can be wrong." said Tech. "Hunter never is."
Meanwhile, Cody was still in some pain. Rex and Ahsoka were taking care of him.
"Hang in there, Cody." said Rex.
"You're gonna be okay." Ahsoka added. She got up to speak to the others. "Listen up. We have to move out."
"Commander Cody's in no position to move." Crosshair pointed out.
"Already called an Evac. Kix will stay with Cody until it arrives." Rex said. "Ahsoka and I are in charge now. And I've got a plan to get into that Cyber Center."
"If your plans are so good, why did Commander Cody have to call us in?"
"You can't talk to Captain Rex like that!" Jesse and Ahsoka said together, the Togruta both because Rex was a captain and because she was defending her boyfriend.
"Says who?" Wrecker said, picking up Jesse by the neck.
"Put him down!" Kix said, trying to help his friend, but Crosshair pushed him away and told him to stay out of it.
"Uh, guys, come on." said Tech. But he was no help.
"Put him down!" Ahsoka said angrily.
"Wrecker, drop him or I'll kick you!" Fiesta threatened, getting ready to do so.
"Wrecker, drop him. Now." Hunter ordered.
Reluctantly, Wrecker dropped Jesse, and Ahsoka helped him up.
"Fellas, come on!" Hunter said. "We're all fighting for the same thing, right?"
"Si, and you're all acting like children!" Fiesta added angrily before shouting at them in Spanish. None of the clones knew what she was saying, but her tone and the way she stomped her hoof sometimes suggested they probably didn't wanna know. And she finally stopped with some heavy breathing.
Hunter sighed.
"Let's cut the chatter and finish what we started." said Hunter. "We'll do it your way, Captain. For Commander Cody."
"Okay." said Rex. "Let's gear up and move out."
And so, everyone got ready to go.
As morning rose, the team, with the exception of Cody and Kix, found their way through the forest and found an outpost, where there were battle droids waiting at the entrance.
"Not our primary target." said Hunter. "It's an outpost. Should we take it?"
"Probably easier than going around." said Rex.
"All right, what are your orders? We pick them off from the tree line one-by-one?"
"Actually..." said Ahsoka. "We were thinking we take a page from your book."
"Rush them head on." Rex finished.
Hunter chuckled and said, "I like your style."
At the count of three, the clones began firing their blasters, Fiesta blasting magic, and Ahsoka using her lightsabers to take on the droids and infiltrate the outpost. But there wasn't enough room for all of them to take the lift, so while the clones took the lift, Fiesta flew Ahsoka to the top on her back and kicked the glass clean off a window so they could get in. And together, they took down every last battle droid.
Wrecker was the last to arrive, the battle being done.
"Is it over already?" Wrecker whined. "Aw man!"
The clones removed their helmets.
"Not bad." said Hunter. "For a reg."
"You should see him on the field with my master." Ahsoka said.
Rex looked out a window and saw the primary target.
"All right, there it is. The Cyber Center." Rex said.
Tech did some research on the computers that sat in the room they were in.
"It looks like the Cyber Center itself has minimal guards, about 30 droids." Tech explained, when he suddenly caught something. "Wait. Wait. I got a massive signal coming in. A whole platoon of droids is headed this way."
"Uh oh." Fiesta said.
"Might be an understatement." said Ahsoka.
"Someone's noticed our handiwork back at the crash site." said Hunter.
"Yeah." said Rex. "Make sure you keep an eye on those incoming Separatist forces. I want to know when they reach this outpost."
"You got it, Cap." said Tech.
"We gotta move swiftly."
"We'll grab some speeder bikes and flank them from the back." Hunter said, spotting some speeder bikes outside.
Just as Tech said, there were indeed 30 battle droids at the Cyber Center entrance alone.
As Hunter planned, he and two of the other Batchers took some speeder bikes near the back, while Rex and Kix took the front, and Ahsoka and Fiesta got a flying horse eye view.
"Is everyone in position?" Rex called over the comm.
"Affirmative." Hunter confirmed.
"Ready when you are, Love." Ahsoka said.
Crosshair confirmed he was ready as well with his gun in place.
Tech then contacted Rex over the comm.
"Cap, you wanted to know when those Separatist forces breached the outpost." Tech looked at his scanner. "Well, they're getting there just about now."
And sure enough, the Separatist forces did reach the outpost. Unfortunately, Trench knew that this meant the next target would be the Cyber Center, and theorized they knew about the algorithm. Thus, warned all droids of an attack.
However, just as Trench was alerting a battle droid, the latter got his head shot off, and the other droids found themselves under attack by guns, electro-bombs, and a swooping alicorn.
Tech managed to get to the door and started to do some calculations, but then Wrecker kicked the door open.
"Boom!" Wrecker laughed. "You take too long."
And Wrecker pulled the doors open and began shooting the battle droids he found inside. Tech and Wrecker ran in and fought more battle droids, and Tech opened another door, this time his way.
"We're in." he declared. Then he and Wrecker opened another door, where they threw in an electro-bomb and fought more and more droids, and found some computers.
"Tech, get to work on these computers." said Hunter. "We'll go get the regs and the girls."
And Hunter and Wrecker left, but outside, the battle was still going on.
Luckily, the droids did not expect an attack from behind, as Wrecker and Hunter arrived, and took down the last of the droids.
"What took you so long, Wrecker?" asked Rex.
"Hey, this is a 'delicate operation.'" said Wrecker, quoting Tech.
As Fiesta flew down with Ahsoka, tanks were coming in.
"Better get in there, Cap." said Wrecker.
"We'll hold them as long as we can." Ahsoka promised.
And Rex ran inside the Cyber Center.
While three Batchers, Ahsoka, and Fiesta fought the super droids that came in, Rex met with Tech back in the computer room.
"Okay, I'm in." Tech announced. "What am I looking for?"
Rex pulled out a card of some sort.
"Here's the algorithm." Rex said. "You're looking for a program using this sequence."
Tech attached the algorithm to another device, which he hooked up to the computer and entered some data to find the program. And soon he found it, only to find something entirely different than what he and/or Rex expected.
"This is strange." said Tech. "It's not a program. It's a live signal from another planet-"
Tech confirmed it was Skako Minor.
Rex, however, was confused.
"A live signal?" He said.
Meanwhile, Hunter and the others continued to fight, but the droids continued coming. Even with Fiesta's magic and Ahsoka deflecting their shots with her lightsabers, there was too many of them.
"Crosshair, we're gonna need a lift." said Hunter into his comm.
From his position, Crosshair spotted a ship, and told Hunter, "Not gonna be a problem."
"Here it is. This is audible." Tech confirmed as he did some more digging into the signal.
"Patch me in." said Rex. "I want to hear it."
Tech patched Rex in, and there came some indistinct computer voices.
"That sounds almost... almost human." said Tech.
Rex listened a little more and was overcome with shock and disbelief.
"It can't be."
No matter how alike the clones looked and sounded, there were ways of telling them apart, and the clones knew how to tell each other apart better than anyone else. But, Rex did not have much time for sentiment, as the building started to shake with the battle getting worse outside.
"Tech, find out who's sending that signal." said Rex. "Ask who that is."
Tech typed into the computer, and they got an answer, or rather a code: CT-1409.
"I... I don't believe it." Rex gasped.
Just then, Hunter and the others arrived.
"We're gone." said Hunter.
"Rex, let's go." Ahsoka added.
"Rex, ahora!" Fiesta exclaimed. "Now!"
Rex rushed in with the others and fought the super droids as much as they could as they got out. Fortunately, Crosshair arrived with a ride just in time. The clones boarded the speeder, while Fiesta carried Ahsoka on her back and flew at top speed to get back to Republic lines.
Fiesta landed and stood in the speeder once she and Ahsoka caught up.
Ahsoka sat beside her boyfriend, and so did Tech.
"That number, Cap." said Tech. "What did it mean?"
"CT-1409..." Rex said.
"Isn't that...?" said Ahsoka.
"That was Echo's number." Rex answered his girlfriend and Tech's questions.
"Then that means..." gasped Ahsoka.
"He's alive."
