Trigger warnings: none
Coruscant is burning.
Rex can smell it even through his helmet filters. His eyes water; his throat is on fire.
It's uncomfortably familiar.
There's a soft swoosh, then a light thud. Skywalker. "What'd I miss?" he asks, falling in beside Kenobi. His voice carries a sharp undertone, something dangerously close to betrayal.
Obi-Wan gives him a glance but keeps in step with Cody at the head. "Not much," he says. "A small skirmish."
"High treason," Rex volunteers dryly.
Anakin snorts. "Yeah," Skywalker says. "The Council mighta mentioned that."
"There will be plenty of time for explanations after we've captured Dooku." Kenobi holds up a hand to halt their advance. The Senate building isn't far from the GAR landing bay and with the frontal assault Grievous is launching on the Senate, peripheral resistance has been light.
The last main corridor between the two points, however, is brimming with droids.
"Three full squads," Fives mutters. "That's gonna be tough."
Anakin stops dead in his tracks and slowly, the rest of them follow suit. Rex looks to him; his face is a study in sudden turmoil. "Fives," Skywalker says hoarsely, and takes a deep breath. "Was no one gonna tell me Fives was alive either?"
"It's all one very long and complicated story, General," Fives says. His hand lands on Skywalker's shoulder and squeezes, once. "Promise I'll explain after this is done."
Anakin clasps a hand over Fives' wrist. "It's good to see you on your feet," he says.
"They're headed this way," Ventress warns tensely, "so if you two are finished with your little reunion, perhaps you can bring yourselves to help us deal with the droids."
"I'm not even going to ask about you," Skywalker says, and Rex chokes back a laugh. "Whenever we're in trouble, it seems like you just so happen to be around."
"She can be helpful," Fives says.
"I thought your judgment was better than that, Fives."
"No one's going to be judging anything if we don't take out those droids," Kenobi snaps. His blade sings to life. "Anakin!"
Skywalker leaps to his side and together with Ventress, they rush the line. Rex whips his pistols out and steps up beside Cody. Six ARC troopers, two Jedi, an ex-Sith-apprentice, and a medic: their odds aren't terrible.
They've taken harder targets with less.
The first squad of droids goes down, then the second. They've blasted halfway through the third when Rex hears it: the low, familiar rumble.
Tanks.
Skywalker just barely flips out of the way of the first blast and narrowly dodges the second, bounding from one side to the other to draw their fire. "Get to cover," Rex barks, and dives behind what's left of a downed gunship.
Fives throws up a hand to shield his visor from the showering debris. "Anyone have detonators?"
"No," Rex says. "We didn't have time."
Echo's hunkered down on Fives' other side. He risks a glance around the corner and almost immediately has to recoil from a hailfire. "Three tanks," he says. "That's a problem."
"I'm open to suggestions!" Skywalker calls from the other side of the corridor.
They have no detonators, no rocket launchers, and there's another squad of droids moving in from behind the tanks to reinforce them. They can't get at the droids without getting taken out by the tanks.
Great.
"We have to do something," Echo says. "We can't stay here forever."
"If you've got an idea, I'm listening," Rex shoots back. A burst takes out the rubble just above his head and he hunches as far forward as he can in case they decide to aim a few inches lower next time and take off his head instead.
Echo's not wrong: they can't stay here much longer.
"Obi-Wan, take the one on the left," Skywalker orders. "I'll go for the one in the center. Ventress—"
"I can fill that in myself, Skywalker," Ventress says. She hurdles from behind her cover, sabers a whirlwind, and darts across the battlefield. There's a merciless grace to her movements, as if she's honed her sixth sense to tell her where the next blast will be buried or which of her opponents will next turn their weapon to her head. Rex has seen that fluid form before, when she cut through his lines.
When she cut through his men.
At least this time, it's droids.
"Take them out!" Rex says, and charges after Skywalker and Kenobi. The tanks turn their attention to the more imminent and rapidly approaching threat, swiveling their barrels to try to get a clear sight. It's sloppy, jerky, the Jedi are too quick, and by the time Skywalker's tank has anything close to a lock his saber is cleaving through the gun's stem.
The other two tanks are already burning. Rex snaps two shots into a super battle droid and spins to slam his shoulder pauldron into a B1 creeping up on Echo and Fives.
"Just like old times," Fives says, and puts his back to Rex's so they form a three-point shield for security.
Through the dust and the grit, Rex smiles.
His relief is short-lived. "More tanks," Skywalker yells, and vaults back to join their formation with Kenobi and Ventress.
"We can't catch a break," Jesse says. "What did they do, send the whole army our way?"
"Could be worse," Dogma says. "We could be dead."
Kix snorts.
The rumbling's closer, closer – thrumming and thundering toward them. Then it stops abruptly.
Rex follows the others to cover behind the line they've already destroyed, peering around to get a glimpse of their next targets. Two more squads and three more tanks. Not the whole army, then: that force is pushing its way through the Senate's front lines, heading straight for Fox and Clone Force Ninety-Nine.
"We can handle this," Anakin says. "These have to be reserves they were sending to the main front. We just happened to run into them."
"What good fortune," Kenobi says dryly.
"Truly, Master, your luck never seems to run out."
"Same plan, then?"
"Wouldn't have it any other way."
"General," Cody says tensely. It takes Rex a beat to hear it.
Ship engines. Air support.
"Get down!"
The first strafing run falls short of their position, but it's still close enough to rattle Rex's teeth. The next one won't be so generously spaced.
They need to move. Now.
"It's only two fighters," Anakin says, craning his neck back and shielding his eyes with the hand not holding his saber.
"Hopefully, they won't bomb their own forces," Kenobi says. "If we can get in closer, we might have a chance."
At this point, it's getting around the droid squadrons that will be the problem: the Jedi are free to rush the tanks, but only if there's a diversion to draw the squads' fire. Rex takes a steadying breath.
"Now!" Skywalker yells, and then Ventress and the Jedi are on the move. Rex pushes forward with Fives on one side and Echo on the other; in his peripheral, Cody, Jesse, Dogma, and Kix are doing the same.
Maybe he should be grateful these droids were programmed to just shoot in a straight line. The Separatists rely on overwhelming numbers to win their battles, not accurate firepower – but then, it doesn't matter how many droids you down if there are always three more to take the place of the one you scrapped.
Get all the headshots you want: you're still getting overrun.
"More squads on approach!" Anakin calls to them. His lightsaber sears through the tank's shell; it sparks and stutters and dies.
Rex curses. More squads. The Separatists must have counted on all of the senators being placed into protective quarters because of the invasion and assumed that that meant the corridor to the bay would be relatively open for their use. These aren't a few stray reserves; this is the main channel through which the enemy is funneling their reinforcements to the main front. Getting through means clearing the current wave and making a break for the bay before the next one is on top of them.
"Fighters are coming back around," Fives warns, and between breaking a B1's head off and doing his best to not get shot, Rex braces for the missiles' impact.
They never hit.
Rex steals a glance at the sky. That's not a Separatist starfighter: it's a Mandalorian one. It hovers just above them, whirring; a figure vaults out. At that altitude, they should have hit their jetpack a few seconds after their initial jump, but instead they tuck into a graceful dive.
Just before they hit the surface, their sabers ignite: blazing white.
It takes Rex an impossible moment to recognize her.
"Commander Tano!"
There's no time to process her presence, no time ask himself how or why. "Okay," Fives says, "this time those shabla droids really are coming back around."
Rex could have gotten that from the starfighters' whine if he hadn't been briefly preoccupied. They're close. Too close.
"Get down!"
Ahsoka races toward one of the downed tanks; she takes one bounding step, two, and launches herself high. For a brief and terrifying second she seems to hover midair with the starfighters bearing down on her. Then she hits the apex, twists about, and slices through the first fighter's port nacelle. It streams smoke, but even in its spiral she grabs hold and hangs on. Her momentum carries her forward, and she darts across its death knell and propels herself onto the second fighter.
One jab, two and the fighter falls with a screech.
Tano glides along on the doomed ship and bails at the last second. She lands in front of Rex, set in her stance with her sabers at the ready.
"Ahsoka," Anakin says, and while he might be breathless from the battle and because of the wave marching toward them, Rex suspects it has more to do with his surprise. Ahsoka gives him half a smile and a nod before she has to lift her sabers to deflect bolts back at the advancing droid lines.
The next squad's made it past the wreckage.
"Keep blasting," Rex says. "We have to push through."
"What, did you think we were gonna stop?" Echo asks. Rex can't see his face but he's sure that there's a smirk plastered on it.
Outnumbered and fighting for their lives: this really is just like old times.
Clearing the droids that have made it past the tanks puts them in sight of the bay. Actually having the cover to get inside, however, mean wiping out the rest of the Separatist platoon.
Cody's moved up to Kenobi's position. Their coordination is flawless, perfectly attuned. They know without words which way the other will move. It makes them formidable and for droids that can only shift from one set program to the next, nearly unstoppable. Rex wonders if it's the Force-bond or the battle meditation or both.
Then Cody stops.
Rex has the urge to bark at him, keep your blaster up, keep firing, but he can't push the words past the lump swelling in his throat. Protocol Sixty-Six is finished. Palpatine is dead. There's no way for the chip to activate. There can't be a failsafe. But Cody looks frozen, transfixed, and for a brief and horrifying second Rex remembers Tup.
So does Fives. "Cody," Fives bites out. "What the hell are you doing?"
Cody doesn't answer. Kenobi's gaze snaps to his commander but he must not be getting a surge of warning because he stays strong at Cody's side.
Tiplar didn't move either.
"Cody!"
Cody drops his blaster. Slowly, painstakingly, he stretches his hands out. Then, in one short movement, he snaps both into fists and slams his arms down.
The oncoming squad crumples like gravity has collapsed on it, contorting in a shower of sparks. The droids fizzle and hiss and fall, twitching, to the ground. Rex lowers his pistols; somewhere in his peripheral, he's conscious of the others doing the same.
That's it for the wave.
Cody drops to his knees.
Not Cody. Not Cody. A surge of fear shoots through Rex and he sprints to him, skidding to a stop beside him and seizing his shoulders. "Cody," Rex says, more desperately than he means to. There's no blood or blast marks. He's not hit. "Cody, are you all right?"
Cody coughs a weak laugh. "Yeah, Rex," he says. "I'm okay. That just took more out of me than I thought it would."
Out of Cody. Not Kenobi. Cody. Rex stares at him. "I have a lot to tell you," Cody says, holding out a hand. Rex pulls him to his feet. "I promise I'll explain when this is done."
Rex is distinctly aware of the dead silence hanging over them. Skywalker, Tano, and Kix and most of the other ARCs look just as stunned as he feels. It's only Kenobi, Ventress, and Fives that seem unaffected. Ventress' reaction must be apathy. But somehow, Kenobi and Fives knew.
There's no time to ask Cody why he didn't say something sooner, or why he looked Rex in the eye and told him he wasn't a Force-sensitive. The path to the bay is finally clear and they have precious few minutes to close the gap, get aboard a gunship, and launch.
"Hang on to something," Skywalker calls from the cockpit. "I've never flown one of these before."
Not completely true. He's never flown one that wasn't on fire and still in one piece. Rex grips the overhead bar and claps a hand on Fives' shoulder, as much to steady as to reassure himself. Fives is alive. Fives is here and breathing and alive. We'll see him as soon as we can, Cody said.
It's not exactly the reunion Rex had in mind.
The atmosphere is rife with wreckage: pieces torn from screaming half-ships and space debris pelt the sides of the gunship. There's a loud snap, a crack, and Skywalker swearing in Huttese over the comm. Rex strains for a reassurance he knows won't come; if Skywalker updates them on anything, it'll be an order to get ready for a bumpy landing or a complete bail-out.
"Glad to have you back on board, Commander," Echo says. "It's been a while."
Echo's ARC armor is different, but Ahsoka's never needed painted plating to tell any of them apart. Rex knows she can feel each of them in the Force just like he knows all of this must be a lot to absorb.
The last time she saw Echo was at the Citadel.
"I'm glad to see you too," Ahsoka says at last. There's a warm smile in her voice. "And you, Fives."
"Who told you about me?" Fives asks.
"It happened on Coruscant," Ahsoka says. "You hear things."
"Where have you been?" Jesse calls. "You've missed a lot of fun."
"We'll have to catch up later," she says. "Right now, I need someone to bring me up to speed."
A ripple of laughter rolls through the troop bay.
"That's gonna be a lot harder than you might think, Commander," Rex says. "But right now, all you need to know is our current objective."
"What's that?"
"Capture Dooku and destroy his command cruiser."
The gunship shudders with the force of an impact. "Almost there," Skywalker says. "Hang on back there. We're gonna make it."
"We better make it," Fives mutters. "I've already died once."
They're nearly to the Resolute's landing bay when the missile hits.
The gunship rattles, groans, and dies. Rex clings to the overhead bar until it snaps off. Fives careens into his chest and knocks them both back into Jesse and Dogma at the rear. The craft hits the landing bay's floor with an ear-piercing screech, skidding and screaming for a few hundred feet before it finally comes to rest.
"Sound off," Rex coughs, pushing Fives up and following him. Kenobi stumbles to his feet and blasts the doors off with a thrust of the hand. Cody leads them out. There's a staggered chorus of answers.
All accounted for.
Kix is hunched over, leaning on Jesse's shoulder to stay upright. "Get him to the medical bay," Rex says.
Kix jolts. "I can fight, Captain," he says. "Let me fight."
Rex glances to Fives. "He's concussed," Fives says lowly. "He was in pretty rough shape when I found him. He took some painkillers and stims on the way to the Senate, but that's it."
"Medbay," Rex repeats firmly.
"Rex," Kix hisses. He tugs his helmet off and shoves it at Jesse, then straightens to stand on his own. All the blood drains from his face; he crumples, clutching at his ribs. Jesse catches him.
Rex rests a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You've done what you can," he says. "Stay here. We'll get Dooku."
"I can fight."
"I know you can, Kix," Rex says, and looks to Jesse. "I know."
The Resolute's alarms are on in full force. The ship wasn't completely repaired after their campaigns in the Outer Rim came to a close. As they rush through the corridors to the bridge, Rex wonders if the Negotiator is even airborne.
"Admiral Yularen," Skywalker says, almost the second he steps through the door. "What's our status?"
Yularen whirls to face him. He looks haggard and worn; there are dark circles under his eyes. His hair, usually well-coiffed, is a wild disaster. "We've all but lost the Negotiator," he says, "along with two other capital ships. I have been assured that more reinforcements are on the way, but it is my concern that they will not arrive in time. To be less than quaint, General Skywalker, we are in dire straits."
Skywalker grimaces. "Do you have any functional boarding craft?"
"Two," Yularen says. He glances to Ventress, frowns, then turns his gaze back to Skywalker. "What do you have in mind?"
"We're going to board the command ship and we're going to capture Dooku."
"You'll never make it that far." Yularen's frown deepens. "The command ship is in the center of the Separatist cluster. You'll be shot down before you make it past their first lines of defense."
"Let me worry about that," Anakin says. "Just get us that ship."
"I'll have it cleared for launch."
"We're going to need detonators."
"I'll have them loaded for you, General," Yularen says, and then he's gone.
"Their supporting forces are going to be a problem, Anakin," Obi-Wan says. He furrows his brow and strokes his beard. "I have no doubts in your abilities as a pilot, but the fact remains that they do have the numbers."
"Generals," Cody says suddenly. Skywalker and Kenobi look to him. Cody hesitates, then squares his shoulders. "There might be another way."
"What other way, Cody?" Anakin asks. "We have to get on-board that command ship, capture Dooku, and blast it on our way out. I don't see any 'other way' to end this battle."
"Battle meditation," Cody says.
Skywalker stares at him. Obi-Wan stiffens. "I've never attempted it on this scale," Kenobi says. There's a note of doubt to his voice that Rex doesn't like. "I can't be certain I'll be able to maintain it."
Cody tugs off his helmet and stares him dead in the eyes. "General, we are vastly outnumbered," he says. "We need every advantage."
"But on this scale—"
"They don't need long," Cody says firmly. For a long moment, neither of them speaks. It's a silent battle of wills, a debate to which no one else is privy. Then Obi-Wan takes a deep breath.
And he nods.
"Battle meditation," Anakin says, shaking his head. There's a slight smile playing at his lips. "When were you gonna tell me about that?"
"Just go get Dooku, Anakin," Obi-Wan says wearily, and Skywalker claps him on the shoulder and turns to leave.
Rex hesitates. Obi-Wan smiles at him, but it's worn.
"Good luck, Captain," he says quietly. "May the Force be with you."
Rex has never seen Kenobi so exhausted. The words feel heavy and strange on his tongue, but he forces them out anyway.
"And with you, General."