Chapter 26

…

It was day eight on Saleucami. Eight days of nine battalions trying to clear a perimeter around the port city's sensor grid. Before dawn, sweat covered Cody under his armor as he ran in the dark across hard ripples of lava that had cooled eons ago. They had made it out of the worst humidity at last and nearly to the rendezvous with the 501st last night; both battalions had decided to stop and rest their men rather than pushing the last leg. But the Separatists had ambushed the 501st in the night and the 212th rushed to help. Through night vision Cody could see the 501st converging with his own men from far left, both flowing into the broken valley as if from nearly opposite edges of a funnel.

"Cody, this is Tucker! Sawn's platoon is pinned down and falling fast. I need help to get to them!"

"Copy that," Cody said, feet pounding.

The enemy was spread out solidly between the main contingents of GAR troops, mostly armored vehicles in the back, and spider droids swarming just a few steps after the thin first wave of B-1s. They were a clattering mass of glints and shadows on their own. Night vision made them greenish and ghostly. Rockets screamed past Cody from behind as he ran firing at the nearest squad of droids and his mind and muscles sang. A wordless yell of triumph burst from him after three quick, consecutive shots from his blaster finally brought down the BX commando droid that had been charging in its eerie fluid way to meet him.

"Ricky, come in!" Cody yelled over the comm as he fell neatly toward the right flank and let the line of Captain Brin's company pass him by in the thinning darkness. The cries of the 501st men made the chilly pre-dawn emptiness seem like a solid thing pressing to get through Cody's armor. But he was still sweating from running, from adrenaline

"Ricky here, sir," came the breathless answer.

"Stand by." So Ricky was still alive. "I lost contact with Gil. Gil, come in."

"Captain Gil is down, sir," someone else said. "Trying to get a medic to him."

Cody lobbed a droid popper toward a ghostly group of commando droids and yelled, "Give me Gil's coordinates! Brin, grenade at two o'clock!"

His eyes were on the gaps between Brin's men as soon as a grenade went off between them. Jin was on the scene to check the wounded a second later. Cody shot down the droid that had thrown it, but his mental map was spread out, plotting trajectories of men and missiles across the terrain. So far none of the enemy tanks had fired.

Ducking behind a lumpy lava formation, he squinted through the smoke of the battle. It was making night vision difficult. This was the fastest way around the caldera, the outer ring of which curved to Cody's right, far above, while most of his troops were on his left, trying to reach the 501st on the lower steps. They couldn't bring the battle to the civilians of Saleucami who were reportedly living within the center of the caldera. But it wasn't exactly pleasant out here and was only bound to get worse as the day broke. In addition to the rough cooled lava, the ground had been hacked apart over the ages into separate levels with sheer drops, like a massive uneven set of stairs, some more than twelve feet different in height.

"Commander Cody, this is Commander Appo. We're fighting our way towards you now. The first two companies and their walkers should be in sight."

"Copy that, Appo. I've got a visual. Meer, you're under Ricky now. Stern, stay with Captain Gil until Early gets there."

A spider droid was pressing in fast on Brin's men—a few of them scurried backward, firing frantically. Cody vaulted over the nearest rock, got running down the hill to gain momentum and dove, detonator in hand, aiming for the droid's underbelly. The uneven ground clawed at his armor—a little burst from the jet pack on his back kept him sliding—he attached the charge and lurched back to his feet.

With Brin's men falling into formation around him, Cody turned and continued firing as the grenade exploded, but the spider droids were mainly undeterred by blaster bolts. Five hits in a row only cracked one of its eye-domes. They had a limited number of rocket launchers and that line of waiting tanks looked thick….

Three troopers went down at his back, and another spider droid began crawling forward, metal legs chattering against the sooty ground. Cody ran and threw himself down again. He grunted when one of its feet came down on his armor, compressing it before it slid awkwardly off and he could attach another detonator. His feet and hands, knees and elbows tripped over each other to haul him out of range—he rolled onto his back and aimed as the droid tried to retreat. It took two shots to hit the receding detonator.

"Commander, this is Lieutenant Stern."

The droid exploded and a couple of the men nearest it fell. "Gil will have a medic as soon as possible, Lieutenant." Cody rushed the next group of B-1s, yelling over his own shooting as the ghostly figures of droids fell in and out of his night vision. "Stacker, Dents, check on those men caught in the blast wave."

A hoarse voice. "I'm fine, Commander. Just rattled."

A deep boom fell among the thick chatter and flash of blaster fire. Cody's head swung around and a bolt of light narrowly missed his midsection.

Brin said, "Sir, one of the tanks just fired!"

"I see it," Cody panted, falling behind another lava formation to try and pick off a few B-2s before zooming in. "It hit the Five-Oh-First."

Through Cody's night-vision view, the ground glowed white with heat in the area the tank had just hit. As he watched, it became a live coal, crumbling. The screams took on a different tone when the ashy floor began to fall away beneath the surviving 501st troops who surrounded the blast zone. He could see them scrambling like insects running from a flood.

"They knew this would happen," Cody breathed as he zoomed back out and continued firing. "They're using the terrain against us!"

Still shooting down B-1s, Cody looked at the tanks.

"Sir, I think Captain Gil's dying. Should I assume command of the company?"

"Stern, Kaze, your platoons are part of Captain Brin's company now," Cody decided. "Kaze, fall in when Brin reaches—"

"INCOMING!"

A ball of plasma flew toward them with a deafening sound as if rippling through air made liquid. It was set to fall behind them—the enemy had overshot a bit. Maybe.

"MOVE!" Cody roared, running toward the nearest troopers and rushing them with nudges from the flat of his rifle. "Keep running! Brin, push FORWARD! Keep pushing toward the Five-Oh-First! Ghost company will bring back-up as soon as—"

Boom. The ground began to fall away in a slit under Cody and he lunged to the right, tackling the nearest trooper with a little help from his jet pack before carefully landing on his feet. "As soon as we can," Cody finished, breathless, as he helped Viper steady himself, aware of another trooper falling, screaming, getting pulled under as if the ground had turned to liquid. A ping of light made Viper's grip tighten suddenly on Cody's hand, and then he fell limp. Cody's jaw and stomach clenched hard as he let go and turned in a crouch to fire back into the darkness and look at the damage.

The ground had fallen away in more or less of a line, a crooked line a few meters thick, thicker in some places, arcing and splitting. The ground had been hollow. Viper didn't move beside Cody—no pulse or breathing when he felt for it. The droids nearby happened to be positioned just so that most of them remained on solid ground.

"Cody, this is Ricky. My company's ready to return fire at the tanks. Just give the word."

"Hang on," Cody said, a thrill rushing through him despite the dead and the screaming all around. "We're going to adjust our aim."

"Sir."

More explosions to the left. Cody saw what was happening even before Ricky called in again.

"Commander, I think—"

"They're herding Appo's men into that crevice. Commander Appo, fall back the way you came! They're trying to drive you—"

"There's nowhere else for my men to go!" Appo's yell crackled through the comm.

"Keep to the high ground as much as you can!" Cody yelled back, just as he saw two of Appo's soldiers fall down the sheer split-level of rock the droids were driving them toward. The 501st had been trying to use the irregular levels as cover but it was being turned against them now.

"Alright," Cody growled, crawling up over an unusually large, jagged formation to get a better view of one last piece of the puzzle. The ground was sharp here even through his gloves. "Ricky, send a few rockets to clear the way for the Five Oh First! Wooley, lead the rest of the company toward Brin." He stared at the tank line, trying to focus over the sounds of battle and keep an eye on the approaching second wave of spider droids.

"But sir, we have a limited—"

"It's alright, Captain. Trust me."

"Yes, sir."

"Shiver, Trem, Vee. Aim your rockets for the coordinates I'm sending you. Wait my mark."

Cody laid heavy fire, rifle vibrating in his arms. The spider droid managed one shot toward his hiding place and he flinched as it impacted, but the falling rocks rolled off him and he pulled himself out to finish it off.

"Sir, coordinates received. Aimed and ready…. You must have a plan."

"Of course I do." Cody felt himself grinning and was a little surprised. "Ro, Zenk, aim rockets for—"

Another flash of light. The ground shook through his boots and he grunted as one more bit of rock glanced off his helmet, a spark of pain zinging through his clenched teeth.

"Sir, this is Tucker! Sawn's platoon is still out of reach. Not sure how many of them are even left after that blast."

"On my way, Tucker! Gata, your squads are with me! Up the hill!"

"Yes, sir!"

Cody motioned for them as he clawed his way back around the crumbled rock and ran toward the edge of the fissure. He'd had long enough at the vantage point to map the coordinates, and his fingers sent them to each soldier through the keys on his wrist. Now all he needed was a little luck.

He looked back downhill toward where the rescue of the 501st was still underway. "Meer, hard left, you'll have to go down the walls! Have the men clear the way with grenades."

"Yes, sir!"

Cody engaged his jet pack for a few seconds; his feet left the ground. He passed through the heat wave emanating from the cracks the tank had opened up and was grateful his armor was at least a little resistant.

"Shiver, Trem, Vee. On my mark." He came down and started running, could see Gata's men rushing to follow.

"Ready."

"FIRE!"

Rockets screamed behind Cody as he ran up the hill, perpendicular to the main battle. He had ordered Sawn's platoon this way to try and prevent the enemy from being driven into the caldera, but now they were pinned down by a line of spider droids and a thick band of B-1s.

"Gata, get two rockets ready. Tucker, your position!"

"I see you, Commander."

"We're going to break open the line and get Sawn's company out! Gata, Ghost's squad is recovery, yours is cover fire. Let's get these boys out of there."

"Yes sir!"

"I want all troops to fall back west of the tanks. Appo, are any of your men left on the east side?"

Silence for a moment. Cody took advantage of it to shoot the legs out from under two B-2s and skid to a crouch behind their bulk. He lobbed a grenade ahead and vaulted over his barrier as soon as he heard it explode. The droids were falling fast.

"Get in there! Go, go, go!" Cody urged his men. "Tucker, get behind me!"

The medic appeared from a crevice in the side of the hill, and began running behind Cody just as Gata's squad set the nearest spiders smoldering and spread out close to the wreck to draw the enemy's fire. Cody grabbed a grenade off Aurek's belt and jetted over the battlefield. Only one of the B-1s on the nearest tank saw him coming, and he shot it just as it began to speak. Cody landed, grabbed its body to throw at the two others who turned their guns on him, and wrenched the tank's hatch open just as they fell. In went the grenade, down went the hatch, and Cody burst away into the air only a meter ahead of the tank's explosion.

He could see Tucker and Ghost's squad picking up the wounded. Gata's men had started to fall—one, then another. Cody landed on a higher ledge and aimed carefully on his stomach. His finger squeezed the trigger in a steady rhythm—the nearest spider down, three B-1s with it.

"UP HERE, CLANKERS!" he yelled, waving his arms before slipping back behind cover. "Gata, get out of there!"

"Copy that, Commander!"

"Appo, come in! Are any of your men left on the east side?"

"At least one full platoon."

"Tell them to head further east and away from the hillside." He peeked out and fired again.

Another clanker down. Another. The blaster bolts were coming heavier now.

"Commander, we can't leave the caldera exposed!" Appo's voice was strained and loud over the comm. Maybe angry. "We have our orders!"

"Leave that to me," Cody said calmly, taking a moment to breathe and reassess his targets. He moved to the other side of the rock. "This approach isn't working; we have to stop them all at once. I'm ordering an airstrike. Clear the zone."

"We were advised not to airstrike this zone! You saw what happened when the tanks fired. We're lucky our use of rockets hasn't—"

"Exactly, Commander." Cody gritted his teeth and aimed—three out of four of his shots hit the tactical droid atop the multi-troop transport maneuvering closer to Gata. It slumped; the transport ran into a dead spider droid and stopped. "Clear the zone! We can go the long way round if we have to, but not if we're all dead." Cody switched frequencies. "Odd Ball, come in. I'm ordering an airstrike. Sending coordinates now. Give us about fifteen minutes."

"Copy that, Commander. Thought you'd never ask!"

Cody jetted over and hit the ground next to the last of Gata's men, who was struggling with a wounded leg and a badly wounded trooper on his back. "I got him, I got him!" Cody grabbed the trooper and pulled him over his shoulder. "GO!"

"Yes sir!" Sharp saluted and ran, hobbling.

"Alright back there, Lan?" Cody ran as fast as he dared.

A heaving breath from near his waist.

"Oh, a direct answer for once," Cody joked. "ALL UNITS, FALL BACK! RICKY, I'm counting on you to get the Five Oh First to a safe distance! The airstrike will hit the following coordinates; anything directly downhill must be clear!"

Minutes later, voice hoarse from repeating orders and checking in with officers on the run, Cody joined Tucker in the indentation where he was collecting the wounded and put Lan down with the others. The rumbling shriek of Odd Ball's bomber split the sky—Cody switched off night vision and saw the grey-blue dawn starting to creep across the sky. The ground lit up with flashes of light, and under the rapidly falling shells, rock and debris sprayed the sky.

"Come on," Cody whispered. He had mapped the sunken areas well enough, he thought. "Come on…."

As the smoke cleared, the noise of the battlefield dimmed. He could hear the chattering of droids distantly, perhaps even a tinny cheer as they thought the bomber had missed. But then there was a resounding crack, and long strips of the ground imploded and sank deep into the hollows in the mountain. The shock of the destruction triggered a widespread landslide toward the mass of CIS troops. The remaining tanks didn't even start to move until the slow-motion avalanche had almost reached them.

"Yes!"

Cody jetted up to see if there were any stragglers he could lift out. As he maneuvered over the other troops, he heard some of them cheering as they realized what was happening. This battle was nearly over, almost too easy, too soon.

Another sound, a screech like metal, and Cody looked up while engaging night vision, expecting to see a large boulder perhaps had broken away from the caldera's rim. But up on the edge, Odd Ball's fighter was grinding, sliding down, smoking—wedged, a moment later, between two boulders.

"What?" Cody breathed. He hadn't seen anything among the enemy armed with anti-aircraft missiles. "Odd Ball, come in! Odd Ball! Dare, come in!"

…

By the time the 212th had regrouped, the sun was rising and the ground had steadied. Cody stood near the mass of wounded, helmet off, water in hand as Tucker and West argued. The sick smell of blood reached inside his nose and made him shudder, but it was better than it had been in the jungle terrain. Cody could actually breathe without feeling like he was swallowing his brothers' guts.

"Sir, the larties can approach from the south if they need to," Tucker was saying. "It's too flat for them to hide any turrets over there. We don't even know if Odd Ball and Dare were hit by missiles, since neither of them can tell us now."

"So they just crashed for no reason?" West muttered skeptically, arms folded.

Tucker made an exasperated gesture. "I'm sure there's a reason, but the point is, we have to get most of these men off the planet's surface if they're going to live. Cody, Kix told me that between the droids and the scavengers, the Five Hundred First lost almost seventy percent of their remaining wounded in last night's attack: even some of the less serious ones too who could have been battle ready in a day or so if they just hadtime! The animals are getting more aggressive, too… Chanks got attacked and he wasn't even injured, just straggling. If we don't want to let everyone with so much as a sprained ankle die down here, we have to move them somewhere they can recover. It… it's only getting worse the closer we get to the port." Tucker gave a tight sigh, rubbing at his head with one hand. "If we hit the edge of the sensor grid before the Generals can knock it out, the enemy will know our every movement. As it is, they're dropping new temporary sensors to expand the grid. Appo's men found a few last night, before they were attacked."

West sighed too. "The Generals better knock out that grid soon or none of us will be surviving, sprained ankles or not."

"You're right." Cody nodded. "Moving the wounded out is a risk we'll have to take, whether the enemy has anti-aircraft missiles on the other side of that ridge or not. I'll contact the fleet."

He had just pressed his comm when a voice came from behind him. "Commander Cody. Excuse me. I need to speak with you."

Cody turned to see Commander Appo standing rigidly. Appo's hand jerked, clenched; he hesitated before finally saluting, his brow furrowed.

"What is it, Commander?" Cody asked, keeping his voice mild and expectant.

Appo glanced at the medics, and Cody considered moving away from them, but Appo spoke before he could suggest it.

"The Generals are out of contact, sir. I've been trying to contact them since we were ambushed, but… not a single answer. I was hoping you might try. Your comm has a wider range."

Cody hadn't tried to contact General Kenobi—his report wasn't ready yet. He tapped his comm. "General Kenobi, this is Commander Cody. Please respond."

The medics didn't continue their conversation, intent on Cody's silent comm, but moved back to their duties when nothing happened. He tried again, and again, then General Skywalker's frequency. Still nothing. Skywalker might have reasons not to answer him, but Kenobi would have replied.

"Tenacity, come in," Cody tried. "This is Commander Cody."

After a moment: "This is bridge officer Taller. What can I do for you, Commander?"

"Has there been any contact from any of the Jedi on the planet's surface in the last three hours?"

"Checking the logs." A pause. "Negative, sir. Would you like me to try sending them a message?"

"Yes. Tell them we've lost contact with Generals Kenobi and Skywalker."

"Anything else?"

"We'll need a medical pick up at these coordinates, over fifty Immediates and three times that of Delayeds we should get out before the fighting starts again. Try to send the ships in from the south. The enemy might have anti-aircraft missiles."

"Sir. Right away, sir."

"Cody out."

He dropped his arm and gave a small grimace. "Well. Now we wait. But you know what this means."

"Sir?" Tucker asked, looking up from applying a pressure wrap.

"There's a chance we're being jammed from certain frequencies of local transmission," Cody said. No sense indulging in his fears of the worst happening to Kenobi and Skywalker. "Which means…Oddball and Dare might still be alive. In any case, investigating the damage to the hull could tell us why they crashed. Maybe a peek over the ridge could too."

"I'll go, sir." West pulled his medpack back on and stood. "Tucker, I gave Gil another dose of painkillers. He's tough enough… I expect he'll pull through."

"We'll take some walkers part way," Cody suggested. "Save some time." He took a moment to inform the captains where he was going over comm.

As he and West moved away from the wounded, Appo followed, quietly speaking into his comm too.

"Bow, take temporary command. I'm going up the hillside with Commander Cody to investigate the crashed bomber. My communicator should remain open if you have any questions. Inform the other officers."

An even quieter "Yes, sir."

Cody looked around at the masses of troops trying to reorganize. He caught a few of them sleeping, propped up against rocks and helmeted to try and hide their closed eyes. Well, after fighting hard for days and only a few hours rest last night….

"I doubt they're alive," West muttered. "But Odd Ball has gotten lucky before."

"If there's a chance they're still up there and need help, I want them out before the medical transport gets here," Cody said as they came up to a few AT-RTs. A trooper was bent over one of the feet, examining the joint. "Boil. I need to borrow this."

Boil jumped and hurried to his feet, his eyes wide but the rest of his expression neutral. "Sir," he said abruptly. "Go ahead. I was just checking to make sure."

"Something wrong with it?"

"One of the other walkers' feet got twisted out of alignment in the jagged terrain. Thought I might have done the same trying to retreat. Thought I'd check. Joint just needed an adjustment."

"So it was a close call?" Cody observed. "Hmm. Maybe I should have given the men more time to fall back." He glanced at Appo, but Appo had his helmet on and it was impossible to see what he thought.

Boil shrugged, eyes averted. "Most everyone made it out who wasn't already gone. We did what we had to, sir. Anyway…." He placed a hand on the walker's leg. "It's all yours. Scouting ahead?"

Cody pointed up toward the crashed bomber. "I need to know if Oddball and Dare are still alive and why they crashed."

Boil looked surprised by that for half a second. Then shrugged again, as if unconscious of the motion, and glanced behind Cody at Appo, expression changing again into something Cody couldn't interpret. Apprehension? Recognition? "Good luck, sir. I'll inform Bastion and Aider that their walkers are being used for retrieval."

"Good man. Get some rest if you can."

"Sir." It came out like a grunt; Boil came to attention and walked away.

Without speaking, the three of them climbed up onto the walkers and turned them up toward the ridge.

"Ever drive one of these things before, Commander?" Cody yelled to Appo when they were going at a brisk, jarring pace.

It took a moment for Appo to reply, bouncing a bit against the walker's gait. "Yes! A few years ago."

Probably in the brief vehicular section of basic training, then. Cody laughed under his breath and felt a sudden stab of pain in his stomach. It was just his body wanting food, he told himself. Reacting to a lack of sleep and the AT-RT's gait. Coming down off the adrenaline high. That was all.

It passed. "This'll be quite the jump." He stared ahead at a rock face that was a meter and a half high.

"Follow my lead," West volunteered, and surged ahead with surprising skill to a fallen cluster of rocks. The walker hopped onto the pile and sprang the rest of the way up the rock face, landing on an uneven lip that bore its weight without even a sprinkling of ash breaking away. West had been looking ahead for the sturdiest ground. Cody smiled under his helmet.

"After you, Commander," he said to Appo, who nodded and moved his walker to near exactly where West had started, mimicked his movements closely, and landed safely, though with one foot half off the edge. It was an easy recovery. Cody followed, enjoying the few seconds the walker was off the ground.

"Commander Cody," Cody's comm said. He moved his walker a pace away from the edge to answer, patching Appo and West in. "The four Jedi who went to disable the port's sensor grid have fallen out of communication with all Republic forces. Last recorded contact was nine hours, seven minutes ago."

"But the other Jedi on the surface are still responding? The other commanders?"

"Exactly, sir."

"Which means… the Jedi could have failed," Cody said quietly. Not died. Perhaps been captured. It didn't need to mean the worst. He took a slow, silent breath and his mind settled. Appo and West were watching him.

"I'll continue to attempt contact, sir," Taller said. His tone turned grave even over the comm.

"Appreciated. Keep me informed of any other changes."

"Yes, sir."

"Well, Commander," Cody said wryly, glancing at Appo and glad of his helmet's extra shade. Sunrise was breaking on them from the left, catching their armor and the mist rising from inside the caldera, turning both a blinding gold-white despite a week's grime of battle on all of them. "Looks like we might need a backup plan."

West called back from his position ahead, "We'll have to drop the walkers off here. It's too steep!" He hauled himself up off the top of his walker and began to climb.

At the cliff side, Cody stretched his walker to its full height before he shut it off and stood to haul himself onto the higher ledge. The rest of the way looked climbable enough. They were nearly level with where the surface had broken apart under the airstrike, and he could see now that the bomber was flipped over, one of its wings clearly damaged.

He turned to help Appo up and they hurried after West, who was scrambling over the rocks at a relentless pace.

For the next twenty minutes, Cody focused purely on climbing, and tried to come up with a plan for if the Generals still hadn't made contact by the time they returned to the troops. The repetitive reaching and pulling loosened the knot in his shoulders. A breeze picked up that did nothing to cool the sweat inside his under suit; it smelled of blood and battle even through his helmet.

"Cody!" West finally yelled from ahead. "It was a missile!"

Cody looked up. He was hunched forward, scrambling level with Appo, and the ship was close enough that he could see what West meant. The shape of the scorched hole in the wing was too regular to have come from anything but a laser. Somehow, the wing had stayed attached despite half of it being punched through.

"Are they alive?" he called back, breaking into an awkward run, using his hands every third or fourth step.

West was trying to open the hatch with little success. "Oh come on!" he growled, and gave up on pulling at it, got out his rifle and aimed carefully.

Cody didn't try to stop him. West knew what he was doing, and a few well-placed bolts later a large section of the dome came loose and shattered, its fragments sliding down the rock face with an almost musical noise. The shards that made it out from under the shadow of the bomber glinted in the light.

Cody closed the last stretch of ground between himself and West, aware of Appo right beside him. West was already shaking his head sadly at Dare, strapped in and hanging upside-down, motionless. Cody pulled Odd Ball's helmet off.

The pilot groaned, his eyelids quivered as if he was trying to open them and failing. One hand hung above his head, the other clenched tight around the controls. He flexed his fingers and patted at Cody weakly, as if trying to find something to hold onto.

"It's Cody," Cody said, taking the pilot's hand briefly. "It's okay, Odd Ball, we're going to get you out."

At last, Odd Ball managed to open his eyes a slit, and immediately closed them again with a pained noise, face screwed up. "M… head," he creaked

Cody checked it for any damage, but he couldn't feel any bumps or see any bleeding.

"Probably just from hanging upside-down for so long," Cody joked, reaching for the strap release.

West shoved him aside and felt Odd Ball's neck, frowning hard. "You've injured your upper spine. Can you feel the rest of your body?"

Odd Ball gave a convulsive laugh and flinched.

"Don't laugh," West growled, removing Odd Ball's armor so he could feel more accurately. "That doesn't tell me anything except that you have a terrible sense of humor! Use words."

"Yeah. I can feel it," Odd Ball hissed weakly. "One… one of my legs is half asleep but…."

"Perfect," West said, and jerked his head at Cody. Cody shifted over beneath the cockpit to slide an arm between the pilot's back and the seat he was pressed against, ready to ease him down when the straps released him. A moment later, Cody and West carefully set Odd Ball on his side, and West studied him more closely.

"One broken rib, severe pelvic bruising but no internal bleeding that I can tell… collarbone's fractured, neck injured by severe whiplash. You got lucky."

"Dare?" Odd Ball jerked and called out suddenly, eyes wide open.

"He's dead," West said simply.

Odd Ball's face went slack, his breathing eased. "Was probably quick then."

"Commander Cody," said a voice over the comm. "You might want to see this."

It took Cody a moment to realize it was Appo, and that the other commander was no longer by them but had climbed to the rim of the caldera, several meters up.

"I'll be right back," he said to West.

"Mm." West was intent on treating Odd Ball for shock.

Cody hurried up the last treacherous stretch of loose gravel. Appo was at the top, on his stomach, peering down the other side through his binoculars. He shifted aside and held them in place for Cody to take.

It took Cody only a second to settle on what Appo meant for him to see. Through the lenses there was lush tall grass and leafy bushes surrounding a huge anti-aircraft turret. There was another nearby, set right among the houses of the town, civilians milling around it and giving it a wide berth. Droids were stationed there as well.

"Well, that narrows our options a bit," Cody admitted.

"What options? You were thinking of going down there for some reason?" Appo asked.

"I've been thinking of what to do in the event Generals Kenobi and Skywalker failed their mission."

Appo sat still a moment before he responded in a brisk tone. "The choice is simple, sir. We either press forward without the Generals, or wait until they make contact again."

Cody sighed. "We could do that, but I have another idea."

"What other idea?" Appo asked skeptically. "Our orders were plain."

"We'll talk when we get back to camp, Commander."

After a few moments, Appo silently picked himself up and returned to West.

Cody took his own helmet off for a moment to let the wind cool his sweaty head, and suddenly felt tired. It was going to be a long hike back down to the camp with Odd Ball in tow. He stared down at the rocks under his arms and fought the urge to lay his head down and simply look at them a while with the wind on his hair. There was a white one with a band of black around it that held his attention for a good minute while he breathed deeply. The dirt smelled normal up here, and the wind from the other side still smelled of the crash.

…

Cody was right. Getting Odd Ball down to the rest of the troops was painstakingly slow, and a ride on an AT-RT was too jarring for the wounded trooper to take. They carried him down by foot. It didn't take long after that, at least, to get him with the other Immediates, send Boil and the others to retrieve their walkers, and sit in some measure of calm amongst the other resting soldiers. Cody could hardly remember the last time he had slept for more than an hour.

"Commander," a 501st trooper said, walking up to him. He took off his helmet.

"Commander Appo," Cody said. "You should get some rest."

Appo looked doubtful. "I'm fine. We have to decide on our next movement."

Cody sighed. Appo wasn't exactly a shiny, but Cody knew that he wasn't going to like the plan that he'd been mulling over since he had learned the Generals' mission could be compromised. "What's your suggestion?"

"I say we stay put until we hear from General Skywalker or General Kenobi, or else receive a command from the fleet or another Jedi."

"Have you tried contacting the fleet for direction?"

Appo hesitated. "Yes... sir... but they have their hands full up there. They recommended we remain in position until further orders."

Of course that's what they said. They were caught up in their own battles. The last thing they needed to worry about was directing a battalion on the ground when they, much like the troops themselves, had no word of what was happening with the sensor grid or at the port.

"So that's your plan, is it?" Cody said.

"Well... yes," Appo stated as if it were obvious.

"Well you're right about one thing. Our troops do need rest. But I don't plan to wait around here longer than that."

"We can't move forward without knowing the state of the grid," Appo said tightly, almost daring him to disagree. "We don't have any other choice but to wait."

"And let the Seppies pick us off while we're sitting in one place, making it easy for them?" Cody huffed an empty laugh and folded his arms. "You know, they could bomb us if the fleet fails to keep them back. And the longer we're down here, the more likely we are to lose ships up there. Waiting more than a day just isn't an option."

"What do you suggest, moving forward? That's crazy. We either wait until further orders, or let this world fall to the Separatists, and we've lost too many men to let it all be for nothing!"

Cody shook his head. "There's another way."

"Sir?" Appo asked.

"We finish what the Generals started."

Appo's head jerked and his eyes widened. "Commander Cody, we… you can't be serious. We're not Jedi!"

"No," Cody said tiredly, though Appo's response bothered him. "But we are soldiers of the Republic. The Jedi have unexpectedly been out of contact for ten hours now, so we have to assume that they failed their mission. General Kenobi and Skywalker are counting on us. The entire victory on this planet was contingent on their success. You don't want this to all be for nothing? Then we have to take down that grid… with or without them."

Appo's voice was an urgent near-whisper. "Sir, if Jedi couldn't get inside the port to disable—"

"We don't know why they failed," Cody said. "We could have just as good of a chance."

"Who would you send?"

"I wouldn't send anyone," Cody said. "I'd go myself. You could come or send one of your best men. I think two, or three of us at most will be ideal for slipping behind enemy lines."

"And leave our men to fight alone?" The respectful restraint in Appo's voice was fading fast.

"As long as the officers are correctly distributed and given clear orders, they should be able to carry on just fine without us for the short time I intend this mission to be. As you say, all they will be doing is resting." Cody raised an eyebrow

Appo made a noise; he'd just swallowed whatever he was going to say.

"You don't think your men can handle it?" Cody asked.

"O-of course they can." Appo stared straight ahead, upright and stiff. "The Five Hundred First is full of the finest soldiers in the army."

"Maybe you don't want to step too far out of line as a new Commander," Cody said. "But you know we can't just march into those sensors. You already lost too many men in last night's attack, and we're still on the fringe."

Appo was silent at that. Cody wondered if it was grief or embarrassment or just taking time to think it over.

"The point is," he pressed on, "there's no possible way to take this planet back without disabling that grid. We underestimated how many droids they had on the surface in the first place. Enemy forces could be even thicker the closer we get to the city."

"If our Generals are gone," Appo said at last, "we should consider what they would order of us, not come up with some reckless plan on our own. There's no possible way they would approve of two clone commanders leaving their battalion on a mission that's sure to fail. Besides, with the predators, we need safety in num—"

"I have considered it. You don't seem to know your own General. If any Jedi would approve of this supposedly 'reckless' plan, it's General Skywalker. And as for General Kenobi, he might seem like the cautious type, but his actions show he's just as courageous as any. If you're not confident in your ability to fight alongside a Jedi, to cover for a Jedi, send someone who is," Cody said, a little more aggressively than he'd meant to. "General Kenobi depends on me to take charge of any situation when it falls out of his hands. I've pulled him out of worse scrapes than this. And Captain Rex did the same for General Skywalker, so it's your duty to step up to the task."

When Appo spoke again, it was slow and overly clear. "I don't need," he said, "to be lectured on my duties. I know well that my first duty, beyond my duty to Skywalker or my own men, is to the Republic's success in this war. Sometimes… my duty is to defer to the next available Jedi."

"The next available Jedi are on the other side of our target, and they've got problems of their own to deal with."

Appo sighed abruptly. "Respectfully, sir, we should at least send them a message and ask whether your plan makes any sense! I assume you have a plan?"

"If you'd like to hear it."

Appo said nothing, and Cody covered his sigh under shifting his weight.

"Look, I didn't mean to insult you. I'm just trying to help. I have the authority to make decisions for my battalion in Kenobi's absence, and the same goes for you and General Skywalker. That's what it means to be a commander." Cody tried to keep his tone patient, although Appo's attitude was threading a tension through his shoulders he'd thought he'd left behind days ago. "The only way our absence is relevant to the other Jedi is if it keeps our battalions from being in position when the grid goes down. You know that when it comes to the hierarchy of command, everyone is replaceable. We have good captains who know how to lead these armies."

"Maybe they already sent someone to find out what happened to our Generals," Appo said, "and we'd be wasting our time. Maybe the Generals are just temporarily out of contact."

Cody couldn't help another small huff of exasperation. "Check on that before we leave, then."

"It's your plan," Appo said in a light tone. "Maybe you should check in yourself."

"Fine." Cody felt a brief, useless sense of warning, but he couldn't stop now. Appo was new, probably needed this advice. "I just hope you're not worried about this because of a lack of confidence. Skywalker will be depending on you to do what Rex would do, and Rex would proceed with the—"

"You don't know anything about what General Skywalker expects," Appo said, his tone turning harsh all at once, before he recovered slightly. "Sir. And I'm not Rex, which, like it or not, is part of why I was given this command."

Skywalker's angry words began rattling in his mind and Cody was startled at the shudder that went through him. It was a moment before he gathered himself. "If you never take risks, you'll never get anywhere in this war. You can't…." He hated himself for saying this. "You can't be so afraid of repeating whatever mistake he might have made. There's a difference… between doing what's necessary to complete the mission and—"

"I know the difference between disloyalty and bravery," Appo said steadily. "I also know that what my battalion needs right now is a commander who won't go off on his own and get himself killed again."

"The risk of death isn't much different… whether we stay or we go, with the current situation," was all Cody could manage to say evenly.

"You're free to leave your battalion if you want, Commander." Appo said. "But I don't think it's a good idea. Better to send a scout, or someone who everyone won't be looking to for help in the heat of battle."

"Your concerns are noted, General," Cody said dully, angry that Rex wasn't here to take mock offense at the joke, with that raised eyebrow he could recognize even through a helmet, to listen and plan with him, to make his ideas better than at first. Angry at himself for letting it become personal, for expecting that it would be easy to fall into some kind of familiar pattern with Appo—feeling pleased in some small way that it wasn't easy at all. Rex couldn't be replaced… barely in position, and certainly not in personality. But now there was nothing adequate to fill that absence.

"I don't pretend to any position higher than my own." Appo's voice was soft, but his hands were in fists.

"No," Cody said. You don't even want to live up to the one you have.

…