Four AT-TEs were barely sufficient to house the full load of clones collected from the bottom of the canyon. The bench-style rows of seats inside filled up rapidly, leaving most occupants to rely on the magnetization function of their shoes and the overhead straps available for balance. As for the injured, only two swinging platforms were included per tank. These single-occupancy platforms near the front would accommodate on their own for a change in the terrain's angle, but most of the injured were forced to stay near the back so that when the floor became the new wall, the clones supporting the injured could quickly maneuver onto what would become the new floor. The logistics of the escape were hurried and awkward, but everyone had to be prepared in some way or another when the tanks turned upward at ninety degrees.

It felt like a blessing when the frontal hatches finally closed and the bridges retracted into the tanks. To say that the compacted, sweltering space felt secure would be modestly inaccurate, though there wasn't a clone present who would have preferred to spend another minute outside. The air was dense and smelled of burning oil. Liiqua sat fastened into her chair next to Ahsoka's. She said nothing of it, not wanting to contribute to the suffocating amount of drama already circulating in the area, but it was her presence at the back of the tank with Majum that prevented the clones from shooting him on sight. The three watched Anakin from the opposite side of the cabin where he sat suspended on one end of the swinging platform. Obi-Wan laid yet unresponsive upon the length of it, his head cradled carefully in Anakin's lap. The tender scene was entirely unexpected, given Anakin's most recent eruption of ferocity – directed toward his Master, nonetheless. It made Ahsoka uneasy. The old AT-TEs rumbled into ignition and sent everyone off-balance with a start. The injured groaned with pain, the seated were thrust against their restraints, and the standing were brusquely reminded to activate the electromagnets in their shoes, but no one really complained when the unpleasant shaking in the floor transformed into the rhythmic, wave-like sensation of the vehicle's walking outside. Through all of this, Anakin remained undisturbed. His fingertips swept softly at the dirty auburn hair occluding his Master's unopened eyes.

When the uphill climb began, the lights inside flickered and bathed the small space an ominous, dim red: a needlessly foreboding feature that was eliminated in later models. The clones in back scuffled gracelessly onto the closed hatch, which was now level with the ground outside. The thought occurred to several that this hatch had been open not long ago, and if today's bad luck would have it, they could be dumped at any time. It was an unfortunate possibility for the wounded who were unable to stand. Apart from the regular sound of the AT-TEs' elephantine footsteps as they plod along the cliffside, the trip dragged on in a collective, unbearable silence. Every meter they climbed was another meter they'd fall if the next missile broke loose their walker's grip. As it were, the object of everyone's dread was met when Cody's voice rang through the static of the old comm link attached to the inside of the tank. "Concussion missile spotted," he announced without apparent opinion, "Brace for impact."

As expected, the guns of the AT-TEs were blunt and imprecise. It was worth the effort to attempt to intercept the missile before it found its target, but no one could be blamed when the shell collided on schedule, detonating against the leftmost tank's durasteel hide with a resounding clash that reverberated through each of the four. Due to their tight formation along the ridge, every one of them felt in addition some amount of the missile's shock. The lights flickered again. The standing clones trembled and knocked into one other. Those with the privilege of sitting down clenched their grip on the handles of their shoulder constraints. Anakin looked up in genuine surprise at the event. At some point along the abbreviated journey he seemed to have entered a trance with his head bowed over Obi-Wan's.

The comm on the wall screeched loudly through the commotion. A few seconds of static later Cody returned, this time sounding a great deal more harried than he had before. "–We're hit!" he cried out. Everyone's attention glued onto the malfunctioning comm in alarm, powerless to do anything more. "We're–" he pressed on, punctuated by static interference, "–Repeat, we're still on the wall! I want everyone to move on without us. We'll get this figured out– … –Catch up soon as we can."

"Cody's group is stuck on the wall!" interpreted Ahsoka. By habit the exclamation was directed toward her Masters, but neither of them provided any indication of hearing. Then, without warning, Majum disengaged his seat's constraints and climbed nimbly to what was presently the tank's side hatch facing south.

"Majum!" she called, but he was already gone.

"He's makin' a break for it!" accused the clone in front of Liiqua. "I knew the horn-head couldn't be trusted!"

"He's been tracking us the whole time!"

"The missiles must be targeted toward us by his signal!"

"You guys!" pled Ahsoka against the growing opposition, "Stop it! He's our friend!"

As if on cue, Majum reappeared in front of the open window and shouted inside in Huttese. Ahsoka waited on edge for the director to translate, but before she could, Anakin perked up out of nowhere. "What? You can?"

Ahsoka was quick to intervene. "Master, he doesn't speak Basic!" A long, red sniper shot broke the conversation with a sharp twang, rebounding off the top of the moving tank that Majum was currently clinging to. His masked head whipped in its direction. He next turned his attention to Anakin and spoke urgently as he climbed back inside, hastily gathering his oversized blaster from the storage straps above the bench. Anakin responded with equal fluency and seriousness, apparently enlightened by what the Nikto shared as he uncomfortably positioned himself and his gun halfway out the hatch.

Ahsoka only had to glance at Liiqua to make her request known. "One of the tanks is not moving," Liiqua supplied unquestioningly, "Majum believes he can fix it if he can get over there, and he says it's a good sign that the Sand Wraiths are trying to snipe him because that means they want to conserve their missiles." It was noteworthy, Ahsoka observed, that for the first time today Liiqua had used Majum's real name instead of any one of the more colorful terms she'd conjured for him.

"They're running out of missiles?!" She gasped excitedly. Majum didn't take his eyes from the scope of his gun while he answered Ahsoka in Huttese. Liiqua chortled darkly in turn. "He says he didn't say that."

The firing of Majum's monstrous gun seemed to suck all the air from inside the tank. It was like entering hyperspace when he shot – the atmospheric pressure fluxed, all ambient noise was diminished, and the entire AT-TE bounced like it was made of jelly. To call it a lowly blaster was certainly the most severe of understatements: the way it screamed sent needles into everyone's eardrums, and the light it projected back filled the cabin with blinding cyan. This was truly some sort of mobile anti-aircraft cannon.

"Got one," he updated the group in Basic. It was suddenly much easier for the clones to believe that Majum was on their side.

"Ahsoka," called Anakin abruptly, "I'm going with Majum to help Cody. Take over for me." The resolution in his tone made it clear that this decision wasn't up for debate.

She cocked her head his way. "Take over? Take over what? And- Wait!" she leaned forward in alarm, "What are you planning to do?!"

Scrupulously, Anakin removed himself from his position as Obi-Wan's pillow and landed with a clack onto the side of the bench opposite from Ahsoka. It was something else for Pox to witness what looked like a Jedi standing sideways on the edge of his chair to the left.

"Just– Get over here and do what I was doing. It's hard to explain. You'll get it when you try it." And with a few more words in Huttese, Majum nodded and the two were out of sight. Ahsoka grumbled in annoyance as she unlatched her constraints as ordered.