Twenty Eight
Rex and Jesse crawled up the side of the cliff, crouching low.
"What we got Kix?" Rex said quietly.
"Company. Four platoons, two wets."
"Good work," he turned to the man on his right, "Jesse?"
"Sir."
"Keep him company. I want to know if those wets so much as fart."
Jesse lay down next to Kix, and peered through his macros at the Sep contingent.
"Here," he said to Kix, "eat something."
Kix had been in position for the better part of two standard hours.
Maintaining his eye on the activity down in the gully, he opened his mouth and turned his head slightly for Jesse to place a ration cube in. He chewed quickly and swallowed.
"Heads up, they're on the move." Jesse quickly placed his bucket back on and notified the Captain. They both then scrambled back down to their squad, sliding in the gravelly dirt and stood, awaiting orders from the General.
They were on Dàsos in the outer rim.
There had been reported sightings of Grievous.
Skywalker had remained on Coruscant, the young Commander studying at the Jedi Temple, and the 501st, this time, were under Kenobi and the commander of the 212th. They all stood, and waited for an update from the two sporting blue on their armour.
"Sir. The Sep's are bugging out, heading two a breast south."
"South?" Kenobi stood and stroked his beard. "What are they up to?" He pondered. "Cody?" He raised an eyebrow and the commander immediately knew the question he was asking.
They knew each other that well.
"Sir. We could send a small squad to follow them, see where they lead us. Swing one platoon down the east and west side of them. Keep one back here if by chance they double back."
"I concur General. I can lead the smaller recon squad. Give me five of my men. That'll do it."
General Kenobi continued to gaze ahead, looking at nothing in particular.
There had been a strange presence in the Force ever since arriving on this planet.
It had distracted him.
"Good thinking Rex. Head off when you are ready. Cody, gather the men and move them out accordingly."
#
Kix, Hardcase, Jesse and Nax together with Rex and Appo headed down into the gully.
Quietly they followed the identical sets of tracks.
The continued, hidden completely by the dense forest vegetation.
Rex held up a closed fist.
Crouching down on one knee, he surveyed the tracks. The Sep's had split into two. Three Platoons had turned back.
"They're on to us," Rex breathed. He quickly tapped into Cody and relayed the intel.
The platoon that had continued forward stopped.
"Sir?" Appo questioned their motives.
With silent hand signals, Rex deployed his men in two's in a perimeter around the droid army.
"Sir, we could take this lot," Hardcase said slowly.
Rex had the same thought.
"We need to await orders," but he was already thinking how he could afford maximum damage to the assembled group.
##
Representative Gem headed into the small room. She had been allocated to the Senate Research and Development Committee.
Seated in front of her were twelve notable scientists and off world representatives.
Gem walked over to the beautiful hard wood table and sat next to a young female Bivallian.
"Representative Skylar Gem from Oriis."
"Dr Sionver Boll." She held out a delicate terracotta coloured hand, which Gem took and smiled.
"This table is beautiful," she remarked as she traced her finger around a knot.
"Sabanna, I think," the doctor mused absently.
Gem didn't know it then, but they would become great friends.
Both united by a similar cause.
###
"Our orders are to stay put and continue surveillance."
Rex blew out a breath.
That was when he saw her.
A figure that made his blood run cold.
Standing next to the Devaronian was the Dathomirian witch, Ventress.
"Sir!"
"Easy Appo, I see her."
'Kriff!'
"General Kenobi. This is Rex over."
"Copy – that – uh - Captain." It was the General.
Rex instantly noticed the grunting as he talked, the hum of the light sabre being wielded so familiar to the Captain he knew they were under attack.
"We are - a little busy here Captain, I - suggest you - . Argh!" The connection went dead.
Rex thought quickly.
"OK, listen up. The Sep's have double backed and have the General and Commander somewhat occupied. What det's have we got?"
"Two a piece Sir."
"I've got two HX's Sir," Jesse chimed in, sounding pleased with himself.
"I don't even want to know how you got those Jesse." Rex smiled in his bucket.
His men were nothing but resourceful.
"Hardcase, you're carrying right?"
"Big Bertha Sir."
"OK, let's do this. Kix I need you to get into sniper position."
"Sir."
"Jess, position the HX's across the west. That's where they are likely to head once we flush them out. We've got two platoons on either side of us, heading our way. Whatever we miss they'll finish off."
"Sir."
"Nax, head back to me. Bring everyone's dets with you."
"Copy that Sir."
Rex kept his eye on the two talking.
He was more worried about the woman than the seventy odd droids they faced.
He tried the comm again. Both his commanding officers were not answering and he was itching to get back to the main group to ascertain what damage the surprise attack had caused.
Three platoons of droids had circled back, he did the math. Sixty troopers and one Jedi were about right to take them down, but he wanted to get back to them to make sure.
His new mission was to take his revenge for his brothers from Teth, and the woman he hated most in the universe was standing not twenty metres away, her hands held on her curvy hips, talking to the horned alien.
#
Jesse and Hardcase scurried through the vegetation and buried two of the land mines.
"Where you get these ner vod?" Hardcase was constantly fascinated at how Jesse always managed to get his hands on things other than the standard issue.
"I have a friend in Ordinance," he stated matter of fact as he covered dirt over the hidden mine and sweeping the immediate area over with a branch to hide any evidence of their presence.
"I thought you stopped all that?" Hardcase sounded annoyed.
"I have ner vod, I have," he stressed, glancing quickly at him. Hardcase saw the look, and knew he was telling the truth.
#
Kix made a spot for himself hidden by shrubs and dug in. He lined up his sniper attachment at the two wets and radioed in.
"Kix in position Sir."
Appo brought over all the det's and handed them to Rex.
"Listen up you lot. Appo, Nax, I want you at four metre intervals right of me. We'll rain the det's down letting them think they have more than just six troopers on top of them. Kix, when you have a clear shot, take both the wet's out, starting with the woman. Hardcase, Jesse, when they wind toward you, hold off until they hit both mines clear? Anything left standing is Bertha's."
"Copy that Captain."
Rex, Appo and Nax headed towards the unsuspecting troops. At six metres away from the enemy, they activated the bombs.
"On my mark gentlemen."
Kix took a breath and exhaled slowly.
He wasn't a sniper but had been given the job at taking out the humanoids in the group. It was in his training, but being the medic, he would have preferred disarming the droids than killing unsuspecting beings, Sep's or not.
He squeezed the trigger and the Davaronian was down, missing Ventress.
'Fek'
She swung around wildly towards the source of blue light and activated her twin light sabres, the glow of red unmistakable. Kix fired again, only to have the shot deflected. He then let the blaster loose, his cover now blown, his new aim, to immobilise her at all costs. Rex, Appo and Nax rained the det's down on the assembled group, blowing the platoon open, veering them towards the west.
The droids acted exactly as Rex had hoped.
"Here they go," Jesse said under his breath.
The soldiers headed to the first hidden land mine and the sound of metal, explosives and dirt falling filled the air.
"Dumb."
The group immediately behind changed direction and hit the second hidden explosive to the same rousing effect.
"And dumber."
Hardcase laughed heartily into his bucket and stood, relieving his PLX-1 of its missile. He fired it cold, letting it rip straight into the remaining group of metal soldiers still standing.
The damage was extensive and Rex fleetingly thought they had achieved the mission, not being able to see where the Sith had escaped. He ran over the deactivated droids but was aware of his feet no longer making contact with the ground as he was force lifted into the air and flung hard against a large Sabanna tree, the hard wood cracking his back plate at the sheer velocity with which he hit.
Oomph!
All breath was momentarily knocked out of him.
"Sir!" it was Appo. "Your left, on your left," he screamed down the comm.
Before Rex could turn his head she was on him.
"Well, well, well. Looky what we have here." Rex was momentarily back on Teth, back in the Temple. "I remember you? You're Skywalkers clone."
Rex tasted vomit in the back of his throat.
Her smudged makeup and foul odour he remembered only too well. Two red light sabres criss crossed one another and were held tight under his chin. Rex could feel the heat emanating off them, the gentle humming unmistakable.
The HUD of his bucket was flashing incessantly, receiving messages from the members of his group as they tried in vain to contact him.
She continued to force hold him against the tree.
"Take your helmet off soldier."
"With all due respect Ma'am, I'd rather die," he replied.
"All in good time Captain."
With her light sabres still activated, Rex felt her hands on either side of his head, the weapons singeing the armour at his arms. He tried to stop her from touching his bucket by moving his head aside several times.
"Steady there soldier," her voice mellifluous. She lifted it off his head seductively.
She knew the other men would be watching but continued none the less.
"My my, what a pretty face." She looked genuinely pleased at his appearance as she ran a long, finger down his cheek and under his chin.
Hardcase and Jesse watched in shock.
"Kix, can you get the shot?" Appo asked tentatively.
"Not without risking the Captain." Kix was in the wrong spot to get a clean kill. Annoyed he didn't dare move and startle the Dark Jedi into doing anything being so close to the Captain.
'Fek!'
She moved her face close to his and the five men watched, dumbstruck as she seemed to touch his face with hers before stepping back and allowing her captive to slide down the tree trunk and onto the ground. Rex moved with such fluidity, it was strange to behold. Within a second she jumped high into the branches and was hidden in the forest canopy.
"Quick!" Jesse and Hardcase ran towards their inanimate commanding officer. Appo and Nax alighted from their cover and Kix, began running, swinging his medpac around for immediate access.
Rex was dazed. The medic administered a stim into his neck. They waited for the chemicals to hit his bloodstream, and with a rasping intake of air, he returned to normal and looked at the five sets of eyes boring down on him.
"Did we get all the droids?"
"Sir, we got them all."
"Ventress?"
"You don't remember?"
Rex looked at the men, annoyed and uncomfortable. "Remember what?"
"Sir, I think you should sit for a few minutes." Kix watched the colour return to his Captain's face.
"Get me up," he ordered and hissed a breath as he was lifted into standing.
With that, a platoon, lead by a soldier wearing orange burst through the bushes.
"Captain Rex, Sir. Wooley awaiting orders, but - ," he looked at the scrap yard of droids lying around them, and then to the six soldiers gathered.
"Wooley. We need to turn back to base immediately. Comm the other unit to turn around also."
"Sir," he replied.
#
They were joined by the platoon coming in from the west. Rex out in front with the other five-oh-first troopers. They set the cracking pace. There had always been rivalry between the two units, Rex liked it that way.
General Kenobi was injured, nursing a bloodied arm and Commander Cody had a gash along the length of his thigh. Kix ran on and assessed the damage to the higher ranking officers.
"General, it was Ventress leading this group, not Grievious."
"I thought I sensed something odd when we arrived," Kenobi smarted as Kix lifted the bacta patch to access his wound.
"Sorry General," he quickly added.
Kenobi was annoyed. This war was a case of one step forward and always two steps back at present. He looked over at Cody and then to the wounded men. His eyes glanced over to the other men in white, lying on the ground with no one assisting them, the ones no longer needing medical help.
He shook his head and winced again at the pain in his arm.
"Alright," he said looking around at the carnage from the battle, "Captain, radio in and get someone to pick us up."
"Copy that General."
###
"Welcome back, Sir" Rex nodded and moved gingerly towards the infirmary on board the Resolute. His left shoulder had been dislocated when he had been flung hard against the tree but he had managed to relocate it with a little help from Hardcase in the larty coming home.
"What the Fek are you two doing?" Kix had yelled as he watched Hardcase slam the Captain against the bulkhead replacing the disjointed limb. Kix had continued to give the pair an ear full for being so 'completely and utterly stupid.' Now, Rex was going to pay for that stupidity.
He knew the scenario all too well; it was a bacta tank for him for the afternoon.
#
"Did the Cap mention anything to you about the thing with Ventress?" Jesse asked Hardcase as he placed his tray of food down. They were in flight, en route back to Coruscant.
"Nup," he said as he began to shovel the bland food into his mouth, "he's taking a dip, be out when we hit dirt."
Jesse watched as Hardcase systematically finished every ration on his tray. Kix arrived with a mug of caf and sat down next to them.
Hardcase looked up and nodded.
"I'm still not talking to you," he said sullenly.
#
"Kriff , if it isn't enough to just get back than we have to deal with this osik as well?" Kix had been in a particularly bad mood since the jaunt to Dàsos.
"Steady on soldier," Rex had walked in silently behind the men lining up wearing only their black under suits.
"Sir." He knew better than to ask about his shoulder, he knew the bacta would have done its job, again on another injured part of his commanding officer, again.
"Kix, anything you want to talk about?" The Captain was on to him, it was out of character for the medic to be so out of sorts, something was bothering him and he was going to get to the bottom of it.
"No Sir," he snapped back a little too loudly.
"In my office now, and the rest of you, settle down." He raised an eyebrow at the disgruntled group as they continued to line up and wait outside the Ordinance department.
Kix stood to attention as he watched the Captain walk around his desk and throw his comm link down. "At ease Kix," his voice softened as he invited him to sit in the chair in front. Rex was clad only in his under suit and lower part of his armour.
"What's going on?"
"Nothing Sir."
"Come on Kix, I know you, kriff, you've put me back together more times than I care to remember, you know me better than I do." He smiled and Kix relaxed a little.
Kix looked down at his hands and let out a long breath.
"It's just, I don't know how - ." He looked genuinely distressed. He wanted to say 'I've had it, I've had enough of the blood and the lifeless eyes and all the yelling, the pain,' but he didn't, couldn't, he wasn't bred to do so.
Rex knew the look, he had seen it in other battle weary men before. They were his own eyes he was looking into after all.
"Would you like some time dirt side Kix, sit out the next hop?"
"NO!" He calmed his voice, "I mean, no thank you Sir. I need to stay with my team."
Rex sat back into his chair and gazed at the trooper in front of him. He suddenly felt so old compared to the young identical man seated. He pushed he chair back and stood. "Come on, let's get this over and done with."
Kix followed his Captain along the corridor, into the elevator and down to the Ordinance department. They walked in to see Torrent Company in various states of undress, Jesse holding court in one corner laughing at Hardcase who was wearing nothing but his new Phase Two bucket.
"Atten-shun," they all stood straight, even Hardcase, albeit uncomfortably as they waited their orders. Rex threw his head back and laughed, the sound resonating loud throughout the area, immediately putting the men at ease. The Captain then stripped off his body suit and handed it over to receive his new, upgraded uniform.
#
"Check out the shinies," the soldiers wearing light and dark green on their armour laughed as they headed into the Mess.
"Who you calling shinie?" Hardcase moved slightly in the direction of one flippant trooper.
"Easy ner vod," Jesse moved in between the two standing off. The company had just received it's new Phase Two armour and without the infamous blue, no one knew they were five-oh-first.
"I could take you for that," he said over Jesse's shoulder.
"Come on shinie, show us what they're teaching you on Kamino these days."
That was it.
These men were battle hard, the group had foolishly picked the wrong men to stir.
Jesse looked up into Hardcase's face and smiled.
"They're Bantha squad. What'd you wanna do?"
"Get a few dents on this fekking armour," he said looking him straight in the eye.
Jesse smiled, "On my mark?"
#
The rest of the afternoon the men were quiet.
Hardcase and Jesse had begun the Mess Hall brawl and the Guard had finished it. Bantha Squad had made a decent fight of it, but they had been clearly outnumbered by the boys from Torrent Company.
They headed back to their quarters, and armed with brushes and tiny cans of cerulean pigment, they began, engrossed in meticulously remarking their new armour, so there would be no confusion in the future, about who they were.
###