Thirty Three

The electronic door hissed open and Commander Cody strode purposely into the briefing room. His helmet was under his arm and his General stepped forward to greet him.

Rex was surprised when he saw them clasp hands, Mando style before briefly tapping their foreheads together.

He knew that the General was familiar with cultures from all over the Universe, but it felt strange to see the two share something so personal, something unique to the clones.

"Welcome aboard Commander."

"Thank you General."

"I trust you have everything sorted out on Coruscant Cody?"

"Yes Sir. Padawan Offee will begin treatment tomorrow."

"Good, good. Come along, we have a lot to discuss."

#

Jesse was crouched behind a large piece of durocrete. Hardcase was busy changing the charge on the rotary.

"Can you see anything?" Jesse implored.

"Nah, nothing ner vod, too must dust," he replied squinting through the mix of dirt, stone and laser discharge. They were pinned down, the mission to date had been a complete disaster. The five oh first were to hold position and divert enemy fire while the Jedi took the main outpost.

They were joined by their Captain, as he slid into their position under another round of enemy fire.

"What's the story Sir?" Hardcase asked.

"We're in deep osik. We have all units pinned down. There are two turrets to the west and one to the east. Appo and Coric are in trouble on our left behind a downed At-ap. If I can disable one of the west turrets, I can take out the one to the east."

"I'll do it Sir." Jesse offered, scrambling out and pulling a det out of his belt.

"Hardcase, you cover us, I'll head over to Appo."

"Sir."

"On my mark."

Jesse looked up at his friend and took a deep breath. "Hardcase, aim straight ner vod."

Hardcase placed his helmet over his head. "You just keep you head down," he said giving the Captain the nod, "let's do this."

Hardcase jostled the heavy gun in his hands and settled it hard against his pelvis.

"Twenty seconds to mark." Rex took his pistols out, and quickly tapped his left glove to his chest plate.

"Mark." He remained calm as the order was given.

"Aarrrrrr!" Hardcase roared as he swung out from behind cover and let the Z-6 loose, sweeping it in an arc to cover the two other soldiers as they made their escape. Jesse flew out from behind their jagged alcove, and weaved his way towards the gun spewing red. He slammed his back hard up against it's wall and activated the det. He swiftly flung the bomb into the armament and hit the dirt.

Whommp

That's when he saw the Captain sprint towards an upturned AT-AP. He was almost there when he was hit. Rex heard the discharge before he felt the searing heat hit his left shoulder blade, then the undeniable smell of burning plastoid.

"The Captain is down, I repeat, the Captain is down." Jesse looked up and saw Hardcase head towards him.

Rex breathed hard into his helmet, the force temporarily knocking the wind clear out of him.

"I'll take the gun, you get the Cap," Hardcase yelled.

"On it," said Jesse.

Jesse skidded to the ground and landed just short of the Captain.

"Left shoulder," the Captain managed to rasp out.

Jesse saw the droids heading towards them, and grabbed one of Rex's hand blasters and turned to fire on the imposing threat.

"Take that you fekking piece of metal osik."

"Argh, Fek!" before deactivating one droid he took a shot to the calf. "Fek you,' he fired, "and you," again, "Osik! Run this through your hard drives. That's it, bend over and take it like a – Fek!" Another blast caught him on the right leg. "That's gonna cost you." Jesse was a soldier possessed, letting out a tirade of abuse as he fired the weapon his Captain normally held in his left hand. Rex, using his good arm, covered the onslaught from the front, continually firing on anything that didn't bleed.

It was their last stand, and if they were going down, they would do it in a hail of blue blaster fire.

Hardcase on the other hand, had other ideas.

He had taken the turret Jesse had just immobilised and took out the other two in a howling display of tenacity, holding the bone jarring canon as he directed it towards the other Sep posts.

Then all was silent.

Hardcase jumped down from the armament and sprinted over to where the two men in white lay. They were hysterically laughing, mostly from shock and pain.

"Sir, Jess?" He tilted his head and lifted off his bucket.

"Get me up," the Captain replied roughly as he struggled to stand. Jesse looked down at his leg, there was a blaster burn to his left calf and another on his right thigh. "Fek," his voice coarse and gravelling from all the yelling, as Coric headed over with his medpac.

"Put a bacta patch on me and get him out of here." Rex ordered to the medic. "We won't have long before they send out another patrol. Torrent Company regroup," he barked down the comm, "we need to head into the next level and cover the General's when they blow the main camp. Appo, Nax and Hardcase, you're with me, Coric, what's the damage."

"No causalities Sir, just four wounded including yourself."

Rex hissed as the bacta patch was applied to the blaster wound. "Sir, you should be - " Rex grabbed a stim and plunged it into his neck. He quickly shook his head and stood. "I'm good medic, look after Jesse and as soon as we take the next level, I'll call it a day."

#

Vail would look through the fatality and injury tally on a daily basis when Jesse was on assignment.

There was nothing ordinary about his day, it had been uneventful up until the moment he logged on and saw the numbers.

CT – 5597

His face prickled with the realisation.

#

"Cody this is Rex what's your status?"

He heard the loud sounds of a full scale attack coming down the comm.

"Captain, we didn't have the element of surprise. We are taking heavy enemy fire. Kenobi and Skywalker have advanced through to the main compound. Commander Tano will lead us through once Torrent have moved into position."

"Copy that Commander, Rex out."

Rex looked around at his men. He always did a quick sweep of who was with him before he entered battle, hoping they would all be there at the end.

He watched as Jesse was carried off with the other wounded and turned to the remaining twenty soldiers.

"Move out. Hardcase, Nax watch our flanks."

"Sir," Hardcase said as he quickly turned to see Jesse being placed tentatively down on the ground as the comforting sound of the larty began building in the distance.

#

Cody watched the young Jedi wield the ancient swords, the green flashing fast and furious as her lithe body fell into a natural rhythm with her weapons. They were clearly outnumbered with droidekas tumbling through the haze of blaster fire from the regular B1's.

"Fek," he mumbled into his bucket as he pressed the trigger on his deece at a small group of Sep's.

"Sir, we are taking heavy flak from our left. We can't hold out much longer."

"Hold on Wooley, Torrent are heading our way."

"Rex?" Cody was feeling slightly anxious, he needed the five oh first there, now.

"Almost there Commander."

A barrage of blue came from their right.

Cody watched as Rex fearlessly barreled into the battle, his men instinctively covering their battle weary brothers.

Rex backed up against Cody.

"Never been so glad to see your sorry shebs."

The extra twenty men may have been a battalion as they managed to spur on the besieged remnants of Ghost Company. The battle ending in a matter of minutes, although to the two high ranking officers, it felt like seconds.

They were immediately silenced by the display from the Togrutan tumbling and slicing a droideka in half with her sabre.

"Now that's hot," Rex laughed as he holstered his hand blaster and headed over to the young Commander.

That's when Cody saw it, the red running down his friends back, the contrast against the blue and white mesmerising.

"Rex, ner vod, you're injured?" he had noticed Rex hadn't used both blasters during the gun fight. Ahsoka also noticed his blood stained armour.

"Captain! Rex?"

The adrenaline from the fight had spurred him along with the injection of stimulant. He had done what he said he would; get to the next level and help his friend and Commander who were in trouble.

Now he could stop, and that's when his legs gave way.

In slow motion the Captain sank down to the ground, on his knees he was supported by the arm that still could hold weight, but all of a sudden, he felt like his body weighed over a ton, and he struggled to keep himself from face planting into the dirt in front of him.

Ahsoka moved swiftly to his side. Bending down low to his ear she carefully placed an arm around the back of his helmet, her hand resting lightly at the seal. "Take it easy Rex, Kix is heading over now." He didn't say anything, just stared in front as he rested back on his heels slowly breathing in and out.

The moment was broken by the two General's heading through the dust. They appeared bedraggled and battle worn. Obi-Wan looked tired and even Anakin appeared distant, his tunic ripped and stained not unlike his Captains.

"We've taken the outpost Cody," Kenobi stated, "send in the tech boys to see if they can salvage anything from the data banks. They managed to blow most of it up but we may be able to get something."

"Right you are Sir. Brains and Mort, in you go, Wooley take Boil to cover in case they have company."

"Sir."

Anakin noticed the two on the ground and on realising who was being attended too, marched forward.

"Slacking off again Rex?" Anakin smiled. The Captain had taken his helmet off and had been placed into a more comfortable seated position. Anakin crouched down on his haunches and Rex offered him a swig from his canteen, which he happily took.

"Just a lucky shot Sir."

"What's the damage Kix?"

"Laser burn to his shoulder General, more damage caused by the broken pastoid that cut into his skin. Nothing a day in bacta can't fix. He's got a first class ticket back to Resolute"

Rex rolled his eyes and began to intonate his disapproval before he was cut off by the medic, "and that's an order."

That's when it happened.

Four commando droids appeared out of nowhere. Moving with agility, taking the group by complete surprise.

The light sabres were activated but not before Cody saw one raise his gun towards the medic treating the Captain. He took off instinctively and threw himself at an angle between the unarmed men.

The everything went dark.

#

He woke up in the med bay on the Resolute.

Rex was sitting on a chair next to him, his eyes closed as he caught some much needed sleep. The Jedi had finished up the rogue group of droids, his men had salvaged some information from the hard drives in the Sep base and they were heading home.

Cody looked at the bandages wrapped around his bare chest.

He winced as he tried to move.

"You're lucky your skin is thicker than a Bantha's hide." Rex said quietly, his eyes still closed.

"We're a good pair." Cody's voice all husky and slurred due to the pharmas.

Rex slowly opened his eyes. He looked tired, pale and in need of a shave.

"I'm getting too old for all this osik," Cody stated.

Rex scoffed back a laugh and nodded, smiling and closing his eyes he allowed himself to sleep.

They were in hyperdrive and the bacta had to do it's job.

Again.

#