"Rex! We'll never make it!" I screamed into the comlink. "We need those reinforcements now." I laced my words with a bit of persuasion this time, hoping for an entire platoon of clones to have miraculously been available. "Rue, I've told you, we have no one else to spare. You'll have to reach the headquarters without us." He said as if it was easy from the comfort of the bridge on the cruiser hovering above. I glanced up at it, envious of Rex being in its protection rather than in its shadow. I heard a single high pitched beep as Rex cut off the transmission. "Where's Rebel when I need her?" I asked myself aloud, stepping out from behind the cover of a fallen gunship to fire a few wild, unconcentrated shots and fall back into the shield created by the blast door that had crumpled upon impact. She was enduring her own form of torture at the moment on the medical facility on Coruscant, Pouch constantly drilling her to walk back and forth along those bars with her unfamiliar addition that he'd told her to just treat like it was normal. She kept a positive attitude, everyday she told me it wasn't bad but ceased to elaborate any further and I saw the light in her eyes that she got from the battlefield slowly fade away as she realized her hopes of returning to duty weren't changing anything. Wrecker was often with the Bad Batch on unsanctioned missions, he'd become sort of a loose cannon since the incident and I hardly saw him anymore, perhaps he blamed me. If I'm being honest, so did I, though Rebel told me countless times to not. "AAAAH!" A scream ringing in my ears broke my line of thoughts and I knew hiding and waiting wouldn't make for more reinforcements. I ran out from behind my shelter and blasted my way through a few droids trying to perform a miniature Rebel plan. I'd give anything for one of the two siblings to be here to smash through Nute Gunray's blockade. "Rue." I was focusing particularly on one of the clankers as my target. "Rue!" I missed again and tried to shoot it down another time. "Rue!" I finally hit it and reached up to my helmet, tapping on the side of it to pick up the call, hearing only static. I banged on it with my fist and the scratchy sound dissipated. "What is it, Rex?" I identified another target. "The General's recalled the fleet, we are to return to Coruscant immediately." I was stunned, Skywalker wasn't one to turn away from a fight. Surely the air invasion was going better than down here. "What? Why?" I tried to hide my excitement of returning home to see Rebel. "I don't know, he hasn't said." Rex sounded relieved too, though he tried to mask it. "Who'll take over for us?" I asked, knowing it's what Rebel would wonder too. "General Plo and Commander Wolffe are set up for their attack after us." I nodded and disconnected the transmission. "Men, let's move!" I ordered them, waving them on with my hand to the gunships that had landed in the shrubbery nearby. I loaded onto the final gunship last right as the door closed. I thought to myself the entirety of the brief flight up to the Venator of all that I'd tell Rebel had happened, though it wasn't much good news. Getting back up to the cruiser, I decided I'd try to get some sleep since I wasn't particularly hungry, but I barely got a wink in, the unforgettable cries for help burned in my brain. We arrived back on Coruscant and it felt like the first time we'd been on solid ground for weeks and it felt as if I'd been away from Rebel for longer, yet it had only been two days. "Hey, skipper." Rex said, stopping me as I bolted off of the ship. I skidded into an abrupt halt, I hadn't realized how fast I'd been going. I raised my eyes to meet his own hazel eyes, seeing him looking more chipper than usual, and I smiled back unintentionally. "Hey." My smile softened. "I still haven't forgotten that you yelled at me." I joked. "You mean that you yelled at me!" He retorted. "You know, I still haven't heard an apology." He crossed his arms, exasperated. "I could say the same thing." I put my hands on my hips. "Mmhmm." He conceded. "Are you going to see Rebel?" I nodded. "Yep. I'm headed there right- well actually, I'm going to the mess first to pick up some food, then I'm headed there." I looked around the room for a clock to make sure I wasn't going to be late, but there were none in the hanger. "Would you like to join?" I offered, remembering my manners. "Uh, no, thanks. I've actually gotta go check out the Temple. Apparently there's been some sort of bombing?" He rubbed his middle finger with the index finger and thumb of his other hand nervously out of habit. "Ooo, that doesn't sound good. Let me know what's up." I sucked in my breath through my teeth, hissing as I let him be on his way. "I will." He tipped an imaginary hat to me and scurried off to catch another flight on a gunship. I smiled, hoping there were no terrorists on Coruscant. If someone could dare to attack the temple and succeed, no doubt they'd come after us next. I hurried off in search of food and carried my stock to Rebel's quarters. "Hey-" I started before the door even fully opened. "Rue!" Rebel interrupted, but I couldn't have cared less. She was laying on the bed, looking more bored than General Skywalker looked when anyone was lecturing him. She fiddled with her leg, unentertained by her distraction. "Yum, thanks!" Her eyes fell on the meal as I set one of the trays on her bedside table. She settled deeper into her covers as she punched buttons on her remote to prop herself up. I swiveled the table to suspend it above her lap. "Mmm." She said, taking her first bite as I got situated on what was left of her bed. "So, details." She urged excitedly through her full mouth. "I wanna hear everything." I looked to her eyes full of the wonder and curiosity of a child who'd never seen conflict before. I actually wanted to hear about her adventures, but I'm sure she wasn't really to talk about it yet as I wasn't ready to talk about the battle, but I'd tell her, if it meant she'd feel better. "Well-" she leaned forward. "There's really not much to tell." I took a bite of a ration bar, chickening out of describing the feud. "Oh come on, something must've happened." She egged on. "Okay, well, I was trapped behind a fallen gunship and in desperate need of reinforcements." I explained my situation exaggeratedly as she listened eagerly. "I begged Rex to find some way to aid us, but no one was coming so I finally decided to try and execute your move." She started giggling, shaking her head. "Yeah, I know." I laughed the words out. "Anyway, it's a lot harder than it looks." I looked back to my plate. "I miss the battlefield." She blurted out and I shuttered, thinking of what might have happened had we not been called back to Coruscant. At the time I'd wanted her with me, but now that I thought about it, she was much safer here. "I feel like a sitting duck here." I wasn't in her position, but I could understand why she wanted to get back to the field when she said that. Knowing everyone else was out there, risking their lives, I'm sure she felt useless, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. "Last time I got hurt, I was kidnapped. Who knows what could happen with Maul, Savage, Dooku, and Ventress after us, let alone Palpatine?" When she listed out the threats, they really seemed to pile up and all odds seemed to be against us, but with her help on the inside, we could fulfill the vision of a galaxy with peace which we'd never been around to see, even though this war was nearing three years old. We would live to complete the promise made to ourselves that we'd defeat Palpatine. I knew I couldn't change her mind about wanting to get back into the fight instead of working in the shadows so I agreed with her for now. "Yeah, when did Pouch say-" I wondered about how her training had been going, besides she owed me some details now, but I was cut off by Pouch. "I have good news." I listened happily, knowing this was going to be the good news we were due for. "Your training is going better than I expected and you should be out fighting again soon." I felt strong conflicting emotions, elation for her, I was so grateful she was going to get what she wanted, but also anxious about her return to service. I smiled at her, knowing she was fearless and having full confidence in her ability to shatter my every fret. She flashed looks between Pouch and I, wondering if this was a dream and her jaw dropped open when I chuckled and did a little happy dance. She squealed in delight, unable to speak.