Cody could see Windu from the waist down but couldn't see the rest of him. A strong stab of guilt stabbed Cody at surviving when the General had been crushed so terribly in the explosion. If only Cody had run a little faster, Windu could have made it out. Cody closed his eyes briefly in grief. He knew he had to verify the General was dead, but he wasn't looking forward to what he would find. Cody carefully worked his way up past Windu's legs and laid his hands upon the support beam and slab of wall pinning the General.

His bucket flashed a warning and Cody frowned at the readout. He was low on oxygen and rapidly running out of power. How long had he been unconscious? A clone helmet could go a fortnight without needing a rapid recharge. Why was he so low on power? He took off his bucket and examined it carefully.

Shab.

There was a crack lining the back of it, exposing the wiring around the power cell.

That's not good.

If he had more time, he would attempt to fix his bucket with his mini toolkit. Alpha-17 insisted they know how to tear their buckets apart and put them back together. But, time was not on his side. He still needed to check the General, and his bucket could completely fail during that time. He slid his bucket back on and studied his remaining power. Ten percent at his current power draw. He reduced his HUD lighting to a minimum and cut all non-essential functions. His remaining power jumped to 20%, but then immediately dipped back down to 19%.

Fierfek.

His bucket was failing and fast. His comm system was still flashing an error showing signal interference but he decided to record a message anyway.

He took a careful breath and spoke slowly so he could get the words out without coughing. "This is Commander Cody of the 212th calling for an immediate evac." He paused to catch his breath, and then continued on. "I am here with General Windu. His condition is unknown at this time." The building shifted slightly around them and Cody's eyes widened in alarm, wondering if he'd survived the initial destruction only to be squashed as the building settled. As a huge plume of dust filled the air, his filters could not compensate. Cody broke down into a fit of coughing. He paused the recording temporarily waiting for the fit to subside, holding his ribs to ease the strain of coughing. Gah. Coughing hurt with injured ribs. He held his breath and relaxed his chest, trying to ease the spasm. Slowly, much too slowly, it subsided and he was able to resume recording. "Our current location is unknown, but we were near the south entrance when the building-" Another violent fit overcame him again, so suddenly he didn't get a chance to pause the recording, he took several deep breaths and continued on more slowly, "... when… the building… came… down. Power… failing…The air… is…bad…" He cut the message off as he felt another coughing fit come on, and gave up on speaking anymore. He set the message to loop and transmit indefinitely until the power ran out. He set his bucket to the minimal life support settings possible and watched the battery tick down again. It was draining too fast.

He sighed as he realized what he had to do. He switched off his HUD, helmet filters, supplemental oxygen and fans and took his bucket off. Double-checking the message was still transmitting, he clipped his bucket to his belt.

Gah. It's like trying to breathe in a sand storm.

He clipped his bucket to his belt, taking short, shallow breaths of the dusty, debris-filled air. It was like breathing in a sand storm and his already aching lungs protested the additional strain, sending him into another fit of coughing. But, there was no helping it. If someone out there was trying to rescue him, he needed to help them locate him. Ponds had his locator chip information, but it might not be enough with the interference from the explosion.

Knowing he'd done all he could on the rescue front, Cody focused his attention back on the General.

Cody analyzed the long girder, trying to figure out a way around it. But, there was debris piled all around them and there was no other way forward.

I'll have to climb on top of the girder to get up to his head. From there, I can check for a pulse.

Maneuvering himself carefully because of his broken and even-more-broken legs, Cody hoisted himself on top of the girder.

A long searing moan startled him so much he fell off the side of the girder dislodging it slightly to the side. Cody's yelp of pain from falling almost drowned out a second searing moan.

Almost.

Cody took several deep breaths to tamp down his pain enough so that he could move again. The stims were wearing off and the throbbing pain in his legs was nearly unbearable now. But, he was an ARC trooper, and Alpha hadn't trained him to give up easily. He dragged himself back to a sitting position and adjusted the angle of his bucket lamp to get a better view.

Well, that's not good…

The General was jammed down into a fissure in the ground, created by the explosion. It looked… incredibly painful. Cody could only see portions of the General. Part of his face. Scraped up and bloodied. One arm. One of his shoulders. Cody leaned in closer, grunting painfully from the effort as it pressed on his many injuries. He had to lean back again after a few seconds, breathing heavily as the strain on his ribs became too much. As the pain settled back down again to simply horrifically uncomfortable rather than nearly making him black out, he considered the General's condition. He's still alive, so that means he still mostly in one piece, although it looks as if the majority of him is crammed down into that crevice.

What had Barriss said about explosions with concussion force, like the one I was in? He closed his eyes briefly, thinking back to how often Barriss liked to talk about her work during his physical therapy sessions. She'd worked in many RIMSUs and had seen all many of her injuries. She was very passionate about her work and saving clones. It was one of the reasons Cody loved-

No. Not that. Never think about that again. What had she said about clones who'd been exposed to high explosive blasts and received concussive force injuries? As he focused more deeply, he could hear remnants of her voice resonating in his mind, memories of Ord Cestus.

High explosive blasts could cause skull fractures, fractured bones, head injuries, and chest, abdominal and pelvic injuries. He studied the General's bloody skull and frowned more fiercely as he remembered more of Barriss' words. Primary blast waves can cause concussions or mild traumatic brain injury without a direct blow to the head. The predominant injuries involve standard penetrating and blunt trauma. Blast lung is the most common fatal injury among initial survivors.

Cody frowned even more fiercely. The General's breathing was shallow. Cody's breathing was currently labored and wheezing, broken up by bouts of coughing and chest pain. He'd thought it was from the dense amount of particulates in the air.

No, he admitted to himself, reluctantly, a building coming down on your head is probably enough to cause a bit of blast lung.

There was no helping it now, though. He was here and had an obligation to help the General. Even if Cody's injuries were even worse than he initially thought, maybe he could ensure Windu survived long enough to be rescued.

# # #

While Rex's thoughts were consumed with Cody, he had a duty to the 501st. He'd lost too many good men in the first battle and he'd be damned if the second battle would go the same way. Most of the troopers he'd lost in the initial engagement had been Spaartis, but that didn't make their loss sting any less. Shinies were always rough in the beginning, and these shinies needed the most work of any troopers he'd ever been sent. But, that didn't mean they couldn't have grown into proper troopers with enough guidance from their older vode. Feeekkkkk was proof these shinies had potential. Maybe not all of them were battlefield material, but that didn't mean they couldn't be trained to do essential support jobs around the fleet. If they could start using Spaartis in those roles, it would free up more Kaminoan-trained clones to shore up their numbers.

The cries of the Spaartis still echoed in his ears as they shouted for help and were cut down row after row by the SBDs and rollies. General Krell's battle strategy was so poorly planned and executed it was as if he wanted maximum casualties and minimal results.

Rex shook his head at the thought. It wasn't possible.

He gritted his teeth and exhaled slowly, trying to let go of his anger at their temporary General.

(Please let it be temporary. Skywalker, where are you?!)

Skywalker had been inexperienced in the beginning, too, and many of his plans had resulted in too many men lost, (Teth.) But, this was different. Krell was an experienced General. His plans were not just reckless, it was as if they were deliberately… Rex couldn't put his finger on it.

There was something off about General Krell.

But, no one asked Rex's opinions so he just needed to deal with it. Somehow. He'd been ordered to take Fort Anaxes and that is what he would do. The Fort was critical to the Republic's invasion strategy as a staging point.

Before Rex could make another attempt to take the base, he needed to inspect his remaining equipment and assess inventory. He'd delegated the inventory work to Echo, Captain Vaugh and Sergeant Kreel, while he was personally handling the equipment inspections with Fives, Jesse and Burner, their Chief AT-ST Mechanic.

"The motivator is shot," Burner pointed out, running his fingers over the faulty part. "I could fix it if I could get my hands on a new motivator, otherwise this AT-ST isn't going anywhere." He glanced skywards as if he could conjure up a LAAT full of spare parts. "Are the birds coming through, Cap?"

"That's Captain and no, nothing has changed since you asked me that an hour ago." Burner had come into the 501st with the large batch of replacement rookies after Teth. He was a solid trooper and very good at his job, but he delighted in trying to get under Rex's skin. "Unless you think I can produce these parts out of my shebs, you better figure something else out."

Burner grinned and leaned down to stare at Rex's backside. "Well, now that you mention it…"

Rex smacked the trooper on the back of the head, but this just caused the mechanic to grin even more broadly.

"Alright, alright." The mechanic straightened up and wiped his greasy hands on a rag. "Since we can't get transports through, the downed AT-STs at the battle site might still have some working motivators and maybe some other parts we can salvage."

Rex inhaled deeply. "It's risky, but we need to get these tanks moving again. Fives, you go with him and take a squad. Raid the downed AT-STs for parts, but don't linger. There's probably droid squads still hanging about."

Burner tugged out his blaster and checked the charge. "I don't often get to head out onto an active battlefield." He reached down to grab a large rucksack and tossed another toward Fives.

Fives slipped the pack on his back and gave Burner a none-too-gentle shove toward nearby speeder bikes. "Come on, you little grease lizard. You heard the Captain. Get a move on."

Satisfied he'd solved at least one crisis, Rex turned toward the RIMSU to check in on the wounded. On the way, he tapped out a note to both Ponds and Wolffe asking for an update. After a moment, Ponds sent back a very hurried reply, just a numeric code, designating no change. Wolffe sent back an image of his gloved hand making an obscene hand gesture. The message was clear. Leave-me-the-fek-alone. I'm-working. It was Wolffe's way. He would comm when he had an update.

But, it wouldn't stop Rex from sending them both a comm again in five minutes to see if there was any news.

# # #

"G-G- en…General?" Cody stuttered out the words, before bending over to let out a painful rasping cough. The coughing was agonizing as he had at least one bruised or broken rib. He closed his eyes and breathed in slowly, willing his lungs to calm down.

General Kenobi had often praised him for remaining calm under the heat of battle to which Cody quipped the same could be said of his Jedi General. During some of their quieter moments when they were working out strategies over late night cups of tea and caf, (and occasional bars of chocolates from Kenobi's stash), the General would insist they take meditation breaks. They were short breaks consisting of simply closing their eyes and breathing deeply for a minute or two. But, it often left Cody so refreshed, he wished he could continue indefinitely. He closed his eyes now and forced himself to regain the same calm. It had the desired effect and his whole body relaxed, easing his lungs and allowing him to get words out again.

"General Windu," Cody managed the words louder and more insistently this time, without the interruption of the cough.

He was rewarded with another moan and the hand nearest to him moved slightly, reaching toward him. Cody grasped the fingers lightly, the move instinctual. He'd done the same for his men many times when they were in terrible pain.

"It's Commander Cody, sir."

"Com…mander," Windu's voice was weak and barely audible, and coming from the usually overpowered Jedi, the effect was startling. "You're… alive."

There was an unspoken message there, but somehow it came through clearly.

I'm glad you made it.

Cody didn't know how he knew this, but he was floored by it.

"Yes, sir, I survived." Cody paused to cough again and couldn't quite hold back a slight moan of pain from his ribs. The coughing was not helping things. "Thanks... to you."

Windu squeezed his fingers ever so lightly in a gesture of brotherly solidarity Cody never thought he'd share with this particular Jedi. Cody went to pull his hand away, but the Jedi held tight.

"Nash?" Windu asked, his eyes darted back and forth as he searched for the Captain.

Cody sucked in a breath, and then regretted it as his lungs rebelled and the air came back out again as a spasm of coughing. He put a hand to his chest and pushed hard on his lungs to ease the spasming muscles. It wasn't enough to quiet the spasm, so he instinctively closed his eyes and used the calming technique taught to him by Kenobi. He felt a tingle of warmth through his fingertips and the pressure in his lungs eased even more. Had Windu done something?

Cody found it easier to both breathe and speak which was ironic since Windu's breathing was getting worse by the minute. "I'm sorry… Captain Nash is dead, sir." He tugged his hand away from Windu and reached for his medkit. "Sir, I should administer a hypo to you. You're badly injured."

"Y-y-yes."

The fact the General agreed so readily to the hypo spoke volumes to his sorry state. General Kenobi always insisted he was fine and tried to heal himself using Jedi osik. It generally took a combination of both Cody and at least one or two of the junior medics to wrangle their General into medbay.

Cody kept up a steady stream of conversation, knowing the importance of a good bunkside manner. His two top combat medics, Cavil and Keen, had both excelled at keeping brothers calm when badly injured. He still felt their absence in every engagement. But, he would honor their legacy by channeling what he'd learned from all-too-short lives. They always calmly explained what had happened and a brief description of what they were about to do before starting any treatment. They followed this routine consistently on every patient and Cody remembered how it had worked for him time and again having a calming effect when he was confused and injured. "General, I don't yet know the full extent of your injuries. You're pinned down, sir."

Windu made a slight hum of acknowledgment and was silent as Cody administered the first hypo. Somehow talking the General through everything was keeping Cody calm, too. He wasn't at the correct angle where Cody could reach his neck, but his field training told him the shot could be administered anywhere in a pinch. The neck was simply the preferred site as it worked faster. He injected the pain medication through a tear in the General's thick Jedi trousers.

Cody could see the moment the painkiller took effect as Windu's body relaxed slightly and he became more alert. It was a hopeful sign. Cody pulled out his mini field scanner and stretched as close to Windu's torso as he could reach. His pulse rate was too high, but still within the acceptable parameters for giving him a stim. He followed up with the second shot. The General's eyes open wide from the stimulant, and he focused on Cody.

"How.. did you... find... "

Windu didn't complete the sentence and stopped gasping for air in a manner that was most alarming. But, Cody understood the question.

"I'm not exactly sure, sir. I searched for you for a while and couldn't find you. Then, I guess I sort of… followed my instincts."

Despite his difficulty breathing, Windu made a thoughtful sound that was still very Jedi in nature. Cody had no idea what to make of it. Best to get back to practical matters since he didn't have a lot of energy left himself. "Sir, I think if I find the right sized piece of durasteel, I could use it as a lever to hoist this beam off-"

"No." The General's tone was sharp, at the same time while his breathing was a painful rasp.

Ah, this was more the 181st General that Cody was used to dealing with and somehow it was a relief. Maybe he was going to live and Cody wouldn't be offering his apologies to Ponds.

"Sir, I'd like to make you more comfortable until the rescuers arrive. We don't know how long-"

"We're going… to… move the …wall together."

I don't like where this is headed.

"But, sir, you're in no shape to-"

"Listen to.. to... me... you must... use those instincts... again."

"I don't understand, sir."

"I cannot… get out... on my own."

"Ponds has my beacon. Hopefully, rescue crews are-"

Windu's breathing was a hissing gasp that was growing more desperate with each word. "Need your help... .. can't... breathe... You... must help... me... lift...the... wall..."

Lift the wall? Cody settled for the response clones always used when Jedi were not making sense. "Sir?"

# # #

Burner and Fives returned to the camp without incident.* The mechanic immediately got to work repairing the damaged equipment, too focused on his work to give Rex any of his cheeky one-liners. Fives dismissed his squad and ducked his head into a quiet, whispered conversation with Echo. Sensing Rex's gaze upon them, the two walked off, casting a nervous glance back over their pauldroned shoulders.

They were up to something and it was the last thing Rex needed at the moment. Before he could speak with them, his attention was diverted in another direction, handling one of the other hundred mini-crises he handled everyday as Captain.

# # #

A/N: Hello All- This has been a crazy month. I'm impressed with myself that I finished a chapter. I have a number of other chapters in the queue after this one. Looking forward to bringing you a great deal more Cody and Rex action. I've wanted to write more Cody/Windu since the two first butted heads at the beginning of Rex II. I always envisioned the two of them coming together and resolving their differences toward the end of the story.

*I realized in re-reading this chapter I left out this small, but important scene in the end where Burner and Fives return to camp with the parts needed to repair the tanks. This scene has been added back in as it sets the stage for future actions from our favorite ARCs.