"Sinkhole!"
Rex realized they were in trouble even before Hardcase's warning shout. The lead tank's front legs scrambled for traction as the ground beneath it collapsed.
"Get out of there!" Rex commanded the tank crews. In response, they popped the hatch and swung to nearby trees using their blaster cables. Rex's eyes darted anxiously, searching to see if all the gunners had made it out. Given the tank's tumbling, the left-most gunner, Twenty-Two, probably hadn't had time to use his cable.
"Jump!" Rex yelled, lunging toward the sinkhole's edge. The earth crumbled beneath him and someone grabbed his legs, attempting to pull him back.
"No!"
Twenty-Two struggled to find a foothold to escape the expanding abyss.
Rex quickly aimed his blaster, firing his ascension cable slightly to the side of Twenty-Two. It secured itself to a slab of sandstone. "Grab it and climb!" Rex shouted. Twenty-Two lunged for the cable but missed, sliding back with a desperate cry.
Rex's resolve hardened; he was not going to lose another man.
In his mind's eye, he visualized Twenty-Two seizing the cable. Suddenly, the trooper soared forward, grasping the cable firmly. Rex didn't ponder how it happened; all that mattered was that Twenty-Two now had a fighting chance.
"Climb!" he shouted, as the unstable ground continued to crumble around them. "Get back!" he ordered the others. Distant enemy blaster fire reached his ears - the worst possible moment for a confrontation.
Twenty-Two clawed his way out and clutched Rex's outstretched hand. They were yanked back onto firmer ground by the combined efforts of their brothers.
Rex fell back against the ground and quickly released the cable before it pulled him and the blaster back into the hole.
"Thank you, Captain," panted the gunner. "I thought I was done for. I don't know how that cable just...flew into my hand—"
Rex scrambled to his feet, and studied the situation around him. "Never mind that. Focus on the mission," Rex interrupted, his gaze fixed on the gleaming metal surrounding them. "We've got droids closing in."
They were perched on the brink of the sinkhole, completely encircled.
#
"Captain, what are your orders?"
Rex yearned to dispatch their newfound commando allies to eliminate the droids. However, in his haste, he had sent the freshly christened 'Echo Squad' ahead with the vanguard. He found himself missing the commando droids – they would have been invaluable now. Rex raised a hand, signaling for patience while he assessed the situation. The droids were predictably maneuvering into formation before commencing their assault. Rex seized this brief respite to devise a plan. His vision narrowed as his instincts took over. He saw his men, the droids, and the sinkhole clearly in his mind.
"We need to lure them into the hole," he declared.
"Into the hole?" Hardcase tilted his chin toward Twenty-Two. "You just risked your shebs to get him out of there!"
"If we're lucky, the droids will fall in, not us."
"They're readying their guns!"
Rex was still so deeply focused, he wasn't sure who was shouting, but it was likely Hardcase.
"Follow my lead." Rex's voice remained steady as he spearheaded the charge, though uncertainty loomed. He trusted his instincts, which had seldom failed him. It was only when he ignored them that things went awry.
He circled perilously close to the droids, then sprinted toward the sinkhole while exchanging fire. His men followed, though some were struck down in the process. The sound of pain, armor clattering and bodies hitting the ground tore at Rex.
Peering over his shoulder, Rex saw that the droids couldn't resist the bait; they left their cover to chase after his squad. He hurled a droid popper to slow them down, and his men followed suit. The droids struggled to bypass their fallen comrades, which hindered their pursuit. When they reached the sinkhole's edge, the ground quivered ominously.
"Fire ascension cables!" he bellowed, raising his rifle toward the treetops. It was then that he recalled using his own cable to save Twenty-Two.
As cables flew upward, his men began their ascent. Rex struggled to maintain his footing while the ground continued to give way. He lobbed droid poppers at the encroaching enemies to protect his ascending brethren.
"Rex! Hurry!" Coric shouted from the safety of the tree branches, prepared to resume fire.
The droids, unable to resist targeting Rex, converged and encircled him along the sinkhole's edge.
A tactical droid emerged from the lead tank.
"Hold your fire," Rex commanded through the comms, mustering authority in his voice despite having no plan. He had hoped to reduce the droids' numbers and provide his men a vantage point from the trees. But without an ascension cable, he was stranded on the ground, drawing the attention of the droids. Maybe this was meant to be; his men had a fighting chance now. But the situation appeared dire for him.
The ground beneath Rex shifted once more, and he edged back cautiously.
"Hold it right there!" a B1 droid behind him demanded. Rex activated the rear camera on his helmet.
Humor crept into his thoughts as he noticed the droid's single stripe denoting him as a sergeant. Aw. How cute. The little B-1 got a promotion.
"Aha! Got you!" the droid exclaimed triumphantly.
"Seems so," Rex responded nonchalantly.
Two more tanks rumbled to the edge of the sinkhole, their barrels aimed at him.
"Captain," Coric's voice had a warning edge in his earpiece.
"Hold," Rex repeated through the comms.
"I think I know what he's doing," Hardcase whispered, "but I don't like it."
"Cut the chatter," Rex commanded.
"A command clone," the tactical droid gloated. "We have orders to seek and destroy as many as possible."
"Well, job well done. You've got me. You better come closer, though, to make sure you finish the job." He gestured them forward.
Two droid tanks lurched forward. "Prepare to die, Republic dog!"
"I'm prepared," Rex shouted back. The ground rumbled ominously.
"This could be a trap," warned the tactical droid.
"It is, actually," Rex confirmed.
The tactical droid's quickly realized the danger. "Reverse."
The tanks' frantic movements destabilized the ground further.
The droid repeated the command over and over. "Reverse. Reverse. Reverse." The monotone voice almost sounded like a mantra, but it did little good.
One tank toppled into the sinkhole, followed by the second. The collapse spread like the crust of a Coruscanti moon pie; a sugary little bit of bliss that Ahsoka had introduced him to on shore leave.
Ahsoka.
She had always been his light. She, and his brothers. While this sacrifice would be noble, he still had dreams beyond the war and words left unsaid to Ahsoka.
As a blast from the command tank hurtled toward him, Rex instinctively leaped. He wasn't exactly sure how he got onto the branch, but suddenly he was just there being steadied by his men. He'd just thought he wanted to be there and he'd taken the leap of faith.
"Hold on!" Hardcase yelled, clutching Rex tightly as the branch swayed. They tottered like inebriated shinies at 79s trying to find solid ground. "That was a great fekkin' jump, Rex! You've got jetpacks for legs. They should've called you Jet."
Rex ignored Hardcase as he studied the chaos below. The shot from the command tank, originally aimed at Rex, decimated the droid forces on the opposite side of the sinkhole. The explosion tore through rows of droidekas and super battle droids. The upside was that the droids were out of commission, but the explosions triggered further instability in the ground.
The sinkhole grew as cracks spread outward.
"No!" Rex watched in horror as a tree, weighed down with his troopers, tumbled into the widening chasm. The ground fractured further and another tree leaned dangerously, throwing the troopers off balance. Some lost their grip on their cables and plunged into the depths.
Cracks were rapidly advancing toward the cluster of trees where Rex and the remaining squads had taken refuge.
"Captain, your orders?" Coric's voice was strained as he clutched his cable with one hand, bracing a fellow trooper with the other. That was quintessential Coric, always thinking of others.
Rex stared back at his brother; one of the oldest surviving members of the 501st. For the first time, Rex found himself without an answer. He had destroyed the droids, but sacrificed his men at the same time.
# # #
A/N: Hello all! Thank you for your kind words on Chapter 78. I love hearing from you. I'm headed out of the country tomorrow so I thought I'd get a few more pages uploaded before I left. Enjoy!