Cutup's head is throbbing. He thinks… he thinks that he's on his back. Maybe. Probably. He's looking up at the underbelly of a walker and he doesn't really understand how he got there. Even though he's not moving, the world is spinning. Which really isn't a good sign.

He's vaguely aware of noise all around him—lots of noise. It's muffled to his ears, but incessant, and he's conscious enough to recognize that something… something is happening, they'd been doing something important before he'd…

Force. His head hurts. He lets out a groan, mind scrambling for an explanation. What had happened? He'd been running, following right on Echo's tail as they'd sprinted for the gunships. The crowd of brothers had been thick. Everyone was trying to get out of there, because—

Oh, no. They'd been evacuating.

The thought sends a pulse of adrenaline through his veins. He jerks, ordering his body into a sitting position, but he's only about halfway there when two hands suddenly clamp down on his shoulders, forcing him back down.

"Oh, no you kriffing don't, you idiot. You could sit up, but you'll probably lose whatever's left in your stomach in the process, and I really don't wanna have to deal with that."

It's a brother's voice. Not any of Beta's, the cadence isn't quite right, but it's close enough that Cutup relaxes just a bit.

He doesn't try to sit up again. Instead, he just turns his head, wincing as his vision goes a little fuzzy at the movement. It takes him a moment to register the medic cross on the shoulder of the man crouched over him.

"What… Coric?"

"No," comes the curt answer. "The name's Kix, brother. You have a concussion."

"Again?" Cutup mutters, gritting his teeth. "You've got to be kidding me."

"The good news is that you aren't dying. The bad news is that you're not dying, so you've got to get up." Kix says it matter-of-factly, a hint of controlled urgency in his voice. "Do you feel fit to fight?"

"Yeah, but I—wait, didn't you just say if I sit up I'll—?"

Kix sighs. "Yeah, I did. Get up when the world stops shaking. You should be fine. There's not much I can do for you, and if you can stand, you can fight. We need fighters."

"I… okay, but—"

Kix shakes his head. He starts to pull away. "I'm sorry, Cutup. I know this isn't ideal. There are others I need to see, I can't waste any more time. I promise Jesse will explain things, alright?"

He's gone a moment later. Cutup doesn't blame him at all for it. Now that he's slightly more aware of his surroundings he can hear the sounds of men groaning in pain all around him. Kix likely has his hands full.

He can also hear the sounds of blasterfire fairly close by.

Where is the rest of Beta squad? He really, really hopes they all got out in time. If the sheer amount of blasterfire he can hear is of any indication, the massive droid army is already making their move.

"Hey. It's Cutup, right?"

Cutup blinks and turns his head sluggishly the other way. There's another clone crouched next to him underneath the walker, holding a rifle in one hand and his helmet in another. The Republic cog is tattooed over his face. Cutup wonders offhandedly how badly it had hurt to get it done.

"Yeah," he answers. "I'm Cutup. You're… Jesse?"

"You got it," Jesse replies. He gives Cutup a weak smile that's riddled with exhaustion. Cutup remembers Jesse's name—he knows that Fives and Echo know him and Kix, would trust them with Droidbait's life, but he doesn't remember any more of the fine details. "You feeling alright? You took a nasty hit."

"I don't even remember it, so you tell me," Cutup mumbles petulantly, and then flinches when a particularly loud explosion sounds in the distance. Jesse chuckles, but his hand had flown down to his rifle at the noise and it stays there afterwards, too.

"A couple guys found you unconscious on the edge of our old base. They tried to get you onto a gunship, but they weren't quite fast enough, so they brought you to Kix instead. We think you just got unlucky, took a weird hit from someone in the crowd in all the chaos. You've been out for almost a whole day."

"That's the stupidest reason to get separated from the others," Cutup groans out. "Please tell me you're joking. Force." He pauses for a moment. "Wait. You said… old base?"

Jesse's little grin slides from his face.

"Yeah. About that. We're in trouble."

"I gathered that."

"It's worse than what you think, probably," Jesse counters grimly. "The gunships that came in mostly escaped, but the Separatist blockade closed behind them. The Republic fleet was pushed into a retreat. We're on our own here, and the droids know it. They've been slowly surrounding what remains of our men for the past several hours."

Cutup sucks in a nervous breath and finally sits up, ignoring the concerned noise Jesse makes. His fear is enough to push him past the brief spell of dizziness, and he finally gets a better look at his surroundings.

He isn't the only one under a tank. There are four walkers positioned in a circle as a protective shield, guns silent for now. The spaces underneath them, partially shielded from the elements, have been converted into makeshift medbays. There are injured men all around them, struggling to stay alive in the weak shade the tanks provide.

Cutup feels cold, suddenly.

"Are four walkers all we have left?" he asks quietly. Jesse shakes his head.

"We have a few more, and one turbo tank, but they've moved out into the jungle to try and keep the droids from closing in. This is the center of our army now. If this position falls, we're done for."

Numb horror settles heavily in Cutup's gut. Now he understands Jesse's grim demeanor.

"How many men didn't make it onto gunships?"

"Probably around a company's worth. The Jedi are still here, too. They all refused to leave."

Cutup swallows. "Commander Tano?"

"Still here," Jesse confirms. "That reminds me. Echo made me promise to let him know when you woke up—"

"Echo's here?" Cutup blurts out incredulously. "Did he not make it onto a ship either?"

Jesse looks at him for a long moment, as if deliberating what to say. Finally, he sighs.

"Echo did get on a gunship. He came back for you. From what I understand, the rest of your squad got out, though."

Cutup's heart sinks in his chest. This is the second time someone's had to come after him. It's his fault again, and if Echo dies here, it'll be on Cutup.

"Where is Echo?" he asks, shoving aside his guilt. Jesse frowns. He grabs something from the ground by Cutup's feet and offers it to him—Cutup's helmet, the Togruta markings barely visible through the grit coating its surface. Cutup takes it from him and puts it on carefully, ignoring the way his head throbs.

"You're going to need this. Echo's in the thick of things, right with Commander Tano and General Skywalker. He wanted to stay with you, but Commander Tano asked him to join them and he didn't refuse her."

"He better not have," Cutup says, tensing in preparation to try and get to his feet. He knows it's not going to be fun, and he's definitely concussed worse than usual because he still feels vaguely queasy and his vision is just a little blurry. There's no time to focus on that, though. Just as Kix said. If Cutup isn't dying, he's needed to fight.

Jesse offers him a hand, helping him shuffle out from underneath the walker before standing. Cutup sways as he gets to his feet. It's only Jesse's steady grip on Cutup's elbow that prevents him from toppling over.

It takes a long moment, but eventually Cutup orientates himself. He takes a deep, steadying breath as Jesse offers him a rifle.

"Take me to Echo," he says. Jesse nods, shoves his helmet on, and starts for the trees.

Cutup can't see droids through the trees and fungi, not quite yet. He can see flashes of explosions, fairly close, but for now the clones are preventing the droids from closing in on them. The closer they get to the front lines, the more injured men they pass, struggling to recuperate and acting as a second line of defense at the same time. Some of them can barely stand, but they remain on guard anyway, hands tight around their weapons.

They go a bit farther, and the change is extreme.

It's as if the Republic have managed to create a tiny bubble of safety around their circle of tanks—a bubble that shrinks with every moment, but a bubble nonetheless. One of the free tanks is up ahead, and it's definitely the only thing keeping the front line in place. There are men all around it, crouched in the foliage, huddled behind the walker's legs, and flattened in the dirt beside it. Jesse breaks into a sprint when it comes into view. Cutup takes a deep breath and follows.

For a long moment, Cutup is worried that they might not make it to cover in time. He can finally see the droids, which means the droids can see him. Wave after wave are marching steadily towards them. The walker and the men are keeping them from getting too close, but there's no end to the machines—for every one cut down by blue blaster bolts, three more take its place.

A red bolt of energy flies past Cutup's shoulder, far too close for comfort. He lists to one side frantically as he runs, anticipating a second shot and barely avoiding it. The clones by the walker notice them coming a second later and lay down heavy cover fire so that Cutup and Jesse can slide finally to safety. They end up squeezed behind one of the walker's legs, pressed to the ground next to a dirt-streaked lieutenant. Jesse addresses the brother even as he begins to fire at the droids from around the shield.

"Is the Commander still around?" he shouts loudly. The lieutenant nods.

"She's here!" he replies. "Around by the front of the walker, protecting the pilot! The General isn't, though—he went to go protect the East side. The Captain should be on the North—"

Jesse swears forcefully. Cutup only vaguely hears it—some strange combination of Huttese, Mando'a, and Basic that doesn't make sense at all but does effectively convey Jesse's frustration.

"Great," Jesse grunts once his tirade is over. "Kriffing perfect. Right… guess that means we're going to the front, then."

Cutup's eyes widen in alarm. He clenches his jaw.

"Oh, joy. Yeah, this is going to be just wonderful," he says.

"Yep. But we're going to need some help in order to get up to her. Wanna give Echo a call?"

Cutup hesitates for a moment, because if Echo's engaged in the battle a comm might be distracting. The need for assistance outweighs the concern, though, so Cutup reaches for his comlink. Echo's ARC, he'll be fine.

"Cutup?"

Echo's voice is muffled due to the tank round that goes whistling out just as he responds. Cutup hears it twice, almost exactly overlaid but just a hair off through the radio. It sounds much louder from wherever Echo is.

Regardless of the situation, Cutup feels a little part of himself relax at Echo's voice.

"Echo, Jesse and I are behind the walker," Cutup tells Echo immediately. There's so many things he wants to say, but it can wait until they're not struggling against an army. "Are you near the Commander? How the kriff can we get to you?"

Echo lets out a loud breath that isn't quite in relief, but it's close. "Force. Good to hear from you. Give me a minute. I'll figure something out."

He hangs up. Cutup trusts him to figure something out, so he throws Jesse a wait gesture and peers out from behind the walker's leg to fire at the droids.

He catches sight of the Commander's lithe form and glowing lightsaber for a split second, directly in front of and a dozen yards away from the walker in a pocket of space that Cutup is barely able to see. He nearly loses his head to a blaster bolt for the effort, and quickly settles back to firing at the droids approaching from the sides instead.

His comlink comes to life.

"Alright, Cutup, listen up. When I give the word, the Commander is going to change positions, moving slightly to the left to cover you and Jesse while you make the run to join us. It'll leave our pilot unguarded for a moment, so a heavy trooper is going to fire a rocket and cause a distraction before he can get targeted. It's a small window, but you should be fine. Just try and stay behind the Commander, alright?"

Commander Tano will have their backs. Cutup steels himself, glancing over at Jesse, who'd stopped firing to listen in. Jesse nods back at him.

"I'm good. Tell me when."

"Copy that, Echo," Cutup says, ignoring the way his heart is beating a hole in his chest. "Give us the word."

There's a long pause, filled only by the sounds of blaster fire.

"Now, Cutup!"

Cutup moves. There's no hesitation, no time for hesitation. He trusts Echo completely, so throwing himself out into the open at the command isn't hard. Jesse's only a half-step behind him, and together they race around the walker's legs. Flames light the jungle beyond them as the distraction rocket impacts with a tree.

Cutup has eyes on the Commander, who's swung to the left side to protect them as they race forwards. Her lightsaber is a blur, twisting around frantically as it deflects fire.

They'd be dead already if not for her presence.

There are clones behind the Commander already, huddled in a tight formation behind her to remain protected while still firing at the incoming enemies. They move as she does, but it's not a completely safe place to be—even as Cutup runs, he sees one man near the edge of her range get hit. Commander Tano's lightsaber had been on the other side, and she's unable to be in two places at once.

Jesse lets out a war-cry and increases his speed, thundering past Cutup to join the defensive wall. Cutup is right behind him, joining the dense group of brothers and instinctively moving with them as Commander Tano swings back to continue defending the tank pilot.

Someone presses closer to Cutup in order to be heard over the increasing sounds of battle. Cutup doesn't look at who it is, too focused on gunning down an SBD that was taking aim at Commander Tano, but when the brother speaks Cutup feels a wave of relief.

"Nice of you to join us, brother! It took you long enough!" Echo says in a false-cheery voice.

"Yeah, well, it's not like we almost got shot or anything!" Cutup shoots back at him with a grin. "It's not my fault that we couldn't—"

"Watch the left side!" someone shouts, and the clones shift position to face a new wave of droids emerging from the jungle. Echo hisses out a curse.

"Later," the ARC tells Cutup quickly. "Let's get out of this, first."

Cutup clenches his jaw and wonders if they'll ever get out of this, but he turns his attention to their enemies anyway and sinks into the repetitive motions of look-aim-fire.

He's not sure exactly how long they stand there, holding firm against a never ending stream of opposition that continues to advance no matter what they do. The Commander seems to have planted her feet in front of the walker, refusing to budge an inch from where she stands. She's too busy to order the men around, so the clones take it upon themselves to be her backup, determinedly watching her back.

It really doesn't feel like Cutup and Jesse are making much of a difference. They're still barely keeping the droids from overrunning their position. A blaster runs out of ammo behind Cutup and its owner lets out a frustrated shout.

All at once, everything stops.

The droids pull back without warning, fading away into the jungle. The clones take potshots at the straggles until there's not a working droid in sight, and then everything is quiet.

Commander Tano lets out a heaving sigh as she deactivates her lightsaber. Everyone relaxes. Cutup stares around in confusion for a long second until Echo claps him gently on the shoulder.

"It's alright, Cutup. They're pulling back for now."

"What?" Cutup blurts out. "Why? If they had kept at it… we'd be…" Dead. They'd be dead.

"Yeah, I know," Echo tells him grimly. "They've been pulling back every hour or so for a while. Didn't you wonder why they hadn't overwhelmed us yet?"

"Well, yeah. They've got enough bodies to do it, easily. We're outnumbered pretty bad."

"It's not for us," Echo explains. "It's to try and wear down the Jedi. The Separatists could crush us, but they'd still have the Jedi to deal with afterwards. By coming in waves like this they're just wearing us all down, making it easier to take down the Generals. They're in no rush, basically. We're stuck here, so they're taking their time about it."

Cutup swallows nervously and tries to loosen his fingers from around his rifle. He's only partially successful.

"Wonderful," he mutters. "They're playing with us."

"It's a mistake," Jesse chimes in, shifting closer to join them. There's an injured brother leaning on him for support. "The longer they wait to finish us off, the more likely it is that General Skywalker and General Kenobi will come up with a plan to get us out of here."

Echo nods in agreement. "We've just got to hold out until then," he says.

Cutup is suddenly reminded of something, so he turns around so that he's facing Echo head-on.

"Hey, Echo?"

"Yeah?"

Cutup punches him in the shoulder with as much strength as he dares. It's not enough to actually hurt either of them, but Echo still flinches back, arms flying up defensively.

"Cutup, what the—"

"Why the kriff didn't you get on a gunship!?" Cutup snarls. "That's the stupidest thing—there's too much at stake! We need you alive!"

"I wasn't about to leave you here," Echo says indignantly. "The squad needs you, too!"

"You have the datapad with all the information on it, idiot!" Cutup tells him, acutely aware of Jesse's eyes on him but uncaring in the heat of the moment. If all goes according to plan Jesse will probably know about the chips soon, anyway (assuming they survive this). At his words Echo does stiffen just a little, hand hovering over the section of his armor where said datapad is likely hidden.

"I know, Cutup. I just… you were more important to me then. There wasn't any time, I had to—"

Cutup groans and shakes his head. "Echo, you didn't have to… I would have been fine."

The frustration is draining out of him as quickly as it had manifested. He's glad he isn't alone, as much as he knows Echo should have gotten to safety. It's a bit selfish, but Cutup can't really bring himself to care.

"I know you would have been," Echo says, shoulders slumping a little. Cutup realizes how tired his brother must be and winces in guilt. Echo's been holding off hordes for hours at Commander Tano's side. "But being alone really isn't fun. Believe me, I know."

"I wouldn't have been alone," Cutup justifies weakly. Echo waves a hand.

"You know that isn't what I mean. Cutup, we kriffing learned this on Kamino, remember? Rule one. Never leave a brother behind."

This is different. Cutup doesn't think it's quite the same. There's too much going on, too many important things that still need to happen. If leaving a brother behind means the war will end…

"Hey," Echo says gently. "Don't think about it too hard, okay? Now isn't the time or place. You alright?"

Cutup sighs. "Yeah, yeah. I'm alright."

He stops thinking about it. It's easier that way. He's still never going to forgive himself if Echo dies for staying behind, but right now it's best to just focus on the task at hand.

"Cutup!"

The young voice makes Cutup turn, a tired grin springing to his lips.

"Commander, are you alright?" he asks the Togruta. Commander Tano shrugs as she approaches, smiling at him wearily.

"I'll be fine, Cutup. This isn't nearly as bad as some of the other things I've done. These tinnies won't get past us." The false bravado is endearing, even though she's listing to the side just a little. "I'm glad you and Echo had my back. Are… where's the rest of Beta?"

"They got out, sir, don't worry," Cutup says quickly, wiping the worried look from her face. "I just… got a bit unlucky, didn't quite get to a ship behind. Echo stayed behind to come find me."

"Well for what it's worth, I'm glad you're here," she tells them both in dry amusement. "Don't get me wrong, I wish you'd gotten out, but it's good to have my men here, too."

My men. Cutup tries really hard not to preen under the phrase and is mostly successful on the outside. The inside is a different story.

"What's the plan now then, sir?" he asks. "I just woke up. What are we going to do until they come back?"

"Stock up on ammo and try and find something to fortify the tank with," the Commander says. "Sit down for a few minutes and recuperate. There's not very much—"

Her comlink goes off. She answers it immediately.

"Master? Is everything alright?"

"We're good, Snips, don't worry. The droids have fallen back on our side. From the sound of things, they've done the same on your side, too."

"Yes, Master. We're restocking to prepare for the next wave."

"Good work, Ahsoka. Listen, me, you, and Obi-wan need to get together and talk some things out. Can you get to the center area?"

Commander Tano surveys over the troops, many who are listening in despite themselves.

"You boys think you can handle yourselves while I'm gone?" she asks seriously. Jesse's the one to answer, giving her a lazy salute.

"Leave it to us, sir. We'll be fine. Don't worry about it."

The Commander smiles at him gratefully. "Copy that, Master. Give me five." She drops the call and turns to Cutup and Echo immediately. "Echo, Cutup—with me, alright?"

"No problem, sir," Cutup answers. "We're right behind you."

It takes longer than expected for all three Generals to convene back into the center, in the middle of the four walkers that have been converted into momentary medical facilities. Captain Rex is there, too, but General Skywalker is actually last to arrive. He looks displeased, and Echo can come up with a pretty good guess as to why. It's unlikely that he'd want to leave his men alone on the front, despite their urgings that they'd be able to handle anything. General Skywalker hates to be out of the action.

"How good of you to join us, Anakin," General Kenobi says smoothly. "I worried you'd been eaten by a plant."
"Hey, lay off," General Skywalker replies lightly. He looks tired—they all do, Echo realizes with a sinking feeling. The droid's tactics are working. "Contrary to popular belief, Master, I do have other responsibilities that I sometimes attend to."

General Kenobi sighs. "If only you'd had that attitude four years ago," he mumbles. General Skywalker huffs out a weak laugh and rolls his eyes. Next to Cutup, Commander Tano stifles a giggle, which makes General Skywalker turn towards her.

"How are you holding up, Ahsoka? Are you still doing okay?"

"I'm tired, but I've still got plenty of energy left," Commander Tano says. "I've got this, Master, don't worry."

Her words seem to relieve General Skywalker, who nods proudly at his padawan before turning to Captain Rex.

"What about you, Rex? How are the men?"
"We're alright, General," Rex answers. He's standing a little oddly, keeping his weight mostly on one foot. The injury doesn't go unnoticed by the Jedi, but General Skywalker doesn't comment, nodding in approval instead. He trusts Rex to speak up if an injury is bad enough to hinder him.

The Jedi get down to business quickly after that. General Kenobi has news.

"Our transmissions are mostly jammed, but before the blockade could fully settle on the planet we received word that the 104th battalion are in route to assist us. They were just entering hyperspace from a nearby system when we lost the signal. With any luck, they'll be here soon, but we have no way of knowing if it will be soon enough."

"We can hold out as long as we need to, Master," General Skywalker says determinedly, and Cutup can believe him when he says it like that. "As long as they can get through that blockade, we'll be alright."

"General Plo Koon's men are some of the best pilots in the whole GAR," Captain Rex contributes quietly. "They'll get through."

"On another note, though, it's not just exhaustion that we're going to be dealing with soon," General Skywalker says. "The waves of droids aren't nearly as thick as I thought they'd be. They're staying spread out, so our tank rounds can't take out as many in one go. They're trying to drain our resources, and it's working. Too many of the tanks are running out of ammunition."

"Can't we get more?" Commander Tano asks. "There are plenty of abandoned walkers in the jungle around us. If we scavenged a few for fuel and ammo cartridges we could hold out for longer."

General Skywalker frowns. "You're right, Snips, but it's a pretty risky move. There are droids everywhere. A scouting party wouldn't make it far enough. We'll have to find a way to ration what resources we have left—"

Echo frowns. He doesn't… feel quite right about that. Something's wrong.

He thinks back to the numbers he'd seen before in his past rate of the number of men who'd actually survived being stranded on Felucia. Forty-two had made it out. Less than half a company.

General Skywalker had shut down the idea of going for more ammo very quickly, but Echo knows how this is going to turn out.

Perhaps if he goes for more ammo they can change that. It's dangerous, but it could very well be worth it.

"General," he interrupts quietly. "Instead of sending a patrol, just a few men could go out. They wouldn't be able to carry much, but the condensed ammo cartridges are better than nothing.

General Skywalker's eyebrows shoot upwards.

"It's still a dangerous job, Echo," he says.

"I can do it," Echo tells him confidently. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Cutup jerk. "If Commander Tano is alright with it, I'd be more than willing. I'm certain I could bring us something back, sir." This type of mission is familiar to him, at least. Sneaking around, coming out with intel or equipment. He's done it thousands of times before, not that any of them know that.

General Skywalker crosses his arms contemplatively. "I don't doubt that you could do it, Echo, but I'm not going to send you alone."

"Of course not!" Cutup interjects, a hint of annoyance evident in his tone. "I'm going with him, if he does."

Ah, Force. Cutup's mad at him for this.

General Kenobi strokes his beard thoughtfully.

"Anakin, it would be extremely helpful to have those extra cartridges, even if it's just two or three. If Echo is confident in his ability to navigate through the droids we should allow him the chance to try."

"If something goes wrong, we lose two extremely valued men," General Skywalker protests. Echo appreciates the praise, but he feels like he needs to do this.

"Please, sir. We can do this. We need that equipment."

General Skywalker frowns.

"Alright. I don't like it, but I'll trust you on this. Snips?"

General Tano is frowning, but she gives a short little nod that makes Echo inwardly wince. She's not happy with it either, but she'll allow them to go anyway.

"Don't worry, Commander," Cutup tells her quietly. "We'll be back before you know it. We'll be fine."

"Be careful," she says in response, eyes darting over them both worriedly. "Your squad would kill me if anything happened to you."

"We will, sir," Echo says calmly.

"It might be best if you two head out now, before the droids begin their attack again," General Kenobi suggests, nodding at Echo. "There may be a chance to snatch up the cartridges without incident."

"Yes, sir," Echo says. He glances at Cutup. He can't see his brother's expression through the helmet, but he can imagine Cutup isn't pleased with him.

Echo steels himself for the rant likely to come and takes a deep breath.

There's a reason he and Cutup hadn't made it onto that gunship. Echo firmly believes that—he just needs to find out what the reason is first.

Echo doesn't lead them towards the jungle to start out. He heads for a tank, and the medics working below them. Cutup has to break into a jog to keep up with Echo's quick walk, all sorts of unpleasant emotions running through him.

Why the kriff had Echo volunteered for something so dangerous, especially after General Skywalker had already said it was a bad idea? He'd even interrupted the Generals in order to chime in, which is more likely of Fives than it is of Echo.

Echo seems confident enough. He's probably done things like this before in his past life, but Cutup definitely hasn't. Echo and Fives had put them through an ARC crash course, but that's nothing compared to the real thing. Cutup isn't nearly as proficient as Echo is, and he's… a little bit nervous right now.

Scratch that. He's a lot nervous right now.

"Alright… are you going to give me an explanation?" Cutup demands as they walk. Echo ducks under a tank and heads straight for a medic that Cutup actually recognizes—it's Kix.

"I feel like we need to do this," Echo mutters to Cutup quietly, which really isn't a kriffing answer. The ARC steps closer to the medic and taps Kix on the shoulder. Kix is in the middle of checking over a brother with a head wound, and only glances up for a half-second.

"Echo, everything alright? The kriff did you do now?"

"Nothing yet," Echo replies seriously. "But I need you to hold onto something for me. Are you willing?"

"That depends," Kix mutters, but he holds out a hand anyway. Cutup gapes as Echo passes over the datapad—the one with all the information on the chips and the Kaminoans.

"If something happens to both of us while we're down here, this datapad needs to go back to the rest of Beta squad. Can I trust you with it?"

Kix glances at it and shoves it into the backpack at his feet. "I'll make sure it gets to them if anything happens," he replies. "Gonna tell me what it is?"

"Maybe after we get out of here," Echo replies. "We'll be back." He turns and starts walking away again. Cutup shakes his head in disbelief and follows, waving as Kix calls out a quiet goodbye.

"Sorry," Echo says once Cutup has caught back up to him. "We don't have very much time, and I needed to get that out of the way. Cutup… I really think this will help us. It will save a lot of brothers, if we're able to pull it off. We're definitely capable. If we're careful, we could change something big here.

Cutup sighs. That's valid reasoning, at least, and it would be nice to be able to change something here. To save as many brothers as possible. "Force. I know that, Echo. Just… don't spring it on me like that, okay? I'm on board with it, but I'd appreciate some warning next time."

"I'm sorry, Cutup," Echo says sincerely. "It was a sudden decision. I just… there's a reason we're here. What if this is it?"

Cutup thinks it's entirely possible that they're here simply because Cutup got unlucky. He's not going to say that, though, and Echo does have a point. Considering everything that's happened to them so far, there may very well be a reason they're here.

"Alright," Cutup says in weary acceptance. "Let's go, then. We shouldn't keep the flesh-eating flowers waiting."

Echo snorts at him, turns on his heel, and heads straight for the jungle.

The good news is that they find an abandoned walker fairly quickly, standing silent among the trees. They're droid-free on the way there, and there are several condensed ammo cartridges inside the downed machine. They're still large—about the size of Z-6 length-wise, but wider, and heavier. Cutup can only carry two, though that's better than nothing.

The bad news is that the droids come back while they're inside the walker. They march past without suspecting anything, but Cutup and Echo can't risk making a run for it.

They're trapped.

Echo can't help but think he's made a mistake. They have what they need, but there's no way to get it back to the Republic—at least not until the droids retreat again, if the clones back at base can last that long.

"Could we get into contact with the others?" Cutup whispers to him, tense and shifting nervously in the dark. They have a little bit of space in the cabin, but not too much.

"We could, but is that a good idea?" he counters. "They're under attack right now. Even if they got our transmission, they wouldn't be able to send any help."

Cutup groans. "So, what now, then? We just sit here and wait?"

"That might be our only option—"

Blasterfire cuts through the quiet whispers. Echo actually flinches, raising his gun uselessly until he realizes that it isn't aimed at them. The sound is coming from outside, and the walker doesn't move.

"What's going on?" Cutup hisses. There's no windows in of this section of the tank. "That's too close. Are they shooting at us or not?"

"I don't—I don't know," Echo says. "It's possible they've seen us, but I don't know why they haven't just destroyed the walker if that was the case—"

He jinxes it. The walker suddenly shudders so violently that Cutup loses his balance, stumbling into Echo. Fortunately he isn't holding the ammo cartridge.

"Kriff!" Echo hisses, panic suddenly clawing at his throat. They're like fish in a barrel, here. He feels trapped, suddenly. The sound of blasterfire pinging off of the walker's armored hull grates on every single one of his senses. Echo grabs his rifle, shuffling over beneath the hatch above them. If the droids have really found them, he isn't about to go down easy. He grits his teeth and reaches up with the intent to throw the hatch open.

"Echo, wait—" Cutup says urgently. "What are you doing?"

Echo's not really listening. He's helpless, here, trapped inside the walker. He hates it, hates the sensation of being trapped, unable to fight back. They've been found. It's too late to hide, too late to run, so Echo's going to fight.

He refuses to be helpless. Not again.

Above him, the hatch opens. Echo hadn't touched it yet. He jerks back, finger tightening on the trigger of his gun until two armor-clad figures drop through—

"Tipper?" Cutup yelps. Echo blinks, peers at the armor. The blue swirls are faded, covered in grime, but they're there.

Impossible. Tipper is dead.

But Tipper is also clambering painfully to his feet in front of them, shouting frantically to his companion to close the hatch. Zeer obeys him, reaching up to slam the hatch shut and Force, they're both here, both alive, if not somewhat worse for wear. Zeer's left arm is in a sling, hastily fashioned from some sort of plant, and he's missing his helmet. Tipper has all of his armor, but there are scorch marks across his back, and he's wielding an E-5 blaster in each hand.

"Wait—Echo? Cutup?" Tipper gasps incredulously. "What—how are you—does this mean—?"

Zeer growls as the walker shakes even more intensely. "Later!" he snarls. "Later, we need to get out of this first!"

Tipper shakes himself, helmet twisting as he skims his gaze over the whole room.

"Right, right," he says quickly. "We need—could we pilot this thing? I bet we could, but someone would have to get into the cockpit—"

"It's too exposed," Cutup tells him. "Tipper, what… how are you not—"

"Later, later!" Tipper cries, hurrying past Echo towards the cockpit. "We've got to figure out how to work this thing!"

Echo's mind is racing, struggling to comprehend the situation and get a handle on things. He needs to focus. Tipper and Zeer are alive, just as Beta squad had hoped. Which means they've been surviving alone in the jungle for a week now. That explains a lot about the desperate way Tipper is diving for the cockpit, easily willing to expose himself in order to get them out of there. Echo had deemed it too risky, too loud—but now the droids are onto them all, so there's no point in bothering to stay quiet. "Do you want help?" he shouts to Tipper, frantically recalling details from the crash course he'd been given on this kind of tank in ARC training.

"I can get it, you focus on stopping them from killing me!" Tipper yells back determinedly. "It can't be that hard, right?"

Tipper's a quick learner. Echo's fairly sure he'll be able to get the vehicle moving at the very least. Defense is just important right now, anyway.

"We've got to distract the droids so they don't shoot him before he can do anything!" Echo orders Cutup and Zeer. "Thermal detonators, here!" He passes the little orbs to the others and tosses one blindly away. The boom is accompanied by a satisfying pause in the amount of blasterfire coming at them, which gives Zeer enough time to stick his arm out and fire at the droids with his one good arm. He comes ducking back down a half-second later, red bolts streaking over his head.

The tank lurches unsteadily. Cutup has just thumbed the trigger on the thermal detonator, and there's a terrifying second where he stumbles, barely able to toss it out of the hatch in time.

Around them, the walker is shuddering to life. Tipper, far ahead in the cockpit, lets out a whoop.

"We're good, but the droids are—ahh!" Echo hears glass shatter. The droids are targeting the visible pilot, and he can still hear Tipper swearing so they hadn't landed a hit.

It had been close, though.

"Oh, no they don't," Zeer growls. He reaches up and heaves himself out the hatch. Echo grabs Cutup's shoulder.

"Squish yourself into the cockpit and give Tipper a hand!" he yells, and climbs after Zeer to the top of the walker.

Now that the tank is moving, lurching ahead at a steady pace, Echo and Zeer are much less likely to be hit by the droids on the ground below. Echo keeps moving, keeps firing, presses his back against Zeer's and prays they'll all get out of this. At the edge of his hearing he's aware of Cutup shouting directions to Tipper, firing out of the shattered front window to protect them both.

The walker plows through B1s easily. They're lucky—very few heavy super battle droids get in the way, especially once Tipper figures out how to work the gun. The regular battle droids don't have the firepower necessary to bring down a walker. Echo and Zeer keep working anyway, clearing spaces around them as the walker plows towards the Republic lines again.

Echo loses time. He can't spare the energy to focus on how long they've been moving. At one point Zeer throws their last thermal detonator behind the walker and lights a large swath of the forest on fire. Curses flow from between his clenched teeth a moment later, tinged with fierce fury and the barest hint of wild glee.

Echo can't blame him for it. They've been sneaking through the jungle for too long. It must feel good to finally be able to let loose.

Cutup and Tipper cheer when they see white-armored bodies up ahead, but it isn't over until the walker is finally encompassed by brothers on all sides, urging them forwards and taking down the machines foolish enough to attempt to follow. Only then does Echo allow his gun to drop down to his side, tension bleeding out of his body as familiar voices flood his ears.

Somehow, they'd survived. Echo's honestly surprised that had turned out so well.

If Tipper and Zeer hadn't shown up, he and Cutup would have been sitting in that walker for a long time.

Cutup doesn't know all the details of what happened on Felucia the first time. He does know a few things about this time, however, that he's sure have changed things for the better.

The first thing he knows is that Tipper isn't dead.

The moment they get out of that battered tank Cutup practically tackles his friend in a hug. Tipper flinches at the contact briefly, no doubt still on edge from the jungle, but he relaxes after a moment.

"Thought you were dead, you kriffin' idiot," Cutup mumbles. Tipper chuckles quietly against him, weary and practically boneless in relief.

"We thought we were dead, too," he replies, and lets the scavenged E-5s fall from his fingers into the dirt.

There's not too much time to hear the story, because the droids are still attacking, but Tipper does give him a brief overview of how they'd survived—describing how Zeer had broken his arm in the rancor attack and how they'd gotten separated from all the others. He mentions how they'd scavenged supplies off unfortunate brothers afterwards, how they'd struggled to stay ahead of the hordes of droids filling the jungle. How they'd gotten their hands on Separatist weapons once their own ammo had been depleted, how they'd struggled to reunite with Republic forces as the army retreated. How they'd been found and raced for the silent walker in a last-ditch effort to hold off their pursuers, stumbling right into Echo and Cutup in the process.

It's a miracle they'd survived, and Cutup couldn't be more grateful. They're sent straight to Kix, who forcefully confines them to the inner circle of the safe zone. Both of them pretend to be frustrated by that, but Tipper actually falls asleep after sitting down for two minutes, so Cutup doesn't feel too bad about it.

The second thing Cutup knows is that by bringing the entire walker back instead of just a few ammo cartridges, the Republic actually has a chance to survive. The walker had multiple condensed cartridges stored within its hull, as well as several uncondensed cartridges.

It's not a lot, really, but considering they only have seven walkers left, two of which are heavily damaged, it's pretty spectacular.

The tanks come alive again with extra ammo, peppering the trees with explosions. They aren't capable of pushing the droids back, but they do keep them at bay. The men don't have to work as hard, and hours pass by easier (though no less tense), with fewer casualties.

The third thing Cutup knows—or, learns, more accurately—is that the Wolf Pack is definitely the battalion one wants guarding their back.

The 104th Battalion breaks through the Separatist blockade twelve hours after Cutup had woken up, thirty-four hours since the original evacuation. It's a testament to the skill of the 104th's pilots that they're able to get through so quickly. The gunships swoop down to deposit fresh men and evac what remains of the 501st.

Cutup and Echo are with Commander Tano on the lone remaining turbo tank when the Wolfpack finally arrives, providing her with backup as she furiously defends their most powerful vehicle. The droids are running, unable to stand against the Jedi and the tank. The order for retreat comes in from General Skywalker, directing all men back to the center of their outpost. For a moment, Commander Tano looks frustrated, like she wants to pursue the retreating droids, but at Cutup's cheer of relief her expression softens.

"Come on, boys! We're going home!" she cries, and the turbo tank tears up the ground as it turns towards safety.

Cutup does, in fact, get on a gunship this time. Echo hovers behind him the whole evacuation just to make sure. The droids are still coming, but there's less men to get out this time, and the Jedi can cover everyone more easily. The second evacuation is far less panicked than the first. With the 104th's assistance, everything goes smoothly despite everything around them.

"We wouldn't have found Tipper and Zeer if we hadn't stayed," Echo mutters as the gunship doors slide closed. "They would have never made it back to the safe zone."

"Are you saying I got knocked out so Tipper and Zeer wouldn't die?" Cutup whispers back. "Not that I mind, but it could have happened in a way that didn't make me look so stupid."

Echo snickers at him. "I don't know. What I do know, though, is that this means they're important somehow. I don't really—"

"Brace yourselves, men, the ride out is gonna get pretty bumpy!" the pilot shouts as the gunship takes off, and even though they aren't quite in the clear yet, Cutup feels a wave of relieved exhaustion wash over him.

They're finally off Felucia.

They're finally going home.

A/N: It was really hard to get back into the right mindset to write this after taking so much time off. Hopefully it's not too bad! I cannot even tell you how crazy everything was recently, I'm so sorry for the long delay! I'm back now! Finals will be over next wednesday, and then my regular updating schedule will return!

I honestly can't tell you guys how much of a relief it is to finally get off of Felucia. It started to drag way, way too much. If this was an actual novel, I would probably cut about half of what's happened in the past few chapters. Since this is a fanfiction, I'm not going to bother, but goodness, sorry for how long we've been stuck here! This chapter is honestly just me trying to get away from this jungle planet. Things will move much faster from here on out, stay with me a little longer! I won't drag anything out this long again.

Also, is this the first chapter where not every member of domino squad made an appearance? I mean, sometimes they're in different scenes, but I usually try to get them all in there, I think. It was weird, to not have all five. I didn't like it.