Repost: minor correction in that I used chess calls for the challenge. I changed it to Sabacc characters.
Chapter 3 Trees in the Wind
"If you would know strength and patience, welcome to the company of trees."
Hal Borland
"I guess no one's allowed to reclaim their dead," Echo remarked in a wry voice, swallowing down his nervousness and forcing into his manner a calm that he didn't feel. The kind of warfare he was used to involved blaster fire, disintegrations, forms of killing that were much neater than this. This was old style killing, and it was frightening.
"I want you to move away . . . very slowly," Rex ordered. "Careful, there may be more of them."
Echo started to ease back, coming to the sloped wall of the pit and here he stopped. The sound of voices – not clone voices – met his ears.
"They're coming," he whispered, craning his head around and trying to discern movement in the surrounding darkness.
"Can you see them?" Rex asked.
"No, Sir."
"Go on, then," Rex pressed, getting slowly to his feet. He took two steps backwards as Echo climbed out of the pit and came around to the opposite side, where he offered a hand to his captain and helped him out.
No sooner was Rex clear of the pit than the sound of distant blaster fire froze them both where they stood. They listened for a few seconds. The battle was on.
Behind them, in the direction of the airfield, they once again heard the voices of the Pylottans who had come into the woods behind them. But now, it sounded like they were moving away, back towards the airfield or the road that led towards the drop zone and the blaster fire.
Rex struggled with himself. He knew where the action was, and he knew where he wanted to be. Going to ground amounted to nothing more than playing it safe and hiding out until the real fighting was over. Such a course of action hardly seemed fitting for the captain of the 501st Legion. It was an insult to him, to his ego and his pride. And what would his men think if they learned that their captain had been skulking about, hiding, while they were engaged in battle? Intolerable.
"To hell with going to ground," he announced. "Let's go someplace where we can be useful."
They began moving quickly through the woods in the direction of the landing zone, but if Rex thought he was going to find the action, he was unaware that the action was about to find him. For he and Echo had gone no more than a half-kilometer through the woods and were passing by another one of the conspicuous death pits when commanding voices accosted them from both sides.
Two Pylottans dressed in the scruffy para-military uniforms not of the soldiers but of the men who'd been guarding the airfield, emerged from behind the trees. One took up a position in front of the two clones; the other behind. Surprisingly, they did not open fire, but gesticulated forcefully towards the ground, making incessant demands to which Rex and Echo reacted with composure, standing perfectly still and feigning noncomprehension, although it was perfectly clear that their captors wanted them to drop their weapons.
The fact that they had not killed the two clones outright told Rex more than he wanted to know. He and Echo would be taken prisoner and used as hostages, bargaining chips, or at the very least, propaganda.
At their captives' refusal to drop their arms, the militant standing in front of them fired off a burst from his weapon into the air. In accented Basic, he ordered, "Put gun down or is be killed."
Rex's mind was working furiously. He had no intention of allowing himself or Echo to be taken prisoner, tortured, and forced into the humiliation of making public statements against their own leaders, especially when he knew that their captivity would only end in death. These men would never agree to release any prisoners, although they might agree to return the corpses.
There were only two militants, and they both appeared strong and fit; plus, they were armed with formidable weaponry. The only chance would be to catch them off-guard. There could be no success in a direct refusal to cooperate, and Rex didn't believe in dying for the foolish notion of proving his manhood. He would rather live to fight another day.
"Do as he says—" Rex began, cutting off abruptly as another shot was fired into the air.
"No talk or is be killed!"
Rex set down his pistols, and Echo followed his lead.
The man in front of them motioned for them to put their hands up.
They complied.
From behind them, the other militant approached and reaching around in front of the two captives, removed packs, grenades, ammunition, helmets, everything that wasn't tied down. But it wasn't until Echo's arms were pulled behind him and he felt a cord being looped around his wrists that he drew away in a show of resistance, fully expecting to have his head blown off.
The militant in front stepped forward and jammed the muzzle of his weapon under Echo's chin.
"No move. I kill."
Echo did not move. He allowed his wrists to be drawn together, but short of the cord being tied off, he feigned a collapse, dropped to his knees and fell to the ground, hoping to every Force-friendly soul in existence, that his captain would take advantage of the diversion. A split-second later, he heard the discharge of the first man's weapon, followed by a grunt; and suddenly the man was lying on the ground next to him.
Echo struggled frantically to shake off his bindings. He could see the second militant drawing his weapon around in front of him, but before he could bring it to bear, Captain Rex was on top of him.
Rex had not been caught completely by surprise by Echo's move. Both clones had known instantly, upon the presentation of the bindings, that they would be little able to effect an escape with their hands bound. Any attempt at overthrowing their captors was going to have to take place before the bonds were secured. The moment Echo had 'collapsed', Rex had slammed his fist into the side of the first militant's head, dropping him instantly unconscious to the ground, which accidentally had set off his weapon. Then he had launched himself at the second.
Echo freed his wrists within seconds and, snatching up his confiscated blaster, he aimed one shot and killed the second militant.
"That was good thinking, Echo," Rex complimented. "You probably saved our skins."
Echo warmed at these words of praise. "I knew you were thinking the same thing, captain."
"This one . . . " Rex began, walking over to the stand by the man he'd knocked unconscious. He leaned over and retrieved his pistols, as well as the man's rifle and a long knife sheathed at his side. "I don't recall the general saying anything about bringing in prisoners."
Echo nodded his agreement. "And I'm not too hot on the idea of toting him around with us. It's dangerous enough out here as it is." He, too, took a blaster and a long knife from the man he'd just killed.
"We'll tie him up and leave him. If he's still alive when this is over, we'll let the security guys deal with him," Rex decided, reclaiming the rest of his equipment.
"Roger that, Sir."
Using the cord provided by their assailants, the two clones bound the man's wrists and ankles. They were working rapidly, single-mindedly, aware that any second they might be confronted by yet another unpleasant surprise. The sooner they got out of this area, the better.
A noise from the darkened woods drew Rex's head up.
"What's that?"
They both stopped what they were doing and listened.
Unmistakably, the sound came again. The sound of someone speaking their language. The voices were low but not guarded.
Rex could only make out an occasional word or phrase, but he did not need more to recognize that what he was hearing were the voices of his own brothers. He was stunned at the ease with which they were talking, and now he could even detect the sounds of subdued movement in the woods directly ahead.
"Sounds like the bloody circus coming to town," Echo whispered.
"We'd better let them know we're here," Rex replied. "They've already made their presence known to anyone who might be in the area. I don't think we could do more damage by calling out."
"Agreed, captain."
Rex, still without his helmet on, raised his voice a degree for the challenge.
"Houjix."
There was sudden and complete silence.
"Houjix!" Rex put forth again.
Still quiet.
Exasperated now, Rex blurt out, "For frick's sake, I'm your own captain! Now, answer the challenge! Houjix!"
After a brief hesitation, the response came, "To M'onnock two."
"There's two of us. Are we clear to advance?"
"Stand fast!"
Rex and Echo remained in place as a handful of figures materialized from the darkness.
Immediately, Rex saw what the problem had been. These were not 501st troopers; these were men from the 212th that had augmented the mission.
Stepping forward was a captain nicknamed Grommet. He was a veteran, one of the first clones to be produced by Kamino, a good man. Cody trusted him implicitly, and Rex was glad to see him.
"Rex, for kriff's sake, what are you doing out here?" Grommet asked.
"We're coming back from our recon mission," Rex replied. "We had a few adventures on the way. There's one lying there . . . and here's another, wrapped up as a present just for you. Now, we're just trying to stay out of the way as we head back to the drop zone. General Skywalker may need our help."
Echo smiled inwardly. Captain Rex staying out of the way was as likely as Coruscant reversing its rotation. Before the interruption by the two militants, Echo recalled that the captain had been leading them towards "someplace where we can be useful."
What had been the captain's words?
To hell with going to ground?
"You can head straight through us. It's been clear the whole way," Grommet stated, sounding almost bored.
"Well, I can assure you, it's not cleared back towards the airfield. We were pursued into the woods. They seem to have broken off now and headed towards the sound of all the commotion. These two were likely part of a patrol that was coming back in and found more than they bargained for," Rex told him. "Where are you heading?"
"The airfield, following the line of the wood on this side of the runways. Commander Tano is coming up the other side. General Skywalker it taking center, along the river road," Grommet replied.
"You might want to consider making your progress a little more covert. We could hear you coming, and there may still be some of the enemy in the woods the way we came," Rex suggested.
Grommet nodded. "How many?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe a dozen."
"We'll keep an eye—"
A sudden whoosh cut across Grommet's voice, followed by an explosion in the woods behind him. Rex knew the sound to be that of a rocket-propelled grenade. Another rush of sound preceded another explosion, and suddenly it seemed the gates of hell had opened. Clouds of dirt and debris wafted into the air, and the surrounding trees were engulfed in flames. Amidst the smoke and chaos, the agonized cries of injured men mingled with the shouted orders of Pylottan aggressors; and over all was the continual buzzing of blaster fire.
Chaos had broken loose again.