Dear Reader, Thank you to my reviewers: Jessica Wolffe, HarpforHim, Bego 337, Christina TM, the Guests, CinemaBane, LLTC, Princess-Rey-Tano, Sued13, Akira Hayama, Ms CT-782, and ichkak. I am sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up. Lots of real-life activities (including my father turning 90 - Happy Birthday, Dad!). Work stuff taking priority, and some little vacation here and there. Plus, there was just so much going on in this chapter, it needed a lot of pruning. I'm still not fully happy with it, but I just wanted to get it up there and move the story forward. So, I hope you enjoy and, with any luck, the next chapter will not take so long to post! Peace, CS
Chapter 133 Deceptions
"The truest way to be deceived is to think oneself more knowing than others."
Maxims
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
"Major . . . I've got something here. You need to see this."
Aboard Challenger, Major Stretch walked over to see what the urgency was about. He was the officer overseeing the team of clone surveillance officers monitoring the activity on the planet below. One of his lieutenants was seeing something concerning, and no sooner had that one lieutenant spoken than several others voiced that they, too, were seeing something that needed addressing.
It took Major Stretch only a fraction of a second to recognize what he was seeing.
"Admiral Yularen," the major spoke into his headset. "We have trouble. Scopes 8 through 17."
Up on the raised bridge, Admiral Yularen's tactical officers pulled up the scopes on their own displays. The trouble was immediately evident.
Hundreds—thousands of electro-magnetic signatures were dotting the scopes' pulse sweeps. With each new sweep, more signatures appeared.
"Battle droids," Major Stretch relayed over the comm. "And ships." A pause. "We're now pulling up signals on scopes 1-7. More droids."
Yularen grit his teeth. "It's an ambush. Scramble reinforcements. Notify our men on the ground."
The bridge chief comm officer began hailing the teams on the surface, but there was no response. He switched to the pre-established backup frequencies. Nothing.
"Admiral, I'm getting no response," he reported, adding, "I'm not even getting static. I think we're being jammed."
"Get your men working on how to get around it," Yularen ordered, then to his helm crew. "Move into a defensive posture. I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up with company of our own out here."
"From the outside, it looks a lot like the facility on Abafar," Pitch noted. "Readings indicate it has an elaborate underground tunnel system, as well." He held out his HOPO and an image appeared. "You can see how they do it . . . here's where they mine the raw rhydonium, and here it's fed into the processing facility. The cylinder has a funnel at the bottom that opens up and releases the liquid into the tunnels. After a certain amount of time . . . I'm not sure how long . . . it's mined from the tunnels as kyber crystals. So, the tunnels serve a purpose in the actual formation of the crystals." He pulled up another image. "But here, we have another completely separate tunnel network. There's no sign of processed rhydonium." A pause. "This is probably the control center—woah, what the hell?"
Suddenly, on his live scan, hundreds of detection symbols began filling the empty space.
Anakin scowled. "Droids." His scowl turned into a sinister smile. "Guess this place wasn't as empty as we thought it was. No problem. What's a few hundred droids?"
"Looks more like a few thousand, General," Pitch replied.
"That would be fairer odds," Anakin deadpanned. He raised his wrist comm. "Rex, we're going to have company."
Rex stood thirty meters away with Major Swin and Dogma, attempting to decipher the passcode to get into the underground tunnel system.
When Rex made no reply, Anakin repeated his communication. "Rex, we've detected droids here on the surface."
Still no reply, though Anakin saw his captain raise one hand to his helmet and make a few adjustments. Anakin began walking towards him, and when he saw the helmet come off completely, he understood the failure to respond.
"Something wrong with your comm, Rex?" the general inquired as he drew up to him.
"Not just mine, General," Rex replied. "Dogma tried to get Keys over here to open this thing, but all we get is dead air."
Anakin knit his brow; and what had been an annoyance was now escalating into something that could jeopardize the entire mission. He raised his wrist comm once again.
"Obi-wan, this is Skywalker."
Silence.
"Sixer? Grommet? Can anyone read me?"
He switched to their first backup frequency. Nothing.
The second backup produced the same.
"Moog!" he shouted, and the comm specialist hurried over.
"What's going on with our comm? I can't raise anyone."
"I've been trying to trouble-shoot it, Sir, but . . . I'd say we're being jammed," Moog replied. "But not just jammed . . . it's more like creating a barrier to the signals, not just scrambling them."
"This is not good," Anakin grimaced. "Can you pinpoint where the jam is coming from."
"It's tricky," Moog replied, "Because whatever is blocking our signals is also preventing our receptors from locating the source. I've been trying to use an element scanner to see if I can find traces of the component elements that would be needed to construct such a device."
"Any luck?"
"Well . . . there's this," Moog said, sounding uncertain. "About six hundred meters into the mesa, there's a large cartanium device with emitting coils. I can't get a clear enough image to say with certainty that it's the source of the jamming, but it's the best I've got right now."
"We'll have to hope it is," Anakin stated. "Because right before we got jammed, Pitch started picking up thousands of droid activations inside that mountain. We're about to have company and lots of it. I need to warn the other platoons, but I can't get in touch with anyone."
"I'm carrying a ground radio pack, Sir," Moog relayed. "We could give that a try."
"Yes, but is anyone else carrying one?" Rex asked.
"All commo's carry one, and every platoon has a commo," Moog replied.
"It's worth a try," Anakin nodded. "Do it." Then to Rex, "Pull the positioning from Moog and take a team in there to take out that jammer. Even if ground radio works, we can't win a battle without everyone having communication."
Rex nodded. "Yes, Sir." He already knew who he was going to take: Pitch, Double Barrel and Ajax. A small team, fast, with demolitions expertise and an otherworldly advantage. As he set off to gather them, he felt a tug at his elbow.
It was Major Swin. "I'm going with you."
"No, you're not. You have no role in this mission."
"I might be able to decipher the device and deactivate it," the major put forth.
"We're not deactivating it; we're destroying it. This is going to be in and out," Rex replied.
"Captain, I—"
He turned on her with a tinge of anger in his voice. "There's not time to argue about this. You are staying here."
The major regarded him with a hard stare for a moment. She was still considering protesting, but the look in the captain's eye made her think better of it. At last, she simply nodded.
Rex found his three team members in short order, just as Keys finished decoding the entrance and the two massive steelite doors rumbled aside.
"Make it fast, Rex," Anakin said, rather unnecessarily, as he and his captain prepared to enter the passageway. "I'll take the rest of the men and head for the control center. We've still got a mission to accomplish."
"Don't worry, Sir," Rex assured him. "We'll get the job done."
The two groups moved together the first fifty meters into the tunnel before splitting off towards their separate missions.
The passageway in which Rex and his team found themselves was not lit by any means, and he and his men resorted to night vision. It was a narrow tunnel with a low ceiling, making everything feel close and confining.
Rex kept electro-magnetic detection up in his HUD, keeping an eye out for droids. At the moment, everything looked clear up ahead; but that did not signify, for he knew the scenario could change in a heartbeat if sleeping droids were suddenly activated.
"DB, send him ahead," Rex ordered. "Tell him to report what he finds."
Double Barrel, knowing the eagle could hear and comprehend every word the captain was saying, did not have to relay the command. Over the months, the soul had devised the means to free himself from the constraints of his host's physical body without leaving DB helpless in the process. Or it might have been more accurate to say that DB had grown accustomed to the raptor's sudden departures and the energy that went with him when he slipped the bonds of unity.
"Go on," DB said silently, then aloud to his captain, he replied, "He's on his way."
As they continued forward, suddenly a rumbling trembled the stone around them.
"That was some kind of munitions impact on the surface," Pitch stated with surety.
Another impact vibrated through the mesa. "Sounds like it's on out there," Ajax noted.
"Then we'd better hurry," Rex pressed. "One errant shot, and this whole place will blow to pieces."
"Surely, the Separatists know that as well and wouldn't risk destroying their entire facility?" Ajax posed.
"If they think they're going to lose the fight, then I wouldn't put it past them. They'd rather destroy it than see it fall into our hands," Rex replied.
"Well, if they're firing weapons up there, they may end up taking it out, intentionally or not," Pitch grunted.
"Fek and all," Cody grumbled under his breath.
No communications. And now . . . droids.
At least two hundred of them. The good news was they were the dimwitted battle droids. The bad news was they were going to interfere with his platoon's tasking to remove the kyber crystals from the warehouse.
The commander noticed right away that the droids had were using some kind of modified blaster that fired red bolts and left a red gelatinous substance wherever they struck. Even so, they appeared to be taking extreme care to avoid igniting the crystals. It was proving fairly easy to keep the droids outside the warehouse. Droid poppers were doing the job, and the troops protecting the warehouse were free to use their blasters' regular settings as long as they had a clean shot with no possibility of hitting anything that might go boom.
But the ship that had been outside the hangar, on standby to receive the confiscated crystals, was now out-of-action, the droids having taken out the engines with two well-placed, low-grade magnetic grenades that also left the red calling card. A bit more fire-power than Cody would have deemed safe, but nevertheless, the ship had been disabled. The two pilots had barely escaped with their lives and were now helping to hold the line with their fellow troopers.
"Any success with the GR, Smoke?" Cody asked calmly, referring to his comm officer's attempt to establish ground radio contact.
"Nothing yet, Commander. Still trying," came the cool, yet frustrated response.
"Commander, I'm picking up more droids," Boil announced. "Approaching from the northeast. Looks like they're coming from the tunnels."
"Let's hope Grommet is seeing the same thing," Cody stated. Grommet was guarding the northern perimeter.
"Shall I send a runner?" Smoke inquired.
"No, no," Cody replied. "If the perimeter runs into trouble, they'll send a runner to us, I'm sure." He frowned, realizing that this mission was, like so many others, the victim of only partial intelligence and spotty reconnaissance. This would be one of the most strangely fought battles due not only to the presence of the explosive materials, but also the relative uncertainty of what ultimate victory would look like.
Would a contingent have to be left behind to make sure the facility did not get repaired and resume operations once the battle was over and the facility rendered inoperable? Would the mission be complete without the confiscation of the crystals? Could the crystals be left behind if a contingent were left to guard them?
Unless communications were restored, the mission stood little chance of success. And at this point, Cody wasn't even sure if extraction of his team would be possible, given they had no contact with General Kenobi's forces in the canyon.
"This is turning into a real FUBAR," he mumbled. *FUBAR – Fekked Up Beyond All Recognition.
Only Boil and Smoke were close enough to hear him.
"Not our first, Commander," Boil said. "And it won't be our last."
Cody had always liked Boil's combination of grumbling tenacity. Never had he known a man to complain so much about the impossibility of a task, while at the same time carrying out that task. In an interesting twist, the loss of Waxer had seen the transfer Waxer's optimism—some of it, at least—to Boil, a man for whom optimism had always been in short supply. Waxer had buoyed his squad mate against the pessimism that had threatened to sink Boil from time to time. With Waxer now gone, killed on Umbara, Boil had taken on responsibility for his own self-encouragement.
Cody was glad to have him at his right hand under the circumstances. "Pick a couple troopers and go make sure the men still have enough charge packs and droid poppers. Without comm, we need a constant check on the line."
"Yes, Commander."
As Boil headed off, Cody turned once again to Smoke. "Are you at least able to pinpoint what's causing the disruption?"
"It's deep inside the mesa, Commander," Smoke replied. "I think . . . maybe we should send someone to General Skywalker's position to see if he's sent anyone to do something about it."
"If we've detected it, I'm sure they have, too, and already have someone on the way," Cody replied. "But if this keeps up much longer, we may end up sending smoke signals." He gave a wry grin behind his helmet. "We'll find out if your name is well-earned."
As anticipated, the sentients manning the facility had been evacuated and it appeared the machinery running the place had been temporarily shut down and secured.
"All the easier to take it permanently out-of-action," Anakin said to himself with satisfaction.
He and his team had reached the control center without running into the enemy. It was much larger than the one on Abafar, and it was clear that, though much of the processes were automated, there was still considerable work that had recently been carried out by live individuals.
Anakin turned to Boom. "This is your area of expertise. Melt 'em down."
"Technically speaking, it's a disintegration patch, but I won't hold that against you, General," Boom quipped. If Anakin had been able to see beneath the helmet, he would have seen a cheeky grin. Boom and his men began applying the patches to the various consoles. In less than a minute, over two hundred patches had been placed. "Once I activate these, we'll want to get out quickly. These babies generate some noxious fumes. Our filters will protect us, but you won't want to hang around, General."
"I don't intend to," Anakin replied. As he spoke, the cavern shook. "Sounds like our boys outside have met with some action. Let's get out there. Activate the patches."
Boom did so, and the team did not wait around to see the results – except for Boom, who stayed until he could see the streams of smoke-like mist rising up off the working patches as they began disintegrating the structural integrity of the surfaces beneath them. He grinned in satisfaction. In minutes, there would be nothing left but pools of liquid mineral compound.
He caught up with the rest of the team just inside the tunnel entrance. They were taking cover behind the door jams and the uneven rock-hewn walls of the passageway, tossing droid poppers out into the open. Outside, there were the members of 2d Platoon already engaged with the droids. And in the center of everything was General Skywalker like a youngling on a training mission. It never ceased to amaze Boom just how much enjoyment the general could squeeze out of any contest.
But then he saw his general's expression change.
And he was not hard-pressed to see why.
More droids were entering the fray. They were coming in four columns, pilling forth from one of the canyon openings. This time, there were SBDs and Rollers.
Two platoon-sized elements of clones – no more than 64 men and their Jedi General – had little chance of holding off what was quickly amounting to hundreds of droids.
By force of habit, Anakin raised his wrist comm to call in Jesse, Sixer, Grommet or World with their support platoons, but before he'd spoken a word, he remembered that communications were down. He turned to Dogma, who was fighting at his six.
"Dogma! Get word to the rest of the men in 1st and 2d platoon! We're going to have to make our way on foot to General Kenobi in the canyon—"
"That's over six kilometers away, General!" Dogma replied.
"We have no choice! Comm is still down! We can't stay here or we'll be overrun! Spread the word! Everyone start moving towards the canyon! I'll cover the rear—"
"Vulture droids!"
Even as the alarm went up, at least a dozen vulture droids swooped down from overhead.
They fired.
Every trooper froze, expecting the whole place to go sky high as soon as the munitions hit.
But instead, in the wake of the impact, half a dozen dead clones littered the ground, and a red gelatinous substance oozed around where they had fallen.
"What—what the fek?" Dogma burst out with the rare curse.
"We're still here. The place didn't blow!" This from Gernot, standing beside Dogma. "What is that stuff? Did it come from the blaster strike? Did that stop the rhydonium from igniting?"
Before Dogma could answer, another blast hit nearby, this time missing any targets but still leaving behind the same red substance. Dogma adjusted his HUD and made a quick scan. "I can't find anything matching it in the data files."
"Whatever it is, it's allowing them to fire on us, and we still can't risk firing on them," Gernot replied. "This is fekking osik!"
Nearby, General Skywalker chimed in. "My thoughts exactly. Now, get into the canyon!"
"He doesn't see any of the enemy," DB announced. "It's clear to the cavern."
"Has he found the signal blocker?" Rex asked.
"He—he's uh, he's perched on it," DB replied, feeling somewhat embarrassed at the eagle's audacity. "But something is odd . . . he thinks something is odd."
"What is it?"
"I don't know yet," Double Barrel said, sounding perplexed. "I don't understand what he's trying to communicate. He says he doesn't feel it."
"Feel what?"
"I . . . energy?"
Rex grunted to himself. OF all the things they didn't need right now, an enigmatic bird soul was one of them. "Not much further. Then you can figure out what he's talking about."
Another fifty meters, and the four men emerged into a vast cavern filled with consoles and other equipment. Centered against the far wall was a massive emitter, and balanced perfectly at its apex was the filamentary eagle.
"That must be it," Rex stated. He was not going to waste any time. "Pitch, do your thing."
"Yes, Captain." Pitch turned to Ajax and Double Barrel. "Let's go."
They approached the device while Rex stood guard.
The three troopers began removing panels and attaching patches.
"Is the eagle saying anything else?" Rex asked.
"He's still only saying he doesn't feel it," DB replied. "I'm not sure that means." He turned his attention inward. "What do you mean? I don't understand."
"It isn't strong enough. It's here but it's not this."
"I think . . . I think he's telling us that this isn't the source of the signal," DB announced.
Ajax knit his brows. "But this is the signal. The scanner shows it."
"Yeah . . . " DB sounded noncommittal. "You know he's never wrong."
"Come on, let's get this done. If this isn't what's sending the signal, we'll know soon enough," Pitch prodded. "Keep setting the patches."
"Agreed," Rex confirmed. "We don't want to spend any more time here than we absolutely need to. There is something about this place that doesn't feel right."
Ajax grinned and leaned close to DB. "He's starting to sound like your bird."
"Bird soul," DB corrected with a glint of humor. "Get it right."
"What the . . . holy . . . General Kenobi!"
BB suddenly remembered that all comm was down –even intra-ship. "Fek!" He popped the canopy and slipped down over the side of the gunship to the troop bay. "General Kenobi, our topside scopes are picking up a lot of activity – a lot of stretches."
Beside Obi-wan, Chopper pulled out his HOPO and synced it to his HUD. "Fek and all . . . "
Obi-wan was not as demonstrative as his troopers, but he was alarmed at what he was seeing. "Looks like a welcome party was awaiting us all along. That explains the presence of the pulse generator." A pause. "They're all moving in the direction of the facility. None of them are moving towards us."
"You think they don't know we're here?" Chopper inquired.
"I suppose we'll find out in short order," Obi-wan replied.
"And comm is still down," BB added. "We have no idea what's going on with the other platoons."
Obi-wan frowned. It was a difficult situation. Despite the large number of enemy droids now coming to life, the question of whether or not the mission was to be abandoned was a matter of conjecture. With communications down, none of the leadership could communicate with one another in order to decide on a course of action and coordinate a response.
Both Anakin's and Cody's platoons might already be well underway in carrying out their respective missions. And they had protection platoons with them. Sending in the backup and extraction units too soon might result in ships and crews exposed in hostile territory, waiting for the other platoons to finish their tasks. That would put them at greater risk and could even result in the destruction of the full complement of reinforcements. And then, how would they extract any of the teams?
No, it was better to give it a bit more time.
Fifteen minutes.
If comm was not restored in fifteen minutes, Obi-wan would move his men in.
But he needed to spread the word to the twenty ships in his contingent. And it looked like they were going to have to do it the old-fashioned way.
"BB, you remember your light signals?"
"Yes, General, of course."
"Good. I've got a message I want you to send to the other pilots."
"I'm still not getting a signal, Captain," Ajax said, sounding mildly alarmed. "The thing is half gone, and I'm still not getting a signal."
"Neither am I," Pitch concurred, followed by DB.
The four clones watched the disintegration of the emitter from the far side of the cavern. Protected by the filtering system in their helmets, they had stayed to make sure the task was completed; but now, with half the device reduced to trace elements, they were all dismayed to see that their communications were still jammed. The signal was still present, still powerful.
"This must be what he meant," DB opined. "He said this wasn't the source."
"But the signal is still coming from right here!" Ajax insisted. "Unless our HUDs are completely fekked up, it coming from right here!"
Rex moved back into the cavern. He switched the view in his helmet to infrared then to range spectrum and then to density signature.
And there it was.
"The wall behind the emitter is less than a meter thick," he announced. "Ajax, run a wavelength trough analysis."
Ajax complied, and within seconds, an admiring curse escaped his lips. "Embleer hraka . . . you hit the mark, Captain. The troughs are less than 20 centimeters tall and only 5 centimeters wide. That would make it look like it was coming from this device, but it's really coming from behind the wall."
The three troopers were impressed with their captain's intuition, but Rex would have told them it was deductive reasoning. The eagle had been right: the signal was coming from this location but its precise emanating point had been disguised and hidden.
"We have to find a way to get behind this wall," Rex ordered. "Start looking."
Another surface explosion rocked the cave.
"I think we're running out of time," Ajax said ominously.
"Then let's make it fast," Rex replied.
They began searching, but there were no obvious openings through the wall. Two passageways that exited the cavern led away from the signal.
"We might have to go through the wall, Captain," Pitch said at last. "I've made a scan. There's no raw rhydonium present in any of these walls. We could blow it."
"Are you absolutely positive there's no rhydonium?"
"Positive."
"Then let's do—"
"Captain! Tinnies!"
At the sound of Ajax's warning, all attention shifted.
From one of the side passageways, droids were emerging.
"Droid poppers!" Rex shouted. "Pitch, blast that entrance! Block it!"
DB and Ajax rolled droid poppers into the emerging clutch, while Pitch pulled an impact charge from his pack. He removed the arming tab and side-armed the charge towards the entrance. The question of whether or not there was any rhydonium in the walls was about to be answered with certainty.
The charge exploded, collapsing the passageway entrance, effectively blocking the droids' entry. And there was no chain reaction of explosions. That merited a sigh of relief, however brief.
"Get through this wall!" Rex ordered, and no sooner had he uttered the words than more droids began entering from the opposite passage. "DB! Ajax! With me! Pitch, toss me a charge and get that wall down!"
"I only have three charges left. I might need all of them to get through the wall, Sir."
"Then get on it. We'll hold them off."
The advantage Rex and his troopers had was that the opening from the passageway was narrow, allowing only one or two droids through at a time, making them easy to pick off.
Suddenly, DB staggered slightly. A screech reverberated off the cavern walls.
It was the eagle.
DB faced his captain and spoke urgently. "We have to get out of here!"
"As soon as we blow the emitter—"
"No, Captain! Now! He says we have to go now! Something is coming!"
Rex picked off two more droids. "We're not leaving until communications are back up!" he shouted emphatically.
Pitch, hearing this exchange, worked feverishly to set the charges. If some greater danger was on its way, he did not want to be there when it arrived. But when all three charges were blown, he found metal shielding behind the stone. Snatching two patches out of his pack, he put them in place and ignited them.
"How much longer, Pitch?"
"These should get us through the shielding," Pitch replied. "Two, three minutes. Then I'll set the final patches on the emitter itself."
The sound of moving rocks reverberated through the cavern.
Rex, DB and Ajax spared a glance around to see where the sound was coming from. Right away their attention was drawn to the passageway they had just blown. The rocks blocking the entrance were being pushed back into the cavern by an unseen force.
The troopers had seen such a phenomenon often enough to know what that meant.
Rex imagined General Skywalker had made it past the control center and through the passageways to somehow come to this location. Yet, there was no sense of relief that came flooding through Rex's veins. He couldn't explain it, but this didn't feel like the approach of his general.
And in the next moment, he found out why.
The figure that emerged from the cleared passageway and now strode confidently into the cavern was that of a man with whom Rex was well familiar. But his presence here was a surprise. Now, Rex understood the eagle's agitation.
Count Dooku's arrival set the four clones back on their heels. They were no match for him, and they knew it. The fact that the Count was at their location instead of engaged with General Skywalker or the larger contingents of clones was perplexing. Was he here to protect the emitter? Was he just passing through on his way to engage the rest of the landing team?
Whatever the reason, his appearance was not only expected, it was frightening.
Rex had to make sure the patches were given the time to do their job.
He did not need to give commands to his men. They would follow his lead. He opened fire.
Dooku brushed the blaster bolts aside as if they were leaves on a breeze. Another sweep of his hand, and both DB and Ajax were slammed against the wall, dropping stunned to the ground.
Pitch pulled back and hid behind one of the consoles. Behind him, the shielding was disintegrating. He could not reveal himself until the final patches were in place on the emitter. After that, he would wait to take his shot, for he knew he would only get one chance. Dooku had not seen him, but once his location was known, the Sith Lord would make short work of him.
Rex continued firing even as Dooku advanced, until finally, the Count snatched the weapons away through use of the Force and sent them skittering across the ground. Around him, the droids now entered the cavern unimpeded.
Count Dooku stopped a few meters in front of the clone captain and regarded him with a studied air. At length, he exhaled long and derisively. "Hardly the best use of my talents," he said thickly.
Rex retorted, "Then why are you here?"
Dooku smiled slightly. "I'm here for you."
Rex's demeanor slipped for a moment but he recovered quickly. "Me? Well, here I am." He could see, out of the corner of his HUD, Pitch setting the charges on the emitter, completely unnoticed. He just had to keep Dooku's attention a few more seconds . . .
"Does that mean you're going to come willingly?" Dooku asked languidly.
"No," Rex replied. "I intend to put up a fight."
Dooku's expression was droll. "It will only be wasted effort."
Rex cocked his head to one side. "Waste of your talents. Waste of my effort. Is anything useful here?"
"Your nonchalance is admirable, even if affected," Dooku remarked. "I can sense your fear." A taunting grin broadened his mouth. "You wonder why I'd be here for you."
"Not really, no," Rex shrugged. "The why isn't important. The fact that I'm not about to become your prisoner is all that matters."
"My prisoner? Hm. Only for a short period of time," Dooku replied. "A much more . . . engaged fate awaits you. I am only the means by which you will arrive at your final destination." A pause, as he stretched out his hand. "Time to go to sleep."
Rex felt his throat closing off.
The panic set in.
Then there was screaming, screeching, cursing . . . and the thunderous rush of pounding wings.
Rex, released from the invisible choke hold, took several steps back. His eyes grew wide with amazement.
The eagle was fighting.
Fighting Dooku.
But not in any manner of combat Rex had ever seen.
There was an incorporeal thrashing, a spiritual war of souls. And the eagle was winning – at least, in the battle of distraction, creating just enough disorder to give Rex and his men a chance to escape.
Ajax and DB were already on their feet, retrieving their weapons, and firing on the bemused droids watching the inexplicable spectacle surrounding their leader. Pitch vaulted over the control panels and joined his captain as the two raced for the passageway that marked the way they had entered.
Rex, his pistols out of reach, grabbed up one of the fallen droid's blasters on his way out.
"Patches activated!" Pitch shouted. "We should know if they worked in about three minutes!"
"Let's get the hell out of here!" Rex ordered. "Move it! We don't know how long the eagle can hold him off!"
DB wasn't going to take any chances. He had no idea of the extent or limits of the eagle's power. But he was not going to risk anything happening to him.
"Eagle! Return!" he cried out.
The eagle continued fighting.
"Eagle!"
"Go! He cannot hurt me! Get away! I will come to you!"
DB knew better than to question him. If he said he could not be hurt, DB would take him at his word.
As they ran, Rex was counting down the seconds in the back of his mind. Three minutes suddenly seemed like such a long time.
He heard no sounds of pursuit, and he imagined that was due to the confusion the eagle was sowing. The droids were leaderless in the face of Dooku's struggle with the avian soul. But there was no way of knowing how long that would last.
He could see the peek of daylight at last. They were almost there. Two hundred more meters.
Rex tried to use his helmet comm, but to no avail. Communications were still blocked.
"Pitch, there's still no comm—"
Suddenly, a bolt of light shot forward from behind them. The passageway up ahead crumbled with the munitions impact, blocking their exit. Red goo oozed over the fallen stone.
Rex whirled around, but in the darkness, he could see nothing. Only the sounds of iron feet gave away the pursuit of the enemy. The steady clomping was still distant, indicating that the clankers must have only just resumed their pursuit. He switched to night vision and magnified his HUD view. Now, he could barely make out movement still nearly 300 meters away. They must have fired a grenade launcher blindly into the passageway with the intent of blocking the escape.
"Scan for other passageways," Rex ordered. "I know we passed some on the way in—"
"We just passed one about forty meters back," Ajax replied.
"Let's go."
The calm that permeated the four men's actions was in stark contrast to the precariousness of their situation. The three junior soldiers owed such collectedness to their captain. Rex did not get ruffled. He did not let his emotions get the better of him. If he felt fear – and surely, he must – he did not show it. Now, as they backtracked towards the alternative route, he moved with speed and purpose but not with desperation.
Entering the side passage, he inquired, "Where does this lead?"
After a moment, Ajax replied. "It looks like it opens into a much larger tunnel, and that tunnel leads out into . . . it's hard to tell exactly, maybe somewhere within the canyons. I can't read the topography . . . "
"As long as it leads out of here, that's good enough," Rex stated.
"Eagle is back," DB announced, sounding relieved.
"Good," Rex nodded curtly. "We may need him again."
"Enh . . . he says Dooku was starting to figure out how to use the Force to keep him out," DB reported. "He may not be as effective a second time around."
"Then let's try not to have a second time," Rex replied. "Move it!"
The situation had changed rapidly.
On the surface, things had deteriorated in a matter of seconds as enemy craft and battle droids seemingly materialized out of nowhere. The steady flow of enemy troops towards the facility had now grown to encompass the outlying areas.
Obi-wan's reserve troops had been forced from their hiding places and were now engaged in gunship battles with vulture droids and flying SBDs as they tried to make their way towards the facility to hopefully pick up the awaiting platoons.
But with communications down, there was no way of knowing what was going on at the facility. No way of knowing if the platoons were also under attack. No way of coordinating rescue and extraction maneuvers. It was truly a case of going in blind.
No way of knowing that Anakin and his platoons were already enroute to Obi-wan's position – the position just abandoned.
Until a blip showed up on Chopper's HOPO.
"General, look at this," he said. "Life form signatures, moving towards us on the ground. You think that could be our men?"
"It could be," Obi-wan replied. "But I have no way of letting BB know—"
"With all due respect, General, I'm sure BB has all his scanners running. He'll see them. And if he doesn't, his rear seat is Bird's Eye. You know he'll see them."
"I like your confidence in the midst of total chaos, Chopper," Obi-wan said with a half-smile. "Let's hope it's well-founded."
And it was well-founded. For Bird's Eye did, in fact, see the gaggle of approaching ground troops. A quick visual identified them as friendlies.
"Those are our boys," he shouted within the confines of the cockpit.
"The canyon is too narrow for a landing," BB replied. "I can hover and they can drop lines in back."
In the troop bay, it was clear, the moment BB hovered the ship, what the intention was. And as other gunships followed BB's lead, the soldiers in the bays immediately began dropping lines.
Anakin, however, did not need to wait for a line. He sprang upwards and into the bay.
"Are your communications down?" he asked immediately.
"Yes," Obi-wan replied. "We don't have comm with anyone, including the fleet."
"Damn . . ." Anakin swore. "Rex must not have been successful. I sent him to destroy the emitter that was blocking our signals. If comm is still down, that means he wasn't able to do it." He paused and redirected his thoughts. "We've still got four platoons back there. We tried to get word to everyone to retreat, but I have no idea where everyone is right now."
"We were headed back to try and get everyone out," Obi-wan informed him.
"Then let's go," Anakin pushed. "We were totally overrun, totally outnumbered. And they have these weapons they can fire without igniting the rhydonium, so we were pretty much sitting ducks."
Obi-wan craned his head and look down in to the canyon. The last of the men were on their way up into the troops bays of nearby ships.
A few seconds later, at a visual cue from one of the nearby pilots, BB resumed heading towards the facility. He only hoped it wasn't too late.
"Damn . . . comm is still down," Pitch seethed, more angry at the thought that he himself must have somehow misplaced the patches than concerned about their flight from a pursuing enemy. "I did everything by the book."
"It's too late to worry about it now," Rex replied. "Just focus on getting out of here."
"There's light up ahead," Ajax called out.
He was right. At the moment, it appeared as a mere pinprick; and given the height of the tunnel's ceiling, the opening was clearly some distance off. Rex estimated a good five hundred meters. But it was a way out, it was visible, and it was within reach.
The four men increased their speed. The sound of metallic footsteps and whirring gyros sounded in the passageway and reverberated along the walls. The pursuit was still on.
The clones continued towards the exit. They were covering ground quickly. Fifty meters to go. Of course, the thought of what lay beyond the opening had not been given any real consideration. The goal had been to reach the opening. The plan after that point was uncertain.
Rex suddenly heard a high-pitched whine; and as it grew louder, recognition flashed upon him in an instant. It was the sound of a rocket.
"Inbound! Hit the deck!" he ordered, diving onto his stomach near the wall.
The rocket came from behind them and impacted the ceiling just inside the opening.
Rex's breath caught in his throat. "Oh, fek . . . fek . . . " he cursed, waiting for the rhydonium cataclysm. But it never came. Instead, he looked up to see a reddish slime dripping from the ceiling.
As he got slowly to his feet, a rumbling could be felt.
The ceiling was starting to come down.
"Go! Go!" he shouted, grabbing Pitch by the arm and flinging him to his feet.
A second rocket made impact.
The passageway was obliterated.
"Woah! What was that?" Dogma exclaimed. Beside General Skywalker in the gunship, the trooper was pointing towards a spot where the canyon widened considerably. "A whole lot of smoke and debris just came out the mouth of that cave."
Anakin almost held his breath. He raised his wrist comm. "Rex, do you read?" Silence. "Cody? Sixer? Does anyone read me?"
Silence.
"Damn, if that wasn't the emitter blowing—" Before Anakin could finish speaking, the ship rocked violently and began sputtering.
"We've been hit!" Chopper shouted, leaning out the bay door. "Port engine!"
"BB will get us down," Obi-wan said with confidence.
Confidence well-founded.
And an impact oddly well-timed.
For the widening space in which BB brought the gunship down happened to also be the point to which the remaining platoons were now arriving as they retreated.
BB managed the landing well enough to where it could not exactly be labelled a crash landing, but the ship would forever be beyond repair. The most important factor was that those on board had survived the emergency . . . only to be faced with another one.
More of the gunships set down to pick up the remnants of the other platoons, but the enemy was now fully engaged. The arrival of the gunships, which normally would have provided cover for the fleeing ground troops, only increased the number of targets now available to the enemy.
On top of that, the Republic forces were at a clear disadvantage in that their own weapons could not be used to full capacity owing to the explosivity of the rhydonium; whereas, the Separatists had found a way to neutralize ignition.
But all of these setbacks meant little to Anakin. He burst out of the wounded gunship, and spotting Cody, immediately made his way towards him, light saber clearing the path.
"Get your men aboard those ships, Commander!" he ordered.
"Yes, General."
"Have you seen Rex?" Anakin asked.
"No, Sir," Cody replied. "I've only seen men from Grommet's and Sixer's platoons. I haven't seen anything of Jesse or World."
Anakin grit his teeth. "Okay . . . start loading." He looked down the cavern back towards where the smoke was still seeping out of the cave. "If I know you, Rex, that's where you are." He began heading towards the cave.
Something loud and hot and violent jarred the air and ground around him.
He hardly realized the moment he lost consciousness.
"Captain! Captain!" Pitch shouted, terror and dread flooding through him as he looked at the massive pile of rock and debris blocking the tunnel. He had no idea if his captain were under that mess or on the other side. If he had survived the collapse, was he injured? Was the enemy upon him?
A glance over his shoulder showed DB helping Ajax to his feet.
"Ajax! Get your scanner over here! We need to find out if the captain is still alive!"
Ajax took out his scanner. But judging from the magnitude of the collapse itself, he held out little hope for their captain's survival.
Then a ping showed on the scanner.
"Fek . . . he's alive," Ajax breathed. "He's on the other side. I don't know if he's injured."
"DB—"
"On it."
The eagle took his leave.
The cave-in that should have crushed the life out him had missed him, other than a few small shards of stone and the particle dust that his helmet had filtered out. But now, he was in near blackness, with only dim rays of daylight filtering through the cracks in the debris wall. He could still hear the steady plod of the droids as they approached through the darkness.
Turning on his night vision, he saw two small passageways leading off, one to his left and one to his right. At the moment, one was as good as the other.
And then he heard . . .
. . . was that Pitch calling out to him?
"Pitch?!"
"Captain! Can you hear me?!"
Rex removed his helmet so his voice would not be muffled. "Yes! I hear you!"
"Are you alright?! Are you injured?"
"I'm alright! You all need to get out! Now!"
"We can't leave you in there! We have to find a way to get you out!"
"There are other tunnels here. I'm taking one of those! I'll find a way out!"
"DB sent the eagle, so we can know what's happening with you—"
"Don't worry about that! Just go! That's an order!"
DB, Pitch and Ajax regarded each other, and they all knew what the others were thinking. There was no way they could clear the debris to get their captain out; but they also were not about to leave without finding some way to help him.
"Can the eagle guide him out?" Pitch asked.
"I imagine so—hey, what the hell . . . "
Outside the mouth of the cave, something was happening.
The familiar sound of gunships. The even more familiar sound of combat.
"Ajax, go see what's happening!" Pitch demanded.
Ajax hurried to the entrance.
"Gunships!" he called back over his shoulder. "We've got a ride out of here!" Then, as he watched, the enemy blew one of the gunships to pieces. "But we need to make it fast!"
"Get their attention! Let them know we're here and we need help!"
Ajax drew in a steadying breath. "Get their attention." How would he do that without gaining the enemy's attention as well?
It was as if he could move right through the rock.
He could see on the other side.
What peculiar connection was this?
This was a use of the Force he had never heard of before.
Such an incredible sense of freedom, as if all the vestiges of a physically bound life had been severed and now he had shed all limitations.
There was a giddiness attached to the sensation; yet Anakin knew the situation was dire. The eyes through which he was experiencing this phenomenon also recognized the criticality of the moment.
The metal things . . . the non-living things. They were coming.
But they were no cause for alarm.
Battle-droids. Anakin could hear them . . . and even more remarkably, despite the darkness and their distance, he could see them. He could see them with the eye of an eagle. And suddenly he knew. He knew through whose eyes he was seeing. It was astonishing, to say the least.
The man who entered behind them. Here was the source of terror. The darkness enveloped him.
"Can you see him? Let me see him," Anakin said silently.
But the eagle had other more urgent considerations.
"Escape! Escape! Follow me!"
Anakin could now see the confines of narrow passages. He could hear the footsteps of a running man.
"Who are you with? Show me."
A wrenching cry shrieked through Anakin's head. Something had gone wrong.
It had not taken long for Ajax to draw the attention of his fellow troopers – and the enemy. Now, it was just a question of getting to the gunships. Or getting a gunship to come to him.
Back in the tunnel, Pitch was still reluctant to leave, knowing his captain was on the other side of the wall of debris. He shouted for him several more times and received no response.
"He's gone," DB stated. "He's taken another path. The eagle is with him." A pause. "Dooku is still pursuing."
"Right . . . then we'd better get out of here and let General Skywalker know what's going on," Pitch conceded. "Let's go."
They joined Ajax at the mouth of the cave and looked out at the harrowing scene taking place in the canyon.
It was impossible to make heads or tails of the action, other than that troopers were heading for gunships, and gunships were attempting to depart – some successfully, others being shot down. Droids were everywhere, blocking access to the ships. Splotches of red appeared on the canyon walls and floors, on the gunships . . . there was too much of it for it to be blood. And there was no time to wonder what it could be.
"We have to get to one of the ships," Ajax stated unnecessarily. "Our boys know we're here, but I don't think they can get to us—"
As he spoke, some sort of munition struck the canyon wall to the right of the cave entrance where he, Pitch and DB were taking cover. The impact sent them flying against the opposite wall.
When the dust cleared, Pitch pushed up onto his elbows. "Everyone okay?"
Ajax was getting slowly to his feel. "I'm okay. DB?"
Double Barrel did not reply. He lay on the ground, unmoving.
"DB!" Ajax cried out, dropping down at his friend's side. "DB!"
"I hear you," came the curt, gasping reply. "I—I . . . can't breathe . . ."
"We've got company!" Pitch shouted.
Ajax looked up to see four super battle droids approaching their location.
"Where's my weapon?!" Ajax fretted, berating himself for losing the blaster during the explosion. Now, he scanned the area around him frantically but to no avail.
And then suddenly . . . the SBDs were gone. And in their place, a gunship hovered. The craft had plowed into the droids, turning them into little more than scrap metal.
The side door was open, and a 212th trooper was beckoning urgently. "Hurry! Hurry! Get on board!"
Pitch and Ajax picked up DB between them and scrambled into the troop bay.
The doors closed and the ship was away.
Immediately, Ajax removed Double Barrel's helmet, and now he could see the problem as a thin line of blood traced its way from the corner of DB's mouth and down over his neck. There had to be some kind of internal bleeding impacting his respiratory tract and interfering with his breathing.
"Help me turn him on his side," he said, and the full attention of the dozen or so men inside the troop bay now went to saving the life of their fellow trooper.
The ship rocked violently, reminding them that being off the surface did not equate to being safe. They still had to make it back to Challenger.
But Ajax wasn't worried about that. He had only one desperate thought on his mind. "Eagle . . . eagle, where are you?"
Anakin could feel the conflict within him.
Only it was not his conflict. He was feeling it on behalf of the eagle.
"I must continue! Up ahead! Daylight! A way out! Run! You must run faster! Why are you so slow! My companion needs me! He is dying, and you are slow. I stay with you because it is what he desires. I want to go back to him!"
All these words, these thoughts – Anakin had heard them before. And he'd not understood them. He still didn't.
A sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Anakin sensed the dread on behalf of his conduit.
The daylight revealed, not deliverance, but defeat.
He was too late.
They were gone. Aloft and retreating.
Anakin felt the connection break.
His unconsciousness was now quiet and empty.
The moment Rex had left the main tunnel and headed off down a side passageway, he'd been moving at a fevered pace; yet he'd had the strange inkling that someone or something was chiding him that he wasn't fast enough. He had the impression that the enemy was still in pursuit, even though he could not hear them behind him.
He'd tried pulling up the facility schematics in his HUD to see if he could locate the passageway in which he was now moving, hoping to find a way out and not discover that he'd run himself into a dead end. At last, he'd been able to pinpoint his location and ascertain that the passageway did, in fact, emerge into the canyon roughly six hundred meters from where he was now.
Six hundred meters.
And then what? He had no idea; but it had to be better than the restrictions of the underground labyrinth.
Still using his night vision, he began to notice slants of light across his visor. They were peculiar. Six slants of light coming from the left of the tunnel, like sunlight through windows. And as he drew closer, he saw that this was precisely what they were. A series of six windows were set deep into the stone wall. Rex noticed that the wall, at this point, was less than two meters thick. The windows themselves were about 5 centimeters thick, and on the other side, Rex could see into the valley.
He could see the gunships. He could see the troopers running to get on board. He could see the fighting.
He could almost hear a voice, chastising him. "Stop wasting time! Run!"
He reached instinctively for his pistols to see if he could blast the glass out. But when his hands came up empty, he resorted to the blaster he'd taken from a fallen droid.
The glass did not even scratch.
Rex used his fists.
The results were the same.
He would not be able to get out this way. He resumed his dash back into the darkness. When, at last, he rounded a shallow bend that stretched at least two hundred meters, he was able to see what was clearly the end of the tunnel.
He increased his speed and raised his wrist comm. "This is Captain Rex. Can anyone hear me?"
Silence.
Something urged him to run faster.
He was almost there.
He switched from night vision to regular.
He stood at the opening into the canyon and felt his heart sink.
The canyon was now empty but for the enemy.
The last of the gunships were aloft. And retreating.
He was too late.