Eighteen


While Ahsoka waited her mark, she used the time to take one final look around the small shanty.

Together, she and Ventress had made a home of sorts, although the sight of the dead Duros slumped on the floor changed everything.

They now had to make this escape work; they had no home to come back to if it didn't.

With a small beep, she headed out into the night, three minutes behind Rex and Piia.

And a new life.

Delicately side stepping vagrants, Ahsoka followed the route she committed to memory until the moment her blood ran cold.

It was a moment of déjà vu.

Caught completely unaware, she closed her luminescent blue eyes and refocussed.

"Commander Tano!"

There was no denying it.

They had been found.

.

Rex knew he should have placed the pack under his coat and now, clutching Piia close to his chest, the uncomfortable feeling of the bag slipping off the heavy woollen shoulders made him stop and berate himself.

"Stupid di'kut," he mumbled as he placed the swaddled baby down.

He should have known better.

He was wasting precious time. He'd been in situations in the past where he had been more than uncomfortable during a mission. From his icy incarceration on Orto Plutonia to the dry heat of Geonosis, injured, insurmountable odds, he'd experienced them all.

But nothing compared to this.

Never before did it involve his child.

The stakes were higher.

He couldn't throw himself into reckless abandon and risk himself like he had done in the past. There were no bacta tanks where he was going and he had a bigger responsibility than that of his unit. He knew the men would push themselves physically, but Piia couldn't; she relied on him totally to keep her safe.

That's when he heard it.

The voice from his past raising the alarm.

Rex ditched the pack altogether as he scooped his daughter back up and made a run for it.

He knew Ahsoka could look after herself and he was no use to anyone dead.

.

"Men, over here, 3 o'clock, repeat, 3 o'clock."

"It's a Jedi!"

"Watch your six, watch your –ah - "

It was hardly the battle she was used to.

Ahsoka had the advantage of knowing exactly how each and every one of these men had been trained.

She had watched and learned from the best.

Rex had made sure she was aware of the fundamentals of their original training back on Kamino, and then some of the more advanced skills of the ARC's. He always said it would make her an integral part of the unit.

It had served her well during the war, and would be even more valuable to her now.

There were no more than twenty men. She had to give them credit; they were making a decent fight of it.

Ahsoka could tell they wanted her alive and that their weapons were even more deadly to her set at stun.

One shot, and she would be more immobile that a blaster burn to any part of her body. They aimed at her legs so she kept moving, jumping and flipping over the tops of the shipment crates and fuel containers.

Rex's last words kept reverberating through her mind.

Collateral damage, as she effortlessly sliced one trooper that had regrettably got too close.

He fell back powerless and she knew the strike had been lethal.

A man quickly sprung as if from nowhere and crouched down low; he would be a medic, as another moved forward to protect the two on the ground.

A pang of melancholy tugged at her heart.

She missed the men and being part of the fold they had allowed her to join.

The reverie after a battle, the familiarity that only comes when you have been placed in a life and death situation.

But this was no time for a journey down memory lane.

Those times had well and truly gone and she was now the one on the outer, the one they were trying to capture.

Slamming up against a wall she quickly checked her chrono and smiled. Rex was right about that Duros all along, and she had less than five standard to get to the RV before Ventress would take off without her on board.

Ahsoka took a deep breath before she sprung back into the fray, leading the men away from the craft, buying Rex more time to get on board safely.

She would make the rendezvous easily.

.

Rex was heaving from lack of fitness as he tried to inconspicuously move around in the shadows, but a bad turn into a warehouse led him to a dead end.

He kept hearing the men coming; their footsteps running in pairs as they searched the buildings for anyone escaping.

Then the sound of the warehouse door sliding open.

Rex closed his eyes and focussed on the trooper's boots on the durocrete floor. Then he smiled as he opened them.

One trooper, who was either stupid or overly confident.

Either way, he was dead.

Looking down into the huge brown eyes staring trustingly back at him Rex knew what he had to do. He would kill a brother to keep his daughter safe. Flicking the safety lock off the one hand blaster at his hip he fortified himself, hoping he was wasn't signing both their death warrants as he stepped out from the shadows.

The trooper swung around and raised his weapon to fire.

"I am unarmed," he lied, the rich tone of his voice breaking the night silence. His left hand clutched Piia to his chest as he raised the right slowly.

The soldier said nothing as he moved forward and pushed the pair back in behind the crates.

"Rex? Is that you?" he said while quickly removing his helmet.

A sound thick with emotion escaped the former captains throat as he recognised the trooper.

"Coric."

The seasoned medic beamed, "unarmed my shebs. Look, I haven't got time, stay hidden and I'll lead the main group away."

Rex stood there dumbfounded, before he shot out his right arm and grabbed at Coric's vambrance. He was instantly struck at how thick the new armour was. Still bewildered he looked up at his old friend before he trusted his voice to speak.

"Come with me. Leave now. With us," he implored.

"I have Whisk and Didge to consider sir. We will. Just not now."

"Who's left?" Rex couldn't help himself, even though he had swore he was finished with the Republic, this may be his last chance to find out who, if any of his old squad remained.

"Chopper. Cody's back from Upatau. They didn't get Kenobi. Sats. Most of Torrent. Fox is still down the dungeons. Appo has made commander, the hutuun and rumour has it that Wolffe is a-wol."

Rex smiled at the mention of the flight commander disappearing, 'so he had the balls to get away.'

Then Coric lowered his voice to a whisper, "everyone has changed Rex. We think it has something to do with that vaccine, you know the one they gave us just after Tup and Fives bought it? Everyone acts like nothing has happened. It's weird. It's the only plausible explanation."

"We?"

"Didge, Whisk, Chop. It's too hard to delve any further. There may be more, there must be. We are on daily patrols looking for POI's and a-wol men. We bring in at least 3 a week. It's awful, Appo has us knocking them around but I make sure nothing sticks." Then he stood taller than Rex, "we aimed high that night sir."

Rex understood.

Coric was a good man, a true brother and he was glad the younger men had someone to lead them out.

When the time was right.

Rex slowly moved Coric's hand up to his chest and tapped it slightly.

"Check my medical records, I believe it's under distinguishable features. Understand? It's there and when you're ready to leave, only then, look it up and you'll be safe."

Coric's eyes were shining. Finally, finally he had been vindicated. Knowledge was powerful and the fact that Rex was alive was just the incentive he needed to keep going.

"Copy that sir."

They both swung around as they heard men yelling and firing weapons.

And then the tell tale sound of the light sabre being used.

"Ahsoka?'

"Keep your head low," Rex replied with a crocked smile.

"You better go sir, and one day, you can tell me all about this little person," he said looking at the infant in his arms.

"It would be a pleasure, my friend," and with that, Rex folded anonymously back into the night with his daughter hidden under the large coat.

Coric stood for a second before he placed his helmet back on to cover the smile that would remain for days.

.

Rex darted between the crates and containers for shipping, constantly weaving his way towards the ship.

He was aware of the green hue and the sound of Ahsoka leaping on top of the large freighters making her way too, and giving him precious time to get there ahead of her.

Ventress sat back in the cockpit, mortified that she was only a bystander in the little skirmish, and had the ship ready to lift off the second their feet hit the ramp. She saw Rex hiding behind one large container readying himself for the last dash.

"Move your fancy arse captain or we'll all be dead," she said aloud in the cockpit.

Quickly scanning his immediate vicinity, she watched as he made a run for it. Blaster fire followed from behind and Rex was relieved only when his boot touched the metal ramp and heard the voice coming in fast.

"Right behind you big guy," Ahsoka said and he knew she would be smiling from the victory of beating the men to the ship

"Don't be so cock sure," Ventress yelled as the ship lurched upwards, "I have four incoming on my radar. Seems like you two can't do anything without an audience."

"You always seemed to manage perfectly well in the past witch." Rex was strapping Piia into the make shift bassinette. He had fashioned a disused metal drum into a reasonable child restraint, using old speeder seat belts as anchors.

"The coordinates would be nice whenever you feel so inclined."

Rex then spoke clearly and with authority.

"P-13. 7,3,9."

Ventress looked up in front of her to see the Y wings coming in low.

"Move aside boys, this is how a pro does it," she said as she hit the numbers and pulled up in a vertical lift. The four sped past her, their shots hitting one of the fuel containers, sending flames and fuel high into the air.

"Hold on, making the jump."

"You're too tight, you'll kill us all," Rex bellowed as the gravity forced him back into his seat.

Ventress was silent as she moved forward and flipped the plastic cover and hit the switch.

"No!"

Then the engine stalled and they all held their breath as it struggled to regain power and restart. It appeared as if time stood still while the hyper drive screamed, the noise deafening before it finally engaged and sucked them into darkness.

.