A returning Echo

Chapter Seven

"General Skywalker, the cavalry has arrived."
With that phrase, your men charged forward, surrounding the enemy from all sides. You began to tear through them, droid parts flying everywhere from blasters and grenades. You heard cheers from the 501st, glad to finally have relief. You made your way forward, trying to find where Anakin was. You spotted Ahsoka's saber amongst the droids. You ran over to help, slicing through a droid that had snuck up behind her.
"Ahsoka," you yelled over the sounds of fighting. "Where is Anakin?"
"He and Rex should be over that way," she said motioning to her left before deflecting another blaster shot. You helped her finish off the small group of droids before running off in the direction she pointed you in. You quickly found Anakin, and you could see his movements were tired but strong.
"How's it going?" You said when you reached him, covering his back as more droids came.
"Oh, you know, the usual," he said while deflecting a shot.
"That's why you needed our back up?" You joked. He took a brief second to give you a look before blocking a shot that had been aimed at you.
"Might want to pay more attention to the battle," he said mockingly. You huffed and rolled your eyes before speaking.
"Tell this squadron to fall back and get behind the gun ships. My men will take it from here." He nodded and yelled the orders into his comm link. You did the same with your own troops.
"Jawa squad! I need you over here, Anakin's men are falling back."
"Yes sir!" You heard from over the comm link. They moved over to join you, pressing on into the battle. You ran forward again, seeing more of Anakin's men retreating as your squads took their place. To your right, a cannon hit some of Anakin's troops. You quickly ran over and found Fives on the ground. He had been knocked off his feet and thrown back by the impact. As he lay on the ground, a droid was approaching and aiming at him. You ran over and covered him, taking the droid out.
"Nice to see you again, Fives," you said as you reached down to pull him up.
"Thanks, General Jinn. Nice to see you as well." You smiled in response before turning back to the enemy.
"Keep heading back, we have this under control," you told him. He nodded and turned to continue his retreat.
The ground shook as more cannon shots landed around you. You spotted where they were coming from and ran over to the cannon.
"Uh oh," you heard the droid controlling it say before you pulled it off and stabbed it. You then cut off the barrel of the cannon so that it would be useless.
"General Jinn, all of Anakin's men have retreated to behind our gun ships!" Hex informed you over the comms.
"Alright, then let's keep going. We can't afford to lose this battle."
You ran forward again, ripping through the enemy with your saber. You quickly realized that the enemy had changed formation, and your men would be closing in on each other soon, so you gave a new command.
"Jawa squad, fall back!" You shouted into your comm link. "Everyone, form position D-26!" Your men began to move, preparing to change tactics. When you met up with Sans again, you could feel his excitement through the force. "Alright, now!" Your men all charged forward, converging on the enemy in a way that no one would be in the line of their own fire. The droids were easily overwhelmed by your forces, and fell quickly.
The last group of droids stood surrounded, weapons in the air in surrender.
"Hold your fire," you yelled. You walked up to the group with Sans, Hex, and Steele, lightsaber in your hand.
"We surrender! We surrender!" The droid said while shaking.
"That's nice," you said before the four of you finished them.
"Nice work," Steele said, high-fiving Hex.
"General!" You heard from behind you. "Over here!" You ran to the clone who called your name. He was holding one of his brothers in his arms. You knelt down by the clone and pulled off his helmet.
"General," he muttered out.
"Shh, Bomber, be calm," you said. He took a few shuddering breaths before looking at you.
"It's going to be okay," you said. "We won't leave you. Just relax, you'll be fine." You looked at the blaster shots in his armor. "You fought brave and well."
"Th-thank you, General Jinn," he said. "It was an honor...serving with you...y/n."
You gently held his face as he closed his eyes, breath starting to come in more evenly.
"And an honor to have you as my soldier," you replied. A small smile came to his lips before you felt his spirit join the force. You bowed your head for a second before standing up. He was the only one of your battalion who lost their life today. You always prided yourself on having the least clone casualties in battle, but every time one of your men died, it was painful. You made it your duty to know every single one of their names, and it made watching them die that much harder.
You gave his helmet to Tie, who had been the one to call you over. You felt his loss and hugged him. You could feel that they had been close, and that they had come up in rank together.
"He's still with you, Tie," you said gently. "He'll be watching over you until you meet again." He nodded, looking at you with tears in his eyes. "It's okay to be upset, don't hide it. It shows you have a heart." He nodded again, letting the tears fall. He walked over to the rest of his squad and they all passed the helmet around, already missing their fallen brother.