The Rise of the Valkyrie *ON HIATUS*

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Ashara was right in that the flight would not go smoothly, though it was not how she expected. She was expecting them to get shot down, not for the clones to be terse with each other. Cody was the only thing that was really keeping them together, and not cause any infighting.

"We're all on the same team, so cut the attitude and listen up. Here's the mission", the clone commander said as he brought up a hologram of their target. "Our target is this cyber center. It's the brains of this entire Separatist campaign here on Anaxes."

Wrecker grinned. "I could demolish that with one hand! Yeah!"

Ashara chuckled as she moved around to be by Cody's side. "I appreciate the enthusiasm, Wrecker, but if we're going to do this, we're all going to have to trust each other."

"This isn't a demo job, Wrecker", Cody added. "It's strictly a retrieval operation."

Suddently Ashara got a terrible feeling in her gut, she turned toward the cockpit, and focused the force on something. Suddenly the ship swerved, causing her to lose that focus. She turned to the clones.

"Hold on, boys", she said. "This ride is about to get bumpy."

Ashara stumbled as the entire ship shuddered, and started on a steep downhill descent. She grimaced, bracing herself for impact.

"We're going down!", Wrecker yelled, grabbing onto the smaller Jedi and holding her steady. She allowed a small smile to break through, but it quickly disappeared at the sudden jolt as they rammed into something. Ashara and Wrecker fell to the side of the ship as it tilted, skidding across the ground. When it finally stopped, everything in Ashara's body ached, but she forced herself to stand up, and brush the dust off of her, as much as she could.

Wrecker was the first one out, and he helped everyone else get out, Ashara first. She coughed at the smell of smoke, and stumbled slightly. A hand caught her arm, and she glanced up to see Hunter keeping her steady. She nodded gratefully, to which he returned. As she was climbing off the side of the ship, Wrecker started grumbling.

"We always get shot down when we travel with regs", he said, walking away from the open door.

"Cody!" Kix interrupted, glancing at Ashara. "Help! He's trapped!"

Ashara instantly tried moving toward him, but Hunter stopped her. 

"We have to do something", Rex said, starting to move toward the gunship. "I'll get him."

 Hunter moved from Ashara's side to stop Rex. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Easy, Captain." He tossed a glance at the large clone standing behind Rex. "Wrecker, get him out."

"Get back" Wrecker said, cracking his knuckles. The clones listened, but Ashara could still sense their hesitation.

"This is ridiculous!" Kix spat. "He's gonna need help to get Cody out of there!"

Crosshair chuckled, surprising Ashara. He hadn't said much of anything, much less laughed. "He's going to get the gunship out of there. Not Cody."

His words confused even Ashara. She knew that Wrecker was strong, hence the big build, but was he strong enough to lift the gunship. She knew she could do it with the force, but she wasn't sure she could do it long enough to get Cody out.

"I can help him", she said, stepping forward. Hunter went to stop her, but Rex held him back this time.

"Let her do her thing", he said softly. Ashara glanced at Wrecker, who gave her the biggest grin she had ever seen before he pulled on his helmet. He immediately began lifting the side of the gunship, grunting as he did so. Ashara closed her eyes, and focused the force around the ship, not really moving it, but lightening the load so that Wrecker could move it more easily. Which he did so, tossing the gunship to one side. Once it landed safely (not really safely) on the ground, Ashara opened her eyes in time to see him pick up Cody and start walking away.

"Boom", he said, and just after, the gunship exploded, startling Ashara. But she smiled nevertheless, feeling the happiness coming from Wrecker because of the explosion. Immediately Kix, Jesse, and Rex ran forward to see Cody, with Kix using his medical knowledge to figure out how badly injured the commander was damaged.

"He has internal damage", he reported to Ashara. "I can cut the pain. But he needs help, fast."

"Do what you can", she said softly. "And I will do what I can."

Kix nodded, and started pulling something out of his backpack to alleviate the pain.

"We all need help", Crosshair suddenly said, causing Ashara to look in his direction. She looked past him to see what he was looking at and saw a battalion of battle droids coming up on them. She sighed softly.

"That blast gave away our position", the sniper clone said.

"Huh. I thought getting shot down gave away our position", Hunter replied drily as he stood up. Rex not far behind him. Rex started barking out orders, but the sergeant quickly shut him down.

"I don't think so, Captain", he said. "That's not our style. We prefer going to them."

Ashara nodded. "Do your thing, Hunter", she said. "I trust you to take care of them while I take care of Cody. Rex and Jesse, you watch my back while I heal Cody as much as I can."

The two clones nodded, and the togruta could feel the curiosity radiating off the sergeant, but she address it, instead turning back to Cody, and kneeling down beside him. She rested his hands over his ribs, where she could sense the most damage and immediately began to heal him. She could feel her energy draining though, and knew she wouldn't be able to heal him all the way.

"General?" a weak voice caught her attention. She glanced at Cody's helmeted head. 

"Hey, Cody", she said softly. "How you feeling?"

He coughed. "Like I just got put through the Citadel."

Ashara winced, knowing that that was a sensitive topic for Rex right now but thankfully he didn't seem to have overheard.

"Well, I've healed you as much as I can", she said softly. "But you still need a med evac out of here."

Cody groaned, and tried to sit up, to which Ashara helped him. "Don't even try to say you can fight, because you really can't. We need to move though, so I do need you to get up. He nodded, and with the help of both Kix and the Jedi, he managed to fight enough strength to stand. Walking was a whole other story, and he leaned heavily on Kix as they approached the Bad Batch, who had finished their battle.

"That was some show you put on just now", Rex said. Hunter took off his helmet to talk to the captain.

"Just doing our job, Captain", the sergeant said. Ashara stepped forward, moving to stand beside Rex.

"And we are grateful for it, Hunter. Without you, I don't think any of us would have made it out of here, especially not Cody."

"How is he?" Hunter asked, glancing at the clone commander.

"He'll live, thanks to the General", Kix said. "But he's still weak, and he is in no condition to fight."

"That's good to hear", Hunter said. Ashara shrugged.

"Even still, we need to move away from here. Our position here has been compromised, and we need somewhere safe we can order a med evac for the commander."

Hunter nodded, and Ashara began leading the way through the forest, making to stop and check on Cody every once in a while. Once they were a fair distance away from their crash site, they found a small clearing that would do for a while, allowing them to rest, eat, and recuperate what strength they still had.