"Are we ready, Alpha Squadron?" Hera called.
"Ready, Alpha leader." Four pilots called in unison.
"Beta Squadron, steady?" Rex yelled.
"Sir, yes, sir." Five voices shouted in reply.
"Gamma Squadron, prepared?" Cody cried out.
"Better than ever!" came four answers.
Echo swallowed, and looked at his squad. Three ships were moving with him, all for land assault. One had the Bad Batch, and three Jedi, namely Ahsoka, Kanan and a Mirialan whom Ahsoka referred to as Barriss, and two had clones and soldiers. All of the weapons and gunships had been supplied courtesy of Riyo Chuchi and Bail Organa.
"Omega Squadron, ready for launch?"
"Without a doubt," Hunter and Wrecker replied, enthusiastically.
"Let's move it then!" Cody yelled.
One, two, three.
The doors of the Rebellion's headquarters opened, and the army spilled out.
Hera was to lead the air assault, aided by Rex, who would be targeting any other teams coming from other parts of Weyland, while Cody was to aid Omega Squadron in land assault, and to be ready to take them out of there safely if the situation escalates.
If the coast remains clear, Hera was in charge of supplying transport to the other prisoners if they wished to escape.
Cody and Rex also had a main ship each with stable communications system for long range, to call for their allies if necessary, but as Ahsoka said, "we hope we may not have to use it."
They all knew the risks involved, especially with Darth Vader, but they were ready to do it.
The signals from the Imperial Vessel they were tracking was still live, which meant nobody had suspected something had happened. Ahsoka and Kanan were right, the coordinates were merely empty space in the star-charts.
"Here goes nothing. Brace yourselves, boys!" Rex's voice came through as they dived into the planet's atmosphere.
Evidently, the Empire was overconfident in its secrecy and confidentiality that they had not bothered to traffic the sky with Star Destroyers or Imperial shuttles, giving them a clear entry way and the element of surprise.
Within five minutes, a silky voice wafted through their comms. "This is Doctor Hemlock speaking. We have your prisoners, and we have the ability to drive you out of here and burn your prisoners down. It is in your best interests that you leave now."
"Over my dead body," Hunter growled back.
"You speak my mind," Rex grinned back. "Get moving, boys!"
And they dove into full blown battle.
Almost immediately, a horde of TIE Fighters emerged and began shooting at the X, A and Y wings. Fortunately, Hera and Rex had enough ships to distract them while letting Gamma and Omega squadrons to pass through.
"Go, go, go, go, go!" Wrecker yelled, holding a repeating rifle and blasting through the ranks of stormtroopers. "That's the best you got?" he roared at them, swiping his massive hands, desperately hungry for a fight. "Give us a real challenge!"
Behind him, the ships emptied their contents who barrelled out to fight vigorously and viciously like there was no tomorrow.
"Echo! Where's the prison?" Hunter called over his shoulder.
"No idea!" he yelled back, too busy firing his blasters. "But I think they should be underground! Go to the main hangar, we'll meet you there!"
Hunter and Wrecker barrelled ahead, while Echo looked behind and began using his ARC training to deal death blows to the oncoming horde of soldiers.
"It sure feels like the mess hall," he muttered, a small grin spreading over his face as he remembered the lunch-time fights. "May the Force be with you, vode. Bring them back." And then he focused purely on the fight.
He could see the blood flowing like water, screams ringing out amidst the gunfire, and his brothers falling, Cody taking a blast to his shoulder, and then he saw Hera joining the fight with Rex running like the Clone Wars had begun again, and he felt hope course through him.
He knew the price of war, and he knew they were taking a very risky gamble. He realized they may not make it out of here, maybe their luck runs out here.
But, every moment of action was worth it.
And the boys had volunteered. They knew the price, yet they were ready to pay it, should they be asked to.
So, they had to do their best. One last fight, and they needed to win this. They will win this.
And it was exactly this hope and determination that fuelled him to fight on, even after seeing his brothers fall.
*****
Rex and Cody were just behind him, yelling at their men to follow them while Ahsoka and Hera were stationed outside for any trouble, as they followed him into the main hangar.
If what was happening outside was chaos, then the battle inside was pure destruction and upheaval.
Hunter and Wrecker, alongside thirty clones, were fighting against battalions of stormtroopers, which were impossibly too many for them to combat alone.
"For the Rebellion!" Rex yelled and dove head first into battle.
Then the bloodbath followed. Everywhere around Echo was a flash of white. He couldn't distinguish who was who, who was friend or foe, all he knew was that the enemy was thirsty for a battle.
And they were ready to give it to them.
He heard a beep go off somewhere, and he ran backwards, to protect as many soldiers as he can against the explosive.
BOOM.
The facility rattled with its noise, as he saw the stormtroopers choking and coughing violently. Simultaneously, he heard blasts go off, piercing the Imperial soldiers with a precision that could only belong to-
"CROSSHAIR!" Wrecker boomed, bounding in his brother's direction. "OMEGA! You're safe! We found you!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Crosshair grunted, looking slightly pleased. "Now if you excuse us," he pushed past Wrecker hugging Omega, "we have some troopers to blast."
