Cejanr (A Rexsoka SWTCW Fanfic)

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Rex wanted to call Ahsoka as soon as they dropped out of hyperspace. He would have too, if they hadn't dropped out in the middle of a space battle. He spent the next three hours commanding troops and scrambling the different squadrons and putting out various other fires, some literal as the Resolute took a hit. 

Kriff, he missed his wife and second in command. He needed some humor and sanity. He grunted and clutched the rail of the command deck of the bridge as they took another hit and everything lurched sideways. He glanced at the display in front of him and rapidly sent out instructions to his mechanics and affected personal. His comm crackled to life. 

"Rex!" Skywalker's voice came. He was in a starfighter leading from the front as usual. 

"On it sir. Port stabilizers took a direct hit. Got mech squads three through eight on it." Rex called back. He swore under his breath. 

"Sir!" Came one of the sensor officers from off to his right. "They're comming around, standard pincer maneuver." Rex nodded. 

"Recalibrate the starboard ion cannons. Fire when ready." Rex barked. He gritted his teeth against a headache building deep in his skull as this battle dragged on. Those vulture droids just. Kept. Coming.

"Sir, the starboard ion cannons are offline!" A weapons officer called. Rex sucked in a breath. 

"How long until we can get them online?" He growled. 

"Unknown, sir. A while at least." Came the response.

"All shields to the starboard front. Get those cannons back online." Rex ordered. "Switch to carbon cannons. Keep them away from us until we can do some real damage." 

"Yessir."

"Sir, three squads flying in formation off our stern. They mean to hit our hyperdrive." Called yet another tense officer. 

"I got 'em. We can't hold these fighters off forever, Captain." Came Anakin's voice over the comm. 

"I've called in reinforcements. We have to hold the the line, sir." Rex said tersely into his receiver. 

"Change tactics. Get creative. Or the reinforcements will be liberating Kashykk instead of defending it." Anakin said grimly. Rex pressed lips into a thin line. 

"Understood, sir." Get creative? They had nothing to be creative with! 

"Sir, carbon cannons are overheated. Five minute cooldown is commencing." Came the weapons officer. Rex's knuckles were white against the rail as he scanned every terminal, trying desperately to come up with an alternate solution. He spotted the scans for the port side. 

"What about the port cannons?" Rex asked after a minute. 

"Fully operational, sir, but they're on the wrong side of the ship." He pointed out. Thanks, General Obvious. An idea began to take root in Rex's head. A terrible one, but an idea. 

"Sir, port stabilizer is locked down." Came a voice from his right. Rex nodded. Good, they were going to need that for this crazy plan. 

"Sir, clear get our men out from the edges of the cruiser." Rex said into the comms. 

"Get our... Rex that's where we need them the most!" Came General Skywalker's protests. 

"I know, but I don't want them to get swept up by the edges of the ship. Trust me." Rex explained. 

"I do, captain." He gave the orders. "Everyone is clear. Now what?"

"On my command, all power to the thrusters and stabilizers. We're gonna flip the ship." Rex said. There was dead silence on the bridge, save for the occasional comm chatter. 

"You're gonna what?" This time it was Cody's voice, from the Adamant.

"We're gonna flip the cruiser. Upside down. All of our starboard weapons are down and it'll be shields next. We have minimal enemies to port, and our weapons are functional. So, we flip the cruiser." Rex explained. 

"Essentially flipping starboard and port. Rex, that's so crazy it might just work." Anakin laughed. Rex sighed. 

"Let's just hope the droids haven't seen this tactic before." He muttered to himself. 

"Thrusters primed, sir." Another officer called. "Commencing half barrel roll."

Rex gripped the rail harder, this time more for balance than out of anxiety as the artificial gravity generators struggled to compensate for the sudden movement. It was thirty seconds of tense waiting until the call came. 

"Port cannons in range." The words were like a breath of cold air on a stifling hot day. 

"Fire when ready." Rex called, crossing his fingers. He pulled up the sensor readings to his own display and watched as they tore through the ranks of vulture droids. The droids seemed to realize that the enemies weapons were all suddenly online again, and soon enough they were evading the fire once more. Not before they had lost half their ranks to republic fire, but they still did damage when they resumed their evasive tactics. 

The damage reports came rolling in.

 "Carbon cannons overheated."

"Shields at sixty percent and dropping fast!" 

"Ions are offline."

Rex swore again. They were out of tricks. He keyed for the Adamant. "Cody. How's it looking for you?" He asked. Cody's voice was strained. 

"Not much better than you. I'm sorry, we've got nothing to give."  He said bitterly. 

"Sir, our shields are gone!" Came the yell from the shield officer. 

"Direct hit! We have a hull breach in sector twenty-four. Locking down blast doors" Came another yell. Rex glanced out the forward viewport at the green and blue expanse of Kashykk in front of them. Alarms were going off now as they locked down another sector. 

He slid the holocomm Anakin had given him. They were going down. And if he was going down he wanted to see her before they were all lost. Rex wasn't afraid to go. He was afraid that Ahsoka would follow him. There was silence on the bridge now. Only the monotonous voice of a sensors officer giving the call with every breach. 

He pressed a button and held the small projector in his palm. Nothing. Static. He tried again. Still nothing. Tears welled up, but he forced them down as he slid the projector away. Jammed. They were being jammed. She would never know what happened to him. 

With great deliberation, he unclipped his helmet from his belt and snapped it on. The officers were all bowed over their consoles. He closed his eyes, feeling a lone tear slide down his cheek behind the privacy of his visor. There was another alarm, this time a contact. Rex leaned his forearms against the rail and waited for the flash of heat and light that always signified the end.

Slowly, he opened his eyes again and pulled up some images on his HUD. A photo of Ahsoka and him dancing on their wedding day, Ahsoka's letters she would hide in his kit before Umbara. He reached to a thin leather strand around his neck, just small enough to hide under his armor, and pulled it out. He gently touched the ring around the cord, holding tight to the small gold band with a green gem the exact color of her longer lightsaber blade set in it. 

Something cut through his pre-death calm that had washed over. The contact had come out of hyperspace, and a new voice came over the comm. 

"General Skywalker, your reinforcements have arrived." Came the voice of General Plo Koon. Rex immediately straightened up and hit the comm, hoping his voice wasn't too choked up. 

"Acknowledged, General Koon. Welcome to the fight." He called. He heard the Kel Dor chuckle.

"Looks like I've arrived just in time. Pull back, Captain. We've got it from here." 

Rex was a married man and happy with his wife, but he could have kissed the jedi master as he gave the order for retreat.