Cejanr (A Rexsoka SWTCW Fanfic)

40

Rex walked behind Cody as they entered the command center. General Mundi sat with Skywalker as they poured over the maps of Anaxes. Cody cleared his throat softly to get Skywalker's attention. 

"Sir?" 

Anakin sighed and dug at his eyes blearily, turning to face his second and third in commands. "Unless it's good news, or really, really bad news, I don't have time right now. I'm sorry." He snapped. Cody bowed his head. 

"It could be both. Way back before the citadel, your former captain and the ARC trooper Echo drew up tons of old battle plans. Not only that, but they created an algorithm to help determine which plan would work best. Not long before Rex's demise, he told me about this algorithm." Cody said carefully. Anakin crossed his arms over his chest. 

"Continue."

"Well, while going over the separatist strategies with Flip, I noticed something looked familiar about the algorithm. The new strategies that the separatists are using are the ones they drew up nearly two years ago." Cody finished. General Mundi was frowning slightly at Rex, and the helmeted captain. Rex tightened his shields a bit, even though he was wearing his old helmet and most of his old armor. 

Mundi relaxed a little and turned back to Anakin, and Rex let out a silent breath, making sure to keep his relief hidden.

"Flip pulled up a few ideas, and we've come to an agreement." Cody said cautiously. "If we were allowed to take a small squad behind enemy lines, and look to find evidence either for or against the enemy having access to that algorithm."

"Absolutely not." Mundi said at once. "We need you here, Commander. And why would we risk everything in the hands of a captain who's worked with you for only a fraction of the time as others?

Anakin leveled a glare at the high general. "I think we ought to let them do it. It's better than slowly being pushed back. We've lost most of the planet and nearly a third of our shipyards at this point." He argued. "And, if it's one of Flip's plans, then I have a large chunk of faith in it. He's been with me for four months and has proved himself in handling the men and his tactics have always been sound. Surely you haven't missed his victories in both orbit over Kashykk and on the ground?"

"No, I have not missed them." Mundi said stoutly, pinching his brow. "Very well. You have my permission. But be warned, if it fails there will be consequences." Rex pressed his lips together and saluted the generals as he and Cody left the command deck. 

"Well, that was..." Cody trailed off. Rex gave a bitter laugh. 

"Better than we expected?"

"I was going to say more stressful than I thought." Cody gave him a sidelong glance. "Be ready, our special unit squad will be here in a few hours. You're sure on who comes with us?" 

Rex nodded. "Yes."

"Alright. Brief them and meet me on the main landing strip in four hours." Cody ordered, walking away. Rex leaned back and closed his eyes, taking off his helmet and starting to general berthing. 

The troopers he had chosen accepted their orders without hesitation, and Rex sat on his bunk. Carefully he wrote out a message to Ahsoka, saving it to a private datacard. He already had nearly fifty of these letters, detailing everything he couldn't tell her over hologram because of military law or for fear of scaring her. 

Ahsoka, Cyare.
               It's bad out here. You already know that, but I can't tell you just how bad over comm. It's the kind of bad where you never truly sleep until you collapse from exhaustions. Where the adrenaline never quite fades and the line between our side and theirs is so close you worry that a shell could hit you during your sleep cycle and you'd never know what hit you.
              Me and Cody have been put in charge of a risky infiltration assignment, taking CF 99 with us along with Kix and Cavalry. I worry for her. The new shines are little more than cadets, and she looks a hundred years older than them. I want to send her back to Kamino for ARC training, but I don't know if she'll survive that. I guess this mission will help me decide. I met a shiny at my last line rotations. His name is Howl. His squad is dead. I looked them up for remembrance. Shrike, Howl, Wander, and Oceans. Howl was the only survivor. 

              I have no doubt that he watched them die. I sat with another shiny yesterday. They called him Trill because his voice was higher than the others. He drowned in his own blood, and there was nothing we could do. He didn't look eight. I will never forget his small body curled around a shard of that damned glassy earth stuck through the left side of his chest. His armor didn't fit and and the shard went right through the gap between backplate and chestplate. 

            His death rattle was also higher than any brother's I've heard.

            Ahsoka, I'm scared. I'm more scared than I ever remember being. What if Echo really is alive? I try not to hold onto any one of them, but Echo was one of the shinies I pulled off of Rishi. He was the only squadmade Fives had left. What if I don't come back? I can't leave you or Cody or Anakin or Fives like that. What if I lose Kix? He's the only clone in the army that knows about my force abilities. 

The door of the barracks slid open and Cody walked in. Rex scrawled his name at the bottom of the letters and stuffed the datapad under his pillow. Cody caught the movement and raised his eyebrow.

"Didn't take you as one to keep a diary, Rex ole boy." Rex pressed his lips together.

"It's not for me." He said quietly. If he hadn't known to look, he would have missed it. The hint of a bitter grimace, the slight turning of Cody's face. Then it was gone, and Cody gave him a weak smile. 

"Well then. I'll have to make sure that you give those letters to her yourself." He tilted his head a little. "Something else bugging you?"

"No!...yes." Rex sighed and put his head in his hands. "The algorithm... The only way they could have gotten ahold of it was either through me or through Echo." He said quietly. Cody snorted. 

"Well, you were held by a psychic sith for a while. Could have found it in there." He shrugged. Rex shook his head. 

"Kenobi knew it existed, even if he didn't know how we made it in the first place. Therefore Caedus knew it was possible. But he didn't... He didn't dig. Made me see horrible things, yes. Search specifically for things to make me hurt, yes. But he never touched those memories." Rex shook his head. "Even then,  the timing is off. The time it would take to reverse engineer it and retune it to fit battle droids would take too long for it to have been started on during my stay on Naboo."

"Rex, you saw the fireball at the citadel. That was not a survivable blast. Echo was vaporized." Cody pointed out. 

"He was caught on the edge of the explosion. It could have simply thrown him forward and knocked him out." Rex argued, getting to his feet. Cody put his hand on Rex's chestplate. 

"Easy, captain. You have to admit, now we're just into wishful thinking. If you cannot get your head out of hyperspace and into the battlefield, then I'll have to order you to remain here." Cody's voice was soft, dangerous. Rex saluted him in a moment of anger.

"Sir yes sir." He hissed, snapping his arm down and brushing past him to walk out of the barracks.