When the Cavalry Comes.

XL

Skywalker took the lead, his lightsaber being more or less used as a giant light rod as they walked through ankle deep water in the sewers.

Cav was immensely glad her helmet filtered smells as well, guessing from Skywalker's initial gag as they entered the dark tunnels; And that man was from Tatooine, of all places.

Fives and Commander Cody were in the middle, and Cav brought up the rear. It felt like they were walking forever, rats and other sewer creatures had startled the living daylights out of them more times than anyone had cared to admit.

"I've just about had enough of this." Skywalker grumbled, stating what was on all of their minds. "We're jumping at shadows here."

"Subsequent thermal and life form scans have come up negative, sir." Cody said dully. "Due to Trooper Cavalry's research, we know that our enemy wouldn't have left the safety of the sewers without putting up a fight. They must have been moved deeper underground."

Skywalker paused at that. "Dang it. Yeah. Do you have an estimate of how far they'd have to be moved in order to not show up on scanners?" He asked, his tone guarded. Neither Cody or Fives answered. Cavalry ran the calculations through her head.

"At least a klick under the surface for thermal, two and a half to evade life form scanners." She said.

"Or they were all just outright killed." Cody muttered through a private comm channel to the other two, excluding Skywalker from their conversation.

"No. Skywalker would know if Commander Tano died." Cav said, also switching to the private channel.

"I agree with Cav. We can't give up hope. Tano and Rex are strong, and our enemy wouldn't dare kill the Chancellor." Fives added.

Skywalker didn't really notice their silence, seeming to be lost in thought. He keyed up his comm.

"Master Windu, have you found anything?" He asked.

"Negative. This place is a labyrinth even with a map to guide us."

"General, may I make a... suggestion to our method of operations?

"I don't like that tone, Skywalker. It usually ends in explosives."

"You know me too well. The buildings on top of us are unoccupied, and due to be demolished due to faulty plumbing. If we do a level two bunker bombing, just enough to wipe away the top of the labyrinth, we can see what shakes loose." Skywalker glanced down a side corridor.

"If we were to do that we'd need the firepower. Unless you want to break the blockade, there isn't much we can do." Windu sounded strained, already knowing Skywalker's answer.

"Respectfully, Master, our objective isn't to capture our enemy, it's to rescue the Chancellor and my Padawan." He said.

"...Make arrangements to do as you please." Windu sounded so unbelievably tired. Cav guessed everyone was ready for this mission to be over.

The teams and the medical unit all moved deeper underground, past the sewers to the bunker left over from the droid invasion underneath.

They waited there as bombs shook the earth, waited until life form scans could be reran.

Cav looked at Fives and signed to him. They joined an encrypted comm channel.

"What's up, Firecracker?"

"I..." She took a deep breath. "I overheard you and Kix talking about me earlier. Do... you really not believe I'm capable?" She asked.

"Ah." Fives looked in her direction from where they were crouched in the darkness. "Cav, you're special to me. Because you're so important to me, I'm not going to lie to you. You're gonna make a fantastic ARC one day. Better than me or Echo could ever have hoped to achieve." The ceiling rumbled with distant explosions. Everyone tensed as dust rained down but the tunnels held firm
.
Fives turned back to her. "But you're not ready yet. Maybe I just can't see it. Maybe it's because the first ARC mission Echo went on I lost him. I don't think he was ready then, either. That's why I refuse to recommend your for ARC."

Cav considered that for a second. "When do you think I'll be ready?" It was a petulant question but she had to ask.

"Kriff if I know, Firecracker. But you will one day. And until then, don't worry about it." He laughed.

Cav accepted this. "Thank you, Ori'vod."

"For what?"

"For believing in me."

"Always, Cavalry."

Skywalker's comm beeped.

"Life forms nearby. Two of them." He reported, leading the way. They burst into dark dungeon like room, empty but for two too small cages in the middle.

Skywalker used the force to tear the fronts of the cages off and extract two crumpled forms.

Oh.

Oh stars.

Ahsoka's arms were chaffed nearly to the bone, and she was covered in shallow cuts and a lot of bruising. She was conscious, and glaring at them as she moved with a pained hiss to crouch defensively in front of the body of Captain Rex. Cavalry couldn't tell if he was alive or not, a grievous, rotted injury painting his back a putrid black green color, blood oozing sluggishly from several places. His helmet was missing too, revealing a waxen, paper white face.

Skywalker was already calling in Kix before moving to help his padawan. He jerked back with surprise as she snapped at his hand with her fangs exposed.

There was something broken in her eyes, as if she had lived a thousand years in the week and a half she had been here. Kix got there surprisingly fast, his team instantly moving towards the prone captain.

Ahsoka did not like that.

Yowling like a rabid tooka she attacked the medic team, sinking her fangs into Kix's throat as she tackled him. The sturdy material of his blacks kept her from breaking the skin and she was pulled off before she could crush his trachea. She screamed and hissed and fought, it took three of them to pin her down long enough to give her a sedative.

Kix called in orders, the medical team each pulling out some parts and assembling a hover gurney with practiced ease, lifting the captain and arranging him on the stretcher.

Ahsoka, now unconscious, was carried by Skywalker as they commed the other team. Weapons were found in a corner of the dungeon, Ahsoka's lightsabers retrieved and Rex's helmet and 16's collected.

Windu said they had found the Chancellor in perfect health, albeit tied to a mockery of a throne and neglected. The worst from him was dehydration.

And like that it was over. Cav attended two more fast briefings before being notified that the rest of the work would take place on Corascant.

Her and Fives sat together on the shuttle on the way back. Kix had gone on ahead with Rex, who was being rushed into bacta.

"Cav." Fives nudged her. She glanced at him. He gently reached up and removed her helmet.

"You can take this off now." He said. Cav sagged. She was so tired after the stress of it all.

"Guess I can. Huh." She muttered.

"Your mission was a success." Fives told her. Cav shook her head.

"Tano is a feral shell of herself, the Captain is barely alive, and it took us almost two weeks to find the Chancellor, and 'Darth Caedus' got away." She ticked off. "Not a success in my book."

Fives smiled. "That's what's gonna make you such a good commander." He was silent for a moment. "Now, you didn't hear this from me, but I want to be the first to congratulate you."

"For what?" Cav asked bitterly.

"For your promotion, Sergeant."