It's Commander Tano, Not Padawan

Chapter 31

Note: First off, thank you so much WildHoneyProse for editing this chapter! Second, thank you to anyone who is following along and my apologies for taking forever. It was a crazy semester. 

Ahsoka stared as the med-rigs raced past her, loaded with wounded 212th troopers groaning from the brusque transfer from the floor of the larties to the medical transport.

She felt a deep, raw ache settle into her bones from their pain. Ahsoka knew that Rex felt part of the pain despite her best efforts to block what she could.

While the 501st swooped in with just enough success to ensure there wasn't a massacre, the number of men injured and dead was unsettling. Even Obi-Wan got nicked by a stray blaster bolt.

Cody's voice drew her back to the conversation at hand, the hard edge of his tone difficult to miss.

"Our strategy was originally adapted from one of Rex's. It's been used before, but the terrain, circumstances, and schematics were just different enough that the Seppies should have been thrown off – especially because it was originally a surprise," the Marshal Commander said.

The anger in Rex's words matched his emotions.

"But they weren't. They weren't surprised at all," Rex bit out.

His hands were balled into fists across his chest as he frowned, concentrating on a point somewhere behind his brother.

Ahsoka knew what he was thinking. She would know regardless of their bond because it was the same thing they had both been thinking since they stepped foot on this Force forsaken planet. It was becoming a pattern.

Cody met Ahsoka's gaze with an eerily familiar arch of his brow before turning back to the Captain.

"What is it, Rex?" he asked. Of course he could tell something was off.

Rex's eyes instinctually darted to Ahsoka's, the question startling him out of his revere.

"Ahsoka?" he asked.

She dipped her head ever so. Cody needed to know.

"Since our arrival to Anaxes, we've had... difficulties in operations that should've been straightforward. You heard about what happened when we took the fort? It's happening again and it can't be allowed to continue."

The Marshal Commander's face fell into a stoic façade. "You think we might have another Slick on our hands, Rex?"

Ahsoka felt Rex's answer before he opened his mouth.

"No."

There was confusion-denial-shame in his answer, but Ahsoka couldn't figure out why. It wasn't his fault that their strategies had been so perfectly combatted.

"Then what do you think it is? A new algorithm or decryption program?" Cody demanded, brow furrowed in thought.

Ahsoka almost snorted. If it was either of those, they were done for. Strategic masterminds like Admiral Trench could be killed or captured. Ensuring the complete erasure of programs already uploaded onto the Separatist mainframe was a delicate and tedious operation. Oftentimes, it was damn near impossible.

Rex was hesitant in his response. "I... I'm not sure yet, but I think everything that we've seen as of yet points to a new, extremely intelligent AI. An algorithm of the sorts that we've not yet seen."

Ahsoka was staring at Rex, but she couldn't help it. Something was off about his words – off in his aura - not malicious but tinted with uncertainty.

Cody hummed before glancing at his comm. "I suppose all we can do for now is continue working out new strategies with a multitude of backup plans. Right now though, I'm going to go check on my men. Thanks for the rescue, Commander. Rex." He nodded at them then headed toward the medbay.