New Power

Ch 5

Cain breathed heavily. He, Fives and Captain Rex barely managed to escape the blaster fire without being detected. They were at the back of the Separatist base.

"Hang on, there's no door? I can't find a door," Fives, or Rex, said through their team's helmet comms.

"What?" The other replied. Cain winced as he realised he needed to learn the differences in their voices to he could tell them apart over comms.

"Hang on. I'll try to find it," Cain said and made his way over to Fives. Luckily he could differentiate the two by their armour. Cain pressed his hand against the wall and let himsef use the Force to find an open area behind it. Even if he did find it, there was no getting it open without a lightsaber because explosives would cause alarm and this was a stealth mission.

"I've found it, but we've got a new problem," Cain said, turning to the clones. "We can't get through without a lightsaber." He heard one of them swear in a language he'd never heard.

"This is a problem. None of us have one," Rex said, stating the obvious.

"We might just have to bite the bullet and use explosives. Let's hope this doesn't raise an alarm."

They started placing small charges in the spots Cain told them to. It was a wonder that they hadn't questioned how Cain even found the open space behind the wall in the first place. They crouched behind rocks nearby and Rex pressed the button.

"That felt too loud. We'll need to be quick," Cain instructed and led the way. He flicked down his night-vision visor and stepped inside. The clones activated their helmet torches and followed closely behind.

~~~~<+>~~~~

They didn't reach daylight for what felt like hours. They had busted in further down than what Cain had thought, meaning there probably was no alarm triggered.

"Now, I must tell you this. I have been tasked to retrieve the tactical droid's head, so keep that part intact please," Cain asked.

"What the hell does whoever you're getting this from want with it? They're practically useless to the Republic," Fives stated.

"Try telling the Chancellor that. I don't know what he wants with it. I do the job, I get paid."

"Oh riiiight. I forgot we were working with a bounty hunter."

"At least it's a factioned one."

"Why? What's stopping you from doing a job for the Separatists? Or anyone else?"

"Many more things than you'd realise." That shut Fives up surprisingly quickly.

"Come on boys, let's keep moving," Rex commanded.

The trio finally reached the room where the tactical droid was with a few other droids surrounding it. The clones blasted the droids and Cain blasted the tactical droid in the weak point in its chest. He used the Force to gently place the droid on the ground, only to find the clones staring at him. He had been slipping up so much lately. What was wrong with him?

Cain rushed over to the droid and was about to sever its head when a blaster bolt hit him in the beskar on his back, deflecting to the roof.

"Fives!" Rex shouted.

"He- he betrayed our trust!" Fives exclaimed and shakingly held up the blaster to Cain's head. Cain almost laughed. A shot to the head would just deflect as well.

"He could be a Jedi for all we know! Stand down Fives!"

Even though Cain couldn't see his face, he knew damn well Fives had a panicked look on his face. Fives slowly lowered his blaster and gingerly put it back in its holster.

Cain carefully severed the droids head and walked over to the group.

"I've been making a lot of mistakes lately. This wasn't meant to happen," Cain said lowly. "Not a word of this to anyone, understood?"

"Yessir!" The two said. Cain started leading the way to the front of the base so they could ambush the rest of the forces from behind.

All they came to face was a very worn looking Jedi, his Padawan and the rest of their forces. Anakin saw the droid head Cain was holding and just rolled his eyes. He knew Cain had it for a bounty.

"Alright men! We will need to set up camp for the night. Let's get to work," Anakin instructed. Many groans erupted from the soldiers as they realised they weren't getting picked up that moment.

~~~~<+>~~~~

Anakin had his usual temporary quarters with Ahsoka, and since there was an odd number of clones left, Captain Rex offered to bunk in the same tent as Cain. He didn't mind that much, but knew there was going to be a few questions about his slip-up that day.

"Y'know Cain, sleeping in a helmet it a bad idea. Gives you neck pains," Rex said as he turned over and saw Cain.

"I wasn't planning to sleep yet," Cain answered. He was fiddling with the droid head, making sure it could still be plugged in without too much difficulty.

"You're afraid of taking your helmet off, aren't you?"

"Pfft what? No."

"You sound otherwise."

"It's nothing."

"Alright sir. Make sure you get some sleep."

Cain stopped himself from saying exactly why. Rex didn't need to know.

Once he confirmed Rex was asleep, he took his helmet off and took a deep breath in. The helmet felt suffocating sometimes. Cain grabbed out his comm and stepped outside to find a quiet spot away from camp. He found said spot and contacted the Chancellor.

"It is done?" Chancellor Palpatine said from the comm.

"Yes sir. It is intact and can be plugged in easily," Cain replied.

"Ah, that is good to hear. Well done. Get some rest now."

"I will Chancellor, thank you."

The Chancellor cut the communication and Cain was about to head back to his tent when he heard a rustle behind him. He flicked his blasters out in front of him and waited. He mentally cursed himself for not bringing out his helmet. He couldn't see a thing.

"Stand down sir," Rex said, standing into the faint moonlight. Cain backed up a bit more, doing his best in hiding his face. He couldn't let another person see.

"What are you doing here?" Cain asked, slowly lowering his blasters but setting them to stun to shoot Rex if he got too close. Cain really hoped he didn't have to use them.

"Wondering where you went sir. I'm very good at faking being asleep."

"Of course. I was just contacting the Chancellor about the droid head."

"Ah. I thought something had happened."

"You don't think I'm a threat, do you? Like Fives does?"

"No sir. We all have secrets we are not willing to share. I was just surprised, but I was not going to shoot you."

That made Cain relax a little bit. "We'd better be going back to the tent. We don't know what's up for us tomorrow."

"Sure thing sir."

"You can call me Cain. In any situation. I don't mind."

"Sure thing.. Cain, sir."

Cain rolled his eyes and Rex chuckled.