A Galaxy Freed (Book 4)

Chapter 9: Crash on Odessen

          Not even five minutes passed before I heard a pair of armored boots rushing on the floors of the Jedi Temple towards the barracks. Rex came into view, hands on his knees, gasping for breath. "Sorry, General," he said breathing heavily. "I came as fast as I could."

I tried, but failed, at holding back a smile. "You okay, Rex?", I asked, not really looking for an answer. "I sure hope you're not growing old and tired on me now."

Rex took in a big breath to exhale a laugh at the response to his tiredness. "Nah, not quite there yet, but sometimes it sure does feel like it," Rex replied.

          I moved out of the way so Rex could enter the room. The other clones were eyeing him curiously. I couldn't tell if they were amused by the captain's lack of breath or curious as to why he seemed to be in a rush. "Alright, boys," Rex began after he took a few seconds to steady his breathing. "I know it's been a while since most of us have seen the battlefield. Things have progressed much further since Raxus. Our enemy has fallen back, having been nearly defeated by the General a short time ago." The idea of going back to the fight was exciting to the clones and caused a great deal of them to mumble eagerly amongst each other. "Boys!", Rex shouted. "Now's not the time for idle chatter. Listen up, or you stay behind." That sure shut them up. "As you all know, Fives suffered a near-fatal injury. The Jedi Generals filled me in on what happened. As they were all investigating the remains of Lothal, Vinera's fleet appeared out of nowhere. They were forced to retreat, being severely outnumbered. However, Kane and Fives weren't so lucky. They were caught in a tractor beam and pulled into her ship. This was her plan all along. To get them alone. She knows how much of an obstacle both Kane and Fives are to her. She tried to kill two birds with one stone." Rex took a second to look over at me before continuing. "She knew that by killing Fives, she would not only get him out of the way, but she would effectively have also dealt with Kane without having to fight him directly."

"But what she didn't take into account is that I would keep on fighting," I interjected. "On top of that, Fives is going to recover and return to the fight as soon as he is able. She failed yet again. And it's time we take advantage of that failure."

This caused the clones to begin to get excited again. It was time to get back in to the fight. "General Secura is waiting for us at the hangar with her men," Rex stated. "Now, what are we all sitting around here for? We got a war to get back to!"

           If I wasn't out of the way, I would have been stampeded by the dozens of pairs of men that rushed out of the barracks. Rex stood beside me and laughed. "It does feel good to get back into this," he said.

"You're not going to explain the mission to them?", I asked.

"Ah, General Secura said she would attend to that personally," Rex responded. "Anyways, I don't believe the boys would have been paying attention to me if I kept them here a second longer. Best to do that on the way to Odessen since it's such a long trip."

"We should go catch up with them, Captain. I'm sure they're already bugging Master Secura about leaving right about now."

           As Rex and I approached the hangar, we noticed Master Aayla successfully stopping the clones' pestering about getting on the ships that were soon to depart for Odessen. "Now, now, boys. Single file," she said, trying to keep her tone as serious as she could given how rambunctious the clones were acting. They did as she requested, given her much higher rank above them all, and proceeded calmly and efficiently aboard the vessels. Commander Bly was standing near the ships making sure they stayed in check. Master Secura noticed Rex and I making our way towards her. "Ah, there you both are. I thought these men would leave without you. I've never seen them so, what's the right word...pumped for battle."