Demons [a. s II]

8: On the Wings of Keeradaks

Allana

The droids kept on coming and the fight was not getting any easier. However, we managed to destroy the last few droids of the fourth wave Tambor had sent after us.

"Hunter, hold them off." Anakin ordered the Sergeant of the Bad Batch. "I'll check in Rex and Echo."

"I'll go with you." I said and Ani nodded. "Think you can handle things on your own?" I asked my Padawan, knowing very well he could. Cal simply scoffed and smirked.

"I can handle anything." He said as he stopped a blast coming his way with the Force before he turned and hit it with his saber, sending it back and destroying the droid. I smiled back at him as the fifth wave arrived. We ran through the gates Tech had opened and down a long hallway until we arrived at Control room.

"Situation's almost under control out there." Said Skywalker and it was my turn to scoff.

"Yeah, right." I said and bent down to face the once ARC trooper. "How's it going, soldier?" He barely seemed alive, with skin whiter than paper, no hair on his head, pieces of metal in his body, and a tool for a hand. Even if his eyes lit up, he didn't speak nor smiled. "Man, it's good to see you." I stood up after I had placed my hand over his shoulder gently. His skin was extremely cold and he didn't even react to my presence.

"How's the situation over here?" Asked Anakin.

"I'm still trying to decrypt Echo's cerebral interface." Tech informed. "Until I do, we cannot disconnect him from this computer system." I frowned as he got back to work. looked at Anakin, who had a worried expression on his face.

"How is he, Rex?"

"He's too weak to talk." Rex answered Skywalker's question. "Very disoriented. Doesn't even remember how he got here. He remembers being at the Citadel, but that's about it."

"Any word on the extraction squad?" I asked.

"We called it in, but no word back."

"Well, that's no surprise. We knew when we got into this we'd be on our own." Said Anakin as I looked over my shoulder, spotting the droids cornering the boys again. They walked through the doors and deactivated the panels, locking it for the droids not to get through.

"It's gonna get more difficult to get out of here!" Said Wolffe. "There are several squads of droids closing in." That's when a droid almost got through the door. Wrecker managed to rip its head off while Crosshair Hunter and Wolffe closed the door for Cal to weld the gate with the blue blade of his saber.

"Enemy approaching. Droids...lots of 'em." Said Crosshair.

"How do you know if you can't see them?" Asked Cal. Crosshair only pointed at his helmet and the kid nodded. "Oh. Cool."

"How long can you hold them off?" I asked.

"How long do you need?" Asked Hunter and we turned to their brother.

"Tech, how much longer?" Asked Ani.

"Not yet. I need more time." Said Tech and I felt anxious by the minute. A couple seconds later, something started cutting the door that had been locked.

"We're gonna have a problem." Said Cal as they all moved backwards to seal the next door, trapping us here. Hunter and Wrecker started sealing the gates as Tech sighed, relieved.

"I've got it." He exclaimed. "We can unplug him now." Echo turned around and I felt sick when I saw how the machine went all the way from his head and down his spine. I had to look away and breathe in deeply not to throw up. Rex was the one to pull the plugs that attached him to the computers, air hissing out of them. Echo fell down, panting.