A Soldier's Secret

Part 18

There was no way it was him. He died. I scanned the records of the event, and the records reported they found his right leg and left arm, but no corpse. It could be him, but the odds were against it. The fall was too long, and the fire was bound to kill him if the impact didn't. I had wondered why he didn't save himself. It made sense, why didn't he? He had all the tools to save himself. But he didn't and lost his life. 

I wasted the night researching, looking at the survival rates from a fall from that height, how much damage it would have done, and the effects of the fire. He couldn't have survived unless someone saved him, and I didn't see anybody. My research showed that to survive, he would have to be rescued effective immediately. Nothing of the sort happened, because I had sat on the ridge for a while before they found me. There was no way. Did they have a whole process for two limbs? Seriously? I need to bring this up with Rex...

Where was Rex? I hadn't seen him all day yesterday. I stood up and strode into the mess hall, which was abandoned. His quarters were too. I know he was sent on an assignment, but it had been days. I decided to wait. If he wasn't back by noon, I was going to kick up a fuss. But for now, I would wait.

I lurked by the main entrance for a few hours. Then I checked the logbooks on the side exits, and went back to the entrance. I repeated this cycle until noon when I went to find Cody.

He was in his office, his head buried in his hands. I punched the vent grate, and he popped up, his blaster aimed at me

"Dude, chill" I pulled myself out and flipped onto the ground

"If you're here about Rex and Sonic, they're missing. Captured, by the looks of it" He sighed

"What?" I said. He turned a screen toward me and played the footage. No sound, but it was Rex and Sonic, getting captured while they were out on their mission. "Look, not only did I notice that they're missing, I have a theory about who emptied the base I scouted"

"I'm not interested. It was just them getting overwhelmed by droids. I'm more worried about Rex and Sonic since they have information about us that can't be released" He snapped

"Fair" I nodded "What's the plan for them?" I nodded to the screen

"I don't have one" He admitted "The General and Commander Tano don't know yet"

"Then we bring it up. Commander Tano and I are on good terms." I thought "They would just kill them on sight of they weren't targets. So they'll be alive until their usefulness comes to an end" I concluded "That gives us time to find where they are"

From there, we formed a rough plan. Cody used a snow speeder and went to their last known position while I talked to the Commander. Easy enough, except I had to isolate her and tell her then. Luckily I was a master at climbing through vents. I found her on her way back to the command centre, and I hopped out of the vents, surprising her.

"Cedar!" She said "Oh no. What happened?" She guessed

"Rex and Sonic have been captured, Cody and I have been reviewing footage. He's gone to check out their last known position" I said

"Come on. We have to tell Skyguy" She said, and we speed-walked to command

"Are you sure?" he asked

"Cody has the footage, but they were captured, yes," I said, and Cody came through the door "Speak of the devil" I mumbled. He reported on his findings as I stood there.

"Rex knows the positions of almost every single Republic base on Endor, here, almost anywhere we've been stationed" Ahsoka added "Sonic is just the cherry on top"

"I couldn't find anything from their last known position. Lots of marks in the snow, yes, but no footprints. There was a large rock formation that they recorded that is now missing" He pulled up a diagram "I cannot see its disappearance as something to disregard since its disappearance correlates to their capture" He continued his long-winded speech, and I tuned him out like usual, gazing out the window. It was one of the few, angled to ward off the snow and aimed toward the hangar. 

"We can't risk an information leak, and we don't know how hard they will try and get it," Skywalker said

"But we can't launch a rescue, since we don't know where they are" Ahsoka added

"They didn't intend to capture them" I blurted out "The rocks were sitting there and weatherproof. They just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's unlikely that they're being held off-planet. In orbit, at the highest."

"That...Makes sense, actually" Cody stammered

"Doesn't it?" I said "We just have to find a highly secure base. Knowing how dumb the clankers are, I doubt it will be well-hidden."

And so I went, speeding across the continent, searching for the base. The wind was exhilarating, thrashing against my helmet. It felt right, to be going this fast across a long stretch of land. Still no signs of a base, even this far out.

"Cedar, turn back. You're too far!" Cody's voice crackled through the comms

"What?" I say

"Turn back!" He shouts

"I'm kidding, Cody. I'm heading back" I scoffed