The Varactyl Squadron Commander (A Star Wars: The Clone Wars Fan-Fiction)

Chapter Thirteen

Ultimately, Molindi gave Axel the win. It appeared like he'd wanted it more, anyways, with his intense stare and white knuckles gripping his paddle. Beating him would've only damaged whatever ego he'd risked in his mind when he said yes to playing against her in the first place.

The ping-pong ball bounced off hers and over to the opposite side of the table, but never made contact with the surface as the small, white sphere flew through the air and out of bounds, rolling underneath one of the nearby couches and disappearing from sight. The end of the match sent the spectating troopers into a frenzy of cheers and whoops; Breaks and Tyson even lifted Axel on their shoulders, which Molindi found quite humorous as she set her paddle down on the table and quickly made her way towards the exit. 

The four other troopers hadn't even noticed that she'd left when she closed the metal rec room door behind her and pressed the green button on her comm-link.

"Commander Rino here." The woman answered.

"Commander Rino," A voice replied. A clone, probably an officer on a ship or a pilot since the faint sound of light-speed travel could be heard in the background. Possibly announcing the arrival of his cruiser or gunship and requesting her presence? Molindi couldn't think of who could want to see her, besides the other commanders involved with their previous mission. Did they want her to file a report on Unim? She could've sworn she had someone else assigned in the base's offices to file all the necessary notes needed when it came to missions.

"This is clone officer 24601 of the Resilience, requesting on behalf of Commander Rex, leader of the 501st, that you and your squadron meet him in hangar 354 upon our arrival on Kamino."

Molindi's heart stopped.

Commander Rex, leader of the 501st legion under the command of Jedi General Anakin Skywalker, had quite the reputation on Kamino. With hundreds of successful missions under his belt and failure being a rarity in his army career, Commander Rex was a hero to many and feared by the droid army whenever his legion's name was mentioned. He was a Republic icon, a symbol of hope in a universe filled with darkness, and one of Molindi's biggest inspirations since the beginning of the clone war.

What the hell did he need her for?

She took a deep breath in hopes of calming her nerves before speaking to the officer on the other end of the communication device.

"When will the Resilience be arriving?" Molindi asked him, praying that her voice didn't sound too awestruck at the information she'd just received.

"We'll be entering the atmosphere in t-minus fourteen minutes."

"Alright, thank you for the message, officer. You can let the commander know my squadron and I will be waiting in the hangar when your ship arrives." Once the conversation was over, Molindi wasted no time slamming her fist against the door's controls and bolting back into the rec room, where the four clones were still standing around the ping-pong table after Axel's victory.

"Everyone, suit up. We're in needed in hangar bay 354 immediately."

"What's going on?" Breaks questioned as everyone scrambled to put on their gear and helmets. The excitement from the games before was immediately extinguished and replaced with worry and a sense of alert among the four men. "Are we under attack?"

"Commander Rex of the 501st is requesting to meet us there as soon as his ship arrives." She lead the four to the exit before turning off all the lights in the room and shutting the door behind them. Before the shock and awe could register, she turned to her squadron, now fully suited up, and gave them orders. "The four of you, go down to the hangar without me. I'm going to run to my apartment and get my armor, then meet you down there before the Resilience gets here. Understood?" She didn't wait for the familiar 'sir, yes sir' before turning on her heal and sprinting in the direction of her quarters. 

**********

Molindi hadn't wasted any time making her way to the hangar after gathering her armor and putting it on. Axel and his brothers had been waiting for less than ten minutes when the woman, clad in her white and yellow protective attire, quickly made her way across the hangar to where the four stood in a straight line, shoulder to shoulder and their faces hidden by their helmets.

"How the hell were you so fast?" Breaks questioned as she stood beside him, his hands clasped behind his back. She put her own helmet on, and shrugged. The four noticed that it was still damaged from their last mission, the long slit exposing the already-healing blister that would scar her cheek.

"Why does Commander Rex want to speak with us, of all people?" Tyson asked. It was a valid question. They weren't anything special, no different than any other squad of clones. Except for their leader, of course. But Commander Rino's gender wasn't something widely known throughout the army. Sure, the guys on Kamino Base 246 knew that she was a woman, but every other base on Kamino, every other cloning facility, didn't have that sort of information. They didn't need it. And, from what the Varactyl squadron clones knew, Commander Rex was from a base hundreds of kilometers away across the ocean. He wouldn't know Commander Rino was any different from the rest of his brothers.

"I have no idea, Tyson." Molindi answered. 

They could see the cruiser entering the atmosphere from where they stood, one that could only be the Resilience, since no other cruiser was scheduled to arrive at their particular base that day. A moment later, multiple gunships exited the larger vessel, like bees leaving a hive, and began their decent to the base below. One of them, a ship with a rancor's face painted on the hull, was traveling a different coarse from the rest of its siblings. It appeared that the other ships were landing in a different hangar over to their right, while the rancor-painted one was headed straight for them. Molindi took a deep breath.

"But I assume we're about to find out."