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

Chapter Forty-Five

Axel felt his hand barely skim the back of Rex's boot as the leader dove down to catch Commander Rino, leaving the new guy all alone on top of the gorog's hand, flinging upwards toward the royalty platform. Before he could steady himself, the gorog had accidentally lifted him all the way across the gap between the beast and the triplets and Axel tucked into a roll, leading with his shoulder and following through his tumble onto the hard rock ground.

His presence caught the girls by surprise; he'd nearly knocked over Jordae in the process as the girl sent a sonic wave in all directions. The blast didn't effect him enough to completely destabilize his movements, but caused everyone on the platform beside her (and the people already knocked on their ass) to hit the ground.

Jordae stumbled and swayed; her energy had almost been completely drained from the outburst. Her eyes stared down at Cyndea and Nata, whose body remained unmoving as Cyndea cradled her sister in her arms. When Axel almost rolled into her, Jordae swung her arm back for another loaded attack.

"Wait!" He quickly slid off his Twaran helmet and held his hands up in surrender. "I'm not with them!" The clone did his best to assure the frightened children. His words were enough to stall her strike and Jordae's green fire began to dim.

"Now!"

The advancing guards took advantage of the pause and began to fire once more, their flashes of blaster-fire nailing Jordae in the shoulder and the girl let out a pained, shrill sound in mixed anger and shock. She fell to her knee next to her sisters and Axel had a split second to act if he wanted to get these girls out alive.

His heart beat in his chest steadily and the soldier let his instincts and training take over- his hand reached out for one of the fallen guards' blasters and pulled it back just in time to shoot back. He remembered what General Skywalker had said at the beginning of their mission- if he aimed for the head, it would at least slow the bastards down- and he pulled the trigger.

The weapon weighed more than the basic blasters the clones were always given, but he didn't let that shift in normalcy trip him. Shot after shot after shot, Axel sent the fire right back to them and one after the other they began to fall like flies. With the grace that came only with the body and mind of a trained soldier, Axel slid between the enemy and the triplets like a living shield. It was an action of kindness and mercy that the girls would never forget.

In an effort to help him out, little Cyndea lifted her hands to form another shield of green around them, this one much smaller than Jordae's last but still strong enough to absorb whatever their foes could throw at them.

Despite his accuracy, it wasn't enough to knock down every guard. There had been over fourteen, maybe fifteen of them in total and there was only so much the clone could do out in the open before the shocked men would retaliate. Outnumbered and outmatched, Jordae took a deep breath and clenched her fists.

The children were beyond exhausted from their strenuous acts, but when it came to protecting the people they loved and cared about, they knew deep down that they would fight on like this forever if it meant keeping each other and the people who would die for the safe.

"Need a hand?" Jordae inhaled deeply and sent a flash of light the size of an astromech droid over their assailants. The orb of green landed behind the guards and she raised her fist into the air. In perfect sync with her own movements, a slender hand of green and grey smoke as tall as Axel himself rose up from the floor. With one fell swoop, Jordae whipped her arm outward and spun around; the phantom hand did the same, swatting the guards who weren't wise enough to watch their back over the barriers that separated the royal platform from the stands of the audience. Axel's eyes widened.

"Hey!" A voice called out behind the four and they turned their heads to see Rex, Molindi, and the rest of his squadron hovering in one of the royal gaurds' speeders. "Wanna ride?" The woman hollered. Jordae and Cyndea grinned at the sight of their sister alive and well and turned to pick up Nata's lifeless form from the ground, but Axel had already beaten them as he held her bridal-style and quickly ushered the girls towards the ship.

Carefully cradling the unconscious child against his chest, he didn't notice that one more enemy had entered the scene while they were distracted with their escape. An enemy that Molindi and her squad had yet to become acquainted, but Rex was all too familiar with.

As Molindi caught Jordae and Cyndea when they leaped toward the speeder, Axel passed her Nata's body and was about to leap as well when something grabbed him by the throat and wretched him backwards. Jordae and Cyndea shrieked in fear as he clawed at the thing crushing his windpipe, but could feel nothing but empty space.

"Axel!" Molindi and the other clones yelled in shock, but were made silent as their eyes met those of their newest attacker. Rex could feel his blood run cold as the woman on the opposite end of the platform slowly dragged their squadron-mate across the ground, the sound of Axel struggling for oxygen filling the air.

"Oh captain," the nightsister-descendant crooned with a sick, twisted smile. "It's been too long." She stepped forth into the sunlight, revealing her pale skin, facial and scalp tattoos as well as the lack of hair on her head. The lightsabers hanging at her hips glimmered in the sun's glow like treasure and although she walked with a calm sort of elegance, her eyes showed just how eager she was to jump into this new altercation.

"You know this person?" Molindi questioned her fellow commander with a raised eyebrow.

"I see you've made some new friends," The woman snickered and tossed Axel to the side with a flick of her hand. His back smacked against the ground with a force so hard it sent spiderwebs of cracks along the surface of the stone platform. "I hope you aren't too attached. It'll just make it harder for you to watch me kill them."

"I'd love to see you try, bitch," Molindi retorted after Risk had passed her a blaster he'd brought from the ship. Though Rex knew she was playing with fire, it was sort of refreshing to hear someone that wasn't a jedi backtalk a sith. Ventress just laughed and continued to slowly approach, one nonchalant boot after the other.

"I like this one, she's got guts," She reached her hand to her hip and ignited her red blade. "I can't wait to spill them across the ground." The clones readied their weapons. "Careful what you wish for. As much I love chatting with you, I'm here for one reason and one reason only. Where's the data-chip?"

"Bend over and I'll show you," Her squad members couldn't hide the shaking of their shoulders as they tried to hold in their laughter. Though they were continuing to take in just how hardcore their commander was when it came to protecting her own, it seemed to get even more entertaining as no one who messed with Molindi and her crew got away without a verbal smack-down.

Rex on the other hand remained stoic. He knew what the stakes were and what exactly they were up against; he knew that the odds of them getting out of this without any losses was going to be near impossible. After witnessing the sixth apprentice cut down soldier after soldier after soldier without mercy, the commander tightened his grip on his blaster and tried to mentally prepare himself for what would take place next.

"Fine, don't tell me then," She ignited her second lightsaber, seething. The crimson light flowed menacingly at her sides and they could hear the subtle hum of the blade's energy despite being almost six or seven yards away. "I'll just pick it off your corpse after I've removed your head from your shoulders."

"Take the girls and go," Molindi handed them off to Risk who accepted Nata into his arms and the other two girls shifted their grasp from Molindi to the man. "If it's safe to swing back after you've made it from the ship, then pick us up."

"But commander-"

"That's an order, soldier," She snapped, then jumped from the speeder to the platform where Ventress was waiting with an evil grin.