Cuyanir (A Rexsoka SWTCW Fanfic)

24

"We've got a problem."

Those four words. Oh, how much Rex hated those four words. He lowered the binoculars as the next horror came into view. It looked like one of the octodroids that they had fought on christophsis. Except much, much bigger. Spiderdroids. Umbaran spiderdroids. He saw the main canon on that thing, It was massive. He also saw the giant rocket that it shot. 

"FALL BACK! FALL BACK NOW!!" He roared. There were two of the spiderdroids, and they were fast. The battalion didn't need to be told twice. They fled, they fled like scared mynocks. Rex spared a look at where he knew Krell to be, part of him hoping for some sort of support. He knew that it was a futile hope. Krell didn't care. 

"Captain, what are you doing?" Krells voice crackled through his wrist comm. 

"We're outgunned, we need reinforcements." He tried, any help would be welcome. 

"The rest of the battalion is holding the entrance to the gorge, Captain." Krell growled over the comm. "They're guarding it so your troops can get through to the airbase." Another explosion of green light rocked the ground. 

"Sir, we can't possibly -"

"You must stand your ground. Do you read me CT 7567? Do not fall back! That is an order!" Krell cut the connection. 

The screams of his brothers were unending, as the spiderbots pulled new weapon after new weapon on them, vaporizing many of the ranks. Rex rounded up the remains of the battalion and they slid into a little crevice in the canyon walls. "Keep the wounded as quiet as possible. Alright, you heard the general, let's go."

"You can't be serious!" Jesse objected. 

"I used to think general Krell was reckless, but now I think he just hates us clones." Fives put in his two cents. 

"The captain is right." Dogma cut in, "Now, let's move out." Rex made a move for the crevice opening, but Fives grabbed him.

"We can't take them head on. We need to find another way." He objected. Rex couldn't see his face, but he knew the hard look that Fives must have in his eyes. 

"You got any other ideas?" Rex grunted. Fives gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head. "Neither do I. I wish I did though, because I agree. This is a suicide run. But I'm not calling the shots here, so we'll have to trust the general." He sighed. "This is it."

"Ok, let's do it." Hardcase said, but even his normal enthusiasm at blowing something up seemed more forced that usual. They ran into the fray.

The sounds of battle seemed almost muted. There were the normal explosions, and there were the rumbles and the fire. But it all felt... distant. Rex could hear himself giving orders. Hear the call and response between him and his men. But it was all so far away, like he was there but not really there. 

"Watch your left. Hardcase, look out. Neon, take out that leg." For some reason, he felt like laughing. Have I become so desensitized that the death that surrounds me no longer bothers me? That I'm just another clone. Just another monster? He shook the dark thoughts from his head. He was a soldier for the republic. He was born to fight, and more than that, he was born to protect. CT 7567. Am I nothing more than a number? 

"Help with the wounded!" Kix yelled. Rex ran over and helped him drag a brother that was in a bad shape. "We've got to get them out of here." Kix yelled over the din. Rex steeled himself. 

"Kix, you have to leave them." He said. 

"But I can't just-"

"You don't have a choice. That's a order." He turned and marched away.

"You sound like Krell." Kix shot back. Rex paused, the weight of his words hitting i=him like a ton of bricks. He did one thing that he thought himself incapable of doing. 

He snapped at his own men. 

"Look, Kix, it's more important so save yourself right now." He snarled, looking out from cover with the binoculars. "If we survive, we can patch them up later." 

"We're...We're finished." Tup whispered. 

"We've still got some fight left in us, Tup." He said, gently. "And I've got an idea."

"What are you thinking?" Five asked eagerly. 

"You know how you said that we needed another way through?"

"I don't like where this is going..."

"Too bad. I've got a mission for you." He told Fives his plan. 

"Are you crazy?" He asked, incredulous. Rex looked at him. 

"Does anyone answer yes to that? Besides, you've got the easy part." Rex admonished. "Get going, and may the force be with you, Euk Vod." Fives and Hardcase slipped out from cover, skirting their way through the shadows until Rex lost sight of them. Yes. They did have the easy part. 

His holocommunicator beeped. He pulled it out to see Krell glaring at him, but since he was only the size of his palm, it wasn't as intimidating as he was in person. "CT 7567, where are you?"  The tiny Krell glowered at him. 

"General Krell, we've some up with a plan to infiltrate the airbase." Rex said, tentatively. 

"What's your plan."

"I've dispatched two men on a stealth incursion, into the airbase with the orders to commander starfighters and use them against the tanks."

"You WHAT!" Krell growled, "You put the entire assault on your hope that two clones could do what your entire group could not?" He roared.

"Sir, the rocket launchers don't work on these tanks. it's be easier to slip by undetected while the rest of us keep the tanks occupied."

"Captain." Krells voice got dangerously soft, but his neck flap was bobbing wildly with rage. "You will launch a full, forward assault on the airbase immediately, or you will be relieved. Of. Duty." He didn't even wait for Rex's response, just cut the transmission.

"We need to hold out as long as we can, I'm trusting Fives and Hardcase to pull this thing off." He said somberly. Jesse let out a rueful laugh.

"You're right. They do have the easy job. If we can last that long, they have no clue how to fly those things." He said bitterly.

"Well, let's hope they learn fast." Rex said grimly, tuning to the destruction that they would have to face. 

A/N ~ Now we're getting somewhere! I've been struggling to write what happens in between Rex coming to Umbara and Krell V Fives and Jesse, so I apologize that the last few chapters have been pretty much all filler chapters. For those of you who are only here for the Rexsoka fluff, just have patience, I already have their reunion written and it may or may not be some of my best work.