Chapter Text
Ahsoka cleared the outpost’s wall in a single massive leap, leaving Mancy hissing curses behind her.
“Get your squad ready,” she instructed him. “I’m going to open a path through the back gate, and from there we’ll storm their comm center directly. We’ll need to use Separatist comms if we want to get through to Denal’s battalion before the lightning storm clears up.”
“Yes, Commander.”
Satisfied, she scanned the rest of the outpost from her current vantage point atop the outpost’s command post. There were no Nightbrothers visible, only a few scattered B1 droid squads and some non-essential equipment. No tanks, either.
But they were here. She could sense them, bright and angry, burning with resentment and contempt for the droids they fought alongside.
Well, she thought, igniting her lightsabers and plunging them into the metal roof, I can help with that.
The rickety metal melted easily under her blades. She dropped, light-footed, into the empty corridor – the back gate wasn’t far, but she’d need to move quickly before a patrol came through and noticed the new skylight.
A squad of droids was guarding the back gate. Was guarding – they were no longer guarding in short order after Ahsoka arrived.
She waved at Beta squad as they streamed through the doors and past her, into the guard post. Ayar made a beeline for the nearest console, pulling out a datapad and plugging in.
“We don’t have long,” Ahsoka told Mancy as Del approached. “The next patrol who goes through the base is going to see the hole I cut in their ceiling.” She frowned. “I was expecting to see more droids, actually. Even if they’ve found Denal’s men out in the jungle, there should be more of them back here guarding the outpost.”
Mancy exhaled, his worry spiking in the Force even as he kept his voice even. “I guess they’re adapting.”
“I’ve got the access codes,” Ayar reported, unplugging his datapad. “Central room is one level up, access is through a central lift. Shouldn’t be hard to find, there’s nothing else on that level.”
Getting to the lift was simplicity itself, but as the lift hummed to life, Ahsoka closed her eyes and reached out with the Force. Droids didn’t appear in the Force the way clones did, but she could still sense the looming danger above.
Still no Nightbrothers.
“Be ready,” she ordered. “They’re waiting for us.”
Chat opened - operational freedom
Welcome, CC-3636 “Wolffe”
Other Participants - CC-1007 “Blackout” [offline], CC-5052 “Bly”, CC-2224 “Cody” [offline], CT-7567 “Rex” [offline], CC-1010 “Fox” [offline]
Wolffe – bly you got your next assignment yet?
Bly – New Holstice to defend the medical facilities
Bly – actually! I was thinking
Bly – the people there are making a memorial for the Jedi that die in the war
Bly – do you think maybe some of them could help us??
Bly – especially if aayla asks?
Wolffe – ohh youre back to aayla are you
Bly – …discussions have been. Fruitful.
Bly – but incomplete
Bly – um
Bly – anyway
Bly – are you on khorm yet wolffe??
Wolffe – nah still in transit we had to pick up relief supplies for the Khormai
Wolffe – something something warlord using them as slave labor in the mines something something
Bly – ah thats a classic
The wounded had nearly finished being treated by the time Affa Squad returned from their scouting mission.
Denal was still cursing himself for being blindsided by the presence of Nightbrothers, but he set that aside long enough for Sergeant Boomer to report on the Separatist comm relay defended by what Boomer had described as “another squad of those tattooed zabraks and too many karking droids.”
“Is that your professional opinion?” Denal asked.
“Yes, sir.” The scars through Boomer’s eyebrow made his scowl lopsided, so he looked even more ornery than he actually was. “Don’t get me wrong, we can take ‘em, but it’s still too karking many.”
“They must be using it as a fallback position as Commander Tano’s forces clear out their other outposts,” Denal mused. “Any other signs of droids in the immediate area?”
Boomer shook his head. “Just patrols ranging out from the relay. No other activity that falls outside of the map we already have of their outposts. And none of the Nightbrothers are part of the patrols, they’re all sticking to the relay.”
Denal nodded. “Why didn’t we see this place earlier?” “We must have taken sixty scans of this sector before we even deployed. Hell, we would have tripped right over it if your squad hadn’t laid eyes on it.”
“Well, I figure that’s why you keep us ARF troopers around,” Boomer drawled. “Some kind of cloaking technology, I bet. Nothing I’m familiar with, though.”
“That would be too easy,” Denal muttered. “Get some rest. Janlee will kill me if we start moving in less than an hour.”
Boomer snickered.
Denal waved over Mallarc, leader of Wave Company, and the platoon lieutenants – Retick, Bow, and Koho (Janlee was tending to the wounded) – and pulled up a handheld hologram of the surrounding area. Their situation wasn’t a good one; the enemy knew they were somewhere in the area, and with the storm going they needed the relay if they were going to get in contact with Commander Tano.
Still, they’d managed to avoid any fatalities thus far, and their vehicles were all still operational. It could be worse.
And if the Nightbrothers hit us again, it will be.
Chat opened - operational freedom
Welcome, CC-2224 “Cody”
Other Participants - CC-1007 “Blackout” [offline], CC-5052 “Bly”, CC-3636 “Wolffe”, CT-7567 “Rex” [offline], CC-1010 “Fox” [offline]
Cody – Still cant KRIFFING get in touch with the general
Cody – @Blackout I hate you for this
Cody – Youre responsible somehow
Fox – he’s not even online vod
Cody – He Will See It Eventually
Wolffe – youre preloading your judgement now?
Cody – YES
Wolffe – lmao
Cody – But anyway @Bly sure New Holstice might help but how are you going to explain it to your general?
Bly – i could tell her some of your battalions were struggling to make do with current medical supplies
Bly – dont need to explain what theyre for!
Cody – Alright Im for it
Cody – Unless Rex vetos before you get a chance go for it
Bly – you’re giving REX operational veto power???
Bly – you remember he was originally only cleared for company-level command right. ik he passed ARC officer training during the promotion rush after geonosis but like.
Cody – I remember
Cody – Unfortunately he got really good at this osik when nobody was lookng so now he has veto power. Because if he looks at something I ordered and goes interesting colors it DOES mean I karked it up
Bly – i can go interesting colors do i get veto powers
Cody – hickies dont count vod
Bly – THATS NOT WHAT I MEANT
Bly – WE’RE NOT EVEN AT HICKEY STAGE ANYWAY
Ahsoka was giving orders before the last droid had hit the ground. “Ayar, get to work on the comms. The rest of you, stay ready. We haven’t seen the last of them.” She kept her lightsabers activated and Ayar at her back, scanning the shadows around the lift. “Lunn, how are you doing?”
Lunn hissed as Coric applied a bacta patch to the blaster wound on their thigh. “They can’t run,” Coric reported. “But they can limp quickly.”
Ayar’s sharp inhale cut off any response Ahsoka might have made. “Commander,” he said urgently. “You’re going to want to see this.”
Ahsoka half-turned, trying to keep the back of the room in her awareness, but the holorecording captured her full attention as soon as it started to play.
Ventress.
Ventress wasn’t supposed to be on Rodia. Why was Ventress on Rodia? Ahsoka stared at the blue translucent form, mentally flipping through everything she and Rex had changed since coming back, trying to figure out what – was it because Ventress had been captured on Teth? Or was it Maul’s doing, his bizarre machinations pushing his Dathomiri brethren into the war –
Maybe trying to figure out the exact cause and effect was a pointless exercise, actually. At least, not without one of Rex’s strategic algorithms.
Ventress was ordering the remnants from the outposts to marshal around her location, complete with ominous prophecies of the Republic’s impending doom. Teth hadn’t changed her that much, then.
Shame. Ahsoka would have to work harder. “Can you send a signal from here?”
Ayar shook his head. “Sorry, sir. The signal’s hardwired to route through the Seppie’s comm relay – we’d practically have to rebuild the thing from raw materials to get around it.”
“Can you pinpoint the relay’s location?”
“I can get us within a klick of it, sir,” Ayar replied confidently. “I need – five minutes?”
Five minutes later Ayar's shoulders were getting increasingly tense. “Where – the kriff – is the kriffing –”
“Ayar,” Ahsoka called softly, reaching out to smooth down the rough edges of his mind. “It’s okay. What’s the issue?”
“The relay isn’t showing up on any of our recon scans!” Ayar burst out. “It should be right there but we went over that patch of jungle a hundred times during orbital recon and all we got was a hundred reports of kriffing trees!”
Ahsoka hummed, moving closer to see the screen Ayar was gesturing wildly at. It was, indeed, nothing but trees, occasionally interrupted by a rock or a bush.
She had found Denal once already; locating him a second time was easier. He was doing better, now – the earlier panic she’d felt had receded, leaving behind simmering anxiety and the familiar subsurface churning of a plan unfolding. She’d felt the latter from Rex more times than she could count. It was… comforting, even if it wasn’t Rex’s plans she was feeling unfold.
Opening her eyes, she tapped on the screen. “That’s where we need to go,” she declared. “That’s where we’ll find Wave Company.”
“I’ll alert the rest of the regiment,” Mancy said, copying the coordinates. “What are your orders, sir?”
Before Ahsoka could answer, the Force whispered a warning. “Down!”
Beta squad hit the ground as she flung the Force outward, shattering the window and flinging the incoming pack of commando droids to the jungle floor below.
“Meet you down there!” she shouted, vaulting over the command console and plummeting after them.
The wind wasn’t quite loud enough to drown out Coric’s sigh.
Chat opened - operational freedom
Welcome, CC-1007 “Blackout”
Other Participants - CC-2224 “Cody”, CC-5052 “Bly” [offline], CC-3636 “Wolffe”, CT-7567 “Rex” [offline], CC-1010 “Fox”
Blackout – i am starting to regret setting up here
Cody – I feel like that was a foreseeable outcome
Cody – Also witness my judgement
Blackout – so witnessed
Blackout – i hope you step on tacks every time you take your boots off
Wolffe – what is it THIS time
Blackout – i have MORE DESERTING LOCALS??
Blackout – WHY
Wolffe – how can locals. desert
Blackout – from their clans or whatever. theyre running away and ending up with ME
Blackout – at least theyre helping with the bacta tanks. actually i can probably expand the operation with the new manpower
Cody – Why are they running away?
Blackout – mad about having to fight the war i think
Cody – …well. Youre not making them FIGHT
Blackout – genuinely i think thats all they care about lol
Blackout – oh also we have the rancor situation squared away so the baby tubie has all the milk he can drink now
Blackout – hes so stinking cute i dunno how the kaminoans do it
Cody – What, decomissioning?