Chapter Text
Anakin was at a loss. Ever since the battle of Balmorra had begun, he kept losing more and more men. He knew the importance of securing the planet for the Republic. But each life of his men flickering out in the force felt like another needle stab in his heart. The 501st was his to protect, but it seemed he only kept failing at that.
So when he heard Clone Force 99 was going to assist them in winning another victory in this seemingly endless war, he was relieved, yet scared, this seemed to be the last possibility of conquering Balmorra. If Clone Force 99 couldn’t secure the planet with him, all the men he had lost, all those lives had been for nothing. He hated it when his troops sustained heavy losses, but he hated it even more when it would be lives lost in vain.
He felt a gentle tug at his bond with Ahsoka and turned around to see her staring at him with worried eyes. He smiled, but seeing the look on Ahsoka’s face let him know that attempt had failed to convince her.
“What’s wrong Master?”
“It’s just that, if the reinforcements are at a loss of how to win this battle, we will have to retreat. And.. all those men we lost, Fly, Quarry, Clink… will be for nothing if we don’t defeat the Seperatists here.” He frowned, he didn’t mean to say all that, he shouldn’t come over as so insecure and hopeless. He was supposed to instil confidence in his men and his Padawan.
“We will win this battle Master, we have to. For all those we have lost, we won’t fail.” Ahsoka had that determined look in her eyes, and with that much hope and faith Anakin had no choice but to believe her words. They would, they had to.
He smiled and laid a hand on her shoulder. A peaceful moment between Master and Padawan in this raging war, where it was hard to keep smiling and even harder to keep hope. Ahsoka’s youth was both a curse and a blessing, she shouldn’t be here on this bloody battlefield, but he couldn’t bring himself to regret that she was here at this moment. They needed each other.
Their moment was interrupted by Fives and Hardcase.
“General, Commander, Clone Force 99 will be arriving any moment. “ Fives spoke up. He was almost bouncing, Echo would be coming, he had missed his Domino twin. Anakin could feel his excitement in the force, Fives was so, so bright, the dull feel had been mostly wiped away, ever since they had brought Echo back. His light shining bright once again.
“Thank you Fives, Hardcase, we’ll be there shortly. Come on Ahsoka, let’s not keep them waiting.” He smiled and waved her to come along.
Fives and Hardcase fell in step behind Ahsoka and Anakin. Rex was probably already waiting for them and Anakin didn’t want him to wait alone for much longer. They had grown close during the war. It was hard not to, Rex was easy to get along with and his insights were brilliant, not to mention they had had each others backs in hard fought battles. He was also one of the few people who knew about Padmé and him. He was an amazing trooper and proved to be an even better friend.
Anakin was right, Rex was already waiting on the landing pad. He gave a respectful nod, which they all returned. Rex was easy to read in the force, their time spend together during the war making him clear as day to read for Anakin, he could feel Rex was anxious, but happy to see Echo.
They were not a moment too soon, the Havoc Marauder, Anakin remembered the name of the ship well, broke through the clouds and with a daring manoeuvre spun around and landed with a soft thud on the ground. Tech’s flying was as smooth as ever, Anakin thought.
Fives was practically bouncing on his feet now and shifting around. And just when Anakin thought he would start jumping from impatience, the ramp descended and the Bad Batch and for Fives more importantly, Echo came down. His stride a little quicker than normal, Anakin nodded his head to Fives with a knowing smile and they didn’t need any more encouragement than that.
They ran towards each other and collided in a tangle of limbs, and if it wasn’t for Wrecker steadying Echo’s shoulder, they would have fallen onto the ground.
Ahsoka giggled and Anakin looked at her and smiled, there were some moments in the war that were definitely worth fighting for. Seeing Fives tackle his twin in a hug was one of them.
Hunter walked up to Anakin and they grabbed each others arm tightly in greeting.
“It’s good to see you again Sergeant, although I wished it were under better circumstances.”
“Likewise General.” Hunter said.
Rex and Hunter grabbed each other by the arm and each gave a nod to each other in greeting. After being on a few missions together, they held mutual respect for the other.
“Fives, Echo, if you two are done almost strangling each other, we can go to the meeting to discuss our next move.” Rex addressed his troopers with fondness.
Fives untangled himself from their hug and they followed the rest to the war room.
Ahsoka waited for them to catch up and gave Echo a quick hug too. “I missed you too Echo, I hope your new squad treats you well.” She smiled up at him.
“Oh, they do, only Crosshair is a little grumpy.” Echo said and looked at the clone in question, with a glint of humour in his eyes.
“I heard that.” The sniper grumbled from in front of them. Ahsoka giggled and Echo smiled at her. He had gained some of his muscle and weight back luckily, when she had first seen him Ahsoka had had quite the scare, he was nothing but skin and bones. She heard that Kix had had to get him used to the food slowly, his body not used to anything. And they did not want a case of refeeding syndrome. Anakin had even bought him chocolate, although Kix had saved it for Echo when he would be able to eat it. Chocolate was something that was hard to come by for clones, it was a luxury product and it was expensive. Luckily for Echo, Anakin had a, uh, close relationship with a senator who could spare some money. Anakin would never say it but, the 501st was truly his family as much as Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and Padmé were.
Luckily it seemed like his new squad took good care of him too, and Ahsoka was relieved. She made a mental note to thank them for it later.
She was shook from her thoughts when Anakin turned on the holo projector showing a map of Balmorra. The meeting had started, everyone was serious again.
Both Ahsoka and Anakin hoped that they could conclude a good strategy and destroy the heavily armed Seperatist base this time. Clone Force 99, did have a 100% succes rate. They would have to trust in their skills and strategic insight during this meeting.