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Kix huffed a quiet laugh when Jesse swore quietly beside him as small pieces of rubble rained onto his helmet, earning a quick glance from Fives to quiet down. A small group of troopers were sent to try to infiltrate a Separatist base in the city to free some hostages while the main host kept them occupied. Kix was sent with this group in case any hostages were injured, the Seppie commander had a reputation for cruelty.
They slowed as they approached a square, pressing themselves against the buildings as Fives updated Rex on their position. He saw Fives nod with a “Yes, sir,” and then they were moving again. This was the last open space they had to pass through before they made it to the building housing the hostages. They would have gone another way, but it was the fastest route, and they had no idea how long the main host could keep them busy. It didn’t help Kix’s unease as they made their way into the open.
They were about halfway across the square when a trooper looked up. “Incoming!” he shouted and they scattered as an artillery bolt flew into the square. Troopers screamed as they were launched by the impact.
Kix ran for the edge of the square, hoping to find shelter among the buildings, when a second bolt crashed into the square next to him. He lost his footing and flew through the air. He felt himself slam bodily into the wall of the nearby buildings, pain lancing through him as his helmet bounced off it before everything went dark.
Jesse groaned as he came to, remembering where he was and quickly getting his bearings. He sat up quickly to look around, wincing as pain shot through his side. Putting a hand to it, he looked around him. He must have been out for only a few seconds, because rubble was still settling, smoke rising from where the artillery shots had hit.
Of course it was a trap, why wouldn’t it be. He grimaced at the sight of an unmoving trooper next to him, armour scorched where he had been too close to a blast. He saw movement and looked up to see Fives staggering to his feet, helmet quickly sweeping the area. He stopped when he saw Jesse and rushed over to him, clearly favouring his right leg.
“How’re you holding up, Jess?” He asked as he held a hand out to help him up. Jesse took it and suppressed a groan as he pulled himself up.
“Got a couple of ribs good, but I should be fine.”
Fives nodded and went back to scanning the square. “We need to move, they’ll be sending clankers to sweep the area.”
“Did you tell Rex?” He asked as he crouched by a fallen trooper, checking for a pulse and finding none.
Fives shook his head as he did the same to another. “No, they’re jamming us. We’re on our own.”
“Is the mission still on?” He moved on to another, wincing each time he crouched and stood.
“Depends on who’s left and in what condition. But at this rate, it looks like our best bet is to regroup for now and hope the rest of them have it covered.”
They continued checking the other few troopers around them, finding no one alive. Jesse’s heart sank as he stood from checking a shiny so new he hadn’t even painted his armour yet. He looked up when he heard Fives call out. He rushed over and crouched beside him over the final fallen trooper.
He saw the medic symbol on the pauldron and realised it was Kix. He let out a breath of relief when he heard the medic groan, stirring as Fives kept a hand on his shoulder.
“Come on, Kix, up and at em.”
Kix groaned again before his helmet moved to look at Fives then Jesse crouched over him.
“That’s it, come on, Kix. We’ve got to move.” Jesse helped Fives get Kix sitting up. He watched with concern as Kix got his bearings, still not saying anything.
“Wha?”
Jesse had no time to snort at Kix’s ineloquence when he heard the clanking footsteps of approaching droids. Fives swore and pulled one of Kix’s arms over his shoulders, Jesse quickly following suit on the other side, lifting him to his feet. Kix groaned and Jesse winced at the movement, but they quickly took off into a nearby alley.
It was difficult to stay quiet and quick with the state they were all in, but they kept moving away from the droids before they were spotted. Jesse heard no shouts behind them, just the dumb idle chatter of B1’s searching the area.
They walked for a while, twisting and turning their way down streets and alleys. Eventually, they stopped, Jesse wincing as his panting breaths irritated his ribs. Fives tilted his head towards an abandoned building, and Jesse nodded, letting him lead them over.
He ducked out from under Kix’s arm and tried the door. He growled in frustration when it refused to open, before backing up and slamming his shoulder into it. He bit back a shout of pain as he did it once more, forcing the door open. He ducked back under Kix’s arm and helped Fives haul him inside.
Kix was starting to move more looking around at his brothers as they set him down against a wall. “What’re… Where?”
Jesse crouched by his side, putting a hand on his shoulder as Fives locked down their little hideout. “We’re alright, vod. Just laying low.”
Kix muttered something he didn’t catch and looked up at Fives approaching. He groaned as he settled down, sitting instead of crouching. Jesse had noticed his limp getting worse as they moved. “We should be alright to stay here for now, but we can’t stay long. How are we looking?”
They both looked to Kix to start talking, but he stayed quiet as he stared back. Jesse frowned. Kix should have been pestering them before they even left the square. He didn’t see what happened to his vod when they were attacked, but he must have gotten thrown hard.
He shared a look with Fives, then reached towards Kix, and when he made no protest, carefully pulled his helmet off. Kix blinked and squinted at them as Jesse set the helmet beside him. He looked dazed and unfocused, swaying a little as he adjusted. Jesse sucked in a breath at the trail of blood framing one side of his face.
“Wha w’s tha’ for, Jess?” His concern grew at the slurring. He didn’t have to be a medic to know Kix had one hell of a concussion. He put a hand on his shoulder to steady him.
“Sorry, Kix. Just had to check how you’re doing. Do you remember what happened?”
Kix squinted at him for a long moment. Jesse could see the gears slowly turning in his head as he tried to piece together the question. He finally settled on muttering something incoherent, his eyes slipping closed. Fives quickly leaned in, slapping his face gently.
“Hey, hey. No sleeping just yet, trooper.”
Kix grumbled but opened his eyes.
Jesse looked over at Fives. “We can’t keep going like this, he doesn’t even know where he is.”
“I agree. We need to patch ourselves up as well as we can and get moving. Without comms, the others have no idea where we are, and we’re sitting ducks if we stay here.”
Together, they carefully moved Kix and got the medic pack off his back, putting it between them. Neither of them knew much of what they were doing, but they wrapped Jesse’s ribs and Fives’ ankle as well as they could after applying bacta. Both looked bruised and swollen, but they couldn’t tell if they were broken or not, though Fives said his ankle felt like a bad sprain. They had no idea how to tell the stims apart or how to safely use them properly, and when they tried to ask Kix, he had zoned out, so they left them alone. They had both had worse anyway.
Once they were as good as they’d get, they turned their attention to Kix. They found the wound on his head and covered it with a bacta patch. Kix groaned and squirmed as they prodded it.
“Hey, Kix. Anything else hurt, bud?” Fives gently asked as Jesse applied the bacta.
Kix groaned, “Head.”
“Yeah, we know, vod. Anything else hurt?”
Kix was silent for a moment then winced as he shuffled. “Shoul’er.”
Jesse quickly checked both his shoulders, noticing the right hung lower than the left. He grimaced at the thought of how it must have felt as they were moving.
He looked back at Fives who was rummaging through the medic bag for a sling. Kix would be pissed once he realised how they were treating it. He kept that bag meticulously organised and they were most definitely not giving it the same courtesy. He pulled one out triumphantly and handed it over to Jesse.
Fives kept a steadying hand on Kix’s good shoulder as Jesse carefully moved his arm into the sling. Kix cried out as it moved, eyes fluttering briefly. Fives tightened his grip and spoke softly, keeping him awake as Jesse finished.
Then it was Jesse’s turn to keep Kix awake when he began to drift off again as Fives tried to contact the main force again. He shook his head with a frustrated sigh when he only got static.
“We’ve been here too long already. We need to move.”
“And how are we meant to get anywhere? This whole place is Seppie controlled, there’s clankers everywhere! And we know they know about the route we took to get here.”
Fives nodded and pulled out a holomap, placing it on the ground, projecting the map between them. “We’ll have to take a different route. Because of that, we won’t have a clear idea of how many clankers are where, but hopefully the main force will have drawn most of them in by now. And we won’t have to make it all the way back. Regardless of us checking in, Rex should have begun pulling forward by now since my last update, we just have to get into their path.”
“And hope they don’t shoot us by accident.” Jesse muttered.
“Well, hopefully, if we move around the edge of where we know they’re headed,” Fives pointed at the map, “we should only run into a handful of troopers on the edge and be far enough out of the way of the main fighting that they see us properly before they shoot.”
Jesse hummed in thought. “It’s risky, but we’re not part of the 501st for nothing. Let’s move.”
Fives nodded and stood, hefting Kix’s medic bag over his shoulders and pulling out his blaster. Jesse shoved Kix’s helmet back on, to grumbling protests, and lifted him off the ground, putting his good arm over his shoulders and keeping a DC-17 in the hand not wrapped around his waist. His ribs protested fiercely, but he bit back the pain.
Fives took point as they carefully made their way out. Jesse quietly shushed Kix when he groaned at the movement. “Where..?”
“We’re heading back to meet the boys, but we’ve got to stay quiet, vod.”
Kix did as he was told as Jesse led him through the quiet streets. They were making decent progress when Fives ducked back from an intersection, flattening against the wall, Jesse following suit.
A patrol of B1s passed by, continuing across the intersection, not looking around any of the corners. Jesse almost let out a huff of amusement at that. Every time you began to forget how dumb those clankers were, they were ready to remind you.
They waited a little longer after the patrol passed. Jesse hefted Kix a little as he began to slip from his grip. He groaned but got his feet back under him. Fives gestured for them to move, and they quickly followed. Jesse grit his teeth as the throbbing in his ribs increased. He saw Fives’ limp getting worse the further they went, watched him put a hand to a wall to catch his balance more often. He could hear the distant sounds of battle getting closer as they moved. Surely, they had to be getting close.
He heard Fives swear as he stumbled again, bad foot catching on some debris. He caught himself on a wall and ducked back against it at the sound of more clankers approaching. He held Kix close as they waited for the patrol to pass, his brother’s head hanging low, but still looking around occasionally, letting Jesse know he was still awake.
A massive boom sounded through the city as the main battle raged dangerously close. Kix groaned at the sound. Jesse froze as a droid turned at the sound and spotted them. Fives swore and shot the droid, Jesse raising his own blaster as the others noticed them.
There were too many too close to take in the state they were in. Jesse quickly backed up, calling to Fives as he did so. He found the entrance to the building that he had seen when they passed it, and this time the door opened without issue. He pulled Kix inside, leaning out to cover Fives as he followed. They took out three more droids before they let the door close behind them.
Jesse quickly put Kix down against the wall behind them. He groaned at the jostling, but stayed slumped where he was. He helped Fives pull over some crates and furniture for cover as the droids reached the door.
As soon as the door opened, they fired, taking out the first two immediately in the doorway. They ducked as a B2 entered and filled the room with red bolts. Jesse hissed as a bolt grazed his arm. They held their ground as best as they could, but they were only two injured clones against a dozen droids in a tight space. They took out a couple more before Fives cried out, sliding down behind cover, holding his shoulder.
Jesse took a breath to steady himself, preparing to peek back out when he heard a droid cry out followed by blaster fire. He popped back up to see droids fall to the ground as blue blaster bolts littered them with holes. He took out the two closest to him while they were distracted.
He leaned heavily against the crate, ignoring how his ribs protested, as vode began to fill the room.
“You alright in here?”
“We are now.” Jesse called back, sitting down and leaning against the crate properly as the troopers approached.
He looked up as a trooper crouched down by him, realising it was Tup. “I thought you guys were getting the hostages out?”
Jesse huffed, watching another trooper look over Fives, having a similar conversation. “Caught us in a trap, we’re the only ones who made it.” He winced as Tup prodded his side. “Ah, I’m fine, trooper. Check on Kix. He’s got a nasty concussion.”
Tup hovered for a moment longer before going to crouch by Kix, who was slumped unconscious against the wall.
Jesse let himself relax as they all got checked over, groaning as a trooper helped him stand. Another helped Fives while two more carried Kix. They headed back out into the fray back behind allied lines. Soon enough, they were put on a gunship, their brothers watching out for them as they were taken back up to the Resolute.