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It’s only the Commander’s third mission with the 501st, and already she’s showing her determination to lead. Rex is heading up a platoon of troopers marching through the forests of a remote planet upon which Count Dooku is rumoured to be setting up base. Commander Tano, however, is several feet ahead climbing through the trees to pick the best path through the undergrowth and brush for the boys to follow on foot. The trees are thick, with lots of easy foot-holds and branches to hang onto, and with her expert balance and agility, her path so far has been relatively easy.
General Skywalker is about fifty klicks east with his own platoon converging on the same building. They lost radio contact with him just over one rotation ago, but that was to be expected on such a backwater planet, even more so with interference from mountains and thick forest in between the groups.
Supposedly, there is a native, humanoid species who live here, but they have yet to see evidence of life-forms other than hundreds of small rodents under their feet and several three-legged creatures who dart away at the first sight of the troops marching through.
Commander Tano motions to the right from a tree up ahead, and Rex leads the boys a few feet to the side, avoiding whatever obstruction the Commander has spotted. It’s a silent mission so far; everyone is too busy watching their step and too wary of causing any kind of commotion that could derail their surprise attack.
Once the Commander has seen that her instruction has been heard, she leaps from tree to tree onto their new path and begins scanning the terrain.
The rotations on this planet are short, and night-time is harsh in this climate. They’ve been marching for two nights and three days so far, having been dropped off on the opposite side of the planet to avoid suspicion, and despite attempts to continue on through the night, they have always had to stop. The temperatures drop significantly, despite the heat and humidity in the daytime, but the more imposing issue is the creatures that come crawling out of the darkness.
It had only been an hour into darkness on their first night here when General Skywalker came on the radio reporting that they had been attacked, but not by droids or any separatist army. The creature had taken out five of Rex’s brothers in one fell swoop before Skywalker had managed to gain the beast’s attention and put it down. They had carried on with instructions to remain on high alert for these creatures.
Rex’s platoon lost six men on the first night, and four more by dawn this morning. The creatures are easily bested, but their stealth is unbeatable and Commander Tano has explained that in a biome so overgrown with life forms, between the planets and small creatures scuttling about, that their Jedi senses are less able to detect an incoming predator.
Part of it, though Rex is sure that Tano is too embarrassed to admit, is that Ahsoka’s early stage of training leaves her senses less attuned to an environment such as this. That’s why she has taken her vantage point in the trees to get a better look at what is nearby.
The sun slowly descends on the horizon and dusk draws nearer as they march on. If they were able to march through the night, they’d make it in a few hours, but under the circumstances, they’ll have to set up camp soon, and mount their attack tomorrow.
Soon enough, they reach another mountain which, to their luck, has a gaping cavern near the foot at it which can serve as their camp for the night. Staying in caves has been their only saving grace, allowing them only one point from which the creatures can attack. So, Rex tells the men to halt, and jogs up ahead to gain Tano’s attention.
‘Commander!’ he calls up to her from the foot of the tree she is currently perched in, scouting ahead with squinted eyes. ‘We need to set up camp for the night, those beasts will be out for us soon enough,’
Commander Tano glances down at him for a moment, before turning back to the paths she is planning.
‘You guys bed down for the night, I was thinking I should go scout out the last stretch to Dooku’s base so we can move quickly tomorrow. I don’t want Master Skywalker waiting around for us,’
Rex sighs. ‘No, it’s too dangerous to go out there alone. We stick together,’
‘I’m a Jedi, I’ll be fine,’ Tano insists, looking back down at him.
‘Anakin will understand if we’re a bit behind schedule. This habitat does not make fast movement easy. Besides, he said at the briefing, we would likely have a longer path to the base, he’s expecting us to be late,’
‘Exactly. We’ll prove him wrong.’ Commander Tano grins at him. Rex does not smile back. ‘Anyways, I outrank you, so you have to do what I say,’
Rex raises an eyebrow at her under his helmet. In all their training on Kamino, there was never a handbook on how to deal with a di’kut Jedi.
‘And I thought I told you that experience outranks everything.’ he tells her firmly. ‘Get down from there, it’s time to have something to eat and get some rest,’
The Commander looks down at him defiantly, and he knows exactly what she’s about to do before she so much as twitches.
‘No,’ she says simply, and then leaps to another tree several feet away once, then twice, and then Rex loses sight of her.
‘Kriff,’ he mutters under his breath. General Skywalker will kill him if anything happens to the Commander. He’s taken a real liking to her, even if he pretends not to. They all have, really, somehow in under a month, the kid has become something of a little sister to them all.
But the Commander is far into the distance now, and even if Rex tries, he’ll never catch up with her. He’ll have to trust in her ability, and hope that she comes back with enough time to get some rest before their final march.
Nobody asks him where the Commander has gone as he organises the men to set up in the cave, pulling out ration bars and mats to sleep on. The cave isn’t large by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s deep enough that they can all fit comfortably inside, without any man having to sleep in view of an attacker. A line of helmets appears along one side where the men discard them for the night, though they all keep their weapons nearby. They set up a rotation schedule to have two men on the lookout at all times, and soon enough the men are dozing off in the darkness of the cave.
This is certainly the best cover they’ve had for sleep over the three nights. The first, they managed to wedge themselves up against a cliff face for some cover, and last night they had spread themselves out among a series of hollowed-out trees and had to make do with that, but as soon as one of the beasts had found a group of three men in one tree, there was nothing they can do.
Rex is hoping that this night might be the one they make through without any casualties. He takes the first watch with Ripper, though he knows he likely won’t get any sleep until he sees Commander Tano back safely anyway.
The boys have been asleep for a little over an hour when he hears the noise.
It’s a terrible sound, really, a true blood-curdling scream of pain that breaks through the thick trees sharp enough that Rex’s head snaps up fast enough to tweak it as his heart jumps out of his chest.
He curses loudly and springs to his feet.
‘Is that the Commander?’ Ripper asks, also on his feet now, looking out into the wilderness, as if he’ll be able to locate the source of the scream with his naked eye.
‘Almost certainly,’ Rex responds with gritted teeth, before turning to the few men who have slept through the disturbance. ‘Alright, everybody up!’
***
Ahsoka is determined to scout out the fastest and easiest past to get to Dooku’s base tonight. She wants the men to get an early start as soon as the sun is up so they can make good time. Part of her wonders if she might be able to get an idea of where Anakin’s platoon are to see how far behind they’ve fallen. The last thing Ahsoka will allow is to keep her new Master waiting when he already thinks she’s not competent enough for the battlefield.
The night is quiet here, only the gentle rustling of the underbrush as creatures scuttle back to their homes for the night. But nothing lives up in the trees except Ahsoka, who jumps from trunk to trunk, clambering over branches to scout her way out.
Time passes peacefully by, Ahsoka only has to scramble higher up a tree once when she spots a large grizzly creature prowling around beneath her. She hopes that Rex and the boys have managed to keep themselves hidden from the predators. They’re nasty beasts, quiet and deadly, and Ahsoka hates that the overwhelming hum of life on this planet is making it so difficult for her to sense such danger. How many of her men would still be alive if it weren’t for her being incapable?
Ahsoka shakes the thought from her head as she takes a mental note of a ravine that they will need to avoid and leaps to another tree a few feet to her right. She can feel her grip getting clumsy as she continues on, her palms are scraped, bleeding and raw from clinging to bark for days. Sleep has been eluding her on this mission, too wary of danger to let her guard down and leave her men vulnerable. Well, more vulnerable than they are even with her wakeful eye.
But being tired is not acceptable right now. It will not help them achieve their goal and it will certainly not be of any use to her in committing this path to memory. So she pushes it aside and jumps from one tree to the next, ignoring the sear of pain in her palms as she grasps each trunk, ignoring the burn in her muscles from grasping onto trees for so long, ignoring everything inside her that begs her to drop and sleep until dawn.
By her calculations, she should only be two klicks away, and she’ll be able to turn around soon and make it back to Rex in time to get a few hours sleep before they set off again.
Ahsoka takes note of a thick ridge of brush that will take the boys too long to cut through and darts right, leaping through the air towards a nearby tree. But she misjudges the distance; her arms flails, hands reaching desperately for the tree, only to come up short as she falls through the air. Her hands scrape down that last few feet of bark, leaving deep cuts in her palms and she muffles a shout of pain as her knees buckle when she hits the floor, landing in a heap.
Cursing quietly under her breath, Ahsoka picks herself back up off the floor, taking a deep breath to ease the pain shooting through her body and recenters herself.
Focus, Ahsoka… Feel the world… Feel the Force
Her old creche master’s voice echoes in her mind as Ahsoka calms herself. For a moment, she stares into the dark forest, tracing the outlines of each tree with her eyes and listening to the quiet rustle of wildlife.
She needs to keep moving. This place isn’t safe at night, Ahsoka has learned this the hard way, and she cannot afford to die out here. So, she turns around and finds a tree with a good branch to jump onto and stumbles towards it.
Her foot lands on something that clicks under her weight, her foot sinking down on it and before she can register what she’s stood on, there’s the creak of metal and a loud snap as she screams in pain. It’s not a sound she recalls ever making, not even when she had broken her leg falling from the trees her class of younglings always climbed as kids. No, this is a sound unlike any other, a sound of pure agony as she looks down to see her leg caught between sharp metal teeth, crimson blood seeping out around her.
Ahsoka clamps a hand over her mouth as soon as her senses return, realising belatedly that any predator within who knows how many klicks will have heard her and, no doubt, be making their way to her now. And, even worse, any separatists scouts who might be patrolling near Dooku’s base, which must be nearby now, will have heard her.
Guilt burns inside her as Ahsoka realises she may have just blown the whole mission.
As a Jedi, Ahsoka is trained to handle pain. They are taught to breathe, to focus on the Force and to stay calm until the pain merely dissipates into the world around them. It doesn’t work.
Nothing can take away from the pain radiating up Ahsoka’s leg that has her shaking from head to toe, her eyes burning with tears and her breath stolen from her lungs. She’s never known a pain like this.
Ahsoka looks down at her leg, trapped and bleeding, and tries to come up with a plan. She should figure out how to get the trap off her leg so she can get away from here. But her leg is swimming in and out of focus, and her hands shake as she tries to reach down towards the device.
Pathetic little sobs bubble up through her chest as she squats down and the metal teeth tear further into her flesh and Ahsoka swears she feels the ridges scrape against her bones. She can’t do it. Ahsoka can’t fight through this pain, no matter how hard she tries. Her vision is blurred with tears, and between that and the darkness, she can hardly see the blood pooling around her boot, seeping into the dirt. Her hands are shaking and her chest is heaving with the effort of drawing in each breath.
Ahsoka freezes where she is, too scared to move another inch and send another wave of pain coursing through her body. Instead, she focuses on her breathing, drawing air in through her nose and blowing it out harshly through her mouth. Still, the quiet sobs do not cease, and her body continues to shake as darkness creeps in from the sides of her vision.
It isn’t long at all until the darkness takes over entirely and as Ahsoka falls to the floor, she doesn’t even feel the pain as her leg twists in the trap. The little pieces of flesh being dug out from her leg mean nothing to her as the last wisps of consciousness leave her.
***
Rex and his men have been searching the forest for hours. They’ve split up into teams of three in the hopes of finding her sooner. He tries not to think about how Tano likely doesn’t stand much of a chance unless one of the two groups with a medic in them are the ones to find her first.
They at least know the general direction she will have gone in, however Rex couldn’t figure out the exact location from the source of her screams. The night has gone quiet now, save for the rustling of his men moving through the undergrowth and the pounding of his blood in his ears.
He never should have let the Commander go alone. He should have tackled her out of that tree if he had to, tossed her over his shoulder and sat on her to keep her safe. But, no, Rex let her go and get herself hurt and now his mind is crawling with all of the possibilities.
What if the Commander reached Dooku’s base and was found by droids or even Dooku himself? What if there is some sentient civilisation here and they’ve taken her captive? What if one of those creatures has found her? What if Rex has failed in keeping her safe? He’ll never sleep well again if they don’t find her safe and sound, and it will be all her fault for not listening to him.
Ripper is walking a few paces behind Rex, head down to watch his step over tree roots and brush. He hasn’t said a word since they set off, nor has Kix who is flanking Rex on the other side. They all know what is at stake here; not just their Commander’s life, but the fate of the entire mission. They have until daybreak to find her, but after that the mission must take precedence. This is too important to screw up.
The forest is thick, and there’s absolutely no visibility to look ahead for her and they don’t dare call out in case they alert someone to their presence here. Tano had moved through the trees, so there are no marks in the brush to indicate she has walked through these parts. Rex looks up at the branches above, wondering if they are on the right path, or if she had gotten distracted and gone completely another way. What if she was found here by one of the beasts and dragged off to be torn apart.
As Rex looks up at the tree trunks, his eyebrows draw together as something catches his eye. Something wet is on the bark, dark in colour and dripping slowly down the tree. Rex holds his hand up, indicating that his brothers should stop and he points to it.
‘Blood,’ he says simply. ‘She’s been here,’
He has no way of knowing that it’s Tano’s blood, and maybe it’s from spending far too much time cooped up with a pair of Jedi, but Rex just has a feeling about it. He knows that it’s her.
They follow the trail, looking from tree to tree for more blood, using it to guide them towards Ahsoka. Still, nobody says a word as they traipse as fast as they can through the thick branches and vines growing on the ground.
As they follow the trail, the globs of blood on the trees grow thicker, no doubt as she had cut her hands deeper spending too much time clinging to bark. After another half hour of following the dripping blood, Rex hears voices. They’re hushed, trying not to draw attention, but he hears the urgency still. A light bobs back and forth up ahead and Rex makes a beeline for it, tripping over roots as he goes.
It doesn’t take long for them to reach the speck of light and Rex feels his heart drop through his stomach when he sees what’s happened.
Anakin is kneeling down next to Commander Tano who is lying on the ground, her right leg bent at an awkward angle. It takes a moment for Rex to realise that the leg is caught in a metal trap, blood seeping out of the wounds it has caused, creating a pool of it under her back. Root, one of the medics that had been assigned to Anakin’s platoon, is holding the small light to investigate the injuries.
As Rex draws in on the scene, Anakin’s head snaps up, his eyes zeroing in on him with a danger Rex has never known. He stops in his tracks, frozen by the imperious gaze.
‘What the hell has happened here?’ General Skywalker hisses. Rex takes a deep breath before answering.
‘I couldn’t stop her, sir. She wouldn’t listen, she took off on her own,’ he answers simply, knowing that it won’t be sufficient for the General, but having nothing else to add.
‘So you just let her go?’ Skywalker asks, clearly fighting to keep his voice low.
By now, Kix is already pushing past to get to the Commander, setting down his med pack and beginning to converse quietly with Root.
‘With all due respect, sir, there isn’t a lot I can do when a Jedi, who can cover twenty feet of ground through the trees in the time it takes me to cover five, takes off. It was either follow her and risk the entire platoon, or make camp and hope she found her way back,’ Rex explains. He will most certainly not be taking the blame for this when there was absolutely nothing he could have done.
‘Well clearly you didn’t mind risking the entire platoon since you’re all out here now. I assume you’ve sent everyone out to look for her, as I have?’ Skywalker presses.
Rex understands why he’s pissed, hells, Rex is pissed too, but he doesn’t see why Skywalker is pissed at him in particular.
‘Well when we heard her scream loud enough to wake a sleeping rancor, of course we came out to find her, and who knows how many of my men have been killed by those beasts because of her!’ Rex retorts and he knows he’s spoken out of turn as soon as the words leave his mouth, but he can’t help it.
‘Oh, so it’s her fault now, is it? Sure, blame the Padawan with no experience. You were supposed to keep her safe!’ Skywalker is clearly fighting with everything in him to keep his voice quiet if the pink tinge of his cheeks and wild look in his eyes is anything to go by.
Rex is about to open his mouth and argue back when Kix turns to look at them.
‘Will you two shut up!’ he hisses. ‘Either be helpful and get this trap off of her, go argue somewhere else,’
Skywalker clamps his mouth shut at that, turning to look at his Padawan once more, who is still lying unconscious, her skin deathly pale, in a pool of her own blood.
‘What are we doing with her?’ Anakin asks, all the anger gone from his voice as he kneels down once more and examines the trap around her leg.
‘We’ll have to get her stable and find somewhere safe for her to hide out until the mission is over. I can’t call an evac in when we’re in the middle of a stealth operation,’ Kix explains as Anakin closes his eyes and reaches a hand out to hover over the metal.
‘Will she last that long?’ he asks calmly as the mechanism clicks and falls open, dragging bits of Tano’s skin off with it, but the blood still slows as Kix ties a tourniquet around her shin.
‘She’s going to have to,’ Root responds grimly as they pick her up and move her away from the trap. ‘I’ve got her hooked up to a blood transfusion, we’ve got one more litre I can give her, but I’d rather see how she goes without. There’s not much else I can do for her at the moment,’
Anakin looks up to the sky where the light of day is beginning to creep in. They need to regroup to mount their attack soon, but Rex’s platoon are scattered in the wind, still looking for the Commander and the Commander herself is completely out of action.
Rex sighs and turns around to Ripper who is still hovering on the sidelines, clearly unsure of how much help he can be.
‘Ripper, try and get the men on comms, see if we can get everyone regrouped. I will stay with the Commander; there’s a cave a few klicks east that we can hole up in, she’ll be safe there until we can be evacuated,’ Rex orders, hoping that Skywalker will recognise this as a grasp at redemption and not a wild overstep of authority.
He watches the General’s face closely for a reaction, but he remains stony even as he responds.
‘We need to reach the rendezvous point, it isn’t far from here. Ripper, you gather the men. Root, once the Commander is stable, go with Rex and when you see the evacuation team, send up a flare. We’ll come find you,’
Skywalker doesn't acknowledge Rex before he stands up and turns to leave towards the rendezvous. He sighs but ignores his stubbornness, instead turning to the Commander and picking her up. Her limp body flops easily over his shoulder and he lifts his other hand to tilt her right leg upwards to try and slow the blood loss. Root stands with him, holding the bag of blood that is hooked up to the Commander’s arm.
‘We’ll see you soon,’ Rex tells Ripper, before leading the way back to the cave.
Tano groans quietly at the jostling of Rex’s movements through the roots and brush, and he pats her back gently, hoping she won’t wake up for some time, maybe even until they are safely back on their venator and she can be taken to a proper medbay and have all the medical attention she needs.
‘One day, Ahsoka. You’ve just gotta make it through one more day,’ Rex tells her quietly.
It’s a big ask, and Rex knows in his heart that the chances are slim. If it were any of his brother’s in Ahsoka’s position, they likely wouldn’t have been given a blood transfusion or painkillers. No, they’d have been given the little yellow vial that Kix keeps at the bottom of his kit.
For emergencies had been what Kix insisted it was for. Rex knows exactly what it is, though, and while he understands the mercy in it, he just can’t stomach the idea.
Ahsoka is lucky. She’s not only a Commander, but a Jedi; she is not disposable, they won’t just chuck her away like a burnt out blaster. Rex can only hope that her luck will extend for one more day whilst Anakin and their remaining men take out this blasted base, and then they can all get off of this terrible planet.
Just one more day…