Slaves Of The Empire {1}

Prologue | The Day I Lost Him

"TAKE COVER!"

The cry was high-pitched and explosively loud; the screech of a helmet comm trying to compensate followed soon after it. The man wearing it had seen the rising crimson flare of the incoming cannon shell, and even without his HUD to calculate its exact trajectory he knew these would be the last words he spoke.

The warning echoed down into the gully below the lookout point where the man stood frozen in his last instant of life. There was a frantic scrambling of bodies as his fellow soldiers moved to what little cover was available, urging those already there to squeeze tighter against the rocks and mud.

All this happened over the space of a few seconds – and even so short an amount of time can mean the difference between victory and defeat in the heat of battle. But it still wasn't long enough. The cannon shell shattered on impact, tearing apart earth and plant life and clone troopers like an unruly child with fragile toys.

Ahsoka Tano felt the heat of the collision on her skin, the shockwave building in her montrals, and grabbed the two men beside her with her hands and nine more nearby with the Force. She dove down into the gully and flattened them all to the ground along with her just before they would've been hit.

She muffled a cough as settling dust and smoke found their way into her throat. Fighting against aching limbs, she lifted herself into a sitting position. She barely had a second to survey the carnage before a laser whizzed past her shoulder close enough to burn.

Cursing through the pain, she peered up over the ruined lip of the gully. Armored shapes were picking their way through the trees down to them with alarming speed. "Look who showed up to pick off the survivors," she grumbled, and snatched the blaster off her belt to return fire.

"Look alive, boys!" she called over her shoulder. "Medics, get whoever can be moved on the AT-RTs! Zee-sixers, return fire – we need cover, now! Everybody else, lock and load and wait for my signal."

This retreat bordered on suicide. Everyone down to the lowliest private knew it. But, as it often was with Anakin Skywalker's tactics, they also knew there was no better option. The odds of making it up the slope to the landing zone with a few snipers in their path were far better than taking the long way round to the easier pass against an entire battalion.

A soldier to Ahsoka's right let out a rasping groan that rose to a yell when a medic tried to move him. Her burnt shoulder smarted in sympathy, and she followed the sound of the man's suffering with her eyes. Her heart sank when she saw how many dull white and blue figures were bent at odd angles or reddening the earth with their lifeblood. They would be leaving far too many behind today.

A pair of boots squelched to a stop beside her. She let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding when the aura of the person wearing them washed over her, as soothing as a cool breeze on a hot day.

"Rex, change of plans." Her own voice was alien to her, but the words, at least, sounded sure of themselves. "I'll go take care of those snipers and scout ahead. It'll fall to you to get the boys to the mountain summit in good time."

"You can count on me, sir."

"Keep a comm channel open and monitor my signal and vitals. Once I'm out of visual range I'll send you updates every five minutes."

Rex nodded and cocked his blasters. His left hand tensed halfway through the motion and went more slowly from then on. Ahsoka noticed, but said nothing. If he felt he could fight, he would fight – that was just the sort of captain he was. There was no use arguing on it, especially now, when they needed every man they had.

"Yes, sir. We'll be right behind you."

Ahsoka felt muscles shift beneath her cheeks, pulling the corners of her lips upward, but that was that was the closest she could get to a smile. Then she traded the ailing power pack on her blaster for a new one and leapt back onto the ridge.