Back in the Game (COMPLETE)

9.4.3

After handing off control to Kix, Ahsoka turned and did a headcount of her men. Fifteen, no one was missing. "Any injuries?" she began asking around, but everyone was fine.

"Everyone's here, sir," Rex confirmed, moving to stand at her side.

Ahsoka nodded and pointed out towards the locker room. "Rest and shower up, I'll check in with everyone once the rest of the squads come back. Good work today, boys."

Everyone saluted and started removing their helmets, ready to get out of the sweaty armor into the warm showers. Since they were first back, they had dibs on the hot water.

She looked over at Rex. "And you?" she asked, not ordering him but asking him what he planned to do.

"I'm with you," he responded, which received no objection from Ahsoka. There was a reason her passcodes were identical to his birth number.

Instead, she made contact with the command center. "Dogma, catch me up."

He started rattling off statuses. "The slave squadron is still transferring the prisoners to the villages, and they could be the last squad back. They needed the extra gunship because there were almost five times as many slaves as you predicted. Apparently, their staffing recruitment has increased."

Ahsoka cursed under her breath. Of course, they had. Why wouldn't they? An increase in staff would correlate to an increase in production, and most likely, a decrease in living standards. Who knew what kind of torture had been forced upon the Lokori natives?

"The tower squadron is right behind you, they should be arriving soon. The fighter squadron left a few minutes ago, and they'll get back as soon as the base is destroyed. The bridge already has the coordinates to the next jump point entered. As soon as the other three squads return, we'll head back to the medical station, and then to Coruscant."

"Have their fingers on the controls, Dogma," she instructed. "We aren't wasting any more time away from the capital than we have to."

"Yes, sir," he responded, and he relayed the message to the bridge, word for word.

Rex furrowed his brow. "How many slaves did you think would be here?"

Ahsoka clenched her fist. "Twenty, give or take a few. If what Dogma says is true, then there are almost a hundred now." She stared off into space, glaring as she did. "I would have come back here sooner, but I haven't had a troop to fight with or even a ship to get here."

He chuckled. "It's hard to fight a battle with no resources, and not even you can't save everyone all the time, Commander."

"I can't, but it shouldn't have taken the Jedi Council being kidnapped for something to be done about it," she objected. "Even getting this mission took convincing the emergency council back at the Temple."

"That's what happens when you force people to do something that doesn't benefit them," he reminded her. "Make them have a reason to say 'yes'."

She scowled. "They shouldn't need a reason. Slavery is reason enough."

Rex smiled, looking down on the Togruta. "Well, we've known for a while that you have a bigger heart than they do."

It was enough to make Ahsoka smile. Just barely, but it was enough. She would have thanked him, but another gunship descended into the hangar and landed. The two of them ran over to meet the tower squadron. Ahsoka's heart skipped a beat when she saw Caleb supporting one of the troopers, but all of them were still alive, thankfully.

"How many injured?" she asked immediately, supporting the clone from the other side.

"Three," Caleb answered on cue, having already counted. "One burn, one cut that needs stitches, and one with a bit of shrapnel in the thigh. I don't want to try and squeeze them in the medical wing if the Jedi Masters need it first, though."