Ahsoka took a shaking breath. "You're sure?"
"Absolutely." Rex met her eyes. Ahsoka slumped. She threw her arms around Rex and buried her face in his neck.
"Anakin will be devastated." She whispered.
"If he's alive." Rex murmured back. "Sorry, not helping, I know." Ahsoka pressed a soft kiss to his lips.
"Here and now." She whispered. Rex nodded
"Here and now." He repeated. There was a crackle coming from the door. They were using torches to unseal it from the other side.
Ahsoka walked around the edge of the gurney they were sitting on, passing Rex his helmet. Survival was key at the moment, but a battle immediately after brain surgery was dangerous. Especially because this was the third surgery he'd had in that same spot.
She brushed one last kiss against his lips before he tugged the helmet down over his face. Something whispered in the back of her mind that they may not get this small intimacy for a long time.
"Got a plan?" Rex asked apprehensively.
"The rough draft of one." She raised her hands and closed her eyes, focusing on the door. "Ready with your blasters. Set those things to stun. I don't want to kill anybody just yet."
Rex obeyed uncertainly. Ahsoka mentally counted in her head as she felt the seals on the door begin to weaken. Just a little longer.
"Ahsoka....?" Rex trailed off warningly.
"Almost... Now!" She shouted, throwing as much strength she could muster into a force shove, sending the door flying back and smashing through the clones.
She dove out of the way, snagging her sabers from her hips. Rex fired at the remaining clones, stunning them all in seconds.
Ahsoka got to her feet, igniting her blades and leading the way out the door. A clone that had been hit by the door had cracked armor. Blood seeped from his bicep into a steadily growing pool on the floor. He let out a weak cry and twitched. Ahsoka's heart sank when she saw his armor didn't fit right.
He was a younger clone. Eight years old at the most.
Rex sighed. "The boys are having a hard time of it. Did you hear Caedus escaped?"
Ahsoka pressed her lips together. Rex touched her shoulder.
"If we're going to get out of this alive we'll need a distraction." She muttered, hating herself.
Rex tilted his head at her. "We'll probably both do things we'll regret today." He put a hand on her shoulder. "Where too, Commander?"
Right. Survival. "The hanger control tower." She answered, forcing down her emotions. The droids followed them through the halls. The ship shook as they neared the tower, Rex stumbling into Ahsoka and sending them both sprawling.
Rex put a hand to his head where the bacta patch was under his helmet. Ahsoka waited until the shuddering of the ship stopped. She reached out to help him to his feet. Rex took her hand and let himself be pulled upright.
"I'm guessing fighting for your life isn't proper aftercare for brain surgery?" He grumbled.
Ahsoka shook her head, slowing her blistering pace a little as they neared the doors. "No. Tell me if you suddenly feel sick." She ordered. Rex nodded.
"Yes ma'am." He readied his blasters as R7 opened the doors to the tower. Moving quickly, he stunned his brothers manning the tower:
Cheep shut and locked the doors behind them. Rex ran over to the terminal, looking for what had caused the blast.
"We've been pulled out of hyperspace. The hyperdrive..." He pressed a couple buttons, trying to assess the damage. "It's completely gone." He said in a small voice.
Ahsoka pressed her lips together. "GG, open the hanger external doors." She ordered.
They looked out of the transparasteel viewports at the main hanger below them. The same hanger she had reunited with Rex in a month before.
She wondered if she would ever get to show him his surprise.
A moon loomed massive in front of them. Rex growled some rough oaths in mando'a, more than she'd ever heard anybody use in a sentence before.
"We're caught in this moon's gravitational field." He swore. "Escape pods, gunships, everything but the theta class shuttle in Hanger 12C is gone. If they weren't trying to kill us, I'd be proud."
Ahsoka hoped Quin was on that shuttle. Waiting for them or a signal otherwise. GG opened the doors to the hangers.
Ahsoka's heart fell through the floor as half of the 332nd poured out into ranks, Dogma at the head.
"I should have known this wasn't real. This nightmare." Dogma's icy voice crackled over the intercom next to her. "General Ahsoka Tano, you are relieved of duty and labeled a traitor to the republic. Please, die so this game will be over." There was a thread of pleading in his voice. Dogma's voice. Not the voice of a drone.
"He's not fighting it." Rex said softly to himself. He turned back to Ahsoka. "What are we going to do? Fight our way to the shuttle?" He asked desperately.
Ahsoka closed her eyes, which suddenly felt hot and prickly. "No." She whispered, meeting his eyes through the T of his visor. "There are too many of them. Besides. I don't want to hurt them."
Rex stiffened slightly, silent for a long second before drawing a ragged breath.
"I hate to tell you this, but they don't care." His voice was a gravelly snarl. "This ship is going down and those soldiers, MY BROTHERS, are willing to die and take you and me with them!" His voice caught ever son slightly.
Ahsoka watched him hang his head. She took a small step closer, them another. She reached up and placed both hands on either side of his helmet. He didn't stop her.
Slowly, gently, she lifted the helmet clear of his face, tucking it tenderly under her arm. He blinked, twin tracks of tears spilling over as he ducked his head and looked away.
She reached up with her free hand to carefully brush away the tears. He tilted his head into her touch, closing his eyes against a great unspoken anguish between the two of them.
"You're a good soldier, Rex." She whispered, stroking her thumb over the ridge of his cheekbone. "So is every single one of those men down there. They... they may be willing to die, but I refuse to be the one who kills them."
Rex met her eyes, looking defeated and lost.
"So that's it then?" He rasped, swallowing thickly. "We just give up?"
Ahsoka shook her head. "No. Never." She murmured. Something inside Rex cracked. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face under her lekku in the crook of her. His eyes burned, but there were no tears this time. Ahsoka had her arms around his neck, clinging to him just as desperately.
Once the jagged edges inside of him had been soothed slightly, he pulled back. Ahsoka studied him for a second, then pulled him down to press her lips against his in a bruising kiss.
It felt too much like a kiss goodbye. Ahsoka decided she definitely didn't like the voice in the back of her head.
"I have an idea." She whispered. "A reckless and dangerous one, but it's an idea."
Rex sighed. "We're running out of options here, I'll take anything."
Ahsoka gave him a lopsided grin. "You're going to take me prisoner.
~
Rex didn't like this plan. It was a stupid, hare brained, pin headed plan. But it was better than facing a firing squad.
Ahsoka's lightsabers were on his belt, a 17 pointed at her back. He must have checked maybe fifteen times by now that the safety was on.
Within a millisecond, seventy blasters were aimed at her chest. Dogma raised his hand but Rex beat him to it.
"Hold! Hold your fire." He ordered. The droids, according to the plan, were slipping around to the platform controls. Rex just needed to buy time. "I have everything under control."
There was a brief pause. "Execute your orders, sir, or I will." Dogma said, tension threaded through his voice.
"Our orders were to execute the Jedi for treason to the republic." He said, forcing himself to press the gun into his wife's back a bit. "But Ahsoka Tano is no longer a jedi. She hasn't been for some time."
Dogma hesitated, lowing his blaster a fraction of an inch. He raised it again, switching to an internal channel. His voice crackled in Rex's ear.
"I know you are not really my Captain. That this never happens. But the only way... He'll only let me out if I obey." Dogma's voice is tired, pleading.
"Dogma you're safe. Caedus doesn't have you anymore. Ahsoka is innocent and you know it." Rex's voice caught.
"No! You're not my brother! This isn't happening. I'm sorry Rex, I need to be free." He cut the connection, raising his blaster once more. Ahsoka glanced at the droids.
"Couple more seconds." She growled out of the side of her mouth.
Rex turned to Dogma. "Dogma. Dogma listen! Ahsoka isn't Krell. She doesn't deserve death!" He pleaded. Dogma flicked the safety off and the company followed his lead.
"Commander Flip. I charge you with sedition against the republic. Subsequently you will be stripped of all privileges and demoted from Commander accordingly." Dogma growled. "Fire on the trai-"
He was cut off as the platforms dropped, dumping half of his company to the repair dock beneath them. The distraction worked well enough, giving Rex time to toss Ahsoka her lightsabers. The remaining soldiers opened fire.
Ahsoka's lightsabers served as a defensive shield. She hoped Quin took this as the signal. Sure enough, the lone shuttle started up. Weapons swiveling to fire at the ranks. It would take another minute of so to get the craft airborn.
Another explosion rocked the hull. They were in atmo now, and the cruiser was breaking apart.
Ahsoka heard a mechanical scream from behind her. She turned just in time to watch her beloved droids be decimated by blaster bolts.
The shuttle lifted off the ground, ceasing fire as Quin ran to lower the ramp. He took hold of one of the hydraulic springs lowering it. The cruiser rocked again.
"Hurry!" Quin yelped. Without looking, Ahsoka force shoved Rex up to meet him, still deflecting blaster bolts left and right.
A bolt caught her left shoulder and she tripped, falling on the ground. An explosion boomed.
Rex watched Ahsoka fall as fire caught around the hanger. His stomach churned slightly as he felt the ship begin to go into free fall.
"Go!" She yelled, waving. Quin ran back to the cockpit and began to guide them away.
"No!" Rex shouted, moving to jump off the ramp and go back for her. She held up a hand, pinning him back as he struggled. "I'm not leaving you!"
Ahsoka smiled. "I know. I'm counting on you." She said quietly. Quin pulled the ship away and she shoved with the force, sending them out the hanger doors.
Rex's yell was lost as the ship split in two.
He whipped around to face Quin. "We have to go back." He growled.
"Rex, no body can survive that crash. We both know that." He said, turning the shuttle above the wreck.
"The ship hasn't crashed yet. She's still alive." He pleaded. "Fives please."
Quid curled his lip up. "It's Quintus." He grumbled, putting the shuttle in a steep dive alongside the wreckage.
"Can you get us inside the crash?" Rex asked. Quin looked at him like he was crazy. "This is a theta class shuttle. It has shields. Can you get in there or not?" He sounded angry. He was terrified.
"I'm no skywalker... but I think I can." The ship lurched in a tight spin. Rex raced to the ramp, slamming a fist on the control board. He gripped the spring system and scanned the debris falling next to them.
There. A flash of orange. No, just a helmet. He reached out with the force, feeling for her. He could almost see her in his mind's eye.
There she was. Running along a part of what looked to be a thruster when she saw him. She reached out a hand, stretching out towards him.
He missed her hand once, twice, having to dodge a second time as a shard of metal nearly took off his head.
Third time's a charm. He and Ahsoka locked wrists. He pulled with all of his strength, hauling her into the ship. They collapsed against each other as the ramp sealed behind them.
Quin circled high above the crash until it had settled. Rex was the first one out, stepping on to a plain of death and ashes. What ever broke inside of him earlier shattered now. The sharp edges cutting at his insides and tearing him apart.
He fell to his knees. Gone. All of the jedi. All of his brothers. Gone.
He didn't know how long he sat there. Inside, he was yelling at himself to move. Stand up. Anything. He couldn't. Ahsoka sat beside him, pressing kisses against his cheek. Somebody draped a blue-gray cloak over him to ward off the encroaching chill.
He barely noticed.
Somebody was shaking him. Pleading. Crying. He didn't react. More over, he found that he didn't care. A bottle was pressed to his lips but he couldn't drink. He just stared uncompromising at the wreckage.
Days must have passed. He barely noticed the difference. Ahsoka and Quin sorted through the wreckage. Tried to make sense. Rex just sat.
He wanted to sleep. He was past caring. Part of him wondered if it would be easier to just stop breathing. Become on of the hundreds of corpses littering the ashy field.
Distantly, he heard Ahsoka and Quin talking. Something sharp stabbed at his neck. He didn't flinch. He just let everything fade to black.
A/N - I'm so sorry for the delay. This was hard to write. Roughly twenty chapters or so until the trilogy is... is done. Finished. And the Cavalry Duology can begin again.
Good luck. And happy late 2021.