Weeks went by. Currently, I was on the planet Anaxes. Master Windu, Areria, Anakin, and I led a two pronged assault in the air and on the ground for many weeks. But unfortunately, we kept losing. And if we continued, we will lose control of on Anaxes. Currently Master Windu, Areria, Anakin, and I were in the control room. We were around a holotable, showing a hologram of the planet and of the battlefield.
"The droids have overrun our main production facility. It won't be long before the Separatists take Anaxes, compromising our entire reserve fleet." Master Windu mentioned.
At that moment, Rex and Cody approached us. Cody spoke up at once. "Pardon the interruption, General, but Rex here has a good theory on why we keep, uh losing."
"Please, Captain." Master Windu urged.
"The droid army uses analytics to predict our strategy. The first time we use a tactic, it's very effective. The next, less so. In fact, the more we use a certain tactic, the less effective it becomes." Rex explained. "They learn our tendencies and use that data against us. To counter them, we're constantly working out ways to vary our attack."
"But the losses we are experiencing on Anaxes are not commonplace." Areria pointed out.
Rex nodded. "Exactly. The counterattacks are so specific, it's my strategy the droids know, my playbook."
I felt a pang of guilt at his words. "I hope this is not any of my doing. While I was brainwashed, I gave away intel to Dooku and the Separatists."
Anakin placed a hand on my shoulder. "It wasn't your fault, Storm. You couldn't have known until it was too late."
"I agree with General Skywalker. There's no point in feeling guilty, General Ca'ana." Rex added. "You weren't in control of yourself."
"Yeah, you can't blame yourself for something you weren't control of." Areria chimed in.
"Skywalker, Skikea, and Captain Rex are right. Dooku took advantage of the bond between you two." Master Windu pointed out. "You aren't to blame for this."
Cody then cleared his throat before continuing with the matter at hand. "My concern is that Rex is one of our best. If the droids can learn to defeat him, we may all be vulnerable."
Areria raised an eyebrow. "What do you propose?"
"Let Rex and me take a small squad behind enemy lines. There's a Separatist Cyber Center which relays all battlefield intel to their command ship." Cody advised. "If we're going to find anything, it will be there."
"If you think it will help turn this fight around, get going." Master Windu confirmed.
"Thank you, General." Rex replied.
"Rex, is there anything else?" Anakin questioned, sounding worried.
Rex shook his head. "No, General."
"Master Windu, allow me to join them. Areria can stay behind to keep our troops in place." I offered.
"Very well. You may go with them, Storm." Master Windu said.
With that, Cody, Rex, and I left. Once it was time to go, Cody, Jesse, Kix, and I made our way to the barracks. Cody and I entered, while Jesse and Kix remained outside. Inside the barrack, we found Rex sitting on a bed with a picture of Cody, Fives, Echo, and him. I felt a twinge of sorrow. I still missed Echo. And part of me denied that he was dead.
"Come on, Rex. Time to move out." Cody informed him.
"Fives, Echo, and before that, Hevy. There's so many troopers gone." Rex mentioned.
Cody nodded. "Yeah, regular folk don't understand. Sometimes in war, it's hard to be the one that survives."
"That's what I'm worried about." Rex said.
"Well, what do you mean?" Cody asked.
"I didn't tell the Generals. They might think I'm crazy. In fact, you both might think I'm crazy." Rex mentioned.
I furrowed my brows. "What is it?"
"I think Echo's alive." Rex explained.
I shook my head. "That's not possible. He died at the Citadel."
"The way the droids are countering us here, the strategies I'm using, they're all old battle plans Echo and I drew up together." Rex argued.
"Look, Rex, I hear what you're saying. But it's just not possible." Cody protested.
Rex let out a sigh. "I hope you're right."
"If anything it's more possible that I gave them all this information that's coming back to bite us in the exhaust port." I pointed out.
Rex shook his head. "I don't believe that. As a matter of fact, Echo's fingerprints are all over these Separatist strategies. I didn't mention these old battle plans to you, Storm. And I believe Echo wanted you to stop blaming yourself. He knew you weren't at fault."
A grim smile appeared on my face. "You're right. Echo wouldn't have wanted this...He always saw the good in people, especially when I couldn't see it within myself. I'm sorry Rex, I knew what he meant to you."
"I know, but you must believe me. Echo's still alive. I know what he meant to you as well, Storm." Rex commented.
"Rex, you have to admit what you're saying is a long shot at best, and most likely, misplaced hope. I need you to be focused on this." Cody urged.
"I-I know, I know. Don't worry." Rex assured him.
With that, three of us walked out of the barracks. As we joined Kix and Jesse, Rex spoke up. "So, what squad are we taking in?"
"Clone Force 99." Cody informed us.
With that, we walked out to the landing platform. As we made our way to the platform, I heard Kix speaking to Jesse. "I've heard mixed things about these guys. They have a 100% success rate."
"It's not that they win, it's how they win that worries me." Jesse replied.
We saw a ship coming in hot onto the platform, forcing the clones to run out of the way. The ship then landed just feet away from us.
"So why haven't I heard of this squad?" Rex asked.
"Experimental unit Clone Force 99, they're defective clones with, uh desirable mutations." Cody clarified.
"99, eh? Nice touch." Rex commented.
"They call themselves The Bad Batch." Cody informed us.
At that moment, the door of their ship then opened, revealing four clones in red and black armor. They took off their helmets, revealing their faces. I was taken back to see that they all looked different from one another. One of them shouted out. "The cavalry has arrived!"
"These guys are clones?" Kix asked. "They don't look like clones to me."
Once they approached us, Cody greeted them by clasping hands with the clone that had a bandana around his head and with half of his face covered in paint. "Sergeant, good to see you again."
"You too, sir." The man replied.
"This is Hunter." Cody said.
"Sorry we're late, Commander. We were putting down an insurrection on Yalbec Prime when your comm came in. Had a few unforeseen...complications." Hunter informed us.
The tall and muscular clone with one good eye chuckled. "Ever fought a male Yalbec?"
"Um, no. Can't say I have." Jesse replied.
"You're lucky. Only way to kill 'em is with one of these." The clone mentioned as raised a knife.
"That's right. Wrecker here cut off the Queen's stinger while she was still alive. That's why all those Yalbec males tried to eat us." Hunter explained.
"Uh, technically, they were trying to mate with us." The clone with goggles corrected. "And, for your information, the stinger of a Yalbec Queen is a delicacy on some planets."
"They call him Tech." Cody informed us.
"Yeah, he can fill your head with useless info for hours." Hunter mentioned before pointing to the clone with gray hair and a sniper riffle on his back. "Crosshair, on the other hand, he's not much of a conversationalist, but when you have to hit a precise target from ten klicks, Crosshair's your man."
"So, Commander, what kind of suicide mission do you have for us this time?" Hunter asked.
"Let's get going. We'll brief you on the way." Cody stated.
With that, we climbed into a shuttle. On the way, we learned that the other clone was Wrecker. As we left the base, Jesse narrowed his eyes at Crosshair. "What are you looking at?"
"We don't usually work with regs." Crosshair retorted.
"Regs?" Jesse repeated.
Jesse was about to move over towards him, when Hunter stopped him by placing a hand on his armor. "He's talking about regular clones. But don't take it personal."
"We're all on the same team, so cut the attitude and listen up to the General." Cody ordered.
I then turned on my holoprojector, revealing a hologram of the Cyber Center to everyone on board. The Cyber Center didn't lied far from our base.
"Here's the mission. Our target is this Cyber Center. It's the brains of the entire Separatist campaign here on Anaxes." I explained.
"I could demolish that with one hand! Yeah!" Wrecker exclaimed.
"This isn't a demo job, Wrecker. It's strictly a retrieval operation." Cody informed him.
At that moment, the entire shuttle shook. The pilot of the shuttle shouted out. "Incoming fire!"
In a matter of seconds, the shuttle plummeted. I did my best to hold on to something as the shuttle violently shook around and about.
"We're going down!" Wrecker shouted before laughing.
Once our shuttle crashed onto the ground, we quickly climbed out. There were flames all around the shuttle. I glanced around to find ourselves down inside a canyon.
"We always get shot down when we travel with regs." Wrecker mentioned.
"Cody! Help! He's trapped!" Kix exclaimed.
I turned around to see Kix still on top of the shuttle, looking down in the inside of the shuttle, where smoke was coming out from.
"We have to do something." Jesse said.
"I'll get him." Rex offered.
But Hunter stopped him, holding him back. And before I could do anything, Wrecker lifted up the entire shuttle from the ground before pushing it back. Wrecker quickly grabbed Cody before making his way away from the shuttle.
"Boom." Wrecker said.
At that moment, the entire shuttle blew up. Once Wrecker reached us, he gently placed Cody on the ground. Kix inspected him with a medical sensor.
"He has internal damage. I can cut the pain. But he needs help fast." Kix informed us.
"We all need help. That blast gave away our position." Crosshair mentioned.
"I thought getting shot down gave away our position." Hunter retorted.
"Everyone, find cover. We'll hold this position and let them come to us." Rex ordered.
"I don't think so, Captain. That's not our style. We prefer going to them." Hunter commented before turning towards Wrecker, Tech, and Crosshair. "Bad Batch! Plan 82, Shockwave!"
With that, Wrecker grabbed a giant piece of the shuttle. As the battle droids made their way towards us, Crosshair, Hunter, Tech, and Wrecker rushed over towards them. We watched as they used the piece from the shuttle as a shield, meanwhile Hunter hit them with his blaster, and Tech threw electro magnetic pulse or EMP grenades in the air as Crosshair hit them with his sniper rifle, disabling the battle droids. As for the spider droids, they charged towards them, destroying them in a matter of seconds. Once all the droids were destroyed, Rex, Jesse, Kix, Cody, and I approached them.
"That was some show you put on just now." Rex mentioned.
"Yes, it was quite impressive." I commented.
"Just doing our job, Captain." Hunter said.
"Hey, look, Crosshair, this little clanker likes you." Wrecker teased as he raised a battle droid's head towards Crosshair.
Crosshair rolled his eyes. "Grow up, Wrecker."
"We should move out before reinforcements arrive. Our position has been compromised." Rex advised.
With that, we moved out, continuing to walk until we reached a forest filled with trees with red leaves. We sat down on some rocks to rest, placing some lanterns on the ground for light. Rex was with Cody, sitting by a tree not far from us. I then sensed something not far from us. I felt the pricking sensation in the back of my head, but I glanced around to see nothing. I tried shaking it off as I looked back at the sky in awe to see a green light in the sky. It was unlike anything I've ever seen.
"So, I get what makes the other Batchers unique, but what's so special about Hunter?" Jesse asked.
"He can put up with the other three." Kik retorted.
"He was engineered with heightened senses. A place like the Cyber Center, Hunter can feel the electromagnetic frequencies from anywhere on the planet." Tech explained.
"And here I thought we were smart just using a holomap." Jesse teased.
"Well, maps can be wrong. Hunter never is." Tech clarified.
"Hang in there, Cody." Rex urged. He then stood up, turning to face us. "Listen up. We have to move out."
"Commander Cody's in no position to move." Crosshair pointed out.
"Already called in Evac. Kix will stay with Cody until it arrives. I'm in charge now." Rex replied. "And I've got a plan to get into that Cyber Center."
"If your plans are so good, why did Commander Cody have to call us in? And besides isn't General Ca'ana here in charge?" Crosshair asked as he approached Rex.
"You can't talk to Captain Rex like that!" Jesse snapped.
Wrecker scoffed. "Says who?"
Wrecker then grabbed Jesse, lifting him up in the air. Rex immediately intervened, trying to get Wrecker to put him down. My eyes widened. Oh this can't be good.
"Put him down!" Kix urged.
"Stay out of it." Crosshair warned.
He then tackled Kix as Tech tried to break it up, but failed. Getting fed up, I stepped in. "All right, break it up! All of you."
At my words, the clones all froze. Hunter approached my side as he spoke up. " Wrecker, drop him. Now."
"Aw." Wrecker groaned.
Nevertheless, Wrecker dropped Jesse, causing him to fall onto the ground with a thud. Hunter then continued. "Fellas, come on! We're all fighting for the same thing, right? All right then. Let's cut the chatter and finish what we started. We'll do it your way, Captain. For Commander Cody."
"Okay. Let's gear up and move out." Rex ordered.
•••
Once dawn was upon us, Hunter, Crosshair, Wrecker, Tech, Jesse, Rex, and I reached an outpost, guarded by a couple B1 battle droids. There were a few speeder bikes in front of the outpost as well. We remained hidden in the bushes and among the trees.
"Not our primary target. It's an outpost." Hunter mentioned. "Should we take it?"
Rex and I exchanged a look. We gave each other a nod, having the same idea in mind. I then turned back to face Hunter. "It will be easier than going around."
"All right, what are your orders? We pick them off from the tree line one-by-one?" Hunter asked.
"Actually, we were thinking we'd take a page from your book." Rex mentioned.
"Rush them head-on." I added.
"I like your style." Hunter commented.
With that, we rushed out towards the outpost, taking down the droids. As Rex and the others fired their blasters at the droids, I led them on, swinging my lightsaber, slicing the droids in my way. Once inside, we hopped onto lift with a datapad. I quickly pressed some buttons on the datapad, lifting us up into the control room. As soon as we were in the control room, we saw several droids standing around while there were a few other droids sitting behind the screens. As soon as we entered, all the droids turned to face us.
"Hey! You're not authorized-" One of the droids said.
However before he could finish his sentence, I lunged towards him, slicing him in half. Rex, Hunter, Tech, Jesse, Crosshair, and I quickly took down all the droids in the room in a matter of seconds. Once all the droids were killed, Wrecker joined us. "Is it over already? Aw, man!"
"Not bad. For a reg." Hunter mentioned.
Tech sat down in one of the chairs, he quickly got to work, slicing into the system of the Separatists. Meanwhile, Rex and I looked out the window seeing the Cyber Center not far from us.
"All right, there it is." I stated.
"The Cyber Center." Rex added.
"It looks like the Cyber Center itself has minimal guards, about 30 droids." Tech informed us as he continued to get us intel. "Oh Wait. Wait! I got a massive signal coming in. A whole platoon of droids is headed this way."
"Someone's noticed our handiwork back at the crash site." Hunter commented.
"Yeah. Make sure you keep an eye on those incoming Separatist forces. I want to know when they reach this outpost." Rex ordered.
Tech nodded. "You got it, Cap."
"We've gotta move swiftly." I advised.
"We'll grab some speeder bikes and flank them from the back." Hunter suggested.
After discussing the plan, we moved out, hopping onto the speeders. As soon as we were close enough to the center, we left the speeders behind. We all quickly moved into our positions, surrounding the center from different directions. I turned my comlink on. "Is everyone in position?"
"Affirmative." Rex said.
"Affirmative." Hunter checked in.
"Affirmative." Crosshair chimed in.
"Cap, you wanted to know when those Separatist forces breached the outpost. Well, they're getting there just about now." Tech informed us.