Rex was thrown against the wall of the gunship as the craft lurched, the red interior lights suddenly going out. Rex instinctively called on the force, gripping the wall as there was the loud sound of metal tearing away. There was a blinding flash of light as a little explosion tore away what must have been the left wing. Now there was a little light, but nothing made sense. They were spinning down, down in a deadly spiral as the ground flashed by once, twice, before slamming into the earth at full force.
Only Rex's jedi-like abilities kept him from being sucked under the wreck of the side of the ship as they crashed, but Cody wasn't so lucky. His ori'vod gave a cry of agony as the ship shuddered to a halt. Smoke was quickly filling the small space as the others clambered out. Cody seemed to be the only one seriously harmed.
Rex crouched by his older brother, trying to see how bad he was. Cody gave a pained gasp as Rex shifted the debris around him. It was bad, judging by the rapidly growing pool of blood that surrounded him and what looked to be his shattered chestplate. Rex turned away to cough the smoke was becoming unbearable. He fumbled to try and grip Cody's limp hand.
"Hold on, Ovi'vod. We're gonna get you out." He rasped, clawing his way up to the light of the busted open door. He gulped at the fresh air ash he skidded down. His throat and stomach burned and he desperately fought the urge to vomit.
"The commander." He gasped, forcing himself to his feet. "He's still in there, trapped." He glanced at the ship, and spotted a leak of semi-luminescent trickling out of the wreck. Not good. Not good at all. "And there's a fuel leak. We only have a few seconds to-"
"Wrecker." Hunter cut him off. Wrecker nodded.
"I know, I know." The big clone raced back to the craft. Kix scowled, putting a hand on Rex's arm.
"Wrecker's gonna need help to get Cody out of there." He protested. Crosshair gave a sharp laugh.
"He's gonna get the gunship out of there, not Cody."
Wrecker braced himself against the glassy ground the best he could before leaning up against the downed aircraft and pushing back. There was another cry of pain from inside the ship, much weaker than before. Slowly but surely, to Rex's amazement, the ship began to roll over. As soon as it was fully on it's topside, Wrecker let go of the ship and slung Cody over his broad shoulders in a fireman's carry. As he walked away from the explosion, Rex heard Tech counting quietly to himself.
"Boom." Wrecker called, and the gunship exploded behind him. Talk about dramatic, even going so far as to actually memorize times for explosions just to look cool.
As he laid Cody down gently on a mostly clean stretch of ground, Kix pulled out the medical scanner and flashed it over Cody's chest. He swore.
"Internal damage. Looks like his plastoid shattered, some of it cutting him and making its way into his chest cavity." Kix rattled off, fishing through his medpack.
Rex sucked in a breath, and Cody's eyes fluttered open weakly as he coughed a little. Rex forced a smile as he gave a brief scan of their surroundings before turning back to his brother. "Di'kut. Your armor is supposed to go on the outside." He chuckled wryly. Cody hissed in pain and curled up a little.
"Yeah. No kidding." His voice was barely above a whisper. So he was aware enough to talk. That was a good thing, normally.
"I can cut the pain, But he's gonna need help fast." Kix warned, tilting Cody's head away slightly to stick him with the end of a hypo.
"We've got other problems." Crosshair said. "That blast gave away our position."
"And here I thought getting shot down gave away our position." Hunter said sardonically. Rex pressed his lips together as he saw the approaching droids. They had less than three minutes before the droids were upon them. Rex tightened his grip on his 17s,
"Find cover. Let them come to us." Rex ordered. There was the soft rasp of durasteel on plastoid as Cavalry drew one of her knives, raising her modified 16.
"Sorry, Cap, but that's not how we do things." Hunter laughed. "Bad Batch, plan eighty-two: Shockwave." He commanded.
Rex could only watch with something akin to awe as the bad batch systematically cleared the field in less than three minutes. By the time they were done, there were few droids that were recognizable, let alone dangerous. Rex and Kix were supporting Cody's weight between them as they quickly left the carnage behind. Night was beginning to fall, and they made camp. Kix rested Cody against a tree, making the other clone gasp and grunt with pain.
Rex knelt beside Kix and Cody. Kix looked at the captain. "Rex, we're losing him. Is there anything you can do?" He murmured quietly.
"I've called in evac. I could try to help, but it's a gamble." He answered.
"I'm willing to take the risk." Kix said. Rex nodded and placed his hand over the red stain that covered his brother's chestplate and the top of his plackart.
Rex closed his eyes and took a deep breath, reaching out to the force. He brushed past Cody's life force, something so dim that it was barely there. He found the broken threads in the force and gaped at them. It was bad. Much worse than Fives or Ahsoka had ever been.
He felt the pain that Cody was feeling as his own for a few brief seconds, and nearly keeled over. There was nothing he could really do to speed it up or stabilize him. He just pushed as much power as he could spare at the broken threads and hoped that helped. He sat back suddenly as his vision swam a little. Kix gripped his arm and Rex winced. Ok, so he had given a little much.
Cody gasped, and his life force brightened just the slightest. Rex shook the sudden fatigue and cobwebs from his mind and stood.
"Alright, we need to move out." he said solemnly. Crosshair dropped down from his perch and walked up to him.
"Commander Cody is in no position to move." He pointed out.
"I've already called in evac." He said. "Kix will stay with him until it arrives." Kix nodded, relaxing. Rex's expression hardened. "With the commander down, I'm in charge now. And I've got a plan to get into the cyber center."
"Ha! If your plans are so good, why'd they have to call us in?" Wrecker laughed. Rex's eyes narrowed.
"Trooper, watch your tone." Rex warned threateningly. He suddenly found himself being lifted up off the ground by his neck as Wrecker held him aloft. Rex struggled uselessly, even going as far as to push at him with the force. Kriff, he was strong.
Cavalry, who was in the corner cutting her fingernails with one of her knives, stood. "Put the captain down." She warned, growling in a way that would have given Wolffe a run for his money.
"Or what, pipsqueak?" Wrecker challenged. Rex saw her eyes flash at the edge of his field of vision. There was a flicker of movement, and suddenly he was on the ground again. Wrecker let out a roar of pain as he clutched at his arm, but there was no blood like Rex had expected. Those knives were sharp.
"That's enough!" Hunter's voice broke through the fighting. Kix and Crosshair were locking horns as well. "We're all on the same team here. The captain is right, we follow him now. For commander Cody." Rex rubbed at his throat and locked gazes with the sargent, nodding. Wrecker was still whimpering and shaking his arm. Rex glanced at Cavalry, who was grinning smugly.
"Wrecker, you alright?" Asked Crosshair. Wrecker's face was panicked.
"I can't move my arm!" He said, his voice nearly an octave higher than normal.
Tech walked over and made him sit down, feeling around his hand and forearm. He scowled.
"I don't see why you cannot move it. No bones or ligaments are torn. There's no swelling." His frown deepened as Cavalry snickered and walked over to them, pointing to a small spot in the chink of his armor, between his armpit and the the front edge of his shoulder blade.
"I jabbed him with the butt of my knife here. Direct strike to the radial nerve." She was full on laughing now, and Tech understood after a second, joining her in giggles.
"I like you, trooper Cavalry." He said after they were done laughing.
"Is my arm gonna be like this forever?" Wrecker asked nervously.
"Only for a couple of minutes. You, Wrecker, just got taken down by a tiny girl a third of your size in one hit." Tech sniggered some more. "I'll have to keep that in mind. You are a creative one. I see why the captain prizes you." He glanced at the smaller trooper.
"Gotta get creative if you're going to keep up with an army faster and stronger than you'll ever be." She shrugged modestly.
Rex chuckled, watching the small girl form a nearly instantaneous connection with Tech. It was getting late, and he was exhausted. He settled back against a tree and closed his eyes while still being alert of the area around him, and let himself get some form of pseudo sleep until they moved out in a couple hours.