The keerdak landed in the middle of the village square, and Rex slid from its back. Already, Poletecs were noticing their arrival as the others landed nearby. Rex ignored them to help Echo slide from the creatures back. Echo grunted on landing, and his knees buckled. He would have fallen if Rex hadn't slung his arm over his shoulder and took most of his weight.
Echo was still shivering hard, and was cold to the touch even through his gloves. Rex wished he had his kit with him to wrap him up in the blanket from his bedroll, but that was on the ship.
The Poletec leader said something, and once again, Tech stepped forward to translate.
"He says that, while he is impressed with our taming of the keerdaks, we have broken our word and brought the war to his village." Tech said. Anakin looked uncomfortable, but Rex stepped forward, after helping Echo sit.
"Translate for me." Rex told Tech before looking at the Poletec chieftain. "The TechoUnion, who claim they are neutral, are the other residents of this planet. But, in practice, they have broken their claim and chosen a side. We did not wish to bring war to you. But now it has come to this despite our mutual wish to protect your people."
Rex took a deep breath and glanced back at Echo. Echo pressed his thin and cracked lips together, then nodded.
"Look at what they've done to one of ours. One of my people. They took him from us, breaking wartime laws, and experimented on him. They tried to turn him into a weapon against his brothers. We had no say in the war either. We had no say in it coming to this planet. To your village. Now it is time for you to chose a side, and we will do our best to defend your village when the attack comes, whether you side with us or not."
Tech finished translating, and there was a moment of tense silence. Then the Poletec leader spoke. Tech slumped slightly in relief.
"He sees your plight, and will aid you in defending the village. The jedi will always have a friend on Skako." Rex also relaxed, closing his eyes and allowing himself a moment of mental rest before opening them.
"Alright, let's get to work."
They had precious little time to spare, but they managed to get rudimentary defences up. Crosshair took up a position on the ridge, with Anakin and Echo a ledge about halfway up.Rex had given Echo one of his 17s, and hoped the droids never found him. Wrecker and Tech were also up top, stationed another large rock to shove down the mountainside.
Hunter and Rex marshaled the Poletecs, making sure they were somewhat prepared for the forces that Hunter felt rapidly approaching. All too soon, the warning was sounded. The TechnoUnion was here. And they brought only their finest.
The droids were dumb, and easy enough to take care of. Then came tanks. Rex heard a thunderous rumble behind him and threw himself to the side as the boulder slammed through the village and cleared a path through the rubble. Wrecker was right behind the rock, shooting down any droids he could see that his handiwork didn't take care of.
A poletec was fighting with their swordlike prefered weapon, and Rex ran over. The poor thing thought he was coming for them, not seeing the squad of droids coming up just out of their line of sight. Rex slid past the taller creature, drawing the fire of the droids while returning his own as he came up in a crouch.
Instinctively, he and the poletec turned back to back as more droids appeared around them. Despite a technological disadvantage in using a crude blade to a blaster, the poletec seemed to know just where to strike to disable the droids. Working together, they pressed back the droids in the immediate vicinity.
Rex glanced over his shoulder at the native and gave a nod, not really knowing how else to tell them 'Good job.' He fired at an errant droid over the poletec's shoulder, and this time the native didn't so much as flinch. He said something in that echoey and resonant language his species used before carefully copying Rex's nod, making the clone laugh a little.
His laughter was short lived, as he felt a twang in the force. He looked up just in time to see a rocket sailing towards him, and didn't have time to react before his new friend shoved him, pushing him clear of the blast.
Rex was thrown to the ground and the mortar slammed into the poletec's chest, exploding on contact.
"No!" The yell tore from his throat, unbidden. A small voice in the back of his mind told him that nobody could have survived a blast like that, but he stumbled to his feet anyways to the crater in the ground. If there was a body, it was so blackened he missed it. More likely, they had been vaporized when it exploded.
Rex turned to see where the mortar had come from, and immediately felt his hands clench into fists at his side.
Octuptarra droids. Massive, bigger than even the spider walkers on Umbara. And there were two. The three cannons on the sides of the droids were already wreaking havoc on the small forces beneath them.
Another shell hit close to Rex and threw him forward, making him grunt and curse as the near misses of blaster burns stung on contact with the earth. He rolled, gasping and wincing before dragging himself to his feet. He collected his blaster, which had been knocked out of his hand before taking off back to the village square.
Hunter, Tech and Wrecker were already there, along with two natives as they pushed back the tide. Rex arrived just in time to give them a reprieve. His chest hurt, his muscles ached, and he was panting for breath through his helmet filters which were partly clogged from being thrown into the dirt twice over.
"Glad you could join us." Hunter grunted as he stabbed a droid that got too close for comfort, following it up with a few round into the fray. Rex just managed a mute nod, glancing up that the monstrous creation above them. He got another pang in the force, and this time he could do something about it.
"Scatter!" He yelled roughly, and dived to the side. The poletecs didn't need a translation, and everyone scrambled to get clear of the shot that hit milliseconds later. As the explosion thundered, Rex almost missed Anakin's voice over his comm.
"Captain. We need to take out these walkers. I got one. You take the other, use all opportunities." Rex frowned, raising his wrist to the bottom of his helmet to be heard better.
"Are you sure, sir?" He asked.
"Yes."
Hunter looked over his shoulder at Rex. "What does he mean by that? How does he expect you to take out a walker single handedly?"
Rex sighed and pulled out the unlit hilt of his lightsaber, giving Hunter a smile that was hidden by his helmet. "You guys aren't the only ones who are defective." He looked up at the droid, trying to calculate the height when Wrecker stepped forward and raised his hands as if to grab Rex. Rex raised his hand. "Don't you dare."
Crouching down, his muscles complaining with the movement, he gathered his strength. This was bigger than any jump he'd tried yet, but if he timed it just right...
He leaped up, snapping the force beneath him. His stomach flipped as the ground fell away, and even though he was engineered not to get motion sick, he had to remind himself why throwing up in a sealed helmet was a bad idea. He ignited his blade and realized that he hadn't gone high enough, and would miss the droid entirely if he didn't act fast.
Thinking quickly, he grabbed at the threads of the force around one of the droid's massive legs and used those like a grapple line to pull himself forward, landing perilously on the narrow 'knee' joint of the octuptarra.
He lept again, this time reaching out and grabbing the cannon arm closest to him. He slashed through the 'eye' of the droid before cutting off the cannon itself. He made one last force enhanced jump to the top of the droid, and simply opted for a more Anakin style of destroying it in the form of stabbing it though the top and sliding down on the other side. Rex made short work of the second cannon before he lost his grip and slipped as the droid whipped it's mechanical head around in an attempt to throw him off.
As Rex fell, he turned and grabbed at the leg closest to him with the force before severing it with his lightsaber. It was enough to off balance the droid, and he pushed himself away before using the force to cushion his landing. At least he didn't mess that up.
Anakin's droid was also missing at least one leg, and the jedi general shoved it into Rex's, knocking them both over and sending up a cloud of dust. At the sight of the octuptarra falling, the rest of the droids retreated. The poletecs began to celebrate as they saw the enemy lines retreating.
Rex cautiously returned his lightsaber to it's home, hidden on his utility belt, and turned to face the other clones sheepishly. Hunter removed his helmet and regarded him as some strange new creature that just threw up on his shoes.
"Man, do you have some explaining to do."