Ahsoka's pulse pounded in her ears as the gunships of the republic broke orbit and started to make their way down to atmo. She took a deep breath, making eye contact with Bo-Katan. The mandalorian was equally grim as she gave final orders that were broadcasted to the rest of the assault craft as they descended.
Rex was standing next to Ahsoka, but all she felt from him was cool anticipation. She really had been away from this for too long. Her heart ached as she looked around at the men in the gunship with them. They were here because she asked them to be. If they died, their deaths were on her head.
Rex, probably picking up on her inner turmoil, brushed his hand against hers. He gently laced his fingers through hers, giving her a small tip of the head. Ahsoka nodded, answering his silent question. He gave her hand a brief squeeze before letting go. Ahsoka focused on her rapid heartbeat, taking slow deep breaths and holding them before exhaling.
She was mostly successful until Bo's commlink went off, startling her and sending her pulse back up through the roof. Bo answered. The face of an older man appeared. It took Ahsoka to recognise him.
"Lady Kryze what is the meaning of this invasion!" He demanded. Bo-Katan's face twisted around a cold sneer.
"We know you are Caedus's puppet, Almec. And we are coming for him." She growled. Almec tipped his head.
"This will only make you an enemy in the eyes of the people." He warned. Bo smiled thinly.
"The only enemy the people see are the enemy of the winning side." She taunted before cutting the connection. She turned to look at the rest of the clones. "Sixty seconds 'til we hit the drop point." Bo called over the internal comms.
The panels on the sides of the ship opened along with the rear ramp. Wind whipped at Ahsoka's clothes and tugged at her rig length lekku.
"Thirty seconds."
She swallowed and blinked, clearing the tears formed from the sheer power of the gusts hitting her full in the face. Rex tensed behind her, numb readiness setting into his force signature.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one-" The clones around them jumped, throwing themselves clear of the gunships and allowing a few gut wrenching seconds of freefall before engaging the jetpacks. Bo-Katan jammed her helmet on and stepped to the back of the ship, onto the lowered ramp.
"Well? What are you waiting for?" She called, jumping off the end. Rex glanced at Ahsoka.
"Sorry, didn't think to bring you a jetpack." He called over the roar of the wind. Ahsoka tilted her head.
"Rex, love, you of all people should know I don't need one." She quipped playfully. Rex gave her a lopsided grin. She sauntered over to press a kiss on his cheek before glancing out of the ship. The nerves, temporarily were put out of her mind, brought the thrill of all this to light. She gave him a two fingered 'Anakin salute' with a big grin. "Race you to the bottom!" She yelled, jumping.
Rex's laugh followed her as she fell, igniting her blades as she plummeted. If the wind was strong in the gunship, it was even worse in free fall. She reached out with the force, just enough to direct herself to a gunship that had been attacked by mandalorians in red and charcoal armor, she flew straight into the open side panels.
She caught the overhead rail and used it to guide herself in. Quickly, she crouched low and pivoted, kicking a leg out to knock one of the mando's off her feet and send her falling to the floor before sliding out of the plane completely.
Turning her pivot into a rising spin, Ahsoka ducked under a cable another mando shot to wrap around his comrade behind her. As they got tangled together, Ahsoka lashed out once more, kicking the mando behind her in the face while she open palm punched the other, throwing both of them off her gunship.
She ignited her sabers again, throwing herself off the ship only to spin around mid air and cut through the jetpack of a mandalorian trying to climb back onto the ship. Using the force, she turned again and shoved herself forwards and downwards.
She landed with a grunt on a smoking gunship. The pilot was trying to escape the rapidly smoke filling cockpit as his hatch jammed. Ahsoka cut the lock and helped him out. She recognized him now, he was one of the original pilots that had flown with Anakin. Duck. His name was Duck. Duck nodded at her as he climbed out of the cockpit, a parachute slung over his shoulder. He nodded at her.
"Thank you, Commander. Skywalker taught you well. " He called over the wind before jumping and letting the wreckage fall away. Ahsoka glanced over the side of the ship to make sure he was ok, smiling when she saw the smoky blue-grey of the parachute.
She rode the wreckage down, the wind threatening to knock her off as she palanced herself precariously on the nose of the gunship. Carefully using the force, she aimed for a landing platform in the city below. Just before the gunship hit the platform, she leapt forward and hit the ground at a skid.
The ship exploded, the heat washing over her and throwing her forward. She barely managed to keep her feet as more red and grey mandalorians started firing at her from back at the entrance to the city. She was too slow in getting her blades up and a bolt just clipped her shoulder as she tried to deflect the bolts, taking several steps backward towards the fireball in an attempt to evade their volleys.
After a few tense seconds of her being pushed back, there was the roar of jetpacks above her. Bo dropped a few feet in front of her along with Ursa and Koska. Clones followed not long after as they chased the mandalorians away. Ahsoka glanced over as she felt Rex touch down next to her.
"Beat you." She winked at him. Rex shook his helmeted head, a rough chuckle crackling over his annunciator.
"Somethings never change." He gestured to her shoulder, which was beginning to ache something bad now. The beskar weave in her clothes had done it's job, diverting most of the energy away harmlessly, but the force behind the bolt and the leftover heat would leave a nasty bruise later.
"You ok?" He asked. Ahsoka shrugged, then stifled a wince as her shoulder twinged.
"I'm not incapacitated. I'll have Kix give me a once over once we manage to take the upper city." She tried to play it casual. Rex stiffened at the medic's name.
"We... we lost Kix." He said quietly. "Kix and Whiteout both. I'll fill you in later." He promised. Ahsoka slumped, forcing her emotions down. Grief later. Siege now.
"Alright." She acquiesced. "Later. C'mon, I don't wanna let Bo have all the fun." She tried for a joke, but it fell flat. Rex played along anyways, even though she knew his heart wasn't in it.
"Yeah. She might accidentally do it all herself." He commented, following her into the city of Sundari.
~
Ahsoka stood stiffly in the newly appointed command center as Bo went over he layout of the city one more time.
"We've flushed them out of the upper city, forcing his men into the lower city and the sewers. From what our spies can tell, Caedus never ordered them to hurt the civilians, but that's not stopping them now." She said gravely.
"Cut off all entrances and exits to the cities. Post guards at every exit possible. It's almost nightfall on this part of the planet, so we'll have to work quickly. Despite all our advancements in nightvision tech, war in the dark doesn't tend to go well." Ahsoka ordered. Captain Vaughn saluted her and left to rally his men for guard patrols.
Bo turned to Ahsoka. "Tell the council of idiots about our progress. Rest and tend to your wounds. We'll reconvene at before first light, so early to bed early to rise." She told her. Ahsoka nodded, glancing at Rex from across the table and dismissing him.
He fell into step with her as they walked down the halls, footsteps echoing in the abandoned space. They made it to the small rooms they were given. Ursa had given Ahsoka a secret smile when Ahsoka had told Bo that her and the Commander would be fine sharing to save space.
Ahsoka sat on a small bench at the foot of the cotts that Rex had pushed together to give them a wider bed to sleep on. She carefully tugged her tunic up over her head to expose angry blue purple bruising around her right shoulder. Rex passed her a tube of bacta gel and a bandage for her to wrap it with.
"You want some help?" He asked as she cracked the tube open and squeezed a small amount of bacta onto her palm.
"I've got this." She said, carefully spreading the gel across the dark marks on her skin. "What happened to Kix and White?" She asked after a second. Rex sighed, sitting on the bed behind her.
"You missed a spot. Here, let me-- Can I help?" He asked. Ahsoka gave him a look over her shoulder. Her expression was both too sad and tired to be annoyed.
"You didn't answer my question." She pointed out softly.
"Please?"
She handed him the bacta and bandages, rubbing the leftover stuff on her hands into her skin.
"I... after I regained my memories and Fives made his discovery about the chips, Kix was suspicious. He was looking into them with White's help, under my orders when I'm woken up in the middle of the night by somebody pounding down my door." Rex gently rubbed the bacta into the bruise, leaning down to press a kiss to the mark before continuing.
"They must've been taken in their sleep. The men in the barracks all complained of headaches the next morning, so they must've gassed them with something. All of Kix's armor is gone, White's too along with Kix's datapad. But their planetside kits were still at the bottoms of their lockers. Kix's medic pack was still hanging up. They were just gone." His hands were trembling slightly against her skin as he wrapped her shoulder up.
Ahsoka tried to turn her head back to look at him, but he stopped her. She was confused cuntil she felt the cool of the bacta against the partially healed burn on her lekku.
"Rex, it's not your fault." She said gently, leaning back into him as he finished. He wrapped his arms around her waist, settling her against him.
"Everybody seems to be saying that a lot lately." He whispered. Ahsoka turned his head to see him staring off brokenly into space. She pressed a soft kiss against his lips to bring him back to the here and now.
"I love you. All of you. That includes the skeletons in your closet and the scars on your back." She whispered against his ear as she pulled him into a tight hug, tracing a feather light touch across the ropy scars and cords that littered his back and chest.
Rex sighed into her neck, pulling back to kiss her. "I wonder how I got so lucky. Trillions of beings in the galaxy, a couple million being exact copies of me, and yet we are. Married." He smiled slightly. Ahsoka's wandering hand came to rest up against his cheek. She let their foreheads rest together for a second.
"Out of all those trillions, there will only be one captain Rex." She murmured. "Or, I suppose it's commander now."
"Please. I think I prefer captain. That wad my name, and I almost never get to hear it." He sighed. Ahsoka kissed him again, pulling away and sitting back to smile at him.
"You, Captain Rex Tano, are my one and only. And it will remain that way until the day I die." She promised. Rex's eyes were a little damp, but having her here made tears seem pointless. Pointless when she would wipe them away and kiss his cheek, giving him a smile that made him know that as long as he could still make her laugh, it would all be alright.