24

omg batchers!! i messed up the automatic posting for this week and easter! i'm so sorry! 😭 

please enjoy three chapters as an apology 💜 

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Rex's war room was unlike any other Saedii had ever been in.

It was at the very top of the monastery – so high up that clouds often fogged the window, obscuring the view of the valleys below. Every wall was made of a thick, near-opaque glass that gave them a full three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the landscape around them. A tiled mosaic on the floor pictured several old gods and saints that ancient Tethian monks had worshipped in the heyday of their civilization.

At the center of the room, a massive strategy table covered the majority of the tiled art. Rex and the boys had moved it up here during the early days, along with the mix of other random equipment, none of which matched. All salvaged out of old Republic cruisers and strongholds.

The room was nearly full when Saedii slipped inside. A quick scan revealed it was all Clones. Ahsoka and Obi-Wan were nowhere in sight.

At the far side of the room, tucked close to the window, Hunter and the rest of the Batch were waiting. They all looked just as serious as Saedii felt.

At the sight of her in the doorway, Rex turned sharply in Hunter's direction. The two shared a very long look, wherein Hunter gave the briefest shake of his head. When he looked up and finally met Saedii's gaze, she was surprised to see that he was disappointed. Like he hadn't wanted her to be there.

"There you are, kid!" Wrecker bellowed, causing several Clones nearby to turn and glare. "We thought you were still asleep!"

Echo and Crosshair shot the Clones a look that made them turn away.

"I couldn't sleep," Saedii admitted. Her eyes scanned over the room as she talked, looking for Rex.

He was right in front of the strategy table, talking quietly to Howzer on his left. On his other side, Cody was staring at the table, pulling up some schematics.

At the sight of Howzer, Saedii's earlier anticipation rose. He wouldn't have come all the way back to Teth if he didn't have anything to report. Whatever it was that he found, it had to be important.

"You look tired. Are you sure you don't want to go back to sleep?" Hunter asked carefully. "We can tell you what you miss."

Saedii just gave him a look.

"We'll come get you if it's anything important –"

"I'm not leaving."

His lips pressed together.

"Alright, men! Listen up!" Cody called from the center of the room.

Immediately, the conversations shuttered.

In the silence, Rex announced, "You all know why we're here. Howzer has important information to share on the Clone prison on Hareth."

"Right. I'll just get right to it," Howzer said immediately. "Hareth is currently housing close to four thousand of our brothers – nearly a thousand more than previous thought. Of those four thousand, half of them have been stationed there for close to ninety days – which is the cut off before the atmosphere becomes toxic. My investigation revealed that two thousand have died in the past three months alone."

Two thousand dead Clones.

And if they didn't hurry, there'd be two thousand more left to bury.

Around them, the other Clones whispered their outrage to one another. Their dismay at being unable to save the ones that had already passed. And their desperation to save the ones still left.

"Of those Clones imprisoned, there are several important officers, including Commander Bly of the 327th, Captain Silver of the 487th, Captain Spider of the 613th..."

Howzer looked up, meeting Saedii's eye across the room.

"And Commander Wolffe of the 104th."

It felt like Saedii had been hit by a Venator. The breath still in Saedii's lungs and every muscle froze. All of her thoughts instantly quieted – except for one, which ran in a loop in her mind.

He's alive.

Whatever had happened since Order 66, whatever he'd done – it didn't matter to her anymore. He was here now, so close he was nearly in her grasp.

She had to save him.

She was going on this mission. No matter what Hunter or Rex or any of the others said. She was going.

At the news, Hunter let out an aggravated sigh.

"What are we waiting for?" a Clone across the room called. He pushed his way forward, demanding, "We should go right now!"

"Hang on! Rex has a plan," Gregor cautioned.

Rex nodded solemnly. "This isn't going to be easy. Howzer's intel revealed the prison is tightly guarded. Nearly four dozen Stormtroopers are confirmed on site."

"So? We have a Jedi!"

Saedii felt the attention shift her way. Behind her, Hunter edged a bit closer. Tech nervously adjusted his weight.

"Stormtroopers are no match for her!" the trooper argued.

"As talented as Saedii is," Rex said slowly, exchanging that strange look with Hunter yet again, "we can't use her. With the Inquisitors running around, we have to be strategic about where we send her."

Saedii was instantly pushing her way to the front. "No offense, Rex, but you don't get to make decisions for me. I'm going on this mission."

"Saedii," Hunter said quietly under his breath. He'd followed close behind her, standing close enough that she could feel the heat radiating off of him. Further behind him, she could sense the rest of the Batch waiting.

Hunter gently tried to pull her back. But she twisted out of his hold, arguing, "The 104th was my unit. Wolffe is my Clone Commander. I'm not going to sit here while he's in danger."

"We get you want to help, kid," Gregor said carefully.

"I'm not a kid. I'm your commanding officer. And this is not a request," Saedii snapped. "This is an order."

Gregor's mouth fell open. Howzer, too, blinked in surprise. Perhaps in the year since Order 66, they'd somehow forgotten that Saedii – for all her youth and small stature – had a year of experience giving orders and making hard decisions.

But she hadn't forgotten.

This was not a mission she was willing to watch from the sidelines. She was going to Hareth, whether Rex liked it or not.

Hunter stilled. The Force grew heavy with frustration and displeasure as he briefly closed his eyes.

A frown pulled at Rex's features. He'd been in charge here since the start of the Rebellion. Had been giving orders without them being questions. How was he going to react to Saedii giving the order?

The other Clones looked back and forth between Rex and Saedii. Waiting to see who would relent.

"Yes, Sir," Rex said after a moment. His serious expression didn't soften, though Saedii was sure that his eyes betrayed disappointment for a moment. "If that's your order, then we'll follow it."

That raw feeling in her gut tempered. She relaxed and gave him a nod of thanks.

Behind her, Crosshair muttered something under his breath.

"Saedii and Clone Force 99 aren't enough to cover this on their own," Rex continued, turning back to the schematics.

"Commander," Hunter began.

Another trooper cut him off. "We have a thousand men here. We could storm it –"

"A thousand men but only a handful of ships," Gregor pointed out.

"Technically," Tech interjected, "the Rebellion has twenty-three ships at our disposal. That gives us a maximum capacity to carry roughly three hundred and fifty troopers, including pilots and flight crew."

Someone cursed nearby.

"Actually," Howzer began, "we have recently...uh commandeered four Delta-class cargo vessels."

Tech shoved his way to the front to insert, "Taking into account the average height of a Clone trooper is one point eight three meters and average weight is eighty kilograms, as well as the maximum thruster capacity for the cargo vessels, each ship would be able to carry no more than five hundred troopers."

"But that's only two thousand troopers," a Clone across the room pointed out.

"Therein lies the problem," Rex said slowly, exchanging a look with Cody. "We don't have enough space to save all of our brothers."

A heavy silence filled the strategy room. Only two thousand spaces for over four thousand troopers. It wasn't nearly enough. Not even close.

Did that mean they'd have to leave some troopers behind? And if so, who was going to have to make the hard calls on who got rescued and who was left behind?

Saedii turned to Hunter and asked, "If we brought the Marauder, we could take more."

Hunter opened his mouth to answer when Crosshair hissed, "Not enough to matter."

"Any lives we save matter," Echo whispered back as several Clones turned around to glare at Crosshair. Crosshair rolled his eyes.

"What if we stole an Imperial cruiser?" Ton, the Clone right beside Saedii, asked.

Several Clones voices their approval.

Tech, meanwhile, was saying, "That would be unhelpful. New security measures imbedded into the ships would ensure that we are unable to use our codes to pilot any cruisers that are still functional. Not unless there is one that remains with the old operating system, which is improbable. The Empire has likely destroyed them all."

An old cruiser. With the old operating system.

A memory came to her: exploding engines, echoing canons, a race down a darkened hallway...and an empty hallway with painted handprints.

Bracca.

"I know where we can get a cruiser," Saedii said suddenly, looking to Rex. She brightened. "My old cruiser is on Bracca. It's still equipped with the old operating system. We would be able to fly it."

Rex looked dubious. "If it's been on Bracca for a year –"

"It was fully functional last time I was there. No breaches. And I kept it that way when I left it locked up."

Excitement flared in Rex's eyes. He turned to Cody, lowering his voice as the two began a whispered exchange. Quickly discussing what this could mean for whatever plans they had already drawn up.

Low under his breath, Crosshair pressed, "I thought you said the cruiser was empty."

Saedii turned. Hunter and Crosshair were frowning. Wrecker, too, though he looked more confused than angry, as if he didn't know what they were talking about. Echo was perhaps the only one who didn't look angry.

"I wasn't sure I could trust you at the time," Saedii admitted quietly. "And then with everything that happened, I forgot all about it until now."

"Convenient," Crosshair jeered.

"It's the truth."

"It's lucky you remembered now!" Wrecker said.

Echo was nodding too. "This might just be what we need to save those Clones. There's plenty of room on board."

"Jedi cruisers could house up to five thousand personnel at any given time. With room on board for smaller crafts, like the four cargo vessels," Tech pointed out.

Hunter was looking at her. He didn't look happy.

"You're sure it was secure when you left?" Rex asked, cutting through the conversations like a hot knife.

Saedii was resolute. "Positive. I checked every door."

"Of course she did," Crosshair muttered.

"And the power circuits? Those were intact?"

"They seemed to be."

"I am certain that we can fix any damaged circuits. If the main processing system is intact, it should be simple to get it airborne again," Tech supplied helpfully.

She smiled at him.

But the smile died as Hunter's voice said, "Actually, Rex, you'll have to do this one without our squad."

Something cold ran down Saedii's arms. She looked at him in horror as Wrecker demanded, "What do you mean we're not going?"

"It's too dangerous." Hunter looked at her, almost like he was trying to convince her of this too.

"We've done far worse for Cid," Echo said. "Compared to Serenno, this will be relatively easy."

Tech held up a finger. "Technically, this assignment has a twelve percent chance of success, while Serenno had fifteen percent."

Hunter just shook his head. "This is more than I want to be involved."

Saedii couldn't help the hurt that flashed across her face. They were abandoning her? Now, when she needed them most? After everything that they'd been through, Hunter wasn't going to support her on this?

"Cowards," a voice spat from across the room.

Crosshair turned a scathing look in that direction. Hunter ran a very uncomfortable hand along the back of his neck, gaze on Saedii.

"Without Clone Force 99, we're looking at a small extraction team. Fifty troopers, including at least eight pilots," Rex continued.

Saedii turned back to the strategy table and made sure that her emotions were hidden beneath a blank expression. Now wasn't the time to be upset. She needed to help plan how they were going to get Wolffe and the other Clones out.

Echo's hand slid onto her shoulder. "I have flight experience. I'll come."

When Saedii looked up at him in surprise, Echo lowered his voice and said in Hunter's direction, "We can't let her go in alone. If it's too dangerous for the whole squad, then I'll go and you lot stay here with Omega."

Reluctantly, Hunter nodded.

Rex turned to Cody, who was pulling up a list of names above the board. "Check the list here and report back to your squads. Those that are leaving, we'll move out on the hour and have a debriefing on board the Dauntless. Commander Synn and I will be taking point on this, but any questions can be directed to Captain Gregor or Captain Howzer."

Saedii inclined her head. Trying to look confident even if all she was thinking about was that the Batch – her family, the only people in the galaxy she would have done anything for – wouldn't be going with her.