Knockout Ch. 25
Chapter Summary:
Rex and the Jesse return to the 501st just in time for their deployment to the outer rim, while Fives and the others start their long journey home.
Chapter 25: Groundwork
Marching up the ramp of the Resolute, helmet still firmly in place in an attempt to look a little more put together, Rex moved to stand next to his General, observing the troops returning from shore leave. From here, he could just spot Jesse and the shinies who’d joined them at the temple. It didn’t look like anything was amiss, but after everything, he was counting on Jesse to keep an eye on them when he couldn’t.
“Rex, good to see you! I heard you had quite the adventure.” General Skywalker clapped the captain on the back enthusiastically, earning a muffled groan.
“Only you would call a speeder crash an adventure, sir.” Rex sighed, clearing his throat.
Between the cover story for the chips and the dechipping hypo itself, Rex wasn’t feeling great, but after nearly three years of working with Skywalker, the banter came naturally. It helped that he hadn’t had to directly lie yet— Fox had talked him through his cover story just in case— but thankfully Skywalker was quick to move on.
The General’s mind always seemed to be elsewhere on their first day shipping out— probably with a certain Senator— but for now, it came in handy.
Of course, even General Skywalker noticed when Rex muffled a round of coughs in his elbow.
“You alright, Rex?” He turned around, seeming to finally notice how Rex looked a little worse for wear.
Thankfully, Fox had drilled him on this exact question. “Fine. Must’ve caught a bug in the lower levels.” He tried to keep his eyes from wandering, pushing down the urge to over-explain that always clued people into the fact that he was lying through his teeth. Thankfully, the General seemed to buy it, shooting him a brief look of concern.
“Make sure you get checked out by medbay. Anything that can get past a trooper’s defenses must be a nasty bug.” He made a face, grimacing in sympathy.
Rex returned the look with a wry grin. “Thank you, sir. It’s nothing I can’t handle.”
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It pained Fives to leave the distribution of the de-chipping hypos to the Guard. Tup had almost died– Fives had almost died– kriff, Kix had sacrificed himself for that information–!
But the Guard had a better understanding of Coruscant supply lines and battalion ship-out dates, and they were much more conveniently placed to collaborate with the Jedi Shadows on the actual logistics of delivering the hypos. ARC training prepared Fives for many things, but not for this. And as much as he hated to admit it… the Guard had it under control.
It also helped that the Chancellor had recently instituted an executive order– one of many, these days– to provide support to troopers at-risk for exposure to a new Separatist bioweapon. This bioweapon had already been used once on Kamino, according to recent reports– it had even resulted in their supposed deaths, according to Jesse’s recollection of the Chancellor’s debriefing.
Jesse was still a little foggy on some of the later details of that meeting, but at this point, they were fairly sure that the Chancellor knew about the chips and he knew how to use them. The only question was whether he knew of the Separatist’s involvement, how much, and what that meant for the war effort and the Republic at-large.
Fives couldn’t stop a smug smirk from showing on his face when he thought about how the Chancellor’s attempts at a cover-up actually provided the perfect opportunity for them to distribute the needed supplies to eliminate the chips from the entire GAR. If Echo were here, he’d probably talk about the poetic justice of it all, but Fives had never been one for literature.
That didn’t mean the Chancellor was off the hook. Between Commander Fox and General Vos, they’d be keeping a much closer eye on things, and that included the Chancellor as well as the intricate work of sneaking the dechipping hypos into GAR supply depots, all without being discovered.
Even with the Guard taking care of the logistics, they still had to think about battalions who were far enough out of contact that they wouldn’t be receiving supplies for the next several months, but General Vos said he had a plan for that. He said one of his contacts would get a kick out of acting as a Jedi delivery boy– for the right price.
“Hondo saves the Republic! Hah! You know, my sweet mother always said– that a powerful friend in debt was worth three powerful men with good favor.”
Rex had paled significantly when General Vos had performed that impersonation, muttering something about double-crossing pirates, but General Vos had countered with an argument about how galaxy-wide chaos was bad for business– this time mimicking General Kenobi. Fives thought it sounded pretty logical, and hopefully General Vos’ contact would think the same.
After the larger pieces of the puzzle had been hammered out, it was time for Rex and Jesse to ship out. The fierce embrace between Hardcase and Jesse had been hard to watch– Hardcase had just gotten his vod back and they were being forced to separate again, but thankfully not for long. They’d see him again, and with luck, Kix would be back with them too.
Fives tried not to think too hard about the chances of that reunion. Besides, he knew a crew who excelled in beating the odds.
Fives had passed off the Bad Batch’s contact info to Rex, handing him the last copy of their info on the chips– Fox and the Jedi Shadows had the other copies, just in case, but Commander Fox had made it clear that they shouldn’t hold onto anything they cared about while making the journey back to the 501st via public transportation. It’d probably take around two weeks, from start to finish, if they were lucky.
Fives just hoped they didn’t miss their next campaign.
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Rex didn’t know what he was expecting when Fives and the others had recommended getting in touch with Clone Force 99 to kickstart their search for Kix, but he definitely hadn’t expected the screeching of engines and near-strafing of their landing pad when his poor, overworked troopers had to duck for cover to narrowly avoid becoming a smear on the duracrete.
They’d come with Cody’s seal of approval, apparently, but Cody must not have seen them fly. Even General Skywalker knew not to scare the living daylights out of the deck crew with his flying.
Still, Rex tried to keep an open mind as he moved to greet them, walking in-step with Cody. He felt grateful for his brother’s presence– it’d been a while since they had a joint campaign with the 212th, but they’d needed the manpower, with the fight the tinnies were putting up on Anaxes. It had been enough that, even with the Wolfpack providing in-air support and the 187th covering their flank, they were still fighting tooth and nail to avoid being overrun.
Most of the time, the droids tended to fight in wave after wave, predictably surging and ebbing in a way that kept their Jedi Generals constantly on-guard, wearing them down over time, rather than overpowering the clones with their sheer numbers. Sure, the droids usually outnumbered them five-to-one, but it didn’t matter as much when that was spread out over days at a time, giving their brothers a chance to switch out and take turns being on watch.
The usual Seppie strategy ensured a never-ending pressure on the Jedi, one that never let up until either the Jedi was dead or the last clanker was defeated. This campaign, though, seemed like it was aimed at the clones.
It was something he tried not to think about, after a long night strategizing with Echo.
“Do you ever think about how, if the Seppies wanted it, they could wipe us out all at once? Send in a thousand troops rather than waves of fifty spread out over seven clicks. They could be a knife, but they choose to be a battering ram, hammering away at the Generals’ stamina for days at a time instead.” Echo pondered, looking up at Rex from his position slumped over in the Captain’s lumpy couch in his office after another long battle.
Rex sighed, “I try not to think about it, honestly.” He’d offered Echo another cup of caff before returning to their work, but the quiet sense of unease hadn’t left them that night.
Even if the droids managed to take down every last clone, they could only hope to corner a Jedi General, which is why they usually chose to tire them out with a long-standing siege. But these rapid-fire blitzes in the Outer Rim… it worried Rex, wondering what had made the Seppies change their strategy, and how they seemed to know his every move before he even made it. If they knew his playbook, what else did they know?
It was this, along with Rex’s need for intel on recent troop movements along certain supply lines near Kamino, that had urged him to contact the Bad Batch for backup… despite some misgivings.
Determined not to think about it anymore, Rex pushed away thoughts of Echo and the Separatists, trying to avoid the persistent voice in the back of his mind insisting that Echo’s fingerprints were all over the Separatist’s strategies.
Instead, he turned back to Cody, asking, “So why haven’t I heard of this squad?”
Cody shrugged, a weary smile on his face as he glanced at the ship in front of them. “Experimental unit Clone Force 99. They’re… defective clones with, uh, desirable mutations.”
“99, eh? Nice.” Rex grunted, silently approving the nod to a familiar brother who’d gone far too soon. He hadn’t thought twice about the designation, originally, but with that new information in mind, it made sense.
It almost made up for their flashy, and nearly deadly landing, in his mind. Almost…
“They call themselves “The Bad Batch.”” Cody continued and Rex’s gaze was drawn to the ramp lowering and a squad unlike any he’d ever seen, all stepping out onto the platform.
“The cavalry has arrived!”
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