Chapter Text
COURESAUNT
“Kix.”
The desperation in Rex’s voice cracked the silence as Kix stood in the shadows, his breath caught in his throat he absorbed the scene in front of him. Rex cradled Fives’ head in his lap, begging him to wake up. But the ARC trooper didn’t respond, lying unmoving on the cold, duracrete floor. He had spoken with him barely an hour ago, what went wrong?
Kix snapped out of the momentary shock that left him temporarily frozen and ran over to his brothers. “What happened here, Rex?” He asked, forcing his voice to remain steady as he kneeled next to Fives, looking him over for profound injuries before removing his chest plate. He couldn’t see any blood, that was a start.
Rex stumbled over his words as he began trying to explain, his voice still strained as he tried to verbalise what had transpired here in the past few moments. Kix gently moved Fives from Rex’s lap and placed him flat on the ground, leaning over in a desperate attempt to hear or feel his breath against his cheek. He wasn’t rewarded with either.
“Rex.” Kix righted himself and spared a moment to address his captain straight on. “I need you to calm down. I’ve comm’ed for backup, but I need you to keep his airway open. Ok?”
Rex nodded as Kix handed him a bag and mask. He moved into position at the top of Fives head and brought his brother’s head straight and his jaw forward, holding the mask over his face. Beside him Kix started chest compressions, quietly counting with each one. He flinched as he felt his brothers ribs give way under his hands.
“What happened Rex?” He asked again, gently this time as he continued to mentally count.
Rex took a deep, shaky breath. “He came to us rambling about inhibitor chips or something. He wasn’t making any sense. The longnecks said he was infected with a virus which was making him aggressive. He tried to talk to us but the Corrie Guard showed up, he aimed a blaster at them so Fox took matters into his own hands. He shot him. It all happened so quick.”
Kix leaned back after his round of thirty compressions and provided rescue breaths through the mask before lifting the shirt of his brother’s blacks, ensuring he didn’t miss a blaster injury during his first check. He hadn’t, Fives’ armour had taken the brunt of the blaster bolt. Something else must have stopped his heart.
Kix went back to providing chest compressions, silently praying his help would come soon. They couldn’t do this alone.
“You said he was acting erratically, could he have taken anything?” Kix asked cautiously.
Rex sighed. “He mentioned something about the Chancellor drugging him. We didn’t believe him in the moment. But…” Rex trailed off.
Kix cursed under his breath. If Fives had been drugged it could’ve been with anything, and they’d have no way of figuring out what right now. Kix stopped compressions and did a pulse check as Rex delivered more breaths. Still nothing. Kix reached into his pack and retrieved a hypo, jabbing it into Fives’ neck. He began compression again, arms burning from the effort as he continued to manually pump blood around his brother’s body.
Movement from the back of the warehouse caught his attention. “What was that?” He asked as Rex raised his blasters.
“Ill go check it out. It’s probably your backup.” His captain stood and began to walk towards the noise.
An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of Kix’s stomach. “No. Rex I don’t think that’s help. You need to hide.”
Rex shook his head. “I’m not leaving you trooper.” He’d adopted his captain’s voice, yet Kix still ignored him.
“I have a bad feeling about this. The 501st needs you. Fives needs you. You know his story, so he needs you to tell it if he doesn’t make it out of here. Go.” Kix watched his shoulders dip as Rex realised he was right. There was a moment where his brow set and he readied to ignore the medic. But Kix shook his head. “Go.”
Rex had once told him that medics had a sixth sense of sorts. That they could feel it in the air when something was about to go wrong or a patient was about to crash, partly down to the little signs in a person they were trained to look out for. Part of it was down to that gut feeling which came from the generations old awareness written into their DNA from bygone eras where humans were prey rather than predators. Rex didn’t believe him at first, not until after the multiple times Kix had correctly predicted a mission would have high casualties or that one of their injured squamate’s condition would deteriorate before they got to base, only for them to be providing life saving field medicine in the middle of nowhere miles from the nearest med tent. Since then Rex trusted his medic’s gut, and he wasn’t about to stop trusting him today.
“I’ll call for more backup,” Rex promised before disappearing into the shadows in the opposite direction of the noise.
Now alone, fear tingled the back of Kix’s neck. He was completely exposed here and unable to defend himself. He knew it was stupid to let Rex go, to leave himself exposed with a patient in cardiac arrest broke the one of the most simple rules of being an army medic. But instinct told him otherwise.
‘I have to save you, come on Fives’ he urged as a hooded figure appeared out of the shadows. Kix couldn’t see the person’s face in the low light, but it didn’t matter. He knew it was the Chancellor, and his blood turned to ice.
‘Keep going. I need to save Fives’, he encouraged himself as he continued to manually pump Fives’ blood around his system. Sweat beaded his forehead as he continued on, he could really do with that back up right now. Relief flushed through him that Rex had listened to him.
“Twenty one, twenty two, twenty three,” he counted each compression under his breath, arms burning from the effort of keeping up the stamina for so long. ‘I have to save him’ he thought as he was suddenly hit with blinding hot pain as electric white and blue filled his vision. His body screamed out in pain for a few moments before his world suddenly went dark.
Kix didn’t have time to check if Fives had a pulse before his own gave out, but if he had, he’d have found the steady flutter of a heartbeat. He’d saved him.
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SERENNO - 4 MONTHS LATER
The world slowly blurred into view as Hunter woke to the chirp of his comm. He limbs ached as he battered at it a few times before he was finally able to shut it off. He glanced over at the others, still sleeping softly in their bunks. Their most recent orders had been tough, a scouting mission to recce the surrounding outposts and strongholds around Dooku’s estate, which had turned into a dogfight they'd barely made it out of. With a sigh Hunter glanced at the comm, not wanting to find out what mission the GAR had in store for them next. As the war bore on their missions had become more and more risky and with less cool down time in between. His squad was exhausted and part of Hunter knew it was only a matter of time before something went wrong. They couldn’t keep this pace up forever.
He begrudgingly glanced at the comm and was surprised to see a message from Rex. They usually took orders from Cody, even their Anaxis orders had come from him. That suggested Rex needed help in another kind of way. Curiosity won out over the need for sleep and Hunter opened the message, casting a faint white glow into the air. The message contained coordinates to an area of free space used for docking by the Republic, coordinates Hunter could only assume were to whatever Star Destroyer he was currently deployed on.
Hunter lay back and thought on the information. The 501st was a torrent, Rex had plenty of friends in his own battalion he could rely on. So why would he call the Batch? Sure, they had become closer since Echo joined Clone Force 99, Rex was always keen on knowing how he’d been getting on since his rescue. But they weren’t exactly this close, which meant Rex needed help with something either requiring their unique set of skills, or something he couldn’t trust the rest of his squad with, and neither of those options sounded particularly inviting.
Beside him Hunter heard a shuffle and looked over to the adjacent top bunk. Echo was leaning up on his arm, cautious not to wake Tech as he tried to catch a glimpse of what was going on. Tech was out for the count, sprawled across the majority of the bunk with an arm draped over Echo’s middle. The Marauder only had space for four bunks and most of the time Tech and Echo tended to bunk together. He never spoken about it, but something suggested to Hunter that Echo chose to bunk with Tech because he trusted him the most. It had been Tech who was there when he first came out of stasis and the mechanic had done a lot of work with him over the past few months making his prosthetics more comfortable and durable. As for Tech’s reasons for sharing, he would hog any heat source he could get his hands on, so having one walk freely into his bunk was a dream come true, even if physical touch wasn’t his usual preference.
The ARC trooper remained leaning on his elbow, still expecting an answer. Hunter should’ve expected it. He set his comm to a frequency only he could hear at night, it allowed the others to get much needed rest and meant they wouldn’t be woken any earlier than needed. This didn’t seem to apply to Echo though, even if he couldn’t actually hear the comm. Tech had a theory the cybernetics in his brain could pick up on the change in electromagnetic output with it activating, which would wake him up. Echo had later agreed he could sense the electromagnetic output of nearby devices since returning from Skako, though far from same level Hunter could. They hadn’t managed to figure out a work around for that yet.
“Hunter,” Echo’s whisper cut through the silence, bringing his attention back to his impatient brother. “I know you just received a comm.”
“No I didn’t,” he lied, which led to Lula being launched in his direction. Lula was Wreckers tooka doll, however she often ended up with Echo on nights he woke with nightmares, such as the one he’d had a few hours prior. He often wouldn’t talk about them, but would accept Lula anyway. As Wrecker always put it, she was there to chase the bad dreams away. The sentiment was cute, though Hunter had a feeling Echo partially accepted the tooka just to get them all off his back.
“Do you ever sleep?” Hunter whispered back with a smirk, which Echo replied with a grumpy muffled grumble. Hunter was slipping back into a doze when he heard a light thump. Looking over his bunk he watched Echo cross the small cabin of the ship to the nav computer, quietly scomping in.
“Echo what are you doing? It’s the middle of the night,” Hunter whisper hissed.
Echo let out a short frustrated sigh “Concentrating. Shut up.”
Hunter groaned softly and leaned back against his bed. He’d thought taking in a reg would be easy, that they do as they’re told and respect their commanding officers. Clearly that rumour had only been a rumour because Echo was the most defiant of them all.
“You got a transmission from Rex and you weren’t going to tell me?” Echo hissed.
Hunter sat up. “Did you just hack my fucking comm?” He slid from his bunk and quietly hit the floor. “How the hell did you do that?” Echo unplugged from the nav computer and punched in the coordinates. “Echo?” Hunter probed.
He turned around to face his sergeant. “Why weren’t you gonna tell me?” His eyes searched Hunter for his reaction.
Hunter pinched the bridge of his nose. “I was going to tell you Echo. It was just going to wait until morning. You especially need the rest.”
The fight drained from Echo’s body and he relaxed a little. “I’m fine Hunter. I’m not a cadet, I can take care of myself.”
“I’m not saying you can’t. However we all need sleep. We’re parked up on planet for the night anyway, I’m not waking the whole squad up to ready the ship for hyperspace when we don’t even know what Rex wants. If if it was important he would call.”
Echo nodded. “That makes sense.”
“Good” the sergeant nodded. “Now, bed.”
Echo rolled his eyes and lazily made his way back to the bunks, stopping to retrieve Lula on the way.
“And don’t hack my comm again. That’s an order.” Hunter added, making his way back to his own bunk.
“Sir, yes sir,” Echo replied lazily, clearly showing no intent on actually following that order.
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HYDIAN WAY - INNER RIM
It had taken them 6 hours to depart Serenno and reach Rex’s coordinates, which led them to Bogen’s orbit. A group of four Republic Star Destroyers sat idle as they awaited their next cause of action.
Rex was ready to meet them as Tech and Echo carefully brought the Marauder into dock. He was up on the ramp as soon as it lowered, eager to greet the Batch as they emerged from their ship. Rex smiled as he approached Hunter first, his grip firm as they shook hands. He smiled as he welcomed them aboard, appearing carefree as he greeted them. Yet Hunter could tell something was wrong through the stiffness of his movements and the nervous look in his eye. Hunter looked back to Crosshair, who returned his suspicious expression. The eagle eyed sniper had picked up everything Hunter had too.
“Thank you for coming boys, I’ll get you settled in your barracks and then we’ll chat.” Rex explained as he led them through the maze of hallways which made up the Venator Class shuttle. Rex and Echo chatted quietly as they walked, catching up on recent missions and how the 501st were doing. The distraction allowed Hunter to drop back and walk with Crosshair.
“You noticed too?” Hunter whispered.
The sniper nodded. “He’s gonna drag us into something. No one acts that shifty without a good reason.”
Hunter nodded his agreement. “What I wanna know is why us and why not his own squad?”
“Why would he put his squad on the line if he could just call us in? Clearly this mission is too dangerous for the regs, they might get scared.” Crosshair made a mocking sad face and Hunter shoved him.
“Play nice Cross, if you piss them off they might throw you out the air lock, and I ain’t following to go get you back.” There was jest to Hunter’s warning but Crosshair got the message. He knew Hunter was right and fighting the regs got them nothing but trouble, but he just loved to bait them, it was too easy. He was about to retaliate when Rex stopped, guiding them into a small barracks containing six bunks, a small ‘fresher and basic furniture not too dissimilar to their barracks on Kamino.
“I’ve got a meeting to attend so why don’t you guys go get something to eat from the mess and we’ll meet back here in a few hours?” Rex explained, hovering in the doorway. Hunter cast a glance at his squad, who hadn’t had a proper meal in days. The ration packs didn’t count, not by Hunter’s standards. Sure, they did the job and kept them fed, but they could hardly be passed for food. The idea of a meal that actually tasted of something was music to his ears and his brothers seemed equally as on board with the idea. “Sounds like a good idea to me,” Hunter replied with a smile as Tech and Wrecker began filing out of the room before he could even finish the sentence.
By some miracle of the force they managed to get some food in the main mess hall without anyone being thrown out of the airlock. Their meal was standard rations for a ship of this size, yet it was the best thing the Batch had eaten in a while. Actual meat, veg and fruit was a luxury to them with how hard it was to come by on their far out missions to hidden bases and remote factories.
They reached their barracks at the same time Rex did. He slipped inside alongside the batch, almost as if he were worried he might be spotted. Hunter still had a bad feeling about this, however he was now impatient to find out why they’d been dragged out all this way in the first place. Echo it seemed, was equally as on edge, pacing back and forth in a small line between the ‘fresher and the bunks.
Rex rested on the small table in the centre of the room and addressed the squad from their various listening points, with Tech sat with his legs dangling from one of the top bunks, Crosshair leaning against a far wall, Wrecker sat at the table and Hunter stood in the middle of the room with arms crossed.
Hunter was the first to speak. “So captain, what can we do for you?”
Rex seemed taken aback at first. “How do you know I need something from you?” He stammered. Crosshair chuckled, earning a pointed look from Echo.
“Because we don’t often get invited onto Venators for tooka doll picnics, so tell us, what can we help you with?” The sniper quipped.
Rex swallowed, taking a moment to compose his thoughts with a deep breath. “You were all here for me when we did the Anaxis mission. When we rescued Echo,” he spared a glance over at his former squad member, who gave him a short nod in return. “That took guts, to follow me into that mission when we had never met and you didn’t even fully believe me, and I appreciate it everyday.”
Rex broke his attention from the squad before him and moved his gaze to the floor. “Two of my greatest men were lost a few months back. Officially, one killed, one missing in action. Yet I have reason to believe they are alive and being held captive.”
Rex brought his attention back up to Hunter, who sighed deeply. “So you want us to come with you and rescue them?” He couldn’t hide the tiredness that crept into his voice.
There was a moment of silence as Rex debated how to approach what he wanted to say. “Not entirely, I need your squad to get them out. The GAR haven’t signed off on this, they said they couldn’t pull troops out of battle at such a turning point in the war, despite it being a rescue mission for two prisoners of war.”
Hunter cocked his head to the side, trying to make sense of what he was hearing. By the sounds of things Rex had lost it. “Wait. So you want us to desert our posts and risk who knows what as a punishment to save two members of your squad who may not actually be alive?” Rex rubbed his hands down his face, desperately trying to figure out how to get a grip back on the conversation.
“Regs-” Crosshair muttered from behind.
Before he could say more Echo cut him off. “Do not finish that sentence Crosshair. Let’s try to hear Rex out for a moment.” Echo came to stand next to Hunter and turned his attention to his former captain. “Rex, who is it we’re going after? And how do you know they’re even alive?”
Rex gave Echo a small smile and took a deep breath. “A few weeks ago I received intelligence I was not suppose to be sent, an admin error or something. There has been activity within a planet called Wayland, we’re unsure it is separatist or independent at this time.”
“So it could be the Techno Union?” Echo cut in.
Rex shook his head. “I don’t know, the intelligence didn’t share who it was, only that two troopers from the 501st legion were being held captive for reasons we are insure of yet.”
“So these troopers could potentially be being used to harvest intelligence against the Republic? Surely after Echo they’d be more cautious of letting that happen again, especially if the Techno Union could be involved,” Hunter suggested, noticing the slight increase in Echo’s heart rate beside him.
“Who are the troopers?” Echo repeated his previous question, a slight shake to his voice. “Do I know them?”
Rex nodded, averting his gaze from the ARC trooper. “Kix.” He said quietly and Echo tensed.
“Kix?” He echoed and Rex nodded.
“And Fives” he added quickly.
Echo’s breath hitched. “Fives? You told me Fives died, that you held him in his final moments. How would he be on Wayland?”
Rex rubbed his hands down his face. “I did, that was the truth. But I also called Kix in to try and save him. But Kix had a bad feeling and told me to leave, said that I knew Fives’ story and he would need me to tell it.”
“So you left them both?” Echo accused.
Rex shook his head. “He was so insistent Echo,” he explained desperately. “He practically begged me to go, said he had backup on the way. He didn’t want me more caught up in everything more than I already was. And maybe it was a good thing too because if not all three of us would likely be stuck on that planet and no one would know any different. Kix was right, and now I need to do right by my men and get them rescued.”
“So you’re sending us in to do the dirty work?” Crosshair accused impatiently.
“Cross,” Hunter warned but was cut off by the sniper, who pushed back off the wall and came to join Echo and Hunter.
“What? This mission sounds risky, and he isn’t even willing to come with us. It also isn’t sanctioned, so we could pull all of this off and still face consequences when we get back. Those consequences aren’t just a slap on the knuckles for us Rex and you know it.” Crosshair pointed an accusatory finger towards his chest plate.
Rex stared up at the sniper, who had placed a toothpick between his teeth. “He’s right, I’m sorry. I want to be on this mission more than anything, but I can’t find a way out. There’s no wriggle room, Anakin would never let me have leave when the war is at it’s climax. And there’s no way the Jedi council wouldn’t notice if we disappeared overnight. That’s why I called you. Your trusted me on Anaxis, and we wouldn’t have made it off Skako if we didn’t have you with us. You are the right men for this job, but you don’t have to take it, Crosshair’s right. But I can pull you some strings and deal with the higher ups. You won’t be alone in this.”
Echo jumped in straight away. “I’m in. Fives is my twin. He was my best friend and if theres a chance he’s suffering then I won’t sit by and let it happen. Same for Kix too.”
Hunter looked between Echo and Rex, considering the best move to make. He looked up to Tech, who had been quietly observing from up on the bunk. He shrugged at Hunter, equally as unsure of what to do.
“If we took this mission we need to be formally pulled from the field for a few rotations, or you need to cover us.” Hunter said after a few moments of silence.
Rex nodded. “Already arranged. On record you are here right now to help the 501st and the 212th with a ground assault on Yerbana. However no one else here knows that, and no one would check in once we’re on the ground that you were actually there, especially with how much you do independently as a unit. So long as you leave at the same time as us no one will bat an eyelid.”
Hunter nodded as he took in the information. “Tech, what are the odds of this going well?”
Tech slid down from the top bunk and began tapping away at his datapad. “It is difficult to say without seeing the intel that Rex acquired, however it sounds as if in terms of keeping this under the radar we should be ok.
“Can you send him the data?” Hunter asked and the captain nodded. “I’ll get it sent over. I wish I could’ve given you more time, but we leave tomorrow. I need to know if you’re in now.”
“Rex,” Hunter groaned “why couldn’t you have explained all of this over a call and given us more time to prepare. We just got off a mission, the lads are exhausted and we aren’t even stocked up yet. I want to help you, really. But I also have to think about my boys too.” Sometimes Hunter hated being sergeant. The hardest decisions always fell on his shoulders and sometimes he just didn’t have the answers. Of course he wanted to help the two lost troopers, especially if there were rumours of Techno union involvement. But he also had to think of his squad, his brothers. They were tired and hadn’t had a proper break in months. He had to think about their welfare too.
“We can do this Hunter,” to his surprise it was Tech who spoke up. “We can’t leave them there. We’ve survived much worse than this. Wayland is almost a full rotations flight away from here anyway. We will rest then.”
Hunter glanced at Echo, who nodded hopefully. He then looked to Wrecker, who cracked his knuckles. “Yeah sarge, there ain’t nothing we can’t do.”
Hunter smiled at his brothers enthusiasm before looking to Crosshair, who raised an eyebrow at him. “I think the decisions already been made,” he said eventually. “I guess we’re off to save more regs.”
“We don’t do this unless everyone is on board, Cross,” Hunter reassured. “What’s your thoughts?”
The sniper considered his sergeant’s words for a moment. “I’m down, so long as we don’t take the fall when we get back. This is your problem Rex, we aren’t going down because we did the right thing.”
“You have my word, all of you.” He spared a glance at every member of the squad. “You won’t take the fall. And I won’t forget this, I owe you all. I’ve managed to push our deployment time back to midday tomorrow so get some shut eye and spend the morning getting stocked up. I’ll see you tomorrow.” With that Rex left the Batch to themselves.
“You ok there, Echo?” Wrecker cautiously asked his brother, who was starting at the floor.
“Fives might be alive,” he said slowly, looking up to meet Wreckers eyes. Wrecker placed an arm around around Echo, who leaned into his chest. “I’ve missed him so much.”
Hunter sat down at the table and leaned back in the chair. “We all happy with that decision? We do this together and if someone isn’t sure now is the time to say. We don’t do this unless we’re all sure.”
“We were all truthful when Rex was here. We want to do this Hunter.” Tech replied, breaking his attention from the datapad for a moment. They cast a glance to Crosshair, the most apprehensive of them all.
“I want to do this too, if only to shove it to the GAR and get them off our backs for a bit,” he smiled. “I would’ve said no if I didn’t want to do it, you know that Hunter,” he smiled lightly.
There was truth in that, Crosshair was far from shy about sharing his opinions when grouped with regs on missions. It often came off as him being stubborn or entitled, but in reality he was worried for his brothers. Crosshair always had their backs, always brought up the rear on missions and was their cover fire when things got messy. He brought that with him off the battlefield and refused to let them all walk into the line of fire without proper safeguards. Hunter was their leader but he had to be diplomatic, Crosshair had more freedom in that department and could stir shit up as much as he wanted to stick up for his squad. He’d saved their skins that way many times up to now.
“The question is are you sure Hunter?” Tech asked. “You never stated your opinion.”
Hunter sighed. Deep down he really wasn’t sure. He’d had a niggling feeling that they were heading towards a mission they couldn’t win. They couldn’t keep up a one hundred percent success rate forever. That niggle was getting stronger after their conversation with Rex. So deep down, no. Hunter wasn’t sure, he had a bad feeling about this and no matter how much he wanted to help Rex out and get those troopers home safe, he couldn’t justify risking all their safeties for an unsanctioned mission. There would be no backup should this go wrong. But his squad’s minds were made up and it was his job to get them through it.
“I’m sure,” he said eventually, throwing a small smile onto the end to back up his point.
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Tech was absorbed in his datapad as he followed his squad aimlessly around the hangar. Rex had sent him through the mission details and they were lacking to say the least. They didn’t have much intel to work with, only that the base was rumoured to be hidden inside one of the hills in the planet’s largest mountain range. Tech was both relived and puzzled that there didn’t seem to be any Techno Union involvement. He had learned the telltale signs that they were linked to a place, such as a high electrical power demand and lax security measures, with the idea of hiding in plain sight and not drawing attention to themselves, ensuring their secrets stay secret.
Wayland seemed to be very well protected, the planet wasn’t even officially listed in the Republics data banks, instead the coordinates were nestled in the files Tech had been sent. Supposedly a group of commandos had been sent in to do a fly over of the facility back when a republic sanctioned rescue mission was still on the cards. The report stated that they were almost shot down before they’d even fully entered atmosphere. Rex had failed to mention that when he spoke to them.
As for their targets, there was little information on them too. Fives was an ARC and Kix was a medic, he’d been told that much by Echo. However, the report failed to reveal the reason for their kidnapping and any suspects. Tech didn’t like how blind that made him feel. Part of planning was knowing their enemy and they were going in dark here. They had no idea if Fives or Kix were injured, other than the fact that at some point Fives had been resuscitated after Rex had left. Which meant they probably were not in good ways, and that was without considering what their captors could have done to them. Tech would be the first to suggest they not jump to conclusions and assume they had another situation like Echo’s on their hands, however Tech couldn’t stop the shiver of unease at the thought. Of course that would be their first worry, they had all watched Echo get pulled from that chamber and had seen him try to adjust to life afterwards. It wasn’t lost on any of the Batch how traumatic it had been for him so of course the potentiality it could’ve happened again would be their first fears. Tech reminded himself as to why he didn’t believe the Techno Union were involved and tried to think of other scenarios. Troopers were often taken from battlefields by the enemy and used for ransom or as bargaining chips for intel, this could easily be one of those situations. However the tiny voice in the back of Tech’s head reminded him that those tactics only worked when the enemy revealed their bargaining chips, and they’d been too quiet for a ransom.
Tech was pulled from his thoughts as he walked directly into the back of Wrecker, who was helping Crosshair haul a crate of explosives onto the ship.
“Watch it Tech, moving bombs here,” Wrecker scolded lightly, with no real malice to his tone. He placed the crate down in it’s designated spot on the Marauder and came to hiss his brother. “What you looking at?”
“The intel from Rex, although there is not much intel to actually work with.” He explained, summoning the rest of his brothers with the mention of the intel.
‘All we know is that they’re being held in a base built into the mountainside of one of the bigger hills and that their security is very hostile, we will need a stealth approach if we are to pull this off.”
“And a miracle,” added Crosshair with a grumble.
Their discussion was cut off by Rex approaching them briskly. “We move out in ten lads, you ready?”
Hunter glanced at the rest of his squad before answering. “We’re ready Rex, about to go fire up now.” He gestured back to the Marauder, who thankfully had now been fully loaded of the bomb site of equipment and rations which had scattered the hangar an hour previously.
“Good. I’ll comm you as we move out. Thank you for this boys. May the force be with you.” He gave an appreciative nod towards the Batch.
“And with you, Rex,” Hunter replied as the rest of his squad filtered into the Marauder. “I just hope we all get everyone home safe,” he added.
Rex laughed. “I’ve seen what your squad can do, you’ll all be fine.” Hunter smiled weakly and backed away into the ship. He knew better than anyone what his squad could do, but with their limited intel he’d have to hope and pray it would be enough.