34This chapter is dedicated to all those of us who have had to stay awake for long hours, to those who are unable to function at their jobs without a significant dose of caffeine beforehand, and to those who have to deal with us when we've had too much. :)
The beginning is a bit slow, but it's definitely relevant to the plot! ;D Enjoy!
Anakin slouched his way down the halls of the Resolute, desperately trying not to succumb to the yawns that threatened to split his head open. Yesterday, he had woken up at oh-three-hundred to review tactical information for a short insertion mission to Rodia. He and Rex – and Ahsoka, when she finally stumbled onto the bridge, rubbing at her eyes most unprofessionally, at oh-four-thirty – had gone over the insertion plans with the flight crews and then stood by, checking and double-checking equipment while waiting for command to call in with the go-ahead.
Stumbling into the lift, Anakin pressed the key for the hangar bay and leaned back against the wall, pinching the bridge of his nose. It had taken command five hours to call back and say they were cleared for entry. The flight crews, by then, were so sick of hearing the clones (and the general and his padawan) complaining about the delay that they practically shoved them into the gunships and dumped them on the planet's surface below.
Anakin supposed he couldn't really blame them. The gunships had flown back to the ship, leaving Anakin, Ahsoka, Rex, and three platoons of men in the hot, swampy terrain of Rodia.
Traveling from the drop point had taken a long time. A very long time.
It was well into the afternoon, and the Five-Oh-First had been slogging through mud, tangled vegetation, and swarming bugs for hours, when their scouts finally caught sight of the objective. Sure enough, as Senator Orn Free Ta had said, there was a droid base planted right in the middle of the densest part of the jungle.
Anakin had stormed it, and his men had followed. Ahsoka had gotten tangled in a huge clump of vines just as she jumped forward. In any regular battle, that wouldn't have been funny, but the droids had barely established the base, and there were perhaps thirty in all. It was over in seconds.
Anakin, perhaps a little too tired and hungry at this point for consideration, had laughed at Ahsoka. Although he immediately apologized, she cut herself free of the vines, stalked away in the direction of the pick-up point, and refused to speak to him for the remainder of the day. It was childish, but Anakin said nothing about it, since it had been a stupidly easy mission, and everyone still had to walk a couple hours to the pick-up point.
Stupid jungle trees. Too bad the gunships couldn't just blast through the foliage to reach the men. By the time they finally reached the gunships, even Rex had been dragging. Upon reaching the Resolute, Anakin had gone to report to the Council, tell them that Rodia really didn't need three whole platoons of troopers to help them out, a single Jedi could have done it just fine, thank you very much; and was there an actually important mission to carry out?
The lift opened with a congenial ding! Anakin glowered at it and slumped into the hangar bay. He wished, for about the thirtieth time, that he'd never asked.
Yoda had cheerfully directed him to pick up Mace Windu and two companies of clones from the Ninety-First Mobile Reconnaissance Corps. "Transfer them to Ord Cestus, the Resolute will," the Grandmaster had declared.
Anakin looked at his chronometer. Between one thing and the next, he'd been awake for thirty-eight hours. Drinking caf helped, but only so much. He leaned against his starfighter and braced his forehead on one hand.
"Sir? General, are you all right?" Someone touched his elbow, and Anakin opened bleary eyes to see Crash staring concernedly at him.
"Hey, Crash," he mumbled. "M'fine."
"Yeah, you look it." Crash sauntered over to the nearest gunship and pulled a wrench out of his pocket. "Waiting for General Windu?"
"Hmm." Anakin yawned. "And Captain Rex."
As if in answer, the lift dinged again, and Rex came over, moving slowly. Anakin didn't bother to greet him. They'd spent most of the last couple of days working together on plans, the mission, reports, and supply requests.
"Ship just docked," Rex reported.
"Yup."
"Captain," said Crash, glancing up from where he'd just pulled a piece of shrapnel from the gunship's blast-doors. "Sir, General Windu and Commander Ponds will be boarding momentarily."
Rex straightened.
Anakin did not. "Supply requests go through?"
"Yes, but we'll have to pick them up after we drop General Windu and his men off at Ord Cestus. We've got plenty of rations for another couple of days, sir."
"Not what I'm worried about." Anakin didn't expound on his explanation, because just then two shuttles entered the hangar bay and edged through the shields to land.
The doors hissed open, and Mace Windu strode out, his robes flapping around him, Commander Ponds on his heels.
"Master Windu," said Anakin. "Good to see you."
Because now maybe I can finally go to my quarters and get some sleep.
"Likewise," the dark-skinned man said, inclining his head. "You received my notification?"
"Uh." Anakin glanced at Rex, who glanced at Ponds, who glanced at Mace Windu, who held up a data-pad and handed it to him.
Anakin read aloud, "Torrent Company to assist Lightning Squadron?"
"I don't think I wrote it as a question," Mace Windu said, peering at the datapad upside down.
Anakin groaned.
"Are you injured?" Now the Jedi Master just sounded sarcastic.
"We've got to plan for this, don't we?" Anakin groused.
"I'm afraid so."
They stared at each other, for once in complete accord. Commander Ponds stepped forward, glancing sideways at Crash, who was pretending not to be amused. "General Skywalker, it might be a good idea if your men could familiarize themselves with using the AT-RTs."
Anakin looked at Rex. "You want to oversee them, or plan battle strategies with us?"
Rex glanced at him and cleared his throat. "We spent the last couple of days planning, sir."
"Right. Commander Ponds, Captain Rex will accompany you." He waved vaguely in the shuttles' direction, where clones in maroon-painted armor were maneuvering their vehicles out. "Master Windu, if you'll follow me?"
He clicked his comm. "Ahsoka?"
"Yes, Master?" She sounded way too chipper. Of course, she'd been able to sleep last night.
Anakin glanced sidelong at Mace Windu and lowered his voice. "See if you can get a couple of the men to help you bring a caf machine up to the briefing room."
"Why don't I just bring you some caf?"
"No." Anakin shook his head vehemently. "An entire caf machine. Please, Snips."
"Okay . . ." She signed off.
Rex watched as Jesse picked himself up off the floor. For some reason, Jesse had decided to interpret literally Rex's order to 'See what you can do with this thing'. He'd immediately clambered onto the vehicle and tried to jump it across the room.
"Maybe we should show you what the levers do," said one of the Ninety-First troopers, who was named Razor.
"Yeah." Jesse got up for another try, and a couple other maroon-painted troopers started to show Fives and Appo.
"It's easy," a trooper named Stak explained. "You just push this one to go at normal speed, and this one to go at double speed, and this one to shoot, and pull this to jump, and this to go left, and this to go right, and step on this to slow down and to stop."
"Stak," Ponds called. "Could you possibly be a little less technical?"
He pulled off his helmet, which had 'Some guys have all the luck' stenciled across the back, and rejoined Rex. "It's been a while."
"Yeah."
Ponds looked as tired as Rex felt. They both cringed as Fives sent his vehicle zooming across the room and nearly into the opposite wall. Rex decided that what he needed was a strong cup of caf. Problem. He'd agreed to oversee this, and that meant staying in the room until the guys had finished figuring out these vehicles. "Hey, Kix!"
The medic came over, obviously trying not to cringe at the increasingly hair-brained antics of his fellow soldiers. "Rex?"
"Would you mind bringing up some caf for us?"
"Personally, no. Medically, yes."
Well, he had asked. "It's that or a stim shot."
Kix hurried out.
"Long day?" asked Ponds sympathetically.
"Long week."
"Yeah, same here. Two missions, back-to-back, asking for more men, ordering supplies – our cruiser's resupplying while we're on Ord Cestus."
"About the same." Rex held back a yawn and watched Appo handling his vehicle with ease. Echo tested each control on his own vehicle perfectly. The kid had probably memorized the manuals years ago.
"Hopefully the generals get through their mission planning all right," Ponds continued, running a hand over his bald head.
"Why wouldn't they?"
"It's been a long week for both of them." Ponds replied neutrally. "And knowing how they don't exactly see eye-to-eye. . ."
"Oh. Yeah."
Stak and Razor were urging Jesse and Fives to a race. Rex wondered if he should intervene, then decided that if they were going to be idiots, they'd best do it here and not while they were on a rocky-surfaced planet.
Kix entered the room, empty-handed. "Sorry, Rex, Commander. We seem to be out of caf."
Rex tilted his head thoughtfully, trying to subdue a sudden surge of panic. "Out?"
"Well, that or it's been moved. No one seems to have seen it since yesterday."
Rex knew that there had been at least a few hundred servings left early this morning, and most of the guys didn't drink it much. Courtesy of Kix, who had medically banned certain people from drinking it when not on a mission.
Not that they listened. They were just a lot more careful about it.
Before he could consider farther, Ahsoka bounded into the room and gave a cheerful wave. "Oh! Hi, Ponds! Hey, Rex."
"Commander."
"What are you guys doing?"
"Overseeing training," said Ponds succinctly.
"Well, I've got to go through my lightsaber forms. Master Skywalker says it's better for me than listening in on planning sessions, but I'll bet he just doesn't want me stealing his caf." She winked.
Rex and Ponds exchanged stunned looks.
"General's drinking caf again?" Rex said, a little too calmly.
"Yep. Had me bring the whole machine and a ton of caf grounds up to the briefing room. Well, I've got to run!"
She skipped out, her padawan braid swinging from her lekku.
Ponds thought for a long moment. "I suppose we can last another twelve hours."
"Endurance training didn't cover this," Rex retorted.
Jesse joined them at a limp, an impressive black eye adding to his already unusual look. "Heh, take that, Fives!" he hollered over his shoulder.
Rex realized he hadn't even noticed the end of the race just as Fives replied, "You owe me, Stak!"
Jesse did a double-take. "You bet on me winning?"
"Yup. Bet on you winning to Stak, and bet on me winning to Razor."
Stak and Razor stared at him, uncertain whether to be offended or amused, and finally burst into laughter. An impressed look crossed Jesse's face, but Rex was looking closely at Echo, who seemed a little too innocent. "Echo!" he called.
"Yes, Captain!" Echo bounded over.
"Did you think of making separate bets?"
"Uh – yes, sir."
"Hmm." Such deviousness could prove to be very useful. He glanced at Ponds as Fives came up, splitting his winnings with Echo.
Ponds nodded grimly. "Razor! Stak!"
The two clones ran up, and Rex said, "You four are going on a mission."
"Yes, sir!" said Echo immediately. "But. . . aren't we supposed to be training?"
Ponds stalked around to face him, hands locked behind his back. "You are supposed to be preparing for a joint mission, where you'll be working alongside Lightning Squadron." He gestured at Razor and Stak. "Captain Rex and I must stay here to oversee training."
"Right," said Rex. "Your mission is to retrieve caf from the briefing room."
Apart from a raised eyebrow from Razor, the four clones didn't seem in the least bit fazed. It was a sign of the times, Rex thought philosophically.
"Simple mission, in and out," interjected Ponds. "And –" He winced microscopically as Hardcase vaulted onto a vehicle and went zipping around the room. "You have ten minutes."
Anakin stared at the hologram before him, watching as it swayed, split, and doubled. "Wait, which canyon?"
"This one." Mace's hand seemed to have ten fingers, and two of those fingers were currently wavering between one half of the hologram and the other.
"Uhh."
"I thought you said drinking caf would help," Mace Windu said accusingly.
"I did! I mean, it did! I think." Anakin groaned. "So, anyway, we rush the troops up that canyon –" He gestured vaguely. "And then, uhh. Ummm. Wait, what was the objective?"
"This building, here. Skywalker –" Mace Windu abruptly turned, headed for the caf machine, and poured himself an obscenely large mug.
Anakin trudged over to fill his own cup for the fourth time. Just as he was thankfully pouring it down his throat, he felt a twinge in the Force. He glanced across at the other Jedi and said, "I sense . . . danger."
"So do I." They drew closer together.
"They're near the door," warned Anakin, his mind suddenly focused.
"Their intent is malicious," added Mace Windu, squinting a little.
The door hissed open, and Fives jumped into the room. "Oh, sorry, generals!"
"Fives." Anakin released his lightsaber guiltily. "What are you doing here?"
"Sorry, sir. Um, the training is progressing as expected."
"Meaning what, exactly?" Mace Windu stepped forward.
"No casualties as of yet, and, uh –"
The ventilator shaft directly above the caf machine was kicked inward, and Echo leaned down and snatched the caf pot. Anakin yelped. "ECHO!"
"Sorry, sir!" hollered an incredibly unrepentant voice as Echo disappeared back up the shaft.
Fives beat a hasty retreat before either Jedi could act.
"Skywalker," said Mace Windu. "Those were your troopers."
"Yeah, well, they weren't acting under my orders! You go left, I'll go right!" Anakin rushed from the room, Mace Windu hot on his heels.
He burst through the door, saw Fives disappearing around the corner, and rushed after him. Something caught him about the feet, and he went sprawling.
"Apologies, General!" A clone with maroon markings on his armor jumped to his feet from where he'd been lying across the passageway, and Anakin turned to see another of Windu's troopers doing the same thing across from him.
Mace Windu had somehow stopped before tripping on the clone, and now he gazed severely at his soldier. "Razor. What is going on?"
"Sorry, General." Razor sounded slightly panic-stricken. "Intel said only General Skywalker would be likely to follow, and –"
Mace Windu's eyebrow went up astonishingly high. "Razor, Stak. Inside."
Rex looked up as the door hissed open and Fives and Echo came barreling in, a half-empty caf pot held triumphantly above Echo's head. Fives greeted them. "Objective completed, sirs. But Razor and Stak were taken hostage."
"Hostage?" Ponds frowned. "They're taking this more seriously than I expected."
Rex fetched a couple of disposable cups from the water-dispenser on the far wall and filled them with caf. It was almost cold, but it was something.
Ponds downed his caf in one gulp. "Three more, and then your men will be experienced enough with the AT-RT controls."
"Yeah."
"And then it's another few hours to Ord Cestus."
"Right."
"And then we've got a ten-hour insert mission."
Rex sighed heavily.
"What I'm wondering," continued Ponds, staring straight ahead, "is whether or not we can last that long."
"Kamino didn't prepare us for this," agreed Rex.
They glanced sideways at each other. "Rescue mission?" muttered Rex.
". . . Yeah."
Anakin glowered at the troopers in justifiable anger. "Tell us who sent you."
Razor remained silent, and Stak shook his head.
"Tell us, now."
"Sorry, sir."
"Tell us!"
"Sir," said Razor curiously. "Are you using the Force?"
Anakin stared at him. "No, of course not."
They reached somewhat of an impasse at this point, and Anakin went back to the holotable, his mind spinning furiously. He was feeling lightheaded and dizzy, and his hands were starting to shake. On the other side of the room, Mace Windu was pacing, his hands in his wide sleeves.
"It was obviously a joint command," Anakin said. "Two troopers from each legion."
"So it would seem," Mace agreed. "And since Razor and Stak were helping Ponds teach your men –"
"And since Fives and Echo were in Rex's line-up –" Anakin moaned. "I never thought the treachery went this high."
"They'll come back soon." Mace Windu sounded grim. "They have the caf pot, but no caf. We have the caf and the machine, but no pot."
"I suggest a retrieval mission," Anakin said briskly.
"Not yet. Let them come to us." Mace turned, his deep eyes boring into him. "As of now, Skywalker, we are at war."
Rex held up one hand, and Jesse, Kix, and Hardcase rushed across the hall to join him. Ponds was kneeling near the briefing room door, fiddling with the wires. Rex turned to Kix. "You're the smallest, so you'll get into the ventilator shaft. As soon as we set off the distraction, get inside and retrieve the box of caf grounds."
Kix complied silently. He'd come along on the mission for three reasons: Hardcase and Jesse were on the mission team, General Skywalker had already drunk too much caf, and he'd get no peace until the other commanding officers were sufficiently stoked on caffeine. Rex also suspected that Kix was doing it – though he'd never admit it – for the same reason Hardcase was. 'Because it's fun!'
"Hardcase, you're fast, so you'll get inside and free Razor and Stak. They shouldn't be restrained, but if they are, get them to Fives and Echo. They'll be waiting at the end of this corridor."
"Got it, Captain!"
"Jesse, you're with me. We'll keep General Skywalker busy."
Ponds waved and signaled 'ready!' Rex stood up, Jesse at his side, and stalked over to the briefing room door. He clicked the open button, and it flashed red. 'Entrance denied.' Well, they'd do this the hard way, then.
"General Skywalker! We respectfully ask that you and General Windu step away from the caf machine and keep your hands where we can see them!"
"Door's locked, Rex," Anakin replied snippily.
Rex raised an eyebrow. Surely the general knew better than that. He signaled to Ponds, who pressed his detonator.
It only took a tiny explosion to rend the locking mechanism apart. Rex and Jesse grabbed the doors and forced them apart. Hardcase jumped between them and sprinted across the room to Razor and Stak, who were already sidling towards escape.
Mace Windu moved to block their escape, but Anakin yelped, "No! Master Windu, they're after the caf machine!"
Kix dropped through the ventilator shaft, kicking off the wall to avoid landing on the machine, and found his path blocked by two glowering Jedi. He ducked beneath Anakin's outstretched arm, swiped the box of caf, closed it, and flung it across the room. Ponds caught it, tossed it to Jesse, and rushed into the room.
Anakin grabbed Kix and spun him around, holding him with an arm across his throat. "None of you come any closer! The caf is useless without the machine, and you're not getting that!"
"There's more than one machine, General," said Ponds unconcernedly.
Jesse held the caf box above his head and cried, "You'll never get this, sir!"
Anakin released Kix and rushed after Jesse, who tripped over his own feet trying to get out of the way in time.
"Commander Ponds," said Mace Windu, gracefully recognizing his defeat. "Perhaps we can negotiate terms."
Ponds watched as Razor and Stak sprinted out. "We'll see, sir."
Rex and Kix rushed back out of the room and chased after General Skywalker, Jesse, and Hardcase. As they neared them, Hardcase brought the general down in a flying tackle just as the general grabbed at Jesse.
All three of them fell to the ground. The box went skittering across the corridor.
Rex and Kix grabbed Anakin's arms and pinned him to the ground. "Surrender, sir!"
"Never!" gasped Anakin, unbreakable to the last. "I will never surrender! Give back that caf, now!"
"Or what? Sir?" Hardcase asked.
"Or I'll – I'll . . ." Anakin stopped struggling long enough to consider this. "I'll tell high command to stop all shipments of caf to the Resolute!"
"Hm," said Rex. "Sounds rather self-defeating, General."
"Rex?" Anakin's voice was suddenly calm. "I need that caf, and you will give it to me if you value your life."
"Sir," said Rex, gripping the general's prosthetic wrist harder as he struggled. "Let me explain something to you. There are approximately two hundred and fifty servings' worth of caf in that box."
"AND I'LL NEED IT ALL TO GET THROUGH THIS MISSION!" Anakin shouted, springing to his feet. The clones went flying in all directions, and Kix vaulted over Jesse to land squarely on General Skywalker's shoulders.
"General, I'll confine you to medbay for a week if you don't surrender!" he shouted, right in Anakin's ear.
"OW!"
Everyone paused while Anakin rubbed at his ear and adjusted his equilibrium. "Rex, there are four of you."
Hardcase looked confused. "Yes, sir," he said, gesturing. "We are clones. . ."
"No, there are four of each of you." Anakin looked thoughtful for all of half a second before looking at the caf box. "How'd that happen?!"
The box looked normal to Rex. He edged closer to it, keeping a weather eye on his opponent. "How'd what happen?"
"There are four caf boxes, too!" Anakin smirked evilly and took an unsteady step forward. "You guys can have one, I'll give one to General Windu because he'll kill me if I don't, and I'll have the other two. Deal?"
The clones were still staring at him when Mace Windu tore out of the briefing room, Ponds on his heels.
"Rex! Escape and evade!" shouted Ponds, desperately grabbing at the Jedi's flapping robes.
Rex and Jesse restrained Anakin. Hardcase grabbed the caf box and sprinted, and Kix dove out of the way. The instant the box was out of Anakin's sight, he slumped forward, the fight gone out of him.
Mace Windu stopped, glancing around. "Where is the box?" he demanded.
"Out of your range, sir," replied Rex, resting a hand on one pistol. "And I suggest you don't go searching for it."
Anakin chose that moment to tip over. Rex and Jesse let him go, and they watched as he hit the deck and began to snore peacefully.
Mace Windu stared down at him. "Ponds," he said.
"Yes, sir."
"It's been a long week."
"Yes, sir."
"We'll need the caf to get through this mission."
"Yes, sir, we will, sir."
They continued on in this way, the conversation becoming less spirited as they went on, until they were both only mumbling the words, continuing the argument for form's sake.
Rex dropped into a light doze.
At last, General Windu let out a long, exhausted, put-upon sigh. "Even when Skywalker's unconscious, he causes trouble," he observed to the universe at large.
Rex would have agreed, but the words weren't making much sense.
Kix eyed him. "How long until planet-fall, General?"
"Two hours. . ."
Ponds cleared his throat and tried to open his eyes all the way. "And then three before all the supplies are offloaded."
"And then another two before we can get the men to the beginning of the canyon."
"So . . ." said Jesse. "High-ranking officers don't have to oversee that part, right?"
A spark of life entered General Windu's eyes. "We don't have to be there until the beginning of the mission. Good night, all of you. If anyone needs me, I'm unavailable."
He shut off his datapad with a deliberate motion, turned, and went back to the briefing room. Ponds blinked after him, like something was failing to calculate in his head.
"I guess we'd better move the general," said Jesse tentatively.
He and Kix grabbed the Jedi, hauled him upright, and dragged him off to his quarters. Rex and Ponds followed behind, on auto-pilot.
They did pause, on their way past the briefing room, and saw that General Windu was lying peacefully on the bench, already asleep, his Jedi robes flung about him.
Rex paused outside his own quarters. He had just enough willpower left to compose a message to Appo, putting him in charge of the offloading.
Appo sent an immediate response. 'I'll take care of it, sir. One thing – Fives and Echo are plotting with Razor and Stak. Suggest forbidding them to experiment on AT-RTs until we are in a bomb shelter.'
Rex handed his datapad to Ponds, unwilling to take responsibility for this one.
Ponds sighed and pressed his comm. "Razor, Stak."
"Did you guys succeed?" asked Razor.
"No, but the generals didn't either." With that cryptic reply, Ponds went on. "I'm going to be on the shuttle. If I hear one explosion –"
As Kix and Jesse entered the hall, a horrifying thought struck Rex, and he leaned over to speak into Ponds' comm. "Fives, Echo. If you see Hardcase, stop him."
Ponds looked vaguely concerned.
Rex shrugged. "Training mission on Kamino – bored – some of the guys chewed caf grounds – Hardcase talked nonstop for a week. Literally bounced off the walls."
Kix stopped short. "Hardcase!"
"Oh, kriff," Jesse said feelingly. "He ran off with the caf!"
Kix spun on his heel, lifting his own comm and snapping out orders as he ran down the hall. "Hardcase, come in. Hardcase!" He switched channels. "Anyone who finds Hardcase has orders to restrain him. He's got an entire box of caf grounds. I repeat, an entire box of caf grounds."
Have a good Friday, everyone! :)
And for those of you who are wondering, Ponds and Rex simply ignored the whole 'find Hardcase' fiasco and went off to their respective quarters, where they slept peacefully for eight solid hours.
