Friends
‚Are you there?’
It had begun.
‚Yes.’
The situation was very tense. It took all of Ahsoka’s concentration not to loose the track.
Anakin stood beside Ahoska. “Easy, Ahsoka. It will work. Can you already say something about his whereabouts?”
“No. Not really. But I have the feeling that it comes from there” She pointed a finger to a direction. Anakin sat on the bed and sighed “I hope, Cody will maintain the connection with Obi-Wan until you can find him.”
“I hope so” Ahsoka simply answered. She had closed her eyes and clenched her fists.
Anakin contacted the commando-bridge. “Admiral Yularen? We have contact with General Kenobi. The ‘RESOLUTION’ should move slowly to following direction. And do not enter hyperspace.”
“Understood, Sir.” Yularen answered via comlink.
‘Obi-Wan. Please hang on. We will find you.’
Cody hugged him from behind.
‘I don’t know if I am only dreaming, that you will come to rescue me.’
The commander’s eyes widened. ‘No. That’s no dream. You are calling me through the force. Don’t you remember the force?’
Obi-Wan turned within Cody’s grasp. ‘The force? I am sorry. A voice deep in my mind whispers that I am a force-user. But I can’t remember how to use it. And I have the feeling that I am no wimp as I am now.’
Cody responded ‘You are no wimp. You never were. You are one of the bravest persons I’ve ever met.’
Ahsoka opened her eyes as she felt Obi-Wan’s joy. “I know where he is. I can feel it. Master Skywalker, tell Admiral Yularen, that he should move to following direction…”
“No Ahsoka. We should wait. Are you sure that you have the correct location?” Anakin answered instead.
Ahsoka looked at him and nodded. “Yes. I am 100 % sure.”
“All right. Then cut the link with them. Leave them alone. Before we go, we should devise a rescue-plan. Furthermore we should send scouts. We have to know about possible defense-systems.”
The young Togruta cut her link and blinked. “Skyguy? Since when are you the forsighted tactician?” Anakin only scowled at her and left the room.
*****
“That’s not good.” Anakin remarked as he studied the holo of the complex of the building. “The whole building is a maximum security prison.” One of the scouts saluted. “Yes Sir, we tried to gain more information, but there are too many patrols. We walked around the whole building and scanned the ground and discovered, that a big part of the building is subterranean.”
Rex looked at Anakin. “Great. And how can we come inside? We are no assassins.” Skywalker tilted his head and thought. “Scout, are there any security gaps?” The scout showed another holo. “We noticed, that there is a 30 second time-frame during the droids’ shift changeover at the main entrance.” Ahsoka only laughed “30 seconds?! What are we? Record sprinters? The distance between the entrance and the building is too great. And as I can see from the holo, there are no bushes or trees that would grant us cover. And even if we managed to get in, we A.) don’t know in which prison cell Obi-Wan is and B.) how many patrols and traps are in there.” Anakin simply stared at her and slowly nodded. He hated this whole situation. Somehow it reminded him of the Blue-Shadow-Virus mission…
A few hours later, Rex decided to visit his brother. During the whole briefing, the commander was silent. And that gave him the creeps. Cody was a excellent tactician and had many red herrings in his sleeve, but he never would risk a solo attempt. But a voice in his head said him to keep an eye on him.
As nobody opened the door, Rex got nervous. He used the emergency code for Cody’s quarters and stepped in. He found his brother in the bathroom. It seemed that he prepared for leaving. “What the hell are you doing?!” Cody, who just finished with dressing didn’t look at him. “Sorry, Rex. I can’t wait longer. If something goes wrong, I am the one responsible for it.” He turned to leave but Rex blocked his way out and grinned. “I am sorry, too, Cody. But I can’t let you go. Not alone. I’m will accompany you. Can’t let you take credit for this action all alone. And someone has to look after you.”
Cody felt relieved “Thank you, Rex. I owe you one.” Rex grinned “I better hadn’t said that, Cody. But I keep that in mind.” He then examined his brother. “Are we leaving without our complete armor?” “Yes. The white armor would only hinder us. After all, we have no black armor like several commandos. A complete armor would be too heavy. And we should move quickly through the gap and the black jumpsuit is the best solution.” Rex nodded as he began to undress himself. “I hope you are right. Argh, did I already mention that I hate it to be naked in front of droids??” Cody grinned “You are not naked, you have the jumpsuit!” “But I feel naked!” he whined. “Oh come on. Since when are you such a crybaby? And by the way: even *if* you are naked, the droids won’t rape you. You are by far to ugly.“ Rex only retorted “Look who is talking, scarface!” Then the two of them left Cody’s quarters.
Fortunately the hallway was empty. Even the hangar. Just as they approached the Obex II, a petite figure stepped forward. The two clones stopped “Commander Tano?”
Ahsoka stepped out of the Obex II’s shadows “I knew it. I knew that you two daredevils would do that.” Cody’s eyes narrowed “Are you going to stop us, Commander Tano?” Ahsoka smiled and took her cloak off. Rex raised an eyebrow “Where did you get such a small clone jumpsuit?” Ahsoka smiled mischievously “I stole it from Echo. I stole it right after the briefing, so I had enough time to adjust it to my size” Rex and Cody laughed “Poor Echo… He is always the unlucky fellow.” Ahsoka joined the quiet laughter.
“You will need me as Jedi-O-Metre. I can guide you to General Kenobi once we got in the complex.” “Does General Skywalker know about our inofficial mission?” Ahsoka shook her head as she walked along the ramp of the Obex II. “No. Otherwise he would come with us. And you know that our mission would surely end up in a disaster with him. He isn’t the type for quick-and-silent rescue missions, you both know that.” Both nodded. As Ahsoka saw the shuttles’ name she asked Cody. “Uhm, Commander Cody, why did you name your shuttle ‘Obex II’?” “Well, the first one was destroyed on Rishi. And Obex consists of ‘Obi-Wan’ and ‘Rex’.” “Well, I see. You love them both very much.” She stated. “Yeah, I do.” Rex pinched him “You have to love me. I am your favourite brother after all.”
*****
Three shadows moved quickly through the night. One of them, Rex, climbed up a tree and looked through his nightview macrobinoculars. Via comlink he informed the two waiting shadows “Alright. Shift Change in five minutes. I will give you the signal when we have to move.” “Alright.” Cody and Ahsoka answered. The young Togruta felt her adrenalin and her heart began to pound. She looked at Cody and then up to Rex. Both were like stone statues. Absolute motionless and concentrated. Every time when she saw them in action, shivers ran down her spine. Something in their nature troubled her, although she trusted them with her life. She was so absorbed in her thoughts, that she nearly missed Rex’s countdown and she sharpened her senses.
“3…2…1… GO!”
