"Tech, I'm with the General. Hone in on my signal." Hunter reported back to us after a few minutes of us waiting.

"Let's move men!" I called out as I lead the way back onto the ship. Tech flew us to where Hunter was waiting where we had ran out again and joined him, over looking the village that had Skywalker captured.

"That creature still has a hold of the General." Hunter reported to us as we arrived. Rex looked through his specs to see the situation below.

"We're going in, but remember what the General said. 'No casualties, disarm only.'" Rex reminded them of my orders earlier.

"We're on it, Captain. Wrecker, Crosshair, rockslide!" Hunter gave them their orders. Wrecker started to push a Boulder, crashing it through the village as we slid in behind it. The men started shooting to disarm while Crosshair stayed back as sniper. He shot a taser at the leg of the creature, releasing Anakin as it flew off in pain. Anakin swiftly rolled out of the way of the Boulder that came crashing through, barely missing him. We had them surrounded at blaster point when they began to speak an unknown language."Tech, translate what he said." Hunter ordered the genius.

"He says he does not want our war on his planet. That is why he took our leader." Tech translated for the rest of us.

"We didn't bring the war here. It was Wat Tambor and the Separatists." Anakin said as Tech translated back to them.

"Tell him we apologize for what's happened." I started.

"But tell him the enemy is holding one of our men prisoner in Purkoll. As soon as we rescue him, we'll leave his planet, for good." Rex cut in after.

"The chief says he will provide us with scouts and lead us to Tambor's city. From there, we're on our own." Tech translated the chiefs words back again.

"Any help is better than no help." Anakin shrugged.

"You might need this" I handed off his lightsaber while we prepared to leave again.

"Thanks"

"And next time, try not to lose it"

"You really do sound like Obi Wan" Anakin said with a smile at how similar I was to our former master.

~~~

The natives walked with us up a large cliff, pointing towards the city ahead before walking back down on their own and leaving us to figure out where to go from here.

"Hope nobody's scared of heights." Anakin looked back at the men after seeing how high up everything was in the city.

"Well, I'm not scared of nothing." Wrecker started as Crosshair and Hunter looked to him. "I just... When I'm up real high, I got a problem with gravity."

"Speaking of problems, I am no longer picking up Echo's signal." Tech claimed casually.

"I... I don't understand. You said it was coming from this city." Rex pointed out, worry seeping into his tone.

"I can only speculate, but it is possible there's a latency issue with the frequency
caused by all these atmospheric disturbances."

"Or... maybe they sent the signal to lure us into a trap. And maybe your friend's actually dead. Well, I can't be the only one thinking of that." Hunter claimed calmly as Rex grew upset at the thought.

"Look, every mission could be a trap. This one is no different. I'm telling you that signal is being sent by Echo himself! He's alive!" Rex had determination flooding his words.

"I think you're letting your personal feelings get in the way because you left him for dead at the Citadel." Crosshair told him. Anakin and I looked to each other, knowing this wouldn't end well.

"I had no choice. You hear me?" Rex snapped back.

"Oh, I don't blame you. I would've left him for dead too. Besides, he's just another reg." Crosshair was walking back down the cliff when Rex suddenly punched him down and continued punching him.

"Hey! Why don't you pick on someone not your size?" Wrecker picked Rex up by the back and threw him down to the ground harshly. Rex stood up against him strongly, not caring about the height difference between the pair.

"You'll be a whole lot smaller when I'm through with you." Rex claimed.

"Anakin" I urged him to break it up, knowing that they would be more likely to listen to him.

"That's enough!" Anakin broke them apart, shoving Rex off towards me to deal with. "Sergeant, take your men and scout the area for a tower entrance. I want to talk to my Captain alone." Anakin ordered out.

"Hey, hey calm down" I pulled Rex back as he went to jump at the bad batch again while they turned to leave.

"Rex, I hate to say it, but... you have to prepare yourself for the possibility that Echo is dead, and this is all a Separatist trick." Anakin gave him the hard talk that neither of us wanted to hear.

"Sir, I have watched so many of my brothers fall during this war, and I try not to hang on to any one of them. But that changed when I heard that Separatist transmission. It was no algorithm. That was Echo's voice. I know it." Rex stated taking his helmet off to see eye to eye with us.

"I hope you're right. But if, for some reason, you're wrong..." Anakin trailed again.

"Then I'll deal with it." Rex stated coldly.

"Good" Anakin nodded to the trooper. "Now let's go meet up with the others" he lead us back down. Pulling out a hair elastic I pulled my hair back into a ponytail as the winds below were blowing dust around violently. Lightning cackled as we ran through the storm, shielding our eyes from the dust.

"We're in business, Generals. Tech regained Echo's signal. It's coming from this tower. How's it going, Tech?" Hunter reported when we arrived at the scene. The bad batch genius pressed a few buttons before the door slid open for us.

"Sorry it took so long." Tech told us.

"Hey, Crosshair, check it out." Hunter ordered.

"Yeah, it's a lift." Crosshair stated after pretending to check it out.

"Well, we already knew that." Tech commented back.

"Wait, wait, wait. A lift? How far up are we going?" Wrecker asked with worry as the rest of us went inside.

"Don't worry, Wrecker. I'll hold your hand." Hunter joked.

"Hey! Cut it out, Sarge. Just give me some droids to crush." Wrecker shoved him while coming inside with the rest of us.

"Remember, this is a stealth mission. No blasting, no blowing things up. Nobody knows we're here." I warned the group when the doors suddenly opened. Wrecker ran out yelling as he took out droids. I reached out to stop him, but there was no point. With a sigh I simply watched as he began to crush all of the droids in sight.

"So much for stealth." Rex sighed looking to me. The others ran inside soon after and fought together to shoot down all droids. Anakin shrugged, leading Rex and I into the fight, cutting down droids who came close.

"Yeah! Hah! Ha-ha! Yeah!" Wrecker cheered as they finished off the droids and we all just stared at him blankly. "Uh... sorry. I just got excited." He claimed calmly.

"I've still got a lock on Echo's signal." Tech updated us.

"All right, men. Let's hunt some droids." Hunter started.

"Now you're talking! Yeah!" Wrecker cheered again as we all walked through the halls. Hunter peaked out to check, giving a nod to Rex. Hunter jumped out and shot two droids incoming while Rex shot the two that had just passed.

"Where exactly is Echo's signal coming from?" Anakin asked as we followed into the hall again and Rex removed his helmet once more.

"Strange. I just lost the signal." Tech seemed confused as to why the signal kept coming and going.

"What? How can that be? There's no 'atmospheric disturbances' up here." Rex worried.

"Rex" I warned at his tone towards Tech.

"Well, I have a new theory. I'm surprised I did not consider it earlier. The signal is only traceable during data transmissions. So until Echo dispenses more intel, I cannot pick up the signal."

"Okay, we're splitting up. Search every door. If someone finds Echo, contact the others. We go in together, just in case there's trouble." Anakin ordered out as we all spread out through the hallways.

"Ah! It appears the signal is back. It's from up ahead." Tech started as we checked a few more doors, having been separated from Anakin and Crosshair who went down the other hallway.

"In there." Hunter pointed as we raced down the hallway.

"Tech, open this door." Rex ordered after knocking to know he couldn't get through without hacking the system.

"You clones are so predictable." a man appeared on the screen before us.

"Wat Tambor." Rex noted grimly.

"Your algorithm predicted nearly every move you made to infiltrate Purkoll."

"There is no algorithm. We know you're holding a prisoner of war here." Rex said back to the screen sternly.

"Prisoner? I don't know what you mean, Captain."

"I am leaving here with my friend." Rex stated.

"Your friend is dead. His mind is ours."

"Liar!" Rex growled.

"Rex, we got incoming" I warned him, turning around to see a whole army of droids closing in on us.

"Execute them." Wat Tambor ordered his army. Wrecker started shooting while Hunter threw his knife at them and Anakin force pushed them back before slashing through with his lightsaber upon entering. Hunter ran out and started cutting through them. I followed swiftly after and cut down as many as I could, using the force to push a few back. Wrecker smashed them apart when Tech and Rex joined and began shooting them down as well. Crosshair slid in next, shooting as many as he could. The first wave had been destroyed, but the second was soon on its way.

"Tech, open that door for Rex!" Anakin ordered as we took cover behind the wall.

"Yes, sir!" Tech ran towards the door.

"I hope you find what you're looking for, Captain." Hunter told him.

"Lyra, go with them. This might be a trap" Anakin nodded to me next.

"What gave that away?" I asked back. He only laughed it off while I gave the two troopers cover from the incoming fire. Tech had quickly gotten the door open, the three of us rushing in to inspect it. My lightsaber was the main source of light in the dim room that we had entered.

"I don't like the look of this." Tech commented as we reached a door of some sort with a small window that was clouded over and a control panel set up around it. Lowering our weapons upon the cleared area Tech began working on the controls. "I'm definitely picking up a life-form in there. It seems to be a stasis chamber. I think I can get it open." After a few seconds of typing the door has swung open and a man fell out, wires holding him up.

"Echo." Rex gasped at the sight, jumping up to help his brother. "Tech. We got to get him out of here. Figure out how to unplug him from--from this mess." Rex had helped him onto the ground. "What have they done to you?" He pulled off his helmet when Echo seemed to have woken up.

"We-- We have to get to the shuttle to escape the Citadel. No! I'll go first." Echo started. I looked down sadly, remembering the mission clearly as though it had been yesterday. That mission haunted us all to this day.

"Echo." Rex said his name.

"No! No. No."

"Echo, it's Rex. I'm here." Rex told him again gently.

"No. Rex? You, you came back for me." Echo looked up and grabbed the troopers shoulder like his life depended on it.

"Yes. Yes, I did." Rex told him sadly, wishing he had done so sooner.

"What? What happened? Where am I?" Echo started to ask all of the questions flooding his mind.

"It's okay, Echo. You're safe now." Rex held his hand in his own. "Just sit tight, trooper. You're going home." Rex promised. I had waved Tech over who began to help us unplug Echo.

"General Jayko" Echo sent me a faint smile.

"It's good to have you back Echo" I smiled back at him.

................................................

Question of the day: how did you react to Echos return?

I'm going to start posting one chapter a day again just to give myself some more time to write out and edit the sequel book to this so that I will be able to start posting it soon after.