"Skywalker?"

A bang came through the link to Rex, who had sought a quiet place where no one could hear him.

"General Skywalker, it's me, Rex"

"What-" - another explosion - "is it?"

The clone was silent. How was he even going to break it to him gently that his Padawan was dying?

Why hadn't he thought about that? But it had to be done quickly now, Ahsoka needed help immediately. He didn't have time to think long.

Anakin waited on the other side for his captain to say something. Ahead of him, a new batch of fighters charged towards his squadron. With a barrel roll he dodged their shots, firing blue beams at the enemy.

"So if you need reinforcements, I have to disappoint, I can't leave here or those clankers will beat us".

"I have to agree, the General is replacing an entire squadron of fighters!" another voice interjected. It was Kix.

He was standing in front of a holo-table above which the current events were depicted on a blue map.

Rex had to grin, Anakin was just the best pilot he knew. "That's not it, we desperately need more medical supplies down here. Someone... Has been very badly injured by a new weapon from the seperatist army."

He took one deep breath to cover his worries. "Also, too many are incapacitated by the lack of supplies and cannot-"

A noise in the connection cut him off. "Rex?", no reply. "Rex, are you still there?", Anakin urged further.

Silence.

"Kix, go ahead and get everything ready if-" Again a hiss, but the clone had understood and disappeared from the bridge.

Anakin still heard only static. One of the droids had shot down his com system.

"R2, recalibrate the scanners and boost the signal, I don't want to be interrupted by a fighter again!"

With that he fired at the droid he was chasing, which shortly after scattered in pieces across space, not without bursting into flames before it did.

"General?" Rex.

"I'm here, Rex. What were you going to say earlier?"

"Not that important, but I need orders from you to call in a medi-team. General Windu feels reinforcements are unnecessary"

Honestly, he himself had forgotten what he was going to say earlier.

Anakin thought about it. He trusted his captain with his life. Still, he wondered why the older Jedi wouldn't send supplies.

"Is it really life threatening? You know how short our resources are, and if Windu doesn't..."

Again he dodged another attack from a tin can.

"Sir, with all due respect, I don't think the General's assessment of the situation is correct."

Anakin faltered. Who, pray tell, could it be about that Rex spoke his mind so directly? Fives? Echo?

"Sir," his voice trembled slightly as he moved to explain, but maintained his resolve. Slowly, careful to choose each of his words well, he continued to speak.

"Commander Tano is hypothermic, has lost an extreme amount of blood and doubts her own chances of survival.... She has admitted her pain to General Windu and begged him not to join the fight.... I'm sure the situation is serious."

Anakin was transfixed. His eyes wide and yet he was oblivious to the world around him. This couldn't be true, this couldn't be happening! His Snips, Ahsoka was....

R2 tried in vain to alert his friend to the doid wreckage hurtling towards them, but too late.

The metal scrap collided with the outer wings of the yellow painted fighter, leaving deep scrapes along with sparks that caught fire instantly.

"Sir? General, are you all right?"

The astromec tried to bring the flames under control while Anakin was finally roused from his stupor of shock.

With a few practiced moves, he had his stabilisers back in place, unplugged some cables and elsewhere back in, and found his position back in battlefield.

"All right, Rex", this time his voice trembled a little. "I'll send Kix down immediately" With that he cut the connection with Rex and contacted the admiral.

***

The clone waited. He had been waiting for an answer from his general for what felt like an eternity. Yet he had only seconds ago put their connection on standby.

His gaze wandered through the back of the cave and lingered on the exhausted Togruta. She had rested her head on her drawn knees, around which her arms were wrapped.

"Rex?" His comlink glowed wildly.

"General!"

"There's a ship on its way, we just need to clear a path, which could drag on, can Ahsoka make it?"

The hint of panic was audible in his voice. Rex eyed the sleeping girl once more.

"She'll make it, but hurry", the captain ended the connection.

He only hoped he was right and Ahsoka was still alive when the ship arrived.