Chapter Text
“This may have been a bad idea after all.”
Fives grimaced, wondering how they were going to get out of this mess. They had successfully stolen the Umbaran fighters, navigated through a literal warzone without getting shot out of the sky, made their way into the enemy hangar, and now a ray shield of all things was standing between them and victory. He was starting to think the force was rooting against them.
“Our shields are sure taking a beating,” Jesse called, doing his best to defend against the slowly increasing number of droids.
“We can’t turn back now!” Removing his helmet and turning off his shields, Hardcase jumped out of his ship with a shout. “Cover me!”
“Hardcase, get back in your ship!” Fives yelled, busy gunning down the droids that kept filing into the hangar, but Hardcase continued behind his fighter for cover.
Without his helmet, Hardcase had to yell to be heard. “Trust me, I got a plan!”
Annoyance turning to dread, Jesse watched helplessly as Hardcase disconnect one of his fighter’s concussive batteries, pulling it further away from their fighters before moving towards the door to the main generators.
Turning back towards his brothers, Hardcase gave the symbol to take off. “This is for the 501st! Don’t wait for me!”
“Hardcase! No!” Fives yelled, looking like he was going to jump out of his own fighter and race after Hardcase, just to pull him back.
Pausing briefly, Hardcase shouted back, “You’ve disobeyed enough orders today, sir. Follow this one! Get out of here!”
And then Hardcase was gone, running down the enemy hallway to what would likely be his death.
With one final push, Hardcase released the concussive battery, shoving it towards the central generator and turning to face his brothers for what was probably the last time.
“Live to fight another day, boys… Live to fight another day.”
He hoped they would get out in time; those Umbaran ships were pretty fast, so they should make it. He saw a glimpse of movement through the ray shield before everything went up in flames.
“Hardcase!!!” Jesse’s voice cracked as he screamed, watching helplessly as Hardcase sacrificed himself.
The first explosion went off with a flash of searing light. Hardcase was knocked off his feet and blasted right into the doorframe, and that’s when things got blurry.
He could hear someone screaming, and the smell— but he also heard a voice.
“Hardcase, hang on vod.” And then someone tried to pick him up, and everything went white-hot with pain. The screaming got louder.
‘That’s me,’ a small part of him realized as he was hefted into a fireman’s carry. He lost track of what happened after that, but somehow Fives had gotten them both to fit in his tiny bubble of a fighter, and they managed to make it out just as the supply ship exploded. His last conscious thought was wondering if Kix would kill him for this stunt before Krell even had the chance.
“Hardcase, stay with me!”
Fives had heard brothers die in thousands of different ways during his time, but he’d never heard a scream like Hardcase’s, being burnt alive in his armor. He’d still been in the hallway when the explosion went off, and ARC gear had a little extra protection than standard issue, so he might be a little crispy from going back to get him. But Hardcase hadn’t even had his helmet on, and he could smell cooked flesh to the point that he knew it had penetrated his blacks.
Fives gritted his teeth, wishing he could reach down to check on his brother, at least make sure he wasn’t actively on flames anymore, but this kriffing fighter moved when his hands moved, and the last time he did that, he’d nearly rammed into Jesse. The best he could do was land as quickly as possible and pray to the force that they got there in time.
Somewhere along the line, Hardcase’s screams had quieted to pained whimpers, and he didn’t know if that was better or worse.
Finally, they could see the landing zone, so he put the ship into its landing sequence as carefully as possible. The moment the ray shield disappeared, he yelled, “I need a medic over here!”
A small crowd of brothers had begun to form on the landing platform, including Kix, who pushed through the crowd, barreling straight towards Hardcase, who was still laying on the cockpit floor, letting out pained gasps.
“Tell me what happened.” Kix’s tone gave no room for argument as he dumped out his medkit, locating a painkiller, some dressings, and an antiseptic spray. Even Fives could tell that it wouldn’t be enough.
“H-He… blew up the whole enemy command ship. Used the concussive charges from his fighter on their main generator, but he got caught in the blast. Probably hit his head on the wall too. I got him out after that… Is he alright?”
Quickly administering a hypo of painkillers, Kix started to remove Hardcase’s armor, at least the parts that could be removed. “No, he’s not. I haven’t even removed his gear yet and I see second and third degree burns. He needs an evac, and much more than I can do for him here. I just need to–”
“What is going on here?!” Krell’s voice thundered across the landing strip.
Sharply saluting, Fives decided he had nothing left to lose, and ended up telling the truth. “General, sir! We destroyed the Separatist supply vessel using the enemy fighters.”
Krell’s four arms were crossed behind his back as he looked down at Fives, eyes narrowed, “Indeed. It seems you have accomplished a very brave act. Unfortunately, you’ve also committed a serious crime by directly disobeying my order.”
Stepping in front of Fives all of a sudden, Rex held out a placating hand. “With all due respect sir… the order to attack the cargo vessel was mine. If there’s a punishment to be given, it should be directed towards me. I’m their commanding officer.”
‘He said he couldn’t help us when we got caught. I can’t let him take the fall for this.’ Fives shook his head in frustration, stepping forward. “General, sir. Captain Rex is attempting to take the blame for actions that were clearly mine.”
He kept his eyes directed at General Krell, ignoring Rex’s hissed warning, “Fives!”
Taking a deep breath, Fives straightened to look Krell in the eye. “I request that his admission of guilt be denied and full blame be placed on me.”
Krell stepped closer, leaning down with a menacing look in his eye. “Oh do you? You willfully countermand my direct order, and now you have the audacity to request who should bear the punishment of your insurrection!”
He took a breath, his next words cold and calculating. “Let me be clear about the punishment for the treason committed by ARC trooper 5555, CT-5597, and CT-5493. They will be court-martialed, they will be found guilty, and they will be executed! Make no mistake. For crossing me, you will pay the price. Take them to the brig!”
Kix at this point had been efficiently working to remove Hardcase’s armor, who had thankfully passed out at this point. He’d even roped in a couple troopers into grabbing a stretcher, so they could transport Hardcase to the makeshift medbay.
“Sir! With all due respect, Hardcase is in critical condition, and he needs immediate medical attention. You can’t just put him in the brig!” Kix pushed himself into a standing position, placing himself in front of his brother, lying prone and unconscious on the stretcher behind him.
Krell’s disapproval turned to face Kix now, looking like he’d just swallowed something unpleasant. “The actions of these troopers were a clear act of treachery and disregard for my command. If their punishment isn’t swift, their defiance may inspire others to follow suit. My decision to detain these clones as traitors remains.”
“Sir, if Hardcase doesn’t get treatment immediately, he could die!” Kix pleaded, begging the general to care for once in his life, but the only response he got was the ignition of a green lightsaber before it was brought swiftly towards his neck.
“CT-6116, I order you to cease medical treatments for this traitor, unless you want to join them in their court martial.” Kix held in a wince as the lightsaber got a little too close for comfort, and prepared to retort when Rex put a hand on his arm, sending him a pleading look.
So with every fiber in his being screaming otherwise, he gritted out a strained, “Sir, yes sir.”
Keeping his lightsaber ignited for one more moment, Krell’s eyes filled with satisfaction, like he took pleasure from denying Hardcase basic medical care, before shutting off his lightsaber and heading back to the command tower.
As soon as Krell was out of earshot, Kix forcefully shrugged Rex’s hand off his shoulder. “What! You expect me to let Hardcase suffer?! I haven’t even removed his armor yet, and I can already tell that he’s got partial and complete thickness burns over 25% of his body! That puts him at a huge risk of dehydration, infection, kriff, even hypothermia, and you want me to stand by a-and do nothing?!”
Rex’s eyes were full of guilt as he responded,”Kix… if you got court-martialed, you’d be stuck in a cell without any of your supplies, and you wouldn’t be able to help anyone. Krell’s not going to stop sending us on these suicide missions, and I need you here. Your brothers need you here… Please.”
Bringing up his hands to press up against his forehead, Kix felt his anger disappear. Rex wasn’t the enemy, after all.
Exhaling defeatedly, Kix’s voice broke. “Hardcase needs me too, Rex– I-I can’t just let him die…”
Jesse spoke up for the first time since they’d landed. “Technically, the General only said that you couldn’t treat Hardcase. He didn’t say anything about Fives and I helping. Just give us a medkit and walk us through it.”
Kix’s shoulders relaxed a bit at the suggestion, but he still protested, “Hardcase needs more than just a bacta-patch. He needs IV fluids, wound debridement, splinting! But we can’t do any of that here…” He shook his head, starting to pack up his medkit before pushing the stretcher along.
“Fine! But for the record, Rex, I’m not happy about it. This campaign had better end soon, or we’re not going to have any brothers left to patch up at the end…”