10: Blue Shadow Virus

Evie grinned as she walked next to Rex aboard a cruiser. "Finally, I get to go on a mission. I thought Kix would never clear me."


Rex chuckled. "He probably kept you longer just to see you squirm."


"That does seem like something he would do", Evie agreed. They reached the hangar, and entered a gunship. Evie grabbed onto a handle hanging from the ceiling, and they left the cruiser. They landed on Naboo in the palace hangar, where two other gunships  picked up Generals Skywalker and Kenobi.


As soon as they reached their destination, Rex attached a rope to the ship that they slid down. They were almost instantly greeted with droids. Evie grinned and began shooting, avoiding the young padawan that would be leading their group. They held their position for a little bit, before Ahsoka darted forward slicing through the droids.


"Forward", Rex yelled as he started running forward. "Come on!" Just as they took down the last super droid, two destroyers came rolling down the hallway. As they opened their shields Ahsoka yelled at them to fall back. Evie and the men started backing away, but they lost a couple men before they could get very far.


"I can't hold them", Ahsoka cried out. Evie watched as the ceiling fell above the droids, crushing the destroyers. General Kenobi appeared on top of the rubble.


"Need some help?" he asked as other clown troopers dropped down from the ceiling. Ahsoka let out a sigh of relief.


"Oh, so good to see you, Master Kenobi", she said. He smiled, and the other clone troopers joined Evie and Rex. They started running down the hallway.


"Things are going well", Kenobi said. "The lab is secure, and hopefully Anakin has reached Padmé by now."


They reached a crossroads, and around the corner where droids. Ahsoka immediately started blocking blaster fire while Kenobi ran the other way, yelling something about bombs.


Evie stood next to Rex, shooting at the droids. "What was that about bombs?"


"Did you not listen to the debriefing again?" Rex asked her, a little annoyance in his voice.


"Well, I tried to, but my thoughts were too loud, and I couldn't focus", she shrugged before yelling to Ahsoka. "Ahsoka, duck!"


The Jedi padawan did, and Evie fired a quick shot over her head, hitting a droid that was getting to close to Ahsoka.


"Thanks, Evie!" Ahsoka yelled, returning to blocking blaster fire.


"No problem."


They defeated the droids, and continued to run down the hallway. Evie could faintly hear General Skywalker's voice coming from Ahsoka's comlink, but she couldn't hear what was said. They hit another crossroads and ran into the general.


"Master?" Ahsoka asked in surprise. He continued what he was saying before they ran into each other.


"We've got a missing bomb and a trigger-happy mad doctor on the loose."


"Missing bomb?" Senator Amidala asked. "I saw Dr. Vindi give a little droid a bomb."


"You guys split up. Find that droid." General Skywalker ran down another hallway, and Ahsoka led Evie and the men down the other hallway.


After they ran through the hallway, a voice came from Ahsoka's com-link. All Evie heard was the padawan's response.


"Stay there. I'll ge the bomb squad", Ahsoka said. They reached the bomb squad who finished deactivating the last of the bombs in the main room. Ahsoka quickly told them where the last bomb was, and they rushed to Senator Amidala and Representative Binks. They deactivated the last bomb, and just in time too.


Evie walked over to Rex and sighed. "I'm never signing up to be on bomb squad. I'd get too stressed."


Rex chuckled and Evie looked across the room, smiling at the scene. They were tasked with cleaning up the lab, making sure there were no more traces of the virus in the lab. As Evie and Rex wandered around with Ahsoka and the rest of the squad, the alarm went off. Her eyes widened as an explosion went off, shaking the lab. The alarm changed its tone.


"Virus leak", Rex said. "Get to the safe room. Come on!" Evie started running alongside Rex, heading to the safe room. As they ran, Evie saw doors closing on either side of her. She could see the safe room closing in front of them, and she darted forward, trying to hold it open.


"Don't worry!" Ahsoka yelled, using the force to hold it open. "Get inside, Captain!"


Rex climbed inside and Evie followed. A few other clones followed them in, and they all tried to hold the door open, long enough for Ahsoka to get in. The doors closed just as the virus reached them, and Evie watched as bits of blue smoke disappeared into the air.


"Rex, I think some of the virus got in here..."


"Why so you say that?" Rex asked. An alarm started going off, and Evie shrugged.


"Might have something to do with that", she said as they walked over to a clone trooper at the computer.


"No, no, no!" the trooper cried out in frustration. "Some of the virus got in here. We didn't close the door fast enough."


"We may be dead men", Rex said. "But we could still stop those droids."


"Don't worry", Ahsoka said. "My master will find a cure for this virus. We're not dead yet."


"Yeah, but will he find a cure in time?" Evie pointed out. Ahsoka cast a glare at her, to which Evie rolled her eyes.


A familiar voice sounded over Ahsoka's com-link. Ahsoka answered it. As they talked, Evie started to feel a tickle at the back of her throat. Before long she started coughing. She took off her helmet to try to get some fresh air in her lungs, but the coughing fit only worsened. Once the cough went away, she groaned.


"Told you it was in here, Rex", she muttered. The man only took his helmet off and gave her a sympathetic smile. Ahsoka began talking to Senator Amidala again and the door opened. Evie watched as the blue smoke flowed in and winced as it caused her to have another racking coughing fit


Senator Amidala walked in, donning a safety suit that kept the virus away from her. Representative binks followed her in a similar suit. The senator placed a hand on the young Jedi's shoulder.


"I'm sorry, Ahsoka", she said.


"Don't worry about us, Senator", Ahsoka said as the senator pulled her hand away from Ahsoka's shoulder. "We still have a job to do."


"There aren't very many droids left", Senator Amidala said. "We saw some heading toward the south entrance."


"As long as we're able, we'll help you destroy those droids before they breach the compound", Ahsoka said. Evie nodded and grabbed her gun, lifting it up, ready to blast some droids. Rex held a gun out to the senator, who took it.


"You take the north corridor and we'll take the south", the senator said. Ahsoka nodded and they both walked out of the safe room, heading in different directions. Evie, Rex, and a third clone followed Ahsoka, while the rest of the clones followed the senator. Evie and Rex pulled on their helmets.


They quickly destroyed any droids they found and met up with the senator at the south entrance. Rex and the senator looked up at the hatch, and shot at a droid that was up the ladder.


They started running down the hallway together, and saw two destroyers come toward them. Evie immediately shot at them as they rolled, but it didn't do anything due to their shields. Ahsoka leaped up on top of them, and used her lightsaber to cut through their shield. Out of the corner of her eye, Evie saw Representative Binks lift a blaster and senator Amidala trying to stop him. She couldn't stop him in time and the shot hit Ahsoka's lightsaber. The senator shoved the representative down, but in doing so, she compromised her suit.


As Ahsoka ran towards them, Senator Amidala pulled her helmet off.


"I'm so sorry", Ahsoka said, her eyes filled with guilt. Evie frowned, but didn't say anything


"Don't blame yourself", the senator said. "These things tend to happen in a warzone."


"We have to keep moving", Rex said. They run to the next exit, destroying any droids they come across. When they get to the exit, they see two droids about to get the hatch open. Ahsoka used the force to pull them down, and cut through them with her lightsaber. Ahsoka groaned and had to lean against the ladder for support. The rest of the group ran toward her, the senator calling out her name in worry.


"I'm alright", Ahsoka said. Evie smiled as she broke out coughing again.


"At least we got the last of the droids", she said once she was done coughing. Rex walked over to her and made her sit down against the wall. He took a seat next to her and Ahsoka tried contacting the generals.


"Master... can you hear me?" she asked weakly. The senator held her up.


"Destroyed all the battle droids inside the compound, Master", she said, nearly falling over. "Naboo is safe from further contamination. I repeat, Naboo is safe."


When Ahsoka started coughing, the senator spoke. "Promise me that no one will ever open this bunker. Goodbye, Anakin. I-"


The senator was cut off from her last sentence by coughing. Both of them sat down next to Rex and Evie. The other clone troopers sat down around the room.


Evie closed her eyes, unable to have the strength to keep them open.


"Evie", Rex said. "Evie, don't you dare close you eyes."


Evie struggled to force her eyes open. "Rex... it's too hard." She started coughing again, and shook her whole body. "I can't keep them open..."


Rex shook her as her eyes drifted close again. She opened her eyes and lifted a hand to touch his face.


"Rex... I don't think we're going to make it past this", she whispered. "Thanks for being my best friend."


This time, when her eyes closed, they did not open again.

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