#debating posting them in a batch or like

[unhingedselfships]

A "short" list of Unlike Pluto songs for Kimi

No Rainbows in the Desert

Stay and Decay

Oh Raven (Sing Me a Happy Song)

Riptide

Wishing Well

Revenge, and a Little More

Better Luck Next Life

Zoned Out in My Youth

Jolt

[eelfuneral]

Hi Bad Batch fandom, let’s sit down and have a talk for a moment.

1. If you liked or were okay with Tech being killed off, then that’s fine, but it’s also fine for people to not like that story beat.

2. Expressing displeasure with a writing decision in one’s own space is not “toxic”. As long as no one is being harassed, it’s not an issue, so please stop getting mad at people for doing this.

3. It is entirely possible to enjoy The Bad Batch over all and still hate the way Tech’s storyline was handled. This isn’t a zero-sum game, and criticism doesn’t always equal “hater”.

4. If a person has made an emotional post about not liking the way that Tech was killed off, that is NOT your cue to reply with a lengthy rant about why you think it was well done. There are people in the “Tech should have lived” camp that would be fine with debating you, but someone venting about how much this plot point upset them is not going to be among those people. In fact, you are being kinda mean.

5. Tech’s treatment as a character holds a great deal of emotional weight because a massive portion of his fanbase is autistic people who felt represented by him. We have been begging you guys FOR MONTHS to be empathetic, even if you don’t understand why we are reacting so strongly to a fictional character. Please start being more mindful.

6. Please stop calling people (even if you were among them) “delusional” for suspecting that Tech could have survived while Season 3 was airing. This was such a mainstream fan theory that Screen Rant covered it and Star Wars Theory brought it up. Casual fans who weren’t part of the online fandom were also into it. Also, actual delusions are a symptom of many deeply stigmatized mental health conditions, and using this medical term as an insult (self depreciatingly or not) further contributes to this stigma.

There has been an undercurrent of unkindness in parts of this fandom for a while now, and I hope that we can all get past this. I’m tired.

[baddest-batchers]

Not So Secret

Tag warnings: MDNI (younglings begone), slightly suggestive, small hint at intimacy, very passionate kissing, confident/soft Tech, overall fluffy sweetness

This is a little prequel ficlet to “More Than Life” I debated posting this because I just wasn’t happy with how it was unfolding so I’ve rewritten it a few times and am finally ready to share it!

Just for a little backstory, Jayla is my Jedi OC. She’s newly knighted and she’s been assigned to Clone Force 99 as their semi permanent Jedi general. Big surprise she is head over heels in love with Tech.

I hope y’all enjoy!

Taglist: @techwrecker

Needy, desperate, unabashed wanting.

Those four words were the only way to describe the hot, open mouth kisses Tech was placing down Jayla's neck. Her soft whimpering at his increasingly wanting touch was only fueling the fire that burned low in Tech's core.

The pair found themselves taking every chance to express their affection in increasingly heated ways whenever the rest of the Batch had vacated the Marauder. This precious time that they would get alone was always seemingly too short and they found themselves having to quickly disentangle themselves from each other before Hunter, Crosshair, Wrecker, and Echo would return.

"Tech!" Jayla's voice came out breathy and hot against his ear. "They're coming—Tech, my love, we have to—“

"Yes, I know. I can hear the unmistakable sound of Wrecker's footsteps." Tech said into the soft spot between her neck and shoulder.

He pulled back slightly to take a longing look into her face, still flushed from his kisses and eyes filled with desire.

“We will have tell them sooner rather than later, mesh’la.” Tech said in a lowered voice. The sound alerting whomever was occupying the cockpit that the main hatch had been opened sounded.

A disappointing sigh escaped Jayla’s lips as she glanced at the Marauder’s blinking console, “Sooner would probably be better, wouldn’t it?��� She said while returning her gaze to Tech’s handsome face.

His goggles had become slightly askew amidst their passionate kisses. Jayla reached with both hands that had previously been resting on his chest plate to fix them back to their proper position on his face. Tech did not let her go as she did so and looked at her with a soft gaze through his now corrected goggles.

“Ah, thank you, cyare.” Tech said in a low voice. Before Jayla could fully retract her one hand, he gently brought her fingers to his lips, pressing featherlight kisses to them. The redness that had begun to dissipate from Jayla’s cheeks suddenly returned as Tech continued to trail tender kisses slowly down to her wrist.

“My love…” She began in gentle protest, knowing the rest of his squad would appear at any moment. Tech’s eyes remained locked with hers as he continued to trail kisses almost to the end of her forearm. His gaze wandered over her soft festures as he relinquished her arm from his grasp. Jayla wrapped both her arms around Tech’s middle and pulled him in a bit closer.

Both of them exchanged soft smiles as they stood enveloped in each other’s arms. After a moment Tech spoke again, “Sooner would most likely yield better reactions, especially from Hunter.” He tucked a loose strand of hair behind Jaya’s ear before resting his hand on her waist again.

A beat of silence fell between them and nothing but the hum of the ship’s standby systems could be heard in the cockpit until Jayla sighed a bit heavily as her head came to rest against Tech’s chest plate.

“What is it, mesh’la?” Tech took notice of the slight tenseness that had settled in her shoulders as she tightened her arms around his middle.

“Do you think Hunter would report me to the Jedi Council if we tell him about us?” She said as she lifted her head to look up at him.

Tech considered her question for a moment, his amber brown eyes taking in the concern that had appeared between her brows.

“I do not believe Hunter would do such a thing, as it has become clear that other Jedi have conducted romantic relationships with regs and the like throughout out several battalions.” He placed a soft kiss between her brows to smooth the crease that had formed there.

Tech was not wrong, he seldom ever was, and he had discovered after some digging around on a few anonymous holonet forums that romantic relationships amongst Jedi generals and clones were becoming more common as the war dragged on.

In the end, Tech gathered that while romantic relationships between superiors and subordinates, let alone the Jedi and anyone for that matter, were expressly prohibited by the GAR regulations, following the rules had never been his nor his brothers’ forte. Besides, Tech thought to himself, when had they ever followed orders?

“If you would prefer it, I will talk to him about our, ehm,” He cleared his throat shyly while his face flushed ever so slightly, “relationship.” The unexpectedly pleasant situation Tech had found himself in with Jayla was still so new to him. He never expected to fall in love, being that he was born and bred to be a soldier and nothing more. But she had shown him that he could be more than just a soldier, more than a small part in the war they were all fighting. A smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “Besides, Hunter is more than likely already aware of us, given his enhanced senses.”

A new blush crept up into Jayla’s cheeks as she laid her head down again on Tech’s chest plate. Falling in love was as foreign to her as it was to him and it was something that neither of them expected to happen. Jayla had tried to bury her feelings in the beginning, being that she was a Jedi and attachments are forbidden, blah, blah, blah. But she soon realized, much to her surprise, that what she felt for Tech was so much more than just a simple crush or attraction and denying her feelings was no longer possible.

“He definitely knows. Stars, it’s not like we’ve been trying terribly hard to hide ourselves from your brothers anyway.” She admitted softly against him.

“Yes, well, half heartedly sneaking around them is rather difficult within the confines of the Marauder.” Tech mused as he traced circles through the fabric of her tunic on her back.

Jayla lifted her head from his chest and smiled at him while bringing her arms to wrap around his neck. “I’ve never been good at sneaking around, anyway.”

Her eyes drifted down to his lips as he drew her up into another longing kiss. It took everything inside Tech not to continue kissing her, but his brother’s voices could now be heard on the other side of the cockpit doors.

A loud knock on the cockpit door pulled them from their perfect little bubble, accompanied by Wrecker’s booming voice.

“Hey, are you two done makin’ out in there?? It’s time for our next mission debrief!” Wrecker teased. Tech and Jayla could hear Crosshair snickering and Echo stifling a chuckle at their brother’s loud teasing.

“Oh, Tech, they all definitely know!” Jayla giggled while pulling back from him to cover the grin that had spread across her face.

“Indeed, it would appear that they do.” Tech chuckled. He snaked his arms tighter around Jayla’s waist, “Perhaps, being that my brothers are aware of us and what we are up to, and if you are amenable, we could stay in here until the last possible moment so that I may continue to kiss you.” Tech had lowered his voice so that his brothers, who were undoubtedly attempting to listen through the cockpit door, could not hear his bold suggestion.

“Tech!” Jayla half squealed his name, trying to keep her voice low. Her heart raced at his sudden suggestion and her cheeks flushed pink.

“Yes, cyare?” Tech’s eyes were half lidded behind his goggles now and his voice barely above a whisper.

Jayla half heartedly tried to say something to the effect that they shouldn’t keep the others waiting but she couldn’t seem to get the words out. She was too lost in his soft brown eyes to try and protest again. Her eyes drifted down to his lips then back up to his eyes as she lifted herself up to her tiptoes to meet him as he closed what little space remained between them.

Another loud knock resonated around the cockpit. “Yes, Wrecker, we are coming,” Tech broke their kiss just long enough to say.

“Alright, you two, you both can suck face later. We have a mission to get to.” Hunter’s voice caused Jayla to bring both her hands to cover her face in shy embarrassment while her eyes flitted back and forth between Tech’s.

“Kriff, there’s no hiding from them now, is there?” Jayla giggled as Tech reluctantly released her form from his grasp.

The corners of Tech’s mouth pulled into an amused smile, “I am inclined to agree with you.”

He took her hand into his own as they walked the few steps to the cockpit door.

“Shall we, cyare?” Tech asked, clear affection radiating in his tone while his other hand hovered over the door panel.

Jayla nodded up at him with a soft smile on her face before dropped her gaze down to their intertwined hands. Giving his hand a reassuring squeeze, she brought herself up onto her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his cheek.

“There’s no turning back now.” She smiled up at him, his eyes reflecting back the confidence and kindness she had come to admire so much.

Tech’s eyes roved over her soft features once more, spending a lingering moment on her delicate lips. An almost mischievous smile tugged at his mouth as he leaned down to meet her.

Before Jayla knew it, Tech was mere inches from her face, the look in his eyes was as suggestive as it had been before they were interrupted by his brothers.

“One last kiss, since it will be several rotations before we are alone again.” Tech whispered before bringing his free hand to cup her cheek, pulling her into a deep, wanting kiss.

•••

[mod2amaryllis]

How are your fishies doing?

AWW thank you for asking!!!

my life has been such a fatigued whirlwind the last few months that I'll fully admit the tanks have gotten less attention. fortunately that's not a huge deal when you have planted tanks, they just chug along.

the community tanks are great, i had issues with guppies dying but i think that was just unfortunate genetic bottlenecking. :/ the deaths have stopped and there's a big new population of fresh blood fry to add to the gene pool. the little rasbora 5g is overrun with algae but the fish don't care, they're great. 40g community is as stable as ever, with the last batch of kribensis growing up peacefully.

but the sad news is Plinko. i euthanized him a few months ago when his quality of life just continued to drop. i never posted about it because i was sad. :/

i buried him in my favorite rattlesnake plant which, at the time, was dropping leaves til there were like 3 left, then after burying him it came back strong. I'm choosing to believe these things are related haha 💙

everyone else on the rack is good tho! hubble, bug, and peel. thread algae is winning the war rn but whatever

plus Plinko's successor....so.. i was at petco for something unrelated, of course, and all the bettas were in horrible shape. the clerk told me something had gone wrong with the last water change and they were dying left and right. so i go through them, not really in the headspace for a fixer upper, and there's one single boy who looks back at me with that regular betta brightness as if to say "hey. psst. get me outta here." this was Chicken the day i brought him home:

and this is him today

another pleasant big finned boy ❤️❤️❤️ awesome personality, love him. i got an adorable video the day i got him of seeing duckweed for the first time, I'll post that too

and the last update was an ill advised impulse buy who's been living in my qt tank. another, separate, petco situation. I'd seen him and left him, couldn't stop thinking about him for a week, then came back to a morbidly EMPTY betta display except for a few cups shoved on the bottom shelf, thankfully including my dude.

this is Tatters:

he's a veiltail but his tail was in, yknow, tatters, when i got him. it was another one of those betta-looks-at-me-brightly things, like his tail's gone but he's in good shape. he's a cool spunky dude and this is him today, fins have made a big ol recovery:

he's still just in the ugly little qt tank and I'm debating whether it would be a good idea to give him a scaped tank in the nursery...👀

but yes! thank you for checking on my fishventures!

[caplanbuckybarnes]

Weekly Writing Challenge! #1

(February 19- March 2)

For a very long time i was debating on deleting this blog. Instead of deleting this blog and losing the friends/followers i have, i have decided ultimately to reserve this blog as a writing challenge prompt blog of sorts. I took a mini vote with a few followers and they were all in favor of this being a final decision.

With that being said! here's the first batch of weekly writing challenges that i wanna do!

I was thinking of hosting these every sunday (Haven't decided on a timeframe yet tbh.) Each writitng challemge will have5-10 prompts to chose. I was thinking of having themes for each week. This challgen isn't themed. but let me know what I should od in the comments?

Rules:

You don’t have to follow me!

ANY CHARACTER ANY FANDOM!

No underage smut (I shouldnt have to tell people this in today's world, but here we are lol)

Tag fics accordingly! 

If you decide to post your fics elsewhere, PLEASE inform me.

I will be putting these challenges (And others that i host) right here on this masterlist)

No due dates!

all of these prompts are up for grabs! they will not be crossed off if they are picked!

I don't need to be informed of what fandom or pairing. Just let me know when your fic is posted!!!

use the tags #caplansweeklywritingchallenge

Each challenge will have 5-10 prompts and they will all be completely randomized. (Some will be taken from previous writing challenges that i hosted prior to this, sue me)

And without further ado, the prompts are below the cut!

“I bought them for someone.”

"Freedom is just a concept, isn't it?"

"Why can't you remember me?" "What did I do?"

“I made a batch of cookies, but I made too many for just one person.”

"You're enough for me."

“when we were together, I had a book of all the pictures we’d taken. remember how we used to take at least one photograph on each date?”

"... What else am I supposed to do?"

"Holding you like this is where i'm happiest."

"I have loved you since we were kids."

“You don’t get to leave and then come back after all this time and expect me to welcome you with open arms.”

[biblioflyer]

The Cardassian War was worse than you probably think.

I wrote a lot about the Maquis with every intention of posting quite a bit more about it, but then I got cold feet. Its actually been a while since I watched some of the critical Maquis episodes. In some instances, I haven't seen them since they aired. So I decided to go back and rewatch some of them. I started with TNG 7x20 "Journey's End." Where I expected a very strident lecture on the evils of forced relocation, I found something deeply nuanced and something that also reframed how I understood the Federation's conflict with the Cardassians.

If you're in a hurry, the big revelation was that, per Picard, millions of people died in the Cardassian - Federation War.

If you haven't been part of debates about what the scale of the Star Trek setting is or are more attuned to more recent series, millions may not actually seem that many people. Star Wars and 40k fans are probably squinting and wondering what all the fuss is about.

So let me provide some additional context. This is going to be mostly Doylist in nature, i.e. "meta" commentary.

Millions of people equals thousands of Galaxy-class starships. At a time when we'd seen not more than two Galaxy-class starships on screen at the same time and per the Next Generation Technical Manual (which was quasi-canon at the time, essentially given high regard by creatives working on Trek but always subject to being overruled if the needs of the story dictated) there could be as few as five Galaxy-class starships active at the time, but perhaps eleven including the initial batch of six and assuming the six framed out but not completed hulls were built to completion and subtracting poor Yamato.

Just a few seasons before, the loss of 39 ships and 11,000 personnel at Wolf 359 was considered a pretty devastating loss.

If it were strictly Starfleet and Cardassian military personnel, millions would be staggering losses representing the equivalent of thousands of starships or some mix of ships and major stations or ground forces. My gut tells me that given the way TNG seems to be a smaller scale setting than Trek would later be depicted, this wasn't intended to be solely military losses but also inclusive of and maybe even disproportionately falling upon civilians. Given that the Federation doesn't directly target civilians as a general rule, I do have some theories on how this might come about: namely by making space warfare messier than its generally presented: Star Wars and The Expanse have both done great representation of how conflicts that play out in space can still result in collateral damage to civilian stations and planetary settlements.

Notably, later series like DS9 and Discovery will do a "soft" retcon of Starfleet to include as many as 7,000 ships in the 23rd century and perhaps around 30,000 in the 24th century (citation: Ron Moore & extrapolation based on fleet size quotes) but while this isn't a hard retcon in that it doesn't override firmly declared facts and figures, it also doesn't seem like these larger numbers were ones TNG was operating with when it threw a mere 40 ships at the Borg or had Starfleet yet again being unable to avoid pulling ships out of dock mid-refit and stuffing Enterprise crew on them to catch the Romulans smuggling arms to House Duras.

Regardless of how the numbers breakdown, this was anything but analogous to a protracted series of border skirmishes and raids ala the colonial theaters of various European imperial wars, which full disclosure, was my working mental model for understanding this conflict.

So why does this matter for understanding the Maquis?

I think it matters for understanding the Federation's motives in signing what most fans and many in universe characters feel is a "bad" peace with the Cardassians. This wasn't a vanity war that super powers sometimes find themselves in where they'll fight for years in some corner of the globe that is strategically irrelevant to the imperial heartland but has somehow gained incredible psychological significance in the minds of defense planners, politicians, and yellow journalists. This is a conflict that cost the Federation quite a bit of blood for planets that are described as having been settled for at most a few decades and, at the very least, we've never really heard anyone from the Federation complain about a lack of satisfactory M-class planets.

Of course as represented by the North American Indians (TNG's term, not mine) that had settled on Dorvan V, from the perspective of the colonists, they had roots and distinctive cultural identities that they desired to have respected and felt warranted their own planets. From the Federation's perspective, these are people who have barely settled their worlds and one world should be as good as another. If you run the numbers through "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" then this starts looking even more tilted towards the Federation's perspective.

Now the counter argument is the bog standard opposition to authoritarianism and violent revisionists argument. This is the argument that the moral responsibility for avoiding catastrophic loss of life is on the one who is the first to use violence to try to advance their interests, at least at the level of astropolitics. In this framing it is not the responsibility of the Federation to mollify the Cardassians by conceding on irrational fears or immoral demands.

A cynical reading of this argument might find within it the notion that the Federation should just do what it wants, as long as its consistent with the Federation's values, and if the Cardassians have a problem with it up to the point of attacking, then the Federation should fight back and not stop until it reaches Cardassia and overthrows the military junta in charge or at the very least, removes any Cardassian presence from Federation borders and denudes Cardassian capacity to strike across the border.

The idea here being that conceding to the Cardassians rewards them for their willingness to use violence to achieve their goals, which further incentivizes them to use violence, and arguably did incentivize them to use violence as evidenced by accusations of poisoning wells and damaging infrastructure to drive ex-Federation citizens off the worlds that were ceded to the Cardassian Union.

But this argument has always contained within it the implicit assumption that the Federation had the capacity to rollback Cardassian warmaking capability and to keep up pressure on the Cardassians until the Cardassians cry uncle. A war in which millions died and where the Federation is trading away planets is not one that seems to imply the Federation had the capacity to hammer the Cardassians until they relented or there was a deficit of will to fight this war to the hilt, recognizing that pushing the war all the way to the orbit of Cardassia Prime would result in Union space being ungoverned and insecure until the infrastructure and ships were replaced.

Anyone who has watched the outcomes of the Global War on Terror or the various civil wars and revolutions that have happened in recent years should be very cognizant that a lack of order and security often results in problems being exported to adjacent regions. Problems meaning traumatized and impoverished refugees seeking safety and sustenance in places ill equipped to provide for them materially and often with some or a lot of mutual incoherence and mistrust happening at the cultural level as norms clash. Problems also meaning unaccounted for military equipment finding its way into the hands of revolutionaries, terrorists, and pirates who pursue their own goals and survival needs through the use of weapons on anyone who has something worth taking.

The United States did not kill a million or more people in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other MENA region countries through the use of weapons from 2001 to date. Iraq from 1991 to 2001 didn't have a million excess deaths* because of bombs detonating in people's homes, those deaths resulted from damage to infrastructure and internal supply chains because civilization is actually rather fragile and even people we regard as "less developed" are not meaningfully closer to nature and more resilient than we in the WEIRD category. If anything they exist in a more delicate state because they are often living on more marginal and stressed land with infrastructure that lacks redundancies or substantial state capacity to move people and resources around quickly to address sudden need.

*It should be noted that while these figures are widely quoted, the methodology has been questioned. I would encourage readers who want to get their historical facts correct to examine the evidence and decide whether Iraq sanctions are something one wants to use in a context other than describing the potential consequences of a fictional war.

When considering how to deal with Russia and its invasion of Ukraine, there are moral debates about how hard to press the civilian economy. Namely because so much of the infrastructure and daily necessities of life in modern countries count as "dual use." As in there are legitimate civilian uses that it doesn't seem productive to deny people: transistors are essential for access to information - both state controlled but also outside channels, and operate everything from thermostats to live saving medical equipment. The distinction between a transistor appropriate for running an insulin pump and one for a hypersonic missile is increasingly blurry.

An analogy could easily be drawn to isolinear chips and replicators. We in the fandom often assume that the Federation's ability to be precise in its application of lethal violence is practically omniscient and omnipotent, and that with its august technology, it has been liberated from having to make hard decisions. Yet if the Federation wants to destroy the warmaking capability of the Cardassians, how "deep" into the Cardassian infrastructure does it need to go?

Can you imagine Captain Picard sleeping well at night after calling a senior staff meeting to debate the legitimacy of striking a fusion reactor in a dense urban area that has been unplugged from the civilian grid and hooked up to an industrial replicator pumping out photon torpedo thrusters?

Further, the moral and political science assumptions of the Federation seem to rule out the idea that Cardassian civilians suffering and dying is an appropriate form of justice for Federation lives nor does suffering seem to predictably and reliably lead to revolution. Historical evidence is at best mixed and perhaps even damning. Try wrapping your head around the idea that Russian forces continued to fight their foreign enemies in WW1 at the same time as different Russian formations were fighting each other during the civil war that broke out as a direct consequence of World War 1. In short, while the war had certainly radicalized much of the public, there was still a lot of anger and blame directed to those who had been killing Russians before Russians were killing Russians.

So what is the Federation to do?

Keep fighting a war it probably wasn't technically losing but definitely didn't seem to be winning?

And perhaps the Federation couldn't win without paying a cost in both Federation and Cardassian lives, many of whom might be noncombatants, that was unpalatable?

What was it supposed to do after Wolf 359?

Postscript:

A bit more about the plot of the episode itself. "Journey's End" is probably one of the best TNG moral dilemma episodes. There are critiques to be made obviously. That the Indigenous people depicted seem to be a bit generic to the uneducated eye and do not claim a specific tribal / national identity feels weird at the end of 2024, but it also provokes an interesting discussion about the degree to which there isn't already a lot of syncretism among peoples who have experienced massive depopulation and loss of political agency, whether through intentional genocides, loss of territory, or disease. Its not hard to imagine this "North American Indian" identity found on Dorvan V being a syncretic identity that emerged in the 2100s once interstellar colonization really took off. Its strongly implied to be a "fresh start" movement that was itself controversial and many indigenous North Americas opted not to join them; but its membership could be plausibly drawn from many cultural identities.

However, the moral dilemma at the heart of the episode is handled with exquisite care and steadfastly refuses to make anyone objectively the bad guy. Every Federation character, even hardline consequentialist Admiral Nechayev, is respectful to the people of Dorvan V and mindful of their historical trauma even as it recognizes that the Federation's own interests are largely incompatible with respecting their demands.

Even Gul Evek, the named Cardassian leader of the show, relents after an impassioned plea from Picard. Evek admits to losing two out of three sons in the war and speculates that if the Dorvan V inhabitants leave the Cardassians alone, they will be left alone. Evek was convincing at least to this member of the audience. The framing felt hopeful rather than like everyone was being asked to swallow a Targ dung sandwich.

In checking to make sure I spelled his name correctly, I've become aware that Evek becomes a recurring character and I'm intrigued to see if there are clues to be found as to whether you could argue that he was lying or that events took on a life of their own and Evek was simply proven wrong. Its possible that Dorvan V was largely spared but the Obsidian Order or other elements of the Cardassian government decided to act in places it thought the Federation wouldn't be paying as close attention and the radicalization of the Maquis in turn radicalized Evek.

After all, since that the Cardassian Union was in effect waging a proxy war in the Demilitarized Zone, it would take little to convince some Cardassians that a guerilla movement with ex-Starfleet in almost all command roles and using Federation hardware represented a Federation proxy war with top level support. Which would in turn require the Federation to at least make some efforts at combating the Maquis in order to sell the Cardassians on the idea that the Maquis are not a plausibly deniable arm of Starfleet Intelligence.

But the Maquis are obviously are going to do what they need to do to defend their worlds, whether its their actual colonies or because they object to Starfleet sitting on its hands in the face of reports of atrocities.

In retrospect, for an era that was just testing the waters for multi-season arcs, this is such smart and tragic world building. Unlike say, the plot to destroy Qonos in Discovery or the anti-Changeling bioweapon being the Chekov's gun necessary to resolve the Dominion War, very little about the Maquis arc feels contrived and much more well supported by the world building around it.

[photogirl894]

"Sun and Rain Part 2: Age of the Empire"

Chapter 39

"Hard Hits"

A "Bad Batch" fanfic!

Pairing: Hunter x fem OC, Echo (more best friend pairing)

A/N: Well y'all...you knew this was coming 😅

Today is my last day of summer break before going back to work and what a better way to show my despair at going back to work by posting a chapter full of angst?? 😜 If you like angst, then you're gonna have a heyday with this one! I've had one scene in this chapter written for a looooong time now, so it's great to finally put it out there!

Also, there's a fun Kimber/Hunter moment I threw in based off of this art I got commissioned a while ago 🥰 See if you can spot it!

Hope y'all still enjoy! (Just don't hate me at the end of this one 😅)

Taglist: @the-sad-batch , @nimata-beroya , @intrepidmare , @legolkenxbi , @tech-aficionado ,

@ladykatakuri , @d1n0-dan , @sammi9498 , @darthzero22 , @scarlettrose9901 ,

@thebadbatchscyare , @chxpsi , @ilikemymendarkandfictional , @4pplecider , @locitapurplepink ,

@l-lend , @nekotaetae , @eternalwaffle , @merkitty49 , @avathebestx ,

@idoubleswearimawriter , @techs-stitches , @fantasyproductions , @totallyunidentified , @dreamsandrosies ,

@theknightofivanhoe

《 Chapter 38

》 Chapter 40

All parts (Part 2) (Part 1)

Explanation: Kimber and Hunter are now Crosshair's prisoners and things come to a head between the Bad Batch and Crosshair back on the planet where it all began....

Huddled together, Kimber and Hunter found themselves on the floor of an Imperial shuttle, still in cuffs and now sailing through hyperspace on their way to an undisclosed location. Two members of Crosshair's team were in the back area guarding them and standing by the door that led further into the ship. 

A loud alarm rang through the ship, indicating the door was about to open. Hunter's head lifted and his eyebrows furrowed together, which gave Kimber the indication of exactly who was coming. The door slid open and in strolled Crosshair, glaring down at the two of them. Kimber took notice that he had Hunter's knife attached to his belt.

“Where are we going?” Hunter asked him. 

Crosshair got down in front of him and pulled out Hunter's comm device from one of his pouches. “You'll find out soon enough,” he stated as he turned the device on, “and so will your squad.”

“Wow…so quick to forget they were your squad once, too. Your family, no less,” Kimber snapped, which he ignored as he stood back up. 

“Using my comm won't work. They'll know it's a trap,” Hunter debated. 

Crosshair looked back at him and simply stated, “They'll still come for you.”

“Oh, stop being coy, Crosshair,” said Kimber, irritated. “Where are you taking us?”

He side-eyed her for a moment before answering, “Back to where this all started.” Then with that, he turned on his heel and walked back through the door, letting it close behind him.

Kimber and Hunter exchanged anxious glances, wondering what Crosshair could possibly mean. Kimber’s gaze dropped in thought to her bound hands. Where could he be taking them? What did he mean by “where it all started”? Did he mean the Empire? That would probably mean Coruscant, but that didn’t seem as significant. Or perhaps he meant Order 66, which preceded even the Empire. That happened for them on Kaller, but even that didn’t seem to strike her as important enough to return to. No…there had to be another planet. One that meant something to all of them.

Then it hit her. He wasn’t talking about where things with the galaxy started. He was talking about where things with their squad started...where everything went wrong for them. 

That meant only one place.

“I know where we’re going,” Kimber stated aloud, turning to Hunter. 

“Quiet!” the female guard sternly scolded her. 

Now even more frustrated, Kimber replied with a roll of her eyes, “We're just talking. Calm down.”

“Hey! We said quiet!” the other guard; a male one stated gruffly.

“Or what? You going to kill me?” she challenged, getting up to her feet. “I don’t think your Commander will be happy with that since we’re his prisoners.”

“Kimber, don’t,” Hunter warned her.

The male guard stepped forward and ordered Kimber, “Sit down.”

Feeling emboldened by her anger, she looked the trooper down and defiantly responded, “No.”

The trooper was quick to react as the butt of his blaster rifle forcefully met her stomach. The wind was knocked out of her and, with a choked gasp, she dropped to a knee and clutched her stomach. Hunter immediately moved to stand up, but the other guard approached and held her weapon at his head to keep him from moving.

“That’s for disobeying orders!” the soldier who hit Kimber cried out. 

She coughed and gasped for breath before letting out a light snicker. “You should know this about me: I don’t like following orders...especially when they come from Imperial scum like you.”

She didn’t know what possessed her to be this audacious to the Imperial soldiers, but her anger and animosity of the situation was overpowering all sense of logic and common sense. The consequence of her statement was then being struck again by the Imperial’s blaster rifle, this time across the face. She let out a loud, pained cry and Hunter called her name in worry. Her left cheekbone throbbed from the impact and she clenched her teeth, holding herself together. This was nothing compared to other punishments she’d suffered in the past, but that didn’t exactly make the pain any less impactful still. 

The alarm rang again and the doors opened as Crosshair stepped inside, having heard the commotion from the other side. “Stand down,” he ordered the two guards.

Stepping back and standing again at attention, the male guard informed him, “She defied our orders, sir.”

Crosshair glanced at Kimber indignantly and commented, “She’s good at that.” 

Then he walked up to her and took her arm, pulling her up to her feet and towards the door. Kimber tried to resist and she heard Hunter cry out for her, but Crosshair removed her from the room with ease and the doors closed behind them. Once they were alone, he lightly pushed her into one of the safety seats in front of him on the side of the small hallway. She cast a displeased look up at him and then turned away. She didn’t even want to look at Crosshair right now. All she could feel was resentment towards him as he stood there, looking down on her.

Then he spoke, his voice oddly calm, “He hit you hard.” Then she felt his hand carefully touching her hurt cheek.

With an annoyed grunt, she swapped his hand away with her bound hands. “What of it?” she asked back.

Stepping back, he said, “I gave orders that you both were to be unharmed. I should reprimand him for using such force on you.”

She scoffed at the notion of him punishing his subordinate on her behalf. “Save your false pity. I don't want it,” she said, turning even more away.

“It isn���t false. You think I want to see you this way?” he asked.

“I don't know, Crosshair. What do you want?” she questioned him, now looking back at him. “Because frankly, I can't figure that out. You tried to kill us multiple times, then we find out it's most likely not of your own volition and then you were practically begging me not to fight last time I saw you. You seemed almost like yourself, but you still hold allegiance to the Empire. Even now, instead of outright killing me or Hunter, you've captured us and you're taking us back to Kamino.”

His eyes widened slightly.

Cocking her head to the side, she added confidently, “Yeah, I figured it out.”

An impressed grunt sounded from his throat. Then he replied, “You always were sharp.”

Kimber rolled her eyes, unamused, and turned her gaze away. “Oh, don't act familiar with me now. Unless you have anything to say to me that's actually worth my time, I want to go back with Hunter.”

“Kimber, why must you keep fighting me?” he demanded. 

That question ignited a spark of disbelief within her and her head snapped back in his direction, fire in her eyes. “Why must I--? If you're seriously asking me that question, then you're way more far gone than I thought,” she spat at him. Then she shook her head and sighed with defeat. “I really don't know who you are anymore.”

Crosshair simply stared back at her, his eyes instinctively going to the red mark on her cheek that was already beginning to bruise. Even now, seeing her hurt in any way made his blood run hot. He couldn’t suppress that even if he tried. He just wanted her to see reason with the Empire; to see the bigger picture like he did, but she was determined to keep opposing him no matter what. She didn’t understand what he was trying to do...but she would. He would see to that soon. 

He walked over to the doors, turned back to Kimber and told her, “I would advise you stay quiet. Make it easy on yourself.” Then he activated the doors and stepped aside, allowing her back into the room.

Kimber just gave him one more displeased glance and walked back inside without saying a word to him. Hunter, who was still seated on the floor, looked up at her immediately with concern and seemingly relaxed slightly as he realized she was okay. She took her place back beside him on the ground, giving him a nod of reassurance. There was definitely a look in his eye that told her he wanted to say something admonishing towards her for how she behaved earlier, but was choosing to stay quiet lest they get in trouble again. 

All they had to do now was wait in uncomfortable silence until they reached their destination.

They had no idea how long it had been when they felt the ship jolt out of hyperspace. Hunter reached over with his joined hands and took Kimber’s protectively in his own as they figured out they would soon be landing. A minute later, they heard the loud tapping of rainfall on the roof of the ship and Kimber’s shoulders sank. The rainfall confirmed they were exactly where she predicted they’d end up.

She turned to Hunter and mouthed silently, “Kamino.” To which, he nodded in understanding.

Soon, they were both told to get up by the guards and gruffly pulled to their feet. Crosshair came into the back with them, his helmet on over his head, and carrying both Hunter and Kimber’s helmets under his arm. The ramp to the ship lowered and Crosshair led his two hostages and the other soldiers out. Kimber recognized the Kaminoan hangar right away and could hear the clapping of the thunderstorms behind them outside. They were greeted by a young human male with light skin, brown hair and dressed in an Imperial officer’s uniform. Judging by the badge he had on his chest, Kimber deduced he was most likely an Admiral of some sort. He was escorted by five troopers; two in dark armor matching Crosshair’s and three in regular white armor. Crosshair and his group halted in front of the Imperial officer.

The Imperial asked in a deep, authoritative voice, “Where are the rest of them?���

“They’ll be here. We’ll intercept upon arrival,” Crosshair informed him. 

The Admiral directed his attention to Hunter and Kimber and stepped closer to them. “So you’re the ones they call ‘Hunter’ and ‘Kimber’,” he greeted them, his tone bordering on condescending. “The destruction your squad caused on Ryloth got my attention.”

Neither of them said a word to him and just remained stoic in their expressions.

It was then the Admiral took notice of the mark on Kimber’s face, which had darkened a bit more over time, and he commented, “A shame that such a lovely face like yours had to be so marred.”

She sneered, immediately annoyed at his backhanded compliment, and replied, “Keep talking like that and you’ll be saying that to yourself in a mirror.”

That earned her an elbow to the arm from Hunter, warning her to stay quiet.

“Admiral Tarkin described you as quite the feral woman…and I see he was correct in that regard,” said the Imperial. When he just got a glare in return, he turned back to Crosshair. “I leave this to you, Commander. Stay on schedule.”

Crosshair and his soldiers walked around the Admiral, forcefully pushing Hunter and Kimber forward, which aggravated them even more. They walked through the hangar and into the brightly-lit halls of Tipoca City, which was certainly something Kimber hadn’t missed at all. The strange thing, though, was that the halls were practically empty. There were no Clone troopers or Kaminoans walking around. Not even any young Clone cadets could be seen. Only a couple Imperial soldiers walked by and that was it. 

“Where are all the regs?” Hunter inquired. 

“When did you start caring about them?” Crosshair asked back, now with his blaster pointed at Hunter's back as they walked and having given Kimber's helmet to the other soldier with them. 

“No Kaminoans either,” said Hunter. Then it dawned on him. “This facility's being decommissioned.”

Kimber sighed as she now realized that upon hearing Hunter say it aloud. “Of course…,” she whispered. 

Hearing no reply to the contrary, Hunter remarked to Crosshair, “You don't seem too concerned.”

“Why would I be?” Crosshair questioned. 

Stopping to face his brother, Hunter responded, “Because the Empire will be phasing out Clones next.”

Jabbing his blaster into Hunter's chest, Crosshair stated, “Not the ones that matter.”

As Hunter glared at him, Kimber went on to ask him sharply, “What will that mean for me, then? I'm not a Clone. Are you saying I don't matter?”

“You've pushed your luck enough,” Crosshair answered her, “but I think the Empire could still make use of you.” 

“You think I’m just going to let the Empire use me the same way they’re using you? Not a chance,” she said snidely. 

The other trooper then pushed her forward with the tip of his gun and ordered, “Keep moving.”

The four of them continued on a few more feet and rounded a corner where they entered a Kaminoan security control room. The room was mostly lit by several multicolored holographic projections throughout. One of Crosshair's squadmates informed him that they had detected a ship entering the planet's system, but they had lost it below the scanner range, which Crosshair affirmed was the rest of Clone Force 99 and another one of the troopers said they would notify the scouts.

“Don't bother. They'll come to us,” Crosshair stated. Then he looked at Hunter and Kimber as he added, “They don't leave their own behind...most of the time.”

“Really? You're going to pull that card?” Kimber snapped as Crosshair removed his helmet.

“You tried to kill us. We didn't have a choice,” Hunter said sternly.

Crosshair sat down on one of the bowl-like seats in the room, scoffed lightly and asked as he placed a toothpick in his mouth, “And I did?”

Something about that simple question rendered both Kimber and Hunter speechless and they were unsure how to respond. Kimber almost said he did have a choice, but then remembered the inhibitor chip. In truth, he hadn't had a choice, but they hadn't known that at the time and that still didn't change the fact that he had shot at them and tried to kill them. All she could do was glance at Hunter with uncertainty, not knowing quite what to do. 

Hunter stayed quiet, too, for a moment, his mind going over every possible thing he could say to sway his brother. Despite how frustrated he was with Crosshair, there was still a part of him that wanted to get through to him. If not for his own sake, then for Kimber's. Crosshair's absence and actions had affected her the most and he hated seeing her suffer because of the chip in Crosshair's head. If there was a chance he could do something before the rest of his squad got involved, then he had to try and take it. 

He moved closer to Crosshair and said in a quieter voice so only they could hear, “Crosshair, we've seen what the Empire's doing...occupying planets and silencing anyone who stands against them. You know it's not right.”

Standing up from his seat and removing the toothpick, Crosshair replied nonchalantly, “You still don't see the bigger picture…but you will.”

“Ugh, just stop with the bigger picture talk. That's not what this is about,” Kimber put in, vexed at his inability to see past that mindset. 

Hunter sighed, exasperated. “Can't you see they're using you?” he asked, shaking his head. “It's that inhibitor chip in your head. It's making you follow--”

His words were cut off by the sound of an alarm blaring over the sound system and one of the troopers informing Crosshair that there was an unauthorized entry on one of the platforms. Hunter and Kimber exchanged knowing looks. The others were now inside the facility. 

“Right on schedule,” said Crosshair. “Time to go.”

“Crosshair, please, don't do this. I'm begging you,” Kimber pleaded with him. “Whatever you plan to do, leave the others out of it.”

He simply looked back at her and replied, “Who's the one begging now?”

As she gaped at him in disbelief, he shoved Hunter's helmet into his bound hands and then hers was given to her just as forcefully. Then they both were pushed forward again out the door by Crosshair's troopers. 

As they walked through the facility, the remainder of Crosshair's squad met up with them and continued on with them. Before long, Hunter and Kimber recognized where they were being led to. They were heading to the training room. Unfortunately, they both knew it would be easy for Crosshair and his soldiers to pick off the Bad Batch one by one since it was open ground. 

“I know what you're trying to do, Crosshair,” said Kimber as they kept going. 

Over his shoulder, he flatly replied, “Good for you.”

Knowing her squad's lives were at stake, she quietly said to him, “You said you wanted to talk back on Ryloth. Fine, then let's talk. It's not too late to stop this.”

“It is too late. You had your chance. All of this…will end here tonight,” he said back, quickening his pace away from her. 

She wanted to say more, but once again, one of the other troopers shoved her forward to keep her moving and she couldn’t suppress an annoyed growl at them. She wasn’t sure what to do. Maybe she should have just talked to Crosshair back on Ryloth when she’d been given the chance. Now, it might be too late...both for her and her squad. 

They soon reached the large training room and a wave of nostalgia hit Kimber right away. She remembered her first time in this room, fighting Droids on her own to try and prove herself to the Prime Minister. She remembered the last time they’d been to Kamino and the whole squad had been sent into this room to prove themselves to Admiral Tarkin and show the continued efficiency of Clone troopers. Now, they were back once more and it was most likely going to be the last place they’d ever see.

“Take your positions,” Crosshair ordered his troops, stopping Hunter and Kimber in place partway through the room and keeping his blaster aimed at their backs. 

The rest of the troopers situated themselves on either side of the room; two on the left and three on the right, but then they stopped around the center of the room instead of by the main entrance. Both Kimber and Hunter realized they were anticipating the Bad Batch were going to come up through the central lift instead of the entrance, knowing they’d still be following Hunter’s comm trace. They waited apprehensively for the rest of the squad to arrive. Kimber had a feeling the others would come up the lift instead of the entrance, thinking they’d get ahead of Crosshair…but unfortunately, he was already a step ahead of them. 

Kimber also took notice that one of Crosshair’s troopers had her sniper rifle on their back and she couldn’t help but sneer to herself. One way or another, she’d get her rifle back from them and if she had to, she would use it on that soldier first.

A few minutes later, just as Crosshair predicted, the central lift came up from below the floor and on the platform stood Echo, Wrecker and Tech with their weapons all drawn and Crosshair’s squad all raised their own weapons at them, showing the Clones they were outmatched. 

Patronizingly, Crosshair greeted them by tossing Hunter’s comm towards them and saying, “And here we all are…together again. You won’t be needing your weapons.”

The other soldiers slowly closed in on the Clones, warning them to get rid of their weapons. The Clones all looked to Hunter, who gave them a nod to comply. Begrudgingly, they all threw their blasters to the floor as well as a thermal detonator from Tech and Wrecker’s large vibroblade.

“See? Following orders isn’t so difficult,” Crosshair taunted them, though it was mostly directed at Hunter. Then he looked around slightly and asked the others, “Where’s your little sidekick?”

“You think we’d bring her here?” Wrecker questioned. He lifted his helmet up onto his head and added, “We’re smarter than that.”

“Lying was never your strength, Wrecker,” Crosshair stated. Then he ordered one of his soldiers to find Omega and they exited the room. 

Echo then called out, “Are you two all right?”

“We’re fine,” Kimber answered.  

“You are not. There is a contusion on your left cheek,” Tech pointed out.

Behind her, Crosshair snidely remarked, “That’s what happens to those who defy orders.”

“Yeah, something you used to be good at once,” Kimber said back. “Or have you conveniently forgotten that?”

Crosshair didn’t say anything back.

Soon, one of his troopers stated, “We’re running out of time, Commander.”

“Hold your positions,” Crosshair ordered.

It was then Hunter’s turn to look over to Crosshair and, with a glare on his face, he asked, “So this was your grand plan? Bring us here and kill us?”

“If I wanted you dead, you would be,” Crosshair said back, his voice turning dark under his helmet. “Not that it wouldn’t be justified.”

“Justified? Are you kidding me?” Kimber questioned, appalled. “What have we done that would justify killing us?”

“You betrayed everything we stood for,” Crosshair answered, “And for what? The Republic?”

Hunter responded steadfastly, “We’re loyal to each other, not some Empire.”

Crosshair then said five words that struck both Hunter and Kimber to the core:

“You weren’t loyal to me.”

The two of them went wide-eyed in shock and couldn’t find the words to reply to him. That wasn’t the response they were anticipating. 

He continued, “I was one of you. You may have forgotten, but I haven’t. And it’s why I’m going to give you what you never gave me...a chance.”

Crosshair’s squad all turned their heads to him in surprise and even the other Clones were astonished, too. Hunter and Kimber still remained silent. What did this mean for them? What was Crosshair really doing?

Just then, he put a finger up to the side of his helmet, getting a transmission. Then he spoke aloud, “Send her on a shuttle off-world.”

Kimber’s anxiety spiked hearing that. That meant Omega had been found.

“Crosshair, don’t,” Hunter said.

“It’s for her own good…and yours,” Crosshair said back.

Hunter pushed further, insisting, “Omega belongs with us.”

“Living among fugitives where she’s in constant danger?” Crosshair asked. Then he scoffed in bemusement. “You want to protect the kid, then let her go. Stop pretending to be something you're not, Hunter.”

Before she could stop herself, Kimber said snarkily back, “Oh, that's rich coming from you, Crosshair, thinking you have any importance in this Empire! You think this is who you are? You're no different than the regs you claim to hate so much.”

Turning to Kimber, Crosshair replied, “I am not. None of us are.” He looked back at Hunter. “You know this, too, Hunter. We're not like the regs. We never have been. We're superior.” Once again, his tone grew ominous as he went on, “The Empire can't protect the galaxy without strength. This is what we were made for. Think of all we could do...together.”

With one fluid motion, Crosshair then pulled out Hunter's knife from his belt and broke Hunter's cuffs with one downward stroke. Afterwards, he pushed him forward towards his brothers. Kimber inhaled shakily in fear of whatever Crosshair had planned.

“We were brothers once,” Crosshair said to Hunter, not paying heed to Kimber still beside him. “We can be again.”

Kimber wanted that more than anything; it was all she had wished for, for months and at any other time, she would've welcomed that chance without hesitation…but something in his voice indicated that what he was proposing was not what she or any of the others wanted. Something still wasn’t right.

Hunter inquired suspiciously, “Why would we trust you?”

In response, Crosshair aimed his blaster at them again.

“No!” Kimber cried out, going to run forward.

“Don’t move,” Crosshair ordered, whirling around on her and pointing his blaster her way. When she stopped, he then said, “I don’t want to make you a part of this.”

“Commander?” one of the troopers asked, puzzled at the favoritism his Commander was showing.

Kimber glared harshly at Crosshair. Now, he had the audacity to care about what happened to her and put her above his brothers? All she wanted to do was give him a piece of her mind, but with the blaster pointed at her, she was disgruntled and kept her mouth shut.

With that, Crosshair turned his weapon back to his brothers and then ordered his squad to stand down, but to everyone’s surprise, they actually refused his order and kept their weapons aimed at the Clones. The tension of the moment was almost palpable as the Clones and Kimber apprehensively waited for Crosshair’s next move. 

They weren’t prepared for what happened next. 

Crosshair fired his blaster…off to the side, where the shot suddenly bounced off the wall and around the room in the blink of an eye and, to the Clones’ and Kimber’s shock, all of Crosshair’s squadmates dropped dead to the floor, each of them with a smoking hole in their bodies. In that moment, the Bad Batch all discovered that Crosshair's reflective discs had been strategically placed throughout the room and had reflected his shot to kill his squad. 

He had been planning for this all along. 

When everyone looked to Crosshair with both curiosity and caution, he approached them, took off his helmet and asked Hunter, “Does that answer your question?”

“Crosshair…!” Kimber gasped out, still too stunned at what had just happened. She was stunned even more when Crosshair unexpectedly turned to face her and cut her bindings off with Hunter’s knife.

However, any hope in the situation was short-lived as Crosshair started walking towards them, his blaster aimed at them again. Hunter put himself in front of Kimber and they both guardedly moved back as Crosshair advanced.

“You all are meant for more than drifting through the galaxy. It’s time to stop running,” he said to them as he then lowered his weapon. Then he implored them, “Join the Empire…and you will have purpose again.”

Kimber could feel her heart dropping. She should’ve known this seemed too easy and too good to be true. “You think that’s what this is all about: not knowing our purpose?” she asked in unbelief.

“You really don’t get who we are, do you?” Hunter also questioned. 

Crosshair’s face darkened from the shadows that framed his face and his facial expressions contorted with enmity, his eyes widening with fury. “Don’t make the same mistake twice. Don’t become my enemy,” he threatened, a growl in his low voice unlike anything they’d ever heard from him before. 

“Crosshair…we never were,” Hunter countered, his expression crestfallen.

Finally, Kimber had had enough. She was so disheartened at Crosshair’s relentless insistence that they join the Empire and acting as though they were the villains in this situation. There were things she wanted to say to him that she’d been bottling up the whole time. Inside, she felt like a dam ready to burst and couldn’t let this go on any longer. 

She pushed past Hunter’s arm, stepped up and asked, “Crosshair...can you look me in the eye and tell me that you're truly happy with the Empire?”

“Kimber, no,” Hunter said warningly.

She ignored him and kept going, her gaze set intently on Crosshair and her voice strong and tenacious, “Can you look me...in the eye...and tell me that you would rather obey the Empire's orders and impose oppression on several planets than traversing the galaxy with us? I know you think we're meant for more than that, but would that really be so bad right now? Wouldn't you rather just be with us instead of helping spread terror through the galaxy?” She took another step closer to him and her tone turned to pleading. “You know what the Empire is doing is wrong. With them, you might have found a semblance of acceptance in a time of pain, but did you really find happiness or purpose? I refuse to believe you have. I know you think we abandoned you...and I am sorry for that.” 

Listening to her, Crosshair’s face seemingly began to soften slightly.

“You think you're giving us a chance, but that's not what this is. You now have a chance to escape all of this!” she said emotionally. Then she took a risk and moved even closer to him so she was directly in front of him, looking up into his face, and she laid her hands on his arms, which made him flinch. “Come back with us, Crosshair. Come back to your family, where you really belong. You need us...and more importantly, we need you. I need you. I need my partner back. I need my brother back. You and me, we're the eyes in the sky together...remember? I've said these things a thousand times and I'll say them a thousand more. Please, I'm begging you...come home, brother.” 

She released his arms and stepped back, her eyes searching his face for his potential reaction. There was conflict in his eyes as he glanced down to the ground, seemingly in deep thought. She wasn’t sure what he was thinking and she wished she could see into his mind. Had anything she said had an affect on him at all? Had she finally been able to get through to him? 

Finally, he spoke up, “Kimber…I--”

The alarms inside the room went off all of a sudden, which made everyone jump in surprise. Right after that, the turret towers rose up from the ground as did several rows of training Droids. This was an unexpected complication. To make things worse, Hunter suddenly sprinted past Kimber and tackled Crosshair to the ground.

“No…!” Kimber groaned at seeing that happen, just when she thought maybe she’d gotten through to Crosshair, but there was no time to focus on it as, a second later, the Droids started firing on them. 

Kimber quickly leapt and rolled behind the barricade closest to her as the other three grabbed their weapons from off the ground and started firing at the Droids. As she crouched behind her cover, she spotted the now dead trooper that had her sniper rifle and she pulled it off of their back.

“Serves you right,” she mumbled aloud as she put the rifle back together. Then she leaned back and placed her back against the battlement just as Echo crouched behind it next to her.

“Hey, why did you activate the Droids?” she heard Wrecker ask loudly in annoyance.

“This was not my doing,” Tech responded. 

Echo and Kimber both popped up from behind their cover and took some more shots at the Droids, which now seemed to be coming from every corner of the room.

“Ugh, they're everywhere!” Kimber complained.

“I don't know what brought them in here, but be careful, Kim,” Echo told her.

As she kept shooting at the Droids, she glanced over to where Hunter and Crosshair were still struggling against each other on the ground, wishing they would stop. Then there came a shot from high up, taking out one of the Droids closest to them. When she looked up, she saw Omega up on one of the towers, her bow drawn, and next to her was AZI, the medical Droid. All Kimber could do was hope the kid would stay safe in this fight. She continued fending off the Droids coming their way and she saw Hunter finally kick Crosshair off of him. They continued to fight as they got to their feet. Kimber wanted to keep her eyes on them to ensure they didn't hurt each other, but there were more Droids heading for them. Her first instinct was to protect both of them, so she continued shooting the Droids behind them. 

A few seconds later, she saw Hunter grab Crosshair around his waist, pick him up and then full on body slam him to the ground, rolling over top of him and coming back up with both his blaster in one hand and his vibroblade in the other. With Crosshair down for a moment, Hunter seized the opportunity to start shooting the Droids, as well.

Just then, another set of Droids came up from the floor right in the middle of the room; behind Hunter and in between the battlements everyone else was hiding behind. Kimber jumped over to the other side as Echo moved himself out of the way, too, as did Wrecker and Tech on their side. Hunter also turned around to fight them, leaving his back exposed to Crosshair. They were all now completely surrounded, but they weren't going to give up. 

Kimber fired at the new wave of Droids...and then heard the familiar sound of another sniper rifle.

Her head whipped around and she was astonished to see Crosshair had stood up with his rifle and was now also shooting the Droids. He wasn't running or trying to go for Hunter while his back was turned. He was actually helping her and the others fight the current threat! She couldn't believe it! 

The others noticed, too, and it felt as though they had an extra push to fight as hard as they could. Wrecker came out from behind the battlement, drawing his large blade, and stabbed the Droid closest to him, kicking it back to give everyone room to move. Everyone jumped out into the open at once, their weapons firing all around the room at the Droids. In that pivotal moment, with all six members of the Bad Batch back together in the same place, it felt as though they were fighting as a real squad again.

Kimber saw movement off to the side of the room and saw that the one remaining member of Crosshair's Imperial squad; the one who had gone off to find Omega had returned. Seeing that the rest of the squad had been killed off by their Commander, Kimber saw no reason to leave this one standing. She directed her sights onto the Imperial soldier and fired at her, but she were quick to avoid Kimber's shots as she backed out and ran out the training room's side door. Kimber ran forward a couple steps to go after her, but then she stopped, glancing back at her boys. She couldn't leave them now, not when they were in danger. They needed her here. She was just going to have to let the Imperial soldier go. 

As she ran back into the fray, Wrecker threw a Droid through the air that crashed into another one. Then Hunter ran at a Droid, jumped up onto it and stabbed right into its neck area with his knife. The Droid started short-circuiting and wobbling with Hunter still holding onto it until Crosshair took a shot directly at its head. As it toppled over, Hunter leapt off and the two of them shared a quick glance before diverting their attention to other incoming attacks. Wrecker, Echo and Tech had moved to higher ground while Hunter, Kimber and Crosshair stayed on the main level.

Kimber was shooting at the Droids and evading their shots when she found herself back to back against Hunter, who met her gaze over his shoulder, smirked and then told her as they continued fighting, “I couldn't say it before, so I'll say it now: you are by far the most hot headed trouble-seeker of a woman I've ever met.”

Knowing he was referring to her misbehavior back on the shuttle, she just grinned to herself and said back, “Compliment me later, Sergeant.” Then she took back up her rifle and resumed firing at the Droids, ducking out of the way of a bolt that shot just between them and springing off to the side. She fired a shot at the Droid that had just fired at them and it went straight through the center. 

“Kimber, behind you!” Wrecker called to her on the other side of the room. 

She heard the warning and turned around to see a Droid right behind her. Before she could react, the Droid shoved her, sending her flying back a few feet and her rifle fell out of her hand. She quickly sat up and saw two blaster bolts come from behind her and hit the Droid in the neck and the head. When she looked behind her, she expected it to be Hunter, but she was wrong.

Her savior had been Crosshair. 

He simply gave her a nod and went back to fighting the rest of the enemies. She was taken aback for a brief moment. He had saved Hunter earlier and now, he had just saved her. Surely, that had to mean something; that he still cared…maybe the Crosshair she knew was beginning to come back. 

Swiftly, Kimber picked up her rifle, got to her and rejoined in the fight. She noticed Omega had somehow made her way down from the tower to the ground along with AZI. The number of Droids left was dwindling down thanks to everyone’s efforts and very soon, all of them were taken down. Now, all that was left was dealing with Crosshair. Hunter and Crosshair were in the center of the room; Wrecker, Echo, Tech and Omega were all on one side and Kimber was on the other and they all closed in towards the middle of the room just as Crosshair faced Hunter…and Hunter raised his blaster at him. 

“Hunter, please don’t!” Kimber cried out, coming up next to him. She stole a look at Crosshair across from him and he looked conflicted...even minorly defeated. Though, when she looked back at Hunter, there was a forlorn look in his face and in his eyes as he gazed over at his brother.

Then he spoke, desperately pleading similarly to how Kimber had earlier, “Crosshair…forget the Empire. This isn’t you. It’s your inhibitor chip. We can help you.”

Crosshair shook his head and responded, his voice low again, “Wrong. I had my chip removed…a long time ago.”

That response stunned all the Clones and they were rendered speechless.

For Kimber…her world was shattered in an instant.

Crosshair’s chip had been removed? What did this mean? More importantly, when had this happened? Given all the things he’d done in general, to his brothers and the things he’d done to her, how much of it had been because of the chip and how much of it had been of his own volition? All this time, she’d believed he could never have done any of those things of his own free will; the Crosshair she knew and loved would never threaten her, his family or other innocent people! No…he had to be lying. There was no way this was true. Her blood ran cold and her body went numb just thinking about it.

Finally, Hunter broke the silence. “Since when?” he asked.

“Does it matter?” Crosshair asked in return, exasperated and with a shake of his head. 

“Yes!” Hunter growled at him, his teeth now clenching in anger at Crosshair’s reluctance to answer.

Kimber wanted to shout at him that of course it mattered when he got his chip out and to demand he tell the truth, but she was too stunned to speak. All she could do was stare at Crosshair.

Then, with a look of frustration, Crosshair responded to Hunter, “This…is who I am.”

“No...NO!” Kimber finally screamed, a mix of sorrow and outrage growing within her. “This is not who you are, Crosshair! Stop lying to us! I know you and you would never do any of this willingly! You would never! Please, tell me this isn’t true!”

He glanced over at her, but his expression remained unchanged and he said nothing back to her. That only broke Kimber’s heart even more and she felt incredibly betrayed, even more than she had before on Bracca. 

“No…it can’t be,” she thought despairingly in her mind.

As he turned his glaring attention back to Hunter, she noticed his hand that held his rifle twitch ever so slightly and his finger was inching up towards the trigger.

Crosshair brought up his weapon and a stun blast was fired.

Hunter watched as Crosshair got disoriented, fell to his knees and then collapsed forward onto the floor. However, he had been shocked to see Crosshair drop all of a sudden because the stun shot had not come from his own blaster, even though he had been a millisecond away from firing it. His head turned to Kimber next to him and he saw she was standing there, her eyes wide in sad horror, panting heavily and with her rifle raised.

She had been the one to stun him. 

Taking note of the pain in her eyes, Hunter sheathed his vibroblade, put away his blaster and approached her, gently placing one hand on her arm and the other on her rifle. “Easy, love. It’s okay,” he said to try and help calm her, lightly pushing down on her weapon to get her to lower it.

“No…it’s not,” she replied, tears forming in her eyes.

He removed his hand from her rifle and brought it up to her face, tenderly rubbing his thumb on her cheek and giving her an encouraging look, one that was silently telling her to stay strong. Even though what had just happened was heartbreaking, they were going to be okay and figure things out. She wasn’t confident in what he was trying to tell her, but she still appreciated his attempt to reassure her nonetheless and she leaned more into his hand, taking in what warmth she could.

After he stepped away, they realized everyone else was walking up to them and Omega suddenly came running down and threw her arms around Hunter, relieved to see he was okay. Kimber, however, kept her eyes on Crosshair unconscious on the floor. She didn’t know who she was really looking at anymore. What would she even say to him whenever he came to? She wanted to scream, cry, run away, punch him while he was down…then right then, she felt a pair of arms hug her around her waist, pulling her out of her thoughts and back into reality. When she glanced down, she found herself looking into the bright, brown eyes and smiling face of Omega. Grateful for the young girl’s comforting hug, Kimber laid a hand on Omega’s head and smoothed her hair, mustering up a smile for her. After the kid let her go, Kimber walked over to where everyone else was standing around, watching Hunter crouch down beside Crosshair and inspect his head.

A few seconds passed when they all heard beeping and Tech stepped forward, declaring urgently to Hunter while looking at his datapad, “Three Venators are descending into the city. We need to leave now.”

Heeding Tech’s warning, Hunter proceeded to pick up Crosshair’s rifle and pack, placed the pack on his own back and ordered Wrecker to grab Crosshair. “He’s coming with us,” he said.

Kimber hadn’t expected Hunter to say that, given the information she’d just learned about Crosshair. “We’re…taking him back?” she asked Hunter, a slight sliver of hope in her tone just as Wrecker lifted Crosshair and slung him over his shoulder.

He gave her a nod. “We’ll figure things out with him once we get out of here…but we’re not leaving him behind again,” he avowed.

She would’ve burst into tears in that moment if they weren’t in immediate danger, so she withheld her emotions for the time being. Putting her rifle on her back, she gave him a nod back and stated, “Let’s leave this Forceforsaken place.”

With that, the Clones, Kimber and AZI took off running from the training room and into the bright white hallways of Tipoca City, the urgency of their situation giving them the speed they needed. They were all reunited, they had Crosshair back with them--albeit a bit against his will--and now, they had to get away before the Empire cornered them and captured them. They had to move fast.

Suddenly, everything around them trembled. The ground shook beneath them and they all started to stumble and lose their balance. The lights in the corridor flickered briefly and then were suddenly shut off. Something was happening outside and it definitely wasn’t good. Hunter called to everyone to hurry and get to the outside lift. They picked up speed and reached the door to the outside, halting immediately as they got out into the rain.

To everyone’s terror, they saw and could hear laser fire raining down from the sky onto the city and everything before them was being destroyed. In seconds, there was a huge, thundering explosion directly in front of them, blowing up a good portion of the pathway. 

“Back inside! Go!” Hunter cried out, turning around and going back the other way.

Kimber turned to follow and saw that Omega was still standing in place, watching in fright the horrors that were unfolding in front of her as her home was being destroyed before her very eyes. AZI had grabbed her hand, but she wasn’t moving. 

“Omega, we have to go! Now!” Kimber cried frantically, taking Omega by the shoulders and giving her a necessary shove back towards the door and after the others.

Just as Omega started running, another laser blast suddenly hit the spot where she had just been standing, blowing up a chunk of the bridge, and the force of the blast sent Kimber flying backwards further down the pathway. She rolled and ended up going over the broken edge, but her hand quickly grabbed the ledge. Unfortunately, she could feel her gloved hand already starting to lose her grip on the ledge that was slick from the heavy rain. She heard, even over the sounds of the Venator fire, Omega and a couple of the others scream her name, but she knew that if any of them came out after her, they would more than likely get killed.

All she could do was yell, “Run!” just before her hold on the edge of the bridge was lost.

[wild-karrde]

I'm gonna say something, and it's not targeted at any one user in particular because I've seen this ramping up A LOT across the fandom, especially with the premiere coming this week.

People are allowed to have different expectations/hopes/opinions than you, and that's not a personal attack on anyone. They are allowed to do that.

You can hope a character comes back from the dead. In a franchise that has practically written the joke that only Qui-Gon Jinn can't survive a lightsaber to the chest, I think it's more than fair to hope Tech re-emerges (I have my own EXCEPTIONALLY dark theories on how that may go, but we'll see). It's also ok for you to want him to stay dead. You are completely allowed to think that his arc hard run its course and his death served a purpose.

You can like the clones' physique as it's portrayed. You can prefer them thicker. And having one of these opinions is not an attack on the other.

You can want a happy ending for the Bad Batch and can be sad if it doesn't happen. That's allowed. You can also expect them to all die and to have our souls crushed. And wanting one of those doesn't make you "naive" or "too dark" or whatever adjective for not expecting the other.

I could go on and on with examples, but all to say there's this weird passive aggressive atmosphere going on right now where people post one thing, and others in the same circles/community feel the need to post the exact opposite like it's some kind of weird debate. There's posts circulating that feel borderline shaming for people that have particular hopes for the season. This is Tumblr. People just post stuff that makes them happy. Posting something you enjoy or have a theory about on a show isn't an attack on someone else or their opinions. And if you don't like someone's opinions THAT MUCH, then just unfollow them. It's really that simple. I've done it without saying a word to the person I disagreed with.

It's just really strange to me that a community that thrives off of theories and possibilities and different character interpretations and twisting threads of canon into complex stories based on a single line of dialogue or passing glance would be getting chippy with one another for having the same types of theories and hopes for undetermined canon. This is media we all love, so can we please let each other have our individual thoughts and opinions about it? I have had PLENTY of differing opinions with my friends on here about things I did/didn't like in a show. They're still my friends though.

In addition, can we all remember that just because something doesn't turn out the way you wanted, that doesn't mean it's bad; sometimes, sure, it's bad, but what I've found is that most likely means it just wasn't for you. And that's fine. Not everything can/should be for you. So go write a fic about it. Seriously. We all live for AUs. Go do it.

Let's all just be kind to one another, yeah? Because lately it feels like we're stepping on one another's excitement, and I'm not here for that.

[corellianhounds]

Original post: The Bad Batch body swap!AU

I have a few short chapters outlined right now, though I’m debating on whether it works as a fic or just some loosely connected scenes posted here instead of AO3.

A few scenarios:

The first day after the whole switch Omega is getting irritable and twitchy and can’t figure out why until she checks all of her symptoms against space MayoClinic and storms off to find Crosshair and is like “are YOU a SMOKER”

Crosshair is a little chagrined but he’s not going to be scolded by a CHILD so “Yeah? What of it? Mind your own business”

“This IS my business now, I’M the one going through nicotine withdrawal!!”

“So go have a cigarette and get off my back already.”

Echo (with Hunter’s hearing) yelling back from the cockpit: “What did you just say??”

Later Hunter crosses his arms and is looking disapprovingly at Crosshair (who again just looks like a sulking teenage girl) and Crosshair’s like “Do you MIND?”

Ok but that being said. Who catches Crosshair trying to sneak a cigarette NOW 😆 Because to anyone else it’s just going to look like some girl got caught smoking and her uncle/dad/older brother is mad at her like anyone would expect them to be

—

Ventress shows back up on Pabu at some point and takes one look at Crosshair or Hunter in passing but then stops, her eyes narrowing before she starts investigating and looking them over all “What did you guys do because the Force vibes in here are absolutely RANCID right now”

Later Wrecker’s like “What's up with Ventress? She looks like she smelled something bad” and Echo’s like “I think she just looks like that.” Omega hollering across the room “DON’T BE RUDE”

—

Fennec also shows back up somewhere down the line during a job, just antagonizing ‘Hunter’ for the heck of it and Echo tires of it REAL quick. Hunter may have fast reflexes but combined with Echo’s age and experience, Echo is downright LETHAL and easily gets the upper hand, getting his point across quite clearly to a much more alarmed Fennec who is surprised at Hunter’s more militant efficiency and assertiveness.

(Unfortunately ‘Hunter’s’ gruff, no-nonsense, equally sharp-tongued venom back at her (because Echo is more forthright and obvs doesn’t like her and won’t put up with her crap) has Fennec going a little 👀😳 so. Consider her curiosity piqued.)

—

Wrecker being caught completely off guard showing back up on Pabu and being yanked into an alcove by Phee whose welcome-back kiss makes it very clear just how much she missed Tech~

“WHOA whoa WHOA whoa WHOA—”(Wrecker’s holding her back by the shoulders because WHAT and WHEN and most importantly WHY—)

“Something the matter, handsome?” Phee asks with a smile, lazily playing with his hair

And… well now it’s sort of catching up to him, to be honest that did feel pretty good…

Wrecker going “uhhhhhh Nah we’re good” 😘 Goes back to kissing her because yeah actually this does feel nice. Maybe even picks her up to do it, which is a pleasant surprise to her because that’s a first, she didn’t even think Tech could do that

Tech is incensed when he finds out about it later. Phee’s off to the side doubled over laughing because she actually thinks the whole thing is very funny

“Hey, two-for-one special! How ‘bout that!”

“PHEE”

Her later, to Tech: “I would kiss you, but I don’t think I’ve got Echo’s sign-off on that—” (*Echo distantly in the background*: “Thank you.”) — But I suppose I can wait ‘til you’re who you’re supposed to be again.”

—

Crosshair breaks a couple of boys’ fingers or puts them in wrist holds when they try to get too handsy with ‘Omega’ and won’t back off. Him not saying anything but subtly building up her reputation as someone who’s not to be messed with. Later telling the rest of the guys “Arlo Dace isn’t allowed around Omega anymore and if you hear anything about me threatening him once I’m back in my own body no you didn’t”

Further ideas/scenes

Calling up Rex and crowding around their flip phone when it first happens, going “Hey buddy sorry to bother you but we don’t know any Jedi and we think the Force? just messed us up?”

And Rex, who WAS a captain under Anakin and Ahsoka, is going like 😬😬 and telling them “uh we weren’t exactly simpático at the end of the war, boys, can’t exactly call them up”

Wrecker working out a bunch as if trying to bulk up. Tech telling him it’s not going to happen overnight, and will he PLEASE eat some vegetables with all that protein

Tech noting each of Echo’s aches and pains and updating his medical charts. Working on designing/modifying better-fitting and more comfortable prostheses and cybernetics, telling Echo he’s overdue for some improvements.

Hunter noticing Echo struggling with the amount of sensory input he’s dealing with all of a sudden, telling him the helmet is fitted with a neutralizing air-filter and tinted visor so he can get at least some of his senses under control

Hunter himself having to consciously duck his head to keep from hitting it on stuff, his sense of sight and hearing being thrown off too

Tech subconsciously going to adjust glasses he no longer has

Hunter having to pretend to be Wrecker and it’s super awkward because of everybody he’s typically the most quiet, while Wrecker is… not

They come up with some lie about laryngitis so he doesn’t have to talk at all for a while

All of them having to pretend around Cid, who’s suspicious the first time they come in, but it isn’t until the second time there that one of them slips up and she starts to piece it together. She’s mildly amused but doesn’t care. Go do the job I hired you for.

Crosshair being frustrated that he can’t use HIS gun because it’s too big for him now. Training Omega to use it instead, maybe being too hard on her and Hunter having to tell him to back off.

Sorry but the visual I have of Hunter catching a grenade midair and crushing it in his hands, stalking forward through the smoke on a warpath to their enemies. Whoof.

Either Omega or Hunter telling their counterpart that they can cut their hair if it’s bothering them too much. Echo or Crosshair mulling it over but ultimately declining. There’s so few things you’re able to make your own when you share the same face and DNA as a couple million other people

“Tech’s” behavior is the most obvious change to outside observers, him knocking back a couple drinks faster than he really should and finally feeling the effects of alcohol for the first time in his life. Before this Wrecker just metabolized it so fast it never actually hit him.

People asking Wrecker about information or research outside of his wheelhouse also sends him into a bit of a tailspin and he ends up pulling a lot of “ *gasp* What in the world could that be?!” distractions, pointing over their shoulder before dashing away

Echo is honestly dealing with things the best. He feels more like his old self, just in peak physical condition. The renewed vigor makes him equally as lethal as Hunter normally is when he’s in his own body, and there’s a different way he carries himself that commands people’s attention in ways Hunter naturally avoids, simply by virtue of the fact hunters are meant to be unseen, lying in wait. Echo here walks more like a seasoned veteran, a leader capable and in control. The kind of person others look to for guidance and stability, like a lighthouse in a storm.

Hunter doesn’t even feel like Echo’s overstepping his bounds. It’s more like Echo’s stepped up to the plate and is aware his stewardship of the role is temporary, but one he takes as seriously as if it were his own responsibility. Hunter feels like he can take a step back and breathe for a minute, the weight of leadership being shouldered more equally between the both of them, and he can genuinely relax knowing the team is still in good hands

It’s a welcome reprieve because Hunter’s reeling from the change as badly as the rest of them are. They’re all having to deal with the ramifications of not having their own assets and advantages at their disposal. Who are you if you can’t fulfill the role you were designed to do?

Crosshair somehow manages to get even more paranoid knowing he doesn’t have his original height and strength to his advantage. Omega is so much smaller than they are, and it would be very easy for her to not be able to fend off or take a hit like they can. It makes him more protective over her once they switch back, now much more aware of what she actually is and isn’t capable of, though in typical fashion he does it without making it obvious or calling attention to it. He more reflexively moves to shield or save her in ways he only became aware she was at risk of when he was stuck as her. He’s almost appalled by some of the stunts they’ve had her do.

He’s not complaining about the regained flexibility and energy though. She can bounce back from more in terms of minor aches and joint issues. She can also sleep contorted into more bafflingly uncomfortable positions than any of them have been able to get away with in years, and on a good day he’s getting a minimum of six hours in a row uninterrupted, if not more

Definitely uses his size and appearance to his advantage, letting people underestimate him before striking with violent precision and unmerciful retaliation. There’s at least one fight where Hunter doesn’t even realize Crosshair’s jumped into the fray until after Crosshair snatches one of his knives off his belt without Hunter even feeling it

Him “acquiring” a specific type of rifle when they’ve made a stop on one planet that has an armory; it’s lightweight, breaks down easily, and is more suited to Omega’s wingspan and strength. Sure, he can use the energy bow, but he’s a sniper for a reason.

Echo hesitating when it’s time to switch back. Everyone understands, and Hunter doesn’t push him until he decides he’s ready.

[clonebrainrot]

So I came across an article it was basically Dave Filoni talking about how he does endings

The important quote is

I think that in some ways you want each season to have a feeling of an ending. But in a lot of what I’ve done, I don’t like hard endings”

And this is very true. Look at Rebels, the clone wars and to a lesser extent the bad batch. Although I think a wholly separate post can be made a very long one on Dave’s influence and or lack thereof on the bad batch. It definitely fits into no hard endings.

But I also think you need a hard ending eventually. Sure you could theoretically keep making things with the characters, but eventually I as the creator of stories like to end them. Due to my poor writing skills I have never written my fanfiction down, but while I was younger say between the ages of 8-15 I would verbally tell my friends my stories. The point is. While I am not a writer I have been known to tell a good story. And eventually any good story needs an ending.

But Star Wars currently thrives off the no hard endings rule. Because they always return to the characters.

It’s why I think I have continued to get more and more disappointed with Ahsoka’s continuing story. There were times you could have had great endings for the character such as Twilight of the apprentice.

Hell a hard ending doesn’t even need to be death. Take the bad batch as an example. While the no hard ending rule definitely applies to characters such as Omega, Echo, Rex, Emerie. It does feel like the ending we got for Crosshair, Wrecker and Hunter was the hardest ending we have gotten in Star Wars in a long time. And I am completely happy with that fact.

A story needs an end. Now of course this is my opinion, but if you keep doing soft endings you’ll eventually get to the point in a decade or two where you grow tired of the character and just stop following it up.

Hard endings are important for a story because it means it’s done.

Now I have a feeling many of you may disagree with me. I want to stress though I am not saying soft endings are bad. I liked the bad batch and TCW and rebels. All three shows have soft endings. I am saying following a show up with another soft ending after another soft ending. And then never doing a hard ending is a bad idea. Because eventually you run out of the story and you just end it forever on a soft ending. And that in itself isn’t satisfying. It’s why I personally prefer shorter fanfiction. Or completed fanfiction.

Doesn’t mean I won’t read long stories. I do. But a part of me gets bummed when there is no ending because a creative abandoned it. In the Ahsoka movie Dave has a fantastic opportunity to do a hard ending. Do I think he’ll take it? All signs point to no.

Again this may just be me. But my point here is I do think you should have a general hard ending in mind for characters and plots. And I honestly don’t think Filoni does. Because he likes playing with the characters so much. Maybe he’ll prove me wrong.

Maybe this is why I like the ending of Revenge of the Sith so much. Because while it isn’t a hard ending. In many ways it is a hard ending for those characters. Padme dies. Anakin for all intents and purposes dies and the man Obi Wan was is buried deep down. It’s a hard ending for who those characters are.

Just my two cents.

Also this doesn’t reflect my opinion on spinoffs. I think that’s a wholly different debate.

So I think soft endings are fine as long as you do have a hard ending in mind eventually.

[dreamless-daydreamer]

How is Omega 16 in s3? The math doesn't check out. TBB s3 likely takes place 18 BBY a year after Order 66 in 19 BBY. The Phantom Menace, when Boba Fett and the first gen clones were created was in 32 BBY. In order for her to be 16 years old, she'd have to be OLDER than Boba by 2-3 years! BEFORE Jango was even hired by Dooku to be the clone template! Omega AT MOST can only be 14 in s3. She doesn't even look or act close to mid-teens, more like 11-12.

Okay just to preface this, your comment does make a lot of sense, I 100% see your point and I think it’s highly likely that the creators didn’t think about the timeline all too much with Omegas age.

Whether or not Omega’s 16 by season 3 which I said in my recent post is debatable, however she’s definitely 14 in Aftermath and I’m a firm believer that each season takes place over the span of several months with several months in between seasons. I’ll delve into that later.

We know that Omega is older than the Batch. She remembers feeling lonely for an extended period of time and she remembers when they were created. Omega therefore had to be around 3 years older than them.

Rex is 10 at the beginning of the war, which means Tbb, being young than he is, were likely 8 at the beginning of the war, sat out for the first year, then when they turned 9(18) they joined in during the second year of the war.

Therefore, in aftermath The bad batch has to be 11, and Omega has to be 14.

(Going back to what I first said about how they didn’t think about the timeline, this now makes her older than rex, which isn’t likely, but could maybe be possible?)

Season 2 takes place at the end of 19 BBY and continues into 18BBY. We’re not exactly sure when in either but my guess is that Spoils/Ruins of war is 19BBY and by faster which is at least 2 months later is 18BBY and she’s now 15 for the rest of the season.

So I’d guess season 2 ends maybe roughly around the middle of 18bby, and we see in Omegas cell that season three post time jump is a little short of 6 months on Tantiss so in season 3 she’s approximately 16, at the very least about to turn 16.

And I know that she might not turn 16 right at the beginning of the year but I highly doubt the clones even know their birthdays so they likely all just refer to new year’s day as their birthday.

So, she might not be 16 by season 3 but it is heavily implied by both Techs broken leg and Omega stating that Echos been gone for a while, that each season takes place over several months, so I think it is highly likely.

[litnerdwrites]

Gluttony x reader

Pet - Gluttony X Reader

A/N: This was really fun to write. The B&M bonus chapters for TOTF paperback have me ready for more, and the teaser that was dropped today? I can't wait. October can't come fast enough. If you have any requests or just wanna chat about the series, feel free to send an ask. There are so many thoughts just rattling around in my head right now. I have some Euphemia content in the works, and I'm working on the next chapter of Clandestine Affairs. I'll post whichever one is ready first next week. Otherwise, enjoy.

WC: 1164

TW: References to sex but nothing outside the canon typical. Like, if you can handle the way Lust speaks in the books, you can handle this.

The good mood that his successful hunt put him in began to sour slightly when Prince Gluttony returned to his royal house. 

He sauntered through the halls with a grin and only briefly offered nods of acknowledgement in the direction of courtiers that offered smug grins and quick congratulations. They knew his routine, and what he did, and with whom, after every successful hunt, and they couldn’t be happier for their Prince, and their Princess, whom they’d grown to respect and admire, almost as much as he did. 

Gluttony fully anticipated that his fiance, Y/N, would be waiting for him, curled up in their sheets, as per usual. Perhaps she’d be resting on her stomach, legs twisted together and swinging in the air as she read, or rested her chin on the pillow while waiting for her. Perhaps she’d be curled up on the couch or balcony with her journal as she wrote furiously about her day, or her  plans. His mind drifted as he wondered if she’d gone to the trouble or procuring a new set of lace for him to rid her of, or if she’d chosen to wrap herself in a robe or silken sheets from their bed. Sometimes she was dressed normally, other times, he found her in only his shirt or jacket, with a sly grin on her face.

His little vixen always had a new surprise for him after a successful hunt, even on the days she’d accompany him on said hunt. Which is why the scene before him had him… Vexed. 

“Welcome back Gabe,” Y/N chirped from her spot on the bed, “Heard your hunt went well.” 

Gluttony stalked towards the bed in silence, his expression schooled into cool, nonchalance as he debated on if he should express irritation, envy, or amusement. There, huddled amongst the silks and satin, lay his fiance, covered in a swarm of ice dragon hatchlings. 

Usually, the hatchlings they chose to raise were kept in their own ‘kennels’ of sorts, similar to what Wrath used to raise his Hellhounds, only designed specifically to the needs of ice dragons. This newest batch likely hatched while he was on his hunt, but how they ended up in his and Y/N’s bedchamber is… Well, he’d like to say that it’s a mystery but… 

“You should’ve seen them when they hatched Gabe,” Y/N coos, scratching at the chin of the dragon curled up beside her head, “I wanna dress them up in bows and glitter and jewels,” 

Gluttony blinks. 

“Y/N, my beloved, those are Ice Dragons, not puppies,” he tries to calmly explain. 

“Oh, I know. But they’re so cute, I could just gobble them up!” 

A dragon got up and walked on wobbly feet, across the bed, and curled up against her stomach, giving the tiny strip of skin between her silken top and shorts little licks, before puffing out steam. Y/N squealed at the sight, beginning to coo over the creature again. Glancing over the bed, Gluttony counted seven hatchlings rolling around in the bed, and let out a sigh. 

He took a seat on the edge, careful to avoid a hatchling dozing there, before reaching for his fiance. One of the tiny dragons snarled at his approaching hand, blowing puffs of smoke towards him, in lue of the fire that they’re just a bit too young to breathe at this point. Fixing the creature with a glare, it narrows its eyes right back on him, showing rows of shiny teeth, sharp enough to rip through flesh, even at this age. 

Before Gluttony can move to swat the creature away, a gentle hand is placed on its nuzzle. He watches, perplexed, as Y/N hushes and soothes the creature until it turns its back on Gluttony, swishing its tail before curling up beside her. With a shake of his head, the Prince reaches his hand back out to cup his fiance’s cheek, a smile gracing his cheeks when she leans into his touch with a sigh. 

She sits up, bringing a hand to cover his.

“Welcome back,” she kisses his palm. 

“I was wondering what sight I would be graced with when I returned,” he gives an amused grin, “This isn’t the sight I had in mind, beloved,” 

“You know I love keeping you on your toes, Gabe,” 

Gluttony, chuckles, shaking his head. 

“You do understand that they can’t stay, don’t you?” he asks.

“Of course they can! We can move them to make space for you, then they can climb on both of us,” 

Gluttony takes one look at the proud grin she has at her own idea, and immediately wants to shove her to the mattress and kiss her until she can’t do anything but smile and sigh. The mental image of her face, drunk on pleasure, has his eyes darkening. 

“As much as I’m sure you’d love that, they absolutely need to go back. You can visit them, but they can’t stay here. Especially not as they grow,” he reiterated. 

“But, Gabe,” she whines, picking up one of the creatures and holding it to his face. “They’re just babies.” 

The dragon lets its maw fall open as it yawns, blinking at him before narrowing its eyes at him and puffing smoke in his face. 

Gluttony narrows his eyes. 

“I understand that, but it’s going to grow up and we’ll have to release them into the north. They’ll have a difficult time being accepted by the other dragons, or even just surviving, there if you coddle them too much,” 

That thought seed to not have occurred to her, he realized, when Y/N’s pleading gaze became solemn in realization. She brought the dragon to her lap and stroked its feathers, clearly contemplating his words.

“I don’t suppose we’d be able to avoid releasing them?” she asks sadly. 

Gluttony shakes his head, thumb tracing her cheek. 

“The other dragons wouldn’t like that very much,” 

She nods solemnly. 

“They’ll remember you when you grow up,” he offers gently.  

“Like Silvanus?” she asks with a pout. 

Gluttony chuckles.

“Like Silvanus,” 

Y/N nods sadly, and they call in servants to take the dragons back. Some of the put up fights, but when Y/N is the one handing them over, they just stare at her with big eyes, almost like puppies. Gluttony scoffed at their faces, as Y/N gave them a tearful goodbye, reminding them it was for their own good. A touch overdramatic if you asked him. However, when the Hellbeasts were finally gone, Gluttony reached a hand around her hip. 

“I didn’t get my prize yet,” he reminded.

Y/N chuckled, raising a brow. 

“Really?” 

“I won the hunt,” he shrugged, “I want my reward,” 

“Is glory not enough, your highness?” 

Gluttony tugged her down to the bed, pinning her hands above her. His eyes darkened at the sparkle in her own, E/C orbs. 

“You should know by now, beloved, I always hunger for more,”

[0m3g4skanohiforge]

0m3g4's Kanohi Forge is in Low Inventory Mode

If a piece isn't already made, it's unavailable for the time being, and that time may last a fair while with everything going on.

Current objectives:

Find the source of the bubbles plaguing my recent batches and resolve the current 2/3 failure and 1/4 disaster rating

Refresh my molds, as even the new masks exclusive to the Metru Mystery Packs are wearing out already

Install the new pressure pot to double effective daily output

Take care folks, I'll answer messages here but I really won't have stuff to post about for a while

Also felt I should include an explanation about those ratings from #1. Luckily we're still at a 0/6 hazard rate, no pieces have come out as toxic sludge since I launched the shop and I know well enough why to keep it that way.

My 4 ratings are

Good - a sellable piece, matching colour and shape cleanly. No bubbles or other defects.

Failure - any colour oddities automatically land here, as well as bubbles and empty spots. This is happening more and more lately and it's genuinely concerning, but I have theories I'll discuss.

Disaster - dramatic name, basically just means any of them where the connection point is unfixable and thus can't end up even in the Protodermis blind bags. I keep those for my Protodermis Reclamation Yard display, of which I still haven't finished setting up though do finally have the Metru Kalama for.

Current theories for the rates of Failure- it's possible that I haven't properly flushed out my air compressor and there's just enough moisture in there to cause a problem. If so, should be an easy fix if it wasn't for the humidity. It's also possible that my resin is slightly expired - last time it did, though, it thickened and became foggy, which doesn't appear to be the case. Final theory is that I somehow have completely shifted my internal timescale and am mixing chemicals for too long, causing the injected material to be full of bubbles (thusly appearing to fill the mold, only to then deflate to partial fill when compressed). If it's the last one I'm keeping a timer on my lab desk, cause that's just stupid.

Also... regarding the Low Inventory Mode... I have a few Akaku (Great) and Rau (Noble) that I made for product photos. I was planning on launching one each with a new colour, and therefore allowing them to be fully stocked, but I'm partially debating just putting up the listings as is. That Rau mold isn't wearing out now for no reason, I've used it a bunch. But idk, I'd still like to pair new masks and colours, and actually let more than 5 people get a variety of them.

[twinsunstars]

Thoughts on The Bad Batch Episode 5 - The Return - A Discussion Post (PART 1)

This episode was so healing. It was really something I needed. Let's look back on an episode filled with family joy!

SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE EPISODE YET! all screencaps are from cap-that.com! (https://www.cap-that.com/starwars/the-bad-batch/305/)

(NOTE: This post is split into two posts! I didn't know Tumblr had a limit to how many images you can add, and there's a lot I want to talk about in this episode. So here is Part 2 once you finish reading this one: LINK TO PART 2)

The episode opens with Omega sleeping safely in her room on the Marauder, the warm sun signaling her to awaken. Omega is safe and happy, having the real Lula to sleep with again.

Hunter and Wrecker are relaxing in the ship with some hot cups of tea, and Omega wonders where Crosshair is. I'm happy to see them relaxing after a long time of searching for Omega.

Crosshair is found on the beach, training with his sniper rifle. He has AZ to help him get a target, and AZ is happy to see Omega. I'm glad AZ is safe too since I've been wondering where he went after the finale of Season 2. Crosshair's hand keeps on trembling, and he sighs, worried about it. It's sad to see him this way, especially since he's the guy who never missed a target.

Crosshair still hasn't properly talked to Hunter, and Hunter and Wrecker keep their eyes on Crosshair. Omega tells Crosshair to relax and be patient, as things would eventually work out. She's really being their older sister.

Echo arrives on Pabu, and Omega immediately runs to see him again. I'm glad Echo finally came, the squad really needs the mom of the batch right now. Crosshair asks, "No hug for me?" Boy really needs one though.

The boys and Omega gather near Pabu's sunset, discussing the clones left on Mount Tantiss. All they have is Nala Se's datapad that Omega took to help her and Crosshair escape, but nothing else. Echo mentions Tech, and they all look down in silence. Tech was always the one who was able to figure things out, but now it's harder without him. Crosshair looks down sadly, and I could not get over this part. He lost his twin, and he wasn't even there for it. He didn't know when. All Crosshair can do is mourn like the others, but he never got to see Tech for one more time. The datapad is also shut down, so it's going to be even harder to use it.

Crosshair mentions that they can go to an Imperial facility that will be easy for them to use, and Hunter says that he will go with him and Echo, needing Omega and Wrecker to stay on Pabu. Omega has her heart set on rescuing the clones on Tantiss, and Hunter doesn't want to risk losing her again. After a little debate, Hunter lets Omega come with. Echo raised this girl right; she knows when to never give up.

While getting ready on Echo's ship, Crosshair and Hunter avoid each other like the plague, refusing to talk to each other. Honestly, I don't blame Hunter; Crosshair performed a lot of mistakes, but Hunter would need to talk to him.

Omega keeps talking to Crosshair, being the only one who Crosshair can trust right now. Omega calls him "little brother", and Crosshair smirks and lets out a small chuckle. I swear, Crosshair was so soft this episode.

Wrecker comes up to Crosshair and hands him a large crate with Crosshair's old armor inside. They never got rid of it, no matter how long Crosshair was gone.

They arrive on the planet Crosshair is directing them to, and it turns out to be the planet where Crosshair had killed that Imperial officer, and the same planet where Mayday died. A place now buried with even more snow. Crosshair puts on his old armor, and he looks better than never before.

Crosshair sees the same bird again flying overhead, and he often saw it throughout this episode. I love the symbolism with this bird, and now Crosshair is free.

As Batcher locates facility sensors and the team decide what to do next, Hunter and Crosshair begin to argue with each other. Echo breaks up the fight, since this is not the time for any. Omega scolds Crosshair, and Crosshair replies, "He started it." If that isn't peak sibling energy, I don't know what is.

They manage to get the facility open to hook the datapad up, while Hunter continues to watch Crosshair. Crosshair knows and senses this, but doesn't say a word.

Crosshair looks around and finds Mayday's helmet, along with the helmets of the other clone troopers Crosshair had met before. He puts them up, remembering his friend. Hunter watches him do this, but he doesn't know what happened here. Crosshair went through a lot here.

PART 2 OF DISCUSSION (explained above): https://www.tumblr.com/twinsunstars/744497062228492288/thoughts-on-the-bad-batch-episode-5-the-return?source=share

[dwarrowdelf]

o my brother

Seven drabbles for @maedhrosmaglorweek which I’m definitely not two entire weeks late for 😅 You can also read them on AO3 with any relevant author’s notes, but I’m posting them there in batches.

one: childhood/growing up

Of the brothers, Maedhros and Maglor were closest in age. They spent nearly their entire childhoods as a family of four, roaming the cultivated wildlands of Aman. Tirion upheld them as darlings, once the crown prince returned to the city: bright-haired, quick-witted Maitimo and sweet-voiced, silver-tongued Macalaurë, ever together. Two shining jewels to adorn any debate parlor, concert hall, or royal party. There were the other brilliant princes, and of course the beloved princesses, but the eldest house was ever the most brilliant and most beloved by the Noldor, in the days before Morgoth spread his discord to peaceful Valinor.

two: the oath

Maglor had not, as many suspected in later years, helped to craft the oath. Fëanor was a great orator and wordsmith in his own right without his second son’s help.

Their father had stood in the square under the Mindon and spoken his oath fiercely and without forethought. And what a rousing oath it was! The younger sons had been quick to follow. Maglor had looked to Maedhros and found him already looking back. Neither of them had wanted to swear it, but they had agreed, with that look, not to abandon their little brothers.

Funny how that worked out.

three: the long peace

“I cannot believe the audacity of that boy!”

“‘That boy’ is the Lord of Nargothrond,” Maedhros says, amused.

Maglor whirls on him, finger pointed in a hilarious mirror of their mother at her most high tempered. “He’s our little shit of a cousin who abandoned us on a hunting trip that he planned and then found the Secondborn! Without us! No, don’t look at me in that tone of voice, I’m very cross!”

Maedhros’s tremulous hold on his expression cracks, and he breaks into laughter. Maglor smiles to himself, relieved to see the tension finally slipping from his brother’s shoulders.

four: nirnaeth arnoediad, reputation

Maedhros’s well-earned reputation precedes him. Orcs would sooner run than face him, fearsome as he is; even trolls and wargs are wary.

Maglor’s reputation precedes him too, carefully crafted. The kind brother, the soft brother, nevermind that softness alone could never hold the least defensible line of the leaguer. But it is good to be underestimated, good to let everyone forget that he was the one Maedhros trained against when relearning the sword.

That soft reputation is why Ulfang’s eyes are wide with shock in the head that Maglor cleaves from his body for the crime of betraying his brother.

five: change and loss of self

Being burnt by the Silmaril did not break Maglor as it broke his brother, though losing him nearly did. What broke Maglor, in the end, was realizing that the burn would never heal such that he could play any two-handed instrument again.

He contemplated, then, following in the footsteps of his brother or grandmother.

But many years ago, when Maedhros still could not leave his sickbed, they had picked apart the Oath. It seemed fit to kill them all, but they thought if just one of them lived, perhaps the rest might have a chance, however small.

So Maglor lives.

six: alienation and isolation, AUs and fix-its

Maglor dreams, sometimes: a voice telling him it is time to come home. His mother telling him not to stay out too late, his father calling that dinner is ready. Maedhros as he had been, slinging an arm around his shoulders and telling him he’s done enough and to stop hiding in his room before they all forget what he looks like.

Sometimes he wakes up after those dreams at dawn or dusk, and a red-orange sky tricks him a moment longer.

He confesses all of this to a stranger near Mithlond, and finds himself on a boat sailing West.

seven: fate

Maglor never came to the timeless halls, and Maedhros feared. The only tapestry he could find of his brother was a vast stretch of shore with one figure, alone, walking. Anyone who might have news, he asked.

Lost, faded, disappeared, they all said, some even with pity.

Maedhros reembodies last of his brothers, and there, there is Maglor. Maedhros folds himself without thought into supplication older than Valinor, begs forgiveness from the one he most wronged.

Two scarred hands deign to cradle his face. “There is no need. Only do not leave me again, I beg you.”

“Never,” Maedhros swears.

[pierrot-fish]

NEW INTRO POST CUZ IVE GOTTEN COMFORTABLE ON HERE (LONG POST)

hi, my name is Leslie🔥

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