#moving into Cadet Bad Batch for the week

[laughhardrunfastbekindsblog]

These Scars Remain

Summer of Bad Batch 2024 | Week 6 | Prompt: Battle Scars

Summary: "Did I ever tell you what Tech did when I got my first big scar?" POV: Wrecker (Word Count: 3131)

Read on Ao3

Notes: I touched on a few of the concepts here in one of my other works that I wrote up while imagining how the months between episodes 2.16 and 3.02 had gone for Hunter, Wrecker and Echo. And recently I've been thinking a lot about how Wrecker might have gotten the huge scar on his face. And then I saw this week's prompt. This is the result.

            “Wrecker.”

            Pain. So much pain.

            “Wrecker!”

            Blinding… burning… pain… ringing… agony… so dark…

            “Wrecker! Wake up!”

            Stabbing… crushing… why wouldn’t the pain stop… just make it stop…

            “WRECKER!”

            That voice… he knew that voice… who… Tech, why was Tech yelling at him? Why was the ground shaking…?

            Wrecker came to with a groan. He wanted to move, find his way to more solid ground so he would stop shaking – maybe he wouldn’t hurt as much if he wasn’t shaking – but the only part of his body he could manage to move for himself was his eyelids.

            The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Tech’s goggles, which were currently taking up most of his field of vision – a field of vision that was narrower than usual… Wrecker blinked, what was wrong with his left eye?

            Then he realized the ground had stopped moving… No, Tech had stopped shaking him. Why had Tech been shaking him…? Had he been asleep? Were they late for a battle simulation or…?

            Suddenly Wrecker remembered: the squad was in their third and final week of completing individual field tests, tests that would determine whether each member of the squad was prepared to progress to the final months of advanced training. Hunter and Crosshair were currently in a different room, Wrecker didn’t yet know what tests had been assigned to those two today. Wrecker and Tech had been shuffled into another area, with Tech being assigned target drills with the blasters in one corner of the long training room, and Wrecker being given the task of disarming a bomb at the other end of the room.

            He had thought it would be a smoke bomb or something similar, he had been told as much – at least, he thought that’s what he had been told by the trainers before they left to watch the proceedings from the observation room. Wrecker still wasn’t sure what had gone wrong, but he was starting to think that definitely had not been a smoke bomb…

            But it didn’t really matter what kind of bomb it had been; he should have been able to disarm it. All the regular cadets had to prove themselves to a certain standard; Wrecker knew full well that his squad of 99s had to prove themselves to be not just on par with the regs, but superior.

            Now, Wrecker couldn’t help but recall that how quickly a cadet recovered from injury during training often played a role in determining whether said cadet was decommissioned or not. And… well, Wrecker knew he had definitely been injured.

            That, on top of having clearly failed the test…

            He didn’t know if retakes were allowed with these exams – he had never asked. None of his squad had needed to.

            “Wrecker! Can you hear me?” Tech may have stopped shaking him, but his anxious voice persisted in calling Wrecker’s name, and Wrecker realized he had spent the last few seconds of reverie staring in a silent daze.

            “Y… Yeah, Tech, I can hear you,” Wrecker replied. His words sounded muffled, garbled to his ears. It hurt so much to talk, but he tried to keep talking anyway, more to reassure Tech than anything else. “Guess I…”

            Tech suddenly disappeared from Wrecker’s line of sight, replaced by a medical droid. “The stimulant worked, CT-9903 has regained consciousness,” Wrecker heard the droid report, before he felt himself being lifted onto a gurney.

            Oh. He was going to be taken to the medical wing. That was fine… just, he didn’t really like going to the medical wing, he didn’t like all the tests that involved being poked and prodded and scanned, and he definitely didn’t like being there alone…

            “CT-9902, where are you going?” the gruff voice of Gibli Ecto, their trainer, sounded somewhere behind Wrecker.

            “I’m going with my brother to the medical wing. I want to stay with him,” Wrecker heard Tech reply.

            “He’ll be just fine on his own. You need to finish your exam. You weren’t supposed to leave your testing station in the first place,” Ecto returned in a tone of finality.     

            “I already passed the test,” Tech replied.

            “Excuse me?”

            Tech’s voice was fading as Wrecker was carried further away, and Wrecker strained to hear his brother’s frank explanation: “Of the 150 targets on the exam, I have already accurately hit the first 136 of them, yielding an average 90.6% hit rate. Even if I miss the last fourteen targets, I’ve already exceeded the target rate required for passing at this point in my training. I don’t need to complete the remainder of the test. I want to accompany CT-9903 to the medical wing.”

            “CT-9902, your insubordination is grounds for disciplinary action…”

            “Let him go, Ecto,” one of the other trainers sighed – Wrecker couldn’t tell who was speaking now, maybe Timbria? “He’s right, he already passed. And these are special circumstances. CT-9902, you’re dismissed.”

            “Yes, sir;” and Wrecker heard hurried footsteps catch up to him before his gurney was carried through the test room doors.

            “I’m here, Wrecker,” Tech said matter-of-factly, placing a hand briefly on Wrecker’s right shoulder to reinforce the fact of his presence. “I’ll stay with you during the medical tests.”

            “Thanks, Tech,” Wrecker said weakly. It still hurt to talk, still hurt to breathe, still hurt to think – and Wrecker found himself succumbing to unconsciousness again.

---

            “Oh good, you’re awake,” was the first sound to greet Wrecker’s right ear.

            “What… what happened?” Wrecker said bemusedly, staring around at the sterile and well-lit room, registering the fact that the left side of his face and head was heavily wrapped in bandages; and the events of the day rapidly caught up to him even before Tech spoke again.

            “You were unsuccessful in disarming the bomb,” Tech started.

            “Yeah, and it blew up in my face. Got it,” Wrecker said, trying to ignore the sick feeling that was developing anew in the pit of his stomach. He was grateful it had been an individual rather than a group exam, that none of his brothers had been nearby when the bomb had gone off, but… What would happen to him for failing his first explosives test? He had heard rumors of other cadets being decommissioned for far less. “I mean, what happened after I passed out again?”

            “You’ve only been unconscious for half an hour, but that was ample time for the medical droids to see to your wounds,” Tech said conversationally, before his tone turned more somber and he seemed reluctant to continue. “Based on what they were saying amongst themselves, I don’t think you’ll regain function of your left eye or ear.”

            “You mean… I won’t be able to see or hear on that side again?”

            “That is correct.”

            Wrecker tried to shrug – oh, it hurt to shrug. And it hurt to grimace from the pain of shrugging. Even thinking still hurt. But none of that mattered. So long as they let him retake the test, he’d learn to live with the pain, just like he’d learn to live partially blind and deaf. He was going to be a soldier and stay with his squad, no matter what. “Guess it’s a good thing I have backups. One ear and eye’s enough. I can still crush droids.”

            Ever since the first wave of graduates had been shipped out a few months ago to officially serve in the Galactic Army of the Republic and fight in the new war, cadets had been informed that they would primarily be facing battle droids, and battle simulations had shifted to reflect this. Barreling through droids had become one of Wrecker’s favorite things to do, and just thinking about it now would have been enough to make him smile – if it didn’t hurt so much to move his face.

            Tech smiled at Wrecker’s brash determination. “That is also correct. It does not seem that your injuries will have any permanent effect on your brute strength and physical domination of the battlefield.”  

            He sounded almost relieved as he said it, and Wrecker suddenly realized Tech was as worried about Wrecker being decommissioned as he himself was.

            Maybe that was why Tech had not only left his own test without permission to make sure Wrecker was alive after the explosion, but also had been so insistent on staying by Wrecker’s side afterwards. If anyone would be able to mount a successful argument against decommissioning any member of this squad of 99s – even if the argument went up against Prime Minister Lama Su himself – it would be Tech.

            The squad had been together long enough and understood each other well enough that Wrecker knew he could count on any one of his brothers for anything. Still, the fact that Tech had risked his own standing as a cadet just to be able to stay close and ensure Wrecker’s safety made Wrecker’s heart warm with gratitude, and he felt in his bones that whatever happened, Tech would always be there for him.

            Wrecker loved his brothers so much. Nobody could have asked for better squadmates.

            “You’re the first of us to be assigned that task. I wasn’t aware the disarming test involved thermal explosives,” Tech said now.

            “I didn’t know either,” Wrecker replied in a low voice.

            Tech sighed. “At any rate, you’re going to have a very – ah, impressive scar.”

            Wrecker frowned as he cautiously patted the layers of bandages on his head. “How do you know?”

            “I saw the damage. The droids did their best and it’s already healing quickly, but… there was a lot of tissue missing. Your hair probably won’t grow back in that area either. All along here – ” and Tech indicated the area by stretching his hand over his own left ear and side of his head.

            The full implications suddenly hit Wrecker; and despite the continued pain, he grinned.

            “What is it?” Tech asked curiously.

            “It’ll be my first battle scar.”

            “I’m not sure you can call it a ‘battle’ scar when you didn’t sustain it in a real battle,” Tech replied drily.

            “I know I didn’t get it in a real battle, but most of the other regs won’t know that,” Wrecker countered. “The important thing is, the regs’ll see this scar and they’ll know I survived something big. And since the scar is right on my face, no one will miss it!”

“Unless you have your helmet on,” Tech pointed out.

            Wrecker stammered for a moment as he tried to come up with an appropriately witty response, but before he could verbalize his retort, the door slid open to admit two very anxious-looking cadets.

            “Wrecker!” Hunter exclaimed, hurrying over to the bed.

            “An actual explosion. Is there anything you can’t survive?” Crosshair quipped as he came up behind Hunter, though the worry was still apparent in his eyes.

            Wrecker tried to guffaw, though it came out more as a wheeze. “It’ll take a lot more than that to put me out of the fight!”

            Hunter shook his head. “This shouldn’t have happened. You weren’t supposed to be tested with a thermal explosive in the first place. From what I can tell, the trainers are all trying to figure out what went wrong.”

            Well, at least he hadn’t misheard critical information… but he had still failed the test, and he was still badly injured, and he couldn’t help but think that he might be deemed unfit to be a soldier.

            “That should be grounds to allow him to retest, then,” Tech was saying thoughtfully.

            “Oh, yeah,” Hunter said, “that’s not gonna be an issue.”

            Hunter said it so confidently, Wrecker couldn’t help but feel a wave of relief. “Really? So I’m not getting…”

            He couldn’t finish the sentence, but all of them knew exactly what he meant.

            “Nope, you’re not,” Hunter said. “I overheard Nala Se saying we’re ahead of the curve already, whatever that means, and that the Jedi will probably want to see our skills for themselves when they get here.”

            Tech’s face perked up with interest. “Jedi?”

            “Yeah. Some of the cadets were saying some Jedi will be coming to oversee training operations from now on. I guess it’s true.”

            Tech now had his “explanation incoming” expression on. “That will be most interesting to experience. The Jedi are formidable warriors, and by all accounts their ways seem to be quite distinct from the Mandalorian and even Kaminoan styles of fighting and training. They have been…”

            “Yeah, yeah, Tech, we didn’t ask,” Crosshair cut him off with a playful shoulder bump to offset the harshness of his voice.

            Wrecker shifted himself slightly to a more comfortable position, noticing that the excruciating pain had become more bearable now that he wasn’t worried about his fate and the fate of his squad, now that he could look forward with new resolutions.

            He wasn’t going to be decommissioned over this. He was going to become an explosives expert – no bomb would ever best him again, and he wouldn’t let any bomb pose a threat to any of his brothers. He was going to be one of the best soldiers out there, just like his brothers were going to be, even if he only had one working eye and ear. He was going to wear his battle scar with pride, because it showed that he might get knocked down, but he would never be beaten. And as long as he, Wrecker, wasn’t beaten, his brothers wouldn’t be, either.

He would make sure of it.

********

“You must sever the connection hinge. Now!”

Pain. So much pain.

            “There is no time, Wrecker. Plan 99.”

            Blinding… burning… pain… ringing… agony… so dark…

            “When have we ever followed orders?”

            Stabbing… crushing… why wouldn’t the pain stop… just make it stop… JUST MAKE IT STOP…

            “Wrecker?”

Echo’s voice drew Wrecker’s thoughts away from Tech’s final words ringing again in his ear, though it wasn’t enough to draw his gaze away from Tech’s broken goggles.

            He didn’t want to think of Tech as broken. He had tried so hard since Eriadu to focus on happy memories with Tech, their time together as cadets, as soldiers, as deserters, their lives together as brothers. But sometimes – most times – focusing on Tech’s life was impossible, when the brutal reality set in.

            Tech was dead. Wrecker hadn’t been able to save him. Omega was gone. Wrecker hadn’t been able to save her – it had been days and they hadn’t even been able to find her. But there was hope Omega would be found and rescued. There was no hope for the same for Tech.

            “Does it ever get better, Echo?”

            For a brief moment, Wrecker wasn’t sure if Echo had heard the question – his voice had been so low and gruff he wasn’t sure if he had even heard himself – but then Echo sighed and leaned against the console, crossing his arms as he faced Wrecker.

            “Yes,” Echo said slowly. “It does get better. But it never goes away completely. You’ll go for longer stretches of time – days, weeks even – feeling okay, the ache is so dim you almost don’t notice it. And then suddenly you’ll feel the pain all over again, like it never left in the first place. But that won’t last long, the pain will fade again, because you’ll have learned to live with it. Just like all the other injuries and losses you’ve learned to live with.”  

            Wrecker sat in silence, grappling with this explanation. He knew Echo had lost brothers before – lost his entire original squad, actually – and he figured Echo must know what he was talking about… but Wrecker didn’t understand it. At all. Losing a brother wasn’t like losing one’s sight or hearing, wasn’t the same as recovering from a blaster wound or a knife to the gut or burns from an explosion.

            Especially since the brother that had been lost had been with Wrecker since the beginning, had helped him through every single injury, every single hurt, those that had healed without leaving a trace and those that had left scars – all of them, except this one.

            Some battle scars couldn’t be seen. The losses that caused them ate away slowly on the inside without leaving any physical marks, just aching emptiness that somehow hurt even worse than every other injury Wrecker had ever experienced.

            All of Wrecker’s physical injuries had healed over time. He didn’t think it was possible that time would somehow make this wound heal too.

            As if he knew exactly what Wrecker was thinking, Echo now added, “It hurts a lot, at first; but remembering my brothers, what they meant to me, all I learned from them helped me keep moving forward. That’s how I learned to live with it. I live for them.”

            “I… I keep trying to think of Tech, of how much he talked and studied and came up with some of the craziest plans,” Wrecker confessed. “I wanna talk out loud about it, but…”

            He didn’t need to finish the sentence. If he wanted to ramble on about Tech, Hunter would patiently listen to him – Wrecker knew this; but, much as his older brother tried to hide it, the look in Hunter’s eyes when Wrecker had first done this had been more than enough to convince Wrecker to stop. Hunter just wasn’t ready to talk or listen about Tech, and Wrecker had to respect that.

            But thoughts and memories like these flowed easier for Wrecker when he was able to talk through them. Holding it all in was so hard.

            Echo glanced back at Hunter, who was currently sleeping fitfully on his rack. The lengths to which Wrecker and Echo had had to go in order to convince Hunter to rest at all…

            “You can talk to me, you know,” Echo offered. “There’s a lot about your time as cadets on Kamino that I don’t know about.”

            Wrecker sat in silence for some time, staring again at Tech’s goggles. Tech had had such poor eyesight that couldn’t be corrected without lenses, no matter what Nala Se and the other medical personnel had tried, that of all the 99s in the squad, he had nearly always been at highest risk for decommissioning; and after Wrecker’s failed disarming test, it had been comforting to know that one brother really understood what it was like to have limited vision, even if Tech had pestered him for months with all the options he had researched of possible ways to restore Wrecker’s vision in his left eye, while Wrecker had responded by teasing Tech that at least spectacles were not one of the options.

            The memory was enough to almost bring a smile to Wrecker’s face – almost – and he glanced up at Echo.

            “Did I ever tell you what Tech did when I got my first big scar?”

@summer-of-bad-batch

[kybercrystals94]

Letting Go

Read here on Ao3

Summer of Bad Batch 2024 | Week 6 | Battle Scars

Rated: G | Words: 903 | Summary: Story takes place just before Omega leaves to join the Rebellion.

Crosshair sits down next to Hunter on the sand. “Omega told me what happened.”

“I’m sure she did,” Hunter says. It comes out harsher than he means it to, but he does not try to take it back. It seems that age has worn down the barriers of his emotions, bitterness and hurt leaking through.

“She said you were being unreasonable, overbearing, and overprotective,” Crosshair continues. “Not to mention your listening skills need some work, because you only care about your side of the argument.”

Hunter’s frown deepens. “Good to know.”

“And I said,” Crosshair goes on, as though Hunter hadn’t spoken, “the same thing I said way back when she was only about this big.” He holds out a hand to demonstrate.

Hunter rolls his eyes, because they never knew Omega when she was that small, but he gets the point.

“Aren’t you going to ask me what I said?”

Hunter sighs. He’s too tired to play this game. “What did you say?”

“Don’t hold it against him. He’s only worried about you.”

Hunter turns to look at Crosshair, surprised. “When did you tell her that?”

“When we were going to Barton IV,” Crosshair replies, digging a toothpick out of his pocket. He puts it between his teeth. “That kid’s always trying to prove herself, isn’t she? That she’s one of us.”

“She is one of us,” Hunter argues.

Crosshair huffs. “Of course she is, but she’s not a soldier, Hunter. She’s our kid, not our brother in arms. I don’t think she’s ever figured out the difference.”

“So she wants to join the Rebellion because she wants to prove herself as a soldier?”

“Not entirely, although I think that is part of it,” Crosshair says.

“And the other part?” Hunter asks.

Crosshair meets his eye. “She might not be a soldier, but she is a fighter. We raised her that way, didn’t we? To stand up for the defenseless, to do what’s right?”

“That’s not…” Hunter stops because his voice gives out, barbed anguish ensnared deep in his throat. He tries to swallow it away, but it is unyielding, so his voice cracks and breaks around it. “That’s not what I want for her. I want her to be safe. I want her to be here.”

A younger Crosshair might have looked away, trying to comfort from arm’s length. But just as time has made carefully constructed emotional walls brittle, time has softened the sharp edges of his brother. The former sniper moves closer, knocking their shoulders together. “I’m scared to lose her too.”

“We fought so hard to get away from war,” Hunter says brokenly, “to get Omega away from war. And she wants to throw herself into another.”

“I don’t want her to go,” Crosshair says. “But I think she’s already made up her mind. I don’t know where she gets her stubbornness from. Certainly not from me.”

Hunter chokes on the laugh that bubbles up through the mire of sorrow. “Hate to break it to you, Cross, but you’ve got a stubborn streak a hundred klicks wide.”

“Do I?” Crosshair muses, and Hunter glances at him in time to see a grin twitch his lips in the moonlight. “Because she reminds me an awful lot of you.”

“I see a little bit of all of us in her,” Hunter admits, “and yet she is still something all her own.”

Crosshair hums in agreement.

“What if she loses that?” Hunter asks. “What if joining the Rebellion steals that spark she’s always had? We changed so much from the time we were cadets and then soldiers. We didn’t have a choice. But Omega does. She doesn’t have to face the horrors we did, experience the pain and suffering. She’s safe here. Why can’t that be enough for her?”

“Omega already has battle scars, Hunter,” Crosshair says. “You think she went unscathed living the life she did before Pabu? The kid’s tougher than she looks.”

“I never said I didn’t think she could handle it,” Hunter argues, “She just shouldn’t have to.”

“She doesn’t have to,” Crosshair says. “She wants to. Whether we like it or not, she’s a grown woman. She needs to make her own decisions. She needs to have her own cause, her own life. She won’t have us forever!”

That last sentence is like a blaster bolt to the heart, a burning, white hot sensation that drives the breath from Hunter’s lungs. But he takes the pain and shoves it deep, turning his grieved anger on Crosshair instead. “So you want her to go. You’re encouraging her.”

“You know that’s not true,” Crosshair bites out, and Hunter can hear the effort his brother puts into controlling his own, retaliating anger. “But it’s not up to us. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. We have to let go.”

Bruised silence solidifies between them, and Hunter can’t find it in himself to disturb it. He should apologize, should appreciate Crosshair’s attempt at playing the mediator in spite of his own feelings on the matter. Why does Hunter feel at odds with every sibling, no matter where they stand on the issue?

“You’re stronger than I am,” Hunter mutters at last. “Omega can just talk to you about it…but with me, it’s a fight. Why?”

Crosshair sighs. “Because she doesn’t want my blessing, Hunter. She wants yours.”

And the last of Hunter’s brittle, emotional barrier crumbles completely.

END

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[ladylucksrogue]

Masterlist

Hey, I figured it was about time I sat down and put one of these together, as I have a lot of fics and it can be rather confusing, even for me.

I’ve split them into categories, gen, ship fics and series. I have also linked a few of my cosplay posts.

I am very much ship and let ship.  I realize that not everyone out there ships the same people.  I am too old and too tired to get into shipping wars and discourse.  I have literally about a thousand other things I would rather do than judge someone based on their shipping preferences.  I don’t block or blacklist or go through people’s profiles to see what they ship.  There is no DNI if you ship xyz or if I find out you ship xyz you will be blocked.  I don’t have time for that.  If I don’t like something I see on someone’s feed, I move on with my life.  That said, I’ll give almost anything a read.  I realize that is not everyone’s cup of tea and I respect that. 

I would sincerely appreciate the same courtesy.  If you see something I have written here and it is not your jam, absolutely fine, no hard feelings.  Please don’t be like, oh, I’d love to read this but it has xyz ship in it, eww.  We’re all adults here.  Fandom is supposed to be fun, let’s keep it that way, shall we?

GEN:

Fox:

A Rock and a Hard Place - Fox is just so done

Everything is Fine - written for Corrie Guard Week, prompt Eldritch

Sacrifice - The aftermath of Scipio

Bly:

Frozen - Bly deals with the consequences of his General getting injured at the beginning of the war

Chills - Bly ignores an injury on a mission

Rex:

Rise from the Ashes - Rex coping with loss during the war

Trust Issues- The aftermath of Umbara

Faking a Smile - Post Kadavo

Not Strong Enough - post order 66 - Rex buries his brothers

Black Eye - Rex deals with the realities of war

Cody:

Surrender- Cody is captured by the Seppies

Trembling - How Cody got his scar

Grieving - the fallout of Umbarra

Wolffe:

This Isn’t Going to Work - Post TBB season 3 - Wolffe’s fall from grace in the Empire

Phantom Pain - A recon mission gone wrong

Last Chance - aftermath of Wolffe losing his eye in the Battle of Khorm

Swept Away - an adventure fic after a mission gone wrong

Betrayal - Order 66

The Future is Blurry, The Past is a Trap - Wolffe has left the Empire. He doesn't have a plan. He knows Rex and more of his brothers are out there, but he doesn't have an idea of where to find them or where to start looking.  Will be continued at some point, I do have the whole story mapped out, I just need to write it. This one is super near to my heart.

Other:

Grief - featuring Fives and Rex

Miscommunication - a command batch cadet fic

No Way Out - Dogma’s fate after Umbara

Confrontation - Rex and Wolffe have a candid convo about Wolffe hiding those messages in Rebels

Broken- in the aftermath of Fives’ death, Rex confronts Fox

Cold Shoulder - the fallout from Broken

Balance - a command batch cadet fic - Alpha-17 meets the command batch

Dilemmas - Cody and Fox centric - both as cadets on Kamino and during the war

Fight or Flight - Set just prior to the Battle of Geonosis - featuring Fox and Wolffe and my explanation as to why Wolffe was stationed on Kamino at the beginning of the war

A Long Night - command Batch as cadets and Alpha-17

Ship:

Obitine (Obi-Wan x Satine)

Per Ardua Ad Astra - year on the run - unfinished - on hiatus indefinately.

Solstice - a fun Holiday themed one shot

Blyla (Bly x Aayla)

Lost Battle - set during the war

Left Behind - post order 66 - Aayla survives

The Ghost of You - post order 66, Bly’s chip wears off (PLEASE mind the tags here, this one is very dark)

Where The Lines Blur - A oneshot set during the war

On the Run - post order 66

Foxiyo (Fox x Riyo)

All is Fair - a slightly cracky oneshot featuring nerf guns (rated: E)

Bad Dreams- Fox has a nightmare, Riyo is there to comfort him (Rated: E)

Learning the Truth - Fox survives Vader post order 66

Never See You Again - the continuation and reunion after Learning the Truth (rated E)

Emotion -  A drabble that takes place after Never See You Again - Riyo is expecting

A Cry for Help- Fox deals with a fire in the lower levels

Sleepy Kisses - a drabble

Kiss to the back of the hand - a drabble

Tentative kiss - a drabble

The Stars We Can’t See - a Riyo and Fox get together story, multi chapter, incomplete but will be continued shortly

Trust Me - Riyo finds the idea of binders intriguing - (Rated E)

Date Night - set in the Unexpected fix it universe - Fox and Riyo as parents

The Best Defense - Foxiyo Week 2024, Prompt Self Defense, also the prompt sensory deprivation for Clone Kinktober (Rated E)

The Moon Festival - Prompt Cultural Traditions

Making History - Prompt Elections

Falling for You - Prompt Pick-up lines

Barely Holding on - Prompt support

Hunger - Prompt undercover.  Modern AU Alternate Universe - a vampire fic

Kiss to a scar- a drabble

Bittersweet - post order 66 (Rated: E)

Bells - a fun holiday drabble

Rexsoka (Rex x Ahsoka):

(Please note:  Everything I write of them happens either post Season 7 or Ahsoka is aged up.  In none of my stories is she underage)

Home Sweet Home- a cracky post war, happy AU oneshot (Rated: M)

The Reason - set Post order 66 - in the aftermath (Rated: M)

The Truth Will Set You Free - Pre-relationship (Rated: T)

Drained- set during TBB season 3  (Rated: E)

To Light The Path Forward - set during the Rebellion and features their daughter

Kiss out of Spite - A drabble

Kiss while someone watches - a drabble

Kiss while crying - a drabble

Stolen Moments - a oneshot set sometime after TBB season 3

Rough kisses - a drabble

Codywan (Cody x Obi-Wan)

Lights - modern AU one-shot

Longing - pre relationship, Cody-centric, lots of pining

A Little Too Late - this one isn’t really so much shippy but I’ll put it here - it deals with the aftermath of Obi-Wan’s fake death and Cody sorting his feelings, unrequited love

The Last Time - post order 66, reunion on Tatooine

Accidental Kiss - a drabble

Kiss to a scar pt. 2 - a drabble

Kiss while being carried - a drabble

Wolffe/OC:

Rendezvous - a smutty oneshot at 79s (Rated E)

Kiss to the palm of the hand (Wolffe x Liri) - a drabble

Under the Moon (Wolffe x Liri) weird sithy magic, a werewolf themed fic for Halloween

Wolffe/Ventress:

Dance in the Darkness - a smutty oneshot.  Hate sex.  There’s really not much other than that.  I wrote this because no one else had.

Tech/Phee:

Baking Cookies - a fun holiday fix-it on Pabu

SERIES:

Holiday Drabbles - Many of these are set in my fix-it universe, or Unexpected-verse and feature family oriented feels, how the characters families grow.

Unexpected-verse: 

This series centers on Wolffe and my OC Liri  There are other couples that make appearances as well as it is at times very ensemble.  This is very much a canon divergent fix-it series.

Official Timeline

Info about Liri

SFW Alphabet

NSFW Alphabet

Unexpected:

Fanart and character design of Liri can be found here and is done by the fabulous @anstarwar

Wolffe never expected to fall for anyone. It just wasn't something he'd do. Until it happened.

How does he deal with it? Not well. Meanwhile, everyone around him is trying to figure out what exactly is going on with him.  First of the series and introduces my OC Liri Arkay.

Next in the series, in order:

Spontaneous (Rex/Ahsoka, Foxiyo) Includes fabulous fanart by @nottonyharrison

Stunning

Revelation

Out of the Blue (Wolffe/Liri, Rex/Ahsoka)

Shockwaves

Stroke of Midnight (A Wolffe/Liri New Years oneshot)

Just A Chance Bly and Aayla centric

Changes

A kiss while on or both parties is crying - Introduces Mira, Wolffe and Liri’s daughter and includes beautiful fanart by @sleepingsun501 of Wolffe meeting his newborn daughter for the very first time.

Cosplay

https://www.tumblr.com/ladylucksrogue/766899504463085568?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/ladylucksrogue/766899532991807488?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/ladylucksrogue/767116637980770304/why-is-it-that-the-first-thing-i-thought-when-i?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/ladylucksrogue/764700151164059648/and-the-first-fitting-still-some-minor-details?source=share

Dividers courtesy of @moosgraphics @freesia-writes @panda-writing and @saradika-graphics

[waywardsou2]

Summer of Bad Batch 2024

Week 3

Alt Prompt: "Forget I asked"

A/N: I've seen variations of this scenario around and thought I would add my own iteration into the mix. I hope you enjoy. (Also side note: I am so behind on my schedule for the prompts 😅)

Tags: fluff, brotherly love, cute little cadets Word Count: 763

Crosshair was laying on his side in his bunk. His arms were folded across his chest, and he had a scowl on his face. It was well into the night but his brain was wired and he couldn't sleep. He started at the wall of their barracks, the grey the same dull, dank colour as always.

He didn't know why he was so hung up on this. If he just asked Tech he would get an answer and that would be the end of it. He didn't have to make this much of a fuss. But he was, like always he was spinning his thoughts around in his head like the waves on Kamino, over thinking something that was so simple.

Tech was breathing deeply on the bunk attacked to Crosshair's across from Hunter and Wrecker.

Just ask him about it, don't make a big deal out of is and if he says 'no' then that's fine.

He's going to be a soldier one day he can't let silly things as simple as a question stop him in his tracks, and he couldn't let the idea of Tech saying no stop him from asking in the first place. Tech was his brother, his twin, there was nothing for him to be nervous aboout.

Yeah, yeah exactly.

Rolling over with force that was unnecessary, he stands up and walks the three paces to Tech's bunk and raises his arm to tap Tech's shoulder but hesitates. He lowers his arm and opens his mouth instead but doesn't say anything. He closes his mouth and sighs frustratedly he closes his eyes as he does. Suddenly he feels a hand grab his knee and he jumps.

"Crosshair, what in Makers name are you doing?"

Crosshair shoves his hand in his mouth to muffle his yelp of surprise. Tech doesn't look amused and he waits for Crosshair to answer his question.

"Well-" he says pouting slightly at being caught off guard so easily. "-I just wanted to ask you something"

Tech looks confused at Crosshair "Could it not have waited till the morning?"

Tech doesn't seem mad, just confused and sleepy but it's still enough for Crosshair to regret his decision. "You know what, just forget I asked. It doesn't matter"

Crosshair goes to stomp back to his bed but Tech gets up and follows him back those three steps.

"No, it clearly is important, and if you don't tell me now it will bother me all night"

Crosshair sits on his bunk and puts his head on his fist. "I told you to forget about it Tech, you'll say no anyway"

"Well how do you know that? You haven't even asked me"

Crosshair puts his head in his hands irritated. A silence stretches on between Tech and Crosshair before Crosshair mutters "...I just wanted a hug"

Tech didn't answer, Crosshair knew it. He was being stupid; he should have just stayed in his bunk.

"Oh, was that all it was. I thought something was wrong"

Crosshair looks at Tech from the edge of his hand "So it that a yes? Or a no?"

Tech answers by sitting on the bunk beside Crosshair and placing an arm over his shoulder. Slowly Crosshair leans over and rests his head on Tech's shoulder, Tech doesn't move away so neither does Crosshair. The stay like that a while, listening to the buzzing of the lights, the sound of each others breathing and the light rain that is pattering against the window of their room.

Crosshair closed his eyes for only a moment, but when he opened them again, he and Tech had moved back into the alcove of Crosshair's bunk.

Tech was leaning against the wall, Crosshair's head was resting on his shoulder, and he had his blanket tucked around his legs. Tech was also talking to Hunter who was standing in front of the two of them.

Crosshair felt his cheeks grow warm as he looked sheepishly at Hunter.

But Hunter didn't tease him, no Hunter did something Crosshair didn't expect. Seeing Crosshair was awake he smiled at his brother, walked over to Wrecker's bunk pulling him sleepily out of his bed whilst grabbing their blankets and crawling onto Crosshair's bunk.

Tech must've told him.

Hunter sat down on the other side of Crosshair and wrapped his arm around Crosshair along side Tech. Wrecker yawns and lays down resting his head on Hunters lap.

All Crosshair wanted was a hug and he ended up getting more affection than he could have hoped for from the people he cared about most

[flowersareverypretty]

We're Brothers and Brothers are Always There for Each Other

Summer of Bad Batch 2024

(Will be adding to ao3 soon)

Week 1: "It's not what you think"

His arms curled tighter around his head, hands overlapping each other at the nap of his neck. His chin was level with his chest, almost touching, and his legs were tucked as close as he could get them. He was trying to make himself smaller as another kick hit his lower back. Biting his tongue, he managed to stifle a groan as someone else stomped hard against his hip. It hurt. It hurt so much.

Tech embraced himself for another kick, the two were still jeering above him, they wouldn't be letting up anytime soon. There was a pause between the next kick, before he could question it, he felt a hand slither itself underneath his chin and clamp down around his neck. He was yanked up from the ground and, not letting him regain his bearings, was slammed against a wall. His head throbbed after it bounced back from the impact. Tech tried to shake it off, tired to refocus his eyes, but the hold on his neck did not allow for much movements.

As another round of laughter rose from the cadets, he leaned his head back and scrunched his eyes closed. The cool metal of the wall relieved a minimal amount of the pain, but not enough. He let out a choked groan. When it felt like his head stopped spinning, he opened his eyes again. The world was clearer than before, that was good. He blinked a couple times and focused past the crack in his lens to the clone that held him up against the wall. 

The boy seemed to be saying something, but the ringing in Tech’s ears hadn’t died down enough to hear yet. He could assume it was another attempt to insult him in some way. He didn’t pay that any mind.

Using one hand to lessen the pressure and strain on his neck, he kept it firmly pressed against the wall giving himself support. He moved his other hand to wrap around the wrist of the person holding him up. 

He tried to pull the arm away but there wasn't enough leverage to push against. Tech wheezed. The person’s grip tightened closer to a dangerous level. 

Before he could do anything, the sound of a door opening diverted everyone’s attention. He watched as the cadets turned their heads as the newcomer fully walked in. 

“Hunter…” Tech’s eyes widened with dread when they met Hunter’s own. He quickly darted his gaze from them, afraid of what he might see. “It’s not what you think.”

But Hunter’s attention didn’t seem to dwell on Tech. Quickly his glare moved to the other clones in the room and immediately his presence became hostile. His fists tightened at his sides and his form became slightly bent, as if he was preparing to jump forward at the first sign of trouble. 

“Back. Off.” Hunter’s voice was hauntingly deep. It sent a shiver down Tech’s spine, he feared he would soon be on the receiving end of it as well. 

At first, the cadets hesitated. They exchanged quick side glances at each other but when Hunter let out a growl, they didn’t stay longer. The one holding Tech up by his throat didn’t leave enough time for him to adjust in a way to catch himself. He crumbled to his knees, lungs desperately grasping after the strain. The clone didn’t seem to have an ounce of guilt as he darted away. Once they were a good distance from Tech, Hunter angled himself so that his back was never turned to the cadets. He kept watch long after the door slid shut.

Tech tucked his arms to his chest and pulled his legs closer. He kept glancing between Hunter and the floor. The longer Hunter stood unmoving, the more anxious Tech became. In the back of his mind he knew that the squad leader was still sensing a presence behind that door, but he couldn't help but be afraid that he disappointed Hunter. That he was beyond angry. 

It took a minute longer before Hunter finally let up his guard. As soon as Tech saw the tension release from his shoulders, he ducked his head down. He managed to hold back a flinch when he heard Hunter start to approach. 

“Tech.” Hunter’s voice was soft, with a note of concern. 

Tech glanced up at him. Hunter had stopped just a few feet away from where he sat, crouched down on one knee. When he noticed Tech’s gaze, he reached a hand out. This time, Tech couldn't hold back a flinch, his eyes darted back to the floor. From the corner, he noticed Hunter had paused. A frown became present before he sighed and drew back. 

Hunter stood back up and glanced at the door behind. “Come on,” He took a small step closer, trying to beckon Tech with a small smile. “Let’s get out of here.”

Tech, in return, gave a short nod. Keeping his eyes trained to the floor, he used his hand on the wall to steady himself. His hand slipped causing him to stumble. Before he fell back down, Hunter grabbed his arm.

“I got you.” Hunter murmured. 

–

Hunter carefully dabbed a wet washcloth on a small cut on Tech’s forehead. His eye twitched as it stung with each touch. 

The two sat in silence. Hunter hadn’t said anything about what happened, had not said much of anything after they had left that room. Tech was sure that he was angry, disappointed. It was only a matter of time before Hunter finally chewed him out. Before he would throw him out. Tech was becoming more anxious by the second. He wanted to get it over with.

Tech rubbed his thumb into his palm as comfort. “I’m sorry.” 

He felt the washcloth pause mid dab, resting against the cut. Tech’s gaze darted towards Hunter but nothing clued him in what he was thinking. The washcloth was pulled away. 

“Why are you apologizing?” Hunter asked, his voice sincere rather than confrontational. 

“For not fighting back…” Tech pulled his hands to his chest. “I know that I’m behind everyone else. That I am not as skilled at fighting. I’m holding everyone back.” He took a shuddering breath. “But…but I'm trying! I’ll try harder! Please don't get-”

Tehc didn’t get to finish. Hunter was now kneeling in front of him, Tech’s hand in his own, brushing over freshly made nail indents.

“Tech.” Hunter looked into Tech’s eyes. “You are a member of this squad. You will always be a member. You are stuck with us.”

“But-”

Hunter cut him off. “You don’t have to be as skilled as us. You got us, remember? We will cover for you, as you will do for us.” He set Tech’s hand back in his lap. “We’re brothers and brothers are there for each other.”

[notgonnaedit]

Healer's Love

Paths Unknown

Summary: Six months after Eriadu, the remainder of the squad struggles to be whole as they fight for their right to be a family.

Pairing: Bad Batch x Teen!OFC (clones being good brothers/dads)

Chapter summary: In an attempt to get information, what remains of the Batch find themselves needing the help of abandoned cadets.

Warnings: Canon-typical violence, jungle survival, Half-Life headcrabs, the freaking Flood from Halo (If I miss a tag LMK)

Masterlist

Tags: @hugmekenobi @nottwonerdy777

@dreamsight73 @delicioustacocollector

@covert1ntrovert @clonethirstingisreal

Althea sat in the cockpit, her legs kicked up on the controls and her torso leaning forward. "You sure you can't come sooner?"

The ARC on the other end sighed. "I'm sorry, kid. Me and Rex are about to head out."

A ghost of a smile passed on the medic's lips. "Lemme guess: top secret?"

Talking to Echo every so often was the only thing she had to look forward to.

Echo chuckled. "Yeah." A beat of silence passed before his gaze met hers again. "How are you holding up?"

Althea glanced away. "Some days are harder than others," she admitted, allowing her walls to come down for a moment. She scowled and furrowed her brows. "Hunter's a pain in the ass."

"He does that sometimes."

" Hunter still treats me like I'm a kid. I turned eighteen a few months ago. They left me on Pabu for a week!" The ebony haired girl snapped quietly. "I thought something happened."

​​​​​Echo hummed. "Back during the war, the Republic would send out grief counselors when volunteer troopers were KIA."

"I wouldn't need one," Althea huffed.

A muffled voice said something behind Echo. The ARC sighed before turning back to the teen. "I have to go now. Take it easy on Hunter, Thea. He's just a stressed as you are. You might be ‘legally’ an adult, but your still a kid to us."

Althea smirked barely. "I'm older than you."

Echo smiled. A real, genuine smile. "Yeah. Alright, be safe, kid."

With that, he ended the transmission and left Althea on her own. The girl stared at where his hologram was just moments ago, stalling before standing up to go to the cockpit.

The doors slid open for her, revealing Hunter and Wrecker talking about something. Althea didn't care.

"Echo said he and Rex need two rotations before they can meet us at the coordinates," she told them.

Hunter pinched the bridge of his nose and stood. "That's not good enough. We're going now." 

He moved to go to the cockpit, but Wrecker grabbed his shoulder. "Hunter," he started solemnly, "the last time we stormed an Imperial base without backup, not all of us made it out."

Hunter continued to the cockpit, walking past Althea.

"Omega's been waiting for us a long time, Wrecker." Hunter sat in the pilot's seat and brought the ship out of hyperspace. "I'm not making her wait another day." Althea hated that she agreed with him.

                        •°•°•°•°•°•°• "It smells like rancid Jotaz out here," Wrecker stated as they stepped out of the ship.

The jungle planet they had landed on had the smell and heat of a swamp. Golden sunlight filtered in through the dense trees.  Althea missed her old mask, but her hood would have to do for now.

Hunter clutched the datapad in his hands. "There's nothing on the scanners."

"The Empire could be jamming our sensors," Althea reminded him.

They began to move through the jungle. Althea's feet slid under the wet moss that coated the forest floor. She slipped at one point, catching herself just in time.

"Careful, Thea," Hunter said.

An annoyed huffed left her as she stood. "I got it."

The tracker worked nimbly through the jungle, Althea and Wrecker following his movements. They came to a cliff that overlooked a base. But the facility was destroyed and overrun with foliage.

"Oh, no," Hunter breathed.

Althea's heart dropped into her stomach. "That's Hemlock's lab?"

"They destroyed it," Hunter said. "Another orbital bombardment."

Wrecker spoke up, his next words heightening Althea's mounting dread. 

"But Omega. I-I-If she was here–"

"We don't know if she was." Hunter smacked his binocs into his brother's chest. "The Durands' intel could be wrong. Let's get down there and check it out."

They made their way back down the hill, dodging roots and vines to avoid tripping. Then, Hunter stopped suddenly and held up his arm. "We're not alone."

Two kids dropped from the trees, one on each side of them.

"Freeze!" One ordered with a spear.

The other, holding some spear-like weapon said, "Drop your weapons."

Wrecker barked a laugh. "Blaster beats stick, kid."

These boys, they had dirt on their faces and were wearing torn clothes. They looked younger than Althea, and had deep earthen eyes.

"Wrecker, they're regs," Hunter said.

"And who are you?" The boy with the strange weapon asked.

Hunter and Wrecker pulled of their helmets, and Althea flipped down her hood.

"We're clones. Same as you," Hunter assured.

The first boy – the one with the strange spear – frowned. "You don't look like clones."

"They must be 99s," the second boy deduced. "Defectives."

"Defective and effective," Wrecker chuckled.

Althea glanced between the two, a question forming on her tongue. "What are you two doing out here?"

"What's it look like? Surviving," Boy 1 said. "Or trying to. No thanks to the Empire."

Boy 2 narrowed his eyes. "They send you to finish us off?"

"Do we look like we're with the Empire?" Wrecker gestured to their battered and custom armor.

Boy 2 glanced at his companion before asking, "What do you want?"

"We're looking for a young girl," Hunter answered. "She's a clone. We think she was sent to the lab here."

Boy 1 hummed. "Never saw anyone like that, but Mox might know about her."

"He won't talk to them," Boy 2 interjected.

"Please," Hunter said, the crease in his brow deepening, "we have to find her. She's part of our squad."

Boy 2 glanced at Boy 1. "Stick to the trail.  Follow our steps. And don't touch the vines."

Hunter and Wrecker slipped their helmets back on, and Althea her hood, as they followed the boys.

"When the Empire transferred us off Kamino, we thought we were getting more training," Boy 2 told them. "Instead, they made us prisoners. Took samples of our blood."

"Why?" Hunter asked. "What was the Empire doing here?"

"Whatever they wanted."

"At least we escaped before they destroyed the facility," Boy 1 added.

"And you survived alone out here ever since?" Hunter questioned.

"We're soldiers," Boy 2 reasoned. "Or we were supposed to be."

Althea's blood boiled. She wouldn't put it past the Empire to abandon kids, but what did that mean for Omega?

"Stop," Boy 1 ordered to Wrecker.

"What?" The demo man asked.

Althrs turned to see a large vine. It was chittering and moving on it's own! "Wrecker, behind you."

"Run!" Boy 2 cried.

Wrecker turned and fired at the plant, elicting a screech from it.

"Don't fire!" Boy 1 said. "It gets hostile when you shoot."

"You mean it's not already hostile??" Wrecker asked.

He fired.

"No!" The boys cried.

The squad back up against a tree as the vines grew closer. Wrecker yelped as one grabbed him from behind, tying him to a tree.

Althea turned toward him. She grabbed her knife from her thigh and rushed forward, running up the tree and slicing the vine before gravity over took her.

After getting cut, the vines shrieked and pulled away.

"Come on!" Boy 1 ordered. They all ran a long time before stopping to catch their breath.

"What was that stuff?" Wrecker asked.

"Slither vines," Boy 1 panted. "The Empire made it. It's some kind of experimental weapon, until they lost control of it."

Boy 2 huffed. "Probably why they ordered a Base Delta Zero on their own facility."

Boy 1 stood up straight. "We'll be safe on the crag. The slither vines haven't spread there."

Boy 2 rolled his eyes. "Yet." He pointed his spear at Wrecker. "And this time, don't touch anything."

The demo man's eye roll was audible. "Yeah, yeah."

                 •°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

The boys lead them to a small overhang filled with their meager belongings. An older boy sat there, poking at a small fire.

"Mox," Boy 1 said.

Mox stood, narrowing his eyes at the new faces "Who are they?"

"Clones. And a volunteer. We found them by the overlook."

"It's quite a place you got here," Wrecker said as they took off their helmets.

"What do you want?" Mox asked, his tone more curious than hostile.

"We're looking for a young girl," Hunter answered. "She was taken by an Imperial named Hemlock. Her name's Omega."

Mox hummed as he took a seat. "Never saw a girl around the lab. But I know Hemlock. He was in charge until things changed. One day, the Imperials started packing up and shipped out. So we made our move and escaped."

"We were the only ones who made it out before the orbital bombardment," Boy 1 said softly.

Boy 2's gaz let was hard. "Even the clone troopers left us to die. Said they were following orders."

Althea found herself becoming empathetic towards these boys. "We get it. We've lost people too."

"We can take you to someplace safe," Hunter added, "but we need to find out if Omega was here or where Hemlock took her. There has to be some intel in that base."

"One of the control room panels was still intact during our last scout." Boy 1 stood. "I tried to use it to send a signal, but there was no power."

"Can you take us there?" Hunter asked.

"No way," Boy 2 interjected. "That area is covered in slither vines. It's toxic."

"Stak's right," Mox agreed as he stood. "Going near those ruins is a suicide mission. You're on your own."

Boy 1 – Althea was starting to feel bad for calling him that internally – turned to the older boy. "They need help, Mox. I'll go with them."

He grabbed two masks from a crate and moved to leave.

"You know the risks of going down there," Stak said as he stood.

Boy 1 paused for a single moment before moving on, the squad on his tail.

                   •°•°•°•°•°•

After grabbing Gonky from the ship to power control panel, the cadet – who had introduced himself as Deke – showed them the entrance to the base. He had given Althea a mask to filter out the toxins in the air.

Vines and trees covered it. The way in was dark and deep, like an open mouth waiting to swallow them up.

"There's slither vines everywhere in there," Deke warned. "Be careful where you step."

On cue, Wrecker stumbled. His balance was off due to carrying Gonky on his back. "Whoa!"

As Deke led them through, Althea's senses were put on high alert. The drips of water, creaking of the facility, and the warbles of the slither vines did nothing to help her jumpiness. "How much further is the console?" She asked.

"Hard to tell," Deke answered. "More vines have spread down here. We had to stop scavenging the site because of it."

"What other experiments were going on in this place?" Hunter inquired.

"Nothing good. They didn't exactly tell us what was going on."

Althea furrowed her brow. Even if Omega wasn't here, she could be enduring the same treatment that these boys had. The thought made her pick up her pace.

Suddenly, Hunter whirled around. He shone his light on the ground, glancing around. He was tense. He sensed something.

A scream came from Deke's direction. Althea turned to see slither vines pulling him away like a spider does a fly.

Hunter jumped up and cut the vines, kicking their severed limbs away as Wrecker caught Deke.

Althea shone her light on the remains. It moved. "Hunter..."

The tracker followed her gaze to the twitching plant. It jumped up, now a creature with three little legs. More appeared behind it.

"Go!" Hunter yelled. Althea didn't need to be told twice. 

The party took off running, blasting at the little creatures. "Keep moving!" Someone yelled. Althea didn't know, just that she wanted to get away.

Eventually, they came to an area where the floor broke off and there was an open roof. Below was a bubbling, green bog that reeked like rot.

"I didn't think it could smell any worse," said Wrecker, "but I was wrong."

"We're in agreement on that," Hunter stated.

Deke shone his light around until it landed on a piece of metal that looked somewhat decent. "There's the console. Come on."

They made sure to follow Deke's movements perfectly. None of them wanted to fall into the bog. 

When they reached the console, they worked together to shove a sheet of metal out of the way. It sank into the murk.

"Alright. Do your thing, little guy." Wrecker plugged Gonky in and the panel whirred to life.

Hunter connected the datapad to the console. He paused, glancing behind them. "Something's coming. We need to make this quick."

"Is it more of those things?" Althea asked.

"No. Something else."

Deke looked up at Hunter. "I'm familiar with the system. Give me some time. I'll see what data I can pull up."

After giving the boy the datapad, Hunter and Wrecker moved out a few steps to intercept the creature that was coming. Althea remained by Deke's side, but was on guard.

The bog gurgled and the metal creaked. It was as if the base was alive and angry at them. 

Then suddenly, out of the bog, a giant slither vines erupted. Blasters were Immediately firing at it. More appeared, roaring and screeching. 

Deke grabbed his comm and yelled for help from his brothers. 

"Time's up!" Althea told the boy. "Get the datapad!"

Deke grabbed the device as Wrecker grabbed Gonky. They jumped across the metal, avoiding the goop as the slither vines attacked.

They managed to make it outside, but a river of muck stopped them. The vines were closing in. Althea looked behind her and saw a piece of metal floating down. They jumped on it.

Giant vines shot out from the bog. They blasted at them the best they could, but they just kept coming.

"It's everywhere!" Deke cried.

Then, like light from heaven, the Marauder shone down on them. Althea looked up. 

Those little wamp rats tried to steal our ship!

Mox stood on the ramp, lowering the cables. "Grab the cables!"

Wrecker and Deke were up first, shooting as they were pulled up.

The piece of metal began to sink. Althea kept shooting at the vines.

"Althea!" She heard Hunter yell.

The medic turned to see the tracker grabbing onto the cable with one hand, already a few feet up. 

Althea ran for it, jumping and catching his wrist. She kept blasting at the vines, but they just wouldn't stop. They wrapped around the ship, threatening to pull it down. 

From the bog, a mouth lined with sharp teeth appeared. A plant sarlaac that was going to eat them.

"We need more firepower!" Hunter yelled.

Wreckee dropped a thermal detonater into the creatures mouth, but the explosion was miniscule and did nothing.

"That's not enough!" Althea yelled.

"Grab the case of explosives," Wrecker ordered the boys.

Mox and Deke came out with a large crate and shoved it off. The contents poured into the creature's mouth. Deke took a thermal detonater and dropped it in. Once it exploded, the creature shrieked in pain and let go of the ship.

The squad clambered inside as fast as they could. Stak was in the pilot's seat.

"Go, go, go!" Hunter ordered.

Stak flew off into the atmosphere, jumping them into hyperspace.

                  •°•°•°•°•°•°•

Hunter looked at the datapad, reviewing the data solemnly. His gaze shifted to the cockpit, where Wrecker, Althea, and the boys were recounting their adventure. The ebony haired girl stood with her arms folded, smirking lightly.

She had trusted Hunter during their mission, yet she was still angry with him. She was a soldier who knew when to put feelings aside, and Hunter hated it.

The tracker looked back down at the datapad. He couldn't delay any longer. He stood and walked to the cockpit.

"I've been going over the data," he said. "Looks like Hemlock transferred his entire base of operations to another location. His experiments too."

"Did the intel say where he went?" Mox asked.

"There was a mention of a sector but nothing more," Hunter sighed. "It's a lead, but we've got a lot of space to cover."

Wrecker hummed. "Well, if that's where Omega is, then that's where we're going."

The tracker nodded, glancing back at the boys. "We'll drop you three off someplace safe."

"Where?" Mox asked.

"An island," Althea answered. "There are good people there. They'll take care of you."

Mox furrowed his brow. "We're cadets without an army. I don't know where we fit anymore."

Hunter took a step forward. "You have time to figure it out. Make your own path. Be something other than a soldier."

"What about you?"

"Our mission is not over yet." Hunter felt Wrecker's hand on his shoulder. He glanced at Althea. Her golden eyes were dull, but they still held a firey determination.

Mox raised his arm halfway, holding it out to grip. Hunter did the same, squeezing his hand. It was a clone's way of expressing solidarity, of saying, "Best of luck. I have your back."

<-Previous

Next->

[electrikworm]

Dark Corners and Shadowed Halls

Relationships: Crosshair & Hunter & Tech & Wrecker

Content Warnings: None

Summary:

As cadets, the Batch watch a horror holovid together. They are definitively not scared of it. If they're unable to sleep after, there must be some other reason.

Written for @summer-of-bad-batch Week 4: Cadets

Reading the first chapter of @sadiecoocoo's fic The Shadows Are Coming got me thinking about the Bad Batch and horror, and I ended up here. I highly recommend reading the first chapter of her fic if you like horror!

Word count: 1,884

Read on Ao3

The holovid hadn't been scary, so obviously Wrecker wasn't scared.

They'd heard about if from some regs. They'd been scared, even if they were older, but Crosshair said that's just because they're regs. But it sounded fun, and proving to themselves that they were better than the older clones they'd heard about it from was even more reason to watch it.

Tech had no difficulty finding it for them of course, as he often finds things for them to watch or read. He's the smartest clone by far, but Wrecker thinks he might even be the smartest person in existence.

They huddled close to watch the hologram projected by a device Tech probably isn't permitted to have. Wrecker loves it when they do that. He gets to hug his brothers, all whilst being at the perfect range to annoy them with jokes and commentary about what they're watching.

The holovid was fun, and predictably, not scary at all.

But Wrecker can't sleep. His growing pains are mild today, so he should really be able to sleep. It's not like he's scared of the holovid, so it must be the storm keeping him awake.

Lighting flashes outside their window, casting long shadows across their barracks. Wrecker bolts upright. Is someone standing against the far wall, near the door?

Heart beating against his ribs, Wrecker grasps Lula tightly. It was too tall to be his brothers.

It can't be one of those things, those monsters, from the holovid. They're not real.

But it looked like one.

The room is illuminated again. Wrecker hates how many far too dark corners there is in their barracks, all perfect places to conceal one of those things.

Wrecker pulls his blanket up to his chin. He's not scared, but he has to check on his brothers. Just to make sure. But he can't call out to them. What if there really is something in the room with them, and he alerts it?

Blanket wrapped around his shoulders, Lula in hand, Wrecker inches to the edge of his bunk. It feels like there are eyes on him from every dark corner of the room.

They stare out into the dark together, huddled closely.

The first step across the cold floor he takes is slow, but then his mind conjures images of hands grabbing at his leg and he speeds up. Crosshair's bunk is empty, so Wrecker has to cross the room.

He's almost running by the time something catches his leg and he's sent sprawling across the floor, tangled in the blanket he's carrying. Wrecker panics. He won't let anything grab him!

Flailing and tripping over the blanket and his own feet, he gets to Hunter's bunk, immediately hopping up onto it.

Next to Hunter, Crosshair is there already too. Their eyes are wide.

"Want- Wanted to check on you." Wrecker says, out of breath. His heart feels like it might just leap out of his chest.

"Did you have to be so loud about it?" Crosshair snaps, tremble in his voice.

"Didn't do it on purpose! I tripped!" Wrecker omits the part where he thought something grabbed him.

A figure appearing at Hunters bunk makes them all flinch. Wrecker's back hits the wall as he moves away with a yelp.

It's just Tech.

"Who made that noise?" He looks very serious, goggles hastily pulled on his face judging by how crooked they sit.

"I tripped." Wrecker mutters, rubbing at his sore knees. The fact that he fell flat on his face hurts more than the bruises.

Tech hums, climbing into Hunter's bed too. He squeezes himself between Wrecker and Hunter.

"To set things straight, I am most certainly not frightened of the holovid we watched." Tech states. "That would be irrational."

Wrecker, Crosshair and Hunter second the statement, even if all four of them are trembling slightly. When Wrecker takes both his younger and his older brothers hands, neither Crosshair, nor Tech deny him.

"The regs were just being silly, letting a holovid scare them, but that couldn't actually happen, right?" Wrecker asks, clearly directed at Tech. They all go to him for answers, even Hunter, and he's the oldest. "A illness that that can change people, even when they're dead?"

"Hypothetically, making a virus with those capabilities could be possible. There are species of fungus that do something similar." As not frightened as Wrecker is, Tech's answer still makes him gasp.

"Not here on Kamino, right?" Hunter asks, leaning forwards. "They wouldn't make something like that..."

The holovid said the virus was made in a lab, and practically half of Tipoca City is labs. Wrecker squishes Lula to his chest. There was a part in the holovid that played in a lab that was out of power, dark an silent. There was a lot of bodies in those bits.

"They wouldn't." Tech doesn't sound sure. Wrecker swallows dryly, pulling his brothers closer. He always sweats at night, so Wrecker's thirsty, but the prospect of getting up and looking for his canteen isn't very appealing.

“You see anything, Cross?” Wrecker asks, squeezing his little brother's hand.

“Nothing.” Crosshair says. Wrecker watches as his pupils flick about the room. With his enhanced eyesight, Crosshair can see far better in the dark than any human.

The shadows shouldn't bother Wrecker as much, now that Crosshair's confirmed he can't see anything. But Crosshair looks far too unsure for Wrecker's liking.

“We could beat them easily.” Crosshair mutters, pulling the hand linked with Wrecker's close to his chest. It's clear he means the monsters from the holovid.

“Some of the characters were soldiers too, Crosshair.” Tech says.

“Yeah, but they weren't enhanced.” Wrecker doesn't want to think about Tech's statement more than he has to. Almost none of the characters survived the holovid.

They go silent again.

“How'd they do all the effects?” Hunter asks. There was fire at some point, but Wrecker knows Hunter is referring to the way the monsters looked and the gory ways characters died.

“The holovid was entirely made with rather low budget practical effects.” Tech says. Of course he looked this up already. “That's why everything looks so-”

“Fleshy?” Crosshair interrupts. The word invokes the scene were a character is shown being torn apart and eaten in graphic detail. Wrecker shudders, but definitively not because he thought the scene was frighting.

“Precisely.” Tech says.

After a few seconds, Hunter wiggles free of the huddled group and gets off the bunk. “I'm going to the refresher.” Hunter says, voice wavering.

“Alone?” Tech asks.

Hunter swallows, looking around. “We should all go together.” It almost sounds like a question.

Wrecker nods. He doesn't want to get out of Hunter's bunk, but Hunter leaving their barracks alone wouldn't feel right. They should stick together. What if he runs into some regs?

Leaving their barracks, following behind each other closely, Wrecker regrets not taking Lula with him, even if he doesn't like taking her out of their personal space. Instead, he clutches his now empty canteen tightly.

Tipoca City's lights function with sensors, so they aren't walking in the dark. But the halls in front of them, sensors not yet activated, those remain pitch black. Wrecker squints to sharpen what he sees in the dark, unable to make anything out.

Besides Hunter making them stop a few times so he can listen to their surroundings, they get to the closest refresher without any issue. They're alone, thankfully. Regs is the last thing they need right now.

After they've all finished, and Wrecker's refiled his canteen and drunk from the tap, spilling some water on his shirt in the process, they head back to their barracks. Wrecker is calmer now, certain they won't stumble upon anything unwanted on the way.

Hunter stops them again occasionally. The first time, it's just a precaution, but the second, Hunter's breath hitches.

“Someone's walking towards us.” He whispers. Despite having had water, Wrecker's mouth feels dry. He grabs the back of Hunter's shirt, pulling his closer to the wall.

They can't see what's approaching them, they're standing near a branch in the corridor. Wrecker doesn't dare breath as they wait. What if it really is one of those monsters from the holovid?

Wrecker can hear the footsteps too now, far too loud as they grow closer. They should have armed themselves with something. Wrecker gears up to throw his canteen at whatever is about to come around the corner.

Swiftly, a tall figure turns into their corridor. Without hesitating, Wrecker throws his canteen. The figure dodges, canteen clattering loudly across the white floor.

“What the kark is your problem?” The figure, a human with straight brown hair shouts, making Wrecker flinch. She must be one of the bounty hunter trainers, going by the way she's dressed.

“Sorry.” Wrecker mutters. He's not sure the bounty hunter hears it. She's already turned around to pick up Wrecker's canteen. She throws it back.

The canteen hits the wall between Wrecker and Crosshair's heads, force of the throw knocking the lid off it and splashing them both with water. Wrecker repeats his apology.

The bounty hunter takes a step towards them, disapproving expression on her face. Wrecker looks at his shoes. He knows better than to provoke a trainer that's already mad at him.

“Aren't you supposed to be asleep?” Her words sound almost slurred.

“We were using the refresher.” Wrecker's thankful for Hunter taking the initiative. It's not just the fact that he'd the oldest that makes him their leader.

“And do you have to do that in a group of...” The bounty hunter pauses for a long time. “four?”

When none of them answer, not really having anything to justify their actions, The bounty hunter groans.

“Fine, don't answer! I don't kriffing care what your reason is.” She walks off, turning to look at them a final time. “I'll be watching you.”

Wrecker's heart beats furiously as he shares a look with his brothers. He scoops up his now dented and empty canteen. Wrecker should just be grateful it didn't hit him in the face, but the bent metal still makes him a little sad.

Mind on the confrontation with the bounty hunter, Wrecker doesn't think of the holovid until they're in their barracks. Then, the unease of being surrounded by shadows returns. Walking a little too fast, Wrecker beelines for Hunter's bunk.

Not a word exchanged, they all get comfortable in Hunter's bunk, sharing blankets as well as Lula. It's Crosshair that starts another conversation, asking about a specific effect in the holovid, where one of the monsters is cut in half by a closing door.

Wrecker doesn't plan to fall asleep whilst Tech tells them more about the process of making the holovid. He wants to know what Tech has to says, but even more so, he wants to stay awake to keep an eye on his brothers. But at some point, his eyes drift closed.

Next think he knows, Wrecker wakes to Tech's loud snoring and one of his brother's limbs digging uncomfortably into his back. Whilst the weather on Kamino is rarely good, it's brighter during the day.

Most importantly, the shadows are a whole lot less threatening. And even if they were, it's not like the holovid was scary, so Wrecker wouldn't be scared.

[wreywrites]

The Ones We Carry

Summer of Bad Batch Week 4

Prompts: Cadets & “You really think you’re going without me? Not going to happen.”

A/N: Flashbacks for this and Jedi June? Apparently. Also I'm a day late. These prompts were a struggle for me (idk man) and I'm still not totally sold on this one but in the spirit of not getting bogged down, I'm posting it and moving on. Warnings: Not-so-fond memories of Kamino, Crosshair gets to swear a little, as a treat AO3

“How do you know him?” Omega asked as the recorded holo came to an end.

Zara, arms crossed, frown etched on her face, said, “I’ve known him for a long time.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s safe to go running when he asks nicely,” Hunter said with an equal frown.

“He’s not going to turn me—”

“I knew Cid for a long time, and look what she did,” Echo growled. “I vote no.”

“It’s not a kriffing vote.” Zara ground her teeth. She liked the guys, but she was an adult, and a trained Jedi, and didn’t need them to always be babying her and breathing down her neck in the name of keeping her safe. “I’m going, because my people asked me to.”

“Oh, he’s ‘your people’ now?”

“What about us?”

“Listen!” she snapped. “Last time I saw him was years ago on Kamino, telling the shinies stories about flying fighters in—” She stopped at the looks on their faces. “What?”

“Kamino?” Crosshair hissed.

Hunter worked his jaw. “So he was a bounty hunter.”

“No, he wasn’t then and I’d bet you the bounty I’m worth that he’s not now—”

“That is precisely the issue,” Tech said. “As a Jedi, you are worth a substantial bounty, one that would make almost any galactic citizen willing to turn you over to the Empire. What is to say this one won’t seize the opportunity?”

She shook her head. “I’m going.” She slammed a datachip on the table. “This will decode in two weeks. If I’m not back and you haven’t heard from me by then, you can go to the coordinates and start looking for me. Got it?”

Zara didn’t wait to hear their answers before stalking off to the ship, immensely glad they refueled when they got home from the last trip so she could just leave right now.

*****

“How did it go today?”

Crosshair shrugged as he finished reassembling his rifle after cleaning and polishing it.

“How about you, Wrecker?”

“Hungry,” Wrecker mumbled. “They made me train through lunch.”

“Here.” Tech held out a ration bar, one of the many 99 had smuggled to them over the last several months since their training had intensified.

Wrecker inhaled it, then started recounted his day, his eyes lighting up the way they always did when he got to talk about wiring explosives and timing detonators. “He actually said I did good today! Got to wire a domino string for blowin’ up walls and dams and long stuff like that. Said I was a natural.”

“Well… you are,” Tech tilted his head quizzically. It looked like he was wondering why the instructor had bothered pointing out such an obvious fact.

Crosshair elbowed him on his way to his bunk.

“Wh—”

“That’s good, Wrecker,” Hunter said quickly. “Really good.”

What none of them said, what they never mentioned, was how normal it was for Wrecker to train right through meal times, for Hunter to get back to their barracks at the end of the day with a splitting headache, for Tech to alternately babble without end all the words he wasn’t allowed to say during training or sit in silence with his datapad either ignoring or not even hearing conversation directed his way, for Crosshair’s eyes to burn from strain and his legs to twitch and bounce from pent-up nervous energy.

For the words they all heard, all day, from the bounty hunters the Kaminoans hired to train them.

Words that even the other cadets, who harbored mixed feelings about the enhanced cadets, wouldn’t repeat—not even to tease them. The other cadets didn’t hate them, but it kriffing felt like the instructors did.

Words sneered at eight-year-old children.

“Surely you can do better than that.”

“Faster—you can’t hesitate to pull the trigger.”

“You should know this.”

“If you can’t handle this, maybe we should decommission you right now and save ourselves the trouble.”

Crosshair’s eyes felt like the eye drops one of the medic trainee cadets had given him had been replaced with liquid tibanna. He couldn’t even remember how far he’d been shooting today—just that it seemed unnecessarily far—

“Hey.”

Wrecker’s weight settled onto Crosshair’s bunk.

“You okay?”

Crosshair rolled over to face the wall in response.

“Don’t let ’em get to ya,” Wrecker said quietly. “We know you’re the best, no matter what those bounty hunters say.” Then he stood up, and something small took his place.

Crosshair stayed there, curled on his side with his eyes squeezed shut toward the wall until the others had finished their nightly routines and one of them clicked off the lights. When it had been dark and quiet for several minutes, he rolled over.

There was Lula.

*****

It was her first time in hyperspace.

No, it wasn’t.

The first time she had been only one, and Master Depa had been bringing her from Mandalore to Coruscant. Zara didn’t really remember it. She remembered being sad, though with the benefits of age and hindsight and knowledge of the Force, she had later become sure that it wasn’t her sadness, but his.

This trip, though, this trip she would remember forever. The joy running rampant through the Force between her and her clanmates and the excitement that Padawan Swan felt at this great responsibility and honor that had been given to her.

Nahdar bounced in place next to her. On the other side of the room, Anakin and Aayla wrestled to burn off some energy.

Zara looked down at her datapad and its collection of sketches. Soon she would be building it, the lightsaber in her designs, and then she would be carrying it on her hip like the big Jedi did, and then she would be learning as someone’s padawan! Her eagerness was palpable, she was sure, but she didn’t care. She was surrounded by friends and today was the first big step on their way to becoming Jedi.

*****

“Force, you’re stressed.” Zara nudged the wall panel, opening the door to the supply closet and revealing Crosshair sitting in a nest of blankets. She dropped a couple of ration bars into his lap. “And you’re here, when I recall all of you saying you didn’t want me here, so go ahead and explain that.”

“You said you knew this guy on Kamino. But did you know what he was like on Kamino?” Crosshair shook his head. “They were awful. All of them. Acted like they’d rather be anywhere else and getting their toenails ripped out than teaching us. Made life hell for us in exchange.”

“I was there,” she said quietly, trying to be patient. “I was on Kamino several times during the war. I know what it was like—”

“No you don’t!” he snapped. “We grew up there! We only had each other and the mudscuffers training us, and they were—No.”

“No what?” Zara snapped back.

“You’re not—You insist on going to see this man? Fine, whatever. But you really think you’re going without me? Not going to happen.”

“Is that what you’ve got the whole entire Force churning about?”

He leveled a glare at her.

“No, I’m serious. You snuck on the ship with me and now you’re sitting here stewing because I’m going to visit my uncle, the Protector of Concord Dawn, who happened to train fighter pilots on Kamino, because you think he’s the same person as kriffing Bric Sykevi—”

*****

“Yes, Master Chief.”

“Sorry, Master Chief.”

“I’ll do better next time, Master Chief.”

It made him feel better that the regs were terrified of Master Chief too, but it didn’t make him any less scared of the man, or of the punishments he could dole out and the threats he could make that only took one misstep to turn into actions taken.

He couldn’t wait to graduate, to get promoted from cadet to private or whatever they wanted to call him, to leave Kamino and never see those instructors again.

*****

“Bric—!” He was on his feet, pile of blankets left behind as he towered over Zara. He dropped his voice and growled, “Bric Sykevi is the lowest piece of bantha shit in the galaxy. If he died right now, I would only mourn because I didn’t get to kill him myself.”

“Whoa…” Zara breathed, leaning away until she bumped the wall.

“And anyone who willingly worked for him—I just—I can’t—”

“Please take a deep breath.”

He hauled in a breath through gritted teeth. “I was raised by bounty hunters hired, first by the Kaminoans and then by Bric Sykevi, to turn us into cold-blooded killing machines. That is my experience with what you might call ‘parental figures.’”

*****

Ky and Master Obi-Wan were laughing so hard tears ran down their faces.

“So Quin—Quin—” Ky wheezed, completely unable to finish her embarrassing story about Master Quinlan, but Master Ob-Wan didn’t need her to. They had known Master Quinlan since they came to the Temple as children.

“Let me guess—he tried to sweet-talk—”

“He tried to sweet-talk the guard!”

Master Obi-Wan roared, leaning against Ky as she howled.

Zara smiled. Their quiet afternoon of meditation had turned into Anakin napping in the grass—Master Obi-Wan said he needed it after their morning spar—and Ky and Master Obi-Wan trading stories about their adventures in the wide galaxy while Zara sat and listened and basked in the sunshine of the Force.

In moments like this, she could remember more clearly. A blue-eyed boy, his tongue sticking out and his eyes crossed. A red-haired man picking her up and tossing her high over his head, then catching her and spinning her around and around as she laughed.

*****

“So you decided to stow away? To what? Protect me from my actual family member because you had horrible people paid to raise you?”

*****

Crosshair remembered pain and fear and exhaustion, learning to check corners not for enemy soldiers but for angry trainers looking to take out any and all frustration on him. The only real safety was to be found with his brothers, their little band with its four members, four sides in stable square, with no blind corners.

*****

“I came along because none of us had to be alone on Kamino. We had each other. I don’t want you to—”

*****

Zara remembered sunshine and laughter and safety, the knowledge that everyone in the Temple wanted what was best for her and for her to become the best Jedi she could be. She had her creche mom and her master and her master’s master and her master’s friends and her friends’ masters and all of them working to better each other and her and the galaxy around them and expecting nothing in return.

*****

“You don’t want me to trust someone I shouldn’t? Who gets to make that choice? Do you need him to fill out an application? Run a background check? If that’s the case, you might want to run one on me too—I’ve done some questionable shit, you know!”

“You just—trust—everyone!”

Zara clenched her fists and inhaled sharply. “Actually,” she growled, “I trust very few people, but I value the ones I do trust, and I work to maintain a mutual level of trust. Fenn Rau is the only person alive who I knew more than ten years ago. And the other two people I’ve known for even halfway close to that long are bounty hunters. Everyone from my old life is dead. I will not turn away from this last person. Not now.”

She took four steps back down the hallway before spinning on her heel and storming back. “And you, Crosshair—” she jammed a finger in his chest, “—you had better learn how to trust people, because it’s a big kriffing galaxy, and it’s a terrible place to be alone. Believe me, I’ve tried.”

*****

He remembered late nights in the barracks, talking and laughing with the other three, the worries and stresses of the day forgotten in those moments over games of dejarik and smuggled snacks from 99.

He was never quite sure if it was because of or in spite of their training that they were so inseparable, so united, so devoted to each other. Maybe both. No matter the pain it took, cadet-hood had forged their bond as brothers, and they would never be alone.

@summer-of-bad-batch

[jillianfahey]

Bad Batch - Afterlife? Wrecker 1 1/2 (Wreckers POV)

Wrecker looked around at all the brothers around him, hoping that Hunter was there somewhere. He hated the thought of how his brother and squad leader must be blaming himself for their brothers deaths. But he could only see the regs around him.

Picking his larger than normal frame off the floor he stood tall, looking around for his brother. There was no sign of Hunters slightly shorter than average frame and shaggy hair so he started walking, trying not to bump into any of the regs around him as he searched. It was almost as if they were on Kamino with the amount of brothers of all ages around him, and he wanted to laugh at loud at the joy the cadets obviously felt as they ran together. Not in an exercise, but because they were playing games and being brothers.

None of this made sense, but it felt nice seeing his uptight brothers relaxed even if they were still short with him. Finally the hall changed and he heard a sound he never thought he would hear again, “Technically the…” he didn’t listen further as he barreled over to hug Tech the smaller brother he was not able to keep safe. Feeling his brothers smaller fame stiffen before relaxing and stating, “While I did miss you as well this display is unnecessary.”

Over his shoulder the deliberate, “How touching.” Crosshair, their first batchmate to apparently die but was here with them safe and sound. But Wrecker needed to hug him and Echo noted with a smile that while Crosshair grimaced at the crushing embrace he did nothing to escape it. 

It took about a month for Wrecker to stop staring at his brothers who seemed suddenly alive and try to listen to them planning. But his new friend Hevy has so many plans to wreck things and that was fun too. Echo dragging them both out by the ear was not fun though. Wrecker was planning on a new batch of playful destruction when Hunter stumbled into the room. From the unkempt hair, dark circles under his eyes and hollows in his cheeks they could see he hadn’t been taking care of himself. He also needed a good shower or three but Wrecker hugged him anyway. It was a long few weeks before their older brother would let them out of his sight. 

A month or so after Hunter was starting to realize they would not disappear if they left his sight for thirty minutes Wrecker was leaning in the open area of the hall that seemed to be an unofficial gathering point for everyone. He was supposed to be listening for any information but he kept thinking of you and how he had traded work for the pair of clothes that was now next to his exercise equipment. He wanted to see you, hold you, and let you know that everything was going to be fine. 

The regs stirring around got his attention and he thought it was probably just Hunter checking on him as he had been away for longer than his older brother liked. But no, it was, “Y/n?”

The loose garment you were wearing swirled as you turned to him. Crying “Wrecker,” you ran directly into his arms and he gathered you close against him, carefully tucking the bottom of the garment down. He knew you well enough to know that the loose garment riding up to show even more of your body would make the situation worse. 

Speaking only to you as you shook, “Let’s get you somewhere safe.” He hurried to the Batches apartment. On the way he saw Hunter who took one look at your shaking form and signed ‘apartment’ before moving away again at his nod. Opening the door one handed he firmly shut it behind both of you and carried you to the couch. Setting you down he gently untangled himself from you clinging hands with a, “Hold on a minute,” before going into his room. Picking up the smaller set of clothes from the chair next to his exercise equipment he hurried out to you. You hadn’t moved from where he had set you but you met his eyes and when he held out the clothes you took them and then followed his motion to his room. Nodding once you went in and closed the door behind you. 

Running his hands over his head Wrecker silently kicked himself, he needed to do more to let you know that you were safe. But what else could he do? Trying to think though his options he heard the door open and tuned to see you in the t-shirt and sweat pants. You were no longer shaking and your face was bright with happiness as you smiled you at him, “Thanks Wrecker, your the best.”

Feeling the blush across his face as he rubbed the back of his neck, “Its really nothing.” Then he noticed the couch and remembered that talking about bad experiences helped so he motioned to it, “Want to tell me what happened?” He thought he had a good idea but he wanted to know your experience to help you. So when you nodded and sat down on the couch he sat in the chair across from you trying to note points, quietly nodding along to show that he was listening.

At the end of the story of what had happened to you that morning Wrecker spoke, “You don’t get a room just like that,” he snapped to show quickness. “At least that’s what Tech says,” seeing that he had scared you, “But not to worry you can stay with us.” Extending his arms to show the whole apartment, “The Bad Batch lives here.”

Seeing you smile always made his heart melt a little bit, and this one was even better than usual, “Thanks Wrecker.” Then there was the sound of a stomach protesting and he loved seeing your ears turn pink with embarrassment, “Do you have anything to eat?”

Grinning at you, “Oh yeah!” Then he lead you over to the kitchen to have some of the soup Echo had made. He couldn’t remember why it was so hearty, but it was filling and good. And seeing your happiness at the meal made everything even better. 

**********************************************************************

I hope that this was enjoyable. I'm sorry it took so long for the POV of our big, soft hearted boy.

[nimata-beroya]

SUPERNOVA

This my piece for Day 1 of @tbb-appreciation-week!!

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Cartoon), Star Wars - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Hunter (Star Wars: The Bad Batch), Crosshair (Star Wars: The Bad Batch), Royce Hemlock Additional Tags: The Bad Batch Appreciation Week 2023, Tbbaw2023, force sensitive AU, Force-Sensitive Hunter (Star Wars: The Bad Batch), Canon-Typical Violence, That's Not How The Force Works (Star Wars), Are you sure?, Force Lightning (Star Wars) Series: Part 1 of TBBAW 2023, Part 9 of Good Soldiers Follow Orders, Good Brothers Disobey Them Summary: Hunter shows off his ace up his sleeve in a confrontation with Dr. Hemlock during the rescue of his sibling in Mt. Tantiss.

SUPERNOVA

“Come closer and he’ll die.”

Time stays still, and the tension grows in the room to an unbearable level, so thick that it makes it impossible for Hunter to breathe. His eyes can’t stray away from Dr. Hemlock at the other end of the room. He’s aware that Omega unconscious on the floor at a side, but he doesn’t dare to peek at her. Everything in him is urging him to check on her, but he doesn’t dare to move. With his enhanced senses, he can tell she’s waking up; she’ll be fine.

Hunter can’t say the same thing about the brother he thought he’d lost, whose life Hemlock is threatening right now. Hemlock smirks knowingly, as he hovers his fingers over the buttons in the console. His threat echoes in Hunter’s mind, and he cannot control the surge of fear and anger washing over him. And with it, something much more profound and animalistic comes along.

It’s a feeling that he learned to suppress during his cadet years, channeling it for a good use. One that’s now boiling to dangerous levels. Hunter is about to explode like a supernova. Struggling to to take control of his emotions, his fingers tighten around his vibroknife.

Hemlock watches him intently and says with his poised yet dangerous tone, “Consider your next move very carefully, or the day will end poorly. You and your friends might have successfully taken over the facility, but I’m the one in control here.”

“Step away from the console, Hemlock!” Hunter growls.

“If I don’t, what? You can’t stop me.”

In other circumstances, such a taunt would’ve bounced off Hunter like it’s nothing. But he has no longer the ability to think rationally. These past months since Hemlock took Omega away, all his training, all his skills to stay calm in a tense situation have been wiped out till there’s nothing left. All that Hemlock words do is snap the feeble tether Hunter has on his emotions.

He can’t control himself anymore.

Keep Reading

[ilcuoreardendo-fic]

Hunter & Echo (Snippet)

Part of my Echo and the Batch (working title) set of fics - small, meaningful moments Echo shares with his new squad, taking place in the days and weeks after he joins the Batch.

These are likely part of a somewhat larger self-indulgent series (Written in the Dust) featuring a Jedi apostate character who’s been kicking around in my head for a bit (well...since watching Echo get blown up on Lola Sayu).

This is just a snippet. Full fic coming soon. Fics for Crosshair and Tech to follow. And here’s the first one - Wrecker and Echo - if you missed it.

______________________________

“Where’s everyone?” Echo’s mouth felt stuffed full of gauze.

“Kicked ‘em out. Well, Crosshair and Tech had things to do. I just got ‘em moving quicker and made Wrecker go with ‘em. He’s not the best thing to wake up to after a night like yours.”

Echo flung the blanket back, swung his legs off the bed and sat up with a huff. He rubbed his hand across his face. Less than two days on Kamino and he was already fucking up the dynamic.

“I didn’t mean to kill the homecoming mood.”

“You didn’t,” Hunter said firmly, slipping off the table. He picked up canteen, held up a pill bottle in his other hand. “Another round? Need to take the edge off?”

Echo took the bottle. They were the same pills Kix had given him on Anaxes. But the bottle was different. And the label.

“These are yours,” Echo said dully.

“Yeah, wasn’t sure where yours were.” Hunter sat on the bunk next to him. “The thing about enhanced senses...they play hell on the body until you get used to them, learn how to tune in what’s necessary and tune out the rest. Used to be real bad. As a cadet, I’d get headaches that laid me out for days. Not the results the Kaminoans were looking for, but “desirable mutations often come with side effects that must be properly managed.” Used to be on a different med at a much higher dose...”

“Pump you full of drugs, send you back to the field.” Echo had seen it multiple times. Brothers with blaster holes through their guts, held together by bacta patches and Symoxin, glassy-eyed from endorphins and the rush of drugs, descending on the battlefield with only one thought in mind—the fight, the win—and inevitably meeting their end by way of a battle droid’s blaster.

“Yep,” Hunter said. “Have to say, I was more agreeable on the higher dosage, but much less effective in the field. More than once, in the early days, Crosshair or Tech or Wrecker had to drag my ass out of the fire, when the drugs were too much or after I’d switched back and had moments where I lost myself, got blinded or deafened by blaster fire or explosions. And,” Hunter’s voice grew firm, making Echo look up from the pill bottle. “I’ve done the same for them. So hauling you up after you puke your guts out from a migraine? All part of what we do. The Batch looks out for each other. And you’re one of us now.”

[tragedy-for-sale]

Pain Like This

'Growing up, we got use to it, Crosshair's cries that we could never stop, Tech's frustration and anger, fits of rage, Hunter hiding everything away, it was just how we grew up. It was just a bunch of pain for us, Echo, we never looked forward to the future like regs did, like you did, 'cause we were so scared not all of us would make it. We still are.'

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

'One, two, wheeze, one, two, wheeze...' Wrecker repeated in his head, he listened to his little brother's breathing as he slept. '..One, two, wheeze..' Crosshair won't let himself fall asleep until the others do, but no way was that happening, Wrecker mastered that art of fake sleeping so he could listen to Crosshair's breathing, just in case it stopped.

The light would stay off, even if Hunter and Tech ever left the refresher. Opening his eyes, Wrecker looked to the closed door, hearing the faint whines of Tech, who'd taken residence in front of the toilet, 'Medicine and whatever the heck they fed him-' He threw it all up anyways, so why did they keep giving him it?! Wrecker's face twitched, looking back down to Crosshair. 'One, two, wheeze...'

The door opened, Hunter came out with the same look as always: Pure unhappiness. "Trade you?" Hunter whispered, walking to Wrecker, who nodded and carefully got up, not stirring Crosshair until Hunter had climbed into bed. Wrecker got up, grabbing some water and handing it to Hunter, "Thanks."

"Yeah," Wrecker nodded, "You need to sleep, so sleep." He narrowed his eyes and hit Hunter gently on the shoulder, "..Please." He added before heading to the refresher, where Tech was laying in the floor.

"... I'm sick of this. I'm sick of laying here, my eyes hurt, my stomach hurts, my throat hurts, my everything hurts." Tech complained as Wrecker came and sat with him, "I can feel my stomach's acid eating my throat-" He sat up, Wrecker frowned at the tears in Tech's eyes, ".....Crosshair, he's okay?"

"... Y-yeah!" Wrecker shook his head to get himself back in the moment, "Hunter's with him now and so's Lula-" He explained. Tech nodded, drawing his knees to his chest and resting his head in his arms.

"His breathing?"

"Still even, one, two, wheeze." Wrecker recalled. Tech nodded as he hugged himself tighter, closing his eyes. Wrecker wondered if Tech would want Lula, but he knew Tech wouldn't want to take it from Crosshair. "... Feeling better?"

Tech's head shot up, "Yes, very much so, let's go train, in fact." He said before jumping to the sound of a loud crack of thunder and the flickering of the lights. "How long has that been going on?"

"Mmh.." Wrecker thought, looking up he stared at the light for a long time before saying, "I don't know, the light is off in the room." He watched his brother closely, 'why isn't he wiping his eyes?'

Tech stretched out his legs, taking a shaky breath, "I wanna lie down," He looked to Wrecker, well, the blob he knew as Wrecker. "Can we go lay down?"

"Yeah, you need to sleep." Wrecker smiled, patting Tech on the shoulder before standing up and picking Tech up, who felt like a rag doll in his older brother's arms. Stepping into the darkened room, Wrecker stepped as quietly as he could, making sure the rain was louder than he. He came to his bed and tucked Tech in, "I'm just gonna go clean up, okay? Then I'll be back." He knelt down by the side, pulling the blanket up and grabbing another pillow.

"Okay," Tech mumbled as he tried to make out Hunter and Crosshair, he saw Hunter getting up, 'What are they gonna talk about?' He watched the two of them start to straighten up, whispering close. Tech's focus came back to himself as he felt his stomach turn. Wrecker had put him in his bed, not his own. Tech looked across the room longingly, and with a quick glance, he kicked the blanket off and headed towards his bed on the other side of the room. He climbed into his bed, smiling as he looked at the mess on his bed, he checked a few switches and loose wires before curling up and laying down to sleep.

Hunter and Wrecker had gone into the refresher, it was a place to talk if they didn't want their brothers to hear. They sat on the floor, Wrecker silent, ready to listen, as did Hunter. He ran his hand through his hair as he let out a sigh, "They wanna do the second trial tomorrow," Hunter whispered, there was an edge to his voice, he spoke fast, not giving himself enough time to turn his voice into a cry. "They wanna stick him with more needles but he's been so sore and they wanna keep hurting him-" He failed, his voice broke as his eyes watered, ".. He couldn't even hold his blaster today, Wrecker, he couldn't stop shaking and they wanna do that all again?"

Wrecker bit his cheeks as he wrapped his arm around his brother, Hunter was the type who didn't like help, so Wrecker knew, 'He needs to rant, and if he crys-' He listened to his brother's broken breathing, trying so hard to be quiet. The refresher was the place to go if they didn't want their brothers to hear, like the sound of their crys. Hunter had fallen into his brother's arms, gripping his shirt in a pained frustration, he wanted to cry and give up, but most of all, he wanted his brothers to be okay and to be healthy. But they were always so far from okay, all of them were so far from okay. How were they ever going to be soldiers?

Through a small window, they looked to the pounding rain and saw the flicker of lightening, they counted the seconds until a boom the thunder came, and when it did, Hunter let out a sob, it was the only thing loud enough to mute him but not wake their little brothers. "You need to sleep," Wrecker whispered, you had a hard day too, you were in pain too-"

"I don't care." Hunter pushed away, wiping his eyes with his sleeve, "I don't care about me, I care about our family, I care about our little brothers and how they're always in pain," gritting his teeth, his anger settled in, that was how it always was. Hunter would be reminded with how unfair life was, and how his brothers were in bodies that were sickly and killing them. Everyday, he thought about how his baby brothers were dying. And Wrecker, Wrecker thought about how all his baby brothers were in pain, how all of them were dying.

He pulled Hunter back into his arms, "You'll worry tomorrow, and the day after that, and the next." He huffed as he stood up, Hunter unwillingly in his arms, "You'll cry tomorrow too, you'll scream too, but right now, we're sleeping," He walked back into their room, his loud booming voice got quiet, "... you're gonna sleep, Hunter."

"What if-"

"Sleep, we'll put the blankets on the floor next to them, but if you're not gonna worry about yourself, then I am, and I say you need to sleep." He set Hunter down as he grabbed blankets and pillows. "Okay?"

Hunter grabbed his pillow, hugging it, "...okay." He mumbled reluctantly, "But if they wake up, so will I." He argued as he grabbed a blanket and laid down.

"Deal." Wrecker smiled as he laid down too, hugging Hunter close. He stared up at the darkened ceiling and it was then, the fatigue of it all hit him. '...All my brothers are dying.' He thought, his frown becoming apparent,

'My baby brothers are all dying.'

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

[kybercrystals94]

Summer of Bad Batch 2024 Master List

(Finally compiling all of my Summer of Bad Batch 2024 fills into one place 🙈)

I am thrilled to be an overachiever, filling 28/28 prompts this summer for the event I had the privilege of facilitating, @summer-of-bad-batch 🥰 and I am proud to have worked alongside so many amazing creators this summer to fill prompts in so many unique ways!

Find my list of fills below the cut!

Neon Warfare

Prompts Filled: Week 1 | Main: Water Gun Fight | Alt: "It's not what you think."

Excerpt:

"C'mon, Echo," Wrecker whines, making a grabbing motion with his outstretched hand. "It's water. It's not like it's gonna hurt them." The manchild does have a point. Echo sighs. "Fine. But so help me, you shoot me again with this thing, I'll send it out the airlock."

Eyes Wide Open

Prompts Filled: Week 2 | Alt: Comfort Zone

Excerpt:

"Did you know," Crosshair says, conversationally, "that Hunter sleeps with his eyes open?"

Might

Prompts Filled: Week 2 | Main: Injured

Excerpt:

He doesn’t know why it bothers him so intensely, why it feels like an abrasive lapse of memory. He’d seen Echo deal with the same, exact issue as he acclimated to the loss of his own limbs after his rescue from Skako Minor. He’d never thought Echo ridiculous or idiotic for it. In fact, he’d admired the reg’s tenacity, how quickly he corrected and adapted. And yet, here is Crosshair, refusing a cup of caf because he used the wrong hand to claim it. 

A Dangerous Dance

Prompts Filled: Week 3 | Main: "It's just a scratch."

Excerpt:

The Mandalorian trainer pulls a knife from the sheath strapped around his vambrace, and twirls the short blade deftly between his fingers. The man isn’t even looking at the weapon, his eyes following the movements of his sparring clone cadets. If he notices the shaggy headed cadet unabashedly watching him in the far corner, he doesn’t give any indication. 

Anything

Prompts Filled: Week 3 | Alt: "Forget I asked." | Bonus Alternate Prompt: "Can you braid my hair?"

Excerpt:

Crosshair wakes to a snuffling sound, and turns over to find his sister standing next to his bed.. “Omega? What’s wrong?” “I got sick,” Omega mutters, and her breath trembles. She’s crying, softly, quietly. Crosshair reaches over and clicks on the lamp, bathing the room in a warm glow of light. But the warmth does not extend to Omega’s face, her skin pale and eyes red rimmed. She blinks rapidly, and a tear escapes, creating another shiny track down her ashen cheek. She does not look well at all. Of all the times for Hunter and Wrecker to be gone on a supply trip for the island. 

Cadets (Artwork)

Prompts Filled: Week 4 | Main: Cadets

Stolen Time

Prompts Filled: Week 4 | Alt: "You really think you're going without me? Not going to happen."

Excerpt:

He breaks the surface of consciousness with a breathless gasp. When he moves to sit up, a weight on each of his shoulders holds him back. A soothing voice speaks incomprehensibly and close, warm breath on his face. Tech continues to choke down gulps of air, his lungs greedily accepting the panicked doses. Words begin to take shape in the voice above him, and he hears his name, spoken so softly and gently that Tech knows that the speaker loves him. But he doesn’t recognize the voice, although his mind feels thick and muddled. Perhaps he simply cannot remember. 

Local Flavors

Prompts Filled: Week 5 | Main: "You're a bad liar." | Alt: "Need a hand?"

Excerpt:

Crosshair plucks one of the bottles from the basket, holds it up and shakes it. “What the kriff is this stuff?” “Seasoning,” Hunter says. “For cooking.” Crosshair manages to screw off the lid one handed, sniffing at the contents suspiciously. He makes a face. “I do not want this on my food.” Hunter snatches it away from him. “You wouldn’t know good flavor if it bit you in the shebs,” Hunter says.

Letting Go

Prompts Filled: Week 6 | Main: Battle Scars

Excerpt:

Crosshair sits down next to Hunter on the sand. “Omega told me what happened.” “I’m sure she did,” Hunter says. It comes out harsher than he means it to, but he does not try to take it back. It seems that age has worn down the barriers of his emotions, bitterness and hurt leaking through. “She said you were being unreasonable, overbearing, and overprotective,” Crosshair continues. “Not to mention your listening skills need some work, because you only care about your side of the argument.” Hunter’s frown deepens. “Good to know.” “And I said,” Crosshair goes on, as though Hunter hadn’t spoken, “the same thing I said way back when she was only about this big.” He holds out a hand to demonstrate. Hunter rolls his eyes, because they never knew Omega when she was that small, but he gets the point. “Aren’t you going to ask me what I said?” 

A Tiny, Unfamiliar Voice

Prompts Filled: Week 8 | Alt: Lula

Excerpt:

“Are you awake?” a tiny voice whispers. A tiny, young, unfamiliar voice. Wrecker groans. He doesn’t want to open his eyes. He doesn’t want to wake up. Not yet. He feels floaty and heavy all at once. And painless. He’s contentedly numb. He doesn’t remember the last time he felt no pain at all, not in his muscles or his head or his heart…he doesn’t want it to end.

Treacherous Waters

Prompts Filled: Week 6 | Alt: "Get out of my room!" | Week 7 | Main: "Don't avoid the question." | Alt: Getting a Haircut

Excerpt:

Crosshair knows he should be relieved, but somehow he’s tread into more treacherous waters.

Racket

Prompts Filled: Week 8 | Main: Swimming Lessons

Excerpt:

"Oh, look, a little lab scrabber,” Racket sneers when Omega walks into the infirmary with AZI. Omega ignores him, keeping her pace to show she doesn’t care. However, AZI stops to look at the clone sitting on the edge of a medical cot holding an ice pack to a developing black eye. “I must correct you, CT-1051811. Omega is not a lab scrabber. She is a medical assistant.”

Too Young To Grow Up (Drabbles Collection)

Prompts Filled: Week 9 | Main: "Hold still." | Alt: Stargazing | Week 10 | Main: Hugs | Week 11 | Alt: "Yeah, kid, we're fine." | Week 13 | Alt: Crashing Hard

Excerpt:

Moments and memories of Omega growing up on Pabu.

Threat

Prompts Filled: Week 10 | Alt: "Just when were you planning on telling us that?" | Week 11 | Main: "I didn't think I would get this far."

Excerpt:

“Just when were you planning on telling me that you were building a battle droid?”

Nightmares and Demons

Prompts Filled: Bonus Alternate Prompt: Light in the Darkness | Week 12 | Main: Nightmares | Alt: Radio Silence | Week 13: "Stop touching me!" // "I'm not touching you!"

Excerpt:

The girl came again. She knows his name. Speaks with a familiarity he craves. She tells him they are coming. Their brothers. Their brothers are coming. It is only a matter of time. He believes her. He has to believe her. If he doesn’t, he has nothing. Nothing but the poison that the Empire has leached into him. Needles and torture and endless, endless pain. Her promise, void and empty as it is, is like a light in the inky, consuming darkness. A fragile, flickering flame on the end of a match. It burns close to his finger tips, but he won’t let it go.

[whirlybirbs]

FEVER-DREAM    ;    echo/reader 

summary: echo is fine-tuning his new prosthesis. you have experience, you help. unspoken feelings are acted on. adoration blooms. you learn what mesh’la means.

word count: 3k

pairing: echo / f!reader

tags: mutual pining, lots of tender looks, victorian-era hand-touching sluttiness, echo is a gentle soul, reader is head over heels, a touch of ptsd mention, set on ord mantell, mention of our boy fives, in this house we love assistive devices, enough sexual tension to power the death star

a/n: this is me round-house kicking the bad batch writers in the throat because they made echo cosplay a droid — but, also because this man deserves to be treated as more than a means to a mission’s end. majority of you know i am ~bitter~ (understatement of the century) of tbb’s plot/design/writing. but echo has been a favorite from the original days... so have some very soft fic.

i reference character redesigns by @nibeul​ in this piece — please go peep them here, and some updated character spreads here! they’re really beautiful and add a phenomenal layer of storytelling to the existing designs that’s lacking. nibuel’s art and writing is lovely. please give them a follow — i can’t rec their work enough. 

“How does it feel?”

The words are nearly whispered; it’s clear you didn’t want to startle him, and Echo can feel the pinch in his brow soften at your sudden appearence in the doorway. 

His bunk, at the back of the Havoc Marauder, is small — the space itself even more so. There’s a makeshift partition, hooked together with spare parts and meant to offer a bit of privacy on the cramped vessel. Its slate grey color has faded, and the edges have become tattered in the cycles of use. 

When Echo pulls his dark eyes up from his work, you’re leaning against the frame — your expression is earnest.

For a moment, the once-ARC Trooper is quiet. 

He wonders if he’ll ever get used to your attention. Each and every time, it sends him into a spiral; his heart catches as he inhales and tries to push down the warm stir in his gut. The sight of you is enough, nowadays, to melt Echo’s well-maintained irritability. His attention is stolen from his ever-present pain, if only for a bit.

There are plenty of days where he misses the old him — the wide-eyed, eager ARC Trooper who had his brothers by his side. His real brothers. Hevy, Cutup, Droidbait... Fives. 

Fuckin’ hell, Fives was probably staring down at him now laughing. 

No matter what changes, you’re still shit with the ladies, vod’ika. 

In a way he hasn’t fully admitted to himself, you make him feel like himself again. Like... Like some shiny cadet, on leave and distracted by the promises of pretty smiles passing-by. It’s good.

This makes him feel... good. 

He flexes, and his right hand — the new, gunmetal durasteel cyberized-prosthesis — closes into a tight fist. It’s taken him a bit, but the feeling isn’t so foreign now. It’s still... slow. Slower than he’s used to, but you’d mentioned it may take some time. The phantom feelings get better, too. All in all, it’s a good thing.

Your own hand, your left, glimmers back in the same gunmetal color.

(Echo had never pressed you about the missing limb — not until one day, in Cid’s, you’d joined him in a quiet corner. You’d spilled your drink and a complaint about getting the star-cherry syrup out of the joints had slipped out. Echo had laughed; a real laugh, the sort that was so rare coming from him, it had you staring at him as if he’d hung ever star in the sky. 

Can I ask how it happened? he’d said, breaking the heavy silence when your eyes never left his.

The Pykes, you’d said, and that was enough.)

“I haven’t, uh... Haven’t gotten the sensory calibration right yet.”

Then, his prosthesis cramps. His fingers go rigid, and Echo curses sharply as he reaches around his forearm to quickly reboot the appendage. It goes slack, then hums alive once more.

You wince.

You’re slow to move into the room — and you settle atop one of the crates Echo had stolen from the belly of the ship, an old Mantell Mix shipping container. You’re mindful to set his datapad aside, to not disturb his space too much. Before you reach for his hand, however, you lift your chin and open your hands in your lap.

“May I?” you ask, just as soft as before.

Echo feels small under your gaze.

Truth be told, you’re doing more than just... asking. You’re taking him in — appreciating him. It’s a habit that’s grown more and more apparent to not only himself, but the others.

In recent rotations, Echo has let his hair grow out — not long, but the once close buzz he’d kept has begun to curl at the top. Not entirely dissimilair to how it was before the Citadel. The dermal implants, the ones the Techno Union installed in order to parse the nuerological data in his head, stand out against his warm-colored skin. 

His usual AJ^6-inspired headpiece is resting on his bunk.

That damn thing.

A neccesary tool. One that, given the amount of user data Tech had procured when working on modifying the implant, Echo found himself immediately distrusting. It wasn’t as if the AJ^6 cyborg construct had a beautiful track record, and frankly, Echo would like to keep his personality in tact, thank you very much. There were plenty of days he felt machine enough. 

It wasn’t often you saw him without the headset; you knew it made linking in via his scomp easier to handle, it made the visualization of data transfers as easy as breathing. For Echo, it was a part of his vast kit, an important tool. For you, seeing him without it bubbles up a bit of a smile.

Echo catches it.

His eyes narrow playfully.

He looks... well. You — hell, are there words for it? For the way the sight of him makes you feel? It’s like there’s a world full of potential there, a thousand words unsaid, and feelings that have steeped in the warmth of longing gazes and half-there touches.

You’re still looking up at him, knees bent on the crate.

You blink, realizing you’ve been caught staring — not for the first time and certainly not for the last. In the beginning, it had left a sour taste in Echo’s mouth. But, now... Well, it stokes a sort of pride in his chest that he hangs onto. 

It never gets easier to recover from — certainly not when Echo smirks. He moves to allow you to take his prosthesis into your lap. The gesture is gentle; your fingers cradle the firm yet pliable metal.

“What?” he asks. His voice, low and rough and warm, is tinted with amusement.

“Nothing,” you say vaguely with a shrug — as if that’s supposed to explain any part of your enamored stare. Your attention moves to the prosthesis.

“Nothing?” he asks, moving to thumb his left ear with his free hand with a dash of nervousness. A habit. Echo tilts his head as his fingers brush the cochlear implant there. The panel rests neatly against the side of his head, a small rounded-off square. The bite of self-consciousness has dwindled around you — but still, it creeps back up every now and again.

The Corporal’s brows knot playfully as you turn his new hand over in your lap; you’re admiring the upgraded feel, the more seamless panelling in comparison to your own. Echo watches your lashes flutter in silent thought.

Then:

“You’re a terrible liar, you know.”

You blink slowly at the hand, swallow down your sudden sheepishness and ignore his gaze. You bite back the smile digging into your cheeks. “Maybe.”

“Do I have something on my face?” he asks suddenly, and you look up.

A baited trick. He’s smiling. 

The warm sort — the sort reserved for you and for Omega. The two souls that hold a piece of his heart, with all its ticking valves and electric timed pulses. There are machinisms that keep him alive, and then there is you. Your wide-eyed expression melts, giving way to the sort of smile he’s tried to memorize over and over. It’s the same smile that has warded off that reoccuring nightmare of the night on the tarmac at the Citadel, the same smile that has pulled him through the grit of phantom pains.

“What—” a sudden laugh bursts from your chest, “What is that supposed to mean?”

“You were staring, mesh’la,” he rumbles out as a reminder, enjoying the fact he’s suddenly become the center of your attention. Echo leans back, his boot toeing yours. You nudge it back. Your face feels hot. You ignore his pointedly teasing look with a roll of your eyes.

The nickname started a few weeks ago. You haven’t asked what it means — no, for now it’s meaning hangs in the balance. Untouched but there. The affection the word carries makes your heart feel heavier and unbelievably full.

“Bad habit,” you chirp back, looking up at him through your lashes.

His laugh is warm.

“Maybe not.”

“No,” you say quietly; your voice is soft as your eyes bounce across his face, tracing the lines of his face with your gaze, “I don’t think it is.”

There’s a silence that slips between you — a comfortable one. It’s heavier than before. That has begun to happen recently, especially with the petal-soft utterance of mesh’la becoming more and more frequent. You hold his gaze. Echo lets out a soft, contented sigh.

Then, you remember the task at hand.

You clear your throat.

“Uh... The access panel I’m looking for,” you say slowly as your raise your finger to point to your own arm, “It’s on your bicep.”

Echo blinks. He clears his own throat before looking down — he hadn’t even noticed that access panel. That could explain the jarring miscommunication stalling the limb. This model had more bells and whistles than he initally realized. 

Better than a fuckin’ scomp link, that’s for sure.

Wordlessly, Echo makes room on his bunk. You move to settle beside him, your bent leg resting aginst his hip as you half-straddle the bed; your other knee brushes his thigh — and Echo tries to sit still. You’re close, now. 

“Is it okay if...?” you trail off, fingers tugging on the short sleeve of his blacks; you pause until Echo offers a curt nod. You catch him swallow. You push onward, fingers nimbly rolling the fabric up over his broad bicep. 

Echo steals a glance your way as your fingers pass across a slip of his bare skin. 

In his lap, both his hands twitch.

He’s no small man. Lean and athletic, Echo is built like a soldier. Omega had said once that Echo was an ARC Trooper, one of the best of the best. You believed every bit of it, and you’d hung on her words when she’d rambled on about ARC training, about Kamino, and about who Echo was before you knew him. It was all in the past, though. That Echo is a part of this Echo but... They’re different men. He’s been changed by the things that have happened.

You don’t press him on the details. 

In time, they’re slipped into conversation here and there — between the here and now.  

In the beginning, when you’d found yourself amongst the crew of the Havoc Marauder — be it for a simple job on Cid’s behalf — Echo had hardly paid you a moment of attention, though you admit you’d been curious from the start. It had taken three jobs for you to finally see his face. Then began the slow and gradual bonding over catching joints, grating plates, and hardware updates. His legs, your arm. Two pieces of a pair.

Now, he has this. A beautiful new upgrade — something he’s wanted for a long time. A part of his old self is back, in a way.

You liked that it was more than just a tool. That, in having this piece of his body back, he felt like more than a tool. More than a scomp link. 

After all, he is a man — a... a very handsome man. One whose proximity is sort of distracting you, again, from the task at hand.

“The panel here,” you say as you slowly press on the seam that enables the settings panel to be revealed; you’re mindful to explain, “It controls sensory outputs, as well as synchonized synaptic commands. The panel on my forearm does the same to my hand, yours is just... well, you’ve got the new and improve version.”

Echo ducks his head as you work, watching you from the corner of his eye. “Feeling a bit jealous, mesh’la?”

“Maybe,” you breathe out with a smile. 

Then, you lift your eyes. You intended to see that he was still comfortable, but instead you come face to face with the Corporal. His nose nearly brushes yours when you lift you chin, completely dragged in by the closeness shared.

There’s a beat of tension. Echo’s mouth goes dry.

You fingers pause. You swallow hard. “How... uh, how does it feel?”

Echo tightens his grip, then releases. His breath tickles your cheeks. His eyes, a deep, warm brown, flit from your eyes to your mouth, and then back. His voice is a croak. 

“...Same as before.”

You tinker with a dial, eyes never leaving his; your voice is above a whisper. “And now?”

It’s immediate. Like a rush of cold air up his arm — and on instinct, Echo’s hand twitches. His fingers grip the fabric of his blacks, along his thigh, and... he feels it. The smooth, stretch of the material. It’s... it feels like a lot. His fingertips, metallic and cyberized, tingle. It’s distracting.

He can feel. 

His hand is slow. It moves across to bridge the space between you. His pointer finger settles on the curve of your knee; the feeling of your tactical pants beneath his fingertip is ignored, instead he chases the heat of your body.

Your breath catches at the touch. 

Echo’s face is turned to you, but... his attention has settled on his hand. His palm then sweeps across your thigh. He follows the curve, soaks in the feeling. You’re frozen in place, beating back the desperate sound of appreciation that threatens to be pulled from your throat. The touch is... more than welcomed. 

The closeness itself is making you dizzy.

Then, Echo turns — and the warm, durasteel-plated palm finds your cheek.

Your skin is hot. 

“Is this okay, mesh’la?” he whispers, words riding on a quiet exhale — the sort that make you feel... well, you don’t even have words for the way he makes you feel. Echo is... kind, honest, and loyal. Above all else, he’s gentle. Despite it all, despite every bit of horror he’d been put through, he’d never lost sight of the importance of a gentle hand. Especially now in a moment as intimate as this. It coaxes you closer.

You lean into the cybernetic attachment, cheek resting in his palm. You nod, then, with eyes eager to take in every bit of this moment.

He chuckles at the enthusiasm. Echo’s thumb, deft and smooth, then traces the line of your lower lip.

The feeling is... the gnawing pain that he’s felt for nearly a year has melted. Finally, the itch has been scratched in his brain and the hollow ache of his bones is gone. It’s relief, and comfort, and excitement and all these beautiful things — and you. 

You’re stuck — you don’t want to move, you won’t move. He’s rooted you completely, and when his other hand — the calloused and warm one of flesh and blood — finds it’s spot along your thigh, you swallow a lovesick sigh that would only exaserbate your desperation. 

Your mouth is moving before you realize it. 

“What does it mean?”

Echo’s eyes narrow, only a bit, and he runs his thumb up your cheekbone.

“What does what mean?” 

“Mesh’la,” it sounds foreign on your tongue. It’s not Hutteese or Twi’leki, not like any language you know, “Will you tell me what it means, Echo?”

The corner of his lips quirk. Your eyes jump to it.

You feel like someone’s reached right into your chest and given your heart a squeeze — and it only worsens when he laughs. He laughs, deep and quiet and warm, like a thunderstorm on a summer night. It feels cruel, to string you along like this when you’re here, lips parted, hanging off his every touch and his every word.

“Beautiful,” he says quietly as his other hand touches your jaw — it’s so damn reverent, this little moment in time, that you almost don’t believe it’s real.

It feels like a dream — like someone has come in and stolen your thoughts from you; like the unrequited yearning has finally stoked a fire large enough to burn you up entirely, a fever you never knew you wanted.

His nose brushes yours.

Your fingers wind into the fabric of his chest. You’re clinging, lost to the moment — and you can’t help wonder if this is how it feels when he catches you adoring him. He’s admiring you so tenderly that you nearly break.

You want to kiss him.

He’s thought about nothing but kissing you for the last five days at least. Longer in his dreams. Nowadays, it’s a constant pull, a constant want.

And now, it’s here — a present and current moment where it can happen. Where he can stop being a shiny cadet and he can make a move...

Enter Omega.

“Echo, we’re back—!”

The telltale hammer of a girl’s boots on the floor signals that the party is back from their supply run — but you’re so far off, spinning in a different universe, you don’t even hear her until its too late... Until Echo is yanking himself away and clearing his throat and rolling his wrist to test the prosthesis in a different way, a less intimate way. 

You blink, then rattle yourself back to the present. Omega is in the doorway staring with a quizzical look. Clearly, your state does little to dissuade the assumptions she’s already making and you can see the gears turning in her head. The dark-haired girl then slowly grins.

“Hi.”

You swallow. “Hi, Omega.”

“...Whatcha guys doin’?”

Echo coughs. “Uh, just fine-tuning the new upgrade.”

“...Riiiiiight.” 

You rub your cheeks and laugh — clearly forced and incredibly pained — as you stand up and nearly ram your head right into the top of Echo’s bunk. It’s met with a hiss of warning from the trooper as he jumps up to try and protect you from the impact. 

“Well! Uh, thanks for letting me help, Echo,” you clap, rocking back and forth on your boots, “I, uh... Oh, Cid called. I should... I should get back—”

“Yea,” he says, straining a bit to find the words, “Yea, I’ll... I’ll comm you if it starts to, uh... If it starts to act up?”

Omega watches the exchange, big brown eyes moving from left to right. 

“Good, great — yea, that’s,” you inhale as you rub your thighs and move towards the door, “Perfect. Okay.”

“Okay.”

“Bye!” Omega calls, waving.

You wave back, smiling. “Bye, Omega.”

Then, once it’s only Echo and Omega in the bunk, the tween speaks.

“...What the kriff was that?”

[waywardsou2]

Summer of Bad Batch 2024

Week 3

Prompt: "It's just a scratch"

A/N: Not me writing this literally 24 hours before the next prompts come out haha. Ngl tho it's kinda of topic but i just wanted to do some retired Pabu writing and this prompt kinda subtly fit it, I was planning on making it more angsty but it ended up being nice and fluffy. Anyways I hope you enjoy. This will be on my ao3 as well. Tags: none, fluff, slight injury

The afternoon sun shone down on the rocks that Omega and Echo were standing on. Despite Hemlock being gone and Tantiss destroyed Echo wasn’t done training Omega.

Since his cadet days he had done his best to work by the book and train for as long and as hard as he could. Spending time with Clone Force 99 has taught him to loosen up just a little bit, but old habits die hard.

He knows Omega isn’t a soldier and her biggest threat was sitting at the bottom a valley but she needed to know how to keep herself safe in a galaxy so vast, because he knew that eventually one day she would leave Pabu. It was a given but in the meantime all he could do was prepare her.

Right now with the sun beginning to sink lower in the sky but Echo was trying to get as much training done with Omega as he could.

“You need to keep your guard up; one wrong move and you are open and vulnerable. And then you get hurt, or worse” He took another light swing at Omega, and she brought her arm up to block his punch. She did so successfully.

“Where are your weakest points?” he says testing her as he makes another swing.

“My throat, ribs and knees. I can’t leave those open or in range”

“Good. What points do you aim for?”

“The sides of the head and eyes, neck and legs. Attacking the head can disorient, damaging the eyes can be dangerous, neck can be fatal, and legs can subdue them”

“Yes perfect. And what if they are carrying a weapon” he swings again

“Focus on disarming them then either fight or run”

“Excellent” he says before taking one final swing at Omega

Her progress has been promising; she has been able to keep up with him during exercise. She can shoot her practice targets with accuracy that even Crosshair has praised her for. Her ability to complete the terrain courses he sets up have been slower than the rest of her progress, but he knows at the very least she’ll survive.

“The suns going down but I want to try one last thing. You think you’re up for it?”

Omega is breathing hard, but she is ready. She’s going to prove to Echo that she is just as capable as the rest of her brother or any of the regs. Tech has given her the knowledge, Wrecker had taught her demolitions, Hunter had taught her how to track and scout and survive on next to nothing, and Crosshair had taught her the ins and outs of every weapon imaginable, but Echo taught her how to adapt. How to defend herself and defeat enemies of all kinds. If she was able to keep up with and stand up to him then she would be ready for anything the galaxy will throw at her.

“I’ve got the boys to organise their own obstacles for you to complete all over Pabu. Consider this your final test of sorts. At the end of the route, you will have to defend yourself against a surprise attacker – me. If you can best me then I’ve taught you all I can. You think you’re ready Havoc 5?”

Omega takes a deep breath in then smirks at Echo “I’m ready!”

He smiles back at her, looking at her now he takes a moment to notice how much she’s grown. He remembers when they first met her, how small she was, how often they had to get her out of trouble. But now she’s taller, stronger. Her shoulders have widened and her training has helped her build up a stronger frame. Her hair had grown out which Hunter had helped her keep in a tight braid. His years of having to deal with longer hair started to become useful again since she grew it out. They were luck because the rest of the batch would have been useless when it came to hair.

So, Echo set her off on the path and made his way to the final location waiting for her to arrive. He set himself up in the shadows by the entrance to the cave and waited for her to arrive.

Omegas first challenge was set up by Crosshair, she had to complete a small parkour course whilst avoiding stun blasts from him as well as hitting her own targets. Crosshair almost got her, but she ducked just in time and shot her last target. Trying to hide his pride in Omega, he directs her to her next step of her test.

She made her way around the beach of Pabu and came to where Wrecker had set up several types of explosives along the beach. Some hidden and some in plain sight. Omega counted at least eight visible to her. As soon as she got to Wrecker, he clicked the detonator and told her she had 30 seconds to defuse them all. So she got to work moving swiftly one by one to each bomb disarming them, she thought she had tripped one of the last ones but she was able to reroute the circuit and cancel the detonation command. With only three seconds left, thanks you Wrecker’s rather loud counting, she completed her task. Wrecker roared with approval and sent her to her next task with a pat on the back that almost sent her into the sand.

She next found Tech sitting down a side street along the main town centre. His test was a quick-thinking verbal response test. He thew facts and questions at her with lightning speed as she answered just as quickly, she stumbled over her words once or twice but was able to pick herself back and up and continue to recount the information Tech has taught her over her years with them on the Marauder and even on Pabu, giving her exercises and tests to make sure her information was up to date. Once he was happy with the questions, she had answered he told her she had to go to the small forest at the back of the island. She guessed Hunter was waiting there for her.

When she got there she was a little confused at first as Hunter was no where to be found but when she stepped onto a small piece of paper with the word “Come find me” written on them she knew what her next test would be. She took in her surroundings and made note of every clue to where Hunter was hiding. An indent in the dirt which was a boot track that had attempted to be covered. Disrupted leaves moved in the direction opposite to the wind. Any whisper of movement or a breath taken in too sharply. Eventually she found Hunter hiding up between two trees, his back pressed to one and his feet to the other.

“Found you” Omega says, and Hunter lets himself fall to the ground gracefully

“Good job kid, you beat your record time,-” He ruffled her hair “-go on Echo’s waiting for you at the cave”

“Roger that!” She said and sprinted back to the other side of the island.

Hunter smiled after her, watching her run away. She had gotten fast, really fast. Her comfortability with the lay of the land made her lightning quick. As he watcher her go the pride in his heart swelled. Omega had come so far, and he was proud of every single thing she was doing to improve. It reminded him of seeing his brother progress when they were cadets. Watching them move up from Cadets to “Shinnies” and then to Troopers that were being dispatched every free moment they got. He remembers how Shaak Ti looked at them when they “graduated” she praised them for their effort and progress. It’s one of those memories that stuck with him, and he hoped with his brothers too.

As Omega made her way back to the cave her heart began to race inside her chest. She was ready, she knew that. She had completed all of her tests and done all of her training along the way, but she knew that she had to complete this final test for her brothers to fully see her as capable and as trained as them. For them to recognise her as a soldier the same as them. She knew that didn’t want her to be a soldier that they wanted her to a kid, but she was a clone like them, and she wanted to prove to them that she was no different.

As she stepped into the entrance of the cave she slowed from her run to a hesitant walk, making a slow rotation as she walked further into the cave. She had to wait for Echo to appear, she was listening, preparing herself for the first attack.

And then it came, out from the shadows high up in the walls Echo leaped at her taking a sweeping dive for her legs. She jumped and turned around to face him, bringing her arms up in a guard position. He makes another swift attack for her, and she ducks.

“You can’t stay on the defence forever” he calls to her and her brow furrows

She knows this is her final test, but she worries that she might hurt Echo is she uses all her training. But then again, that is what he wants.

Echo keeps up his barrage of attacks aiming for her head and her arms, leaping around to attack her sides and her back. He makes swiping kicks for her legs, but she is able to keep him at bay. But he keeps encroaching, quickening the pace of his attacks and forcing her to move quicker each time, keeping her thinking on her feet.

She knows the test won’t be over until she manages to knock Echo down but she just can’t bring herself to attack him.

Faster and faster his attack comes, and Omega can feel her arms bruising up slowly, she’s starting to get agitated. She’s never going to complete this test if she doesn’t act now.

So she does, she ducks and hides in Echo’s blind spot kicking in the back of his knees. He buckles and turns on his knee bringing his arm up to block an attempted strike to his shoulder. But Omega is fast, and she takes his arm and pulls it backwards causing Echo to be put off balance and pulled onto his back. She attempts to get on top of him to pin him, but he presses a boot to her chest and pushes her off. He stands up again and she recovers from his attack, he leaps for her as soon as he is on his feet again. But this time she is ready; she grabs his arm as he makes a grab for her and twists her body so his arm is pulled away from her and his chest. Continuing her spin, she pulls him further and with all of her strength she tugs sending him stumbling forward and falling into the dirt. Before he can even stand up again, she has crawled on top of him and subdued him.

She won.

“Good job kid” he said as she crawled off him and offered him her hand and helped him to his feet once more.

When she grabbed onto his hand, she felt dirt and something wet on his hand. When she took her hand away there was a light smear of blood on her hand, looking worriedly at her own hand she grabbed at Echo’s and saw a gash across his palm and gazing on his fingers.

“Oh Echo, your hurt”

“Nah, its just a scratch, I survived getting blown up remember? I’ll be alright kid” she doesn’t let go of his hand and carefully begins to wipe away and pick the larger chunks of dirt from his hand

“You should be proud of yourself kid. You’re officially a Clone Trooper now” He stops her from clearing the debris from his hand and pulls her into a hug instead.

Omega wraps her arms around him and squeezes his middle, she is tall enough now to be able to hide her face in the crook of his neck.

Behind them they heard loud yell and Wreckers voice saying, “Way to go Omega!”

Omega lets go of Echo and the two of them walk over to the rest of the squad, they head back to their home in lower Pabu praising her as they go.

Today has been a good day.

[notgonnaedit]

Healer's Care

Tipping Point

Summary: Eight months after the destruction of Tipoca City, and the Bad Batch are starting to question where they truly belong

Pairing: Bad Batch x Teen!OFC (clones being good brothers/dads)

Chapter summary: A situation arises that Hunter can't ignore.

Warnings: Canon-typical violence, dad Hunter, ECHO, minor Sorrthea, that's right, I gotta ship name! (If I miss a tag LMK)

Masterlist

Tags: @hugmekenobi @nottwonerdy777

@dreamsight73 @delicioustacocollector

@covert1ntrovert @clonethirstingisreal

A light breeze flew through the air, cooling Hunter as he worked with Shep moving crates. The docks of Pabu were lively with ships and people (including Wrecker) fishing.

"This friend of yours who's stopping by, he's another clone?" Shep asked as he set down a crate.

Hunter set his down and nodded. "Yeah, but don't worry. He's not with the Empire."

The girls had been excited to hear that Echo was visiting. Even Hunter had been feeling a bit better knowing his friend was returning.

"If you trust him, that's enough for me," the mayor decided.

Hunter couldn't believe how welcomed they had been, even after staying for several weeks.

"The new fishing dock's rebuilt and moored," Wrecker announced as he ran up the steps. He laughed and shifted the large fish hanging over his shoulder. "And I caught some dinner!"

Hunter regarded his brother. "You've been busy."

"You got that right." The demo man dropped the fish in a crate to deal with later.

Lyana's voice rang out from the dock. "Hey, Wrecker. Can we get your help?" She asked. "We're fortifying the seawall."

The tall clone grinned and laughed. "Sure thing, boss."

Hunter watched with a smile as Wrecker ran down the steps to help them. He hadn't seen the demo man so happy since they were cadets.

"He's become an integral part of this community," Shep hummed. "You all have." He glanced at the tracker. "Any chance you've reconsidered staying permanently?"

Hunter pursed his lips. He had considered it, but he still hadn't come to a final decision. Words formed in his mouth, yet he didn't know how to voice them. So, he simply said, "For soldiers, putting down roots is an occupational hazard."

Shep furrowed his brow. "Is that all you are? A soldier?"

A crease formed in Hunter's brow. He had never been anything else. He was all but convinced it was too late in life to be anything else.

Quick footsteps sounded through the other noises of the docks. Hunter turned to see a familiar face that had been lingering around lately and frowned.

"Hey, Dad. Hunter," Sorren greeted with a nod.

"What have you been up to?" Shep asked his son.

"Miss Janya needed some help with her groceries," the boy told. He glanced up at Hunter, a bit nervously. "Is, uh, is Althea around?"

Hunter narrowed his eyes. He was no stranger to how this boy felt for the medic of their squad. But he also was no stranger to what boys' thoughts consisted of when it came to girls. The tracker wasn't going to risk Althea, even if it was something as simple as this.

Before he could answer, the Marauder zoomed overhead.

Hunter watched as it flew over the sea. "She's up there."

"More flying lessons?" Shep chuckled.

Hunter couldn't resist the smile that formed on his lips. "Uh-huh," he chuckled. "Tech's got his hands full."

                 •°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

Althea laughed as the ship took a steep nose dive toward the water. Tech clutched his seat fearfully, but Omega –who was piloting– was smiling calmly.

"Up. Up!" Tech ordered as the sea grew closer. "Up, Omega! Pull up!"

"Copy that," the girl replied cooly. She pulled back on the controls, splashing water outside as they flew back into the sky. "I'm getting better, right?" She chuckled. "The collision alarms haven't gone off once."

"Because it shorted out during your last lesson," Tech pointed out. "But thanks to my excellent instruction, and ability to think clearly in stressful situations, you are indeed... improving."

Althea rolled her golden eyes. "I too, am extraordinarily humble."

Tech opened his mouth to argue, but Omega interrupted by asking, "So, what's next?"

A sigh escaped the pilot. "Execute a sharp swing back to port with zero thruster pull."

Both girls gasped. "The Tech Turn?"

"Really?" Omega asked.

"Now that is not what it is called–" Tech smiled. "–but I rather like it. I suggest you proceed before I come to my senses."

Omega punched it. The G-force kicked Althea and Tech back into their seats, earning scream from the latter. 

The blonde then cut the engines, did a 180° to turn, and powered them back up. "How was that?"

Tech adjusted his goggles, seeing as they had fallen halfway off his face. "Much better."

Suddenly, the console beeped. Althea glanced at it. "Incoming vessel on approach. It's him!"

Omega grinned and grabbed her comm, speaking into it. "Havoc-5 , this is Havoc-6. Do you copy?"

"Affirmative, Havoc-6," the ARC replied. "I see you've been keeping up with your training."

Omega's grin was wide. "As promised."

"Good. Race you to the landing zone?"

Tech's eyes went wide. "I do not think that is a sound idea–"

"You're on!" Althea cried.

Tech yelped as Omega rushed to land by the Archium. Once they did, the girls wasted no time to greet their comrade.

"Echo!" Omega shouted as she waved. 

Tech clutched his head and stumbled, to which Althea rolled her eyes. "It wasn't that bad, drama queen." She took off behind Omega to see Echo.

The ARC barely managed to grab Althea as he was already hugging the blonde.

"We've missed you!" The medic hummed.

Echo chuckled. "It hasn't been that long."

Althea pulled away. "Feels like it has."

"You mentioned needing some assistance with data decryption," Tech said as he approached.

Echo reached into his pouch and pulled out a data stick. "This is what's left of the files I recovered from an Imperial shuttle. It was transporting clone prisoners, and we need to know where and why."

Tech took it and nodded before heading back to the ship.

                   •°•°•°•°•°•°•

Night had fallen on Pabu as Hunter and Echo conversed. Both had a drink in their hands as they watched Wrecker chase Omega and Lyana around the Maya tree. Sorren and Althea sat in it's branches, talking and laughing.

"You all plan to stay here indefinitely?" Echo asked.

"We haven't decided yet." Hunter watched we Omega squealed with delight as she played. "But, to be honest, it might be the best thing for us. Even if there are...things I'd rather not deal with."

Echo followed his gaze to where Althea sat with Sorren. She laughed and he nudged her shoulder lightly. The ARC suppressed a grin as he realized what Hunter was referring to.

"What about you? What have you been up to?" Hunter asked.

Echo's expression became somber. "Rex and I have built up a small network of clones. Some are in hiding, underground. Others act as our contacts within the Empire."

Hunter regarded him. "Echo, you've seen the power you're up against. You can't defeat them."

"It's not about that. It's about fighting for our brothers."

"I understand why you're doing this but..." Hunter placed a hand on his shoulder and sighed, "when will it be enough?"

His comm beeped suddenly. "Hunter, I decrypted the data. You need to get back to the ship."

                       •°•°•°•°•°•

"The Imperial transport Echo hijacked was  assigned to the Advanced Science Division," Tech told them as they stood in the cabin.

Hunter folded his arms. "Never heard of it."

"That is because it is a clandestine operation." Tech turned back to the screen. "There are no records on its location or its purpose. All I could find on it was the chief scientist in charge, Dr. Royce Hemlock–"

The image changed to a man in a lab coat with a clone commando by his side.

"–An officer expelled from the Republic science corps due to his unauthorized and unorthodox experiments."

A crease formed in Omega's brow. "Why were they sending clone prisoners to him?"

Tech furrowed his brow. "I do not know, but it gets worse. Previous transfer records recovered from the ship's logs list other clone prisoners detained by the Advanced Science Division. And Crosshair is one of them."

Althea blinked. "You mean Crosshair turned on the Empire?"

Hunter leaned forward. "How sure are you about this?"

"Very." The pilot took his datapad and went to work. "After discovering his clone number on the transfer register, I checked our old comm channels and found a recent distress message sent from Crosshair's old code."

"What did it say?" Omega asked.

"Plan 88. The Seeker."

Wrecker glanced up at Hunter worriedly. Althea bit her lip.

"We are being targeted," Tech said. "I believe he is warning us."

"Or it's a trap, like he's set for us before," Althea reminded them.

Wrecker grunted in agreement.

Hunter's gaze flickered to Omega. She was watching the screen with a concerned expression. He could tell she wanted to go after the sniper. 

As much as he wanted to leave that traitor for dead, something in the tracker's soul wouldn't allow it. He turned to his intelligent brother. "Well, how do we find out?"

They could at least see if they could attempt to rescue Crosshair. They were still brothers.

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