#sgww prompt 7 week 2

[sergeantgoggles]

Title: Chaser of Stars Ship: Techo [Tech/Echo] Rated: T Summary: Alternate Storyline of the Anaxes Arch. Tech doesn't take the news of Echo's death at the Citadel well, but when the opportunity comes to rescue him, he feels guilty for ever having doubted he was still alive. Warnings: Guilt, Survivor's Guilt, Angst, Happy Ending, Canon Divergence, Crosshair Is Still A Prick. Word Count: 1462

For the Techo Anon that keeps breaking my heart.

It’s been exactly seven hundred twenty seven rotations since comm chatter relayed the words that Tech had nightmares of. 

“Echo, no! Wait! ECHO!”

“Leave him! We have to move! Fives!” 

Reports would later confirm that CT-1409, nicknamed Echo, was lost to the mission of the Citadel rescuing Jedi General Even Piell. At first, logic kicked in. There had always been the chance that every time he and Echo met it would be the last time. They were soldiers of the Galactic Republic. These sorts of things happened, and sacrifices made. 

Thinking along those lines, that logic was what Tech had hidden behind for weeks before he remembered he had asked for leave that he no longer needed. There was no Echo to fly to Coruscant to see. There was no Echo to hold him, tell him how special and important and brilliant he was, kiss him and lay him down to make love to him. Why did he need the time off if there was no one to see? 

Despite Hunter’s suggestion at taking a few days to collect himself, Tech had reassured him that he would not be a detriment to the team, and he wasn’t. He was the same as he’d always been up until now. There was no need to take a break, he thought. 

He didn’t take a break, but for the first time since getting the news about Echo’s death, Tech cried himself to sleep and slept through an entire day. His squad promised that it wasn’t an issue, but Tech prided himself on being needed. If they didn’t need him to be awake, alert, and functional, then what good was he? 

That was how he spent the last two years, throwing himself into everything tenfold, burying himself in work, researching, learning anything and everything that he could absorb that would help win the war so that no more brothers, or in his case, lovers, could be lost. 

Until Hunter had received a message from Commander Cody himself needing some help on a mission on Anaxes, Tech was fine to live by that. He would figure out what came later if he ever solved the galaxy’s problems, but that was for a different time. For now, there was a mission to focus on. It seemed simple enough. Recon, mostly, because the famed 501st and 212th were struggling. Cody told Hunter it was as though they knew every step they took, and they needed some thinking outside of the box. 

Luckily, that was their speciality. 

It was a shame that Commander Cody didn’t get to partake in much of the mission. Tech rather enjoyed the previous times he’d worked with the Marshal Commander. Anyone that was willing to roundhouse kick a droid in the chest was a good man. Words to live by, in his humble opinion. However, that left Captain Rex in charge, and Tech even though he seemed a bit stiff initially, he couldn’t hold it against him. Captain Rex had lost many soldiers recently, and good ones at that. Many of his elites in Torrent Company were gone, Fives, Tup, Dogma, Hardcase, and…

Tech swallowed thickly, remembering that Rex had been Echo’s Captain at the time of the Citadel mission. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. The cyber center was just ahead, and he had work to do as soon as they entered. 

“CT-1409.” 

When the mechanical voice spoke to him, Tech almost dropped to his knees. His mind reeled and raced, but there was no time to further question him to get the answers he needed. They had to make their escape, and now that they had the data that they needed, they could make a new plan. 

“Echo…he’s alive.” 

Rex said it, and Tech nodded as they sped back to the base. 

“He talked about you a lot, you know.” 

Tech looked up and smiled sadly. He hadn’t known that. He didn’t think he was anyone to brag about to anyone. 

“Echo…cared about you. If there’s anything–” 

“There is nothing,” Tech said too quickly, but Rex seemed to understand. They left it at that. 

.

Skako MInor was about as inviting as Tech had expected it would be, being a neutral territory. Truthfully, he was thankful that his ability to speak a number of different languages had at least gotten them access to the city where the Techno Union stronghold was, but his mind was racing otherwise. Echo was alive, or at least that was what they’d been led to believe. Hunter was skeptical, and Tech had no problem reeling back and punching Crosshair square in the face when he suggested leaving him like Rex had at the Citadel. 

“Whoa! Easy, Tech!” Wrecker had picked him up, but he still squirmed and kicked his legs. 

“Put me down! I will–”

“Everyone calm down!” General Skywalker ordered, which was for the best. Tech wasn’t sure he’d have listened to anyone else at that moment. Not even Hunter. 

They fought their way into the base and into the room where Echo’s signal was transmitting from. Tech’s chest ached with how fast his heart was racing as he plugged in his datapad and got to work. His fingers flew over the buttons and switches until it was safe to open the compartment. 

Tech had prepared himself for a lot of things. This was not one of them. His racing heart came to a screeching halt and his eyes welled with tears for the first time since he’d cried himself to sleep over two years ago. “...Echo?”

Echo’s eyes moved, but not of their own accord. He was still being accessed and used like a machine, which made sense with the amount of mechanical ports and cords hanging out of him. Waves and waves of emotions flooded his system, but he had work to do.

“Help me get him down! We need to unplug him!” Tech ordered. He didn’t care that Rex was over him, he was going to get the help he needed to rescue Echo if he had to demand it of General Skywalker. As he set to work, tears pooled into his goggles and dripped down his cheeks in slow trails. Obviously there were differences. For one, being frozen in cryosleep for so long had sucked the color from him. His head was shaved, or more likely, the hair follicles were destroyed. 

What struck Tech the most was exactly how much of Echo’s body had been replaced by mechanical parts: both legs, half of his right arm, and most of his torso. There were ports where his ears used to be, and his spine was fused together by metal plates and wires. To be honest, it was a lot to take in, but Tech kept working. WOrking out the logistics could come later. Right now, he needed to focus on freeing Echo from the Techno Union’s control. 

Finally all that was left was unplugging the wires in his back. Rex helped him disconnect the ports and they hissed, making Echo jerk in pain and groan. 

“I am sorry, Echo. Just a few more,” Tech soothed. 

Echo nodded. Good, he was becoming more aware. That was a good sign. 

When they pulled the last port Echo slumped back to the ground with a loud cry. Before he could hit the ground Tech had him in his arms, holding him close to his chest and rocking. Slowly, a cold, flesh hand settled on the back of his bucket and tore it off. 

“...Tech?” Echo’s voice was raspy from being unused, but it still made Tech’s spine stiffen and his stomach flutter as tears kept pouring down his cheeks. 

“You are alive,” Tech stated the obvious as he cupped Echo’s cheeks in his hands. “I looked for you. I looked everywhere for you!”

Guilt and fear rose in Tech’s throat, and he coughed harshly. He’d spent years searching, but never found any leads. He’d had suspicions. There was no body, but oftentimes bodies didn’t turn up. That was just how it was, but Tech had held out hope, no matter how pointless it seemed. 

“Hey, I’m right here,” Echo soothed as though Tech had been the one that needed rescuing, like the stars themselves were touching his skin and it burned in the absolute best way. “No more tears.” 

Sniffing hard, Tech nodded and moved his goggles to wipe his eyes. There was so much to say, but time was of the essence. He could say it later, he hoped. 

“I…” He tried, but trailed off when Echo kissed his cheek, cutting off any other trains of thought. 

“You can tell me everything once we get out of here,” Echo promised, and Tech believed him.

Echo was alive, and Tech was never letting him out of his sight again.