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retrospect1003 · 1 day ago

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Calling All Skeletons | Chapter 5: Decommissioned Views

Notes: Ngl, there's a lot in this one. It was fun though! A lot of building trust. Enjoy!

Word Count: ~5.7k words

Banner by: @blackseafoam

Cid’s parlor was now being used for target practice. Echo stood with Omega, guiding her on how to use her energy bow. Hunter was practically monitoring them by standing directly behind the two. Tech tinkered with something, occasionally getting up to see Omega’s progress. Doc and Wrecker sat together on one of the holochess tables.

Doc winced at Omega’s latest miss, nearly hitting an entering customer, “A little too close for comfort there.”

“Sorry!” Omega shouted aloud, both to the now fleeing customer and Doc.

Echo knelt down to the young clone’s level, helping her focus back on the target for practice. While doing this, the annoying duo of Bolo and Ketch was placing bets. Doc, trying to be subtle, cleared her throat loudly at them. They either didn’t get the hint or didn’t care.

Zing!

“Ah! got it!” Omega cheered as she turned to Echo.

Echo gave her a smile, “Good,” he ushered her to face the target, “Again.”

Omega scoffed, “But I already hit the target three times.”

“Out of twelve. That’s luck, Omega, not skill,” Echo placed a hand on her shoulder, “Soldiers need to be consistent.” Omega just turned with a sigh, getting her bow ready. Bolo and Ketch were back to cackling and betting.

Doc raised a brow at Echo’s words, “Last time I checked, Omega isn’t a soldier like us.”

Echo turned his attention to Doc, “It was just a figure of speech-”

Omega’s bolt blasted through and knocked a holochess table’s power. She groaned, frustrated, as she faced the squad, “I was doing better until those two showed up!” Referring to Bolo and Ketch.

“Hey, don’t sweat it, kid,” Doc assured, shooting a glare over at the two annoying Omega.

Echo put a hand on the girl’s shoulder, “You have to learn to tune out distractions, which comes with practice.” He turned her around as he stood, pointing towards the target with his scomp, “Again.”

Omega readied her energy bow once again. She whiffed her shot, hitting nowhere near the target.

Wrecker leaned towards Hunter and Doc in a whisper, “Not exactly a natural, is she?” The medic rolled her eyes as she shoved Wrecker’s shoulder to knock him off the table. “Hey!” He blurted as he caught himself from fully tipping over, turning to Doc with his arms crossed.

“What?” Doc shrugged, feigning innocence in her expression. It didn’t stop the mischievous grin curling her lips as they held their gaze with one another.

“Okay, playtime’s over,” Cid butted in, walking over to stand in between Doc and Wrecker, “We need to talk.” She ushered Ketch and Bolo out before she continued with her proposal.

Doc and Wrecker held eye contact for a moment longer. Doc hopped off of the table as she faced Cid, her glance locked with Wrecker’s until she finally broke it. Wrecker blinked rapidly, not realizing he had been staring until that moment and shaking himself out of it.

As she walked back over, Cid placed her hands on her hips while asking her question, “I’m assuming you boys know what a tactical droid is?” After a very short period of silence, she started to give the details, “They were the op-”

Tech couldn’t stop himself from interrupting, “The operational brains of the Separatist military-”

“Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba! This is my briefing, Goggles,” Cid stopped him while he was ahead just so she could get her intel out. She turned to the holotable and pressed a few buttons to project a tactical droid, “Tactical droid intel has tremendous value. Which is why you’re going to break into this decommissioning factory on Corellia,” she practically ordered as she switched to a layout of the facility, “And retrieve one before they’re all destroyed.”

Hunter glanced away from the hologram in thought. He focused back on Cid, “We haven’t decided if we’re going to work for you or not.”

Cid wasn’t going to take no for an answer, shutting off the hologram as she spoke, “Allow me to decide for you. You’re in!”

The older squad members shared some glances between each other as Cid continued, “I’m talking a mutually beneficial arrangement. You make money, I make money, and I watch your back.”

Doc’s brows furrowed while her lips scrunched into a frown. The others looked hesitantly between each other.

“With the heat on you, it’s the best option you’ve got,” Cid finished.

With a sigh, Hunter reluctantly gave in, “I guess we’re in.”

“I know you’re in. I just told you you’re in!” She replied nonchalantly, walking over to Omega, “And you! You’re releasing too soon because of those weak noodle arms.” Cid took one of Omega’s hands and waved her arm before she took her energy bow, “Build up your strength.” She proceeded to shoot three swift shots directly in the middle of the target before handing the bow back to the girl, “Lesson over.” With that, Cid walked away from the group.

Doc didn’t realize she was holding her breath as she finally released a long sigh, mumbling under her breath, “I don’t like her.”

On the Marauder, Doc was glued to her data pad. The blue light reflected onto her face as she scrolled in a corner of the front cabin. The trip would be short, but she took whatever down time she could get to-

“Whatcha lookin’ at?” Wrecker squatted in front of the medic as she scrambled to shut off her data pad.

She sucked in a breath through her nose before sighing, “Geez, you came out of nowhere,” Doc set her data pad in one of her pouches, “It wasn’t anything important.”

Wrecker sheepishly smiled, “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare ya.”

“No worries,” She wrapped her arm around the knee to her chest as she tilted her head, “Did you need anything?”

“Actually,” He started as he rubbed the back of his head, “Did ya have anymore of that stuff?”

She raised a brow, “You mean the tea I gave you?”

Wrecker’s smile widened, “Yeah! The sweet stuff you gave me for my headache.”

“You had the last of it,” Doc answered with a sideways smile.

Disappointed, he groaned as he rolled his head, “Aw man.”

“Another headache?”

“Yeah. I thought since the tea helped last time that I could drink some before it got bad.”

Doc hummed in response as she thought of a solution. She picked herself up off the ground and dusted off her legs as she spoke, “Go back to the bunks and close your eyes for a bit. The lights from hyperspace and computers could be irritating your eyes and, in turn, your head.”

From the copilot seat, Echo took a chance to glance back at the two. His brow barely twitched in intrigue at Wrecker’s request for some kind of medical attention. He took a mental note of this as he shared a similar look with Tech.

“Oh, uh,” Wrecker darted his eyes away from Doc, “I don’t really have a headache right now. I just- uh, wanted to have that tea just in case.”

The medic stared at the large clone for a moment with her eyes slightly narrowed, “Right…” There was a brief moment of silence before the large clone crumbled under his white lie, “I just wanted more tea.”

“Thought so,” she crossed her arms as she shook her head playfully at him, “I don’t blame you. It’s good stuff.”

“Better than the rations we have,” Wrecker replied with a chuckle. Doc couldn’t stop herself from chuckling softly with him.

“What’s funny?” Hunter asked as he stepped into the front cabin with Omega, looking between the two. He seemed genuinely curious.

The larger clone shrugged as he turned his attention to Hunter with a smile, “Nothin’. Just joking about the tea Doc gave me.”

Hunter’s brows scrunched, “Tea?”

“It was an herbal remedy,” Doc butted in before any other conclusions could be made.

Before anything else could be debated, Tech maneuvered the Marauder under a cargo hold as soon as they left hyperspace. He flips the ship upside down and attaches to the bottom of the base.

“This old trick?” Echo turned to the pilot in question.

“It gets us past the planetary sensors every time,” Tech defended before turning his attention back to navigation and pressing a few buttons on the console.

Doc leaned forward beside Tech’s chair to get a better look out the viewport, “Never would have thought this would work.”

Omega was studying a hologram of a tactical droid, scrunching her brows as she tried to figure it out, “Why is a tactical droid more important than the other droids?” She turned to Echo.

Echo shifted his chair towards the girl, “The more tactical droids fought, the more they learned,” he stopped for a moment as Omega looked back to the hologram, “And won.”

“Yeah, except against us!” Wrecker boasted and followed with a hearty chuckle.

Tech answered Omega’s question further, “With clones now serving the Empire, knowing how to defeat them just went up in value.”

“We’re approaching the decommissioning site,” Echo quickly pointed out, getting everyone back on track, “We can land at the industrial dockyard and go in on foot.”

After landing and ducking through dark corners, the squad finds themselves just outside the factory. Not only that, but they discover the presence of more than just some factory workers.

“Cid didn’t mention this place was guarded by police droids,” Hunter passively complained to the leading Tech.

Using his visor to scan and identify the droids’ programming, Tech reassures, “They’re operating on a rotating quadrant scan. If timed correctly, there’s an entry point in their blind spot.” He focuses on the latter and up to the possible entrance they can use, “Follow me.”

They follow each other in a line and gather around the base of the latter. At the sight, Wrecker’s gaze trails up the latter in dread, “Uh-oh…”

Doc tilts her head at his remark, “What?”

“He’s got a thing with heights,” Echo elaborated before following Tech up the latter.

“Oh,” She looks between Wrecker and the latter as Omega starts her climb. Doc gave the large clone an awkward pat on the arm before starting to go up the ladder herself.

With a groan and slight shake of the head, Wrecker follows the rest of the squad carefully up. Once at the top after everyone, he heaves a sigh of relief before going into the dingy factory.

The squad piled outside of the next door with Hunter listening closely for anyone to pass by. He readied his blaster as he heard footsteps, turning to Wrecker and giving him a nod as the footsteps grew closer. Wrecker walked up to the door, readying himself to grab and subdue whoever was on the other side. Hunter pressed the control panel by the door and it flew open as a factory worker walked by. Unfortunate for that guy, Wrecker snatched him back real quick in a headlock.

“Nighty night,” Wrecker sang as he moved back with the worker, tossing him to the side once he’s unconscious.

One by one, The Bad Batch moves out into the scaffolding and gets a better look of the facility with blasters at the ready. Hunter starts to lay out the plan while they’re ducked behind railings, “Echo, Tech. We’ll locate and retrieve the droid.” He turns towards Wrecker, Omega, and Doc, “Wrecker. Cover us up top-”

“But,” Wrecker sighs in hesitance, “Being the lookout was Crosshair’s job.”

“That wasn’t a request,” Hunter retorted firmly before continuing his plan, “Omega, Doc. Stay here and keep your eyes peeled for the target. Let’s move!”

Before any other arguments could be made, Hunter was on the move with Tech and Echo following closely behind him. Wrecker started to follow to find higher ground, nervously groaning before he continued down the path. Doc and Omega watched the men go off before looking at each other.

“If you asked me, I would’ve made us the lookouts,” Doc dryly joked as she pulled out a visor from her pack. Omega just shrugged as she moved further along the scaffolding, finding a good spot to peek through with her own visor. Awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand, Doc moved in the opposite direction of Omega and scanned the conveyor belts of droid parts.

The separate trio relayed information about the tactical droid as the others searched for any remnants of it. Zooming in on one of the conveyor belts, Omega managed to find exactly what they’re looking for, “Found it. Sort of…” She comms in, “The droid’s already in pieces.”

Tech comes in over comms, “Is the head in tact?”

“Affirmative- Wait! Someone just ran off with the droid head!” Omega relayed, moving her visor away in shock.

Doc and Wrecker quickly brought up their visors and looked in the direction Omega originally found the droid. “I see ‘em!” Wrecker confirmed, “One of the workers is stealing our target.”

Omega kept an eye on the worker as she stood up, “I’m on it!”

“Negative!” Hunter warned, “You stay out of sight. Doc, go for the droid.”

Before Doc could copy back to Hunter, she turned towards Omega and saw a worker trap her way out. The medic kept quiet with her blaster at the ready, slowly starting to approach them.

“Stay,” Omega started to warn as she armed herself with her energy bow, arms unsteady, “Back!”

The worker lifted up her mask while gesturing Omega to lower her weapon, “Whoa whoa. Take it easy, kid.” She softened her look, “I don’t wanna hurt you, but I can’t have you getting in the way.”

Doc continued to slowly approach the stranger from behind, keeping her steps light and putting her finger to where her mouth would be to keep Omega from alerting the stranger.

“You’re the one in my way,” Omega retorted with a furrowed brow.

“Rafa, I’ve got the target. Where are you?” An unknown voice relayed to the stranger, presumably Rafa.

Omega lifted her bow up, “Don’t answer that.” She glanced past Rafa to see Doc, but quickly brought her focus back to the woman in front of her. More comm chatter rang from her device, but Rafa complied and ignored it.

“Your arms look a little shaky there,” She pointed out to Omega, trying to get her to budge but having no luck. “Okay, you win,” Rafa said in Omega’s favor, “Why don’t you ease up on that thing and we can talk about this?”

Doc could see Omega considering the woman’s offer. Without a moment to waste as Omega started to lower her weapon, Doc lunged forward to grapple Rafa just as she started to reach for the girl. Out of shock, Omega stubbled back as she fired her bow, falling to the ground. Her energy bow just slipped from her hands and down onto the lower floors.

Doc and Rafa wrestled with each other before hearing the bolt’s impact with a pipe and steam to flood through. In an instant, alarms started blaring.

“Ugh. Nice going, kid,” Rafa scoffed at Omega.

“Me?!” Omega started to argue.

Doc shoved Rafa away from Omega, standing between them with a growl at the woman, “You started this.”

Police droids started to flood in immediately. Each of them turned towards the droids, Doc starting to fire at them one by one.

“Don’t just stand there,” Rafa pulled out her blaster as she glanced back at Omega, “Grab a weapon!”

“I had one,” Omega grumbled, narrowing her eyes at Rafa.

Just as Doc was firing, Wrecker joined in to help slow down the droids. “Get moving!” Wrecker called out to the two. “Working on it!” Doc quickly responded as she ducked to avoid a bolt.

Rafa started to run away, but not without Omega right on her tail as she spoke into her comm, “There’s a second person after the tactical droid! Don’t worry, I’m in pursuit.” By the time Doc got a chance to turn around, Omega had already started down the latter.

“No, stay put. We already have the droid head-”

“I’m after Omega!” Doc interrupted Hunter as she followed the young clone’s path.

Walking down the next platform, Rafa finally got a chance to use her comm, “Trace! Where are you?”

“Down here!” A younger girl looking to be Rafa’s sister called out from a set of stairs just below the platform. Just as quickly as she appeared, Hunter was bounding up the stairs after her. Not knowing what else to do, she calls out to Rafa, “Catch!” As she throws the droid head to her. Rafa manages to catch it with ease, “Got it! Come on!” She starts a run down the platform, not paying any attention as she collides with a police droid. The droid head is knocked out of her hand and falls back onto the conveyor belt.

“I’ve got it!” Trace and Omega simultaneously said, sending a determined glare at each other before going off in separate directions.

“Omega-” Doc started to call out to her before more blaster bolts were fired.

Hunter covered Rafa, shooting the droid she ran into. She turned to Hunter, “Hope you’re not expecting gratitude.”

Hunter lowered her blasters, mildly frustrated, “Should I have let the droids shoot you?”

Doc shot at a police droid from behind, turning her head over her shoulder briefly, “Is a debate necessary right now?” Police droids started to surround them, each of them firing their blasters in every direction to hold them off.

Amidst the blaster fire, Omega finally gave an update, “I have the droid head!”

“Nice work. Now hang tight,” Echo relayed over comms, still trying to override the security system.

Doc, Hunter, and Rafa kept each other covered for a good bit before noticing that the conveyors stopped. The medic immediately commed in while firing, “Echo, what happened?”

There was a short silence before Echo commed in, “Wrecker, get to the main control panel.”

“Doc, let them handle it. Focus on the droids,” Hunter called out, shooting a bolt past her head to hit a police droid coming up on her.

“Right,” She simply responded, ignoring the further comm chatter about the reboot. The amount of police droids moving in was starting to get overwhelming. Once they could, the three of them ducked behind an offshoot between the railings to try and recover.

Hunter watched Rafa as they got into cover, “Why are you after the tactical droid?”

“That’s not your business, clone,” She replied with spite in her words.

“It is today,” He pressed, trying to get an answer.

Standing back up from cover, Doc and Rafa shot at the approaching droids.

“I didn’t know there were female clones,” Rafa said aloud to Doc.

“Not a clone, but that’s not your business,” Doc sarcastically replied, shooting just past Rafa’s shoulder and nailing a droid in the head.

“Rafa, I’ve got the target,” Trace’s voice rang through Rafa’s comm, “Meet me at the north exit.”

Ducking under cover once again, Rafa grabbed her comm to respond, “Little busy right now!”

More blaster fire and dodging, yet the police droids kept coming and coming. Amidst it all, Omega’s terrified voice rings through comms, “Hunter, I’m stuck on the conveyor. I need help.”

Hunter and Doc look between each other before looking around to see what they could do to buy more time. “I’m on my way,” Hunter calls out as he grabs his grappling hook. Doc didn’t need an order to know that she had to cover Hunter and let him go through with his idea.

Rafa furrows her brows in confusion at Hunter, “What are you doing?”

“I’m taking down the support posts,” He answered firmly, “Follow me!” Without further question, Doc is right behind Hunter, leaping after him onto the conveyor belt.

“Who put you in charge?” Rafa questioned from the scaffolding.

“Does it matter?” Doc called out, starting to get frustrated. She turns to the end of the conveyor belt and has eyes on Omega. Instinctively, she starts running in that direction, “Hunter, cover me!”

The conveyor belt jerks, Hunter’s plan to take out the posts working as the wire tugs on the supports. In a moment, it all starts to crash down, Rafa taking a last minute jump onto the belt.

“Hunter!” Omega calls out in desperation as she tries to pull herself out from under the droid.

“Hang on, Omega!” Hunter calls out as he jumps and climbs over the varying droid parts. Doc and Hunter were both rushing to get to Omega, hearing Rafa complaining about something but not caring to listen.

Doc was a few feet ahead of Hunter, shooting at the police droids from above but still moving closer to Omega. “Hold on, hold on!” She called out to her. She was just about to grab her to keep Omega from falling in, but was a hair too late. Without thinking, Doc jumped into the pit after the girl. “I’m gonna get you out,” She reassured just before hearing a voice from behind them.

“Hey! Over here! Hurry!”

Trace had some back to help by some miracle. Doc didn’t waste any time as she helped Omega to her feet and hurried her towards the edge to meet Trace. Seeing that Omega couldn’t reach, the medic did the only thing she could think to do. Just as the pit started to open up, Doc knelt by the edge and turned her head to look at Omega, “Climb me!”

“What? But Doc-”

“Go, Omega!”

She wanted to protest, but did as the medic told her, climbing onto her shoulders. As soon as Doc felt Omega’s feet on her shoulders, she stood up to let Trace pull her up out of the pit. Doc could feel the parts falling beneath her feet before she jumped to grab the edge. Her fingers gripped at the metal as hard as they could as she started to pull herself up.

Doc could see the police droids moving in from above, and she was about to risk everything to get her blaster out and cover the girls until she watched a bolt fly through a droid. Hunter grunts loudly as he shoots at the droids before jumping down to the edge of the pit. He grabs Doc by the wrists and pulls her out.

Hunter turns to both of his squad members, “Are you both okay?”

“Yeah,” Omega breathes out with a smile, still trying to calm down after that scare.

Doc heaves a breath of relief, “Still breathing.”

Hunter turns to Trace after they all take a moment to catch their breath, “Thank you.”

“I think I’d be cooked if you weren’t there to get Omega,” Doc expressed as she started to get up from laying on the ground.

Trace smiles warmly at him, “You’re welcome.”

Just as they started to stand up and get their bearings, Rafa can be heard yelling before crashing down beside them. She stands up and looks at the four staring at her, dusting herself off, “Oh, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me or anything.” Doc shoots a droid behind her before placing a hand on her hip. Rafa rolls her eyes, “Well, this has been a real treat, but as you can see, the tactical droid is ours.” She gestures to the droid head in Trace’s hands.

“Still on about that?” Doc commented with a groan.

“We can debate this later,” Hunter pulled out his blasters, “If we wanna get out of her, we need to work together.”

Rafa huffed, “Fine, but I still don’t like you.”

“I’m used to it!”

With that, they all turned and bounded down the pathway, turning to shoot incoming droids over their shoulders. As they ran, they could overhear Tech’s calls for Wrecker over comms. Doc couldn’t ignore it any longer and sighed heavily before turning and running in the direction they came from.

“I’m going to find Wrecker,” She spoke quickly into comms as she continued on.

She shot at oncoming droids and she climbed the destroyed scaffolding. She flung herself onto bits of metal that was still intact and came across the tower Wrecker originally climbed. As she started to climb the latter, she whipped herself around a few times to shoot at any droids that were on her. Stepping onto the platform, she rounded the tower and saw Wrecker laid out on the floor of the tower across the way. “Oh no,” She mumbled to herself before calling out to him, “Wrecker!”

With no response, she looked down at the pit between them and groaned, “I get the fear of heights now.” She took a few steps back before running and grabbing onto the claw, swinging herself onto the ledge. In an instant, she tried to shake him to get a response, “Wrecker. Wrecker, are you with me?” A groan was all she needed to know that he was still alive as she opened one of her pouches to pull out a stimpack. Right as she started to prepare it, Omega’s comm came through.

“Wrecker, do you copy?” She starts, and like clockwork Wrecker starts to rise.

Doc scooted back to give him some space, breathing out heavily in relief as she started to tuck the stimpack away.

“Wrecker, where are you? We need your help?” Omega called out again.

“Found him,” Doc quickly responded in comms as she stood up with Wrecker. “You good, man?”

Wrecker shakes his head with a grumble, getting himself out of the daze he was in. He turns to Doc and gives her a nod, “Let’s go.”

“Great, this way-”

“Oh, no. I am NOT jumping over that again,” Wrecker firmly argued.

Doc sighed and started to look around, “Okay, well, what do you suggest we do then?”

The two started looking around as they headed down the scaffolding on the opposite side of the tower. Wrecker suddenly stopped when he looked over the railing and saw blaster fire. That’s when it hit him.

“You’re gonna get on my shoulders and we’re gonna jump down,” Wrecker looked over at Doc as he squatted down for her to climb on.

Doc looked over the edge and then back at Wrecker, “You’re joking! I thought you were scared of heights.” They stared at each other for a second before the medic sighed, “You’re not joking… Okay.” She moved behind Wrecker and climbed to sit on his shoulders, locking her legs around them to keep herself in place. With her blaster ready, she gave him a signal to go for the jump.

Wrecker laughed in excitement as he picked up a dead police droid on the ground, lugging it over the railing to get the attention of the droids below as he stepped onto the railing. He then jumped off with an enthusiastic yell as they plummeted to the ground below, Doc shouting more out of fear until they landed.

Both of them began to blast at the police droids, Wrecker letting out another hearty laugh as he slings a police droid into the others. “Yeah! I got tired of you guys having all the fun!” He exclaimed as he knelt down to shoot and also let Doc get off his shoulders.

Doc swung her legs off of Wrecker and slid off his back, turning to the droids again to keep shooting. “I’m never doing that again,” she huffed with a slight laugh, a bit of thrill rushing through her.

“Haha! That laugh says otherwise!” Wrecker pointed out as he picked up a droid to use as cover.

Another chuckle escaped Doc’s mouth as they kept shooting, the medic now behind Wrecker as he shielded them. More police droids started to flood in to the point where the squad was severely overwhelmed. Wrecker nudged Doc into cover before the droid he was using as a shield took a few hits, causing him to fall back and slide into cover with her.

“Hang on. The data exchange is nearly complete,” Tech advised as he types away on his data pad, “Done!” He pulled the data rod from the droid head as it activated.

Trace turns the head around and gives a command, “Activate battle droids. Command them to attack all police droids.”

The lights on the tactical droid’s face shine as he speaks, “Affirmative.” Each droid hanging and on a conveyor belt starts to activate and moves in on the police droids when commanded.

Echo turned, ready to shoot at a nearby droid before it turned away to go after the police droids. “Never thought I’d see battle droids helping us,” He turned to Hunter and the others.

“That’s our cue,” Hunter calls out, “Move out!”

As the squad begins to roll out, Tech walks by Hunter with the data rod and hands it to him, “Mission accomplished.”

Hunter tucks it away, “Nice work,”

Trace pulls out her comm as they run down the corridor, “R7, we’re ready for pickup.”

Continuing down the hall, Omega smiles wide as she finds her lost energy bow. She scoops it off the ground as they all continue down the way to the exit.

Trace keeps R7 updated on their position up until they’re blocked by police droids. To avoid getting shot, she lifts the tactical droid head to her chest and it gets knocked out of her hand by a blast, effectively destroying it.

In a moment of rush, Omega readies her bow and takes a shot at the droid approaching them. After nailing the hit and finding her rhythm, she smiles wide, “Yeah!” She continues her fire as Trace moves behind her with a compliment, “Nice shot.”

“It’s all about tuning out distractions,” Omega explained as she steadily continued her fire.

A ship came into view and docked near the entrance they were heading for. “He’s here! Let’s go!” Trace calls out to everyone as she runs ahead to the ship. Doc and Wrecker brought up the rear as everyone loaded onto the ship, turning towards the open hanger with blasters at the ready as it closed and the ship took off.

Doc turned to Wrecker as she took her helmet off and holstered her blaster. Just as he was taking his helmet off, the medic scrunched her brows as she pointed at the blast mark on his armor.

“I didn’t even notice that you were shot,” She first commented with a huff following, “I have to run a diagnostic on you when we get back on the Marauder. No ifs, ands, or buts.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Wrecker started as they walked up the front cabin, “But I’m fine. Just hit my head really hard-”

“Still running it. Protocol.”

“Who’s protocol?”

“Mine,” Doc firmly stated as they found two seats up front.

Rafa turned towards the two, “Hey, cut him a break. You did some cool stuff out there, big guy,” She smiled at Wrecker as she patted his shoulder, turning to the ones in the walkway.

Trace frowned, looking to the ground, “All that work for nothing…”

“Whoever Cid’s buyer is isn’t gonna be happy,” Omega added as she looked at Hunter with a frown.

Rafa looked between them all, furrowing her brows in anger, “Let me get this straight. You know how dangerous the information on the tactical droid is, but you didn’t know who you were giving it to?”

Hunter crosses his arms, “We’re being paid to acquire and deliver, not ask questions.”

“Our contact needed that information to fight back against the Empire,” Trace explained with concern over her face, “They’re trying to help people and make things better.”

Tech and Hunter share a similar look between each other, as if coming to a silent agreement.

“Why aren’t you fighting with the Empire? Isn’t that what you clones do now?” Rafa further questioned.

“Not all of us,” Hunter answered, “We’re different.”

“Yeah,” Rafa rolls her eyes as she turns away to the front cabin, “I’ve heard that before.”

Once the Marauder has taken off back to Ord Mantell, Doc started the process of a diagnostic on Wrecker. As she stuck him with a device to scan his condition, Hunter approached her. Without looking up from her data pad, Doc spoke, “Can I help you?”

Hunter crossed his arms as he leaned against the adjacent wall, “No. I just wanted to say thank you.”

Doc stopped as the data loaded onto her pad, looking to Hunter, “For what exactly?”

“Just… Everything today. Risking your life for Omega and Wrecker. I don’t know what could’ve happened today if you weren’t there,” Hunter explained honestly as he gave her a sincere look.

“I couldn’t just stand by,” Doc started with a small smile as she turned back to her data pad, “Don’t thank me. Go relax, Hunter.” With an understanding nod, Hunter got up and left Doc to examine Wrecker’s results.

Her brows furrowed as she examined the data. The blast only caused some minor bruising, but there was a major red flag when looking at his head. She presumes this would be where the chip she heard about it, and it looks to be gradually causing more irritation. “No wonder you’re always getting headaches,” She commented as she grabbed a bacta patch.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Somethin’ wrong?” Wrecker’s brows upturned with concern.

“Not necessarily,” Doc explained as she carefully placed the patch on his head, “I believe your chip is causing your head pain. Might be flaring up from previous head injuries. You need to be more careful.”

Wrecker laughed, “Careful? Me?”

Doc crossed her arms after placing the patch, raising a brow at Wrecker, “Do you want to have a headache for the rest of your life or not?”

Wrecker turned to look at Doc and felt that heat rise to his cheeks again. This was a new kind of sass he was seeing. “Uh, no. You’re right,” He eventually agreed as he got up and cleared his throat, “Thank ya, Doc.”

“Anytime, Wrecker,” Doc finally shared a smile with him as she patted his shoulder, going up to the front cabin to join everyone else.

Wrecker rubbed the bacta patch on his head for a moment as he watched her walk away. It took Echo coughing near him with a stern look to make the large clone stop staring, shaking his head with a groan. “What is wrong with me?”

Notes: YAY I DID IT!!! HOORAY! Honestly, writing this chapter made me appreciate s1:e6 even more. Hope you all enjoyed it! I'll be working on the next chapter soon and get some more one on one character interactions between Doc and the other squad members! Hooray! See y'all next time!

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