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silverwings22 · 15 hours

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Song of the Sea: Chapter 5: Starlight

Chapter warning: mind control, dead body, profanity, Series warning: explicit smut, alien anatomy (it's a monsterfucker fic, guys), major character injury, grief, canon typical violence, autistic meltdowns, and my terrible attempts at Mando'a

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Tech had been gone a long time. They'd been on missions, back to back, and Shiani tried to be understanding but the wait between comm calls was agonizing. He'd told her when he'd left last that he'd come see her immediately when he returned, but she'd seen his heavily modified ship just a few days ago come in and leave in the span of a few hours.

Tech never lied to Shiani. There had to be a reason for the sudden departure without a word or even comm, but it still stung slightly. She wasn’t so immature as to blame him for it, since he had a duty to attend first. Still, when she saw the Havoc Marauder docking again only a day after it last left she didn't feel like being patient and waiting for him to call for her. This was as good a time as any to face her fears about the hangar bay, and since his batch knew about her she could just slip onto the ship to spend some time with them all. She’d surprise him, and maybe he’d let her look at the engine up close so she could recreate it.

She waited until the hangar was empty of regs, shifting her form and slipping on the pair of red cadet pants he'd given her months ago. She didn't hate wearing them as much as she used to, the rough fabric more bearable when it was dry, and he'd given her a waterproof bag to carry them plus a few tools in for her exploring. Once the coast was clear and the sounds of hangar crew faded, she put the backpack on and crept up into the hangar bay. It was a frightening experience, being so close to the long necks and the city, but she told herself the hanger was still outside so it didn't count.

Big, shiny ships were docked everywhere. She wanted to explore all of them too, but the risk of capture was too great. It wasn’t just her own life she gambled with if she was caught, but every siren in every city below. Longnecks had long memories and genetics technology at the time of the Great Flood, there had to be records. If anyone who’d seen them saw Shiani, the hunt could be on. She hadn’t given up her place among her people because she hated them, she couldn’t risk endangering them just because she was desperate to see the only friend they’d left her.

His ship, the heavily modified Omicron, was easy to find between the other models she’d learned to identify on sight. She settled behind some crates near it, curling her tentacles around herself and doing her best to be unobtrusive. No one was looking for her or at her, so she just waited.

Feels weird here. Felt weird for days… She fiddled with her own claws as she waited. There had been a lot of noise one night, sounds of blaster fire and yelling that quickly stifled itself. She'd been more than a little worried about it and the clones inside. They were just men, human men that were fragile and easily killed no matter how strong they were. They couldn't breathe underwater or squish themselves into convenient hidey-holes like she could. They didn't have suction cups to climb or fangs and claws to defend themselves. Without their tools and blasters, they were vulnerable.

What if something up here was trying to hurt them? What if it tried to hurt Tech? She was willing to fight for him now, but the rules of engagement were so different above water. She couldn’t just throw herself at everything until she knew what was really an enemy and what was a circumstance she could solve with words. Sometimes she wondered if she’d fought her brother for Tech’s life years ago, if things would have been different. Maybe more clones would know sirens, and more friendships could bloom… The sirens could have helped the clones with the way the longnecks treated them. Tech would spare her details, usually engrossed in something else, but she knew there was a reason he thought of himself as expendable. And she didn’t like it.

She ducked a little lower when two regs carried a litter into the hangar and set it in the corner. "Just leave it here for now. They'll send a team for disposal." One was saying through his helmet. The other gave a quick motion, hand coming up to his head and back down. That’s what he calls a salute. That means the other is a superior officer.

When the regs had gone, Shiani inched over towards the litter. Tipoca city insisted on dumping its trash outside her front door, so if whatever this was turned out to be useful maybe she could save them the effort. It wouldn’t even have to get dented on it’s way down if she took it… it wasn’t stealing if they were throwing it away, right?

She pulled up the white sheet and almost screamed.

It was a togruta woman, full of blaster holes. Her face was frozen in a look of shock, body limp and cold with blood underneath her. By her orange hand was a cylinder, a hilt of a weapon Tech had shown Shiani pictures of at the same time she'd seen a holo of this exact togruta.

This was Jedi Master Shak Ti, who oversaw training on Kamino. Dead.

Shiani scrambled back, skin turning near white with terror. “Jedi are generals… friends.” She whispered to herself. Something was wrong, and all the shooting before… Had the regs killed the Jedi? Why would they?! Tech had told her countless times how much the clones respected the Jedi who led them. He’d had a glowing review of Generals Skywalker and Kenobi especially. This didn’t make sense… But now Tech’s concern the regs might hurt her was weighing heavily on her mind.

She had to get away from here, but if Tech was in trouble she had to help. Tech was too important to her… she raced back to her hiding place by his ship and shivered. Maybe she could comm him, Tech would have an explanation. He always had an explanation for her.

Shiani pulled up her comm, but instead of an answer she heard a buzz in the crate she was leaning on. She frowned, leaning up on her toes and doubling over the open top face first. Tech shouldn’t have been inside a box, but then again the entire trip up to the hangar had been confusing. If he was, she’d just have to pull him out and ask her questions directly.

It wasn't Tech, but it was his very distinct armor. Shiani frowned deeper, picking up his helmet. If he wasn't here…

She heard the hangar door open and scrunched down further inside the crate, closing her eyes. She was going to die, she was sure of it. "Quick, get your gear. We've got to go back for Crosshair." Someone said, and a half-heartbeat later Shiani recognized that the voice wasn't a reg. She’d heard it on recording a dozen times, if never live. She’d never actually spoken to any of Tech’s brothers face to face, only signing through the glass. She only knew them through his recordings and stories.

Her head popped up immediately, laying eyes on the tattooed face of the Bad Batch's leader. "Hunter sergeant?"

He jumped, pointing a blaster at her reflexively. "Shit! Shiani?"

Shiani nodded vigorously. "Came to find Tech, but I found a dead Jedi." She whispered.

A hand behind her scooped Tech's helmet from her hands. "You should not have come to the surface. You could be killed." It was Tech, in just his blacks, giving her a stern look. She wilted a little.

"I got worried. Heard blasters a few days ago, and then you didn’t comm when you landed…"

Tech sighed and helped her out of the crate. "This is extremely dangerous. We just escaped from a cell, and Crosshair was taken away. We must find him, and get off Kamino immediately."

Shiani nodded. "I can help."

"Do you know how to fire a blaster?" Hunter grumbled, racing to get his gear on.

"I know how to strangle." Shiani shrugged, looking around. Wrecker was dressing in a hurry too, searching for something in the crates. Next to him, looking lost, was a small blonde girl. Shiani leaned over her curiously. "Baby?"

"I'm Omega, miss…"

"Baby Mega." Shiani nodded, wrapping a tentacle around her. "Don’t be scared. I’ll keep you safe, I’m Tech’s friend."

"Tech, get the ship going. Wrecker, Echo, and I will go back for-" Hunter started, until the doors opened again. A group of regs, led by a figure in black armor, stepped out.

Shiani flinched as a sick feeling hit the pit of her stomach, and she pushed little Omega behind her. "Crosshair found us."

"Give it up, Hunter." The sniper drawled, and there was something not right about the energy around him. Or the way he was looking at the gathered group. "You know I never miss."

"We're going to have to leave him." Hunter whispered. "He's too far gone."

"He will pick us off before we can get into the ship." Tech hissed back as they scrambled for cover.

Shiani peeked hesitantly over the edge of a crate. "About how long will you need to get the ship started?" She whispered. He was going to leave, and she was scared she'd never see him again. But he had to make it, because if she saw him limp and broken like the dead Jedi… it would be worse than just dying. Tech was her best friend. He was the only good thing on this planet, and if she had to give him up to keep him alive then she’d do it and die happy.

"About 45 seconds, but he will close the hangar doors before we can make it out." Tech frowned. "Why?"

Shiani picked up a discarded reg helmet with her tentacle. "I can make a distraction."

"You will be killed." He groaned. "Just keep your head down."

Shiani scrunched her face at him. "Hunter sergeant? Break that hangar door." She hissed, before hopping up and hurtling the helmet as hard as she could. Directly at Crosshair’s face.

Hunter took the cue and shot the door controls, forcing the hangar back open. The flying helmet required Crosshair to bail out of the way unless he wanted to be decapitated, and Tech made a break for the ship. Hunter grabbed Omega under his arm like a duraboard cutout and followed, Wrecker was unlucky enough to take a shot to the shoulder before he could get inside. Shiani froze for a split second as the sniper leveled his blaster on her.

"That was a cute trick, squid. Your last one." He sneered.

"Shiani!"

Tech was yelling her name from inside the moving ship, running to the ramp as Echo got them accelerating out of the hangar. She looked at the sniper, then slung two sucker-studded limbs against the Havoc Marauder.

When his shot hit where she'd been standing, she was already airborne and slithering up the ramp.

"Son of a bitch!"

Hunter was rubbing the bridge of his nose hard, looking like the galaxy was going to crush him. Echo was bandaging Wrecker’s shoulder, now that they were in hyperspace and out of the line of fire. Tech was seated in one of the deck chairs, leg bouncing, as Omega squished herself closer to Hunter.

"That was reckless, Shiani. He could have shot you." Hunter finally said.

Shiani, who'd been nervously huddled by the ramp access, looked down. "Sorry.." She whispered. "Just… wanted to help."

"You are not much help if you are dead." Tech shook his head.

"Go easy on her. She saved our asses with that bucket chuck." Wrecker, much more agreeable, smiled for a minute before wincing. "Ow, Echo!"

"Nobody told you to get shot." The corporal huffed. "But… he's right, Hunter."

Hunter groaned. "Yeah, yeah. Look, Shiani. If you're going to stay with us, you've got to understand something. We're soldiers, you're a civilian. You follow instructions from now on. Deal?"

Shiani peeked up. "I can stay?"

"We're not just going to dump you off somewhere." Echo assured her. "But we're traitors to the Empire now. It's a dangerous new galaxy."

Shiani nodded. "I didn’t know the old one, really. At least I’ll only have to learn one set of rules…"

Hunter snorted, but it hid a small smile. "Since he's known you longer, Tech's your new buddy. You listen to him. He listens to me and Echo. Got it?"

The siren nodded. "I like listening to Tech."

The bedraggled sergeant sighed. "Come on, let's figure out where we're going… we need to disappear."

Tech nodded. "Then I suggest Salucemi."

Hunter nodded. "Set the nav. Wrecker, go lay down. Echo, you and I will check the supplies… and find Omega a place to sleep."

They split up, Omega giving Wrecker his back stuffed tooka doll she'd been holding.

Shiani sat on the floor a little longer before getting to her feet and wobbling her way to the cockpit after Tech.

He was sitting in the pilot's seat, his brow wrinkled with thought for a long time while the siren looked at him. "Yes?" he finally sighed.

"Are you mad?" She looked at her bare feet on the durasteel floor, shuffling a little.

"I am frustrated, yes."

"At me?"

He blinked, turning his chair to look at her. Her coloring was dull, hands fidgeting in front of her and tentacles squirming like she didn't know what to do with them. "Why would you believe I am angry with you?"

"You told me to keep my head down, and I didn’t listen."

Tech sighed. "No, my frustration is not because of you." He softened his voice a little, since she looked about ready to bolt. "It is just a… infuriating situation. The Empire, and with Crosshair."

"What happened to him? He didn’t… feel right. Something was wrong with him, it was in his eyes."

Tech nodded. "When we were imprisoned, Omega told us that there are inhibitor chips in the brains of all clones. For unknown reasons, none of ours activated. The regs, and Crosshair’s, did."

"Is that why the regs killed Shak Ti?" She got a little closer, getting back down on the floor next to his chair and resting her head on the armrest to look up at him.

"Yes, and apparently the rest of the Jedi all over the galaxy. I am sorry you had to see that. I'm sure it was very upsetting."

"I was scared I’d find you dead too." She mumbled. "Glad you’re safe."

"Yes, I am unharmed. And I am grateful you are as well." He smiled as one of her head tentacles wrapped around his vambrace, leaving puckers on his armor. She was trying so hard not to overstep how much she wanted to snuggle into his side. It had been a frightening situation, and she wasn’t a soldier. He was actually impressed with how well she’d held it together so far. "This was not how I intended to show you the stars."

Shiani tore her eyes away from his face to look at the streaking lights through the windshield, smiling a little at last. "They still look perfect." She whispered. "Glad you showed me, no matter how it happened."

"There is much more to see." He murmured. "Though, I will need to get you some proper boots, and a shirt that will not dry and fall off you."

Shiani groaned. "More clothes."

"Unless you wish for all my brothers to see you topless?"

She huffed, headbutting his arm like a grumpy tooka kitten. "Fine. I’ll wear it, but don’t laugh at me if I look silly."

"I would not dream of it."

#explict #original character #clone force 99 #the bad batch #star wars #fanfic #tbb tech #song of the sea

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silverwings22 · 16 hours

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Song of the Sea: Chapter 4: Strength to Stand

Chapter warning: Body morphing, accidental nudity, profanity, brothers bullying each other, inhuman physicality, brief descriptions of a POW Series warning: explicit smut, alien anatomy (it's a monsterfucker fic, guys), major character injury, grief, canon typical violence, autistic meltdowns, and my terrible attempts at Mando'a

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The war was brutal on soldiers, Shiani had known it would be. She hadn't, however, realized how hard it was going to be on her. Tech didn’t come back to Kamino much, and it had been over two years since the war started.

She’d been struggling to figure out these schematics he’d sent her, frustrated at her ability to find the scrap she needed. She had wired a functional hyperdrive and navicomputer out of bits and bobs, the interface coming out of the back of droid’s head like a monstrous brain leech. The hardest part was welding three different recipes of durasteel alloy when they melted a different temperatures. She was starting to think she was never going to have a functional engine unless she started stealing stuff from Tipoca directly. She could get into an open hangar, theoretically…

The very idea terrified her, so she pushed it to the side for the millionth time since she’d first thought of it and decided she’d finish the piece she was working on and go hunting. She was desperately hungry, as always. Since the war started and the cloning operation up above her had ramped up, the litter raining down on the seafloor had gotten worse. Almost nothing lived in her precarious little territory anymore, and she’d been chased on the rare occasions she’d ventured into deeper water. Once, another siren had almost caught her until she’d recklessly headed straight for a glass tube on the bottom, which had electrified protection around it. Shiani knew where the shock started, her pursuer hadn’t, and while they’d been twitching like a stunned fish she’d managed to get away.

She had just finished up her weld and pushed the mask Tech had given her up off the top of her head, waiting for it to cool enough she could rub her thumbs over it and check the quality. Her comm, sitting on a nearby rock, started vibrating and she scrambled over eagerly. Only one person ever called her. “Tech!”

He was seated alone in the cockpit of the Havoc Marauder, looking through his datapad with the autopilot engaged. She recognized the interior of his ship now, with the recordings he’d sent her and the schematics she’d looked over a thousand times. She’d memorized hundreds of ship types, just so she could recognize his when it came back to Tipoca city.

He smiled. "It is good to see you as well. How is everything?"

"Same here. Found new parts underwater. And the new handheld you gave me got stuff to work in the cave." She giggled. "My ship is almost done. Come see you in space!"

Tech raised an eyebrow. "What do you intend to use for fuel?"

Her ear fins drooped a little and her expression looked faraway for a moment. "Gonna have to steal some from the longnecks. And an engine, if I can’t find the parts."

"That would put you at significant risk of discovery."

She huffed. “Worth it to get off Kamino. I’m so sick of water.” She was sick of more than water. She was sick of garbage and hunger and the sound of her own people’s singing filling her with dread. If they ever conquered their fear of the longnecks and explored the volcano, she’d be done for.

Tech shook his head wryly. "You belong in water, you are an aquatic species. Even if you can breathe oxygen, it would be difficult for you to move around. You do not have legs. If I took you with me off of Kamino after the war, I would need to find a way to transport you. I’ve considered repurposing a bacta tank with a steering apparatus-"

"That’s a lot of work, Tech. I’ll just change shape."

Tech froze. "You can… change shape?"

Shiani nodded eagerly. "Yes. Sirens used to live on land when there was land. We can have legs, and tentacles too. I’ve been practicing the change, it just took a while to figure out. Most sirens don’t bother. Here, I’ll show you.”

"I was unaware you could do that."

She adjusted the comm slightly and wiggled back so he could see. "I want to walk off Kamino. I’ll see all the places you go!"

As he watched, fascinated, she pressed four of her tentacles together and hummed. They fused seamlessly, popping audibly as bones formed and flexed into place. When the unnerving sound ended, she was sitting in the sand with the remaining four tentacles splayed out almost skirtlike, and a pair of distinctively humanoid legs stretched out in front of her. She wiggled her toes at the comm.

"Fascinating…" Tech whispered, taking a moment to inspect the transition. Her legs were as purple as the rest of her, lean and hairless. Her toenails were as pointed and sharp-looking as her fingernails, reconfirming she was a predator. He’d never seen her hunt, but she talked about it sometimes. As she wobbled to her feet, supported by her tentacles, he guessed she was of shorter stature on legs. And- "Shiani! You are not wearing pants!”

"Pants? What pants?" She blinking, scooping up her comm from the rock she'd had it sitting on to bring it to her face. And sparing him, since Tech had just gotten an eyeful of completely bare siren ass. Not an unpleasant view, if he was honest, but that was Shiani. She was as off-limits as a Jedi general. He and his brothers went home with girls they’d never see again from bars, not people they were actually friends with. Sexual contact made things complicated, and his life was complicated enough as a soldier.

"Bottom clothing. You cannot just walk around naked!" His cheeks were red.

Shiani blinked again, poking her kelp shirt and chains. "Not naked, Tech."

"Yes you are. From the waist down." He grumbled.

"Humans think naked is the bottom?" She giggled. "So strange."

"I had assumed your use of plant fibers to make a shirt would indicate a little more modesty."

“Modesty for sirens is to cover nipples. What’s the point of covering the bottom?" She cocked her head to the side. “Can’t move around in uniforms like yours, and something that’s loose won’t cover anything anyway. When you swim up, everybody under you can see anyway.” She shrugged.

"The point is to protect and conceal your… more delicate parts." He sighed. Cultural differences were a minefield, but he supposed this explained why she'd once set up squawking when he'd taken his shirt off to ring the water out of it in the cave during a visit. He'd just thought she was shy around men… "You live in close proximity to a large number of regs, who have limited contact with females of any species. You could be in danger, if anyone saw you."

"Why would regs want to hurt me?" She frowned.

"Biological impulses are difficult to control, and I do not put my faith in regs to make an attempt."

She scrunched her face. "I thought all clones were brothers, not just your squad. I’m not scared of clones, just longnecks."

"Just trust me. I will bring you a set of blacks to wear when we return to Kamino… though you may need a cadet size."

Shiani nodded. "Okay, I’ll wear the pants. But only for you. When are you coming home?"

"Very soon. We have… adopted a new member of the squad. He needs additional medical attention and new prosthetic limbs, which I will be better able to make with access to the Tipoca City facilities."

She sat back in the sand, eyes glued to his face in the holo. “Will you tell me about your new brother?” She’d hunt later. Right now, she wanted to listen to him talk. She could listen for a thousand years to Tech talking. She wasn’t sure exactly when it happened, when friendly affection started to grow into something new, but at some point during one of the many info-dumps under the lantern light, she’d found herself falling in love with him. How couldn’t she? Tech was handsome and honest, with greater patience towards her than she usually had for herself. He brought her tools and food when he was on Kamino, and sent her encouraging messages when he wasn’t. He was the only person to speak to her since her banishment, the only voice who spoke her name and made her feel like she was still a person instead of a creature descended into madness in the dark. It may as well have been fated for her to fall in love with Tech, the way the Harmony and Melody had put him in her life.

Entirely unaware of her blossoming, soul-deep devotion, Tech had launched into his story. "Alright. It began on Yalbec Prime, with an insurrection of an insectoid species-"

"Tech's hiding something." Hunter grumbled. "I'm tired of dancing around it. He's constantly disappearing or taking comms with the cockpit doors shut."

"Maybe he's got a girlfriend?" Wrecker suggested. They were back on Kamino, Echo just back from medical with new attachments to his half-wired brain. The poor Corporal looked exhausted, but was sitting up to wait for Tech to get back from… wherever he'd gone. He couldn't sleep until everyone was accounted for.

"Yeah right. That nerd?" Crosshair huffed. "No way in hell."

"Maybe a friend then?" Echo mumbled, gratefully leaning on Wrecker when he sat down beside him.

Hunter sighed. "It's a distraction, whatever it is. He needs to come clean."

"So have Wrecker hold him down and I'll take his glasses like we did as cadets. He'll fess up when I can't see two feet in front of his face." Crosshair smirked around his toothpick.

"That was a dick move then and it's a dick move now." Hunter groaned.

"You want answers or not?"

"... fine. Wrecker, grab him when he walks in the door."

Echo rolled his eyes, but decided to get in his hammock to wait instead of watching the shit show too close. These guys were all the chaotic energy of Domino squad, but crammed into each individual. Together? A tsunami of stupid that somehow worked.

Tech had been gone a couple hours already, so it wasn't long before he did show back up. Soaking wet, which Wrecker immediately noticed when he put the genius in an arm lock. "Were you outside?! Why are you wet?!"

Crosshair snagged the goggles off Tech's face and shook the water off. "Ugh."

Hunter made a face. "You smell like low tide. Where have you been?"

Tech wiggled uncomfortably. "Put me down, Wrecker."

"Not until you tell us what's going on with you." Hunter demanded. "You've been vanishing for hours every time we come back here."

"I have other engagements. It is not affecting my work." Tech squinted at him. "And return my glasses. You know I need them to see."

"Nope." Crosshair sprawled out in his own bunk. "We could roll back the cam footage, Hunter. He records everything."

"You will get nothing. The footage is password protected." Tech sniffed. Anything to do with Shiani he kept under lock, since he couldn't risk the Kaminoans finding out about her.

"So you are hiding something." Hunter growled.

"It is a matter of personal security. Now put me down!" Tech squawked, kicking his feet.

"Security for who?" Crosshair smirked, dangling Tech's goggles just out of reach. "There's a sea swell tonight with half the city underwater, and you were outside? Doesn't seem too secure to me, vod."

Tech frowned, mind racing to figure out a way out of this. He'd calculated his contact with Shiani into his life, been absolutely sure it wasn't affecting any missions or endangering his squad… he'd forgotten to factor in how fucking nosy his brothers were. "It is not any of your business-"

Taptaptaptap.

The furious sound of staccato nails on the window caught everyone's attention. Tech squinted at the ghostly figure of a 8-legged woman glaring at the scene in front of her, pointing at Wrecker holding him in the air and Crosshair with his goggles.

"What the fuck is that?" The sniper blinked, leaning back with his eyes fixed on the bared fangs in front of them. Her mouth was terrifying, splitting almost to the back of her jaw in a vicious snarl to show exactly how sharp those teeth were.

Tech smirked faintly. If she was going to reveal herself... "The reason I was out."

Wrecker dropped him to run to the window and Tech snatched his goggles back. "She looks mad." The giant blinked.

Shiani was signing angrily at him, who didn't have a clue what she was saying. Echo, on the other hand, whistled. "She is."

Tech walked up, signing back to her. "It is alright. They were just wondering where I was."

“Are you hurt?” Her lips snapped shut the minute he approached, face softening back into something vaguely pretty, with no visible seams around the corners of her mouth. He’d never seen her do that before… but he’d never seen her angry, either.

"No, I am not injured. But they have seen you now. I thought you wanted to remain hidden."

“Just wanted to make sure you got to your room safe, so I followed.” Her tentacles drooped nervously. “Was worried”.

Tech smiled. "May I introduce you? These are my brothers."

“They won’t tell anyone? They’re safe?”

"Yes. They are safe." Tech looked over at the squad. "You all must agree to never discuss her with anyone else. Her species lives in hiding from the Kaminoans. They could be in danger if the wrong person knew of their continued existence."

The other four clones nodded, gathering at the window curiously. Tech pointed out each brother, signing for her. "This is Hunter."

“Tracker and leader. Hunter.” She waved, scooting closer to the glass. “Skull face?”

"Yes, he has a tattoo on his face."

“Good leader. Perfect success, Tech told me.”

Hunter preened a little as Shiani kept signing. "What did she say, Tech? I didn't catch that."

Tech snickered. "She said you had best not let me get hurt. She is quite protective, as you can see."

Crosshair chuckled. "Feisty squid." Suddenly the nearly-forgotten drunken conversation about tentacles made sense to him. Tech had a thing for the siren, and he wasn’t doing anything about it. Of course he wasn’t, because Tech would think himself in circles and avoid risk at all cost. If he was friends with her, he’d be concerned about changing the dynamic… Tech hated change so much it was almost hilarious. Almost.

"She is a siren. This is Crosshair, Shiani."

She mimicked firing a rifle curiously. “Sniper. Never misses.”

"That's right. She's pretty smart." Crosshair nodded.

Tech nodded. "She is very intelligent, and enjoys learning. I have been teaching her Basic."

"So she can talk?" Wrecker grinned, pushing Crosshair out of the way. "Hi, Miss Squid lady!"

"She cannot hear through the window, but her name is Shiani. Shiani, this is Wrecker."

Shiani put her hands on the window to examine Wrecker’s face. Wrecker stared back, a little uncomfortable under the predator’s pale eyes. After a moment she touched her own face and signed. Tech smiled. "She wants to know if your face hurts. She is very empathetic."

Wrecker grinned and shook his head. "Nah. It doesn't hurt anymore."

Shiani nodded, signing to Tech. Echo laughed.

"What did she say!?" Wrecker pouted.

"She told Tech not to stand too close to you." Echo wheezed.

Tech smiled and waved Echo a little closer. "This is Echo. The one I told you about, on the last mission."

She put a tentacle to the window, considering his pale and tired face. Echo tried not to squirm under her wide gaze until she smiled, and even then those inch long canines were unnerving. “Very brave Echo. Hero.”

He flushed when he realized she’d complimented him. "Not really…"

“You saved Anaxes. Survived capture. Echo is like a Chainbreaker.”

Echo looked at Tech. "Chainbreaker?"

"Her people's heroes. The ones who led them out of captivity and to freedom in their underwater cities. The chains she is wearing is a symbol of freedom to them, to take back what kept them bound and use it for their own. It is a very high honor to be considered a Chainbreaker." Tech explained. "I told her about your experience on Skako Minor."

"So that's what you were doing all afternoon?" Hunter cocked an eyebrow.

"No. I talked to her over comm on the way here. This afternoon, she wanted to show me something she is building. And I took her some food and pants."

"How's she getting all those wiggly parts in a pair of pants?" Crosshair huffed.

"She has shape-shifting abilities." Tech looked back at Shiani, who was floating upside down to examine Echo’s scomp arm. "She wants to leave Kamino."

"Tech, we can't take her with us. She'd be caught by the Kaminoans instantly… and we're soldiers. We can't take a girl like that into a war." Hunter sighed.

"I know. But perhaps… after the war." Tech gave the siren a regretful look. He might not even survive that long, war was inherently dangerous. Still, the idea of taking Shiani where she could see all the things he'd shown her through his recordings… it was a nice dream. She'd be happy.

"Maybe." Hunter looked at her too. "She seems like a nice girl."

"She is extraordinarily pleasant company." Tech smiled a little, and that was the nicest thing Hunter had ever heard him say about anyone.

#explict #original character #clone force 99 #the bad batch #star wars #fanfic #tbb tech #song of the sea

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silverwings22 · 16 hours

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Song of the Sea: Chapter 3: Sunrise Gold

Chapter warning: Discussion of a tentacle kink, profanity, alchohol use, threats of death, discussion of pollution/wildlife harm,

Series warning: explicit smut, alien anatomy (it's a monsterfucker fic, guys), major character injury, grief, canon typical violence, autistic meltdowns, and my terrible attempts at Mando'a

Previous chapter:

Next Chapter:

Every training phase had its challenges. As a Tubie, Tech had been the last of his batch to walk and talk. As a Blue and Tween, he’d struggled with social cues and interpersonal skills even among his squad because he couldn’t sit down or shut up. Once he’d graduated to a Red uniform, his biggest issue was finding time to see Shiani. During Tween phase, when he’d met her, he could make his way underwater every three days. Now, it was much more complicated.

She’d told him not to worry so much, to see her when he had time and to make sure he got enough rest between rigorous training days. She had tools he’d given her, and a basic enough understanding of Basic and Arubesh to read ship schematics he sent her comm that he thought she’d find interesting. Still, he liked her attentive company more than the rough and tumble training with his brothers… not that he didn’t love them, of course. He showed it in his own unique way, but he was pretty sure they understood most of the time. If they didn't, that was on them; he’d given them plenty of opportunities to figure out the obvious.

It was months between visits now, only hearing snippets of his voice and his words written on the comm. He always looked so tired when he appeared on the holo… so she didn’t complain about her loneliness and instead encouraged him to hang in there or rest when he could. She kept herself busy making herself a home in the cavern, and more often than not nowadays she knew how to fix the scrap she sieved out of the ocean floor. As long as she stayed close to the city, she was safe. Her food options were limited to small reef fish and eels, things she could chase down with her bare hands, but sometimes she heard the singing of siren hunting parties in the distance. The urge to sing back was always just under her breastbone, but the consequences would be dire if they caught her. Just because it had been almost a year since she’d left didn’t change the facts.

They’d kill her on sight.

She was in the middle of trying to repair a broken generator she’d found when she heard splashing at the beach and turned around. “Tech?”

The clone was hauling himself up the beach, waving when he spotted her. Instead of a loose fitting cadet uniform, he was dressed in a black bodysuit that molded to every muscle in his body… and he was quite a bit older than the last time she’d seen him. The last time he’d made his way back to the surface, he was an older teenager who’d still need his parents to look after him if he was a siren. Looking at her now was a grown man spitting out a respirator. “I hope you do not mind the visit without my calling ahead. I wanted to give you news in person for once.”

Her face split into a cheerful grin and she set her tools aside, scooting down the sand to the water. “Tech! Look at you, so tall now!”

His hairline was pushing back on the sides, but she thought it suited the new angles of his face. She’d always liked the sharpness of his features as he grew, so different from her own round ones. It was a dignified face, the kind she liked to watch when he talked about anything and everything. “Everything appears tall to you, Shiani, because you sit directly on your pelvis when you are on land.”

She wrinkled her nose with a wry laugh. “Don’t need to be tall right now, if you sit.”

He chuckled and nodded, wiping water off his goggles lenses while sitting at the water's edge. “I have been on my feet all day, so this is a welcome reprieve.”

She wiggled her way over to sit beside him, fingers gently picking at his clothes curiously without touching his skin. “New uniform? No pockets, and so tight. Why?”

“It is a compression suit, called blacks. We wear them under our armor, and they reduce the effects of prolonged time in space.” He explained. “My squad passed our Basic training. We will be shipping out soon, and the war has just started.”

Her ear fins drooped a little, and her skin went grayish. He knew by now that was an affect of sadness or fear. “War not safe, Tech. All grown up, but still so young. Would hate for you to get hurt.”

“I know. I will do my best to avoid injury.” He promised her. “But I may be gone for prolonged periods of time with limited comm connection. We are a black ops unit, so there is no way of knowing what kind of missions we could be assigned.”

Shiani sighed, wiggling in frustration and resisting the urge to twine herself around him like a shield. “Don’t like it.”

“I know. But I brought you a few things, to ease the transition.” He pulled the dry bag off his back and reached into it. “First things first, I stole this from the mess. It is still hot.” He handed her a covered box, which she opened curiously. Inside was stuffed full of cooked nerf nuggets, still steaming. “You looked thinner the last time we spoke on holo. Are you not getting enough to eat?”

She looked like she might cry with gratitude. “Hunting… not great, near the city. Places are electrified to protect Tipoca, so not many fish. Not many near the very bottom either, cause of the trash piles. Nothing for them to eat, so they don’t stay.”

Tech frowned. “Couldn’t you hunt further out?”

She shook her head and stuffed a nugget in her mouth. It was the tastiest thing she’d ever eaten, and that might have still been true even if she wasn’t nearly starving. She’d never really discussed her exile with him, not wanting to burden his mind. He was a fixer, he’d try to make it better for her when he already had a lot going on in his training.

Tech reached back into the bag and pulled out a tool belt for her, along with another couple tools including a plasma cutter and welder. “I received upgraded tools with my new kit, so I thought you would benefit from these.”

Shiani made a delighted little sound, mouth still full, and picked them up with her tentacles. She pointed over back near the edge of the cave, for him to see the changes she’d made since last time.

There were more camp lanterns she’d strung up, though his original ones were in the best condition. She’d found a broken chassis of a shuttle prototype, which he had no idea how she’d dragged through the narrow tunnel into the cave, and made it into a sort of covered bed. The inside was lined with oilcloth and filled with the blankets and pillows he’d brought down for her when she’d first started living here. There was a section of the dartline the lanterns hung from that had multiple pieces of broken glass bottle strung with fishing twine dangling from it, and he quickly realized it was hung in such a way that when the sun came through the skylight it hit the glass and scattered rainbows across the wall. She also had a durasteel shelf with a dent she’d hammered out, which contained rows of scrap parts. Some were odd but endearing, like the six pieces of training armor she had laid out like a puzzle she was solving. The four lifeless medical droid heads, however, were somewhat creepy.

“You have made changes.” He nodded. “It looks more comfortable, though.”

She nodded, swallowing another mouthful of food. “Ready to start building my ship.” She said brightly. “Shiani finds all kinds of stuff under Tipoca.”

Tech frowned. “I am concerned about you using power tools without supervision, especially since I may be gone for months at a time. Is there anyone you can get to agree to check on you? I know your brother may not be an option given the animosity when you moved here, but-”

“Oh… Shiani not explain right.” She squirmed. “Tech, no siren will come this close to Tipoca. If they did, I wouldn’t be safe. Other sirens would kill me.”

Tech blinked. “Kill you? Why would they kill you?”

“Exile. Kicked out of Acopit for coming too close to longnecks, and refusing to stop.” She twiddled with her claws, looking at the box of food in her lap. “Wanted to help other sirens at first, of course. But… they got mad I let you see me. They’re just scared.” She shook her head. “They don’t understand that clones aren’t like longnecks. King is stubborn. Council is stubborn too. They’ll learn one day.”

Tech sighed. “So you have no remaining friends from your own species?”

She shook her head, ears drooping sadly. “Once a siren gets exiled, nobody’s allowed to even say their name anymore. Dead to them now, even my own family. Used to be close too, but… not anymore. Especially ‘cause Shiani took chains… exile is one thing, but they’d kill me for that.”

“I assume there is a much greater significance to those chains than just a fashion statement.” He raised an eyebrow.

“When sirens were slaves, longnecks kept them in chains. During uprising, the leaders of the siren revolt broke the chains and used them to fight back.” She twiddled her claws again quietly. “They took them when they escaped, and made them symbols of strength and leadership. Passed them down to firstborn child for generations. Having chains means you’re descended from our heroes… our Chainbreakers. No greater honor than the title of Chainbreaker, and very rare to earn it now.”

“But they’d kill you over chains?” Tech shifted to fully face her, watching her sad face and discolored skin. He hadn’t realized she had no one else… she mostly listened to him talk when he visited.

“Chains are family and clan symbols. Mother was firstborn, and I was hers, so they were passed to me.”

“I thought your brother was older than you.” Tech frowned.

“Is. Brother and I have different mothers… Father’s first mate died when Brother was a baby. My mother was his nurse, loved him so much that Father fell in love with her. She didn’t have chains, she was second daughter. Brother inherited Father’s when he was old enough.” She explained. “I know my family will never forgive… never see them again or make it right, no matter what I do. It’s bad enough to lose everything you ever loved… I didn’t want to forget…” The crown still sitting in her bag sometimes felt heavy on the heart, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell Tech about that. She couldn’t look into those pretty brown eyes and admit that the person he knew lived in a garbage heap under the waves was really a princess. It was bad enough to admit she was in exile.

She wasn’t meant to be this alone. It was against nature, she was sure of it.

“Forget what?”

“What it felt like when somebody loved me.” She breathed.

Tech opened his arm. “Come here.”

“You don’t like touching.” She said cautiously, fingers clamping down on the box of food in her lap.

“In this instance, it seems appropriate. You look very unhappy.”

She immediately tucked herself under his arm, resting her head on his shoulder. “You’re my best friend.” She smiled up at him, returning to her normal color almost the minute she touched him. Something about snuggling with him just felt… correct. Like it was what she was missing.

“Based on what you just told me, I am your only friend.” He smiled back at her.

"Better than any friend Shiani had before." She shrugged. "Wish I could go to the stars with you."

"Perhaps one day. When the war is over… I do not have a plan outside of my service. But showing you the galaxy would be a welcome adventure." He mused aloud. "I have never considered a life outside of the military."

"More to Tech than soldier." She whispered. "Teacher, inventor…. you can be anything. Shiani want to see what you choose when you can.."

He smiled a little. "That would be interesting… It is difficult to imagine the possibilities."

She pointed up, where the clouds covered her beloved stars. But she knew they were there, and that mattered more than anything. "More possibilities than stars."

"That is a… delightfully quaint way of putting it. But I believe I am supposed to be comforting you. Why are you encouraging me instead?"

"Because you are my favorite." She said firmly. "Want you to be happy."

“You may be the first person outside of my brothers who is concerned with my happiness. The emotional wellbeing of soldiers makes little difference as long as they can get the job done. And if we cannot, there are millions more just like us who can try.”

Shiani shook her head. “Longnecks are liars. Clones are special, and Tech is most special because you’re my friend..”

Tech smiled quietly. He liked being special… in a galaxy where he was a number, there was a novelty in the little siren’s affection. It was different from the relationship between himself and his brothers, something his exacting mind could conjure up and re-examine during his infrequent down time. It was something no one else in the galaxy could say; that they were friends with a siren. He was the only one who even knew they existed. “Will you be alright while I am gone?”

“I’ll be careful. And comm you sometimes, maybe?” She looked at him with a nod.

“If I cannot answer at the time, I will call you back when I can. I promise.” He reassured her. “And I record everything, so I can show you everything I see.”

She frowned. “Recorded me?”

“All recordings of you are sealed and encrypted. I promised to keep your existence a secret, and I do not intend to violate that promise.”

The longer Shiani sat there, cuddled to his side and listening to him, the more she was unable to ignore the feeling pressing insistently against the underside of her gills. Her hearts were trying to tell her something, and she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the clone with his arm around her shoulders. She’d thought Tech was the key to saving her people… but now she suspected he was the key to saving her.

“Promise me you’ll be careful, Tech?” She whispered. “And come back safe?”

“I will do my best. War is inherently dangerous, but for whatever it's worth; I would rather be here with you than on a battlefield.”

“Worth everything, Tech.” She closed her eyes and let herself sense his presence, soaking it up like she was basking in the sun. She needed this more than the food.

She’d never been sure what she was meant to do with her life now that she was no longer a part of Below Kamino. She’d been desperate to escape the planet, praying she’d find somewhere she could belong. There had been no plan of destination, just a dream of something better than this. But now, looking up at Tech, she understood where the gods must have been sending her.

I want to go wherever he goes. Anywhere in the galaxy, I want to follow Tech.

“You’re drunk.” Crosshair laughed. It was their first deployment, their first successful mission under their belts, and they were celebrating not having died at a clone bar on Coruscant. “I thought you’d at least hold your liquor better than Hunter.”

“I am not…. You’re just blurry.” Tech mumbled. Hunter was blacked out, head on the table next to him, and no matter how many times Tech cleaned his goggles nothing was getting any clearer.

Wrecker snickered, having decided the bar food was better than its liquor. “You okay, Tech?”

“How come you aren’t… why aren’t you drunk?” Tech forgot where he was going with the sentence halfway through, and had to recalculate.

“Cause he’s huge and got something on his stomach.” Crosshair snickered. “And I used to steal alcohol from the officer’s mess on Kamino, so I actually have a tolerance. You and Hunter, on the other hand, followed the rules and now you’re hammered.”

“Shit.” Tech mumbled.

Wrecker laughed, picking Hunter up and slinging him across his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “I’ll get Sarge back to the ship. You got Tech?”

Crosshair nodded. “Yeah. We’ll catch up.”

Wrecker headed out, leaving the other two in the back table they’d started off in. The bar scene suited Crosshair, who’d already gotten comm frequencies from four different girls. If Tech hadn’t been quite so drunk, he’d have left to follow one home. But he couldn’t quite bring himself to ditch his brother when he couldn’t look after himself. Clones were loyal, after all, even the ‘defective’ squad. “Hunter’s gonna have one hell of a hangover in the morning.” He said mildly, watching Tech. “You might be better off if you drink some water. I don’t wanna hear either of you bitching about it.”

“I like water.” Tech blinked as Crosshair finished his drink.

“Good.” The sniper flagged down a waitress to bring a pitcher and glass for Tech, and another whiskey for him.

“Tentacles in the water.” Tech mumbled, putting his head in his hands to try to stop the swimming feeling. Real swimming was much nicer, even if the waves on Kamino smacked him around some. Swimming always led to Shiani, and her many-armed hugs he actually liked.

“Tentacles?” Crosshair raised an eyebrow over his glass. “What the fuck goes on in your head?”

Tech wobbled a little in his seat. “Just think… would be interesting.”

“You wanna fuck something with tentacles?” Crosshair raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure we can find you a nautolan girl or something.”

“No, no. Not the same. Not… prehensile enough.” Tech blinked, remembering he was supposed to be drinking water. Crosshair poured a glass from the pitcher for him and he held it with both hands like a toddler.

“Prehensile…” Crosshair tried not to laugh. “I didn’t expect you to be a bottom.”

Tech scowled over his glass. “Don’t make fun of me.”

“Sorry.” Crosshair smoothed the smirk off his face. “Why tentacles?” He knew Tech would never talk about it once he was sober. He never shut up, but it was rarely about anything actually personal. Tech just liked to talk, to infodump about whatever was running through his overactive mind. Emotions and personal problems he pulled inward and examined ten times longer than he probably needed to before a course of action. Crosshair understood him, because Crosshair was the one he was usually talking to. The sniper was a good listener because he didn’t say much.

“Experiment.” Tech couldn’t tell if he was getting drunker or sobering up, trying to keep track of his thoughts. “Additional stimulation, endorphins… and I like the way they move.” He held an arm out and wiggled it in a clumsy attempt at mimicking the smooth way Shiani moved. “Bones get in the way.”

“Where the fuck did you pick up a tentacle kink?” Crosshair snorted.

“Kamino.” Tech slurred, finishing his water.

“Alright, let’s get you back to the Marauder before you find an aquarium and start flirting with the squids.” Crosshair helped his brother to his feet and put an arm over him, walking the inebriated genius back towards the hangar they were parked in. He had to walk Tech up the ramp too, the usually surefooted genius stumbling like a tubie learning to walk.

“Crosshair?” Tech blinked at him, eyes massive and glassy behind his goggles. “Don’t tell the others about the secret.” He couldn’t remember if he’d told Crosshair about Shiani or just said the word tentacle, and he was panicking that he might have revealed the siren’s existence. He’d promised her. She’d trusted him.

“I won’t. Promise.” Crosshair mussed his hair and displaced his goggles with a head ruffle. “Now go lay down. And put a trash can by your bunk, in case you puke.”

“Okay…” Tech mumbled. “You’re supposed to be the little brother…”

“Well, our big brother is currently on his knees in front of the toilet and praying for deliverance.” Crosshair chuckled. “So someone’s gotta keep an eye on you guys.”

Tech nodded, dropping his armor and climbing into his rack, head dropping to the pillow. He rarely actually slept in the bunk, usually just passing out in front of whatever he was working on or in the pilot’s seat. Tonight, he needed a bed… and tomorrow, he might need to comm a certain siren on Kamino and check on her. Just in case, after all.

#explict #original character #clone force 99 #the bad batch #star wars #fanfic #tbb tech #song of the sea

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silverwings22 · 16 hours

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Song of the Sea: Chapter 2: The Exile

Chapter warning: Character injury, description of warfare

Series warning: explicit smut, alien anatomy (it's a monsterfucker fic, guys), major character injury, grief, canon typical violence, autistic meltdowns, and my terrible attempts at Mando'a

Previous Chapter:

Next Chapter:

The Exile

Tech had been more excited to meet the siren again than he initially thought he’d be. Three days had passed far too slowly for his taste, and his brothers noticed he was more distractible than usual. Hunter took it as the aftermath of a near death experience, and told the others to give him some space to decompress.

That suited Tech just fine, and at midnight on the scheduled day he snuck out of the bunkroom as carefully as he knew how. The usually persistent rain had slowed, so he crouched by the docks edge to look for Shiani in the water below with his flashlight.

It didn't take long for him to spot glowing eyeshine just at the bottom of the service ladder, so he clambered down carefully.

She smiled when she saw him, lifting her head fully from the waves and offering him a hand. He jammed his rebreather into his mouth and nodded, reaching back until her fingers found his and a tentacle wrapped around his middle. She took him down, through a small underwater tunnel that led into the volcano cavern. When they popped up in their private little beach, she set him on the shore before hauling herself up. Faint blue bioluminescence pulsed along her sides and tentacles in the dark of the cavern, and he watched her pump the water out of her chest cavity though the gill slits on her side so she could take a breath of air.

“Good to see Tech again.” She signed.

Tech nodded, reaching into the dry bag he'd brought and setting out four camping lanterns so they could see. Shiani's eyes brightened at the light, leaning over them with the fascination of a child. “Likewise.”

He strung the lanterns on a simple dart line and attached it to two outcroppings like industrial strength string lights. Shiani clapped her hands and made a series of cooing sing-song noises he could only interpret as happy. “Lights are pretty. Love lights.”

He smiled, scooting over closer to her. “I brought you a comm device. It was Wrecker’s, but he broke it and I was able to repair and reinforce its water-resistant properties. It should now be fully waterproof.”

Shiani let him show it to her, comparing it to the one he wore on his wrist before he attached it to her own just above her manacles. “Comm device.” She repeated when he tapped it, leaning in. Up close, he could see a greenish discoloration on her left cheek, and a cut that had scabbed over in blue. It looked a little swollen, which was concerning considering the level of cleanliness that could be expected in the ocean.

“Yes… what happened here?” He gestured towards her face when she cocked her head to the side. She touched under the swelling and winced.

“Argument with big brother.”

He nodded. His brothers got into fights all the time, and Hunter and Crosshair came to blows about once a week. “It looks painful. I can bring bacta the next time.”

“Bacta.” She repeated aloud, determined to learn the language.

“Yes. It is a healing agent.” He explained, pulling out his datapad. “Here, if we are going to share ideas we should start with language. This is Arubesh, the written version of Basic.”

“Arubesh.” Shiani smiled, looking at the screen as he typed and signed what he said so she could start understanding. She was a very quick learner, he found, memorizing the names of his tools and what his and her names looked like.

He showed her how to use her comm and started teaching her to read, deciding he liked teaching. She sat with her many limbs updrawn, hugging them as she concentrated. After several hours, she flapped her hands to get him to look at her. “What do you call those?” She pointed up out the mouth of the volcano.

The rain had slacked up and the cloud cover was rolling away, revealing the sparkling shine of starlight. Shiani’s eyes were wide, mesmerized by it. Tech looked up to, and while he’d seen the sky many times he couldn’t help but look forward to the day he’d finally get into a ship and have his chance among them. “They are called stars.”

“Stars.” Shiani repeated, smiling softly.

Tech nodded. “One day, after my training, I will board a ship and fly out among the stars to fight in a war.” He explained.

“You’re a little boy, Tech. Shouldn’t be going to war. War is death.” She frowned, looking at him worriedly.

“I will not be a boy much longer.” He shook his head. “We were designed to age rapidly until adulthood, then it will slow to normal human rates.”

Shiani’s frown deepened. “No childhood, and your life shorter. That’s terrible.”

“I do not mind.” He shrugged. “It is my purpose. We are clones, we were designed to be expendable.”

“Life is not expendable.” She wanted to scoop him into her arms and secret him away from Tipoca City, horrified that the longnecks had a new method of cruelty to inflict on the innocent of the galaxy. Tech was surely an innocent, with those big golden-brown eyes that looked back at her behind yellow lenses and messy auburn hair. He should have had a lifetime to worry about his dreams, not train for a war he clearly hadn’t started or chosen. “Whose war?”

“I am unsure. The information is tightly controlled by the longnecks.”

Shiani sighed. “They’re bad people, Tech.”

“They made me, and my brothers.” He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, hoping she didn’t terminate this friendship they seemed to be forming. He liked talking to her.

“Even bad people have to make something good every once in a while.” She sighed again, reaching for his face before pausing an inch from his cheek. “No touch.” She said aloud, chastening herself and putting the clawed hand back in her lap.

Tech glanced at his comm. It was an hour until dawn, and he needed to be back and washed before Hunter smelled seawater on him. “I must return to Tipoca soon.”

Shiani nodded. “I’ll take you back. Three more days?”

“That sounds acceptable. You can contact me with the comm device, if I do not answer I will call you back as soon as I can.”

“Comm Tech. Tech comm back.” She beamed, offering him an arm to sweep him back to the dock. He was getting used to how fast she swam, and now that he’d waterproofed his goggles he could see the natural landscape underneath the support struts of the Tipoca. The most concerning part was the amount of scrap and garbage just outside of the cave walls. The city dumped most of its trash into the water, and it left behind a soggy landfill just underneath. Shiani took him right to the ladder this time, and hovered at the water’s surface until he made it to the top. She lifted an arm and waved goodbye to him, flashing her teeth in a big smile before she disappeared to get home before morning.

Kashae never needed to know she’d slipped out after he’d thought she was in bed. Big brothers were just overprotective and suspicious, but she’d show him how useful contact with the surface was. Tech would keep their secret, and she’d learn how to fix everything falling apart in Acopit.

Shiani stopped at the Temple on her way home, swimming through the large worship hall. The flood had broken out stained glass windows, the colorful shards now worn smooth and littering the ground for blocks around the temple. The Holy of Holies was her favorite place, and had been since she was small and her father brought her here. The domed ceiling was patterned with a mosaic that had survived time and sea, showing the gods of the sirens. They’d been in this place long before it was filled with coral and water, when sirens shared land with longnecks and songs echoed across the surface. She reached into her bag and pulled out a tiara of coral and stone, setting it on her head lightly before approaching the mosaic respectfully.

Three figures looked down at her as she floated, their painted eyes as real as her own looking back. They weren't sirens like her, but so much more. The Melody, the Light, was a beautiful woman with long greenish hair and a flying creature on her arm. She looked radiant and serene, one hand extended like she'd offer her friendship with grace.

On the other side was The Harmony, the Dark. His fist was clenched, power radiating from his hardened being decorated with red tattoos on his face. A powerful ally or dangerous enemy, who could crush the soul from her soft body with a whim.

Between them was the Song. Balance incarnate, holding out a hand to each of his children. A Father with his son and daughter, offering choice and council.

The Melody gave the sirens their song. The Harmony gave them their scream. With both, and the guidance of the Father, their chains were broken and they were free from eternal bondage. That was what the priests and priestesses said, when they sang out the stories to the gathered sirens at high holidays.

Shiani reached her little hands up to both at once, longing for the starlight and darkness of space above the cold depths. That was real freedom, and all she'd ever wanted-

“Princess Illumai.” Another siren’s voice caught her off guard, and she turned. It was three castle guards, all of them holding the harpoon launchers the sirens used both for defense and hunting.

Shiani frowned, eyes locked on the weapons in their hands. “You can’t be in here. It’s forbidden to bring weapons into the Temple, especially in here..”

“Not when making an arrest on the order of the King, Princess.” The guard captain looked regretful, his green skin carrying an unhappily dull yellow undertone. “King Kashae has ordered us to bring you to the High Council Chamber as soon as you returned to the city.”

Shiani blanched almost gray. Kashae had ordered someone to watch her… He knew she’d left. He knew she’d deliberately disobeyed him… not her brother but her king.

“Please just come with us.” The captain waved, and she was surrounded and escorted out. She glanced back at the three gods, eyes wide with terror.

Sirens didn’t keep prisoners. Punishment for minor lawbreaking was time spent working for various parts of the city like the hunting parties or craftsmen guilds. But serious crimes were punished with exile, which was almost certain death. Sirens weren’t meant to live alone. They needed each other, their families and clans supported them in every part of life. Childrearing, hunting, care of the injured…

She was ushered from the Temple to the High Council Chamber, a former courthouse with a low center and arena-like raised seating so her judges could look down at the accused. Kashae sat quietly in a throne at the front, a scowl on his face when his sister was pushed, terrified, into the middle of the room. “You went to the longneck city.”

She met his eyes, deciding there was no point in attempting a lie. She had her reasons, he had to understand. If she could sway the Council, twenty older sirens including her own parents, she could maybe survive this. “I did. I went in search of a way to protect this city.”

“I forbid you to go, as your king.” He stared her down.

“I know. But I did what I thought was best for our people. As Minister of Security, a position you gave me because you know I care about the sirens of this city. I was doing my duty.” She held her head up high, looking at the various ministers and council members. Some were listening, others seemed to have their minds made up about her. She’d always been a thorn in the side of the old-fashioned, pushing for upgrades and new ways of thinking when what they’d always done was crumbling around them. “It’s only a matter of before the perimeter defenses fail. The lights already barely work. If we don’t do something, we’ll end up with no power and trapped in the dark. Is that what you all want?”

There was a murmur throughout the chamber.

Kashae sighed, looking to the side. “Irri?”

A light blue female with a finely crafted coral tiara floated down from her seat next to him. She was Kashae’s mate, dressed in a sea-silk tunic the young king had made himself only a year before to woo her. “I followed you, Shiani.” Irri said softly. “You weren’t just seen, you met with a surface-dweller on purpose.”

Horrified gasps and sharp bursts of vocalization rattled the chamber. Kashae sat upright, looking at his sister with a dead serious expression. His tentacles were pulsing with blue rings, his eyes showing he was fighting to hold his temper in check. “You made contact with a long neck?”

“No. He’s a human!” Shiani shook her head, hands coming up. “His people are slaves too. They’re not evil, I read his hearts-”

“You read a surface-dweller’s hearts?” One of the council gasped. “You let it that close?”

“He’s only a child!” Shiani turned, eyes wide as she felt the sympathies in the room shift. She was losing them; a potentially lethal situation.

“A child that the longnecks made?” Kashae hissed. “I told you it was too dangerous. Even if his hearts were pure, he’s a child. You can’t trust a child to understand the severity of keeping our people hidden…” He gritted his fangs, the seam of his jaw twitching. “Apparently, I can’t trust you either.”

“Kashae, please-” Shiani pleaded.

“You’re nineteen cycles old, Shiani. The youngest minister on my council. I thought you would know better, but you can’t stop dreaming!” He slammed his fist into the arm rest of his seat and lost the fight to keep from snarling at her. “You put our entire people in danger over some nonsense a Tidedreamer babbled about when you were a child! A thousand years ago, a king's sister would have killed anything to do with the surface on sight.”

“A thousand years ago, this city wasn’t about to be overrun by things a hundred times our size!” She slammed her hands down on the podium in front of her in return. “Tech is the key!”

“I will hear no more about this, or the surface. You will be stripped of your position as Minister of Security, and you’ll be making harpoon guns in the city where I can keep an eye on you. You’re lucky I don’t strip you of your place as your mother’s heir.” Kashae shook his head. “After you go back and drown that thing you showed yourself to, so he can’t tell the longnecks about us.”

Shiani froze, horrified. “... You want me to kill a little boy?”

“It’s your own fault, Shiani. You should have kept yourself hidden. Now go up there, find that… human… and drown it.”

“No.” Her fists clenched at her sides. “I won’t.”

Irri blanched and looked at Kashae, who looked like he was boiling over with fury. In the seats above them, their father Kathal also went ghastly pale. The room started to whisper about the Princess’ defiance and recklessness.

“Will you dance for his life?” Kashae gritted out. “Is that how you want this to end?”

“Your majesty…” Kathal called, trying to level his son’s rage. “A Fang Dance seems extreme to suggest…”

“I don’t want to fight you, Kashae. But I won’t kill a child who didn’t do anything wrong.” Shiani swallowed hard. A Fang Dance was a fight til surrender or death, and Kashae had been leader of his hunting party before he was even old enough to take a mate. He was one of the best warriors in Acopit, and the surrounding cities of Below Kamino.

“If you won’t fight and you won’t kill him, you leave me no choice.” Kashae’s voice went icy cold.

Kathal’s mate and Shiani’s mother, Shina, let out a cry into her hands. Shiani glanced up at her parents, watching her father comfort her mother. It felt surreal, what was about to happen. She was the princess, there was a crown on her head and her ancestral chains on her wrists… yesterday, she’d been in charge of protecting the city. She’d been the jewel of Acopit, the most marriageable female in the sea who valued her work more than finding a mate. She’d been royalty.

Kashae looked up at the gathered council members before steeling himself. “Last chance, Shiani. Decide your fate.”

“I will not fight you. And I will not kill him.” She said firmly.

“Then you have chosen exile. From this moment, you are no longer Shiani Illumai. Your clan name and ties are revoked. No siren will speak your name. No one will help you hunt, no one will tend your wounds. You are no one, and you will be driven from our city and hunting grounds. Surrender your chains and crown, you are no longer Queen Mother Shina’s heir.”

Shiani looked at her chains. Her inheritance from her mother, her link to her ancestors who escaped bondage and returned to the sea still trailing the broken chains the longnecks had kept them in. She was no longer princess or her mother’s daughter, it would be a simple if heartbreaking thing to take them off and lay them down. But her hearts surged with the absolutely unfairness of everything happening. She was trying to save these people. They were throwing her away, into the wilderness with nothing but what she had in her hands. All because she loved them, and she wasn’t a murderer. Because a little clone boy named Tech had bright golden eyes and she didn’t want to see the light go out in them.

“No.” She said firmly, then hauled off and shoved the podium forward. It skidded towards Kashae and Irri, who both swam upwards out of the way. It was never meant to hit them, Shiani didn’t have the physical strength to shove the old stone that hard, but it made a great distraction as she took off as fast as she could past the guards and out of the chamber door.

“Catch her!” Kashae ordered.

Shiani booked it for the city gates, other guards on her tail. She was just past the perimeter when a squad of guards caught her, trying to hold her down and take the crown and chains off her. She hissed and snapped, trying to get away while their claws raked her flesh and she was struck with the butts of the harpoon guns. Just as she thought her only connection left to who she’d been an hour before would be ripped off her skin, a dark shadow eclipsed the group. The guards looked up, spotting a massive shark, and darted back towards the city perimeter where they’d be safe. Shiani grabbed her crown from the sand and took off again trailing blood.

They’d come back after her once the shark was gone. They’d hunt her to the death for stealing the chains… There was only one place they’d never follow. Tipoca City, in the midst of the longnecks. The only way she’d survive was to go back to the shadow of the enemy and their city lights, and pray she wasn’t found. So she made a beeline back for the volcano cavern, shooting through the narrow tunnel and back to the little private beach she’d only a few hours ago been sharing with Tech.

His camp lights were still strung up, turned off when they detected the rising sun outside. She lay on her back in the sand, clutching her crown and bleeding into the waves that lapped up against her skin. After a few moments of staring up at the circle of daylight above her, she pumped the water out of her chest and sucked in a breath of air. It came out in a desperate, broken little scream of agony before the siren rolled onto her side and curled into a ball. She was nameless, clanless, utterly alone in the galaxy with no way to hunt or protect herself… the former darling princess of Acopit now left to fend for herself in a heap of garbage underneath her ancestral enemy’s city.

The only ray of hope was a single clone, a child soldier who’d grow up much too fast to go to war… but when Shiani had cried herself out and curled up in the drier sand to tend to her stinging injuries, she decided she wasn’t afraid to pin her hopes on Tech. He was a good boy, he’d grow into a good man. And if her stubborn people wouldn’t let her save them, that was fine. She’d make a new goal, and Tech could teach her.

She was getting off this planet, into the stars.

Shiani wasn’t at the dock when Tech climbed down to the surface of the water, and she didn’t answer his comm when he tried to call her. He disliked interruptions to his schedule, and he’d planned to spend the night talking and teaching. He wasn’t giving that up without a good reason, so he jammed his rebreather grumpily into his mouth and swam himself down until he found the tunnel. It was claustrophobic by himself, instead of zooming through at the speed of waterjet propulsion, but he made it in about a half hour from the time he’d started swimming.

He wasn’t prepared to see the siren laying on the sand, curled in a tight ball and an… incorrect shade of purple. “Shiani?” He frowned once he’d spit out the rebreather, crawling over to her.

Her head lolled over to him, blinking like she was fighting exhaustion to stay awake. “... Tech?” She mumbled. There were new bruises and deep scratches all over her, some of her tentacles glued together with dried blood.

“You are hurt.” Tech jumped right into problem-solving mode. “I brought bacta. Let me see.” He had to sign at her to get her to uncurl, but she did eventually let him look. The scratches all came in sets of four or five, and the worst ones across her back looked like they might be infected. He carefully sprayed down everything he could see and cleaned the worst ones with alcohol first, which made her squeal and squirm. “I am sorry. I know it is unpleasant. What happened to you?”

“Big fight with brother.” She winced, flexing her freshly bandaged limbs.

“Perhaps you should stay away from him. He does not seem very nice to you, and these injuries are more severe than a typical fight. Hunter and Crosshair fight all the time, but I have never seen them hurt each other this badly.”

“Going to stay here now. Cave will be my home.” She sat upright, looking at him with concern in her eyes. “You came here by yourself.”

“I expected you at the dock. When you were not there, I was concerned.” He said as if it were the most obvious thing in the galaxy. Shiani’s hearts ached to think her brother wanted her to drag him to the bottom of the sea and kill him. Tech was so kind and pure… quirky, maybe, but what did she know? Maybe all humans were like that. She’d never seen one before him.

“Tech is sweet.” She lightly patted his hand, which she justified as a needed little touch. Sirens were cuddly, and if he’d let her she would have folded him into her coils and held him like a child’s doll to comfort them both. Her for the pain and him for having worried about her.

He sat close to her, pushing up a little mound of dry sand for her to lean on that wouldn’t hurt her back. “You intend to live in here? You will need better accommodations, but I would be able see you frequently.”

“Shiani would like that. Tech will be my best friend.” She smiled fondly. “Shiani can see you grow up, even if it is too fast.”

“I will be biologically fully grown in less than another standard year. After that, my aging should slow. I believe the age progression models indicate the equivalent of about 25 to 30 standard years.”

Shiani chuckled. “Be older than me. Shiani only 19.”

Tech nodded. “I will likely catch up with you in a few months. Would you still like me to teach you to repair things, or will that change since your living situation is different?”

“Can Tech teach me to build a starship?” She turned her head to look at him. The light from the lanterns caught his eyes at the right angle to turn the brown into honey gold. It was charming, and he was adorable… though it was unsettling to think in a year he’d be a grown man. Would it change things for him? Or her?

“I would have to learn to build one myself, but I can share the knowledge I obtain. But perhaps we should start with Basic, so we can talk while we work? It would be difficult to sign and use tools.”

Shiani nodded. “That’s a good idea.”

“Of course it is. I am seldom wrong.” He poked his index finger into the air, a charming little habit she already was finding endearing after only seeing it once. “I used to say never… but that was before I left my tools in my pocket and sank during that aquatics lesson.”

Shiani giggled. “Had to be wrong one time, so Shiani could meet Tech.”

Tech looked around. “Perhaps we should start by making a list of things you will need. I can steal them from around the barracks, and bring them to you.”

The siren beamed. “Tech is my favorite person.”

Tech pinked slightly when her tentacles wrapped around his middle in an unexpected, but not entirely unwelcome hug. He’d thought about those tentacles a lot in the last three days, fascinated with the way they moved. Maybe she was his favorite person too… he didn’t hate when she hugged him, like he did when Wrecker picked him up off the floor.

#explict #original character #clone force 99 #the bad batch #star wars #fanfic #tbb tech #song of the sea

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silverwings22 · 16 hours

Text

Song of the Sea: Chapter 1: Seafoam Blue

As Promised, I'm here with a Tech Fic! This is a Tech Lives Fic, and we will be continuing once Season 3 finishing airing.

(If they don't give me a satisfactory ending, I'll be fixing it.)

Chapter warning: drowning, profanity

Series warning: explicit smut, alien anatomy (it's a monsterfucker fic, guys), major character injury, grief, canon typical violence, autistic meltdowns, and my terrible attempts at Mando'a.

Next Chapter:

Seafoam Blue

The cadets of the experimental unit, Clone Force 99, were used to being sneered at by other clones on Kamino. “Defective”, “lab-scrappers”, and “better off decommissioned” were comments they heard frequently, which left them united and extremely defensive. It also meant they worked exceptionally well together because they tolerated no one else, and would likely be a very effective fighting force when they finally got off the planet of their creation.

If they survived basic training, anyway.

Today was aquatics environmental training, which meant the four boys were dropped off in the middle of the ocean with their gear packs, and tasked with getting each other back to shore. Hunter, the natural leader among them and under consideration for the sergeant position, was the first to break the surface once they’d been pushed out of the transport into the water. His long hair was plastered to his face, but he’d remembered to blow air out of his nose on the way up. As he got his bearings, three more heads popped up next to him.

Wrecker was coughing, stinging water up his nose. Crosshair sucked in a breath just so he could start swearing like a Hutt. Tech just looked like he was having a hard time keeping his head above water. “Everyone okay?” Hunter called.

“It burns my nose.” Wrecker complained.

“That’s cause you tried to snort the ocean.” Crosshair groused. “Where’s the fucking inflatable?”

“Tech’s got it.” Hunter floated over to his brother, giving him an arm to pull up on so he could dump the water out of his goggles. Tech blinked the seawater out of his lashes and turned so Hunter could get his gear bag open, pulling out a small heavy box. Hunter pushed a button and held it up, the box opening and unfolding into a lifeboat. As soon as it was fully inflated, he and Crosshair climbed into it and pulled Wrecker up first. He was the weakest swimmer, his dense muscle making it harder for him to float and tread water.

Crosshair turned around once Wrecker was laying on the bottom of the boat hacking up water. “... Where’s Tech?”

Hunter paled, spinning around. “Tech!?”

There was nothing but ocean around them, with no sight or sound of their brother.

Crosshair sucked in a sharp breath. “... You don’t think he kept all those goddamn tools in his pockets, do you?”

“He’s too smart for that…” Hunter said weakly, praying it was true. “Get eyes on Tipoca City, so we know where we’re going. We stay out until we find him.”

Crosshair nodded, getting out his binocs. Tech had better be okay… he wasn’t prepared to deal with anyone else. This squad was all he could tolerate, and he’d never say it out loud but he loved his brothers. Losing any of them was unacceptable.

Down below, Tech had indeed left his pockets full of heavy durasteel tools and underestimated how heavy they would be in the water. He was sinking despite his best attempts to stay at the surface, already several meters down and descending. Bubbles streamed out of his mouth, and he cursed internally as he realized his rebreather was in his gear pack on his back. It wasn’t easily reachable, and even if he pulled it around he’d have to dig through all the other crap he had in there before he found it. The salt water coming in the edges of his goggles was blinding, he’d never find them before he ran out of oxygen and blacked out… then he’d take a reflexive breath and drown. The entire situation was unideal, but death sounded like the least pleasant part.

Tech heard humming when he woke. He was laying on wet sand, covered in grit and half-dried salt, on his side when he opened his eyes.He coughed and started propping himself up on his elbow. Everything was blurry, and he slowly reached up to his face and discovered his goggles were missing. The last thing he remembered was a tentacle wrapping around his face, preventing him from swallowing water when he lost consciousness…

The surface got further and further away, and he was debating whether or not he had time to go through the stages of grief before he actually died, when something bumped his leg. He looked down, half blinded with seawater, and found a cephalopod tentacle wrapping up from his ankle to his thigh. He tried to kick, less than enthused about being eaten before he was dead, when he was suddenly and violently snatched down and towards the direction of TIpoca City. It was hard to tell, but as a second tentacle wrapped around his face he thought he saw a pair of humanoid hands moving as well. A suction cup sealed over his nose and mouth, just as he blacked out.

He jumped when something touched his arm, rolling over on his back to see a… he wasn’t sure what he was looking at, actually. It appeared female, and looked concerned as she leaned closer to him. Her skin was purple with a greenish undertone, and her eyes were seafoam blue with oblong pupils in an only slightly darker shade. The sclera was barely visible, and they took up most of her soft and round face. Her nose was small and nearly flat, with a thin-lipped mouth. Her ears were delicate, nearly translucent green fins, and what might have been hair on a human was instead a series of thin tentacles she’d put in a ponytail. Two hung down the left side of her face like bangs, and they moved independently. This curious face sat atop a thin and graceful neck, tapering to narrow shoulders and a close-fitting strapless garment made of woven seaweed. The hands she raised in a gesture of peace were five-fingered with sharp black nails, and she wore what appeared to be durasteel manacles around her wrists that dragged a few feet of chain that attached to woven wire armbands around each bicep.

The most surprising part of her, however, was from the waist down. She was splayed out atop eight powerful, sucker-studded tentacles the underside of which were the same green as her ears. In her right hand were his goggles, which she had evidently been inspecting while he was knocked out. She offered them back with a sheepish smile that showed a double set of inch-long top canines, and a soft humming sound that gave the impression of an apology.

Tech hesitantly took them and put them back on his face, squinting until she came into focus. Her torso was only slightly bigger than the half-grown cadet, but the tentacles making her at least three meters long from head to tip. A young adult of… whatever she was, he thought. At least she didn’t look like a child or elderly to him. “Um… hello? I assume you saved me… thank you.”

She cocked her head to the side curiously, humming again with a dip to indicate a question.

“You do not speak Basic.” He blinked. Who the hell didn’t speak Basic? Wasn’t that why it was called Basic? He looked around, realizing they were inside a cave. There was a natural skylight high above them, the bottom a sandy private beach with a few sparse plants growing further up where the water didn’t touch. “... this is the inside of the inactive volcano below Tipoca City.” He realized as he sided up the composition of the cavern walls and the height of the roof. “This is well below sea level. I did not realize there was dry land under here…”

The creature beside him cooed, wiggling over to him and checking him out. She pulled up his arm to inspect his uniform, tapped at his comm and gear bag with a sharp nail as if testing them, and started to poke into his pockets to look at his tools when he put his foot down. “Please stop that.”

She sat back again at the sound of his voice, lifting her hands and waving to get his eyes on her. After a moment of watching her fingers shift and twist, he realized it was a form of sign language not too different from the Tuskan he knew. It was at least enough to start forming a pidgin between them.

“Pulled you from deep water. Couldn’t bring you to the surface. Can’t be seen.” She explained. “You okay?”

Tech spoke aloud as he signed, wondering if it would teach her Basic. He had no idea how long he was going to be here in this cave, he might as well make progress with his new companion. “Thank you. My name is Tech.”

She smiled, repeating his name curiously. “Tech.” She touched her chest to indicate herself. “Shiani.”

“I am grateful for you rescuing me, Shiani. I have never seen anyone like you before.” He reached into his gear bag and pulled out his datapad, scanning her subtly to try to figure out what the hell she was.

Her limbs undulated as she shifted to get a little closer, trying to look at his screen. “Kaminoan.”

“I am familiar with Kaminoans. I was made by Kaminoans. They have a much longer neck.” He showed her the screen, since nothing was coming up but old legends about creatures whose singing led sailors to their deaths.

She laughed, a breathy and intriguing sound he found himself enjoying immensely. “More than one sentient species on Kamino. Sirens and longnecks. Longnecks force sirens to live in hiding under the sea, hundreds of years ago”.

“I have never heard of your species.” Tech was delighted when she let him examine her tentacles, pulling one over his legs to poke at it. She giggled like she was ticklish.

“They think we’re extinct. We helped them survive when the Great Flood happened. When we saved them, they enslaved us. When we fought back, they killed us. When we ran, they hunted us. So we hide.”

Tech looked up at her, watching the sad expression across her face. “You were very close to the surface to save me.”

“Went where Shiani needed to be. Melody tells my hearts”. She explained, leaning closer when he moved to examine the gill slits on her sides.

“Melody?”

“Sirens have three gods. Melody, Harmony, and Song. Light and Dark and Balance. None better or worse than the others.”

“And you believe a god told you to come to the surface?”

“Yes. Shiani finds the key to saving her people here.” She reached up and lightly booped his nose with her fingertip, careful of her nail. “Apparently, Tech is the key.”

“How would I be key to saving a species of creatures living in hiding?” He blinked, leaning back at the unexpected contact. Shiani smiled, watching his reaction curiously.

“Tech doesn’t like touching?”

“I am… less than fond of it when it is unexpected.” He adjusted his goggles nervously. “What do you intend to do with me?”

“Shiani will be your friend. But you can’t tell anyone about me, it would put sirens in danger.” She raised what passed as an eyebrow, a darker purple circle above her large eyes. “We can help each other.”

“How?” Tech scrunched his nose, and Shiani thought it was absolutely adorable. He looked like he was barely a teenager, in his little blue and red uniform. The glasses were her favorite, and she was glad he hadn’t woken up when she’d tried to put them on her own face just to see. They made her excellent vision blurry, but they were cool.

“Metal in your pockets made you sink. Tools. You know how to fix things, and make them better?”

Tech nodded. “I enjoy inventing. I am a genius, it was genetically engineered into me during my gestation.”

“My people still use systems that are nearly a thousand years old in our cities. Shiani takes you back to the longneck city, you teach me to build things. Then Shiani can help her people.”

Tech frowned. “It would be complex to use electrical tools underwater.”

“What if we built things here first? She smiled. “Can bring you here.”

He nodded after a moment of thought. “That seems doable. I have free time between lessons and simulations, but it is predominately at night. Is that an issue?”

“Sirens see well at night.” She smiled, and he spotted a nictitating membrane move across her eyes to keep the sand out.

He nodded again. “I can acquire a comm device for you when I get back to Tipoca City, so we can remain in contact.”

Shiani nodded, looking at his wrist when he pointed at it. “Comm device.” She repeated, testing the measure of the unfamiliar syllables on her tongue. She was a quick learner, which Tech was grateful for. He disliked repeating himself frequently, which Wrecker often required.

“Yes.” He smiled, sitting back beside her. She gave him her hand when he reached for it, flexing her fingers while he traced her phalanges and tendons. He was entirely fascinated by the difference between this and her boneless tentacles and this contact was acceptable, since he’d initiated it.

When he reached for the manacles, her other hand snapped forward and caught his wrist gently. He looked up, a concerned look in his eyes. Shiani smiled and shook her head before letting him go so she could sign. “Chains are very special.”

“My apologies.” He looked sufficiently chastened, though curious.

Her eyes lifted up towards the open mouth of the mountain, so small and high above them. “Getting dark. Tech will be missed.”

He startled with a sudden realization. “Oh… my brothers are going to think I’ve drowned.”

“Shiani take you back to Tipoca. Can let them know you’re safe. Just promise not to tell anyone about sirens. Long necks might attack again.”

He nodded immediately. He liked knowing things, especially things no one else was allowed to or unable to figure out. “It does not concern you that I was made by the Kami… Long necks?”

She held her hand up, palm towards him, and pointed for him to place his hand against hers. Tech was hesitant at first, but slowly pressed his palm to her cool skin. He was still marveling in the texture, not slimy like an octopus or squid would be. She felt more like a dolphin, tough and smooth but thinner skinned and flexible. His hand was about the same size as hers, and she leaned forward until her mouth was almost touching the back of her hand before singing out a high, keening note that he felt inside his ribcage and between his eyes. It took him a minute to recover, realizing he’d flopped over like a landed fish and she was leaning over him curiously.

“What… what was that?” He wheezed, hands wobbling as he signed.

“Siren singing. How Shiani knows Tech is good.” She smiled at him. “Can feel your hearts.”

“That is… I am not sure I understand.” He frowned, sitting upright. The siren scooted a little closer, offering him an arm to lean against while he got his bearings again.

Shiani indicated for him to hold onto her arm. “Shiani takes you back to surface now, to find your brothers. You are little brother or older brother?”

“Both. Hunter is older than me, while Wrecker and Crosshair are younger.” He took the offered arm.

Shiani nodded. “Hunter. Tech. Wrecker. Crosshair.” Her mouth wasn’t exactly made for the language, dragging out the sibilants a little more than he would. But she tried, and he liked the way her voice sounded when she spoke out loud.

“I won’t tell them about you.” He reassured her.

“Trusting you.” She nodded. “Shiani come to find you in three days, when moon is highest. Dock where ships come from the stars is always empty then.”

He nodded, taking her arm and a deep breath when she wrapped a tentacle around his waist and pulled him into the water. She was wickedly fast below the surface, pulling him up the side of the underwater mountain until the lights of Tipoca City’s bottom were in sight. She took him right to the dock, shoving him into the air just as he was sure he was going to black out once more. When he caught his breath and looked down, she had vanished into deeper water, and he managed to grab the service ladder steps of the dock before his tools pulled him underwater again.

He tapped his comm, which was waterlogged but still functional. “Hunter?”

“Tech!? Where the hell are you!? We’ve been looking for hours!”

“My apologies. My tools were heavier than anticipated.”

He heard Crosshair in the background, yelling at him about being a genius moron. Hunter sighed with relief. “At least you’re okay. Where are you? We’re not calling off this exercise until we have you back.”

“I am holding onto the underside of the main starship hangar dock.”

Hunter sucked in a sharp breath. “Tech. That’s three klicks from where you went missing. How are you alive?”

It was a long swim back to the sunken city of Acopit, Shiani’s home and the capital of Below Kamino. The dim, flickering lights of what had once been a bustling metropolis glowed like a dying sunset from the sea floor. Once, the city had been above water before the Great Flood. When the seas swoll to consume all of Kamino, and the sirens escaped slavery at the hands of the longnecks, they’d simply gone back home.

Tech didn’t like lying to his brother, but he had made a promise to the strange siren who’d saved his life. And her concerns were valid, the Kaminoans were not always the most ethical in their pursuit of scientific breakthrough… “I was simply very lucky.”

She went straight to the center of the city, entering through a window of the towered palace that sat in the very middle of a circular courtyard. The entire city was laid out like a wheel, spokes connecting districts and everything leading here. There had been more towers when she was young, but the currents and disrepair had led them to break off and fall to sandy bottom.

She slipped into her bedroom casually, setting the woven kelp bag she carried behind her bed made of a giant mollusk shell. It looked like she’d made it back without attracting too much attention… “Where have you been?” A voice scared her half to death, singing out in her native tongue.

Shiani squeaked and a cloud of black ink swirled around her tentacles, her face turning blue with embarrassment. “Kashae! Stop sneaking up on me!”

Her elder brother, a large male of the same shade of purple-green as she was, was suction-cupped to the upper wall in the shadows where she hadn’t seen him immediately. His woven shirt was made of goldish-green sea silk and was paired with a cape of the same material, embroidered with heavy shells. There was a crown of coral and stone on his head, and he wore chains crossed over his chest like a body harness. “Where have you been, little sister?”

“Hunting.” She said automatically.

“You’re a terrible liar.” Kashae dropped to the floor and reached over, flicking her nose with his claw lightly. “You always give yourself away, because you can’t look me in the eye. Where were you?”

She grumbled. “So bossy since Father gave you his crown.”

“That’s what kings do. Now tell me the truth, Shiani. You’ve been disappearing for weeks. It’s not safe outside of the city.”

“It’s not safe in the city anymore.” She huffed, gills flexing on her sides as she turned to lean on the windowsill with her elbows. “The perimeter barriers are failing. Just like the lights. How long until the sharks and sea monsters get in and start snatching children from their homes?”

“We’ll adapt, like we always have. I’ll set up a city guard to patrol-” Kashae reached out, putting a hand on her shoulder.

She snatched back. “And pay them with what? There’s not enough food to pay out the portions that kind of labor is worth. The hunting parties won’t go far enough out to find anything worthwhile. And I’ve been to six other Belowcities, just for them to tell me it’s just as bad there.” She shook her head. “We need new technology. We can’t keep limping this along, our people will starve in the dark because the city is failing!”

“So what’s your plan, Shiani?” Kashae frowned, pulling on one of her head tentacles lightly.

“There’s technology thousands of years more advanced than ours on the surface.” Shiani said quietly. “If I could just study it long enough, I could replicate it-”

“Is that where you’ve been?!” Kashae cut her off, voice raising so loudly she felt herself start to panic. He had his fangs bared, mouth splitting open from a hidden seam that went nearly to his ears and showed his entire jaw. “It’s forbidden to go to the surface! You know that!”

“The longnecks are making people now, Kashae! Not just plants and animals! They made a whole new race to enslave, like they did us!” She yelled back, fists clenched but she didn’t dare show her teeth. “We could help them, and they could help us!”

“No. If the longnecks made them, they’re going to be just as evil as they are.” Kashae grabbed her wrist. “You are not going back up there. You’ll get us all killed.”

“So you’d rather see our people starve at the edge of a crumbling city?” She snapped, limbs flashing with serious of pulsing blue rings. “What kind of king are you?!”

“That’s enough!” Kashae growled, free hand coming up and slapping her sharply across the face. One nail dragged a gouge in her cheek. Immediately, the both froze as a trickle of blue blood swirled through the water. Regret immediately colored the young king’s face and his mouth shut, his own blue rings vanishing at the sight of his sister’s blood. “Shiani…”

“Don’t touch me.” She shoved his hand off her wrist. “Just go!”

Kashae sighed. “I’m sorry, Shiani. But you can’t go back. I forbid it, as your king. Not your brother. Do you understand me? I won’t tell anyone about it this once, but if you go back I have to tell the High Council. You know what will happen if they hear.”

Shiani turned away, hand over her bleeding face. “... One day, they’re praising me as the Minister of Security. The next, they’ll have me exiled.”

“Not if you don’t do this again. No one has to know.” Kashae reached for her again, apologetic, but she just pulled away. “Shiani, please… I’m sorry.”

“Just go away.” She muttered.

Kashae sighed, backing up out of her room and rubbing his forehead. Once he was out of earshot, he waved to the nearest castle guard. “Have someone watch my sister… if she sneaks out, let me know.”

“Yes sir.”

In her room, Shiani unfolded herself on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. It had been painted once, though centuries of water and time had worn it away. The only art that persisted since before the Great Flood were the mosaics in the Temple. Patterns of the Harmony, Melody, and Song.

The oldest stories said the gods dwelled beyond the stars, keeping the balance of the galaxy and giving life and death in equal measure. Since Shiani had been a little girl, she’d always tried to put the needs of her people first… but all she’d ever wanted was to see those stars with her own eyes.

The boy, Tech, was the key to saving both the sirens and her. She just knew it.

#explict #original character #clone force 99 #the bad batch #star wars #tbb tech #fanfic #song of the sea

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