#the clones and droids should unionize

[phoenixyfriend]

Nothing as sexy as a human (or otherwise sapient) consciousness becoming the central AI that runs an ancient building.

Anyway I think Anakin or Ahsoka should fuck up on Mortis so spectacularly that they are sent back to circa TPM as the inhabiting consciousness of Tipoca Training Facility.

I already did Obi-Wan as a living temple, now it's somebody else's turn to be a building the size of a city.

I feel as though Anakin moving the walls to piss off Jango until Jango does what he wants (is nice to clones) is important. That said, Ahsoka could also do this.

The walls are your collective older sister/dad that keeps fighting the mean teacher for you.

@atagotiak said on discord:

Oh, hey. One fun thing about Anakin being the one. Sidious holo-calls to the kaminoans

The building starts shaking and Sheev is just like "oh, I didn't know you got earthquakes on Kamino."

Heck, Anakin and Ahsoka can share Tipoca.

Gotta be careful not to meld, but the system is big enough to avoid that And the Kaminoans are REALLY bad at figuring out how to remove the "virus" in the walls Partly because the virus got the droids to unionize, controls all outgoing calls, and blocks off the hangars whenever they start thinking it's time to call it a wash and just bomb the place.

Someone asked why Obi-Wan isn't involved and tbh, the Doylist reason is that people get weird about him (there's this subset of fandom that really wants Obi-Wan to be more In Tune Soul Wise with the clones than any other Jedi and it gets under my skin).

@ioudaleks suggested "Doesn’t he not get possessed? Could use that," and you know what, that's as good a reason as any. Obi-Wan didn't get possessed, so he didn't get punted to the past to become a citywide AI with a sincere desire to fuck with Jango, the Cuy'val Dar, and the Kaminoans.

I want Anakin to do Castle Heterodyne vibes. His greatest joy is setting up obstacle courses for Not Clones. Fuck you, Taun We, avoid these swinging hay bales to get to work on time.

Ahsoka does much friendlier but still stupidly hard (her standard for child-appropriate phys ed difficulty is Jedi, not normal) stuff for the clones.

They project themselves as holograms (to the twins and nicer trainers like Mij), because I said so.

#Faustian Castle AU #Anakin Skywalker #Ahsoka Tano #the clone wars #star wars #time travel #tipoca city #kamino #phoenix talks

[z-socks]

He Soars

*banging my fists, chanting: winged Clones winged Clones winged Clones Crosshair-centric, some mild body horror when discussing Echo because Techno Union. Also the Empire being assholes. Season 2 spoilers (The Outpost).

Crosshair had always hated his wings. They were large, dark, laborious things, with rough feathers that had cut him more than once until he learned to keep them away from his body. The copious, smothering down choked him in the night, suffocating him with heat and irritating fuzz down the back of his throat. 

The Regs all had the same wings: something akin to the shriek hawks of their Template’s home. They were shiny, patterned in golden hues like the Clones’ eyes and shaped and sized to be useful in battle. 

Clone Force 99 did not have the wings of the Regs. Hunter's were slim and cut, rounded with specialized feathers that made his approaches from the air lethally silent. Tech's were scooped and agile, designed for soaring and diving sharply while in flight. Wrecker’s were the only wings comparable to Crosshair's in size. But they were pure white with imposing flight feathers and capable of being beat with deadly force. 

Crosshair's wings were useless. 

A sniper with wings impossible to hide was not a very useful asset. So he learned early on how to make them work for him. He learned to stick to shadows and use them to hide, to lash out a wing and cut down a droid, to let his brothers crush his suffocating down by curling against him when the endless stretches of space got cold. 

And then came Kaller and the order and the girl. 

His brothers left. 

The Empire deemed the Clones’ wings an annoyance. Their size was hard and expensive to accommodate for in their standardized barracks. Their down clogged the life support filters. And their feathers’ rustling impeded on the other troopers’ sleep. 

A suggestion to have them removed was met with a counterpoint. Why spend the money on surgery? Just remove the Clones. 

Cross watched Regs disappear from the ranks. His eyes catching the way their wings sagged, unstretched and unflown, atrophying in the grip of the new Empire. His own wings felt heavier these days, causing him to haunch over from their weight. 

He was one of six Clones sent to Barton-IV to retrieve a shipment that had been held there. His squad ran into his wings on purpose, complaining under their breath about having no room on the transport and how he should be with the other beasts. 

Cross shrugged it off. 

It was far from the first time he’d been likened to a monster. 

Clone Commander Mayday’s wings were the second worst pair Crosshair had ever seen, only beat out by Echo’s when they’d rescued him from Anaxes: nearly bald, half blown off, and bent wrong from being stuffed into a stasis chamber with no room for them. The smell of decaying feathers had emanated from the corporal. And Mayday and his brothers had the same stench. 

Their feathers were molting, ragged as they clung on by sickly quills. Strips of fabric like that on their armor were looped and tied to fill in the bare spots. Even their color looked faded but Cross wasn’t sure if that had more to do with the dim light provided by the coilheater. 

“What’s your name?” he asked Crosshair, the first person in too many cycles to do so. Cross hesitated. But this was a dead man walking, giving him a name that would likely die on his tongue within a tenday was harmless enough. 

“Crosshair.” 

The Reg nodded. “Follow me.” 

They inspected their meager equipment. Mayday showed him all that was broken. 

A large shadow passed overhead. The call of a monstrous bird. 

“Ice vulture,” Mayday informed, eyeing Crosshair. “Vicious creatures. But you have to admire them. They find a way to survive.” 

Then came the raid. Their hunt. The ice cave. 

“No sense carrying dead weight.” 

Mayday hummed. “'Less you need to to survive.” 

Crosshair shot him a puzzled look. 

“Them vultures carry dead weight all the time.” He shrugged. "Gotta eat."

The mine. The raiders. The avalanche. 

“Mayday.” His voice nearly broke as he dug the commander out of the snow. He’d lost more feathers in the onslaught, fresh skin exposed and bleeding on the patches left behind. 

The climb was excruciating. The wind sliced through them. 

When they finally found enough of an outcropping to shelter behind, Cross folded his wings around them, for once, grateful for the excessive down. The rough feathers kept the snow and ice from building up. Their size big enough to protect them both from the blistering winds. 

“I remember you, you know,” Mayday whispered against his neck. “The clone with the big black wings.” He huffed a choked off laugh. “Mean little thing. But I knew better. I’d seen you fly.”

A memory came forward, fuzzy, hazy in the whiteout snow. The training room on Kamino had been tall enough to allow them to practice aerial maneuvers. Crosshair’s monstrous wings had never fit in the crowded space with the Regs. But late at night, he’d sneak out to fly.

“The command cadet.” 

He remembered now, getting caught one night by an older cadet in red. But the cadet had let him off easy, saying lightly that it was past bedtime. Cross had waited to be punished for sneaking out. But the CC cadet had merely left the training room to continue his assigned patrols. 

“Bet you’d never dream this be how you found out ya belong here,” Mayday murmured, huddled in close to Crosshair, buried deep into the soft down of his wings. 

Cross quietly inquired what he meant but Mayday had lost consciousness once more. 

The storm stopped with the sunrise. An Ice Vulture circled overhead.

The climb was no less difficult. And Mayday’s exhaustion meant Cross was walking for them both. He used his wings, flapping them to help propel their steps. 

It felt… good. Like he was made for this.

His wings had room, could stretch fully. The wind ran through his down and along his sharp flight feathers. It caught them occasionally, beckoned them to fly. 

They reached the outpost. They collapsed and Crosshair begged for help. 

The Lieutenant refused. 

Mayday was going to die. 

The shot. The chaos that followed. 

But he was made for this. 

He took out some of the troopers and command first, single shots. He was a sniper after all, even from the ground instead of in his nest. The Clones charged him and he switched it to stun. 

Good soldiers follow orders. He had. Mayday had. They had. And they were still considered dead weight. 

A stolen shuttle, Mayday hastily loaded in the back, the rest of the scattered imperials on their tail. 

But he was made for this. 

A sharp dive like that of scooped agile wings. A silent approach from behind like that of specialized feathers. A shot to their flank, percussive like beating pure white wings. 

They fell from the sky. 

He soared. 

#star wars #the bad batch #tbb #tbb crosshair #bad batch crosshair #mayday #commander mayday #winged clones #not cannon compliant #canon divergence

[skellymom]

thoughts on the new bad batch trailer?

(i saw it had come out thru @techs-goggles9902 and couldnt be bothered to watch it for hours and now i have im so excited)

~ Jamie <3

Heeeyyyy, @fionajames <3

I just posted a spoiler...looks like someone is back w/their brothers...*cough* Mosshair *cough*

Please take my analysis with a grain of salt as Disney can post flashback scenes, scenes that might look to be part of a whole sequence but are two separate/several ones to throw us off. Plus these is plenty that they AREN'T probably including in the trailer. Should be interesting if there will be a second trailer for S3.

I don't see too much serious evidence that outwardly points to Tech. HOWEVER, I do see two "maybe" possibilities in the trailer and they are both wearing helmets:

Timestamp 1:03, The "X" Clone Trooper shown in the second half of the trailer. Now I have seen one trooper who unalived himself in the last season w/Senator Chuchi and Rex, so we know there are clones still actively working for the Empire. And, if you look REALLY close, Timestamp 0:36, there are more X Clone Troopers in the trailer scene right before the one w/Omega getting scanned. It's a shot from the top of the room showing what looks like 3 X Clone Troopers and a droid. Could one of them be Tech? Don't know.

Timestamp 1:14, The scene with the Imperial armored soldier in the cockpit of his ship lifting his left arm up. Did Tech steal a stormtroopers armor to save his brothers? Remember Tech's "hand signal" callback to S1? Is he signaling to The Batch? Or, also in Tech fashion, is he flailing because of an explosion as Tech sometimes does? Or, is it just a random stormtrooper and not Tech?

Looks like we get Fennec, Rex, Echo, Phee, Howzer, Cad Bane, Ventress, Palpatine, and Scorch.

The scenes in the trailer that REALLY has me scratching my head:

Timestamp 0:28 shows an Imperial Transport ship crashed and smoldering on a large hill. Is it the same ship from Timestamp 1:07? Faraway shot of several figures walking away: The one at the top of the hill looks like Omega. There is a figure either rolling down the hill: Wrecker? Although, silly me who works with dogs...it almost looks like a dog running down the hill. And a figure at the bottom that I at first thought was Crosshair...but then it kinda looks like Rex with the shadowy person walking next to them on the other side. It looks like Phee's hair. Or did this ship only carry Omega as seen in Timestamp 1:23? Did she meet someone on the planet to help her hide? Someone with a dog (I just remember the wonderful scene with the space puppy licking Omega's face and how happy her laugh sounded)?

Timestamp 0:33 is that Crosshair in the left hand side of the screen walking calmly in the opposite direction (that everyone else is running)? Is he settling a score? Is that Clone Trooper "X" (possibly Tech?).

What does the "il" uniform patches on each side of Omega's shoulders mean. I checked the Aurebesh language keys online. Doesn't match up with anything.

Who is CX-1??? Timestamp 1:15. Boba Fett????

Timestamp 1:21, who is the dude in the white and grey armor??? Wait...OH SHIT...is THAT WOLFFE???

I DON'T trust Emerie. She's creepy. Sorry. Not all the clones are tight with one another. I worry she's in secretly with Hemlock.

Are Fennec and Cad Bane working with The Batch? Or against them? Is Ventress teaming up with The Batch against Palpatine? Or is she truly fighting them at the end? Or is that just two separate scenes meant to look like they go together?

And, something that makes me sad: Both Hunter and Wrecker look older, more aged. They are still so handsome. However, with the stress of what they have gone through, plus their advanced aging...well, how long do they have left? The still of Echo doesn't look like he aged at all. Could it be that he isn't as accelerated due to what the Techno Union did to him? Or were The Batch genetically altered to be so specialized...but live even shorter lives than the Regs?

#star wars #the bad batch #tbb #bad batch #clone force 99 #the bad batch season 3 #thoughts and musings about season 3 #skellymom #ask

[jedi-lothwolf]

Merry Whumpmas Day 1: Hospital

Fandom: Star Wars The Bad Batch

Summary: Echo has to go to the hospital after cutting his hand open. Tech goes with him to help his stay calm as he tries not to think about Skako Minor.

    Echo hated hospitals. They scared him. They seemed to quite and to loud for his liking. He hated being around them but even more he hated being in them.

    Pabu was a beautiful place. Even that wouldn't ease Echo's mind as Tech and him walked towards their hospital.

    "Are you sure we have to go?" Echo asked.

    "The laseration in your palm is deep. It will need stitches. Maybe be more careful around knives next time." Tech kept walking forwards. "It should be a simple procedure. They will numb your hand and stitch it. You will have to come back to get the stitches out."

    "Why can't we wrap it?"

    "Bacta is not something overly easy to come by so they need to preserve it. So do we."

    "Alright."

    Hospitals were to clean, to blank, and to bright. Even though Echo didn't remember much from when he was with the Techno Union, he did remember some things.

    It was cold and white. It smelled too clean. Echo shook his head. He tried to clear his mind. As they arrived the clone paused. "I don't think I can go in."

    "I understand this may be difficult for you. Trauma is not easy to overcome. We will take it slowly. Or at least we will try. Can I provide some form of comfort to you?" Tech walked up to be right beside him. Despite his slightly robotic tone, Echo knew he was genuine.

    Nothing came to mind. The domino tried to find anything that might help. even in the slightest. But there was nothing. "Just stay close?" He shook.

    "I intend to." Tech started to walk forward.

Echo had been right. Exam rooms always looked the same. He sat in his, trying not to cry as a droid came in to look at his hand. Tech intervened quickly and asked if there was a living doctor there. The droid seemed offended but Tech didn't seem to notice. Still he went to grab a doctor.

Just as Echo had feared, all he could think about was the Techno Union. He thought about how the only memories he had were before he was put in the tube he was found in. Memories filled with pain and suffering.

Memories of droids that had stood over him, putting him back together. The few thoughts he had had been wondering if he should have survived or about what happened to the others; what would happen to him. The pain, though only a memory, had been the worst thing he had ever physically felt.

That pain could never compare to the pain that would come with healing from what had happened to him. That pain could never compare to the pain of losing your brothers.

Even now he wasn't completely healed. It felt like those droid's scalpels just kept cutting. Maybe he would never heal? Maybe those wounds would never scar.

Those droids had stood in a clean, white room. When thinking about it, it only ever reminded him of hospital rooms. Sometimes the people nearby cities or towns would let the clones use their hospitals. Other than that, Echo had never been in a hospital.

But now he knew why he feared them so much. They looked just like that room he had been put back together in. Even if his time on Skako Minor was a blur, he knew that this was what the room looked like.

A chill went down Echo's metal spine. He looked over at Tech who stood near the door. He wanted to call for him but his voice hung in his throat. The tears he had been trying so hard to hold back started to slide down his face.

Tech turned around and walked to his side. Unsure of what to say, he just sat with him. He had learned that he wasn't very good at handling current emotional reactions and crying was one of them. Echo reached for his brother and cried into his shoulder.

The doctor opened the door but stopped. She stood in the doorway, confused and slightly concerned. "Is everything alright?" She asked kindly.

"My brother suffers with trauma related to rooms that look similar to this one. Let him calm down." Tech never even looked at her. He just, somewhat awkwardly, held Echo.

Soon he was able to think a little better. He moved from his place in Techs arms to look at the doctor. She had gone to get him some ice chips and had just gotten back. "ice chips?" She asked.

"Sure." Echo didn't question why she had brought him ice chips of all things. He reached for one but hissed as he remembered why he was there. Tech took the cup and ate one of the pieces of ice.

"Let's get that taken care of." The doctor talked to Echo through the whole thing. It helped being able to focus on something else. When she was done, they were sent to the front to check out and then they could leave.

As they left the building Tech spoke. "That could have been worse" he said.

"Yeah. It could have been."

#merry whumpmas #star wars #whump #star wars the bad batch #the bad batch #echo the bad batch #Skako Minor #poor echo #star wars whump #tbb whump #tech the bad batch #tech bad batch #tbb tech #tech #I love Echo and Tech so much. #hospital #hospital trauma #clone trooper echo #i love the clones #pabu #merrywhumpmas

[notgonnaedit]

Healer's Hands

Chapter 10: Unfinished Business

Master list

Dusk was settling on Anaxes as the Bad Batch prepared to infiltrate a Separatist fleet. Althea prepped her weapons and med bag as Hunter made his rounds. "Thea, is everything ready?"

The medic nodded. "Yup, Sarge. We are ready." Hunter nodded and walked off.

"Still not sure how we're gonna land on that ship." Tech remarked.

Rex walked over to them. "Don't worry. Echo says he's got a plan."

"That makes me feel so much better." Tech said sarcastically, earning an eye roll from Althea.

"What do you mean by that?" Rex asked.

"To be blunt–" Tech started.

"You're always blunt." Althea interrupted.

"–His kind belonged to the Separatists until we unplugged him." Tech didn't miss a beat. "We really don't know where his loyalties lie."

Rex's expression hardened. "Yeah. Well, I know. Now, get moving." He boarded the Marauder, Tech and Althea followed soon after with the former getting a punch from the girl.

                    •°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

Tech piloted the ship calmly, an incredible feat when Wrecker sat behind him. "Please tell me we are blowing something up." He asked.

Skywalker chuckled lightly. "Sorry, Wrecker, this is strictly stealth."

The demo man groaned. "I hate that word."

Skywalker placed his hand on Echo's shoulder. Althea didn't approve him for combat yet, but none of the reg medics took her seriously. "Echo, you're up."

The ARC leaned down and plugged his scomp into the plug. "Don't worry. As soon as I plug in, I'll send a signal to the command ship."

"What type of signal are you gonna send?" Hunter asked. "Nothing that'll give us away, right?" The squad all had their worries about Echo, but he seemed oblivious to it.

"As far as the droids are concerned, we're just gonna be another one of their shuttles coming in for a landing." Echo said it with a suppressed excitement, but Hunter glanced at Crosshair.

"And the regs think we take risks." He remarked. Crosshair nodded and Althea savored this moment. This was one of the few times they ever agreed on anything. The medic hated when she had to clean their wounds, especially Crosshair's. Hunter could throw a mean punch.

Echo furrowed his brow. "Sending the signal...now." They flew through the Separatist fleet, everyone feeling high anxiety. If Echo's plan didn't work, or he betrayed them, they would be blown to bits in an instant.

​​​​​​Everyone breathed a breath of relief as the robotic voice came through the comms. "Roger, roger, Shuttle TC-159. You may approach and land."

Wrecker groaned. "I'd still rather blow it up."

Althea watched as Tech landed on the under belly of the command ship. "I have a feeling you'll get your chance."

                  •°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

As they made their way through the empty halls of the ship, Althea's senses were put on high. Every hair on her body stood on end, despite the quiet. She wondered if this was how Hunter felt all the time, constantly in a state of hyper-awareness. They reached the transmission room where Echo took off his helmet. "Tech, can you rig an interface?"

"I assume that's a rhetorical question." Tech said as he set to work. Crosshair and Wrecker hung back in case droids showed up.

Echo turned to Skywalker. "We should make sure this comm vault has no other entrances."

The General nodded. "I'm on it." He took off down the hall to check, leaving the clones and Althea to themselves. He returned a bit later, reporting that there were no other entrances. 

Tech tapped his gauntlet and nodded to Echo. He plugged in and his pupils dialated. Althea moved over to him. "Echo, you with us?"

"Yeah." He said. "I have access to everything and good timing. I just scanned a strategy request Trench sent to the Techno Union."

"Wait." Said Tech. "You can't just send a signal from here."

"Why not?" Echo asked.

"We have to make it appear as if you signal is originating from Skako Minor. Otherwise, they'll know we are here." Tech tapped his gauntlet more and gave Echo the all clear, but he spoke up again. "I'm intercepting a transmission. Trench is ordering all of his droids to the assembly complex."

Althea scowled. "All right, Echo, what are you trying to pull?"

Echo smirked. "Don't worry, that's what I told him to do." A ripple of doubt went through the small room.

"But our troops will be vastly outnumbered." Rex said.

"Not when I send them a feedback pulse that shuts down all the droids." Echo said.

"How do we know that's what you're really going to do?" Tech asked suspiciously.

"We have to trust him." Said Rex.

Skywalker nodded. "Rex is right. Echo, we're all counting on you." He stepped away to inform General Windu of the plan. Hunter looked at Tech, then Althea. The three of them shared the silent exchange, questioning the regs and their plan. Echo pressed his hand to his head and an electrical shock was sent up through the antenna. Moments later, Windu's voice clicked through Skywalker's comms. "I am pleased to report that we are in control of the assembly complex, and all of the fronts are falling to the Republic thanks to Echo's plan."

Skywalker smiled. "That's good news, Master Windu. We're on our way back to the base."

"May the Force be with you." Windu clicked off and Skywalker turned to Echo.

"Good job, Echo." He said proudly.

Hunter folded his arms. "Well, I guess you actually are on our side."

"Was there ever any doubt?" The ARC asked with a smirk.

"Some." Tech said.

"A lot, actually." Althea added.

Echo's smirk faltered, but it was replaced with a soft smile. "Well, thanks."

Rex grinned. "Come on, brother. Unplug, and let's get out of here."

Echo pressed his hand to his head suddenly. "Wait, I just scanned a new order from Trench. He's initiated a countdown. There's a bomb hidden at the assembly complex, but it's big enough to destroy most of Anaxes."

Can you stop it?" Althea asked.

Echo furrowed his brow. "Well, I can try."

Skywalker turned to leave. "General, where are you going?" Rex asked.

"If you can't stop the detonation, perhaps Trench can!" Skywalker ran at top speed and Tech contacted Windu.

"General Windu, this is Tech. We've discovered a bomb in the fusion reactor. We need someone to go down there and help disarm it."

"I'm on my way." A few minutes later, Windu's voice crackled through again. "Echo, I found the bomb. Tell me the sequence to shut it down."

"I'm decrypting it now." Said Echo.

Althea's hands twitched for her knife. "You have to unplug. They're going to detect us."

Echo remained scomped in. "No, no, we need these codes."

"Echo, as team medic, I outrank you when it comes to your health. Unplug now." Althea's voice carried power, but Echo ignored her.

"The first number in the sequence is three." He said. He turned the scomp more. "The next one is...one. Eight. Seven."

A wave of electricity shot down the pike. "They're on to us. You need to unplug now!" Tech said, panic was clear in his voice. But Echo didn't stop in time. The electricity shocked him, and a scream was heard from the ARC as he fell. Rex caught him and Althea immeadiately check him.

"Echo?" Said Windu.

"The server overloaded his neural system." Said Althea. "And it was deliberate."

"Echo!"

"That means Trench knows we're here." Hunter said.

"Echo, are you there?"

Rex grabbed Echo's comm. "General Windu, Trench took out Echo. We can't get you the last number in the sequence. Sorry, General, but you'll have to disarm the bomb without us."

"Don't worry about me, Captain. Just get your men out of there." 

Obeying the General's orders, Hunter and Tech led the way out as Rex hung Echo over bus shoulders. Althea brought up the rear, ready to blast away anyone who tried to stop their escape. It wasn't long before they ran into Wrecker and Crosshair, both of them firing at a platoon of droids. "We can't blast our way out." Rex said. "There's too many of them."

Wrecker handed his rifle to Hunter and cracked his knuckles. "What's he doing?" Rex asked.

"Time to release the wrecking ball!" Wrecker shouted for joy as he obliterated every last droid.

"I honestly fell bad for those droids." Althea remarked.

"It's all clear!" Wrecked told them when the hall was cleared. But from behind them, more droids flanked them.

"Go." Crosshair ordered. "I'll buy you some time." He threw a mirror puck at one of them, shooting it to create a ricochet and blast the other droids.

"We'll meet you at the infiltration point." Rex said.

"Oh!" Wrecker groaned. "He's gonna try and top me. You watch." They ran off down the hall, twisting and turning the way they came until they reached the rendevouz.

"This is the infiltration point." Said Hunter.

"I'm picking up dozens of droids on my sensors." Tech said. "All heading this way."

As he spoke, Skywalker met up with them. "Hope you're not waiting on me."

"Now all we're missing is Crosshair." Said Hunter. He glanced down the hall and sure enough the sniper was running down, tossing mirror pucks at the wall. 

"You miss me?" He asked. "How touching." As he spoke, several droids filled the hall, twice as many as Wrecker had fought. Crosshair shot one of the pucks, sending a single laser through a entire hall of droids. Wrecker stared in disbelief.

"Relax, Wrecker. You'll top him next time." Althea said as she boarded the Marauder.

"No, he won't." Crosshair countered. Wrecker groaned as they boarded flew away, but Skywalker had something to cheer him up.

"I've got a present for you, Wrecker." He said holding up a detonator.

The demo man grinned. "Oh, seriously? I get to blow it up? The whole stinking thing?!" He wiped a tear from his eye as he took it. "This is the happiest day of my life." With a single motion, Wrecker destroyed the entire fleet in an explosion of colors. Althea watched in awe from the gunner's mount, happy they completed their mission, and happy for Wrecker.

                      •°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

"Captain Rex, Corporal Echo and Clone Force 99, you have all done a great service for the Republic." General Mace Windu, Obi-wan Kenob, and Anakin Skywalker stood in front of the team. Windu was congratulating them. "Thanks to your courage and effort, Republic shipyards will soon be up and running."

He turned to walk away, with the other Generals following. "You've got some medals coming your way." Said Kenobi.

"Thank you, General." Said Rex. He began to walk away, and so did Echo, but the ARC turned to the Bad Batch.

"You coming?" He asked.

"Not really our thing." Tech told him.

"Accolades." Said Crosshair.

Wrecker nodded. "Yeah, we're just in it for the thrill."

Althea shrugged. "Eh, I already got one."

Hunter scoffed at her, but he smiled. He turned to Echo. "You sure it's your thing?"

"What to you mean?" Echo asked.

"Your path is different." The Sergeant chuckled. "Like ours. If you ever feel like you don't fit in with them, well, find us." He turned away with the other Bad Batchers. Rex came up and talked to Echo, and the Corporal walked to the Marauder with the team. He stopped halfway, turning around to salute to his Captain, his friend, and his brother. The others mimicked him, giving their respect to the Captain, something they didn't give to many.

End of Book 1

#tbb #bad batch #oc #the bad batch #star wars

[silverwings22]

Caught in the Crosshairs: Chapter 19 Heathens: Twenty One Pilots

Series warnings: Smut, mind control, canon typical violence, childhood trauma, language, chronic illness

Chapter warnings: Chronic illness, health issues, Crosshair fighting the natural bastard urges within him

Translations: vod: brother/sister

Previous chapter:

Next chapter:

Echo was sent to the medical ward the minute they touched down on Anaxes. Anakin and Miria had reports to give to Obi-wan and a stern Mace Windu, who was less than a fan of the younger Master's new rogue streak. 

"Good to see you joining us,  Master Halcyon. You've been absent of late." He muttered.

"I've had business to attend,  Master Windu. But it's good to see you too." Her smile was pleasant. "And it's not unheard of to holo in to council meetings."

"Most people aren't in active combat during them." Obi-wan chuckled.  

"Most people aren't on Clone Force 99, my dear." She chuckled.  "But that's why you called us to Anaxes,  isn't it?"

Anakin gave the report while they listened, Miria hanging back a little to watch. They'd decided he should speak,  since she was relatively sure she couldn't avoid throwing in an "I told you so" when it came to the Techno Union.  

Obi-wan stroked his chin quietly.  "So how to proceed." He mused. 

Miria leaned on the war table,  to ease her still aching back. "We've disabled their predictive algorithm by rescuing Echo,  but the trouble remains with 12 active battlefronts. And as we were landing,  we got a good look at the Separatist fleet over the planet. I believe Admiral Trench is on that leading dreadnought. These tactics look like his."

Anakin gritted his teeth.  "He should have stayed dead after I blew him up over Christophsis."

She chuckled.  "I heard you did some exemplary flying in a stealth ship on that one.  You'll get your chance,  dear.  Now, I think-"

"I might have a suggestion." Said a quiet voice behind them. Miria turned and smiled,  facing Echo in a white and gray armored jumpsuit.  He still looked haggard, but quite a bit better. 

She chuckled,  waving him forward.  "Then the floor is yours,  dear."

"Thank you,  General." He smiled and stepped up.  "I was plugged into their computer for a while.  I can get back in and feed them false plans,  essentially taking control of their army."

Mace Windu raised a brow. "You're certain?"

"Yes sir. I just need to get into the command ship."

"My team can do that." Miria nodded thoughtfully.  "Can you disguise us to the droids?"

He nodded. "Yes ma'am. They'll think we're one of them until it's too late."

Obi-wan looked at Miria.  "What do you think,  Mace?"

"That I'd rather be in on the plan than find out afterward again.  May the Force be with you,  Master Halcyon."

She smiled.  "Thank you,  Master." She waved Echo to follow her,  Rex,  and Anakin.  Once they were out of earshot,  she turned to the rescued man.  "Echo, dear. Your bravery is commended.  But I need you to be honest with me right now.  You've been through a lot. Are you sure you're up for this.  I don't do collateral damage."

He nodded.  "Yes ma'am. I'm sure."

She patted his shoulder.  "You must tell me if it's getting to be too much.  Agreed?"

"I will,  General." He smiled.  "Thank you for taking a chance on me."

"Travel with my boys for a while,  you'll see the chances I'm willing to take.  But I am protective, it's in my nature."

Anakin smirked. "That's why they call you Mother Veractyl."

She gave him a wry smile.  "Come along,  Hero Without Fear. There's trouble afoot, and I intend to get right in the middle of it."

"Sounds like my kind of party."

Miria stood on the bridge of the Havoc Marauder, hands behind her back as they moved towards the Separatist fleet.  "Ready,  Echo?"

He nodded, hooking his scomp link into the ship.  "I can convince them we're one of their transports coming in to dock."

She patted his back and left him with Anakin, going to sit with Tech.  "Are you sure we can trust him,  General?" He murmured.  

"Why wouldn't we? He's one of us."

"His mind belonged to the Separatists for a long time.  Who knows what they've done to him?"

She smiled sadly.  "Have some faith in the man,  Tech."

"Is that an order,  General?" He frowned. 

"Consider it a suggestion from a friend. We don't get far if we don't trust each other." She murmured,  thoughts on her grumpy,  jealous sniper.  

"I'll… do my best." He sighed.  

"That's all I can ever ask. You've never let me down before." She smiled.  

Behind her,  a droid was comming in to clear them to dock. "Good job,  Echo." Grinned Anakin.  

"Take us in, Tech." Miria nodded.  

They docked on the underside of the dreadnought.  Echo led them in,  heading for the control room where they quickly took out the few droids standing guard. Echo hooked up, putting his good hand on his head.  "Talk us through,  Echo. We're covering you." Anakin murmured.  

"Lucky timing.  They've just sent a data request to Skako Minor." He mumbled.  "I can answer it."

Tech eyed him.  "Hold on.  You need to route the transmission so that it looks like you're on Skako Minor,  or they'll know we're here."

Echo nodded.  "Right…"

Tech looked at Miria pointedly. "Faith." She murmured quietly. "Talk to me,  Echo."

"They're sending all the droids to the facility Generals Kenobi and Windu are in." He smiled thinly.  "That's what I told them to do."

Tech, Hunter,  and Anakin stiffened. "They'll be overwhelmed."

"Not when I send an energy pulse that takes out all the droids at once." Echos grin widened.  

Miria smiled.  "That's a good man.  Anakin,  comm Obi-wan and tell him it's going to get a little crowded."

He nodded. 

Tech chuckled faintly.  "So I guess you are on our side."

"Was there ever any doubt?"

"A little."

Echo paused. "Oh… well thanks." 

Miria smiled.  "Just be careful, dear. I don't want you getting hurt."

Echo nodded and concentrated,  working through the endless data stream in his head.  

They watched in quiet amazement as a pulse of blue energy rushed up the transmitter.  "Woah." Crosshair muttered.  "Not bad."

Anakin's comm crackled.  "Good work,  Skywalker." Windu chuckled. "The Republic thanks you."

"Don't thank us yet." Echo gritted his teeth. "The facility is rigged to blow.  There's a massive bomb in the reactor core."

Miria paled. "Master Windu,  evacuate!"

"Obi-wan will start evacuations. I've got to try to disable that bomb." Mace murmured.  

"I'll get you the sequence." Echo said firmly.  

Tech squirmed.  "They'll be looking for that energy pulses source.  You've got to disconnect."

"Not yet. I've got this." Echo looked resolute.  

The minutes ticked by anxiously until Windu commed again. "I'm at the bomb.  Six digits."

"Start with eight." Echo muttered.  "Three. Five.  Seven…. One…"

A shock snapped through Echo and he yelped, doubling over and blacking out.  

"Echo!" Rex paled, kneeling next to him. "He's out cold."

Miria gritted her teeth.  "Get him back to the ship.  There's one sequence left."

Anakin growled.  "Let's see if we can get it out of Trench."

"I'm right behind you,  Anakin." The Jedi barreled down the hall furiously. Wrecker scooped Echo up and Tech grabbed his helmet. 

Miria and Anakin reached the command bridge of the dreadnought in record time,  both hard eyed.  They shared a quick glance before cutting the door open.  

The massive,  half metal arachnid that was Trench chuckled.  "Ah,  the Jedi."

"Give us the final sequence,  Trench." Miria hissed.  Everything she loved was on Anaxes. He wasn't taking anyone from her today. 

The admiral chuckled again, mandibles clicking unnervingly.  "Dooku would kill me if I lost Anaxes."

"Do you think we won't?" The woman took a step forward. 

"You're Jedi and I'm unarmed.  Your nobility-"

"I don't have such weaknesses." Anakin snarled,  stepping up with her.  His blue saber twisted up,  severing two robotic arms, as Mirias purple one took another two.  "The final sequence, or we take the real ones next." 

Miria lifted her comm as the spider whimpered the final code. "Master Windu,  the good admiral was kind enough to give us that code. Try eight."

There was a moment of silence as he worked,  and she dreaded hearing an explosion in the background.  Instead,  the master chuckled. "Good work,  you two.  You saved a lot of lives today. I'll see you when you return."

She smiled and hung up, looking at Anakin.  "Let's go."

Anakin started to smile when Trench pressed a button on his little staff and slammed it into his back.  An electric shock went screaming through him and he twisted,  thrusting his saber through the Admiral's chest.  The spider crumpled with a scream. 

Anakin was breathing hard when he turned around, instant regret in his eyes.  "Are you… going to report this?"

Mirias eyes fixed on the dead admiral. His weapon had been a stunner,  technically unarmed,  and Anakin had killed him. He was dead,  right there in front of her. But… he would have laughed in the death of everyone she'd ever loved. He never would have stopped trying to kill them all. They'd never be safe as long as that evil lived. Not Plo Koon, Obi-wan,  her men, Crosshair…

"Report what?" She said flatly.  "Our mission was a success. And you were right… he should have stayed dead on Christophsis." She turned away. "Let's go."

Anakin nodded, relieved.  Behind them,  something opened up on the control panel and he scooped it up,  showing it to her when she glanced back.  "Wrecker's gonna love this."

They hurried down the hall, catching up with the group carrying Echo. They were pursued by droids. "Wrecker,  dear." Miria chuckled, watching them get boxed in a hallway. "Would you like to practice that wrecking ball maneuver?"

The big clone chuckled and took off like a juggernaut,  slamming into the tin cans and ripping them apart.  They followed the newly cleared path towards the ship hurriedly.  

Crosshair glanced back at another pursuing group and reached for his belt,  throwing sticky backed mirrors onto the walls as they ran. 

Wrecker groaned.  "He's gonna try and top me. Just you watch."

Hunter rolled his eyes. "He's showing off for General Halcyon."

They darted past the end of the hall and Crosshair stopped,  firing a single shot.  It ricocheted off the mirrors,  Miria pausing to watch the resulting takedown of at least thirty droids.  She smiled. "Impeccable."

Wrecker looked crushed.  "B-but…"

Hunter clapped his shoulder.  "Don't worry,  Wrecker.  You'll top him next time."

"No he won't." Crosshair snickered.  Miria could perfectly imagine that smirk of his,  the same one he always got when he was teasing his brothers or about to pin her flat on her back.  

They made it to the ship with a dejected looking Wrecker and took off. Miria lay poor Echo out on a couple cargo crates and put a shock blanket over him.  When she joined everyone in the cockpit,  Anakin grinned.  "Hey Wrecker? This might cheer you up."

He handed over the item he'd stolen from the dreadnought.  A detonator.  Wrecker brightened.  "I get to blow it up?  The whole stinking thing?  This is the happiest day of my life." 

He wiped an emotional tear from his cheek and hit the button. Behind them,  the entire Separatist fleet went up in flames.  

Miria dropped into her seat next to Crosshair, coughing raggedly into the crook of her arm. "Nice work, darling." She finally croaked. 

He took off his helmet to give her a concerned look. "Miria…"

She patted his hand.  "Almost through. I promise."

The batch, Echo, and Rex lined up in the hangar as Mace,  Obi-wan, and Miria came to speak to them.  Mace was even smiling.  "That was fine work, men." He chuckled.  "I expect some promotions soon." 

"And some medals coming your way." Obi-wan chuckled.  "I see why you're so fond of them,  Miria. If you didn't have to come back to Coruscant frequently,  I hardly think we'd see you at all."

She smiled proudly. "They're the best of the best." 

Mace and Obi-wan headed off with Rex,  Echo starting to follow.  "Aren't you coming?" He looked back. 

Crosshair slipped a toothpick between his lips.  "Accolades." He muttered disdainfully,  far from in the mood to waste any more time when Miria looked so God awful pale. 

Hunter nodded.  "Award ceremonies aren't really our style… but are you sure they're yours?" His voice was a little kinder. "If you're ever in the mood to work with us again, we're just a call away.  You're different now,  like us. We wouldn't be opposed to having you on the team." He looked at Miria. "If that's okay with the General."

"I think it's a wonderful idea.  But it's your choice, Echo."

He looked back at Rex,  who smiled.  "You and I go way back. But if this is where you feel you belong…"

He watched with a remorseful kind of pride in his eyes as Echo nodded,  walking back to the Bad Batch.  He turned back,  lifting his scomp link in a salute.  The rest followed suit. 

Miria smiled.  "Don't worry,  Captain. We'll take good care of him."

He nodded and saluted back. "Thank you, General Halcyon.  Your men are the finest soldiers I've ever fought alongside."

She chuckled.  "Thank you,  dear." She led them back into the Havoc Marauder,  and he watched it lift off. His chest felt heavy… but Echo was where he belonged. 

Miria sat down in her seat in the cockpit,  slightly wobbly. Wrecker was setting up a new one and rearranging everything so Echo would have a spot to sit with them when they strapped in for nonsense.  And there was always nonsense.  "Welcome to Clone Force 99, Echo." She smiled tiredly, reaching over to pat his arm.  "Goodness,  we'll look at getting you a proper prosthetic when we get to Coruscant. I'll ask Anakin…"

"You okay,  General?" He frowned as Crosshair sat next to her and she leaned on him.  

"I will be.  Don't fuss." She chuckled.  In no time at all her eyes were closing and she'd dozed off on the sniper's shoulder.  

Crosshair glanced at the new member of the team. She'd given him one directive.  Don't be an asshole… he could do that,  right?  "Some missions wipe her out." He said quietly. 

Tech nodded from the pilot's seat.  "Hence why we're going to Coruscant.  She needs treatment."

Echo frowned.  "Was she wounded?"

Hunter shook his head.  "Sit down, we'll fill you in.  There aren't a lot of rules with this unit,  but there's a few."

Echo nodded and sat immediately.  He could handle rules,  he liked rules.  

Wrecker grinned, finishing installing the sixth seat.  "Rule one.  No collateral damage.  General hates it, and she will yell at you."

Echo fought the habit to repeat it back, and nodded.  

"Rule two. When the General's like this, I'm in charge." Hunter said firmly.  "She gets sick sometimes,  even loses air and gets disoriented.  In that event,  I override her orders.  We've agreed on this,  you're not gonna get court marshalled over it."

"Rule three.  If something's broken,  I fix it.  Don't turn it over to command,  they'll screw it up." Tech chuckled.  "If you need it upgraded,  same thing.  Bring it to me first."

Crosshair adjusted his arm around Miria,  debating how to phrase the last rule.  The big,  usually unspoken one.  The one that,  if broken,  could take him away from her.  Could take her away from him. His brothers looked at him expectantly. "Rule four. Don't discuss interpersonal matters with anyone that's not on this ship currently." He finally said more sharply than he really meant to.  

Echos brows furrowed. The other ones he totally understood,  but that last one?  "What's that supposed to mean?"

Tech chuckled.  "If certain parts of the daily life on this team were made known to command or the Jedi high council,  General Halcyon could be reassigned,  taken off the front lines entirely,  or forcibly removed from the Jedi Order.  Which,  since I haven't yet isolated a cure for her illness,  would be a death sentence for her."

Echo choked.  "What the hell is she doing?!"

Wrecker smirked.  "Crosshair."

The sniper gave him an icy look but kept his mouth shut. Not being an asshole was fucking difficult.  

"Wait wait wait. Those two?" Echo gaped. "Barring the massive personality difference here,  I didn't think Jedi did… anything like that."

"Jedi are people." Crosshair finally located a topic he was reasonably sure he could avoid being a dick about.  "They deal with the same shit we do, just with lightsabers. They're just not supposed to show it."

Echo nodded a little numbly. "Okay… Maker, I didn't see that coming. She's the nicest person I think I've ever met,  and you're…"

"A bastard,  I know." Crosshair shrugged. "She's working on me."

"And doing a surprisingly good job.  Your tendency to be an unbearable asshole is down 36 percent." Tech quipped.  

Hunter snorted. "How the fuck do you even measure that?"

"There are several metrics."

Crosshair groaned and leaned back some,  Miria making a little noise as she shifted against his chest. 

"So… how long has this been a thing?" Echo looked curiously at him, and surprisingly non-judgmental. 

Crosshair put his hand on the Jedis head lightly.  "Two years." He murmured quietly.  "Just a couple months after she joined us. I took her to 99, before we lost him…"

"Kriff. So you're serious." He mused,  fiddling with his scomp link. He’d been with 99 when he died. He knew how much the old clone had meant to everyone; especially the black ops squad of misfits just like him.

"Yes." The sniper lowered his eyes back to her pale little face pressed against his armor.  She felt feverish now.  No wonder she was so tired. "I'm going to marry her, after the war.  We'll find a cure,  or I'll beg the Jedi on my hands and knees to keep treating her.  I don't care."

That brought Hunter's attention whirling around. "You've never begged for shit in your life, vod."

"I know." Crosshair shrugged again.  "And I never will, except for her." 

Hunter looked shocked,  and glanced at Echo. He didn't know his brother nearly as well,  but even he knew that was a big revelation.  "Damn." 

"I'm trying my damndest not to be a bastard right now,  so quit staring at me." Crosshair grumbled,  putting his head down on Mirias.  "It's the one fucking thing she asks me to do. Just let me do it."

Echo smiled a little.  "Well, congratulations then.  My lips are sealed." 

Crosshair glanced at him.  "...Thanks.  I didn't… expect a reg to get it."

Echo looked back at his missing hand,  replaced by grafted technology that made him a little sick at the remembrance of.  "I don't think I'm a reg anymore…" 

#eventual smut #explict #original character #crosshair smut #crosshair #clone force 99 #caught in the crosshairs

[starwarstbbfan]

THE BAD BATCH: THE RUNAWAY

Chapter 56 - On the Wings of Keeradaks

So I realized I'm a couple chapters behind on this story on Tumblr and I apologize for never updating. I kind of went on a hiatus as life was hectic, and it was a much needed break. But I'm gettin' that writing itch and REALLY want to get to the Bad Batch series!! So I'm back baby!!

Enjoy!!!

○●○●○●○●○●○●○

It was quiet in the room as Tech began working on the consoles again to get Echo unplugged from the tubes and wires attached to him. They couldn't just simply pull them out, otherwise it would cause considerable damage to both his body and mind, and the results could be fatal.

A surge of anger went through Calli as she looked at all the cybernetics the Techno Union had implanted in Echo, basically turning him into a machine. And the parts of him that were still human weren't any better looking. He was extremely skinny, his ribs visible and cheeks and stomach sunken in, not to mention his skin was a terrible gray color and Calli couldn't help but think he resembled a live skeleton (not in a cruel way, it was just an observation).

Calli felt at a loss for what to do. Tech obviously didn't need her help and Rex tasked himself with keeping Echo calm. She considered doing a scan of his human body to see what state it was in internally, but something stopped her from taking out the scanner from Tech's backpack where she knew it was. Maybe it's because she knew how she felt around any medical device/medic droids after her experience with being experimented on. It was likely that Echo was an experiment for the Techno Union, and even though he's disoriented, he may still panic when Calli approached him with the scanner and she didn't want to put him through that.

So she awkwardly sat by as Rex tried to ask Echo some questions, such as how he got here, but the ARC Trooper could only offer a weak "I don't know" to all of Rex's queries. Calli then noticed he began shivering a little as he became more conscious of his surroundings and the fact that his internal body temperature was lower than it should be, if the frost on his skin that WASN'T melting was any indication.

In a feeble attempt to warm him, Calli took off her cape and draped it over Echo's shoulders, which made the ARC Trooper feebly turn his head to look at her, yet all he saw was a trooper helmet with markings that were unfamiliar to him. It wasn't the classic white armor with blue decals, nor orange like the 212th - in fact he'd never seen black clone trooper armor. And despite being out of it he was able to realize the small, lean (yet still with a slight muscle) build of the trooper, unlike his other brothers.

"Who... Who are you?" He asked slowly, still very groggy and dazed. Calli smiled warmly, then remembered she had her helmet on and lifted it to where it rested atop her head and gave Echo a two finger salute while introducing herself.

"ARC Trooper Scar, at your service." She said with a chipper voice to lighten the mood. Echo now looked more confused and Calli wished she'd left out the ARC Trooper part. She was about to go into a whole spiel, even if in his current state Echo wouldn't be able to process the narrative of her life and why she was an ARC trooper. Thankfully before she could embarrass herself, the doors to the room opened and Skywalker jogged in. The doors remained open and Calli had a clear view of the others who continued holding off the droids.

"Situation's almost under control out there." He said, stopping in front of the trio sitting on the floor, looking at them then to Tech, "How's it going in here?"

"I'm still trying to decrypt Echo's cerebral interface. Until I do, we cannot disconnect him from this computer system." Tech informed without looking up from the console. Skywalker nodded and his expression softened as he focused back on Echo.

"How is he, Rex?"

"He's too weak to walk." Rex said grimly while standing up to talk to the General face to face, trusting Calli to remain at Echo's side temporarily. Echo was staring blankly at nothing, forgetting about the stranger next to him, "Very disoriented. Doesn't even remember how he got here. He remembers being at the Citadel, but that's about it."

"Any word on the extraction squad?"

"We called it in, but no word back." Calli piped up from the floor and Skywalker sighed but didn't seem too disappointed at that statement.

"Well, that's no surprise. We knew when we got into this we'd be on our own."

"It's gonna get more difficult to get out of here." Calli's expression became one of concern and she looked at Echo with pursed lips as she wracked her mind for a brilliant plan. One glance at the door showed that the others were falling back. Eventually they walked backwards into the small hallway and Crosshair jabbed his wrist gauntlet into the control panel, which made the doors close. A few seconds later the doors began being pried open by droids and Hunter and Crosshair tried to close them but one droid managed to get their head through. Wrecker proceeded to rip the head off and while Hunter and Crosshair were using all their strength to keep the doors closed, Wrecker stepped in and easily closed them with minimal effort. Hunter and Crosshair began fusing the doors together soon after that.

"There are several squads of droids closing in." Hunter said once they were finished, loud enough so the ones by the chamber could hear. Crosshair took a couple steps back and flipped down his rangefinder along with a second disc that allowed him to see more than just heat signatures, in this case droids.

"Enemy approaching. Droids lots of 'em." Crosshair informed, flipping the rangefinder back up and looking back at the others.

"How long can you hold them off?" Skywalker asked the Bad Batch.

"How long do you need?" Was Hunter's smooth answer, basically saying they still had a few tricks up their sleeves and could provide more time if necessary. This didn't ease the General's concern and he asked Tech how much longer it was going to take.

"Not yet. I need more time." Calli could hear Tech's frantic heartbeat, not exactly panicking but he knew the time crunch and was getting frustrated.

Outside their temporary safe haven, the Techno Union sent a decimator droid to take care of the clones and Jedi. It was circular, and had up to twelve electrical tendrils that searched for organic matter (i.e. humans) and if one was found the rest of the tendrils would group together and vaporize the target.

As the minutes ticked by, Hunter and the others had to close and seal the second set of doors, as the decimator droid had laser cutters and breached the first ones. Just when everyone thought they'd have to take on the hundreds of droids on the other side of the doors, Tech typed in one last command into the computer.

"I've got it." He declared, looking at Rex, "We can unplug him now." Calli grabbed ahold of Echo's arm and helped him stand. He leaned over the console and Rex brushed Calli's cape out of the way and reluctantly grasped one of the wires attached to Echo. After a slight hesitation, he yanked the wire and Echo's face screwed up in pain but he remained standing, gripping his human hand on the console to steady himself as Rex moved to another wire. Calli wondered if she should have been the one to do this, as Rex wasn't being gentle in the slightest. She at least had some experience with cybernetics and such. Her point was proven as Rex pulled the second then third wire and Echo collapsed to the floor. He let out a few haggard breaths before looking back up at Rex, saying the Captain's name weakly.

"What is it?" Rex asked with worry, fearing something had gone wrong when he removed the wires. Echo looked serious for a second - then the smallest of smiles appeared on his face.

"I got a big headache." He said, chuckling lightly and Rex couldn't help but break out in a smile at his brother's humor. It showed that his vod was going to be OK.

"Better to feel something than nothing, old buddy." For two seconds the atmosphere was lighthearted as the brothers smiled at each other, only for Anakin to bring reality crashing down.

"It's a touching reunion, guys, but we need to get out of here, now!"

"There's an exhaust vent that leads to the cooling systems right there." Echo said, pointing a shaky finger to the ceiling and everyone's heads lifted to look and sure enough, there was a circular vent. "I-I just need to plug into the dataport over there-" Echo tried lifting himself off the ground, yet much to his frustration he was still too weak to even get on his feet - and they weren't even real feet! Calli offered to help and Echo begrudgingly accepted it, letting her guide him over to the datasocket that he would plug his scomplink into and get the vent open.

"They've breached the front door. It won't be long before they're through the second." Hunter informed from the other end of the room, if the laser currently burning a circle into the thick metal was any indication. Just as soon as Hunter said this, the vent opened.

"That should get it open." Echo said, unplugging from the dataport and Rex gave him a hearty pat on the shoulder. There was one slight problem with the plan though, and Crosshair was the one to point it out.

"Great. Now how do we get up there?" The sniper asked with a hint of attitude. Wrecker was the one to provide a solution, having left the area by the doors and joined the rest of the group.

"Oh, I can help with that." He remarked while sneaking up behind a certain Sergeant and Calli knew Wrecker was wearing a mischievous smirk underneath that helmet and if she wasn't mad at the lot of them she'd join alongside Crosshair who chuckled as Hunter began panicking when the strong clone grabbed him by the shoulder and his belt.

"Wait, what?" Hunter begins sputtering as he's lifted off his feet in a very undignified manner, "Wrecker, what are you doing-" Before Hunter could finish his question he's launched upwards into the vent. Hunter barely had two seconds to process what happened and thankfully he was able to think fast enough and when he entered the vent he caught himself before falling, digging his heels into the sides, same with his hands. After letting out a shaky breath, Hunter angrily shouted down to Wrecker, "A heads-up would've been nice!"

While Wrecker tossed everyone else up one by one, Calli looked around at all the machinery that in many ways had been a prison for the ARC Trooper they rescued, and an idea struck her. There's no way this could be left intact, because then all the Techno Union had to do was capture another unfortunate soul and start the whole process over again. Calli couldn't - and wouldn't - allow this to happen. She knew all too well the feeling of being treated as an object at the hands of so-called scientists and Mustafar would have to freeze over before Calli would let someone else suffer what she, her squadmates, and Echo have gone through. Not if she had the power to stop that from happening.

Once Wrecker had gotten everyone else up into the vent(minus the Jedi who could use the force to jump up high), he made a move to grab Calli but she stopped him.

"You got grenades on you?" She asked, and Wrecker scoffed, sounding almost insulted by the inquiry.

"What kinda question is that?" Calli didn't offer a sarcastic reply back, turning and hurrying over to the console nearest to her, taking out the three grenades she had stashed in one of the many pouches attached to her belt. When Wrecker saw Calli start placing them on the consoles he didn't need her to say anything, catching on to what his sister was doing. The giant clone grew excited and was quick to take out the stash of grenades in his backpack. While Calli had placed her grenades roughly twenty feet apart from each other to make sure they took out as much as possible, Wrecker just threw them to where they attached to random parts of the room without any sort of strategic placing whatsoever.

Anakin had noticed that the two clones hadn't joined the others in the vent. "What are you doing?" He yelled down to them

"We're putting an end to Tambor's little science experiment." Wrecker shouted back before throwing the last of his grenades and they landed on the cryochamber.

"Are you done?" Anakin asked and there was a sense of urgency in his tone that made Calli look over at the door and she gasped when seeing that whatever was trying to get in had almost breached the second door. Wrecker noticed this as well. "Time's up!" The General announced and Calli didn't need to be told twice and she wondered how both her and Wrecker would be able to get up to the vent. But she didn't have to wonder long as the strong clone picked Calli up by the strap of her belt and she had no chance to voice a protest like her other brothers before she was launched up. Pressing her hands and feet against the walls, Calli glared down at Wrecker. Ok that took care of her - what about him?

Above her, the General put a hand out and before long, Wrecker was slowly being lifted off the ground and inching closer to the vent where the rest of them were.

Calli watched with horror as bolts of electricity filled the room, searching for an organic being they could hone on and decimate. They drifted towards Wrecker who shouted in fear as the electricity licked closer and closer to him.

"I don't like it! I don't like it! It's trying to get me!!" Calli would have found his shouts of fear amusing if his life wasn't threatened and she held her breath as she could only watch helplessly as her brother's life was in the hands of the General. Only when Wrecker was safely in the vent and the doors slid closed did Calli allow herself to breathe again.

"You alright?" Calli couldn't help but ask, and after letting out a shaky breath he nodded, saying he was fine. After that reassurance, Calli allowed herself to start climbing up the vent once Skywalker started to. After Skywalker was helped out, Jace's hand reached down again and Calli accepted his assistance.

Once everyone was out of the vent, Wrecker, in an attempt to be in Calli's good graces again, handed her the detonator, and the teen couldn't help but smile in appreciation underneath her helmet. She accepted his offer and wasted no time in pressing the button that promptly set the bombs off - it's too bad they couldn't actually see the explosion and she could only imagine the looks on the Techno Union cronies faces once they were able to observe the carnage and millions upon millions of credits in damage they caused. Plus their little experiment and all their research would be ruined. It was enough to make the two pyromaniacs of the group smile as they began making their way through the corridors.

After all that, Calli felt some of the adrenaline wear off and felt the need to take her helmet off, taking a big gulp of the chilly air that filled the area they were now in. Calli welcomed the way the frigid air nipped at her already reddened cheeks

"This ventilation corridor acts as a cooling system for all the computers in the facility." Tech said to no one in particular, moving his flashlight around to see as much as possible while simultaneously watching out for any surprise droids that might attack. Anakin who was walking behind him, looked over his shoulder at Rex and Echo, more specifically Echo.

"How did you know it was up here, Echo?"

"Well, they got access to my memory, and I got access to the Techno Union database." Echo explained and he chuckled lightly, "All their plans, inventory, building schematics," He chuckled again, "-everything."

Calli shook her head, not understanding how Echo was being so lighthearted about the whole thing. These Techno Union people practically stole his mind and turned him into a machine! She chalked it up to him still being slightly delirious, after all his body temperature was still so low that frost was still coating the skin not covered by the cloak she lended him.

"You mean you can find us a safe way out of here?" Rex asked as they stopped at an intersection in the maze of hallways. Echo's eyes glanced anxiously at everyone when they all looked at him expectantly. He removed his arm that had been around Rex's shoulders to stabilize him and straightened his posture to portray confidence as he answered, knowing that his plan might be met with some level of skepticism.

"Well, there is a way... but you're not gonna like it." Was Echo's vague reply which made everyone's already wary expressions deepen. Calli looked at the group then at Echo, who was clearly nervous about what the others were going to say, and decided to back him up.

"How bad can it be?" She asked. Famous last words.

Five minutes later...

Echo had led them to a door and when it opened, Calli quickly figured out why he'd said they wouldn't like the plan. Echo said that one building over was a landing platform and that there might be a ship they could take to get out of the city. However, he failed to mention how they'd get to the other building.

Connecting the two buildings was a pipe, and they'd have to walk on it... with the harsh wind speeds from the storm .. that could easily send one or all of them falling to the ground hundreds of feet below, which they couldn't even see with the dust storm.

"How bad can it be, she asked?" Crosshair retorted, and Calli found herself unable to say something snarky in return because in truth she felt nervous. She was used to doing death defying stunts - enjoyed it even - but this was downright crazy, even for their squad.

"I don't know about this." Rex said, voicing his concern.

"I'm telling you, there's a landing pad on that other building!" Echo insisted, having to yell over the wind in order to be heard.

"So you think there's a ship there we can steal?" Was Hunter's question while the General was the first one to start walking along the pipe. Echo hesitated.

"Well, I hope there's a ship we can steal," He finally admitted while smiling sheepishly over his shoulder at the Sergeant before following Skywalker, and Rex followed suite while the Bad Batch remained at the threshold of the door and watched the trio take tentative, slow steps across the pipe without looking back.

"Let's hope this trip isn't for nothing." Hunter grumbled as his brothers who all gathered behind him, waiting for him to start walking, Crosshair even nudged him a little and he could just imagine the taunting smirk the sniper must be wearing, silently asking "Are you afraid, Sarge?"

Sometimes Hunter really hated being the leader of the group. After internally heaving a big sigh, he left the safety of the building, and like the loyal brothers they were, Crosshair, Tech, then finally though a bit more reluctantly, Wrecker.

Jace was next and made it a few steps before sensing that a certain someone hadn't followed after him and after stopping he turned to find Calli standing frozen in place and looking down at the large emptiness beneath them. There would be nothing, absolutely nothing, to stop their descent if they fell from the pipe. Her jetpack had been damaged in the firefight before finding Echo. Jace could feel the anxiety she was experiencing and made his way back to her, saying her name just loud enough to be heard over the howling wind. The young clone began shaking her head and took a step back from the edge of the platform.

"I can't do this." She stated, and there was a slight tremor in her voice that made Jace's eyes soften but he couldn't let Calli give into her fears.

"We have to if we want to escape this place." Calli again violently shook her head, utter fear taking over and thus she was unable to reason with the fact that their only chance of making it out of here was by walking along the tightrope of death. Calli didn't understand - she's never been afraid of heights before!

Through the force, a sudden wave of dread washed over Jace and he knew that the droids were only minutes, if not seconds away from reaching them and some of his patience went away as his fight or flight instincts kicked in yet he wasn't about to leave Calli.

"Calli, look at me. We don't have time - we've gotta get out of here."

"I-I know-"

"Hey, just look at me," Jace said with a little more force, and he pointed to his eyes, "- focus on me." Once he was sure Calli was making eye contact - it was kinda hard to tell with her helmet in the way, Jace continued in a more soothing, encouraging tone, "You can do this." Without thinking, Jace held out his hand in Calli's direction, and he just hoped she wouldn't be put off by the gesture, now that he'd already out and done it. He watched as Calli's helmet tilted down at his hand, and he could tell she was contemplating his offer.

Not a second later, her smaller, gloved hand slipped into his, which surprised the both of them. Calli blamed the time crunch that made her rashly decide to hold the young Jedi's hand - perhaps desperation even because as her hand reached out to him she wondered how handholding could possibly be an effective way to calm her sudden panic. There's no possible way it could-

Any doubt Calli had died away when their hands touched.

Sure, it didn't take the impending doom away, but it brought... comfort? Enough at least to where she was able to leave the safety of her spot and start taking small, tentative steps onto the pipe, doing everything in her power to not look down. Valli kept her free hand out to the side to keep her balanced and kept her focus on the back of Jace's head, trying to mirror his calmness.

Up ahead, Calli could hear Wrecker was having just as hard a time as she was.

"Oh, boy. I can't even look." He said in an almost shaky voice, "Just-Just keep walking, Tech."

"That's fine, but if you fall, don't take me with you." Tech said in reply, not sounding the least bit concerned. Despite feeling terrified herself, Calli encouraged Wrecker.

"You're doing great, Wrecker, just don't look down-'' Calli should have known better. When you tell someone to not look down, it's gonna make them look! And that is precisely what Wrecker did and he felt his stomach drop, much like he would if he lost his balance.

"Uh-oh. I looked!" Wrecker began teetering on his feet and Calli was worried he'd actually fall! "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Hang on, Wrecker. We're almost there." Hunter called out over his shoulder and Wrecker nodded while beginning to reassure himself, mumbling that everything was going to be OK and to breathe.

Just as everyone reached the halfway mark and thought maybe they were going to make it without any trouble, the doors leading into the building they were headed towards opened and surprise surprise they were ambushed by droids. Guns were aimed and General Skywalker ignited his lightsaber in just enough time to start deflecting the blaster bolts as they hurled towards the group.

"Turn around! Go back!" He shouted out and no one needed to be ordered twice. At the other end Calli and Jace started heading back the way they came along with everyone else, only for more droids to appear at the other end. On both sides the droids began walking single file onto the pipe while preparing their weapons to fire.

Before Calli could reach for her own blaster, an arm wrapped around her waist and she was lifted up by Jace who spun around to set her behind him while his other hand ignited one of his lightsabers to deflect the other onslaught of blaster bolts, acting as a shield for Calli so she didn't get hit. She had mixed feelings about this, but was at the very least grateful because those droids could easily have shot her down and Calli wasn't a Jedi, therefore couldn't deflect the laser bullets.

As if things weren't bad enough, a particularly strong gust of wind knocked Crosshair off balance and he did his best to not lose his footing, but in the end he did. Without thinking twice Wrecker dove after his brother, barely able to grab Crosshair's ankle while maneuvering his legs to wrap around the light fixture underneath the pipe, effectively preventing the pair from falling. Calli would be lying if she didn't say her heart skipped a beat as she watched this transpire, in fact it almost paralyzed her when she saw Crosshair fall to what would have been his death. It made her want to find a way out of here even faster and she wracked her mind for a solution while finally returning fire with her own blaster around Jace and his lightsaber. She succeeded in hitting one right after Tech who was behind her did and the two unfortunate droids cried out "WHY" as they fell to their demise.

"Anybody got a brilliant idea?" Anakin asked while deflecting another shot that nearly grazed his face.

"I do have a brilliant idea!" Tech piped up and he flipped open the screen on his wrist guard and began typing away on it.

"I'm hanging here!" Wrecker announced, feeling the need to voice as much as if everyone else didn't know this already.

"When the locals attacked us, I recorded the creatures' distress call." Tech began to explain while continuing to scroll through the files on his device.

"Why?" Jace questioned, not understanding why Tech would record such a thing. Who records random things like that - or anything period on a mission?

"He records everything. It's a hobby." Calli told him, and before Jace could ask a second time why Tech did such a thing Tech spoke up again.

"Which allows us to call those flying creatures to us." After setting the volume to its maximum level, Tech played the sound and immediately everyone winced at the shrill cries that filled the area - for those with enhanced hearing it was especially irritating and hurt their ears - even their helmets did little to protect their eardrums.

Wrecker shouted his protests about the noise while simultaneously shooting at droids and he paused his yelling to bark out a laugh when he successfully hit one, "Take that!" Crosshair of course couldn't let Wrecker have all the glory and fired his small blaster and rifle in each designated hand at both groups of droids and he managed to hit two but when one that got shot jumped backwards from the impact and rammed into the one behind him and sent the two falling, making it a total of three the sniper took out.

Wrecker's childish groan at this was like music to Crosshair's ears.

As they waited for the flying creatures to appear - if they would appear - the Bad Batch did their best to continue firing back at the enemy to keep them at bay, and while the defective clones still preferred to work alone, they were great full in this instance to have Jedi at both the front and back of the group to deflect the enemy's fire.

On Calli and Jace's side, half a dozen more droids joined the ones already there and in a split-second decision the former took off her jetpack that had been rendered useless save for the rockets which she now planned to utilize. Instead of launching them with the press of a button, Calli simply threw the entire thing at the droids since it was basically dead weight once the rockets were used so might as well get rid of it right?

It was caught by a droid who looked down at foreign object he miraculously caught with confusion, yet he wasn't given a chance to compute what had happened as Calli detonated the rockets and turned the droid and a majority of the others into a scrap pile - what was left of them anyways. While pieces of droid carnage fell on the rest that were unharmed and continued to shoot, suddenly the flying creatures came barreling up from the storm below, answering the distress call like Tech had said they would.

"There is our ride out of here!" Tech said as the creatures circled around them, avoiding blaster fire as some of the droids took to shooting at the new flying assailants. The General then asked the question on everyone's minds - except Tech of course.

"Now, how do we get on them?"

"How else?" Tech asked, before answering what was apparently a rhetorical question, "We jump!" Cue the shocked looks from everyone. Calli looked down at the reptiles circling below them, ignoring the sinking feeling when doing so as she was reminded of how high up they were. Her eyes zeroed in on the saddles located on the reptiles' back and an idea struck in her mind.

Aiming her arm carefully, Calli activated her whipcord launcher, and it successfully flew across the air and imbedded itself in the saddle, ensuring that if she jumped, she wouldn't accidentally miss the saddle and fall to her death.

"Later losers!" Calli hollered - whether she said this to the droids or her team no one knew. She still had Jace's hand in a death grip so he was free falling next to her and an undignified shriek might have left his mouth when he suddenly was yanked from his spot and now had nothing but Calli's hand to hold onto.

For a brief second there was nothing but the sensation of falling, the air whipping around them as they descended, before safely landing on the flying reptile. Jace suffered whiplash briefly, having landed on his stomach, while Calli had somehow expertly landed on her feet in a crouched position. The young Jedi blamed the fact that he hadn't had time to process and prepare for the jump and that's why he landed in such an undignified way. Despite being in a tense, dangerous situation, Jace couldn't help but blush, especially after Calli chuckled at him.

"Heh, sorry, guess I shoulda warned you." She apologized sheepishly before using her free hand to grab ahold of the reins attached to bridle in the reptile's mouths, the other still attached to Jace's until he got situated in the saddle behind her.

Swiftly, two at a time, the rest of the group also jumped off and claimed a flying reptile to pilot, they followed the keerdak Anakin was on that he steered to lead the rest of them away from the droids. For two seconds, it seemed like everything was going to be ok... Then wings suddenly sprouted from the droid's arms and were now pursuing the group.

"Uh, that wasn't part of the plan." Tech said, "Those things can fly!" Calli looked over her shoulder and sure enough, the droids were in fact following them. Great, just great.

"Kriffing hells!" Calli couldn't help but swear, earning a surprised look from Jace behind her. Calli ignored him and focused on guiding the reptile out of the line of fire.

"We have to shake those droids!" General Skywalker shouted, deflecting the blaster bolts while keeping one hand tightly on the reins and he made a noise of frustration as he almost fell off the reptile when it made a sharp turn unexpectedly, being spooked by the blaster fire, "How do I steer this thing?" The others weren't having as hard a time, as one would steer the reptile while the others provided cover fire. Luckily these droids seemed to have just as bad of aim as any other Separatist droid, and it was even worse when they flew.

"How you holding up, Echo?" Rex asked his brother, who smiled up at him.

"Never better, sir!" Was Echo's chipper reply, and Rex chuckled. Despite the fact they had droids trying to shoot them down he was happy as can be with Echo at his side. Eventually they managed to evade the droids through the maze of rock formations, with one not noticing a ledge and going SPLAT on it like a bug on a windshield.

"Let's head back to the village." Anakin suggested - well it was more of an order. And Calli couldn't help but voice her concern because she saw several red flags about that plan.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? What if they find us and send reinforcements? We'd be endangering the Poletecs!"

"We need to bring these guys back to them safely (referring to the reptiles)." Anakin told her, "It's also where the ship is!" Despite the fact about the ship which Calli had somehow forgotten, she still felt it was a bad idea and was going to protest further if not for Jace's hand being placed on her shoulder which made her stop and glance questioningly at him.

"It'll be fine." He assured her, and Calli contemplated this, that nagging feeling in her gut shrinking a little but not entirely going away. She eventually relented with a sigh and faced forward again, and she couldn't help but notice how Jace kept his hand on her shoulder the entire ride back.

○●○●○●○●○●○●○

They landed in the middle of the Poletec village, and the Chief was quick to make his way to the front of the crowd that gathered and by his frantic arm movements and unmistakable angry tone, it was plain as day to everyone that he was none too pleased of the soldier's return. It took everything in Calli to not tell the General "I told you so".

Tech swiftly made a translation of the Chief's words. "Their leader is impressed we tamed the Keeradaks, - but he wants to know why we returned here."

"Tell him we had no choice. Tell him that we wore out our welcome in Purkoll." Anakin explained and Tech nodded and started to repeat the General's words in the Poletec's tongue, yet he was rudely interrupted when a series of blaster bolts rained down from the sky as the two surviving droids they thought they'd outsmarted and left in the dust flew above them.

Crosshair who always had his rifle ready began shooting back, but only managed to hit one of the droids and it hurled into one of the rock formations surrounding the village while it's companion managed to escape and that sinking feeling Calli had earlier came back when her previous concerns about returning to the village came back in full force.

Crosshair's head shook. "Not good. If I know Tambor, he'll come after us, us and the Poletecs, with everything he's got." On top of the dread Calli felt, there was now also guilt as she glared up at the General.

"Hence the reason why I said it would be bad to come back here!" Calli snapped, hating the fact that now the Poletecs were in danger because of them. Anakin briefly scowled down at her but wasn't able to say anything as the Chief was back to yelling at them. The General however remained calm as he asked Tech to translate once more, ignoring the moody huff he heard come from Calli when her statement wasn't acknowledged by any of the adults. Jace at least showed he heard and understood her frustrations by repeating his earlier gesture of placing a hand on her pauldron and while she was still frustrated, she looked at Jace appreciatively.

"He says that we have broken our word." Tech explained, and he paused for a second while translating the rest, "We have brought the war to his village." From her spot Calli threw her hands up in an "I told you so" way, earning another warning look from Anakin and also Hunter this time. Even Jace had to quietly tell her to calm down and if it had been anyone else, she would have told them to kark off. But she couldn't bring herself to say that to the guy who's been more than patient and kind with her up until now and did her best to calm the raging fire within her, reasoning that going into a full-blown argument in front of the Poletecs wouldn't help the situation at all.

"You're right." Rex said suddenly, taking everyone aback as he stepped forward and slipped off his helmet, revealing his determined expression beneath as he addressed the Chief then the goggled clone beside him, "Tell him he's right, Tech." Rex briefly glanced at Calli, "And so are you, Scar." Calli blinked, not expecting that and remained quiet as the Captain turned to face the Chief again, "Tell him we didn't plan to drag his people into war." His companions were all wondering where he was going with this, but didn't have to wonder long when he pointed to Echo, a fire igniting in his eyes as he spoke again, "But look what the Separatists did to one of our people!" Despite the call out, Echo straightened his posture to appear more confident as the attention was now on him, "They took away his freedom, his humanity. They tried to turn him into a machine." Rex was getting more and more fired up with each passing sentence, "The Techno Union claims it's neutral, but they have chosen sides. Now your people have to choose." Once he finished, Rex stepped back and waited for his words to sink in, and Anakin smiled slightly at his longtime friend.

"Couldn't have said it better, Rex."

"Let's hope it works, because I see forces coming more than we can handle alone." Calli said grimly, gesturing with her head in the direction the flying droid that avoided being hit flew back in the direction of the city, no doubt to bring back some friends. While she still didn't agree with dragging innocent bystanders into their battle, it seemed they would have to fight regardless because the Techno Union will definitely retaliate now that they thought the Poletecs were with the Republic.

Several of the Poletecs were now walking up to the Chief and by the looks of it they were prepared to do anything to protect their home. While Calli felt bad that the Poletecs were being dragged into what technically wasn't their fight, she still felt some relief in the fact that there would be more numbers on their side. As long as they were here with their more efficient weaponry, Calli would do everything in her power to ensure these Poletecs kept their humble village and continued to be here long after they'd left. She supposed it's the least she could do now that fighting was inevitable.

In the calm before the upcoming battle, they prepared. Calli helped Wrecker find some large boulders and place them on the rock formations surrounding the village where they could easily be pushed and sent tumbling, effectively taking out multiple targets. The other clones made sure all their weapons had fresh ammo packs before going to their designated hiding spots to wait for the enemy to arrive.

The Poletecs prepared as well, gathering all their own warriors and weapons while also hiding their more vulnerable people in the intricate set of tunnels that ran beneath the surface. After Calli finished helping the others, she was pulled aside by the general who also had asked Jace to come as well. He led them over to the entrance to the tunnels.

"I want you two to protect the elderly and children." He told the two teens in a tone that pretty much said there would be no arguing on the subject.

That of course didn't stop Calli from doing just that. She wasn't after all the model soldier who took orders without question, no matter how much the Kaminoans had tried to condition her to be that way. Five years on her own was enough time for her to grow more of a backbone and such was the result: if someone said something Calli didn't agree with, she voiced her opinion. Only this time it wasn't out of pure stubbornness because she thought it was unfair, no there was a deeper reason she immediately disagreed with Anakin's order.

"W-What? No, I need to be out here, with my team!" The thought of not being beside her brothers in what was definitely going to be a messy fight and no hope of back up from the Republic made her anxiety go to levels it's never been before. If something happened to them and she wasn't there...

"And I'm saying you and Jace are going to protect the elderly and children. End of story." Calli let out a dry scoff and followed the General when he turned and began heading for the exit.

"You've got another thing coming if you think you can just say 'End of story' and walk away, General." The way she was questioning his orders and blatantly testing his nerves reminded Anakin of someone he once knew that was now no longer a part of his life, and for that reason he didn't lose his temper right away with Calli blatantly disrespecting his orders.

"Scar..." Jace said in a warning tone, but Calli shut him up with one glare.

"No!" She said venomously, "I'm not going to just sit back, I can help! My brothers need me!"

"And I need you here. The Chief asked me to have someone protect the elderly and children and I'm trusting the two of you to do just that. You're the last line of defense, and it's our job to protect those who can't fight. If anything goes wrong, it's up to you guys to get them out of here. There's a tunnel that leads near the Havoc Marauder and I hear you're a hell of a pilot. The two of you will be fine."

"But-" Anakin crossed his arms and he and Calli had a stare off, and the latter was determined to win. She wasn't about to let some Jedi tell her she couldn't be with her brothers. She took orders from only one person, Hunter, and that in itself took a while for her to be ok with. Now she heard Hunter's voice at the back of her mind, telling her to follow orders. Calli continued to stare for a full minute before she ground her teeth and shook her head angrily, "Fine!" she spat out, and she put her helmet back on to hide her scowl as she stated she needed to go to the ship to quickly grab something.

"Sorry about her. She's... very strong willed." Jace apologized on Calli's behalf to Anakin, and the latter made a 'hmph' sound as they watched Calli's retreating form.

"I've noticed." Anakin said gruffly, and another pang came from his heart as he again thought of his former padawan, and all the times she stood up to him and/or completely disobeyed orders. "But I know this is the best course of action." Anakin turned to look back at Jace, "I trust you can get through to her?" Jace's expression turned to one of confusion as his eyes left Calli and met Anakins.

"Why me, Master?" He asked.

"I sense a special connection between you two." Anakin had to hide the smile that threatened to appear on his face while saying this. It goes without saying that he and Padme had talked about the young man's interest in Calli, and he couldn't help but tease him a little. Jace's eyes widened and became filled with panic, yet there was still some confusion in them.

"What-What do you mean by that?" Jace asked, and he cursed himself for stuttering. He couldn't be that obvious, could he?

"Oh nothing. And Echo will be joining you as well. Just escaping the Techno building took a lot out of him and Rex and I both agree he needs to be down here." It was a sudden change in conversation, but a welcome one for the padawan, who nodded.

"Yes, Master."

○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○

Calli returned, still in a sour mood, with her backpack restocked with supplies and Scruffy who rode on her shoulder.

"Why'd you bring him?" Jace asked, though he smiled upon seeing the little tooka and when Calli walked past him, Scruffy was quick to nudge his face happily with a chirp.

"He was getting antsy on the ship and I figured he could maybe keep the Poletec kids calm. I'm pretty sure they've never had to live through a battle like this." Already some of the children were eyeing Scruffy curiously and you could hear them talking amongst themselves while pointing in the direction of the teens. Jace hummed.

"That's actually a great idea."

"Yep." Calli replied shortly, taking off the backpack while her feline companion also jumped off his perch and both were now on the dirt floor. Scruffy looked up when Calli made a clicking noise with her tongue, and she motioned for him to jump back up in her arms, which he of course did so with another little chirp. Once secure in her grasp, Calli walked over to the group of Poletecs who looked curiously at both her and the little furry creature in her arms. Some of them tensed as the female clone got closer, and she assured them in a soothing tone that they were ok, though they probably didn't understand her. But it seemed to get through that the two weren't a threat and a few of the younger Poletecs inched closer, with their big dark eyes looking at Scruffy with both skepticism and wonder. When some of them looked at Calli she smiled and nodded encouragingly, silently saying it's ok.

The child closest to Calli reached out one of its long fingered, tentative hands and held it in front of Scruffy's face, and the latter began to sniff the young Poletecs hand. Eventually after a few short sniffs, Scruffy deemed the stranger an acceptable being and licked the child's hand while letting out a trill, followed by loud purring. One second later Scruffy is out of Calli's arms and he climbed up the extended appendage of the Poletec and was now perched on the child's shoulder, happy as can be.

Soon after Scruffy was the star of the show, entertaining the young ones and reveling in all of the attention, making some of Calli's anger over being stuck down here melt away.

It was short lived however, when suddenly the ground above them rattled and she received a message from Tech soon after that said the Techno Union's reinforcements had arrived. Now the anxiety she'd felt earlier was back in full force as they heard the beginnings of a battle. By now Wrecker must have rolled one or more of the boulders they had collected to start the fight, which should have taken some of the droids by surprise and momentarily stunned them.

It took everything in Calli to not make a mad dash for the surface so she could be at her brother's side. She leaned against the wall and Jace joined her and for a while it was awkward silence as neither knew what to say. Eventually Calli nudged her boot against Jace's to get his attention. Emerald green eyes met brown, and Calli tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear as she cleared her throat nervously.

"Uh, sorry for snapping at you earlier, you know, when the General and I were arguing. Didn't mean to have you in the crossfire." She apologized quietly, embarrassed to have lost her temper and snapped at the one person who's always been nothing but nice to her.

"It's ok. I know you were just worried about your brothers." Another explosion could be heard and Calli shook the dirt that fell on her hair and face, then dropped her head back until it hit the wall while letting out a quiet groan.

"I just hate the idea of not being there with them. We do everything together." Jace's lips pursed as he stood there, wracking his mind for something to say that might help ease Calli's nerves. But he was never good at this sort of thing. He thought about what Master Windu might say, but quickly stopped that train of thought as nothing good came to mind. While he appreciated the Jedi Master taking him on as a padawan after Kuda Vyn's death, let's just say that they didn't exactly mesh well together.He thought his former master had been strict, well Windu was worse.

Jace then wondered what Master Vyn might've said. But he wasn't one for soothing words. He really was flying blind here. Guess he'd have to just wing it and rely on what he'd been taught. The young Jedi cleared his throat to get the attention of Calli, who'd been staring off into space. When she looked back at him, he began wringing his hands as nerves set in but plowed through and forced his mouth to form words before he lost whatever little bit of courage he had.

"You know, one of the first things the Jedi teach you is that you have to let go of your attachments, otherwise fear of losing them can lead to the dark side." He could see Calli's eyebrow raise, silently asking where he was going with this, "Master Yoda said to train ourselves to let go of everything we fear to lose." Calli took this the wrong way and was immediately on the defensive.

"I'm not like you guys." She argued, "I can't just 'let go', they're my brothers and I won't ever brush them off easily like you do." Jace sighed while shaking his head.

"I didn't say brush them off and forget about them." He said and his voice raised slightly in annoyance, but not because of Calli but because despite his best efforts he'd inadvertently said the wrong thing.

"Then what are you saying?" Calli asked, also getting frustrated.

"I don't know!" Jace admitted angrily and there was a pause as he tried to think of something else. He wanted to ease Calli's anxiety since Scruffy was too busy being doted on by the Poletec children. "They're capable of doing things no one has ever heard of and if they care as much about you as you do for them - and I know they do," This made Calli smile lightly, and those weird butterflies fluttered around in his stomach. "- then I guess you just have to trust that your brothers will do everything they can to survive and come back to you. But," Call's smile dropped at his use of the word 'but' and she dreaded what he was about to say, "- they can only focus if they know that you're doing your job and not letting your worry get the better of you and you wind up doing something irrational."

"He's right." Echo's voice chimed in as he'd separated from the Poletecs and chose to join the two teens, unintentionally listening in on their conversation and deciding to put in his two credits on the subject. Calli couldn't help but scoff at the ARC Trooper.

"Oh, so you're telling me you're ok with just sitting around here?" Echo opened his mouth, prepared to say yes, but stopped when he realized he'd be lying. Ok, maybe he wasn't ok with being put down here when he'd prefer being up there fighting with Rex and Anakin.

"Orders are orders." He finally said, always being a stickler for rules and such. He knew better than to go against his commanding officer's wishes, "You should be used to that by now, huh?" Calli chuckled nervously and went back to playing with her hair.

"I usually only listen to Hunter, and even then, it's a 50/50 chance I'll listen to that - off the battlefield that is." She admitted, earning raised eyebrows from both the guys.

The conversation was cut short when Calli thought she heard a sound come from the direction the entrance of the tunnels were. Not a second later Jace received a comm from Rex, saying that a few droids managed to slip past their defenses and were now heading into the tunnels.

Calli was about to contact her brothers and ask if they were alright, only to be stopped by Echo.

"Remember what the Commander said." He told her in a stern yet gentle voice, "We focus and do our job and this'll be over before you know it." Calli took a deep breath and nodded, though the pit in her stomach didn't go away.

"What's the plan?" She asked Jace, and he looked surprised at her question.

"Aren't you usually the one with a plan?" Calli shrugged indifferently.

"I'm taking a page from Echo's book and following whatever orders that will get this over with quicker." Jace began stroking his chin as he thought out loud.

"All I know is, there's going to be a lot of blaster fire, and we can't let it hit any of them." He told the pair, gesturing to the group of Poletecs that were still doting on Scruffy.

"We can't use bombs, otherwise this whole place will fall down on top of us." Calli said, continuing the train of thought.

"What about droid poppers?" Echo inputted, but Calli shook her head at that suggestion.

"I pretty much figured the other guys would need it more than us and let them keep what was left of our stock, which wasn't that much to begin with." Calli said, placing her hands on her hips and looking to the floor as she thought of what they had to work with. Blasters, her electrostaff, Jace had his lightsabers. She did bring some bombs, and extra mini rockets for her wrist rocket launcher, but those were a last resort. Her flame projector wouldn't do much against metal droids except scorch the metal, and she had a limited number of darts, which again probably wouldn't be super effective on targets that don't feel pain.

The sound of approaching footsteps was getting closer and closer, putting pressure on the Jedi and clones to figure out something, and fast.

A figurative lightbulb went off in Calli's mind and she reached behind her into one of the many pouches attached to her belt, catching the attention of her companions who looked at her in question at the sudden movement and glint in her eyes.

"What if we took away their ability to see?" Calli said mysteriously before pulling out a single smoke bomb and she was now wearing her signature smirk.

"But then we wouldn't be able to see either." Jace pointed out, and Calli crossed her arms and scoffed mockingly.

"I thought the Jedi used the force to "see" when their eyes couldn't?" Jace wanted to say that while Jedi could sense other living things, they couldn't actually do the same with non living things like droids, but now wasn't the time for that. It did heighten his other senses, so in a way Calli was right, "And with my enhanced senses, the two of us could make our way through the smoke and wipe out the droids before they knew what hit them. And if any stragglers make it through, Echo can stop them - if he's feeling well enough and up to the task." Echo puffed out his chest and said with confidence,

"Just give me a blaster and I'll take down any clanker to the best of my ability!" Calli liked his enthusiasm and just like with Fives, knew right off the bat that they were going to get along.

"Hey, you can have both of my blasters," She offered, taking both of said weapons out of their holsters and she didn't see his face fall and Jace's eyes widen as he glanced at Echo's right arm which no longer had a hand, then back at Calli who again was oblivious as she checked the power packs on her blasters, all the while still talking, "-one in each hand would be more effective -" Jace coughed loudly to get her attention and Calli looked at him, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion as she didn't understand why the young Jedi was now giving her a pointed look, "What?" She asked dumbly, and when Jace subtly pointed to Echo's prosthetic, Calli's face fell, all the while Echo was now looking neither of the teens in the eye as he'd grown embarrassed, though now Calli probably rivaled it at this point, "- oh." Was all she could say after that. Now Calli was mortified at making Echo probably feel awful about his implants that were most likely not put on him with his consent. Great, he probably thinks I'm a heartless jerk now.

Thankfully the awkwardness she created was short lived when just up ahead where there was a curve in the tunnel droids started to appear. Calli, Jace, and Echo were immediately spotted.

"Blast them!"

"Get behind me!" Jace shouted while taking out his lightsabers to start deflecting the onslaught of blaster bolts. Echo did as told but Calli instead pressed a button on her wrist guard, and she looked at the clone Jedi duo with a smirk when a small circular combat shield appeared, resembling ones that Mandalorian warriors utilized in battle. The only difference is, a regular one that was roughly a foot in diameter, hers was twice the size which maximized her protection, courtesy of Tech who suped it up as a surprise for her.

Any thoughts of their previous plan were forgotten as Calli began shooting back, and she stopped briefly only to toss her spare blaster to Echo so he could join in on the action while Jace continued to deflect what blasts he could.

But there were some that made it past his and Calli's defenses. One bolt hit the roof above them and caused a chunk of the rock to break off and land dangerously close to a small group of children. Their cries of fear temporarily distracted Calli and she couldn't stop herself from looking backwards in worry, unintentionally lowering her shield in the process as she made sure no one was injured.

That was a fatal mistake on her part. And if it hadn't been for Jace, it would've been her last.

It was just Calli's luck that one droid would have enough good circuits to actually be observant, and even rarer taking a few extra seconds to aim their blaster pistol before firing, to make sure they actually hit the enemy target dead-on.

Calli was unaware, adrenaline kicked in for Jace, and the Force was unintentionally called upon.

Having to duck behind a protrusion in the wall for a breather, Jace didn't really think about what he did when seeing a droid take notice of Calli. All he did was cry out "NO!" when the droid aimed their blaster, and thrust a handout in Calli's direction.

The only explanation was that the Force must have taken his desperate cry as a prayer, and granted him the mercy of having the power to stop someone he really cared about from taking a deadly blaster bolt to the heart.

The hairs on the back of Calli's neck raised to signal danger milliseconds too late, and whipping around she was met with a red blaster bolt zipping right towards her-

Then a strange reverberation shook her to the core and just like she did the red bolt came to standstill.

Only it unnaturally did in midair.

Just mere centimeters from her chest.

The frantic crackling of the energy bolt mimicked her thumping pulse, and the waves of heat from the unsteady hold on it as it fought to be released were also in tune with her panic-stricken breaths of disbelief. Her entire face slack in terror was omniously shadowed by the intmidating red glow of blaster bolt that should have been her end, and enhanced the petrified glint in her wide eyes.

From his position on sidelines and through the haphazard blaster fire, Echo had watched what happened with awe and disbelief and downright pure terror himself. But unable to do anything himself, he was also thankful.

Teeth painfully gritted, Jace's entire face was contorted as he focused all his energy in keeping the bullet from hitting his friend/crush in what would have been a fatal shot. The split-second decision to stop the bullet with the Force was made completely on the energy field itself, not his own. Still only a padawan, nowhere near as skilled as a Knight or Master, the strength granted to him could rival anyone of those he knew. But somehow, he found the strength to process and wield this power enough if it meant the difference between life and death of someone he cared about.

The Force also granted him the power to change the trajectory of the bullet, and with a bead of sweat forming on his painfully furrowed brow, he flicked his hand in the direction of the droids, and the energies of both powers followed.

It may have not hit the pack of droids directly, but it did impact with the ground in front of them and created a poof of dust and smoke that blinded several, and with a gasp from exertion Jace was still coherent enough to recall what they had planned and with more resolve than before shouted impatiently to frozen Calli, "Throw the bomb!" Taking the opportunity of the droids being also temporarily stunned by his actions.

Jace's frantic voice Calli broke out of her reverie and once it registered what he'd said, Calli broke into action. Taking out the device, she pressed the button to release the smoke in exactly two seconds before throwing it at the small company of droids, landing smack dab in the middle of them. Their little brainless heads all looked down at the device with curiosity that was dumb on their part.

"What's that?" One of the droids asked stupidly as they all looked at the bomb, their circuits not able to compute fast enough what was about to happen, even though a second ago one had been able to almost put a bullet through Calli's chest. They got their unfortunate answer when there was a small click, and smoke began violently spewing out, engulfing that part of the cave in a matter of seconds.

"Let's go!" Jace shouted to Calli as soon as there was ample enough smoke to cover them, having recovered some from the exertion of stopping and redirecting the energy bullet and ready to end this battle before there were any more close calls.

Nodding, two teens ran full force into the smoke without hesitation, trusting they're abilities and each other to ensure they made it out soon and in one piece.

Calli squinted as the smoke stung her eyes, not having her helmet on which would have only held her back as she relied on her impeccable hearing to navigate the dense smoke that surrounded her. She reached over her shoulder and grabbed a hold of her electro staff, bringing it around and pressing the button that made electricity appear on both ends of the weapon.

She could feel Jace's presence still beside her and without having to say a word to each other they got to work.

Calli strained her ears and heard the familiar creaking of a droid close to her left and swung her staff in that direction, rewarded with a satisfying CLANK as her weapon made contact with metal. Her senses picked up another one behind her, she wretched the bladed tip of her staff out of the first droid and after kicking that one to the ground she spun on her feet, sliced off the head of the second and then did a spinning back kick that knocked a third that tried to sneak up on her. When it fell to the ground, Calli stabbed her electrostaff into its body and electricity sparked as she amped up the setting to ensure it fried the droid's circuits.

She could hear Jace's lightsabers slice through droids and felt that familiar spark of competition and a smirk graced her lips as she began working more swiftly with the goal of taking down more droids than her Jedi companion.

Jace sensed the playful shift in her mood and decided to go along with it, pretty much knowing what Calli was thinking if the way she doubled her speed and kill count was any indication.

Despite the flurry of lightsabers and her staff, neither came close to hitting the other despite their close proximity. In some cases Calli would stun a droid with her electrostaff and Jace would follow by swiftly cutting its head off. It was as if their fighting styles and minds became one as they made their way through the dense smoke, taking out droids left and right, each helping the other. When Calli was focused on taking down a droid and another tried to sneak up behind her, Jace rushed into action and took it down before it could harm Calli, and she came to the rescue for him at one point as well. The glow of his lightsabers gave away his position, so several had at one point closed in on him and began shooting. Those droids didn't know what hit them when Calli unleashed her fury on them, and saved Jace's butt in the process.

For those few minutes, Calli didn't think/worry about her brothers, instead focusing on the fight and the boy fighting beside her. Never in a million years did she think she would ever work as well as she was now with a Jedi - a people she used to despise with a passion. Now one of her closest friends was a Jedi and she wondered what Boba or even Jango (if he was still alive) would think!

In a span of a minute and thirty seconds, the fight was over. The smoke began to dissipate and revealed Calli and Jace standing side by side, surrounded by the carnage of their enemy they'd worked as a team to destroy. Both were breathing heavily and Calli wiped the back of her gloved hand across her forehead where sweat had begun to form. She blamed the rush and the fact that Jace had saved her earlier for what she did next. Sometimes after a battle, Wrecker and Calli had a habit of hugging, especially if one or the other had a close brush with death.

Turning off his lightsabers, Jace had barely clipped them back on his belt when he was suddenly tackled into a hug by Calli, and he let out a grunt of surprise while stumbling back a couple steps. After regaining his footing, Jace could only stand stock still as his brain had a tough time computing what was happening.

Calli is hugging me.

We're hugging.

Calli didn't think about how awkward she might have made Jace feel by doing this, in fact she wasn't thinking at all. All she focused on was the fact she just finished a battle and did so without her brothers, and it felt amazing. Up until now Calli thought she always needed her brothers at her side for everything, and as it turns out, she could do just fine on her own. And there was one person she had to thank for that, and she now had him in a bone crushing hug.

Jace has been hugged very few times in his life, in fact he's only hugged one other person and that person was his cousin - and she had initiated every single one of them. He'd always felt weird and awkward receiving hugs, thinking that it went hand in hand with attachment and attachment was forbidden. That phrase had been ingrained in his mind since a youngling.

Attachment was forbidden because it would lead to the dark side. But Jace was now questioning this because the growing attachment he was feeling towards Calli didn't make him feel dark and angry, instead it made his stomach flutter and put a stupid grin on his face whenever he thought about this girl. How can feelings of happiness and warmth turn someone to the dark side?

When Jace couldn't think of a good enough reason that would make him shove Calli away, he had his answer. This would be the only time Jace would curse as he finally wrapped his arms around Calli's armored waist, reciprocating the hug as tightly as he could, lifting her up a few inches off the ground in the process, and unknowingly making Calli internally sigh with relief that her display of affection wasn't rebuffed.

You know what, to hell the Jedi Code. I like this, and I like Calli. He finally admitted it to himself and didn't feel bad. He liked Calli.

○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○

Ahhhhhhhhhh. Jace finally admitted to himself that he likes Calli!!!!!!! YAY! FINALLY!!

Also thank you so much @antisocial-mariposa for helping me write the scene where Jace stops the blaster bolt!! Your flair made it really awesome!!!

#star wars #star wars bad batch #star wars tbb #the bad batch #the bad batch fanfiction #star wars the bad batch #crosshair tbb #tech tbb #hunter tbb #wrecker tbb #calli tbb #arc trooper calli #callistafett #tbb oc #tbb fanfiction #sw tbb

[gahmah-raan]

Project GESTROMA

As this is also the cover art for Star Wars: Paranormalities: Episode II - Chapter 9: Lab Rat, I’ve also included the logoed version for archival purposes.

Subject: Project GESTROMA Real Name: Unknown Homeworld: Despayre Original species: Unknown (mutated beyond recognition) Gender: Male Weapons: Rotary blaster cannon, thermal detonators, concussion rifle, cortosis-chain grappling cable, various body acids Affiliation: Galactic Empire (formerly), Himself Occupation: Bounty Hunter Born of unidentifiable parentage from the inmates of Despayre, the life of the being now only known as Gestroma could be described as nothing short of a tragedy. At adolescence, Gestroma was taken from his parents in the Imperial penal colony to a reactivated Techno Union bio-weapon laboratory on Nelvaan. The previous Skakoan scientists having experimented on male Nelvaanian warriors late in the Clone Wars, the Empire secretly restored the lab for their own use and experimented on slaves and convicts. Gestroma was subject to such experimentation and transformed beyond recognition from whatever species he started as, now bearing features such as three eyes taking up almost his entire face and a gaping maw on his abdomen. The mutations also resulted in several psychological disorders, making him violently insane and somewhat sadistic. Not long after his mutation, his homeworld - along with his parents - was destroyed by the superweapon constructed in orbit: the Death Star. Afterwards, the Empire retrieved a parasitic blob-like creature from the asteroid field created from Despayre's remains, either somehow surviving the obliteration or taking refuge in the debris. The scientists then injected it into Gestroma's blood to better understand its properties, but the symbiote and Gestroma came to a mutual agreement, and the symbiote accepted Gestroma as a "Herald". Days after injection, Gestroma broke free and massacred most of the laboratory staff, also making them vulnerable to an uprising from the local Nelvaanians, whose memories of the Techno Union's horrors were still fresh. This resulted in the Empire abandoning the planet and leaving the laboratory for Gestroma's own use. However, rather than immediately take advantage of it, he decided to lay low and make some credits working as a mercenary, but he had grand plans to punish the human species, mainly a result of the Empire being a humanocentric establishment. That didn't keep him from taking pleasure in killing human bounties in incredibly horrific ways or kidnapping them for later experimentation at his hideout. Using his credits, he had gained hold various types of mutagens to work with, although some of them mutated his prisoners into forms that were biologically unfit for combat. As a starting point for his eventual army, he created a defense force for his base from salvaged Separatist battle droids, including models that weren't stationed on Nelvaan during the war, such as gargantuan Octuptarra droids and BX Commando Droids making up his infantry - Gestroma realizing that the common B1s and OOMs were too far from intelligent to be of use to him. In the present, he has taken contracts from the Valkoran Empire despite the fact that there are humans in their build-up (but he may not care if that's hypocritical since humans are the most common species in the galaxy). However, with the rise of the Forceless Collective and the fact that the symbiote is a Forceless, he has become a major target for the Jedi Order and Galactic Alliance. And artistically, I've decided that Gestroma should have four-fingered hands.

#Star Wars #Paranormalities #Gestroma #Bounty Hunter #Mutant #Alien #Forceless #Original Character #OC

[bountyhunterleia]

#palpatine #star wars memes #clone union #droid union #look #i simply think #the clones and droids should unionize #unions #aurebesh #yes i did edit this myself and i am very proud of it

[kaminocasey]

Loverboy Part One

Summary: A sith is sent to check out things on Skako Minor. What she finds is a poor clone who doesn't deserve what's happening to him so she does something about it.

Pairing: Echo x f Sith!Reader

Word Count: 1.5K

Warnings: Just some fighting, maybe a bit of angst??

A/N: Sorry if this has been done before? I don't think it has? Or at least not that I've read. let me know if you like the idea because I have an idea for a part two!

You can find it on AO3 Here!

Part Two

You could tell what Tambor was doing to this clone was wrong on many levels. All of the color was drained from him and he looked dead. You felt genuine fear for what the Techno Union was doing to this poor man. No one deserved this. No matter what side they were on.

You still didn’t know why Master Dooku wanted you to come check in on Wat Tambor. You hated the man and Dooku knew it. The first moment you and Dooku ever stepped foot in Purkoll, you knew the Skakoan was even more slimy than you previously thought.

“What do you think of my experiment?” Tambor asks you, gesturing to the clone.

“Are you asking for my personal opinion or Count Dooku’s?” You side eye him.

You look back up at the clone who was clearly out of it and clench your fists in anger. You knew right then what needed to be done. The Separatists and Techno Union be damned.

“Your personal opinion.” Tambor chuckles.

“Personally… I need to talk to my master. Would you give me a few moments alone, please?” You gesture to the door.

He looks like he may fight you, giving you a look of “This is my lab”. But he leaves without a word, shutting the door behind him. You quickly pull your saberstaff out and cut away the tubes that were connected to the clone. You realize you probably should have checked his vitals before doing so but there was no time, you were in a hurry.

The clone falls out of the stasis chamber and slumps against the panel onto the floor. You attempt to support him while trying to get him to snap out of it, but he’s looking past you mumbling something about a Citadel.

You remember that that’s where the Skakoans took him. The last thing he must remember is trying to help his friends before the explosion that almost killed him.

“Hey.” You gently shake him out of his daze. “Clone.”

“E-echo.” He mumbles.

“Echo?” You ask confused.

Did he hear an echo in his head from being unplugged perhaps? What did he mean? Whatever it means, he nods for some reason.

“We’re running out of time. Can you walk?” You cup his face with one hand, trying to get him to focus on you.

Slowly, his eyes start to focus on you and he begins mumbling something.

“What?” You ask, leaning your ear in close to him as your eyes dart back and forth from the door and the man in front of you.

“Pretty.” He smiles, softly.

You let out a laugh. “Okay, loverboy. We gotta move.”

You wrap an arm around him and then sense Tambor moving in close to the first door. You look around for another exit, to no avail.

“Kriff…” You mumble. “Kriff kriff kriff…”

Before you can figure out your next move, the clone points up.

“Cold ducts.” He mumbles.

“How did you know-” You start but he just points to his head with his scomp link.

You nod, understanding that even though the Techno Union tapped into his brain and took information, he was also able to take their information as well. Smart guy.

Before you can try to force-pull the duct open, the door to the lab opens and Tambor sees that you’re helping the clone.

“What are you- Droids! We’re under attack!” Tambor shouts. “So Dooku thinks he can just steal my property?”

You pull your saberstaff back out and bring it to life. Tambor immediately rolls back away from you, clearly frightened. Good. He should fear for his life.

“I’m not stealing property. People aren’t property.” You start toward him at the same time that droids start shooting at you.

You force-push the clone back so that he has the panel to protect him. You try to keep the blaster fire away from him, jumping from droid to droid, slicing them in half.

When you look at the clone, he looks angry. He should be angry. What the Skakoans have done to him… Then you realize… he’s looking at you angrily.

“What?” You ask him as you finish off the last droid and Tambor escapes out of the lab.

“You’re a… sith?” He spits.

“A sith who just saved your life.” You shrug, trying to help him up.

He shoves you away, weakly, stumbling back into the panel.

“Look… I can either leave you here to defend yourself and me cutting you loose out of that thing will have been for nothing. Or… I can help you escape and then return you safely back to the Republic if that is what you truly want.” You offer, looking toward the door and sensing more droids coming.

“What do you get out of helping me? Why are you helping me?” He questions you, his expression softening.

“What the Skakoans have done to you… is wrong. I don’t believe in this. I don’t even believe in the war. It’s fucking useless and what the Republic is doing to the clones is just as evil if you ask me.” You start going on a tangent.

He holds up a hand and you stop talking.

“Alright. I’ll let you help me.” He nods. “Thank you.”

You nod and wrap an arm around him and start to leave the lab, trying to run as quickly as the clone can.

“Do you have a name?” You ask, running down the hall to the elevator.

“I already told you. Echo.” He chuckles.

“That’s your name?” You quirk an eyebrow.

“That’s my name.” He repeats.

“Oh, I get it now.” You laugh as you finally reach the lift.

You push the button as quickly as possible and just as the lift doors open, about 50 of Tambor’s security droids start blasting at you and Echo. You wield your saberstaff, spinning it so that the blasts deflect back at the droids, making them drop.

You push echo into the lift and push the down button as you get in with him at the last moment so that the droids wouldn’t have time to shoot you as you waited for the doors to close.

“You’re pretty good with that thing.” Echo compliments you.

“Thanks.” You smile. “Dooku hates it. Thinks that it’s tacky, but I love it.”

“I think it suits you.” He smiles.

“Because it’s tacky?” You chuckle.

“Because it’s interesting… and clearly deadly.” He nods, his smile never leaves his face and his eyes never leave yours.

You finally get a good look at him. He looks awful in a sickly way, but you can’t help the feeling that begins to stir inside of you. You want to reach out and cup his face again. To reassure him that everything was going to be okay and that he’d be safe again.

“So Echo… you still think that I’m pretty even though I’m a Sith?” You tease.

He grins. “Actually-”

He’s cut off as the doors to the lift open and you see more clones waiting. You’re too confused to speak. What are they doing here?

“Echo? General, the Sith has Echo!” The clone with the blue markings on his helmet shouts, raising his blasters to you.

“A Sith?” You hear a familiar voice ask and then he comes into view.

Anakin Skywalker. Of course. Why not make your day even harder?

He starts to raise his familiar blue lightsaber to you. You push Echo out of the lift just as Skywalker begins to attack you. You duck as he swings the saber at you and then bring yours to life only to stop him from killing you.

“General! Stop!” Echo shouts. “She helped me.”

Anakin pushes you to the ground but stops mid-attack, looking at you in confusion. You can feel the heat radiating off of the lightsaber near your throat.

“Don’t look so surprised, Skywalker. I’m not the bitch you think I am.” You smile. “Well, maybe I am, but I just saved one of your guys so the least you could do is let me go, right?”

“Why did you save one of our people?” The clone with the blue markings asks as he takes off his helmet.

“Look, I see the clones as people.” You shrug, looking at Echo who’s looking back at you, softly. “I don’t agree with experimenting on people of any kind.”

“How progressive of you.” Anakin spits, mocking you.

You roll your eyes. “Don’t you know not to judge a person by the color of their lightsaber? So, are you going to let me go or not?”

“Echo, it’s your call.” Anakin looks back at Echo and lowers his lightsaber, clipping it onto his belt.

Echo steps forward still rather weak, helping you up. “Thank you.”

You nod. “My pleasure. But you guys better get out of here. Tambor will be on your trail soon.”

Echo takes your hand, kisses it and then joins his brothers as they run off toward their ship. You couldn’t help the warmth that flooded your face, hoping that you’d get to see him again one day.

#The Bad Batch #TBB #Tbb Echo #Echo x you #Echo x reader #Echo/You #Echo/Reader #Sith!Reader x Echo #kaminocaseyfics

[an-anticlimactic-bass-drop]

Tall Part 2/?

Prompt: Tech is too tall for his own good. Constantly hitting his head on objects and desks as he works on projects. The other bad batchers make fun of him for this but you find it endearing.

Tech X Reader

Slow Burn/ Angst

Warnings: Mild 1.11 Spoilers, Deviates from canon

Word Count: 1.5K

Part 2/?

partly inspired by this gif 

(it won’t let me put it in but its the one of tech catching omega)

Omega nudges you awake from where you are napping in the pilot’s seat. The small girl’s blonde head peeks over the arm of the chair as she looks out the window. 

“Look!”

The sounds of explosions and blaster fire are erupting from the city center a few klicks away. You quickly lean forward and start firing up the takeoff controls for the Marauder. You are sure your boys are the ones behind the explosions and you smile gently as you imagine Wrecker’s gleeful expression as you see a cloud of smoke rise into the air in the distance.  They can’t be too far off if the nearing sounds of blaster fire are any indicators. Omega rushes to the landing ramp as Hunter’s voice crackles in through the comms. 

“Omega! Get ready to bring the senator aboard!” Hunter sounds a little winded and Wrecker cackles in the background as another explosion rocks the tunnel they were in. You remember the new security system Tech put in place and shake the last cobwebs of your nap out of your mind as you recall the specifications that he had told you about before leaving. Your hands fly across the panels as you disarm the system and lower the landing ramp. You head to the ramp as Omega jumps up and down waving at the men as they trek towards the ship. 

“Ladies! Meet the newest passenger of the Havoc Marauder, Senator Avi Singh.” Hunter introduced you to the senator and you looked him up and down. The senator doesn’t look like he’s all that happy to be leaving his planet in the hands of the Imperials. Singh is wringing his hands and has a look of worry on his face. 

“I should not leave my people. They need me here!” The senator says quietly. Echo leans in with a hand on the senator’s shoulder. 

“If you stay here you will be hunted down and murdered. It is better to live to fight another day than to die unnecessarily.” The clone looks almost defeated as he tells the senator this. Singh’s shoulders slump forward as he takes one last look around his planet before boarding the ship, nodding in agreement at Echo’s words. 

The trip back to Cid’s bar was uneventful to say the least. The senator and his droid are quietly sitting in the cargo hold. You offered him a cup of caf earlier but he graciously declined. The men are scattered around the ship as hyperspace speeds by. Echo and Hunter are attempting to sleep in the bunks while Wrecker and Omega are playing Saabac on the box that functions as a makeshift table. You just poured yourself a piping hot cup of the precious brown liquid that keeps you going through bouts of insomnia caused by the nightmares and the general lifestyle of the Bad Batch. Wandering up towards the cockpit, you aren’t expecting to trip over Tech’s long legs that are stretched out into the aisle. 

“Kriff!” Tech curses as your cup spills slightly onto the top of his blacks. He slides out from the wall he was buried in and starts looking around for a towel to wipe the hot caf off of his shirt. 

“Sorry! I didn’t see you there!” You frantically bend down to help him. You grab one of his grease rags from the toolbox you notice off to the side and dab at the stain on his shirt. 

“No worries. I will be fine.” Tech strips off his shirt and you swear you can feel the temperature of the air heat up several degrees as you realize just how close you are to the taller clone. “There. No harm done. Would you mind putting this in the laundry for me? I need to finish this last bit of wiring before heading back to check on the flightpath.” You flush as you tear your eyes away from the bare chest of the man in front of you. 

“Hm? Sorry! I’ll just get right on that.” You hurry away with the stained shirt and a blush on your face. You left your cup of caf on the floor near where Tech was working. He let out a small chuckle as he steals your drink. Not his fault if you left it in your hurry. 

The ship lands back at Cid’s bar without incident. The senator thanks you all graciously and departs into Cid’s office to discuss payment. Wrecker and Omega not so sneakily sneak off to get Mantell mix and Echo follows them at a distance to make sure they stay out of trouble. Tech goes to the bar to get a drink and you sit beside him to discuss the mission. You flush as you think about the previous night on the ship and you clench your jaw to avoid licking your lips at the thought of the bare chest of the taller clone next to you. You aren’t ashamed to say you dreamed of the expanse of skin and what it might taste like while you were in your bunk after that episode last night. 

“Am I boring you? I can stop if you would like.” Tech looks concerned as you zone back into reality and realize you have been watching him with a blank expression for a beat too long. You blink in surprise as you shake away the untamed thoughts that have been plaguing your mind. You really can’t be anymore obvious in your crush can you? At this point you might as well have a giant sign that follows you around that says “This person has a crush on the tall nerdy one!” 

“No!” You exclaim a little too loudly and get some irritated looks from the other patrons of the bar. “Sorry I'm just distracted today. The mission has me a little rattled. I am not used to being that deep into enemy space.” You say in a quieter tone.

“We are also not used to it. I always knew we would make it to Raxus someday however I never thought about it being to save the seperatist leader. Echo was most displeased about the idea and protested greatly. I tried to convince him that it was just a job and we need to pay off our debt to Cid but he does not see it this way.” Tech seems saddened at his brother’s inability to see the mission without the politics. You can see Echo’s point of view and point out to Tech that Echo’s trauma probably makes it hard for him to trust the separatists seeing as they had kidnapped and tortured him for 2 years before he was rescued. 

“The Techno Union treated him like a computer! An algorithm! Barely even human! I really don’t blame Echo for not trusting the separatists. He has barely recovered from the trauma of being in that machine for so long. He is still really pale and frail and you haven’t finished working on his new limbs yet so he still has the prosthetics they forced on him. Speaking of which, if you need help working on those I am always available. He has every reason to be upset about this mission.” 

You are fully involved in the discussion and don’t hear Echo and the others enter the bar as they make their way over to you and Tech. Echo catches the tail end of the conversation and tries to announce their presence with a small cough that turned into a hacking one that left Omega looking concerned. Her big round eyes are full of unspoken worry as she gazes up at him. Echo glances down at the young girl and forces a smile, patting her head. 

“I am fine little one. Don’t worry about me.” He says reassuringly.

Hunter leaves Cid’s office with her and the Senator. He comes over to where the group has gathered and steals Tech’s abandoned drink. He chugs the rest of it and gestures for the group to follow as he heads back to the ship.  Tech stands up and offers his hand to you to help you off of the bar stool. He has a habit of making sure none of the Bad Batchers fall over, a habit he has picked up from their upbringing on Kamino where the other 3 clones were not the best balanced due to their enhanced abilities. Your face flushes again as you become uncomfortably aware of how close you two have gotten during the conversation. He leans away from your touch as if he also hadn’t realized how close you two had gotten. Tech turns to follow Hunter out the door and has to stoop a little to avoid hitting the door frame, Echo cracking a quiet joke about not having to worry about hitting the top of door frames since he lost a few inches. Only Omega and you caught the joke and you give a chuckle as Omega just looks confused. 

“The legs you see? Lost a few inches? Oh well.” Echo gave up on explaining the joke to the kid and followed Wrecker out the door towards the ship. 

Once back on the ship Hunter announces that they have been given a few days off courtesy of Cid since the mission went so smoothly. The other bad batchers glance at each other, not sure of what to do with their new time off.  You were pretty sure they have never had free time in their entire life.

“We could visit Cut and Suu? See how they are settling in!” Suggests Omega. 

“Too dangerous for them. We attract too much attention. The last thing they need is to be recognized as republic sympathizers.” reasons Tech. 

“I think we deserve a few days of downtime! We can take a well deserved vacation and rest up before the next mission.” you say as you pour a cup of caf from the pot Tech started when you arrived back at the ship. “We can get some repairs done on the ship and maybe even explore the city! I know Omega has been dying to go to the museums in the city center since we got here and I'm sure you boys would enjoy it too.” 

Hunter thinks for a moment and nods in agreement. 

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

Taglist: @haloangel391 @m-o-o-n-s-g-o-o-n-s

#tech x reader #tech is too tall for his own good #part 2 #omega has a nanny #its you #the bad batch steals each others drinks all the time and you can't convince me otherwise #tech is a caf fiend #you can't leave your drink alone with him he will steal it #tech has the best balance out of the bad batch #he catchs everyone

[greenygreenland]

Tired: Omega x Platonic! Slicer! Reader

-Hi I’m back from the dead

-i write for females, keep that in mind (sorry, it's what I'm comfortable with, so I hope you understand!)

-but really, I write in 2nd POV, so you can't tell for the most part

REQUESTED

Summary: You're a former bounty hunter who's also a slicer for the GAAR. You meet Omega by chance.

Tired. That was the only thing that could describe your mental state. Being assigned to mission after mission was no fun, especially when it was solo. You were a civvie slicer, one who the GAAR hired by chance due to your reputation.

By reputation, that meant ex-mercenary-who-so-happened-to-have-a-knack-or two-for-technology. The clones were nice to you though. For the most part, they didn't care about your previous occupation because it wasn't the first time anyone's hired Bounty Hunters for the GAAR.

The low hum of the ship helped to ease your building worries. You wondered what the boys of Clone Force 99 were up to. It was no secret that you were part of the complete package. No one knew how you and them got along when you were a civvie. Being outsiders themselves, they hated anyone who wasn’t part of their group. But not you. You were different. Kind. Caring. Understanding.

That thought made you frown. You missed the boys. They had been gone for at least seven rotations without comming you once. The fact that they promised didn't help their cause either. Were they okay? Maybe one of them got hurt, or worse, killed? Maker forbid such a thing.

"They better come back to me in one piece, or I'll have them begging on their knees for forgiveness..."

Beep, beep, beep!

You jolted upright, swinging your legs out form under you as you hurriedly fumbled for the holoprojector. You tapped a button and the cockpit flooded with a soft, blue light. "Tech!" you cried. "It's been seven rotations! Why haven't you commed me?" He removed his helmet with a sheepish shrug. "We've been busy of course. And it's seven rotations and fifteen hours, meaning--"

"Yeah, yeah." you cut in with a sigh. "I don't like the idea of not coming with you guys on missions. I know you're just as capable--more if you want me to be honest--but that doesn't mean I can't worry."

There was a rustle behind Tech and he looked over his shoulder. Hunter came into view, an apologetic look in his eyes. "Sorry we didn't comm you. With all that's gone down, I wouldn't say we've had the time." You flopped down in your chair helplessly. "I know, it's just..."

Hunter smiled warmly. "Don't worry about us (Y/n)." Tech pushed up his glasses and nodded in agreement. "If there's anyone who we should be worrying about, it's you. You go on solo missions six out of nine times. We have each other but you only have yourself."

"Wow, I feel so much better Tech." You sarcastically muttered. "Speaking of mission, I'm on my next one."

Hunter knitted his brows. "Where?"

"Skako Minor."

"Skako Minor?" they echoed. You nodded. "Something strange is going on there. According to Rex, the Seppie battle plans have been drawn exactly like the ones he used to do with Echo--that’s one of his men." You recalled the face of that fallen soldier. He was always so sweet to you, giving a wave whenever you passed and smiling as brightly as he could. To say you missed the poor boy was an understatement.

"Isn't Skako Minor under the Techno Union?" inquired a coiled voice. Crosshair made his way into the frame and unceremoniously squeezed himself between his brothers. "You better not be going alone." You waved it off. "Even if I did, it’s fine. I can take care of myself.”

“Like the time you nearly fried yourself with a loose wire on that rock in the Outer Rim? Yeah, I don’t think so.” You averted your gaze to the side in embarrassment. No one needed to remind you of that rookie mistake. You could have gotten yourself killed. The watts were off the chart there. “That was one time. I’m a master at this stuff, don't worry. And besides, Cody, Rex, Jesse, and Kix are with me." Cross's brows shot up. "You're working with regs?"

"Don't worry, they're seasoned soldiers from the 501st.” That was the truth, and you meant it. Working under Rex for months made it clear to you. During that time, he taught you a thing or two about mechanics. “General Skywalker’s men are more than capable. So is Cody."

Cross looked doubtful, and you couldn't blame him. This was enemy territory you were sneaking into. It didn’t matter who you had on your side, because anyone could make a mistake.

A deep laugh echoed from over Cross’s shoulder. Wrecker set down his gonk droid, Lula in the other hand. “You guys need to have faith in (Y/n),” he reminded with a grin. “She’s smarter than me, and she’s always kept up with us. Is there anything she can’t do?” Tech pushed his glasses up with a challenging look. “Uh, actually--”

“Just be careful.” Hunter concluded. “We want to see you back in one piece.” You nodded in understanding. “Copy that, Sarge.” He smiled, and it was filled with unsaid words of care. Cross sent you a nod, eyes all mushy and soft while Tech knitted his brows together worriedly. Wrecker grinned, and it was so bright that it could have blinded you.

“Same goes to you Batchers,” you stated seriously. “Come back to me in one piece, or I’ll come over there and kill you myself.” Tech looked like he wanted to comment on that, but he sensed the shift in mood and kept his mouth shut. You memorised their faces as best as you could. It would be a while until you saw them next.

The hologram flickered out and the soft glow of blue hues disappeared. The cold, dim lighting of the ship fell over you. “Well that’s that.” you muttered with a weak smile. Rex patted your shoulder comfortingly. “They really care about you.”

“Yeah. But it wasn’t always like that. I used to be a stranger too.”

The rest of the ride was spent with the occasional joke from Jesse. He made you laugh, and it helped to soothe your worries. But then the ship landed, and you were thrust into a battle zone. You were thankful Anakin made you wear heavier armour today. If he hadn’t, then you probably would have been vaporized on the spot.

“We need cover!” shouted Rex. That was a no-brainer. Being out in the open at the bottom of a ravine was not in the least tactical. “SBDs!” you called. “Twelve o’clock!”

Jesse raced past you. “Get down!” He threw an EMP. It wasn’t as effective as you hoped it would be. If the Bad Batch were here, this situation would have been completely different. You were on your own. There was no cover, save for the piles of smoking durasteel and the very armour strapped to your vulnerable limbs.

You were in a head-on battle.

“I guess we don’t have much of a choice.” You charged forward, tossing a few EMPs as you blasted away. The best you could do was nail them in the head and hope for the best. Jesse was right beside you, with Cody, Kix, and Rex following suit.

“I didn’t think you would be this daring!” called Jesse. You blasted a few droids and kicked another in the head. It fell with a clank and you smothered it in a healthy dose of blaster fire. “I wasn’t about to be bested by a couple of rust buckets!” you retorted with shake of your head. “Come on, we need to get to that tower.”

You made quick work of the droids. You were no Jango Fett, but you managed with the help of the Regs. Cody congratulated your work and motioned for the squad to continue on. “It’s obvious the enemy knows we’re here. I have my doubts on sneaking in, but perhaps we can manage...”

Past the commando droids, through the front door, then up the lift and a little further down a couple halls. Before the mission, Rex had pulled you aside to speak in private. He thought Echo was alive and that whatever was sending out those Seppie battle plans had to be him. But you weren’t about to get your hopes up. Not when so many of your friends long marched far, far away.

You stopped by a door and plugged in your datapad. “I need to slice open the door. I’m not about to challenge fate here with a charge.” Jesse nodded in understanding. “I’d rather come back with all my legs and arms, thank you very much.” He turned to keep guard as Cody stood close to your side. “Is this the control room?”

“Yes.” The door swished open and you disconnected your ‘pad from the panel. “I’ll slice the computer and retrieve the information we need. Rex, I need you for this portion.” He nodded in understanding and followed suit. You connected your datapad to the communications table. A hologram appeared, where dates and names passed by in the blink of an eye.

“You said this might be Echo.” you quietly stated. Rex nodded. “I can’t be sure, but there isn’t another explanation.” You watched as the information scrolled past at the speed of light. There wasn’t anything of use so far. Only old reports, check-ins and...

The scrolling froze. A file opened up, filling the room with a voice you wouldn’t ever forget. It was scratchy and lifeless, but you were sure it had to be the man who went KIA so long ago. “That’s...”

“Echo’s alive.” Rex affirmed. “It--it has to be him.”

“We’ve got company!” called Jesse.

You transferred the file and stuffed your ‘pad in a safe spot for keeping. “In case anything happens, I’m transferring the data over to you.” you stated. “I wouldn’t want to lose any of this.” The two of you rushed out of the room in a frenzy. Blaster fire sounded above, whizzing way over your head as you sprinted down the hall. The lift wasn’t far, only a couple metres. You just had to run a little more and--

BOOM!

Had a droid thrown a charge? You turned to Rex, eyes wide as he turned to face you. With all of the strength you could muster, you shoved him out of the way. Another BOOM!. You turned just in time to see the flash of brilliant reds and oranges.

The force threw you into the transparisteel windows, which spider-webbed out in long cracks. You were suddenly flying out of the four story building. Shards cut past your face and through your sleeves, tearing away at flesh and fabric without an ounce of mercy. If only you had a doshing jetpack.

“(Y/N)!”

You didn’t scream, but Maker did it kriffing hurt. There was a sickening crack, another blinding flash of sharp pain. You held back a cry.

Just be careful. We want you back in one piece.

Your vision faded in and out. Black blurred the galaxy as you knew it.

I'm sorry, boys.

You fell into the painful jaws of darkness.

-----

The first thing that hit your nose was the sterile smell of bacta. Your eyes fluttered open and you found yourself staring at the blank ceiling of the medbay. The incessant beeping of the heart monitor caught you off guard. How hard did you fall? Much less, what did you break?

A head of dirty blonde hair peeked over the edge of your bed. Her eyes, wide with curiosity made you knit your brows together. She was young, much younger than any girl here should be. You were about to sit up, but the girl frantically straightened.

"You're not supposed to be getting up." She gently pushed you back down. "You have a lot more than a few broken bones." That was when the pain began to settle. You stilled under the thin medbay sheets. "I need to comm someone."

"Now?" the girl incredulously inquired. "You're hurt, you have to rest first." But that was the least of your problems. Where was Rex? Had he completed the mission? How long were you out? Were Jesse, Kix, and Cody alright? You winced and the girl frowned.

"If it makes you feel better, there were a few people who came to visit."

That didn't make you feel better. It meant they saw you like this, in the most vulnerable state you could ever be in. "Who are you?"

The girl pointed at herself like she'd never been asked that before. "Me?" You nodded. "I'm Omega." She smiled and it was a little shy and toothy. "You've been asleep for a while. I thought you weren't going to wake up for another day." You tensed and pursed your lips together. "How long?"

"A week, I think." Omega said. "But it's okay! You're recovering steadily." That wasn't the issue. Recovering steadily wasn't good enough because you were missing out on a mission you needed to complete. If Echo really was alive, then you had to save him. It was the least you could do after he put his life on the line for you so many times before.

"I have to..." You pushed your aching body up. "I have to go."

"No!" Omega forced you back down. "Even if you could walk, you can't fight."

"But I have to..." The look on Omega's face made you pause. She was so small, and in that little body of hers, she stored up a good amount of worry for you. How could you say no to that? A sigh escaped your lips and you begrudgingly relaxed onto the bed.

Omega's shoulders slumped in relief. "I'll get a your holoprojector." You raised a brow with a watchful eye as she scurried away. She rummaged through a lone cabinet in the corner of the room. Your clothes sat there, belt, holsters, blasters and all. Omega pulled out your holoprojector, closed the cabinets, and handed it to you.

"I washed your clothes too if you're wondering," she said with a small smile. "But don't think about going anywhere! You can't walk with broken legs."

A pit formed in your stomach. You can't walk with broken legs. That wouldn't be true if you had seen the blast. If you had ran faster. Maybe you wouldn't have ended up like this, a mess of bandages, casts, and bacta patches. If only you had seen it coming.

"Hey, (Y/n)?" You didn't question how Omega knew your name. Whoever she was, she had to be a someone to wear Kaminoan jewellery anyway. "What is it?" Your voice was quiet, sad almost. Omega played with a loose thread on her sleeve. "That was very brave of you." She stepped closer to the bed and pulled up a chair. "Captain Rex came by this morning. He told me that you saved him from that blast."

You shifted to meet her gaze as best as you could. The holoprojector weighed your hand down like a ten kilo weight. "I just...reacted. Nothing special to congratulate." Omega shook her head. "No, that's everything. If it were me, I don't think I'd be able to do that."

A pull in your gut told you she meant what she said. Your eyes softened. You didn't meet her gaze. Maybe that was because you couldn't. It was a hard enough fact accepting that you were injured, adding on that you were going soft didn't help your cause.

Omega took it as her signal to give you some privacy and exited the room. The doors swished shut behind her, leaving you in a much needed silence. You tapped the projector. It opened up, bathing the snow white room in soft blue hues.

"Rex." you greeted. "I apologize for my absence." His brows were knitted, eyes all sad and cloudy. He tried to keep a straight face, but you knew better. Of course you did. He was your best friend since the moment you joined the GAAR. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head. "I should be asking that to you. Are you alright? That fall was..." He paused and it was like he was choking back tears. "I-I'm sorry. If I had just been more careful, then you wouldn't be..."

"Rex, I'm fine."

"You can't walk." he muttered. "And you can't do much on your own. I took away your independence, this is all my fault." You knitted your brows together. His words made your heart ache, and the very thought of what he faced on his own without you didn't help. Your lips pulled into a frown deeper than Kamino's oceans. "That's not all, is it Rex?"

He clenched a fist as if it would help cease his rolling emotions. "E-Echo...if you had seen him. I'm just glad you weren't there."

"Is he alive?"

"Yes."

"Well where is he?" You had to fight the urge to sit up in anticipation. He was alive. That sweet, loving boy who taught you about protocols and manuals. As boring as it was, all those regulations embedded into your mind saved you more than you'd like to admit. He and Fives always snuck up on you whenever they came back from missions, or commed you in the middle of the night.

They both kept you up at night, but you never minded. Now one of those boys who had marched so far away had the chance of coming home.

"Where is Echo?" you inquired. Rex's eyes fell to the floor. "He's...Watt Tambor made him more machine than man. I-I can't..."

The doors swished open.

"...If only we had..." You shook your head. "Rex, there wasn't anything we could do. It was a miracle you found him in the first place."

The doors closed with a low hiss.

"Found who?"

Your eyes widened and you ripped your gaze away from the projection. A set of worn, tired eyes met yours. He looked different from the bottom up. His new armor, black and red with a familiar 99 on it. His smile, though a bit dampened, remained the same. He made his way over to you and took a seat by your bedside.

"Echo?"

"That's me."

You tried a smile, and it was all watery and shaky. "Oh, you've changed." He chuckled. "So have you. I heard about what happened. That was brave of you." No, it wasn't brave. You did it on instinct, without an ounce of hesitation. "It wasn't brave, I just..."

"Who else is crazy enough to jump in front of an explosion without katarn-class armour?"

You could name a few people. Fives, for example. "Whatever. I just--I'm glad you're alive."

He smiled and it was a little broken. "Me too."

---

Before you knew it, you were up and running again. There was no time to walk because you were needed on a mission today. It was completely solo, but thankfully, a simple retrieval mission with little to no chances of a casualty.

You settled in the cockpit, taking in the familiar scents and smells of the well oiled machinery. Mechanics wasn't your strong suit, but you never minded dabbling in it every now and then. Today, there wasn't time to brush up on your beautiful ship. You had a job to do.

The jump to hyperspace was as smooth as ever. There were no creaks, no fumbling through space, and no bursts of smoke. But that was when you heard a crash from the storage room. Last tine you checked, the door had been sealed shut while the weapons and supplies stowed away as they should be.

Had you forgotten to tie them down? A long sigh escaped your lips. "What a pain."

"So is my backside." piped a chipper voice. Your eyes widened. There was no way you heard that voice correctly. Sure, it was young. You knew a few other people with a young voice. Sure, it sounded girly. You knew a couple other female coworkers.

"Sorry I snuck onboard," the voice added. "I promise, I was going to leave, but then you left and--" You swerved the chair around to face Omega head on. She smiled sheepishly, as if it would fix all the problems in the whole galaxy. Maybe it would have if the whole galaxy were as kind as you.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't turn this ship around and bring you back." you stated. Omega fiddled with the hem of her sleeves like it was the most interesting thing on the ship. "You’re short on time?" You resisted the urge to say something snippy in response. The look of uncertainty on Omega’s little face made you feel just the tiniest bit worried.

Maybe that was because uncertainty could get people killed on the battlefield.

"Omega," you placed a hand to your temple, "do you understand what you've gotten yourself into?" This was bad, really bad. Sure, the mission wasn’t as dangerous as it should have been, but intel was like the weather forecast. It was never correct. Taking Omega along with you wasn’t a good idea in any universe, and like Malachor you’d let her into the crossfire.

“I’m sorry.” She wasn’t sorry. “I didn’t mean to sneak aboard.” She definitely meant to sneak aboard. “I just wanted to do something more than...” She let out a short sigh, as if it explained what she couldn’t put into words. “Being on Kamino all the time is so boring. I want to get out and see the galaxy with my own eyes.”

She threw her arms towards the bright blue of hyperspace. You didn’t miss the look of wonder in her eyes, bright as a sun. “There’s more to life than rain and the ocean and the same people I see every single day!”

You couldn’t argue. Omega was right. Even during your recovery, the frustration of not being on your ship doing anything but sitting settled into you every day. You hated being cooped up in one place more than anything. Poor Omega had to put up with it her whole life, it was nearly unfathomable to understand what she felt.

A sharp sigh escaped your lips. “Fine, you can come. But my only condition is that you stay on the ship.”

Omega did not stay on the ship. More than anything, she was curious. She had no clue what dirt was, what kind of plants were carnivorous and deadly, or how to steer clear of all the battle droids.

You raised your blaster and fired at the rust buckets. “This is exactly why I said you should have stayed on the ship! Can you even fire a blaster?” Omega knitted her brows together and eyes the deece at your hip. More than anything, she was curious. Beyond that? Determined.

“No,” Omega replied, “but I’ll try.” She pulled the deece from your hip and peeked over the top of your hiding spot. The long, durasteel crate was just barely holding up. If you were a Jedi, then you’d say it had to be a miracle only the Force knew about.

The deece wasn’t a perfect fit in Omega’s small hands, but it did the job. She aimed at the droids, eyes focused and hands firmly on the weapon. She fired. Once. Twice. Three times. "Did I hit anything?” You fired your blaster a couple times and glared through the smoky haze.

A collection of bolts and durasteel scraps lay in a pile and you couldn’t help but be proud. Either Omega was a natural or she was incredibly strong with luck. Whichever it was, it helped you through the mission, and before you knew it, you were back on the ship with a data stick and an unharmed Omega.

“See, nothing bad happened!” she exclaimed with a grin. You took the blaster from her hands and strapped it back to your hip. “That was luck, I tell you.” Omega rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t! You saw--I was like, pow pow, and you went and hit that guy right in the face!”

“That was because he called me a filthy bounty hunter.” you said, a small smile creeping up your lips. “I can’t say I took too kindly to his harsh words.” Omega let out a laugh and you joined her. 

Tired. That was the first thing that came to mind when you thought of your mental state. Yet with Omega by your side, smiling, and carefree despite all the action, you couldn’t help but feel the electrifying sense of thrill. 

“Say, Omega? If you want to come back, maybe we can figure out how to get you off that rainy excuse of a planet more often.” you said with a small smile. She beamed, throwing her arms around you with a vigorous nod. “Yes! I’d love that!”

“Me too, kid. We just have to figure out how to convince whoever looks after you.”

BONUS:

A tall kaminoan towered over you with her beady eyes. Omega sheepishly played with her sleeves as you stared down the kaminoan. Stupid long necks. Nala Se blinked. “So this is where you have been, Omega.” That soft, cold voice of hers warmed at the sight of the girl. “Haven’t I told you not to run off? I see you’ve gone somewhere far today.”

Omega frowned shamefully. “Maybe...” Nale Se motioned for her to come to her. “If you would like, you may stay with (Y/n) again--if you are out of harms way that is.” She turned to you and you froze, eyes wide. “Wait, what?”

“I am giving you permission to have Omega under your care, as long as she is out of harms way.” You glanced at Omega, who glanced at you and then Nala Se with the biggest grin on her face. “Really?”

“Yes.” Nala Se smiled. “‘Really’.”

#star wars #star wars the clone wars #star wars x reader #star wars bad batch #Bad Batch #the bad batch x reader #the bad batch

[quinntamsin]

“We must prepare for war.”

The bombing of Sanctuary has begun the war, and the death of people in Freetown has marked the first series of casualties. The Pyke Syndicate is moving on to Tatooine in a similar fashion to how mining companies use to strongarm their own workers during the Union days.

The House of Fett sits in the ruins of Sanctuary and discuss the war. The Mods convince Boba to stay a while. Cad meets wit the local leader of the Pykes and Mok Shaiz the ever naive starter of all this bullshit. And yes, I blame that Ithorian asshole for a lot of this damage. We learn that duh, the Pykes killed the Tusken Tribe. I think we are getting definitely getting a nice lead up to how truly malicious Cad Bane can be.

THe showdown between him and Bane goes down how we assumed and suddenly his Gotra is completely wiped out bit by bit. The Gamoreans fall and we see the Mods losing members as the Aqualish break the treaty. Santo is overtaken. Fennec saves the Mods and we get a nice little comment about Manners.

Ah yes, good old fashion Mandalorian honor. Our local Twi’lek spineless nominates himself for tribute and reads a nice little fuck you offer. We get an old fashioned Mando’ade level assault via some fucking jet packs and we watch beskar save everyone’s life. THe Pykes lose many, but their numbes are great as our two fighers are saved by an armored speeder from freetown. The Qeequaq bartender has brought some damn backup, and in come the fucking mods.

Love this fight so much and enter mother fucking Krrsantan. God, that wookie had a time putting so many Trandhoshans in the ground he probably should have his own necklace of some nice Trando teeth. And then the Pykes bring in what are obviously a newly updated destroyer droid on Ryl Spice! Holy shit if only the CIS had these others in the Clone Wars.

Boba flies off and leaves Din to protect the retreating gotra and luckly our brave brave mando stands alone. These fight scenes really show how we should be getting more Star Wars shows that focus on the non-JEDI aspect of the story. Seriously, less Space Wizards and more fucking Twi’leks please!

The Scorpanek (yup sounds like another Colicoid creation) gets its ass handed to it by the fucking rancor. Gods, I have wanted to see someone ride a a bloody Rancor for damn years. My Dathomiri heart sings to see it.

Yup, Boba just became PEAK MANDO’ADE! Can we get a basilisk droid please!

Meanwhile, the Freetowners and the Mods decide to make their stand. The droid doesn’t stand a chance bagainst bigboia nd the combined might of the Fett Gotra. Nor does it stand a chance against our beloved bigboi! This kid has spunk I tellz ye!

We see the people of Tatooine driving back the Pykes back and it all comes down to him and Bane (who used a flamethrower to throw off bigboi). And the true malice of Bane is revealed as the redeyed Duros prepares to end it all. And yet the fool wasn’t aware of Fett’s Gaffi stick and see’s his end finally come. The greatest fucking Bounty Hunter in all of the known Galaxy other than Fett is now dead.

Bane’s death solidifies the fall of the Pykes and their influence on the city. The Rancor meanwhile is terrorizing the city as he’s been sent beserk because of all the shots and Din tries his best to get a hold of Boba’s mount. Instead, Grogu appears to use the force to put bigboi to sleep, annd thenhe snuggles with it. This seems like a fitting end especially with Shand assassinating all of our traitorous family leaders and finally killing that damn Ithorian.

The Gotra meets once again and we see them gathering as the towners of Mos Espa now show respect to their new Daimyo. Meanwhile, Grogu bugs his dead so they can go really - really fast!

Hottakes:

Did I sense gay chemistry between a certain mod and a freetowner?

Papa Weequay taking the small blaster was...so amazing.

Cad Bane has this evil big duros energy, dark side BDE if you will.

The Pykes killing the Tuskens was kind of...obviously really. I hope we get to see some of them survive, aka Warleader who was my favorite char from thsi entire series.

Conclusion:

The Book of Boba Fett perhaps only feels right if you know Boba’s story. If you watched him from Attack of the Clones all the way THROUGH Clone Wars. This poor kid has tried hard to get revenge and define his family. For years he rolled with the abusive and manipulative Aura Sing before he struck out on his own. Finally, after years we get a story that puts a new hard chapter in one of the best damn Mandalorians to ever grace our vision.

And yes, fuck the Armorer, Fett’s a Mandalorian. If you follow the Codes of Honor you are Mando’ade!

#found family #tusken raiders #House of Fett #Fett Clan #Clan Fett #star wars #star wars tv #star wars television #sw tv #boba fett #din djarin #fennec shand #black krrsantan #cad bane #the pykes #the hutts #black sun #crimson dawn #the underworld #criminal underworld #mos espa #tatooine #the mandalorian #grogu #baby yoda #science fiction #scifi #syfy #science fantasy #fantasy

[soclonely]

1, 4, 5, 8, 11, 19, 22, 23, 26, 36, 47, 53, 54, 56, 58, 79 💙

1: Let’s start with a tricky one; what is the real reason you are confused right now?

I am confused because BPD is a cowardly bitch that won't tell me whats really wrong and instead makes me doubt everything that matters in my brain. We should fist fight in in a Denny's parking lot!

4: Do you find it easy to trust others?

I do! I allow people to have my trust until they do something to lose it. The world is full of too many who aren't willing to do that, and for completely valid reasons. When I was too closed off, I missed out on a lot of great opportunities. And I don't want to be left behind again, in friendships, career advancements, and life!

5: What were you doing at 11PM last night?

LAUNDRY. So much laundry.

8: Are you close with your dad?

Completely. Only daughter of 7, and I am a complete daddy's girl. He is my best friend (but don't tell my mom. She thinks shes my only bestie.)

11: You can only drink ONE liquid for the rest of your life - what is it?

Wine. Uhhh water. I love ice water. And you can do so much with it like add fruits!

19: Is there someone that makes you happy every time you see them?

@local-gonk-droid-union and his lil frantic looking demeanor. Or my best friend!

Also shirtless Captain Rex in that one episode of clone wars where he gets left on the farm for a day.

22: Do you believe what goes around comes around?

Without a doubt.

23: Were you happier four months ago than you are now?

I think overall I am the same happiness level, minus some anxiety that is out of my control!

26: What colour is the shirt you are wearing?

Teal!

36: Do you have any summer plans yet?

Other than a trip to the U.P to my cabin, nothing!

47: Honestly, what’s on your mind right now?

All of the crap that I have to clean up and get done by tomorrow evening. Overwhelming

53: What was the last thing you ate?

Pizza! It was cheesy and saucy

54: Did you get any compliments today?

Yes and I am about to give some!

56: Do you own anything from other countries?

I do! My mom is from Finland, so we have a lot stuff from there. I lived in Japan for two years in middle school, so a lot from there as well!

58: Where have you lived most of your life?

We were a military family most of my life, but home base for us has always been Oklahoma. I had lived there a lot of my high school time! and off and on through elementary and middle when my dad went away:)

79: What makes your heart flutter and brings a big cheesy smile to your face?

When people comment and interact with me on here. from the bottom of my heart I love and live for it all

[jedirhydon101st]

Jedi Master Katelyn Kenobi of the Jedi Order; Jedi General of the Republic Clone Army. Jedi General of ARC Commander Arthur and the 82nd Attack Battalion. Jedi commander of the 82nd Attack Fleet and Admiral Melissa Porter. Daughter of Obi-Wan and Siri Kenobi; Twin Sister of Rhydon Kenobi, and Eldest Sister of Miranda Kenobi. Stepdaughter of Duchess Satine Kryze, Eldest Half-Sister of Elisa Kenobi and Anya Kryze. Wife of Commander Daniel Klerk; Mother of Arthur Kenobi, Sierra Kenobi, and Jack Kenobi. Former apprentice of Siri Kenobi. Master of Sierra Kenobi.

Katelyn Kenobi is the daughter of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Siri Tachi, and the twin sister of Rhydon Kenobi; though she was born first by six minutes. The two twins were able to be born on their fathers birth planet of Stewjon, and immediately showed that they were Force-sensitive, encouraging their parents to bring them back to Coruscant to be trained in the ways of the Jedi Order. It would be later on in her life, that it was discovered that she had been born with a bipolar disorder, though her family supported her. Throughout her childhood, Katelyn exhibited moments of heightened excitement, but also depression, having trouble sleeping, often high levels of anger that made her family life difficult, all of which were signs of bipolar disorder (all of which Rhydon stood by her side through, forming a strong bond between the two siblings).&nbsp;Partly due to their unique birth, and their status as twins, Katelyn and Rhydon had a unique connection and bond with each other and the Force, proving to be more powerful than any other Jedi at their age. Like all other Jedi and their parents, Katelyn and her twin brother began their training as Jedi Younglings under Jedi Master Yoda’s supervision and tutelage. Once Katelyn was nine years old, she was chosen as her mother Siri’s Jedi apprentice, where Rhydon was chosen by their father Obi-Wan’s.

Katelyn’s first mission as a Jedi Padawan under her mother’s was to go to the planet Mandalore, to transport humanitarian supplies to the people of Mandalore. As Katelyn and Siri delivered the supplies they were requested by Duchess Satine Kryze, who wanted their help in dealing with some Death Watch activity. Katelyn and her mother teamed up with several Mandalorian warriors loyal to Satine and Mandalore, and began investigating the Death Watch activity. It would be here where the first signs of her bipolar disorder would begin to show, as she often showed moments of excitement, but also had moments of depression that her mother couldn't understand why. Fortunately it would be with the help of Duchess Satine's personal doctor, that Katelyn was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, revealing why she had mood swings the way she had been, throughout her life.

During this time, Katelyn and her mother would meet Jango Fett, a Mandalorian bounty hunter who was an ally of the Jedi Order, and was secretly hired by Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas to be the genetic template of a clone army. Katelyn would also meet a young female Mandalorian warrior, named Zarina who came along to help them fight Death Watch. Zarina explained that she was the former daughter of the Death Watch leader, Pre Vizsla, but didn’t believe in his ideals, and ran away from her home. Katelyn further learned from her observations, that the other Mandalorian warriors that were with them seemed to ostracized Zarina, due to the fact that she was related to the Death Watch leader. Fortunately for the girl, Jango was the only one to show the girl respect and inclusion, along with Katelyn herself.

Katelyn’s mother Siri listened well to Zarina as the girl explained the best way to defeat the Death Watch, and she followed the girls advice to the letter. Zarina’s plan worked perfectly, with Katelyn, Siri, and Jango witnessing Zarina successfully defeating her former father Pre Vizsla in single combat. Afterwards, the group returned to the Mandalorian capital city of Sundari, and reported what happened to Duchess Satine. Katelyn watched proudly as her mother even included Zarina, and explained how the young girl was able to defeat and shame the Death Watch leader, something that had finally earned the girl respect from the other Mandalorian warriors. As Katelyn and Siri began to get ready to leave Mandalore back to Coruscant, they would be able to witness Zarina be adopted by Jango Fett and his wife Zara. They were even allowed to watch as the young Mandalorian girl received the highest symbol of honor, as well as the most difficult to earn, among the Mandalorians: the famous Jaig Eyes.

Upon their return to Coruscant, Katelyn and her mother would be greeted by Sheev Palpatine, the former senator from Siri’s home planet of Naboo, and now the new Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. Prior to the meeting, Katelyn shared her twin brother’s mistrust for Palpatine, and didn’t hold much credence to the man, and now after meeting him, and seeing the uncomfortable and perverted look in his eyes when he looked at her, Katelyn immediately despised the man further than she had before. As Katelyn’s mother met with Yoda and Mace Windu, she soon learned about what was going on in regards to the Trade Federation invasion of Naboo, and how Palpatine was elected as the new chancellor, after the previous Chancellor Valorum was impeached by the Republic Senate, after a unanimous vote of no confidence in the man.

Katelyn traveled to Naboo with her mother, the Jedi Council, and the new chancellor, who was constantly throwing inappropriate glances towards her, inadvertently causing Siri’s distrust in him to grow stronger. Upon arriving at Naboo, Katelyn watched as her mother quickly embraced Obi-Wan, and fussed over Rhydon, much to her amusement, though she too also embraced her father and twin brother, glad that they safe and alive. She would then learn of how her father and Qui-Gon battled a Zabrak Sith Lord named Darth Maul, her brother aiding Queen Amidala to take back her planet, and how Anakin Skywalker, a young boy from the desert planet Tatooine, destroyed the Trade Federation droid control ship. Katelyn would also learn that Queen Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker were two of the four chosen ones; the four individuals who would one day bring balance to the Force, alongside with her and her twin brother Rhydon. Afterwards, a special ceremony to celebrate the Trade Federation’s defeat, and the peaceful union between the people of Naboo and Gungans.

Katelyn would then accept her new mission with her mother, which was to remain on Naboo to officially serve as Queen Amidala’s protectors and advisers, alongside with her father and brother. Secretly however, she was to train alongside with Padmé Amidala, as she was secretly a Jedi, and was believed to be one of the Chosen Four. During her training on Naboo, her family was surprisingly summoned by the king of the planet Stewjon; Katelyn’s home-planet, along with her twin brother Rhydon, and her father Obi-Wan Kenobi. Upon arriving at the planet Stewjon, Katelyn would learn that the king of Stewjon was in fact her grandfather: King Orion Kenobi. This in turn led her to meet her grandmother Queen Marion Kenobi, uncle Prince Owen Kenobi, and aunt Princess Helena Kenobi.

After meeting her family, Katelyn and Rhydon happily watched as their grandfather married their parents. Katelyn and Rhydon would even learn the history of their family, and how they were beloved by the people of Stewjon. The only member of their family that they didn’t like was their great Uncle Reuben Kenobi, who constantly belittled the Jedi, and showed nothing but disrespect and hatred to Katelyn and her family. Eventually they would return to Naboo, and resume their duties as Padmé’s protectors and advisors. Katelyn even found herself being judged harshly by her great uncle, when it was revealed that she had bipolar disorder, and Reuben looked at her as though she was infected with a disease, but was openly accepted by her grandparents and other family members.

Soon, Padmé’s tenure as queen ended, but tensions in the Galaxy had arisen when several planets and star systems defected from the Galactic Republic, and joined a movement known as the Confederacy of Independent Systems, otherwise known as the Separatist Alliance. The tensions were so bad, that there was a potential threat of war between the two government factions, and the Jedi and former queen learnt that the Republic Senate, now under the leadership of Sheev Palpatine as Supreme Chancellor, was voting for the creation of an army. Katelyn and Rhydon, while apprehensive about the idea of a war, were willing to accept that there would be a need for the Jedi to be involved. Katelyn herself felt that the Jedi, as protectors of the Galactic Republic, should do whatever it took to defend the Republic; even if it meant leading an army into battle.

Katelyn would witness Padmé take on the mantel of senator for Naboo, with Jar-Jar officially serving as the Gungan representative, while also secretly serving as Padmé’s protector in the Senate. Katelyn, her father, mother, and brother began to escort the newly nominated Naboo senator back to Coruscant, but when they arrived, an explosive was set off, destroying the ship they used to transport Senator Amidala. Fortunately, the Senator wasn’t really on the ship, but instead a decoy.

Afterwards, Katelyn and her family were given new assignments: with the war soon coming her father Obi-Wan, along with her brother Rhydon, had been tasked with finding out who attempted to assassinate Padmé, while Katelyn and her mother would go to Mandalore, to ensure that the alliance between the Jedi and the Mandalorians would remain strong. Siri and Katelyn accepted their duties, and immediately began making preparations for their voyage to Mandalore. As they made ready to leave, they learnt that a Duros bounty hunter named Cad Bane attempted to assassinate Padmé, but was stopped by Qui-Gon and his apprentice, Anakin Skywalker. They also learned that Obi-Wan and Rhydon interrogated the bounty hunter, and learnt that he was hired by a pair of Mandalorian warriors named the Borkus brothers.

Katelyn listened as her mother promised her father that they would ask Duchess Satine if she had heard of the Borkus brothers before, while he and Rhydon ventured to Kamino. Obi-Wan explained that there were two reasons for this: one was to speak with Jango Fett, and inquire if he had heard anything about the Borkus brothers, and the second was to learn how the clone army was progressing. Katelyn watched as Siri understood what her father was telling them, but cautioned her father to be careful, and gently kissed him before departing for Mandalore.

Upon arriving at Mandalore, Katelyn and her mother stood before Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore, and the two Jedi were greeted by the surrounding Mandalorian warriors with respect. After what Katelyn and Siri did during the Death Watch situation, it had earned the Kenobi women, and the entire Kenobi Family great respect amongst the Mandalorians. Katelyn watched and listened as her mother immediately began speaking with the Duchess, informing her of what was happening in the Galaxy and the rising tensions between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Katelyn could tell that Satine understood that what Siri was asking her was essentially Mandalore’s loyalty not only to the Republic, but also to the Jedi. Duchess Satine assured Katelyn's mother that while Mandalore would remain neutral in the coming war, the Mandalorian people would be loyal to the Jedi; and further assured Siri that if the Jedi ever needed the aid of the Mandalorians, the warriors of Mandalore would respond immediately.

Katelyn and her mother felt assured by Satine, and proceeded to ask her about the Borkus brothers, and if she had heard about them. To Katelyn’s interest, Duchess Satine’s body stiffened, and her facial muscles tightened, as though hearing the name of Borkus, was a bad thing. Interestingly, the same response was seen by the Mandalorian warriors who made up the Duchesses Royal Guard; some of them, including Duchess Satine’s sister Bo Katan Kryze who served as the captain of the Royal Guard, even clenched their fists. Satine explained that the Borkus brothers were Mandalorian warriors who were part of the Death Watch, a fact that was confirmed by Obi-Wan based on what he had learned from Zarina Fett, Jango Fett’s adopted daughter. As they finished up with their assignment on Mandalore, Katelyn watched as her mother Siri contacted Master Yoda to inform him of the Mandalorians answer, which not only pleased the old green master, but satisfied him as well.

After receiving her mother's report, Yoda then ordered Katelyn and Siri to travel to Stewjon, and see how the Stewjoni cloners were coming along in regards to the task that he hired them for. Curious as to what Yoda was doing on Stewjon, Katelyn smiled when Siri accepted her new task, and began to make preparations to leave Mandalore. As they were preparing to leave, Duchess Satine approached her mother Siri, and asked to speak with her before she left. Katelyn's mother agreed, and remained on the ship, as Siri and Satine walked along the landing platform.

Unaware of what her mother and Satine were talking about, Katelyn worked on preparing for takeoff, as she waited for her mother to finish talking with Satine. Finally Katelyn found herself rejoined by Siri, and fired up the ship to takeoff, and their ship left the planet atmosphere, and jumped into hyperspace for Stewjon. During their travel to her home planet, Katelyn asked her mother what she spoke about with Satine. She would find herself shocked when Siri revealed that her father Obi-Wan had been in love with the Mandalorian Duchess, before he reunited with her mother, and that Duchess Satine was still in love with her father. Hearing that another woman held her father’s heart at one point, and still had a place for him in hers, was certainly something that surprised Katelyn; she couldn’t picture her father with another woman, but she suspected her mother was up to something that would allow her father to be with Satine at the same time.

Eventually Katelyn and her mother arrived at Stewjon, and upon their landing, they were greeted by Queen Marion. Katelyn happily greeted her grandmother, and was inquired as to what they were doing on Stewjon. She listened as her mother explained that she and Katelyn were sent to Stewjon by Master Yoda, to check on the Stewjoni cloners. To Katelyn’s interest, Marion immediately understood, and began leading them to the secret Stewjoni cloning facility.

Upon arriving at the facility, Katelyn and Siri were met by a sight: female clone troopers of Jango Fett’s wife: Zara. Katelyn and Siri spoke with one of the Stewjoni cloners, and was informed that they used many of the Kaminoan cloners methods of making their clones, such as growth acceleration. However unlike the Kaminoans, the Stewjoni cloners had a way to deactivate the growth acceleration, and then initiated a special feature that they called the growth deceleration; meaning that the growth of the clones would be slowed down, making the clones lifespan slightly longer than the normal human as it is essentially slowed down.

As Katelyn continued to tour the facility, she noticed that her was being contacted by her father and twin brother from the planet Geonosis. After returning to their ship, Katelyn and Siri opened the communication, and learned that Obi-Wan was also trying to contact Qui-Gon, Anakin Skywalker, and Padmé Amidala who were on Tatooine. Obi-Wan explained that he needed a communication connection to the Jedi Council and Chancellor Palpatine on Coruscant, and the two separate groups immediately set to it. After doing so, Obi-Wan and Rhydon reported that they had found a massive droid army being built, and that Count Dooku was preparing to use it to attack the Republic. Then to the horror of Katelyn and her mother, Obi-Wan and Rhydon were attacked by Geonosian warriors and battle droids, and taken prisoner.

Katelyn and her mother immediately set to leave Stewjon for Geonosis to rescue the rest of their family, and also to contact their Mandalorian allies for their help. Upon arriving at Geonosis, Katelyn and Siri rendezvous with a Jedi task force led by Jedi Master Mace Windu, and proceeded to the planet surface; as well as learning that Qui-Gon Jinn, Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala, and Jango and Zarina Fett were also captured. They then infiltrated the Geonosian Arena of Justice, coming across the confiscated lightsabers of their Jedi companions, and the blasters of Jango and Zarina. Katelyn and Siri took the lightsabers, while elected to take the blasters, in order to return them to their rightful owners. Afterwards, they continued to move into their positions, only to be met with quite a sight.

The arena was packed with Geonosians, all focusing on the center of the arena, where Obi-Wan, Rhydon, and the others were chained to several pillars, and were being approached by seven monstrous beasts: a Nexu, Reek, Acklay, Gundark, Krayt Dragon, Anooba, and a Rancor. Fortunately each of the prisoners managed to escape from their chains, but they still had to contend with a specific beast: Obi-Wan was faced with the Ackley, Anakin the Reek, Padmé the Nexu, Qui-Gon the Gundark, Jango the Krayt Dragon, Zarina the Anooba, and Rhydon ended up facing the Rancor. Katelyn and her mother watched with baited breath as Jango and Zarina had managed to take down the Krayt and Anooba, while Padmé, with help from Anakin who had managed to get control of the Reek, took out the Nexu. But Obi-Wan was struggling to stay ahead of the Ackley, while Qui-Gon was evading the Gundark, and Rhydon was just barely staying below the Rancor.

Fortunately for them, Windu gave the signal for the Jedi to reveal themselves, and Katelyn and Siri activated their respective lightsabers: Katelyn’s dual blue and green lightsabers alongside her mother’s purple bladed lightsaber joining with the multitude of lightsabers. Unfortunately for the Jedi, this didn’t stop a battalion of battle droids from rushing out into the arena, forcing them to go on the defensive. Despite the setback, Katelyn and her mother returned the recovered lightsabers to their respective owners, as Windu did with Jango and Zarina’s blasters. As her mother cut down multiple droids, carefully watching as Obi-Wan was also able to take down the Ackley, Katelyn stood alongside Rhydon, helping him in taking down the Rancor.

Unfortunately for the Jedi and two Mandalorians, they would eventually be surrounded by the army of droids, but stood their ground. Fortunately, they would all be saved when Master Yoda and Jar Jar Binks arrived with clone troopers aboard gunships, and many Mandalorian warriors, all of them arriving to aid and rescue the remaining survivors. Once Yoda, Jar Jar, the clones, and the Mandalorians arrived, the battle began to resume, with the Jedi boarding the gunships, while the clones and Mandalorians provided cover fire; though in the confusion of the evacuation, Katelyn observed that her twin brother Rhydon was separated from their father, but joined up with Twi’lek Jedi Knight Aayla Secura. As they escaped the arena, the cease fire would only last until they reached a large plain where the Droid Army engaged the Clone Army.

It would be during this time that Katelyn and her mother were separated from Obi-Wan again, along with Rhydon who ended up fighting besides the Twi’lek Jedi Knight Aayla Secura. Throughout the battle, Katelyn and Siri lead clones into the battle against the droid army, but she maintained focus on ensuring that many clones survived, all while maintaining a seriously calm demeanor as she swung and twirled her two lightsabers. When she saw Master Yoda fly overhead to where Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, Anakin, and Padmé followed Dooku, Katelyn heard her mother immediately called for a gunship, and she and Siri followed after Yoda with a contingent of clones, including Jango and Zarina who flew into the gunship. Along the way, they picked up Rhydon who was fighting the battle droids alongside Aayla Secura, as well as Padmé, Jar Jar Binks, and a single clone trooper who explained that the three of them had fallen out of the gunship that carried Katelyn’s father and the other two Jedi.

Upon arriving at Dooku’s personal landing platform, the fallen Jedi Master turned Sith Lord’s sailor barge took off, and Katelyn listened to her mother quickly order the clones to open fire, only for the shuttle-sized ship to fly out of range. Afterwards, Katelyn and her group ran into the hangar, quickly running over to her father, to help Obi-Wan up. After the battle, Katelyn would return to Coruscant, and witness the marriage of Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala, as well as her brother Rhydon and Jango’s daughter Zarina.

Obi-Wan and Jango constantly joked that Rhydon and Zarina’s newfound relationship was love at first sight, Siri, to her own personal chagrin, had to agree, whereas Katelyn found herself amused that her twin brother was marrying a girl who had become a good friend of hers. Katelyn was more than happy to welcome and accept Zarina as her sister-in-law, and she supported her brother getting married at his young age, given the hard times they found themselves in now. She easily saw that Rhydon deeply cared for Zarina, and she could sense through the Force that Rhydon and Zarina were meant to be with each other. For these reasons, Katelyn happily accept her brothers happiness, and welcome her new sister-in-law.

After the Battle of Geonosis, the Clone War began, and Katelyn became a Jedi Commander, and her mother was given command of her own clone battalion: the 414th Legion. Katelyn, along with Siri and her mother’s new clone commander: CC-414, Clone Commander Osiris, took the 414th and turned it into one of the Republics top clone units. As time went by, Katelyn began to wear the amethyst&nbsp;purple colors of the 414th Legion, to have a close connection with the clones that were under her and his mother’s command, and it proved to be successful.

Along with the 414th Attack Battalion, Katelyn’s mother was also given her own fleet and flagship: the 414th Fleet, with the Venator class cruiser Frost. With her new flagship, Siri also received a new fleet admiral named Admiral Cadmus Ordo from Mandalore. Like her mother, Katelyn appreciated and respected Admiral Ordo, due to the fact that he was a man who was not afraid to go head to head in a battle, and still be concerned about the safety of those under his command. This respect was returned by Ordo, as Katelyn and Siri both often asked him for advice in regards to space combat strategies. With Admiral Ordo, was a female officer named Captain Melissa Porter and a male officer Lieutenant Daniel Klerk, who Katelyn quickly became close friends with and formed romantic feelings for, respectively. When Katelyn became a Jedi Knight, and was given command of the 82nd Attack Fleet, her mother gave her permission to take Captain Porter as her own fleet admiral, and Lieutenant Klerk as a naval second-in-command (while also pursuing romantic relationship with him).

Katelyn worked closely with her mother and Commander Osiris, but there were a few times that Katelyn worked with other Jedi on separate missions. One such mission was with Jedi Master Ki-Adi Mundi to Hypori, a mission that nearly took Katelyn’s life, as well as her twin brother Rhydon. Katelyn, alongside Rhydon, went to Hypori to destroy a droid factory on the planet with Jedi Knights Aayla Secura and Tarr Seirr, Jedi Masters Ki-Adi Mundi, Shaak Ti, K’Kruhk, and Daakman Barrek, and Jedi Padawan Sha'a Gi, or as Katelyn and Rhydon liked to call him, Shaggy. Upon arriving at the planet however, their ship was caught in an orbital minefield, and were forced to crash land on the planet surface. In the duration of the crash, each Jedi were separated, but would regroup with each other, with the unfortunate exception of Master Barrek, as he was slain by the Separatist’s new general, a Sith Stalker named Grievous. Katelyn and the other Jedi were then attacked by the Sith Stalker, with Rhydon barely saving Sha’a Gi from getting crushed to death.

As the lightsaber battle began, Katelyn watched as Sha’a Gi was knocked out, and Aayla Secura was thrown up into the roof of the wrecked ship, but witnessed Tarr Seirr being killed, K'Kruhk slashed by Grievous. Katelyn would then witness Ki-Adi Mundi kicked down, and Shaak Ti get thrown into a wall, leaving her and her twin brother alone to fight the Sith Stalker. As Katelyn and Rhydon continued to duel with Grievous, Rhydon was knocked down and pinned by a piece of debris, forcing Katelyn to battle Grievous alone.

Katelyn matched Grievous' strikes blow for blow, she quickly proved herself a formidable opponent for the Sith Stalker, but it would still not be enough to keep herself from getting injured. Just as her twin brother got free from the rubble he was under, Grievous used the Force to bash Katelyn into a crumbled wall. As a result, Katelyn achieved a gash on the left side of her temple, and slumped to the ground, instantly feeling the affects of a concussion. As Grievous was about to use his sabers to kill Katelyn, she watched as Rhydon quickly used the Force to pull his lightsaber to him, along with one of her lightsaber, which turned out to be the red bladed lightsaber which she had taken from a Dark Jedi, and began clashing blades with Grievous. Though Rhydon was not as well trained in dual wielding lightsaber combat as Katelyn was, he was determined to protect his sister. Unfortunately for Rhydon, his inexperience of fighting with two sabers turned against him, as Grievous locked his blue bladed lightsaber, while destroying Katelyn's red lightsaber, and then cut off Rhydon's right arm at the elbow, before going further to slash his lightsaber across Rhydon's face.

Disoriented from losing his arm, and being slashed across his face, Katelyn watched as Rhydon was kicked down by Grievous, and fell near her, his left hand close enough for her to grip. Although she was struggling to remain conscious, Katelyn reached out and took hold of her twin's left hand, and held on as Rhydon lost consciousness. She then looked up, as Grievous towered over them, and prepared to strike down and kill them, but fortunately their lives would be saved by Jedi Master Ki-Adi Mundi, who intercepted Grievous' killing blow, and pushed him back away from Katelyn and Rhydon long enough for ARC Captain Fordo and the Muunilinst Ten to evacuate them, along with Shaak Ti, Aayla Secura, Sha'a Gi, and K'Kruhk, all of whom were still alive.

Katelyn would be transferred to a medical frigate named Bright Hope, where she would be treated for her concussion, and her brother placed into a Bacta Tank for healing. Because she received relatively minor injuries in their ordeals on Hypori, Katelyn was released pretty quickly, but she chose to stay on Bright Hope, refusing to leave her twin brother alone. One part of her reasons for staying with her twin, other than loyalty towards her family and close bond with her brother, also has to do with her bipolar disorder, as she wondered if her brother would blame her for him losing his arm. As she waited for Rhydon to recover from their ordeal, Katelyn worked on building a new second lightsaber, to replace the one destroyed by Grievous. She knew she would have to return to the secret planet Ilum, to find a new Kyber Crystal for the lightsaber. Eventually Rhydon would finally awaken in the Bacta Tank, and Katelyn made sure that she was the one to calm him down, so that the medical staff could help him. As she continued to help her brother recover, Katelyn's bipolar disorder caused her to discuss her difficulty with Rhydon, who to her personal disbelief, held no malice nor did he blame her for what happened to him, and held her in a hug to prove it.

After Rhydon was discharged and allowed to return to the field, Katelyn requested to leave for Ilum, and get a new Kyber crystal, and was allowed to do so. Dressed in cold gear, Katelyn entered the caves of Ilum, to find her crystal, and soon found it. After putting the crystal inside her second lightsaber, the blade that came out took on a purple hue, in which she often paired with her blue lightsaber; in many ways she often compared the blue and purple blades to her family, since her father and brother had blue lightsabers, and her mother had a purple one.

Eventually, after her father and mother were accepted onto the Jedi Council, Katelyn and her twin brother Rhydon were allowed to take the Jedi Trials, which they both had passed with flying colors. After becoming a Jedi Knight, Katelyn was allowed to take command of the 82nd Attack Battalion, which was a newly formed battalion, and selected ARC-82 "Arthur", who was also at Hypori as a part of Muunilinst Ten that rescued her, Rhydon (who took command of the 101st Legion), and the rest of the Jedi survivors, as her battalion commander; this would come to be doubly beneficial as Arthur became a sort of confidant for her, and he often consoled her whenever her bipolar disorder started acting up. Together, Katelyn and Arthur made the 82nd Attack Battalion into a formidable fighting force, alongside Arthur's two remaining batch mates Merlin and Lancelot; Katelyn also took the liberty with awarding Arthur with the prestigious Jaig Eyes, a revered award among the clones as it was seen ass mark for exceptionable honor, just as Rhydon awarded his own legion commander, ARC-101 "Zeus" with the same Jaig Eyes. Katelyn also took command of the 82nd Attack Fleet, and requested for Captain Melissa Porter be promoted to Fleet Admiral under her command, and Lieutenant Daniel Klerk to be promoted to Commander.

Katelyn would lead the 82nd Attack Battalion in many campaigns alongside Arthur, Merlin, and Lancelot throughout the Clone Wars, often teaming up with her mother's 414th Legion, her father's 212th Attack Battalion, the 501st Legion under Anakin Skywalker, or even Qui-Gon and the 12th Legion, but for the most part Katelyn's battalion would fight alongside her brother Rhydon and the 101st Legion. As the Clone Wars progressed, Katelyn and Rhydon grew stronger in the Force as they fought side by side, both of them being recognized as heroes of the Republic, and gained reputations and nicknames for their own. Because of her ability to bring calmness and mediate arguments between two individuals, Katelyn became known as the Peacekeeper, while her brother became known as the Protector, because of his innate desire to protect his own troops and innocent civilians in any battle.

Katelyn would soon receive word that her mother Siri and Jedi Master Ki-Adi Mundi had convinced the Jedi Council to agree in allowing the Jedi to practice polygamy, the practice of multiple marriages, in which a member of the Jedi Order could be married to at least three partners. This essentially allowed jedi to be married to any partner of their choosing, and Katelyn, while she respected her mother and her achievements, only had romantic feelings for Daniel Klerk. Unfortunately, she had to keep her feelings for Daniel to herself, as Palpatine was spearheading smear campaigns against any female Jedi falling in love with either their clones or military officers, but she opted to keep a secret relationship with Daniel. Their relationship was known only a trusted few; such as her twin brother Rhydon who supported her relationship, her mother and father, and ARC Commander Arthur.

On many occasions throughout the Clone Wars, Katelyn would encounter General Grievous, and remembering her first encounter on Hypori, Katelyn fought the Sith Stalker with wariness, learning the best way to fight the menace of the Jedi Order. on several occasions, Katelyn would encounter Darth Maul, Count Dooku, Asajj Ventress, and her father's arch nemesis: Darth Xanatos, a fallen Jedi that had at one point been apprenticed to Qui-Gon Jinn. Because Xanatos wanted to break Obi-Wan's spirit, he often tried to kill Katelyn and Rhydon, but liker her twin, Katelyn was always careful, and came out on top over Xanatos.

As the Clone Wars drew near to a close, Katelyn was preparing to go to Mandalore, which had been taken over by Darth Maul and the rogue Mandalorian warriors named Death Watch who had become loyal to him, alongside her father, brother, and Anakin Skywalker when word of a Separatist attack on Coruscant was attempted, where Supreme Chancellor Palpatine and Senator Padmé Amidala were captured, and Katelyn, Rhydon, Obi-Wan, and Anakin had to go in and rescue them, while Rhydon and Anakin’s respective padawans Zayla Secura and Ahsoka Tano took a respective half of the 101st Legion and 501st Legion to Mandalore. The space battle above the Republic capital planet was hectic, and Katelyn couldn't help but watch as her father Obi-Wan nearly lost his life to buzz droids at one point, had he not been rescued by Qui-Gon Jinn, who flying with his clone fighter group, Green Squadron. Upon successfully landing in the main hangar of General Grievous’ command ship, the Invisible Hand, the four Jedi realized that Palpatine and Padme were placed in two different parts of the warship. Padme was put up in the top of the ships observation tower, while Palpatine was in an observation room, near the ships bridge at the bow section. Choosing to split up, Katelyn and Rhydon went to get Padmé, while Obi-Wan and Anakin both ventured to the Chancellor’s location.

Fighting any droids they encountered, Katelyn and Rhydon reached the Invisible Hand's observation deck, Katelyn and Rhydon approached Padme as she was held in an observation chair, only to end up finding Dooku waiting for them. Katelyn and Rhydon reluctantly engaged the Count, not because of his formidable Form II Makashi lightsaber combat style, but because they both knew that he didn't really want to fight them, or any Jedi. They sensed, through their strong connection in the Force, that Dooku had had enough with fighting for the Dark Side and wanted to seek redemption, but was hesitant to do so. In the end, Katelyn and Rhydon overpowered Count Dooku, and offered him a chance to seek redemption; when Dooku still hesitated, they managed to contact Master Yoda, who reinforced their offer of redemption to Dooku.

To Katelyn and Rhydon’s great relief, Dooku accepted their offer of redemption, and helped release Padme. After that, the group of four began to make their way back to the hangar, where they rendezvoused with with Katelyn and Rhydon’s respective astromech droids: R3-D1 or Red as Katelyn named him, and B1-U3 or Blue as she was called. They learned from the droids that Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Chancellor Palpatine were captured, along with Obi-Wan and Anakin’s droids R4-P17 and R2-D2, and were taken to the bridge. Deciding to save their father, friend, and the Chancellor, Katelyn and Rhydon, along with Padme, Dooku, and the droids began to make their way to the bridge, cutting down any battle droids they met along the way.

Soon they reached the bridge where Obi-Wan and Anakin were battling with Grievous’ magnaguards, while the Sith Stalker and Xanatos watched. To their great interest, Grievous and Xanatos initially thought Dooku was on their side, but were instead surprised to see the Separatist leader use his red lightsaber against them, aiding the Jedi, and succeeded in killing Xanatos. Katelyn, Rhydon, Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Dooku proceeded to confront Grievous. Rather than be captured by the six opponents, Grievous surprised them by throwing an electro-staff of one of his destroyed magnaguards, and the Sith Stalker was sucked out into space, while the Jedi, astromech droids, politicians, and Dooku held onto different monitors to avoid being suck out into space with Grievous.

As Grievous managed to get back into the ship, only to jettison in one of the escape pods, Obi-Wan and Anakin realized that the Invisible Hand was disabled, and directed on a collision course to the planet surface. Immediately Katelyn, Rhydon, Obi-Wan, Anakin, Padme, Palpatine, and Dooku strapped themselves into different chairs while the astromech droids that they had with them magnetized to the floor. Katelyn watched as Rhydon aided Anakin fly the ship down to the planet surface, while the others strapped themselves into their seats, just in case anything went wrong. Eventually the ship crash lands onto the surface of Coruscant, coming to a stop on an airstrip.

After the Battle of Coruscant, a massive hunt for Grievous would begin, along with the other remaining Sith leading the Droid Army. While her brother immediately left for Mandalore, Katelyn remained on Coruscant, helping Dooku get reacquainted with the Jedi Order, as he was constantly escorted by clone troopers of the 157th Attack Battalion, a special division of clones assigned as a special security contingent to the Jedi Temple. She would often be seen speaking with Dooku, until she learned that Jedi Grandmaster Yoda was preparing to take the 41st Elite Corps, and leave for Kashyyk to help the Wookies. Katelyn would offer the assistance of the 82nd Attack Battalion to Yoda, who gratefully accepted the offer, and Katelyn prepped her flagship, the Jedi Cruiser Keeper, to leave for the jungle home planet of the Wookies, and soon left Coruscant once Yoda was onboard. As they traveled to Kashyyk, Katelyn spoke of her concerns about the growing darkness that existed in the Galaxy, prompting Yoda to console her, as he reminded her that the Jedi Order was prepared for whatever the Darkness has planned for them.

Katelyn and Yoda arrived at Kashyyyk, and rendezvoused with Qui-Gon Jinn and his clone unit the 12th Legion, Jedi Master Luminara Unduli, who was the Jedi General of the 41st Elite Corps, and Jedi Knight Quinlan Vos. Unfortunately, Katelyn also discovered that the 66th Regiment, a clone regiment that was heavily favored by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, and worked alongside in a couple of battles and didn’t enjoy it. The 66th Regiment was not like any of the other clone units in the Clone Army, specifically that they held no value for honor and loyalty like the rest of the clones had, and they had no respect for the Jedi Leadership. Because the 66th Regiment held no honor, and no value for loyalty, many of the clones in the other clone units did not get along with the 66th, especially those that were led by Jedi.

As the Battle of Kashyyyk raged on, Katelyn led her troops from the front as she always did, while Yoda watched and directed the battle with Clone Commander Gree of the 41st Elite Corps. She knew that Luminara Unduli was dealing with the droids in the jungle, and Quinlan Vos was taking care of the swamps, leaving her to lead the fight on the beaches. Fortunately she was accompanied by Qui-Gon and the 12th Legion. Katelyn and her 82nd clones managed to keep the droids from advancing up the beach, when she and her troopers started get fired on from every clone from the 66th Regiment and a few of the 41st Elite Corps and 12th Legion. This was the issuing of Order 66.

Katelyn found that none of her own clones from the 82nd Attack Battalion were trying to execute the order, and quickly discovered that Palpatine had somehow found out about her relationship with Daniel, as well as the deep loyalty that Arthur had to her, and chose to eliminate the 82nd Attack Battalion entirely. Finding herself and her men pinned in a crossfire between the droids and the clones of the 66th Regiment and the imperialist clones of the 41st Elite Corps and 12th Legion, Katelyn and Qui-Gon ordered their men to keep fighting to the last man, until rescue could be sent. She did try to contact Yoda, but found that he was busy fighting off imperialist 41st and 12th clones himself, alongside Commander Gree, and Wookies Chewbacca, and Tarfful and several 41st and 12th clone loyalists. Fortunately, rescue did come, in the form of gunships and shuttles carrying female clone troopers.

Katelyn and Qui-Gon jumped at the chance to order their troops and the 12th and 41st loyalist to get aboard the gunships and shuttles, so that they could escape from the 66th Regiment and imperial 12th and 41st. Katelyn did make sure that the gunship she and Qui-Gon were in picked up Yoda and Commander Gree, but she was sadly unable to save Luminara, as she, Qui-Gon, and Yoda learned that she was killed, while Quinlan's fate was unknown. Forced to leave Vos behind, Katelyn ordered the gunship pilot to leave Kashyyyk, and head for her flagship the Keeper.

As the gunships approached the Venator Star Destroyers that were waiting for them, Katelyn watched in shock as her command ship the Star Destroyer Keeper, blew up in flames from the other star destroyers that were trying to stop them. Fearing that her admiral and best friend Melissa Porter, and her lover Daniel, who were aboard the Keeper, was killed in the explosion, she would be relieved to know that Melissa and Daniel were able to escape the Keeper, and made their way to the Jedi Battleship Yamato. Once the gunships landed in the starboard hangar of the Yamato, Admiral Porter gave the order for the remaining ships to jump to hyperspace. Immediately after the ship jumped into the blue haze of hyperspace, Katelyn sought out her lover, and held him in her arms, thankful that he was alive, along with her best friend.

The remainders of the 82nd Attack Fleet and Battalion would proceed to the rendezvous coordinates given by Yoda, which were taking the ships to the planet of Dagobah. Once at Dagobah, Katelyn would learn of Yoda’s contingency plans, and make their way to the secret jedi planet of Ceresta, where the Jedi Order would go into exile in the Unknown Regions, hiding from the new Galactic Empire. After arriving at Ceresta, Katelyn would reunite with her family, who had all thankfully survived Order 66 (something that had bothered her immensely, especially as her bipolar disorder increased her concerns), thanks to their loyalist clone troopers. Katelyn, alongside her twin brother Rhydon, would eventually oversee the of the integrations of female clone troopers and male clone troopers, which turned out to be relatively quick and easy, as the female and male clones had already accepted and openly welcomed each other.

Katelyn would continue to serve as the general of the 82nd Attack Battalion, and to her surprise, she would be given a seat on the Jedi Council, along with her twin brother Rhydon, Anakin, and Padme. After that, Katelyn would eventually take a Varactyl of her own, and named it Thorn, and witness the birth of her newest sister Miranda from her mother and father. Katelyn would also go on to give birth to her firstborn son, Arthur Klerk-Kenobi (Who was named after Commander Arthur), who would be apprenticed to Jedi Master Shaak Ti, Sierra Klerk-Kenobi who she took on as her own apprentice, and Jack Klerk-Kenobi who would be apprenticed to Mace Windu who would help him to control his anger (especially as he inherited Katelyn's bipolar disorder). She would also witness the births of her many nephews and nieces from her twin brother and three sister-in-laws: Thomas, Sofia, and Jango Kenobi from Zarina, Kimberly, and Orion Kenobi II from Taylor; and Harry, Gwen, and Zoey Kenobi from Grace. Katelyn loved each of her three children, and it would be at his point in her life that she had a better management of her bipolar disorder, though she still had random bouts of depression and sadness.

As time went by Katelyn, along with her twin Rhydon, advocated for a modification to the military ranking system of the Jedi Loyalists Forces, and Jedi military ranks. Fortunately for her, the Council agreed, and the ranks were modified, as well as the military powers and ranks of the Jedi Order, with the addition of a special rank known as the Jedi Supreme General, who would hold all military power and decision. To Katelyn's surprise, her twin brother would be given this very rank, but she noted that he felt concerned that the power would be too much for him, and requested that she be given the same rank, to balance him out, and his request was granted. Katelyn would continue to lead the 82nd Attack Battalion, which like many the many other loyal clone units was now comprised of male and female clone troopers, in many battles against the Empire.

When Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn, who Katelyn did have previous interactions and experience with, decided to defect from the Empire and join the Jedi, she, along with her twin brother Rhydon and father Obi-Wan advocated for the induction of Grand Admiral Thrawn, believing that the Jedi and their clones would benefit from the Chiss’ knowledge, which earned her and her family Thrawn’s respect and loyalty. With support from Thrawn and her brother, Katelyn advocated that the Jedi reorganize themselves, as they captured more territory form the Empire. When asked how the Jedi should reorganize, he controversially suggested that they make an empire of their own, but different from the Palpatine Empire that they were fighting against. Understandably the Jedi Council were concerned by this recommendation, and so both Katelyn and Rhydon came to Thrawn's aid. To ease her fellow Jedi, Katelyn and her brother recommended Padme to be the empress of the Jedi Empire, since she was extremely respected throughout the Galaxy. In the end, the Council agreed, but with some counter-arguments stating that the Jedi Order be slightly separate from the government of the new empire, and thus the Amidala Empire was born, with not only the planet of Naboo, but countless worlds and star systems flocking to the Amidala Empire for protection from the Palpatine Empire.

When it came time for the Jedi Order to consider an alliance between the Amidala Empire and the Rebel Alliance, Katelyn was as equally as wary as her brother was and feared that the Rebels wouldn't want to ally with one Empire, just to fight another, but fortunately the respect that Padme had in the Galaxy was more than enough for the Rebellion to ally with the Jedi. In the end, the Amidala Empire and Rebel Alliance came to work together quite well, though to both Katelyn and Rhydon's dismay, Senator Mon Mothma, who served as the executive leader of the Rebel Alliance, was not as fond with the idea of another Empire, or that former Palpatine Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn was openly accepted and protected by the Jedi, but held her reserves to herself.

Katelyn continued to serve the Jedi, leading Commander Arthur, the 82nd Attack Battalion, and the clones through multiple engagements with the Empire. She would advocate for having Melissa promoted to the rank of Grand Admiral after the successes of Thrawn as a Jedi Starfleet Grand Admiral, and seeing her children grow up to be great Jedi or military leaders in their own rights.

Katelyn would participate in the Battle of Endor, where she would eventually go onto the Death Star alongside her twin brother Rhydon, Anakin and Padme Skywalker. They would engage in a lightsaber battle with Darth Grievous, Asajj Ventress, Darth Hunter, Sara Palpatine, and Grievous’ Sith Stalker guards, along with Palpatine himself, as Maul had already been killed by Qui-Gon nearly a year prior to Endor. The Sith Lords of Palpatine’s Order proved difficult for the four Jedi to fight, but fortunately, Katelyn’s daughter Sierra, Rhydon son Thomas, and Anakin and Padmé’s twins Luke and Leia came to their aid. With the additional aid from their respective kids, Katelyn and the others were able to take down the Sith Lords and stalkers, with Katelyn and Rhydon finally ending Grievous’ reign of terror on the Jedi, and avenging themselves for their humiliation on Hypori during the Clone Wars. With all the Sith taken care of, Katelyn recognized that Palpatine was the last threat, and watched as Anakin and Padme fought the Sith Emperor. With the assistance of Luke and Leia, Anakin and Padme defeated and killed Palpatine, and began to get off the battle station as it began to blow up.

The Jedi would successfully manage to escape from the dying battle station, and witness the Second Death Star be destroyed during the Battle of Endor. With the destruction of the Second Death Star, it officially ended the reign of Emperor Palpatine with his death, and his high ranking Sith Lords. To Katelyn’s happiness, from the dying embers of the Palpatine Empire, rose the new and better Amidala Empire, which guaranteed and protected peace, freedom, and justice for the people of the Galaxy, with Padme as the Empress, and Anakin as Emperor.

Phantom Menace:

Jedi Padawan.

Jedi Padawan (Cloak).

Jedi Padawan (Cloak; Hooded).

Lightsabers.

Attack of the Clones:

Jedi Padawan (Jedi Combat Armor).

Jedi Padawan (Jedi Combat Armor; Phase 1 Helmet).

Jedi Padawan (Jedi Combat Armor; Cloak).

Jedi Padawan (Jedi Combat Armor; Hooded).

Lightsabers.

The Clone Wars:

Jedi Padawan (Jedi Combat Armor; 414th Legion).

Jedi Padawan (Jedi Combat Armor; Phase 1 Helmet; 414th Legion).

Jedi Padawan (Jedi Combat Armor; Cloak; 414th Legion).

Jedi Padawan (Jedi Combat Armor; Cloak; Hooded; 414th Legion).

Lightsabers.

Jedi Padawan (Jedi Combat Armor; 414th Legion; Battle of Hypori).

Jedi Padawan (Jedi Combat Armor; Wounded; 414th Legion; Battle of Hypori).

Jedi Padawan (Jedi Combat Armor; 414th Legion; Medical Frigate Bright Hope).

Jedi Padawan (Medical Frigate Bright Hope; Healed).

Lightsabers.

Jedi Padawan (Jedi Combat Armor; 414th Legion; Scarred).

Jedi Padawan (Jedi Combat Armor; Phase 1 Helmet; 414th Legion; Scarred).

Jedi Padawan (Jedi Combat Armor; Cloak; 414th Legion; Scarred).

Jedi Padawan (Jedi Combat Armor; Cloak; Hooded; 414th Legion; Scarred).

Lightsabers.

Jedi Knight (Jedi Combat Armor; 82nd Attack Battalion).

Jedi Knight (Jedi Combat Armor; Phase 1 Helmet; 82nd Attack Battalion).

Jedi Knight (Jedi Combat Armor; Cloak; 82nd Attack Battalion).

Jedi Knight (Jedi Combat Armor; Cloak; Hooded; 82nd Attack Battalion).

Lightsabers.

Jedi Knight (Cold Weather Gear).

Jedi Knight (Cold Weather Gear; Goggles).

Jedi Knight (Cold Weather Gear; Goggles &amp; Hood).

Lightsabers.

Jedi Knight (Jedi Combat Armor; 82nd Attack Battalion).

Jedi Knight (Jedi Combat Armor; Phase 2 Helmet; 82nd Attack Battalion).

Jedi Knight (Jedi Combat Armor; Cloak; 82nd Attack Battalion).

Jedi Knight (Jedi Combat Armor; Cloak; Hooded; 82nd Attack Battalion).

Lightsabers.

Jedi Robes.

Jedi Robes (Cloak).

Jedi Robes (Cloak; Hooded).

Lightsabers.

Revenge of The Sith:

Jedi Knight.

Jedi Knight (Cloak).

Jedi Knight (Cloak; Hooded).

Lightsabers.

Post-Order 66:

Jedi Master (Jedi Combat Robe).

Jedi Master (Jedi Combat Robes; Cloak).

Jedi Master Jedi Combat Robes (Hooded).

Lightsabers.

A New Hope/Empire Strikes Back/Return of The Jedi:

Jedi Master (Jedi Combat Armor; Supreme General).

Jedi Master (Jedi Combat Armor; Phase 3 Helmet; Supreme General).

Jedi Master (Jedi Combat Armor; Cape; Supreme General).

Jedi Master (Jedi Combat Armor; Phase 3 Helmet; Cape; Supreme General).

Lightsabers.

Family: King Orion Kenobi (Grandfather), Queen Marion Kenobi (Grandmother); Prince Owen Kenobi (Uncle), Princess Helena Kenobi (Aunt), Prince Samson Kenobi (Cousin), Princess Jessara Kenobi (Cousin), Sayuri Kenobi (Cousin); Obi-Wan Kenobi (Father), Siri Kenobi (Mother); Rhydon Kenobi (Brother), Zarina Kenobi (Sister-In-Law), Thomas Kenobi (Nephew), Sofia Kenobi (Niece), Jango Kenobi (Nephew); Taylor Smith (Sister-In-Law), Kimberly Kenobi (Niece), Orion Kenobi II (Nephew); Grace June (Sister-In-Law), Harry Kenobi (Nephew), Gwen Kenobi (Niece), Zoey Kenobi (Niece); Daniel Klerk (Husband, Arthur Klerk-Kenobi (Son), Sierra Klerk-Kenobi (Daughter), Jack Klerk-Kenobi (Son); Miranda Kenobi (Sister); Satine Kryze (Stepmother), Eliza Kenobi (Half-Sister), Anya Kryze (Half-Sister); Lord Tobias Kenobi (Granduncle), Lady Belle Kenobi (Grandaunt), Ellen Kenobi (First Cousin), Oliver Kenobi (First Cousin).

#original character #star wars #the phantom menace #attack of the clones #the clone wars #revenge of the sith #a new hope #empire strikes back #return of the jedi #alternate universe #alternate timeline #Jedi #jedi padawan #jedi knight #jedi master #jedi general #jedi order #jedi council #obi wan kenobi #siri tachi #katelyn kenobi #82nd attack battalion #82nd attack fleet #galactic republic #jedi loyalist forces #amidala empire #read more

[ranger-lcat]

Mechanic - Part 4

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

As the contracted Cybernetic Expert for the GAR, they’ve called me to Kamino to work. Not the first outpost I’ve been stationed at, but this has the most work. Work in one clone named Echo.

Self-Indulgent First-Person Reader Insert

Making friends with the Bad Batch as I help Echo with his cybernetics. Cause I want some soft Batch and hugs for everyone.

Warnings - Blood, mentions of Blood, medical inaccuracies, technical inaccuracies, PTSD, mentions of past torture, mentions of past human experimentation, panic attacks, needles, surgery, mentions of surgery

——

Let’s check in with Chrys and see how things are progressing.

Also the Batch make another appearance.

——

Day 5 -

Another fitting first thing, and the rest of the day is filled with creation. Working hard on the other prosthetics I've been tasked with before I can devote my attention to my biggest project.

Echo’s blueprints.

The current notations have the removal of all the unnecessary ports and wires. A copy would have to be forwarded to medical. See if they had anything to add or suggest. Better safe than sorry. It would also explain the large requisition of bacta I was making.

Second part was the new cerebral interface. The brain was not my favorite thing to be messing with. Using the ports that were already present would hopefully prevent damage. At least, more damage.

His file has one brain scan. Probably when he first showed up. It wasn’t detailed. And if I had to guess, Echo didn’t hold still for it. It mostly proved that there was no long term physical trauma or infections. The Techno Union had been relatively careful with his brain. Probably because it was the only thing useful to them.

I was relying on Tech’s notes for mapping out a plan for the synapses. His brain was accustomed to interfacing with computers. Using the same pattern would maintain pathways and make adjusting easier. It was complex and layered and there were so many things that needed to be double checked before I would even consider attaching it to someone’s brain. When I was satisfied, I sent it. I’m sure Tech and Echo would want to give their inputs before I started construction.

——

*With the Bad Batch*

Everyone perks at the sound of holopads dinging.

“Chrys has sent the diagram for your cerebral interface.” Tech informs.

Echo lunges for his screen. He struggles for a moment, data pads are much easier with two hands, and opens the file to see what she’s sent. Some of the diagrams were more technical than he could understand, but he’s sure Tech would be more than willing to answer any questions he has. He notices two things right off the bat. The colored text for notations, things she needed to double check or get Tech’s input on. And the rendering. It showed the expected size of it on his head. He just stares. Tech’s voice floated hazily in the background. Not really comprehending.

“It looks like she’s decided to tap into multiple ports in order to have more access and alleviate stress on one portion of your brain. Dividing the effort should have the bonus of increased processing and—“

“Echo, what is it?” Hunter asks. He’s noticed the glazed look Echo’s looking at his screen with.

“It’s… big.”

“Yes. As I was saying, this should improve—“

“Tech, I don’t care why it’s like that. The point is I want to be less like a droid, not more.” Echo snarls. Everyone is silent. Echo feels the shame creep in from his outburst. He has to put the data pad down so he can press his hand against his face. Another headache was threatening to overtake him.

“Echo, it needs to be like this. You need to be able to function, and this should stop your headaches when you slice as well as increase your slicing speed by a minimum of 74%.” Tech tries to reassure.

Echo knows. The logic is there. It would be unreasonable to assume that he would be able to just go on as he currently is. There had been warnings from Kix and Tech that he was risking his brain by scomping. He’d been lucky after the power surge on the dreadnought. Even so, he still got migraines after practicing slicing. In the field, he’d be useless. Scomping was the only thing that he had going for him. Otherwise he was just a broken clone. Not worth the money to keep him together.

“Echo, you with us?” Hunter’s voice cut through his depressive fog.

“Yeah…” Echo sighs.

“If it would make you feel better, I can run some calculations to see how much is being removed in contrast to added?” Tech offers.

“…kinda.”

Tech starts typing. Calculating away. Crosshair slides up next to him at the table, looking over Tech’s shoulder. Watching the stream of numbers. He mutters something to Tech who just scoffs. Wrecker has inched over to Echo.

“Can I see?” Wrecker asks. Echo passes over the data pad. No use keeping it secret, although he’s not sure what Wrecker’s gonna get out of it. Wrecker looks over the diagram. “That’s gonna affect your helmet.”

“My helmet?” That wasn’t the comment he was expecting.

“You gotta match. We’re getting you custom armor.” He smiles enthusiastically. “Tech said we should wait till you got some weight back, else you’re just gonna out grow it.”

“Wrecker is our expert on armor. He’ll make sure you’re covered.” Hunter explains.

“How’d you end up with that job?” Echo asks.

“Gotta make sure you guys are safe. Just ‘cause I can take hits, doesn’t mean you can.” He explains. Echo thinks something might have happened given the serious tone of that statement. Wrecker resumes with his normal excited tone. “Soon as you get this done, we’ll get your helmet. Cross has got some picked out he thinks would suit ya.” Echo raises an eyebrow at that. Was Crosshair the resident fashion expert, like Hardcase?

“Can I see?”

Wrecker beams, grabbing Echo’s shoulder to direct them to the table. Wrecker picks up his data pad so he can pull up the files of everybodies armor, Echo’s file at the ready. Holding the screen between them so Echo could see if he sat right next to Wrecker. Their shoulders pressed against each other. Echo was impressed by the mock up. It suited him, except…

“It needs a Kama.”

“Like what the ARC Troopers got?”

“Yeah.”

“Still an Arc Trooper?” Hunter smirks.

“Hey, I earned that.”

“I’ve read the ARC Training regime. It is quite intense.” Tech doesn’t look up from his numbers. Crosshair taps something on the screen for him.

“I bet we could handle it.” Wrecker

“Certainly. As a team. We are too specialized to be successful individually.” Tech shrugs. Wrecker pouts.

“Think you could solve problems without blowing them up?” Crosshair teases.

“I can,” Wrecker insists, “It’s just my favorite way.”

——

Day 6-

“Come on. Come on…” I run the test program on my data pad. It runs the checks over each connection. Bing, “Yes.” Bing, “Yes,” Bing, “Yes,” Ernt. “No…”

Another test, another failed test.

Getting the artificial synapses aligned in Echo’s implant was proving problematic. Trying to copy an established pattern was proving fickle. I kept getting close, but not close enough. Maybe? There was so much that couldn’t be predicted. And the margin for error was dependent on the person.

I groan and press my hands over my face. Just a few more tries. Just a hair closer and I’d be comfortable hooking it into Echo’s brain.

Pulling my goggles back down and picking up the tool. Another round of sparks fly. I shove the goggles back up. Run the test program again.

Bing, “Yes.” Bing, “Yes,” Bing, “Yes,” Bing. “Yes! Finally!” All the safety parameters have been reached.

I close the panels, sealing it against the outside world. It gets set on the stand, ready for tomorrow.

——

Yes. Wrecker is in charge of armor design. He’s the explosives expert, so he knows how forces affect things. And Crosshair’s precision manifests as an eye for style.

#BB - Mechanic #the bad batch #Bad Batch #tbb echo #tbb tech #tbb hunter #tbb wrecker #tbb crosshair #mine #writing #reader insert #hurt/comfort #recovery