Inevitable {Tech}

Chapter Two: Evenly Matched

After Wrecker found his snack and rejoined the group, he was ecstatic to hear that Cassiopeia had accepted Echo's offer. He hugged her once more, spilling Mantel mix in the process, and showed her to the ship. Hunter and Crosshair followed, with Tech closely behind. As Echo was saying his goodbyes to Rex, the captain stopped him.

"Hey, just uh, take care of her okay? I know she'll seem fine during the day but at night it's much worse. She's still hurting. Everything is very fresh in her mind," Rex warned.

"I understand, and we will. She's like my little sister and I will protect her with my life," Echo affirmed.

Rex placed a hand on Echo's shoulder and appreciatively nodded. "I'll see you when you get back."

Echo returned his nod and headed back towards the ship. He walked in and saw Wrecker showing Cass around the ship, with the other three watching closely. Crosshair sat at the table with his arms crossed, still weary of the young Jedi. Hunter stood against the wall, cleaning his knife while watching Cass explain to Wrecker that his Thornsuckle plant really shouldn't be kept in his room. Tech sat in the pilots seat, keeping an eye on the girl who had caught him off guard earlier.

"Tech, plot a course to Klatooine," Echo ordered as he sat in the co-pilot chair.

"What's on Klatooine?" Hunter spun his knife and pocketed it away.

"A couple clones crash landed there an hour ago and gave us their location, but their comms recently went offline. We're gonna check it out and see if we can bring them home," Echo explained.

"If they're alive," Crosshair groaned.

"We have to be hopeful," Hunter scolded. "And not to sound insensitive, but why are we being sent to rescue two lone clones?"

"Apparently, one of them has information about General Grievous' upcoming plans. He stole an info disc from one of the Separatist ships."

"Why didn't he just upload the disc?" Hunter inquired.

"They were attacked and crashed before he could. The plans got burned in the crash, so only the trooper can tell us what was on there."

"Which means we've got a couple hours to kill," Tech concluded as he launched the ship into hyperspace.

"Cassi, how about a game of Dejarik?" Wrecker asked excitedly and loaded up the holochess board.

"Sure," Cass nodded and sat herself across the large clone.

Echo laughed from the front seat which caused Tech to look over at him, eyebrows raised.

"What?" Tech asked.

"He's gonna lose," Echo chuckled and swiveled his chair around, then crossed his arms to watch the game from afar. "He'll last three minutes, tops."

Tech followed Echo's line of sight, and landed his gaze on the Jedi. He observed the way her face remained calmly focused, and a tiny smirk appeared on her face anytime Wrecker incorrectly moved. The gears in his head were spinning again, and Cassiopeia could sense it. She glanced up quickly without lifting her head, and noticed Tech already looking at her. He nervously looked down at his data pad, pretending to be researching. After another moment, Cass was looking back down at the board and Tech was looking back up at her.

"Aw man! How did you do that so quickly?" Wrecker slammed his hands down and shook his head.

"You moved your K'lor'slug too early," Cass explained and leaned back cooley.

"Not fair!" Wrecker stood up and grabbed his Mantell mix, then stormed up to his room.

"Told you," Echo whispered to Tech.