The Runaway {Hunter} (WATTYS 2022)

Chapter 7

General Skywalker joined Rex, Cora and the Bad Batch on their mission. Cora stood next to Rex as the ship started off into the air. She watched as Rex looked to his helmet, something he did when he was thinking. Cora nudged him with her shoulder, causing him to look up to her. She offered a smile to him, which he tried to return.

"We're gonna find him." Cora said.

Rex sighed. "We've lost a lot of men." He looked to her, "If he's out there, the best I can do is be there for him."

"We will find him, and when we do, you can rest." Rex locked eyes with her, "Jee Rex," she chuckled, "I know when you're not sleeping right."

Rex looked away and chuckled. "It's a curse we know each other so well."

"Unfortunately." She joked as the two shared a moment.

The rest of the group joined them as they were flying to Skako Minor, preparing themselves for whatever was waiting for them. General Skywalker was looking through the scope of Crosshair's sniper while Wrecker was heavy lifting a Gonk droid, which amused Cora. Hunter looked through some of the controls why Tech flew the ship.

"So, how many missions has your team been on, Sergeant?" The General asked.

Hunter, who was leaning over some controls, looked up to the General, "Honestly, sir. I've lost count. All the action sort of blurs together." He turned back to the control panel.

"I know you work with Cody sometimes, but" Rex started, "who do you guys report to?"

"Hmm..." Hunter turned to Rex and smirked, "good question. Cant say I've got an answer." He said folding his arms over his chest.

"Yeah." Wrecker laughed.

"You guys sound like me." Cora huffed.

"In what way?" Crosshair asked.

"Well..." she sighed, "You guys don't report to anyone. Neither do I," she shrugged, "I get my assignments from the council and go from there."

"You sound like a bounty hunter." Crosshair huffed.

Rex looked to Cora who shook her head. "I'm not involved with the under world if that's what you're implying."

"But you do work when asked?" Hunter asked.

"Of course."

"What kind of missions do you do?" Wrecker asked putting the Gonk droid down.

"She does reconnaissance missions." The General said giving Crosshair back his sniper. "She's one of the best we've got. Without her, hundreds maybe thousands of clones would still be in prisoner camps."

The Bad Batch turned to Cora, half shocked that a Senator had done such dangerous missions.

A sudden jolt to the ship caused everyone to look towards the front of the ship. An alarm blared as Tech turned around in his seat.

"We are approaching Skako Minor. It looks to be a difficult landing."

The group of clones all looked to each other, the General and Cora exchanged a glance as they all sat down in the seats, buckling themselves in for the rough landing ahead. Cora could see the tanned planet come closer as Tech flew their ship down closer to the atmosphere of the odd new world. The ship rattled as an alert kept going off as the clouds blocked the view of the planet. The sound of thunder cracking could be heard from the outside of the ship. The wind whistled outside of the ship as they landed in what looked like a dust storm.

"Nice landing." Cora commented as she unbuckled herself, standing with the rest of the men.

The group stood in t he cockpit, looking out over the sandstorm that covered their view. "Rex, what do we know about this place?" The General asked.

"On this part of Skako, there's a race of locals, the Poletecs. All we know is they're very primitive." Rex told him.

"Primitive is being kind." Tech added. "My intel says the Poletecs workshop flying reptiles."

Suddenly, a monster jumped on top of the ship and screeched at the group inside. Scaring everyone on the ship.

"Oh! What the heck was that?" Wrecker yelled looking towards the window as the create flew off.

"It's one of the reptiles!" Tech said.

"I want that thing off my ship." Hunter grumbled.

The Bad Batch suddenly raced towards the door, causing Rex to stop them. "Hold on!" Hold on! Don't just run out there!"

Typical Bad Batch, they ignored the Captain's order and ran outside of the ship. Cora looked at Rex who sighed and put his helmet on, Cora doing the same. The General, Rex and the Senator all ran off after them, standing in the wind as they watched the flying reptile stand on their ship. The General took out his lightsaber which never failed to amaze Cora, she wished she had one.

"Hey! Get off of there!" Wrecker yelled, pointing its blaster at it.

"Calm down Wrecker!" Cora said, "We need to talk to them."

The reptile screamed again at them. "Why?" Hunter turned to Cora.

"The Senator's right." General Skywalker nodded.

A sudden screech was heard as Cora turned and saw two reptiles coming their way. "Look out, Rex!" She yelled as she pushed Rex to the side.

Lowering themselves, the two reptiles swooped down and missed Cora and Rex, but before she could fully turn around, the reptile on top of the ship flew down and grabbed Cora by the arm. She yelled as it's claws dug into her skin, missing her armour. The reptile flew off, bringing her hundreds of feet into the air, up and away from her team. She could see Rex try and shoot at the creature as he picked up her blasters, as they were in her hands before she got grabbed.

Cora struggled as blood dripped down on her armour from her arm. She tried to pull herself free but had zero success. Her arm burned with pain. A sudden rope attached itself to the leg of the reptile, causing Cora to look at see that Hunter had attached himself to the rope, and was dangling like she was. She gasped as they were both well above the clouds. Hunter came further up the rope, once he was a safe distance, he took out his blaster and started shooting at the creatures. Cora thought of how crazy this man was for going after her in such a way, but she applauded his bravery.

The native flying the reptile saw that Hunter was literally on his tail, so he took the reptile down, soaring back down towards the ground. Hunter lost his blaster as Cora watched helplessly as they flew closer to tall rocks, the native trying to shake Hunter off the rope. As they swooped in and around the mountains, Hunter hit part of the rocks as Cora gasped. Once he got closer to a hill, Hunter let the rope go.

"Hunter!" Cora yelled as she was taken further away from him. He tumbled down onto the rocks, as the reptile brought Cora down closer to what looked like a little village.

The reptile threw Cora down with a groan and held her down with its claw. Cora struggled on the grasp of the monster as she tried to break herself free from its claw. Soon, a group had gathered, which Cora assumed were the natives on the planet. They were tall and long limbed. One came over and slammed her shoulders down to the ground so she would stop struggling. He yelled at her in his own language.

"I would gladly talk with you," she groaned, "but there's a slight communication problem here." Cora grumbled.

Struggling under the grasp of the monster, the native yelled again in their language. She groaned as her cut on her arm burned. Looking up, she heard blasters go off, which earned a sigh of relief.

"Thank the gods." She mumbled.

The monsters grip was taken off of her chest as an electro shock caused it to flinch away. As Cora go to her knees, she saw a boulder headed straight for her. She quickly rolled to the side and saw the group of clones, and the General run to her, blasters held to the natives. Sighing, Cora held her arm as Hunter pointed a gun at the alien who was trying to talk with Cora.