Jedi Fugitive (The Bad Batch)

26

"You all don't realise who you're dealing with," she hissed to us. "If you don't lower your blasters, we're all gonna wish we were dead. Let me handle this."

She put a hand on Hunter's arm, a silent plea on its own. I knew very well who we were dealing with; I'd dealt with them after Maul's takeover of Death Watch when he'd forcibly recruited the Pykes to his cause, and again when they'd held Ahsoka prisoner with the Martez sisters. I'd witnessed firsthand their ruthlessness. They would not hesitate to exploit our protectiveness over Omega as a weakness. And though I knew I could take them - I had before - I had used my lightsabers then. I couldn't here, even though it would give me the edge in this fight. That thought was enough to have me relenting.

Hunter glanced from Cid's hand on his arm, to the Pykes still staring at us expressionlessly, and finally to me, slotting my blasters away reluctantly. I met his eyes, hoping he could read the message beneath my visor. Begging him to trust me, and Cid.

"We can't leave Omega with them," Wrecker stated flatly, staring accusingly at Cid's back as we walked out of her parlour. Four other pairs of eyes wore identical emotions, one of them hidden underneath a helmet. Cid didn't appear particularly remorseful, but even the old Trandoshan had begun to care for Omega. And she didn't like leaving her behind either. But there was no other choice. It was either leave her behind or we all die.

"We don't have a choice," Cid echoed my thoughts, staff thudding into the ground with each step she took, "but we know where the spice is. We'll return it, and the kid will be fine."

"The Pykes won't hurt her," I added in an attempt to soothe Wrecker's worries. "As long as they think we have the spice, they won't do anything."

"And how do you know that?" Echo snapped at me, hostile the second I mentioned something that had remotely anything to do with my past. Still mistrustful that I refused to divulge details to them.

"I dealt with them on Mandalore. They destroyed my home." It was more about my past than I'd ever shared with them - he went silent, processing the loaded words. He knew of the Mandalore raids - Rex had told him about them before Bracca. And now they knew I'd been there too, maybe even fought alongside Rex. It would certainly explain how I'd known him.

Hunter slid a sideways glance to me, the only one to truly know about my past. Even Wrecker did not know what to say, leaving the silence brewing until Tech cut in, oblivious to the tense atmosphere.

"The ptero-creatures we encountered in the cavern are irlings. They are nocturnal insects with visual sensitivity to thermal registers. Our best chance is to strike before nightfall."

Cid paused at the landing ramp of the Marauder, turning back to look at the five of us. "Muscles, Mandie and I will rappel down to the cavern and locate the crates. I got the kid into this mess, and I'll get her out."

Wrecker looked marginally reassured by her words, stormy expression relaxing as he followed the rest of us up the ramp, the ship taking off as soon as the stairs had folded up behind him.

From the surface, the caverns looked no more remarkable than a set of rocky mountains in the middle of Ord Mantell's desert. But we all knew what was hidden in its depths. No one looked happy to be returning to this place so soon after we'd escaped, but Wrecker, Cid and I prepared to rappel off the hovering ship anyway, harnesses and grappling lines secured to our bodies.

The bulky clone glanced down, a sick sounding groan escaping him at the sight of the drop. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"And this time, don't drop it." Cid glared meaningfully at him, showing no sympathy for his fear. Like it hadn't been her fault the spice had been lost in the first place. Or that we'd gone after it in the first place.