Jedi Fugitive (The Bad Batch)

50

A/N: Happy New Year everyone! What are your resolutions for this year? Mine are basically to be healthy, happy and enjoy life lol. 

I wanna say a big thank you to everyone who's engaged with this story through votes, comments, adding to reading lists or following me. It's really great to see people are liking my work, because I'm thinking about writing a real novel after I finish this. One that I will hopefully get professionally published someday ;). Maybe y'all will read it one day, if you're into romantasy books.

Astera:

The village was gone. All that was left was a heap of smouldering wood in the middle of the clearing, the trees that had once housed the structures broken and smoking with huge gouges ripped into the sides of them. Gungi's face darkened as he beheld the damage done to his people's home, walking towards the remains of the village and brushing a hand through a blackened wall, examining the soot it left on his fingers with a detachment that was almost worrying.

"Tanks came through here." Hunter crouched low and pressed his fingers to the dirt, analysing the tracks tearing through the forest floor. "The Empire incinerated the entire village."

Gungi moaned suddenly, falling to his knees in front of the broken homes before him. Anger burst through me, white hot and blazing, and I kicked aside a charred plank in disgust, jaw clenched tight. It was always the Empire. First they'd razed the Order and the Temple, exploited the planets the Republic was supposed to take, and now they'd destroyed Gungi's home. All they did was take. And we were left to deal with the mess they left behind.

"The Empire destroyed our home too," Omega said softly to the Wookiee, approaching him carefully and laying a hand on his shoulder in an attempt at reassurance. He only howled again, eyes squeezed shut like he could block the image of the burning wreckage from his mind.

"It's what they do," I said bitterly, kneeling on his other side and slowly pulling my helmet off to stare blankly at the heap of charcoal with my own eyes. "They take what they want and they destroy what's left."

"Don't worry." Omega gently pulled Gungi to his feet again, eyeing me worriedly. "We'll find your people."

Something prickled behind my eyes, my vision blurring with a burning sensation I'd become too accustomed to over the years. One I'd fought hard to suppress through the horrors of war. I blinked hard and looked away, discreetly touching a hand to my eyes and was almost shocked when the fabric of my glove came away damp. It had never been this bad before. I'd always managed to control myself.

I caught sight of Hunter's visor resting on me with what I could only guess was concern and turned away abruptly, blinking away the tears and jamming my helmet back on my head before he could see the glistening in my eyes. I hadn't cried in years. I wasn't about to start now.

Low rumbling in the distance dragged everyone's attention away before Hunter could start towards me, growing louder by the second on the other side of the pile of remains. Seven heads snapped up at the same time, my tears forgotten in the rush of adrenaline as we moved again, towards the sound of the rumbling. It was the Empire. It had to be.

More flames in the distance were all that I could see from our new position, crouched low in the cover of tall grass, and some indistinct shapes silhouetted against the fire. My rangefinder clicked down the same instant Tech pulled his macrobinocs from his belt, the two of us scanning the burning forest for any sign of the culprits who had started this.

"What do you see?" Hunter asked, peering through a gap in the long grass to observe the tanks steamrolling over the flaming grass.

"Trandoshans." I scowled at the sight of the reptilian beings, as always armed to the teeth with large blaster rifles in hand. While I'd had fine enough experiences with some of them, the unpleasant ones far outweighed them, from the bounty hunter Bossk to the ones that had kidnapped and nearly killed Ahsoka and I for their sick coming of age ritual. Cid was probably the best one I knew, and that wasn't saying a lot.