"Anakin!" I scolded, running past him in all his glory towards his clone Captain and Hunter.
"What?" He watched me run by before realizing what he had done. "Oh"
"Are you both alright?" I questioned as I stopped in front of them, both men pulling off their helmets, but I only looked to Rex.
"Yes, we are fine" Hunter commented, noticing how Rex wasn't going to respond as he was too busy looking back at me. "It's hard to compete with a Jedi." Hunter stated, talking about Skywalkers take down of the droid.
"Look, they are retreating!" Wrecker cheered as he pointed to the droid army running away.
"Thank you for helping us in our fight." I told the people as Tech translated for me.
"He said the Jedi will always have an ally here on Skako Minor." Tech translated back for us. We nodded at them in respect before moving onto the ship again to go back to another battle.
"Rex. Thanks for coming after me." Echo stopped Rex from going into the ship as the rest of us walked on.
"That's what brothers do. I'm just sorry it took so long. Hopefully, it's gonna be just like old times." Rex placed a hand on his shoulder before walking into the ship with us.
"Yeah. Just like old times." Echo sighed with a small smile.
~~~
"Rex, can I talk to you?" Anakin walked past his Captain, nodding towards a back room on the ship.
"Yes, sir" Rex agreed, following the General, unaware of the topic that was about to arise.
"You like Lyra" Anakin stated, catching his captain off guard.
"What? No" Rex protested, looking over at me while I talked to Echo off to the side.
"Come on, you know about Padme and I. Im not mad Rex"
"Okay, maybe. But she has a code to follow and so do I"
"I have the same code as her" Anakin reminded.
"But you're different"
"How so?"
"You always break the rules and never listen to instructions while Lyra lives by the rules and facts and she would never disobey orders" Rex talked on about me with a smile creeping onto his features.
"You totally like her" Skywalker gushed.
"Sir?" Rex tried to talk him down and away from this topic.
"Rex likes Lyra, Rex likes Lyra" Anakin cheered to his Captain.
"Sir, be quiet!" Rex whisper shouted to him. "She could hear you"
"Well here she comes, time to make your move Captain" Anakin nudged him as I walked closer to the pair. I had suddenly force pushed Echo back, catching everybody in shock. "What's up with her?" He asked Rex quietly, but Rex had only sent him a glare before following after me as I walked by them and further into the back.
A few minutes earlier with Lyra.
"Earlier when we were waiting approval for the mission General Skywalker and Captain Rex seemed awfully suspicious" Hunter started to tell his crew of when Anakin and Rex snuck off to talk with Padmé.
"Suspicious how?" Tech inquired more information.
"Well the General said they had something important to do, suggesting something to the Captain who grew very flustered" Hunter continued his story.
"Good for the Captain" Crosshair commented smugly.
"Do you think they are-" Wrecker began to ask, looking over at the pair in the next room.
"I mean look at them" Hunter told them.
"Their body language does show that they are close on a personal level" Tech agreed.
"Did General Skywalker and that Senator from Naboo get divorced?" Echo whispered his question over to me as we both stood, leaning against the wall and listening to the bad batch speculate.
"No, they haven't been caught yet either" I added.
"Oh, okay" Echo nodded, knowing he didn't miss that much then. "And what about you and Rex?" He smirked over as I continued staring at the data pad I was reading.
"What about us?" I didn't lift my eyes from the screen.
"Are you two a thing yet? Or are you still being oblivious to your feelings?"
"I hate you" I snapped my head towards him. I took the data pad and walked away towards Rex and Anakin.
"Hey I was just joking!" Echo had called after me. "But you should really talk about it, I know he likes you too!" He added. I spun around on my heel, pushing him back roughly with the force before quickly pushing past the pair towards the back of the ship.
I sat down in an empty area, crossing my legs and closing my eyes to meditate and clear my thoughts.
"Uh, sorry to interrupt" Rex stuttered upon entering behind me.
"Yes, Captain?" I asked, not moving at all other than a slightly raised eyebrow in question.
"I just wanted to check on you, I mean clearly Echo said something to aggravate you" he sat in a chair beside my spot on the floor as I opened my eyes to look at him. "Not that you seem aggravated" he backed himself up nervously.
"Echo didn't do anything wrong, he was just annoying me about something silly" I explained, deep down knowing that the topic was not silly.
"Oh, okay" he nodded his head as his helmet set in his lap. "What were you reading on the data pad?" Rex noticed the device I had been using earlier to change the topic.
"Just some old facts about different planets" I shrugged.
"Facts like what?"
"Well Mandalore has always been a warrior culture until recent years" He nodded along as I shared some more facts with him.
"Well that worked out well" Anakin joined Echo, helping him to stand again.
"Speak for yourself, that hurt" Echo complained with a grunt.
"What do you think they are doing back there?"
"Probably being awkward idiots" Echo shrugged simply.
"Yeah, your probably right" Anakin sighed.
~~~
"Hey Echo" Rex had entered the med bay to find Echo who had been given a check up.
"Hello Captain" Echo saluted, but Rex waved it off, casually taking the seat next to him. "Something on your mind?"
"No, why would you think that?"
"You seem out of focus. Or maybe it's someone?" Echo smirked towards his brother, knowing exactly who he was thinking about.
"No" Rex tried to play it off.
"Come on Rex, have you even tried to make a move on her?"
"I can't" Rex sighed, looking out at me as I walked past the med bay with Cody on our way to find Kenobi.
"Why not?"
"Because I won't put her in a situation where she will have to pick between me or her order"
"General Skywalker broke the order"
"But she lives by the order, Skywalker breaks every rule" Rex explained his reasoning.
"Well maybe one day she will pick you over her stupid rules" Echo suggested with hope for his brother.
"Maybe" Rex smiled slightly as a blush dusted his cheeks, looking out at me as Cody and I laughed about Kenobi when he stood right beside us with a frown, a smile seedling through his frown as he watched us genuinely laugh.
~~~
"We have more than a dozen active battlefronts on Anaxes, and we are losing nearly every one. But if Admiral Trench can no longer anticipate our moves, we now have the opportunity to retake the planet." Windu explained the good side of finding Echo to Anakin, Kenobi, Cody, Rex and I as we all stood around the holo map in the command centre.
"I can improve your chances." Echo walked over confidently.
"Eh, excuse me, Generals." Rex moved towards his brother as we all looked over at the pair. "Echo, I'm sorry, but I just don't think you're ready for battle yet." Rex placed a hand on his shoulder sternly to prevent him from going any further, talking in a hushed tone.
"I am not a liability, Rex. I'm the best chance we have to take back Anaxes."
"If the trooper has a plan, I'd like to hear it." Mace told them with a nod.
"May I?" Echo looked to Rex for approval as he removed his hand from Echos shoulder and let him pass. Echo plugged his arm into the table to bring up a map. "While Master Windu leads a team to retake the assembly complex, the Bad Batch will escort me into Trench's new comm vault, which, according to current intel, is now located on this Separatist Dreadnought above Anaxes. Once I'm plugged in, I can feed Trench strategies, but this time, you'll know every move before he makes it."
"And you are certain that if we get you onboard that ship, that you can convince Trench's army to do what you want?" Windu raised question.
"Absolutely. Unfortunately, I've been doing this for a while, but this time I can help bring about a Republic victory instead of a defeat." Echo was determined to help us as we all nodded in agreement to his plan.
"Tech, is everything ready?" Hunter asked as we joined them.
"Yup, Sarge. We are ready. Still not sure how we're gonna land on that ship." Tech pondered on the thought.
"Don't worry. Echo says he's got a plan." Rex reminded.
"That makes me feel so much better." Tech commented with slight sarcasm.
"What do you mean by that?" Rex grew stern and I noticed the tension building up between the two again.
"To be blunt, his mind belonged to the Separatists until we unplugged him. We don't really know where his loyalties lie." Tech explained his view.
"Yeah. Well, I know. Now, get moving." Rex ordered, Anakin joining us as we walked up the ramp onto the ship.
"Please tell me we are blowing something up." Wrecker begged with excitement while we flew towards our destination.
"Sorry, Wrecker, this is strictly stealth." I reminded him.
"I hate that word." Wrecker groaned with a frown.
"Echo, you're up." Anakin prompted, breaking through Wreckers complaints.
"Don't worry. As soon as I plug in, I'll send a signal to the command ship." Echo told us, plugging his arm into the ship.
"What type of signal are you gonna send? Nothing that'll give us away, right?" Hunter worried, unsure of Echos loyalty to us.
"As far as the droids are concerned, we're just gonna be another one of their shuttles coming in for a landing." Echo explained his plan.
"And the regs think we take risks." Hunter mumbled to Crosshair.
"Sending the signal... now." We all waited for a few uneasy moments of silence. I had been fiddling with the wrap around my bicep with nerves as Rex sent me a nod of reassurance, trusting his brother.
"Roger, roger, Shuttle TC-159. You may approach and land." A droid announced to us.
"I'd still rather blow it up." Wrecker complained, crossing his arms this time.
"I have a feeling you'll get your chance." Tech said.
....................................................
Question of the day: would you trust the bad batch if you had to go on a mission with them?