"Hunter, the head," Cass gestured with her saber and drew the sergeant's attention to the tactical droid head in the girl's taut grip.
A sharp blast sounded from across the facility and stray workers scattered above and around their heads. Two of them bordered to the right and pointed rigorously.
"Security breach! Lock it down!" one of them yelled.
"Danger! Danger!" The frightening alarm blared throughout the station while the conveyor belts halted and all the exits closed.
"Great, how do you plan on getting out of here now?" the girl groaned and clinched the droid head closer to her body.
"We've got police droids closing in," Echo warned as the pounding of metallic footsteps reverberated from across the facility.
"Focus your fire," Hunter commanded and squatted out of the droid's aim.
Cass lept towards the stairs and began blocking the brunt of the blasts as the police droids closed in. Everyone fired beyond her, and Tech especially surveyed her motions vigilantly.
"Omega, report!" Hunter yelled through the comms, though over the blaster fire Cass could barely hear him.
"There's a second person after the tactical droid. Don't worry, I'm in pursuit," Omega chirped.
"No. Stay put," Hunter demanded. "We already have the droid head."
"No you don't!" The girl in the jumpsuit cried out teasingly as she ran away from the boys onwards up the staircase and above their eye line.
"I'll get the head. You guys get this lockdown lifted," Hunter directed as he raced after the girl with the droid head.
Cass blocked the shots aimed at Hunter and flipped over the hoard of droids. All the droids turned in her direction, leaving perfect targets for the boys to shoot.
Tech and Echo continued blasting until their shots landed on the same last droid Cass swiped at. The Jedi exhaled deeply and hopped over the droid carcasses scattered along the floor.
"The next wave is heading through now," Echo murmured and Cass nodded.
The three assumed their previous positions—watching as large bay doors opened and flushed out droids—and defended the post until further notice.
Tech watched Cass intently veer her weapon around her body, noticing the way the thin layer of sweat on her skin made her glisten in the furnace lights. With her hair pulled back, he could fully admire her parted lips and the edge of her collarbone that barely peeked out from the crest of her top.
Cass peered over briskly to get a glimpse of his longing expression. The spice they called yearning surged through them, they both were equally eager to be skin on skin again. It didn't matter whether they were grasping to each other passionately or holding pinkies in silence, they both had gotten a taste of the other. And they were addicted.
They went too long without these affirmations and now that their feelings were in the open—Maker forbid they hid the ardent stares or wishful look in their eyes.
"Will you two stop doing whatever the kriff that was and fight!" Echo gagged out and aimed his blaster the opposite direction. "I'm getting tired of all this."
"What are you grumbling about now?" Cass squinted at him incredulously as she gripped her saber tighter.
"You two! I can't take it anymore! Just make a move already!" Echo yelled irritably over the heavy fire.
"Well maybe we already have!" Cass suddenly blurted out, then scrunched her face regrettably.
"You what?" Echo's mouth gaped as he dove towards the ground and narrowly dodged a shot.
Tech shook his head and shrugged. "That is not exactly how I would have broken the news but-
"When did that happen?" Echo stammered, leaned around the corner to shoot, then rested again.
"What does it matter?" Cass griped as she curved her saber in the air.
"For one thing, I'm your brother! I should know about these things-"
"And secondly?" Cass squatted out of range to glare at him expectantly.
Echo exhaled forcefully. "And secondly...we have a bet going-"
"Are you serious right now?" Cass shook her head heatedly, then stood again to throw a few droids against the wall.
"Hey at least I didn't win! You two ruined my chances-"
"Oh you poor thing," Cass groused and sped away to finish off the remaining droids before a third wave rushed in.
"We're not done talking about this!" Echo cried out and gestured his weapon indignantly.
"Seeing as you lost this bet, I doubt you there is much more to talk about," Tech informed Echo cooly, earning a dragged-out warning from his brother.
"I have the droid head!" Omega cheered abruptly through the comms.
"Nice work, now hang tight," Echo prompted while he scomped the system again, his eyes suspiciously darted from his brother then back to the system key.
The facility whirred with a hum and the screen turned an empty black.
"Echo, what did you do?" Cass fussed as she realized all the conveyor belts and furnaces halted.
"He just shorted out the entire system," Tech affirmed negatively.
"I had to override the lockdown," Echo explained bitterly. "Wrecker, get to the main control panel."
Wrecker heard Echo's orders and his crackled voice stuttered from the other side. "I can't reach the platform."
"It's the only way to reboot the whole facility. Figure it out!" Echo hollered sharply.
"Yeah, it's easy for you to say," Wrecker retorted with a hopeless tone.
"Wrecker, hurry!" Echo warned.
"Give him time!" Cass shouted and pushed a row of droids down, creating an easy beeline to follow and drag her saber across.
The boys sustained their positions while Cass maintained a large perimeter around them. A few moments passed and went unnoticed, but when the moments grew longer, the group increased their urgency.
"Wrecker, what are you waiting for?" Tech investigated with a click of his communications system.
The facility alarm blared and the belts booted back up.
"Good job Wrecker!" Cass chirped frantically, though Wrecker didn't respond back to her affirmations.
"Wrecker, the system's online. Now get down here!" Tech ordered from behind the control dash while he and Echo pursued their fire at the police droids.
Cass jumped off the walls and bounced her way back to the boys, extending her weapon to shield them from the shots.
"Where is Wrecker? Is he okay?" she worriedly voiced towards the brothers.
"Wrecker? Come in, Wrecker," Tech warily repeated through the comms. "Wrecker?"
Cass felt some sort of agitated disturbance and her heart sank a little deeper into her chest. She shook her head and scrunched her brow.
"Something's not right guys," Cass admitted with grit teeth as he flung her saber towards the droids, then called it back to her.
"Well we can't get to him now. All the exits are blocked, and it's about to get worse. A larger wave of police droids is headed our way," Echo insisted.
By this time, Hunter and Omega had thankfully rejoined the group, along with the same girl from before and another similar figure beside her.
"We need a diversion," the one holding the head recognized.
"What we need is a diversion," the other one squatted down and repeated.
The smaller one rolled her eyes and turned to Omega. "Is there an Echo in here?"
"Yes," Echo ratified and moved towards the girl.
"What?" she stuttered.
"I'm Echo," the clone saluted with his prosthetic and nodded.
"Really? Okay, Echo," the girl acknowledged. "We need a distraction. And he can help with that," she held up the robotic head and gestured it towards Echo.
"What's that thing gonna do?" the one who closely resembled her squawked from behind.
"We need an army to get out of this. And we happen to have one," the stranger explained as she pointed to super battle droids that swayed above their heads.
Cass disengaged her saber and plunged towards the huddle, landing between Echo and Omega. Tech drew away his blasters and followed his Jedi, finding his way to the ground to lean over her shoulder.
"If you activate those clankers, they'll start shooting at us," Echo pointed out bluntly.
"Not if we're controlling the droid who's control them," the girl replied while fixing the droid's wiring to their desired settings.
"Excellent idea," Tech affirmed.
"But there's not enough power, it's not gonna work-" Cass protested.
"It'll work, I promise! Just a few more adjustments and...that should do the trick!" the girl reassured and flipped the head right side up.
"Cannot transmit," the droid lit up for a moment before powering down again.
"It didn't work!" Omega cried.
Cass pursed her lips, desperately holding back an 'I told you so' expression. She turned over her shoulder—meeting Tech inches away from his face—and turned down her brows. "Tech, we need some sort of power bank to-"
"-Boost the signal? Already on it," Tech answered easily and adhered a short power stick to the droids head. "And this will help me access the program," he finished with a confident twirl of a data rod and jammed it into the metal.
He glanced over at Cass and even though she could only see his eyes, they were so expressive she could tell he was smirking beneath his helmet.
As Tech coded away on his data pad and gently pushed his visor up to keep it from falling, Cass' gaze was affixed on his fingers and his focused eyes. If there was any place to be completely enamored by someone, in the middle of a battle was surely not one of them. But her attraction to his intelligence and speedy hacking did nothing to stop her from doing so.
"Wrecker, to you copy? Wrecker where are you? We need your help," Omega commed in as the red blasts of the droids only escalated.
"On my way," Wrecker groaned.
"Brilliant plan Trace, really. One of your best," the second stranger argued from across the way.
"We just need a little more time!" the girl, who now was made known to be Trace, whined and threw her hands up anxiously.
The blasts were only getting closer and closer to the group, so Cass jumped back up and turned her lightsaber on, blocking the heavy fire that rained their way.
A lone dead droid hailed from the ceiling and knocked down one of the fighters. Cass' head shot up, only to see Wrecker barreling down towards the ground with his gun raised.
Cass observed him a moment and attempted to assess him mental state. In an instant, she could already tell that whatever she felt earlier wasn't there anymore. But at the rate this kept happening, she began to worry for the safety of herself and the others.
"You made it," Cass sighed in relief.
"Yeah! I got tired of you guys having all the fun!" Wrecker laughed as he flung and shot and kicked at the droids.
"Now him I like," the unnamed stranger commented to Hunter and smirked.
"Hang on, the data exchange is nearly complete," Tech announced hastily and bounced his thumb against the pad. "Done!"
Tech yanked the power stick away and stuck it into his utility belt. Trace rotated the droid and faced it towards her.
"What is happening?" The droid hummed monotonously as it's eyes glowed a dull yellow.
"Activate battle droids. Command them to attack all police droids," Trace directed firmly.
"Affirmative," the droid approved.
Everyone turned to view the dead B-series droids reactivate and drop to the conveyor belts.
"New command sequence. Your target is factory security personnel," the tactical droid informed.
Swarms of super battle droids dropped from above and began firing upon the police squad, while most of the other machines continued shooting from the upper belts.
One droid dropped beside Echo and he recoiled quickly, holding his blaster out and at the ready. The droid took no notice of him and turned away to fight it's intended target.
"Never thought I'd see battle droids helping us," Echo admitted.
"That's out cue! Move out!" Hunter ordered and rounded up the group.
"Mission accomplished," Tech beamed and handed Hunter the data stick.
"Nice work," Hunter nodded and tucked away the intel.
"R7, we're ready for a pickup," Trace commed to her droid, who beeped happily in response.
Omega lagged behind, thankfully grabbing her bow from the ground, then scurried beside Cass.
The boys split and left an opening for the Jedi to run down the middle, allowing her to block the first shots and leave cover for the group. Cass ran out with her saber raised and defended against the fire with Omega shooting arrows close by.
"You're getting good with that thing," Cass cooly cheered and Omega grinned smugly.
"We're almost there. Trust me, you'll see us," Trace informed her droid, then ran beyond Cass before all the droids were taken down.
Trace was then open for attack and Cass attempted to draw her back. Luckily it was just in time to save her from a fatal blow, but instead the shot blasted through the droid head in Trace's arms.
"No!" the girl cried and tried to run after it, though the police droids mercilessly blasted it to oblivion.
"Get behind me!" Cass yelled and pursued the fight alongside the newly reformed battle droids.
A large ship hummed and landed in the distance, causing Trace to bounce on her heels. "He's here, let's go!"
"Cassiopeia, come on!" Tech hollered.
Cass slowly backed up and defended herself until the battle droids were completely at the front lines. She met the clone in the middle, keeping her saber lit and reflective against his white armor. They sprinted alongside each other, following the group into Trace's ship for safety. They hopped onto the landing gear and hurried in until they were secure in the hull.
The two united with the huddled group, and rested near the wall to catch their breath. Tech lifted his helmet and held it at his hip while Cass stashed away her saber. She rested her forehead against his shoulder plate for a moment, then glanced up at him with pleading eyes—silently telling him that she's glad they made it out.
Though unnoticeable to the rest of the group, Tech leaned back subtly and pressed his side gently into hers—confirming his acknowledgement.
"All that work for nothing," Trace hung her head low and slouched against the wall.
"Whoever Cid's buyer is isn't gonna be happy," Omega sighed.
"Let me get this straight. You knew how dangerous the information on the tactical droid is, but you didn't know who you were giving it to?" The older of the two strangers stood up and shoved a finger into Hunter's chest.
"We're being paid to acquire and deliver, not ask questions," Hunter grunted and crossed his arms.
"Our contact needed that information to fight back against the Empire," Trace explained sorrowfully. "They're trying to help people and make things better."
Tech pondered her words carefully, feeling slightly regretful that they weren't doing the same thing...that they were trying to make money instead of doing what was best for the galaxy.
"Why aren't you fighting for the Empire? Isn't that what you clones do now?" the girl sneered, then gestured towards Cass. "And you...Jedi. I never thought you would fight for the Empire, but a mercenary? I thought I had changed my mind about you people but maybe you're still as corrupt as before."
Cass sucked in a breath and bit the inside of her cheek, suddenly feeling the same guilt Tech and his brothers did. She rubbed her palm and tried to ignore the accusatory statement.
Tech slyly slid his pinky around hers and held her just tight enough to ease her out of her anxious cogitation, as well as find comfort for himself in her touch. She turned her eyes in his direction but never met his gaze. She snapped out of her contemplative state and squeezed his finger back.
"Not all of us. We're different," Hunter defended.
"Yeah. I've heard that before," the girl huffed and wandered to the cockpit.
Hunter frowned as he mulled over her words.
"Don't listen to her," Trace piped up. "She tends to be a bit pessimistic."
"You don't say," Omega shrugged.
"You guys may have messed with the mission but you did help us get out alive so...thank you," Trace admitted and patted Hunter's shoulder.
"And you saved Omega. I can't thank you enough for that," Hunter bowed gratefully and Omega ambled over to lean into his side lovingly.
"Consider us even," Trace saluted then joined her sister at the front of the ship.
Cass released Tech's hand and rubbed her tender shoulder. "You know you're gonna have to give it to them," she whispered.
"Give them what?" Hunter squinted.
"The data rod. I know Tech copied the tactical droid's intel onto it earlier," Cass raised a brow.
Hunter sighed and glared at the ground. His face softened and he lolled his head defeatedly. "Yeah...yeah I know. But that means we won't get paid for this mission."
"But...if they can get the intel into the hands of someone important, perhaps that outweighs the loss," Tech added.
Hunter exhaled sharply, then squared his shoulders. "You're right. It's better that they get the intel than Cid's buyer."
"It's the right thing to do," Omega reassured him and squeezed his hand.
Hunter grinned lazily and gripped her hand firmly back. "Then that's what we'll do."
"And what about Cid and her buyer?" Omega contemplated aloud.
"As far they're concerned, the head was destroyed in action. They don't need to know we copied the data," Hunter answered.
The ship landed with a thump across the way from the batch's ship. Everyone exited and headed towards the Havoc Marauder while Omega and Hunter stuck around to talk to the rebels.
Wrecker plopped on the floor while Echo sat expectantly in the co-pilot's seat, observing Tech and Cass shuffle in while avoiding his entertained expression. Cass gently pushed on Tech's back plate, urging him to his room before Echo had the chance to tease them. Echo chuckled to himself as Cass and Tech slipped into the room clumsily and shut the door.
Tech waited patiently and studied Cass, trying to read her expressions and figure out why they were in there. He readjusted his goggles and fiddled with his hands, forgiving the standing silence between them as she thought.
"I'm sorry about before," she finally exhaled and leaned against the door. "I didn't mean to let it slip out...about us, you know—I'm not even sure you wanted to say anything yet-"
"Cassiopeia, it's perfectly alright," Tech reassured her with slow and soft words. "And I have concluded we aren't the most subtle so it was inevitable that they would find out anyways."
Cass laughed breathily and wrapped her arms around her torso. "I guess you're right."
"Naturally," Tech shrugged and lifted one corner of his mouth.
Cass chuckled at his dry statement and wandered over to the bunks, then flopped onto Hunter's empty bed.
"We should probably tell everyone before Echo does. With this stupid bet, I'm sure he's itching to do it himself," Cass grumbled while stripping the leather band from her hair. "Ugh—but I also don't wanna see your brothers' smug faces when we say it either."
"You did say awkwardness came with the territory," Tech pointed out.
"Yeah don't remind me," she groaned and covered her face with her hands. "Can we just hide in this room forever?"
"While being in a room with only you, a data pad, and two days worth of rations for the rest of eternity does sound quite tempting, it wouldn't be-"
"That was rhetorical, Tech," Cass chuckled defeatedly and pried her hands away from her eyes to rest on her stomach.
"No matter, my statement still stands," he grinned gingerly and squatted beside her.
She shook her head while she reddened like a sachi blossom, then rolled onto her side and pulled herself up so she was level with Tech's eye line. She swiped a bit of dirt from the lens of his goggles, letting her fingers graze the skin of his temple briefly.
"Maybe we could get Omega to tell them," Cass perked an eyebrow and brought her hands back to her lap.
"Intriguing," Tech nodded with a tinge of blush on his cheeks. He pursed his lips, faking an expression of contemplation. "And she did win the bet after all."
Cass smirked knowingly and shrugged. "Oh how could we forget that? I mean...it's only fair we let the winner know in private."
"Precisely," Tech bowed and rose from his squat. He opened the door to call for Omega, then shut it once again when the child rushed in excitedly.
"What's going on guys?" Omega bounced across the metal floors then halted in front of Cass.
"Well," Cass dragged out the word and scooted over for Tech to sit beside her. "We have really great news for you."
"Ooh! Ooh! What is it?" Omega chirped and clasped her hands together.
"You won the bet," Tech informed her simply.
Omega's instant reaction to hearing either of them talk about the bet was to pretend she didn't understand. She stopped jumping in place and squinted at Tech, then at Cass, then back to Tech.
"You guys better not be messing with me," she pointed a finger and crossed her arms. "I really wanted to win this."
"Omega..." Cass sing-songed and bumped her knee against Tech's.
Tech didn't recoil instantly and instead subtly leaned into her touch, glancing over at Cass with only hearts in his eyes. Omega took notice, her brows raised and she gasped dramatically.
"You guys are together!" she squealed and wrapped one arm around Cass and one around Tech, yanking them together in a squished huddle.
"And you know what that means?" Cass pulled away cheerfully and waited to Omega to gain the realization.
"That means...that means I won the bet! I won!" She spun in a circle with her arms spread. "Oh Cass! You can help me pick what planet we get to go to!"
"Is that what you won?" Cass inquired further.
"Yes! Hunter said I can pick any planet to go to as long as it's safe for everyone," Omega nodded frantically.
"That sounds like the perfect prize," Cass scrunched her nose as she smiled and pulled Omega into her lap. "But you know who you need to tell now?" Cass whispered teasingly.
Omega gasped again. "Hunter! I have to tell Hunter!"
Omega leaped from her lap and sprinted out the door with the biggest grin on her face in the galaxy. Cass laughed heartily and nudged Tech with her shoulder. "Not so bad, huh?"
"Just wait until Wrecker gets word of it," Tech lolled his head in her direction.
"Hunter! Hunter! Guess what!" Omega's tiny voice shrieked from outside the door. "I won the bet!"
"The bet? Wait, how do you know?" Hunter mumbled as he approached closer to the child.
"These walls are too thin," Cass chuckled quietly and Tech nodded in agreement.
"They just told me!" Omega related enthusiastically, the soft taps of her feet could still be heard from the bunks.
"What? Well...where are they?" Hunter questioned and Tech could perfectly visualize the raised eyebrow on his face and his weight focused to one hip.
"What's the kid going on about?" Wrecker's voice boomed, still slightly agitated by his headache.
"Here we go," Tech sighed apathetically and straightened his shoulders.
"I won the bet, Wrecker!" Omega answered.
"The bet? But you said twenty-four hours?" Wrecker repeated.
"Uh huhhh," Omega dragged out heartily.
"Wait...so that means...Cass! Tech!" Wrecker gasped and jumped from his spot on the floor.
"Brace yourself," Tech asserted and stood up swiftly.
Cass' mouth gaped acutely. "What-"
Wrecker burst into the room and practically threw himself at the pair. He scooped up Cass from the bunk and squeezed the air out of her lungs while wrapping another arm around his brother's neck. He pecked them both of their temples, Cass scrunched her nose happily while Tech was half-disgusted and half-elated.
"Wrecker...too...tight," Cass choked out and patted Wrecker's chest.
"Oh! Sorry," Wrecker apologized frantically and immediately set her down.
She rolled her shoulder with a wince and inhaled forcefully, letting Tech briskly look the bruised area over.
"Sorry, Cassi...didn't mean to be so rough," Wrecker wrung his hands together and shifted his feet around. "I'm just so excited!"
"I know, Wrecker, it's okay," Cass reassured him once Tech stepped away from inspecting her wounds.
"She will be alright. You did more damage to her lungs than anything else," Tech shrugged and Wrecker's eyes bulged.
"No no no, I promise you I'm fine, don't listen to him," Cass waved off Tech—who squinted at her in slight offense—and stepped closer to the larger clone. "I'm happy that you're happy."
"Happy? That doesn't even begin to describe it!" Wrecker's face perked and he threw his hands up passionately. "I always knew it would happen!"
Cass shrunk down as Wrecker fluffed her hair and slapped Tech hard enough on the shoulder for Tech to almost lose his balance. Cass held Tech's forearm and steadied him swiftly, then the pair huddled together in attempt to block any more innocent jabs from Wrecker.
"So does that mean you two are like...together? Like a couple?" Wrecker waved a finger between them both.
Cass swallowed and peered up at Tech, who was already noting her expressions and listening intently. "Well, we didn't really, um..."
By then, Hunter, Omega, and Echo had found their way to the entry and were curiously peeking in. Cass trailed off anxiously, now feeling small under all their gazes.
"We didn't really talk about that part but-"
"-But technically we are romantically paired and plan to pursue this for the foreseeable future," Tech explained easily, followed by a quick glance at Cass to capture her reaction. "So by definition, that constitutes us as a couple, right?"
Cass' lips quirked up and she bit back an enormous grin. She pressed into his side and gleefully nodded, her heart thumped harmoniously in sync with his and their rosy cheeks deepened to a scarlet color.
"Absolutely."
. . . . . .
❗️❗️❗️domestic bad batch moments & cass x tech fluff in the next chapters❗️❗️❗️IM SO EXCITED FOR THE FLUFF