Dashing out of the forestry of the beach island, Genesis stumbled in the water as she caught herself before running ahead as Hunter, Wrecker and Echo scrambled out of the forest behind her as the roars of the creatures grew louder from the thicket as these crab-like creatures ran out of the forest after the four.
"We went over the plan five times!"
"I got the package, didn't I?" Wrecker exclaimed who was in fact carrying the crate
"Yeah, but the plan didn't involve us getting chased by giant crabs!" Genesis hollered out as she dropped down to avoid one of the creature's jumping out at her from the forest as sand collected over her armor as she scrambled up from the wetter sand.
Hunter urged them to keep moving and save the bickering for when they got back on the ship. Contacting the Marauder for a pick up as Hunter and Gen shot at a crab coming at Echo which only slowed it down as it shrieked, blocking the shots.
"Wrecker woke the pod, didn't he?"
"Unfortunately. But we need a pickup, now."
"Copy that. We're on our way." Omega's voice rang out before the comm went silent.
The four continued running down the beach until halting at the sight of more of the pod members coming ahead of them as the Marauder flew out into the open as Omega was hanging off the ship by the rope being used to get them off the island.
"Why is Omega hanging off the ship?"
"Joyride?" Genesis joked as Hunter's helmet turned towards her and she nodded slowly as her head lowered, knowing exactly he had a scowl on his face from her comment despite being unable to see his face.
"It is an unscheduled study break."
Running towards the lowering ship, Omega managed to climb back on the ramp of the ship as she gave the four cover from her perch as she unhooked herself and had the hook lower down to them.
Hooking the crate up the four climbed onto the crate as they were right about to be swarmed by the crabs as they fired down at the crabs as they were lifted back onto the ship before heading inside as the ramp closed behind them.
Practically collapsing on the floor from exhaustion and her legs feeling like they were about to give out; Genesis pulled off her helmet, revealing her undercut hair as the shaven side had grown in and being lazy to fix it, she had let it grown out a bit, long enough to braid on the ridge of her head and down to the back of her head but short so it didn't get in the way.
"I thought the beach was gonna be relaxing." Wrecker complained, placing down the crate and practically laying on it as Genesis grumbled in response, shaking her helmet off of all the sand built up on it.
She heard Hunter talk to Omega about her helping them... outside the ship as Gen rolled onto her back, "Aw, she's picking up on my recklessness." She nudged Omega's foot with her own armored one, giving the young clone a tired smile as the former returned it, a giggle escaping her lips.
Hunter's eyes rolled at the comment as Omega took off her hat, revealing her slightly grown out hair. "Yeah, but it was still pretty fun." She admitted.
✦✧✦✧
The smell of mole permeated the entrance as the clones entered Cid's Bar on Ord Mantell as the two regulars they always saw were of course at a table playing Dejarik, AZI serving them as the droid noticed their arrival as he introduced himself like they didn't know him as they walked passed the droid.
"You are all quite late. Mistress Cid has been extremely vocal about her displeasure."
"When is she not?"
Going to the back, they followed Wrecker as he dropped the crate in front of Cid's desk as the Trandosian already began nabbing at them for taking forever as another voice cut in as everyone's gaze turned to the woman leaning back in Cid's chair, her feet resting on the desk.
Immediately she gave off the vibes of a pirate or mercenary, "And you are?" Genesis inquired as she tilted her head slightly at the woman.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" She stood up from the chair, her drink in hand as she rounded the desk, "So, this is the top team you've been talking about? The Rogue clones on the run from the Empire, huh? How juicy."
Hunter locked eyes with Cid, questioning if she told this pirate the real reason they were here. Cid insisted that the pirate, who's name was Phee, was the most trustworthy pirate the trandosian knew.
"Is that supposed to be comforting?" Echo questioned aloud as Phee's eyes scanned the squadron before asking if they were supposed to look alike.
"So much for quality control." She motioned to each of the clones, pointing out the most obvious differences about them, "This one's too big. This one's too small. This one's got a face tattoo."
"And yet that face tattoo attracted a Jedi's attention" Genesis remarked quietly, patting Hunter's armored shoulder.
"Are you sure you're even a clone?" Phee remarked as Genesis' head turned towards the pirate before flipping her off, not even answering her question as the latter's attention was directed onto Tech as she called him Brown Eyes, asking for a name.
To which Tech responded with, before going into the details about the eye color as Phee interrupted him, excusing herself as she finished her drink and dropped the glass into Cid's hands as she requested Wrecker to help her with the crate.
"And, Cid, that intel is not free. I expect a cut if your 'top team' comes through." The clones watched Phee and Wrecker leave before they turned back around to Cid. Asking what she was on about.
"Your next mission. You lot are heading to the Outer Rim." Cid pressed a few buttons, pulling up a hologram of a familiar castle, Tech immediately recognizing it as Castle Serenno, the former home of Count Dooku. Omega asked who Count Dooku was as Echo explained to her of him originally being a Jedi, but betrayed the Republic and led the Separatists in war.
"With him being dead, Dooku's entire war chest is up for grabs. The Empire has already started pillaging his palace, but there is still time to strike before it's all gone." Cid told them as Genesis and Hunter locked eyes, knowing exactly what the other was thinking without words being said between the two.
Hunter however, was thinking of a few more worries than Genesis, mostly concerning her after Kamino and her last encounter with the Empire after basically being left for dead by them while the city was falling.
Turning back to the visual of the Castle, the former listen to Hunter telling Cid they weren't taking the job before leaving the office, the others following as Genesis stayed behind.
"What 'bout you?" Genesis raised an eyebrow at the question before leaning forward and placing her hands on the table.
"He's right. If we had known about this sooner, maybe before the Empire started raiding it, we might've taken it." The clone confesses to the Trandosian as the latter sighs rather loudly.
"Well try and convince dark and broody to take it." Before Genesis could have a say, Cid was already roughly pushing her out into the hallway as the door wooshed shut in front of the clone as the slight wind from the door quickly shutting flowed Genesis's hair in her face, a frown forming on her face as she blew it aside before going out to join the others.
✦✧✦✧
Walking out into the bar Genesis noticed Hunter quizzing Omega on different types of ships whilst the others gathered around a table as she went over to them, curious on the hushed whispers going between the tables.
"Should I be concerned that it's all hushed over here?" She asked them as she noticed the looks they gave each other, "Come on, I'm not like Hunter, we all know that. What's up?"
Hesitating, Echo sighed before giving in. "We want to go after Dooku's treasure." Curiosity struck Genesis as she crossed her arms across her chest.
"Really? I mean sure, us being dead to the Empire has perks but I'm surprised you even agreed to this Echo, you usually are considerate about this stuff also." Speaking her thoughts as Echo rubbed the back of his neck in contemplation, ready to speak as Tech stopped him.
"Think about it Genesis, if Cid is right, the items in the castle could be more than enough for us to be done with Cid. For good." He was right about that, the items kept there might be priceless. Some worthless, but maybe just one of those artifacts could get Cid off their backs, and maybe they could go off, maybe try to have some normality in their lives that were filled with war and death.
"I might've denied it also but putting it like that... We'll be here forever with Cid's debt." She looked between the others, before she sighed, "I'm not saying I agree to this, I'm half convinced on this. But we all know you'll need to get Hunter convinced on this, not me."
"Convince me about what?" Hunter joined them, interested in the hushed conversation between them, the three looked at each other, waiting for the lucky person to tell him the proposal.
"Uh, well," Wrecker hesitation seeped in his voice as he rubbed the back of his neck, "we took a vote, and we wanna go after the war chest."
"It's unanimous." Cid's voice joined in as the Trandosian snuck up on the conversation, pushing herself in between Echo and Gen, "Even Killjoy agrees." She pointed to Echo who was mildly surprised at the nickname before Hunter reminded them that Serenno is occupied by the Empire, that they've managed to stay off the Empire's radar since Kamino before asking why they would risk this now.
"Because the contents of just one of those containers would be worth more than all the jobs you pulled for me combined. You can buy your freedom."
"We're already free." Genesis told Cid in a softer tone as the latter almost laughed at the clone's comment.
"It's cute you think that missy. Clearly, you're not paying attention to what's happening out there, but I am. It's only a matter of time before the Empire comes here. And then my little operation is over, which means no more jobs for you." Cid pointed out as Tech agreed that she does unfortunately have a valid point.
"You wanna really be free? Then pull off this heist, and you'll have the means to disappear. No more risky missions. No more living hand to mouth. You can have a future. Isn't that what you're after?"
Sharing a look with the others, Genesis looked over to Omega who was uninterestedly looking over classes of ships before at the others as she caught Hunter's glance at the kid over as she quietly raised an eyebrow at him as her head tilted a tiny bit to the side as a small smirk slowly formed.
✦✧✦✧
The Marauder flew through Hyperspace as the blue glow of the travel beamed through the tinted glass as everyone was preparing, well in Wrecker's case, relaxing before their arrival.
Genesis was sitting in the back along with Hunter, the former leaned back in her chair with a paintbrush as the coated brush glided over the gray with the colors that followed the other pieces of armor whilst the latter sat across from her, looking over Star maps as a silence fell over them as it did throughout the whole ship.
The silence eventually was broken by footsteps that belonged to Echo as the cyborg clone joined the two as he quickly glanced up at Omega's room before telling Hunter that he knew exactly why he agreed to the mission. Which caused Genesis's paint strokes to slow but not falter completely as she pretended that she wasn't listening to the conversation and simply focused on her paint job.
"We can do better things with Dooku's fortune than hide, Hunter." Silence danced between the two as Echo continued, despite Hunter ignoring his desires, "With what we're up against, we have to be prepared to fight. That means numbers and weapons"
"That's not the kind of life this kid deserves."
"Our lives are like this because of Omega." Those words immediately had Hunter shoot out of his chair, Genesis halting her painting at the harsh words as her brown eyes watched the former push Echo out of hearing distance from Omega's room.
"Taking her off Kamino was the right thing to do. But there are others out there who need our help. We've seen what the Empire is doing throughout the galaxy." This time, Echo turned to face Genesis who's helmet now sat in her lap as the brush twirled between her fingers as she was now fully listening to the conversation. The cyborg-clone hoping that maybe she could convince Hunter about his thoughts. "We should be doing more."
The two watched Echo depart back into the cockpit as Hunter glanced towards his sister as she leaned her head back, exhaling a deep sigh as she shrugged quietly before going back to her paint job.
✦✧✦✧
The Marauder landed a distance away from the castle in an open, but rural area, sitting next to a mountain range filled with trees as the ramp lowered and everyone exited the ship as they gave the area a quick look around.
"So, where is this palace?" Wrecker asked as Tech provided the answer with it located on the opposite side of the mountain range which earned a small groan from Genesis as she grumbled about her new paint job as she slipped on her helmet and followed the others.
Traversing alongside ledge of the mountainside they came to a stop at the sight of a town surrounded by the blue-purple trees that was decimated, a large trench running through the town as buildings had collapsed from the fighting, or were set ablaze.
"That's the city? What happened to it?"
"Imperial orbital bombardment. Same as on Kamino." Echo explained to Omega, while their voices seemingly faded out of Genesis' ears and replaced with a ringing that was previously present during the destruction of Tipoca City.
The longer she stared at the destruction of the city present below them the more she felt like on death's doorstep like she was back on Kamino as her breathing heavily and her gloved hands began to unconsciously clench into fists and release multiple times; her body slowly losing feeling as the numbness returned right until a touch on her armored shoulder brought her back to reality.
Her brown eyes blinked multiple times under her helmet as her helmet turned to be greeted by her brother's as her fists unclenched and rested against her sides.
"You okay?" Hunter asked her as she looked back at the city for a second before turning back to him.
"Yeah," She nodded, a crack in her voice that went unnoticed by Hunter despite seeming really loud in her ears.
She took notice of everyone ahead of the two as she stepped back from her brother, her helmet bobbing up and down, reassuring even herself as she turned away from the city, "I'm good."
They silently followed the others down as eventually they came up to the castle. On top of the castle sat 3 ships loaded with crates to stuff from the contents inside the castle as they took notice of more stuff being loaded onto the final ship as the first transport ship took off.
"There's over 40 troopers down there."
Banging his fists together, Wrecker grunted saying that's gonna be nothing for them as Omega reminded him about the stealth approach.
Hearing engines starting up they turned to see two escort ships starting up and rising off the platform to join the transport
"Standard protocol for when high-level cargo is being transported." Tech told them as Hunter, who made up his mind ordered them to get to the nearest container and grab whatever they could, while he'd be the eyes on the ground and ready to divert the imperial forces if things went south
"Hunter-" Genesis' called out as he was about to head down, a tightening feeling forming in her chest as her ears made her voice feel like it cracked and almost sounded like a whimper as her hands clenched into fists once more, "Could I come," She took in a shaky breath as she murmured "Please." as the group fell into silence over her request.
Hunter's helmet turned just an inch at most to Tech who was typing something in his holopad, not looking up at him as the former nodded as she carefully stepped forward and followed him down.
Trailing down the hill the two hid behind some trees next to the escort ships as they heard Echo's voice through their helmets, telling them they were in position, and that the second transport was leaving now.
"We've got roving patrols. Stay alert." Two more escort ships took off as Hunter grabbed a remote bomb as he handed it to Genesis as she nodded, understanding what to do.
Once the coast was clear the two ran out into the open as Genesis slid down to face the belly of the ship as she placed the bomb onto the ship, turning it to activate as she frowned under her helmet and added a few tiny bombs of her own design onto the belly, linking them up with a controller she had.
She was about to slide out as she noticed two sets of white armored legs walk towards her ship as she quickly grabbed onto some pieces of the ship that stuck out and lifted herself up, her armored chest against the belly as she waited until they passed until she lowered herself down, quietly slipping out from under the ship and ran back to the trees to join Hunter.
"Hunter, Gen, I think we're about to have some company."
"Are you clear?"
"Negative. We could use that diversion about now."
"Got it." Genesis pulled out her controller as she noticed her brother's helmet, staring at her as she knew the exact look on his face "Hey, let me have my fun." She murmured with a frown under her helmet.
She turned the knob as the controller counted down as she stuck her hand out, counting down alongside the controller as the ships exploded, a mix of color added as the two patrolling troopers and pieces of the remaining escorts were covered in dyes.
"See, perfect." She smirked under her helmet as she stuffed the controller in her backpack as Hunter commed the others, telling them they'll be heading their way as she followed behind him as they made their way through the forest towards the side where the transport was located.
They saw only Wrecker drop down a crate from the ship on the outskirts of the forest as Genesis asked where the others were.
"Still in the container." They all turned to the transport that spewed out steam, indicating it was about to take off.
"Oh, of course they are." Genesis hummed out as she heard Hunter urge them to get out until they heard Omega's voice ring through their comms.
"Guys, We're trapped in the container. We can't get out."
"Uh, Boss? I think they know something's up." Wrecker told the two, watching troopers line up at the edge of the forest as Hunter glanced at Genesis who rubbed the back of her neck.
"Okay, that might be on me, I thought the colored residue would've burned alongside the bomb," She threw her hands out in a sarcastic manner, "I unfortunately was wrong."
Sighing, Hunter grabbed out his blaster, "We're done hiding anyway."
Stunning the troopers that were lined up they ran towards the transporter that was getting ready to take off as the three quickly scaled up the ladder on the side, avoiding the blaster shots fired up at them as they fired back with stuns as in the corner of her eye Hunter fell from losing his grip from a bolt as he grabbed onto the last step of the ladder, hanging off the ship.
"Oh, I'm starting to regret this."
"You and me both..." Genesis whispered as her grip tightened on the ladder as she heard Hunter yell for them to jump as she had almost hesitated but managed to let go of the ladder and dropped down onto the top of the rusted circular roof of the palace as Genesis pulled out her sword, more effectively slowly her fall then with her knifes as she and Hunter landed on a small extension of the roof as Wrecker slipped forward almost falling off as the two helped him up.
"Hunter, Gen, where are you?"
"Yeah, about that... we got a little sidetracked." The female coughed slightly as she looked for a way inside from up on the roof as she kneeled down, feeling for a small hitch indicating that a trapped door was placed there.
"You need to get off that ship before it jumps to hyperspace."
"If we gain access to the ship's main hold, we could commandeer an escape pod."
Hunter told them to follow with that plan, and to meet back at the Marauder as Wrecker commented on it potentially taking a while as the former and Gen looked to see the courtyard filled with the troopers firing at them as they quickly lowered down to avoid the fire as Genesis found the hitch and she used her sword to pry it open as the three pull it open the heavy trapdoor and jumping down into the building.
✦✧✦✧
Eventually the three clones made there way into what they assumed was the main hall that Dooku probably mostly resided most of his time in as two ledges lead down to a small raised platform that sat a desk and a throne, and behind those pieces was a partially broken glass wall that was colored green, sunlight emanating through the shattered parts of the window.
"This place is creepy." Genesis remarked as the all the rooms they traveled through gave her a bad feeling just from the vibe alone to the point where she had to remind herself that Dooku and whoever else resided here was either dead, or abandoned this place all together.
"Can't disagree with that." Wrecker added as the door across from the desk flew open, revealing a squadron of troopers as in response the three raised their blasters and stunned the unfortunate trooper that didn't dodge in time as the three ran behind the desk for cover as the throne was thrown back from the blaster shots.
As Wrecker had jumped over the desk the floor felt like it shifted a bit as they did not pick up the fact that a piece of the flooring had lowered just slightly from the weight.
"Any ideas?"
"We're not going out. We're going down." Confused by what Hunter was saying, Genesis spared a glance down at the floor as she noticed the piece they were standing on was shifted lower just a tiny bit as she realized a lift was below them.
He told them to cover him as Genesis and Wrecker continued laying cover fire as the two doors opened up on the hedges as more troopers piled through.
"What's taking you so long?" Wrecker questioned as Hunter clearly didn't know what he was doing as Genesis groaned, holstering her blasters as she pushed him aside, murmuring something as she found the right tab and clicked a few buttons as the floor below them began to shift, indicating the activation as a bolt suddenly shot into the console, sparks flying everywhere as it glitched out.
"Well, I tried." Genesis commented as she fired at the troopers as Wrecker said he could fix it as her eyebrows furrowed as she was confused on what he was meaning as her blaster fired stopped as her brain tried to figure out what could he do until realization had struck her hard as she immediately shook her head in panic.
"Don't you dare-" She shouted as Wrecker threw a smoke bomb, distracting the troopers long enough as he began to jump on the lift like a child would in an elevator.
"Wait! Don't! No!" The lift gave out as the three fell through the elevator, engulfed in darkness as they fell straight to the very bottom of the entire palace as Wrecker's yell echoed throughout the walls and followed them down.
✦✧✦✧
Kinda debating if it's worth rewriting all of the chapters or just story driven ones + Mika bc those feel off. Opinions anyone? Anyways welcome to rewritten chaoter number 1. This'll be the last time I swear, updates may or may not correspond with the s3 episodes releasing if there rewritten in time.
But plan probably for this is gonna be, republish chapters, let s3 run, write s3 and take a break from star wars so I don't get burnt out. Might do some random project in between (one piece live action anyone?)
Anyways love Y'all!
Rose-