Astera:
He had to have been waiting for us. It was the only explanation for his rapid arrival - it had only been mere hours before Crosshair had shown up at Daro, as cold and sneering as ever. Though the right side of his head was now covered with horrific scars, mottled and discoloured. Burn scars. Had we done that to him, when we'd cracked the cruiser's engine cone on Bracca? His host of troopers had been standing right in the blast zone when the cone had broken away from the body of the cruiser. It seemed likely he would have been caught in it.
After the brief, cold exchange with Hunter, he'd ordered us both to be taken out of the prison block, binders snapped on our wrists and herded into a transport. The rough actions of the Elite Squad that Crosshair now led hadn't done anything to ease the throbbing discomfort of a dislocated shoulder, but at least it had been reset.
Though the medic who had put my arm back into its socket hadn't taken any care at all to be gentle. A ragged sting in my cheek had joined the now dull ache in my shoulder, though compared to the white hot agony I had been in only hours ago, this pain was nothing.
The cell of the Rho-class transport was windowless as well, but it had been easy enough to tell when the ship had fired up and lifted off the surface of the planet, feeling the shift of the entire ship as it jolted into hyperspace. Crosshair had not deigned to inform us where we were going, of course, only serving to add to the anxiety looming over me.
My good hand slid over an empty holster, the tight feeling in my chest loosening slightly at the feel of the occupied compartment concealed within them. Everything had been disarmed when they had taken us, my blasters, Hunter's knife, even the darts and whipcord in my vambraces. Crosshair had allowed the vibroblade, strangely enough, though the condescending sneer was enough to reinforce what I'd already guessed - the tiny weapon would do nothing in aiding an escape. But they hadn't found my lightsabers.
They were about as useful to me here as a toothpick, with the two Elite troopers stationed in front of us. The second those yellow blades activated, they would know what I was, and though I was certain I could take them down, even with only one arm, the same couldn't be said for the rest of the troopers on the shuttle. Especially Crosshair. It was also likely there was surveillance on the ship, recording every movement and sending it back somewhere to the Empire. Even if Hunter and I could hijack the ship, I would still be giving myself away.
Yet it eased my mind to know they were there. They would be my last resort, I decided, if they discovered who I really was. If I were to die a Jedi, I would rather die fighting as one.
Hunter's head lifted at the sound of beeping, cuffs clinking against each other as he shifted on the floor next to me. Neither of the Elite troopers so much as twitched as the door to our cell hissed open, and Crosshair strode in, sour faced like he always was.
"Where're we going?" Hunter was deceptively casual, just like he had been at Daro. If I hadn't known better, detected the icy edge to his voice, I would have assumed nothing had happened between them. Like Crosshair hadn't betrayed them for the Empire.
"You'll find out soon enough." He crouched in front of him, reaching for the comm they'd left on Hunter's belt and switching it on. Broadcasting a signal straight to the rest of the Batch. "And so will the rest of your squad."
'Yours', I noted. Not 'ours.' Like Crosshair didn't consider them kin anymore.
"Using my comm won't work." If Hunter had made the same observation I had, he didn't show it, still speaking to him calmly. A calm that belied the anger I could feel pouring off him in simmering waves. Despite my best efforts to, the Force within me had refused to wrangle itself back into the locks I'd kept on it, its whisper light presence still flowing through my body. I could feel everything in the room, from Crosshair's contempt to the superior disdain from the Elite Squad troopers at the door. "They'll know it's a trap."
Crosshair paused only briefly, each of his next words punctuated with absolute certainty. "They'll still come for you."
The door shut behind him, leaving the two Elite Squad troopers at the door. Silent, as I had been since our capture.
Neither of us said anything when he left - anything we wanted to say was something we couldn't, not with the two troopers still in the room. So Hunter just leaned his head back against the wall, eyes shutting as though acting like the Elite Squad troopers weren't there.
I shifted on the floor, trying to ignore the pain in my shoulder. The makeshift sling the medic had stuffed my arm into at Daro had been stripped away when the stuncuffs had gone on and without its support the dull ache had flared into a steady pulsing pain. But it answered what he was looking for well enough. I was fine, despite the anxiety thundering away at me. As long as they didn't figure out what I was, I was fine.
Even so, I didn't take my eyes off the troopers in front of us, unconsciously moving closer to him until our shoulders were almost brushing. Despite the grave situation, his presence was strangely comforting, much unlike the troopers clad in black. Their intimidating silence was not helping the tightness in my chest, the racing thoughts that threatened to overwhelm me any second now.
I could meditate. The thought struck me like lightning, spine locking straight as soon as it occurred to me. I remembered meditation as a Jedi, Obi-Wan insistently telling me in my younger years to keep my breathing even and my focus centred. It had helped to calm me when I used to feel overwhelmed. Maybe it would help again.
I eyed the troopers again, weighing the odds. It was dangerous, but it was likely they wouldn't even know what I was doing. And with the Force still thrumming through my blood, I might as well. The most it could do right now is calm my anxiety, help ground me like it once had.
So I closed my eyes, exhaling a long slow breath, and let my mind drift from my body.
The changing of the ship's movement jolted me out of my trance, legs uncurling from their crossed position on the floor. We had arrived at whatever mystery location Crosshair had promised was in store for us. That much I knew.
Behind the doors, something beeped once again before they slid open. Crosshair stalked in with only a barked "Get up," to the both of us, the other two troopers finally moving from their rigid position at the door to move behind us, herding us out of the cell. His helmet had gone back on his head, the standard design of clone trooper helmets, save for the dark colour of it. A far cry from the modified, personalised designs of the Batch. Hunter's own helmet and his knife were gripped loosely in one hand.
I blanched when the landing ramp lowered, seeing the familiar docking bay, only for one of the other troopers to jam the butt of his gun into my back, forcing me forward with another shock of pain spreading across my shoulder. I didn't need to look outside to know that this facility was situated on top of a waterlogged planet, held upright only through spindly legs that defied the lashing seas at every second. Kamino. Of all places, he had brought us to Kamino.
An admiral, accompanied by a host of the new TK troopers and the other two Elite Squad members, stood before the shuttle we had arrived on, clearly waiting for Crosshair and the rest of his squad. The same admiral from Ryloth, I noticed. The one who had falsely condemned Cham Syndulla for the murder of Orn Free Taa.
He spared the two of us a cursory disdainful glance before addressing the sharpshooter clone. "Where are the rest of them?"
"They'll be here." The absolute certainty grated on me, but most likely because he was right. Even on the off chance they'd made the smart decision not to come, Omega would have found a way to convince them otherwise. "We'll intercept on arrival."
"And her?" He angled his chin towards me, noting the black and silver armour that was clearly not clone armour.
"She's no one." I could feel the sneer in his words, dismissing me of any importance whatsoever. "Seems like they picked up a stray while they were gone."
"Hmm." His brief interest in me died and flickered back to Hunter, stepping forward as if to get a better look at him. "So you're the one they call 'Hunter'. The destruction your squad caused on Ryloth got my attention."
Hunter said nothing, regarding the admiral with the same cool air he had spoken to Crosshair with, covering all traces of anything he might be feeling. Other than the slightest narrowing of his eyes, he might as well have been carved from stone.
The admiral, unruffled by his silence, only addressed Crosshair again. "I leave this to you, Commander. Stay on schedule."
Crosshair nodded curtly in response, his company parting around the admiral with one trooper roughly shoving Hunter and I forward again, ignoring my outraged hiss of pain as we moved, into the blinding white hallways of the facility.
The first thing I noticed was the utter lack of clone troopers. The utter lack of anybody, really. The corridors, once filled with cadets and fully graduated clones stomping down them in neat lines, were now empty, save for the odd pair of TK troopers pushing a hovercart loaded with crates. Hunter noticed it too, eyes darting around the hallway as if he would magically uncover invisible clones marching down the corridors.
"Where are all the regs?"
"When did you start caring about them?" Crosshair sneered derisively at the thought, though I suspected the question was more to distract him from the glaring emptiness.
Hunter, however, ignored it, continuing with his observations. "No Kaminoans either. This facility's being decommissioned."
A brief pause, trying to gauge Crosshair's reaction. When none came, he pressed on. "You don't seem too concerned."
"Why would I be?"
"Because the Empire will be phasing out clones next." He spun then, halting our progress down the hallway to face Crosshair, as if looking him in the eye would drive the implications home. Crosshair would be included among those clones.
Crosshair only jabbed the blaster into Hunter's chestplate, a clear message to keep walking. "Not the ones that matter."
Hunter could only stare at his former squadmate with a mixture of disbelief and anger, eyes flickering towards the Elite Squad trooper as if to accentuate his point before complying with Crosshair's unspoken order, starting back down the hallway before either trooper could shove us forward with their blasters.
We were brought to the main control room, as empty as the rest of the hallways. Only one other black clad trooper occupied the place, looking up at us as we entered.
"A ship was detected entering the system, but we lost them below scanner range."
The others. They were here already. Though how they were planning on hiding the Marauder, I had no idea. The Kaminoan facilities had no place to secretly dock - there was only the main landing bay. And they sure as hell weren't getting in that way.
"It's them." Just as it had earlier, Crosshair's words held no trace of doubt. He knew them inside and out. Of course he'd known they would come.
"I'll notify the scouts." The Elite Squad trooper that had her blaster at my back turned to leave, only to be stopped by Crosshair.
"Don't bother. They'll come to us." He leaned against one of those large chairs built for the Kaminoans, leaving Hunter's helmet and knife on the seat behind him. "They don't leave their own behind. Most of the time."
The meaning behind his words, and the way he levelled his visor at Hunter said everything. He blamed them for leaving him behind.
"You tried to kill us." The disbelief had returned to Hunter's voice. "We didn't have a choice."
Crosshair removed his helmet to glare at him, sticking a toothpick into the corner of his mouth. "And I did?"
Hunter fell silent, shadows falling across the skull tattoo on his face. I could see the guilt underneath the cool composure he still kept rigidly in place. Crosshair smirked at his lack of response, triumph clear on his face. Something needed to be done before it got too far.
"I've seen what the Empire is doing, Crosshair." His head lifted when I spoke, the first words I'd said since our capture on Daro. "Occupying planets, silencing anyone who stands against them. You know it's not right."
"You don't see the bigger picture." He got up then, removing the toothpick from his mouth and stretching to his full height, nearly half a foot taller than me. "But you will."
"At least let her go." Hunter broke in suddenly with a gesture to me, my entreatment to Crosshair allowing him to recover himself. "Ashe has nothing to do with this. She's innocent."
"Oh, you're mistaken," Crosshair replied silkily, looking at me for the first time since we'd arrived here. "Ashe plays a very important role in this. We wouldn't want to leave out your little Jedi girlfriend, would we?"
He sneered once again at Hunter speechless for the second time. "But you already knew that, didn't you? You should have killed her when you had the chance. Like we were ordered to do."
I tuned out the rest of his words, blood turning to ice in my veins at that one word. Jedi. He had said it quietly enough that the other Elite Squad Trooper had not heard, but it hardly mattered. He knew. He'd figured it out. But how? I'd been so careful using the Force, just those sparing moments like Bracca and...
Bracca. I nearly cursed out loud as I remembered. He must have seen my hand move when he'd fired. Damn Crosshair and his enhanced vision. Of course he would have seen something like that, even with the distance that had stretched between us. But if he already knew, why was I still alive? They should have killed me on sight.
"Can't you see they're using you?" Hunter ignored Crosshair's accusations, oblivious to the turmoil raging in me. "It's that inhibitor chip inside your head. It's making you follow-"
The blaring of alarms cut him off, the female trooper abandoning the screen she was monitoring to report to Crosshair. "We have an unauthorised entry on Level 5."
"Right on schedule." The smug words were almost infuriating - Hunter's glare mirrored mine as Crosshair sighed, picking up Hunter's helmet and pushing it forcefully into his chest. "Time to go."
Of all places, he brought us to the old clone training room, the remaining two Elite Squad troopers already waiting for us at the entrance. The predictable move would have been to go through the entrance, yet Crosshair did not station his squad there, instead moving them into position around the lift entrance in the middle of the room. Anticipating they would realise it was the predictable move and go for the other option.
Crosshair kept Hunter and I in front of him, only one blaster brandished at the two of us. If it had been any other person behind us, I would have risked attacking them in the hopes to get free. But this was Crosshair. From what I remembered, his marksmanship was off the charts. I had no doubt he would shoot one of the many exposed spots in my armour before I could do so much as unsheath my hidden vibroblade.
The deep ache had flared again in my shoulder, worse with the crooked angle I was forced to hold my hands at. I shifted my weight, trying to roll out the pain. I didn't get far - I could barely twitch it forward without the pain doubling.
"Are you alright?" Hunter, noticing my discomfort, tried to raise his cuffed hands towards me, helmet awkwardly gripped between them.
"Shut up." Crosshair jabbed the blaster into my bruised ribs before I could answer, and I shut my mouth with a suppressed grunt. No sooner than I had, the lift powered on, ascending with three familiar figures brandishing blasters towards Crosshair. Omega was not with them. I could only hope they had left her on Ord Mantell, safely away from all of this.
Weapons clicked around the lift, each of the Elite Squad troopers hefting their heavy guns, already at the ready. None of the Batch so much as flinched, though it was easy enough to tell they had not been expecting them to be lying in wait here.
"Well, guess you were wrong about that one," Wrecker muttered to Tech, the other clone merely shooting him a glance before turning to address the sniper clone in front of them.
"And here we all are, together again." Crosshair tossed Hunter's still active comm at their feet. The one Tech had certainly been tracking on his datapad. "You won't be needing your weapons."
Their only response was to point them at the troopers around them advanced from their positions, closer to them. All three visors flickered to Hunter, seeking his instruction. He only nodded once, subtly. Telling them to listen.
The blasters were the first thing to clatter to the ground, then the explosives, and finally Wrecker's great knife. Their actions were stiff, reluctant - I could feel the mutinous anger emanating off each of them as they complied.
"See?" Crosshair remarked snidely, gesturing to the haphazard array of weapons on the floor between them. "Following orders isn't so difficult."
The three of them shared another look, still refusing to speak to Crosshair. He only stared back, noting the lack of a certain young female clone.
"Where's your little sidekick?"
"You think we'd bring her here?" I would have almost believed Wrecker if he hadn't added the awkward laugh, raising his helmet, something he would never have done in the presence of enemies. "We're smarter than that."
Dank farrik. She was here somewhere. Part of me hoped they had told her to stay wherever they had managed to hide the ship, but the more rational side knew that they had not. I wouldn't be surprised if she was waiting in the room below us, where they had taken the lift up.
Crosshair only sighed dramatically, a sure sign he had caught the lie as well. "Lying was never your strong suit, Wrecker. Find the kid."
"We're running out of time, Commander," one of the troopers warned as his squadmate left the room to search for Omega. Running out of time for what? The facility was just being evacuated, wasn't it?
Whatever it was, Crosshair didn't appear nearly as bothered by it, merely barking at the Elite Squad to 'hold their positions.'
"So this was your grand plan?" Hunter finally dared to speak, facing Crosshair so the blaster was aimed at his stomach rather than his back. "Bring us here and kill us?"
"If I wanted you dead, you would be. Not that it wouldn't be justified." The last few words were almost a snarl. "You betrayed everything we stood for. And for what? The Republic?"
"We're loyal to each other. Not some Republic."
"You weren't loyal to me. At least I would never have replaced you with a Jedi." He spat the last word, jabbing the blaster in my direction to accentuate his point. Hunter blanched, eyes widening a fraction, but other than that he gave no reaction, the flinch more from Crosshair's cutting words than anything. Not the revelation about me.
The Elite Squad troopers, on the other hand, were not as prepared.
"A Jedi?" The same trooper that had spoken earlier demanded, the barrel of his blaster dropping in surprise. "Why the hell didn't you report her in? She's dangerous!"
"Quiet," Crosshair silenced him, shutting down his question before regarding Hunter again. "I was one of you. You may have forgotten, but I haven't. And it's why I'm going to give you what you never gave me. A chance."
The remaining Elite Squad troopers started, their faces turning up to Crosshair in what could only be shock. One that mirrored my own - of all the things for him to say, this was what I'd been expecting the least.
"Sir, I've found the girl." I could still hear the female trooper's report through Crosshair's comm, although faint. His hand twitched up to answer her, pressing on the side of his helmet in a manner reminiscent of Hunter's.
"Send her on a shuttle off-world."
I jerked at the words, head snapping up to stare at Crosshair. This had to be some sick joke. He wouldn't just force her away from us, alone. But nothing in his words, his behaviour, suggested anything of the sort.
"Crosshair, don't." Hunter started forward, the words almost pleading. Something I'd never heard from him before.
"It's for her own good. And yours."
"Omega belongs with us."
"Living among fugitives, where she's in constant danger?" Despite his cruel words, no one could deny the harsh sting of truth. "You want to protect the kid? Then let her go."
"Sending her off alone isn't protecting her either," I snarled back, breaking my self-imposed silence once again. Crosshair completely ignored me, focused entirely on Hunter and his own spiel.
"Stop pretending to be something you're not, Hunter. We're not like the regs. We never have been. We're superior. And the Empire can't protect the galaxy without strength. This is what we were made for."
I could only stare from behind Hunter, almost horrified at the pure propaganda spilling from his mouth. Was this really what he believed? The Empire's hold on him had been worse than I thought.
"Think of all we could do, together." He cut through the bindings on Hunter's wrists with his own knife, the broken cuffs falling to the ground with a clatter. Hunter still didn't move, or speak, wide eyes the only indication of his shock as Crosshair pushed him roughly towards the rest of his squad. "We were brothers once. We can be again."
I watched Tech's gaze dart to the side of the training arena, observing something interesting enough for him to bump Wrecker's arm. I followed his gaze, noticing the reflective disc stuck to the rise for the first time. Now that I'd seen it, there were three more just like it, spread out around the small dip in the room where the lift was situated. Out of place; and oddly familiar too - I was sure I'd seen Crosshair use them on the one and only mission we'd run together. But what were they doing there?"
"Why would we trust you?" Hunter's eyes narrowed, flicking over to me still cuffed next to Crosshair. It seemed that he had forgotten about me - or was waiting for the right moment. No indication of what he was going to do with me.
His only response was to raise the blaster still in his other hand, barrel pointing right at his head.
"Stand down," he ordered the Elite Squad troopers. The four of them shared a brief look between them, as if debating whether or not to listen before their blasters clicked, scopes raising to their visors.
"Negative, Commander."
He didn't even react, only his blaster shifting, firing at one of the discs. The single bolt ricocheted off the four mirrors in rapid succession, cutting through all four Elite Squad troopers in seconds. The shot was so quick, so forceful, that the bodies of the four troopers remained standing for seconds more, swaying, before they finally pitched sideways, dead before they hit the ground.
"Does that answer your question?" Crosshair removed his helmet, blaster still brandished at Hunter as he approached, forcing him to back up several steps, towards his brothers. "You all are meant for more than drifting through the galaxy. It's time to stop running. Join the Empire and you will have purpose again."
There was no response, merely another shared look between the three of them.
"I'll even let your Jedi pet go free. As a show of good faith." Crosshair saw their hesitation, and turned towards me, not even bothering to hide the sneer on his face as he slashed through the binders on my wrists. My hands sprang apart as the two halves of the cuffs fell away, but my feet remained rooted in place, frozen with shock. After all that, he was just... letting me go? It felt too easy, but again, there was nothing about him that suggested he didn't mean it.
My freedom didn't seem to change a thing; Hunter's face hardened, all traces of surprise disappearing completely. "You really don't get who we are, do you?"
"Don't make the same mistake twice," Crosshair said quietly. "Don't become my enemy."
"Crosshair..." Hunter's anger faltered, voice taking on a tired edge to it. As if all of this had drained his energy. "We never were."
The sounds of alarms ringing interrupted anything Crosshair might have replied with, distracting everyone as the training room powered on around us, towers with blinking yellow lights shooting out of the ground, along with several large, deadly-looking training droids.
The droids started up instantly, built in blasters already out and firing directly for Crosshair. The numerous bolts would have hit him for sure if Hunter hadn't tackled him to the ground, grappling for the blaster still gripped in his left hand.
These things weren't firing those electric shocks normal training droids were designed to fire. They were live rounds, as real as the bolts Hunter fired from Crosshair's handgun. They were no ordinary training droids. These were designed to kill.
I dived out of the way of several blaster shots peppering the floor around me, ignoring the scream of my injured shoulder as I scrambled for the nearest cover available; a short wall jutting out from the floor in front of me. Sparks flew as a bolt skimmed off the top of the wall, showering my shielding hands with burning pinpricks.
Echo, Wrecker and Tech went for their weapons, blue bolts puncturing several hulls and droids falling back. My own hands reached for my holsters automatically, only to curse when they came up empty. In the heat of the moment, I'd forgotten my blasters had been taken from me after our capture. All I had left was my vibroblade. And my lightsabers.
I instantly flinched at the thought of using them, months of fear turning me away on instinct. Hunter and Crosshair were still locked in struggle, all of them forced to band together and retreat further when another six droids emerged from the ground right in front of them. Even Omega had finally appeared, pink bolts flying from the tower she perched on, a small medical droid hovering beside her. They were fighting for their lives, and here I was, stuck hiding behind cover while the training droids fired on the pathetic wall that was my cover. My blasters were gone, vambraces empty besides the tiny little blade that would only work against droids for so long. I had no other weapons, aside from the ones squirrelled away in the hidden compartments of my holsters. They all knew what I was anyway. If I didn't do something now, they would be overwhelmed.
Yellow ignited from my lightsabers, their familiar buzz comforting me in a way nothing else could. It had been so long since I had used them last, but they felt no more alien in my hands than before, the weight, as always, perfectly balanced.
It was like their activation triggered something in me, instincts almost forgotten with fear. I opened my mind up without hesitation, the Force breaking through the locks I'd kept on it and rushing through my body, electrifying my muscles and my senses. The throb in my shoulder, my ribs, was suddenly gone, pain erased by the spike of adrenaline. All that was left was the power of the Force.
Bunching up my legs, I leapt up, clearing the walls with an ease I had not felt in months. The droids had their backs to me - none of them aware of the threat sailing through the air, about to land on their heads.
My lightsabers drove deep into the hull of the first droid, the armour liquifying before the plasma. It sputtered out immediately, legs folding from underneath it. I was already yanking out the blades before it hit the ground, yellow flashing and spinning in my hands even as I jumped from its body, landing in front of the five clones pinned under the cover of the walls behind me.
The second fell before my strikes, molten gashes bored neatly into its chestplate. By now, the rest of them had noticed my deadly presence cutting through their ranks, their fire diverting away from the Batch. With a yell, Wrecker flipped down his helmet and surged out, the Batch taking advantage of the momentary distraction to press forward.
I flung a hand out towards one, the Force stretching between us and lifting it clear off the ground, the droid flailing against the unwavering grip on it. My fingers twitched, intending to crush it into a heap of scrap metal, but before I could, three red bolts punctured its hull, finding the chinks in its armour with chilling precision.
The droid flickered and died, guns dormant as its arms fell uselessly by its sides. I let it drop, turning towards the spot I knew the shots had come from. Crosshair was already looking my way; our gazes met, and I jerked my chin down in a short nod. He returned the gesture, attention going back to shooting down the training droids. Allies, for now at least. Until the bigger threat was dealt with.
It was almost easy to fall into the familiar pattern of fighting alongside clones, having them to cover my back and deflecting blaster bolts for them. And with the Bad Batch, it felt like Saleucami all over again, with Wrecker hurling droids across the room, Hunter and his knife driving into their necks, Tech and his strange little gadgets taking down droids in ways I still didn't quite understand, and Crosshair at the back, sniping them down with lethal accuracy. Fighting as one unit, just like it had been in the Clone Wars.