Yavin System - Pillar of Autumn
As the Spirit of Fire docked with the large battleship, Blue Team immediately went to the hangar where the Marauder had landed. With Chief leading the front and Fives bringing up the rear, Blue Team mentally prepared themselves for a massive fight. Clone force 99 was known to use tactics that inflicted maximum damage, so if they were onboard, this had the potential for being a massive problem.
As Chief walked through the large blast door leading into the hangar, he saw Hunter and Tech talking in front of the ship's ramp and Wrecker bringing something out from inside the ship. Crosshair was nowhere to be seen and there was a fourth trooper in a unique clone trooper armour that Chief did not recognize.
"Hold it right there!" 117 called out with his hand on his holster. Putting their hands in the air, Hunter told Chief that they were friendly and not a threat. Believing them, Chief told Blue Team to stand down. However, he got a strange feeling from the fourth member of the Bad Batch.
"Fives? Is that really you vod?" The trooper asked, staring right through the rest of Blue Team and straight to the ARC trooper. Removing his helmet, the trooper revealed himself to be Echo, thought to be dead after the mission on Lola Sayu. Running towards each other, the last two members of Domino Squad grabbed each other in a tight embrace. Both had thought that the other was dead, meaning that this news was beyond good.
Turns out that Echo was still alive after the shuttle exploded and was recovered by the Citadel's droid forces. After being stabilized, he was then transported to Skako Minor where the Trade Union experimented on him and put wires into his brain, allowing the Separatist to access all the strategies that Echo had created over the years. The Bad Batch had only found him because they traced a rogue clone signature back to the facility, which led to them breaking him out and welcoming him into the squad.
From there, Echo and the Bad Batch fought in numerous battles before Order 66 went out whilst they were on Kaller. But the order did not affect the Batch because of how many augmentations they had, well; besides Crosshair. Long story short, when the Bad Batch returned to Kamino, Crosshair betrayed them and they escaped with Omega.
"Wait, what is an Omega?" Hardcase asked from the back of the group. To which a blonde girl stepped out of the Marauder, she had facial features similar to that of the clones and wore Kaminoan styled clothes. "She is the only female clone, an experiment by Nala Se. From what I've gathered, she does not have an age modifier and is almost a direct copy from our original donor, Jango Fett, besides the gender difference of course."
After Tech's fairly blunt explanation, all the clones looked at their apparent sister, she looked around at the array of faces and helmets. Fearing that she might freak out, Hunter asked if there was a place for them to stay on the Autumn. Telling Blue Team with the exception of Fives to go debrief with Commander Thorn, Chief led the Bad Batch to their accommodation.
There wasn't many rooms available on the Autumn after the remnants of the 212th moved in along with most of the 501st. But there was a medium sized multi-purpose room that the Bad Batch could share. It wasn't massive, about 8 meters long and 6 meters wide. But it was big enough for a series of bunk beds to be installed along with some furniture and extra weapons. Hunter couldn't thank Chief enough, for the last two weeks they had lived together on the Marauder and quite frankly, it was nice to actually have a room for themselves again.
Echo told Hunter that he loved spending time with the Batch but Blue Team was his home, and it was only right that he returned to it. Telling Echo that it was fine and that he respected his decision, Hunter shook Echo's hand as the ARC trooper left with Fives to go to his room opposite his brother's.
Walking down the corridor with Blue Team's rooms on either side of them, Fives pointed out who had which room, eventually coming to the end with Fives' on the left and Echo's on the right. Opening the door, Echo walked into a barren room, with nothing in it except for a bed frame and a mattress that was still in a bag. "Fives, would you mind helping me out with getting this room organized?"
"Vod, it would be my pleasure." Fives replied with a smile on his face, he couldn't even begin to describe how happy he was that his brother was by his side again, the Domino Twins united once more. Poking his head out to the corridor, Fives gave a hearty shout: "HARDCASE, JESSE! Get your asses down here, we got work to do!"
After Order 66 happened and the Intrepid joined up with the Autumn, both Jesse and Hardcase were given ARC trooper status. The rest of Blue Team, although not ARC troopers, had already customized their ARF trooper armours to each clone's specialty and liking. But for Jesse and Hardcase, it was a breath of fresh air to be given access to previously restricted gear.
A/N: Credit to Optimusprimehunter41 on Deviantart for the concept art. I should probably also mention what loadouts each member of Blue Team is carrying (from now on). So here is goes:
- Master Chief: DC-17m (modified with a stock and extended barrel), dual pistols, 4x thermal detonators, 2x EMP grenades, vibro-knife.
- Fives: DC-15a, dual pistols, 2x thermal detonators, 2x EMP grenades, scanner equipment.
- Echo: DC-15a, pistol, 2x thermal detonators, 2x EMP grenades, portable shield (just think Hardlight shield from Halo 4).
- Jesse: DC-15, dual pistols, 2x thermal detonators, 2x EMP grenades
- Hardcase: Z-6 Rotary cannon, dual pistols, (doesn't carry anything else because he needs the space for extra ammo for the minigun).
- Thermos/Shrapnel: DC-15a, pistol, 6x thermal detonators, 4x EMP grenades, breaching charges.
- Midas/Jester: DC-15, pistol, medical equipment.
- Blitz/Streak: Dual pistols, oxygen pack.
- Gears: DC-15a, pistol, tool set, cutting torch, buzz saw, portable drill.
- Static: DC-15a, pistol, 2x thermal detonators, communications pack.
- Romeo: DC-15a, rocket launcher, thermal macro-binoculars, tripwire, 3x thermal detonators.
- June: DC-15x sniper rifle, pistol, proximity charges, micro-binoculars.
Time skip
It wasn't long before Echo's room was fully decorated and customized to his liking. Still being a sucker for GAR regulations, Echo's bed was made to perfection using the standard white sheets and grey blanket that featured a GAR symbol in the center. But Echo still wanted some personal touches to be made, for example; he loved reading books of all kind. So Jesse had put together a four layer bookshelf that had yet to be filled but given that Fordo was due back in a few hours, Fives could probably ask the fellow ARC trooper to make a quick pit-stop on the way.
On his desk, Echo decorated it with a small flower pot that sprouted some dark blue vines which emitted a slight glow in the dark. Next to it were three photos that had been put in neat frames; one of the original Domino Squad, one of himself, Fives, Cody and Rex in front of some gunships, and the last one was of the Bad Batch before they were ordered to report to the Battle of Kaller.
Once Jesse and Hardcase had left to go eat in the mess hall, Fives told Echo about his relationship with Shaak Ti. And just like Fives' expected, Echo gave him the biggest 'I told you so' ever, and for the next hour and a half the two brothers talked about everything. From Fives' relationship with Shaak to the adventures Echo had with the Bad Batch.
Soon there was a knock on the door, opening to reveal Rex and Cody, Echo was embraced in a tight hug by both the officers. Outside of the 212th and 501st it wasn't that well known that the four were closer than just commanders and troopers. The group had spent hours together planning strategies and thinking of protocols during downtime. Both Rex and Cody had absolute faith in the two ARC troopers to lead both the 212th and 501st should it ever come down to it.
After catching up and talking for what seemed like forever, their conversation was cut short by Jesse bursting in with Appo right behind him. It was clear that they had been sprinting to get here, probably all the way from either the hangar or the bridge. "They found it!"
"They found what?"
"Project Orion and War Mantle, Static and Canny have cracked the latest batch of intel. It's on Daro." Jesse exclaimed excitingly, this was it. This was the opportunity that everyone had been hoping for. And it only got better, according to the intel that had been snatched on Dagobah, Palpatine was due to inspect the progress in person and would be arriving in three days.
Time skip
Everyone agreed that this was the only chance they would get to cut off the head of the snake before it could do more damage. As a result, they would throw everything they had in one massive assault on Daro. But they had to be realistic, there was definitely a chance that the mission could fail.
As a result; Grandmaster Yoda would stay on board the Spirit of Fire along with all of the Temple Guards, younglings and Jocasta Nu. Seeing that Mace had just woken up from his coma; he was still in critical condition, meaning that he also had to sit this fight out. Padme would take the twins with her on board under the close supervision of Commander Thorn. Against her wishes, Omega was also placed on the Spirit so that she could be safe regardless of this battle's outcome.
As Anakin said his goodbyes to his family, Chief turned to speak to Commander Thorn. Shaking the clone trooper's hand with a firm grip, the two warriors bid their farewells as Thorn slung his minigun over his shoulders. He had promised both Skywalker and 117 that he would defend the Spirit of Fire to his last breath.
As the blast doors slowly closed, Chief raised his hand in a salute as Thorn returned the gesture through the closing gap. Once it was shut, Chief listened as the Spirit detached and flew away. Turning to Skywalker, Chief saw that Anakin was already looking at him. "What happens if this doesn't work? What if we fail?"
"We won't."