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-Break-
Hunter stepped back onto the Havoc Marauder with little preamble but more surprised than he cared to admit. When he had sent the rest of his squad back to the ship after their brief trip to the communication center with the regs, he hadn't actually expected them to clean the ship up like he told them too. Granted everything probably got stuffed into various lockers or under the decking or behind things so they couldn't be seen but if they were going to do an unauthorized run to Skako Minor with ‘guests’ onboard at least the ship could look like they tried to keep it clean.
So he was glad to see that all the ration bar and snack wrappers had been pulled off the console and swept off the floor. Those aluminum can drink things the Wrecker loved were no longer kicking about. The random tools and half built projects had been scooped up and stashed away out of view. A look down the length of the ship showed that all the blankets had been stowed and the crates of supplies had actually been locked down and strapped in for a chance. The random gun parts and ammo charges that had been disassembled and taking up the secondary console in the back had been tucked off into some random locker and it looked like someone had even yanked that weird purple blue leafy vegetation out of the side of Gonky that had been growing there for the past month.
"Well," he addressed his brothers as he walked up to where they were huddled around the main computer. "When I said clean up the ship I didn't actually think you'd do it."
Crosshair gave him a bored look as he rolled a toothpick across his lips. "If you want it to stay clean I wouldn't open anything," he warned as he slouched a little more against the chair Tech was sitting in, eyes still locked on the main screen as he scanned over the contents.
Tech answered his unspoken question as Hunter looked over the data on the screen. "It's the service records for CT-1409, Echo." His specialist was in the final stages of rigging together what looked like a pot for the strange plant thing that had been growing out of Gonky. Somehow he had managed to solder together several of the deconstructed aluminum cans from Wrecker's drinks to make a rudimentary container that the sad little thing was already settled into. It looked like Tech was in the process of trying to make mounting brackets for the pot. "He died in a shuttle explosion during the Citadel Mission on Lola Sayu."
Hunter winced at that. The Citadel Mission had been labeled as an objective failure and had been brought up to him several times as a lesson in situational awareness and strategic thinking during his officer tactical classes. Being forced to study that didn't really reflect the gravity of the situation and what those clones had actually gone through. It wasn't till Tech showed him what really happened after he had hacked into the more secure files that the severity of the situation finally came to light
"Captain Rex is still positive he's alive." Hunter pressed on past the scoff that Crosshair let out. "And General Skywalker is positive that the council is going to approve the investigation into the signal so be ready to leave at a moment's notice."
"Why not just head out now?" Grumbled Wrecker who was lounging back in the other seat in front of the main computer. One hand alternated between a sip of his canned drink and a fistful of something out of a silvery bag balanced on his chest.
Hunter thought back to the weird exchange between the General and the Captain and decided that life was simpler if he didn't try to explain it. "They just need to get their gear together and they'll be along."
"Ah" Tech said, jolting slightly in his seat before hurriedly stowing away the tools he had been using in a nearby drawer. "I better get moving then."
"Get going where?" Wrecker asked before chugging the last of his drink.
"To retrieve a level four trauma kit from medical stores." Tech said as he slipped around Hunter and hurriedly tack welded the small pot's brackets to part of the port side locker but still out of the way for them. The plant trailed out of it, somehow looking a little more happy now that it wasn’t trying to grow out the side of a droid. Of course the dirt he had probably picked up from the plant outside to add to the pot was better than what the droid had
"We're that low on medical supplies?" Last time he checked Hunter was fairly sure between Tech and Crosshair they had enough supplies stowed on board to diagnose and treat half a platoon worth of clones that had just been in a fight with a kyrat dragon.
"Before we go," Crosshair said as he moved to follow Tech out the door. "Bets: Dead or alive?"
"Dead!" Wrecker said with a laugh. "You don't get that close to a loaded shuttle blowing without getting blown apart!"
"Dead," Crosshair said with a smirk as he pointed over to Hunter.
Hunter sighed at the morbid game they tended to play too often but this was something he had already gone over a numerous times with his instructors. "Dead. Double ante we're walking into a trap."
".... Well that's kinda a given," Wrecker said with a shrug.
"All in. Alive." There was a pause in the room before everyone looked over at Tech in surprise. Tech was not prone to joining in with their betting matches to begin with considering how he felt he had an unfair advantage figuring out the odds. Also he was the only one on the other side of the fence with an extremely high wager.
"Uh… Why do you think that?" Wrecker asked as Crosshair pointed at the computer screen still displaying the mission reports.
"You do realize he died right?" The sharpshooter asked his brother.
"I don't think he's alive, Wrecker I know." Tech adjusted his goggles slightly. "The reports never actually confirm his death, only that he was on the ramp of the shuttle when it was destroyed. The fact that he was outside the shuttle and not inside meant that the blast would have propelled him forward into the droid shield he had commandeered as a defensive item. Statistically there is a chance that he survived.
"Also an algorithm is just a set of rules that are used to calculate expected results; however this one responded to a query that wasn't formatted for its script. Same can be said for the verbiage required to make a program respond. Since the transmission coming through the line sounded human -and at the captain directive- I instinctively requested identifying information by saying 'who is this'. Who is not an acceptable query request for any computer system yet I received a response. Echo may be alive but I doubt that he'll be in one piece." He gestures towards the door, "Hence a new trauma kit."
"What happened to the old one?" Hunter had to ask because he was fairly certain that they had several kicking around the ship. Either that or he needed to pay better attention to their inventory and stop leaving it to Wrecker and Crosshair.
"Used it up when someone didn't listen to my warning and had to have Wrecker cut him out of the belly of a Mezorian Mud Frog," Tech fired back without preamble as he left the Marauder.
Wrecker nearly choked on his snack as he laughed at Hunter, "You were so pissed when I hauled you out of there!"
Hunter did feel a little mortified at that as his face heated up. At least that thing decided to swallow him whole after the mission was completed…
The look Crosshair threw over his shoulder as he followed after Tech did not help. "You wanted the answer," his sing-song voice came from out on the ramp.
"Cheer up Sarge," Wrecker said as Hunter heaved yet another sigh and deflated slightly. "Here," he held up the bag he had been eating things out of. "Have one of these."
Hunter gave the bag a dubious look. Wrecker's ironclad stomach let him get away with eating just about anything whereas if he wasn't careful his heightened sense of taste would have him tasting the smell in the air. "What are they?" He asked as he took one of the smaller pieces.
"The regs call them 'chips'... But they don't look like the chips on the Outer Rim."
Unfortunate because Hunter did like the rectangular deep fried sticks they found out there but Hunter tentatively took a small nibble of the flat oval that was surprisingly crunchy. He paused as he registered the flavor and then immediately stuffed the rest in his mouth.
"Good huh?" Wrecker laughed.
"How many bags do we have on board?" He asked as he started towards the back of the ship to get his own bag of chips.
"Lower shelf, crate on the far end," Wrecker paused to stuff some more chips in his mouth. "Crosshair and I already got a plan to smuggle three more crates onboard before we leave."
"Make it five, I get two crates to myself and I'll bail you and Crosshair out of the brig the next two times you're thrown in with no questions asked."
Wrecker crumpled the empty bag in his hand remembering last minute to stow it and not just drop it on the floor. Instead he opened a random drawer and stuffed them in there. "Sarge! You got yourself a deal!"
-Break-
As he stepped through the secondary doors and into the server room proper, Tech found himself hesitant to lift his head. His scanners were showing that the room was clear of hostiles and that there was a life sign in the stasis tube. However, what he was reading was not that of a full bodied clone. There was roughly only sixty percent biomass of a standard clone in the stasis tube that he was approaching.
That somehow made this situation even more disconcerting.
He went through the motions of opening the chamber even as his mind went over all the possible complications that were about to occur removing him from this environment. The tube had been modified from its original functioning parameters but not too heavily to indicate a drastic deviation from Echo's original biomass. With any luck, disconnecting him from the system wouldn't out right kill him. The extra weight of carrying a full trauma kit would be well worth the hassle in a minute he was sure.
There was a pop as the tube's pressurized seal broke followed by a hiss as the gasses inside escaped. The atmospheric normalization period only took a few seconds before the tube's door swung outwards. Tech nearly missed it as he moved to start decoding the program interface from Echo. Out of the corner of his eye Tech watched as Echo nearly fall out of the tube only to have it arrested by the various tubes and wires connecting him to it and preventing Echo from falling to the floor. It... was emotionally destressing and was overly dramatic in his opinion.
Seriously… the Tech Union hadn't thought to have some sort of support strapping in a vertical stasis tube configuration? How could they claim to be smart doing such a thing? Even if they only viewed him as a valuable asset this setup could possibly damage Echo if the wrong button combination was hit and he fell forward and out of the tube like he had almost done.
Idiots.
Tech didn't bother attempting to stop Rex who immediately hopped up on the console to take Echo's weight and lower him gently to the ground. He was much more interested in the schematics and diagrams that he was seeing on the computer. He was making a copy of the information for further review at a later date but the amalgamation of technology and biological components was honestly quite fascinating. The human reaction was there in the back of his mind and was that was disgusted at what he was seeing but really how they had essentially spliced biomass and hardware together... It was practically a work of art in his eyes.
… Now had they asked and Echo agreed of his own free will to go through such a procedure then Tech would actually applaud and praise them for the work they had done…
Since they hadn't, he automatically uploaded some of his more readily deployed destructive worm and virus programs to wreak havoc in their systems for the next few days before they inevitably managed to stop them as a bit of vindictive justice on his part.
Tech wanted to do more but he had more important things to worry about at the moment… Like preventing Rex from ripping out the main terminal connection before properly exiting out of all the programs connecting to and currently running from Echo's nervous system.
"A moment sir," he said, ignoring the look that Rex shot him. Rex was only reacting emotionally to the situation. "I need to disconnect him from the mainframe before we can physically disconnect him from it."
He left them to some small talk. Rex trying to reassure Echo that he was really here and had come back for him. Tech busied himself with the programming, doing his best to ignore them and give them some illusion of privacy.
Still, they had a time scale to keep and judging by the sounds of it, his brothers were starting to fall back. He needed to run a scan of Echo and see to any immediate medical needs before they arrived. Given how this mission was going he doubt that he was going to be able to walk out the door again and he still needed the time to find a more conducive path for them to follow.
At least the Tech Union had seen fit to give Echo 'legs', more than likely just to keep his nervous system from collapsing.
Still, it was painfully obvious that Echo was more than a little off balance as he wobbled slightly where he sat. Even though he'd only had a few cursory looks at him so far, Tech didn't need a scanner to tell that the level of muscle atrophy and malnutrition from Echo's extended stay in the stasis chamber was on the extreme side of things. Tech could already see the difficulties ahead of him for his recovery… if he was even allowed to recover.
A cruel fact but considering how interested he had been in the semantics he had pulled from the system, Tech already knew that there were going to be at least half a dozen scientists that were going to be interested in Echo.
It automatically rackled his nerves.
He exited out of the last program that was essentially running off Echo and just gave a nod over his head from Rex to pull the main cord from Echo's head. Disengaged from the system finally, Echo blinked and a bit more awareness seemed to filter back into his eyes. It was a relief really. Cognizant recognition meant that his mind hadn't been too scrambled by the influx of constant data over however many months he was forced to be a living computer.
And of course his response of saying he just had a headache to Rex made Tech smile despite himself.
That was… one way to put it.
Echo looked at him as he knelt down next to him and Tech was surprised that he didn't look at him with open hostility or annoyance. It was more curious at the moment but much more open and… warm than a reg had ever looked at him before. It almost took him back for a moment. Regs were hardly ever… friendly with him or his brothers.
"Hello," Echo said, giving him a brief once over before locking eyes with him again. His brow wrinkles slightly in confusion as he asks, "Are you a medic?"
"This is Tech," Rex was quick to introduce them. "He's with Clone Force 99, an experimental commando squad with genetic enhancements."
"A pleasure to actually meet you in person, Echo," Considering how open and unguarded his eyes were, it only made sense that Tech greeted him as if he was a civilian that he needed to make contact with. "I function as the team's specialist so yes, I am a medic with level five certs among other things."
Tech held up his mini datapad. He had integrated his medical scanner into the casing a long time ago to help save space on his belt. However, even though he was only going to run a medical scan, it was all too easy to see the fear in Echo's eyes at the strange electronic device held up to him.
Of course, a natural fear reaction induced by the trauma he had experienced.
It made Tech pause briefly. He knew all too well what trying to force a scan on Echo would end with. He didn't want to complicate his recovery or add additional stressors onto him so Tech made a point to smile. Echo could after all see and was staring into his eyes so hopefully matching the warmth from Echo's own eyes would reassure him to some extent.
"It's my medical scanner," he said, making a point to talk softly as he turned the scanner enough so that Echo could see the screen and the standard medical scanner interface currently on it. "I am also the team's splicer. To save space on my belt and perform both stations' abilities to their fullest extent, I integrate the two units into one."
Echo gave the datapad a long look before nodding his head in acceptance. Still, Tech knew that a verbal confrontation would do wonders to help calm him. "Would you be alright if I gave you a level three medical scan?"
Echo still looked worried, leaning slightly towards Rex but he did manage a quiet 'sure'.
Not the most reassuring but it would do, "Hold still. I'll be as quick as I can."
It didn't escape his notice that Echo seemed to look past the scanner to focus on his eyes. Considering the majority of his… care was probably performed by droids or Wat Tombour himself, Tech could understand looking at his eyes would help Echo remain in the present instead of sinking into the past. He wasn't really known for his ability to project emotional responses but hopefully he would be able to keep Echo calm while the scan ran.
… And hopefully there wouldn't be anymore setbacks. His brothers and the General were now sealing the doors to the server room which wasn't a good sign and meant that their time was almost up. They were going to have to get moving here shortly.
Thankfully, Echo seemed to stay calm during the admittedly rushed scan. Of course Tech flat out canceled the scan on his legs and right arm simply because the mechanisms that replaced them would just send the scanner into fits. What he hadn't been expecting was that Echo's respiratory and most of his digestive system were also mechanical in nature. Thankfully he had turned the sound on the scanner off so that the disconcerting beeps that it would play through wouldn't worry Echo needlessly.
"I'm going to give you a stim," At half the normal strength just because he didn't have the usual amount of biomass to warrant a full dose anymore. "You will be experiencing balance issues and a lack of endurance. For now, take it slow and let us worry about the rest."
"Yeah, okay," There was that friendly warmth again as Echo gave him a small smile. "Thanks Tech."
The gratitude was unexpected from a reg but it was in keeping with what he knew of Echo's personally.
"You are most welcome Echo."
-Break-
Of course… As always, he got the babysitting job.
Crosshair tried not to be annoyed as he glared at the surrounding countryside. He was keeping an eye out while everyone else set the village up for a counteroffensive. At least the tribespeople seemed more than willing to fight for their homes. He would have been all for leaving them to their fates if they refused to defend themselves.
… But of course the Jedi would have been against that…
… And so would the regs…
Crosshair huffed again, trying not to let his anger get the better of him. It felt too much like letting them win if they managed to get under his skin like that. He was honestly just done with this whole mission at this point and wanted nothing more than he and his brothers to head out and go solo again.
Yes, they owed Cody but it was getting really hard to keep his temper in check.
He glanced back at the reg to make sure he hadn't fallen over dead or something. As lovely as that would be, he had promised Tech that he would keep an eye on him in case he needed medical assistance while Tech was down helping in the village with the others. He didn't care about the reg but disappointing Tech -or any of his brothers for that matter- was by far one of the worst things he could think of.
After all, all they had was each other.
The reg was still alive. He was behind him on the open ledge, sitting cross legged with a blanket draped over his shoulders, scomp arm settled on his lap. Tech had given him a sip pack and one of those electrolyte slurp tubes with some encouragement to eat and drink from them slowly while he rested.
However, instead of resting he was sitting there looking pained as he stared at the ground in front of him. Crosshair wasn't in the mood to talk but as he let his gaze linger he realized that the reg wasn't staring at the ground but rather his legs. Or maybe the scomp link that was now his right arm.
Now that they weren't worried about dying in that lab, reality seemed to be setting in, and damn was it a bitch.
Crosshair turned back around and went back to watching for any enemy forces. So far, other than the initial chasers there hadn't been any signs of pursuit but it's not like they had to go searching for them. They knew where they were so it was probably easier to just throw everything at them at once.
Good. It had been awhile since they had gotten into a good old fashioned slugfest.
The reg took a shuddering breath and there was something about its tone that had Crosshair glancing back at him to make sure he hadn't just died.
He hadn't but he had set down the sip pack and wa s staring down at his lap still, the fingers of his hand carefully trailing over the metal of his arm now.
Oh great… he was about to start crying or something wasn't he?
He didn't want to hear that. Regs were annoying enough as it was that adding them crying on top of it would only set off his thinly restrained temper. He's pretty sure of that Hunter would be upset with him if he punched the reg to get him to shut up. Tech would also be pissed. It would definitely get the Captain to loose it and deck him again.
Even if he was the one who was punched, making Rex lose his temper enough to make him swing at him was all Crosshair needed to gloat about. He could tell the captain had been pulling his punch as if he knew it was a bad idea to hit him even before he actually connected but still went through with it anyways because he was just that pissed.
Making him loose his temper like that meant that Crosshair would happily take that win for the fight in the war between them.
Still, there was nothing amusing about the shuddering breaths coming from behind him, gradually increasing in desperation and tempo. Crosshair was pretty sure Tech would be upset if the reg passed out from hyperventilating or if he resorted to drugging him. By the sounds of it it would be a small mercy if he did.
Of course listening to the shaky panicky breaths made Crosshair think of all the times he had wished someone had given him something to do when he had desperately needed a distraction from whatever horror he was being forced to endure.
… Reality really was a bitch…
Crosshair turned to look over his shoulder with only half a mind of what he was doing. "Hey reg," he made a point to snarl that, both to show how annoyed he was and also to cut through the reg's panicking.
It worked like a charm and pulled the reg right out of his head. He blinked at him, the panic in his eyes shifting to more wary. It wasn't outright hostile which was amusing -clearly he didn't know Crosshair that well- and it was… a bit refreshing that he wasn't being looked at and not immediately hated.
"Y-yeah?" The reg's voice croaked slightly. Obviously the panic had already done a bit of a number on him.
Great.
"Get over and give me a hand," he made a point to dip his chin towards the sip pack and slurp tubes still sitting in front of him, mostly untouched. "And don't forget your meal."
It took the reg a minute to gather things up and even then he slowly shuffled over to next to him. Crosshair didn't have to turn his head to pick up on how unsteady he was on his own legs. Earlier he had been moving around on them without hesitation so the reg was definitely getting caught up in his own head.
Crosshair ignored him as settled back down next to him. The reg took his time kneeling down on suddenly wobbly knees next to him. He set down his sip pack and slurp tube as he sat the way he had been with a little difficulty as he tried to see if he could bend his knees right back around behind his ears, clearly overthinking how they worked.
Crosshair rolled his eyes, actually happy that the reg hadn't tried to lean into him or touch him in any way.
He took another minute to fiddle with the blanket around his shoulders and get it resettled. Poking at it twice with the scomp before seemingly realizing that he couldn't do much to pull the blanket forward without an actual hand. Crosshair let him struggle his way through it. He was going to have to learn to get used to his new appendages at some point.
Finally he seemed situated but the slightly defeated look in his eyes was kind of hard to take as he looked over at Crosshair as if half expecting him to slap him or something… which in a way was tempting but it wouldn't get him out of his own head.
From his belt, Crosshair pulled out a small rangefinder. Tech had completely redesigned it so that it was quite powerful for its small size. It rarely saw much use because it was more of a backup for him but Crosshair was glad that Tech had insisted he had one. Especially if it helped keep the reg calm.
"Keep an eye off to the right. Thirty eight degrees to seventy four," The reg was giving him a confused look as he took the small rangefinder from him. Crosshair didn't even bother turning his head towards him, "They're either going to come through the pass on your side or on mine. Focus your attention there but make a point to keep all avenues covered."
The reg was still giving him a look, "... I thought you said you had it covered?" He said after a moment of just staring at Crosshair as if that alone was all he needed to do to get him to talk.
"Tired of turning my head," he said, trying to be somewhat diplomatic. At least he hadn't told the reg it was better to give him something to do rather than listening to him hyperventilate.
"... And don't forget to finish your pak and tube. I'm not in the mood to listening to Tech passive aggressively bitch about it all the way back to Annaxes."
The reg was quiet, still staring at him but finally relented with a quiet 'okay'. Crosshair made a point to mostly ignore him but the distraction seemed to be working. The reg wasn't freaking out about his legs or arm anymore and now that he had something to do he seemed to be eating and sipping from the sip pack too.
Good… and even better the reg was still making a point not to touch him.
Crosshair felt like a goddamn hero for putting up with this osik.
-Break-
It was weird to have downtime on a reg base.
Well it probably wasn't really downtime but the generals were still being generals and Hunter was standing around listening to them and Tech was … doing something computer-y. Wrecker really wasn't sure half of what it was he did but Tech could definitely make his head spin when he started talking about it. Better to let him do whatever and let him worry about it, he had more important things to worry about.
Like what it was like to wander around an actual Republic base unchecked.
Maker, he was going to have so much fun.
Well not just him, Crosshair was following him like the sulky shadow that he was. He was probably just as bored as Wrecker was. Tech had said he wasn't planning on leaving the ship so they didn't have to worry about him and Hunter was busy falling asleep where he stood so it was time for Crosshair and him to find something entertaining.
Honestly he was hoping to find a sabacc game down in the barracks or in the common room or somewhere else that they could forcibly join so that Crosshair could sweep the table. Then the real fun would begin when the fist fight broke out because Crosshair would be accused of cheating. Hunter probably wouldn't be too happy about hauling them out of the brig but there were two crates of 'chips' for him back on the ship so Wrecker didn't want to hear any bitchin' from him.
"Wrecker."
The low hiss that came from behind him had him glancing over his shoulder at Crosshair. His brother wasn't looking at him and though Wrecker followed the direction he had turned his head he didn't see anything out of the ordinary on the other side of the flight line. "What?" He finally asked, turning fully and taking a few steps back to look over Crosshair's shoulder in case the different angle would tell him anything.
It still took him a moment and Crosshair nodded his head to the right a bit more before Wrecker caught sight of them. It was the ARC and medic that had gone with them to the Cyber Center. He had to admit that he was kind of annoyed that Hunter had broken it up before it had gotten good but he knew that Crosshair had taken it as a personal offense that a medic had managed to slip out of his choke hold.
"Ready for round two?" Crosshair practically purred to him. He didn't even wait for Wrecker to follow before he started stalking after them but it wasn't like Wrecker was going to argue.
"Always," he chuckles in response, making a point to crack his knuckles as he followed after Crosshair. He wasn't that good at tracking but he knew that Crosshair could lead him right to them so why bother thinking too hard about it. Between Hunter and Crosshair they could find all the good fights anyways.
Wrecker wasn't expecting their trail to lead them towards medical but as soon as he saw the doors leading into the main ward he made a point to glare at them. Karking hell, he was all for blowing up every medical facility in the universe just so neither he or his brothers had to vanish in one again. He knew that they were important but considering how easy it was for them to go missing-
Wrecker stopped when he was abreast with the doors and stared at them. There was something… something bad was happening in there. Something that he needed to stop.
Wrecker growled and stormed into medical without hesitation.
It was one of the forward camp style of bays so it was a lot smaller than the normal bays like that on a Venator and probably more like a side clinic than the actual medbay for the base. It still made his skin crawl but Wrecker ignored the feeling as he stormed down the short line of beds towards the back of the room. There were only twenty beds in here, ten on either side of the large rectangular room with a desk and storage cabinets on either end.
Wrecker ignored all of that as he went right up to a medical droid hovering between two beds near the back, looking at something on the floor. He didn't give it a chance to look up and greet him before he was punching it. Unable to keep the self satisfied chuckle out of his voice as he hit it hard enough to break its head and arms off and shattered the majority of its torso.
The force of the hit was enough to send it launching into the back of the bay and even dent the back bulkhead. Wrecker was disappointed he hadn't put enough force in the punch to put it through the wall but he'd take it. Even if it wasn't the strongest hit he had ever done it still took that damn piece of equipment out.
"Good riddance," he growled after it before looking down at the floor. The reg -kriff… he forgot the guy's name… probably not important anyways- that they had rescued was looking up at him a bit lost and startled. Not exactly what he was going for but Wrecker was just happy he wasn't scared of him.
"Hey," Wrecker made an effort to put on one of his more friendly smiles as he looked down at him. "I don't know about you but I can't stand those things. Ya need a hand up?"
He didn't wait for the reg to fumble through a response before he was reaching down and hauling him up. There was a blanket partially hanging off one of the beds so he assumed that had been where he had been sleeping till that karking droid had come over. "There we go," the reg was now situated on his bed again. Wrecker reached down and brought the blanket back up and over his shoulders. He was wearing the loose fitting, pale gray clothes that most clones on an extended stay in medical wore but they hung off him awkwardly considering how much of himself he had lost.
"That's better. More comfortable at any rate I bet." He couldn't help but laugh as he added, "Especially without that tin can hovering about!" Wrecker jabbed his thumb in the direction of the demolished remains in case the reg wasn't sure what he was talking about.
"Huh… y-yeah thanks," the reg was pale and there was something about his eyes that Wrecker did not like but he was smiling. Even though it looked painful, "I-I didn't think he bother me but-"
"Why are you in here by yourself?" Crosshair practically hissed as he seemed to come out of nowhere. Wrecker managed not to jump but he hated it when Crosshair snuck up on him like that. One day he was going to punch him and then Cross was going to be even more pouty and mopey than usual.
The reg flinched but he was already looking better now that it was just the three of them. Wrecker still blamed the droid. "K-Kix admitted to not sleeping for almost forty eight hours so I told Jesse to take him to bed and get him to rest for a bit… didn't think that a medical droid would," he stopped talking then, face screwing up into an odd combination of embarrassed and gratitude. "Thanks for that… though Kix is probably going to be mad about the droid."
Wrecker just laughed, "Like I'm worried about him!"
Crosshair glared at the door as if it had done something to wrong him and Wrecker had half a mind as to what it was. None of them were fans of being stuck in medical and judging by the slight panic still clinging to the reg he wasn't a fan of being here alone either. He was probably trying to figure out how to 'tactfully' convince the reg to leave this place and come with them.
Thankfully 'tactful' wasn't his strong suit
And the reg wasn't that bad … for a reg…
"Come on!" Wrecker made a point to grab the reg. "You shouldn't be here by yourself and we were just going back to the ship-" Wrecker ignored Crosshair's betrayed look at the lost fight as he hauled the reg up before he could try and slip away "- which yeah… not the best but it's better than being here all alone!"
"Uh wait, I'm supposed to stay-"
"Apparently, you're coming with us," Crosshair was annoyed at him but Wrecker ignored him. He cut off the reg so he was agreeing to this on some level even if he would never admit it. Of course he was probably just sulky because he didn't get his second round with the medic.
Honestly a fight was the furthest thing from Wrecker's mind because he knew that this was the Right Thing to do.
Surprisingly, the reg seemed to accept his fate and didn't try to struggle or get away. He just kind of hung there placidly under one of his arms, bundled up in his blanket, as Wrecker toted him back to the Marauder. Considering how energetic he had been after taking that stim for the fight, Wrecker assumed he was crashing off it or something because no one seemed to like it when he carried them around like this.
Wrecker hauled the reg up onto the ship with Crosshair moping about in his shadow. It didn't surprise him as he stepped into the main compartment that Tech called them immediately into the cockpit. He'd probably been watching them since they left the ship in all honesty.
"Echo, it's good to see you again," Tech said even though he was fiddling with something in his hands and didn't even glance over at them as they walked into the cockpit. He did kick a leg out, spinning the copilot chair around and then stopping it with the same foot when it was facing them. A clear invitation if he ever saw one.
Wrecker settled Echo -pfft! He should have remembered that one- into the copilot's seat before taking his seat at the navigation console. Crosshair had settled to lean against the framing of the door, trying to stay aloof but he couldn't fool Wrecker. Not with the way his eyes kept flickering all over Echo.
He did care even if he'd rather die than admit it out loud.
"I'm afraid that there's not much happening at the moment. Until a strategy can be determined we have been asked to remain here on standby for the foreseeable future." Tech finally stopped messing with whatever was in his hands as he finally looked at Echo, "I've been meaning to ask if you need assistance with calibrating your legs? I noticed that after the battle and when you got off the ship to report to medical that your balance was starting to fail you."
"Uh… yeah I think," he glanced down at his pants that were hiding them from sight. "I'm not sure…"
"It's a simple mechanical adjustment to the lateral joints of your legs' structure," Tech set down whatever he was tinkering with and held up a small hydrospanner. "Very non-invasive and you can tell me at any point to stop if you feel uncomfortable."
Echo eyed the hydrospanner like it was going to bite him and after a long moment he finally nodded his head. "...Yeah, kinda need to be able to walk at some point."
"Yes, in the very least you won't have to worry about not being able to walk away from Wrecker when he decides to carry you halfway across the base," Tech said as he slid out of the chair to kneel in front of Echo.
Despite the slight dig, Wrecker couldn't help but worry about Echo as that strange panic from before started to seep back into his eyes as he watched Tech slide the pant leg on his right leg up.
Time for a distraction.
He made a point to slap his thigh loudly and gave Echo a large smile as he looked over at him in shock. Wrecker leaned forward slightly in his chair and said, "So, Echo, ever heard of 'chips'?"
-Break-
Despite the health complications, being an insomniac did have its advantages.
Once access into a network had been achieved, all Tech had to do was make a dummy account and elevate his permissions to the highest level. Then he could take the time to 'spoof' his connection string. Obscuring his fake profile and trail in, out and about the network until it was nearly undetectable.
With his access and trail well and truly hidden it was time to start his investigation.
He started with the GAR officer reports since those were going to be uploaded first. Captain Rex and General Skywalker’s reports on Echo’s rescue were vague regarding him and the procedures that he had been forced to endure which was a good thing. He only had to remove some of the more descriptive details that Rex issued of the stasis pod Echo had been held in before he left the rest of the report as is. Nothing outside of normal curiosity would be be levied at either reports at any rate.
The CMO of Torrent’s Company report, however, was most disturbing.
Tech took his time reading through the medical report several times over as he debated on how to approach this. Lieutenant Kix was as detailed and thorough as Tech would have expected any seasoned medical officer would have been from his medical evaluation of Echo but therein laid the problem. Tech couldn’t risk changing too much of it without Kix himself noticing the changes or -worse yet- suggest to the medical services at large that Kix was attempting to hide something. The chance that Kix would be hauled in for questioning, possibly relieved of his duty as a medic and therefore decommissioned, was statically high. It was unjustified punishment since Kix had done his job correctly and it was Tech himself who undermined him.
Besides… Considering the illicit activities he and Lieutenant Jesse got into in the aft stores earlier that evening, an investigation into Kix could end up with at least one more decommissioning of a high level clone within Torrent Company and that could destabilize the entire battalion.
Tech sighed to himself quietly, he was just going to have to be cautious in what he did… and erase that vid file of the two lieutenants participating in sexual activities with one another in the storage unit. Thankfully base security wasn’t such a high priority on the inner buildings so he doubted that security had even thought to look at the recording yet. It was simple enough to remove the data, replace it with just a repeating still of the same empty corner of the room and hide any evidence that they had even gone in there together.
Though he did send a message with a picture of the two of them in a more compromising position to Lieutenant Jesse via a bot program with a simple message to be more careful in the future since he wasn’t always going to be around and assurance that all data of this engagement had been deleted from the servers.
The medical report Tech handled with extreme caution. He focused mainly on removing keywords or substituting them with words that lacked the same level of severity. A couple descriptions were modified but cross referenced against some of the lieutenant’s other reports so as not to seem too out of character. With any luck, if asked to revisit it, Kix would assume he was just tired when writing it and wouldn’t remember the details as clearly as he had.
Of course there were some things that he couldn’t downgrade enough to slip past the scrutiny he knew was coming to this report in particular.
Tech glanced over to where Echo was sleeping in the copilot's chair. He and Wrecker had talked about food of all things while Tech had calibrated his legs properly to make walking easier for him. At some point after he was done and Wrecker had started telling him stories of some of the larger explosions that he had generated, Echo had fallen asleep on them. Rest was something he desperately needed so instead of trying to move him, they had opted to leave him be and -in Wreckers case- join him in resting while they had a chance.
Crosshair was behind him and had his helmet on so it was hard to tell if he was awake or not but given how it was tipped down slightly to the floor there was a high chance that he was also resting while he could. Tech doubted that he would be able to sleep for the next day or so. With nothing better to do he started going over the security footage throughout the base as a cursory form of entertainment. Finding and shoring up the reg’s security network never hurt and it helped to tell him where the easiest point to breach a GAR base on the off chance he ever needed to.
Of course, he hadn’t been expecting to find this.
Security feeds rarely had any audio input and he wasn’t as well versed in reading lips as Crosshair and Hunter were but even he caught the ‘animatronic half clone’ and ‘cybernetic trash heap’ the two clones were talking about as they walked down the passageway. He already didn’t like these clones but Tech kept watching their conversation, changing to a different camera angle to try and pick up what they were saying easier. Tech still couldn’t really make out what they were saying but seeing one say something about walking past medical and seeing the ‘freakshow’ was all he needed for an excuse to hunt down their CT numbers in the records.
It was easy enough to find their duty records and switch over their assignments. Months of cleaning some of the worst parts of the base wasn’t the worst Tech could do at the moment but the real deviousness of this program wouldn’t come to pass until much later. When it came to petty revenge, Tech found that long term punishment was much more enjoyable to him than instantaneous gratification that a fist fight could bring.
Assignment could be changed but a carefully hidden code within the systems batch procedures would not be easily detected or noticed. Just a few lines of code to check their assignments daily and reset the duties to cleaning if it was ever changed to anything else. He linked this code to their profiles so that even if they were transferred out of the 187th their duties would always be the same.
It would eventually be noticed of course, but it would take someone of equal skill or knowledge to track down this supposed glitch in the system, which wouldn’t be a priority any point soon considering how bogged down in requests the GAR Cyber Network currently was.
He'd have to check back in a few months to see how the two of them were fairing... or not.
There was a shift behind him and Tech glanced back to see that Crosshair's helmet was now up and turned in his direction. There was no point in hiding what he had been doing, Crosshair knew him well enough and judging by the set of his shoulders, Crosshair was just as furious if it more so than he was. Clearly, they had to do something about this.
"We can't leave him here," Tech said softly, trying not to wake the subject of that statement.
It was usually difficult to get a read off Crosshair but, when he had his helmet on, the difficulty increased tenfold. The low hiss that sounded threatening to others merely made Tech feel all more justified in his statement and actions. He allowed himself to relax as Crosshair agreed.
"No… we can't."
-Break-
Hunter hated being in tactical meetings.
The bureaucracy of just talking about the problems that could be present instead of going out and just dealing with them as they arrived never failed to irritate him. Why were they just sitting around when moving and dealing with things were so much more productive? For large scale invasions he knew that there were plans in place for a reason but he'd rather already be there for a few weeks before, destabilizing supply lines and taking out key persons of interest… not waiting around for a couple generals to come up with an idea of what they could be doing or might have to deal with.
Inaction would never get them anywhere in this War.
Still, he was here for Cody and regardless of what mission request Command kept sending him and his team, they'd stay here for as long as Cody needed them. He'd at least earned their respect. Eventually he'd probably have to ask Tech to help brainstorm a reasonable excuse as to why they were delayed in mission completions that wouldn't raise any suspicion but they still had time yet. It wasn't the first nor the last time they'd have gone dark on Command for a couple days. They could wait.
Even though he was all for running off into the thick of things now, Cody was the reason he was walking back to the Marauder for a break. The Marshal Commander was looking better than he had when he had remained behind for medical evac but he was still holding himself at a slight angle and it was apparent that he was still very much recovering even if he was back on duty. At least General Kenobi seemed aware of it, watching his Commander closely as he moved stiffly about the tactical center.
Honestly, he was fairly certain the reason the General asked for a break in the meeting was more so for Cody than himself like he claimed… which Hunter had to admit made him respect him just a slight bit more than some of the other Generals involved in the operation.
General Kenobi told Hunter to go rest while they were at a bit of an impasse with their strategy. Hunter had simply ignored him even though he politely ignored him. The Jedi -any Jedi really- could tell him to go and rest all they wanted but. That didn't mean he was going to listen to them.
However Cody telling him to go grab something to eat during their short recess was different.
Besides… his team had been alone for four hours. There was no telling what trouble they had gotten up to in that amount of time especially on a GAR base. At least he hadn't gotten a call from the brig to retrieve any of them but he'd rather they be out in the fields to minimize the amount of headaches he'd be dealing with on top of the one he already had.
Bases were… loud. He got all of the constant white noise of voices talking, engines moving even just the creaking of armor as a clone on guard duty just shifted from one foot to the other grated on his senses, overloading them just with all the constant, steady noises that happened on a daily basis just from the base personnel going about their duties. He couldn’t fault them for that, they were just going about their lives, but the longer they were here the longer he had to endure the constant barrage of noise drumming on his inner ears.
That wasn’t to also say the amount of equipment. His senses had been honed in during his training to pick up on electric frequencies but there was no real difference between a Separatist base and a GAR base. The amount of computers and electronics were a bit more prevalent in a separatist base due to the amount of droids there but to him they felt virtually the same.
Honestly, the only place he could get a break from his heightened senses was in space and even then he could still pick up on the Marauder and brothers. That though was more peaceful. Yeah, there was the occasional passing ship but being able to pick up the smooth hum that was the Marauder’s systems and the general sounds, scents and the feels of his brothers nearby assured him that he was safe… that they were safe. Even if he didn’t know what was wrong, picking up on distress from them on the ship always set him on edge, but when everything was running smoothly and normal, then he could truly relax and rest.
So it was blatantly obvious that there was someone else on the ship as he walked towards it.
Echo was in the cockpit of the ship. It was easy to place him because of the strange dissonances against his senses that he caused. He was both organic and not, a strange counterpoint to one another that came up as an odd almost grating feeling against his senses. Hunter really didn’t like the feeling of it. It didn’t quite hurt but the strange combination was enough to make Hunter not want to focus too much on him just to avoid the unpleasant feeling he unintentionally produced.
The next question that came to mind was why was Echo on the ship and not back in medical. His brothers were on the ship in the main compartment waiting. Wrecker’s heartbeat was steady but both Tech and Crosshair’s were elevated. Crosshair’s even more so and he could tell his brother was all but grinding the toothpick on his teeth.
Clearly something had happened to ruffle his feathers and get Crosshair worked up about something. Or someone he was willing to bet. Hunter had a feeling that whatever had happened had to do with Echo considering how he was currently on the ship. Hunter put up with the strange feeling long enough to check and yes, Echo was asleep in the copilot’s chair.
Interesting… considering that this was Crosshair after all.
Hunter wasn’t surprised that as soon as he was on the Marauder, Crosshair was literally in his face before the door was even fully closed behind him. Crosshair had a good half a head of height on him so it was easy for him to tower over him when he did this. His brother was trying to intimidate him but now that he could actually smell him, Hunter knew that there was more to it than that.
Hunter could pick up on the stress in his scent but there wasn't anger which was a bit surprising. No, his brother was anxious -and stressed- but was more worried than anything. Crosshair was worried and hiding it as he tried to intimidate him with apparent ire… over a ‘Reg’ no less.
Honestly Hunter wasn't sure why he had to posture like this half the time, Crosshair knew that he could pick on his real reason for doing things.
"We're not leaving him here," Crosshair growled at him, clearly ready to get into a fight about it if Hunter said otherwise.
Still… with only half the story laid out before him, Hunter wanted a little more information before he said or did anything else. “I take it that something happened?”
“Yes,” Tech was quick to cut in. Of course if he was involved Tech was going to lay out everything for him. It honestly made making an informed decision exceedingly easy considering how detail oriented he tended to be. “Several things actually but it will really only take one instance to have you agree with our reasoning on the matter.”
Hunter raised an eyebrow at that as he stepped past Crosshair, ignoring as he seemed to hover over his shoulder, partially bristling and clearly ready for a fight still. “What happened?”
“As per standard procedure, Echo was given a medical evaluation by the Torrent CMO who stated in great descriptive detail of what Echo went through.”
Hunter frowned at that. He didn’t know the CMO that well but he already knew where Tech was going with this and Echo didn’t deserve that fate. Bad enough they went through it but there was no telling if They would even consider letting Echo live through those procedures to satisfy Their curiosity.
“I have already gone through and swept his and the reports from General Skywalker and Captain Rex. However I wasn’t able to completely remove all pertinent data without it seeming odd against Lieutenant Kix’s normal reports. There was too high of a risk that the file would be recognizable as having been tampered with.”
And that would be the only excuse that the longneck’s would need to make Echo vanish... possibly the CMO as well.
“Hunter,” Wrecker was clearly worried as he looked at him, glancing quickly at Tech and Crosshair as if making sure it was okay to say something before continuing. “He’s really not doing well. He panicked when he was left alone with a droid in medical.”
Why the hell was Echo left alone in medical? Hunter couldn’t say that he could really relate to what Echo had been through but after being in solitary the last thing he wanted was to be left alone. Even just having his brothers in the room had done wonders to make him feel better. He assumed there had to be another reason why Echo had been left alone -maybe that medic they had left him with had actually gone to get some sleep, his scent reeked of stims and exhaustion- but that didn’t mean it was a good idea to leave him alone.
“Not to mention that there is already animosity being generated by some of the other clones on the base,” Tech added on as if he needed to keep providing Hunter with reasons as to why they shouldn’t leave Echo behind. “Rumors are being spread and some are seeing him more as a form of… entertainment than as an individual.”
… Yeah that wasn’t happening…
"Okay... We'll give him the option to come with us,” Hunter said evenly, already running through the options as he talked. “If he doesn't then that's his choice… so we’ll roll with Plan 48 Snatch."
"Yes!” Wrecker said, jumping in excitement. “I'll get the explosives!!!"
“But!” Hunter was quick to add on before the excitement got out of hand. “It has to look like an accident in a non critical sector and nothing above minor injuries. We don’t want the whole base to think that they're under attack.”
“Aw,” Wrecker pouted.
“... Looks like we’re blowing up the mess,” Crosshair added almost smugly. “Again.”
Hunter couldn’t help but send a narrowed eyed glare at him. When the hell had they blown up a mess before now?
Later… he’d ask more about it later. He wasn’t sure if it was worth the headache at this point. “... And we tell Captain Rex the truth.”
He could practically hear Crosshair roll his eyes but he didn’t add anything to it. Maybe getting decked by the Captain was enough of a reason for Crosshair not to get on his high eopie or maybe it knocked some sense into him for a change. Either way after a moment of waiting and still nothing from his brother, Hunter turned back to Tech. “Make a list of things you’ll need for him for the foreseeable. I’m sure Wrecker and Crosshair will be able to get it for you.”
“And what about you?” Wrecker asked as he started for the back of the craft.
Hunter pinched his nose as he walked, feeling the onset of a headache of what he was going to have to go back too, “I’m taking a nap before I have to go listen to those supposed tactical geniuses discuss all the ways to break through fortifications rather than actually do it.”
-Break-
In the end, Echo chose to go with them willingly.
Wrecker and Crosshair seemed to be mildly disappointed at that fact. Hunter was going to make it a point to check and make sure that the base’s kitchen didn’t blow up shortly after they left. He didn’t put it past the two of them to set it up on a delay or something.
Still after Rex had returned their salute and they turned to board the Marauder, it didn’t escape his notice of how his brothers acted.
Tech was the first one on the ship as usual but there was a subtle change to his demeanor. A smile that wouldn’t leave his face, a change in his scent that he had when he was excited and a quickness in his step as if he was worried that Echo would change his mind or something. “Come along, Echo,” he even made a point to say which was a first considering Tech was usually worried and anxious about anyone other than them on his ship.
Then again, he had left Echo unattended in the Marauder's cockpit.
Tech didn't have to worry about Echo trying to back out of what he had said at any rate. Wrecker made a point to throw an arm over his shoulders, laughing as he herded him alongside himself to the ramp. It wasn’t actually part of the Snatch plan but usually Wrecker was the one manhandling their target onto the ship. He was probably still following the Plan to some extent but there was no denying his excitement that Echo was joining them.
Crosshair was, as usual, hard to read at a passing glance. However, he seemed a little bit more relaxed and that slight anxious twang to his scent was gone. His face was still passive as he rolled his toothpick over his lips but Hunter could easily pick up on the relieved sigh as he watched Wrecker half carried, half drag Echo up the ramp.
... He was going to have to tell Wrecker to stop trying to carry Echo around.
As for himself, Hunter was actually looking forward to working with Echo. He was more level headed than any of his brothers and though he had his doubts about him during the infiltration of Trench’s ship, Echo had proved himself. He also let slip a bit of that off the wall thinking and Hunter was interested in seeing more of it. It wasn’t everyday that someone came up with ideas as crazy as theirs and managed to keep pace with them.
There was just one person that didn’t seem happy about this.
Hunter stopped and glanced back at Captain Rex. Sadness wasn’t something that you could smell but Rex was obviously upset just by the set of his shoulders. The worried furrow in his brow was also a telling indication as was the fact that he was staring at the door to the Marauder where Echo had vanished just moments ago.
He couldn’t leave him standing there like that.
Hunter quickly trotted over to the Captain so that they could talk. Crosshair stopped at the foot of the ramp onto the Marauder clearly intending to wait for him there. Hunter ignored him and his worrying. Clearly no one was going to mess with them on this base, especially with a Captain right there.
“Captain,” he said respectively as he came up to Rex. He finally turned away from the Marauder to look at him and seemed to stuff the worry and sadness back down automatically. “Don’t worry. We’re… uniquely suited to take care of him. He’ll be alright.”
That seemed to surprise Rex but the Captain made a point to smile and clasp a hand onto his shoulder. “I know… just be ready for when he decides to return the favor.”
Hunter raised an eyebrow at that. He wasn’t sure why that sounded partially ominous. “If you need us, Rex. Call. We’ll be there.” It was spontaneous to offer his their aid like they had with Cody but Hunter could already tell that Rex was one of the ‘good’ clones. Someone they could actually trust and rely on.
Besides, he doubted that Echo would refuse a call for help from Rex given how close they were.
The engines for the Marauder were cycling up. Tech was getting impatient.
Rex’s smile got just a bit wider, “Good to know Sergeant. I’ll make a point to keep that in mind.”
Hunter turned to leave but made a point to glance back at him as he expanded his senses one more time. He kept it so that Crosshair could read his lips and know what he was saying as he said, “By the way Captain, you might want to have a couple maintenance techs go over the kitchen’s electronics... They sound off.”
Rex looked reasonably concerned but he ignored his assurance to do so because it was worth it as a soft whisper of a voice only he could hear float towards him.
“Spoilsport.”