#ndtech2024

[heyclickadee]

“Where’s Tech?”

“Outside. Something about aiwhas and a comm recorder—”

“What about aiwhas?”

“I…think he said they might talk.”

I sort of have a headcanon Tech’s interest in sounds, recording, and language started when he was pretty young, and that it started because he had some trouble communicating and being understood. Wanting to connect ended up naturally leading into curiosity about how everything else tried to communicate.

[nika6q]

Cadet Tech discovers a caterpillar on Kamino.

For @neurodivergent-tech-week and @summer-of-bad-batch

Prompt: cadet batch

[neurodivergent-tech-week]

Happy Disability Pride Month! Neurodivergent Tech week is right around the corner.

We are a celebration of Tech, neurodivergence, and what he means to us running through July21-July 27.

Want to participate? Check out our prompts!

[elslittlestories]

Spinning round and round 💞

This is one of my favorite stim so it was nice to have Tech share this with me for the sake of the 3rd Neurodivergent Tech week prompt "Stimming "

There's a few static pictures of this (poorly made) animation below if you'd like!

[thesylverlining]

A little bit late for @neurodivergent-tech-week but here we go!

I wrote (and played/sang!) a song about Tech BadBatch, and all our Feelings about him! (Yes, Tech lover, This Is For You!)

It's about the gift of having such a wonderfully-written autistic hero in a big TV show, seeing him develop and shine... and then losing him (to falling into some clouds, where we can't see him), and the way it really felt like we were being led-on about a return, and just... all the pain that came with that. But ultimately like any story, he's ours, we caught him, we see him, and loving him will never be a mistake. <3

And then I made a lyric video, which I hope y'all will find snazzy. :D

Thank you so much for watching/listening/being in this fandom with me!

[eriexplosion]

ND Tech Week Day 1 - Cadet Batch

Rating: General Audience Word Count: 630 Summary: Wrecker takes the quiet part out of Tech's peace and quiet, but Tech can't say he's upset about it. For @neurodivergent-tech-week

For once, the Kaminoan sky was clear. As clear as it could be, at least - Tech had been watching clouds gathering on the horizon since he first settled onto the narrow ledge to work, aware that the weather could shift towards a storm at a moment’s notice. But with his back tucked up against metal, goggles settled onto his thighs waiting for their upgrade to be installed, and calm waters far below, things were as close to peaceful as Tech had ever seen them.

Until his comm, set between his boot and the wall to ensure it didn’t fall from his perch, came to life.

Wrecker’s voice rang through in that hushed shout that passed for a whisper. “You still doing okay?” Even with the comm so far from him, Tech could hear breathing coming through, and he could just imagine Wrecker in his bunk, curled up and leaned in far too close as he waited for his answer.

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Tech said idly, raising his own voice to compensate for the distance. He could have retrieved the comm, of course, but that would mean putting down the recording device currently occupying his hands, and with its fragile inner workings exposed at that. Turning it over, Tech briefly inspected the wiring as he waited for another response, only for none to come.

Wrecker was likely lonely then, looking for company rather than having anything to relay to him. Tech’s eyes flicked to the comm, listening to the breathing for a few seconds before asking, “Where are Hunter and Crosshair?”

“Shooting range.” A hint of crackling distorted the reply and Tech frowned. He wasn’t so far from their barracks that it should have interfered with the signal. The first hint of a brewing stom perhaps. He would need to keep a closer eye on the skies then, to ensure that if the weather did turn he - and more importantly, the recorder - wasn’t caught up in the downpour.

Still, the thought was unpleasant and he let out a short sigh, glad that the comm was too far away to pick it up. Wrecker didn’t need to think him disinterested when already searching for connection.

Tech plucked the smallest of his soldering irons from beside him, beginning to carefully fuse the ends of the wires into place within the new recorder. As he worked, he raised his voice again. “Have you listened to the audio recording I acquired for you?”

Wrecker had never been much for reading, but the blast that had taken sight on his left side had taken what little attention span he had for it along with them. Luckily, though he could only hear on his right now, audio processing seemed to have dodged the same fate, as long as the recording was suitably slow paced. He may not have been able to keep up with many of Tech’s explanations, but audio novels were a different story.

His investment in stories that could generously be described as tawdry was beyond Tech’s understanding, but understanding wasn’t necessary. They made his brother happy, so he would fight his way through as many layers of Kaminoan security as necessary in order to provide a continuous supply.

Instantly, the tone changed and brightened, Wrecker’s false whisper dropping and voice rising as eagerness overwhelmed any restraint. At first it made Tech wince to hear the sudden increase, but he adjusted quickly and soon enough the words became a comforting backdrop of their own.

Eventually, the clouds would gather and force him back inside, Wrecker would run out of Twi’lek pirate adventures to poorly relay back to him, and the moment would pass. But, for now, it was peaceful.

Perhaps he would even finish his work in time to record some of it.

[lifblogs]

Do You Not Trust Me?

Day 4 of Neurodivergent Tech Week Prompt: "Do you not trust me?" "Absolutely not. Next question." @neurodivergent-tech-week

Rating: General Audiences Word Count: 1460 Summary: Crosshair decides to go with Clone Force 99 after the destruction of Kamino. Tech wants to scan for an inhibitor chip, just to be safe. READ ON AO3

Tech was adding just a few touches to his scanner, his body tense because of who sat across from him near the hyperdrive computer, hands bound.

Crosshair let out a huff, hanging his head.

“Do you not trust me?” he asked, knowing the nature of the scanner Tech was working on.

Tech’s solder sparked blue into the ship.

The others were busy, leaving Tech to his business with Crosshair. In truth, he was only doing it out of curiosity, though he was ordered to by Hunter, but given the situation…

“Absolutely not,” he stated quite easily. “Next question.”

“I see you still have your sass.” Crosshair’s voice lacked the usual hissing strength to it. He was clearly ashamed from asking them to help him off Kamino.

“As do you, I’m sure.” Tech lowered the scanner. “It’s not just about trust,” Tech said. “You know I have to verify this.”

Crosshair let out another huff, leaning back in his seat, and stretching out his long legs.

Tech pulled his legs in.

“Hunter wants you to verify it, to see if I’m lying.”

Ugh. “Crosshair, what reason have you given us to trust you? You lured us to Kamino at the Empire’s orders, you shot your own squad”— Crosshair turned away; perhaps at the fact that the Bad Batch was no longer his squad?—”you told us you believe in the Empire, and are loyal to them, and then you ask us to get you off Kamino despite your own pride, but since then you have not made your allegiance clear.”

Tech finished with the scanner, and set his tools aside.

“There, all done.”

“Tech, I know you. I know you like to look at every side, like to understand as much as you can about—about everything, really. Now look at the other evidence.”

“Why? Will you be staying with us, or is your loyalty to those who destroyed our home more important to you?”

Tech stood, and tried scanning Crosshair, but he stood too, shoving him. Tech shoved back.. Perhaps their altercation was too loud because Hunter noticed, exiting the cockpit in a rush, and getting in between them. Crosshair snarled when he pulled them apart.

“Stop it. Both of you. Crosshair, sit down.”

“Make me.”

“How old are you?” Hunter asked.

“Fine,” Crosshair growled, taking a seat. “But I’m only listening to you so I actually make it to my destination.”

“We’re not the ones who want you dead,” Hunter said. “Think about that.” He turned to Tech. “You’re all right here? You can handle him?”

Guilt struck Tech for a moment as his hand just brushed against one of his blasters holstered at his hips.

“Of course.”

“Good, now check if he still has his chip.”

“I don’t,” Crosshair swore.

“Then what’s the harm in the scan?”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Crosshair told him.

Tech cleared his throat, going over in his head what he wanted to say. He should say it now. No, no… Now! Hmm, maybe it needed some tweaking.

Hunter, may I speak with you? I believe you are riling Crosshair up. I can handle him.

Yes, that was perfect.

By the time he had his script, Crosshair was in Hunter’s face.

Oh no, was he too late?

He still had to try.

Tech cleared his throat again, getting at least Hunter’s attention (Crosshair was still sneering at Hunter). “Hunter,” he started, worried his voice was coming out too loud (not like he could change that at the moment; there was just too much to think about), “may I speak with you?”

Hunter drew his attention from Crosshair, which seemed to take a mighty effort. Tech didn’t blame him.

“Fine, but I’m gonna keep an eye on him.”

“That is preferable,” Tech said, breaking his script, and finding the rest of the words falling away from him as the connection broke.

Scrag.

“So what is it?” Hunter asked.

How am I supposed to say it now?

Just try.

You have to try.

Tech tried to ignore the sudden anxiety in his gut at finding the right words, and said, “I believe you are riling Crosshair up. Clearly he is distressed by your presence.”

“And he isn’t by yours?”

“He is, but to a lesser extent. I believe this will go more smoothly if I handle it on my own.”

Hunter eyed Tech, and then Crosshair. He looked back at Tech, and Tech dodged his gaze, looking at his eyebrows instead, and the dark ink of his tattoo.

“Fine, but holler if you need help.”

Hunter went back to the cockpit, and the door opening earned Tech a glance at Omega peeking through, curious as always. Besides, she seemed willing to forget Crosshair’s transgressions.

AZI was in the cockpit as well, making it more crowded. He had volunteered to check if Crosshair still had his chip, but Tech wanted to see it for himself, with his own tool.

“Glad Hunter decided I don’t need another babysitter,” Crosshair hissed out as Tech came back over.

“Perhaps I was the one who didn’t want him around.”

“You? Aren’t you all one big, happy family?”

“No,” Tech stated. “I fear we are missing a piece.”

They went silent.

“Please, let me scan you.”

“Fine,” Crosshair relented. “As long as your stupid machine doesn’t touch my head.”

“It won’t.”

Still, Tech held in a wince as he scanned Crosshair, getting a closer look at his scar.

“Did that require skin grafts?” he asked.

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business. You don’t trust me, remember? So I don’t trust you.”

“I miss the time when we could trust each other,” Tech admitted, voice perhaps more monotone than he had intended.

“Just finish your stupid scan.”

Tech did, and… no inhibitor chip. He felt a strange lightness in his chest that Crosshair had been telling the truth.

But then that meant he had been telling the truth about his loyalty to the Empire as well, which then felt like a stab in the gut.

“It appears you were not lying,” Tech managed to get out.

“As if I didn’t already know that.”

“You want to be left alone,” Tech stated, still knowing Crosshair despite him being an enemy now.

To his surprise, Crosshair paused.

Tech almost sat back down, even twisting his hips to do so.

“Yes.”

Crosshair was lying. Tech knew it like he knew how to fly the Marauder, knew it like he knew that a venomous twirfang didn’t actually need its venom to kill its prey, knew it like he knew the sound of a purrgil about to jump to hyperspace.

Tech left him to his lie, wondering if he would ever look back at his recording of that moment.

Despite how crowded it was in the cockpit, Tech felt devastatingly lonely. He wondered if Crosshair felt this way. But there was no way to fix it, not unless Crosshair took the first steps.

Tech sat in the pilot’s seat, silent, brain trying to script what he could say to Crosshair to fix this, but there was no script for this pain, no script for what Crosshair had done to them and had tried to do, no script for what they had done to Crosshair, no script for the sheer encompassing malice and enormity of the Empire.

Tech, unable to sit still with his frustrating helplessness, continued work on one of his many projects, telling the others about it till they were annoyed, and past that. Though, Wrecker smiled at him through it, and Echo did seem interested for quite some time. Same with Hunter and Omega. But he knew he was too much sometimes. They listened anyway. Annoyance didn’t change anything about love. Tech was glad that after twenty minutes they at least pretended to listen; perhaps they had been doing it all along, not understanding what he was working on. He valued the questions Omega asked, and valued that they let him speak as long as he wished.

Yet Crosshair sat just outside the door, alone.

Would he have listened to Tech for some time as well? Had he tried to listen in?

Tech resisted the urge to check on him. Echo was handling that—Echo, who understood being used by an enemy to hurt his own brothers. Perhaps something would come of this.

His mind played over and over again, Do you not trust me?

Crosshair hadn’t tried to take their weapons, hadn’t hurt any of them once Kamino had been fired upon, and he had saved Omega. The evidence before Tech painted a confusing picture, one he would want to puzzle out, teasing out the knotted strands until everything was right again.

Do you not trust me?

Yes, yes, I do trust you.

[eclec-tech]

Neurodivergent Tech Week 2024 prompt: cadets wc: 1,569

I've swamped myself, so this is a reblog. But if it shows even one new set of eyes this week how much I love the idea of Tech's brothers supporting him and his fixations, I'll be a happy camper.

Tech’s forehead remained glued to the window as he spoke. “That aiwha calf! It was not there yesterday. The alpha cow in the pod has finally had her baby! I wish I had seen it happen. They give birth right over the surface of the water, then the entire pod calls out to the calf to encourage it to leave the water and fly!” “That’s great, Tech.” Hunter sent a small smirk to his other two brothers. For months they had listened to their inquisitive brother regurgitate every piece of information ever discovered about Kamino’s native cetaceans, nearly becoming experts themselves in the process. Crosshair and Wrecker grinned back. This was not the first time Tech had become fixated on a subject and unleashed his exuberance upon them. However, this was the first time one of his interests was something found on their own planet. It had given his brothers an idea.

@neurodivergent-tech-week

[scarletv0id]

After a particularly annoying mission where the Batch had to have extensive conversations with spiteful regs, Tech needs some time to himself. As he's letting himself decompress, though, Crosshair surprise him by deciding to join him.

[gun-roswell]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Cartoon), Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types, Star Wars - All Media Types Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Clone Force 99 | Bad Batch (Star Wars), CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo & CT-9902 | Tech Characters: CT-9902 | Tech, CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo, CT-9904 | Crosshair, CT-9901 | Hunter, CT-9903 | Wrecker, Omega (Star Wars: The Bad Batch) Additional Tags: Neurodivergent CT-9902 | Tech, CT-9902 | Tech-centric, ndtech2024, Neurodivergent Tech Week 2024, Team as Family, Misunderstandings, CT-9902 | Tech is bad with relationships, Tech and Echo dynamics Series: Part 7 of Neurodivergent Tech Week, Part 21 of Tech-O/T-Echo Tales, Part 6 of Tales from Pabu Summary:

Yes, the two have their quarrels and disagreements, but now that Echo is less on the island, perhaps Tech and Echo should try not to argue so much when they finally get together.

Fan Event: neurodivergent-tech-week.tumblr.com: DAY 7: “I've been thinking." "I sure hope so, it would be worrisome if you didn't.""I should not have said that"

Part of Neurodivergent Tech Week Prompts / Tales from Pabu / Tech/Echo Tales series

@neurodivergent-tech-week​ Author’s Note: A great big thank you to all of you who have been reading and leaving kudos on these short tales for this special Tech event! It's been great to write them and more of Tech and his family in the future as well incoming but of course (never tiring of TBB I guess). Including a few after dark fics related to this same event yet to be published (editing in progress). Gotta love the genius of the team and no matter what canon led us to believe, Tech absolutely lives happily ever after on Pabu!!!

[insertmeaningfulusername]

A little thing hurriedly written for @neurodivergent-tech-week 's after dark prompt "interrupting sex to go on a research binge" - basically just Techo being autistic and horny together. Yay :D

[heyclickadee]

Day two for neurodivergent Tech week…on day four 😅. The theme for day two was “comfort person,” and I’ve always loved the relationship between Echo and Tech. They bicker, they snark back and forth, but I always got the impression that it was because they really understood each other and were extremely comfortable in each other’s company. Two peas in a pod, really.

[nika6q]

For @neurodivergent-tech-week prompt: Stimming

Ok, so this is a year old self reblog, but my original intent was that the rain was an auditory stim for him.

Rain

[neurodivergent-tech-week]

Neurodivergent Tech Week starts on Sunday! Check out the prompts.

[elslittlestories]

First prompt of Neurodivergent Tech week is "Cadet Batch" so enjoy this little snippet of a fanfiction I've been thinking about for ages but can't get going... Plus a cute companion fanart of baby Tech ans baby Wrecker 🥰

AZ let the next batch of children in and I hurried to them. Five clones stood in a messy line. They had already lost most of their childish roundness. Soon, their batch would be ready to move out to the next building and start proper training.

“Nurse Dita, look!” one of the boys called out enthusiastically, pointing at a mingle of wire and leds on the side of his face.

I sighed, more amused than annoyed. This was very typical of Tech.

“Honey, what did we say about messing with your glasses?”

“Technically, I am improving them! I can record what I see now,” Tech bragged. “Would you like to know how I did it?”

“Ugh, nobody cares!” shouted another kid, which earned him to be shoved by Wrecker, an unusually large boy standing next to him.

It took me a moment to get the children to calm down. While AZ began their blood sampling, I kneeled in front of Tech.

“I do care. I need to check the evolution of your eyesight today, you can tell me all about it then.”

He grinned, shifting on his feet with excitement. Next to him, Wrecker was making a face and closing his eyes as the medical droid reached him and asked that he hold out his hand. I moved toward him, produced a blue bandage from my pocket and placed it over the boy’s hand where the droid just withdraw blood. There was no need for it, there was barely a mark on his skin, but it never failed to make hum feel better. The box of Band-Aids wasn’t provided by the Kaminoans, obviously.

“There you go, Big boy.”

“Whoa!” he marveled, “I never had a blue one before!”

I ruffled his short hair, made sure the samples were all secured in the tray, data from the scans already popping up on the screen of thé workstation, and allowed the kids to leave.

“Except you, honey.”

Tech didn’t need to be told to stay, he was already sitting at the optical bench, his glasses in his hands, legs bouncing with anticipation. I chuckled and got starter on the scanner as Tech began his exposé...

[eriexplosion]

ND Tech Week Day 2 - Comfort Person

Rating: General Audience Word Count: 601 Summary: When Tech has a nightmare, Hunter helps just by existing. For @neurodivergent-tech-week

Before Tech had known anything else, he’d known Hunter.

Hunter had been all he cared to know. Wrecker had yet to be decanted, taking two extra months to develop enough that his young body could support his own musculature, and Crosshair, undersized as he was in the tube, had taken even longer. In those earliest, fogged memories that even his enhanced mind had trouble fully materializing, he could see the cold laboratories. Endless tests of his abilities. Needles too big for tiny veins. Hunter had been the only thing that hadn’t in some way hurt.

It had been such a short period of time that they were alone together, CT-9901 and CT-9902 rather than Hunter and Tech, but only knowing that they would be returned to each other afterwards had gotten Tech through those early tests. Perhaps that was why even now, grown and far from the laboratories that now lay on Kamino’s ocean floor, difficult nights still drove him directly to Hunter’s side.

This time had been a nightmare, every second saved in cruel clarity by a brain that couldn’t seem to forget anything, his greatest strength turned against him. It had begun as a memory. Omega slipping from her perch in the ipsium mine. Calling out to him for help. Vanishing into the darkness with a scream. He’d jumped in after her, but in the nightmare he’d crawled from the water alone, searching, desperate, the minutes dragging out until he finally spotted blonde hair in the water, and an unmoving body-

Tech collapsed gracelessly to the floor beside Hunter’s rack, armor feeling heavy despite all the pieces they’d removed in recent months. He leaned his head back against the edge of the rack, letting it dig into the strap of his goggles rather than his scalp. It was the only concession to comfort he bothered with.

Listening for Hunter’s breathing, slow and steady in sleep, Tech forced his own to synchronize. Every time his mind tried to flip back to avenues not worth considering - Omega was safe, asleep in her room, alive - he forced it back to maintaining that rhythm instead. Slow breath in. Short huff out.

If he weren’t fighting against his own memory, he might have noticed when the breathing pattern he was so studiously matching stuttered out of the even rhythm of sleep. But his own mind was the only one that could challenge him, and it could even make him miss the obvious, it seemed, because when a hand found his head and scratched sleepily through his hair, it was enough to make him jolt in surprise.

“Tech?” Hunter barely sounded conscious.

Still, Tech leaned his head back into the touch like it was an instinctual thing, and Hunter took his silence as permission to continue. Those scratching fingers moved through his hair until Hunter could run a finger along Tech’s hairline, from forehead back. Some of the tension slipped away, like water running down his neck.

“You wanna talk about it?”

“No.”

Hunter always asked, even though the answer was always the same, and he’d always accepted the answer when it was given. One of many things Tech appreciated about him. Silence grew between them, one of comfortable companionship rather than awkwardness, and Hunter continued his careful touch.

For a moment, the nightmare’s hold slipped away. Everything did, from the hard metal floor he sat on to Wrecker’s snores traveling down from the top rack. There was only the two of them, as they’d once been. CT-9901 and CT-9902, the only two things in the world, together.

Tech finally let his eyes close again.