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a-streakofteal · 2 years ago

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The Bad Batch (10)

Chapter Ten: Common Ground

Gif by @kamino-coruscant

Hunter x femaleJedi!reader

Series Summary: You joined the Batch 8 months ago and everything was going well. But then, Order 66 happened and suddenly the galaxy around you changed. Now, not only do you need to be careful given your new 'social status', but you also need to navigate your feelings towards a certain Sergeant.

Chapter Summary: Your road to recovery begins and a mission has the Batch seeing their ideology challenged.

<Previous Chapter

Genre: Friends (idiots) to Lovers

Chapter Warnings: Canon-typical violence, swearing, mild hurt/comfort, infected wound descriptions, mild illness, Star Wars cleaning supplies being what I require, (most likely inaccurate) Star Wars first aid and it being what I need, the clothes hyper fixation continues (I wish I knew why my brain thought this so crucial)

Word Count: 6.7K

Rating: 18+

Author's notes: Pretty much follow the plot of the show here, not a whole lot extra going on but I'm excited for you guys to read this one cause then we have my favourite chapter next lol. Any new readers, please see Ch8 for explanation of certain warnings that aren't included in every chapter warning because they appear a lot. Enjoy!

“You ready to go?”

You glanced up to see Hunter, armour all back on, looking down as you finished tying the laces to your boots. “Yup.” You grabbed the bag with your ruined clothes and got ready to get up.

“You sure you don’t want my help?”

“Yes, thanks though.” You stood up but put a bit too much weight on your injured leg, much to its protest, and you felt it start to collapse beneath you.

“Easy.” Hunter said as he caught you by the shoulders.

“Okay, so I may need a little bit of assistance.” You admitted begrudgingly as you straightened up, only applying weight on the toes of your left foot.

“Come on.” Hunter tucked his arm around you, making sure to avoid your side injury and acted as a support for you.

Leaning against him (and finding it quite a nice arrangement), the two of you walked down the steps of the ship to join the others as they waited for you. As you all started to walk, you chucked your clothes into the first dumpster you could find before continuing to walk back to Cid’s parlour. You weren’t sure how your debt with Cid was going to be settled but you were sure she would think of something.

“How’s the Mantell Mix, kid?” Wrecker asked Omega who was perched on his shoulder.

“Better than ever.” Omega said, dropping a few pieces into his mouth.

“Yeah, it is!” Wrecker said with a laugh as he swallowed it.

“So, when’s our next mission?” Omega asked, with a mouth full of mix.

“With two bounty hunters after you, it’d be wise to keep a low profile.” Tech said, glancing up at her.

“Tech’s right.” Hunter stopped walking just before they reached the entrance to Cid’s and turned you both around, making sure to do it gently, and directed Omega to come down off of Wrecker. “There’s too much heat on us right now.”

“Ha! That never stopped us before.” Wrecker said.

“The kid’s been through enough. She needs a break.” Hunter muttered to him.

Wrecker looked over to where Omega, Tech and Echo were. The latter inspecting the Mantell Mix with suspicion. “She seems fine to me.”

“A break wouldn’t hurt her.” You agreed. “It was pretty rough for her, even if it doesn’t look like it was.”

Hunter nodded at you and made the first move to step down into the parlour, making sure he took his time so you wouldn’t have to strain yourself too hard.

“Time to face my favourite person.” You grumbled as you limped down the stairs.

“Be nice.” Hunter chided playfully.

You snorted just as you all entered the parlour, and you walked over to the bar.

“I got a mission for you boys.” Cid revealed. “What happened to you?” She asked as she saw how you were situated. You were missing a layer and the presence of bandages was evident, plus you were being propped up by the sergeant when you came in and now the bar counter was acting as a means to hold you up.

“I made a friend.” You replied sarcastically.

“Hmph. Well, don’t go dripping blood on my floor.”

“Like it would make it any worse.” You mumbled under your breath.

“What did you say?” Cid narrowed her gaze at you.

Before you could reply, you felt Hunter lightly nudge his hip into you, so you held back your comment.

Hunter coughed. “What’s the mission?”

“A simple extraction on Raxus.” Cid responded.

“Raxus?” You repeated, a hint of disgust in your tone.

“That is the former centre of the Separatist government.” Tech said. “It has since become an Imperial outpost-”

“I’m not interested in a history lesson, Goggles.” Cid said dismissively. “You’re being hired to locate and free Senator Avi Sing from his confinement.” She brought up an image of the senator on her datapad. “My client will meet you at the given coordinates to brief you. Details are on this.” She held up the chip. “Now get going.” She threw it in the direction of Tech, but Hunter intercepted it.

You found the simple action more attractive that you should have but you brought yourself back to the moment at hand which was you were being asked to assist a Separatist. The very concept left a bad taste in your mouth.

“Help a Separatist?” Hunter said, uncertainly as he caught it. “Not gonna happen.” He chucked the info chip back at Cid and left your side to step in front of her.

“Your debt’s still not paid, remember? A job’s a job.” Cid said.

Hunter gestured for them both to move away from the group. “I am not bringing Omega or (Y/N) to a planet swarming with Imperials.”

“So, leave them here with me. I’ll keep an eye on them.” Cid offered.

“I don’t exactly trust you either.”

“Good. You shouldn’t. But if keeping the kid and your girlfriend safe means more money in my pocket, it’s in my best interest to do so, isn’t it?” She said, jabbing him with her clawed finger.

“She’s not my girlfriend.” Hunter objected tiredly.

“Right, and I’m not green.” Cid said, rolling her eyes.

Hunter let out an exasperated sigh. He was not getting involved in this with Cid of all people. “If anything happens to them-”

“Yeah, yeah, Bandana.” Cid said, flippantly as she handed him back the chip. “Just get outta here, would ya?” She walked away from him.

Hunter headed over to let Omega know the plan first. She was already geared up, so he didn’t think this was going to go down too well.

“Ready when you are, Sergeant.” Omega said cheerily.

Hunter kneeled down in front of her. “Not this time, Omega. You’re staying with (Y/N) and Cid.”

“But th-the mission. I’m part of the squad too.” Omega said, a tad irritated.

“Then following orders shouldn’t be a problem.” Hunter said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Stay close to (Y/N) and Cid and don’t leave this parlour.”

“I heard my name.” You called over.

“I’ll deal with you in a minute.” Hunter replied.

“Gee, am I in trouble?” You called back light-heartedly.

Hunter gave you a small smile before focusing back on Omega. “Got it, soldier?”

Omega groaned. “Yes, sir.”

Hunter nodded at her before getting up to walk over to you. He figured you weren’t going to take this well.

“Am I in trouble?” You asked genuinely as you saw the slightly more serious than normal expression on his face.

“No, no.” Hunter assured you. “You’re just uh staying here with Omega and Cid.”

“You wanna run that by me again?” You said, eyebrows raised.

Hunter sighed. Yeah, he’d expected as much. “You’re going to remain here until we get back.”

“Give me one good reason as to why.” You argued.

“I can give you two.” Hunter countered.

“Enlighten me.”

“One being this place is being controlled by the Empire and is filled with people that would love nothing more than to kill you if they found out what you were.”

“The key word being ‘if’.” You disputed.

“Two, and perhaps the most important one, you almost died. If you say, ‘the key word being almost’ I’ll bench you for more than one mission.” Hunter warned as he saw you go to open your mouth.

You held your hands up in mock surrender and pushed down the fact that the demanding tone his voice took was a lot more attractive to you than you cared to admit. “Carry on, Sergeant.”

“You need time to recover, and to pull this off, we need everyone at their full strength that’s not you right now. You’d hold us back.” It was blunt but he figured it would be the only way you would listen to him right now.

You let out a low whistle. “Harsh.” You said, your tone mildly conveying your frustration. “And if I told you being a Jedi meant I could push through and manage it?”

“I’d tell you that if you could hold yourself up, your full weight on your injured leg, without the support of the bar counter then you could come.”

You glowered at him. “Fine.” You pushed yourself off the countertop and applied full pressure on both your legs. “See?” You breathed out, ignoring the fact that your brain was screaming at you to ease up.

“Great. Now try it without Echo’s hand on your back.” Hunter said, crossing his arms.

In your desperate state, you hadn’t even noticed Echo had lent you a helping hand.

“Sorry.” Echo muttered, stepping out from behind you.

As soon as he left you, you felt your leg start to shake so you sat down before it collapsed from under you.

“Well, I think that concludes that.” Tech said.

The look Hunter gave you just screamed ‘I told you so.’ “Don’t say it.” You grumbled at him.

“Sorry, but you’re staying.” Hunter said, decisively.

“Ugh fine. Get out the lot of you.” You waved them away. “But I’d like the record to reflect that I think it’s ridiculous that you were shot too but apparently you’re good to go.” You said to Hunter.

“At least I can stand on my own.” Hunter joshed back.

You stuck your tongue out at him. “Away with you and good luck you guys. Be careful.” You said sincerely.

They all nodded at you before turning around to leave.

You noticed Omega as she watched them leave and it was clear she wasn’t too happy about being left behind either.

“Hey, Tiny, I got a mission for you.” Cid said to her, wagging a sponge in her direction.

“They’re not even two minutes out the door and you’re already at it with the child labour?” You said to her, shaking your head.

“I got one for you too, if you can even manage.” Cid clapped back, tossing a sponge in your direction before chucking one to Omega. “Now get scrubbing.”

If you weren’t so determined to prove that you were able to do such a simple task, you would’ve fought her on the matter more. You stood up and with Omega, began to scrub down the bar counter.

“We’ve never been to Raxus before.” Wrecker said, coming with the others to join Tech in the cockpit as the ship travelled through hyperspace.

“The coordinates from Cid have us landing outside the capital city of Raxulon, the home of their Senate.” Tech informed them.

“I can’t believe we’re helping a Separatist senator.” Echo grumbled.

“So, you have said. Repeatedly.” Tech replied.

“I always thought we’d make it to Raxus someday. But not like this.” Hunter said.

A couple moments of silence passed before Echo broke it. “So…are you and (Y/N) going to talk about what she said?” He broached, carefully.

Hunter pinched the bridge of his nose before he looked over at Echo. “You mean am I going to talk to her about something she said while in a delirious state? Funnily enough, Echo, no I’m not.”

“But she said-”

“I know what you’re talking about Wrecker and in case you forgot, she was talking about all of us. You know, her friends.”

“She did look directly at you.” Tech pointed out.

Hunter huffed out an exasperated sigh. Time to bring out the deflections once again. “We go round and round with this but for the sake of argument, I’ll humour you boys. Say what your saying is true, and it mattered to me, I am not going to take the words she said to heart because she was already half dead and just rambling whatever thoughts came to her head. She can’t even remember what she said, and you all would expect me to run with it and have what would be just a horrendously awkward and, quite frankly, a disappointing conversation? You all are her friends and I’m her friend and that’s it. There’s nothing more there.”

“But Hunter-”

“That’s it, Echo.” Hunter repeated assertively. “We��re coming up on Raxus.” He looked out the ship window as they came out of hyperspace. “Our focus here is the mission, nothing else. Bring us in, Tech. We’ll gear up when we land.”

You and Omega were both giving the most half-hearted scrubs that you could possibly do.

“Enough with the moping around. You’re bringing the mood down in here.” Cid said as she walked over to you both.

“Ah yes, business is booming.” You said cynically. The only two people that were currently in were her two regulars. You stopped scrubbing and put your head down on your arms.

“Sorree.” Omega added, leaning a cheek against her palm.

“Alright, I’ll bite. What’s wrong with you? Not you.” She added as she saw you sit you sit up and look at her sceptically.

You gave her a fake smile and went back to leaning your chin on your arms as you studied Omega.

“We haven’t heard back from them yet. Do you think they’re okay?” Omega asked.

“They better be for what this job’s paying.” Cid answered.

“I’m sure they’re just busy. That’s all.” You comforted.

“I should’ve gone with them on the mission.” Omega groused, pushing her sponge away. “It’s not fair.”

“I’ve got news for you, kid. Life ain’t fair.” Cid said, gruffly. “You don’t like it. Stop pouting and do something about it. Maybe it you weren’t so helpless those four laser brains wouldn’t have left you here with me.”

Omega glared at her and stormed off to one of the booths.

You just stared at Cid and shook your head. “Wow. You really got a way with kids.” You stepped down lightly off your seat and limped over to join Omega.

“I’m not helpless.” Omega said.

“I know.” You assured her, grunting as you sat down next to her. “Right?” You looked intently at Cid as she walked over to you both.

“Look, kid, I told dark and broody I’d keep an eye on you and keep you safe. I even cut Wisecrack in on that deal and meant it when I said that I’d look out for you.” Cid said.

You chose to ignore the unflattering nickname and instead gave Cid a small but sincere smile. It was the kindest you’d ever seen or heard her.

“Hmm. For how much?” Omega asked, unimpressed.

You turned to look at her as she angled her body away from you both. Maybe a bit more talking out was necessary here. “Hey, Cid, you got anything that can wash some specks of dried blood out?”

“What do you think I’m running here? A drycleaner?” Cid said indignantly.

You darted your eyes down to Omega.

Cid let out a huffy sigh. “I’ll be right back.”

Until Cid came back, you decided you were going to let Omega stew. You wouldn’t get anywhere with interruptions, so you waited in the silence.

“Here.”

You took the rag from her as well as a container that was filled with a bubbling, warm, blue liquid. “Thank you.” You said.

“Don’t take too long, I still got things that need scrubbing.” Cid said before she walked away.

You rolled your eyes but angled yourself to face Omega, but you were still being greeted with her back. “You going turn around for me, kid?”

“Hmph.” Omega grunted.

“Really? You’re going to have the person who nearly died not twelve hours ago come around in front of you and kneel down in that cramped space by the wall, probably aggravating her injuries?” You said, in an exaggerated manner, rubbing your arms to get rid of the goosebumps that had begun to appear. Would it really kill Cid to get some heating in this place? You thought moodily as a shiver ran down your spine.

Omega sighed and slowly scooted herself around to face you.

“Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. Next step is for you to uncross your arms.”

Omega rolled her eyes but did as you said.

“Wow, you’re almost there. Top tip from someone who developed this skill over the years, any good eye roll should be accompanied by a sigh. Both those elements really gets the point across.”

Omega didn’t say anything.

“Come on, Omega. What’s going on? I’m all for giving Cid a bit of attitude but I’m a bit surprised to see it come from you.” You said gently as you began to dampen her sleeve with the liquid. To your surprise, it was actually working pretty well. You regretted chucking your stuff cause this would probably work on them too but you weren’t going to resort to dumpster diving, you’d find something else.

When she made no move to respond, you stopped what you were doing. “Look, kid. You can either talk to me about what’s bothering you or I can leave you alone and at the mercy of Cid’s chores. I’m fairly sure I heard her mention that the ‘freshers need cleaning. Now, knowing her, she’ll stick me on that, but I can make it that you gotta help me out. I don’t want to but that’s what we’re dealing with here unless you talk to me.” You said, your tone firmer this time.

“But-” Omega began to object.

“Start talking.” You said, working on her top again.

Omega huffed out a breath. “I just don’t get why I wasn’t allowed to go. I’ve helped out before; I don’t understand what was so different about this.”

“Hunter thought, and I agreed with him, you could use a break after everything that happened.” You said kindly as you moved on to the upper part of her arm.

“But that was decided for me. Don’t I get to at least say how I’m feeling? I can handle missions.”

“Hmm.” You lingered on your thoughts for a moment. On the one hand, Omega was a child. She was all of your responsibility, so you all had to make choices that protected her from unnecessary harm. On the other, she was wanting to be treated as a proper member of the squad and she had been getting that in the more recent times. You all had the chance to express your views or feelings about missions, whether that be personal or tactical, and it was only after that that Hunter made a call which you all would then obey. Omega hadn’t been given that opportunity, not really, and your own past always brought you on the side of giving her more independence and freedom. “You’re right.” You told her understandingly. You finished dabbing at the final stain. “When Hunter gets back, you should talk to him, come up with some sorta deal. I’ll help if you need it.”

“Really?” Omega said, eyes widening in both surprise and happiness.

“Yeah. It’s only fair you get a voice too. It can’t always be me that gives him a hard time anyway.” You added with a grin.

“Thanks!” Omega threw her arms around your neck.

“No problem, kid.” You said, squeezing her briefly. “You’re all finished here too.”

“Oh, good. You’re all sorted out. Now I got some ‘freshers that need cleaning and they’re not going to scrub themselves.” Cid called over to you both.

“I’ve got it.” You said resignedly, grabbing your sponge. As you stood up though, the whole room spun, and you fell back down on your seat. “Whoa.” You said, quietly as you closed your eyes tight to try and re-centre yourself.

“Are you alright?” Omega asked.

“Yeah, just got a bit dizzy. Probably just stood up too fast.”

“It’s not that. You’re running a fever, that’s why.”

You opened your eyes to see Cid standing in front of you. “No, I’m actually kinda cold. Not used to just being in this top.” You provided by way of explanation.

“Then how do you explain the sweat on your brow?”

You pressed the back of your hand to your forehead and sure enough, when you took it away and examined it, there were beads of sweat decorating it. “Huh.”

“My guess, one of your wounds is infected.”

“Nah, can’t be that. Tech cleaned them…” You trailed off as you realised there was a slightly older one that he hadn’t tended to, and it was one you hadn’t been too careful about dealing with.

You peeled the bacta patch away from the wound Wrecker’s shot had caused and sure enough, it was infected. There was increased redness surrounding it and the sight of your stitches had swelled, plus it did not smell the best, especially with the slight discharge of puss that was coming out of it. “Gross.” You complained. “Another top tip, Omega. Don’t use out-of-date med supplies on an open wound in a decrepit and dirty ship. Apparently, the end-result isn’t the best.” You said dismally as you hid you face in your hands. The infection was the least of your worries, Tech was going to have a field day with this. Stupid, stupid, stupid. “And now I gotta wait for Tech to get back and I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Enough with the dramatics… I’ll get you fixed up.”

You looked up at Cid, your expression nothing short of perplexed. “What?”

“I got some med supplies in the back. You’ll be fever-free before the others even get back.”

“Why?” You said, unable to hide your suspicion.

“Can’t you just accept a gift when it’s given to you?” Cid said irritably.

“So, this is a gift? You’re not getting an extra cut out of this?”

“What I’m getting out of this is I avoid a lecture from Bandana about how I didn’t look after you and I don’t have to deal with disproving glares of the others.”

“Aw and here’s me thinking you cared about my well-being.”

“Keep talking Wisecrack and I’ll leave you to Goggles and his ‘I told you so’ speech.”

“Sorry.” You said shamefacedly. “I appreciate the offer, thank you.”

“Come with me.” Cid gestured for you to get up.

You heaved out a sigh as you stood. “But what about Omega?”

“Those two can watch her.” Cid tilted her head in the direction of her two regulars.

“Dumb and Dumber? You gotta be joking.”

“Oi!” The Weequay objected.

“I’ll be fine. You should just focus on getting better.” Omega said reassuringly.

“Listen to Tiny. I won’t be gone long, and nothing’ll happen. Do you want the infection gone or not?” Cid added.

“Fine. You two!” You shouted over at the usuals. “Anything happens to her while I’m gone or any funny business goes on, see that sword over there?” You pointed over to where your modified vibroblade was (your smaller dagger was still strapped to your good thigh). “I’ll only need to use it once.” When you were satisfied that they’re expressions showed a sufficient amount of fear, you followed Cid into the back, a task that was easier said than done since your perspective still had the room teetered on its side.

“Didn’t know this existed.” You mused as you took in the tiny room. All it consisted of was one small bed, a sink, and a bedside table with a couple of drawers.

“Sit.” She shoved you so you were forced to sit on the bed.

“Gee, talk about TLC.” You mumbled under your breath. You inhaled sharply as Cid poured some of a dark brown liquid on your wound. “Little warning next time?” You grumbled.

“You want Tiny alone out there for much longer?”

“No.” You admitted.

“Then you’ll deal with how this goes.”

“Ow!” You complained as she stuck a needle into your arm.

“Quit whining. That’ll sort the fever.”

“You know, you have a charming beside manner. I think you chose the wrong career.”

“Were all Jedi this sarcastic or is it just you?” Cid snapped back as she tidied away the stuff.

“There were a couple.” You said, thinking fondly back to one Jedi in particular. You then started to feel your eyes grow heavy and you found yourself letting out a yawn.

“Yeah, the fever stuff makes you pretty drowsy. You’re better off sleeping until it passes.”

“No, I… gotta… watch… over… Omega.” You said through another yawn as you moved to stand.

“Trust me, you’ll feel better after this, and I’ll make sure she’s safe.” Cid said, pushing you back down.

“But-”

“Stay put.”

“Okay.” You conceded, laying down and lacking the energy to stand back up and fight her. Cid hadn’t killed you and she seemed to care about Omega to a degree so you would give her your trust. “Just find her something to do beside scrubbing, yeah? She’s not just here to be your cleaner.”

“Just you focus on getting through this before Bandana and Goggles show up. For both our sakes.” Cid said, before she walked out the door.

You closed your eyes and found yourself drifting off with no difficulty at all. Your last conscious thought was of Hunter and the rest of the squad. You hoped their mission was going smoothly.

Hunter paused with Tech before he rounded the corner. So far, they’d managed to infiltrate the capital building without much difficulty thanks to Tech hacking into their security system and he supposed the droid, who was acting on behalf of their client, had helped to some extent, but he wasn’t ready to ease up on his distrust of the droid just yet which was why he made sure she stayed with him. He’d sent Wrecker and Echo to clear the upper levels. He peered around and saw two troopers guarding the door. “There’s two at the door.” He said to Tech.

“I’m clocking four in the adjacent corridor.” Tech added.

“(Y/N) and I will handle them. You and Omega loop back around.”

“That would be impossible seeing as they aren’t on this mission.” Tech pointed out.

“Ah…right.” Hunter acknowledged. Evidently, he wasn’t used to that idea.

“Not to worry, I’m getting the hang of this.” The droid said, rounding the corner.

“No, wait.” Hunter hissed but it was too late, the droid was already in the line of sight. He nodded to Tech who then rolled a stun grenade in the direction of the troopers. Once he heard the sound of bodies fall, he stood up, indicating that Tech should follow. As they stepped over the bodies, another trooper opened the door. Hunter acted quickly, grabbing the trooper’s blaster, and using it to hit him in the gut. He then shoved him into a vase, shattering it before slamming his head into another pillar. He watched as the vase on top of it began to teeter and fall, but the droid caught it before it smashed on the ground.

“Do be careful.” The droid tisked, clutching the ornament. “This antique vase was gifted to Senator Singh for his years of service. It is priceless.”

Hunter turned his helmet towards Tech before looking back at her. “Droids.” He said disparagingly. They all then ran through the door to make their way to the Senator. He at least hoped you having a less irritating time back with Omega and Cid.

Omega was still cleaning the bar counter, an even more trivial task when you weren’t around but she knew you needed to shake the infection. Then, she heard a laugh behind her. She turned around to see Cid playing Dejarik with the Weequay.

“You got her cornered.” The Ithorian jeered over his friend’s shoulder.

“Oh, yeah, I’m real scared.” Cid said sarcastically as she studied the board.

“Delay all you want; you’re not getting out of this one.” The Weequay taunted.

Cid went to lock in her move when Omega’s voice stopped her.

“I wouldn’t do that.” Omega advised.

“Here that? We got an expert here.” Cid said with a roll of her eyes before she inputted her original move. The move itself resulted in her piece getting wiped off the holoboard.

“She’s done for!” The Ithorian said with a laugh.

“I told you.” Omega said.

“Well, expert, what should I do next?” Cid asked.

Omega walked down from her stool and briefly looked at the board before she locked in the move and watched as Cid’s final piece removed the other opposing pieces of the board.

“You blew it!” The Ithorian complained to his friend.

“Yeah, but you’re the one who said to bet it all!” The Weequay shot back.

“You wanna take this outside?” The Ithorian threatened, leering down.

“Gladly!” The Weequay responded and the two of them left the parlour.

Cid stared at the board. “How’d you know to do that?” She asked.

“It’s a strategy game. I’m good at strategy.” Omega replied simply.

“Hmm.” Cid rubbed a hand along her chin. You had said to find another job for the kid to do. “How good? Enough to, uh, win a few matches for some money?”

“Depends.” Omega said hesitantly. “What’s my cut?”

“Hmm. Thirty percent.” Cid offered.

“Sixty.” Omega countered.

Cid pondered it for a couple seconds. “Deal.”

“Senator! I followed your instructions to the letter.”

“I knew you’d come through, GS-8.” Senator Avi said with relief as he rubbed his wrists which the clone with the lighter coloured armour had now freed from the binders.

“And behold. I have saved your most prized vase.” GS-8 said, holding it up to him.

“Great. Now can we get out of here?” Hunter interrupted, looking at the Senator.

“With pleasure.” Senator Avi said as he stood out of his chair.

Tech tapped his datapad and studied the surveillance footage. “An alert has been triggered. Our position has been compromised.”

“Follow us.” Hunter directed to the Senator as he and Tech ran out the door.

When they came out onto a balcony, Hunter could see that the Imperial forces and their tanks were being mobilised. He waited until Echo and Wrecker came out to join them before peering over the left-hand side. “There.” He pointed down. “We’ll seize that tank and blow our way outta here.”

“How do you intend to gain control of the armoured vehicle from up here?” GS-8 enquired.

“Coming through.” Wrecker said gruffly, making his way to the front of the group where he attached a cable to the side of the walker.

Tech and Echo slid down first and quickly commandeered the tank from the Imperial soldiers that were in it. As it powered down, Tech spoke into his comm. “All clear.”

“Impressive.” GS-8 said with mild admiration.

“You can’t possibly expect me to do that.” Senator Singh said sceptically.

Wrecker checked the security of the cable before letting out a groan. “Just don’t look down.” With that, he grabbed the Senator and glided down the cable with him to the inside of the tank.

Hunter grabbed the droid and followed suit.

“Nicely done.” GS-8 complimented.

Hunter hastily made his way to the steering. “Get this thing moving, Tech.”

Tech nodded and put the walker into motion.

Wrecker chucked the unconscious troopers out. “They’ll feel that in the morning!”

The walker shook violently and stopped with the impact of the shot.

“The rear axle stabiliser is off-line.” Tech said, shielding his eyes from the sparks that flew off the control panel. “We will need to recalibrate manually.” He told Hunter.

“Get this bucket up and running.” He ordered Tech and Echo. “Wrecker and I will hold them off.” As he said that, he found himself missing you. You would’ve been really helpful right now.

Sliding under the advancing Imperial walker, Hunter fired multiple stun blasts in the direction of the soldiers who were shooting at him before he went up to join Wrecker and assist him in disabling that tank. Together, the two of them were able to decommission it but a quick exist was needed since another tank sent a shot in their direction. Tucking and rolling to cushion his landing, Hunter stood back up alongside Wrecker and continued to send stun shots in the direction of the Imperial soldiers, but they had to take cover behind the fallen walker since the Imperial troopers had numbers on their side and Hunter knew they couldn’t hold them back for long. “Tech, how we doing?” Hunter spoke into his comm.

Glancing up at the new walker that was moving steadily towards them all, Tech replied. “I need more time.”

“Freeze.”

Tech and Echo turned with their hands raised as a small squad of troopers walked towards them, their blasters raised.

“Drop your weapons.” One trooper ordered.

Reacting swiftly to the Senator throwing his vase at the head of one of the clones, Tech managed to stun the remaining two soldiers. He looked down at his datapad. “Repairs complete.” He informed Hunter.

“We’re on our way.” Hunter confirmed, firing a couple more shots in the direction of the troopers before he and Wrecker ran back into their captured walker.

As the clone got the walker moving, Senator Singh joined the two clones in the front. “Turn down that alleyway.”

“We’ll be trapped in a choke point.” Tech said warily.

“You’re going to have to trust me.”

Tech glanced over at Hunter, double checking that this is something they were going to do. Only after Hunter gave a nod did Tech do as the Senator instructed.

“Move into position next to that wall. It leads to a subterranean passage.” Senator Singh revealed.

Tech angled the walker into position.

Senator Singh opened the door to the wall. “If you don’t mind, please blast a whole in the wall right here.” He patted the area he was referring to.

“That I can do.” Wrecker said, stepping forward. He placed a charge on the wall and closed the door. The explosion rattled the walker slightly, but it did the trick. As the door opened, they were greeted by a passage.

“Hurry. This way.” Senator Singh directed.

The rest of the squad followed him, Wrecker being the last of them to do so since he placed another charge to seal the passageway shut behind them.

Senator Singh paused before joining the others on their ship. “What am I doing?” He whispered to himself. He turned back in the direction of the capital. “I cannot abandon my people.”

“You will, Senator, but not if you are in Imperial custody.” GS-8 said.

“She’s right. Live to fight another day.” Echo advised as he approached the Senator’s side.

Senator Sing nodded, looking back one final time at his home before he stepped on the ship with the others.

Loud cheering and whistling were what woke you up. Those sounds were not ones you associated with this place. You rubbed your eyes, stretched, and swung your legs out of bed, finding that you could already put a lot more pressure on your injured leg.

You lightly limped out the room to the main part of the parlour and you were quite taken aback, not to mention a little bit horrified by what you saw. You were taken aback by just how busy Cid’s actually was, you’d never seen it like this, but you were not thrilled by the sight of Omega sitting with a large crowd surrounding her at a Dejarik table as she played against a total stranger. You pulled Cid off from where she had positioned herself next to Omega.

“Glad to see you’re doing better but ease up on the death grip there.” Cid objected.

You kept your hand where it was. “What the hell is this?” You hissed angrily. “One, I’m sure whatever it is, is illegal in some way since she’s a child and two, she’s supposed to be laying low and this looks like anything but. What if one of these goons turned out to be a hunter?”

“I don’t know what you’re complaining about.” Cid said roughly as she removed your hand from the upper part of her arm. “You told me to find another job for her, so I did, and nothing’s gone wrong.”

“But-”

“Plus, she’s already earned enough credits to pay back the debt you folks owe me. If anything, you should be thanking me. I put this partnership together and the kid’s doing just fine.”

You looked past her to see Omega defeat her opponent. She didn’t look to be in any danger and the only out of place thing you could sense right now was the fact that Cid’s was so popular. “Fine, but it stops before Hunter…” You trailed off as you sensed Hunter approach and sure enough, two seconds later, Hunter and the rest of the squad came down the stairs to the parlour, along with two others who you assumed were the Senator they were sent to rescue and his droid. “Shows up.” You finished dismally.

Cid turned to see that Omega had left the table and the clones had made their appearance. “Alright, show’s over. No more bets.” She shooed the onlookers out of the parlour.

You walked over to join your squad, smiling as you saw Wrecker pick Omega up.

“Kid, where’d you learn to do that?” Wrecker said proudly.

“She’s a natural. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Cid said admirably.

“I told you to keep a low profile. This is the opposite.” Hunter said sternly.

Noticing the way Omega’s face dropped, you gently grabbed Hunter’s shoulder to get him to face you. “I wasn’t thrilled either, Hunter, but she made enough money to pay off the debt we owe Cid. We should be thanking her to be honest.”

“Yeah, try showing a little gratitude my friend.” Cid said, walking past him. “You did good.” She told Omega before addressing the Senator. “Senator, glad you made it. Let’s talk payment.” She said, guiding him and his droid towards the back.

Hunter watched them go before turning to talk to you again. “You were okay with all of that?”

“Well… no, but I was uh otherwise engaged when Cid decided to employ her services that way.” You said, shifting your feet awkwardly.

“You know you’re going to have to do better than that.” Hunter said, crossing his arms.

“I may have fallen asleep.” You winced out. “See, the wound I got on my left shoulder on Bracca became infected and I ended up running a fever. It wasn’t too bad and I’m fine now.” You added quickly, seeing the flash of concern in Hunter’s eyes.

“I told you using those medical supplies in that environment was a bad idea.” Tech chimed in.

“Thank you, Tech.” You grumbled as he passed you. “But Cid offered to treat it and I accepted, hoping to avoid the ‘I told you so’ from Tech but obviously that didn’t work out. The thing she gave me made me pretty drowsy. Cid assured me she would watch Omega, but I didn’t know that was what she had in mind. If I had, I would’ve just stuck it out until you all got back, especially cause I ended up with Tech finding out anyway.”

Hunter just shook his head with mild amusement. He could easily believe that the only reason you accepted help was to avoid a telling off from Tech rather than for your own health.

You then noticed Omega start to slowly walk past you guys. “She was helpful, Hunter. She can handle herself. You should reconsider the mission ban.” You added with a whisper before you walked away, tapping Omega on the shoulder to get her to stop before you sat down at the counter, watching their conversation hopefully.

Hunter let out a small sigh and half turned back to speak to Omega. “You really paid off our debt?”

“I wanted to be useful, even if I couldn’t go on the mission.” Omega replied, keeping her back to him.

“Hmm.” Hunter turned around fully. “How about we put those strategy skills to the test?” He walked over the holochess board. “One match. If you win, then no more sitting out on missions.” He sat down at the table and activated the board. He looked back at her, tilting his head in the direction of the other seat.

Omega eagerly ran over and sat down.

“You ready for this?” Hunter asked her.

“Are you?” Omega countered with a smile before she programmed in her first move.

Your smile was concealed by the cup you were drinking from, but you found that the interaction was one that was making your insides feel all warm and fuzzy. This was the first time you’d really seen them interact on a more normal level, without a threat looming over them and it was something you could get used to seeing.

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