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annwayne · 1 year

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The Red Logs: Return to the Temple Ch. 17

Chapter 17: Another Life

Last Chapter <- -> Next Chapter

Fem!OC X Crosshair

Word Count: 2297

Fic Summary:

There are benefits to owning a clone bar. Underworld lords don’t threaten you to pay for protection. Clones are great company. And the drinks taste great. However, there are also risks to owning a clone bar. Like, for example, becoming the fuck buddy of a special clone task force member so your life gets threatened when a Separatist puts out a bounty for your capture in order to use you as blackmail. Also your sleep schedule gets wrecked. But Anya Tougt is a little more capable than an average bar owner.

Ao3 Link Here

Warnings apply to whole fic:

Canon typical violence, descriptions of panic attacks, alcohol, swearing, 18+ themes (eventual smut), trauma, religious trauma parallels, mild gore

Authors Note:

What is pacing? We don't know about pacing. Sorry lol.

24 BBY. Tomorrow Kenobi, Anakin, and Master Tali and I are going to visit Mandalore on a diplomatic mission. With tensions in the senate rising, Chancellor Palpatine wants to know where Mandalore stands if a civil war breaks out. When I asked Yoda why send all four of us he mentioned there were forces upset with the change of Manalorian customs.

Twenty minutes later, I stepped out of the Jedi Temple dressed in civilian clothes. All signs that I was a Jedi stuffed into a bag on the brink of bursting. Everything packed away, except my saber which I tucked into the cloth belt that hugged my waist. It too, hidden from view.

The strap of my duffle dug into my shoulder as I rushed to the taxi platform. My bag thudded at my feet as I waved for a free taxi. I glanced at the chronos posted on the various screens and advertisements floating around the city-planet. It was well into the bar’s rush hour now.

Getting changed only took me five minutes. Getting everything put away, that took much longer than I hoped. No doubt Crosshair was there, waiting, possibly asking Jayas about me. I shook my head at the thought. Jayas was too lousy a liar and Crosshair was too damn perceptive. My nerves buzzed as the taxi driver took my address.

Fifteen terrifying minutes passed and I remembered why I rarely used the cab system on Coruscant. But finally, finally, I was home.

I practically ran out of the speeder, tossing a handful of credits as I went. It must have been more than enough, because I didn’t hear any complaints from the driver. Quickly, I ran down the alley to the backdoor and pulled out my keys. The door opened with a soft click. No one was in the immediate hallway. I leaned back against the cool metal door and let out a sigh.

“You’ll fucking pay for that!”

Irritation pulled my brows together and tugged my lips down.

“You’re swaying like a two legged droideka, you couldn’t hurt a tooka!”

A sigh left my lips as I pushed myself off the metal door. I tossed my duffle over by the door that led to my loft and marched to the bar.

“Good thing you’re not a tooka!”

Two clones stood by the bar, both surrounded by others interested in a fight or watching one. They were regulars I recognized, Jint and Catcher, friends, the last I saw them. Just before the pair could throw their fists, I jumped onto the bar counter and whistled. After the sharp noise caught the attention of anyone within a block radius, I dropped down and stepped between the clones.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing in my bar?!”

Instead of an answer, I got a welcome.

“Miss Anya?”

“Anya’s back!”

The crowd of clones turned into a swarm, as regulars and drunks swept up in the craze surrounded me. Questions went unanswered as too many voices tried talking to me. Somehow I ended up on Catcher’s shoulders. He paraded me through the bar as the clones all chanted my name. They were exceptionally drunk tonight. From my throne I spotted black and red armor leaning in a dark corner.

“Ok, okay, you’ve had your fun.” Jint helped me down from Catcher’s shoulders. They laughed together, reminiscing on won battles, whatever they were arguing about before now completely forgotten. Without someone to parade above the heads of clones in the bar, the chanting died down and the crowd of clones around me dispersed. Or rather, they were drunk enough to not notice when I left.

“That was some homecoming.” Crosshair’s voice greeted me before I saw his face, the dark lighting obscuring his expression.

“You weren’t here last time. That was a homecoming.” I smirked, though it didn’t stay for long.

“Another rare booze run?”

I leaned against the wall beside him, my arm brushing against his armor. “No, actually.”

In the corner of my eye I caught his head turning to face me. “How informative.”

“Answered your question, didn’t it?” Normally I’d be smiling at this part, this game of tooka and mouse we so often played.

He turned fully, resting his side against the wall and crossing a foot behind the other. “You’re making me ask?” A hint of a grin laced his words. “What sort of business was this last trip of yours, Miss Anya.”

At his use of my title I snickered and shook my head. “That just sounds weird coming from you.”

“Well, Miss Anya, I believe there’s only one thing that’ll get me to stop saying it now.”

I shook my head, then turned to face the clone. “You’re the worst, you know?”

“Would you have me any other way?”

“Alright alright,” I opened my mouth, but found only air. Maybe I should have said it was a beer run. “Well, it was,” The only word that came to mind fell from my lips like sand. “Family.”

His eyes widened, then narrowed. “I didn’t know you had family.”

“Yeah, there’s a reason for that.” I mumbled, looking past his eyes at the wall beside them. If Obi-Wan ever found out I called him family, he’d never let me live it down. But in a way, it was true. “Anyway, I’m exhausted and come back to a bar fight?”

Crosshair wore an inquisitive expression, though on him it looked more like a glare than someone in deep thought. He answered absentmindedly “Yeah.. Something about Lyn getting arrested.”

“What?” Surprise jolted me up.

My sudden movement caught Crosshair’s attention long enough to drop that not-scowl. “You didn’t know?” Now confusion colored his features.

There was no helmet to hide my expressions now. “I need to go talk to Jayas.” I turned towards the bar, took a step, then turned back. “Come up in twenty, I wanna clean up a bit.”

That confused expression didn’t budge, but Crosshair nodded. He leaned back against the wall again, and pulled out a toothpick. There wasn’t time to get lost watching his lips, so I turned quickly and scanned the floor. Jayas wasn’t anywhere to be seen, same as when I first came out onto the bar. Instead, Fathal and a single weequay worked the bar. The Weequay mostly filled taps and passed any mixed drink orders to his co-worker. So, Jayas managed to hire someone?

“I’m sorry, ma’am, you can’t come back here.” The weequay was chest deep in orders, and still noticed as I stepped behind the bar. “This is an employees only area.”

“Well-” I glanced past the weekquay, catching Fathal’s eye.

His starry eyes narrowed, and the rodian called out. “Yer ears work’n Qwon? That there’s Miss Anya.”

The weequay, Qwon, looked between the rodian and I, mouth open slightly.

“Your boss.” I mustered a smile, then stepped past Qwon to Fathal. “Jayas in the office?” The rodian gave me a nod. “Thanks, Fathal.” He hummed a response as I stepped through the swinging doors to the back. A knock later, I heard a gruff voice answer.

“Sorry, Fathal. Jeya’s running late and these tax forms are taking longer than-” Jayas lost his words as he looked up and saw me step into the office. “Anya!” He jumped out of his seat, causing the desk to skirt forward from the sudden movement.

“Jayas.” I grinned. Relief flooded my chest at the sight of him. His eyes were a little more sunk then normal, and a line I hadn’t seen before creased his forehead. “It’s so good to see you.”

He fumbled past the traps of files and furniture till he held me in a hug almost as tight as the ones Wrecker gave. “Kid, you had me scared shitless.”

“Yep, I do that. Need to breathe, Jayas.” I gasped and he chuckled, only loosening his grip slightly.

“I’m so glad you’re okay. Maker, not knowing for all this time has been hell.” Jayas leaned back to meet my eye. “Promise me you’ll never get a bounty on you again.”

That earned a breath of a laugh from me. “It’s not like I get much say about that.”

Jayas scoffed at my answer and then finally he let me go from his hug. He stepped back and gave me a look over. “Have you gained weight?”

“Wow.” I laughed, twisting my eyebrows up. “Didn’t think I needed to be the one to tell you commenting on someone’s weight is rude.”

“No, I meant,” He rubbed his chin. “Hugging you, it feels different. Like, your arms and shoulders have more to them.”

“I was gone awhile.” I shrugged. If Jayas noticed the results of my training, then Crosshair was likely to as well. So what, I worked out while helping family? That didn’t make any sense.

“Yes, of course. Speaking of, you look exhausted.”

“Well, you’re not one to talk.”

Jayas rubbed the back of his head and avoided my eyes. “Yeah, things have been interesting around here. No time to relax.”

“Lyn.” Her name still hurt my tongue.

He glanced my way before speaking again. “Yeah, you heard? She got arrested for treason. Clones came and hauled her away a little more than a week ago.” Jayas fidgeted with a bolt on his cybernetic arm as he talked.

“Clones?” Not the police? Jayas nodded his head, his eyes sharing the same question. My gaze fell to the floor as I weighed the information. I couldn’t risk messaging him tonight, but Tech had to know something about this.

“Any chance it was related to your absence?” Jaya’s question brought my eyes back up.

My lower lip slipped between my teeth before I answered. “More than a chance.”

Jayas dropped his gaze again. We stood uncomfortably in the office, sounds of music and laughter pouring in from the bar. Eventually, I felt a metal hand grip my shoulder.

“We’ll sort that out later. For now, don’t worry about the bar. Relax and get back into the rhythm of things.” Jayas gave me a soft smile, similar to the ones I’d seen him give his kids.

“But-”

He shook his head, interrupting my argument before I could even give it. “You’re exhausted. I don’t think I’ve seen circles that dark under your eyes since I first met you. So get some sleep and enjoy some time with that clone you fancy.” He winked, earning a grin from me. “The bar will be waiting, and then I can catch you up to speed on everything and you can tell me what being locked up in some safe house for nearly a month was like.”

“..Yeah.” My grin slowly fell, but by then Jayas had turned to open the door of the office. “What about Stinky? I still need to pick him up.”

Jayas stood on the doorway and bat the air at my question. “Oh, he’s fine waiting a night. I can bring him by in the morning.”

Relief, instantly followed by guilt, filled my sigh. Stinky was a tough Tooka, but this was a long time apart. A good person would fight their exhaustion and pick up their animal companion. “That would be wonderful, thank you.” I gave Jayas a weak smile.

He nodded, once and I exited the office, letting him move out of the door frame so it could close. I picked up my duffle, stifling a groan as my tired muscles cried against me. Before exiting to the stairs of my loft, I turned and called Jayas.

“Hey, Jayas?”

“Yeah kid?” He stopped at the double doors leading to the bar.

“Thanks.”

He stood there, holding the door with one silver hand and one dark one, and looked me over with eyes I had seen few times before. Once being the first time he met me. “Anytime, Miss Anya.” Then he stepped back into the bar.

Something turned over in my gut at those eyes, but I could worry about it later. Now I wanted to shower. Every step up the stairs felt like a trek, but eventually, I made it to my front door.

Inside, it was quiet. Of course, Stinky wasn’t here to greet me, but it was almost like I could feel my absence in the loft. The place felt so still. Somehow, it felt like it would always be this way. But this was my home, and that wasn’t so.

Crossing into my bedroom seemingly gave me a boost of energy. Suddenly the weight on my eyes had lifted and my shoulders weren’t hunched over. Of course, I needed to hurry. Crosshair would be up in approximately 15 minutes, and I needed to stash all evidence of being ‘Annie the Padawan’ somewhere his curious reticle wouldn’t find.

The normal stuff was easy, toothbrush, hairbrush, underwear. That could be put away like regular. But blacks, my Jedi robes, lightsaber, and armor needed more thought. The box under my bed could hold the clothes, but it wasn’t big enough for the armor. Now that the duffle bag was mostly empty, the armor actually fit rather well. I zipped up the bag and slid it under my bed. Looked normal enough.

That just left my lightsaber. Sure, it could fit in the duffle or the force-locked box like before, but that felt wrong. I needed it close to me. Easy access. What was I thinking? This was a weapon I thought I’d never touch again, and yet here I was wanting to keep it close. As I scanned my bedroom my eyes landed on the nightstand by my pillow. I couldn’t? Could I?

Authors end chapter notes:

Did you expect Tali to be arrested when Anya got home? Where do you think the lightsaber will be hidden?

Dividers by Djarrex

Tag list: @midnight-sun-0

#the red logs: return to the temple #star wars fanfic #star wars the clone wars fanfic #sw tcw fanfic #tbb fanfic #the bad batch fanfic #oc/crosshair #crosshair/oc #crosshair x oc #crosshair x anya tougt (oc)#oc x crosshair #tbb crosshair #star wars prequels

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annwayne · 1 year

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Yes, Crosshair has a praise kink.

#it’s canon #in my fic #in a blink and you’ll miss it way #because unfortunately #they immedatly get interrupted #star wars #the bad batch #tbb #tbb fic #wip #fic wip #crosshair x oc #crosshair/oc #crosshair x anya tougt (oc)#crosshair x anya #the red logs: return to the temple spoilers?

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annwayne · 1 year

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The Red Logs: Return to the Temple Ch. 19

Chapter 19: Divo, Please

Last Chapter <- -> Next Chapter

Fem!OC X Crosshair

Word Count: 2313

Fic Summary:

Ao3 Link Here

Warnings apply to whole fic:

Canon typical violence, descriptions of panic attacks, alcohol, swearing, 18+ themes (eventual smut), trauma, religious trauma parallels, mild gore

Authors Note:

I hope you enjoy this final chapter of TRL:RttT :)

24 BBY. It’s time.

A few hours later we returned to the backdoor of my bar. As usual, I pulled out my keys and pressed them against the reader until the lock clicked open. Jayas was in the hall, talking to another new hire I had yet to meet, a human woman with pink hair. He waved at me. Crosshair earned a raised brow and a knowing grin.

“You working tonight?” Crosshair lingered a few steps below me, looking through the panel that separated the stairs to my loft and the bar’s back area.

“Nah.” I explained as I climbed the stairs. “Jayas noticed how tired I was. Told me to take a few days off.” I pushed open the door to my apartment, having left it unlocked again.

“That’s a bad habit.”

“Hmm?”

Crosshair nodded towards the pocket that held my keys. “You didn’t lock your loft door last night either.”

I chuckled, walking through the threshold of my apartment. “There’s a reason Jayas set up the backdoors to automatically lock.” Inside, Stinky slept in a ball on the couch. I walked to him, squatting down to give the tooka some pets. “I’m not too worried about it. Who’d try to mess with a clone bar?”

The clone said nothing in response, just took up a spot on the couch across from Stinky. He removed his helmet, setting it down carefully on the coffee table. After a few more pets, I plopped down beside the sniper. He lifted the arm closest to me up and pulled me in closer to him. “I’ve got maybe an hour before I need to report in.” Crosshair nuzzled my neck, brushing my loose hair out of his way so his lips could press against bare skin.

Shivers ran up my neck as his lips dragged against me. “You think an hour is enough?” The question was playful, though part of me kicked myself for taking so long to get back home. Considering the morning’s dream…well, I needed this.

Crosshair hummed in response. The vibrations chilled my neck. “We can make do.” He opened his mouth, trailing teeth along the curve of my shoulder.

I shuddered in response, but found my patience thinning as the burning between my legs grew in furiosity. Suddenly, I flipped over Crosshair’s legs, trapping him between my own as I sat on his lap. Our lips crashed together without fanfare. Should there be fanfare? This was our first time together as riduur–did that even mean anything?

My thoughts were quickly brushed away as gloved hands snaked up my side to grope my breasts. Even through the fabric of my top, I felt a spike of pleasure when his thumbs rolled over my nipples. A groan interpreted our lips, prompting Crosshair to push his tongue into my open mouth. Those thumbs worked dutifully teasing my buds.

“Cross.” I whined against him. Aside from his helmet, he was still in full armor. So when my hips started to grind against him, I met hard plastoid. The rigid surface pressed into my pants, offering a tease for my building desire. My mind melted into one focused solely on that repetitive motion of dragging my cunt across his codpiece. A fleeting thought about stripping crossed my mind, but then I caught the way his armor shifted against my body. An hour was enough time to indulge in this, right?

“Yes, doll?” One of his hands drifted from toying with my breast and grabbed at my ass. When I leaned into him, he left more love bites along my shoulder.

“Maker.” I hissed between hitched breaths. He always did this–within minutes my mind was empty and I couldn’t form any coherent thought. I’d never admit it, though. “I want it like this.”

“This?” Crosshair pushed up the fabric of my shirt, exposing my tits. Then, he leaned in and caught one between his lips. His tongue lapped up and over my nipple, sending jolts directly to my clenching pussy. Staying still-relatively speaking since I was still humping him like an anooba in heat-was an exercise in composure the Jedi council could only dream of replicating. Silent shudders left my lips as I tilted my head back to the sensation of his tongue circling my peak.

“Can you remove just the waist piece?” At the question I lightly pushed his head back. A lewd pop followed as Crosshair took the opportunity to suck on my tit. Moans followed as I shuddered from the intense sensation. This was ridiculous. My body was acting like it had gone years without pleasure. I’d gone longer without sex, what made this so different? “Please?” I pleaded.

His eyes met mine and recognition slowly gleaned. “You want to fuck me in my armor?” I wiggled under his gaze, blush overtaking my exposed skin. “Why am I surprised? This is exactly the kind of thing you’d be into.”

Indignation straightened my back. “Please, even you don’t know everything I’m into.” Sitting on his lap like this was one of the few times where I looked down to meet his eye.

“Why?” He leaned forward to feather my chest in kisses. “Because you didn’t know it?” When I didn’t respond, he looked up at me through dark lashes. Crosshair’s smirk turned devious. With my tongue caught, he continued. “So that sexually liberated persona you put on is…?”

“Liberated…compared to my past.” While I spoke, Crosshair dragged his tongue along the curve of my breast–the one that had yet been in his mouth. I took in a sharp breath and shakily continued. “...Not so much if you’re looking at the average sentient on Coruscant.”

He paused, hovering just above my nipple. “I’ve had no complaints.”

“Oh, like you’re a CONnoisseur!” I yelped as he closed his lips around the pink bud and sucked. My head fell forward and I glared at the cheeky grin in his eyes.

Crosshair detached from my tit. “And here I thought your liberated attitude was fueled by plenty of experience. That’s alright,” He caught my chin between his thumb and forefinger. “We can explore together.”

Shivers pulsed through my body at his words. All I could do to acknowledge him was nod while his hand still held my chin. That was enough though, as he leaned up to meet my lips. This time our kisses were less fevered. Our lips lingered. Passion had never been missing between us–yet somehow this felt new. Like the first passionate kiss we had ever shared. Maybe being riduur did mean something.

“Crosshair?” His lips didn’t leave mine. “Please. I need you.”

With a pant, he pulled back. “Your pants, pull them down.” I obliged, sitting up onto my knees to undo the clasp at the waist. Still straddling him, I pulled the fabric down to my knees. When I shifted my weight to pull them past my knees, Crosshair lended his help. Before I could sit down again, he grabbed my thick thighs. “You’re beautiful.” My heart fluttered, but I didn’t have time to linger on his words. His hands glided up and down my sides, occasionally stopping to grope me. The fabric of his gloves felt soft against my skin. Then, he slid those gloved fingers along the length of my cunt.

I thought his dexterity would be hindered by the fabric. Crosshair proved me wrong. With two fingers, he pressed against the black cotton of my panties and pushed in just enough to earn a whimper. Then, he slid my garment to the side, using his thumb to hold the fabric in place. With delicate movements, Crosshair stroked the length of my wetness with his middle finger. He avoided my clit, which had me reeling and wondering how he could feel so clearly through his gloves. Eventually, he removed his hand and observed the slick covering his fingers. Instead of being absorbed into the fabric, the sticky substance rolled along his gloved fingers as though bare skin.

“Crosshair.” I nearly hissed his name as I sat back on my heels.

He raised a brow. “Just making sure you’re wet enough, Anya.” Another hiss of air. The way he said my name was intoxicating.“Tell me what you want.”

Discontent rumbled in my throat. I leaned forward, trailing kisses up his neck to the base of his ear. “You know what I want.” My lips brushed against his ear as I spoke.

“Do I?” It was a dance. He pushed my buttons and I pulled his hair–sometimes literally.

I leaned back again. His grin was controlled. My pout was pointed. “Aren’t snipers observant?” Hair pulled.

His gaze narrowed. A challenge. “Observant.” Crosshair grabbed my chin, letting his thumb press against my lips as he spoke. “Not a mind reader.” He dropped his hand like a dead weight, letting his fingers drag down my lips and land on my shoulder.

My jaw clenched. Buttons pressed. “No, you’re a proper ass is what you are.” Bark. No bite.

“If I left now I could make it back to the barracks within protocol.” He twisted looking to the door.

I grabbed his shoulders, earning his gaze again. “You aren’t going anywhere.”

He tilted his head, waiting. I looked away, feeling heat crawl up my neck. It didn’t matter how many times the words left my mouth. Each time felt like a confession–a forbidden thrill that offended all that I was before. The heat of excitement and shyness created a desire that led to wiggling hips and a bitten bottom lip. And that was exactly why he relished pulling that sacrament from me.

“Crosshair,” My lips parted. “I want you to fuck me.”

“Good girl, was that so hard?” His praise invigorated me, and damped my underwear further. He lightly pressed my thighs, prompting me to sit up enough that he could reach his codpiece. A few clicks later the plastoid was tossed onto the couch cushion beside us. Now, only his tented blacks remained an obstacle. With practiced ease, Crosshair slid his gloved hand between a hidden seam at his crotch and pulled out his half-hard member.

“I didn’t know your blacks had a seam there.”

“Can’t strip in the field.”

“Righttt.”

With a soft chuckle, Crosshair grabbed my hand and guided it to his cock. Together we pumped him till he was hard enough to enter me. Then I slid forward, lining myself up so that he could slide into my pussy smoothly. His hot breath tickled the crook of my neck. Then, I sat down. Moans fell from our lips as he filled me, stretching my walls comfortably. When my pussy lips reached the hilt of his dick I paused, taking a moment to get used to being so full. My head hung against his cheek and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders.

“Fuck, I’ve missed this.”

His hands snaked up my back, sliding under the fabric of my bunched up shirt. He hummed. “Should I be offended?” Crosshair’s voice hitched as I slowly moved my hips up and down. He glided those gloved hands down along the curve of my back then rounded my sides, settling his strong grip on the soft plush of my hips.

“Worried I’m only with you because of your cock?” My grin turned lopsided as I teased the clone. I nuzzled into his neck, careful to keep a consistent rhythm with my hips. My soft body pressed against his armor, finding the plastoid cool but not unpleasant. “There’s no need.” I whispered into his ear. “You’re why it feels so good.” Crosshair’s breath hitched at my praise, but before I could come up with another tease there was a knock at the door.

I sat up, exchanging glances with the clone beneath me. “Did you-”

Knocks, louder and more rapid, from the front door.

“Are you going to?” He whispered.

“No, no whatever it is, they’ll have to come back later.” Nothing was going to interrupt this. I leaned forward, lifting my hips up and down again at a slower pace than before.

“Coruscant police, open up or we’re coming in!” A nasally voice called out.

“Just a minute!” I yelled back, then in defeat I dropped my head against Cross’s shoulder and groaned.

Tech had been swiping through various articles about senate politics, gossip pages, and the latest fashion craze before an odd notification popped up in the upper left hand corner of his datapad. He sat up from his prone position in his bunk and tapped the message.

Hunter sat on a storage crate, focus flickering between sharpening his vibro-knife and watching the door to the room, brows knitting closer together with every second they remained in place. Before they could crash together, however, the door slid open.

Wrecker walked in, damp and smelling of clean rain. He wore a towel over his shoulder and had a slight wet sheen to his naked body-sans the boxers that kept his modesty. He threw his towel over one of the bars of the top bunk to let it dry before sitting down across from Tech in his own bunk.

A frustrated sigh left the Sergeant. Crosshair was late, yet again.

“Hunter.” Tech’s voice rang out in the small room.

“Yeah.” Hunter answered, eyes still fixed on the doorway before him.

“You will want to see this for yourself.”

With a heavy sigh, Hunter stood and walked the few steps to lean over Tech’s bunk. His brother handed him the data pad, then waited patiently for his reaction.

“What…”

Notice to: Clone Force 99 From: The Coruscant Police Force, Sector 7, Department 381 Subject: Notice of Pending Investigation

CT-9904 will be contained within investigation perimeter until head investigator deems appropriate that CT-9904 can report back to GAR facilities. For further query contact head investigator: Lieutenant Divo of Sector 7, Department 381.

Authors end chapter notes:

Oh no... they got interrupted.. how sad.. >:3 Next chapter is notes only, so this is the end of The Red Logs: Return to the Temple!

Dividers by Djarrex

Tag list: @midnight-sun-0

#star wars #the bad batch #tbb crosshair x oc #tbb crosshair #crosshair x oc #crosshair x anya tougt (oc)#crosshair/oc #oc/crosshair #tbb fanfic #the bad batch fanfiction #star wars fanfic #the clone wars fanfic #sw tcw fanfic #star wars prequels #the red logs: return to the temple

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annwayne · 1 year

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The Red Logs: Return to the Temple Ch. 18

Chapter 18: Garden

Last Chapter <- -> Next Chapter

Fem!OC X Crosshair

Word Count: 4625

Fic Summary:

Ao3 Link Here

Warnings apply to whole fic:

Canon typical violence, descriptions of panic attacks, alcohol, swearing, 18+ themes (eventual smut), trauma, religious trauma parallels, mild gore

Authors Note:

In my defense, all of my sex dreams feel insanely powerful and intense like I'm talking overwhelming sensations. So. That is my only point of reference.

24 BBY. Not again. Not again. This can’t be happening again. Kenobi, he’s the reason this happened. Just like last time.

Pleasure bloomed across my skin. Need pulsed with every touch. Crosshair. He was touching my body, gently running his deft hands along the curves of my breasts and down the dips of my hips. He hovered over me with that intense gaze he always wore. Never breaking eye contact, he slid a finger along the length of my aching cunt causing a burst of pleasure to slam my senses. Moans echoed around me. I had gone longer without sex, but the pain of being near him while unable to satisfy my carnal desires was tenfold of past dry spells.

All of me yearned for his body. He crawled up to me, leaving behind feather kisses as he did. Almost there, the heat of his cock teased my folds. A hair away and I quivered. I needed this and I was going to get it. Impatience took hold. My whines remained ignored as the clone continued at his agonizing pace. Finally, I felt the soft tip of his dick plush against my entrance. Overwhelming pleasure mixed with impossible desire skyrocketed my body causing a wave of force to blast out and slam Crosshair against the wall.

I jumped up, gasping, frantically searching for the limp body of the clone. Instead, I found myself under the extra blankets I usually kept stored in the living room closet. Additionally, there was a cotton towel tangled around my body. Reality set in, as the fuzzy memories of the previous night settled.

“A dream?” The words slipped out, like I was checking to make sure I was actually awake. Sex dreams weren’t unusual, but I’d never… Did I? Heat rose to my cheeks as I checked between my legs, finding a drenched mess only an orgasm would explain.

Quickly, I jumped out of bed and into the refresher to clean up. Wasn’t I a little old to have a wet dream? In the refresher mirror I caught my reflection. I’d be seeing my face again. No more helmet to cover my expression. After finishing up, I stepped back into my bedroom and took in a deep breath.

Food. And not a stale, lingering scent. Fresh cooked sausage and the unmistakable aroma of peppers wafted through the vents of the loft. Then I noticed the clattering of dishes coming from the kitchen. A bolt of alarm ran up my spine. Someone was in my apartment.

After throwing on a robe, I rushed out the bedroom to find Crosshair standing at the stove tops, shuffling veggies on the pan in front of him while another cooked meat-the sausage I had smelt. He glanced up at my presence, grinned, and asked me, “Sleep well, doll?”

I opened my mouth to answer him but before I could say anything, loud meows cut me off.

“Stinky! I see Jayas got you home safe.” I dropped to sit on my heels and pet the loud tooka, who rubbed into my hand aggressively. “Yes I know, momma was gone. I missed you too, oh what a good boy.” He purred into my hand, bonking my knees and rubbing his body against my legs as he walked off to a particularly sunny spot on the couch.

When I stood, I was met with that toothpick wearing grin once again.

“I fell asleep.”

“You did.”

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“I did.”

“You did?”

Crosshair wiped his hands and walked around the bar that separated us. He leaned his back against it, folding his arms while he spoke, not bothering to take the toothpick in his mouth out. “I woke you up, to which you told me to get my flat ass into bed for cuddles, or else you’d feed me to womp rats.”

“I wasn’t awake.”

“Not exactly. But your determination was admirable. It took me a whole five seconds to escape your grasp in order to undress and get some blankets.” He grinned at the memory, twirling the toothpick between his lips from one side to the other.

That toothpick taunted me, daring me to imagine how Crosshair’s tongue moved behind his lips. A new flame of desire flickered within me. “Did you go back to the barracks?” Hesitation chopped my rhythm.

“No.” He gave no further elaboration.

The dream lingered in my mind. Was any of it real? A haze of exhaustion mingled with my sleeping mind? “So you just…slept?” I prodded, too embarrassed to admit what I was searching for.

“Right next to you.”

A weak laugh escaped me. “Right.” So then it was all a dream. But my comfort was short lived, as I realized what that meant. I rubbed my cheek, traveling up to my hair and ran a hand through the loose strands. “Sorry. About that.” A glance his way gave me a confused expression. “I mean, you came here for one reason and I was asleep.” My gaze fell to an imperfection in the tiled flooring pattern.

Crosshair pushed himself from the countertop and closed the distance between us. He lifted a slender hand to my cheek and guided my head so I was looking into his eyes. “I decide what I come here for.”

Blush bloomed from my cheeks at his words. “And what have you decided now?” I teased, attempting to hide the vulnerability in my cheeks.

His eyes narrowed with a smirk. “Now,” he dragged out the word, pausing my breath with it. “Is time for breakfast.”

He stepped back, leaving me to exhale quietly. My heart refused to calm as I watched him return to the stove top. Somehow, after everything that happened, I found myself right back here questioning what this sniper was thinking.

“Did you even eat last night?” His voice pulled back my thoughts.

“No, I think I sat down on the bed to braid my hair after showering, but,” I swept my loose hair over my shoulders in show. “Clearly that didn’t happen.”

“Breakfast.” Crosshair ordered, gesturing at one of the stools for me to sit.

I sat, leaning forward on the countertop to watch as he filled a plate full of stir fry veggies and two links of what looked to be bantha. “I don’t remember having sausage.” He slid the plate in front of me, and I dug in.

“You didn’t.” Crosshair piled the remaining food on his own plate then slid it onto the bar beside me. “What you had left rivaled the GAR’s pantry.” His voice faded as he turned away, putting away the dirty dishes into the sink. “I went and picked up a few things.”

“Mm.” I finished a bite before continuing. “How much do I need to pay you back?”

He rounded the bar, sliding into the seat next to me where his plate sat waiting. “Nothing.”

I glanced his way. “No really,” he kept his eyes down on his own meal. “You shouldn’t waste your stipend on me.”

His brows furrowed slightly. “Anya.” He turned to face me. “I wanted to.”

We stared in silence for a minute before the words sunk in. “Oh!” I blinked. “You wanted to?” I had to ask, to be sure I heard him right.

Crosshair’s sharp features softened as he looked at me. “If you prefer, I could stick to buying drinks downstairs.”

“No, no. This is welcome.”

Breakfast was quiet after that. Between how hungry I felt and the mess of emotions in my heart, there wasn’t much room for conversation. After finishing my meal I stood and started on the dishes. Crosshair ate slower than me, him still working on the last bit of his veggies as I washed the pans he used to cook them in. Though my back was to him, I could feel his eyes on me as I worked. That gaze locked on me came with questions.

“Got a lot on your mind?” Crosshair, who put Stinky’s status as an ambush predator to shame, slid up behind me without me noticing. He wrapped his arms around my waist after he put his plate into the sink. Before I could stop myself, my body melted into his. The feeling of his chest against my back, how secure I felt in his arms–it was too good to not indulge in. A soft hum escaped me as I sighed at the comfort. “Now that confirms it.”

I stiffened, turning my head just enough to catch the edge of a smirk. “What confirms what?” My brows furrowed together.

“Anytime you’re stressed and I hug you, you let out a little sigh like that.”

“What if I just like you holding me?”

Crosshair’s chest rumbled as he chuckled. “Then you’d be wiggling. You move when you're happy.”

Blush climbed my neck. “I do?”

“Mhm.” Crosshair answered casually, as if him noticing something so small wasn’t a heart-capturing moment. “So what is it?”

I turned away from the sink, spinning to face Crosshair as he opened his arms to let me do so. He rested his hands against the edge of the counter, trapping me between it and him. His brown eyes locked on me as mine fell in an attempt to keep blush from rushing to my cheeks. My slippers were sandwiched between his feet. Our bodies barely brushed against each other in the kind of way that sent sparks to my stomach instead of between my legs–though that part of me was certainly aware of our positioning.

A grin cracked on my lips. “I can’t seem to remember what I was thinking about.”

A short laugh came from Crosshair. “Really? Not at all?”

I looked up and met his dark eyes with a wide smile. “No, not at all. Guess it didn’t matter.”

In response Crosshair shook his head at me then leaned down just enough to kiss me. “I highly doubt that.” Our noses touched as he rested his forehead against mine. Crosshair lifted a hand to my waist, closing the small gap between us fully by pulling me into him. “But I can’t blame you for getting distracted.” His lips grazed mine as he spoke. Before I could retort, the sniper kissed me again. This time he lingered, letting his lips savor the treat. When he finally pulled away his typical steely gaze was replaced with one that could melt an icy heart.

“What?” I leaned back to get a better look at him. He was tall enough that it was easier this way.

“Nothing.” The grin on his face said otherwise.

“No really.” I grabbed the front of his shirt. “What’s got you looking like that?”

Crosshair rolled his eyes, turning his head away from mine in the process. “Seems it’s my turn to get distracted.” The sharper edges of his expression returned, and his smirk grew more playful than sincere.

I laughed, then patted his chest before sliding out from his arms. “Alright, be that way. I’m getting ready.”

He followed. “Ready for what?” Crosshair asked, mild interest peaking through his words.

“That depends, when do you need to report back?”

“Tonight, but I can sneak back late.”

At my wardrobe I scanned the various clothing options for the day. Something comfortable or something more flashy? My neck crawled as I felt Crosshair hovered over me, observing the options just as, if not more, intently than I.

“What is this?” He purred, reaching past me to pull down a hangar holding perhaps the most revealing garment I owned.

The bodice was little more than cups and straps, with sheer paneling making up the majority of the top. The skirt–if something so short could be called that–didn’t even close fully around the bodysuit. Green like the forests of Kashyyyk and with gold detailing that aimed to accentuate the most curvy aspects of a human body–it had been long forgotten stuffed behind the much more practical outfits I wore in my day to day life.

“Oh no.” I groaned, covering my face as Crosshair studied the bodysuit. “Please don’t ask.”

Through a gap in my fingers, I watched as Crosshair’s gaze flicked between myself and the garment. After a moment, Crosshair lifted the piece and held it up to me, a wicked grin growing in response to whatever he imagined. “You sure I can’t ask?” He prodded.

I gathered my wits breathing in deeply, then snatched the hangar from the clone. “Look,” the explanation burned in my mouth. “I had all these aspirations for what I’d wear after moving here.” To prevent any further spying into my wardrobe, I pulled out a casual tank and pair of pants, pushing the doors shut behind me. “Clearly, it didn’t stick.”

Crosshair leaned against the closed doors as I walked to the dresser to pull out appropriate undergarments. When I turned around, he was still leaning against the wardrobe. After a moment, I gestured towards Crosshair. “Are you going to let me change?” I asked with a raised brow.

The clone cocked his head at me. “What’s the point? Nothing I haven’t already seen.” I threw the clothes on the bed.

Blush flooded my cheeks. “Well yes, but-”

“But what?” He pushed off the wardrobe and stepped closer, grin growing with every second.

“Well this is different!” I held my ground, feeling the heat on my face spread to my ears and neck as Crosshair approached. “Nudity during sex is one thing, but just changing is…” Words I didn’t want to speak filled my mind. No-It wasn’t I didn’t want to say them. I was scared to say them.

“Anya.” He finally reached me, pinning me back against the dresser. “You’ll flip a clone onto his ass and step between punches to stop a fight, but you won’t change in front of me?” Only my wide eyed stare and silence answered him. “Even though we fuck like ash-rabbits when I’m off duty?”

A pout grew on my lips. “Just humor me?” When he still didn’t move, I continued. “Besides, you gotta get dressed too. Or I’ll just leave without you.” At that, Crosshair sighed and exited the room.

After the door shut behind him, I turned towards the clothes I threw onto my bed. I glanced towards the wardrobe. Maybe I should grab something nicer? We haven’t exactly done this before. Going out together away from the bar.

Going on dates.

No. I shook my head at the thought. This wasn’t a date. Dates require planning and actually asking the other person to go out with you. I hadn’t done either of those. But now wasn’t the time.

Quickly, I pulled off my bathrobe and pulled on my garments. The outfit was casual, but comfortable. I glanced in the mirror, nearly ready to go, before catching my mistake. The scars. My left shoulder looked like someone tore out a jagged patch of skin, leaving behind a rough path. Like an instinct, I threw back my hand to trace the scar under my hair. Between passing out last night and waking up to Crosshair in the apartment this morning, I had completely forgotten about them. Since he hadn’t mentioned them, I guessed Crosshair didn’t see the damaged skin last night. Maybe I would change after all. There was no reason to make him worry. I mean, I was going to tell him. Then he’d know. My lips cracked, suddenly dry.

Like a switch turned on, I moved. Crosshair could come in at any moment, so I opened my wardrobe and pulled out a long sleeved crop-top instead. I flung off the tanktop and pulled on the new shirt with no interruption from the clone. Next my focus turned to my hair. If I put it all up or braided it, he’d see the other scar. I gathered a small portion of hair from my crown and pulled it back into a flat clasp. Something to at least keep strands out of my face.

The bedroom door opened. “You ready?” Crosshair asked, leaning against the frame in his full armor.

I turned, walking past him into the living room space of my apartment. “I am.”

Coruscant was busy. As Coruscant always was. But in the depths of the city-planet, Uscuru was uniquely quiet. Of course the entertainment district would be relatively asleep when the rest of the planet was up and working. We passed a handful of other humans and aliens, commuters by the looks of them. Nothing like the crowds that flooded these streets once the sun fell. Crosshair walked beside me. Even the sounds of traffic started to fade as we traveled deeper into the city, away from the skylanes. A handful of clouds speckled the blue sky. Everything was making out to be a perfect day.

But I was feeling anything but perfect.

Each step forward coiled my chest and choked my throat. My stomach flipped as thoughts I’d rather not think invaded my mind.

“Not only are you putting the cohesion of this team at risk, but you will also hurt my brothers.”

Tech’s words echoed until they were the only thing I could hear. His disappointment. His frustration. His anger. All of those emotions, so well hidden under the blunt cadence of his speech. I’d promised him. And after everything he did for me, keeping a promise was the least I could do.

Yet.

“Hey.” I looked towards Crosshair. His face was obscured by his helmet. “You’ve been quiet.” He tilted his head towards me just barely.

“Something you want to talk about?” I answered.

He let out a breath of air, a sound turned metallic due to the modulator in his helmet. “Just unusual.”

“I don’t talk that much, do I?” Again, I met the visor of a helmet.

“Didn’t say that.” Our path led us to a low archway, forcing Crosshair to duck down behind me.

The image sent me back to the separatist ship–when we were chasing Vekek through the maintenance tunnels. A second passed before I returned, back to the safety of Coruscant. “Then what did you say?” I asked, returning my gaze forward after Crosshair rejoined my side through the arch.

The clone took his own second before answering. “Quiet.” He said. “You’re not usually quiet.” Though the words remained the same his delivery granted them new meaning. His comment wasn’t about how much I spoke.

“Just because you don’t see it that often, doesn’t mean I can’t be quiet.” Unknown to him, he’d actually seen a lot of quiet me. Crosshair just didn’t know that was me. That would change. A suffocating heat grew up my chest into my throat.

“So what’s wrong?”

I opted to ignore the question for now, and instead guided Crosshair around a corner. Our destination emerged from the metal of the planet. Green-not from neon signs or graffiti, but natural greenery that was so rare on Coruscant. Before us was a block of what looked to be an abandoned construction site, covered in vines, bushes, and grass. The only evidence this was purposeful was the turnstiles blocking an unpaid entry. A sense of relief lost against my anxiety. “We’re here.”

“What is this?” Crosshair pulled off his helmet, taking in the fresh oxygen without the filters of his helmet.

After paying the park fee for two, we stepped into the hidden garden together. “Someone thought some greenery might help make Uscuru less dangerous. Lower the crime rate. Guess they didn’t think about the importance of location.” I smirked, noting the lack of other visitors in the garden. “It reminds me of a garden I went to a lot growing up. When I’m stressed or just need a break I’ll come here. The distance is worth it.”

“Didn’t know Coruscant had any nature left on it.” Through the snark, a hint of awe shined through.

“Some.” A mix of feelings rose to my chest at the fond, and not so fond, memories in the Jedi Gardens. We passed pink trees with blue flowers in bloom, beds of yellow and white flowers that sat low in the soft grass, and bushes bearing fruit I didn’t recognize. “Here,” I ducked under a particularly overgrown archway made obstacle due to the thick vines and greenery attached to it. “This is my favorite spot.” The brush opened up into a small circle, a meadow on any other planet. In the center stood a fountain with three tiers.

Crosshair followed, stepping through the brush with ease. He paused, taking in the sight as I walked forward still. “How did you find this?”

“Luck.” I chuckled. “When I first moved here I spent a lot of time wandering.” He watched me, still standing by the entrance as I sat down on the plush grass. “If only this opened up to the sky, then we could watch the clouds.” I laid back, lifting my arms towards the ceiling.

After a second, Crosshair joined me. He settled beside me, sitting rather than lying like me. The top of my head pushed against his thigh. I glanced towards him, the angle made his lithe form look like he was towering over me. His reticle met my glance, and the lines that commonly decorated his face faded. “So how many clones have you brought here?” His gaze left mine, and those lines returned.

“One.” I watched his jaw twitch and eyes flick back towards me. With a soft smile I lifted my hands, finding the sharp features of his face between my palms. Those dark eyes of his studied my expression. Nerves bounced through my skin as I watched those eyes think.

“Why?”

My brows furrowed at the question.

“Why me?” He clarified.

Like a reflex, my jaw tightened. This place, it wasn’t exactly special. Just a failed attempt by some politician to earn brownie points for the reelection. But I so often found peace here. Peace that even my loft could not provide. After the mission, using my powers, nearly killing Crosshair with one of them-didn’t it make sense to come here? Did it make sense to tell him who I was here? Another spike of anxiety pierced my heart. As my chest pounded my head grew cloudy. As noise disappeared into fog, one voice became clear.

“Promise me that you will tell him before our next mission together.”

Another glance. Another study of his knitted expression. Confusion, anticipation, and fear swirled behind those dark eyes. Fear. Even on the battlefield I hadn’t seen such a clear expression of fear from the clone. Could he read me just as easily, see the terror that captured my words? Or was the force feeding me this information?

"Promise.”

“I made a promise.”

“What?”

Crosshair tilted his head. I sat up, sitting beside him. He shifted to face me. When he moved the grass crunched softly. My hands fiddled. Words would not come to me, even after spending several minutes messing with a loose thread on the hem of my sleeve. This was one of those times when I just needed to open my mouth and talk.

So I did. “I can’t keep it. I think I knew that, even when I made it, but I didn’t want to admit it. The timing is kriffed. When is it not? And it’s selfish, but how could I not be selfish about this?” Somehow, my eyes returned to his. “Crosshair, I haven’t been sleeping with anyone else. For a while.”

Those brown eyes widened, raising his gray brows in the process. His lips parted.

Panic surged as I realized what I had said. “I don’t expect the same from you! I mean,” Damage control kicked in. “We were clear about what this was. No strings. No expectations. That can still be the arrangement, if you want.” His expression relaxed, though that look of surprise still lingered. “That’s why it’s you.”

Anxiety returned as I waited for a response. My own feelings were too strong to even guess what Crosshair was feeling through the force. I was left with my gut for this one.

He cradled my cheek with one hand. “Anya.” My name sounded sad leaving his lips.

Oh no.

“I don’t want to keep our arrangement.”

He must have seen the twitch in my eyebrows, because he quickly continued.

“I want strings and expectations.”

A laugh that shared more in common with a cry escaped me. I leaned forward and threw my arms around the clone sitting across from him. He held me at my waist burying his nose into the crook of my neck. My fingers twisted through his short silver hair.

“So what was that promise you made?” He moved back to catch my eyes as he asked the question.

“That is a secret,” I rocked forward to kiss his lips gently. “For now.” My grin brushed his pout.

“Fine.” He kissed me back, lingering longer than I did. “So us being a couple doesn’t change what you let me in on?”

“Technically we’ve only been together for a few minutes. You’ll have to wait longer than that before I can trust you completely.” I winked.

In response, Crosshair rolled his eyes. “You sound like Tech. Remind me to never leave the two of you alone together.”

“Uh.” I shouldn’t be surprised to hear Crosshair talk about his squad, but now it caused me to trip. “Yeah? Does this mean you’ll bring them to the bar finally?” Before the summons from the Jedi Council I had regularly teased Crosshair about keeping me a secret from his brothers. But now I've met them. And he didn’t even know.

“No.” He scowled with a small pout that betrayed his playful mood.

I laughed, falling onto my back and lifting up my legs so they draped across the clone’s legs. “You’re adorable, Cross.” He grumbled in response. A moment passed, with me laying in the grass, hands covering my eyes and him leaning back, one hand resting on my legs. “What do we call each other?”

“What?”

“I mean, boyfriend and girlfriend would be accurate but it feels… childish.” My brows furrowed at the thought. “We aren’t married, so husband and wife are off the table. Committed works to explain the relationship, but not as a noun. Partner is too vague. Partner in what? Life? Business? Crime?” Lover also came to mind, but I wasn’t ready to say the word aloud yet.

After listening to my prattling, Crosshair took a moment to think. “Riduur.” He spoke softly.

I propped myself up on my forearms to get a look at him. “What’s that?”

“It means everything you said, but in one word.”

“Is it Mando’a?”

He nodded.

“Riduur.” I copied his pronunciation carefully. “I like it.”

Crosshair smiled at my reaction. “Knew you would.”

“How’s that?”

“Secret.” I scoffed, feigning offense. “Afterall, we’ve only been riduur for a few minutes.”

“Jackass.”

He laughed, a full body laugh.

We stayed like that for another twenty minutes, enjoying the peace of the park and our casual conversation. Our solitude eventually ended, as we heard other voices pass through the park. I stood, prompting Crosshair to follow, and we exited the oasis together. My promise to Tech stayed behind.

“So, you have the whole day right?” I asked as the clone donned his helmet.

We stepped through the turnstiles of the public park. “Yeah?”

“Let’s do something fun.” Unlike our walk to the garden, I held out my hand offering it to him. Though his helmet hid his reaction, my gut felt the grin plastered on his face. He took my hand and we walked.

“What’d you have in mind?” His thumb rubbed over mine as we walked.

Authors end chapter notes:

Look at my two little dumbasses being all cute together this is totally going to last forever and nothing bad ever happens ever. :)

Dividers by Djarrex

Tag list: @midnight-sun-0

#The Red Logs: Return to the Temple #crosshair/oc #crosshair x oc #oc x crosshair #oc/crosshair #crosshair/anya tougt (oc)#tbb fanfic #mild spice #a lime #if you will #lol #star wars fanfic #tcw fanfic #sw tcw fanfic #star wars prequels

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annwayne · 2 years

Text

The Red Logs: Return to the Temple Ch. 14

Last Chapter <- -> Next Chapter

Fem!OC X Crosshair

Word Count: 2070

Fic Summary:

Ao3 Link Here

Warnings apply to whole fic:

Canon typical violence, descriptions of panic attacks, alcohol, swearing, 18+ themes (eventual smut), trauma, religious trauma parallels, mild gore

Authors Note:

I’ve been big depressed and struggling a lot, but managed to get a chapter done, so a chapter is posted. If ya like it give it a reblog and like.

26 BBY. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Anakin smile so much in one day. He was thrilled to hear about his mother. She had me deliver a holorecording to him. Other Jedi would deny her request. Anakin was incredibly thankful. Obi-Wan was not pleased.

“When?”

My helmet laid between my feet as Tech applied a bacta patch to my forehead. I hissed in a breath as the sting grew stronger with each application of cleaning and healing supplies. Apparently I was pretty banged up. Might even end up with a scar or two. Wonder what kind of story I’ll make up for them.

“When I knew about Anya Tougt, the bar owner my brother had been seeing or when I knew Annie the padawan was Anya Tougt?” Tech’s cadence felt taunting, but I’d heard enough from Crosshair to know that was rarely the case.

“Both, let’s start with both.” My eyes met his and we lingered. A mixture of exhaustion and frustration met softness in Tech’s expression.

He sighed, then dropped his gaze back towards the limited medical supplies sitting beside him and pulled out a needle and some sutures. “Before, before he met you I mean, Crosshair would go off on his own during leave but he never spent the night out.” He paused, looking up at me, then gestured for me to lift my arm. I obliged. “As I am sure you know, Anya, clones talk.” Now that he had some slack, Tech pulled my Jedi robes loose to reveal my injured shoulder. “It didn’t take long to find out your identity and your penchant for clones.”

My scowl told him to move on.

“But I did not know you were a Jedi, are a Jedi?” The clone shook his head before continuing. “Your public records started only a few years ago, but that is not odd on Coruscant. Even less so for someone living in the lower levels.” Calloused fingers delicately stitched my shoulder back together. “Annie was nowhere to be found in the Jedi Archives, however.”

I shot him a surprised look. “Those aren’t public records, Tech.”

“No, they are not.” He didn’t even look up from his work. “Only after I saw your reaction to the message I showed you on The Negotiator did I think of checking the records for Anya.”

“Lyn.” My breath carried her name.

“Yes, she was the first clue.”

First clue? My eyes narrowed. “You knew. When you came to talk to me that night, you knew I was Anya Tougt. You knew why there was a bounty on me.” Betrayal laced my words as guilt stirred in my chest.

Tech took in a deep breath, then set down the needle he had been using to sew up the deep cuts that snaked down my shoulder- almost like a doll hinge. “I only had my guess.” There was no malice in his words. No intent of harm. “Confronting you was the only way to prove or deny my hypothesis.”

That spark of anger cooled into annoyance. “I understand.” Hesitation lingered in the silence. Tech helped pull my robes back up-as best we could due to my limited mobility. Then he spoke.

“What I said, that was real, Anya.” Brown eyes met mine as Tech leaned into view. “I am sorry your trust was betrayed.” A small chuckle left his lips, and his eyes lit up. “Though, I’m not sorry it led to meeting you. I see why Crosshair became so fond of you.”

A choked laugh left me as I felt that familiar sting of tears pull at my eyes. This moment alone with Tech, drifting through the vast empty space, felt so similar to the quiet conversations I shared with Qui-Gon. “Meeting Crosshair’s brothers was a highlight.” Laughter turned into sobs. Not tragic sobs, but relieved ones.

Someone knew me.

We laughed, mine accompanied with tears, and Tech opened his arms, letting me lean into his careful half hug. We stayed like that for a moment, just long enough for the high of my emotions to level out. Then he moved back, picking up my cracked helmet, and handed it to me.

“You’ll need a new one.” He said with a smile.

After I wiped whatever tears were still left on my face into my cheeks, I pulled the helmet back on. Luckily it would still suffice as a means of concealing my identity. “No, there’s no way Obi-Wan will ever let me go on missions again.” My assurance did not hide my disappointment.

Tech closed up his med kit and put it back into the pack he usually carried. “You are not part of the Jedi Order, correct?”

“Yeah.” His expression was difficult to make out through the crack running down my viewfinder. But I caught a hint of a sneaky smile.

“That means you are a civilian,” Tech continued. “Which means you could officially apply to be a civilian consultant for Clone Force 99.” My gaze lifted. “There aren’t many in the GAR, but the position will not be difficult for you to obtain. Especially with my recommendation.”

The information froze me. I could keep going on missions with the squad? “Wait, really?” Then a slew of doubts flooded my thoughts. “Do you even want that? I mean,” My gaze dropped to my hands. Death and disaster seemed to always find me, no matter how far I ran. “I’d be more of a burden than help.” There was more I wanted to say. More to point out why this was a bad idea. But every thought slipped away before I could catch it.

“I know what I want, Anya, but do you?” Our eyes locked.

Then rattling came.

“Tech, The Negotiator just arrived.” Hunter’s voice filled the small pod. “They’re pulling us in now, we’ll meet you two in the Hangar.”

“Finally! We’ve been drifting fo-” Wreckers celebration was cut short when Hunter closed the comm.

Right as the Marauder detached from the Separatist command ship, an explosion caused the attack shuttle to lose basic flight controls, leaving them stuck floating in the debris ridden space just like us. Luckily everyone was okay, enough at least, but the wait had been longer than expected.

“Copy.” Tech answered and closed his comm, then glanced my way.

I sat in a bath, a normal bath, and replayed the messy dreams that filled my mind while I was healing. Technically, bacta isn’t the reason for those dreams–something about the medically induced sleep messing with the REM cycle–but it was a common enough phenomenon for the bacta in the bath to be blamed.

Flashing lights. Blaring alarms. Vekek’s tiny body atop Tech’s. My lightsaber, heavy and cold in my hands. Blue cutting through flesh. Life going limp. The dreams were clearer than the memories. She didn’t even make a sound.

No. I sunk deeper into the floral scented bath water. There was no other option. Vekek had to die.

My attention turned to my nose. Bacta smells horrible, like something sterile. So I scrubbed at my skin to try and rid myself of the scent. Even though the bacta bath had healed my wounds, I was incredibly sore. Every movement made my joints creak like a rusty droid. My gaze caught one of the new scars. It was thick and jagged, crawling over my shoulder and back–but I couldn’t see that part without a mirror. There was another at the base of my skull. I could feel the tough skin wind up my skull and past my hairline. At least they were pale, scarring lighter than my actual skin tone. Maybe no one would notice them.

A sigh left my lips. The scars didn’t upset me. It was what followed the scars that I dreaded. The questions. The lying. “I’ve done it for years.” My voice echoed back to me in the small square room. It didn’t sound convincing. I looked at my hands, fingertips all pruny from how long I’ve sat in the hot water.

Finally, I lifted myself from the silky water, the oils clinging to my heat-reddened skin as I stepped out of the rectangle bath. While drying myself off, my reflection caught my eye. I lifted up my hair, checking how deep the scar went. About five centimeters. The bald patch felt odd. A frown looked back at me. Without another second to think myself out of it, I dug through the small cabinets and found a black rectangle in Obi-Wan’s things. The razor buzzed loudly as I shaved the bottom quarter of my hair off–enough to make the bald patch look intentional.

A few minutes later I exited the refresher dressed in a fresh set of Jedi robes and with my remaining hair braided down. Obi-Wan sat casually on the single sofa in the small room, only glancing up to see me putting on my armor.

“Actually, you’ll find a gift in that bag there.” His head tilted behind me.

Unzipping the bag revealed clone armor, but it was different from standard armor. I could already feel how light the boots felt compared to what I had been wearing. The colors were different too. This plastoid was decorated with red accents and designs. As I clicked the pieces in place I noticed they fit much better than my previous set.

“How did-?”

I turned to ask Obi-Wan who shook his head in answer.

“Hmm..” Finally I held my helmet; a smaller and sleeker one than the clone design. Red stripes cut diagonal through the helmet's visor. “The batch made this, but why?”

With a sigh, Kenobi put down his datapad and looked up at me. “Yes. They made you armor.”

“That sounds like the beginning of a lecture.”

Obi-Wan squirmed. Which meant he stood and walked around the sofa. “Tech left you this.” He produced a thin data pad addressed to me.

“What?” My brow furrowed and I snatched the thin datapad from Obi-Wan’s hands. “The civilian consultant form, with his recommendation.” A small smile grew as I read the review. He had done all this?

“I can’t say I approve of this, Annie.” Kenobi’s words wiped the smile off my lips.

I pulled on my helmet, hoping to hide the emotions running across my face. “Well… It’s a good thing I don’t need your approval.” The words tasted bitter, like disappointment.

He turned back to me again, pacing along the length of the couch. “I thought you wanted to live a civilian life. To leave behind the ways of the Jedi and disconnect from the force. How can you do that when you’re pretending to be my padawan?”

“Call me a knight then.”

“Anya!” Obi-Wan broke his pacing to face me.

“Do I need to remind you that the council is the reason I’m here? They dragged me out of my life, my normal, non-Jedi life, for a bounty!?” A rip in my throat made my words crack. “And now suddenly you think I can go back, as if everything's the same?!”

A nasty crease pulled Obi-Wan’s face down. He glanced left and right before landing back on me. “You aren’t made for war.”

“Neither are children.” It was a low jab, and the hitch in his breath agreed.

Obi-Wan remained silent. We stood, staring. Pounding in my chest squeezed my fists. After a pause I thought would never end, he spoke. “Anya.” His gaze dropped from my visor. “You killed someone.”

Finally.

My jaw clenched. “To protect Tech. It wasn’t out of hate, if that’s what you're worried about.” I looked away from him. It didn’t help the hurt in my chest. “You have done the exact same.”

“Out of hate or not,” Obi-Wan approached me, that stern master’s look knitted into his face. Then he reached forward and I realized I’d been backing away. “You haven’t taken a life since Tali-”

I caught his extended hand, stopping his lips in an instant, and met his eyes.

Too many words rushed forward.

My jaw clenched.

His eyes softened.

“You don’t know that.” The hiss came out vile.

Those eyes hardened.

Before he could get another word in, I ripped my hand from him and headed to the door. Something paused me and squeezed a mumble from my lips. “You’re not Qui-Gon and you’re not Tali, so stop trying to be.” And then I stepped out, into the wide halls of The Negotiator.

Authors end chapter notes:

What do you think Tech wants when he says "I know what I want" What do you think he feels about Anya? Do you think Anya's killed someone else after leaving the order? Why do you think Anya and Obi-Wan keep getting into arguments? Let me know your thoughts if you have any! Thanks for reading :D

Dividers by Djarrex

#The Red Logs: Return to the Temple #oc x crosshair #crosshair x oc #tbb fic #the clone wars fic #star wars fic #star wars the clone wars fanfic #tbb crosshair #tbb crosshair x oc #fem!oc #star wars oc #star wars the clone wars #sw the clone wars #the bad batch #tbb #multichapter fic #long fic

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annwayne · 2 years

Text

The Red Logs: Return to the Temple Ch. 10

Chapter 10: Down Time

Last Chapter <- -> Next Chapter

Fem!OC X Crosshair

Word Count: 3194

Fic Summary:

There are benefits to owning a clone bar. Underworld lords don’t threaten you to pay for protection. Clones are great company. And the drinks taste great. However, there are also risks to owning a clone bar. Like, for example, becoming the fuck buddy of a special clone task force member so your life gets threatened when a Separatist puts out a bounty for your capture in order to use you as blackmail. Also your sleep schedule get’s wrecked. But Anya Tougt is a little more capable than an average bar owner.

Ao3 Link Here

Warnings apply to whole fic:

Canon typical violence, descriptions of panic attacks, alcohol, swearing, 18+ themes (eventual smut), trauma, religious trauma parallels, mild gore

Authors Note:

man it’s been a long time but progress, tiny tiny progress has been made. Gif is mine.

28 BBY. A huge temple and I still can’t avoid Obi-Wan. That terror of a youngling he brought back convinced an R2 unit to let him into the speeder bay and onto one of the speeders for a joy ride. I just happened to be in that speeder bay when they peeled off, so I got the luxury of telling Obi-Wan himself where the kid went. The temple still hasn’t calmed down.

Bustling noise was the first thing I noticed about The Negotiator. The massive ship hummed with life as we stepped out of the Marauder. Clones, more clones than I had ever seen in one place, rushed to prepare everything for the battles yet to come. Speeders and Bombers lined the long bay. Tech and I pushed crates of supplies into the Marauders loading dock. Hunter chatted with Cody, occasionally glancing my way. Crosshair sat in the loading dock glaring at any reg who dared look his way. And hopefully, Wrecker was peacefully asleep in his bed.

“I believe that is everything. Thank you for your help, Annie.” Tech dusted his hands after deactivating the last anti-grav plate. “Once Hunter is finished talking with Cody we’ll be on our way.”

“Of course. I couldn’t just sit around doing nothing and watch you work.” I tilted my head towards Crosshair who shot me a narrow glance.

“Tech’s a big boy, Commander.” He snipped with a glint in his eye.

Ever since my comment refusing to accept any titles, Crosshair added them to his bag of ammo and he wasn’t shy about using those words against me. That was on me, I should have expected the little shit to push my limits. It’s all he ever did back at the bar, just with different tools. “What’s taking Hunter anyways?” I peaked my head around the docking bay walls. Now Obi-Wan had joined the conversation.

“You, likely.” Tech stood beside me tapping away at his datapad. All the information we downloaded was a mess of different languages, encryption, and codes. He had been working to untangle the mess since we set out to intercept The Negotiator. “A brand new Padawan joining our mission with their Jedi Master is one thing, but now you’ll be left alone with us. There are certain regulations that need to be observed.”

I struggled to hold in a massive scoff. Regulations? This was the last squad in all of the Grand Army of the Republic to care for regulations. Precautions sounded more apt. “New to the GAR, not to being a Padawan. I was one solar cycle away from being Knighted before my previous Master was murdered.” Flashes of my true Master came to mind. Tali, what would you think of me now? Even back then I knew I was a shit Padawan. Yet Tali put up with my questions, my rebellious nature, and even those nights where I refused to leave the temple gardens. Those nights she would sit silently beside me and we’d watch the lightning bugs dance to the music of the city-planet.

Wearing a helmet made daydreaming way too easy, as Tech had to pull my shoulder to get my attention back to the present day. “Annie, could you look at this?” He brought the datapad up between us so I could read. A message in a language I didn’t understand took up most of the screen, but at the very bottom there was a name.

“No kriffing way.” Quickly I looked back up at Tech. “What’s the message say?” A few clicks later the text translated itself into Basic. Slowly I read the message.

“Meet me at the coords below. Bring double my normal price and come alone. You’ll be glad I came to you.”

-Lyn Parreva

“She couldn’t…” Deep sorrow pulled my shoulders down. Rage snapped my head up. Flashes of the young twi'lek only added fuel to the mess of emotions I was feeling. Betrayal, regret, and pain forced me forward. “Who was this sent to?” The genius clone couldn’t see the rage in my eyes, but he could hear it on my lips.

“It appears we have identified your bounty’s sponsor, Annie.” Tech adjusted his goggles. “Their name is Vekek, Miyaeli Vekek.” That name meant nothing to me.

“So then where are we headed?” Plastoid boots thudded against the ship’s ramp as Hunter boarded. Once he was clear, the sergeant slammed the button to close the Marauder back up.

Without missing a beat Tech answered. “Ryloth. From what I’ve read Vekek was the lead scientist behind the serum we saw in action.” Hunter kept walking down the gangway. Tech matched his pace as he explained. “There are records suggesting they were planning to introduce the serum to the population of Doashim on their home planet. Hunter,” Tech’s call turned his brother’s head. “This was recorded only two cycles ago.”

Crosshair hopped down from his perch atop stacked crates. “We barely took out one of those monsters.” He followed his brothers through the doorway separating the docking bay to the midship. I stayed a step behind, listening but adding nothing.

“Exactly,” Tech opened the door to the cockpit. “We will need to eliminate any Doashim injected with the serum and destroy everything pertaining to the formula.” He slid into his seat and began flipping toggles and pressing buttons to bring the Marauder to life.

Hunter sat in the co-pilot’s seat, but turned to look back at Crosshair and I. “Annie, the general requested I keep one of us with you during battle. In fact, he recommended Crosshair stay at your side in combat.” Murder. I was planning a murder now. “So, I want you two to train together, get familiar with each other’s fighting techniques. As much as you can, we have a cycle and half of hyperspace before we reach Ryloth.”

“He did, did he?” I hissed between my clenched jaw. Surprisingly, the voice modulator still managed to catch my words. Crosshair cocked an eyebrow at my reaction, but said nothing.

And then, we were banished from the cockpit. Together we returned to the docking bay, just about the only place with enough space to practice any close combat on the ship. After I stacked a few crates higher than regulation standard with the force, we had a decent sparring area. Crosshair held his helmet against his hip as he started talking.

“So, Annie, what is your combat training and experience?” He watched as I stretched my limbs in preparation.

“Well,” Of course there was the training I received while living at the temple, but how was I supposed to explain the random street fighting I had picked up from Jayas? “My previous Master focused on teaching me stealth and using an opponent's momentum against them. However, I do know some less refined styles of hand to hand combat.”

Crosshair barely crooked his head at my words. A grin I couldn’t pin between entertained or surprised grew on his lips. Maybe it was both. “Alright, let’s see what that looks like.” The clone donned his helmet and stepped forward.

Immediately, he threw the first punch. In response I threw up an arm to block him and pushed against his forearm to force his fist towards the ground. He retaliated with a cross that I deflected again. Then he threw up his knee that forced me back and off balance to avoid the hit. He took advantage of my opening and landed a hook into the side of my helmet. My vision danced. Crosshair continued with the offense. He threw punches aimed for my gut this time that again, I deflected. Our heavy breathing and plastoid armor clanking filled the cargo hold.

“Come on, Commander,” He said between quick breaths. “You’ve got to know some offensive moves.”

He grabbed my shoulder and sent a knee towards my helmet. I twisted out of his grasp and landed behind him, then returned the favor. In fluid movements I hooked his elbow with mine and flung him forward. The momentum sent him hurtling backwards till he regained his footing. Then I closed the distance between us and threw my forearm towards his helmet. Just as I thought he was surprised, he deflected my attack with the same technique I had been using all this fight.

“Good.”

Like a dance, we circled each other around the room. Punches, grapples, and kicks were thrown and usually deflected. Occasionally the marksman would land a blow against my helmet or gut, but I had yet to land a punch on him. I caught him off balance, swept his legs out from under him so he fell forward, and even managed to flip him when he attempted to restrain me, but not a single punch met its destination.

Eventually, I was a second too slow and landed square on my back. Before I could stand back up, Crosshair’s hand was on my collarbone and his knees at either side of my legs. Fucking hell. This was not a good time to get turned on. Maker, this helmet was putting in work.

“My win.” His grin was audible. He hopped up, then offered a gloved hand my way. I took it.

“Yeah, yeah, you likely have more hand-to-hand combat experience. Jedi tend to focus on saber techniques.” I gestured towards the hilt on my hip. “Not that it’s useless, but droids don’t exactly have the mobility to move like this, so why start here?”

Crosshair removed his helmet and ran a hand through his gray hair. “Some can, commando droids. Besides,” He smirked. “Hunter wanted us to get familiar. There’s no better way to learn how the other moves.”

I could think of one, but that was not battle friendly. “Right.”

“Now, how do you move with that?” He stared at the weapon on my hip.

“My lightsaber?” I grabbed it and turned the hilt over in my hand. Silver metal caught the bright ship lights. “Nothing special, but I hope you aren’t suggesting shooting at me. Those bolts have to go somewhere.”

The sniper chuckled and shook his head. “Nah, Hunter would have my head if I made a mess of the Marauder.” He crossed his arms and leaned back against the ship hull. “What about your forms?”

“What are you getting at?”

“If we get in a tight situation I’d like to know where that,” He glanced down at my lightsaber hilt. “Tends to end up.”

That… actually made sense. I pressed the button on my lightsaber and watched as the blue glow filled the room. With a deep breath in, I started moving.

Tech leaned back in his seat with datapad in hand, swiping through loads of information. He had identified the coordinates on Ryloth where Vekek would most likely be, and confirmed the information with a call from Rex, who was currently stationed on the planet with the 501st. They would be alone in their efforts to prevent disaster from genetically altered Doashim, however, as Rex explained they were in the middle of another siege.

“Why do you think she reacted that way?” Tech had nearly forgotten Hunter was still sitting in the chair beside him. He had been so quiet for so long.

“Considering their tense relationship, I suspect General Obi-Wan suggested Crosshair in order to get a rise of some kind from Annie.” His voice was followed by a few taps at his datapad.

Hunter held his chin and narrowed his eyes. Her heart rate jumped when he asked them to train together. In fact, that happened a lot with her. When Obi-Wan first told her she would be on watch with Cross, he had felt her heart pump a little faster than everyone else’s. “A rise?” Hunter mused more to himself, but Tech was here so his question would be answered.

“It’s likely she’s physically attracted to him.”

Tech’s eyes locked with Hunters. “Should I be worried about that?”

A mischievous smile crossed Tech’s face. “Only if Cross finds her attractive too.”

Hunter let out a long exasperated sigh. “I’m going to check on Wrecker. I can hear him stirring.”

Hunter had offered his CO room to me again. Something I suspected wasn't solely motivated by politeness. Kenobi had said something. Dank farrik, why didn’t he let me tell my own lies? But this was useful. I could sleep and shower with less worry than if I was staying in the squad’s sleeping quarters. The room was tiny, just large enough to fit a desk, chair, and the connected refresher. A single bed was built into the wall.

I stepped out of the refresher and began toweling off my hair. Wearing a helmet was starting to feel normal. Being able to touch my face felt odd. Carefully, I started weaving my hair into three tight braids. The flatter my hair was the more comfortable the helmet sat. Once I tied off each braid I met my cloudy reflection in the small mirror. With the towel I used to dry off, I wiped a streak of steam away. Now a little less fuzzy, I could see my face.

Wearing the helmet constantly, I forgot how much I was used to seeing myself in reflections. In mirrors, shot glasses, the clean bar top. Technically nothing had changed. Yet everything felt different. These eyes held secrets I thought were long buried. My lips carried new lies to bury those secrets again. When this was all done, would the cost outweigh the success?

Knocking. Knocking against the door and then a voice interrupted my thoughts. “Annie, could I come in?”

Tech. “Just a minute!” I called back, rushing to throw on my clothes. With one final glance at my reflection, I lowered my helmet over my head. Then I walked to the door. “Yeah?”

“May I come in?”

Right, I was blocking the doorway. “Oh, um, yeah.” I stepped to the side and watched the clone enter. Behind him the door shut automatically. “What’s up?”

“Annie,” The worry in Tech’s voice caught my attention, but his expression is what threw me off guard. “We need to talk about what happened after you saved me from the collapsing building.” Under my helmet, my brows furrowed. So much happened in such a short time I didn’t know what Tech was referencing. Either he guessed or wasn’t done speaking. “You nearly blacked out. Considering the feat of strength you demonstrated to save Wrecker, it was not from exhaustion.”

My head slowly lifted as the memory became clear. “The anxiety attack! I had forgotten it completely.” Apparently my reaction was not predicted because Tech’s lips parted, but no words came out. So I continued. “Looking back on it, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner.”

As Tech processed this new information his brows furrowed. Behind those eyes I could see thoughts flying in hyperspace. Finally, he settled on what to say. “Let me see if I understand correctly.” He held his hands clasped together and pointed towards me. “You already knew you were prone to anxiety attacks and you expected one while we were on mission?

“Well, not exactly.” I walked towards the bed and sat down. Tech leaned against the desk across from me. “Sure, I’ve had a few anxiety attacks in the past but I didn’t expect one.” My gloved hand gestured loosely.

“Do you know what triggered it?”

If he could see my expression that would have answered him. Instead, I took a moment before saying, “The force. Things got messy after-” I clenched my jaw. Before I had talked so easily about her death. But now… After regaining my voice I continued. “After Master Tali was murdered I had some trouble connecting with the force.”

Tech furrowed his brows even more. One hand adjusted his goggles. “Yet you had no issues catching me, dragging debris out of the way or saving Wrecker.”

A tired sigh rang through my helmet at a low tone. “Anxiety doesn’t exactly make sense, Tech.” After a moment with no response I stood up again. “Was there anything else?”

That snapped the clone from his deep thoughts. His head lifted up and recognition filled his eyes. “Yes, actually. I wish to know why Vekek placed a bounty on you.”

This was not at all what I expected after that conversation. My hips shifted and I crossed my arms. “Like I told Hunter back on Coruscant, I don't know.”

His top eyelids lowered and a clear expression of annoyance unfolded. “Maybe back on Coruscant that was the truth, but now?” Tech shook his head. “That name filled the gaps in your knowledge.”

There was a pause before I spoke again. “I can't answer that, Tech. You know I can't answer that.” Even the voice modulator managed to accurately portray the gravity of my voice.

In this tiny, dimly lit room, Tech began pacing. “Annie,” Plastoid boots met metal as he talked. “I need to know the consequences if you are captured.” He brought up his hands to aid in his reasoning.

That determination in his furrowed brow and quick gestures told me he would not leave until I gave a satisfactory answer. My eyes glazed over as I imagined different lies and their outcomes. Nothing felt real enough. Then, it hit me. “Alright, fine. But this is as much as I’m willing to tell.” Technically there was no harm in telling him the reason, only the name. He stopped his pacing and turned all attention on me. “You’re right, the name confirmed a possibility I hadn’t taken seriously.” It was true enough. “I have… connections,” My word choice was important here. “With someone important. Someone that would react poorly if my life were threatened for their compliance.”

Tech narrowed his eyes. “Blackmail? Why wouldn’t you think of this connection sooner?”

“I did,” This was true. “But the few who knew, I trusted completely.” Those words hurt coming out.��

His expression softened, but there were still questions in those eyes. “What kind of connection are you talking about, Annie?”

A short laugh buzzed through my modulator. “The kind Jedi are forbidden from. The kind that clones are discouraged against.”

At some point I must have sat down, because I was gripping the bed sheets. My head dropped slightly as the implications of Lyn’s name settled. Before I was angry. Now, I was thinking. Thinking about the early morning hours we spent chatting after closing the bar. Thinking about the many clones who complimented Lyn’s listening skills. Thinking about how it was all a means to an end.

“Annie?” Tech was seated beside me. One of his gloved hands rested on my back in an attempt to comfort me. It was working. “I’m sorry that you found out this way. That someone…” His voice fell as that brilliant mind struggled to find the correct words. But there were no correct words for this.

My breathing slowed as I came down from the frenzied thoughts of before. That grip on the bed sheets released. “I know.” The hum of a hyperdrive engine rattled between us.

Dividers by Djarrex

#The Red Logs: Return to the Temple #star wars #star wars fanfic #sw fanfic #sw tcw fanfic #the bad batch fanfiction #tbb fanfic #crosshair x oc #crosshair x fem oc #oc x crosshair #tbb fanfiction

11 notes · View notes

annwayne · 1 year

Text

The Red Logs: Return to the Temple Ch. 16

Chapter 16: Disembark

Last Chapter <- -> Next Chapter

Fem!OC X Crosshair

Word Count: 3235

Fic Summary:

Ao3 Link Here

Warnings apply to whole fic:

Canon typical violence, descriptions of panic attacks, alcohol, swearing, 18+ themes (eventual smut), trauma, religious trauma parallels, mild gore

Authors Note:

I am thrilled to get this chapter out. I've written all but the final chapter of this fic and I'm just so excited to see what everyone following this story thinks of the progression. :> Also some nice little self indulgent moments because why not >:3c

25 BBY. Master Tali’s words linger in my mind. Jedi have always enforced peace throughout the galaxy–what difference was this? Our presence alone changes other’s behaviors. Few dare upset a Jedi. But those few are growing, from the sound of it.

I laid on my stiff bed wearing only a towel and covered my eyes from the bright white lights of the room with my arms. Everything felt sore, which meant everything would feel worse tomorrow morning. My body was paying for those years without exercise. Luckily tonight marked the last night aboard the Negotiator. One more night in a stiff bed and thin sheets. Just one more night till I was home.

With a groan, I sat up. My eyes took a moment to adjust to the light, then landed on the chrono sitting across from me. Another sigh and I stood. It was nearly tomorrow, so if I wanted any sleep I needed to get moving. I threw the towel onto a piece of metal that jutted out just slightly more than the rest of the wall then turned to my duffle for pjs. As I pulled on a pair of underwear, knocking came from my door.

“Annie, it’s Tech, may I come in?”

“Just a-”

Despite my response, the door swished open and Tech stepped through the threshold, though he was looking behind himself and did not immediately see my half-naked state. “We need to talk-” He froze, finally looking up to see my exposed body.

“No please Tech, come in.” I muttered as I quickly threw on a nightshirt.

As soon as he realized his blunder, the clone turned his head away from me and tensed his shoulders. “I apologize, I did not want anyone to see me enter your quarters.” The tips of his ears had turned a shade redder than the rest of his face.

As awkward I felt with the interaction, Tech didn’t strike me as the kind of clone to try and sneak a look–something I had learned how to spot in the men that made up the GAR. I sighed, waving it off. “It’s fine, just don’t do it again.” Tech slowly raised his head, eyes darting side to side before landing on me once again. “Besides, I’ve been wanting to talk to you as well.”

“You have?” Tech stepped forward, all previous hesitation now forgotten.

I nodded my head as I sat down. “We haven’t had a chance to talk alone since the escape pod.” Tech sat on the edge of the bed across from me as I spoke. “And considering you volunteered me to be Clone Force 99’s resident force user, well I have some thoughts.” Our eyes met, both stern and stubborn.

“While I may have been… enthusiastic,” Tech’s eyes fell, shifting like he was choosing words from a catalog. “My prediction was correct. You chose to become a civilian consultant, I simply prepared.”

“Yes Tech, you were right.” I rubbed my eyes, trying to hold back the annoyance in my voice. “But what would have happened if you were wrong? If I went back to my bar on Coruscant and never went on another mission with the Bad Batch? Never touched my lightsabers or Jedi robes again?”

Across from me, the clone stared down at his hands with furrowed brows. “I understand your concern, Annie, however I knew that wouldn’t happen.”

There was a twitch in my jaw at his absolute confidence. “How? I didn’t even know if I was going to fill out those forms.” A moment passed, Tech still watching his hands while I watched him. Long enough passed that I opened my mouth, ready to continue without Tech’s input.

“Crosshair.”

Tech spoke just before I could, leaving me with an open mouth and missing words. A crease grew between my brows as I closed my mouth, then opened it again like a resetting console. “What do you mean Crosshair?”

Tech raised his head, meeting my eye once again. “I mean Crosshair is how I knew what you would decide.” After no change from the look I gave him, he continued. “You’ve now seen what we face, and knowing that your presence on this mission saved mine and Wrecker’s lives, you could not forgive yourself if something happened to Crosshair after you refused to come on missions with us.”

I stared back at him, dumbfounded and feeling more vulnerable than when he walked in on me changing. Of course I was worried about Crosshair, I had always been worried about him but this didn’t change that.

“And for that reason, I cannot allow you to continue to lie to Crosshair, or anyone else in my squad.”

“Wait, Tech, what?”

“This is what I wanted to speak to you about, Annie.” Tech stood pacing the short width of my quarters. “Not only are you putting the cohesion of this team at risk, but you will also hurt my brothers. They will see your keeping this secret an issue of trusting them, rather than your own insecurity.”

A crack of a laugh escaped my lips. “Insecurity? Tech, any insecurities I have, they aren’t related to this.”

“Aren’t they?” Tech adjusted his goggles, the light’s reflection obscuring his eyes from view for a moment. “Why were you so adamant about keeping your identity as a Jedi secret from clones? From my brother?”

“Because that’s not me anymore. No one needs to know about it.” My words spilled like sand.

“You fear others knowing about this aspect of you Anya, this is directly related to your insecurity.” Tech’s words landed like boulders.

“Get out.”

Tech remained where he stood. “Not until I know you will stop this, that you will tell Crosshair.”

I stepped off the bed, standing at its side and pointed towards the door. “Don’t make me do it for you.”

A dark eyebrow raised slowly, debating the likelihood I wasn’t bluffing perhaps. “If you do not tell him, I will.”

Neither of us moved. We stood across from each other in a tiny CO’s room, Tech puffed up and determined, myself glaring and doubting. Doubting his resolve. Doubting my guts. The chrono’s red light bled pink as it touched the brilliant white ceiling lights. Only the humm of Hyperspace and occasional creaks of the ship spoke for us.

“Not tonight.”

The Negotiator groaned as it descended through the atmosphere. Three days passed in what felt like a manner of minutes. Obi-Wan stood at the helm, arms crossed with a focused crease between his brows. Beside him stood Admiral Yularenal, a man I had only seen maybe two times this whole trip. Cody stood beside some control panels, watching clones input directions at his command. Flying a ship this huge took way more people than running a bar, but the latter was much more interesting so I left for my quarters.

In my room I began packing. Not that there was much to pack. But it was something to do that distracted me.

Distracted me.

”You aren’t made for war.”

His words were ghosts, and I was their decaying house. Obi-Wan and I had not spoken since our interaction in his quarters. A fact that only made the impending council meeting more dreadful. What would he say? My chest pounded as I stuffed blacks and some spare armor into my duffel. I hissed at the thoughts. “No one’s made for war!”

“We are.”

I jumped, turning to see Crosshair stepping into the room, with Tech’s scowl close behind.

Before I could get a word in, Tech hesitantly stepped through the door’s threshold, eyes darting across the room as he did so. “No wait, Crosshair you shouldn’t! Annie.” His quick change from scolding to greeting gave me whiplash. “We knocked.” Tech gave an anxious look as he stood beside his brother.

“You didn’t seem to hear us. So I tried the door.” Crosshair explained. His previous words went without further notice, even with my helmet locked on him. Then, to make a crowded room packed, Hunter and Wrecker joined us.

“Which is a breach of privacy, Crosshair.” Tech frowned at the sniper, who barely shrugged. My head turned to look at each clone, spending a second longer on Tech, studying the limited face I could see under his goggles. Our last conversation crawled up my neck.

“There’s a lock if she wants privacy.”

Tech huffed, but did not push the issue further.

“What are you all doing here?” I asked, taking advantage of the lull between the brothers. Then threw my duffle over my shoulder.

“We came to take you to the general, and also,” Wrecker rubbed the back of his head. “Well we wanted to say goodbye.”

Wrecker’s shyness broke the wall Tech’s conversation built last night. “And does everyone who works with you get a farewell like this, or am I just special?” The grin on my face audible through my voice.

Wrecker laughed. “It’s not everyday a Jedi gets assigned to us!”

“Partially,” Tech corrected his brother, only for creases to appear around the bridge of his goggles. “A better description would be ‘on loan.’” Brown eyes flicked up to my bucket.

I folded my arms. “Well, I appreciate the enthusiasm. I look forward to future missions with this squad.” Tech’s chin lifted at my words.

“You’ll never be bored with us, that’s for sure!” Wrecker beamed, patting Tech’s back hard enough the clone temporarily lost balance. This started a loud conversation between the two about spines.

Hunter took the distraction as an opportunity to step forward. “Annie, Thanks.” He spoke softly. “Regs rarely try to get along with us and Jedi mostly ignore us. It was nice working with someone who…” His dark eyes searched for the correct words.

“Respects us.” Crosshair finished Hunter’s sentence.

A feeling I couldn’t name puffed up my chest. “You’re brilliant soldiers.” Tech and Wrecker quieted down. “I should be thanking you. Without your help, there’d still be a bounty on my head.”

The clones beamed at the compliments, each of them expressing their pride at a mission well done. Something I felt they rarely shared with outsiders.

“We should get going, the ship’s just landed.” Hunter turned, gesturing for the other clones to follow him. Crosshair and Wrecker did. Tech moved towards me.

“Annie, before you go.” Tech pulled out his datapad. “I’ve added my information to your contacts list so we may communicate through less official means.” He showed me his profile which featured a blurry photo of him and what I thought was a tiny Wrecker in front of a giant explosion. He lingered, holding the data pad to his chest. Finally he spoke, “Also… I wish to apologize.” He said in a lower voice. “I upset you. That was not my goal.”

A long breath escaped me. “Just give me some time, Tech.”

“Promise me that you will tell him before our next mission together.”

“Tech I-”

The look he gave me under his goggles stopped my protests. Instead I rolled my head, like the words needed to fall out of my mouth. “Promise.” Needles grew in my chest.

Satisfied, Tech nodded his head once in confirmation and then left me alone to finish packing. I took a final look around the quarters. This place served me well for a few days. But now, I looked forward to going home.

Clone Force 99 and I made our way down the star destroyer to the loading bay. Tech peeled away from our group early on to fly the Marauder out of the Negotiator. Clones bustled about performing various duties to keep the ship running smoothly.

As we exited the massive ramp to Coruscant ground, several different ships flew in and out of the destroyer. Tech beat us to the ground, and stood by the now parked Marauder with a satisfied grin. With a final wave goodbye, I headed towards the lone Jedi watching various supplies and clones come and go from his ship.

“Kenobi.” I gave him a curt greeting.

The general nodded at me. “Annie, I trust you are ready for our report?”

What bantha crap.

“Ready as ever.”

“Obi-Wan, Anya, good to see you both back in one piece.” Mace Windu greeted us within the confines of the Jedi council room. Today, unlike the last time I stood in this room, only Mace and Yoda were present. Apparently this debriefing didn’t need the whole of the Jedi council.

“Yes, it is good to be back.” Obi-Wan answered. His voice was steady, but I could feel an air of weariness surrounding the Jedi master.

Yoda looked to me, likely expecting a reply. Or maybe he was just feeling out my emotions. “Clone armor, you wear?” He finally spoke, lifting his wooden cane to my helmet.

I straightened up. The armor had become a second skin, I completely forgot I still had it on. That must have been interesting to see. “Yes.”

“The bounty hunters assumed Anya was on Coruscant since she was last seen here.” Kenobi chimed in, adding to my minimalist explanation. “Keeping her face covered ensured we did not run into bounty hunters while searching for her bounty’s sponsor.”

Yoda and Windu nodded their heads.

“And why did you go investigating Obi-Wan? Why did you take Anya with you when you understood the potential danger?” Mace asked.

This felt less like a debriefing and more like an interrogation.

“I believed that if the mystery behind Anya’s bounty was to be solved, she needed to be involved. Only Anya could understand things from her own life, after all.”

“Solve the mystery, did you?”

“Yes.”

Here it goes. How would the council react to a former Jedi having relations with a clone? Let alone this clone? My gut twisted.

“It was me. I was the reason that Anya was targeted.”

I couldn’t help but quickly glance towards Obi-Wan at the fib.

He continued. “Miyaeli Vekek discovered information that connected Anya and myself. Our missions together back when she was Tali’s padawan, for example.” I kept my chin up as thoughts of our last interaction filled my mind. Such an argument, and yet, he was still covering for me. “Because of this Vekek thought she could use Anya to blackmail me into spying for the Separatists. For obvious reasons, she was the only separatist commander to think this way.” Either Kenobi knew the order would not react well to the truth, or he didn’t know and didn’t want to find out.

Mace exchanged glances with Yoda, but they said nothing while Obi-Wan recounted a very different story than the one we lived. There was no mention of my relationship with Crosshair, of my desire to keep my identity a secret from the clones, and especially nothing about my life draining ability we had discovered on that ruined moon. Eventually we got to the part when he stayed on the Negotiator and I stayed with The Bad Batch.

“I asked to stay with the clones.” It was my turn to tell a story, though this one was more familiar. “Considering the stakes I wanted to be involved. While I may be a little rusty, I was still trained in the ways of the Jedi and had been in combat before.” Yoda nodded his head–something he was doing a lot. Mace stayed quiet, with a hand on his chin.

“So we parted ways and I completed our mission with Clone Force 99.”

“And you killed Vekek?” Mace held his arms, and used the one previously holding his chin to gesture towards me.

My jaw tensed. “Yes. An explosion separated myself, Tech, and Vekek from the others. Vekek got free, likely from the impact damaging her binders, and was strangling Tech when I came to. I was severely injured and my thinking was limited.” Windu furrowed his brows. “So I did what I needed to do.”

“Kill Vekek?” Yoda tilted his head.

Irritation boiled beneath my stomach. If they thought they were clever, that I wouldn’t notice their suspicions–of course not. This was Yoda and Mace Windu. They knew exactly what they were doing and wanted a reaction from me. I was the fool for thinking anything within the order had changed.

“Save Tech.” Finally, I answered, the edge in my voice not lost on the Jedi masters standing around me.

Yoda and Mace exchanged glances before turning their attention back to me. I took the opportunity to glance at Obi-Wan. His expression was stone.

“One last question, we have. Then go, you may.” Yoda broke the silence.

“As we understand it, Anya, you applied to be a civilian soldier to work alongside Clone Force 99?”

That was an interesting choice of words. “Yes.”

“Why?” Yoda asked the final question.

For once in my life, standing in the center of that cursed room, I stood tall and lifted my head in response. “I’m not a Jedi, not any more, but I have strength and power that could help the galaxy. Offering my assistance to a squad of clones that the Republic sends on death missions seems like a good fit for what I can do.” Not to mention my possible death would do nothing to the war effort. But no one would acknowledge that outloud. “If they want it, I’m ready to help them with the full extent of my abilities.”

Once I finished a sense of certainty fell over me. I would use my lightsaber and robes again. I would go on missions with Clone Force 99. I would be a soldier in this terrible war.

Robes shifted beside me, but Yoda and Mace seemed satisfied. They dismissed us, giving me a farewell. The restraint in their goodbye’s told me they did not think this was the last time they would see me–in what circumstances, I could not tell. As we stepped out of the council room and entered the lift, I looked at Obi-Wan.

“You…” No. “That was unexpected.”

He glanced at me. “Do you think so little of me, Annie?”

After a long pause I answered. “What I think of you changes with every interaction, Obi-Wan.”

Blue eyes fell. “We share more similarities than you think.”

I almost laughed, but this wasn’t the time. “That’s hard to believe.” Coruscant’s surface grew closer as the lift plummeted. “You’re a Jedi Master and have a seat on the council. That’s as different from me as you can get.”

“I’m not talking about our status.” His voice was calm, but heavy. “We might have made different choices, but our hearts have something in common.”

My mind rushed back to the Marauder, after our first mission when Kenobi agreed to let me stay with the clones and find my bounty’s sponsor. “You don’t mean Satine?” He only gave in when he figured out Crosshair was my… whatever Crosshair is.

He answered by meeting my helmet’s visor. “Like I said, we made different choices.”

She wasn’t just another fling? The lift came to a stop, but I was glued in place. The Jedi beside me also stood still. Coruscant’s loud symphony called to us through the open lift doors. There was more to say, but neither of us could muster the strength to say it.

“Good luck, Anya.” Kenobi broke the silence and stepped out.

“You too, Obi-Wan.”

Authors end chapter notes:

Well well well, isn't this an interesting development.. Anya's only context for any of Obi-Wan's romantic and/or sexual relationships in the past had all been flings... But now Obi-Wan's alluding that Satine was more. Crosshair is endgame, but do any of you ship her with Tech? They certainly have some good moments together.

Dividers by Djarrex

Tag list: @midnight-sun-0

#The Red Logs: Return to the Temple #star wars fanfic #sw fanfic #sw fanfiction #star wars fanfiction #crosshair x oc #oc x crosshair #crosshair/oc #tbb crosshair #tbb tech #tbb hunter #tbb wrecker #star wars the clone wars #sw the clone wars #star wars prequels #star wars the bad batch #sw tbb #sw tcw

5 notes · View notes

annwayne · 1 year

Text

The Red Logs: Return to the Temple Ch. 15

Chapter 15: The Mess

Last Chapter <- -> Next Chapter

Fem!OC X Crosshair

Word Count: 2225

Fic Summary:

Ao3 Link Here

Warnings apply to whole fic:

Canon typical violence, descriptions of panic attacks, alcohol, swearing, 18+ themes (eventual smut), trauma, religious trauma parallels, mild gore

Authors Note:

Laughing at the title of this chapter. Didn't even see the double meaning when I picked it. Got another chapter finished so another chapter gets published. Even though I had told myself I wouldn't post another chapter till the whole fic was finished, well I didn't expect there to be another chapter to write. So in my defense, I've got yet another chapter to write before the fic is done... Also yeah, there will be a series. This story is no where near done. (Well, this part of the story is near done but-you know what I mean.)

25 BBY. Unrest has sent several Jedi Masters and their Padawans out into the galaxy, but Tali requested we stay on Coruscant. When I asked why, she told me she doesn’t agree with making Jedi into enforcers. But, isn’t that what we’ve always done?

Eventually, I found the mess hall. Bacta always made my stomach flip, but for a place to hunker down away from Kenobi I was willing to stand the stench of what they considered food on these ships. The clones left me alone, though their confusion was tangible through the force. The thought snapped my spine up. I hadn’t noticed emotions so strongly through the force in years. A glance through the clones confirmed that none of them were overtly high emotionally–something that’s easier to detect. Now it was tangible. Almost visible, but not like looking at something with my eyes. More like looking with my mind.

“Annie,” A voice calling out to me pushed away my thoughts. “We’ve been looking all over for you!” Wrecker waved at me as I glanced up from my hands to see four men walking my way. “We stopped by the general’s quarters, but he had no idea where you went.”

“Neither did I.” Irritation crossed my arms and brought a furrow to my brow. But then Wrecker’s expectant look forced a smile on my face. “Am I right to guess that you had a hand in this new look?” With flourish, I stood and gestured towards the new armor on my body.

“Yeah!” Wrecker grinned ear to ear. “If you’re going to be working with us, you shouldn’t look like a reg.”

“Oh?” Behind him I caught Tech’s hazel eyes watching me before flicking back down to his tablet. While the effort was appreciated, I hadn’t told Tech I was completely on board with his plan. He didn’t look back up. “So, Tech told you…?” I slowed my words hoping one of them would fill in the details I was unaware of.

Wrecker sat across from me, while Tech took the seat beside me.“That you asked Obi-Wan for assignments with us more often! In a way, that makes you our Jedi!”

“Not that we need one.” Crosshair sat beside Wrecker, giving his brother a light shove with his elbow in jest.

Hunter sat down beside him, exhaustion clearly written under his eyes. He said nothing, instead opting to shovel mush into his mouth. All the others had a similar tray of food before them.

“Already eat?” Crosshair asked.

I shook my head. “Bacta makes even the most appetizing food unappetizing…” With one hand I waved towards their trays. “That’ll require a stronger stomach.”

“So you came to the mess to sit around?” Again, the gravelly voice questioned me.

Beside me Tech shuffled. Wrecker watched me between bites. Hunter didn’t pay us any attention.

“Wanted to stretch my legs.” My arms crossed as I leaned back on the thin bench that made up the seating at the table. “Don’t usually feel so stiff after a night in the bacta tank.” I rolled my shoulders for emphasis.

The clones exchanged glances.

“What?” I leaned forward and uncrossed my arms.

“You were in the tank for three days.” Beside me, Tech answered with that attentive voice he gets when someone doesn’t know something. “Did General Kenobi not inform you of the complications with your healing?”

“What?” I had rushed off to the refresher for a bath before either the medical droid watching over me or Obi-Wan could get a word in. When I finally got out… “We had other things to discuss.”

“How’d you think we had the time to get your armor painted? Took two days of free time to do it.” Wrecker grinned at their accomplishment. “Another day just for Tech to round up the pieces.”

The lost time started to dawn on me as I recalled my stiff joints and the extra strong scent of bacta. “Complications?” The question was more or less rhetorical, but Tech was at the table.

“You were much worse off than I estimated.” Tech’s eyes avoided my own as a thin frown set on his face. “Due to your lucidness, I thought the injuries did not cut so deep. Looking back, I realize I saw the signs of deep injuries and I dismissed them. Apparently force users have a significantly higher pain tolerance than the other members of their species.”

“Tech.” Thanks to his modifications, there was finally emotion in my altered voice. “You didn’t know.”

He shifted his gaze to his tray. “Yes.”

Before I could try to reassure him further, Crosshair spoke. “Not that it mattered, she’s perfectly fine and got to sleep through half the journey back. Seems like a bonus to me.” He held his spoon out, pointing it at me, but gave a smirk to his brother.

“Some of us like to use our time more productively than just sleeping.” Tech shot an annoyed look at the sniper, but lifted his shoulders from their slouched position.

“Speaking of, commander, now that you’re healed you should join our training.” Hunter finally joined in the conversation. “We only have a few days of travel left, so we’ll have to make the most of it before we land.”

“Wait, you’re not leaving The Negotiator?” The surprise in my voice was not subtle. Each clone gave a shake of their head as I scanned the table for their responses. “That means you’ll be on leave when we get to Coruscant?” Again, I scanned. This time they nodded.

“We usually go on a few missions before going on leave again, but considering the complications of this one Obi-Wan specifically requested we be given time off.”

Helmets were really useful. “Oh, That’s good, that you get a break, I mean.” My eyes drifted with my swirling thoughts till I was looking at nothing in particular. What was that Jedi up to? “When’s training?” I asked, slowly pulling my eyes back into focus as I turned to Hunter.

“In a few hours, when the ship goes on Night Shift.” Hunter answered.

“We like to use the gym when it’s empty.” Wrecker added.

“Two and a quarter hours, to be exact, Annie.”

I nodded my head in response, still mulling over the implications of Obi-Wan giving the batch leave immediately. No chance I’d be able to go home right after we land on Coruscant. The council will likely require a debriefing. That means Crosshair would probably beat me to the bar. I won’t have time to get Stinky, fill in Jayas with whatever lie I’ve yet to come up with and–

“Have you got your room assignment yet?” Tech’s question cut off my spiral of thoughts, though part of me felt he didn’t even notice my change in mood.

“No.” My lips pursed under my helmet. “I left before Obi-Wan could say…”

“No worries, I’ll check the ship’s system.” Tech tapped away on his data pad. “If you’ve got a room assignment, it’ll show up here.” He tilted his screen towards me, showing me a list that looked like a mess of numbers and letters.

“Thanks, Tech.” I slid closer, trying to get a better view of the datapad.

Across from us I could feel someone staring. I glanced up to see a reticle aimed at me. Crosshair had finished his meal and was now sitting with his arms crossed while Wrecker talked to him. He didn’t look away when I caught him staring. Instead, the sniper twirled the toothpick resting between his lips. My head tilted down, an involuntary action as I attempted to guess what the sniper was thinking.

“Deck 3, Room 371.” Tech, once again, snapped my attention.

“Now I just have to find it.”

“Actually, that is why I asked in the first place. Since you are still unfamiliar with The Negotiator, I wanted to offer directions.” Tech swiped his screen, showing me what looked to be blueprints for the star destroyer. They didn’t help with my understanding of the ship.

“Didn’t you need to sync the nav system?” Before I could answer, Crosshair questioned his brother.

Hesitation parted Tech’s lips. “...Well, yes. But that will take me no more than an hour.”

“Tech.” This time Hunter spoke. “Last time you said that we were nearly three hours behind departure. Just enough time to finish before training.” Hunter’s soft expression clashed with his commanding tone.

“Leave the Commander to me, I’ll make sure she gets home in one piece.” Again, Crosshair met my gaze. Despite almost always wearing a glare, this piercing look dug deeper than usual. Movement beside me turned my head. Tech glanced between the toothpick wielding clone and myself. A look of uncertainty furrowed his brows together.

“That’s fine.” I answered in a tone that did nothing to help Tech understand my thoughts. All I could do was hope this was about something other than my identity. Even still, my stomach turned in fear.

With my acceptance, Crosshair stood, carrying his tray to the nearest bin. I followed, leaving Tech to watch us exit the mess. We matched stride in the halls, passing clones and a few droids, until we turned a corner into a less traveled corridor. Only our footsteps and the various sounds of the ship echoed down the long hall. Until, “My brother is off limits.” Crosshair spoke, but kept his head straight forward.

Relief escaped in a sigh. Then the confusion set in. “What?”

“You seem to have left an impression on Tech.” That earned a side glance. “He’s the one who orchestrated your new gear and has been pitching your involvement with our squad since you’ve been in the bacta tank. His attitude about you has significantly changed since your time in the escape pod with him.” There was a hint of accusation in that last sentence.

“Hold on,” I took an extra step forward and turned to face him. My movement forced him to halt, landing him a few centimeters from me. “You haven’t explained what ‘off limits’ is.”

A silver eyebrow shot up and the clone gave me the most confounded expression I had seen on anyone before. “Fucking, Annie. Don’t fuck my brothers, especially Tech.”

My helmet did not help me this time. “No! You think I want? From him?” That earned a frown from Crosshair and glare to match. “He’s not my type?” Unfortunately, my words weren’t muffled by the foot in my mouth.

Crosshair sighed and stepped around me, continuing our path to my quarters. His pace was faster than before. After a moment of internal screaming I chased after him.

“What I mean to say is, while Tech is handsome and most likely perfectly good in bed, I have not thought of him, or Hunter, or Wrecker, in that way.” Now I was the one forced to stop.

Crosshair turned suddenly, staring silently at me. His toothpick twirled slowly.

“What?” The scrutiny of his gaze was wearing through my patience.

“Tech, Hunter, or Wrecker.” Crosshair lifted the toothpick from his lips and pointed it at me. “But you didn’t say anything about me.”

“We weren’t talking about you.” I answered too quickly.

His smirk, that stupid pretty smirk I could get lost in, grew. “Uhu.” He returned the pick to his mouth. “Well, so long there’s no issue.” Crosshair turned on his heels, yet again leaving me behind to silently scream.

“There isn’t!” I called after him.

Luckily our journey was over.

Crosshair stood in the doorway while I entered the small room. It was stuffy, like a rarely used supply closet. My things laid on the bed, evidence that even Obi-Wan had a limit I pushed past. As I zipped open my bag, Crosshair followed me into the room. The slide of automatic doors pulled my head up.

“If you aren’t trying to get in my brother’s bunk,” The sniper cocked his head at me. “Then why’s he taken such an interest in you?”

My eyes returned to the contents of my duffel bag. “Me?” To my surprise my personal datapad had been returned to me. This had to be some kind of breach of security, right? I tucked it to the side. “You’d have to ask him about that.”

“I’m asking you.”

Footsteps neared the bed. My spine crawled. Before Crosshair could reach me, I turned on my heel. “Why? I told you nothing has happened or will happen between Tech and I. What more are you fishing for?” The words came out breathy.

Only a nose from me, Crosshair looked into my visor, seemingly trying to replicate the expression of an emotionless helmet. My question gave him pause. After what felt too long under his reticle, Crosshair spoke. “You’ve worn a bucket the entire mission. At first I thought you were smart; a Jedi wearing head armor for once. But then it didn’t come off in the ship. Or while we trained in the cargo bay. You never took it off.”

Anger and fear welled up in my chest and scratched at my throat. How could one bartender playing spy put me through hell? This wasn’t my life! I shouldn’t be here. I… I answered.

“Don’t ask me to. Not yet.”

Authors end chapter notes:

Is Crosshair being a presumptuous ass thinking Annie is into him? I mean, we know the answer but technically he doesn't. They weren't talking about him!.. right? 😏 Let me know your thoughts if you have any! Thanks for reading :D

Dividers by Djarrex

Tag list: @midnight-sun-01

2 notes · View notes

annwayne · 2 years

Text

The Red Logs: Return to the Temple Ch. 12

Chapter 12: All in Time

Last Chapter <-- -> Next Chapter

Fem!OC X Crosshair

Word Count: 2030

Fic Summary:

Ao3 Link Here

Warnings apply to whole fic:

Canon typical violence, descriptions of panic attacks, alcohol, swearing, 18+ themes (eventual smut), trauma, religious trauma parallels, mild gore

Authors Note:

I am nefarious. Happy New Year yall, have a chapter to celebrate.

27 BBY. After Qui-Gon was murdered by that Sith lord I thought there would never be a Master I could accept. I thought there would never be a Master that would accept me. But Master Tali, she’s alright. She’s not as relaxed as Qui-Gon, but she is kind.

“The Separatists are on the run, General, they’ve entered hyperspace.” Obi-Wan nodded his head as he watched the remaining ships in the Separatist fleet dart out of view. Debris drifted in space, many of the pieces now caught in Rodia’s gravitational pull. “Hyperspace travel will not be possible for at least an hour while the mechanics fix up the ship.” Admiral Yularen’s report glossed over Obi-Wan’s ears as he stared out the viewport. No doubt scavengers will enjoy the scraps.

Before Yularen could repeat himself, Kenobi turned and sighed. “As long as it can be fixed, Admiral. Bring back the fighters, I doubt the Separatist fleet will attempt to surprise us after the damage they took.” Admiral Yularen nodded his head then echoed the orders into the comms. Clone fighters answered, their ships zipping past the Negotiator’s viewport. Obi-Wan felt exhaustion weighing down each step he took towards the holomap. Before Kenobi reached his destination, Cody stepped into the bridge- still fully armored. “What timing, Commander.” A single wave redirected the clone’s path. “I wanted to ask about the status of Clone force 99.”

Cody chuckled to himself as the Jedi called out to him. Yet again the clone had appeared just as Obi-Wan needed him. The rest of the 212th called it Cody’s Kenobi-sense when they thought he wasn’t listening. Once beside his general at the holotable, Cody filled Obi-Wan in. “They found Vekek’s planetside base of operations, but the Separatist commander was not physically there. However, Tech was able to track her location. So it shouldn’t be long till they bring the Seppie in.”

Kenobi nodded his head as he listened to his clone commander. “Where are they now?”

“Ryloth, sir.” Cody watched as the Jedi switched the map to focus on the Twi’lek planet. “These are the coordinates.” He typed the numbers Tech had sent in his last report into the holotable’s system. Once he finished, the map rotated and zoomed in just above the planet’s atmosphere.

“This can’t be right. They aren’t even planetside.”

“Oh, no this is correct sir. Tech reported they planned to board the Separatist command ship where Vekek is hiding.”

“They what? Did they even share a proper plan?” Obi-Wan’s head snapped up from the map. The blue light from the hologram bathed in the worry on his face. The beginnings of dark circles under his eyes were obvious.

Cody’s lips twisted down at the hints of exhaustion. This was a familiar game, one Cody knew how to play well. “Well… It’s a plan.”

Obi-Wan muttered a few swears under his breath, at least one of them Mando’a. A smirk cracked from under Cody’s bucket. “What’s the status of that hyperdrive?” The Jedi deactivated the holomap and rejoined Yularen in the center of the bridge.

“Repairs have just begun, General. Like I said before, at least one hour.” Yularen’s jaw twitched as he held back the urge to upturn his eyebrows. While Obi-Wan liked to think he was more put together than Anakin, Admiral Yularen knew they were equal disasters. He glanced at Cody, silently hoping the clone could convince the Jedi to get some rest.

“Of course… As soon as they are back up, set a course to Ryloth.” Obi-Wan sighed and rubbed where the bridge of his nose met his eyes. Annie was with the clones because he let her go with them. Cody explained the point of Clone Force 99 to him before. They took the missions no one was supposed to come back from. What was he thinking? She had no practical combat experience in war! This was nothing like the ambushes on Tatooine or the Mandalorian terrorists- He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Those memories were best left to lie.

Instead, Obi-Wan realized he heard footsteps. His footsteps. Beside him, Cody walked in sync with the Jedi Master. He recognized the path they were taking.

“Cody.”

“Sir.”

A defeated sigh escaped Obi-Wan’s lips. He knew Cody well enough to know that tone meant he couldn’t charm his way out of this. So while they walked to the general’s quarters, Kenobi started talking. “I’ve been more worried about Annie than I probably should be.”

Cody nodded his head. “So I’ve noticed, but you need sleep, sir.”

“Yes.. there’s no point thinking about past choices.” His wise tone almost returned. But then another heavy sigh left his lips and his voice went back to conversational. “I say that, yet still she manages to sneak back into my mind.”

Cody debated possible responses. He didn’t exactly have the years or experiences that could reflect the Jedi’s struggle. “Time tends to help those things.” So he repeated something he’d seen on a holo once.

Now it was Obi-Wan’s turn to think. They walked long enough without speaking Cody thought the subject had been dropped. But finally the General spoke up.

“Hmm.. You’d think. But I believe time has only made the situation worse.”

“Situation, sir?” The commander turned his head to glance at the man beside him. Interest laced his words.

Another sigh. “Annie and I have…” Silence dragged as the General debated the following words. “An intricate history. Fate, or perhaps even the force, always pushed us back together. Much to our mutual disdain.” He muttered the last sentence.

Under his helmet Cody’s brows furrowed together. “You don’t get along?”

“Now we seem to have an unspoken agreement to stay professional, possibly even friendly, thankfully. But in the old days… She knew exactly how to get under my skin.” Their pace slowed as their path ended in front of Obi-Wan’s quarters. Cody activated the door and walked Obi-Wan into the room, determined to see the Jedi actually get some rest. At this point Obi-Wan waved his hand to try and dismiss Cody, mumbling about making some tea before passing out.

“Sir, a tired General is a General likely to make mistakes. Please, get into your bunk and sleep.”

“Alright Cody, straight to bed. I promise. Now will you leave, or do you plan to watch me undress as well?” Obi-Wan flashed that bastard grin, a little crooked from exhaustion.

The heat on his cheeks made the clone commander glad he was still wearing his helmet. “No sir, I’ll come wake you once we reach Ryloth.” Cody didn’t hear whatever farewell the Jedi bade him. His ears were playing over Obi-Wan’s previous words. He rushed out of the room like a startled loth-cat and only caught his breath once he returned to his own quarters.

“Tech!” Hunter’s voice cut through the blaster fire and metal clangs. “Activating Commando droids isn’t what I asked for!” One of the mentioned droids slammed its vibrosword down against Hunter’s knife. He blocked the weapon with the edge of his own, until Wrecker body slammed the metal body into the nearby wall.

“Clearly, I didn’t mean to activate them!” Tech grunted as he blocked an iron fist with his gauntlets. “Whoever coded the ship’s interface linked together completely random systems!” Another deadly fist missed its target as Tech dived out of the way at the last second. He whipped around in time to blast the droid’s chest plate and head simultaneously.

“There goes our stealth mission…” I mumbled while slicing metal limbs from their body.

Behind me, Crosshair’s rifle rung out as his powerful blaster knocked down enemies with each headshot. “Not very surprising…” His gravelly voice was barely audible over the noise of battle.

“Good! I hate stealth missions!” Wrecker laughed as he smashed the heads of two commando droids together, resulting in a mess of exposed wires and flattened steel. They dropped with a heavy thud, only for two more to take their place.

“As fun as this is, we need to get a move on to the target.” I force pushed the pair approaching Wrecker into the ceiling. Then I dropped my hold on them, letting the massive clone catch their ankles and throw them into a lagging group of droids, just now waking up.

Hunter plunged his vibroknife into the processing center of a commando resulting in a crackling fizzle. “I agree, how about we make fireworks, Tech?”

Wrecker laughed at the code name. “Oh-ohoh, this’ll be good!” He finished off the droid currently fighting him with a drag of his knife through its chest plate.

“You’ll want to turn on your sound dampeners, Annie.” Tech backed up into the center of the room while the batch moved to surround him.

I followed suit, quickly slapping the button on the side of my helmet before slicing a droid barreling towards me in half. As we held off the droids from reaching Tech, the clone rapidly input instructions into his right gauntlet. Then a screeching, high pitched, terrible tone filled the room. Even with the sound dampeners on, I threw my hands to the sides of my helmet and flinched. Every droid in the room, whether they had been activated or not, began sparking blue as the sound eventually popped something within the machines like firecrackers. Wrecker laughed, a fact I only knew from looking at him since he was completely drowned out, while he clapped his hand against his blaster in applause.

Once the final droid broke down, Tech tapped a few buttons to stop the piercing sound. “There, we should be clear now.”

Beside me, I felt Crosshair sighed as he shook his head at Tech’s words. Under his breath he muttered something I couldn’t make out. But Hunter could, and he slapped the back of his brother’s back in response.

“Why not just an EMP, Tech?” My ears were still ringing.

“I don’t want to risk taking out any life systems with a large blast.” His head turned to meet mine. “We’re on a spaceship, Annie.” There was that matter-of-fact tone again. Although this time it was justly dealt out.

Right. I gathered my senses and followed the squad’s path towards steel doors. Before they opened, Hunter addressed us. “Everyone stay alert. If the whole ship hasn’t already been alerted of our presence, they’re about to be.”

He was proven right when the doors swished open to a slew of droids, aimed directly at us. The others immediately dived away from the shots, but I remained front and center with my lightsaber. Bolts reflected off my saber into the droids that sent them my way. Then, I force pushed the first few droids, knocking a patch down as the clones moved forward with my opening. Droid after droid fell as we made our way through the army sent to detain us.

“Tech, take Annie and Cross ahead and get to Vekek before she can escape. Wrecker and I will create a distraction.”

At Hunter’s orders, Tech flipped down his visor and tapped a button on his gauntlet. Once the desired information appeared, he started down the south hallway. Crosshair followed, now switched from systematically shooting down every droid to only taking down the ones directly in his path. As I ran behind them, I heard Wrecker’s voice bellow out followed by metal crashing together. Whatever those two were up to worked, as our path to Vekek’s lab remained fairly empty. We only ran into a few droids, which Tech made quick work of to Crosshair’s dismay.

“I let you take them down.” The sniper shoved his shoulder into Tech. I’d say it was playful, but the amount of force behind that shove made me doubt using that word.

“And my fastest reaction time beating yours in the last sim has nothing to do with it?” Tech’s eyes squinted as a grin grew under his helmet at his question.

“...be the last time…” My ears twitched at the mumbled words that came from Crosshair’s helmet. Before I could say anything, Tech skidded to a halt. We had arrived.

Dividers by Djarrex

#The Red Logs: Return to the Temple #star wars fanfic #crosshair x oc #oc x crosshair #sw tbb #star wars the bad batch #tbb fanfiction #tbb fic #long fic #the clone wars fanfic #tcw fanfic

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annwayne · 2 years

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The Red Logs: Return to the Temple Ch. 11

Chapter 11: Strength

Last Chapter <- -> Next Chapter

Fem!OC X Crosshair

Word Count: 3669

Fic Summary:

There are benefits to owning a clone bar. Underworld lords don’t threaten you to pay for protection. Clones are great company. And the drinks taste great. However, there are also risks to owning a clone bar. Like, for example, becoming the fuck buddy of a special clone task force member so your life gets threatened when a Separatist puts out a bounty for your capture in order to use you as blackmail. Also your sleep schedule get’s wrecked. But Anya Tougt is a little more capable than an average bar owner.

Ao3 Link Here

Warnings apply to whole fic:

Canon typical violence, descriptions of panic attacks, alcohol, swearing, 18+ themes (eventual smut), trauma, religious trauma parallels, mild gore

Authors Note:

I just realized, my word count is likely off because I’ve started including my html coding for when I post to ao3. Opps.

28 BBY. That kid started following me around. Anakin Skywalker. He’s not as bad, once you actually get to know him. Actually, I think we’ll continue to get along fairly well. He was getting a little restless inside the temple today, so I took him out to my favorite dinner. Obi-Wan’s reaction once we returned was better than I expected.

Dry air scraped my throat with each inhale as we ran across the red landscape. With nightfall came a pleasant chill that almost made me shiver. Our footfalls, heavy breathing, and the billowing wind at our backs were the only sounds to disturb the mesa formation. All the sand dancing in the air made me all the more grateful for the helmet that kept my identity a secret.

Hunter and Tech led us, with Wrecker following beside me and Crosshair behind. Despite his many declarations of feeling fine, I noticed Wrecker clench his fists while we ran. If I noticed his discomfort, then the others would have as well. Hunter had said nothing against Wrecker when he suited up for this mission, but somehow that silence said enough.

After several minutes, Tech lifted his hand to indicate we were nearing the coordinates. We gradually slowed our pace until we came to a stop behind a large rock formation. I peaked around the rocks to get a look of the building. Instead I found another mesa with several turret droids perched along its cliff face.

“My scans indicate there are two entrances. One there,” Tech pointed towards the base of the cliff. From my angle I could barely make out massive black doors, hangar doors. “And one up there.” His hand lifted to the flat top where a single lift door jutted out of the ground.

“How many droids?” Hunter kept his eyes on the lights that dotted the cliff.

Tech fiddled with his datapad before answering. “Outside the caves there appears to be ten droids, eight of which are the turrets along the cliff. Inside, however, I cannot yet get a clear scan.” Through yellow tinted lenses, hazel eyes narrowed. “Something is blocking my signal.”

“Only ten droids?” Wrecker let out a boisterous laugh. “The Seps are holding out on us!”

“Yes, well I don’t believe we will be running into many droids, even inside.” Only a nudge from Crosshair snapped Tech’s head up from his data pad. Upon seeing multiple buckets aimed his way, the clone elaborated. “After the destruction of the moon base Dukoo greatly diminished the number of droids assigned under Vekek’s command, I found the order in the files.” He said all matter-of-fact as if the information was well known.

Wrecker let out a low groan. “Aww, this is going to be so boring then.”

“We’re blowing up the whole base!?”

“What about life signs?” Hunter returned the clone’s attention to the mission at hand.

Tech shook his head. “Also unsure, I believe these winds are disrupting my equipment.”

Hunter’s helmet dipped down. Beside me Crosshair looked through his scope. “I could easily take them all out.”

“And alert Vekek to release the Doashim?” I turned my head to look his way.

“Said I could, Commander.” He didn’t even bother looking up from his scope. “But if you have any ideas, please share.” Each word dripped with snark.

Unfortunately, I did. But there was no guarantee that plan would work, so I kept my mouth shut. With my silence as an answer, Hunter began editing the plan he shared with us on the Marauder. Crosshair and I would scale the cliffside while Tech used an EMP blast to temporarily disable the droids outside. Then the others would take the front entrance. With both exits cut off the chances of Vekek escaping would be much slimmer. Once she was in our custody and we were all clear, Wrecker would detonate the bombs he and Hunter would have set while Tech uploaded a virus into the terminals. But that plan had no contingency if Vekek released a modified Doashim. Hell, any Doashim.

There was that itch again, the same itch I felt back in my bar when bounty hunters attacked. This status as a Jedi- no, not the status. My power meant that I could help these clones. Just like I helped on the moon. And that nearly ended in disaster. Then a soft voice I hadn’t heard in years brushed my ears.

Reach out.

Immediately I whipped my head around looking for the source. Crosshair’s helmet turned towards me.

Anya, feel through the force for them.

She spoke again. None of the other clones reacted in any way that indicated they heard the voice. Great. I was hallucinating. Hallucinating my dead Master’s voice, no less. Then the flashes of her guiding hand, those light footfalls that were so easily ignored by those less trained, and that look of determination that swelled in her inky eyes while teaching me came to mind. But, unlike the normal sporadic flashes, these all came from one memory. It wasn’t a hallucination, it was a memory. Instantly the strewn pieces snapped together like a magnetized puzzle.

I knew what I needed to do. Before Tech could finish analyzing the weather- admittedly I had no idea how that related to our plan- I closed my eyes and focused. Almost immediately I was overwhelmed by cosmic power, but a gruff huff and clenched fists steadied me. Reaching out in the force was a messy affair. With so many emotions flowing in I had to narrow my field of view. Master Tali had taught me to shrink my reach, like looking down a scope. So I lifted my hand towards the secret base and envisioned a barrier around it.

“What’s she doing?” Wrecker’s voice created a pocket in my sight.

“Jedi shit.” Crosshair answered.

“And it requires focus, so please.” I hissed through the weight bearing down on my mind. There was movement beside me, but I paid it no mind.

Finally I managed to connect with the life forms inside the caves. “Six.” I gasped as the connection dropped with my arm. “There should be six living things inside that cave. At least, six things big enough that they wouldn’t be a pest.”

From under his goggles I could see Tech furrowed his brows. But Hunter spoke first. “You’re sure?” My breath was still heavy as I lifted a hand into a so-so motion. Hunter’s helmet stayed on us for a moment before turning towards the base.

Goggles bounced as Tech took the pause from his sergeant as a chance to share his thoughts. “My instruments can barely pick up a handful of droids from within the caves,” Oh, I must have missed that development. “Due to all the interference from the wind!” As if to prove his point, a strong gust slapped against our armor. “And you’re saying from a feeling you know how many Doashim are in there?”

My head shook as I attempted to explain. Like they were weighed down, my hands hovered at chest height switching gestures with each answer that came to mind. Out of all the choices, only one was true if I was being honest with myself. “I don’t.” Tech’s shoulders stiffened. “In fact, there’s plenty of reasons my number could be wrong. But an estimate is more than nothing.”

While my words didn’t seem to satisfy the exceptional clone, beeping from his datapad tore his attention away. “Hunter, a large enough squall is coming. They need to move now.” His helmet jerked towards Crosshair and I. Hunter nodded at us. It was time.

Together we sprinted across red earth towards the spotlights of the turret droids. Crosshair kept his pace steady despite the lights fixed a few meters before us. Even with the burn in my lungs and the sense of danger ahead, I matched his stride.

Four meters.

The lights remained steady.

Three.

I clenched my jaw and forced my legs forward. Everything screamed to turn around.

Then, darkness.

That wash of blue light snapped out of existence as a massive blast of wind practically lifted my feet from the ground. Crosshair veered left while I remained on my path towards the right column of droids. We scaled the walls with rushed precision. Blaster fire would be too loud, so instead Tech had given us little chips to place on the droids. Something about making sure our exit would be a quiet one. Once I was close enough, I threw two of the chips onto the backs of the lower set of temporarily deactivated droids. Then, with the aid of the force, I jumped up to the next viable handhold and repeated with the higher pair.

“We’re inside.” Tech’s voice came over the comms. “Just as I saw on the scan, no droids behind the hangar doors.”

That seemed. Odd. Before I could give it more thought, the droids below me began sputtering back to life. A rush of panic spurred my body forward as my gloved hand landed on the clifftop. Burning in my abs slowed my rise until I gained enough height to roll unceremoniously over the clifftop. I threw my arms against the red rock and attempted to catch my breath.

“Impressive display of strength, Commander.”

Crosshair’s voice snapped my body up. With my lungs still burning for air, I opted to throw up a lazy bird his way while rearranging myself to stand. As I dusted the red gravel from my exposed skin, that thought I couldn’t give more attention to before came to mind.

“Hunter, we’ve finished up here.” Static answered my buzz. “Tech, Wrecker, what’s your status?” Again, no response. Crosshair’s confident posture stiffened as he held his rifle at attention. We ran towards the lift. Before we got there I used the force to push the call button. “Did Tech mention our comms would be affected by the winds?” Crosshair answered by shaking his head. Lift doors opened in front of us.

“What are you thinking?” Beside me Crosshair remained still, if a bit stiff. I, however, was a jitterning mess.

“Why would a hangar have no droids guarding it? Even if Dukoo reduced the amount of droids, there should be at least one in that hangar.” Beside me Crosshair raised his rifle as the lift came to a slow stop. I followed suit, pulling out my lightsaber and holding it across my body. Then, gray doors opened.

Metal scaffolding clung on cave walls across from thick horizontal bars that sparked a sickly green. Those bars separated us from five normal Doashim stalking three modified clones. Immediately I closed my saber and lifted both hands towards the predators below. That familiar weight caught my breath as the Doashim slowed their-

“Shit!” A blaster shot threw my shoulder back and dropped my focus.

“No time for Jedi magic,” Crosshair dropped three tan droids. “We’ve got our own problems.”

“Clearly.” I hissed through the dull pain. Any attempt to calm the beasts below needed to wait until the droids were dealt with. Before another bolt could meet its target, I used my saber to deflect the red blast. Reverberating metal announced more droids climbing the steps that led to our position.

My blade sparked as I plunged the plasma through the dark plating of a super battle droid. Next I sliced another gray droid in half and deflected a shot from a lower step. Behind me, Crosshair threw a small reflective disk that landed on a droid in the middle of the next group approaching. One shot later that droid fell to its knees. Another shot reflected off that silver disk and bounced through three more droids, deactivating them all. From our perch by the lift we confirmed the last droids had been dealt with, but Vekek was nowhere to be found.

Below us Hunter was hanging on the back of one Doashim, struggling to bring his vibroblade to the eye of the creature. One of the beasts laid still against the other cave wall, but its shallow breathing twisted my gut. Wrecker managed to grab one by the tail and threw it into another readying to pounce on the strong clone. The stumble caused the pair to fight each other and ignore the clones around them. With the last Doashim, Tech was slowly backing up into a wall while looking up. Right as the creature pounced Tech rolled between its legs and pressed a detonator. A small explosion detached low hanging rocks that landed with a sickly crunch.

These Doashim were about a meter taller than the clones, a massive difference from the monster we fought on the moon. “Damn, that growth serum really did something huh?” I mumbled. Those energy beams would block any blaster fire, so we needed a way to shut down the power. “Crosshair, the control panel.” I gestured towards a silver box attached to an amplifier pylon.

“Wait!” Tech yelled from below. “That’ll open the doors!” Behind him the rubble stirred.

“Tech!” I yelped.

Wrecker dived into his brother, landing them out of the way of a visibly injured Doashim. One arm was completely limp and the side of its head was smashed in, yet it still raced through the cage looking for a fight.

“They are modified, they can’t leave!” Together Tech and Wrecker fired shots at the injured beast. One of Wrecker’s Doashim lifted its head in victory, purple blood covering its jaws. A pair of red eyes landed on the two clones.

A long yell caught my ear as I watched Hunter rocket through the sky, purple liquid covering his gloves. His Doashim was covered in cuts leaking that deep color, but didn’t seem bothered at all. With a terrible thud, Hunter landed against the wall Wrecker and Tech were backing into.

“Their pistols aren’t doing enough.” Metal steps rang out as Crosshair paced the platform. At some point I must have holstered my lightsaber since I felt my empty hands shaking. Those dull thuds stopped and then there was movement beside me. A few objects flung through the air and landed with clinks. “You can control them, right?”

My eyes stayed glued to the approaching Doashim. A few of them snapped warnings at each other, but the one with the purple stained jaw roared for their cooperation. Hunter hadn’t moved since he landed. Wrecker and Tech stood directly in front of him. As if aware of our struggling situation, the previously incapacitated Doashim rose with a shake of its head.

“Annie!” Gray armor stepped into my view. A firm hand gripped my good shoulder and shook me. “Get the Doashim to stop moving, I’ll do the rest.”

I snapped up to his visor. “Four? No I can’t-”

“You did before!” There wasn’t anger in his voice, only urgency.

“Instinct, not-“ My eyes darted back to the group of Doashim, now poised in a terribly familiar position. “Be ready.” I threw both arms up once again. A shot of pain ran through my right arm. But that didn’t matter.

Black covered my vision as I slammed my eyes shut. A rush of anger, pain, and fear threw my head back. Through the mess of emotions I found the four Doashim, more afraid than the clones at their mercy. Calm. My teeth gnash down as I lowered my chin. The only sound was the faint whispering of wind outside. Still. As my thoughts enveloped the Doashim, they turned to look my way. Beside me I felt Crosshair move and then-

Four dull thuds followed a single blaster shot.

Immediately, I dropped to my knees and folded over. My chest heaved as bile threatened to escape my stomach. Another shot brought the sound of fizzing power. I focused on the fading sizzle until nothing remained. Carefully, I brought my knee up to stand. When I lifted my head I was met with a gloved hand.

Crosshair stood silently looking over his shoulder towards his brothers with an extended hand my way. The shake in my limbs encouraged my dominant hand to meet his. With a single pull, he brought me to my feet.

“Good?” Our boots clanked in unison as we walked down steps littered with damaged droid parts.

“Yeah. Just, it was…” My chest tightened. “Intense.” Even though I managed to recover myself, my heart still pounded at a pace that was certainly not normal.

As we landed on red ground, Hunter stepped out from behind a massive terminal and waved us over. There were tables, abandoned equipment, and a mess of neon liquids contained in various glass containers lined up against the cave walls. Two deactivated insect droids laid in a pile together. One sputtered with electricity as Tech messed with its back panel. Hunter stood behind him with crossed arms. Wrecker watched on while leaning against the cave beside the protocol droids.

“Vekek was never here, only her projection.” Hunter shifted his weight as we approached. “After giving us a speech about how we’d die horrible deaths, she deactivated these droids and ended the call. And that’s not all.” We stood around the deactivated droids as Hunter talked. I crooked my head at his words. “She’s Ardennian. Looked like two of her arms were working on something unrelated while typing in commands for the droids.”

“Ardennian?” I mused. Short six limbed sentients that were known in the galaxy for their agility. Not someone you wanted to be caught in a fight against.

“Everything is gone.” Tech’s voice snapped my focus back. “I can’t lift anything from this.” He huffed as he stood to full height and stretched out his back.

“So coming here was useless?” Crosshair turned his head at my words. Normally that was his line.

“Not exactly.” Tech held out a hopeful hand. “Because of the length of her speech I was able to hack the broadcast and trace her location to a ship in orbit above Ryltoh.”

Even still, my helmet dipped. Tech continued, talking about the possibilities of Vekek’s potential actions. Hunter asked a question and Crosshair made a comment, but my attention turned to the clone who had yet to say anything. Wrecker’s relaxed posture was given away by the hand holding his stomach. I circled behind the droids and leaned against my own patch of wall beside him. He towered over me, nearly half a meter taller.

“Did your stitches open?” I spoke in a near whisper, as much as a droid can whisper at least.

“Tech already gave me a shot of bacta, no need to worry about me.” Despite his positive tone, I furrowed my brows and crossed my arms. “What about you?” Two red nines turned to face me. The drippy paint was smudged and darkened from time.

“Just my shoulder, but nothing too bad.”

Beside me the clone shook those nines and turned to face me wholly. His head tilted. “But you collapsed after Crosshair killed those beasties.” Wrecker’s confusion increased his volume. “We all saw.” He gestured towards the others, who were now watching our conversation.

“What we saw was likely Annie experiencing an anxiety attack.” For a second, I worried Tech could see through my helmet, because he stepped forward when my face froze. “Likely related to her success in subduing the Doashim through the force.” He continued as if he was talking battle statistics.

Finally I caught up. “But now I’m fine.” My hands itched to mess with my hair. “So there’s nothing to worry about.”

Tech nodded once. Wrecker shifted, clearly unsatisfied with the end of this topic. Now it was Hunter’s turn to step in. “Wrecker, Cross.” He lifted a guiding hand at his brothers. “Get to planting explosives. There’s still plenty of functional equipment we can prevent the Separatists from collecting when they return here.”

Even the prospect of explosives didn’t fully distract the large clone, but still he stood and clasped his hands together. Crosshair followed behind with long strides

“I’ll bring the Marauder to the top of the mesa, Hunter.” Low thuds followed Tech’s words. My eyes watched as he navigated the messy steps to the lift door. A soft whoosh later he disappeared behind those doors. But my gaze lingered.

Something about Tech felt different. Not that I could even pinpoint it. We didn’t have many interactions since that conversation on the marauder. But the way he stepped in felt-

“I came to while you were, er,” Hunter’s voice snapped my eyes back to him. He waved a hand towards me. “Well, doing whatever you did.”

That earned a buzzing laugh from me. “So you caught the end of the show.”

Hunter’s low laugh joined mine. “Hell of a show. Cody’s job is about to be a lot less stressful with you around.” He crossed his arms and shifted his weight while speaking.

My laugh fell. “Not really.” I lifted a hand to rub the back of my helmet. “Obi-Wan’s not likely to bring me on many missions. This was a,” Through the helmet my drawl sounded like a low buzz. “Unique situation.” Across the cave I watched Crosshair throw bombs that latched onto the celiing with expert precision. At the other side Wrecker threw his explosives into a sporadic pattern.

Hunter’s visor met mine before he lifted his helmet off and held it at his hip. He turned to look at the other’s when he spoke again. “That’s a shame. If anyone will bring an early end to this war, it’ll be the Jedi.”

I couldn’t hold back my scoff. “Don’t tell me you actually believe that bantha crap.”

“Not really,” He turned to face me. “But strength can make the difference between a win and a loss.” A low rumbling turned our attention above us. Hunter whistled to Crosshair and Wrecker, who lightly jogged to the steps that led to the lift doors. He turned, ready to join them, but stopped. “And Jedi have strength.” Then he followed his brothers.

Dividers by Djarrex

#The Red Logs: Return to the Temple #star wars #star wars fanfic #star wars fanfiction #sw tcw fanfic #sw the clone wars fanfic #tbb fanfic #the bad batch fanfiction #crosshair x oc #oc x crosshair #crosshair x fem oc

5 notes · View notes

annwayne · 2 years

Text

The Red Logs: Return to the Temple Ch. 13

Chapter 13:

Last Chapter <- -> Next Chapter

Fem!OC X Crosshair

Word Count: 2437

Fic Summary: Blood

Ao3 Link Here

Warnings apply to whole fic:

Canon typical violence, descriptions of panic attacks, alcohol, swearing, 18+ themes (eventual smut), trauma, religious trauma parallels, mild gore

Authors Note:

Enjoy ;)

26 BBY. Master Tali sent me on my first solo assignment. Tatooine, what a dreary planet. Anakin wasn’t exaggerating when he talked about his home. He asked me to check on his mother for him. Of course I agreed. His Master may drive me up a wall, but Anakin is a friend.

I stepped through the door first, lightsaber ignited and emitting a faint blue glow in the darkness of the room. Tech and Crosshair filed in behind me as I stepped further into the pitch black. My skin crawled with each step deeper into a room that felt too still. When the door closed behind us the only light left was my lightsaber.

“My sensors aren’t picking anything up.” Tech’s voice cut through the inky silence. “There is no one else in here, droid or organic.

Bump

There was that prickling sensation on my skin again. “You sure about that?” Crosshair’s doubts earned a scoff from his brother. Their movement behind me sent a shiver down my neck- but what was causing this constriction in my chest? Our steps slowed.

Bump

“Hmm, this is strange. My night vision will not respond. What about yours, Crosshair?” A grunt answered him, but Tech had already changed his focus. “Annie, why have you stopped? We need to find a control panel to light the room.” Words passed through my ears but I did not pick up their meaning. It was stronger now.

Bump

“We are not alone.”

Immediately searing white burned my vision and several blasters fired off. Plastoid armor clanked and then I felt a strong grip yank me to the ground. When I reached out my fingers felt cold metal. We were behind some kind of wall, and Crosshair’s rifle blasts had joined the noise of battle. While keeping my head low, I looked down at my hands. Or better, where my hands should be. Instead I only saw white. A warmth in my left hand told me I still had my lightsaber.

“Tech, check on her.” Blaster fire accompanied the sniper’s words.

Then Tech moved on my other side. We were sitting slouched against something solid. “Annie,” His voice made my head turn. Only white. “Can you see me?” Something fluttered near my helmet.

“I- No, everything is white.” Once again, Tech shuffled beside me and I felt Crosshair duck behind our cover. Then whatever was above our heads shattered and rained down on us. The sharp pieces stung my exposed skin. “Vekek knew we were coming.” I hissed as I pulled out a shard of glass from my forearm. “Tech needs to upload the virus while Crosshair and I go after her.”

“I believe you experienced the worst of the flash, which means you could be blinded at maximum an hour.” Tech fired off his blasters, followed by two thuds as the droids he hit collapsed. Then his shoulder bumped mine again. “How do you expect to chase down Vekek while still blinded, Annie?”

“We can’t wait an hour.” I hissed. Suddenly, alarm shot up my back and spurred me up with it. Without hesitation, I activated my lightsaber and impaled whatever caused the panic. Crackling fizz confirmed a droid was down, due to my hand. “It’ll be like training as a youngling.” My words were more for myself than the others as I began reflecting bolts I could not see.

“What kind of training makes you blind?” Crosshair’s voice came from my side, he must have stood up.

“Lightsaber training.” Before either clone could further object I stepped through the shattered screen and closed my eyes. Everything was white anyways. I had hesitations using the force after leaving the order. But some skills were impossible to drop. They became second nature, and occasionally, I even forgot the force was behind them.

Bolts bounced off my saber as I stepped forward. Plastoid footsteps and shifts in the room’s stale air alerted me to Crosshair and Tech’s movements. Metal clanks and droid vocalizations gave me a clear picture of the obstacles we needed to remove. As a unit we moved, droid after droid fell easily to the clones’ blaster fire and my lightsaber strikes. I sliced my lightsaber forward, cutting horizontally through an enemy in my path. Then I plunged my saber overhead into more metal that fizzed. Blaster fire slowed, eventually ending with Crosshair’s Firepuncher ringing out as the final shot.

Immediately Tech rushed. “Uploading the virus now, looks like the system still has all of the research, but she could have made copies. ..What is..” He grumbled to himself until a spark and pop announced wires were pulled from their sockets. "..Kriffing interference..."

A presence approached my side. Quietly, while Tech went on about Vekek’s security system, Crosshair asked, “Vision back yet?”

Hesitantly, I opened my eyes and blinked rapidly at the change in my sight. Crosshair became a fuzzy outline I could barely squint at. Not to mention all the spots covering my eyes. “Ugh- if you can call this vision..” A throbbing headache slammed against my skull.

He nodded his head before turning to look Tech’s way. “Room’s empty. She slipped out, but not through the door we came through.” Crosshair scanned the room while holding his rifle near his chest.

“That’s impossible, the schematics showed that door was the only entrance to the laboratory.” Now on his knees, Tech studied the underside of the terminal.

A fuzzy arm pointed towards something on the back wall. “Schematics include any of those?”

Tech hissed as a spark of electricity popped at his hands. Then, he turned his gaze to follow Crosshair’s hand. “Vekek has the advantage in tight spaces. Perhaps we should attempt to cut her off at the escape pods?”

“No.” I spoke sharply. We were close. She was close. “That leaves too much up to chance. Finish here, then meet up with Hunter and Wrecker.” If Tech had any objections, he didn’t air them. Then I turned towards the sniper. “Come on Cross, we can’t let her get away.” My legs moved before my words were finished.

Behind me, Crosshair remained unmoving, helmet trained slightly down as if he were in deep thought. Right before I called out to him again, his head snapped up at the sound of me prying off the grate covering the access port. In seconds he was at my side. Another steadying breath and I stepped through the threshold.

Exposed wires and tubes snaked the low ceiling, forcing me to duck down occasionally. Crosshair didn’t have that luxury. Instead, the tall clone was forced to stay hunched over to avoid hitting the mess above us. Rows and rows of hallways stretched on what felt like kilometers.

By now my vision was much less blurry but still full of spots. We kept close together, silent, and listened for the sounds of movement. This was a horrible place to get caught in a fight, especially against an Ardennian.

Clatter drew my gaze to the left, down another thin shaft. That was a mistake. With a thud, our target dropped down from the pipes and swung something heavy into the back of my helmet. Immediately those spots turned into stars. Searing pain rolled my head and I hissed. When I regained sense of location, I whipped around only to meet air. Crosshair backed up to me, watching the tubes above us with this rifle scope.

Taunting laughter echoed down the shafts. Crosshair tilted his helmet down a path, then urged me towards another. Too many horor-holos told me splitting up in an environment like this was a bad move. But I trusted his judgment.

Every time the Ardennian moved through the pipes lining the ceiling I could hear rustling that was softer than the clatter that led me to this growing headache. My lightsaber hummed and a blue glow mixed with the red lights dotting the tight corridors.

Then, clatter. I followed it down an eastern path, but this time I was prepared. As the small scientist jumped down behind me I stepped around her, leaving the metal pipe aimed for my head to clang against the floor.

"Oh, this one is clever." She shot me a toothy grin as I gripped my lightsaber tightly. "But not clever enough."

Red shot from a blaster I hadn't seen. Searing heat forced my lightsaber to the ground. With a clunk the laser sword closed and rolled down the corridor. I glanced back to see the pipe raised and aimed at my shins.

If I dodged in here I'd land on my side.

Any other quick movement might get me tangled in low hanging wires.

Instead I threw out my arm towards the rolling lightsaber and braced myself.

Time was out.

A blast echoed through the halls and ended in a thump. Crosshair stood where my lightsaber- now back in my outstretched hand- had rolled to. Vekek was unconscious from the stun blast and slumped on the ground. I stood, using the thick wires as support against my back.

“Thanks.” Relief slowed my breath as Crosshair stepped into the hallway. Horror-holos be damned, splitting up was the right idea.

“No problem.” He grunted in reply, focused on binding the four arms behind Vekek’s back. “Hit her with a low stun, but it’ll be a few minutes before she wakes up.”

I nodded my head once and tapped the com on my helmet to let Hunter know of our progress. “Alright,” He huffed, breathing heavily. “Meet us in the main corridor, then we’re gone.” I picked up the unconscious Ardennian and nodded towards Cross.

We sprinted through the ship, coming across no droids as we met up with the others. An eerie tightness squeezed my chest as we started running towards the Marauder’s location. Everything was going well. Even in my bar I knew that was a bad sign.

That’s when the ship started to shake. Blasts, likely from another cruiser, caused the floor beneath us to tremble. I stumbled, nearly falling on my face.

“Woah, who’s shooting at us?” Wrecker questioned.

“Didn’t think Kenobi would be here already.” I answered.

“Didn’t think he’d fire while we’re still on board.” Crosshair pointed out.

I hadn’t thought of that.

“No, actually,” Tech fiddled with his datapad as he ran up to be beside me, showing me the information on it’s screen. It meant nothing to me. “That is Admiral Trench, firing on his own command ship.”

“What? Why’s-”

And then a blast.

Loud.

Ringing.

And pain.

Where was the pain? Haze clouded my eyes and a crack ran down my right eye. Barely, I could make out one of the brothers across from me. Something hot was digging into my neck. Yells joined the noise of creaking metal. Something of a conversation, though I couldn’t tell if it was one sided. I tried to turn, to look towards those voices but gray metal met my eyes instead. Moving hurt. And I was so tired. I just needed…

A gasp tore through my body and I felt death’s door knocking against my skull. But a garbled voice forced my feet up. Cackling turned my head. Through the crack in my vision I saw Vekek’s small body atop Tech, his helmet thrown off and blood staining his armor.

Her hands were around his neck.

That garble quieted.

Her hands were killing Tech.

Killing.

Tech.

Another scream joined the clatter and I was closer, somehow. Rage and terror filled my pounding head as I stumbled towards the pair.

My lightsaber activated.

/ activated my lightsaber.

And that buzzing blue light, somehow, slid through the small Ardennian’s chest. All grip in her hands lost. She slumped forward.

I fell on my ass.

Tech coughed, sitting up too quickly for someone who nearly died, and checked on me. “Annie, oh my maker..” His voice was miles away, yet still clear. “You’ve lost a lot of blood.”

That made sense.

I sat up, also too quick, my head spun but I grit my teeth and stumbled anyway. “We gotta go, this ship is falling apart.” Some semblance of awareness returned to me as I looked around us, noticing the straining metal and thuds of ion blasts growing as whatever was left of the shields was failing.

Either my words or the rapid blaring alarm convinced Tech. He slid under my arm and stood fully, helping me like a crutch as we ran towards the nearest escape pod. Droids, functioning and not, were everywhere. But they didn’t pay much attention to us. Their high pitched voices cried out about death and their circuits. We slipped into one of the few remaining pods and launched, being hurtled into space away from the action.

“Do you think they made it?” I hissed at the return of pain pounding against my skull. They had to have made it… All of this was-

“Yes, I believe so.” Tech sighed, pushing his goggles up to rub the skin under. His helmet had been left behind. “Now,” He said after a pause. “I need to stop that bleeding.” Then, he reached for my helmet.

“Woah!” I blocked him, throwing my arms up, but searing pain forced them down with a yelp. Tech's eyes widened but he made no move for me. His gaze pushed me against the back of the tight pod as much as I could. “Don’t. Touch my helmet.” Knifes plunged behind my skull. Another groan escaped me.

Irritation crossed Tech’s face. “We do not know how long it will take the others to find us. As I said before, you have lost a lot of blood and will continue to do so if I do not patch you up.”

My cheeks flexed as I grit down my molars. Now that the adrenaline was dying, I was paying for my injuries. And yet. “You can’t.” My lips trembled as the voice modulator died, leaving only my real, human, voice to speak. Tears threatened at the edges of my eyes, but a tightness in my throat threatened more. “I can’t.”

Slowly, carefully, Tech shuffled over to me. The clone made sure to broadcast all of his movements before making them, it was like I was some wild animal. Maybe I was. Eventually he was sitting right beside me. Our thigh armor clanked against the other. With that same intense care, he twisted so as to face me. I had never seen such a look from him before. Those dark eyes were heavy with concern and knowledge, the kind of look that reminded me of Qui-Gon. My eyebrows furrowed. One of his hands raised to cup the side of my helmet, my cheek if it were bare.

“Anya.”

My name, my real name.

“I know.”

#the bad batch fanfic #tbb fanfic #star wars fanfic #sw tbb fanfic #sw tbb #star wars #the bad batch #crosshair x oc #oc x crosshair #crosshair tbb #clone trooper crosshair

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annwayne · 2 years

Text

Beauty and Espionage

ColdWar!AU OneShot

Fem!OC X Crosshair

Word Count: 4686

AO3 Link

AU Summary:

Rather than resort to war, the Republic recognized the Separatists as their own governing body. A tense relationship developed between the two governments. War is a very possible outcome. Currently, however, all efforts are focused on intelligence gathering and building their respective armies. The Republic fills their ranks with the human clones of Jango Fett and the Separatist use droids. Palpatine just doesn’t exist in this AU. He’s too meddling.

Fic Summary:

The Festival of Light celebration on Naboo has sent invites to Republic and Separatist figures alike. Clone Force 99 is part of the security detail keeping the event safe. One guest catches Crosshair’s eyes and the pair clash.

Warnings:

EXPLICIT 18+ ONLY. Fingering, Oral (F receiving), penetration, pet names, edging, overstimulation (F receiving), light enemies to lovers vibe? Enemies to fucking at least.

Authors Notes: This was tons of fun to write. First time in a long time writing anything spicy so hope its decent. Please give a like if you enjoyed it! Makes my day. Also! I used 0:17 - 0:30ish for reference for the dance!

Violin strings guided a sea of dancing couples through delicate steps on marble floors. Gold light bathed luxurious senators and gorgeous socialites gossiping below. Wines flowed freely as servants tended to the elite’s every need. This was Naboo, a planet famous for their rich art and philosophers. Consequently, Senator Amidala was famous for encouraging mingling between Republic and Separatist alike. This made the Festival of Light a breeding ground for the biggest game in the galaxy: espionage.

As one of the many Jedi who left the Order of the Republic to join Dooku in the Separatist Order, Anya Togut was invited to this momentous occasion. She milled through the crowded ballroom with determined grace. Emerald silk clung to her curves just like the gazes of those she passed. Here, beauty was superficial and Anya knew it. In espionage clothing and makeup were deadly weapons.

Two floors above the dancing, a lean clone with sharp features watched that green streak. A toothpick hung lazily between his lips. He was dressed in a solid black tux, just like the rest of the security detail. The current queen had insisted the clones go without their armor to make the guests feel more at ease.

“Everything’s clear in this sector,” His sergeant’s low voice announced over the comms. “Cross, what are you watching so intently?” Across the open ballroom Hunter met the sniper’s eyes. His hands gripped the railing tightly. Hunter never enjoyed these fancy events, but General Skywalker had requested Clone Force 99 personally for this assignment.

That toothpick rolled. “One of the potential troublemakers Senator Organa requested we keep a close watch on. She’s been moving all night.”

Next Tech’s voice joined the chatter. “Ah, yes Anya Tougt. She was part of the group of Jedi who joined the Separatists.”

“Jedi, huh?” Crosshair thought to himself. He had never seen a Jedi dress like that before. Maybe he would run into her.

Back on the dance floor, Anya just barely escaped the company of Rush Clovis. He was a handsome but arrogant man and consequently drove anyone who spent too much time with him up a wall. But as a Republic Senator, he was an easy target. She didn’t even have to flirt with him for information. After offering him a drink he spilled secrets that were meant to impress a young woman into sleeping with him. It was rather pathetic, she thought.

She weaved her way out of the ballroom to the lifts. Only a handful of people explored the rooftop balcony in comparison to the crowds below. Anya took the moment to enjoy the natural beauty and cool breeze of Naboo. Dazzling lights burst in loud explosions above. Lanterns and candles dotted the serene palace. Before she could truly relax, a feeling she had noticed all night returned. Someone was watching her.

Hazel eyes lingered on Anya’s back before Crosshair stepped into the game. Like a predator, he walked with purpose and poise. His prey kept her back to him. Surely a Jedi would sense his approach? Finally, he closed the distance and leaned against the same railing she gripped.

“I’m flattered by all the attention, really, but clones are a little too stiff for my tastes.” She threw him a sly smile covered in dark red lipstick.

Crosshair narrowed his eyes at her. He was wrong. No, she wasn’t prey. This was another predator. “Oh doll, you’d be missing one hell of dance.” His response earned a full turn of her head. She studied him with a suspicious, but entertained expression. From his comms, Crosshair heard an array of groans and complaints.

After a moment, Anya laughed. “For once, I actually believe you, clone.” Now she faced him in full. There was no shame in her eyes as they devoured his lean figure. “What is your name?” Then she added, “And not that number the Kaminoans assigned you.”

A smirk grew on the sniper’s lips. “Crosshair.” He rolled the toothpick in his mouth. “And you are?” If he didn’t ask she might get spooked.

“Anya Tougt, pleasure to meet you Crosshair.” She lifted her gloved hand, something he had watched her do many times that night.

He took the offered hand and lifted it gently to his lips. “The pleasure is all mine, Miss Tougt.” His eyes flicked up from her hand as he spoke between the kiss. As he released her hand they maintained eye contact.

“Crosshair, do I need to remind you we are here as security, not to mingle.” Tech’s irritated voice interrupted.

“Well, are you going to ask?” Anya raised one eyebrow. “I mean, you did mention it first.” A devilish grin grew behind innocent eyes.

“Yes of course,” He was answering two voices right now. “Wouldn’t want to waste a wonderful night.” Crosshair half-stepped closer to the Jedi and offered his hand. “Would you like to dance, Miss Tougt?” Now it was her turn to accept his hand.

His grip was firm as he led them to the smaller dance floor further down the rooftop. Here the music was soft in comparison to the enclosed symphony a few floors below them. Fireworks added short bursts of colored light against the dim yellow lanterns strung above their heads. The cool air sent goosebumps down Anya’s back when Crosshair placed a hand there. At least, that’s what she told herself.

Together they moved in sync with the strings. Black shoes stepped between silver heels and green silk swept the floor. Crosshair kept his firm grip as he guided Anya through the elegant dance. He pulled their hips together as they stepped in rhythm to the music. She followed his silent instructions exactly. At a swell in the music he lifted her hand and she spun. When both of his hands clasped her bare back she answered by lifting a leg behind her. Then Crosshair’s hands pulled her by the waist into another spin that sent her forward from him. Before she stepped too far, he caught her by the arms and pulled her back into his chest. Anya lifted her leg again and took that momentum to slide down his body. With her arms still in his hands he guided her movement till she was standing back up and facing him. They exchanged impressed smiles as the sniper crossed their arms and they mirrored each other's movements. As the music started to slow he returned them to a simple waltz.

Once the strings fell silent, Crosshair dropped his hands from Anya’s body. She kept an entertained expression before finally giving in to the curiosity. “Where did a clone learn how to dance like that?” The game was starting to get fun.

Crosshair led her off the dance floor. “Here and there. Soldiers without a war have a lot of extra time on their hands.”

Anya parted her lips and almost said something. Her eyes grew conflicted while she scanned the clone’s rather unique face. Then those eyes settled on sadness. “Yes,” She finally spoke. “I enjoyed the dance, Crosshair.” They reached the doors to the lifts. “Something tells me I’ll see you around.”

Back in her assigned room, Anya sighed as she tore her heels off and landed onto the massive bed. Tonight had flown by as a whirlwind of gossiping, flirting, and dancing. But one face, one voice, lingered in her mind. Crosshair had left an impression. Not only was he one of the very clones the Separatists had fought tooth and nail to prevent from being produced back when they were still part of the Republic, but he was the most entertaining person Anya had spoken with the whole night. A tiny part of her was glad the Republic went through with the clone production despite the Separatists leaving because of that choice. Creating men to serve as military and police forces around the galaxy seemed barbaric. But he wasn’t.

She glanced at the time before letting out a huff. The festivities would last another day, but she planned to leave before sunrise. Dukoo would be proud of the intelligence she gathered. While some resources would need to be expended to confirm the newest military information she got from Clovis, the clones were much more interesting. Not only was the Republic willing to create clones, they were willing to modify them. Once her mind returned to the present, Anya stood and stretched. She might as well make the best out of this luxurious room and refresher.

In the main entrance of the palace, Clone Force 99 got to work. They just got word, the Royal Jewelry was gone. One dead clone, no traces of breaking and entering, and no alarms tripped. Hunter began dealing out orders when a thought occurred to Crosshair.

“Hunter, You said that the security lasers were too tight to dodge?” His sergeant nodded. “But what about the jewelry itself?”

Tech scrunched his eyebrows together. “Are you suggesting the jewelry floated through the lasers by itself?”

“Not by itself.” Crosshair took off. Over the comms he heard Hunter’s moment of realization.

“Tech, how many Jedi or known force users are in attendance?”

A moment of quiet passed as Tech scrolled through the invitation list. “26 in total, however 25 of them are part of the Republic Order. Only one Separatist Jedi.” Crosshair stopped listening. He didn’t need more information. He knew exactly where to go. Turns out his time spent watching Anya was about to pay off.

His steps slowed as he reached her door. The sniper listened carefully for any sounds. After hearing nothing but the hum of electricity he tried the door. Locked. But that meant nothing. He pulled out the security card given to him and the rest of his squad at the beginning of the event. With a wave against the sensors, the door opened.

He stepped into a dark room. A few pieces of luggage sat beside the wardrobe and the bed was disturbed. Otherwise, the room showed no sign of life. Now was his chance. Crosshair began opening luggage, searching drawers, and even under the bed for the jewelry. It was while his head was looking under that bed he heard a door open.

Immediately the clone shot up and was greeted by a short scream. By the refresher door, Anya stood with dripping hair and only a fluffy towel to protect her modesty. “Who!” She slammed the bedroom lights on. “Crosshair? This is really not what I meant when I said I’d see you around.”

Crosshair folded his arms but his eyes dragged up her body. “Where are they?”

Anya was used to men staring at her like they wanted to eat her. Anya was used to being seen in revealing clothing. But Anya was not used to the way this clone devoured her while wearing only a towel. “What are you talking about?” She furrowed her brows together.

A cruel chuckle left his lips. “Playing dumb? I expected better, doll.” Crosshair stepped forward. “But I’ll play along. Might even be fun.” Anya took only a half-step back when she bumped against the refresher door. “The Royal Jewelry is missing and one clone dead. So answer me, where are they?” Each step forward was a threat.

Her heart raced as his long legs moved towards her. “I don’t know.” She answered quickly. Somehow, Anya managed to scrape together the last bits of dignity and pride she had under that gaze and stood up straighter. “But that you would come in here, uninvited, and accusing me of stealing,” She hissed the words as he closed in on her. “Is something Padmé would find abhorrent.” Now he stood directly in front of her. Their eyes locked.

Crosshair drew a long breath in before leaning forward. “The Senator ordered this search.” He lied. “This is the last time I’ll ask nicely, doll.” His lips hovered just above her skin.

Anya’s neck crawled as his breath hit her skin. She clenched her teeth together and narrowed her eyes. “I. Don’t. Know.”

With that, Crosshair pulled Anya by her arm and tossed her onto the bed. She landed with a bounce and barely held the towel in place. Her heart raced as she watched him tap his ear twice. Now that he was muted, Crosshair spoke. “So,” The clone practically growled. “You won’t mind if I do a search?”

This was research. Yes, research about a genetically modified clone. That knowledge was worth any cost. Especially if the cost was crawling onto the bed fully prepared to ravage her. “Not at all.” She threw a seductive grin his way. “But I hope you won’t be disappointed when your search comes up empty.”

With a snarl, Crosshair tore the towel from her body and fully exposed her. He made sure to take his time studying her body. Long enough that she began to writhe from his intense gaze. She bit her lip to hold back her thoughts, but that action only broadcasted them to the marksman. His gravel like chuckles sent chills down her spine. “Lost all your bite, doll?” Then he finally leaned down to meet her lips.

Finally, she felt his lips against hers. They crashed together moving only with lust. Anya drew in his bottom lip between her teeth and bit down gently. Crosshair groaned in response and threw a hand up to her jaw. “What?” She teased as he leaned her head back, giving him more access to her neck. “Just showing you I still have my bite.”

A gasp escaped her lips as he bit down where her neck met shoulder. When he finally let up he licked the spot gently before moving away. “As long as you don’t mind mine.” He returned his lips to hers and again they battled for dominance. Their tongues danced while his hands slid up her waist to cup her breast. She squeaked through the raging kisses when he slid a thumb over her pink bud. “Oh?” He came up and left her lips wanting. “Miss Tougt, are you sensitive?”

“What?” It was her turn to growl. Now both hands groped her tits and she couldn’t stay still. “This is normal, absolutely, completely-” Her voice shook as Crosshair closed his lips around one nipple. His eyes locked on hers and she moaned in response. “May. Be.” A hitched breath interrupted the word. With his mouth still attached, his laughter sent bursts of pleasure straight to her wet cunt.

After what felt too long, he broke away with a pop that sent another sting of heat to Anya’s nethers. “So you can tell the truth.” He didn’t ask. She watched with a glare as he traveled down her stomach, along her hips, and hovered between her legs. “What do Separatists want with Royal Jewelry?”

While he mixed kisses with bites along her thighs she answered. “Nothing. I didn’t steal anything, let alone the queen’s pearls.” He responded with a deep bite, sure to leave a mark. Another moan fell from her lips. “What makes you so sure I have anything to do with this?” She propped herself up on one elbow and met his hazel gaze.

Instead of answering, Crosshair threw her legs up over his shoulders. Anya fell back against the bed with the thud, then gasped. She felt his tongue lap up the length of her cunt. His fingers spread her lips open further so his tongue had even more direct access. Her hands flew to her mouth to suppress the mewls and moans she couldn’t hold back. Hearing those muffled noises only drove Crosshair more mad with lust. Hungry to hear more, he sucked on her clit and slipped a finger into her opening. Then he pumped his finger at a steady pace in and out while her walls contracted around him.

Anya couldn’t hold back any longer. Her legs tensed around his head as her orgasm approached. The blaze between her legs needed relief. “Oh, yes right there, Cross!” She squealed.

Immediately Crosshair tore himself away and dropped her legs. Those hazel eyes glinted in amusement. “Only good girls get to come.”

“You know, I could hand your ass to you at any moment. Maybe don’t test the Jedi Knight?” Anya snapped. She was keenly aware of how her legs were spread open and that man was looming between them.

He just laughed and ran a hand through his gray hair. “Yet you haven’t, doll.” In a flash Crosshair was back on top of her and nibbling her ear. “In fact,” His teeth grazed against her lobe. “I don’t think you will at any point tonight no matter how much I tease you.”

A red blush burst across her cheeks at his words. That damn voice could melt her if he said just the right thing. “Careful, Crosshair.” If only her face matched that icy tone. “My patience can only last so long.”

He grabbed her chin once again and lifted her head up into a deep kiss. His face was still wet from her juices and the flavor overpowered her senses. Crosshair invaded her mouth, making sure she tasted plenty of herself. In his arms, Anya writhed and moaned at her own taste. Crosshair chuckled at how easily she became a mess under him. “Anywhere else, that would be a legitimate threat. But here, you’re just asking for a punishment, doll.”

Anya stifled a moan by biting her lower lip. She wasn’t ready to give in completely. Through half-lidded eyes, the Jedi dared Crosshair. “You know, eating me out is sure a hell of a way to search for those missing jewels.” A proud smirk decorated her words.

Instead of a growl, hungry bites, or even choking for her insolence, Crosshair rose up from the bed slowly and wiped his mouth with a thumb. “How kind of you to remind me.” The devil grinned. He stood and resumed his search from before Anya exited the refresher.

A spark of panic shot the young woman straight up. “What?” Her eyes were glued to the lean clone, now tearing through her luggage. She squeezed her legs together looking for any kind of sensation to satisfy her.

The sniper said nothing as he paused from his search long enough to meet her gaze. His eyes flicked up at her and she saw the rules. Make me return. She had to earn his attention back after that last swipe.

For a moment, Crosshair wondered if the Jedi understood what his glance meant. Then he heard movement. Propped up by the many pillows that dotted the Naboo bed, Anya snaked a hand down to her pussy and brought the other to her mouth. The erection in his pants twitched at the sight of her sucking her fingers while the other hand teased her clit.

With his eyes on her, and only her, Anya rolled her tongue between two spread fingers. At her cunt she slid her fingers in circles over her clit. Quickly, muffled moans leaked through the digits in her mouth.

This was a sight Crosshair never wanted to forget. For once, he wished he carried around his datapad like Tech always did. From his spot by the wardrobe he stripped off his suit coat and threw his shirt to the ground. Next he pulled his belt free. Anya’s eyes grew wide in anticipation as she watched the clone kick off his slacks. Like it was a gift, Crosshair teasingly pulled the waistband of his briefs down until finally, his cock sprang out and he was fully nude.

She expected him to rejoin her on the bed. Instead Crosshair began pumping his cock while watching her work. The sight of his hunger for her while jerking off filled the Jedi with a surge of pleasure. Messy moans filled the room. Anya wanted to throw her head back and let go. But that ravenous gaze chained her in place. Crosshair let low moans and grunts fall from his lips as he rolled his hand up and down the length of his shaft. Eventually the attention was too much. “Crosshair, please.” She whimpered.

That was enough. The clone practically tackled her as he jumped onto the bed. Below them pillows slipped over the sides. “Say it.” He growled as he caught her hands and threw them above her head. Under him she writhed.

The words caught in her throat. Deep red covered her cheeks and crawled to her ears. “I want-” A hand teasing her clit spurred her words out. “Iwantyourcock, Crosshair.” She glanced up at him tentatively. The rose in her cheeks showed no sign of fading.

“Adorable, mesh'la.” Crosshair lifted her chin and planted a soft kiss on her forehead. “And honest.” He teased his cock against her lower lips until her whines filled the room. Slowly, he pushed into her wet hole. Together they moaned as their bodies adjusted to each other. Anya getting used to his size and Crosshair getting used to her tight grip.

“Oh, fuck.” Anya moaned as he thrusted in and out at a terribly slow pace. Eager for more, she rolled her hips against him. Occasionally through the mess of pleasure she timed her thrust in sync with Crosshair’s and elicited a moan from them both as he pushed deeper into her.

Once his pace started to speed up he removed his hand from pinning hers down. Crosshair straightened his back up and pulled Anya by the legs towards him. She yelped at the sudden change in position. Then, he lifted her legs up. “Do you like how I fuck you, Anya?” Hearing her name from his voice caused the Jedi to clench down on his cock. “Oh, kriff.” He growled.

Between moans and squeals of pleasure, Anya answered. “Fuck, yes!” With each slam into her she felt him reach spots no one else has ever reached. And it felt good. “More, please I need more!”

At her request Crosshair hooked his arms around her legs then dropped down. With her practically folded in half, he pounded into her. Wild growls in her ear caused Anya to clench down repeatedly. Her grunts became low and loud as he hit a deep spot of pleasure over and over again.

“Cross, I’m going to- Ah -You’re going to make me come!” Anya gripped the sheets behind her head to ground herself through the incoming crash.

“Go ahead, doll. Come on my cock.”

His voice, his permission, sent the final wave of pleasure into a crash of spasms. Her walls clenched down and her muscles tensed under him as moans that bordered on screams told Crosshair how good he was. Then she began twitching from his continued thrusting. “Wait, Cross I need-” Breathy words barely escaped her lips.

“No, you’ll keep going, Anya.” Crosshair growled in her ear before straightening back up. He dropped one of her legs and used his free hand to tease her clit with quick, deliberate, circles. His grin grew as the Jedi under him thrashed from the intense sensations.

Anya was trapped in a cycle of pleasure just like massive waves that repeatedly crashed into a cliff’s edge. As the breaks between those crashes shortened she began begging for release. “Please, please Cross it’s too much.” Her grip on the bed sheets began tearing the thin fabric. “It’s too good I can’t-”

Crosshair interrupted. “Do you want me to cum inside you?” That look on his face was enough to slam her into another climax.

“Y-ees!” She screamed.

He returned to hovering over her with only one leg wrapped around his arm. The hand at her clit stayed as his thrusts slammed their bodies together. They were a wild mess desperately moving towards their climaxes. Crosshair felt his approach right before Anya spoke up again.

“Cum in me, now!” She demanded as her last orgasm ripped through her.

That pushed the clone over the edge. Crosshair bit down on Anya’s shoulder as he spasmed. Long shots of seed pumped out of his cock and made a mess of her. Against her skin he growled and grunted as her walls contracted around him. Delightful squeals slipped from the Jedi’s lips.

Eventually, Crosshair slowed to a stop. When he released his jaw he left behind deep indents and kiss on Anya’s skin. For a moment, the clone rested his head in the crook of her neck. From under him he felt her chest rise and fall with each deep breath. As caught his own, the clone propped himself back up with his forearms. Their eyes met and Anya caught herself humming at the comfortable bliss.

“You’re practically purring. Should I have been calling you kitten this whole time?” Despite his teasing there was a hint of honey in his voice.

“Mmn,” Anya bit her lip. “You do that and I’ll want another round.” She looked up at him through lashes with a mischievous smirk. Then she stretched her neck up to close the distance between their faces.

“Oh really?” Crosshair’s lips brushed hers. “That didn’t tire you out, Miss Togut?”

Anya smirked against those velvet lips. “Jedi.” She said as if the single word explained everything.

Before their lips could battle once again, vigorous knocks at the door surprised them. The startle forced her walls to contract one last time. This caused Crosshair to pull out, which earned low moans from both parties.

“Who could…?” Anya mumbled as she stumbled out of bed, her legs a little more shaky than she realized. She snatched the discarded towel and wrapped herself up again. Meanwhile, Crosshair rolled out of the bed and made sure to stay out of the door’s line of sight as he slid his briefs back on.

“Yes?” Two clones stood side-by-side at her door, though they shared a trait with Crosshair; they looked different. “Oh, clones, what can I do for you?”

“We’re looking for Crosshair. His comms died and his last known location was here.” Hunter’s gaze fell to the marks on Anya’s shoulders. If he couldn’t already smell it, those hickeys answered his question.

Anya’s breath hitched as she caught those hazel eyes studying her exposed skin. Dank ferrik, she forgot about the bite marks. “I must have missed him.” She smiled sweetly at the pair of clones before her. “But if he comes around I'll be sure to let him know you’re looking for him.” A little too quickly, she reached for the button to close the door.

Hunter threw his arm in front of the sensors before the door could close, forcing it to freeze halfway. “Let him know to report at the entrance at 0300. We found the thief.” Then, before Anya could retort or affirm anything, he stepped back and the door resumed closing.

Before it closed completely, Tech shot his head up from his datapad. “Wait, Hunter what do you- Crosshair!”

In the hall, Hunter pulled Tech away. “Later, Tech.”

Back in the suite Anya sat at the foot of the bed. “That was?” She didn’t need to finish her question.

“My sergeant, Hunter, and squadmate, Tech.” Crosshair sat down beside her. A new toothpick rolled in his mouth. Did he grab that from his suit coat?

“And how did Hunter know you were here?”

That earned a chuckle from the sniper. “You’d be mortified if I told you.” Then Crosshair pushed Anya down and hovered over her. “But you’ll have to try harder than that for information, doll.” His toothpick hung lazily against his lips.

A knowing smirk grew on the Jedi’s face. “I’d be disappointed if I didn’t.” She snapped her neck up and stole the toothpick from his mouth.

Surprise parted the marksman’s lips and made his eyes wide, but only for a moment. Then desire colored hazel eyes and a growl threw his lips to her neck. “Jedi or not, I’ll wear you out before 0300 comes around.”

Dividers by Djarrex

#sw tbb #sw clone wars #star wars the clone wars #the bad batch #the bad batch fanfiction #star wars au #ColdWar!AU #oneshot #smut #tbb hunter #tbb crosshair #tbb tech #tbb smut #crosshair x oc #jedi oc #smut fanfiction

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