Echo was sitting lonely at table somewhere in a mess hall. He wasn't really eating anything or something like that, like you would normally do in a mess hall. He just sat there, on that table, trying to figure out was he should do.
Many people would probably think figuring that out was an easy thing that didn't require much. But being in statis for months didn't help the already confused Echo. He sat there for hours on end, watching brothers come and disappear.
It didn't make anything better that basically everyone he'd known and everyone he knew weren't here. Rex, away on some mission, probably, not that Echo was sure anywhere Rex went these days. General Skywalker was probably on some mission too. He wondered if the jedi even got any free-time, not that the clones had much either. And with Rex and General Skywalker, it was almost certain that General Kenobi, and then with him, Commander Cody, were. At least they were alive, and safe, right now. Or so he hoped.
So much had happened during the time he was captured by the separatist. Ahsoka Tano, had left the jedi order. Echo didn't know when and why, but he didn't want to ask any of the generals, knowing it would upset them. And before that, Umbara, Rex had told him about it. Before well, telling him about the chip. He wasn't prepared for it, it felt like if a big, heavy stone had been dropped on him. Rex stopped right after telling him that, as if it had felt like that for him too. But Fives was my squad-mate.
Echo stopped thinking about it, he didn't want to think about Fives, it still hurt him. He could hear footsteps coming from behind, but assumed the person wasn't walking towards him. "A little lonely.. eh?" A voice behind him said. Echo almost jumped out of his seat. "Um.. I.. I guess so." He said, feeling awkward. "So, um? Why are you here?" He added in a question. It was a brother, he could hear it. "You just looked lonely. Better help someone than not right?"
"I'm Jesse, by the way. What's your name?" Jesse, it sounded familiar. He looked like a five oh first trooper anyway, based on the colors of his armor. "Echo. CT-1409." He just needed to say his number, he wasn't sure why. "The arc trooper?" He, no Jesse, sounded a bit surprised, Echo hadn't known that many people knew about him. "Yep."
After few minutes or so, Echo had already told Jesse about himself and vise versa. He was apparently - confirming Echo's suspicion - a member of the five oh first, torrent company to be exact, and a newly appointed arc trooper. And he'd been one of the troopers that survived Umbara.
"So..." He wasn't sure what to say ."How was it on Umbara? How bad was it?" Echo blurted out, he hadn't meant meant to ask him, he was just so curious.
A standard hour or so had passed, and Jesse had told him basically everything, from them landing on the planet to when Dogma, a five oh first trooper, had shot general Krell. Jesse looked over at him. "How well did you know Fives?"
Echo stared down at the floor. "He was my squad-mate..." He said, resisting to cry. "And he died without knowing I was alive." Tears ran down his cheeks, he couldn't hold it back. He could hear Jesse whispering he was sorry. But Jesse hadn't done anything wrong, he had.
"Hey, I know how it feels like. I've lost so many people. Like Hardcase, you know, on Umbara.. Or Kix, he disappeared a few weeks ago, I'm not sure if he's dead or not. And Tup, he was a lot like you actually, before, well, that virus. I'm here if you need me okay?" Jesse took a deep breath. Echo nodded as he walked away.
Maybe Echo still was confused, but now he had a smile on his face.