I still don't own Star Wars.
Something was wrong with Echo, and it started on Ryloth.
The 501st legion had been pulled from Ryloth about a week after Echo's disaster with the tactical droid, meaning that for a week Echo had been very distant.
That wasn't like Fives' closest brother, and he was determined to figure out what had changed in Echo since the "incident".
Alone in his quarters onboard the Resolute, Fives examined what he knew. Echo had been sent with a small team through a rocky area on Ryloth's eastern continent to sack a small seperatist listening post that was safeguarding secret intel regarding Wat Tambor's whereabouts.
Due to the lack of C.I.S. activity in the rocky area, Echo's squad had been traveling on the main road. Along the way, a landmine had gone off, killing most of the squad and throwing Echo off a small cliff. Echo had been knocked unconcious on impact, but awoke a few minutes later.
Due to the lack of time remaining before the Intel was moved, Echo had pressed forward and completed the objective, securing the intel.
So what was the problem? Was the bookish Arc Trooper upset about leaving the squad behind? Fives would have to get more details on the squad's condition from Kix later, but he seemed to remember two out of ten troopers surviving the blast.
Fives sighed and rubbed his temples, before hopping down from his bunk and putting on his helmet. He would just go to Echo and solve it that way. He would be less crude this time though. Last time he had tried to ask Echo, a few days ago, the Arc had simply walked away and locked himself in the 'fresher, causing a scene abd making Hardcase blow up the door.
As he walked away from the officer's barracks, he turned on the recording he took of Echo when he first got to the village.
It played by for a few minutes before the recording stopped. Then Fives replayed it. This time around, he noticed something he didn't before. Echo was crying.
That in itself was a problem, as clones didn't cry. This had to be a first, right?
Fives was so caught up in the recording, he didn't notice the other clones in his way until it was too late.
Fives bumped into a group of clones, stumbling backwards and falling over. Fives groaned and switched off his HUD, standing up to see Rex, Denal, and Kix.
Denal burst out laughing, while Kix snickered behind him and Rex offered him a hand up. "You alright, vod?" Rex asked.
"Yeah," Fives muttered, taking the Captain's hand and hoisting himself up. "Just... distracted."
Rex gave him a small smirk that only he could do, before waving to his party and moving on down the hall. "Echo's in the armory, try and fix him!" Fives grinned for the first time in a week. "I'll try!" with a new sense of motivation, Fives took off at full speed towards the armory.
He just hoped Hardcase wasn't there with his heavy canon again.