Many thanks for the warm welcome back and the comments on Chapter 45. I was at the Lucasfilm screening of "Bad Batch"on Friday night, which was followed by Q&A with Dave Filoni and Dee Bradley Baker. Very touching to hear Dave talk about his relationship with George Lucas and how much this show has meant to him. I think we can all relate. This show has meant a great deal to all of us. It was an emotional night. Clone Wars was saved because the fans loved the show so much. You. Me. All of us.

Chapter 46
Echo Returns

"How are you feeling Echo?" Fives asked. "It's not much further to the barracks."

"Quit asking. I said I'm fine. Tell him, Kix. I'm alright now."

Kix didn't reply. He was multitasking as he walked, staring down at his datapad, and only looking up occasionally to make sure he didn't run into a civvie.

Sly peered over at Kix's screen. "We're going to need blood work on you."

"Whatever was going on in my head is resolved," Echo said, his voice making it clear the topic was not up for discussion. "Hopefully, my kit is somewhere around the barracks-"

"I have your kit," Fives interjected, sounded slightly offended at the implication he'd let anything happen to the kit. "But, you're not going to need it. The Phase II is being distributed today."

"Finally! We need these upgrades. From what I heard from those beta-testing it on Kamino, the new kits have distress beacons, commlinks which are scrambled so the tinnies can't listen in, and improved survival packs. Better microfiber lines, too. Harder to cut."

"Could've used that distress beacon when we were looking all over fekkin' Darkknell for you," Fives grumbled.

Kix looked up from his datapad. "Could use that feature on every clone kit. Every clone trooper has value."

Sly made a dismissive wave of his hand. "Fekkin' politicians. Probably pinching creds. Only put the feature in the upper-end suits."

Echo changed the topic. "Anyway, we have a lot to do with getting our armor today, so while I appreciate all you've done, I don't have time for whatever you've got going on there."

"Echo," Kix said, using the same medic-in-charge voice he did when he'd rallied everyone in the medbay aboard the pirate raider, "you were exposed to a pathogen of unknown origin in a Separatist lab. We can't ignore that like it didn't happen, even if you did wake up for reasons we can't explain."

"I woke up because I'm better. Certify me fit so I can get back to duty."

"I can't do that. You're conveniently glossing over the parts you want to forget."

"Which parts?"

"You survived and recovered with an anomaly in your head which killed other clones."

"The others had brain injuries. I was shot and stabbed and ended up with an unexplained virus. But, all that is gone now."

"Why?"

"Why what?" Echo snapped back, tired of the conversation.

"Why a virus? Why did it attack that thing in your head? And, then suddenly clear up? So, why are you different?"

"I don't know!"

"And, that's why we need blood work."

Sly had been silent this whole time, staring off into the distance thoughtfully. "Can I see your research, Kix?"

They were approaching the barracks and running out of time to discuss this matter in the relative privacy and anonymity of a crowded street.

Sly started quickly going through the data, swiping through screen after screen. "As we saw from Echo's scans, his immune system attacked this anomaly just like antigens are meant to do. But, what if there was specifically designed to target that anomaly? You said these Kaz'harians were high-level scientists and the whole place was filled with labs."

"Yes, we blew them up so they couldn't run any more experiments."

"Echo, describe again how you stumbled into one of these-"

They were out of time. Waiting for them at the door of the barracks was Commander Appo.

"Oh, fek," Fives hissed.

Appo strode up to meet them before they'd even fully breached the gates of the complex. He addressed Fives directly. "Do one of you want to explain why I was called out of training to deal with one security incident, possibly more, involving 501st troopers matching your description?"

"Eh, I can explain, sir," Fives said, stepping in front of Sly, to keep him out of the conversation.

Out of the corner of his eyes, the ARC noticed Echo was in a borrowed medic's uniform of all fekkin' things so he shifted his body to block him, too. Oh no.

His mind went blank.

Before Fives could begin to stammer out a story Appo would doubtlessly find unconvincing, Sly slipped out from behind him. "There was a mix-up with the authorization for ARC Trooper's Echo secondary scans. An automated system triggered the security alert."

Kix jumped in. "I thought that was resolved, trooper, when we did Echo's flimsiwork."

"According to ArmyMed," Appo said, his voice betraying his skepticism, "Echo was not released." He pulled a datapad from his belt. "I received notice he was to be transferred and sent on Kamino pending further evaluation of his fitness for duty. This order was dated 20 hours ago."

He wielded the incriminating datapad like a vibroblade. It looked like any other order. So cold. So clinical. Fives was stunned speechless, finding himself staring blankly at Appo as a feeling of confused horror churned in his stomach. Was Appo truly so fekkin' clueless that he didn't realize he was holding Echo's death warrant? Or did he somehow fail to care? How had this di'kut been made a commander?

"Again, a flimsi mixup," Sly cut in deftly, "Evaluations on Kamino are reserved only for severe cases. In the past 20 hours, ARC Trooper's Echo condition has improved so rapidly, those orders were no longer appropriate. We are taking him up to the ship for his Medical, Physical and Performance Evals so he can be posted back to duty. All reports will be sent to you ASAP."

"Who are you?" Appo asked suspiciously, stepping closer to studying the unfamiliar trooper.

"CT-9020, Medic Specialist Sly, reassigned to the 501st today. My flimsiwork should be catching up shortly."

"I was unaware we were getting any new personnel," Appo said.

"GAR General Orders Republic Senate Chapter IV, Article 25, subsection 29. When a deploying Legion is heading in an active warzone, the number of combat medics shall not fall beneath one per forty troop-"

"Don't quote regs to me," Appo hissed. "Alright then." He shook his head in frustration and waved his hand to indicate the three of them should follow him into the barracks. "Why they called me out of training aboard the Resolute to dealing with a simple fekkin' flimsi mixup is behind me," Appo muttered, as they passed through the large entryway into the barracks. There was no one guarding the doors.

The barracks were curiously silent, devoid of troopers, and their voices echoed as they walked down the hallway.

"Quite right, sir," Kix said, falling into stride walking next to him and lending a sympathetic ear to his frustrations. "Perhaps Captain Rex should have to deal with these low-level matters. He is your XO, after all."

Appo cast a suspicious look at Kix, but after a lengthy pause, the idea some consideration. "Yes, I suppose he is."

"It would free you up to deal with the higher-level matters," Kix said, warming up to the topic. "Rex is best suited for dealing with day-to-day trooper matters. You should be handling the command decisions."

Appo considered this a moment and nodded. "Yes, that's good thinking, I'll bring it up with him." He gave Kix a considering nod. "You may have the makings of an officer yourself one day."

The medic pretended to sound flattered. "Me? Thank you, sir. I couldn't see myself leading troopers. I think I should probably leave that sort of thing to you and the Captain. But, thank you for the vote of confidence."

Appo gave a dismissive wave of his hand as if the idea was already forgotten, then. "The quartermasters and droids are still here coordinating inventorying the supplies going up to the ship. I believe all of your new kit is still here. with the rest of the supplies. Not sure the Legion armorer is still here-"

"We'll figure it out," Echo said eagerly, cutting him off. "I know the features they were planning for both the ARC and regular variants."

Appo shot him an annoyed look at the interruption.

Fives nodded. "Thank you, sir. We'll be fine. We've got, Echo."

Appo shook his head as if annoyed with the whole lot of them and he wanted to be done with the conversation. "Retrieve your gear and catch a ride on one of the cargo shuttles topside. I'll expect you to report in ASAP. And, I need all of these completed clearances forms by 1600." He pointed to Echo. "Your forms." And he pointed to Sly. "And, your forms."

"Of course, sir, I'll deliver everything, it in person, if need be," Sly said, spine straight, giving a curt nod. "We'll be topside shortly, sir."

Appo 'hmmped' under his breath and disappeared up the nearest stairwell to the landing pad.

Fives palmed open the doorway to the nearest empty barracks room and indicated the others should join him inside. He tossed his bucket onto a nearby bunk and jammed a hand through his hair.

"Feeek," he said, hissing out a long breath.

"Whew, you said it," Sly agreed. "Command clones are all a bunch of-"

Echo shook his head. "Not Captain Rex. He's different."

Kix redirected the conversation to practical matters. "I hate to point out the obvious, but how are we going to produce transfer documents for Sly?"

"Hack the system," Sly and Fives both said at the same time. Fives' voice was the slightly deeper tone of an older clone and spoke of experience, while Sly's clone accent had Coruscanti undertones and was faster with a younger clone's enthusiasm. But, there was no denying the similarity in their way of thinking.

The two clones looked at each other.

Kix threw up a hand, wanting no part of it. "Fine, I'll leave you both to get started on your future court-martials, then. Come on Echo, if this place is like all the others, there's a micro-medbay here, squeezed in somewhere down there," he made a vague gesture down the corridor, "between the mess and the large weapons' stowage. Let's figure out what is going with you."

"Nothing is going on with me."

Echo knew he was losing with this argument, but he wanted all of this to be over so he could go back to the way things were. He wanted life to go back to the way things had been before Darkknell.

"Mmmmm…" Kix made a thoughtful noise again under his breath.

"I don't like it when you make that sound," Echo grumbled. "It never bodes well."

"Echo, you were in an enemy lab and exposed to a substance of unknown origin which had an effect on your brain which we can't begin to explain-"

"Fine. Stop. Alright. Let's get this done."

Kix gave the ARC an exasperated look. "Normally you are the first to be curious about such things."

And, fek it all. Kix was right. About so much of it. Echo had been exposed to something in the lab. It was starting to come back to him. The microsecond before he'd been stabbed by the Kaz'harian. When his hand had smashed into the pile of glass vials, he'd seen the screens behind it indicating the data feeds of what the scientists had been working on. He'd blocked it out and hadn't wanted to think about it.

He didn't want his brain to be fekked up and scrambled after all he'd been through. He wanted to get back to fighting in the 501st with Fives.

He took a deep breath as he walked down the hallway next to Kix and closed his eyes for a moment. Maybe he could pretend none of this happened, and nothing would show up on his bloodwork.

Kix wasn't fooled. "Is there something you're not telling me, Echo?"

"What? No." Echo looked to the end of the long corridor to where there was a flurry of activity with R2 droids and crates, redirecting the conversation. "A clone trooper is nothing without his armor."

"Ah, but an ARC in his ARC armor, that's another thing entirely," Fives said coming up behind them. His voice was light, showing he was in good spirits.

Kix startled at the voice. "Fek, are you done already?"

Fives held up the 'pad showing a copy of the orders. "Echo, congratulations. You have been cleared from ArmyMed."

"Fek," Echo heaved out a sigh of relief, "thank you, Fives." He took the pad and studied it as they walked. "This is good work."

Fives beamed. He handed it over to Kix.

Kix nodded. "It is almost frightening how good you are at this."

Fives chuckled, pleased at the praise.

"Where's Sly?" Kix asked.

"Finishing up his transfer papers."

"Here," Sly came up quickly from behind them, jogging down the corridor in his haste to join them. "Had to make sure I had everything correct."

"I told you it was right," Fives said.

"Still," Sly said. "No harm in double and triple-checking."

"He's afraid of that civvie, Valo."

"You never met her," Sly said, "It is her name we seem to keep forging on creds."

He handed the 'pad over to Fives to check his work. The ARC scanned everything over carefully and then nodded. He handed it back. "Transmit it over to Appo." He turned his attention to Echo. "Alright, so on to your bloodwork-"

Echo shook his head. "No, you and Sly, go on ahead. Have the quartermaster start pulling our kit. We're short on time."

Fives cast him a look. Sly hesitated, as well, clearly torn between the temptation of getting a proper set of armor and staying behind to help with the bloodwork.

"Go on, Sly," Echo said, "we'll have you looking like a proper trooper in no time."

Sly couldn't resist.

"Alright," he responded, "we'll find your kit, Echo."

Fives and Sly moved off down the corridor. Echo heaved out a sigh of relief. Nothing was going to be like it was before Darkknell.

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A/N: The difference in the clone voices between Fives and Sly is inspired by something Dee Bradley Baker said on Friday night when he was describing how he created the voices for the Bad Batch. (As I'm sure you all know, Dee is responsible for the voices of all of the clones.) He brings all of the characters to life and thinks about the characters and who they are as people when creating their voices. His voice brought the clones alive for us for all of these years. Dee was kind enough to sign the inside of my clone bucket on Friday night.

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Revision history:

Revised this on 3/3/20 to add in a line where Kix grumbles about the regular clone suits not have the integrated distress suit beacon. It was hard to find anything online which detailed the exact upgrades of the Phase II ARC kits versus regular kits. I could only find a few entries that outlined a few features and I incorporated these into the chapter. Note: In legends, Kix goes missing without a trace. So, savvy readers will catch the line where Kix is grumbling about regular clones not having integrated distress beacons. (This story is original, obviously, and does not follow legends canon.)