'"Wait who are we going after?"
"Senator Voe Atell, apparently she has been causing too much trouble for our employer so they want her captured and taken in."
"Who even is that," Dagger asked.
"I don't ask questions as long as we get paid. Our employer gets commissions from across the galaxy and we go where they send us," Azariah said, hardly looking up.
"Should be a pretty easy snatch and grab," Jask pointed out. He stood over a holo table that was projecting schematics they had been given. It looked like a regular sized house in the middle of the forest on Boonda's Moon.
"She is on vacation and will only have minimal security with her. We hike in, eliminate the security, grab her and then get picked up in the Hippo."
"And here I thought I was the one making the plans," Azariah grumbled.
"Aside from the obvious question of why we are capturing a Separatist Senator. What do you need from us?" Rex asked, always practical and trying to get things moving. It was hard for him to step back and not be the one making the plans, or at least helping with the planning.
It was always so straightforward as Captain of the 501st. He was able to use those around him to help and back him up. Even when he went on smaller missions before he usually had the Jedi with him. He took a deep breath, the Jedi were not here now, just get the job done.
"I'll get the plan finished up and then you both can look it over and determine which weapons and gear would be best suited for it. We have almost everything we could ever want but our problem usually lies in overpacking," Azariah explained.
"Do you have the details of the security team that will be protecting the Senator?" Rex asked.
"Yeah, like I said this looks like it is going to be a pretty easy mission. Probably won't even have a near death experience this time," Jask said with a glint in his eyes that did not make Rex comfortable in the slightest.
Dagger and Rex shared a quick look of panic before he spoke up again, "Do those happen often?"
"It's no fun if no one gets roughed up in the process."
"Raybin!" Neems squeaked in admonishment, "No, it doesn't happen every time but it does happen more than I would like. Don't worry we have only had one person on the team die."
Somehow that didn't help Dagger relax until she remembered that she was the one to kill the team member that they lost. So really she was the one who had made the team lose that streak of no one dying. If that was a good thing or not she really couldn't tell. But she ended up hesitantly nodding in agreement.
They were already on their way to Boonda's Moon, which was only a short Hyper-jump away from Nal-Hutta. Dagger had no idea why a Senator from the Separatists would choose a moon with a Hutt droid factory on it for a vacation spot but she supposed that most of the pretty worlds, like Naboo, were under Republic protection. So that wouldn't leave all that many places for Senators to go.
Honestly, she was just glad that they had accidentally slept through the meeting on Nal Hutta when no one had bothered to tell them what time they needed to wake up or woken them up. They likely wouldn't have been allowed to meet with the employer anyway and she did not want to go onto that swamp of a planet. Dagger was eager to get off the ship and get to work, just not there.
She made her way back to the cabin she shared with Rex and started to put on her armor to pass the time while the other crew members planned the mission. She would have a chance to give her input later, which in itself was odd. She never got the opportunity to comment on plans in the GAR.
Granted, she was still pretty shiny in the unit and wasn't even trained for command, it made sense that they wouldn't have asked her opinion. It was interesting that she would have a chance to voice her thoughts about the mission but on the flip side it was the first time she didn't trust the people planning the mission.
In the GAR it was always the Jedi and Captain Rex making the plans, she trusted them wholeheartedly to make the right decision and that they would find the best way to complete the mission. It wasn't her job to make the plans, it was her job to make sure that the plans worked.
She lifted her cuirass over her head and went to adjust the front straps when there was a light touch on her shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Rex behind her, after the touch warning her that he was there he reached for the back straps and tightened them down so the armor laid in place properly.
After he finished with the back straps, he gently nudged her arm up and out of the way to secure the strap that spanned across her ribs under the arm. She stayed still as he worked, unwilling to get in his way. It was nice to have the help.
"So I was thinking," he started and she turned her head to look at him as much as she could while keeping her body still.
"Jesse and Hardcase are applying for ARC training. I was thinking that maybe you should go too, or at least apply."
She blinked for a second, "ARC training? Me?"
"Yeah, I mean why not? You are a great soldier, Fives and Echo loved ARC training and are some of the top performing soldiers in the unit. Then you could even be sent on special missions, be able to do things that other troopers can't."
"I was never scouted for ARC when I was in training," she said, unsure of how she felt about the whole thing. Everyone wanted to be an ARC, they were some of the most badass clones aside from full blown Commandos, but she had never even thought about the possibility of becoming one.
"You get scouted based on performance during group scenarios. The trainers do it then so that they don't have to look at every trainee individually. I doubt they would have even known about you, but I think that you would make an excellent fit and I would give my recommendation for the application," Rex inisited as he moved to the other side to tighten that strap.
"I- I guess I never really thought about ARC as a possibility. I just- with my defect I don't think I would be what the GAR wants in an ARC," she admitted.
"It's your decision at the end of the day, but I think that the GAR and Torrent would be lucky to have a soldier like you as an ARC trooper," he paused for a second as he moved around to stand in front of her.
He knocked his knuckles against her left shoulder, "I mean picture it, you would have the pauldron and kama. Pretty badass if you ask me."
She smiled up at him and the happiness caught him off guard for a second, he really wasn't used to seeing her expressions. She laughed lightly, "You just want to have matching armor with me."
He snorted, "I just don't want to only match with Echo and Fives anymore. But I am serious, I think you would be a good fit for ARC training."
"Thank you Rex, after this mission I will think about it. Assuming all goes well, I can fill out the application and submit it to command," she said looking up at him with a smile.
He had to resist the urge to ruffle the hair on top of her head, it looked just long enough to run his fingers through even though the sides were still neatly shaved down. Instead he settled for a hand on her shoulder and a matching smile, "That sounds good."
He turned and walked away, back out towards the common room. He paused when she called after him, "You know Rex if you wanted to match we could always just get matching tattoos, you don't have to send me off to the ARCs for that."
He rolled his eyes as she giggled behind him and continued on his way. He knew that he wouldn't be able to hide his smile if he turned around, so he didn't. He also knew that she was joking but he couldn't help but think about it, he had never gotten a tattoo before. It wasn't that he was against them, but he had just never found something important enough that he wanted it permanently on his body.
He knew the thought would reside in the back of his head for the rest of the day. He knew that he would be thinking about different tattoos that he would get or ones that Dagger would want. He let out a soft snort of laughter, matching tattoos, what a thought.
Luckily enough he was distracted almost immediately as he came back into the common room. Jask looked up as soon as he walked in and threw a hand up in greeting, "Rex! Perfect timing, we just finished with the plan."
He heard Dagger's footsteps as she entered the room behind him and asked, "So what do we have?"
Azariah pulled up a holomap of the surface of Boonda's moon, "Senator is holding up here in this cabin, it appears to be miles away from any settlement, they get supplies and food shipped in to the landing pad here."
As she spoke she pointed to various places on the map, "The Senator's ship is stored under the landing pad here and needs at least ten minutes to be up and running before take off. However, the onboard security is a lot tighter than anything else in the cabin. If she gets spooked she is going to run to the ship. Our top priority is to cut off access to that ship so she can't get to it."
Rex and Dagger followed along as she continued to talk, "The guards should be easy to take out and then she will be left unguarded."
"How much are we supposed to care about damaging property or the guards?" Dagger asked, Rex gave her a glance out of the corner of his eye but waited for the response.
"Not my property, doesn't matter what happens to that, but our employer specifically requested that the Senator be brought in alive."
"And the guards?"
"Didn't care, said to get the job done and bring in the Senator," Azariah answered.
Rex thought for a moment, "Well if we are going with stealth we should disable the ship first. If it has an external port that leads back to the engine we can drop in a small charge and it wouldn't take much to disable the ship. That way even if the Seppie is able to get inside she can't go anywhere."
Jask chuckled at the name Rex picked for the Senator, but didn't comment. Dagger continued on after Rex finished, "Also the option for weapons is wider because we wouldn't have to choose ones that have been modified for stun. Unless you would rather using stunners to avoid killing the Senator on accident."
"What, you don't think we would be able to avoid killing just one lady?" Raybin asked, looking slightly offended.
"Things happened and one of you did just say that there is a near death experience almost every mission. Just saying it might be better safe than sorry. Alive can always be changed," Dagger reasoned, "Dead? Not so much."
Raybin chuckled good naturedly, "I like your logic."
She smiled back, "Thanks big guy. So I think stunners would be a good idea. If we had a better idea of what you all have we can see what we should bring. We only have so much in the way of weapons."
"What did y'all pack light?" Azariah asked.
"Not much need for a ton of supplies when you are working freelance," Rex explained, "Any specialty equipment was supplied by the people we worked for."
"Specialty equipment?" Jask asked.
Dagger let out a huff of air, "Can we get back on topic please? We should really look at your armory. I shouldn't take more than one or two blasters each. It doesn't look like any backup would be able to arrive in time to actually be of help. Also the terrain seems pretty easy so we won't need anything for that."
Raybin stood from the table and Neems hopped up from the booth as well now that they had been freed from the inside seat. Then they trailed off to somewhere else in the ship. The Devaronain beckoned her to follow in the opposite direction, "Come on then. We have plenty of supplies in our armory for you to play with little Mandalorian."
Dagger bounced slightly at the prospect of new weapons and Rex had to restrain the smile that tried to force its way onto his face at her antics as she closely followed Raybin. Dutifully, he trailed along behind the pair.
They made their way around the circular hallway and entered the next room to the side of the living room dining room combo that they had just been in. Raybin pressed his thumb to the screen next to the door and it slid open with a slight chirp. The room wasn't much bigger than what Dagger imagined most closets were. There was room for two people to stand comfortably inside but the three of them made it with only a little bit of squeeze.
She was glad that the door stayed open as she entered the small room. The left wall was lined with rifles and blasters all hung on secure hooks that clasped to be sure that they didn't shift or fall due to turbulence while flying. The back wall had different explosives like grenades, blasting jelly, and detonator cords. Then the wall on the right had miscellaneous weapons and helpful items, there were knives and all sorts of things. In one spot there was even a chainsaw, Dagger did not want to ask why they had that.
Rex put a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her so he could move past and get to the back wall. She sidestepped and let him through, Raybin stayed quiet and let them look around at all of the weapons. Rex surveyed the explosives and picked a small grenade for the ship, he grabbed a few for backups and turned to the Devaronian.
"We both have blasters that we can use, Dagger is good with her sniper rifle and can use that to pick off some of the guards from afar. I think that short range blasters like this one and these two would be good to bring for when we break the cabin and encounter any remaining guards," Rex reasoned.
Raybin didn't question it at all but pulled the three blasters off of the wall and handed them to Rex and Dagger to hold. Then he bent down and pulled the matching ammunition batteries out of the storage drawers below.
"Anything else?"
"Aside from armor and personal gear? No, can't really think of anything else we would need. A heavy repeating blaster seems like overkill for an assignment like this."
"Aye Aye Captain," Raybin said with a chuckle, Rex looked away at the title. He was supposed to be a deserter of the Army. There was no pride in that, no pride in being called a title that he was said to have abandoned.
Raybin didn't notice, or at least didn't comment on it as he ushered them all out of the storage room. On his way out he grabbed one more blaster on the wall. No, not a blaster, it was a slug thrower. Dagger wondered why he grabbed that ancient thing but didn't say anything as he grabbed the matching magazine and a box of ammunition.
They made their way back out to the common room. Jask seemed to be waiting patiently. And apparently patient meant flicking the ends of Azariah's montrails until she ended up swatting at him. They caught the tail end of this interaction and Dagger had to stifle her laugh when the togruta clocked him across the face and almost sent him flying out of the booth.
Raybin laid out the chosen blasters on the table in front of Azariah and the slug thrower in front of Jask. The Devaronian picked it up deftly and slipped it into his belt. Neems returned and scooped up the blaster meant for them. Raybin distributed the ammunition and then looked to Rex.
"What are you going to use?"
"Dagger has her sniper rifle and I will use my DCs," he answered.
"DC 17s? Those are republic blasters don't you think that would be a bit conspicuous to use those?" Azariah pointed out.
"Are you Republic?"
She shook her head no, Rex continued, "Seppies and the Republic are already at war. It would be believable that the Republic had sent a squad to take out a senator, then no one is looking for bounty hunters anyway."
She nodded and must have been satisfied because she didn't press the issue further. Even if she had wanted to there wouldn't have been much time as the onboard computer chirped to life to inform them that they would be dropping out of hyperspace momentarily.
Jask sprung up and headed to the front of the ship where the bridge was. He didn't bother sparing them a glance or offer up any explanation. Rex and Dagger just went back to studying the important parts of the holomaps. Once they landed they would be able to go and get their gear, but for now it was important to know where they would be needed.
~B~
"Are you sure we're allowed to be here," came the harsh whisper.
"What did I say Cricket?"
"Not much of anything, that's why I am asking again. I'm not sure why General Skywalker would give you the keys to the liquor store room."
Hardcase chuckled lowly as he continued to look through the bottles and bottles of alcohol, "The negotiating liquor he called it. For gifts or whatever to foreign worlds, but how often do we get sent on negotiating missions."
"I mean that is more of the 212th's specialty, but General said this was ok?"
"Cricket I have the key, just take this," he handed him a bottle, "And this, and this."
Once Cricket's arms were loaded up with bottles, Hardcase grabbed an armful himself and then ushered him out the door. He struggled for a moment to lock it again and Cricket didn't like the way that the man's eyes kept flickering down the hallway, as if he were waiting for someone to come around the corner.
As soon as the door was locked Hardcase turned and started strutting his way down the hallway, a pace just a bit too fast to be inconspicuous. Cricket had to jog for a few steps just to catch up with him.
"You liar, we aren't supposed to have this!" Cricket accused.
Hardcase sent him a crooked smile over his shoulder, "C'mon Crick, it's gonna be great! When was the last time we got a barrack's party? Captain can't tell us no and the Jetti don't come down to check on us all that often anyway, it'll be fine."
"I just want it to be known that I don't think this is going to end well."
"Yeah yeah write me a memo, honestly you are starting to sound like Echo. Nothing is going to go wrong, what is the harm in having some fun?"
Cricket just hummed in agreement, the last thing he wanted was to be compared to Echo's strict rule following. Although the ARC had gotten a lot better about it after training, he could still be a stick in the mud sometimes. Come to think of it the man had been pretty relaxed the past few months.
Ever since the Captain and Dagger left so suddenly a few days ago everyone had been pretty bummed out. The unit had been split up just before on the mission to Mandalore that Cricket had been a part of and as soon as they were all together again they had been separated. He knew it was the way of the war, but it didn't sit well with him that they hadn't been given a chance to say goodbye. Didn't even know why they had left until General Skywalker had briefed them the next day and assigned Appo the stand-in leader of the unit.
Appo was more than qualified for the job, a strong leader and good man, but they all missed Rex, their Captain. Not to mention Dagger, a fond smile crossed his face thinking about Dagger.
Now that poor kid was the one who needed to loosen up. The kid is a firecracker, but really attached to that helmet. If anyone deserved a drink it was him. It still tickled the back of his mind thinking about what his face looked like and why he hid all the time.
He had overheard Echo talking to Fives and saying that Dagger had been planning on showing the unit his face at dinner right before he got pulled away. Damn bad luck in Cricket's opinion. Maybe he would still be willing to show them when he got back.
The pair arrived at the barracks with their apparent contraband and closed the door behind them. No one really looked at them at first but Fives soon spotted Hardcase, it was hard not to with that beaming smile and confident swagger in his walk.
"What did you do?" his tone was hesitant. He could see what had been done, but he wasn't quite ready to accept it yet.
"Uhh, you're welcome," Hardcase responded cheekily.
Fives did a quick scan of the boys in the room and broke out into that infectious smile that he had, "It's gonna be a good night boys!"
"Wait!" Appo jumped up from his bunk after realizing what was going on, "Now hold on a second. No, no! We are not having a barracks party, Captain would kill us."
Echo sidled up beside Appo and slung an arm over his shoulders, "C'mon Sarge, no one is going to get hurt. What's the harm in a party, the alcohol is already here."
He sent a wink Fives way and the man set to distributing the bottles to the members of Torrent. Appo started to protest the action when Echo jostled him slightly, "Appo, you can either join us or report us. Do you really feel like doing that much paperwork at this time of night?"
The sergeant squinted slightly and then let out a deep sigh, "No breaking things."
"You got it Sarge," Echo chirped as he thumped the man on the back. Appo let out a groan as he saw bottles being lifted and troopers drinking directly out of them. He knew better, he really did, but he also really wanted a drink. And if anyone came asking later he could at least say that he tried to stop them, at least a little.
There were a series of whoops from around the room as he agreed to their impromptu barracks party. He ignored them and grabbed the bottle that was on its way to Hardcase's lips and took a big swig before returning it to the man, it was going to be a long night. And the only hope that he had was that they wouldn't break anything beyond repair.
~B~
Dagger sat up on the hill that overlooked the home that sat squarely in the middle of nowhere. She fitted the scope onto the top of her rifle and started checking that it was prepped for use. It felt very similar to her last mission, laid out on top of the roof on Naboo, no Boost this time though. Not even Rex, she was on her own as he accompanied the rest of the team to the house. Neems was piloting the ship which left him with Raybin, Jask, and Azariah to go retrieve the senator.
She tapped her comm, "All set up here. I can see five guards and the senator from here."
"Copy that, we are at the tree line now. Do you see my signal?" came Jask's voice through the comm.
"Affirmative."
"Affirmative? Who talks like that? You military kids and your fancy words, just say yes or no," she laughed at his comment.
"Shut it, we need to get in and get the senator out as soon as possible. I don't want to cut it close on our deadline," Azariah cut in.
"I have a clear shot on three guards on the far side of the house. If you go in the main entrance I can take them out while they are distracted."
"Got it."
She watched as the group of four broke away from the treeline and approached the building. Upon seeing Rex's blond hair she realized for the first time that he hadn't brought his helmet. He must have left it with his other armor. The lack of armor he had on was highlighted by the way her new HUD lit up and the heavier set of metal armor that she wore.
Her breath caught in her throat as they arrived at the door and she realized just how unprotected he was. He had his vambraces and his shoulder armor, no chest armor, his legs were completely unprotected as well as his face. How could she have not noticed it before? Through the edge of the scope she saw him lined up at the door ready to enter.
She remembered a story that Echo told her of the first time that he met Rex. "I'm always first kid," he had said. Dagger frowned as she saw that he was yet again first to go into the building. For the first time she wished that he wasn't such a good leader. He didn't need to be the first one in on a dangerous scenario when it wasn't even a mission for their sake. These were bounty hunters, he didn't need to protect them from anything.
It was probably just instinct at this point. A habit formed from hours and hours of drills and live fire battles. Protecting his brothers and troops by leading the charge has gotten him far, but he wasn't leading their brothers now, he was leading bounty hunters, their target and enemy.
She focused on her targets at the far side of the building through the window as she watched Rex give a silent countdown. Three fingers. She lined up the crosshairs on the biggest being in the room. Two fingers. What species even was that? And for that matter what was the species of the Senator, something near human but not quite. One finger. She tightened her grip on the rifle and flicked off the safety.
Rex motioned forward as he dropped the hand and Raybin stepped forward to kick in the door. Even from the hillside she could hear the wood splinter and crack at the force of the kick. Rex ducked into the now open door and started firing, weapon on stun.
Dagger's rifle, the slug thrower, did not have an option like that, but she had the advantage of time and was able to take out targets precisely and with clean lines of sight. Three pops in quick succession and the body guards dropped to the ground. Three bullets and three bodys.
There wasn't much else she could see from her vantage point. The comms were silenced and she could only guess at what was happening. It didn't sit well with her, she liked being the sniper, but she didn't like not being able to keep track of Rex and the rest of the group. She couldn't assist them if they were out of her sight. She watched the windows and the doors intently, every movement or shadow was analyzed to see if it was a friend or foe.
She knew that in reality she couldn't have been waiting that long, no more than five minutes, but it felt like an eternity. At the end of that eternity she saw a figure emerge from the front door. She looked through the scope to see a very disgruntled Senator being pushed out of the door. With the way that her shoulders were drawn back it was easy to see that her wrists were bound behind her, the pinkish hand on a shoulder shoving her forward.
It looked like Raybin actually had to duck to get out of the door way. Next out was Jask and then Azariah. Dagger watched intently, it took most of her self control to not just comm and ask if everyone was ok. She hadn't seen Rex since he entered the building and was starting to get concerned. It wasn't that she didn't trust him completely, because she did, but she didn't trust the bounty hunters that they were with. She didn't trust them to watch his back as she would, as any of their vod would.
Then, finally, she saw him emerge from the house, holstering his weapon as he did so. His gaze immediately started searching and his head turned towards her. He scanned the hill where he knew that she would be perched utop and she could have sworn that he made eye contact with her through the scope.
The vice-like grip on her heart released and she took a slow breath. A smile quirked up on her lips as he gave her a two fingered salute, a cocky grin on his face. She shook her head, she should have known better than to be so worried about him, it was Rex, nothing was going to get to Rex.
She stood and started to get ready to move. She noted how quickly the mission had gone, nothing like the long battles or campaigns that they had to endure in the GAR. She heard Jask over the comms calling Neems to come pick everyone up. Their corresponding response was echoed by the sound of the Hippo taking off. She slung her weapon over her shoulder and started to pick her way down the steep hill in front of her to meet up with the group.
Every time she looked up she saw Rex watching her progress. By the time she got down to them he was watching her intently. She tilted her helmeted head in question.
"All good?" he asked.
She let out a snort of amusement, "Yeah, all good from my hill up there, not much trouble I could have gotten into."
He smiled, "I'm sure you would have found a way."
Rolling her eyes she huffed, "And to think I was worried about you."
His smile stuttered on his face, fading slightly. She winced under her helmet, she hadn't meant to say it like that. She went to say something but was cut off by the ship zooming in, the noise of the engines too loud for any words to be shared. Instead, Rex just put a hand on her shoulder, thumb dipping down to run over the unarmored sliver of fabric. She could feel the pressure of his finger through her shirt and took the gesture for what it meant. I'm here and not going anywhere.
She nodded in thanks and looked over to the rest of the group. Jask and Raybin seemed to be antagonizing the disgruntled senator, but were not actively harming their hostage which was almost surprising, but they were under orders to not harm her. Azariah however, was unashamedly watching Rex and Dagger. She didn't even look guilty for watching so closely as Dagger looked right at her.
Dagger straightened up and tilted her head in question, still unable to hear any words being said or spoken as the ship touched down. Azariah just shook her head in dismissal and moved off to the landing pad, ushering Raybing to being the senator.
It would turn out there was a brig on the ship, as that is where Voe Atell was deposited and locked in. Rex and Dagger were the last two on the ship and made their way to the cockpit to see what the next move was. She could only assume that they would be delivering the prisoner to the employer.
"So back to Nal Hutta?" Dagger asked as she came up next to Azariah.
The togruta looked at her out of the corner of her eye, "Nal Hutta?"
"To drop off the senator with your employer?" Dagger asked, it did not seem like they were on the same page for something as simple as their next destination.
"Oh," she started, realizing what Dagger was asking, "No, we don't deliver the bounties to our employer. We are taking them to his private prison on Utrost."
"Utrost?" Rex asked suddenly.
Almost at the same moment that Dagger asked, "Private prison?"
They both looked at each other for a bare second. An employer who owned a private prison on one of the closest worlds to Coruscant and was capturing bounties in the form of senators on both sides of this war. It would seem that this mission might be just a little bit more than what they had been led to believe in their initial briefing.
(A/N: Hi! I know it has been a while since I have updated and it might be a while until I update again. I've got a lot going on in school and life and it has to come first. I appreciate everyone who has stuck around this long for my story, I really do appreciate it. I promise that no matter how long it takes this story will get finished and it won't get abandoned. Thank you again for reading!)