this one begins during Season 1 Episode 12 of the Bad Batch with a flashback to what was going on on the other side of Iziz during Season 5 Episode 3 of the Clone Wars. Enjoy!

You know it makes me sick to be on that list

I should have thought about that before we kissed.

It wasn't a real kiss. She had only meant to kiss his cheek. It was for good luck before they left on a quick drop-off mission. But then he'd turned his head at that precise moment and their lips had barely touched before they both reeled back in surprise.

It wasn't as bad as it could have been. She was fairly sure only Echo had been looking in their direction when it happened. They didn't even bump noses and she wasn't smacked in the side of the head with his goggles.

Maybe though, the perfection of the thing was even worse. She kept thinking about it and she had a feeling that Tech was too, wherever he was, on the other side of the Galaxy.

He had sent her a text comm, when they dropped out of hyperspace to pick up whatever it was they were supposed to drop off, just to let her know that they had made it that far safely. The message was uncharacteristically short. The not-quite-a-kiss must have left him at a loss for words as well.

But now he had actually commed her and she could see in the grainy holo image that he was still in one piece. He had slicked his hair back away from his forehead but she didn't mention it. It reminded her of the way Ret started wearing his hair after he stopped letting his baby sister cut it for him.

Maybe it was more manageable that way when Tech had to wear his helmet. She still had yet to see him wearing one, though she knew most clones usually wore full armor all the time and seemed to be comfortable in the stuff, much like her Mandalorian forebears. She had thought he looked great in his civilian clothes but maybe she could get used to a man in uniform.

She bit her lip and he studied her quizzically.

" I wanted to thank you for allowing me to download that recording of your limmie game ," he said rather formally. " Omega watched it nonstop while we were in hyperspace ."

"I'm glad she enjoyed it. Is she around?" Maybe the little girl's presence would lessen some of the tension between them.

He looked over his shoulder. " I believe she is attempting to repair our defective gonk droid at the moment ."

"Sounds like she takes after her big brother."

" Excuse me? " Tech's eyebrows drew together in confusion.

"You do the same thing," Genna explained. "When you see something broken and you just have to fix it. I think it's very…" she searched for the right word, "noble."

He pushed up his goggles with two fingers. She thought it was adorable when he did that. That and part of her brain wondered what else those two fingers were capable of. And then she wondered if he could tell she was blushing on his end of the holo transmission.

He opened his mouth to speak again but he did so hesitantly. " Genna, there was something I was meaning to ask you. "

"Yes?"

" That holo recording. " He looked as if he were trying to make a calculation that didn't quite add up. " Omega would start it over at the beginning when the image went dark after your winning play but that wasn't the end, was it? The sound goes on for several standard minutes after the visuals cut out. There were voices and… screaming ."

"Oh." She took a breath. That hadn't been what she was expecting he would ask. "No. My brothers Kebiin and Saviin were in the stands recording the match. It was probably their voices you heard. It was the night the rebels took out the power generator."

She remembered it like it was yesterday. "It was chaos. The men's team were all on the sidelines because they had won their game earlier in the afternoon and they had run out onto the pitch after the last play. Then the lights went out and we were all herded off to the dorms by the militia because they figured we were all students. They wouldn't let me explain that I lived off campus and I needed to get home…"

Tech's gaze flicked to the side. She could tell he wanted her to finish the story but something was going on on his end of the comm. " Genna, I'm sorry we're receiving a transmission. I need to see what it's all about ."

"Of course."

His image flickered and disappeared.

She had known it would be foolish to get her hopes up that they would be able to come right back to Onderon after the supposedly simple mission. They were probably even now being briefed on something much more important and profitable than whatever they had been up to at her little fruit stand.

Or maybe the Empire had found them and the message they received was to give them the slightest warning to slip away. Perhaps his comm to her had put them in more danger. Someone had picked up the signal or… No, that at least she was sure wasn't the case. Tech would have made for certain that the line was secure before he contacted her.

And yet he had contacted her. He had made the effort to let her know that they were safe and he had shown concern for her as well.

Now she might never hear from him again.

But after a few more agonizing standard minutes his image flickered above her holo unit once again. " Genna? "

"I'm here!" she sat up straighter almost knocking the datapad off her lap where it was perched.

He smiled a bit disappointedly. " I told you that Omega made a little friend at that last drop-off? "

"Yes, a twi'lek girl."

He nodded. " It seems that she provided her friend with our comm channel for emergencies and something has come up ."

"She's not hurt is she?" Genna asked.

" No, not the girl herself but her family is in need of assistance and Omega is determined that we should go to their aid ."

"Well, of course. I completely understand." She didn't really. Why was it any of their business? But if Meg was convinced it was an emergency and of course she was devoted to her own family.

" Do you? " He looked like he could use a little reassurance and must have found something in her expression or maybe they'd just run out of time. " I'll contact you again at the first available opportunity. Goodbye, Genna ."

"Goodbye, Tech." She finished after he had already ended the connection.

…

The night the lights went out in Iziz:

"I suppose I should thank you for giving me a place to stay for the night?" Genna looked around the dorm room. At least there was an extra bed. Nathon's roommate must not have been on the team so he wouldn't have been on the pitch when the lights went out and he wasn't herded away from the stadium towards the on-campus housing with the rest of them.

"Please don't trouble yourself," he smirked. "We both know you never would have made it home tonight. After a game like that I would assume you would have your pick of dance partners at the clubs and then after that..."

"Yes, we both know that my reputation isn't exactly stellar." She looked back at the door contemplating taking her chances with the patrolling militiamen in the dark streets. "There's no law against it."

"Look, Gen, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. You're free to celebrate or to mourn in any way you see fit."

She glared at him. What did he know?

"I know you took it hard when Daryc didn't come back from Aargonar."

Maybe he did know something, or had been paying the least bit of attention. She turned her back on him and brushed an errant tear from her cheek.

"I bet you wish he could have been there to see that match you played tonight."

She didn't need this on top of the emotional trip through a wormhole that this day had already served her. The high of the game and winning their way into the finals was so sweet and then the terror when the lights went out and not knowing if droids were about to swarm the pitch or clone soldiers or Manda knew what else. And then of all people Nathon Skelari had to grab her hand and escort her to safety.

"He was a great coach," Nathon tried again. "Your brother, when we were kids? Hardly a game or practice goes by when I don't think of something I learned first from Coach Daryc."

"I wouldn't be here if it weren't for him," Genna finally admitted. "I mean not here , here, but U of O. The scholarship wouldn't cover it, even living at home and commuting. It was the reason he went to Aargonar."

"I thought it might be something like that."

"Why?" She seethed. "Because I'm still just the little foreign girl, with no parents, whose big brother is the coach so he can call all the plays in her favor?"

"Unifar, Gen!" he cried again, exasperated. "I was a kid and you beat me in every game and every drill! You were amazing and you still are! You deserved that scholarship! None of your brothers did that for you."

"I told him he didn't have to go to help build the kriffing base as a civilian contractor. I would have been just as happy going to beauty school."

He had stepped up behind her and now he was close enough to reach out and touch her dark hair. "Is that what this is all about?"

She wouldn't tell Nathon that she had started dying her hair back in highschool for him. No, not for him, because of him, because of what he had said when they were kids, that she'd never fit in on Onderon with those blonde rubatails. "I used to cut all their hair. It was cheaper for me to do it than for them to go to a barber."

His hands settled on her shoulders and sent a shiver down her spine but she didn't push him away. "Were your other brothers in the stands tonight?"

"I'm sure Keb and Saviin were there. Keb was probably holorecording the whole thing for posterity. I don't know about Ret. I think the girl he likes joined those rebels. Maybe if Daryc was still around he could have put a stop to it but I don't know…"

"I'm sure they got out of the stadium and home safely." He couldn't possibly know that, but it was reassuring to hear.

She nodded and then sucked in a breath when she felt his lips on her throat.

His arms circled her and pulled her closer. "You would have never been content just going to beauty school."

"How do you know?" She turned to face him, still held tightly in his arms.

"I've seen you." Nathon smiled down at her. "For all your late night partying, you've never been late for a class or a practice, you've kept your grades up so you can stay on the team, and though I'm sure you imbibe enough alcohol for most of the freshman class, you've never once tried a deathstick or any kind of spice."

"They do random tests for those in the locker room."

"Don't I know it." There was desire in his eyes as his gaze slid down to her mouth and back up to meet her own blue fire. "You were meant to be on a limmie pitch, Gen. You always have been. It's like destiny."

So had he. And they'd always been thrown together because of it. Even the university had posed them together for promotional holos. The two rookie standouts who were sure to finally, after decades, take the men's and women's teams to the championships.

"They say it's destiny that you and I would end up together, too," she tried to say it, jokingly, but her voice came out breathier than she'd intended.

"Well, here we are."

"Here we…" she was halted by his lips crashing into hers.

He followed her lead to begin with and then took control like he did on the pitch. He would have stopped if she had blown the whistle but it was just how he played the beautiful game. It was how she had known it would be with him. And in that way it was comforting, no surprises. Genna didn't like surprises.

…

She woke up sweaty, naked, and in an unfamiliar bed with sunlight streaming through the window into her eyes. Nathon was still snoring beside her and the power must have still been out because the climate control was not keeping up with the heat and the chrono on the bedside table was blank.

Genna reached over to grab his hand and get a look at the chrono on his wrist.

He woke up and squinted at her. "I could get used to seeing that every morning," he chuckled groggily.

She yanked the pillow out from under his head and walloped him with it before standing to look for her discarded uniform from the night before. "Get up. We're going to be late for the transport. Or did you forget?"

That got him moving. Nathon jumped out of bed with a whoop, wrapped his arms around her and swung her around with a kiss. "The Rupings are going to the finals!"

"Let me go!" She located her shorts and pulled them on, wishing she had at least been allowed to get her bag from the locker room. "That is if we're still going after last night. What do you think that was all about?"

"First of all they can't cancel limmie." He slapped her on the behind as he crossed the room to his dresser, smiling when she growled at him in return. "And secondly I have no kriffing idea but it made for a pretty dramatic ending to your incredible game!"

He selected clothes for himself out of the drawer and then tossed a clean University of Onderon tunic in her direction.

"Thanks." She pulled the oversized top over her head. At least she wouldn't have to leave his room in her game jersey in shame.

When his head emerged from his own shirt he looked at her more seriously. "We'll figure out what's going on and if your brothers made it out okay."

She nodded and hugged her arms around herself. "And the other thing that happened last night? Will we figure out what that's all about too?"

He crossed the room to her, ran his fingers through her short, dark hair, and smiled. "We've got the entire trip to Serenno to figure it out."

Serenno was where the first games of the finals were supposed to be held.

"Imagine it." He pulled her into an embrace. "My parents and your brothers and all our professors and classes parsecs away and we can just focus on the beautiful game and… each other."

Genna stood up on her toes and initiated a kiss. "That sounds good."

"And as long as you keep winning games like that last one we'll be able to stay off-world for the rest of the season."

"Well, you've got to win your games as well. I'm sure they won't mind sending the boys home early to save some credits on hotel rooms."

"I'll just have to sneak in and share a room with one of the girls."

For the first time since Aargonar, Genna allowed herself to hope for the future. Maybe it hadn't all been in vain.

She gloried in the moment until somebody knocked on the door. Well, pounded on the door was more like it.

Nathon broke off their kiss with a laugh and called, "Hold your dalgos! The transport can't take off without the two star players!"

Genna punched him in the arm for all but announcing that they'd spent the night together.

They expected to hear the answering call of one of their teammates or coaches but instead, "This is the Iziz militia. We're looking for Genet Carid," wiped the smiles off both their faces.

"It'll be your brothers, sent them out to look for you since you didn't come home last night." Nathon didn't quite sound convinced.

"Y-yeah."

They broke apart and Nathon went to open the door while Genna glanced in the mirror and straightened her/Nathon's tunic.

"Is there something wrong, officer?" he asked.

"We're looking for a Miss Genet…"

"I'm here." She stepped out where they could see her. "What's - what's the problem?" A sudden thought occurred to her. "Are my brothers alright?"

He didn't answer her question. "Miss Carid, we're going to have to ask you to come down to headquarters. We have a few questions…"

"Now hold on." Nathon rushed to her defence. "What's this all about? Genna's been here all night, with me."

"Nate!" She chided him.

"Are you Nathon Skelari?" The officer asked.

"Well, you're the one who's busting my door down."

"Nate," she said in a more pacifying tone.

The officer looked back and forth between them and then concluded, "You can come along as well, Mr. Skelari. Your parents are waiting for you."

"What about my brothers?" Genna asked. "Are they…" She swallowed hard, remembering when the officers had come to tell she and Kebiin and Saviin and Ret about the Republic ambush.

"They are being contacted now. Communication has been difficult with the power grid down." He gestured down the hall.

She nodded and followed him out. She didn't mind giving them answers as long as she could get some in return. Nathon followed closely on her heels and entered the patrol speeder behind her.

Genna supposed she hadn't really believed that the blackout could be that widespread until she saw it for herself from the window of the speeder.

Nathon sat beside her and extended a hand but she couldn't take it, she was too worried about her brothers.

So he started talking. "I don't know when I've ever seen the streets so empty and quiet. Where are all the droids?"

The militiaman looked back at them in the rearview mirror. "They're machines that need recharging just like everything else."

"You mean it was an attack by the Republic?" Genna exclaimed. How could she not have seen it before?

"Not the Republic," their driver finally admitted. He had probably been waiting to divulge information until they were in the interrogation room. "It was the rebels."

"They managed all this?" Nathon whistled. "They must be more organized than I thought."

Genna gave him a look to shut the kriff up but maybe it was good that they didn't know anything. Did the authorities think they were involved somehow? Is that why they were being brought in? And then she remembered that it was only her the officer was officially bringing in for questioning. They had already determined that Nathon had nothing to do with it.

All three of them stayed silent for the rest of the journey. And then when the officer got out of the vehicle to walk around and unlock their door Nathon took the chance to speak. "I'm sure it's just some kind of mix up. We'll be out of here and on that transport to Serenno in no time."

She wanted to believe him but her hope faded as they were escorted into the militia headquarters.

Nathon's parents were indeed waiting for him and his mother drew him into a frantic embrace as soon as she was able. Genna hardly remembered what that was like, having a mother fretting over her.

Mrs. Skelari's sentiment certainly didn't extend to her son's 'friend' however. The woman shot a glare over his shoulder and scolded him loudly about keeping company with the sort of people who would do this.

"Mom, Genna wasn't involved!" She heard Nathon retort.

"But she is … Mandalorian." Mrs. Skelari said it like it was a dirty word. "The whole galaxy knows how violent they are."

"Miss Carid." The militiaman drew her attention away and gestured for her to enter the transparasteel door into his office.

She tried to listen as he questioned her. Evidently they found it suspicious that her game winning play had provided a distraction to what the rebels were doing on the other side of town. She answered that she had been at the pitch all day since the men's match had been held first and that both games had been on the schedule for months. Of course she had played at top form because winning meant making it into the finals.

She didn't know anything about any rebel activity. At least he didn't ask about Ret's whereabouts. She wasn't sure what she would have told him if he did. So her brother had a crush on a rebel sympathizer. That didn't make her guilty of anything.

Genna heard a cry from the outer lobby and looked back over her shoulder. Mrs. Skelari was smiling and clapping her hands. Nathon didn't seem as excited.

"Anyway," Genna turned to the officer and asked. "If we're done here can I go and see my brothers? I wanted to say goodbye to them before I left on the transport with the rest of the team."

"Miss Carid, I'm sorry I have to be the one to tell you this but in light of current events and the ongoing war, the athletics department of the University of Onderon has decided to forfeit their place in the limmie championship."

"What?" She jumped out of her chair and burst out of the office before he could stop her.

She wanted to see if Nathon had heard the news but obviously he had. His father was holding up a new limmie jersey with Nathon's number emblazoned on the front but it wasn't in University of Onderon colors.

"We were able to secure your transfer to Kuat immediately so you can put this whole business behind you and there will be no interruption in your education," the man said proudly.

"Genna!" Nathon saw her at once and tried to push past his parents to get to her. "I didn't ask for this!"

She didn't want to hear it. She bolted from the militia headquarters and nearly ran into Keb and Saviin who had just arrived to collect her.

…

She hadn't gotten to say goodbye to Nathon and he hadn't tried to contact her since, not even after the accident. She wondered if he even knew what had happened to her and to the rest of her brothers, or if he cared.

Tech at least had commed and she knew he would have liked to have come back if he wasn't off saving the galaxy. The work he was doing was important, if only to one girl and her family.

And Genna had work to do too. She did attempt to go back to business as usual but she wasn't sure if, after meeting Tech, anything would ever be the same again.