Chapter 1

"You gotta be kiddin' me- a supply run?!"

Wrecker slumped down in his chair, whining, while Crosshair's jaw dropped, one eyebrow raised in a look of utter disbelief and disgust.

"We're an elite squad and they're sending us to pick up food?!"

Hunter gave them a look before continuing with his briefing. "We're heading to the planet Timora in the Bokura sector to collect a shipment of supplies," he repeated. "The Separatists have been intercepting all of our supply ships, destroying them before they can reach their usual delivery points. So, we're taking a different approach on this one. Timora is on the outskirts of Republic space, closer to the unknown regions. A supply ship will deliver the medical equipment and explosives-" he gave Crosshair a look, "to us on Timora, and we'll take it to Jedi General Plo Koon. Any questions?"

Crosshair folded his arms. "They won't fit."

Hunter gave him a weary look. "Cross, that's not a question."

"The crew meeting us has already been informed of our vessel's capacity, Crosshair, there is no need to be concerned." Tech, who was sitting in the pilot's chair, adjusted his goggles, glancing over at the sniper.

Crosshair grunted, rolling his eyes, but did not respond, and since no one else offered any actual questions, Hunter continued speaking.

"There's no reason to believe we'll be attacked by enemy forces, given how far into Republic space we'll be, but stay alert just in case. Between the pickup and the delivery to General Plo Koon, this mission'll take about half a rotation, and most of it will be spent flying, so enjoy lugging boxes while you can."

"We'll reach Timora in .75 hours." Tech informed them, his fingers flying across the buttons on his datapad, like he had been doing for the majority of Hunter's debriefing.

Crosshair looked over at him and shook his head. He, along with the rest of the squad, depended on Tech's skills and ability to provide them with critical information at all times. But since they had been deployed, Crosshair had begun to realize how often the bespectacled clone's face was buried in his datapad. Ever since they were young, Tech always carried something in his hands to tinker with, gather info with, or just something that would keep his fingers moving. This never really drew Crosshair's attention, as he had always known Tech to be this way. But since they had left Kamino and been on actual missions, he often worried Tech was too busy paying attention to what was on his screen than to what was around him.

Thankfully, this was not the case, as each time Crosshair assumed his brother didn't know what was taking place, he was proven wrong, with Tech following along with everyone's conversations and reacting to his surroundings as though he wasn't looking at something else the entire time. Nevertheless, Crosshair still found himself repeatedly checking on Tech to compensate for the smaller clone's lack of apparent observation, and it was beginning to cause him undue stress. Tech could handle himself; he knew that. They had already been on three missions, each one, a success, with Tech balancing both the gathering of intel, piloting of the ship, and the destruction of droids all at the same time. He didn't need Crosshair constantly keeping an eye on him like a two-year-old. None of them did. It was a seemingly random thought, but one he had been having very often nonetheless.

The sniper shook his head, fiddling with the toothpick in his mouth. He had nothing to worry about. Besides, this was just going to be a boring supply run. They'd get everything to General Plo and then they could be on their way to their next mission, blasting droids, staying away from regs, not having to report to anyone in particular… the way things should be.

The next forty-five minutes passed by rather quickly, and before they knew it, they had landed on Timora in a small clearing in mountain forest. The Batch exited the ship, taking in their surroundings. Towering pines encircled them, their needles from years past covering the forest floor in a thick layer, and Hunter noted with great fascination that even Wrecker's footsteps were far less audible than usual.

"The supplies should arrive shortly," Tech announced, and Hunter nodded.

"Alright. Secure the perimeter, make sure we're all set to load up as soon as that shuttle arrives." They split into two groups, Crosshair with Hunter, Tech with Wrecker, combing the outskirts of the clearing, and, in Tech's case, scanning for heat signatures and hostiles.

When there were no threats detected, and all was as it should be, they returned to the Marauder, where they waited for a full ten minutes, well past the rendezvous time. But still, there was no supply shuttle.

"Tech, see if you can get ahold of them, figure out what's taking them so long."

"On it." The smaller trooper dashed into the Marauder, and Hunter took off his helmet, breathing in the fresh air.

It really was a beautiful planet- towering trees, clear sky, a warm sun with a cool breeze… The slowly setting sun cast long shadows, and a golden hue filled the woods. It was by far the most beautiful place Hunter had ever seen. He had only been to a few planets on the outer rim, along with Kamino, so he had little to compare it to, but still… it was gorgeous.

"Well, this is just fantastic." Tech emerged from the ship, shaking his head. "The shuttle's hyperdrive malfunctioned, and it dropped into Separatist controlled space. They managed to get the hyperdrive back online, but not before sustaining serious damage from a cruiser. They were forced to return to the supply depot for repairs- they would have been stranded if they came straight here. It will be one rotation before the repairs are finished or another shuttle can replace them, and another full rotation before they can get the supplies loaded and delivered to us here. So they'll arrive at around 1800 hours two days from now."

Crosshair blinked. "They don't expect us to wait here, do they?"

Wrecker nodded. "Yeah, can't we just go get the supplies from the depot ourselves? Why didn't we just do that in the first place?"

"Because they have to make several stops along the way to deliver other supplies to several other remote locations as well. This tactic allows supplies to be transported to multiple worlds, with the risk of a majority of the supplies being destroyed by Separatist forces being lowered with each separate team that delivers them. Due to the route we would need to take, we would not save any time by going to acquire the supplies ourselves. General Plo Koon has received a small shipment that will be sufficient for him and his men until we can deliver our supplies, so fortunately, we are not terribly pressed for time. We've been ordered to hold our current position and await the shuttle's arrival. We will be notified if anything changes."

"You have got to be joking!" With each word Tech had spoken, Crosshair's shoulders had drooped lower and lower. Two days. Two full kriffing days of sitting here and doing absolutely nothing! All because some idiot probably didn't run a diagnostics test before leaving for a mission! "This is ridiculous! We're not an on-call delivery service. They can't seriously expect us to sit here for two days when we could go and do something actually useful!"

"I don't blame you for being upset, Cross," Hunter said, folding his arms with a sigh. "But we have orders, and we have to wait. We don't even have another mission yet, anyways. Either we sit here… or we sit in our barracks on Kamino."

Crosshair stiffened. "Fine… we'll stay here."

Wrecker's shoulders slumped, and he whined. "But I don't want to stay in one spot for two days! I can't blow anything up, or or or… anything!"

"We were told to maintain our current position, Wrecker, there's nothing we can do about that." Tech said, though judging from his voice, he didn't like the prospect of staying put either.

Hunter shrugged, looking around. "Well… I dunno about that… It can't hurt to have a look around."

Tech blinked. "We already had a 'look around.' The perimeter is secure."

Hunter shook his head. "Not the perimeter. Besides… they said our current position. They didn't specify exactly which position… Current position as in: on this planet? Or current position as in: this clearing?"

Tech tilted his head slightly, watching a smile slowly creep onto their leader's face. Hunter knew full well what their orders meant. "You just want to explore… don't you?"

Hunter grinned. "You're telling me you don't?"

Tech shuffled his feet, looking down at his data pad. "Well, actually, I'd love to obtain some of the local fauna… one of this planet's main exports is sunpetal, and I was curious-"

"Well, there you go- something to do. We can maintain a long-range com signal via the Marauder, you can set that up, right Tech? Think of it as field training- We'll take a look around, keep an eye out for any suspicious activity, and be back before the sun sets."

Tech, reassured that they would not be be neglecting their mission, brightened up a bit at the prospect of exploring a new location. They hadn't had the luxury to stop and analyze any of the indigenous species and any foreign technologies on their other missions, as much as Tech had longed to do so. He knew they needed to put the mission first, but he remained secretly upset with each planet they had left without obtaining new knowledge of some kind. This was an opportunity he had been waiting for, and he eagerly synced their comms to that of the ship's.

Crosshair and Wrecker were likewise happier, Wrecker more so than the sniper, but both were relieved they'd have something to do, if only temporarily. Gathering up their gear, the four of them began heading West, and when Tech asked why that particular direction, Hunter smirked beneath his helmet.

"Wouldn't you say we're on a fairly high elevation, Tech?"

The bespectacled clone nodded. "Yes. One of the highest in this part of the planet, actually."

"Exactly. Which means, somewhere on this mountainside, there's a cliff…" Hunter grinned. "And one hell of a view!"

Hello Everyone! Long time no see! I've finally gotten around to uploading my latest story! :D Sorry it took so long! I'll be updating every Friday for a while, in order to force myself to write some more and actually complete this story. It's going to be a longer one, with two parts (don't worry, I'll be posting the entire story together.)

Hope you all enjoy it! :D Please feel free to comment, I'd greatly appreciate it! :D