Chapter 3

"This is all my fault."

Tech banged his head against the tree, and Crosshair looked over at him, frowning beneath his helmet. "Don't flatter yourself."

"How is this your fault?" Hunter asked, trying to wriggle out from between the rope and the pine.

Tech sighed, tapping his fingers on his thigh. "I must have done something wrong with the proximity sensors, they didn't go off. And, if I hadn't gotten pinned down by that pirate, their leader wouldn't have used me as leverage against you, and we wouldn't be in this mess."

Crosshair rolled his eyes. "I helped you set up those sensors, it wasn't just your job. If that was the problem, then we both screwed up."

"Hey, guys-" Wrecker made to speak, but Hunter interrupted him.

"Well, I shouldn't have had us get out of the ship. We should have just taken off."

"We couldn't have," Tech said. "We were ordered to hold our current position."

"Uh, guys…"

"Yes, I know, that's what I was thinking when I gave the order. But it was a stupid idea. Look at us- we're still here, at our 'current position.' Big whoop! The Marauder is gone, and now we've got no ship to use for the mission. Fat lot of good we're gonna be."

"We could have taken them out," Crosshair grumbled.

"Guys!"

"What?!" The three arguing clones snapped, looking over at Wrecker, who sighed exasperatedly.

"Will you all quit moving?"

Crosshair frowned. "Why?"

"Because, if you do, one of you can squeeze out of this rope. Look." He relaxed his whole body, and the rope became slacker. "I managed to hold my breath and, well, kinda make myself bigger while they tied us up. So when we all relax, the rope should be loose enough for someone to wiggle out of."

Hunter, Crosshair, and Tech blinked. "Nicely done, Wreck!" Hunter declared, and he shrunk into himself as much as he could, pushing himself against the tree. Tech did likewise, and Crosshair slowly slid down towards the ground, pulling off his helmet so he could get past the rope better. He finally pulled out, and once he was free, the rope became slack enough for the others to extract themselves one by one. They pulled out their flashlights, locating their gear.

"Now what?" Wrecker asked, and Crosshair snorted, gathering up his Firepuncher and blasters from the pile.

"We go after them, obviously."

Hunter shook his head. "We can't. We don't know where they went, and we're completely outnumbered."

Crosshair scowled. "Since when did that kind of thing ever stop us? We've been outnumbered our whole lives!"

Tech put a hand on Crosshair's shoulder. "We know, but right now, we need to come up with a strategy. We have a couple of days before we need to be back here to pick up the supplies, and that gives us time to locate and retrieve the ship. I still have a connection to the Marauder's communication system, so I can trace the signal. However, doing so in this kind of terrain with such terrible weather is-"

There was a loud clap of thunder, lightning illuminated the sky, and Tech made a face. "A bad idea," he finished.

"Well then, what do you suggest we do in the meantime? Sit here all night?"

Hunter sheathed his vibro blade. "We're going to make our way down to the town at the base of the mountain. We'll see if we can find somewhere to stay for the night, and we'll track down the ship tomorrow. C'mon."

He motioned for them to follow him, and they headed to the treeline, but Tech stopped him. "Hold on a moment!" He walked over to one of the proximity sensors and picked it up. The device was no longer armed and looked as though it had short circuited. "This wasn't caused by the rain. I don't know how they were able to deactivate them though… anything they did should have set them off."

"We'll figure it out once we're off this mountain. Grab a couple and let's get going, Tech." Hunter carefully led them through the woods, stopping every once in a while to look back and make sure everyone was all right. "Be very careful. The ground is extremely slippery, especially with this rain and all these pine needles."

Miraculously, they made it down the mountain without incident, though it took them far longer than they'd have liked. By the time they had reached the town, they were soaked through and chilled to the bone, all of them tired, sore, and irritated. They had trained for such weather conditions, but it was by no means a pleasant thing.

The village was comprised of small houses and shops on either side of a large dirt road leading down into the valley. Everything was quiet, and most of the houses were dark. The dreary, stormy area was a harsh parallel to the beautiful, sunset-lit town they had seen several hours previous.

They could see no signs of an inn in the town, so Hunter made his way over to a house with a well-lit porch, knocking lightly on the door. There was a shuffle from inside, and he caught sight of someone peaking from between the curtains of a front window. The drapes rapidly returned to their original positions, and there was a shout from inside.

"Go away!"

Hunter sighed, shaking his head. "I'm sorry to bother you, but my brothers and I just need some directions. Can you point us towards the nearest inn?"

"We ain't got one! Now leave us alone!"

The porch light shut off, and the noises inside grew distant. The Batch was left, standing once again in the darkness, the rain still pouring down all around.

"Not very friendly 'ere, are they?" Wrecker commented, shivering a little.

Hunter's shoulders slumped a little. "We need to see if there's anywhere in this town we can stay for the night. We need to get out of this rain." They went over to another house, one of the only ones on the street with some sign of light coming from within the building. Hunter knocked briskly on the door, and once again, he saw the front window's curtain being drawn aside, and footsteps could be heard. But this time, no one yelled, and there was a soft clicking sound as the door was unlocked and opened.

A young woman stood there. She was mostly in shadow, backlit by the light coming from within the house, but Hunter could see her pale grey eyes, and a gentle but wary look on her face.

"Can I help you?"

Hunter nodded politely, shifting in place as the rain continued to pour uncomfortably onto his armor and through his blacks. "Good evening, ma'am. I was just wondering if you know of a place in town where my brothers and I would be able to stay the night. Our ship was stolen by some pirates, and I'm afraid we don't know the area, so we're in a bit of a jam."

The woman opened the door a bit more, peering into the darkness past Hunter, over to where Tech, Crosshair, and Wrecker all stood morbidly in the street, light from the house reflecting off their visors. She looked at Hunter. "We don't get visitors usually, so there's no inn or anything in town.

"So we were told by your neighbor."

"I see. Well, you and your brothers are more than welcome to stay here for the night if you'd like. It's a small house, but it's better than staying in the rain."

Hunter's eyebrows jumped, and he looked over at the others, who seemed equally surprised. They hadn't expected such an invitation, especially considering the reaction of the last house's occupants. At best, they had been expecting to sleep in someone's barn for the night. Hunter turned back to face the young woman. "We… don't want to be an inconvenience."

She smiled, opening the door and stepping aside to welcome them in. "It's no inconvenience. Well, don't just stand there, come on in! You're letting all the hot air out." Hunter stepped into the house, followed by a tentative Tech and a shivering Wrecker. Crosshair brought up the rear, looking cautiously at the woman, who shut the door softly behind them, locking it.

The front entrance led into a small hallway, with a large archway almost directly across from the front door, which appeared to lead into the main area of the house, and another small door at the end of the hall, presumably to a bathroom or bedroom.

They stood in the hall, dripping wet, not sure where to put themselves, and the young woman squeezed by them and walked into the room at the end of the passageway, returning with a stack of towels. The room was, Hunter realized, and bathroom after all.

"Here. Go ahead and leave your gear and armor wherever, you can take care of it later. You can towel off with these, fresher is at the end of the hall if anyone needs it. I'll be right back. I'm gonna get a couple things."

They just stood there, unmoving, blinking at her in confusion. She cocked her head, still holding the stack of towels. "What? Are you worried I'm gonna steal your stuff or something? Trust me, you've got nothing I would want. Why are you all just standing there, do you enjoy being soaked?"

Hunter shook his head. "No, it's just… you're acting like four random strangers waltzing into your house in the middle of the night is normal. Do you deal with this often?"

The woman chuckled. "Well, believe it or not, I have a lot of people come to my doorstep in need of things, so I'm used to helping out. Granted, it's usually not this late." She handed him the stack of towels with a smile and went into the main area. After agreeing that this woman didn't appear to be a threat and the area was safe, the Batch began to shed their armor and gear, piling it in the hall, stripping down to their blacks and patting themselves dry with the towels.

When they were as dry as they could be, the woman returned with a box in hand, and motioned them into the main area. "Sit in front of the fire for a bit, I'm gonna see if I can find something for you boys to change into so you're not sleeping in wet clothes."

They entered the room, and Hunter looked around, studying everything. There was a large couch on the far wall, an area rug in front of it, with a small fireplace in the right-hand wall. A set of stairs ran along the left-hand wall, with the kitchen visible in an adjoining room behind them. While it was a rather open floorplan, it was small, just like they had been told, but cozy none the less. Wrecker quickly made himself comfortable on the rug in front of the fire, but Hunter, Crosshair and Tech stood, looking around cautiously.

The woman had sat on one corner of the couch and had begun to dig through the box she had brought out. Now that she was in proper lighting, Hunter was able to see her features more clearly. She had long, dark purple hair, which tumbled about her shoulders in flowing locks, and her eyes were a smoky grey hue. She wore a simple outfit: a pair of black pants and a baggy, long sleeved, charcoal grey top.

She seemed to feel Hunter's gaze and looked up at him. "You all good? I know, you must think it's weird, me just letting a bunch of random guys into my house. But I highly doubt I have any reason to fear a bunch of clones." She smiled at them. "You're welcome to stay as long as you need to. I just ask that you don't make too much noise. I got kids sleeping upstairs, and it took me forever to get them to bed."

Hunter blinked, tilting his head slightly. What was with this girl? "You're used to chaos, aren't you? You're just going with the flow of this. Four soldiers show up at your door, and you bring 'em in like a couple of lost loth-cats, telling them to sit down and dry off." He shook his head. "If I didn't know better, I'd say I hit my head or something on our way down the mountain. It sounds completely ridiculous."

The girl laughed. "And yet here you are, going along with it. Well, I tend to use the approach of: if someone needs help, and they're not a threat, help first and ask questions later. But, since my ridiculously relaxed approach to all of this seems to have you shaken, let me start over." She rose from her seat and walked over to Hunter, extending her right hand, a mischievous smile on her face. "It's nice to meet you! My name is Anaria. What's yours?"