Chapter 9

When Anaria finally returned to the house with the Avital, it was nearly dark- the last rays of sunlight were vanishing beyond the horizon, and the moon was high in the sky. She had strapped one of the bushels to her back, dragging the other two with either hand, while Keraa walked beside her, a little bag of the plants clasped between her chubby fingers.

As the two of them approached the house, Anaria caught sight of a few figures tossing a ball around in the street by the light of the porch lantern. She recognized Wrecker's tall broad figure, as well the village children, and her jaw dropped as she realized that one of them was none other than Nikau. She stared in wonder at the large grin spread across his face, and tears pricked her eyes as she heard his laughter ring through the air for the first time in years.

"Wha… how… what the stars happened while I was gone?!"

"Nikau!" Keraa dashed over to the thirteen-year-old, her small bag forgotten at Anaria's feet. She giggled, snatching up the ball as it rolled across the ground, tossing it towards the other children. They continued their game, Wrecker walking over to Anaria to relieve her of the bushels of strange plants. He hefted two onto his shoulder with ease, taking the last one in his free hand.

"Well, look at you, all big and strong!" Anaria teased, smiling. "Thanks for the help… how'd the scouting go? And…" she pointed towards Nikau, who had just managed to send the ball souring through the air at an impressive speed. "What happened? He hasn't laughed or smiled like that since… well, since his mother was alive."

Wrecker grinned, and somehow, his smile was both wide and gentle. "He and I had a little talk after we got back from the mission. There was a little, uh… trouble, I guess you could call it?"

Anaria frowned, a look of concern crossing her face. "What happened? Did Nikau do something stupid?"

"Well, sorta, but not really? It's complicated. I'll let Hunter explain. Him, Tech and Crosshair are inside going over some maps. Where do you want me to put these, by the way?"

He hefted the bushels, and Anaria motioned to the house. "Around the back, if you could."

As Wrecker walked towards the back of the building, Anaria went inside, pulling open the curtain of the front window so she could see the kids easily. Hunter, Tech, and Crosshair were positioned around the table, a holo-map of what Anaria assumed was the pirate's base illuminating their faces in the semi-darkness.

"Did you ever think of maybe turning some lights on?" Anaria questioned, raising an eyebrow. She walked towards them, deftly flicking on a light-switch… and frowned when nothing happened. "Oh… great."

"Yeah, it's kinda hard to turn on a light when there's no light to turn on." Hunter said, smirking slightly, and Anaria let out an exasperated sigh.

"The shop is closed. I'll replace it later."

"Can you even reach it?" Crosshair asked pointedly, his lips curling into a smirk around his toothpick.

Anaria stiffened, folding her arms and glaring at the sniper. "I am perfectly capable- you!... do you want to sleep outside tonight?"

Crosshair snorted, grinning. "You're terrible at threats."

"And you're a jerk. Your point? Also, I'll have you know, I'm not short. 5'5" is the average height of the human female!"

Tech nodded. "She is correct."

"So you're average? That's boring."

Anaria's face grew more and more red, until Hunter was worried she'd dive at Crosshair and claw out his eyes. His brother did not seem to share his concern however, as he continued to smirk sardonically down at the woman, his eyes practically twinkling with mirth.

Wrecker walked into the house, instantly sensing the tension in the room, and he gave Hunter a questioning look, to which the sergeant did not respond. Tech cleared his throat in an attempt to redirect the conversation, adjusting his goggles. "I was able to create a 3D map of the complex. I believe we've come up with a fool-proof plan to infiltrate the building and retrieve our ship."

Anaria turned her attention to the holo-map as Tech indicated a large maintenance duct at the back of the facility. "While you are delivering the Avital, the four of us are going to sneak in past the proximity sensors and hide in this conduit. We'll remain there until shortly before we need to rendezvous with the supply shuttle. At that point, we'll make our way to where the Marauder is, board it and take out anything Vandrick could use to pursue us.

Since we got in close enough, I was able to block all incoming communications on our ship. Anything we receive will be directly rerouted to my commlink. That way, I will be able to inform the shuttle of our current predicament and give them a new rendezvous point, so we'll be able to complete our mission without worry."

Anaria nodded slowly, noting the maintenance bay where Tech had marked the Marauder's location. "Are you sure the ship will be in the same place? What if it's not there when you infiltrate the base? Or even worse, what if it's not even at the base tomorrow?"

The clones shifted slightly, each of them frowning. Hunter was the first to speak up. "As much as we don't want to… if it comes to it…"

"Don't say it!" Wrecker yelped, covering his ears with his hands. "We're not replacing our ship! This mission's gonna work out fine, we'll get it back, and blow Vandrick's stuff sky high before we leave!"

Tech rolled his eyes. "Wrecker, we're not blowing everything 'sky high.' We're strategically taking out his ships."

"Well, we might as well just blow up the whole base!"

"There's no reason to."

"There's always a reason to blow stuff up!"

"That's enough." Hunter motioned for them to stop, pinching the bridge of his nose. "If this plan works with you, Anaria, then that's what we'll do."

"Sounds good to me. We'll go over the finer details in a bit- I have to get those kids some dinner, and I take it you boys would like something as well?" Wrecker nodded vigorously, and Anaria chuckled. "Alright then. I'll get that going. Oh, and Crosshair," Anaria smirked as she went to the front door to call the kids in. "About my height- people only grow until they're perfect. Some of us just took less time to get there."

Wrecker burst out laughing, slapping Crosshair heartily on the back, while the sniper angrily swatted him away and glared over at Anaria. "How long did it take you to think that one up?" Anaria frowned and stuck out her tongue, before calling Nikau and Keraa's names.

The clones moved their gear out of the kitchen as Anaria began pulling out cooking supplies and laying everything out on the counters. She dug through the refrigerator and pulled out some vegetables and chicken breasts, and from the cupboard, a large container of rice.

"Alright, we'll be here all night if I do this by myself, so this is what's gonna happen: Wrecker!" Anaria threw some red bell peppers, carrots, asparagus, sugar snap peas, and broccoli on the table. "You're going to peal and wash the vegetables, Tech, you're cooking them. Hunter, you're handy with a blade, right? Start cutting stuff. I'll handle the rice and cut the chicken. Crosshair?" Anaria smirked, opening the spice cupboard and fiddling with a frying pan in one hand. "You get to cook it."

Crosshair blinked, eyes wide. "You want me to what?"

Anaria laughed, putting the pan on the stove and pulling a knife from a drawer. "Once I finish cutting up this chicken, I'm having you fry it, season it, and combine it with the veggies to make a nice stir-fry."

Crosshair scoffed. "You want me to cook? I'm a soldier, I don't cook! I don't even know what a stir-fry is!"

"You will soon!" She smirked, twirling the knife in her hand. "Consider this payback for teasing me about my height. Besides," she raised an eyebrow mockingly. "Don't tell me the sniper's going to be bested by a simple piece of chicken?"

Crosshair's jaw stiffened, and he took the frying pan off the counter and placed it on the burner, glowering all the while.

"Put it on a low heat and add some butter to the pan." Crosshair begrudgingly did as instructed, and Anaria made short work of the poultry, slicing it into bite-sized pieces with a steady hand. She slid the meat off the cutting board and into the sizzling pan, opening the spice cupboard. "Alright, pick the spices."

Crosshair looked affronted. "You said to fry the meat, not make up the entire recipe. This meal was your idea, you pick the spices!"

Anaria scanned the shelves, pulling out six different bottles and placing them on the counter. "You saw the vegetables I took out, right? Hunter, if you had to describe the choice of vegetables, what would you call them?"

Hunter let out a weary sigh, clearly not wanting to be dragged into whatever game Anaria was playing. "I'd say… sweet? Fresh? Not savory or spicy… I… how am I supposed to know?!"

Anaria laughed, folding her arms. "Well, you're right. Crosshair, open those bottles, smell them and figure out which would probably go with a sweeter dish."

Crosshair looked like he was about to argue with her, but instead, his shoulders slumped, and he slowly began taking the caps off the spice containers. Meanwhile, Wrecker finished pealing the carrots and Tech began scooping the vegetables Hunter cut into a couple different pots of water. Anaria washed the rice and placed it in a little container plugged into the wall before pulling a small lever. The light on the machine turned red and she pushed it aside, eying everyone's work.

Wrecker, now done with his task, went to the living room to keep the children company, and Hunter finished cutting the last of the vegetables, pawning them off on Tech before retreating to the living room as well before he would be forced to partake in any further meal prep.

The Batch's resident genius put the pots of vegetables on the stove to boil, setting a timer on his data pad. "Given the density of the various vegetables, it would be safe to say they will all be properly cooked in approximately fifteen minutes, considering that the pots are each at the correct temperature. I'll return to check on their status then."

Anaria nodded, cleaning up the dishes and peaking over at Crosshair, who seemed completely unaware of the conversations taking place around him. He took a deep breath, smelling the chicken sizzling in the pan in front of him, before holding a container of greens to his nose.

His nose scrunched up as he shook his head, tossing the bottle aside, and Anaria held up a different container. "Try this."

"Already did. It won't work."

Anaria raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Crosshair scowled, taking a couple spice bottles and putting the rest aside. "You don't have what I need."

Anaria laughed, putting a hand on her hip. "Well, normally, people will add some kind of sauce or gravy to go with the stir-fry, maybe that would help?"

Crosshair pulled out a toothpick, sticking it between his teeth thoughtfully before pushing past Anaria and heading to the refrigerator. He pulled out several containers and bottles, pulling the caps off of each one and sniffing them. Finally, he pulled out a tall, thin, glass bottle, sniffed it, and his eyes widened. "This is it."

Anaria smiled. "Oh? That's some kind of vinaigrette."

"I don't care what it is, it'll work." Crosshair walked over to the stove and splashed some of the liquid onto the chicken, tossing the meat around in the pan as it sizzled and popped.

He turned up the heat, browning the chicken, and Anaria chuckled. "You know, for a guy who doesn't cook, you're doing a pretty damn good job of not setting my kitchen on fire."

Crosshair rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm not an idiot."

Tech's alarm went off and he returned to the kitchen, taking a look at the vegetables. "I believe these have been sufficiently boiled."

Anaria took a look. "That's perfect. Drain them and toss them into the pan with the chicken- we'll fry it all together for a bit to get the vegetables slightly toasted and we'll be done."

Tech did as he was instructed, and Crosshair added more of the sauce, stirring the mixture around thoroughly, while Anaria pulled out the rice, scooping it onto plates. She topped the starch off with the meat and vegetables, and loudly informed everyone dinner was served.

When they finally situated themselves (there had been a minor scuffle between Wrecker and Crosshair over who would get to sit in the last spot on the couch; Crosshair had won) they dug in, and a large grin spread across Anaria's face. "This is amazing you guys! Great job, seriously. Crosshair, what spices did you end up using?"

The sniper shrugged, poking at a pod of sugar snap peas. "I don't know."

Anaria blinked before letting out a small sigh. "Right, I keep forgetting you don't know the names of any spices."

"They were green."

"Yeah… sorry sniper boy, that doesn't narrow it down much…"

Just as had been the case with breakfast, the meal was finished far more quickly than it had taken to make it, and Anaria set to work on the dishes, Nikau lending her a hand.

After a bit, Nikau was left with a large stack to wipe, since Anaria had worked far faster than he could keep up with, and the young woman took a seat next to the fireplace across from Tech, who was sitting in the same spot he had slept in the night before. "So, what time do we need to head out tomorrow?"

Tech adjusted his goggles, which reflected in the light of the fireplace that Hunter had kindly filled and lit before they had begun dinner preparations. "I would recommend we plan on reaching the base at approximately 16:00."

"Alright then. You'll probably want to head out a bit earlier than me so you can make it through the forest safely and disarm those sensors. Are you sure you can do that?"

"I am 86% certain I can do it without incident."

Hunter, who was sprawled out on the other side of the couch, raised an eyebrow. "That's it?"

Tech pulled his feet up onto the couch, adjusting the sleeve of his white shirt. He, along with the other clones, had opted to change into the outfits lent to them by Anaria, rather than remain in their armor for the rest of the night. "Well, I still have a few tests to run, but I have plenty of time."

"Dishes are done." Nikau sat between Hunter and Tech, with Wrecker taking a seat on the floor in front of the couch.

"Thank you." Anaria took a look at the clock, frowning. "It's already pretty late, you two should head to bed."

Nikau frowned, and Keraa's eyes grew wide. "Do we have to?"

"But Nari, I wanna stay up!" the little Togruta girl whined, and Anaria sighed, pushing her hair out of her face.

"Honey, it's already 9:30, and your bedtime is usually 8. Why would you want to stay up?"

Keraa didn't respond at first. Instead, she looked at Crosshair, who had taken a seat on the floor behind her, his back to the fireplace. She stared at him for a moment, Anaria waiting for her reply, then she walked up behind him and flung her arms around his neck.

Crosshair jumped, looking back at her in confusion. She smiled back at him, her blue eyes twinkling in the firelight. "I wanna be with my friends!" Crosshair's eyes grew wide, and he looked uncertainly first at Keraa then at Anaria and over to Hunter. The latter two returned his gaze with equal confusion, but Keraa simply smiled at him.

Anaria cleared her throat, tapping the little girl on her shoulder. "You do know they'll be here tomorrow, right?"

Keraa frowned, pulling away from Crosshair. "Yeah, but then they're gonna go away… forever…"

The clones looked at one another, not knowing what to say, but Anaria took Keraa's hand, pulling the child into her lap. "I'm sure they'll come and visit if they ever get the chance, sweetheart."

"You bet we will!" Wrecker grinned, giving Nikau a fist bump, and Keraa nodded slowly.

"Okay…"

"Now," Anaria gave Keraa a quick hug, smiling at her. "Why don't we get you to bed?"

"Okay… but can you sing first?"

Nikau nodded, tucking his legs underneath of him as he got comfortable on the couch. "Yeah. C'mon, sing that one we haven't heard all of yet!"

Anaria laughed, tapping Keraa's nose. "You haven't heard all of it because you both fall asleep before I get to the last verses!"

Nikau folded his arms, pouting. "Well, just start in the middle!"

"No, you can't just start in the middle of a song!"

"Well, then let's try it again! I can totally stay awake this time!"

Anaria smirked. "Are you sure?"

Nikau nodded, and Hunter adjusted his position on the couch. "Alright then, let's hear this song, shall we?"

Anaria cleared her throat as Keraa rested in her arms. "Okay…" She took a deep breath… and sang.

I heard on one night, a soft lullaby

Lost to the shadows of time.

Its words, they did keep a secret sweet,

Its tune without reason or rhyme.

The clones listened in awe, Hunter closing his eyes as Anaria's soft voice filled the house, while Crosshair lay down on his side, leaning against his hand, and Tech surreptitiously activated his recorder. Wrecker leaned against the couch, his eyes wide, and Nikau made a face, determined to stay focused and awake as Anaria continued to sing.

The dark of the night entranced me then,

The lullaby, all that I heard,

And the song rang out, like a dream, all around,

Though I cannot remember the words.

Embraced in the warmth of the fireside's glow,

The moon's cold light on the sill,

The melody lulled me, and put me at ease,

Though sleep eluded me still.

Keraa's eyes began to droop, and Hunter spotted Nikau's eyes glaze over as he lost focus, the soft melody of the lullaby slowly rocking him to sleep. Even Wrecker looked as though he was about to pass out.

The voice that sang this otherworldly song

Was one I had not heard before,

But the gentle enchantment it cast soothed my mind

And left me wishing for more.

The voice of an angel, strong, but sure,

And like honey, calming and smooth,

With a depth I have never heard one voice contain,

It held a magic that I never could.

Hunter gazed softly at Anaria, who was rocking slowly back and forth, the little Togruta girl in her arms now fast asleep, while Nikau's eyelids fluttered as he fought to stay awake. It was as though this simple song had put a spell on them both, casting them into dreamland in a matter of moments. Anaria flashed Hunter a brief smile before taking a deep breath, her voice becoming quieter.

And finally, as my mind drifted off,

And my thoughts became one with the night,

I heard for a moment, some words that were sung

And if you asked me to sing them, I might…

Anaria stopped singing at that point, instead humming softly until she finally became completely silent, the two children breathing quietly as they slept. She tilted her head in Crosshair's direction, and to Hunter's great surprise, he realized, not only were the kids asleep, but so were his brothers! Hunter rose slowly and carefully from his seat, making sure not to bump into Wrecker, and he scooped Nikau into his arms. Anaria got up from her spot on the floor, gently rocking Keraa, and the two of them quietly brought the sleeping children upstairs.

Once they were placed securely in their respective beds, Hunter and Anaria returned downstairs, Anaria once again laying blankets on top of each of the sleeping clones. Hunter reclaimed his spot on the couch, watching as the fire began to die down.

"That was some beautiful singing," he complimented, and Anaria blushed slightly as she deposited an extra blanket onto the staircase.

"Oh! Thanks."

"Where's it from?"

"Nowhere. I just made it up on the spot one night, and now…" she shrugged. "I guess it's the magic cure for whenever I need to get them to sleep."

"Apparently!"

They grew silent, both of them gazing at the flames in the fireplace as they danced around without pattern, beautiful and hypnotic. Anaria suddenly took a deep breath, shaking herself. "Speaking of sleep, I should probably head to bed. Busy day tomorrow…"

Hunter nodded as she headed up the stairs. "Right… by the way," Anaria paused, looking over at him. "That song… what are the rest of the words?"

Anaria smiled softly, a mischievous glint in her eyes. She lifted a finger to her lips, chuckling. "It's a secret. Goodnight!"

She retreated up the stairs, leaving Hunter alone in the silence, thinking about the song… that strange yet beautiful song…He thought about it long into the night, the melody playing through his head, until at long last, sleep overtook him.

Hello, everyone! I hope you all have been enjoying the story so far! If you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear them in the comments!

I actually wrote the lullaby before I even started the fic, so I've been looking forward to (but also dreading) sharing it with you all! I can't wait until I can show you the rest. I'm hoping to record it as an actual track sometime, but I can't really make music, so it'll be a hot minute, LOL!

I'm hoping this will work, but here's a pic I drew a while back of Keraa hugging Crosshair. You'll probably have to copy and paste it for it to work, sorry! Stupid FanFiction, not letting me post links. T-T

blog/view/fantasyproductions/687987567430352896?source=share