Chapter 11

Crosshair finished cleaning the scope on his Firepuncher and set it down next to the rest of their gear, looking around the room. Tech was typing away on his scanners, looking from it to the holomap on the table in front of him, while Hunter sat to Tech's left, speaking to the supply ship's captain via comm. Crosshair briefly wondered if Hunter sat beside Tech out of simple convenience, or rather to keep an eye on their brother who was practically high on the caf from earlier that morning. He assumed the latter.

Wrecker had gone outside a few minutes earlier with Nikau, who had been begging him to play just one more time before the clones had to depart. The neighborhood children had come to join them, and their giggles, shouts and laughs drifted through the open livingroom window. Anaria had disappeared somewhere upstairs- doing what, Crosshair hadn't the foggiest.

He stretched his neck slowly, stepping outside, and closed the door soundlessly behind him. Soon, they would be off this planet and back to their mission, leaving these annoying pirates, less than welcoming villagers, and overly friendly children behind. All would, once again, be right with the universe. Or… as right as it could be considering the galaxy-wide war taking place.

He looked around as a ball came soaring past him and was kicked soundly by Wrecker, who lost his balance from the force of the kick and fell hard onto his backside. One girl gasped, looking concerned, while Nikau laughed loudly, holding the ball he had managed to catch triumphantly. Crosshair smirked as Wrecker fell, rolling his eyes, and was about to shout a snide comment about being bested by a child, when he saw something in his peripheral vision. He turned.

At the edge of the deck, sitting beneath the railing, was Keraa. She watched the children, swinging her legs aimlessly, fiddling with something on her lap. The quiet, slightly off-key tune of a lullaby reached Crosshair's ears, and he realized with some surprise that it was coming from none other than the little girl. She probably didn't realize he had stepped onto the porch, because she did not acknowledge his presence. Crosshair could just barely hear her singing over the sound of the laughing and screeching coming from the other kids, but as he stepped closer, some of the words became distinguishable.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,

You make me happy when skies are gray,

You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.

Please don't take my sunshine away."

Crosshair realized with some surprise, that he recognized the song. He had heard warbles of it from various regs over the years, usually in some joking, drunken, or delirious state. But never in a quality in which it aught to be sung.

"The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping

I dreamed I held you in my arms.

But when I woke, dear, I was mistaken,

So I hung my head and I cried."

She looked down at her lap, rocking slowly from side to side as she sang, as if she was, in fact, singing someone to sleep. Crosshair folded his arms and leaned against the house as she continued.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,

You make me happy when skies are gray,

You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.

Please don't take my sunshine away."

She finished singing, giggling, as suddenly a small white creature jumped from her lap and onto the porch, its eyes fixed on Crosshair. The little girl turned, jumping slightly at the sight of the clone. The look on her face made it clear she was wondering exactly how long he had been standing there. Crosshair looked down as the strange animal approached him and brushed against his leg, purring like a Loth-cat. It didn't look like one, however, aside from its four legs, a long tail, and slight, pointed ears at the top of its head. It was small, sleek, and pure white, with a little pink nose and piercing blue eyes. It's head, unlike the common space pet, was actually proportionate to its body. Crosshair figured it must be some kind of sub-pieces of Loth-cat or something. Tech probably knew and would no doubt start rattling off facts about it the second he laid eyes on it.

The creature sat happily at his feet, purring and looking up at him with its shining blue eyes, the color of which could now barely be seen, its pupils were so dilated.

"She's a stray." Crosshair looked over at the Togruta child, who was smiling at the small creature as it pawed the sniper's leg. "I want to keep her, but she doesn't like to stay in one place. She likes exploring."

Crosshair grunted, studying the animal. "What is it?"

"Anaria calls it a cat. She says she saw one once on Coruscant."

"Does it have a name?"

"Kitty."

Crosshair snorted. "Well, that's a rather basic name. How about something slightly more creative? Like… Sylvie?"

Keraa folded her arms and made a face. "I dunno…"

Crosshair raised an eyebrow at her, a slight frown tugging at the corners of his mouth. "I'm not calling her Kitty."

Keraa shrugged. "Okay. Her name can be Sylvie."

Crosshair chuckled and slowly crouched down, petting the tiny animal. The kitten purred contentedly, meowing, and Keraa giggled. "She likes you."

"Well that makes one living creature in this Maker-forsaken galaxy."

He rose, just in time for two small arms to wrap tightly around one of his legs. "That's not true! I like you."

Crosshair blinked. Keraa looked back up at him with her big, shining blue eyes, and the sniper snorted, looking away, but she continued to gaze up at him in earnest, and he glanced back down. "That's because you know nothing about me."

"I know you're nicer than you look, and you make funny faces. Your nose looks all funny when you're upset, and Sylvie likes you. And you saved me from the bad pirates! You're nice, and I like you."

She spoke with such certainty and such finality, her arms wrapped tightly around his thigh in a hug, that he didn't bother trying to argue with her. He rolled his eyes and patted her awkwardly on the head. "Sure, alright."

Hunter poked his head out of the door, doing a double take as he spotted first Crosshair, and then the little Togruta attached to him. He blinked, smirking slightly, but made no comment. "Wrecker! Pack it up, we're going over the plan and heading out soon!"

Crosshair attempted to pry Keraa off of him, but she had latched firmly onto his leg, with no apparent plan of letting go any time soon. Wrecker, who had reached the front porch before Crosshair could retreat in doors and pawn off the annoying little leach to her caretaker, burst out laughing. He pointed at his brother's reddened face as he did so, almost falling off the porch as he staggered around, he was laughing so hard and so loudly. Only Anaria's summons finally made Keraa release her vice-like grip on the sniper's leg.

Wrecker smacked Crosshair heartily on the back, sending him reeling through the front door, where he almost collided with Tech. The bespectacled clone gave the taller clones a confused glance, his pupils still unnaturally large from his caffeine high, before Hunter caught everyone's attention with a loud clap of his hands.

"Alright. We're ready to go! Tech, you've got everything ready to take care of those sensors?"

"I believe so. I have managed to pinpoint the exact frequency at which-"

Crosshair rolled his eyes. "Yes or no?"

Tech gave his brother a look, clearly upset at the rude interruption. "I am now 93% certain I can disarm them without any issues."

Hunter hesitated, and then shrugged. "Well, that's better than nothing. Alright. Let's go over the plan one more time, since we've refined it a bit. We go in quickly and quietly. We'll disarm the sensors and be inside the base by exactly 16:30. We hide out in the conduit for about 30 minutes." Wrecker groaned, his shoulders slumping, but Hunter silenced him with a look. "At which point, Anaria will play her part and deliver the package. But she won't be delivering all of it."

Crosshair, Tech and Wrecker blinked.

Tech adjusted his goggles. "But why not?" he asked in a clipped tone. "Won't Vandrik and his men be furious if she doesn't deliver everything as promised?"

Anaria smiled. "Well, because we said 'by sunset' and it will be well before then. I can simply deliver all I can carry and then have one of them return to the village to help me retrieve the rest. Trust me, I know a couple that would be more than willing to." She grinned. "Especially if I offered to cut them in on a little extra for themselves. That way, I'll have a witness, proving that I was doing as they instructed and didn't aid you the entire time! They'll be none the wiser."

Hunter nodded. "By the time she's finished delivering the first batch of Avital, it will be around 17:15. We will wait until 17:30 before heading down to the maintenance bay. That way, if anything happens, it won't be while she's around, and they won't tie her directly to the mission. She'll be in the village by then with some of the pirates and will be halfway back by the time we leave the base. By 17:40, we'll regain possession of our ship, use it to take out all their transportation that they could use to reach us before we leave the planet, and head for our rendezvous point. We'll be meeting the shuttle on that northern cliff we went up on the other day, near the wood line. This whole mission is going to be a matter of timing, waiting, and patience. Any questions?"

Tech folded his arms. "Won't we have to worry about the pirates seeing us leave, and having them take their anger out on Anaria?"

Anaria shook her head. "No. They'll be so busy panicking, they'll forget about me. And even if they have speeders, they won't be able to do anything because there'll only be a couple, and they can't do anything against your ship. Not to mention they'd have to find your exact location first, which could take a bit of time. By then, you'll outnumber them with your fellow clones. Like Hunter said: this plan is going to rely heavily on timing."

Crosshair snorted. "And a lot of dumb luck."

Anaria chuckled. "Maybe so. But it's the only way you're gonna get your ship back."

Wrecker frowned. "Wait, wasn't the ship in the maintenance bay yesterday? What if they've taken it all apart by now?"

There was an awkward and sullen silence. Hunter shifted slightly, taking a deep breath. "We're hoping that's not the case. But if it is… we go to our last resort, and we take a different, equally sized ship." There was a collective outburst, and Hunter motioned for them all to be quiet. "I know! I don't want to either. But we've got to think about the mission! We need a ship that can hold as much as the Marauder or more, in a worst-case scenario. Tech will be running a quick diagnostic test on our ship once we reach the hanger, while we watch his six. If everything looks good, we'll take the Marauder. If not… we take another ship. There are several to choose from, as we all saw. We'll take the best option and go from there. Everyone understand?"

They all nodded forlornly, but firmly, knowing full well that Hunter was correct. The sergeant looked around at his squad. "Any more questions?"

Crosshair hefted his rifle. "This is the dumbest plan we've ever had."

Hunter sighed. "Cross, that's not a ques-"

"Not really," Tech interrupted. "There was that mission a couple weeks ago where we-"

"Enough! Let's get moving!"

Goodbyes were exchanged, some with hugs (Wrecker,) others with curt nods and awkward smiles (Crosshair and Tech.) Hunter gave Nikau a friendly pat on the head, before extending a hand to Anaria. "We appreciate your help. Without you, we wouldn't be getting out of this mess."

Anaria smirked, shaking his hand firmly. "That's true. You wouldn't. You can pay me back another time by stopping by whenever you've got a chance. I know the kids will want to see you all again too." She looked over at Keraa, who was once again holding onto Crosshair's leg in a firm hug, while Wrecker and Nikau played around with the kick ball one last time. Tech had gotten roped into the game by keeping track of the score, which was pointless as there didn't seem to be any proper way to tell who was "winning".

Hunter chuckled. "Yeah, we'll want to see you all again too. Not sure how far we'll make it- we are in the middle of a war."

Anaria nodded slowly. "That's true. Well, at least try staying alive."

"That's always the goal. You keep outta trouble."

"No promises."

They stood together in silence for a moment, watching the others, as though they were trying to cling onto that one final moment of peace, before they all dove back into the chaos once again.

But peace is a fleeting thing. You see it in small moments throughout life, where everything in the universe seems to be so perfect, it's unreal. And then the next thing you know, you're swept away in the madness, and those moments feel as though they were nothing but a dream the entire time, conjured by your mind's desire to escape the turmoil you're constantly consumed by…

Maybe that's what this was… but either way, there they all stayed, playing ball, watching the game, waiting until the last possible moment to part ways for what could possibly be forever. You never knew in a war…

Finally, though, they all gathered their things and bid each other farewell, the Batch setting off into the forest, with the village and friends they had made growing ever smaller and smaller behind them, until there was nothing but trees in their sights and the perilous mission ahead.