"Two minutes to hyperspace exit," drawls Crosshair over the Marauder's internal PA system, bothered that the GAR's most decorated sharpshooter is being forced to moonlight as a public shuttle driver.

This is a Tech task, he sulks to himself and ponders how a person could possibly be so fond of making announcements at every given opportunity. They've been traveling for over four standard hours and are finally about to rendezvous with Republic forces on the Resolute and ditch the reason for their overcrowded ship.

The fourteen rescued hostages are strewn casually about the spacecraft, encouraged by Wrecker to get as comfortable as they can wherever they can find the deck space. It's a tight squeeze, but after the ordeal that they've just been through, none of Bad Batch's distinguished guests are complaining. Wrecker, as usual, has attracted a following of the youngest of the hostages. In between helping Hunter provide basic medical care and comforts to the victims, he's been playing games with and blissfully entertaining the three abductees who are children.

Working his way aft to forward, Hunter makes his final round through the throng of passengers before joining Crosshair at the helm. As he sidles smoothly through the congregation of dignitaries and public figures, he uses his superhuman senses to check in on how everyone's faring and offers support to those who need it. Hunter almost makes it to the pilothouse when he detects a hand reaching out for his own. Before it makes contact, he turns to find a lean, flaxen-haired young woman sitting in one of the combat information seats, her slender arm extended to grab his attention.

"My lady," Hunter greats her with a bow, recalling from the mission brief that she's a member of the Royal Family from Mandalore; Zilpha of House Kryze, a countess and younger cousin of the Duchess Satine. "We're coming up on the Republic Star Destroyer Resolute and you'll be safely home in no time. Are you alright?"

"Sergeant Hunter," she says nodding to him in return. "Please, after all you've done for us, I'd prefer you call me Zilpha."

"Yes, ma'am. But only if you call me Hunter," he says pleasantly. "What can I do for you, Zilpha?"

"Hunter, you and your men have done me a great service," she begins. "I insist that once we arrive on the Resolute, you allow me to make some special introductions and ensure that your squad is handsomely rewarded for your valor."

Hunter smiles, lowers his gaze, and shakes his head unpretentiously.

"It's our duty and privilege to serve the Republic and fight for those who have suffered injustice," he explains, humbly. "It was an honor to liberate you from behind enemy lines and it was cruel that you were pulled into the conflict in the first place. We don't deserve a reward, nor do we seek one; all we want is to see you safely returned to your home."

"I see. Very gallant, of you," says the countess, impressed but unsatisfied. "And yet, my culture and my values compel me to show my gratitude. When you're given a respite after this assignment, I insist you visit one of my family's sprawling estates on Mandalore to rest and recover. You and your men will be treated like royalty and hailed as heroes. My cousin, the Duchess, has… connections within your chain of command. She could make the arrangements."

"That's a very kind offer, Zilpha," begins Hunter, his warm demeanor shifting into something more stoic. "But truth be told, our mission's far from over."

"What can you mean?" asks the countess, taken aback. "I see with my own eyes that you've rescued and taken good care of all fourteen of us who were abducted. Won't your superiors will be pleased? "

"They will," Hunter says, his voice quavering slightly. "But not all of my men were able to escape the base when we did."

"Oh, I see," breathed the countess, her hand going to her mouth in alarm. "Hunter, I'm so sorry. How many of them had to stay behind?"

"My two brothers, Tech and Echo," Hunter confesses, the situation somehow seeming more painful now that he's saying it out loud and to a civilian. "They're a couple of the Republic's most proficient commandos, and the cleverest men I've ever met. I know they'll make do until we return for them, but surely you can see that my boys and I still have work to do."

"Of course," agrees the countess, nodding vigorously. "Of course, you must return to that abominable place. I would do the same for my own family. Thank you for your great sacrifice and your men for theirs, Hunter. My thoughts will be with you all as you victoriously reunite."

"It means a lot to me," says Hunter softly. "Thank you for that."

"I mean it," promises the countess with a fierce glint in her pale eyes. "And please," she adds with an adamant squeeze to his hand. "If you or your men ever want for anything that Mandalore can provide, don't hesitate to contact me. House Kryze is indebted to you."

"Thank you, Zilpha," Hunter says, laying a chaste kiss upon and releasing her hand. "Be well, my lady."

…

Hunter steps over the final threshold and into the cockpit where Crosshair is busy getting the Marauder ready to drop out of hyperspace. The surly sharpshooter turns his head slightly and lifts an eyebrow by way of greeting. Nothing more.

"Thanks for manning the throttles, Cross," says Hunter settling down in the co-pilot's seat. "How're we looking?"

"Fine," mutters Crosshair. "The VIPs?"

"All good. Exhausted, hungry, and most are still scared shitless," Hunter reports to his brother. "But all good."

"Joy," deadpans the sniper, methodically shifting his long legs in the footwell beneath the control console.

"Yeah, Wrecker's been keeping the youngsters occupied," Hunter continues, acknowledging the navigation alarms alight on the dash. "You ever notice how he's really good with kids? Once they realize he's not gonna eat 'em, that is."

"That's because he is a kid," says Crosshair, gripping the yoke and activating thrusters in preparation for their dropout. "Twenty seconds. You can announce it this time, sir."

Rolling his eyes genially, Hunter keys the proper microphone at his own console.

"Prepare to exit hyperspace," he calmly announces over the ship-wide PA. "In 3 – 2 – 1-"

The Havoc Marauder and her passengers glide out of hyperspace and into the shadow of the Resolute. It doesn't take long for them to be hailed and their identities to be verified.

"This is shuttle Havoc Marauder with seventeen souls inbound," reports Crosshair, doing a decent job of not sounding as bored as he usually does. "Including all fourteen recovered hostages, over."

"Roger Havoc Marauder," responds the reg at the flight control tower. "You are authorized to make your approach and clear for landing on platform 23, over."

Expecting Crosshair to uphold radio etiquette, Hunter's not pleased when the sniper remains silent.

"Uhh Crosshair?" he says.

"What?" Crosshair challenges, tersely.

"Whatever happened to roger out?"

Crosshair lets out an irritated huff, snatches the radio transmitter from the hook, and keys the mic again.

"Platform 23," he acknowledges sullenly, after far too much time has elapsed to be considered respectful. "This's-Havoc-Marauder-roger-out."

Crosshair barely utters the hurried jumble of words before he slams the mic down, half-hoping that the awful noise it makes is transmitted rudely over the airwaves.

"Nice," says Hunter, unamused as Crosshair unapologetically scoffs at him. "You're lucky Echo didn't get to hear that exchange."

"My point exactly," Crosshair seethes, his expression darkening. "They know we're in a hurry. They couldn't be bothered to intercept?"

"It won't hurt us to dock. We need fuel and ammo anyway," Hunter reasons. "We'll touchdown, unload, get a drink, and then leave."

"Right," says Crosshair, grudgingly. "But we're leaving when we say so. I don't mind clearing us a path."

"Easy now, trigger-finger. It won't come to that," says Hunter, smiling fondly about how protective Crosshair is about his vode when he's provoked. "It's Skywalker's flagship. There's a good chance he'll have our backs on this."

Satisfied, the sharpshooter nods.

…

A retinue of officers, medical personnel, and political big-whigs are waiting in the hangar when Crosshair eases the Marauder down on the assigned landing platform. Hunter's relieved to see the crowd because he's hoping there will be enough commotion to distract anyone from wanting to talk to Clone Force 99 about the mission. Then they can hurry back into Separatist territory to collect their brothers.

His hopes are quickly dashed when he's summoned to a debriefing and told to report at once.

"Crosshair, see that we get a fuel top-off," he instructs the sniper. "Also, get a corpsman to restock our basic medical supplies. We're almost cleaned out."

The slender, silver-haired clone gives a curt salute, scans the bustling activities within the hangar, and lopes away to find the fueling department.

From where he's standing, Hunter can smell the hypermatter tanks rooted underneath the nearest fueling station. As soon as he notices Crosshair pivot in the right direction, he turns to give instructions to Wrecker.

"Wrecker, make sure everyone's accounted for and that they gey linked up with the appropriate personnel," he tells the gentle giant who is lending a helping hand to the passengers making their way down the gangway of the Marauder. "Then, make a quick run to the armory and see we're fully stocked with what we'll need to get back into and outta that base."

"You got it, Sarge," booms Wrecker. "Oi, tell the brass we're in a rush."

"It doesn't work like that, big guy," says Hunter over his shoulder. He's already jogging toward the lifts that will take him up to the operations department. "But I'll do what I can."

As soon as the lift doors open on the level he needs, Hunter walks as briskly as he can to the designated debriefing room. He already has what he wants to say prepared and just hopes they don't ask him too many questions. He's looking forward to telling whatever reg commander he's about to give his report to that they can defer to General Skywalker's comments if they're not satisfied with Hunter's account of the mission.

What Hunter isn't prepared for is finding General Skywalker, himself, sitting in the debriefing room when the door slides open, waiting to hear first-hand about Clone Force 99's successful mission. And yet, there he is, quietly conversing with none other than the renowned General Kenobi.

In 766yexperience, this is usually a big red flag, but after noting the conspicuous lack of a senior Clone officer, Hunter's not sure what to make of this scenario. Both Jedi break off their conversation and turn to acknowledge the sergeant as Hunter finally overcomes his surprise, clears his throat, and steps into the room.

"General Skywalker, General Kenobi," Hunter greets them at attention and with a salute. "OIC of Clone Force 99, reporting as ordered.

Kenobi quickly places the sergeant at ease.

"Good to see you again, Hunter," says Skywalker with a tone of familiarity.

"You too, sir," replies Hunter. "And you, sir, General Kenobi."

"Likewise," says Kenobi, pleasantly, gesturing for Hunter to sit down with them. "Shall we?"

Hunter takes the offered seat, ready to present his succinct account of events, and hoping neither General wants to hear anything more than the essential aspects.

"Let's get right to it," says Skywalker. "What's your plan?"

Hunter's somewhat caught off-guard by this question, but he answers quickly.

"My plan?" he says. "My plan is to debrief you about our mission, as requested, so that my squad and I can-"

"Yeahhh, I'm gonna stop you right there," says Skywalker. "You can't debrief me and Obi-Wan about a mission that isn't finished yet."

"Oh. Erm, yes, sir," says Hunter, taken aback. "We've brought all the former hostages to the Resolute, though. What else does-"

"We did the math," Kenobi interjects, tactfully. "I'll admit, it's not my strong suit-"

"That's the truth," guffaws Skywalker, insolently.

"- but- oh hush, Anakin- all fourteen hostages returned safely and only seventeen souls onboard your ship when you arrived?" says Kenobi, stroking his beard. "Anakin, help me out here, aren't they down a head or two?"

"Or two," agrees Skywalker, his demeanor immediately sobering. "Who from the Batch had to stay behind, Hunter?"

Hunter hesitates a moment, looking from Skywalker to Kenobi, back to Skywalker. He knows he's not doing a good job of hiding his emotions right now. He also realizes there's probably a huttload more that these two wily Jedi can do with the Force than he's been led to believe.

"Tech and Echo," Hunter reports gravely. "We'd split into two teams and they were working the command center while Crosshair, Wrecker, and I freed and wrangled the hostages. They reported some sort of cyber issue and then indicated that we'd need to leave them behind to get the hostages away safely. Crosshair and Wrecker are down in the hangar now fueling up. We intend to go back for Tech and Echo as soon as we can get the green light from command."

"Tech and Echo," Kenobi repeats their names, pensively, almost delicately, and glances somberly to his colleague. "That concerns us."

"Generals, I assure you," Hunter declares at once. "They're both highly capable commandos and I trust them with my life. I know they can manage on their own until we get back there to extract them. "

"We know that too," says Skywalker. "We don't doubt their abilities, we're worried about some intel we just received. There've been reports of bounty hunter activity in the area surrounding that same base within the last few hours. Their leader's a real piece of work and he's got confirmed ties with the Techno Union."

Techno Union, Hunter shudders as his mouth abruptly goes dry and his stomach twists into painful knots. No...

"Unfortunately, yes," says Kenobi, as if he'd heard Hunter's unspoken anguish. "Too many reports from too viable a source for us not to be convinced."

So espionage is a big player here...

Finally, Hunter thinks he knows just what this meeting is about and why two high-ranking, highly-demanded Jedi Generals have taken the time to personally speak with a lowly clone sergeant. It's because Tech and Echo would be very strategic bounties for anyone seeking favor within the CIS. Echo, in particular, with all his cybernetic modifications and ability to cerebrally interface with computer databases, would be perceived as a potential beskar mine of tactical information. Suddenly, Hunter realizes he needs to bring Tech's latest technological innovation to light and set the facts straight before the Republic does anything rash or puts his two brothers in further danger.

"Generals, please trust me on this," says Hunter adamantly. "Tech created and installed a new security program for Echo and they both have their own rigid failsafe security protocol. I promise you, if captured, neither of my men will give up anything of value. I know Echo didn't have a choice last time, but Tech's put in the overtime to ensure it'd be utterly impossible for anyone to access Echo's-"

"You misunderstand," Kenobi interrupts, something Hunter knows is out of character for the well-mannered Jedi Master. "We're not worried about them yielding Republic Intel. Well, not primarily anyway."

"We're just worried about them," Skywalker stresses. "We don't want Tech or Echo to come to any harm. I mean, Echo's been through enough as it is."

"Quite right. So we'd prefer that they not to be captured and distributed like tauntaun fodder to the highest bidder," adds Kenobi. "That being said, what's your squad's plan to recover them?"

"R-right," says Hunter, trying to wrap his head around yet another shocking development in the saga that is this "routine debrief." He takes a deep breath to steady himself and calm his racing mind.

"You OK, sergeant?" asks Skywalker. "You seem a little rattled."

"No- I mean- yes I'm OK, sir," Hunter says. "Frankly, I'm just a little surprised to have your support already. I honestly thought I'd have some pushback and that I'd have to submit paperwork and explain, that there'd be protocol, and I dunno..."

"A bunch of red tape?" suggests Skywalker.

"Well, yeah," admits Hunter. "Lots of it."

"That's understandable," Kenobi allows, but then holds up two fingers and briefly mimes a pair of scissors. "But this is us cutting it."

Hunter hears Skywalker's snort of mirth at the exact same moment that he fails to suppress his own. Under normal circumstances, Hunter would be embarrassed at his lack of decorum and poor bearing. But in this moment, with these two noble, powerful, compassionate warriors, he doesn't. Instead, he feels refreshed, inspired, and has a renewed eagerness to bust Echo and Tech out of that base before the Seps even know what hit them. And kriff any and all bounty hunters who dare get in their way.

"And," Kenobi continues, casually motioning to Skywalker and quirking a ginger eyebrow. "My dear friend here just so happens to be the Flag Officer aboard this fine vessel. One could say that we have a certain influence regarding this command's daily operations."

These two wisecrackers run the whole karking show out here, Hunter muses. And they genuinely, deeply care about clones. Better yet, they're on team Bad Batch.

"You heard the General, Hunter," says Skywalker with an encouraging smirk. "So, tell us the plan."

...

Hunter proceeds to tell Kenobi and Skywalker about how he and the Batch intend to track and contact Echo and Tech, infiltrate the base again, and retrieve their vode quietly, without causing another intergalactic incident. The generals are confident with Hunter's strategy, and they offer suggestions and advice where applicable.

...

"Sounds like you have it covered," says Skywalker after the plan is solidified. "Which works out for us because Obi-Wan and I are gonna need to debrief you, Crosshair, Wrecker, Echo, and Tech - all five of you - about the hostage rescue mission as soon as possible. That's an order."

"Sir, yes, sir," Hunter annunciates proudly and with a determined grin.

"Splendid. Now, remind me, Sergeant," Kenobi says as he and Skywalker stand and walk the clone commando to the door. "What's your squad's success rate?"

"We've been fortunate," says Hunter, humbly. "It's... 100% so far, sir."

"Hm very good, very good," says Kenobi, clapping a hand on Hunter's back. "And the verdict's still out for this one. Do see that you're consistent, won't you?"

"I will, General," Hunter promises.

"And keep in touch," Skywalker adds. "We've got more high-powered technical assets on the Resolute that you've got on your attack shuttle. Be sure to use us as a resource."

"I won't tell Tech you said that, but we'll definitely lean on the Resolute when we need to," says Hunter, graciously. "Thank you, General. We'll take all the help we can get."

"Good," Skywalker says. "See you soon then."

"Keep us informed," says Kenobi, warmly. "And may the Force be with you,"

Hunter salutes the two Jedi and swiftly exits the room.

...

Crosshair and Wrecker have just finished refueling and restocking when they notice Hunter jogging back across the vast hangar to landing platform 23.

"That was fast," drawls Crosshair, skeptically, upon the sergeant's return. "Do we actually have their blessing?

"Yeah," says Hunter shrugging. "Apparently we have friends in high places. Are we ready for the jump?"

"All set, Sarge," reports Wrecker. "Can we get outta here now? Tech and Echo are gonna start to worry, you know, 'bout us three."

"Probably already are," complains Crosshair. "More so than their own moronic skins."

"I don't doubt it, lads. So let's move," says Hunter motioning for them to join him as he jogs up the Marauder's gangway. "Cross, take us out. The same lane we used to get to the Resolute if it's still open."

When the three Batchers enter the cockpit, Hunter surprises his batchmates by directing Wrecker to the co-pilot seat and taking his own seat at the C5I console near the rear of the compartment.

"Wrecker, give Crosshair a hand," says the sergeant, before either of his brothers can protest. "I have a few extra channels we're gonna want patched into our comms for round two."