Under a Blood Red Sky: A Bad Batch Story, Part 1
=0=On a ship fleeing into hyperspace
For a moment there was chaos, then silence descended, a thick eerie hollowness that often followed a harrowing battle when they made it away. Space flew past in the super-luminal manner, stretched out stars and clouds of light in a stream of beautiful colors.
She stood next to her brother, the one who cared for her on a very relatable level of engagement. Wrecker had the body of a man and the emotional maturity of a child which he was. That clones existed like this was a criminal act, that one would be programmed to fit this pattern was as indecent as could be. It was a hazard of clones, that they would be a living dichotomy like him, grown up but not, many of them. She was staring at Crosshair with an array of emotions but mostly compassion.
She leaned against Wrecker who was sitting in a jump seat staring silently at Crosshair himself. She glanced up at his face, a strong face marred by violence accrued over a lifetime of atrocities. His huge frame filled the seat, signaling the power that filled him. He was literally the strongest person she'd ever seen and if truth were told, perhaps the strongest version of his family line that ever lived. That he was a sweet guy who had a solid opinion of himself and the life they lived made him a perfect companion and guardian for her, a child hungry for family.
Dichotomy.
She was the only girl in a family of brothers that numbered into the billions but was starving for a family of her own.
She glanced forward toward the flight deck where Echo and Tech were manning the ship, flying it toward safety that would now be even harder to find. Tech was intent on the task and Echo looked preoccupied. His stark features were filled with tension and emotions held tightly in check. Tech was almost his usual calm elegant self but the stress of the past day could still be seen on his face.
Lights flashed past their view ports forward and elsewhere signaling that they were at this point untouchable. Their flight mode was taking them to their destination at super speed, bending space around them rather than the ship actually flying somewhere. Tech could tell you the physics of fleeing but for now it seemed as if by mutual agreement conversation was moot.
She glanced at Hunter, her silent, brooding brother. He was the one she had singled out for her deepest and most personal sense of security, gravitating to him drawn by his natural poise and sense of self. He was their leader. He was in his own way the strongest. He was brave, smart, handsome and he loved her in his own understated way. It was evident in his dark eyes when she was scared or upset and he bore the scars of fighting for her when she was in danger.
They had a shorthand together, a little girl older than the man she hero worshiped imitating him because he gave her something she never had.
A father.
He glanced at her, then nodded slightly.
She walked toward him and hugged his shoulders. Leaning against him, she stared at him, then Crosshair. Brothers for sure, both of them, but as far apart as they could be. She loved them both. She loved all of them. She was there when they were created, then modified for some odd reason by her own creator and mentor, Nala Se.
She had seen them as babies helpless and small, then kept track of them, these siblings that had meaning for her until that moment when they were all watching the team demonstrate their prowess in the pit for Tarkin. It was then that she felt the possibilities of being their friend and maybe leaving the nightmare of Kamino at last.
An encounter in the hallway, a food fight in a cafeteria, it was an auspicious start to a life that was only a dream until they came back, walking in with confidence, mystery and masculine assurance. They were everything she expected and needed. Hunter had spoken to her first and was kindly. It was a moment that sealed the deal.
"Are you hurt? I saw you fall," she said in a tiny voice, almost as if she were afraid disturb the murky energy.
He glanced at her, then shook his head. "I'm fine. How are you?"
She leaned closer. "Better. I'm glad you're here. I worried about you. What about Crosshair? What are we going to do for him, Hunter?"
"We're going to see Rex after we pick up Gregor," Hunter said quietly. "Until then he stays in restraints."
"Do you really believe he had his chip removed? The scarring from the ion engine makes it hard to see," Omega said.
"We need to have him scanned," Hunter replied. "I don't know what they did to him when we were in the brig but he was harder and colder afterward."
"They enhanced it, the chip," Omega said. "I heard that when a clone wasn't loyal enough they enhanced it. It becomes harder to resist then."
"The scars are hard to figure out. I don't see a surgical type. Just the ones from the engine," Hunter said. "We can't take chances. He might still be under the influence of one."
"Or he might be as bad as he acts," Wrecker said as he glanced toward Hunter, then back at Crosshair. "I want him back. Whatever we do, that's what I want."
"We all do, Wrecker," Omega said softly.
They flew onward into the ever nighttime of space.
=0=Kamino, some time before the last fight and fall
He sat on his bunk rubbing his forehead as the weight of his emotions pressed against him. Emotions weren't something that they were very good with, these engineered slave children of the Republic. Emotions were inconvenient so the companionship and snarky precision of his life with his brothers, a lesser solution, were a substitute for them. The former was messy and demanding. The latter, easy and manageable.
The others in his elite new squad were silent and uneasy around him since the murder of their comrade, ES-01 during the mission. For some of them it wasn't surprising he'd been shot if they considered what he'd done with their Clone commander, challenging and mocking him in front of them as if the darkness that informed him wasn't dangerous enough. He'd poked a bomb and it blew up in his face. But that didn't help them much. Crosshair's murder of their comrade led to a paralysis of fear that pressed them to the merciless slaughter of the civilians that were with the traitors they were prepared to fight.
Civilians, not so much.
They were bunked together, the remaining members of the human squad so admired by Admiral Rampart, with the self contained inferno of rage sitting nearby. Most of them had interacted with clones, some of which were among the most violent people they'd met thus far but never one like him. He was darkness personified.
They'd heard Crosshair, CT-9904 was a master sharpshooter and someone you didn't provoke. From the moment he was introduced to them with his almost unmeetable eyes, it was evident that he was different. Most of them were smart enough not to say anything remotely offensive but to watch and learn instead. Whoever this guy was, he was dangerous in the extreme.
Their dead comrade wasn't beyond ego and a desire to demonstrate competence for advancement. It was ironic to all of them that ES-01 been killed trying to do right by the group they'd been sent to find.
Clones were another world altogether.
The fear in the room, the unwillingness to speak to him or meet his gaze was good enough for Crosshair. This was the room he shared with his brothers. They'd made their own mark on it with their idiosyncrasies and boyish messiness. It had been stripped bare and cleaned to a level that he actually approved, but everywhere he looked he saw reminders like the marks on the wall to track missions. There was memory of the ungodly mess on their table where Tech worked on his projects as well as the disarray of clothing and weapons that was typical of young men who had their own space and no supervision.
He'd been neat as a pin himself. Now it was sterile and empty.
Like his guts.
He sat on his bunk staring at the floor brooding on ghosts while the others around the room silently made ready to sleep.
Uneasily.
=0=Long before
"9901, please come with me."
9901 glanced up at the instructor, a Kaminoan female named Nala Se. She was their creator, the one who they were trained to obey when she needed them to test some thing or the other. Clone 9901 aka 'Hunter' for his uncanny ability to follow a trail to the end rose from his chair, setting his head gear on the computer console before him.
Around him were literally hundreds of children working on their particular strengths, learning the programming and obedience that would make them the perfect marketable product to those who purchased them when they were 'ripe'.
Following Nala Se who elegantly walked from the room toward the hallway, he glanced around. This couldn't be good.
=0=Earlier that morning
The brawl was short and sweet among the two young kids who faced bigger and slightly older ones in combat. That it was in the boys head where most of their troubles happened was unsurprising. It was there that most of the fights they had were accomplished for good or ill.
Several big boys had 9904 on the ground pummeling him. He was tall and thin, though he'd grow up to be very strong and darkly dangerous.
9901 slugged his attacker, then pummeled him with his fists. That kid went down so he rushed to his brother's aid. By then someone at the door called out warning so the bigger boys, the attackers, jumped up and with no small difficulty made their way to him and out.
9904 jumped up filled with fury, glowering at his brother before the door opened again.
A tall Kaminoan walked in, then looked downward. "9904 and 9901, why am I not surprised to see you here like this again?"
Both boys stared at the Kaminoan with resentment and no small amount of fury. Neither of them said a word but followed the big male out of the room and down the corridor to the office of their master teacher. They did so trailing blood as they limped along. Entering together to face the music together, 9904 aka Crosshair and 9901 aka Hunter would say nothing and get punishment detail together.
Again.
They would never ever snitch.
=0=Not so long ago
"Now … apologize to my friends."
Crosshair glanced at the little girl standing on the table and felt amusement along with a sense of futility. This wasn't going to end well. He concentrated on his meal, one overdue and long anticipated.
The reg that smarted off to her froze when Wrecker rose behind her, a man mountain with a well publicized, highly earned reputation for violence and mayhem. He was strong enough to roll a troop transport singlehandedly. He was no one to fuck around with. But these regs were still in 'their wrapper' and thus had little understanding about the elite specialized clone groups among their kind.
They would learn about the 'Sad Batch'.
Crosshair sighed silently. The reg had insulted the kid. The crash of dishes right after the insult propelled by Wrecker with extreme delight signaled the end of his peace but he persevered. Maybe he would make it all the way through this time.
Echo sliding across the table through his meal put end to that hopeful thought and the frustration he felt was spent venting itself on clones that really weren't part of the melee. That this event lead to the inevitable chain of events that birthed their moment of truth at the destruction of Kamino some time later was inevitable.
That was in the future, however, a blighted place filled with grief and disappointment that would morph into fury and vengeance. At the moment he was dealing with a human based team who were smartassed and over confident who didn't try to hide their disdain for him, lesser beings, humans, assigned to him by Rampart.
He would show them the error of their ways.
=0=On a ship in superluminal space after an apocalyptic paradigm shift
He felt himself swim slowly to sentience. Rolling over onto his back, Crosshair straightened his long legs painfully. He'd been stunned heavily. Now he would have to climb back upward into what, he didn't know. Blinking his eyes, he turned his head toward the light. Blurred individuals consolidated into figures familiar and frustrating. He turned his head away as he willed himself to clarity.
"He's awake," Wrecker said as he stared grimly at Crosshair.
"He is," Omega said softly.
=0=TBC 08-06-2021 edited August 7, 2021
I'm not sure how long this will continue. I have to do more research but I'm happy you read this. Take care and thank you. -A
Head: the name for a rest room mostly used in the navy.
