Wrote this last night because he's been bugging me since War Mantle.

Star Wars © Lucasfilm


He'd left Hunter.

He had left Hunter. His brother. His sergeant!

Tech heard his knuckles pop as he tightened his grip on the Havoc Marauder's yoke and tried, desperately, to breathe. His heart was slamming against his ribs, pounding away at his veneer of calm restraint, and Tech knew what was coming.

The symptoms were very clear, though he had not had a panic attack in years - at least, not one as overwhelmingly powerful as the one screaming at him at this current moment was.

His hair and blacks were warm under his armor and drenched with sweat, while his heart continued to race and his breathing was becoming rather short. But Tech could not afford to go into a panic attack now, not when the Havoc Marauder was bleeding fuel and limping through hyperspace, and least of all when his brothers needed someone calm.

Wrecker did not need Tech to burden him with a panic attack that Tech could calculate was not going to end quickly, not when Wrecker was trying to comfort Omega in the hold of the Marauder. Echo need not be concerned for Tech, not when Echo was desperately contacting Rex to inform them of their failed mission.

Tech did not count their rescue of Gregor from the Imperial facility on Daro as a success, not when they had lost Hunter in the process. No mission could ever be successful when they had lost one of their brothers, and least of all when it had been Tech's fault.

"Get the ship out of here. I'll find another way back."

Hunter's voice had been short of breath, strained and - judging from the tiny hitch in how Hunter had hissed out "another" - he was injured. And Tech had left Hunter behind.

He'd flown away from Daro and jumped into hyperspace without his sergeant, while Hunter was injured and surrounded by Imperials. How could Tech have left his brother behind, when he'd already lost Crosshair?

Tech's eyes burned as he thought of Crosshair, and his team's clear avoidance of ever approaching the subject of their abandoning their brother. Hunter had tensed when Tech had, intentionally, let Crosshair's name slip from his mouth a few days after their first mission for Cid, and had actually snarled at Tech to be silent.

Hunter always bristled whenever Crosshair's name was mentioned - rare as that was for Tech to dare again after the first trial -, though Tech was not fully certain of the origin behind Hunter's irritability. It was irrefutable that Crosshair and Hunter had argued more and more after each mission during the Clone Wars - and that tension had increased tenfold upon Echo's intrusion into their tightly knit group -, and that Crosshair had often found ways to frustrate Hunter. But the immediacy with which Hunter responded to the mere mention of Crosshair made Tech believe that Hunter's reactions hailed from much more than just Crosshair being turned against his team.

At first, Tech and his brothers had believed that Crosshair had turned of his own free will against the Batch, but that had changed for Tech after Bracca. Sometimes Tech's irrational side, that stupidly emotional part of him that was wholly unneeded and unhelpful to his brothers, reared its head and made him flinch whenever Wrecker's hand would land on his shoulder.

Tech knew Wrecker had not meant to choke him, and would never even think of hurting Tech or any of the rest of the Batch, but that knowledge did not always win out over emotion. If Wrecker had been turned against his brothers, it was obvious by the shift in Crosshair's nature on Kamino that had been all the fault of his inhibitor chip.

And, yet, Tech had ignored it. Waved it off as himself, Hunter, Wrecker and Echo being immune where Crosshair was not. Anger scorched through Tech as he thought of how simply he had waved off Crosshair's chip, and had ignored the obvious signs in Wrecker. His arrogance towards the chips appalled Tech, and he could not forgive himself for that blunder either.

What were his brains for, if Tech did not actually use them to help his brothers?

"-going to meet him tomorrow on Ord Mantell. Can the Marauder get to Ord Mantell?"

Echo's voice drowned Tech's thoughts, pulling him out of the fog of his backlog of regrets, and to where Echo was staring at him quizzically.

Tech blinked at Echo then shook himself, shoving his thoughts and regrets back inside the tiny part of himself that always held his emotions in check around his brothers - he'd been trained that way since he was a second year cadet -, then nodded to the half of Echo's question he had heard.

"The Havoc Marauder will be able to reach Ord Mantell, though I will need to complete repairs the moment we land," Tech said, his tone measured and practiced in its calm manner.

He could not afford to reveal the emotions he was only just barely holding at bay to Echo, not if he wanted to support his team correctly. Tech's brothers always came before himself, and it would be selfish of him to allow himself to lose control when the others were struggling more than Tech was.

Tech was the Batch's calm center, and he had to remain that way, even when he was breaking apart inside. He acknowledged Echo's next comment with a nod and a purposeful hum, then turned his focus outside the Havoc Marauder's viewport.

He had to keep together long enough to land on Ord Mantell, or there would be no one to hold his brothers together. Echo was too stern and grumpy to hold the team together - and Tech had not missed how Wrecker had roared at Echo, blaming him for making the go to Daro. There was no possible way Echo or Wrecker could attempt to hold the team in one piece if they were at odds with each other, similar somewhat to how Echo had become ever more at odds with Hunter's decisions after Bracca.

Tech was the only one left who could keep his brothers aligned, though he wished to have any other responsibility than to lead. Tech knew how to lead, had been trained to lead by a variety of different trainers on Kamino, and understood how to make plans, but he did not desire the role as leader amongst his brothers.

That was supposed to be Hunter, who seemed to come naturally with the instincts of a leader, or even Crosshair, who cared so deeply for his brothers, his decisions centered solely around their protection. Not Tech… never Tech, and never when he was the only remaining option left.

"I would recommend that you sleep, Echo," Tech heard himself say, "you and Gregor may use Hunter's and my bunks, as I cannot risk sleeping with the Havoc Marauder damaged as it is."

Echo hesitated notably at Tech's suggestion, then Tech heard Echo growl and shake his head in refusal. "I'm not leaving you up here alone-"

"That is an order, Echo," Tech snapped, his eyes narrowing as he turned his head towards Echo and met his gaze sternly.

Echo opened his mouth to protest, but a silent glare from Tech seemed to dissuade Echo from arguing. With a deep sigh, Echo stood up from the copilot's seat and trudged off to the starboard bunks just behind the cockpit.

Tech gritted his teeth and turned back to the viewport, his breathing controlled only by his fierce need to get home to Ord Mantell safely.


The Havoc Marauder landed with a thud that jarred through Tech as the crippled port engine sputtered out and died. Tech released his vice-like grip on the yoke and slowly stood up from the pilot's chair stiffly, an uneasy sigh of relief escaping from his lungs.

The journey to Ord Mantell had taken far longer than Tech liked, as he had been forced to drop out of hyperspace when the Havoc Marauder's port engine could not sustain the speed of hyperspace any longer. Tech was tired, and more tired than he'd like to admit.

He understood that the strange feeling of listless energy pervading him, was a subtle hint towards the emotional and mental exhaustion that had been plaguing Tech for months. Ever since they had fled Kamino and left Crosshair, Tech had been without structure, held down only by the strength of his brothers. And now that strength was gone, just as Hunter was no longer with them, and Tech could no longer stave off his exhaustion.

Tech powered down the Havoc Marauder then roused Echo and Wrecker, both of whom were quiet and said nothing as they dressed. Wrecker headed to the tail gun and disappeared behind Omega's curtains, his voice surprisingly soft as he spoke to the young child.

Echo rubbed at his eyes before he turned to Tech, then jerked his head in the direction of Tech's bunk. "You should get some sleep now that we have landed, Tech, you look exhausted."

"I am perfectly fine, Echo," Tech bit out, "the repairs to the Havoc Marauder are of utmost importance at this current juncture. The sooner I can repair the ship, the sooner we can attempt to rescue Hunter from the Empire."

Echo opened his mouth, likely to protest - an irritating trait of Echo's that Tech was very tired of -, but Tech interjected before Echo could even speak.

"It would be best if you led Wrecker, Omega and Gregor to Cid's, as I work better without distractions. The shuttle will be inoperable until I can fix it, so we will not be able to leave the planet until I can complete my work. And I cannot complete what needs to be done if you and Wrecker are arguing and interrupting my train of thoughts constantly."

Anger flamed in Echo's eyes but Tech ignored it as he headed back to the cockpit to begin diagnostic scans, for Tech was in no mood to argue over something as nonsensical as Tech's lack of a normal sleep schedule. Echo had berated him for never sleeping before, to which Tech would normally tune out, but Tech knew that if he allowed Echo to argue with him today, Tech would snap.

And Tech could not afford to let his brothers see him snap, not when he knew how much was clawing to be let out. All Tech wanted was to have time to himself to work on the Marauder without Echo, Wrecker or Omega irritating him.

He could not afford to break in front of his brothers and sister, but Tech knew that he would break the moment they left the Havoc Marauder. Knowing what was inevitable, Tech worked furiously to download scans of the damage the shuttle had sustained on Daro, pacing up and down the shuttle's hold as he waited for the download to end.

Finally, finally, Echo ushered the rest of Tech's family and Gregor out of the Havoc Marauder, and left him in peace. Tech clenched his fists together and ground his teeth, desperate to distract himself as he began repairs on the shuttle.

As he worked, Tech's thoughts turned ever darker, circling with the doubts and fears he had been kept awake by ever since his brothers had fled Kamino.

He had always valued himself on his intelligence - his "exceptional mind" - and yet Tech had failed his brothers repeatedly. He'd failed Crosshair because of Tech's arrogance and his inability to see past his preconceived notions on the inhibitor chips - how stupid could he have been to believe that only regs were affected by the inhibitor chips? - and they had left their brother behind because of Tech.

Crosshair had been made into a tool for the Empire, and Hunter had wordlessly forbidden any talk of Crosshair on the Havoc Marauder. Tech assumed some of Hunter's purpose behind ignoring speaking about Crosshair was the evident hurt in Hunter's eyes whenever he thought Tech wasn't looking at him, but that did not change matters.

Tech understood the purpose of their missions with Cid, and had argued against Echo's insistence to travel to Daro because of the logical fact that Tech and his brothers needed money. They were short on money constantly - even more so due to Wrecker and Omega's insistence on buying Mantell Mix every time they returned from a mission, even when each carton cost fourteen credits - and Cid was the only way Tech and his brothers knew to sustain themselves.

But Echo had argued to rescue Gregor, and Hunter had agreed, albeit reluctantly. Hunter had gone with Echo's plan, and he was now gone.

They should have listened to you, Tech's vicious, cruel side snarled, the part of him that always wished his brothers would listen to him. You were right about the mission, but no one ever listens to you.

Tech clenched his fists, unaware of how his soldering iron dug into the skin of his palm as he worked to repair the damaged port side engine, and tried to dissuade his negative thoughts. For a time, Tech was successful, long enough to complete what repairs he could on the Marauder's damaged engine, as well as repair every torn piece of hull that the V-wings had shot up, but his mind remained distracted.

When he'd completed his third check of the new set of diagnostics, Tech finally allowed himself to rest, though he did not move anywhere but to the pilot's chair. He slumped his back against the chair and rubbed at the bridge of his nose briefly, then pulled his goggles from his face and buried his face in his hands.

He left Hunter.

Everything that had happened had been Tech's fault, from the very second he had accessed the Imperial base's mainframe and attempted to key in an old Clone Wars era code. How could he have not seen that the Empire would change their codes? Why did he not plan for that contingency, when it was so evidently clear now how different the Empire was from the Republic?

If Tech had not set off that stupid alarm, Hunter would still be with his brothers, Hunter would be safe, but he wasn't. How could Tech ever apologize to Hunter for leaving him, when Tech was so clearly at fault for the loss of their sergeant - and their sniper…

"I don't know what happened!" Tech had offered as a pathetic explanation when Hunter had turned to him, disappointment in his tone, and asked about the alarms.

Tech hadn't known, in that he had not lied, but he should have been smart enough to theorize that the Empire would change the old codes. Tech didn't know anything but the old Republic era codes, as the Empire was too new, and he had no reference material to fall back on - but he should have assumed that the Empire would change. Why was he always so foolishly arrogant about his intelligence when it led him nowhere, and had taken two of his brothers from his family?

If he'd actually been thinking, instead of assuming, Tech would have known that he was going to set off an alarm if he fiddled with data consoles he knew nothing about. Echo had made it abundantly clear when he'd scomped into the Imperial base that nothing in the data banks was familiar, but Tech had not heard Echo.

Once the alarm had set off, there were no longer any easy exits off the Imperial base, and Tech had alerted their enemies to his team's presence. What kind of slicer was he, if all he did was bring trouble to his brothers with his skills and bring heat down upon them?

Tech had thought escaping through the reactor conduits would give them the chance to escape freely and safely onto the Havoc Marauder but, again, he was wrong. Tech had never expected the Empire to send so many V-Wings after the Marauder, even after Wrecker had destroyed as many as he had with the tail gun and-

Why hadn't he waited?

Tears burned at the corners of Tech's eyes as he replayed his decision to bank away from the reactor conduit early. He'd seen Echo jump aboard, only for the squadron of V-Wings from the Imperial base to distract Tech as they barreled towards the nose of the Marauder.

Tech had banked away from the reactor without checking to make sure that Hunter had leapt aboard, only for Omega's scream of Hunter's name to tell him what Tech had done.

He hadn't waited for Hunter, and had left Hunter to fall to the forest floor below. If Tech had waited one mere second, he'd have pulled away safely with Hunter. But he hadn't. He hadn't even checked for Hunter before he'd pulled away - an egregious error by all standards of training on Kamino. Tech would have been stripped of his ability to fly if he had banked away before checking the status of his entire crew, and now he'd left Hunter to the Imperials because of his mistake.

How many more mistakes and blunders could Tech make before his brothers saw him for what he really was?

He'd failed them in regards to Crosshair, had failed to consider that the Marauder could have been damaged beyond what the ship-wide diagnostic report had given him after the shoot out on Saleucami, and hadn't thought beforehand that Kamino would send bounty hunters after Omega. Tech hadn't done enough research on the Zygerrians before their mission on Ord Mantell, and he had completely and utterly failed Wrecker when he'd been so blind to the source of his brother's headaches.

Tech was a failure, and he'd finally shown his brothers how much of one he was when he left Hunter. He was surprised that Echo and Wrecker were still being nice to him, after everything Tech had done to break their family apart, and he wouldn't be surprised if Omega never again asked him to show her his projects.

It was the least he deserved, after abandoning Hunter and failing his brothers repeatedly. Hunter and Wrecker trusted Tech because they believed he was intelligent, but they were wrong. Tech wasn't smart, at least not in any regards that were actually useful to his brothers.

Who cared if he knew the specific moon phases of Tatooine, or had memorized thirty different languages when none of his intelligence was actually useful. He should have been researching the Empire, trying to understand and adapt to the changes in the galaxy, but he hadn't. He wasn't… he had never been trained to expect such a drastic, sudden change, and he did not know what to do.

He felt helpless in this new world brought by the Empire, and there was nothing Tech could do but think of everything he'd done wrong in not being better prepared. He should have planned for the Empire changing everything he knew, but Tech was floundering, stuck so far into the ways he had been trained that he was woefully unprepared.

Tech should have known the Empire would change from the clone codes.

He should have seen what was happening with Crosshair, and applied his intelligence to reason out that the same was happening each time Wrecker complained of his headaches. He hadn't, and Wrecker had almost killed his brothers, and it was all Tech's fault.

Everything that had happened to his brothers was his fault - and leaving Hunter behind had made him see what he'd done. His many, many mistakes, and how unhelpful and useless he'd been for his brothers would haunt him, for what else could he do but go over every choice he'd made and wish he could have done better?

Tech raised his head from his hands, wiping at the tears trying to escape from his eyes, and shot a look around the Marauder for his brothers. None of them had come back unannounced yet, so he did not have to worry about his brothers seeing him finally break.

Tech had kept himself in check since Kamino, he had to for his team, but that control was long dissipated. But he could not hold himself together any longer, not without Hunter or Crosshair there to support him.

With his vision blurring with tears, Tech activated the locking mechanism for the Havoc Marauder's ramp, then buried his face into his hands and allowed his tears to slip unbidden down his cheeks.

He knew that his brothers could never forgive him for his mistakes - least of all after he'd left Hunter behind for the Imperials to capture! -, and Tech could never ask that of his brothers. He had to do everything in his power to be better, to think faster, to think smarter, anything to apologize for what he'd done to his team with his repeated failures.

When Tech's brothers returned to the Havoc Marauder, all they saw was his composed expression and him working dutifully away on one of his many projects. He could not reveal to his brothers his insecurities, for Tech was already enough of a burden - enough of his team's failure - that he could not even begin to think of talking to them. If Crosshair were here, maybe, but Crosshair was gone.

Hunter and Crosshair were gone, and all Tech's brothers had in exchange was a useless, arrogant, stupid and blind clone who knew nothing. Everything was his fault… everything.

Tech buried himself further into his project when he saw his goggles fog, the hot tears that slipped from his eyes a traitorous display of uncontrolled emotion. Tech clamped down on his quivering jaw and tried to fight the tears slipping into his goggles, but he was not strong enough.

He'd never been strong enough, or smart enough. He wasn't Wrecker, he wasn't Hunter, and he could never be Crosshair. He was the failure of the team, the liability and the weak link, and he knew his brothers would be much better off without him.