"Are you good?"

Echo looked up from his datapad. He hadn't touched it in nearly fifteen minutes and was just frowning down at it quietly. "Yeah."

"You've been quiet," she said, worry still lacing her voice. "And you're just staring at that. What're you thinking about?"

"Soph, you…" Echo hesitated. "It's nothing. Thinking about which outposts to hit before going down to planets."

"Sure you are," she rolled her eyes. She was going to press, but she could tell he was tense and nervous, so she decided to move on. "What're you thinking first?"

He hummed. He was processing slowly considering it was late into the night cycle and they were still up. Neither of them had been tired when it began, and they'd sat up together talking, doing reports, and charting a path through the outer rim. They'd broken it up into multiple sectors - they just had to decide where to go first. "Sector four. There's about six outposts and five planets in a small area. We can go from there to three since they're so close together. We'll do this as efficiently as we can."

Soph nodded. "And as soon as Anakin's back on the Resolute, we'll stop and pick up the rest of Domino."

"Don't feel safe with just me around?" he teased. She rolled her eyes.

"Echo, I feel fine by myself. With you here, I'm… more than safe. With them here… well, we probably won't get this bored again," she laughed. "At least there'll be enough people for Sabacc. One can only play so much Dejarik before one wants to jettison the board."

Echo snorted. "I fully agree. Are we bringing Captain Rex, too?"

She quieted. "No. He's needed elsewhere."

He sighed. "Soph, you should take time to talk to him first."

"No time," she shrugged, but it was clear she was a bit upset. "Besides, he's still mad at both of us. He needs some time to cool off."

"It's probably been long enough for him to calm down."

Soph raised an eyebrow. "Rex holds a grudge like no one else, even against those closest to him."

Echo frowned to himself, but he didn't comment. He was frustrated for her. He didn't mind if Rex held a grudge against him - he was sure that grudge would last their entire lives - but against Soph? When she'd done nothing wrong? It rubbed him the wrong way and left him more than a little frustrated.

Soph's comms beeped and she rolled her eyes as she answered the call - her comms were wirelessly connected to the long range holo in the other room. "Sizre."

"Soph," Anakin said, sounding irritated. "Can you- I'm fine, leave me alone - can you meet us by Hadros?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"You're passing Coruscant again soon, aren't you?"

Soph raised an eyebrow curiously. "Yeah."

"We've got someone you can drop off there," he explained.

"Oh, sure," she agreed. "Can I pick up the rest of Domino, or do you need them?"

"With the trouble you get in, you probably need them more than I do," he laughed. "We'll meet you in a while."

"Mm," she hummed as she ended the call and looked at Echo. "Well, that answers that."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

The trip to Hadros didn't take long since they were close by, anyway. When they got there, they were met by Domino and Ahsoka.

"Master!" Ahsoka grinned brightly. "How's the deliveries going?"

"They haven't started yet," she laughed, walking with them through the ship. Anakin was on the command deck and Soph stopped short at the sight of Rex. He was looking back at her with a slight frown.

Echo leaned closer to whisper to her. "Talk to him."

Sighing, she nodded. She saw Rex looking confused and knew he wanted to know what Echo had said. Ignoring that, she made her way to the table and leaned against it, looking between Rex and Anakin. "So what's up?"

"You remember Jango Fett?"

"The asshole working with the Kaminoans?" she nodded. "What about him?"

"He had a son," Anakin told her. "Well… a clone that he treated as a son. His name is Boba, and he watched Master Windu kill his father. He held a bit of a grudge and just tried to kill him."

"Force," she shook her head. "We just saw him only a few rotations ago. Is he okay?"

"We got trapped in a crashed ship, but we're both okay now," he promised. "Point is, we have Boba now. We need you to take him back to Coruscant to go to trial."

Soph frowned. "How old is he?"

"About my age, I think," Ahsoka answered. "Maybe a little younger."

She sighed. "Yeah, we can do that. I hope they won't be too rough on him. He's a traumatized kid."

"Have Padme work to protect him," Anakin suggested. "If anyone can, it's her."

Soph hummed. She hesitated for a moment. "Rex, can we talk?"

Rex looked to Anakin, who nodded. "Go ahead."

Soph offered a quick smile to Echo and the rest of Domino before leading Rex into the nearby conference room. She sat on the table and sighed. "Still mad at me?"

Rex frowned. "I'm not mad at you."

"You're mad at Echo."

"I ordered him to protect you."

Soph scoffed. "He can't exactly help that there were bombs going off. You know I'll die to protect my men, Rex. It's never bothered you before."

"It's never almost happened before," he argued. "I don't want you to get killed, even for Domino. Especially for Echo."

"Force, you're frustrating," she said a bit louder than she'd meant to. "What's the problem now?"

"He tortured you," he said simply.

"He had no choice!"

"He resisted enough to lessen the pain, so how do you know he couldn't resist entirely?"

Soph's lips thinned in brewing anger. "You weren't there! How the hell do you expect to know what it was like? You didn't see the way what he did was agonizingly painful to him. You didn't see the guilt weighing on his very being. You don't know how much he respects and cares about me, and that he'd never-,"

"I want you safe," he told her stiffly. "I don't think you're safe with him."

"Oh, you don't?" she stared at him with a dangerous look on her face. "I do."

"I don't."

"Well, that's really unfortunate. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a prisoner to transport."

"I want to discuss this more, Soph."

"Rex," she said, her voice low and quiet in warning. "We are not going to agree right now, and the last thing I want is a screaming match when they can probably already hear us. If we continue discussing this, I'm going to lose my temper, and I don't want to do that."

He looked endlessly frustrated. "I want you safe," he repeated. "Send Domino to deliver the transmitters. Stay here."

Soph's eyes flashed. "Stay here? Send them away?"

"Yes."

"Rex, that is a very thinly veiled attempt to get Echo away from me, and it's not going to happen. I forgave him before it even began, and I still forgive him."

"He hurt you."

She scoffed and shook her head. She couldn't help the way her voice raised a bit. "I'm the one who went through it! You can't fucking tell me how to feel. How the hell would you know what happened there if I didn't even give you the details?"

"Then tell me!" He snapped back. He watched as her eyes turned cold. Her voice was quiet and full of warning - he was pushing her and she was about to lose it.

"You are not going to ask me to recount my torture to you. Understand?"

"Kat-,"

She jumped off the table and strode past him and out of the room. She stopped for a second when she saw the stares she was getting. She ignored them and kept walking. "Domino, we're leaving."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"So that went well."

Soph groaned and tipped her head back against the wall. She was sitting on the floor in the Twilight with Domino in a circle at her sides. Echo was to her right with Fives to her left. Fives snorted and she closed her eyes. "He's infuriating."

Echo was the only one that spoke - no one else was sure what to say. "Yep."

She sighed. "How much did you guys hear?"

"Well, considering neither of you idiots thought to turn on the soundproofing, we heard all of it."

Soph winced. "Great. Anakin needs to focus, not be mad at Rex."

"He did look pissed," Cutup said rather unhelpfully.

Droidbait was staring at Echo- he had been since Echo's comment. "That was a new level of insubordination."

Soph snorted. "I think the torture would disagree."

Fives inhaled his water and coughed out his laughter. It took him a minute before he could speak. "She's got you there, DB."

Echo rolled his eyes at the looks that their… less experienced brothers gave them. "We keep telling you guys she doesn't care."

"I already didn't, but I definitely don't care now."

"So where are we headed, boss?" Hevy wondered. Soph shrugged.

"Echo mapped it out last night. I'll be honest, I wasn't listening."

"I know you weren't," Echo laughed. He pulled his datapad out. "Reya first. General… Tiplar?"

"Yep," Soph confirmed at his glance. He shot her a smile that she returned. Fives tipped his head to the side, looking between them thoughtfully, but he said nothing. Cutup did.

"You guys have gotten close."

Soph paused. When she spoke, it was surprisingly serious. "We had good reason to. What happened isn't the first thing we have in common that no one else could fully understand."

"You deserve to heal however you need. If that means being annoying together, so be it," Fives told them. Soph rolled her eyes and Echo smiled at his brother.

"So, Reya and General Jedi?" Hevy said, bringing them back to the topic at hand.

"'General Jedi'?" Soph laughed. Hevy shrugged.

"Forgot her name."

"General Tiplar," Echo supplied.

She shifted to sit cross legged and pulled out her lightsaber to take it apart. She did so with the Force as she spoke. They recognized it as her favorite way to meditate or relax. "Master Tiplar has around three hundred men with her on the surface of Reya. They're spread around, so we're dropping off five transmitters. Should be quick and easy."

"Oh, I hate when you say that," Cutup complained. "Have you noticed that something always happens when you do?"

"Eh," she waved him off. "We'll be fine."

"Tempting fate," he warned her.

"It's a simple job. Don't worry."

"We'll see."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Simple became difficult very quickly.

Soph landed them on a ridge above the water and next to Master Tiplar's encampment. As soon as they were off the ship, they noticed the men standing in a circle around the encampment, guarding it with their guns slung over their shoulders.

"Master Sizre," Master Tiplar smiled and hugged Soph. "I'm glad to see you're okay."

"And you, Master," Soph smiled brightly. She'd always liked Master Tiplar, but she very rarely saw her. "Is everything okay? I saw the defensive perimeter."

Master Tiplar grimaced. "Birds."

"Birds?"

"They're a problem," was her only explanation. "I heard I was getting a gift, according to Master Yoda and the senate."

"Five, actually," Soph pulled them out of her pack and handed them over. "Since you have an unusually high number of men on planet."

Master Tiplar took them gratefully. Her eyes slipped to Soph's men. "And you must be the infamous Domino squad Soph's always talking about. I'm Tiplar."

"I'm Fives," the man said before pointing at his brothers. "Echo, Hevy, Droidbait, and Cutup."

"Infamous?" Hevy wondered.

"Between the work you've done for your brothers and the way Soph praises you and you praise her, you're all pretty infamous."

"Don't bring me into this," Soph laughed.

"General!" someone called from behind them. "Kuchek!"

Master Tiplar spun and pulled her lightsaber. "Ready yourselves!"

"For what?" Echo asked. No one got the chance to answer him as a large flock of giant birds flew through the air. They were thick and black with silver heads, and they swarmed through the encampment. There were men shooting all over, including Domino. Soph and Master Tiplar were chopping the birds - Kuchek, Soph assumed - into pieces with their lightsabers, spinning and clearing a path toward a tent. Nearly thirty five men followed in behind them before they zipped it shut.

"Everyone okay?" Soph asked, her eyes searching for her men. She locked eyes with Echo first. "Are you-,"

"I'm good," he nodded. He looked around as well and relaxed, spotting Fives nearby.

"Here, boss," Droidbait called from the back of the tent. "I've got Hevy, too."

Soph frowned. "Cutup?"

"Here," Cutup groaned. Her eyes shot to him and she gasped, running over. She knelt down next to him and grimaced, pulling her pack out to grab a bacta patch. She pressed it gently against his shoulder. "That fucker nearly ate me."

"Thanks for not dying," she said sincerely. "Your shoulder will be okay. We'll make a stop when we pass through the Troga system at a medical outpost and get it looked at. You'll be okay until then."

"Too close to the eel," he muttered. She winced. "Didn't think I'd feel fear like that ever again."

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "We've got you, Cutup."

"We're all here, brother," Droidbait said. Cutup looked up and realized that the rest of Domino were forming a half circle around Soph to crowd around him. "You're here with us."

"Thanks," Cutup said softly.

"We wouldn't let you go out that easy," Fives joked. "We'd never stand for it."

"Pretty sure Soph would fight the Cosmic Force itself to get you back," Echo added.

"But we've got you, so you're good," Hevy said.

"Soph," Master Tiplar came out of the sea of men behind Domino. She gasped lightly. "Cutup, are you okay?"

"Birds," Cutup said, shaking his head. "I see what you mean, General."

Master Tiplar laughed. "I'd hoped you wouldn't find out what I meant."

"Are they done?" Soph wondered. "I don't hear them anymore."

"If you can't hear them, you're safe… usually," Master Tiplar told her. "And as much as I'd really enjoy to visit with you, this may be your only escape for the time being. They usually circle back in around twenty minutes."

"Are you like… sure?" Soph wondered. "I could contact the Council for help with the… infestation."

Master Tiplar laughed. "They're the natives of the world, Soph. These ones were displaced by a hurricane. We're here for the resources that were dredged up by the hurricane, and they do not enjoy our presence. It's not their fault."

Soph shook her head with a smile. "Well, in that case, we'll get out of your hair. Good luck distributing those transmitters."

Master Tiplar rolled her eyes. "It'll be a task and a half. Thank you, Soph. May the Force be with you."

"And you, Master."

OoOoOoOoOoOo