With everything going on, Soph had almost forgotten to worry about whatever Tambor had been looking for on the Resolute. As they landed on Kamino, she felt absolutely sick. Just on the landing pad, there were over a dozen men scattered around on the ground, dead. She ran out of the Twilight with Domino on her heels and Anakin and Ahsoka on her sides. Epsilon had split up with some of them scouting ahead and the rest either in front or behind the group.

They walked into the first domed building and Soph shoved Ahsoka to the side when a droid immediately shot at them. The Jedi turned on their lightsabers and began deflecting shots, doing their best to protect their men as they threw droid poppers and shot back. It was a massacre - that was the only word she could think of to describe it. There were men all over the place, either sprawled out on the ground bleeding and dying, or fighting with them. Many of them were shinies, and the others were, to Soph's horror, cadets.

"Droid popper to the left, please!" she called out. Immediately, Hevy pulled one out and chucked it at the large group entering from the door in the back left of the room. The small electric grenade took out twenty droids at once, leaving only a small handful left. They were picked off quite easily, and the shinies and cadets all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Status, please," Soph requested from a nearby shiny as she dropped down to take the pulse on a man that was on the ground next to her. She grimaced when she couldn't find one and closed his eyes reverently.

"They're looking for the incubators for the unborn brothers," the man said. "Which is in the inner chamber down the hall. I think he's in there already. I don't… we got overwhelmed. We didn't have the chance to split up and guard it."

"Who is 'he'?"

"Uh," he shook his head a little. "He was Skakoan."

Soph sucked in a sharp breath. "Tambor."

"Go back to the Twilight," Anakin told her immediately. "Both of you."

"Shut up," she snapped at him. "We're not going anywhere."

"He shot you!" Anakin argued. "And Echo-,"

"Is better equipped to handle this than even I am," she glared at him. "He's a fucking ARC, Ani. Now shut up and get moving. We need to cut them off if we want to save the fetuses."

Anakin shook his head, but he let her take the lead toward the inner chamber. They swept through the hall, checking the other doors as they went, looking for droids. About half the rooms had droids in them, which meant it took them a while to get to their destination.

Once they'd finally destroyed the last droid, they ran forward, slamming open the doors to the inner chamber when they reached it.

The sight inside made Soph grimace. There were incubation pods stacked so high that she had to crane her neck to see the top. They were arranged in small circles all over the room - there were millions of fetuses in there, and so many had been destroyed.

In the middle of the room by the terminal stood Tambor. He was surrounded by droids protecting him as he worked. He didn't even look up as they entered.

"Domino, get Tambor!" Soph ordered sharply. "Echo, stay with me."

"Wasn't going anywhere," he replied grimly. He shot a droid that was aiming for Soph's head, breathing a sigh of relief when it went down. "Careful, boss. They're focusing on you."

"Got it," she replied distractedly. She ducked to avoid a generator that a super battle droid picked up and chucked at her. "Okay, come on."

"Oh!" Ahsoka gasped. Soph spared a very quick glance and caught sight of the padawan lifting the generator with the Force and throwing it at a group of droids with a great speed. The droids were dropped to the ground, most of them absolutely crushed. The ones that weren't completely destroyed were still down, and Soph was mildly impressed by Ahsoka's improvisation and her aim, as well.

There was a shout of pain by the terminal and Soph's head shot to the side in time to see Hevy fall to the ground roughly. She sucked in a sharp breath and immediately abandoned what she was doing. Echo moved at her side, shooting as they ran. She shoved her way past clones and droids alike until she came to Tambor. She grabbed him with the Force, shoving him up against the terminal, and lifted her lightsaber to his throat. "Give me one good fucking reason."

"I believe I already did," he said calmly. "That is why I shot the clone, hm?"

Soph's eyes flashed dangerously. She pushed the lightsaber just a little closer until it cut into the metal around his neck just a bit. "I will kill you."

"You may want to do that quickly," he said, clearly more than confident that she wouldn't. "He may not have long."

She sucked in a sharp breath and pulled her arm back, preparing to kill him. Her arm was up as the lightsaber moved in an arc downward. Just before it could hit Tambor, an invisible force grabbed her wrist and held it in the air. Her eyes shot to Anakin, who held her back with wide eyes.

"Soph, no," he said softly. It was clear that he'd been watching her carefully. "We need him."

"He needs to pay for what he did to those men," she insisted. "What he's done to all the men."

"He does, but not like that," he told her gently. "I can tell you this from experience - revenge is a scar on your soul, not a salve for the pain."

The choice was taken from her in a blur. While Anakin held the arm she held her lightsaber in back, Tambor reached up and slammed his gun into the side of her head before she could stop him. She fell back, immediately passing out. Echo caught her and lowered her into his lap carefully.

When she woke, it was to furious shouts and running men. She blinked her eyes open with a heavy wince. Her hand came up to her head, and when she pulled it back, there was blood on her fingers.

"Don't touch it," Echo instructed sharply. "It's bleeding pretty heavily. Head injuries do that, but you need to be careful."

"What- what's going on? Where is he?"

"General Skywalker went after him," Echo told her as he pushed some of her hair out of her face to press an ice pack to her eyebrow where she'd been hit. She hissed in pain and he immediately reached down with his free hand to grab hers and let her squeeze it. "Domino, too."

"Is she going to be okay?" Ahsoka asked from Soph's left, startling the older woman. "Sorry, Master. I thought you knew I was here."

"It's okay, 'Soka," she sighed. Her eyes moved back up to Echo, who was somewhat leaning over her to look at the injury closer. "So?"

Echo sighed. "Commander, can you go through the supplies Coric gave me right there and find me butterfly strips?"

Ahsoka nodded and grabbed the strips. Coric must've given them the supplies he needed before going to look over the injured men in the room. Echo took them from her and began placing them on the cut above Soph's eyebrow.

"It should heal with just these, but it'll probably scar," he said apologetically. "How do you feel?"

"Groggy," she frowned and squeezed his hand again with a wave of pain. "How'd he get away?"

"After he hit you, he jumped behind a line of droids and ran out. With all the confusion, it took General Skywalker a minute to be able to follow him, but he's out there now."

Soph looked around and looked troubled. "How's Hevy? Where is he?"

"He's fine," Echo promised. "Coric looked him over and, aside from some shitty bruises, he'll be fine. His armor saved him."

"Okay," she said, shifting. She went to get up, but Echo pulled her back down by her shoulders.

"No," he told her firmly. "You've got a concussion. You're done in this fight, Soph. Let everyone else handle it."

"I trust no one to find and capture Tambor again," Soph insisted. "If I can just-,"

"No," he repeated. "No. Don't make me order you to stay down."

"Fucking medics," she complained. "You're all assholes."

"I'm not technically a medic," he defended. "Just certified and therefore certified to order you to stay down."

"You're an asshole."

He rolled his eyes but he didn't reply otherwise. He instead grabbed an alcohol swab and began wiping the blood off of her face. She winced with every swipe, but she didn't complain. He gently pulled the wipe over her eyebrow and forehead, moving down from there to pick up the blood on her eye and cheek.

"'Soka, can you go find Anakin and help him?" Soph requested.

"'Course, Master," she agreed. She looked relieved, and Soph realized that Anakin likely ordered her to stay back.

"Just- just be careful. Don't let Tambor get you, okay?"

"I won't," Ahsoka promised. She smiled supportively and then got up and ran from the room to find Anakin.

"They're not going to get him," she told her friend, who nodded grimly.

"I know."

"What was he doing at the terminal?" she questioned. He shook his head.

"He covered it well," he told her. "I hooked my datapad up while you were out. He wiped the entire computer very thoroughly. Whatever he did, it's gone."

"Of course, it is," she closed her eyes tiredly. Her voice was soft and almost scared when she spoke again. "It's never going to end, Echo."

He knew what she meant - the nightmare that was Tambor. He knew she was far more effected by what happened than she let on, and he'd certainly seen the way she'd paled when she realized Tambor was there. She was terrified of him, but she continuously tried to fight him over and over, never backing down. She was stronger than he'd ever originally thought and he wished he could do something to help. The problem was, as much as he didn't want to admit it, either, he was scared of Tambor, too.

Maybe they were both liabilities when it came to the monster that had been tormenting them.

"Everything ends," he replied slowly. "This will pass, too. We'll come out the other end of this eventually. We just have to hang on until then."

"'M tired," she told him after a moment. Her clear words were gone as the concussion settled in, fogging up her mind. It was a slightly delayed reaction spurred on by adrenaline. As that dissipated, she felt it all hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Keep your eyes open, boss," he requested. "You can't rest yet, I'm sorry."

"Don't go," she whispered. He leaned down a little to hear her better. "When we- when we leave, stay with me, okay?"

He flashed a tight smile at her. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Good, good," she nodded to herself. "Are you…?"

"I'm good," he promised. Her eyes began to close again and he squeezed her hand once again. "Stay awake, okay?"

"Yeah," she blinked slowly, her head tipping to the side a little. He grabbed her head and stabilized it with his hand. "What would I do without you?"

"Probably be a lot more reckless," he replied easily. "How's the pain? I can get a pain killer from Coric."

"No shots," she screwed up her face. "'M fine, Echo."

"Just hold still," he requested. He tried to offer her a smile, but as he looked over her face with critical eyes, the smile turned into more of a grimace. He wasn't sure when it had begun, but he was stroking her cheek gently and only noticed because she relaxed into the touch slightly. Seeing that, he couldn't stop - she was calming down and, though he was trying to keep her awake, he felt that keeping her calm was almost just as important.

They sat like that, talking softly on and off for over an hour before anyone returned for them. When they did, it was Anakin, Ahsoka, and Domino. Anakin came to her side and knelt down next to her. "Hey, Soph. How're you feeling?"

"Echo is a good medic," she said, still slurring her words slightly. "If you get shot, you should keep him around."

Anakin blinked. "Noted. Echo?"

"Concussion," he explained. "Pretty bad, but she'll be okay. The bleeding has stopped, which is very good. From here, it'll be symptom management - which means keeping her awake, handling the pain, and keeping an eye on her."

"And how's Hevy?"

"Fine, sir," Hevy called from across the room, where Coric had sat him down with sharp orders not to move. Hevy was more than a little afraid of medics - they were all willing to manhandle anyone that was disobeying orders. "Coric's a menace or I'd be over there, too."

"Good to see you're okay," Anakin nodded.

"Tambor, Ani," Soph said. "He's gone."

"He is," Anakin said regretfully. "He cut through some vents to get outside. He had Sith Jr with him."

Soph blinked a couple times, trying to understand. "...Ventress?"

"Yep."

"That bitch," she cursed. "Dooku said-,"

"He's probably looking for her," Fives cut in before she could get worked up. "And now we know where to tell him she's been."

"Let's get back to the Resolute," Anakin sighed. "You need to go to the med bay and there's nothing else we can do here for now. We'll stay in orbit for a while to help them recover."

"She's not walking," Echo told him. "We'll need a stretcher."

"I can-,"

"Soph, now is not the time to argue with me," he told her, staring down. "You're going on a stretcher."

"You're scary when you're worried," she muttered. "Thanks for caring."

He shook his head fondly. "You make it quite hard not to."

"C'mon," Anakin said, getting to his feet again. "Let's find them a stretcher, Snips."

Ahsoka nodded and followed him out of the room. As they waited, Soph met Echo's eyes as she looked up at him. "You won't go?"

"I'll stay by your side for as long as you want me here," he promised seriously. She smiled a little.

"Prepare to be there for a long time, then."

"I am."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"The question is, what was he looking for?"

"There's no way to know," Soph repeated, frustrated. "He blew up the inner chamber. We were lucky to get out of there when we did. So that's millions of fetuses destroyed and no fucking leads on anything. He won this one and there's nothing we can do about it."

"So you're feeling a bit pessimistic, then."

"Rightfully so," she crossed her arms over her chest. "Really, Master, there's nothing I can offer to help. All we know is that there's something he got from the inner chamber, but the Kaminoans are supremely unhelpful."

"They're probably scared we're going to stop production of clones," Anakin sighed. "And we should, it's just… Separatists have droid factories. If we have declining numbers of men, then they'll overtake us immediately. But, alternatively, these men are being born into slavery and that's not okay."

"That's a conversation for later," Obi Wan told them calmly. "Soph, I want you to stay on the Resolute for another rotation. Cody should be getting there soon. Is Rex on his way?"

Soph was silent. Anakin sighed and nodded. "He left yesterday, so he should be arriving on Cermau soon."

Obi Wan sighed and looked between them. "Something happened, didn't it?"

"It's not in the way of the war or anything," Soph told him firmly. "It's been handled."

"Please walk me through what happened so I can be aware of it moving forward."

"Do we really have to do this right now?"

"Before he gets here would be best."

Soph looked defeated. "There was a lot going on, but he was- he was so scared I'd die again and so angry at Echo for what happened that it just ruined things. I tried to… request change, but none came. Then, he punched Echo."

Obi Wan looked shocked. "Rex punched Echo?"

"Yep."

"I understand," he said. "I will get him into counseling and discuss punishment. I did wonder why you requested temporary reassignment."

"Don't punish him too harshly," Soph requested. "Things just weren't right. Just a demerit for the punch, please."

"I wouldn't dream of punishing him further," he promised. "Everything else that happened was… personal."

"It was," she agreed. "Can I… get back to the med bay? If I don't head back soon, I'm going to have some very irritated medics tracking me down."

Obi Wan smiled. "Go ahead, Soph. Let me know when you're out of the med bay, okay?"

"Yes, Master," she nodded. "Be safe. He's got Ventress with him."

"If he's on Cermau, we'll find him," Obi Wan promised. "May the Force be with you both."

"And with you, Master," she said before shutting off the holo projector. She leaned against it and groaned. "I really did not want to bring him into what happened. On top of Kamino, I did not need this brought up again."

"It just happened," Anakin reminded her gently. "You have to give yourself some time."

"We don't have time," she argued. "This war would be closer to over if Tambor would just… stop. Things are getting harder to predict, harder to remember. This is around the time that everything began moving in a blur, going from one failed battle to another, losing men faster than we could bring them in. It was a disaster. This is a disaster too, just a different one."

"We'll catch him," Anakin promised. "We'll bring peace back to the republic one day. We just have to be patient and hold out long enough to see it."

"Easier said than done."

"Very much so," he agreed. "Get back to the med bay before your shadow comes to find you."

"My shadow," she snorted as she leaned up to move. "See you, Ani."

"Feel better, Soph."

"With Echo annoying me, I'll have no choice."

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