A section of Bad Batch Season 2 Episode 2 was repurposed for this Episode.
The ship is tense as the Batch makes their way to Christophsis. They'd been called suddenly by Cid, who had gotten a high-priority mission from a contact. The ship hums and grunts as Tech wills it through hyperspace as fast as possible, a blue glow passing through the Havoc Marauder. Omega was sitting on Hunter's lap at the control panel as he took her through what it does, her eyes lighting up in awe. Wrecker, sitting further back with Lula, helping Echo with something. Tech was at the controls, his total concentration focused on the ship.
"There we go," Echo stated as Wrecker finished rewiring what looked like a grenade they'd been working on the past hour.
"See? I told you that it'd work," Wrecker boasted as he packed it up, and Echo nodded.
"What are you doing?" Omega asked from the control panel.
"I've just made this grenade be able to go off remotely and on a timer. Now I don't have to worry about it going off when I don't want it to," Wrecker boasted.
Omega looked from the grenade to Wrecker.
"That is so cool," she excitedly stated.
"I still recommend being careful around it. Wrecker's the only one who can operate it safely," Echo warned, putting himself between it and Omega. She nodded in understanding.
"We're approaching Christophsis," Tech stated without moving from his chair. Everyone took their seats for landing as Tech brought them out of hyperspace.
The planet was largely aquamarine, with green circles dotting Christophsis linked by long ribbons of the same colour. It looked like a crystalline world.
"Wow, this is so cool," Wrecker heard Omega shout from the cockpit and smiled.
"I can see the beacon, that's where we're supposed to go," Tech stated, and he brought the ship in for a landing. As usual with Tech, the landing was rough, with the Havoc Marauder landing hard on the crystalline surface and riding it for several hundred metres before coming to a stop.
"We're going to have to replace the entire bottom of the ship if you keep landing like that, Tech," Echo stated once they landed.
"Everything is in working order, so it's fine," Tech stated, only now pulling away from the cockpit to suit up. Wrecker saw Omega run past him, heading for her room, and a couple of minutes later, she came out wearing her black and suited up.
"Ready, kid? You've never been to a crystalline world before," Wrecker smiled. Omega nodded eagerly as the others also suited up. Once Omega had her armour and bow on, the door lowered, and the crew exited the craft.
And they were met by a small band of Rebels, along with, to the shock of everyone, especially Wrecker, Crosshair.
"Well, look who decided to show up," Crosshair sneered as he looked the squad over.
Wrecker saw Hunter approach and start talking with Crosshair while Tech went back onto his datapad to look up the rebels they had met with, and Omega looked ready to explore the crystal planet.
Wrecker noticed this and chuckled.
"Be careful. I've heard Crystal is a lot harder than Rock, so don't fall," Wrecker stated to Omega, who nodded and started feeling the surface.
"It's so smooth. How does this happen?" Omega wondered.
"The weathering process will smooth out anything given enough time," Tech stated, only briefly looking up from his datapad.
Wrecker turned to Echo, who was looking at the Rebels with scepticism.
"Something on your mind, Echo?" Wrecker asked.
"I'm not sure about this. What if this group are Separatists or Imperials in disguise?" Echo stated.
"We're neither affiliated with the Separatists nor the Empire. We want Christophsis to be free to govern itself," a burly, black human who looked like the leader called from near Crosshair.
"Curious girl, you've got here. Kinda reminds me of my son," another figure, this one slimmer but just as tall, as he observed Omega.
Omega noticed this, looked up and waved.
"Heh. Don't mind Omega. She's never been to a world with a crystalline surface," Wrecker stated. The figure nodded, then turned back to Hunter and Crosshair.
"Intros?" the figure asked. Crosshair nodded.
"Alright. The burly one is Mack, the slimmer one is Arkosis, and the two on either side of me are Raxol and Zama. Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, Echo and Omega. They're my former crew," Crosshair introduced, pointing everyone out as he did so.
"Nice to meet you. What's the mission?" Hunter enquired.
"We've got to infiltrate a former Separatist base. A whole bunch of equipment was left to be scrapped by the Empire. But if we can get some of it, then we can focus more on resisting the Empire," Raxol stated.
"The last time we attacked a Separatist base, Hunter had to carry her out of the Base half-dead," Echo stated.
"Omega wasn't wearing armour at the time. She has armour now, so she should be OK," Hunter reassured Echo.
"Worrywart this one," Zama teased. Wrecker approached Zama intimidatingly, "His worrying has got us out of a few difficult situations and avoided several Imperial traps. It's come in handy".
"Alright. Sorry to hear that happened to your kid, but she seems OK now," Raxol mentioned as Omega joined Wrecker's side.
"We'd better get going. We don't know how long we have until the Empire starts scrapping it," Mack stated, indicating for everyone to follow.
After a few looks exchanged, the Batch followed.
On the way, Wrecker listened as Tech gave Omega some explanations about the features of Christophsis.
Hunter kneeled several times and gently rubbed the surface with his hands, a crease forming on his forehead as he tried to track.
"Tracking's difficult on Christophsis. Crystals don't preserve things you'd use," Arkosis stated.
"You'd be surprised what little he can use to track," Wrecker boasted as Hunter examined the crystals closely, running his hand over the smooth surface and scanning before he pointed in a north-westerly direction.
"That's the way to the base," an astonished Arkosis stated as Hunter led the way.
Soon, they reach the base. It's much smaller than the one on Agamar and looks abandoned.
"I have the codes necessary to get in," Raxol stated as he approached. He tried to use them, but it failed.
"OK. That's weird," Raxol stated.
"Allow me to try," Tech suggested as he approached. He went to hack the entrance but found it didn't work either.
"Perhaps you could use the codes I have, Tech?" Raxol suggested. Tech thought about this for a moment.
"I guess I could give it a try," and he took the codes and implanted them. It failed the first time, though that was because they were in the wrong order. Once remedied, Tech tried again, and the door opened.
"Get inside, quick," Zama stated, and everyone hustled inside.
Inside, the lab was dim, with grimy windows covered with dust. The thick dust on the ground, combined with a musty smell and decaying metal, gave the impression of a place abandoned long ago.
"Lights," Arkosis stated, and the Batch turned on the lights on their helmets while Mack and his group switched to night vision.
"Be careful. We don't know what we may find," Echo stated as Wrecker led the way inside.
"This is creepy," he admitted. He had to be careful not to knock into too many decaying battle droids as they made their way further in, the ominous feeling of an abandoned facility strengthening as they progressed. A couple of times, Wrecker noticed Hunter kneel to check the dirt.
Suddenly, a large rumble and part of the roof caved in. While it gave everyone some light, it split into three groups. Wrecker and Crosshair in one group, Hunter, Raxol, Zama and Tech in another, and Echo, Omega, Mack and Arkonsis in a third.
"Find a way out. Any credits or rare crystals you find, collect them. Alright? You'll be able to take your share to Cid. How does that sound?" Mack called to everyone.
"Sounds like a plan," Wrecker stated before he turned to Crosshair.
"Let's go," Crosshair sneered, and the three groups went their separate ways, attempting to find a way out.
It was awkward for Wrecker to walk near Crosshair. They had been fighting each other since the Empire rose, and yet here he was fighting as a Mercenary like he was. He had to get something off his chest, though, something he'd wanted to say to Crosshair for the past seven months since they parted on Kamino.
"Look, I'm sorry I didn't show any trust in you back on Kamino," Wrecker said to Crosshair.
"Save it. The Empire lied to me about my chip anyway. I suspected they had. That's part of why I didn't return. If you want to start trusting me again, you can start by trusting my plan, Wrecker," Crosshair sneered.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that happened. Who got it out?" Wrecker asked.
"Save it. And it was Nala Se. It had to be. I wasn't going to get it out at Imperial HQ now, was I" Crosshair stated coolly.
"Nala Se? Huh. Wouldn't have expected it out of her," Wrecker admitted.
"Don't think about it too much, Wrecker. Save your brain power. See if one of these tanks is at least partially still working. Maybe you could put your tiny brain to work at something you're good at," Crosshair sneered as they reached a wrecking yard full of damaged Battle Droids, Tanks, and a ton of crystals and credits.
"Whoa. Look at all of this! It's incredible!" Wrecker stated. He took a few steps forward, then saw a LAAT Gunship fly overhead.
"Looks like we're not the only ones after this equipment," Crosshair sneered.
"I see it," Wrecker replied. He then got an idea.
"Here's a way you can continue earning my trust. Cover me while I find either a working tank or a tank. I can work into something," he stated as he looked through the tanks, seeing if their big gun still worked.
"Sure, Wrecker," Crosshair sneered as he got his sniper rifle out and started watching for Imperials.
Soon, a couple of Imperials reach their location. And before they open fire, Crosshair is ready for them.
"Duck, Wrecker," Crosshair called, and when Wrecker ducked below the top of the tank's seat, Crosshair shot a sniper round at the Imperials.
The first one was nailed in the head and crumpled immediately.
A second Imperial fired on Crosshair, but he didn't have to move far to avoid it.
While Crosshair was engaging the Imperials, Wrecker continued through the tanks, acting like a kid in a candy shop. After finding a dozen tanks useless in what he wanted to make, he got lucky.
One tank had its main gun still working, and some electricals were still intact.
"They're piling up their numbers, Wrecker," Crosshair called as he moved quickly to avoid the Imperials' fire and return fire of his own.
"I'm working on it!" Wrecker retorted as he continued to work. He decided to slow the Imperials down by throwing his custom grenade at them. It stuck to one of the tanks next to them, and before the troopers had a chance to react, Wrecker pressed a button on his communicator, and it went off, blowing half a dozen away and causing two Tanks to fall into each other, totally blocking that path.
"Didn't know you could do that," Crosshair admitted to himself as he continued to engage the troopers.
Finally, Wrecker combined the electrics and the big gun to create a powerful, portable weapon that was perfect for him.
"Let's do this! Oh yeah!" Wrecker boasted as he opened fire on the troopers, the powerful blasts taking care of any unfortunate enough to be close to the blast radius.
The troopers quickly scatter, and Crosshair takes the opportunity to grab as many crystals and credits as possible. Wrecker and Crosshair find a side room that seems to lead to an emergency exit and start down it, Wrecker using his weapon to make sure that the Imperials don't follow.
"We're back at the ship. Where are you, Wrecker?" came Tech's voice through his communicator.
"We're near an emergency exit, east of where the rockfall separated us," Wrecker responded.
"Thanks. We're on our way," Tech's voice replied before the communication ended. Wrecker looked to Crosshair, but he answered Wrecker's question before he could utter it.
"I'm not returning until I've got the trust of all members, not just Hunter and Omega," he sneered as they reached the emergency exit.
"Well, it's just that I've missed you, man. We all have. We wanted to rescue you, but we didn't know where you were most of the time, and we weren't sure if the chip was still affecting you," Wrecker admitted.
"I figured. But you were partially right in not trusting me. The Empire had lied to me since Bracca," Crosshair stated bitterly.
Wrecker put his weapon down and tried to shove the door open. But it didn't budge.
"It's a pull, not a push, Wrecker," Crosshair sneered. He went to pull the door but found there was nothing.
"Just great," Crosshair stated as he looked for another way out.
"Hey, Tech? Once you get here, you may need to break into the exit. It won't budge for us," Wrecker stated.
"I'll take care of it, Wrecker," Tech replied. Luckily, they only had to wait a minute or two before Tech unlocked the door. Pushing it open, Wrecker and Crosshair found the rest of both squads waiting for them.
"What slowed you two down?" Hunter enquired.
"We found some supplies in the warehouse, then got locked down for a bit by the Empire," Crosshair sneered.
"But thanks to a weapon I was able to jerry-rig, and Crosshair's sharpshooting, we were able to escape," Wrecker boasted, which made Crosshair sigh and Hunter smile.
"I'd better get the credits and crystals to everyone. I managed to get quite a bit," Crosshair sneered, and he pulled off his bag.
Wrecker saw the number of credits and jewels Crosshair obtained while driving the Imperials off.
"So that's why you stopped firing on them," Wrecker stated.
"I couldn't let it go to waste," Crosshair retorted.
Once they'd all been sorted and packed, Hunter and Crosshair had one final thing to say.
"You're welcome to return to the squad when you're ready, Crosshair," Hunter stated.
"All in due time. And once I've regained everyone's trust," Crosshair stated. He then turned to Omega. He had to inform her about this.
"Oh, and Omega?" Crosshair stated. And when Omega turned to face him, "Your twin brother, Boba, recently found out you exist".
"He knows I exist. That's so cool," Omega replied. Crosshair then turned to the other Batchers.
"It's likely that Boba will want to test you guys on your Ability to protect his twin sister. Watch out for that," Crosshair sneered.
"We'll be on the lookout," Hunter replied.
"I guess this is goodbye," Wrecker admitted, turning to Crosshair, who nodded.
"We may see each other again. But it is goodbye," Crosshair sneered. The Batch nodded, and the two squads departed.
Crosshair had continued to regain his brothers' and sisters' trust. Once again, maybe someday, it'll be restored enough to return.