Star Wars: The Bad Batch

In Secret

by Gabrielle Lawson

Chapter Thirteen

Tech began to feel and feeling began to wake him. He sensed a device, but it was just showing brain activity. His brain activity. And it was increasing. It took effort but he got his eyes to open. There was no barrier. He could see he was in a dimly lit room, and there was someone beside him. He turned his head and realized he could turn his head. The figure was blurry and snoring quietly. His dark head had a red swatch of color as it lay on the side of Tech's bed. He wanted to wake him, but his arm was clumsy and stiff. He didn't feel any tubes in his throat, though there was still a mask over his nose and mouth. He tried his voice. "Hunter?" It came out gravelly and just above a whisper. He didn't have the breath to be louder.

Hunter jerked up. Then he scooted closer and Tech could see him clearer. Hunter touched him gently on his head and right shoulder. "Welcome back," he said, almost as quietly.

Tech tried a deeper breath but it was hard. "My plan. Did it work?"

Hunter smiled. "Brilliantly."

Tech felt a wave of relief. He remembered releasing the prisoners, talking through a synthesized voice. Then, it got cloudy, but he thought he remembered Hemlock. And Omega. "Omega?" Hemlock had hurt Omega.

"She's fine," Hunter told him. "Crosshair, too. We got all the prisoners out."

That left two concerns. "Nala Se?"

Hunter shook his head. "She released the Zillo Beast. She didn't make it out. And, well, Omega took out Hemlock."

She didn't have any weapons. "Omega?"

"She stabbed him with a pouch of that poisons, squeezed it all out. He's dead."

His eyelids were getting heavy, but he wanted to stay awake. "Echo got you out."

"He did," Hunter replied. "We thought we lost you. Then we lost Omega." Hunter looked like he would cry. "No more Plan 99s for you."

"Yes, sir," Tech managed before Hunter became fuzzy again. He lost the battle with his eyelids.

The next time he awoke, there was more light. Hunter was gone. But Phee was there.

"There's my Brown Eyes," she said. She wiped his face with a towel then slipped the mask back on. "I've missed you. You were supposed to come back."

"I tried," he told her. But it was harder to get his voice out this time. It was mostly just breath. It looked like maybe he as in the shuttle. There was medical equipment around him. He could see his arms. They were covered in stabilizing wraps. So were some of his fingers. That explained the stiffness. The heaviness he felt explained the clumsiness. The shuttle door seemed to be open but he couldn't make out much more than it was daytime. "Where are we?"

"Pabu," she told him. "You're home."

He wanted to ask if she'd been flirting with him before but it felt too difficult. He was so tired.

"You know," she said, "Echo got your message. He had already guessed you were alive. I think I hoped, but I didn't believe it. Not until he told me about that message. Does it hurt?" She touched his temple. He didn't sense the device anymore.

"I don't know," he told her. "I think I'm on painkillers."

"You most definitely are," she replied. "And if it makes you tired, you go ahead and rest. Someone will always be here when you wake up."

That was a nice thought. He closed his eyes again.

Omega knew that Tech had woken up with Hunter and Phee. It was her turn to sit with him. Emerie was checking his bandages and wounds. "He's heavily medicated, Omega," Emerie said. "He may or may not wake up. Staring at him won't help."

"I know," she said. "But I talked to him all the time in the base. I miss him."

"You were all very covert," Emerie commented. "I didn't see it coming at all."

"It was through my datapad." Omega lifted it. "But he would erase everything after every conversation. How is he going to eat if he doesn't wake up?"

"There are nutrients in the IV," Emerie told her. "But when he can sit up, we can give something soft, like soup."

Tech eyelids began to twitch. "He's waking up!" Omega exclaimed.

He turned his head toward her and his eyes opened, though they didn't seem to focus. He smiled lightly under the mask.

"Tech, I would like to discuss your condition."

Tech turned his head toward Emerie. "Awake," he breathed.

"The more awake you are the more pain you'll be in," Emerie told him.

"Awake," he insisted.

"All right." Emerie pressed a few controls on her pad and the machines. "I've decreased the pain meds, but not fully. Call it a compromise."

Tech's vision began to clear, but his breaths became rougher. "No tubes. That's an improvement."

"Yes," Emerie agreed. "You're breathing on your own again. You may feel it's difficult to get a full breath. We've got you wound up tight. Hemlock broke several ribs."

He lifted his left hand a few inches off the bed. "Fractures."

"Yes," Emerie sat down next to him. "I set most of them before, but they still need stabilization. We had to rebreak some of them to set them correctly."

"Paralyzed." So he'd worked that out. He looked sad when he said it. But with Tech, every expression was subtle so she couldn't be certain.

Still, Omega hated that for him. Tech was just as good a soldier as Hunter and Crosshair. He shouldn't be stuck on a bed or in a chair. "It's perhaps only temporary," she told him. "The doctor Senator Chuchi brought said there's a possible treatment."

"It can't be implemented yet," Emerie said. "You have to heal first. Without a bacta tank, that will take at least a cycle, maybe two."

"What day is it?"

"We left the base four rotations ago," Omega told him. "We stopped at Rex's garage, then came here." She lifted his right hand very gently and held it in hers. "They found the base because you wanted Crosshair to have his armor."

"That was fortunate," he said. "Are you well? Hemlock didn't hurt you?"

"He kicked me," Omega said, "because I stuck him in the leg with the poison."

"Hunter told me." He wrapped a couple of his fingers around hers. "We made a good team."

Omega smiled. "We did. You, me, Nala Se, and Crosshair." And that made her sad again. "Nala Se's gone."

"He told me that, too." He took a couple more breaths. "I had hoped she would make it to the hangar. She wanted to make sure no one could take up Hemlock's work."

Emerie was satisfied he was stable enough that she could leave and let them talk. He was still somewhat sedated but able to hold a conversation. She stepped out of the shuttle into the bright light of day on the top of Pabu. It was almost like being back on Kamino, except the weather was better. They were still surrounded by an ocean. But it was calmer and more peaceful. And there was no presence of the Empire anywhere near. There were only three ships here. The Marauder, the shuttle, and a smaller ship that belonged to Phee.

In those four days he'd been unconscious, someone had always been with him. The bond between all of them was so strong. Even with Omega. She hadn't had that. She was created years earlier. She grew up alone. She was already away studying when Omega was created. She wondered why Nala Se had never mentioned her to Omega or the enhanced clones. But when she was in Rex's garage, she felt a bit of that bond. She'd been surrounded by clones who'd made a choice to defy the Empire in one way or another. She'd hid the fact of her creation once she left Kamino. But there she felt like she belonged. Maybe she'd return there after Tech was fully healed. Rex and his men undertook dangerous missions. The Bad Batch had AZI. Rex's men could use her skills.

She decided to take a walk down to the water. She found Crosshair looking out over the wall. "Tech's awake," she told him. "Omega is with him now."

He regarded her for a moment then looked back to the sea. "There's nothing out there," he said. "Not as far as I can see."

And she knew he could see farther than most. "It's very remote."

"At least it's warm." He finally turned to her. "Why are you here?"

"Because I'm taking care of Tech." She wasn't sure where he was going with this.

"I used to be loyal to the Empire," Crosshair said. "Like you. But I finally found a new perspective. Did you?"

Emerie turned and leaned on the wall, looking out over the sea. "I think so. I don't think I can take up arms against the Empire and kill people. I'm a doctor. It goes against my nature. But I can help those who do."

"During the war, I only killed droids," Crosshair said. "Since the war ended, I've only killed people. At first, it was just following orders. They were traitors, enemies, no different than droids. But that lieutenant, that's the first one I felt differently. It felt right. And all those others now feel wrong."

Despite the fact that Tech and Crosshair had systematically poisoned so many people, it still felt right to treat Tech, to be speaking calmly with Crosshair. Watching him being tortured now felt wrong. Going along with someone like Hemlock felt wrong. "I understand."

"Better late than never," he said. Then he turned and walked back up the path. Emerie continued her walk down.

Now that he was more awake, Tech was feeling more pain. In his chest and in his arms. He still felt nothing in his legs and that was upsetting. Still, all told his situation had improved. He was free of Hemlock, as were Omega and Crosshair—and all the other surviving prisoners. Hemlock and his work were ruined. Hunter and Wrecker had been freed by Echo and they were all now safe on Pabu. And he never lacked for company. Apparently, the people he most cared about in this galaxy were taking shifts to keep him company.

But an accurate assessment would mean he'd have to admit that this was not all ideal. He was still stuck on his back, mostly looking up at the blurry ceiling of a shuttle. The pain he felt his fingers made him not want to move any of them whether or not they were broken. Several were, of course. Then there was the lack of pain and feeling below his waist. He assumed, given the fact that he was paralyzed and had been lying on his back for two cycles, that he was catheterized. He also could not feed himself. His nutrients came from a tube in his right arm. While that was better than a tube through his nose, it still felt unnatural. He still had a plate on his temple and a port in his brain, though his feelings on that were complicated. He'd definitely not wanted it. When they had found Echo in that stasis chamber, it was a horrible shock. A war crime. But the port was incredibly useful. He could arguably hack any system without using his damaged fingers at all.

The paralysis itself was quite disappointing. He had been made aware of the possibility when Emerie had listed his injuries for Crosshair and Omega. He now remembered Hemlock throwing him from the bed. That had been the deciding factor. His spinal cord was severed, and he would not be able to walk or fight for at least a cycle. There was a possible treatment, Omega had said. Neither she nor Emerie gave no details of that treatment at the time. Not even a bacta tank could mend a severed spinal cord.

Wrecker had offered to carry him anywhere he wanted to go, once Emerie had deemed him healthy enough to leave this bed. Wrecker had also told him what had become of Cid. It angered him that they had done so much for her only for her to betray them in their darkest time. They had helped her get her parlor back from Roland Durrant, and he personally had saved her from Millegi by winning the race. She had always sent them on dangerous missions and derided them when they couldn't come back with her spoils. They had willingly given up the tactical droid data, but the war chest from Serreno just didn't work out in their favor.

It was fitting, he felt that Phee and the rest of the Batch had marooned her on that desolate world. Wrecker assured him that she had no way to call for help. Given that the Kaldar Trinary System wasn't on any star charts, it was unlikely anyone would happen upon her before she expired from lack of food or shelter. And they had taken the blood money she'd received from Hemlock for turning them in. Echo had given some of that money to Rex for the repair of Tech's armor. And Crosshair and Hunter were presently away trying to buy some things with the rest of it.

Still, in spite of Wrecker's present company, and Omega's and Phee's, he was quite bored. Emerie suggested he use the time to rest. He still needed a lot of that. But his mind didn't do well simply resting when he wasn't sleeping. He needed to put it to some use. There was little he could learn from Wrecker besides their dealings with Cid and the difficulty in finding clues as to Omega's whereabouts. He sensed how emotional both Wrecker and Hunter had been when he was first able to interact with them, that they'd taken his apparent death very hard. They'd grieved for him. It was touching, but he felt badly for putting them through that when he was, in fact, not dead. Perhaps he could have used his comms before he jumped to the trees. He'd thought to once his fall had been arrested. He'd rolled to free his arm. He would have had to do the same to try and get his commlink from his left hip. The change in weight distribution had made him fall again and by the end of that, he was not able to call as he'd lost consciousness.

And yet, Echo had believed. He wanted to ask Echo why when he next sat with him. Wrecker was mildly upset that Echo didn't tell them until the message came in. It had done everything Tech had hoped it would. Rex had said he had contacts within the Empire. Tech didn't know that one of them might be on the receiving end of the requisitions. He'd only hoped. The partially encrypted message had caught the contact's ear. And the number had caught Rex's attention. He called Echo and Echo knew that it was him. The on-the-fly decryption was the biggest clue, but he'd also guessed rightly what Hemlock had done to him. Only then did he tell Wrecker and Hunter of his belief.

He yawned and Wrecker told him to go ahead and sleep. He was still partially sedated after all. Wrecker assured him that someone would be there when he woke up, even if it was someone else.

Now that it had been a few days, and Tech's breathing had improved, Emerie had allowed him to be propped up with a box and some pillows, and that put him more in a reclining position. He did not need the breather anymore, but he was still quite weak and awkward in his movements. And he still tired easily. But when he was awake, he was more awake. Phee decided she should probably try to talk to him now as she'd promised herself. She had a tray of food cut into bite-size pieces with a cup of juice to wash it all down.

Shep had loaned him a shirt, so at least he could be half-dressed. It was far too big, but that allowed it to fit over all the wraps that were holding his bones together. There was a pillow under his knees to prop his legs up a bit. He looked very different without his googles, and she had noticed him squinting as she entered the shuttle.

"Thought you might like to eat some real food," she said as she sat down on the stool beside the bed. "Emerie said it would be okay."

"I would like that," he replied.

She held up the try and allowed him to try and feed himself. But his broken fingers rather got in the way of the unbroken ones, so he had difficulty gripping. "Allow me." Phee picked up the piece of fruit he was unable to and brought it to his lips.

"This is awkward," he commented before taking the bite.

"It doesn't need to be," she assured him. She gave him another piece, this time of the main course. "Let me know when you would like a drink. So did you meet any pirates while you were captured," she asked him, smiling lightly.

"Um, no. I met very few people." He pointed his hand toward the cup.

She brought that to his lips and gently tipped it. He took a drink then lifted his head, so she pulled the cup away and sat it back on the tray. "I'm guessing you haven't been around a lot of women in your life," she teased.

"Well, no. We were at war for most of it." He chewed and swallowed. "Though occasionally, we'd be posted with a female jedi, as we were at Kaller."

"Right, and they were also at war."

"Precisely."

"And I'm also guessing your training didn't cover flirtng or courting or anything of a romantic nature."

"It did not," he replied. "Although we are acquainted with a clone deserter who married a Twi'lek. They have two children."

Well, that was something. Not much of something, but something. "Before they married, they probably fell in love."

"I would think so."

"But you don't know how." He was finished with the main course, so she offered him some bread with jam.

"I do not." He brought up a hand to block hers. "Phee, I believe the others thought you were flirting with me. Is that accurate?"

She smiled. "Yes, it's accurate." He lowered his hand and took the bread. "But you said the others believed it. You didn't catch on though."

"I did not." He pointed to the cup again and she allowed him to drink.

"You're different from most of the men I've ever met," she told him. "And I don't mean because you're a clone. You are really very intelligent, but you seem to miss some of the more subtle things going on around you."

Then he surprised her. "I agree. I asked Nala Se why she had made me different. She said it was not a flaw. It allows me think faster and on a higher level. But, for instance, I didn't understand what was bothering Omega after Echo remained with Captain Rex."

"She missed him," Phee explained.

"Yes, we were able to discuss it," he told her. "She asked me why I didn't care. I had to think why she would assume that. I process thoughts differently, but I still have the same feelings."

"That's good to know," Phee replied. She offered him some more bread. "Well, I'm going to make this easy for you then." She felt nervous but nervous was so much better than grief. He was alive. "I like you. I may even love you. It hurt so much when I thought you were gone for good. It surprised me. I don't know how you feel about me." She held up a hand as she was about to speak. "But I don't want you to feel you have to say you love me back. That wouldn't be real. But I hope someday you will decide that you do."

He looked her in the eyes, squinting only slightly as she was quite close. "I do not know if I feel the same," he told her. "I may need more time to determined my feelings."

"I'm not going anywhere." The tray was now empty. She held the cup to his lips again and he finished the juice. Then she wiped his face with the napkin. That had gone better than she thought. There was a part of her that had wanted him to profess his love for her, but that wasn't him. And she had decided before she brought all of them to Pabu, that she liked him in particular. Analyzing his own heart was probably harder than calculating the distance from here to Coruscant. "But I'll probably still flirt with you."

"I am not certain I would recognize you if you did not."

Maybe he did know how to flirt, subtly.