Star Wars: The Bad Batch

In Secret

by Gabrielle Lawson

Chapter Fourteen

Tarkin stood in the hangar of the ruined base on Mount Tantis. The base itself was dark. He ordered several companies to venture inside to find out what had happened. The base had gone dark weeks ago, but Tarkin had assumed it was just keeping up its secrecy. Hemlock was due to brief him again at the end of the cycle but had missed that deadline.

From the hangar, he couldn't determine much. Several of the doors that led inside were stuck open while others were locked closed. There was an empty storeroom off the southern side of the hangar, while the storeroom on the north was full of equipment and food.

Tired of standing in the hangar, he returned to his ship to await reports.

It took thirty-six minutes for the first report. "We have found Dr. Hemlock and the Kaminoan, Nala Se. They have been deceased for some time. It appears Mistress Se committed suicide. It is difficult to determine Hemlock's cause of death."

"Bag his body for autopsy," Tarkin ordered.

"Sir, there was a very large tank here. The only entrance was through a large circular door. The rest of the lab seems to be in lockdown. There are many other bodies in this base."

"Prisoners or personnel?"

"We counted sixteen dead men in prisoner cells," the commando reported. "The other cells are empty. Other than that, we've only seen Imperial personnel. Men and women."

"Return with Hemlock." Tarkin closed that channel. "Company Three, report."

"They're all dead, sir," Company Three's commander reported. "We've found no survivors. They've been dead for some time. There are hundreds of them. We found at least thirty in the galley, including the kitchen workers."

A lieutenant entered the ship. "Sir, I think it imperative we get you off this mountain."

"Why, what is the danger?" Tarkin asked. He still wanted to hear the reports from the other floors of the base.

"Company Two is dead, sir. But before the last member died, he reported seeing an exceptionally large beast. A Zillo Beast. He then screamed and I heard crunching sounds."

"The large tank held a Zillo Beast," Tarkin concluded. "Very well, take me to orbit."

"Shall I recall the other companies?"

"Company One will be returning with Hemlock's body," Tarkin told him. "Get that on board then every ship should lift off. Contact the other mountain. They'll need to evacuate."

"Sir?"

"A Zillo Beast cannot be stopped with blasters," Tarkin told him. "And it grows exponentially as it ingests power. It has ingested all the power in that base. It is likely too large to escape. However, if it should manage, it will seek the next source of power."

"Yes, sir." The lieutenant began to walk away.

"Once we are clear, begin orbital bombardment. Perhaps we can bury the beast in the mountain."

He turned back. "It will be done."

"Company One is reporting in, sir," another trooper reported.

"Put them through," Tarkin ordered.

"There's no power in the base. We tried a power droid in Hemlock's lab. The files have been purged. The entire Kaminoan database and all of Dr. Hemlock's work is gone. I sent men to Security to see if we can get anything from the cameras."

"Pull them back to the hangar," Tarkin ordered. "Hemlock's body will likely tell us what befell the base personnel. The base has been destroyed by a Zillo Beast. We will bombard this base from orbit."

"Understood, sir."

Tarkin could see out the forward screen Hemlock's body behind carried onto the next shuttle. "Give them fifteen minutes, then leave without them. Take me up."

The lieutenant nodded and sat down at the helm.

Tech actually did wake up once when no one was there. It was in the evening. He'd slept a bit after Phee had brought him dinner. Emerie had already checked him over and deemed his progress to be good. He was still weak and his movements were stiff. He couldn't really do any exercises to strengthen his upper body as he was still far too restricted by stabilizing wraps. While his fingers and arms hurt less, his ribs were still very tender. It had been thirteen rotations since he'd first woken up to find Hunter beside him.

Still, it wasn't much later when Echo walked in. "We have a gift for you," he said. He had a small box in his hands.

Fortunately, the box didn't have a complicated mechanism. He only had to lift the top. Inside he found goggles very much like he'd had before. But the lenses were perfect.

"Nala Se had left very all the details of your cloning in that data you had me copy," Echo reported. "We found the specs for your lenses. I fixed the camera with AZI's help."

"It has been challenging to not see clearly," Tech admitted. He lifted the goggles and put them on. The interior of the shuttle and the evening sky outside were perfectly clear. He could see the individual pebbles that made up the ground around the shuttle.

"I imagine," Echo sat down. "I'm sorry I haven't been around much. We took more than four thousand credits from Cid. We were unable to find a bacta tank, I'm afraid, but we found a few other things that could be of use in the coming weeks."

Tech was still looking around, just taking in everything he couldn't see clearly before. "I had wanted to ask you something." He stopped looking around and focused on Echo. "Phee told me you believed I wasn't dead. Everyone else seems to have come to a different conclusion. Of course, I wasn't dead. But why would believe that I had, in fact, survived?"

Echo sighed. "After we lost Hemlock's shuttle—and Omega, I brought the others here to recover. I told them I'd check with Rex and Senator Chuchi for leads. And I'd return to Eriadu to find you, so I could bring you home for burial."

It was an odd thing to be told of the events after your apparent death. If he had died in the fall, all of this would have come to pass.

"I didn't find your body," Echo told him. "I found footprints. They led me to some very odd trees. Their branches were broken from very high up all the way to the ground. One of those trees was growing between two rocks. I found droplets and smears of blood on those rocks. But they weren't covered in blood. There were no pools between them. I found footprints around a depression where you must have lain. I believed then that Hemlock had lied. He told Hunter that all they were able to recover was those goggles."

He slid a bit closer. "And I decided then that I would be the one who believed you were alive, just as Rex had been the only one to believe that I was. I told Rex, but not the others. In case I was wrong."

Tech felt a deep connection to Echo just then. Echo had joined them after he was freed from the Techno Union. He was one of them, but different. A reg. They had already had a lot in common, with Echo's ability to scomp in to computers and get data while Tech could hack in. They both worked to fix the Marauder when it needed repair. But Echo had done something very personal that connected them together. He had believed. "So when I decrypted part of that message. . . ."

"I was primed to know it was you," Echo stated. "I believed you were alive, and only you could have decrypted just those two parts on the fly. And my number. I understood what that meant. I'm very sorry that happened to you."

Tech gently touched the plate on his temple with an uncovered finger. "I would not have chosen it, but I found it to be quite useful. It cannot be removed. I am certain I will find it useful again."

Echo smiled and lifted the scomplink attached to his right arm. "I understand."

"Do you—" Tech started, but stopped. He looked at his covered, motionless legs. "Do you miss your limbs?"

"Every day," Echo told him. "I'm right-handed. But I have flashes of memory of the explosion. I couldn't have survived without all this. I didn't get a choice on Skako Minor, but I had a choice with all of you. If I had given up for lack of natural limbs, I would have missed out on our missions together, our time with Omega. I'm glad to be alive. And these droid parts probably saved me from worse injury when we crashed. They allowed me to take care of the others, to go to Eriadu. To believe."

"Omega said the senator's doctor spoke of possible treatment," Tech told him. "But that's not a certain treatment. I may be stuck this way."

"Your worth is not in your legs," Echo reminded him. "It's not even in your brain. It's just you."

Emerie inspected bed Hunter and Wrecker had built for Tech. They'd stacked two beds and fastened them together. They'd done the same with several other beds on the other side of the room. Omega was sitting on the top of one set of bunks. This bed had a bar half a meter below the upper bunk.

"I'll climb up top," Hunter told her. "He shouldn't be stuck in that shuttle."

"I'd still want to monitor him," she told him. "And he still needs pain meds."

Omega climbed down. She had her datapad. "I can help monitor him when he's here."

"Do the meds have be IVs?" Wrecker asked.

Emerie considered that. It had been three weeks now. She could put the meds in injectors. It was possible most of the wraps could be removed in another seven rotations. He was awake most of the daylight hours and was actually quite bored for much of the day, even with company. His chest would still be wrapped, but he'd be able to interact with others better, even eat his own food. He wasn't ready for the lev chair just yet, but perhaps he would find this more comfortable for sleeping than the stiff bed he was on now.

"Someone will need to help him dress," she pointed out.

"We can handle it," Crosshair argued.

"Fine," she decided. "The chair needs to wait until he's stronger."

"Not a problem." Wrecker cracked his neck.

Emerie looked at Omega. "Really, Omega should be staying with Phee and me."

"Why?" Wrecker asked. "She's lived with us on the Marauder."

"I want to stay with them," Omega complained.

"Because you are an adolescent girl who will eventually be entering puberty," she stated. She looked to the men. "How much do you know about that?"

Wrecker rubbed his head. "Um. . . ."

Crosshair leaned against one of the bunks. "She has a point."

Emerie chuckled. "I didn't have anyone to help me navigate that," she told Omega. "You do."

Omega eyed the bed.

"We can swap my bed in here," Emerie offered. "Wrecker can you carry that one?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Right now?" Omega protested, holding Wrecker back.

"It's just around the corner," Hunter reminded her. "And it's mainly for sleeping. You'll still see us every day."

Omega sighed and let Wrecker pass. Wrecker lifted the bed from one end. He lifted it easily enough, but it was awkward to maneuver out the door. Emerie had to help steer. "I still get the top," Omega said as she followed them out.

Hunter found Crosshair staring over the wall after dinner. He'd been doing that a lot. Hunter hadn't spent much time with him since he'd rejoined the squad. He'd been offworld shopping for most of the last three weeks. Each of them, Tech included, now had several changes of civilian clothes as well as clothes to swim in. Crosshair had his helmet back, and Wrecker had helped him paint his armor. The black didn't fit him anymore. Of course, there was the lev chair and Tech's repaired goggles as well.

Crosshair had told them of his change in perspective the first night here. Hunter was sorry he had to go through losing someone like Mayday to get that perspective. It hadn't been easy to dig up that helmet on Barton IV. It was incredibly cold and the snow had been nearly chest deep. Seeing how far it was from the now abandoned base gave Hunter a real sense of how far Crosshair had walked, pulling Mayday along only to have him die with no help. Still, he was very glad to have his brother back. In turn, they had filled Crosshair in on their prior relationship with Cid and what had really happened with Rampart.

Hunter joined him at the wall. The lights were just coming on in Lower Pabu. "Nice, isn't it."

"Not the word I'd choose," Crosshair said. "There's nothing in any direction. My eyes are worthless here."

"Maybe you just need to focus them a bit closer," Hunter suggested. "Wrecker, Omega, and I, we want to stay here. Omega deserves a chance to be a kid and not a soldier."

Crosshair turned to face him. "Tech and Echo?"

"Tech will probably stay. He was thinking about it before all this. If the treatment doesn't work.…" He let that hang. "Echo left us to work with Rex once before. I'm sure he will again. Though I hope he'll still call this home and come back now and then. You can, too."

Crosshair regarded him. "I still need to fight."

"I know." Hunter nodded. "But this can still be home."

Crosshair turned and put his back to the wall. "I may be 'severe and unyeilding,'" he said, "but I am glad to be reunited. I missed all of you. Even the girl and the droid. If this is where you are, this is home. Only you're kidding yourselves if you think the Empire will never come here."

Hunter waved his arm toward Lower Pabu. "What could they possibly want from this little island?"

Crosshair answered quickly. "Control."

Tech watched patiently as Emerie removed the stabilizing wraps from his left forearm, his right upper arm, and all but three of his fingers. And thus, he identified which fractures had had to be rebroken. She also removed the wraps from his legs. The released arms and fingers felt clammy and, to be honest, didn't smell very good from being unwashed in a full cycle. AZI assisted with that however. He sprayed his limbs with a cleansing gel then used a warm beam to dry them.

Then Emerie helped him put on a shirt. She pulled back blanket and, between her and the droid, they had him in loose fitting trousers.

Wrecker then stepped forward as AZI backed away. "Ready?" he asked.

Tech looked to Emerie. "I certainly hope so." He was quite tired of only seeing the inside of this shuttle or the view outside it. It was cool evening and he hoped to get some enjoyment out of it before nighttime.

Emerie nodded.

"Shep is having another feast," Wrecker said as he put one arm behind Tech's back and the other under his knees. Tech wrapped his arm around Wrecker's shoulders and then he was up.

"Gently!" Emerie admonished. "He'll need something behind his back and a cushion on the seat."

Wrecker smiled. "We've got it covered."

He carried Tech out the door into the soft light of the sunset. And the place was oddly empty. "Where is everyone?"

"Well, at the feast," Wrecker told him. "But we didn't want you to be mobbed your first time out."

"Very thoughtful," Tech remarked. They moved down the path, with Emerie following, toward Shep's place and onto his patio. Everyone that meant something to him was there. And they were all smiling. Except Crosshair, but he rarely ever smiled.

"Welcome back," Shep said, standing. "It's not often we get one someone back from the dead."

"I was never actually dead," Tech corrected, but Shep just laughed.

Phee stepped back to give Wrecker space as he gently deposited Tech onto a pillow he couldn't feel. Then he kept a hand on his back until Gonky came over to be his backrest.

It was the first time he'd been able to sit up since he'd left the Marauder on Eriadu. He was now able to eat on his own, to converse with his friends and family, to feel almost normal. Tech asked about the progress in rebuilding since the sea surge, and Lyana asked how he took the base, but Shep didn't want to hear the details. So Omega whispered in her ear and Lyana's eyes went wide.

Shep quickly changed the subject. It was nice. But Tech's mind kept returning to his legs that didn't work. He didn't even realize a moonyo had come by under the table until Phee had yelped beside him. Then she laughed and handed it a fruit.

He tried reminding him that nothing could be done about it until he was ready for the treatment. But his thoughts returned anyway. Even if all his fingers had been unwrapped, he wouldn't be able to dress himself. He couldn't maneuver his torso into a shirt. He couldn't lift himself to pull up trousers. He lost his ability to move freely. Was he now also to lose his personal dignity?

With dinner over, Wrecker lifted him again. Instead of leaving, he brought him to the wall. For the first time in three cycles, Tech could see the rebuilding progress for himself, as each light winked on and the people of Lower Pabu stepped out of their houses, looked up, and waved.

That night, he slept in a real bed, under soft blankets with the sounds of his brothers around him. There were many factors that would lead to a positive assessment of his situation. But the negative factor remained and it spawned new factors. They never trained him to be a paraplegic either.