Part 2
Author's Note: Enjoy the bonding in this chapter! :D
~ Amina Gila
Echo locks himself in the cockpit as soon as they're safely away from Eriadu. For one, he can't exactly trust Vader, and for two, for the sake of Rex and the network they're building, it's best if he keeps it all under wraps. Even if Vader is the General, he's still an Imperial, and Echo can't trust him, not yet, and he owes it to Rex to let him make the call on whether they can let Vader know what they're doing. Besides he might not be the General, no matter how unlikely that is. Maybe this is all just a string of uncanny coincidences. Doubtful, but maybe.
It takes a short while before Rex answers, probably getting away from whatever he was doing and going somewhere private where they could talk. "Did something happen?" he asks immediately, knowing that Echo would never call him so abruptly unless something had.
"The last base we went to was a trap," Echo answers, "And we ran into a Sith there named Vader. He… was strange." Strange, doesn't even begin to cover it. "He did not try to harm us once he realized who we were, and he asked after Tech and Crosshair. When we told him what happened to them, and what is happening to the clones, he was… outraged, and he asked to come with us to find Omega and see the truth for himself."
He pauses, and Rex huffs out a breath. "You know how crazy that sounds, right?" But his voice is strained, uncertain, and Echo knows that there's something weighing on him.
"Yeah," he replies dryly, "I know. I can't quite believe it myself yet. We… went back to Eriadu, and he got the sector location of the base, Tantiss from Tarkin – who is now dead, by the way." He doesn't know how to say this, but Rex needs to know. "He's so – familiar, Rex, like I know him, and he knows me, and I – I think he might be…"
Echo trails off, unable to voice that final thought. The General. Their General, who is said to be dead, who they've mourned for so long. Their General, who might actually be alive and working with the Empire, even if he's been seriously injured somehow.
Rex is quiet for so long that Echo almost fears the connection was interrupted, and finally, he sighs. "I never told you what happened when we went after Maul."
He frowns, confused. "What does Maul have to do with anything?"
"Maul told Ahsoka that Palpatine was grooming the General to be his next apprentice," Rex replies, a little bitterly. "I – I always thought something was a bit… off, but the General trusted him, and I trusted the General. I never dreamed… But when Maul said it, I knew it was true, and I had a suspicion about who Sidious was. Never told anyone. Never got the chance. Didn't think anyone would believe me, and I wanted to tell the General in person."
"You think it's really him?" Echo queries, his voice wavering ever so slightly. Rex doesn't point it out, because he feels that grief, too. Anakin Skywalker was not a clone, but he was still one of them in every way that mattered. He was a friend, a brother, and he was… everything to them. Losing him, fearing him dead, it had changed Rex. He's borne that grief in the same stubborn way he's carried his grief for Fives, but it was still there, marking him, weighing him down.
Rex offers him a half-smile, before it falls away again, an aching pain in his eyes that Echo can see even over the hologram. "Yeah, it's the most logical conclusion, given what Maul said and your own experiences. Just – be careful with him, Echo. He's not going to be the same man we knew. Palpatine is well… he's Sidious. Insidious. Be careful."
"Always, Rex," he promises. "I'll be in touch."
"And I'll see what I can find out about Tantiss," he replies before they end the transmission.
Vader is their General. With Rex's words, Echo feels even more certain about saying it, about referring to the armored Sith as his General, at least in his own mind. He wants to talk to him, ask him what happened to him, but he can't… do that, doesn't know how. The Anakin he remembers was the him from the middle of the war, before he became close with Rex and Fives and Force knows who else. When Echo remembers him, they were close, but they didn't have the closeness that Rex has indicated they had later on.
He opens the door to the cockpit now that the transmission is done, glancing out towards the main hold before leaning back in his chair and breathing out slowly. Talking to Rex always helps him, and he needed that reassurance now more than ever, especially given the dangerous path on which they've embarked. Closing his eyes, he focuses on his breathing, on trying to figure out what he thinks they should do next.
They need to find Omega, no matter what, and he… will see it through no matter what happens, no matter what they lose. Omega is worth it. She is worth everything. It's not until now that Echo can understand the protectiveness that his General and Rex showed Ahsoka. All of them were protective of the Commander, but it was truest of them, and now, he can understand it. He feels it, the protectiveness, in every fiber of his being, the knowledge that he would do anything, sacrifice anything, to keep her safe.
When Echo opens his eyes again, Vader has moved to the back, and he's in the gunner's mount now, sitting amidst Omega's things. The gold light glints off his armor, making its darkness somehow both more and less obvious. Gonky approaches him, honking, asking what he's doing.
Echo watches, heart clenching as Vader's helmet tilts towards the droid, and he starts explaining something about trying to track her presence. He's using the same patient, gentle tones that Anakin always used to with droids.
Hunter and Wrecker are up in the cockpit with Echo now, and he turns back to them, now certain that Vader is distracted. They deserve to know.
"I talked to Rex," Echo confesses, "About Vader. He… confirmed what I was already started to suspect."
"What?" Hunter asks, tensing slightly.
"When I first saw him, he seemed familiar," Echo explains slowly, "I suspect he… used to be my General."
Wrecker twitches, eyes widening.
"General Skywalker?" Hunter repeats, not quite incredulous, but still surprised.
Echo huffs out a sigh. "I know, it sounds crazy," he replies, "But the way he talks, acts, and… It didn't seem possible, but it's him."
Hunter glances back at Vader like he's seeing him for the first time.
"Wait," Wrecker blurts out, confused, "You're saying that he stayed with the Empire?"
"Evidently." Echo doesn't like it, either, but it… happened. It's another fact that he has to deal with, just like when Crosshair walked away from them, but it's different because this is his General. Anakin never did anything… dark, nothing that would foreshadow Vader. Somehow, Anakin went Dark the same time the galaxy fell, and he doesn't like it, but it's…
It is.
It's something they have to deal with. Echo doesn't understand the reasoning, but whatever it was, the General obviously believed the Empire was for the best until he heard about what was happening with the clones. He… obviously never saw what they did from the start.
"It… makes sense," Hunter says, finally, "He seemed to know us well. He's the only Jedi we worked with so personally." They worked with many, of course, but none gave them that individual attention like the General did. Echo can see traces of that on Vader, even now.
"How'd he end up like that?" Wrecker asks, still mind-blown.
Echo would really like answers about Vader's condition too, but he can hardly ask. They've been apart for so long now, and they don't really know each other anymore. Besides, it's likely a very sensitive topic, considering that he never told them who he was in the first place. "I don't know. Never asked." How it could've happened, he can't imagine either.
But at least now Echo can be reasonably certain they can trust Vader not to betray them.
**w**
It's not long before they arrive in the general area where Tantiss is, though what they're supposed to do from here, Echo has no idea. They'll need to figure out when they actually find the place.
"Where to, now?" Hunter asks, looking at Vader. They're all a little less tense now that they actually know who he is.
"I will fly us there," Vader replies, moving forwards. He takes the pilot seat, and Echo feels that prickle of darkness around him again, an obvious indication of how deeply he's reaching into the Force right now. What he's trying to feel for, Echo has no idea, but all the three of them can do now is watch and wait.
If he had any doubts left about if Vader was once his General, they're gone when he actually sees him flying. He flies the ship like it's another part of himself.
He may be the one person Tech wouldn't be about to have a heart attack over flying the Marauder, Echo can't help thinking, the familiar wave of grief washing through him. Although on second thought, with the kind of maneuvers the General sometimes did, maybe Tech wouldn't be so happy about it after all. Even if he flies just as recklessly.
The ship starts moving, flying towards one of the numerous planets in the sector. Echo keeps a close eye on the scans, watching as they near one planet in particular. It's too remote to really be on any maps.
Unsurprising.
Vader takes the ship down closer, until they're just entering the outer atmosphere. "It is here," he intones.
They're too far up to see much, though the planet looks like it has minimal life. Echo runs a scan, and he doesn't pick up much either, except some vague readings that are concentrated in a specific area. "This must be where the facility is," he observes. But if that's all the planet's used for, they'll need a much more intricate plan when it comes to getting down there. "But we need a way to get onto it."
"Finding a way onto a transport already going there would be safest," says Hunter.
It'll be risky, but it's more than worth it. This is where they're holding Omega and Crosshair, not to mention countless other brothers, and nothing is going to stop them from getting there. Nothing.
**w**
"I'm starving," Wrecker whines, "And we're almost out of ration bars."
Which, yeah, Echo knows that – they've been running low for a while, but now that they've landed on some uninhabited planet while Rex finds a transport, or until he needs them – they shouldn't have to worry about it so much. Hopefully. It isn't as though they know much about the place, and thereby, what is and isn't edible.
"I'll find something," Hunter offers, turning to the treeline. It's a forest planet, warm in the day, and it's supposed to be cool at night. Hunter picked it out specifically so they wouldn't need to worry about temperature changes. It's hard to say what else they will have to worry about, though.
"I will accompany you," Vader offers, stepping forwards.
The General never used to like sitting still, either. Now that Echo actively looks, he sees enough similarities that he can no longer keep questioning it. The past isn't really what matters – it's that Anakin is here again.
Hunter turns back to him. "Thanks for the offer," he replies, "But I'll be fine on my own."
"As you wish," he replies, though Echo can practically feel the incredulity rolling off him in waves. Usually, when Anakin thinks something, he knows what he's talking about, but Echo still understands the hesitation. Vader isn't the same anymore. He's changed, and Echo can't imagine him being capable of stealth. His presence draws attention in many more ways than Anakin once did.
"While I'm gone," Hunter adds, "You… can set up camp."
Wrecker doesn't look happy about it, considering how he watches Hunter until he disappears through the trees, and he keeps glancing towards the treeline.
"He'll be fine," Echo tries reassuring him, hoping that it's true.
Wrecker lets out a groan-sigh, shoulders slumping. "Yeah," he grumbles, "I know."
Vader is looking at them, though he doesn't interject now any more than he has this entire time.
They have to find a place to stay temporarily, first off, somewhere right by the Marauder. They landed in a clearing, though a small one, and they venture a short distance to look around. They'll need a space small enough to start a fire without it sparking too much and spreading.
They don't know much about this planet, though, so it's hard to say whether Hunter really will be fine. Echo can't help worrying, either.
He's lost so much, so many, already, and he doesn't want to lose another one of his new squad members.
It's been a short while until Hunter returns – considering how Echo noticed Vader eyeing the treeline a few times, he'd been starting to worry. Anakin has always been able to sense from afar when something goes wrong. Probably, something has, or Echo doesn't know why he'd be looking like that. He doesn't have a good feeling about it, either.
When Hunter does finally return – Echo hears the branches snapping and more importantly, blaster fire and growling from afar – he's being pursued by a pack of… wild cats?
Echo and Wrecker draw their blasters, charging. Vader's lightsaber ignites behind them, and he strides forwards, positioning himself between Hunter and the snarling wildcats. They back off fast, disappearing into the trees again.
"You alright?" Echo queries, turning to Hunter who holsters his blaster, still panting.
"I'll be fine," he replies, though it doesn't sound overly convincing. Echo certainly isn't very convinced.
Echo smells blood, though – distant, not too bad, and Hunter's limping slightly, so he doesn't buy it. He lowers his blaster, scanning Hunter, just to make sure for himself. There's a tear in the leg part of body glove, between the joints of his armor. It's bleeding. "You, uh, need help with that?" he queries, eyeing it.
"It – thank you," Hunter offers, settling in the grass.
He's done this before, on occasion even back before he joined them, back with the 501st – it feels like he's there again in a way, and it's hard to believe how things have changed – and it's… somehow somewhat soothing to care for them.
It takes a bit of the edge off the constant fear and knowledge gnawing at him, of how he knows if they fight, they won't all make it through. They already haven't.
He'll never forget Bracca, when they got back to the Marauder, and they saw Hunter nearly dead. He could have died there, if they hadn't gotten back on time. He got lucky there – they all did. Hunter is their leader, and Echo can't quite imagine what it would do to them if they lost him.
He can't imagine what that would do to Wrecker, or Omega either, when they get her back. Or Crosshair, but that's hard to say, considering he left them. Things with him have changed.
Echo himself has lived on long before them, but he still can't quite imagine Hunter being gone. He's no stranger to death, not after living amidst it for years, but being with this squad has changed him. He's not used to it the way he once was. Not numb to it anymore.
Tech's death was… sharp and cutting, unexpected. It caught him off-guard. If he really is dead. He's too afraid to hope.
"Did you catch anything?" Wrecker asks, hovering nearby.
"Yeah," Hunter tells him, "The cats must've smelled the blood."
"Why not find plantlife to consume?" Vader inquires.
Hunter stills. "We… have no way to know if something is poisonous."
Vader walks off, looking around, and Echo honestly assumed that he was just keeping watch until he points out some kind of shrub. "The roots are… edible," he informs them, then pauses, "But Echo may have an aversion to their taste and texture."
That's… good to know.
It's been so long since he was with the General, Echo was starting to forget what it's like to have a Jedi around who can constantly sense things. It's strange to remember what it was like to have someone watching over them, too. Jedi can sense things like that – Echo has been away from them long enough to forget.
"The berries of this bush are safe," he announces, studying it for a few moments. He turns back to Hunter. "Do you know if the animal you caught is safe?"
"It… smelled like it was," he replies, which is the kind of thing Fives would say if he was being stupid, but Hunter can genuinely smell things like that thanks to his senses.
"And you cannot tell for plants?" Vader queries.
He hesitates. "I've never tried. Didn't have a reason to learn." Which is fair, since animals are the deadly ones. Most of the time.
"We will retrieve it once you are treated," he decides.
Echo finishes up taking care of Hunter not long later, and this time, they go together to get the animal. He can see the wild cats lurking in the trees again, though none of them approach. Vader going with Hunter would probably have been advisable from the start. Wrecker drags the animal back to camp, which then leads to the question of how they're going to cook it.
"We'll have to start a fire," Echo observes, moving to collect some fallen branches, but Vader ignites his lightsaber first, slashing through the trunk of an already dead tree. He lowers it to the center of their camp with the Force, then holds his lightsaber against the wood.
The sparks catch the wood, and it bursts into flames surprisingly quickly, but Echo doesn't miss the way Vader jerks back a little when it happens.
He still can't stop thinking about what AZI said about the burns. What happened to him? Not that that's something he can ask about.
It's almost uncomfortable to be eating when Vader is right there and apparently physically can't, even if he walks a little ways off into the woods, maybe to meditate, but there's nothing Echo can do about that either.
All he can do now is hope that Rex will find them that transport soon.
**w**
It doesn't take as long as he was afraid of, to get word of the transport. It's time for them to get ready to go, which means Echo will have to address his mechanical parts, something he hasn't done since Tech fell. It was Tech who always helped him take care of whatever repairs or charging or oiling his mechanical parts needed.
He doesn't have to do it that frequently, and he hasn't had to try doing it on his own yet. Not that the others couldn't help, but they've never done that before, either.
They always adapt when they have to, but sometimes he wonders how they're managing without having Tech to do all their calculations for them. It certainly makes things far more difficult.
"Would you like me to help with that?" Hunter asks uncertainly, approaching, as Echo considers how to get his scomp off one-handed, and for that matter, how to get it back on like that. The rest of his parts will be even more challenging.
"Yes," he agrees, because as inconvenient as it is, they'll have to work it out, "I'll have to tell you what to do."
Hunter steps closer, crouching next to him when they hear the familiar sound of a respirator. Echo looks up to see Vader hovering in the doorway, almost awkwardly.
"I… have had much past experience with what you require," he says, finally.
Of course, he has.
The General always had to take care of his arm during the war, and now, he's even more metal than before.
His gratitude surges instantly at the offer. "That would… help," Echo replies. "Thank you."
Vader approaches, helping him remove his mechanical parts as necessary, and deal with their maintenance, even if he mostly uses the Force. The General did that a lot, too, but it's almost like moving hurts him. But if he's covered in burns, that's a given.
He doesn't talk any more than he has this whole time, not that Echo expected otherwise. That he was willing to offer doing something this personal makes him think Vader probably knows that they figured out who he is.
Echo almost wants to say something, but… what would he say? He doesn't know how to approach it.
"Is there anything you need?" he asks finally, because he at least owes his General that much.
Vader stills, for a moment. "My suit requires power."
He doesn't want to think about how his General requires constant recharging to survive. Echo does, too, of course, though that still… somehow feels different. "We'll help you with whatever you need," he offers.
Vader just looks at him, hesitating.
"You can do it if you need to," Hunter offers immediately, "It'll be fine."
Echo knows Vader will have to take up the offer sometime, but he didn't quite expect it to be so soon. It's later the same day, not long later – the three of them were in the back still working on Echo's repairs, and trying not to think about their lost siblings – that they see it.
The chest plate he wears is off, on the floor next to him, and it has very, very long… attachments on it. Too long for it to fit normally into his armor. They must go inside him, and that's not a thought Echo appreciates very much. His General helped him, saved him and Echo can't imagine what's happened to him since.
He's recharging – the cord is connected to something in his chest that Echo doesn't want a close look at. This is his General, and he may always have loved machines, but that makes it no easier to see him being treated as one.
Even Echo doesn't have a central charging system the same way.
Hunter pauses in front when he sees it, hand half-raised to motion them to go back.
Vader glances at them, and Echo feels half frozen as he watches. That's his General. It's Anakin, and he never – Echo has seen many things in his life, and it's almost ridiculous how badly this is shaking him up. He's seen his brothers die, brothers with the same face as his own and Fives. He's seen violence, but he didn't really anticipate this.
Which is stupid because he knows that Vader is very mechanical. It was the first thing Hunter told them he sensed. Doesn't mean he's ready to see it though.
Wrecker moves forwards anyway, approaching Vader with the same entire lack of common sense he's always had. Sith or no, Vader's still Anakin, so Echo doesn't even try stopping Wrecker. He's still not fully expecting it when Wrecker crouches next to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and tugging him into a what must be crushing embrace.
His vocoder makes a staticky sound that Echo suspects was probably a yelp – he looks as caught off-guard by it as Echo was when Omega first hugged him. Echo honestly thinks he's going to just sit there, but he doesn't know why – his General is very affectionate, and a lot has changed, but some things haven't.
He shifts a little closer, arm winding around Wrecker's waist and tugging him closer.
Echo and Hunter exchange glances, and Echo finds himself wondering how his General has been all this time, if it's been long enough that he's as lost and lonely as he often comes across as.
They approach the others hesitantly – Echo doesn't really know if Vader will be upset by their presences, if he'll find it uncomfortable or invasive – but he doesn't ask them to leave. This is Anakin, though. He never had the same… self-consciousness that most people have. Had so little it was sometimes disturbing.
Once, Echo would never have thought of him as family, because he was their superior, but now? Things have changed. He's changed, and he's never considered anyone except his brothers and the kid that, but it's different with Vader. It always has been. He's the one who rescued Echo when he needed it, and Echo realizes for the first time that he, probably, needs to do the same for Vader now.
"Does it hurt?" Wrecker asks worriedly.
"The… charging?" Vader queries. "No." That's something, at least.
"The… rest of it?" Wrecker adds, eyeing Vader's armor. If his condition is as awful as AZI described, Echo can only imagine, and he doesn't want to think about it. Can't even imagine what his General must look like now, without the armor.
"It is of little importance," he replies, after a long enough pause that it definitely means yes.
"That's not what AZI indicated," Echo can't help saying, even if he thinks they should probably drop it. It's just… He can't imagine his General living like this, and he doesn't know why he couldn't have gotten better medical treatment than this, especially if he's with the Empire.
"I am… fine," Vader insists finally, not that Echo really expected otherwise. "Do not concern yourself with it. We must focus on preparations for getting to Tantiss." Obviously, he's not comfortable with discussing it anymore, and he's not wrong that they need to focus on leaving. They have a transport to be breaking onto soon, after all.
**w**
They go to Coruscant to get Rex. He's at the same place in the Underworld where he was the last time they were here. The mere thought sends a sharp pang through Echo's chest. When they were last here, Omega was with them. So was Tech. Now… they're not.
And their absences have never been so obvious.
Echo tucks that away, burying the resentment and anger deep down with the rest that's festering in his chest, born when he learned that Fives was dead. Instead, he shifts his focus to Rex, who is his brother and closest friend, who is here and waiting for them. Rex has always been there for them from the time they met, and now, they're all the other has left of their old life. Sometimes, though, Echo thinks that the more he tries to cling to the people he has, the more he loses him. But that thought, too, he pushes away. He needs to focus on what matters.
Rex. Vader. Hunter. Wrecker. Omega. Crosshair. Tech.
They are what matter. Everything else can wait.
Echo is the first off the Marauder when it lands, and he offers Rex a casual salute in greeting. Rex nods to him, clasping his shoulder briefly, but then, his gaze is drawn away to Vader. For as quiet as he's being, Vader still manages to draw all the attention right to him. They stare at one another for a few moments, and Echo is close enough to hear the quiet noise Rex makes, before he moves towards the Sith.
"General," he says, his voice wavering ever so slightly, and this isn't a reunion between a soldier and his commanding officer. It's a reunion between friends, family. Echo doesn't know who's the most surprised of all of them when Rex steps closer, wrapping his arms around Vader and hugging him. "I'm so sorry."
Vader hesitates, movements awkward as he presses a hand to Rex's back. "You did nothing to me for which you need to apologize, Rex," he answers, and from those words, if Echo had any doubts about who Vader once was, they're completely gone. "I am glad you survived. When I saw the Cruiser, I feared the worst."
He steps back, just enough to stare at Rex's face, and Echo gets the feeling that they've all but forgotten their audience. "What happened? Was it Maul?"
Rex's expression falls, and he looks away. "Palpatine contacted me and issued Order 66," he answers. "He said the Commander… was to be included in that order. She let out Maul to escape from us. I –" His voice trails off, and Echo can hear how wrecked he sounds. "I tried to protect her. We escaped together, but Maul brought down the Cruiser. I – I'm sorry."
Vader reaches out, clasping Rex's shoulder firmly. "This is not on you," he promises. "It is not your doing or your responsibility." He pauses, jerking back, helmet turning away from them. "We must leave," he states, turning back towards the ship. "My master knows I am here. He is trying to reach me."
Echo can't quite contain the sudden surge of dread that coils within him as they scramble to clear out. Thankfully, they make it off Coruscant and into hyperspace without incident, and it's only then that they all begin to relax. They're away from Coruscant and the Emperor, but the next step will be the hardest yet.
Infiltrating Tantiss, just the five of them against an army. But they will do that and so much more to bring their family back together.
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