Bad Batch episode: Ruins of War

Everyone continued screaming as they held on or were thrown around the cargo container as it continued to fall.

"We are descending at a rate of speed that is most concerning." Tech said, letting go as Teatra crashed into him.

"Tech!" Mila exclaimed.

"I'm okay! Teatra, get off of me!"

"Don't worry!" Omega said. "The reentry thrusters should engage soon!"

"If they' don't, we're all dead!" Echo said.

"Okay, that's it! I'm using my gift!" Mila said.

"Have you ever even used your power on an object this grande?" Estrella said. "Much less moving?"

"I have to at least try to slow it down!" Mila said, and she began to concentrate.

Mila tried to slow it down, but the container didn't seem to respond. And then, the thrusters kicked in!

Everyone landed rather roughly, many of the horses piling onto Echo.

"Okay, who's wing's in my face?" Echo said, sneezing as some feathers tickled his nose.

"Sorry," said Estrella. "Who's tail is in my face?"

"That's my tail." Indira said, swishing her tail off Estrella.

Everyone got up, the horses shaking themselves back to normal.

"Told you." Omega said with relief.

"Everyone okay?" Mila said as Tech helped her up.

"Other than not being able to steer or control where we land, I would say this is going well."

"Now if only we knew if Hunter, Wrecker, and my siblings are okay." Banjo said, worried about his brother and sister mostly.

Back at Dooku's old palace...

Hunter and Wrecker managed to escape the lift safely, thanks to Pinto and Maybelle using magic to slow down their descent. Now they only needed to escape this place.

But...

"The soldiers got all the entry points to the castle surrounded."

"Well, at least we know this can't be where Mariverde is hiding," said Maybelle. "From what Mariposa said, she never took anything less than perfect."

"Not all the entry points," said Hunter. "Our way out is down."

Wrecker groaned. "I knew you were gonna say that."

Hunter placed a grappling hook near the edge and threw down a rope.

"We use the city ruins for cover and trek back to the Marauder." Hunter said. He took to the comm. "Tech, did you reach the escape pods yet?"

"Not exactly," said Tech. "We are using an alternate mode of transport. My calculations have us crashing towards the upper forest region of the planet."

"Crashing?" Hunter sounded worried.

Sure enough, the container did crash, and sent a lot of cargo flying around, forcing everyone to jump and duck for cover, and Banjo's hat fell onto Omega's head..

Echo held Omega until they believed it safe to move again.

"That was smoother than some of Wrecker's attempted landings," said Tech.

"And smoother than my first landing of a ship." Mila sighed.

"Tech. Report." Hunter said over the comm.

"We are alive. But where we are, I am not fully certain." Tech said.

"Mariverde's soldiers are gonna come looking for their containers, and for us." Echo said.

"What do we do now?" Banjo asked.

"Get out of sight and lay low," said Hunter. "Once we get to the Marauder, we'll come for you."

"Roger that." Tech confirmed.

Suddenly, as the group was walking, they felt movement.

"Uh, what's happening?" said Omega, sounding scared.

"We haven't fully landed yet." Echo said.

Everyone immediately began running back up as the container began to fall over the cliff it landed on. Even with the horses all having wings, the cargo managed to send them falling too, and a large part landed right on Tech's leg!

"Tech!" Omega and Mila said in unison

Tech sounded like he was in pain as he attempted to lift the box off himself, until Mila used her telepathy to lift it off.

"Estás bien? Are you okay? Mila asked.

"My left femur has been fractured by approximately 150 kilograms of pressure," Tech groaned. "so... no."

"I'll go up and scope things out," said Echo.

"Hop on." Banjo said, ready to ride.

"In other words, a broken leg." Mila said. "We need a splint right away! Crosshair, you and the other horses find me something long and sturdy, and some rope."

While Banjo flew Echo up to scope things out, Crosshair and the other horses looked around for anything they could use to splint Tech's leg until they could get him to a real doctor.

"Oh, great." Tech groaned.

"What do you see out there?" Omega asked.

"We still haven't landed." Echo said.

Unfortunately, the troops were on the hunt for Hunter and Wrecker. The others needed to move quickly.

Mila managed to make a splint from some parts of one of the crates Crosshair found, and luckily, Banjo never left home without a lasso, which Mila borrowed to hold the splint on Tech's leg. But, they would need to find more to make a crutch for Tech. With the horse's saddle bags, the group managed to grab at least a little bit of what was inside the war chest, including a familiar looking relic Qui-Gon told Omega about.

"You oughta seek a career in the medical field." Teatra said.

Teatra carried Tech on her back as she and the other horses flew everyone up the cliff.

"This mission has been eventful." Tech said.

"We have to get out of sight." Echo said.

"You tried calling for backup yet?" Crosshair asked his sister.

"I'm trying." Omega said. "For some reason, I'm not getting a good signal here."

Meanwhile, Hunter and Wrecker got down and hid with the two horses as they tried to avoid the troopers.

"They're settin' up a perimeter." Maybelle whispered.

"Like that'll stop us." Wrecker scoffed with a chuckle.

"They know our forces are split." Hunter said. "They'll monitor comm channels, and possibly spell casting."

As the rest of the group continued on their way, Hunter called with a message.

"Havoc-2. The fourth sun is setting. Plan Double Zero."

"Copy that," said Tech.

"Plan Double Zero?"

"Go radio silent, that's what it's code for." Mila said, having read every plan on Tech's tablet.

"When did you have time to memorize every plan number?" Tech said, surprised.

"I'm a fast reader."

"Aside from that, it also means comm channels are being monitored. And given that Mariverde's soldiers are in charge, spell casting may be as well.

"Then that means using magic isn't an option." Teatra groaned, when her ears suddenly shot up. Same for the other horses.

Crosshair held his weapon at the ready, and the horses looked ready to attack. Omega noticed too.

"We're being followed," whispered Omega, but loud enough for her friends to hear.

Whoever it was, he was about to sneak away, when he heard someone activating a weapon.

"Don't move!" said Omega.

"I'm not." said the man.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

The man put his hands up and said, "I live here. The name's Romar."

"He could be working for Mariverde," said Echo, aiming his gun, the horses all looking ready to attack.

"Me? Aren't you working for Mariverde?" Romar asked. "Seeing as you have the magical horses?"

"We don't associate with her," said Estrella.

Tech groaned.

"We do not have time to debate this." Tech said.

"Where's the nearest place to take shelter?" asked Mila.

"Well, it's a little hard to think with them pointing those things at me," said Romar, motioning to Omega and her crossbow and Crosshair with his gun.

So, the two lowered their weapons.

"Much appreciated, but sorry to say there's no shelter around these parts.

"I'm registering a heat source 200 meters west of here." Tech said. "I suspect it is your domicile."

"How did you do-"

"Take us there," Echo said. "We got a princess to protect."

"Looks like I don't have much say in the matter," said Romar. And thus, he began guiding the group to his place.

Later, as night fell, the doresho troops continued their search for the thieves that stole their cargo.

"Captain, we have eyes on half of the ejected containers," said one troop. "No sign of the thieves, but we did intercept a coded transmission."

"Then the ones in the cargo survived the crash," said the captain. "Divide the search and recovery squads. Fifty containers were released. I want eyes on all fifty."

The troops all received their assignments and continued their search.

After observing the troops, Hunter realized what they needed to do.

"We're gonna need to break through their ranks. How many explosives do you have?" Hunter asked Wrecker.

"Nothing that'll do any damage." Wrecker said. "Just a couple of smoke bombs."

"We could always start a rodeo with 'em." Pinto said.

"Why do you always wanna rodeo?"

"Ten o'clock." Hunter said.

"Rodeo at ten o'clock?" Maybelle said.

"No!" Hunter pointed to where he saw...

"Oh. Old Separatist tanks," said Wrecker. "Now you're talking."

Romar brought Omega and her family to his home, and he welcomed them in.

"So, what you're telling me is that you're clones running from Mariverde, who is kidnapping the Republic's clones, and this girl with you is also a clone and a princess of Solaris?"

"Correct," said Tech. "You finally got it right."

The males took their helmets off for a little air

"Why is your house in the middle of nowhere?" Omega asked, not in a rude way, but curiously.

"Didn't really have a choice once that other gypsy showed up. But Mariverde is much worse. Still, we make do." Romar said.

"That other one you mean must have been Lady Morpha, her sister." Estrella hypothesized.

"We knew her all too well." Mila said. "Only good thing she's done is help me meet my husband-to-be."

"You said 'we'?" said Echo.

"The other survivors who fled the destruction." Romar explained.

"Now that Tech's safe," said Omega. "let's head back to the container and get as much of the war chest as we can."

"No, it's too dangerous." Echo said. "Troopers could already be at the crash site."

"Scaredy-cat." Crosshair teased.

"You take that back!"

"I'd stay away from that cursed war chest if I were you." Romar said.

"It wasn't cursed, it was stolen." Omega said. "We need it."

"You think Dooku funded his war efforts by only stealing from outside worlds? No. He took from us, his own people. His quest for power is why our city is now buried in rubble."

"Well, we'll help you get it back." Omega said. "There's enough in that container for all of us."

"I want none of it. Let Mariverde take it. The sooner she'd gone, the better. And the same goes for you. No offense, Princess." Romar took a breath. "Now, if you'll excuse me, some of us have work to do."

After Romar left, Omega had one more thing to say to her brothers.

"It's not too late. We can still scout the site to see if it's clear."

"Negative. Your mission is to keep an eye on the old man." Echo said.

Omega sighed. "Roger."

Omega followed Romar down, Estrella making sure she stayed safe.

Meanwhile, Hunter and Wrecker jumped into some old Separatist transports that would hopefully help them out of the dangerous waters they were in.

"Thanks for the ride," said Wrecker playfully.

Hunter hit a few buttons on the console, but nothing seemed to be working.

"No good," sighed Wrecker. "How about yours?"

"This one's down too." Hunter confirmed.

Mila continued to tend to Tech, making sure his splint was firmly in place, where as Omega kept an eye on Romar down in the basement.

"You just gonna stand there?" Romar said. "Oh wait, you're royalty. You're used to that."

"I wasn't always a princess, and I'm keeping an eye on you." Omega said.

"Ah, not much fun, is it?" Romar then found something. "Ah, here. Try that."

Romar tossed something shiny to Omega.

"What is it?" Omega asked.

"Look inside."

Omega did look inside, and inside, she saw a beautiful pattern of colors, lights, and crystal shapes, like she'd seen on stained glass windows in churches and some palaces.

"There are jewels in here?" Omega gasped.

"No. No, it's only reflected glass." Romar explained. "It's an optical illusion."

"Like a kaleidoscope. So, it's not treasure."

"Oh, for blast's sake. It's a toy. It makes you happy. And believe me, that is worth more than any jewel."

That made Omega think of how Qui-Gon called his children and grandchildren his true crown jewels. She remembered him saying how sometime after his coronation, he began adding a little jewel to his crown. Three red ones for his children, and one blue or pink one for each of his grandchildren, and when Omega first got adopted, he'd added another pink stone to his crown. The way he described it, he wanted there to be a symbol of how much he treasured his family. But, Omega's heartfelt train of thought was interrupted when she heard her brothers arguing upstairs.

"The war chest wasn't ours to begin with," said Tech.

"Well, we would have made better use of it." said Echo.

"I am simply stating that with or without the funds from the war chest, we are no worse off than we were before."

"I do have to agree though, some of those funds could be beneficial at least for you and I, my love." Mila said. "Our children will need to get their college funds somehow."

"That's not how I see it," said Echo. "Mariverde's growing more unpredictable, and possibly stronger, and we're still doing nothing about it."

Echo started to leave then.

"Where are you going?" Omega asked.

"To check for patrols. I'll be back. Stay here, boy." Echo said, leaving before Banjo could object to staying behind.

"Hey, Ace." Romar said, speaking with Tech as he carrried something up. "Think you can lend me that spanner on your belt for a minute?

"What are you doing with a model 2 data core?" Tech asked.

"This here contains a fragment of my people's history." Romar said. "Our culture. Art. Music. Memories."

"Intriguing." Mila said.

"A Separatist archive. Fascinating." Tech said, looking at the device.

"Not Separatist. Serennian." Romar corrected. "We did exist before the war, you know."

"I... never thought of it like that." Tech said.

"When you learn more about the story behind a new world, you often begin to see it in a new light." Mila said.

"Now, if only I can get this thing working." Romar said.

"Oh, I can handle that." Tech said.

"And I can assist." Mila smiled, getting out her tools.

After looking into the illusion toy for a while, Omega looked around and got an idea for how she could get more out of the war chest.

Wrecker flashed his light on another part of the tank as he and the others continued to seek a way out.

"There." Wrecker said.

"Forget it, Wrecker." Hunter said. "That tank's not going anywhere."

Suddenly, blaster fire entered their space.

"Don't need it to. Grab the battery pack."

"For what?" Hunter asked.

"Leave it to me."

"I hope your rider knows what he's doin'." Maybelle warned her brother.

"He may not be the sharpest tack, but he does his best." Pinto said.

The soldiers however, had their own plans.

"Air support's on approach," said one soldier.

"Send them in," said another.

And then, Wrecker threw a smoke bomb into the middle of the battlefield as a distraction while he pulled out some wires.

"Come... to... Wrecker!" Wrecker grunted, pulling out the large wires. Pinto helped by grabbing the wire with his jaws and connecting them with the battery pack Hunter handed him. "Oh yeah!"

"Pick up the pace!" Hunter shouted as Wrecker continued to work, just as a V-Wing shuttle was flying in.

Wrecker was soon finished and ready to fire.

"And we're in business!" Wrecker cheered, and then at just the right moment, fired at the shuttle,

The ship crashed in a fiery explosion, Wrecker laughing victoriously.

"Boom! I make a pretty good tank!" Wrecker cheered.

Soon, Hunter, Wrecker, and the horses managed to overpower the soldiers with the new weapon in their hands (or hooves).

Meanwhile, Omega lowered herself and Crosshair on a cable down to the war chest with Indira and Teatra flying close by. With those two being the swiftest flyers, they made good additions to the team.

"Remember, step lightly." Indira said, still flying.

The horses couldn't tell if the container would be strong enough to hold their weight along with the humans', so they kept flying as the two humans searched the war chest.

"Let's just make this quick." Crosshair said to Omega. "I don't want to have to explain to your parents if anything happens to you."

"You sure you know what you're doing?" asked Romar as Mila and Tech worked on his machine.

"I'm an inventor and my fiance is an expert of this world's technology." Mila said. "Two great minds, we can get any job done."

"There." Tech concluded. "Your data has been restored."

"You, you did it! You-" Romar gasped. He practically hugged Tech. "You-You actually did it."

"Well, of course I did." Tech said.

That was when Echo came back in. Banjo and Estrella were sleeping standing up.

"Where Omega and Crosshair?" Echo said, noticing the two missing.

"Espera, where are Teatra and Indira?" Mila said, also noticing two horses missing.

"Huh?" Estrella snorted, waking up with a yawn. "What happened?"

"They were just here." Tech said.

Echo looked in the floor door Omega had gone through earlier with Romar.

"Well, they're not now." Echo said.

Then, Romar found a clue.

"Hmm. My rappelling cable's gone."

"I suspect she went after the war chest." Tech said.

Echo sighed. "Just like General Skywalker, getting into trouble. We gotta find her before Mariverde's soldiers do."

"Go. I will catch up." Tech said.

"Tech, no. You're injured." Mila said.

"I will be fine. I am a soldier." Tech stood himself up, but Estrella got in front of him so he couldn't get out the door.

"Please, move aside, Estrella."

"No puedo hacer eso, Tech. " Estrella shook her head.

"You won't get very far in your condition." Romar said.

"I can manage." Tech said, only for Mila to telepathically move him to rest again.

"You're not going anywhere, Senor." Mila said. "You are gonna stay here and rest. Estrella, can you and Banjo watch him?"

"You betcha." Banjo said.

"I will go help Echo." Mila said. "I'm only looking out for you, Amor."

Mila kissed his cheek and headed on her way.

"She doesn't take no for an answer, does she?" Romar said.

"No, she does not. Milagro can be quite stubborn when she wants to be. But her persistence is admirable once she sets her mind to something."

"I'd say she's a keeper."

Hunter and Wrecker were still firing as they rode through the mountains.

"The Marauder is just over that ridge," said Hunter from Maybelle's back.

"You said that about the last one!" Wrecker whined.

"This time I mean it."

Wrecker just groaned and fired a bigger blast, which sent a large rock slide down onto the soldiers.

Unfortunately, they didn't know more troopers were headed for Omega and Crosshair's location.

Echo soon arrived where he saw a cable that had to be the one Omega and Crosshair used to climb down. So, he used it to climb down himself, when he heard soldiers arriving on hover bikes! Echo quickly got down there and shut the door. And a light was shined on him.

"Echo!" Omega exclaimed. "Look, I packed it with the rest of the shiny stuff!"

"Did you not hear the blaster fire?" said Echo. "There are troopers out there. We have to go."

"Just let me handle it, Crosshair!" Teatra said.

"I told you, I got it!" Crosshair said.

The green alicorn and Crosshair were currently fighting over a box.

"Will the two of you please stop arguing over who carries what?!" Indira said, getting annoyed at these two getting at each other's throats.

Suddenly, the container started to shake. The horses immediately started to fly and grab the humans.

Meanwhile, Mila managed to come across a few troopers. Carefully, she hid and managed to swipe their weapons and make them stun every trooper she came across so she could get closer to where the others were, and that was when she ran into Hunter and Wrecker.

"Mila! Where'd you come from?" Hunter asked, surprised to see his future sister-in-law.

"It's a long story." Mila said. "Omega and Crosshair may be in trouble."

"We're just about to get to the Marauder." Maybelle said.

"Then, vamanos!" Mila said, rushing onto the Marauder with the others.

Wrecker laughed with delight as he got onto the ship and powered it up.

"This old bird never looked so good."

"Where's Tech?" Hunter said.

"Injured. Banjo and Estrella have him." Mila got her comm and told the two horses where to bring Tech.

Hunter began to fly the ship, only for more ships to come in.

"We've got company!" Wrecker said.

"Get these guys off our tail." Hunter said.

Blaster fire seemed to come from all directions as the Marauder team flew through the air, and down in the forest, Banjo and Estrella soon arrived, Estrella carrying Tech on her back.

"Hold your fire," said one of the troops.

Quickly, Estrella stood on her back legs and hid herself and Tech behind a big tree.

That was when a trooper snuck behind the tree and attacked Tech, only for the two horses to kick and bite. Tech even managed to grab his gun and shoot, which didn't come easy with a broken leg. And he collapsed.

"Tech!" Estrella exclaimed.

Teatra and Indira carried the humans on their backs and started to fly up to the opening of the container, when a big box fell and almost hit Teatra! And Omega slipped from her back! Teatra quickly flew back down and caught Omega by biting the back of her jacket, but Omega dropped the bag with the crystals in it.

"No!" Omega exclaimed.

"That was close!" Teatra said.

"Let me go! I can get it back." Omega said.

"I'm not a royal guard, but I care more about your life than some silly jewels." Teatra said.

"She's right, Omega. Forget about the war chest. It's not important."

"Even with their rarity, Omega." Indira said. "Jewels can be replaced. Lives cannot. Including yours. And you have a family who treasures you more than any jewel."

Omega was reluctant, but she realized the others were right. So, she let Teatra carry her, and she and Indira flew her and the guys out just as the container fell all the way over the edge.

Estrella and Banjo kept watch over Tech as he was on the ground.

Banjo managed to roll him onto his back, and Estrella removed his helmet to check for a pulse. He was alive, but barely conscious.

That was when a familiar face came along.

"Ace? Ace! Wake up." said Romar.

Tech slowly started to wake up.

"What are you doing here?" Tech asked.

"I heard blaster fire," said Romar. "Thought you might need some help. And I was right."

Indira and Teatra got the three humans to the safety of the ground above, everyone relieved to be safe for now at least.

"Omega! Echo! Crosshair!" Tech's voice echoed.

Unfortunately, there were still a few more troopers to deal with. But with their combined forces, the troopers were taken down in time for the Marauder to arrive.

"That would be our ride." Tech said.

"Miss us?" Mila said, inviting the others to get on board.

But before Omega boarded, Romar had one last thing to say.

"Hey, kid." He then tossed her the optical illusion toy. "Keep it. And remember what I said."

Omega smiled and nodded.

"Get going. More will be on the way." Romar said.

"What about you?" Tech asked.

"I'm a survivor. Remember?"

And with that, Romar left, and Tech joined the others on the Marauder, receiving a big kiss from Mila.

Omega, however, as she looked at the toy Romar gifted her, she couldn't help feeling sorry when Echo approached her.

"I'm sorry we couldn't get more of the war chest." Omega sighed.

"We'll manage without it."

"I wanted to help make things better for everyone. My family took so many risks just so they could keep me."

"Good thing they did, or we might be fighting for Mariverde right now. Or worse. We made the right choice, Omega. I'd do it all again, and I'd bet your family would do the same."

"And they are a very lucky family to call you one of their own."