Echo charged through the tangled brush and wished for about the eighteenth time that Tech would listen to warnings from his squad mates. More particularly, he wished that Tech would listen to Echo. But given that Wrecker had just scored for the twentieth time as far as 'not listening to Echo' went, and that Crosshair had just hit time number twenty-six, well . . . At least Tech's not as bad?

Trying to encourage himself in this way was pointless. Echo threw himself flat as blaster bolts shrieked overhead, rolled sharply to come up behind a tree, and shot down the pursuing droids with prejudice.

As a brief lull in the fighting occurred, he went back to his argument. "I told you it was too dangerous, Tech!"

"Yes." Tech's voice was a little strained, which was unsurprising given that he was struggling to hold on to the balcony he'd been thrown over. "But you were basing your statement on 'instinct', which is not at all the same as 'fact'."

Echo rolled his eyes heavenward beneath his specially modified helmet, shot out another droid, and snapped, "Experience outranks everything, Tech, and I've had a heck of a lot more experience than you."

"We were not discussing rank or experience at the time."

"WELL WE ARE NOW!" Droids number fifteen and sixteen bit the brush, since there wasn't much dust around to speak of. Not on this snow-covered planet.

" . . . There is no need for you to shout," Tech said, sounding a bit peeved that Echo was even annoyed in the first place.

If this was how Rex had felt when taking Echo and Fives under his wing for the first time, Echo was going to fall on his knees and beg forgiveness the next time he saw the captain.

Granted, Rex would probably send him to Kix with a note to check whether his brain was firing on all circuits – heh – but at this point Echo really wasn't sure himself as to his levels of sanity. It had been a crazy three weeks since he joined the Bad Batch, and he'd spent that time getting to know his new squad, mostly in between and during firefights and fist fights.

He'd decided by now that he liked the Bad Batchers – liked them a good deal, in fact. They were skilled, and effective, and brave, and loyal . . . And, it turned out, on occasion they were completely stupid.

They were also all younger than he was by a good year, and this gave him a surprising edge in authority that none of them had expected. Too bad the edge in authority didn't mean they automatically listened.

"Tech," he said, taking out droids number seventeen through twenty with a carefully-thrown EC. "When we get back to the Marauder, you and I are going to have a little talk about safety and bad plans versus good plans."

"It was a good plan," Tech defended, as though the fact that he was currently hanging by his fingertips from the balcony of an extremely high tower was exactly the result he'd intended. "I admit the execution was a bit flawed, but overall –"

"Overall," Echo said, fighting his way through the snow once more, "I am the last man standing, and I don't like that at all."

"We're all alive," Wrecker cut in. "And Cross is still around. You don't need to worry about us!"

"Who said I was worried?" Echo skidded to a halt and shot, then ducked behind a tree to avoid the return fire as he checked his HUD for the others' positions. "And Crosshair's busy, so now I have to complete our part of the mission on my own and save you guys somehow because none of you listened when I said it was too dangerous."

"We did listen," defended Tech. "We just did not agree. There is a distinct difference."

Echo took a moment to be grateful that he did not have a cybernetic eye, on top of everything else; because if he had, it would have been stuck somewhere in the top of his skull by now.

He eyed the remaining droids, took a running start, and leaped into their midst, striking out with his scomp link. There was something almost therapeutic about taking out droids with something that one only ever found on droids. Echo used his pistol to take down the last one and turned towards the town.

"You still hanging on, Tech?"

"Yes, although I am not sure I can keep it up for much longer."

Echo charged through the small town's main gate and looked up. Tech was dangling by his fingers from the edge of the balcony railing of a very high tower, and far below him was the sprawled-out form of a commando droid. "Where's your cable?" Echo asked, sprinting for the tower.

"The commando droid cut through it," Tech said succinctly.

"The commando droid cut through it," muttered Echo, slapping a breech charge onto the tower door.

"Well, it did cut through it, Echo." Tech sounded downright peevish.

The door blew free of its hinges, and Echo took a deep breath before charging up the long flight of stairs. Around, and around, and around –

There were definitely times when having prosthetic legs was a bonus, because Echo had run up two hundred and five steps by the time he reached the balcony. "I'm coming through. Don't get surprised and let go or anything."

A huff was all the response he got as he set a second charge on the balcony door and stepped back. No sooner had it exploded than Echo was on the balcony, slipping a little on the snow-covered wood. He reached down over the railing and grabbed Tech's wrist with his left hand. One hard tug later, Tech was standing on the slippery wood beside him, breathing quickly as he adjusted his visor.

Echo glanced him over. "You okay?"

Tech tilted his head as if considering. "For the most part, yes."

Echo automatically ticked Tech off as 'safe' on his mental checklist. Next was Hunter, but first they'd have to get what they'd come for. "Come on, let's find that intel."

Tech worked with his usual rapidity when it came to data, and they were out of the tower's top room in minutes. It took longer to go downstairs than to come up, and by the time they'd reached the door, the droids had started gathering again at the far end of town.

"Hunter," said Echo, shoving Tech behind a wooden house. "Hunter, are you there?"

"Yeah," said Hunter slowly. "Just . . . I have no idea where 'here' is. Did you get the intel?"

"We've got it," Echo said, watching the slowly advancing droids as Tech worked to pinpoint Hunter's comm signature. "Now we just have to get everyone together and get out of here."

"Get everyone together?" Hunter asked concernedly. "What . . ."

"Everyone's fine," Echo told him. The droids were stopping, turning in all directions to observe the market place. "The meeting house collapsed – I think you got a good knock on the head. Crosshair's still escorting the locals to the evac point. Wrecker got buried beneath a snowdrift halfway there, and I just found Tech hanging from a balcony."

There was a short pause. Then Hunter sighed. "Why?"

It wasn't a real question, as far as Echo could tell – Rex often asked 'why?' of the universe in that same tired tone – so he ignored it in favor of readying a trip mine.

"I was fighting droids," Wrecker said defensively. "Not my fault they had a spider droid come in!"

"A spider droid," repeated Echo, pausing when he realized he couldn't set the mine and keep his gun on the advancing droids. "Tech? Finish this up, will you?"

"Yeah," said Wrecker. "It shot all the snow off the ledge above me."

"Ah." Echo eyed the distance between himself and the droids and decided to make them move faster. A few rapid shots caught their attention, and he ducked down beside Tech and waited.

There was a rushed clanking of feet, metallic-sounding even on the snow, and then a droid said, "Hey! That looks like a –"

Echo rewarded said droid's alert programming by activating the mine.

Droids twenty-six through thirty-nine went down with a flurry of satisfying jolts and electrical sizzles, and Echo motioned for Tech to lead the way. The youngest of the squad sprinted for the collapsed meeting house, firing with one pistol as he ran. His other arm, which he held against his waist, seemed to be giving him some trouble.

"I have located him," Tech announced, dropping to his knees beside the pile of boards and blackened wood that had been the meeting house. The Seppie's tank had put an end to the historical building in four seconds.

"You get Hunter out. I'll cover you," said Echo. Tech tugged ineffectively at the nearest board with one hand. "On second thought, I'll help."

"I got out!" Wrecker's voice came through, much less muffled than it had been the last few times. "Want me to go meet up with Crosshair, or –"

A loud explosion at the edge of the forest made Echo jolt around. "They've got another spider droid?"

"I'm coming back!" Wrecker announced.

"Tech, Echo – get to cover," ordered Hunter in an unimpressively vague tone.

Echo glanced down, but the sergeant was still out of sight, somewhere beneath the pile of wood.

Tech continued to move boards, not seeming to notice as the spider droid advanced, so Echo grabbed his wrist and hauled him to relative safety, away from the town square. "We have to wait for Wrecker," he said. "He's the only one with powerful enough explosives to take out that thing."

Tech nodded. "We appear to be surrounded."

"Aren't we always."

Tech huffed, then paused in realization. "Actually, yes – at least in the time you've been on with us, we have been surrounded by the enemy a minimum of once per mission."

The spider droid fired a heavy blast into the town, and another of the wooden houses fell in on itself with a multi-layered crash.

Echo shook his head. "Glad the citizens got out," he muttered, shifting to kneel on a doorstep so that the weight of his kama wouldn't drag him even deeper into the snowbank he'd been perched on. "We should never have used this town as a base."

"Well, the governor did offer," Tech pointed out, then ducked as a second house collapsed. "And the likelihood of their discovering the outpost was so small that –"

"I know why we used it," Echo grumbled. "But it's the middle of winter, and they don't exactly have anywhere else to go. There was no reason for them to sacrifice their homes for something the Republic didn't even really need."

As another house collapsed, Tech hummed, sent him a sideways look, and said, "I am not certain that this is a safe hiding place."

"Yeah." Echo eyed the small structure they were sheltering behind. "'Specially if that droid was told to take out the whole town."

"Wrecker should be here in one minute and four seconds," said Tech, then clicked off his transmitter. "Perhaps we can keep the droid busy shooting at something besides the houses."

Echo also turned off his comm – Hunter would definitely not like this idea – before replying. "By 'something' I presume you mean 'us'?"

"What else?" Tech readied an EC charge and got into a crouch. "I will draw its fire, and you can disable it."

"No," said Echo, catching him by the shoulder. "I will draw its fire, and you can disable it. I'm a lot faster than you, Tech."

Tech's eyes narrowed, but then he gave a short nod.

"Let's move!"

The two of them sprang out to either side, Tech an instant after Echo. Echo lost track of him after that – all he was focused on was running, keeping the droid from targeting him with his speed and keeping it from losing interest by firing intermittent shots at it. The droid rose to its full height and clanked down the icy paved street.

Tech appeared out of nowhere and flung an EC, which stuck to the body of the spider droid for a few seconds before activating. The droid shuddered, and its laser struck ten feet to their right, but the rest of the droid reinforcements stood ready behind it.

Echo and Tech were in the middle of the main street, meters from cover as the first lasers zipped through the air. They ran, shooting back as they moved, but there were too many. A laser clipped Echo's vambrace as he reached for his last thermal and threw it.

The sound of the explosion overlapped Wrecker's aggressive yell as he came tearing in, rending droids into bits with his hands. He reached the spider droid, planted a couple of timed charges on it, and rushed for cover.

Within seconds, the fight was over – at least, for the moment. Echo could hear the telltale crackle-crash of the droid tanks approaching through the forest.

"What even is this intel?" Echo griped as the three clones ran back to the meeting house. "It must be important."

"Actually, it is somewhat arbitrary," Tech informed him, reaching for a board. That bit of knowledge did not improve Echo's mood.

Wrecker performed the work of three men by flinging boards to the right and left while Echo helped Tech. They each had only one functional hand, but they managed to make it work. Echo did not comment on the fact that Tech apparently knew what this data was; but he knew that Tech didn't have the clearance to be reading through it, and would have had to go out of his way to read it.

He held back an instinctive sigh of exasperation. He got that these guys weren't used to functioning under orders, and that they'd probably ignored the reg manual ever since leaving Kamino, but . . .

The piece of roof he'd been tugging at shifted suddenly, and he and Tech hoisted it aside, letting Wrecker lean down.

"Hey, Sarge!" he called happily. "There you are!"

Wrecker grabbed Hunter under the arms and pulled him to his feet, shedding pieces of wood and plaster in all directions.

Hunter put a hand dizzily to his helmet, but only for an instant; then he checked for his vibroblade, pistol, and rifle. "Thanks, guys."

"We should meet Crosshair at the rendezvous," Tech said. "I do not understand why he has failed to call in, but now that we have the intel –"

"We can't leave yet!" protested Wrecker. "Look at all the droids comin' in!"

Echo glanced between the droids and the unprotected town, then turned to the sergeant. "Hunter," he said earnestly. "If we stay, the droids'll keep attacking. But if we leave, they'll destroy the town."

"The civilians got to the evac . . ."

"Yeah," said Echo. "But they're only going to stay there for as long as they absolutely have to. Their whole livelihood is here."

Hunter pulled off his helmet, revealing a rather impressive bruise across the untattooed side of his forehead. "What do you suggest, Echo? The only way they'll leave is if they get what they want . . . which . . ."

All four of them paused.

"Good idea!" said Wrecker, slamming a fist into the opposite palm.

Echo and Tech looked from each other to their sergeant to Echo's scomp link.

Hunter tilted his head questioningly.

Echo sighed. "Yeah, sure. Why not?"

The deepening dusk made it easy to move through the town without being spotted, and ten minutes later the commandos were back in the tower room. Echo inserted the scomp link into the computer and established a connection with the tactical droid that had stayed well back from the battle so far.

The data flickered through his mind almost automatically now, and Echo couldn't help but be slightly alarmed – revolted, even – at how easily he'd become accustomed to functioning like a droid. The tactical droid responded at that moment, though, and Echo jerked his mind back to what he was doing. Focus, soldier, he snapped. If his mental voice sounded like Rex's, well . . .

He sent the tactical droid the code he'd downloaded from the droid squadron's commander – which was now a flattened pile of metal, courtesy of Wrecker – and informed it that the data had been retrieved.

Transfer data now, sounded the order in his mind.

Echo turned to Tech, who nodded and plugged the datapad in. He'd doctored a copy of some defunct Republican files, corrupting the coding enough that it would take even a tactical droid hours to piece together.

After giving the files a cursory mental glance, Echo nodded, sealed the data packet, and sent it to the tactical droid.

There was a moment's silence. Hunter and Wrecker stood nearby, waiting quietly for Echo and Tech to finish their work.

The data has been tampered with, the tactical droid said. The Republic troops must have made an attempt to confuse us, but ultimately that will not matter. We will remain until I have decrypted this data. Return to base.

Roger, roger, thought Echo with more sarcasm than was befitting of a droid. Good thing he couldn't convey emotion through – data. He cut the connection and stood.

"Well – it sort of worked," he said. "The droids are going to stay at the base until the tactical droid decrypts the data."

"Hm." Hunter glanced down at the ground in thought. "That gives us a little time, anyway. We can return to the Marauder and pick up more ammo."

"And they'll be easier to destroy if they're all in one place," added Wrecker. "Hey, anyone heard from Crosshair?"

"He's keeping his comms off so the droids don't pick up the civilians' location," said Echo. "He should be back any minute."

"Okay." Hunter straightened, put his helmet on gingerly, and turned back toward the stairs. "Let's go meet him."

Tech stayed on his datapad as they traveled back down the long stairway, which made Echo glad that Wrecker was walking in front of him. He was going to trip and –

Tech stopped short with an interested "Hm!" and Echo nearly walked into him.

"What is it?" Hunter asked.

"We may have a slight problem," Tech announced. "The Havoc Marauder is completely surrounded by droids. One moment . . ." He leaned forward slightly and tapped away for a few seconds before straightening. "It appears that they are lying in wait for us."

"I don't see the problem," Wrecker said, walking forward again. "We'll just bash 'em like we always do!"

"Like you always do," said Tech snippily. "The rest of us prefer to keep our bone structure more or less intact."

"We need to stay out of sight for Echo's trick to work," Hunter said, ignoring their argument. "We'll wait in town for a few hours. Once that tactical droid realizes the data's useless, he might order the town destroyed. We'll want to strike before that can happen."

They left the tower and checked carefully in all directions before crossing the main street. The sun had almost set, making it even more difficult to see, and they had to slow down to avoid slipping on the icy stones.

As they neared the gate, Hunter skidded to a halt, raising one fist in a sharp gesture that brought the others to a quick stop behind him. "Someone's behind that house," he warned.

"Just me, Sarge," whispered a voice through their comms, and everyone relaxed as Crosshair stepped out of the shadows.

He sidled over to join them.

"What were you hiding there for?" Hunter asked, glancing at the gate they'd agreed on as a rendezvous point.

Crosshair tilted his head and rested the barrel of his rifle across one arm. "The civilians are at the evac point, but we've got a slight problem."

Hunter gestured, and the five of them took cover behind the house. "Okay," Hunter said. "What is it?"

"The woman Echo rescued –"

"What about her?" Echo asked curiously.

"She regained consciousness just as I was about to head back here," Crosshair said. "She said her little girl had been left behind."

"A child?" Echo glanced at the others. "But – Tech, you and Wrecker checked all the houses, didn't you?"

"Twice," said Tech, a bit uneasily. "And I ran a scan for lifeforms before giving Crosshair the go-ahead."

"That might not have been good enough," Echo told him. "Not with all the droids around . . ."

"This was where we found that woman," Hunter realized, looking up at the wooden wall. "You were about to search it, Crosshair?"

"Already searched it," the sniper replied. "Nothing."

"Well –" Wrecker looked helplessly around. "How do we find her?"

"If she left the house, I can try to track her." Hunter did not sound very optimistic, and Echo didn't blame him. The villagers had left a couple hours ago, and the child could already have been missing at that point. Certainly, when Echo had run in and saved the woman from the droids, there had been no one else in the house.

"Wait!" he said. "She got shot when she came back to her house to get her belongings! She was across the road before that – maybe the kid's still there!"

"Let's move," said Hunter.

One after another, the five commandos darted across the side street and into the building Echo indicated. Echo turned on his helmet light. They were in a storage shed, or something similar; sacks and baskets lined the shelves of the single room. The floor was empty, though, apart from a table. No one else was there.

"She appears to have left," Tech said in a blank voice. "Hunter, do you think –"

A strange sound, like the mew of a tiny tooka, made everyone look up.

"Is that a tooka?" Wrecker asked, and hurried over to the long shelves.

Echo frowned. They couldn't worry about saving a tooka when there was a child on her own somewhere. It was freezing out, and it wasn't even fully night yet. No child could survive in such weather!

"Uh . . ." Wrecker backed away from the shelves, staring at a large basket at the level of his eyes. "Guys . . .? It's not a tooka."

The others joined him hurriedly.

At a gesture from Hunter, Crosshair reached up and lifted the basket down. It appeared to be full of blankets – until the uppermost blanket moved.

Everyone leaned forward as Tech nudged the soft material aside. A little fist – a human fist – waved aimlessly for a moment, batting fretfully at the cold air, and moved the blanket enough that a tiny nose came into view.

"It's a baby," Echo announced, vastly relieved that they'd found the missing child. "The woman must have hidden her here."

Everyone stared at him, then back at the baby. No one spoke.

The tiny tooka mew came again, and Echo covered the baby's hand up, all but hiding her from view. "It's too cold for her."

Hunter removed his helmet and rubbed at his swelling cheek.

"She's – tiny," whispered Wrecker, equally alarmed and enthralled.

"Of course," Tech said. "She is a baby."

There was a brief pause.

"So . . ." said Hunter, rubbing his head. "What do we do with her?"

Echo looked up at his squad and realized something. The rest of the commandos – from Crosshair, who was holding the basket at almost arms' length; to Tech, who had his head tilted uncertainly; to Wrecker, who had put a hand on the edge of the basket; to Hunter, who simply looked confused – were watching him, looking to him as though he held all the answers.

Echo sighed as loudly as he dared and reached forward to take the basket from Crosshair. "We take care of her, of course."