**MAJOR NOTE** I DID NOT REALIZE I HAD POSTED THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE ORIGINAL TLWD INSTEAD OF THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE TECH LIVES VERSION! I HAVE NOW CORRECTED THAT AND WE NOW HAVE THE ACTUAL FIRST CHAPTER POSTED HERE!

MY SINCERE APOLOGIES AND I HOPE YOU HANG IN THERE FOR THIS RIDE!

So, I have been a Star Wars fan since the early days of the original trilogy. I have enjoyed, to lesser and greater degrees, every new piece of the galaxy far, far away as it has come into existence. My newest hyperfixation has been The Bad Batch. I love all the characters and, like so many, was heartbroken when Tech died. I held out hope til the end that they would bring him back because, as we all know, no body=not always dead, especially in Star Wars. After all, if they could bring Maul back from being cut in two and dropped down a shaft, if they could bring frigging PALPATINE back from HIS fall down a shaft, surely they could find a way to save Tech. I held onto that hope until the series finale. I, like many fans, was as brokenhearted as I was pleased with that finale. Nothing ever goes the way everyone wants, which is why the wonderful world of fanfiction was born. It's where you truly can, as the old Burger King slogan said, "Have It Your Way". It's where we imagine the endings we need, the what ifs and fix-its for the things that we wish had been.

And in our written world, actually are.

And, as with all tales, there are moments that get left out of the overall story simply because there are so many moments than cannot always be captured in a media setting. This is one of those.

Please drop me a line and let me know what you think! And please keep an eye out for the part 2. I also cross post under the same name at AO3 and Tumblr.

For as long as he could remember, Tech's mind had seemed to work leagues faster than the minds of those around him. At first, he had only his brothers to compare himself to and, while he never by any stretch considered them slow or stupid, in comparison to himself he knew they were not at his level. He always completed his training modules quicker, could calculate complex algorithms at speeds that rivaled his datapad, could figure attack patterns and battle strategies in several different outcomes at once. He knew his enhancements were designed for him to do this, Nala Se had commented on it many times even as she, often painfully, experimented on him again and again to increase those capabilities. Sometimes his mind ran so fast and hard that it physically hurt, too much information coming from too many different directions and he could not process it, could not deal with the onslaught and so his mind simply shut it off. Rather like Hunter's sensory overloads and Crosshair's vision induced episodes except, instead of nosebleeds and migraines, he simply shut down, like a droid whose power had been cut off. The first time it had happened it had terrified his brothers who were sure that one of Nala Se's tests had done something permanent, something that caused him enough damage to simply stop functioning. When he had eventually come back to himself, he had been packed on a bunk in the middle of his brothers who had all been silently (as they always did) weeping, Wrecker wrapped around him like a blanket and Crosshair wrapped around his other side with Hunter curled around their heads. He had felt horrible that he had caused them all to grieve so. The relief all of them had expressed when he came back to himself, no worse for the experience, had been intense.

As he had grown, those episodes had happened less and less, just like Hunter and Crosshair, he had learned to deal with what he could and repress the rest. The knowledge that decommissioning for all of them if one of them failed or was unable to conform to what was required of them hung over each of them like a stormcloud. It made the fear and related anxiety of such episodes happening again a deep-seated dread in all of them. Even so, they all did as they had always done and found a way to get through whatever they had to get through. It was what had prompted them to make their Plans, after all. It had been his idea actually… well, his and Hunter's. If one planned for every contingency, then the chance of failure was mitigated. And when decommissioning was the price of failure, failure was not an option.

It should not have come as a surprise that those plans had worked. They had always been successful, no matter what kind of situation they found themselves in, they had always a plan to pull from to tackle it and get through it.

And they had become good at it, the whole "getting through things". No matter how bad off plan things went, somehow they always had managed to complete the mission. However, that 100 percent success record had ended when they lost Crosshair to the chip and the Empire.

When the Republic won the war but lost its freedom anyway.

When the clones fell to Order 66 and the galaxy fell under the New Empire.

Now all that was left was doing what was best for their batch and for each other.

Plan 99 was the one plan they had all agreed was not to be implemented, even if they all agreed to add it to their already extensive list of contingency plans. It had been more like their way of trying to deal with the grief 99's death had caused them. A way to honor the only person who had ever treated them as if they were each a person as well. The only clone who had ever, to that point, called the bad batch vod'e.

Plan 99 was the last resort.

Tech's mind thought through all of this in the moment it took to assess the situation.

He sighed. Sometimes, the last resort is the only resort.

He knew they would only be able to see the emotion of his actions and not the logic for some time.

He knew what the only course of action was to maximize survival for the majority of the group.

He looked up and could tell immediately, even if he couldn't see his face, that Wrecker knew what he was going to do; he had always been smart that way.

Even as Wrecker began to scream at him not to, Tech did what he had to.

He watched as the disbelief and horror swamped Omega's face, listened as they screamed his name. It was not a moment before he was too far away to hear or see anymore.

He reached for his vambrace and accessed his keypad, typing furiously even as his mind was calculating the time he had left to work with. He tapped his helmet, beginning to speak into his helmet's audio recorder while hoping against hope all his modifications would work the way he had planned for them to since he had not really had a chance to test them out yet then clicked loose the grappling line attachment on his belt as it was pointless for him to be connected to the carriage still and was even detrimental to his plans.

He continued speaking quickly and had never been so grateful that he was capable of extreme multitasking.

Even as he did these tasks he worked to move his body out from underneath the cable car above him. He did not relish the idea of what could be left of himself being indistinguishable from the broken aircart if his plan didn't work. And, if it didn't, well…it was morbid but he hoped there would be something for his brothers to find eventually, one day. He grabbed the metal in front of him and, with effort, hauled himself to the side of the car, bracing his feet against it as he then pushed off as hard as he could. He was gratified to see that his action moved him several feet from the cable car and most of its pieces. As soon as he pushed off he activated the switch on his vambrace, hoping madly that each of the sections would activate as planned.

After the incident on Daro where they had nearly lost Hunter to a fall and did lose him to the Empire, Tech had begun to brainstorm ways to improve their armour to assist them in case of any other future similar situations they may encounter. It had taken him awhile to collect all the components needed and to construct his idea in a way that it would work with their armour without causing any undue constriction to movement and still function optimally. The idea was actually a very old one and something he had come upon while researching various ideas for what he wanted.

As he had hoped, he felt the elements burst free of the small, flat container on the backplate lining of his armour and inflate then the sudden jerk as the wind caught in it, halting his downward velocity and flinging him backwards into the air. He let loose a sharp, hard laugh in sheer relief as his swift decent toward certain death turned into a more or less controlled decent toward uncertainty, caught in the thick cloudbank as he now was. This concerned him as he could not see how close the ground was or whether or not there were trees and if so where and how close those were. His never still mind started ticking over the possibilities of what could now go wrong. He grabbed for the lines of the chute attached to the back of his torso armour, which was now hitched at a quite uncomfortable angle and pinching against his neck in a most painful manner, to try to steer his decent. He made a mental note of that discomfort for (hopefully) future reference when suddenly he cleared the cloudbank and cursed loudly as trees were moving swiftly in his direction. He tried to maneuver himself around them but he had never done this before and building a sky chute from scratch and scraps did not allow for him to add in some of the things he had seen in the blueprints he had gotten hold of to attempt this experiment. In his own defense, he had not expected to try out his newest addition in quite so trying of circumstances, but needs must and he could only be grateful he had it attached at all since death would have been a certainty instead of a calculated possible risk. He then bounced hard off one of the tallest of the trees which sent him spinning into another one. He lost the hold he had on his left side strap on that second strike and heard a ripping sound, looking up to see that one of the branches had torn a large hole into his chute.

Not good he thought a moment before he began to fall in earnest, smacking against branch after branch as he tumbled toward the forest floor. He heard several cracks he was sure were not tree branches from the flaring pain in his body and wondered for a brief moment how in hell Hunter had done this maneuver and NOT broken anything. He hit the ground hard and rolled fast over the slanted, rocky mountain face before his roll was stopped abruptly against a boulder. He heard the smack of his helmet against the rock and felt the white-hot stab of pain in his head before he blacked out.

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The swirling blue lights of hyperspace were always oddly calming for her. She enjoyed just sitting in the cockpit of the ship, letting the lights spin around and over her. It was her favorite place to read and study. Often, when she couldn't sleep, she came and sat and let the soothing lights wash over her till she grew drowsy.

It was why she was up here now. She had only been on a short supply run, picking up necessities that they couldn't produce on Pabu. A straight, one rotation run. It was late into the ship's night cycle and she had been trying fruitlessly to rest since she knew she would arrive back during the late afternoon and need to supervise the unloading.

She never left her ship unattended during offloading. A hard won lesson when she had to replace a difficult to come by part that was carelessly hit and damaged during an offload.

She was tired… but she was also unusually antsy. She had been ever since the Batch had left on their mission. She hadn't mentioned it, hadn't made a fuss because it always aggravated her when Shep made a fuss about her comings and goings but, she hadn't been able to shake the uneasy twinging she felt in the back of her mind.

So. Instead of sleeping, she sat in the cockpit, alternately staring into the eddying lights of hyperspace and trying to study the history of some planet named Avedot which Tech had downloaded onto her pad after they had got into a discussion about which planets in the mid rim were worth exploring and why.

She wasn't sure how long it was before she noticed the flashing blue light on her comm. It wasn't one she was familiar with since her's was set to green, yellow, red mode. She wondered if it had something to do with what Tech had done to it when he borrowed it last week. He had wanted to make some "improvements to her less than optimal technology" and, because she was an obvious lovestruck idiot and because he really was a brilliant engineer she let him.

She thought they had discussed everything he had done to it and wracked her brain to remember what all he actually had done to it. She remembered him saying he had significantly boosted the long range ability of the holoprojector like he had all the Batch's, so they could communicate over much longer distances with much better quality and wondered if he had given himself his own color code as well. She wouldn't put it past him. In fact, it would be totally on brand as something he would do. She smiled as she remembered, his obvious shyness as he had told her about his upgrades and the faint, but cute, color that rose in his cheeks and the tips of his ears letting her know that, maybe, his intentions and desires mirrored her own. His soft caramel eyes as he had looked at her and then away. She remembered how she had slid up beside him, leaning as close as she dared as she touched his hand and asked him to show her all he had done. The way he had frozen at her touch but then leaned into her so that they were touching from shoulder to hip. A very telling move she thought in a man she had noted was very particular about the physical contact he allowed. Normally, she was much more straightforward with men but she had learned that this man needed a more subtle touch, too direct and he shied away, unsure how to react. She had never been so interested in a man before who had obviously had so little experience in dealing with the opposite sex. Most of her liaisons had been short lived, with men who knew the game, enjoyed the play and weren't worth keeping around for long after.

Tech was different. She had known it the first time she laid eyes on him. And every interaction with him afterward had only reinforced that knowledge that this man was different, that she would need to change her game if she wanted to have a chance with him. She was pretty sure he was worth the work it might take to crack his shell and get his attention.

So she got right to cracking. It was hard work. He seemed to blow hot and cold and she could never really tell if he was interested or just embarrassed that she wouldn't leave him alone. But she persisted, determined to make of him a friend even if it turned out she couldn't make of him any more. She was sure he could use one and she enjoyed his quirky company and dry humor. If what she had discovered thus far was any indication, this one was a prize worth keeping, whether as a friend or, as she dearly hoped, a "something more".

With her smile still curving her lips, she reached for the device, eager to see how their mission had turned out.

She noted the transmission was audio only which was strange, knowing him she had assumed he would be anxious to see if his improvements would function within their expected parameters. She rolled her eyes as she realized she just thought in his precise lingo.

She pressed the receive button.

The message was short.

It took her a moment to understand.

And when she did…. she wondered for just a moment how two sentences could hurt so much.

I wish we had been allowed more time. I am sorry, forgive me.

The sharp pain in her chest was what let her know she had stopped breathing. She gasped in, a deep, ragged sound that tore through her lungs and out again in a choked, broken sound. She shook her head, mind trying to refute the information it had just received. She moved blindly, standing fro m her seat, just to take a step and sink hard down to the durasteel flooring as she continued to stare at the commlink in her hand, it's message repeating since she hadn't stopped it. Over and over, those two sentences spoke to her in his voice, a voice heavy with resignation and sadness. She could feel the wetness of her face, could hear a faint keening sound coming from somewhere and was shocked when she realized it was coming from herself.

This couldn't be true. Couldn't be real.

He couldn't be gone.

With a huge effort, she pulled herself up and back to the captain's chair. She tried hailing the Batch but no one answered. Panic hitting full stride, she grabbed her pad, trying to figure out how much time had passed since they had departed. Had they had enough time to complete their mission? What the hell had happened? Were the rest of them ok? Her heart clenched at the thought of sweet little Omega being hurt or killed or kidnapped or any of the other hundreds of things that could happen to a youngling in this karked up galaxy they now lived in.

She could feel the fine tremor in her hands as she tried to get herself under control.

10 more hours before she reached Pabu.

She sank her head into her hands, pulling at her locs and hoping to the almighty Kriffing Force that what she feared with her whole heart had not actually happened.

She sent another hail to the Batch, this time with a message to contact ASAP. That she had gotten a message from Tech, that she needed to know if they were alright.

Please… let them all be alright.

It was an hour before she was due to land on Pabu that she got a return message.

It was Echo.

And she knew from the look on his face the answer to her question.

She asked anyway.

"I got a message from Tech. Is he with you?"

Echo was suddenly vibrating with tension.
"I got your message. When? What did he say? Did he say if he was alright?"

Phee swallowed hard. His face fell and she knew hers must be telling him as much as his told her.

"I got it several hours back. It was just…it didn't…" she stopped as she began to choke, her eyes filling with tears and Echo's solemn face nodded at her as he sighed deeply.

"We were stuck in a cable car in the middle of the track in the mountains. No where to go. We were taking heavy fire and it broke the connection to the cable of the car he was in. The weight of it was pulling the other care loose. He chose to save the rest of us." Echo spoke like he was giving a report to a superior and she had to wonder how many times he had done this very thing, reporting on the death of a brother like his heart wasn't breaking, even if she could see it in his eyes. She did her best to help him. She swallowed back on her grief and asked in a steady a voice as she could manage.

"And the others?" she asked.

"All survived. Our car crashed into the landing bay, we all sustained injuries, Hunter and Omega the worst but we will live. We're heading to Ord Mantell now to recover."

Phee frowned. "Why Ord Mantell?"

Echo replied, "It's closer and we don't have the medical supplies we need to really patch them up. We don't want to make them wait til we get to Pabu."

Phee nodded slowly. She could understand that. As much as she didn't want to, she was going to have to wait to see them in person.

"I understand."

Echo's face softened for a moment. "Phee…. I'm sorry. Whatever it was he said, he thought enough of you in those moments to say it. If you knew him at all, you know how much that meant."

She could feel her eyes filling again and couldn't stop the overflow this time. She nodded again, her throat to choked to respond and instead, gave him a small salute before signing off. She then sank back into her seat and gave way to her grief.

30 minutes later she was entering Pabu airspace. It wasn't easy to land with eyes swollen with grief and tears but she managed. She wasn't too surprised to see her brother waiting outside, he normally met the incoming ships, what did surprise her was when he met her at the bottom of the landing ramp and wordlessly wrapped her in his arms. She forgot sometimes what a large man he was. He was simply her brother, and she was used to him, but right now, being swamped in his arms felt like the safest, most comforting place in the world. She wrapped her arms around him (or as much as she could get) and squeezed him back for all she was worth, thanking the Force and anyone else who was listening that she still had him.

After a few minutes, he gently drew back and offered her a bright red handkerchief he produced from Force knew where and offered it to her. She took it with a sorrowful half-smile even as she began to cry again. She looked up at him.

"How did you know?"

He smiled sadly at her.

"Echo. He called just a bit ago to let us know…what had happened." His normally smiling, jovial features solemn, his eyes dark with grief as he looked at his little sister and saw her pain.

He stepped forward again, wrapping one, brawny arm around her shoulders as he led her away from the landing zone.

"Come on. Unloading can wait. You look like you need a drink and some food and a bed… in that order."

Phee's lips wobbled into a small smile for him. He couldn't help but to try and take care of anyone he met. Right now, she was grateful for it… and for Echo keeping her from having to break news she could barely stand to think about herself.

She closed her eyes and let her brother lead her home.