"All units, prepare for contact. All units, prepare for contact."

The voice blares through the cruiser at a deafening volume, until Echo can barely think, much less focus on anything other than what's been drilled into his head since he was first created. He's used to it, though—the shinies aren't, and all three of them jerk in surprise at the alarm. They'd been unloading a gunship full of equipment in the hangar bay, and Hevy drops the supply crate he'd been carrying. Cutup swears as it lands on his foot. Droidbait's eyes go wide.

"To the barracks" Echo reminds them curtly. He scoops his helmet up from the floor, puts it on, and turns on his heels. Fives is right behind him, with the shinies taking up the rear. He remembers this like it was yesterday. It had been his and Fives' first experience serving with the 501st, and while nothing truly life-changing had occurred, it had still been important.

As they join the crowd of men all sprinting for the barracks, Echo takes a moment to set his mind into mission mode. The first time this had happened, Echo and Fives had watched each other's backs diligently, still on edge from the loss of their batchmates. This time, Echo and Fives have three backs to watch, besides their own. Echo doesn't think anything is going to go wrong, but there's always a risk.

"We're coming out of hyperspace into a hot zone," he reminds Domino through their helmet comms. "It's gonna get rough soon. Brace yourselves, men." Fives and Echo had made sure to brief Domino thoroughly on everything they remembered from this event. Even so, there were still multiple unknown factors involved. The ARCs hadn't been part of Torrent Company last time, and had only caught onto the tail end of the fighting, small as it was. This time, they would no doubt be in the thick of the fighting, repelling the droid's boarding parties from the ships.

As they round a corner, sprinting for the barracks, the Admiral's voice cuts through the chaos via the ship-wide comms.

"We are preparing to emerge from hyperspace. The 327th are counting on us for support! Battlestations, men!"

"The 327th would be…?" Hevy says curiously. "You told us the number, but not who's in command."

"General Secura and Commander Bly. The Star Corps," Fives answers smoothly. "They'll get out of this just fine. Remember, boys, we stay far away from the deploying gunships. Only one of them makes it through the fire, and it's the one that the General is on. We'll have our hands full with rocket droids soon, anyway. Stick with us, and stay sharp. That's an order."

"Copy that," the shinies reply in unison. Droidbait's steps falter for just an instant before he recovers, and Echo shoots him a concerned look.

"Shouldn't we… shouldn't we warn them?" Droidbait asks slowly. "If only one ship is going to make it… men are going to die. We could…" He trails off, and slows. Domino slows with him, glancing around at each other in uncertainty.

"Droidbait…" Fives says. "You know we can't do anything—"

"Why the kriff not?" Droidbait says aggressively. Echo blinks, taken aback at Droidbait's sudden frustration. "Why not? Our brothers are going to die, and we know how to save them!"

"He's not wrong," Cutup agrees. "The General doesn't have to know. We could just tell the men, and let the General worry about going out there. We can't just let them go to their deaths!."

Echo lets out a sigh.

"I understand what you're saying, but we can't do that," he says regretfully. They've long since stopped running, and are hanging by the side of the hallway. "We can't start changing everything. Then too many things will change, and we won't be able to fix anything."

"So we're just going to let them die?" Cutup blurts out. "Echo, we can't—"

Hevy puts a hand on Cutup's shoulder, silencing him.

"Listen. If we warn those clones, the only gunship flying will be the General's. If the General's ship is the only one in the sky, it'll be the sole target of the Separatists. The odds of getting shot down are monstrous, then, even if it is Skywalker. We can't afford to lose him. We're clones, Cutup. We aren't superhuman, or force-sensitive. In the end, there's not really that much we can do to protect our Generals. But the one thing we can do is act as living shields for them—take the brunt of an attack so that the Jedi can live to fight another day. I'd do it in a heartbeat, even now. I know the rest of my brothers would, too."

Echo and Fives nod grimly. Hevy is right. All of them would give their lives for their commanding officers even now, after knowing so much. After a moment's hesitation, Droidbait and Cutup nod slowly as well.

"I… I understand," Droidbait says, but he doesn't sound happy. His voice wavers ever so slightly. Even as Echo watches, Droidbait pulls himself together, squaring his shoulders and drawing himself up. "Just… we have to fix this. Soon, sir. Brothers are dying."

"We know, 'Bait," Echo tells him. "We know. We'll do our best."

"Alright, we can't dawdle any longer!" Fives reminds them sharply. "Droidbait, Cutup, are we good to keep moving?"

Droidbait and Cutup straighten. "Sir, yes, sir!" they shout in unison. Fives nods, urging them back into a run. Fortunately, the barracks are close. They file into the room and nearly smack straight into the rest of Beta squad. Del, at the front, nods in approval when he sees them.

"Grab your weapons. Double time, troopers. We'll be coming out of hyperspace any moment now!"

Domino's weapons are prepped and ready to go. Echo grabs his DC-15A and joins Beta, pleased that the rest of Domino complies just as quickly. Beta squad is fully armed and ready to go in seconds. Just as they're making their way out the doors, the whole ship jerks violently. Echo has to fight to keep his balance. The tremors don't stop there—they only get worse. He recognizes the tell-tale sounds of heavy blaster fire impacting against their shields.

"We've come out of hyperspace," Nax informs them grimly. "We're entering the planet's atmosphere now." The whole ship shudders from the strain of quick atmospheric entrance. Beta squad rushes past a window, and Echo catches a glimpse of flames licking at the sides of the star destroyer.

They burst into the main hangar just as the gunships are starting to leave. Ahsoka Tano is the last person to step on board, stumbling slightly as the ship vibrates. Del calls Beta squad to a halt as the gunships rise into the air, and Echo lets out a sigh of relief. He isn't sure what he would have done if Del had ordered them onto a ship.

"We'll wait for the next gunships, troopers," he announces. "Stay at the ready."

Echo knows there won't be any more gunships. Soon the rocket-droids will start to invade, and the infantry troops will be too busy fending them off to bother making the trip to General Secura's fleet.

"Who was that?" Hevy asks. Echo blinks.

"Who was who? You mean, the Commander?"

Hevy, Cutup, and Droidbait send Echo blank looks, and Echo curses again. There's so much the shinies don't know. He's told them about Ahsoka before, he knows he has, but hearing about things and seeing them are completely different.

"That was Commander Tano," he explains quickly. "She's General Skywalker's padawan, and just as fierce of a warrior as any brother. We'll get to serve with her a bit more after General Secura's rescue."

The ship rocks violently again, and another alarm begins to go off. Echo keeps his breathing steady, and allows the low thrum of battle-calm to settle through his body, until his breathing and his heartbeats are calm and controlled.

It's time for the real fun to begin.

"Rocket droids from the enemy ships have begun to infiltrate the hull!" Admiral Yularen's voice cries from the speakers overhead, right on schedule. "All units, move to defend the ship's main reactor!"

Fives straightens.

"Let's move, men. Here's the plan—"

"Alright, our orders are—" Del begins to say at the same time, and then there's a split second of awkward silence where their squad captain and Fives stare at each other in confusion. Fives backs down with a dip of his head—rightfully so, he's not in charge anymore (despite the fact that if it really came down to it, Domino would follow Fives over anyone else). Del is a sergeant, and currently, Fives is little more than a shiny in rank.

"We'll fall back to the reactor," Del says, after casting a strange look at Fives. "There's a hull breach along the way that we should be able to contain. The gunships that already took off will have to do. They're not going to get any more support as long as those rocket droids are swarming the ship."

Droidbait and Cutup's shoulders slump at his words. Echo swallows and clenches his jaw, shoving his emotions into the iron box ARC training had required him to develop. Droidbait and Cutup are taking this hard. Hevy seems to be alright, and Fives and Echo have been doing it for ages. Echo's not sure how to teach Droidbait and Cutup how to cope with their brother's deaths, yet.

Beta squad forms up easily enough. Even if they haven't yet had the chance to practice squad formations, every clone knows how it should go. Del takes point, with Fives and Nax at his sides. The rest of the men form up behind him on either sides of the hallway, with the heavy gunners placed in the middle and Coric near the back. Echo is the last man, just behind Coric as their rear defense.

The droids aren't hard to find. The breach is just above a central corridor, and when Beta turns the corner they see that several clones have already begun to retaliate against the incoming super battle droids.

"Cover, boys!" Del barks out, and Beta obeys, plastering themselves to the walls behind the ridges of the hall.

There's a hole in the ceiling, and the rocket-droids are pouring in. Echo hisses out a curse. For every droid shot down, two more take it's place. The clones already firing acknowledge Beta's arrival with rallying shouts, appreciating the assistance.

Cutup is crouched in the hollow across from Echo, squeezed next to Coric. Echo flashes a quick set of ARC signs at him after ensuring that Coric is suitably distracted:

SBDs stronger armor, but dumber brains. Bad strategizers. Weak points at knees and hip joints to incapacitate. Several shots to torso will take it down. Pass along.

Cutup signs back an affirmative and, after a quick glance at Coric, passes the message to whichever member of Domino is in front of Echo. Satisfied that his message is being passed along, Echo tightens his finger on the trigger finger of his weapon. The shinies have never fought supers before. Echo hopes his info is helpful.

There's another secret to taking down super battle droids that isn't simple enough to communicate through signs. It's more of an instinct, than a technique—the type of instinct that comes from months of battle. Echo and Fives had eventually developed a scarily accurate feel for where to aim on the torso to bring a battle droid down the fastest. It varied for each droid. Since they were mass-produced so quickly, there was plenty of room for error in their production. A sense of where a droid's plating was slightly thinner than usual, or where delicate mobility wires could be severed with a well-placed shot, was something that could only be learned through experience, not taught.

Echo double taps two droids in a row with his weapon, taking the first down completely and immobilizing the second. Returning fire forces him to slide back into cover a moment later.

For what feels like ages, but in reality could have barely been five minutes, Echo's world narrows to his blaster, the droids, and Cutup across from him. He worries for the batchmates he can't see, but he can't afford to waste brainpower on wondering if they're alright. If he was truly scared, he could open a channel via helmet comms, but they don't need the distraction any more than he does. Droids are still pouring through the gap, and while they aren't getting very far, they aren't stopping, either.

Cutup is doing well. Echo can only see about half of his attempts to fight back, because he has to focus on not getting shot himself—but from what he can see, his brother is doing a fine job. Instead of focusing on taking them down, something that he can only accomplish by hitting the same droid three or four times, he's focusing on tearing the droid's knees and hips apart, rendering them unable to move. The whine of two Z-6s, from both Hevy and Zeer, reassure Echo that even the incapacitated droids are being taken care of. It's standard procedure for heavy gunners to sweep their weapons over fallen droids every so often to take out any stragglers that may have survived.

A distant explosion rocks the ship. Echo knows it to be General Secura's cruiser finally succumbing to Separatist fire, and new alarms begin to blare yet again.

From somewhere in front of him, a brother lets out a cry of pain. Echo's stomach drops in fear. He peers around his cover recklessly and nearly takes a blaster bolt to the face for his foolishness.

A helmet comm channel opens, originating from Del.

"Zeer took a hit to the shoulder," he reports grimly. Echo hates that he breathes a sigh of relief that it isn't one of Domino, but he can't help it. "He'll be alright, but we're a man down all the same. We'll be getting more company soon—General Secura's flagship has gone down. The droids will focus on us now."

"Blast it," Attie swears from somewhere in front of Echo. "Is there no way to seal the breach?"

"Sure," Nax shouts sarcastically. "Just give me a few dozen sheets of durasteel, a full team of mechanics, and a couple hours, and I'll have that sealed right up!"

"Cut the sass, Nax," Del commands sharply. "Any ideas, men? I'm—ugh—I'm open to suggestions!"

"Couldn't we just seal the blast doors at each end of this hallway?" Fives suggests. "It wouldn't solve the problem completely, but it would trap the droids in here and prevent them from getting any further."

"And it's better than this," Hevy points out. As if to punctuate his words, a fresh wave of droids descend into the ship from the sky. They're accompanied by varied curses in multiple languages from Beta.

"Not a bad plan, but since this hall is at the outer sections of the ship, the blast door controls are only operational if there's a sudden drop in oxygen from a breach in space, or a manual override. We're in atmosphere, so the system sees no need to seal us from the outside," Nax explains. "It's a precaution meant to stop the blast doors from closing every time there's a hull breach, because if it happens while we're in atmosphere and we crash, a fast evacuation of the survivors has to happen, and that can't occur if the blast doors close."

"Well, that's just great," Zeer growls, voice thick with pain. "Now what are we supposed to do?"

Echo crouches back against the wall and closes his eyes.

He could, in theory, perform the manual override. While he had been in Tambor's… care, the scientist had taken great pleasure in hooking Echo's mind up to different systems. Partly just to test his neural-tech advancements, and partly because it put strain on Echo's mind that could not be replicated through physical torture.

What Tambor hadn't expected was for Echo to actually learn from those occasions. He doesn't have the implants anymore—the ones that had been wired into his brain, lighting his nerves on fire but allowing him to plunge his mind into streams of data. Those had disappeared when he had been reborn, but that didn't mean he couldn't remember. It would make things harder, doing everything manually, but he knew enough that he could.

"Look for a control panel somewhere on the walls," he tells Beta. "I might be able to access manual overrides from there."

There's a moment where no one speaks, and the only sound is blaster fire from the droids.

"Found one," Droidbait finally says. "Right by me. I'm on the other side of the hall than you, Echo, and a few feet in front." Echo risks a glance out into the hall and spots his brother just in front of him—fortunately alone, so it won't be too tight of a fit in the pocket of cover.

"Let's lay down some cover fire, men!" Del commands easily. "Echo, on my mark."

"Yessir," Echo replies, and tenses in preparation. The sounds of blaster fire increase, and Hevy's Z-6 whines. The tell-tale scraping sounds of droids hitting the floor makes Echo grin.

"Now, Echo," Del says, accompanied by a hum of approval by Fives, and Echo doesn't even look to ensure he's clear. He trusts his brothers completely. Without hesitation he throws himself across the hallway. A few stray blaster bolts fly past his body, but not close enough to worry him. Beta had done their job well, distracting the droids at the front of the advancement so that Echo's dash takes them by surprise.

He nearly hits the wall on the opposite side next to Droidbait because he can't slow his momentum in time, but Droidbait steadies him.

"Right there," he tells Echo, gesturing towards the floor. There's a small control panel low on the wall, covered by a thin panel. Echo crouches to tear the panel off, discarding it as Droidbait whips out of cover to fire a few shots.

The access panel is small. Echo clenches his jaw as he examines the tiny ports, and even tinier circuits. Droidbait jerks back into cover and casts him a nervous look.

"Echo?" he questions. Echo takes a deep breath.

"I can do this," he says. "Do you have a datapad on hand?" He can do this. He can't plug into systems himself and let his mind analyze the numbers, but he can plug in with a datapad and let his eyes do the hard work. Droidbait reaches into one of the pouches around his waist and pulls out a datapad, handing it off without hesitation.

The datapad's interface wire connects into one of the tiny ports. However, when Echo plugs it in he notes the dangerously close position of one of the electric wires to his operation. He'll have to be careful not to jostle anything too dramatically, or he'll be at risk of being electrocuted.

When he activates the datapad and sees the numbers running across the screen, something inside his head perks up. His brain recognizes the combinations, even if Echo himself doesn't—which shouldn't make sense, but Echo doesn't pretend to understand. He doesn't know exactly what Tambor did to his head. Part of him doesn't want to know.

Regardless, his eyes flick around the screen, comprehending things faster than Echo thought he would ever be able to.

"I can activate the existing blast doors on either side of the droids," he reports quickly. "It'll seal off the section with the breach."

"There's a couple droids past the blast doors just now!" Droidbait calls back. Echo grits his teeth.

"We'll have to deal with those ourselves," he says. "Sergeant, permission to—"

The ship lurches.

"Taking evasive manoeuvres!" Admiral Yularen shouts over the ship comms. "Repeat, evasive manoeuvres, hold on!"

Echo remembers why—they had been forced to suddenly disengage with the General's malfunctioning ship, so that the Resolute wouldn't be dragged into hyperspace along with the smaller ship. However, just because he understood why didn't mean he had been prepared for it. He's thrown to the side, and yelps in pain as electricity jolts through his body. He'd tapped the electric wire, and suddenly memories, unwanted and unbidden, flash to the front of his mind—

At first when he'd been captured, they had strung him up like any other prisoner of higher rank, helplessly suspended within an electric field and pumping him full of lightning to try and get him to talk. Echo hadn't told them anything of importance, just his serial number and rank as he'd been trained to do. His original interrogators had been unaware of what being ARC meant, exactly—that he had been trained to resist torture of this kind, and would kill himself before revealing anything. They'd worked on him for so long with the same wattage of electricity that Echo had even started to grow accustomed to the pain. He didn't even cry out anymore.

Then, Tambor had come.

"The clone won't tell you anything, not if you continue in this manner," Tambor had said, voice impossibly smug even through the machinery over his face. "Increase the wattage to level eight."

"But sir, the level seven is the last level where his survival is guaranteed—"

"He'll survive it," Tambor had said, staring straight at Echo. Echo had bared bloodstained teeth at the Separatist in defiance. "This one is different. In fact, I'm taking over this project personally. Am I understood? Raise your efforts to level eight."

Level eight had hurt, but Echo had lived.

Level nine made him scream.

At level ten, he'd blacked out, and woken pinned down in Tambor's labs—too effectively to even consider killing himself an option.

He'd wished for the electricity, after that, because it had been bad; but not nearly as bad as the rest of the things Tambor put him through for months and months on end—

No.

Echo drags himself out of the memories with massive effort, panting hard. His hands are shaking. He'd dropped the datapad sometime during his flashback, and Droidbait is glancing back at him, concern written in the lines of his body. Echo flashes a sign at him for alright, and they both ignore the way his hands tremble as they clumsily form the sign.

"Echo, status report on the doors!" Del demands. Echo jerks and picks up the datapad.

"I can close them on both sides," he reports quickly, struggling to put himself back into mission mindset. "The few droids that are in front of the doors on both sides will have to be dealt with separately. The rest will be cut off from the rest of the ship."

"Do it," Del commands, and Echo punches the appropriate command. There's a hiss as the blast doors slide closed and seal. Echo can hear the droids trying to blast their way through, but their weapons aren't sufficient enough to break through.

"You cut one right in half, Echo," Fives says approvingly. "Good timing."

Echo's hands are still shaking—whether it's from being electrocuted or from his own fear, he doesn't know.

"Focus, Fives," he reprimands his brother gently. "There's still a few stragglers."

"Yeah, yeah," Fives says casually. Echo peers out of cover just in time to watch Fives step out into the hallway. Hevy, Nax, and Del are still firing from cover, gunning down the five droids that had made it past the doors. The last droid tries to go after Zeer, crouched in cover and nursing his shoulder. It reveals it's back, where it's rockets are, in the process. Fives squeezes out a pinpoint accurate shot that strikes the super battle droid right where the fuel for it's jetpack is stored held. It explodes gloriously. Zeer nods in thanks.

Echo sighs in relief.

"What about the other side?" Attie reminds them nervously, fingers tapping along his gun nervously as he steps out of cover. "There were droids past the blast doors there, too."

"There were also more brothers down there," Cutup says. "They'll take care of the surviving clankers. I wouldn't worry about it."

Coric pushes his way past everyone and goes to Zeer, inspecting his wound carefully. He pulls Zeer to his feet after a moment and nods approvingly when Zeer shifts his Z-6 to his non-injured arm.

"He'll be fine," Coric announces. "Bacta will heal him up fairly easily, but it's a painful one all the same."

Zeer huffs in annoyance and frustration.

"Sorry, Sergeant," he apologizes to Del. "Got reckless. Didn't get to cover fast enough."

"Be more careful next time," Del tells him firmly, but there's warmth to his voice. "We'd never forgive you for going down in a pathetic little skirmish like that."

There's a few other clones who'd been caught up in the fighting, not part of Beta squad. One of them, Echo recognizes from the streaks of blue paint running down his helmet—Denal.

"Good shooting," Denal compliments them. "And good idea, whoever got those blast doors closed."

"Yeah, nice job, Echo!" Fives compliments, slapping Echo heartily on the back. Echo doesn't mean to do it, but he flinches from the hit. His mind is still struggling to stay in the present, racing to stay ahead of devastating memories. Fives notices. His exuberant joy diminishes slightly as he steps just a tiny bit closer to Echo than usual in silent support.

"Good work, Echo," Del says approvingly. "Where'd you learn to hack like that?"

Echo frowns.

"Dunno, sir," he replies. "I've always been kind of good at it. The numbers just make sense to me." Which isn't a lie, but it's stretching the truth a lot.

"Well, it was impressive," Del says. "Would you object to more training on that kind of subject, soldier?"

Echo freezes up, because the very last thing he wants to do is hone the skill given to him by the Separatists, no matter how useful it may be. He swallows nervously.

"No objections, sir," he lies, forcing the words past his lips, because he can't exactly refuse something suggested so kindly like that. It would appear too strange.

His hands have stopped shaking, finally, but it feels like they still are, and Echo doesn't know how to make that stop.

The droids are eventually fully cleared off of the ship. Droid poppers get rolled into hallways containing trapped droids, and all breaches are fully sealed off as the Resolute returns to space. The troopers get the news that Domino already knows a few minutes after successfully deactivating the last of the droids: Generals Secura and Skywalker, Commanders Tano and Bly, and Captain Rex had all been on a malfunctioning ship that had shot to hyperspace before it was able to dock with Resolute. Their destination is unknown, and the bridge is working on tracking their trajectory to estimate where the officers could have ended up. Admiral Yularen is placed in full command of the ship, and to the clones' pleasure, he orders infantry to stand down and get some rest.

Beta squad takes those orders to heart.

The return to the barracks is full of good-natured congratulations and victory cries. Echo sticks close to Fives, and Domino forms up around him as a shield, sensing how close he is to falling apart even if they don't fully understand why. Coric disappears, presumably to the medbay, with Zeer in tow.

When they reach the barracks, Del takes off his helmet and turns on his heel, facing his men with a pleased expression on his face.

"Well done, Domino. Your first battle with the 501st was a success. Even if you were still shinies after Rishi, you definitely aren't anymore." Cutup, Droidbait, and Hevy straighten proudly. Even in his delicate state Echo smiles at the sight.

His brothers are growing. It's amazing to watch.

Once Del officially dismisses them from duty, Fives nudges Echo gently.

"What do you need?" he asks quietly. "What are you thinking right now, Echo?"

Echo's shoulders slump.

"To not be alone," he admits softly. "Rigging those blast doors brought up some… bad memories. Details I haven't shared yet. Not even to you."

Fives nods in understanding. "Want to share?" he offers carefully. Echo grimaces and glances around the barracks. Most of Domino is hanging close still, watching over Echo just in case he needs more support. The Teth survivors are nearby, too, though, unaware of Domino's plight.

"Not here," Echo whispers. "Sometime later, when we're alone."

Fives nods in understanding.

Echo manages to calm himself as the squad settles, stripping off their armor and basking in the joy of a successful mission. Hevy is grinning, describing every detail of his version of the fight to anyone who will listen—and then the whole squad, when he is unable to single anyone out for discussion. The Teth survivors are amused by his excitement and humor him, nodding at appropriate times during his triade. Cutup just mostly seems relieved it's over, and stretches out on his bed to relax. Droidbait sets his armor out on the floor and pulls out the little can of blue paint he'd swiped. He and Attie spend several minutes very seriously discussing the placement of Droidbait's newest tally marks. Eventually they settle on placing them on Droidbait's right forearm—nine more tally marks, on the arm he holds his weapon in. Droidbait is irked that there aren't more of them.

"I took down more than nine," he complains, "but I didn't deactivate them, just incapacitated, so they don't count." Echo snorts.

"Who made up that rule?" he asks. Droidbait wrinkles his nose.

"I did," he admits. "It doesn't feel right to count them. They weren't my kills."

Echo laughs. "You'll get the hang of taking down supers soon enough," he says. "We'll practice with them plenty, once we get the Captain back. Patience, little brother." Droidbait sighs in acceptance at his words.

"Remember when that was us?" Fives says to him fondly, as they sit side by side at a barracks table with nothing but memories on their minds. Echo nods.

"I do remember," he says. "It feels like it was such a long time ago."

"It was," Fives confirms. "A lifetime ago, and at the same time, just mere moments ago." He laughs. "This is still insane."

Echo agrees with him wholeheartedly, and wonders if they'll ever get used to it.

He had thought he had recovered from the flashback, but he was wrong. He dreams of Tambor that night. A hand on his shoulder wakes him, and Echo nearly sends the poor trooper to the floor in his panic. Fortunately, it's only Hevy.

"Kriff, Echo, it's just me," he hisses. "You alright?"

Echo shudders and sits up, reaching out to Hevy apologetically. "Just a nightmare," he explains. Hevy winces.

"Glad I woke you, then," he whispers. "We're having a meeting. There's an empty room that won't be in use this late into the sleep cycle. Coming?"

Echo glances around the dark room. Fives and Cutup are already gone, and Droidbait is heading quietly out the door. He gets to his feet, moving silently, and nods once, motioning for Hevy to lead the way.

The selected room is small, and only one hallway down from the barracks. It's perfect for five troopers to convene in, seated at the small round table in the center of the room.

"Right," Fives begins softly once they're all seated. "We've got a lot of things to discuss."

It's an understatement. They have a galaxy of things to discuss. Echo takes a deep breath.

"I suppose I'll kick us off, then," he mutters, and tells them about Tambor's experiments. Tells them about being more machine than man, in the end, and how he'd been able to hack into computers with his mind and prosthetics alone. Tells them how the skills had translated to this life, somehow, and how he'd closed the blast doors.

He doesn't know how he'd expected them to react, but he's surprised when they hardly even blink at the news. They've heard other things from Echo's torture that are just as bad, after all. Hevy, on his left side, and Cutup, on his right, place hands on his shoulders supportingly. Fives' eyes narrow in anger, but not towards him.

When he's finished, Fives nods, and takes a deep breath.

"You alright, Echo?" he asks. Good to continue? is what he's really asking. Echo meets his eyes and nods. He's good. It feels better now to have talked about it, just as he'd known he would, so the meeting continues.

"We have to tell someone about what we know," Droidbait says next. "We have to tell someone who's higher ranking than us. Who can actually do something about these things."

Fives nods. "I agree. If we can get someone higher ranking on our side, we'll be able to figure things out much faster."

"But who?" Cutup asks. "Who can we tell? Who will the Force allow us to tell? I haven't exactly felt any warm, fuzzy urges to go blurting our secrets around."

They're all silent after that for a long moment, because none of them have a clue what to do.

"What about General Kenobi?" Hevy suggests slowly. "We could try him, next time we work with the 212th."

Echo blinks, and nods in approval.

"Not a bad idea," he says. "General Kenobi is a good man, and a skilled negotiator. His skills would come in handy. I vote we give it a try."
"Alright," Fives says. "We'll try it, next time we get the chance." He glances at Echo. "There's always General Unduli, or General Koon," he suggests. "They're options as well."

"Does it have to be a Jedi?" Droidbait asks. "There are other clones who have some amount of authority. Commander Bly, for one—or Gree, or even Fox—"

"No," Fives snaps, so suddenly that Domino tenses. "Not Fox."

Droidbait looks confused, but he doesn't argue. Fives' tone had left no room for debate.

"Not much has changed yet," Cutup says, then glances at Echo and Fives. "Right? So far, everything you'd experienced has happened again."

"To be fair, we haven't changed very much yet," Echo justifies carefully. "The results of Rishi were the same, even if the method was slightly different and you three survived. We haven't told anyone besides—well, General Ti doesn't really count—so, we haven't told anyone, either. There hasn't been any opportunity for change."

"Is that what we want?" Hevy asks. "Do we want it to change? That will get rid of every advantage we have."

Fives frowns. "There's also the fact that we can't afford to change some things. Like with what happened today. What if we change something, and it only makes things worse?" He sighs. "I wish I knew the answers to these things, gentleman. This is why I want a Jedi on our side. They're much better at predicting these kinds of things."

Cutup nods. "So, step one. We notify a Jedi."

"Not necessarily step one, but high priority," Fives corrects. "If it's not the right Jedi, don't bother. General Ti told us to trust the Force, and I think we should listen to her advice."

"So what, exactly, is our main goal?" Hevy asks. "To end the war? To remove the chips? To…" his voice drops dramatically in volume, "get rid of the Chancellor?"

"Why not do all three?" Fives says, with a grim smile. "Let's aim for the top, boys. That's the only way we're going to end this once and for all."

"How? How are we going to do this?" Droidbait contributes quietly. "We've been back for months and we're still no closer to figuring out what to do."

He has a point, and neither Fives nor Echo have an answer.

"We have to tell someone," Cutup reinforces. "Then we'll have more options, and another mind to help us figure out what the kriff to do."

"Easier said than done," Echo says softly in response, and they all hang their heads, easily recognizing the truth in his words.

"So, we're going to keep waiting," Hevy states. He doesn't sound angry, or dejected—his words are neutrally spoken, and seem to hang in the air.

"For now," Fives confirms with a huff. Fives himself doesn't appear happy about it. "What else can we do, brothers? We have to trust in the Force."

"I hate this, this awful waiting," Droidbait says, shaking his head. "I hate it. People are dying."

Fives puts a hand on Droidbait's shoulder. "We act too soon, or recklessly, and even more people will die," he says gently. "We can't rush into this, 'Bait. The whole galaxy is on the line, here. Too many things that could go wrong. We're in the middle of a balancing act, and if we make one mistake, everything will fall."

Awfully poetic, for Fives, and effective. Domino collectively takes a deep breath, more at ease with the concept of more waiting after Fives' careful words.

Patience is key, if you're looking to change the galaxy. Echo knows this for a fact, and he can see the rest of Domino accepting it, as uneasy as it makes them.

They just have to hold out a little longer.

There's too much at stake for them to risk rushing this.

A/N: I wrote this instead of an important paper. whoops.

In case you didn't figure it out, this chapter occurs during the season 1 episode, "Jedi Crash".

This chapter may have been a bit confusing unless you're more aware of Echo's story after the Citadel. I strongly suggest watching the unpublished clone wars episodes if you were confused, or even just looking it up on Wikipedia. Long story short, Tambor gives Echo prosthetic limbs that he can use to hack into computer systems and the like. It's canon, I'm not making it up.

Hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for such kind reviews so far! I have a LOT of chapters planned for this story. It's gonna be a long one, boys and girls, so brace yourself. I have twenty-one chapters leading all the way up to the battle of kamino planned, and not everything follows the original timeline as nicely as it has been doing so far. Get ready.

The next update might take a bit longer than usual as I have a big test coming up, apologies.