They wait in tense silence by the wall, watching as the gunships streak into the hangar and battered men pile out. Droidbait hasn't seen any sign of Echo or Cutup yet, and he's starting to get scared. At his side, Hevy keeps shifting nervously, trying to keep his composure.

Fives is pacing behind them, but the other ARC doesn't seem nervous—at least, not in the same sense the Droidbait and Hevy are. He's restless, but not fearful.

Fives has absolute faith that Echo and Cutup will return. It's almost ridiculous, but he's so incredibly certain. His trust in both Echo and Cutup's skills is unshakable. If he's worried, he's hiding it well. Droidbait had inwardly thought Fives might be more panicked considering what had happened last time he'd left Echo behind—but Droidbait would never say that out loud, and Fives seems alright now.

Another few gunships swoop in, depositing dozens of troops who stumble back into the hangar, supporting the wounded. Medics rush in. For a few moments, it's too chaotic to pick anyone out from the crowd.

"Force, I see them," Hevy suddenly breathes. Droidbait's heart stutters in his chest as he finds them, too—leaning on each other and exhausted, but alive.

Droidbait is moving before he can even think about it. Hevy and Fives are right on his tail. Droidbait nearly collides with Echo until he sees the way his brother sags in tiredly, instead reaching over to loop one of Echo's arms over his own shoulders to support him. Echo lets out a relieved sigh and lets his weight drop.

"Hey, guys," he says, quietly, relieved. Over on the other side Fives has a careful hold on Cutup while Hevy hovers around them all, searching for injuries.

"Kriff, it's good to see you two," Fives says. "How are you feeling? What do you need?"

Cutup lets out a feeble chuckle.

"A week's worth of sleep and a week's worth of food," he mutters. Droidbait snorts. Mind-numbing relief sweeps over him at the sight of all five of them together again. His knees feel a little weak.

"Fives… where's the rest of Beta?" Echo asks suddenly. "There's something important we need to tell them."

Droidbait winces. Coric, Del, and Nax (with bandages all down his leg) have been teetering on the edge of mourning again, only holding off long enough to see if Cutup and Echo will arrive safely. They've all but submitted themselves to the fact that Tipper and Zeer are dead.

"Back at the barracks," Fives answers grimly. "They're not doing so good, Echo."

Echo grins. The expression startles Droidbait a little.

"I think we can help them out," he says. "Tipper and Zeer are alive. They were in the ship just behind us, I think—but they'll be taken straight to medical once they arrive."

Fives whips around and looks at Hevy.

"Go get Del and the others," he orders. Hevy's eyes go wide, and he turns to race away without a word.

No one is uninjured, but everyone's alive, and that's much better than any of them had been hoping for.

The days after Felucia are quiet. Echo's fairly sure at least two-thirds of the battalion are asleep, and even another Separatist attack wouldn't be enough to wake them.

Beta squad isn't among those blissfully resting, because they're pacing impatiently around the medbay, waiting for Tipper and Zeer to be released. The medbay doesn't hold them for too long, fortunately—there are too many others wounded that need the attention more. Zeer is released to them first, with his arm professionally wrapped in a cast. He'll be able to get into a bacta tank eventually, once the deadlier injuries are taken care of. Until then he has to let it heal normally. Tipper takes longer to be released. His armor had been partially welded to the skin of his back under scorching blaster-fire heat. He emerges from the medbay without the top half of his armor, a bit loopy from painkillers and with a large bacta patch spread across his shoulder blades.

Just like, the entirety of Beta squad is back together again.

It's nothing short of a miracle that they're all alive.

Once Tipper and Zeer are released from the medbay, Beta squad rests. Droidbait sleeps for almost eighteen hours straight and is only woken because Nax and Hevy start a game of sabacc while they stand guard.

Technically, they all know there's no need for a guard. They're on a Republic ship, in their own barracks, surrounded by other brothers. There's nothing to be afraid of here. Even so, a guard is posted. They're still on edge—everyone is. Dreams of the jungle flash before Droidbait's eyes sometimes, and he wakes in a cold sweat, shaking off phantom vines and staring around in a panic to find the rest of Domino.

He isn't the only one who dreams, not by a long shot. Especially during the first few days. After spending weeks on high alert with nothing but fungus trees for cover, it takes legitimate effort to calm their bodies and minds from the battle-mindset.

Droidbait doesn't let any of Domino squad out of his sight for the first three days back on the ship.

His brain needs the constant recognition that they're all safe. He gets anxious again if someone leaves. It's easier just to keep watch over everyone and wait for the battle-shakes to wear off than try and fight his own instincts.

Echo and Fives seem to understand this. They're obliging whenever Droidbait turns awkwardly to try and keep everyone in his line of vision. They move when he asks them to without complaint and pat his shoulder comfortingly when they can tell he's feeling on edge.

Of course they understand. They've been through things like this before. Droidbait, Hevy, and Cutup are all new to this kind of mentality, and they're all dealing with it differently. Droidbait likes to keep everyone in sight, and Hevy refuses to go anywhere without a weapon, just like Fives. Echo and Cutup are a little more like Droidbait, suddenly extra cautious and hesitant to leave the group.

The nightmares begin to fade eventually, as does the pressing need to remain with the rest of the squad. Slowly, things start to feel normal again.

Five days after getting back to the ship, Domino squad gets their hands on a can of 501st blue paint and sets out repairing their armor.

Cutup, in particular, seems the most annoyed that his armor markings have been damaged. He claims a paintbrush quickly and sets to work without another word, scowling at the sorry state of the Togrutan markings. Hevy gets to work on his flame pattern, muttering quietly under his breath. Echo and Fives seem less concerned, patiently waiting for their own touch-ups.

Droidbait settles down with his paintbrush and sets to work placing tally marks up his left gauntlet, little groups of five that glisten rewardingly as they dry.

He's earned these marks. They're his, and his alone. He'd been responsible for the destruction of all of these droids.

When he's finished, there are tally marks from his shoulder to his wrist. Fives, sitting next to him, lets out an impressed whistle.

"Not bad at all, 'Bait! Very impressive. You sure that's the right number?"

"Perfectly sure," Droidbait responds a little distractedly. He can't say a number but he can practically see every kill, every explosion of sparks as he'd shot out joints and circuits. "Think I should count them?"

Fives stares down at the painted gauntlet for a long moment, taking in the meticulous tallies. It wouldn't be too hard to count them. They're in groups of five, it would be easy to breeze right through.

"Mmm. If you want to," Fives finally responds, shooting Droidbait a gentle grin. "I'd want to, if it were me. But I'm not you, yeah?"

"Yeah," Droidbait agrees. He frowns down at his work. "Maybe… maybe not. It's enough for me just to see the marks. I don't really…the number isn't the point."

He thinks back to when he'd first painted the armor, when he'd come up with the idea to use tally marks. It had never been about numbers. It had been about potential, about growth and duty.

He's grown far past the man he was during his first life. The fact that he's survived this long is testament to that. Droidbait doesn't need the number in order to know that he's done something important this time around.

Fives shrugs at him. "That's fair," he says, running the paintbrush across his helmet to fix the Rishi eel across the top. "I get it, DB. It does look pretty kriffing cool, though."

Droidbait can't help but smile proudly at the compliment. He looks over his armor and sees a story etched into the plastoid-alloy. Scratches, chips, and streaks of paint represent who he is and how he's changed. His armor before had been pure white and smooth to the touch. He'd admired it then. Now he knows better.

"It does look pretty good," Droidbait says, more than pleased with himself. He glances over at Fives' armor, the pattern unchanged but bolder now. "Yours looks great, too!"

Fives blinks, almost startled by the compliment. He glances down at his own armor and brushes a hand over the design fondly.

"Thanks," the ARC says. "It's survived a lot. Must be lucky or something."

"And it'll survive a lot more if I've got anything to say about it," Echo chimes in from behind them. Cutup and Hevy are close enough to being finished that they can contribute grunts of sincere agreement.

Droidbait smiles.

It'll take much more than a filthy jungle to knock the Dominoes down.

At one point in his life, Echo had Kix's medbay shifts memorized. Perhaps it's more accurate to say later in life Echo will have Kix's medbay shifts memorized—or perhaps not, Echo's still not entirely sure how that works. Regardless, he doesn't know the medic's schedule now, so he spends an awkward hour hanging around the medbay entrance, waiting for Kix to emerge from its busy depths.

He gets lucky, eventually. Kix does appear, which is a miracle in itself. Kix doesn't take breaks, not at times like this when there are still far too many lives on the line. The medic notices him quickly and heads right for Echo, mouth set in a hard line.

"You alright?" Echo asks him worriedly, and then blinks in surprise when Kix pulls out the datapad and shoves it into Echo's hands.

"Listen, I can't really talk," Kix says hastily. Echo stiffens at the medic's cold tone. "I kept your datapad safe. Excuse me, I need to get to the bridge."

The medic brushes past Echo quickly. Echo nearly drops the datapad in surprise.

"I… did you look at it?" Echo calls after him, a bit desperately and not knowing what he wants the answer to be.

"No," Kix calls back instantly. "It's yours, isn't it? I'm not going to go through your private stuff without permission."

He's gone a moment later, leaving Echo standing alone in the middle of the hallway.

"So stupid," Echo groans, letting his head fall onto the table. "I didn't even think, that was dumb of me to assume—"

"Hey, hey!" Fives cuts in from next to him. "Calm down, it's not your fault. I forgot too, you know."

They'd all forgotten.

They know Kix. They'd trust him with just about anything. They need his help to get their plans to succeed.

Kix doesn't really know them at all. He's treated them on Felucia, and he'd done a quick favor for Echo. That's not enough.

Echo had been blinded by the faith he had in the medic of their old life. The relief of seeing a trusted face had made him forget that it isn't the same person. Not yet.

Echo sighs heavily and lifts his head up to glare at the wall in annoyance.

"It's just—irritating. It'd be easier if it were our Kix."

"I know," Fives mutters sympathetically. "A lot of this would be easier if they were ours from before."

Echo takes a deep breath.

"It's fine," he says, partially to convince himself. "We can fix this. If we can talk to him and Jesse, I know we could convince them to help us regardless of how well they know our squad. The trust will come later. Just like last time."

Fives claps him on the shoulder gently.

"Don't worry, Echo. We've the whole flight to Coruscant to figure this out," he reassures. "We've got this, alright?"

Echo relaxes a bit and grins gratefully at his brother. Fives is right. For once, they do have a little bit of planning time. The 501st is being sent back to Coruscant. It isn't leave—not exactly, but it's close. Enough that the clones will be able to take a long breather. Echo doubts they'll be allowed on the surface. The Resolute will likely be kept in orbit while the Jedi visit their temple.

Echo just needs to convince himself to be a little more patient. They're nearly at the point where they can start fixing things. Just a little longer.

"Hey, has anyone seen Hevy?"

Fives lifts his head at Del's question and glances around the barracks for a second, half expecting Hevy to be crouched in a corner with his Z-6. He doesn't see a single sign of the gunner, however.

"Haven't seen him since breakfast," Nax contributes quietly. "Don't know where he went after." It looks like he and Cutup are getting ready to head to the training rooms, stripping down to just their blacks.

"Saw him leave, but I don't know where to," Tipper chimes in. "I'll help you look for him, if you'd like."

Del frowns. "I was just thinking we could go in for some squad training again, it's nothing too important."

Fives reaches down to his communicator and tries Hevy's comm. Hevy doesn't answer, which is a little odd.

"Echo?" he says, glancing at the other ARC. Echo shrugs and shakes his head. "Huh. Maybe he's already in the training rooms."

"Wouldn't he have picked up his comm if that were the case?" Zeer says.

Droidbait suddenly enters the barracks, glancing around with a surprised expression when they all immediately turn to look at him.

"Uh… everything alright?" he asks nervously.

"We can't find Hevy," Fives explains. "He won't pick up his comm."

"Oh," Droidbait says. He relaxes visibly. "Is that it? I thought something bad had happened. Hevy's fine. He's up by the communication center. Got his hands on a long-range holoprojector for a few minutes, I think."

Fives blinks. "Oh, he's—" There's only one person Hevy could be calling at a time like this. Fives looks over at Del. "I'll go get him, sir. Give me fifteen. We'll meet you all down by the training center if that's alright."

Del nods in approval.

"We'll meet you down there," he agrees. "Alright, men. Blacks. We're headed down for the sparring rings."

"...cut its legs off," Hevy is saying excitedly when Fives enters the little communications room. "Then it nearly ate Echo! It was fine, though. Commander Tano took care of it—sliced it's kriffin' head off. It was pretty cool."

"That's—that's impressive," Ninety-nine responds. Fives grins at the old clone's voice. "Well, what about the rancor, then?"

"Force, it was big," Hevy responds. "The holograms don't really do it justice. We watched two of 'em smash a turbo tank to bits, an' they weren't even attacking us! We thought Tipper and Zeer were dead after that, but we found them eventually, too."

"I'm just glad you're all okay," Ninety-nine tells Hevy. As Fives steps into view of the holoprojector, Ninety-nine's image smiles. "Fives! Ah—it's good to see you."

"You too, Ninety-nine," Fives responds warmly. Hevy doesn't seem surprised that Fives has joined him. "How are you? Everything alright back there?"

Ninety-nine smiles. "As alright as it can be. I think… A few new batches are being sent out. Some might be headed your way."

"I don't doubt it," Fives tells him, a bit more grimly. "We need the men. Felucia… didn't like us very much."

"Yes, I heard that," Ninety-nine tells him with an amused glance at Hevy. When he looks back at Fives again his expression has gone serious. "I'm… I'm really glad you all got out of there. I don't… I don't know what I would have done otherwise."

Fives' heart drops to the floor. He and Hevy share a quick glance, wide-eyed.

"I… Sorry, Ninety-nine," Fives apologizes sincerely. He hadn't even thought of that. "Force, I'm sorry. We're getting this fixed soon, I promise."

Ninety-nine smiles at him gently. "I know you are, Fives. Don't worry about me."

"Except that we do," Hevy mutters. He turns to look at Fives. "Since you came here to find me I'm assuming I'm needed?"

"Del's putting together a training session," Fives answers. "But I bought you… ten minutes, now. You've got a little more time."

Hevy grins brightly. "Thanks, Fives. Want to stay?"

"Yeah," Fives answers without even thinking. He'd love to talk with Ninety-nine. A moment later he wonders if he's infringing on something private, but Fives and Ninety-nine both seem pleased at his agreement, so he relaxes as Hevy picks up where he'd left off.

There's something… different, about Tipper and Zeer.

Fives notices it immediately, and he's positive Echo does too based on the way his brother suddenly perks up in interest when the two of them step onto the sparring mats. The matches are two versus two this time around, with winning teams advancing to battle the others. Fives has already gone once. He's paired up with Coric (no one will ever allow him to be paired with Echo during these type of things anymore). The two of them make a decent team. Coric lacks heavy muscle mass but makes up for it in speed and awareness. Together they'd managed to take down Cutup and Del, who aren't a great matchup but had still done fairly well for not quite syncing together.

Tipper and Zeer are healed for the most part, but Del had hesitated in allowing them to participate. Zeer's cast has only been removed for a day. Zeer doesn't seem to care about that, and Del had caved eventually anyway.

Tipper and Zeer have been put up against Nax and Hevy, which seems somewhat logical. Nax knows Zeer's fighting style well, and isn't afraid to fight dirty if he needs to. Hevy has a muscle mass advantage over Tipper, and when the match begins initially the two start by splitting up. Nax flings himself towards Zeer determinedly, attempting to come from the side of Zeer's freshly-healed arm in the hopes that Zeer won't be able to react fast enough. Hevy dives for Tipper in the same moment, hoping to pin him quickly.

Hevy's improved by leagues since the last time their team has sparred. Fives can see he's gained much more awareness of his own body and his opponent's. He's actually thinking his movements through instead of charging in blindly—a massive sign of advancement that Fives is very proud of him for.

For a long minute, Nax and Hevy have the upper hand.

The key to fighting Zeer is to keep him off balanced, which is harder than it sounds because Zeer is fast when he wants to be. Nax seems to have perfected a strategy, however, and his earlier position had helped him somewhat—Zeer's left arm is slightly slow to react. As long as Nax keeps up a flurry of quick kicks designed to keep Zeer from planting his feet, Zeer is unable to land a solid hit.

Hevy and Tipper are wrestling on the ground to try and pin each other. Hevy does indeed have the advantage, but Tipper isn't making it easy on him—the younger clone is struggling fiercely, bringing up his knees and thrashing so that Hevy can't manage to pin him. It isn't long before Tipper gets lucky. His arm catches Hevy across the jaw. Hevy reels backwards a few inches, pain flashing through his expression. When he moves, Tipper gets a knee in Hevy's chest and shoves him stumbling back.

Hevy is disoriented. It would be easy for Tipper to take advantage of him, but instead of pressing the attack, Tipper whips his head around almost frantically and looks at Zeer as he gets to his feet. Hevy stabilizes himself and preps for another attack. Tipper's opening is gone. The glance towards Zeer had cost him.

It had been a small motion, but not an unfamiliar one. Fives recognizes it—mainly because he's done the same thing before, to Echo.

It's the kind of glance you spare to make sure your partner's still alive, watching your back. A lot of clones do it, but there's something different about the way Tipper does it, and the way he turns his back on Hevy to race towards Zeer and Nax instead.

Hevy shouts out a warning, but Nax can't react fast enough to dodge. Tipper slams into Nax and knocks him away from Zeer. Nax only just manages to stay on his feet. When Hevy stands next to him, they're right back in their starting positions, facing each other and panting.

Nax and Hevy glance at each other to coordinate and charge. They move as a united front, and Fives is expecting them to do much more damage this time.

Something changes about this time around, though. Instead of splitting up to take on their opponents separately, Tipper and Zeer stick together, so close that they're almost in each other's space. Zeer takes up a heavy fighting stance while Tipper bares his teeth and stands firm halfway in front of him, defending Zeer's lower half.

Suddenly, Hevy and Nax are unable to make any progress.

Tipper and Zeer have set up a perfect defense. Zeer's one weakness is now covered, and he's simultaneously defending Tipper from getting overwhelmed. Hevy and Nax can't get close enough to take either one of them out. The spar turns into a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Hevy and Nax circle and prod at Tipper and Zeer's defenses, but each time they try to get close they're stopped either by Zeer's fists or a swift kick from Tipper.

They're hardly even looking at each other as they move, Fives notices. Tipper and Zeer seem to instinctively know what the other will do, and when they need to cover for each other. He can't see any signs or signals being used, which is extremely impressive.

Trust is one thing. Most clones trust each other. This isn't just trust. It's absolute trust, true faith in each other.

"They're good," Fives mutters to Echo, leaning over his shoulder. "They understand each other."

"They were completely alone in the jungle with no one to rely on but themselves for more than a week," Echo responds quietly. "I'm not surprised that they've forged a bond like this. Everything was trying to kill them back then. If they hadn't trusted each other completely they'd likely both be dead."

Tipper and Zeer go on the offensive. There's something wild about how they move—it isn't practiced or even fully planned. Their movements seem more instinctive than anything. When Tipper darts forwards to bat Hevy's wrists aside Zeer is right there behind him, one fist headed upward in a massive uppercut. Fives winces as Hevy goes sprawling.

"Force. That's amazing," Echo murmurs. "What did they go through while they were on their own that made this necessary?"

"I'm not sure I want to know," Fives says, watching as Zeer corners Nax at the edge of the mat. In desperation Nax attempts to roll away, but Tipper intercepts him before he can escape. Nax gets knocked to the floor. Tipper gets him in an armlock as quickly as he can, and Nax only has a few seconds to struggle before he's trapped. Even if he could throw Tipper off, Zeer is standing a foot away. Nax is beaten, and he knows it. Even so, he squirms helplessly for a few moments before admitting defeat.

"I'm done," he calls out, voice a little strained. "Force, let me up, won't you?"

The rest of Beta squad bursts into applause. On the other side of the mat, Hevy gets to his feet slowly. He hadn't been knocked unconscious by Zeer's hit, but he definitely seems a little stunned. For a moment Fives worries he might try and continue the fight, but then Hevy grins incredulously.

"Well, kriff!" he says good-naturedly. "I wasn't expecting that at all! Where'd that even come from, huh?"

Tipper lets Nax up. Fives is watching closely, so he sees the way Tipper suddenly starts shaking—how he blinks and shakes his head, uncertain until Zeer steps closer.

"Tipper. We're alright."

That's all Zeer says, but Tipper relaxes anyway, shifting his body to keep Zeer in his line of sight as they leave the mat.

Of course they're still emotionally recovering from their time alone on Felucia. Fives can't believe he hadn't suspected something like that earlier.

He worries for a few more seconds, watching as the two approach. Tipper seems fine now. He's grinning as he talks to Cutup and Droidbait, and Zeer's face is almost impassive in the moment. He notices Fives' gaze and tilts his head inquiringly, but Fives looks away after that to fake checking Hevy over for injuries.

When Fives glances over at Echo again, he can practically see the wheels in his brother's head turning.

"Echo? What are you thinking?" he asks quietly. Echo hums pensively.

"A lot of things, Fives. A lot of things. Nothing that I feel like sharing quite yet."

"Alright," Fives tells him. "Let me know if you think of anything cool." Echo nods distractedly, and Fives rolls his eyes fondly. He's used to this after two lifetimes.

He casts another careful look back at Tipper and Zeer as Del speaks to them, giving out pointers. Fives doesn't really register his words, too caught up in his own thoughts.

He'll have to keep a careful eye on Tipper and Zeer. Brothers who trust each other like that are useful, but they're volatile in some ways as well until the majority of the trauma has faded away. That takes time.

Fives should know. He and Echo were like that at one point.

Speaking of Echo.

"Hey, aren't you next to spar?" Fives asks the other ARC, elbowing Echo in the ribs. "It's you and Droidbait, right? You'd better step up your game if you want to beat that performance…"

The 501st gets a new shipment of troops once they're in orbit above Coruscant, true to Ninety-nine's words. Most of them are shinies. It's a bit odd to see pure white armor again—Hevy hasn't seen that since the Rishi Moon, practically. Now the mess hall is full of chattering shinies.

It's kind of fun, actually. Hevy likes talking to the shinies. They're curious, always asking about the battles Hevy's been in and eager to hear his stories. Hevy's ego is a big fan.

He walks into a training room during a quiet afternoon and blinks in surprise when he sees it's only inhabited by a single clone. The shiny in question is crouched in the center of the room, surrounded by a smattering of disassembled machinery. He barely glances up when Hevy curiously approaches.

"Careful," the shiny eventually warns. "There's some explosives hidden somewhere in this pile, I think."

Hevy can see a small explosive a few inches from his right foot. He inches away, taking care not to disturb any other parts.

"What are you up to, brother?" Hevy asks. The shiny lifts an eyebrow at him warily.

"Why d'you want to know? You gotta problem?" he says aggressively. Hevy snorts.

"Hardly," he replies. "I want to know why you're trying to rig all those mines together, though. You're not worried about them all going up?"

The shiny blinks. "I—no, they won't. They're remotely connected to a controller, and I'm being careful. You're not… going to confiscate them?"

"Kriff no," Hevy says. "Why would I do that? Seems like you're up to something cool."

A slow grin forms across the shiny's face.

"You know… I could always use a hand, if you're not busy," he says slyly. "I'm trying to make some… improvements, to the mines, and it would go faster with two."

Hevy considers for a moment. It's tempting. Looks fun, too. It would be nice to have an actual excuse to blow things up for once.

"Count me in," Hevy says. He feels a shiver of excitement. "What do you need me to do?"

The shiny rummages around on the floor and picks up a cluster of wires. "I mean… I'm nearly finished with the assembly. But I do need something to test it on…"

"Say no more," Hevy tells him. "I've got just the thing."

The clones aren't allowed to take anything from the battlefield, but that doesn't mean the Republic doesn't have access to several droid husks—for target practice, or to study. There's a couple posted at support stations around the training rooms. Hevy takes one from the nearest mechanic station and isn't even spared a second glance by the man on duty. The mechanic only grunts and mutters a tired, "Just bring me back the pieces," that Hevy's absolutely going to ignore.

If the shiny's grin had been of any indication, there won't even be pieces of the SBD husk left when they're finished.

"Perfect!" the shiny shouts when Hevy heaves the useless body through the door. "That clanker's gonna get it. Put him in the middle, won't you?"

In the eight or so minutes it had taken Hevy to retrieve their target, the shiny has transferred his mines into a semi-circle on the ground and cleared out the remaining spare parts. He's currently lugging a clear ballistic shield into the corner, and the moment Hevy sets the droid down he moves to help the other.

"Alright," the shiny says, a pleased look on his face. "This ought to be good."

Hevy positions himself behind the shield and looks over their setup on the other side of the large room curiously.

"What, exactly, did you do?" he asks. The shiny chuckles. He palms the detonator and hovers one finger over the button.

"You know… it's more fun if I don't tell you," he says gleefully, and presses the button.

The fireball is spectacular. Hevy has to shield his eyes, and the force of the explosion rattles his very bones. Shrapnel rattles against the shield. The shiny lets out a whoop.

When the room stops trembling, Hevy peers back out to see if he can spot any sign of the droid. There's twisted metal scattered by the walls, and few yards away from the ceiling a single metal leg protrudes from the wall of the ship. The ground is blackened, which Hevy knows they're likely to get in trouble for but he can't bring himself to care in the heat of the moment.

Hevy lets out an incredulous laugh.

"Force, that was cool," he says. "The clanker got obliterated. Seriously, what did you do?" Adrenaline is singing through his veins. Hevy likes how this feels. It's a little intoxicating. If the way the shiny is grinning is any indication, he feels the same way.

"Well… I may or may not have taken out some of the safety features in order to make room for additional explosives, to start with. Then I added a makeshift filter to stop the explosion from spreading to a maximum radius, like they're designed to do. Basically… I made it more powerful, and more condensed. Cool, right?"

Hevy laughs again. "You said it!" he replies. There's a long pause where both of them are staring out at the wreckage with far too much excitement. Eventually, Hevy glances at his companion and shuffles his feet. "So… we're doing this again, right? I've got some ideas."

"Oh, yeah," the shiny agrees. "Tell me all. I think we've got something good going, here."

Hevy balls his fists in excited anticipation.

"You got a name, shiny?" he asks. The shiny looks at him as Hevy bends down to inspect a twisted strip of metal.

"Call me Hardcase, brother."

"I want to make you two an offer," Captain Rex says. They're standing in a small meeting room, at ease in form, but tense in anticipation. Echo spares a quick glance at Cutup beside him, who looks slightly confused. He doesn't know what the Captain's on about either.

"I was very impressed by both of your actions on Felucia," Rex says. He looks considerably better than the last time Echo had seen him. He's gotten some rest, at least, which is good. If anyone deserves rest, it's Rex. "Both of you showed courage, valor, and quick intuition. I couldn't have asked for better men to serve at my side during such a dark hour."

Echo frowns. He'd expected something like this—a reward, or another medal, but this is starting to sound suspiciously like something else.

"You were both able to step up in the heat of battle and get things done. The retrieval of the walker was crucial to getting our men out of there safely," Rex continues. "Many of our brothers would have died without it. Both of you deserve the highest praise."

"Thank you, sir," Echo says, heart warming at the compliment despite his confusion. A compliment from Captain Rex is something to be truly proud of.

"I'd like to give both of you the opportunity to become ARC troopers, if you'd like," Rex says, and Echo's warm feeling is immediately erased.

Kriff.

They can't accept this. They can't. ARC training takes months that Domino can't afford to waste. But it will look strange if they reject it—every clone dreams of being ARC. It was practically all any of them could talk about during their cadet years. Also, if Rex is only offering this to two of them, the squad will be split in half. They can't do that, either.

Echo is so wrapped up in his own frantic thoughts that he almost misses Cutup's surprised inhale.

"I—what? Are you serious, sir?"

The corner of Rex's lips twitch upwards. "Plenty serious, Cutup."

Cutup gapes at him for a long moment.

"But sir… I don't—me? Why not Fives?"

Rex claps a hand on Cutup's shoulder. "You're just as qualified to be an ARC as Echo is, Cutup. As an ARC trooper, you'd be out of my jurisdiction for the most part. ARC troopers technically work outside of traditional command structures. I want to promote Fives eventually, if he'll allow me to. He would be of most help to me here. You and Echo, though—I think you'd both do extremely well as ARCs."

Echo bites his lip, watching nervously as Cutup basks under the praise. There's a long moment where Echo worries Cutup is going to agree blindly, stuck on the excitement of a childhood dream achieved—but then Cutup's shoulders sag. Echo knows his brother is coming to the same realizations.

"Sir…" Cutup begins, voice heavy with disappointment. Echo jumps in before Cutup has to give an explanation.

"We appreciate the offer, Captain, but… would there be consequences if we declined?"

Echo's bracing himself for the worst, but Rex only sighs.

"I suspected you might say that," the Captain says. "Though I thought it was worth a try. You could really help the Republic as ARC troopers, boys."

"We can help the Republic here, too," Cutup chimes in. Echo nods at him encouragingly. "We want to stay here, sir."

Echo doesn't remember having a choice to become ARC the first time around, but he hadn't thought anything of it at the time. Now, his whole body tenses. He doesn't think Rex will force them, but he can't help but worry about it anyway. He watches as the Captain nods at them slowly.

"I didn't think either of you would want to leave your batchmates," he says. "Your squad is one of the closest I've ever seen. I won't break up such a strong group, even if it does mean I'm short two ARC candidates."

Echo's shoulders slump in relief.

"We're sorry, sir," he says. Rex waves a hand.

"No need to apologize, Echo. That's fine. As I said, I expected your answers. You two still deserve the highest praise for your work. You saved a lot of men that day."

Suddenly Echo has an idea. He's not entirely sure what Rex will think of it, but it might be worthwhile to suggest it.

"Sir," Echo begins carefully, "If you're still looking for men to be ARC… I might have a suggestion." Rex raises an eyebrow curiously and gestures for Echo to continue. "There are two men in our squad who might have some of the necessary skills already. Tipper and Zeer."

Rex's eyes widen in recognition. "The men we thought we'd were lost to the jungle," he confirms. Echo nods.

"Yes, sir. They're worth investigating. I'm not sure if they'll pass your qualifications, but they're definitely skilled. They survived alone in the jungle for more than a week and helped us bring the walker back afterwards." Echo honestly thinks they'd be fantastic ARCs. Especially if they're partnered together like he and Fives had been. The way they'd worked together during the spar had shown trust and ferocity, two things definitely needed as an ARC.

Rex hums pensively, shifting his weight as he thinks. "I haven't seen much of them since Felucia, but I trust your recommendation," he says. "I'll keep an eye on them. Do you think they'd accept the offer if it was made?"

Echo frowns. "I can't say, sir. They might. I have no idea."

"Hm. I'll look into it," Rex says seriously. "Thank you, Echo. That's all I'll need from you, then."

"Thanks, sir," Echo says sincerely. Cutup echoes the thanks.

"Echo… do you really think Tipper and Zeer could be ARC?" Cutup whispers as they leave. Echo nods.

"I do think they could, if they stick together," he responds. "But whether or not Rex chooses them isn't up to me." Those two are still recovering, after all—but Echo thinks that if he were in charge of choosing the ARC candidates, those two would be very high on his list.

In the end, Echo isn't patient enough to wait.

He takes the datapad to Jesse, shoves it in his hands, and takes a deep breath.

"Tell him to read those documents," Echo instructs firmly. To his credit, Jesse immediately knows who Echo's talking about.

"What's Kix done now?" he asks, accepting the datapad without even blinking.

"Nothing," Echo reassures him. "But I need his help."

"His help, or a medic's help?"

"Both," Echo answers. "Can you make sure he at least looks at it? Don't let anyone else use it."

Jesse frowns, but nods his head.

"Alright, I'll see if he'd be willing to look at it after his shift is over," he promises. From Echo's experience, that means by tonight Kix will have seen the contents of the datapad. Kix will listen to Jesse.

"Thank you," Echo says. "When he's finished, will you have him come see me?"

"Sure," Jesse says easily. "You'll have to work around his shifts, though."

"That's fine," Echo replies quickly. "As long as he reads it."

Echo has no doubt that Kix will come see them on his own after looking at the documents. As Jesse tucks the datapad away Echo feels a surge of anticipation.

This is it. It's far past time to get this taken care of. If everything goes well, they'll have a medic on their side by tomorrow.

Then things will really start to change.

A/N: I'm back, again! Sorry for the wait! It was surprisingly difficult to get back into the flow of writing the clones, but I got a handle on it after the first few sections. I don't think I have anything else to say, so... hope you guys enjoyed!

Visit my tumblr for this story: meridiansdominoes!