PROJECT SAC-1

by antisocial-mariposa

In an altered galaxy far, far away the Kaminoans ended up creating what could potentially be their deadliest enemy, skilled and sneaky enough to expose their heinous crimes to the Republic and put them out of business. They threw everything they could at SAC-1 to force her into submission, but she's known as Agent Ria Talla to her growing gaggle of allies made across the galaxy...

49. Chapter 49

(RONAY EMERGENCY BUNKER)

Lord Alessander took it upon himself to escort his distressed mother to her private quarters. Full truth be told, she blatantly resisted Thea-Elouise's outstretched arms again, and was inconsolable until her only other true 'baby' replaced Thea-Elouise. Alessander had to hold her upright while they shuffled through the parting crowds.

With a tug of her earring on her drawn back ears, a rather cut and dry Commander Narami told the Bad Batch to go gear up, and she went to address a bristled Duke Depon privately, no doubt to do some damage control. Twas not an uncommon occurrence with the unrepentant Bad Batch. It kinda felt like the glory days, before their social buffer was forced into their squadron and took it upon herself to smooth things over if they worked with others, which had been only twice since she joined.

They were not big on following orders, but when Hunter's brothers looked to him for guidance, he nodded his buckethead towards the exit too, and they followed his lead, making their way to the famed Armory post haste. They had extra pep in their step because hey, according to Tech's manifest he nabbed, this place would have LOTS OF NEW TOYS TO PLAY WITH! As Wrecker had cheered, 'They were back in business!' No more lollygagging! No more moping! It was time to go to work!

Word of young Lord Elea's suspected terrorism was quickly spreading like a wildfire; the Bad Batch had a front row seat to the gossiping aristocrats who were already putting distance between them and the Depon Family. Even the extended Depon Family did not hesitate to snub their own flesh and blood. As they walked Tech reflected Maiv's warning to him from moments ago, 'Soldier, tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy, or enemies for our allies.' He was able to feel mildly reproachful towards himself that he had so loudly declared the data he was collecting of this mysterious traitor who very well could not end up being young Lord Elea, for while everything he had discovered so far was true, there were many unknown variables from this point until they found and questioned Lord Elea. Oh well, he gleaned the lesson and filed away the new perspective to apply for any later confrontations of a similar nature.

Behind Tech, Wrecker flicked up his helmet and leaned forward to playfully say into his brother's auditory sensor, "Feels like Talla's holodramas came to life, haha!"

To which Tech rolled his eyes but found the amusement too with a small upturn of his lip corners underneath his helmet. 'Oh, perhaps I should have recorded the last two episodes she had missed -'

Admirably, Thea-Elouise remained at Duke Depon's side, though the older man never acknowledged her. As Crosshair passed Thea-Elouise by she appeared to be put back together, the perfect picture of an elegant noblewoman who should always maintain a stiff upper lip in a crisis. He quickly turned away, paranoid the blasted bird would catch onto his glance and come after him. Vivi was preoccupied with affectionately cooing and nudging her mistress, but Crosshair was not going to take any chances.

Outside the Hangar Bay, a short, darkly cloaked woman with a veil that covered half her face flagged the Bad Batch down, "I am Lady Elouise's handmaiden," She introduced herself, with her almond shaped green eyes the only discernible feature about her. She addressed the clone with the sergeant stripes, held out one of those code cylinders Tech had been dying to get his hands on, "She has bestowed this upon you so you may access to the Armory." Hunter took it, promptly gave it to Tech, and the handmaiden meekly folded her hands, "Her ladyship will be ready for departure in half an hour." She curtsied and left them.

Crosshair had hoped with Thea-Elouise's public orphaning that Vivi would remain with her for comfort. But they had only made it to the end of that first long hallway before hearing the blasted bird's call. They turned to see Thea-Elouise, Vivi, and her handmaiden exiting the Hangar Bay. Vivi abandoned her mistress, who smirked as Crosshair turned on his heel and ran in the opposite direction. His brothers snickered and followed.

Four pairs of boots clunked against cracked duracrete in rapid succession. The Bad Batch booked it through the dark, red low-light tinted hallways that led from the Hanger Bay to the Armory. Crosshair maintained his position at the front because while he got a tad lazy with their cushy Marauder II, he was still an avid runner compared to his gaggle of brothers. But copious amounts of sweat made his body glove feel like a suffocating layer of skin he wanted to tear off, and no, it wasn't from exertion.

"keaARR!" They heard the blasted avian echo from behind their position, chasing them, him.

Clumsy Wrecker skidded around the last corner with too much extra fervor, rammed into the next hallway's wall and ricocheted off with a dizzy twirl.

Hunter and Tech reached Wrecker in time and caught his arms. "We got 'im, get the door, Crosshair!" Hunter shouted, with traces of some rare laughter.

So down the last hallway, Crosshair ran like he never had in his entire life, towards a circular entry console at the end with a sentry guard posted within. Crosshair caught some impressive air when he sprang over the side of the console, to not waste critical two seconds running around. "Oi, what're you -" Crosshair elbowed the guard out of his way and plunged Lady Thea-Elouise's code cylinder into the socket. The big blue button beneath it lit up and he slammed his palm down on it.

With a dust-dropping shudder, the massive Armory doors creak apart so painfully slow behind him due to the ancient auxiliary power reserve, and the sentry guards bellyaching over her poor crooked nose. Crosshair braced himself on the console, impatiently tapped his fingers, felt sweat now beading underneath his stifling helmet. He was forced to watch Vivi's shadow growing bigger on the wall that cut to this hallway while his brothers sprinted away from it. Hunter reached the doors first, didn't hesitate to leap through sideways, even when the opening couldn't have been more than fourteen inches in width. By the time Wrecker reached there was only a few more inches to work with. The doors stalled, so Wrecker was stopped mid-flight, wedged between because of his broader chestplate. He wasn't being crushed, but was actually finding it amusing that Tech was on the outside using all his athletic might to push, while Hunter had Wrecker's massive arm hoisted over his shoulder and was yanking him inwards with all his might. Loud creaking and billows of dust made it seem like the hallway's weakened support beams were gonna collapse.

"keaARR!" Vivi called from just around the bend.

Crosshair banged his fist against the console, "DAMMIT!" But he accidentally hit the red button next to the blue one. A whir of machinery caused the two doors to widen just another inch as they prepared to close. Wrecker's frame stuttered inward, and Crosshair wasted no time snatching the code cylinder, jumping over the console edge and body slamming both Tech and Wrecker inside, the doors closing just as a frantic flapping of wings reached his auditory sensors.

"KEAARR-?!"

CLANG!

*thunk!*

The Bad Batch landed into the armory in a pile, Hunter rolling a few feet away, Tech crushed by Wrecker, Wrecker guffawing, and Crosshair was sprawled out sideways on Wrecker's stomach, cursing his very luck that his first 'girlfriend' was a clingy bird.

"WHOO, I missed the rush, YEAHAHA!" Wrecker cheered, feet kicking, fist pumping.

Underneath his back, muffled grunts were heard, "Wrecker -" You could partially see Tech's arms clawing at the sides of Wrecker's chest plate, and his long legs wriggling, "Wrecker, you are crushing my visor, get off!"

Wrecker belly-laughed again. He pushed Crosshair off by a facepalm to the helmet, and he landed several feet away with a quiet 'oof!' The giant rolled off Tech, who gasped in relief, and pushed himself up on his forearms. Hunter was smirking, shook his head in amusement, helped Tech fully stand up, and pushed his slackened goggles back up his nose, giving the dazed brainiac a hearty pat on the back afterwards.

Despite being manhandled, Crosshair let out a silent breath in relief that he was finally safe.

He pushed himself up on his forearms, and... was met with two big brown owl eyes inches from his visor.

Vivi cooed, no less enthusiastically than all the other times, her cheeks looked puffier than usual.

"Argh!" Crosshair swiped at her but did not hit her, "Go. Away!"

She did not go away, did not even flinch, just stooped down, opened her beak and a three inch, very much alive chunky larvae of some sorts was released. She raised back up to tilt her head all cutesy like at the protein offering she'd procured for him!

Crosshairs ration breakfast threatened to make a reappearance. He smacked the larvae away, slammed his palms down on the ground and leered close to HER face this time, "Why are you so obsessed with me?"

"TurwoOoOo." She simply cooed, and flitted her wings a little, her tail gently swooshing back and forth.

"Aww, don't hurt your love life anymore than your sparkling personality does, Cross." Hunter teased, finding his footing, "At least she's willing to overlook it." He trotted over, bent his knees and reached out a hand in the bird's direction, but didn't touch her. Vivi's head whipped up towards his hand, and while she lifted her chin and allowed him to use his curled pointer finger gently stroke the softest feathers underneath, Vivi didn't coo as excitedly. She quickly stepped closer to her favorite trooper, as if to not make him jealous.

Crosshair grumbled in open despair, the forehead of his helmet lightly clunking against the duracrete floor.

Vivi chittered and wiggled excitedly, she took this as an open invite to hop up and make herself at home on his helmet, hunch down over her feet and wrap her tail into a coil.

Since he was recovered, ever helpful Tech raised his pointer finger, "There are many ornithologists who have noted a female avian's peculiar affection towards sentient males - perhaps it does not exclude the Convoree species?"

Crosshair only grumbled again.

"Whoaaaaaah..." Wrecker exclaimed. Hunter and Tech finally turned, seeing Wrecker he had wandered beyond the corridor to behold the magnificent Ronay Emergency Bunker Armory. No doubt many kilometers in length and width, according to Tech's manifest it should have had EVERYTHING! Tanks, walkers, missile launchers, cannons, revolving cannons, mortars, rifles, blasters, staffs, batons, flamethrowers, bombs, shields, melee weapons, maintenance droids, and many other things, many they'd never tried, that the Bad Batch could have only dreamed to try out one day on a mission.

And they'd have to keep dreaming.

Save for a small holo device in the middle of the restricted area that ominously projected the red, hexagonal symbol for the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the armory was completely empty.

---

(ONDERON)

Several streets away from Iziz's main power generator, Rex, Ahsoka, Steela, and Lux were pressed up against the walls of the dark, musty alleyway. They were awaiting the signal to start making enough trouble that the droids sent for reinforcements, preferably a tank, that could be used to blow up the facility that fed sub stations across Iziz and would make the entire energy grid fall, which would prevent the battle droids from being able to recharge. Use their own weapon against them, and bring the droid army to its knees. It was a daring plan, but the trio of leading Onderon rebels needed the droid army to come to a standstill. They needed to prove to Iziz citizens that this rebellion was strong enough to fight the Separatists, for if they were already powerful enough now, imagine how much they could accomplish with strength in numbers too - they could drive off the Separatists for good! Propaganda was in the works.

It was an official Onderonian Holiday, so King Rash was so kind as to let people roam the streets past the 0800 curfew, and celebrate another glorious year under his rule! Agent Talla was up on the roof of a townhouse to the left of everyone, crouched and keeping herself hidden from the droid's photoreceptors by being ducked behind a square roof cooler vent. She was supervising Saw scouting for the droid patrol, the latter using macrobinoculars for an aid, while keeping his other hand on his blaster holster. Both scouts were drenched in sweat from the hot air being expelled and the warm metal their fronts were pressed up against. The massive source of electricity crackling several streets over had Talla's hair standing on end, and while as calm as she can be there was always that spike in adrenaline that coursed through her veins during game time on a mission.

And her attention kept flicking upwards to the magnificent palace in the middle of the city. Despite distance, weary eyes and a slight dusty haze, the enhanced clone could see his majesty's smug face watching the forced partying down below with a golden goblet in his palm. The collective illumination from the city's nightlife cast a glowing dome over the city, dulled the stars but intensified his greedy, beady eyes. He took a big sip of his cold beverage while his subjects could not waste a drop of water to make more festive beverage alternatives or fancy festival foods. These miserable citizens were definitely not Separatist by choice. Talla had never worked so closely with civilians the Separatists tormented until this mission, and now that she had, her heart burned like it did when she thought of what the Kaminoans got away with, and continued to get away with in regard to their 'property.' And like with the Kaminoans, Nala Se specifically, it was all too easy to slip into the dark daydream of cold-hearted revenge, saved for those really low moments, that her squadmates had only encouraged instead of berated her for, especially Crosshair. They were born into violence and instructed in violence and any problem that couldn't be solved with a blaster greatly confused and agitated them.

For Talla, this level of malice had only ever been directed to dummy droids, and the Kaminoans were the only organic beings to exist in her violent fantasies of plunging her sword through their hearts, but something shifted in Talla at this moment. Just knowing she could make the shot from here with her simple hand blaster made Talla's hand float down to her holster like it had a mind of its own...

Heavy, metallic footsteps marching in synchrony clanged her back down to reality. The droids were finally turning onto their street.

"Clankas incoming, get into position." She heard Ryth murmur into the active comm channel at Saw's wrist.

Saw lowered his macrobinoculars, "Copy that." He murmured in reply, then motioned for Talla to slide down first.

Such gentlemanly behavior from the man who always wanted first dibs on a mission made her raise a brow, but she accepted. With light and quick footwork Talla scaled back down the rough clay roof and wall, landed back down in the alley next to Rex, and Saw across from his sister. The Clone Agent nodded with Ahsoka and Rex, then the three looked to their leading proteges, who nodded to say they were ready. Lux Bonteri started taking more initiative to prove himself a trustworthy political aid to Steela, who the Republic trio had no doubt would soon be elected as Rebellion Leader, which made them both work closer with Captain Rex, Commander Tano, and Agent Talla.

Especially Agent Talla. Who now noticed out of the corner of her eye that all three of the rebels flinched and tightened the holds on their weapons at the menacing swish of the ejected steel of her vibrosword. Rex and Ahsoka were too busy watching the street to notice it wasn't caused by the nerves kicking in before a mission.

Upon a brief, mental recollection, Lux was frequently asking for private lessons with blasters, disarming a bomb, and many other battle tactics that, now Talla realized, only happened when he found out she'd be off the clock. They had been welcome distractions at the time when she couldn't score alone time in the barracks for a cat nap and Talla was proud of Lux's devotion to be a 'getting his own hands dirty' type of politician, but they were just a ploy to keep her under the youngin's watchful eye! And if she approached one Gerrera sibling, the other spawned into the conversation not soon after. And those times when she was laid up in her bunk someone would indeed walk in, 70% of the time it was a Gerrera sibling who just coincidentally decided to get some shut eye too. She didn't think much of it at first, but Agent Talla berated herself for not seeing it sooner! Lux Bonteri, Steela and Saw Gerrera had all been acting clingy and cagey towards her. She had been too wrapped up in her own pity party these last two weeks to recognize the red flags, but she had to hand it to them - they were better than Captain Rex when it came to keeping an eye on her from afar. At least she seemed off his radar now, but what did she do, what did Steela, Saw, and Lux know that made them suspicious-

The stolen rebel speeder whooshed by, made half a turn at the end of the street to block the entire road, and out hopped Ryth, detonator in hand. She scurried across the street and dove behind a short cement staircase that cut her off from view of the droid's procession, just as the clankas popped into view and immediately noticed the abandoned, illegally parked speeder. Their heavy footfalls intensified everyone's hearts pounding in their skulls.

Steela continuously peeked around the corner and risked exposure, she looked to be struggling to keep herself hidden in the dark until the signal, which lovestruck Lux of course picked up on, "Remember the plan," Lux whispered to her, making descriptive hand gestures, "We attack this patrol, and hopefully they will call in a tank for back up." Steela nodded.

In reference to that, Rex halfway twisted closer to Talla when the others were preoccupied going over the plan, "And Talla, we can't intervene." He tersely whispered to remind, or rather ordered for her to do.

Her one palm splayed on the wall behind her seized, making her nails dig into the clay and chip away some of the old, flaky blue paint. She stiffly looked away, and while the Captain would have preferred a 'Sir, yes sir,' Talla breaking down earlier was still fresh in Rex's mind and he did not want to push it. He had tried getting her to sit this one out and that was not a very smart thing to do he learned...

The droids surrounded the speeder that was abandoned in a hurry, it was still running? And there were cases inside? A B1 Sergeant poked at it with its gun.

And so, Saw gave Ryth the signal. The hoard of droid poppers in those cases detonated, and a brilliant spiderweb of blue electricity immediately took out half of the B1's and B2's.

"Yes!" Steela grunted to herself, liking the odds a lot better now. Saw gestured for Ryth's team to come out of hiding, and smirked to himself. This was where the fun began.

Ryth was a natural, doing somersault dives for evasive maneuvers against the chaotic red blaster bolts.

Talla gritted her teeth when Eli's buddy Talla hadn't bothered to learn the name of planted himself in the same spot for several seconds too long, shot back with a rifle, shuffled sideways, same spot for too long.

He was not a natural. He was vulnerable.

And that's when everything seemed to go in slow motion.

'We can't intervene.' Rex echoed in Talla's mind.

She saw a droid raise his blaster, at the correct angle for a blaster bolt to the rebels chest.

"Not gonna happen, Cap'n!" She finally gasped in reply, disobeying Rex, Ahsoka's, the entire Jedi Council's direct order.

Her CO's had no time to react, Talla sprung from her hiding spot and had her blaster out, hit a direct headshot on that droid and everyone after it. She absorbed bolts with her sword, and stopped another just in time to save the rebels life, who she tackled into the ally. "You need to practice evasive maneuvers, rookie!" Crazy-eyed Talla chastised the rebel with a shake of his shoulders, feeling as if she was going to have an aneurysm and heart attack rolled into one agonizing package.

She was lucky enough to be spared seeing the sea of bodies after the Invasion of Kamino, was unconscious for the only time she was in the presence of someone who nearly succumbed to his injuries, and was lucky enough to work solo missions since then. Talla knew one day she would face death, it was inevitable in War as Convor had alluded to, but she would be damned if she stood by and watched it happen when she had the power to stop it.

---

(RONAY EMERGENCY BUNKER)

On Hunter's order, the security guard was hauled back to the Throne Room by Wrecker, because, well, naturally this chick would be a suspect. Only the Duke's, Duchess's, and Commander Narami inhabited the chambers now, scoring the Bad Batch a private and awkward audience since Duke Depon was clearly ostracized. His household's rival matriarch, Duchess Di'Laah, looked positively gleeful at the potential for a poisoned lineage, even in the midst of the crisis it caused for them all, as opposed to her fellow aristocrats, where there was no shortage of loudly whispered insults, nose upturning, or dirty glances directed at Duke Depon. He sat like a solemn statue on his throne, his eldest son who'd returned to his side doing an pitiful attempt at keeping a stiff upper lip. It was not as believable as Thea-Elouise's unfortunately, the man wore his heart on his sleeve compared to her, and there were obvious traces of shame and confusion in his droopy eyes and frown and downturned face.

All their attention shifted when the Bad Batch burst into the room. They jolted and gasped loudly when Wrecker threw one of their own guards at their feet, her mouth gagged with hands and feet binded by some scraps of a leather baton strap the Separatists had misplaced.

Padawan Narami's fragile dam of calm serenity crumbled into oblivion, she gaped at these soldiers who were way more audacious than the job description had entailed! Master Kenobi should have said far more than 'May the Force be with you, my dear,' he should have admitted that the so-called calming Jeru tea he was sipping out of a travel mug must have been, in fact, NOT TEA!

"What is the meaning of this?" Archduchess Onora demanded. With deep disapproving frowns the aristocrats circled the Bad Batch and the hyperventilating guard, as did Maiv.

"Your Armory is cleaned out, and I figured you'd wanna hear the explanation yourselves." Hunter announced. He waited out the expected panicked reaction since there was no one important in the room the aristocrats felt they needed to fake it for.

Blood pressures spiked. Healthy color faded. Duchess Di'Laah was no longer gloating but clutching her chest, another Duchess was repeating 'It can't be' over and over while slowly stumbling backwards onto the nearest throne, losing all her strength. The Duke from house Knylenn apparently had a weak stomach, his face went green and barely turned away before vomit was spewed across everyone, instead of the potted holographic tree he was splayed upon for support. Alessander lost his voice, and he was holding onto his frozen father's arm, which could be taken as he was making sure his father didn't collapse from a heart attack, or he himself wouldn't collapse from a heart attack.

With a droop of her ears and tug of her earring, Maiv said nothing, settled with simply folding her hands behind her back, looked to Hunter and flicked her eyes down at the frantically mumbling guard.

He bent down and snatched the guard's collar, forcing her up into a seated position. At Maiv's grimace he was a tad less aggressive when peeling away the gag from her mouth, but the red blotches left behind from how tightly it'd been tied made Maiv feel even more pity regardless of her possible stance in this Separatist scheme.

The guard gasped when freed, looked alarmingly upon what was left of her shocked, enraged, trembling employers, "Please, y-y-your esteemed graces, I had no idea our Armory was compromised!"

Tech took off his helmet, "This armory could not have possibly been cleared in the fifteen minutes the systems were down." He stated factually, stepping into her line of sight to frown down at her skeptically.

"I-I-I agree!" The woman sniveled, and Hunter got tired of holding her up and let go without warning, and she barely caught herself before her face hit the floor, "We have had a monthly assessment since the War started! This must have been carried out after our last assessment and before the storm started!" She tried to hoist into a standing position but only fell back to her knees because of her binded limbs, "You have to believe me!" She cried out, palms pressed together like she was praying to the gods.

But these were not all-knowing, all-seeing gods, they were mere sentients prone to obsessing over their self-image to the public, especially Duke Depon in this moment. He was the only one in control of his senses after that. Another viable suspect in the mix gave him the jolt he needed to snap out of his stupor. All of his anger and his offense at his own stupid son being accused was fully bestowed upon this guard with a cold-blooded stare. "Lock her in a stable." He ordered one of the security guards lining the room.

"No please!" She cried out, tears forming, and instead of shrinking away from the Bad Batch she panicked even more when they left her side. "I had no idea, please PLEASE believe me, your grace!"

Alessander turned towards his father in shock, "That would be unsanitary, father!" But he took it no further.

Maiv physically shielded the sobbing woman to stop the guard from grabbing her, for this had struck a chord with the young Jedi too. "It would be inhumane."

The security guard laid a hand over the baton strapped to his side, though his eyes flicked down to her lightsaber he knew the staff would be no match for.

Duke Depon remained stony faced, his rigid neck cords the only signs of annoyance and frustration mounting, "We have no formal prison within this bunker, and a small stable's rayshield should not deplete the secondary power reserve," Duke Depon tilted his head towards the goggled clone who seemed to believe he knew everything, "Would you not agree, clone?"

Tech straightened his posture, slowly bobbed his head while crunching the numbers, "Well, in the grand scheme of things, not drastically -"

"Then it is settled." Duke Depon folded his hands behind his back and slowly went to tower over Maiv, whose lips were pinched, "A suspected terrorist kept under lock and key by any means necessary will take precedence over the health and safety regulations that we ourselves have been robbed of."

Naturally, the young Jedi maintained a strong resistance at first - This went against every humanitarian lesson ingrained in younglings since being brought to the temple! But she closed her eyes, breathed deeply and reached out to the Force. They were cornered, water would run out in a matter of days if these aristocrats kept up with the ghastly level of waste they were used to having the luxury of making, and there was absolutely no extra firepower against a droid armada. Dear mighty Force, her first mission without a master at her side was going to be a fight of their lives.

Her small shoulders sagged at the weight of saving these people's very existence placed on them, and to protect the only means the GAR had to defend the Republic from the Separatists, which had to take precedence over locking one suspected terrorist in a stable. With a bow of her head, she stepped out of the guard's way. Accepted and moved on. The guard retrieved the sobbing woman and removed her from the premises. "As I had mentioned to Duke Depon earlier," Maiv forced herself to speak loudly and strongly over the retreating echoes of sobs, "I too managed to get a comm through before Separatist monitors went online, and while we'll be able to communicate through the secured comm towers, we cannot use short range comms or ship comms." The line of Bad Batchers listened intently, and she raised her head, distraught washed away by the serenity of the Force, "My Master has informed me that reinforcements arrived over the course of the last weeks, but they've been rerouted to Rothana in the Quiberon Sector."

The other aristocrats began filing into the conversation one by one, still openly distraught as they did not rely on the mystical force. But while this was the darkest moment in the Siege of Kuat, there was a glimmer of light - they looked to Maiv Narami as their advisor, instead of a dirty zygerrian.

It made her chest swell, and she finally had the chance to be a true, influential Jedi peacekeeper. "Cosiima and Kuat's largest continent have been compromised, but the two remaining Star Dreadnoughts and the shipyards have not," Alessander's eyes slid shut, he sighed in utter relief, "As predicted, the armament it was designed with is a great force in this galaxy not to be reckoned with. There is a clone occupation mixed with the remaining Kuati Sector Forces that survived, they are nestled in the mountain pass to keep the droids out of the highlands and away from the citizens that we managed to evacuate." Maiv looked to Hunter, stepped closer to him, "My master agrees we need to discover why the Separatists have invaded Kuat, the Council senses that they're true motive lies there." Her ears flicked forward as she observed him and his infamous squad, "I've read your files, I've experienced your daredevil behavior, and I saw how a great Jedi Master on the Council was driven to alcohol consumption after dealing with you."

Wrecker laughed out loud, and punched Crosshair's shoulder, who was rather proud of them too.

"If we split up the team, can you promise me that we can create enough damage to give us a fighting chance and survive to see the end of this Siege?" Maiv wasn't asking, she was hoping, pleading with those big black and green eyes of hers. She had her hands clutched together behind her back so she wouldn't tug at her earring.

Reiterating his promise to help in any way he could, Alessander decided to step in and say, "If the situation becomes... Unmanageable, each of our family transports are equipped with enough food, water, and fuel to last the max number of passengers a week if we do not overindulge."

"I want to do everything possible, so it won't come to that." Maiv firmly but politely declined, and it was back to Hunter.

Like his brothers, Hunter still struggled to see her as a Jedi Commander instead of a kid. Maiv had been made very wise beyond her years, but in a way that caused Hunter to experience a pang in his chest, and a surge of protectiveness like when these exact same aristocrats were so openly prejudiced towards her... Like they had been. But now he looked down at her, and couldn't help but think of his niece and nephew he'd recently felt a connection with. In a moment of clarity, Hunter figured that like him and his brothers, Narami was faced with being judged by her figurative holo-book cover more often than not. Their initial reactions to her proved that. He felt a twinge of guilt now. And... felt a want to help her prove herself.

Hunter lifted off his helmet, and felt the urge to place a reassuring hand on Maiv's shoulder, which he did end up doing, and she glanced at it surprise, "Kid, it's our specialty," He said with gentility that startled even him. He nodded towards Tech, who stepped forward, plopped on his helmet, whipped out his datapad, "We'll just make some modifications to the original plan." Hunter gestured over his shoulder to his giant for a brother, "Wrecker is the Demolitions Expert, he knows every trick in the book on how to get more bang for your buck."

Wrecker definitely had a blood-thirsty grin under his helmet, and he punched his fists together, "You'll be surprised at what I can turn into a bomb -" *cue maniacal cackling*

"I'll wrangle up anyone who knows how to use a weapon," Hunter continued, "And we'll organize the line of defenses here in the bunker that you can lead while Wrecker and I take the Marauder to cover the escape pod and to light up the skies with what we have on board." Gone was the reassuring adultier adult, here came the smirk of a pyromaniac, "Droids are meant to overwhelm, but we don't give them the chance to."

Crosshair lifted his head proudly at the chance of getting to prove him and his brother's superiority.

But then his blood ran cold as the ice planet of Hoth because that meant-

"Tech can crack any Separatist code you need and get the information you want," Hunter's smirk grew cocky as he swung an arm around the Sniper's neck, "And Crosshair will go along with her ladyship and Vivi to provide cover as he scouts for your son." He patted Crosshair's chest heartily.

Which was probably a good thing, helped keep him from going into cardiac arrest. Crosshair was naive to think that just because ALL ODDS WERE STACKED AGAINST THEM, didn't mean that Hunter was not going to take the perfect opportunity to get back at him for all the teasing he had bear on ALL ON HIS OWN since Talla went away. Looks like after months of being rendered a blithering fool due to being totally whipped, Hunter was remembering his sense of humor.

At the expense of his baby brother. Crosshairs hands turned to fists at his side, he slowly turned his bucket head down towards his short but simpering brother, "You kriffin' piece of bantha shit."

---

In the smallest bed chambers of the Depon Wing, underneath the dim, flickering sconce lights, lady Thea-Elouise stood in front of a gilded mirror that had cracked during the bombing. Her left arm was outstretched as her handmaiden put the finishing touches on the sneaky sneak outfit, fastening on that last cufflink.

The handmaiden released her mistress's hand. She picked up a soft-bristled brush off the tray, and cleaned off any particles that may have accumulated on her mistress's coat while it was stored away. "There you are, milady." She announced when finished, and took a step back, folded her hands, and meekly looked up to lady Thea-Elouise with her monolid brown eyes, "Do you require anything else, milady?"

Thea-Elouise pursed her lips and tilted her head at the reflection. She tugged down the front of her short coat, scrutinized the simple pants, shirt and durable strappy boots through half-lidded eyes. "This is not blaster-proof armor, but it's not as if we have a vendor on sight to peruse for a more durable alternative." She dismissed the handmaiden with a backhanded wave, "That will be all."

The handmaiden curtsied and flitted away.

Now alone, Thea-Elouise gave a drawn out, tired sigh. She twisted this way and that with a frown tugging down her lips. She was no expert, but any imbecile could see this getup offered no protection against blaster fire whatsoever.

But she slapped her hands on her thighs, did a twirl, and struck a valiant pose for her bird resting on one of the bedposts, "What a stylish sacrifice I will make, eh Vivi?"

Vivi tilted her head, trilled, though not very long and not as enthusiastically as Thea-Elouise knew she was capable of.

Her fake smile dropped, her arms dropped, and the bird was given a smoldering look. "Oh, spare me the stink eye, your majesty." Thea-Elouise lamented.

Vivi shortly trilled again, then suddenly dug her beak into her inner wing, preened herself.

Thea-Elouise rolled her eyes, "'Well, you desired excitement, so this is an impending disaster of your own making.'" She translated in a higher pitched tone of mockery, turning back towards the mirror. "'Bully for you, laserbrain, bleh bleh bleh bleh,'" She tugged down her left sleeve, checked the jeweled cufflinks, "I thank you for your condescending candor as always, your majesty, but I do not wish for it in this moment." She humphed sarcastically. A flutter of wings was heard, and then her right shoulder dipped as Vivi landed, and began aggressively head nudging Thea-Elouise, who crossed her arms and turned her nose up at the affection, "Hmph! Laying it on thick now, so I forgo returning putting you up for adoption?"

"You're doing it again." A young woman's voice sounded from the door, and Thea-Elouise turned to see her life long best friend, Lady Molvali Seclara.

(A/N: MAWL-vuh-lee si-CLAR-ah)

Thea-Elouise humphed dramatically again, and peered scornfully over her shoulder at Vivi, "Oh now I see it, you were putting on a show as always, so that your audience will make a mockery of me."

"TurwoOoOo." She cooed ever-so-affectionately.

"There, you see, Molli!" Thea-Elouise exclaimed cantankerously, "Look beyond the smiles and excessive adoration and see how she patronizes me with no shame!"

Molli stepped inside, closed the door behind her, and gave her life long best friend a deadpan look. "She is a bird, Lou, and the shape of her beak of her particular species gives her a permanent smile." She declared for the millionth time while walking across the room.

"No one ever believes the victim." Lou sniffed, and turned back to the mirror. "And now she tries to make me jealous by hovering over that dirty clone, you cannot tell me that you missed the disgusting display of her 'Are you jealous, mama?' smirk!"

"TurwoOoOo." Vivi indeed took it a step further by preening Lou now.

"The patronizing you claim she inflicts upon you is all inside your head, dearest, as all of us have been saying for the last ten years." Molli reached Lou's side, they gazed upon their reflections, with Vivi fluttering away back to her bed post. The vast height difference between the best friends always made everyone's head turn. Lou was never without heels, and she was already an impressive six feet tall without them, while Molli was technically four feet, eleven inches, though she claimed her droopy montrals made her five foot two. It never mattered, though, because she absolutely abhorred heels, so when Lou wore them, it only made the friends even more of a spectacle.

Lou finally realized Molli's similar sneaky sneak outfit. Her forehead puckered, she gave Molli's reflection a once over. "Why are you wearing that?"

Molli looked insulted, "Did you think I was going to allow you to storm into enemy territory without some backup?" Molli shook her head once, "Not on my watch."

Lou's burning ire simmered down to a warm glow, but she could not bring herself to smile. "I appreciate the sentiment, but you cannot wield a blaster anymore than I can." She pointed out, and her frown turned surly, "I was chosen worthy to sacrifice, not you." As soon as that came out of her mouth, her stomach flip flopped in guilt. How insensitive of her! She had already been such a handful the last few days.

"Your mother is distraught," Molli reassured her.

"I know she is." Lou said quickly, and berated herself for almost thinking otherwise. Her posture had slackened, so she rectified that and engaged in some preening of her own, smoothed a hand over her clipped up half-do, "And dearest, we have only just accomplished bolstering you up enough to order at the restaurants, let us not take two steps backwards on the progress we have made in your bashfulness by forcing you for an inordinate span of time to interact with two strange and ill-mannered clones."

"And you." Molli said, lightly bumping her shoulder against Lou's arm, "That will be enough to bolster me."

The beginnings of a mellow smile appeared. "What's gotten into you?" Lou asked, "You never do things like this."

"Like your cousin says: there is no LuLu without LiLi." Molli declared, and then gestured with her chin back to their reflections, and she slipped her hands into her pockets, "I think we look rather nice." Molli commented looking down at her simple ankle boots, rocking from her heel to her toes, "There is something freeing about trousers and footwear that does not have a heel."

Lou's lip curled at the lack of accessories and heels, the lack of empowerment that a skirt and dress brought her, and she ran a finger down the side of her face, devoid of all makeup. "I feel naked." The only accessory she had refused to take off was her lip ring and she had the handmaiden put a smaller pair of hoop earrings on her. If she was going to die, she was going to die looking darn good.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Are you decent, LuLu?" Alessander shouted to be heard through the door.

"Come in!" She replied.

The door whooshed open. Alessander rushed in with another young man, Lord Dasheele Seclara.

(A/N: DASH-eel si-CLAR-ah)

Alessander and Dasheele briskly walked across the room, stopped in front of Lou and Molli and exchanged grim glances.

"The droid army has begun setting up the perimeter." Dasheele was the one to inform them, "The time to deploy the troops is now, or never."

It hit Molli and Lou at that moment: They weren't going home, they were venturing into enemy territory. Kuat had been safe from the war until now. They had no idea how to use weapons. They were not so sheltered as to think it was going to be ALL fun and games and witty remarks like in the holos.

Molli's pine green eyes visibly widened, her pupils dilated, everything seemed to blur.

Lou kept her composure, yet Vivi did flitter over to her mistress, exposing Lou's inner turmoil to her three closest companions.

Alessander was one who always wore his heart on his sleeve, he visibly choked down the emotions with a gulp, "You have the stomach and intelligence for this." He said to his younger cousin, who reached out a hand to steady him, bearing traces of an adoring smile, and squeezed his hand twice. He looked down proudly upon Lou.

"And you have the courage and the tenacious drive for it." Dasheele said to his younger sister with much better composure, even though Molli is his only sibling. "You will handle this far better than us lily-livered chumps ever could." He lightly chuckled, lightening the mood with humor, and his sister smiled appreciatively, "I believe you will give those troopers a run for their credits."

"But we can do our part here," Alessander assured them, "And it is to pacify the parents."

"I do not like undermining their authority." Lou voiced with a guilty churn of her stomach again.

"All will be well, I promise." Alessander said. But he left out the part where they had no ammunition, their reinforcements were rerouted to the Quiberon Sector, and they're mother needed a sedative administered to stop the fits of hysterics. Lou squinted at him in disbelief, sensing he was holding back, but Alessander did not want to shake her and Molli up anymore than they already were, regardless of their remarkable composure. He squeezed Lou's hand twice, and gave her a serious look to her quizzical one, "There is a chance Elea is not the prime suspect after all, yet I am still very disappointed in him, and confused." He said instead, "Please, knock him upside the head for me."

"I did not believe he was a suspect at all, not for a moment." Lou stated firmly, squeezing his hand back twice, "But believe me, I will be doing that and more when I get my hands on him."

With that, there was nothing left to say, only for the four close friends to embrace in a group hug.

---

Crosshair was in a foul mood. Sure, he had brought this upon himself by viciously teasing his big little brother, but c'mon, sticking him with the crazy bird lady and her even crazier 'spawn' was a low blow! And that was saying something for the half-pint!

Crosshair exchanged a brief sideways, scrunch-nosed scowl with the half-pint who was walking in line with him, and half-pint didn't hesitate to return it tenfold.'Game. On.' The glance said. Then they trained their eyes forward, and adjusted the backpacks of rations and water they were lugging it through the long, massive hallway of the escape pods.

Crosshair's mouth curved into a smirk. So did Hunter's. 'God, it's good to be back to normal.'

Oh, there was the escape pod! The helmet went on for Crosshair. He had a subtle spring to his step. Time for another game of cat and mouse, overtime edition.

He stopped in his tracks at the ramp. He saw not one but TWO dead weights sitting prim and proper in the jump seats, and no the second wasn't the bird, and even though they each had a field survival pistol strapped to their hip: "Oh no no no no," Crosshair chuckled darkly. With one stomp, two stomps, he closed the distance and harshly dumped his bags at their feet, they jumped at the BANG! He leered over them,jabbed a finger at Lou while saying to the cowering Molli, "There's only room for one prissy chick to babysit on this mission and that's -"

"keaARR!"

He froze, his finger went limp. 'Oh sweet mother of moons -' On impact, the force of this chonky bird made him fall forward. He bonked the front of his helmet on the wall between the women, ricocheted off, fell and rolled over someone's lap and crumbled to the ground with a grunt.

...

First there was a snicker. Then an unladylike snort. Then outright laughter at Crosshair's expense.

And he discovered that this was so much more humiliating than any reg poking fun at him during his cadet years. This was so much more humiliating than walking onto any military base in the galaxy and being the immediate but end of everyone's jokes, though he never clued any outsiders in on how it did affect him. A great deal.

Vivi roosted on his helmet like always, wrapping her tail around it, quite pleased. Strangely, Crosshair felt like he couldn't move, like he had finally been pushed to the brink of such utter humiliation that he didn't lash out, but was frozen. He was smoldering and he was frozen and he didn't know why, there were no thoughts, just sweat and skin prickling and queasiness and an invisible force keeping him in this vulnerable, wimpy position.

"And it looks like that chick to babysit is you." Hunter jested, which didn't help at all. This only made these ladies forgo being ladylike altogether, they were practically kicking their feet and had to keep each other upright to not fall to the floor. Hunter bounced just in time to miss Crosshair's donkey kick, and he threw down the packs he brought, "And Vivi seems to have it covered!" He called over his shoulder, to have the last chuckle.

Glued to his datapad, Tech passed Hunter by, barely looking up when the Sarge gave him a double pat on the shoulder in parting.

Inside the pod, Tech lightly kicked his baby brother's side, "Now is not the time for a cat nap, I need you at the co-pilots seat." And continued to the console.

That kick snapped Crosshair out of it. He was back, the mask was back, figuratively and literally, and he was not going to let these chicks get the better of him. He was not going to let anyone hold any power over him. Instead of scrambling to his feet, he kept a casual pace, as if he was not affected at all. He wanted to make such a life-sucking remark about Lady Thea-Elouise's public orphaning, but he got a better idea. "Fine." He sneered down at Lou, who didn't shrink back. "You want to play soldier? Let's. Go."

Only the other tog shrunk in her seat, to the point she drew her knees up a tad, averted her gaze even though his face was covered by a helmet. Crosshair scoffed, 'Yeah, can definitely see her being useful - as droid bait.'

But Lou did not shrink back. She still had traces of laughter in her debonair smile, swaying her shoulders a little while drawing herself up in her chair to be even closer to the face of his helmet. She was in no way intimidated by this faceless clone. Apparently, he was not even worthy of a staring match, she flounced her shoulder and began conversing with her companion, to draw her back out of her shell.

Crosshair maintained composure until he plopped into the co-pilots seat. "Remember when I said it was too soon to try Plan 73 again?" He murmured to Tech typing away the flight trajectory.

"Quite vividly -"

"Changed my mind." Crosshair did the sequence for the door to shut. And blast it, the bird returned just as he was about to be free! She claimed his shoulder pauldron. Crosshair sighed ever-so-tiredly.

It took a few seconds to process that Crosshair was talking to him, and what he had said. Tech movements paused, he briefly looked up, "Oh." Then he shrugged, "Well, I wanted the next time we did Plan 73 to be for educational purposes, to show Talla how a properly controlled crash landing is performed, but I suppose another opportunity will inevitably present itself." Tech tapped away again, briefly with one hand as he picked up his datapad and gave it to Crosshair. "I informed Hunter of something you need to be aware of also: When I was tapped into the system, I recognized the codes instantly - they utilize the exact same code dialect retrieved from the V'Hiina Mines."

Crosshair took the datapad and beheld the gibberish. His helmet wordlessly turned and somehow perfectly gave Tech a deadpanned look. He cleared his throat and waved the datapad to get back Tech's attention.

He raised a distracted pointer finger, "Talla was correct in having a hunch that we should look over the codes we retrieved. But it is not a Separatist code after all, it is KDY dialect we found in those mines." Crosshair raised an interested brow under his helmet, "Now I see our suspect had played a part in the droid factory we destroyed on V'Hiina, and now plays a part in this siege, and no doubt there must be other droid factories we are not made aware of yet, and the suspect knows and is utilizing the KDY code dialect and network for some reason, which is not for the faint of heart, in my professional opinion. Opening and shutting doors is one thing, but with shutting down the entire security system without a breach alert was, and cleaning out the armory, I would go as far as to say this person had access to a code cylinder, or owns their own code cylinder."

"So, someone in one of the immediate families?" Crosshair guessed, because he figured there'd be a search party for one of these things. "Such as the little brother?"

"I do not suspect Lord Elea at all. Teenagers struggle with a lack of impulse control due to the brain's frontal and prefrontal cortexes still developing - do you remember Wrecker before he mellowed out?"

They shuddered.

"This was far too heavily premeditated, and someone who would render the most secure bunker in the galaxy completely vulnerable would have also had enough insight to disable the security system to make their secret escape. Someone older and wiser than Elea would fit the profile better." Tech claimed. "Fortunately, with Lady Elouise's code cylinder, I can access their databank and compare these odd timestamps and see if I can spot an incriminating pattern with a repeated code frequency and then we can find out who is this mole, if the security guard was an accomplice or just a very good actress, and what the connection to KDY is."

"Tch," Crosshair tossed the datapad back on its owner's lap, "How tantalizing." In the reflection of the viewport, he watched Lady Thea-Elouise converse with her best friend as if they had not a care in the world. He wondered why she hadn't asked for her code cylinder back if it was so important.

---

(ONDERON)

Everyone was back at the townhouse by sunrise. The mission had been a success, and there were no casualties, which you think would be a great thing.

But Ahsoka and Rex were silent and stoic, torn between smiling because there were no casualties, a true rarity that they always had celebrated, or frowning in frustration at her defiance, even if meant being hypocrites because their Jedi General had made them proficient in that. They settled for being tucked away in another corner, out of sight, out of mind, as they should be. As Agent Talla was making it very difficult to be.

Across the room, Talla had her arms crossed, and had tucked herself away in a corner that was closed off with a stack of crates, which she leaned against, her ankles crossed. She forced herself to join the celebration alongside everyone instead of hiding away, only truly smiling when several of the rebels she saved from the droidekas were still here, able to celebrate alongside their comrades.

Eli's buddy, one of whom Talla saved earlier, braved intercepting the rumored 'sith spawn' instructor, "Care for a drink, Agent?" He asked, and held out a bottle of alcohol.

Her eyes flicked from this man's sheepish smile, then down at the tempting bottle she was not going to bother to ask how it was scored, then back up to his smile. Under the post battle dirt and grime, Talla couldn't tell if he was smiling like that because despite the visible adrenaline high he was a bit embarrassed for being a liability, or because he hoped 'buying' her a drink would lead to something more to release some of this pent-up energy, like several others in his immediate friend group who had shoot their best shot since getting back. "As long as there's no strings attached." Was Talla's rejection plain as day.

His smile did falter, but he bowed his head, "Thank you for saving my skin earlier," He pushed the bottle into her hands, and rejoined his group, respecting her wishes to be alone.

It was early morning, the sun's rays were just peeking out from behind the jungle treeline, and Talla popped off the bottle cap with her hand - perfect time as any to start daydrinking! Even if it was room temp, this Onderonian beer tasted like the sweetest nectar after the time she was having.

In the middle of the room Saw raised a glass to the Rebellion's victory, earning a collective cheer from everyone, except the Jedi padawan, the Clone Captain, and the Clone Agent. They lifted their bottles and glasses, but on opposite sides of the room there was a tension so thick you could cut it with a vibrosword.

"We need to build on our momentum," Saw declared, and curled his fist with fire raging in his eyes, "And continue our attacks to keep them off balance!"

"We have to reassure the people first." Lux respectfully rebutted, coming up to Saw's side, "If we keep disrupting their lives, we risk alienating them." With a more peaceful air, the young politician regarded the room as a whole, "We have to gain their trust."

Saw was not shy with his glance of annoyance.

"I agree with both of you." Steela diffused so naturally, "We can balance both. We also need to recruit others to join us." Many people nodded, murmured in agreement. Building on this, she smiled and joined her brother and loverboy in the middle of the room, and raised her hands, "Onderon is ours." She said with such infectious empowerment, the crowd stirred, "We will remind everyone and keep reminding them until we get it back!" She threw a fist in the air.

The crowd erupted in loud cheers! 'Onderon is ours! Onderon is ours!' they chanted! Cups and bottles clinked, hugs, high fives, even a kiss here and there went around. Lux and Saw looked upon Steela's shining self so proudly. Steela was smiling as bright as the message that half-grinning Talla, smiling Ashoka, and inspired Rex knew would have to be broadcasted all over the city next if they wished to secure the support of the locals.

And they already knew who would be the voice of hope for this rebellion before Ryth stood up top on a crate and said: "All in favor of Steela as our leader, raise your hand!"

It was no surprise to anyone but Saw and Steela that one, two, five, fifteen, everyone's hands shot up! Even though she wasn't supposed to, even though they were suspicious of her, Talla raised her bottle too, and that earned her a pretty sour look from Saw, who knew she had singled him out from the very beginning to receive the brunt end of her frustrations.

Steela was so honored, she was rendered speechless and breathless, but... She blinked once, twice, then turned and met her brother's snuffed out blue eyes with her wide, unsure ones.

"Okay." He quietly relented, "It looks like it's been decided." A tight smile he was able to procure, and he laid a hand on Steela's tense shoulder. "You're the leader." That took so much out of him to say. Before anymore damage could be done, he downed the rest of his drink in one gulp, and childishly stalked off.

Talla rolled her eyes. 'What a baby.'

But it was enough. "Saw." Steela sighed, immediately went after him.

Lux grabbed her arm, stopped her. "Let him go." Steela looked back unsurely, "He just needs to blow off some steam." He tilted his head and smiled softly, his hand traveling down to clasp with hers. "He'll be back."

A moment was had, but Steela sighed, and reluctantly plucked his hand off. "I can't." She rushed after Saw.

"Why?" Ahsoka asked incredulously, stepping into Steela's path and putting a hand on her hip. If anyone was out of line it was Saw.

"He's my brother." Steela softly said, as if it explained everything.

Ahsoka only looked more confused, and disappointed, but let her pass.

Turning, her eyes locked on Talla across the room. Ahsoka was usually so smiley and playful when regarding her friend, but not right now. Her eyebrow-like markings scrunched together, then she turned and weaved through the crowd to enter the storage/conference room. Rex pushed himself off the wall and shot Talla a pointed look just so there was no doubt, and followed Ahsoka.

It was time to face the music. Talla pulled a Saw and downed the last dregs of her bottle in one go. For Rex and Ahsoka's sake she hoped it would relax her enough so that they wouldn't get the brunt end of her mounting anger since Saw Gerrera was out of commision.

---

(KUAT)

Lou eyelids felt like they weighed a thousand pounds as they slowly creaked open. Her face screwed up in a wince at a bright light shining in her face. She raised her arm to try shading her eyes and winced again, everything was aching and burning like it never had before, and every muscle was so terribly tense. Awful smelling smoke flooded her nostrils, and it was as if her body was made of lead.

A few seconds passed, and it registered that she was restricted in her torso region. Her muscles screamed but she clumsily felt around her torso, discovered a restrictive u-shaped shoulder restraint locking her in place - She was in a jumpseat? And yet, the sky was above her - oh, she was leaning back, instead of upright, and there was no roof to the escape pod anymore. It had been damaged from a landed shot from a droid gunship in the atmosphere, then it was knocked clean off on that last stretch of the flight path, when the pod didn't entirely avoid that rock arch. It was the last thing she remembered before becoming unconscious. And the nosedive had lodged it into the ground at an odd angle. Lou slowly lolled her head to the side at hearing a sizzle and the bright sparking of the console plunged knives into her skull, as did the sizzling. Her vision cut in and out, and there was a muffled something she could hear. Voices? Metal creaking?

A blurry pair of dark gray boots stepped into view, and a shadow cut off the blinding sun. A flash of a blue gridded light made her squeeze her eyes shut. After the beep of results, a hand reached down and pressed the release button her restraints. She was too whip lashed and so rigid from shock that she couldn't fight back when the front of her coat was latched onto and she was harshly heaved up from her seat. Lou was unceremoniously dragged across destroyed grass field until she was dumped behind a nearby boulder. A flash of white, yellow and purple was more carefully disposed of here too. Her best friend's dazed face was right in her line of sight, Lou weekly reached out. "Molli -"

An explosion nearly blew out her eardrums, but it snapped Lou out of her stupor. She jumped up, used the boulder to aid in getting up with every muscle, every bone in her body screaming. Tears pricked her eyes, but she blinked them away and staggered around the boulder in enough time to see these clones with their hands on their hips, proudly gazing upon the plume of black smoke emitting from the escape pod they just blew up. They did not appear to be in any pain at all.

"That ought to get the clankas' attention." The spectacled clone said so casually,

Vivi's favorite clone bent to scoop up his pack/portable weapons kit at his feet. "Let's get to higher ground, I can pick off the patrols and we can nab their speeders to ride through the midlands." He slid into place on his back. "Did you map out the kids' flight path?" He picked up one of the spare packs.

"Do not insult me." The spectacled one riposted, picking up the second spare pack.

They both turned and faced something that was a new phenomenon for them - someone who they tormented with their fanatics, but she did not lash out. Elouise azures were dark, she was deeply frowning, and there was some shaking, but she was composed, and that last one was probably because of the whip lash. Crosshair was hoping for a reaction after involving them in a ship crash without their consent, but there was none. All she did was force herself to stand on her own two feet again, tall and proud. A shadow passed over them. Sadly, the blasted bird had survived the crash, but she clung to her mistress, who did not hold back the sigh of relief that Vivi did not seem harmed.

A moment later, Molli staggered around the boulder, catching her friend's arm when she swayed dangerously. "I thought our first times on a starship would bring the excitement we have been craving since we were children," She sorta slurred up to her tall friend, "But so far it was only to flee our home planet with cannon fire hot on our tails, and then to crash land into enemy territory."

Tech and Crosshair's eyes slightly widened under their respective helmets and goggles. They slowly exchanged a look, then slowly turned back towards the two women helping each other tug and tuck everything back into place, and pull up their hoods. "You had never been on a starship until the attack?" Crosshair quietly, slowly, dangerously asked.

They're movements paused. They shared a dazed mynock caught in the headlight glance, Molli's more apparent than Lou's, because apparently that was pertinent information to know beforehand?

Oh sweet force.

With a dramatic air Crosshair dropped that extra pack, and took a step closer. "Do you know how to drive a speeder?" Neither one answered. Molli looked shamefully down at her boots with red cheeks. Lou was stoic, kept her eyes forward. Unless they got lucky with a big vehicle coming in (unlikely) any reconnaissance droid only flew single droid speeders, so compact they couldn't possibly fit two to one with all the bulky supplies, which is why knowing the simple skill of flying a speeder was apparently now a luxury they couldn't afford. Crosshair stepped closer, hands turned to fists at his side. "Do you even know how to use those blasters?"

"Of course we do." Lou said, insulted, with a roll of her eyes. "Everyone and their grandmama know how to use a blaster."

That was an incriminating statement in itself. Crosshair tested that by stepping closer, mere inches from her side now. Her hand snapped to her blaster, she shot him a warning look. He took another step, and she backed up, facing him head on now. He kept going forward, she kept going backwards, until she hit the boulder. Vivi flitted off and Crosshair could see inklings of exasperation in Lou's eyes with being cornered. That gun was yanked out, the barrel touched to his chest plate, just like he was shooting for. "Do not test me, clone." Lou cautioned him, locking fiery eyes with the blasted visor that he tormented her with.

"Oh, go ahead." Crosshair taunted, towering over Lou, who was kriffing taller than Hunter, he just realized, "Shoot me."

"I will."

"Do it."

Her hands trembled against her will.

"Do it!"

She flinched, and didn't break eye/visor contact when the trigger was squeezed - *click* Her eyelids gave many baffled blinks, a shuddering breath was exhaled. Her eyes flitted down to see her pointer finger was squeezing the trigger... but no bolts came out? Whether she was frustrated or relieved was anyone's gamble at this point.

Crosshair did not bother to explain why it didn't, because the fact she did not even know to disengage the safety told him all he needed to know - it was going to be a long, boring journey through the midlands with no speeders, and all the baggage of dead weight to carry.

They all turned and tilted their heads back, beheld the magnanimous cliff edge a stone's throw away, several thousands meters in height, that they'd have to now scale without droid speeders to escape the lowlands, and get into the midlands, where the capital city of Cosiima would be a mere sparkling spec a hundred miles away.

---

(ONDERON)

~Clone Wars S5:EP4 - The Soft War~

Rapidly beating hearts. Frantic and constant scanning of their surroundings. Sweat prickling necks, every hair raised.

Fear.

That is all that hooded and masked Talla could sense as she weaved through the busy Iziz streets later that morning. So much for bolstering the confidence of the people, the rebels' little stunt last night with the power grid had the exact opposite effect. Alienation, just like Lux had feared.

Heck, it was creeping up on Talla too... it wasn't just the civilians experiencing true fear. For Talla, it was fear of loss. This wasn't fun and games like with her invincible boys, this was the reality of war.

So, it was time for phase two.

Talla's conscience twinged with the plan. Anytime now, the streets would be a full fledged warzone. In her inexperienced opinion, this was going to be the worst type of warzone, one where non-trained civilians walked about their day, having no idea what was coming to the massive droid convoy making its maiden march through every single city street. She was shaky not out of doubt of her skills, but because she couldn't stomach a breakfast at the thought of innocent people being caught in the crossfire, and she was supposed to not interfere. "Trust in your teachings," General Kenobi had said to her when Ahsoka got a comm while her and Rex were tearing her a new one.

Oh, the rebels she'd been training. Mixed within the crowds, she caught flashes of familiar faces from the ever-growing townhouse rebel base. She suffered intrusive thoughts of those faces being blasted off by the droids turning onto the square at the same time she did. When she happened to pass by Lux he avoided her gaze, but that didn't mean she saw his demise play before her paranoid eyes too.

Through the crowds, Talla's sharp eyes landed on a cloaked figure with tall montral points underneath the hood, at the adjacent square's edge. Ahsoka caught Talla's gaze, shook her head sharply, as if reading Talla's mind, before disappearing around a bend to the connecting street.

Talla reached up and briefly sifted her fingers through the baby hairs on the base of her neck again, aching to yank them out. She was already on stern-talking-to number two on the 'Don't intervene' Jedi Council Orders - was she going to push it to three? Guess they were gonna find out soon enough. She discreetly shook out her hands and retrieved the small holoprojector from her pocket.

Agent Talla had simple orders to hide a holo-projector somewhere where there was lots of foot traffic, and was assigned this Madlive Square as her hunting ground. Talla quickly scoped out a fountain near the middle of Madlive Square. She casually strolled by, activated the holoprojector with her thumb, and slipped the blinking, beeping device in one of the upturned mouths of a lower spout, which was dry as a bone at present. It was hidden from plain view, and she was picking up hundreds of scents around this former destination that could not be any older than from this morning. Definitely had enough foot traffic to reach lots of people as the lunch hour was just about to begin.

Alright, so far so good-

'Oh force.' Her stomach churned, her walking ceased. One of the newest recruits, a teenage girl, was so eager to stick it to the droids that she perched herself on a cement post lining the street. She was supposed to be on the roof with Steela! She had a rifle stashed under her cloak, Talla could see it when the girl bent forward to tighten a boot lace, but she was in plain sight of the droids heading right this way. She was a newbie on the front lines and a quick calculation turned out not in her favor based on her 57% success rate during target practice.

Children's laughter reached Talla's ears, time stopped again. 'Oh force,' She whipped around. There was a kid nearby at a stand, jumping up and down at the treat vendor's display.

Kids. There were kids here. She didn't even think about the enormous possibility of a kid roaming about the future front lines. Ever since the nexu accident, whenever Talla saw a kid she was reminded how dangerous the galaxy was and how she wanted to protect their innocence, but never in a million years would she have ever predicted that a kid and a battlefield would collide. She'd read reports, but, but-

She didn't know what to do. Her immediate jolt forward was towards the kid, but then she stopped because that rebel on the cement post was also a kid. For several seconds she would jolt forward, stop, jolt sideways, stop, her heart was threatening to beat out of her chest, the hyperventilating soon followed, passersby were giving her odd glances-

A harsh grip to her bicep startled her with a loud gasp, the only reason it successfully stopped her.

It was Rex. Who shook his head like Ahsoka, but the pain in his eyes and taut of his jaw could not be hidden behind his transparent goggles like Ahsoka's was with her hood. His heart ached at seeing Talla's anguish.

Talla wasn't aware of it, but to his credit, Rex hadn't noticed the kid yet.

"Looks like more reinforcements." They heard Saw's grating voice through their earpieces - a new addition to their getups since they didn't have their helmets. At the interruption, Rex turned his head a little, unfortunately away from the mother and kid, "A small droid convoy leading a multi-troop transport, an AAT bringing up the rear."

"Copy." Steela said.

The countdown.

Talla had three seconds to decide - her eyes darted down to Rex's hand.

Two - Rex knew it would be a folly to tighten the grip, but he did anyway.

One - shove it off, or stand by? Talla couldn't decide.

A distinct incoming whistle made her stomach drop. It made Rex yank her to him, and hoist her up, over, and behind the vendor counter with him.

An explosion sent shockwaves through the ground. It shattered the displayed glass decorations of the twi'lek shopkeeper, who hit the dirt. She was choking on the cloud of dust, and was holding her head in her hands. Rocking back and forth, she began screaming in terror. The eruption of blaster fire made her flinch over and over again.

'They're. Using. Bombs.' Something in Talla snapped.

Rex opened his mouth to offer reassurance to the shopkeeper, but a hand to his throat stopped him. He gagged from the air cutoff, grunted when he was slammed against the counter wall, and was met with the steeliest set of silver eyes. "We were only supposed to use arms that affected droids!" Talla shouted accusingly down at Rex over the blaster fire. "There's kids out there! Civilians!"

"Stand down, soldi -" He gagged when her grip turned bruising. Out of instinct he went for his blaster, but a boot squishing his hand quickly put an end to that. His breathing wanted to pick up, but his airways were almost completely blocked, the panic built, pressure in his head made it feel like it was going to explode."Wedid...n't ...clearthis...Tal -" Rex choked out, wriggling, his eyes bulging and black dots clouding his vision. He clawed at her hand but it was weaker than before.

Another bomb shook the ground. Glass and other projectiles became like slugthrower bullets.

One snagged over Talla's right eye. She cried out and had to release Rex just as his eyes began rolling to the back of his head. She was saved from making a huge mistake.

Red swam in her vision. She was down on all fours, heaving. She blindly crawled a few feet to the side, her hands and knees became caked with a paste made of her blood and dirt. She tasted the blood in her mouth, breathed in the metallic stench when it dampened her face bandana. It was torn off.

Her vision wasn't cut off for very long. Her left eye proved to still be functional. Talla had ended up crawling enough that the counter no longer obscured her view, but she was not in the line of fire, wasn't even part of the droid's target - that was Steela and the rebels on the roof. And, she caught sight of Saw Gererra rushing the droid tank solo with a bloodthirsty smile.

He didn't seem to notice a kid and his mother in the alleyway cowering in fear.

A child's scream was something Talla hoped to never hear again. It would haunt nightmares for years to come. Yet when catching sight of the cloaked man with bombs in his hands, that kid's mother solved the moral dilemma for Talla and scooped her kid up and ran in the opposite direction, back down the alley. She remained steadfast even when the shockwaves made her briefly lose footing, and remained steadfast when windows above her rained glass as shrapnel penetrated the buildings surrounding the square and down their ally's. It was no doubt impaling people inside who were too close to the walls and windows.

Talla wanted to curl up, she wanted to throw up, she wanted to blow up every single droid in existence, and smack upside the head the rebel who came up with this plan.

But Talla had to scramble to the teen girl newbie, who had taken a bolt to her shoulder and leg and was collapsed and completely vulnerable, but was still alive.

Guess Hunter was right on Saleucami: She wasn't as different from her boys as she thought. And yet at the same time, she reached new limits they had not dared to cross when it came to disobeying orders.

---

(RONAY EMERGENCY BUNKER)

Wrecker was indeed the Demolitions Expert. Several hours later, the armory was half full again, but not with weapons, ingredients for weapons. Tech wasn't the only one who roamed these last two weeks, Wrecker had too. He hadn't been allowed access to the armory, but he had definitely noticed the potential if things went south and they got desperate and creative hehe. With help from a translated supply manifest, Wrecker had help from Hunter and Maiv to rally up pack banthas to go haul this or that from this random place that 'We can use to make (insert bomb name here)!'

Maiv was in awe at people hauling in random things she had no idea could be turned into small or big makeshift bombs, with a little bit of ingenuity or whatever kind of specialized training this guy got. There was everything from gardening chemicals to random bits of spare parts or ship components from the maintenance stations throughout the bunker.

"This will really work?" Young Maiv asked up at Wrecker, not in doubt but in complete awe. Even some of the aristocrats had been peeking in, to get a glimpse at what the blazes was going on.

He gave his signature laugh, "Yeah, it'll work! But Huntah and I will draw th' forces away from th' bunker bit by bit with 'unknown disturbances' we'll set across world - these fumes won't affect us with our modified helmets," He rapped a knuckle against his atop his head, "But chemical warfare is brutal on people 'n nature in a whole 'nother level, and I don' wanna contaminate the water we have left, or th' river in case you get lucky enough t' reclaim it, or trap anyone in here with the fumes in case th' filtration goes out."

"Wow." Maiv breathed at his intelligence.

Wrecker grinned down at the little Jedi, was all puffed up with pride that it was time to prove all the haters wrong again.

---

(ONDERON)

As soon as the door to the makeshift conference room shut behind her, Talla was bombarded with: "You went too far this time, soldier." By Captain Rex, who she'd never seen angry until now. And his voice was painfully hoarse.

Ahsoka tore off her cloak, "How many times do we have to repeat it, Talla?" She rhetorically asked, who Talla had never seen so exasperated. She threw her cloak over a chair.

Half of Talla's face was bandaged, but what was exposed was beet red as she glared daggers with her one good eye, "She would have died, lots of these newbies would have died if I hadn't gone bat-shit crazy on those tanks and droids myself." She said, barely keeping her reins on her explosive temper. And the bruising on Rex's neck by her own hand only further tipped her over the edge. In guilt. In shame. In self-loathing.

"I understand how difficult it is, believe me," Ahsoka held her elbows - was trying to hold it together, period, "But their survival depends on learning how to fend for themselves!" She quoted Obi-Wan.

Talla's brow twitched, but she shook her head stubbornly, "We're supposed to help people! I was not going to stand by and watch civilians get blown to bits for a message we could have clearly sent without smoking the place!" Talla shouted, "We literally just took out the power grid! And we were only supposed to use arms that affected droids!"

Rex was getting flashbacks to Umbara, and Fives - so much for their nice talk last night, and how wrong he'd been to think Talla's mental state would improve afterwards. Truth be told... he hadn't agreed to this either. Rex sighed (more like wheezed), pushed up his goggles, took off his hat and stood next to Ahsoka in unwavering support, "Not everything is so black and white, Talla." He said, crossing his arms.

Oh, Talla hated that phrase. It had been held over her head since Saleucami, since her deployment. Talla made a guttural sound of despair and slammed her palms on the holotable, causing fissures on the glass top. "One thing I do know that's black and white is my discovery for how much I hate politics!"

"Now is not the time for an existential crisis." Rex said with forced calmness. She envied how calm he could be. Hunter would have been shouting back at her by now.

"You're doing the very same thing that makes Saw Gerrera your punching bag, the same thing you reprimanded me for not two weeks ago, Talla." Ahsoka brought up, and Talla felt like she got kicked in the gut, "Clones are meant to withstand all kinds of stress in battle, and trust their Commanding Officers, so is there something you'd care to share about that?"

The female clone's head snapped up. Did her ears deceive her, or was Ahsoka in on this information fishing too? They weren't best friends but Ahsoka was Talla's very first friend and the pang of the potential betrayal stung more painfully than being pricked by the nexu's sharp quills. Ahsoka's eyes were wide with what appeared to be concern, but 'Play it safe,' Cut through Agent Talla's jumbled mind, for she forced herself to believe this all remained inconclusive for now. "I think it goes without saying that I'm not as lucky as the stress-resistant regs." She snarked with a voice trembling in anger, agitation, and confusion. Her breathing picked up, "Or - or the ignorant Jedi who are ordering you to stand by and watch innocent people get shot down!"

Now Ahsoka experienced a kick to the gut. Even if it was something her wicked mind had been already plaguing her with. But, Ashoka sensed something... deeper? Going on with Talla? Last time she saw Talla a couple of months ago, things were on the up and up, but now, it was like she'd done a complete 180 turn, for no reason, even before the rebellion got messy. She was usually a bit more level-headed on missions, even the V'Hiina one where she nearly died. "Talk to me, Talla." And Ahsoka felt guilty that a small percentage of that question had an underlying meaning. And was to deflect the focus from her problems to Talla's.

'Tell a lie with pieces of the truth.' Talla's eyes flicked down, she saw her crazed, disheveled reflection through the dust and smudges on the holotable. Absolutely pathetic. And yet it always did feel good to spill the words out of her mouth instead of letting them whirl around and around in her mind for a million miles a second. Hunter wasn't here, but Ahsoka was, and she was her friend, regardless if someone was using her as an information fisherwoman, regardless if she was trying to make her go crazy with the politics.

Talla slid her eyes shut, deeply inhaled, held it, then released slowly. That was the first full breath she'd taken all day. She felt so woozy. "This mission -"

'And the one Convor gave me,'

" -is... so different, so overwhelming than the little bubble that's sheltered me ever since being assigned to such a tight-knit squad who hardly ever works with anyone else. I've never had to see someone die -"

'In person,'

"Or nearly killed a living being -"

'Accept a Clone Captain, now...'

"-or worked so close to the helpless victims in this war."

'But I have personally experienced terrible mistreatment at the hands of people I should have been able to trust.'

"And just when I think I understand something, it turns out I don't understand anything, and it's humiliating every time. I want to help people, but here if we help people it's going to get them killed?" Briefly, her eyes became ablaze, "And - and my squadron mates don't exactly care about many people outside the team, so they haven't really understood or sympathized when I get heated with politics so I feel so alone sometimes." Talla looked up at Ahsoka in open, genuine awe, "How did you do this at fourteen years old after a sheltered life at the Temple?" She pushed herself off the table and Rex was asked, "How did you do this after the sheltered life on Kamino?" She sharply gestured to herself, "I was trained for this, but I'm just getting my first real taste of it and I'm losing it and letting you down and lashing out at people and it's not a good feeling to know that you're a liability." She jabbed a finger in Rex's direction, "And then he tells me that there are other Clone Agents and, well -" She sharply swiped a hand, "This is not the life I want for any of them. Or any clone. Or anyone in the galaxy." It felt so good to get it out. She felt a little dirty but also felt some of the burden lift from her shoulders.

Rex and Ahsoka's harsh features softened. Ahsoka was told by Rex what transpired out in the forest, they exchanged a look, silently agreeing that for a certainty of Talla's innocence. Just like that. She was just going through the ringer like they all had, and still were. They actually felt twinges of guilt, too. Rex couldn't even stay angry with her despite the asphyxiation.

In fact, Rex was the first to step around the holotable, he set aside his goggles and hat and laid a gentle hand on Talla's shoulder, kept it there when she cowered away in guilt. "You just described every single 'reg's' experience after deployment." Except, you know, they never tried to kill one another seriously, like she almost did... "I couldn't tell you how many times General Skywalker has struggled, too, and lashed out." He did say, thinking it was alright to let her in on that at least.

Ahsoka followed suit, placing a hand on Talla's other shoulder. "This was the first mission you had to lead, even if it was a shared role." She reminded her, and looked down as sad memories resurfaced, "My first time, I lost an entire company of troopers in less than two minutes, and I didn't handle it too well... A lot of lives will get caught with this fight between the Republic and the Separatists." She echoed Lux, forewarning Talla.

And for a brief moment, Talla didn't feel so crazy. There was no age barrier or experience discrepancies between the three soldiers. They were just three people looking down at their scuffed and dirty boots, covered in bumps and scrapes and bruises, who were struggling with the realities and politics of War that they didn't have a choice to partake in or not. And frankly, they weren't trained for this at all beforehand.

"Does it get any easier?" Talla quietly asked no one in particular.

"...Not yet." Ahsoka said hoarsely, and Talla peered at her sadly when hearing traces of raw emotion coming from the young Padawan Learner. Ahsoka cleared her throat and squeezed Talla's shoulder. "But if you want to keep going, you have to believe," She reached up with her other hand and grasped Rex, "In the people you fight alongside, and that you're really making a difference."

"Live to fight another day." Rex said, gently squeezing Talla's shoulder too. "I... guess you're finally going to learn what that really means."

"You have to learn how to accept and let go." Ahsoka clarified. "Purpose before feelings, if you want to keep fighting."

"And not take out your frustrations on your allies." Rex had to get out.

'Accept and let go.'

'Purpose before feelings.'

'Keep a stiff upper lip.'

Sounded so simple, yet so unattainable. Talla humphed to hide her spike in self-loathing. "And it really works?"

Ahsoka shrugged with a small smile that didn't reach her eyes. "It's enough."

Talla looked up to her fellow clone. "And have you learned, Captain?"

Like she saw earlier, that haunted look was back. "It's an ongoing project." He hoarsely chose to reassure her anyway.

That sounded like the crappiest compromise ever. But, her racing mind had let up a great deal. Talla bowed her head. "I'm sorry." She humbly said regardless. "For... everything... I don't, know what else to say or what I need to do to make up for it."

It was a complete shock when Ahsoka threw her arms around Talla's shoulders, engulfing her in a hug. Physical reassurance of this nature was something only her squadron had provided her until recently, with the Lawquane family.

"I haven't been in my best frame of mind since we came here either." Ahsoka admitted, "But I served alongside you before, so I know what you're capable of, just like how you've served with me before, and know what I'm capable of." As much as Talla needed that hug, she wondered if Ahsoka had been needing one as much as she has, due to being without her masters here. "I believe in you, Talla, to adapt to anything that is thrown at you in this war." With slow, unsure movements Talla finally returned the hug, and was careful of Ahsoka's lekku, "We both will. We have to. The galaxy is depending on us."

And it seemed this legend, and the other one who awkwardly took a step back when he didn't know whether to join or not, also struggled with the moral ambiguity of the Clone Wars. Uncanny.

And liberating.

---

(KUAT)

Traveling with two socialites who didn't bother to mention they had never traveled a day in their life went as well as you could expect.

They only made it a third of the way up the cliff by the late afternoon. Crosshair and Tech knew that they could have cleared this rock hours ago, but it was clear these ladies had not ever done any strenuous activity before. Both had sweated through their clothes, and they were wheezing like asthmatics. The group had stopped for more breaks than the Bad Batch had gotten in their entire career. This last stretch of climbing they did, the ladies footing slipped five times more than the whole day combined, they were shaking like leaves, and Molli had tears in her eyes right now. It was as if she could feel every muscle and tendon in her body burning like a thousand suns.

Tech had a hunch the day's journey would have to end here. He sighed. Him and Crosshair were standing at the edge of a jutted-out piece of rock, had been there for a few minutes already, had nothing to do but gaze up at the heavens of Kuat, with the massive orbital space station ring cutting through it. It was quite something.

Lou reached them first, had to be hoisted up by Tech, and she collapsed within the small alcove this ledge had.

They saw Molli arm hoist over the edge a few seconds later, they heard a loud grunt as she used her last bit of strength to flop her upper body up and over. The side of her heavy head lightly thunked on the rock underneath her. For several seconds all they saw was her back and shoulders rapidly lifting and falling with shallow breathing.

"Can we stop?" Molli gasped so quietly they almost didn't hear her, "Please."

"We need to keep moving." Tech stated.

It took a few times for Lou to get her dry tongue to work, "There is -" *wheeze* "- not a... convoy-" *wheeze* "- in sight."

"But the chances there will be some are high, even with forces spread thin." Tech predicted, "And at our slow pace, Lord Elea has a six-hour lead on us."

"Unless of course, he took a tumble." Crosshair didn't hold back, putting a hand on his hip. It did not get a reaction.

There was nothing left in Molli. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and Tech had to rush to catch her by backpack straps when just as she was about to slide off to her death. He set her against the small alcove on this ledge, and was quick to apply some cool water on a rag and dab her face.

The brothers had no choice but to take watch shifts through the night, while the ladies curled up close to each other under a field blanket, completely dead to the world and useless.

---

(ONDERON)

With slow movements, Ryth unraveled the bandages around Talla's head and peeled away the bacta patch off her eye. The healing gel was no longer clear, just a murky dark red from Talla's blood and the scabbing that peeled back with the bandage, making Talla give a sharp wince.

"Oh thank the maker," Ryth breathed in relief, and cleaned up the excess goop by dabbing it with a wet rag, "Swellings gone, a new skin layer has grown so no more bleeding, and your eye didn't get sliced open after all." Indeed, it wasn't. It was uncomfortable to blink but when Talla opened that eyelid, her vision was blurry but there. It took a couple of blinks for it to clear up, and she could behold Ryth's relieved smile. The young woman's lip trembled, and she threw her arms around Talla's neck. "Thank you for saving my cousin."

How Talla hated that being human meant you could feel your brain be pulled in so many different directions at once with emotions. Right now, it was feeling like a hero but also like the worst soldier and friend in the universe.

Ryth left her be soon after that. Within the makeshift barracks, Talla turned off all the lights, closed all the shutters, and kicked off her boots. She wore a fierce squint and clumsily climbed up to her bunk, tossed down the canteen and a new rag before flopping down on the thin mattress with a tired, miserable groan. She blindly dampened the rag, tossed the empty canteen to the floor below, laid back, closed her eyes, and rested the makeshift cool compress across her strained eyes and throbbing forehead.

Cool compress, not cold compress, because this was the blasted desert. But it would have to do. Force, those explosions had done a number on her eyes, and it didn't help that she now bore a red streak across her right eyebrow and eyelid from the cut. To conserve supplies, just enough bacta was used to knit her skin back together, so another scar was added to her growing canvas. Her older ones were more prominent by now after such prolonged sun exposure. Goody. There was no hiding them anymore.

Like she had been doing, Talla took the opportunity to hide out in the bunks, this time during breakfast. She rested, tended to her sensitivities, and reflected.

'You were raised in complete isolation, monitored 24/7, and manipulated emotionally, mentally, and physically by people who only saw you as a possession. They controlled every aspect of your life, so you've only known one way to think, one way to speak, one way to act, but it's not your fault, and those who really care about you will understand that.' Cut had said.'What is all on you is how you go forward. Only you have the power and responsibility to break free from that, and to learn how to adjust to, say, civilian life, but it's not going to happen all at once.' Cut had squeezed her shoulder, 'A lot of this is going to be baby steps Talla, and there are times you're going to feel stuck, and there's going to be plenty of rude awakenings, believe me. And... I don't believe we ever stop learning. Life is constantly changing, and we must constantly adapt along with it.'

And the tides in a war were constantly changing. What Talla was going through was not uncommon. Even a mighty Jedi Knight struggled in this war. While Talla believed in those she fought with, and believed the Separatists needed to be stopped, she would not turn a blind eye to the mistreatment at home any longer for mere politics. This experience on Onderon... had shaken her. It looked to be shaking Ahsoka too. Their talk proved that.

Reflecting on the battle within the town square... she supposed yes, the rebels had indeed done their best to only have droids affected, but what Talla still didn't agree with was using bombs near civilians. There was always a chance for an accident, and it didn't sit well with her to consider someone who got accidentally injured or killed as 'a small price to pay for the greater good.'

But these self-destructive patterns ingrained in her from the Kaminoans were no good out here. Talla acknowledged this weakness, and vowed here and now to do whatever it took to keep her composure. She needed to conquer it, as many others were actively pursuing instead of giving into despair. Talla no longer questioned if she was doing the right thing with deciding to follow through on Convor's sacrifice - she was doing the right thing by making sure good soldiers like Convor were remembered, and good soldiers like Rex, Wolffe, the Wolfpack, her boys, and every single clone who were still alive to fight another day would be taken care of for all the sacrifices they made day in and day out. Agent Talla was going to fulfill her purpose, and get that physical, irrefutable evidence, somehow, someway, for how could she fight for others if she could not even protect her own kind? She remembered clearly how the Bad Batch boys had reacted to the death of one brothers, and she couldn't fathom how Rex was still standing with loss after loss after loss.

And there was another drastic change in Talla's mindset - instead of wanting to scramble to Nala Se and beg for forgiveness, Agent Talla felt empowered over the fact that Nala Se tried to assassinate her. Nala Se saw her as a threat and Agent Talla felt invincible over that fact, as Convor had pointed out she should.

The barrack door creaked open. She knew who it was before he even uttered a word. He climbed and perched himself on the side of his top bunk across from her. He stared at her.

"If this isn't an emergency, I will shank you." Talla said through gritted teeth, not stirring an inch.

"With a rag?" Saw Gerrera taunted.

"You really wanna take your chances?" Talla warned.

"I wouldn't dare."

Huh. He sounded different than all the other times he got under Talla's nerves. His voice was not so loud and obnoxious, lower and enunciated -

She didn't hold back visibly shuddering in utter disgust, "Oh barf, is it your turn to shoot your shot?" She sensed his face burn up, his hands turning to fists. Talla loudly gagged to further spite him, and raised a dismissive hand, "Spare me, these barracks already smell rancid enough without me projectile vomiting." Her arm flopped over her pillow above her head, her hand hooking underneath her pillow.

She felt his hand twitch towards where his blaster would be hidden underneath his pillow, "What's your story?" He asked, trying to sound conversational but already failing miserably.

"One I'm dying to share, obviously." Talla drawled.

"C'mon, where are you from?" He pushed, leaning back on his arms.

"Subtlety isn't one of your strong suits." Talla brought to his terrible attention span, "And make a note of this: that is needed to get into the pants of someone you suspect of a horrible crime, so you take them down when their guards eventually crumble around you, which is one of the oldest and most predictable tricks in the book by the way, newbie." She tsked while his heart rate spiked because SHE KNEW?! "This is obviously a half-baked plan cooked up by you without Steela and Lux's input," She sighed dramatically, "No wonder Steela was elected over you, and why Lux is her advisor instead of you." Talla was playing with fire, she knew that, but she had become emboldened. She smirked when the vein on Saw's head throbbed, and could feel the heat off his glare.

As expected, his hand dove under his pillow and... there was nothing to grab?! He whipped around, tore the pillow and sheet up - the blaster was gone!

He heard a click behind him. Slowly, he faced the business end of his blaster, not aimed at his head, but aimed at his nether regions, "I can't kill you because my CO's have put a leash on me, but they didn't say anything about making sure a bishwag like you does not reproduce."