The Path of a Jedi (The Bad Batch x Reader)

Chapter 29

You woke up to the beeping sounds of the ship as it dropped out of hyperspace. You lifted your head off Hunter's chest slowly. He sat up and brushed a few stray pieces of hair from your face, "sleep well?" he asked.

You nodded, "yes, better than I have in weeks."

His hand lingered on your cheek for a moment, before Wrecker came running in from the cockpit. "General, we are arriving on Corelia, Tech wants to know where to land?"

You nodded and both followed Wrecker into the cockpit where the other had already gathered. You turned on the holodisk from Cid and read over the data quickly. "The droid head should be in the outermost decommissioning factory," you said pointing to a large building with lots of smoke coming from the stacks.

Tech landed the ship not far from the entrance of the factory. As you slowly entered the factory, you noticed that there were security droids all over the place. "This was not part of the plan," Echo whispered, pointing out the security droids.

You nodded, "Tech, analyze any blind spots and openings, if we want to do this quickly, we need to be in and out without being noticed."

Tech nodded and started typing on his datapad, "I have located a blind spot in their patrols, but it will be a difficult climb."

"We have to climb?" Wrecker complained, "I hate climbing."

"You hate everything that is not blowing things up," Echo hissed back.

You shook your head at them and looked to Tech, "lead the way."

Tech lead you to a strategic point of the factory that was outside the main area. There was a single metal ladder that lead up to a maintenance shaft about 50 feet in the air.

"That's a long way up," Hunter noted, "how quickly do we need to get to the hatch?"

"By my calculations, we have 2 minutes to get in the hatch before the patrol returns to this location," Tech answered.

You all looked at Tech, "there is no way we are all going to climb and make it inside in under two minutes," Echo said dramatically.

"Is there another way inside?" Omega asked, she was trying to remain calm, but you could tell she was scared.

"Not without a high chance of being seen," Tech answered.

You took a deep sigh and let out your breath, "I have an idea."

Hunter looked at you seriously for a moment, "last time you had an idea, you died."

You shot him a serious look and continued, "all of you stand by the ladder."

They all looked confused but complied, "now keep still and try not to make any sounds." You then closed your eyes and reached your hand towards them. You reached deep within yourself and found the strength to lift them up with the force.

They all were confused at first, but remained still and quiet, allowing you to focus as you lifted them closer and closer to the hatch. Within seconds they were within reach of the hatch and you gave them a moment to grab the ladder before letting them go.

You took a deep breath and allowed yourself to relax for a moment, before looking up and watching them crawl into the hatch. A few seconds later, Hunter's voice came over the communicator, "Tech says the guard droids are close, how are you going to get up here?"

"Just relax, and hold your hand outside the hatch," you instructed, taking a few steps backwards to give yourself a running start. You saw Hunter stick his head and arms outside the hatch and you focused on it before running and jumping with all your strength.

You felt Hunter's strong grip hold onto your arm and pulled you into the hatch easily. You stood up straight and brushed the dust off your robes, "see, not all my ideas end badly," you joked.

Hunter chuckled and shook his head, but smiled at you fondly. "My scanners say that the doid head is in the innermost circle, close to being destroyed," Tech said, pointing in the general direction.

You nodded and began to walk through the factory, being careful to avoid the glances of the security droids, but it was easy to do since fewer droids were inside the factory. Suddenly, you sensed something off and stopped, bringing the rest of your squad to a halt.

You felt something above you and as you looked upward, saw a dark silhouette descending on you. You pushed the others out of the way and engaged in hand to hand combat with the figure. You quickly overpowered them and knocked their helmet off revealing a young girl's face.

"Trace!" A voice called as another figure ran down the steps of the supports you had been walking on. Another girl ran to the side of the fallen one and helped pick her up.

"We don't want any trouble," you said trying to comfort the two girls who had taken defensive positions opposite you, "we are just here to retrieve something."

"There's only one thing here of value," the older girl said, "and it belongs to us."

Your face fell into a look that you only used in battle as you shifted your weight to fight, "then we have a problem."

For a moment there was a standoff with you and the two girls, your squad carefully watching you back, but not getting involved. But there came a shout from somewhere above you, "Wait!"

You glanced over slightly, but kept the girls in your peripheral vision. "Wait!" the voice came again. This time you could make out a figure running down the stairs of the supports.

When he came into view you realized he was wearing clone armor, distinctly designed clone armor. You pulled yourself out of your fighting stance, "Rex?" you asked the figure, "is that really you?"

The figure approached and removed his helmet slowly, "it's been a long time general."

You smiled and quickly wrapped your arms around the clone, "it's good to see you, Rex," you said after pulling away.

He nodded, "I am glad to see the transgressions of the clone army have not harmed you."

You smiled, "I have them to thank for that," you said gesturing to the batch, you also removed their helmets.

"I have to admit," Hunter said, closing the distance between him and Rex and shaking his hand, "you were the last person I expected to see here."

"Yes well, being on the run from the empire does not leave me many friends," Rex responded, grasping Hunter's hand.

"Don't we know it," Echo responded, also coming to greet Rex.

"As much as I would like to have a social call," Rex said after greeting everyone, "there are actually some things we need to discuss."