Hunted|The Bad Batch.

four: familiar friends.

[A/N: and now we're moving onto episode two!]

Yelena sat in silence in one of the seats outside of the cockpit, having watched Wrecker help Omega explore every inch of the ship. Echo had sat by her side and watched his friend look over the Jedi Holocron in her hands. He wanted to ask about it, knowing some things about holocrons but she eventually put it away and pulled out the datapad. Obviously, he asked his friend then what she was doing and she merely replied she was looking over some Jedi archives she'd managed to get the very last time she'd been to the temple before order 66. Eventually, Omega and Wrecker passed out from the excitement of exploring, Echo standing and looking down at them with a small smile. Yelena's eyes flickered up when Hunter walked past her and stopped next to Echo, observing the sleeping Omega and Wrecker. "Well, this is the first." Hunter commented with surprise.

"Inspecting every corner of the ship finally tired her out." Echo tells Hunter, Yelena looking over and seeing a smile on Echo's face still.

"Yeah, she's curious. I'll give her that." Hunter replied.

"She's a kid, I can't tell you how many times I exhausted myself as a kid exploring the Jedi temple," Yelena calls back, the two men glancing back at her and a ghost of a smile was on her face. "Qui-Gon would point me in a direction, sometimes even Obi-Wan would come with me, just so I had someone. Madame Jocasta would tell me about certain areas and eventually when Anakin came to the temple...I showed him everything." She exhaled, Hunter barely seeing the smile before it fell into a sad one. Echo looked at his friend and placed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. Qui-Gon tried to give her the best childhood to his ability but with how everything with the Jedi order was, she felt she missed out on a true childhood.

Yelena cleared her throat, squeezing Echo's hand comfortingly before she stood up and faced the sight of Omega and Wrecker. A tiny bit of a smile came upon her face but then she heard Echo sigh. "Hunter, she's a child. What are we gonna do with her?" He asked his brother, Yelena crossing her arms and knowing her friend was right. She didn't want to send Omega away like she did Sveta, but Sveta was force sensitive and it was better and safer to live with non-force sensitive's. Omega...well...with Omega it was a bit different than with her sister. Plus, Sveta knew and loved Bey, his wife, and his daughter Shara. Omega didn't know other people.

"Exactly, she's a child. She needs care, Echo." Yelena spoke up with a sigh of her own.

"You sent Sveta away, do you know anyone...?" Echo began to suggest, Yelena immediately shaking her head.

"Sveta knows and loves the people she's with. I'm not sending Omega to someone I know, but she doesn't. She knows me, you, Hunter...all of you." Yelena argued, Hunter's gaze flickering to her as she argued her side. He could feel she was right. "Plus, Sveta is force sensitive. Her being placed with non-force sensitives protects her from Palpatine." She reminds Echo who knows Yelena was right, the circumstances between Omega and Sveta were very different. "Sveta hasn't grown fully into her power, even I haven't. The force grows every day. So does a child and a child needs familiarity just as much as stability." Yelena adds, her tone firm and insistent while Hunter looked at her. The mention of the force just made him want to ask about that thing even more.

"Dank farrik, you make it hard to argue with you." Echo huffed at his friend.

"I make it my job, ranger." Yelena smirked bemused.

"You make it sound easy." Hunter finally spoke up, locking eyes with the woman who shrugged.

"My experience with children wasn't just through Sveta or even Omega. In the temple, if you're related...you can't see each other a lot or at all." Yelena sighed but explained, Hunter's eyebrows furrowing at that while Echo grimaced. How could you disallow siblings from seeing each other? "The whole attachments lead to the dark side garbage, but...Qui-Gon and Master Kad'vee...they allowed us to see each other. We grew a bond but I still didn't see her too much especially when the war began. However, there was one youngling I assumed I would become their master." She continued on, Echo nodding and knowing the padawan learner she was referring to.