Nothing • Tech

23.Ca'nara (Time)

The Bad Batch remained on Bracca for quite a while after Rex left. The sun had risen a while ago, heating up the metal surfaces.

Wrecker and Omega went out to practice diffusing a bomb, each adult determined to teach the kid everything about their specialized work fields.

    "How'd the talk with Rex go?" Hunter asked, bumping his elbow into Malaina's arm. He glanced down at her through the side of his eye.

    Malaina drew in a deep breath, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the blue kyber crystal. "I was the Jedi commander of the 501st until our ship crashed on an unnamed moon. Apparently Rex and I were close, he thought I was dead all this time. He blames himself." She shrugged, trying to play it all off as normal. But it was far from it. "Tough shit."

    Hunter nodded in agreement, resting his hands on his hips while looking out at the scraps of metal. "I guess soldiers for the Republic were just doomed to live terrible lives from the very beginning. Clones, the Jedi, Civilian Volunteers."

    Malaina hummed, shaking her head. "I wouldn't give up hope just yet. We still have time."

    Tech glanced at the crystal Malaina was rubbing her thumb over. "May I see that?" He asked, taking one hand off of the datapad to point at what he wanted.

    Malaina tossed the kyber crystal over to Tech. "Have at it." She responded, smiling as she watched him begin to analyze the blue rock.

    Tech squinted curiously at the crustal, holding it close to his goggles to get a very close look at it. "How do these get their color? The few kybers I have seen were all clear." He asked, looking at Malaina for the answer.

    "They all start out as clear, but when the Force awakens them their color shifts to match the nature of its master." Malaina explained happily, crossing her arms over her chest while swaying from side to side. "They can become pretty much any color, but they were most commonly blue, green, or purple for Jedi. Kyber crystals are attuned to the light side of the Force, so to get red like the Sith and any dark side user, you have to use the Force to dominate the crystal. It'll make it crack and bleed, turning the crystal into a crimson red."

    Malaina didn't think she cracked her crystal on her own, someone else had to have done it for her.

    "Fascinating." Tech exclaimed, taking notes on his datapad.

    Their comms beep all at once, Echo's voice ringing through. "Hunter, Mal, Tech, we were spotted by scrappers."

    "Wrecker's in pursuit. He says he has it under control." Omega adds.

    Malaina, Hunter, and Tech all share the same look. Did he really have it under control?

    "That's not comforting." Tech comments.

    Malaina watches the scrapper and his aircraft come into view. She bends down, picking up an old pipe about the length of her forearm. She takes a step back and launches the pipe with all of her strength, grinning when it hits the scrapper dead-on and knocks him off of the aircraft.

    Tech blinks, the ghost of a smile on his face. "Good arm."

    Malaina grinned. "Thanks, I worked hard." By that she means the rigorous involuntary training on Arkanis, but the muscles were useful no matter how she got them.

    Tech handed Malaina her kyber crystal back and then the three of them met the rest of the squad back up in the Jedi cruiser to have their ration bar dinner and watch the sunset while they determined their next move.