The Plans We Made • TBB

7.Padmé's Secrets

The Bad Batch returned to Kamino with a new member. Echo was still adjusting to being a free man again, but the welcoming attitude of the others was moving along that process quite well.

The second they entered their room in Tipoca City they had set up a hammock for Echo and gave him a storage chest to keep his belongings in.

    He complained about the smell, a lot.

    "What is that awful smell?" He had asked the first day, wrinkling his nose repulsively.

    "You'll get used to it." Crosshair responded, walking off to his bed where he began taking apart his rifle and beginning the cleaning and reassembling routine.

    "No, you won't." Sunset disagreed, walking towards the cluttered table in the center of the room. "And don't bother cleaning up after them, within an hour it'll go back to the same disastrous mess."

    Sunset and Echo both spent a lot of time outside of the room to avoid the rotting smell and constricting messes. One of their first one-on-one bonding experiences was when Sunset tripped over one of Tech's cables he had strewn across the room, she fell and broke her nose. Echo walked her to the medical bay and they complained to each other about their shared dislike for the room.

    But they loved Hunter, Wrecker, Crosshair, and Tech despite the pigsty they constantly created.

    Everyone helped Echo repaint his armor to fit in more as a Bad Batcher. He added the signature skull on his chestplate. And on that same day Echo experienced his first intense food fight (Crosshair was the cause for this one).

    Nights where they defied their bodies' need for sleep, they taught Echo all of their Clone Force 99-exclusive battle plans while they listened to the Kaminoan-famous rainstorms blow rain against the large window. After a week on Kamino he had almost all of them memorized.

    And then when the time came for them to pack their things, resupply their ship, and take off for their next assignment, it was like Echo had always been a part of the team. He wasn't a reg, he wasn't a Techno Union experiment, he was a Bad Batcher.

    Sunset was excited to finally have a bunkmate on the Marauder. She had been occupying an entire bunk bed for the year and a half she and her brothers had been serving in the military. Wrecker and Crosshair were in one bunk, Tech and Hunter in the other. And Sunset now has Echo, who sleeps on the top bunk.

    "So, where are we headed?" Echo asked, standing between the two piloting seats, where Sunset and Tech sat.

    Hunter turned his chair outward from the navicomputer, moving to lean against the back of Tech's seat. "Sunset's been requested for a special mission on Coruscant, the rest of us are being put on security in the Senate Building."

    Sunset furrowed her brows. "Special mission? By myself?" She questioned, crossing her arms over her chest. "Who ordered the assignment?"

    Tech launched the ship into hyperspace, adjusted his goggles, and then glanced down at his datapad. "The details are slim, but you appear to have been requested by General Kenobi himself to undergo this mission."

    Wrecker chuckled, leaning back in his chair so far that it creaked. "Sunny must have made an impression on Anaxes."

    She shifted awkwardly, focusing her eyes on the blue and white streaks outside the windshield as they traveled through hyperspace. "Yeah, I guess so."

Obi-Wan stuck to his promise, he was going to try and keep her around more often. And that made her smile. Maybe she will get to see him more often.