The Bad Batch - Mini Stories

Unwanted, But Needed

Nobody wanted him, not the republic, not the Empire, not his buir, not his so-called batchmates, not even the damn droid they named Gonky for his defaults. So instead of following the rest of the orders, he realised he was on his own and for once, he didn't know how he felt about that. But life was a gamble and if it hadn't been for the Kaminoan, he wouldn't have ever been given the opportunity to do what he did. 

So without a second thought, he kneeled down in front of the memorial stone that held the names of the many heroes of the galaxy including big names of the jedi and those who survived the Empire surge. Gently lifting his fingers, he traced the only name who gave him an opportunity. Six letters that tortured him for years but soon became like a mother figure to him, all because he kept his word, he made sure the others were safe by obeying everything, he did it for her, so her secret would never get out. 

“We have to go, mother needs us” 

The distant comm channel had him blinking, he had forgotten he had snuck into the base of the rebels for a minute as he glanced around only to see the world waking up. Aware that the patrols would start, he left a small symbol next to the name, almost pinned into the stone before he left into the shadows of the sunrise. 

Meanwhile…

“Hunter, can we go visit the grave? I think I've mastered the etching now? I want to do the next etch!” 

“Yes Omega, just give me a second” Hunter muttered, throwing his kit on, Wrecker grinned at him. They were what was left off the batch, as they lost Tech all them years ago and Echo was somewhere out in the galaxy, currently on base, he just stuck with the other clones most of the time. He hadn't been with them properly since Tech had died and it impacted the arc trooper mostly because Echo found the only two he could connect with was Tech and heaven forbid the forgotten brother who both Hunter and Wrecker avoided speaking about. Crosshair, whom they assumed had died as his records were set as deceased by the Empires hand. 

Together the three walked with Omega skipping in front of them. With a surprise visit, Echo appeared, joining them in their monthly memorial visit. 

“How are you doing Echo? Rex still working you hard?” Wrecker asked, he went to wrap Echo up but the arc trooper stepped aside, not wanting touch at the minute. 

“You could say that Wrecker but we found something that has upped our security measures” 

“Do we want to know?” Hunter questioned. Echo rubbed his nose. 

“Someone snuck into the base last night but they didn't do anything, they just remained off most of the cameras but showed their silhouette when kneeling down in front of the memorial. Rex asked me to check the stone before we decided to…” 

“Woah, what's this!” Omega's excited curious voice had all attention drawn to the blond teenager who was pointing at a purple symbol of a porg, that was pinned next to the name of ‘Nala Se’ while below it, was a name that had been carved in with precision, it said ‘Mother’. Apart from that there was nothing else. 

Echo blinked running his fingers over the lines, freshly made. He lifted his hand away only to see the gunpowder, a gasp left his mouth. 

“BACK AWAY!” Echo's yell had Hunter grabbing Omega and diving aside with Wrecker just as the memorial stone exploded. It was a ground shattering noise which brought the attention to others, Rex scrambled down to the courtyard with Obi-wan Kenobi, both of them helping those who had been knocked off their feet back on them. 

“Woah, what's that?” Omega asked from her place in Wreckers arms. Obi-wan approached it slowly only to gasp, none other than an individual was in the crystal and according to the beats, they were alive.