To Heal Poignancy ■ TECH - The Bad Batch ■

The Road to El Dorado

Adla and Rampart were in time out from each other. Adla thought Rampart had made a stupid comment (which he DID), so she smacked him over the head. Rampart whined before he retaliated with some insults thrown her way. The two became very heated with one another; Adla was then moved away from Rampart's confinement. She grumbled the whole way as Hunter maneuvered her into the cockpit.

There were no negative consequences for hitting or back talking anymore so why not? If she called him a selfish, pompous, vacuous little man, who would stop her? He deserved it.

Tech immediately swiveled toward her in his pilot chair. "Are you hurt?"

Adla scrunched her nose. "There's nothing Rampart can say to me that will truly hurt me."

Tech furrowed his eyebrows, "I do not mean that. Earlier, you were almost injured by the tanks."

"I'm fine," Adla shrugged.

"We almost ran you and Omega over, putting you both in harm's way." Tech's tone was collected and factual, as it always was; yet, Adla could hear the subtle feelings he expressed: concern and worry.

"I'm fine," she repeated. When Hunter wasn't looking, she soundlessly pressed a kiss to his cheek. "No need to worry about me, Honey."

His eyes bore into hers for a beat.

"I'm going to see what else Rampart can tell us about Tantiss," Hunter told the two without looking up from whatever he was doing. "Adla," he looked up at her, "stay here."

Adla rolled her eyes and flopped into the copilot seat. As Hunter left, she mumbled under her breath how ridiculous it was. She could be trusted to be in the same room to listen to Rampart's explanation of Tantiss. Luckily, he could be heard from the cockpit.

Rampart explained to the squad how Hemlock put safeguards in place so the location of the base was kept a secret. If a ship needed to get to Tantiss, it had to dock at Imperial Station 003 in orbit over Coruscant. The coordinates were transmitted directly to the navicomputer.

"What about Wayland? The planet Tantiss is on. Do you know the coordinates for there?" Adla called back.

Rampart answered that he didn't know the coordinates, but it also wouldn't help as much because Tantiss was well hidden. There was still an entire planet, not just a mountain in space, Rampart had sarcastically responded. Someone would still need direct coordinates to the base.

Adla almost rose from her seat to give him a piece of her mind. Luckily for Rampart, Tech had been there to ease her. Plus, Hunter had appeared out of nowhere at the door to make sure she stayed where she was.

Echo checked the validity of Rampart's story. When Echo couldn't confirm part of the story, Rampart scoffed, offended, at the idea of him being considered a potential liar.

Hunter suggested finding a ship that was on track for Tantiss and snagging the coordinates.

Crosshair commented on the need for Imperial clearance codes.

"Tech and I have that covered," Echo informed Crosshair.

Rampart huffed a laugh, "Unlikely. Those codes change every rotation."

Hunter mentioned that the mission was to be executed immediately.

Rampart was clearly amused by the group's confidence. "Even with a stolen shuttle and clearance codes, you can't expect to walk onto an Imperial station completely unnoticed. Klenn is a known senator for Maker's sake."

"But you can," Crosshair supplied, "don't worry about what Klenn's doing."

"And we'll be your security detail," Hunter picked up.