Chapter Text
The Jedi youngling’s arms and legs wrapped around Echo’s torso in a death grip. He steadied her with his scomp arm and held his blaster in his free hand. He had tried to hand her over to Hunter, but now that she had latched onto him, she wouldn’t let go again.
“You’ve got stormies incoming,” Wrecker said over the comms. “Pick up the pace.”
“Is the Jedi okay?” Omega’s worried voice came over the comms, overriding Wrecker’s.
“She’s fine, Omega. Just have the ship running when we get there,” Hunter said as they jogged through the darkening city streets. Around them, small houses crouched beside the towering shells of scorched buildings. This world, like so many others, still bore the scars of a Separatist occupation and the war that followed it. The people moving past watched them with tight, suspicious faces.
Echo looked down at the Jedi wrapped around his chest. The little Iridonian zabrak had tiny, blunt horns and big green eyes which were, at the moment, hidden in the crook of Echo’s neck. She had not yet spoken to them or to Rex’s contact, so they didn’t even know her name. She was far too young to be a Padawan, likely no more than five or six years old, if zabraks aged similarly to human children. Echo had no idea how she had survived Order 66 and the Purge, but Rex’s contact hadn’t had time to stick around and tell them her story.
They were nearing the edge of town, where the Havok Marauder waited, when Hunter motioned Tech and Echo into a dark alley.
“There are Stormtroopers waiting in the two buildings flanking the road,” he said, turning his ear toward the buildings. “They’re looking for her.”
“That road is the only way through the city walls, which are not scalable with our limited equipment,” Tech informed them.
“I’ll cause a distraction,” Echo said. “A small explosive and the sound of blaster fire should draw them away and cause enough of a panic for you to slip past.”
“What about you?”
Echo gestured to the hinged face of his helmet. “Once I put this down, I can pass for a droid. You found that out when you sold me to that junk trader, remember?”
The zabrak girl turned her head to fix her wide, judgmental eyes on Hunter.
“That was one time,” Hunter muttered. “I sold you one time.”
“And I will never let you forget it, brother,” Echo said. “Wait for my signal. I’ll meet you at the Marauder .”
The girl’s thin arms tightened around Echo’s neck when he tried to lower her to the ground. She spoke into his ear, her voice small and rough from disuse. “There’s a Shadow. It’s trying to find me.”
“A shadow? Do you mean an Inquisitor?” Echo asked. They had only heard whispers of the Jedi-hunters and their black-masked master. “Is there an Inquisitor here?”
The zabrak whimpered, her hand clutching a fistful of Echo’s shirt.
“Inquisitor or not, we need to go now ,” Hunter said. “Tech, take the girl.”
Echo loosened the zabrak’s grip. “Go with them now. Tech and Hunter will take good care of you.”
“Please don’t go,” she cried. “They’re going to hurt you, Echo.”
Echo transferred her over to Tech and backed away from her tiny, reaching hands. Tech spoke to her, but she didn’t seem to hear him. Tears pooled in her pale green eyes.
“It’s going to be alright,” Echo said. “I’ll see you soon.”
Echo left his squad and circled around the stormtroopers’ position. He placed a small explosive on the underside of an abandoned fruit cart. It wouldn’t be big enough to hurt anyone, just enough to draw the stormtroopers’ attention away from the gates.
He left the cart and found an abandoned building a few stories taller than the other structures. Echo drew his blaster and entered the building, climbing through dust-coated living spaces and unstable rooms until he reached the roof. He took up a position where he could see both doors.
“In position,” Echo said into the comms. “Are you ready, Hunter?”
“Ready. We’ll see you on the other side.”
Echo detonated the explosive, and the fruit cart exploded, sending shards of wood and burning fabric raining down in all directions. Echo sent a few well-placed blaster bolts thudding into walls and carts on the main road. The crowd erupted in a collective scream of panic.
Stormtroopers streamed from the two buildings flanking the main road, some forgetting to don their helmets in the chaos. The people stampeded toward the cover of houses or shops, ignoring the stormtroopers’ yells for order.
Echo scanned the crowd until he found Tech and Hunter, two figures sprinting for the main gate. The Jedi girl rode on Tech’s back, her head turning wildly in all directions as they ran. So far, they had escaped detection.
One trooper fixed his eyes on Hunter and Tech, two humans carrying a zabrak child. Before he could chase after them, Echo fired a line of blaster bolts at his feet. The stormtrooper fell back with a squawk. Before Echo could duck out of sight again, the stormtrooper looked up, searching for his attacker. His eyes locked onto Echo’s position.
Echo rolled behind cover as a red bolt slammed into the wall where he had been. He risked another glance down at the street. Hunter and Tech were just running through the city gates, well-hidden by the panicked crowd. Echo’s thrill of victory soured as his eyes shifted to the line of stormtroopers now closing in on his position. Another bolt whizzed past his ear. He ducked out of their line of sight again.
“Echo, we’re out. The Havok Marauder is in sight. What’s your position?” Hunter said in Echo’s ear.
He crawled to the other side of the roof and peeked over the edge to find the circle of stormtroopers closing in around him. The enemy had him completely surrounded.
“Echo, what’s your position?” Hunter repeated, his voice louder in Echo’s ear.
Echo let loose a low string of curses he never would have said in Omega’s company. If they came back for him, the stormtroopers would capture them. They would haul Omega and his brothers back to the Empire to be executed or experimented on. As for the little Jedi youngling… Echo knew enough about the Inquisitors to know that, with them, she would be subjected to a fate far worse than death.
“I’m cut off for the moment. I’ll lie low for a while, until they lose interest,” Echo said, forcing his voice to stay level and calm to hide the lie. The distorted voices of the stormtroopers were coming closer. “Get out of here.”
“Echo, no. We aren’t leaving you to them,” Hunter snarled into Echo’s ear.
Echo huffed out a breath, half-laugh and half-cry. Even over a comm channel, he couldn’t lie to Hunter.
“Get them out of here, Hunter. There’s no other way. I’ll be fine, I promise.”
The line was silent for a long moment. Nothing but his duty to Omega and the others would tear Hunter away from Echo, and he was counting on it.
“We’ll come back for you,” Hunter said finally.
Echo breathed a sigh of relief. The stormtroopers’ boots thudded in the stairwells under Echo. He held his blaster tighter.
“I know you will, Hunter. Take care of them.”