Chapter Text
Images from the Batch’s most recent mission flash by one by one on the dull glowing screen in Tech’s hands.
Each picture is more detailed than the last as his eyes plead to see more and more.
An ancient tale was being woven in the pale of his hands that seemingly no one else in the whole galaxy had been able to grasp. Or, hadn’t bothered to.
Tech, on the other hand, desperately wanted to be enlightened.
More than anything he wanted to understand these people. Know their life story as intimately as one of them could. To feel the sensation of being a part of the now long lost community and know what their lives may have been like so long ago.
So much promise.
So much possibility.
But they were just images now.
Snap shots of what the artist deemed worthy of the future's eyes.
Being willing to cover a cave top to bottom in an eternal tapestry of stone, until Tech’s jaw was on the floor.
Trapped in the past and never able to be fleshed out again.
At least, not as long as the populace of the galaxy remained ignorant of their existence.
But now Tech knew, and he was going to put everything into figuring it out.
Sure he would have to spend time cracking the code on the very language that appears a few times on the rock.
However, his past experiences with such fixations proves that it would most likely barely take a month to break it all down. With such a vast database at his fingertips something was bound to click together into the larger puzzle at play.
“I thought you were gonna be co-pilot, Tech.” Hunter suddenly cut in.
Jumping in surprise Tech had practically having forgotten where he was as the bright glow of his pad consumed his retinas.
“Yes- Yes, of course, I am still achieving that assignment.”
“By staring at your holo-pad?” Hunter questions, cocking an eyebrow in uncertainty as his eyes stay trained on the passing blacks and blues of hyperspace in front of them.
“The etchings we saw, Hunter, are the first to be recorded on that planet. We were told it couldn’t support humanoid life but that was clearly not always true now!” Tech thrusts the pad towards his vod, forcing him to look at it, “We found proof of life that was not even fathomed as being possible before! That is no small feat!”
His voice kept getting louder and louder as excitement built up inside of him until it couldn’t stop from bursting out from inside of him. A smile appeared on his face as he became overwhelmed by this crashing wave of joy swallowing him up. So many possibilities now lay at his feet, and he just can’t wait to experience them all. Hunter follows his lead, also beginning to smile as it had been so long since he’d seen his younger vod this happy about something.
“Alright, alright, I get the jist of it.” He laughs off, “When you get this all figured out we’ll let someone in the archaeology department of the G.A.R. know, okay?”
Tech’s smile wayned briefly before settling into a state of contentment. Hunter’s reaction was not what he’d hoped it would be, over the top perhaps would have been better, it was still far more positive than it could have been.
It wasn’t outright dismissive or belittling like it could have been which in turn makes it perfectly fine.
But it still stung deep down.
What else could he ask for though?
Nothing more really.
Not when it came to the Batch, or even Hunter.
Because they could never truly know how his heart raced at the sight of this. That the mere whisper of possibilities this had laying inside of it already had an inescapable strangle hold on him.
They just could never know.
So this’ll have to do.
“That won’t take very long. Not long at all.”