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Tech tugged at the half of the carriage barreling towards him as he fell, his hook keeping him connected to the carriage coming back to his belt. With some effort, he managed to flip himself over to see the ground coming up to him quickly. Tech pulled out the hook and aimed it for a huge tree’s branch a few metres from where he would splatter on the earth. He stifled a yelp as he was violently tugged forward and hung onto the rope.
Tech felt dread creep up on him as he realised he was going to swing into the tree at a high speed. He heard the carriage crash into the ground as he put his legs out and prepared himself for the impact. As Tech got closer, he saw a small stub of a branch sticking out. With no time to manoeuvre himself, he crashed into the tree trunk and fell unconscious, his grip on the rope slipping and him falling to the ground.
<+++=+++>
Tech awoke to the sound of a crackling fire. Startled, he sat up right and looked around. Or tried to. His vision was nearly completely blurred, not being helped by the darkness, and he couldn’t make out who was sitting on a log across the fire from him. The person didn’t seem to notice his movement as he patted himself down to make sure nothing was stolen from him. Tech found patches near his eyes and winced as he touched them. There were also bandages circling his waist and his legs. He moved his legs a bit to make sure he wasn’t paralyzed, and felt relief as he found he wasn’t.
Tech reached for his comm and found it missing, as well as everything else on his belt. Blasters, rope, various other things, gone. He tried to get up and find his helmet, but the lack of vision he had right now was severely affecting him. Tech stayed where he was and looked for his helmet, finding it at the end of the log he was on.
“I see you’re awake,” the person on the other side of the fire said. They had suddenly and silently moved next to him. They sat on the same log, about a metre away from him. Tech moved over further.
“If I was going to hurt you, I would have already.” Tech stayed where he was, but was ready to attempt to run and try to make contact with his brothers. He looked over to the person, their voice one of a female’s. He couldn’t see her face, but she both looked mature, yet childish. Old, but young. But she couldn’t be much older or younger than he was biologically.
Tech watched her get up and stand in front of him, keeping at a sensible distance. She was tall, but seemed small from where he sat, with brown hair and eyes, and a pretty face that betrayed her age. She was definitely younger than he was, perhaps near Omega’s age.
Tech cleared his throat. “What do you want with me? Are you part of the Empire?” he said, lacing his voice with warning and reaching down for his helmet.
The girl smiled and rolled her eyes. “If I was part of the Empire, I would have left you to rot where you were at that tree. Or I would have turned you in for a bounty.” She held out her hand. “I’m Avery.”
Tech warily eyed her hand. “I’m Tech.”
Avery dropped her hand back to her side when he didn’t shake it. “How did you get to that tree? You had a rope with a hook that I had to cut because it was too high up.”
That explained the lack of the rope. “Fell from the carriages up there.” He pointed to the sky. He couldn’t see them from where they were, of course, but Avery may be able to. She looked up and disbelief clouded her face.
“How did you survive?” She sat back down next to him.
“The tree branches would have slowed me down before I hit the tree.” Tech watched her as she grabbed a stick and started tracing patterns in the dirt.
“You’re very lucky.” Avery fell silent. She stabbed the stick in the ground and looked up at him. “You’re a clone, aren’t you?”
“Well, yes.” Tech wasn’t sure what else to say.
“Your inhibitor chip didn’t activate?” Avery watched him with a wariness he hadn’t seen on her face yet.
“No, it never did. It never did with the rest of my team either, apart from one. But he’s with the Empire now,” Tech stated, his voice slightly quiet at the end. They never really talked about Crosshair’s fall to the Empire, but they always wanted him back even if they didn’t admit it to each other.
Avery seemed to relax slightly. “You don’t work for the Empire then?”
Tech shook his head slightly. “No.” He spoke again before she could. “What are you doing down here? It doesn’t seem like a nice place to live, being so close to an Imperial base.”
“I’m on an assassination mission. I was going to take out Tarkin.” Avery propped her elbows on her knees and held her head on her hands. “I had the perfect opportunity to do it, yet I couldn’t pull the trigger. I know exactly why it happened, and I curse myself for it. In this new time, I need to become more unforgiving and cold, but the ways I’ve been taught have been drilled into me so much that I can’t overcome them.” She sighed. “Now that the base has been blown up, I can’t exactly do it anymore with the lockdown they would have in place.”
Tech was surprised with how much she shared in so little words. “You’re a Jedi, aren’t you?”
Avery nodded. “I try to use the anger I have about my Master being killed by the Separatists, but I can’t use it. I can’t even use the anger to the clones for killing the Master I was going to become a Padawan to. I was going to become a Padawan for a second time.” She rubbed her face. “I’m going to call Rex to pick me up. You want to come along too?”
Tech stared at her. Echo had said nothing about a Jedi, and a very young one at that, being part of the team Rex had made. He composed himself. “Sure, I will. Rex knows my team.”
Avery gave him a tired, small smile and grabbed her comm out. “Rex, I need a pick up. The mission went wrong and I can’t do it anymore. I also have a plus one.”
The comm crackled. “I’ll pick you up about ten klicks from your rough location,” came Rex’s voice. Tech heard a datapad ping from across the crackling fire, which was slowly dwindling to embers. Avery walked around the fire and retrieved it. She held the datapad out to Tech so he could read the coordinates. He nodded.
Tech grabbed his helmet and put it on, it feeling strange without his goggles. Avery helped him to his feet and held his hand to guide him through the forest.
<+++=+++>
Those ten klicks felt like the longest ten klicks of his life. Tech could tell Avery was exhausted by simply the way she held his hand. Loosely, then tightening her grip when she realised her hand was slipping. Tech offered multiple times to stop to rest, but Avery insisted she was fine and kept trudging along.
Now, he watched her steps. Avery didn’t seem to be paying attention to how she stood over fallen branches and roots of trees sticking out. It wasn’t the first time he had to help her to her feet.
Finally, they reached a clearing in the woods where a ship sat. He heard Avery’s sigh of relief as the ramp opened and Rex stepped out. Tech squinted to make sure it was in fact Rex, but to no avail. He’d have to wait until they were closer.
“Tech?” Rex said as they neared him. Tech could see the surprise and disbelief on his face now. “Where’s the rest of the Batch?”
Tech didn’t feel like explaining himself right now. “Plan 99. I sacrificed myself,” he said, holding onto Avery who was most likely on the verge of passing out from exhaustion.
“Can I have more information when you’ve rested?” Rex held into Avery’s other side and led them up the ramp. Tech nodded.
Rex led them to a bunk and laid Avery on the bottom. She was asleep as soon as she laid down. Tech followed Rex to the cockpit and Rex took his seat in the pilot's seat. Tech sat in the co-pilot’s.
Rex turned to Tech. “Do you want me to contact them?” he asked.
“No, not yet,” Tech replied, feeling very drowsy. He took his helmet off and laid it in his lap. “We’ll contact them once I’ve gotten my goggles replaced and I’ve recovered.”
Rex nodded. “If you want, I’m sure Avery wouldn’t mind joining you guys. Omega could use a friend that’s with her most times.”
Tech squinted over to Rex. “How old is Avery?”
“She’s fourteen.”
Tech felt the sleep disappear from him. “And you sent her on an assassination mission?”
Rex sighed. “She insisted. No one else was taking it, and I warned her that no one would be there to pull the trigger if she couldn’t. Judging by the sudden pick up, she couldn’t.” Rex gently eased the ship up into the planet’s atmosphere. “Avery has proved herself multiple times. She’s killed troopers, both clone, unfortunately, and Imperial. Her lightsaber has even changed colour. It used to be blue, but now it’s white.”
Rex imputed coordinates and flipped the hyperspace lever. “She’s gone through a lot at such a young age, just like Omega has. I really think they’d bond well,” he paused, “and we’ll find a replacement for your goggles.” Tech had fallen asleep as Rex finished talking. Rex scoffed good-heartedly and lent back in his seat, watching the lights of the ship and hyperspace.