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Echo looked down the hallways from the corner. He looked left, right, left again, and then took the right hallway. The halls seemed almost deserted, which didn’t soothe the edge of nerves that twisted his guts, but if memory served, there would be a console with a scomp port three sections down.
Get in, get the info, get out.
Simple enough.
He looked around him as he reached the console, then plugged in. He was still getting used to the energy-like sensation that pushed information to his proverbial fingertips. It always made him feel as though he had one foot in the real world and one metal prosthetic in the data stream. A chill ran down his spine.
He began digging for the information he so desperately sought. His scomp whirred in the port, mechanical clicking filling his ears. He almost didn’t hear the comm attached to his other arm.
“ --cho? Echo, do you copy?”
Shit , he swore in his head.
“Yes, sir,” he answered, trying his best not to sound guilty.
“ Echo, where are you? You were supposed to be at your physical therapy session. ”
Echo flinched. After three sessions without being under Rex’s watchful eye, he thought it was a pattern he could use to his advantage. He thought wrong.
“Kix… let me go early,” Echo hummed, hoping it sounded believable. “He was busy prepping Torrent company’s innoculations for the mission to Rodia.”
The silence of the comm line was deafening. If Rex was looking for me, he’d go to Kix first, he realized. Shit.
“ Echo, please. Come back to the barracks. I’ll tell you everything I know .”
Echo’s scomp froze. His heart started to race as he reread the information at the top of the file again and again.
“ Echo? ”
It couldn’t be true. It- it just couldn’t .
Rex persisted. “ Echo, where are you? What did you find? ” Distantly, Echo noted the panic creeping into Rex’s voice.
The edges of his vision were blurring, but he read it again.
“ ARC Trooper CT-27-5555 Status: Deceased ”
As the information finally pushed its way into his comprehension, Echo yanked his scomp from the port, falling back onto the floor.
He could feel the restraints tightening again, the icy metal exam table beneath his back. The lights were too bright. The whirring of a medical droid screamed in his ears.
No!
Rex finally saw him. “Echo,” he called, dashing to him, Kix on his heels.
Echo was on the floor, pressed against the wall as though something had urged him there. His eyes were wide and scanning the area in front of him, but they didn’t seem to really see any of it.
“Echo, can you hear me?” he pleaded, grabbing Echo’s shoulders.
“C– CT-1409,” Echo muttered, his eyes wide.
“His heart rate and blood pressure are through the roof,” Kix said. “I can give him a mild sedative.”
Rex’s head snapped towards his medic. “A sedative ?”
Kix held his hands up. “Just enough to help calm him down, not knock him out.”
Rex looked back at Echo, helplessly repeating his number. “O-okay,” he finally said. “Do it.”
Kix nodded, grabbing the injector from his med kit.
“It’s okay, Echo,” Rex spoke gently to his brother. “You’re safe on The Resolute . It’s just me and Kix.”
Echo flinched as the injector pressed against his neck. “It’s alright, brother,” Kix said. “I won’t hurt you.”
An eternity passed in seconds as Rex held his breath, watching for any sign of Echo coming back.
The nervous twitching began to slow and Echo’s eyes seemed to start to focus on his brother. “CT– 1- …R-Rex?”
“I’m here, Echo,” Rex assured him. “It’s okay.”
Echo’s breathing was finally evening out as Rex and Kix helped him to his feet, his arms over their shoulders as they led him back to the officers’ barracks.
By the time they had him sitting on Rex’s bunk, Echo’s expression had changed from one of panic to a sullen acceptance.
“He’s really gone, isn’t he?” he breathed.
Rex didn’t need him to say who “he” was. “I’m so sorry, Echo.”
Echo inhaled shakily, nodding slightly.
“I’ll tell you as much or as little as you want,” Rex said, his eyes not quite meeting the other’s eyes. “Anything, Echo.”