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He misses them. He made a promise to Omega once. That everything they did, they’d do it together. He meant to keep that promise, but then the Empire happened, and Echo’s life as he knew it was falling apart at its seams. The Empire did all of that.
Fives is dead. He’s gone. His entire old squad is, and Echo will never stop thinking about them. They’re a part of him in death as they were alive, but for as long as he’s alive, he won’t let their deaths be in vain.
Not as though everything his life wasn’t. Because it was. There’s no denying That anymore.
When he saw what the Empire was doing, about to discard every single one of his brothers, he had to do something to pull out as many as he could before it was too late. And he’s not in this fight alone. There are others.
His general and Senator Chuchi, for two.
And many other of his brothers among the Empire’s ranks, who are nice enough to tip them off to prisoners and others who need their help. Which is how, finally, they tracked down Howzer after his sacrifice on Ryloth, what he did to keep Echo and his squad safe. Their plan there was, straight up, bad from the start.
Here they are, aboard an Imperial transport with Howzer and the rest of his squad – hopefully.
“Where was this ship headed? Where were you taking those clones?” Nemec snarls at the Imperial, who says nothing despite his visible terror. “Got anything?” his brother asks, where Echo has plugged himself into the panel.
They definitely got the jump on the Imperials, but they were still too slow to stop them from doing a system shutdown, which isn’t good. “They were erasing the data banks. Not sure how much I can recover.”
“Well, I guess we'll have to get that intel out of you,” Nemec tells the officer formerly in command of the ship, only for him to electrocute himself. Echo wishes the Imperials would stop doing that. They’re good at that, though – making things hard. They’re meant to make it hard to pull info. Echo wishes they weren’t so good at it. They’re even more thorough than the Separatists.
These missions are often deadlier, too. People top droids, no matter how sloppy the people are. Battle droids were never designed to be lethal. They were designed to overwhelm and exhaust, and they did. Bu the time the war was over, everyone – except a few – are too tired to remember why they need to keep fighting.
To realize that the real battle is just beginning.
His scomp whirrs in the port, trying to download every information he can from the rapidly wiping files.
The others send a message through, telling them to fall back – they’ve gotten the prisoners safely to the transport.
“Not yet,” Echo answers shortly, “I’m still pulling what's left of their files.”
“Well, make it fast,” Nemec tells him. They don’t have long.
The ship shudders with a series of incoming laser bolts, and the alarms go off.
“Their reinforcements are here. We have to go.”
“I need more time,” Echo argues, the datastick still working. Tech, even at six, is faster at this than him. He wishes they could be here, but Omega was right to keep her brothers safe. She’s a sergeant, but she’s also a sister, and just as much a mom, and she’ll always choose to protect her little brothers ahead of anything else in the galaxy. Echo admires her ability to do so, but he can’t share it.
He wishes he could. Back when he had Ahsoka to take care of and things still made sense, he did. But that was also when he worked side-by-side with his general. Usually.
Anakin’s still here, but with the 501st being the only battalion focused on fighting the Empire, their forces are spread so thin they can barely make any impact. At least not enough to talk about. And his general can’t always be here.
It’s not so unlike the war, though.
“We don't have any. Come on.” Nemec shoos him from the room and back towards the waiting ship.
Echo leaves, begrudgingly – but he’s fairly certain his general will murder him for getting killed, and so will Rex. He and Nemec make a detour to the escape pods to meet up with Gregor’s ship again. They got everyone out, plus the information, or at least some. There have been questions for a long while now of where, exactly, the Empire was taking all the clone prisoners it was collecting. Because many have disappeared under some excuse or another, all things that sound insane even for the Republic. They’re being taken somewhere for a reason.
And they’ve finally got a shot at finding that out.
***
Trying to hack his way through the data is insane. It’s really, really encrypted. It’s starting to drive him a little crazy, actually. Howzer and his men are settling in, or trying to. They’re very shaken from their time in prison, and malnourished.
He could help if he could get through these files faster.
“Echo,” Nemec calls from the ship doorway, “You’ve got a transmission.”
“I’ve got a transmission?” he repeats. His first thought is his squad, because they’ve been messaging him every now and then, and he replies in kind. Nemec is making this sound different.
“Yeah, it’s from the general.”
“Shouldn’t that mean it’s from all of us?” Echo asks, passing his brother as he boards the ship. This is odd.
Nemec shrugs. “He didn’t say. He just said it was a message for you, personally. It sounded serious.”
Weird. Instincts instantly say something happened to his squad, but shouldn’t he have heard about that, first?
Echo heads into the cockpit, his brother hovering in the doorway. He dials Anakin’s frequency and slides into the chair, just watching.
He picks up a moment later. “Oh. Echo. I’m glad you were able to call back.”
“Nemec said you had something to tell me?”
Even in a hologram and all, his general looks worried. For being so chipper all the time, Anakin is also… well, he still hits downwards swings, and when he does, they’re far and fast. Still, even for knowing him for over three years, Echo finds himself always forgetting these things. Little things, but important ones.
“I had a vision,” he replies, “About your squad.”
Oh. “What did you see?” Echo asks warily.
“I couldn’t figure it out. Most visions are clear. This one… wasn’t. But I saw a dark shadow consuming them. I heard a name. I think Omega’s in danger. Or she will be.”
When he left, he knew they could be hurt, and that fault would be on him, but he was trying to balance that with the brothers his squad feels they have no part in. Maybe he made a mistake. He thought it was his only choice, but if they were hurt because of him, he couldn’t handle that.
He can’t lose this squad the way he did his last. Echo can see how that fear is consuming him, and understands well who squads were never raised together on Kamino. The clinginess that forms, the bonds – it’s not something that can be replaced, and nor is it something that works on the field.
Clone Force 99 makes it work. But Echo, for as little as he fits with the regs, he still manages to be both. He doesn’t know how to live like that.
Put his brothers over his purpose.
Even fi he loves them even more than he should.
And now, if Anakin foresaw it, the danger is imminent. Real.
“How soon is it coming?”
“I don’t know. Soon.”
“Do you think I should check on them?” he has to know that they’re safe. He can’t… stay here if something’s wrong.
“What does your heart say?” Anakin asks instead. He’ll say stuff like that, confusing, cryptic, but meant to make his men think on their own. Echo loves him for that so much. All his men do. They have a mission, and order s, but their genera l gives them a choice.
“These idiots are in trouble, and I need to pull them out,” Echo answers dryly.
Anakin breaks into laughter. “Yeah. I agree. I’ll be there with you in about an hour. I thought I could check out the data and see if there’s something I could do.”
“You got a better chance at it than me,” Echo agrees, “Good luck, sir.”
“You too.”
“I’m surprised he knew that,” Nemec says, watching, arms crossed.
“Ah, it’s the general,” Echo points out, “He’s gotten all these dreams. He has visions. He knows… things. He’s not your average Jedi.”
“That, we know,” Nemec replies, “I didn’t work with Jedi much in the war, but I’ve seen enough. I know they’re good. It’s… still hard to imagine they’re all gone.”
It still hurts. Echo nods absently. “Yeah.”
“Not that there’s much we can do about it now. We’ve got a Jedi with us now, and that gives us a better chance. What are you going to do about your squad?”
“I don’t know,” Echo confesses, “But we’ll figure something out.” He doesn’t know what’s wrong, but he has a bad feeling about this.
***
The general shows up… eventually. He’s a bit late, per usual, and Artoo is with him. He goes to check on the new arrivals, of course, checking over Howzer and the others.
“I went in with eight of my men, only three survived,” Howzer tells him darkly. “All other prisoners were clones, too.”
Anakin’s good at trying to keep an outward appearance of calm, but Echo knows him well enough to see the tightness in his jawline and the fire in his eyes. “What were you in for?”
“Dissidence. Questioning and disobeying Imperial orders.”
“They were being shuttled off-world when we intercepted them,” Echo tells him, coming forwards.
“What destination?” Anakin inquires.
“I don’t know. But other groups of clones were transferred before us, some rotations ago. And they… they never came back.”
Anakin touches Howzer’s shoulder. “We’ll find it,” he vows. “Echo, you mentioned having pulled some information?”
“It’s here,” he answers, offering the datastick. “I’ve been trying to crack it ever since, but no luck.”
Tech would know. His mind somehow keeps jumping back to them. Even if he’s away, he’s never stopped thinking about his former squad for more than a minute. He knows they must be the same about him. What if he’s too late? What if he just… doesn’t get there on time? He trusts his general’s warning, but not so much his own.
“I’ll check it out,” Anakin replies, crouching in front of the droid. “Artoo, copy this. This is time sensitive. Get me a copy, and let Echo take this one.” He looks up at Echo. “If you can’t crack it alone, maybe your squad can help.”
It’s as good a plan as any. “Yes, sir.”
He nods. “Be careful.”
“I’m not going anywhere that should be life-threatening,” Echo replies, “You be careful, too, sir. I don’t want to hear any more complaints about how Rex had to drag you back from the dead again.”
Anakin laughs. “Me either. Skako Minor was bad enough. Let’s do this right.”
They hug each other as a brief goodbye. Echo plans to come back. But… he just has a feeling. Something… unsettling. He just thinks something’s wrong.
He does need to help back here, but he knows, in reality that Anakin will take care of them well. He looks back to see him standing by Howzer and Nemec, and the rest of the gathered clones. They’re in good hands. Echo doesn’t need to worry about them.
But somewhere inside, he still knows something… isn’t right.
***
Hunter is the one who picks up when he calls. “Echo?” His brother’s face brightens like a light switch when he sees him. It makes Echo feel an instant stab of guilt for vanishing on them for so long.
“Hey, kid,” Echo replies, smiling, “I pulled some information I could use a bit of assistance decrypting. Think you can help?”
“Tech can do it,” his little brother promises without even blinking, “We’ll be glad to help.”
“Echo!” Wrecker pops into the hologram, nearly pushing Hunte rout of the way, grinning brightly. “How’ve ya been?”
“here and there. What about you?” They look fine, but the vision is still a threat. They really do need to be careful. Something’s not right. It’s to… peaceful. He knows what the general means. Maybe being around him so long has let Echo start picking up on these things. He usually can’t, Or maybe it’s just that he knows to look for it now.
“We’ve been busy,” Hunter replies, “Finally getting a couple days of quiet. Are you coming here?”
“Yeah. You still on Ord Mantell?”
The boys exchange glances.
“No,” Hunter answers with a shake of his head. “We moved out. Cid was… well, we cut ties with her.”
“She was being really mean,” Wrecker offers.
Echo won’t ask. Not right now, anyway. It’s not important. “Are you okay, at least?” he queries instead.
Hunter nods. “Yeah, we’re fine. Thanks, Echo.”
“If you’re not with Cid, where are you?” he asks.
“We’re on a different planet now. Phee took us here. It’s a… remote place where she thinks we can stay, but we haven’t made our decision yet.”
Wow. That’s… a lot. Echo knew he missed something, probably a lot, but he really didn’t expect he’d… come back to realize that they already moved onto the next part of their lives without him. It’s good they did, but it still hurts to know he’s missed so much. “Does it look good?”
“Yeah!” Wrecker nods excitedly, “It’s amazing here. I wish ya could stay.”
He does, too. He’s starting to realize that. He did promise Crosshair he’d come back when he left, though his little brother had been… well, upset. They hadn’t fought him, but Echo’s not blind – they were definitely upset. He’d done what he had to, but he still hurt his squad. He wishes he could’ve picked differently. Not that he regrets helping everyone here that he has.
“Yeah,” Echo murmurs at last, “Me too. But I’m on my way. Tell Omega? And Tech and Crosshair. I’ll be there.”
Hunter hits something on the controls. “I’m transmitting the coordinates,” he offers.
Echo nods to him, looking back at Wrecker. “Speaking of Crosshair, where is he?”
“Oh. He was out by the docks.” That’s rare. The twins are always glued to each other. The rarely part ways, even for simple things. They hate it.
“You think Pabu is… a safe hideout?”
“I do!” Wrecker offers, “It’s great.”
“I do. At least right now,” Hunter replies, “But… you know how it is. We’re soldiers. Putting roots down is really an occupational hazard.”
Maybe it’s Pabu Anakin saw. But… that seems too simple.
“Is… something wrong?” Hunter asks softly.
Yes. Very. “The general had a vision of some sort. Couldn’t figure out what it meant, but he was worried about you.” Normally, he wouldn’t want to tell them, but they need to understand. Especially if something’s about to blow up in their faces.
The boys exchange worried glances. “Oh,” is all Wrecker says, face worried.
The boys shuffle, scooting out of the way to allow Omega on. She looks…
Well, not good, really. He’s seen her better. It still hurts to see her upset. It always does. He wishes he’d stayed.
“Hey, Omega.”
“It’s good to hear from you,” his sister says, swallowing. She looks… lost. How has she been with their time apart? “Did something happen?”
“We ran into a situation,” Echo elaborates, “Some clone prisoners are being transferred to an unknown location. What we need to figure out is where and why. We’re certain they’re doing something to them, but we don’t know what. All I was able to salvage from a shuttle we ambushed is a datastick of, you know, half deleted information. I don’t know how much it’ll help.”
“We’ll help,” Omega nods, “At least we’ll try. After The Zillo beast, I have to wonder what’s happening that we’re not aware of.”
“That’s gonna be a lot. See you soon?”
“Yeah.” Omega nods. He can tell by the look on her face that there’s something more she wants to say, something she won’t. “Good luck.”
The comm shuts off, leaving him to the darkness of his own thoughts. And he just… wonders. Tries to figure out what the lingering shadows hanging over everyone’s heads are.