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Dusk was a sight to see over the open ocean waves. Unlike Kamino, which was gone a long time ago, the clear sky gave way to warm orange and cooling purples. The descent of the sheathipede shuttle temporarily cut through the calm of the ocean waves lapping up on the edges of the island. Upon landing on the wide open space available at the Archium, the engines whir slowly died down. The orange and black striping on the ship was fading off from the star radiation of space. The access ramp lowered quickly allowing for the sole person aboard the ship to walk out into the open. The scent of the sea was novel to Tact’s nose. Kamino’s sea was the entire planet, and it didn’t smell anything like this. He stopped at the bottom of the access ramp.
“Long time no see.” Vigil walked up to greet his brother.
“Haven’t seen this place in a while.” Tacts clapped his hand in Vigil’s briefly. Without gloves or the usual commando gauntlets, this was one of the rare times Tacts caught a glimpse of the watcher’s sigil tattooed on Vigil’s palm.
“You’ve found the rest of our squad?” Vigil asked.
“Yeah.” Tacts sighed. “I’ve got them in the ship.”
From that, Vigil knew they didn’t exactly return the way as intended. But he was quick to accept this news. Tacts waved him into the ship while heading back up the ramp and Vigil followed. Tacts led Vigil into the ship, near the tail end. There rested an equipment case and a tarp. Vigil knelt down and removed the tarp first. Under it was armour of what looked like an imperial stormtrooper. But upon closer inspection, the joints of the suit were mechanical.
Vigil tried to remove the helmet, but it did not come off. “It’s a droid.”
“No, it’s what the imperials called a dark trooper. From what I know, they were prototyping. That’s all that’s left of Bite.” Tacts said flatly. “Bite volunteered; wanted to escape accelerated aging.”
“Maybe we can boot it back up?” Vigil couldn’t think of any other way to word it, and it felt a little odd to say about one of their old team members.
Tacts shook his head. “He’s gone.”
Vigil opened up the equipment case, in it was a set of armour and a rifle. He picked up the helmet to inspect it. It was matte black, no model he recognized. “We called them shadows. They have their records and their numbers scrubbed from existence. But with a bit of digging, we could infer that Mute was one of those shadows. This one never spoke.”
“We?” Vigil looked up at Tacts.
“Rex and the rest of us.” Tacts answered.
Vigil shut the case and stood up. “I don’t know if I want to keep these around. They’re imperial property, but they’re the only remnants we have of our squad. Let’s think about it over dinner.”
The house was nice and cozy, a small hearth kept the place warm as the day cooled down, an old old method of cooking meals and keeping warm in coldsnaps. An old helmet was displayed in conspicuous view, black accenting the orange jagged striping. Tiger’s helmet. There was not a speck of dust on it, despite it sitting there for quite sometime. Vigil had kept the house pretty clean. Tacts placed a hand on the helmet.
Vigil asked, placing down plates of food onto the table. “Were you able to recover anything from Garnet’s squad?” He already knew the fate of Garnet squad before settling down, and he had relayed that to Tacts long ago.
“No.” Tacts shook his head. “I haven’t been able to. I’m afraid their gear is lost to the empire.”
The two of them were silent for a while. Before the war ended, Tiger had succumbed to old injuries. That had slowed him down during their last mission as a full team, but the commando went down swinging. Tacts could remember hearing the last comm message Tiger sent, telling Tacts that he was now the squad leader. There was no static, the order had been crisp and clear. And Tacts had decided Garnet would be his second in command. Garnet had taken that pretty well, letting a reg lead the team of commandos. After some time, the Republic suddenly became the Empire. Tiger Squad had been dissolved under imperial leadership. But Garnet, Acklay, Vigil, and Beryl had stayed together by luck or coincidence. From what Tacts had heard sparsely from Vigil, the squad including Vigil himself had been swept up into falling back into their old ruthless inclinations. But that time had long passed since the passing of Garnet, Ackley, and Beryl while in service to the empire.
“That’s fine, we don’t need gear to remember our squadmates.” Vigil said once Tacts took a seat at the table.
Tacts glanced down at the plate of food, food that wasn’t a ration bar. Slowly, he took a sample of it, and it tasted nothing like a ration. As a matter of fact, it was far better than rations. “I’m going to retire.”
“Finally.” Vigil chuckled.
“I figured it’s about time. I physically can’t keep fighting.” Tacts soaked in the sight of dusk through the open window. He could already feel the creaks in his joints.
“I’ll give you a place to settle down. Do you want to be my roommate?” Vigil asked.
Tacts smirked. “Sure, why not?”