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“I have an idea,” Fives says one day to Echo.
Echo sighs, “What is it this time?”
Fives gives him a wicked grin. “What if we wire a box full of battle droid heads onto Rex when he opens the door to his office?”
“Are you insane? General Skywalker will never let you do that. And Rex will personally orchestrate your death.”
“Oh c’mon, Echo. We haven’t had fun in a while. Need to cheer up our brothers, you know? Everyone’s so boring these days.”
“Still,” Echo insists. “How the hell are you even going to pull this off? I know we have to stay after each battle for cleanup, but there’s no way we can do it without someone else tipping us off.”
Fives grins. “Trust me, vod. I got this.”
Echo did not trust his brother, but maybe he was right. They could use some fun once in a while.
The next day, Echo receives a message from General Skywalker. Meet me on the bridge in ten minutes. Oh kriff, the General knows. He’s going to report him and Fives, and they might get sent back to Kamino. Worse, they could get decommissioned. Echo takes in a few deep breaths. They’ve known General Skywalker for several months now, and he wasn’t the type of general who was picky about rules and regulations. In fact, Skywalker himself ignored the rules, and he was a pretty lax general. Echo would guess he was probably the most nonchalant General in the entire GAR (not that Echo was biased, of course he wasn’t). So their punishment wouldn’t be too severe, right?
By the time Echo gets to the bridge, Skywalker is already there. So is Fives. He feels the breakfast ration bar try to claw its way up his stomach.
“Fives,” General greets.
“Sir,” Fives says. “You wanted to see me?”
“You and Fives, actually.”
It takes all of Echo’s training on Kamino not to throw up right then and there. “What for, sir?”
“So Fives here tells me that you guys plan on doing a prank on Rex?”
Echo couldn’t answer. He could only stare at Fives in shock. His brother had done what? He told their General of all people about their prank on a commanding officer! Kriffing hell, they were doomed.
Skywalker frowns. “Echo? You good?”
“General Skywalker, please,” Echo manages to gasp out. “You can’t send us back. Don’t send us back, please. We’ll be good soldiers. We’ll follow your orders, do whatever you want us to do. Just don’t report us or send us back,” he begs.
Skywalker was looking at him with serious concern now. “Echo… you and Fives aren’t in any trouble. I will never send any of my men back to Kamino,” he swears. “You all deserve to live a real life, and maybe after the war, you can do just that. I’m not reporting anyone.” The smile on his face makes it reappearance. “In fact, I wanted to join you guys on pranking Rex.”
Echo blinks. His mind was a whirlwind right now. First of all, Skywalker wasn’t going to report them? That’s good. Second, did he just say he wanted to join in on their prank? “Sir, are you sure you want to join us?” He asks the Jedi hesitantly.
“Of course! We need to have some fun around here, and the men could use something to brighten them up.”
“That’s what I said!” Fives exclaims.
The General rubs his hands together. “Alright, so what’s the plan?”
Thirty minutes later, Echo walks out with a very satisfied Fives. “How did you know Skywalker was going to be in on it?” Echo asks his brother because he was genuinely curious.
“Oh please, you know how Skywalker is, especially during battle. He’s unconventional, but he gets the job done. And best of all? He ignores the rules like they don’t exist.” Fives grins. “It drives Cody and Kenobi mad whenever we’re on joint missions.”
After the next battle, the plan is carried out. Skywalker sends their Captain back to the Resolute to do…something. Echo isn’t sure what the General said, but it got the job done and now they could start the work. Several of their brothers have also volunteered to participate, so they all got to work tearing off as many heads of the B1 battle droids as possible and stuffing them into boxes. It was quick. Efficient. And everyone else was none the wiser.
Back on the cruiser, Skywalker visits their little group of loose cannons in their barracks. “Alright guys. Rex is in the cafeteria. Ready to have some fun?”
“Sir, yes sir!” They all chorus.
They post Droplet in the hallway to notify them if Rex comes, while Trip and Locks were sent to the cafeteria to delay Rex for as long as possible. “Jesse, rig that box up there, by the vents,” Skywalker instructs. “Fives, that box goes up by the door. Echo, put another box next to that one.” Soon, there were transparent wires rigged all around the office.
Jesse whistles when they are all done. “Either the Captain’s gonna kill us, or he’s gonna switch battalions with Cody.”
“Aww, don’t worry, Jesse. I’ll make sure Rex is stuck with us,” the General assures him. Carefully, they all maneuvered themselves out of the room and into the hallway. They split off, some of the clones going back to the barracks while the others headed for the cafeteria. As expected, Trip and Locks were rambling their heads off about kriff knows what while Rex is sitting across from them, looking exasperated. “Rex!” Skywalker calls. “Do you need some rescuing?”
“Yes, General,” the Captain replies miserably.
“Alright. I got some paperwork that I need you to look at when you’re in your office,” Skywalker tells him. Technically, that wasn’t a lie. Skywalker had told them that he actually did finish some reports and needed Rex to proofread them before submitting.
“Yes sir. I’ll start reading them right now.” Rex gets up and they wait until he turns the corner before stealthily following him, stopping in the hallway when Rex walks into his office. A crash of a bunch of plastoids hitting the ground echoes in the corridor.
“Ow! Kriff—what the hell?”
Echo couldn’t stop the giggle that quietly escaped him, but one look at everyone else told him they were doing the same, even the General.
“Fives, I swear! I know you guys are all watc–OW! How many of these did you ri–”
Another crashing sound.
“General! I know this is your handiwork with all the wires.”
Half the battalion had gathered in the hallway to investigate the source of all the noise. They were all openly laughing now. Fives was right, Echo thinks amidst all the cheers and shouts. We do need some fun pranks every once in a while.