caleb dume.

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CROSSHAIR SHOULD have been grateful for Alora whenever she found them. Considering, he was just about to get himself into a lot of trouble. He swiftly walked over to the girl, glaring down at her. His usual, angry, and annoyed, look was humorous to Alora. It always was, unless the scowl was directed towards her, of course. "What is wrong, Cross?" She questioned.

"I am going to kill him." Crosshair sneered coldly. Alora only looked at him quizzically, and before she could even ask who he meant, Crosshair took his toothpick out of his mouth, and went on to explain.

"Wrecker! He spilled one of those stupid blue milkshakes, in my helmet!" He held his helmet out in front of him, and Alora peered inside. Sure enough, she saw the blue liquid covering the inside of his helmet.

"I didn't mean to!" Wrecker shouted behind him, as he stood behind a table, his eyes widened. He watched Crosshair like a hawk, just knowing that the slim man was ready to strike at any moment.

"Oh, right. You know you meant to!" Crosshair yelled back, his vehement outcry had caused all of the customers in the building to turn their attention towards the small dispute. He turned around to face Wrecker again, with his hand squeezed into a tight fist.

"Alright, alright, that's enough." Alora slowly grabbed Crosshair's wrist, tugging on it to get his attention. When he looked at her, she looked up in his eyes. "We'll get it cleaned out, okay? Calm down."

Here Alora found herself, once again, calming a member of the Bad Batch down. Crosshair was genuinely upset, of course. And an upset Crosshair puts everyone in a bad mood, so Alora knew she needed to shut the fight down before it could escalate further. Nobody needed the added on stress, though no one really seemed to phased by it except for herself and the two clones involved. Tech, very obviously, was recording this dispute from the cam connected to his goggles, and Echo was watching amusedly beside of him.

Like Hunter, Crosshair found an extreme comfort in this girl. Probably more-so than Hunter, and any of the others. He'd never admit it, however. He stared down at her, letting a sigh escape his lips, signaling that he was trying to slow his own breathing down from the rapid angry breaths he was achieving beforehand. "He just makes me so angry sometimes."

"He didn't mean to."

"How could he not mean to-"

"Hush." Alora lowered her hand to grab his own, his eyes softened at that sudden touch. He had took his black gloves off earlier, so feeling her smooth skin against his rough and calloused hand was enough to get him to calm down.

"Whatever." He placed his tooth pick back in his mouth with his free hand, before looking at Wrecker over his shoulder. "You are cleaning this out."

"Never mind all that." Alora said, giving the sniper's hand a squeeze. "I hate to break it to you all but we've got a new mission." She said, her mouth then forming into a frown at the expression's of the men before her. She knew they were tired, and in need of a slight break. They were excited to explore Coruscant with her, too. Even Crosshair.

"Don't worry, boys." Alora made herself smile. "I hear the war is almost over."

"I agree. I have heard several frequencies today that—" Tech began to say, however, Wrecker interrupted him.

"Let's just go! Maybe we can blow somethin' up!"







——————







The mission seemed routine enough. Across several star systems, General Grievous had panicked. After the battle that had taken place on Coruscant, he began to attack on all cylinders. The Bad Batch was sent to planet Kaller, which had had its fair share of battles before.

Master Billaba looked down at Alora, her hands placed gently on her lap. It had been a while since the two had seen one another, though they never spoke much, their encounters were always brief, they thought fondly of one another.

"It is nice to know such a talented young lady is keeping this wild squad in tact." She said, a small smile now forming on her face.

Alora began to smile as well. "I do my best, Master."

"Were you part of the campaign against General Kleeve's occupation of Kaller?" Echo asked Depa. Sitting next to her, was her padawan, Caleb Dume, whom could not keep his eyes off of Alora.

"Of course she was." Tech said, looking at Echo with a raised brow. "I would have told you that if Wrecker hadn't interrupted me."

Echo rolled his eyes. "Well, that isn't my fault. I only asked."

"I was, yes." Depa said, chuckling at the two clone's bickering. "We led this very battalion." She motioned towards her Captain, CC-10/994; Grey.

Meanwhile, Caleb Dume continued to stare at Alora. The former Jedi could tell, she could feel his eyes on her and could sense how he was trying to figure something out about her. He was very intrigued in something, though Alora had no idea what.

"Why did you leave the order?" Caleb's sudden question disrupted the peace in the ship. Alora shifted uncomfortably in her seat, looking up at the boy. She was taken aback by the question, as it was so random for her, but for him, he clearly had been thinking about it for a while.

"Caleb." Depa scolded, her eyes narrowing at her padawan.

He just looked confused. Alora could sense the questioning feelings in his mind, as it was evident the moment she introduced herself.

"I- I was just asking her. I don't understand why she'd leave the order." Caleb stammered, his eyes widening slightly at Alora's expression. She looked highly uncomfortable, and it was obvious that she was a little hurt. "I-I didn't mean to upset you."

"Nice going, kid." Crosshair sneered, his eyes staring daggers into the teenage boy. Caleb wouldn't even look at Crosshair. It was probably a good idea not to.

"It's alright." Alora finally said, looking between Crosshair and Caleb. "I-I...I left because-"

"You do not owe us an explanation, Alora." Depa said softly, reaching out now, to place a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"It's okay." Alora whispered, nodding her head.

"What happened?" Caleb inquired further, leaning up in his seat to watch the girl more.

"The order wasn't all I thought it was." Alora said simply. She knew admitting her true opinions, to two current Jedi Order members, was not the best of ideas.

Caleb Dume was not happy with this answer at all. What could Alora have possibly meant by that?

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