Star Wars The Bad Batch: The Runaway

Chapter 9 - Under Attack

When nightfall came, it was decided that Callista would help with patrolling the area. She'd asked Hunter because the night before had been long and boring and the thought of spending another ten hours doing nothing would have been unbearable. It couldn't be helped, because Callista's mind was always running and keeping watch could only occupy it for so long before boredom set it. Plus, Crosshair was not a fun person to be around. All he did last night was brood and cast an occasional glare her way when she shifted in her spot or made any noise, as if it insulted him. Honestly Calli wasn't sure how the other three lived with a guy like him.

Right now, Calli wished she could have a datapad like Tech, but then that would distract her from keeping watch. But if Callista could walk around and study the stars or architecture of the buildings, she'll still be keeping watch in a sense. With her keen eyesight, it was easy for her to spot any small movement even though it was dark out and the streetlights didn't provide ample lighting.

Right now, she was on patrol with Tech, who had eagerly volunteered to join her for reasons Callista wasn't sure until they were alone, and he started spouting questions off, asking where she was from and who trained her. Callista offered little in response which annoyed the genius clone who always liked to know everything and the fact that he knew little about Callista's background vexed him enormously. But at the same time, it was rare that his superior mind was challenged and so it also excited him.

Callista would become his personal project and he wouldn't stop until he'd unearthed whatever secrets this girl was hiding. Said girl suddenly held a hand up and stopped in her tracks.

"Did you hear that?" Callista asked in a whisper, and Tech shook his head while looking confused, but his hands hovered over his blasters in their holsters while he to listened. Callista knew she heard something and became tense and alert as she waited to see if another sound was made. She used the heatspex to scan their surroundings but detected no heat signatures hiding anywhere nearby. Just as Callista was about to brush off the noise as being the wind, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she gasped.

"Get down!" Callista shouted, not waiting for Tech to reply as she pushed the clone and herself to the ground just before laser bullets could hit them.

Once the initial shock wore off and Tech realized they were under attack he got up, grabbed Callista's wrist to help her to her feet and pulled her over so they could take cover behind a speeder that was parked on the side of the street just as battle droids emerged from an alley across the street between the building Crosshair was in and the one to the left of it.

"How did you know they were there?" Tech asked as Callista took out Hunter's blaster, peered over the storage compartment on the back of the speeder and shot down three droids before ducking behind the speeder to answer.

"I don't know, I just did!" She replied loud enough so he could hear over the blaster fire. Calli had what she considered a sixth sense when it came to that sort of thing. It was weird but she never questioned it as it always got her out of sticky situations and saved her head on numerous occasions. Despite the series of questions going through his head about his partner, Tech pressed the side of his helmet to comm Hunter.

"Hunter, come in! Hunter, are you there?" Receiving no reply, Tech sighed in frustration. "They're jamming our comms!" He told Callista who cursed under her breath. But Tech was already formulating a plan in his mind and put a hand on Callista's shoulder to get her attention. "You need to warn the others!" Callista immediately protested this.

"You can't handle these guys on your own!"

"I won't if you go get help! I'll cover you!" Calli hesitated, looking at the dozens of droids closing in on the pair, "Go!" Tech ordered, noticing her reluctance. Knowing that Tech was right, Callista begrudgingly got up and started sprinting to the senator's building while Tech shot down any droids that aimed to fire at her.