Chapter one

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The Havok Marauder slowly disappeared in the atmosphere above out of view due to the clouds covering the sky of Kamino. 

An individual stood on an empty platform that the Havok Marauder had just vacated staring into the destruction of the once Kamino cloning facility, that one could call home or a brainwashing facility depending on what individual was likely spoken too. Everyone had their own opinions whether it was positive or negative depended on the individual. The figure stood as engines emitted around them as ships hovered mid air with weapons trained on the platform the individual stood upon. The individual accurately pressed a button on their wrist, his eyes not leaving the view in the distance. As flames engulfed pieces of debris falling from the broken building into the depths of the deep ocean below. Waves crashed violently into the side of the platform, rocking the platform. Yet, somehow the individual stood as if it hadn't affected them. Rain poured as a storm emitted above the platform. Heavy footsteps landed on the platform behind the figure followed by a voice,

"Commander I am here on orders of Admiral Rampart, You are under arrest for aiding and meddling with the enemy. You have caused a lot of problems for the Admiral. Please turn around and make this easier if you come quietly, do you have anything to say before your execution?" the voice ES-02 filled Crosshairs ears. He turned around to look at his former squad mate's helmet before allowing a sly smile to fall upon his features; he stepped closer to the edge before two words struck to the core of ES-02 and her open channels where the Admiral was watching and listening in "Your Welcome". Confusion emitted around until a symbol appeared of a Crosshair on Admiral Rampart's screen, he screamed in anger before instruction ES-02 with one command of "Kill him now!". 

The screens around the Admiral started to shake as a virus swept through their systems deleting and downloading data to an unknown untrackable source. Crosshair sneered a smile in ES-02's direction before looking up at the sky as a familiar ship came bursting through the atmosphere descending almost in eagerness. Discreetly clicking the button on his wrist again as he smiled. The smirk quickly turned into a frown as he knew the Havok Marauder wouldn't get there on time, he stood on a button below his foot, his face changed and had ES-02 backing up but unfortunately she was too late.

All of a sudden where ES-02 and Crosshair stood became engulfed in explosions and flames. The ships surrounding the platform joined in the explosions as smoke ascended into the heavens, the explosions ripped the platform apart. Admiral Rampart was furious he had been bested by his own Commander who he had put so much effort into, he shot a trooper close to him as the room he was in had a blackout due to the virus purging into their systems. He would get his revenge on those who were close to CT-9904 and if that meant going after the bad batch, so be it.

Looking back to the screen it was clear to say nobody could have survived that, and for once the Admiral was smiling at least one of the troublesome Bad Batch was gone, now it was to find the young female clone that they desperately needed as part of their plan. That would have to wait for the virus to get out of their systems. Shaking his head at the past few events, a smile eventually found itself upon Rampart's face.

A few minutes before the explosions....

As the Havok Marauder took off, Hunter found himself looking back, his thoughts were all over the place. He felt terrible as he looked around at his squad. Tech was piloting with Echo as his co-pilot as Omega sat behind them watching the two with curious eyes. Hunter found himself walking out of the cabin towards Wrecker who was sitting on the floor of the Havok Marauder he was leaning against the wall with the case of Crosshair's 773 Firepuncher sniper rifle and Lula pulled towards his chest. He looked so down, Hunter was quick to cross the space between them. It took a few steps before he found himself engulfed in Wreckers huge arms, the two eldest didn't know what to do. It was almost as if they had lost Crosshair all over again. Wrecker let go and looked down at Hunter as the two shared a knowing smile as if getting the message across 'that they'd talk about this later'.

Hunter went to speak when a headache hit him dead centre; he stumbled only to be caught by Wrecker as concern radiated from Wrecker in general. A sudden feel of dread mixed with indescribable feeling hit his chest as his senses erupted, he moved quickly out of Wrecker's steady arms in the direction of the cockpit. Hunters dishevelled look spooked those in the cockpit, they quickly turned around as Hunter spoke "Tech turn around now!", without a protest Tech did just that as he listened to his Sargents shaky voice. Wrecker took a seat as he directed Hunter to do the same. A hand on Hunter's knee had him looking down as Omega reached back in comfort, Hunter was grateful for his squad always knowing what to do. Wrecker found himself staring in the direction of the empty seat of where Crosshair normally sat, he smiled as he looked at the specs of dust on the seat and scratch marks Crosshair etched in when he was bored or just to annoy Tech. 

With some accuracy and skill that had been learned over the years, Tech with Echo's help managed to direct the Havok Marauder to descend into Kaminos' stormy atmosphere. They stayed out of sight as Tech checked the senses; he shared a look with Echo as they looked at the amount of heat signatures that had appeared on their sensors. Looking toward Wrecker who nodded back as a message to go on. It was mere minutes that they had seen the amount of figures ascending onto the platform their brother was still on. Out of instinct, Tech pushed the Havok Marauder while the occupants continued to stare out of the cockpit window. Hunter shakes his head to clear his thoughts, praying his brother was alright. Omega shared a smile with Wrecker but it was quickly turned into a frown as a shockwave shot through the sky knocking the Havok Marauder as Echo struggled to steady the ship. It took a few minutes but Echo had control again, turning the ship back towards the landing platform.

"NO!'' Pure emotion spread through the cockpit as Hunter screamed, the landing platform was engulfed in flames as explosions rocked the area where their brother once was. Tech scanned and scanned but he couldn't detect any life whatsoever, fear gripped those in the Havok Marauder. Omega cried out as she found herself pulled into Wrecker's arms as he followed Hunter out of the cockpit where they slumped to the floor. Vaguely aware of the raw emotion through the cockpit of each of his brothers and sister, Echo took charge as enemy ships which had survived took their aim at them. Echo with all the skill he had learned over the years took over the controls avoiding the oncoming laser fire and ascended upwards into space. Ignoring the cries and emotion in the ship as he directed their ship into hyperspace once he knew they were clear of the danger from the other ships. The Havok Marauder was placed on auto-pilot by Echo himself as he went to join his family out of the cockpit on the floor, raw emotion in each of their figures.

Wrecker sat with Hunter and Tech curled into both his sides against the wall while Omega curled into Hunter's arms. Echo shared a sad smile with Wrecker before a distraught Tech pulled him into a bad batch cuddle pile which was normally a happy time when they cuddled. Echo had dealt with many deaths over the years but he had never seen a squad such as the bad batch openily willingly showing raw emotion to one another. It turns out physical touch is what most of the bad batch needed in dire times.

Unknown pov...

A figure smiled to themself as they watched a screen as a landing platform exploded killing its occupants. The individual had been searching for something for a while and now it had been revealed to them more quicker than he intended to find them. Clone Force 99 had made the worst mistake in history, they had messed with the wrong Admiral. They were going to pay for what their brother had done. Now it was time to track them down and get rid of them. Admiral Rampart smiled to himself, replaying the footage of the direction of the Havok Marauders' movements as it fled the scene. He would get his revenge eventually.

A message popped up on his screen "Not today!". 

The computer then crashed as the footage was deleted as the virus wiped its system for the second time of the day.

All that was heard upon the ship the Admiral resided on was angry yelling. No one bothered him for quite a while.

A Sacrafice of the Heart (HunterxCrosshair) Book 1 - COMPLETE! Where stories live. Discover now