Jedi Fugitive (The Bad Batch)

30:

Astera:

He had to have been waiting for us. It was the only explanation for his rapid arrival - it had only been mere hours before Crosshair had shown up at Daro, as cold and sneering as ever. Though the right side of his head was now covered with horrific scars, mottled and discoloured. Burn scars. Had we done that to him, when we'd cracked the cruiser's engine cone on Bracca? His host of troopers had been standing right in the blast zone when the cone had broken away from the body of the cruiser. It seemed likely he would have been caught in it.

After the brief, cold exchange with Hunter, he'd ordered us both to be taken out of the prison block, binders snapped on our wrists and herded into a transport. The rough actions of the Elite Squad that Crosshair now led hadn't done anything to ease the throbbing discomfort of a dislocated shoulder, but at least it had been reset.

Though the medic who had put my arm back into its socket hadn't taken any care at all to be gentle. A ragged sting in my cheek had joined the now dull ache in my shoulder, though compared to the white hot agony I had been in only hours ago, this pain was nothing.

The cell of the Rho-class transport was windowless as well, but it had been easy enough to tell when the ship had fired up and lifted off the surface of the planet, feeling the shift of the entire ship as it jolted into hyperspace. Crosshair had not deigned to inform us where we were going, of course, only serving to add to the anxiety looming over me.

My good hand slid over an empty holster, the tight feeling in my chest loosening slightly at the feel of the occupied compartment concealed within them. Everything had been disarmed when they had taken us, my blasters, Hunter's knife, even the darts and whipcord in my vambraces. Crosshair had allowed the vibroblade, strangely enough, though the condescending sneer was enough to reinforce what I'd already guessed - the tiny weapon would do nothing in aiding an escape. But they hadn't found my lightsabers.

They were about as useful to me here as a toothpick, with the two Elite troopers stationed in front of us. The second those yellow blades activated, they would know what I was, and though I was certain I could take them down, even with only one arm, the same couldn't be said for the rest of the troopers on the shuttle. Especially Crosshair. It was also likely there was surveillance on the ship, recording every movement and sending it back somewhere to the Empire. Even if Hunter and I could hijack the ship, I would still be giving myself away.

Yet it eased my mind to know they were there. They would be my last resort, I decided, if they discovered who I really was. If I were to die a Jedi, I would rather die fighting as one.

Hunter's head lifted at the sound of beeping, cuffs clinking against each other as he shifted on the floor next to me. Neither of the Elite troopers so much as twitched as the door to our cell hissed open, and Crosshair strode in, sour faced like he always was.

"Where're we going?" Hunter was deceptively casual, just like he had been at Daro. If I hadn't known better, detected the icy edge to his voice, I would have assumed nothing had happened between them. Like Crosshair hadn't betrayed them for the Empire.

"You'll find out soon enough." He crouched in front of him, reaching for the comm they'd left on Hunter's belt and switching it on. Broadcasting a signal straight to the rest of the Batch. "And so will the rest of your squad."

'Yours', I noted. Not 'ours.' Like Crosshair didn't consider them kin anymore.

"Using my comm won't work." If Hunter had made the same observation I had, he didn't show it, still speaking to him calmly. A calm that belied the anger I could feel pouring off him in simmering waves. Despite my best efforts to, the Force within me had refused to wrangle itself back into the locks I'd kept on it, its whisper light presence still flowing through my body. I could feel everything in the room, from Crosshair's contempt to the superior disdain from the Elite Squad troopers at the door. "They'll know it's a trap."