Jedi Fugitive (The Bad Batch)

38:

(Astera):

Serenno. I glared at the image of the planet on the screen, despising every second the ship travelled closer to it. Of all Separatist war chests to loot, Cid just had to choose Dooku's. It was bad enough the castle was already Imperial occupied. But after seeing the way the former Jedi had been twisted by the dark side... I wanted nothing to do with the loot he'd exploited from the very people he was supposed to protect over the Clone Wars. It would surely be stained with the dark side as he had been.

"I know why you agreed to this mission." Echo's voice had me jerking, twisting in my chair to look up at him. But he wasn't talking to me, rather to the clone that sat opposite me. "But we can do better things with Dooku's fortune than hide, Hunter."

Hunter gave no indication at all that he'd heard him, instead focusing intently on the star charts in front of him.

"With what we're up against, we have to be prepared to fight. That means numbers and weapons."

"That's not the life this kid deserves." He finally spoke, sparing Echo only a brief glance before returning back to the star charts.

"Our lives are like this because of Omega."

That got a different reaction. Hunter immediately stood and bundled Echo away from the gunner's mount that doubled as Omega's room, glancing back over his shoulder at the curtain like he was afraid she would hear. My eyes had already shifted towards it, sensing the young girl behind the closed curtains. I could only hope we were far away enough that she couldn't hear.

"Where do you think you would be if you'd left her on Kamino?" I asked quietly, more for her benefit than anything else. "We'd all be at the bottom of the ocean if it weren't for her."

"Taking her off Kamino was the right thing to do," Echo admitted, "but there are others out there that need our help. We've seen what the Empire is doing throughout the galaxy. We should be doing more."

I couldn't help but glance at my lightsabers, hidden away in my holsters at my sides. I'd made my choice a long time ago, to walk away from the Order and everything it stood for in favour of my own people. I'd made it again when I refused to join Rex in his bid against the Empire. I wasn't going to fight someone else's war again. But I still couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt at Echo's words, even as he walked away and Hunter returned to the star charts. I was once a Jedi. I should be doing more.

I glanced back over to the curtain that hid the young female clone's room, needing a reminder that I was here for a reason. I'd chosen to wash my hands of war. I hadn't returned when the Martez sisters or Rex had asked, and I wouldn't. I was more than tired of fighting other people's battles. My priorities had shifted. And try as I might, I couldn't find it in myself to regret that choice.

*****

Dooku had been dead for months, yet I could still feel a lingering chill in the air stepping off the Marauder, remnants of the dark side that pressed on me in dark shadows. I shivered at the feeling, goosebumps rising onto my skin despite the maroon scarf looped over my shoulders. Hopefully this mission would be a quick one.

Wrecker glanced around the bare strip of land Tech had landed the Marauder on, like the palace would be hiding behind one of the many boulders strewn about. "So where's this palace?"

"The city is on the opposite side of this mountain range." Tech pointed to the mountain range in question, the clones already moving for the patchy path worn into the ground in front of us. Omega lingered on the steps, quieter than normal.

"Are you coming?" I shouldered my pack a little higher, grimacing uncomfortably at the unfamiliar weight on my back. I still wasn't used to carrying one around, accustomed to having everything at easy reach on my belt. But with the nature of such a mission, it would probably be better to have one.