Jedi Fugitive (The Bad Batch)

90:

Astera:

Batcher, as what seemed to be usual now, had taken the lead, bounding ahead to sniff around for any potential threats, returning to one of us for a supporting pat on the head or neck before running off again and repeating the whole process all over. With the threat of the Empire's transports overhead, we were tense, blasters gripped tight and jerking towards every rustle of leaves or creak of tree branches that echoed in the jungle. I kept easy pace beside Omega - I'd be damned if I was letting her out of my sight with the Empire so close and knowing they were after her.

"So what's going on with you and Hunter?" Thread asked suddenly, falling back to walk with me and Omega. I nearly tripped over my own feet in surprise, blasters lowering momentarily as I turned to stare at him.

"You know?"

He snorted. "Oh, please. I'm not blind. Anyone could see there's something going on between you two."

"I told you," Omega said, turning a cheeky grin towards Thread. "She's his girlfriend."

"Omega's right, I suppose." Even trying to define it sounded weird, but I had so little experience with the entire thing I had no idea what to say about it. It didn't stop me from smiling like an idiot, though, glancing at Hunter like I did so often now. His back was still to us, but his head had turned ever so subtly to the side, and I knew he was listening in. "I don't know what to call it."

"What happened to the Jedi not having attachments?"

"Well, I'm not really a Jedi anymore, am I?" I motioned to Omega, still plodding along beside us and pretending not to listen. "Kid here is like my own now."

Thread chuckled lowly and shook his head in wry humour. I cocked my head at him, eyes narrowing in confusion.

"What?"

"You've gone and found yourself a family, vod'ika."

I had to stop again to consider that. It felt even weirder defining it like that, but 'squad' didn't really cover it anymore either. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess I have."

Batcher's barking drew our attention, the dog turning to direct her yaps towards the sky. Now I could feel the closeness of the Imperial ships, the whine of their engines growing steadily louder. They'd caught up with us.

"I hear it too," Hunter told her, just as the Rho transport soared over the tree tops and above our heads, glaring headlamps casting blinding white light on everything around us and immediately giving away our position. We were forced to take cover behind various boulders as it swerved around in the sky, hovering right between us and the extraction point to let their forces rappel in. Even from here I could see the glowing blue visors of clone commandos and the distinctive helmet shapes of regs among the TK troopers. The Empire was pulling out all the stops to get Omega back.

"We have to knock through their line to reach the extraction point!" Rex called over from the other side of the small pathway we'd been walking for nearly an hour. They outnumbered us two to one, and it would be more than difficult to level the playing field with just our blasters before they could call for backup. But I didn't just have blasters at my disposal.

"No more laser swords," Hunter hissed to me quietly, catching my wrist when I started to reach for them. "You're at enough risk as it is."

Me being at risk was less important than getting Omega off this planet if the Empire really was after her - but I reluctantly nodded and grabbed my blasters again. He did have a point. For now. But if it came down to it, I'd rather it be me who was taken instead of her.