Chapter Text
The 501st never reported back from Mandalore. It was one of the first things Vader asked about when he was coherent enough to remember and know something beyond the pain that’s become a constant of his new existence. Find them, he’d ordered Appo as soon as he heard. Do whatever it takes.
It didn’t take long before Vader received a report with the Tribunal’s last known location before the signal went dark. And then, taking a shuttle and a group of clones to assist, he takes off to go there himself. He needs to know why his boys never came back home, if they’re all really dead and how they ended up on an uninhabited moon in the middle of nowhere. If his master knew what he was doing, he would refuse to let him go, which is why Vader slips off without saying anything. Sidious doesn’t understand what the clones mean to him.
They were his vode during the Clone Wars. He was one of them, even if it wasn’t something they ever spoke about. They accepted him fully and completely when no one else ever did. Maybe he’s not Anakin Skywalker anymore, but Vader has not forgotten. He will not let harm come to his boys if he can do something to help them.
The Force feels heavy with death as they head down to the planet, and it’s all Vader can do to stay on his seat and not start pacing around – which would be very inadvisable given that he’s not wholly comfortable with his legs yet. They’re still… glitchy sometimes. It’s hard to keep his balance in the suit.
Finding the Star Destroyer itself isn’t that hard. It crashed on the planet’s surface, and the atmosphere in the area still looks clouded and hazy.
He can’t feel the temperature anymore. The last thing he remembers feeling was Mustafar’s heat, so he doesn’t know if it’s hot or cold here. It looks cold, he thinks, though he could be wrong. His visor shades everything red, and he wouldn’t know if those clouds are rain or snow. Neither have started falling yet.
The ground is coated with a thin layer of dust and ash, not as though he’s surprised to see it.
And a short distance away from the cruiser, his eyes fall on the rows and rows of helmets. All with Ahsoka’s markings, and all of them… gone.
There’s hundreds here. It looks like close to the same number of men he sent with her. And they’re all dead.
So, this, he thinks bitterly, is the final resting place of nearly everyone left in the 501st – everyone he sent with Ahsoka. The only thing that keeps him calm is that he doesn’t see Rex’s helmet as one of them, which means… he’s probably still out there somewhere.
Ahsoka’s lightsaber is here, too.
He doesn’t let himself think about what that means right now.
The Force twinges, not a warning, but something, and he turns abruptly to see two figures stumbling from the debris. His heart nearly skips a beat when he recognizes them. Jesse and Kix. Force, they’re alive. He’s moving towards them before he even registers it, stumbling a bit when his legs don’t quite move the way he’d anticipated.
“Troopers,” says Vader, inclining his helmet, even though all he wants to do is cry and scream, because they’re alive. And everyone else is dead. “Can you tell me what happened here?” He gestures towards the graveyard and debris, Ahsoka’s lightsaber in one hand. “Was it Maul?” That’s the only thing he can think of, because why would this have happened otherwise. A chill runs through him at the thought, as he wonders, if Ahsoka and Rex are alive but not here, are they hostages?
“Maul took down the cruiser,” Jesse reports, stance stiff, no recognition in the Force around him. It stings that he doesn’t know who Vader is. “We believe that Tano released him in her bid to escape after we were given Order 66.”
Vader blinks, confused. “I do not understand,” he admits. “Ahsoka was not a Jedi. You should not have been given instructions to harm her.”
“Rex told us our orders came directly from the Supreme Chancellor,” Jesse answers. “I regret being unable to fulfill our directive.”
It takes a full ten seconds for the words to sink in, and white-hot rage lights up his blood, burning through his veins. Sidious did what?! That – he – why?
And why is Jesse talking like that anyway? He knew Ahsoka. They all did. They respected her, looked up to her. Why is he… acting as though he doesn’t care about her anymore? Vader probes at him lightly with the Force, frowning when he realizes that the clones’ minds are strangely distant, hazed over, as if they’re not fully present. What happened to them? And why do they feel so angry?
Now that he’s thinking about it, the night of Operation Knightfall, the men with him might have felt similar, but he was too… numb to everything – unable to begin processing how everything was falling apart – to really think about it.
“The order was incorrect,” he snarls. “Ahsoka is not a traitor. She is not a Jedi. She would never conspire with either.”
“… General?” splutters Kix, shock flaring as his eyes run up and down Vader’s form, obviously searching for similarities between the man in front of him and the one he knew.
“… Yes,” Vader replies.
Jesse blinks. “What happened to you, sir?”
Too much is the answer, and bitterness and rage wash over him. “The Jedi happened,” he says shortly. “Are there any other survivors?”
“No,” Kix answers, shaking his head. “When we came to, we searched the debris, but we were the only ones. The Commander and Captain Rex stunned us before we could attempt to subdue them again, and when we woke up again… they were gone.” He’s radiating guilt now, and he feels more alert than he did before. It gives Vader hope that he’s himself again, and that whatever was affecting them before is lessening.
“Any further orders for searching for the surviving Jedi will come from me,” he orders, “Not the Emperor.”
Jesse and Kix glance at each other, but something about them seems to relax somewhat.
“Yes, sir,” Kix echoes.
“Why are you wearing armor?” Jesse asks, obviously confused, “And why is it black?”
***
New paint job or not, everyone scatters out of the way as Vader storms through the halls, his blue and white dyed cape billowing behind him as he moves. There is a smudge in the stripes where Jesse’s hand slipped into the wet paint, and Vader would mind it more if he wasn’t so touched that they took the time to personally help him claim his armor as his own. He flicks a hand at the throne room doors, wrenching them open and stalking inside.
“How dare you?” he thunders, vibrating with enough rage that he could bring down the whole building on his new master’s head for what he dared to do. The Dark Side licks at his heels, eager and pleased and waiting.
The incredulousness Sidious feels in the Force might have been amusing under some other circumstances. “What have you done to yourself?” he demands.
Vader doesn’t even bother looking down at himself. He doesn’t care much for the completed image, but he had taken great pleasure in seeing Jesse and Kix paint everything white, adding in blue highlights to signify him as truly one of the surviving 501st members. The front of the helmet was painted orange and white with Ahsoka’s markings, like the vode did for her when she came back. On his pauldrons ‘5 0 1’ is painted in blue, a proud symbol of his allegiances and loyalties – which will always be with the vode who accepted him as one of them.
He ignores the question. “You ordered my men to kill Ahsoka,” he snarls. “You know she is not a Jedi, and nor would she ever side with them after what they did to her. Explain yourself.”
“She betrayed you as well,” he replies, and the calm in his voice grates on Vader even more.
“You’re wrong,” he snarls, “She would never.”
“She has always been a Jedi at heart,” Sidious insists firmly, “And as such, she would have attempted to kill you immediately.”
“You don’t know her.”
“She left you,” he reminds, and Vader glowers at him. He aches to lash out again, but he still vividly remembers what happened last time. He won’t make the same stupid mistake twice. Not when he already knows he’d lose. “She has never been loyal to you. When the time came, she chose herself.”
He says it as if he’s honestly naïve enough to think Vader would have a problem with that anymore – Ahsoka is… she’s Ahsoka. She was… she mattered. She was always more important, the most important thing to him. And after what he’s become, after everything he’s done, how could he expect anyone to choose him? Obi-Wan didn’t.
Why should Ahsoka?
“You,” Vader intones, “Do not understand her importance to me. If you have a hunt on her, call it off. She is not a Jedi. Not anymore.”
“You forget your place,” Sidious answers coldly.
Vader only glares at him, not backing down.
“Tano was the apprentice of a Jedi. And now, she is a threat to the Empire. You are Darth Vader,” his master reminds.
He isn’t Anakin anymore. Vader knows that, that Anakin is gone, but that doesn’t mean the people who used to matter don’t still matter.
Nothing Sidious says will ever change that.
***
Of course, it was only a matter of time before he ran into someone else he used to know. Even so, he’s slightly surprised when he sees very familiar white and orange armor. Cody had been on Utapau. Vader had no idea if he survived.
Cody’s eyes widen when he sees him, and Vader feels a flicker of something akin to mirth and fond amusement in the Force as Cody nods to him. “General Skywalker,” he greets formally.
“That is not who I am anymore,” he replies. “You can call me Darth Vader.”
Cody quirks an eyebrow at him. “Okay,” he answers, “Vader.” His confusion at the… change is obvious on his face and in the Force, but he doesn’t ask, thankfully. “What’s with the armor?”
“It is a life-support suit,” he corrects flatly, because he would never choose to wear fancy armor like this of his own.
He feels the flicker of muted horror in the Force. “What… happened?” Cody asks.
He does not want to explain this again, doesn’t want to talk about it, but Cody is asking, and Obi-Wan was his General and he… deserves to know. “Obi-Wan happened,” he replies, “We fought.”
Cody’s obvious consternation only grows. “He hurt you? We had orders to eliminate him. I thought he was… gone.” He sounds almost confused.
“Obi-Wan never stays dead,” Vader tells him, and that’s the most he can manage to say about his former master right now. He doesn’t want to think about Mustafar, even if he can’t stop thinking about it, either.
“I should have known that fall would never kill him. We never found a body.” Cody huffs out a breath, and Vader can’t help noticing that same… feeling on him as all the clones right now, even if it doesn’t seem nearly as prominent on him.
“Falling would not kill a Jedi,” Vader points out, and with a million flashbacks to the Clone Wars, can’t help thinking that it doesn’t much kill anybody, actually.
“If he’s out there, we will still find him eventually,” Cody says, a certain edge of determination in his voice.
Vader doesn’t want to think about that. He’s not ready to even think about facing his former master again, not so soon. Not when he can’t even walk properly yet. Can hardly stand, but he does it anyway, because he has to. Instead, he just says, “I’m impressed you survived.” Because he is. Obi-Wan wouldn’t even have thought twice about killing them, and why would he? He’d always save himself, first. That’s what all Jedi do.
“I’m… glad you’re still here,” Cody admits, “I thought you were gone, too.”
“I chose to remain loyal to the Empire,” Vader tells him. The Empire, which he’d… supported for years. Maybe his whole life.
He just didn’t expect it to turn out quite like it is. He thought… but expecting anything more were the childish dreams of someone who still had a family. (He does, too. Here. Even if he doesn’t believe that just yet.)
Cody nods. “For what it’s worth, sir, I… am sorry to hear what happened.”
It changes nothing, but it still… helps to know that, for some reason, the clones still care, even when everyone else in his once family is gone.
He doesn’t know why they do, but then again, they have always been loyal that way, even when that loyalty isn’t returned. And it’s not as if Vader can truly say he’s loyal to anyone, either.
***
The 501st still serves directly under Vader. It’s… different now, because they’re not actively fighting in the war, and Rex’s absence is the most glaring of all. Vader tries not to think about him. It doesn’t work most of the time.
Echo and Fives and Rex are gone now. Cody’s still here, but he can’t stop wondering for how long?
Jesse and Kix stick close to him at all times whenever they have a chance.
He doesn’t entirely know how long it’s been since Mustafar, since the rise of the Empire, but after word got out about him, about the 501st, other clones who lost their generals, and even some who didn’t, have been sending in requests to join, which are all granted, the transfer orders shuffled and buried so no one can figure out what’s really going on.
Vader is lax with them intentionally, mostly just to spite Sidious, if he’s being honest. And he never thought twice about it until, of all people, Fox joins.
Jesse and Kix find it amusing. Vader does, too. It is – because the leader of the Coruscanti Guard joining the 501st really is amusing. Vader’s being sent out on his first mission to hunt a Jedi since Operation Knightfall, he invites all four of them to come with him as backup.
Fox repainted his armor. That’s becoming increasingly common now that their General did it. Vader’s noticed, and he’s ridiculously smug about that, but seeing Fox still caught him a bit unprepared. He’s changed his armor colors from red to purple – at least Vader thinks it’s purple, though he could be wrong, because he can’t see colors much anyway – and there are… Mando’a scribbles all over his chest plate armor.
Vader does not want to know what it says. (It doesn’t really matter, as long as it annoys Sidious, does it?) Well, technically, he’d asked Jesse once, who’d immediately cracked up – something so uncommon for him now that it instantly made him suspicious. He’d translated a couple words, enough for Vader to get the idea that it’s a series of slurs and swears against Sidious. He didn’t ask again.
He doesn’t have to look far for the Jedi when they finally reach the planet. Kirak Infil’a has no intention of hiding – he’s standing at the top of a cliff, staring down at them as they approach. “You,” he says, accusingly, “You stink of darkness. Was it you?”
Vader doesn’t bother to answer, reaching out with the Force, wrapping it around his neck.
Except the Jedi lashes out violently, with surprising strength, shoving against him. It throws him off balance, and he nearly falls – only because he’s still getting used to moving in his armor.
The clones instantly raise their blasters, and he can feel their anger. But if they intervene now, the Jedi will likely kill some of them, and he will not let that happen. He forces himself upright immediately, no matter how much it hurts – ignoring the way Kix’s helmet lingers on him, his worry obvious. He’s… briefly seen Vader’s condition and was very unhappy that he’s not been resting and recovering since. Not that there’s time for that.
“You will not defeat me that way, creature,” the Jedi calls back, “You will not defeat me at all. Your use of the Dark Side confirms my suspicion but let me ask again. Not long ago, through the Force, I felt the death of almost every Jedi. That darkness resonates within you. Did you do it? Did you kill them?”
“Yes,” Vader says unwavering. It was him – he did what needed to be done, no matter how deeply he loathes himself for it.
The Jedi is angry, of course, not that Vader is remotely surprised by that. It’s not as if any of the Jedi are good at ‘letting go’ like they preach of, at least not in any of the right circumstances. But if it means ignoring people who need their help? Oh, yes. And what was that, again? His mind must’ve wandered somewhere in the middle, because he has no idea what the Jedi is talking about right now.
“I will await you at the summit, beast,” the Jedi finishes, “On the highest ground. Come, seek me out.”
“Too afraid to come down?” Jesse asks, voice full of fury, “He’s not the only one willing to stop traitors, you –” The rest is a string of words in Huttese and Mando’a that Vader doesn’t stop to listen to, and just starts climbing.
Except, he doesn’t get far when the Force flares in warning. Water pours out of a crevice in the rocks, right on them, and Vader reaches out instinctively to shield all of them. In his already exhausted state, it’s hard.
He shouldn’t have brought them.
Finally, he throws all of them to safety on a ledge above, before jumping there himself – in Anakin’s body, it wouldn’t have been hard, but he almost wasn’t fast enough. The water flooding below could have drowned all of them.
“We’ll get that Jedi,” Jesse says, angrily, and far from all of it a strange amplification by… whatever it is Vader’s sensing has been wrong with them.
All the other clones – especially Fox – just as strongly echo the sentiment in the Force.
But they don’t get further before several huge vultures swoop for them. The clones start shooting, but the birds nearly eat them in the process. He’s able to chase them off, but only after they take off with half of his cape, too. Jesse and Kix spent a long time dyeing it for him, and he is very, very much not appreciative that it was ruined and immediately adds that to the list of reasons he wants to finish this particular mission.
“Almost there, creature,” the Jedi mocks, as they ascend the last stretch of rock, “Almost to the top. Keep going. I –”
Fox and Kix are the first to fire at him, but the shots nearly hit them when he deflects them. Vader hurls him back with the Force, lunging forwards. There’s a droid nearby, and he crushes it, taking its electrostaff to attack the Jedi.
He’s a Jedi Master, though, and he’s… powerful. It doesn’t help that it’s the first fight Vader’s ever had in this body, and he’s not ready for it. Every move is agonizing, and –
“How did you end the Jedi?” Infil’a asks, pressing his attack, “It seems impossible. You are weak. You could not have done it alone. There must be someone else –”
“There is,” Cody cuts in, and all the clones start shooting, right as the Jedi knocks Vader to the ground.
Infil’a falls, and Vader pauses to look at his… missing leg. Something else he managed to damage.
And why are they still shooting?
Since when did he need to tell members of the 501st to stand down from shooting at already fallen droids? Not that he can’t relate to the feeling; the Jedi never do seem to die though. Because he completely understands the urge to totally pulverize them just to make sure they won’t come back in about five minutes, but this is ridiculous.
Also, he’s going to ignore the stupid, petty, childish part of his mind that wonders how long they’ll keep shooting on their own.
“Stand down,” he offers very uncertainly.
All four of them freeze, then slowly lower their blasters and look at him. It’s insane how much it reminds him of Echo, Fives, and Ahsoka when he caught them doing something extremely stupid and childish.
“You’re injured,” Kix realizes, a moment later, practically teleporting to his side.
“It is easily fixable,” Vader objects. Because that’s all they can do to him now. Put his parts back on, like he’s a droid. He’s hardly better than one.
“You should not be fighting in this condition,” he replies.
“This mission was from the Emperor,” Vader reminds.
“Then I’ll be taking this right to him,” the medic promises, fiercely. And it’s very rare to see him irked about anything. Kix has always been very good-natured. Anakin always liked that about him. Vader… feels the same.
Jesse and Cody leave to get the ship – even though Vader could fix his leg and walk on his own, but Kix is insistent they do the connections properly and give him a proper replacement – so he waits here, with the other two.
Fox stands awkwardly to the side before heading back to the ship, and the others follow, a little slower, but still. And it’s not until on the way back to Coruscant that Vader somehow finds himself alone with the clone – he doesn’t know where the others are right now, and that says a lot about his presence of mind, or rather, the complete lack thereof.
“When you have another mission of hunting down the Jedi, I would like to participate, sir,” Fox says, finally.
The comment is… slightly surprising. Aside from when they got carried away shooting that Jedi, none of the clones so far seem to necessarily want to hunt the Jedi. They’re merely following orders, the same way Vader was, whether they have questions or not. But Fox seems to have an actual desire to do so. “Your dislike for the Jedi seems… personal,” he notes idly.
The distinct flare of bitterness he feels is almost surprising. “They were on Coruscant, right here with us,” Fox replies, “But they were oblivious of how my brothers were treated.”
Vader… doesn’t know what he means, either. Not exactly. He knows that clones weren’t looked upon highly by most people, but never what it was like for the Coruscanti Guard in particular. No wonder Fox requested transfer the moment he had a chance.
Silently, he vows to find a way to make this better.
He will help them, all of them. They deserve better, and even if it means he angers Sidious to help them… he’ll do it. They gave him a home, a place to belong, once upon a time. Now, he has a chance to give them autonomy when most Imperials see them as living, expendable droids.
***
Vader is hiding in the barracks with his boys, idly exchanging stories from the war with Jesse and Kix and some other clones who are nearby, including Wolffe, who’s doing most of the talking right now. Yes, he might be trying to hide from Sidious just to be petty; what of it?
The door slides open, but the conversation hardly even dies down as Cody walks in. It’s not until another clone follows him, one who’s not been in here before, that they quiet, and all eyes turn towards him. For a moment, no one speaks.
“Hey, General,” Cody says casually, helmet tucked under his arm, “Just got back from Desix, and I thought I’d bring this one here.” He jabs a thumb in the clone’s direction, and Vader stills as it fully sinks in just who it is. Crosshair. A member of Clone Force 99, the squad that Echo joined after they rescued him from Skako Minor.
Vader – back in the Clone Wars, as Anakin – knew them. Not for long, and they hadn’t been close, but they bonded fast. More than that, they stayed with him, fought with him when he went to rescue Echo. And after, when all was said and done, they took Echo in, accepted him as one of their own.
They gave Echo something that Anakin himself would never have been able to, for all that he would try, and he’s forever grateful to them for that.
But if Crosshair is here, where are the other four? Where is Echo?
They used to be close. They were, and it doesn’t make sense for one of them to be here alone, unless… something happened to them. And Vader does not want to believe something happened to Echo.
He pushes himself upright from his previous position, half-lounging on a bunk. “Crosshair,” he states, surprised. He looks behind him, but he’s the only one there. The clone in question seems frozen, uncertain, eyes darting around as he takes in the number of clones who are present as well as Vader himself. But he’s alone. The rest of his squad isn’t here, and Vader feels a pang at that. “Where are the others?”
Crosshair shifts, a myriad of emotions flickering across his face too fast for Vader to catch, but he can still sense the pain, the bitterness. “They’re… gone.”
He doesn’t mean dead. Vader can sense that. He doesn’t feel grief, which he knows would be more than just a little prominent if they were dead. But then where are they? “Where did they go?” Where’s Echo? It’s what he really wants to ask, but he doesn’t because it’s too raw and vulnerable.
“They’re traitors,” Crosshair answers. “They left the Empire after Order 66 came through.”
“Figured you’d want to see him,” Cody says, “Thought he’d be safer here, with the rest of his squad gone.”
“Of course,” Vader replies firmly, looking at Crosshair, “You are welcome to join my legion.”
“Try army,” Jesse says dryly, and Kix elbows him.
“I… I need to think about it,” Crosshair tells them.
“Oh, by the way,” Cody speaks up, smoothly turning the focus away from Crosshair, “I might be in a little bit of trouble for disobeying orders.”
Vader narrows his eyes, anger stirring within him. “Tell me who,” he orders, “And I will deal with it at once. They touch you, they die.”
“Already filed the report,” Cody answers. “You should have access, too.”
There’s a pause in the conversation, and Vader tries to pick it up where it left off. He used to be good at this, making small talk with his men, but it’s… somehow, it seems harder now that he’s so different. But then, these are different times. Nothing is the way it once used to be. “So,” he finally settles on, picking something which will hopefully make Crosshair feel more included – he knows that Clone Force 99 often had trouble getting along with the regular clones, or the ‘regs’ as they called them. “Remember the time when we went to that snowy planet and didn’t have our winter gear, because Echo and Fives blew it up?”
Crosshair chokes. “Echo did what?”
Jesse snorts. “Please don’t talk about it. I nearly froze to death.”
“You did not,” Kix rebuts firmly. “You didn’t even get frostbite.”
“How could I forget,” Cody says dryly, “When you complained about it the entire time and made General Kenobi grumpy about it, too.”
“He didn’t need a reason to be grumpy,” Vader deadpans, feeling the familiar anger and resentment and bitterness rising up at the reminder of his former master. “He just was.”
The Commander huffs. “Point. But they were your men; you were still responsible for them.”
Vader jabs a finger at Cody. “I told them repeatedly to stop juggling the grenades in the storage room. They did not listen. It was not my responsibility to babysit them, and I have no responsibility for the fact that Echo thought he could outcompete Fives for some bizarre reason and ended up tossing a grenade into our storage supplies.”
Kix cracks up, and so do a number of the other nearby clones.
Crosshair huffs out an amused breath. “And here I thought Echo was the most rule-abiding of our squad. Hunter would have skinned us alive if we’d done that. … There was… an incident once, and he nearly did, and it wasn’t half as bad as that.”
Jesse scoots forward. “Ooh, tell us about it!”
Yeah, Crosshair will fit in with them very well.
***
So maaaybe Vader decided to have a lunch meeting with some of the clones just to avoid the Imperial Palace. If he did, Sidious doesn’t need to know that. And no, he’s not eating, because he can’t eat anymore, but they’re still… having lunch together. It helps that he’s been given some leave time, because Kix decided that his condition was bad enough to warrant taking his complaints to the Emperor himself.
Vader had never in his life thought Kix was scary until that moment, when he calmly and concisely presented Sidious with a very long list of all the things that he said will probably happen to Vader, leading to his death in a few years, if he doesn’t receive the proper treatment. Even now, Vader’s uncertain if his master agreed to the leave time request because he was genuinely as unsettled by Kix as Vader was, or if it’s because he was getting annoyed by the lengthiness of the presentation.
It lasted for two hours and thirty-seven minutes before Sidious cut it off.
So, anyway, now here he is with Kix, Jesse, Cody, and Crosshair, who did opt for a transfer, watching a Riot Race in a VIP officer lounge room on Vader’s Star Destroyer. They could have watched a pod race, since Vader always prefers them, but he’s seen all the interesting pod races already, several times over, so he thought he’d pick something a little… different.
He’s in the middle of talking on top of the announcer, explaining how the race works, when Crosshair suddenly jolts upright, spluttering, radiating incredulous shock into the Force. “What the kriff?”
Vader turns his head towards the screen to see another one of the pods, and at first glance, he doesn’t see anything special about it, even as the announcer’s words filter into his mind.
“– on this guy? No? I guess he’s a late arrival.”
He focuses on the racer in question, and ah, okay, yeah… that is not ideal. “Is that…?” he begins slowly, disbelieving.
“What in the name of the galaxy are they doing?” Crosshair yells at the screen, glaring like it personally offended him. “Is that live?”
“Yes,” Cody confirms, raising an eyebrow at Crosshair.
The race begins, but Vader is more focused on typing on his datapad, tracking it. “It is currently happening in Safa Toma on the planet Serolonis,” he reports.
“Tech isn’t a racer,” Crosshair says through gritted teeth, still glaring, “Clearly, I leave, and they lose whatever sanity they possessed.” He thunks his head onto the table in front of him, narrowly missing his plate.
“… Are you okay?” Vader regrets the question as soon as it’s out of his mouth.
“No.”
“Okay, woah, hold on,” Jesse interrupts. “Should I mobilize the Star Destroyer so we can go there to get them?”
“Do it,” Vader orders, and Jesse reaches for his comm to start typing.
Cody sighs. Loudly. Like he’s dealing with toddlers. Vader takes offense to that. “Do you have a way of contacting them?”
“… I can try their old comm channels,” Crosshair offers, frowning. “It might not work though.”
By unspoken agreement, they all move – practically teleport actually – to Vader’s office. Crosshair takes the seat at the desk, slamming the buttons to make the transmission harder than he needs to, but Vader is too busy turning on the live feed with Kix’s help to care.
“Is he still alive?” Jesse asks morbidly, and Crosshair gives him a glare hot enough to melt durasteel. Vader is glad he wasn’t on the receiving end of it.
“Yes,” Cody answers, “And he – is that Wrecker?!”
Crosshair growls. “They’re not answering their comms.” He slams the button to redial. Again. And again.
Vader looks back at the race and away from the destruction of his desk. He’ll deal with it later, rewire it if necessary.
At least the pods here are closed-in, unlike the ones Vader used to race in. Though, the blaster shots being exchanged make it hardly any less dangerous. He can feel Crosshair’s fear, as they watch Tech’s progress.
“Tech’s got a vaporization wish and has removed all of his weapons!” calls the announcer.
“What is he doing?” growls Crosshair.
“They were likely slowing him down,” Vader offers. He’s been in enough races to know that being light and small is most important.
Sure enough, Tech’s moving much faster now, and streaks into a tunnel that everyone’s been avoiding, someone else immediately following.
“Looks like a couple blaster brains took the ole ‘Nellis Express to Lotho Minor’! A bold move. Let’s see how this pans out.”
“What does that mean?” Jesse asks, dubious.
“That they’re about to end up in the trash heaps there?” Kix offers, which does very little to improve Crosshair’s obvious mood as he jams redial again.
Except, Tech streaks out the other end – he’s the only one who does – rapidly closing in on the other racers. The others are growing increasingly desperate and aggressive, though. Tech could easily be killed here, because racing is not something clones are trained to do.
Something explodes as the speeders streak out the other side, but the cloud of dust and smoke is too thick to make out who until the last speeder makes it over the finish line. “And the winner is… Tech!”
Vader can feel Crosshair’s relief, even if he still looks very annoyed, repeatedly jamming redial. “If they don’t pick up, either they’re ignoring me, or Hunter and Echo went and got themselves killed, which is why Tech thinks this is a good idea,” he growls under his breath.
“The Star Destroyer is ready to leave,” Jesse reports. “Should we go?”
“Is that really necessary?” Cody asks tiredly.
“Yes,” Vader and Crosshair echo in unison.
Kix snorts.
“We’re going to bring them back with us,” Vader adds, because Echo is there. He’ll meet him again shortly, and he can feel the rising anticipation and hope inside of him. Maybe he lost many of his boys, but he’s forming new bonds and piecing together those who are left. He won’t rest until he brings Echo back to him, and the Bad Batch back to Crosshair. They deserve to be together; they’re family.
“… What if they don’t want to come?” Cody points out.
Vader turns to Jesse, ignoring the question entirely. “Give the order. We’re leaving.”
Crosshair slams the redial button again with a snarl that would probably make even Sidious himself cower. “What are they even thinking?” he hisses. “They should know better than to get involved in something that’ll give them so much publicity!”
At that very moment, only minutes after the Star Destroyer makes the jump to hyperspace, a staticky connection is established. The hologram is fuzzy and indistinct, the voice on the other end choppy. “Echo, get out of the ‘fresher!” It sounds like Hunter, and that’s all they hear before the connection fizzes out.
Crosshair punches the desk.
“Please try not to hurt yourself,” says Kix dryly, at the same moment Jesse says, “what did the General’s desk ever do to you?”
Vader would laugh if he was still capable of it, but instead, his respirator just continues to rhythmically cycle as they wait for the transmission to go through.
It takes a few minutes before a connection is established, and Vader – and the others, except Crosshair – stay out of sight of the transmission field. The look of incredulity on Hunter’s face is priceless. “Crosshair?” he splutters. “Why – why are you calling us? Is –”
Whatever he was about to ask is lost in Crosshair’s outburst. “What the kriff are you thinking getting involved in racing?!”
Hunter blinks. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Tech,” Crosshair enunciates through gritted teeth, “Is currently involved in a live race which I just saw. What were you thinking?”
Echo shows up in the field, and Vader almost can’t breathe for a moment. He’s there. He’s alive. He’s okay. He wants to step forward to talk to him, but… not yet. Crosshair comes first. “What are you talking about? We left Tech and the others in a safe place.”
“A safe place,” Crosshair sneers, “Right on live holofeed.”
Hunter and Echo exchange looks. “They had better not be,” Hunter states, and he sounds totally done. “I’ll have to comm them to find out.” He hesitates. “I – uh… thanks for telling me. Somehow, I don’t think I would have found out otherwise.”
There’s an awkward pause, and Crosshair makes a face, obviously searching for words, before Echo, Vader thinks it was, disconnects the call. He’s not sure who’s disappointment is stronger between his and Crosshair’s – probably the latter, because he’s been separated from his brothers, the ones he grew up with, and Vader can’t imagine how he’s even been handling it. He steps forward, awkwardly touching the clone’s shoulder.
“We’ll find them,” he promises.
And now that they have a live trail, it’ll be that much easier.
Tracking down where the races are on Safa Toma is simple enough, but the rest of Crosshair’s squad is already gone. But they’re still able to get a lead from another race member – that they’re working for Cid on Ord Mantell. Oddly enough, the same person Vader’s gone to in the past for information during the war. Probably Echo’s doing that they ended up working for her.
Vader, Crosshair, and a few of the others take a shuttle for the surface, except they aren’t anywhere close when he spots the Marauder – Crosshair’s squad’s ship – taking off, clearly in a hurry.
They try to hail it, except the Marauder still isn’t picking up their call, no matter how many times they keep hailing them. Until finally, after the sixth time, they do.
“What do you want?” Hunter’s voice asks, distinctly wary and unhappy.
“We came for you,” Crosshair replies, leaning forward, “Since you are clearly not safe out there on your own.”
“We’re not joining the Empire,” Echo replies sharply, fiercely.
It hurts to hear his voice; for a time, Vader didn’t know if he’d ever see him again.
And then, the call promptly disconnects.
“Echo –” Vader starts, but it’s too late.
Crosshair’s about to very unhappily hit redial when the Marauder streaks into hyperspace.
… So much for that. Disappointment floods Vader instantly. They were so close, but they’re gone now, and they certainly won’t be coming back to Ord Mantell. Which means he has no way of finding Echo anymore, or of reuniting Crosshair with the rest of his squad.
“I told you we shouldn’t have gone with a Star Destroyer,” Cody deadpans. “They probably thought we were coming to capture them. Or worse.”
“Then why didn’t you say so?” Vader demands, rounding on him.
“I did!”
“No, you didn’t!”
“Yes, I did!”
“No, you didn’t!”