singingwhilebaking

Latest Posts by singingwhilebaking

Theyre having a good time!😊

Ms Fangirl & Friends: Vacation Time!

Nothing crazy. Just a vacation for our favorite clones and friends

@zaya-mo @the-sith-in-the-sky-with-diamond @ladykatakuri @marierg @thecoffeelorian @salubriousbean

Oh wow! 😲

by primpaul

He looks so cool!!! 😍

That tea set is so pretty!

😎 swag

As someone who is very light-sensitive and has bright light as one of their migraine triggers, I strongly headcanon that a big part of why Crosshair is scowling all the time is because most light bothers him. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

I love this art style! She looks so sqishable!

I binged all of The Bad Batch a few weeks ago! Omega's a wonderful character ^^

So what did I do? Put a flower crown on her

The cherries and the bow! Adorable! 🥰

cake from @geminicakedesign on ig

Oh no! Not the mutiny!

Clone Wars era Bad Batch but it's Jimmy Neutron quotes

Source: The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius S1 Ep 5A: Raise the Oozy Scab

Poor Hunter. She still See's you as the best brother

Hunter’s fine. He’s fine. He’s absolutely ok.

I wish my hair was wavy like that 😞

You know what we should have seen in The Bad Batch?

Hunter dealing with what humidity does to his hair while living on Pabu.

Protect the children!

Some weeks are just harder than others, man…

Oooooh that is sooo pretty!

I never thought of it like that🤣

The more that I think about the early episodes of TBB S3, the funnier they get to me. Like

First we have Crosshair, who is really getting to know Omega for the first time. His only real interactions with her in the past have involved his brothers being EXTRA protective of her, so in his head Omega is probably just this poor, scared, naive little kid. And then one day she just pulls up to his prison cell and is like “what’s up, loser, we’re getting out of here” and then proceeds to sneak him out of a high security government lab under the nose of the emperor himself (she knows our battle plans?? Of course she knows all of our battle plans, that’s a normal thing to teach a 12 year old…) Not to mention the fact that Omega gambled in a bar and won more credits than either of them had probably ever seen in their lives, so that they could bribe the space TSA into getting them off world (WHY does the kid know how to gamble). Not that Crosshair is in any position to judge someone’s parenting, but he has QUESTIONS.

Omega, meanwhile, is for the first time getting the full Crosshair Experience, complete with every bit of sarcasm, snark, and sass that the man has been bottling up on Tantiss, and she is not having it. No, Crosshair, I don’t really know how to fly this shuttle, why don’t you quit your backseat flying and get your butt up here and do this yourself? No, Crosshair, we cannot open fire on civilians in an airport, I thought that was just an inhibitor chip thing for you. No, Crosshair, we are NOT LEAVING OUR MAN-EATING HOUND ALONE AND UNSUPERVISED ON A RESIDENTIAL PLANET.

And then you have Hunter, who hasn’t been thinking clearly for five months and who probably is living off a diet of spiked lemonade and sour patch kids (to match the bitterness inside him), who went from thinking “oh yeah we’re gonna settle down on Space Greece” to “Wrecker, that one crime syndicate called us back, if we murder this one guy for them then they MIGHT give us some info on Omega, wheels up in 10”

And poor Wrecker finds himself as The Responsible Adult for the first time in his life, which is incredibly confusing and a little bit scary and Hunter, you are TOO CLOSE to the edge of that cliff!! He’s never really believed in vegetables before but Echo says they’re good for you so he spends every moment that he’s not trying to keep Hunter from starting a second interplanetary war over the disappearance of his kid attempting to convince Hunter to try an apple or something.

And then it all culminates in this very tense, dramatic moment where they’re all staring at each other and Omega is like “yay now we can all get therapy!” and Wrecker is like “Echo come back I can’t do this on my own anymore” and Hunter is like “you can’t commit fratricide in front of the kid, you can’t commit fratricide in front of the kid” and Crosshair is like “TAKE YOUR SCARY CHILD BACK” and if that’s not peak Bad Batch then I don’t know what is

Crosshair looks so happy up there😊

Crosshair loves to climb and Omega loves to tell him about the adventures they’ve been on | The Bad Batch happy on Pabu Series | x

Me every time I look at my nieces shoe's.

Why are growing up?! STOP!😭

Okay so what if when the batch are just hanging out in their ship laying low and they pass by a pair of Omega’s shoes and they’re just so tiny in comparison to their big feet so they’re just like:

😳 that's an honorable man🫡

Since there are a lot of things that Tech does and says that remind me of my grandfather, and I often will take things my grandfather does or some of his quirks and give them to Tech in my writings or headcanons, I must propose this:

Tech, although yes he does snark and sass and complain about things, is really rather calm and mild-mannered, but all of that chill goes out the window the SECOND someone disrespects or is rude to his wife Phee.

I can't get over how cute they are! Big brothers watching over little sister 😊

✨ Nerra ✨

I want to squish the old dog🥰

@cheffebear love this idea 😆 Gonky is an old, fat, and blind beagle. Wrecker takes care of him, and feeds him too many table scraps.

Batcher is a guard dog that Omega “liberated” (stole) from the Cornwall Oil Factory.

Still taking requests! Keep ‘em coming!

Bad batch x Red Dead Redemption crossover AU

Awww!! They're so cute together! 🥰

✨Tech and Phee: Outlaws to the end✨

Bad Batch x Red Dead Redemption crossover AU

Ooooh! Tore is a Jedi? Well, I guess that makes sense.

Bad Batch Fanfiction

Plot: an alternate route if Crosshair went with them after Tapoca City was destroyed. The Batch has to navigate with their estranged brother and his ideology of the Galactic Empire, while helping a few seemingly hidden Jedi and their dragon friend rid a planet of a pirate that has taken over a small colony of refugees that fled from the Empire. The Jedi have a plan to get rid of the pirate and his gang, but it involves putting on a performance of singing and dancing, and they have the Batch perform along with them, much the guys embarrassment.

Warnings: hurt, comfort, sibling fighting, canon violence, mentions of blood, gore, death, and injuries, some mention of religion, some flirting, sibling affection, family bonding, in later chapters there will be mentions of abuse(those will have warnings in the beginning of the chapter and in tags(to the best of my ability)), and lots of singing. The boys will be singing.

Word count: 3,057

Chapter 3

"Oi! Mate!" Tore called back. "I still need you up here!" 

"Coming!" Hunter called out to him. Then he commed Tech. "Tech, are you there?"

"Loud and clear, Hunter." Tech replied. "What's the situation?"

"I need you to look up everything that you can on Hondo Ohnaka." Hunter started walking up the path, wary of his surroundings. "Also, I want you two to be on watch for anything suspicious or out of place. That weird energy I felt just turned off and I don't want to find out too late if it's actually a monster."

"Copy that." Tech commed off and began his search on Hondo, which wasn't hard to pull up, though filtering through the information was going to be a challenge. "Echo, I may need your help on this."

"Oh! Tech needs some assistance?" Echo teased as he came from the front.

Tech rolled his eyes. "With your ability to sort through information quickly, I need you to do some cross references on Hondo Ohnaka's files to see which lines up as true, plausible and false."

"Hondo?" A flash of familiarity crossed Echo's face. “I haven’t heard that name in a while. What’s he doing over here?” He plugged in his scomp and began his filing.

“Unsure, but he must have perceived something of value on this planet in order for him to subjugate the colony of people.” After a brief moment of research, Tech had his answer and shuddered after a quick read. “I found the items he sought to control the operations of.” His voice was pitched low in disgust.

“Well, what was he after?” Echo asked over his shoulder.

“‘The Harvesting of the Idaflor Drakears’.” 

It was then Echo’s turn to shudder. “You seriously need to work on your phrasing.”

“That’s not me explaining, this is me reading.” Tech explained dryly.

Echo unplugged and turned around in his chair to read what was displayed on Tech’s screen. “‘The Harvesting of Idaflor Drakears. Drakear hide, knives made from their claws, their scales, scales in fireproof armor form, their horns, horn knives, swords, their glands that produce the fire-’” Echo stopped reading out loud as the list went into more detail of the different listed parts of the Drakears that were for sale on the black market. Then the trade value for slaves. At that he stopped reading. "Kriff! This makes me sick!" He turned back to his computer to restart his sorting, with his stomach churning horribly inside of him.

“I agree with that statement.” Tech nodded.

Hunter's voice came through again. "Tech, have you found anything yet?"

"I found information about the Drakears on the black market with their listings and trade values. Hondo is certainly growing an empire of his own." Tech frowned in his chair.

"That's what Tore has been telling us." Hunter replied.

"Tore?" Both Tech and Echo asked.

"Ah, right, I forgot to mention him." Hunter shook his head. "Tore was the one who sent out the distress call. He was the one who started the settlement by accident and taught the people how to defeat the Drakears. Somehow Hondo caught wind of their operations and took over by force."

"Who is this Tore?" Tech asked, already looking him up.

"A human male, a bit on the short side, jolly personality, likes to wear brown, and he's a craftsman by trade."

"Is that all?" Tech raised an eyebrow.

Hunter stared at the man chatting away with Omega and Wrecker. There were not that many distinguishable features about this man other than his clothes that he couldn't quite place. He also wasn’t sure of one thing. "Honestly Tech, there's not much to say about him other than he reminds me of our military leaders." He tried to quietly emphasize.

"Hold a moment, Hunter." Tech called from his chair. "I think I got something on him."

"What is it?" He wondered if Tech heard his hint. 

"Hondo has him listed on the bounty hunters list of Targets, along with a human woman named Nara, a human boy named Russell, and a red monster."

"Really?" Hunter felt the presence of some people up ahead in front of the wall that led to the town of the settlement. "Hang on. We've got company." He quickly pulled out his blaster which prompted the others to do the same.

"You sense them, ey?" Tore glanced behind at Hunter with a sly smile. 

Hunter nodded. Then the others looked back at him. "Plan 7" was all he would say. Wrecker nodded and pulled his helmet back down over his face and moved to one side of Tore, while Crosshair made a noise of annoyance and moved to the other side, and Omega looked slightly confused as Hunter pulled her back towards himself. Now knowing Tore was on the bounty hunters list, it gave him an idea. He pressed his blaster into Tore's back and shoved him a bit.

"Hunter," Omega asked, "what's going on?"

"Hondo's men are right ahead." Hunter spoke low enough for her to hear, then spoke louder. "Our friend Tore here has a price on his head from Hondo."

"Bounty hunters." Tore chuckled darkly. "I should've known." He stood straighter and walked stiffly as his grip on the box tightened. "I know the price on my head is high, but if you help me, I can double it!" He almost sounded desperate, and the wind seemed to taunt him as a gust nearly blew his cap off, prompting him to catch it and nearly dropping the box of knives in the process.

"Trying to negotiate again, eh Tore?" Spoke a weequay that emerged from a tree, followed by fifteen more, all armed and ready to fire.

"I'm sorry, what was your name again mate?" Tore asked playfully as he readjusted his cap.

The weequay spat on the ground in front of Tore's boots. "You're late, Tore. Hondo doesn't tolerate lateness."

"Well you can blame these guys for slowin me down." Tore gestured at the bad batch. "I thought they were here to help. But I fell into their trap of fake friendship!" His voice sounded overly hurt.

"We're just making sure that he doesn't escape from you guys this time." Hunter added while adding an additional shove into Tore's back. Hunter hoped that Tore could perceive that this was a fake set up.

"Hand the knives over Tore." The weequay leader commanded the man. Tore dramatically held out the box in front of himself and dropped it with a thud on the ground, then kicked it over. "All of the knives." 

Tore snickered. "You want to repeat last time, mate?" He took out the Drakear knife and dropped it to the ground while leaving the small one in its sheath.

“All. Of. Them.” The weequay restated.

Tore’s brow came down and his smile twisted. "You should know by now the small one doesn't leave my side." The gleam of light that flashed in Tore's eyes made the weequay men stiffen.

The leader scoffed. "Do you really want to do that in front of the girl?" He pointed to Omega.

Tore shrugged. "Not really, seeing how she's a child, but I'm no stranger to fighting in front of slaves." Omega stiffened with a look of surprise on her face. What was Tore doing?

"A slave?!" Wrecker shouted at Tore, though was quickly punched by Hunter to keep quiet. "Ow!" 

"Oh, was that supposed to be a secret?" Tore glanced up at Wrecker with a raised brow. "Sure she may be armed, but you can always arm a slave if you've broken their will." Tore looked back at Hunter and Crosshair with a knowing look. "I say she has a case of Stockholm syndrome. Why else would they bring a child to a dangerous place?"

Crosshair had to bite his tongue in order not to laugh. Told ya so Hunter!  So he wasn't the only one who saw how dumb it was to bring a kid? 

Hunter, on the other hand, could still hear Crosshair's "told ya so" and dared not to look at his brother. Tore your helpfulness is not helping. "Shut up!" Hunter shoved Tore to the ground roughly, then whispered to Omega, "it's going to be okay." She nodded slightly as he placed a hand on her shoulder to convey ownership. "Yes she is a slave, but that's not why our business is here. We have Tore and want our reward." He made his voice even more gravelly to sell how serious he was.

The weequay leader studied the group for a moment and eyed Omega greedily. The ideas that swirled in his head. He could buy her for Hondo to be his little assassin once she was trained by him personally. Amongst other things. No one would suspect a cute little girl to suddenly attack. "I'll double the reward if you sell the girl to me." 

"No." Both Wrecker's and Hunter's answers were short. "She's irreplaceable."

"You would have to quadruple it at that point." Crosshair interjected. He could tell what the weequay man was thinking just with his eyes. How he wished he didn't have to restrain himself from ending this nerfherder.

"No slave is worth THAT much." The leader shook his head. "I'll triple it, plus a replacement slave, yeah?"

"What is going on here?!" Cried a male voice. "And where is Tore with my knives?!" The weequay men parted to let none other than Hondo Ohnaka through, with his hands behind his back and looking rather annoyed. He stopped and stared at the bad batch and then to the ground, his head tilted with confusion. "What's up with him?" He pointed both index fingers at Tore who was now laying on the ground spread eagle style with his eyes crossed. The bad batch stared at the man with great confusion while the weequay only shook their heads.

"There's an inch worm on the box!" Tore replied with a high pitched voice in wonder. 

There was a pause where no one moved or said anything. Not even the wind seemed to blow.

Omega didn't know that "awkward" could have a taste in the air, but it did and it was thick and dusty at the same time.

Hondo sniffed. "Oh well. Classic Tore, always distracted by the little things!" He suddenly clapped his hands. "Anyway, Have you rethought my proposal?"

"Yes." Tore replied normally while slowly pushing himself off the ground and dusted himself off. "We will be playing for you tomorrow night. Provided I don't die before then." He waved his arms at the two groups with a sly look on his face.

"Well that is provided if your red friend shows up also! Now with that out of the way, back to my current business!" Hondo rubbed his hands together as he strode over to the box and picked it up and shook it, knocking the inchworm off. He frowned slightly. "Is this all of them?"

"Yes." Tore nodded while crossing his arms. "You can double check, but you should know that I make good on my orders."

The batch looked at each other with more confusion as the exchange was happening. "Um Scuse us!" Wrecker bellowed. "Don't we get some sort of reward for his capture?"

Hondo looked up at Wrecker with surprise, as if he didn't notice him before. Then he sniffed as if he smelled something rotten. "I do believe the reward I have put up is for all four individuals and not just one. Though I seriously need to change that." He handed the box to one of his men. "It's risky business to give a reward for each one, as that could drain me of my wealth. For Tore here has a habit of sneaking away after his capture," Hondo walked over to Tore and patted his head. "And trust me my friend, you will be doing me a great service if you can catch all of them alive. But every bounty hunter that comes and tries, dies!"

"Why not just kill him?" Crosshair asked.

Hondo scoffed. "You don't think we've tried?" Then he laughed. "Oh no my friend, he is slimier than me, which is rather impressive, for I, the great Hondo Ohnaka have escaped worse situations than he has!" Hondo turned back to Tore and hoisted him up roughly before tossing him to his men. They quickly restrained him and had almost all of their blasters pointed at him. "But, I will consider giving you the full reward if you can capture or kill the boy, and bring me the red monster and the woman in his keeping. Only then!” He raised a finger to the sky, “will you have your reward." He picked up Tore's Drakear knife and studied it a bit. "It's amazing to see such craftsmanship, dedication, and honor from a man. Makes me almost wish I wasn't a pirate.” He chuckled. “Almost."

"Where would we find these other three?" Hunter asked.

Hondo pointed the knife back from where they came. "They're somewhere outside the Ring of Fire, almost due East of here. From what my men have gathered and the few that returned, there are traps all around their base of operations. Most impressive if I do say so myself."

"Why Thank you!" Tore called from being restrained.

"You're welcome Tore!" Hondo turned back to the man. "It's too bad you're not a pirate. We would've made a great team!"

"Too bad indeed." Tore chuckled. "I'll see ya tomorrow night." There was a bright flash of light that blinded the eyes followed by a deep throated roar that shook the ground and defended the ears. The men that held Tore yelled and shot their blasters wildly while the bad batch ducted and tried to find cover. Crosshair jumped to hide behind a nearby boulder while throwing off his helmet from the pain that seared into his eyes from the explosive light, wondering what in the world was ambushing them. Wrecker was knocked away by what felt like a tree trunk body slamming into him and nearly rendering him out of breath, and Hunter kept hold of Omega from behind a tree as best as he could while trying to fight the migraine that almost overwhelmed him from the flash of light and noise of the roar and of the weequay screaming.

"Catch it!" Hondo yelled at his men. "Catch it!!" Then he shouted, "Remember Tore! That every man I lose, you lose another villager!!"

"Hahaha! That will change soon Hondo!" Tore laughed from somewhere. "You’ll pay for what you've done here!" The batch heard running feet going past them and something large flew through the trees while producing a hot, swirling breeze. Hunter and Crosshair painfully opened their eyes and could vaguely see something large and red in the trees and saw Tore jumping from limb to limb from tree to tree with relative ease. The only time they saw someone jumping like that was during the war. Was Tore a Jedi? Crosshair wanted to test that theory and brought up his sniper and took a shot at Tore, who managed to deflect it with his smaller knife back at him. Crosshair dodged just in time as his bolt hit the boulder where his head was. This only made his suspicions more solid. He looked up to face Hunter and they both came to the same conclusion. This was a Jedi they were dealing with. One who had survived Order 66. 

"Aaaaand that is why I don't offer rewards for Tore's capture!" Hondo spoke up from behind them, waving Tore's knife at the escaping duo. Crosshair quickly retrieved his helmet and replaced it on his head before any of the weequay could see his face.

"What was that?!" Omega asked, still clutching Hunter as they stood up, though Hunter had to lean on her to keep himself steady.

"That my dear child, was the dragon Inferno!" Hondo looked down at her with an annoyed smile. "That is the real prize I am after. Without him, this entire operation of Drakear harvesting is non profitable." He looked over to where Wrecker was struggling to get up from the ground. "You might want to have your friend looked at. Armor or no, he took a strong hit from that beast."

"I'm okay!" Wrecker raised a hand with a thumbs up, still struggling to stand.

"He's had harder hits," Hunter spoke coldly as the migraine was nearly blinding him with pain. "Why is this dragon so important?"

Hondo's own eyes had a glint in them, a glint of greed. "He can tame the Drakears with ease and kill them just as easily. Didn't you wonder how this area was cleared of the beasts?"

"Yeah, we did." Omega answered quietly.

Hondo bowed slightly to be at Omega's height. "It's because the beasts are afraid of the dragon. He cleared them out and made this lot livable for all aliens. With that kind of beast under my control, I'll be richer than Dooku ever was! Hahaha!" Hondo laughed, making Omega grimace. At this moment Wrecker joined back up with Hunter and Omega while rubbing his sides, not exactly liking the situation anymore.

Crosshair stepped up to the laughing pirate. "Why didn't you list Tore as a Jedi?" His voice was low and hissy with annoyance.

"And have the Empire come here to my operations?" Hondo swung out his arms. "No my friend, that would be very bad for business. For all of us." He then turned back to his crew. "I'd rather not risk my men to that… That." He flung out a hand dramatically, not really sure which insult to call the Empire.

"Then tell us everything we need to know about what we're up against!" Hunter also stepped closer to Hondo, his hand squeezing a little too hard on Omega, at which she squeaked. He immediately released the pressure but resisted the instinct to withdraw his hand off of her, still trying to play the role of a slave owner. This whole trip was becoming more complicated with every second that passed.

Hondo looked between the two, sensing that there was some sort of power Hunter had over the girl. "Come back with me to my base of operations and I'll tell you what I know."

She's the favorite sibling 😊

Hunter: Crosshair isn’t answering his comm

Omega: I’ll comm him

Hunter: Echo and I have both tried six times each, what makes you think he’ll-

Crosshair: Hello?

I remember this!!! I was so grossed out as a kid😆

I want you all to appreciate the funniest clip in all of star wars: the clone wars (2003)

Accurate hat😊 he's so good

ANOTHER vision 🎣

😄 he would

crosshair text posts!!! mean girl on the outside soft boy on the inside!

tech | wrecker | omega | crosshair | echo | hunter

I sort of stumbled into this but this is well done! Sergeant Friendly? 😆 He sounds fun!

Part Ten

Words: 2,362

Summary: Senna is forced to enlist the help of an old friend when Crosshair contacts her from Barton-IV.

(This chapter has been up on Ao3 for a while, but I didn't realize I never shared it here!)

Missing

Imperial City

Unfamiliar beeping woke Senna from a restless sleep. Groaning, she rolled over to hit her chrono, blinking blearily when the sound didn’t stop. What? Finally registering the location of the noise, the doctor opened the drawer of her nightstand and pulled out her private datapad, cursing when it blinded her in the dark room. 

A tap had her lamp on as she squinted down at the alert on the pad, uncomprehending. Then she understood. The message was telling her that a beacon connected to the network had been activated, a distress call beaming through space to wake her here on Coruscant. 

Senna stumbled to her closet, clumsy with adrenaline as she dressed. She needed to get back to base. She needed to talk to Swoop.

Clone Commander Swoop was an old friend of the doctor’s from Kamino. When his squad had been caught in a terrorist bombing on Corellia, she had been the one to save his best friend and lieutenant, Instinct. The rest of his men had perished, but Swoop had felt indebted to Senna, promising her his help if she ever needed it. Well, today she did.

Senna tried to steady her breathing as she boarded the train that would take her back to base. She’d need a good excuse for coming back this late on her day off. She’d need a good excuse for visiting Swoop down at his office in Intelligence, where a doctor had no reason to be. But the panic that jumped in every muscle wouldn’t let her think about anything but him. Please. Please be alright.

In her agitated state, Senna hadn’t even considered that the commander might be sleeping, but he answered the door to his office on the first knock. 

“Doctor?” Swoop raised a scarred eyebrow at her look of anxiety as he let her in. “What’s the matter?”

“I’m so sorry, Swoop. I know it’s the middle of the night, it’s just—” Senna cut herself off with a nervous look around the room. Swoop snorted.

“It’s safe.” He motioned for her to sit. “You look like you need caf.”

Senna nodded, surprised to see that the machine was already brewing. She looked at him quizzically when he handed her a mug. “I saw you coming,” the grizzled commander smirked, pointing to one of the many monitors on his desk. “Now tell me what’s got you so upset.”

“Do you remember Crosshair? CT—”

“Nine-Nine-Zero-Four. Of course.” He nodded for her to go on. 

Senna twisted the mug in her hands. “Something’s wrong. He’s activated a distress beacon. Do you know—can you find out what’s going on?”

“A distress beacon?” The commander sat down behind his desk with a frown and pulled up a file on his console. “Says here that he arrived at a supply depot on Barton-IV this afternoon with a squad to deal with a cargo transfer. They’ve been having problems with raiders. Nothing about a beacon though.”

“Because it’s one I gave him.” Senna cringed as the spy raised an eyebrow at her. “After Kamino…”

Swoop grunted. “I heard about that. I’m sorry about the others.”

“If he’s in danger—”

The commander snorted again. “That’s kind of his job.”

“I know, but he wouldn’t have used that beacon if it wasn’t something really bad. Please, can you find out what’s going on?”

Swoop softened a bit at the desperate look on the doctor’s face. “Let me make a call.”

It turned out to be many calls. As Swoop investigated the source of Crosshair’s distress, Senna sat in the hard chair on the other side of his desk and waited, legs clamped tightly together to force herself not to get up and pace. Not that there was really room for it. The spy’s office felt more like a lair, piled high with electronic equipment and monitors that linked him to parts of the planet Senna didn’t even recognize. Clone Intelligence had been absorbed into the Empire's new intelligence bureau, the IIS, but apparently Swoop had been too valuable, too good at his job, to replace. At least not yet. 

Unable to glean anything useful from Swoop’s side of the conversations, Senna sipped distractedly at her caf and let her eyes wander over the room, stopping to smile when they found a framed holopic propped on a low shelf in the corner. She didn’t notice the commander had ended his call and was watching her as she stood to retrieve it, setting down her mug so she could wipe away the dust and examine the small faces within. 

“You ever think about that day?”

The doctor turned to see her friend’s sad smile. “Yes, of course.”

“Lot’s happened since then. Having them would’ve made it easier.”

Senna looked down at the men in the holo. Swoop’s old squad, before he’d gotten those twisted scars on his face, before Instinct had lost his arms, before the rest of them had been taken. “You wish you were still out in the field?”

“At least it felt like I was doing something worthwhile back then. These days…”

“I know.” Senna set the picture back and returned to the desk. “Did you find anything?”

Her stomach plunged at the grim expression on the spy’s face. 

“Finally got in contact with someone who could talk to his CO. Apparently, Crosshair and the clone commander of the squad that was stationed there have gone missing.”

Senna gripped the edge of the desk, suddenly off balance. “Missing?”

Swoop nodded. “They went after some raiders, ordered to retrieve stolen cargo from the shipment he was escorting. That was twelve hours ago.”

No, no, no— “Why haven’t they sent anyone after them?”

“Apparently there’s a blizzard. No one’s leaving the base. They can’t get short range comms through either, although it doesn’t sound like they were really trying.”

Senna stared at Swoop in horror. “You mean they’re out there? In the storm?”

The commander grimaced. “Sounds like it.”

She fell into the chair, stunned. This couldn’t be how she lost him. Not after everything they’d survived. 

Swoop stood and came around his crowded desk to kneel beside the doctor. “I’m sorry, Doc. They could still make it.”

Senna felt like she couldn’t breathe. “Y-you don’t—he wouldn’t have activated the beacon if he didn’t need help. He’s so stubborn. I made him promise—” As Swoop took her hand, Senna lifted the other to cover her mouth, squeezing her eyes tight against the tears. “I can’t—”

She didn’t see the way her friend’s face shifted from sympathy to resolve, but when his hand came up to grip her arm, the doctor opened her eyes to his gruff smile.

“Three years ago, I told you I owed you. And all I’ve been doing since then is sitting around here rotting. You want to see if we can get Crosshair back?”

An hour and a half later, Senna slipped into the shuttle hangar she knew Swoop would be leaving from, off to Barton-IV to find Crosshair and the other missing trooper. For years, the intelligence officer had directed other agents in the field from the safety of his office. Now, there was no one he could send but himself. Senna had seen the spark in his eye when the decision had been made, unsurprised at his pleasure in seeing action again. She trusted Swoop with her life, but Crosshair’s… He had been her responsibility for too long. If Swoop couldn’t bring him home, Senna knew she would only blame herself. 

Sticking to the edge of the room, she followed the sound of voices until they led her to the right ship. When she rounded the Lambda’s wedge-shaped nose, Senna saw the commander had traded his Intelligence uniform for armor. She wondered when he’d last had a reason to wear it. 

At her movement, Swoop swung to face her, taking in the pack and bag she was carrying with a look of disbelief. “Doc, what are you—you shouldn’t be here.”

“I know.” The doctor joined him and the two troopers with him, her smile serious as she set down her pack. “But I need to come too. This is all because of me. I can’t stay here while you risk everything for us.”

She watched the commander trade a look with the helmeted trooper to his right. “This isn’t the time to pull rank.”

“I’m not, I promise.” Senna unzipped her bag and began to remove a set of cold weather gear, shedding her uniform jacket to reveal a black, thermal layer underneath. “I’m begging you, Swoop. I have to go. I can’t stay here and wait again.”

“She thinks I’m not good enough at my job. I need supervision.”

The doctor turned to see the clone with the field medic patch lift his helmet to grin at her. 

“Notch!”

“C’mon, Doc. Don’t even have faith in your own training?” 

Senna shook her head at his teasing. Notch had been one of the medics she’d taught back on Kamino, easily recognizable by the tattoo of a scalpel blade over his carotid artery. “It’s not that…”

“Doc,” Swoop interrupted, voice low, “I understand how you feel, but it’s not safe, for multiple reasons. This mission is unsanctioned, off the record, if you get caught with us—”

“You think they couldn’t trace this back to me anyway?”

“At least if you’re not with us, you’ll have plausible deniability.”

“Plausible deniability is meaningless these days, you know that as well as I do.”

Swoop clenched his jaw, looking over to his second. Senna recognized Instinct by the metal hand prosthetics at the ends of his crossed arms and smiled tiredly into his visor, relieved when a sigh filtered through the lieutenant’s vocoder. She could tell that he, at least, was bending. “We’ll just have to worry about you too, Doc.”

“I know my survival training,” she insisted as she traded her uniform slacks for a set of insulated pants. “I’m good with a blaster, and I’ll do anything you tell me to.”

“Short of staying behind, huh?” Swoop watched the doctor pull on her parka and stuff her discarded uniform into the now empty bag, taking in the rugged boots she’d managed to cram in there as well, before he shook his head. “I see you came prepared. This means I’m gonna have to cover your tracks too, you know.”

“Can you do it?”

The commander rolled his eyes. “Don’t have a choice now, do I?” As she shouldered her med kit, he sighed and replaced his helmet. “Alright, everyone on the ship.”

When the squad was secured in their crash seats and the shuttle had entered hyperspace, Swoop turned to Senna in the seat beside him. “Doc, this is your squad for this mission. We’ve all worked together in some capacity before. You can trust ‘em.”

 Senna nodded as the commander pointed to each man in turn. 

"That’s Sergeant Friendly, Aadi, Koda, and Landslide, and Grav’s our pilot. You know Notch, our medic, and, of course, Instinct.”

The doctor leaned past Swoop to see the clone lieutenant had removed his white helmet and was smiling at her. “Good to see you again, Doc.”

“Let’s try to keep this simple,” the commander continued. “The mission objective is the rescue and extraction of two missing troopers, Commander Mayday and CT-Nine-Nine-Zero-Four Crosshair. Weather conditions are bad, visibility will be limited until the storm passes, and there are reports of raiders, dangerous animal activity, and avalanches. We’ll be splitting into two squads. The doctor, Grav, Notch, and Aadi are with me. Instinct will take Friendly, Koda, and Landslide.”

Senna and the men leaned in as Swoop activated a holo puck. “This is the best map we’ve got of the area surrounding the Imperial depot. The latest raid came from the northeast, so that’s where we’re checking first. Reports say there are caves in the mountains. Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ve found one, but I wouldn’t count on it. More likely those caves are full of raiders.”

“Sounds fun,” Aadi offered.

Swoop ignored him. “Any tracks they’ve left will have been buried, but the commando’s in black armor, so keep an eye out for that.” He deactivated the puck. “Questions?”

“Where are we taking them after?” 

The commander looked past Senna to Notch. “Well, since the Lieutenant in command of this supply depot seems patently disinterested in rescuing his own men, we don’t have a way to bring them back to base without alerting him to our interference. The commander might be able to blend back in with a bit of adjustment to his records, but Crosshair is a ninety-nine.”

Senna saw the troopers trading glances beneath their buckets. When Swoop nodded to her, the doctor cleared her throat. “We’re taking them to a safe house on Coruscant. When they don’t return to base, their CO will mark them MIA.”

“This is all assuming we find them,” Sergeant Friendly muttered, accepting his commander’s glare with a shrug.

“We’ll find them. I didn’t go to all the trouble of digging you lot up for nothing.”

Notch prodded the doctor with his elbow. “We’d just better hope the commander isn’t too rusty after sitting behind a desk gathering dust for so long. I can smell the mothballs through my filters.” 

“How would you like to be left at the depot?” Swoop grumbled as the other men laughed. 

Senna smiled with them, but her thoughts were elsewhere. She knew Bern was working the late shift back at the hospital. Should she have said something to him when she’d gone to get her kit? No, it was better if he didn’t know. But if something happened… I’ll come back. Don’t worry. Senna could only imagine how it would hurt him if she disappeared, and what might happen to her friend without her limited ability to protect him, especially as Rampart’s replacement didn’t seem quite as amenable as his predecessor.  

The trip between Coruscant and Barton-IV took a little over two hours, and Senna was left to sit with her own thoughts as the clones caught up with each other. It was good to be surrounded by those voices again, a comfort she’d barely realized she’d been missing. Closing her eyes, she tried to imagine the rest of them there beside her. Hunter, Tech, Wrecker, and Echo. They would know what to do.

I'll bring him home. I promise I won't let you down. And I won't let go. 

Taglist: @lightwise, @kybercrystals94, @just-here-with-my-thoughts, @clonethirstingisreal, @freesia-writes

Who’s the best swimmer of the Batch?

Tech. He's got the most defined delts, and has studied the different forms extensively.

All of us are highly competent swimmers, though. That was mandatory in Tipoca City. The Kaminoans wouldn't have wanted their assets to drown.

Wow! The shading looks so realistic!

Wanted to make an appreciation drawing of two of my fav troopers

App: Procreate

Oh. Oh boy....

Commander Fox sketch

These two are the definition of double trouble 😁

"Who cares if we're a little lost - look at these guys!" "I care, Fives, I care"

The parallels!! 😭😭

they are (still) the moment 😭

Based on one of the first things Omega ever said to the batch on screen:

brb crying in bad-batch-is-over denial—