Chapter Text
Tech paced in front of the large window, keeping his gaze on the horizon, hoping to see the ship flying past again.
It didn’t though and the laser cannons had also gone silent. Dread settled in his stomach – but there was also hope. He knew his brothers and knew that they would have survived whatever the Imperials had thrown at them, probably evacuating from the ship before it crashed, which would mean that they would be making their way to the facility on foot.
Now to find a way to get out to meet them, Tech thought desperately, readjusting his goggles anxiously as he flicked through all of the plans and ideas that had suddenly sprung to mind, trying to work out the best one to use that had the best odds.
First he had to get out of this room, Tech decided, eyes landing on the locked door standing between him and his brothers. Then he would go from there.
The only question was how to get out?
He didn’t have a key card, or a way to get the door to open for him as only the commandos and Hemlock could do so.
He would need to overpower a guard, stun them and take their access card – but he could only do that if they were in the room with him and he was not certain when Hemlock would send a guard in…if he would send a guard in to watch Tech, possibly too concerned about keeping the threat out of Tantiss.
Tech sat down on the edge of the window seat, glaring at the door. Surely Hemlock would send a guard to come watch Tech soon as he had done before when Crosshair and Omega escaped. Surely he’d want to make sure that Tech was secure in his quarters.
Growling irritably under his breath, Tech settled in to watch the door. It would happen, he knew it would, he just had to be patient and the door would open soon.
Flick walked quickly down the halls, hearing the alarms sounding. He had heard the laser cannons firing, had watched as the search teams were scrambled and he grinned under the safety and anonymity of his helmet.
That just had to be Clone Force 99.
He kept an eye on the perimeter cameras, watching for any sign of them. He knew they had not yet infiltrated the facility itself, their ship having crashed after being shot – but he knew that they had escaped capture, especially since the alarms for alert were still sounding.
Flick frowned as he received a message on his HUD, quickly opening it. He grinned as he read the short but succinct message from Emerie through the secure line they had set up.
‘They’re here. I have one of them with me. Others are still trying to infiltrate. Time to go.’
Flick quickly typed back a response on his comm pad.
‘Message received. I’ll get the rest of the party started and then go for the vod’ika.’
Flick watched as it sent before he opened it up to a new message, secured to Straps’s and Tugs’s lines.
‘It’s a go. Just as we planned, boys.’
He smirked as it sent off before he grabbed his datapad, quickly uploading previously recorded footage for the detention level’s security system. Tantiss security wouldn’t be able to see Tugs and Straps doing their parts, not until it was too late.
Now he just had to find out where exactly Tech’s brothers were out in the jungle so he could assist them in breaching the facility.
And only Scorch would know that.
Flick hurried down the hall, inhaling deeply to steady himself before he contacted Scorch, who answered irritably.
“What is it, Sergeant?”
“Just wanted a sit-rep of the situation, Scorch,” Flick said hurriedly. “Need to know whether or not to send extra guards for Tech.”
“They’re still in the jungle, but they’re getting closer,” Scorch said, the comm on his side oddly devoid of outside noise, as if Scorch had turned off the audio to his helmet, taking this comm in private. “I’d say that they’d breach the lower levels somewhere.”
Flick nodded, turning his attention to his comm pad and silently opening up the doors to the lurca kennels and switching off the security measures within the tunnels.
“Copy that,” Flick stated absently. There was a low sigh from Scorch.
“Hemlock’s pissed, brother,” Scorch murmured quietly to Flick. “Watch your six. If things go bad, you know what to do. We’ll be punished if this goes wrong.”
“So we don’t stay here if it doesn’t go in our favour,” Flick responded quietly, smiling slightly at Scorch’s words. He knew Scorch wasn’t a bad commander. He was loyal – but even his loyalty had its limits. “We’ll be the next experiments for Hemlock otherwise.”
“Mmhmm,” Scorch hummed. “You know the line to use. I’ll listen out for it – and I’ll keep you appraised of the situation.”
“Thanks, Scorch. Stay safe.”
“You too, brother.”
Flick quickly headed off to get the rest of his plan prepared. He had to make sure that Tech’s squad could make it inside, so he was going to open all the doors possible as a distraction was created by Tugs and Straps.
Trax sat in his cell, frowning as he stared out at the door, listening to the low murmurs around him. They had all heard the laser cannons firing, echoing throughout the facility – but it had suddenly gone quiet.
Who had managed to find Tantiss? Were they still alive?
He leapt to his feet as he heard two stun blasts fire, peering out of his cell door, trying to see what had happened.
Two clone commandos in plain white armour appeared before they pulled off their helmets, meeting the prisoners’ gazes.
“Hello there, brothers,” the one with gold hair said with a grin. “Ready to get out of here?”
“What do you mean?” Neb demanded to know, suspicious of their intentions.
“Clone Force 99 is here,” the silver haired commando answered, glancing around worriedly. “They’ve come for Omega, and they’ll also find Tech – so we figured it was the best time to stage a mass escape for all of us also.”
“All of us?” Ceebee sneered in disgust. “You’re not one of us.”
“Look, we’ve never liked the way you’ve been treated,” the silver one said patiently, “but we did as we were ordered because that’s all we knew – but lately, things have been getting worse, especially with Tech…and we can’t take it anymore. If we tried to get you out earlier, or tried to transfer out of here, Hemlock would have killed us all – but now is the opportune time to escape…that is if you want to?”
Trax glared at them. “Of course we want to! What’s the price though?”
“No price,” the silver shook his head, before nodding to the golden haired commando. “All we ask is when we get you to the armoury, you set all the weapons to stun. All commandos who are on your side will have their helmets off.”
“Straps, I’m almost ready,” the golden haired commando said as he glanced back at the silver haired one, Straps. “Tell me when.”
“In a moment, Tugs,” Straps answered before he meet the gaze off all of the prisoners staring at him steadily. “You may be killed in the attempt to escape, we all may be, but it’s a risk we have to take. The question is, are you ready to take that risk?”
Trax looked to Neb, who glanced around at the others, getting nods from Dustin, Hopper, Ceebee and the others surrounding them.
“We’re ready. Get us out of here.”
Straps nodded to Tugs, who quickly inputted the information on the datapad, and watched as the cell doors opened. Straps held out a blaster to Trax, while Tugs came over, holding another out to Neb.
“We took these from the Stormtroopers,” Tugs explained. “Come on, let’s get the rest of you armed and then we break outta here and head towards the hangars.”
“What about Tech and Omega?” Trax asked as he hurried to keep up with Tugs and Straps as they turned to take the lead, blasters held at the ready.
“Emerie has gone for Omega,” Straps explained absently as he peered around a corner cautiously. “Flick will go back for Tech and we’ll hopefully meet up with Clone Force 99 somewhere down the line as we head for the exit.”
Trax glanced at Neb once more, who nodded at him determinedly.
“Let’s do this then,” Trax muttered as he followed the commandos towards the armoury, adrenaline pumping as he fell back into the mindset of a battle.
It was time to be a soldier one last time, to get out of this place.
Tech stood up as the door opened, sighing slightly in annoyance when he saw that it was Murky that came through the door. If it had been Flick it would have been easier as Flick would have allowed him to leave, but Murky was another problem.
Murky was still loyal to Hemlock.
“What has happened?” Tech asked Murky, feigning ignorance. “Are we under attack?”
“It is being handled,” Murky said stiffly, hands held tight on his blaster. “I’ll be staying here until the threat is neutralized.”
Tech walked over to Murky, acting as innocent as he could, as though he was worried himself.
“What has Doctor Hemlock said?” Tech asked worriedly as he stopped beside Murky, hand slowly and carefully reaching towards Murky’s holster, where his backup DC-17 was held. “Are we in lockdown?”
“It’s nothing to be…”
Murky was stunned and on the floor before he could finish his sentence. Tech sighed, shaking his head, before he reached down and searched the compartments on Murky’s belt, finding the key card. He tucked it into his pocket before he reached for Murky’s comm pad, sliding it off and placing it on his own wrist instead.
“It did not have to be like this,” Tech muttered as he used Murky’s cuffs to cuff the commando’s hands behind his back, if only to prevent him contacting Hemlock as soon as he regained consciousness. “But you are still loyal to Hemlock.”
Tech stood, the dc-17 blaster still held tightly in his hand. He left the larger blaster, much preferring the compactness of the dc-17, especially since he was so used to using them.
Inhaling deeply, Tech headed towards the door, grinning as it opened before him.
There were no other guards standing there and the officers were exchanging concerned looks as they hurried down the corridors.
Tech tilted his head as a new alarm started blaring, red lights flashing in the halls, which now made the officers start running, panicked now.
“Prisoners have escaped!” came the robotic announcement. “Lockdown is in effect. Prisoners have escaped. Lockdown is in effect.”
“Well, that timing is a little too perfect,” Tech murmured to himself as he cautiously edged out of his quarters, peering around. “But I am not going to complain.”
Tech held the blaster close as he walked with quick but cautious steps towards the lift, keeping an eye out for any dangers or obstacles that would get in his way.
He looked out of the windows when he heard the sound of the laser cannons firing once more, seeing numerous ships now coming in hot, firing back at the cannons and defensive guns.
Looked like the cavalry has arrived, Tech thought to himself, smirking. That had to be their backup. It had to be Rex and the others, there was no other explanation for who else would come to their aid.
Now, he just had to find Omega…and if he found her, then he would find his brothers.
Best to start off in the med lab. He could find the Vault from there if he could get into the system.
Tech took in a steeling breath as he entered the lift, feeling his heart racing in his chest, adrenaline flowing through his veins.
For the first time in over a week, Tech suddenly felt something burning in his chest, flooding his body.
He felt hope.
Omega stood up as the door to the Vault opened, a Stormtrooper quickly firing upon the scientists and commandos that tried to stop them, sending them falling to the floor, stunned.
Emerie was following close behind the trooper, a blaster held in her own hands and her hair out of its usual neat ponytail, instead in disarray as though she had been fighting.
“Omega!”
Omega’s eyes snapped back to the trooper at the familiar voice, seeing the trooper removing his helmet and…
“Echo!” Omega bolted towards her brother, throwing herself into his arms. Echo hugged her tightly, stroking her back, as he looked at the other children huddled together, frightened, near the tables.
“It’s good to see you, kid, but we’ve got to get you and the others out of here,” Echo told her quickly as he released her. “The prisoners have already been set loose and Hunter and the others should be in the facility by now. We just have to get to the hangar.”
Omega shook her head, surprising Echo.
“No, we’ve got to get Tech,” she told him, watching as Echo blinked before his eyes widened, breath catching as he finally absorbed what she had said.
“What? Tech?”
Omega nodded at Echo’s croaked, breathless question. “He’s alive. Hemlock’s had him all this time. We’ve got to him out too.”
“There’s no need to worry about that,” Emerie said sharply as she came to stand beside them, having checked on the children. “Flick is going to get him. He’ll meet us at the hangar with Tech.”
Echo didn’t know who this Flick was, but Emerie seemed certain that Flick would get him out – and he couldn’t risk Omega and the kids, as much as it hurt he had to focus on getting them all out safely and making a detour to get Tech would just increase the odds of one of the kids being injured.
“We’ll get him, Omega, but for now we’ve got to get these kids to safety,” Echo promised her, squeezing her shoulder. “The Stormtroopers will be called soon and there’s going to be a fight on our hands, especially with the commandos who have chosen to remain loyal to Hemlock.”
Omega suddenly grinned, which made Echo’s stomach churn uneasily – oh, he knew that grin and it always meant trouble.
“I’ve got an idea for a big distraction – and a way to get rid of this place once and for all.”
Flick quickly headed down towards the lurca kennels when he received an alert. He had set it up silently so only he would be alerted to movement, while also preventing the alert being sent to control.
He had picked up some useful skills while working alongside the Coruscant Guard.
Flick paused as his comm chimed and he quickly answered it.
“What’s wrong, Commander?” he asked, concerned as to why Scorch would be contacting him.
“Hemlock’s just left the control room,” Scorch explained hurriedly, worriedly. “He couldn’t get an answer from Murky when he comm’d to check on him and Tech’s tracking band has him out of his quarters.”
Flick swore under his breath, lengthening his stride and hurrying towards the kennels. That was not want he wanted.
“How mad was he?”
“Pissed,” Scorch warned. “You best get to Tech before he does.”
“I think I found the rest of Clone Force 99. I’ll get a couple of them to assist in clearing out the Vault and I’ll take someone else with me to retrieve Tech since I’m pretty certain I’m gonna need backup now,” Flick said bitterly, turning the last corner. “You might need to put out the alert, Scorch, and get our brothers out of here.”
“I’ll make that call in a moment – especially since I see that Rex has joined the party here,” Scorch said quickly, distractedly. “Watch your back, brother…Fuck, CX-2 is heading towards Rex. I’ve got to go.”
“Be safe,” Flick managed to get in before Scorch cut the comms. Flick slid into the kennel, hands immediately going into the air as three blasters turned to point at him. The three clones were standing there, their armour stripped back to black paint, blasters aimed in his direction.
“Easy,” Flick said calmly as he slowly removed his helmet. “I’m on your side.”
The three blasters didn’t drop an inch.
“I know you don’t trust me, but it’s the truth. Why do you think no other troopers have converged on this location? It’s because I turned off the alarms – and I was also the one who cut the security to the tunnels, allowing you to enter. We’ve also set the prisoners loose and armed them so they’re creating chaos and a distraction for you while they escape.”
“Why?” the short one demanded to know.
That must be Hunter.
“Because I can’t do this anymore, I can’t serve Hemlock or the Empire after seeing what they’ve done,” Flick continued calmly, slowly dropping his hands. “Look, Emerie has already gone with Echo, I’m presuming since he’s not here, to get Omega and clear out the Vault. She’s going to need help.”
“She’s loyal to Hemlock,” one sneered – definitely Crosshair. “Hunter, we’re wasting time here. Just stun him and let’s go.”
“No, she’s not loyal to Hemlock,” Flick said hurriedly. “Not since she was assigned to the Vault, not since she found that there are other children in there.”
“There’s other kids?”
Flick nodded in response to Wrecker’s softly asked question. “Yes, so I’ll give you the directions to the Vault – but I’ll need someone to come with me to help rescue Tech from Hemlock.”
Crosshair raised his firepuncher again, posture tight as he aimed it squarely at Flick’s head.
“Tech is dead!” Crosshair snarled, pain lacing his voice.
“No, he survived the fall on Eriadu and was captured, though badly injured. He has been here ever since,” Flick told them truthfully. “He’s been doing whatever he could to keep you safe, but Hemlock has just found out that Tech has managed to escape his cell and has gone after him – and we need to move now!”
Hunter nodded, looking to Crosshair.
“You follow him,” he ordered the tall clone. “Shoot him if he tries anything. Wrecker and I will go help Echo.”
Flick quickly moved to their side, handing Hunter a spare key card he had.
“This will get you through the doors,” Flick explained, tapping away on his comm pad, “and I’ve just sent you directions to the Vault and the way out to the hangar.”
Hunter nodded at him, looking to Crosshair once more, who nodded curtly in return, before he and Wrecker ran from the room.
“Come on, Tech’s gone to the med lab,” Flick told Crosshair as he looked at his comm pad, having pulled up Tech’s location. “We’ve got to get there before Hemlock hurts him.”
“How’d you know where he is?” Crosshair demanded as he ran with Flick from the kennels, following the commando.
“Hemlock put a tracking band on him,” Flick explained as they ran, skidding around corners and stunning those who tried to shoot them. “He didn’t trust Tech not to try and escape, not after his first attempt.”
“Brothers, I’m issuing a Code Red,” Scorch’s voice came through Flick’s comm pad loud and clear. “Stop firing on your brothers and head to the hangars. We will hold there and evacuate. It’s time to stop serving the Empire before they turn on us like they turned on our brothers. Again, this is a Code Red.”
“What is going on here?” Crosshair breathed, shocked, as he heard Scorch’s message.
“Like I said, we’ve had enough. We’ve seen that it’s only a matter of time before the Empire decides to get rid of clones altogether and we become Hemlock’s next batch of experiments – and we couldn’t watch this happening anymore. I couldn’t watch Tech being broken down anymore,” Flick broke off quietly. Crosshair glanced at him, clearly wanting to say something more. “Hurry, we’re almost there.”
Flick jammed at the button to the lift, silently pleading for it to hurry as Crosshair took up a defensive position behind him, stunning everyone who took a shot at them.
They had to get to Tech before it was too late.
Tech crept into the med lab, exhaling quietly when he saw that it was deserted and silent. He had made it here undetected and now he needed to get to work. Tech hurried towards a console, placing the blaster down before he began typing, gaze fixed firmly on the screen as he looked through the blueprints, trying to find where Hemlock had locked Omega away.
“Vault,” Tech mumbled to himself. “Come on, where are you?”
He growled under his breath as he came up against walls of encryption. It would be easier to break with Echo, but he was on his own here. By the amount of encryption surrounding all information about the Vault, Hemlock really did not want anyone to find out about it.
“You should have stayed in your quarters.”
Tech froze as he felt the blaster barrel placed against the back of his neck, hand slowly reaching out to where he had left the one he had taken from Murky…only to find it gone.
He had been so focused on his work in front of him that he had not heard Hemlock’s quiet approach.
“Step away from the console, Tech,” Hemlock’s cold voice ordered. Tech did so silently, glancing over his shoulder to see Hemlock’s face twisted with rage.
“You know that I could not remain locked away,” Tech said calmly, staring at the console. “I have been your prisoner long enough.”
Hemlock snarled quietly as he pressed the blaster barrel harder against the back of Tech’s neck. “You are mine!”
Tech fell back on his training, quickly ducking and turning, hand coming up to knock the blaster from Hemlock’s hand, sending it skidding across the med bay floor. Hemlock yelled with rage and Tech quickly leapt onto him, punching at the Imperial as they both fell to the floor. Hemlock fought back, striking Tech across the face and sending him to the floor and leaping onto the clone before Tech managed to plant a foot into Hemlock’s unprotected stomach, sending him flying off of him with an ‘oomph’ as the air was pushed from his lungs.
Tech turned onto his stomach, scrambling towards the blaster, hand outstretched.
Suddenly his body seized as electricity coursed painfully through him, causing Tech to cry out in pain, body contorting against the painful onslaught of electrical jolts.
Tech couldn’t breathe, couldn’t get a breath in, as his body continued to curl up, trying to protect itself from the pain shooting through his entire body, feeling as though every nerve was on fire.
When it finally stopped, Tech slumped to the floor, gasping for air. He whimpered as he was kicked onto his back before Hemlock’s weight settled heavily on his stomach, pinning Tech’s hands under his knees.
“S-Should ha-have known,” Tech stuttered, looking up at the furious Imperial sitting upon him through tear-filled eyes. “Th-That you would p-plant a-a fail s-safe in my pro-prosthetic.”
“Mm, I had hoped I would not have to use it,” Hemlock said, his usually controlled voice shaking with rage as he leaned down over Tech, hovering above his face. “But you just had to be foolish, didn’t you?”
Tech swallowed harshly, chest still heaving as his body trembled with aftershocks.
“I would have given you everything, Tech, if you just submitted to me,” Hemlock snarled quietly, hand wrapping around the base of Tech’s neck, squeezing it slightly.
“N-Not my freedom,” Tech breathed, eyes still fixed upon Hemlock, feeling the man’s hand still wrapped around his neck when he swallowed harshly once more. “My family would never be free either. You would use them against me, to keep me…and I cannot live like this any longer.”
Hemlock’s cold eyes were icy with rage as the man leaned his face in close to Tech’s.
“And do you really think that they’ll just accept you back when they find out what you’ve done?” Hemlock whispered coldly, staring unblinkingly into Tech’s eyes. “You submitted to me, pleasured me freely and so, so well. Do you really think they’d accept you back, knowing that you were mine?”
Tech’s bottom lip trembled, unable to stop it, as Hemlock brought up all of his deeply buried fears.
“And even if you did manage to get away from me,” Hemlock continued, voice almost a soft, cruel purr. “You know that you could never fully escape me. Not only will I hunt you down and take you once more – but I will forever be fully engraved in your soul, in your body, Tech. You will never forget my touch, the pleasure I brought you as you came undone, screaming my name. You will never forget the feeling of me in your body, bringing you pleasures that you had never felt before.”
Tech tried to turn his head away weakly, chest heaving at Hemlock’s cutting words, but Hemlock just tutted and turned his head back, forcing Tech to meet his gaze.
“You can never escape me, Tech, so why even bother?” Hemlock whispered, stroking Tech’s cheek. “Just submit to me and I will give you all that -”
Tech flinched at the sound of glass breaking before Hemlock went flying off of him with a grunt. Tech sat up, heart pounding in his chest as he looked at Hemlock’s back lying just a foot away from him, before he turned his head, seeing a hole in the fractured glass of the window of the lab…and seeing Crosshair standing there on the other side, firepuncher still smoking slightly.
Tech bit back the sob of relief as the door opened and Flick and Crosshair came skidding in. Flick pulled Tech to his feet, releasing him as Tech stumbled towards Crosshair, who immediately enveloped his twin into a tight hug.
“Cross,” Tech mumbled weakly, clinging onto him tightly and resting his head upon the familiar shoulder armour, legs starting to tremble. “You came.”
“Sorry it took so long,” Crosshair murmured back in his ear, arm tightening around Tech’s lower back. “Let’s get you out of here.”
Tech glanced back at Hemlock’s still body, refusing to let go of Crosshair as they took a shaky step towards the door.
“You’re shaking, Tech,” Crosshair said worriedly, visor glancing in his direction as he wrapped his arm more securely around Tech’s waist to keep him upright.
“Hemlock had a failsafe in my prosthetic,” Tech said weakly as he wrapped his arm around Crosshair’s shoulder more securely as Flick followed them, watching their backs. “He shocked me when I tried to fight him.”
Flick swore under his breath. “Sorry, Tech, didn’t know he had that in there.”
“S’okay,” Tech mumbled tiredly, glancing sideways at Crosshair. “We…we have to get Omega.”
“The others are on that,” Crosshair told him before all three of them paused when they heard a loud roar and felt the floors shudder under their feet.
“That did not sound good,” Tech slurred, legs trembling from the combination of the shocks and just the relief that he was with his twin once more.
“Um, Zillo Beast is on the loose. Everyone to the hangar immediately,” Scorch’s perplexed voice ordered over the comm pad.
Crosshair snorted. “Definitely Omega.”
Tech hummed tiredly in agreement, allowing Crosshair to pull him along as they headed to the hangar, ignoring the panicked scientists and troopers who ran past them now, too panicked to even care about the three clones stumbling along.
Soon enough they made it to the hangar, which was teeming with clones – both in armour and without – as they broke off towards different ships and Crosshair led them to a ship where Wrecker was waiting near the ramp, helmet off as he looked around sharply. The big clone’s eyes softened as they landed on Tech being support to the ship.
Wrecker ran to meet them, unable to resist scooping the weakened looking Tech into his arms.
“I’m sorry,” Wrecker sniffled as tears streamed from his eyes. “I shoulda pulled you up.”
Tech shook his head tiredly, not resisting being carried by Wrecker and instead resting his head against Wrecker’s familiar armoured chest as they carefully made their way to the ship, dodging past the other clones racing by.
“It is not your fault,” Tech reassured him, patting his shoulder tiredly. “You could not have done anything more. You did all that you could – but we were out of time.”
Wrecker sniffled again, nodding, as he carried Tech into the ship. He placed Tech back down once they were safely on board. Hunter quickly came over, their leader’s eyes full of emotion, as he clasped Tech’s shoulder, studying his bruising face for a moment before he pulled Tech into a tight hug.
“We’ve missed you,” Hunter whispered in his ear.
“And I have missed you,” Tech breathed, relieved, as he hugged Hunter back, burying his face into Hunter’s familiar long black hair.
He gave a startled laugh as Omega latched onto his side in an almost hug tackle and nodded to Echo as he squeezed Tech’s shoulder.
“We’ve got them, Howzer, get us out of here,” Echo called to the cockpit.
“Roger,” Howzer called back.
Tech glanced around wearily as the ramp closed behind them, sealing them away from Tantiss and all of its horrors.
He could see Emerie sitting in the corner of the large holding area, looking dishevelled, but with four kids crowded around her, huddling close – which was a shock to see. So they were the ones that Hemlock must have been talking about when he said Omega had others like her to interact with.
Neb, Trax, Dustin, Ceebee and Hopper were all sitting in the corner opposite, looking exhausted, with Gregor kneeling down in front of them, treating their wounds. They nodded to him when they saw him looking at them, looking relieved to see him.
He was surprised to see Scorch walk out of a med bay off to the side of the ship, hemlet off for once, and lips twisted in despair.
“How is he?” Gregor asked Scorch as the commando walked past.
“Still unconscious,” Scorch admitted tiredly, running a hand through his short grey and black pepperered hair. “Rex is taking all necessary precautions, taking out the electro-chip thing they had put in their teeth in case of capture – but we’re keeping him sedated for now.”
Gregor stood, shaking his head as he glanced sadly towards the med bay. “I wasn’t expecting it to be Cody.”
“Neither was I,” Scorch said mournfully. “Hemlock was careful about CX-2’s identity…and now I know why. If I had known that Cody had been on Tantiss, that he was being forced into that program…”
Gregor rested his hand on Scorch’s shoulder, patting it reassuringly. “Yeah, I know, but you helped stun him and got him on here safely, and you helped the others get away. You did what you could, Scorch.”
“Not quick enough,” Scorch muttered, meeting Tech’s gaze apologetically.
Gregor shrugged. “Us commandos are hard headed, can take us a while to realise that we’re wrong, ya know?”
Scorch nodded, but remained silent, eyes glancing at the others slumped around the hold of the ship.
“C’mon, you can come with me and we can contact the other ships, tell them the co-ordinates for the hyperspace jump,” Gregor told him, ushering Scorch away from the cowering children in the back.
Tech looked down to Omega, who was still attached to his side, blinking at her.
“What happened to Nala Se?” he couldn’t help but ask as he felt the ship moving, rumbling under his feet, as Howzer piloted it away from Tantiss and the Zillo Beast wreaking havoc.
“Hemlock gave the Stormtroopers the order to shoot her,” Neb spoke up tiredly, looking up at Tech. “We only know because we heard the blaster fire shortly after our escape was discovered and came across her body. Guess he didn’t want to chance her getting away.”
Tech hummed tiredly, leaning exhaustedly against Crosshair.
“C’mon you,” Crosshair muttered as he helped to lug Tech to a crash seat, settling him down upon it. “Sit down before you fall down.”
Tech smiled tiredly at him, leaning back, and watching as Flick headed over to talk to Emerie. He watched as Hunter, Wreckerand Omega hovered anxiously around him as though they didn’t want to let him out of their sight, as Echo went to go be with Rex, and Crosshair settled down into the chair beside him, also sighing heavily as he relaxed, arms folded across his chest.
“Prepare for the jump,” Howzer called back from the cockpit and Tech watched as the others did just that, feeling the ship vibrate momentarily before it made the jump.
That thought made him sink further into his seat.
They were away from Tantiss.
Tech was away from Tantiss, away from Hemlock. He was free.
Tech felt the emotion coiling inside his chest as though it was preparing to break free. The relief, the fear, the overwhelming shock threatening to break free and make him start sobbing as it started to sink in that he was with his family once more…and that he was finally free.