Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

IT all started with the engines failing. The pilot, a fifteen-year-old girl named Callista, (most of the time she shortened it to Calli) cursed as multiple alarms were going off, telling her that other systems were also giving up.

"Good one Calli. You managed to steal a cruddy ship!" The teen grumbled before slapping the control panel as if that would somehow magically make everything alright. Her entire body lurched forward when the ship suddenly came out of hyperspace, and through the viewport, Calli had a partial view of a planet. It appeared to be mostly land, thank goodness, spotted with many small bodies of water, but nothing larger than lake it seemed.

Well at least she didn't come out of hyperspace into a meteor shower or a black hole. She might have a fighting chance of survival if she can crash land with style on the surface - without blowing up that is.

The ship groaned as it got caught in the gravitational pull, it's nose catching fire as it entered the planet's atmosphere. Calli gripped the controls like a lifeline while the ship headed straight for the ground and she heard explosions - coming from the engine no doubt, that shook the vessel.

Just hold out until I land, then you can blow up completely. Calli silently told the ship in her head, beginning to flip switches and press buttons to start the intense landing process, all the while calm as if she wasn't less than a minute from a possible death.

The fates seemed to mock her apparent bravery and calmness when a new alarm began blaring, and after a quick check she saw that one of the wings had torn off.

As surface grew closer and closer, Calli's heart pounded against her ribs, and she tried to remain calm. But when a chunk of metal on the nose of the ship suddenly came off, she couldn't stop herself from jumping as it hit the glass window, causing it to crack, but not shatter. Calli then remembered that there was an escape pod and decided she'd rather take her chances with that than staying on this ship that might come apart before it even hits the surface. The crack becoming bigger and another alarm sounding as the oxygen levels began dropping from the breach in the ship only further Calli's resolve.

Unstrapping the seat belt, Calli got up from the pilot's seat, grabbed her bag that carried all her belongings and hurried out of the cockpit, doubling back briefly to swipe an oxygen mask mounted on the wall by the exit and put it on before hypoxia became another in an already tall stack of problems.

She made it to the escape pods at the back of the ship in less than a minute, thankfully it wasn't a very large ship she'd stolen. Well.... borrowed without permission sounds better. It was nothing more than a simple scavenger ship, barely held together by rusted bolts and a prayer before every take off that it'd hold together until the next stop.

If Calli had had more time and didn't have a group of thugs she'd swindled money from on her tail, she would have chosen a better spaceship to make her escape. At least one that would have gotten her from point A to point B without any mishaps. What's the point of a ship if it doesn't even hold together when it's going .2 past light speed?

Another explosion caused Calli to lose her balance and fall forwards, her head slamming into the durasteel wall, making everything fade in and out for a brief moment while briefly seeing stars. Calli grabbed onto the door of the escape pod to steady herself but didn't waste time and hit the button on the control panel nearby to open the pod. She was lucky that this tiny ship even had a pod at all. It was the last one in fact.

Once inside, she was quick to close the door and with one push of a button next to it, the escape pod jettisoned away from the ship, and Calli watched through the window as not a second later the entire ship exploded. Calli let out a shaky breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

She got out just in time.

For a moment she felt relief, until turning her head to the viewport, then gasping when she saw how close the planet's surface was. Any relief she felt went out the window as she went to the control panel and prepared for a bumpy landing.

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A few hours later...

Calli didn't know she'd lost consciousness until she awoke with a start. That simple jolt immediately her body protested at, as every muscle in her body ached. At first, she didn't know what happened, until taking a glance around and saw that she was still inside the escape pod.

Then it all came back to her.

The last thing Calli remembered was the escape pod making harsh contact with the planet's surface and she had been thrown around as it flipped and rolled for an unknown amount of time. The teen must have passed out during this, which in retrospect was probably a good thing. It took a lot of energy to move her right arm that felt like it weighed a million pounds, tentatively touching the side of her head and immediately regretting it. Calli flinched at the contact while hissing as the simple touch aggravated that particular sore spot.

Groaning as more pain radiated from all over her body, Calli moved her other limbs one by one to see if anything was broken. Thankfully, there wasn't, but just by doing this made the pain intensify and she knew that there were most likely bruises all over her body. But bruises were far more manageable than broken bones.

Deciding that laying on the cold metal floor was severely uncomfortable for her already sore body, Calli grabbed onto the sides of the single pilot seat and used it to help her stand up. Her arms protested as she used all her strength to pull herself off the ground, but she pushed through it. The pod rocked as Calli moved, making her pause and wonder why it did so.

Testing it out again by bouncing on her feet ever so slightly, caused the pod to rock and it became apparent she wasn't imagining things.

It almost felt like it was floating...

Calli's head snapped in the direction of the viewport, and it was then that she noticed there was only a partial view of the outside world on the upper half, and she saw large trees and not much else, while the lower was submerged in murky water. And with her moving around, the escape pod was slowly sinking further down.

Calli immediately stilled her movements to prevent the pod from sinking anymore and sighed, knowing that getting out was going to be difficult. The second the door opened, water would come rushing in. But it was either stay in the pod until the oxygen from both the pod and the oxygen mark ran out or try and swim to the surface, even though Calli hated the water, partially because she wasn't the greatest of swimmers. You'd think, growing up near water, swimming would come naturally, but that wasn't the case. In fact, it made Calli despise any body of water larger than a puddle.

The thought of swimming now was definitely not appealing. Especially with her injuries. But, sitting around waiting for death.... that didn't sound good either. At least with the mask, Calli wouldn't have to hold her breath while swimming, which always proved difficult for her. She'd never been able to master breath control, tapping out mere seconds anytime the teen attempted to practice it. Again, the mask was proving to be invaluable and Calli was glad to nab it when she did.

Making the decision, Calli picked up her bag and slung it over her head, so the strap was lying diagonally across her chest with no chance of it getting lost. The small oxygen tank connected to the mask was clipped to her belt, and a quick check of the contents showed it had just enough for her to get out of this mess. She walked over to the door and her hand hovered over the button that would open it.

Calli wanted a moment to prepare herself, but when the pod started to sink once more, she couldn't stall any further.

The button was pushed and Calli stumbled backwards as water started rushing in at a harsh speed and slammed backwards into the pilot's chair, causing bruises on her back to explode in pain. Already the escape pod was halfway full and Calli kept a tight grip on the seat as the water climbed higher and higher, and before she could blink her head was submerged. On instinct a deep breath was drawn before this happened, mostly to steel herself.

The water was freezing and Calli's sensitive body shivered as goosebumps formed, but she focused instead on getting out once the pod was completely filled, the pressure equalizing thus making it easier to move. She used the chair as a launch pad to push herself forward with her feet and legs and she glided through the water across the escape pod and out the door.

Once outside the pod, Calli angled her body upwards and kicked her legs with all her might. Letting water into the pod had caused it to sink considerably so she had a bit of a ways to go. Calli could feel her heart pounding as the water pressed all around her,  threatening to consume her if she somehow never made it to the top.

Her vision never strayed from the light of the surface, not wanting to get a glimpse of how deep this body of water actually was, for fear it'd make her panic. As if to play a cruel joke, the mask abruptly stopped pumping air, which meant the oxygen ran out.

Not knowing it would turn off, Calli didn't get the chance to take one final gulp of air, and being cut off like that with no preparation only intensified the anxiety weighing on her chest.

Despite this her legs kicked harder, and about five seconds later her head broke through the surface and after ripping off the now useless mask Calli gasped in the fresh crisp air with relief. Earlier she made sure to check the oxygen levels for this planet and readings showed it was safe enough for humans.

Taking in her surroundings, Calli found she was only about thirty feet from the shore of what was a decent sized lake.

Calli swam as fast as she could with a sore body to the edge of the pond, doing a very poor doggy paddle and having trouble keeping her head above the water. After finally reaching the shore, she pulled herself onto the dry land, not caring about the dirt sticking to her wet clothes and skin, all that mattered was that the fear of drowning had disappeared.

Even so, Calli crawled a good fifty feet away from the water just to be safe, before collapsing onto her stomach. The poor girl was exhausted after the whole ordeal.

Every part of Calli's body ached even though she barely moved a muscle yet, too afraid to as she knew the pain would intensify. Not to mention her head, which hurt like hell. But Calli knew she couldn't stay in her vulnerable position, lest she get attacked by wild animals or whatever else lived on the planet.

Ok, on the count of three, get up. Planting her hands on the ground, Calli drew in a deep breath before beginning counting.

One.

Two.

Three.

Mustering up all the strength in her beaten up body, Calli's eyes opened and lifted herself from the waist up....

....and instantly regretted it. The nausea hit her in full force, and the world spun like a tornado which didn't help things. The urge to throw up also came, but since there was nothing in Calli's stomach, all she could do was gag and dry heave, two sensations she absolutely despised. Blood pounded in her ringing ears as she took slow, steadying breaths to calm down, and eventually the nausea ebbed away enough to where she was able to move again.

A little crawl later and Calli sat down at the base of a substantially large tree with her back leaning against the trunk.

She began to check herself for injuries. While nothing was broken, she did acquire a couple nasty cuts that she must have gotten from the crash with all the tossing around that happened. There were a lot of sharp corners in the escape pod. One was a sizable gash about six inches long on her left forearm and the other was on her shin and roughly ten inches. The one on her leg didn't look too deep, but the other cut was deep and still bleeding quite a bit. It also stung from the exposure to water. Calli didn't have a medical kit to treat them. Talk about being prepared, right?

She thought about rinsing them with water from the pond, but it might not be clean as the water was stagnant, extremely murky and gave off an unpleasant smell that no doubt Calli now wore due to swimming in it. Sighing, she decided that wrapping the wounds would be the best she can do now. She took off her jacket and proceeded to rip the long sleeves from her gray shirt, then pulled out the knife tucked into her boot to cut them into strips.

Calli rolled up her pant leg and used most of the fabric strips to cover that one. It was harder to wrap her arm, but Calli succeeded, though blood was already starting to seep through the fabric. Calli knew she'd have to find a nearby town - if there even was one. With everything that's happened so far, Calli wouldn't be surprised if she crash landed on one that didn't have any intelligent life. But she held onto the small hope that there might be some sort of settlement somewhere, and with that she got to her feet and started her long quest of finding civilization.

Chapter Text

Two days.

For two days Calli has walked and so far, she's found nothing and would be lying if she said she wasn't getting a tad worried about what would happen if that continued to be the case. She had no food and only one small water bottle that was filled before her departure from Ord Mantel. There was only so long she could ration it and after that Calli wasn't sure what to do. So far in her trek she hasn't come across another water source or any sort of town/city. But she plowed on, holding on to the small hope that there would be civilization over the next hill or the next break in the trees.

To keep herself from going in circles, Calli would carve a line in every other tree she passed with a pocketknife. A useful survival skill she came up with on the fly and so far, has only run into an already carved tree twice. At least she thought of one good idea.

After walking for four hours on the second day, Calli decided to take a break. She stood with her back against a tree and took her water bottle out, unscrewing the cap and tilting her head back. All that was left was barely a gulp of water that left her mouth begging for more after it was gone. She hit the side of the canister to get every last drop though it wasn't much and after that Calli groaned and chucked the bottle to the ground in frustration. Now she was officially doomed.

As if that wasn't bad enough, her stomach grumbled, pleading to be fed something, anything. Calli had gone days without eating before, but that was when she was on an inhabited planet and there was always the assurance that she'd find something edible, whether it be in a dumpster, or she would swipe something in a market when no one was looking. Here, not so much. Her knowledge on different plants wasn't the best, and so far, nothing on this planet was recognizable and Calli was too smart to chance eating something only for it to be poisonous. Though honestly the idea of being put out of her misery was beginning to sound more and more appealing with each passing hour. Of all the ways she thought of how her life would end, dying from starvation and thirst was not one of them. Calli assumed she'd go out in a blaze of glory, maybe in an epic fight or a terrible accident like the one she just survived, which is less glorious and more embarrassing but still, it'd be quick. Dying slowly was NOT what Calli wanted, but you can't exactly control that aspect now could you? Not most of the time at least.

Just as Calli thought about giving up and wishing she'd died in the crash, her ears picked up the sound of what might have been an explosion. And it sounded very close, though that might have just been her hope for salvation talking. That, and her hearing had always been exceptional, yet sometimes it made things seem closer than they were from how clear the sound would be. Some people would think that was cool, but in all honesty Calli felt the exact opposite about her freakish hearing.

She quickly straightened up and listened intently as the sound echoed off the trees and some unidentifiable little flying creatures were startled and flew away from their perches in the foliage above. Then there was silence, yet somehow it too was loud, and her ears rang as she anxiously waited to see if something else would happen.

A few beats later, another explosion happened and Calli's head jerked to the left.

It definitely came from that direction; she was certain of it. Quick to gather her things, Calli mustered up what little energy and strength left in her body to start running in the direction the explosions came from.

As Calli tore through the forest, she didn't stop to wonder what caused the explosions - or if running towards them would be safe. All that ran through her head was that where there's explosions there has to be people. And people meant food and water and medical supplies. Calli didn't care if it was pirates or hell, Separatists. Even if it was the latter which wouldn't have need for food, water, etc, she could still sneak on board or if brave enough take out all the droids and commandeer the ship to get off world to head back to civilization.

Calli ran for a good five minutes before stopping at the edge of a clearing, her lungs burning, and legs had turned to jelly from the exertion. She placed a hand on the tree trunk next to her to lean on as she caught her breath. I really need to start working out more.

While waiting, Calli scoped the open area before her and sure enough, right smack in the middle of the field was a ship. It wasn't as big as a cargo ship, but it was too large to be a single fighter ship. Calli went through a mental list of what it might be and deduced it to be an attack shuttle. It could be an Omicron-class one, like the Republic would use, but there were some discrepancies between the real one and this ship, one such discrepancy being there was no Republic symbol like all other ships used by them had, indicating that maybe this ship was stolen by pirates and modified.

There was one, erm, interesting mural painted on the nose of a woman. She was sitting, but somehow it was made to look provocative as she held up a blaster and wore a saucy little wink while flashing some leg from the slit in her dress.

Calli's nose wrinkled in disgust, and she shook her head. Gross. Whomever the owners of this vessel were, she disliked them already. But she shoved aside all the feelings of disdain in favor of the bigger picture.

What matters is what's inside it: food, water, and medical supplies.

Filled with determination, Calli was about to step out into the open when someone emerged from the ship, and she was quick to duck behind the tree she'd been leaning against before being spotted. She peaked around the trunk in order to get a look at whomever it was.

The stranger paused at the top of the ramp, catching the movement 30 yards away yet didn't get a good look at what caused it. It was a man, human, roughly in his mid-twenties Calli deduced, with light tan skin and equally light brown hair in a short cut, yet despite looking younger the man had a receding hairline. He wore a pair of goggles over his eyes and Calli tilted her head at the rest of his attire. It consisted of white colored armor that covered his chest, arms, and calves, and he had packs strapped to his belt, thighs, and over the armor on his calves. He had a data pad in his hands and was engrossed at whatever was on the screen which is why Calli had been able to study him from afar. Even with his muscular build, she figured she could take him.

Goggles must have gotten the sense that someone was watching him and Calli barely ducked out of sight a second time before he glanced in her general direction. His eyes surveyed the area, but again he didn't see anything. Assuming it was an animal, Goggles descended the ramp and walked around to the other side of the ship.

Once the coast was clear, Calli slinked into the tall grass, for once thankful for her short stature as she only had to slouch down a little to be completely concealed, thus making it easier to sneak closer to the ship.

She reached where the grass had been flattened by the ship when it landed and remained hidden while eyeing the exposed area for the goggled man and the rest of his crew. Calli could hear voices nearby and her eyes searched for the owners, eventually spotting a few sets of armored boots from the gap between the ground and the bottom of the ship showing they were located on the other side. The loud hum of the ship coupled with the rustling of the grass as a breeze whipped past made it impossible to hear what the crew was saying, and she briefly hesitated to continue her mission. What if there was someone inside the ship?

When Calli's stomach growled, she knew she needed to at least try. If she gets caught, well she could easily outrun whoever these people were. Or outsmart them... or at least die trying. The boarding ramp was on her side of the ship, and it was open, which meant Calli had a good chance of slipping in and out undetected so long as all the crew members were outside.

Nodding to herself, Calli counted to three before she left the cover of the grass. She made it to the ship in seconds and so far, no one was shooting so it's safe to say no one had seen her. She tiptoes up the ramp steps and tentatively listens for any sound coming from inside the ship. Hearing none, Calli walks in without hesitation.

Once inside, Calli wasn't sure what to think when she took in all the weapons hanging on the wall or stored in a couple of crates in the cabin. Everything from blasters to detonators to vibroblades it seemed. These people had a whole arsenal of weapons - fitting if they were indeed pirates or something of that nature. But the awesomeness of the weapon filled area was dampened by the strong dirty smelling odor that seemed to be coming from anything and everything. It's evident that cleanliness is not a top priority for these guys. It's a good thing the ramp was down, otherwise Calli might not last long enough to find what she needed.

Blinking back tears, Calli couldn't help herself and took a couple of the vibroblades. They would be very useful and do more damage than a regular pocket knife. She also swiped a few detonators that she thought might sell on the black market. Even if it wasn't much, any credits she could get her hands on was a win. There was also a single D-17 blaster laying on the chair in front of a large computer monitor and Calli was quick to pack that too. Too bad there was only one, as a that would be worth more.

After Calli was done "shopping", she went to work finding the med kit. She found it in a cabinet, but it was too big to fit in her bag, so she opted to just take what she needed.

Antiseptic. Bandages. Bacta patches. Pain killers.

She pondered getting the tools needed to do stitches in case one of her cuts needed them, but just the thought was enough to make her feel nauseous so Calli felt she could just make do with the patches and bandages.

Next, Calli found a box of ration bars underneath one of the jump seats in the main hold. She took one out before putting the box in her bag and practically inhaling the bar she kept, and it took a lot of willpower to not take out a second one. The ration bars weren't very tasty, but they contained the nutrients needed to survive when food was scarce.

Calli was now looking for a container of water and was stupidly too distracted to notice that someone had entered the ship and crept up behind her. That is, until a gun was pressed to her back, making her body tense and blood run cold.

"Don't move." A cool, gravelly voice warned. Calli ignored the order though and raised her hands up while turning slowly until she was completely facing whoever caught her.

The person, a human male, let her do this but didn't lower his weapon. Neither said anything which gave Calli a chance to study the guy. He was lean and more than a foot taller than herself, and she was over five feet tall. The man had short hair that was silver in color and wore black armor with a skull painted on the right shoulder pad, underneath it was a number. 99. That number tickled something in the back of Calli's mind and she almost lost focus but forced herself to keep staring the man down.

The armor he wore looked very similar to the ones clones had, which made the girl wonder if it had been stolen and modified much like the ship. No clone troopers she's seen wore black armor, and these guys didn't have the copy-and-paste face of said troopers.

Calli wouldn't have found the man very threatening with his spindly frame, but with the tattoo of a scope circling his right eye and the sniper rifle pointed at her head, Calli had a feeling that what he lacked in muscle, his marksmanship skills more than made up for it. His cold amber eyes were hard and unwavering as they stared Calli down. He seemed to be studying her as well, and Calli hoped he'd take in her small form and immediately dub her weak and easy to overpower, like many had done before, only to have their butts whooped by the girl. She might be small, but could pack quite a punch, not to mention her lean figure made her swift and agile, which was useful against larger opponents. Let's hope this man was more gaunt than graceful.

After roughly fifteen seconds of tense silence, Calli decided that she would have to be the one to break it.

"Do you have to point that at me?" She asked, gesturing to the rifle with the flick of her wrist while keeping her arms raised. The man's glare intensified, which Calli didn't think was possible, and he moved the barrel closer to where it hovered just barely an inch away from her nose and he spoke for the second time.

"What are you doing in here?" He demanded. His voice was quite raspy but had an edge to it. Calli thought carefully about her response, knowing that the wrong one would make him pull the trigger. She eventually shrugged nonchalantly.

"I heard explosions and correct me if I'm wrong, but forests don't do that on their own." She explained, keeping it vague and short while simultaneously calculating the probability of her escaping in one piece. Apparently, that explanation didn't satisfy the man though and his lips curled into a snarl, his patience obviously getting thinner by the second.

"That doesn't answer my question. Why. Are. You. On. Our ship?" Again, Calli didn't give a very informative response.

"Just wanted to know who my neighbors were." Calli said simply with another shrug, "But curiosity killed the loth cat, so I think I should be going." Calli tried to step around the man, but he used the rifle to force her to walk backwards until her back hit a wall, the gun hovering just above her chest. Then he glanced at Calli's bag and scowled. He motioned to it with his chin.

"What did you steal?"

"Nothing." Calli insisted, her tone mocking being hurt at the accusation even though she was guilty. It was obvious the man didn't believe her, so Calli, getting an idea, continued. "You want to take a look?" She asked and he thought for a second then nodded.

Calli didn't break her gaze as she went to take off her backpack. Her movements were slow, like she was trying to not startle an animal or in this case a sniper with his finger on the trigger. His intense gaze never wavered, which was unsettling to say the least.

Once the backpack was in her hands, Calli looked down as she went to unzip the top but was still able to see the man through her lashes. Just as her fingers grasped the zipper, Calli suddenly swung the backpack in full force, effectively catching the man off guard as it slammed into the side of his head, and he was sent tumbling to the ground with a pained grunt. He lost the hold on his gun, and it too fell to the ground, but his fingers barely grazed the trigger, yet it was enough to set it off, firing a single shot that hit the roof.

Calli cursed, knowing it would draw the attention of this guy's friends. She made a split-second decision to grab the gun then jumped over the man who was temporarily stunned and bolted out of the ship, running down the steps two at a time. Like she feared, the blast from the gun attracted the attention of the other crew members, and she ended up running into one of them, Goggles a split-second look told her. Calli collided with him but thankfully wasn't knocked off her feet. Yet neither was Goggles and after letting out a surprised grunt he looked down at Calli with confusion.

"What the - " Calli didn't stand around to hear him finish the sentence and made a beeline for the grass and beyond that the trees. She could hear yelling coming from behind and knew they were probably chasing after her but didn't risk taking a glance over her shoulder to confirm that.

Calli doesn't stop when she reaches the forest, and from the crunching of leaves and branches coming from behind her, she knew she was being tailed. Calli continued her sprint, confident she'd be able to lose them in the maze of trees and other foliage.

Minutes ticked by, and while the footsteps behind her had gotten farther away the longer she ran, she hadn't been able to throw them off. Deciding that being on the ground made her more vulnerable, Calli started looking for a tree to climb as a Plan B. There was one up ahead that had branches low enough for her to reach. She didn't slow her pace as she got closer to the tree, running to jump and as her feet planted on the trunk of the tree, she pushed off from there upwards with enough force that allowed her to get high enough to latch onto a branch. Her body swung this way and that and Calli used that momentum to flip her body over so she could get on top of the branch.

Despite the fatigue starting to settle in, Calli started climbing without hesitation, adrenaline giving her the power to push through the exhaustion. She got about halfway up and was forced to stop there as the world faded in and out and Calli needed to rest for a moment. Her breaths were sharp and fast, and it was hard to keep quiet when she's basically gasping for air, though on the flipside her lungs felt as if they were on fire and each breath made the pain flare up.

Her entire body froze when there were footsteps and voices getting close to her position. How the heck did they track me so easily? Need to think of something. FAST!

Calli unstrapped the rifle she strung on her back while running and looked down at the long, heavy weapon she managed to hold onto. She knew the basics on how to use it - it was a standard 773 Fire Puncher Rifle, and she'd occasionally practiced with rifles a long time ago and weighed her options about what to do next.

There was no stun setting, though she could adjust the power of the laser bullet, but that in itself could still be dangerous if not fatal. Calli didn't want to kill anyone, as that wasn't in her nature. Normally there were alternative ways to get out of the ugly situations she constantly found herself in, but this time it seemed her luck had run out. The cold hard truth settled in, and a pit formed in Calli's stomach when she thought of the inevitable thing she'd have to do in order to make it out of this tight spot.

When the footsteps got really close, Calli turned from where she'd been leaning back and pressed the front of her body against the tree just as two guys entered the area, who were definitely bigger and had more muscle than the sniper guy. She peaked around the tree and held her breath when one of the guys - one with a red bandana tied around his head - held up a fist, a silent tactical way of saying stop. They did, twenty feet or so away from the tree Calli was perched on.

Bandana scanned the area. He kneeled down on one knee and his fingers grazed the dirt, gathering some in his hand and lifting it close to his nose to sniff it. What, is he pretending to be a dog?

Calli's hands had a mind of their own as they raised the rifle, and she aimed for the bigger guy who waited for his partner to say something. He was all muscle and as Calli studied him through the scope she knew he could easily overpower her. There was a big scar that took up the left side of his face, and the eye on that side was not a dark brown like the other, instead being white and Calli wondered if it was a cybernetic one or his real eye that most likely was blind.

Calli's hands were shaking as she tried her best to relax, resting her pointer finger on the trigger, yet she hesitated to pull it. When the bigger guy spoke up, Calli reasoned it would be better to hear what he had to say, and her finger left the trigger.

"Find anything Hunter?" The large man asked and bandana - "Hunter" - hummed in thought but didn't reply, even after he stood back up. His gaze centered on the very tree she was on and Calli tensed before pointing the gun at him now as his eyes traveled up the tree. She should shoot him before her hiding spot was compromised. Her finger was back on the trigger, all she had to do was shoot. But like before, Calli couldn't and by then it was too late.

Hunter's eyes had found hers among the leaves and they stared at one another, Calli's being full of alarm while Hunter's expression was unreadable to her, which was frustrating. Calli made a split-second decision to throw the rifle aside just as he took out his own blaster and started firing at her. She ducked behind the tree trunk before any could hit her.

Only Hunter wasn't aiming at the girl, but at the branch she was perched on. By the time Calli realized this, the branch broke and she was sent falling to the forest floor. Her hands desperately grabbed for another branch to stop her descent, but Hunter would just shoot that one and Calli would be free falling again.

Calli thought she'd black out upon impact with the hard ground. She landed on her back and was now gasping for air like a fish out of water. Like when she'd been climbing the tree, the world became fuzzy and distorted for a bit, which prevented Calli from getting up and bolting. She could only watch through the black dots as Hunter and his partner walked over to where she lied. Both men were equally surprised upon getting a good look at their culprit.

"It's just a kid!" Hunter exclaimed, and by now Calli had gained enough of her bearings to cast a glare at him before trying to get on her feet. The key word being try.

"You mean Crosshair got beat by a little girl?" The other man asked, and he somehow found this amusing and barked out laughing. "He'll never live this down!" Hunter didn't seem as amused by this like his partner and looked down at Calli with more curiosity than anything.

"What are you doing out here by yourself? There aren't any civilizations on Silva."

"None of your business." Calli snapped, trying to be as aggressive as she could be despite barely being able to stand. Hunter sighed.

"Look kid, let's make this easy." He said, and he held his hand out, "Give back what you stole, and we'll let you go." Calli knew everything would go easier if she listened, but that would be admitting defeat and she's too stubborn to do that.

"Uh, I don't think so." She retorted defiantly, "I stole this fair and square." Yeah, that sounded pretty bad when said out loud.

"You have any idea what kind of trouble you can get into for stealing G.A.R property?" If she wasn't good at keeping a guarded expression, Calli's eyes would have bugged out of their sockets. G.A.R is the acronym for The Grand Army of the Republic. It's not like she hasn't stolen from the Republic before, but she recently made a promise to herself that she wouldn't anymore. But Calli kept her features neutral as she responded.

"Only if you get caught." Calli retorted before attempting to run away. But Hunter was one step ahead of her and fired a stun blast before she made it two steps. The last thing Calli thought before she hit the ground was how stupid she had been for getting herself in this situation.

Then everything went dark.

Chapter Text

When Calli woke up about an hour later, she expected to be locked up in a holding cell or at the very least have binders on her wrists. But when she opened her eyes, she was greeted with the bright afternoon sun shining on her face and not the cold durasteel roof of a cell.

Calli groaned quietly as her retinas burned from unintentionally looking at the yellow orb and used her right hand to shield her face. This simple movement was enough to set her arm on fire as the cut on her forearm screamed in pain. She'd been ignoring the wound for the past couple of days, and by now it must be infected. Of course, that's what the medical supplies she'd "borrowed without permission" were for.

Realization set in, and she was quick to sit up and look around for her bag. Calli could care less about where she is, but that bag was her entire life. It held all of her worldly possessions.

"Look who's finally awake." A low, husky voice quipped from somewhere slightly above her. Calli's head snapped to the left where the voice came from and looking up, she scowled when she saw Hunter sitting on a crate that she hadn't noticed was there, looking down at her while casually twirling a vibroblade with his fingers. Yeah, that wasn't threatening at all.

Calli strained her aching body as she got onto her feet, all the while glaring at the man.

"Where's my bag?" Calli internally winced at how hoarse her voice was. She really needed some water.

"Tech has it." Hunter motioned to behind her with his chin and turning she spotted her bag in the hands of another man whom Calli recognized as the goggled man from earlier.

Anger coursed through her as she watched him take out something from the bag, this time being a laser pointer she swiped from an unsuspecting droid while it had been powered down, inspect it through the round goggles he wore over his eyes and then set it aside in a pile of other things he's already looked at. The laser pointer was very fun to mess with tooka cats and other small critters and never failed to make Calli chuckle when she needed it - as an added bonus, she could guide them to knock something over and that proved a great distraction for the unsuspecting vendor, then which the teen could snatch a loaf of bread or piece of fruit to eat.

Seeing Tech violate her personal property like that made Calli upset, justified or not since she technically violated theirs first. Still, Calli was angry and that's all she could think about as she stomped over just before he could get his hands on anything else. She yanked the bag out of the man's hands, and he startled, too focused on his task to realize the owner had woken up.

"Didn't your mom tell you it's rude to look through other people's stuff?" Calli said coldly. The goggled man didn't seem put off by Calli's gruff demeanor, and looked at her with - confusion?

"We do not have a mother."

"Well I'd love to hear that story but I have this thing called, "I could care less"." Calli noticed the supplies she had acquired from the ship were nowhere to be found and she internally groaned. They must have taken them away when she was out cold.

"If you think we would let you keep the items you stole, you must not be as smart as I thought you were." Calli cast a glare at Tech while harshly zipping her bag closed. She disliked being on the losing side of this whole situation and that she didn't bother hiding. As if this couldn't get any worse, the other two members of the crew had exited the ship that was about five yards away and Calli heard them before she saw them.

"Oh, look who's awake." Calli recognized the loud, tough voice of Wrecker and when she turned around her heart sank when she saw the guy she had hit with her bag walking alongside the larger man. If she remembered correctly, Wrecker earlier mentioned a "Crosshair", and something about the tattoo over his right eye told Calli that this guy had to be him. Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, and Crosshair.

They had to be nicknames. Wrecker was a giant, and that's not based on Calli's perspective from her short 5' 2" stature - everyone was bigger than her by that standard. No, this man was pushing seven maybe eight feet tall, which for standard humanoid species was indeed extravagant. And on top of being tall, he was also very muscular and looked as if he could snap anyone in half like a toothpick and would barely break a sweat. Yes, Wrecker was a suitable name for this man.

Hunter's name must refer to his tracking abilities. Calli recalled how he'd been able to follow her tail even with all her attempts to run in an erratic pattern. He seemed to know where she was at all times.

Crosshair, well, that name was pretty self-explanatory especially with the symbol tattooed over his right eye.

Tech seemed to be the brains, though Calli didn't want to stereotype him even if it was hard not to. His goggles and overall less threatening demeanor though gave off strong nerd vibes.

By the time the teen had finished analyzing this rather odd group, the other two had reached where they'd all been standing. Calli's eyes met Crosshair's, and he scowled at the girl. She didn't blame him for being mad, he must have gotten a nasty headache from the hit, after all her bag wasn't really lightweight to begin with and she put all her strength into that swing. And now that Calli had a moment to think, she almost bought a one way ticket to unaliving the both of them with if the bombs in said bag had gone off with the impact. So this is what, her fourth near death experience in the span of a few days?

But Calli wasn't going to be intimidated by Crosshair or any of the others for that matter. So, she met his cold stare with a glare of her own as the pair closed the distance between the two groups. Wrecker didn't seem to be bothered by the tense silence that hung in the air, instead choosing to laugh and punch Crosshair's shoulder while talking to Calli.

"He's still a bit bitter about you getting the better of him. Ain't ya, Cross?" Calli watched with semi-interest at how 'Cross' would react.

"Shut up, Wrecker." Crosshair snapped without taking his eyes off Calli, who's lips formed a smirk after hearing what Wrecker said. This only ticked off Crosshair even more and Calli wondered if he was itching to take his rifle and shoot the smirk off her face.

"I'd be happy to do it a second time." She said, and Crosshair scoffed dryly.

"You'd try." He countered. Calli couldn't help herself and continued to push the man's buttons.

"And I'd obviously win again."

"Tell that to my rifle that you stole." Crosshair said, grabbing said item and pointing it threateningly at the girl. Calli held her hands up and comically widened her eyes.

"Ooo, I'm so scared." She said with mock fear. Hunter came over and forced the pair to back away from each other before things escalated further.

"Alright, calm down Crosshair." He ordered. Crosshair reluctantly listened and lowered his rifle and Calli rolled her eyes, having had enough of this group.

She clapped her hands together. "Well, not that this hasn't been fun but I'm gonna go." Calli really hoped they'd let her go, but Hunter stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Hang on, where are you going?"

"As far away as possible from you people." Calli said while yanking her shoulder from his hold. "So long. It hasn't been a pleasure." After giving the men a mock salute, Calli swiveled on her feet and started heading back to the forest. If she were smarter, she'd have asked where the nearest civilization was. Then she remembered what Hunter had said before. Well anything was better than being around these guys.

"I don't think that's a wise decision." Goggles said before she took two steps. She turned while rolling her eyes.

"You took back what I borrowed. Let it go." Tech shook his head.

"That's not what I'm referring to." Tech turned to Hunter while simultaneously unclipping a data pad from his belt. "I forgot to tell you this Hunter, but when you brought this girl here, I thought she looked familiar. So, I did some research, and it turns out we aren't the first to be robbed by her. She's a wanted criminal in six-star systems for looting Republic buildings and has stolen ships such as ours on multiple occasions. Also, there are charges for vandalism, forgery of a fake id to purchase alcohol, resisting arrest on multiple occasions...." Tech continued scrolling for a bit, lips pursed, "It's quite a substantial list." Hunter raised an eyebrow while looking at Calli, who only glared back.

"Is that so? Well, I guess there's only one thing we can do." It was Calli's turn to raise her eyebrow, wondering what he planned on doing. Hunter addressed the biggest member of the team, "Wrecker, go find some binders." At that order Calli's jaw clenched, and she took a step backwards while shaking her head.

"You're not going to turn me in." She told him firmly, making Hunter sigh.

"Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Your choice." Calli and Hunter had a stare down while the other members of the crew watched with mixed reactions. Wrecker seemed amused by Calli's defiance, Tech was a combination of curiosity at her actions and a hint of anger at having a thief in their midst, and Crosshair just looked plain annoyed, though it seems that was his usual expression.

Calli weighed her options. Clearly this group was skilled, and relentless. Calli was strong and sprightly, but clearly wouldn't be able to overpower Wrecker if he got his hands on her. Hunter was an excellent tracker, but maybe because Calli didn't try as hard to cover her tracks. She figured they'd eventually stop chasing her and cut their losses like most people did. She'd already tried running and that didn't work out, but that might be her only option. It wouldn't hurt to try.

"I choose neither." Calli finally said and with that she made a mad dash for the forest, telling herself that this time she would outrun them. She thought disappearing in the tall grass would help, zigzagging this way and that so they wouldn't know where she exited into the forest, but she underestimated Crosshair's abilities - more like she didn't know what he was capable of to begin with.

"Don't worry, she won't get far." Before Hunter could ask what Crosshair meant, he heard Crosshair's rifle go off and something shot past the pair and disappearing into the grass, cutting down everything in its path and Crosshair shot a blaster bolt at the thing he shot moments later without blinking an eye. They heard a startled yelp which signaled that the mark had been hit. Crosshair didn't shoot at her; it was a whipcord that needed a blaster bolt to be activated. By Crosshair's calculations it should have wrapped around Calli's ankles. Hunter hummed; Crosshair never ceased to amaze him.

"Nice shot." He mused, and Crosshair simpered while resting his rifle on his shoulder casually, hip jutting out sassily.

"I'm too good sometimes." He jested before sauntering his way over to where Wrecker was beginning to build a campfire before it got dark, leaving Hunter to fetch the girl. Hunter used his ears to find Calli - her loud cursing could probably be heard for miles.

"YOU SHOT ME!" She shouted furiously when Hunter emerged from the grass and her shrill voice made Hunter's ears hurt. Rubbing his sensitive ear, Hunter looked down at the whipcord wrapped securely around her calves and realized why she was freaking out so much. The cord had cut through her pants and sliced into her skin, blood already seeping out and staining her clothes and since Calli had been trying to yank the tangled mess off, her hands were also coated in the substance.

"Kark, didn't realize that would happen." Hunter kneeled down to check the wound, but she shoved him away.

"Get away from me!" She screamed, making Hunter's ears hurt again but he powered through and tried to calm the girl down.

"I didn't know it was going to do that. We normally use this on droids, it was an honest mistake." He told Calli who wasn't convinced, and she showed this by scoffing dryly before wincing and gritting her teeth as she tried moving her legs and the pain intensified.

"Blast it, that hurts!"

"You'll be alright. Tech can take care of it." Hunter tried to assure her.

"I'm not letting him or any of you come anywhere near me!" She hissed, and by now Hunter had had enough of her attitude. He just wanted to have a peaceful night around the campfire- now he had a rogue teen to deal with.

"Would you rather bleed out?" Hunter retorted, thinking Calli would be mature enough to at least see reason.

"If it keeps me from going to prison then yes!" Calli shouted unnecessarily and Hunter had enough of that.

"If you don't calm down, I'll have Tech sedate you!" Calli paused and with one look at Hunter she knew he was dead serious. As much as Calli didn't want their help, she wasn't about to be knocked out again and be completely vulnerable. So, despite every cell in her body screaming to not listen, she bit the inside of her cheek and nodded once to show that she would listen. If cooperating for now got her off this planet, she'll play along. She hasn't encountered a prison that could hold her.

Unfortunately, Hunter refused to cut off the ropes until she was in binders, which Tech brought over.

"I could just run off even with them on." Calli pointed out, and Hunter made a 'hmph' sound.

"You'd be stupid to do that."

"Technically her choices up until now haven't been smart." Tech said simply while securing the binders and Calli cast him a glare but remained silent, though a faint blush dusted her cheeks at the comment.

Once her wrists were bound, Hunter unsheathed his vibroblade and with one swipe of the blade the cord was cut away and Calli let out more colorful words at the sting as her cuts were exposed to air. At the moment, a certain sniper was on her list of people she really, really hated.

Calli ignored Hunter's hand that he offered and got up on her own, making the latter sigh with annoyance.

Reaching the ship, Calli was left in Tech's hands. They passed Wrecker who had gathered wood and was arranging the pile in a teepee pattern before Crosshair who stood off to the side would light it with the lighter in his hands. The latter didn't hide his smirk upon seeing Calli in handcuffs, which earned him a certain finger flashed in his direction from both hands.

Hunter muttered 'good luck' under his breath to Tech before leaving the pair alone and Calli was not the least bit offended by this comment. She knew she looked like she wanted to bite someone's head off and hoped Tech would fear her. It would make her feel a little better at least.

If he was afraid, he didn't show it.

Tech decided to do a scan of her body to see if there were any internal injuries. Once the scan was finished, he read the results and hummed.

"In addition to your cuts, you have a mild concussion. You're also severely dehydrated and malnourished. When was the last time you had a proper meal?" Calli made a 'pshh' sound with her mouth.

"Who keeps track of that?" Tech wasn't sure how to respond to such a question and chose instead to focus on treating her wounds. Honestly, Calli didn't know when she had a decent amount of food in one sitting. In order to stay alive, Calli only ate enough each day to take the edge of her hunger. If she didn't have 3 layers of clothing on, anyone would see her ribs visible underneath the skin.

"I'm going to have to cut the fabric away to treat the wound." Tech informed Calli while taking out a knife from one of the many packs he had on top of his armor. Calli shrugged, and Tech took this as an OK to do so.

Once her pant leg was cut to just below her knee, Tech was surprised to already find bandages and asked Calli what they were for.

"From when I crash landed." Was all she said and when Tech looked ready to ask more questions, she shut him down. "I don't want to talk about it." Tech looked disappointed but chose to respect her privacy and focused on unraveling the strips of cloth so he could see how bad it was.

"I'm guessing this is why you stole our medical supplies." Tech said when he set eyes on the cut. The skin around it was red and swollen, beginning signs of an infection. Tech seemed unfazed.

"You... are a genius." Calli said with dry sarcasm, making Tech briefly glare at her before taking out a bottle of antiseptic and a clean cloth.

"This will sting." Calli nodded and braced herself. When the cloth touched her skin Calli jumped while a sharp breath harshly let out through her gritted teeth. Again Tech remained calm and patient, asking her to stay still.

It took about fifteen minutes for Tech to finish with the wounds on her legs and next was her arm. Calli watched with mild interest, mainly because she was confused.

If these people were pirates or even smugglers, they wouldn't put any effort into her well being. Even a Bounty Hunter would care less whether or not how malnourished or injured she was.

When Tech said he needed to stitch the cut on her leg, Calli almost flew out of her seat but resorted to gripping the edges and firmly rejecting the idea. She absolutely hated needles, for reasons she was not prepared to disclose at this time, or ever for that matter.

"Stitches are needed to help keep the wound closed, which will help in the healing process."

"I know what stitches are for, mister, and I am not wanting them. Just use a combo of skin glue and tape, that's always worked for me." Tech wore an unreadable expression as he stared down at Calli, already having a disinfected needle in hand which he noticed Calli kept glancing at and he could see the apprehension in her eyes. Sighing, Tech relented to her suggestion, telling himself that when they turned her over to the authorities, they could deal with her cut more thoroughly. He could improvise with her suggestion; he and his team excel at improvising. Going back over to the med kit on Calli's left, he began looking for the needed items. The teen decided to volunteer some more information. "I've even used regular super glue once and it worked." Tech paused his rummaging through the med kit and looked at Calli with an eyebrow raised.

"I'm impressed you've managed to live this long with your use of unorthodox medical procedures." He stated flatly.

"Thanks." Calli chirped, and Tech could only stare at the girl in minor shock.

".... That was.... not a compliment."

"Well, I'm taking it as a compliment regardless." The teen said, shrugging at the end. Tech honestly had no idea what to say. He wondered if he should do a head scan to see if her head trauma was worse than originally the results said. Nevertheless, he got to work.

If there was one thing Calli hated: it was awkward silence. And it seemed that Tech wasn't much to initiate conversation so the teen took it upon herself to ask questions to learn about these guys as much as possible.

"Soooooo... Hunter implied you guys were Pubs." She started and at first it seemed Tech had ignored her but a delayed "mhmm" left his mouth as he started applying glue to Calli's skin. Wincing, Calli continued, "I thought nat born foot soldiers became extinct when they let the clones take over."

"The Grand Republic Army is only a branch of the even bigger Galactic Republic Military," Tech said matter of factly, tossing the glue aside as he finished applying it then went to work pinching the wound closed little by little, "Therefore us clones occupy only a bigger fraction of the Republic's soldiers but not the entirety." Calli's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion.

"What do you mean by "us clones", you're not a clone." Calli was by no means judgy of skin color but she couldn't help but briefly think you're too white to be a clone. She was appalled when the thought crossed her mind and immediately felt guilty. Good thing she didn't say it out loud.

During her brief mental malfunction, Tech had taken a bacta patch out of a package and went to place it over her now sealed closed wound.

"While yes, I do not have the standard dark skin and hair, if you were to look at my D.N.A you would see it is closely related to that of the regular clones." Once the patch was secure, Tech looked to Calli while adjusting his goggles. "And I do have the regular brown eyes."

Calli only stared blankly at him. "You're lying." She insisted and Tech was now the one who looked confused.

"Why would I lie? It would not benefit either party." Calli didn't really have a way to respond to that because in a way it was true. What would be the point in lying about being a clone? Who would want to impersonate what Calli and so many others viewed as glorified slaves. 

Tech didn't give her much time to think about all this and motioned for her to get up. "Come on." Blinking, Calli snapped out of her reverie and eyed the goggled man.

"Where are we going?" Calli asked carefully. Even if they were with the Republic and possibly clones, she didn't trust them in the slightest.

"The others built a fire and are most likely already eating. I'm hungry and obviously can't leave you here alone." Calli's eyes rolled but she stood up and Tech kept a firm grip on the arm that didn't have a cut as they exited the ship.

A little way from the ship and using fallen tree logs to sit on were Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair. They were all sitting on one side of the fire and another log was set on the other side presumably for Tech and Calli to use.

Calli avoided everyone's gaze, especially a certain sniper who was cleaning his rifle. It was most likely as an attempt to intimidate their prisoner, but Calli showed no fear as her and Tech took their seats. While Tech chose to sit on the log, Calli decided to sit on the ground and lean against it. The kicker was that Calli was on the side of the log that didn't face the fire so her back was to the group, and she could sulk without looking at any of them. She had a nice view of the forest that she spent four days wandering through,  and nights up in trees to keep herself safe from the various dangerous creatures she had run into.

Some minutes later, Hunter appears in front of her with a ration box and he held it out to her.

"You hungry, kid?" Calli shook her head, refusing to look at him, though her stomach protested her rejection. Tech, after swallowing, looked over his shoulder at the girl.

"Uh, as I stated before you're severely malnourished and dehydrated. I suggest you take Hunter's offer."

"I don't need anything from you people." She boldly proclaimed making Hunter sigh with annoyance and then he decided to try a different tactic.

"Fine. Die of thirst and hunger. That'll prove nothing." When Hunter started to walk away, Calli's stomach growled especially loud, and it was enough to knock some sense into her. If these people were offering free food, why should she object?

"Wait!" She exclaimed, a little too eagerly which made her cheeks flush in embarrassment. Hunter found it amusing and showed this by chuckling while holding out the box so Calli could take a ration bar.

He watched as Calli began devouring the bar, taking big bites and barely even chewing before swallowing. Feeling something like sorrow for the girl who obviously didn't have the luxury of having proper meals, Hunter took two more ration bars out and wordlessly held them out to Calli. Said girl didn't question this, too focused on how good it felt to fill her stomach. The only thing that would make this better is-

"Here's some water to help wash that down." Calli hadn't noticed that Hunter had left briefly and came back with a metal bottle filled with water. He unscrewed the cap before handing it to Calli and being able to satisfy her thirst on top of hunger, she might as well be on cloud 9. The tiniest of smiles made its way on her lips as she altered between eating and drinking.

The others were also intrigued as they watched the girl. It was interesting, two minutes ago she was sulking and while Crosshair and Wrecker couldn't tell from where they sat, Tech saw Calli's eyes brighten as she ate. For the briefest of moments, she wasn't closed off and all they saw was a helpless girl. For a second, Hunter wondered if he wanted to turn her in to the authorities.

No, he had to. A thief has no business being allowed to roam free. Tech seemed to be thinking along the same lines and asked what everyone was thinking.

"So, does this mean we have to cut our time off to take the girl to Coruscant?" Calli was about to take a bite out of her third ration bar but paused when Tech asked this. A silence fell within the group, and everyone looked to Hunter.

He must be the leader. Calli concluded. She continued with eating the ration bar, but also listened to the men talk.

"Aw man!" Wrecker exclaimed while pouting. There was another pause, then Hunter spoke.

"We don't need to go all the way there. I'm sure we can take her to the nearest Republic owned planet who would be more than happy to incarcerate her." Calli wrinkled her nose in disdain but remained silent. Wrecker pouted.

"Aw, too bad we have to turn her in." Wrecker said sadly, which Calli didn't expect. "I like her!"

"She's a thief, Wrecker." Tech told him matter-of-factly. Do they not realize the thief could hear them talk about her?

"And a good one since she managed to get past Crosshair." Wrecker said while smirking at Cross who just rolled his eyes. "How did you do that?" The last question was directed at Calli.

"It's called being quiet." Calli replied in a not- so-nice tone, "Something you guys aren't good at, apparently." She shifted in her spot to face the four grown men, "You know, if you guys don't want random people showing up on your ship, you might want to consider not causing explosions that give away your position."

"We were testing our weapons systems." Tech said in defense, "Our ship took on some damage on our last mission." Calli huffed and turned back around, facing away from the fire once more. She briefly wondered what this mission was that caused their ship to be fired at.

The sun set as the men conversed among themselves while Calli's mind was wracking for a way to get out of this situation.

Perhaps when she and this group leave this planet, Calli can somehow knock them out and take control the ship. It was going to take some creativity on her part, as there were four of them and one of her. But maybe it didn't have to be something complex. She just needed to catch them off guard, get them when they least expect it. Like she did with Crosshair.

Calli smirked to herself. This is going to be easy; she was sure of it.

As the night went on, one by one the guys went to bed until it was only Hunter and Calli left to watch the fire as it dwindled. But Hunter didn't plan on turning in any time soon. Neither did Calli.

Calli watched silently as Hunter added two logs into the fire before sitting down and using a stick to stir the coals. In no time at all the fire was roaring with life once more, illuminating both of their faces as one watched the other without actually looking directly at each other.

Calli had questions, many in fact, about the group she had the misfortune of running into. Any gratitude felt by Hunter's generosity earlier with the rations and water had turned into bitterness. Hunter didn't have to give her anything but chose to. The thought of owing anyone anything left a bad taste in her mouth, much like the ration bars did. They were flavorless yet still there was an unpleasant aftertaste that stayed for a while.

Both were enough to sour Calli's mood once more.

"I'll answer some of your questions if you answer some of mine." Hunter offered, startling Calli out of her thoughts.

"Who says I have questions?" Calli countered after it computed what Hunter had said.

"It's not unusual for people to have questions when they meet us. You're no exception, I'm sure." Calli thought for a moment then nodded.

"Fine. But if I don't want to answer a certain question I won't." Hunter nodded and Calli asked the first question. "So, who are you people? Smugglers? Pirates? Or since you want to turn me in, maybe you're bounty hunters." She hoped to catch the man in a lie and prove to herself that they weren't clones. Sure his facial features were much more similar to the clones, but that could just be coincidence   Hunter chuckled and shook his head.

"Nah, we're clones." He revealed, and Calli let out a short laugh, still not believing him or Tech.

"Right, and I'm a sith lord." She countered, before taking a good look at the man across from her, studying his features. He had too big of a nose, but the hair color matched most other clones. Same eye color. Minus his nose, every other facial feature resembled the clones now that she really looked at him. How did I not see this before? "I could see you maybe, but the others? Not a chance." He had to be lying. There's no way.

"We're clones with genetic mutations." On the outside, Calli didn't react much except raise her eyebrows slightly at this information, seeming only intrigued in the slightest but internally was an entirely different story. Now that he said this and she looked at him again, all she saw was the similarities between him and the thousands of others with that same eerily familiar face. And it made her feel sick.

"What sort of mutations?" Calli had to ask, curiosity getting the better of her.

"How old are you?" Hunter asked instead, making sure to keep the deal. Calli roll her eyes, but she answered regardless.

"15." She answered shortly, hoping the lie seemed believable. Hunter appeared to buy it, thankfully. And her question was asked again.

"Wrecker has enhanced strength. Crosshair's eyesight is superior to the average clone. Tech is the genius of the group. I have enhanced senses." Calli tilted her head while taking all this information in and hummed but her face remained impassive.

Hunter turned the conversation back to Calli. "So, you're fifteen and have managed to steal Republic property and you're wanted in six star systems. Started a life of crime early, huh?" He said in a semi joking manner, making Calli scoff. She disliked when people judged her by her age.

"The Jedi have apprentices or whatever you call them younger than me who fight in battle alongside you clones. Fifteen is nothing." She said with a slight edge to her tone, telling Hunter he hit a sore spot, but he still pressed for information.

"Still, don't you have parents or family somewhere?" Calli's body tensed.

"That's a question I don't feel like answering." Calli said coldly. She saw the curiosity spark in his eyes at her change in demeanor and asked another question before he could. "Is it just you four?"

"As far as we know. We're what you call an experimental group. But who knows what else the Kaminoans cook up in those labs." Calli nodded slowly, then involuntarily shivered as a cool breeze made goosebumps appear on her arm even with her jacket on.

"You can sit closer to the fire if you're cold."

"I'm fine." She insisted, and again she wondered why these people bothered for her well being. Hunter sighed.

"You don't like having people help you, huh?"

"And you like asking a lot of questions." Calli countered and he huffed.

"Well if you had someone steal from your ship and hurt one of your men, you would have questions too." He said with a cynical tone and Calli scoffed. Before she could come up with a retort, a beep came from Hunter's comm. Hunter didn't look away from the girl as he raised his wrist and answered the call. "Yes?"

"I've cleaned out one of our storage closets for our prisoner." Tech's voice informed and Hunter looked at his comm with confusion.

"I didn't tell you to do that." There was a pause.

"It was Crosshair's idea." Tech finally said, and Hunter sighed but was slightly amused at his brother. Leave it to him to find a way to pay back Calli for what she did. At least if she's locked up in there, no one would have to stay up to watch her.

"Alright. I'll bring her in." Calli couldn't help but gawk at man.

"You're not serious." Calli protested as Hunter ended the conversation. "You're going to lock me in a storage closet?"

"Hey, it's either this or I have Crosshair watch you all night to make sure you don't escape." Hunter retorted, and Calli opened her mouth to argue further, until she realized that being stuck with the grumpy sniper didn't sound too appealing. She relented her arguments, though wasn't happy about it.

"Fine." Calli said through gritted teeth. She reminded herself she needed to cooperate with these guys and reluctantly followed Hunter to the ship after he put the fire out.

Tech was standing in front of the open storage closet and stepped aside when Hunter and Calli reached him. The latter peered into the closet, seeing that everything had been cleared out save for a lamp that sat in the middle of the floor.

"Looks cozy." Calli said, her voice laced with annoyance and sarcasm. Hunter ignored her and turned to Tech.

"You think you can find an extra blanket and pillow?" Hunter asked and his brother nodded and left in search of said items. Calli couldn't stop herself from commenting on the current situation.

"You know, if you're going to be catching criminals on the side, you should put a request in for a ship with a holding cell. Just an idea." Calli advised, then smirked up at Hunter, "Or you could you know, just let me go."

Hunter, with a roll of his eyes, replied, "Well you'll be happy to know that you are the first person we've arrested. My condolences we weren't more prepared." Calli feigned being shocked.

"First? I'm honored."

"Mostly we deal with droids, and for the ones that cause extra trouble, have to deal with Wrecker." Hunter said, and Calli narrowed her eyes at him. Was that a threat? "Keep that in mind in case you have plans on escaping." Yep that was definitely a threat. The audacity. Though, Calli took it slightly to heart. She'd only just met them, and her immediate impression of Wrecker was that he seemed harmless enough, despite his large stature. Sure, the knarly looking scar that took up half his face and big bulky muscles looked intimidating, but Calli just didn't feel threatened at all. But she could be wrong.

That didn't mean she was going to give off the impression Hunter's words had affected her however. But before Calli could report with something witty, Tech reappeared with a pillow and blanket that were dropped in Calli's outstretched arms. She had to keep her arms straight less the items fall since her wrists were still cuffed thus preventing her from holding them properly.

Without another word, Calli stepped into the closet but didn't turn around and face the two clones, completely embarrassed over the whole situation.

Hunter looked like he wanted to say something, but he couldn't think of what to say to diffuse the awkward atmosphere. He's never dealt with someone who isn't a soldier, let alone a kid.

Tech decided to take action and closed the door with a push of a button, leaving Calli alone in the dark.

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Chapter Text

So, I'll edit this in the first chapter, but here's an updated version of the timeline that will show how old Calli is.

Originally, I had it where she had been created before the Bad Batch, therefore older like Omega. Well, I've changed it to where she was created circa 27 BBY, about halfway into the year, so roughly 4.5 years before the Clone Wars began.

In my story, clones get their age accelerated by getting injections of growth hormones and that's as far as my science goes lol. So, while on Kamino, she grew three times the standard rate of humans, making her ~13 years old by 22 BBY when Attack of the Clones happened. Once she left Kamino, she no longer received injections so began aging normally, making her 15 by the time this story starts. I hope my math is correct, I was terrible in that subject so correct me if I'm wrong.

ANYWAYS, on with the story!

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The air smelled of smoke, dust, and blood. Her heart pounded in her ears that she could barely hear the blaster fire mixed with the humming of lightsabers that deflected bolts while simultaneously slicing everything in their path.

One might find the assorted glowing hues of green and blue meshing together with the harsh red mesmerizing, perhaps even pretty. But Calli's keen eyes were focused on the bright violet colored beam that stood out like a sore thumb amongst the other colors. And the man who wielded it flawlessly, yet aggressively that even a child such as Calli knew it was a stark contrast to the other Jedi who were fighting.

He's sprinting towards a man clad in Beskar that's almost blinding under the bright Geonosian sun. Several blaster bolts are shot his way, and they're effortlessly deflected as the Jedi runs towards his opponent.

Once close enough he switches from deflecting shots to fighting the man in Beskar. He swings the lightsaber, aiming for the shoulder. A gauntlet blocks the attack; sparks fly as the beam makes contact with metal strong enough to hold off the ancient weapon of the Jedi.

The battle did not last long, though Calli was sure it would. After all, the Jedi was fighting against a seasoned Mandalorian warrior who could surely hold his own, even if the opponent was Jedi. He managed to block each strike as they came, and once even knocked the other man off his feet by pushing back with his gauntlet and sending him backwards a few feet.

Calli felt herself buzzing with adrenaline as she watched the fight, silently cheering Jango on alongside her brother. It was a rarity to see such true intense fighting take place, at least in Calli's world which mainly consisted of battle simulators with fake weapons and enemies. But to watch a real fight take place, with real stakes at risk, it made her feel alive. She was even imagining it was herself in the place of her father figure and battling it out with the Jedi.

This is what her future looked like. Taking down enemies with kriffin bad ass moves, weapons, and gadgets. Sure the training was brutal on her young body, and those long necks were anything but kind, but in the end it would all be worth it if she could do what Jango did. Training, hunting, fighting,  winning!  That's what she lived for. It's what she was meant to do!

Calli and her brother made awed noises when Jango managed to land a blaster shot on the Jedi's shoulder and shared excited looks as it looked like the battle was drawing to a quick close with the obvious winner.

The Jedi wouldn't go down without a fight, however. He advanced towards Jango, and with quick moves deflected every shot without breaking his stride. Jango didn't let up, even when the Jedi was close enough to swing his lightsaber at him once more, this time aiming for his side. The Mandalorian of course went to block what could essentially slice him in half, but instead of the usual sparks flying, the lightsaber quickly went in another direction and by the time Jango realized the fake move, it was too late.

Even two years later, Calli could remember this moment vividly. Her brother's pained shouts as they watched the only father they knew be killed. She didn't comfort him however; in fact she couldn't bring herself to move at all.

As his body fell to the ground, the Jedi stood over him like a predator who'd just killed their prey and there was something in his expression that Calli couldn't decipher.

She snapped out of her reverie long enough to hold her brother back from charging into the battle, his tear-streaked face contorted in unbridled anguish at what had transpired. He struggled against Calli's strong grip, and he shouted at her to let him go...

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Morning came and Calli was still wide awake despite not sleeping. She did rest a little but didn't let herself drift completely off into dreamland. Calli worried that if she had, the clones could have taken the chance to take off and leave her on some Republic base or something and she would have woken up in an actual jail cell. While she always managed to escape, it was still difficult and Calli didn't feel like putting all that effort in. Not when an easier option presented itself.

Calli never felt the ship move, so it was a safe bet that they still were on Silva.  It had been a long night, and with four grown men who all snored at different volumes that Calli could hear from the opposite end of the ship, she had no chance of sleeping even if she chose to do so. Her hearing was extra sensitive so even through these thick durasteel walls she heard them. Although, with the four of them combined, snoring in almost absolute union, it could awaken anyone from the grave. She was about ready to strangle them.

Unfortunately, it was already a proven fact Calli was no killer, so the next best thing was to bundle up her blanket to lay one side of her head on, while her cuffed hands pressed the pillow to her other ear. It barely did anything, but Calli was unmotivated to try another way - mostly because there was no other way. If only she'd had ear plugs!

The night hours drifted slowly by and Calli didn't know it was morning until Tech came to check on her per Hunter's order.

When the door slid open and light flooded into the closet, Calli protested by groaning loudly, refusing to get up from her current position laying facing away from the door, even though the floor was severely uncomfortable.

"Karking hells, will you turn the light down??" She hissed like a feral tooka, her retinas burning. Tech ignored this and offered use of the refresher, which after a brief deliberation Calli accepted, with the request of her backpack that had extra clothes and a comb.

She didn't realize how dirty she actually was until she looked in the small mirror above the equally small sink in an extremely tiny refresher. There was dirt and grime on her face and neck, and her hair was like a mynocks nest.

Calli cleaned up a bit by splashing water on her face and neck, then scrubbing both those and her arms up to her elbows. After that she changed into some clean clothes, as the ones she wore now were the same ones she crash landed on this planet with. She also ran a comb through her uniquely colored hair, the left being blonde while the right was a dark brown. It's strange that her hair was naturally both colors, but Calli accepted its weirdness long ago. She'd thought about dying it from time to time, but that cost money and well there was never enough to spare for that sort of luxury. So, her hair remained the same.

After combing out all the tangles, she rebraided it and let it fall over her shoulder. The fresh clothes and brushed hair made Calli feel so much better already.

It appears Tech must have been assigned to watch Calli because when she exited the bathroom he was still there, annoyed but ready with the binders to put back on her wrists. Tech wasn't so enthusiastic about being left with a sassy teenager, but Hunter pulled the Sergeant card, and he was forced to comply.

"Follow me." He said shortly, and Calli did just that. The two went into the cockpit and for a brief moment the teen felt right at home, being surrounded by instrument panels that beeped. Tech sat in the pilot's seat (somehow Calli wasn't surprised that he was the pilot of the crew.) And got to work.

"Whatcha doing, smartypants?" Calli questioned.

Techs mouth pinch in annoyance, at her question or the nickname she didn't know, but nonetheless the goggled clone answered. "I'm running a final diagnostic of the ship before takeoff."

Calli recalled what Tech had said last night. "You said you took on damage from a mission - what kinda mission was it? Did you shoot some droids? Fight some Seppies?" Tech paused his work on the console where readings from various parts of the ship were coming in, adjusting his goggles before looking at Calli and answering.

"If you must know, we were on Salucami and ran into some trouble with a secret cell of terrorists planning on joining the Separatists and helping them invade the neutral planet. Since we happened to be there, we were asked to neutralize the threat. And we did." Calli nodded once he finished.

"Fun." Tech blinked.

"I suppose if you consider fighting a war fun, then yes." He went back to reading the panel screen once more, and that was the end of the conversation. It was pretty obvious Tech wasn't much of a conversationalist.

Calli sat boredly in the co-pilot chair, wishing someone would shoot her and put her out of her misery. Sitting and doing nothing was torture for the girl. Sighing- very dramatically mind you, Calli lifted her legs up to rest on the console beside her seat. Tech caught the movement from the corner of his eyes and snapped his fingers at her while frowning.

"Feet. Off." He ordered and Calli rolled her eyes but set her feet back on the ground just as Hunter walked in.

"How's it going in here?"

"I'm running a final scan to make sure everything is alright for take-off. We should be ready in about five minutes." Tech informed, datapad in hand as he waited for the scan results to pop up on the screen. Should be any second now.

"Good." Hunter did a side glance at Calli who was too distracted by the sudden news to notice and cleared his throat uncomfortably, "And uh, what about the other thing?" He asked in a quieter voice, though Calli still heard him clearly.

"If you're referring to what to do about our prisoner, I've located many Republic prisons in nearby systems, the choice is yours." Hunter nodded.

"Good. I'll tell the other guys we're preparing for takeoff."

"I'm so glad you guys think I'm worth the trip." Calli said with obvious sarcasm dripping from her lips, "But I wouldn't expect a medal if I were you."

"Of course not." Tech said in total seriousness, not seeming to catch on that Calli was being sarcastic. "Clones don't receive medals for turning in delinquent teenagers."

"Delinquent, wow. That's a fancy word."

"You know, you're pretty calm for someone who's about to go to prison." Tech commented and Calli smiled thinly at him.

"I'm sorry, would you prefer I drop to my knees and beg for you to let me go?"

"Alright, knock it off." Hunter told Calli sternly, having grown tired of her attitude. Any sympathy he felt for her had quickly melted away. "And find someplace else to sit, Wrecker is the co-pilot."

Calli rolled her eyes and went to sit in the seat behind Tech's. Thirty seconds later Wrecker came into the cockpit along with Crosshair, and the former went to his seat while tall, dark, and skinny stopped next to the seat Calli was in.

"You're in my seat." He told her plainly. Calli raised an eyebrow in question at him, showing no sign of getting up.

"And?" She challenged, and Crosshair's nostrils flared as did his anger.

"Move." Crosshair ordered in a harsher tone, thinking it would intimidate the girl. But it didn't.

"Make me." Crosshair snarled while turning to Hunter.

"Can't she go back into the closet?" He asked the Sergeant, who pondered this. Everyone was looking at Hunter now, waiting for his answer. Eventually Hunter shrugged.

"Alright." He said. Calli couldn't stop her jaw from dropping. It should have been harder for him to make a decision, but it took only five seconds!

The smug smirk Crosshair gave Calli made her want to strangle him. If only she wasn't wearing cuffs... actually it wouldn't be so hard even with them on. Crosshair grabbed Calli by the arm and pulled her to her feet.

"You know on some planets this would be considered child abuse." Calli said over her shoulder to Hunter as she was dragged out of the cockpit by the sniper. But Hunter didn't reply, and Crosshair chuckled which made Calli glare at the man.

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Calli sighed as the door shut and she heard the lock engage.

"Hello darkness, my old friend." Calli muttered into the black oblivion she found herself in once more.

Less than a minute later, Calli felt the ship move and eventually it went into hyperspace judging by the way Calli was almost knocked down from the sudden change of speed. Now that Calli was off that desolate planet, she needed to figure out a way to take out these guys. First though, these cuffs needed to go.

With a simple yank of her wrists in opposite directions, the cuffs broke apart easily. She could have done it sooner, but then that would reveal to these guys that simple cuffs couldn't hold her and that would have made things much harder.

Calli rubbed her free left wrist as she thought about where to go. She'd have to set a new course, but where? Ord Mantel wasn't an option, as that's where she just escaped from. The teen had crossed the wrong person there, and it came back to bite her in the butt.

Let's just focus on escaping first.

Calli looked at the door and figured with some effort she could pry the door open, though she feared an alarm would go off. Calli bit her lip as she thought of an alternative. Her eyes wandered around the small closet, hoping to get an idea. Then a smile broke out on her face when she spotted an air vent near the floor.

Calli made her way into the vent as quietly as she could, thankful that the low hum of the ship flying through hyperspace could drown out any noise she happened to make. She would be quieter than a metal door at least. Hunter said he had enhanced senses, so she assumed that meant hearing as well.

She first removed the grating and set it on the pillow they so generously gave her, then looked in, determining whether or not she'd fit. Only one way to find out.

Calli could barely get her small form into the vent and did her best to army crawl or at the very least shimmy her way through the enclosed space. It took about ten minutes before Calli reached another grating due to her moving slowly so as to minimize the amount of noise. It was a big sigh of relief when she was able to crawl out of the vent, winding up in the main hold.

Like she expected all those crates with weapons and stuff were still out. Looks like these guys weren't big on organization or cleaning up for that matter. She was quick to get what was needed, knowing eventually Hunter would sense her nearby, if he hadn't already.

Her weapon of choice for this secret mission was a medium sized blaster rifle, set to stun. She felt secure with a gun familiar to her. Even though it's been a while, Calli knew how to handle it. She secretly thanked her father for teaching her so well.

Next came the second part of her plan.

Calli would have to act quickly in the time it took them to react to her attack. With them being soldiers, it would likely be less time than the normal goons she crossed paths with. She needed an edge, something to delay that time, even just a few nanoseconds could turn the tides in her favor.

Last night she pondered the different ways to do this and what came to mind were the different crates of weapons that would be at her disposal. One of them had contained an assortment of bombs. Calli didn't plan on blowing them all to oblivion of course.

But a flash bomb wouldn't cause that much damage, save for temporarily blinding the men, thus giving her the upper hand. One was taken from the case, along with a remote detonator which would save her from actually having to throw it.

The bomb was placed as close to the door as Calli was brave enough to go without alerting Hunter of her presence and got into position behind a crate that would shield her from their view.

She barely dived into cover before the doors opened with a swoosh, sooner than Calli had expected, and it almost threw her off guard and threatened her focus.

Before she gave into fear that this wouldn't work, she ducked behind the crate and activated the bomb via the remote detonator, covering her eyes with an arm to ensure she wouldn't be blinded. Even through that she saw a bright flash from the bomb as it went off, and for a second all she was aware of was the burning sensation of her eyes and ringing in her ears.

Calli powered through and forced herself to move, eyes opening as she got on her feet and swiftly aiming the gun at her targets before they could recover. In that brief moment of being stunned she'd heard the most colorful use of words be used and to be honest the girl almost felt bad for doing this.

She fired the blaster once, twice and was rewarded with both Crosshair and Hunter dropping to the ground almost simultaneously.

She heard Wrecker and Techs concerned voices asking what the commotion was and Calli advanced towards the cockpit, adrenaline pumping through her veins and fueling her with the courage needed to face the last two.

Calli was halfway across the room when Wrecker's ginormous form filled the doorway she'd been heading towards. The man almost tripped over his fallen brothers, and he looked down at them, his features mixture of concern and confusion.

"Wha-" Before it could register what was happening, Calli unleashed a series of stun blasts, smart enough to know that only one might not be sufficient in taking the large man down. Down he went. Now all's left is Tech.

Judging by the blaster bolt that barely missed her head, Tech has obviously realized what was happening and choosing to fight back.

Calli ducked away from the opening, pressing herself against the wall and letting out short breaths to steady herself. Her heart was pounding violently against her ribcage while she wracked her head for the next move.

First, she needed to see where in the room he was located. After counting to three, Calli turned to look into the cockpit, and milliseconds later she jerked her head back as Tech fired another shot, this time it was a stun blast.

It hit the frame of the blast doors, creating sizzling and sparks that forced Calli to barrel roll from one side of the doorway to the other, avoiding another shot. But her barrel rule served two purposes, one to get away from being showered in red hot sparks, but also to grab something - a reflective disc from Crosshair's belt. She'd earlier noticed he had an abundance of them.

Hopefully her movements were quick enough for Tech to not notice and it just looked like she used Crosshair's limp body as a cushion during her roll.

Back slamming against the wall, Calli huffed, trying to catch her breath as she calculated where to put the reflective disc. First, she'd need to distract Tech so he wouldn't catch on.

Without giving it a second thought Calli switched from stun to actual laser bullets and fired a few where Tech's stun blast had nearly gotten her earlier, and as a result from now exposed wires sparking, a small fire started. Most likely there was an extinguisher in the cockpit and judging by Tech's hurried footsteps retreating farther back into the room, he was rushing to get it.

Quick as a mouse, Callis eyes did a record quick scan of the room and soon the reflective disc was thrown and stuck to one of sides of the crates facing the cockpit at the perfect angle.

Tech had found the extinguisher and was now in the midst of putting out Calli's mess, still keeping his distance in case the girl tried anything. Knowing she only had a few seconds if not milliseconds, Calli aimed the blaster, but not at Tech. She swiftly adjusted her angle and didn't have time to second guess whether this would work.

The trigger was pulled. Tech immediately reacted at the sound, reaching again for his blaster but it was too late. His fingers barely grasped the handle before one of the droid poppers he had hanging from his belt went off and engulfed him in a net of electricity that sent his body into convulsions. Tech's mouth was open in a silent scream that never left his lips throughout the whole ordeal before the universe appeared to have mercy on him and he passed out.

Calli herself wanted to pass out as the adrenaline rush wore off and she realized what she'd accomplished.

I took down four highly trained soldiers by myself. I still got it.

Though Calli felt a slight guilt at the pain they'd no doubt be in upon awakening, she had to focus on the bigger picture. With the threat neutralized for now, Calli could change the hyperspace coordinates and go anywhere she wanted.

While Calli thought about where to go, she decided to show these guys the same courtesy they'd given her and lock them in the closet in case they woke up.

Calli grabbed Tech by the arms and proceeded to drag him out of the cockpit, depositing his unconscious forms by Hunter and Crosshair. Even though Calli was strong, she still found herself breathing heavily after doing that.

Her mind wandered to Wrecker and how much harder moving him would be. Calli decided she'd keep him where he was and just knock him out when he'd start waking up.

About twenty minutes later, Calli had all three men locked in the closet they so generously offered to her. It was hard fitting them in there with their bulky armor, but Calli managed. They were stripped of all their weapons and to be safe so were the comms. And since there was only one control pad located on the outside of the closet, Tech couldn't mess with the settings to unlock the door, especially since Calli fired a shot that fried the circuits.

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Calli reset the coordinates to have the ship take her to Nar Shaddaa, a planet rich in casinos and gambling idiots alike. She figured she could make a decent living counting cards and rigging machines in her favor. By the time the Hutts caught on she'd make enough to barter her way off world and settle somewhere else.

In the meantime, Calli passed the time doing different things. At first, she just sat back in her seat and watched the ship go through hyperspace while snacking on a couple of ration bars. It always took her breath away and made her feel right at home.

She remembered her first time in space. As a child, Calli rarely left her home world, so when the opportunity came for her, she'd been beyond ecstatic. Her first trip to space had also been when she started learning how to fly a spaceship. It was both nerve-wracking yet exhilarating and something she'd never forget.

After reminiscing for a bit, Calli decided to snoop around the ship just for the heck of it. No one was there -er, conscious - to tell her no. To be honest, she was curious about these so-called clones - there was still some underlying doubt about them being that. Or maybe she couldn't accept it. Calli didn't want to dwell on that however and focused on exploring the ship.

She scoffed at the pin up posters scattered throughout the ship. It seems all clones, enhanced or not, liked to have these up. In a couple other ships she'd stolen that were operated by clones, they had the same thing. Calli knew it wasn't only clones who had these, but it definitely was a common quality amongst them at least.

Shaking her head, Calli headed to a part of the ship she hadn't explored yet. She'd noticed there was a door on the roof that must lead to well something and wanted to see what. Maybe they hid something up there from prying eyes.

Calli was met with more crates, much to her disappointment. Maybe there's something cool inside the crates?

She went to the one closest to her and removed the lid. It was filled with random droid parts and other pieces of technology. She picked up what was quickly identified as a capacitor and Calli guessed that Tech was probably the one who collected this stuff. She remembered that clones gave themselves names based on their skills or personality. Making that connection, Calli was amused at how fitting that name is for this particular one.

But thinking of this stirred some mixed emotions and a frown made its way onto her lips as she put the capacitor back in the crate and tried to distract herself by looking in all the others. The rest of the crates were filled with either spare parts for the ship or other supplies, nothing that interested Calli. Though she planned on nabbing a few of the smaller ship components cause hey, those would sell.

Sighing, Calli decided to go grab another ration bar and maybe see what else they might have in the way of food.

When Calli dropped down to the main level of the ship, she wasn't aware that a certain someone had woken up from his stun induced slumber. But when she turned to head for the main hold, who should she run into but Wrecker. He was surprised to see Calli, but then it quickly turned into anger as he put the pieces together. Wrecker grabbed the collar of her shirt before she could get away and lifted her off the ground.

"You!" He shouted furiously and Calli was worried he'd bash her head in for what she did, he looked pretty angry. It reminded her of a time she tried pickpocketing a Wookie. "You knocked me out!" Calli bit back a sarcastic remark and Wrecker started looking around the room, "Where are my brothers!" He exclaimed, fearing she'd killed them.

"Take a wild guess." Calli retorted. Wrecker didn't have to when both heard shouting coming from the back of the ship. Shoot, they're awake too. She should've checked on them instead of getting caught up in snooping.

Calli was kept in hanging in the air like a rag doll as the giant clone followed the sounds of his brother's calls that led him to the makeshift supply closet prison.

Wrecker pushed the open button and stepped aside as all three of his brothers came tumbling out of the closet, Tech being the first, followed by Crosshair then Hunter. Calli had handcuffed their hands together so when one fell all of them followed. If Wrecker wasn't so angry at the girl, he would have found it amusing as his brother's lay in a pile on the floor, temporarily stunned but nonetheless furious like Wrecker.

"Would you get off of me!" Crosshair hissed to Hunter, not liking being sandwiched between his brothers. Hunter huffed but did so, then using the wrist that was cuffed to Crosshairs left one to pull the sniper up and then Crosshair did the same with Tech, the latter looking a little worse for wear. His hair stood up in different directions and there were even some burns on his face and undoubtably the rest of his body. Calli wondered if the droid popper had done more damage than she intended. Did she fry his brains and now he was no longer as smart as he used to be?

Calli didn't have time to dwell on that thought however, as four sets of eyes were now glaring daggers at her, and she chose to look at the floor. This was not going to end well.

"How dare you knock us out and lock us up!" Crosshair hissed, and Calli didn't think it was possible for him to be more ticked off then he normally was, but once brief glance showed otherwise.

"Why would you do this?" Hunter demanded.

"Because I'm not letting you take me to jail!" Calli said stubbornly, "I thought you'd be unconscious for at least until we landed on Nar Shaddaa."

"Tech, go reset the navicomputer." He ordered and Tech nodded. He tried to walk away but only made it a step before realizing he couldn't go far, being handcuffed to his brother's and all.

"I would but..." Everyone looked at Calli expectantly and she huffed.

"I jettisoned it out the airlock." She stated simply, and Hunter sighed before motioning for his brothers to follow Tech to the cockpit... not that they had much of a choice anyways.

Wrecker followed with Calli, having set her back on her feet but keeping her arms behind her back so she couldn't fight. Entering the cabin, he made her sit in one of the seats. They suddenly heard Hunter's raised voice from the cockpit.

"Four hours?!"

"What's four hours?" Wrecker asked loud enough so he could be heard, and Hunter came stalking in a second later, and since he was still cuffed to his brothers, they were forced to follow suite. Hunter was fuming, you could see the smoke coming out of his ears.

"We received a comm over four hours ago, for an assignment. It's apparently a very time sensitive mission and we just found out about it Four. Hours. Later." Hunter was glowering down at Calli by the end and if looks could kill, she'd be dead two seconds ago. Still, Calli felt the need to speak up for herself.

"In my defense... I didn't even notice the call came in." She cringed internally at the pathetic excuse. Man, she was way off her game. Hunter's fists clenched and he had to force himself to calm down. This girl was getting on his last nerve.

Wrecker coughed awkwardly, "Uhh, what's the mission?" He asked, trying to ease some of the tension in the ship.

"Tech's decrypting the message now." Said man was typing away on his datapad, and everyone waited for him to eventually speak up. Less than a minute later he did.

"We've been asked to locate and rescue the senator of Taris, Kin Robb." The goggled clone revealed,  "There's been talk of the Separatists trying to take control of the Hydian Way, which is the only route that passes through the entire galaxy. Taris is one of the major trade stops on this hyper-route. 72 hours ago, there was an attack and the Senator was kidnapped. First, we need to find information on where she is being held, then go after her."

"Sounds more like a search and recovery mission if you ask me." Crosshair remarked crudely, but Tech disagreed.

"There's hope the Separatists have kept her alive and will try to persuade her to join them. The Taris government is in chaos as many of their leaders were declared corrupt and removed from office shortly before this. If we don't find Senator Robb, they will have to elect a new Senator quickly to petition the Republic for help before the entire system falls apart completely into the hands of the Separatists, along with the trade route."

"Can't the regs handle this?" Crosshair said, not feeling this mission was worthy of their talents.

"We'll have to sneak behind enemy lines and gather intel in a droid infested capitol. Sounds like an action filled mission to me." Tech sassed back.

"Set course for Taris. " Hunter ordered, and Tech nodded before leaving to do so, again with his brothers following him. Wrecker did as well, even though he wasn't handcuffed to his brothers. He still maintained a grip on Calli's collar which forced her to also follow.

"What about her?" Wrecker asked and while Calli pretended to not look interested, she was curious to hear the Sergeant's reply.

"We have no choice; we bring her with us." He was met with incredulous looks from everyone.

"You're not serious?" Crosshair said, and Hunter looked sharply at his brother, fire in his eyes.

"You have a better idea?" He said with an edge to his voice, which Crosshair picked up on. He knew Hunter wasn't angry at him but still wanted to argue. Couldn't they drop her off somewhere besides Coruscant? Calli a chose this moment to speak up.

"I'm not saying I'm agreeing with him, but how do you plan on explaining me to practically anyone with eyes?" She asked Hunter, not caring if he was on a short fuse and ready to snap at any moment, "Do you plan on telling people I managed to knock you four out which made you unable to get me to Coruscant before this mission because that might not instill a lot of confidence in you guys."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Hunter asked with annoyance evident in his tone.

"You're asking her for a plan?" Crosshair asked, and Hunter sighed.

"I'm open to suggestions from anyone." He clarified.

"Why don't we just hide her here on the ship?" Wrecker suggested and Calli internally perked up at the idea. If they were stupid enough to do that, she might still have a chance of escaping.

"That would be a good idea, but she would most likely escape and take off with our ship." Tech pointed out and Calli huffed while crossing her arms.

"Gee thanks, Tech. There goes my plan B. Talk about a spoiler alert."

"So, if we can't trust her to stay here, that means we have to somehow find a way to keep an eye on her without raising suspicion." Hunter said, tapping his chin as he tried to think of a solution to this mess. But Tech seemed one step ahead.

"Is the answer not obvious?" He asked, and the dumb looks he received answered that for him. "Earlier, you used one of Crosshair's reflective discs and your aim was impeccable. Where did you learn to do that?"

"What's it to you?" She sassed back. Tech wasn't bothered by her sarcasm.

"Where are you going with this Tech?" Hunter questioned and Tech rolled his eyes at everyone's lack of following his thought pattern.

"Well since we can't leave her on the ship or tell the truth about why she's with us, she may make herself useful on this mission."

"Over my dead body." Crosshair said right off the bat. Calli found herself wanting to say the same thing.

"Since she seems to have a natural talent for being stealthy, it would be the best solution." Tech said to Crosshair, then turning to Hunter to see what he had to say. The Sergeant was rubbing his chin as he thought silently about his brother's plan. Crosshair couldn't fathom that Hunter might choose to go along with the plan and voiced it.

"You're not actually considering this, are you?" Hunter glanced at Calli briefly before speaking.

"I'll think about it." He decided and Crosshair shook his head but didn't say anything, while the other two clones seemed satisfied with Hunter's decision. Calli on the other hand, wasn't.

"You don't have to because I'm not doing it." She said.

"Why not?" Hunter asked, and Calli scoffed before counting off on her fingers each reason she didn't want to help on this mission.

"Uh, where do I start? I'm a kid according to you. I'm not a soldier. And I could care less about this Senator Robb." Calli thought she'd made a good argument, but again Tech seemed to be able to read her mind.

"I figured you would say something like that. But, this could prove beneficial for you as well." Calli raised an eyebrow, semi interested in what she could benefit from helping them. Tech had taken out his data pad and after finding what he needed, adjusted his goggles and continued. "If you do this act of service for the Republic, it could pardon you from all your crimes." This caught Calli's attention.

"Really?" She asked and Tech nodded to confirm this. Suddenly Calli was very interested in this mission and smirked. "Hmm. I'm in."

"Hang on," Hunter interjected and he made Calli turn to face him so he could give her a stern look while he continued talking, "-if you're doing this there's going to be one simple rule. You follow orders from me or them without any questions."

"Got it." Calli said with a roll of her eyes, "Anything else, Sergeant?" Hunter ignored the mocking way she addressed him.

"I want you to practice your shooting for an hour then get some shut eye. Need you to be sharp for the mission." Hunter told her firmly.

"I don't need sleep." Calli said, making Hunter pinch the bridge of his nose and question if this was a good idea.

"What did I just say about following orders?" He said and Calli rolled her eyes.

"Ugh, fine." Hunter nodded, relieved the teen finally would listen to him. He may regret this whole thing, but a mission is a mission, and they were going to complete it no matter what.

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Hope ya'll enjoyed this updated chapter, my writing has come a long way since I first published this story!

~ShyWriter :D