Technical Devotion, Part Two: Boundaries

technical devotion, part two: boundaries

content warnings: none :)

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Kan had been at the rebel compound for a week, and she was itching for more exciting prospects to come about. Thus far, she had only really worked on small projects, specific things that needed fixing like comms and datapads, and she hoped that soon her expertise could be used to its full potential. She was still grateful to be in the position she was, and was pleased to be helping at all in the first place.

She had acquainted herself with Rex and Gregor the most, and Echo by proxy, though he didn't go out of his way to talk to her at all. She found Gregor to be extremely fun and charming, and Rex was very personable as well. She hadn't really talked to many of the clones apart from them, as she often kept to herself, holing up in her ‘office’ until it was time to eat or sleep. Though, that was nothing new, she had always operated like that.

Echo was still trying to become acclimatised to the addition of this new woman to his small circle of brothers he considered to be close to him. He didn't mind Kan's presence, but it still made him uneasy, and he often didn't know what to say to her, particularly around his brothers. He ended up keeping to himself more than he usually would. She would always greet him with a smile and he was polite and acknowledged her presence, but didn't stretch their interactions much beyond that.

Echo was on his way back to the barracks for the night, passing by the door to Kan's office, as he heard a distinct “Ouch” hissed from behind it. His curiosity got the better of him, and he knocked firmly on the door a few times.

“Come in” Kan's voice called, an irritated edge to it.

Echo opened the door, taking in the sight. The room was still a mess, piles of junk and both unusable and salvageable spare parts strewn about the place, and Kan was sat on the chair at the centre of it. She was slumped back, her spine curled up and her boot heels hanging on to the edge of the seat, the only thing stopping her from slipping off. She was fiddling with a small component in her hands, her eyes focused and eyebrows furrowed from behind a pair of large round glasses.

“Everything alright?” He said, addressing the cry of pain he had heard moments before.

“Oh, Echo, hi” Kan looked up and pushed the glasses onto her head, sitting up straighter, “Yeah, this is just a bit fiddly, it keeps- ow!” She shook out her hand and looked to him sheepishly, “Pinching me”

Echo had to supress a smile, “Alright, I'll leave you to it then” He spoke, his hand on the doorframe as he moved away.

“Wait!” Kan shouted out suddenly, and he pushed himself back into the doorway with a slight raise of his brow, “Sorry, I just wanted to run something by you, one minute”

Echo stayed silent as Kan knelt down, rummaging through various piles.

“Where is it?” She said under her breath, looking around and moving to another pile. She took a wad of tangled wires and threw them behind her, and Echo almost winced at the heavy thud as they smacked into the far wall.

“Ah, here it is” She pulled out a datapad and expertly navigated her way through the mess and over to Echo, “I drew this up for you. It's just the basic idea, but I was wondering if it would be something you were interested in”

Echo was certainly intrigued by her words, but his heart fell from his chest as he took the datapad from her and looked at what was on it. It was blueprints for some sort of attachment for his scomp arm, so that he would have a hand where his real flesh one used to be.

Kan watched Echo's reaction with worry, and felt the need to explain herself as he stared at her plans with a blank expression.

“Sorry it's a bit crude, I’ve never been the best at drawing” She spoke nervously, and she saw Echo's throat bob as he swallowed hard. “You'd still be able to use your scomp of course, it's just an attachment, but you'd be able to use it like a real hand” She continued, feeling herself rambling, her words falling over each other in her hurried speech.

Echo said nothing, and handed the datapad back to her, turning and walking away from her swiftly. Kan's cheeks flushed a good few shades deeper. She felt so embarrassed.

Kan slumped into the mess late the next morning, her head feeling heavy with her lack of sleep. She had remained in her office long past her usual bed time, finding anything she could to fix up so as to keep her mind from the mortification of Echo ignoring her simple act of compassion. She had only wished to try to connect with him in some way, and she had tried the only way she knew how; through her work.

When she had retired to the barracks, everybody was already asleep, and the sun had already begun to cast a gentle blue light through the windows. She had slid into her sheets, thankful for the sleeping form of Echo in the bunk next to her, and had finally allowed sleep to take her. Little did she know, Echo's nights were almost always sleepless, and he had heard her come in at the early hour of the morning.

“You look rough” Rex commented, taking a sip of caf.

“Why thank you” Kan joked, taking her seat opposite the clones but making sure to sit further away from Echo than she usually did.

“Bad night's sleep?”

“Mhm. Something like that”

Echo watched her slow and tired movements with intrigue, wondering what had kept her up so long the night before. She hadn't gotten any food, and instead poured herself a large cup of caf, taking a sizable gulp of it and then staring down into the brown liquid.

“There's something I was wondering about” Rex stated, gaining Kan’s attention once more, “Do you think you would you be able to build a device that would allow us to intercept long range comms? We have satellites and other technology that connects us to the wider galaxy, but having something like that could really give us an edge in the operation we're running here”

Kan's eyes lit up at the prospect of it, “Yeah I'm sure I could drum that up pretty easily”

“Really? I wasn’t sure if it was a big ask or not”

“No, its simple really, it will just take me a bit of time and fiddling about with satellite reception. All I will need is parts, but now I think of it, there's definitely a number of things I'll need already in my room”

“Okay that's good then, let me know the parts you don't have and I'll see what I can find”

Echo finished his food shortly after the conversation came to a lull, and left the table without saying a word. Kan let out a deep sigh as she watched him leave, which Rex took notice of.

“Do you know if there’s a particular reason why Echo doesn’t like me?”

“Oh, I’m sure he does, he’s just a bit weary of new people” Rex replied sincerely.

“Right” Kan took another large sip of her caf with furrowed brows, “I tried to show him my designs for a hand attachment for his scomp arm but he just… didn’t say anything”

“Oh” Rex said quietly, and Gregor sucked a harsh breath between his teeth.

“What is it?” She asked hurriedly.

“Well, I won’t say why, because I’m sure Echo wouldn’t appreciate it, but he doesn’t really like to talk about the parts of him that are… mechanical. The reason he has them… it’s not exactly a happy story”

“Oh no” Kan brought a hand to her mouth as she realised, “I complimented him on it almost immediately after we met, maker I’m so foolish”

“It’s okay, you didn’t know” Rex assured her, “Echo’s very professional, he’ll move on from it if you just forget about it”

Kan nodded, “Okay, I will”

Echo walked into the mess for dinner and got his food, taking a seat at his usual table. All day, him and Rex had been trying to work out the kinks of an upcoming mission, but there were many factors they had to take onto consideration, and so it was looking less and less likely that it was going to be happening any time soon.

Rex and Gregor joined Echo shortly, and they settled into their usual light conversation, trying to keep the more heavy topics for the command room. As dinner drew on, Kan didn't appear, just as she hadn't at lunch time, and Echo couldn't help but wonder why.

Then later as Echo sat down on his bunk, and the one next to him remained empty, he couldn't help the nagging feeling that he should go and see if she was alright. His feet carried him to her door, and he knocked on it once more, hearing a surprised yelp from behind it.

“One moment!” The door whizzed open a second later and Kan was standing right in front of him. He instinctively stepped back. “Echo!” She smiled, “What brings you here?”

“You weren’t at lunch or dinner, I was just checking you were still alive in here” Echo looked around the messy room, it seemed to somehow be a lot messier than it had been when she arrived.

“Oh yeah, I’ve just been pretty focused today” She admitted.

Echo nodded and left, but not before feeling Kan grab onto his arm lightly, “Wait!”. He looked down at the hand on his arm and then back up to her face.

“Sorry” Kan retracted her hand, “I just wanted to apologise for yesterday, I didn’t mean to overstep any boundaries”

Echo just took a deep breath, “It’s fine”

“Are you sure?” She looked at him with such intent, and he could see that she really wanted to be forgiven.

“Don’t worry about it” Echo gave her a small smile, and Kan cracked her own grin.

“Okay” She stepped back, and Echo remained in the doorway, “I just finished this, do you want to see if it works?”

“What is it?” He leaned inside, looking for a place to put his feet.

“The long range comms… interceptor, or whatever Rex called it”

“You’ve finished it already?” He raised his eyebrows.

“Well… yeah” She grinned, and Echo smiled a little again as he stepped in.

“Sorry it’s so messy in here” She said as she lead him through the mess, “Please, sit down”

As Kan crouched and began fiddling with the device, tuning it with headphones on, Echo really looked at her for the first time, taking in her features. He noticed the straightness of her brows, the soft curve of her jaw, the slight bump in the bridge of her nose, the way her jet black hair made her olive green skin stand out in the most brilliant way and how the beaded pieces at the front framed her face perfectly. He also dragged his eyes along the scar that stretched across her collarbones, silently wondering how she got such a significant injury.

The device crackled to life, and as Kan looked up to him with a smile he noticed the dark green colour of her eyes.

“Here” She passed him the headphones and he took them from her as her face fell, “Oh I’m sorr-”

“Don’t be” Echo said flatly, and took off his headgear that wrapped around the back of his head.

Kan looked at the piece in awe as Echo placed it down on the desk, very interested in its functionality and inner workings. Echo put the headphones on and listened through them, hearing some chatter.

“Where is this coming from?” He asked, noticing her staring at his head piece.

“Oh! um, looks like it’s between Ryloth and… somewhere in the expansion region, Shili sector maybe” She said, looking to the display on the device.

Echo nodded, listening in to the voices. It was nothing particularly interesting, seemingly just shipping information. He looked up and noticed her staring at his headpiece again, and he smiled faintly at her wonder. He picked it up and handed it to her.

“Are you sure, I don’t want to-”

“Take it” He said softly, and she took it from him slowly, being very gentle and looking over it in awe.

Echo felt his heart swell at someone being so genuinely interested in it rather than confused or disgusted.

“This is really rather amazing, I might have to get one” She smiled up at him, earning one back in return.

Echo handed the headphones back, and Kan swapped them for his headpiece, which he put back in its place. Echo stood up and made his way back to the door. Turning around, he saw that Kan was sat cross-legged in front of the device, tuning it again.

“You should get some sleep”

She looked up to him, mouth hanging open a little, “I’m just going to see if I can find anything interesting before I turn in”

“Alright” He went to leave, stopped again by Kan calling out.

“Echo” She said softly, and he turned back, “Thanks for checking on me”

Echo just nodded in reply and left.

He couldn't help but find Kan’s words and actions completely endearing. She was so gentle with his head attachment, as if it was a real living breathing thing. He could do without her mess, preferring a tidy and organised workspace himself, but he felt that it somehow suited her, and for that he didn't mind it too much. He could feel himself warming to her presence already, and he bit back a smile as he entered the barracks for the night.

technical devotion, part ten: unveiling truths

a/n: I have a form to join my taglist now if you want! content warnings: canon-typical violence, mentions of torture

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Echo entered the dwelling and slipped off his droid mask with a definitive sigh. Another day of nothing. Though his defeated expression was quickly swept from his face as Kan came running up to him.

“Echo, you're back!” She said quickly, excitement evident, though Echo was sure it wasn't just because he'd returned.

“I’m back… what's up?” He asked dubiously.

“I've been trying to comm you all afternoon” Kan scurried back to the kitchen table, rummaging through the mess on the table. “but I think I know why you haven't been replying, at least… you haven't been ignoring me right?” She stopped rummaging to look up and tilt her head to the side.

Echo smiled faintly, “No, I haven't”

“Okay, well” Kan continued her frantic searching, “Ah, here” She pulled out her datapad, “I was listening in on their comms, and it seems that the Empire are undertaking the exact same project that I am”

Echo frowned in confusion as Kan made her way over to him with the datapad, “What do you mean?”

“Technological shorting, disrupting, whatever you want to call it” She brought up the words she had typed up upon hearing them, “This is what they said”

Echo looked over the words. Electrical pulses… system failure… signal disruption… mining…

“What does this mean?” He asked, looking to Kan, who was now exceedingly close to his chest as she showed him the file over her shoulder.

“A lot of things” Kan started, leaning back into Echo's shoulder a little, “It means that the reason they're building this weapon here, on this planet, is because of the mining operation they're running 15 or so klicks from here. Where my project is entirely wiring-based and ecologically… well, not destructive, theirs is going to pillage this planet of whatever resource it is they've found helps in creating their weapon. It means that they intend to use this weapon, which would be some kind of canon, as something they could fit onto their fighters to shoot at other ships and short the entire system, bring down the ship in any and all senses. It's technological warfare at is finest, and mightily unfair and unethical in so many ways. Not that we thought the Empire were above that”

Echo tried so desperately to focus on Kan's words, but the feel of her leaning into him was frying his brain. She continued to rest even more of her weight into him as she talked, pointing at parts of the text on her datapad and talking in animated way as if it wasn't making Echo burn inside at the feeling. He so desperately wanted to just wrap his arms around her waist and bury his nose in her neck, fully taking in the scent that was teasing him. He didn't realise that he was just staring at Kan and trying to supress his thoughts until she had turned to look at him.

“Are you listening?” She asked plainly.

“Uh… yeah, sorry” Echo stumbled through the words, swallowing hard as he looked down into her eyes from only inches away.

“You okay?” Kan asked, her gaze flicking between Echo's eyes, which seemed full of alarm.

“What? yeah, fine” He said, finally having to look away from Kan as her stare became too intense to cope with, and he felt himself crumbling beneath it.

Kan just looked at him for a moment longer before stepping away from him and sitting on the edge of the table.

“Echo can I ask you something?”

He let his eyes find hers again, palms sweating, “I suppose”

Echo could see Kan's hesitance before she spoke, “Um, why disguise yourself as a droid?”

“Oh” Echo looked down at his disguise and the mask that was still in his hand, then back up, “I guess because I'm mostly mechanical as it is. It's easier than having to come up with an explanation as to why I'm like this”

Kan nodded, “I can understand that but…” She trailed off.

“What?”

“I don't know, I can't imagine it feels nice, mentally”

Echo was taken aback that Kan had even thought of that, his heart once again acting up as she proved her selflessness. She had thought about how it must feel for him, a man that was mostly machine, to present himself to the world as what many saw him as anyway.

“I mean… maybe, but what else could I do?”

Kan gazed at him intently, her brow setting in a straight line as she looked away sheepishly, “I didn't draw up that hand attachment for no reason”

“Why did you?” Echo couldn't stop himself from asking.

“Oh, I mean, I didn't know why you had the scomp but I figured that sometimes two hands could come in handy” Kan shrugged, then let out a little laugh at the accidental pun.

Echo chuckled, though he still pressed for more, “But… we didn't even really know each other then”

Kan looked to the ground, “Yeah, I guess I was just trying to make myself useful, and I actually had a dream about it” She chuckled, “Then I just got it in my head”

Echo’s heart skipped a beat, “You had a dream about me?”

“About making the attachment and giving it to you, yeah” Kan smiled at him.

“Did I like it? In the dream” Echo let a smile fall across his lips.

“I don't remember actually” Kan said with a finger in her chin as if trying to recall.

Echo chuckled softly, then drew his eyebrows together as his next thought formed, “I'm sorry I didn't say anything at the time, it was very kind of you to think of me and I just ignored it”

“It's okay, I know you don't like to talk about… stuff” Kan trailed off, cursing herself for even saying the words.

As Kan looked down shyly, Echo viewed her with only complete trust and adoration, and felt compelled to finally tell her the truth about himself.

“It was the Separatists, that made me like this” He confessed, and Kan's eyes snapped up to his. She stayed quiet to let him continue, “I got myself… blown up, on a mission, and the Techno Union took whatever was left of me and made me into…” He gestured to himself.

“I'm so sorry that happened to you Echo” Kan said with the utmost sincerity.

Echo was sick of the pitying looks, and now he especially hated it from Kan. He suddenly regretted saying anything, feeling weak in front of the one person he was determined to appear strong in front of. Though, by her nature, Kan had something else to say.

“But I'm very glad that you're alive. If you had died being blown up I never would have met you” She spoke so seriously, her eyes holding so much emotion. An emotion that, it seemed to Echo, appeared to be understanding.

“That's true I suppose, I am grateful to be alive, even if it's the Separatists I have to thank for it” He chuckled a little, and Kan joined him in the action, if a little sadly, then she grew more serious again as she brought her hand to her shoulder.

“The Separatists were monsters”

Echo instantly noticed the way her eyes glazed over for a moment, and how she was absent-mindedly tracing the outline of her scar. He tried to catch her eyes again for conformation of what it seemed like she was insinuating, however inadvertently.

“But I'm glad you’re here, and you know I think your attachments are pretty cool right?” Kan looked back to Echo and noticed him looking at her scar as she ran her hand along it.

Echo smirked a little, “You might have mentioned it”

Kan smirked back at him before taking a seat at the table and returning to fiddling with whatever contraption is was she was tweaking now.

“Can I ask you something too?” Echo asked, unable to help himself any longer.

“Is it about my scar?” Kan asked back almost immediately, without even looking back at him.

“Uh- yeah, but only if you feel comfortable talki-”

“It's fine” She sighed, “I got it during the war, I was on Felucia with the 41st. Apparently the Separatists had started taking prisoners by then”

“Wait, when you said you were in the war…”

Kan figured that the loth-cat was more or less out of the bag at this point, and decided that since Echo had trusted her with his secret, she'd let him into hers.

“I served as an engineer and then got trained as a field medic under Master Unduli, she all but saved me from the Separatists and I offered my services as gratitude. I don't think either of us foresaw it lasting the whole duration of the war” She ended with a small chuckle, but Echo was still stuck on what she'd said before.

“You were taken prisoner by the Separatists?”

Kan sighed, “Yeah, they insisted that I was Luminara's padawan, wanted information about her battle strategies but I resisted, which they didn't take too kindly to”

Echo sat down next to her, watching her with such understanding and a newfound reverence.

“What did they do?” He asked so quietly, almost in a whisper, as if afraid to even ask, or know.

“It was um-” She swallowed a lump in her throat, “Some sort of acid or something” She confessed, and looked to Echo to see his eyes go wide, “Yeah it wasn't fun”

“I'm so sorry that happened Kan”

Kan just smiled sadly.

Echo was floundering for the right thing to say. Instead, he just said what he was thinking, “For what it's worth, I think the scar is pretty cool”

Thankfully, her eyes lit up, “Really?”

“Yeah, makes you look tough” Echo's lips curled into a smirk.

Kan laughed, “Thanks Echo, that means a lot”

“Okay, so we're clear on the plan?”

Echo nodded, a smirk threatening to take over his lips as Kan stepped into the more militaristic side of her personality. The seriousness of her expression as she leaned over the kitchen table, pointing at a location on the holomap, was enough to drive him crazy. Now knowing where she learnt to act this way, it only made it that much more attractive to him.

“Can I get an actual affirmative on that” She asked, a little of her usual personality slipping through with the tilt of her head.

“Yes Ma'am” Echo said, unable to hold back his smirk any longer.

Kan rolled her eyes, her own smirk fighting it's way onto her face, “Okay okay, let's get going then”

Kan turned off the holomap and picked up her blaster holster from the table, slinging it around her hips and making sure it was secure. Echo watched her out of the corner of his eye as he secured his armour, and caught her eye when she did the same thing. Kan blushed furiously.

For all that she felt she made it painfully obvious, Echo seemed to be unaware of her affection for him, and unbeknownst to her, it was exactly as unaware as she was of his feelings for her. She felt that there was something unsaid between them, but she didn't know if Echo would label it the same as she would, so she left it alone.

“Alright let's go” Kan said after a moment, moving towards the door.

Echo and Kan stepped out into the dusk, a stillness hanging in the air that only felt noticeable as the rest of the world settled into sleep. They quickly made their way to the warehouse on the other side of the town, where the Empire’s main base of operations was located.

Despite Kan’s reluctancy to do it previously, they were really going in with a blaster and nothing else. It was risky, but they had figured out a way to reduce the risk a little. In Echo’s surveying, he had noticed that there was somewhat of a backdoor that was left unguarded for a few minutes when the guards changed from the day shift to the night shift, and it was something that happened everyday without fail. That would at least afford them a way inside, but from there, it was anybody’s guess as to what would happen.

They came to rest at the edge of the woods that the backdoor overlooked, and watched as the Stormtroopers there talked to each other, one of them checking the time.

“Any second now” Echo murmured, as if to try and quell his own eagerness.

A few moments later, one of the Stormtroopers nodded their head to the inside, and the other agreed, opening the door for them to finish their shift.

“Time to go” Kan whispered and quickly darted from their cover in the trees. Echo followed closely behind her, and they silently slipped inside. They found themselves in a corridor, the sound of far-off chatter bouncing around the walls.

“Where should we start?” Echo asked in a hushed voice. He figured that since Kan was the more necessary person in this mission, be able to slice through their encryption and firewalls with ease, that he would take her lead.

“In here” Kan figured they would start with the nearest door and see what they could find.

She turned her head to the door, and upon hearing nothing, opened it up. She held her blaster in front of her as she went inside, though relaxed when she saw that no one was there, and it appeared to be some kind of small barracks. She saw an imperial officer’s uniform laid out on one of the bunks and ran her fingers over the fabric, looking to Echo.

“I might as well, right? In case we get caught” She reasoned and Echo nodded, turning away to let her change.

He breathed deeply, his blaster held to his chest as he rested next to the closed door, listening for anyone incoming. Regrettably, the only thing he could focus on was the sound of Kan’s clothes falling to the floor and the rustle of her slipping on the new ones. Luckily for him, no one had come in the time that it took for her to get into the uniform.

“Okay, lets continue” Kan said, and Echo turned to look at her. She looked completely incorrect in the uniform. It fit her well enough, but even with the seriousness of her mission persona, it was far too devoid of any charm to match her in any way.

They moved out again, both of them with light footfalls and straining to listen for if anyone was coming. They made their way down a few narrow corridors before they came upon a door with a small window in it, and they could see the light of a holoscreen still lit up in the otherwise dark room. Kan entered and set her blaster down on the surface beside the screen, looking around for the computer. She found it underneath the surface and pulled out the datastick she had brought along.

“Watch the door” She spoke quietly, and Echo settled himself by the door, so that he could see out but anybody walking past wouldn’t notice him.

The computer wasn’t logged in to anything, so Kan had to slice through their decryptions, which the datastick helped with, but she hit a wall quickly.

“Kriff” She hisses quietly.

“What is it?” Echo asked, not taking his eyes away from the door.

“Nothing, it’s just going to take me a second to… nevermind got it”

Echo chuckled to himself, and Kan got to sorting through the files on the computer. There were a lot, far more than she was anticipating.

”Echo, get over here”

He obliged quickly, and came to stand behind her, leaning over her shoulder.

“There’s so many files. These one here pertain to this specific base I believe and they would take enough time to download as it is… We could really get a lot of information here, but…” She trailed off, her thoughts jumbled, “We could try and send a signal to Rex, send the files to him instead, but we don’t have the wherewithal for that right now, and it would take too long to-”

“Kan it’s fine. Lets just get the information on this base, at least for now. We can figure out more later if need be” Echo placed a hand on her shoulder and felt her relax beneath it.

“Okay, it’ll just take a few-”

Kan was interrupted by the door sliding open and an officer walking inside.

“Wha-?”

Echo acted on instinct before they could even finish the word, shooting a stun blast at them.

“Better get on with it then” He said in a strained chuckle, moving to pull the stunned body inside. He closed the door and resumed his previous position as Kan began downloading the files about the project onto the datastick. He kept half an eye on the crumpled form of the Imperial that he had positioned against the wall, and kept the rest of his attention on the corridor outside. A few people passed by; a patrol of Stormtroopers and a pair of officers, but none had noticed them inside the room. After an almost painful amount of time, Kan spoke up.

“Got it”

She removed the datastick and put it back in the pouch on her belt, and Echo checked the corridor once more before sliding the door open. Kan stepped out into the hall before him, but before he could even set one foot out the door, she pushed him back inside and closed the door. He was about to protest, open the door and ask what was going on, but he quickly saw the problem.

“I’ve not seen you here before” The officer spoke with suspicion, the Stormtroopers either side of him gripping their blasters a little harder.

“New transfer” Kan said calmly.

”What’s your rank and operating number?”

“Um… Lieutenant… Oh kark it” Kan whipped her blaster from its holster and fired a stun blast to each of the Imperials before her, then opened the door again, “We’ve got to go”

Echo clambered over the bodies that were collapsed in the hall as he followed after Kan, and they made their way back towards the way they came in, though when they got into the barracks where Kan had taken the clothes from, there was someone there.

“Hey! That's my uniform!” The woman pointed at her accusingly and Kan rolled her eyes, quickly stunning her.

She began quickly stripping off the Imperial uniform, “Didn’t suit me anyway”

Echo turned away, a small laugh escaping his lips at how relaxed she seemed in the situation that was anything but. After she was back in her own clothes, they left out the door they had entered, stunning the night shift guards who had since taken their post. The two of them ran back to their dwelling, circling around the outskirts of the town and through every secluded back alley and side street that they could.

technical devotion

echo x f! original character - ongoing

masterlist !

description:

Kan is a technician who wishes to do more with her life, so when she hears of a secret clone rebellion that is taking shape, she jumps at the opportunity to help. Her technical skills, along with her positive attitude and acute friendliness, make her fit into the operation immediately, but there's one clone who she can't seem to crack.

warning: this story will have at least one NSFW (18+) part later on. I debated taking it out and having it as a oneshot but what I have planned is more or less integral to the plot so I won't be taking it out. minors begone!

chapters:

part one: a new life | 2.2k words

part two: boundaries | 2.4k words

part three: decryption | 2.3k words

part four: call to action | 2.6k words

part five: objective | 3.3k words

part six: visitors | 3.1k words

part seven: a new post | 2.6k words

part eight: playing the part | 3.7k words

part nine: getting nowhere | 2.7k words

part ten: unveiling truths | 3.2k words

part eleven: co-existing | 2.9k words

part twelve: handy | 2.5k words

part thirteen: leaving | 2.2k words

part fourteen: changes | 2.5k words

part fifteen: promises made | 2.6k words

part sixteen: old friends | 3.9k words

part seventeen: taken | 3.4k words

part eighteen: the search | 2.6k words

part nineteen: safety | 2.6k words

info about my oc, kandam'aira:

Tumblr

i think it's time to drop the lore...

so. this is really just a lot of stuff about Kan that isn't necessarily super relevant to the story (though some of it is mentioned/hinted a

playlist:

a few songs that remind me of echo & kan ♡

hehe thank youuu !!! he's gonna be a bit happier in part 2 lmao, as a little treat

gone, but not forgotten

Fives x F!Reader

word count: 4.4k

description: you're a bartender at 79s when the 501st gets back from a gruelling campaign. the clones make a game out of seeing who can successfully hit on you, but the one that catches your eye is the one that doesn't try at all, the one whose shoulders are weighed down by a painful loss.

warnings: nothing much, a little fluff & sad fives (post citadel), mentions of death and war as expected, non-established relationship

a/n: i'm probably gonna do a part 2 to this because it was originally gonna have a lot more to it and I still kinda wanna see that play out, but anyway, enjoy :)

The low lighting and heavy bass that shook the very bar you were working at were no match for the ruckus that was caused whenever the clones of the 501st entered 79s.

You watched their entry from behind the bar with a small smirk. You spotted their Captain, already shaking his head at his men and bringing up the rear as the men filtered into a booth near the entrance, clearing out the clones who were already sat there.

You were familiar with a handful of the clones of the 501st, and when one of them - Jesse, if you’re remembering correctly - caught your eye, he sent you a wink. You instinctively rolled your eyes, though there was no animosity behind it. Working at a clone bar, people expected you to be sick of the clones, but you couldn't help but find them generally endearing. Sure, they all tried to hit on you, but most of their attempts were so harmless or pathetic that you couldn't find it in yourself to be irritated by it.

As you served a variety of customers, clones and nat-borns alike, you could see the 501st boys looking over at you and then talking amongst themselves, and you quickly realised that you were to be privy to some kind of game of theirs. Between pouring drinks and cleaning glasses, you watched them with suspicion, and you noticed that there was one particularly sullen looking clone among them, one that you hadn't met before. He didn't seem to be interacting with them much, just sitting back with his arms crossed over his chest and a far-away look in his eyes.

The first to approach the bar was Kix.

“Hey there” He said your name in a flirtatious tone, “What's a pretty lady like you doing working in a place like this?” He leant over the bar a little as he spoke, a charming smile painted on his face. If his words weren't so utterly ridiculous and overused, you might have even fallen for it.

“What should I be doing if not working here Kix?” You asked back innocently with a hand on your hip, playing into his game. For now.

“I'm not sure, but someone with a smile so radiant is surely made for greater things” He smiled triumphantly, as if he had just said the most flattering thing and not insulted your career.

“Hm” You tapped your finger on your chin a few times, as if thinking hard about something, “Yeah, it didn't work, nice try though. Can I get you something to drink now?”

“Ugh” Kix slumped down to his elbows in a huff, “I'll just get a fizzbrew”

You laughed at his defeated tone as you reached into the cooler below for his drink, “Come on, did you really think that was going to work?”

“I did! And it's true! Your smile is radiant” He argued as he took his drink from you.

You screwed up your face as he reiterated the compliment, “Kix stop, you failed already, go sit down”

“Alright alright, thank for this” He smiled with a small chuckle as he dropped his credits into your hand.

“No problem”

The next to try it was Dogma.

“Has anyone ever told you that you have the most wonderful hair?” He leaned on the bar and tipped his head to the side a little with a wide grin.

“Oh maker Dogma, that's awful. Is that really the best you've got?” You couldn't help but laugh at his attempt.

“Uh-” He rubbed his neck sheepishly, “Maybe”

You smirked at him and took a glass from the back, “Krilliz?”

His eyes lit up, “You remembered”

“Of course I did, nobody else orders this nightmare fuel”

“Hey! I like it”

“And I'm glad, here” You handed him his drink with a smile, “Enjoy”

He thanked you with a sigh and headed back to the snickering of his squad mates.

Over the next hour, almost every member of the group came up to the bar and tried to flirt with you in some way, and you honestly couldn't figure out what game they were playing. Though, it was hard to know, as you shot all of them down almost immediately.

When it came time for the last clone of the group, you were a little bit worn down by it all.

“I'll get a shot of that Shesharilian vodka stuff”

The regularity of the statement was refreshing, you almost weren't expecting it.

“You're not going to tell me how my hair is so wonderful or my smile is so radiant?” You asked with a smirk, earning a chuckle from the clone in front of you, but it held no mirth.

“I would be blind not to notice, but no, I'm not a part of their little game” He admitted, but you don't entirely buy it.

“Which one are you after then?”

“Which what?” He asked, confused by your question.

“Which lady?” You clarified, nodding out into the bar.

“Oh” He chuckled lightly, if a little sadly, “I'm not after that tonight”

“What are you after then?” You asked, and he paused for a moment before sighing.

“A strong drink”

You could see that there was a certain sadness behind the request, and realised that this was the dejected looking clone that you had noticed earlier.

“Coming right up” You said, offering him a gentle smile.

You sorted the drink, stealing glances at the man, noticing the way the coloured lights along the bar seem to make the bags under his eyes more pronounced. You placed the drink in front of him, but when he went to hand you some credits, you stopped him.

“It's on the house”

“What? I can't-”

“Don't worry about it” You smiled and pushed the drink further towards him, “I can tell you need it”

He looked at you for a moment and offered a thankful smile.

“That's… Thank you…” He trailed off, and you told him your name, tapping on your name tag. He repeated it with another thanks, and told you that his name was Fives.

“I couldn't tell” You smirked, pressing a finger to your temple, where he had an aurebesh tattoo. He chuckled lightly and thanked you again, taking his drink back to the 501st table.

You watched as his brothers all patted him on the back, and he rolled his eyes with a small smile as he settled back into his seat at the edge of the group. You wondered if he had just used the sad boy approach to appeal to your better nature, and win whatever game they were playing, but you soon forgot all about it as you got on with your work.

The bar was particularly busy tonight, so you had your hands full when it came to making drinks. It seemed that there were quite a few clone legions back on Coruscant at the moment, including the 104th, who got roped into the 501st game quite easily. A flurry of clones adorning grey armour sauntered up to you, offering a variety of compliments, and getting more ridiculous each time as you rejected each one of them. Truthfully, there were a number of them that appealed to you, but you weren't going to entertain their silly idea of a good time.

At some point between all the compliments and rejection, the sad clone you now knew as Fives had settled into a seat on the end of the bar. You noticed him sitting there as the bar area became more sparse, most people opting to make their way towards the dance floor.

You slid up to him and leant on the bar, your jaw resting in your hand as you address him. “So Fives, is this wistful look in your eyes authentic, or was it just so you could win this little thing you 501st boys have going on?” You asked with a cocked eyebrow, and he looked up, the ghost of a smirk crossing his lips.

“I meant it when I said I wasn't a part of their game, not that they believed me after you gave me a free drink” He replied matter-of-factly.

You chuckled slightly, standing up straight, “Can I get you anything?”

He looked behind you at the bar for a short moment. “I probably shouldn't, I hear drowning your sorrows isn't a healthy thing to do” He smiled sadly.

“Why ever else would you come to a bar when you're sad?” You teased slightly, and he huffed a laugh.

“Because I was dragged out of bed by my brothers”

You laughed with a warmth, “Ah well, how about just some water then?”

“Sounds good” He smiled genuinely.

You got him the water from the tap and he thanked you for it before you went about sorting drinks for the other patrons that had approached the bar in the time you had been talking to him. You kept an eye on him out of the corner of your eye as you did so, and he just drank his water at a slow pace, watching his brothers dance ridiculously with a small smile and that same far away look in his eye.

As the night went on and he settled into the chair at the bar more and more, a Pantoran woman approached him, and started flirting with him unashamedly. Fives replied to her questions, not wishing to seem rude, but was too distracted by his own thoughts to entertain the kind of ideas that she surely had about the night. You watched as the Pantoran started getting a bit handsy, placing her hands on his arm and his chest as she talked to him. You saw that Fives didn’t react to this very much, but then she got very close, her lips close to his ear, and he backed away a little.

As she was speaking into his ear seductively, he looked over at you and saw you watching. You averted your eyes as you saw his smirk grow, knowing he caught you looking.

You went about busying yourself with cleaning glasses, facing the back of the bar. When you turned around to serve a customer that called for you, you caught the Patoran woman dancing with another clone on the dance floor. You smiled at the sight, she got what she wanted after all.

Fives was still sat at the end of the bar as your shift came to a close and customers were dwindling a little, so you approached him again.

“You didn't fancy the Pantoran?” You asked and he looked to you from the dance floor, turning his body.

“Didn't want to make you too jealous cyar'ika” He leaned forward with a smirk and you chuckled.

“How considerate” You rolled your eyes a little as you grabbed a cloth and begun cleaning up the bar. “How come you're still here? Doesn't seem like you're really enjoying yourself” You observed and he released a small sigh.

“Just distracting myself really” He admitted, and you felt yourself wanting to ask more.

You approached the subject tentatively, speaking in a gentle voice, “If it's not too much to ask… what are you distracting yourself from?”

Fives paused, and with a deep sigh, looked to your eyes, seeing only an honesty in them, “I lost a brother a week ago, my twin”

“Oh, I'm so sorry, this must really be the last place you want to be then” You offered him a truly sympathetic look, and he smiled a little.

“I don't know, the company's not so bad” He let his smile grow and you reflected the gesture back at him.

“You're not so bad yourself” You grinned, then your mouth dropped as you became more serious, “But seriously” You placed a hand on his, “I'm really sorry about your brother, I know how hard that is”

He gave you an appreciative smile and turned his hand over in yours, giving it a light squeeze, “Thank you, I really appreciate that”

You smiled, and continued wiping the bar, trying to ignore the warmth that lingered on your hand from his touch.

You started doing little chores before you headed off, sweeping the floor behind the bar. As you were doing so, a rather inebriated clone approached the bar.

“Hey there pretty one, three shots of dark lum please”

“Of course” You replied with a gracious smile, and took three shot glasses from below the bar. As you were pouring the customer's drinks, they tried to talk to you some more.

“Say, when do you get off work tonight beautiful?”

You chuckled, “In a few hours”

“How many hours?”

You shrugged dismissively with a polite smile, “A few”

He kept pressing, but Fives interrupted him before he could really embarass himself.

“She's already got company tonight brother” He told him, a hand on his arm to pull him backwards slightly.

“Fives! I didn't see you there” The clone said, surprised, only earning a grunt from his brother. “Alright, good for you man, nice score” He chuckled and took the shots away as Fives rolled his eyes.

“Sorry about him” He shook his head.

“Its alright, I'm used to it” You shrugged, an appreciative smile directed at him.

“I'm sure you are, but I'm still sorry. Some of my brothers can be a bit… crass”

You laughed at that, “I'm aware”

You watched Fives for a moment, then leant on the bar looking at him intently. “So what are we doing when I get off work then?” You said with mischievous glint in your eye.

“Oh, sorry about that, I just said it so he'd leave you alone” He spoke awkwardly.

You tutted, pursing your lips, “That's too bad, I was rather looking forward to it”

Fives’ eyebrows raised, “You were?” He unconsciously leaned forward a little.

“Perhaps” You said, then pushed back, leaning against the back of the bar, “If you were only joking though-”

“Hold on now, I didn't say that” He challenged, and you bit the inside of your cheek, trying to decide if what you had in your head was really a good idea.

“If you fancy it… there's a place I go when I want to be alone. I know there's not many places like that on Coruscant but I figure you could maybe do with some peace and quiet, just to think, grieve, whatever you want. I was thinking of going there anyway” You shrugged as if it was the most casual thing in the world, offering this almost stranger your safe space.

“That sounds nice” He said genuinely, a smile on his face “I'd love to”

“Alright, well I actually get off in 5 minutes, so be ready” You confessed and he laughed, standing from his seat.

You finished cleaning up and took your apron off, hanging it up in the store room out the back. When you exited the building, Fives was waiting, and when he spotted you coming towards him he pushed off the wall he was leaning against, “Where to?”

You gestured your head towards your speeder bike close by to him and got on. As you began getting it ready to drive, you noticed that Fives was just standing next to you.

“Well get on” You laughed and his ears tinged pink. He climbed on behind you, and you were about to depart but then you turned to him, “Are you gonna hold on or…”

He rolled his eyes a little, “Just trying to be respectful” He mumbled as his hands snaked around your waist holding your abdomen gently. You couldn’t deny the way his touch sent a shiver up your spine, a warmth spreading over the area where his strong arms brushed against you.

“Well you won't get the chance if you fall off, so hold on tight”

The speeder zoomed off as you rolled your hands forward on the handlebars, and Fives’ arms tightened around you as he pulled himself into you. The sensation of him being pressed up against you made you a little breathless, despite the thick layer of armour that separated you from the warmth you could feel emanating from him.

It served as a sudden reminder of the strangeness of the situation you had put yourself in. You saw clones in the bar every day, and while you certainly found them attractive, it had never occurred to you to actually seek any kind of companionship from any of them before. You weren't even certain that was what you were doing right now, every decision you had made up to this point suddenly seemed entirely spontaneous, misguided even.

Halfway through the journey, Fives gently leaned his temple onto the back of your head, and your stomach did a flip. Even at the high speed you were going, you could feel his warm, steady breath ghosting over the back of your ear, and you had to really try not to shudder at the feeling of it.

After around 15 minutes or so, you arrived at your destination. You brought the speeder bike into an alley, and lead Fives to the apartment building you were headed towards.

“Was this just a ploy to get me to come back to your place?” He smirked slightly, a look of disbelief in his eyes.

“No” You chuckled, “This isn't my building” You spoke confidently, walking through the front door. Fives followed after you, entirely confused.

“Hey there doll, late shift again?” The Gran on reception called to you as he noticed you enter.

“It was, I'm so tired” You said dramatically, and Fives' face contorted to one of utter amusement and confusion.

“Got someone with you tonight, that's new. Lucky man” The Gran winked at Fives and you laughed slightly awkwardly.

“Indeed” You said, giving a smirky side glance to Fives, who just stayed quiet throughout the exchange. “See you later Faadu” You called as you made it inside the elevator.

You didn't listen out for the answer, and after the doors closed, Fives turned to you, “I thought you said this wasn't your apartment building”

You smirked and shrugged “He doesn't need to know that”

Fives smirked back at you, and your stomach flipped as you realised how close he was to you in the somewhat confined space. You continued to look at each other, inspecting each other's features. There was definitely a certain charm to Fives that inexplicably drew you to him more than the other clones. His eyes were a deep brown, and as you found yourself lost in them, you couldn’t find it in yourself to remember that they were identical to the ones you so often saw in the bar. Fives went to say something, but the elevator pinged and the doors slid open.

“This is it” You stepped out into the darkened hallway, and traced the steps that were so familiar, though you hadn't been here in a long time.

You made it to the end of the hallway, and hooked your fingers into the door, struggling slightly as you pulled it open. You walked into the empty apartment and made your way over towards the balcony, already captivated by the familiar view out of the large windows.

“Woah” Fives spoke quietly, following you to the balcony.

“I know right” You pushed the doors open and walked up to the railing, leaning your weight onto it, “It's the tallest building in the district, but no one lives on the top floor”

Fives joined you, coming to rest beside you on the railing, and you both looked out on the cityscape. There was a gentle breeze, and you felt your hair shift gently. The view was undeniably beautiful, and being able to look upon the city from above was truly something spectacular, though it held some complicated feelings for you. You were glad that someone was here with you, it was nice to share the space.

“I just find that… When I'm here, it makes my problems seem small, insignificant. Like, I see all these tiny little dots that are really people, and all these different lives, and it brings me… comfort, or perspective, I guess”

Fives watched you confess with interest and you turned to see his expression, full of an emotion you couldn’t quite place your finger on.

“Not that your problems are small, they're not, but-”

“I know what you mean” He smiled, a hand resting on your forearm. He left it there as he recalled something you had said earlier, “How come you were coming here tonight?”

“What?” You asked, swallowing as you felt the warmth of his hand through his glove.

“Before, you said you were coming here anyway” He reminded you.

“Oh, I- um” You looked down to your feet, “I lost my brother a year ago today”

Fives viewed you with a newfound reverence and understanding, and his hand found its way down your arm. He interlaced his fingers with your own, and started rubbing circles on your hand with his thumb. It was certainly a welcome feeling, and it kept your tears at bay, staying as a glassy outer layer to your eyes.

“I know it's not exactly the same as with your brother, but… I came here a lot when I was grieving” You looked up to him, “If it would help you, feel free to come here whenever you want. I mean, it doesn't belong to me anyway” You said, ending in a chuckle and looking out to the view again.

“Thank you, it really means a lot” He smiled, though you weren't looking at him. He followed your lead and looked out to the city as he spoke, “Being in the GAR, losing brothers is part of the deal, and you're expected to just move on, but… It's not that simple, especially with-” He swallowed, “The brother that I lost, we'd been together since we came outta the tube, I don't know what life even means without him next to me” He admitted, and you looked to him to see that his eyes were full of sadness, his eyelids half closed as if weighed down by his emotions.

“What was his name?” You asked, and he looked up to you.

“Echo”

“Why was he called that?” You asked. You knew that often clones’ names held some kind of meaning, or a story behind them at least.

Fives chuckled sadly, “He was always driving us mad by repeating the orders we were given”

You smiled, “And… how did you get your name?”

Fives grinned, “Guess”

You thought for only a split second, “You have a lot of fives in your CT number?”

“Bingo” He smiled, then faltered, looking away wistfully “yeah, ARC-5555”

“You're an ARC?” You asked, a small smirk fighting its way on your face.

“Mhm”

“That's kinda hot”

“It is?” Five turned to you with an incredulous look, and you couldn't help but let your smirk grow.

“Oh yeah, I mean, it's not like, Captain or Commander or even Lieutenant-”

“Alright alright” He rolled his eyes, and your smirk transformed into a genuine smile.

“Was Echo an ARC too?”

His amused expression faltered a little bit, “Yeah, we got promoted together” He sighed, a fond smile gracing his features, “He was always more serious about everything, kept me in check”

“You don't seem like someone who needs keeping in check” You said, tilting your head as you looked at him.

He smirked, “I'm not always this reserved. On any other night I would've been performing for your attention like the rest of my brothers”

“That's ironic I guess” You chuckled.

“How so?”

“You're the only one that did get my attention” You admitted, blushing slightly, now feeling a little sheepish under his gaze.

Fives just smiled subtly and brushed his thumb over your knuckles, reminding you of the fact that he was still holding your hand, “I guess I've gotta keep up the sad and lonely act then”

You laughed, “I don't know about that. It worked on me but I'm not sure that other women are into it”

“That's alright, I wasn't really thinking of trying it on other women” He said, dropping his voice just a bit so that it held a slightly gravelly tone.

You bit back a smirk, “Smooth Fives, very smooth”

He chuckled, “I wasn't kidding, I don't just hold hands with anyone”

“Mhm, I'm sure” You shook your head slightly, looking away from his intense gaze.

The two of you fell into a comfortable silence, letting the noise of the city replace conversation. You could hear the whizzing of speeders and other transports passing by, the noise of the people below very feint from the height of the building. You sighed deeply, remembering your brother, the reason you had come here in the first place. Fives’ thoughts dwelled on the same thing, his own brother.

“Thank you for talking to me about Echo” He spoke just above a whisper and you turned to him, “Most people just give me a sad look and a hand on the shoulder at most. It's nice to actually talk about him”

“I know” You offered him a sad smile, silently telling him you knew how he felt, “Anytime”

Fives smiled and gave your hand a small squeeze.

Being here with Fives was nice, a relief to the mental torment you found yourself enduring when you had been here grieving your brother just after his death. His presence was calming, soothing, and his hand in yours even more so. You found yourself hoping that this wouldn't be the last time you shared this experience with him.

divider from this post <3

technical devotion, part six: visitors

content warnings: none :)

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“Pliars please”

Kan held her hand out, and Echo placed the requested tool into it. The pair were sat in near silence as Kan worked under the control panel in Echo's ship.

Kan felt that she had broken through a small barrier with Echo. It had been a few days since they got back from their mission on Haidoral Prime, and she had noticed that he now seemed to be more open to spending time with her, even if he didn't say much while he did it. She was just glad that he wasn't avoiding her like the plague anymore.

Echo didn't mean to be so quiet around Kan, but something about her made him lose all ability to speak, to think. He couldn't form a coherent thought around her, let alone speak it aloud, and it was beginning to annoy him.

“So… I overheard Rex saying that your old squad were coming around here soon” Kan tried to spark up a bit of conversation.

“Yeah, should be here anytime now” Echo replied.

Kan nodded, even though the action was obstructed from Echo's view.

“What are they like?”

“Uh…” Echo didn't really know how to answer the question, “They're… different from the rest of the clones”

“How so?”

Echo could never get used to Kan's simple inquisitive nature, but he also couldn't get enough of it.

“I don't know how to describe them, they’re all very different from each other as well”

“Hm, sounds intriguing. Hydrospanner please”

Echo obliged, “Yeah, they're certainly that”

Just then, as if they had been summoned by the topic of conversation, the sound of a ship entering the hangar filled their ears.

“Screwdriver please” Kan held her hand out, but didn't feel the tool being placed into it. She looked out from under the control panel and saw that Echo was no longer there. Kan let out a huff, and reached for the tool herself, a string of unimpressed noises escaping her lips. She finished up with the Phaser rewiring, screwing the cover back into place, and slipped out.

Kan took a rag that was slung over the back of the pilot's seat and wiped her forehead as she stepped out of the ship, her eyes immediately catching the joyous scene of reunion across the hangar.

It was hard for Kan to look away from the Bad Batch's table at lunch time. Though, it wasn't the batch she was looking at, it was Echo.

His eyes were lit up in a way she had never seen, his smile fixed on his face and laughing with his squad, and she thought it was the most wonderful sight. She had seen him smile, but never like this. She almost felt jealous that they could illicit this response from him, and found herself watching intently to find out how she could replicate it herself, not that she garnered much information that way.

She caught herself completely drooling over the sight when Echo looked in her direction. She looked away immediately and sat up straight, taking her hand away from where she had been resting her head in it. She cursed the heat that she could feel creeping up the back of her neck.

Echo looked over at her extremely puzzled, wondering why she had been watching him so intently. He assumed that she was interested in the clones surrounding him, since she had taken an interest in them before, and he left it at that, joining in the conversation again.

Kan didn’t have any other tasks to be getting on with at the moment, so she was listening in on an Imperial comm channel with the device she had made. They used a lot of code names, so it was generally quite hard to decipher, but there were always those who would let protocol slip every now and then. She let out a small sigh as the signal cut out once again, and an even bigger one when it didn’t come back at all this time. With a grunt, she rose to her feet and headed outside to check out the satellite dish.

She could immediately see that it had come out of place and an even bigger sigh escaped her lips. How do I even get up there? She walked around the hangar and found nothing of use, so reluctantly took herself off to the command room, and knocked timidly on the door.

“Come in” She heard Rex shout, and she opened the door.

“Hey Rex, sorry to disturb you, the satellite’s come out of place. Is there a ladder or anything like that around here?”

“Uh…” He thought for a moment, “There should be one in the store cupboard just outside the hangar”

Didn’t know that was there, “Alright, thanks” She smiled gratefully and went and found the ladder.

It was a particularly rickety old thing, and not straight by any stretch of the imagination. Kan felt a little bit scared going up it, but once she was at the top, she felt more in control. Fixing the satellite dish would be easy, it would just take a bit of time doing it by herself.

The ladder swayed with each small change of the wind, and Kan was starting to regret even bothering with it. As she was making one of the final adjustments, reaching around the dish a little more, the ladder began to tip over, and this time Kan was sure she was going down.

“Woah there!” She heard someone call out, and she realised she had stopped tipping to the side. She cast a glance over her shoulder and saw a man - a clone, one of Echo’s squad - holding the base of the ladder. He was the shortest of the group, and wore a bandana over his long hair and blackout face tattoo. Kan finished her final adjustment and quickly scurried down the precarious ladder.

“Thanks for that, I’m Kan” She smiled broadly at him and held out her hand.

“Hunter” He shook it, reflecting her expression back to her, “You must be the technician that Echo told us about”

“Echo told you about me?” Kan raised her eyebrows. She had got little indication that Echo really liked her all that much, so it honestly surprised her that he’d mention her to his squad.

Hunter supressed a smirk at her reaction, “Only good things, don’t worry”

Kan laughed at that, and her gaze shifted when she saw the rest of the squad gathered in the distance. She saw that Echo was watching the two of them, a particularly prominent frown creasing his brow, and offered him a kind smile. His gaze softened marginally, but he was still watching intently.

“Alright, well I should get on” She gestured inside, though nothing desperate was really calling for her attention.

“Why don't you come say hi to everyone? I know Omega was interested in meeting you” Hunter suggested.

“Uh…” Kan hesitated. She was not great in big groups, but she also didn’t want to be rude and decline the offer.

“They don't bite” Hunter added with a small grin, sensing her slightly raised heartrate and the small bead of sweat that broke out from her hairline.

Kan laughed nervously, “Okay then”

Hunter led her over to his brothers as they chatted amongst themselves, and she stood next to Echo. She looked up to him and softly spoke with a smile, “Hey”

“Hey” He replied equally as soft, smiling back at her to try and ease her obvious nervousness, then he turned back to the group, “Omega, this is Kan”

Kan recognised the small blonde girl from watching their reunion in the hangar, and her eyes lit up when she looked to the Mirialan in front of her.

“You're the technician? Echo didn't say you were a girl” Omega gushed, seeming entirely pleased by the fact.

“Heh, yeah that's me” Kan replied, a small grin spreading across her face at the expression of wonder on the young girl’s face.

“Can I see your office? Echo promised me I could see it”

“I didn't promise any-”

“Of course” Kan smiled, “it's very messy though”

“I don't care about that” Omega said matter-of-factly, and grabbed Kan's arm, dragging her towards the compound.

“Omega!” Echo called after her sternly, but Kan just laughed delightedly, looking back at him, and his furrowed brow relieved a little as he watched them go.

“Oh Echo” Hunter chuckled, patting him on the shoulder.

Echo turned to see his amused expression, “What?”

“We leave you for a couple months and you've already found a girl?” Hunter raised an amused eyebrow at his brother.

“What? No! Don’t be ridiculous” Echo denied the claim, shaking his head.

“Oh yeah, how ridiculous of you to like a pretty girl” Crosshair sneered, smirking as he placed a fresh toothpick between his teeth.

“Aw, good on you Echo” Wrecker crushed his shoulders in a side hug, but Echo pushed him off immediately.

“It's not like that, she’s just a… colleague” He glared at his brothers, who all looked at him with matching smirks.

“Whatever you say” Hunter taunted, and walked off in the same direction that Omega had dragged Kan. Echo just rolled his eyes and followed after him, making their way to Kan’s office.

“And that there is the tuner, and you can see on the screen where the signal is coming from”

The two clones stepped into the doorway of Kan's office and saw her and Omega crouched by the transmission interception device.

“That's so cool, did you make this all by yourself?” Omega asked with wide eyes.

“Yeah, I did” Kan smiled, “Are you interested in this kind of stuff?”

“Yeah, my brother Tech taught me a lot of things, but I'm still learning”

Kan noted the use of past tense and the heaviness of her tone, “Well he certainly sounds cool, I can teach you some stuff too if you like?”

“Yes please!” She grinned, and Kan opened up the back panel of the machine

“This is where everything connects, you see that there? That's the main power source, and this bit connects to the satellite, which is how it's able to pick up the signals”

“How do you know where to connect the wires?”

“Let me show you” She grabbed another motherboard and started walking Omega through it, and Echo couldn't help but stare at her in adoration at the way she interacted with his sister.

“So… you said you didn't like this girl?” Hunter said quietly, gaining Kan's attention momentarily. Echo just sent him a stern look, but it was met with a knowing smirk, “Let's leave them to it” He patted his shoulder, moving away. Echo looked back to Kan who was once again teaching Omega about the connections, and comparing with the already completed device. He smiled to himself and walked down the hall after his brother.

Omega and Kan walked into the mess together at dinner time, still engrossed in conversation about anything and everything technical. Omega was definitely the most inquisitive person that Kan had met in a while, and she was enthralled about it. She loved to talk about her work, and to be able to impart any sort of knowledge to someone else made her feel extremely accomplished.

After the two of them collected their food, Kan tried to say goodbye and make her way over to her regular table, but Omega wasn't having it.

“Come sit with us” She said with pleading eyes.

“Oh, I don't want to impose”

“You wont” She smiled sweetly, “I know Echo would like it if you did”

Kan looked over to the table and saw Echo watching her once again. “Alright then” She said, and allowed herself to be dragged over by Omega.

She approached the table feeling a little sheepish and unsure of herself, and took the free place between Wrecker and Omega. Everyone else at the table were already entrenched in conversation, so Kan tried talking to the large clone beside her.

“We haven't been properly introduced, it's Wrecker, right?”

“That's me” He smiled happily

“It's nice to meet you”

“You too, clever lady” He took her in a crushing side hug, and she grinned up at him, feeling more at ease in the group.

The clones joked and laughed together over the course of dinner, as Omega continued to ask Kan questions about her work, completely enamoured by the inner workings of her brain and her profession.

“What's this? Have the Bad Batch stolen our precious Mirialan?” A clone voice asked and placed their elbows on Kan’s shoulders, and she looked up to see it was Howzer.

Kan let the corner of her mouth quirk into a smirk, “Precious? Really?”

“Come on, you know you're our prized possession”

Kan rolled her eyes and took a sip of her drink, relaxing into the embrace of the clone behind her. Echo, on the other hand, was anything but relaxed. He felt extremely irritated by the simple fact that Kan was so physically comfortable with Howzer. This only led to him looking down into his food and searching for the reason why it annoyed him so much. Safe to say, he didn't find it.

“Howzer” Hunter nodded to him in acknowledgement, and he nodded back.

“Hunter” He replied, then he looked to crosshair, “Crosshair”

Crosshair glared at Howzer, and Kan looked up to him, seeing he wore his own scowl. She smirked, and a small laugh escaped her lips, accompanied by the roll of her eyes, “Men”.

Omega laughed at her comment, and Howzer shoved her a little.

“Anyway, you better come back soon or Oscar will go mad”

“That sounds like a tempting offer”

“I'm sure he'd have another tempting offer for you if you came back" He said as he moved away, and Kan scrunched up her nose.

“Not on his life”

“I'll let him know you said that”

“Please do”

Echo watched the exchange with an unpleasant feeling in his gut.

Kan was crouched and organising her office — her version of it at least, which entailed making haphazard piles all around her working space on the floor — when she heard a knock on the door. She called for them to enter and looked up to see Hunter stood in the doorway.

“Nice glasses” He grinned, and she realised that they were still on the end of her nose. She laughed and pushed them up onto her head so she could see him better.

“Thanks, what brings you here?”

He leaned onto the doorframe with his forearm, “We're heading off soon, but I just wanted to say thanks, for entertaining Omega”

“Oh it was no problem, she's an amazing kid, and very smart. It was my pleasure” Kan smiled

“Well, you've certainly made an impression on her, she's just been gushing about how clever you are” He raised an eyebrow.

“Ah, I'm sure she's exaggerating” Kan laughed a little, no sure how to respond to any kind of praise.

“I don't know, Echo seemed to agree” He grinned at her, and her cheeks flushed a little.

“Oh, well that was kind of him” She mumbled her words just as the person in question appeared next to his brother with Omega. Echo saw the grin on Hunter's face and the blush on Kan's and immediately assumed that he had been flirting with her. He felt his blood boil at the thought. I told him I didn't like her, I guess I can't be mad.

Omega made a beeline for Kan but Hunter grabbed her arm before she could enter the mess once again, “It's time to go”

“Aw, but Kanda was going to show me how to solder” She whined. Echo noticed that she called her ‘Kanda’ and wondered if Kan had let slip her full name.

“I can show you another time Omega, don't worry” Kan smiled at the young girl, but she just slumped her shoulders.

“Fine” Omega muttered, going back to the door.

“It was nice to meet you Kan, I'm sure we'll see you again soon” Hunter smiled.

“Yeah, it was nice to meet you guys too”

“Bye Kanda” Omega waved as they left the room.

“Bye Omega” She laughed slightly and called out.

Echo waved and remained in the doorway, looking back towards Kan.

“She's a great kid” Kan declared.

“I know” He smiled, a genuine, content smile.

“She reminds me of myself at that age” She noted, fiddling with the motherboard she was demonstating with earlier.

“How so?” Echo asked.

“I guess… always asking questions and wanting to know more” Kan started, a smile curving her lips as she thought fondly of her youth. She thought of working with her father in his workshop, making him detail every single thing he was doing, and then coming home to tell her mother everything she learnt. “And wanting to do something important with her life” She continued, looking up at Echo.

“Did you ever do anything important?” He asked with a little smile.

“I'm here aren't I?” She grinned, and he chuckled in response.

A silence enveloped them for a short moment before Kan spoke up again.

“Hunter seems cool” She admitted.

“Mhm”

Kan noted the tightening of Echo’s jaw at the comment and stopped what she was doing.

“What is it?” She asked, honestly feeling a little upset that she couldn't seem to ever get anything right when it came to him.

“Nothing” Echo turned to leave.

“Echo” She called out for him and he looked back at her reluctantly.

“Have I said something to upset you?” She asked and when he didnt reply immediately she went into nervous rambling, “I didn't mean to insinuate that you seem uncool in comparison or anything. Not that- I mean- I do think you’re cool, just that Hunter seems nice, you know?”

Echo’s jaw unclenched as he watched Kan stumble over her words, her brows pinched together in concern and eyes looking up at him with a startling intensity. He thought she looked incredible.

“Um, or is it something else?” She continued, sinking onto her knees, “I feel like I keep upsetting you and I don't know why”

“You haven't upset me Kan, you couldn't” Echo said softly and left immediately afterwards, not feeling like answering for what he said.

“Oh” Kan said, sitting back on her heels. What does that mean?

technical devotion, part three: decryption

content warning: mentions of eating habits (not presented as an ED but if that sort of thing upsets you pls read with caution)

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Kan slumped down unceremoniously onto the bench, taking a large cup and filling it to the brim with caf. Echo and Rex looked to each other and then back to her in worried glances. She had prominent bags under her eyes, and a sloppiness to her movements

“Did you actually sleep at all last night?” Rex asked hesitantly.

Kan brushed past the question, “I didn't find anything yet” She yawned, “It appears that most imperial communications are under several layers of encryption, so I've been working to decrypt them”

“You finished the transmission intercepting device already?”

“Last night” She said, glancing towards Echo, taking a long sip of caf.

“And you were… monitoring it all night?”

“No” She said plainly, “I was trying to decrypt it all night”

Echo almost winced at the thought of it. He didn't get too much sleep, but no sleep at all, especially with so little the night before, She must feel awful, he thought.

Kan finished her caf and stood, “Well, back to it” She tried to sound more awake but it came out sounding somewhat slurred.

Echo barely saw Kan over the next few days. She turned up at lunch, marginally more awake than she had been at breakfast, but missed dinner, and didn't return to the barracks that night either. The next day she missed breakfast, turned up for lunch but got her food and took it back to her office, and then missed dinner again, not turning up for the whole day after that.

Echo had to admit that he was more than a little worried about her, which only intensified when he had periodically seen her ever-darkening undereye circles. After not having seen her in the mess the whole day, he decided that he'd take her some food.

As he approached her office, he found the door open, and Kan was sat cross-legged on her chair, bent over her desk and fiddling with something while simultaneously looking over the holoscreen of her computer.

Echo cleared his throat and she let out a short squeak, jumping at the noise, then looked back at him with her glasses hanging skewed on the tip of her nose.

“Echo” Kan smiled as she pushed her glasses atop her head, a warm and inviting expression that seemingly always accompanied his name when greeting him. He had to admit that he enjoyed the way his name sounded in her specific accent.

“Hey” He said, a small smile of his own making an appearance, “I brought you some food”

“Oh, thank you! That’s so kind, is it lunch already?” She said as she dropped whatever was in her hand and stood.

Echo looked at her with a mixture of amusement and worry, “This is dinner”

Kan’s eyes widened, “What?”, She scrambled to find her datapad, looking at the time, “Oh maker, I’ll try and keep a closer eye on the time from now on”

Echo held back a grin at her sheepish expression, then the part of him that was worried about her took over, “You should really make sure you eat, and sleep, you haven’t been back to the barracks in days”

“Yeah I’ve been staying in here” She said, stepping through the mess of her office carefully. It seemed that there were little foot holes, a path that would only allow her small feet to enter. Kan took the food from him with a smile and stepped back the way she came.

“How do you manage to sleep in here? let alone work” Echo said, and as Kan turned to him she was delighted to find a small grin on his face.

She shrugged, “I don’t know, I mostly just fall asleep at my desk”

Echo shook his head and stepped back, “Alright, well try and make it back into an actual bed tonight maybe”

“Yes sir” Kan gave a little salute, then settled back in her chair, going back to what she was doing before he arrived.

Echo watched her for a second longer, feeling, once again, completely endeared by her demeanour. He chewed on the corner of his bottom lip, trying to decide whether he should feel so charmed by someone who was, for all intents and purposes, a colleague. Echo had never been confronted with the issue before, given that he had always worked alongside his brothers. He then left without a word, leaving the door open as he had found it.

Despite Echo’s suggestion, Kan didn’t make it to bed that night, and Echo was almost of the mind to go back to her office and force her to get some proper rest. Almost. She then missed breakfast and lunch the next day, and Echo couldn't help but feel on edge.

It irritated him to no end that he couldn't focus on the task at hand. In the grand scheme of things, that being bringing down the Empire, but he couldn't even pay attention properly as him and Rex drew up a plan for his upcoming mission. Especially when said distraction came bursting into the room, a thin sheen of sweat coating her forehead and out of breath. Wasn't her office just down the hall?

Everyone turned and looked to the loud entrance, their questioning eyes landing on Kan.

“I decrypted the transmissions” She huffed out, taking a moment to breathe, “I've got something I think you'll want to hear”

“What is it?” Rex stood up straight, bringing his hands away from the central holotable.

Kan walked over quickly, and gestured to the holotable, “May I?”

Rex stepped back with a nod, and Kan quickly brought up a map of a sector in the outer rim territories, “They were talking about a planet in the Savareen sector, the Tyrius system I think… here!”

She zoomed into the unnamed planet and looked for the area they were talking about, “If I'm remembering correctly… yes, it's here” She pointed at a valley, “They've recently constructed a facility here, sounds like a prison of sorts, but they didn't use that word. They said they were sending clones there to be ‘processed’, but they didn't say what that meant. They implied that they would be sent elsewhere after this ‘processing’ though” She spewed out the words she had heard loud and clear through her headphones just minutes before.

“Did they say anything else?” Rex asked.

“No, just a lot of… nasty words about clones really” She said, then cursed herself for even giving that unnecessary information.

“Okay, thank you Kan, that's very useful intel, we'll get looking into it immediately” Rex smiled at her gratefully, but she could see that the information also weighed heavily on his mind as he looked back to the map.

“Alright, I'll continue to monitor this channel, see if I can find out anything else” She said, and turned on her heel to leave.

Echo watched her form slink out of the door, and the other clones in the room went back to whatever it was they were doing before she had entered. Echo looked up to Rex, who had taken a seat on the crate behind him, a slightly far-away look in his eyes. He could see that the weight of running this operation was finally beginning to wear him down.

“I think I'm just going to take five Echo, you do the same” Rex spoke, his eyes raising to his brother’s for a moment before he sat back against the wall and closed them.

Echo nodded with a pain in his chest for his brother, and wordlessly left the room, making his way to the person he couldn't stop worrying about.

“Kan” Echo called out from the end of the hallway, and she turned around, “You should eat something”

“I'll get something at dinner” She continued in the direction of her office, but Echo caught up to her in just a few strides, gently grabbing her forearm to stop her.

“You need to eat”

“I've got to monitor the chan-”

“Kan you haven't been taking care of yourself, you can't stop the Empire if you make yourself unwell” Echo kept the slight feeling of desperation out of his voice.

Kan saw a hint of something she couldn't place in his usual plain expression and bit the inside of her cheek. “Okay” She said quietly, and started walking in the direction of the mess. When she realised that Echo hadn't followed after her, she turned and looked at him, her usual smile making its return.

“Do you fancy joining me?”

Echo saw how eager she was and only hesitated for a moment before he gave in, walking over and falling into step with her as they made their way to the mess in a comfortable silence.

Kan entered the kitchen to see what she could find. She opened the door to the refrigerated room with a small grunt, it taking more effort than she had bargained for, having to put her whole body weight into it. Echo watched with a small amount of amusement, then rolled his eyes at himself for once again finding the most simple of her actions to be endearing, cute even. Maker, just shut up, he told the little voice in his head that brought the thought forward.

Kan and Echo took their seats opposite each other at their usual table, and Kan dug into the yoghurt pot she had taken. Echo was quiet, finding it equally awkward to watch her eat and to look away as she did so. Instead, he tried making some kind of conversation.

“You didn't come back to the barracks last night”

Kan looked up, “Yeah, I was decrypting all night”. Echo wanted to say something, but she continued, “I think I just get tunnel vision, you know? Like I can't stop doing something until I've finished it” She sighed, “This decryption has taken longer than I would've liked really”

“You should really make time to sleep and eat” Echo said, a reluctance to say that he was worried about her but still feeling he should express the sentiment.

“Okay, dad” She chuckled, giving him a playful look, and Echo supressed the amused smirk that threatened to take over his face. They settled into silence again for a moment.

“How have you been settling in?” Echo asked.

“Um, alright, I guess. I haven't really talked to many other people I suppose” Kan admitted, a shrug in her shoulders.

“You could maybe sit elsewhere at meal times if you wanted?” Echo suggested innocently, but Kan looked at him with a painfully noticeable amount of hurt.

“Right, yeah, I could” She said, looking down.

Echo only meant to offer a solution but instantly regretted his words, and especially when it came to dinner time and she was sat across the room, mingling with another group of clones.

“I've never been lucky enough to meet a Mirialan before” The clone who had introduced himself as Oscar leaned forward and said, a certain cockiness about him.

“Is it everything you dreamed of?” Kan smirked slightly at his expression

“And more” He sent her a disarming smile and she chuckled at him, rolling her eyes slightly as she ate.

“Steady on Oscar” Another of the clones laughed at his brother, elbowing him in the ribs as he took his seat, “Howzer, nice to meet you”

She went to shake his hand, but he took it and held it to his lips, kissing the back of it. The action caught her off guard and her face flushed slightly.

“Alright, leave some for the rest of us for once Howzer” The clone named Teddy said, pushing his brothers shoulder over the table.

Kan liked the way clones interacted with each other. They really brought out the more playful sides of their brothers, most likely in reaction against the percieved single-use purpose of their existence.

“Don't you usually hang out with the bigwigs? What's got you over here?” Teddy asked her.

“No reason” She shruged, not wishing to admit that she'd felt pushed out by Echo.

“Well, their loss is our gain” Howzer smiled charmingly, the smooth words dropping from his tongue easily.

“I was gonna say that” Oscar grumbled and Kan smirked to herself.

“So what do you guys do around here?” She asked the group.

“We're a retrieval squad. The Captain here fancies himself a command position though” Oscar gestured to Howzer.

“You're a Captain?”

“What, you could tell by his sense of self-righteousness?” Teddy joked, earning a laugh from Kan.

“Shut up you two” Howzer rolled his eyes with a smile, “Yes, I'm a Captain”

“Cool” She donned her usual smile.

“I'm guessing by your performance in the command centre earlier that you're the new technical hire?” Howzer raised an eyebrow to question her.

“Yeah that's me” She smiled, adding a small salute “Sir”. Howzer chuckled at the pretend formality.

“What kind of performance did you put on?” Oscar asked with a sly smirk, earning a kick under the table from his brother.

“Maker, get your head out of the gutter Oscar” Teddy groaned, but Kan just chuckled at him.

“I've been working to decrypt imperial communications, I finally broke through and yeah, found some pretty useful information”

“So you're like, really clever then” Teddy stated and she smiled to herself.

“Sometimes” She shrugged, her eyes wandering across the room to where she usually ate at meal times. Her eyes found Echo’s stern gaze, and she offered him a small smile as she always did. He didn't return it this time, and looked away from her, leaving her feeling dejected once again.