Star Wars The Bad Batch: The Runaway

Chapter 10 - Escaping

Callista didn't know how to feel when she regained consciousness. Despite the fogginess in her head, she distinctly remembered Kai having his gun pointed at her and then pulling the trigger.

He must have only used a stun blast.

She didn't know whether to be relieved or upset as she got a bearing on her location and though her vision was blurred she knew that she was in a cell. Not only that but her wrists were cuffed too.

The right part of her face was throbbing and she found that opening the eyelid on that side caused great pain. Judging by the fact that her vision was still intact, Callista's eye thankfully hadn't been damaged.

Once Callista had assessed her injuries, she began to wonder where the heck she was. She didn't think she was on a ship, so obviously while unconscious Kai had landed somewhere with actual holding cells.

She didn't have to wait long to find out where she was. When two B-1 droids marched in with a Tactical Droid, it was obvious she was imprisoned in a Separatist Base.

"Why am I here?" Callista demanded right off the bat.

"You were brought here along with Republic Senator Robb." The Tactical Droid answered with a monotone voice, but Callista was still confused.

"Why didn't they kill me?"

"You are to be used as bait to lure the Jedi and Clone Force 99 here. Skywalker's capture and the defeat of one of the Republic's best squadrons will be a great accomplishment." Callista scoffed.

"You think they'll come to rescue me? Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not exactly buddies with those guys, so the probability of them coming is extremely low."

"For your sake, let's hope you are wrong. If they do not come, you will be of no use to me."

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The four members of Clone Force 99 sat in the cockpit of the Havoc Marauder awaiting orders from the General about what their next move would be. The atmosphere was a mixture of sourness from failing one of their missions for the first time and concern over the fact that Callista(Aria) had seemed to disappear.

"She probably took the opportunity of us being distracted to make her escape."
Crosshair suggested with a bitter tone, his fists clenched at the thought. Tech had a different theory though.

"But when we heard from her last, she had been on the intruder's tail and was going to attempt to take them on her own. I think the more likely conclusion is that the assailants captured her." He said matter-of-factly, but his brother's all wore clueless expressions.

"Why'd they do that?" Wrecker asked, making Tech roll his eyes as he's once again reminded that his brother's didn't share his superior mind.

"Isn't it obvious?" After getting no reply, he sighed and began explaining, "To use her as bait. General Skywalker is known to go help anyone in need, and the Separatists are using his compassion against him by capturing an innocent fifteen year old civilian." Crosshair scoffed after Tech was finished.

"Innocent? She's a thief." He argued, but Tech held up a finger while replying to his brother's input.

"Innocent in the sense that she hadn't participated in the war up until two days ago, at the promise of pardoning her for her crimes." Hunter picked up on the slight guiltiness in Tech's tone and placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Don't blame yourself, Tech." Said clone sighed and swiveled his chair around so he could fiddle with the ship so no one could see the guilty expression on his face as he replied.