Ahh Omg Thank You ?!?!? That's So Kind, I've Got Most Of The Story Planned Out In Detail Just Gotta Actually

ahh omg thank you ?!?!? that's so kind, I've got most of the story planned out in detail just gotta actually write it lol, should be another chapter soon :) I don't have a taglist rn cause I'm still kinda gauging interest, but maybe in the future for sure !

technical devotion, part seven: a new post

content warnings: none :)

master list

Kan was crouched in the far corner of her office when Rex knocked firmly on the door.

“Come in- AH!”

He found the cause of the shriek when he hurriedly opened the door and saw Kan laid out over the mess of her office, her hand clutched at her temple.

“You alright?” Rex asked, rushing over to help her up.

“All good just- ouch, yeah…” She revealed the trickle of blood down the side of her face, “Nothing a bit of bacta can't fix” She said with a toothy grin that looked more like a wince.

“Alright, sit down then, let me get you cleaned up” Rex said with a fond shake of his head. Kan was exceedingly clumsy, but he put it down to her excitable attitude, and she was too good at what she did to not keep around because of a few broken bits and grazes.

Kan did as the Captain said, and took a seat at her desk, retrieving the medkit from the drawer. Rex opened it up and took an antiseptic wipe to clean the blood from the small wound.

As Kan took a sharp breath in at the stinging sensation of it, she realised that Rex probably hadn't come to her office without reason.

“What had you seeking me out then Captain?” She asked with a grin, hoping for something exciting.

He almost laughed at her enthusiasm, “I've got a mission that's perfect for you, if you're interested, but I have a feeling you are”

Kan let out a self-deprecating chuckle, “I certainly am”

“Good” Rex smiled, “It's more of a… longterm thing really”

“Go on” She wheezed out at the feeling of the cool bacta hitting her wound.

“Sorry, should've warned you” He mumbled, pressing a bandage over the area, “I'll be posting you somewhere for a while. It's a hot-spot for imperials and we have intel that they're working on some kind of big technological development there. I want you to find out whatever you can, and we can potentially think about some kind of infiltration, but that's only once we know more”

“So I'll be spying for the most part?” She asked.

“Yeah, that sort of thing. I was hoping you could work out some kind of cover and talk to people under an alias or something like that, get the people to trust you, you know? That way you could get some really good info”

“Right, okay” Kan nodded, “Is it just me going?”

“No, I was thinking of sending someone else with you, either Gregor or Ech-”

“I'd like Echo to come” She said before he even got the name out. Rex narrowed his eyes at her with a skeptical look.

“Can I trust you to be professional if I send Echo with you?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

“What? Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” She asked, puzzled at what he meant.

“Hm, you're right, I guess it's Echo I'd need to worry about in that regard” He relented in his scrutinising gaze.

“That doesn't make sense, Echo's very professional”

Rex chuckled, “Mhm, okay. Well then, I'll go let Echo know you want him”

Kan’s breath stuttered and her eyebrows raised at the way Rex phrased his sentence, and he smirked. She had reacted as he had hoped.

“Alright, maybe don't phrase it that way to him though” She laughed nervously, though she really hoped he was taking on what she was saying.

“Don't worry” He said, patting her knee with a knowing smirk, “I won't”

Kan watched Rex leave, and tried not to think about how much his words rang true.

Kan waited patiently aboard Echo's ship, kicking her heel gently against the cupboard as she sat atop the kitchenette counter once more. Her thoughts dwelled on the fact that she hadn't really let Echo have any say in the matter of whether he came with her or not, and she just hoped that he was willing of his own volition. Her worries were soothed when she heard him walking up the ship's ramp, and he smiled softly at her as he came into view.

“Hey there” Kan smiled back at him.

“Hey” Echo replied with as much nonchalance as he could muster. He was truthfully very happy that Kan had chosen him to go with her on this mission, but he was trying hard not to show the full extent of it, not that Kan would've minded.

Kan hopped down from her place on the counter and joined Echo as he walked to the cockpit. She sat in the co-pilot seat as he started up the ship's systems, bringing her knees up to her chest.

“Have you ever done a mission like this?” She asked.

“No, I haven’t” Echo shook his head as he brought the ship into the air and piloted it into the upper atmosphere.

“Cool. We can figure it out together then” Kan smiled, and Echo looked over at her. The expression she wore could've had Echo melting to a puddle right where he sat. She looked so hopeful and full of positivity that she was practically bursting at the seems. He let his own smile creep across his face.

“Yeah, I guess so” He focused on plotting the course they would be taking through Hyperspace, and once he'd finished, he pushed the lever to send them there.

He sat back in his chair and breathed out a long breath. He noticed that Kan was fidgeting about a little bit and looked over to her, then catching a glimpse at the bandage that had been hiding underneath her hair.

“Hey are you okay?” Echo moved from his chair and stood in front of her, brushing her hair from her forehead. Kan's eyes widened as she looked up at him, and her breath became shallow as she felt his fingers brush against her skin.

“I'm fine, yeah” She breathed out, “Just a scratch, nothing to worry about”

“What happened?” He asked, looking into her eyes with concern.

“I fell over” Kan looked away out of embarrassment, “Knocked it on something in my room”

Echo then realised he had let his knuckles rest against Kan's cheekbone and drew back quickly, “You should really be careful in there if you're not going to clean it up”

“Yeah yeah, whatever dad” She grumbled, rolling her eyes.

“Sorry” Echo chuckled sheepishly, retaking his seat.

“I'm just kidding, you're right” Kan shrugged a little as she looked out into the swirling blues of Hyperspace. Echo couldn't help but notice the way it reflected in her eyes, almost a manifestation of the wonder he saw swimming in them so often.

The dwelling that Kan and Echo were staying at was a simple abode; from the outside it looked as if it had been built room by room, smoothed sandstone walls clearly marking the distinctions between each area. There were windows cut from the stone, boarded up with wooden shutters and curtains being the only things that separated the inside from the out. It was in a quiet corner of the town, around the corner from a small park and secluded from the other houses in the neighbourhood.

Kan looked over the dwelling with delight. It was a lot more simple in its construction, but it reminded her of her family home.

“We don't have a lot of funds at the moment, but this was something that Senator Chuchi managed to pull together for us” Echo said, approaching the front door with the manual key in hand.

“I think it looks lovely” Kan said simply, following him inside after her unlocked it.

The inside was as charming as the outside. A wooden table and chairs sat in the centre of the kitchen, checkered tiles and light green painted cabinets lining the walls. Though her specialty was anything erring on the technical side, Kan marvelled at the distinct lack of it in the house. Echo opened the door that lead into what appeared to be a bedroom.

“I'll take this room, there should be another upstairs” He said, placing his bag down by the door.

Kan nodded and climbed the stairs, find two doors along the short hallway. The first was refresher, matching the kitchen in style, and the other was a bedroom. It held only a bed and chest if drawers, but Kan loved it. She placed her bag down on the bed as she heard Echo call up the stairs.

“There's some rice in the cupboard, and protein solids, are you gonna be alright just having that for tonight?”

“Yeah of course, anything is fine” She replied from the top of the stairs.

“Alright, dinner in 15 minutes then” He smiled up at her, moving away and not expecting it when Kan accompanied him to the kitchen. “You can get settled in, I've got this”

“Okay well… can I keep you company?” She asked, her head slightly tipped to the side.

“I suppose so” He answered, turning to the stove and flicking it on. Kan frowned a little. For someone who seemed awful sure of themself, Echo sure did evade giving a definitive answer most of the time.

Kan brought a chair out from under the table and sat with one leg tucked under her, the other curled to her chest while she rested her chin on it. She admired Echo's handiwork, watching as he found all the spices and sauces he could in the cupboards to make their meal more interesting.

“Echo, where did you first meet Rex?” Kan asked him.

“Um… He was the Captain of my old legion” He replied, placing the rice bag in the heater.

“You were in the 501st?” Kan sat up straighter and Echo looked back at her, noting the way her eyes had lit up at the mention of it.

“Yeah” He replied simply.

“No way, that’s awesome” She grinned, and he raised a brow at her.

“You’ve heard of the 501st?”

“Everyone has heard of the 501st” Kan said, almost brushing off his surprise. “Did you know Fives?” She then asked and Echo tensed up.

“How did you know Fives?” He retorted, genuinely curious as to how Fives could have met her and not him.

“I met him once on Coruscant. A close brother of his had died recently and he was pretty upset about it” She said, so unaware of the heaviness that her words carried for Echo.

He gulped, “Yeah um, that will have been me, I guess” Kan looked at him purely puzzled, and he turned back to his cooking as he continued, “Uh, I was presumed dead for a while, Fives was my closest brother, my twin, we were from the same batch” Kan could hear the solemnity of his tone and decided not to ask what had become of his brother.

“You were presumed dead? That’s pretty badass” Kan said with a tinge of awe.

Echo actually laughed at that, “I don't know about that, Fives was always the more ‘badass’ one of us anyway”

“He was an ARC right?”

“Yeah, we got promoted together”

“You were an ARC too?” Kan asked, leaning forward on her seat even more, if that was even possible at this point.

“Mhm”

“Woah, I had no idea you had all this exciting backstory Echo”

Echo found himself laughing again, and he was revelling in the fact that he was talking about his past, and it wasn't dredging up any unpleasant feelings. He was just sharing himself with another human being, and they were listening to him, eager to hear more. He finished cooking, and plated up the simple meal, placing one in front of Kan.

“Thanks Echo this looks great” She smiled broadly up at him and he took the seat opposite her as they began eating. “I remember Fives had a super cool design on his helmet”

“Mhm, the Rishi eel”

“That's what it was?”

“Our first assignment off of Kamino was at an outpost on the Rishi moon. The rest of our squad got killed there, one of them by the eel, Fives got it on his helmet to honour him” He remembered his brothers fondly.

Kan nodded, almost hoping he would go on, but he didn't. “What was your armour like in the 501st?”

“Uh… It was pretty standard to be honest, I had a handprint here” He imitated the placement of it on his own chest, “After Rex killed the Rishi eel he wiped a handprint of goo from it onto me, I just painted over the spot in the end”

“That’s cool, so you were kind of honouring your brother too” Kan noted.

“In a way, I hadn't really thought about it like that” Echo replied, once again enamoured by the way Kan could be so positive about anything.

The next morning, Echo awoke to the golden light of the sun filtering through the curtains from the window, and sat up in his bed, rubbing over his face with his hand.

He swung his feet over the edge of the bed and stretched his back, feeling a tightness lingering there. He grabbed his headgear and slipped it on, before noticing that his chestplate was missing from the neat pile of armour in the corner. He frowned, slipping on a plain tunic and trousers, lacing up his boots and making his way into the kitchen.

He saw that Kan had opened up the shutters and had seemingly cleaned the space a little bit, and she already had an engineering project underway on the dining table. Echo saw Kan notice him as she walked past a window and went to intercept her at the door.

“Have you seen my-” He stopped talking as he saw her holding his chestplate with giddy grin plastered on her face. “What did you do?” He spoke hesitantly.

“Take a look” She handed it to him, turning it so he could see the new addition.

The chestplate now bared a red handprint, exactly where his blue one had been in the 501st. Echo's eyes went wide, and he looked back up to Kan, a warmth filling his chest at the touching gesture.

His pupils dilated and his breath shortened. The feeling that gripped him finally found its name, and as he looked at the newly painted armour, and up into the deep green eyes of the one who made it so, he realised - without question - that he cared for her deeply, and it certainly wasn't in any kind of platonic way. It never had been, and if he was being honest with himself, he had known the whole time.

He liked Kan.

Kriff. So much for keeping it professional.

“Kan… Thank you. This really means a lot to me” He said, his eyes conveying a deep emotion that Kan couldn't really decipher.

“It’s no problem, I think it looks cooler this way anyway” She smiled, “Take a look on the inside”

Echo looked inside, and turned it over to see that there was a small aurebesh 5 where his heart would be positioned if he was wearing it.

“So it’s like, he's there with you all the time, or something. I can remove it if it's too-”

“No. It's perfect” He looked at her with such feeling, he felt he could almost cry.

“Good” She smiled and moved away, beginning to talk about the mission, the reason they were here, but Echo couldn't hear anything over the quickened beating of his heart pounding in his ears.

divider from this post <3

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, part four: call to action

content warnings: none :)

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Kan could hear somebody rapping on the door from inside her headphones.

“One moment” She called, stepping through the ever-growing mess that was her office.

“Oh hey Rex, what can I do for you?” Kan smiled up at the Captain.

“Hey Kan” He smiled, leaning against the doorframe with crossed arms, “I was just thinking about this upcoming mission, Senator Organa said you have you have some field experience, is that right?”

“Oh, well yes, I do. I have medic training as well” She replied, slightly cautious.

“Hm” Rex stroked his chin in thought, “We might need you to step into the field for this one. It would be just you and Echo, does that sound like something you could be up for?”

“Yeah, of course Captain, whatever you need”

“Okay” He smiled, “Well there's actually another mission that could possibly use your help with, so we'll see what Echo thinks and plan from there”

Kan nodded and followed him as he returned to the command centre, finding Echo already in there, leaning over the central holotable. He stood up straight as he saw Kan enter behind Rex, and she smiled at him as she always did. Echo made no move to return the warm gesture, instead his face painted with confusion.

“Echo, I’m thinking of sending Kan with you on this one” Rex spoke up.

“Is that really necessary?” Echo retorted, no hostility in his words though Kan certainly saw it that way, trying hard to hide her hurt.

“She could really streamline the whole process, and besides, she may be able to think of another way that we haven’t considered” Rex replied, a little short with his brother as he noted his unnecessary angst towards the Mirialan. Kan was pleased to see that at least Rex had faith in her. She enjoyed his company and found him to be an incredibly effective leader, a commanding presence that still felt kind.

Echo just looked at Kan, his regular blank stare piercing her. Though from his perspective, his mind was running wild. He was eternally frustrated at himself for the way he found himself acting around Kan, drawn to her but keeping his walls up. Echo was well aware that she was displeased with him, particularly now as he could see the dejected look on her face. He knew she liked to be useful in any way she could, even at the expense of herself.

“If you dont think it's going to work I'll send her off to Corellia with Howzer, he could really do with-”

“No” Echo said quickly, “It's fine, you're right, she would be useful”

Kan felt incredibly awkward, feeling as if she had interrupted a domestic of some sort, and because they were both speaking as if she wasn't stood right there.

“So…” She stepped forwards tentatively, “What’s the mission?

Rex brought up the map, “This is Haidoral Prime, mid-rim, there’s an imperial facility here that we believe is transmitting something to the planet that you found out about, where they’re sending clones”

Kan stepped up to the table beside Rex, “And what are our orders?”

Echo was slightly taken aback by the shift in her presence. She suddenly became strikingly military in her disposition, a seriousness that felt strange to see on her features. Echo once again felt drawn to her, finding this other side of her personality equally as alluring.

“I originally intended on Echo going in and just stopping the transmission, trying to find out whatever it was they were transmitting, but now I'm thinking that maybe…” Rex paused, “Is there anyway you could reroute the transmission?”

Kan's eyes flicked about the map projected above the holotable, her teeth subltely gnawing at her bottom lip as she seemed to be deep in thought.

“Permission to speak freely sir?”

“Yeah Kan of course” Rex almost chuckled at her professionalism.

“I believe a different approach would serve us better. I could easily reroute the transmission, but the Empire would surely catch on soon enough. Instead… It would take longer but… I could possibly find a way to duplicate the transmission. That way, the Empire would still be receiving the transmission, but so would we. I would of course make sure that the transmission to this base was undetectable and untraceable, create a path that made no sense and seemed like a mistake if discovered, but that still leaves the issue of the Empire receiving the information” Kan chewed on her lip once more, “Perhaps there is a way to corrupt the signal on their transmission, something that would wear it down over time, so that they don't suspect any foul play”

“You could do that?” Rex asked, glad he asked Kan to join this mission.

“Certainly, though… it would take me quite a bit of time, and I don't know what kind of tech they're working with. Do you know anything about the number of troopers they might have in there?”

“No, we have no idea” Rex sighed locking his hands behind his head.

“In that case…” Kan started, looking to Rex for conformation that she still had the floor, and he nodded, “I see there being two options, one of which is probably the obvious answer, but that's up to you Captain. First is, Echo goes ahead with the original plan by himself” She spoke confidently and looked at Echo for the first time in the exchange, noting his slightly awestruck look.

“The second is that we go in more than once. The first time purely to get an idea of the tech they're using and how I can replicate the signal. Then I'll need to go away and have some time to figure everything out, then the second time would be to actually input the changes” Kan said, then her confidence retreated a little, “I understand how that is a lot more effort and it may just be more worth it to disable it and have done”

Rex sighed deeply, “It would be a lot harder but… You're right, that could really give us an edge”. He paused for another moment, running over everything Kan had said in his mind, “Alright, I say we go for it. Echo?” He looked to his brother.

Echo was still looking at Kan, but his eyes flicked to his brother as he adressed him, “What?”

“What do you think?” Rex asked.

“About what?”

Rex gave him a confused look, “About going ahead with Kan's plan”

“Right, um” Echo looked to Kan and then back to Rex, “Yeah, it sounds like a good idea, I think we should go for it”

“Okay” Rex still eyed Echo suspciously, “It's going to take a little more planning then. Kan, I suggest you go and pack your tools now”

“On it” She nodded and quickly exited the room.

Rex turned to Echo, “What's the matter with you?”

“Nothing” Echo said, a hint of a sigh seeping through.

Rex just watched him for a moment, almost immediately coming to the right conclusion for his actions and sighing deeply. “For kriff sake Echo” He said with a slightly disbelieving laugh, “Look, just keep it professional for this mission okay?”

“What? I didn-”

Rex put up a hand to interrupt him, “I'm not interested in discussing this right now. Go and see if she can still shoot and I'll draw up this plan”

Echo ground his jaw in quiet defiance of what Rex was claiming without using the words, and Rex watched him amusedly as he left the room with a slump in his shoulders.

Kan stepped out onto the the tarmac, her bag slung across her chest and resting on her hip. She looked around for Echo, who had requested that she meet him for something before they left for their mission.

The prospect of going on a mission with Echo was exciting to Kan for a number of reasons. For one, going into the field in itself was something that she had missed greatly, and she felt entirely more useful for being so involved in foiling the Empire. She was also determined to break through whatever wall Echo continuously put up with her, and there was perhaps no better time than a mission where they were alone. She hoped that she could prove her usefulness and gain his trust in completing this mission efficiently and successfully.

Kan heard her name called and snapped her head to the left, where she saw Echo standing with a blaster at his side.

“I’m going to teach you how to use a blaster” Echo said as Kan approached him, and she realised that there were three targets set up a short distance from them.

Kan came to a stop in front of him and tilted her head to the side with a small laugh, “I know how to shoot, Echo”

“You do?” He replied, eyebrows raising slightly. He was sure that Rex had said she couldn't, but maybe he had been a little distracted at the time.

“Mhm” Kan said, clasping her hands behind her back, a small bounce in her toes.

Echo looked over her amused expression and bit back his own smirk, feeling almost exhilarated under her undivided attention. He held out the blaster in his hand, letting it hang on his first finger.

“Show me what you're made of then” He challenged, and Kan smirked as she took the blaster from him.

Kan stepped up to the mark, and took a deep breath, centering herself as she looked at the targets that had been set up. Echo watched closely, monitoring her form. She then swiftly brought up the blaster and fired off three rounds, hitting each mark perfectly. Echo raised his eyebrows, impressed and noting technique almost indistinguishable from his own.

“Wow, I'm honestly impressed I hit all of them. It’s been a while” Kan chuckled, lowering the blaster to her side.

“Where did you learn to do that?” Echo asked.

“Oh, um, you know… here and there” Kan said a little awkwardly.

Echo didn't take Kan as someone who kept secrets, usually seeming so open and happy to talk, but he didn't pry. If she didn't want to tell him then that was her business, not that the thought didn't gnaw at him anyway.

“Your form is good, exactly how they taught us in the GAR” He noted, seeing her stiffen minutely.

“Heh, yeah… cool” Kan said, handing Echo's blaster back to him and adjusting her bag across her chest a little. Echo watched her tense movements for a moment more, but quickly moved on.

“We can get going soon. I thought that was going to take longer to be honest” Echo said, a small smirk playing on his lips.

“Wow. What did I do to make you have so little faith in me?” Kan pouted in jest, then quickly matched his subtle smirk.

Echo just shrugged and holstered his blaster, moving away towards the ship they would be taking on the mission. Kan followed after him, and they climbed the ramp up into the ship. It was a modest size; two seats in the cockpit and a moderate hull, with a small refresher and bunk through two doors at the back.

“This is your ship?” Kan asked, turning to look at Echo as he sat down in the pilot's seat.

“More or less. I don't think anyone else uses it” He replied, powering up the ship.

“It's nice” Kan muttered, more to herself than anything.

The journey to Haidoral Prime was a few standard hours underway, and Echo had said all but 5 words to Kan the entire time. She opted to sit on the counter of the kitchenette in the hull, her fingers drumming against the surface as she chewed on her lip, thinking of something to say.

Kan had always got along with people quite easily. She was friendly and liked to form connections, however shallow, with everyone she came across. Echo's determination to meet her friendliness with some form of quiet animosity was starting to wear her down a little bit, and at this point, she just wanted to come right out and say how she felt about it.

“Echo?” Kan said, her voice no more timid than usual, despite the unfamiliar flurry of anxiety in her gut. Echo turned to look at her and saw her fiddling with her fingers in her lap. “Can we talk?”

“What's up?” He turned his seat to face her, leaning forward onto his knee.

“I'm just wondering…” Kan chose her words carefully, “It feels like you don't really enjoy my company very much and… Well, is there a way that I can make you more comfortable around me?”

Echo immediately frowned. “That's not true, I-” He started but the words got stuck in his throat.

“You don't have to like me I suppose, but if it's something I've done or something I'm doing then I'd like to know” Kan said assuredly.

“I-” Echo said, swallowing and forming his sentence before he spoke, “I do like you, and I enjoy your company. I'm sorry if it seems otherwise”

Kan’s lips quirked into a small smile. “Oh” She said simply, “Could've fooled me”

Echo let out a small laugh, suddenly feeling a tad insecure about himself, “Yeah, I guess I'm not as outgoing as some of the others”

“That's okay” Kan smiled, jumping down from the counter and walking up to the cockpit. She looked around all of the controls and couldn't stop herself from grinning.

“Who did all the upgrades in here?”

Echo was immediately bashful under the scrutiny of a proper technician, “Uh, I did"

“Right” Kan nodded.

Echo watched nervously as she took in his adjustments, waiting for her to say anything more, but she didn't.

“Is that a good ‘right’ or a bad one?” He asked, an amused smile being sent in his direction.

“Mostly good, I wouldn't have done the phaser like that, but if it works it works” She said, pointing behind Echo.

He turned and looked at the piece, then back up to Kan who was now leaning on the back of his chair, her face startlingly close to his.

“How would you have done it?” He asked, holding her eye contact despite feeling his palms become clammy as he did.

“You've got some wires crossed” Kan pointed, and he followed her finger as she somehow drew even closer towards him. “It's nothing that would cause problems of course, but if you're going to cross wires there are ways that would make it run more efficiently. I can do it for you after this mission if you like?” She suggested, looking down to Echo once more.

As he found her eyes again, their faces mere inches apart, he felt as if his throat had dried up completely, leaving him unable to speak. Instead, he nodded slowly, and his breathing became shallow as he noticed the small flecks of gold in her otherwise deep green eyes. Kan could see Echo's eyebrows had relented from the small frown they always held, his eyes brighter than she'd seen before. The sight made her heart stutter, and she realised how truly close she was to him when she felt his breath fan over her face.

Kan moved away with a shy smile, muttering an apology and completely unaware of the effect she had just had on Echo. The moment was mere seconds, but to Echo, it had felt like minutes, hours even, and he blinked a few times as Kan began talking about something, not fully able to register her words.

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 ♡

a tricky situation

Kix x F!Reader

word count: 2.8k

description: you're used to the antics of the 501st as a mechanic aboard the Resolute, but one clone takes it too far. when pulling one of his typical pranks on you, kix does something you never expected.

warnings: angst, swearing, miscommunication, kinda enemies to lovers I suppose, blood & injury but not in detail, not really proof-read

a/n: I maintain that Kix is a massive tease, but also a massive softie so... here's this. feel free to tell me my characterisation is wrong, I'll probably agree with you

You were grumbling to yourself once again.

It was something you found yourself doing too often, and you worried that soon enough your colleagues would stage an intervention and send you to get psychologically evaluated. You weren’t actually going crazy, but sometimes it felt like it.

Being a mechanic that worked aboard the Resolute, you frequently found yourself at the mercy of the clones of the 501st. Everyday, there was some new trick, some prank they were pulling. Today, it was the classic hiding your tools that they did at least twice a week, sometimes even twice a day. It was the first of the day, but it still had you ready to pull your hair out.

There was very few of them that actually let you get on with your job, and they were unquestionably your favourites. Though, that only amounted to being Captain Rex and Dogma. The rest, were positively menaces.

You had already searched through their barracks, unapologetically waking a few clones up, you had been to the engine room, the control centre, and through every side room you could possibly find, and you still hadn’t found them. You could use the ones belonging to the other mechanics, but it was late at night, and there wasn’t anyone else working. You stood in the middle of a corridor with your head in your hands.

Where haven’t I checked?

It then occurred to you who would’ve played this stupid prank on you, someone who would also be up this late at night, and you ground your jaw. Kix. You stalked off to the medbay, and if anyone had walked past you, they would have seen the steam coming out of your ears.

There was something particularly irritating about the clone medic, something you couldn’t put your finger on that made him be able to get under your skin like no other. He didn’t even try as hard as his brothers, but every single conversation with him felt like a game, an infuriating dance of taunting and tormenting. It didn’t help that you found him to be the most handsome among his brothers. Perhaps that was the reason you found him so annoying, but you weren’t going to analyse that right now.

You kicked the door to the medbay open with one swift motion and stormed inside, a surprised look on the face of the one you were after.

“Kix, so help me maker, I will shoot you if you don’t give me them back now” You growled at him, and he stood, setting down the datapad he held on one of the cots.

“My dear, I have no idea what you are on about” He said, a small taunting smile gracing his lips.

You clenched and flexed your hands at your sides, “Kix, this isn’t funny, I’m on a deadline with this one. Give them back”

The medic came to stand in front of you and placed his hands on your shoulders, running them down to your biceps. If it wasn’t him that had made you so angry, you may have even enjoyed it.

“Give what back?” He asked plainly, and you shook your head, your teeth grinding together so hard you were positive they would break. Kix could see the flame of anger in your eyes that he so loved. Winding you up was certainly his favourite pastime.

“You know what. I need my tools”

“Why would your tools be here?” He asked, cocking his head to the side, then came in closer, “You do know this is the medbay, right?”

You rolled your eyes so fast they could have rolled out of their very sockets. You ripped your arms from his grasp, and stormed around the room, turning over every single thing and huffing to yourself when you didn’t find anything. Kix watched you with utmost amusement. He would have to tidy up after you, but it was almost worth it to see you so worked up. Almost.

“Alright, alright. Relax. They’re in the closet” He called, and you rushed to the door that he was pointing at.

You switched on the light, which afforded little more visibility, but you saw your toolbox sat on the floor just by the door. You picked it up as you heard the door slide closed, and turned to see that Kix had closed you in with him.

“Get out of my way” You huffed, giving him your best withering look.

“What? No thank you?” He grinned. That damn beautiful smile of his.

“Thank you? You must be joking”

“I helped you find your tools, I think I deserve a little something” He reasoned, and you let out a disbelieving laugh.

“And what, pray tell, do you think you deserve?”

“I was thinking something along the lines of… a kiss?” He suggested.

All of your insides constricted as the word left his lips, and you were frozen on the spot.

“What?” You almost whispered out, eyes still burning with some form of rage.

Kix smirked, “You see, I know you think you’re pretty slick, but I see you looking at me when you think I’m not paying attention-”

“I do not!”

You do.

“- and I know the reason you pretend to hate me so much is because otherwise you’d just be falling at my feet-”

“I hate you so much because you do things like this!” You argued, holding up your recently stolen toolkit.

“Is that right?”

It was then that you realised that you were only a hairbreadth from his face, your nose almost touching his. You breathed heavily, not daring to utter even one word for fear of losing your composure in an entirely different way. Your eyes burned into his with an intensity that you couldn’t control, and his infuriating smirk only made it worse. After a moment, his mouth uncurled from the taunting expression, looking at you only with interest and nothing else.

Your eyes fell to his lips, and he leaned ever so slightly forwards, brushing his nose against yours gently. Your eyes fluttered shut on instinct, and you breathed out shakily. Your mind was screaming out and silent at the same time, it couldn’t make sense of what was happening, and your heart took precedent, giving into whatever it was.

Kix then brought his lips to your ear, brushing back a piece of hair behind it with his hand.

“Gotcha”

You were immediately snapped from your trance and recoiled, a look of absolute shock plastered across your features. Kix just watched you with his knowing smirk, and your anger flared once again, but this time, it was underpinned by an emotion he wouldn’t have expected. Hurt.

“You’re a cruel man Kix” You seethed out as you shoved him aside, opening the door and storming out of the medbay.

He watched you go, his insides twisting with guilt. He had only meant to tease you, but he had taken it too far, and now you were actually upset. You were usually too mad at him to ever let any other emotions slip through the cracks, but now he realised that maybe he had just never pushed you to a breaking point before. He was foolish to think that you didn’t have a limit.

You fought to keep tears from spilling from your eyes as you finished your work that evening. You were so frustrated with yourself for letting your guard slip, and even more for reacting this way to what was really a stupid prank, and nothing else. It hadn’t occurred to you before that your attraction to Kix was anything more than that, but now that he had truly embarrassed you, you realised it was more deep-set than that.

You actually liked him, he was right, and he used it just to trick you.

“Hey, I need to talk to you” You heard a voice, his voice, call out as you were slid under a gunship the next day, your arms elbow deep in wires and grease.

“I have no interest in talking to you” You stated plainly, all emotion stripped from your voice.

Kix’s heart clenched at the sound of it.

“Please” He said your name in such a pleading tone, “I need you to know I-”

“Just can it Kix, I don’t want to hear it” You slid from underneath the gunship and looked up at him sternly.

He didn’t intend for this at all. In truth, it was him that really wanted to kiss you. While it was true, he had caught you looking at him sometimes, he had no reason to believe that it was because you liked him, and he only really said it to hopefully push you to a confession. Every time he had wound you up, it was just an excuse to see you react to him, to grab your undivided attention. It was a cowardly approach, making you confess before he did, but now he may never even get the chance if you wouldn’t let him.

“You don’t understand, I-”

“I understand just fine, you used my feelings as fodder for another prank, how surprising” You rolled your eyes, “Leave me alone from now on, if it’s not too tempting to try and embarrass me again”

Kix was floundering for the right thing to say, “It wasn’t a pr-”

“Fuck off Kix, can you not hear me?” You almost shouted, gaining the attention of a few of the nearby clones.

His amber eyes burned into yours. You could see he was sorry, but you’d rather let him feel guilty for what he did than accept any apology he could offer. As you stared each other down with an intensity to rival the previous night, you could feel your emotions getting the better of you.

“Just go away” You said quietly, sliding back underneath the gunship without another word.

You could see Kix hesitate, but you watched him ultimately decide to leave you alone, and walk away. You sighed, feeling your eyes well up with frustration. You were embarrassed all over again.

It had been a week since what the other mechanics were just calling ‘the incident’. They had no idea why you had shouted at the clone, and you wouldn’t tell them, but that didn’t stop them teasing you about it. A silver lining about the whole ‘incident’ was that the clones had started leaving you alone, and your tools had not been stolen once. It was certainly peaceful, and you were reluctant to admit that life now felt boring, for fear that the clones would all suddenly come out of the woodworks with the worst prank of them all. Not that they could top the one already pulled by their medic.

You hadn’t even seen Kix since said ‘incident’, but your head was still maddeningly filled by him. The most maddening fact of all being that it wasn’t your argument that was stuck in your head, it was the way he looked at you as he pretended he was going to kiss you. It had felt so real, so sincere, and as it kept replaying in your head you found yourself wishing to go back in time and just kiss him.

But that would do no good, it was still a prank at the end of the day.

You were working under a ship, your hands buried in wires and a tool between your teeth. You heard someone call out for you and sat up, whacking your head on the underside of the ship in the process, the tool falling from your mouth as you shouted out in pain. You vaguely heard the person shout something along the lines of ‘nevermind, got it’ and cursed them for speaking in the first place. You brought your hand up to your head and felt small trickle of blood, or was it grease?

Then there you were, grumbling to yourself once again.

You stormed off to the medbay reluctantly, but this time you had no intention of speaking with Kix. You opened the door forcefully with your shoulder and made a beeline for the nearest cot, rifling through the draws next to it for a bandage or anything else.

“What are you-” Kix had watched you come in, and was utterly perplexed by your actions until he saw the mix of grease and blood trickling down your forehead. “What happened?” He asked, coming over to inspect the wound.

You just stayed silent.

He said your name gently, drawing your attention and you glanced at him briefly, “What does it look like? I hit my head” You said, finally finding a small bacta patch in the draw. You took it and peeled off the back, sitting down to apply it.

“Woah” Kix reached forwards and took your wrist before you could place it down, “Let me clean that for you first”

You grabbed your wrist back, “I don’t need any help”

“The grease will only infect the wound” He said, grabbing the patch from you, “Sit still”

You glared at him, “I don’t care, I’d rather let it get infected”

“Well it’s a good thing I care then isn’t it” He replied, pulling out an antiseptic wipe.

You sat in silence with what he’d just said. Is this part of his latest trick? Kix gently grabbed your chin, tilting your head to get a better look at the wound. He brought the wipe up to it, “This is going to sting a bit”

And it did.

You hissed as the wipe came into contact with your wound, moving away from the clone inflicting the pain, but he just kept going until there was no more grease or blood dripping out of it.

“Wait here. Please don’t leave”

You watched him suspiciously as he moved away to retrieve something. He was being uncharacteristically serious and kind for someone who loved to tease you. He returned a moment later with some bacta and a bandage, and applied it without another word.

“You know, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were avoiding me” He said, the corners of his lips turning up at the attempted joke.

“Well clearly you don’t know any better then” You rolled you eyes.

He spoke your name in a soft tone as he finished applying the bandage, “That hurts” He said in mock hurt, a hand resting on his heart.

“Good” You replied instantly, looking up to his eyes to find him now looking at you seriously. He just watched you for a moment, and your own scowl softened slightly without your permission.

“I’m sorry” He said softly.

You bit your lip a little, looking away, “I know you are”

He brought his hand back to your chin, forcing you to look at him as he spoke, “I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I-” He gulped, “I wanted to kiss you”

Your heart leapt to your throat and your eyebrows furrowed, and then scrunched up, going through a million emotions at once.

“Is this a joke?” You asked, your tone hesitant and unsure.

“No” He said firmly, stepping forwards and finding himself between your knees, “I’m sorry for… the way I went about it. I only wanted to tell you that…”

You looked up at him with widened eyes, hanging on every word.

“I wanted to tell you that I have… feelings for you, and it- well, it all backfired” He chuckled slightly, and you let your mouth form a small smile.

“And this is real? You actually like me?” You asked once more for conformation.

“It’s real. I like you, I really like you” He admitted, his hand moving from your chin to cup your jaw.

You leant into his touch a little, and his heart did a flip, “I… I like you too, but I think you already knew that” You grinned a little and his lips formed the smirk that you usually found so maddening.

“I might’ve had some idea” He spoke teasingly, then stroked your cheek with his thumb, “Care to try that kiss again?”

You didn’t reply, and instead pulled him down by his chest plate to meet his lips with yours. It was a slow and meaningful kiss, both you and Kix making no haste and just savouring the moment. You felt him hum contentedly against you, and you smiled into the kiss, breaking away to catch your breath a little. He placed his forehead on yours, but you pulled away quickly when your wound began screaming out against the action.

“Sorry” He chuckled then placed a light kiss on top of the bandaged area, “There, that’ll make it all better”

You smirked, “Is that a treatment you give all your patients?”

“No” He smiled, “Only my favourite one”

technical devotion, part nine: getting nowhere

content warnings: none :)

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Kan and Echo had been working undercover for almost two weeks now, and Echo was growing impatient at the lack of action they had seen. He never considered himself to be someone with an itchy trigger finger, but the days of just milling about town, listening in on conversations and watching stormtroopers rotate through their shifts was beginning to grate on him. He felt as if he were being useless, and that was something he really didn't like.

Kan on the other hand, had been plenty busy. She had constructed a sensor for their domicile that would buzz her comm when someone was approaching the house, thus far only having been triggered by Echo. She also put up a camera for the same reason, but she was yet to really use that. She had built a device that Echo had been using, to scan buildings for any sign of this weapon they had found out about, but so far it was not proving fruitful.

At the moment she was working on a new build, a more complicated one that had taken up all of her time from the past few days. The aim was to make a device that could disable anything technological. She had made a small version, which had worked on rendering her comm device useless until she re-configured it, but to make something that would work on a large scale was different.

Kan could tell that Echo was impatient. She often heard him sighing in his room and pacing about in the evening. She had taken to working at the kitchen table, much to Echo's chagrin. There were loose wires and spare parts scattered everywhere, and he'd started just pushing things off of the table when it came time to eat. He did enjoy seeing Kan so much, with her being right outside his bedroom door at all times, but the mess, combined with his agitation about getting nowhere with their assignment, was beginning to annoy him.

Kan was beginning to feel some irritation of her own. She was sat at the kitchen table as she always did, working on soldering together some coils, but she kept getting distracted as Echo sat down, tapped his foot, then stood up, paced about, then sat down and repeated the process. It was driving her insane, but because she felt empathy for why he was so irritable, she kept her mouth shut. Until she couldn't.

“Echo, I'm sorry but… that's really rather distracting” She stopped what she was doing and looked to him.

Echo grunted. He was in a particularly foul mood, and had been for days. Their conversations had not been as lively as they were at the beginning of the mission. He continued to go through his series of motions, and Kan just watched him, unsure of what to really say.

“I'm sick of this. It's time we did something” He finally spoke, voicing his concerns for the first time.

“Echo we don't know anything yet, we can't just go bursting into their base of operations with nothing but a blaster”

“That’s exactly what we're going to do” He said, leaning onto the table and looking at Kan with unwavering seriousness.

“No, we're not” She sighed, her own gaze even and as serious as his, “You know it's not a good idea”

“I'm past good ideas at this point” He spoke exasperatedly, his hand running over his face.

“Echo… we're going to find something soon, I'm going to see that Captain again, I'll try and squeeze some more information out of him” Kan said gently, trying to assuage his building anger.

“I don't want you doing that” He sighed deeply, his eyes trained on Kan.

“Well I don’t exactly want to either, but it's the only lead we have at the moment”

“Yeah, cause I’ve been so useless haven’t I” He grumbled, facing away.

“There's no point getting angry about it” Kan stated, her own irritation bubbling to the surface.

“But I am angry! I haven't been able to find anything out, and now you're saying we can't even try” He raised his voice slightly and Kan frowned deeply.

“It's not my fault” Kan spoke lowly.

“I'm not saying it's your fault, I'm saying that it seems like you don't even want to try” He was shouting now, and Kan stood up.

“What are you-?”

“Is this cause even important to you?” He drew in closer to her.

“Yes, of course it is, it’s just-”

“You don’t get it do you?”

“Echo-”

“No, you don’t know how this feels at all, how could you?”

Kan took a step back from Echo. He was acting so out of character. She could tell he was angry, of course, but the look in his eyes told her his words were coming from a place of sadness.

“You weren’t a part of the war, you don’t know what it was like to be fighting for something bigger than yourself. If you did you wouldn’t be backing down!”

Something in Kan snapped at that, “You don’t even know anything about me!” She shouted back at him, finally matching his tone.

“Then tell me!” He shouted back, complete exasperation taking him over.

Kan stayed silent, her chest heaving as she stared into Echo’s eyes from inches away. She then shook her head and moved towards the stairs. She wasn’t going to be berated over something so ridiculous. Echo grabbed her wrist before she could ascend the stairs.

“Tell me” He said, sternly, though he wasn't shouting this time.

Kan sighed exasperatedly. She was entirely worked up by the argument. She ran a hand over her face angrily and ripped her arm from Echo's grasp.

“I don’t owe you any kind of explanation, but I was involved in the war, so you're wrong. I do know what it was like, and what I know is that risking your life unnecessarily is pointless” Her tone was venomous, her words dripping from her mouth like poison, but her eyes held a deep and profound sadness that Echo hadn’t ever noticed before. As he took in her confession, he realised that he must have really struck a chord.

“You were involved in the war?” He spoke so gently now, his expression confused yet intrigued.

Kan let out an aggressive sigh, “Yes, look, I don't want to talk about it. Find out more about this base and I might actually consider it, but we are not going in blind” She said, the anger melting from her voice with each word, a sternness still lingering.

“I didn't realise you were the one calling the shots now”

Kan missed the small smile on Echo’s lips at his attempt to bridge the gap between them. “Sorry, sir” She said sarcastically and stormed off to her room.

It had been a few days since their argument, and neither Echo nor Kan were feeling man enough, or woman enough, to be the first to clear the air. They had talked, minimally, but it had been small jabbing comments accompanied by a lot of glaring. Mostly from Kan.

Kan tiptoed down the stairs. She didn't need Echo to see her slipping out to spend the evening schmoozing Captain Levy. He had already expressed his distaste for the man, and while she agreed with him, she didn't fancy a telling off for it. She grabbed her jacket and opened the door.

“Where are you off to?”

For kriff sake.

Kan turned to see Echo leaning against his doorframe, just in his blacks. Even in the dim light of the singular bulb in the kitchen, she could see the contours of his toned torso, the size of his biceps as his arms crossed over his chest. Kan ground her jaw. How dare he be looking this good when I'm supposed to be angry with him.

“Out” She said simply, turning to leave.

“Do you really think it's safe to just being going out at night?” Echo challenged.

“I don't think you're really in any position to say that, Mr let's go in guns a-blazing and get ourselves killed for no good reason” Kan replied, her hands on her hips.

Echo sighed and stepped forwards, closing the space between the two of them, “Kan… I don't want to fight with you”

Kan stayed silent. She wanted him to apologise to her.

Echo looked down a her. She had let her hair out, all of it falling down her back, aside from the two beaded sections at the front. She was wearing a tight long-sleeved top that showed just her collarbones, and a neat pair of trousers. A sliver of her hips was on show as the top rode up a little, and he focused his attention back on her face quickly. Kan thought she was going to feint as she watched him drink in her appearance.

“I'm sorry, for the things I said. I've just been so frustrated that we haven't got anywhere yet. I didn't mean to take it out on you” He said sincerely, and Kan immediately let out a long breath.

“I don't want to fight either, it's exhausting, my brain hurts” She held her head in her hands and Echo chuckled.

“I had no idea you played a part in the war, I would have never said-”

“Don't worry about it. I forgive you” Kan said, looking up him again, “I knew you weren't in your right mind to begin with”

Echo smiled, and paused for a moment, “You look really nice by the way”

“Thank you” Kan's cheeks flushed instantly, “I'm going out to meet Captain Levy”

Echo's smile dropped.

“I know it's not the best idea necessarily, and I don't really want to, but he's been asking me ever since we danced together and… you are right, we haven't got anywhere yet, I've just been too preoccupied to really dwell on it” Kan explained.

“Okay” Echo sighed.

“Okay? You'll let me go?”

He chuckled slightly, “You don't really need my permission, but yes, I'll let you go”

“Alright” Kan smiled, and then it faltered as she stepped outside, “I shouldn't be out for long, but don't wait up for me”

“Can’t promise I won't” Echo's mouth curled into a small smirk.

Kan bit back her own smirk, “Okay, I'll see you later then”

As she walked off, Echo called out for her, “Will you just do something for me?”

“Yeah, anything”

Echo hadn't expected that response, but continued despite the fluttering of his heart, “Tell him you have a husband or something, just to… deter him from being too overly friendly”

“Yeah that's a good idea, thank you” Kan smiled, and turned around to walk away.

Echo watched her go with a sigh. He was glad that they were speaking again, and now that they were, he endeavoured to find out in what capacity she had been involved in the war.

Kan stepped into the bar where she had agreed to meet Captain Levy. It was dimly lit, a strip of red lighting along the bar, and a humidity hung in the air as the many bodies inside moved about. Kan tried to think of the last time she had been in a crowd, when Echo had been there with her. She tried to remember the way his hand had felt in hers; safe, protective and comforting. It brought her heartrate down a little, but it was still no match for the real thing.

She looked around for the Captain, but the darkness of the bar had her peering around with narrowed eyes and no luck.

“Looking for someone?” A voice said into her ear from behind, and she jumped, turning to see the Captain with a smirk plastered across his face.

“Captain! You scared me” Kan laughed nervously.

“Please, it’s Drass” He gestured for her to take a seat at one of the booths, “And besides, it's Commander now”

“You got the promotion?”

“Mhm” He leaned over the table as Kan sat down, “Let me get you a drink”

He walked away before Kan could tell him what she wanted, and she sat back with a small exhale. This was not going to be pleasant by any stretch of the imagination.

For the entirety of the evening, the newly promoted Commander waffled on about himself, about how he got into the Imperial command position in the first place, though divulging no information that was of any use to Kan. He bought a few rounds of drinks for himself, while Kan sipped quietly at the unpleasant one he had bought her in the first round. After an hour of this, she resigned herself to just sitting and listening to him natter on, and after a while she tuned him out without him even noticing. She thought the bar was rather charming, dark wood tables and an assortment of local beverages along the back of the bar. Under different circumstances, she'd be enjoying herself in this environment.

Kan opened the front door and dropped her jacket on the floor beside it, sighing deeply. She trudged into the kitchen and slumped down into a chair, placing her head on the table.

“Kan?” Echo called, emerging from his room to see her sat in the darkness, “What's the matter?”

Kan winced as the light turned on, “It just didn't go well, I didn't find anything out”

“It's alright, we can figure out another way” Echo suggested, taking the seat next to her.

“Yeah” She replied despondently.

“Did something happen?” Echo asked, suddenly alarmed at the thought.

“No. No, just- ugh. Kriffing… men” She grunted.

“Um… I'm sorry?” Echo didn’t really know what to say.

Kan chuckled at that, lifting her head from the table, “It's not you”

He smiled just a bit, “What did he do?”

“He just- he wouldn't shut the kriff up for one second to let me ask anything, and then had the gall to suggest going back to his place afterwards as if he'd earned it or something” Kan rolled her eyes, sitting back in her chair, “It's just typical”

“Typical? How so?” Echo asked.

“I don’t know, I've just had one too many experiences like that. A lot of guys don't care to hear you talk at all and then expect something in return for buying you a few drinks. It's why I haven't done it in a long time to be honest” Kan sighed, her eyes focused on her fiddling hands.

Echo's brow creased in a small frown, “I don't know how anyone could not want to hear you talk”

Kan looked up at him, feeling her heartrate rising, “What?”

“Uh…” Echo trailed off, “You have a lot of interesting things to say, you know?”

One side of Kan's lips quirked into her usual lazy smile, “Thanks Echo, you too”

He chuckled nervously, “I don't know about that”

“I do” Kan said resolutely, “I love hearing your stories from the war”

Echo gulped, trying to form his next sentence without sounding too much like he was prying, “I'd like to hear some of yours too”

Kan took a deep breath, her teeth catching her bottom lip as she chewed nervously, “Maybe another time”

As Kan stood and went to her bedroom without another word, it suddenly occurred to Echo that whatever Kan was avoiding talking about, whatever war stories she wouldn’t tell, were probably deeply painful. It had seemed to him that Kan lived her life as if she had never known any suffering, always smiling and hopeful. If Kan, who was usually so open and positive, was hiding a part of herself, it was something she wanted to forget. That scared Echo, and it also intrigued him to no end. He wanted to know everything there was to know about Kan.