Chapter Text
It had started on a cliche dark and stormy night in the Temple while she was hiding in her room trying to meditate. Storms always helped her relax and allowed her to slip deeper into the Force. Her master always told her that the Force was a guiding wind so she allowed it to carry her where she needed to be. Which was sometimes not where she wanted to be. The aura within the Temple was tense as the Council had been sequestered away for hours. No one seemed to know what was going on except those on the Council. Her old Master, Shaak-Ti, had told her to wait until she had left the meeting. So, here she was trying to remain patient, but the aura in the building was distracting her from her meditation.
Lephara sighed as she opened her eyes to stare at the rain splattered window. The lights of the Coruscant skyline obscured the stars that tried to shine down through the light pollution and smog. It had been a while since she left the planet and she missed looking up to see the galaxy. Those nights along with nothing, but the stars made her feel at one with the universe.
Carefully she pulled her lekku over her shoulders and leaned back on her bed. The atmosphere in the Temple began to lighten the longer she laid there. With a sigh of relief she snuggled down into her pillow, maybe now she could get some rest.
Dreamscapes were not that odd for Lephara to find herself in. There were nights when she was able to control everything within it so as to look at her day's decisions with the potential different outcomes. But this one was odd. It looked like one of the plush meditation chambers in the Temple, yet she was not alone. There was a man opposite her. He was clean cut and in what appeared to be a black bodysuit. His honey brown eyes were wide as he stared at her. Cautiously she moved to sit down on the cushion at her feet with the man mimicking her move. He was breathing a bit heavily as his eyes darted around looking for a means of escape.
“You’re in a dream,” she said to reassure him.
After she said that, it dawned on her why he was there. Soulmates appeared to one another at the age of 10, most in different ways as sharing dreamscapes was exceptionally rare. Yet, he looked so much older than ten.
“It would appear as though you are my soulmate.”
“Soulmate? I didn’t think I’d ever have one.”
That made her smile as she could sense that he was being genuine. It was charming.
“My name is Lephara.”
“Echo.”
“Unusual name.”
“It's better than the numbers they gave us.”
“Numbers?”
“CT-1409. I’m a clone trooper.”
“Clone?”
Lephara was shocked as she could sense that he was telling the truth. Cloning was impossible, not to mention highly unethical. Yet, there he sat. And he was her soulmate. This posed a whole new thought process. If he was a clone with a number then that meant there were more.
“How many are there?”
“Ready? Around 200,000. Last I knew there were a million almost done with training.”
Her mind was reeling at this information. Where were these clones even at? Did all of them have soulmates? Who in their right mind would clone one person that many times! Were all of them like him? So many questions were rolling through her mind. The ethical questions and logistically ones were bouncing back and forth. There had to be a facility large enough to hold them as well as the equipment needed for cloning. Why had no one in the Temple heard about this?
“Are you alright?”
Lephara smiled at him while nodding. “It is just a lot to take in.”
“I agree. I can’t wait to tell the boys.”
That had her chuckling. There was no one she could really tell beyond Quinlan. Having soulmates were frowned upon in the Order as they were considered attachments. And attachments could prevent one from fulfilling their oath as a Jedi. Honestly, it was a ridiculous idea. Several of the other Masters had their soulmates on the side. She believed that a soulmate provided an attachment to reality and gave them something to come back for. So, one fought harder to come back. Hell, she knew Kit and Aayla were currently sharing a bed, but she didn’t know much beyond that. She truly hoped they were happy together. And hopefully Master Yoda and Master Windu didn’t know.
Before she could ask Echo anymore questions she could sense someone in reality knocking on her door. Lephara sighed and closed her eyes to reach out to see who it was. It was Quinlan. Once he sensed her reach out she felt the knocking stop. At least it wouldn’t look suspicious to anyone who passed if he kept knocking for several minutes. Lepahra turned to look at Echo with a soft smile. He truly was handsome.
“I have to go.”
Echo swiftly got to his knees once she got up. “Will you be back?”
Lephara reached out and cupped his cheek, watching him lean into the touch of her hand. “I’ll be back.”
Lephara snapped back to reality and sat up with a groan. It was clear she hadn’t moved in her sleep and now her back ached. She was getting too old to be sleeping on such a thin mattress. The popping of her knees alerted her to how truly her age and activity was affecting her body. With a press of a button the door to her room opened and Quinlan Vos shoved his way inside. Normally the man respected her boundaries, but something had him harried. His emotions were in turmoil, but surprise was sneaking to the top as he gazed at her exposed midriff. Without asking why, she looked down to see words in an untidy scrawl under her left breast that said ‘Well shit.’ and a tattoo peeking above her lounge pants on her right hip. Three? She had three soulmates?
“Look, get dressed and hide those. The Council is calling for us both.”
“What, why?”
“I don’t know, but it can’t be good. Also, when the frik did you get marks?”
“Later.”
Lephara slipped her robes back on and slid back into her boots. Quinlan led the way out and down the hall to the elevator. He pressed the button for the Council floor. She brushed her hand against his and felt his index finger catch hers. They grew up and trained together most of their lives due to sharing a similar skillset. Even with the attachment rule, they clung to each other. There was nothing romantic between them, but they shared a bond that she knew would probably scare the Council. If he left the Order then she would follow beside him. She knew he would do the same. She suspected it was why they were both promoted to the rank of Master at the same time. The Council wanted to keep them together for their own benefit.
Quinlan and her separated the moment before the doors opened. The Council members were beyond the door in front of them. Neither of them were on the Council and so being called into a meeting was a little abnormal. They stopped in front of the doors and glanced at each other. Lephara straightened her shoulders and knocked.
Echo sat upright in his bunk and climbed out to climb up into the bunk of his twin, Fives. Fives grunted, but woke up as he climbed in beside him. Echo watched as Fives rolled onto his side and glared at him.
“You seriously waking me up in the middle of the night?” Fives whispered.
“I have a soulmate.”
“What?”
“I just met her in my dream.”
“Di’kut, you’re just dreaming up some woman.”
“No, I’m not. She touched me and it felt physically real. Her name is Lephara and she’s beautiful. She’s a Twi’lek and knew nothing about us.”
“Knew nothing about us?”
“Yeah, she was confused when I told her I was a clone.”
Fives remained quiet for a moment before sighing. “Fine, say she’s real. What did she look like?”
“She’s a Twi’lek with long lekku that have tattoos on them. Her eyes are the most vibrant green I’ve ever seen. They have to be what the grass actually looks like. She has curves too, like enough that would be great to cuddle with.”
“So, you dreamed up your dream girl.”
Echo punched Fives in the upper arm.
Lephara plopped down on her bed beside Quinlan.
Well, they were now on the Council and just informed about a Clone Army and that they were all going to be going to war against the Separatists.
“What the fuck.”
Lephara didn’t think there was a better word for it. Though it did explain a bit about the soulmate part. If there were over a million clones then some people, like herself, could potentially wind up with more than one. That was over a million new people added to the world and gene pool. This was beyond fucked up.
Wha’s fucked up?
She groaned and dropped her head into her hands. Four. There were four of them now.
What is your name?
The name’s Wrecker. You should know tha’ voice in mah head.
I’m not the voice in your head. I’m your soulmate, Lephara.
Soulmate! Hah! I can’t wait to rub Cross’ face in this!
“Quin.”
“Yeah?”
“There are four of them now.”
“Make that five.”
‘Had to test a theory’ was written on the inside of her forearm.
A year and a half later…
The rambunctious voice inside her head was excitedly telling her about the large explosion he got to set off while the tight concise scrawl slowly made its way across her inner forearm. Quinlan shook his head as he dropped down beside her in her room on the destroyer carrying Skywalker’s 501st. He held out the cup of tea that he brought her, which she carefully took.
He jerked his chin towards her arm. “They’re chatty today.”
Lephara dropped her head to rest on his shoulder. Her soulmates were always chatty. There were five in total and they all knew each other. Three she could talk to. While the other two were her tattoo and writing. She found out all of them were on the same squad from Echo. And that poor man had been through a lot in a year and a half. Every night she had spent with him, some shorter than others since the war began, but she noticed at one point that he began to change. It frightened her to see the changes within him, but she couldn’t help him. He didn't know where he was or even how to find out where he was. Echo had said that it felt as if he was perpetually asleep, but always thinking. He was always there in the dreamscape waiting for her as if he never left. And he refused to tell her when she asked. So, she had to watch him go through physical changes that made her weep. Someone had torn apart a man that she would almost say she loved. Then one night he appeared with a smile on his face.
He had been rescued and she had the answers to his changes, but also to her other soulmates.
Wrecker was the one that shared her thoughts.
Tech was the one that wrote to her.
Hunter was the one that she shared an image with.
And Crosshair was the one that shared words with her.
Apparently, they called themselves the Bad Batch.
It made her smile as she thought about Echo’s words last night. He had been telling her about their mission, but drifted off to talk about the boys of the 501st. So, when she told him that’s where she was going next he had excitedly told her so many stories that it made her head dizzy. It didn’t take her long to be able to sort out who was who thanks to Echo and she had a sneaking suspicion that Rex knew something was up, but she wasn’t going to tell. Not like the clone would tell anyone anyways, after all, his General had a soulmate. She had seen the mark on the inside of Anakin’s wrist and recognized the insignia. Lephara was happy for him.
Though, she didn’t know how Skywalker felt about clones having soulmates. There had been a decree throughout the Galactic Army of the Republic that all clones were to reject their soulmates. There had practically been a riot against that decree, but those who protested loud enough were sent back to Kamino to be ‘reeducated’. Master Shaak-Ti refused to tell her what that meant, but it couldn’t have been good. After that several clones defected to be with their soulmate, while some upheld the decree. Privately, she knew that many did not. Quinlan had told her of Aayla’s mark to Bly. She had never seen Quinlan so happy for his former padawan. Though, he typically laughed at Lephara’s situation. Having five soulmates was unheard of and Tech had spoken at length about the statistics of it all.
“You think you’ll ever meet them?”
“Should I?”
“What have you got to lose?”
“A lot.”
“But there’s just as much to lose if you don’t.”
Quinlan rolled his shoulder to get her off him, then he got to his feet. He held his hand out for her and she sighed, accepting it to get to her feet. They had to go to the hangar to meet up with her squad for her new mission. Quinlan was leaving the ship to head back to Coruscant to go to the lower levels and check out the Underworld. While she got to chase around a Separatist group that had snuck a senator’s family into their territory without anyone noticing. And she had a feeling that the family left of their own accord as the Senator was a bit of a dick.
Cyar’ika…
Lephara could hear Wrecker, but it was as if he was far away.
Wait.
Soulmate links could be affected by distance. The new squad. Her mind ground to a halt as her body continued walking. What should she do? Should she say something? No. She would not run away from this. If this is what the Force had in store for her then it was what she would do. Swiftly she grabbed her pack as she left the room with Quinlan. There was no time for them to waste when it came to the mission.
But…would they even like her?
Yes, she was a formidable and powerful Jedi, of that there was no doubt in her mind. But, she was still just a woman with her own insecurities. Yes, they may have spent a year and a half talking, but only recently had it gotten close to being deep. It had been hectic in the beginning with everything that had suddenly been thrown at them all. Now that things were evening out during the middle of a war and everyone was settled into their roles, there was time to truly talk. Not just about feelings, but what one wanted after the war.
“Quin.”
“Yeah?”
“They’re here.”
“Well then, we better get you to the hangar. I gotta make sure these clones are good enough for you.”
“Men, Quin.”
Quinlan smiled at her and nodded. The clones were not just clones to her, they were men. Each one had a different signature in the Force and so she treated each one like an individual. It was what they deserved after all. They had been born simply for battle, but they deserved to be treated like someone that was not expendable.
Her companion began to rush through the ship and she grumbled as she practically had to run to catch up with him. Then the bastard began to out right run.
“You little shit!”
Lephara tightened the straps on her backpack and chased him down. Men jumped out of their way as she chased after him. She knew that he would begin an inquisition amongst her soulmates if he got there before her. So, she had to keep up with him. Thankfully she had spent many years training with him and he tended to have a weak spot when it came to her. Lephara had a feeling he underestimated her. As they made it to the hangar she could see Skywalker and Rex talking to a group of clones in darker armor. With a wave of her hand she sent a metal container at Quinlan’s feet into him, sending him face forward onto the floor and skidding a few feet. Lephara laughed and came to an abrupt stop next to Skywalker, whose feet Quinlan had slid to a stop at.
She laughed and grinned down at Quinlan as he rolled over onto his back, showing the red marks on his face from the slide across the floor.
“That’s cheating.”
“Then stop underestimating me.”
Rex chuckled, but disguised it as a cough while Anakin outright laughed.
“Gentlemen, this is Master Quinlan and Master Lephara. Lephara will be the one going with you. This is the Bad Batch.”
Lephara looked at each of them and gave a shy smile. “Hello boys.”
“Well shit.”
Echo couldn’t believe that she was standing right there in front of them. Skywalker was saying something, but he couldn’t pay a lick of attention. All his thoughts were on her. She was petite and curvy just like in their shared dreamscape, but this time he was close enough to almost touch her. She was helping Quinlan back to his feet while chuckling at the other Jedi. The Kiffarin said something to her that he didn’t understand and she responded back with a proud tone in her voice. And she should be proud. That had been a sneaky move that had won her the race.
“Yes, General. We’ll leave in a few hours as we need to resupply.”
“Well, don’t let Lephara annoy you too much.”
“Little brat.”
“I hear something, but I can’t see it. Huh, must be my imagination.”
Echo watched in utter shock as Lephara brought her leg back and swiftly up to kick Skywalker in the ass. The man laughed and winced as he reached behind himself. Quinlan chuckled and Rex let a smirk grace his features for about five seconds. Lephara shooed them all off and Quinlan pressed a quick kiss to her temple before wandering off with Skywalker. Then she turned to them with that bright smile on her face. Echo felt his face bloom with warmth when her eyes landed on him. Beside him Hunter straightened up a bit as she looked at him. Her smile did not falter. Echo watched Hunter’s hand clench the edge of his helmet tighter.
“General.”
“I think we need to have a discussion, don’t you think?”
Lephara could feel her heart racing as the last of the items needed for resupply were brought onto the ship by Wrecker, leaving the ramp to close up behind him. She was quietly sitting in the co-pilot seat with her hands folded in her lap while her lekku twitched behind her back. Her chair was twisted around so she could see everyone move about on the ship. Echo kept catching her eye and every time her heart sped up.
They were physically in front of her. She could stand up and touch them and talk to them all, not just three of them. Tech was the first one to walk into the cockpit and he hesitated before sitting down in the pilot’s seat beside her. He pushed his goggles up and she noticed a slight flush to his cheeks. She was doing everything within her to not reach out through the Force to feel his emotions, but that was an invasion of privacy. Everyone was allowed that much around her even if it took extra effort on her part to turn it off.
“The statistics to actually meet you were–”
“Tech, remember,” Hunter calmly said from the back.
“Right, um…”
“What were you going to say Tech?”
“The statistics of us meeting you.”
“You will have to tell me when Hunter isn’t around to scold you.”
Tech nodded, but didn’t say anything.
“We all agreed to a set of rules if we ever met you,” Hunter stated as he walked into the room and Tech turned away to turn his attention to the controls.
“And how come no one ever told me about these rules?” she asked as she glanced at Echo, who had told her plenty about the crew.
“They aren’t rules for you. They’re for us to abide by.”
“You’re not going to scare me off.”
“It’s not about that.”
“We don’t want to scare you off,” Echo admitted as he stepped into the cockpit.
Lephara smiled at him. “That would be very difficult.”
“As cute as this all is, we need to get going,” Crosshair seethed around his toothpick.
Right, they had a mission. Lephara made to get up from the co-pilot seat, but Tech reached out and placed a hand on her knee to keep her there. So, she readjusted herself and buckled in as the rest of the crew took their seats. Tech’s eyes darted back over to her before he turned his attention back to the console. Softly she reached out through the Force to feel the boys individually.
Tech was practically vibrating with nerves along with Wrecker.
Crosshair was almost aggressive in his aura.
Hunter and Echo though, they were so relaxed that just feeling them was enough to begin to relax her own body.
If she tried hard enough she would be able to get a glimpse into what they may be thinking, but that was such an invasion of privacy in her mind that she never did it. Some of the other Jedi Masters had less qualms when it came to that, but she always could feel when they were probing. It was easy to put up a block. Maybe she should teach them that so that way no one would be found out. Though she doubted any of them would be the one to give away information, it would probably be her. She was a tactile person, but only to select people…mainly Quinlan and little Cal Kestis. She adored training him in his ability and loved when he spent an evening with her and Quinlan in a training room. Those were the nights when she wondered what she missed when joining the order. Sitting with Quinlan on a balcony outside the training room with a sleepy Cal leaning against her had made her question things more than once.
She was snapped out of her thoughts when a gloved finger unintentionally brushed her lekku and it twitched out of the way. Hunter swiftly moved his hand away. It upset her a bit to see such quick movement. Her lekku just weren’t used to touch. Quinlan stayed away from touching them besides the occasional brush. They were highly sensitive…and she wanted them to touch her.
“We’re ready for that talk.”
Right, the talk they needed to have about all being soulmates. It was one she had mentioned to Echo that they all needed to have if they ever did meet. And it would seem that he had told them all. Hunter looked at her with a questioning look and she nodded before getting to her feet. She tugged on the bottom of her outer robe and caught Echo’s eyes from the next room. This was something she could do.
“Hunter.” The sergeant stopped to look at her. “I’m not afraid of touch. They’re just sensitive.”
He nodded and motioned for her to head back to where the boys were sitting. Lephara headed that way and felt the brush of a hand against her lekku. This time she made sure that her lekku didn’t twitch. All five of the men watched her as she sat down beside Echo on the metal bench. Hunter leaned against the partition between that section and the cockpit. Her lekku began to twist behind her back.
“I am sorry that you are tied to me–”
Lephara didn’t get to finish that statement as four of them, except Crosshair, interrupted her. They all seemed to have various feelings about the soulmate link and it was rather charming. Though she desperately wanted to finish her sentence it was thrilling to see how adamantly they defended the link and how they didn’t care they were tied to her.
“I’m not sorry about being tied to you,” she finally interrupted them and they all fell silent. “I’m actually very pleased about being tied to you, but I am a Jedi and it’s not like we can be open about the relationship. It is not as if we would be able to parade it around.”
Tech nodded. “It is not ideal that we are all tied to you, not just based on the logistics of six people, but on the fact that you are our superior.”
“I think she’s meaning more emotionally than that Tech,” Echo stated.
“Thank you Echo. I want to be honest in that I don’t know what to expect.”
“None of us do,” Hunter admitted.
“So, what are these rules that you must abide by?” she asked with a smirk.
All the boys, except Crosshair, fidgeted for a moment. Echo cleared his throat and was the first to begin.
“We came up with a set of rules in case we ever met you.”
“Well I would like you to throw those rules out. I don’t want you to be anything other than honest with me.”
“Mesh’la, we’re a little much, even to each other,” Hunter admitted.
Lephara smiled at him and felt her lekku twirl together tightly and crossed over each other twice. Tech coughed and she turned to look at him. The tactician indicated her lekku and she felt herself blush as she realized what they had done.
“She does not seem opposed to the notion, Hunter.”
Lephara rolled her eyes, but did not correct him. It was true that she was absolutely enamored with these men. Each one was distinct in not just how they interacted with her, but with how they were in the Force.
“I am not opposed to the idea, but several of the other Masters would be so it would be a good idea to work on controlling your emotions and thoughts around them when you are with me. A few of them, that are not very approving of clones, may notice.”
“So, learn to hide it?” Wrecker asked.
“Unfortunately dear. My old master will notice it the moment it is shown.”
“Your old master?”
“Master Shaak-Ti.”
“Is she that powerful?”
Lephara smiled at Tech’s inquisitive question. “She knows me well. So I have a lot of work to do, but you guys broadcast so loudly through the Force.”
“Wait, what?”
“I can feel how you all feel, including Wrecker’s desire to kiss me.”
The big guy blushed brightly at that, but didn’t object. The men looked at her in awe and she didn’t know what to think of it. She had never been looked at like that. Just briefly reaching out to them with the Force made her practically reel at the feelings from them, besides Crosshair. Crosshair was closed off from her and it concerned her a bit, maybe she would ask Echo about it in their shared dreamscape. For now though, she would spend the time getting to know her boys.
Her boys.
It was beautiful to see his face when she came to their shared dreamscape. Echo raced to her across the space and cupped her face in his flesh hand. Lephara reached out and mimicked his movements. Lephara closed the space between them and wrapped her arms around him. Echo’s arms tightly wrapped around her.
“You’re real.”
Lephara squeezed him tightly and heard him grunt before chuckling. Echo and her stood there for several moments just enjoying the closeness. This is something she had been afraid to do in front of the others in case they sensed any sort of favoritism. There were no favorites in her mind, but she had spent more time with Echo and was able to properly understand him. He deserved to feel this in real life.
“Wake me up. Go.”
Echo woke up in his bunk with a jolt. Right now Lephara was in the spare bunk above Crosshair. Did she really want him to wake her up? Carefully he slipped out of his bunk, noting Tech in the cockpit working on some sort of device. He looked at the closed curtain before shaking his head. She wanted this so he didn’t want to disappoint her. So as to not wake Crosshair he opened the curtain first then shook her arm. Lephara rolled over with a smile and let her hand cover his hand. Then she tugged on his hand. It didn’t even cross his mind to refuse her. Echo simply climbed the short ladder and crawled into the bunk beside her. With a giggle she held out her arms. This time he was hesitant, but she didn’t waver in her stance, she simply waited for him. Shakily he wrapped his own arm around her, keeping his prosthetic by his side.
Lephara pressed her face into his chest. “I never thought I would get this.”
Echo silently agreed as he pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head. And they just stayed like that. He had to have fallen asleep at some point as he could hear his brothers shuffling around behind him once he opened his eyes. Lephara had her forehead against his sternum and was breathing evenly and deeply. Occasionally her lekku would twitch in her sleep, but it was adorable.
“I can hear your brain beginning to think.”
That made him smirk as he leaned back from her so he could get a good look at her face. Those green eyes that he loved to see every night he went to bed stared right up at him.
“Come out you two. We’re almost there.”
Echo’s face flushed and Lephara smiled at him before nudging him to climb out of the bed. Reluctantly Echo did.
Lephara slid out of the bunk, but took notice of the sniper in the bunk. He barely glanced at her from his data pad, but she could sense his interest. Echo had warned her that Crosshair was a bit on the ornery side. But, she didn’t detect that from him. She sensed hesitation underlying that interest he had directed towards her. One lek twitched before she made a move and reached out to him. One of his hands snapped out and gripped her wrist quickly and tightly. Lephara gave him a small smile as she leaned down into the bunk. Hesitantly she placed a soft kiss on his temple.
“Come on. Let's get ready.”
The man released her wrist at the touch of her lips. When she pulled away he stared at her in confusion. Lephara simply pulled away from him and turned to head to the rest of the crew. One hand gripped a lek and another her shoulder so she paused at the touches. With a rush she was spun around and a curled finger tucked up underneath her chin, tilting her head up where she could see Crosshair’s face. He leaned down close enough that she could feel his breath on her face.
“We will ruin you.”
Lephara shivered at the tone in his voice. Crosshair stuck a toothpick between his teeth and slid around her in the tight space leaving her hanging there. She looked over her shoulder to see Crosshair head towards his seat. The co-pilot seat was open from what she could see so she headed towards the seat while ignoring Crosshair.
They would be the ruin of each other.