"Execute order 66."

The words slithered into Crosshair's ears making him dig his heels into the snow to break his run. Like poison, the voice seeped down his spine, turning his veins to ice.

Blaster fire erupted behind him. Captain Grey and his men closed in on General Billaba from all sides and fired upon her. The padawan, Caleb, ran to her, but he soon came running back with terror in his eyes. The screams ceased and the general was gone.

"What in the blazes..." Crosshair began, but cut himself off as Caleb approached. He stopped at a a distance, eyeing the Bad Batch with suspicion.

Crosshair watched his brothers' backs straighten as they faced the Jedi padawan. Their heads zeroed in on him, fingers tightening around their weapons. Crosshair knew the look well.

"Stay away from me!" Caleb yelled with his lightsaber drawn, and took off into the snow-capped forest.

The Bad Batch stared after him as he ran. Hunter pulled out his blasters while Wrecker and Echo followed suit. Tech tossed his datapad into his pack in a reckless manner.

Crosshair couldn't explain the sudden change in behavior in his batch mates. He knew it had to do with the order just given, but for the life of him, Crosshair could not surmise what Order 66 called for. He was reluctant to ask. Even Wrecker gave away no sign of confusion. A small part of Crosshair dreaded the snide remark he knew Tech would give if he inquired.

His brothers carried on in pursuit of Caleb without discussing their next move, oblivious to Crosshair's lack of action. Annoyance pricked at him.

"Does anyone care to explain what Order 66 is?" Crosshair hissed.

Hunter, Echo, Tech, and Wrecker stopped in their tracks and looked at Crosshair. He always thought he could read their expression despite the helmets, but it seemed to Crosshair that their visors were glazed over. A reflective barrier.

"Just follow my lead," Hunter said. "Now come on, we're going to lose him."

Crosshair stood baffled as the four of them charged into the forest after Caleb. Before they got too far ahead, he started after them and caught up with Hunter.

"And what exactly are we going to do once we find the kid?" Crosshair asked.

"We execute him," Tech answered. "As per our orders."

"What orders?"

"Order 66."

"And it calls for executing a kid?"

They stared at Crosshair again.

"Good soldiers follow orders," Hunter said. One by one, he assigned everyone their position and laid out a plan to ambush the padawan. By the time Hunter got to Crosshair, the marksman had already disappeared.

Hunter frowned under his helmet. He stared at the fresh tracks in the snow and motioned for Wrecker to follow him while Tech and Echo would circle around.

"What're you up to, Crosshair?"

——

Crosshair took careful steps as he trekked between the trees. He scanned the canopies until his eyes landed on a small, hooded figure staring right back at him.

"They'll be coming," Crosshair said to Caleb. "You can come down the easy way, or be flushed out by those troopers," he pointed back with his shoulder.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"You don't have a choice-"

A blaster bolt zipped into the trees and Caleb fled. Crosshair looked behind to see Hunter aiming up at the branch the padawan sat on a moment ago.

"Hunter, what are you doing?" Crosshair snapped.

"You let the target get away!" Hunter ignored the question and searched among the brush for the padawan. He fired again and Caleb stumbled out of the tree. Hunter brought his arm arm around to take the shot, but his blaster was knocked out of his hand.

Crosshair grabbed Hunter's second blaster, but Hunter caught his wrist. He yanked back Crosshair's arm, making him drop his rifle, and swept his leg under him. Hunter didn't wait to see Crosshair fall to the ground and resumed his chase after Caleb. Crosshair stood up with a pained groan and watched Hunter fire at the padawan. Caleb swung wildly with his lightsaber to deflect the shots as he ran.

Crosshair reached for his rifle and set it to stun as he aimed at Hunter.

"I don't think so, Crosshair!"

Crosshair turned his head a second too late to see Wrecker grab him and lift him high into the air.

"Wrecker, let go of me!"

"Or what?"

Wrecker threw Crosshair against the base of a tree with a snap. The trunk shook on impact and snow from the leaves fell to the ground. Crosshair sat up dizzy. He had a blurry view of Wrecker walking towards him. Crosshair used his good arm to aim his rifle and fire a stun blast, immobilizing Wrecker who fell face first into the snow.

Crosshair sighed and stood up, brushing the snow off him. Movement in the trees caught his eyes. Tech and Echo were coming. In the other direction, Crosshair could hear the firefight between Hunter and Caleb.

A surge of urgency coursed through Crosshair as he got to his feet and stumbled to the top of a snowy mound. He planted his feet and slid down the hill to catch up to Hunter and Caleb.

A stray blaster bolt whizzed past Crosshair's helmet. He came upon the scene of Caleb sending back Hunter's shots at an increasingly slow pace. Crosshair raised his rifle at Hunter, but Hunter knew of his arrival. He dove to the ground to avoid Crosshair's stun blast and dodged the last round of his own blaster fire being deflected back at him by Caleb.

Crosshair moved to straddle Hunter and keep him on the ground. He ripped Hunter's blaster out of his hand, tossing it far away. Hunter unsheathed his knife. Crosshair pinned his arm down as fast as Hunter had raised it and brought the butt of his rifle down on Hunter's head. The sergeant was out cold.

With a tired sigh, Crosshair swung his leg over to get off Hunter and searched for Caleb. His small outline darted through the trees and bushes. Crosshair followed the padawan into a bright clearing where the land evened out and lead to a cliff. A river rushed through the canyon far below, cool mist gathering above the rocks.

"Stay back!" Caleb shouted at Crosshair, pointing his lightsaber at him.

"Relax, kid," Crosshair removed his helmet and held it at his side. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Liar! You killed her!"

"That wasn't me," Crosshair said impatiently. "I don't know what's happening, but-"

The sound of crunching snow alerted Crosshair. The others were coming. An irritated expression fell over Crosshair's face. His eyes shadowed as he looked at Caleb.

"Run."

Caleb looked past Crosshair and deep into the forest. He sensed the incoming troopers. Caleb leapt over the canyon in a perfect arc and landed hard on the other side. He gave Crosshair a final look and took off, disappearing into the trees.

Before Crosshair could take a second breath, Tech appeared at his side with his blasters up.

"What happened?" Tech asked. "Where is the Jedi?"

Crosshair scoffed and folded his arms, "The runt jumped into the river," he said annoyed. "Satisfied?"

Tech looked down to confirm. He dropped his visor and activated the scanner to get a better look.

"Are you sure?" Tech asked. "I'm not detecting any life form down there."

Crosshair sighed and put his helmet over his head. He walked away from the cliff and let the end of his rifle fall into his other hand. With hesitation, Tech peeled his gaze from the river and fell in behind Crosshair.

——

The usual noise filled the cockpit of the Marauder on the journey back to Kamino, but Crosshair did not contribute. He rarely did anyways. He stared out the viewport, taking his toothpick out of his mouth, rolling it between his fingers, and putting it back in every so often. He observed his batch mates, especially Hunter, who had yet to take off his helmet since the order was given.

"Hunter," Tech began. "I need to examine any injuries you may have sustained after your scuffle with Crosshair."

"I'm fine."

"Alright, then don't come to me complaining about a concussion in the middle of the night," Tech said and swiveled his seat forward to continue piloting the ship.

Hunter scoffed. He crossed his arms and looked away from Tech.

"So, are we not going to talk about it?" Crosshair asked.

Wrecker and Echo stopped an argument they were having. Hunter even looked at Crosshair from the corner of his eye.

"About what?" Tech asked.

"About you and the regs turning against the general and the kid."

"What else were we supposed to do?" Wrecker shrugged.

"What do you mean what else were we supposed to do?"

"I hear you, Crosshair," said Echo. "It was bit strange. I guess it was more of an... intuition."

"Since when did we execute our commanding officers based off an intuition."

"Since they became traitors," Hunter said.

"Traitors? Them?" Crosshair flicked his toothpick onto the back of Tech's chair.

"Recent intelligence states that the Jedi attempted to assassinate the Supreme Chancellor, therefore committing treason," Tech said. "Hence the command of Order 66."

"And what does it call for?"

"The termination of the Jedi."

Crosshair stared at Tech.

"Why didn't you follow the order, Crosshair?" Hunter asked. Crosshair eyed the sergeant through the visor, searching for any sign of reason.

"I was going to take the kid prisoner," Crosshair lied.

"That wasn't the order."

"Guess it went over my head."

_______
A/n:
Hope you guys liked the first chapter to my reverse bad batch fic 🥳 I can't promise any consistent updates, but hopefully I have the motivation to finish this thing