"Can we trust this person?" 

Hunter's shoulder's slouched with the burdens of the day catching up to him. "Honestly, I'm not sure. Cid made a point. We need friends and money to get by. We only have Cut and I don't want to drag him and his family into our mess." 

Echo leaned on the ladder of Omega's room. Hunter just carried her to bed after she fell asleep in the cockpit. "What if she turns us in for bounty? Omega has a heavy price on her head. I won't be surprised if this person already knows about it." 

The Sargent grumbled. Echo had a valid point. "That's why I'm not going to mention Omega. I need to see who this person is and if I sense any hostility on any of us, I'm cutting off the deal."

-----

Ryki didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to think. One moment, she's tending to her herbs, everything quiet. She runs into her simple home to get some gardening tools, then comes out to face a group of fully grown men clad in armour. 

Now naturally, when one is graced by the appearance of four heavily armoured men, their first instincts would be to cower in fear and run for their lives. If they were fighters they'd be defending themselves. For Ryki, she already anticipated their arrival thanks to some information from Cid. The Batchers stood idly, none wanting to move in case they'd scare the tiny woman before them. Hunter though quiet was sensing the woman's heart rate, which seemed too normal for someone who would be in her position. He could only assume that Cid had informed the woman earlier. "Uhm- we got you co-"

The boys exchanged glances when Ryki held her hand up, successfully stopping Hunter mid-sentence. Her emerald eyes assed them head to toe. Her eyes were trained on the Sargent, particularly. "Cid sent you." 

"Uhh, yeah. She told you?" 

Ryki gave the Batchers, collectively, an annoyed look before pushing right through them to reach her herb garden. "She wouldn't be doing her job if she didn't." Ryki busied herself with plucking some wilted herbs from the garden bed. "She did mention company," Ryki paused for a moment to take a good look at them. Swinging one of her small shovels, she pointed at Hunter "She showed me a holo image of you. That why I wasn't too worried when you lot showed up." 

"How did she get his holo? " She heard the one with the goggles ask with a worried tone. "Cid has her ways, and I'm sure she has reasons for it. Plus, I needed a way to identify you somehow." she hummed. The clones continued to stand there rather awkwardly and when no conversation passed, Ryki simply returned to her gardening. "What if I was supposed to expect a pack of sentient kowakian monkey-lizard or a miniature hut gang, maybe some murderous Jawas, see my point?" 

The Batchers found it hard to ask the mirialan woman any further questions because of how unfriendly and distant she was. Communication was rather hard when the other party was not willing to talk. As if she read their minds, she decided to introduce herself. "Name's Ryki Taala. You can call me Ryki." she wiped one of her hands of dirt on her jumpsuit and offered it for a shake, "Now which of you is 'dark and broody'?"  

It was about sunset, Ryki and the Batchers had officially been introduced and now there were crammed up in her tiny little excuse of a house, "So care to spill your tea?". 

"Tea?" The one they called Echo asked. She looked at him like he was the densest person in the galaxy, in fact she looked at all of them like they were the most dense people to ever cross her path. "Uhm, hello? Don't you get civilian talk? Tell me your problem." 

"Ah well. You could have just said so." 

Ryki shook her head. This conversation has gone on too long and was going nowhere. "Alright, smarty pants. So what is the actual problem here?" After some exchanged glances with the rest of his team, Hunter began to explain their current predicament. "For starters, we're deserters from the Grand Army of the Republic." Getting that information, Ryki nearly spat her tea, "Your clones? I thought  you guys supposed to look the same or some kriff." 

Tech then informed her that they are an experimental unit, each given a certain ability that made them different from other clones. "Echo however is not part of the experimental unit." Then a glumness entered his voice. Even if he didn't show it, Ryki could feel a sudden remorseful wave flow out of their being. "There was another, but we separated due to ideological influences." The pang of guilt that passed his eyes was enough to convince Ryki that whatever went down between this group and their parted member was traumatizing and still taking an emotional toll on them. She wanted to say something but didn't feel like she had the right to. Hunter took his place to provide further explanation and also to move on from the depressing topic.  "Since the separation, we have been on the run from the new Empire. In short, we're wanted men and we are having some trouble laying low."

Ryki hummed thoughtfully and played with the rim of her glass. "So, Cid asked you to come to me." She completed the puzzle. "Yeah, she mentioned you know how to disappear from the radar." The mirialan eyed Hunter and the others warily. She was running and hiding successfully, but running off with a bunch of wanted men could cost her freedom. "First of all, how do I know I can trust you?" she said threateningly. "I mean, for all I know you might just turn me in for credits." Echo narrowed his eyes at her accusation "And why would we do that?". Ryki pursed her lips and leaned back into her chair, "I don't know. Looks like you could use extra credits. That and last I checked I have quite a bounty on my head." 

Wrecker gasped "You're a criminal?". The mirialan took that rather offensively, "Does a herb gardener look 'criminal'?" she snipped making Wrecker flinch at her small outburst of frustration. Hunter sighed, "Look the fact remains that we need someone to help us hide from the empire. Cid's said you have the skills. Care to clarify that?" 

"I'll only tell you that I escaped from my impending doom and have been on the run for only three fresh weeks. I've managed to evade my hunters, for now. I came from Coruscant. After I escaped, I stowed away on a ship to get off-planet. I ship-hopped a few times, made some decent money for food and clothes on Battu before stowing away again. I landed on Ord Mantell about two weeks ago. Ran some odd jobs the first few days, until I ran into Cid. She picked me from the streets out of pity and she immediately knew I was on the run."

Cid had threatened to deliver Ryki in as bounty, but Ryki's negotiation skills landed her a decent deal with the trandoshan female. "I had a specific set of skills that we're useful to Cid. My herbology for example. I'm well versed in natural medicines and healing. My materials are rare and the medicines can only be crafted by talented hand, which I happen to have. Such rare gems are hard to come by and sell for a pretty high price since they heal blaster wounds and stabs like a miracle. Very useful for bounty hunters if you ask me. I offered her my services in the medicinal field in exchange for my security here on Mantell. She has not betrayed me." 

Hunter gestured for the rest of the Batchers to huddle in, turning away from Ryki. "What do you guys think?" 

"Her knowledge in medicine could be most helpful in our situation. Medicine would be more affordable." Tech noted. "She's also light on her feet," Echo thought back of her mentioning sneaking in ships and away from Coruscant to disappear from her hunters, "We could use that for any sneaking in or out situation since we tend to find ourselves in tight spots aside from learning how to hide." Three pairs of eyes then turned to Wrecker. "Well?" Hunter urged. "Uh.. as long as she doesn't hurt Omega, I'm fine with her joining our crew" Wrecker whispered to the three.

Slowly the Batchers turned to the mirialan. "What else can you do?". A smirk formed on Ryki's lips, "Well, I can most definitely pull my own weight. I'm very independent. If you remember, I mentioned negotiation skills. I can be very...very persuasive when I need to be. That and I am an excellent judge of character." 

"By that you mean?" Echo asked curiously. "I mean that I may have a very good intuition on what a person might be planning. They don't have to show me or tell me. I just... know, you know." 

Wrecker leaned in on his chair. "Oh really, how do you do that?" 

"How, is a matter of if I wish to tell you. For now, I do not wish to tell you." 

Hunter tried to sense any form of deceit from the woman, "How do I know I can trust you?" .

"Why don't you use that heightened sense of yours, hmm? I know you can sense a person's heart rate, among other things you can sense." 

The boys turned to each other baffled, "How did you know that?". Ryki grinned widely "Matter of if I wish to tell." the boys were now a little impressed by just the small glimpse of the mirialan's strange ability. Before they could speak, Ryki confronted them with another matter, "I'm curious though, how long did you plan to hide the other member of your team?" Once again the boys were left speechless. Not once had they mentions Omega out loud. Tech was really curious now "You knew?". The mirialan wore a proud smile and just shrugged and hummed, her eyebrows quirking upwards at their shocked faces. "Yepp. You guys do reek of 'dad' too. I'm guessing a child is in your care."

"So, what's the plan. Do you still want my help? Otherwise, you might as well allow me to attend to my herbs, Mr. Dark and Broody." 

"His name is Hunter."  Wrecker defended.

"I choose the names, Muscles!" Ryki snapped back. Wrecker thought she was quite intimidating for just a 5-foot tall person. 

"We interested to hire your services. We can't pay much." Hunter cut to the chase. "Your skills would be quite useful to us. Though I must admit, your safety would be compromised with us being hunted and all." Ryki mulled over Hunter's deal. In her current situation, she was doing considerably well. Cid was protecting her but for how long. She'd only tasted freedom for less than a month, surviving off her talents. Sneaking around won't work much longer. Somehow peoples demons always caught up with them, it's only a matter of time. Ryki made her decision."No pay." 

"What?" 

"I don't require your money. I will join you though." She would not financially burden them further, especially when caring for a child.

Confusion etched all over Hunter's face "Y-Your serious?!". Ryki nodded, "I know your low on cash and seeing as you have a child to take care of, I'd rather you spend the credits to care for her." She allowed the information to sink into the four men then continued. "All I want is reassurance for my safety. I cannot risk my capture again and I cannot go back to Coruscant. In exchange for my services and help, all I ask in exchange is security and of course a place to stay." 

The boys were very surprised by Ryki's demands. It was not how a traditional arrangement would go. This woman made their minds twist in agony as they tried to figure her mysterious nature. "So, we have a deal, Dark and Broody?" She broke them out of their trance. Sharp emerald eyes bored themselves into Hunter's soul the moment she looked at him. Something about her screamed potent danger and cunningness. The boys found it somewhat fascinating and intimidating at the same time, this coming off a 5-foot tall woman. 

Hunter pushed a hand out "I suppose we have". Ryki Taala grinned and shook his hand, not knowing what troubled laid before her, she just went in head-on. "Welcome to the Bad Batch, Ryki Taala." 

"The pleasure's all mine, Sargent Hunter."

----

And that is officially chapter 1!   > w <  

I'm just mentally preparing for college rn and really stressed out cause I am definitely NOT prepared to go back but life just squeezed lemons in my eyes and I just cant bother to stop it. 

Enjoy the story and stay safe you guys!