So I dropped this for a few months, developed Saachi's backstory, and actually came up with a plot for this. So have Interstellar Heartbeats: Revamped! 

Saachi had almost fallen asleep when her communicator buzzed. After a moment, it stopped, and she convinced herself she'd answer it when she woke up. But then it buzzed again, ever more insistent. Rekly, Pershing, and Rya were playing a heated match of sabacc, and Yulia was sound asleep next to her, so Saachi made her way down the aisles of seats to get some privacy.

"You'd better have a good reason for waking me up from my nap," She said as the holo appeared in the air above her hand.

Jesse's grin didn't falter. "Are you and Yulia on Kamino?"

"Headed there now," Saachi glanced up at the cockpit. Two pilots from the Coruscaunt guard usually flew cargo back and forth between the capital and the military base, but every six months they made a special trip for the interns in Nala Se's Cloning program. The twelve extra bodies made a tight fit, but usually people could keep their tempers until they landed. Pershing always complained how the humidity stuck to his glasses.

Jesse tapped his chin, and shouted something to someone off-screen. Probably Kix, or maybe Rex? He turned back to the holo.

"Again, I say, do you have a good reason to wake me up from my nap or was it just to talk about school?" She drawled.

Jesse flashed her his most charming grin, the edge of his tattoo of the republic cog crinkling with the wrinkles on his face.

"Does a certain ARC Trooper returning from the dead warrant a good enough reason?"

Saachi's heart stopped.

"Wha...what?" She stammered. She fell into one of the empty seats when her knees refused to hold her up.

"We found Echo," Jesse said, "Commander Cody called in a special unit to help investigate the Techno Union's algorithm. Turns out they captured Echo after the Citadel and-"

Jesse's eager smile flickered for the first time in their call. "You know what, I'll just let him explain it."

"Wait, wait, wait, explain what? He's alive- Jesse, I don't understand!" Saachi pinched the bridge of her nose.

"It's okay, you and Yulia just need to report to the medbay as soon as you get to Tipoca City. Kix made sure to request you as his medic while you're on-site." Jesse smiled again, and Saachi hazarded a smile in return.

"Yeah, sure. Sounds good." She gave Jesse a thumbs-up, and he was none the wiser.

Jesse gave her a thumbs-up in return. "I'll comm you again soon. We're pulling off Anaxes soon, so Rex needs me to get moving before he kicks me down another rung or two," He dusted off his fresh shoulder pauldrons, and Saachi rolled her eyes.

"Sounds good. I'll let you know what happens when we get to Kamino."

Saachi knew that Jesse would have totally started doing a little victory dance if he weren't in his full kit. "Echo's alive, Saachi, can you believe it?" He gasped.

"Alive, yeah."

The call ended quickly after that, and Saachi sat there for a moment longer, processing the conversation. She stared out the window as the stars of hyperspace streaked past as she tried to make sense of it all.

How could Echo be alive? How did they find him? Were Jesse and Kix with him now? Jesse made it sound like he wasn't with them, but who was he with if not the 501st? What medical procedures did he need? How was he alive?Why did Kix request her and not Yulia?

And if Echo was alive, did that mean his brother could be alive too?

She took in a deep breath, grounding herself, and wiped all those thoughts from her mind.

Get to Kamino. Report to the medbay. See Echo again. Then get back to her room. Then she could worry about everything else.

Saachi approached Horus in the captain's seat.

"Hey," she said softly. Horus and Jek nodded to her in greeting.

"How long until we land?"

Horus consulted the navicomputer. "We'll come out of hyperspace in about half an hour. It'll take another forty minutes for us to get clearance and make it through the atmosphere."

Saachi nodded, "Thanks."

She returned to her seat with the other students, where Rekly was cleaning up. His girlfriend wasn't too happy about that, and Pershing threw his deck on the table.

Ignoring them, Saachi slid into the spot next to Yulia and nudged her lekku.

"Wake up sleeping beauty," She whispered.

Yulia mumbled something under her breath and rubbed at her eyes. "We there yet?"

"No. But the couch cushions have imprinted on your face, so you need to wake up if you want to have energy to move around when we actually land."

Yulia pouted, frowning at Saachi. "Fine." she grumbled.

Saachi swallowed. How do you tell your best friend that her boyfriend is alive and back from the dead after a year of being KIA?

"Who was the call?" Rya asked innocently enough, trying to distract herself from the winnings that Rekly was eagerly counting out.

"Oh, it was just Jesse," Saachi said.

"What did he want?" Yulia asked. She moved her chin from the cushions to Saachi's shoulder. Out of instinct, Saachi leaned her head against Yulia's.

"I'll never understand why you get so close with the clones," Pershing sighed, the beginnings of the mustache on his upper lip twitching, "They're all going to end up dead anyway."

Saachi sat up straighter. She had considered easing Yulia into it, but she really wanted to wipe that smirk off of Pershing's face.

"Echo's alive."

Yulia tensed against Saachi's body. The rest of their classmates went silent around them. Everyone knew about Yulia's not-so-secret tryst with the dead ARC Trooper at this point.

Yulia sat up, searching Saachi's face for any semblance of irony.

"What?" she whispered.

Saachi took a deep breath. "Jesse didn't tell me much, but they found him and freed him from the Techno Union. Apparently, they had him and kept him alive after the Citadel."

Yulia's hand squeezed Saachi's in a death grip as she took a deep breath.

"He's alive?"

Saachi nodded. "Jesse said he should be in the medbay when we get to Tipoca City."

Rekly's winnings were long forgotten at this moment, and Rya squealed with delight. "He's come back to you! After all this time!" She seized Yulia's hands.

Yulia laughed, her eyes shining as she looked at Saachi again.

"You're sure?" She asked again.

The ache in Saachi's heart was alleviated by the smile on Yulia's face and Pershing's slackened jaw.

"Jesse can be a joker, but he wouldn't joke about this," She reminded Yulia.

Yulia took a deep breath with that reassurance and fanned her face, trying not to cry.

"He's alive," She whispered to herself, looking down at her hands, still clutched in Rya's.

"Echo's alive."

The landing process took far too long, in Saachi's opinion. Yulia was slowly cutting off circulation in her fingers, and the beginnings of talons on Yulia's fingernails were digging into Saachi's palm.

"Do you think he'll remember me?" She whispered as the doors opened.

"Of course," Saachi hissed back, "You were his girlfriend, how could he forget you?"

"He got blown up-" Yulia swallowed thickly, "You know what that can do to a person."

Saachi nodded absently, but didn't respond. She slowly walked down the ramp to find her bags, Yulia still holding her hand.

The noises of the docking bay were ever-familiar, announcements on the PA and troopers barking orders that bounced back and forth off of towering durasteel walls. The stark white of shin clone armor popped out at them, obediently following Jek and Horus's instructions in unloading the cargo from Coruscaunt, and being sure to keep it separate from the intern's bags.

"We got your things," Darta snatched the duffel from Saachi when she tried to grab her things and shoved it at Rekly, "You go see loverboy," She winked at Yulia.

Yulia didn't need any more convincing. She took off at a run, dragging Saachi with her. Saachi struggled to keep up as muscle memory recalled the route to the medbay. So far, her internal map of Tipoca City matched what she was seeing. White halls, bright lights, and the occasional friendly wave from a trooper or two. The ceilings towered over their heads to accommodate the long necks of the native Kaminoans, and as such windows and switches were at a height that Saachi wasn't normally used to. Architecture was built to fit the Kaminoan's needs, rather than the average human trooper or the odd nat-born intern.

Still, Yulia jumped to hit the switch for the lift out of nerves more so than necessity. The medbay was two floors up, and it took far too long for the high-speed lift to arrive. Once inside, Yulia became solemn again.

"Saachi, really, if he doesn't remember me, what do I do?"

Saachi bit her lip, not meeting her best friend's eyes as the lift brought them to the proper floor. "Jesse wouldn't have told us to meet Echo if he didn't remember you. That would just be cruel."

"Okay, okay," Yulia relented, but Saachi was the one leading them now. The swirling doors of the medbay loomed in front of them.

"Even if he does remember me, then what if he doesn't want to see me?"

Saachi sighed, and turned to face Yulia. "Then he's an idiot." She pulled Yulia in for a keldalbe, a form of affection she'd received from their friends many times before.

"Echo worshiped the ground you walked on. If he doesn't now, I'll let Pershing take top of class."

If twi'leks grew hair on their body, Yulia would raise her eyebrow at Saachi. "You'll let him?"

"Of course. You really think that oaf could beat me if I wasn't trying to lose?"

Yulia giggled, and the nerves were gone.

"Okay," Saachi took a deep breath herself, and the doors whooshed open at their entrance.

Gray cots lined the walls, divided by clear holo-screens that could be scrambled for privacy of the individual patients. Unless an entire legion had been shipped home to recover after a large and arduous campaign, the medbay was relatively peaceful, with the odd cadet spraining his ankle during training or a head injury from a brawl in the mess hall.

An odd dozen of the cots were occupied, but Saachi didn't recognize any of them. As one, she and Saachi turned to the access computer.

"Medic Gunder! Medic Secura!" AZI, the medical droid, floated over with a trill in his modulator. "You have arrived early! Mistress Nala Se has not scheduled you until tomorrow."

"We're on special assignment from the 501st," Saachi signed in to the access computer, the ID and codes flowing out of her fingers as easily as a Jedi used the force, downloading the files from Kix onto a datapad for medical use.

"Ah yes! CT-6116 specifically requested your assistance with CT-1409!" It still threw Saachi off whenever the clones were referred to by their numbers and not their chosen names, so it took a moment for her head to connect that yes, CT-6116 was Kix and yes, CT-1409 was Echo's designation post-ARC training.

"Where is he?" Yulia asked, finally letting go of Saachi's hand. Saachi stretched out her fingers a bit to let the blood flow back into them.

"He is in Examination room ten. Mistress Nala Se wanted to confirm CT-6116's initial report."

Yulia took off like a shot, and if Saachi wanted to see her reaction and Echo's upon being reunited, she had to keep up. Saachi grabbed the datapad and hastily waved goodbye to AZI, following Yulia as she hastily counted the numbers of the Examination rooms under her breath.

Unfortunately for the two of them, Examination Room Ten was guarded by four of the scariest-looking troopers Saachi had met thus far.

Yulia was undeterred, but Saachi couldn't help clutching at the datapad a little tighter.

One of the troopers towered over them, he must have been double the size of the typical trooper, and he had the muscle girth to match and an ugly scar across half of his face.

Two of the other troopers were also a good hand taller than most of the other troopers. One of them had silver hair, with a target tattooed over his eye and the end of a toothpick in his mouth, and his twin wore a pair of goggles that comically made his eyes appear twice as big.

The last of the group was the shortest, but his long dark hair and the tattoo on one half of his face gave a rugged and brooding appearance.

All four of them wore red and black armor, which only added to the ominous feeling sloshing around in Saachi's stomach.

The one with silver hair huffed as Yulia approached, blocking the access switch with his long, lanky body. "Didn't know there were nat-borns in Tipoca City."

"We're medical interns, genius." Saachi glared at him and held up her badge. As far as she knew, they could be perfectly nice troopers just like Rex and Jesse, but this walking beanpole was making it harder for Saachi to give him the benefit of the doubt she'd tried so hard to extend to every trooper despite Pershing's rants.

"Actually, I am the genius of the group," the one in goggles put in unhelpfully. His habitual adjustment of his glasses made Saachi to push her own pair of glasses further up her nose so that she could more clearly see the insubordinate trooper.

"I'm Nala Se's top medical student, and I've been assigned to ARC Trooper Echo's case. Now get out of my way." She snarled.

"Crosshair," The trooper with long hair and tattoos- Saachi saw that it resembled a skull- placed a hand on his squadmate's shoulder with a firm nod.

Crosshair sighed and moved out of the way. It was only then that Saachi noticed the big trooper had moved in the way of the door itself, taking up the entire doorway in the process. He looked to the other trooper for permission, and he nodded. Finally, Saachi could scan her badge in peace.

"I'm sorry about that," The lead trooper tapped Saachi's shoulder gently, "We only just met Echo, and he's..." he trailed off "...he's in pretty bad shape."

Understanding trickled into Saachi's heart, and she nodded, though she didn't say anything to the strange new troopers.

The door slid open, and Nala Se, the Kaminoan's chief Scientist and medic, stood.

"Medic Gunder, so glad to see you again." Saachi and Nala Se exchanged pleasantries.

"I have added my notes to CT-1409's initial exam from Anaxes. You will be in charge of creating his treatment plan and following through, and you will see my suggestions for organ replacement at the bottom of my notes." Nala Se nodded, completely ignoring the trooper in question and his squad.

Saachi nodded, and scrolled through what Nala Se had already written.

"I will expect you in my office at 1900 hours to discuss the treatment plan." Nala Se said, and without a farewell, she left.

All pretense of professionalism was shoved to the side as Saachi turned to Echo.

"Hey," She grinned. He looked completely different, like a ghost. His skin was paler than a senator's, and various droid attachments awkwardly jabbed at the shape of the red medical robes they had given him.

"Huh-hey," Echo struggled to sit up.

"Hey, hey, hey," Saachi quickly made her way to the side of his bed, "It's okay, you can just lay down," she assured him.

The small examination room wasn't much different from the rest of the medbay, but it contained a lot more expensive and delicate equipment, and was usually meant for troopers fresh out of the bacta who still needed various attachments for their life support.

"You haven't changed a bit," the corner of his mouth quirked. Her heart skipped a beat. She had forgotten how similar Echo and Fives acted, despite their contrasting personalities.

Saachi didn't know how to respond to that, so instead she turned to the door.

"I've got someone who's excited to see you."

Echo shot up at this, and Yulia was standing in the doorway. Her pink skin was pale as she took him in. Her hand covered her trembling lip, and his eyes were wide in fear.

"Yul-" he nearly choked on her name, "Yulia," he whispered.

"Echo."

Saachi blinked, and Yulia was next to him on the side of the bed, cradling his head to her shoulder. The scomp link that had replaced his hand came up around her back to hold her closer as best he could, and the fingers of his remaining flesh hand dug into the fabric on her back.

"You're alive," Yulia kissed the top of his head that had once been covered in gorgeous, thick curls and was now replaced with a ring of data implants, "You came back to me."

"I came back," Echo repeated. He gently pushed her back so that he could look up at her face.

Yulia's tears were running freely now as she cradled his head in her hands, and pulled him in for a sweet kiss. It was short, Echo was obviously in pain from the different modifications, but that couldn't distract him from the embrace of his partner.

"Awww!" the big trooper from earlier was peering into the room with the other squad members.

"Echo, you never said you had a girl!"

"Wrecker!" The goggled trooper scolded.

Yulia laughed as her face flushed a darker pink than her skin tone, and pressed her cheek to the top of Echo's head to hide her embarrassment. As if she hadn't been on the teasing end when Saachi and Fives outed themselves in front of the entire 501st.

A bit of color flowed into Echo's cheeks as he remembered that they were being watched.

"Ah, boys, this is my girlfriend, Yulia. And this is her friend, Saachi."

"We've met. Briefly." Saachi saluted sarcastically at the squad.

"Yulia, Saachi, this is my new squad, the Bad Batch. Meet Crosshair, Wrecker, Tech, and Hunter, our Sergeant."

"New squad? What about the 501st?" Yulia asked.

Echo took one of her hands and gave it a gentle squeeze, pressing the scomp link into the palm of the other. "I don't exactly...fit in with them anymore. Clone Force Ninety-Nine is meant for clones who don't exactly fit in."

Well, that certainly explained Wrecker's size. Saachi studied him and the other members of his squad again. Their eyes were just enough to resemble a normal clone's, but their body shapes varied between each of them, not just from a clone like Echo. Out of all of them, Hunter could be just another face in the hall that she passed each day, if it weren't for the tattoo and the long hair that made him stick out above the crowd.

She shook her head, re-focusing on the task at hand.

"How are you doing? Do you remember much of what happened?"

Echo chuckled awkwardly, and Saachi corrected herself.

"Do you feel like talking much about what happened? You don't have to, but it'll help me to know what I can do to help with your recovery."

Echo scratched the top of his head, trying to scratch an itch somewhere beneath his skull.

"There's...a lot I can't really remember." He mumbled. He scratched around the data implants on the top of his head. His hand trailed down to where the scomp attachment met skin on his arm.

Saachi saw rusted brown under his fingernails. She grabbed his hand, guiding it back to Yulia's.

"Here," She took a bottle of lotion from her pocket and handed it to Yulia.

"I know that the droid parts must feel awful, but you can't scratch them like that or it'll cause more damage."

Echo nodded numbly, and Yulia squirted a modest amount of the lotion onto her hand before applying it to his skin.

"I can write a prescription for bacta lotion, it'll speed up the healing and help you adjust to all the new mechanics." Saachi glanced down at the datapad. Kix had also suggested lotion in his report, but Nala Se had conveniently left that out of hers. She'd complain about that to her mentor later.

"I have my own analysis of Echo's cybernetics, if that would prove helpful, Medic Saachi," Tech spoke up.

Saachi glanced at her notes, thrown in with the hodgepodge of Kix's notes and Nala Se's notes. What was one more added to the mix?

"Don't overwhelm her, Tech," Sergeant Hunter scolded gently. He turned to Saachi.

"Is there anything we can do to help him?"

Saachi sighed, buzzing her lips. "He's going to need a lot of medications. Making a schedule will be best for that."

"I should note that the Techno Union fed him nourishment intravenously, just enough to keep him alive. We discovered early on that his stomach is not accepting normal foodstuffs or liquids." Tech couldn't hold himself back.

Saachi nodded, making another note. She sent a message to AZI, asking him to prepare an IV for Exam Room Ten.

There was too much to do.

Yulia was whispering comforting words to Echo as she rubbed the lotion on his arms and squeezed his hands. Echo's head finally fell to rest on her shoulder.

"I never stopped thinking about you. All that time in that tube, all those tests, all that pain, I could always think of you."

Saachi couldn't breathe. The world around her blurred as muscle memory activated.

"Can you excuse me for a moment? I'll be right back." Saachi shoved Hunter to the side and left the exam room. Her legs pulled her out into the hall, away from the happy reunion.

Why? Why did he get to be alive? Why did Echo get to come back from the dead while Fives lay six feet under in some unmarked grave in the wastelands of Coruscant?

She was happy for Yulia. She really was. That's why she was out here, so she wouldn't ruin Yulia's joyful reunion with her boyfriend.

"I never stopped thinking about you. All that time in that tube, all those tests, all that pain, I could always think of you."

The love and admiration that swelled Echo's eyes as he looked up at Yulia after a whole year apart made Saachi's stomach churn. She launched her data pad at the ground with a clatter. It skid down the hall and she kicked it aside as she marched past. She couldn't process any of the feelings or thoughts in her head and her lungs felt like lead.

She dove into a crevice in the wall, leaning against it as her body shook.

"You're an idiot, Saachi," She hissed to herself, "A stupid, hopeless idiot."

She stood there a long time, heaving deep breaths. All she could think of was Fives. Fives, Fives, Fives. She missed him so much. She wanted to throw herself into his arms like Yulia got to do with Echo, have him pick her up and spin her around with that contagious laugh of his that told her everything was going to be okay.

"Excuse me-"

Saachi jumped back from her hiding spot against the wall. Her nose was running, her face was dry, her throat was tight and her jacket was rumpled. She did not want anyone to see her like this, least of all the Sergeant Hunter.

Hunter stared at her for a moment. Neither of them knew what to say.

"Are...are you okay?"

Saachi shook her head in the obvious answer. "No, I am very much not okay."

Hunter had not been expecting that. "Oh. Well, is there anything I can do to help?"

"No," Saachi shoved past him, wiping her eyes on her sleeve and making a dark, wet trail, "There's nothing you or anyone else can do." She marched back towards the medbay, intent on ignoring his offers of assistance.

"Hey!" Hunter's voice was so sharp with authority she couldn't help but look back.

In his hand was her datapad. A little scuffed from how violent she'd been with it, but still in perfectly good working condition.

"I take it you'll be needing this?" One eyebrow raised at her questioningly, and Saachi puffed out her chest to ignore the burning humiliation she felt in the pit of her stomach.

She snatched it back.

"Thank you." she snapped coldly, now holding the datapad close to her chest.

She didn't move. She did not want him to follow her after what he had just seen, but she had to get back to Echo before Yulia came wondering what was up, but if she went back to the examination room Hunter knew exactly where she would be going.

Hunter brushed past her, taking the decision away from her as he headed back to the exam room first.

"If the boys and I can do anything, let me know."

Saachi watched him walk back down the hall before disappearing back into the medbay.

Somehow, that made her feel worse.