No one ever said being a leader was easy. Echo understood that. Funnily enough, Echo had almost always been the problem in question, not the leader. He owed a formal apology to Rex, Cody, and everyone else who had to deal with his, and subsequently Fives' (look at him, thinking about Fives without his breath catching or hand shaking) banthashit over the years. But not Skywalker. Skywalker was worse. Even so, Skywalker had never brought a litter of Tooka kits on the ship. That claim belonged to Echo and Echo alone. (It hadn't once, once it had been Fives' and Kix's too)

Or at least it had. Looking down at the purring, slightly squirming pile of kittens curled up in what was supposed to be his empty storage bin, he got the feeling that Omega or maybe Wrecker was coming for his badge of honor. This late into the night cycle, the rest of the Marauder was still blissfully quiet sans Wrecker's snores. The quiet was the only reason he had heard the quiet snuffles and shifting from the bin he had claimed as his. He had a feeling the only reason Hunter hadn't noticed was the noise cancelling headphones over his ears. Echo was alone.

"Hello," he greeted, still whispering lest he wake someone else up and make it a whole affair. He crouched down slowly, the servos in his knees whirring faintly. "You're not supposed to be here you know."

One of the tooka kits lifted their wobbly little heads, and he reached out slowly to run a finger gently across the top. The purring somehow increased in volume, as the kitten leaned into the touch, letting him scritch them under the cheek. "Don't worry," he said softly as the kitten stretched and then turned in a circle to form a tight ball, surrounded by their siblings. "I won't tell anyone, yet." He petted the soft fur on each of the kittens back, and allowed himself to relax in the company of quiet and purrs and memories.

@the-bi-space-ace

Hear me out: Maul shadow lords is set in the early empire? Right? Who is currently MIA in the early empire and beyond? CODY! I rest my case