Hey there! Welcome to a rare, rare occasion that I chose to write a happy story without an ounce of angst! Note: I did watch a YouTube video on how to play Dejarik, but this probably might be a little inaccurate because I'm no expert. Anyways, hope you enjoy! :)
Just an hour ago, Cid's pub had been as lively as the bad batch had ever seen it.
Elated customers had crowded the place, cheering and throwing out credits in excitement to see the young Omega show off her impressive Dejarik skills. The crowd had practically spilled out into the street. "You have to see this!" They'd yell at on-goers, pointing into the pub. "The kid's fantastic!"
Her playing had been quite the spectacle, but now the excitement had inevitably died out.
The only ones to watch Hunter and Omega's holochess match were a sleepy Wrecker, Echo, and Tech who were sprawled out on the floor next to each other, leaning up against the bar while Cid closed up shop.
Usually if they stayed this long into the night, they'd be expected to help her clean up. "I could really use some help around here, boys!" She'd usually snap at them, but with her pocketbook stuffed full of credits that night, she was in a good mood.
"Alright, kiddo. Last round." Hunter mumbled, so focused that his eyes didn't even look up to her from the holotable. He looked like he did right before battle, in a peculiar space between calm and on edge.
Omega on the other hand was relaxed, a small smile crossing her face as she confidently said, "Your move."
Echo glanced at Tech, who was watching his siblings with great interest. "Who do you think will win?" He asked. As the former top strategist of the 501st, this was his favorite game by a landslide. "You think the kid'll finally meet her match?"
Tech stared at the pair a moment longer, before turning to Echo, the gears in his brain clearly turning. "Unlikely. Omega took out Hunter's Strider, and she's still in the possession of a K'lor'slug. Statistically speaking, it's not looking good for Hunter."
Echo chuckled to himself. "Maybe, although the K'lor'slug is a mid piece with a weak defence. If Sarge-"
"Hey!" Wrecker interrupted them, holding his index finger over his lips to shush them. "I'm tryna watch the kid!" He complained, effectively shutting them both up.
They turned back to the holotable, seeing that Hunter had taken his turn, killing one of Omega's holographic monsters and pinning the one remaining against the edge of the board; a tough spot to get out of.
"You can do this, kid!" Wrecker shouted, his voice gravelly from fatigue.
Omega shot him a smile, then turned back to Hunter, eyes narrowed in concentration.
"If I win this I don't have to sit out missions again, right?" She asked, raising a brow just to make sure he was going to keep his word.
"That was the deal."
A new sense of determination washed over her face, and after one more glance at the board, made her two moves.
She could have gone the more peaceful route, moving one place to the right and another down to get out of the tricky position Hunter had put her in, but she was fortunate enough to have a piece with seven plus damage. With an evil little laugh, she made Her K'lor'slug wage it's mighty attack against Hunter's poor playing piece, biting off its head and throwing it off of the board.
"Yes! I win!" She shouted, jumping up from her seat and running to Hunter to wrap her little arms around his legs.
It was clear Hunter was getting tired, but he managed to give her a small laugh and bring an arm around her back in turn, "You were amazing. Now let's go home and get some sleep."
That didn't seem to sit well with her.
Omega pulled back from his legs, looking at him with a sort of betrayal mixed with annoyance. "No, please!" She whined.
Hunter hated whining, but he'd come to accept it as part of dealing with a kid as young as Omega. Although, he hadn't really learnt how to effectively deal with it yet.
"Look, Cid's gonna want us outta here soon." He tried half-heartedly, but she just stuck her little nose in the air and shook her head.
"She said I could stay as long as I want."
Maker, help him.
"Yes, okay. Well she- you-" He stuttered, bringing a hand up to pinch his nose in frustration.
"She might be fine with it, but I never said I was."
Omega looked up at him, pouting her lip and trying to think of something that would convince him to let her stay just a little longer. To any onlooker, this would have been hilarious. They were clones, bred to be vicious war machines, and here they were arguing over a bedtime. Yet both were too caught up to see the humour in that.
Omega folded her arms across her chest. "Please! Just one more round! I wanna play with Tech!"
The observant clone looked up from his datapad at the sound of his name. "What?"
Hunter sighed. "Nothing Tech, she just wants to play a game with you. But it's too late and we need to-"
Before Hunter could finish his lecture, Wrecker stepped up, a huge smile on his face. "The little one's playing Tech?! Oh yeah! I wanna see him lose for once!"
Hunter slapped his own face, sighing in exasperation. "No, we have to-"
"I'll go set up the holotable." Wrecker decided, going over to the device and pressing a few buttons to reset the board from the last game. "More Mantell Mix for the lot of us if she wins this game!"
It seemed like Hunter had two children to look after.
"You aren't gonna stop him, Sarge?" Echo whispered to Hunter.
"If you've been here long enough you'd know there's no stopping Wrecker." Hunter sighed, obviously realizing that he was fighting a lost cause.
"You ready, Tech?" Omega asked happily, pleased with herself that she'd gotten her way.
"Just this once," Hunter had told her tiredly, "Good luck beating, Tech here."
She knew that the intelligent clone would be a tough man to beat, and it was exactly why she was so excited as she plopped herself back down in her stool next to the holotable.
"No, no." Tech said, shaking his head. "This will not be fair. I was enhanced with-"
"Advanced data analysis skills, I know." Omega finished for him, holding back laughter. She'd caught on after listening to him brag so much. "But maybe my genetic enhancement is holochess skills."
"Well technically, the game is called Dejarik, and I highly doubt that's even possible. The Kaminoans-"
Echo shot him a teasing look to stop him from correcting Omega's joke. "You know, Tech. She might just be right here. I mean, she did manage to pay off our debt with her winnings and even beat Hunter."
Tech let out a heavy sigh. "Enhancements or not, it still wouldn't be fair. I happen to have an impressively high winning streak."
One might accuse Tech of boasting, but to be fair he was only telling the honest truth. There used to be a Dejarik table aboard the Havoc Marauder that the team would entertain themselves with after battles, though Tech inevitably won every time.
His reign of terror- as Crosshair called it- ended when Wrecker was being a surprisingly sore loser to Tech, and got himself so worked up that he ended up flipping over the holotable and breaking it.
Although intimidating, his past triumphs didn't phase Omega. Not one bit.
She put her hands on her hips, "You know, Tech? I have a high winning streak too now." She said, a huge smirk on her face that she probably was copying from Hunter. "You scared to lose yours?"
"Whoa hoa!" Wrecker laughed, playfully shoving Tech by the shoulders, nearly knocking him off his stool by the force of it. "Now the kid's talking!" He beckoned over to the pub owner, a huge toothy grin on his face. "Hey, Cid! You gotta c'mere! Omega and Tech are gonna go up against each other!"
Tech blinked rapidly up at his brother. "Why you- No we are not!"
But it was too late, Cid had already dropped her sponge, leaving her job cleaning tables and was making her way over to them, hands on her hips and an amused look in her eyes.
"A match between Goggles and Tiny? Now this is something I've gotta see."
Tech groaned, bowing his head in his hands.
Omega just giggled, "Don't worry! I'll go easy on you."
Turns out, Omega did not go easy on him.
It only took her a few rounds to take out one of his crucial defence pieces, the Ng'ok, to which he was extremely surprised.
"What? No one's ever been able to take out one of my pieces so quickly!" He complained, looking up to Hunter as if he'd save him.
Hunter shrugged, secretly delighted that someone was finally beating him. "What can I say? The kid's got talent."
Omega perked up at that, happy that her friend thought so of her.
Cid was just as happy as Omega- mainly just because she liked to mess with Tech as much as she could. She'd made it a sport at this point. "Looking nervous, Goggles." She teased him. "I take it you're supposed to be good at this game?"
"He wins everytime." Chimed in Wrecker.
"Looks like we'll see about that."
"Hmm," Echo thought out loud after a few rounds, looking at a piece Tech had used to kill one of Omega's players.
"You know what that piece looks like, Hunter?"
"Which one?" The leader yawned.
"Grimtaash."
Hunter looked closer at the board, his eyes fixing on the little blue creature Echo was pointing to.
"No. What do you think it looks like?"
Echo smiled to himself, cocking his head to get a better look. "Well to me it looks like a mix between a Toydarian and a Geonoshan. Skywalker told me about Geonoshans, nasty bugs they are."
Tech couldn't stand to hear misinformation, even if he was in the middle of a game with his little sister. He paused what he was doing to glare at Echo. "No. Grimtaash is a Molator."
Wrecker scratched his head in confusion. "I ain't never seen one 'a them before."
"That's because Molators aren't real. They're a part of Alderaanian mythology during the early era of-"
"Just get on with it," Hunter muttered. "Kid's still gotta get to bed sometime."
"No I don't!" Omega laughed, taking her turn and watching her selected player move across the board as Hunter took the stance of a tired parent.
Hunter groaned. This was the longest game of Dejarik he'd ever watched.
Tech and Omega stayed practically tied round after round, no one coming out in the lead. And although that made Hunter extremely proud of Omega- cause maker, she was eleven and keeping up with Tech of all people- but mostly he was just annoyed at himself for allowing one more game.
This was going to take hours.
Echo had already started to doze off. He accidentally slumped onto Cid's shoulder at one point. She was not happy about that.
"This isn't a sleepover, Wires!" She'd snapped.
If the nickname had come out of anyone else's mouth Echo might have been offended- he was still sensitive about what the Techno Union had turned him into- but getting a nickname from Cid just meant she considered you worthy of talking to.
"At least it wasn't Wrecker who fell on you." Omega laughed from her spot behind the holotable.
"That would not have been good." Tech agreed as he made his next well-calculated move.
"Ahh! You knocked out my Houjix!" Omega cursed.
"Sorry, kid."
The game looked like it was going to result in a draw until the very end, when Omega was left with two players, and Tech one.
"You know, I've changed my mind." Wrecker said as he watched the two clones planning out their strategy. "I said we could get Mantell Mix if Omega won, but I think we should get some either way."
"You're just saying that 'cause you want it for yourself." Hunter laughed, but Omega actually looked hurt.
"You don't think I'll win, Wrecker?" She asked, looking down at her pieces ashamedly.
Wrecker realized what he had done and shook his head profusely. "No no no! I'm sure you will! Think of all the patrons you beat today, you can do it again!" He held a hand up to his mouth, blocking himself from the view of Tech. "Plus, you gotta beat my younger vod, okay?"
Omega had no knowledge of the bad game where Wrecker flipped the holotable, or the grudge Wrecker had been holding ever since, but she nodded, giggling to herself.
"Okay, your move Tech." She said through laughter.
"Hmm, okay." Tech muttered to himself. "I'll use my Monnock to attack your Savrip."
It was a bold move, staging the two strongest characters against each other. Omega watched the holograms duel each other on the board, not at all worried as her piece fell. She had a trick up her sleeve.
"As you can see, I'm in the clear lead now." He said neutrally.
"No," She muttered. "The Savrip was next to my Ghhhk."
Tech's confident look faltered. The Ghhhk had healing powers, he realized, albeit too late. But no, she couldn't beat him… could she?
"I'll use my first move of my turn to heal the Savrip." She explained, pressing a few buttons and watching as the hologram avenged the other. "And then-"
Omega pressed the buttons again for her second turn and the room fell quiet, everyone watching intently.
She had used her healed Mantellian Savrip to attack Tech's Monnock.
Hunter leaned forward as the scene played out, his eyes wide in shock.
He was a bit rusty on his Dejarik stats, but from what he could remember-
"The Monnock's defense is only 5 right?" Echo whispered, as the pieces seemed to attack each other in slow motion.
"And the Savrip's attack is 6." Hunter finished his sentence in awe.
Omega's piece took one more hit and then-
Tech's last piece valiantly fell to the ground, no other creature there to save it. At first, both Omega and Tech's mouths fell open, and no one said anything until-
"Oh stars, Omega!" Hunter gasped.
She beat Tech.
For the first time since Tech had been a young cadet, he'd lost.
All he could do was stare in shock, and feel a bit hurt.
"Omega, you did it!" Wrecker exclaimed, running up to her as the others bursted in applause. He hauled her up into his arms, spinning her around in the air as she laughed and laughed, throwing up her arms.
"I did!" She shouted with glee.
In that moment, watching her be so happy, Tech didn't feel ashamed anymore. Just overwhelmed with pride for his vod'ika. He got up from the table, running over to Omega who'd just been set back down by Wrecker.
"Hey kid," He said, kneeling down on the ground so he was at her eye-level.
"Hey, Tech!" She cheered. "Sorry I beat you."
"No hard feelings. You know, in professional Dejarik," He said, patting her shoulder. "The players always shake hands at the end in a show of good faith. You better practice now for when you become a pro one day."
He offered a gloved hand for her, watching her face light up. "Wait?! You really think I'm that good?"
"Sure of it. You won against me, did you not?"
"I guess I did, didn't I?" She grabbed Tech's hand with her small one, giving the strongest, most confident handshake she could muster.
"Knew you had it in you, Tiny." Cid said as she walked by, ruffling the clone's short blond hair.
Omega had never felt more special in her life.
Force, I can't believe I was able to write this in one sitting! (Although that one sitting did last like five or six hours lol) I hope you guys liked it and didn't mind too much about a bit of game inaccuracy! Love you all lots!