Summary: A couple of months following the destruction of Tipoca City, Tech looks through years worth of security recordings that he'd stolen. And then he learns the secret. The one that Omega's been withholding for nearly all of his life. One-shot.
The Trauma Of A Single Blunder
It's been two months, Tech reminds himself, as he stares at the datastick in his hand.
Yet, he still hesitates.
The datastick, it contains years upon years of security footage from Tipoca City. He had downloaded the footage when they had returned to Kamino in search of Hunter, following his capture on Daro.
But he hasn't looked at any of it yet.
Because this footage is from what had once been Nala Se's lab. They were her main experiments. The footage had to have been edited to include them, and them alone.
He's still not sure if he's ready to look back at his past.
But Omega's unprovoked apology still sounds through his head, and he needs to know.
The others are asleep, the cockpit door is locked.
They won't see him break down, if he does- he's almost certain that he will.
He plugs it in.
He forces himself to start off with the worst of it- with the operation.
He looks so vulnerable, laying unconscious on the gurney in the middle of the medical room. Lon To hovers nearby, checking over a cart of medical tools.
The door audibly slides open, but it's out of view.
"Ah, my assistant has arrived." Lon To remarks as he turns towards it. He nods his thanks to someone out of view, and the door clicks shut again.
"What're we going to do to him, Lon To?"
Tech freezes, his breath catches in his chest. No.
He knows that voice.
He can't move, and the digital viewscreen plays on.
Omega walks into view, stretching on the tips of her toes to get a good look at the face of his younger, unconscious- innocent- self. She reaches out for his hand, as if to comfort him, as if she already knows what the operation will entail.
"Don't touch the patient." Lon To draws his words out, but the authority in them isn't lacking.
She pulls her hand back from his own almost immediately. "Sorry. I'm just worried for him, that's all."
"Do you know him?"
"No. But I saw him once, when he was small. Nala Se wasn't happy."
"You would do well not to get attached to him." The Kaminoan warns, finishes in his preparations. "There is the chance that CT-9907 will be left blind if the operation is unsuccessful, and if that is the result, he will have to be decommissioned."
"I'm not attached to him." She insists, but it's obvious that she is.
The majority of the operation is silent and uneventful. Until it isn't.
He's laying there, unconscious and with tools poking at his cut open forehead. The details aren't clear to the holoscreen, but it's evident that something's wrong when a mask of horror washes over Omega's face.
"Lon To? Shouldn't that one go over there?" She manages to get it out as calmly as possible.
"No." Lon To replies. "The optical nerve is in the correct position."
"Are you sure? I think-"
"-I cannot concentrate if you keep questioning my work. The optical nerve is positioned correctly."
She falls silent, but there's a knowing horror to her eyes and a reluctance to her as she obeys the commands given to her.
The optical nerve is not positioned correctly.
She knew. She knew, she knew, she knew.
"No." Tech's voice is a bit louder than he would have liked, but he can't control it. His hand slams down on the controls for the display, pauses it.
And suddenly, everything's connecting together. Everything's coming together, and he's falling apart.
"I'm sorry! It's my fault, Tech! I-I shouldn't have let them do it."
He can't breathe. His breath comes in gasps, his eyes are moist and burning.
Because Omega was there when it happened- when his life was changed, when his trust was blindly put into the Kaminoans' hands and ultimately misplaced. And she hadn't bothered to tell him, in the months that she's been with them.
He swallows the bile rising in his throat, chokes, to his embarrassment. He sits back in his seat, pulls his knees up to his chest and hugs them after he pushes his goggles up, stares distantly at the paused display as his body rocks itself.
She knew.
She knew.
She knew.
She didn't tell me.
Tears begin to stream down his cheeks, and it takes all of his willpower not to openly sob.
"Tech?" Hunter's hushed voice reaches him from the other side of the locked door.
He freezes, takes deep breaths to try to compose himself, wipes at his eyes. He refuses to respond. Because, of course, he woke Hunter.
"Tech?" His brother tries again. "Let me in, vod'ika. Please."
Please, Hunter, leave me alone, he wants to say. But he can't deny Hunter anything when he speaks in that gentle tone. Nor does he have the strength to argue.
There's a control for the door on the ship's dashboard controls, and he presses the button to unlock it before he closes his eyes and rests his forehead against his knees, hiding his face.
The door slides open, then hisses shut once Hunter's stepped into the room with him. His brother settles himself in the copilot seat, the chair squeaking as it turns to face him. "What's this?"
The security recordings.
"Did you…steal these from Kamino?"
He nods into his legs. I wish I didn't.
It's silent for a moment, as Hunter analyzes the scene frozen on the display. His voice is impossibly softer when it picks up again. "Oh, Tech…"
"W-what…What do I do?" Tech stammers, his jaw trembling and voice unsteady in pitch. How can I face her? She lives with us.
"Tech." His brother doesn't say anything beyond that.
He reluctantly raises his head, understanding the silent order to look at him.
"Look at her." Hunter gestures towards the display again, and Tech forces himself to give it a glance, pulls down one side of his goggles. "That is the face of another helpless cadet, weak beside the Kaminoans. There's nothing she could've done, Tech. And I know that she'd never want to hurt you."
He's right. Omega looks scared, almost as scared as he was when he awoke from the operation.
But that's not what's bothering him.
"Why hasn't she mentioned it to me?" His voice is a whisper, raw with emotion.
"If your positions were switched-"
"-They are not."
"No, they're not. But if they were, would you tell her that you were there when something so important was messed with and crushed?" Hunter asks.
He manages to shake his head. "No."
"Imagine how she feels, Tech. She's known this for years, and now she's here with us. If she even knows that you're that same cadet she helped operate on, imagine how it would feel to hop around through the galaxy with someone who's life she saw fall apart right in front of her."
"S-she knows." Tech murmurs. "She apologized to me not long ago, but refused to say what for."
"I'm sorry, Tech." His brother sighs, standing from his seat and coming to hover at his side, wrapping his arms around his huddled form and holding him closely against him. "Really, I am. I know she is too."
The next day, Tech knows he's distant, knows he's staring at Omega whenever she's in the same room as him, but he can't help it. He can't hide it either, and the others give him baffled looks.
"Tech?"
"Ah, sorry." He averts his gaze for as long as he can stand it.
"When did you turn all…weird?"
He almost laughs. "That is not the word I would use for it, Wrecker."
"Hey, are you alright? You've been watching Omega all day. Is she sick? Is there something wrong with her?"
"No, Echo, she is quite fine." He waves him off, tries to focus on a personal project.
"Tech, you need to talk to her." Hunter murmurs, when the others are busy.
He shakes his head. "How?"
"Well, it would help if you stopped staring at her."
Usually, she is the one to come to him in the cockpit during sleeping hours.
But, tonight, he's slinking over to the gunner's seat ladder and climbing up into her makeshift room.
Omega's still awake- she's stayed up much later than this many times.
She seems a little surprised that he's come to her this time. "Hey, Tech."
"Omega." He nods, somehow keeping his voice its monotone self as he settles himself against the wall.
"Did I do something wrong?" She asks.
"Why would you think that?" He returns, frowning.
She shrugs almost sheepishly. "You've been watching me."
"Ah…" He resists the urge to rub the back of his neck. "I hope that was not too unsettling."
"It's okay." Omega chirps. "I watch you too, sometimes."
Tech blinks, unable to hide the small surprised part of him.
"Sorry. That's probably a bit weird." She laughs nervously. "Do you need something, Tech?"
"Imagine how she feels, Tech. She's known this for years, and now she's here with us. If she even knows that you're that same cadet she helped operate on, imagine how it would feel to hop around through the galaxy with someone who's life she saw fall apart right in front of her."
He takes a moment to gather his thoughts, because Hunter's right. Omega deserves to know that he doesn't hold her at fault for the backfired operation, that he isn't upset with her- and, he knows, they both need to heal. And that won't happen if he doesn't speak to her about it.
"When we were in Tipoca City, I stole some old security recordings from Nala Se's lab." He finally says. There's no point in sugarcoating it. "Last night, I looked into some of the footage, and…ah, how best do I put this?" His eyes slowly raise to look at her. "I saw you."
"You saw me?" She frowns, and he's not sure if she's genuinely confused or hoping that this isn't about that.
Tech nods, tries not to make him tapping the side of his goggles look too intentional. Her eyes widen in horrified understanding, and his voice is softer than he intends. "It is not your fault."
"You're not mad at me?" Omega tentatively asks.
"I am not." He assures her. "The Kaminoans never really listen to any of us. They only pay us mind when they want to perform experiments or if we do something wrong- though, unfortunately, that seems to be quite often. This is Lon To's fault, not yours."
Apparently, it's difficult for her to accept. "But I should have tried harder-"
"-Omega." He cuts her off quietly. She never deserved to be placed in such a position. "There was nothing you could have done to change his mind."
"I know, but…" She sniffles, shakes her head. "It's not fair."
"Fair is one thing that life is not. Especially for us." Tech reminds her. "The clone army was created to fight wars. And being different from the rest, we were forced to learn that lawfulness is something that many other beings do not have. The Kaminoans are no exception."
"I know, but..." She falters.
The room is small enough for him to reach up and place a gentle hand on her knee. "Please, Omega. Do not blame yourself for this."
Omega slowly nods. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."
"It does not matter anymore."
It still takes some time for him to feel comfortable around her again.