Oh, I hope some day I'll make it out of here
Even if it takes all night or a hundred years
(Lovely, Billie Eilish)
Welcome Home
Echo stared out at the endless, swirling blue of hyperspace. He had offered to take the first watch, knowing his mind would not rest after the previous night's events. There was much to process. Kamino, his former home, the one he had once fought to defend, the one he had watched brothers die for, reduced to rubble by the Empire and plunged into the depths of the ocean. And Crosshair, their brother, siding with the very enemy responsible for the destruction of it, and much more, much worse, and for what? It didn't make any sense.
The sound of the co-pilot chair creaking caused him to snap out of his thoughts and turn his head. Omega sat in the chair beside him, Lula clutched in her arms. She glanced over at him, a sort of sadness swimming in her eyes, the kind that prompted an ache to bloom in Echo's chest. He gestured for her to sit with him, a wordless invitation for comfort, which she willingly accepted, carefully positioning herself on his lap, her head resting against his chest. Still a bit concerned after Omega's near-drowning experience, he noted with relief that she didn't feel too warm or too cold, indicating no fever or hypothermia, and showed no signs of injury other than the few bruises, cuts and scrapes they had tended to earlier.
But something was unsettling her, the same way it had in the tube system on Kamino.
"Omega," he asked, "are you all right?"
Omega gazed out the viewport at the blue depths of hyperspace. "Can't sleep," she mumbled in reply.
She shifted, settling more comfortably at the gentle pressure of Echo's flesh and blood arm draped across her middle as he wrapped it around her, holding her close.
"Something on your mind?"
She hesitated, letting the silence hang for a moment. "Empty tanks," she said quietly at last.
Echo's brow creased, then relaxed as the meaning of her words clicked. "In Nala Se's lab?"
Omega nodded. "I was so lonely, living down there," she said, her voice low. "I had no one, except AZ, and Nala Se..." She paused for a moment, staring out into space as memories flickered in the back of her mind and a swell of mixed feelings filled her chest. "Having my new brothers with me would've changed that, but..." Her voice wobbled. She pulled Lula tighter against her chest. "They took them all away from me," she said, her voice on the painful edge of a sob. Tears slipped from her eyes and she wiped them away with the sleeve of her tunic. "I was all alone again, with nothing but those empty tanks."
Empty tanks. Seeing them in Nala Se's lab again brought memories flooding back into her mind. Omega had only been small, but she remembered it so clearly – the day her brothers were taken from her. She remembered how it broke her, how it tore her heart in two, how she sat by the empty tanks for hours and cried (much to Nala Se's disapproval). It hurt, more than any of Nala Se's tests. Her hope of finally having companions, brothers, a family, was shattered and she was left completely and utterly alone, in a lab concealed deep beneath the ocean, hidden away from the only people who might actually love her (because, oh, she loved them, so much she thought her heart might burst), who might actually care about her, if only they knew her. Every day, she would stare at the tanks, place her hand against the glass, just like she used to when she gazed at the growing lives floating inside, and think of them. She wondered what they might be like, if she would ever get the chance to meet them again and reunite with them. They were her family. Her heart ached for them.
Echo sighed, and the sound pulled Omega from the depths of her memories. "That... must've been hard," he said, his eyes filled with sorrow.
Omega nodded. "When I saw you all at the mandatory assembly, I was so excited. I couldn't wait to meet all of you. I ran off the second I could to find you. I wanted to be with you, more than anything. That's why I left Kamino with you."
The words warmed Echo's heart, but also filled it with a deep, aching sadness at the thought of Omega's years on Kamino. Echo had grown up surrounded by brothers – thousands of them! Brothers to joke with, eat meals with, fight with. Brothers to keep him company and to watch his back. Brothers to comfort him, and for him to comfort in return, when the burden of the war became too much to bear alone. He couldn't imagine what it was like for Omega, all alone, kept hidden away in secret, trapped, prevented from connecting with the outside world.
Except, he could.
Alone. Helpless. Lost. Suspended in a tank amongst a tangled web of cables and tubes, plugged into various parts of his aching body. Or, rather, what was left of it. An icy coldness burning his skin, chilling him to the bone. Unable to move, his mind disconnected from his body, from reality. Unaware and yet, somehow, always awake, neurons firing, stimulated to provide what the Techno Union wanted, when they wanted it. Electrical fingers raking through his thoughts, memories, battle plans and strategies, wrenching them from his head, and he couldn't stop it. He couldn't. He was paralysed, control of his own consciousness snatched from him, but a part of his mind was aware enough to know what they were doing, what they were taking, who he was helping, and who they were hurting. Who he was hurting. Part of his mind was aware enough to cry out, voicelessly, through a sea of electrical pulses, codes and frequencies, in hopes someone would hear him.
"Echo, are you okay?"
The soft, gentle sound of Omega's voice snapped him back to reality. He was suddenly aware of his faster-than-normal breathing and heart rate.
"Yeah, kid. I'm okay." He swallowed, forcing down the lump rising in his tightening throat, then inhaled and exhaled slowly. "I was separated from my brothers too," he told her. "After the Techno Union took me, I was kept locked away. I don't really remember it. Not clearly anyway. Just hazy fragments, like a long, bad dream. I remember feeling cold, trapped, in pain... alone. I would have spent the rest of my days there if it weren't for Rex. He believed I was still alive. Insisted on a rescue mission. Then he, the Batch and General Skywalker helped rescue me and brought me home."
"That must've been scary," Omega said.
"It... wasn't pleasant," said Echo. "I... don't really like to think about it."
Omega nodded, bowing her head slightly. "I don't like thinking about Nala Se's lab either," she said quietly.
The same thought that had crossed Echo's mind down in the tube system on Kamino resurfaced. He remembered Omega's words to him the day he first met her, when he awoke in a panic in the medbay.
"I don't like being hooked up to their machines either."
"Omega," Echo spoke carefully and gently, "did Nala Se ever hurt you?"
Omega stiffened for a moment, clutching Lula tightly, then she shook her head. "It doesn't matter."
"It does to me," Echo told her. He waited for the young girl to answer, but she remained silent.
"The Techno Union took control of my consciousness so they could force me to feed them battle plans and strategies to use against the Republic Army," he told her. "Kept me plugged into a machine, like I was a machine myself." Unconsciously, his hand crept up to gingerly touch the ports on his head and the back of his neck. "I remember knowing there was someone, something, inside my head, digging through all my thoughts and memories, but I couldn't stop them." He shuddered. "They used me. They forced me to help them fight against my own brothers."
There was a pause, a moment of silence. Omega took a deep breath. Then, she spoke.
"Nala Se used to do tests on me, and take samples from me," she explained, her voice low, quiet and shaking. "Sometimes it hurt. Sometimes she did it when I didn't want her to. I never understood why she did it or what she needed my samples for." She let out a small gasp as tears began to stream down her cheeks. "She told me I was helping and being useful," she said, wiping at her eyes with her sleeve. "She told me I was good and brave."
Anger bubbled and burned in Echo's chest with wild fury. The thought that someone could have been lucky enough to have a child like Omega –
Omega, with her bright, shining, curious eyes. Omega, who's smile was enough to light up the whole room and bring them all joy. Omega, who's laughter was music to all their ears. Omega, with her sharp mind, quick wit, and kind, compassionate heart –
How could someone have such a precious gift in their life and see her as nothing more than a lab experiment? How could someone want to hurt her, over and over?
If he could only get his hands on that wretched long-neck now, he'd like nothing more than to make her pay for what she did to his little sister!
His anger simmered when he heard Omega's hushed cries once again, as the girl tried desperately to keep her pain quiet.
He sighed.
"You are good and brave, Omega," he said. "Because of what you choose to do, the way you choose to help people, like Hera, and us. And the way you choose to see the good in people, like Roland and Crosshair. Not because of what was done to you and what you were made to suffer through." He shook his head. "You should never have had to go through all that."
Omega shifted, nestling her head closer to his chest, her eyes still damp with tears.
A painful lump formed in Echo's throat once again.
"If we knew, we would've come for you," he said softly. "The rest of the Batch, if they knew about you, if there was ever the slightest rumour that you existed, I think – no, I know – I know they would have looked for you. They would have come for you." Echo felt tears beginning to form in his own eyes. He made no attempt to stop them from falling. "I would've come for you."
Omega curled into him as her quiet cries transformed into breathless sobs. Echo held her close and ran his hand up and down her back in slow, gentle strokes. Small gasps escaped his lips as tears streamed from his own eyes.
They were safe. They were home. They had escaped the prisons that had kept them trapped, isolated and alone. But escaping the memories, the thoughts, the nightmares, the pain and heartache that lingered like tender scars not yet fully healed – that wasn't so easy to break free from. Having a family, having each other, that made it easier to bear, easier to push those thoughts and memories aside. And when the painful, fearful traces of the past did resurface, they had people to help them through it, to reassure them. Maybe, someday, far in the future, it wouldn't hurt at all anymore. But for now, it was enough just to feel safe and comforted when it did.
Eventually, Omega's sobs quietened and she settled heavily against Echo's chest. "Echo," she said softly, her voice still wobbly with tears.
"Hmm."
"I'm really glad Rex and the Batch found you."
Echo smiled. "So am I, kid," he said. He reached his hand up to stroke her hair. "And I'm really glad you found us too."
After a short while, Omega's shaky breaths evened out as her eyelids grew heavy and at last she gave in to sleep. Echo yawned and blinked, weariness beginning to tug at the edges of his own mind. He relaxed his head back against the headrest of his seat and closed his eyes, unable to fight the urge to rest any longer. As his mind finally drifted off to sleep, he was vaguely aware of hushed voices and quiet footsteps, of a blanket being draped over him and the sleeping girl in his arms, and of someone taking a seat beside him, no doubt taking over his watch – all reminders that he wasn't alone.
