Chapter 10 - Raxus

Author's Note: Still probably a bit too early, but I just wanted to ask again if anyone has any ideas/suggestions for the second season in this universe. ^-^

~ Rivana Rita


"I've got a mission for you boys," Cid says the moment they enter her parlor.

"We're not going to be staying around much longer," Echo tells her.

"A deal's a deal, killjoy," she says, annoyed.

Killjoy? Omega looks up at Crosshair, who just smirks. "It fits," he tells her, earning an instant death glare from Echo.

"You can't back outta it now. Besides, I thought you needed the money."

"Well, now we have more pressing matters," Echo replies, "So, what's this about a mission?"

"It's a simple extraction on Raxus."

"Raxus?" Tech interjects, leaning forwards. "That is the former center of the Separatist government. It has since become an Imperial outpost –"

"I'm not interested in a history lesson, Goggles," Cid grumbles, waving him off. "You're being hired to locate and free Senator Avi Singh from his confinement." She turns her datapad, displaying a hologram of the person in question. "My client will meet you at the given coordinates to brief you. Details are on this." She turns off the hologram and throws a data card at them, and Tech catches it.

"You want us to rescue a Separatist?" Echo demands disbelievingly.

"A job's a job," Cid argues. "It doesn't matter as long as you get paid. Besides, the war's over, remember? There are no Separatists anymore."

"No," Echo replies flatly.

Omega looks up at him, uncertainly. He's technically their leader now, and she trusts his judgment, but Cid said this Senator was confined. He needs their help, doesn't he? "But he needs our help," Omega argues.

"We are not helping a Separatist, Omega," Echo replies fiercely, arms crossed.

"But if we're fighting the Empire anyway..." she starts protesting.

"Omega is correct," Tech interjects, "If we intend to fight the Empire, he may be an ally."

"By losing exactly what we're fighting for."

"Shouldn't we at least check it out?" Omega asks.

"The kid's got a point," Wrecker agrees.

Echo looks to Crosshair. Omega can't tell if he's expecting support or opposition. "The Empire wouldn't have gone after an ally," he replies bluntly.

Echo sighs. "Alright," he agrees, reluctantly, "We'll go."

They're going to Raxus, which is apparently the capital of the Separatists. Omega doesn't know much about the Clone Wars, but she knows it was a war between the Republic and the Separatists. It's... strange to actually be doing something involving them, but it's cool.

"Alright," Echo says, turning to her once they're in hyperspace, "If we make it to the surface undetected, Omega is staying on the ship."

She twitches, looking up at him, slightly stung. "Why?" Did she... do something wrong? Again?

"This planet is swarming with Imperials," he replies shortly, "You've been through enough lately. Besides, we might need a fast pick up."

"Omega is hardly ready to fly," Tech immediately objects.

"Wrecker can fly," Crosshair interjects.

"Hey!"

**w**

She's sitting on the ramp, watching her brothers disappear into the forest. They gave her strict orders not to wander, and to call if anything happens, but it's very, very dull to just sit here.

There's so much to see here in this forest. It's beautiful, and she wants to look around and see more. There's so much of the galaxy that Omega never got to see when she was on Kamino, that she's always dreamed of seeing. No matter how hard a time she has adjusting sometimes, this is where she wants to be. It's where she belongs. Her brothers are... all she's ever had.

But somehow, Omega can't shake the feeling that something isn't quite right. She can't even say what it is. It's something... elusive that she can't place, and she doesn't like it.

Omega draws her bow instantly at the sound of approaching footsteps. It's a species she's never seen before, and there's a small droid flying beside him. "Who are you?" she demands, aiming her bow at him, just in case. There's something about him she doesn't like. "Are you a bounty hunter?"

"It sounds like you already have it figured out, little lady," he replies, hand moving towards his blaster.

Omega's grip tightens on her bow. He's reaching for his blaster now.

Her brothers aren't here. She hasn't wished so desperately for them in – a long time. Echo thought she would be safer here.

Her arms aren't as shaky as they were back in the beginning. "Stay back," she snaps, warningly.

Suddenly, the droid flies at her, and Omega fires instantly, aiming at it instead. The shot strikes its leg, and it drops to the ground with a yelp. Omega steps back almost instinctively firing at the bounty hunter again, though he sidesteps, and the shot flies past him. She has a split second to think Crosshair would have been very disappointed with that aim before the bounty hunter fires at her, and everything blacks out.

**w**

By the time they get back to the Marauder, Crosshair is almost entirely certain that this will be their first mission in which nothing goes wrong. At least not particularly wrong. But when they get there, Omega is nowhere to be found.

All the see instead is her abandoned bow, and a scorch mark on a nearby tree trunk.

Wrecker comms her, and there's no answer. Tech does a heat signature scan, and Crosshair scans the area in his line of sight, but there's nothing. If Hunter was here, he could have tracked her. He wouldn't have had a problem with it. He wouldn't even have let this happen in the first place. In the end, it feels like that's where it always goes back to.

"I can't figure this out. Why would the Empire have taken her?" Echo asks, a rhetorical question.

"Perhaps they intend to lure us into a trap," Tech suggests.

"Why not wait for us here?" Crosshair reminds, "That would be more strategic."

"We had best go, before the Empire catches up to us," Tech replies.

It's obvious none of them want to. Wrecker picks up Omega's bow, and they file aboard the Marauder. It feels so wrong to be aboard here without her, but she's... not here. They're not leaving her, even if this happened because they did leave her. They shouldn't have. It's been a few weeks since Pantora, and no one has forgotten the bounty hunter that attacked them there, but still, everything has been so quiet. It's easy to forget that it's still a very legitimate concern.

"Why would someone put a bounty on Omega?" Echo asks once they're in hyperspace on the way back to Ord Mantell, glaring at the computer he's sitting in front of. "She's a kid. And hardly anyone even knows about her."

How could they not have seen that coming? It was so... obvious. Actually obvious, unlike most of the things that Tech claims are.

"Because she is more valuable than we realized," Tech says, looking at his datapad.

"Meaning?" Crosshair demands, instantly wary.

"I further analyzed Omega's genetic profile and discovered she has pure, first-generation DNA."

"Whoa," Wrecker breathes. "Wait. What does that mean?"

"All clones were created from a host named Jango Fett. While our genetic structure was modified for growth acceleration and obedience, Omega is a pure genetic replication."

She's... unmodified? They had no reason to think she was, but Crosshair had always assumed she was made specifically for her role. But Omega is... a girl. She must have mutated.

"How many others like her are there?" Crosshair asks.

"To my knowledge there's only one other. A male clone code-named Alpha, later referred to as Boba. Since he disappeared at the start of the war, that makes Omega the sole living source of Fett's raw genetic material," Tech explains.

"If she's vital to the Kaminoans' cloning operation, they must have put the bounty on her," Echo realizes. "Assuming it's a bounty hunter who found her in the first place."

Yeah. Assuming. Because it could just as well be a trap. Echo sticks to monitoring comms, and he doesn't leave, not even when they get back to Ord Mantell to drop off the Senator.

**w**

If it was the Empire, her comm should activate for them to track. They all know that, but it hasn't happened yet. And waiting is... hard.

Crosshair is used to waiting. He can wait for hours sometimes – it never used to bother him. But now, the sheer uncertainty of this is grating on him in a way nothing else can. They could ask Cid if they had a clue where to start looking, but they don't. When Suu said children always find ways to find trouble, he had no idea this is what she meant. Now, they have to blindly count on Omega to be alright.

And yes, he has faith in her abilities, but that makes it no less stressful. She wasn't trained like him and his brothers. She's smart, but she's not used to this kind of life. And mostly, it – it feels like they failed her. Which they did. Right after losing Hunter.

"Come in. Anyone?" a soft, familiar voice says over the comm channel.

"Omega?" Wrecker asks, jolting to his feet.

The others practically teleport to the console. "Omega?" Crosshair calls.

"It's long range. I'll try to boost the signal," Echo says.

"Is anyone there?" Omega asks, desperation bleeding into her voice. She sounds terrified. She probably is terrified.

"Omega," Tech calls, moving in closer, "Do you copy?"

"Tech?" she asks, the desperation in her voice lifting to elation. Over the time Omega's been with them, Crosshair has learned far more about emotions than he ever needed to know. At least he's getting a little better at reading her. "I'm here. I got away, but you have to hurry."

"Are you alright, kid?" Crosshair asks.

"I'm okay," she promises, "But I don't know for how long. It's a bounty hunter. I'm sure he's already noticed I'm gone."

At least it's not the Empire, which means they aren't going up against much, but the alternative may not be much better.

"Hang on, kid. We're coming for ya!" Wrecker calls.

"Where are you?" Tech asks.

"I – I don't know where I am."

Echo sighs. "The signal's too weak to establish a direct connection trace."

"Omega, we need a relay of your position. Try to create a power surge. Can you find a panel nearby?" Tech asks.

"There's one by a door. It looks like the ones on Tipoca City," Omega replies.

"That's good. First, see if you can activate it."

There's a distant beeping sound on the other end. "It worked. Now what should I do?"

"Next you will need to reroute the circuits to overload the main grid." There's a moment of nothing, then the line goes staticky. "Omega?" Tech calls. There's shuffling on the other end. The bounty hunter – whoever they are – must have caught up with her. "Do you copy?"

"Let me go!" Omega yells, but her voice sounds more distant now. She needs their help, but they're here instead, and for all they know, she could be on the far side of the galaxy. They're not – with her, like they should be. Like they promised her they would be.

"I still can't get a good read," Echo says.

"I need you," Omega's voice cries desperately from the other end.

The sheer helplessness of the situation is grating on him. "Omega," Crosshair calls, even if he knows it's pointless, because for all they've been training her, she's nowhere near ready to take on a bounty hunter.

There's a thump and a sort of crunching sound from the other end before the line goes dead. It sounds like... someone stepped on her comm. That was Omega's only way to communicate with them. That was Hunter's comm, he realizes numbly. Now, it's gone. Somehow, that... hurts, even if it shouldn't because it's just a comm. They can always get another one.

But no other would be Hunter's.

**w**

All they can do is wait. And wait. They must be nearby if they were able to get her comm signal, but that doesn't answer where to start looking. It's clearly a world similar to Kamino, which does drastically narrow down the possibilities.

Except Echo finds her before they start searching through everything. Clearly, even without her comm, Omega is still being as resourceful as ever. She's stubborn.

They track her to the Lido system, and from there, Echo zeros in on the exact coordinates. Tech scans a moving flight pod – even if it's a crashing one – and it's not hard to figure out who's inside.

Wrecker is the first to the hatch when it opens. "Omega, are you in there?"

"Wrecker!" she calls back.

Wrecker reaches down to pull her out and scoops her up. "Good to have you back, kid." She looks... fine, minus how she's obviously been – and still is, actually – crying. At least there are no visible injuries. He sets her down and pulls her against him in a tight embrace.

Crosshair has no idea how to calm her – this isn't something he's ever had to deal with before. It's not something any of them have.

Echo steps forwards, kneeling next to her and touching her shoulder. "Are you hurt?" She mutely shakes her head.

Wrecker releases her and Omega steps back, looking between them. She hesitates for a moment before moving towards Crosshair. They really, really should have asked Cut and Suu more about, well, parenting, because he has no idea what to do. Cut was carrying her on Saleucami after she nearly died, but he has no idea if that's the right thing to do right now.

Not that he'd mind holding her. He doesn't.

But still, it feels slightly awkward as he kneels, wrapping his arms around her. Omega curls closer to him. Her hands are in binders, so she can't reach back, but she presses closer anyway.

"Why is this happening?" she sniffles, "Why are the Kaminoans after me?"

Echo sighs. "We don't know the full reason, but we can tell you what we do know."

She turns around, but still stays close.

"You're valuable to their cloning operation," Echo explains, "Your DNA is unmodified, and you're the only known clone of your kind."

"You may be key to the continuation of their operation," Tech adds.

"What do we do now?" Wrecker asks.

That's it. This is it – the conversation that Crosshair has been avoiding ever since this started.

"I am... uncertain that fighting the Empire is in our best interests," Tech says, and Echo twists around to glare at him.

"We're soldiers," Echo reminds firmly, passionately, "There's no other life for us."

"What about Hunter?" Crosshair interjects, and everyone freezes, turning to him. "If he finds us?" he adds. "There won't be any of us left to fight."

The silence that settles over them stretches long and heavy. "With bounty hunters after Omega, until we find a temporary resolution, it... could endanger Rex," Echo admits at last.

"That is correct," Tech grudgingly agrees, "If this bounty hunter tracks us to Rex, he will no doubt turn him in to the Empire."

We need to get Hunter back, Crosshair wants to say. They can't – function without him. That's becoming increasingly apparent. This is just as much about strategy, about seeing the complete lack of the calm, levelheaded manner with which Hunter would always lead them. Hunter was... their anchor, their leader, just as much as he was their brother.

He always knew how to stay calm and what to do. Hunter would have known what was best.

Not as if that even matters now.

And on all of those notes, he knows Hunter would never want them to go back and get themselves killed in a blind, mostly emotion driven effort to save him.

With how long it's been, Crosshair has no idea how Hunter would... handle everything that's happened. Things have changed. Everything has changed. It's not like it used to be, not without Hunter, not with Omega. Changes they can adapt to, but it... will be hard.

Same for living without fighting in a war.

And it... won't be easy for him to accept that he was being controlled. Sometimes, Crosshair still finds it hard to believe, but he... knows it's true. He felt it. He saw it on Wrecker. And there's no other explanation for what's happening to Hunter. Hunter hurt them. He nearly killed them. It won't be easy for him to accept those actions weren't his own, or that he had no reason to do it.

Crosshair knows it certainly wouldn't be easy for him if he were in that place. He couldn't shake the drive to hurt them on Bracca, but it wasn't... overwhelming. And Echo ended it in a matter of minutes.

With how hard a time they're having without Hunter, at least they're together in this. If one of them was in Hunter's place, he can't imagine how hard it would be. Hunter, at least, has always been their leader.

What would it be like to be out there, alone? How is Hunter doing? Those... aren't questions he wants answers to.

**w**

They're heading back to Ord Mantell now. They sleep in shifts, especially when they're in space, just in case something happens. Crosshair opted to stay up this time, even if he's just brooding. He hasn't taken time to clean his rifle in a while now – granted, doing that in the co-pilot chair is probably not the best idea but everyone else is sleeping, and he has nothing else to do here except monitor, and he can multitask just fine – and that's what he's working on when he hears the quiet sound of Omega's footsteps approaching him.

Wrecker and Echo are sleeping in the back. Tech is sleeping in one of the chairs. Echo borrowed Tech's rack again, though he could've just as well taken Crosshair's. (Crosshair does not want to think about how it might just as well be from how Wrecker nearly killed him not long ago.) No one has used Hunter's. No one's touched it since he last used it. (With all the changes in the ship, it hardly even smells like him anymore, and that hurts. Which is ridiculous, because Hunter has always been the one with a strong sense of smell. The others shouldn't be bothered by something like that.) And ever since, they've just operated as though he's still there, or as though it doesn't exist at all, carefully dodging and tripping over nearly all topics and mentions of their once eldest brother.

"Hey," Omega says quietly, settling in the pilot's chair and pulling her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs.

"Are you okay?" he asks, looking over at her.

"I keep thinking about the Kaminoans," Omega admits, "Seeing that place. I don't want to end up an experiment in a tube."

What did she see there that scared her so badly? It's likely not something she'd be able to explain, anyway. Not in a way that he could understand.

They can – hopefully – learn from this. They need to keep Omega with one of them constantly, clearly. The chances of something unexpected happening is too high. Not that he has a problem with that. He'd do anything to keep her safe.

It hurts to see her so scared. She's... their sister. Crosshair has never thought of Omega in those terms before, but she undoubtedly is. She's their only sister, one with well over a million brothers, but in the end, she chose them. Omega is here because she chose to be here. Just like Echo, she could have found a place anywhere, with anyone, but she's with them.

"Oh, they can try," Crosshair tells her finally, turning to look her in the eye.

She looks up but can hardly hold his gaze. Omega twitches, the fear and – is that guilt? – in her eyes never leaving. "But if I'm as valuable as Echo said, Lama Su will keep sending bounty hunters after me."

"Nothing will take you from us, Omega. You already proved that."

She looks up at him, something shy and uncertain in her expression. "Did I?"

"Hunter tried to get you to leave," he says. And Hunter is good at what he does, but he won't let himself start dwelling on his lost brother right now. He's not going to get distracted thinking about how much he wishes he could feel his older brother's steadying hand on his shoulder. "And even now, you found a way back."

"But if they keep coming..." she trails off, unable to finish.

She wanted them. Came for them. They're her brothers, and they'll always protect her. They're soldiers, and the best of them. But as... what they are, Crosshair had never truly known what it means to be loved. Yes, he and his brothers love each other. They're loyal to each other. But they were always... soldiers first. That's different with Omega. There's something about the way she looks at him, at all of them, as if they're the only thing in the universe that matters, that's uniquely special.

He would do anything to get to keep that.

"They won't get you back," he promises her firmly. And he can only hope it's true. Omega is – she's too important to them.

Crosshair always thought he'd be... the youngest. They're not more protective of him than the others, per se, but in some ways, they are. He never understood why, or how it would even matter. Not until Omega.

Maybe she's twelve. Maybe she's older than him – he and his brothers are nine after all – but he feels an overwhelming sense of protectiveness towards her that he's never felt before. Maybe it's that she's... well, the first girl he's ever met – Suu and Shaeeah don't count. Cid definitely does not. Maybe it's just that she's so small and breakable.

But there is undeniably something... special about her.

Omega looks up at him, something close to hopeful in her eyes. "Promise?"

He can't say, with full certainty, that they'll succeed. But they have to try. For her. "They won't hurt you," he tells her, with every bit of the fierceness that's always defined him.

Omega smiles faintly, and he reaches out, taking her hand again. It's so small, but so is everything about her, and it's... calming. Soothing for him as much as her. He doesn't really understand how, but it doesn't really matter.

He'll protect her, keep her safe. Or die trying. (It's what Hunter would have wanted.)

**w**

Omega watches as Echo puts a call through to Rex. She... doesn't know what to feel about it. They had all been counting on fighting against the Empire. Now, that's... not going to happen. Because it can't. Their plans were... ruined, because of her. Maybe not entirely, but it still feels like her fault.

And she's scared. Her brothers, no doubt, would do anything to protect her. What if they get hurt because of her?

"We're not going to be able to come," Echo says, regret layered heavily in his voice. He's upset about this. They all are. "There are... bounty hunters after the kid. If they track us, it'll only make things more difficult."

"It's alright," Rex assures, "I didn't count on you being able to come. The kid is important, too."

"Yeah," Echo agrees, "She is. This won't be permanent. We need to find a way to put a stop to the people looking for her."

How they intend to do that, Omega has no idea. But somehow, they have to make it stop. They need to... something.

"But if you ever need us, just give us a call," Echo adds. "You know how to reach us."

"Of course," Rex agrees. "Take care."

"You too," Echo replies.

The call ends, and for a moment, they just stand there.

"We better talk to Cid," Echo sighs finally, turning away.

Cid seems... well, it's hard to say, but Omega thinks she's glad to hear they're back. With her, it's a little hard to tell. Either way, she doesn't have any objections. "You stickin' around means more money in my pocket" or something, she'd said.

For now, they'll just... keep surviving.

Final Notes: Reviews are always appreciated! ^-^

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