"Omega, don't go too far!" Hunter hollered after Omega as she skipped ahead of the group. Small, dying flames licked the burnable debris lining the mostly-destroyed town. So many buildings couldn't even be considered more than piles of debris. At first glance, anyone could think this planet was just a dump, an uninhabitable, trashed world covered in rubble and ash and topped off with a thick fog of smoke hanging heavily in the air.
Hunter couldn't wait to get out of there. It was a hot mess. Literally.
Omega turned down a side alleyway. Hunter listened to the constant patter of her footsteps. They stopped and everything fell silent for a moment, Hunter freezing and his heart beating a little faster.
"Hello," Hunter heard Omega say. "Do you need help?"
Sharing a glance with the others, the group of clones slammed their helmets on and picked up their pace to catch up with Omega. Hunter heard no response from whoever or whatever Omega was talking to. It may have been an animal. A dangerous, feral animal.
Hunter halted at the entrance of the alleyway. He could see Omega, but not whoever or whatever she was speaking to. He inched forward cautiously, motioning for Wrecker, Tech, and Echo to stay still. If it was in fact an animal, he didn't want to spook it.
"We can help you," Omega offered."
"No, really, I'm okay," a soft voice replied, pricking Hunter's scenes. Not an animal.
As he came closer, he found who Omega was talking to. She was standing before a juvenile, female Togruta. A female Togruta with a knife.
When the Togruta saw him, she snapped the jagged dagger above her head in a reverse grip and assumed a defensive position. Her lips drew back, exposing every one of her sharp teeth and her fangs. Her nose scrunched up into a snarl and her eyes narrowed, giving the impression of a ferocious feline ready to attack.
"It's okay, It's just Hunter. He's my friend," Omega told the Togruta, who, in response, shifted her position a bit but didn't lower the dagger.
Hunter nodded to Echo over and set his hands on Omega's shoulders. Hunter started backing Omega away as Echo stepped forward.
Echo's eyes blew wide suddenly and he gasped, dropping his blaster back into the holster. "C-commander Tano?"
The Togruta's eyes widened for a moment, a startled frown etched on her face, only to crumble her expression back into the snarl.
"What's your business?!" she demanded.
"Commander, it's me," Echo took off his helmet and let it clatter to the ground. "It's me: Echo."
The Togruta, presumably Commander Tano, dropped her dagger. Her eyes blew wide and she sucked in a quick breath. She held her hands out and shuffled back a step.
"No," she shook her head, her glassy eyes pinned on him. "This is another trick. You're dead. I-I'm hallucinating again."
Again? Hunter thought to himself, glancing at Echo, very unsure of his little friend.
"You're not hallucinating," Echo assured her. "I'm real. I never died. The separatists captured me after the Citadel, and Rex and Clone Force 99 came and saved me."
"But when I came back… the Siege of Mandalore… you weren't there!" she argued.
"I joined Clone Force 99. It's still me, Commander." Echo took a step closer. She took a step back.
"I thought– I thought you were dead," Commander Tano said. "And Fives…"
"I know," Echo said. "Rex told me."
"I'm sorry… Echo…" her voice trailed off and she let Echo take a step closer to her without stepping back. He took another step forward and reached out for her elbows, running his hands down her forearms until he twined their fingers together. She watched intently.
For a long moment, she just stared down at their locked hands, then let out a strangled sound and tore her hands away to cup one side of his face. It was as if she was in denial, convinced that he was a ghost and trying to prove otherwise.
Commander Tano circled around him slowly, tracing his armor with such awe Hunter might've thought she'd never seen such a thing before. She suddenly looked much younger, much frailer, and he remembered she was just a child , torn by war.
"It's really you," she murmured, walking around him in another circle.
"Commander, you're bleeding," Echo realized, glancing down at her leg. Hunter followed Echo's gaze and grimaced at her blood-soaked pant leg. He didn't want to imagine how hideous the wound beneigh was or how much pain she must be in.
"I know," she said, looking very pale and unsteady. "I'm okay."
Echo snorted. "Okay my big toe."
She gave him an indignant look before she turned aside to cough into her sleeve, leaving splotches of blood on the fabric and a wince on her face.
"Commander?" Echo said, stepping forward as she coughed again. She sputtered wetly and choked again, coughing harder and harder, blood splattering on Echo's armor, and– "Commander!"
She crumbled into his arms, breaths shallow and blood on her lips but coughs subsided. Omega clung to Hunter, eyes wide and halfway hidden behind him as Echo scooped the Togruta into his arms.
"We have to go," Echo said.
Hunter jammed his helmet onto his head. "Move out."
The others followed suit and the next moment, they were racing back to the Marauder . Echo led the way up the ramp, rushing Commander Tano off with Tech hot on his heels, headed for the medical supplies.
"Don't get her blood on any of my projects!" Tech said fleetingly, and Hunter chose to ignore it.
Hunter headed for the cockpit. He sat down in the pilot's seat, fired up the engines, and soon enough they were breaking through the atmosphere of the planet and off for hyperspace. Hunter could hear Echo and Tech in the back, in the middle of something between a discussion and an argument. Something along the lines of Togrutas and medical supplies.
The Marauder launched into hyperspace and Hunter sat back in his chair, but looked up again to the patter of little footsteps. Omega plopped down in the chair next to him.
"Hunter," she said after a moment of silence. "Is she going to be okay?"
Hunter didn't know, but he told Omega that Tech was smart and Echo knew the girl, and that she should probably ask them when they finished.
"I hope she's okay," Omega said, and after a moment added, "and if she is, can we keep her?"
Hunger knew it was coming and sighed. "Omega…"
"I want another girl around! It's lonely being the only girl," huffed Omega.
"I know, but she isn't like a pet that we can just choose to keep , Omega. And she might not want to," Hunter said.
Omega wilted a little but smiled softly. "It would be so nice to have another girl around. I really hope she wants to stay."
Hunter chuckled to himself and looked back at hyperspace. Omega stayed quiet and stared out the window distantly, likely dreaming about having Commander Tano around.
It was a while later that Echo and Tech appeared in the doorway, calling for Wrecker to come to the cockpit, too.
"Is she okay?" Omega asked, perking up hopefully and spinning her chair to face them.
"She is heavily injured, but it is neither fatal nor critical, and now we are only waiting for her to wake," Tech said. He sounded almost bored, but the exhaustion was creeping into his voice and Hunter knew he was relieved.
"Now we just have to talk about what happens after that," Echo said. "She's going to have to stay at least until she recovers–"
"Are you considering keeping her after she recovers?" Tech said, whirling on Echo.
"You got a problem with that?"
"We neither have the efficient credits and supplies nor space for her!" Tech said.
"She can stay with me in my room if she wants," Omega beamed.
"We're not keeping her!" snapped Tech, an angry flush crawling up his neck. "And that is hardly a suitable living space. It is a gunner's mount , Omega."
"Hey!" Wrecker whine. "I made it her room!"
Hunter sighed and rubbed his temples. "You're all treating that kid in there like she's some pet, and she isn't. We have to let her decide if she wants to stay or not. Tech's mouth flew open, but Hunter raised his hand to cut him off. "Lay off, Tech. I know change is tough– especially for you– but this is Echo's friend, and we're going to help her."
"It isn't that I'm against helping her," Tech said, sounding scandalized, "it's that I'm simply worried about her having appropriate living conditions for her and enough credits to sustain all of us."
"I don't mind sharing," Omega said. "I have plenty of space."
"That's very kind, Omega," Hunter said, "and I'm sure she'll love to stay with you once she wakes up."
"And Ahsoka's good, maybe Cid will appreciate her and offer us more of the cut," Echo suggested.
Wrecker laughed hardily. "Yeah, like that'll happen."
Echo glared at him. "Have a little faith."
"So it's settled. She can stay with Omega in her room. Where is she now?" Hunter said.
"On my bunk," Echo told him.
"Well, when we get to Cid's we have to get there as soon as we can because she's getting impatient," said Hunter.
"Okay, I'll stay here with Commander Tano while you guys all head down there," Echo said.
"Can I stay, too?" Omega asked.
"I think when Commander Tano wakes up, she'll probably want some space," Hunter said.
"Okay," Omega said, thankfully not deflating too much.
Wrecker said something about a game, and Omega skipped out of the room after him, and Tech wandered out, too, so Echo came forward and plopped down next to Hunter.
A long moment of silence stretched between them.
"So, tell me about the kid," Hunter said. He thought he'd heard Echo say a thing or two about this Commander Tano, but Echo rarely spoke of his past.
"Commander Tano," Echo replied. "She was Skywalker's padawan, our golden-star Jedi Commander."
Hunter hummed and nodded. From the very little he'd heard of Commander Tano, it'd all impressed him.
"Golden star?" Hunter said.
"Yeah, we hit the jackpot with her," Echo said. "Basically everything you'd ever want in a Jedi and a little more."
Hunter didn't know what an ideal Jedi looked like, but he didn't push it, because just then they dropped out of hyperspace and Echo went to tell the others.
