"Omega! Stop, slow down. Just go straight. OMEGA!"

The Marauder jerked around wildly again and again, just like every time Omega started moving it forward. Thankfully, there was nothing to hit, as they'd stopped in a vacant section of space for her to get her first lesson.

With one last great jerk, the Marauder finally stilled, and Ahsoka winced at the sounds of retching in the background.

"EW!" Wrecker wailed, his feet pounding the ground and coming nearer to the cockpit. "Omega, stop being so crazy! You made Tech barf on the floor again."

Omega winced. "Sorry."

"Why aren't you listening to me?" Ahsoka said, turning to Omega.

"I am ," Omega said, a frown etched into her face.

"You did just fine going straight at first, how come you can't keep her steady anymore?" Ahsoka said.

Omega curled her lips in and looked down. "I really want to learn to fly like you did."

Ahsoka chuckled lightly and Omega looked up. "You know, I used to be the same way. Trying to do all the cool stuff on my own right away because I was told to do the easy stuff first."

"Really?" Omega said. "So I'm doing it right?!"

"Stars, no, that's not the point," Ahsoka laughed for what felt like the first time in forever and Omega scowled. "You didn't let me finish. It didn't work for me, either. But the thing is, once I started practicing the easy stuff, the cool moves were easier to master and I got them a lot faster."

Omega sighed. "I don't see how going in a straight line will help me do all those loops later."

"You'll get a feel for the steering and speed," Ahsoka said. She stretched her arms above her head and stood to take Omega's place. "I say we call it a day, yeah? Try again later."

Omega pouted but allowed Ahsoka to take over the pilot's seat.

"Maybe go apologize to Tech for making him so motion sick?" Ahsoka said. "It's impressive, really. It's pretty hard to make him sick like that, given Wrecker's flying strategies."

Omega winced again and scuttled out to find Tech.

"Nice lesson," Hunter said, appearing out of nowhere to plug the coordinates into the hyperdrive as Ahsoka launched the Marauder into hyperspace.

"Thanks," Ahsoka said, and she smiled. A real, genuine smile.

Was it really this easy? A little advice and a really long nap and suddenly life didn't seem so terrible?

Maybe so. At least Ahsoka seriously hoped it worked like that. She had always been rather dramatic. So maybe everything could just be okay now.


Omega sat cross-legged on the floor as Ahsoka sat on the seat behind her. Ahsoka twisted her fingers through Omega's hair, winding the strands into braids tied off at the crown on her head. Omega kept her head perfectly straight ahead, tense and stiff and straight.

"You can relax, Omega. I'd only have a problem if you were moving your head side to side all the time," Ahsoka said with a chuckle.

"Right," Omega said, and a bit of tension leaked from her shoulders.

But then came a shout from Cid's office, where Tech, Hunter, and Cid were all speaking, and Omega attempted to look over without moving her head. It turned a bit anyway, but Ahsoka didn't notice. Her attention was also trained on the door to the office, senses pricking.

"And don't come back until you have yourself sorted out! Jee wiz!" Cid was shouting after Hunter and Tech as they crossed out from her office. Tech was hobbling along and wiping at his mouth.

"What happened?" Omega asked as Ahsoka tied off her braid.

"Tech got sick again. Cid wasn't too happy."

"Yeah, we could see that," Wrecker snorted.

"Tech? Are you sick or something?" Omega said, shifting to her feet to look at him.

"Well, the first two times I became sick, I blamed it on the sharp and constant movements of Omega's flying. But now that it's happened again, and taking other possible symptoms into consideration, I believe I am ill," Tech said.

"I could've told you that in, like, one sentence," Echo said. "Stop talking and let's get back to the Marauder before you puke again."

They, in fact, did not make it back to the Marauder before then, and Ahsoka's heart sunk with a suspicion fueled by the Force. She'd seen this before. And she could feel Omega at her side with a similar worry choking her up.

"I'm really worried," Omega whispered to Ahsoka very quietly after a moment, but she knew that Ahsoka would hear. "I think I saw this once before. On Kamino. Some clones were really sick, and some didn't make it."

"That's not going to happen," Ahsoka said, even though she had no right to make such a promise.

Omega nodded slowly and kept quiet for a long moment, until they could see their destination, and Omega looked up at Ahsoka with wide, terrified eyes. "It's really contagious, Ahsoka. We probably all have it by now! What if we're all too sick and no one is there to take care of us and we all die?!"

"Calm down, Omega, it's going to be okay," Ahsoka said, her tone very serious. Her heart was beating out of her chest, fear making it flutter, but she turned to Omega and set her hands on the younger girl's shoulders as if she could see the future clearly. "Omega, I've seen this before, too. During the Clone War, I helped my medic treat our entire battalion, all super sick. I even got it, so I have antibodies now."

"And if it's a new string?"

"I've lived through it once, I can live through it again, and I'll be there to help take care of anyone who's sick, okay?"

"Promise?"

She couldn't. There was no guarantee. "I promise," she said anyway.

And Omega gave her a hopeful look, which was the goal. Ahsoka patted Omega's shoulders one more time before taking her arm and hurrying the both of them to catch up.


By the time they got Tech to the med-bay, his condition had already worsened considerably, so much so that he couldn't help direct the others on what to do to help him.

Echo growled with frustration, but Ahsoka shoved him aside and Omega trailed after her.

"I think I remember how to treat this," Ahsoka said distantly, opening every cabinet and drawer in the tiny med-bay area to see what she had to work with.

"Really?" Echo said. "Was this the one where the whole battalion was sick?"

"Yeah, you wouldn't remember because you were passed out the whole time, but I was Kix's unofficial assistant," Ahsoka said as she gathered up the things she thought could be useful.

Ahsoka could almost feel Kix behind her, watching her work, speaking softly to her.

"Take a breath," Kix told her. "Now make sure your head is clear because one wrong move and he could be dead."

Ahsoka took a breath and started grabbing at the various supplies strewn about.

"Not too much ," Kix warned her, "but not too little, either, otherwise everything is gone to waste. Hit the perfect mark."

She was moving swiftly, but it felt like slow motion. Omega hung at the edge of the counter and handed her this or that as she needed it. And Kix stood over her shoulder the whole time, coaching her on what to do.

Eventually, Ahsoka satisfied herself with Tech's condition and Omega helped her put everything away. It wasn't great, but he was okay for the moment.

Ahsoka wiped her brow from sweat, then scrubbed her eyes, which she realized were a little too watery. She slipped out of the med-bay and tried to pretend like the unhappy memories weren't surfacing again.

Memories of the disease making its way through all the clones. Memories of all her brothers sick and struggling on endless rows of cots. Memories of the dead ones, blue and cold. Memories of the med-bay in general, all the times she had to stay there, all the times she had to escape. And then happy memories of Fives and Hardcase bailing her out that turned bitter because they were gone and if she'd only been there at those times, maybe she could've helped–

"Where you headed?"

Ahsoka broke out of her trance at the voice and came to realize she almost just crashed into Hunter.

"Kitchen," she said automatically, swiping the tears off her face. She hated feeling like this. "Gonna see if I can throw together some sort of concoction that Tech can hold down."

Hunter followed her as she continued hastily down the hallway.

"It might take a while," Ahsoka said.

"Alright," Hunter said.

Ahsoka marched over to the counter and started observing what she had to work with. Hunter sat down at the table and Ahsoka ignored him, paying attention to Kix once again reminding her what would be easiest on a sick stomach and still not be so repulsive that the flavor would make any healthy person puke.

Ahsoka froze, a sudden urge to whirl around and slap Kix across his face. To tell him to stop making her feel insane, listening to someone who was dead. She was so stupid , so crazy . Why did she always have to do this?! Always have to go back and overthink and be dramatic. Right now she was listening to the instructions her dead medic was giving her!

When he reminded her not to add any meat for the ninth time, Ahsoka lost it and inhaled sharply, ready to spit out a sharp " Shut up!" at Kix, only to remember that he wasn't really there and Hunter was watching her from the table.

They made eye contact and for a long moment, Hunter and Ahsoka just stared at each other, Ahsoka half twisted around with her mouth parted and Hunter looking stoic.

Then Hunter opened his mouth and a spark ignited in Ahsoka and before he could get a word out, spat, "No, I'm not okay, okay? Actually, I think I might be going insane! Take me to a mental asylum, because I'm losing it right now."

"Reminds me a lot of me," Hunter said, and Ahsoka froze, eye markings knitting together. "You know, trying to get through as fast as possible, skip to the end."

Ahsoka's lips curled. "Don't tell me you're–"

"You got through something this morning," Hunter said, cutting her off. "You got some sleep, trusted Tech in taking those pills, trusted us to let your guard down. Felt great, didn't it? Easy. Sleeping is easy without dreams or worries."

Hunter paused and Ahsoka leaned on the counter, propping her elbow up and resting her chin on her fist.

"But that was just one baby step. You wanted to say you were cured because you were feeling great. But it was only a baby step, and you need to keep on taking those baby steps to get somewhere. If you don't it all goes down the drain. But once you practice the easy stuff, take the baby steps, you'll get there faster than you thought."

Ahsoka rubbed her eyes with both hands. "Always using my words against me."

And then he sat there in silence, just to be there, as Ahsoka went back to forming her concoction, memories flashing in her mind and Kix talking over her shoulder.


By morning, Wrecker, Echo, and Omega were already sick. Ahsoka set them all up and continued to work on her concoction for a meal, which she'd not yet mastered and was still being rejected.

By afternoon, Hunter was in the same boat as the rest of the Bad Batch: sick.

Ahsoka established a new system, one where she could move around to help them efficiently and where they weren't all crowded into one place.

Tech was in the med bay, Echo and Wrecker on their bunks, Omega in the 'fresher, and Hunter in a cargo room where Ahsoka had set up an impressively comfortable bed considering it was made up of rather uncomfortable things and a few thin blankets.

It was a grueling few days. She started to panic when they were all starting to lose weight, unable to keep anything down, and dehydration became a serious risk. But then she somehow managed to perfect her concoction in a way that each of them could keep something down.

At some moments, Ahsoka swore she was back with the 501st, but she shook herself out of it when she realized what was happening. This was a time where she needed to stay in the moment.

And finally, they started perking up. Omega was first somehow, wandering around and saying she was hungry. The others came slowly over the course of the day and half of the next.

"Thanks," Omega said as she sat at the counter sipping tea while Ahsoka finished thoroughly cleaning the entire Marauder from top to bottom. "You were right, we're all okay."

"Yeah," Ahsoka said, but she knew they weren't out of the woods yet.