Hello everyone! I don't know if anyone remembers, but this is not the sequel to GoA I had been expecting. I do have those sequels planned, I just haven't written much for them yet.

Since this was cross-posted on AO3, I'll just give the A/N from there since it basically sums up everything you need to know about how I'm approaching this story. 'XD

"Do I know what I'm doing with this?
Absolutely not.

Am I still going to attempt writing this likely chaos of a story?
Absolutely!
So, on that note: Welcome to Crosshair's Hunger Games! It's... (exhale) it's going to be a ride for sure, and I don't know why I thought this would be "fun." But I suppose I'll give it a go. :)
So here's to the story!"

All was quiet in the town square save the subtle sound of bodies shuffling on the cobblestone. The uncomfortable heat weighted heavily on all gathered there.

Hunter could smell the fear festering in the air until it was almost choking, matching how he felt squeezed into a tight, yet surprisingly uniform group of other young men his age. The rest of the townspeople were divided by age and gender. The girls on the right, facing the town hall; the boys on the left, with the youngest groups in the front. The few aliens were confined to their own corner of the square, undivided as it was only three small families.

Ahead of them, a stage had been erected in front of the main government building, the rough platform topped with a temporary carpet and its length spanning the width of the building's front. On either side of the hovering recording droid, pairs of seats were occupied by solemn-faced local politicians, stiff and nervous judging by their body language. One woman fidgeted in her seat, her expression strained, and her right fist clenched in her lap.

Another ripple of stress hormones rose from the crowd as a young woman, dressed all in gaudy attire, stepped up to the recording bot that doubly acted as the microphone. Stress levels peaking in the square, the crowds began dancing tightly with their weight around him. In response, Hunter's throat began to tighten.

What is going on? He wondered, eyeing the other side of the piazza to where Omega stood with other girls, dutifully calm and prim in her lavender cotton dress. Her hair was pulled back from her face with two little braids tied in the back. If he was honest, Hunter wasn't sure why she was dressed up – why any of them were, really. At least, "dressed up" in the sense that no one wore the usual work clothes. Somehow, it had seemed required – but when one of their new neighbors had learned that she hadn't had any dresses, the neighbor had gone pale and gifted Omega with the dress. It had seemed important to the older woman, but the former sergeant had been unable to wrangle a reason why out of her, except that he would "find out soon enough."

Though more than a little unnerved, he had to admit that his little sister did look more her age without the outfit she'd been wearing for the last several months. And that had been an odd sense of relief, being able to see her once again as a proper child and not a kid who had to become an adult any time they had stepped off the Marauder.

The woman on the stage smiled brightly at the crowd, testing the mic with a light tap. When the sound echoed, she readied her pose and began speaking, welcoming all in the square to some event Hunter had never heard of. Flitting about the stage, avoiding the two large bowls propped on pedestals to either side of where she stood while seemingly defying gravity in those high heels, she quickly introduced those seated behind her. The chief of security and his wife… The financial aid to the governor and his wife… The chief secretary… The head of the school board and her husband… Finally, seated in the center, the governor and his family.

A seat sat empty on the far end and Hunter caught her glance uncertainly at it before shaking it off, bustling back to her place in the front. She continued by once again thanking everyone for joining them before wishing them all a happy festival day, perking up further as she announced there was a short video accompanying her with this opening ceremony of sorts.

But as the music began to play and the narrator spoke over the images shown, Hunter's stomach clenched and his heart dropped, an image of what was to come forming in his mind.

What sort of place is this?

Just moments later, it was over and the woman, who had been murmuring along with the words of the video's narrator, picked up where she'd left off. Once she said it was time for the two "tributes" to be selected, then everything went numb. Hunter couldn't hear anything but the pounding in his own ears and the words the lady said, both echoing in his head as his vision began warping with the heat. The shadowed forms of the other young men around him blurred, glitching until he stared over at Omega, zeroing in on how she was responding to the moral chaos.

He couldn't dare look at his brothers. Not now. Not with...

Sweat rolled down his face as he thought, No...no, no, this wasn't supposed to happen...

Out of everyone there, only the announcer on stage seemed to be enjoying herself. And the finale words she spoke as the two young people were shoved apart and through the doors of the government building, effectively sealing their fates, were, "Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor..."

Two months before...

Spacial Region/District: Unknown

Location: Havoc Marauder, entering planetary orbit

Time: 05:23

Alarms blared in the cockpit. Scrambling to his seat, Crosshair locked the harness in place and closed his eyes, part of him still wondering if this was all just a dream. The Marauder had tipped in a steep nosedive. Tech and Echo bickered as they tried to save their decent from ending in a blaze of fire. Hunter, Wrecker, and Omega sat strapped on beside him, Omega covering her head as if that could save her while the ship bucked.

At some point, this might have been normal. They were nearly going to crash land again, not sure if this would be their final one or not, after some arduous mission tasked to them by some mercenary recruiter or other, bickering to each other to release the tension of knowing they may never wake up after this. Their luck was down, they were tired, and the Marauder was taking out her temper on them again. Yup.

Normal.

If not for the sense that Crosshair still couldn't grasp this as "real." Even months later after being out of Hemlock's captivity, reality warped, somehow sending him back in time to the future where he was still looped in some augmented reality. With each warp, he could feel the return of the tension between he and his teammates. The unbridled anger Hunter had regarded him with during Omega's rescue...Echo's blatant ignorance of him...Wrecker's reluctance to be around him...Once he was retrieved, Tech's awkwardness at trying to walk a fine line between observing the changes in his twin and greeting him back as a once wayward friend...Even Cody's uncertainty on how to respond to him...

Peering curiously across at the Commander to see how he was handling the ride, Crosshair's mental lull snapped to a halt as Hunter barked his name. Kark, how long had he been listless?

No. Not now, no warping. Not yet. He had to keep his head clear until they hit the ground!

His gaze darting to Hunter, he waited for…something as his older brother gritted his teeth against the sudden burst of g-force.

"Viewport! Ground guide them! Scanners went haywire!"

Without a second's hesitation, the sniper unsnapped the harness. Both Cody and Omega exclaimed in shock while he shot backwards by momentum until he stood on the wall, gauging the distance between himself and the cockpit entry way.

"Tech, give me some lift," he called, scowling at the lack of proper pulling up happening.

"What do you think I've been trying to do?" the pilot shot back, straining against the joy-wheel, "Do you think crashing nose first is a new trick?"

A small smirk quirking at the corner of his lips, Crosshair allowed himself a small shrug. "You have a pretty decent poker face when you need it. "Could have fooled me."

He heard his twin huff, but seconds later, he felt the gravity in the ship shift, and he launched himself forward from crouch on the wall, latching onto the threshold of the cockpit. With a grunt, he pulled himself into it against the upward tug, crawling painfully so he could grab hold of Tech's seat.

Echo was glaring out the window. Without so much as a glance at him, he growled, "I hope your eyes haven't left you yet."

Despite the peril of the situation, Tech raised an eyebrow over at him. "He would not have been able to get in here if such were the case-"

"Yeah, yeah," Crosshair snapped, "and he is telling you to pull up and left! Three...Two… Mark!"

The Marauder's tail dropped, and Crosshair felt his whole body ripped backwards, matching the ship's turbulence while managing to angle more parallel to the ground. Peeking out the window, the sniper saw the field ahead of them, the tall grasses carpeting the hills fade into trees.

His throat tightening, he hissed, "Tech!"

"I know! I see them! I can see the trees!"

It was at this point that Crosshair knew he didn't want to watch. But he couldn't stop watching, couldn't close his eyes against the brace for impact. The Marauder had been a decent coaster when landing on a drop in the past; but it had never been good at playing darts. Or rather, it had never done particularly well as the dart. Right now? It was a hard pass between a backwards drop-ball and a curling stone. Still falling right side up, Tech had taken her in a sharp turn, reversing the intended impact cushion so the aft would take the brunt of it.

The next instant, the entire ship jarred. Metal screeched as it caved, the force of the blow scattering loose items to the tune of wrenched parts. There was barely a second of smooth skidding before they rammed into a hill, momentum toppling the ship, the next hill sending it into a shallow, sideways roll.

The sniper clung to the back of his brother's chair for dear life. Unable to strap in from the force of the roll, he hooked his knees under the arm rests and waited for it to stop. The Marauder hit one last dip, righting it even though it listed to one side, still skidding. Until it hit the edge of the forest and whiplashed.

Not expecting it, Crosshair felt himself jerk back, then forward, then left, crashing his temple into one of the panels and everything went black.

The Marauder had come out of the crash in about as decent condition as could be expected.

That was to say, terrible. The entire aft had caved in, crushing Omega's 'room' and the back end of the Batch's bunks. The wings had had been torn; part of the top fin ripped off from the force of the flip.

Walking some distance away, Cody sighed, taking in the view of the damaged vessel from the top of a nearby hill. He knew they were lucky the whole thing hadn't gone up in blaze yet from the leaking fuel, but part of him wondered vaguely how that crash might have just set the Batch's course for a long time. The scanners had shut down when they'd entered the region and Tech hadn't been able to bring them up, resulting in Crosshair's stupid stunt to try finding them a decent enough place to land. Glancing around at their surroundings, the Commander had to admit, it did seem to have worked well enough. The clearing, though pocketed with hills, was the only open space for a while, and it had been the only one that hadn't contained buildings. So with the exception of the sniper and for the fact that everyone had a few extra bruises to worry about, no one had been hurt in the crash landing.

The Batch were bustling around their ship, both Tech and Echo surveying the damage while Hunter and Omega attended to Crosshair. Wrecker must have been looking around inside because he was no one outside that Cody could see. Sure enough, moments later, he emerged, a little black shape tucked under his arm and Cody grinned.

Ah, of course. Lula.

Wrecker would have been devastated if he'd have had to have left the little tooka plushie along with the rest of the ruins.

Ten minutes later, once it seemed that they had all completed their tasks and Crosshair was beginning to wake up, Cody made his way back down to them. Above them, the sky was blue and cloudless, the scent of pine trees wafting through the air on the light warm breeze. Insects chirped from their hidden homes in the knee-high grass, likely hiding from the cheerful songbirds visiting from the forest. All things considered, except for the terrifying adventure from the last twenty minutes, it was a lovely day wherever in the galaxy they were. But no one else appeared to be looking so joyful at the prospect, instead looking rather miserable for the most part. Or, in Hunter's case, just tired.

He skidded to a halt.

"How's she's looking Hunter?"

Rubbing a hand down his face, Hunter gave a noncommittal shrug. "Omega? She's just fine. The Marauder…" He squinted at the commander, "She's not looking too hot. She's had a rough go this round."

"And it is highly probable that the 'this round mentioned' could be her last if we are unable to find parts to replace and repair the damage done." Tech added, appearing behind him with Echo in tow.

"So, you mean, we're stuck here?" Wrecker gasped, "For- Forever?"

Tech rolled his eyes, giving him a pointed look. "Did I say that?"

"Well, it was implied!"

"It was not; I was merely stating that there is a high chance that we are going to be in this place for some- as of yet -undetermined amount of time."

"So then why does every time you say that we end up-"

Exchanging long suffering glances with each other, but Cody and Echo stepped forward, breaking up the argument before it could get started and drive them all mad.

"Alright, you two, focus on the main issue at hand. Which, in case you've forgotten," Echo gave them both dry, unimpressed stares as he swept an arm to indicate the wreck. "Is that we've crash landed on some place that doesn't like our technology."

Wrecker shot Tech a dirty look and grumbled, "I was focusing on the issue at hand. Just not the one you wanted me to focus on."

Cody hid his amusement, shaking his head before asking, "Tech, how far away do you think we are from the nearest village we saw coming down?"

"By my estimate, we are approximately thirty-two kilometers from the nearest one. We had a swift ride down."

"And how many hours?"

"With a decent pace, we should reach there in five to six hours; assuming, of course, they had not already taken notice of us and are planning on investigating. Perhaps the people of the planet have similar aircraft."

Nodding, Cody had been about to ask Hunter what he thought they should do since it was his team to begin with, but before he could get more than the first word out, Hunter's eyes snapped to the sky, his whole body tensing like a suddenly coiled spring.

"Guess we won't have to wait long to find out," he responded, making his way up the same hill Cody had taken. As the others joined him, they saw a sliver of silver appear over the treetops, heading their direction. The Commander squinted, glancing at Crosshair out of the corner of his eye.

"Falcon?"

He was silent for a moment before nodding solemnly, then breaking the act with a small grin. "Yes… It's coming our direction."

Hunter groaned, his voice holding no hostility as he growled, "Kriff, I see your sense of humors back."

The sniper simply smirked.

As it got closer, Echo shifted on his feet, glaring suspiciously at the craft, one hand subconsciously aiming for his blaster just in case. Noting how that held a touch of common sense, Cody tapped the sergeant's shoulder, motioning for his team to head back to the ship.

"Until we find out what's going on and what these people's intentions are, it would probably be better if they didn't know how many of us there are for now."

With a nod, the others returned to the Marauder, leaving Hunter and Cody standing alone on the hill, waiting on the oncoming ship to come to a halt.

Once it did, it didn't hover for long. Slick as lightening, the ship was on the ground and the silver doors opened, white...cloth…? Armored troopers filing out from both sides. The two stood their ground, careful to keep their hands in sight and away from their weapons, though Cody wondered if the people's technology was so advanced that they trusted seemingly simple looking piece of cloth to deflect energy bolts or if they were just so stupidly confident in their supposed fearful image that they didn't think proper armor plating was necessary?

When they got close enough, the officer in front paused, dipping his chin in a greeting which they both returned. There was silence for a moment until the officer seemed to make up his mind about something and announced, "Greetings. My name is Rolan Finch, the second security officer of District Forty-nine. Are you aware you are in a restricted area?"

Cody felt rather than saw Hunter's expression drop, eyes shifting to gauge his own reaction.

Pausing, the Commander shook his head slowly. "We were not aware, we apologize. This was the only safe clearing we found we could land without crashing into the villages."

Finch peered them over, but seemed satisfied because he nodded at the Marauder, "Was it just you two? Or is there someone injured?"

"No severe injuries. A knock to the head for being a stubborn blurgg about sitting during the landing, but nothing that we can't handle. It will just need some ice for a few days."

If the guard didn't understand what a blurgg was, he gave no indication of it, merely nodding.

"So you're grounded then, for a few days at least, given that...beauty's condition?"

Replying in the affirmative, the Commander gave a brief summary of what had happened when they were in space, noting how some of the noticeably younger guards were exchanging confused glances while the officer merely listened. After a few moments of discussion, Finch told them that they could ask around the town the next day, provided they be fitted with temporary quarters while waiting to see the extent of the Marauder's recovery. Cody, though cautious, agreed. Ten minutes later, all on board the strange transport, the nearest village they'd seen came into view. There wasn't much to it but it seemed nice enough. The cobblestone streets had grass growing between the cracks, and spindly trees grew up wherever the soil hadn't been attended for some time, but the houses looked neat and clean.

The people though…

Their faces, while honest and shown years of hard work, were gaunt, their eyes shallow as they stared at the new visitors with vague concern. They were friendly, nearly all of them giving them shy, polite smiles as they welcomed the squad to District Forty-nine, but there was something...wrong, and the Commander couldn't place his finger on it. He couldn't ignore the distinct sense of unease he felt when the unofficial tour around the town had concluded, and he walked through the door of their temporary quarters; yet he couldn't see what was to be done about that. Hunter must have felt it too because all throughout the time they had been with the townsfolk, his body language had been tense, his shoulders stiff and he'd kept a firm grip on Omega's shoulder throughout the tour.

Taking the first watch, the Commander decided that, for now, the best they could hope to do was be cautious in their interactions, even if repeating the words in his head made them seem woefully inadequate for the sort of situation they found themselves in.

They would just have to see what the morrow would bring and hope that the odds were in their favor...for whatever was coming.

If only they'd known, they were not.

Aaaaand there's chapter one! :D I admit, my writing for the first two chapters or so has been pretty clunky, but once things pick up with the plot, it should flow a bit better. :)

Thank you so much for reading; I hope you enjoyed it; and I will see you next time for the next chapter! :D