HELLO EVERYONE!

nw150: Thank you! Some of the fireworks start now!

bsmith1138: When you said cliffhanger I was confused, but then I realized…oh yeah. This is a cliffhanger. You lose a lot of perspective when you're writing a story. And I will remain silent on the topic of Ahsoka, but I will remind you that 1. I have one more part planned, and 2. I have the fic tagged as eventual happy ending, so take from that what you will. Thank you!

Peachpopsicle: I actually have an interesting response to that question. I actually don't see images in my head, unless I try really hard. I get more like- impressions or blueprints. Which is why I often have a hard time with action and setting scenes. But when I focus, it leans more towards animation. So I'd say that's my intention for the readers. I agree, Echo is such a Mom. Hunter leans towards Dad for me, but also definitely eldest, responsible brother. Crosshair definitely has a chip on his shoulder the size of Coruscant about…everything. And Tech is learning! There's definitely gonna be some feelings about the clone casualties. As for the link, I'll try, but fanfiction is really stupid about links. You'll likely have to remove some spaces lol.

imaginationflies: It's great to hear from you! Haali sees people's stupid bravado and is not impressed. I am considering bringing in Phee, just because she's a fantastic character. She'd respect that Tech is in a relationship. I'm still so flabbergasted that you guys love Taja so much. I saw my chance to save Mayday and ran with it. And now I just need to figure out a way to make him and Crosshair besties. I'm so pleased on how the Rexsoka turned out and how everyone has reacted to it. Thank you so much! And yeah, it's problematic…I'm with Ahsoka. I don't know if Maul is capable of any actual romantic relationship.

You might need to murder a slaver in order to save his brother, but it is possible to win Crosshair's approval! Bro, you write that paper. I would read the heck out of it. Anakin is an example of an idea that I have that the worst evils are twisted from something good. In Anakin's case, it's his love and sense of justice. Aristotle's Golden Mean, describes this pretty well. Basically, it's where true virtue is finding the perfect balance of any attribute. For example, love. A lack of love creates indifference, but an excess creates obsession. It's best to find the balance. Oh my gosh, could the Golden Mean be applied to the Force? Great, now I miss school. I'm going to let you in on a secret: that scene in the vents had 0 tension initially. My brain just decided it wanted a vents scene but it was just- them crawling through with no stakes. My editors kindly informed me that it desperately needed tension, otherwise it was just vents. So I adjusted it, but then I couldn't tell if it was tense because I knew how it ended. I'm so pleased it apparently turned out well. Yup, just like my family, you can't get rid of the Batch if you're in a relationship with one of them.

I'm excited for this chapter. But also a little nervous. Due to a family situation, my normal editor for Across the Stars is not available, so my mom stepped in. Her style is a little different than my sister's and she wasn't quite caught up on the story, but I think it went well.

No Mando'a this chapter!

ABSOLVED: Chapter 37

Rever Tocc reentered the Imperial Medical Facility security office, clutching two steaming cups of caf.

"It's me." He said to Ekim, who had looked up as he came in. "They were out of blue milk."

He handed the cup to a scowling Ekim.

"I put in an order for the caf station a week ago!" He said.

Tocc shrugged.

"I've heard the supply stuff is still being handled by clones." He said. "No wonder it hasn't been fulfilled."

Ekim frowned, sipping at the caf.

"I thought that was the one area that they didn't have clones running."

Tocc shrugged and sat down at the station. He glanced over the security monitors.

"Everything all clear?" He asked.

"Just more prep for Hemlock." Ekim said.

"Thank the stars the Emperor isn't coming to see what he's got until tomorrow." Tocc said.

"Speak for yourself." Ekim muttered. "I'm on duty tomorrow. It'll be a nightmare."

The console screeched and Tocc answered it.

"Security."

"Hemlock's shuttle is incoming." Kehath's voice came through, harried. "Keep your eyes open."

Tocc rolled his eyes. Barely anyone knew that Hemlock existed, let alone of his work. Who would come after him, especially in the heart of the Empire?

"Acknowledged." He said anyway.

He watched the screens as a Lambda class shuttle landed. Several clone commandos came out first. Tocc had no idea why Hemlock was still using those. Then came the doctor himself, followed by a long necked creature Tocc assumed to be a Kaminoan. Creepy looking thing. Finally- and this was the strangest thing- a gurney guarded by too many troopers. Someone was strapped to it-

"Is that a kid?" Ekim asked.

Tocc squinted at the screen. Indeed, the figure tied down in the gurney was child sized. He and Ekim stared for a moment.

"Maybe- maybe it's a clone kid." Ekim finally said.

"Yeah." Tocc said. "Yeah. Makes sense."

He still couldn't shake an uncomfortable feeling as the procession made its way through the facility. The kid was placed in an examination room with a medical assistant and a commando. Then Hemlock, the Kaminoan, and a few other assistants holed themselves up in a conference room.

And then the excitement ended. Just as Tocc had thought. No problems. The next few hours were as boring as ever. The kid didn't do anything, the doctor didn't do anything, the Kaminoan didn't do anything.

Tocc almost wished that the first thing to have happened in months hadn't gone so well.

A screen flickered. Tocc frowned as he looked closer. The guards depicted hadn't moved. And they continued to not move. Tocc waited a moment more. Neither shifted their weight or shuffled their feet.

Tocc pressed the comm button.

"Sector 7-c, please report." He said.

Ekim gave him a look as he waited for a response. It didn't come.

"Sector 7-c, please report." Ekim gave the request this time.

Nothing. Ekim and Tocc looked at each other. Before Tocc could do anything else, another screen flickered. He latched onto it. The screen was still. Too still, once again.

He gaped as another screen quivered, and another, and another.

Each one seemed to freeze after the flicker. Tocc looked around. Was that blasterfire? Ekim gasped. Tocc twisted his head around to see that the screens had returned to normal. Each of the affected displays showed not the guards, at least not living guards. Bodies spattered the monitors. With growing horror, Tocc realized that the path the glitch had followed led right towards- them.

The door opened.

Tocc and Ekim whirled around. A blaster shot rang out and Tocc choked as Ekim slumped. The intruder was already half across the room: a man in dark armor. Tocc lunged for the alarm, but a gauntleted hand wrapped vice like around his wrist. The man pressed a knife to his neck.

"Where. Is. She?" A low growling voice said.

The man's words were heavy with rage. Tocc swallowed, feeling his throat bob against the knife.

All of a sudden the man slammed Tocc's head into the desk.

"Where?" He bellowed.

Tocc's head fuzzed as he desperately tried to remember the question. She? She? There were only clones here. Sure, some of the medical assistants were women, but he was pretty sure they weren't what this lunatic was talking about.

The kid.

He instinctively glanced at the screen that showed the child. The man jerked his head up, staring at the display. Tocc noticed for the first time that two clone commandos stood behind the armored man.

The man lifted the hand with the knife to his helmet.

"Wrecker, Crosshair." He said. "I've got her location. North section, room 5c. GO."

Alarms began to blare and the man cursed. Someone must have come across the bodies.

"They know we're here." The man snapped.

Then he turned to Tocc again. Tocc trembled as the man raised his blaster and clicked a lever.

"Thanks for the info." The man's voice was cold as ice. "You get to live."

"Good morning, Omega." Hemlock's smooth voice clawed at Omega. She opened her eyes. She had almost fallen asleep. She didn't sleep much these days. She ached all the time.

She'd been tied down the entire trip, but no one had injected her with anything or performed any procedures on her during it. It looked like that was over. Omega only felt a dull sense of dread. She couldn't bring herself to be really afraid of whatever Hemlock had brought her here for.

"Now that we're here, we'll need to test to see if we get the same results." Hemlock said. "Just a few, Omega."

He sounded like he was trying to make her feel better. He wasn't. Omega sometimes thought he might be a droid in human skin: incapable of feeling anything. No, that wasn't right. Omega was sure Gonky felt things. She didn't know what Hemlock was.

She closed her eyes again and waited for the prick of a needle.

Someone gasped and there was a thud, like someone had fallen down.

"What-" One of the assistants said. "What's wrong with it?"

Fixer?

Omega couldn't turn her head to see, but real worry welled up in her chest.

"Get him out." Hemlock said calmly.

Omega could hear the sound of armor being dragged across the floor. She was alone. Her only connection was gone.

She couldn't help the tears welling up in her eyes. She was so tired. Tired of crying, of pain, of loneliness, of fear.

She didn't want to do this anymore.

Omega could hear Hemlock talking quietly to an assistant. She couldn't really tell what they were saying, but she heard 'regular dose' and then 'double.'

Then an alarm began screaming. Omega's heart pounded, confused. The assistants were muttering, but it sounded like Hemlock was still working. A comm chirped.

"Dr. Hemlock! We have intruders!"

Omega heard Hemlock sigh.

"Yes, I am aware. I will be with you in a moment." Hemlock said. "Be prepared to continue when I return."

The door opened and closed. Omega lay there, confused, and her head throbbing as it often did. Intruders- Did that mean-

The door opened. The assistants shouted. Blaster fire, and the sound of bodies dropping.

And then-

"Omega!"

A face came into view. A wide face, with pale scars and one brown eye, and one white one. A large hand came to rest on her cheek.

"Wrecker?" Omega whispered.

Wrecker smiled, though Omega thought she saw tears in his eyes.

"Yeah!" He said. "Come on, let's get you out!"

He started ripping the straps off. Omega just stared at him. Wrecker. It was Wrecker. He picked her up, tucking her tightly against his shoulder. Omega slowly rested her cheek on him.

"Is this a dream?" She asked.

Wrecker chuckled, but it sounded wet.

"No, we're here for real."

Footsteps made her look up. Crosshair was walking towards them. His eyes were unreadable. Then he put his hand on the back of her head and pressed his forehead to hers for just a moment.

Finally it hit Omega. Her brothers were here. They were going to take her away.

She began to cry, sobs racking her body.

Wrecker put his hand on her back, moving it up and down.

"I'm sorry it took so long." He said.

Something twinged in Omega's head. She lurched up as the door opened. She saw Hemlock, saw the blaster in his hand.

A shot rang out.

Hemlock dropped with a cry, a burning hole in his side.

Fixer stood in the hallway behind him. His blaster was smoking.

"Fixer!" Omega cried.

Wrecker and Crosshair tensed as Fixer ran towards them.

"Your brothers." Fixer said. His voice was- lighter. Less labored. "They came."

Omega nodded.

"Your chip stopped working?" She asked.

"Yes." Fixer said. "I don't know what happened, but I could think again."

"Tech and Echo must have done their job." Crosshair said, though he still sounded wary.

"They're- they're okay?" Omega asked through her tears.

"Yeah! Yeah, they're fine." Wrecker said. "Hunter too. He's here, taking care of security."

Omega cried harder.

"We need to go." Crosshair said. "You. Commando. We're with-"

A spike of pain hit Omega's head. She looked over. Hemlock wasn't dead, and he was pointing his blaster at Crosshair's unarmed head. He fired.

Omega screamed. And with that scream came- something.

The others spun around to stare at the frozen blaster bolt buzzing in the air. And then- it dissipated.

The pain in Omega's head went away. Crosshair stalked across the room and stamped on Hemlock's hand, making him drop the blaster.

"Go." He said. "I'll catch up."

"Crosshair-" Omega said, trying to reach for him. "Hemlock- you can't-"

The idea of him being alone with Hemlock filled her with fear. She was terrified the doctor would find a way to use or hurt her brother.

He glanced at her and his eyes softened slightly.

"I'll catch up." He repeated. "I'll take care of him."

It was a promise. And it made Omega cry once more. Tears of relief. Crosshair was going to make sure she would never see this man again.

The moment the door closed behind Wrecker and Omega, Crosshair slammed his foot down again. He felt the man's bones crack under his boot. The man's gasp of pain gave Crosshair a thrill of dark satisfaction. Crosshair leaned down low next to Hemlock's ear.

"What did you do to her?" He hissed.

"Crosshair, I presume?" The doctor said, breathing heavily. "Sniper of Clone Force 99."

Crosshair narrowed his eyes.

"Clone Force 99 has always fascinated me." Hemlock went on.

"I don't care." Crosshair said. "Tell me what you did."

"I doubt you would understand." Hemlock said. "You clones, while clever at times, have no understanding of science or progress. You are too-"

Crosshair stamped his foot down onto Hemlock's broken hand. Hemlock choked out a guttural shriek.

"You- you won't get off the planet." He gasped. "The alarm isn't just for this facility. The planetary guard knows and will lock the planet down."

He managed a smile through his pain filled wheezes.

"And then I will have you and your squad. More importantly, I will have Omega. My work will continue."

Crosshair smirked. He could see that this man did not fear pain. As much as Crosshair wanted to tear Hemlock apart, that wouldn't cause the distress he had earned. Crosshair had seen the look in his sister's eyes. Whatever this man had done, it had broken her.

There was no mercy for such a sin.

So Crosshair laughed.

"This is more than a rescue. It's a siege. The Jedi have come. Skywalker has come. Palpatine won't care about your little project."

Crosshair saw the first specks of true fear in the scum's eyes. He smiled and pressed his foot down again. A thick gasp forced its way out of Hemlock's throat.

"Even if they come for us, even if the Empire finds us in the end, your project is over." He said. "You'll never see it, never get your glory. No one will remember you."

Crosshair waited for his words to sink in. Horror slowly spread across Hemlock's face.

Good enough.

Crosshair slowly withdrew his sidearm and let Hemlock's eyes follow it as he leveled it at his forehead.

"Goodbye." Crosshair said. "Enjoy obscurity."

He fired. Hemlock slumped. Crosshair turned and left his sister's tormentor to rot.

He was running to catch up to the rest when he heard the sound of more troopers down the hall.

He cursed and glanced behind. More of those damned TK troopers were streaming into the hallway. Crosshair might have lied to Hemlock. The higher ups might have actually prioritized this project.

Oh well. Hemlock would never know.

Wrecker was waiting at the end of the hall, Omega in his arms.

"Go!" Crosshair spat.

He turned on his heel and began picking off their pursuers. There were a lot.

"We're not leaving without you!" Wrecker shouted.

Crosshair grimaced. Idiots. He began throwing out his reflectors. If he could get the right shot-

Then one of the troopers hurled something. Time slowed down as Crosshair watched the grenade leave the trooper's hand. His sharp eyes recognized the frag grenade. His mind calculated the trajectory. It wasn't heading for him. If allowed to finish its flight, the grenade would catch Omega and Wrecker in its blast.

Crosshair whipped his rifle up and shot the grenade mid air.

It detonated. With a hail of excruciating pain, everything went white.

Hunter ducked behind the Marauder to avoid another wave of blaster fire. The TK troopers had nearly surrounded the ship. Hunter was grateful that the two commandos were with him. He'd never be able to hold the position himself.

He clicked on his comm again.

"Wrecker, Crosshair, respond!" He said.

He only got static. Hunter gritted his teeth. The Empire had gotten a comm jammer up. At least that's what Hunter prayed was going on.

He was lucky that he was in combat. He was trained to ignore all distractions, physical or mental. Even if that distraction was his mind seeping worry.

"This is taking too long." Sev growled. "I'm going in-"

"Wait," Hunter said. He heard a voice very much like Wrecker's. "They're coming."

As he had guessed, two figures burst from the facility. The blaster smoke made it hard to distinguish features, but the size of one made it clear that his brothers had made it out. Omega was likely in Wrecker's arms.

"Fixer!" Scorch shouted, making Hunter frown.

A commando rushed from the smoke, holding Omega. Hunter's mind went blank. His body moved without thought, sprinting to the commando.

"Hunter!"

Hunter's throat tightened at the sound of her voice. He seized Omega and crushed her to his chest with all his strength. His sister. His sister. For the first time in months, he held her and knew that she was safe.

But not quite safe yet.

Hunter, still clutching Omega to his chest, straightened. The haze of relief cleared from his mind as he looked at the commando and remembered. Only two figures in the smoke. Crosshair. Where-

Then the scent of burned flesh and blood hit him. Hunter was thrown back in time to when they had huddled in a cave as they tried desperately to treat Wrecker's horrific burns.

Wrecker came close, Crosshair bundled in his arms. His brother's face was marred by red and black. Hunter could see at least three large shards of shrapnel wedged in his brother's body. His chest went cold.

"He's alive." Wrecker panted. "But he's hurt bad, Hunter. We gotta get him out."

Hunter's mind snapped to the task at hand, the blaster fire around them.

"Move out." He rasped, tightening his grip on Omega. She was weeping into his chest. "We have to contact Echo and Tech."

They backed into the Marauder, firing at the incoming troopers. Hunter tried to put Omega down into one of the ship's seats. Omega shook her head and clung to him.

"Please." She whispered through her tears. "Please, Hunter."

Hunter pressed his hand to her cheek.

"I need to fly the ship." He said. "When we're safe, I'll stay with you. I won't leave you. But we need to get out."

Omega's grip loosened slightly.

"Omega."

Hunter looked up to see the commando, Fixer, kneeling at Crosshair's side. He had the med kit. Sev stood behind him with a tightly gripped hand on his brother's shoulder. Wrecker had run up to the gunner's mount.

"I need your help." Fixer said, his eyes locked onto Crosshair.

Omega still hesitated. Fixer looked up.

"Your brother needs you." He said.

Omega let go and hurried to join Fixer. Hunter took his chance to bolt to the cockpit. He found Scorch in the pilot's seat. With a jolt, Hunter realized that they were in the air. Scorch tilted the ship up and Hunter got a view of the chaos in the atmosphere, ships darting about and lighting the sky with blaster fire. It seemed that General Skywalker's assault was in full swing.

"Not going up there." Scorch said

Hunter agreed. He sat in the co-pilot's seat.

"Get us out of the comm jammer range." He ordered. "See if we can't find somewhere quiet."

Scorch snorted, but blasted away from the medical facility.

"Tech, Echo," Hunter tried. "Come in."

It took a few attempts before he got a response.

"Do you have her?" Tech demanded immediately.

"Yes." Hunter said. "But Crosshair is injured. Be ready for extraction. I want to get him to a proper med bay as quickly as possible."

"Hunter," Tech said in a tone that Hunter immediately hated. "Our mission is not complete. There is more that General Skywalker asked of me."

Hunter felt dread wash over him.

"No." He said. "Not an option. We're coming now. Be ready."

"Negative." Echo said. "Get Crosshair and Omega out of there."

Hunter gritted his teeth.

"We'll take them to the Venator." He said. "But then we're coming back for you. You have until then."

"Acknowledged." Tech said, then he paused. "Is she well?"

Something stopped Hunter from saying 'yes.' The way that Omega had clung to him, her tears; Omega wasn't just feeling relief. There was so much pain there.

"I don't know what they did." Hunter finally said. "But it hurt her. She's- not all right."

Hunter heard Echo mutter a curse in Mando'a. When Tech spoke again, his voice was strained.

"I will keep you updated." He said. "Get them to safety."

Hunter turned and nodded to Scorch.

"Gonna be a bumpy ride." Scorch said.

"Just get us to the Defiant." Hunter said.

He got up; no one was firing at them at the time being and Scorch could do without him for a moment. He stepped back into the bay to see Fixer and Omega working furiously on Crosshair.

Crosshair was awake, Hunter realized with horror, because Omega began trying to coax the contents of a hydropak down his throat. They'd bandaged his eyes, but Hunter could see blood and other fluids seeping through. There was a strange smell, something other than blood or burned flesh. Fixer had stripped Crosshair's armor and cut his blacks away. The shrapnel had been replaced with bacta patches. Fixer was now pouring another hydropak over the angry red skin of Crosshair's chest and neck. Some of the skin, especially around his face, had gone from red to black or white.

"We need an actual medbay." Fixer said. "You don't have the supplies to treat injuries of this caliber."

"We're on our way to the Venator." Hunter said.

He tried to ignore Omega's soft crooning to their brother.

"Please, Crosshair." She said. "Please, stay with us. I want to go home and I can't if you're not there."

Crosshair hissed something and jerked his arm as if to try and touch her.

"Don't move!" Omega said. There was an underlying panic to her voice. "Please, don't hurt yourself more. I can hear how you feel."

Hunter frowned at the words. Hear how he felt? His stomach wrenched with fear. What had happened to her? What had they done to his sister?

Answers could wait. They needed to get Crosshair to help. They would end this as a whole squad. A whole family. Hunter would make sure of it.

"CC-2224, hurry and give your report. Amidala's trial begins soon and I wish to be there."

Rampart sounded eager and impatient. CC-2224 felt a lurch at his words. Senator Amidala was going to be tried for treason in just a few hours. Many prominent figures in the Empire were calling for her execution.

Good. She was a traitor-

No!

No, she was a good person, someone who did what was right. He had visited her a few more times over the last few months. She always asked after him, begged him for news about the children and even the clones. She never asked him to do anything. She seemed to not want to put him in danger.

He wanted to help. He longed to break her out like he had helped Rex do for Commander Tano.

Traitors.

But the chains of the chip, while not as taut as they had once been, would not let him do what he knew to be right.

"CC-2224!" Rampart snapped. "I am not here to watch you do whatever passes for thinking among your kind. Report!"

Cod- CC-2224 started. He found himself staring off into the distance more and more as he fought harder against the chip. It was likely to get him killed.

"Yes, sir." He said. "The insurgents on Rodia do not seem to-"

He broke off as a high pitched whine filled his head. He stumbled as it grew more and more intense. It overwhelmed the chip's chatter, but it killed every other thought. He clutched at his head. He vaguely registered Rampart's voice.

"I suppose it was inevitable that your kind broke. You weren't made to last."

Cody just groaned. The whine engulfed everything, becoming his entire being and then-

Silence.

The sudden absence was jarring. Cody just stood there.

"Are you done?" Rampart asked. "At this point, we should-"

Cody drew his sidearm and put a bolt through Rampart's head.

The man slumped over, the ghost of surprise on his face. Cody looked at the corpse with grim satisfaction. The chains were gone.

And he had a job to do.

From the top!

You ever hear the writing advice to switch perspectives if the scene isn't working? Holy crap it worked so well here. It was all originally from Crosshair's perspective but I also hate technical things like infiltration. So we get to see it from some schmuck's perspective before Hunter stuns him. And I liked writing Omega's slow realization that her brothers were actually there. Poor thing.

And yeah, the kid's Force sensitive now. AND LET IT BE KNOWN THAT IF THIS HAPPENS IN CANON THAT I DID IT FIRST AND AM ALSO A WITCH. I think it makes sense. Palpatine knows that cloning is pretty established. What he'd want is a way to make a clone Force sensitive.

Crosshair gets to have a moment of tenderness. This is his equivalent of crying and cuddling Omega.

And then Crosshair gets to torture Hemlock. Like they both deserve. Hemlock seems like the type of character that would die still thinking they've won with some trap or plan. I wanted to take that away from Hemlock. Because he deserves so much failure and death. Especially by Crosshair's hand. This is justice for Canon and my fic.

And then I immediately blow Crosshair up. Sorry.

Both me and my mom agreed that Hunter's reaction should be quick and powerful, but that he needed to push it aside for now.

I wanted to be able to have Hunter have his reunion with Omega without it making it seem that Crosshair didn't matter to him. I think I did it well.

Uh oh, Tech has another mission!

Eyyyy Cody gets to be free! And murder Rampart! Like they both deserve!

Welp, that should be everything!

Stay safe, remember to review, and have a great week!