"You must be Crosshair, Tech told me all about your sparkling personality..." ~ Phee Genoa
Somehow we got lost in the travels
Why did the world unravel us?
And how it was
Sometimes I feel like I just passed you by
And left you standing in your pain
But you were the one with the magic
You were the one with the sparkle
And you had it all
I know it's never gonna be the way it was
How can it?
Feelings change and people can get lost
But I still think of you so much
Do you remember how it was?
Never ever ever gonna be the same
Never gonna be the same
Being back on the Marauder was truly surreal. It had been home away from Kamino for all of those missions during the war, just the four of them until Skako Minor when they picked up Echo. And then he had seemed to fit right in. Well, fit barely. There hadn't been a centimeter to spare. Sometimes Crosshair would go up to the tail gunner's position just to have a moment to himself. He'd tell them he was being prepared in case they were pursued by Seps but really it was the only place he could call his own.
Now that was Omega's room and he guessed she was more entitled to it at this point.
His 'brothers' didn't seem to be overly thrilled to have him back on board at all. So Crosshair, claiming exhaustion after the rigors of the escape, sat on the floor with his back against a crate and pretended to go to sleep. He didn't relax the act until Omega went to her room pulling the curtain shut behind her and Hunter and Wrecker were back up in the cockpit probably deciding where best to drop him out of the airlock.
Then, opening his eyes, he took a moment to process the flood of memories triggered by being back in this cargo hold. It felt so empty. He had known Tech and Echo wouldn't be here. Tech was… gone. And Crosshair had overheard that Genna girl say that Echo was on a separate mission.
Even if they had been all alive and together after everything that had happened, the choices he had made… well it was obvious things would never be the same.
Just then Omega threw open the curtain of her sanctuary and slid down the ladder with Wrecker's tatty old tooka clutched under one arm.
Crosshair instantly went back into mock sleep mode.
"Do either of you know what happened to my helmet?" She called and then she lowered her voice, presumably not to wake him. "I mean it's okay if it got lost or something."
Hunter waited a moment before answering, no doubt assessing if Crosshair was truly asleep and if they could discuss anything in his presence. "Well, someone has been holding on to it for you on Pabu."
"Who?" Omega asked, low but excited.
"It's sort of a surprise," Wrecker whispered, as much as Wrecker ever could whisper.
Hunter chuckled and Crosshair almost opened his eyes to see what might have elicited that response.
"There's somebody on Pabu who you probably never expected to see again but who never gave up hope that we would find you."
Crosshair's heart skipped a beat. What if his brother wasn't actually dead? What if …
"She's gonna be over the moon to see you," Wrecker added.
"She?" Omega echoed Crosshair's thought.
Then characteristically unable to keep the secret any longer Wrecker burst out, "it's Genna!"
Crosshair was totally awake and on his feet in a moment. "She and the twins are safe?"
Hunter glared at him suspiciously, Wrecker gasped, "How'd you know about them?" and Omega caught just one word. "Twins?"
"Genna was pregnant when we left her on Onderon but she didn't know it yet." Hunter growled. "Tech never knew either."
Crosshair was unsure if it was more because his surprise had been spoiled or that Crosshair had been privy to the intel. "I wouldn't be so sure about that. He was so good at slicing everyone else's private details and yet he was hit or miss at covering his own tracks."
Omega was still digesting the revelation. "They were following plan double zero."
"Mm-hm." Crosshair had guessed as much. "He obviously wanted to keep her safe and she wouldn't have wanted him to be distracted by the knowledge that he was going to be a father, but of course she would have wanted him to know eventually."
"How do you know this?" Hunter suddenly demanded, and slammed Crosshair against the bulkhead for good measure.
Crosshair shoved him back. "I saw them together on a holonet feed from some limmie game!"
Omega and Wrecker looked at each other and gasped.
"Yes, I saw you two there as well."
Hunter's body relaxed but only slightly. That's when he was the most dangerous. "But that would have been before…"
"Then I saw her in Iziz when I was sent there on a mission. I didn't speak to her but I heard her talking to someone else. She was pregnant and she mentioned Tech and Echo."
"And you marched right in and took this prime intel back to your superiors and…"
"I didn't!" Crosshair professed. "I never told anyone that I had seen her. I could have been wrong. It could have been a coincidence."
"But it wasn't," Omega realized and then quickly added, "And he didn't tell anyone about seeing Wrecker and me at that game either, Hunter."
"The important thing is that they're safe on this Pabu you keep talking about."
Hunter looked as if he might have been sorry that Crosshair had heard that part as well, and they weren't done having this conversation, but he nodded.
"So…" Omega smiled tentatively. "Twins? Genna had two babies?"
"Yeah," Wrecker chose to encourage the more positive turn in the conversation. "And they look a little like you with blonde hair and brown eyes."
"And we'll be able to see them as soon as we get there?" She looked up at Hunter with those big brown eyes that were technically phenotypical for all clones but she sure knew how to use them.
"Yeah, Kid." The sergeant sighed.
"How close are we?" She took his hand and dragged him toward the cockpit.
Crosshair hoped they weren't going to let her take them in for a landing.
She grabbed Wrecker's arm too and then shot a look back at Crosshair as if saying something along the lines of, 'you can thank me later.'
Where in the galaxy had she picked up this talent for conflict resolution? He was sure he didn't know any other clones who took the time to ask questions before rushing into a battle. Maybe it was her femaleness?
No. If that Dalla Blackwell person was anything to go by with her voodoo holostil of her ex-boyfriend, he was pretty sure that the females of the species could probably hold a grudge longer and more viciously than any clone that ever came off the Kaminoan production line.
He shuddered but he was alone again in the cargo bay and now he didn't need to feign sleep so he started to poke around. He wondered if they had dumped all of his things or if there might still be something they'd kept around to remember him by. Surely not. But just as surely they would not have gotten rid of all of Tech's things.
Crosshair couldn't admit to them how much he missed his brother; the one who had gone along with him on midnight trips to the shooting range when they were cadets who couldn't sleep because of bad dreams; the one who had gone to the brothel with him when they both figured that the Kaminoans had left that particular lesson out of their education and neither of them wanted to die before they got to kiss a girl.
Well, at least Tech had gotten a little more experience in that area and Crosshair didn't begrudge him that at all.
He realized that he was staring at the door to the compartment where Tech had once kept his personal items. The door used to stick sometimes but there was a trick to it. He wondered if it still worked.
Crosshair banged twice on the top left corner with the side of his fist and then lifted the latch. It opened easily and out fluttered a single piece of flimzy. He caught it out of the air and looked at it and then his breath caught in his throat.
It was her. Well, it was a painting of a girl who sure looked a lot like her. Not with the massive belly like he had seen when she was walking in the streets in Iziz. But more like the way she had looked in that limmie game holo when she was holding Tech's hand and smiling at him. The only difference was that in the painting she wasn't wearing anything at all.
"Crosshair?"
Quickly he shoved the sheet of flimzy into his tunic so they wouldn't catch him staring at it and then he slammed the compartment door shut as well. He caught his right hand in his left as it had begun to tremble again. "Yes?"
"We'll be landing on Pabu soon," Omega grinned. "I can't wait for you to see it. You're going to love it. Or maybe you won't." She rolled her eyes teasingly.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just that it will be so hard for you to find anything to complain about." As she flounced away, he couldn't help but smile.
…
Genna wasn't sure what brought about the sudden urge to load up the girls in their double stroller and take a walk. She told Deke that she just wanted to get some air and move her legs when she gave him the afternoon off to go and get some ice cones with the other boys or whatever else he wanted to do. She only had one appointment scheduled and it was a simple one. She could easily be back in time and handle it on her own.
It was just another regular lovely day on the island and she wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary until, that is, she saw the ship break through the atmosphere. It was the Marauder and Genna knew this time it must be good news!
She made all haste towards the island's summit glad for her recent return to limmie coaching and the training she'd done alongside the kids which had been instrumental in the process of getting her back in shape. Still, she was a little winded when she reached the landing platform and set the brake on the stroller at a safe distance from the descending vessel.
Then the hatch opened and there was the little girl, a little taller than Genna remembered, but of course she would be, shading her eyes from the sun's glare.
"Omega!" Genna cried, jumping up and down and waving to get her attention. She saw the face light up with recognition when it turned in her direction.
Then before her old friend could make it down the gangway a huge beast barreled ahead of the girl and raced, barking excitedly, straight for the stroller.
Genna intercepted the slobbering monster as would be expected of a true Mandalorian buir only to find herself overcome by the creature's affection. Knocked flat on her shebs but laughing she heard Omega's voice, much older and more commanding than she remembered it, admonishing, "Batcher, get down! Leave her alone!"
A hand was extended to help Genna up and she took it. The hand trembled and she looked up to see to whom it belonged. "Thank…" the words died in her throat.
Once she was on her feet again, the man nodded and stepped back.
She turned to face the others attempting to recover from her shock. "Who is this?" She grabbed onto the obvious distraction and reached out to pet the hound.
"I hope she didn't hurt you." Omega worried. "She's Batcher. She helped us escape."
"I'm fine and she's beautiful! I always wanted a striil when I was little but one of my brothers was allergic. And then when we were at Blackhold…"
Genna was interrupted by a high pitched cry from the stroller. "Goggy! Goggy!"
Kebiin was reaching out with both hands, straining against the stroller's harness, to get at the animal.
"As I was saying." Genna grinned and went to release the baby from her captivity so that she could be introduced to the newcomers. "If we'd stayed on Onderon I think I would have been forced to get a Northern Cognine so these two could grow up with a pet."
Although the baby seemed more interested in the animal than the people, Omega stepped forward hesitantly and reached out a hand towards her niece. "Is that what she was trying to say? Coggy like Cognine?"
"It sure sounded like it." Wrecker beamed. "We've heard her babble a whole lot but nothin' that sounded that close to Basic. Was that her first word?"
"I think it might have been." Genna held out the baby towards her aunt and after a silent request and granting of permission she handed over the squirming bundle. "I would like you to meet your namesake Kebiin Omega."
Hearing her name distracted the baby from the hound for a moment and she looked up to study who had her now. Then simultaneously the two Omegas grinned at each other.
"Oh, Genna, I can't believe you named her after me."
"Well, one of them anyway." Hunter's words drew all of their attention to the other twin.
"That's Saviin Elinor. I named her after my friend, well, you all remember Ellie."
But none of them were thinking of the redhead from Onderon when they saw the way little Savy with her thumb securely in her mouth was staring at the man with the toothpick in his own who had taken the liberty of removing her from her restraints.
Genna could barely breathe. "She doesn't usually go to strangers."
"It seems we have someone to introduce you to as well." Hunter stepped forward and held out his hands to his niece, but Savy, to everyone's surprise, shook her head at the offer and cuddled deeper into the arms that already held her.
"Genna." Omega struggled to hold onto Kebiin who had returned her attention to the hound. "This is Crosshair."
"I figured as much." Genna couldn't or wouldn't meet his eyes and instead looked back and forth between her twins and made the snap decision to snatch up the one who seemed in the most imminent danger.
"Goggy, goggy!" Kebiin resisted even her mother, trying to reach the hound.
Genna however wrangled the child successfully to Omega's great relief. "Yes, she is a very nice goggy, isn't she?"
Crosshair may have attempted to say something behind her back while Genna allowed Kebiin to pet the equally enthusiastic creature but she didn't let him. "I really should be getting back to the salon. I have an appointment and…"
"We'll help you with that." Wrecker lifted the double stroller with one hand since it currently wasn't being used.
"Oh, well, alright." Genna swore under her breath. She really had been thinking of taking the girls and getting away where she could think for a few standard minutes.
Echo had thought that Crosshair was being held in the same place as Omega. It only made sense that they would have been rescued together.
Omega fell into step beside her in the strange procession down the hill. "You really have your own business right here on Pabu?"
"I do."
Kebiin babbled her own version of the story but Genna didn't hear a peep from the other twin who still seemed to be perfectly content.
"Shep and Lyana helped me get set up but it was Phee who made sure I had all the supplies."
"It's kind of hard to believe you and Phee are friends." Omega didn't have to elaborate on why that idea was so unconscionable.
Genna laughed. "When she chooses to ever show her shabla face around here." And then she frowned as they reached the doorway of her establishment. "Oh."
As much as Genna liked Omega's pet who had bounded interestedly along with them up till now, she wondered at the wisdom of letting the curious creature loose within the confines of the shop.
Wrecker coincidentally noticed her dilemma. He set down the stroller carefully and whistled. "Come on, Girl. Let's see if we can't find somethin' for you to eat around here." He pet the hound who seemed eager but both of them looked to Omega with similar tilts to each of their heads as if asking her permission.
Omega laughed. "Yes. I think I'll stay here for a bit and catch up with Genna."
Hunter didn't look quite as keen to leave the premises. He especially scowled at his recently recovered brother but he sighed. "I need to go and find Shep and let him know we're back."
It was rather amazing that the governor of the island hadn't sought them out already. They had attracted a decent amount of attention since landing.
"We'll be alright here." Genna assured him, or maybe she was telling herself.
She turned her gaze on the clone who was still holding Saviin and noted the resemblance. It seemed the baby girl had gotten her oral fixation from her father's side of the family after all.
…
Obediently yet rather reluctantly, Crosshair set down his burden within the confines of a gated off section of the salon floor. She didn't seem at all perturbed by her captivity, merely crawling towards a tooka doll and immediately sticking the thing's ear into her mouth.
The other twin was still babbling, "goggy, goggy, goggy. Foof! Foof!" And then she transitioned into something that sounded like it could have been a real language somewhere in the galaxy.
He had the sudden vivid memory of his brother speaking similar gibberish to those Poletecs on Skako Minor. These two really were his children! And just as suddenly, Crosshair knew he would defend Tech's daughters with his life.
And then his revelation was interrupted by the event of a framed holostil being thrust into his hands. It was another image of Genna, this time clothed (thankfully) in some kind of ceremonial outfit with her hair dyed a dark brown and flanked by four young men with similar features.
Their expressions were reminiscent of Omega with the rest of the squad, and Crosshair thought he might have understood what had drawn Genna to become involved with their sordid group in the first place.
"My brother Ret." She pointed out one of the young men in particular. He was taller than the other three and had his hair dyed the same dark brown as hers was in the image.
There was something rather familiar about him. "Mm-hm." Crosshair nodded.
"You killed him."
Of course. She was from Onderon. Her brother had been one of the insurgents in the jungle with Gerrera.
"I gave the order. I didn't pull the trigger in this particular case." He continued on before she could stop him, in the spirit of full disclosure. "I would have done it if my orders hadn't been carried out."
Her expression was inscrutable but she nodded. "We were at war. I think maybe I had lost my brother before that day. When he made the decision to align himself with Saw." Then she looked up at him intently. "Do you remember the old woman and the children who my brother was trying to protect?"
Crosshair started to protest but the holo he was holding shook in his hand. "They weren't there when I returned with the new squad."
"I know." Genna took the precious object from him and hugged it to her chest. "They were brought here."
"They've been here on Pabu all this time?"
It was the first time either of them noticed that Omega had been observing their entire conversation.
"They will be here in this salon in less than fifteen kriffing minutes," Genna answered with a sigh, placing the holostil back in its place on the shelf. Then she turned to face Crosshair again seriously. "They know my brother died but they have no idea that you had anything to do with it. I'd like to keep it that way."
"As you wish," he agreed.
She brushed past him towards the styling chair to ready her supplies. "I only wanted to tell you because… are you sure you're ready to face them?"
Crosshair tried to inconspicuously rub his trembling hand. "Can't be any more difficult than facing you."
Genna's lip twitched not quite in a smile and then she grimaced as a small spasm ran down her leg and she reached down to massage the spot.
"Are you alright?" Crosshair sprung forward ready for action. He had noticed her favoring the leg on their walk down from the landing platform.
"It's nothing." She waved away his concern, returning to the prior discussion, and also trying to ignore the obvious pain. "They know you are my husband's brother and sister," she included Omega in the statement. "and they'll understand that you have both recently been released from captivity. Becca and Ezac are just about your age and they've been curious about finally meeting you."
"Why haven't I met them before?" Omega asked.
Genna shrugged. "It may have been the confusion after the sea surge or maybe Mrs Levi was just trying to keep a close watch on them. She's not actually their grandmother and they aren't actually siblings but they have forged that bond after all they've been through. I don't think they actually made the connection with me until they saw the picture of Ret and Phee introduced us."
Crosshair wasn't really paying attention to what they were saying. The names of the people and places and events were all unfamiliar to him. He contented himself with listening to the sound of their voices and watching the twins play.
It really was a shame that Tech couldn't be here himself to see and hear his own children. He wondered why Genna hadn't been given the goggles he'd seen back on the Marauder.
See through my eyes , Crosshair thought, although he wasn't sure why. He wasn't entirely sure that clones even possessed a soul that would cross over to something else after they passed on from this life.
He wondered if Genna believed in such a thing. He hadn't actually heard her mention Tech's name since they had arrived but then again maybe it was too painful a subject.
A glint of something sparkling in the light from the window caught his attention and he looked to where Genna and Omega were talking. Genna was holding something in her hand, a ring with a large purple stone that she kept on a cord around her neck and up till now had been hidden beneath the collar of her tunic. "I keep it close to me always," she intoned almost reverently.
Earlier she had referred to her "husband" and Crosshair had thought that meant they had exchanged some kind of vows, and he knew that married couples sometimes exchanged rings, but he had no idea where his brother would have come up with something like the rock that his sister reached out a tentative finger to touch.
Omega pursed her lips with concern. "You know it came from…"
Genna sighed. "A gift from Cid and Mollymauk, I know."
"But then Cid knew about you and she was the one who…"
"That's why I decided to stay here with the girls. She was never told about this place and neither was Mollymauk."
"Even when you knew that Tech wasn't coming back?" There were unshed tears sparkling in Omega's eyes when she asked the question and Genna's voice broke slightly when she answered.
"Even when Hunter told me about the message Echo was supposed to deliver."
"Oh, but he regretted that he had told Echo to say that almost as soon as we'd left him on Coruscant!" Omega hurried to assure her.
Crosshair frowned. Tech had asked Echo to pass on some sort of message to his wife that he later regretted?
Genna must have sensed him looking at her because she dropped the ring on its cord back into its hiding place beneath the collar of her tunic and brought the conversation to a conclusion with a flustered, "well then it's a good thing Echo never said anything to me about it."
Omega may have tried to press the issue if the door to the salon didn't open at that precise moment to emit a boy and girl just about Omega's age and an elderly woman whom Crosshair recognized from the squad's first trip to Onderon.
The twins seemed to recognize the newcomers as well, pausing in their playing to make sounds and gestures of welcome.
The little girl who was holding a ball was on her way to greet the babies as well until she saw Crosshair standing guard and halted her advance.
"Mrs. Levi!" Genna sprang into action.
"I'm sorry we're late." The old woman had a keen expression as if she were sizing up the battlefield making her plan of attack but there was a definite note of humor in her eyes as well.
"No, no, you're right on time. I was just chatting with my sister and brother-in-law. Hunter finally found them." Genna made the introductions. "Becca, Ezac, this is Omega and… Crosshair."
There was a pause before she said his name as if she wasn't quite sure what to call him.
"My helmet!" Omega suddenly exclaimed but then she demurred slightly. "I mean it's yours of course. It was probably yours first before I found it on Onderon."
The boy, who was indeed wearing a helmet that looked to be a little small on him, took the thing off and held it out to her with a faint blush rising in his cheeks. "Aw, you can have it. It doesn't really fit me anymore."
Omega took it with a shy smile of her own. "Thank you."
The little girl, Becca, stepped forward also, not to be left out. "Do you play limmie?" She held out her ball.
"I've seen a game but I've never actually played."
"It's easy! Ms Genna's been teaching us. You should come and play with us!" Becca encouraged her.
"Yeah, where's Deke and the other guys?" Ezac asked Genna.
"I gave him the afternoon off. They're probably up at the square getting ice cones." She was busy sorting out the tools of her trade and she waved distractedly. "You all should go and see if you can find them."
"Can we go, Grandmother?" Becca asked.
"I don't see why not." the old woman laughed.
"Will you come with us?"
Omega looked from Genna to Crosshair and back again, not so much for permission, he surmised, as to judge the advisability of leaving him alone with the women. But then she nodded, donning the helmet. "Alright."
Crosshair watched them go. Omega's growth may not have been accelerated but she did seem in some ways to be parsecs more mature than the other kids. In other ways though she was still very much a child herself and it made him smile to think of her running off to play. Then he sobered realizing that he was now more or less stranded here because he had no idea of his way around the island.
While Genna was busy seeing to her client, he grasped onto the distraction of his nieces. Kebiin in particular was vocalizing her frustration at being left behind by the older children. Crosshair lifted her easily from her confinement and listened intently to her garbled complaints. Some of the words sounded as if they might have been attempts at some of her mother's more colorful language but he just nodded and offered her an, "mm-hm," of solemn agreement.
Saviin also crawled over to him and pulled up to stand by grasping onto the leg of his pants.
He could feel the eyes of both the stylist and the old woman on his back and he wondered if he had done something wrong. It wasn't as if he had any experience at all with young children. He was just acting on instinct. And these weren't just any children, they were Tech's.
"You know," Mrs. Levi was saying conversationally, "among my people we have the tradition that if a man leaves his widow without a male heir then a brother marries her to provide a son to continue the family line."
Crosshair stiffened and he heard a tightness in Genna's voice as well when she responded. "I think Tech provided me with plenty to keep my hands full without a male heir."
Mrs Levi seemed not to notice the tension her words had caused or perhaps she was pretending not to. "Well, you certainly have plenty to choose from if you change your mind."
…
It could have been the time she had spent on a Separatist controlled planet during the war, seeing the machines marching through the streets of her beloved Iziz, or more likely it was the way this particular droid had reacted to the news that her children possessed half clone DNA, like they were a part of some sort of research assignment, but when Genna saw AZI floating past her window the next morning she cringed. Then she remembered who the droid would most likely be accompanying and she rushed to the door and flung it open. "Omega!"
A happy bark greeted her but not the clone she was expecting.
"Sorry to disappoint you." Crosshair stopped and gave her a polite nod.
She wasn't sure quite what to say to him but noticed that he had a large rifle slung over his shoulder and was reminded of something, of a soldier she had seen in the street in Iziz.
"Omega's still asleep on the Marauder."
"Oh," she nodded. "And where were you heading?" Mentally she kicked herself. It wasn't any of her business really.
He transferred the toothpick in his mouth from one corner to the other and gestured with a tilt of his head towards the hovering droid. "Target practice."
A laugh burst from her lips before she could contain it.
"What is so funny, CT nine nine zero four?" the droid inquired.
"Nothing for you to worry about." Crosshair shared a conspiratorial wink with Genna or at least she thought he did.
"Well, if you're looking for a good spot, the beach is where Echo took me for a shooting lesson."
"Thank you." Crosshair studied her curiously until she became a little flustered.
"I'm sorry about what Mrs Levi said yesterday about the twins being without a father."
"They had a father." He declared fiercely.
"I know and I've tried to explain that to her." She sighed and arranged a loose lock of her blonde hair behind her ear. "I don't think she sees you all as interchangeable or anything like that. She's just the type who likes to pair everyone off and she's got it into her head that I've been alone long enough."
"Mm-hm," he agreed but she wasn't sure of which part of her statement he was agreeing with.
"Anyway, I won't keep you." She took a step back towards her door and gave Batcher a scratch behind her ear.
"It was a pleasure to see you again Miss…" he paused a moment and then finished with the name she had already told him he was welcome to use the day before, "Genna."
She watched him go on down the street and then continued to stand there rather stupidly after he had disappeared around the corner.
"Genna?" Lyana called, startling her.
"Oh! Good morning."
"It is good to have Omega back, isn't it?"
"Yes." Genna glanced down the street once more and noticed the girl looking at her curiously. "She's not here. She wanted to sleep on the Marauder. I think she's still there, if you're looking for her."
"I already stopped by there. I was just wondering where…"
"Crosshair is going down to the beach for some blaster practice." Then Genna tried to play off her rather rapid response. "He came by here a moment ago."
"Right. Well, I was just going to bring him these." She held up the basket of fresh fruits.
"Great! I'm sure he'll love them." Genna was not at all sure of such a thing. She might have been able to charm Tech with her jogans but Crosshair was a completely different species. Not that she wanted to charm him, because she didn't. She wasn't setting out to charm anyone.
…
"Echo!"
Crosshair watched as Genna ran past him to embrace the cybernetically enhanced clone. He certainly didn't have any reason to expect a hug himself.
Echo laughed.
"I've been busy at the salon all day. I had no idea you'd come back for a visit so soon. But then of course you would have heard the wonderful news!"
"Hunter sent me a message as soon as they picked her up."
"I told you they'd find her soon!" Genna playfully punched his flesh and blood arm.
"That you did. You never gave up hope."
They got along well together, Crosshair thought. They were probably a comfort to each other after Tech's death. Maybe it was Echo that Mrs Levi had been referring to when she was talking about Genna's brothers-in-law.
Hadn't Genna mentioned something about Echo giving her shooting lessons? She had someone to teach her to defend herself and the twins. That was good.
"Hey, Genna!" Omega herself happily skipped down the ramp of Echo's ship.
"Meg! I was just telling Echo how good it is to have you home. And I was thinking that maybe you'd like to have a girl's night in? We can watch cheezy holos and eat junk food and I'll do your hair and we can invite Lyana and Becca if you like and get away from these di'kutla boys for a while." Again she shoved Echo but this time he frowned.
"I'm afraid you'll have to postpone the sleepover for the time being."
Omega agreed with him but with an air of excitement. "We're leaving right now on another mission!"
"Oh?" Genna's countenance fell. Not just disappointment but worry creased her features.
Omega held up a data pad. "We think there might be information on here that will help us free the other prisoners from Tantiss but it won't work unless we can hook it up to an Imperial terminal. Crosshair knows where we can find one!"
Then Genna rounded on him but she looked as if she was about to be sick. "You're showing them the way to this Imperial terminal?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Then you had better kriffing bring them back safely."
…
Crosshair carefully placed the helmets back onto the crates in the dim light of the outpost. Mayday. Hexx. Veetch. He didn't know the names of the others but he provided each of them with as much dignity as Mayday had when he performed this small service.
He remembered the way Mayday liked to talk. The way he'd tried to get Crosshair to talk about his old squad. He'd said he could use the distraction. The only thing Crosshair had been able to think about in that moment were all the secrets that would die with him if that mine had exploded.
He wished he could talk to Mayday now, to tell him that when push came to shove he hadn't talked. He hadn't given away those precious secrets and because of that Genna and her kids were safe. He had seen them and he could tell Mayday about them now because they would stay safe on Pabu.