Chapter 1 - Shadows of Tantiss
Author's Note: Disclaimer: I have no idea if Omega's room is really five levels up, but I will officially decide it is. =)
~ Tirana Sorki
The ceiling is gray, dark like all Tantiss. Always dark. Always empty. Everything has been empty since his brothers left him on Kamino. Crosshair has no idea when – or if – he'll see them again. Omega's here, not here-here, but here, and she's an idiot. Stubborn.
It's going to get her killed. That's all Crosshair can do. Ruin things. Hunter was right. He's always right. He was nothing to the Empire, nothing to anyone but the brothers he hurt and left behind.
Crosshair did this. He hurt them, and he's here of his own doing.
He still doesn't know how Omega's here. She's only come by a few times, saying something about how there's too many guards and she's still mapping out their layouts. She left, promising to come back tomorrow.
She never said how she was captured. Crosshair doesn't know how to ask, if he should ask. If he's... allowed to after what he did to them.
But he's angry. He tried to protect them, to keep them safe but Omega somehow got captured, anyway.
What happened?
How did the Empire find them?
Did he give something away? Did he say something he doesn't remember? Crosshair doesn't remember most of it. Just the constant blurring of painpainpain, the spinning room and Emerie beside them.
As if he wanted another sister.
He doesn't know what happened, but from the haunted, teary-eyed look on Omega's face he's almost entirely certain something bad happened she hasn't let on about, and he is terrified as to what. It's – something. Couldn't be worse than what he did to them himself, though.
He just wants to go home. Doesn't even know how to face them again. He shot Wrecker. He nearly killed Tech. Was about to drop Hunter with a headshot when Omega shot his blaster from his hands. He tried to incinerate them.
How is he supposed to go back and tell them he was wrong, that...
Maybe it's best he's here and not with –
Is that blaster fire?
There's a shuffling thump of armored bodies hitting the ground.
Now is not the time to be staging an escape. Not that there's even a way out, but genuinely –
Someone's beside his cell.
"Go away, Omega," he grumbles, glaring up at the ceiling.
"I am extremely offended you do not remember me," a very, very familiar voice grumbles, "Perhaps if you were to remain alert –"
Crosshair can't remember the last time he got up so fast. "Tech?!"
He's in Imperial armor, and the plain white looks awful on him, but the voice is his and he's too tall to be anyone else.
Tech looks the stupid helmet off, tucking it under his arm, and for the first time since Kamino, they see each other face to face. Tech looks the same. Older, a bit – his face is sharper, harder, features more tightened, and his eyes have a haunted distance to them Crosshair has never seen before – a rageful and entirely foreign feral-ness. His eyes are wild. It's an anger Crosshair has never seen, but he's not seen so, so much. He failed to see what the Empire was, everything his brothers tried warning him about, and he put them through so much.
"What are you doing here?" Crosshair asks, heart pounding. He feels dizzy. Lightheaded.
Tech is here. His brother is here, which means the others must not be far behind.
Tech came.
He came.
"Did you believe we would call off our mission to find you?"
"You were trying to find me?"
"How else would the Empire have located Omega?" Tech turns away, heading back to the controls and plugging his datapad into the port to get Crosshair's cell door open.
He borrows a blaster from the guards Tech stunned, dropping them off back in the cell just for good measure – he's been waiting to do that for a long time. Tech closes the door over them – good way of keeping them contained – and they creep to the end of the hall.
"What's the plan?" Crosshair inquires.
"Have you seen Omega?"
Tech came for him first? The others must've already gotten to the kid. Or, they're supposed to be. "Her room is five levels up, but she works in the lab. Most of the time."
"Ah," Tech says, studying the schematics on his datapad, "That will not be an issue."
**w**
Omega finds them, first, skidding to a stop in the hall when they run into each other. She looks at them, wide-eyed, lips parted. When Tech pulls his helmet off, she runs to him, throwing her arms around his waist and pressing her face against his stomach. He freezes up, as awkward as ever. Both hands are occupied, one with his helmet and the other with his blaster and datapad.
"Where's –"
"Do you know of a ship we can use?" Tech interrupts. The shortness is strange, and – where's the Marauder? Best ask later.
"Well," Omega answers, "No. I don't have that much access, and I've never tried scouting out the hangar."
Tech wordlessly plugs his datapad into another nearby console, typing.
Crosshair watches, anxiety twisting in his gut. It's been a long, long time since he's had to cover for one of his brothers, since he actually worked with someone he cared about, and the worry is entirely foreign to him now. He's forgotten so much. These are the things that used to define him, but Crosshair barely even remembers them anymore. All that time of having a family, a squad, of being part of Clone Force 99.
All that time he forgot so much of his life, of all the things that mattered.
"The hangars would be well-guarded," Crosshair warns, "If we're going that way, we'll need a diversion."
"I can divert troops," Tech answers, "Though I am not certain that will be enough. Omega, is there another way out?"
"Well... we can take the hound's chutes," she offers, "I know the way down there. It can get us outside, but we won't be able to get off-world without the Marauder or another shuttle."
"Except that they will send a search party after us," he replies, "And we may be able to hijack a shuttle from there."
"That's your plan?" Crosshair asks disbelievingly, "Go outside, and hope they follow us?"
"I have not heard you suggest an alternative." This is such a stupid idea. How could Tech have decided this was too his fancy? What is wrong with him? Clearly, all his brothers have lost their minds in the time he was away. And sisters.
**w**
Omega evidently snagged Nala Se's datapad. Tech sounded some sort of alarm. Most of it passes in a blur, though they make it safely down to the hound area. Omega shoots the droid before it can sound an alarm and moves up ahead to the cell on the far end.
"Batcher?" she asks, moving up to the bars. "We're gonna need your help, okay?"
The hound snarls fiercely at her. Crosshair rolls his eyes at the ceiling. He can't believe her. It figures, though. She did spend a lot of time sticking around him. Of course, she's spent ages taming wild hounds, too.
"Hey, it's okay!" she soothes, "We're leaving. We'll get you out to someplace safe, and you'll be free. You'll get to eat nicely, and you won't have to be shocked anymore. Just let me get this collar off, okay?"
"Does she do this a lot?" Crosshair grumbles, looking at Tech. He's getting the growing feeling that he's the only brother who bothered to show up, and he doesn't quite know how to feel about that, even if he would never ask Hunter, Wrecker, and Echo to endanger themselves for him anymore. He's the idiot who got himself here in the first place.
"Far too much," Tech agrees, "I am no longer certain this is the best course of action. Our absence has already been noted, and every minute we remain in this facility puts us more in danger."
"Calm down," Omega scowls, "She's just scared. I'm trying to get her to calm down. It's gonna take a few minutes."
"Goody," Crosshair mutters, crossing his arms.
"A few minutes which we do not have." At least Tech is irked, too. Makes Crosshair feel a little better about his own frustration.
He irritatedly rolls his eyes up at the ceiling and waits until Omega finishes coaxing the hound close enough to pull its collar off. How she expects them to make it past the feral creature without someone getting a limb ripped off, Crosshair has no idea.
This is really, really what happens when they let a kid call the shots. He adores Omega, but really, this is ridiculous.
Crosshair's patience died somewhere on Kamino as he sat in the rain and waited, day after day, for someone to finally remember and come back for him. For weeks, he'd waited, and... he's tired of mindless waiting.
The door opens and he and Tech jerk around, blasters aiming on the dark-haired scientist that enters.
Emerie Karr.
"Omega."
"Don't!" the kid protests, grabbing Crosshair's arm. He jerks away, tensed and braised for combat. He's not going to let his guard down just because the kid trusts this person. She tortured him. She's loyal to Hemlock. She's a clone, but her loyalty isn't to her family as it should be. Just like he once was, and he's not naïve enough to expect anything but an attack.
"You should go back to your room," Emerie continues.
"You mean her cell," Crosshair spits back furiously. He is furious at her, for what she did to him and for how she's blindly ignoring the kid's treatment. Omega deserves so much better than what she's been given here. She tried for him. She tried to help him when his brothers had already given up.
Not that Crosshair can even blame them. He's the one who was being an idiot.
"You're not thinking clearly. None of you," Emerie goes on. "But it's not too late. Come with me and no one needs to know about this."
"It is far too late for that," Tech answers shortly, his blaster aimed at her.
"I spent most of my life confined on Kamino. I won't be trapped here too. You're a clone like us, Emerie. Help us."
Tech's helmet turns briefly towards Crosshair and Omega, but he quickly refocuses on the obvious threat.
"Escape is not possible, Omega," Emerie continues, "This is for your own good."
She's not coming, and Crosshair's tired of waiting. He won't risk waiting until the guards show up. He flicks the setting to stun and pulls the trigger. Emerie drops, the same way she did a month ago in his cell, a beeping comm rolling from her hand.
Uh oh.
"We have to go," he warns, backing up.
"I'm on it," Omega replies, sliding the datapad into its slot and opening the doors. "Come on, Batcher. It's time to get out of here. They have a timed ray shield, so we'll have to be fast."
From there, they run. Batcher takes off in front, bounding through the end of the chute long before they make it, but that's when the ray shields behind them start closing.
"The shield's not supposed to activate yet," Omega worries.
"Evidently, they are aware we are in here," Tech asserts.
"Move faster!" Crosshair hisses, picking up speed. Crosshair makes it out first, rolling to brace himself across the drop in the landscape right below. Tech pushes Omega ahead of him and nearly gets bisected by the shield, but they come tumbling out of the end of the chute together.
"Now what?" he demands, standing and brushing himself off.
"I would recommend distancing ourselves from the facility. The closer we are, the faster the rest of the hounds will gain if they are released."
"Your plan is to run as far as we can into a jungle containing wildlife we have no way of countering?" Crosshair asks incredulously.
"Do you have an alternative solution?"
No, and he hates it, because all of this is so, so stupid. It screams of Tech planning all over, entirely devoid of Hunter's calm rationality. And frankly, sensibleness. "Not like I had time to map out the facility in my cell."
"That is a fair point. However, we do not have time to discuss this."
"Can't you call the Marauder to come and pick us up? Or did you lose it?"
Omega perks up at that. "Tech, tell me the Marauder wasn't stolen again!"
"It was not."
"Again?" Crosshair squawks. "Tech, how did you lose our ship?"
"Technically, it was not my doing. It was Wrecker's."
Omega scowls as if she was personally attacked. "It wasn't his fault he couldn't see it! Besides, we got it back. It doesn't matter."
"That is correct. It is not of significant importance."
Crosshair has so many questions.
He still doesn't know where Hunter, Echo, and Wrecker are. Now is probably not the best time to start a conversation about it, though.
**w**
Some giant creature encounters them before the hounds catch up, but the attacks are basically simultaneous, so the hounds distract the creature while the three of them keep running, not that there's too much further for them to go.
And that's when Crosshair finally hears the low drone of a ship engine. "They're coming," he warns.
The ship is shining a spotlight down as it flies, and they couch between the trees to stay hidden until the stormtroopers drop down from the shuttle and go in search of them on foot.
He and Tech start firing at the stormtroopers together, which has to be the very moment his hand starts acting up again. He can't shoot straight if his hand won't stop trembling. Crosshair has no idea what's wrong with it, but it's getting increasingly frustrating. He can't hot half the targets he used to if he can't even hold a blaster straight.
Omega runs for the ship, only to get cornered by a stormtrooper but before Tech or Crosshair can turn to help her, a lurca hound jumps him.
"Batcher?!" Omega exclaims eagerly.
That hound found them again? Crosshair thought it took off long ago. Maybe Omega's attempts to sweet-talk it were good for something. Maybe.
Omega disappears into the shuttle and it takes off moments later, the laser canons firing on the stormtroopers who all dive for cover. The ramp to the ship opens and he and Tech run for it, scrambling onboard, still exchanging fire with the stormtroopers. Omega darts down to the top of the ramp with her blaster – it looks ridiculous over-sized on her, if Crosshairs being honest – joining them in shooting back.
Tech runs for the controls, flying them off the ground.
Fighters are giving chase now, shooting at them. Tech is doing a good job avoiding them the way he always used to, but it's not enough. There's too many and their ship keeps getting hit. The systems are failing, and Crosshair has no idea how they're going to get off-world at this point. He can't see how many people are on their tail, but it's many.
The fighters break off unexpectedly, and Tech yanks down the lever to send them spiraling into hyperspace.
The ship is still damaged, though, and Crosshair doesn't know how long it'll last. It's sparking from multiple places. All this leaves him more confused than anything. He doesn't know what happened. It'd be so much easier if the Marauder – though at least it's not the ship that's sparking and falling to pieces – was here to pick them up, but he's assuming Tech was only able to infiltrate in stormtrooper armor.
But still.
"Where are the others?"
"They're not here," Tech answers shortly.
"What?" Crosshair asks. He doesn't mean to be nearly as bitter over it as he is, but he can't help it. All that time he waited. Omega had made him hope, think his brothers loved him again, somehow, no matter how impossible it may be. She made him remember. "Hunter didn't bother to show?"
Omega inhales sharply. He expects her to yell at him for talking about Hunter like that, like he would've done a couple of years ago, but Tech is the one who whirls on him.
"Hunter is gone," Tech snarls. Crosshair can't remember the last time he's seen his brother so furious, and this is the first time in his entire life he remembers being genuinely terrified of him. "He wanted you safe. We all wanted you to be safe."
"I – I told you to hide," Crosshair snarls back, "I told you to keep the kid safe! They cut off the message before I got it all through. I risked everything to send it to you."
"You were hurt. You needed us, and we came," Tech continues, "Hunter warned us of the consequences. We outvoted him. We went after you." He shoves Crosshair's shoulder, hard, and he stumbles a step back. The uncharacteristic show of violence has him instantly quiet. "We went to Eriadu to track Hemlock's ship to this base, but we were outmatched. Hunter was the one who paid for our failure."
Omega's watching them, face pale, tears falling soundlessly.
Crosshair looks back at Tech. His heart is pounding. and his head is spinning. It's too – too much.
"He wanted you to be safe. He wanted you to know that he still loved you, so before you say anything about Hunter, I suggest you think of that."
His body is trembling. Crosshair sinks onto one of the seats in the back. The ship is crashing and he knows they need to land, but suddenly, he doesn't care about that anymore. He doesn't care about anything anymore. All that matters is that Hunter is gone.
Hunter, who Crosshair had done so much too. Hunter, who asked him back and always took care of him, even after everything. Hunter, who he needed to try the most to make up to, only for him to be – gone.
Crosshair has never lost anyone before. He's never known anyone who died, not really. Never someone who was his heart and life and everything. Not one of his brothers. Not someone who – who –
Not someone he loved. Not someone who loved him.
And even if someone had, it wouldn't have been Hunter.
Hunter, who was so angry at him. Who he'd been so angry at and hurt so much. He'll never get to apologize, and he'll never have Hunter apologize to him or tell him everything will be fine. Hunter will never get to – anything again, and suddenly that explains Omega's withdrawnness. How cold and empty she was. How... she never talked about the others and froze up sometimes. How half the times outside his cell, she was on the verge of tears.
She never told him.
Crosshair wishes she had, but he doubts he'd have been able or willing to leave Tantiss if she had. If he'd known, if he'd realized that he'd only come back to whatever broken shards he left of Wrecker and Tech.
Batcher whines next to him, but Crosshair can't think about her, about anything, except how he's walking back into a not-home void of emptiness.
**w**
They... do crash. The comms are down, the stabilizers are out, and basically, the ship is one absolute wreck. Tech sends Omega to the back while Crosshair helps Tech bring them down. They skid a very long distance across the planet, bouncing and spinning, leaving a trail of flames.
"This will take forever to repair," Omega grumbles.
"No," Crosshair snaps back, "There's no time for that."
"Crosshair is correct," Tech replies, "It would be ideal to extract the coordinates from this shuttle, but we do not have the time required. We need to move before the Empire locates our ship."
"You got to Tantiss and didn't find the coordinates?"
"I boarded a transport that was heading to Tantiss."
"We need the coordinates for when we go back," Omega protests.
"We aren't going back," Crosshair snaps.
"But what about the other prisoners?"
"Escaping is our top priority. We are returning to Pabu, as Hunter requested." Tech's certainly in a mood, but Crosshair is very, very grateful that for the first time, his older brother is siding with him in the argument. He never, ever wants to see or hear or think about Tantiss again in his life.
"But we can't just leave everyone else," Omega objects.
"My primary mission was to rescue you and Crosshair and that was a success," Tech replies curtly, "We have no way of retrieving the coordinates or finding a way back in our present situation."
They leave the crash sight after that, finding disguises as they make their way through the city. They still don't have a way to contact the Marauder so they'll have to find a way off-planet on their own.
This is the first time Crosshair has done anything with Tech in so long. He wishes the rest of his brothers were here. He wishes Hunter was –
He's never going to see him again. It still feels unreal. He doesn't think it's going to feel truly real until they get back to the Marauder. He's not ready for that. He's never going to be ready for that.
There's countless troops surroundings the spaceport when they get there.
"It's too well-guarded," Omega observes, "We'll never slip past all those troopers undetected."
"That will not be a concern," Tech replies.
"I can take out at least half before they know what's happening," Crosshair agrees. That won't be the hard part. The harder part will be if they send in reinforcements before they can get off-world. Because the last thing he wants to think about ever again is going back to Tantiss.
"Or we could try a way that doesn't involve blaster fire," Omega objects.
"There is no time for that," Tech responds, "What is important is that we get out of here before the Empire tracks where our shuttle crashed."
"Blaster fire is going to draw their attention right here," she insists, "And besides, I don't want to hurt anyone."
Is she serious? He might care more if they weren't talking about Imperials who are going to kill them without a second thought. How does she survive training to be a soldier if she's like this?
"You're being naive," Crosshair informs her, "Every moment we're here, we're at risk." Any moment, the Empire could realize who they are and then everything will be over. The mere thought is terrifying. Once, he would have trusted blindly in their ability to get away but he can't anymore. He's been apart from his brothers for too long and - Hunter is gone.
"Getting off-planet is our primary concern," Tech agrees flatly, motioning for them to move forward.
It's strange to be following him instead of Hunter, knowing that Tech really is the one in charge of them now that he's gone.
They do, in fact, shoot their way out of the spaceport very easily and get onboard a shuttle. Ships give chase but there's not nearly as much firepower here as there was on Tantiss and they make it to hyperspace without much trouble.
"The ship will be tracked. We will have to dispose of it," Tech says, something Crosshair already figured. "I will contact Wrecker to meet us."
Because Wrecker is the only one who's going to be there.
How Crosshair is going to face that, he has no idea. How he's going to even face Wrecker period, he doesn't know either. He did so much to him too and everything is so different now. They lived over a year apart from each other. Time they're never going to get back.
And they're never going to get Hunter back.
Crosshair... has no idea how he's going to live with us. He doesn't know how any of them are going to.
He thought they could make things right. He really, truly thought he could find his way home and everything would be fine. That's why he killed that Lieutenant – he thought he could make his way out and get back home to where he belonged. He can apologize to Echo and Wrecker, sure. But that won't make up for how Hunter is gone.
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