Part 2 - Cut and Run

Plot: In which Omega takes her little brothers to Saleucami, and they're introduced to the chaotic life off-Kamino for the first time.


Author's Note: This is for Febuwhump Day Nineteen: Alt#2 Lightning Strike.

PS. This is a gift for ProwlingThunder on ao3.

~ Rivana Rita


"Omega," Echo says, and he sounds tired. Her gaze flicks from her sleeping brothers piled around her – Hunter and Wrecker are squeezed up against either side, and Crosshair is sprawled wholly on top of her. Tech is curled up beside Hunter. It's comfortable and quiet. "They're kids. What are we gonna do with them?"

"Who said we'll do anything?" Omega replies. The only thing she's ever wanted was to get them back. Why would she be worried about the maybe's right now?

She never thought she'd get to see them again. How could anything make her give this up?

The moment is interrupted when the alarm system beeps, announcing their exit from hyperspace. Her brothers surprisingly, actually settle down to watch as they land, though they're visibly intrigued.

Echo hadn't been here when Omega met Cut before. She hopes he doesn't mind her bringing all five of them, but she trusts them, and Cut trusted her, too.

She pulls her helmet off, setting it on the pilot's seat before leaving, because she's not going to need the thing here. They're not going to be fighting. After the Outer Rim Sieges, she's very glad for a break.

Saleucami is as vibrant and full of life as it was when she was last here. There's not as many colors here as in many places, but it's still pretty, and there's so much life here.

She hears Echo right behind her, but her little brothers stop on the ramp.

"Woah," someone breathes – she thinks it was Crosshair.

Omega pauses, turning back to watch them. Hunter kicks at the dirt, staring at it before looking up. There's something cautiously warily worried on his face. Tech is looking around, eyes wide, and he's the first to trot to the bottom of the ramp, taking everything in. Crosshair raises his arm to block out the light, blinking rapidly to readjust to the brightness. Wrecker and Crosshair just kneel in the dirt, digging their fingers into it. Wrecker laughs gleefully and throws a handful of it at Tech, who ducks, turning back to glare at him.

Omega giggles. She remembers how she first reacted to seeing a world other than Kamino.

Hunter flinches a little, looking up. Omega follows his gaze to a storm cloud in the distance, one flickering with bolts of yellow lightning.

"What's wrong?" Omega queries – she has a vague memory of how he used to be terrified of lighting. He'd hide whenever there was a thunderstorm, which was most of the time. She sort of thought he... wouldn't be afraid of it anymore?

"Does it lightning everywhere?" Hunter asks, rubbing a hand down one of his arms.

"Pretty much, yeah," she replies, "Just not all the time like Kamino. Saleucami is pretty stormy, too, though. It just doesn't rain as much."

He nods. Hunter yelps ungracefully when Crosshair throws a handful of dirt at his back. "Crosshair!" he snaps, and Omega's impressed by his ability to know who threw something at him without even seeing them.

Crosshair giggles, bolting forwards, and Omega's entirely certain he was about to jump him if Echo hadn't grabbed his shoulder first. Crosshair freezes, pouting.

"C'mon," Omega urges, motioning to her (hopelessly insane) little brothers to move forwards.

**w**

Her little brothers hang in the background, mostly quiet while Omega and Echo talk to Cut and Suu. Omega introduces them to each other and Cut goes on to tell them that Rex apparently stopped by, and Echo's somehow more relieved by that than Omega is. She's so, so glad to hear he's safe. She hadn't been thinking about anyone except the other four right now because it was easier than thinking about the people she might've lost.

She has no idea if Anakin's still alive, and he's the only reason she had anyone to work with, that she and Echo go to stay together in the first place. She – she could ask Rex, but she's still afraid to hope. Still. If Rex is fine, then... he couldn't've gotten his inhibitor chip out on his own.

Shaeeah and Jek come in a few minutes later, freezing up when they see Omega and her brothers. It's a bit of an awkward meeting, but Shaeeah grabs Hunter's hand – who's been sitting off to the side with a strange tightness in his expression – and pulls him outside to go play, and the rest of the boys follow.

Omega moves to the doorway to watch, because she just – she already lost so much of her brother's lives. She doesn't want to miss anymore, even the most trivial little things. They're still so adorable.

The six of them are adapting their own bizarre version of the game – something about trying to keep it over somebody's head because there's too many people – though no one can figure out who's supposed to be where.

"What's with the kids?" Cut asks, approaching her.

Omega turns to look at him. "They're defective clones, like Echo and me. We had to take them off Kamino. It wasn't safe for them there anymore."

"Well, neither is Saleucami. Rex warned us of the storm that's coming. Clone troopers have already started showing up. I'm heading into town to book us a transport off-world."

"If you need to go somewhere, we can take you," she offers.

"Nah, you're wanted men," Cut replies, shaking his head, "It's too risky. I have to do what's best for them." He nods to his children outside, and Omega glances back outside again. "Battling droids was easy compared to raising a child," Cut adds, and she turns back to him. "You have no idea what you're in for."

"I'll figure it out," Omega answers with a shrug, "I knew them when I was little."

Cut hums an agreement, patting her shoulder and disappearing back inside. Omega throws a longing look outside again before following – she should help Suu with whatever it is they need to do.

**w**

Everything was fine until Wrecker kicked the ball through the fence, and Hunter goes out after it.

Omega didn't know until Shaeeah runs inside, panicking. Omega and Suu run outside, Suu heading for the roof and Omega drawing her blaster, running towards Hunter. He's holding still, at least, until the nexu bounds forwards.

Hunter drops the ball he's holding in one arm, ducking into a roll and unsheathing the knife Omega had almost missed he even had. He stabs it into the nexu's underbelly, rolling away from it and standing.

Omega shoots the nexu through its head – it'll die, anyway, and there's no point leaving it semi-alive in so much pain – before holstering her blaster. She grabs Hunter's hand, pulling him to his feet. He's panting, eyes wide, and Omega's heart is hammering.

"What're you doing out here?" she demands, half freaked out, half incredulous.

"'m sorry," he mutters, shuddering, "I didn't know there were animals out there."

"Eeeeeeeeewww!" Wrecker and Crosshair screech in unison when they see Hunter, well, now splattered in uh. There's a reason you don't go under things to cut them open. Ugh. It looks gross and Omega's equally disgusted, but she's a soldier and she's seen things just this bad before. Okay, maybe not quite this bloody, but seeing dead people is much worse somehow. Even if it's not so... gory.

"All in all, I would say that could've gone much worse," Tech announces.

"Maybe you should wait out here until I figure out something to clean you up," Omega offers – can't have him walking around like this, after all. "I'll clean your knife up, though."

**w**

She should've guessed leaving them outside alone a second time was a bad idea. She completely understands and respects her brothers' needs for cleanliness but trying to explain why solving all problems with a hose and more importantly, running around in the yard completely naked, is extremely tiring.

Echo just bursts out laughing when he sees it. The sound is so jarring Omega had to do a triple take to make sure it was really him, but yeah. It is. He's laughing hard enough that it must hurt at least a few of his endless supply of implants, but it's not enough to stop him from enjoying her misery, apparently.

Trying to explain that iT's BaD MaNnErS doesn't work. At all.

"Soldiers don't have manners," Crosshair snips proudly.

"It's not soldier-like, either," Omega goes for, because she's pretty sure that's literally the only thing that'll make them stop arguing.

"Well, we do not have armor, either," Tech pipes up.

Ugh. Honestly, she has no idea how to handle this conversation.

Cut saves her when he shows up with one of his way-too-huge spare pairs of clothes that looks way more like a slightly misshapen dress on Hunter's tiny size, and Echo's still laughing at them. Omega glares at him. There's nothing funny about this.

"They're children, Omega," Cut tells her, pulling her to the side out of the other's earshot. "I know they're being trained as soldiers, but they're more than that."

"I know," she sighs, "But I really don't know how to do this." She's very, very grudgingly willing to accept that's the truth. It is, though – taking care of babies was so much easier than this. She has no idea how to talk to them. Doesn't really know them anymore.

"Children always attract trouble," Cut replies, "But it's our job to protect them."

"That doesn't sound bad," she answers, because it doesn't – they're perfect capable of protecting themselves, too, clearly. Maybe she just... needs to get more used to it? That's probably it. "Anyway," Omega says, "About the chain codes you were mentioning, do you know what to do about that? Even if we're able to get you off planet, it could still be a future problem."

"I could forge them," Tech offers, appearing at her side. "I just need a datapad."

**w**

Tech is following Echo everywhere like a lost anooba pup that Omega ran into on whatever the planet's name was again. It's unreasonably adorable. It takes longer than she hoped but was somehow far faster than she expected before Tech decides that he needs to steal some disk something from the spaceport.

Omega's inside helping them finish packing when Crosshair grabs her wrist, tugging her arm lightly. She pauses, looking down at him – his eyes are wide and worried.

"I think somethin's wrong with Hunter," he says.

Omega pauses, turning towards him. "Something what?" she asks, instantly alarmed.

"I don't know," he says, "But – I think he's overstimulated again."

Hunter – what? Overstimulation isn't really something Omega's had much experience with. Getting used to the sound and lights from explosions was hard, but Saleucami hasn't been noisy. Nothing's even happened here. That shouldn't even be a concern.

"Oh," Omega says instead of any of the million and one things she could, because really, she doesn't know what else to say. "Where is he?"

"Outside," Crosshair says. He backs away from her, like he's expecting something... something, but she doesn't know what.

Omega remembers how Hunter had asked about lightning right after they landed. He hadn't been happy to see it. She thought something was hurting him, though she couldn't figure out what. She wants to ask if he's just... sensitive to things, but she thinks Crosshair might take it wrong. Maybe. That's something Omega would always have been touchy about in that place. She remembers the other clones would make fun of her for it.

Omega heads outside, following Crosshair until he pauses just outside the doorway and just... waits. Hunter's still out there, though now he's sitting up against the side of the house, and he looks positively ridiculous dressed like this. Adorable, too. His hair's still wet.

"Hunter?" Omega asks, somewhat worried, but mostly just awkward and a little lost. She sits down beside him, and he glances up at her, expression worryingly tense. "Crosshair said he thought something was wrong."

"I'm okay," Hunter tries and fails to reassure, "Just a headache. I get 'em all the time."

That's not normal. "That's not supposed to happen," Omega argues with a shake of her head, "Are you hurt?"

Hunter looks up at her. He's nervous – she can tell. They haven't known her for long, and Omega knows it can be hard to trust people. Her brothers have never been close with anyone, not like she was herself, and they seem... warier around adults. Omega's their sister, though. "It's okay," she tries going for, "You can tell me."

Hunter sighs, leaning back against the wall. "Everything does," Hunter says quietly, "I feel so much all the time. Tech says it's too much. Um. Sensory input or something. It's overwhelming."

There's something... different about his senses, then? How would that be considered a useful mutation? "What makes you different?" Omega asks, "Than the other clones?"

"I can feel electricity," Hunter answers, "Electric fields. I didn't know every planet was so... different."

That explains the lightning thing. Is it like... a sixth sense? Where aside from the light, he feels it on another field, too? "Oh," Omega whispers, because that's all she can say. The electricity here is... different?"

"The planet is," Hunter replies, "I dunno how to explain it. But it feels different. It hurts. 't always does."

She feels a quiet level of muted horror. Doesn't know what to tell him. "Is there anything that helps?" Omega asks.

"Sleeping," he offers, "But... it's never been this bad before."

"C'mere," Omega requests, holding an arm out to him. Hunter climbs into her lap, facing away from the sun, so his face is in the shadows. He rests his head on Omega's chest plate, and Omega wraps an arm around his back, holding him close. She lightly runs a hand through his hair, and Hunter leans into it. It's cleaned out, anyway, no matter how crazy the hose-idea was.

He feels so small. He's probably five – she doesn't know. Omega was this size at twelve.

"It always hurts," Hunter whispers, "I don't want to tell the others. They shouldn't hafta worry about me."

"But you're hurt," Omega argues, "They should know about that, right?"

"I'm their leader," he argues, "They don't have time. I'm supposed to... be strong for them. To protect them."

She remembers what Cut had said to her earlier about their being soldiers. "You're not on Kamino anymore," Omega tells him, gently stroking his hair. Hunter exhales deeply, snuggling closer. "I know what you've been told, but you're free now." Anakin had taught her how important it was to be free. What that meant to him and to the clones, how it was something most of the clones never got to have. She still remembers that. It had mattered to her, too. "You don't have to worry about that anymore. You're a kid, too."

"I can't be anything else," Hunter objects, "If... I don't protect them, what am I?"

"You're not a what," Omega tells him flatly, pulling his head back to look at him, because that sentence bothered her immensely. Her hand is on his cheek, touching him lightly – she's seen Cut touch his children like this, and Omega never quite understood it until now. Hunter's eyes look wet, and she swallows. "You're not a thing, Hunter. But you're my brother, no matter who you are. Okay?"

Hunter nods against her palm, and Omega leans down to kiss his forehead.

"Omega." She pauses at Echo's voice, looking up. He's approaching her, Tech predictably a few feet behind. Lost anooba pup. Absolutely. Crosshair pushes himself off the wall which he's been leaning against, arms crossed, watching them, though she doesn't think he can hear everything they're saying.

"Yeah?" she asks quietly because she suspects the sound would probably make it worse.

"We have an idea to get into the spaceport," Echo explains, "The disks are inside, and we need to get inside for Tech to forge the chain codes."

"Technically, it was my idea," Tech says loudly, "You just agreed to it."

"And we needed to double-check it with Omega, first," Echo replies, "Since the Empire's been seizing ships here, we thought we could call in ours and hide aboard."

"Sure," Omega replies, shifting a little. "That'll work. We should probably, uh, deal with the clothes thing first, though."

**w**

Crosshair borrows one of Shaeeah's coats because Jek's are too small, and trails after Cut's family to keep in contact. Omega told him pointedly to keep his hair covered, because humans don't just have gray hair, and she has no idea if he listened. Hopefully, he did. They needed Echo and Tech for the disks, and Omega wasn't going to risk taking her armor off. Wrecker's too big, and they'll need Hunter to bring them the disks once Tech finishes up.

Omega isn't very happy about letting Hunter go alone, but they don't have much choice.

Predictably, according to their typical luck, Echo gets caught trying to get the clamps off the ship. Omega swings in and stuns them, because they're clones, and she doesn't want to actually kill them. Wrecker jumps into the fray, knocking them out with a blow to their head. Except, oh-so-predictably, they're spotted, and a shootout begins.

They have a spare comm – Omega has no idea why she got them, but it turned out to be a good thing – which she gave to Crosshair, so she comms him amidst the fray and tells him to hurry back.

"We're on our way," Hunter replies.

Wrecker has to rip the clamp off by hand in order to break it, which thankfully works, and Tech takes off aboard to get the engines running. Omega's not going to ask if he knows what he's doing, even if she's still a bit worried. He's obviously really smart, and if he can forge chain codes, he definitely can fly a shuttle without blowing it up. ... Probably.

Omega and Wrecker, with a blaster he stole, cover for the others while they scramble aboard the Marauder. Omega reclaims her seat from Tech to fly them out, and she doesn't breathe a sigh of relief until they make it into hyperspace. Being on the run is so tense.

Hunter sinks into his seat, nearly sagging with relief. Omega casts a worried glance his direction, but he looks alert, unlike earlier, so she hopes that means he's... temporarily fine.

"You okay?" she asks, anyway, because she would think that would've been a bit... disconcerting to be off by themselves like that.

"Yeah," Crosshair answers, rolling his shoulders, "Where do we go now?"

Now that they're off Saleucami, she feels lost again. Cut had told her that if she wanted to hide from the Empire, to disappear, she'd have to settle down, but that's not something Omega wants. "We'll have to fix the Marauder," she says, "We'll have to do a full system scan to make sure nothing was damaged too badly when we left, 'cuz we got shot a buncha times. After that... I don't know."

"I guess we'll figure it out on the way," Echo replies, "Like we often do."

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