Work Text:
Omega found herself walking through the sterile white halls of the Kaminoan facilities. She felt a bit dazed, unsure of the time, but she heard voices emanating from a room ahead. She crept closer and recognized the voices of Nala Se, her mentor, and Wilhuff Tarkin, the admiral who had come to inspect the clones. Their voices were raised; they were arguing.
“You can’t do this,” Nala Se was saying. “We had an agreement!”
“We no longer have a use for your clones,” Tarkin hissed as Omega reached the doorframe. She saw him raise a blaster. “Or for you.”
“No!” Omega cried. She sat up and looked around. She was not on Kamino; she was in her room on the Marauder. The stars were twinkling lightly down at her through the window. She took a shaky breath and laid back against the wall and snuggled Lula closely. Her blanket was damp with sweat. She could feel the tears welling and swallowed hard, holding them at bay. Her sobs had awoken Hunter the past several nights; she didn’t need to wake him up another time. She could manage.
Yet though she was able to keep the tears away, try as she might she could not get back to sleep. She threw her blanket off and got sleepily to her feet. Maybe a stroll around the ship would help tire her enough to go back to sleep, she decided.
She climbed down the ladder out of her room. The ship’s low hum soothed her as she wandered. Echo was manning the controls; she didn't want to bother him, so she continued on down to the lower part of the ship where the rest of the batch slept. She noticed a soft blue light spilling out from one of the bunks up ahead. It was Tech’s and Wrecker’s. She approached slowly, peeking her head around the doorframe.
Wrecker was asleep on his bunk, snoring slightly. But Tech sat at his work table, tools and wires and gadgetry spread around him, nose and goggles in a small piece of machinery. Omega watched with interest as his deft, delicate fingers tinkered away. He looked up at one point and caught her eye; she startled but managed not to flinch away.
“Omega!” Tech exclaimed softly. “What are you doing awake at this hour?” He pushed his goggles up on his nose. “Has your sleep cycle changed?”
Omega smiled. “No, I just couldn’t sleep. You’re not sleeping?”
“I rarely do. Besides, I want to get this scanner finished.” Tech gazed at her intently, his face a mixture of compassion and concern. “Did you have another nightmare?”
Omega nodded, and Tech motioned for her to come over. Not seeing another chair, Omega hopped up on the table, taking care to avoid any of the gadgetry Tech had laid out.
“You’re not alone, you know,” Tech told her, speaking quietly so as to not wake Wrecker. His eyes were still fixated on the object in his hands. “All of us have had nightmares at some point or another. Even Wrecker.”
“Even you?”
A shadow crossed Tech’s face, though he chuckled softly and glanced up at Omega. “Oh, yes.”
“About what?” Omega asked, unthinking. “Sorry! You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” she added quickly, though Tech waved a hand dismissively.
“Nightmares are merely a subconscious reaction to stress or anxiety. Of course they do not feel good, but they are nothing to be afraid of.”
He took a breath, then continued. “When I was your age, back on Kamino, I had to complete aptitude tests. Not only the physical ones like other clone soldiers, but rigorous mental ones as well. They were….unpleasant, to say the least. I would often have nightmares about getting the answers wrong.”
Omega gazed at him with such tenderness, it threatened to melt Tech’s data-driven heart. “It’s alright,” he said quickly, “I don’t have those nightmares anymore. These days, it would be about losing one of my brothers. Or you.”
The tears Omega had been holding back for so long threatened to burst forth once more. Not just at Tech’s admission, but at the remembrance of her own nightmare. She sniffled. “I dreamt of losing someone,” she confessed. “I dreamt I saw Nala Se, and Tarkin, and there….there was a blaster, and….” she couldn’t finish the rest as she finally choked out a sob. Tech was not usually one for physical contact, but he gently brought her to his chest like he had seen Cut do, and she wept as quietly as she could into the crook of his neck.
Internally, Tech was panicking. He didn’t like to see Omega hurting, and his brain yearned to unlock the exact correct formula to make her feel better. But his techno-beating heart drummed a different sort of rhythm since meeting Omega. His hand hovered hesitantly over her back for a moment before he brought it down to rub out soothing circles. After some minutes, she began to run out of tears to cry. She sniffled again and whispered against his chest, “Do you think it’s wrong to miss her?”
“Feelings are the culmination of external stimuli--or the memory of one or ones--and inner hormonal balance.”
Omega shifted to look up at Tech, confused. He gave her a small smile, then he reached up and took his goggles off, gingerly placing them on the table. She had never seen him without his goggles before. His honey-brown eyes were bright and warm as he looked into her own.
“That is to say, feelings cannot be wrong. They just...well, are. The fact that you feel this sadness and loss means that your connection to Nala Se is significant.” Tech looked away for a moment, wistful. “The Jedi would have said that these attachments make you susceptible to dark forces, but I believe the opposite is true. Based on my experience, it is my attachment to all of my brothers and theirs to me which makes us effective. Well, almost all.”
“What are you feeling about Crosshair?” she asked quietly.
Tech leaned back and looked up at the ceiling, thoughtful for a moment. Data and information, he had no problem with. But leave it to Omega to get him to talk about his feelings. “Sad, certainly. Disappointed, definitely. And, though I don’t like to admit it, angry.”
“At Crosshair?”
“At the Empire!” Tech slammed his hand down suddenly on the table. Omega flinched and Wrecker grunted, though thankfully did not wake. Tech’s eyes went wide.
“My apologies, Omega. I did not mean to startle you.”
Omega reached out her hand and placed it over Tech’s. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “I understand.”
Tech turned his hand over and held Omega’s in his own. “Do you know what else I am feeling? Very, very happy that you are here. And now, I think, it is time for rest. Oh! I have an idea,” Tech said excitedly, motioning for Omega to follow him over to his bunk atop Wrecker’s. “Don’t worry, it’s clean. I’m about the only one who washes their sheets around here.” He picked Omega up with ease and gently set her atop his bunk. She swung her legs over the side, eagerly awaiting him to explain the idea he’d had.
“Have you heard of the autonomous sensory meridian response?” he asked. She shook her head.
“It is a pleasant paresthesia, or tingling sensation on the skin, generally caused by soothing noises and which can aid in falling asleep,” he explained. “I do it with Echo sometimes, when he has trouble sleeping. Go ahead and lay down. I’m going to play some recordings from my datapad. What would you like? Rain? Forest? A desert at night?”
“It rained a lot on Kamino, so not that one.”
“Let’s try desert,” Tech murmured, tapping some buttons on the datapad. Moments later, Omega could hear the sounds of soft breezes and animals she could not place: delicate chirps and even the occasional distant howl. “Where is this?” she asked sleepily.
“This was on Lothal. Now, get comfortable. I’m going to add some visual triggers.” He took off his gloves and began waving his hands over Omega’s face in a gentle, fluid pattern. "Shhhh," he began to whisper, over and over, until Omega's eyes slowly began to drift closed. Tech continued for a few minutes more until he could hear Omega's breath deepen and knew she was fast asleep. He pulled the blanket up over her small frame and she nestled even deeper underneath it.
Tech beamed down at her. He never imagined he'd be putting a youngling to sleep, but now he wouldn't have it any other way. He slipped his goggles back on and returned to his work, taking comfort in knowing that the nightmares--his and hers both--were kept at bay, at least for now.