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“Crosshair, can you grab that?” Hunter asked him, mentioning at a crate sitting outside the ship. Both him and Wrecker had their hands full with crates of their own.
With a quiet sigh, Crosshair abandoned his perch on a rock where he’d been cleaning his rifle to help the others. They’d been on the run ever since leaving Kamino, taking work from Echo’s contact Cid when it was presented to them to keep them busy.
They’d been sent by Cid to pick up a shipment and decided to grab some much-needed supplies for themselves while they were at it. Tech and Echo were busy doing whatever it was that they did with the ship when they weren’t on missions, leaving Crosshair to help load everything onboard.
They never used to do jobs like this. They were soldiers, trained to fight in combat. But ever since the Empire came along there had been a lot of changes. Changes across the galaxy and within their team with the addition of the girl from Kamino, Omega.
Crosshair had been a little cold to her at first but, over time, he’d warmed up to her. He’d never admit that to any of the others, of course, but the kid was alright.
When Crosshair came out one time to get another crate, he spotted Omega. She was standing over a little ways away from the ship, the bow she’d acquired from the slavers on Ord Mantel in her hands as she tried to hit a target haphazardly painted onto a rockface. Crosshair watched as she pulled back the firing mechanism, arms shaking with the effort, before releasing. The shot barely made it within five feet of the target.
Crosshair paused to watch her, observing her form. She fired off two more shots before Crosshair finally sighed, taking pity on her and going over to where she’d set up.
As he got closer to her, Omega fired off another shot from the bow, closer to the target but still not hitting it. He heard her frustrated sigh as she let her arms take a rest.
“Having trouble?” He asked her, crossing his arms and adjusting the toothpick in his mouth.
“Crosshair!” She gasped, turning around. “Sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
“Hm.” Was his only reply.
“What’s up?” She asked, letting the bow collapse into its deactivated position.
“Loading cargo.” He replied.
“Then, why are you over here?” She asked.
“Came to see how you were doing.” Crosshair told her. “From the looks of it, not very well.”
“Well, I’m still learning. Echo said it’ll take practise to get good. Just like you!” Omega said with an enthusiastic smile.
“You know your enthusiasm is annoying, right?” Crosshair said, trying his hardest to look deterring.
“Yep!” Omega replied, her smile growing. “It’s part of my charm!”
That got a genuine smile and a small laugh out of Crosshair, which was an achievement all in itself.
“Did you want some pointers?” He offered.
“Yes!” Omega cheered, excited to get help from the team’s sharpshooter.
“Alright.” Crosshair said, stepping closer to her. “Show me what you’ve got.”
Omega reactivated the bow, the purple-pink energy humming as it came to life. She pulled back on the string, arms shaking again, and lifted the bow to aim.
“Stop.” Crosshair told her. She turned around to look at him and he shook his head. “Don’t move. Just freeze.”
She did as he told her, struggling to hold the bow in place. He came over to her and stepped up to her side.
“You’re unbalanced.” He told her, earning a confused look. “Keep your feet shoulder-width apart.”
“Right,” Omega said, taking his advice and looking down at her feet, shuffling to get them in the right position. “What next?”
“Keep your arms straight.” Crosshair said, lifting her front arm up a little with his hand.
“Okay.” Omega said, holding the position the best she could when he took his hand away.
“Make sure you keep your back elbow up.” He instructed. “If it falls it’ll mess up the shot.” He nudged the back elbow up the same way he had with her other arm.
“Okay.”
“The most important part is to look where you want to shoot.” He told her, stepping back. “If you take your eye off the target, you’re not going to hit it.”
“Okay. Am I good to fire?” She asked him.
“Go for it.” He said, watching her closely.
Omega took a deep breath. Crosshair could see her mentally running through the things he told her, making sure she was doing it all correctly. Then she gave the string one hard pull to build up an energy charge before letting it go.
The shot made a clear path and hit one of the inner circles of the target, which was much better than what she had been shooting.
Omega cheered and spun around to face him, one of the widest grins he’d ever seen stretched across her face.
“Did you see that?” She squeaked in excitement. “I hit it! That’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to a bullseye!”
“Not bad, kid.” Crosshair admitted with a small smile. “Try it again.”
Omega fired off a few more rounds with the plasma bow, Crosshair offering suggestions before he stepped in to give her a demonstration.
“Did you want me to show you how to do it?” He offered in his usual sarcastic tone.
“Sure.” Omega said, taking no offence at his words. That was another thing he liked about her. “Maybe watching you will help me.”
She passed the bow to Crosshair and he activated it.
“Watch. I’m balanced, my arms are straight, I keep my back elbow up and I’m going to keep my hand in place after I’ve let go.” Crosshair said, verbally running her through the checklist as he drew back the string of purple-pink energy to fire. “What’s the most important thing?”
“Keep your eye on the target.” Omega supplied with a proud smile.
“Exactly.” Crosshair said, turning back to the target painted on the rocks.
He released the bow, keeping his hand in place just like he’d told Omega, and the shot hit the center of the target. Well, not exactly center. It was a little more to the right than Crosshair would have liked, but that didn’t stop Omega’s awed reaction.
“Wow!” She gasped. “That was amazing!”
“You try now.” Crosshair told her, tossing the bow back over to her.
She caught it and they traded places again. She followed all of his advice this time around, give or take the few times she didn’t do a step properly. She still missed the target, but her misses were a lot closer than they were before.
And on her sixteenth try after his demonstration, she actually hit the bullseye.
“Did you see!” Omega squealed. “I hit it! I actually hit it!”
“Nice job kid. Practice enough and you might be half as good as me one day.” Crosshair teased her with a smile.
She laughed, deactivating her bow and bounding over to him. She completely took him by surprise when she leapt up into his arms and wrapped her arms around him in a hug.
“Thank you, Crosshair.” She said. He hesitated a second out of shock and not quite knowing what to do, but eventually gave in and hugged her back, holding her to his chest.
“No problem kid.” He told her.
Once Omega released him from her embrace they decided to call it a day, turning to head back to the ship. Crosshair noticed that all of the crates had been loaded, meaning they were probably leaving. He would have wondered why someone didn’t come to get them if he didn’t see Hunter standing in the doorway, watching them from the ship.
Crosshair almost groaned, thinking about how the others might tease him for this, but all he could see on Hunter’s face was a smile. The kind of smile that he always had when he was reminiscing over something or enjoying the moment. Omega took his hand in her much smaller one, causing him to look down at her.
“It’s okay. I’m sure Hunter’s not mad.” She reassured him with her infectious smile. She always did seem to know just what they were all feeling. “And I won’t let any of the others make fun of you. Just as long as you keep teaching me.”
“Deal.” Crosshair agreed with a smile.
They walked back to the ship together, Omega still holding onto Crosshair’s hand as they went. And Crosshair was going to be sure to hold up his end of their deal, whether or not Omega kept up hers.