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The groan of metal and the sound of dripping water and hushed voices were what first greeted Crosshair as he dragged himself slowly back to consciousness. His head pounded and his stomach swam as he fought off the effects of being stunned. With a light groan, he screwed up his face in a grimace, then forced himself to open his eyes. 

What he was met with was not the sight of his former teammates, nor the interior of their ship—but total darkness. Well, save for a few torches on the other side of the space he was in, pointed at a control panel on the wall, vaguely illuminating the silhouettes of Tech and Echo. 

He watched them for a moment, straightening up against the wall he was seated against, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He’d only just begun to make out the forms of the others when a click resounded through the space, followed by the sound of machinery turning on, and the lights flickered to life—on the floor directly across from where he was seated. 

Crosshair hissed, turning his head away from the offending glare, staring off at the wall to his left to allow his eyes to adjust once more. And as they did so, he found himself staring in disbelief at his surroundings. 

They were in one of the many halls that filled Tipoca City, but its familiarity was lost on the fact that it had been turned almost completely sideways. What had once been the floor, now acted as the wall he was seated against. And everything around him had been reduced to ruin. Cables spilled out past warped and dented wall panels. The lights across from him flickered weakly. And somewhere further down the hall, water was pouring in, steadily trickling down to form a long puddle that inched closer towards him with every second. 

“There we are,” Tech declared from the other side of the hall, pulling Crosshair back to the present. “Auxiliary power is back online.”

“Temporarily,” Echo added, turning to look at Hunter, Wrecker, Omega, and AZ, who were waiting anxiously behind him. “We don’t have long before the backup generators get flooded.”

“Do we have a way out yet?” Hunter asked.

“Still working on that,” Tech replied, turning back towards him, tapping away at something on his datapad. “Unfortunately most of the systems for this part of the city went offline immediately following the attack and its subsequent submersion, including the ones responsible for reporting and assessing any damage the structure might have taken.”

“So…?” Wrecker said. 

Omega sighed. “We don’t know if we’ll be able to reach Nala Se’s private lab,” she translated. 

Crosshair frowned, eyeing the backpack and rifle Hunter had tucked under his arm— his gear. He stole another glance around, confirming his surroundings, reckoning with the feeling of disbelief that swelled in his chest. They’d brought him with them.

He could have laughed. Now that everything was finally coming apart— now they cared? But he choked the bitterness down—it could wait—and tuned back into his former teammates’ conversation.

“We could try swimming to the platform,” Wrecker suggested. 

“Highly unlikely,” Tech replied, not looking up from his datapad. “The turbulence of the ocean alone would kill us before we got anywhere close. And even if we did, the platform is raised too high for us to climb it.”

“And I don’t think AZ would do very well in the water,” Omega added.

“Agreed,” said the droid.

Crosshair sighed, pressing a hand flat against the wall behind him for support before rising unsteadily to his feet. “Then we go up,” he growled.

In an instant, all eyes were on him. 

“Crosshair—” Hunter started to say.

“Or would you rather stay here and wait for the city to sink?” Crosshair asked, ignoring him. 

For a moment, no one spoke. Hunter and Echo exchanged a look, Omega glanced up towards the ceiling, looking deep in thought, and Wrecker shifted his feet uneasily. 

“He’s right,” Tech spoke up finally, adjusting his goggles. “The structural integrity of the support beams holding up this part of the city are likely growing weaker every minute.”

As if to prove his point, a metallic groan reverberated through the space, and all of them, save for AZ, wobbled as the floor shifted beneath their feet. 

“Even if we can’t access the tube system, we might be able to find a comms station on the way up,” Echo reasoned. “We could send out a distress signal to Rex.”

“Good idea,” Hunter said. 

“One of the rooms on this hallway should have access to the central air duct system. We can use it to get up to the level above us,” Tech added.

“What’re we gonna do about—?” Wrecker jerked his head in Crosshair’s direction.

“Excellent question,” Crosshair agreed, narrowing his eyes at Hunter and crossing his arms. “Though I suppose if it all comes down to it, you could just leave me here. Again.”

Hunter turned towards him hesitantly, tightening his grip on the gear he had tucked under his arm. “We didn’t want to do it the first time,” he replied, and Crosshair relished the regret in the other man’s voice.

“Yeah, but you tried to kill us,” Wrecker added.

“That wasn’t his fault,” Omega insisted, looking up at both him and Hunter.

“We don’t know that,” Hunter said quickly, glancing at her before meeting Crosshair’s gaze. “You said you got your chip taken out. When?”
    Crosshair opened his mouth to reply, but shut it as a tremor wracked through the structure, glancing over his shoulder as the trickle of water flooding the hallway behind him turned into a steady stream. 

“We can resolve this matter later,” Tech said quickly, tucking his datapad away and stepping up beside Hunter. “Right now, we need to focus on finding a way out of here.”

“Preferably as quickly as possible,” AZ added anxiously.

Hunter just let out a sigh and glanced at the gear he had tucked under his arm. He pondered it for a moment, then separated the rifle from the backpack, stepping forward and hesitantly offering the latter to Crosshair. 

It was hardly an olive branch, but Crosshair wasn’t about to say no. He took it and holstered it on his back, feeling it click into place as it lined up with the magnet on the back of his armor. “I don’t suppose you grabbed my helmet too,” he remarked, eyeing the rifle still in Hunter’s hand.

“Sorry,” Hunter replied. And he followed Crosshair’s gaze towards the weapon before meeting his eye again.

“Like I said, if I wanted to kill you, I would have already,” Crosshair said pointedly.

Hunter took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then handed him his rifle. “Don’t try anything,” he warned.

Crosshair just scoffed as he holstered the weapon, looking over as Omega called out “hey guys? I think I found a way up!”

She’d gone further down the hall past Echo and Tech, and was now standing below a door, waving to get their attention.

“At least one of us is being proactive,” Echo sighed, turning and making his way towards her. 

Crosshair watched as the others did the same, catching the look Hunter threw towards him over his shoulder. He met it with a glare before following him and the others towards Omega.

The room Omega found had in fact had access to the central air duct system. And with a bit of finagling, a few human ladders, and some mild cursing, they found themselves in the next room over. A quick scan of the room confirmed it wasn’t a comms station, and they opted to move on, checking the other rooms before helping each other into the next hallway over.

They continued like this for a few levels, stopping every few minutes to cling to their surroundings as the structure shifted and settled around them. 

Crosshair held his silence, listening as the others chattered amongst themselves, urging each other to move quickly and carefully, or offering reassurance when needed. And an ache started to form in his chest, countering the one in his head—raw and burning like molten metal beneath his sternum. And with each level they climbed, the harder he fought to keep it down. 

Wrecker boosted him into the next hall up, and he clambered off to the side to make room for the others, watching as Tech examined his datapad for signs of a comms station on their current level. He looked over as a flicker of lighting poured through a hole further down to his left; a wound left from the fire of a turbolaser turret. And the ache in his chest burned hotter. 

Hunter and the others, he realized, weren’t the only ones that had abandoned him—  

“Crosshair?”

He looked over at the sound of Echo’s voice, spotting him further down the hall to his right with the others. 

—But they’d still abandoned him. 

He looked back towards the hole in the ceiling and the water pouring in from it, eyeing the storm roiling in the clouds above. The Imperial ships that had hovered in the sky among them were gone now. He’d expected nothing less. But it still stung—though not as much as it had the first time he’d been left behind. 

“You were right, Hunter” he said finally. 

“What are you talking about?” came Hunter’s voice behind him. 

Crosshair didn’t turn to look, eyes on the blackened sky above him. “It would seem the Empire was just using me,” He sighed, watching as another flash of lightning lit up the clouds, then he rounded on the others, “but if you knew that all along, then why didn’t you come back for me?”

Hunter held his gaze, and Crosshair could see his hackles slowly raising—his guard coming up. “It was too dangerous,” he said carefully.

Crosshair jerked his head towards Omega. “It was dangerous when you came back for her,” he replied with barely-contained venom. 

“Hey, leave the kid out of this,” Echo growled, taking a step forward.

“But he’s right, though!” Omega protested, looking first to him, then Hunter. “We could have—”

Hunter held up a hand to silence her, then met Crosshair’s gaze, expression unreadable behind his helmet. “We’re here now,” he said.

And Crosshair almost— almost— laughed. “Only because they came back for you,” he snarled, taking a step towards them, the ache in his chest mixing with the anger boiling inside of him. “And it only took them a few hours after you’d been captured. Yet despite how long I waited, none of you came back for me.”

“We...we couldn’t risk it once we had Omega. You were too dangerous. You tried to kill us,” Hunter reiterated, shoulders sinking.

“Something I wouldn’t have needed to do had you chosen to stay here like we were all meant to!” He shook his head, fighting to regain his composure. “I wasn’t the one that split up the team, Hunter. You’re the ones that left.”

No one spoke for what felt like an eternity. The storm outside howled and raged, and the distant sound of Tipoca City settling into the ocean poured through the hole in the ceiling.

Then Omega took a deep breath and said “they...kept your armor. I think it they probably grabbed it by accident when they came to rescue me, but...if they didn’t think you’d still need it, I don’t think they’d have kept it.”

Crosshair glanced at her, expression softening slightly, then looked questioningly back at Hunter.

“Oh yeah, that’s right!” Wrecker said with a chuckle.

Crosshair ignored him, thinking hard. Hunter had never been a particularly difficult person for him to read, but right now, he’d have given anything to be inside the other man’s head. Why keep his armor around? Had they planned to come back for him after all? Why hadn’t they done so sooner? Why— 

Tech cleared his throat, interrupting Crosshair’s train of thought, and said “need I remind you of the precariousness of our current situation?”

He barely got the last word out before the structure gave a violent lurch. Wrecker grabbed Omega and AZ and shielded them with his body as several of the wall panels above them came loose. The doors directly above Hunter slid open. And Crosshair felt himself move. 

He heard the air whoosh out of Hunter’s lungs as he tackled the other man backwards, narrowly avoiding the heavy piece of machinery that slammed into the ground where he’d been standing seconds before. The world lurched again, this time in the other direction. And with a terrible screeching groan the structure collapsed backwards, righting itself, and sank deeper into the sea. 

For a moment, the only thing Crosshair was aware of was the ringing in his ears and the flickering lights around him. Then Hunter let out a groan beside him.

“You saved me,” he said, meeting Crosshair’s gaze, sounding incredulous.

“Someone has to watch your blind spot,” Crosshair retorted.

Hunter just snorted, and clambered to his feet, asking “everyone alright?”

Crosshair rose as well, pressing a hand to his side with a wince. There was no blood, but he was certain getting thrown around had left him with a nasty bruise. 

“Yeah, we’re great,” Wrecker breathed. Both Omega and AZ were still wrapped in his arms, and the former gave Hunter a weak smile and a thumb’s up.

Behind him, Echo offered Tech a hand and pulled him to his feet. “At least now we’re right-side-up,” the former remarked.

“Yes,” Tech agreed, “unfortunately that now presents another problem.”

Crosshair didn’t need to think hard to guess what the other man was referring to. A quick glance at the ground told him everything he needed to know. A thin layer of water had begun bubbling up through the gaps in the floor, and as he watched, it rose above the toe of his boots. “We need to keep moving,” he said, nodding towards the others.

“Where do we go?” Omega asked, wading through the quickly rising waters towards Hunter.

“It would seem as though the structural collapse jump-started a few systems back online. I’m getting a signal from the comms center two levels above us,” Tech replied, eyes on his datapad.

“If we can reach it, we can send out a distress signal to Rex,” Echo said.

He barely took a step forward before the lights flickered out. 

“Aw, and now we gotta find our way there in the dark?” Wrecker complained.

Omega said nothing, but pulled her torch off her belt and flicked it on under her chin, illuminating her features with a smile.

Wrecker let out a yelp, then a chuckle. “Oh, it’s just you, Omega. You scared me.”

Crosshair just let out an irritated sigh and pulled his own torch off his hip, clicking it on and shining it down the hall behind him. “The turbolift is this way. Let’s get moving,” he said over his shoulder. 

He listened as the others flicked their torches on and waded after him, a frown settling on his face as Hunter caught up to him. 

“Crosshair—”

“Now isn’t the time,” he hissed. The beam of his torch found the turbolift doors and he nodded at them, saying “here we are.”

Hunter sighed, looking over his shoulder, then moved out of the way so Tech and Echo could pass him and get a better look at what they were dealing with. “Think it’ll still work?”

“Highly unlikely,” Tech replied. “The force of impact from the blaster fire combined with the structure falling into the sea likely knocked the lift car loose. It’s most likely at the bottom of the shaft, completely submerged by now.”

“But, there’s a maintenance ladder inside that we should be able to use,” Echo added, hooking his prosthetic up to the control panel next to the doors. There was a small beep, and they slid open. 

Hunter leaned over, shining his torch into the empty turbolift shaft. A steady stream of water poured down the middle of it, only partly obscuring the maintenance ladder running up the side of it. “Alright,” he said, “let’s go.” Then he holstered his torch on his hip and leapt across the shaft, grabbed onto the rungs, and started climbing. 

The others followed, carefully ascending to the level two floors above them. When they reached it, Echo leapt across the shaft, balancing precariously on the narrow strip of footing right in front of the doors, plugging his prosthetic into a maintenance panel beside them. They ground open slowly, and he stepped through, offering a hand to Hunter as the other man jumped across behind him. One-by-one the rest of them followed, each taking in their surroundings once they were back on solid ground with unease. 

A thick haze of smoke filled the hallway, billowing from a fire further down to their left—the result of a Venator’s turbolaser turrets. Some sort of fuel was keeping it going, because despite the rain pouring in through the hole above it, it was still growing in size. Several other blaster holes had been punched through the ceiling as well, and loose cables and debris were scattered across the floor and protruded from the walls.  

“Are you certain there is a comms station still online here?” AZ asked nervously.

“Positive,” Tech replied, nodding down the hall to the right. “This way,” he said, starting towards it, gesturing for them to follow. 

Crosshair swallowed hard, trying to ignore the way the smoke burned his throat. He glanced over his shoulder as Omega coughed into her arm behind him, narrowing his eyes. She wouldn’t last long in this smoke. She needed a helmet. He glanced around at the other rooms they passed, stomach sinking. A futile effort, he knew—there wasn’t an armory on this floor. 

Behind him Omega let out another cough, and Wrecker asked “you okay, kid?”

“I’m fine,” she replied, blinking up at him with watering eyes. 

“Here we are,” Tech announced, stopping in front of a set of doors. They were warped and singed, with some of the metal paneling that made up their surface curling up at the corners. 

“Wrecker, get the door,” Hunter ordered.

“On it,” Wrecker said, cracking his knuckles as he stepped up. He planted his feet and let out a loud grunt as he pried the doors apart. He shoved one to the side, and Hunter stepped forward and pushed the other one out of the way too before making his way inside. 

It was practically untouched. The large control panel on the other side of the room, facing the long window that overlooked the smouldering remains of Tipoca City, was still illuminated, and the rest of the space showed only minor signs of damage. 

“I’ll patch us through to Rex,” Tech said as he and Echo hurried over to the control panel. 

“Hurry,” Hunter urged. 

Crosshair looked over as Omega coughed into her sleeve again, frown deepening. He stepped up beside Hunter. “She’s not gonna last much longer without a helmet,” he warned quietly, so Omega wouldn’t hear.

“I know,” Hunter replied, then took a deep breath and pulled his helmet off, turning and making his way over to Omega. “Here,” he said handing it to her.

“Your helmet?” she asked.

“It’ll help you breathe a bit easier. Put it on.”

Omega stared at the helmet in her hands, then back up at Hunter, eyes filled with worry.

“It’ll be alright,” Hunter promised.

“Okay,” Omega said, sounding unsure, and put the helmet on. It was comically oversized on her head, but any humor to be found in the sight was smothered by their circumstances.

Hunter gave her a nod, and turned back towards the others.

Crosshair caught his eye and dipped his head in approval, then looked over as Tech said “alright, we’re through.”

“Good,” Hunter said, stepping up to the control panel. He hit a button on its surface and a holograph of Rex’s face flickered into being in front of him.

“Hunter?” Rex exclaimed, raising his eyebrows. “Your signal puts you in Kamino. What—?”

“Rex,” Hunter breathed, relief flooding his voice. “Listen, we need your help. I was captured by Imperial forces and the rest of my team came to get me, but the city’s been destroyed, and we can’t get back to our ship. I’ll send you our coordinates,” he said, doing so quickly. 

“Alright,” Rex replied. “I’ll send someone your way as soon as I can. Just try to hold on.”

“Hurry,” Hunter urged, then cut the feed, coughing into the back of his wrist. 

“Hunter,” Echo said quietly, glancing towards Crosshair, “Rex still thinks Crosshair has his chip. This might be a problem.”

“Care to fill me in?” Crosshair asked, crossing his arms and fighting the urge to cough. 

“Rex’s the one that helped us get all of our chips out,” Wrecker explained. 

“It’s why we were on Bracca in the first place,” Tech added. 

“So he’s no longer with the Empire?” Crosshair clarified, a small pang of surprise coursing through him.

“No,” Hunter replied. “He’s not.”

“Is that gonna be a problem?” Echo asked.

Crosshair eyed him carefully, then met Hunter’s gaze and said “as long as he gets us out of this mess, it makes no difference to me.”

Hunter relaxed a little and gave a nod of approval, then turned and watched as Omega made her way over to the window on the other side of the room. He exchanged a look with Wrecker, and opened his mouth to call out to her, but Echo beat him to it.

“You alright, Omega?”

She looked over her shoulder at him, then back out the window, putting a hand against the glass. “Do you think...Nala Se and the others are okay?” she asked in a very small voice. 

Hunter sighed. “I…”

“She was evacuated with the rest of the medical staff,” Crosshair spoke up, stepping up beside Hunter. “They’re all fine.”

Omega looked back out the window for a moment, then met his gaze and said “thank you.”

Crosshair just nodded back, feeling the others’ eyes on him. 

“Omega,” Hunter said hesitantly, like he was trying to find the words. He frowned, the wheels in his head turning as he made his way over to her and got down on one knee beside her so they were eye-level, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You...shouldn’t have had to see this.”

“It’s okay,” Omega said, pulling off her helmet and swiping at her eyes before offering him a smile. “At least we’re all together now, like we’re supposed to be.”

And Crosshair couldn’t help but blink in surprise when she looked his way as she said it.  

“Yeah…” Wrecker added, shifting his feet. “I’ll admit it, I missed ya,” he said.

Crosshair raised an eyebrow at him, barely concealing the surprise that flooded through him. Not that Wrecker had ever been one to hold grudges. But hearing him say it outright dulled the ache in his chest a little, and that was more than he could ask for. 

“While I agree that apologies are in order from both sides,” Tech spoke up, glancing around at the others, “it’d probably be in our best interest to save them until we’re no longer at risk of being suffocated to death by the smoke.” 

There was a rattle as the floor shifted beneath their feet.

“Or drowning,” he added.

Hunter stood, coughing into the back of his wrist. “He’s right. We should find a way to the top of this thing so whoever Rex sends can reach us.”

Beside him, Omega put her helmet back on and followed him over to the doors. 

“Will they even be able to spot us with all the smoke and rain?” Echo asked.

“They have our location,” Tech said.

“And we still have our torches,” Hunter added.

“But...what if they’re still not bright enough?” AZ fretted. 

Crosshair patted his hip, letting out a small sigh of relief when he felt the reflector disc holstered to his belt. He only had one left, but it’d be enough. “I... might have a solution to that,” he offered. 

Rex pursed his lips as he navigated his tiny dropship through the storm, dropping below the clouds. The coordinates Hunter had sent him were dead ahead, but the familiar glow of Tipoca City was nowhere to be found. And his stomach swam with unease as he drew closer and saw why.

The dome-shaped structures that made up what used to be his home were in ruin. The bridges connecting them had collapsed, the landing pads submerged, and many of the buildings had sunken partly into the ocean, smoke billowing from them. 

It made his blood run cold.

How Hunter and the others had survived something like this was beyond him. But he didn’t have time to speculate, so he shook off his surprise and started scanning the wreckage below. 

The wind howled around his ship, and he gripped the yoke tightly to keep her steady as he circled the ruins. It wasn’t until he made his second pass that he spotted something in the distance, shining through the rain. Some sort of light. And as he turned his ship towards it, a beam cut through the rain directly towards him, dancing across his windshield before quickly flitting away.

That has to be them, Rex thought, a determined look spreading across his face as he adjusted his course and began his descent.

Omega raised a hand to shield her eyes from the rain as she squinted at the approaching ship, a smile on her face. She’d given Hunter’s helmet back the second they made it to the roof, insisting she didn’t need it anymore. Hunter hadn’t tried to argue, taking it gingerly from her and putting it on, watching with a hint of dismay as her hair was soaked near-instantaneously from the downpour.

Behind her, Wrecker shone three of their torches at the reflector disk in Tech’s hand, while the latter directed the beam skyward. As soon as it was clear the ship had spotted them, Wrecker handed the extra two torches back to Echo and Tech before all three of them regrouped with the others.

“Thank goodness,” AZ said, yellow optics glowing bright in the darkness as he watched the aircraft descend. He’d snagged a small sheet of metal on their way to the roof, and now held it over his head to shield himself from the rain. 

Hunter watched as the ship lowered itself down in front of them, thrusters rotating to keep it at a stable hover just above the roof, relief flooding through him. From the corner of his eye, he could see Crosshair at his flank. The other man hadn’t spoken much since they’d climbed to the top of the structure they now stood on. And while Crosshair had never been the most talkative member of his squad, the unusual silence from him filled Hunter with worry. 

Worry that was quickly overshadowed by surprise as the ship’s boarding hatch lowered, and Rex appeared in the entrance.

“Rex?” Hunter asked incredulously. “What are you doing here?”

“You said you were in trouble,” Rex shrugged. “I’m here to help.”

“Didn’t you say you were sending someone else to retrieve us?” Tech asked, adjusting his goggles.

“Everyone else had their hands full,” Rex said quickly, gesturing for them to hurry aboard.

Hunter exchanged a look with Crosshair, then leapt across the gap between the roof and the steps, grabbing the hand Rex offered to pull him to safety. He quickly boarded, watching as the rest of his team followed suit, a small smile flickering briefly behind his helmet when he saw Wrecker heft pick Omega up before jumping onto the steps and clambering up after him. 

Rex said nothing as Crosshair boarded, but Hunter saw the way the other man narrowed his eyes in scrutiny. “You’re sure about this?” he asked as he closed the boarding hatch.

Hunter just nodded. 

“And his chip?”

“It was removed,” Crosshair spoke up sourly, fixing Rex in a glare.

If his response caught Rex off guard, he didn’t show it. He met Crosshair’s gaze evenly and asked “when?”

“We’re still working that out,” Hunter said quickly, stepping between the two. As guilty as he felt not filling Rex in right away, there was enough tension between Crosshair and the rest of them as it were. They didn’t need any more.

Rex met his gaze, then threw a reproachful look towards Crosshair before standing down. “Just as long as he won’t cause any problems,” he said.

“I won’t,” Crosshair growled. 

Near the back of the ship, Echo just sighed and shook his head.

“You said you couldn’t get back to your ship,” Rex began, turning and making his way towards the cockpit “You’re sure it survived?”

“It’s on an elevated platform outside of the city,” Tech explained quickly, stepping up. “I still have the coordinates for it. Here,” he said, handing Rex his datapad.

Rex looked it over, then handed it back and punched the coordinates into the console. “So what happened?” He asked, powering up the ship’s thrusters.

“The facility was... decommissioned,” Crosshair spoke up, leaning against the wall next to the boarding hatch with a light grimace.

Rex glanced over his shoulder at the other man, eyes narrowing, the wheels in his head visibly turning. “Right,” he said flatly, throwing Hunter an unreadable look. “You can fill me in on the details once we find your ship.”

Hunter just nodded, watching the rain slide down the cockpit window as the ship pulled away from the ruins of Tipoca City.

It took them a few short minutes for Rex to locate the platform where they had landed their ship. As they stepped out onto it, the scale of the damage the Empire had dealt became apparent. What had once been the birthplace of all clones, a familiar safe haven amongst the turbulent seas of Kamino, was gone.

Pillars of smoke reached skyward from the wreckage, and the dull orange glow of fire flickered through the storm. 

Omega stared at it, a solemn expression on her face. A small, cool, metal hand curled around her arm, and she looked over at AZ, offering a small smile when she saw he’d held onto the piece of debris he’d been using to shield himself from the rain.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“I’m fine AZ,” she replied, looking over her shoulder as Wrecker called her name. She stole one last look at Tipoca City, then took AZ’s hand and said “come on,” leading him towards the ship. 

“Oh man is it good to be back!” Wrecker exclaimed, rotating his shoulders as he climbed aboard the Havoc Marauder.

Omega followed him in, shaking out her hair, a tired grin on her face as AZ tossed the debris he’d used to shield himself to the side, zoomed past her and made his way over to Gonky. 

“Oh my, another droid,” AZ said, circling the other droid.

Gonky burbled in response, and Omega let out a giggle into her hand, looking over as Tech and Echo stepped onto the ship behind her. 

“We’ll need to find some way to dry you off so you don’t catch a cold,” Tech remarked, glancing at Omega.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be okay,” Omega replied. 

“I’ll see if I can find a blanket,” Echo offered, slipping past her to make his way to the other side of the ship. 

Omega watched him go, then looked out through the open hatch to her right, smile fading when she saw Rex, Hunter, and Crosshair standing together in the rain, discussing something just out of earshot. 

Outside, Hunter gave Rex a nod. “We’ll keep in touch,” he promised, giving the other man a grateful smile before turning and heading towards his ship. 

Crosshair watched him go, watched him make his way up the steps and through the hatch of the Havoc Marauder— the ship they’d been on so many missions together with. The ship whose messy interior, lined with scrapes and dents and whatever other junk Tech or Wrecker or Echo brought aboard, he knew from memory. The ship that now felt less like an old friend, and more like a familiar stranger.  

He turned towards it, hesitating, staring at it through the rain as Tech powered it up and its exterior lights came on. Part of him wanted to walk towards it, to board like he knew the others expected him to. But the other part of him, the bitter part, wanted to stay put. Because once he boarded the ship, he knew, that was it. He’d be a traitor to the Empire—just like they were, wandering the galaxy without a purpose as wanted fugitives. The thought put the ghost of an ironic smile on his face that faded as quickly as it formed. 

“Crosshair,” Rex said behind him, pulling him out of his thoughts. 

Crosshair looked over his shoulder at him. 

The other man had already boarded his own ship and now stood at the top of the stairs, looking down at him. “Don’t keep your teammates waiting,” he said. 

“I won’t,” Crosshair replied, then started towards the Havoc Marauder.

Behind him, Rex narrowed his eyes, peering through the rain and the darkness at the side of the other man’s head. Then with a heavy sigh, he turned and closed the hatch to his ship.

Moments later, it rose into the sky and Crosshair watched as it vanished into the storm above, then looked back through the entrance to the Havoc Marauder, the light from within spilling out towards him invitingly. He could hear Wrecker laughing somewhere inside, and watched as Echo handed Omega a blanket and she used it to dry her hair, and a pang of regret cut through him like a knife as the weight of what he’d given up for the Empire settled on his shoulders. And he stole one last look at the smouldering, sinking remains of Tipoca City, and stepped inside the ship.

Hunter caught his eye as soon as he did so, and everyone else fell silent. 

Crosshair glanced around at the others, bristling slightly at the wariness in their gazes. Then he sighed and looked towards Hunter. “Well?” he asked tiredly. 

Hunter sighed and straightened up, brushing past Omega so the two of them were face-to-face. “I’m sorry,” he said softly.

Crosshair didn’t say anything, didn’t let his guard down. Not yet. 

“You’re right. We...should have come back for you. I should have come back for you. But I didn’t. And I’m sorry.”

Crosshair was silent for a moment, mulling over the other man’s words. Then he sighed and said “it’s not as if I gave you many reasons to try.”

Hunter gave him a surprised look. 

Crosshair looked away, eyeing a new dent in the wall to his left. “We were made to be soldiers,” he said. “I thought that was our purpose. But I was... wrong.” 

“Well, you have all of us,” Omega offered, stepping up beside Hunter. “We’re your purpose now.”

Crosshair looked down at her, and the ghost of a smile appeared on his face. Then he sighed and met Hunter’s gaze. “You always should have been,” he admitted. 

Hunter nodded, looking almost pained. “It took us both too long to realize that,” he said. “We’re not leaving you behind again. That’s a promise.”

“Agreed,” Tech added with a small smile. 

Beside him, Echo nodded. 

“Oh, hey, I almost forgot,” Wrecker said, turning and pulling a gear crate off the shelf beside him and setting it down on the floor. “Here’s all your stuff.”

Crosshair stared down at the crate, watching as Wrecker popped it open to reveal his old gear. The familiar black visor of his helmet gazed back, and he took a deep breath and let it out slowly—almost experimentally—like he was doing it for the first time. And he realized with surprise that the knot that had been twisting in his chest since he first woke up had started to vanish. “Why hold onto it?” he asked, nodding at the armor, grounding himself again.

Hunter gave him an almost sheepish look and said “it...felt wrong to get rid of it.”

“I, um, have your old comlink,” Omega spoke up. “If you want it back.”

“Keep it,” Crosshair told her. If she was part of the team, then she’d need one anyways. And it wasn’t like the Empire hadn’t given him a new one.

“Ready to go?” Tech asked from the cockpit. He’d already taken his seat at the controls, and now looked over his shoulder at the others, eyebrows raised.

Hunter gave him a nod.

“Where are we going?” Crosshair asked.

“Ord Mantell,” Echo said, taking the co-pilot seat. “You’re gonna hate it.”

“Wonderful.”

Hunter just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, throwing an amused glance Crosshair’s way. One that faded as he scanned over the side of the other man’s head.

Crosshair caught the look and sighed. “We’ll talk about it later,” he promised quietly, listening to the roar of the thrusters, feeling the ship move beneath his feet as it began its ascent. “Let’s just get off this rock.”

Hunter nodded. 

And Crosshair gave him a final look before turning and taking a seat near the back of the ship, feeling the craft lurch as it accelerated. And he stared down at the gear crate near his feet and sighed, feeling the knot in his chest start to tighten again. 

He glanced around at the others. All of them were occupied with something else. Tech and Echo were piloting the ship, Hunter was checking over their ammunition reserves, Wrecker was digging into their rations, and Omega...had just taken the seat across from him. 

“You’ve been away for a while,” she said with a smile, holding the blanket Omega had given her wrapped around her shoulders like a shawl. “Want me to catch you up?”

Crosshair looked to his right towards the others—all of them exactly where he expected them to be; right where he’d left them—then sighed and sat back and crossed one leg over the other, giving Omega a nod and a small but warm smile and said “why not?”

And he listened as she filled him in on what they had gotten up to in his absence as the Havoc Marauder pulled away from Kamino, leaving the planet, and their former home behind for the last time.