Chapter Text
"Hey Tech! Will you play a game of dejarik with me?"
Omega plopped down in one of the seats by the holo-table, hopefully watching Tech. At her request, he glanced over, and quickly downed the remaining contents in his glass. Omega couldn't help but grin as he sat down across from her. She had been challenging the members of the batch to games ever since she had discovered her talent for the sport.
As the game flickered to life, Cid strode out from behind the bar and over to her side. When Omega looked up at the smirking trandoshan, she laid a hand on her shoulder and chuckled.
"Don't see why you keep playing against them. You're obviously much better than them at this."
Omega grinned at the obvious taunt at Tech. Everyone who had eyes and the ability to hear could tell that Tech valued his intellect and ability to strategize, and saying that he could be outsmarted was something Tech never wanted to hear, much less find out to be true.
Trying her hardest not to laugh, Omega turned back to Tech and made her first move. She could see Hunter and Echo watching them from the bar, evidently waiting to see if Cid's jab was true, or if the current dejarik master had finally met her match.
"Ha! She sure beat ya, Tech!" Wrecker laughed as he clapped Tech upon the back, almost slamming him on the table from his strength.
Tech jerked out from underneath Wrecker's hand, trying but ultimately failing to hide a small scowl. Omega had indeed beaten him, and Tech wasn't too happy about it.
Hunter chuckled as he walked over to join them. "Good job Omega. Tech's not easily beaten."
Omega was practically beaming at the praise.
"All right, cut the chatter; I got another mission for you boys, and for you too, Tiny." Cid announced, walking back into the parlor. About halfway through the game, she had left to go to her office.
Echo pushed himself off his stool and strode over to the rest. He had been silently watching them from the bar the whole time.
Hunter crossed his arms and acknowledged the arrival of the cyborg with a nod. "Well, what's the job?"
"Simple retrieval mission." Cid replied. "An old Separatist experiment from the beginning of the Clone Wars. It's been abandoned in an old bunker for a while now. Should be pretty easy for you boys."
"Experiment?" Echo prodded from his spot across the holo-table, eyebrow raised suspiciously. "What kind of experiment?"
"Some old broken-down machinery. An old abandoned invention. Something like that." Cid responded, changing the holo-game to a hologram with the press of a button. "Here's what you're looking for."
The hologram displayed what looked like a box of some sort, about the size of Lula, with bunches of wires sticking out of it in all directions.
"Alright." The Sargent slowly said. "Looks easy enough. One thing though; what's the pay, and what's our cut?"
Cid smirked. "Ten thousand credits. You get thirty percent, forty if you're quick about it."
Hunter nodded. "Okay."
"Here, Goggles." The trandoshan called as she tossed a data-stick to Tech. "All the info's on that."
On their way out, they passed Bolo and Ketch, the two regulars at the old run-down bar, heading in.
"Going already?" Bolo questioned.
"They're busy!" Cid called, behind the bar once more. "Come get something to drink, and let them go!"
"Coming up on Lothal."
Omega looked up, knowing Tech meant they were about to exit hyperspace. Bracing herself for the tell-tale jolt, she still jerked slightly and dropped Trooper as the planet came into view.
Omega jumped up and raced into the ship's cockpit, followed by Wrecker and Hunter. Echo was already in the co-pilot seat, and had been running ship diagnostics for some time now.
"It's not that colorful." She observed. Tech smiled. "I think you will like it more once we have landed."
He was right. Once the ramp was lowered, Omega couldn't stop staring around with awe at how big the meadow was.
"There's so much grass!" She gasped. Hunter chuckled as he laid a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, we gotta get going. You can see more soon, but right now we have a mission to complete."
"Awww." Omega stuck out her lip in what she hoped was a convincing frown. She really wanted to explore more right now.
"The object seems to be ahead of us, somewhere near those rock formations." Tech stated, fiddling with his datapad as he exited their ship.
"Hey kid, race ya!" Wrecker cackled, already bolting towards the area Tech had indicated. Omega mouth turned upwards as she took off behind him, knowing Wrecker was just trying to make her feel better.
Omega gasped, trying to catch her breath. She leaned over and put her hands on her knees, inhaling deeply as her breathing began to even out.
"You might not want to run that far, that fast next time." Echo commented as he, Hunter and Tech walked up.
"Hah! That was nothin!" Wrecker wheezed from where he sat leaning against one of the rocks. He clearly had also over-exerted himself.
"Uh huh." Hunter strode forwards, running his hand along one of the smooth stones. "Tech, where's the base Cid mentioned?"
"It should be somewhere around here. Scans indicate it is below us." He blinked, and pressed a few more buttons on his datapad. "Look for anything suspicious; a hidden keypad, or something along the lines of that."
Omega straightened, and began to search the rock Wrecker was still leaning against as the others searched the surrounding area.
As far as she could see, nothing looked obvious. No buttons, scanners, or anything. Parting a particularly large clump of grass, she called her brothers over.
"Tech, I think I found something!"
She scooted over to make room for him, and pointed to the object in question. A small keypad, about the size of Tech's datapad, was mounted on the rock face right in front of them. Tech leaned forwards to examine it, then held up his datapad and scanned it.
"Excellent work, Omega. It appears you have located the access point to the bunker."
"How do we get in?" Omega frowned. Not looking up from his work, her brother simply replied, "The door should open when the keypad activates."
And sure enough, after a minute, Tech's datapad pinged, and a secret door slid open on one of the rocks. They had indeed found the base.