Chapter Text
“This is Ashas Ree. It is a sparsely populated planet, mostly consisting of forests. Due to the lack of citizens, its alignment in The Clone Wars was neutral, and now as best as I can tell, it remains of little interest to the Empire.”
Omega listened to Tech’s explanation curiously as she watched the planet approach outside the viewport. Like most forest planets, it was marbled in shades of green, but she had learned that the appearance at a distance did not do justice to the many intricacies and differences between various planets’ flora and fauna. She had seen similar views many times now, but a thrill of excitement still went through her at the potential wonders she might see.
“Any marked cities?” Hunter asked.
“None,” Tech replied. “If there are settlements, they are not marked. I will land us wherever seems to be hospitable. We can rest for a day or two while I replace the coolant lines and other necessary maintenance on the ship.”
“You should rest too, you know,” Echo said.
“Fixing the ship is my version of rest.”
“One of these days, I’m just going to knock you out.”
“Tried that already,” Hunter grumbled, though there was no malice in his tone. “He’d just sleepwalk.”
“I can neither confirm nor deny that,” Tech sniffed.
Omega smiled to herself as she listened to them go back and forth, leaning her forehead against the viewport. For a few seconds, the world outside turned a bright white as the Marauder hit the clouds, before breaking through to the space above the treetops. The viridian treetops of Ashas Ree raced by as Tech brought them closer to the surface. It did not take long for him to find an open spot to land, bringing them down easily in a small, grassy field.
Crosshair moved into the cabin once they were landed, starting to gather his equipment. It had always been his job to scope the lay of the land whenever the Batch arrived on a new planet, and he continued to do so even when it ended up being unnecessary. With their status as fugitives, he would rather waste some time walking through an empty forest than risk discovery by enemies.
He was halfway through his preparations when Omega came bounding out of the cockpit, an eager grin on her face as she ran towards him. After noticing his expeditions, she had endeavored to join him, finding it a good opportunity to explore. Crosshair had refused her at first, but after she didn’t relent, he figured that if the planet didn’t seem dangerous she could come along. She ruined most of his pretenses of stealth, but whenever she came along it didn’t matter anyway.
“Are you going out?” Omega asked, coming within inches of running into him.
“What else would I be doing?” Crosshair grumbled, not looking up from his rifle.
“Can I come?”
Crosshair’s response was something he had grown to enjoy saying. “Ask Hunter.”
Fully expecting this answer, Omega turned and bellowed towards the cockpit, “Hunter! Can I go out with Crosshair?”
Hunter looked over at Tech. “What’s your verdict?”
“There seems to be no active settlements or bases in the area Crosshair will cover, nor does there seem to be any predators that he cannot shoot easily,” Tech supplied crisply. “In other words, Omega should be safe.”
“You can go,” Hunter shouted, “but you—”
“—have to do everything he says!” Omega finished, rushing away to get her bow.
Crosshair rolled his eyes, strapping on his gauntlets. She kept that promise, but not without complaining.
When he was ready, he walked over to the hatch, calling over his shoulder, “I’m leaving now, with or without you.”
“Wait for me!” Omega hurtled from the back of the ship, her bow bouncing against her back with every step. She nearly collided with Crosshair but managed to avoid it, meeting his impassive expression with a brilliant grin. “I’m ready!”
“You could explore later,” he muttered.
“But you’re going out now!” Omega argued. “Besides, you never know when you might need my help!”
Crosshair snorted quietly and donned his helmet, hitting the hatch controls.
“Try not to get on his nerves too much, kid!” Wrecker yelled.
“I won’t…probably!” Omega called back.
Crosshair ignored them and stepped out onto the ramp, giving the forest a sweeping look. Birds twittered cheerily in the trees, a breeze sending patterns of light and shadow dancing across the ground. Nothing jumped out at him, literally or figuratively, which was a good start.
Omega inhaled the fresh air and smiled, practically skipping down the ramp until her movement was halted by a hand grabbing her sleeve.
“Rule number one,” Crosshair growled beneath his helmet.
Omega pouted a little. “You always go first.”
With a curt nod, Crosshair stepped into the grass. He usually covered a perimeter of one or two klicks around the ship, and he could’ve gone farther if his tagalong didn’t have such small legs. The first time he allowed her to come, he ended up carrying her back to the ship after overestimating her endurance. That was something he didn’t want to repeat.
Omega had to trot a little to keep up with Crosshair’s long strides. It seemed to her the path he followed was random, but he had told her there was purpose. When there was nothing picked up on the scanners that was worth investigating, he went to the north first, then went in a clockwise circle around the ship. She had been through the same routine several times now, but it never got boring with their continual planet-hopping.
She trailed behind Crosshair as they walked deeper into the forest. Though she complained about it, she truly didn’t mind letting him walk ahead, using it as an excuse to search out interesting flowers and pebbles to have as keepsakes. If she lagged too far behind, he would give a halfhearted growl of a reminder for her to hurry it up.
Ashas Ree was pleasant. The temperature leaned towards the cool side, but with the sun shining from a cloudless sky, the air lost its chill edge. A species of some tree-dwelling rodent chittered above them somewhere, coupled with birdsong, but there was no sound of ships flying overhead or the cacophony of any nearby cities. Everything was peaceful.
Crosshair walked silently, drifting over loam and shrubbery with hardly a rustle. Omega attempted to emulate his stealth to moderate success, looking down at her feet and trying to avoid any twigs or dead leaves that would make noise. She was so focused on her task that she didn’t notice Crosshair had stopped, and walked straight into his back.
“Ow!” she complained when her forehead knocked against plastoid. “What—“
“Keep your voice down,” Crosshair growled, interrupting her.
Omega went on alert, searching the forest around them for any sign of a threat but finding nothing. When she spoke next, she kept her voice at a whisper. “What is it?”
Crosshair moved forward without answering, and Omega hesitantly followed him. They crested a small hill, and she saw what he had seen. A set of ruins sat at the bottom of the hill below them, so overgrown with grass and weeds that the vague outline of a structure was barely visible. All that remained were the eroded remnants of four walls, and if there had been a roof, it was long gone. Durasteel so tarnished and dirty it was almost unrecognizable peeked from between small gaps in the overgrowth.
Omega frowned, finding the ruin rather unimpressive to some of the other things she’d seen. “It’s just some walls.”
“Maybe,” Crosshair murmured. “Stay here.”
He took out his rifle, nimbly descending the hill and stopping just beyond the walls, giving the overgrown structure a thorough look over. It was once a small building, barely more than a shed and hardly larger than the cabin space in the Marauder.
When he was sure he saw nothing hiding in the remnants, he stepped between a corroded gap in one of the walls. Dead brush crunched beneath his boots, old flooring creaking slightly. Hunks of metal that likely belonged to the missing roof littered the area, but other than that, there was nothing that concerned Crosshair. It was a ruin, and that was all.
“Is it safe?” Omega called softly behind him.
“Seems to be,” he said, relaxing his grip on his rifle.
“Can I come look?”
“Be careful.”
Omega skittered down the hill with far less grace than he had, hopping over the same corroded section of wall. She was disappointed nothing interesting remained. Anything worth looking at was long gone, eroded by time and weather or taken by other passersby.
“There’s nothing here,” she said, looking over the vine-infested walls. “Why did you think there would be?”
“You never know,” Crosshair murmured, turning a more relaxed eye over the area. “Separatists would sometimes hide in ruins to try and trick us into passing them by.”
“But the Separatists don’t exist anymore.”
“No, but there are still other dangerous things out there.”
“Nothing could hide in here anyway,” Omega proclaimed, hopping onto one of the hunks of roofing.
“That’s what you think,” Crosshair sneered.
Omega didn’t bother answering, standing up on her perch and briefly savoring the feeling of being taller than him. She walked to the other side and jumped off, and when her feet hit the ground there was an odd, hollow clang.
Crosshair turned sharply in her direction. “What was that?”
Omega frowned at the ground underneath her, tapping her foot against it and eliciting more hollow sounds. “I don’t know.”
Crosshair came to her side, peering hard at the ground. He picked out the slight shifting of a loose panel as Omega continued moving around and crouched down for a better look. Setting his rifle to the side, he started digging at the loam, slowly revealing the old durasteel beneath. After a little bit of effort, he revealed a hairline crack that confirmed his suspicions.
“What is it?” Omega asked, looking over his shoulder.
“A door.” He gently pushed her back. “Stay out of the way.”
Whatever mechanism that had once operated the door was gone, but Crosshair didn’t need that. His fingers wouldn’t fit into the crack, but his vibroblade could, and he slid the blade into it. After some wiggling to get past the dirt that had built up over time, he got it firmly wedged and carefully applied some pressure. There was an ominous creaking, and the panel moved slightly.
Now more confident, Crosshair put more pressure on his makeshift lever. Dirt and rubble shifted as the old door slowly moved back into the recess it had been built to use. When the gap was wide enough, he replaced the knife with his fingers, giving the door a firm yank towards himself. Rusty metal screeched, and pebbles echoed as they fell into the hole that was slowly revealed.
Omega’s eyes widened at she stared at the hatch opening up before her, a rusted ladder leading downwards into the unknown. “Uh…what is it?”
“Don’t know.” Crosshair got the door far back enough to get a good look, peering into the hole himself. He grabbed his torch and flicked it on, the light revealing that the ladder only went down about a story before stopping, the walls breaking away into some room he could not see from his current angle.
He squinted, thinking the situation over. The decrepit nature of the ruins led him to believe that they had been untouched, but he could never be sure. War had taught him to question everything until he saw it was safe with his own eyes, and he didn’t want to risk harm to his family over dismissing something that could be a threat.
“I’m going to look down there,” he decided.
“What?” Omega turned a disbelieving stare on him. “Why?”
“There could be something dangerous down there, and we’re not far from the ship,” Crosshair said, sheathing his vibroblade. “I need to make sure.”
Omega wrinkled her nose at the hatch. “Who would want to hide down there?”
Crosshair scoffed quietly. “That’s what someone trying to hide would want you to think.”
“Can I come with you?”
“No.”
“But—”
“Don’t start,” he growled, cutting off her argument. “The agreement was that you do what I say, so stay here.”
Omega scowled but didn’t argue the point any further. A small part of her was glad she didn’t have to go into that strange bunker.
“It won’t take long.” Crosshair checked over his equipment quickly. “Stay put and don’t do anything that might draw attention. If you see something or anything happens, ping me on the comms.”
“Okay.” She watched with bated breath as he tested the rungs of the ladder, relieved when they held his weight without breaking. It was covered in rust, but it had been shielded from corrosion by the hatch above it.
Crosshair descended the ladder, on alert for any movement around him in the new space. When he reached the bottom, he turned quickly, shining his torch beam over the room. It was not terribly large, only a little bigger than the broken building above ground. The walls and floor were made of durasteel as well, in slightly better condition, though nature had clearly had its way with the structure. Rust littered the walls, and in some places dirt spilled across the floor from holes that had appeared in the metal. Other than the decrepitness, the room was very plain, offering no embellishments that would give a clue as to the room’s nature. The only point of interest was the doorway directly opposite the ladder, partially open and leading further into the black.
“What do you see?” Omega asked, her soft question echoing down oddly.
“Nothing, yet.” Crosshair hoisted his rifle, eyeing the door. If for nothing else than his own peace of mind, he had to make sure this was nothing more than an abandoned building. “I’m going further in. I’ll be back soon.”
He approached the door, finding the control panel on the side still intact, but not active. It took some effort, but he was able to push the door open, the rusty mechanisms screeching unpleasantly as they moved for the first time in years. The sound echoed through the next room that now loomed before him, fading into a haunting wail.
Crosshair paused as everything quieted once more, listening for any indication he had drawn attention to himself, but there was nothing to be heard beyond his own breathing. It seemed more and more like the place was empty, but he felt compelled to look a little farther.
The room before him was far more detailed than the previous one. Decorative panels of dark metal lined the walls, and square tiling covered the floor. The thing that truly caught his eye, however, was the image on the wall directly across from him. It was a relief of sorts, with shapes imposed on the durasteel. The most prominent portion of the image were what appeared to be two serpents, using their bodies to form a perfect circle, the nose of one nearly touching the tail of the other. A small sigil sat inside the circle, an orb surrounded by four sets of three spikes. The serpents and the sigil were made with some dark metal that had somehow retained luster despite the state of the room around.
Crosshair fixed his torch on the image, noticing a red gleam where the serpents’ eyes should be. Two small, red gems were inset in the metal, acting as the representation of their eyes.
He stopped not far from the relief, looking it over. It was a strange picture, but it was no weirder than any other odd depictions he had seen in his life. He rapped his knuckles against it experimentally, and it sounded solid. On either side of it, two halls went further beyond, but they looked just as dark and abandoned as the rest of the place.
He stood for a moment, debating over whether he should look any further. Everything seemed to be quiet, but there was more he had not yet ventured into. However, he had left Omega alone long enough as it was, and she might—
His thoughts ground to a halt as he caught a flutter of movement off to his left, in the hall beyond the relief. He raised his rifle, every muscle in his body coiling to strike as he turned in one fluid movement, staring hard into the shadows. There was no sign of life, no indication anyone or anything had been there. He cautiously stepped towards the hall, getting a better view of it in its entirety, and found it empty, leading away into a blackness his light could not pierce.
He tightened his grip on his rifle. His eyes never lied. He had seen something move, and there was no wind, nor loose items that could be disturbed by a draft. There had been no sound, no skittering of an animal’s claws, nor the clank of a droid.
He took a couple of steps into the hall, searching the deepest shadows, and saw nothing. Still not assured, he took a few more steps.
Searing pain lanced through his left leg as something dug into his flesh, a red-hot brand emanating from the spot where the two pieces of his leg armor met. He let out a strangled cry, stumbling backwards, and his foot struck something. His shoulder hit the wall, and he used it to balance himself, holding onto his torch for dear life and shining it at the floor.
A long, sinuous body writhed under his feet, the light catching it oddly, almost as if it were made of shadow, unable to reflect it back. Crosshair stomped as hard as he could despite the agony in his leg, and he felt his foot hit it full force. Another bolt of pain lanced through him as he felt the distinct feeling of an invading, sharp object leaving his leg.
It clicked somewhere in the back of his mind. He had been bitten, and he had to get away.
Turning, he stumbled back the way he had come, but every step stoked the fire that had been ignited in the back of his left leg. He pushed himself off the wall, trying to propel himself across the room to the door, but he only made it halfway before his leg collapsed beneath him. He crumpled to the floor, his torch clattering to the stones and rolling away. With a tremendous effort, he rolled himself onto his back, sucking in huge breaths as he tried to think through the pain and come up with some rational thought.
His arm trembling, he reached up, managing to activate his comm with fingers that wouldn’t stop shaking. “I…I need help. Something bit me.”
When Omega could no longer see or hear Crosshair, she moved back from the hole a little bit, finding a nice patch of sunlight to settle down in. She stayed vigilant, trying to be as aware of her surroundings as her brothers always were, but there was nothing of note to see, the forest remaining tranquil.
Omega jumped when her comm crackled, Crosshair’s voice coming through, almost not sounding like him for how breathless and strained it was. “I…I need help. Something bit me.”
Omega scrambled to her feet, dismayed. Before she could reply, Echo’s voice came through, Crosshair’s call apparently having gone out to everyone on the channel. “Where are you?”
“Found some ruins.” Crosshair paused, a deep, shuddering breath audible through the transmission. “Five-hundred meters, northwest of the ship.”
“I can lock onto your location from your comm.” Tech was speaking now, his words coming out faster than usual in the way that meant he was trying to move as quickly as possible. “What were you bitten by?”
“A snake…couldn’t get a good look at it. It…it was venomous…I’m pretty sure.”
“Where is Omega?”
“I’m going to help Crosshair!” Omega cried into her comm, rushing towards the hatch. Several people tried to speak at once, and she knew they were likely protesting her decision, but she ignored them, worry for Crosshair urging her forward.
She scrambled down the ladder, looking around the dim room frantically. Spotting the only door and the light of a torch beyond it, she rushed towards it, pushing through the gap Crosshair had made a few minutes prior. There she found her brother crumpled on the floor, clutching at his left leg, his breath hissing in sharp, uneven gasps behind his helmet.
“Crosshair!” Paying no mind to the room around her, Omega was at his side in an instant, panic building in her as she looked him over, trying to figure out what to do.
“Get…out of here!” Crosshair’s words came out in a sharp hiss.
“You’re hurt!” Omega wasn’t about to try and argue with him, attempting to call Nala Se’s medical training to mind. She reached out and grabbed his helmet, tugging it off to give him more air, and was relieved to find him looking relatively normal despite the grimace of pain on his face. “Is it your left leg?”
Crosshair managed a stiff nod. He didn’t have the strength to try and tell her to leave anymore, the fiery pain continuing to spread through his body. His leg was starting to feel numb, likely from the venom, and his stomach twisted as he imagined his body becoming paralyzed.
Omega hurried to Crosshair’s other side, grabbing his abandoned torch and starting to work on removing his greaves. Crosshair let out a pained yelp as she jostled his leg, his eyes narrowing into an unfocused glare.
“Sorry!” she cried, jerking her hands away. Panic was making her clumsy, and Nala Se had always told her to keep a calm mind, no matter how bad the injury was. She took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to calm her racing thoughts, and resumed her work, trying to be more coordinated.
After what seemed like far too long to her, she managed to get both pieces of Crosshair’s leg armor off. As carefully as she could, she grabbed his calf and lifted his leg, peering underneath and trying hard not to vocalize the horror she felt when she saw the wound. There was a tear in his blacks right at the back of his knee, revealing two puncture wounds. The punctures themselves were relatively small, but they were already deeply inflamed, the skin puffy and an angry shade of red.
“Omega! Omega, come in!” Hunter’s voice through her comm broke her out of her horrified staring. Gingerly, she laid Crosshair’s leg back on the floor.
“I’m here! I’m with Crosshair, and I found where he was bitten. It…it looks bad.” She swallowed hard, trying to restrain the tremor in her voice. She glanced at Crosshair, but he did not seem to notice her distress, his gaze focused on the ceiling as he let out shuddering breaths.
“Just hold on,” Hunter replied, his voice reassuringly steady. “We’ll be there in just a couple of minutes.”
“Omega.” Tech’s voice addressed her now. “You have to try and keep the wound clean and off the ground.”
“Okay!” She silently thanked the Force for Tech’s clarity of mind.
“Do you have anything you can use?”
“I have his armor.”
“That will do. Place it beneath his foot to keep the leg elevated.”
Crosshair vaguely heard the exchange through the haze of pain and the thundering of his own heartbeat in his ears. He felt Omega’s hands on his leg and the feeling of his own greave being slipped under his ankle. Her fingers stumbled clumsily over the armor as she tried to set it in place, and he finally managed to get some words out.
“If you’re going to try and help me,” he gritted out, “at least turn on the kriffing torch so you can see!”
Omega, who had just gotten the armor in place, looked up at him. “What? What do you mean?”
“Find my torch and turn it on!” Crosshair snarled, the pain making his patience wear thin.
Mystified, Omega looked at Crosshair’s torch next to her, shining as brightly as ever. “It is on, though.”
“No,” he retorted, glaring in the direction of her voice, “it isn’t.”
Icy claws of dread gripped Omega as she met his gaze. He was looking at her, but his gaze was unfocused, as though he wasn’t seeing her. She grabbed his torch, moving closer to his head, and shining the beam directly in his face. To her horror, he didn’t so much as squint.
“Crosshair.” She shone the light close to his eyes, her voice no more than a whisper. “Can you see this?”
Starting to become truly angry with her, Crosshair readied a scathing reply, only for it to freeze on his lips. He could feel the heat of his torch near his face, against his eyes, yet everything around him was a black abyss.
When he spoke, his voice was low and fraught with disbelief. “No.”
Omega felt like the air had been sucked from her lungs, and she sat down hard on the floor.
The world faded away for Crosshair, even the pain, lost in the ringing in his ears. He could hardly breathe, hardly think. It all seemed like a twisted dream, but it was a nightmare made reality.
He was blind.